The easiest way to promote open source software would be for Dell to install OpenOffice on all their systems. This would cost them very little--no new OS to certify, no hardware to test, plus it wouldn't eat into their "crapware subsidy".
But, this will greatly increase the market share of OO.o, and home users and small businesses would reap real benefits from using a real office suite, rather than MS-Works.
Perhaps other PC makers will follow, to "compete" with Dell on this "Free Office Suite," and _they_ might install it on their systems.
I started using open source software from Mozilla Browser and OpenOffice on Windows. I was able to switch to Linux not only because I have tried to wean myself off of MS formats, but because I invested myself into platform neutrality. Having OpenOffice installed by default would do more than anything to promote this kind of independence, even if the user never actually ends up using Linux. I think this helps the open source movement even more than having a linux-OS option, because once people invest with their data, it is hard to go back to some other closed format.
Impressed by the male's display of agility, dexterity, and most importantly power, near by females were found hovering near the male, fluttering their eyelids, enticing them to come over and mate with them. Other males of the pack, noticing the effect of the impressive weapon, tried to out do one another, with longer sticks, and some with automatic tracking and friend-or-foe detection. However, the efforts of the beta males were judged by the females as too "nerdy".
Don't get me wrong. I'm writing this on an Ubuntu box, running FreeBSD on the home server, etc. Believe me, I have tried to switch people from Windows. But when a live in girlfriend can't get certain things done without my help, that's a problem.
I think preinstalled OpenOffice would do more to promote Open Source and MS Alternatives than anything else. Linux is still unsuitable for casual users with other casual users as friends. For an average user wanting to run business apps or games, Linux/Wine/QEMU just isn't as friendly nor has the "ask your neighbor" tech support that you'd get running Windows.
With a default OO install, there will be an instant install base of ODF. It'll do wonders for adoption of the format. Other manufacturers might even follow Dell, seeing how Dell can add functional software with minimal cost, leading to even more adoption. Business users might purchase MS Office anyway, but the home users and small businesses needing basic office needs would benefit in a real way without spending more money.
So please, vote for OO.o. Having Dell install linux by default might be really cool, but voting for OO.o would help both Open Source awareness and adoption.
Here is an example of what i'm talking about. A hard-coded DST change in MSVCRT.dll is having potential health impact on medical patients. Tell me about "backward compatibility" and "user confusion" now.
Why does Windows not run UTC on the CMOS clock? Doing so would solve all of this "The computer has changed the clock" twice a year. The clock wouldn't be changed, just synced every now and then, but the displayed time would automatically be adjusted. POSIX and MacOS does this correctly, and 99.99% of Mac users don't even realize their CMOS clock runs UTC. Changing Daylight Time would be updating a single file, even in a closed OS like windows.
I've heard all sorts of dumb reasons against running UTC on the CMOS, like "who cares about UTC, My time is local" and "why should I keep two different times on my computer". But, the OS will hide the UTC from you, and besides, when was the last time you used the BIOS time as your clock?
Forcing UTC on the CMOS clock is surprising since WindowsNT has used UTC for all their internal time tracking for some time. But they *calculate* it from local time, which changes twice a year, _even though_ Windows uses NTP time servers. Doh. It's gotta be *the* dumbest backward compatibility "feature". See here: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/mswish/ut-rtc.html
Short version: they use Active-X because of US export policy.
Long version: Before Clinton allowed export of strong encryption, web browsers outside US only supported 40-bit encryption. So instead of using ssl with 40-bit keys, the Korean government adopted something called SEED, a homegrown algorithm with support for longer keys. So all the online banking stuff was done with it. This was around when IE was taking over the browser market, so banks used Active X to implement SEED. People liked it because it allowed them very nice and frequently updated widgets, and most people were running windows anyway.
Fast forward 10 years, the whole country is dependent on Active-X and therefore MS, with *zero* support for alternatives. As everyone is using IE, most web sites (including Korean Government sites) are designed only for IE+Acitve-X. All banking, shopping, stock trading, is done through Active-X, with no alternatives. This discourages people from using anything but Windows, perpetuating the monopoly. Korea is the only country where the stock market and most financial system shutdown because of the MS-SQL slammer worm (back in Jan '05). With help from rampant software piracy, MS is *the* dominant player in *all* software markets, and Korea's culture of homogeneity has simply perpetuated the monopoly.
I'm hoping people learned their lesson and will shift to more standards compliance and alternative implementations, but somehow I don't think so. In fact, the Korean Government will demand MS "fix" "their" problem, as obviously it is MS's fault for breaking "the Internet".
Why isn't the BSD section no longer listed on the left hand Sections menu? The Slashdot bias against BSD has gone on far too long. Editors, bring back the BSD section!
Dude, don't you hate it when you forget to check "Post Anonymously" box?
DUF stands for "Domain of Unknown Function"
on
Humanity Gene Found?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The Abstract of paper:
Extreme gene duplication is a major source of evolutionary novelty. A genome-wide survey of gene copy number variation among human and great ape lineages revealed that the most striking human lineage-specific amplification was due to an unknown gene, MGC8902, which is predicted to encode multiple copies of a protein domain of unknown function (DUF1220). Sequences encoding these domains are virtually all primate-specific, show signs of positive selection, and are increasingly amplified generally as a function of a species' evolutionary proximity to humans, where the greatest number of copies (212) is found. DUF1220 domains are highly expressed in brain regions associated with higher cognitive function, and in brain show neuron-specific expression preferentially in cell bodies and dendrites.
W80 Nuclear warhead plans are "classified", and is not covered under the First Amendment. I doubt these guys are using anything classified, as they've published the docs previously. It's probably some cage rattling prodded by the DOJ.
There are many MA clubs where sparring with or without protective gear is allowed. There are also mixed-martial arts clubs where you can learn and practice (sparr) strikes, throws, grapple, and do submissions just like you see on Spike TV, or Ultimate Fighting. Why not go join them where the skill levels are high (so you dont get killed by accident), and competition is stiff?
A lot of comment so far correctly point out that WINE is is an implementation of the Windows API, but they miss Cringely's point that Apple licensed the Windows API. The whole shebang. So unlike the WINE development team, OSX-XP project team doesn't have to reverse engineer undocumented and cryptic API's. Anyone who remembers IBM's OS2 knows that IBM licensed the Windows API, and included it into OS2, and could run all Windows programs. OS2 failed because of lack of consumer appeal (eye-candy), not because of lack of compatibility.
I imagine Apple could pull a better OS2 than IBM. Security, stability plus consumer appeal plus Windows compatibility.
Even if all this is speculation, it probably gives Messrs Dell and Gates nightmares.
from the article: "We built a solar cell made of ice," he recalled. "While it is not as efficient as a silicon solar cell, it costs a penny a square mile."
Solar panel that uses ice! This could be very cool for people in colder climates.
I thought cluster sizes were already 4KB for efficiency, and LBA for larger drive sizes. So how does changing the sector size change things? (Especially when we don't access drives by sector/cylinder anymore?)
I tihnk he's about 3 years too late, 20 if you count the planning stages. What do you think Iraqi Freedom is, a field trip?
Like it or not, US cannot maintain even a semblence of her current economy without cheap oil. Even our food production is heavily oil based--from fertilization, mechanized harvesting, to transportation.
One way to prevent a Mad Max type situation is to guarantee oil supplies from a foreign source, backed by military force and strong border security (a la a big FENCE).
Another way is to invest in alternative energy, and reduce consumption (a la change "our way of life").
Which is better? That depends on who was/is/will be our President.
The reason you can't format past 32GB with Fat32 is not because FAT32 doesn't support it. FAT32 can support up to 2TB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Tabl e#FAT32),
and Windows can read/write to very large FAT32 drives just fine. Microsoft is coercing people to use NTFS instead, so they disabled formatting beyond 32GB in Win2k/XP.
Try formatting your drive as FAT32 with Linux/BSD or a third party software (partition magic). I've done this with a 200GB external drive that I share between computers, and it works fine. Just be mindful of FAT32's 4GB file size limit.
Is there any other digital storage mechanism that doesn't degrade in optimal storage conditions over long enough time frames (ie 100 years plus)?
Two words: Magneto-Optical. Much more durable than optical or magnetic media. They are very popular in Japan but due to their high cost (relative to CD-R, of course), they are pretty obscure in the US.
If you want cheap, go with CD-R. If you want quality, go with MO.
Slashdot Mirror
Or maybe diecreationismdie
Girls don't trust me to use a condom consistently. But you'll trust me with a gun, right?
The easiest way to promote open source software would be for Dell to install OpenOffice on all their systems. This would cost them very little--no new OS to certify, no hardware to test, plus it wouldn't eat into their "crapware subsidy".
But, this will greatly increase the market share of OO.o, and home users and small businesses would reap real benefits from using a real office suite, rather than MS-Works.
Perhaps other PC makers will follow, to "compete" with Dell on this "Free Office Suite," and _they_ might install it on their systems.
I started using open source software from Mozilla Browser and OpenOffice on Windows. I was able to switch to Linux not only because I have tried to wean myself off of MS formats, but because I invested myself into platform neutrality. Having OpenOffice installed by default would do more than anything to promote this kind of independence, even if the user never actually ends up using Linux. I think this helps the open source movement even more than having a linux-OS option, because once people invest with their data, it is hard to go back to some other closed format.
Impressed by the male's display of agility, dexterity, and most importantly power, near by females were found hovering near the male, fluttering their eyelids, enticing them to come over and mate with them. Other males of the pack, noticing the effect of the impressive weapon, tried to out do one another, with longer sticks, and some with automatic tracking and friend-or-foe detection. However, the efforts of the beta males were judged by the females as too "nerdy".
Don't get me wrong. I'm writing this on an Ubuntu box, running FreeBSD on the home server, etc. Believe me, I have tried to switch people from Windows. But when a live in girlfriend can't get certain things done without my help, that's a problem.
I think preinstalled OpenOffice would do more to promote Open Source and MS Alternatives than anything else. Linux is still unsuitable for casual users with other casual users as friends. For an average user wanting to run business apps or games, Linux/Wine/QEMU just isn't as friendly nor has the "ask your neighbor" tech support that you'd get running Windows.
With a default OO install, there will be an instant install base of ODF. It'll do wonders for adoption of the format. Other manufacturers might even follow Dell, seeing how Dell can add functional software with minimal cost, leading to even more adoption. Business users might purchase MS Office anyway, but the home users and small businesses needing basic office needs would benefit in a real way without spending more money.
So please, vote for OO.o. Having Dell install linux by default might be really cool, but voting for OO.o would help both Open Source awareness and adoption.
Here is an example of what i'm talking about. A hard-coded DST change in MSVCRT.dll is having potential health impact on medical patients. Tell me about "backward compatibility" and "user confusion" now.
s tID=1220111&SiteID=1
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?Po
Why does Windows not run UTC on the CMOS clock? Doing so would solve all of this "The computer has changed the clock" twice a year. The clock wouldn't be changed, just synced every now and then, but the displayed time would automatically be adjusted. POSIX and MacOS does this correctly, and 99.99% of Mac users don't even realize their CMOS clock runs UTC. Changing Daylight Time would be updating a single file, even in a closed OS like windows.
I've heard all sorts of dumb reasons against running UTC on the CMOS, like "who cares about UTC, My time is local" and "why should I keep two different times on my computer".
But, the OS will hide the UTC from you, and besides, when was the last time you used the BIOS time as your clock?
Forcing UTC on the CMOS clock is surprising since WindowsNT has used UTC for all their internal time tracking for some time. But they *calculate* it from local time, which changes twice a year, _even though_ Windows uses NTP time servers. Doh. It's gotta be *the* dumbest backward compatibility "feature". See here: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/mswish/ut-rtc.html
Maybe you could answer this poster's horrible experience with Melbourne IT? Since you are posting anonymously and all...
Short version: they use Active-X because of US export policy.
Long version: Before Clinton allowed export of strong encryption, web browsers outside US only supported 40-bit encryption. So instead of using ssl with 40-bit keys, the Korean government adopted something called SEED, a homegrown algorithm with support for longer keys. So all the online banking stuff was done with it. This was around when IE was taking over the browser market, so banks used Active X to implement SEED. People liked it because it allowed them very nice and frequently updated widgets, and most people were running windows anyway.
Fast forward 10 years, the whole country is dependent on Active-X and therefore MS, with *zero* support for alternatives. As everyone is using IE, most web sites (including Korean Government sites) are designed only for IE+Acitve-X. All banking, shopping, stock trading, is done through Active-X, with no alternatives. This discourages people from using anything but Windows, perpetuating the monopoly. Korea is the only country where the stock market and most financial system shutdown because of the MS-SQL slammer worm (back in Jan '05). With help from rampant software piracy, MS is *the* dominant player in *all* software markets, and Korea's culture of homogeneity has simply perpetuated the monopoly.
I'm hoping people learned their lesson and will shift to more standards compliance and alternative implementations, but somehow I don't think so. In fact, the Korean Government will demand MS "fix" "their" problem, as obviously it is MS's fault for breaking "the Internet".
Why isn't the BSD section no longer listed on the left hand Sections menu? The Slashdot bias against BSD has gone on far too long. Editors, bring back the BSD section!
I know Oregon does this now. Could an Oregonian comment on it? Should the rest of the country adopt the Oregon model?
Dude, don't you hate it when you forget to check "Post Anonymously" box?
The Abstract of paper:
Extreme gene duplication is a major source of evolutionary novelty. A genome-wide survey of gene copy number variation among human and great ape lineages revealed that the most striking human lineage-specific amplification was due to an unknown gene, MGC8902, which is predicted to encode multiple copies of a protein domain of unknown function (DUF1220). Sequences encoding these domains are virtually all primate-specific, show signs of positive selection, and are increasingly amplified generally as a function of a species' evolutionary proximity to humans, where the greatest number of copies (212) is found. DUF1220 domains are highly expressed in brain regions associated with higher cognitive function, and in brain show neuron-specific expression preferentially in cell bodies and dendrites.
W80 Nuclear warhead plans are "classified", and is not covered under the First Amendment. I doubt these guys are using anything classified, as they've published the docs previously. It's probably some cage rattling prodded by the DOJ.
There are many MA clubs where sparring with or without protective gear is allowed. There are also mixed-martial arts clubs where you can learn and practice (sparr) strikes, throws, grapple, and do submissions just like you see on Spike TV, or Ultimate Fighting. Why not go join them where the skill levels are high (so you dont get killed by accident), and competition is stiff?
A lot of comment so far correctly point out that WINE is is an implementation of the Windows API, but they miss Cringely's point that Apple licensed the Windows API. The whole shebang. So unlike the WINE development team, OSX-XP project team doesn't have to reverse engineer undocumented and cryptic API's. Anyone who remembers IBM's OS2 knows that IBM licensed the Windows API, and included it into OS2, and could run all Windows programs. OS2 failed because of lack of consumer appeal (eye-candy), not because of lack of compatibility.
I imagine Apple could pull a better OS2 than IBM. Security, stability plus consumer appeal plus Windows compatibility.
Even if all this is speculation, it probably gives Messrs Dell and Gates nightmares.
from the article:
"We built a solar cell made of ice," he recalled. "While it is not as efficient as a silicon solar cell, it costs a penny a square mile."
Solar panel that uses ice! This could be very cool for people in colder climates.
In Post Soviet Russia, software pirates you!
I thought cluster sizes were already 4KB for efficiency, and LBA for larger drive sizes. So how does changing the sector size change things? (Especially when we don't access drives by sector/cylinder anymore?)
Good job sticking it to God. And when he tries to strike you down with a Thunderbold, your tower will save you!
I tihnk he's about 3 years too late, 20 if you count the planning stages. What do you think Iraqi Freedom is, a field trip?
Like it or not, US cannot maintain even a semblence of her current economy without cheap oil. Even our food production is heavily oil based--from fertilization, mechanized harvesting, to transportation.
One way to prevent a Mad Max type situation is to guarantee oil supplies from a foreign source, backed by military force and strong border security (a la a big FENCE).
Another way is to invest in alternative energy, and reduce consumption (a la change "our way of life").
Which is better? That depends on who was/is/will be our President.
It's right on their home page, under Hosting and Servers > Hosting Plan.
Sounds really tempting. Anyone have good/bad experience with them?
The reason you can't format past 32GB with Fat32 is not because FAT32 doesn't support it. FAT32 can support up to 2TB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Tabl e#FAT32),
and Windows can read/write to very large FAT32 drives just fine. Microsoft is coercing people to use NTFS instead, so they disabled formatting beyond 32GB in Win2k/XP.
Try formatting your drive as FAT32 with Linux/BSD or a third party software (partition magic). I've done this with a 200GB external drive that I share between computers, and it works fine. Just be mindful of FAT32's 4GB file size limit.
Is there any other digital storage mechanism that doesn't degrade in optimal storage conditions over long enough time frames (ie 100 years plus)?
Two words: Magneto-Optical. Much more durable than optical or magnetic media. They are very popular in Japan but due to their high cost (relative to CD-R, of course), they are pretty obscure in the US.
If you want cheap, go with CD-R. If you want quality, go with MO.