Actually, I'm willing to buy this. I've been working with $(GRAPHICS_CHIP_VENDOR), who don't hand out the specs to their chips (as a rule) because, in order to interpret them, you need several hours of training in their specific design methodologies. They provide this training to their OEM customers (because they pay for it), but don't have the resources to provide same to random hackers.
Not a particularly compelling excuse, but there it is.
I have an HP Omnibook 800CT running Linux. It would be nice to be able to use it now and again for useful things. For example, it'd be nice to be able to run PPP or SLIP over it, thereby allowing me to FTP in to the laptop across from me...
But, alas, the Omnibook 800 uses the VLSI part for IrDA, and they won't cough up the specs. I have an acquaintance who used to work at HP, who helped design the HP OB800. He says VLSI wouldn't even tell them how to program it. VLSI just supplied opaque Windoze drivers, and HP loaded them on to the disk.
Really, I have to wonder what all this digital balkanism is supposed to accomplish...
Ever tried to upgrade the memory in a Quadra 800? If you're never done that box before, it will take half an hour. And if you escape without bloodying your hands, you're lucky.
Don't they realize that about half of all Quake servers run on Linux? If you're a Quake server admin, do you want to crash back into Windoze just to check out the latest version of Capture The Flag/Team Fortress/Rocket Arena/Holy Wars/etc?
Everyone start buying Matrox, NVidia, 3Dfx, and/or (gack!) S3 cards. Slowly, inexorably, ATI will figure out they're losing sales and change their tune.
This little incident offers us a piece of information that would be nearly impossible to obtain by other means:
Toshiba is paying $110 Australian for each copy of Windoze.
An interesting gambit would be to pursue refunds from other major PC manufacturers, thereby getting a map of who's paying what. Could be very revealing...
Yeah, that is curious. He offers BSDi as the only UNIX left standing without any hint as to why that might happen. Maybe it was just to get all our knickers in a twist...
I have a really, really big problem with highly restrictive, extremely one-sided contracts that you can find yourself bound to without your knowledge or consent. (Clicking on a button does not constitute a meaningful form of consent.) I wrote a longish editorial on this subject a couple years ago.
I have ignored the terms of every shrinkwrap license "agreement" I have ever encountered. (In particular, I always reserve the right to disassemble and reverse-engineer any code that lawfully comes into my possession.) However, I still observe the precepts of copyright law, which is more than sufficient protection for software publishers.
I noticed in your column that you typed the years 1998 and 1999 with a lowercase 'L' rather than a '1'. The only people I know who still make that mistake are those who learned how to type on old manual typewriters (where the '1' key more often than not didn't exist), and never fully converted over...
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Actually, I'm willing to buy this. I've been working with $(GRAPHICS_CHIP_VENDOR), who don't hand out the specs to their chips (as a rule) because, in order to interpret them, you need several hours of training in their specific design methodologies. They provide this training to their OEM customers (because they pay for it), but don't have the resources to provide same to random hackers.
Not a particularly compelling excuse, but there it is.
Schwab
I have an HP Omnibook 800CT running Linux. It would be nice to be able to use it now and again for useful things. For example, it'd be nice to be able to run PPP or SLIP over it, thereby allowing me to FTP in to the laptop across from me...
But, alas, the Omnibook 800 uses the VLSI part for IrDA, and they won't cough up the specs. I have an acquaintance who used to work at HP, who helped design the HP OB800. He says VLSI wouldn't even tell them how to program it. VLSI just supplied opaque Windoze drivers, and HP loaded them on to the disk.
Really, I have to wonder what all this digital balkanism is supposed to accomplish...
Schwab
You may not be, but the computer may be doing it for you. You guys in the trenches, after all, don't have a Need To Know.
Schwab
Doofus.
Ever tried to upgrade the memory in a Quadra 800? If you're never done that box before, it will take half an hour. And if you escape without bloodying your hands, you're lucky.
Schwab
Try looking at the fscking chip! The rated CPU clock speed is printed on it. If it's filed off, don't buy it. Sheesh...
Schwab
Schmucks.
Don't they realize that about half of all Quake servers run on Linux? If you're a Quake server admin, do you want to crash back into Windoze just to check out the latest version of Capture The Flag/Team Fortress/Rocket Arena/Holy Wars/etc?
Everyone start buying Matrox, NVidia, 3Dfx, and/or (gack!) S3 cards. Slowly, inexorably, ATI will figure out they're losing sales and change their tune.
Schwab
This little incident offers us a piece of information that would be nearly impossible to obtain by other means:
Toshiba is paying $110 Australian for each copy of Windoze.
An interesting gambit would be to pursue refunds from other major PC manufacturers, thereby getting a map of who's paying what. Could be very revealing...
Schwab
Yeah, that is curious. He offers BSDi as the only UNIX left standing without any hint as to why that might happen. Maybe it was just to get all our knickers in a twist...
Schwab
I have a really, really big problem with highly restrictive, extremely one-sided contracts that you can find yourself bound to without your knowledge or consent. (Clicking on a button does not constitute a meaningful form of consent.) I wrote a longish editorial on this subject a couple years ago.
I have ignored the terms of every shrinkwrap license "agreement" I have ever encountered. (In particular, I always reserve the right to disassemble and reverse-engineer any code that lawfully comes into my possession.) However, I still observe the precepts of copyright law, which is more than sufficient protection for software publishers.
Schwab
JMS is J. Michael Straczinski(sp?), creator of Babylon-5.
Schwab
I noticed in your column that you typed the years 1998 and 1999 with a lowercase 'L' rather than a '1'. The only people I know who still make that mistake are those who learned how to type on old manual typewriters (where the '1' key more often than not didn't exist), and never fully converted over...
Schwab