Whoa, Thank god my TV is tuned into my local PBS station. The Charlie Rose show just started after Nova, and he is interviewing David Boiles. Unless you have been on Mars for the last year, you would know that Boiles was one of the DoJ lawyers in the MS case. And he was the main ball-buster.
I'm watching this and typing this at the same time; pre-emptive multitasking with no core dumps so far. I've watched many of these types of documentaries, but this one is probably the best one that I have seen. For those on the left-coast of the US, I would recommend that you go home and watch this one.
While there is the expected over-dramaticization over some aspects of code breaking, this documentary is very even-handed. Woops, take that back. Now they are getting over-dramatic in their commentary.
Hey guys and gals, what about the development and use of radar? What about the Manhattan Project?
What will be "fun" when everything becomes connected to the web is privacy issues. Hotmail gets serious cracked. Ppl yawn. But crack into their coffee machine, toaster, and fridge? All hell will break loose. You just know that some company will record everytime you open your fridge and send this information back to some centralized site. Of course, this will be performed as a user benefit.
I'm not worried about some script kiddie breaking into my internet appliance. I'm more worried about the corporations collecting info about me.
Then again, with the big bucks that CmdrTaco got there is gonna be a house in Michigan with an internet toliet. Crackers will probe a way to potentially wipe out a dangling problem.
If you read the FOF, separating the browser from the OS is trivial and can lead to an improved OS. However, it would not behoove MS at this time to do this separation as it would only boister the DoJ case.
Win2K is going to be very interesting to watch. In the corporate world, this OS is being sold as the next best thing since sliced bread. Win2K is suppose to be the Unix killer. OTOH, I believe that there is no scaled down version for the average user. That is why MacOS X should be interesting; bringing Unix to the masses.
Smirking aside, the FOF as pointed out by this thread is extremely one-sided towards the argument of the DoJ. While the stock market may rock and roll on Monday, many companies will actually see their stock go up. Who? MS competitors and the various companies that were portrayed as being negatively affected by MS actions. Some of these companies are rather big; IBM, AOL, Sun, Intel.
I've looked at this thread and the previous one. Many expected reactionary comments abound. I finally finished reading most of the FOF and can say that I'm astounded by the one-sidedness of the this document. It reads like David Boiles or Joe Klein were the authors.
My final comments. MS loses big time. The FOF essentially says that the MS witnesses had very little credibility. MS stock will initially go down (as it doing now). However, the various media folks (investment experts) will try to stop the bleeding. Investment advisers will also do the same. Both will do this because they did not see this coming.
Ultimately, all pyramid schemes collapse under their own weight. If MS valuation goes down, then their ability to take a shotgun approach to investing in other companies will come to an end. Carefully watch the Portland AT&T case as MS has staked their claim on the internet connectivity via cable.
There was a time when unix was sort of open source; this before the unix wars of the 80's. The source code for unix was distributed via the use of the time honored ancient method of using the photocopying machine. The folks at UCB did okay while they operated under the radar coverage of AT&T.
Linux was introduced at a time when unix was really screwed up with a bunch of proprietary systems. MS finally introduces a viable version of their "innovative" OS (note: didn't hear much about windows 1 & 2).
But the key was the availability of an OS that one could play with on a computer that they had access to. Also it is was critical that there were a lot of ppl that now had access to these computers.
I have no idea if the end of the Cold War has anything to do with this. However, I think that the international aspect of Linux development is very important. Hence, the maturity of the internet at this same time is also very important.
Nonetheless, I think that the most important aspect is the reason why GNU and Open Source even was started. The time to write the code is best left to ppl who are young, idealistic, full of energy, intellectually sharp, and without a whole lot of responsibilities.
The rather interesting connections that is on display on one of the links is cute an interesting. However, this is just a more blatant and explicit display of the female and male port of a RS-232. Just imagine a small group of engineers many years ago sitting around, drinking some beers coming up with this terminology. Try explaining to your mom that this is a female plug.
I still remember the 1st time when I realized the difference between the female and male plugs. The implications of the term, gender changer, has obviously not been realized by some ppl.:-)
I'm not a prude, but I like subtle stuff. The male/female RS-232 plug is still the best.
I won't elaborate about the meaning of plug and play.
The anti-Apple comments here at/. have greatly declined in the last two months. There may be various to this. I would like to believe that it is because Apple hardare has become more industry standardized (agp slot), and because the ppl here recognize when good technology gets produced (g4).
Of course, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, may play a role in all of this.
Good question and I that I have to deal with. With regard to Linux, the main benefit is the flamebait topic of big versus small endian. Most unix workstations (e.g., hp, sgi, sun) generate binary data that are incompatible with a intel-based linux system. We are converting to xdr i/o to make this transition.
I'm one of the mac idiots. While other ppl in my groupt are bitching about i/o problems, I get to bitch about problems with linuxppc. I think that I'm winning the battle as linuxppc is pretty good if you have prior experience with linux. However, just mentioning that using a PowerPC chip based system makes ppl that I have to work with, want to puke.
Ahhh, Monty Python. I first saw it on the local PBS station that then showed the Marty Feldman Show(you know, Igor from Young Frankenstein). Later, the PBS station showed Ernie Kovacks (sp?) instead of Feldman. A good hour of fun.
I wouldn't run away from a bunch of naked ladies. (Meaning and Purpuse of Life).
Spam was great, the parrot was great, but the world's most deadliest joke was a killer.
Speaking of jokes (I know, a lame excuse for a Off-topic comment). The US Office of Personnel Management just announced that Federal employees in the the District of Columbia will not be celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving next year. OPM said that the reason was that the witch will be moving to New York and is taking the turkey with her.
The Genetic algorithm is a means of solving a non-linear inverse problem; another notable method is simulated annealing. In the old days, the Monte Carlo method was used; Monte Carlo is where the casino are where all solutions are a matter of chance (hence, try them all). Start with an initial model, then incrementally move to a better solution. In a non-linear model, one perturbs the parameters then checks to see if the solution is better than the previous one. In a linear model, one can compute the correct direction to go by using the invariant derivatives of the defining mathematical model.
A major problem with non-linear models is that one can get stuck in a local error minimum of the solution. To get out of these minima, one needs to seriously perturb the model parameters. In a genetic algorithm this is done by mutations.
It has been a long time (in a galaxy far, far away) since I took a statics engineering course. But it would seem to me that a critical aspect would be the configuration of the starting model. Additionally, a lego bridge is a fairly simple geometry/model. Remember, the concept of an arch bridge was figured out by people without computers.
While the quotes may not be totally appropriate for a geneticist, please note that Agenbroad is identified as a geologist in the article. This is not to disparage geologists. However, it was clear to me that one should not necessarily believe nor take seriously the words of a non-expert when it comes to cloning. Agenbroad probably knows mammoths out his wazoo (he is a paleontologist) but he is not a geneticist. If one wants more info about Agenbroad, go to the NAU web site and do a search.
Well, this is nothing new. Oliver Wendell Jones (hacker supreme) cloned Bill the Cat using DNA from Bill's tongue.
Oliver may or may not have used his Banana Junior, 6000 Series, 32 bit, 450 KByte, fully portable personal computer (with Bananawrite, Bananadraw, Bananamanager, and Bananafile) in his endeavours.
Remember kids, Gene Simmons never had a personal computer when he was a kid.
My dad taught me some math tricks when I was a little kid. Some of them are very obvious when one learns high school math, while others are not so obvious.
A number is divisible by 4 if the last two digits are divisible by 4. For instance, 1234144 is divisible by 4 since 44 is. This is obviously fairly obvious (unless you are a little kid).
A number is divisible by 3 if all the digits are divisible by 3. For instance, 146922 is divisible by 3 since 1+4+6+9+2+2=24 is divisible by 3.
Squares: 15X15. Take the 1st digit and multiply it by 1+1, then tack on 25. Hence 15X15=225. 25X25=625 (2X3, shift the digits, then add 25), 35X35 becomes 12 with 25 tacked on to the end, 1225.
This is weird. I just installed Caldera's OpenLinux 2.3 today on a dual processor home-made system. Matrox G200, dual Celerons on slot 1 adaptor cards, 3Com network card, Asus mobo, and virgin eide HD. Put the install CD in and away we go.
This was an incredibly simple and clean installation! The user interface is very nice and the installer automatically figured out the various devices and cards that were installed. The only glitch (and one pointed out by Caldera) is that I had to manually tell the installer how much video memory I had. BTW, I did a complete installation (not customized) to see what is available. Tomorrow, I will do a customized installation on another system. Right now, the RedHat installer looks rather feeble compared to this one. I can't wait to see what the Caldera customized installation looks like.
As far as I'm concerned, this CNN review is totally bogus and pathetically out of date. The 2.3 version is extremely clean and fairly idiot-proof. Somebody should send this person the newer package (it only costs around $30 with an additional $10 rebate offer). Then they could see how far Linux has progressed. Finally, I should also point out that I violated the RTFM doctrine. This was a blind-trust installation.
Many ppl here are unfamiliar with earthquakes and their implications. A "major" earthquake releases a lot more energy than the largest atomic bomb. Furthermore, the release of potential energy in the form of tall man-made structure adds to the destruction. This earthquake has been initialy measured in the mid 7's on the Ritcher scale. This is very, very big.
If one looks at earthquake prone regions one also sees a good relationship with hi-tech areas. The San Andreas Fault runs extremely close to Silicon Valley. The LA region is threatened by earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault and to other earthquakes closer to LA. The rolling hills in the LA area are the products of compressional stress that are active. Smaller earthquakes will result wrt to those big one on the San Andreas, but these will be close to high population areas.
The Pacific Northwest is now considered to be a high earthquake threat region. Earthquakes are infrequent wrt to geological time, but the big one there will be huge.
Tokyo (and the rest of Japan) is a high threat earthquake zone. The last "big one" happened about 75 yrs ago; the next big one is not that far off. For that matter, the next big one in the SF region is not that far off. Taiwan is a high threat area. Look at the mountains on Taiwan. They are the result of compressional stress that is actively building up and being released.
Turkey, Iran, northern Italy, Greece, northern India, southern China, Indonesia, parts of Mexico (Mexico City is a risk area because it sits on a bowl of jello), Peru, Chile, and many more areas are high risk areas.
The "biggest" earthquake that we have much info about in the continental US took place in New Madrid area where Missouri meets the Mississippi River. The earthquake reportedly stop pendulum clocks in Boston. Other "freak" earthquakes occured in Charleston, SC, Portugal, and Boston. While these earthquakes are generally smaller than the really big ones, the building code in so-called low risk areas are not up to acceptable earthquake building codes.
Earthquakes are something that you cannot image. I was once camping when an earthquake occured right underneath me. I was above the focal point. It scared the sh*t out of me. The earthquake was measured as a magnitude 3.
I have been to the museum at Los Alamos. There are not too many places where one can see a full scale mock up of Little Boy and Fat Man, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not too many museums have the nose cose (or was it the payload) of a MIRV hanging from the ceiling.
If you want to see a really good nuclear weapon museum, then I strongly recommend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It shows what happens after the big boom. After I visited that one, I couldn't eat lunch. The only museum that matches the one in Hiroshima for impact is the Holocaust Museum in DC.
BTW, other ppl that worked on the A- and H-bombs have afterwards done okay in the eyes of the public. Bethe, Fermi, Ulam, Sakharov, and von Neumann to name a few. However, Teller blinded by his immense hatred and mistrust of the Ruskies has used his position to espouse a philosphy of fear and loathing. There is a fairly old book, The Legacy of Hiroshima, that Teller wrote about 40 yrs ago. Worth reading if you can find it. It is a cold war classic.
Nice answer. I would like to add to what you said. There are many ways to solve PDE's, finite difference and finite element are the two major ones. Both can take major advantage of parallel processing systems. Essentially (or is this simplistically), one has to "solve" the PDE for that describe connecting nodes. After computing the solution for all the nodes, one then iterates and iterates. For finite difference, one has to compute until a stable solution is achieved for a particular configuration. For time dependent models, one then starts all over again for the next time increment.
The major controlling factor is the model. For fluid dynamics, approximations are made to make the problem solvable. Stuff like, aOf course, the input parameters/data can play a major role. If the problem is chaotic, one has to run a whole bunch of scenarios to obtain a statistical model.
My only dispute with what you said is that if the model is wrong, the results may be wrong. Running three models with limitations that yield the same result may not give you the right answer. Additionally, chaotic effects can lead to bad results.
And to the idiot who commented about no advances in math, I would like to say that while the math (e.g., 1+1=2) may remain the same, the physical model may be different.
Regardless of what the G4 can do, it is important to remember that this is what a cluster of alphas can do today. The decision by any government agency takes time to make. Since this is a mission critical piece of equipment, I would have to believe that this is not vaporware.
Perhaps in the future a cluster of G4's will be used. The gcc compiler should/may be generating more efficient in the future as improvements are being made. IIRC, apple is using gcc in the development of the forthcoming MacOS-X.
Nonetheless, it is nice to see the federal government go this route.
Once Upon A Life, I used to debate competitively. You must have been a master debater (sorry, old joke).
I've replied earlier, and have re-read what you have posted. You (at this moment) have a high score. This to me illustrates some of problems with the moderation as you present no real arguments but resort to long words. This then tells me that the average/. moderator has a limited vocabulary. Additionally, you present the USPTO as some idealitic world far removed from any contraints.
I have already responded to your incorrect argument about the USPTO and their authority.
What things can obtain a patent? How about traditional business models that have been extended to the computer industry? Have you looked at any patent applications? Hint: The patent applications have many references to prior patents. The new patent is simply an extension of prior work. However, many ppl here don't understand the limitations and potential of this.
Patents are usually very specific in terms of thier applicability. What some ppl hope to benefit from patents is by obtaining one that is vague and all incompassing. This one is close, maybe. I say this because IANAL.
I know that this is unpopular with the normal/. crowd. I also know that patents and IP are not popular subjects. But, consider this. I have a great new concept for the internet. MS then figures that they also want this.
My good idea is gone. MS now has extended and embraced my idea.
This is my normal late reply but I hope you see this. My guess is that this will not be covered to any internet tax. At least not initially. The sum of money being transfered is too small, and more importantly, this is essentially a "contribution".
The USPTO awards patents. The decision as to what can or cannot be a valid patent is supposedly based on rulings by US Federal courts. In some instances, decisions by the USPTO are overturned by said courts. These rulings sometimes get appealed to a higher court.
This type of procedure is similar to Congress passing laws. Some of their laws are overturned by Federal courts.
People here complain about some (all?) of patents that get awarded with respect to computer related technology. Much of the problem is that many of these issues are still unresolved because they are so new. What will eventually happen is that a few key test cases will be contested in Federal Court. The ultimate ruling (Supreme Court?) will then set the standard for later rulings.
This is an attempt to answer those of you with comments about international trade. The internet is international with info transmitted thru a dynamic global communication network. Equipment and products cannot fit into a fiber optic cable. If history is any indication of the future, then it will be relatively "simple" to monitor international sales for some things. I'm not saying that is right or wrong, this is just a potential scenario. Impose a tariff that the federal governmnet collects. And if the tariffs maintains job in your congressional district then the pols would say great.
The in and out of big items into the US is controlled by US Customs. Tariffs restrictions could be imposed. This agency does conduct periodic inspections; this will probably increase in the future. If you screw up then pray that the feds are on their coffee breaks. Screw up then your return address will be toast. If your return address is not in the data base, then you are toast.
Small items will (may) still get thru. For instance, by regular mail.
The key is import restrictions, not exports if you operate in the US. Of course if you find a country with no import restrictions, then you flood them with cheap stuff.
Remember, digital information is information that can be stored and efficiently analyzed. It would be relatively simple to stomp on those ppl that don't abide by the digital rules imposed by the governments around he world.
Late reply, sorry. Those initial ppl working at Netscape to come up with that browser are probably happy that marca led them to the promise land. That's if they had stock options. It is called the killer ap. It doesn't happen very often.
I work down the feeding chain for the USG doing research so I'm not restricted on what OS and platform that I want to use; I just have to justify my decision with my boss. Right now we are slowly converting from commercial unix systems to linux. We are having problems handling the big/little endian problem (hey guys, why not use linuxppc on a mac?). Additionally, most of our home grown software is a combo of X, OpenGL (some, not all), and Motif. What? Motif? gag, gag. Hey folks, acceptance of a "new" system is gained if porting over legacy code is fairly painless. BTW, the binary problem is currently being solved by using xdr.
The MS Office suite has a strangle-hold on the USG. A few yrs ago, there was a good number of WP docs for down loading from USG web sites. Now all you find are pdf, word, and powerpoint docs. Upper management demands that we send them only.doc and.ppt files. E-mail attachments confuse the decision makers unless they are, well, you know the format. I recently was forced to send a PHB in another agency a rather complicated figure (EPSF but it could have been pdf) pasted into a.ppt file.
One handicap that linux currently has is the lack of operational support that the USG would be confortable with. If someone in the USG wants to use linux and wants to hire contractors to provide admin support, then where do they turn to? Usenet? Hence, there will have to be an established, reputable company that they can turn to (IBM, could make a killing here). These companies need to establish a presence in the DC metro area. By law, the major USG agencies have to have their headquarters in this region; the implications of this should be obvious. Redhat would be wise to open a small DC area office ASAP.
Linux will probably make some inroads into the USG server market. But it could do more.
Slashdot Mirror
Check this out folks
While there is the expected over-dramaticization over some aspects of code breaking, this documentary is very even-handed. Woops, take that back. Now they are getting over-dramatic in their commentary.
Hey guys and gals, what about the development and use of radar? What about the Manhattan Project?
I'm not worried about some script kiddie breaking into my internet appliance. I'm more worried about the corporations collecting info about me.
Then again, with the big bucks that CmdrTaco got there is gonna be a house in Michigan with an internet toliet. Crackers will probe a way to potentially wipe out a dangling problem.
Win2K is going to be very interesting to watch. In the corporate world, this OS is being sold as the next best thing since sliced bread. Win2K is suppose to be the Unix killer. OTOH, I believe that there is no scaled down version for the average user. That is why MacOS X should be interesting; bringing Unix to the masses.
I've looked at this thread and the previous one. Many expected reactionary comments abound. I finally finished reading most of the FOF and can say that I'm astounded by the one-sidedness of the this document. It reads like David Boiles or Joe Klein were the authors.
My final comments. MS loses big time. The FOF essentially says that the MS witnesses had very little credibility. MS stock will initially go down (as it doing now). However, the various media folks (investment experts) will try to stop the bleeding. Investment advisers will also do the same. Both will do this because they did not see this coming.
Ultimately, all pyramid schemes collapse under their own weight. If MS valuation goes down, then their ability to take a shotgun approach to investing in other companies will come to an end. Carefully watch the Portland AT&T case as MS has staked their claim on the internet connectivity via cable.
Linux was introduced at a time when unix was really screwed up with a bunch of proprietary systems. MS finally introduces a viable version of their "innovative" OS (note: didn't hear much about windows 1 & 2).
But the key was the availability of an OS that one could play with on a computer that they had access to. Also it is was critical that there were a lot of ppl that now had access to these computers.
I have no idea if the end of the Cold War has anything to do with this. However, I think that the international aspect of Linux development is very important. Hence, the maturity of the internet at this same time is also very important.
Nonetheless, I think that the most important aspect is the reason why GNU and Open Source even was started. The time to write the code is best left to ppl who are young, idealistic, full of energy, intellectually sharp, and without a whole lot of responsibilities.
I still remember the 1st time when I realized the difference between the female and male plugs. The implications of the term, gender changer, has obviously not been realized by some ppl.:-)
I'm not a prude, but I like subtle stuff. The male/female RS-232 plug is still the best.
I won't elaborate about the meaning of plug and play.
Of course, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, may play a role in all of this.
I'm one of the mac idiots. While other ppl in my groupt are bitching about i/o problems, I get to bitch about problems with linuxppc. I think that I'm winning the battle as linuxppc is pretty good if you have prior experience with linux. However, just mentioning that using a PowerPC chip based system makes ppl that I have to work with, want to puke.
I wouldn't run away from a bunch of naked ladies. (Meaning and Purpuse of Life).
Spam was great, the parrot was great, but the world's most deadliest joke was a killer.
Speaking of jokes (I know, a lame excuse for a Off-topic comment). The US Office of Personnel Management just announced that Federal employees in the the District of Columbia will not be celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving next year. OPM said that the reason was that the witch will be moving to New York and is taking the turkey with her.
A major problem with non-linear models is that one can get stuck in a local error minimum of the solution. To get out of these minima, one needs to seriously perturb the model parameters. In a genetic algorithm this is done by mutations.
It has been a long time (in a galaxy far, far away) since I took a statics engineering course. But it would seem to me that a critical aspect would be the configuration of the starting model. Additionally, a lego bridge is a fairly simple geometry/model. Remember, the concept of an arch bridge was figured out by people without computers.
While the quotes may not be totally appropriate for a geneticist, please note that Agenbroad is identified as a geologist in the article. This is not to disparage geologists. However, it was clear to me that one should not necessarily believe nor take seriously the words of a non-expert when it comes to cloning. Agenbroad probably knows mammoths out his wazoo (he is a paleontologist) but he is not a geneticist.
If one wants more info about Agenbroad, go to the NAU web site and do a search.
Oliver may or may not have used his Banana Junior, 6000 Series, 32 bit, 450 KByte, fully portable personal computer (with Bananawrite, Bananadraw, Bananamanager, and Bananafile) in his endeavours.
Remember kids, Gene Simmons never had a personal computer when he was a kid.
A number is divisible by 4 if the last two digits are divisible by 4. For instance, 1234144 is divisible by 4 since 44 is. This is obviously fairly obvious (unless you are a little kid).
A number is divisible by 3 if all the digits are divisible by 3. For instance, 146922 is divisible by 3 since 1+4+6+9+2+2=24 is divisible by 3.
Squares: 15X15. Take the 1st digit and multiply it by 1+1, then tack on 25. Hence 15X15=225. 25X25=625 (2X3, shift the digits, then add 25), 35X35 becomes 12 with 25 tacked on to the end, 1225.
This was an incredibly simple and clean installation! The user interface is very nice and the installer automatically figured out the various devices and cards that were installed. The only glitch (and one pointed out by Caldera) is that I had to manually tell the installer how much video memory I had. BTW, I did a complete installation (not customized) to see what is available. Tomorrow, I will do a customized installation on another system. Right now, the RedHat installer looks rather feeble compared to this one. I can't wait to see what the Caldera customized installation looks like.
As far as I'm concerned, this CNN review is totally bogus and pathetically out of date. The 2.3 version is extremely clean and fairly idiot-proof. Somebody should send this person the newer package (it only costs around $30 with an additional $10 rebate offer). Then they could see how far Linux has progressed. Finally, I should also point out that I violated the RTFM doctrine. This was a blind-trust installation.
If one looks at earthquake prone regions one also sees a good relationship with hi-tech areas. The San Andreas Fault runs extremely close to Silicon Valley. The LA region is threatened by earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault and to other earthquakes closer to LA. The rolling hills in the LA area are the products of compressional stress that are active. Smaller earthquakes will result wrt to those big one on the San Andreas, but these will be close to high population areas.
The Pacific Northwest is now considered to be a high earthquake threat region. Earthquakes are infrequent wrt to geological time, but the big one there will be huge.
Tokyo (and the rest of Japan) is a high threat earthquake zone. The last "big one" happened about 75 yrs ago; the next big one is not that far off. For that matter, the next big one in the SF region is not that far off. Taiwan is a high threat area. Look at the mountains on Taiwan. They are the result of compressional stress that is actively building up and being released.
Turkey, Iran, northern Italy, Greece, northern India, southern China, Indonesia, parts of Mexico (Mexico City is a risk area because it sits on a bowl of jello), Peru, Chile, and many more areas are high risk areas.
The "biggest" earthquake that we have much info about in the continental US took place in New Madrid area where Missouri meets the Mississippi River. The earthquake reportedly stop pendulum clocks in Boston. Other "freak" earthquakes occured in Charleston, SC, Portugal, and Boston. While these earthquakes are generally smaller than the really big ones, the building code in so-called low risk areas are not up to acceptable earthquake building codes.
Earthquakes are something that you cannot image. I was once camping when an earthquake occured right underneath me. I was above the focal point. It scared the sh*t out of me. The earthquake was measured as a magnitude 3.
If you want to see a really good nuclear weapon museum, then I strongly recommend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It shows what happens after the big boom. After I visited that one, I couldn't eat lunch. The only museum that matches the one in Hiroshima for impact is the Holocaust Museum in DC.
BTW, other ppl that worked on the A- and H-bombs have afterwards done okay in the eyes of the public. Bethe, Fermi, Ulam, Sakharov, and von Neumann to name a few. However, Teller blinded by his immense hatred and mistrust of the Ruskies has used his position to espouse a philosphy of fear and loathing. There is a fairly old book, The Legacy of Hiroshima, that Teller wrote about 40 yrs ago. Worth reading if you can find it. It is a cold war classic.
The major controlling factor is the model. For fluid dynamics, approximations are made to make the problem solvable. Stuff like, aOf course, the input parameters/data can play a major role. If the problem is chaotic, one has to run a whole bunch of scenarios to obtain a statistical model.
My only dispute with what you said is that if the model is wrong, the results may be wrong. Running three models with limitations that yield the same result may not give you the right answer. Additionally, chaotic effects can lead to bad results.
And to the idiot who commented about no advances in math, I would like to say that while the math (e.g., 1+1=2) may remain the same, the physical model may be different.
Perhaps in the future a cluster of G4's will be used. The gcc compiler should/may be generating more efficient in the future as improvements are being made. IIRC, apple is using gcc in the development of the forthcoming MacOS-X.
Nonetheless, it is nice to see the federal government go this route.
I've replied earlier, and have re-read what you have posted. You (at this moment) have a high score. This to me illustrates some of problems with the moderation as you present no real arguments but resort to long words. This then tells me that the average /. moderator has a limited vocabulary. Additionally, you present the USPTO as some idealitic world far removed from any contraints.
I have already responded to your incorrect argument about the USPTO and their authority.
What things can obtain a patent? How about traditional business models that have been extended to the computer industry? Have you looked at any patent applications? Hint: The patent applications have many references to prior patents. The new patent is simply an extension of prior work. However, many ppl here don't understand the limitations and potential of this.
Patents are usually very specific in terms of thier applicability. What some ppl hope to benefit from patents is by obtaining one that is vague and all incompassing. This one is close, maybe. I say this because IANAL.
I know that this is unpopular with the normal /. crowd. I also know that patents and IP are not popular subjects. But, consider this. I have a great new concept for the internet. MS then figures that they also want this.
My good idea is gone. MS now has extended and embraced my idea.
This is my normal late reply but I hope you see this. My guess is that this will not be covered to any internet tax. At least not initially. The sum of money being transfered is too small, and more importantly, this is essentially a "contribution".
This type of procedure is similar to Congress passing laws. Some of their laws are overturned by Federal courts.
People here complain about some (all?) of patents that get awarded with respect to computer related technology. Much of the problem is that many of these issues are still unresolved because they are so new. What will eventually happen is that a few key test cases will be contested in Federal Court. The ultimate ruling (Supreme Court?) will then set the standard for later rulings.
The in and out of big items into the US is controlled by US Customs. Tariffs restrictions could be imposed. This agency does conduct periodic inspections; this will probably increase in the future. If you screw up then pray that the feds are on their coffee breaks. Screw up then your return address will be toast. If your return address is not in the data base, then you are toast.
Small items will (may) still get thru. For instance, by regular mail.
The key is import restrictions, not exports if you operate in the US. Of course if you find a country with no import restrictions, then you flood them with cheap stuff.
Remember, digital information is information that can be stored and efficiently analyzed. It would be relatively simple to stomp on those ppl that don't abide by the digital rules imposed by the governments around he world.
No score all the way!
Once again posting with no score.
The MS Office suite has a strangle-hold on the USG. A few yrs ago, there was a good number of WP docs for down loading from USG web sites. Now all you find are pdf, word, and powerpoint docs. Upper management demands that we send them only .doc and .ppt files. E-mail attachments confuse the decision makers unless they are, well, you know the format. I recently was forced to send a PHB in another agency a rather complicated figure (EPSF but it could have been pdf) pasted into a .ppt file.
One handicap that linux currently has is the lack of operational support that the USG would be confortable with. If someone in the USG wants to use linux and wants to hire contractors to provide admin support, then where do they turn to? Usenet? Hence, there will have to be an established, reputable company that they can turn to (IBM, could make a killing here). These companies need to establish a presence in the DC metro area. By law, the major USG agencies have to have their headquarters in this region; the implications of this should be obvious. Redhat would be wise to open a small DC area office ASAP.
Linux will probably make some inroads into the USG server market. But it could do more.
craw posting with a no score because he now can.