From the sounds of TFA, the new "you" would not actually be you at all, just a copy. It sounds like your conscious mind would be obliterated and a new one created, although the new one might not be aware of it.
If you weren't aware of it, and you kept your previous consious state, would it even matter?
The thing that does matter is support and updates. These can be very different from distro to distro. This is also the point that becomes very important in professional adoption. Of course Linux has all the advantages here, since MS support is really very, very bad. For Linux you not only can get better support. You can have your own people do it on every level. Or buy the support from a lot of different poeple, with just the quality level you need. And if one support offer cannot cut it, moving to another one is a very real option.
Indeed, I've done just that this week.
I've been running Novell SLED10 on two machines, and have been very happy with it. It's the most professional desktop distro I've seen (good enough to pay for - twice). That is, until the politics started and the SP1 update was released. One machine updated nicely... until the next reboot when a broken initrd didn't let it come back up. The other machine wouldn't update at all, probably due to not having bought the optional "upgrade protection" (SP1 is an upgrade, not an update?!), or possibly the updater, or maybe even something that I've done.
Anyway, rather than fight with a broken operating system or a company moving in directions I don't agree with, I downloaded Ubuntu 7.04. I'm back up and running in 2 hours, with no data loss/copying thanks to keeping/home on it's own partition. Even better, the same would apply if I'd gone with most any other distro such as RH or Mandriva.
We've done the same thing with the server too, moving across 3 vendors over a period of several years due to changing policies and distro hardware support. I just can't imagine being at the mercy of one vendor, especially in a small market like New Zealand.
As long as Linux is free, so are my systems, and so are the companies they work for.
Re:Shell replacements?
on
Pimp Your XP
·
· Score: 3, Informative
It seems that this article completely skips over the possibility of replacing Explorer with something less crap. I don't just mean the file browser, I mean the desktop, start menu, etc.
You can replace the Windows shell with LiteStep very easily.
We do something similar in New Zealand, although it's by weight as well as milage.
Petrol (gasoline) cars pay over half of the cost of fuel in tax to the Govt. No milage or weight consideration there, as it's assumned the this will simply use more fuel. No, not much of it goes into roading, and yes, it's an enormous rip-off. Meanwhile, diesel and other non-petrol cars (including electric) pay Road User Charges, based on the number of miles driven, and heavier vehicles pay more for their miles. Pretty simple I guess, although with the increasing popularity of diesel cars and SUVs it won't be long before the Govt is double-dipping by adding more pump-tax to diesel too.
BTW, taxation here is damn-near criminal: Your income is taxed by 33% (sliding scale, reducing as you earn more), everything you buy has 12.5% Goods and Services Tax on it in addition to any other taxes, levies, duties, etc, and business are of course also taxed on their earnings. So one purchase from your paycheck can easily get taxed 3 or 4 times. The poor benefit from it, and the wealthy avoid it, but socialism really does screw the middle class.
Remember God was invented 10 thousand years ago by people living as sheep herders. Maybe the language has been confused in all those years, and they simply meant something that is too big and we can't understand: the universe.
If the particle is everywhere, it means it is the fabric of the ether.
That's brilliant if it's true. If God == Universe, then...
It also means that God is everywhere, so the Christians (and others) are correct. And that Earth worship is justified because it's part of God, so the Pagans are correct. It could even suggest that Angels and prophets carrying the word of God were space-travelers and scientists, trying to teach less knowledgeable people about the Universe and how to live safely and healthily. And when we die, our matter and energy become one with the Universe, so we do indeed meet our maker.
So, I guess the real question is whether the universe itself (or God if you prefer) has it's own self-awareness and intelligence.
The problem is that the security is there to cover someones ass, and to make people feel safe.
Two serious questions:
1) Who are the people who felt unsafe before security theatre was introduced, and what were they scared of? 2) Who are the people who feel safer now because of it?
Everyone I know who flies a) was not scared of bombs or hijackers, and b) is just becoming more and more pissed off because this "security" rubbish.
I ask these questions because the answers I hear are "the public" and nameless "people". I don't know any of them. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who feels this way.
I agree that it's insulting, and also that it's accurate. Their wholesalers and maybe the large retailers are their customers. The consumer is simply the end of the line for their products... just a schmuck who gives them everyone else their money.
it seems to me that the best entry would be an underfed child of the English proletariat. It worked in the coal mines, I say, so it can jolly well work on the moon!
I'd like to think that the public does, judging from the polls I've seen on various issues. However, I'm not convinced our politicians are much better than the Aussies. Certainly, the incumbent government has previously introduce policy directly against public opinion, and a lot of policy change is done rather quietly here. I've no doubt our Ministers would sacrifice a random hacker for even a hint of extra consideration at the next "free trade" talks.
IMHO, the most insightful thing about your post is that you've only hit Score:3, Insightful. I guess Slashdot isn't so different to the general population either.
I think it's a ballsy move to put it to shareholder vote. Obviously, the large shareholders and the fund managers who are acting in the best financial interests of their clients will probably concur with the board on this one. It is nice PR move though, I guess (as are all the/. articles...)... Now they can pass the buck to the shareholders if there's any perceived backlash.
One assumes it's a business decision like any other, but I'd be curious to know the figures for the board recommendation vote. What I find interesting is who the board members are, the same guys who sold us the "do no evil" mantra, who are recommending against the proposal, and importantly, which of these guys are currently on leave. http://investor.google.com/board.html
Re:I had an interview with Google a few weeks ago
on
Want To Work At Google?
·
· Score: 2, Funny
first question: Find the density of the marble, then calculuate the... oh what do I know.
Here's one possibility:
With the first marble, drop it from floor one, then ascend, doubling the floor each time. When it breaks (unless it's the first floor or the top floor), start with the second marble, working up sequentially from the last known good floor. Is that an elevator sort, or something?
One of the little known Google hiring practices is that they want to know if you play Cricket.
A googly, or "wrong'un", is a delivery which looks like a normal leg-spinner but actually turns towards the batsmen, like an off-break, rather than away from the bat.
I ask because my own company puts so much store in the "fit factor" that they end up hiring people with less skills than the other candidates.
I've worked with guys who are reputed to be very very good at their specialty, but at the same time they tear apart the projects they work within. I'd much prefer to have people who are good but not great, than people who are great but don't fit. Obviously Google is looking for those rare individuals with the 3 magic qualities.... social skills, technical skills, and academic skills.
Do I want to work at google? Given what you write about your company's hiring practices, I suspect you'll be out of luck...;-)
I've read[1] that if we accelerate consistently at 1G we'll reach 0.77 C in 1 year. However, as we continue to accelerate closer to C, we get more and more relativistic and things get screwy... screwy to the point that I'll estimate it would take about 6 years (that's 6 rocket years, not earth observer years) to get there, with 1G accel and 1G deccel. So, human travel would be extremely feasible.
While a probe could accelerate much harder, I figure it would still take 50 years or so to get results from a probe to confirm it's worth sending people.
Slashdot Mirror
From the sounds of TFA, the new "you" would not actually be you at all, just a copy. It sounds like your conscious mind would be obliterated and a new one created, although the new one might not be aware of it.
If you weren't aware of it, and you kept your previous consious state, would it even matter?
The thing that does matter is support and updates. These can be very different from distro to distro. This is also the point that becomes very important in professional adoption. Of course Linux has all the advantages here, since MS support is really very, very bad. For Linux you not only can get better support. You can have your own people do it on every level. Or buy the support from a lot of different poeple, with just the quality level you need. And if one support offer cannot cut it, moving to another one is a very real option.
/home on it's own partition. Even better, the same would apply if I'd gone with most any other distro such as RH or Mandriva.
Indeed, I've done just that this week.
I've been running Novell SLED10 on two machines, and have been very happy with it. It's the most professional desktop distro I've seen (good enough to pay for - twice). That is, until the politics started and the SP1 update was released. One machine updated nicely... until the next reboot when a broken initrd didn't let it come back up. The other machine wouldn't update at all, probably due to not having bought the optional "upgrade protection" (SP1 is an upgrade, not an update?!), or possibly the updater, or maybe even something that I've done.
Anyway, rather than fight with a broken operating system or a company moving in directions I don't agree with, I downloaded Ubuntu 7.04. I'm back up and running in 2 hours, with no data loss/copying thanks to keeping
We've done the same thing with the server too, moving across 3 vendors over a period of several years due to changing policies and distro hardware support. I just can't imagine being at the mercy of one vendor, especially in a small market like New Zealand.
As long as Linux is free, so are my systems, and so are the companies they work for.
It seems that this article completely skips over the possibility of replacing Explorer with something less crap. I don't just mean the file browser, I mean the desktop, start menu, etc.
You can replace the Windows shell with LiteStep very easily.
1) First make it work.
2) Next make it work right.
3) Then make it work fast.
4) ???
5) Profit.
We're only at step 2.
We do something similar in New Zealand, although it's by weight as well as milage.
Petrol (gasoline) cars pay over half of the cost of fuel in tax to the Govt. No milage or weight consideration there, as it's assumned the this will simply use more fuel. No, not much of it goes into roading, and yes, it's an enormous rip-off. Meanwhile, diesel and other non-petrol cars (including electric) pay Road User Charges, based on the number of miles driven, and heavier vehicles pay more for their miles. Pretty simple I guess, although with the increasing popularity of diesel cars and SUVs it won't be long before the Govt is double-dipping by adding more pump-tax to diesel too.
BTW, taxation here is damn-near criminal: Your income is taxed by 33% (sliding scale, reducing as you earn more), everything you buy has 12.5% Goods and Services Tax on it in addition to any other taxes, levies, duties, etc, and business are of course also taxed on their earnings. So one purchase from your paycheck can easily get taxed 3 or 4 times. The poor benefit from it, and the wealthy avoid it, but socialism really does screw the middle class.
That's brilliant if it's true. If God == Universe, then...
It also means that God is everywhere, so the Christians (and others) are correct.
And that Earth worship is justified because it's part of God, so the Pagans are correct.
It could even suggest that Angels and prophets carrying the word of God were space-travelers and scientists, trying to teach less knowledgeable people about the Universe and how to live safely and healthily.
And when we die, our matter and energy become one with the Universe, so we do indeed meet our maker.
So, I guess the real question is whether the universe itself (or God if you prefer) has it's own self-awareness and intelligence.
The problem is that the security is there to cover someones ass, and to make people feel safe.
Two serious questions:
1) Who are the people who felt unsafe before security theatre was introduced, and what were they scared of?
2) Who are the people who feel safer now because of it?
Everyone I know who flies a) was not scared of bombs or hijackers, and b) is just becoming more and more pissed off because this "security" rubbish.
I ask these questions because the answers I hear are "the public" and nameless "people". I don't know any of them. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who feels this way.
And I'm calling shenanigans on it.
I agree that it's insulting, and also that it's accurate. Their wholesalers and maybe the large retailers are their customers. The consumer is simply the end of the line for their products... just a schmuck who gives them everyone else their money.
it seems to me that the best entry would be an underfed child of the English proletariat. It worked in the coal mines, I say, so it can jolly well work on the moon!
That's so un-PC it just might work!
Seconded.
Should've used a boat instead.
Thankfully we still have some sanity here in NZ.
I'd like to think that the public does, judging from the polls I've seen on various issues. However, I'm not convinced our politicians are much better than the Aussies. Certainly, the incumbent government has previously introduce policy directly against public opinion, and a lot of policy change is done rather quietly here. I've no doubt our Ministers would sacrifice a random hacker for even a hint of extra consideration at the next "free trade" talks.
Sir, I've read a lot of your posts, and I'm pleased to see you finally living up to your handle.
Merci beaucoup.
IMHO, the most insightful thing about your post is that you've only hit Score:3, Insightful. I guess Slashdot isn't so different to the general population either.
Capitalism == Situational Ethics....
/. articles...)... Now they can pass the buck to the shareholders if there's any perceived backlash.
As does life.
I think it's a ballsy move to put it to shareholder vote. Obviously, the large shareholders and the fund managers who are acting in the best financial interests of their clients will probably concur with the board on this one. It is nice PR move though, I guess (as are all the
One assumes it's a business decision like any other, but I'd be curious to know the figures for the board recommendation vote. What I find interesting is who the board members are, the same guys who sold us the "do no evil" mantra, who are recommending against the proposal, and importantly, which of these guys are currently on leave. http://investor.google.com/board.html
first question: Find the density of the marble, then calculuate the ... oh what do I know.
Here's one possibility:
With the first marble, drop it from floor one, then ascend, doubling the floor each time. When it breaks (unless it's the first floor or the top floor), start with the second marble, working up sequentially from the last known good floor. Is that an elevator sort, or something?
One of the little known Google hiring practices is that they want to know if you play Cricket.
1 73812.stm
A googly, or "wrong'un", is a delivery which looks like a normal leg-spinner but actually turns towards the batsmen, like an off-break, rather than away from the bat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/cricket/skills/4
I ask because my own company puts so much store in the "fit factor" that they end up hiring people with less skills than the other candidates.
;-)
I've worked with guys who are reputed to be very very good at their specialty, but at the same time they tear apart the projects they work within. I'd much prefer to have people who are good but not great, than people who are great but don't fit. Obviously Google is looking for those rare individuals with the 3 magic qualities.... social skills, technical skills, and academic skills.
Do I want to work at google?
Given what you write about your company's hiring practices, I suspect you'll be out of luck...
This is hilarious!!!! So he got arrested over this? Come on now...
Regardless of the article content, this is a long way from hilarious. In fact, this situation is fucking disgusting.
Because it's not in the article, I'll ask a homework question for you all: Is Allen Lee of Asian descent?
America, it's high time you got over your racism and xenophobic ways.
P.S. Did I just read that China is going to alter the weather to insure it doesn't rain during the Olympics?
k /
Yes, you did. It's been planned for a while now...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13107271/site/newswee
Comes out to 6.04 years.
:-)
Thanks for doing the math. My 6 year (rocket time) guess was about right then...
Two words: inertial dampers.
l
Two other words: Relativity, and Acceleration.
I've read[1] that if we accelerate consistently at 1G we'll reach 0.77 C in 1 year. However, as we continue to accelerate closer to C, we get more and more relativistic and things get screwy... screwy to the point that I'll estimate it would take about 6 years (that's 6 rocket years, not earth observer years) to get there, with 1G accel and 1G deccel. So, human travel would be extremely feasible.
While a probe could accelerate much harder, I figure it would still take 50 years or so to get results from a probe to confirm it's worth sending people.
1. http://www2.corepower.com:8080/~relfaq/rocket.htm
Of course, it is a 20 light year journey. Better buy some tickets for your children too :-)
*yawn*
*yawn*
No, it's just a coincidence.