The parent poster's arguments are specious, at best. While opinion polls BEFORE an election may be skewed from reliably predicting the outcome, exit polls on election day never fail (except in cases of vote fraud).
It is not only the voting machine itself whose veracity must be questioned -- it is also the vote tabulators. Having accurate votes counted at the precinct level does not matter one whit if the totals can be tampered with at the data collection (tabulator) point. The entire process needs close scrutiny: from unauthorized software updates at the electronic voting booth, "chain of custody of evidence" procedures for collecting vote data, as well as preserving the sanctity of vote data at the tabulators.
The USA's 2000 national election results came into question with several different (unrelated?) events: the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of minority voters in Florida precincts through the use of privately generated "felon lists", and the disconnect between the accurate exit polls in Florida and the vote tally results.
The GOP-controlled US Congress then spent $6 Billion USD on "electronic voting machines" without having clearly defined methods for verifying vote tallies and vote recounts. The result has been the US 2004 national election in which vote recounts have been impossible, and exit poll results that did not jibe with "official" vote tallies.
BTW: Many democracies rely upon exit polls in order to ascertain the validity of the vote count. Germany's recent federal elections were determined, not by the vote count but by the exit polls on election day -- those results ARE considered relevant and extremely reliable (except in the USA.)
Unfortunately, the parent poster is both correct AND incorrect. There no "hiring frenzy" for IT staff in Silicon Valley or anywhere else in the USA, for that matter. Specialty PhDs may find the welcome mat out at Google and a few other SiValley firms, but those are the exception rather than the rule.
But IT is not "just a regular job now", either. Globalization (offshore outsourcing) and importing cheaper labor (L1-A and H1-B visas) has effected the IT industry like no other white-collar job classification. IT more closely resembles the textile and steel industries that have left the USA's shores forever. American corporations have become addicted to the dual mantras of "more cheaper labor" and "more tax breaks"; USA wages (in general) are in a downward spiral at a time when workers are being asked to pick up a larger chunk of the tax bill (or give up more benefits).
The American worker has been brainwashed into believing that "What is good for GM is good for the country." to the extent that vital personal economic issues (living wages, medical and pension benefits) have been subverted by our politicians' focus on narrow socially conservative issues. A primary economic issue: the huge influx of illegal aliens is being used to boost the profits of corporations that use blue-collar workers. At a time of heightened threat of domestic terrorist activity, our borders remain largely unguarded. Laws against employers hiring illegal aliens go largely unenforced. Illegal aliens are tolerated by local, state, and federal authorities because of the economic benefit to our corporations. The same downward spiral of wages is effecting all American workers who are competing with illegal aliens for their jobs. The official policy of the Department of Homeland Security regarding illegal aliens is that of "catch and release". The aliens have to have committed some violent felony in order to be detained and deported; otherwise they receive a summons to appear in immigration court perhaps 90 days later. Most never show up. They disappear, to reemerge at some other employer's doorstep to compete with your new non-IT job. "Moving on" just might not be the viable option those of you disheartened by the collapse of the IT industry might have hoped.
While it does not use a slick GUI for installation, and (arguably) does not have the "latest-and-greatest" package manager, it does have A LOT going for it. It installs cleanly. It puts packages where the originators expects them to be -- this means that I can download a source tarball, build it, and have it actually work. I can download the latest kernel directly from "www.kernel.org" and build it without it borking my system. There are no surprises with weird directory structures from one release to the next, and there is no "backporting and patching" shenannigans that have me waiting for the next official (distribution) kernel release. If there were ANY linux distribution that were to be elevated to be the model for "Standard Linux", Slackware would take my vote without question.
Slackware is the only distribution that I have tried that I could support SCSI||IDE and RAID and XFS using the 2.6 kernel without scrounging around on the net for patches and missing libraries. It just works.
There are also unofficial ports in ISO format for the UltraSPARC, the Mac PPC, and a real 64-bit version for AMD-64.
The poster's title is not only misleading, but also incorrect. It should have read: "Darwin Exhibit Corporate Support Is Devolving".
The neo(Con)artists and the Dubya regime have, in only five short years, turned the USA into something that resembles a Western (christian) version of a Middle Eastern (islamic) religious fundamentalist oligarchy. Between tax cuts that favor the wealthiest citizens, dismantling of the social safety net, the apparent push to "gentrify" the reconstruction of New Orleans, and the dual-edged sword of globalization and the tacit approval of illegaly imported wage slaves, it would appear that the Islamists hold a more charitable position regarding the Middle Class and the Poor than do these "Christians". The optional (and badly run) Iraqi Conflict is the only point in which USA's foreign policy appears to favor the Saudi Arabian Wah'habist goal of regional hegenomy, since the USA is doing all it can to forment civil war. Planning the peace, planning the reconstruction, and "winning hearts & minds" were never part of the Dubya equation.
Offshore outsourcing your development team may be far more expensive than your estimated (3 programmers X 6 months). As the parent poster points out, disbanding that team when the project is polished does not account for support/bug fixes/enhancements. Management of offshore programming staff is not an insignificant task. Worse yet, your start-up company will have relinquished control of your IP, which will be well out of reach of the USA court system if redress is needed.
It seems that every time I hear about the Webb Telescope, newbie/.ers keep referring to it as the "replacement" for the Hubble Telescope, and I cringe. It is not. The HST is multispectral (including visible light), whereas the Webb telescope is infrared only.
While the HST does incorporate older technology than the Webb Space Telescope, it was designed to be "field upgradable". OTOH, the Webb Telescope is a $4.5 Billion USD "disposable" satellite that will be placed in an orbit it cannot be readily recovered from. Assuming that it does go into the right orbit and functions as designed, it will be "space junk" in less than a decade. If some portion of the Webb's sensor array should not deploy properly (alignment), it will immediately fill that role.
I expect to get modded as OT, but one needs to look no further than the past 2 USA presidential elections to see what viral marketing can do.
AMD's marketing in conjunction with the anti-monopoly lawsuit against Intel appears to be working in AMD's favor vis-a-vis Dell's changing product line. It's too bad that Microsoft's anti-monopoly lawsuit cannot be revisited in partnership with a "GNU/linux" consortium to break Microsoft's hold on the desktop market. I have yet to see the marketing of GNU/linux that remotely resembles that done by Mozilla for FireFox in the NYT. That would be awesome!
This response from the RIAA is hardly surprising. Instead of seeing new ways of marketing and distributing the media/content that they control for fun-and-profit(TM), the RIAA (and the MPAA) sees digital format media as an overwhelming threat to their livihood. Since money talks, and more money talks louder, the DMCA was passed (in no small part) in order to strip the right of "fair use" from their customers.
Both the RIAA and the MPAA need to be taught a lesson by consumers -- the only lesson that they can understand: boycott! As SONY is a leading member of both of these organizations, they make the ideal target for consumers to boycott. SONY's DRM "rootkit" is the ideal "line in the sand" issue to organize such a boycott around. Since SONY is in the media hardware and media content business, this company has broad enough consumer exposure to justify a boycott of ALL SONY PRODUCTS.
This boycott should continue IMHO until the more draconian measures of the DMCA are removed or ammended, legislation be passed to make corporations criminally liable for spyware and DRM that abuse computer security, and that consumers' right of "fair use" be restored.
I would like to know how someone (like yourself) who might (arguably) be considered an industry leader risk that position by being a corporate whore?
OR,
Do your long term fiduciary prospects as a Microsoft "shill" outweigh the scorn and infamy bound to be heaped upon you by your peers in the industry, and the risk to your career that might entail?
So long as ATI refuses to recognize that there are other OSes that consumers use besides MS Windows Latest & Greatest(TM), I shall continue to avoid purchasing their products. NVIDia is barely better, what with their binary drivers which always seem to be one or more kernel releases behind the times.
I do (really!) hate to have my comments modded to flamebait, but there are actually "OTHER OSes" besides x86 GNU/linux (really, there is!). Without reasonably complete source code drivers available, PPC||MIPS||ARM||other GNU/linux as well as *BSD, Solaris will never stand a chance against the WIntel behemouth.
Barring the possibility of obtaining source code drivers for the latest video cards (or other geeky kit), rather complete hardware documentation should be made available so that the F/OSS community can "roll their own" drivers. Major vendors appear to be so concerned about providing any insight to their hardware designs to their competition that they are forsaking a growing segment of the consumer market.
Recent news regarding MS Windows "rootkits" showing up in heavily DRMed product should illuminate the dangers of reliance upon one convicted monopolistic company "owning" a nearly ubiquitous portion of the market. Those companies that band together in support of a single platform risk alienating their consumer market when "extremely bad things" crop up to destroy that market.
Alternative OSes exist; alternative sources of media/content exist; and alternative hardware exists -- when consumers start voting (in droves) with their cash, the current industry "leaders" will likely be caught by surprise. I suspect that those most surprised will not survive.
I would be, not surprised but shocked, if Sony's VAIO computers didn't ALREADY come with this DRM software PRE-INSTALLED! At least for all their computers that entered the channel after Sony's contract with the rootkit manufacturer was signed.
I think all consumers should give thoughtful consideration toward the purchase of ANY SONY PRODUCTS before spending their money to support this RIAA/MPAA-corrupted corporation, aka "BOYCOTT THESE MOTHERF*CKRS!".
IMHO, Sony deserves more "pain and suffering" than just a boycott until January 02, 2006. Based upon (1) their membership positions (leading) within the RIAA and MPAA, and (2) their blatantly illegal use of spyware/malware DRM, I will not be purchasing ANY SONY-branded PRODUCTS for at least until 2007.
If enough consumers "vote with their dollars", not only SONY will get the message, but so will the other members of the **AA. Who knows, maybe even "our*" (*not really ours) legislators will get the message. There used to be something called "fair use" under copyright law that has been turned upside-down by DMCA. The currently inevitable emergence of personal computers and consumer electronics with embedded DRM, as well as the upcoming MS Windows (DRM Edition AKA Vista), "fair use" will be a fond distant memory.
Most modern appliances consume some power, even when turned off. "Energy Star" ratings are not adequate to inform the consumer about the power requirements when turned off. The only features that (some) appliances need all the time is (1) a RTC (Real Time Clock) and (2) a Watchdog (remote control, temp sensor, etcetera).
The only way to force manufacturers to furnish additional information regarding power usage is through legislation -- consumer demand is insufficient. The "Energy Star" rating could be expanded to include (1) annual cost based upon a clearly defined (and published) hours per week usage, as well as (2) power consumed when used (kilowatthour) and (3) power consumed when off (kilowatthour).
This is unlikely to happen with our current lot of legislators beholden to corporate interests instead of the consumers.
You might call "Predictive Self-Healing" an "oracle".
Who knew that the HAL-9000 ("2001" reference) would actually be made by SUN Microsystems?
SUN has made some great moves (Opteron-based workstations and servers), great new UltraSparc (T1) processors, a rock solid OS that they have open sourced (Solaris 10), and now their alignment with PostgresSQL. I am truly impressed. It looks like they have made all the right moves. Perhaps they have used SGI (Silicon Graphics) as an object lesson as to "what NOT to do", since SGI has been de-listed and is "circling the drain".
And since Sony is not only a media company, but also a movie company, and a hardware company, I say boycott ALL SONY PRODUCTS. Boycotting Sony/BMG will have very little effect upon Sony management, because only money speaks loud enough for them to hear consumers displeasure. A large enough impact upon Sony's bottom line will also send a similar message to the rest of the RIAA and MPAA membership.
It is time for the much abused consumers to speak out against heavy handed corporate interests, including DRM. Fuck 'em!
Micro$oft might be "very friendly" to the project, but the only OS that they might get to run with any functionality on such limited hardware is WinCE. Somehow, the "free as in beer" unrestricted open source version of ANY M$ OS has never materialized. Nor would any applications that M$ might offer ever be open source. Since this defeats the stated purpose of the $100 computer agenda, why would anyone switch?
Without an unencumbered open source OS and applications, regionalization would not be possible, at least not to the extent that Red Hat Linux(TM) would be. Both India and China have hundreds of localized languages, as well as the African continent. No doubt, though, that Micro$oft marketing types wetted their pants at the prospect of another 2 billion users of their OS and apps. It isn't like M$ hasn't flogged the letter and spirit of monopoly laws with their viral M$ tax on new PCs, heavy discounts to schools and universities, FUD by any means possible, etcetera.
You are absolutely "on target". It is not possible to "learn" unix in 24 hours -- it is only possible to learn a few dozen procedures. The experience would be useful to the novice in learning "how" to learn about unix and cannot be considered a panacea. Comprehending unix is all about learning about all the tools available, how they can be strung together, and that there is often more than one correct method to achieve your task.
The largest hurdle that most unix newbies have is learning to embrace the command line -- the command line is the sysadmin's friend. This is in direct contention with the $monopolist$ world view, which dumbs admin tasks down and hides them behind a GUI.
That is a very interesting take on politics and the election "process" in Mexico. In other words, the neo(Con)artists and the Dubya regime have adopted Mexican political shennanigans. I cannot really say that I am too surprised -- nobody in the Dubya regime seems to have an independent or original thought between them. Even their use of foreign nationals to wage war, even against ourselves (in the cae of 9/11/2001), was a rehashed clone of earlier historical events.
BTW: When (and if) you decide to come to America, the only state that you might have a problem voting in is Arizona (due to their Proposition 200 passing last year). Everywhere else in the USA, being a USA citizen in good standing (non-criminal) in order to be able to vote is strictly optional. Apparently, most of our politicians like it that way (, along with whatever other vote fraud they can get away with).
This is not unlike the current regime's interpretation of "torture", which changes according to (1) whether the press gets wind of it, (2) who the perpetrators of torture are, (3) who is being subjected to torture, (4) which day of the week it is, and (5) which US Supreme Court (Bush_41 packed, or Bush_43 packed) is in session. The Dubya regime is having as much fun with the definition of "torture" as the Clinton regime had with what the definition of "is" was. On the whole, the Clinton administration was far more respectful of the truth and the law than the current regime, and (might I add?) far more fiscally conservative.
Virtually no legislator in the US Congress actually read the US Patriot Act before voting for it. This was a "neo(Con)artist" wet dream cooked up by "conservative" think tanks and put on the shelf, ready to go, when the time was right. In the public's quest for "safety", we have sacrificed liberty, freedom, and democracy -- and have become far less "safe" in the process. Benjamin Franklin was right, as was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Not many citizens have been listening, nor paying attention to current events (apparently). Pretty damn sad, really.
You have the right idea, but just not the right magnitude. Instead of boycotting Sony/BMG products, knowlegable consumers (and I include all/.ers here) should consider boycotting ANY and ALL Sony products. The MPAA and the RIAA (both of whom Sony is a member) attribute any downward spiral of media content purchases to piracy. Sony would use the very same argument for any decline of sales of their music CDs. This will delay their reconsideration of withdrawing DRM from their record label.
OTOH, a widespread boycott of ALL Sony products will create a financial impact on all their myraid "profit centers". The quickest way to impact Sony's bottom line, and hence get their corporate officers' attention, is a total boycott of all of Sony's product line. Fortunately for consumers (and unfortunately for Sony), there are often many competing brands to choose, other than Sony.
The lawsuits that are making their way though the juditial system may take years to reach resolution. Most consumers don't have years to wait with trojaned computers for redress. A total boycott on Sony products may provide the motivation necesssary for immediate action regarding their DRM.
the "Cell" well, as far as I am concerned. They seem to be totally unremorseful regarding their music CD DRM (aka rootkit). At one point I considered the purchase of a PS3 in order to gain experience with the Cell Processor. Today, I would not consider the purchase of ANYTHING with Sony's name on it, regardless of how "geeky" it might be.
Purchasing IBM's (or perhaps Mercury Computer's) reference CBE-based platform are now my only choices. Sony's NRE for the PS3 might make their platform a "best buy" price-wise because of the manufacturing volume. But between their heavy involvement in the MPAA, the RIAA, and this DRM issue that makes customer's computers extremely vulnerable, there is no longer any compulsion to give Sony anything other than a "loud, wet rasberry".
Do you really think that the current incumbent of the White House really gives a shit about our nation's history, let alone warnings from Benjamin Franklin regarding "giving up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety"?
George W. Bush may have a Texas drawl and a deceptively "rube" persona, but he is a savey and cynical Connecticut (blue-blood) Yankee just like his Daddy and his Daddy's Daddy. Check out "http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html" for the real low-down on this political dynasty. There is a family predisposition toward fascism that began, at the very least, with his grandfather. His father, George H.W. Bush, was in charge of the CIA and then as VP directly responsible for the Iran-Contra scandel. That "new world order" that he spoke about as President is now being realized by George W.
Globalization, the bullying tactics of the World Bank, government collusion with big business, and this regime'st surge in government secrecy but total invasion of the privacy of citizens are all strong indicators that this country is well on its decent from democracy into Corporate National Socialism. Optional foreign wars based upon trumped up intel against countries that hold vital natural resources (Iraq), attempted coups against populist left-of-center democratically elected presidents where oil and/or natural gas reserves exist (Venezuela & Bolivia) -- neither are justifiable except in the most narrowly defined interests of American oil companies and their contractor (Halliburton) buddies. NATO countries (like Italy and Germany)) are up in arms over this regime's tactics of kidnapping and torture, while the DoD and CIA are more upset over public disclosure and leaks rather than stopping such illegal activities. Democracies like Taiwan are forsaken for the interests of trade with their opponents (PRC), and attempts the overthrow of a South American democracy in favor of their "bananna republic" elitists. The USA regime claims to be fighting a "war on terrorism" in Iraq, all while leaving the USA's borders largely unguarded, and while even providing refuge to an internationally hunted Cuban terrorist that blew up hotels in one country and an airliner over another country.
George W. Bush is a fascist, a raper & pillager of the national treasury, a terrorist, and a traitor. With any luck and some overdue justice for the American people, he will evenually be impeached, tried & convicted, and then turned over to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
It isn't too hard to see who will be competing in the next race to the Moon: the People's Republic of China (military base and shipping port) versus a USA consortium of real estate developers. NASA has already relegated manned space travel to private enterprise.
I can see it now: Exxon-Mobil will claim Titan (liquid methane) for development rights. Shell Oil will stake out the Lagrange Points (solar power/microwave transmission) around our Sun. Waste Management will invest in space elevators, and lay claim (recycling) to the nearest black hole.
The regime currently in power is using the "war on terrorism" to strip Americans of their rights, especially that of privacy. They justify their unconstitutional methods with the claim that "no further acts of terrorism have been committed on US soil", while totally side-stepping the reality that Al-Queda seems to spend a lot of time (between terrorist attacks) to plan their next offensive.
The Dubya regime has been just as ineffective in their optional war in Iraq as in securing the USA's borders and seaports. The President, Vice President, Attorney General, Director of the CIA, Director of the FBI, and Director of Homeland Security have all come out at various times to state that "it is not a matter of if, but of when then next terrorist attack will come". By "predicting" such an event, they presume to "cover their collective backsides" when it comes to accepting responsibility/blame for their ineffectiveness.
I fear that when AL-Queda does eventually attack the USA again, it will be far more spectacular than 9/11/2001, just as that terrorist attack far exceeded the results of the first World Trade Center bombing. Considering the state of the world today, I have concluded that they will use WMDs that they either can steal or purchase on the black market.
Slashdot Mirror
The parent poster's arguments are specious, at best. While opinion polls BEFORE an election may be skewed from reliably predicting the outcome, exit polls on election day never fail (except in cases of vote fraud).
It is not only the voting machine itself whose veracity must be questioned -- it is also the vote tabulators. Having accurate votes counted at the precinct level does not matter one whit if the totals can be tampered with at the data collection (tabulator) point. The entire process needs close scrutiny: from unauthorized software updates at the electronic voting booth, "chain of custody of evidence" procedures for collecting vote data, as well as preserving the sanctity of vote data at the tabulators.
The USA's 2000 national election results came into question with several different (unrelated?) events: the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of minority voters in Florida precincts through the use of privately generated "felon lists", and the disconnect between the accurate exit polls in Florida and the vote tally results.
The GOP-controlled US Congress then spent $6 Billion USD on "electronic voting machines" without having clearly defined methods for verifying vote tallies and vote recounts. The result has been the US 2004 national election in which vote recounts have been impossible, and exit poll results that did not jibe with "official" vote tallies.
BTW: Many democracies rely upon exit polls in order to ascertain the validity of the vote count. Germany's recent federal elections were determined, not by the vote count but by the exit polls on election day -- those results ARE considered relevant and extremely reliable (except in the USA.)
Unfortunately, the parent poster is both correct AND incorrect. There no "hiring frenzy" for IT staff in Silicon Valley or anywhere else in the USA, for that matter. Specialty PhDs may find the welcome mat out at Google and a few other SiValley firms, but those are the exception rather than the rule.
But IT is not "just a regular job now", either. Globalization (offshore outsourcing) and importing cheaper labor (L1-A and H1-B visas) has effected the IT industry like no other white-collar job classification. IT more closely resembles the textile and steel industries that have left the USA's shores forever. American corporations have become addicted to the dual mantras of "more cheaper labor" and "more tax breaks"; USA wages (in general) are in a downward spiral at a time when workers are being asked to pick up a larger chunk of the tax bill (or give up more benefits).
The American worker has been brainwashed into believing that "What is good for GM is good for the country." to the extent that vital personal economic issues (living wages, medical and pension benefits) have been subverted by our politicians' focus on narrow socially conservative issues. A primary economic issue: the huge influx of illegal aliens is being used to boost the profits of corporations that use blue-collar workers. At a time of heightened threat of domestic terrorist activity, our borders remain largely unguarded. Laws against employers hiring illegal aliens go largely unenforced. Illegal aliens are tolerated by local, state, and federal authorities because of the economic benefit to our corporations. The same downward spiral of wages is effecting all American workers who are competing with illegal aliens for their jobs. The official policy of the Department of Homeland Security regarding illegal aliens is that of "catch and release". The aliens have to have committed some violent felony in order to be detained and deported; otherwise they receive a summons to appear in immigration court perhaps 90 days later. Most never show up. They disappear, to reemerge at some other employer's doorstep to compete with your new non-IT job. "Moving on" just might not be the viable option those of you disheartened by the collapse of the IT industry might have hoped.
I have to add my kudos to Slackware also.
While it does not use a slick GUI for installation, and (arguably) does not have the "latest-and-greatest" package manager, it does have A LOT going for it. It installs cleanly. It puts packages where the originators expects them to be -- this means that I can download a source tarball, build it, and have it actually work. I can download the latest kernel directly from "www.kernel.org" and build it without it borking my system. There are no surprises with weird directory structures from one release to the next, and there is no "backporting and patching" shenannigans that have me waiting for the next official (distribution) kernel release. If there were ANY linux distribution that were to be elevated to be the model for "Standard Linux", Slackware would take my vote without question.
Slackware is the only distribution that I have tried that I could support SCSI||IDE and RAID and XFS using the 2.6 kernel without scrounging around on the net for patches and missing libraries. It just works.
There are also unofficial ports in ISO format for the UltraSPARC, the Mac PPC, and a real 64-bit version for AMD-64.
The poster's title is not only misleading, but also incorrect. It should have read: "Darwin Exhibit Corporate Support Is Devolving".
The neo(Con)artists and the Dubya regime have, in only five short years, turned the USA into something that resembles a Western (christian) version of a Middle Eastern (islamic) religious fundamentalist oligarchy. Between tax cuts that favor the wealthiest citizens, dismantling of the social safety net, the apparent push to "gentrify" the reconstruction of New Orleans, and the dual-edged sword of globalization and the tacit approval of illegaly imported wage slaves, it would appear that the Islamists hold a more charitable position regarding the Middle Class and the Poor than do these "Christians". The optional (and badly run) Iraqi Conflict is the only point in which USA's foreign policy appears to favor the Saudi Arabian Wah'habist goal of regional hegenomy, since the USA is doing all it can to forment civil war. Planning the peace, planning the reconstruction, and "winning hearts & minds" were never part of the Dubya equation.
Offshore outsourcing your development team may be far more expensive than your estimated (3 programmers X 6 months). As the parent poster points out, disbanding that team when the project is polished does not account for support/bug fixes/enhancements. Management of offshore programming staff is not an insignificant task. Worse yet, your start-up company will have relinquished control of your IP, which will be well out of reach of the USA court system if redress is needed.
It seems that every time I hear about the Webb Telescope, newbie /.ers keep referring to it as the "replacement" for the Hubble Telescope, and I cringe. It is not. The HST is multispectral (including visible light), whereas the Webb telescope is infrared only.
While the HST does incorporate older technology than the Webb Space Telescope, it was designed to be "field upgradable". OTOH, the Webb Telescope is a $4.5 Billion USD "disposable" satellite that will be placed in an orbit it cannot be readily recovered from. Assuming that it does go into the right orbit and functions as designed, it will be "space junk" in less than a decade. If some portion of the Webb's sensor array should not deploy properly (alignment), it will immediately fill that role.
I expect to get modded as OT, but one needs to look no further than the past 2 USA presidential elections to see what viral marketing can do.
AMD's marketing in conjunction with the anti-monopoly lawsuit against Intel appears to be working in AMD's favor vis-a-vis Dell's changing product line. It's too bad that Microsoft's anti-monopoly lawsuit cannot be revisited in partnership with a "GNU/linux" consortium to break Microsoft's hold on the desktop market. I have yet to see the marketing of GNU/linux that remotely resembles that done by Mozilla for FireFox in the NYT. That would be awesome!
This response from the RIAA is hardly surprising. Instead of seeing new ways of marketing and distributing the media/content that they control for fun-and-profit(TM), the RIAA (and the MPAA) sees digital format media as an overwhelming threat to their livihood. Since money talks, and more money talks louder, the DMCA was passed (in no small part) in order to strip the right of "fair use" from their customers.
Both the RIAA and the MPAA need to be taught a lesson by consumers -- the only lesson that they can understand: boycott! As SONY is a leading member of both of these organizations, they make the ideal target for consumers to boycott. SONY's DRM "rootkit" is the ideal "line in the sand" issue to organize such a boycott around. Since SONY is in the media hardware and media content business, this company has broad enough consumer exposure to justify a boycott of ALL SONY PRODUCTS.
This boycott should continue IMHO until the more draconian measures of the DMCA are removed or ammended, legislation be passed to make corporations criminally liable for spyware and DRM that abuse computer security, and that consumers' right of "fair use" be restored.
No doubt the main logic branch prior to setting up VMware on linux is:
IF Windows (on Windows),
THEN disable optical drive(s),
AND remove ALL network conections;
ELSE
INSTALL GNU/linux && VMWare && Windows.
Since even some Microsoft applications require running as Administrator, these are the only two secure alternatives.
Who needs a book for that, anyway?
I would like to know how someone (like yourself) who might (arguably) be considered an industry leader risk that position by being a corporate whore?
OR,
Do your long term fiduciary prospects as a Microsoft "shill" outweigh the scorn and infamy bound to be heaped upon you by your peers in the industry, and the risk to your career that might entail?
So long as ATI refuses to recognize that there are other OSes that consumers use besides MS Windows Latest & Greatest(TM), I shall continue to avoid purchasing their products. NVIDia is barely better, what with their binary drivers which always seem to be one or more kernel releases behind the times.
I do (really!) hate to have my comments modded to flamebait, but there are actually "OTHER OSes" besides x86 GNU/linux (really, there is!). Without reasonably complete source code drivers available, PPC||MIPS||ARM||other GNU/linux as well as *BSD, Solaris will never stand a chance against the WIntel behemouth.
Barring the possibility of obtaining source code drivers for the latest video cards (or other geeky kit), rather complete hardware documentation should be made available so that the F/OSS community can "roll their own" drivers. Major vendors appear to be so concerned about providing any insight to their hardware designs to their competition that they are forsaking a growing segment of the consumer market.
Recent news regarding MS Windows "rootkits" showing up in heavily DRMed product should illuminate the dangers of reliance upon one convicted monopolistic company "owning" a nearly ubiquitous portion of the market. Those companies that band together in support of a single platform risk alienating their consumer market when "extremely bad things" crop up to destroy that market.
Alternative OSes exist; alternative sources of media/content exist; and alternative hardware exists -- when consumers start voting (in droves) with their cash, the current industry "leaders" will likely be caught by surprise. I suspect that those most surprised will not survive.
I would be, not surprised but shocked, if Sony's VAIO computers didn't ALREADY come with this DRM software PRE-INSTALLED! At least for all their computers that entered the channel after Sony's contract with the rootkit manufacturer was signed.
I think all consumers should give thoughtful consideration toward the purchase of ANY SONY PRODUCTS before spending their money to support this RIAA/MPAA-corrupted corporation, aka "BOYCOTT THESE MOTHERF*CKRS!".
IMHO, Sony deserves more "pain and suffering" than just a boycott until January 02, 2006. Based upon (1) their membership positions (leading) within the RIAA and MPAA, and (2) their blatantly illegal use of spyware/malware DRM, I will not be purchasing ANY SONY-branded PRODUCTS for at least until 2007.
If enough consumers "vote with their dollars", not only SONY will get the message, but so will the other members of the **AA. Who knows, maybe even "our*" (*not really ours) legislators will get the message. There used to be something called "fair use" under copyright law that has been turned upside-down by DMCA. The currently inevitable emergence of personal computers and consumer electronics with embedded DRM, as well as the upcoming MS Windows (DRM Edition AKA Vista), "fair use" will be a fond distant memory.
Most modern appliances consume some power, even when turned off. "Energy Star" ratings are not adequate to inform the consumer about the power requirements when turned off. The only features that (some) appliances need all the time is (1) a RTC (Real Time Clock) and (2) a Watchdog (remote control, temp sensor, etcetera).
The only way to force manufacturers to furnish additional information regarding power usage is through legislation -- consumer demand is insufficient. The "Energy Star" rating could be expanded to include (1) annual cost based upon a clearly defined (and published) hours per week usage, as well as (2) power consumed when used (kilowatthour) and (3) power consumed when off (kilowatthour).
This is unlikely to happen with our current lot of legislators beholden to corporate interests instead of the consumers.
You might call "Predictive Self-Healing" an "oracle".
Who knew that the HAL-9000 ("2001" reference) would actually be made by SUN Microsystems?
SUN has made some great moves (Opteron-based workstations and servers), great new UltraSparc (T1) processors, a rock solid OS that they have open sourced (Solaris 10), and now their alignment with PostgresSQL. I am truly impressed. It looks like they have made all the right moves. Perhaps they have used SGI (Silicon Graphics) as an object lesson as to "what NOT to do", since SGI has been de-listed and is "circling the drain".
VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS!
And since Sony is not only a media company, but also a movie company, and a hardware company, I say boycott ALL SONY PRODUCTS. Boycotting Sony/BMG will have very little effect upon Sony management, because only money speaks loud enough for them to hear consumers displeasure. A large enough impact upon Sony's bottom line will also send a similar message to the rest of the RIAA and MPAA membership.
It is time for the much abused consumers to speak out against heavy handed corporate interests, including DRM. Fuck 'em!
Micro$oft might be "very friendly" to the project, but the only OS that they might get to run with any functionality on such limited hardware is WinCE. Somehow, the "free as in beer" unrestricted open source version of ANY M$ OS has never materialized. Nor would any applications that M$ might offer ever be open source. Since this defeats the stated purpose of the $100 computer agenda, why would anyone switch?
Without an unencumbered open source OS and applications, regionalization would not be possible, at least not to the extent that Red Hat Linux(TM) would be. Both India and China have hundreds of localized languages, as well as the African continent. No doubt, though, that Micro$oft marketing types wetted their pants at the prospect of another 2 billion users of their OS and apps. It isn't like M$ hasn't flogged the letter and spirit of monopoly laws with their viral M$ tax on new PCs, heavy discounts to schools and universities, FUD by any means possible, etcetera.
"It's on my bookshelf next to ... "
You are absolutely "on target". It is not possible to "learn" unix in 24 hours -- it is only possible to learn a few dozen procedures. The experience would be useful to the novice in learning "how" to learn about unix and cannot be considered a panacea. Comprehending unix is all about learning about all the tools available, how they can be strung together, and that there is often more than one correct method to achieve your task.
The largest hurdle that most unix newbies have is learning to embrace the command line -- the command line is the sysadmin's friend. This is in direct contention with the $monopolist$ world view, which dumbs admin tasks down and hides them behind a GUI.
That is a very interesting take on politics and the election "process" in Mexico. In other words, the neo(Con)artists and the Dubya regime have adopted Mexican political shennanigans. I cannot really say that I am too surprised -- nobody in the Dubya regime seems to have an independent or original thought between them. Even their use of foreign nationals to wage war, even against ourselves (in the cae of 9/11/2001), was a rehashed clone of earlier historical events.
BTW: When (and if) you decide to come to America, the only state that you might have a problem voting in is Arizona (due to their Proposition 200 passing last year). Everywhere else in the USA, being a USA citizen in good standing (non-criminal) in order to be able to vote is strictly optional. Apparently, most of our politicians like it that way (, along with whatever other vote fraud they can get away with).
Buenavende and buena suerte!
Exactly so!
This is not unlike the current regime's interpretation of "torture", which changes according to (1) whether the press gets wind of it, (2) who the perpetrators of torture are, (3) who is being subjected to torture, (4) which day of the week it is, and (5) which US Supreme Court (Bush_41 packed, or Bush_43 packed) is in session. The Dubya regime is having as much fun with the definition of "torture" as the Clinton regime had with what the definition of "is" was. On the whole, the Clinton administration was far more respectful of the truth and the law than the current regime, and (might I add?) far more fiscally conservative.
Virtually no legislator in the US Congress actually read the US Patriot Act before voting for it. This was a "neo(Con)artist" wet dream cooked up by "conservative" think tanks and put on the shelf, ready to go, when the time was right. In the public's quest for "safety", we have sacrificed liberty, freedom, and democracy -- and have become far less "safe" in the process. Benjamin Franklin was right, as was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Not many citizens have been listening, nor paying attention to current events (apparently). Pretty damn sad, really.
You have the right idea, but just not the right magnitude. Instead of boycotting Sony/BMG products, knowlegable consumers (and I include all /.ers here) should consider boycotting ANY and ALL Sony products. The MPAA and the RIAA (both of whom Sony is a member) attribute any downward spiral of media content purchases to piracy. Sony would use the very same argument for any decline of sales of their music CDs. This will delay their reconsideration of withdrawing DRM from their record label.
OTOH, a widespread boycott of ALL Sony products will create a financial impact on all their myraid "profit centers". The quickest way to impact Sony's bottom line, and hence get their corporate officers' attention, is a total boycott of all of Sony's product line. Fortunately for consumers (and unfortunately for Sony), there are often many competing brands to choose, other than Sony.
The lawsuits that are making their way though the juditial system may take years to reach resolution. Most consumers don't have years to wait with trojaned computers for redress. A total boycott on Sony products may provide the motivation necesssary for immediate action regarding their DRM.
the "Cell" well, as far as I am concerned. They seem to be totally unremorseful regarding their music CD DRM (aka rootkit). At one point I considered the purchase of a PS3 in order to gain experience with the Cell Processor. Today, I would not consider the purchase of ANYTHING with Sony's name on it, regardless of how "geeky" it might be.
Purchasing IBM's (or perhaps Mercury Computer's) reference CBE-based platform are now my only choices. Sony's NRE for the PS3 might make their platform a "best buy" price-wise because of the manufacturing volume. But between their heavy involvement in the MPAA, the RIAA, and this DRM issue that makes customer's computers extremely vulnerable, there is no longer any compulsion to give Sony anything other than a "loud, wet rasberry".
Do you really think that the current incumbent of the White House really gives a shit about our nation's history, let alone warnings from Benjamin Franklin regarding "giving up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety"?
George W. Bush may have a Texas drawl and a deceptively "rube" persona, but he is a savey and cynical Connecticut (blue-blood) Yankee just like his Daddy and his Daddy's Daddy. Check out "http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html" for the real low-down on this political dynasty. There is a family predisposition toward fascism that began, at the very least, with his grandfather. His father, George H.W. Bush, was in charge of the CIA and then as VP directly responsible for the Iran-Contra scandel. That "new world order" that he spoke about as President is now being realized by George W.
Globalization, the bullying tactics of the World Bank, government collusion with big business, and this regime'st surge in government secrecy but total invasion of the privacy of citizens are all strong indicators that this country is well on its decent from democracy into Corporate National Socialism. Optional foreign wars based upon trumped up intel against countries that hold vital natural resources (Iraq), attempted coups against populist left-of-center democratically elected presidents where oil and/or natural gas reserves exist (Venezuela & Bolivia) -- neither are justifiable except in the most narrowly defined interests of American oil companies and their contractor (Halliburton) buddies. NATO countries (like Italy and Germany)) are up in arms over this regime's tactics of kidnapping and torture, while the DoD and CIA are more upset over public disclosure and leaks rather than stopping such illegal activities. Democracies like Taiwan are forsaken for the interests of trade with their opponents (PRC), and attempts the overthrow of a South American democracy in favor of their "bananna republic" elitists. The USA regime claims to be fighting a "war on terrorism" in Iraq, all while leaving the USA's borders largely unguarded, and while even providing refuge to an internationally hunted Cuban terrorist that blew up hotels in one country and an airliner over another country.
George W. Bush is a fascist, a raper & pillager of the national treasury, a terrorist, and a traitor. With any luck and some overdue justice for the American people, he will evenually be impeached, tried & convicted, and then turned over to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
It isn't too hard to see who will be competing in the next race to the Moon: the People's Republic of China (military base and shipping port) versus a USA consortium of real estate developers. NASA has already relegated manned space travel to private enterprise.
I can see it now:
Exxon-Mobil will claim Titan (liquid methane) for development rights.
Shell Oil will stake out the Lagrange Points (solar power/microwave transmission) around our Sun.
Waste Management will invest in space elevators, and lay claim (recycling) to the nearest black hole.
Ahhh. The wonders of private enterprise!
You are "spot on-target"!
The regime currently in power is using the "war on terrorism" to strip Americans of their rights, especially that of privacy. They justify their unconstitutional methods with the claim that "no further acts of terrorism have been committed on US soil", while totally side-stepping the reality that Al-Queda seems to spend a lot of time (between terrorist attacks) to plan their next offensive.
The Dubya regime has been just as ineffective in their optional war in Iraq as in securing the USA's borders and seaports. The President, Vice President, Attorney General, Director of the CIA, Director of the FBI, and Director of Homeland Security have all come out at various times to state that "it is not a matter of if, but of when then next terrorist attack will come". By "predicting" such an event, they presume to "cover their collective backsides" when it comes to accepting responsibility/blame for their ineffectiveness.
I fear that when AL-Queda does eventually attack the USA again, it will be far more spectacular than 9/11/2001, just as that terrorist attack far exceeded the results of the first World Trade Center bombing. Considering the state of the world today, I have concluded that they will use WMDs that they either can steal or purchase on the black market.