Goedel says benchmarks are inherently flawed.
on
Examining Benchmarking
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Benchmarks are inherently flawed for the reasons stated in the posts. Comparing hardware to itself and similar hardware means there's no external reference point. Comparing one thing to another is okay, but you can't get absolute numbers in a closed Platonic system.
Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem states that you can't define a system entirely in its own terms, and that any system needs to be defined by terms outside of it.
So, how can you accurately rate hardware based on similar hardware? To meet the GIT (Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem), you would need to compare the hardware with something outside of the system, so you have an external reference point. For example, if you're benchmarking graphics cards, you need to also compare them to something outside of that area of hardware.. so.. say, a graphics tablet, or an iPod.
So, say that the first graphics card is 0.7% compared to the iPod, we now have an external reference to use with the other graphics cards.. so a better card might be 10% compared with the iPod, or a few percent compared to the graphics tablet, which proves that the second card is better than the first, due to the respective ratings compared to the external objects.
This is just regular math. I have to say, it's pretty amazing what you can apply regular math to.. yes, even benchmarks!
My problem with such a scheme is that it's a situation where a client overrules the intention of the person who created the page. This works in many cases, where the person who created the page was an anti-standards jerkwad, but what about situations where the page was specifically designed for small-screen situations? Opera might well smash up the page in the way it sees fit, and the page might not look how the author planned it to look on the small screen.
However, I do not know the technical ins and outs of Opera, so it may well not smash up pages if those pages are coded properly and identified as such (referencing the XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD, for a start). Either way, it sounds like a start, although the sooner we can yank Opera out of the equation and put an open source browser in there, the better *g*
The XHTML support in these phones is great! As a bit of an XHTML/CSS advocate myself, however, I think browsing the Web from such space-limited devices could become a chicken and egg situation.
A LOT of pages out there are poorly coded FrontPage (or even MS Publisher) not-even-HTML 3.2-compliant junk. There are a lotofamazingly beautiful XHTML/CSS coded pages out there, and they all display well on the small screens.
How many people will buy these phones, surf to their favorite page, and then discover they can't get anywhere fast? Will devices like smartphones and portable computers, with and 3G's ability to access the Internet at speed, force more Web designers to follow the chosen path and design in a fully backwards, and forwards, compatable way with XHTML and CSS? Or will we have a chicken and egg situation where people are turned off from using the devices because the content and pages available to them are so poor.. just like with WAP.
I have long been an advocate of Bayesian or keyword based spam filters, but have recently been forced to change my outlook, and to argue that MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS solutions are the answer.
I encountered a very simple but unique spam system which works entirely on the sender's address. Simply, you create a small database with the domains/addresses you want to whitelist. Then, a program screens your mail, and if the sender is not in your whitelist, it sends an e-mail BACK to the sender with a simple URL (or even an actual link for HTML e-mail clients) which states that they REALLY want to send the e-mail to its destination. When this is done, they are added to the whitelist. Therefore, mails from forged remote addresses are no longer a problem, and neither are mails from trusted sources. And, better than SPEWS or similar blacklists, the sender gets a SECOND CHANCE to send their mail to you.
There's a commercial solution using this system right now, although the URL escapes me.
Of course, one could encounter problems when ordering online, say. Droids at Amazon will not be clicking your links to make sure your order receipt got through. One could argue that you'd put things like Amazon.com in the whitelist, but what if someone used amazon.com as a spoofed e-mail domain/address? Ay, there's the rub. But if this system were tied in with a Bayesian system, it'd be pretty unbeatable. What's more the Bayesian system would have extra data for negative matches, in the form of e-mails that were never 'approved', and positive data in the form of those that were.
So, I'd be more interested in producing a homebrew system that used MULTIPLE weaker systems, than one supposed 'sure fire' method.. as I feel no one method is perfect, whereas multiple systems can approach this nirvana.
If you can offer service contracts on free software, you can really bring in the money. Sure it might not be a lot of money each time, but if you have 50 people, say, who need forum maintenance, and you provide free forum software.. even ten bucks a month from each of them adds up big time, giving you time to get on with more coding.
The real money is in recurring charges, not one offs. So offer consultancy and service contracts. Free software has the allure of being a low up-front cost, and this means you can actually sell them recurring costs which probably would have cost more than then buying decent proprietary software anyway!
Still, it's a good money maker.. just offer support on your systems/code/application.. and cash in on your hard work.
If you have a site with lots of content, say a knowledge base, or multiple language installation guides for your software, or a big forum.. then using Google Adsense might help bring some money into the coffers. I know quite a few people who get four figures a month rolling in.
The benefit of this is it doesn't infringe on any ethical issues.. such as.. this company gave me $1000 and asked for 'X feature' which might harm the program's reputation.. should I add it? should I not?
Everyone knows the history of C, coming from B, which came from A. Sure, an object-oriented version of C might be C++.. but why are we progressing onto C++0x (which reads like 'cocks' to me, anyone else??)? Isn't it time for D? Or is this a marketing/branding thing?
Either way, it doesn't look too exciting judging from these proposals. It's certainly nothing on the scale of Perl 6 compared to Perl 5, so yeah, maybe I've answered my own question. This is just a routine standards adjustment, rather than a real 'development.'
Sun has been facing a dilemma for some time now. Originally a high-tier supplier, they're getting pushed down the chain. Once upon a time, they were an excellent choice for network infrastructure and servers. But now?
Even the largest companies who need big iron systems rarely go to Sun anymore. Google has shown that even using thousands of 'white boxes' works, and Apple, Microsoft, and even IBM have been muscling in on Sun's traditional market. The dot com days were great for Sun, but now they're left as a giant church without any congregation.
So Sun needs a way to exercise its muscle once again, and with its recent tie up with Oracle, it's starting to do this (albeit with help). If Sun can carve out a significant role in the SCO case, it could certainly cash in from the exposure, and any potential win for SCO.
Of course, I don't think SCO stands a chance, and that we're going to see traditional UNIX crash down around itself. Sun has always been a company that intrigues me in the amazing way it runs 'behind the scenes' (the 'Sun Library' is amazing! and their usability work is delightful).. but on the front end, they're sucking big time, IMHO, and I think they could be one of the next big technology fallers.
Music recognition service in the UK
on
Real-World Hyperlinks
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· Score: 4, Interesting
There is an interesting system just launched in the UK where you dial a number on your phone, then hold your phone up to the source of the music for thirty seconds. It hangs up, and then messages you back with the name of the song, if it can work it out. This return message then costs you 25p for the trouble.
It's automated, but gawd knows how it does it. That has to be some seriously clever software doing music detection. Either way, I figured it's yet another 'real world' hyperlink example.
Unfortunately the name of the service escapes me, although it's advertised regularly on London's KISS FM. Does anyone else here know about this? I believe you can access the service by 'using the numbers down the middle of your phone..' 2580, perhaps? Just goes to show how good radio advertising really is! Ha!:-)
Know a lot about everything, and expert in nothing
on
Addicted to Information?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
That pretty much describes me.
I study 101 different subjects at a time, and remember most of what I learn. However, because I thrive on new subjects and variety I end up knowing lots about lots of subjects, but I'm not really an expert in any of them.
I can write a compiler, an operating system, a debugger, fix a car, write press releases, illustrate, do all of my own accounts, defend myself in a court of law.. yet I am almost unemployable by normal benchmarks because I can't say.. "OK, I'm the absolute best at doing X."
But as I've learnt, there are a lot of us 'generalists' about, and we tend to do better being self-employed or as consultants in our various fields.. and I'm doing okay. I am not sure if this is some sort of mental flaw, or just an aspect of my personality. I get bored easily.. and why shouldn't I?
Do you really think the Slashdot audience is really the best crowd to ask to design a t-shirt!? We can't even design SOFTWARE INTERFACES properly, let alone a bloody t-shirt!
The general art skills of a techie don't go beyond using quirky fonts for everything, ugly 'Microsoft Paint' style icons, and arcane metaphors. Don't believe me? Take a look at some open source software!
But, sure, if you want a t-shirts that's as ugly as hell, we're here to help!:-)
Check out the pictures in that article. Doesn't anyone else think Bill has REALLY been piling on the pounds since even a year ago? He used to be kinda thin, but now his face is a lot wider. And check that haircut.. this isn't the face of a go-getter billionaire!
I wonder who the next generation of go-getting IT people will be. We had the glory days of Jobs (although some would say he's still well at it), Gates, Ellison and McNealy.. but they're all almost into their 50's now.
Where are the young assholes in their 20's and 30's? Yeah, you got it, they're A list webloggers!
One imagines that the guy who actually solved it was the first to fax in, kinda leaving you screwed. Nice to see the publisher is keeping in with old technology though.. the good old facsimile.
I just want to clarify. I'm not some anti-Microsoft zealot. I use Microsoft software, and I prefer to use Microsoft Windows 2000 rather than Linux as my desktop working environment.
I actually like a lot of Microsoft stuff, but my main complaint is that Microsoft is too often see as 'the only solution' here. Now that's screwed up. Microsoft is an okay company producing 'okay' products, but they're just one of a bucketful of vendors who should be considered.
I blame the British 'techie' environment.
on
Linux Usage in the UK
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I think the main reason British is such an 'open source third world country' is because of the techie environment here. In regular schools, all you learn about is Microsoft, Microsoft and Microsoft. Why? Because Microsoft supplies the schools and makes money from the schools.
I have a lot of friends who are techies who came through the 'proper' way. That is, they were educated at college, did courses, and got qualifications. They're good guys, but when it comes to solving something, IIS and VBScript are almost the only two solutions!
One friend of mine was whining that he needed to build a new server and migrate and mirror data over to it. I suggested using an NFS server. This isn't rocket science, but concepts like these are unknown to the millions of lower-end techies in the UK. Why? Because Microsoft is #1. I know a lot of people studying for MCSEs, yet they're barely computer literate. They can get around in Windows 2000 or XP, but throw them at any command prompt (even DOS) and they balk.
UNIX and its variants just aren't considered cool within the larger techie environment in the UK. Microsoft has very deep roots here, unlike in the US technical fraternity, and most UK techies are so stupid they won't leave what they know.
I can't really venture as to the exact reasons for this... but perhaps it's because the British are used to doing things one way. I mean, we only had a single national telecoms provider, a single national gas provider, and a single national postal service until ten years ago. Therefore, when schools only show that Microsoft is the way.. the average Brit will nod and use it.
Another problem is the lack of decent IT education in schools. There are very few 'computer clubs' in UK schools, and those that do exist are only there for allowing kids to perhaps do something in Pascal under Windows, or to do their regular homework in Microsoft Works.
UK schools need to be more open, like US schools. US schools often give budgets to their computer clubs.. I mean, look at the Ask Slashdot thread the other day.. they ponied up $4000 for the guy to build a server system and get some connectivity. What a learning curve his computer club will have!
In the UK, by comparison, everything is so bureaucratic and purchases are so decided 'by the local education authority' that any choice other than Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft is effectively vetoed.
Personally I think this is great, because people who DO know Linux, who DO understand Computer Science properly and who DON'T have MCSEs, get rewarded reasonably well in the UK! But.. the knowledge just isn't there, and while Microsoft gets rammed down the wanna-be British techie's throat, Microsoft will prevail.
If on the other hand the "death trap" refers to interactions between people, then maybe it would make more sense as was done in Hitchhiker's Guide to send the trouble makers on ahead.
Or what happened in the 16th and 17th Centuries. All the crazy psychos from Europe wanted to escape because they were being 'persecuted' so they went and pushed the American frontiers. This is why European countries have had no major problems with each other from the 1600s onwards to now.
Incontrivertably? I'd never heard of that word until I came to Slashdot.
A lot of parallels with 'Shadows' by John Saul
on
Altered Carbon
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· Score: 1
Shadows by John Saul is about ten years old now, but it was fiction about a private school called 'The Academy'. Various bright students died in weird and wonderful ways, and eventually you find out that the science-mad neurologist 'dean' of the school really just took their brains and hooked them up to a giant mainframe.
It all ends with the plug being pulled on the project when they're found out, but the students have already copied their minds all over the Internet (even though such a thing was not popular at the time of writing) and they live on forever, mwahah!
Slashdot Mirror
Benchmarks are inherently flawed for the reasons stated in the posts. Comparing hardware to itself and similar hardware means there's no external reference point. Comparing one thing to another is okay, but you can't get absolute numbers in a closed Platonic system.
Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem states that you can't define a system entirely in its own terms, and that any system needs to be defined by terms outside of it.
So, how can you accurately rate hardware based on similar hardware? To meet the GIT (Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem), you would need to compare the hardware with something outside of the system, so you have an external reference point. For example, if you're benchmarking graphics cards, you need to also compare them to something outside of that area of hardware.. so.. say, a graphics tablet, or an iPod.
So, say that the first graphics card is 0.7% compared to the iPod, we now have an external reference to use with the other graphics cards.. so a better card might be 10% compared with the iPod, or a few percent compared to the graphics tablet, which proves that the second card is better than the first, due to the respective ratings compared to the external objects.
This is just regular math. I have to say, it's pretty amazing what you can apply regular math to.. yes, even benchmarks!
My problem with such a scheme is that it's a situation where a client overrules the intention of the person who created the page. This works in many cases, where the person who created the page was an anti-standards jerkwad, but what about situations where the page was specifically designed for small-screen situations? Opera might well smash up the page in the way it sees fit, and the page might not look how the author planned it to look on the small screen.
However, I do not know the technical ins and outs of Opera, so it may well not smash up pages if those pages are coded properly and identified as such (referencing the XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD, for a start). Either way, it sounds like a start, although the sooner we can yank Opera out of the equation and put an open source browser in there, the better *g*
The XHTML support in these phones is great! As a bit of an XHTML/CSS advocate myself, however, I think browsing the Web from such space-limited devices could become a chicken and egg situation.
A LOT of pages out there are poorly coded FrontPage (or even MS Publisher) not-even-HTML 3.2-compliant junk. There are a lot of amazingly beautiful XHTML/CSS coded pages out there, and they all display well on the small screens.
How many people will buy these phones, surf to their favorite page, and then discover they can't get anywhere fast? Will devices like smartphones and portable computers, with and 3G's ability to access the Internet at speed, force more Web designers to follow the chosen path and design in a fully backwards, and forwards, compatable way with XHTML and CSS? Or will we have a chicken and egg situation where people are turned off from using the devices because the content and pages available to them are so poor.. just like with WAP.
1. In SOVIET RUSSIA, eBay scams YOU!
2. 1. Find junk in attic. 2. Put it on eBay. 3. Collect the checks. 4. ????. 5. Profit!
3. Imagine how many Ferraris you could buy with a Beowulf cluster of these!
4. ???
5. Profit! Ah, already did that one.
*starts singing* A kiss on the RAM might be quite unconventional, but diamonds are a geek's best friend!
I have long been an advocate of Bayesian or keyword based spam filters, but have recently been forced to change my outlook, and to argue that MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS solutions are the answer.
I encountered a very simple but unique spam system which works entirely on the sender's address. Simply, you create a small database with the domains/addresses you want to whitelist. Then, a program screens your mail, and if the sender is not in your whitelist, it sends an e-mail BACK to the sender with a simple URL (or even an actual link for HTML e-mail clients) which states that they REALLY want to send the e-mail to its destination. When this is done, they are added to the whitelist. Therefore, mails from forged remote addresses are no longer a problem, and neither are mails from trusted sources. And, better than SPEWS or similar blacklists, the sender gets a SECOND CHANCE to send their mail to you.
There's a commercial solution using this system right now, although the URL escapes me.
Of course, one could encounter problems when ordering online, say. Droids at Amazon will not be clicking your links to make sure your order receipt got through. One could argue that you'd put things like Amazon.com in the whitelist, but what if someone used amazon.com as a spoofed e-mail domain/address? Ay, there's the rub. But if this system were tied in with a Bayesian system, it'd be pretty unbeatable. What's more the Bayesian system would have extra data for negative matches, in the form of e-mails that were never 'approved', and positive data in the form of those that were.
So, I'd be more interested in producing a homebrew system that used MULTIPLE weaker systems, than one supposed 'sure fire' method.. as I feel no one method is perfect, whereas multiple systems can approach this nirvana.
If you can offer service contracts on free software, you can really bring in the money. Sure it might not be a lot of money each time, but if you have 50 people, say, who need forum maintenance, and you provide free forum software.. even ten bucks a month from each of them adds up big time, giving you time to get on with more coding.
The real money is in recurring charges, not one offs. So offer consultancy and service contracts. Free software has the allure of being a low up-front cost, and this means you can actually sell them recurring costs which probably would have cost more than then buying decent proprietary software anyway!
Still, it's a good money maker.. just offer support on your systems/code/application.. and cash in on your hard work.
If you have a site with lots of content, say a knowledge base, or multiple language installation guides for your software, or a big forum.. then using Google Adsense might help bring some money into the coffers. I know quite a few people who get four figures a month rolling in.
The benefit of this is it doesn't infringe on any ethical issues.. such as.. this company gave me $1000 and asked for 'X feature' which might harm the program's reputation.. should I add it? should I not?
Everyone knows the history of C, coming from B, which came from A. Sure, an object-oriented version of C might be C++.. but why are we progressing onto C++0x (which reads like 'cocks' to me, anyone else??)? Isn't it time for D? Or is this a marketing/branding thing?
Either way, it doesn't look too exciting judging from these proposals. It's certainly nothing on the scale of Perl 6 compared to Perl 5, so yeah, maybe I've answered my own question. This is just a routine standards adjustment, rather than a real 'development.'
Sun has been facing a dilemma for some time now. Originally a high-tier supplier, they're getting pushed down the chain. Once upon a time, they were an excellent choice for network infrastructure and servers. But now?
Even the largest companies who need big iron systems rarely go to Sun anymore. Google has shown that even using thousands of 'white boxes' works, and Apple, Microsoft, and even IBM have been muscling in on Sun's traditional market. The dot com days were great for Sun, but now they're left as a giant church without any congregation.
So Sun needs a way to exercise its muscle once again, and with its recent tie up with Oracle, it's starting to do this (albeit with help). If Sun can carve out a significant role in the SCO case, it could certainly cash in from the exposure, and any potential win for SCO.
Of course, I don't think SCO stands a chance, and that we're going to see traditional UNIX crash down around itself. Sun has always been a company that intrigues me in the amazing way it runs 'behind the scenes' (the 'Sun Library' is amazing! and their usability work is delightful).. but on the front end, they're sucking big time, IMHO, and I think they could be one of the next big technology fallers.
There is an interesting system just launched in the UK where you dial a number on your phone, then hold your phone up to the source of the music for thirty seconds. It hangs up, and then messages you back with the name of the song, if it can work it out. This return message then costs you 25p for the trouble.
:-)
It's automated, but gawd knows how it does it. That has to be some seriously clever software doing music detection. Either way, I figured it's yet another 'real world' hyperlink example.
Unfortunately the name of the service escapes me, although it's advertised regularly on London's KISS FM. Does anyone else here know about this? I believe you can access the service by 'using the numbers down the middle of your phone..' 2580, perhaps? Just goes to show how good radio advertising really is! Ha!
That pretty much describes me.
I study 101 different subjects at a time, and remember most of what I learn. However, because I thrive on new subjects and variety I end up knowing lots about lots of subjects, but I'm not really an expert in any of them.
I can write a compiler, an operating system, a debugger, fix a car, write press releases, illustrate, do all of my own accounts, defend myself in a court of law.. yet I am almost unemployable by normal benchmarks because I can't say.. "OK, I'm the absolute best at doing X."
But as I've learnt, there are a lot of us 'generalists' about, and we tend to do better being self-employed or as consultants in our various fields.. and I'm doing okay. I am not sure if this is some sort of mental flaw, or just an aspect of my personality. I get bored easily.. and why shouldn't I?
Do you really think the Slashdot audience is really the best crowd to ask to design a t-shirt!? We can't even design SOFTWARE INTERFACES properly, let alone a bloody t-shirt!
:-)
The general art skills of a techie don't go beyond using quirky fonts for everything, ugly 'Microsoft Paint' style icons, and arcane metaphors. Don't believe me? Take a look at some open source software!
But, sure, if you want a t-shirts that's as ugly as hell, we're here to help!
What the heck is that? I'm in the UK and I've never heard of it. Are you talking about Halloween?
:-)
If not, I'm going to assume you're from someplace like Bradford. THE REST OF THE COUNTRY IS NOT LIKE THAT!
Check out the pictures in that article. Doesn't anyone else think Bill has REALLY been piling on the pounds since even a year ago? He used to be kinda thin, but now his face is a lot wider. And check that haircut.. this isn't the face of a go-getter billionaire!
I wonder who the next generation of go-getting IT people will be. We had the glory days of Jobs (although some would say he's still well at it), Gates, Ellison and McNealy.. but they're all almost into their 50's now.
Where are the young assholes in their 20's and 30's? Yeah, you got it, they're A list webloggers!
One imagines that the guy who actually solved it was the first to fax in, kinda leaving you screwed. Nice to see the publisher is keeping in with old technology though.. the good old facsimile.
It's limited for now (crashes after 15 minutes, must be loaded through the installed version of Windows), but everything starts out that way.
Or in the case of Microsoft Windows ME Upgrade Edition, stays that way!
Haha, I really hope this [ed. note: no it isn't] becomes the next Slashdot meme to rival Beowulf clusters, hot grits, and Soviet Russia.
Hey, if Google doesn't come up with a little link to Dictionary.com when you put the word in, IT'S NOT A WORD.
I just want to clarify. I'm not some anti-Microsoft zealot. I use Microsoft software, and I prefer to use Microsoft Windows 2000 rather than Linux as my desktop working environment.
I actually like a lot of Microsoft stuff, but my main complaint is that Microsoft is too often see as 'the only solution' here. Now that's screwed up. Microsoft is an okay company producing 'okay' products, but they're just one of a bucketful of vendors who should be considered.
I think the main reason British is such an 'open source third world country' is because of the techie environment here. In regular schools, all you learn about is Microsoft, Microsoft and Microsoft. Why? Because Microsoft supplies the schools and makes money from the schools.
I have a lot of friends who are techies who came through the 'proper' way. That is, they were educated at college, did courses, and got qualifications. They're good guys, but when it comes to solving something, IIS and VBScript are almost the only two solutions!
One friend of mine was whining that he needed to build a new server and migrate and mirror data over to it. I suggested using an NFS server. This isn't rocket science, but concepts like these are unknown to the millions of lower-end techies in the UK. Why? Because Microsoft is #1. I know a lot of people studying for MCSEs, yet they're barely computer literate. They can get around in Windows 2000 or XP, but throw them at any command prompt (even DOS) and they balk.
UNIX and its variants just aren't considered cool within the larger techie environment in the UK. Microsoft has very deep roots here, unlike in the US technical fraternity, and most UK techies are so stupid they won't leave what they know.
I can't really venture as to the exact reasons for this... but perhaps it's because the British are used to doing things one way. I mean, we only had a single national telecoms provider, a single national gas provider, and a single national postal service until ten years ago. Therefore, when schools only show that Microsoft is the way.. the average Brit will nod and use it.
Another problem is the lack of decent IT education in schools. There are very few 'computer clubs' in UK schools, and those that do exist are only there for allowing kids to perhaps do something in Pascal under Windows, or to do their regular homework in Microsoft Works.
UK schools need to be more open, like US schools. US schools often give budgets to their computer clubs.. I mean, look at the Ask Slashdot thread the other day.. they ponied up $4000 for the guy to build a server system and get some connectivity. What a learning curve his computer club will have!
In the UK, by comparison, everything is so bureaucratic and purchases are so decided 'by the local education authority' that any choice other than Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft is effectively vetoed.
Personally I think this is great, because people who DO know Linux, who DO understand Computer Science properly and who DON'T have MCSEs, get rewarded reasonably well in the UK! But.. the knowledge just isn't there, and while Microsoft gets rammed down the wanna-be British techie's throat, Microsoft will prevail.
If on the other hand the "death trap" refers to interactions between people, then maybe it would make more sense as was done in Hitchhiker's Guide to send the trouble makers on ahead.
Or what happened in the 16th and 17th Centuries. All the crazy psychos from Europe wanted to escape because they were being 'persecuted' so they went and pushed the American frontiers. This is why European countries have had no major problems with each other from the 1600s onwards to now.
Well done, Sir, humor remains alive. Could have done it under a proper name though so it doesn't look like I'm replying to my own joke....
Incontrivertably? I'd never heard of that word until I came to Slashdot.
Shadows by John Saul is about ten years old now, but it was fiction about a private school called 'The Academy'. Various bright students died in weird and wonderful ways, and eventually you find out that the science-mad neurologist 'dean' of the school really just took their brains and hooked them up to a giant mainframe.
It all ends with the plug being pulled on the project when they're found out, but the students have already copied their minds all over the Internet (even though such a thing was not popular at the time of writing) and they live on forever, mwahah!
Anyway, also a very good read.