"Yes, SP2 was major, Media Center was major, Tablet PC Edition was major, and I'll allow his assertion that x64 was major."
That's four major releases. Doesn't sound too bad when you consider that Apple has had 3 major releases since OSX was released. (discounting 10.0 to 10.1) So it's not really as if Microsoft hasn't done anything since releasing XP.
I understand, but the truth about India/Bangladesh is that the poverty line as defined by the government really is a poverty line i.e. it's barely enough to survive.
"Remember 10- 15 years ago you almost always heardf about the plight of Bangladesh? Heard anything lately?"
I don't know what world you are living in, my friend, but Bangladesh still has ~35% of the population below the poverty line. I'm not dissing Bangladesh, which is a lovely country, but your statement which is quite ignorant.
The Euro-peons are thinking about using the Galileo system as part of an electronic road tolling scheme... So, bearing in mind the surveillance potential of such a scheme, I'd think the best way to "crack" one of the Galileo satellites would be an ASAT missile...
Ohh, those silly Europeans... that kind of thing would never happen in the US!
A device that would produce braille output on a surface would be much more expensive than one that had to simply convert words to spoken voice (using one of the many excellent text-to-speech technologies available today). Also, where's the lack of privacy when you are using headphones:-)
Children need to eat before they need to learn! MIT doesn't seem to think this is necessary, they even developed a computer that will kill off a child starving of faminie more quickly by forcing them to have to use up what little energy they have to wind their computer up. I think this will be used as a form of genocide. Don't worry about sending in the Red Cross, just air drop cheap laptops, that will take care of all those poor starving childr
I'm glad not everyone in the world shares your collosal stupidity. You cannot just improve the infrastructure in a country, give everyone food and then start giving the population a means to better their education and career. By the time you have 'given' them the infrastructure and food, they have grown up and missed the opportunity to learn.
Everything has to be done together. They need infrastructure AND a great education AND something to inspire them to improve their lives. Many of these kids may not have enough food, but they may be inspired enough by the laptop to go on to get a good education which will help them not only improve their own lives, but the lives of people around them.
The folks in my parents' generation (I am from India) did not have much money or enough food to go around. They did, however get a fabulous education which helped them get good jobs, educate us and improve the immediate society around them.
Your GPS receiver will have very little trouble in 'Urban Canyons' and foliage if the GPS chip is a SiRF chip (The SiRFStar III to be precise). The Forerunner 305 has it.
"Which means that you're paying about $150 in import fees and tarriffs."
Which is still strange since the Macbooks are not really imported from the US into the UK - they are shipped from China. They get shipped from China to the US too, so unless it costs more to ship it to UK, there shouldnt be the $150 differential.
I pity you Americans too - not because the rest of the world is better (most of it is worse), but because you have such a great country that you are hell bent on ruining. Everything that makes you 'different' such as freedom of speech and personal rights are being taken away right under your nose and you can't stop it. If this is the trend, then how different will the United States be from so many other countries that have governments and societies that are currently looked down upon for their backwardness? Will you still be able to say with pride that you are an American?
I am not saying this in an condescending or sarcastic tone. I'm saying this with the concern of a person who loves the United States for all its good qualities and dislikes the path it is following now.
"A plummer in the US is likely to make as much money as an IT worker, will never have his job outsourced to india, and as a bonus gets to make a living in an honest proffession devoid of petty office politics and navelgazing that is so prevelant in the IT industry."
Job security is not the only reason why someone would choose a particular profession. Satisfaction and a desire to do something counts too. Some folks would want to be a plumber, but some others would want to be an engineer even with all the attendant risks. It's hard to convince a plumber to go into the engineering profession and vice-versa. Job security is not enough of a carrot.
Intel does _not_ pay non-citizens a lower wage or benefits than citizens. In fact they end up investing more money in them because they have to pay for the H1 visa sponsorship and then for the Green Card (which is quite a bit in lawyer fees) Your friend has misinformed you.
"Because of a permanent underclass of slaves and near slaves the developers get all their needs for housing, food, clothing etc met dirt cheap"
Where did you get that drivel from? I've grown up in India and I have several dozen friends who work there in the technology sector, and I've yet to meet or hear of this "permanent underclass of slaves or near slaves".
"If India ever outlaws child labor.."
Child labor is already outlawed in India. [Official policy][Unofficial report] It's a huge country and child labor does happen occassionally in city underbellies or in far flung rural regions, but no one can legally do it, and it is not a prevalent phenomenon.
"In actually a plummer gets just as much money as a code monkey if not more and your job is not likely to be outsourced. Think about it"
Plumbers will make as much money as code monkeys only in an economy where there is a shortage of plumbers. In a country like India where there is no shortage of skilled labor, plumbers will never be able to charge the big bucks that the average American plumber can. Think about that.
You have confused Trademark with Copyright. Trademark has to be defended, but copyright does not lapse even if you choose to defend it only selectively.
"New images of 2003 UB313 (aka Xena) were delivered by the Hubble Telescope and showed up as only 1.5 pixels! "
1.5 pixels on what scale? A pixel is not a unit of measurement for size, it just denotes the smallest distinct unit in a picture. Yes, it appears sensational to say that a 'planet' appeared to be 1.5 pixels (100 exclamation marks), but that's just as stupid as saying that my backyard appears to be 5 pixels wide on Google Earth. Gives no information unless you say that the resolution is 1 pixel = X metres.
Actually, as a longtime user of Picasa on Windows and iPhoto on the mac, I can say that not only does Picasa match iPhoto, it is far superior in usability. The mac is my primary computer and I am an avid photographer and it is only the lack of Picasa on the mac that really drives me nuts about OSX. If you are a mac fan, don't flame me unless you have really used Picasa for some length of time. Here are my reasons:
1. Picasa lets me 'monitor folders', something iPhoto will not let me do. I hate having to 'import' pictures into iPhoto everytime I want to see my new pictures there.
2. Picasa will let me put my photo album anywhere I want, including external drives. There is no straightforward way to change your album location in iPhoto (Yes it can be done, but it's a hack)
3. Picasa will let me add photos to the library without actually copying them to the Picasa storage folder. iPhoto insists on copying all photos to the iPhoto folder everytime you add pictures to it. Why is this important? As a photographer I have tens of gigabytes of pictures that I do not wish to store on the mac hard drive because the storage I have on external drives far outstrips my hard drive size . Also they are organized the way I want them with proper folder names and heirarchies. If I 'import' them to iPhoto, it creates one big lump of a library which I have to organize painfully by hand if I wish to see my original configuration. Also, the folder organization in the iPhoto folder has no connection to the original organization I had.
4. Non-destructive edits. I can touch, crop and do anything I wish to my pictures in Picasa and it doesn't hurt the original picture at all. I can come back later and undo everything I did. If I wish to retain my changes, I can simply export the current state of the picture. On iPhoto, the edits you do are non-undoable once you are done with the edits. Very painful for a photographer who wants to quickly try out some edits before opening up the full-fledged Photoshop.
There are many more, but these are the important ones. As for features Picasa gives almost all the features I expect from a photo organizer (which, to be fair are also available in iPhoto)
It's a pointless argument. Many of the american 'hits' are actually designed and created in India. For example, Portalplayer which powers the iPod, or the Slingbox... many of these small american companies are simply headquartered in the silicon valley for business purposes, while their entire design and development teams are in Bangalore/Hyderabad. As long as the major customers are in the US, that's how things will be. It's pointless to try to distinguish them as Indian or American companies. They are both.
Your email can be subpoenaed from whichever ISP gives you mail service regardless of which client you use (including Pine). So if you are using your company email or university email or even your own email server, it can be subpoenaed from some source if the govt needs it.
Slashdot Mirror
Brin had a girlfriend... AND he made a billion dollar company? I think I've finally found proof that there's a heaven on earth!!!
"Yes, SP2 was major, Media Center was major, Tablet PC Edition was major, and I'll allow his assertion that x64 was major."
That's four major releases. Doesn't sound too bad when you consider that Apple has had 3 major releases since OSX was released. (discounting 10.0 to 10.1) So it's not really as if Microsoft hasn't done anything since releasing XP.
I understand, but the truth about India/Bangladesh is that the poverty line as defined by the government really is a poverty line i.e. it's barely enough to survive.
"Remember 10- 15 years ago you almost always heardf about the plight of Bangladesh? Heard anything lately?"
I don't know what world you are living in, my friend, but Bangladesh still has ~35% of the population below the poverty line. I'm not dissing Bangladesh, which is a lovely country, but your statement which is quite ignorant.
The Euro-peons are thinking about using the Galileo system as part of an electronic road tolling scheme... So, bearing in mind the surveillance potential of such a scheme, I'd think the best way to "crack" one of the Galileo satellites would be an ASAT missile...
Ohh, those silly Europeans... that kind of thing would never happen in the US!
A device that would produce braille output on a surface would be much more expensive than one that had to simply convert words to spoken voice (using one of the many excellent text-to-speech technologies available today). Also, where's the lack of privacy when you are using headphones :-)
omg! there is a lady reading slashdot!!!!! (either that, or you are not my type)
I'm glad not everyone in the world shares your collosal stupidity. You cannot just improve the infrastructure in a country, give everyone food and then start giving the population a means to better their education and career. By the time you have 'given' them the infrastructure and food, they have grown up and missed the opportunity to learn.
Everything has to be done together. They need infrastructure AND a great education AND something to inspire them to improve their lives. Many of these kids may not have enough food, but they may be inspired enough by the laptop to go on to get a good education which will help them not only improve their own lives, but the lives of people around them.
The folks in my parents' generation (I am from India) did not have much money or enough food to go around. They did, however get a fabulous education which helped them get good jobs, educate us and improve the immediate society around them.
The spelling is Gandhi, not Ghandi. Ghandi is an offensive word in North India. (Means Ass... not the animal) :-)
Your GPS receiver will have very little trouble in 'Urban Canyons' and foliage if the GPS chip is a SiRF chip (The SiRFStar III to be precise). The Forerunner 305 has it.
"Which means that you're paying about $150 in import fees and tarriffs."
Which is still strange since the Macbooks are not really imported from the US into the UK - they are shipped from China. They get shipped from China to the US too, so unless it costs more to ship it to UK, there shouldnt be the $150 differential.
I pity you Americans too - not because the rest of the world is better (most of it is worse), but because you have such a great country that you are hell bent on ruining. Everything that makes you 'different' such as freedom of speech and personal rights are being taken away right under your nose and you can't stop it. If this is the trend, then how different will the United States be from so many other countries that have governments and societies that are currently looked down upon for their backwardness? Will you still be able to say with pride that you are an American?
I am not saying this in an condescending or sarcastic tone. I'm saying this with the concern of a person who loves the United States for all its good qualities and dislikes the path it is following now.
"A plummer in the US is likely to make as much money as an IT worker, will never have his job outsourced to india, and as a bonus gets to make a living in an honest proffession devoid of petty office politics and navelgazing that is so prevelant in the IT industry."
Job security is not the only reason why someone would choose a particular profession. Satisfaction and a desire to do something counts too. Some folks would want to be a plumber, but some others would want to be an engineer even with all the attendant risks. It's hard to convince a plumber to go into the engineering profession and vice-versa. Job security is not enough of a carrot.
Intel does _not_ pay non-citizens a lower wage or benefits than citizens. In fact they end up investing more money in them because they have to pay for the H1 visa sponsorship and then for the Green Card (which is quite a bit in lawyer fees) Your friend has misinformed you.
"Pardon me, but your stupidity is showing. There's nothing "arrogant" about a government looking out for the best interests of its citizens."
Would you say the same if a Mexican or Indian citizen advocated that the American policitians should be 'eliminated' (to use the GP's words)?
"Because of a permanent underclass of slaves and near slaves the developers get all their needs for housing, food, clothing etc met dirt cheap"
Where did you get that drivel from? I've grown up in India and I have several dozen friends who work there in the technology sector, and I've yet to meet or hear of this "permanent underclass of slaves or near slaves".
"If India ever outlaws child labor.."
Child labor is already outlawed in India. [Official policy][Unofficial report] It's a huge country and child labor does happen occassionally in city underbellies or in far flung rural regions, but no one can legally do it, and it is not a prevalent phenomenon.
"In actually a plummer gets just as much money as a code monkey if not more and your job is not likely to be outsourced. Think about it"
Plumbers will make as much money as code monkeys only in an economy where there is a shortage of plumbers. In a country like India where there is no shortage of skilled labor, plumbers will never be able to charge the big bucks that the average American plumber can. Think about that.
You have confused Trademark with Copyright. Trademark has to be defended, but copyright does not lapse even if you choose to defend it only selectively.
The Indian prez (Dr. Abdul Kalam) is a rocket scientist while the prime minister (Dr Manmohan Singh) is a PhD in economics from Oxford.
Maybe you didn't try to use it, but you always get to choose if you want your calendar (and specific events) to be public or private.
"New images of 2003 UB313 (aka Xena) were delivered by the Hubble Telescope and showed up as only 1.5 pixels! "
1.5 pixels on what scale? A pixel is not a unit of measurement for size, it just denotes the smallest distinct unit in a picture. Yes, it appears sensational to say that a 'planet' appeared to be 1.5 pixels (100 exclamation marks), but that's just as stupid as saying that my backyard appears to be 5 pixels wide on Google Earth. Gives no information unless you say that the resolution is 1 pixel = X metres.
Thanks for that automator tip...
Actually, as a longtime user of Picasa on Windows and iPhoto on the mac, I can say that not only does Picasa match iPhoto, it is far superior in usability. The mac is my primary computer and I am an avid photographer and it is only the lack of Picasa on the mac that really drives me nuts about OSX. If you are a mac fan, don't flame me unless you have really used Picasa for some length of time. Here are my reasons:
1. Picasa lets me 'monitor folders', something iPhoto will not let me do. I hate having to 'import' pictures into iPhoto everytime I want to see my new pictures there.
2. Picasa will let me put my photo album anywhere I want, including external drives. There is no straightforward way to change your album location in iPhoto (Yes it can be done, but it's a hack)
3. Picasa will let me add photos to the library without actually copying them to the Picasa storage folder. iPhoto insists on copying all photos to the iPhoto folder everytime you add pictures to it. Why is this important? As a photographer I have tens of gigabytes of pictures that I do not wish to store on the mac hard drive because the storage I have on external drives far outstrips my hard drive size . Also they are organized the way I want them with proper folder names and heirarchies. If I 'import' them to iPhoto, it creates one big lump of a library which I have to organize painfully by hand if I wish to see my original configuration. Also, the folder organization in the iPhoto folder has no connection to the original organization I had.
4. Non-destructive edits. I can touch, crop and do anything I wish to my pictures in Picasa and it doesn't hurt the original picture at all. I can come back later and undo everything I did. If I wish to retain my changes, I can simply export the current state of the picture. On iPhoto, the edits you do are non-undoable once you are done with the edits. Very painful for a photographer who wants to quickly try out some edits before opening up the full-fledged Photoshop.
There are many more, but these are the important ones. As for features Picasa gives almost all the features I expect from a photo organizer (which, to be fair are also available in iPhoto)
Read carefully my friend, I mentioned Portalplayer, not the iPod itself. The Portalplayer chip was largely created in Hyderabad.
It's a pointless argument. Many of the american 'hits' are actually designed and created in India. For example, Portalplayer which powers the iPod, or the Slingbox... many of these small american companies are simply headquartered in the silicon valley for business purposes, while their entire design and development teams are in Bangalore/Hyderabad. As long as the major customers are in the US, that's how things will be. It's pointless to try to distinguish them as Indian or American companies. They are both.
Your email can be subpoenaed from whichever ISP gives you mail service regardless of which client you use (including Pine). So if you are using your company email or university email or even your own email server, it can be subpoenaed from some source if the govt needs it.