...there will be draconian laws to stop you even talking about prising it open and trying to make it useful.
Just picking up on a point of your language here, you say "even talking about" as a figure of speech, but it has been repeatedly shown that under the PATRIOT act you really can't talk about anything that is said to you. Free speech has already been banned, this is just the next step.
If one cracker group a while back managed to take out a near-critical number of DNS roots, I'm sure the combined effort of all Linux contributors, EFF members, general OSS programmers and anyone else who would not only be affected by this treaty but actually have the knowledge and inclination to do something really could 'turn off the internet'.
I really don't condone this kind of action, but it may become necessary. If it comes down to it, the geeks really do have a huge amount of power in the computer-dependant world - remember what they were saying Y2K could've done? If we all really had to we could find a way to make it happen.
It's not as broad as it might have been, but arguments about software patents in general put aside for now, the fact that you can patent something that you do (linking a list with source code comments) rather than the way that you do it (using XYZ type of code to create ABC functionality) shows that the patent system is broken.
Take, for example, the Dyson cleaner - it was a completely new way of making a vaccum cleaner and they patented their way of doing it. Other companies also did cyclone vaccums in their own ways. If Dyson had been able to patent the idea (cyclone based cleaners) rather than their implementation it would've locked out the competition completely. Why can't the patent office see this? It's what they're paid to do, after all.
If a user has specifically installed software in order not to see popups, why do advertisers think they will be inclined to click them if they do somehow get through?
It's aiming at the wrong targets - how many Firefox users will click a X10 camera ad just because it evaded their filter? I'd say alot more will simply take the address and add it to their hosts file pointing at 127.0.0.1 to stop the popup from returning. It's like putting MS ads on Slashdot - how many users will click compared to all those that chuckle at MS's wasted money on putting the ad there.
If you're looking to put flash memory into a full size box then it won't matter if you use 2GB cards or a whole lot of 128MB cards. By my calculations it's about $400 for 1GB of SD memory (assuming you buy it in 128MB blocks). That's $4800 for 12GB of solid-state memory, about 1/3 of the price of a 12GB CF card (or less when buying in bulk).
A system could easily be run on 12GB total, and assuming bulk discounts that's $5000 for a decent machine running without a HD.
What software were they using that caused this? I did RTFA but it didn't seem to say.
It's just like crashed cash machines - the old ones which were essentially hardcoded worked fine. It's not at all unusual to see bluescreens or error dialogs on the new ones because they install a full OS on them which is completely superfluous.
I'm sure the engineer forced to do this has already thrown themselves off a cliff in disgust after the marketing department convinced their boss that it's what the market wanted and that said engineer had to put it into a phone.
Even worse, there are plenty of people I've come across that would think this is a 'cool feature' and actually waste their money on it:'-(
Gigabit ethernet, which is common on modern boards, can almost outpace an IDE drive anyway so if normal HDDs are fast enough for you netbooting should be too:-)
I would just hope that I am still able to MP3 the CDs and have them on my iPod, since I do generally buy CDs but then use iTunes/iPod as the primary method of actually listening to them. I like to know I've got the CD there if neccessary, but most of my collection has only been out of the box once to be ripped and then that's it.
MS have good business sense, that's what put them on the top today. I'd think even they, in their evil ways, know it's a bad idea to take up a suit against IBM that'd already bankrupted SCO, especially when SCO clearly don't have a case.
Call me a cynic if you want (hell, I am a cynic) but no big company does anything simply for the good of its customers. Extended support does benefit MS customers, I don't debate that and I'm sure they'll be happy about this turn of events.
There must be a reason that prompted Microsoft to do this though. They don't really need to lure new people into the contracts, therefore the only reason can be to stop people leaving the contracts. Why would people not renew the contracts? Maybe because the next upgrade is many years away and they could get a better deal from $linuxsupportcompany.
This is a positive action from MS, but it would be shortsighted to say that the reason is not fear of other products making inroads while companies wait for longhorn.
Yeah but then it hurts in 6 months when you need a processor upgrade. Much easier if you're going for the surgery is to just get a few Terminator style upgrades - it's a one time thing and muggers will never be a problem again, no matter what you're carrying >:-)
If they point a weapon or even threaten to hit you then it is self defence to shoot them. If they don't threaten your expensive gadgets aren't in danger anyway.
Nobody said Apple should be the only company left on the market. Microsoft, however, have a history of taking over markets they enter - if MS had come in with a player priced that low and marketed it properly it could've become dominant and we know from past performance that they would raise prices and increase customer lock-ins as soon as they had the market saturated.
Sony Ericsson P900 - I've had one for about 6 months and it does all of the above, as well as playing games, email, web browsing and integral kitchen sink. If you actually look at the things it's damn impressive for the size, it's really a very well though out PDA/phone.t
I'm sure that the BBC can kill two birds with one stone by colocating Akamai style media caching servers in the UK ISP's datacentres. Not only would this create great speed increases and reduce bandwidth charges, I'm sure the beeb could swing it so that they just pay low colocation fees and only a token amount for the bandwidth since it's just shuttled about within the ISP's own network.
It would make it far less likely for widespread overseas downloading to happen and the broadband providers would not only have a 'killer app' to shout about, they'd be getting paid for it too. Everyone wins:-D
Quite right - hell, any medium that was controlled by the government wouldn't have gone directly against them on WMDs and The Hutton Report. The BBC coverage of both of these issues was a huge negative impact on Blair's credibility.
Hmm, maybe I'm mistaken then. I've never seen the Belgium bit myself, but I was told about it by someone who had the American version and I was also told that censorship was the reason.
Sorry to be misleading, I just assumed that the person telling me knew what they were on about.
Slashdot Mirror
Correct, exactly the same as the one mentioned in this article as being the 'first'. Except Sony's has been out for at least 6 months.
...there will be draconian laws to stop you even talking about prising it open and trying to make it useful.
Just picking up on a point of your language here, you say "even talking about" as a figure of speech, but it has been repeatedly shown that under the PATRIOT act you really can't talk about anything that is said to you. Free speech has already been banned, this is just the next step.
If one cracker group a while back managed to take out a near-critical number of DNS roots, I'm sure the combined effort of all Linux contributors, EFF members, general OSS programmers and anyone else who would not only be affected by this treaty but actually have the knowledge and inclination to do something really could 'turn off the internet'.
I really don't condone this kind of action, but it may become necessary. If it comes down to it, the geeks really do have a huge amount of power in the computer-dependant world - remember what they were saying Y2K could've done? If we all really had to we could find a way to make it happen.
Will they outlaw ink and paper next?
If they outlaw my PC, my OS's license and the OSS project which I am involved in, it looks like I'm going to be an outlaw, as they say.
When laws stop making any kind of sense or justice, I stop obeying them.
It's not as broad as it might have been, but arguments about software patents in general put aside for now, the fact that you can patent something that you do (linking a list with source code comments) rather than the way that you do it (using XYZ type of code to create ABC functionality) shows that the patent system is broken.
Take, for example, the Dyson cleaner - it was a completely new way of making a vaccum cleaner and they patented their way of doing it. Other companies also did cyclone vaccums in their own ways. If Dyson had been able to patent the idea (cyclone based cleaners) rather than their implementation it would've locked out the competition completely. Why can't the patent office see this? It's what they're paid to do, after all.
It's not quite a processor...
In a similar vein, what's that 'Pause/Break' key supposed to do? I'm guessing it was used for something before my time.
I'll probably be mocked for newbieness but it's been bugging me.
If a user has specifically installed software in order not to see popups, why do advertisers think they will be inclined to click them if they do somehow get through?
It's aiming at the wrong targets - how many Firefox users will click a X10 camera ad just because it evaded their filter? I'd say alot more will simply take the address and add it to their hosts file pointing at 127.0.0.1 to stop the popup from returning. It's like putting MS ads on Slashdot - how many users will click compared to all those that chuckle at MS's wasted money on putting the ad there.
If you're looking to put flash memory into a full size box then it won't matter if you use 2GB cards or a whole lot of 128MB cards. By my calculations it's about $400 for 1GB of SD memory (assuming you buy it in 128MB blocks). That's $4800 for 12GB of solid-state memory, about 1/3 of the price of a 12GB CF card (or less when buying in bulk).
A system could easily be run on 12GB total, and assuming bulk discounts that's $5000 for a decent machine running without a HD.
Also I'd be alot more inclined to take the tour if I got to play on a Segway in real world conditions for a few hours rather than just sit in a van.
"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity"
What software were they using that caused this? I did RTFA but it didn't seem to say.
It's just like crashed cash machines - the old ones which were essentially hardcoded worked fine. It's not at all unusual to see bluescreens or error dialogs on the new ones because they install a full OS on them which is completely superfluous.
I'm sure the engineer forced to do this has already thrown themselves off a cliff in disgust after the marketing department convinced their boss that it's what the market wanted and that said engineer had to put it into a phone.
:'-(
Even worse, there are plenty of people I've come across that would think this is a 'cool feature' and actually waste their money on it
Gigabit ethernet, which is common on modern boards, can almost outpace an IDE drive anyway so if normal HDDs are fast enough for you netbooting should be too :-)
I would just hope that I am still able to MP3 the CDs and have them on my iPod, since I do generally buy CDs but then use iTunes/iPod as the primary method of actually listening to them. I like to know I've got the CD there if neccessary, but most of my collection has only been out of the box once to be ripped and then that's it.
MS have good business sense, that's what put them on the top today. I'd think even they, in their evil ways, know it's a bad idea to take up a suit against IBM that'd already bankrupted SCO, especially when SCO clearly don't have a case.
Call me a cynic if you want (hell, I am a cynic) but no big company does anything simply for the good of its customers. Extended support does benefit MS customers, I don't debate that and I'm sure they'll be happy about this turn of events.
There must be a reason that prompted Microsoft to do this though. They don't really need to lure new people into the contracts, therefore the only reason can be to stop people leaving the contracts. Why would people not renew the contracts? Maybe because the next upgrade is many years away and they could get a better deal from $linuxsupportcompany.
This is a positive action from MS, but it would be shortsighted to say that the reason is not fear of other products making inroads while companies wait for longhorn.
Yeah but then it hurts in 6 months when you need a processor upgrade. Much easier if you're going for the surgery is to just get a few Terminator style upgrades - it's a one time thing and muggers will never be a problem again, no matter what you're carrying >:-)
If they point a weapon or even threaten to hit you then it is self defence to shoot them. If they don't threaten your expensive gadgets aren't in danger anyway.
Nobody said Apple should be the only company left on the market. Microsoft, however, have a history of taking over markets they enter - if MS had come in with a player priced that low and marketed it properly it could've become dominant and we know from past performance that they would raise prices and increase customer lock-ins as soon as they had the market saturated.
Sony Ericsson P900 - I've had one for about 6 months and it does all of the above, as well as playing games, email, web browsing and integral kitchen sink. If you actually look at the things it's damn impressive for the size, it's really a very well though out PDA/phone.t
Yeah, but Harry Potter's only funny if you read it in the manner discovered on bash.org
I'm sure that the BBC can kill two birds with one stone by colocating Akamai style media caching servers in the UK ISP's datacentres. Not only would this create great speed increases and reduce bandwidth charges, I'm sure the beeb could swing it so that they just pay low colocation fees and only a token amount for the bandwidth since it's just shuttled about within the ISP's own network.
:-D
It would make it far less likely for widespread overseas downloading to happen and the broadband providers would not only have a 'killer app' to shout about, they'd be getting paid for it too. Everyone wins
Quite right - hell, any medium that was controlled by the government wouldn't have gone directly against them on WMDs and The Hutton Report. The BBC coverage of both of these issues was a huge negative impact on Blair's credibility.
Hmm, maybe I'm mistaken then. I've never seen the Belgium bit myself, but I was told about it by someone who had the American version and I was also told that censorship was the reason.
Sorry to be misleading, I just assumed that the person telling me knew what they were on about.