The NT kernel has changed a lot since NT 3.5, which was the concurrent NT version to Windows 3.1. If we're comparing Windows 3.1 with XP (as the original poster was), the differences are even more great (both in the kernal, which is completely different to the W3.1 kernel, and the GUI has matured incredibly)
Linux is fantastic, but has lots of flaws that really do need addressing before it goes mainstream on the desktop. The sort of things we can take in our stride but which would screw up a novice linux user. Microsoft has lots of technology in place to make sure the user doesn't screw their computer over. That's the sort of functionality that lets Joe Average sleep well at night. He doesn't care if his computer's making the most efficient use of its CPU, but he does care whether installing a patch will kill it or not:-P
This isn't a dig at linux or anyone, but rather my observations on this thread...
There is a high proportion of posts here (when I'm writing this, at least) highlighting the difficulties of upgrading the kernel to 2.6.4. Surely, until there's an easy and foolproof way of doing this, the up-take of linux as a desktop OS is going to be slower. Whether microsoft do a better job in windows is debatable, but the bottom line is, it takes 30 minutes to install a service pack (which can change any functionality in windows, so it's a comparable procedure), and after the upgrade, 99.9% of machines function fine.
It's things like this that puts "normal" people and companies off using Linux on the desktop. To linux guys and developers it's not a big deal, but imagine if you were some granny somewhere - it'd scare the pants off you and if something went wrong, nigh-on impossible to fix.
It's the robustness and cohesion of linux that needs addressing. Once that's attained to a sufficient level, system-wide upgrades can be effected. When I say robustness I don't mean operationally (there's no doubt nothing is more robust), but when it comes to doing anything to the OS. That's when the "fun" starts:-P
Again, this isn't pro-microsoft and anti-linux. This is just an immediate reaction to seeing the posts trickle in to this discussion.
Insightful? The only thing insight this gives us is into the lack of geographical knowledge in the US. Truly embarassing:-P
So, the US has more rights for people than Europe. Care to explain jaywalking? That doesn't exist in Europe. And we can smoke/drink at 16/18. And we don't need our licenses and proofs of insurance when we drive. And I don't need to show my ID every time I go out to a bar or buy a sixer. Suddenly, the US doesn't look so peachy...;)
You've heard of CGI, right? Common Gateway Interface? It's (basically) a way for webservers to execute applications and pass the output to the browser. They, funnily enough, are shell scripts.
You can write a whole website using shell scripts. When I was at Uni we had to write a shell-script powered web interface for a searchable database of german (don't ask) license plates.
iMDB allow people to download the raw list files for their database. Apps are available to turn this into a MySQL database... I guess they did that so no-one needs to leech of their webserver:)
Yes, bird flu in one place doesn't imply bird flue anywhere else, but finding it where the birds are imported/exported to/from means banning it is most likely a very good idea;)
I know what you're saying about EU representation, but as you said - it's so new. There isn't a sufficient single representative for the EU to facilitate reducing the EU to one representative. It's analogous to the US circa 1790.
You also have to factor in the complexity. Many languages, complex financial systems, etc. Comparing it to anything else is a moot point, as there isn't anything else even close to it anywhere in the world. The US is on par with regards to size, but that's about it.
You can thank the lack of US diplomacy for the cold war, jackass. The fact you even mentioned that shows just how much you actually know. And what a civil war has to do with international diplomacy is beyond me:-P. "World war" - hint in the name. It's a WORLD war, so the US's diplomacy had an effect on it too - you can't hide from blame.
The drivers are free, but if a competitor got their hands on the code, they can use that development and "stand on the shoulders of giants" and further their own products enough to play Intel's game. That smaller manufacturer would be in a real position to take sales away from Intel, which obviously Intel doesn't want. That's what's going on here. With most manufacturers (nVidia, Intel (for their modems), etc.) binary drivers are free as in beer, not speech. That's the main difference. If the contents got out, they could lose sales. If they keep the drivers closed-source and their contents get out, they have a party they can sue to recover costs. They kiss goodbye to that possibility if they release the drivers openly.
They're trying to do the right thing, yet they still get shat on. Go figure.
Yes, they make $0 from the sale of their drivers. They do, however make money from the sale of the hardware they produce. If their competitors can use the drivers they release to boost their products development/sales, intel loses money on hardware sales. That's the real economics of the situation, and as you can see, it's in Intel's (and every other hardware manufacturer who's leading the market) best interests to keep closed source exactly that - closed.
I do, that's the problem. I love the idea of a land of freedom, justice and equality. What really burns my gravy is seeing America call itself that, yet do the complete opposite. America is one of the most oppressive western countries. It has the loosest idea of justice (Guantanamo bay, anyone?) and equality you can find. THAT is my problem with America. If America was the America it is on paper and claims (so vehemently) it is, I'd be singing its praises from the highest building.
What on earth are you rambling on about? Do you realise what you wrote makes you come across as a complete imbecile? Europeans aren't insecure about their global standing, like you obviously are. Statements like that just reflect bad on you, not your intended targets.
Daft Punk and Air are two bands that are very popular across the entire world, not just France and not just Europe. There are more, but there's a couple to be starting on;)
I know! It doesn't even make sense! Sure, if Windows was in itself a tool specifically for writing software, and you lost money though expressly due to the spreading of the virus, then that analogy would make sense. Alas, it isn't, and the analogy comes off looking half-assed at best, and a poor reflection on the slashdot community:)
I'm all for sticking it to the man, but making yourself look like an ass in the process only helps the man.
"can't see a USA company getting much sympathy in France"
Not all countries work the same way as the US. European countries know about international diplomacy and don't take everything personally. Prime example: When bird flu was found in Delaware and the EU banned imports of US poultry due to safety concerns, the US "retaliated" and banned certain European imports. How on earth you can retaliate over a safety matter is beyond me. Is Europe supposed to import the infected chicken so they don't upset the US?
This isn't a dig at Americans or the US, but rather the seemingly childish attitude the US has towards international relations. It seems the US is only prepared to use its "big boy voice" when it wants something, and as soon as it has it, it's back to "little boy voice" complete with huffs and pouting. Go figure.
First of all, as has been previously stated - these are directives, not laws. Secondly, the directives says companies can't sue home users, who are using infringing material in "good faith", basically limiting the effect of the directive to commercial pirates, not you and I.
Unlike America, we don't wan't to sue people. When people have to sue, something's gone horribly wrong, and suing more isn't going to help.:-P
It isn't the companies themselves who do the raiding, but the police... I don't think we'll be seeing any accountants breaking doors down or anything. They mean companies can get the local law enforcement agencies to raid properties that are infringing on their copyrights.
If it was the companies themselves, the cost of training and accountability would be prohibitive.
Stupid excuses like "this cost us millions to produce, so we're not going to give the code away to you and our competitors, which would eventually cause us to lose so much revenue we'd not be able to make any more cards/drivers for you at all"?
I read about it here, which was in the original article, fyi. And it's 16terabytes, not 100s, which was a bit of an exaggeration on my part:-P
Sour grapes? From what? I'm a web developer in west london. Why on earth would I be jealous of it? I'm complaining because there's a team with millions of dollars of sponsorship making a half-assed attempt to win the competition by exploiting a loop-hole in the rules. Any normal person would complain about that - it's not right.
I'm not saying they're cheating, or that they haven't put a lot of work into it. I'm saying they've got millions of dollars of sponsorship money and they've only got where they are by their unique interpretation of the rules, that's all...
They're offering a brute-force approach, whereas other teams are using intelligence to solve the problem. Granted, both approaches use intelligence, but one much moreso than the other.
Do moderators even know the meaning of the name "Troll"? It seems not...
What the heck was trolly about that post? It's a serious concern many people have. If you think it's unfounded, try and think of the things politicians do for people/groups which have no reciprocation... it'll take you a while.
I don't care if I'm called a troll, as that's the behaviour that got us into this in the first place. We sat on our asses while these guys formed their cabals and sat down to take us to the cleaners.
I'm not trying to cause problems or upset anyone. I just want to let everyone know so they can work on changing this bullshit, as opposed to living under it - gloriously blind to the political corruption.
It's also about style. I want an mp3 player that has a form to match its function. I don't care if something's the best mp3 player in the world, if it looks like a festering turd when I get it out of my pocket, I'm not as likely to appreciate it, or use it as much. The iPod has a great mix of the main important features of mp3 players: Style, Capacity, Ease-of-use, Features. Everything else has one or two of those pegged, but not all 4.
DARPA are looking to create vehicles that drive themselves. Vehicles that drive next to manned vehicles, and act the same. These vehicles have to react like people - if a bomb drops in the road ahead, it has to know to stop and drive round. It has to figure out the best route available. If it's dumbly programmed with waypoints, one crater and it's toast.
This robot sounds like it fulfils the rules, not the competition. There's a huge difference.
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Linux is fantastic, but has lots of flaws that really do need addressing before it goes mainstream on the desktop. The sort of things we can take in our stride but which would screw up a novice linux user. Microsoft has lots of technology in place to make sure the user doesn't screw their computer over. That's the sort of functionality that lets Joe Average sleep well at night. He doesn't care if his computer's making the most efficient use of its CPU, but he does care whether installing a patch will kill it or not :-P
There is a high proportion of posts here (when I'm writing this, at least) highlighting the difficulties of upgrading the kernel to 2.6.4. Surely, until there's an easy and foolproof way of doing this, the up-take of linux as a desktop OS is going to be slower. Whether microsoft do a better job in windows is debatable, but the bottom line is, it takes 30 minutes to install a service pack (which can change any functionality in windows, so it's a comparable procedure), and after the upgrade, 99.9% of machines function fine.
It's things like this that puts "normal" people and companies off using Linux on the desktop. To linux guys and developers it's not a big deal, but imagine if you were some granny somewhere - it'd scare the pants off you and if something went wrong, nigh-on impossible to fix.
It's the robustness and cohesion of linux that needs addressing. Once that's attained to a sufficient level, system-wide upgrades can be effected. When I say robustness I don't mean operationally (there's no doubt nothing is more robust), but when it comes to doing anything to the OS. That's when the "fun" starts :-P
Again, this isn't pro-microsoft and anti-linux. This is just an immediate reaction to seeing the posts trickle in to this discussion.
They're not ideal, but before the days of mod perl and mod php, CGI was the only way of putting interactivity into a website. :)
So, the US has more rights for people than Europe. Care to explain jaywalking? That doesn't exist in Europe. And we can smoke/drink at 16/18. And we don't need our licenses and proofs of insurance when we drive. And I don't need to show my ID every time I go out to a bar or buy a sixer. Suddenly, the US doesn't look so peachy... ;)
You can write a whole website using shell scripts. When I was at Uni we had to write a shell-script powered web interface for a searchable database of german (don't ask) license plates.
iMDB allow people to download the raw list files for their database. Apps are available to turn this into a MySQL database... I guess they did that so no-one needs to leech of their webserver :)
Hahaha! Flamebait. Why doesn't that surprise me... must be more republicans on the loose. :-P
I know what you're saying about EU representation, but as you said - it's so new. There isn't a sufficient single representative for the EU to facilitate reducing the EU to one representative. It's analogous to the US circa 1790.
You also have to factor in the complexity. Many languages, complex financial systems, etc. Comparing it to anything else is a moot point, as there isn't anything else even close to it anywhere in the world. The US is on par with regards to size, but that's about it.
Stop saluting your Bush poster and read a book.
They're trying to do the right thing, yet they still get shat on. Go figure.
Yes, they make $0 from the sale of their drivers. They do, however make money from the sale of the hardware they produce. If their competitors can use the drivers they release to boost their products development/sales, intel loses money on hardware sales. That's the real economics of the situation, and as you can see, it's in Intel's (and every other hardware manufacturer who's leading the market) best interests to keep closed source exactly that - closed.
I do, that's the problem. I love the idea of a land of freedom, justice and equality. What really burns my gravy is seeing America call itself that, yet do the complete opposite. America is one of the most oppressive western countries. It has the loosest idea of justice (Guantanamo bay, anyone?) and equality you can find. THAT is my problem with America. If America was the America it is on paper and claims (so vehemently) it is, I'd be singing its praises from the highest building.
And Jesus was a socialist, btw ;)
The action is being taken in France, against iPods sold in France. That's why France is mentioned so much in this article, and in these comments. ;)
Daft Punk and Air are two bands that are very popular across the entire world, not just France and not just Europe. There are more, but there's a couple to be starting on ;)
Sheesh. It's insular, arrogant attitudes like yours that make people want to blow your country up, and make fewer and fewer people want to stop it.
I'm all for sticking it to the man, but making yourself look like an ass in the process only helps the man.
Not all countries work the same way as the US. European countries know about international diplomacy and don't take everything personally. Prime example: When bird flu was found in Delaware and the EU banned imports of US poultry due to safety concerns, the US "retaliated" and banned certain European imports. How on earth you can retaliate over a safety matter is beyond me. Is Europe supposed to import the infected chicken so they don't upset the US?
This isn't a dig at Americans or the US, but rather the seemingly childish attitude the US has towards international relations. It seems the US is only prepared to use its "big boy voice" when it wants something, and as soon as it has it, it's back to "little boy voice" complete with huffs and pouting. Go figure.
First of all, as has been previously stated - these are directives, not laws. Secondly, the directives says companies can't sue home users, who are using infringing material in "good faith", basically limiting the effect of the directive to commercial pirates, not you and I.
Unlike America, we don't wan't to sue people. When people have to sue, something's gone horribly wrong, and suing more isn't going to help. :-P
If it was the companies themselves, the cost of training and accountability would be prohibitive.
Stupid excuses like "this cost us millions to produce, so we're not going to give the code away to you and our competitors, which would eventually cause us to lose so much revenue we'd not be able to make any more cards/drivers for you at all"?
Sour grapes? From what? I'm a web developer in west london. Why on earth would I be jealous of it? I'm complaining because there's a team with millions of dollars of sponsorship making a half-assed attempt to win the competition by exploiting a loop-hole in the rules. Any normal person would complain about that - it's not right.
I'm not saying they're cheating, or that they haven't put a lot of work into it. I'm saying they've got millions of dollars of sponsorship money and they've only got where they are by their unique interpretation of the rules, that's all...
They're offering a brute-force approach, whereas other teams are using intelligence to solve the problem. Granted, both approaches use intelligence, but one much moreso than the other.
What the heck was trolly about that post? It's a serious concern many people have. If you think it's unfounded, try and think of the things politicians do for people/groups which have no reciprocation... it'll take you a while.
I don't care if I'm called a troll, as that's the behaviour that got us into this in the first place. We sat on our asses while these guys formed their cabals and sat down to take us to the cleaners.
I'm not trying to cause problems or upset anyone. I just want to let everyone know so they can work on changing this bullshit, as opposed to living under it - gloriously blind to the political corruption.
It's also about style. I want an mp3 player that has a form to match its function. I don't care if something's the best mp3 player in the world, if it looks like a festering turd when I get it out of my pocket, I'm not as likely to appreciate it, or use it as much. The iPod has a great mix of the main important features of mp3 players: Style, Capacity, Ease-of-use, Features. Everything else has one or two of those pegged, but not all 4.
This robot sounds like it fulfils the rules, not the competition. There's a huge difference.