Microsoft may not have originally developed many features of computing that we take for granted today, but it is responsible for bringing them to the masses and making them popular. Even today, most GUI elements in Linux are based on what we are familiar with in Windows (yes, I know, M$ did not create those, but we wouldn't be using them today if not for M$).
I hate the fact that everything from M$ is ridiculously overpriced, but I appreciate the fact that even the most non-geeky person on earth is comfortable using a computer today thanks to the marketing and comparitive ease of use of Microsoft and Windows. (I know, Apple has a great OS, but I'd have to be Bill Gates to afford one - I'd never use anything but Linux for my servers, but if I had to give a computer to my grandmother, guess which OS I'd use).
If it was a few months ago, there is a good chance that the results were provided to Yahoo! by Google, since as you know Yahoo! search was powered by Google. Are you perfectly sure the results were not available in Google? or that the results did not die out when they attempted to reindex your pages after you took them down?
A point well made.
However, I still stress that with all the benefits of open source, proprietary software also needs to be around since the service-customize-profit model might not be applicable and useful to everyone. As with everything else, it takes all kinds to make the software industry vibrant. The fact that OSS provides competition to proprietary software also propels the industry onward. We will have both, and we need both.
Windows is their bread-and-butter. If you were a company giving away something for free, would you really take pains to ensure that it would run on your competition's system? Remember, when a company gives something for free/at a discount, the intention is to promote its products, not to make the world a better place. Socialism doesn't work well for business.
Wouldn't he be? if he knew that the open source movement was out to get him? Being the shrewd businessman that he is, I would be surprised if he let the problem grow to unmanageable proportions before taking steps to counter it. He's doing his job.
it's not so easy to outsource one-off administration tasks.
really? What do you think the outsourcing firms do? Administration, maintainence, upgradation and development (in that order).
"Stallman on one end and Gates on the other are both fanatics."
Gates is not fanatical about all software being 'non-free'. Proprietary yes. Microsoft produces plenty of software that runs on Windows and OSX that's (surprise, surprise) actually free. As a company, it needs to make money, which is why it creates a base that has to be paid for (the OS), gives in plenty of free software to make it actually useful to the average user, and then also sells other tools that you have to pay for. If all software was free, there would be no software industry - there would be no programmers who could get paid enough at their jobs to have the time to create free tools for others. I love open source and Linux and use free software extensively at the University, but it's idiocy to be fanatical about open source as the only solution. (Reminds me of the evangelists who want to know if you have been 'saved' - no faith is true but the one they peddle).
In a normal world, we would have free and proprietary software side by side. It would be much better for both, if they accept that the other side is just as important as themselves.
If you put batteries in parallel, they won't discharge through each other. Basically, if one battery goes down, the other will recharge it, so the batteries will reach an equilibrium state where neither discharges through each other. If you live in a real world, you'll see many applications where batteries/cells are connected in parallel.
I may be new here, but will someone give a quick rundown on what exactly Y windows is and how it is different or is an improvement over X windows or any other windowing system?
aaaaaaaarghhhhh! for the final time - servants are not from "lower castes".. servants are those who need the money and will do the job.
At these tech jobs, no one cares $hit about caste!
Ok, this is just an interesting observation - not supposed to be disparaging to anyone.
Just reflecting on the thought that West (according to the parent post) will lead in agriculture while the East will be the technology hub. Isn't that a complete role reversal?
Who can I sue? In all likelihood hed be gone after I left
No, people cannot just disappear in India.
Are doctors in India "certified" by the government? do they get inspected regularly for standards of practice?
You do not just go to the nearest hospital you find - there are good places and there are bad places - for such a large population, there is to be expected. If I go back to India now, I'll know where to go - there are places that have doctors who are so amazing they are almost considered gods! If you have a heart problem, the place to go is the Christian Medical College, Vellore. If you can get operated by Dr. Cherian, you must be the luckiest person in the world.
I went home on vacation in January and that's when I discovered that I had a problem with a wisdom tooth growing in the wrong direction. So off I went to a clinic near my place. I've not ben to a dentist in the US, so I'll leave it to someone here with the experience to tell me how much a tooth removal would cost here in the US. At the clinic, I got an immediate appointment, and the lady removed my tooth completely painlessly and half an hour later, I was home. How much did it cost? Rs. 100 (that's $2!). I also got prescribed a course of antibiotics and painkillers to be used in an emergency. Total cost of medicines - around $2.
and what I forgot to mention is that - it is not foreign aid that pays for education/healthcare in India - there is definitely aid coming in - but don't you think something like $25 million is but a pittance for such a large population - almost everything is paid for by Indians themselves - the aid helps a few specific programs, and not everything.
As an Indian, I completely agree with you that India should be using its own money to pay for vaccination and education and everything else. As an Indian, I also know that there is no *real* reason why India should be taking 'aid' from other nations since there is not really any problem of 'existence of wealth' in India - the problem is one of 'distribution of wealth' and 'proper utilization of wealth without losing much of it to due to corruption'.
As an Indian, I'll be the happiest person in the world when my country uses its existing resources well to pay for its needs. And really, it's not like Indians are grouping together and plotting to steal western jobs - there are jobs available and they are taking it - do you seriously expect them to say that, "No, we won't take those jobs"? Competition is good for the world as a whole. Jobs will always be redistributed - that's how the world has worked for the past century and even before that - people have always found new ways to create jobs and that's what brings new ideas and keeps the world going. The United States is *NOT* going down the drain - americans are not stupid enough to let that happen.
Your story sounds too phoney because:
1. This resembles a recent true story too closely, where a programmer had not been paid her dues or something and she blackmailed the company by holding the data (healthcare data) hostage. Looks like you have picked up the story and modified it.
2. "The individual simply moved to a different part of India, which is apparently like moving to another planet".LOL This is not the jungles of the Amazon. To do this you would probably have to disappear to some jungle, or the himalayas and it doesn't appear as if the person would be able to do a programming job from there. Seriously, if you don't know anything about India, please do not make such ridiculous assumptions.
3. If it is 'PR damage' that caused your company to clamp its mouth, the issue could have happened right here in the United States.
Yes, he did purchase 'Treasure Troves', but doing that was a big donation to the scientific community. If you read the history on Weisstein's site, you'll see how he got screwed by a publisher who would not allow Weisstein to put up the online version. Wolfram has not only put up the online version - every page is completely free. As an engineering student, it has saved my a$$ innumerable times.
Also, with regard to the comments posted here - I was expecting some really insightful comments about CA. Instead we have half a$$ed guys who have not read a single page of the book, who wish to use the opportunity to trample on Wolfram. Seriously, are you living in the middle ages? You may not agree with the theory, but then the only thing you can do is counter it - making personal attacks for someone's theories is just not done!
Also, accepted that the book may not be the most well written book, but give the man credit for writing stuff that many non CS people might not have known before! Many have pointed out that this-theory-blah-blah has been known to every CS student - well every reader on this planet is not a CS student. I'm glad that someone is writing something to poplularize stuff that people might never know about otherwise.
Then we have these neat attacks where people criticize him for his ego - well, most great scientists have been a$$holes with egos the size of the moon, but let that not distract us from the greatness or usefullness of their works. After all, we're concerned with the knowledge they put out - if you want to date them, or work under them, you might be justified in worrying about their egos.
Slashdot Mirror
(StarBrite's site was down temporarily on Tuesday, due to a technical hitch, Kelly said.)
:-)))
Yes, the technical hitch is called Slashdotting here
This would make great wallpaper."
;-)
I can't wait to play Doom in a real house
innovative marketing, anyone?
Microsoft may not have originally developed many features of computing that we take for granted today, but it is responsible for bringing them to the masses and making them popular. Even today, most GUI elements in Linux are based on what we are familiar with in Windows (yes, I know, M$ did not create those, but we wouldn't be using them today if not for M$).
I hate the fact that everything from M$ is ridiculously overpriced, but I appreciate the fact that even the most non-geeky person on earth is comfortable using a computer today thanks to the marketing and comparitive ease of use of Microsoft and Windows. (I know, Apple has a great OS, but I'd have to be Bill Gates to afford one - I'd never use anything but Linux for my servers, but if I had to give a computer to my grandmother, guess which OS I'd use).
Look at Bawarchi.
If it was a few months ago, there is a good chance that the results were provided to Yahoo! by Google, since as you know Yahoo! search was powered by Google. Are you perfectly sure the results were not available in Google? or that the results did not die out when they attempted to reindex your pages after you took them down?
A point well made.
However, I still stress that with all the benefits of open source, proprietary software also needs to be around since the service-customize-profit model might not be applicable and useful to everyone. As with everything else, it takes all kinds to make the software industry vibrant. The fact that OSS provides competition to proprietary software also propels the industry onward. We will have both, and we need both.
Windows is their bread-and-butter. If you were a company giving away something for free, would you really take pains to ensure that it would run on your competition's system? Remember, when a company gives something for free/at a discount, the intention is to promote its products, not to make the world a better place. Socialism doesn't work well for business.
Wouldn't he be? if he knew that the open source movement was out to get him? Being the shrewd businessman that he is, I would be surprised if he let the problem grow to unmanageable proportions before taking steps to counter it. He's doing his job.
I agree. My mistake about the definition of 'free'.
it's not so easy to outsource one-off administration tasks.
really? What do you think the outsourcing firms do? Administration, maintainence, upgradation and development (in that order).
"Stallman on one end and Gates on the other are both fanatics."
Gates is not fanatical about all software being 'non-free'. Proprietary yes. Microsoft produces plenty of software that runs on Windows and OSX that's (surprise, surprise) actually free. As a company, it needs to make money, which is why it creates a base that has to be paid for (the OS), gives in plenty of free software to make it actually useful to the average user, and then also sells other tools that you have to pay for. If all software was free, there would be no software industry - there would be no programmers who could get paid enough at their jobs to have the time to create free tools for others. I love open source and Linux and use free software extensively at the University, but it's idiocy to be fanatical about open source as the only solution. (Reminds me of the evangelists who want to know if you have been 'saved' - no faith is true but the one they peddle).
In a normal world, we would have free and proprietary software side by side. It would be much better for both, if they accept that the other side is just as important as themselves.
I agree with you. My bad.
Another person creating science out of his ass.
If you put batteries in parallel, they won't discharge through each other. Basically, if one battery goes down, the other will recharge it, so the batteries will reach an equilibrium state where neither discharges through each other. If you live in a real world, you'll see many applications where batteries/cells are connected in parallel.
Oh, I see what you mean. Free is good when Open-Source does it. Free is bad when Microsoft does it.
Thank you for my daily enlightenment.
I may be new here, but will someone give a quick rundown on what exactly Y windows is and how it is different or is an improvement over X windows or any other windowing system?
aaaaaaaarghhhhh! for the final time - servants are not from "lower castes".. servants are those who need the money and will do the job. At these tech jobs, no one cares $hit about caste!
Ok, this is just an interesting observation - not supposed to be disparaging to anyone.
Just reflecting on the thought that West (according to the parent post) will lead in agriculture while the East will be the technology hub. Isn't that a complete role reversal?
Who can I sue? In all likelihood hed be gone after I left
No, people cannot just disappear in India.
Are doctors in India "certified" by the government? do they get inspected regularly for standards of practice?
You do not just go to the nearest hospital you find - there are good places and there are bad places - for such a large population, there is to be expected. If I go back to India now, I'll know where to go - there are places that have doctors who are so amazing they are almost considered gods! If you have a heart problem, the place to go is the Christian Medical College, Vellore. If you can get operated by Dr. Cherian, you must be the luckiest person in the world.
I went home on vacation in January and that's when I discovered that I had a problem with a wisdom tooth growing in the wrong direction. So off I went to a clinic near my place. I've not ben to a dentist in the US, so I'll leave it to someone here with the experience to tell me how much a tooth removal would cost here in the US. At the clinic, I got an immediate appointment, and the lady removed my tooth completely painlessly and half an hour later, I was home. How much did it cost? Rs. 100 (that's $2!). I also got prescribed a course of antibiotics and painkillers to be used in an emergency. Total cost of medicines - around $2.
In India, every kid grows up expecting to be either a doctor or an engineer. It's almost an honor thing.
"three hours and two quad-damage lattes poring over that magazine"
Umm, which job were you laid off from?
and what I forgot to mention is that - it is not foreign aid that pays for education/healthcare in India - there is definitely aid coming in - but don't you think something like $25 million is but a pittance for such a large population - almost everything is paid for by Indians themselves - the aid helps a few specific programs, and not everything.
As an Indian, I completely agree with you that India should be using its own money to pay for vaccination and education and everything else. As an Indian, I also know that there is no *real* reason why India should be taking 'aid' from other nations since there is not really any problem of 'existence of wealth' in India - the problem is one of 'distribution of wealth' and 'proper utilization of wealth without losing much of it to due to corruption'.
As an Indian, I'll be the happiest person in the world when my country uses its existing resources well to pay for its needs. And really, it's not like Indians are grouping together and plotting to steal western jobs - there are jobs available and they are taking it - do you seriously expect them to say that, "No, we won't take those jobs"? Competition is good for the world as a whole. Jobs will always be redistributed - that's how the world has worked for the past century and even before that - people have always found new ways to create jobs and that's what brings new ideas and keeps the world going. The United States is *NOT* going down the drain - americans are not stupid enough to let that happen.
Your story sounds too phoney because: 1. This resembles a recent true story too closely, where a programmer had not been paid her dues or something and she blackmailed the company by holding the data (healthcare data) hostage. Looks like you have picked up the story and modified it. 2. "The individual simply moved to a different part of India, which is apparently like moving to another planet".LOL This is not the jungles of the Amazon. To do this you would probably have to disappear to some jungle, or the himalayas and it doesn't appear as if the person would be able to do a programming job from there. Seriously, if you don't know anything about India, please do not make such ridiculous assumptions. 3. If it is 'PR damage' that caused your company to clamp its mouth, the issue could have happened right here in the United States.
Yes, he did purchase 'Treasure Troves', but doing that was a big donation to the scientific community. If you read the history on Weisstein's site, you'll see how he got screwed by a publisher who would not allow Weisstein to put up the online version. Wolfram has not only put up the online version - every page is completely free. As an engineering student, it has saved my a$$ innumerable times.
Also, with regard to the comments posted here - I was expecting some really insightful comments about CA. Instead we have half a$$ed guys who have not read a single page of the book, who wish to use the opportunity to trample on Wolfram. Seriously, are you living in the middle ages? You may not agree with the theory, but then the only thing you can do is counter it - making personal attacks for someone's theories is just not done!
Also, accepted that the book may not be the most well written book, but give the man credit for writing stuff that many non CS people might not have known before! Many have pointed out that this-theory-blah-blah has been known to every CS student - well every reader on this planet is not a CS student. I'm glad that someone is writing something to poplularize stuff that people might never know about otherwise.
Then we have these neat attacks where people criticize him for his ego - well, most great scientists have been a$$holes with egos the size of the moon, but let that not distract us from the greatness or usefullness of their works. After all, we're concerned with the knowledge they put out - if you want to date them, or work under them, you might be justified in worrying about their egos.
Just my little point.