A) No expectation of Privacy. Your name and number is PUBLISHED in the phone book. You agree to this when you get a number, unless you get it unlisted, in which case they could not get at it.
B) No Personal information attached. You address is covered off by A). You can't get a list of calls made, when you called them, who you talked to, what your conversations consisted of, etc... without a court order, or warrant I believe.
This is the whole crux of the problem. You are basically allowing all the above to anyone of "Lawful Authority" for whatever reason they like with no oversight.
I think part of the problem is how game are made today. Lowest common denominator. Gone are the days when companies try to make something really fantastic and sell it on its own merits. Now it is about cross platforming and market centric releases.
For example. I saw the other day that a new version of Wolfenstien was coming out. Also that they would going back to the zombie nazi killing roots which excited me as it and ET were probably some of my favorite video games of all time.
However I read further, and see that it is actually going to be developed for platform games and ported to the PC. Ported! That means a couple of things. Controls will suck, as going from controllers to keyboard mouse never works. This also effects what types of things you can do in game as some things are just too hard to do with a controller. Also the graphics will suck. They will be designed with a TV and a console video card in mind, and likely upscaled for the PC. Which means blurry and blocky and distorted graphics.
I have yet to play a port that was any good, period. However due to the cost of creating games this way, it seems only large companies are able to do it as the capital is so great. That or your a independent sponsored by big one, which means you priorities are set for you. That also means these companies look to get the maximum return for their investment. Which means releasing it on every type of medium available. This is how mediocre games are made.
Seriously though I think it is sad that you feel that way. I am assuming you are from the US?
I am from Canada, and while I won't go so far to say it doesn't have some problems, I like to think I have a certain amount of faith in our system of law.
Granted there will always be dirty cops, corrupt judges, and sleazy lawyers I like to think they are the minority.
My dad is a lawyer, so I grew up around lawyers and judges, I have friends today who are cops. I have had pretty positive experiences with cops (unless they catch me speeding, but then that is my own fault so I don't begrudge that).
I have a fair amount of respect for cops and what they do. The same goes for judges. I hold them and their authority in esteem. However, if one does go astray, it makes it all the worse. Whenever I hear about either, I have no sympathy, and they deserve the worst punishment they can get in my opinion as they have betrayed the public trust.
I do believe there are parts of our system of law that need to be reformed. One that comes to mind is that of automatic convictions for parking tickets, which while a small thing, really piss me off. Speeding tickets and photo radar is another. Its a fine line between justice and alternate revenue stream. Many of these tools, may have had good intentions as to protecting the public and all that, but now they are basically ways Cities can generate more money. In many cases these "schemes" are totally positive feedback loops and conflicts of interest.
Anyway that last bit is my rant... I was convicted of a crime I did not commit, fine was 40$, if I wanted to fight it, would have cost me like 500$. I ended up just paying, still bitter about it. Not because of the money (which I could care less), but the principle of the thing. I am sure there are bigger problems that need reform more urgently.
We have many of the same problems where I work in government. I am not sure how the posters work is organized, but I know at least mine seems ass backwards at times. Its a problem of control and responsibility.
I assume at the corporate level they manage our servers and centralized data holdings in a secure fashion with encryption. This also includes some items like individual email stored centrally.
However where I work, everything on your personal computer, which everyone has, is the responsibility of your program, and ultimately the individual to back up.
So in this lunacy you have in some cases triple protected, rotating passwords on systems, yet next to the box is a USB drive that is unsecured, that contains all the data on said system. In a word, stupid.
Part of the problem is the rotating passwords. If you do backup you have to do it manually as when your password changes it will break Microsoft's "Scheduled Tasks" (which requires a password, and it is hardcoded). Centrally they really don't seem to care, as it "is not their problem", that is the users responsibility.
So people being people, and busy at that, most do not back up regularly, and none I know encrypt. Though part of the problem being also that no policy exists that I know of about encryption, which to use, what is acceptable, etc... Franking I don't see IT wanting to create devices they themselves cannot crack as well, which means some kind of backdoor.
Anyway any advice as to product (I hear TrueCrypt mentioned a lot), or a solution to the automation process that doesn't involve A)Super User Privs, or B)Not having pssword changes, as I don't think IT would ever go for either of those. I have looked around online but I have yet to find anything that easily solves this problem. Also changing to Linux is also not an option..:) I have to work with what I have!
Reminds me of a story a friend told me. Someone I knew from high school was hitchhiking across Canada, again... and in case you are not in the know, that's a long way.
Anyhow I have been told by those that do this that apparently there are places called "dead zones" that can really suck if you get caught in them. Usually remote rural communities, that if you get dropped off there they are really hard to get out of. Oh and it is also cold up here.
Anyway my friend, hit one of these dead zones and got stuck. He also had no money. I believe he tried to hit up his parents, but believe they had had a falling out, as they wouldn't wire him any money. Anyway they told him to go to the police and ask to stay the night in jail.
So he did. The police said no. This isn't a hotel. He then told me that he walked to a pay phone, and called the police saying "I have a brick in my hand and I am about to throw it through a shop window, if you wish to come arrest me I am located at X". He then waited for the police to show up, and they arrested him for a minor misdemeanor and threw him in jail for the night and sent him (with breakfast no less) on his way the next day.
Anyway I remembered hearing the story after reading the parent post.
While many may scoff at UAC, it does do something very well. It foists responsibility on the user. While this may not be the nicest thing to do, it enforces perhaps the most difficult ideal. That being of awareness of security. User that have no idea, will not be aware of how to protect themselves. Perhaps I am being too forgiving but perhaps someone in Microsoft has actually come up with the philosophical crux of security argument in that no matter how well you design a system, no mater how many updates, patches, or how secure a system you make, someone at some point is going to break it. If DRM, or adware, malware, virus, or Trojans have taught us anything, is that no matter our perceived security we are all vulnerable at some level and all that it takes is someone willing to go the distance and break it. I think microsoft would be correct in its thinking that they will always be target #1, and for the foreseeable. That said, how do you protect yourself from all the bad guys in the world. Well you could create some wonderbar new technology that will secure your systems, and update it constantly to try and keep up with attacks, knowing that it will eventually fail. Or you can implement that and make your users aware of basic security issues, which would probably be about a thousand times more useful as most of the time these things happen when a stupid user opens a file he shouldn't or downloads something sketchy, etc...
I mean when you hose your box you have no one to blame but yourself. Usually it become apparent shortly after you tell UAC to go screw itself. Then you know. Now in the future when you download that mp3 and try to open it with media player, which doesn't reconize the file type, you might actually think. "Ok this may be a codec it doesn't know, or it is a very bad idea to get it to try and open it anyway, perhaps I will just update my codecs and see what happens".
Anyway I am sure some security professional (both IT and otherwise) will attest to having a user informed and aware of potential threats is far more useful than anything else.
Of course perhaps I am just giving Microsoft too much credit.
#1 Install time and mouse clicks do not a benchmark make.
#2 If you really want a real word comparison that effects many people, then here is a real world benchmark. First get two timers and two identical machines. Second, go out and buy two copies of World of Warcraft and both expansion packs. Now have two people moderately knowledgeable people sit down next to each other. The test is to see who can install and play WOW first, and then who has better performance. One on Windows7 the other on Ubuntu.
I don't want to spoil it, but I would guess it takes the guy running windows7 under an hour from start to playing WOW. The other guy 3 days to 4 weeks, and possibly never when he gets sick and tired of trying to get it to work with Wine and just finds it infinitely easier and a lot more fun just to hang himself with his shoelaces instead.
I was actually just thinking about this the other day. (as it happens to me now)
If you think about it, its kind of messed up. For example, the caps are based on a fictional date, that of your billing. Which in these instances, is monthly. While this may make sense for, "billing" it may not make sense, and have ramifications beyond for caps.
So for example I closely self monitor my cap. Which means at the beginning of the month I download like a whore. However nearing the end of the month, I might download a lot less, being aware that I am running out of cap. At the end of the month I might not download at all, because I have no cap space left at all.
What does this mean? Huge bandwidth demand all front loaded on any given month. Multiply that by many many users, and well you get the idea. Also odds are if you are not using your cap you are likely not using it much the whole month, pretty much constant with perhaps a random spike.
Now how about this as a business model. If ISP's wish to place caps, to me that says you are entitled to ALL of that bandwidth, as this is specifically what they are selling you. A given rate of speed for a given quantity. So what if you put in place a behind scenes an unobtrusive way to sell your unused bandwidth? Much like the stock market the price would go up and down with demand. Also you would make your cut of money by simply taking a small percentage off each sale, which when multiplied many many times over would equal Profit! I don't know how you would do it, or if it is technically feasible, or even legal, else I would do it right now and make my first million that way. Anyway an interesting idea eh?
It would also be the demise of "caps" as we know it. People might have a "soft" cap imposed by their ISP, however if they run out would be able to "buy" cap space from someone else if they so desire. Thus power users get what they pay for, and internet gets cheaper for those moderate or light users!
Yeah after I posted and thought about it for awhile I realized that I had installed Win2k on my dual proc computer 1st back in the day for that express reason.
Having used both I call tell you simply the difference. Video Games.
Back in 2000, my Dell came preinstalled with Windows me. Which was horrible. As soon as Win2k came out (shortly after) I installed it and it was fine. However it did have problems playing some games. Windows XP came out shortly after, which I then installed, and it had no problems playing anything. So while Win2k was good, it was responsive, did mostly what I wanted, it did have problems running some non-business type software.
Also another advantage that I did use back then on a built machine was dual processors. XP Pro could handle two. Win2k is only one. Also there were 64bit versions of XP, and not for Win2k. Today everything in hardware is 64bit, and 2 and 4 processing cores, none of which Win2k can handle I don't think (I know the software isn't there yet for 64bit or parallel optimized programing, but all the same...). So I guess there are quite a few reasons XP was superior to Win2k after all.
I know this is Slashdot and par for the course, but really people quit bashing a perfectly acceptable practice.
I don't know about you, but personally I enjoy having choices.
It makes sense, not all users have the same requirements so why try to shoehorn them all into the same box.
Not only that, but people always seem to fault Windows as bloatware, but one of the reasons behind this is that they try to be everything to everyone half the time.
Now I also have my own skepticism as of course the devil is in the details, and both articles are a bit light on those.
Realistically from the sounds of it, some of the "choices" won't be choices at all. One will be MS's attempt to avoid piracy in China and other "emerging" markets (those unwilling or unable to pay 120$ USD). Another will only really be available to corporate clients. As for the rest, Ultimate will be the horribly overpriced fanboy edition that less than 1% will buy, but include the kitchen sink. Another will be a "slim" version for netbooks, which I find intriguing. Depending on features, and cost, this might be pretty attractive. What is left are the two versions that will likely comprise 90% of the market, in Home Premium for home users and Professional for businesses.
Anyway as mentioned its the details which count, which we do not have so making a big deal about it at this point is a bit premature.
Heck all you folks bitching about SIX different versions of Windows should remember that an OS like Linux has like hundreds, some in some pretty niche groups.
What I would like them to do is take a page from Linux. Sell me the lean slim version, and let me pick and choose what I want. Heck we download enough patches already at this point why not? Their fear of course is probably that most/many users won't understand. Of course they could just automate it...
When I was in high school I took a co-op class (1995 I think) where I did my work placement at Acadia University. I wrote a manual for some free email software they used at the time.
Anyway when I first started to work there, they gave me the tour, to see where things were and to meet people. I remember two things.
One was their Unix guru, who was a balding guy, with long hair, a great bushy beard, and a tie-died t-shirt if I remember correctly. I remember thinking "hippy".
Anyway the other thing, was they showed me the server room. They had one server that basically basically took up 80% of the room (which was pretty large to begin with). It was like 10 or 12 full sized refrigerators side by side. I was told the name of the server was "Gandalf". The other, which was really its replacement (though Gandalf appeared to still be turned on), was a beige or white box about the size of a small bar fridge. I don't remember if it had a name. I think when I asked why the big one was named "Gandalf", then went and turned off the lights in the server room. It was then you could see the whole place light up with twinkly presumably "magical" lights...
Anyway made an impression, and I still like the name.
We are currently working to redesign an old Powerbuilder App.
We eventually want to be able to access via some sort of mobile device. It makes more sense to develop it once rather than twice.
Another reason I haven't seen yet is deployment. IN a corporate environment with many many users and a large install base, it can be a real pain. Come out with a new version, it must now be installed on every single machine, sometimes a huge headache.
With Web development, we change it once, and everyone now has access to the new version. done.
There are pros and cons to either side of the coin, and it depends on what kind of app you are doing, what it is used for, how many users, etc... Making that determination is part of being a professional.
If only the fact that likely the ONLY processors capable of running it will be 64bit compatible anyway. On top of that if it is anything like vista and a hog for memory, you can't limit people to 2 or 3gb of ram. This ticks me off. 1gb is not enough. 2gb is adaquate. However after that you are screwed. Most ram runs in pairs now. Most boards will take 4gb but due to 32bit, can only utilize about 3.5gb. Which means you are basically wasting money as you can't physically use all the ram you are sticking into your machine. nuts. On top of that the biggest problem with Vista in my view was that it had poor driver support from manufactures. However by maintaining two versions one 32 and one 64 bit, you force all of the to make double the amount of drivers. Which means less support. I can see why they did it with Vista. There is no reason for it with Win7 (other than to avoid a few bumps). Just get the transition over with already!
Besides the technology being the most OMG BS type and me actually laughing during most action sequences, the worst part was how predicable it was. I figured out everything in advance, and for a movie that is supposed to be an action/thriller, that probably not a good thing.
Yeah I was about to say: Gee congratulations, you just invented a Pelletier, oh wait that already exists.
I guess the story here is miniaturization by making it really really thin? (I didn't rtfa of course)
You are exactly right also, you are not getting rid of heat only moving it from one side of the waifer to another. Something else has to take it from there. Fans are defiantly one way, heatsinks and heatpipes are another.
The other drawback is that they use electricity to function. In relative terms, a LOT of electricity. So put that on top of a top of the line processor which already gobbles up tons of juice and you are starting to suck down an awful lot of wattage. Which of course requires a bigger PSU. Not to mention not being green and all that. Anyway devils in the details... and while I didn't rtfa, these sort of articles are usually light on that sort of thing.
I think this would be more appropriate if Obama legislated that all LOCAL tax expenditures would be tracked centrally for folks to check.
I only say this as I remember when I first started working for government there was a bit of sticker shock. By that I mean that due to the scale of things it is sometimes hard to understand the cost. There are also some costs in government that I would call intangibles. That was for Ontario, Canada also, the US would be several magnitudes greater than that. I can just see people looking at some of the costs and not really understanding that in many cases what you may think is a gigantic sum, is really just a drop in the bucket when put into perspective.
Additional oversight is good, however only if those people watching have any clue as to what they are looking at...
Hell most people don't know what their mechanic is even doing (myself included), and they could say "You need to replace the Bortan McScattle, and that is going to cost you about 850$". My answer is usually, "Um... ok."
Just think when it is a 106page report on the need to do an environmental assessment for 850,000$.... "Um... ok."
Slashdot Mirror
Not the same thing at all.
A) No expectation of Privacy. Your name and number is PUBLISHED in the phone book. You agree to this when you get a number, unless you get it unlisted, in which case they could not get at it.
B) No Personal information attached. You address is covered off by A). You can't get a list of calls made, when you called them, who you talked to, what your conversations consisted of, etc... without a court order, or warrant I believe.
This is the whole crux of the problem. You are basically allowing all the above to anyone of "Lawful Authority" for whatever reason they like with no oversight.
That is bad.
Attractive and Intelligent works for me! Just don't sleep with her, and by sleep I mean fall asleep. Also hide all knives and scissors.
I think part of the problem is how game are made today. Lowest common denominator. Gone are the days when companies try to make something really fantastic and sell it on its own merits. Now it is about cross platforming and market centric releases.
For example. I saw the other day that a new version of Wolfenstien was coming out. Also that they would going back to the zombie nazi killing roots which excited me as it and ET were probably some of my favorite video games of all time.
However I read further, and see that it is actually going to be developed for platform games and ported to the PC. Ported! That means a couple of things. Controls will suck, as going from controllers to keyboard mouse never works. This also effects what types of things you can do in game as some things are just too hard to do with a controller. Also the graphics will suck. They will be designed with a TV and a console video card in mind, and likely upscaled for the PC. Which means blurry and blocky and distorted graphics.
I have yet to play a port that was any good, period. However due to the cost of creating games this way, it seems only large companies are able to do it as the capital is so great. That or your a independent sponsored by big one, which means you priorities are set for you. That also means these companies look to get the maximum return for their investment. Which means releasing it on every type of medium available. This is how mediocre games are made.
I think you are off your meds again... jk!
Seriously though I think it is sad that you feel that way. I am assuming you are from the US?
I am from Canada, and while I won't go so far to say it doesn't have some problems, I like to think I have a certain amount of faith in our system of law.
Granted there will always be dirty cops, corrupt judges, and sleazy lawyers I like to think they are the minority.
My dad is a lawyer, so I grew up around lawyers and judges, I have friends today who are cops. I have had pretty positive experiences with cops (unless they catch me speeding, but then that is my own fault so I don't begrudge that).
I have a fair amount of respect for cops and what they do. The same goes for judges. I hold them and their authority in esteem. However, if one does go astray, it makes it all the worse. Whenever I hear about either, I have no sympathy, and they deserve the worst punishment they can get in my opinion as they have betrayed the public trust.
I do believe there are parts of our system of law that need to be reformed. One that comes to mind is that of automatic convictions for parking tickets, which while a small thing, really piss me off. Speeding tickets and photo radar is another. Its a fine line between justice and alternate revenue stream. Many of these tools, may have had good intentions as to protecting the public and all that, but now they are basically ways Cities can generate more money. In many cases these "schemes" are totally positive feedback loops and conflicts of interest.
Anyway that last bit is my rant... I was convicted of a crime I did not commit, fine was 40$, if I wanted to fight it, would have cost me like 500$. I ended up just paying, still bitter about it. Not because of the money (which I could care less), but the principle of the thing. I am sure there are bigger problems that need reform more urgently.
We have many of the same problems where I work in government. I am not sure how the posters work is organized, but I know at least mine seems ass backwards at times. Its a problem of control and responsibility.
I assume at the corporate level they manage our servers and centralized data holdings in a secure fashion with encryption. This also includes some items like individual email stored centrally.
However where I work, everything on your personal computer, which everyone has, is the responsibility of your program, and ultimately the individual to back up.
So in this lunacy you have in some cases triple protected, rotating passwords on systems, yet next to the box is a USB drive that is unsecured, that contains all the data on said system. In a word, stupid.
Part of the problem is the rotating passwords. If you do backup you have to do it manually as when your password changes it will break Microsoft's "Scheduled Tasks" (which requires a password, and it is hardcoded). Centrally they really don't seem to care, as it "is not their problem", that is the users responsibility.
So people being people, and busy at that, most do not back up regularly, and none I know encrypt. Though part of the problem being also that no policy exists that I know of about encryption, which to use, what is acceptable, etc... Franking I don't see IT wanting to create devices they themselves cannot crack as well, which means some kind of backdoor.
Anyway any advice as to product (I hear TrueCrypt mentioned a lot), or a solution to the automation process that doesn't involve A)Super User Privs, or B)Not having pssword changes, as I don't think IT would ever go for either of those. I have looked around online but I have yet to find anything that easily solves this problem. Also changing to Linux is also not an option.. :) I have to work with what I have!
Reminds me of a story a friend told me. Someone I knew from high school was hitchhiking across Canada, again... and in case you are not in the know, that's a long way.
Anyhow I have been told by those that do this that apparently there are places called "dead zones" that can really suck if you get caught in them. Usually remote rural communities, that if you get dropped off there they are really hard to get out of. Oh and it is also cold up here.
Anyway my friend, hit one of these dead zones and got stuck. He also had no money. I believe he tried to hit up his parents, but believe they had had a falling out, as they wouldn't wire him any money. Anyway they told him to go to the police and ask to stay the night in jail.
So he did. The police said no. This isn't a hotel. He then told me that he walked to a pay phone, and called the police saying "I have a brick in my hand and I am about to throw it through a shop window, if you wish to come arrest me I am located at X". He then waited for the police to show up, and they arrested him for a minor misdemeanor and threw him in jail for the night and sent him (with breakfast no less) on his way the next day.
Anyway I remembered hearing the story after reading the parent post.
Yes I am oh so thankful you learned English. Just thrilled really! :)
I challenge you with the claim that you understand neither English, nor analogies.
First of all, a car analogy? Really? Come on!
Second:
Me: "That being an awareness of security."
You: "Today we train security awareness..."
OMGWTFBBQ! :)
While many may scoff at UAC, it does do something very well. It foists responsibility on the user. While this may not be the nicest thing to do, it enforces perhaps the most difficult ideal. That being of awareness of security. User that have no idea, will not be aware of how to protect themselves. Perhaps I am being too forgiving but perhaps someone in Microsoft has actually come up with the philosophical crux of security argument in that no matter how well you design a system, no mater how many updates, patches, or how secure a system you make, someone at some point is going to break it. If DRM, or adware, malware, virus, or Trojans have taught us anything, is that no matter our perceived security we are all vulnerable at some level and all that it takes is someone willing to go the distance and break it. I think microsoft would be correct in its thinking that they will always be target #1, and for the foreseeable. That said, how do you protect yourself from all the bad guys in the world. Well you could create some wonderbar new technology that will secure your systems, and update it constantly to try and keep up with attacks, knowing that it will eventually fail. Or you can implement that and make your users aware of basic security issues, which would probably be about a thousand times more useful as most of the time these things happen when a stupid user opens a file he shouldn't or downloads something sketchy, etc...
I mean when you hose your box you have no one to blame but yourself. Usually it become apparent shortly after you tell UAC to go screw itself. Then you know. Now in the future when you download that mp3 and try to open it with media player, which doesn't reconize the file type, you might actually think. "Ok this may be a codec it doesn't know, or it is a very bad idea to get it to try and open it anyway, perhaps I will just update my codecs and see what happens".
Anyway I am sure some security professional (both IT and otherwise) will attest to having a user informed and aware of potential threats is far more useful than anything else.
Of course perhaps I am just giving Microsoft too much credit.
What a stupid article and even stupider summary.
#1 Install time and mouse clicks do not a benchmark make.
#2 If you really want a real word comparison that effects many people, then here is a real world benchmark. First get two timers and two identical machines. Second, go out and buy two copies of World of Warcraft and both expansion packs. Now have two people moderately knowledgeable people sit down next to each other. The test is to see who can install and play WOW first, and then who has better performance. One on Windows7 the other on Ubuntu.
I don't want to spoil it, but I would guess it takes the guy running windows7 under an hour from start to playing WOW. The other guy 3 days to 4 weeks, and possibly never when he gets sick and tired of trying to get it to work with Wine and just finds it infinitely easier and a lot more fun just to hang himself with his shoelaces instead.
I was actually just thinking about this the other day. (as it happens to me now)
If you think about it, its kind of messed up. For example, the caps are based on a fictional date, that of your billing. Which in these instances, is monthly. While this may make sense for, "billing" it may not make sense, and have ramifications beyond for caps.
So for example I closely self monitor my cap. Which means at the beginning of the month I download like a whore. However nearing the end of the month, I might download a lot less, being aware that I am running out of cap. At the end of the month I might not download at all, because I have no cap space left at all.
What does this mean? Huge bandwidth demand all front loaded on any given month. Multiply that by many many users, and well you get the idea. Also odds are if you are not using your cap you are likely not using it much the whole month, pretty much constant with perhaps a random spike.
Now how about this as a business model. If ISP's wish to place caps, to me that says you are entitled to ALL of that bandwidth, as this is specifically what they are selling you. A given rate of speed for a given quantity. So what if you put in place a behind scenes an unobtrusive way to sell your unused bandwidth? Much like the stock market the price would go up and down with demand. Also you would make your cut of money by simply taking a small percentage off each sale, which when multiplied many many times over would equal Profit! I don't know how you would do it, or if it is technically feasible, or even legal, else I would do it right now and make my first million that way. Anyway an interesting idea eh?
It would also be the demise of "caps" as we know it. People might have a "soft" cap imposed by their ISP, however if they run out would be able to "buy" cap space from someone else if they so desire. Thus power users get what they pay for, and internet gets cheaper for those moderate or light users!
Yeah after I posted and thought about it for awhile I realized that I had installed Win2k on my dual proc computer 1st back in the day for that express reason.
Having used both I call tell you simply the difference. Video Games.
Back in 2000, my Dell came preinstalled with Windows me. Which was horrible. As soon as Win2k came out (shortly after) I installed it and it was fine. However it did have problems playing some games. Windows XP came out shortly after, which I then installed, and it had no problems playing anything. So while Win2k was good, it was responsive, did mostly what I wanted, it did have problems running some non-business type software.
Also another advantage that I did use back then on a built machine was dual processors. XP Pro could handle two. Win2k is only one. Also there were 64bit versions of XP, and not for Win2k. Today everything in hardware is 64bit, and 2 and 4 processing cores, none of which Win2k can handle I don't think (I know the software isn't there yet for 64bit or parallel optimized programing, but all the same...). So I guess there are quite a few reasons XP was superior to Win2k after all.
I know this is Slashdot and par for the course, but really people quit bashing a perfectly acceptable practice.
I don't know about you, but personally I enjoy having choices.
It makes sense, not all users have the same requirements so why try to shoehorn them all into the same box.
Not only that, but people always seem to fault Windows as bloatware, but one of the reasons behind this is that they try to be everything to everyone half the time.
Now I also have my own skepticism as of course the devil is in the details, and both articles are a bit light on those.
Realistically from the sounds of it, some of the "choices" won't be choices at all. One will be MS's attempt to avoid piracy in China and other "emerging" markets (those unwilling or unable to pay 120$ USD). Another will only really be available to corporate clients. As for the rest, Ultimate will be the horribly overpriced fanboy edition that less than 1% will buy, but include the kitchen sink. Another will be a "slim" version for netbooks, which I find intriguing. Depending on features, and cost, this might be pretty attractive. What is left are the two versions that will likely comprise 90% of the market, in Home Premium for home users and Professional for businesses.
Anyway as mentioned its the details which count, which we do not have so making a big deal about it at this point is a bit premature.
Heck all you folks bitching about SIX different versions of Windows should remember that an OS like Linux has like hundreds, some in some pretty niche groups.
What I would like them to do is take a page from Linux. Sell me the lean slim version, and let me pick and choose what I want. Heck we download enough patches already at this point why not? Their fear of course is probably that most/many users won't understand. Of course they could just automate it...
Anyway wait and get the specifics before bashing.
When I was in high school I took a co-op class (1995 I think) where I did my work placement at Acadia University. I wrote a manual for some free email software they used at the time.
Anyway when I first started to work there, they gave me the tour, to see where things were and to meet people. I remember two things.
One was their Unix guru, who was a balding guy, with long hair, a great bushy beard, and a tie-died t-shirt if I remember correctly. I remember thinking "hippy".
Anyway the other thing, was they showed me the server room. They had one server that basically basically took up 80% of the room (which was pretty large to begin with). It was like 10 or 12 full sized refrigerators side by side. I was told the name of the server was "Gandalf". The other, which was really its replacement (though Gandalf appeared to still be turned on), was a beige or white box about the size of a small bar fridge. I don't remember if it had a name. I think when I asked why the big one was named "Gandalf", then went and turned off the lights in the server room. It was then you could see the whole place light up with twinkly presumably "magical" lights...
Anyway made an impression, and I still like the name.
Agreed.
We are currently working to redesign an old Powerbuilder App.
We eventually want to be able to access via some sort of mobile device. It makes more sense to develop it once rather than twice.
Another reason I haven't seen yet is deployment. IN a corporate environment with many many users and a large install base, it can be a real pain. Come out with a new version, it must now be installed on every single machine, sometimes a huge headache.
With Web development, we change it once, and everyone now has access to the new version. done.
There are pros and cons to either side of the coin, and it depends on what kind of app you are doing, what it is used for, how many users, etc... Making that determination is part of being a professional.
This surprises me also.
Win7 should be purely 64bit. Period.
If only the fact that likely the ONLY processors capable of running it will be 64bit compatible anyway. On top of that if it is anything like vista and a hog for memory, you can't limit people to 2 or 3gb of ram. This ticks me off. 1gb is not enough. 2gb is adaquate. However after that you are screwed. Most ram runs in pairs now. Most boards will take 4gb but due to 32bit, can only utilize about 3.5gb. Which means you are basically wasting money as you can't physically use all the ram you are sticking into your machine. nuts. On top of that the biggest problem with Vista in my view was that it had poor driver support from manufactures. However by maintaining two versions one 32 and one 64 bit, you force all of the to make double the amount of drivers. Which means less support. I can see why they did it with Vista. There is no reason for it with Win7 (other than to avoid a few bumps). Just get the transition over with already!
Until I can get my PhD in StarCraftery I will take a pass. Besides, I will likely be too busy playing to care.
What I wrote 2 days ago still holds true today.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1104643&cid=26611749
Technically STILL correct. :)
I don't know of any two way fans. Would be somewhat counterproductive don't you think!
Just watched it last night.
Wow...just wow.
Besides the technology being the most OMG BS type and me actually laughing during most action sequences, the worst part was how predicable it was. I figured out everything in advance, and for a movie that is supposed to be an action/thriller, that probably not a good thing.
Yeah I was about to say: Gee congratulations, you just invented a Pelletier, oh wait that already exists.
I guess the story here is miniaturization by making it really really thin? (I didn't rtfa of course)
You are exactly right also, you are not getting rid of heat only moving it from one side of the waifer to another. Something else has to take it from there. Fans are defiantly one way, heatsinks and heatpipes are another.
The other drawback is that they use electricity to function. In relative terms, a LOT of electricity. So put that on top of a top of the line processor which already gobbles up tons of juice and you are starting to suck down an awful lot of wattage. Which of course requires a bigger PSU. Not to mention not being green and all that. Anyway devils in the details... and while I didn't rtfa, these sort of articles are usually light on that sort of thing.
I always loved the idea in snowcrash.
I mean it really was your own little cold war with everyone else.
Just get a motorcycle with sidecar. Attach nuke to side car. Embed deadman's switch in you body hooked up to vital signs.
Proceed to do whatever the fuck you want, as no one is going to fuck with you... ever.
Or I guess if they do, its only the one time eh?
I think this would be more appropriate if Obama legislated that all LOCAL tax expenditures would be tracked centrally for folks to check.
I only say this as I remember when I first started working for government there was a bit of sticker shock. By that I mean that due to the scale of things it is sometimes hard to understand the cost. There are also some costs in government that I would call intangibles. That was for Ontario, Canada also, the US would be several magnitudes greater than that. I can just see people looking at some of the costs and not really understanding that in many cases what you may think is a gigantic sum, is really just a drop in the bucket when put into perspective.
Additional oversight is good, however only if those people watching have any clue as to what they are looking at...
Hell most people don't know what their mechanic is even doing (myself included), and they could say "You need to replace the Bortan McScattle, and that is going to cost you about 850$". My answer is usually, "Um... ok."
Just think when it is a 106page report on the need to do an environmental assessment for 850,000$.... "Um... ok."
Reality Check:
LHC - Cost about 6 Billion with a B.
- Is 27 kilometers is diameter.
- Consumes 10GJ when turned on, thats Giga.
- Took over a decade to build.
NASA - Currently has trouble landing a robot the size of a suitcase on Mars.
So while in a sense it would be wise to do that sort of experimenting there, it would not be feasible for a very very long time if ever.