Sun "is having a Yahoo moment," said Rob Enderle, a veteran technology analyst and principal of San Jose-based Enderle Group. But unlike Yahoo's fierce fight to remain independent, Sun has reportedly been actively seeking an acquirer. Sun has taken a beating in recent years. Its server was favored during the dot-com era, but the company found its products being sold at bargain basement prices following the bust. Its servers are considered to be of the highest quality, and their prices match that reputation. By acquiring Sun, IBM could add the critical parts it lacks with Sun's open-source Solaris operating system, the open-source database MySql and the Java platform. By doing so it could become the leader in cloud computing.Sun Microsystems may shine in IBM's sky
Bubbles burst.
I have been wondering idly if we will look back on "computing in the cloud"- Web 2.0 - and all the other buzz words you can think of - simply as relics of the recession.
It's much worse than that - popular folklore on the Internet holds that "fair use" is a magic wand. All you have to do is invoke it (believe strongly enough that you are right) and you are magically protected.
Isn't this pretty much how the geek approaches any encounter with the law and the Internet? Wave the "I" word and you are safe at home?
The award of statutory damages means that your actions have consequences even when their cost can't easily be quantified.
That is too important a principle for the government to surrender it lightly.
The geek needs to think carefully - very carefully - about the alternatives. The use of statutory formula to calculate damages may dramatically limit his exposure in other cases.
Child pornography is also a 15 year old girl recording herself nude on her mobile phone and then sending the video to her boyfriend in his 18th birthday.
Post a link to any charge - any conviction - in any US jurisdiction - based on such evidence.
By optimized you mean they have DRM turned off. Expect DRM to be in place for the final release candidate.
Let's put an end to this nonsense, shall we.
The Windows netbook has an Atom CPU, 1 GB of Ram and a 160 GB HDD. These specs are good and they going to get better. Much better.
The performance "hit" in managing DRM - the trusted path - whatever you chose to call it - isn't worth worrying about.
But if you want shelf space at WalMart, your product must deliver licensed media play out of the box.
Have you not seen throughout history that those who censor end up censoring *everything*? Sure, first everyone can agree that child porn is bad, but if we don't speak out against this who knows what will be next.
Child pornography is the rape of a child for the sexual entertainment of an adult.
Distribution of the video is an added kick for the rapist - a lasting hurt for the victim - and can be quite profitable as well.
You are not an innocent when you download and retain evidence of a rape.
You are not an innocent when you are a client - a customer - who is in the market for more of the same.
This not free speech by any intelligible definition.
cars 120 years ago were expensive because they were all low-production, then mass manufacturing came in, prices dropped because they were suddenly everywhere
Most early manufactuers explicity rejected mass production. Targeting the coach-and-four market.
The rest of the world could continue to take the streetcar or the El.
Mass production begins because men like Henry Ford want it to happen. Need it to happen. To realize their own "populist" vision of the future,
In 100 years, will people remember the name of a particular human chess player from year X?
The human element is what makes any sport compelling:
The outlook wasn't brillant for the Mudville nine that day, The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air, And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there. Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped- "That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.
The United states was founded on a constitution that was 4440 words and now we have a code of federal regulations that is over 75,000 pages
The Constitution does one thing and one thing only:
It describes in the broadest possible terms the structure and powers of the federal government. It was crafted by statesmen and politicians who were instinctively wary of binding their heirs to specifics.
The Constitution is not about legislation. Statute law. It is not about regulation. Administrative law.
Seriously. Why do actors and actresses who pretend to be politicans and soldiers for tv and movies get more influence over "real world" politics like the UN than I do?
Theater transforms abstract ideas into compelling characters and a memorable story.
The actors and actresses of BSG earned their audience by investing five years of their lives in the production of a mature and relevant work of art.
The geek lectures.
Badly.
He can be graceless and hectoring:
You know him as the guy who arrives at the town hall meeting with a chip on his shoulder, the guy who has to be pried from the mike with The Jaws of Life.
"Dosen't an expert need to set up Linux?" "No, it's quick and easy!" (show a YAST or GRUB GUI installation)
Heathkit is thirty years dead.
The geek needs to spend an evening watching the Home Shopping Network demo tech. The HP TouchSmart or Dell Adamo. The system that ships to your door ready-to-run. That is sold with a warranty, an in-home service contract and a toll-free number for technical support.
"Can I change the way it looks?" "Sure, much more than Vista or OSX!" (quickly show a wide variety of theme shots)
More trouble than it's worth.
"How do I install software?" "Look, it's easy. Everything is at your fingertips." (show the GUI apt-get)
The GUI had damn well better be putting up more than a BBS file name and a one line description. The Windows "repository" is rich in screen shots, editorial reviews, user reviews, templates and tutorials.
The Windows repository doesn't come with a lecture on the virtues of open source. If you want the licensed proprietary drivers for your Blu-Ray drive that is not going to be a problem.
"Does Linux work with different hardware?"
The question is whether Linux will work with his hardware.
"Can I run my Windows programs on Linux?" "Yes you can."
Sometimes. Not always.
they should mention the freedom that users will have to do whatever they want with their computer
The geek needs to ask whether users feel in any way constrained by Windows. The geek needs to ask if he is even speaking the same language.
Get over it. Your copyright should have expired anyway by any sort of good definition of limited term.
The lawsuit is based on the master Writer's Guild contract in effect in 1967.
The contract defined who was entitled to be credited as a writer. It defined the writer's share in derivative works and merchandising.
It doesn't matter who owns the copyright on the script as broadcast.
The geek is abysmally naive about copyrights.
He forgets who owns the master prints. The trademarks that protect logos, character designs and props.
He forgets that Disney or Paramount has a corporate line of credit. Production facilities. Talent. Marketing and Distribution.
The screenwriter - the pro - never - forgets that without a strong union - without out a strong contract - the studios will find ways to profit from his work for all eternity.
The Last Dangerous Visions, the third volume of the anthology series, has become something of a legend in science fiction as the genre's most famous unpublished book. It was originally announced for publication in 1973, but other work demanded Ellison's attention and the anthology has not seen print to date. He has come under criticism for his treatment of some writers who submitted their stories to him, of which some estimate to be nearly 150 (many of the authors have died in the subsequent three-and-a-half decades since the anthology was first announced).Harlan Ellison
When I read things like this, I'm always reminded of Frederick Taylor.
Taylor belongs to the era of industrial labor:
1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
3. Provide "Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker's discrete task"
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.
The reality is though that facebook is not about your or anybody else's life, it is a fabricated digital facade, a impression you wish to create of yourself to be viewed by others
The same could be said of the self image you create off-line.
People are careless. People are vain.
The more complicated and hastily improvised the lie the more likely it will expose some inconvenient truths.
And something you should note, it's only a problem currently because of the outrageous costs associated with certification. If the costs were lower and more reasonable, the problem disappears.
The medical records system has to get it right the first time. The cert is not going to be easy to get. It is not going to be cheap.
Now the code would have technically been certified so everyone else wanting to do the same could certify it themselves without fear of it failing
This sounds --- simplistic.
Is it the code that that is being certified here - or is it the implementation of a turn-key medical records system?
Isn't it responsible to demand that you demonstrate a deep understanding of how the thing works?
That you have the resources to maintain your system, upgrade it, provide service and support?
In all modern warfare contexts the US has total air superiority. If a war arises where that is not the case, the US makes sure it gains air superiority very quickly.
Maintaining US air superiority is becoming very expensive - and fragile. The F-22 Raptor is certainly impressive. But there are only a 130 or so of them out there. Perhaps 40 combat-ready at any given moment.
Slashdot Mirror
Sun has taken a beating in recent years. Its server was favored during the dot-com era, but the company found its products being sold at bargain basement prices following the bust. Its servers are considered to be of the highest quality, and their prices match that reputation. By acquiring Sun, IBM could add the critical parts it lacks with Sun's open-source Solaris operating system, the open-source database MySql and the Java platform. By doing so it could become the leader in cloud computing. Sun Microsystems may shine in IBM's sky
Bubbles burst.
I have been wondering idly if we will look back on "computing in the cloud"- Web 2.0 - and all the other buzz words you can think of - simply as relics of the recession.
Nintendo was willing to chance that 480p would be "good enough" for the first-generation Wii, with its emphasis on casual social gaming.
I don't think that is a bet worth taking the next time around.
4.)You're even more foolish if you don't immediately publish the entire document on Wikileaks.
Are you certain the leak can't be traced back to you?
It would be inconvenient - for example - if the ordering of the questions or their wording were unique to your copy of the test.
The geek is the most trusting of souls when he thinks he has a sympathetic ear.
PRQ is said to have "almost no information about its clientele and maintains few if any of its own logs" Wikileaks
Said by whom?
Can anything said about Wikileaks be independently verified?
It's much worse than that - popular folklore on the Internet holds that "fair use" is a magic wand. All you have to do is invoke it (believe strongly enough that you are right) and you are magically protected.
Isn't this pretty much how the geek approaches any encounter with the law and the Internet? Wave the "I" word and you are safe at home?
It's 5:30 AM Eastern Time.
The story has drawn a humongous 20 posts - and their server is Slashdotted?
What does that tell you about open-source gaming?
The award of statutory damages means that your actions have consequences even when their cost can't easily be quantified.
That is too important a principle for the government to surrender it lightly.
The geek needs to think carefully - very carefully - about the alternatives. The use of statutory formula to calculate damages may dramatically limit his exposure in other cases.
Post a link to any charge - any conviction - in any US jurisdiction - based on such evidence.
Let's put an end to this nonsense, shall we.
The Windows netbook has an Atom CPU, 1 GB of Ram and a 160 GB HDD. These specs are good and they going to get better. Much better.
The performance "hit" in managing DRM - the trusted path - whatever you chose to call it - isn't worth worrying about.
But if you want shelf space at WalMart, your product must deliver licensed media play out of the box.
Child pornography is the rape of a child for the sexual entertainment of an adult.
Distribution of the video is an added kick for the rapist - a lasting hurt for the victim - and can be quite profitable as well.
You are not an innocent when you download and retain evidence of a rape.
You are not an innocent when you are a client - a customer - who is in the market for more of the same.
This not free speech by any intelligible definition.
It is a purely criminal transaction.
So keep Pastor Niemöller out of this.
Most early manufactuers explicity rejected mass production. Targeting the coach-and-four market.
The rest of the world could continue to take the streetcar or the El.
Mass production begins because men like Henry Ford want it to happen. Need it to happen. To realize their own "populist" vision of the future,
The human element is what makes any sport compelling:
The outlook wasn't brillant for the Mudville nine that day, The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air, And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there. Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped- "That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.
San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1888.
The Constitution does one thing and one thing only:
It describes in the broadest possible terms the structure and powers of the federal government. It was crafted by statesmen and politicians who were instinctively wary of binding their heirs to specifics.
The Constitution is not about legislation. Statute law. It is not about regulation. Administrative law.
Theater transforms abstract ideas into compelling characters and a memorable story.
The actors and actresses of BSG earned their audience by investing five years of their lives in the production of a mature and relevant work of art.
The geek lectures.
Badly.
He can be graceless and hectoring:
You know him as the guy who arrives at the town hall meeting with a chip on his shoulder, the guy who has to be pried from the mike with The Jaws of Life.
Heathkit is thirty years dead.
The geek needs to spend an evening watching the Home Shopping Network demo tech. The HP TouchSmart or Dell Adamo. The system that ships to your door ready-to-run. That is sold with a warranty, an in-home service contract and a toll-free number for technical support.
"Can I change the way it looks?" "Sure, much more than Vista or OSX!" (quickly show a wide variety of theme shots)
More trouble than it's worth.
"How do I install software?" "Look, it's easy. Everything is at your fingertips." (show the GUI apt-get)
The GUI had damn well better be putting up more than a BBS file name and a one line description. The Windows "repository" is rich in screen shots, editorial reviews, user reviews, templates and tutorials.
The Windows repository doesn't come with a lecture on the virtues of open source. If you want the licensed proprietary drivers for your Blu-Ray drive that is not going to be a problem.
"Does Linux work with different hardware?"
The question is whether Linux will work with his hardware.
"Can I run my Windows programs on Linux?" "Yes you can."
Sometimes. Not always.
they should mention the freedom that users will have to do whatever they want with their computer
The geek needs to ask whether users feel in any way constrained by Windows. The geek needs to ask if he is even speaking the same language.
They may also be part of a community with a tradition of visitation and service to the sick and dying.
The church will remain with them when others have fled.
"Beginning GIMP." "The GIMP for Dummies." You can't help it. You just cringe.
"Bedroom coder" are not the words a banker wants to hear when you hit him for a loan.
The lawsuit is based on the master Writer's Guild contract in effect in 1967.
The contract defined who was entitled to be credited as a writer. It defined the writer's share in derivative works and merchandising.
It doesn't matter who owns the copyright on the script as broadcast.
The geek is abysmally naive about copyrights.
He forgets who owns the master prints. The trademarks that protect logos, character designs and props.
He forgets that Disney or Paramount has a corporate line of credit. Production facilities. Talent. Marketing and Distribution.
The screenwriter - the pro - never - forgets that without a strong union - without out a strong contract - the studios will find ways to profit from his work for all eternity.
The Last Dangerous Visions, the third volume of the anthology series, has become something of a legend in science fiction as the genre's most famous unpublished book. It was originally announced for publication in 1973, but other work demanded Ellison's attention and the anthology has not seen print to date. He has come under criticism for his treatment of some writers who submitted their stories to him, of which some estimate to be nearly 150 (many of the authors have died in the subsequent three-and-a-half decades since the anthology was first announced). Harlan Ellison
The demo was free. The game cost $50.
But they aren't paying for "unlimited" Internet. They are paying for a shared residential connection that is generally fast and reliable.
I wonder.
In 1930 Redmond's population was 430.
1930 Census: Population of Seattle tops 365,000 and that of King County tops 460,000 in 1930
In Seattle Boeing introduces the 247 in 1933. Eddie Bauer, the goose down parka in 1936.
The parka is a little closer to the truth about the Pacific Northwest in the thirties.
It was far from being an industrial power. Far from being an agricultural power.
So what drives the change?
The only answer that makes sense is government spending. Military spending. Water and Power. The Grand Coulee Dam.
The Grand Coulee alone represents a ten year investment in infrastructure.
Government can think and act beyond the next quarter. It is the borrower and the lender of last resort, the employer of last resort.
Taylor belongs to the era of industrial labor:
1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
3. Provide "Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker's discrete task"
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
This makes perfect sense if you want to safely and efficiently manage a production line.
Build a bridge.
Tasks that may employ thousands or tens of thousands of workers.
It's important to listen to what a welder has to say about his job. But you can't let him make the big decisions.
That may compromise the structure or delay its completion.
The same could be said of the self image you create off-line.
People are careless. People are vain.
The more complicated and hastily improvised the lie the more likely it will expose some inconvenient truths.
The medical records system has to get it right the first time. The cert is not going to be easy to get. It is not going to be cheap.
Now the code would have technically been certified so everyone else wanting to do the same could certify it themselves without fear of it failing
This sounds --- simplistic.
Is it the code that that is being certified here - or is it the implementation of a turn-key medical records system?
Isn't it responsible to demand that you demonstrate a deep understanding of how the thing works?
That you have the resources to maintain your system, upgrade it, provide service and support?
Maintaining US air superiority is becoming very expensive - and fragile. The F-22 Raptor is certainly impressive. But there are only a 130 or so of them out there. Perhaps 40 combat-ready at any given moment.