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User: RealProgrammer

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  1. What Midwesterners do with the Internet on Speakeasy Will Test IEEE 802.16 In Downtown Seattle · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Internet - you mean AOL, right? There's a lot of stuff on that Internet that you would not believe!

    You just got to know all the right "keywords", they call 'em, and, well, there's some stuff on there I can't mention in front of the kids, if you catch my meaning. Not that I go in for that, mind you, but you get it in your email.

  2. Best use for WiMax on Speakeasy Will Test IEEE 802.16 In Downtown Seattle · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here in the wide open expanses of the midwestern U.S., we have small cities of 10-100K spread out about 50 miles apart. In between there are small farming communities, each with their own grain elevator. Atop the grain elevator there is usually a satellite dish and a TV/radio tower.

    A fella could do worse than to set up a network of WiMax repeaters and WiMax-WiFi routers (for local traffic) on these grain elevators.

  3. Oh, no! on When Is A Good Time To Upgrade? · · Score: 1
    On the list of things that humans do that are bad for the environment, upgrading a new video card (which the average human does, well, NEVER) is a little bit lower than exhaling carbon dioxide (which the average human does a lot).

    Now I have to feel guilty for breathing?

    It does feel better that at least I can recycle my old video cards (after first reusing them for the kids' computers, of course).

  4. Troll? on Cube Farm · · Score: 1

    That was comedy, pure comedy.

  5. Re:Conspiracy..bah on Cube Farm · · Score: 2, Funny

    You should read some of the things I have about tap water and the chemicals the NSA has been forcing water treatment plants to use since the first Gulf War (to keep the returning troops from showing symptoms from the chem-bio agents they used on them in "testing").

    Drink only bottled spring water, or distill rainwater yourself. Canadian imported beer is OK, too, but read the label carefully and boil it if you want to be safe.

    It's all about chain of custody.

  6. Hey, he stole my life! on Cube Farm · · Score: 3, Funny

    But he can have it. I've got a new one, trolling on blogs.

    The pay isn't great, but the complete lack of any sense of accomplishment makes me feel guilty for what I get anyway.

  7. Re:But that is how Microsoft acted with Timeline I on MS Indemnifies Customers Against IP Threats · · Score: 1

    Oh.

  8. Not such a strain on the imagination on MS Indemnifies Customers Against IP Threats · · Score: 1

    As others have pointed out to me, people have actually sued Microsoft customers for patent violations in MS products.

    I guess it beats working.

  9. Poppycock on MS Indemnifies Customers Against IP Threats · · Score: 1
    Microsoft Corporation obtained a license under the above Unisys LZW patents in September, 1996. Microsoft's license does NOT extend to software developers or third parties who use Microsoft toolkit, language, development or operating system products to provide GIF read/write and/or any other LZW capabilities in their own products(e.g., by way of DLLs and APIs)."

    Now, I'm ready to cry foul on MS as quickly as the next guy, but that's how Unisys operated. They wanted anyone who used their idea in a program to license their patent. The alternative is to ask Microsoft to become a sublicensee, keeping track of who used LZW. Ditto for the Timeline patent.

    It's unreasonable to expect Microsoft to pay the patent litigation and infringement costs of developers who use MS compilers. That would be like Microsoft saying they'll indemnify you against libel if you make your libellous statements in a Word document.

  10. FUD, and /. bought it? on MS Indemnifies Customers Against IP Threats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is just FUD, I think.

    Intellectual property falls into the following general areas. Infringement is completely different for each area:

    1. Patents
      Anyone using patented technology (even in a "device" they didn't make) can infringe. However, the idea that some patent holder would sue Microsoft customers for patent violation strains the imagination. I suppose as a business tactic someone might do it to hurt MS, but the negative feedback they would get would dwarf any harm done to MS. Maybe after they sue Microsoft first, but I can't imagine Microsoft a) letting it get that far and b) leaving the patented technology in place.
    2. Copyrights
      FUD. Unless you make copies and distribute them to others and harm the owner of the copyright in doing so, you don't infringe. I see no way a Microsoft customer can be liable for copyright infringement without also infringing against Microsoft.
    3. Trademarks
      FUD. If you just use Microsoft products, and don't display the products to others, I don't see how you can violate some hypothetical third party's trademark.
    4. Trade secrets
      FUD. The only person who violates a trade secret is the one who reveals it. The person who learns the secret is not liable for trade secret violation. They may be guilty of doing illegal things to get the secret, such as breaking and entering, but they aren't on the hook for trade secret violations.
    5. Contracts and licenses
      FUD. If you don't sign a contract or click through someone else's EULA to run a MS product, these don't affect you.
    6. (What The SCO Group Has)
      It's not known what this is, since it occupies a different reality from our own. OT: the Novell Board of Directors understood in 1995 that they retained the copyrights to UNIX after the sale of the UNIX business to the Santa Cruz Operation.
  11. This is backasswards on Pitfalls and Options For Business-Desktop Linux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The way Linux will make inroads on the corporate desktop is not by some big push to get it over the top, but by steady, incremental improvement. Not to mention any names (lest I be accused of flamebaiting) but targeted super-projects will not work.

    Reacting to the perceived needs of corporate users is fine, but that's not a good fit for the Open Source way. You need someone who has enough pull with a developer to get a single feature or bug worked on. In the early stages of a project, that person is the developer or people he knows personally, with the circle expanding outward as the project grows.

    Companies with perceived needs for a Linux desktop can sponsor development of those needs. Sure, the rest of us can try to guess what to create based on surveys and hearsay, but it's way better for the people close to the problem to come up with the solution.

    The best way to promote Linux on the desktop is with apps. If a killer app appears, people will adopt Linux and be motivated to fix whatever perceived flaws they find.

  12. Re:Contribute to ridiclulous levels of spam on Defending Harsh Sentences for Spammers · · Score: 1

    Bubba: What're y'in for, kid?

    Jeremy: Lotsa stuff - Viagra, mostly.

    Bubba: Viagra? You mean "V14gr4"?

    Jeremy: Yeah, that's right. And porn, I did a lot of porn. How about you?

    Bubba: Scouts, this time. You did Pr0n, huh? Got any on ya? I could even use an "18+thumbnail" about now. This place makes even somethin' like you look good.

    Jeremy: Nah ... *gulp* ... nah, but I can get you a nice deal on an interest-only mortgage...

    Bubba: MORTGAGES! Come here, you sunnabitch, I knew I didn't like yer looks!

    Jeremy: Guards! Help!!!

    Guard: Yeah, *yawn* I'll be right there. Right after I clean out my 'caughtspam' folder.

  13. Cornfused on What's Next For Mozilla? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A day out off the presses, and it's "venerable"?

    ...what's ahead for the Mozilla Foundation and the venerable Firefox browser?

    The adjective "venerable" has 2 senses in WordNet.

    1. venerable -- (impressive by reason of age; "a venerable sage with white hair and beard")

    2. august, revered, venerable -- (profoundly honored; "revered holy men")

    Are you talking about Netscape 7, Mozilla 1.x, Firefox 1.0, or what?

  14. Re:TLDs? Countries? on New Rules Make Domain Hijacking Easier · · Score: 1

    I think it applies to "org", since I just registered that as my domain. Now if I can just get "com" and "edu", I'll bet set. I don't want mil or gov, since I expect to be pretty busy.

    It's mine, all mine!

  15. Re:Joker.com auto-locked my domain on New Rules Make Domain Hijacking Easier · · Score: 3, Insightful
    First they helped me transfer my domain away from a bad registrar

    Was that your idea, or theirs? :-)

  16. Re:does that mean... on U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft Resigns · · Score: 1

    You're all fools!

    Ashcroft was never Attorney General. He was merely acting as the front man for the Trilateral Commission. Didn't you read the headlines? "Kerry concedes to Bush" How could it be more obvious? They're all in it together.

    The only way to escape their mind control is to keep your hat on at all times. Also, you should see some of the things I've been reading about tap water and the chemicals in it. Drink only bottled water (from outside the U.S. if you can get it).

    Ciao, brothers.

  17. I want one on Automated Sentry Robots · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...that can really persuade people to go away .

  18. Meta knowledge on IT Literacy Test · · Score: 2, Interesting
    My techniques are rarely the "industry standard" techniques, so I often find myself on tech assessment tests choosing the answers I know the test creators think are right, even if in my experience they aren't the best or most efficient way to do things.

    But you know what the best practices are (or were at the time they became codified in a test). If you are mindful of what the standard way is, you can at least choose it when there is no reason not to do it that way.

    Also, when the time comes to make product recommendations, you can say (for example), "Well, the industry standard is that your offline backup solution media should have at least the capacity as your online storage." (I made that up.)

    People like to follow standards, but in this case if they chose a cheapo backup solution you'd have made them decide to go against the standard to do it. Never underestimate the value of C'ing Your A.

    That's not exactly what I wanted to say, but you can take it from there.

  19. Probably redundant, but ... on IT Literacy Test · · Score: 2, Funny
    I find posting on this site to be very instructive. I usually get valuable feedback, whether my comments are interesting, insightful, or as is obviously the more typical case, completely inane.

    Perhaps it can serve as a model for a test.

  20. Re:Oh... on Kim Peek, aka Rain Man Focus of NASA Study · · Score: 1

    >Oh, intercourse the penguin!" ...
    >Ya know, that came from a Monty Python sketch

    It probably came from the zoo.

  21. Sell off on AOL to be Split into 4 Units · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This sets the stage to spin the pieces off into separate companies, or to sell them.

    I doubt AOL-TimeWarner has much AOL left once the "Baby AOLs" are operating a little more independently.

  22. Oh, come on, NASA on Kim Peek, aka Rain Man Focus of NASA Study · · Score: 1

    They really just want to play home version Jeopardy with him - they think they can win. As proof, notice that they didn't ask to study Ken Jennings!

    There, I've run rings round you logically.

  23. In other news... on Bluetooth Plans to Triple Bandwidth · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Commodore SIG announced plans to make a future announcement of an impending design contest to map the creation of the Commodore 192, which would have triple the capacity of its Commodore 64.

    Commodore SIG said there were thousands of programs available for the C-64 that would run unchanged or with a simple recompile on the new machine. C-SIG predicted the machine would easily outperform designs from competitors Heath and Timex.

  24. Funny MIPS on Earth Simulator, G5 Cluster Drop In 'Top 500' List · · Score: 3, Funny

    These numbers seem surreal, like thinking about Monopoly money. I'm sitting here at my old PII-300, analyzing the cost/power ratio of machines costing a mere $6M, or as much as $350M. This one cost, uh, nothing.

    On any one of those systems, you could emulate a Beowulf cluster of this one, and still have time to play Thermonuclear War.

  25. Re:Information Superhighway Robbery on California Takes A Last Swing At VoIP · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, police have to be paid for. That doesn't mean that if they don't get a VoIP tax their police funds will just dry up.

    My main point is the disenginuity of saying it's all for the police. It's just like when people say, "Do it for the children!"