On the other hand, I sat in a presentation at the (then, spring 1990) Soviet school in Sofia, with the science and math teachers
In Soviet Russia, Computers Program You!...sorry.
I remember how quickly things have changed in Kerala over the past few years. It is a good environment for open source to take root. I graduated High School in 1999 (in Oman) and before moving to the US to start college, I spent four months in Kerala - the longest I've ever spent. Back then to get access to the internet, you had to go to Ernakulam, which is about a hour-long car drive from my hometown. When my sister went to India in 2002, there was an Internet Cafe 15 minutes from our house. Broadband too. It only took three years. When I went there in 2004, there were even more internet cafes, and when I went back there again in May there were Internet Cafes all OVER the place - most people are well-versed with the internet and just computers in general. Another thing that you can find in Kerala is computer institutes - all over the place. Billboards advertising training in C/C++/Java/Webdesign etc. etc. Kerala already has a good presence in Open Source (Malayalam Open Source Software, More Malayalam Open Source). A lot of this might be due to the fact that Kerala is the most literate state in India, and also one of the most politically aware. A Malayalee's day starts with a look at the morning newspaper. Also because of the cost-benefits in general, and the fact that Kerala has a penchant for communism, open source will find a good environment to thrive. Monopolies... maybe not so much. Finally, the bulk of the microsoft software is pirated, and with all the validation stuff Microsoft has for their software, it would be easier to make the switch to open source. Then there is also the fact that recently Microsoft conducted a sort of raid in Kerala to look for illegal copies of Microsoft software.
Of course, all this might go down the drain due to the fact that even the most well-intentioned ideas can be disrupted by the notorious hartals (strikes).
Military's response?
Then maybe you should take a look at what happened to those who did what they did at Abu Ghraib. Maybe the commanders who got relieved?
How about Haditha? The Marines who are under trial? THEIR chain of command held responsible? Personnel in their chain of command relieved?
I am not here because I believe in the nobility of any cause. I am here because I swore to do my duty, and I will do it as well as I can. You assume that because I am in Iraq, and because I am in the military that I automatically have certain views. This is not true. You may find that your views and mine are startlingly similar.
Quite simply put, politics has nothing to do with me when I am a soldier. I tend to ignore it. Because I don't think they go together. Which is why I find it irritating when people make blanket statements about the military, or hold the military responsible for the administration's actions.
You want a trillion dollars in healthcare? So do I. But you probably need to direct your concerns to the man at the top. He's the reason we are here.
This month's edition of Scientific American had a good article on Ray Tracing. Basically, how it can be more feasible with the faster/better hardware we have today. The article is available here, but unfortunately, you have to pay for it. The article focused on new software and hardware techniques for Ray Tracing being developed at Intel. They say that Ray Tracing is "poised to replace raster graphics" because it "scales well with hyper threading and multi-processor configurations.". Also the "cache hierarchy associated with CPU's is very effective at managing the external memory bandwidth requirements". With multicore processors entering the mainstream, they may have a point.
I wish I could remember more from the article, but I read it some time ago.
I'm sorry, but are you RETARDED? Did you NOT READ what I just wrote?
If you are going to judge a majority by the actions of a minority, then go ahead. But I reserve the right to call you a moron then.
Your kind is the kind that would say "All Muslims are Terrorists" because a few of them happen to be.
I didn't talk about the cause there. I didn't say we're all nice people. But most of us are, and most of us are just doing our job. If you want to criticize someone, criticize the politicians.
I'm not just saying this because I happen to be a soldier in the US Army. My political views are left of center.
A site like "iraqbodycount" is hardly neutral. We do do our best to minimize casualties but in any war casualties are inevitable. Maybe we didn't do everything in our power, but you seem to suggest that we did everything in our power to do otherwise. That's quite simply, bullshit.
Pulling out that argument about "using the nukes on civilians!! OMG OH NOES!! j00 r teh ev1l!!11!" is stupid and completely irrelevant in this case.
Frankly, I find it highly presumptuous, arrogant and STUPID coming from people like youo - people who have NO FUCKING CLUE what the ground reality is here because they are NOT here. I would at least respectfully disagree and point out your mistake if you were actually here but you're not and that makes your statement even more galling. No, I find that I have to be rude.
Once again, my political views are left of center - I am not going to make any outright statements about my views because I divorce my political views from the duty I have sworn to perform as a member of the US Army. So anyway, I say again - you have no FUCKING clue what the ground reality is. You would seem to think we go out of our way to kill Iraqi civilians. Wrong. We have our strict rules of engagements. Most violence and death here is from Sunni-Shia clashes. Carbombs blowing up in crowded marketplaces and mosques. Suicide bombers. Drive-by shootings. Etc. Etc. A lot more come from Foreign Nationals fighting in the insurgency. The Iraqis hate the foreign nationals who come here to "fight for Islam" - I have heard this from them - these people get the strictest sentences from Iraqi judges in their courts. So no - it's not the "trigger happy John Wayne emulating americans going around killing Iraqis" and no, we're not doing our best to kill them
In this case, I think he will be successful. The mentality of Malayalees is very different compared to the rest of Kerala. They are highly politically aware - in fact, the first thing they will do every morning is read the paper - you can see it all over Kerala. They are highly involved with what goes on in the government. Also due to the fact that Communist parties are strong in Kerala, there is a socialistic trend and as a result they're not too fond of Monopolies. Recently they banned Coca Cola because of issues with contamination - they weren't passing certain tests. RMS picked a good environment to push foss.
Kerala - the state with the highest literacy rate in India. And one of the two states with a democratically elected communist government.
Compared to the rest of India, the state is much more advanced. It's the subject of what economists call the Kerala Enigma.
I'm sure there are a lot of benefits. Kerala might be poised to become another IT hub in India. There are computer courses and classes almost EVERYWHERE in India. I remember when I visited my hometown this may when I was on R&R from Iraq - it's changed quite a bit over the past few years. The people are a lot more tech savvy and there's a LOT of interest in Open Source stuff - mainly due to cost benefits. Hopefully Malayalees look to Open Source as an alternative for M$ - it will be a good boost for Open source.
Yeah, I joined the military to help pay for school, because I didn't think my dad should have to fork out that much $$$$ to put me through school. In addition, I liked the idea of joining the military and having some order and discipline to my life.
Words like Loyalty, Honour, and Duty MEAN something to me. Whether I agree with the administration and its views is completely irrelevant to my duty. I'll do my job as best as I can, and I'll get out. And please spare me your rebuttal if it's going to be "oh and your job is killing iraqis and stealing their oil?" - if you have a fucking problem, then point it at the administration. Not us. We do our job, regardless of who is in power.
"Besides, everyone knows the true source of pain is neither the hand nor the heart. It is the mouth. Is it not, Minister?"
-G'Kar
Piracy is the least of my concern
on
iPods at War
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Thank you, kind sir for putting it in perspective.
Piracy is the least of our concerns here. In fact, piracy is mostly the ONLY way we are able to get music and movies to bring a little comfort into our lives. I'm stationed in Iraq now, and have been so for the past 10 months. Let me tell you - we soldiers swap movies and music amongst ourselves all the time. The PX'es have a small selection of music and movies, and so we turn to other avenues (like swapping music and movies) or buying pirated CD's and DVD's from Iraqis. We can get whole TV series (Babylon 5, Sopranos, Simpsons) and if they are DVD rips, the quality is pretty good. We can even get movies when they're still in theater - of course, the copy is pretty crappy, but sometimes it'll do. Piracy is rampant here and I wonder if the RIAA knows about it. To put it quite simply, none of us are really bothered - we're mostly trying to make sure we stay alert and alive. To be honest, I find that if I hear some music from a band/artist I like, I buy their CD's. For example, I recently got a song or two by Death Cab For Cutie from my friend. I liked their music, so I bought their CD.
I'm waiting for the day when the *AA sends their representatives into the battlefield to make sure piracy isn't running wild amongst the troops - I'd laugh. I wonder if they'd have the balls to do that or to prosecute soldiers/marines/seamen/airmen who are simply trying to make their lives a little more comfortable.
"India: While striving to achieve independence from foreign suppliers, India's ballistic missile programs still benefited from the acquisition of foreign equipment and technology. India sought items for these programs during the reporting period primarily from Russia and Western Europe. New Delhi successfully flight-tested its newest MRBM, the Agni-2, in April 1999 after months of preparations and continued apace with its SRBM program. India continues to pursue the development of nuclear weapons, and its underground nuclear tests in May 1998 were a significant milestone. The acquisition of foreign equipment could benefit New Delhi in its efforts to develop and produce more sophisticated nuclear weapons. India obtained some foreign nuclear-related assistance during the second half of 1999 from a variety of sources worldwide, including in Russia and Western Europe." - "Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, July 1 Through December 31, 1999," Report released by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), August 9, 2000."
To add to what you said, I read an article in Scientific American a few years ago (The Hidden Genetic Program of Complex Organisms, John S. Mattick, Scientific American, October 2004, p62).
It seems that the "junk DNA" may actually code for RNA molecules that perform a bunch of regulatory functions. Removing some of this "junk DNA" seems to have ill effects on some organisms.
Forgive me if I start ranting and raving in this post - so I'll just go ahead and put a **RANT** disclaimer to this entire post.
I agree with you ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTYBILLION PERCENT!
I seriously wonder if a bunch of fucking brain-dead retarded dumb fucks are the ones rating shows. I mean... REALLY! Why is that a lot of shows on TV are
a) predictable b) spinoffs c) stupid reality shows that should be slaughtered, dismembered, burnt, and then the ashes thrown into the sun d) completely lame, ridiculous, unfunny shows that cater to the lowest common denominator.
Perhap's (d) is the problem. I am seriously starting to think that the average IQ of the TV-viewing population of America hovers somewhere slightly above 20. This can be the only explanation for the continued "successes" of stupid TV shows, and the cancellation of good ones.
Ok, at this point someone may come up and say "Yeah, well you're just pissed of that YOUR TV show got cancelled!". That's not it - I just don't understand why shows that I start liking, start cancelling. Just like the parent said, I'm not sure if I have bad taste, or unique taste, or WHAT, but whenever I find a show that is intelligent and witty, or one that has a completely new premise, it gets cancelled. For example, there's Arrested Development (cancelled after three seasons) and then there's Dead Like Me (more info). Both are intelligent and witty shows, which were cancelled.
I seriously wonder... what kind of FUCKED UP system DO they used to determine a good show? The number of brain-dead retards that watch it? Because that would REALLY explain why the stupid shows stay, and the good ones go.
Sorry for sounding really bitter and arrogant. But that's why this is a rant.
This is just bragging rights... right? I guess at the very least you convince someone to switch to Firefox. I mean... so they put umptybillion names into Firefox Code, that would be accessible from Firefox 2? Isn't that unecessary (and frivolous) bloat? Unless they plan on having you access it online - which means I guess you won't be able to view it offline... hmm...
And how do they verify that my "friend" has Firefox? I can just send off an invitation to some fake email I create and then accept it. Or send it someone that I know already uses firefox and wants their name on the list too... Seems like there's no real way to verify it.
Then what happens when Firefox 3.0 comes along? Hmm? Do the names get carried over?
Because IM is clicquish. Many people are on AOL/MSN/Yahoo! because their friends are. Most of them don't want to change over to another network. Having something like Trillian enables me to talk to people on any of those networks without having a number of clients installed.
Sure, something like Jabber would be nice. But it's not a perfect world we live in, is it?
Before I knew about Trillian, which I've been using for over four-to-five years now, this might have been big news for me. Sure I've heard a complaints about Trillian's clunky interface (IMHO, I haven't had any problems with it), but it sure does the job for me. It's much better than having three separate IM clients cluttering my machine.
The merging of networks does have its advantages for the developers of consolidated IM clients since they can now use the same protocol for two networks.
Another Matrilineal/Matriarchial community is the Nair community in Kerala. The Nairs followed and still follow a Matrilineal system where the children trace their lineage through the mother, and "belong" to the mother's family. In fact, in some Nair family (including mine), we don't take the father's last name, but the mother's.
In a traditional Nair family, the men had a minimal role. The oldest male member was called the Karnavar and made decisions but only after consulations with the oldest female member of the family.
Slashdot Mirror
On the other hand, I sat in a presentation at the (then, spring 1990) Soviet school in Sofia, with the science and math teachers In Soviet Russia, Computers Program You! ...sorry.
They banned it because they say it contained pesticides.
If you had taken the time to do a quick Google Search you could have got your answer.
Yep, darn nice place. Not just saying it because I'm from there :)
I know I posted it before, but still makes a good read:
Kerala Enigma
Kerala Model
I remember how quickly things have changed in Kerala over the past few years. It is a good environment for open source to take root. I graduated High School in 1999 (in Oman) and before moving to the US to start college, I spent four months in Kerala - the longest I've ever spent. Back then to get access to the internet, you had to go to Ernakulam, which is about a hour-long car drive from my hometown. When my sister went to India in 2002, there was an Internet Cafe 15 minutes from our house. Broadband too. It only took three years. When I went there in 2004, there were even more internet cafes, and when I went back there again in May there were Internet Cafes all OVER the place - most people are well-versed with the internet and just computers in general. Another thing that you can find in Kerala is computer institutes - all over the place. Billboards advertising training in C/C++/Java/Webdesign etc. etc. Kerala already has a good presence in Open Source (Malayalam Open Source Software, More Malayalam Open Source). A lot of this might be due to the fact that Kerala is the most literate state in India, and also one of the most politically aware. A Malayalee's day starts with a look at the morning newspaper. Also because of the cost-benefits in general, and the fact that Kerala has a penchant for communism, open source will find a good environment to thrive. Monopolies... maybe not so much. Finally, the bulk of the microsoft software is pirated, and with all the validation stuff Microsoft has for their software, it would be easier to make the switch to open source. Then there is also the fact that recently Microsoft conducted a sort of raid in Kerala to look for illegal copies of Microsoft software.
Of course, all this might go down the drain due to the fact that even the most well-intentioned ideas can be disrupted by the notorious hartals (strikes).
Military's response? Then maybe you should take a look at what happened to those who did what they did at Abu Ghraib. Maybe the commanders who got relieved? How about Haditha? The Marines who are under trial? THEIR chain of command held responsible? Personnel in their chain of command relieved? I am not here because I believe in the nobility of any cause. I am here because I swore to do my duty, and I will do it as well as I can. You assume that because I am in Iraq, and because I am in the military that I automatically have certain views. This is not true. You may find that your views and mine are startlingly similar. Quite simply put, politics has nothing to do with me when I am a soldier. I tend to ignore it. Because I don't think they go together. Which is why I find it irritating when people make blanket statements about the military, or hold the military responsible for the administration's actions. You want a trillion dollars in healthcare? So do I. But you probably need to direct your concerns to the man at the top. He's the reason we are here.
This month's edition of Scientific American had a good article on Ray Tracing. Basically, how it can be more feasible with the faster/better hardware we have today. The article is available here, but unfortunately, you have to pay for it. The article focused on new software and hardware techniques for Ray Tracing being developed at Intel. They say that Ray Tracing is "poised to replace raster graphics" because it "scales well with hyper threading and multi-processor configurations.". Also the "cache hierarchy associated with CPU's is very effective at managing the external memory bandwidth requirements". With multicore processors entering the mainstream, they may have a point.
I wish I could remember more from the article, but I read it some time ago.
I'm sorry, but are you RETARDED? Did you NOT READ what I just wrote? If you are going to judge a majority by the actions of a minority, then go ahead. But I reserve the right to call you a moron then. Your kind is the kind that would say "All Muslims are Terrorists" because a few of them happen to be. I didn't talk about the cause there. I didn't say we're all nice people. But most of us are, and most of us are just doing our job. If you want to criticize someone, criticize the politicians.
I'm not just saying this because I happen to be a soldier in the US Army. My political views are left of center.
A site like "iraqbodycount" is hardly neutral. We do do our best to minimize casualties but in any war casualties are inevitable. Maybe we didn't do everything in our power, but you seem to suggest that we did everything in our power to do otherwise. That's quite simply, bullshit.
Pulling out that argument about "using the nukes on civilians!! OMG OH NOES!! j00 r teh ev1l!!11!" is stupid and completely irrelevant in this case.
Frankly, I find it highly presumptuous, arrogant and STUPID coming from people like youo - people who have NO FUCKING CLUE what the ground reality is here because they are NOT here. I would at least respectfully disagree and point out your mistake if you were actually here but you're not and that makes your statement even more galling. No, I find that I have to be rude.
Once again, my political views are left of center - I am not going to make any outright statements about my views because I divorce my political views from the duty I have sworn to perform as a member of the US Army. So anyway, I say again - you have no FUCKING clue what the ground reality is. You would seem to think we go out of our way to kill Iraqi civilians. Wrong. We have our strict rules of engagements. Most violence and death here is from Sunni-Shia clashes. Carbombs blowing up in crowded marketplaces and mosques. Suicide bombers. Drive-by shootings. Etc. Etc. A lot more come from Foreign Nationals fighting in the insurgency. The Iraqis hate the foreign nationals who come here to "fight for Islam" - I have heard this from them - these people get the strictest sentences from Iraqi judges in their courts. So no - it's not the "trigger happy John Wayne emulating americans going around killing Iraqis" and no, we're not doing our best to kill them
In this case, I think he will be successful. The mentality of Malayalees is very different compared to the rest of Kerala. They are highly politically aware - in fact, the first thing they will do every morning is read the paper - you can see it all over Kerala. They are highly involved with what goes on in the government. Also due to the fact that Communist parties are strong in Kerala, there is a socialistic trend and as a result they're not too fond of Monopolies. Recently they banned Coca Cola because of issues with contamination - they weren't passing certain tests. RMS picked a good environment to push foss.
Just to add. Kerala already has a presence in the open source community:
C-DIT develops Malayalam Open Source Software
Keli, a free opentype font for Malayalam (under GNU GPL).
Malayalam Font released as 'free and open' software
Kerala - the state with the highest literacy rate in India. And one of the two states with a democratically elected communist government.
Compared to the rest of India, the state is much more advanced. It's the subject of what economists call the Kerala Enigma.
I'm sure there are a lot of benefits. Kerala might be poised to become another IT hub in India. There are computer courses and classes almost EVERYWHERE in India. I remember when I visited my hometown this may when I was on R&R from Iraq - it's changed quite a bit over the past few years. The people are a lot more tech savvy and there's a LOT of interest in Open Source stuff - mainly due to cost benefits. Hopefully Malayalees look to Open Source as an alternative for M$ - it will be a good boost for Open source.
Yeah, I joined the military to help pay for school, because I didn't think my dad should have to fork out that much $$$$ to put me through school. In addition, I liked the idea of joining the military and having some order and discipline to my life.
Words like Loyalty, Honour, and Duty MEAN something to me. Whether I agree with the administration and its views is completely irrelevant to my duty. I'll do my job as best as I can, and I'll get out. And please spare me your rebuttal if it's going to be "oh and your job is killing iraqis and stealing their oil?" - if you have a fucking problem, then point it at the administration. Not us. We do our job, regardless of who is in power.
"Besides, everyone knows the true source of pain is neither the hand nor the heart. It is the mouth. Is it not, Minister?" -G'Kar
Thank you, kind sir for putting it in perspective.
Piracy is the least of our concerns here. In fact, piracy is mostly the ONLY way we are able to get music and movies to bring a little comfort into our lives. I'm stationed in Iraq now, and have been so for the past 10 months. Let me tell you - we soldiers swap movies and music amongst ourselves all the time. The PX'es have a small selection of music and movies, and so we turn to other avenues (like swapping music and movies) or buying pirated CD's and DVD's from Iraqis. We can get whole TV series (Babylon 5, Sopranos, Simpsons) and if they are DVD rips, the quality is pretty good. We can even get movies when they're still in theater - of course, the copy is pretty crappy, but sometimes it'll do. Piracy is rampant here and I wonder if the RIAA knows about it. To put it quite simply, none of us are really bothered - we're mostly trying to make sure we stay alert and alive. To be honest, I find that if I hear some music from a band/artist I like, I buy their CD's. For example, I recently got a song or two by Death Cab For Cutie from my friend. I liked their music, so I bought their CD.
I'm waiting for the day when the *AA sends their representatives into the battlefield to make sure piracy isn't running wild amongst the troops - I'd laugh. I wonder if they'd have the balls to do that or to prosecute soldiers/marines/seamen/airmen who are simply trying to make their lives a little more comfortable.
I don't think we're at 90%, I think we're above 50% though.
51% is above 50% and not at 90%.
Sorry about that. Setting it up from half-way across the world through unreliable iraqi internet... something's bound to go wrong! I'll check it out.
Cool! Thanks!
INFORMATIVE? Mod the parent FUNNY, please.
Here is a torrent I made of the xvid file. It should work (I hope).
... the ones which have worked best (for me) are Bayesian Spam Filters (A Plan for Spam, SpamBayes - a free filter) and CRM114 The Controllable Regex Mutilator (Paul Graham mentions it here). I've always had a very high success rate with these.
Your ignorance is astounding:
"India: While striving to achieve independence from foreign suppliers, India's ballistic missile programs still benefited from the acquisition of foreign equipment and technology. India sought items for these programs during the reporting period primarily from Russia and Western Europe. New Delhi successfully flight-tested its newest MRBM, the Agni-2, in April 1999 after months of preparations and continued apace with its SRBM program. India continues to pursue the development of nuclear weapons, and its underground nuclear tests in May 1998 were a significant milestone. The acquisition of foreign equipment could benefit New Delhi in its efforts to develop and produce more sophisticated nuclear weapons. India obtained some foreign nuclear-related assistance during the second half of 1999 from a variety of sources worldwide, including in Russia and Western Europe." - "Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, July 1 Through December 31, 1999," Report released by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), August 9, 2000."
India and WMD
India uses similar delivery systems for its (indigenously developed) Space Program, which have actually been pretty successful (eg. GSLV).
Chronology of Indian Missile Development
From almost 20 years ago
To add to what you said, I read an article in Scientific American a few years ago (The Hidden Genetic Program of Complex Organisms, John S. Mattick, Scientific American, October 2004, p62).
It seems that the "junk DNA" may actually code for RNA molecules that perform a bunch of regulatory functions. Removing some of this "junk DNA" seems to have ill effects on some organisms.
There's also more here.
Forgive me if I start ranting and raving in this post - so I'll just go ahead and put a **RANT** disclaimer to this entire post.
I agree with you ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTYBILLION PERCENT!
I seriously wonder if a bunch of fucking brain-dead retarded dumb fucks are the ones rating shows. I mean... REALLY! Why is that a lot of shows on TV are
a) predictable
b) spinoffs
c) stupid reality shows that should be slaughtered, dismembered, burnt, and then the ashes thrown into the sun
d) completely lame, ridiculous, unfunny shows that cater to the lowest common denominator.
Perhap's (d) is the problem. I am seriously starting to think that the average IQ of the TV-viewing population of America hovers somewhere slightly above 20. This can be the only explanation for the continued "successes" of stupid TV shows, and the cancellation of good ones.
Ok, at this point someone may come up and say "Yeah, well you're just pissed of that YOUR TV show got cancelled!". That's not it - I just don't understand why shows that I start liking, start cancelling. Just like the parent said, I'm not sure if I have bad taste, or unique taste, or WHAT, but whenever I find a show that is intelligent and witty, or one that has a completely new premise, it gets cancelled. For example, there's Arrested Development (cancelled after three seasons) and then there's Dead Like Me (more info). Both are intelligent and witty shows, which were cancelled.
I seriously wonder... what kind of FUCKED UP system DO they used to determine a good show? The number of brain-dead retards that watch it? Because that would REALLY explain why the stupid shows stay, and the good ones go.
Sorry for sounding really bitter and arrogant. But that's why this is a rant.
This is just bragging rights... right? I guess at the very least you convince someone to switch to Firefox. I mean... so they put umptybillion names into Firefox Code, that would be accessible from Firefox 2? Isn't that unecessary (and frivolous) bloat? Unless they plan on having you access it online - which means I guess you won't be able to view it offline... hmm...
And how do they verify that my "friend" has Firefox? I can just send off an invitation to some fake email I create and then accept it. Or send it someone that I know already uses firefox and wants their name on the list too... Seems like there's no real way to verify it.
Then what happens when Firefox 3.0 comes along? Hmm? Do the names get carried over?
I'll go try it anyways...
Because IM is clicquish. Many people are on AOL/MSN/Yahoo! because their friends are. Most of them don't want to change over to another network. Having something like Trillian enables me to talk to people on any of those networks without having a number of clients installed. Sure, something like Jabber would be nice. But it's not a perfect world we live in, is it?
Before I knew about Trillian, which I've been using for over four-to-five years now, this might have been big news for me. Sure I've heard a complaints about Trillian's clunky interface (IMHO, I haven't had any problems with it), but it sure does the job for me. It's much better than having three separate IM clients cluttering my machine.
The merging of networks does have its advantages for the developers of consolidated IM clients since they can now use the same protocol for two networks.
Another Matrilineal/Matriarchial community is the Nair community in Kerala. The Nairs followed and still follow a Matrilineal system where the children trace their lineage through the mother, and "belong" to the mother's family. In fact, in some Nair family (including mine), we don't take the father's last name, but the mother's.
In a traditional Nair family, the men had a minimal role. The oldest male member was called the Karnavar and made decisions but only after consulations with the oldest female member of the family.