Ideally they would require no training and be usable by even extremely mentally challenged individuals.
Microsoft has been promoting that attitude for years, and has caused an enormous amount of damage in the process.
The microwave allows geeks everywhere to easily prepare food without understanding how to do it.
Computer programming already is available to anyone. But computer programming is inherently difficult, and it will never be equally accessible to all even if your AI wet-dream came true. The bar would just be raised. There would always be a small segment of the population able to make that AI do vast more impressive stuff than 99.999% of the general population. It's the very nature of having the type of mind that lends itself to writing good software. That mind is always looking for ways to expand the capabilities of the technology, while the general population will be happy with the relatively simple stuff that is prepared for them.
There is a big difference between learning to use a microwave oven (analogous to clicking a button to launch a pre-written program), and designing and building a quality microwave oven (writing software). The latter will always be harder than the former. The moment the general populace learns to design a basic microwave oven, microwave specialists will create something better than what exists at the time -- leaving the general populace far behind. This pattern will continue until humans are extinct.
If it worked like that it would be awesome. But it doesn't.
According to the materials referenced in the article, it's very easy to avoid the "not a contractor" IRS trap. The primary key to the solution, according to the linked articles, is to interact directly with the company for whom you're contracting. The big trap involves being paid through a third party and giving the client too much control and/or influence over the work process. There are a few minor secondary concerns, but the two I listed are the ones most harped on by the linked materials.
When Microsoft does something good (hell, even just non-evil), we like Microsoft. When Microsoft does something evil, we don't like Microsoft. Microsoft's actions are usually heavy on the latter, light on the former. This is a rare positive action on Microsoft's part, so it deserves one small attaboy.
Have you been paying attention to how much dark fiber Google owns? They're probably BUILDING THEIR OWN BACKBONES. I most certainly would if I bought up that vast amount of unlit fiber.
Good. I hope Google gets moving on this, as phone and cable companies have been overcharging and underserving us for decades. I would much rather have a GoogleNet than the current Verizon/AT&TNet. If Google outcompetes the Telecoms, that's great. I hope they bury AT&T and Verizon, the greedy pieces of shit. I hope my state promises Google a zero-percent tax liability for ten years in exchange for an early place on Google's high speed Internet backbone. Google certainly can't be any worse than what we have now.
Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
My most recent cable TV outage started me thinking about televised entertainment in general. I still remember when cable TV was highly desirable because it didn't have any commercials. Then commercials made occasional appearances in some shows, obviously a trial balloon to measure customer opposition. Then commercials quickly became as prevalent on cable as they were on broadcast TV.
I have been using MythTV for a couple years, and it's been fantastic. I haven't had to sit through a full commercial in that time, and I'd been loving cable TV again. While I fast-forward through commercials (automatic commercial skip is too unreliable), I sometimes saw something that grabbed my attention. In those cases, I usually watched at least a part of the commercial, and discovered a new product. Most often, though, I saved myself centuries (qualitatively speaking) of agony by not having to watch them.
When I got engaged, she and I had better things to do with our time than watch TV. Three weeks into our first month together, I realized that I hadn't missed TV at all, but was still paying $60/month for something I hardly used. I called Mediacom (the local cable company), and canceled the "service" last week.
At the same time, I subscribed to Netflix. For a fraction of the cost of cable, I have a vast choice of movies, a much smaller monthly bill, more reliable service, and a much happier experience overall experience.
When I first tried Hulu, it was an okay service. I had to sit through a couple 7-10 second commercials every half hour, but that wasn't too intolerable. Then Hulu started lengthening the commercials to 30 seconds. It was still not terribly intolerable, because there was usually only one of them every half hour. Then I started seeing two appear every half hour, and it became clear to me which direction Hulu was headed, so I stopped watching Hulu.
I'm at a point now where I watch TV only during tornadic weather, and only to watch the news coverage to track the storms. My fiancé and I watch one movie a night in bed before going to sleep, and that's it. We have freed ourselves from television, and we have advertisers' greed to thank for that. We don't miss TV one bit.
So, Nielson won't count online TV viewing unless its riddled with commercials. If Hulu ever starts to be counted, you can be sure that it has become a worthless service. As far as I'm concerned, it has already become a worthless service.
Bill Gates promised in 2004 that spam would be completely solved within 2 years.
And in 20 years, he'll claim to have no memory of having ever said that. And his apologists will claim that he's too smart to have said something so stupid. And history will have repeated itself yet again.
I don't know about you, but I've probably got 100 different passwords rattling around in my brain.
Save yourself some hassle, and do what I do. I put all my passwords on my Facebook profile so I don't have to remember any of them. Since no one ever looks at my Facebook profile, it's totally secure.
You seem to be of the opinion that customers would object to not being able to use their full bandwidth 100% of the time, if the damn ISPs would just tell the truth at sales time. But that's not how people are sold their connections. They're sold their connections on the implicit guarantee of full speed all the time, with the reality buried on page 3,567,241 of the service agreement in micro-point font.
Secondly, if the high speed connection is not sustainable at full speed 100% of the time, then ISPs should not sell the connection at that speed. They should sell connections at speeds that are sustainable 100% of the time. The maximum bandwidth a customer is allowed to use should be determined by the maximum rate the customer purchased, at full tilt all the time. If the ISPs network cannot sustain that, then don't sell that. Overselling bandwidth should be the ISPs loss, not the customer that signed on at a specific rate in good faith. If an ISP is not capable of providing that, then it should just fold up and let someone else do it.
...but Firefox still isn't the most popular browser out there...
Neither the article nor the graph say Firefox is the most popular browser. If you actually read the summary and the graph, you'll see that. Both say that Firefox 3.5 is the most popular version of any browser at the end of the period covered by the graph.
Like all US Government actions against large technology companies, this won't change a thing. There will be a dog and pony show for the public, followed by a relatively small bribe...err...fine, and business as usual for Intel.
...won't this all have to be done over from scratch?
New card models will require more reverse engineering to get access to the new features. All features in those models that are fully backwards compatible will still work. Once a particular model is reverse engineered, it doesn't matter what NVIDIA does with future drivers since NVIDIA's drivers are no longer needed.
Smoking is a legal pleasure [for some odd definition of "pleasure"] that some people choose to indulge in in their own home. Apple's products should be designed to cope with functioning in a normal home environment, and when they don't that's what the warranty is for.
Urination is a legal pleasure that some people and other animals choose to indulge in in their own homes, too. Should Apple be held responsible for urine streams aimed at the computer as well? While the second-hand smoke claim is laughable, the damage done to electronic components by cigarette smoke is well known. The warranty should certainly be voided, but for reasons completely different than given by Apple.
You don't train a misbehaving dog to be well-mannered by whacking it one every time it wags its tail.
You also don't retrain a misbehaving dog by patting it on the back every time it bites someone's hand off. There's a very good reason nobody trust Microsoft. There are only so many hands to go around, and Microsoft has a mouthful of other people's limbs.
I remember a Supreme Court case several years ago that dealt with the question of who is considered to be The Press. I think it involved acquiring Press credentials. The Court decided that a member of the Press is anyone who is acting in that capacity, whether full time or part time. It didn't matter if the person was employed by a large corporation, or was part of a middle school glee club.
> This is incredibly brave of Microsoft, given that Outlook is so ubiquitous.
Hardly. This is the result of Microsoft having to abide by the results of a court case that they fought against tooth and nail, that they ignored for months, then finally, begrudgingly, realized they had lost. This is Microsoft doing something because they have absolutely no other choice. Everything else has failed, so Microsoft is finally, years later, complying with court orders trying to remedy Microsoft's illegal abuses of monopoly power.
This isn't brave. It's a begrudging admission that there are governmental powers that Microsoft couldn't bully; a government with something resembling a backbone.
The RIAA claimed that Lindor, her family and Beckerman "intentionally provided false information, attempted to misdirect plaintiffs as to relevant facts and events, and concealed critical information and evidence regarding the infringement at issue."
In other words, the RIAA accuses an opposing attorney of doing the very things that the RIAA does all the time. Shocking.
I have a separate email address for everyone with whom I have email contact, including my bank. The email address I use for the bank is known only to me and the bank. If I get banking email on any other address, then I immediately know it's a fake. Nothing is foolproof, but there are easy ways to greatly lower your risk.
My security has been kept simple, but effective for my particular situation. My software firewall allows remote connections only from certain IP addresses, which minimizes my exposure. But on top of that, I require reasonable good passwords for the users I allow on my desktop systems.
When I first got DSL over three years ago, I noticed a dictionary attack rate of about a thousand attempts per month. After I installed Firestarter, and configured it to disallow all SSH connections except those from particular IP addresses, the attacks came to a complete halt. I haven't had a single SSH attack show up in my logs since.
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Ideally they would require no training and be usable by even extremely mentally challenged individuals.
Microsoft has been promoting that attitude for years, and has caused an enormous amount of damage in the process.
The microwave allows geeks everywhere to easily prepare food without understanding how to do it.
Computer programming already is available to anyone. But computer programming is inherently difficult, and it will never be equally accessible to all even if your AI wet-dream came true. The bar would just be raised. There would always be a small segment of the population able to make that AI do vast more impressive stuff than 99.999% of the general population. It's the very nature of having the type of mind that lends itself to writing good software. That mind is always looking for ways to expand the capabilities of the technology, while the general population will be happy with the relatively simple stuff that is prepared for them.
There is a big difference between learning to use a microwave oven (analogous to clicking a button to launch a pre-written program), and designing and building a quality microwave oven (writing software). The latter will always be harder than the former. The moment the general populace learns to design a basic microwave oven, microwave specialists will create something better than what exists at the time -- leaving the general populace far behind. This pattern will continue until humans are extinct.
If it worked like that it would be awesome. But it doesn't.
According to the materials referenced in the article, it's very easy to avoid the "not a contractor" IRS trap. The primary key to the solution, according to the linked articles, is to interact directly with the company for whom you're contracting. The big trap involves being paid through a third party and giving the client too much control and/or influence over the work process. There are a few minor secondary concerns, but the two I listed are the ones most harped on by the linked materials.
When Microsoft does something good (hell, even just non-evil), we like Microsoft. When Microsoft does something evil, we don't like Microsoft. Microsoft's actions are usually heavy on the latter, light on the former. This is a rare positive action on Microsoft's part, so it deserves one small attaboy.
Have you been paying attention to how much dark fiber Google owns? They're probably BUILDING THEIR OWN BACKBONES. I most certainly would if I bought up that vast amount of unlit fiber.
Good. I hope Google gets moving on this, as phone and cable companies have been overcharging and underserving us for decades. I would much rather have a GoogleNet than the current Verizon/AT&TNet. If Google outcompetes the Telecoms, that's great. I hope they bury AT&T and Verizon, the greedy pieces of shit. I hope my state promises Google a zero-percent tax liability for ten years in exchange for an early place on Google's high speed Internet backbone. Google certainly can't be any worse than what we have now.
In direct contrast to law.
Specifically: Title 17, Section 105;
Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
My most recent cable TV outage started me thinking about televised entertainment in general. I still remember when cable TV was highly desirable because it didn't have any commercials. Then commercials made occasional appearances in some shows, obviously a trial balloon to measure customer opposition. Then commercials quickly became as prevalent on cable as they were on broadcast TV.
I have been using MythTV for a couple years, and it's been fantastic. I haven't had to sit through a full commercial in that time, and I'd been loving cable TV again. While I fast-forward through commercials (automatic commercial skip is too unreliable), I sometimes saw something that grabbed my attention. In those cases, I usually watched at least a part of the commercial, and discovered a new product. Most often, though, I saved myself centuries (qualitatively speaking) of agony by not having to watch them.
When I got engaged, she and I had better things to do with our time than watch TV. Three weeks into our first month together, I realized that I hadn't missed TV at all, but was still paying $60/month for something I hardly used. I called Mediacom (the local cable company), and canceled the "service" last week.
At the same time, I subscribed to Netflix. For a fraction of the cost of cable, I have a vast choice of movies, a much smaller monthly bill, more reliable service, and a much happier experience overall experience.
When I first tried Hulu, it was an okay service. I had to sit through a couple 7-10 second commercials every half hour, but that wasn't too intolerable. Then Hulu started lengthening the commercials to 30 seconds. It was still not terribly intolerable, because there was usually only one of them every half hour. Then I started seeing two appear every half hour, and it became clear to me which direction Hulu was headed, so I stopped watching Hulu.
I'm at a point now where I watch TV only during tornadic weather, and only to watch the news coverage to track the storms. My fiancé and I watch one movie a night in bed before going to sleep, and that's it. We have freed ourselves from television, and we have advertisers' greed to thank for that. We don't miss TV one bit.
So, Nielson won't count online TV viewing unless its riddled with commercials. If Hulu ever starts to be counted, you can be sure that it has become a worthless service. As far as I'm concerned, it has already become a worthless service.
I'm just going to bury my head back into the sand and turn Fox news back on, so I don't have to think about this reality.
Adam Sandler has the perfect slogan for Fox News: "I reject your reality, and substitute my own."
Bill Gates promised in 2004 that spam would be completely solved within 2 years.
And in 20 years, he'll claim to have no memory of having ever said that. And his apologists will claim that he's too smart to have said something so stupid. And history will have repeated itself yet again.
I don't know about you, but I've probably got 100 different passwords rattling around in my brain.
Save yourself some hassle, and do what I do. I put all my passwords on my Facebook profile so I don't have to remember any of them. Since no one ever looks at my Facebook profile, it's totally secure.
Like Firefox, Opera and Chrome do with Google?
Quick quiz: Which of the following is a multi-convicted, monopolist felon?
a) Mozilla
b) Opera
c) Google
d) Microsoft
It's not unreasonable to expect the rules to be different for a criminal organization.
- 6000 lines of Pascal
Oh, and one bug.
[Adam Sandler drawl]Well, there's your problem.[/Adam Sandler drawl]
You seem to be of the opinion that customers would object to not being able to use their full bandwidth 100% of the time, if the damn ISPs would just tell the truth at sales time. But that's not how people are sold their connections. They're sold their connections on the implicit guarantee of full speed all the time, with the reality buried on page 3,567,241 of the service agreement in micro-point font.
Secondly, if the high speed connection is not sustainable at full speed 100% of the time, then ISPs should not sell the connection at that speed. They should sell connections at speeds that are sustainable 100% of the time. The maximum bandwidth a customer is allowed to use should be determined by the maximum rate the customer purchased, at full tilt all the time. If the ISPs network cannot sustain that, then don't sell that. Overselling bandwidth should be the ISPs loss, not the customer that signed on at a specific rate in good faith. If an ISP is not capable of providing that, then it should just fold up and let someone else do it.
...but Firefox still isn't the most popular browser out there...
Neither the article nor the graph say Firefox is the most popular browser. If you actually read the summary and the graph, you'll see that. Both say that Firefox 3.5 is the most popular version of any browser at the end of the period covered by the graph.
Holywood? Is that the new Vatican movie studio?
Like all US Government actions against large technology companies, this won't change a thing. There will be a dog and pony show for the public, followed by a relatively small bribe...err...fine, and business as usual for Intel.
This won't change a thing.
...won't this all have to be done over from scratch?
New card models will require more reverse engineering to get access to the new features. All features in those models that are fully backwards compatible will still work. Once a particular model is reverse engineered, it doesn't matter what NVIDIA does with future drivers since NVIDIA's drivers are no longer needed.
Smoking is a legal pleasure [for some odd definition of "pleasure"] that some people choose to indulge in in their own home. Apple's products should be designed to cope with functioning in a normal home environment, and when they don't that's what the warranty is for.
Urination is a legal pleasure that some people and other animals choose to indulge in in their own homes, too. Should Apple be held responsible for urine streams aimed at the computer as well? While the second-hand smoke claim is laughable, the damage done to electronic components by cigarette smoke is well known. The warranty should certainly be voided, but for reasons completely different than given by Apple.
You don't train a misbehaving dog to be well-mannered by whacking it one every time it wags its tail.
You also don't retrain a misbehaving dog by patting it on the back every time it bites someone's hand off. There's a very good reason nobody trust Microsoft. There are only so many hands to go around, and Microsoft has a mouthful of other people's limbs.
I remember a Supreme Court case several years ago that dealt with the question of who is considered to be The Press. I think it involved acquiring Press credentials. The Court decided that a member of the Press is anyone who is acting in that capacity, whether full time or part time. It didn't matter if the person was employed by a large corporation, or was part of a middle school glee club.
> This is incredibly brave of Microsoft, given that Outlook is so ubiquitous.
Hardly. This is the result of Microsoft having to abide by the results of a court case that they fought against tooth and nail, that they ignored for months, then finally, begrudgingly, realized they had lost. This is Microsoft doing something because they have absolutely no other choice. Everything else has failed, so Microsoft is finally, years later, complying with court orders trying to remedy Microsoft's illegal abuses of monopoly power.
This isn't brave. It's a begrudging admission that there are governmental powers that Microsoft couldn't bully; a government with something resembling a backbone.
> This might go some way to explain it.
If these women continue to lack a sense of humor, let's hope they stay out of Information Technology.
Windows XP has had a VERY high cost of ownership....
Windows XP has had a VERY high cost of rental....
Fixed that for you.
The RIAA claimed that Lindor, her family and Beckerman "intentionally provided false information, attempted to misdirect plaintiffs as to relevant facts and events, and concealed critical information and evidence regarding the infringement at issue."
In other words, the RIAA accuses an opposing attorney of doing the very things that the RIAA does all the time. Shocking.
I have a separate email address for everyone with whom I have email contact, including my bank. The email address I use for the bank is known only to me and the bank. If I get banking email on any other address, then I immediately know it's a fake. Nothing is foolproof, but there are easy ways to greatly lower your risk.
My security has been kept simple, but effective for my particular situation. My software firewall allows remote connections only from certain IP addresses, which minimizes my exposure. But on top of that, I require reasonable good passwords for the users I allow on my desktop systems.
When I first got DSL over three years ago, I noticed a dictionary attack rate of about a thousand attempts per month. After I installed Firestarter, and configured it to disallow all SSH connections except those from particular IP addresses, the attacks came to a complete halt. I haven't had a single SSH attack show up in my logs since.