In fairness to the author, while he does not go into the details, TFA does stress the importance of alternative methods for transactional systems such as the ones you are referring to.
Anyone who would agree to make a $20 million investment based on someone else's ORAL guarantee (e.g. WITHOUT a WRITTEN agreement) is a complete MORON or LIAR.
One thing is quite certain: Microsoft would never be so idiotic as to put their financing of the SCO litigation in writing. We have no idea exactly what was said at the time, but it may be that Microsoft originally actually thought there was a modicum of substance behind SCO's litigation. They might then have been willing to invest it it even more heavily than they did. Perhaps Goldfarb was counting on that.
I am sure the French report's recommendations are sound, but much less sure they will be implemented. Microsoft has plenty of money to produce its own "independent" reports objecting to the imposition of a "monopoly" based on open standards, as well as playing up areas where MS Office is arguably superior. That same Microsoft money can also buy support for their point of view in influential circles.
The difference here is that, unlike IBM (even with donations) I doubt Viodentia can afford a four year plus lawsuit costing tens of millions of dollars. Personally, I think the objective is to send a message to any other hacker with the same idea: if you try to circumvent our copy protection (legally or not) we are going to financially cripple you. It works as far as I am concerned.
CHM support would be nice, but you could always run your CHM based books through a CHM to PDF converter.
My biggest complaint is that it incorporates irrelevant extras that add to the weight. It ought to be possible to create an e-Ink based device with a small battery that would be lighter than a paperback book. Do that for US$100-150 and I shall be an immediate customer.
Sony marketing may assume that, because people like extra features in their cellphones, the same will be true with electronic readers. If so, they miss a fundamental difference. Most of us do not hold our cell phones out in front of our eyes for hours at a time.
Gas prices are an important (not exact) indicator of the future availability of energy supplies. A drastic shortage, if it occurs, will devastate the world economy. It is frightening that oil prices have risen so much, even with people taking Saudi Arabia at its word on their proven oil reserves. It is likely that the Saudi reserves are much less than claimed. See, for instance, New study raises doubts about Saudi oil reserves and Crude Awakening.
If the Saudi claims are debunked sufficiently to affect the general consensus, there will be a panic that will send prices through the roof. Let us hope the worst does not happen.
I thought the US administration had announced that Lenovo kit was off limits. I suppose this means that the policy exists only for new projects (reasonably enough or, more accurately, less unreasonable since I thought the policy was pretty silly anyway).
Well, I have been known to eat some pretty indigestible meals in my time, but I think I would draw the line here. Otoh, I'll concede data recovery would be an unusual challenge after you had done this.
I suppose I should not be surprised, having seen the quality of old archived newspapers, but (being google) I did not expect a total failure of the OCRs of much of the older materials. For instance, try to decipher this summary from an article in The Times of September 30, 1815
J i- n N to tr 1C K be m nl he fed tat i irV ft- I ibt- iaot in- i I Us. a firm dependence but upon them, otherwise to fncoa- tisrrt. and never upon our eternally dividtd. dhcoruar.l, dominion; the UBpbTence OF Germany would be demonsirated, Its servttuile and at least one thorough pinaging jn V cenlurj be pro- nounord and rtcoguised as coastitutMttillv its lot....
If you open the link, you will see that it is almost all this bad. The technology still has a long way to go.
Thus far, I have been very happy with what I have seen of Lenovo's actions. The newer Thinkpad models are better specified, a little cheaper and the warranty conditions have improved. I am actually more likely to buy Thinkpads now than when IBM was running the show.
Terrorists are (roughly) people who have given up all hope with "the system," and are taking matters into their own hands.
I see them as people who are so fixated on a specific issue that they will do anything to achieve their ends, regardless of the effect on themselves or anyone else.
For example, the American Revolutionaries would probably be called "terrorists" today.
They varied. Some of them were, indeed, terrorists. Like the proponents of most causes, the majority avoided spilling the blood of non-combatants.
Proclaiming "Criminal Insanity" is a means whereby you objectify somebody else, and make them fit for murder: That is, you have justified to yourself, by calling the person a terrorist, their murder.
As it happens, I am a strong opponent of capital punishment. Regretfully, though, it will sometimes be necessary to kill terrorists in self defense if they cannot be apprehended.
Notice how you appeal to "normal people." And "perverted teachings." You're not even trying to establish foundational basis; You're appealing entirely to normalicy.
You are correct that my post contains emotive terms. I happen to feel that destroying the lives of those who are in no way trying to harm you is wrong. Even if it could be shown that the acts of terrorism had any credible prospect of achieving the terrorists aims, I would still find this unacceptable, whatever those aims were.
But do you not think that there is ever a time when normalicy must be challenged?
And perhaps even in highly illegal and plausibly even unethical ways?
Yes, within limits. Mohandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King both fought outside of the law for what they firmly believed. Neither considered that randomly murdering and throwing bombs at people was an appropiate means.
Is there nothing you would not fight for? Nothing?
I am fighting some of your ideas right now;} There are no circumstances under which I would kill, except in self defence.
Whenever including tools designed to try to clean infected systems, always include the important warning:
Do not clean infected systems. You can never be sure you have caught everything. Almost always, infected systems should be formatted and replaced by a clean install. Only under exceptional circumstances should the attempt to disinfect systems be made, and the user must be told that it is possible his system is still infected and that he should proceed accordingly.
Funnily enough, while I use Firefox myself for the extensions, when switching standard users I am now giving them Opera 9. Firefox is getting targeted by malware, and I think Opera 9 is actually intrinsically more secure also.
Terrorists are not liberals or conservatives; they are not Moslem, Christian or Buddhist; they are not male or female; they are not old or young: they are criminally insane individuals who must be stopped (though there are can disagreement about the best way of accomplishing this). While it is important to try to understand that people can be pushed into this insanity by perverted teachings of leaders of extreme groups, normal people do not try to harm the innocent family members of those whose actions they disapprove.
I am assuming that it a requirement from the customer that you must retain the physical media. I am also assuming that the media arrive with labels that identify what they are, and that it is quite acceptable to search through 100-200 discs on the rare occasions when they are needed. The important thing is to know which batch to look at.
My solution to that would be to use the 100 disc spools that are often used to package blanks. Slap a date range on the top or side of each and store them in sequence. A fairly compact and low maintenance solution. Physical damage to the disks with this solution is unlikely and climate control is not important for three month data retention.
... the entire device would be small enough to build into a cell phone to project an image on a wall
I am generally impressed. Their claim that this would be very cheap is credible. However, what kind of cell phone is going to have the power to do video projection?
In future, when they need to check possible prior uses of a word, perhaps they could find someone who has access to the Internet and check the Wiki, answers.com, or even Google.
... when it does it will end capitalism as we know it...
You underestimate the power of greed. The real question is how capitalism would adapt. My own view is that the patent system would probably be used to restrict use of the associated technologies to a privileged few, and thus ensure that the vast majority of the wealth produced continued to be distributed as it always has.
I would agree that System/360 belongs on the list. Charles Babcock's recollection of the achievement differs greatly from mine, however. The number one biggest achievement was the creation of a family of microcode-based computers that allowed the same software to run on everything from an entry level System 360 Model 20 through a supercomputer 360/195. It was the fundamental soundness of the System/360 architecture, that could be simulated on a wide range of different real machine architectures, that gave the underlying software legs and allowed upwards compatibility over a period of 40 years and counting.
Almost everything else was an unholy mess for years. The first System/360 operating systems (OS/PCP, TOS, original DOS) could not run multiple applications at a time. Although this functionality (implemented by OS/MFT, OS/MVT and later versions of DOS) was in the plans from the start, it took a lot time to actually arrive in a useable form. The process of converting customers from the older 1401's and 7090's to the new architecture was horribly mismanaged. In theory, emulators (supported by microcode) were available to simplify the task. In practice, the conversion was a nightmare, not helped by the fact that, in those days, it was very common to be unable to locate program source code. In IBM's defense, they did put System Engineers on site with customers for as long as it took to solve the problems.
An even greater technical achievement (Future Sys: which was eventually released in part as the System/38 and its successors, as well as some hardware devices) was axed by Thomas Watson personally, after a bigger investment than that made in System/360 development, because of the painful experiences involved in converting clients to the System/360.
All the comments so far suggest that a separate graphics card (with its own memory and "memory bus") is only important for gaming. In my experience, that is not true. Integrated graphics are an issue on any system where memory access is a bottleneck. Of course, many modern systems have way more power than is needed for the modest applications run on them. For systems that need an upgrade, however, a low end graphics card to eliminate the memory contention caused by the integrated graphics is often the first step.
Which plan looks most promising to a typical entrepreneur?
write up a great idea for a proprietary product, stressing that it will run on millions of Windows desktops;
look for venture capital;
develop and market product;
profit!!!
or
write up a great idea for an open source product, stressing that geeks will love it;
look for venture capital;
develop and market product;
attract praise for its open and innovative nature!!!
There is some tremendous stuff running in the Linux/BSD world (especially server oriented tools). Much of it is desperately needed by Windows (appArmor, SELinux type functionality, for instance). However, the reason for the focus on MS Windows for consumer desktop products is no mystery.
Will this be sufficient to run Duke Nukem Forever?
As of today, probably yes. However, the new GPU rig is not due until September and, by then, the DNF development team will have discovered the absolute need to redesign DNF to the latest engine with innovative graphics features that no hardware due before 2010 can handle.
Slashdot Mirror
In fairness to the author, while he does not go into the details, TFA does stress the importance of alternative methods for transactional systems such as the ones you are referring to.
I am sure the French report's recommendations are sound, but much less sure they will be implemented. Microsoft has plenty of money to produce its own "independent" reports objecting to the imposition of a "monopoly" based on open standards, as well as playing up areas where MS Office is arguably superior. That same Microsoft money can also buy support for their point of view in influential circles.
The difference here is that, unlike IBM (even with donations) I doubt Viodentia can afford a four year plus lawsuit costing tens of millions of dollars. Personally, I think the objective is to send a message to any other hacker with the same idea: if you try to circumvent our copy protection (legally or not) we are going to financially cripple you. It works as far as I am concerned.
My biggest complaint is that it incorporates irrelevant extras that add to the weight. It ought to be possible to create an e-Ink based device with a small battery that would be lighter than a paperback book. Do that for US$100-150 and I shall be an immediate customer.
Sony marketing may assume that, because people like extra features in their cellphones, the same will be true with electronic readers. If so, they miss a fundamental difference. Most of us do not hold our cell phones out in front of our eyes for hours at a time.
If the Saudi claims are debunked sufficiently to affect the general consensus, there will be a panic that will send prices through the roof. Let us hope the worst does not happen.
I thought the US administration had announced that Lenovo kit was off limits. I suppose this means that the policy exists only for new projects (reasonably enough or, more accurately, less unreasonable since I thought the policy was pretty silly anyway).
Well, I have been known to eat some pretty indigestible meals in my time, but I think I would draw the line here. Otoh, I'll concede data recovery would be an unusual challenge after you had done this.
... no wait That is only when the government is spying into your private life, not your friends.
Thus far, I have been very happy with what I have seen of Lenovo's actions. The newer Thinkpad models are better specified, a little cheaper and the warranty conditions have improved. I am actually more likely to buy Thinkpads now than when IBM was running the show.
Funnily enough, while I use Firefox myself for the extensions, when switching standard users I am now giving them Opera 9. Firefox is getting targeted by malware, and I think Opera 9 is actually intrinsically more secure also.
Terrorists are not liberals or conservatives; they are not Moslem, Christian or Buddhist; they are not male or female; they are not old or young: they are criminally insane individuals who must be stopped (though there are can disagreement about the best way of accomplishing this). While it is important to try to understand that people can be pushed into this insanity by perverted teachings of leaders of extreme groups, normal people do not try to harm the innocent family members of those whose actions they disapprove.
My solution to that would be to use the 100 disc spools that are often used to package blanks. Slap a date range on the top or side of each and store them in sequence. A fairly compact and low maintenance solution. Physical damage to the disks with this solution is unlikely and climate control is not important for three month data retention.
In future, when they need to check possible prior uses of a word, perhaps they could find someone who has access to the Internet and check the Wiki, answers.com, or even Google.
Almost everything else was an unholy mess for years. The first System/360 operating systems (OS/PCP, TOS, original DOS) could not run multiple applications at a time. Although this functionality (implemented by OS/MFT, OS/MVT and later versions of DOS) was in the plans from the start, it took a lot time to actually arrive in a useable form. The process of converting customers from the older 1401's and 7090's to the new architecture was horribly mismanaged. In theory, emulators (supported by microcode) were available to simplify the task. In practice, the conversion was a nightmare, not helped by the fact that, in those days, it was very common to be unable to locate program source code. In IBM's defense, they did put System Engineers on site with customers for as long as it took to solve the problems.
An even greater technical achievement (Future Sys: which was eventually released in part as the System/38 and its successors, as well as some hardware devices) was axed by Thomas Watson personally, after a bigger investment than that made in System/360 development, because of the painful experiences involved in converting clients to the System/360.
Is this a record?
All the comments so far suggest that a separate graphics card (with its own memory and "memory bus") is only important for gaming. In my experience, that is not true. Integrated graphics are an issue on any system where memory access is a bottleneck. Of course, many modern systems have way more power than is needed for the modest applications run on them. For systems that need an upgrade, however, a low end graphics card to eliminate the memory contention caused by the integrated graphics is often the first step.
- write up a great idea for a proprietary product, stressing that it will run on millions of Windows desktops;
- look for venture capital;
- develop and market product;
- profit!!!
or- write up a great idea for an open source product, stressing that geeks will love it;
- look for venture capital;
- develop and market product;
- attract praise for its open and innovative nature!!!
There is some tremendous stuff running in the Linux/BSD world (especially server oriented tools). Much of it is desperately needed by Windows (appArmor, SELinux type functionality, for instance). However, the reason for the focus on MS Windows for consumer desktop products is no mystery.