What do you expect. Richard is the messiah rapidly turning into a pariah. While I appreciate how dedicated he is to the free software model and philosophy, he seems to be relegating himself to the role of Chief Moralist of the open source movement -- a position few appreciate now and less will down the road. Instead of leading the GNU charge he now stands in the pulpit, condemns Microsoft, the open source movement (distinct from "free software") and gets irritable that people don't always include "GNU" when refering to the Linux-based OS. That, coupled with his pomposity (listened to him speak at MIT once and was a little shocked at how he treated the audience) makes one wonder why anyone is paying attention to him nowadays.
The NSA doesn't really care that you tried pot 6 years ago
What if I smoked pot for six years straight? No doubt that'd null my candidacy. Which would be a pity because most tokers wouldn't want all the added stress of being a double-agent.
I remember the FBI had some weird stipulation that you can't have smoked marijuana more than 11 times or something of the sort on their application. I mean, really, where'd they come up with that figure?
Agent1: Agent2, how many times does one have to smoke pot before they go permanently insane or turn communist?
Agent2: About a dozen.
Agent1: Eleven it is then.
I think they should itemize the cost per license according to the amount of infringing code used by the violator. For instance, because our boxes are single CPU and without other "offending" technologies in place should they not be entitled to a reduced license fee? Also, what if I elect to run the GNU kernel? Am I absolved of all debts to SCO?/I just want to be good.
What would be the appropriate way to get one of these bogus invoices sent to me? I'd like an invoice so I can heckle them endlessly about exactly why I should pay them. Would emailing the sales dep't at SCO with an inquisitive "Hi, I run two copies of redhat, do I owe you money" be enough?
The key word is "accurately". A 61% success rate with no mention of false positives (which I'm sure were much higher) is hardly a computer doing "just that."
I've no problem with pushing the envelope in technology but not when its going to cost insane amounts of money (to buy a contractor a nice house in southern France as was mentioned) in conjunction with the fact that most anyone with a tech background could have said from day 1 "guys, it'll be a lot of fun, we'll learn lots of new stuff, but if you're going to rely on this to protect the nation, give up now, and spend homeland defense money on something that might make it to production."
As super-duper as high-tech is, I think even/.'ers would admit that its not a panacea (yet) for all our security ills. The very idea of having a computer capable of accurately identifying one face in thousands -- scanning from afar -- is far fetched. Despite billions in research we've yet to master voice recognition which is, comparatively, much easier to do.
Ah well, what's another few hundred million of tax payer's money shot. I'm sure it made some contractor rich.
You suggest that Larry's move is inspired purely by anti-msft sentiment. Let's see, linux is free, stable and becoming commonplace. More and more Oracle installations are run on Linux (my nice new $30k linux server is making Oracle dance) so it sorta makes sense that Oracle pays more attention to it.
Larry didn't become a billionaire by being petty.
No, seriously. Gamers aside, the average home or office user can get by just fine with technology from 2+ years ago. I have a p3-800 at work as do my 30 odd users and for email, web browsing, mp3s, terminals, etc it handles the work just fine. Sure a newer system would be nice but its impossible to justify the cost when things purr along smoothly as is.
I think the same applies for servers to a lesser extent. Unless you're anticipating a heavy load chances are good the job will get done fine with a box rustled out of the closet.
Unless the fundamental ways in which we interface with the computer change then the non-power user will have longer and longer periods between upgrades.
This is probably the blind leading the blind here but as best I recall from my lone college astronomy course the biggest problem with Mars trying to retain an atmosphere is its weak gravity. Gasses simply lift off into space. That there ever might have been flowing water on the planet is interesting.
As far as terraforming Mars, my useless $.02 is that since Mars has a surface pressure 1% that of Earth's, even a 100% oxygen atmosphere would prove insufficient for even the Sherpas. The other thing to consider is that since Mars' atmosphere is already 95% C02, would a greater percentage of 02 (a lighter gas) result in more loss to space?
I'm afraid our options are either to be stuck in space suits, or, preferably, genetically engineered to adapt to the Martian environment. With some advanced engineering of the human body one could imagine the skin assisting in re-oxygenation thereby vastly expanding the surface area of the "lung." Large gill-like flaps of skin under the arms would provide yet more 02 exchange. I can only presume we would have to be extraordinarily thin to provide an adequate surface ratio to oxygen hungry flesh. Unfortunately, I think it doubtful that even these modifications would allow for the full range of human activity we enjoy today. High energy sports, including sex, would simply not be feasible (unless of course separate high-oxygen rooms -- "mating rooms" we might call them -- are built). In general the standard of the adventurous, warring, fornicating human will be replaced. Our new visage will be that of the waif-like Martian meandering slowly over the ferrous deserts with only the subtlest traces of his former vigor.
Genetic based computing certainly sounds nice.. It'd be lovely to shake some powder over a plate of agar and take a nap while my hundred teraflop computer gets itself all sored out. But I don't see such a technology coming into being in the next three decades if ever. Nature simply doesn't work that way. The DNA replication process, as best I understand, is sloppy (nature wants the odd mutation, computing doesn't), slow, and really doesn't "compute" in the traditional sense -- it replicates. There might be a handful of problems that could be approached using some form of genetic algorithm but I think the lure of the whole thing is misplaced. Yes, genes are cool and we'll be able to do amazing things once we figure them out a little more but there's little reason to believe they'll do anything but suck as calculators. A related field, proteomics, holds more promise IMHO.
I've no doubt that material sciences as a whole will produce mediums with far greater potential. Imagine a crystal, for instance, that finds the next prime number as it grows.
Genes and such aside, silicon based computers, like my 25 node linux cluster that can churn through a gig of genetic data per second, will make far more sense.
I think people are forgetting that the RIAA is a frontline organization that the labels have act on their behalf. Its main purpose is to draw your withering hatred, to be the object of DDoS, to be printed on tshirts with a big X over their name, and, in general, to be the whipping boy that everyone heaps abuse on. Meanwhile the record labels who FUND this _association_, don't get the negative publicity from having to do the dirty work themselves. The LABELS need to be reminded that the public has not forgotten that THEY are responsible for all the strongarming.
If everyone needs a rallying cause then let this technically savvy wimp who handed over $12k be it. For every CD that you don't buy send a letter to the label that produced it stating "I would have purchased this CD but I can not support the actions of your agent, the RIAA. Until they return the $12k they bullied from whats-his-face you will no longer be getting my business."
Everything else is impotent.
Seriously, I can't think of a single thing that the government has done in the last year to improve quality of life as much as this new reg. The only sad part is that there are going to be those who won't hear about this for years to come. Any millionaires want to sponsor The Last Call to inform Americans about this new option? It'd be an ironic gesture, sure, but it'd also be the noose around the neck for these irritating parasites, may their stomachs roast in Hell forever!!
Slashdot Mirror
What do you expect. Richard is the messiah rapidly turning into a pariah. While I appreciate how dedicated he is to the free software model and philosophy, he seems to be relegating himself to the role of Chief Moralist of the open source movement -- a position few appreciate now and less will down the road. Instead of leading the GNU charge he now stands in the pulpit, condemns Microsoft, the open source movement (distinct from "free software") and gets irritable that people don't always include "GNU" when refering to the Linux-based OS. That, coupled with his pomposity (listened to him speak at MIT once and was a little shocked at how he treated the audience) makes one wonder why anyone is paying attention to him nowadays.
The NSA doesn't really care that you tried pot 6 years ago
What if I smoked pot for six years straight? No doubt that'd null my candidacy. Which would be a pity because most tokers wouldn't want all the added stress of being a double-agent. I remember the FBI had some weird stipulation that you can't have smoked marijuana more than 11 times or something of the sort on their application. I mean, really, where'd they come up with that figure? Agent1: Agent2, how many times does one have to smoke pot before they go permanently insane or turn communist? Agent2: About a dozen. Agent1: Eleven it is then.
I think they should itemize the cost per license according to the amount of infringing code used by the violator. For instance, because our boxes are single CPU and without other "offending" technologies in place should they not be entitled to a reduced license fee? Also, what if I elect to run the GNU kernel? Am I absolved of all debts to SCO? /I just want to be good.
What would be the appropriate way to get one of these bogus invoices sent to me? I'd like an invoice so I can heckle them endlessly about exactly why I should pay them. Would emailing the sales dep't at SCO with an inquisitive "Hi, I run two copies of redhat, do I owe you money" be enough?
The key word is "accurately". A 61% success rate with no mention of false positives (which I'm sure were much higher) is hardly a computer doing "just that." I've no problem with pushing the envelope in technology but not when its going to cost insane amounts of money (to buy a contractor a nice house in southern France as was mentioned) in conjunction with the fact that most anyone with a tech background could have said from day 1 "guys, it'll be a lot of fun, we'll learn lots of new stuff, but if you're going to rely on this to protect the nation, give up now, and spend homeland defense money on something that might make it to production."
As super-duper as high-tech is, I think even /.'ers would admit that its not a panacea (yet) for all our security ills. The very idea of having a computer capable of accurately identifying one face in thousands -- scanning from afar -- is far fetched. Despite billions in research we've yet to master voice recognition which is, comparatively, much easier to do.
Ah well, what's another few hundred million of tax payer's money shot. I'm sure it made some contractor rich.
You suggest that Larry's move is inspired purely by anti-msft sentiment. Let's see, linux is free, stable and becoming commonplace. More and more Oracle installations are run on Linux (my nice new $30k linux server is making Oracle dance) so it sorta makes sense that Oracle pays more attention to it. Larry didn't become a billionaire by being petty.
No, seriously. Gamers aside, the average home or office user can get by just fine with technology from 2+ years ago. I have a p3-800 at work as do my 30 odd users and for email, web browsing, mp3s, terminals, etc it handles the work just fine. Sure a newer system would be nice but its impossible to justify the cost when things purr along smoothly as is.
I think the same applies for servers to a lesser extent. Unless you're anticipating a heavy load chances are good the job will get done fine with a box rustled out of the closet.
Unless the fundamental ways in which we interface with the computer change then the non-power user will have longer and longer periods between upgrades.
This is probably the blind leading the blind here but as best I recall from my lone college astronomy course the biggest problem with Mars trying to retain an atmosphere is its weak gravity. Gasses simply lift off into space. That there ever might have been flowing water on the planet is interesting. As far as terraforming Mars, my useless $.02 is that since Mars has a surface pressure 1% that of Earth's, even a 100% oxygen atmosphere would prove insufficient for even the Sherpas. The other thing to consider is that since Mars' atmosphere is already 95% C02, would a greater percentage of 02 (a lighter gas) result in more loss to space? I'm afraid our options are either to be stuck in space suits, or, preferably, genetically engineered to adapt to the Martian environment. With some advanced engineering of the human body one could imagine the skin assisting in re-oxygenation thereby vastly expanding the surface area of the "lung." Large gill-like flaps of skin under the arms would provide yet more 02 exchange. I can only presume we would have to be extraordinarily thin to provide an adequate surface ratio to oxygen hungry flesh. Unfortunately, I think it doubtful that even these modifications would allow for the full range of human activity we enjoy today. High energy sports, including sex, would simply not be feasible (unless of course separate high-oxygen rooms -- "mating rooms" we might call them -- are built). In general the standard of the adventurous, warring, fornicating human will be replaced. Our new visage will be that of the waif-like Martian meandering slowly over the ferrous deserts with only the subtlest traces of his former vigor.
Genetic based computing certainly sounds nice.. It'd be lovely to shake some powder over a plate of agar and take a nap while my hundred teraflop computer gets itself all sored out. But I don't see such a technology coming into being in the next three decades if ever. Nature simply doesn't work that way. The DNA replication process, as best I understand, is sloppy (nature wants the odd mutation, computing doesn't), slow, and really doesn't "compute" in the traditional sense -- it replicates. There might be a handful of problems that could be approached using some form of genetic algorithm but I think the lure of the whole thing is misplaced. Yes, genes are cool and we'll be able to do amazing things once we figure them out a little more but there's little reason to believe they'll do anything but suck as calculators. A related field, proteomics, holds more promise IMHO. I've no doubt that material sciences as a whole will produce mediums with far greater potential. Imagine a crystal, for instance, that finds the next prime number as it grows. Genes and such aside, silicon based computers, like my 25 node linux cluster that can churn through a gig of genetic data per second, will make far more sense.
I think people are forgetting that the RIAA is a frontline organization that the labels have act on their behalf. Its main purpose is to draw your withering hatred, to be the object of DDoS, to be printed on tshirts with a big X over their name, and, in general, to be the whipping boy that everyone heaps abuse on. Meanwhile the record labels who FUND this _association_, don't get the negative publicity from having to do the dirty work themselves. The LABELS need to be reminded that the public has not forgotten that THEY are responsible for all the strongarming. If everyone needs a rallying cause then let this technically savvy wimp who handed over $12k be it. For every CD that you don't buy send a letter to the label that produced it stating "I would have purchased this CD but I can not support the actions of your agent, the RIAA. Until they return the $12k they bullied from whats-his-face you will no longer be getting my business." Everything else is impotent.
Seriously, I can't think of a single thing that the government has done in the last year to improve quality of life as much as this new reg. The only sad part is that there are going to be those who won't hear about this for years to come. Any millionaires want to sponsor The Last Call to inform Americans about this new option? It'd be an ironic gesture, sure, but it'd also be the noose around the neck for these irritating parasites, may their stomachs roast in Hell forever!!