This is a technology evaluation and demonstration vessel. Nobody expects it to go into combat and take hits.
Based on all the well-made and highly-entertaining documentaries I've seen about this, it is always the prototype that gets called into battle and it is always the prototype that fires the winning shot, allowing a happy outcome, where some guy and a girl kiss and everyone goes back to their families. Always.
Very cool, but there is one fact about COTS that is often ignored: most COTS is CRAP. It is interesting that COTS is an anagram of COST...
Regardless, if the ship really uses a Mozilla interface for controlling a warship, I really hope they took the source, audited it, fixed anything they found wrong, and tested the hell out of it. Did they? Unlikely, but who knows, since it really depends on how the contracts were written, whether or not they hired only inexperienced (profitable) programmers, etc.
It depends. I don't patch my home systems, for example, unless a particular application absolutely needs it. In fact, my operating systems are all at least a year and a half old by now. I don't have problems with viruses, worms, trojans, or spam either.
So what do I do?
1) I have a separate dedicated firewall running OpenBSD with a draconian-as-hell no-inbound connections allowed setup. There are no services on this box except for internet connectivity and internal-only must-have things for administration. The firewall also disallows all inbound and outbound connections from Windows, because I don't need them, nor do I trust Microsoft's privacy statements. Also, this box is not even an x86 architecture.
2) I have pared down all my rc?.d directories so practically no services are running on any of my computers, except as absolutely needed. This not only reduces vulnerabilities but speeds up booting and reduces RAM consumption.
3) I don't use wireless networking.
4) I disable loading images in my e-mail.
5) I use separate e-mail addresses for posting to mailing lists.
6) I read e-mail on a non-Microsoft non-Intel platform. It's even a different combination than my firewall.
7) I actually read privacy policies and try to use companies with good ones. If I suspect a company has traded my info (e.g., sudden clusters of junk mail after a transaction), I try to avoid them in the future.
8) I do not enter contests, I always opt-out, and I always refuse when checkout clerks ask for my info. The suprise/frustration many of these clerks express is sad evidence that I am often the only person they have seen that day who refuses (terribly terribly sad).
9) I am selective with whom I do business on-line. I will often do repeat business with a known-honest vendor even if I can get something a little cheaper elsewhere. If I come across a suprisingly cheap vendor, I first search the WWW and Usenet to see if they are legit.
10) I'm not a gotta-have-it impulsive schmuck like so many people. "Going without" is not a problem with me. If I don't trust someone, they won't get my money or information. Perhaps, this is also why, in addition to no computer problems, I don't have financial problems, either.
I.e. a dual CPU capable system with one processor still pays dual CPU prices
Where did you read this, because I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Sun sells CPU license upgrades at their on-line store. If everyone bought license for "capability", then why bother selling upgrades for added CPUs?
Solaris 9 is free for Sun-provided hardware. Second hand hardware needs a right-to-use (RTU) license, which is about $100 for a single CPU. Given that Windows 98 and XP still sell for $100, Solaris 9 is a good deal.
McNealy most likely hates Ballmer's guts. That Java memo was a long time ago. Python and Perl do not have the breadth of the Java API. Python's compiler is also immature (optimization: coming soon!). Sun is embracing Linux not trying to destroy it.
This article today has resulted in so much misinformation being posted that it is sickening.
Now Solaris is out for the x86 and hardware reliability and speed can be had at a fraction of the cost in x86-based servers from Dell, Compaq, IBM, and others.
Sun's x86 servers are competitive with Dell, HPaq, and IBM. Also, Sun is not a Microsoft reseller and has no OEM puppet strings.
The article isn't clear. I would expect that Sun would offer both regular one-time licensing and subscription-based licensing. This would be fair to customers, who can choose depending on their needs.
I think a computer could be as bad, if the child already is fidgeting from the TV. Between portal sites, google search results, and suprising animal porn, a kid would just get lost trying out all sorts of links, etc.
The great thing about a Commodore 64 is that the games are great for kids: sprite graphics, relatively simple premises, etc. I'd say the Atari 2600 fits in this category, too. Some of the modern PC games for kids are just as full of random detail as TV, which is also distracting (not all, some kids games are great).
TV shows for children, for marketing reasons, have to cater to a pretty low denominator for attention span. TV networks have done their studies about optimum topic length for ad revenue, most likely, so this conflict of interest is not in the interest of our children.
Worse than TV alone is leaving the TV on while trying to do other things with children. Sitting down to do a puzzle or a game with a child while the TV is on and in line of sight is just hopeless. He/She is frequently looking towards the TV, because the constant change in images is so distracting.
During an early age, when the brain is still developing, how can TV not be screwing up our children?
To keep a sales tax from becoming as bad as the income tax, it would really need to be a simple flat rate with certain items exempted. Allowing many different items to be taxed at different rates would be at least as confusing and error prone as the income tax and it would allow politicians to fall into the same pit of social pressure by taxation.
The problem with collecting use tax from an individual is that Massachusetts tax authorites can't make a New Hampshire store turn over names of people who shop there because they're outside of their jurisdiction, nor can they make the buyers confess to shopping in New Hampshire thanks to protection from self-incrimination.
And this is exactly how it is supposed to be. If Massachusetts is unhappy with all the spoils of free trade (Massachusetts businesses making money off of big-ticket stuff like Boston area technology firms), then they can shoot themselves in their feet and close their borders.
Simple. Don't tax staple foods, rent, and basic clothing. Being easy on the poor was never easier. Oh, they cry about no longer having Earned Income Credit, then don't tax educational or medical expenses or whatever until they shut up.
(like marriage)
Yeah, being in a higher tax bracket is absolutely wonderful!
Can't do that with a sales tax.
Why? Do you really think drug dealers will remit sales tax to the government? Doing so would surely land them in a "World's Dumbest Criminals" special on FOX.
...when the governement got bigger it needed more taxes to sustian it.
No shit. I read this in a book recently:
Number of federal government employees in 1800 = 130 Number of federal government employees in 1900 = 239,476 Number of federal government employees in 2000 = 2,696,625
Today, fully 1% of the US population is employed by the federal government. This does not include state and local governments and does not include the military (the book said these were civilian numbers only).
If we count only hirable adults, this means that fully several percent of the work force is strictly for government middlemen!
Thus, I'd say we only increased size/speed ratio by 50%.
You're in for a biger disappointment, as the next-generation Pentiums will require constructing an evaporation tower in your backyard along with a 500HP water pump.
Fuck DeBeers and fuck the other semiconducter manufacturers, too. If synthetic diamonds really are the next step in microprocessors, then companies have every right in the world to pursue them. This is how a free market is supposed to work, and it sucks when the establishment runs crying to the government or industry bullies and gets their way.
...I'll take a slick, full-color, screenshot-laden, official book every time.
I've had pretty good luck with GameFaqs. I know how to use "Find in this page..." in Mozilla and know how to look up multiple sources if I question what the FAQ says.
GameFaqs is just one of many sites, too. Doing a web search for the game name plus a specific keyword like "chocobo training" or whatever is very effective. There is no shortage of information on the WWW about games.
I can't disagree about the collectability of good printed guides, but then that is an entirely separate topic than simply getting information. Humans will collect anything.
There is nothing to figure out, there is nothing to solve, no brainwork involved. You simply either know or you don't know. And sometimes the game will give you a hint. And sometimes the game wont tell you jack. If the game doesn't tell you anything, a strategy guide is the only way to get everything in the game. Fuck that. Fuck that with the three horrid whirling cocks. (PA)
I agree. Final Fantasy X, for example, has some side quests (especially the celestial weapons) that have either zero clues, very very very faint clues, or rely on pure luck. Perhaps they want me to buy that strategy guide advertised in the game manual...but I just use google.
The problem is, most people around the office (and at home) are not aware that loaning or giving a copy to a friend or co-worker is unauthorized. They really believe that they bought it, they can intall it wherever they want.
I remain unconvinced that this tendency warrants convoluted and fragile technological solutions (copy protection is very fragile, in my experience). Perhaps your licensing model is flawed? What about offering "site licenses" to businesses? Clearly, your customers have demonstrated that your approach to them is inadequate. Perhaps you need a different sales pitch or clearer labeling on the CD and packaging?
Software companies can squeeze only so much out of the economy (contrary to MPAA, RIAA, and BSA claims of huge "losses"), so it is imperative that software companies really convince customers (not "consumers") to buy their software. All copy protection does is piss them off, especially on cheap software and espeicially when that software fails for no other reason than half-baked protection schemes. Pissed off customers are customers who shop elsewhere (e.g., take that TurboTax crap from last year or Win XP activation schemes).
Seriously, with sites like GameFaqs, I look down upon printed manuals as a genuine waste of money. The only advantage of a DVD guide would be video examples, but it, too, would cost money and would require swapping out a PS2 disc or switching the TV over to a separate DVD player.
With the WWW, I can access hundreds of people who put out this information out of enthusiasm for free (not unlike OSS), so your only market with printed/DVD guides are people without Internet access or saps who make impulse purchases at toy stores.
I guess as a GNU advocate, there is no need for anti-piracy programs, but some people butter their bread writing software and they can't just give it away.
Piracy is really and truly overrated. People who do pirate software would not have ever paid for it in any case. Do you really think some farmer in China is willing to pay $50 for software? How about some random high-school student? How about a bureaucracy-constrained lackey, who would spend literally thousands of dollars to push through the hoops to buy that $50 piece of software (instead, they buy $50,000+ of Oracle and WebLogic)?
The existing legal climate works well to inhibit well-intentioned people from prirating. It is important for business people to feel legitimate with respect to their software, because it is an easy and inexpensive way to reduce risk. People who sincerely do not care about risk are in the minority.
Worst case is that pirates are free word of mouth advertising.
Re:Of all the interesting moons in this solar syst
on
Titanic Saturn
·
· Score: 1
The only resource that would make mining Titan economically viable would be pure, contained antimatter.
Now that you mention it, I happen to have some right here, in my ass.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a technology evaluation and demonstration vessel. Nobody expects it to go into combat and take hits.
Based on all the well-made and highly-entertaining documentaries I've seen about this, it is always the prototype that gets called into battle and it is always the prototype that fires the winning shot, allowing a happy outcome, where some guy and a girl kiss and everyone goes back to their families. Always.
How cool is that?
Very cool, but there is one fact about COTS that is often ignored: most COTS is CRAP. It is interesting that COTS is an anagram of COST...
Regardless, if the ship really uses a Mozilla interface for controlling a warship, I really hope they took the source, audited it, fixed anything they found wrong, and tested the hell out of it. Did they? Unlikely, but who knows, since it really depends on how the contracts were written, whether or not they hired only inexperienced (profitable) programmers, etc.
Do I even need to patch?
It depends. I don't patch my home systems, for example, unless a particular application absolutely needs it. In fact, my operating systems are all at least a year and a half old by now. I don't have problems with viruses, worms, trojans, or spam either.
So what do I do?
1) I have a separate dedicated firewall running OpenBSD with a draconian-as-hell no-inbound connections allowed setup. There are no services on this box except for internet connectivity and internal-only must-have things for administration. The firewall also disallows all inbound and outbound connections from Windows, because I don't need them, nor do I trust Microsoft's privacy statements. Also, this box is not even an x86 architecture.
2) I have pared down all my rc?.d directories so practically no services are running on any of my computers, except as absolutely needed. This not only reduces vulnerabilities but speeds up booting and reduces RAM consumption.
3) I don't use wireless networking.
4) I disable loading images in my e-mail.
5) I use separate e-mail addresses for posting to mailing lists.
6) I read e-mail on a non-Microsoft non-Intel platform. It's even a different combination than my firewall.
7) I actually read privacy policies and try to use companies with good ones. If I suspect a company has traded my info (e.g., sudden clusters of junk mail after a transaction), I try to avoid them in the future.
8) I do not enter contests, I always opt-out, and I always refuse when checkout clerks ask for my info. The suprise/frustration many of these clerks express is sad evidence that I am often the only person they have seen that day who refuses (terribly terribly sad).
9) I am selective with whom I do business on-line. I will often do repeat business with a known-honest vendor even if I can get something a little cheaper elsewhere. If I come across a suprisingly cheap vendor, I first search the WWW and Usenet to see if they are legit.
10) I'm not a gotta-have-it impulsive schmuck like so many people. "Going without" is not a problem with me. If I don't trust someone, they won't get my money or information. Perhaps, this is also why, in addition to no computer problems, I don't have financial problems, either.
posting sales of $4.2 billion
So, IBM sold three mainframes. What's the big deal, here?
I.e. a dual CPU capable system with one processor still pays dual CPU prices
Where did you read this, because I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Sun sells CPU license upgrades at their on-line store. If everyone bought license for "capability", then why bother selling upgrades for added CPUs?
Solaris 9 is free for Sun-provided hardware. Second hand hardware needs a right-to-use (RTU) license, which is about $100 for a single CPU. Given that Windows 98 and XP still sell for $100, Solaris 9 is a good deal.
The trolls are really hot today!!!
McNealy most likely hates Ballmer's guts. That Java memo was a long time ago. Python and Perl do not have the breadth of the Java API. Python's compiler is also immature (optimization: coming soon!). Sun is embracing Linux not trying to destroy it.
This article today has resulted in so much misinformation being posted that it is sickening.
Now Solaris is out for the x86 and hardware reliability and speed can be had at a fraction of the cost in x86-based servers from Dell, Compaq, IBM, and others.
Sun's x86 servers are competitive with Dell, HPaq, and IBM. Also, Sun is not a Microsoft reseller and has no OEM puppet strings.
Wow, a troll modded to 4?!?
They didn't "throw in the towel" with Microsoft.
They have the Java Community Process for Java.
They didn't sell their high-end server business. Most likely, it will be a partnership with Fujitsu.
Sun is not an "also ran". They are still pushing out lots of new non-trivial things, like JDS, Java 1.5, Solaris 10, 144-core servers, etc.
The article isn't clear. I would expect that Sun would offer both regular one-time licensing and subscription-based licensing. This would be fair to customers, who can choose depending on their needs.
I think a computer could be as bad, if the child already is fidgeting from the TV. Between portal sites, google search results, and suprising animal porn, a kid would just get lost trying out all sorts of links, etc.
The great thing about a Commodore 64 is that the games are great for kids: sprite graphics, relatively simple premises, etc. I'd say the Atari 2600 fits in this category, too. Some of the modern PC games for kids are just as full of random detail as TV, which is also distracting (not all, some kids games are great).
TV shows for children, for marketing reasons, have to cater to a pretty low denominator for attention span. TV networks have done their studies about optimum topic length for ad revenue, most likely, so this conflict of interest is not in the interest of our children.
Worse than TV alone is leaving the TV on while trying to do other things with children. Sitting down to do a puzzle or a game with a child while the TV is on and in line of sight is just hopeless. He/She is frequently looking towards the TV, because the constant change in images is so distracting.
During an early age, when the brain is still developing, how can TV not be screwing up our children?
To keep a sales tax from becoming as bad as the income tax, it would really need to be a simple flat rate with certain items exempted. Allowing many different items to be taxed at different rates would be at least as confusing and error prone as the income tax and it would allow politicians to fall into the same pit of social pressure by taxation.
The problem with collecting use tax from an individual is that Massachusetts tax authorites can't make a New Hampshire store turn over names of people who shop there because they're outside of their jurisdiction, nor can they make the buyers confess to shopping in New Hampshire thanks to protection from self-incrimination.
And this is exactly how it is supposed to be. If Massachusetts is unhappy with all the spoils of free trade (Massachusetts businesses making money off of big-ticket stuff like Boston area technology firms), then they can shoot themselves in their feet and close their borders.
Programming is like sex... make one mistake, and support it the rest of your life.
In programming, the programmer quits, making someone else support it the rest of their life!
It is disproportionately hard on poor people.
Simple. Don't tax staple foods, rent, and basic clothing. Being easy on the poor was never easier. Oh, they cry about no longer having Earned Income Credit, then don't tax educational or medical expenses or whatever until they shut up.
(like marriage)
Yeah, being in a higher tax bracket is absolutely wonderful!
Can't do that with a sales tax.
Why? Do you really think drug dealers will remit sales tax to the government? Doing so would surely land them in a "World's Dumbest Criminals" special on FOX.
the largest military in the universe....
The Vogons do not share your opinion.
...when the governement got bigger it needed more taxes to sustian it.
No shit. I read this in a book recently:
Number of federal government employees in 1800 = 130
Number of federal government employees in 1900 = 239,476
Number of federal government employees in 2000 = 2,696,625
Today, fully 1% of the US population is employed by the federal government. This does not include state and local governments and does not include the military (the book said these were civilian numbers only).
If we count only hirable adults, this means that fully several percent of the work force is strictly for government middlemen!
Thus, I'd say we only increased size/speed ratio by 50%.
You're in for a biger disappointment, as the next-generation Pentiums will require constructing an evaporation tower in your backyard along with a 500HP water pump.
Fuck DeBeers and fuck the other semiconducter manufacturers, too. If synthetic diamonds really are the next step in microprocessors, then companies have every right in the world to pursue them. This is how a free market is supposed to work, and it sucks when the establishment runs crying to the government or industry bullies and gets their way.
...I'll take a slick, full-color, screenshot-laden, official book every time.
I've had pretty good luck with GameFaqs. I know how to use "Find in this page..." in Mozilla and know how to look up multiple sources if I question what the FAQ says.
GameFaqs is just one of many sites, too. Doing a web search for the game name plus a specific keyword like "chocobo training" or whatever is very effective. There is no shortage of information on the WWW about games.
I can't disagree about the collectability of good printed guides, but then that is an entirely separate topic than simply getting information. Humans will collect anything.
There is nothing to figure out, there is nothing to solve, no brainwork involved. You simply either know or you don't know. And sometimes the game will give you a hint. And sometimes the game wont tell you jack. If the game doesn't tell you anything, a strategy guide is the only way to get everything in the game. Fuck that. Fuck that with the three horrid whirling cocks. (PA)
I agree. Final Fantasy X, for example, has some side quests (especially the celestial weapons) that have either zero clues, very very very faint clues, or rely on pure luck. Perhaps they want me to buy that strategy guide advertised in the game manual...but I just use google.
The problem is, most people around the office (and at home) are not aware that loaning or giving a copy to a friend or co-worker is unauthorized. They really believe that they bought it, they can intall it wherever they want.
I remain unconvinced that this tendency warrants convoluted and fragile technological solutions (copy protection is very fragile, in my experience). Perhaps your licensing model is flawed? What about offering "site licenses" to businesses? Clearly, your customers have demonstrated that your approach to them is inadequate. Perhaps you need a different sales pitch or clearer labeling on the CD and packaging?
Software companies can squeeze only so much out of the economy (contrary to MPAA, RIAA, and BSA claims of huge "losses"), so it is imperative that software companies really convince customers (not "consumers") to buy their software. All copy protection does is piss them off, especially on cheap software and espeicially when that software fails for no other reason than half-baked protection schemes. Pissed off customers are customers who shop elsewhere (e.g., take that TurboTax crap from last year or Win XP activation schemes).
Seriously, with sites like GameFaqs, I look down upon printed manuals as a genuine waste of money. The only advantage of a DVD guide would be video examples, but it, too, would cost money and would require swapping out a PS2 disc or switching the TV over to a separate DVD player.
With the WWW, I can access hundreds of people who put out this information out of enthusiasm for free (not unlike OSS), so your only market with printed/DVD guides are people without Internet access or saps who make impulse purchases at toy stores.
I guess as a GNU advocate, there is no need for anti-piracy programs, but some people butter their bread writing software and they can't just give it away.
Piracy is really and truly overrated. People who do pirate software would not have ever paid for it in any case. Do you really think some farmer in China is willing to pay $50 for software? How about some random high-school student? How about a bureaucracy-constrained lackey, who would spend literally thousands of dollars to push through the hoops to buy that $50 piece of software (instead, they buy $50,000+ of Oracle and WebLogic)?
The existing legal climate works well to inhibit well-intentioned people from prirating. It is important for business people to feel legitimate with respect to their software, because it is an easy and inexpensive way to reduce risk. People who sincerely do not care about risk are in the minority.
Worst case is that pirates are free word of mouth advertising.
The only resource that would make mining Titan economically viable would be pure, contained antimatter.
Now that you mention it, I happen to have some right here, in my ass.