Darl stated in the teleconference that SCOG now has US$43 million in cash. As usual, it is dangerous to take anything coming out of his mouth at face value. It appears that (as of 31 July) they had about 16 million in cash, 13 million reserved for the BayStar settlement (since paid) and about 27 million in "available for sale securities". I am particularly suspicious about this last figure. Do you suppose this is mostly SCOG stock bought in a desperate attempt to bolster the stock price (perhaps at an average price of US$10), grossly overvalued today and incapable of being translated into any significant amount of cash?
Other issues that are relevant. The above figures are a month old and last quarter SCOG was burning about 2.4 million a month in legal fees. Also, outstanding legal fees that had not yet been paid as of 31st July were unclear.
Who is SCOG's auditor and will they need to insist that SCOG presents a truthful balance sheet? And when?
So does coral let us serve our file to a slashdot-like crowd without breaking the bank?
An interesting question. It would seem feasible only to serve up the full page when this is requested by a cache server, in all other cases just returning a redirect.
If this actually proves possible, and no way of blocking it is found, it may kill the project stone dead.
It is directed specifically at individuals and small devlopment companies who cannot afford to defend patent disputes. Process:
1) Develop huge collection of vague and broad patents covering every aspect of computer systems. (Whether they would pass serious scrutiny is irrelevant).
2) Identify quality competitive products that threaten your monopoly position and whose owner(s) lack the resources to sustain a lengthy legal battle.
3) Contact them to let them know they can keep their house if they sign over their product to Microsoft.
Apart from the PCI slot (where larger cards can be awkward) I have never found the shuttles cramped to work with -- and I am not numble fingered. With the cover off and drive cage removed, I always found all the other slots more accessible than in a typical regular case.
The power supply has traditionally been high quality with consistent, but admittedly limited, wattage. As a practical matter, I have not run into problems. I use low powered AGP processors in these (because I want to keep heat generation down) but often use two HDDs without trouble. The latest Shuttle described in the article reportedly has the power supply beefed up to 350 watts. If the consistency is there, this sounds enough for almost anything.
Upgrade? These are much more upgradeable than any desknote, let alone notebook, system. When replacing the motherboard in a barebones system, what you are saying is you want to keep the old case and power supply: probably about US$50 worth. Meanwhile, the new motherboard and case for the latest model have probably been designed together, with careful attention to thermal and power characteristics.
I think one problem with discussing open source software is we often pretend everyone involved has the same objectives. The scratching a personal itch comment is a case in point. Sure, for some developers, that is all it is. For others, the motivation might be quite different. Some projects are receiving donations with the understanding that the key developers will produce specific features; some developers want to showcase their skills; and so on.
Rather than talking about OSS as a whole, we need to try (as far as possible) to discuss the motives of individuals or the objectives of specific projects.
In my research I had determined that (generally) cheap != good
There is one interesting option. Thailand has a couple of world class eye hospitals with state of the art facilities and well trained, experienced staff. The costs are far lower than in the US. You could potentially schedule a 3 week holiday in Thailand and combine it with fixing up your eyes (10 days sufficient if there are no complications, but it would not be wise to cut it that fine).
Lots have commented on the slow write performance of the memory stick. An even more pertinent issue is that all I/O through USB 1.0 (presumably this is USB 1.1) will be slow.
Like others, I think a key question is whether there is an operational CD drive. If so, it would seem sensible to boot Knoppix from that and only use a memory stick for backup purposes.
RTFA... the.iq domain was given by ICANN to the Texas company to administer when Saddam was trying to block use of the Internet in Iraq (at least that is the explanation given). Accepting the above, was ICANN right in doing this because it disagreed with the Iraqi government's views? Questionable perhaps. Could be interesting if they tried to assign China's domain to a Texas company because of Chinese censorship of the Internet.
Yes, this can be an issue. However, you can switch the default browser and still have the ability to use IE for a legacy application or two. For that matter, it is tough to apply MS patches to your system without IE.
I really like REXX also and, coming from the VM world, adopted Kedit and KEXX when I started doing work with PCs. Realistically, though, the Kedit/KEXX stuff is on its last legs now. It is sad, but Mansfield stopped developing it years ago and I cannot justify US$159 for an editor that is no longer state of the art.
I also get a kick out of such messages. However, they are far from an unmixed blessing. In particular, they do not ease the process of internationalizaion. Your typical non-native English speaker, even with the help of a dictionary, will probably have no idea of the meaning. Also, recognize that a generic "we have a problem" type message can be easily translated in comparison with a hundred quirky problem specific messages.
Just a question I am curious about: given that the problem of dust buildup degrading the operation of the solar panels was anticipated, was there no way of incorporating some cleaning mechanism?
A lot of the comments thus far are attacking the wrong issue. Microsoft is not claiming that they are the first to consider embedding comments and keywords in source code to identify needed actions. What they are claiming is that they are the first to use the information for maintaining task lists in real time.
I am unsure if their claim is correct but, even if it is, it should have been thrown out as a totally obvious extension to routine, long standing software development methodologies.
If Saddam Hussein didn't have WMDs, all he had to do was cooperate with the inspecters
Well, according to Dr Hans Blix (the head of the inspection commission) Iraq was cooperating fairly well. The message that cooperation was inadequate was coming from the same source that was claiming incontrovertible evidence of ongoing WMD activity. Most of the world wanted inspections to continue, based on the doubts raised by the US, in spite of the fact that inspections were revealing nothing.
I have yet to see a machine programmed with every facet of the instincts that might prevent disasters from unforseen situations. Of course, humans make their own mistakes.
Indeed, humans make their own mistakes. Darwin had a theory (mostly accepted) about how humans have develop the "instincts" that help them improve their performance and in some cases keep them alive. Some experiments in AI based on similar principles seem to have held promise (e.g. see When Robots Play Games). Perhaps the key is to have multiple teams of robots with slightly different designs such that an error by one team is less likely to be replicated by all.
It is my impression that Linux has momentum, but I think Sun is suffering more than Microsoft. To date, most of the major server migrations have been large companies switching from proprietary Unix systems to Linux.
Small to medium size organisations are still installing a lot of Microsoft servers for in-house use. On the desktop, Linux has made virtually no impression in smaller organisations, and I think they feel more comfortable with desktops and servers based on common technology. It will be interesting to see if this changes over the next year or so.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow! That Adobe patent is as bad as the Microsoft one.
Other issues that are relevant. The above figures are a month old and last quarter SCOG was burning about 2.4 million a month in legal fees. Also, outstanding legal fees that had not yet been paid as of 31st July were unclear.
Who is SCOG's auditor and will they need to insist that SCOG presents a truthful balance sheet? And when?
An interesting question. It would seem feasible only to serve up the full page when this is requested by a cache server, in all other cases just returning a redirect.
If this actually proves possible, and no way of blocking it is found, it may kill the project stone dead.
It is directed specifically at individuals and small devlopment companies who cannot afford to defend patent disputes. Process:
1) Develop huge collection of vague and broad patents covering every aspect of computer systems. (Whether they would pass serious scrutiny is irrelevant).
2) Identify quality competitive products that threaten your monopoly position and whose owner(s) lack the resources to sustain a lengthy legal battle.
3) Contact them to let them know they can keep their house if they sign over their product to Microsoft.
4) No need for any ?????
5) Even more profit !!!
Often wondered: could snapping one's fingers to attract the attention of a shop assistant be considered prior art to the one-click shopping patent?
Arrgghh ...
For LAN parties, people want a great looking machine with a Prescott 3.8E (assuming they cannot get, and afford, something more powerful).
Apart from the PCI slot (where larger cards can be awkward) I have never found the shuttles cramped to work with -- and I am not numble fingered. With the cover off and drive cage removed, I always found all the other slots more accessible than in a typical regular case.
The power supply has traditionally been high quality with consistent, but admittedly limited, wattage. As a practical matter, I have not run into problems. I use low powered AGP processors in these (because I want to keep heat generation down) but often use two HDDs without trouble. The latest Shuttle described in the article reportedly has the power supply beefed up to 350 watts. If the consistency is there, this sounds enough for almost anything.
Upgrade? These are much more upgradeable than any desknote, let alone notebook, system. When replacing the motherboard in a barebones system, what you are saying is you want to keep the old case and power supply: probably about US$50 worth. Meanwhile, the new motherboard and case for the latest model have probably been designed together, with careful attention to thermal and power characteristics.
I found this post convincing until he claimed that he had a fiancee: a /.er with a fiancee?
Rather than talking about OSS as a whole, we need to try (as far as possible) to discuss the motives of individuals or the objectives of specific projects.
There is one interesting option. Thailand has a couple of world class eye hospitals with state of the art facilities and well trained, experienced staff. The costs are far lower than in the US. You could potentially schedule a 3 week holiday in Thailand and combine it with fixing up your eyes (10 days sufficient if there are no complications, but it would not be wise to cut it that fine).
I would recommend white wine and moderate overclocking for about 45 mins. Should be delicious.
Like others, I think a key question is whether there is an operational CD drive. If so, it would seem sensible to boot Knoppix from that and only use a memory stick for backup purposes.
RTFA ... the .iq domain was given by ICANN to the Texas company to administer when Saddam was trying to block use of the Internet in Iraq (at least that is the explanation given). Accepting the above, was ICANN right in doing this because it disagreed with the Iraqi government's views? Questionable perhaps. Could be interesting if they tried to assign China's domain to a Texas company because of Chinese censorship of the Internet.
Yes, this can be an issue. However, you can switch the default browser and still have the ability to use IE for a legacy application or two. For that matter, it is tough to apply MS patches to your system without IE.
Someone has found a way to make lots of ./ers admit to using Hotmail.
timbolshaw+gmail At fastmail.fm
timbolshaw+gmail At fastmail.fm
I really like REXX also and, coming from the VM world, adopted Kedit and KEXX when I started doing work with PCs. Realistically, though, the Kedit/KEXX stuff is on its last legs now. It is sad, but Mansfield stopped developing it years ago and I cannot justify US$159 for an editor that is no longer state of the art.
I also get a kick out of such messages. However, they are far from an unmixed blessing. In particular, they do not ease the process of internationalizaion. Your typical non-native English speaker, even with the help of a dictionary, will probably have no idea of the meaning. Also, recognize that a generic "we have a problem" type message can be easily translated in comparison with a hundred quirky problem specific messages.
Just a question I am curious about: given that the problem of dust buildup degrading the operation of the solar panels was anticipated, was there no way of incorporating some cleaning mechanism?
I am unsure if their claim is correct but, even if it is, it should have been thrown out as a totally obvious extension to routine, long standing software development methodologies.
Well, according to Dr Hans Blix (the head of the inspection commission) Iraq was cooperating fairly well. The message that cooperation was inadequate was coming from the same source that was claiming incontrovertible evidence of ongoing WMD activity. Most of the world wanted inspections to continue, based on the doubts raised by the US, in spite of the fact that inspections were revealing nothing.
Indeed, humans make their own mistakes. Darwin had a theory (mostly accepted) about how humans have develop the "instincts" that help them improve their performance and in some cases keep them alive. Some experiments in AI based on similar principles seem to have held promise (e.g. see When Robots Play Games). Perhaps the key is to have multiple teams of robots with slightly different designs such that an error by one team is less likely to be replicated by all.
Small to medium size organisations are still installing a lot of Microsoft servers for in-house use. On the desktop, Linux has made virtually no impression in smaller organisations, and I think they feel more comfortable with desktops and servers based on common technology. It will be interesting to see if this changes over the next year or so.