To my mind, it's completely misleading, and by these metrics I'm surprised UNIX and Linux don't top the list.
If you ues a computer as a server, you generally leave it running until it fails somehow, or until you've upgraded it. If you're using it to run applications, you probably turn it off every night, and clean up a lot of gunk in the process.
Plus, as dtfinch said, if your computer runs for 20 years and then crashes, it ranks as totally unreliable. This is a dumb and not-Sladhdot-worthy topic.
We MUST be connected. We must be reachable at all times, under all circumstances. Why, why why? I don't think it has anything to do with your friends or your family or your business. I think people do it because we can, mainly, and because we like gadgets.
But once the honeymoon with your new gadget is over, you're a slave to it. The gadget wants attention. The gadget needs a recharge. The gadget needs a patch. The gadget is obsolete.
You know what? Let the gadget die.
Slightly off-topic, but: I wonder if Linus Torvalds doesn't wish, somewhere in his heart, that he had made some money off Linux.
I don't really mean that maybe he should have charged for it -- I realize there would be no way to compete with MS early on. But to spearhead something that has become a major business tool, saving businesses millions of dollars and helping them amass and manage their billions or trillions... you'd think he might sometimes wish he'd received more than geek cachet and the inroads into his next career move.
Or am I totally missing the mark, and he's actually a zillionaire somehow?
I don't want to compare the formats. I don't want to look at little graphs that show what's been lost in compression. I want to listen to nice songs that I like. I appreciate good sound, but I think most people who debate formats and bitrates are doing it for the pure geekal formality of it, not because of anything having to do with music. Besides, a love of great-quality sound is really a curse: instead of appreciating music wherever you hear it, you are instead annoyed by the crappy quality of everyone else's sound system. Yes, maybe 192 kbps sounds slightly worse then 320 when you compare them, and I certainly don't care if you choose to use 320 for your music, but can you tell the difference when you DON'T compare them?
FWIW, I suspect that someday Apple will let us re-download our music at a higher bitrate or in another format, should the demand arise.
You're missing the key point. Spammers don't always do it for money. They do it to harm people and businesses. They do it because they are bad people. That is their prime motivation.
Effortlessly, spam could be ended tomorrow, with no new technology and no new laws. All that has to happen is for a few really dumb people to think really hard. And I don't mean the spammers or their customers.
It should not be the responsibility of the user to keep their computer "clean." People buy computers because they want to accomplish something. Yet they spend more and more time doing the meta-crap of keeping their computer running, and keeping criminals from taking the thing over. There is NO LIMIT to the number of viruses, spams, and pieces of Microsoft software that may conspire to bring your system down. I don't use Microsoft VirusPlatform Pro, so I don't get their viruses, but I do get spam. Today I got 100 spams. Tomorrow I may get 100 billion. My computing experience could end in an instant. Spam is already illegal throughout the world (since it's plain old theft) and yet, what, 3 people? have been prosecuted.
Get used to it. Your 11-hour odyssey can (and I think will) become a full-time job. 100% percent of your time troubleshooting and cleaning. Especially if you are willing to believe that you alone are responsible for "fixing" the malicious behavior of countless others.
Apache doesn't RUN the Web, and it certainly doesn't OWN anything. It's Web server software. That's all. It's like saying that Sony OWNS 30% of television. They just make the gizmo that shows the pictures. Apache could vanish tomorrow and the Web would be exactly the same (for those who matter: the users).
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To my mind, it's completely misleading, and by these metrics I'm surprised UNIX and Linux don't top the list.
If you ues a computer as a server, you generally leave it running until it fails somehow, or until you've upgraded it. If you're using it to run applications, you probably turn it off every night, and clean up a lot of gunk in the process.
Plus, as dtfinch said, if your computer runs for 20 years and then crashes, it ranks as totally unreliable. This is a dumb and not-Sladhdot-worthy topic.
We MUST be connected. We must be reachable at all times, under all circumstances. Why, why why? I don't think it has anything to do with your friends or your family or your business. I think people do it because we can, mainly, and because we like gadgets. But once the honeymoon with your new gadget is over, you're a slave to it. The gadget wants attention. The gadget needs a recharge. The gadget needs a patch. The gadget is obsolete. You know what? Let the gadget die.
Slightly off-topic, but: I wonder if Linus Torvalds doesn't wish, somewhere in his heart, that he had made some money off Linux. I don't really mean that maybe he should have charged for it -- I realize there would be no way to compete with MS early on. But to spearhead something that has become a major business tool, saving businesses millions of dollars and helping them amass and manage their billions or trillions... you'd think he might sometimes wish he'd received more than geek cachet and the inroads into his next career move. Or am I totally missing the mark, and he's actually a zillionaire somehow?
I don't want to compare the formats. I don't want to look at little graphs that show what's been lost in compression. I want to listen to nice songs that I like. I appreciate good sound, but I think most people who debate formats and bitrates are doing it for the pure geekal formality of it, not because of anything having to do with music. Besides, a love of great-quality sound is really a curse: instead of appreciating music wherever you hear it, you are instead annoyed by the crappy quality of everyone else's sound system. Yes, maybe 192 kbps sounds slightly worse then 320 when you compare them, and I certainly don't care if you choose to use 320 for your music, but can you tell the difference when you DON'T compare them? FWIW, I suspect that someday Apple will let us re-download our music at a higher bitrate or in another format, should the demand arise.
You're missing the key point. Spammers don't always do it for money. They do it to harm people and businesses. They do it because they are bad people. That is their prime motivation. Effortlessly, spam could be ended tomorrow, with no new technology and no new laws. All that has to happen is for a few really dumb people to think really hard. And I don't mean the spammers or their customers.
It should not be the responsibility of the user to keep their computer "clean." People buy computers because they want to accomplish something. Yet they spend more and more time doing the meta-crap of keeping their computer running, and keeping criminals from taking the thing over. There is NO LIMIT to the number of viruses, spams, and pieces of Microsoft software that may conspire to bring your system down. I don't use Microsoft VirusPlatform Pro, so I don't get their viruses, but I do get spam. Today I got 100 spams. Tomorrow I may get 100 billion. My computing experience could end in an instant. Spam is already illegal throughout the world (since it's plain old theft) and yet, what, 3 people? have been prosecuted. Get used to it. Your 11-hour odyssey can (and I think will) become a full-time job. 100% percent of your time troubleshooting and cleaning. Especially if you are willing to believe that you alone are responsible for "fixing" the malicious behavior of countless others.
Apache doesn't RUN the Web, and it certainly doesn't OWN anything. It's Web server software. That's all. It's like saying that Sony OWNS 30% of television. They just make the gizmo that shows the pictures. Apache could vanish tomorrow and the Web would be exactly the same (for those who matter: the users).
No