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User: HairyCanary

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Comments · 330

  1. Re:Full Monty on Device Stops Speeders From Inside Car · · Score: 1
    I agree with most/all of what you've posted, and I have the solution.

    Eliminate the revenue connection.

    Make traffic enforcement a safety issue. Use points (as some states already do) to penalize repeat offenders. If there is to be a financial penalty, it will be in the form of increased insurance rates (and along with this, there should be an absolute ban on insurance companies providing any equipment or other incentives to the government). It is wrong for the very people who benefit from the revenue to be the ones who get to decide guilt or innocence, there is a conflict of interest here.

  2. Re:Full Monty on Device Stops Speeders From Inside Car · · Score: 3, Insightful

    IF you are going to allow a monitoring system inside the car, and IF you are just trying to remind the driver they are speeding, then why bother engineering a mechanical system at all? A noisemaker would be cheaper.

  3. Re:More migration news on Novell Doubts Microsoft Latest "Linux Facts" · · Score: 1

    The local power plant can do whatever it wants. If necessary, my generator will turn on to supply long-term power, days if necessary. And my ISP is similiarly configured, so I don't expect them to go offline either. And supposing that something happens that knocks power to the server itself, at least I can count on my Solaris boxen to all reliably come back up on their own when power is restored.

  4. Re:This is why... on Zero-Day IE Exploit Takes Control of PCs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, the FF r0x0rs comments are redundant. Even more so are the responses to those comments that suggest that FF crashing has anywhere even approaching the same level of impact as an IE exploit that allows remote control to be taken of the affected computer.

  5. Re:Poor kiddies on Paris Accelerates Move to Open Source · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How does installing OpenOffice have anything to do with learning how to use Microsoft Windows? I was ASSuming they were just migrating from Microsoft OFFICE to OpenOffice, not from Windows to Linux, and Office to OpenOffice.

  6. Re:Too bad Apple isn't taking a different route on Mac OS X x86 Put To The Test · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Because people think hardware cost is all that is important.

    I bought a Mac Mini, just to give the Apple thing a try. And I have to say that the software is what impresses me. What comes for free on this machine is superior to many products under Windows I'd have to pay money for.

    As long as people think software has no value, they are going to be unwilling to pay extra for what Apple is offering. I will not be one of those.

  7. I believe it on 1 Million Windows to Mac Converts So Far in 2005 · · Score: 1

    At first I was thinking 1M sounded optimistic. But OTOH, I think I could see that. I'm a convert this year, I bought myself a Mac Mini. And I've been actively encourating extended family (of the non technical variety) to consider switching. I've been fairly to the point about how I feel about fixing their Windows machines repeatedly from various malware infections, and suggesting to them that they'd be happier with something that didn't constantly get compromised. It's working ;). So if any other techies like myself are doing the same in their own families, then 1M might be fairly accurate.

  8. Re:24mbit/sec?!?!?! on Slashback: DRM, MPAA, ADSL · · Score: 1

    Well, since he said he was testing it, then methinks replacing the copper with cat5 would probably be counterproductive.

  9. Re:Translation on Can Open Source Outdo the IPod? · · Score: 1

    Correction -- open source might cost money. Idealogy aside, I still think it's free as in speech, not as in beer. Frequently it ends up being the latter, but there is no requirement. Plenty of people pay for it. I paid several hundred dollars for a copy of SuSE last year.

  10. Divorce the two major costs on How Many Times Should We Pay For Our Software? · · Score: 1
    So how about this. Instead of charging enough upfront to cover the initial development of the software, plus maintenance, lets separate them. Charge enough up front to cover just the initial development. IMO this ought to bring down the buy-in price significantly.

    Then, for maintenance updates, charge a nominal fee that covers their development. Users who want to have the latest security or feature updates subscribe to a service to get them, or perhaps buy them ala carte. The end user has the choice -- do it, or not.

    One requirement that I see, at least before I would ever consider participating in this kind of software market, is that there is no such thing as a subscription where the software quits working if the customer terminates it. Make it the customers choice if they want to keep paying for updates or not, but once the software is theirs ... it's theirs.

  11. Re:There is some truth to this.... on iPod Nano Scratches Result In Suit · · Score: 1

    Exactly - LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS. That's why a lawsuit like this is so wrong. Quality problems with products are easily solved through basic capitalism.

  12. Re:Hardware on New Hopes From Sun's Idea Factory · · Score: 0
    So... if Sun has 29.5%, and HP has 30.0%, and IBM has 31%... how much does "Linux" have? 9.5%?

    Perhaps you just tried to compare to completely different numbers to come up with an entirely invalid argument for an unsupportable position. Click on your hyperlink again and read it more thoroughly, it does not say anything which supports your claim.

    Next.

  13. Re:how do we "treat" this problem? on Pillows Dangerous for Your Health · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Off-topic, yes, but here goes... There is no such thing as 1500 threadcount fabric. Nothing in four digits at all. What you got there is a cute marketing department that took two fabrics optimistically containing 750 threads per inch and wove them together getting 1500. Except it's not at all comparable to what real 1500 threadcount fabric would be like if you could make it...

  14. Re:I am on ePaper To Be Used For Newspapers and Magazines · · Score: 1

    Butterflies & birds? I was thinking more along the lines of hot babes...

  15. Re:There ain't no free lunch on Massachusetts Plans a Cell Phone Bill of Rights · · Score: 1
    Not quite. I can go to consumer cellular, and sign up for NO CONTRACT service, and get a phone from them ranging from FREE to $215 for the top of the line model. Try that with the big carriers directly, and they'll tack at least $300 onto even the most basic phone.

    The problem as I see it is that the big carriers are using each other to ratchet up the contract requirement. Until the consumer screams loud enough, none of them have an incentive to lower the minimum contract length. And the cost of entry into the cellular market for a new company is very high, and in some cases may be nearly impossible. This is a classic case of where some governmental oversight is necessary.

  16. Re:Apple Appears on Apple to Replace Faulty Nano Screen · · Score: 1

    It's not really fair to compare the Nano to cell phones -- I haven't seen many cell phones with shiny surfaces all over them, and the ones that do exibit much of the same "swirlies" that the Nano gets. Problem with the Nano is that the entire front of the unit is shiny, and (especially the black one) that makes the swirlies extremely visible. I knew my Nano was going to get beat up and scratched easily, that info was available before the launch, and I still opted to buy one. I care more about functionality, and as far as I'm concerned the swirlies are just character. You can only see them in reflected light anyway, it's not like it impacts regular use.

  17. Re:Seriously? on Yahoo! Mail Superior to Gmail ? · · Score: 1
    Because I get a lot of crap, even the stuff that isn't outright spam. Left alone it would fill up my 2GB in less than a year.

    The only reason I don't use gmail exclusively is that they have this annoying habit of saying messages have been sent, except they never arrive. Even when the destination is another gmail account. I keep a backup e-mail account handy for when my friends tell me the message just isn't making it, and I send with that instead.

  18. Re:Rhymes With Ditty on Dell Launches Flash Music Player · · Score: 1
    Since you speak of truth, why not compare 64K WMA with 128K AAC instead? Now which one sounds better?

    For the truth to hurt, it must be relevant first.

  19. Re:Queue Apple Apologists in 3... 2... on Apple Fails Due Diligence in Trade Secret Case · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I would not call myself enamored with Apple, but I do see a distinction between them and Microsoft.

    Apple is a small company, they have no monopoly in any market, and in the market where they are the strongest (iPod) they do not show a tendency to prey on other manufacturers at the expense of the customer. They simply out-compete everyone else by producing a superior product (superior at least, in the definition of most consumers).

    Microsoft on the other hand, has a monopoly in several markets, and exploits their position to maintain the monopoly at the expense of innovation, and ultimately the customer. Microsoft does not maintain their dominance in the market by producing a superior product (even the die-hard Microsoft apologists would conceed that point), they do it by force. Shady business practices, bastardization of standards, etc.

    So yes, Apple pulls some stunts, like this one, which it should be criticized for. But to use this kind of misstep as an excuse for the absolutely unholy way Microsoft operates is to make a huge mathmatical mistake ;-). Microsoft has several orders of magnitude more impact on societ than does Apple, and therefore Microsoft -has- to be held to even higher standards.

  20. I am a bit disappointed on Sun's Bold New Ad Campaign · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the text of that ad, you'd think they had -just- now started selling AMD64 servers. I have several Sun AMD64 servers sitting in my server room, and have for quite a while now. Granted, they're just reference boxes -- but they do say Sun on them.

  21. Re:Why not just get an MP3 flash card w radio/reco on Behind The Development Of The iPod nano · · Score: 1

    Which MP3 player do you have? So far you have been sprouting numbers pulled (by the smell of 'em) directly from your anus, and spreading them around like they're facts or something. Please back up your comments with something approaching reality...

  22. Re:necropsy on Ars Technica's iPod nano Dissection · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Perhaps in some original definition of necropsy and autopsy. But in modern English the two words are synonyms.

  23. Re:No, no, no, no. on Sun Unveils 64-bit Server Line · · Score: 2, Informative

    Didn't RTFA did ya? When they say they're paying attention to Wall Street, they don't mean as investors. They mean Wall Street as customers.

  24. Re:I am disapointed on DirectNIC Crisis Manager Braves the Chaos of New Orleans · · Score: 1
    Maybe. Or maybe not. When there is a stream of airplanes non-stop flying over New Orleans air-dropping supplies, and paratroopers so thick you can barely see the sky, I will believe that our government is doing everything within its power to improve the situation.

    And if there is some kind of legal limit on the usage of active duty military in this situation, suspend that law for a few months.

    Invade New Orleans and occupy it. The least we can do for New Orleans right now is make it as safe as Baghdad.

  25. Re:Integrated on Microsoft to Stop Releasing Services for Unix · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a gaggle of Solaris boxes that authenticate to LDAP (which AD is) and I do not see any appreciable delay due to the username lookups. And yes, our LDAP directory has thousands upon thousands of users.