We actually have laws in this country to prevent just that. For example the "Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens" (Personal Data Protection Act) accounts for most of the rhetorical questions in the comments here.
Right, so you think we should test each and every "new" technologic breakthrough many, many, many years before they can be released. Now - in theory - this shouldn't stop scientific progress. There will just be a (probably long) period when there will be very little new stuff coming out. But eventually new stuff should appear just as often as new tech is invented.
Now, switch to the real world, in the real world people (and especially companies) don't want to pay a lot of money now, for something they might get tens of years later. If you develop a product that uses new technologies today you can be fairly certain that when you release it the market is still going to be pretty much the same. If it's much further in the future it will become a much bigger gamble. And companies don't like big gambles. (they should, but still..)
Nevertheless, larger companies could probably afford to wait that long, but forget the small high-tech companies. You simply can't start and run for tens of years without making a single dime without seriously pissing off your investors. And we wouldn't want to end up being swamped by monopolies, would you?
(and this even fails to take account of the increased costs for, say * gasp * testing the stuff)
Science is also very much linked to new stuff. Sure not all of it (there aren't yet a lot of real life uses for the knowledge of where the stars are.) But science generally ends up getting aplied sooner or later. If you seriously hamper the application, you'll seriously hamper science. Because a lot of the funding for science is given under the assumption that it will sooner or later be put to use, destroying this would make science "unprofitable" and that would logically reduce the ammount of funding.
Companies should be fairly free to use new technologies, as long as the risks are reasonable. The assement of these risks should be based on sanity and not mere panic like emotion.
Aren't they ruining their own market with this? In the past you had to buy an entire new mac if you wanted to change its colour...
Look it can chang its own colours, just run to the nearby computer store, buy a new mac in different colour, install the software, and look at all the colours...absolutely amazing!
Link:Naturally, knowledge regarding the safety aspects of such an effort is essential! Among the more common concerns are the work with the explosive hydrogen gas, deuterium. High voltage hazards abound as over 20,000 volts is needed to accelerate the deuterons. Radiation in the form of X-rays and neutrons must be dealt with as well.
Where is the kids-don't-try-this-at-home-disclaimer?
Sueing only Microsoft is virtualy impossible, sueing Nintendo, Sony AND Microsoft is going to be quite a suicidal task... how much money do they have to burn?
Slashdot Mirror
We actually have laws in this country to prevent just that. For example the "Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens" (Personal Data Protection Act) accounts for most of the rhetorical questions in the comments here.
Ask the question two or three times (pick a dog out of 9 pics, a cat, a horse) and block anyone who got it wrong more than, say, 20 times.
Right, so you think we should test each and every "new" technologic breakthrough many, many, many years before they can be released. Now - in theory - this shouldn't stop scientific progress. There will just be a (probably long) period when there will be very little new stuff coming out. But eventually new stuff should appear just as often as new tech is invented.
Now, switch to the real world, in the real world people (and especially companies) don't want to pay a lot of money now, for something they might get tens of years later. If you develop a product that uses new technologies today you can be fairly certain that when you release it the market is still going to be pretty much the same. If it's much further in the future it will become a much bigger gamble. And companies don't like big gambles. (they should, but still..)
Nevertheless, larger companies could probably afford to wait that long, but forget the small high-tech companies. You simply can't start and run for tens of years without making a single dime without seriously pissing off your investors. And we wouldn't want to end up being swamped by monopolies, would you?
(and this even fails to take account of the increased costs for, say * gasp * testing the stuff)
Science is also very much linked to new stuff. Sure not all of it (there aren't yet a lot of real life uses for the knowledge of where the stars are.)
But science generally ends up getting aplied sooner or later. If you seriously hamper the application, you'll seriously hamper science. Because a lot of the funding for science is given under the assumption that it will sooner or later be put to use, destroying this would make science "unprofitable" and that would logically reduce the ammount of funding.
Companies should be fairly free to use new technologies, as long as the risks are reasonable. The assement of these risks should be based on sanity and not mere panic like emotion.
They're big, they're American. That's all you need to sell something in the US these days.
that might be true, but now the train company would have all the right to make their trains look like rockets :)
And we all now what kind of terrorists those EU citizens are; we should all watch them!
[paranoia mode: on]
Fund the war against terror?
[paranoia mode: off]
whether or not they asked for a meal without pork
So, being an vegetarian makes me a TERRORIST! Damn.
Oh, you can see the ads already:
ReactOS..
Windows, but without the pretty windows to click on.
Due to the fact that it's not legal to fly this thing, it will probably not even come up....
...but 1000 slashdot readers jumping on it will probably turn it into a multi-million dollar piece of high-tech compacted metal.
We are no longer the knights who say "Palladium!".. we are now the knights who say: "next-generation secure computing base."
yes, I remember my first "computer science" lesson as if it was yesterday: "today we are going to open the start menu! [shudder]".
Aren't they ruining their own market with this? In the past you had to buy an entire new mac if you wanted to change its colour...
Look it can chang its own colours, just run to the nearby computer store, buy a new mac in different colour, install the software, and look at all the colours...absolutely amazing!
But they wouldn't mind you carrying some TNT around would they?
while fusion starts with merely protons created from hydrogen atoms electrolyzed from pure water.
Highly explosive hydrogen. I'm sure they won't have a problem with that.
Link: Naturally, knowledge regarding the safety aspects of such an effort is essential! Among the more common concerns are the work
with the explosive hydrogen gas, deuterium. High voltage hazards abound as over 20,000 volts is needed to
accelerate the deuterons. Radiation in the form of X-rays and neutrons must be dealt with as well.
Where is the kids-don't-try-this-at-home-disclaimer?
The earlier you get used to somebody else thinking for you, the easier it will be later on
It should actually be: The earlier you get used to the fact that not everything is perfect, the easier it will be later on.
The world isn't perfect, and kids should get used to that before it's too late! (or they will be too ignorant for things that can go wrong).
And the internet is NO place for kids!
So, when they're 16 they are finally allowed to find out that something called e-mail and instant messaging excists?
In related news the use of e-mail have dropped with 700%
Sueing only Microsoft is virtualy impossible, sueing Nintendo, Sony AND Microsoft is going to be quite a suicidal task... how much money do they have to burn?
thank you, now I'm finally save :)
Yes, but who says the pictures from Hubble are real!
:|
They're watching us man!
Ok, beter put my aluminium hat on now...
Can't use rechargables? Maybe your old one cant't but something like this can.
FREEZE! FBI! put down the modem slowly...
riiiiight
1200x1600?
He's using one of those tablet-PC's, duh.
Join the army?
Here's the place for you