Well, as to Linus promoting proprietary software, I know that I've seen it frequenty mentioned that Linus likes (or liked, it was awhile back) Powerpoint. I believe I've even read such a rumor in Linux Journal. Of course that isn't an out and out endorsement of anything.
Just a suggestion (and a question): Have you considered putting two single-channel (stereo) audio cards in one machine? It would probably prove to be far cheaper. And is this possible?
The bandwidth boost that many people involved in the MP3 "revolution" are enjoying is often their on-campus Dorm-Room ethernet access to the 'net.
One good thing that may come out of this whole phenomenon will that that the CD vendors (they won't go away, they might even become smaller and more diverse) will write off the "youth" market and start focusing more on the more 'mature' music-buying public.
I haven't noticed any of Charles Ive's Symphonies distributed in MP3 format, for instance. The market for said material won't be going away, and if MP3 kills off the market for "hit singles" then the less mass-market selections may become a larger percentage of the market. I see that as good, even though it will probably still be hard to find music that doesn't bore me at BestBuy.
I agree with what you say about 'one-hit wonders' and have another point to add:
I often dislike an album the first time I listen to it. Oftentimes it takes two or three playings before I come to appreciate a collection of music. By reducing the music to a 'commodity' that people just download and discard if they don't like what they hear the first time, some of the music that I've come to like a great deal just would have passed through my ears once and been gone. Maybe it's a materialist urge in me, but the committment of having the CD and not being able to just delete it means something, and it encourages me to invest some attention in trying to hear what the artist is trying to deliver. Once the artist has a "foot in the door" in the form of an indelible piece of plastic that I can't erase and that I've paid for and probably won't discard, it gives him/her a chance to work the magic on me in a degree that an MP3 file that disappears immediatley into a sea of other files on my hard drive just can't.
When you don't get something: the idea of "concept albums," the idea that an artist may want to present a porfolio of songs all connected, the idea that music isn't always just a three minute sound bite, please don't try to write it off with a single word response.
It's only "economical" in comparison to accepting 10% or more of the iMacs as returns when they prove defective.
There are all kinds of quality control functions that should be built into the manufacturing process, including tests of subsystems at all sorts of intermediate steps. Which is generally less expensive, and yields a far lower defect rate. Except, it seems, at Apple. (assuming they had any kind of quality program at all, and didn't see themselves as the computer version of Hasbro when they put out the iMac).
One reason *I* would say it is that Microsoft released a Linux client for their Media Player content over a year ago. As far as I could tell it didn't work (the splash screen would come up on my machine, but that's about it) but it seemed like the first MS on Linux thing I had seen.
Yes, yes, people will respond to this that they Hate Microsoft~1 or some other stupid dogmatism, whatever....
Just don't forget that this is the same old Look-N-Feel Apple computer who in the past tried to own the entire notion of a graphical user interface. Ten years ago Apple would have topped the list of companies trying to limit freedom-of-use on computers (they liked to limit it to those who paid them tribute by purchasing their hardware.) I'm not posting this to start a flamewar (I don't care who invented the GUI) but to point out that these guys will hire a lawyer to harass their competitors at the first sign that it's in their benefit to do so. And that wasn't "Bad Old Apple" and this is "Good New Apple," as the ghosts of Apple past have reanimated the body of the company.
You're forgetting that in Sim City the bulldozer only costs a pittance (clearing a new path through a congested area where there are REAL PEOPLE involved is expensive, and usually politically impossible). Also, in Sim City you almost always start out with a clean new bitmap on the screen. Real cities are much more like living organisms. You never get to start with a clean slate.
Eliminate zoning laws, and the price of corrugated steel will skyrocket. A severe shortage of refrigerator boxes would ensue. Umm, if you really, really need to see it proved, go check out Mexico City sometime.
People can say whatever they want about this flick getting fake fan support. The fact that it is challanged as such has gotten it a lot of attention on Slashdot, hasn't it? That's gotta be worth something these days...
On a further related note, if you have net access, and a RealVideo client available, go to the BBC website. There about a half hour news program available daily there that is worth the watch.
Are you saying that government agencies have the wherewithal and resources to engage in political repression, when they're swamped down with the task of chasing terrorists?
There is so much traffic to be monitored, and considerable oversight. I doubt if there's the capacity to worry about information not directly relevant to the primary mission (terrorism and crime.)
Privacy is a part of freedom. But privacy is never absolute, and it is just a part of freedom. Individuals have always had to live as a part of a society, except in rare cases where they became hermits. There is always a balance, and people who run off the handle and demand absolute privacy, or absolute freedom, upset that balance. There's this thing called the 'Social Contract' that is deeply rooted in the culture of Western Civilisation. A contract is always a two (or multi) way deal, a balance. There are absolutes in life (yes, there is good and there is evil) but 'freedom' is an attribute, not an absolute entity. One can be more or less free, but never totally free or totally unfree.
Cpt_Kirks, who still can't find where he wrote down his password.
If you can't find the password, use the email thing to send it to the email address you registered under. We can't assume this was written by Cpt_Kirks because it would be unfair to that account holder for us to do so. You could be anybody and it's only safe to assume so.
I doubt that Microsoft has ever permitted transmission of Windows Source Code over public (i.e. governmentally interceptable) channels. Certainly not in any comprehensive form, if snippets of it travel off campus from time to time.
The theft of trade secrets usually happens from inside, not from an outside agency.
Re:If only they had quality control....
on
Red Hat IPO Update
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· Score: 1
I just download Slackware. Now that Slack 4.0 is out, using the 2.2 kernel, what more is needed?
(Granted, there's nobody there to hold your hand and the config is done by editing real textfiles. Scary, eh?)
A lot of embedded designs are based on the 6502. That does not make them Commodore 64's. The Apple II is based on the 6502. In fact, the 6502 has been rendered in a hardware description language so that you can embed a 6502 processor right into an FPGA if you like. The reason that this is possible (so that an engineer can just specify to plug in the Intellectual Property code for the 6502, in effect embedding one into a big custom chip) is that the 6502 is such a simple processor to implement in this fashion.
Calling this a Commodore 64 and claiming that this means the Space Shuttle has a C-64 in it is like saying that because there's a crankshaft in your lawn mower and also in a Porche engine, that your lawn mower runs on a Porche engine.
Re:Report: Linux In Space
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NASA's X-37
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· Score: 1
Hadn't you heard? Peter Norton's name has officially been changed to "Bitmap" since all he's been for the last 10-odd years is a bitmap on the outer packaging. It was a nickname long enough, so now it's official.
Slashdot Mirror
No, they probably think it gives enough security. Which we can debate endlessly, of course. . .
280 million would even buy a lot of Alpha hardware.
Well, as to Linus promoting proprietary software, I know that I've seen it frequenty mentioned that Linus likes (or liked, it was awhile back) Powerpoint. I believe I've even read such a rumor in Linux Journal. Of course that isn't an out and out endorsement of anything.
Just a suggestion (and a question): Have you considered putting two single-channel (stereo) audio cards in one machine? It would probably prove to be far cheaper. And is this possible?
It's Microsoft~1 if I feel like calling it that.
so there
The bandwidth boost that many people involved in the MP3 "revolution" are enjoying is often their on-campus Dorm-Room ethernet access to the 'net.
One good thing that may come out of this whole phenomenon will that that the CD vendors (they won't go away, they might even become smaller and more diverse) will write off the "youth" market and start focusing more on the more 'mature' music-buying public.
I haven't noticed any of Charles Ive's Symphonies distributed in MP3 format, for instance. The market for said material won't be going away, and if MP3 kills off the market for "hit singles" then the less mass-market selections may become a larger percentage of the market. I see that as good, even though it will probably still be hard to find music that doesn't bore me at BestBuy.
I agree with what you say about 'one-hit wonders' and have another point to add:
I often dislike an album the first time I listen to it. Oftentimes it takes two or three playings before I come to appreciate a collection of music. By reducing the music to a 'commodity' that people just download and discard if they don't like what they hear the first time, some of the music that I've come to like a great deal just would have passed through my ears once and been gone. Maybe it's a materialist urge in me, but the committment of having the CD and not being able to just delete it means something, and it encourages me to invest some attention in trying to hear what the artist is trying to deliver. Once the artist has a "foot in the door" in the form of an indelible piece of plastic that I can't erase and that I've paid for and probably won't discard, it gives him/her a chance to work the magic on me in a degree that an MP3 file that disappears immediatley into a sea of other files on my hard drive just can't.
When you don't get something: the idea of "concept albums," the idea that an artist may want to present a porfolio of songs all connected, the idea that music isn't always just a three minute sound bite, please don't try to write it off with a single word response.
It's only "economical" in comparison to accepting 10% or more of the iMacs as returns when they prove defective.
There are all kinds of quality control functions that should be built into the manufacturing process, including tests of subsystems at all sorts of intermediate steps. Which is generally less expensive, and yields a far lower defect rate. Except, it seems, at Apple. (assuming they had any kind of quality program at all, and didn't see themselves as the computer version of Hasbro when they put out the iMac).
One reason *I* would say it is that Microsoft released a Linux client for their Media Player content over a year ago. As far as I could tell it didn't work (the splash screen would come up on my machine, but that's about it) but it seemed like the first MS on Linux thing I had seen.
Yes, yes, people will respond to this that they Hate Microsoft~1 or some other stupid dogmatism, whatever....
Just don't forget that this is the same old Look-N-Feel Apple computer who in the past tried to own the entire notion of a graphical user interface. Ten years ago Apple would have topped the list of companies trying to limit freedom-of-use on computers (they liked to limit it to those who paid them tribute by purchasing their hardware.) I'm not posting this to start a flamewar (I don't care who invented the GUI) but to point out that these guys will hire a lawyer to harass their competitors at the first sign that it's in their benefit to do so. And that wasn't "Bad Old Apple" and this is "Good New Apple," as the ghosts of Apple past have reanimated the body of the company.
That's fine for about four or five years.
Get ready for real world bandwidth when you graduate.
You're forgetting that in Sim City the bulldozer only costs a pittance (clearing a new path through a congested area where there are REAL PEOPLE involved is expensive, and usually politically impossible). Also, in Sim City you almost always start out with a clean new bitmap on the screen. Real cities are much more like living organisms. You never get to start with a clean slate.
Eliminate zoning laws, and the price of corrugated steel will skyrocket. A severe shortage of refrigerator boxes would ensue. Umm, if you really, really need to see it proved, go check out Mexico City sometime.
The Tulip Bulbs are always going to be priced the highest near the center of the trading zone.
They are making robots. Those Furbies are examples of robots. Did you think (mistakenly) that robots are defined as sentient beings?
People can say whatever they want about this flick getting fake fan support. The fact that it is challanged as such has gotten it a lot of attention on Slashdot, hasn't it? That's gotta be worth something these days...
On a further related note, if you have net access, and a RealVideo client available, go to the BBC website. There about a half hour news program available daily there that is worth the watch.
Well, what about those?
Are you saying that government agencies have the wherewithal and resources to engage in political repression, when they're swamped down with the task of chasing terrorists?
There is so much traffic to be monitored, and considerable oversight. I doubt if there's the capacity to worry about information not directly relevant to the primary mission (terrorism and crime.)
Privacy is a part of freedom. But privacy is never absolute, and it is just a part of freedom. Individuals have always had to live as a part of a society, except in rare cases where they became hermits. There is always a balance, and people who run off the handle and demand absolute privacy, or absolute freedom, upset that balance. There's this thing called the 'Social Contract' that is deeply rooted in the culture of Western Civilisation. A contract is always a two (or multi) way deal, a balance. There are absolutes in life (yes, there is good and there is evil) but 'freedom' is an attribute, not an absolute entity. One can be more or less free, but never totally free or totally unfree.
Cpt_Kirks, who still can't find where he wrote down his password.
If you can't find the password, use the email thing to send it to the email address you registered under. We can't assume this was written by Cpt_Kirks because it would be unfair to that account holder for us to do so. You could be anybody and it's only safe to assume so.
I doubt that Microsoft has ever permitted transmission of Windows Source Code over public (i.e. governmentally interceptable) channels. Certainly not in any comprehensive form, if snippets of it travel off campus from time to time.
The theft of trade secrets usually happens from inside, not from an outside agency.
I just download Slackware. Now that Slack 4.0 is out, using the 2.2 kernel, what more is needed?
(Granted, there's nobody there to hold your hand and the config is done by editing real textfiles. Scary, eh?)
A lot of embedded designs are based on the 6502. That does not make them Commodore 64's. The Apple II is based on the 6502. In fact, the 6502 has been rendered in a hardware description language so that you can embed a 6502 processor right into an FPGA if you like. The reason that this is possible (so that an engineer can just specify to plug in the Intellectual Property code for the 6502, in effect embedding one into a big custom chip) is that the 6502 is such a simple processor to implement in this fashion.
Calling this a Commodore 64 and claiming that this means the Space Shuttle has a C-64 in it is like saying that because there's a crankshaft in your lawn mower and also in a Porche engine, that your lawn mower runs on a Porche engine.
Hadn't you heard? Peter Norton's name has officially been changed to "Bitmap" since all he's been for the last 10-odd years is a bitmap on the outer packaging. It was a nickname long enough, so now it's official.