Microsoft is under no legal obligation to repay the $35 to me, and it really doesn't matter to me if they do or not.
Anyway, if you look at the original Slashdot thread, he didn't expect this to turn into a big media thing. He just posted a comment along the lines of "Hey, I just paid it for them. Here's the reciept." --
"Hello! I am a paper computer from FooCorp and I'd like to tell you about the amazing new product, the Baz-O-Matic 3000! In fact, if you slide your credit card across me, you'll automatically order your own Baz-O-Matic 3000! The features of the..." *RRRRRIIIIIP* "sputter sputter fzzt..."
Welcome, newbie. People who have posted good comments in the past, giving them a high "Karma", which makes their posts start at +2 by default. It's possible to check a box that makes your comment start at +1 anyway, but IMHO that should only be used when replying to an offtopic comment, like I'm doing now. If that comment is really unworthy of a +2, the moderators will sort it out. Okay?
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Re:Whatever happened to "fitting on a floppy"?
on
Mozilla M12 Released
·
· Score: 2
(posted with an M13 cycle nightly build from 12/29)
Wow, now THAT'S cutting edge! You've got a build that won't be out for 8 days! Is time-travel one of the new Mozilla features, or did you do that part on your own?
Okay, could someone explain what the difference is between "10mm dot pitch" and "1 pixel per cm"? 10mm is 1cm, after all, but maybe I don't understand dot pitch. --
No, but if it's anything like 2.2 was, you have to gnash your teeth trying to upgrade it, configure it, or install new software.
Unless they got their support for RPMs better, fixed the numerous bugs in COAS (having it set your keyboard repeat rate to "slow as molasses" every time you boot, and crash when you try to change it back, is not fun), and included a usable console text editor besides vi, when they went from 2.2 to 2.3, it's not the distribution I'd want to end up using. Maybe they did do all that stuff. I never found out because when faced with the choice of (a) paying for a newer version of a distro I decided I didn't like, or (b) downloading an ISO of Mandrake, I picked the obvious choice. --
All right. Now I've got to reply to myself, because the same people apparently own it. Their "company" page still starts with:
A long, long time ago, when the Internet was still in its formation, and the World Wide Web was created, a young engineer registered the very first domain name; www.com. However, little was done with the name over the years that followed until, in 1999, a group of Internet veterans came together to develop www.com into the next generation music netcasting company.
That is the exact same message that they had at first, except it said "next generation Web portal" instead of "next generation music netcasting company".
Now let's translate this into fact... A couple of years ago, when the domain name system started to become completely corrupted, some guy thought he could get rich by registering the domain "www.com" and selling it. Little was done with the name in the years that followed until, in 1999, a group of marketroids paid a suitably large amount of money for it and decided they could make it a portal site. After the portal site died, they decided that netcasting was more "in" and tried that instead.
Reminds me of the short-lived portal site "www.com". They thought they could make money from domain name recognition and their (bogus) claim that they were "the first site on the Internet".
You'll notice the portal isn't there anymore. It's some kind of Internet radio site now. --
When Mozilla is out, I'm going to be changing the source code to ignore META tags. Think about it... all they usually do is make the browser do something I didn't want it to do, like bring up a popup ad. Their legitimate uses are mostly for search robots, so my browser shouldn't care. --
So incremental reflow is the way it draws part of a page at a time, right? Mozilla used to be usable on Slashdot... after they put in incremental reflow, it isn't anymore. Since I'm on a P166, rendering the page is what takes the longest time. It doesn't seem to have any concept of skipping to what's CURRENTLY loaded; instead, it draws every possible step in the loading of the page. And since it uses all available processing power, I can't scroll the text (hey, if you're going to all that trouble to let me read the text as it's loading, then let me read it!), or click "Stop", or anything. Now... incremental reflow is a very good idea - I used to gripe a lot about how browsers could show part of a page when you clicked "stop", but wouldn't think of showing the page when the download is stalled - but it's got to be implemented right.
IE renders a typical Slashdot article in 5 seconds. Netscape 4.7 takes more like 20. Mozilla M11... I've never had the patience to find out. --
That is the most mangled Spanish I've ever seen. The words are "no entiendo". Anyway, the "en" prefix and "endo" ending are very common in Spanish, so you could say that "Nintendo" sounds like a BUNCH of things. "Nadando" (swimming) comes to mind. --
In the beginning, there was "CyberWhatever". Then there was "InfoWhatever", and "e-Whatever", and "iWhatever", and "eWhatever", and "Whateverent"... And Bob looked and saw that it was bad. Very very bad.
but "e.conomy"? That sounds like all the high-tech cliches run through a blender... I can just see someone trademarking it. --
I bet that Bill Gates only even keeps a record around that that name existed, so that someday when trademark law has become completely corrupted, he can sue Netscape for trademark dilution because their browser says "transferring data". Obviously it's meant to sound like Traf-O-Data! If there's someone around who wants to buy a 20-year-old traffic monitoring device, he might get confused and download Netscape instead! --
"All right. We called the processor that was supposed to be the 586 'Pentium', because 'pent' means five." "Right." "Well, now that we're safely past 'sexium' and 'septium', we can go back to the pattern! We can call the processor that would have been the 886... the Octanium!" "That sounds like something you'd get at a gas station." "Fine, then... the Eightanium!" "That sounds really stupid." "Okay, so leave out a couple of letters. Itanium!" "That STILL sounds stupid."
Then it's time for a coffee break, except that everyone with a brain sneaks out of the meeting. The marketroids are the only people who come back, and they decide that Itanium is a great name. --
When they were naming elements 104-109, they wanted to name element 106 Seaborgium, after Glen Seaborg, the guy who made the periodic table the shape it is now. But they couldn't name an element after someone who was still alive. So doesn't it seem kind of odd that Seaborg suddenly died (supposedly of a stroke) last year? Maybe they decided they needed to take drastic actions so they wouldn't have to deal with an element called "unnilhexium"... --
I see that the source is available. This is cool. All it takes is changing some directory names in index.cgi and dada, and it works.
If you don't want the whole web page, but just want a random headline on stdout:
Edit katz.pb and replace the huge line beginning with decorated_headline: with decorated_headline: headline;
Then run it with 'dada katz.pb' instead of 'index.cgi'.
Think of the possibilities! JonKatz in shell scripts! JonKatz instead of fortune! JonKatz in xscreensaver/hacks/noseguy! Actually, now that I think about it, that's scary. --
PS. I always have thought that a moderation option should be "wrong" (as in factually incorrect).
Yeah, I've thought that too. It'd also be nice to have "uninformed rant by a person who hasn't RTFA", though that probably wouldn't fit in the comment header very well. --
Is that really how you spelled Australia? (I don't mean the S on the end, I mean with the superfluous I) Hopefully you just misspelled it when you typed it here... a typo in registering a domain has to suck. --
Slashdot Mirror
Anyway, if you look at the original Slashdot thread, he didn't expect this to turn into a big media thing. He just posted a comment along the lines of "Hey, I just paid it for them. Here's the reciept."
--
It must not be that obvious, because other search engines have been around for years without using this algorithm.
Now Google uses it, and it actually returns links that make sense because of it. I think it deserves the patent.
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"Mr. Bohn, due to the lack of poor grades, police record, and drug abuse, we do not want you working for the XYZ company."
Sorry to be picky, but I'd think that poor grades, a police record, and drug abuse are all very good things to lack.
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September was the month when all the computer newbies would appear. Look it up in the Jargon File - Septem ber That Never Ended
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Problem solved.
--
The thing is that Windows doesn't need pretty installers, since most people don't install it. It comes pre-installed on their computer.
--
Welcome, newbie. People who have posted good comments in the past, giving them a high "Karma", which makes their posts start at +2 by default. It's possible to check a box that makes your comment start at +1 anyway, but IMHO that should only be used when replying to an offtopic comment, like I'm doing now.
If that comment is really unworthy of a +2, the moderators will sort it out. Okay?
--
Wow, now THAT'S cutting edge! You've got a build that won't be out for 8 days! Is time-travel one of the new Mozilla features, or did you do that part on your own?
(sorry, I had to say it)
--
Okay, could someone explain what the difference is between "10mm dot pitch" and "1 pixel per cm"? 10mm is 1cm, after all, but maybe I don't understand dot pitch.
--
Heck, I'll leave your score alone, because at least you're original.
--
No, but if it's anything like 2.2 was, you have to gnash your teeth trying to upgrade it, configure it, or install new software.
Unless they got their support for RPMs better, fixed the numerous bugs in COAS (having it set your keyboard repeat rate to "slow as molasses" every time you boot, and crash when you try to change it back, is not fun), and included a usable console text editor besides vi, when they went from 2.2 to 2.3, it's not the distribution I'd want to end up using.
Maybe they did do all that stuff. I never found out because when faced with the choice of (a) paying for a newer version of a distro I decided I didn't like, or (b) downloading an ISO of Mandrake, I picked the obvious choice.
--
That is the exact same message that they had at first, except it said "next generation Web portal" instead of "next generation music netcasting company".
Now let's translate this into fact... A couple of years ago, when the domain name system started to become completely corrupted, some guy thought he could get rich by registering the domain "www.com" and selling it. Little was done with the name in the years that followed until, in 1999, a group of marketroids paid a suitably large amount of money for it and decided they could make it a portal site. After the portal site died, they decided that netcasting was more "in" and tried that instead.
--
Reminds me of the short-lived portal site "www.com". They thought they could make money from domain name recognition and their (bogus) claim that they were "the first site on the Internet".
You'll notice the portal isn't there anymore. It's some kind of Internet radio site now.
--
I downloaded the MP3 and then listened to it, so the only pauses I heard were when I did something processor-intensive.
--
When Mozilla is out, I'm going to be changing the source code to ignore META tags.
Think about it... all they usually do is make the browser do something I didn't want it to do, like bring up a popup ad.
Their legitimate uses are mostly for search robots, so my browser shouldn't care.
--
So incremental reflow is the way it draws part of a page at a time, right?
Mozilla used to be usable on Slashdot... after they put in incremental reflow, it isn't anymore.
Since I'm on a P166, rendering the page is what takes the longest time. It doesn't seem to have any concept of skipping to what's CURRENTLY loaded; instead, it draws every possible step in the loading of the page.
And since it uses all available processing power, I can't scroll the text (hey, if you're going to all that trouble to let me read the text as it's loading, then let me read it!), or click "Stop", or anything.
Now... incremental reflow is a very good idea - I used to gripe a lot about how browsers could show part of a page when you clicked "stop", but wouldn't think of showing the page when the download is stalled - but it's got to be implemented right.
IE renders a typical Slashdot article in 5 seconds. Netscape 4.7 takes more like 20. Mozilla M11... I've never had the patience to find out.
--
That is the most mangled Spanish I've ever seen. The words are "no entiendo". Anyway, the "en" prefix and "endo" ending are very common in Spanish, so you could say that "Nintendo" sounds like a BUNCH of things. "Nadando" (swimming) comes to mind.
--
Then there was "InfoWhatever", and "e-Whatever", and "iWhatever", and "eWhatever", and "Whateverent"...
And Bob looked and saw that it was bad. Very very bad.
but "e.conomy"? That sounds like all the high-tech cliches run through a blender... I can just see someone trademarking it.
--
Now there's a good theme. They should take it even farther and come out with the Toyota Arctic Wasteland!
--
I bet that Bill Gates only even keeps a record around that that name existed, so that someday when trademark law has become completely corrupted, he can sue Netscape for trademark dilution because their browser says "transferring data". Obviously it's meant to sound like Traf-O-Data! If there's someone around who wants to buy a 20-year-old traffic monitoring device, he might get confused and download Netscape instead!
--
"All right. We called the processor that was supposed to be the 586 'Pentium', because 'pent' means five."
"Right."
"Well, now that we're safely past 'sexium' and 'septium', we can go back to the pattern! We can call the processor that would have been the 886... the Octanium!"
"That sounds like something you'd get at a gas station."
"Fine, then... the Eightanium!"
"That sounds really stupid."
"Okay, so leave out a couple of letters. Itanium!"
"That STILL sounds stupid."
Then it's time for a coffee break, except that everyone with a brain sneaks out of the meeting. The marketroids are the only people who come back, and they decide that Itanium is a great name.
--
When they were naming elements 104-109, they wanted to name element 106 Seaborgium, after Glen Seaborg, the guy who made the periodic table the shape it is now.
But they couldn't name an element after someone who was still alive.
So doesn't it seem kind of odd that Seaborg suddenly died (supposedly of a stroke) last year?
Maybe they decided they needed to take drastic actions so they wouldn't have to deal with an element called "unnilhexium"...
--
I see that the source is available. This is cool.
All it takes is changing some directory names in index.cgi and dada, and it works.
If you don't want the whole web page, but just want a random headline on stdout:
Edit katz.pb and replace the huge line beginning with decorated_headline: with
decorated_headline: headline;
Then run it with 'dada katz.pb' instead of 'index.cgi'.
Think of the possibilities! JonKatz in shell scripts! JonKatz instead of fortune! JonKatz in xscreensaver/hacks/noseguy!
Actually, now that I think about it, that's scary.
--
PS. I always have thought that a moderation option should be "wrong"
(as in factually incorrect).
Yeah, I've thought that too. It'd also be nice to have "uninformed rant by a person who hasn't RTFA", though that probably wouldn't fit in the comment header very well.
--
Is that really how you spelled Australia? (I don't mean the S on the end, I mean with the superfluous I)
Hopefully you just misspelled it when you typed it here... a typo in registering a domain has to suck.
--