While they won't be able to enforce the law fully, I wouldn't expect 100% of the population to hunt down a black-market digital signal filter either. Any company that tries to sell such devices legitimately would probably be hit with the DMCA in the US.
Apart from the already pointed out difference in form factor between the few machines, I would still expect the Sun box to be more expensive because they actually invest in some R&D, and sink some of that money into great products like Java.
Not that I'd buy either box, but I'd be tempted to pay a little more to Sun just because they don't give me the impression of being a giant parasite the way Dell does.
For me it's the complete opposite, they are the first thing I replace. Stupid cats always knocking water or coke on my keyboard. I'm on my third keyboard on a 3 year old computer...good thing they're so cheap to replace.
But if you assume that to get the licences to the music they needed some form of protection the mechanism they chose was excellent.
When the Windows iTunes launches I bet you'll be able to transfer/play the m4p files on a windows computer, but if you are really bent on getting past the encryption you can do it with a CDRW and 2 clicks in iTunes (hit the burn button, hit the rip button (with it set to rip to mp3))
I've never really understood the compulsion to have the latest and greatest computer as your desktop machine. Unless you are into some seriously heavy duty number crunching you'd be MUCH better off buying a computer from 1-2 generations earlier at 1/2-1/4 the price.
I have a 650MHz WinXP box that'll still play every game I've tried, and a 12" powerbook that's small, light, sturdy, and is more than fast enough for email/web/IM/rss/light programming.
Maybe in a year or so I'll upgrade the desktop and switch that box to Linux, but I probably wouldn't pick up anything faster than 3GHz when I do.
support broadband. Canada proves it's possible in a big country
I don't really know about the situation in Australia, but in Canada we have lots of dark fibre stemming from the dot-com bust. It was put in by companies that have since gone bust, and passed around...I worked at sprint for a while and they have lots. I wouldn't want to see that type of thing funded by a government.
OSX is not fully compatible with most variants of Unix. They like to make you think that, but it's not true. I've tried porting some of my software over and there are enough differences to give me a serious headache (especially IPC). I do not believe you can run Wine on OSX (but I've never tried). There are, however, a large number of Linux/Unix programs ported to OSX (Gnome, KDE, etc).
There are a number of P2P programs avaliable for OSX, some of which connect to the Kazaa network, but none called Kazaa (that I know of). Examples include Acquisition, Neo, Limewire...even BitTorrent.
You can run windows software on OSX using Virtual PC, but you need a copy of windows. It's basically a X86 emulator and will run all windows software, just slowly.
I was thinking the exact same thing, but I wonder how many people won't know that the bit about bears and coyotes roaming the cities is a joke.
Also, I'd like to throw in the obligitory comments about being able to walk down the streat and not get shot, and being able to visit other countries with your flag sewn on your backpack and not get shot...and...just generally not get shot.
How about the fact that I now get sunburns in about 15 minutes without suntan lotion, but 15 years ago I could be out all day? Think that giant hole in the ozone layer might have something to do with that?
I'm more concerned with chemical reactions changing the makeup of the atmosphere and allowing more radiation in then I am with a giant blanket of CO2 keeping stuff from getting out.
It also comes with a little client program that tells you what you should be backing up. I think they are selling the added value of ease of use, especially for people who don't understand what they should be backing up/how to do it (i.e. there's a little checkbox to back up your outlook stuff, I'll be damned if I know where outlook puts all its crap).
If there are problems with the deployment it will get giant coverage on slashdot and the open source developers will do their best to fix those problems. Better the problems are found and fixed now.
That's the beauty of Linux, it's a dynamic evolving system.
I bet other countries vary even more than the US does
Surprisingly no. Everywhere in the commonwealth (England, Canada, Australia, etc.) we follow the strict rules about the usage of the term engineer. I can't speak to the rest of Europe or Asia, but I suppose in countries that aren't officially English speaking it is somewhat of a moot point.
I was under the impression (from way back in first year engineering courses) that it was just the US that takes the word loosely.
Take a look at the situation in Canada's federal government. In the late 80s we had a Conservative government in power, but they made a few unpopular moves around the same time as a recession and a new ultra-right wing party coming in and they've never recovered. We've had the Liberals in power ever since, and a split conservative vote (the ultra-left NDP became unpopular about the same time).
I think the problem with the parties in the states is there is no alternative on the far right, forcing your Democrats to play to the centre and the Republicans to be pwned by the born-agains/gun lobby/big oil.
I think in general our 4 party system works better than your 2 party one. You can vote ultra right bible thumpers, middle right tax and spend, middle left do-nothing, or ultra left labour union spend all our money. Now that's democracy!
Do you really think anyone who would read "Linux Today" isn't fully aware of what Microsoft offers? It's not like there's going to be people installing Linux who suddenly see a Microsoft ad and think "Hmmm..Microsoft...never heard of them, maybe I should give them a try instead!"
Similarily, will an ad on Slashdot change the opinions of any of the pro-linux slashdot readers?
If you've even heard of Linux then 10:1 you've used and quite possibly own Microsoft products.
Slashdot Mirror
Ya...tried that...the connections had oxidized, couldn't fix that...maybe with solder or something....crappy microsoft keyboard.
While they won't be able to enforce the law fully, I wouldn't expect 100% of the population to hunt down a black-market digital signal filter either. Any company that tries to sell such devices legitimately would probably be hit with the DMCA in the US.
Apart from the already pointed out difference in form factor between the few machines, I would still expect the Sun box to be more expensive because they actually invest in some R&D, and sink some of that money into great products like Java.
Not that I'd buy either box, but I'd be tempted to pay a little more to Sun just because they don't give me the impression of being a giant parasite the way Dell does.
For me it's the complete opposite, they are the first thing I replace. Stupid cats always knocking water or coke on my keyboard. I'm on my third keyboard on a 3 year old computer...good thing they're so cheap to replace.
But if you assume that to get the licences to the music they needed some form of protection the mechanism they chose was excellent.
When the Windows iTunes launches I bet you'll be able to transfer/play the m4p files on a windows computer, but if you are really bent on getting past the encryption you can do it with a CDRW and 2 clicks in iTunes (hit the burn button, hit the rip button (with it set to rip to mp3))
I've never really understood the compulsion to have the latest and greatest computer as your desktop machine. Unless you are into some seriously heavy duty number crunching you'd be MUCH better off buying a computer from 1-2 generations earlier at 1/2-1/4 the price.
I have a 650MHz WinXP box that'll still play every game I've tried, and a 12" powerbook that's small, light, sturdy, and is more than fast enough for email/web/IM/rss/light programming.
Maybe in a year or so I'll upgrade the desktop and switch that box to Linux, but I probably wouldn't pick up anything faster than 3GHz when I do.
2 words, chemical engineering. 50-60% female.
Computer is about 10-20% female. University of Waterloo.
Al Qaeda are creationists! If you support creationism the terrorists have already won!
Well, I am sure. Every time you changed the last letter in a word i had to stop and think about what the word was.
I, for one, welcome a new wave of overlords jokes that differ from the nomal formula. Refreshing.
Just as I was reading this headline the story was mentioned on the radio. Weird.
Also, I'd like to throw in the obligitory comments about being able to walk down the streat and not get shot, and being able to visit other countries with your flag sewn on your backpack and not get shot...and...just generally not get shot.
I'm only 22...if my old age is causing the problem that's pretty sad.
To solve that problem we need to figure out how to make slashdot readers more like Hugh Hefner.
How about the fact that I now get sunburns in about 15 minutes without suntan lotion, but 15 years ago I could be out all day? Think that giant hole in the ozone layer might have something to do with that?
I'm more concerned with chemical reactions changing the makeup of the atmosphere and allowing more radiation in then I am with a giant blanket of CO2 keeping stuff from getting out.
It also comes with a little client program that tells you what you should be backing up. I think they are selling the added value of ease of use, especially for people who don't understand what they should be backing up/how to do it (i.e. there's a little checkbox to back up your outlook stuff, I'll be damned if I know where outlook puts all its crap).
If there are problems with the deployment it will get giant coverage on slashdot and the open source developers will do their best to fix those problems. Better the problems are found and fixed now.
That's the beauty of Linux, it's a dynamic evolving system.
Ah, but what if we grow extra nuts specifically for burning?
I was under the impression (from way back in first year engineering courses) that it was just the US that takes the word loosely.
Take a look at the situation in Canada's federal government. In the late 80s we had a Conservative government in power, but they made a few unpopular moves around the same time as a recession and a new ultra-right wing party coming in and they've never recovered. We've had the Liberals in power ever since, and a split conservative vote (the ultra-left NDP became unpopular about the same time).
I think the problem with the parties in the states is there is no alternative on the far right, forcing your Democrats to play to the centre and the Republicans to be pwned by the born-agains/gun lobby/big oil.
I think in general our 4 party system works better than your 2 party one. You can vote ultra right bible thumpers, middle right tax and spend, middle left do-nothing, or ultra left labour union spend all our money. Now that's democracy!
Definantly!
Do you really think anyone who would read "Linux Today" isn't fully aware of what Microsoft offers? It's not like there's going to be people installing Linux who suddenly see a Microsoft ad and think "Hmmm..Microsoft...never heard of them, maybe I should give them a try instead!"
Similarily, will an ad on Slashdot change the opinions of any of the pro-linux slashdot readers?
If you've even heard of Linux then 10:1 you've used and quite possibly own Microsoft products.