In continuous use for over 20 years, the X Window System provides the only standard platform-independent networked graphical window system...
Somehow I question the claim that the X Window System is still platform-independent. To me it looks like a unix-centric development. There are other operating systems, like VMS, and they come with older versions of the X Window System, too. But the "autothis-and-that" tools all are written for Unix features, like the file specification, syntax of options, compilation tools etc.. None of the differences among various operating systems are addressed in the new scheme and somehow I doubt they will be in the future. Of course, one could adapt other operating system to Unix, but people who chose not to use Unix certainly did that because they do not want to their software to be Unix-alike. Not that I want to judge here which operating system is the best (after all this is/.:-), but I like to suggest that either the people who are developing the X Window System work on this part of their software or drop the claim that they produce platform-independent software.
In any case I appreciate the X Window System very much, thanks.
Sounds almost like the episode in Star Wars one when R2D2 fixed the shield generator. I hope the hero robot gets the same royal treatment like R2D2. Robots love a good polishing job (and they hate to be naked).
The author of the cited article did indeed have a problem with units and their interpretation (understanding). For example "km/second" should be km/s (at least there is no "kph"), or "tons/cm2" should be t/cm^2. Anyway, the author also neglected to mention the thickness of the material. A km thick layer of paper will stop a bullet, too.
Here are a few numbers, just to illustrate how difficult such missions are.
Imagine there are lots of little components in each device of the experiment (space ship) and the probability that each of them works perfectly for the whole missing is 99%, a pretty large number considering the stress on the material etc.. Then let's have only 10 components in each device. There is a 0.99^10=0.9 (90%) probability that each device works without problem. Then assume we installed 10 of the larger devices for our mission. Now the chances of success are only 0.9^10=0.35 (35%). Of course reality is a bit more complex, but this simple model illustrates what the odds are.
By constantly emphasizing the problems of an experiment it is very easy to discredit it. This discord hurts not only the Japanese space program, but also the programs in the EU, India, Russia, and US. It may even be harmful to scientific programs in general. I wish the reports at/. would focus a bit more on the Hayabusa success.
How about KOffice as alternative? Is there any comparison between OpenOffice and KOffice published? When I looked into the OpenOffice code a while ago I was discouraged by the original StarOffice code and the amount of Java code. I guess Sun added the Java code, thanks, but no thanks. As far as I can tell there is at least no Java dependence in KOffice. It would be nice to compare two comparable OpenSource projects directly instead of making general statements based on just one example.
What bothers me most about the discussion is that DRM (restriction of consumers' rights), rootkits (hiding certain software), spyware (online monitoring), trusted computing (owners denied access to their own computer) and all that crap will be part of the next Microsoft Windows release. Soon companies like Sony will no longer have to distribute malicious CD. The malicious software will be installed on most PC's by default. Heck, even the signals over the monitor cables and be encrypted. The future already arrived with some products. Popular DVD players for PC's do not play some DVD's if the TV output of a graphics adapted is enabled (this is absurd!). Proprietary file formats require Internet access so that companies can monitor everybody and, if they wish, deny access. People are buying such products. Most people do not know what they buy, because the mass media are either in one bed with those who advocate the malicious software or they are completely blind. Sony rootkits are just the beginning.
It is shopping season, and I bought a VCR/DVD combo. When I checked the list of available products on the market the first thing I did is to remove all Sony products from the list. Big company can do whatever they want because people buy their products. The customers' money is also used to lobby against the interests of customers. And the customers' money will be used to fight off all legal implications because of the Sony rootkit debacle. Personally I will never again spend a cent for any Sony product. IMHO this is the only way to deal with DRM, rootkits, spyware...
Are all.com,.org and.net sites located in the US? Are those domains automatically US domains? I think not. But then, who is trying to govern whom and why? And why now?
I do not buy anything at Target anymore, because at my local Target store they check every receipt and bags. Quite frankly, this treatment pisses me off. Your story only confirms distaste for the Target perversion of the legal system. Most customers are honest people. Incidents like the reported one at Wal Mart do not change this fact. It would be quite interesting to see how honest Target staff and management are.
BBC brought the story a day earlier, shorter, no "feet" balast and with a bit more details. In particular they mention that the distance of Tapei 101 to the ancient earthquake fault (inactive for 45,000 years) is 200m, and they also point out that some people doubt that the tower is causing earth quake (not that I want to take sides).
Didn't you hate the warning label stating [Batman] "Cape does not enable wearer to fly"?:) Maybe the electric current through the fabric will not make the fabric invisible, but perhaps stiff.
I hope Eleksen also manages to develop products such as artifical limb down to fingers, feet and toes for handicapped people. I know there are a lot who suffer from a loss.
Not quoting the sources is one of PCWorld's specialties. I do not see any reason why PCWorld should be cited at/. at all. Here is another announcement of the same product, half a year earlier: http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/104/C3994/ Of course the mobilmag article does give a link to Eleksen.
http://www.theinquirer.net/ (online computer journal) http://www.electronicsweekly.com/ (online electronics journal) Just to name two of many journals with lots of external citations. Journals like PCWorld with their low standard are rather the exception than the norm.
Almost all links in PCWorld articles point to PCWorld articles. In particular all citations are PCWorld references only. Normally valuable documents contain lots of external citations. References to third party documents illustrate that the writer knows what she or he is writing about and that statements are evaluated by a larger community. PCWorld articles on the other hand are of extremely low quality. They contain almost no imformation. It often seems the writer has no idea what she or he is writing about. It goes even so far that PCWorld writers report about the Cebit without knowing how to spell Hannover (the Cebit is located in Hannover). Of course the PCWorld editors also miss such points. Who cares about PCWorld?
I think Microsoft should produce patches ASAP. But does it really matter? There are so many new issues every week that nobody, except for a few fulltime system managers, could actually keep up with the rate of patches needed. Automatic patching may be an option for some users, but not for all. Sometimes you simply do not want to change a running configuration for a while, let's say shortly before a deadline. So, my conclusion is, even if Microsoft would be able to provide patches immediately, it would not help. Besides, it usually takes a while until vulnerabilities become public or known to Microsoft.
There is nothing wrong with teens and children, even if they make noise. It is just natural for children to make noise. But I think this is a wonderful idea to hit those idiots who drive with the extra-large subwoofers through our neighborhoods and terrorize everybody, even at night.
Slashdot Mirror
MacOS lost its independence when Apple decided to use a Unix system as core of MacOS with version X.
Mac OS X: Look who else is switching
In continuous use for over 20 years, the X Window System provides the only standard platform-independent networked graphical window system...
/. :-), but I like to suggest that either the people who are developing the X Window System work on this part of their software or drop the claim that they produce platform-independent software.
Somehow I question the claim that the X Window System is still platform-independent. To me it looks like a unix-centric development. There are other operating systems, like VMS, and they come with older versions of the X Window System, too. But the "autothis-and-that" tools all are written for Unix features, like the file specification, syntax of options, compilation tools etc.. None of the differences among various operating systems are addressed in the new scheme and somehow I doubt they will be in the future. Of course, one could adapt other operating system to Unix, but people who chose not to use Unix certainly did that because they do not want to their software to be Unix-alike. Not that I want to judge here which operating system is the best (after all this is
In any case I appreciate the X Window System very much, thanks.
Sounds almost like the episode in Star Wars one when R2D2 fixed the shield generator. I hope the hero robot gets the same royal treatment like R2D2. Robots love a good polishing job (and they hate to be naked).
Such practices are not new. Here is another example: "New York's HIV experiment" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4 038375.stm
The author of the cited article did indeed have a problem with units and their interpretation (understanding). For example "km/second" should be km/s (at least there is no "kph"), or "tons/cm2" should be t/cm^2. Anyway, the author also neglected to mention the thickness of the material. A km thick layer of paper will stop a bullet, too.
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/
http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/metrsty3.htm
http://www.metric4us.com/
Federation nanites equiped with nanoarmor fighting Borg nanites
Here are a few numbers, just to illustrate how difficult such missions are.
/. would focus a bit more on the Hayabusa success.
Imagine there are lots of little components in each device of the experiment (space ship) and the probability that each of them works perfectly for the whole missing is 99%, a pretty large number considering the stress on the material etc.. Then let's have only 10 components in each device. There is a 0.99^10=0.9 (90%) probability that each device works without problem. Then assume we installed 10 of the larger devices for our mission. Now the chances of success are only 0.9^10=0.35 (35%). Of course reality is a bit more complex, but this simple model illustrates what the odds are.
By constantly emphasizing the problems of an experiment it is very easy to discredit it. This discord hurts not only the Japanese space program, but also the programs in the EU, India, Russia, and US. It may even be harmful to scientific programs in general. I wish the reports at
How about KOffice as alternative? Is there any comparison between OpenOffice and KOffice published? When I looked into the OpenOffice code a while ago I was discouraged by the original StarOffice code and the amount of Java code. I guess Sun added the Java code, thanks, but no thanks. As far as I can tell there is at least no Java dependence in KOffice. It would be nice to compare two comparable OpenSource projects directly instead of making general statements based on just one example.
There was another Sony case which they quietly settled by paying a few million Euro. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/01/walkman_pa tent_case/
This company questions people's ethics!
What bothers me most about the discussion is that DRM (restriction of consumers' rights), rootkits (hiding certain software), spyware (online monitoring), trusted computing (owners denied access to their own computer) and all that crap will be part of the next Microsoft Windows release. Soon companies like Sony will no longer have to distribute malicious CD. The malicious software will be installed on most PC's by default. Heck, even the signals over the monitor cables and be encrypted. The future already arrived with some products. Popular DVD players for PC's do not play some DVD's if the TV output of a graphics adapted is enabled (this is absurd!). Proprietary file formats require Internet access so that companies can monitor everybody and, if they wish, deny access. People are buying such products. Most people do not know what they buy, because the mass media are either in one bed with those who advocate the malicious software or they are completely blind. Sony rootkits are just the beginning.
It is shopping season, and I bought a VCR/DVD combo. When I checked the list of available products on the market the first thing I did is to remove all Sony products from the list. Big company can do whatever they want because people buy their products. The customers' money is also used to lobby against the interests of customers. And the customers' money will be used to fight off all legal implications because of the Sony rootkit debacle. Personally I will never again spend a cent for any Sony product. IMHO this is the only way to deal with DRM, rootkits, spyware...
Are all .com, .org and .net sites located in the US? Are those domains automatically US domains? I think not. But then, who is trying to govern whom and why? And why now?
I do not buy anything at Target anymore, because at my local Target store they check every receipt and bags. Quite frankly, this treatment pisses me off. Your story only confirms distaste for the Target perversion of the legal system. Most customers are honest people. Incidents like the reported one at Wal Mart do not change this fact. It would be quite interesting to see how honest Target staff and management are.
BBC brought the story a day earlier, shorter, no "feet" balast and with a bit more details. In particular they mention that the distance of Tapei 101 to the ancient earthquake fault (inactive for 45,000 years) is 200m, and they also point out that some people doubt that the tower is causing earth quake (not that I want to take sides).
t m
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4493360.s
Didn't you hate the warning label stating [Batman] "Cape does not enable wearer to fly"? :) Maybe the electric current through the fabric will not make the fabric invisible, but perhaps stiff.
I hope Eleksen also manages to develop products such as artifical limb down to fingers, feet and toes for handicapped people. I know there are a lot who suffer from a loss.
Not quoting the sources is one of PCWorld's specialties. I do not see any reason why PCWorld should be cited at /. at all.
Here is another announcement of the same product, half a year earlier: http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/104/C3994/ Of course the mobilmag article does give a link to Eleksen.
http://www.theinquirer.net/ (online computer journal)
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/ (online electronics journal)
Just to name two of many journals with lots of external citations. Journals like PCWorld with their low standard are rather the exception than the norm.
Almost all links in PCWorld articles point to PCWorld articles. In particular all citations are PCWorld references only. Normally valuable documents contain lots of external citations. References to third party documents illustrate that the writer knows what she or he is writing about and that statements are evaluated by a larger community. PCWorld articles on the other hand are of extremely low quality. They contain almost no imformation. It often seems the writer has no idea what she or he is writing about. It goes even so far that PCWorld writers report about the Cebit without knowing how to spell Hannover (the Cebit is located in Hannover). Of course the PCWorld editors also miss such points. Who cares about PCWorld?
Maybe Alf will come back from Melmac to test this service on Earth. I would love to see him dialing up the telemarketers!
I did not notice - thanks, Mozilla :)
dict.leo.org is a really good German-English and German-French dictionary, in case someone needs one.
Wasn't "Trustworthy computing" a Microsoft ad campaign years ago? Seems it turned into a Google campaign. http://www.trustworthycomputing.com/
I think Microsoft should produce patches ASAP. But does it really matter? There are so many new issues every week that nobody, except for a few fulltime system managers, could actually keep up with the rate of patches needed. Automatic patching may be an option for some users, but not for all. Sometimes you simply do not want to change a running configuration for a while, let's say shortly before a deadline. So, my conclusion is, even if Microsoft would be able to provide patches immediately, it would not help. Besides, it usually takes a while until vulnerabilities become public or known to Microsoft.
There is nothing wrong with teens and children, even if they make noise. It is just natural for children to make noise. But I think this is a wonderful idea to hit those idiots who drive with the extra-large subwoofers through our neighborhoods and terrorize everybody, even at night.
It's the turkey's fault.