You're quite right. I think that Brazil is actually counting on those private developers. I think that their plan is to contract out the software projects that they need done while using Linux, and other free software as a basis for those projects.
Farming out developement of other software has got to be cheaper than paying M$ obscene liscensing fees. Furthermore, when you hire contractors, you can get a solution which fits better than an out of the package software-suite. At the beginning, they may have to send some of that work overseas, but they will probably find local talent pretty quickly.
Actually, I like the academic system quite well. Academics are not paid for creating Intellectual Property for their institutions. Rather, they are funded to produce intellectual advancement for all of society. Sure, there's still a monetary reward, but there is not really any intellectual property created unless property refers to property of humanity.
One of the first verification processes in semiconductor technologies is 'can we make memory with it'. They start off simple and let the circuits get more complex from there.
So why, then, is the gap between processing speed and memory access speed growing?
I certainly was not arguing for the use of Germanic-rooted words above those with Latin roots.
As I've said before, the most important factors are accuracy, clarity, and ease of comprehension. The word use of the word 'born' in that particular context would have been quite inappropriate as it refered to a entire people (the 'birth' of any people is quite a murky matter, but 'native' clearly implies long residence).
Okay, so we all can agree that the patent process is fucked up in the extreme, but do any slashdotters out there have any ideas as to how to fix it?
I'll start off. I don't think software patents should be granted. Is that a reasonable first step? What other ideas
I'm actually drafting a document on general problems with IP laws in this country (to give to various elected officials who despite popular belief actually do pay attention), and I would love to incorporate some good thoughts.
Well, sure, Palm hasn't lost the case yet, but the ruling on appeal was certainly a poor one. While it's true that credit card size does indeed refer to a range of sizes, palms would clearly not be considered credit card sized by any reasonable person.
Hmmm. Interesting... Good Post. I wonder if anyone can give some examples from other languages?
I should say, though, that English really has a three level split, and phenomenon seems quite similar. There are the traditional Germanic words direct from Old English. Then after William the Conqueror invaded England, the (French) Normans ruled England for a while. Thus we get most of our -ent words (intelligent) -tion words (information), and others. Also, scholars and priests have over the years adopted many words from Latin and Greek as well as adapted many Latin and Greek roots for new purposes.
French did come directly from Latin, but most of the words which come directly from French are quite distinct. Many of the French words tend to refer to fairly everyday concepts whereas most of the Latin and Greek words are fairly specific.
Re:I doubt that this ubiquious stuff will ever wor
on
Spray-On Computers
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
First of all, DNA computers will probably never be practical. Not because of the equipment involved, but because their is a hard limit on the amount of dna that can be involved in a single computation.
Also, you are correct that it is not feasable for a network to achieve linear time speed-up in the number of processors. Theta(n/log(n)) would be great, though, and sufficient for most applications.
But a significant portion of a particular word's connotation comes from its linguistic roots. It's that bias which I have a problem with. Joe Schmoe may not recognize it, but history has quite a significant effect on his everyday language.
You are right that those Middle English speakers who lost to the William the Conqueror were quite a bit less sophisticated than the Norman nobility who came to rule them. The fact that there were quite unsophisticated people in Normandy at the time didn't have much effect on the English language.
I guess I really have three points (they are also made by Orwell as linked-to by my grand-parent post):
1. There are quite a few maligned words out there (many 'four-letter' words and other four-letter words; many Germanic-rooted words) that are quite wonderful and expressive if they aren't over-used.
2. Big words (often from French or Latin) are okay, but many people use them to obscure things and sound important.
3. The most important factor in word choice should be accuracy, ease of expression for the writer/speaker, and ease of comprehension for the reader/listener.
Man it really kills me how words with Germanic roots have gotten such a bad name. Why is 'feces' a more acceptable word than 'shit'? Because it come from the Latin 'faex' rather than the Old English 'scite'?
Why does 'intelligent' sound more sophisticated than 'smart'? Because it comes directly from french rather than Old English?
Just because our (as in english speakers') priests used to speak Latin while our kings used to speak French does not mean we should favor one part of our language over another. Orwell has a very interesting piece, Politics and the English Language, which deals with this issues.
It pisses me off so much when people try to limit my vocabulary. This is off-topic just a bit, but...
I was in a class called 'Images of Africa in Film and Literature.' I read some good books and saw some interesting films. Generally, I was enjoying it. Then one day, someone (maybe me?) refered to native South Africans. The prof got upset. "We just don't use that word," he said. The jist of his argument against the word was that many ignorant people use it to refer to stereotypic, primitive people who live in the jungle, hunt heads and dance around cauldrons.
These stereotypes are, of course, not encouraged by the academic community which studies Africa. But Jesus H. Fucking Christ, native just means someone who was born in a particular place or apeople which has resided in a location for a long time.
After that, I just really lost interest in the class and respect for that prof. I just did enough to get by, and I still got an A.
So in conclusion, thought/word/language police,
FUCK OFF!
Re:Does anyone see IP issues inthe future?
on
Corel Goes Private
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· Score: 1
Thanks. I'll look into it.
I still think that an OSS groupware (thanks for the proper term) system would greatly speed adoption of Linux by small businesses which is an extremely important market (I guess I should use that term with respect to free software).
Re:Does anyone see IP issues inthe future?
on
Corel Goes Private
·
· Score: 1
I agree. My father is a judge and my mother runs a law firm. My Dad still uses WordPerfect even though the whole courthouse switched to Word. I think my Mom's office might be half and half. In any case, I'll probably encourage her to switch from her MS Exchange Based Network to something Linux based in the next few years. The real roadblock there is good distributed organizing software for Linux. Perhaps, Corel can get into the small business planning sector? It's one area where OSS is severely lacking.
Yeah. It's amazing where you'll find Windows. For the past few days, the local public education cable channel has had a Windows login prompt misdisplayed.
Windows is fine for games and light use, but who why would you want to do anything serious with it? Sooner or later, these companies will wise up and move to *nix.
What kind of sick airline uses Windows servers to do check in and track flights/passengers. Is their IT department completely slow? They deserve what they get.
(Disclaimer: I've flown Air Canada. The accomodations were very nice.)
I have the perfect solution. I NEVER see hyped movies the openning week end. In fact, I almost never see them in their original theatres. I wait until they hit the cheap theatres. Then I don't have to pay more than $2/ticket.
I would like to thank all of you who pony up the $8-$10 at regular price theatres to help pay for the movie so that I can see it cheap. I just wish you would have better taste so that I can see better movies for cheap. The only movies I see at full price are less popular 'art' films that don't make it to the cheap theatres (by the way, go rent or buy or download Spike Jonze's Adaptation).
Hopefully, Russia doing this will convince the US, Japan, and the EU to help supply funding and expertise and this will become a well-funded international mission.
Slashdot Mirror
It already does:
Mostly unfettered. Like the Iranian filters, the U.S. service blocks porn sites -- "There's a limit to what taxpayers should pay for," says Berman.
You're quite right. I think that Brazil is actually counting on those private developers. I think that their plan is to contract out the software projects that they need done while using Linux, and other free software as a basis for those projects.
Farming out developement of other software has got to be cheaper than paying M$ obscene liscensing fees. Furthermore, when you hire contractors, you can get a solution which fits better than an out of the package software-suite. At the beginning, they may have to send some of that work overseas, but they will probably find local talent pretty quickly.
Actually, I like the academic system quite well. Academics are not paid for creating Intellectual Property for their institutions. Rather, they are funded to produce intellectual advancement for all of society. Sure, there's still a monetary reward, but there is not really any intellectual property created unless property refers to property of humanity.
What can we compare this to? What's the switching speed for, say, a 4 GHz Pentium?
So are you saying that we could build fast memory easily, but it's really the bus that's the bottleneck?
Ha. You're right. Not only did they end up voting for GWB in the presidential election, they actually elected his bro governor
That's grounds for kicking them out of the Union right? Kind of like reverse seccession?
While we're at it, we should probably get rid of Texas for the same reason.
One of the first verification processes in semiconductor technologies is 'can we make memory with it'. They start off simple and let the circuits get more complex from there. So why, then, is the gap between processing speed and memory access speed growing?
According to this report. Moderate consumption of alcohol (any alcohol; not just wine) can reduce risk of coronary disease.
I certainly was not arguing for the use of Germanic-rooted words above those with Latin roots.
As I've said before, the most important factors are accuracy, clarity, and ease of comprehension. The word use of the word 'born' in that particular context would have been quite inappropriate as it refered to a entire people (the 'birth' of any people is quite a murky matter, but 'native' clearly implies long residence).
Okay, so we all can agree that the patent process is fucked up in the extreme, but do any slashdotters out there have any ideas as to how to fix it?
I'll start off. I don't think software patents should be granted. Is that a reasonable first step? What other ideas
I'm actually drafting a document on general problems with IP laws in this country (to give to various elected officials who despite popular belief actually do pay attention), and I would love to incorporate some good thoughts.
Well, sure, Palm hasn't lost the case yet, but the ruling on appeal was certainly a poor one. While it's true that credit card size does indeed refer to a range of sizes, palms would clearly not be considered credit card sized by any reasonable person.
Hmmm. Interesting ... Good Post. I wonder if anyone can give some examples from other languages?
I should say, though, that English really has a three level split, and phenomenon seems quite similar. There are the traditional Germanic words direct from Old English. Then after William the Conqueror invaded England, the (French) Normans ruled England for a while. Thus we get most of our -ent words (intelligent) -tion words (information), and others. Also, scholars and priests have over the years adopted many words from Latin and Greek as well as adapted many Latin and Greek roots for new purposes.
French did come directly from Latin, but most of the words which come directly from French are quite distinct. Many of the French words tend to refer to fairly everyday concepts whereas most of the Latin and Greek words are fairly specific.
First of all, DNA computers will probably never be practical. Not because of the equipment involved, but because their is a hard limit on the amount of dna that can be involved in a single computation.
Also, you are correct that it is not feasable for a network to achieve linear time speed-up in the number of processors. Theta(n/log(n)) would be great, though, and sufficient for most applications.
No. I haven't. I will, thanks.
But a significant portion of a particular word's connotation comes from its linguistic roots. It's that bias which I have a problem with. Joe Schmoe may not recognize it, but history has quite a significant effect on his everyday language.
You are right that those Middle English speakers who lost to the William the Conqueror were quite a bit less sophisticated than the Norman nobility who came to rule them. The fact that there were quite unsophisticated people in Normandy at the time didn't have much effect on the English language.
I guess I really have three points (they are also made by Orwell as linked-to by my grand-parent post):
1. There are quite a few maligned words out there (many 'four-letter' words and other four-letter words; many Germanic-rooted words) that are quite wonderful and expressive if they aren't over-used.
2. Big words (often from French or Latin) are okay, but many people use them to obscure things and sound important.
3. The most important factor in word choice should be accuracy, ease of expression for the writer/speaker, and ease of comprehension for the reader/listener.
Man it really kills me how words with Germanic roots have gotten such a bad name. Why is 'feces' a more acceptable word than 'shit'? Because it come from the Latin 'faex' rather than the Old English 'scite'?
...
Why does 'intelligent' sound more sophisticated than 'smart'? Because it comes directly from french rather than Old English?
Just because our (as in english speakers') priests used to speak Latin while our kings used to speak French does not mean we should favor one part of our language over another. Orwell has a very interesting piece, Politics and the English Language, which deals with this issues.
It pisses me off so much when people try to limit my vocabulary. This is off-topic just a bit, but
I was in a class called 'Images of Africa in Film and Literature.' I read some good books and saw some interesting films. Generally, I was enjoying it. Then one day, someone (maybe me?) refered to native South Africans. The prof got upset. "We just don't use that word," he said. The jist of his argument against the word was that many ignorant people use it to refer to stereotypic, primitive people who live in the jungle, hunt heads and dance around cauldrons.
These stereotypes are, of course, not encouraged by the academic community which studies Africa. But Jesus H. Fucking Christ, native just means someone who was born in a particular place or apeople which has resided in a location for a long time.
After that, I just really lost interest in the class and respect for that prof. I just did enough to get by, and I still got an A.
So in conclusion, thought/word/language police, FUCK OFF!
Thanks. I'll look into it.
I still think that an OSS groupware (thanks for the proper term) system would greatly speed adoption of Linux by small businesses which is an extremely important market (I guess I should use that term with respect to free software).
I agree. My father is a judge and my mother runs a law firm. My Dad still uses WordPerfect even though the whole courthouse switched to Word. I think my Mom's office might be half and half. In any case, I'll probably encourage her to switch from her MS Exchange Based Network to something Linux based in the next few years. The real roadblock there is good distributed organizing software for Linux. Perhaps, Corel can get into the small business planning sector? It's one area where OSS is severely lacking.
Yeah. It's amazing where you'll find Windows. For the past few days, the local public education cable channel has had a Windows login prompt misdisplayed.
Windows is fine for games and light use, but who why would you want to do anything serious with it? Sooner or later, these companies will wise up and move to *nix.
What kind of sick airline uses Windows servers to do check in and track flights/passengers. Is their IT department completely slow? They deserve what they get.
(Disclaimer: I've flown Air Canada. The accomodations were very nice.)
Or maybe the movies are WORSE this year and therefore word-of-mouth spreads faster and revenues drop more steeply.
I have the perfect solution. I NEVER see hyped movies the openning week end. In fact, I almost never see them in their original theatres. I wait until they hit the cheap theatres. Then I don't have to pay more than $2/ticket.
I would like to thank all of you who pony up the $8-$10 at regular price theatres to help pay for the movie so that I can see it cheap. I just wish you would have better taste so that I can see better movies for cheap. The only movies I see at full price are less popular 'art' films that don't make it to the cheap theatres (by the way, go rent or buy or download Spike Jonze's Adaptation).
But, his ( and my ) parochial outlook ( your words ) is a large part of humanity itself.
You both make me sad for humanity.
Hopefully, Russia doing this will convince the US, Japan, and the EU to help supply funding and expertise and this will become a well-funded international mission.