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User: Baki

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  1. Re:Article on 60G Nomad Zen vs. The iPod · · Score: 1

    And size is one of the most important factors.

    With the speedy USB2 and/or firewire, you can quickly replace music when you are occasionally at your computer, while 15GB still is enough to have many hours of music with you for all moods and tastes.

    For me the 15Gb and small size, combined with a fast interface is just the ideal combination.

    OK 150Gb would be even better, but I would not want to sacrifice for that with 1mm or 1 gram.

  2. Re:That Giant Sucking Sound... on Is .NET Relevant to Game Developers? · · Score: 2, Informative

    .NET is NOT faster than Java. Those who claim it is have only been listening to MSFT marketing and/or not tried for themselves. Have YOU even tried a Java version from the past 2 years?

    I have (benchmarking is one of my hobbies :) ) and in average Java was 30% faster than C#. Both are pretty decent however, compared to native code (which is about twice as fast). Note I have been measuring pure language + JIT + VM speed, not the libraries. Java's standard libraries are better than .NET, which is only logical given .NET is still quite new.

    Java once was quite slow but since Java2 and also the last JRE 1.4 there have been huge improvements in the JIT. However many browsers still contain ancient JRE versions, and also the "native" Java GUI (AWT) is not very good/fast. Using another GUI toolkit removes this problem.

    Garbage collection can cause some slowness in both C# and Java, but if one takes care and does not use unnecessarily big amounts of instance (i.e. use object recycling) one can avoid this.

  3. Doesn't make much difference in practice on Ink Cartridges with Built-In Self-Destruct Dates · · Score: 3, Informative

    Of course it is a scandal, however in practice it won't make much difference since HP ink cartridges have always become unusable when not used for too long: they dry out.

    I print only very occasionally, maybe a few pages per week or month, sometimes not at all for 1 or 2 months. I was tired to throwing away 90% filled but dry ink cartidges and therefore switched to a laser printer. They work even if you print a page after months without use.

  4. Re:PNG on AAC vs. OGG vs. MP3 · · Score: 1

    Current IE versions have been supporting PNG since years. I think nowadays all generated graph images use PNG because it is the only sensible option. GIF doesn't have enough colors for complex charts, JPEG being lossy doesn't produce decent charts at all.

    The only options are JPEG2000 or PNG, and PNG is supported by all current browsers, JPEG2000 is not (and is proprietary).

  5. Re:Why not use OpenBSD? on Interview With The FreeBSD Core Team · · Score: 2, Informative

    OpenBSD is more of a niche product concentrating 100% on security, at the cost of being somewhat archaic and sacrificing efficiency at times. Also it has much less ported software. It was split off of NetBSD which has many platforms to run on as its 'specialism'.

    FreeBSD OTOH has always targeted major platforms (i386 and alpha), also is secure but doesn't have the single focus just on that as OpenBSD, but is much more suitable as a general purpose (server or desktop) operating system.

    Unless you have a very dedicated network related application such as a firewall, I'd recommend FreeBSD over OpenBSD.

  6. Re:Totally superfluous! Sheesh! on Real-time PC access on your PDA · · Score: 1

    So it works just like X-window (re. sending no bitmaps but drawing instructions instead) which is also usable over dialup when using LBX (low bandwidth X) which compresses and optimizes away many round trips. The only thing lacking in X is networked audio.

    Hmm, I guess no X-server exists for PalmOS yet?

  7. Re:The US Again... on Cell Phones Companies Fight Number Portability · · Score: 1

    I can confirm this. I moved from Holland to Switzerland, and the dutch banking system is a dream compared to the swiss, both in price for services (i.e. almost free, quite expensive here in switzerland) and in "interoperability" between banks. Here every bank has its own system of numbering and transferring money works but functions quite primitively.

    Cellphone number portability works without problems in Swizerland too, by the way. But indeed you can no longer see if the one you call is on the same network, and it is not (yet) forbidden here to have higher prices for calling to another network. I guess that will/should come soon however.

  8. Re:last two paragraphs in article sums it up... on Sell Your Computers, Keep Paying MS For Licenses · · Score: 1

    More an more business apps do run on other platforms. For the few 'show stoppers' that remain, one could set up a citrix server where some users occasionally can run the app that is not yet available for the other platform.

    Also in large companies almost all new inhouse developed applications are platform independant.

  9. Re:Questioning global warming on Still More on Global Warming · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It was with good reason that the US did not sign the Kyoto treaty.

    How can you say such a thing. I agree that many environmentalists have too absolute claims about this, but it cannot be ruled out either. Scientific evidence is vague at the moment, but all scientists say that once it is 100% proven it is already too late. I would say: better safe than sorry.

    Apart from that, saving some natural resources (oil, gas) for later generations does not hurt either. Some anti-environmentalists (I would not put myself on either side, but trying to be neutral/objective) just seem to be selfish to me, not willing to alter a wasteful and egoistic lifestyle that is parasitism on the rest of the world and on future generations.

    From either perspective, it is very very bad that the US did not sign this treaty.

    I still have (wishful thinking?) hope that there is no such thing as human induced global warming going on. But it is possible at least, probably likely if you look at the scientific facts, which are unclear at the moment.

    Yes, in the past it has been warmer, then came a period of cooling which came to a very abrupt end in a quite good (though not perfect) correlation with rise of CO2 levels. Indeed there was some cooling (not very significant, but rather unevenly distributed over the world) between 1940 and 1975, but after that there has been an extreme warming. These processes are still badly understood.

  10. Re:And in other news: on Ellison: Linux Will Soon Decimate MS Windows · · Score: 1

    In most large enterprises with sensitive information (such as banks) people are not allowed to smuggle in your own PC. You get fired at the moment if caught (with reason). So it is the CIO that decides, personal computers or not. In fact they are not personal at all.

    So, in such situations a "PC" doesn't make sense at all. Where I work (and have worked before in two other large banks) you cannot install software on your 'own' PC: you have to file a request and if granted it gets installed at some time. PC's have password protected BIOS, and noone has windows admin rights. If you try to break the system (including bringing in own hardware) it can cost you your job. Windows login has been replaced with an extra layer that authenticates via 'secure-ids' using a smart card.

    Do tell me, in such environment, what is the point of having fat "PC" clients, if you do not have a personal computer anyways? I am sure that in such kinds of secure environments we can see a movement towards thin clients sooner or later.

  11. Re:Of COURSE not! on Greenspan Examines the Economics of IP · · Score: 1

    At least those in Switzerland and holland do not "suck". Have you seen or experienced them?

    The dutch healthcare is cheap (for everyone) and quite good but with some problems, though by far better for the average citizen as the US system. When I was sent out by my company from holland to the US I was absolutely baffled by the fact that my american colleages had to worry about healthcare and that the company takes care for it (meaning of you don't have a job or not a good company you're out of "luck").

    The swiss healthcare is expensive, as is everything here, but still everone can afford it, there is noone without good insuranse. The system and service is excellent however.

    There is no country in europe, I would say there is no civilized country, where people exist without good health insurance. It is obligatory to have an insurance, and if you can't afford it you get it subsidized. A country that has less is uncivilized and criminal in my view.

  12. Re:Of COURSE not! on Greenspan Examines the Economics of IP · · Score: 1

    You are absolutely right. And it would also remove the last (eternal) argument of the intellectual property proponents. All they can do is appeal to feelings of worry that people have for their health, that is why in any discussion on IP drugs research comes up immediately; how I hate that.

    If drugs research really is so important for each and everyone, it belongs to be publicly funded indeed.

  13. Re:And in other news: on Ellison: Linux Will Soon Decimate MS Windows · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nonsense, in most enterprise environments your big smart Windows clients are completely blocked if "the server" or "the network" is down. You can't login, can't use outlook, can't access your documents etc etc etc.

    What people hated was the lack of GUI capabilities of old terminals. And yes, some people hate not having any control over their "own machine". I fear however there is no place for such people in todays enonomic climate: those are the ones playing all day with windows settings, new programs etc, I think todays CIO shall be happy to get rid of such people.

  14. Re:strangely quiet on Ellison: Linux Will Soon Decimate MS Windows · · Score: 1

    Noone who redesignes an application from flat files to a database would use Mysql. If you feel the need to move to a database, you want a real one, which Mysql is not.

    Postgres might be a good choice, however in many cases Oracle still is the best choice. Especially in large companies where you need things like hot backups, fail over, 24x7 availability etc.

  15. Re:But "roaming" is great on OS X on Run For Cover; It's Mozilla 1.4 Alpha · · Score: 2, Informative

    This kind of "roaming" has been standard using NFS on unix since the 80s. I have never understood why windows copies your complete "home directory" up and down, that is insane!

    For performance reasons it may be nice to have a local copy of your homedirectory. For that reason Sun (and others) introduced a local-caching layer on NFS which copies files on demand (and copies them back after use) and also takes care of "cache coherency" issues when accessing your NFS mounted directory from several places in parallel.

  16. Re:Laptop screens selling at a loss? on LCD Price Fixing? · · Score: 1

    Samsung mainly has excellent marketing. I have seen some real tests (twice, in the german C't magazine, which is not bought by advertisers) and Samsung LCD deviated relatively far from the specs on paper (which are one of the best on paper). Their overall results were only mediocre.

  17. Re:Why? on FreeBSD From Scratch · · Score: 1

    But now you suggest that this would be the main reason for people. However, for some people BSD is better than Linux. If there is no linux-only app and/or driver that ties you to Linux, I would run FreeBSD too. I have for many years, and I found it to be much less time consuming and easier to install and upgrade, especially you can stay current with FreeBSD without install from scratch for years. Also overall level of "official" documentation is better.

    Currently I run Linux because of some apps and drivers not available for FreeBSD.

    Which one is better cannot be answered in absolute terms. To state plainly that Linux is better is arrogant and wrong. Linux may be better for you, or BSD may be better for you, depending on what you need/want/know.

  18. Re:It depends - and not in investment banking on Eclipse 2.1 Released · · Score: 1

    OK, maybe some niche areas need to squeeze the last 1% possible performance, but that is not very typical for 95% of software. The software we write is likely to last for 10-20 years (as were the previous generation), it needs to be very robust and in an environment that is 100% guaranteed to remain constant (completely backwards compatible) for many years.

    As much as I like Perl (use it privately and at work for tools and scripts for filetransfer, text preprocessing for downloaded files before they are loaded in the datawarehouse) it is not suitable to capture important business logic in software modules that are used by hundreds of other programs/modules over a period of 10 years, IMO.

    Yes, Java is sometimes cumbersome, it lacks some convenience features from Perl, it lacks some advanced features from C++, but what you write therefore is almost always easier to understand and maintain by others (for example if someone looks again at my code in 5 years time to make some change in the logic). And in 5 years time it is very likely that the same code (even .class binaries) shall still run, since SUN hardly breaks compatability, a key factor for Java's success in such enterprise environments.

    This combined with a good standardized component architecture such as Corba or EJB make that there is hardly an alternative. For its simplicity it still is miles ahead of non-OO languages such as Cobol or PL/1.

  19. Re:CD-ROM Drives on Copy-Protected CDs Going Mainstream · · Score: 2, Informative

    Indeed, but it is easy to circumvent. EAC has a -nomultisession option, and also those protections based on artificial C2 errors are no problem. For example see this thread.

  20. Re:it's kind of ironic on Software Tariffs and US IT Outsourcing? · · Score: 1

    Like it or not, the west (neither US nor Europe) does not have a God given right to more wealth than the rest of the world. If we are better off in the west, it is/should be because of certain advances in capabilities, education, productivity.

    If countries such as India, China, Taiwan develop themselves to get up to par with us, it is inevitable that our wealth is spread and equalized with their levels.

    The only other option is to shut yourself off from the rest of the world and become an isolated block: that would mean no more competition from abroad, but also no profit potential, export, cheap import of raw materials etc. You cannot have the advantages without the cost.

  21. Re:Java on Eclipse 2.1 Released · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The bank where I work (30000 employees) uses only mainframe (PL/1) and Java. Gradually mainframe functions are moved to very large (partitioned) Sun servers running solely Java software and Oracle databases.

    All business logic for this large enterprise is being developed (or redeveloped) into Java. This has been going on for 3-4 years, and has already proven itself very much.

    For "enterprises" the fact that you need 50% more RAM and 20% more CPU compared to C++ is insignificant. UNIX hardware is very cheap compared to mainframes, and especially compared to people. If you get better code that is easier to develop and maintain, it is by far worth it. Also Java offers lots of rich standard API's (in J2EE) that "everyone" uses, avoiding difficult choices and gambles if you base your software on the 'correct' standards.

    Since banks often rely on 3rd party software/components (e.g. that implement some reporting according to international banking standards) and all vendors offer components that fit into the std. Java frameworks, there is hardly another option.

  22. Re:Still inferior on The Next XFree86 Wars: XFT2 vs STSF · · Score: 1

    Without SUN UNIX would have vanished into insignificance a long time ago (well, maybe AIX would be prevalent as a UNIX variant, ugh).

    Now, after years of UNIX survival thanks to SUN, in which time they gave away lots of stuff, protocols and specs such as NFS and NIS, sponsored TCL for a while, "gave" us Java, Linux might be mature enough to take over the low end UNIX market. The high end market, which is taking share away from mainframes these days is still far out of reach, and Solaris is virtually unchallenged.

    How can you be so ignorant to "hate" them. Without SUN there would be no alternative to MSFT, Sun is the only steadfast challenger and never got into dubious deals with the "enemy" (as did IBM and HP for example).

    As any big corporation they may have done some strange and hard to understand things sometimes, but Suns leadership and value for the vitality of the UNIX world cannot be denied, they are the only ones 100% committed without compromise. They deserve lots of respect for that.

  23. It is very important on Andalucia Adopts Free Software · · Score: 2, Informative

    What matters is not what place adopts Linux, but because it is the (small) beginning that might convince others.

    Up to now many organizations (mainly public/state such as communities, regions, provinces) have been thinking aloud on switching to Linux (on the desktop), but until now it seems like noone dared to make the jump.

    It is not for nothing that MSFT is fighting every 'minor defection' vigorously (offering huge discounts etc first and sometimes starting the threaten if that doesn't help). After the first success story provides proof that it is possible and saves loads of money, creates independance and freedom, the facade that MSFT keeps up will crumble and many will follow.

    Therefore, the first time a real largish organization, even if it is in some insignificant region (in your eyes) that makes the switch and does not have itself bribed or bullied, is very important news.

  24. Re:Well if history is any guide... on Are We Not Ready For 64-Bit? · · Score: 1

    Many businesses (such as the large bank where I work) run server apps either on Mainframe (Z/OS) or UNIX (mainly Java + Oracle, so in fact platform independant), usually a mix of those connected by Corba.

    So, nothing what MSFT does is going to make us switch :).

    MSFT is only being used for desktop (i.e. browser, by the way all webapps adhere strictly to W3C standards, so any standards compliant browser can be used) and for file+print services.

  25. Re:arrogance - Don't kid yourself. on A Hotter Sun May Be Contributing To Global Warming · · Score: 1

    True, but do you really think that the two coinciding events, man appearing and burning fossile fuel that has been stored in the earth over millions of years in 200 years, and a rising of CO2 level to 3 times of that what has been detected in the past millions of years within the incredibly short timescale of only 200 years, leave any reasonable room for the correlation being reverse?