Has anyone thought about asking the artists, like the anti-fair-use poster-diva Celine Dion, themselves what they think about the DCMA and its abuse by media corporations?
In my youth artists tended to campaign for good causes so where has the idealism vanished? In this case the artists are in the front line for defending fair civic liberties. Are they with us, or will they rather stay quiet hoping for a fatter paycheck?
I'm afraid I agree with you here, RinkRat. I stopped supporting Microsoft years ago due to their morally corrupt behaviour, and now witnessing AMD's chairman supporting that monopoly in a court of law in order to advance their own corporate agenda is quite revolting to me. For me corporate greed will never be a higher virtue than justice, fairness and honesty.
Lot of these people would undoubtably stand witness on behalf of drug cartels if they were to get some material benefit from doing so.
I just bought a new AMD rig a few months ago and now I regret it. So which of their competitors will get my money next time? Is Intel still using those processor IDs? What about Via Inc.'s C3 Cyrix-derivatives? Will the C3's be getting a faster (DDR?) memory interface some day?
I would like to see some intelligent geeksite doing a thorough comparison of the CPU vendors, their products AND their market practises. Something that would help us ethically-aware consumers in evaluating the choices. Buyers CAN obviously influence market trends and a shift of just few percentage points in marketshare from a bad vendor to a better one does send a signal.
I was just about to start putting Qt Nethack through this wringer but now I'm not gonna do it! Now you all just have to do with the old Nethack reviews...
I gave Mandrake my $60 in return for a club membership after their recent and rather desperate appeal for funds (to build the free Linux platform) so I feel that I'm entitled to an opinion, whether you agree with me or not.
There are two reasons why I don't like this StarOffice license deal:
1) People who in essense donated money to Mandrake in order to promote the development of the free platform now find some of that money going into Sun's coffers, regardless whether they wished to buy a license for the proprietary StarOffice or not.
I welcome any kind of Linux software support by independent developers and commercial ISVs but how does this kind of deal encourage choice? Should the vendors of WordPerfect Office, SmartSuite or god forbid MS-Office, or any other commercial applications, begin to sell pre-paid licenses to users/supporters of particular platforms? If you had effectively paid for one (as part of your platform support) would you still be interested in paying for the one that might really interest you? How is Mandrake's paying for StarOffice really different from hardware OEM's paying for Windows + MS-Office "on your behalf" when you go out and buy that new beige box? Shouldn't both the OEM's and Mandrake let the customer decide if they want the extras? Just negotiate the bulk discounts for your customers and let them decide.
2)"All members are entitled to same benefits"
I simply can't see how any vendor should be allowed to change such terms unilaterally and without due warning, let alone a Linux vendor who had just appealed to people's goodwill and financial help.
I've supported Linux (various flavours, bought boxes, converted and helped Windows converts etc.) for many years and one of the main attractions of Linux for me personally was the moral high ground it offered. I still like Mandrake's distro and appreciate their efforts at promoting Linux use on the desktop but I'm not happy with the way they handled this issue. Did something happen to Mandrake's soul when they became a publically-traded company?
It will be interesting to see whether the Mandrake Club staff will ever answer my email or not...
Now go ahead and burn me at stake for not approving with everything that some free software company does. I'm strong enough to take (actually deflect) any crap without the urge to join some militaristic boot camps. So there.
Thanks Junta. I've been actually trying to do a little handholding for a pair of recent Mandrake newbies who've found the official tech support a little, ahem, too little handholding for them. They're Windows dual-boot converts and genuinely afraid of using console so they'd really appreciate having something that straightforward...
Me? I'm hoping that sooner or later they'll end up with a distro that allows them to use simple GUI tools for all the mundane tasks. Mandrake's Drak* wizards are heaven-sent for them and me - they'll happily pay for the convenience, and I'll end up with more free time.
FWIW I might be a battle-hardened trouble-shooter but I can't really code to save my life so on behalf of myself and my "proteges" great big thanks to each and every contributor. You rock!
In the past Mandrake users were often recommended to do a "clean install" instead of an upgrade over existing version. Does the 8.2 upgrade go smoothly over previous versions 8.0 and 8.1 or is the user-un-friendly clean install suggestion still valid?
PS. Does anyone know of any simple GUI utility for backing up and restoring ~/home if it comes to that...?
All due respect to the gov't lawyer doing the Ballmer deposition but based on the brief video clips the affair seemed all too accommodating to give Ballmer a platform (pun unintended) for calmly regurgitating MS party line. Heck, it could be used almost unedited as a Microsoft advertisement on those home shopping networks!
After watching those eight minutes the only issue I could raise against MS would be that they consider it their god-given right to own and control the software platforms everyone should be (and damn near is) using. For the benefit of the consumers naturally. And that itself isn't really illegal but the smugness of these MS commanders still irks me after having watched them kill promising technologies and competitors with total predictability ever since the days of MS-DOS.
The US gov't appears to be determined to encourage that to continue so it's time for the rest of the world to stand up for themselves and for foreign governments to demand that any software to be sold in their territories must conform to globally standardized and open file formats and protocols.
Will the US still insist on protecting their homegrown multi-faced monopoly after the rest of the world has moved onto other globally compatible formats and data exchange? Most of the world consists of either poor and developing countries or otherwise insignificantly small markets that under MS market vision would never reach parity or equality with the first world. But we need to help those countries develop and open protocols, file formats and platforms should really be considered as a long overdue stage of economic aid that isn't one-off giveaway which often only increase dependency on aid. The United Nations, European Union and even countries like India and China working together could get the wheels rolling very quickly without any help from the self-serving US gov't.
I have written to my representatives about the need for such a change. Perhaps the people here who understand the gravity of the situation should consider doing the same.
How's this: each point of karma earned (or whored, where's the distinction) allows the poster to "kill" (with sound and explosion effects please) upto 50 (!!) humongous animated ad banners.
Satisfaction guaranteed all around. The ad pushers finally find their ads getting personal and undivided attention while the posters can relieve their AC-induced frustrations onsite without ever having to leave for a quick fragging mission in Quake.
It shouldn't take long to merge the slashcode with Quake engine. Of course a newsreader, mailer and activeX support should be added soon afterwards to remain compatible with other relevant technologies...
Patent laws will be pending after this concoction has been properly trademarked for development.
Even if Miguel & Co manage to squiggle past most hurdles that are thrown at their path there WILL be gates that render their rendition of.NET if not completely useless then at least peripheral. In the most idealistic case.MONO may provide a subset of the original control-freak's architecture, and even that 2-3 years afterwards when MS is already planning its obsoletion.
A recipe for a successful open environment for Linux? And if.MONO ever becomes even quasi-popular MS is guaranteed to sue it off this planet over patent violations and what.NOT.
As far as I can see the only chance for.MONO or its MS-imitating breathen is for the real industry heavyweights to get involved in FORCING GNU/GPL-compatible standards-compliance at every level.
But just sit down and think about what Miguel's saying. If his wide-eyed naivety is correct, then Microsoft is just FORCING a migration down their developers throats that will HELP them support non-MS platforms with unprecedented ease. They'd be voluntarily GIVING UP not only their OS monopoly but also their de-facto development tool stranglehold.
I'm not going to remove Gnome from my systems quite yet, but I can imagine a few independent Gnome developers preferring to look for new challenges before contributing towards Microsoft's next plan in Total Domination through.NET.
Thank god there are multiple options available for Linux so that even if a group of otherwise talented Gnome developers end up completely wasting a few years the Linux ecosystem itself won't be endengered. Such is evolution under free conditions!
FWIW, Corel's so-called Linux division (whatever that meant) was bought by a startup called Xandros, who are mainly owned by a venture capital group called Linux Global Partners. LGP have also invested in various other Linux companies such as Ximian, CodeWeavers and GnuCash.
Xandros claims their upcoming distro is being built upon "Corel Linux OS v3.0" technology.
As a desktop Linux user I've mostly used and recommended SuSE and Mandrake (I suppose Conetiva would be suitable as well) in recent years although I still admire Red Hat in many ways. However they haven't tried targetting the desktop users so I suppose I'd agree with you in that AOL's presumed choice to buy Red Hat is a curious one.
In any case, I wouldn't worry about AOL turning into a Linux monopoly even after buying RHAT since GPL was designed to keep the playing field level.
An early web snapshot for historical records?
on
Homepage Usability
·
· Score: 1
Whether the book is right for you or not, it does sound like a neat and permanent record of the early web for future generations. You know, even if Google (and the "agencies") manage to store a few gadzillion homepages in a safe place, there might not be suitable retro-technology for displaying them (as god/authors intended), not to mention that the media of the future might be so different that merely seeing the pages (and perhaps hearing the odd "boink-boink" advertising sounds) may not convey the mindset of this era.
At least a book like this, from the sounds of it, might give the future anthopologists some insight on what we were getting at.
Get a copy and surprise your grandchildren? Some of my earliest inspirational moments came at my grandparents' attic.
I wish I had found this pleasantly OT post earlier...
Anyway, Junkbuster (Stefan Waldherr & Co. edition) development appear to have moved to a new Sourgeforge spot and an improved v3 might be released quite soon.
I just bought a new board a few days ago - a Gigabyte GA-7VTXH (KT266A, SB128, ethernet) - plugged it in and booted the distro I had previously installed on the HDs and after reconfiguring the sound it's run purrrfectly.
Then I finally thought to give the manual a glance.. only to realize that everything was in Traditional Chinese. That's not my forte so I found the anglicized version from their website in PDF format.
I already knew that the components were supported under Linux (ain't life grand!) but decided to check Google anyhow for other users' takes on this board, only to find none. Now after reading this Anand review it dawned on me that even Shri (Sir) Anand is waiting for his review copy of this board.
So while you guys may lack the availability of the latest hardware, some of us have the iron but have nothing to read about it.:^)
Before laying down cash for CDs, always check in advance if anyone has managed to rip it. Perhaps the central CD databases should also start providing blacklist information on possible "protective" restrictions.
If the one you buy still happens to be "protected", return it as faulty for a refund. Unless you're intent on supporting the gr***y labels that are pushing this down our unsuspecting throats. Do they really want customers to stop impulse purchasing due to the fear of restricted goods? Or do they expect the passive masses to give the expected response - and do nothing.
We should pay for the music we really like and "use", but unless I'm clearly offered "rental terms" I expect to have the right of fair personal use.
Should we beware of g/r/eeks bearing fruitbowls now?
Well, wine is made of processed grapes so fruits are in the right bowlpark...
"A Kylix is a large wine cup with a shallow bowl. It has two horizontal handles. Attaching the bowl to the foot is a high stem." (Darin Glatt, who ought to know his Greek pottery)
Klyx, as it turns out, is also the brand name for a pharmaceutical laxative used in some northern European countries.
Therefore both Kylix and Klyx have the ability to make things run internally with results that may take your breath away.
That's what we call Travesty of Justice over here.
I'd still like to hear Ms Kollar-Kotelly explain what bearing exactly does the terrorist act against the U.S. have with the sudden and total change of heart in a case involving a convicted corporate monopolist.
All I can see is the momentary national (economic) advantage of helping an American corporation maintain a lucrative global monopoly vs. following the letter of the law.
Hearing the U.S. administration lecturing other countries about the importance of the rule of law was already quite painful; now I don't whether to cry or laugh. Probably both.
There's more than just voting machines in desperate need of fixing in the U.S. but considering how the popular opinion seems to side with MicroSoft even despite the hugely damaging (albeit only narrowly focused) Findings of Fact documenting the consistently unlawful behaviour I'm frankly out of ideas.
The root of the public opinion problem is probably that the news about Microsoft's trial were largely disseminated through (stock) market news magazine programmes where the interviewed "analysts" invariably tended to characterize MicroSoft as some kind of a mysterious engine for economic growth while reminding people that _their_own_ pension funds relied by not insignicant degree on inflated MSFT stock prices.
Money and corporate greed vs. democracy and rule of law - I can imagine the laughter in Beijing if the U.S. envoys still dare to bring up that argument without blushing...
Underclocking to the rescue?
on
AMD And THG update
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
While I've followed the Athlon performance discussions with no little amount of awe, I've been frustrated by the heat issues and the related power consumption. Due to reasons beyond my control, heat, relatively speaking, is an environmental issue where I work. Humongous HFC's aren't the ideal solution to this problem IMO.
Recently I've started pondering whether it would be possible to take one of the newer Palominos (eXPee+ series Athlon) and underclock it (e.g. from 1,333Mhz to 1Ghz or even lower) via the multiplier and voltage while keeping the external bus speeds (which aren't part of the heat problem) intact or even slightly overclocked.
Has anyone studied the underclocking opportunities of Palominos with the latest mainboards? Waiting for the move to a 13 micron silicon-on-insulator process is starting to get on my nerves.;-) VIA's latest C3 (800Mhz) looks technically "cool" but it understandably lacks DDR support and tick-for-tick its performance still sucks compared to the K7 designs by AMD.
Also, does anyone know if the upcoming "finer" Athlons will be compatible with the mainboards on sale today?
Or should I just give up on AMD and go for a P4 when the DDR-boards become available?
Re:The Get-Rich-Quick Scheme Taco Should Have Used
on
Slashdot Updates
·
· Score: 1
How about using the three-layered scheme that 92.7% of all statisticians favour:
Scum level: cowards searching for content amongst humongous animated MSFT ads... (collected personal information may or may not be sold to greedy capitalists)
Hardy students level: The registered non-paying bullards seeing less intrusive and non-offensive ads but ads nevertheless.
Geeks w/ cash level: for a small voluntary donation there will be no ads but adundant karma bonuses instead. The sun is guaranteed so shine even where it normally doesn't.
Of course, it would be a lot simpler if the slashcrew simply sold corporations positive mentions (and biased moderating) like other companies with traditional journalistic integrity such as ZD.
Slashdot Mirror
Dontcha?
Has anyone thought about asking the artists, like the anti-fair-use poster-diva Celine Dion, themselves what they think about the DCMA and its abuse by media corporations?
In my youth artists tended to campaign for good causes so where has the idealism vanished? In this case the artists are in the front line for defending fair civic liberties. Are they with us, or will they rather stay quiet hoping for a fatter paycheck?
I'm afraid I agree with you here, RinkRat. I stopped supporting Microsoft years ago due to their morally corrupt behaviour, and now witnessing AMD's chairman supporting that monopoly in a court of law in order to advance their own corporate agenda is quite revolting to me. For me corporate greed will never be a higher virtue than justice, fairness and honesty.
Lot of these people would undoubtably stand witness on behalf of drug cartels if they were to get some material benefit from doing so.
I just bought a new AMD rig a few months ago and now I regret it. So which of their competitors will get my money next time? Is Intel still using those processor IDs? What about Via Inc.'s C3 Cyrix-derivatives? Will the C3's be getting a faster (DDR?) memory interface some day?
I would like to see some intelligent geeksite doing a thorough comparison of the CPU vendors, their products AND their market practises. Something that would help us ethically-aware consumers in evaluating the choices. Buyers CAN obviously influence market trends and a shift of just few percentage points in marketshare from a bad vendor to a better one does send a signal.
This may be a one-off "Slashvertising special" but they managed to plug their sister company's shop nevertheless.
More smart than funny; no complaints about that fact though.
I was just about to start putting Qt Nethack through this wringer but now I'm not gonna do it! Now you all just have to do with the old Nethack reviews...
I gave Mandrake my $60 in return for a club membership after their recent and rather desperate appeal for funds (to build the free Linux platform) so I feel that I'm entitled to an opinion, whether you agree with me or not.
There are two reasons why I don't like this StarOffice license deal:
1) People who in essense donated money to Mandrake in order to promote the development of the free platform now find some of that money going into Sun's coffers, regardless whether they wished to buy a license for the proprietary StarOffice or not.
I welcome any kind of Linux software support by independent developers and commercial ISVs but how does this kind of deal encourage choice? Should the vendors of WordPerfect Office, SmartSuite or god forbid MS-Office, or any other commercial applications, begin to sell pre-paid licenses to users/supporters of particular platforms? If you had effectively paid for one (as part of your platform support) would you still be interested in paying for the one that might really interest you? How is Mandrake's paying for StarOffice really different from hardware OEM's paying for Windows + MS-Office "on your behalf" when you go out and buy that new beige box? Shouldn't both the OEM's and Mandrake let the customer decide if they want the extras? Just negotiate the bulk discounts for your customers and let them decide.
2)"All members are entitled to same benefits"
I simply can't see how any vendor should be allowed to change such terms unilaterally and without due warning, let alone a Linux vendor who had just appealed to people's goodwill and financial help.
I've supported Linux (various flavours, bought boxes, converted and helped Windows converts etc.) for many years and one of the main attractions of Linux for me personally was the moral high ground it offered. I still like Mandrake's distro and appreciate their efforts at promoting Linux use on the desktop but I'm not happy with the way they handled this issue. Did something happen to Mandrake's soul when they became a publically-traded company?
It will be interesting to see whether the Mandrake Club staff will ever answer my email or not...
Now go ahead and burn me at stake for not approving with everything that some free software company does. I'm strong enough to take (actually deflect) any crap without the urge to join some militaristic boot camps. So there.
I dunno why but this sounds eerily like one of Microsoft Corporation's arguments against free software...
Just curious...
Thanks Junta. I've been actually trying to do a little handholding for a pair of recent Mandrake newbies who've found the official tech support a little, ahem, too little handholding for them. They're Windows dual-boot converts and genuinely afraid of using console so they'd really appreciate having something that straightforward...
Me? I'm hoping that sooner or later they'll end up with a distro that allows them to use simple GUI tools for all the mundane tasks. Mandrake's Drak* wizards are heaven-sent for them and me - they'll happily pay for the convenience, and I'll end up with more free time.
FWIW I might be a battle-hardened trouble-shooter but I can't really code to save my life so on behalf of myself and my "proteges" great big thanks to each and every contributor. You rock!
In the past Mandrake users were often recommended to do a "clean install" instead of an upgrade over existing version. Does the 8.2 upgrade go smoothly over previous versions 8.0 and 8.1 or is the user-un-friendly clean install suggestion still valid?
PS. Does anyone know of any simple GUI utility for backing up and restoring ~/home if it comes to that...?
All due respect to the gov't lawyer doing the Ballmer deposition but based on the brief video clips the affair seemed all too accommodating to give Ballmer a platform (pun unintended) for calmly regurgitating MS party line. Heck, it could be used almost unedited as a Microsoft advertisement on those home shopping networks!
After watching those eight minutes the only issue I could raise against MS would be that they consider it their god-given right to own and control the software platforms everyone should be (and damn near is) using. For the benefit of the consumers naturally. And that itself isn't really illegal but the smugness of these MS commanders still irks me after having watched them kill promising technologies and competitors with total predictability ever since the days of MS-DOS.
The US gov't appears to be determined to encourage that to continue so it's time for the rest of the world to stand up for themselves and for foreign governments to demand that any software to be sold in their territories must conform to globally standardized and open file formats and protocols.
Will the US still insist on protecting their homegrown multi-faced monopoly after the rest of the world has moved onto other globally compatible formats and data exchange? Most of the world consists of either poor and developing countries or otherwise insignificantly small markets that under MS market vision would never reach parity or equality with the first world. But we need to help those countries develop and open protocols, file formats and platforms should really be considered as a long overdue stage of economic aid that isn't one-off giveaway which often only increase dependency on aid. The United Nations, European Union and even countries like India and China working together could get the wheels rolling very quickly without any help from the self-serving US gov't.
I have written to my representatives about the need for such a change. Perhaps the people here who understand the gravity of the situation should consider doing the same.
I always thought the people who had an IPO don't need money any longer.
A girl in IPOnema would be another good substitute for money.
How's this: each point of karma earned (or whored, where's the distinction) allows the poster to "kill" (with sound and explosion effects please) upto 50 (!!) humongous animated ad banners.
Satisfaction guaranteed all around. The ad pushers finally find their ads getting personal and undivided attention while the posters can relieve their AC-induced frustrations onsite without ever having to leave for a quick fragging mission in Quake.
It shouldn't take long to merge the slashcode with Quake engine. Of course a newsreader, mailer and activeX support should be added soon afterwards to remain compatible with other relevant technologies...
Patent laws will be pending after this concoction has been properly trademarked for development.
Even if Miguel & Co manage to squiggle past most hurdles that are thrown at their path there WILL be gates that render their rendition of .NET if not completely useless then at least peripheral. In the most idealistic case .MONO may provide a subset of the original control-freak's architecture, and even that 2-3 years afterwards when MS is already planning its obsoletion.
.MONO ever becomes even quasi-popular MS is guaranteed to sue it off this planet over patent violations and what.NOT.
.MONO or its MS-imitating breathen is for the real industry heavyweights to get involved in FORCING GNU/GPL-compatible standards-compliance at every level.
.NET.
A recipe for a successful open environment for Linux? And if
As far as I can see the only chance for
But just sit down and think about what Miguel's saying. If his wide-eyed naivety is correct, then Microsoft is just FORCING a migration down their developers throats that will HELP them support non-MS platforms with unprecedented ease. They'd be voluntarily GIVING UP not only their OS monopoly but also their de-facto development tool stranglehold.
I'm not going to remove Gnome from my systems quite yet, but I can imagine a few independent Gnome developers preferring to look for new challenges before contributing towards Microsoft's next plan in Total Domination through
Thank god there are multiple options available for Linux so that even if a group of otherwise talented Gnome developers end up completely wasting a few years the Linux ecosystem itself won't be endengered. Such is evolution under free conditions!
FWIW, Corel's so-called Linux division (whatever that meant) was bought by a startup called Xandros, who are mainly owned by a venture capital group called Linux Global Partners. LGP have also invested in various other Linux companies such as Ximian, CodeWeavers and GnuCash.
Xandros claims their upcoming distro is being built upon "Corel Linux OS v3.0" technology.
As a desktop Linux user I've mostly used and recommended SuSE and Mandrake (I suppose Conetiva would be suitable as well) in recent years although I still admire Red Hat in many ways. However they haven't tried targetting the desktop users so I suppose I'd agree with you in that AOL's presumed choice to buy Red Hat is a curious one.
In any case, I wouldn't worry about AOL turning into a Linux monopoly even after buying RHAT since GPL was designed to keep the playing field level.
You have been warned. Be prepared for some serious Whack-a-moling...
Peace, brother.
Whether the book is right for you or not, it does sound like a neat and permanent record of the early web for future generations. You know, even if Google (and the "agencies") manage to store a few gadzillion homepages in a safe place, there might not be suitable retro-technology for displaying them (as god/authors intended), not to mention that the media of the future might be so different that merely seeing the pages (and perhaps hearing the odd "boink-boink" advertising sounds) may not convey the mindset of this era.
At least a book like this, from the sounds of it, might give the future anthopologists some insight on what we were getting at.
Get a copy and surprise your grandchildren? Some of my earliest inspirational moments came at my grandparents' attic.
I wish I had found this pleasantly OT post earlier...
Anyway, Junkbuster (Stefan Waldherr & Co. edition) development appear to have moved to a new Sourgeforge spot and an improved v3 might be released quite soon.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/
Let me guess, you aren't from the Far East...
:^)
I just bought a new board a few days ago - a Gigabyte GA-7VTXH (KT266A, SB128, ethernet) - plugged it in and booted the distro I had previously installed on the HDs and after reconfiguring the sound it's run purrrfectly.
Then I finally thought to give the manual a glance.. only to realize that everything was in Traditional Chinese. That's not my forte so I found the anglicized version from their website in PDF format.
I already knew that the components were supported under Linux (ain't life grand!) but decided to check Google anyhow for other users' takes on this board, only to find none. Now after reading this Anand review it dawned on me that even Shri (Sir) Anand is waiting for his review copy of this board.
So while you guys may lack the availability of the latest hardware, some of us have the iron but have nothing to read about it.
Before laying down cash for CDs, always check in advance if anyone has managed to rip it. Perhaps the central CD databases should also start providing blacklist information on possible "protective" restrictions.
If the one you buy still happens to be "protected", return it as faulty for a refund. Unless you're intent on supporting the gr***y labels that are pushing this down our unsuspecting throats. Do they really want customers to stop impulse purchasing due to the fear of restricted goods? Or do they expect the passive masses to give the expected response - and do nothing.
We should pay for the music we really like and "use", but unless I'm clearly offered "rental terms" I expect to have the right of fair personal use.
Should we beware of g/r/eeks bearing fruitbowls now?
Well, wine is made of processed grapes so fruits are in the right bowlpark...
"A Kylix is a large wine cup with a shallow bowl. It has two horizontal handles. Attaching the bowl to the foot is a high stem." (Darin Glatt, who ought to know his Greek pottery)
Klyx, as it turns out, is also the brand name for a pharmaceutical laxative used in some northern European countries.
Therefore both Kylix and Klyx have the ability to make things run internally with results that may take your breath away.
That's what we call Travesty of Justice over here.
I'd still like to hear Ms Kollar-Kotelly explain what bearing exactly does the terrorist act against the U.S. have with the sudden and total change of heart in a case involving a convicted corporate monopolist.
All I can see is the momentary national (economic) advantage of helping an American corporation maintain a lucrative global monopoly vs. following the letter of the law.
Hearing the U.S. administration lecturing other countries about the importance of the rule of law was already quite painful; now I don't whether to cry or laugh. Probably both.
There's more than just voting machines in desperate need of fixing in the U.S. but considering how the popular opinion seems to side with MicroSoft even despite the hugely damaging (albeit only narrowly focused) Findings of Fact documenting the consistently unlawful behaviour I'm frankly out of ideas.
The root of the public opinion problem is probably that the news about Microsoft's trial were largely disseminated through (stock) market news magazine programmes where the interviewed "analysts" invariably tended to characterize MicroSoft as some kind of a mysterious engine for economic growth while reminding people that _their_own_ pension funds relied by not insignicant degree on inflated MSFT stock prices.
Money and corporate greed vs. democracy and rule of law - I can imagine the laughter in Beijing if the U.S. envoys still dare to bring up that argument without blushing...
While I've followed the Athlon performance discussions with no little amount of awe, I've been frustrated by the heat issues and the related power consumption. Due to reasons beyond my control, heat, relatively speaking, is an environmental issue where I work. Humongous HFC's aren't the ideal solution to this problem IMO.
;-) VIA's latest C3 (800Mhz) looks technically "cool" but it understandably lacks DDR support and tick-for-tick its performance still sucks compared to the K7 designs by AMD.
Recently I've started pondering whether it would be possible to take one of the newer Palominos (eXPee+ series Athlon) and underclock it (e.g. from 1,333Mhz to 1Ghz or even lower) via the multiplier and voltage while keeping the external bus speeds (which aren't part of the heat problem) intact or even slightly overclocked.
Has anyone studied the underclocking opportunities of Palominos with the latest mainboards? Waiting for the move to a 13 micron silicon-on-insulator process is starting to get on my nerves.
Also, does anyone know if the upcoming "finer" Athlons will be compatible with the mainboards on sale today?
Or should I just give up on AMD and go for a P4 when the DDR-boards become available?
How about using the three-layered scheme that 92.7% of all statisticians favour:
Scum level: cowards searching for content amongst humongous animated MSFT ads... (collected personal information may or may not be sold to greedy capitalists)
Hardy students level: The registered non-paying bullards seeing less intrusive and non-offensive ads but ads nevertheless.
Geeks w/ cash level: for a small voluntary donation there will be no ads but adundant karma bonuses instead. The sun is guaranteed so shine even where it normally doesn't.
Of course, it would be a lot simpler if the slashcrew simply sold corporations positive mentions (and biased moderating) like other companies with traditional journalistic integrity such as ZD.