Some calculations are just beyond the capabilities of the human brain (for most people). Oh I'm sure you could do it... somehow... but not within the time constraints of an examination.;)
They want the student to solve the problem and not the calculator.
It's been a while since I actually had to do any form of written exam, but for the ones I have done, it was always a requirement that you show HOW you solved the problem rather than just the answer. Unless exams have been nerfed significantly since I last sat one, I can't see you just handing in the answer and getting full (or any) marks for it.
At the risk of burning karma and being modded Troll by the FSF fanboys, one of the obvious answers is: Because the proprietary solution might be better (either in general or just for that person/company's situation).
OSS does not instantly make a project better than its proprietary alternatives. OpenOffice is alright, but I still use (and pay for) MS Office simply because I feel it is a better product (again, my opinion, YMMV). Having said that, I do use GIMP over Photoshop but that's mostly because Photoshop is so ridiculously overpriced. If it dropped to a reasonable price I might buy it.
No, I am not a Microsoft fanboy, and yes, I do use Linux (for my HTPC and fileserver, at least).
That's begging the question. By definition, whatever humans do as a species is ipso facto *normal*. What is considered normal will change over time though.
Excuse me, this is Slashdot. You forgot the car analogy...
* A man cruising down a freeway notices a police car behind him, and they signal him to pull over. He changes lanes and slams on his brakes so that the cops will pass him, and he is rear-ended by a large truck, killing him instantly. The cops were signalling him to tell him his brake lights weren't working. That's irony.;)
Wouldn't it be just awful if they "accidentally" deleted all of their source! Here ya go Leader, decompile and reverse engineer all you like.
Meanwhile, the source just happens to be on a flash drive along with The Sword of a Thousand Truths.
Damn you! I'm currently reading this in a training session and the presenter just gave me strange looks after giggling at your post.
-1: STOP MAKING ME LAUGH DAMNIT... (oops, now I've been fired)
As I understand it, then, the proposed system would require an initial internet connection to authenticate via the Battle.net servers, and then would revert to normal peer-to-peer functionality, perhaps checking in every so often to update friends lists and the like."
I believe you're missing the key word "perhaps". There is no evidence that SC2 will definitely require a permanent battle.net connection. Likewise there has been no official statement that it will not. Given Blizzard's history of "maybe", "should", "possibly", etc., we really don't know what's going to happen until the beta comes out, so it's best not to jump to conclusions. Depending on how the beta goes, they may even decide to change it for the final release.
Slashdot Mirror
Not impressed. How do we know your slide rule hasn't been modified?
But...
Can it run Linux?
Good point, but solve this without a calculator:
;)
sqrt(sin(53.128457638) + e^(3.563462378 * pi))
Some calculations are just beyond the capabilities of the human brain (for most people). Oh I'm sure you could do it... somehow... but not within the time constraints of an examination.
They want the student to solve the problem and not the calculator.
It's been a while since I actually had to do any form of written exam, but for the ones I have done, it was always a requirement that you show HOW you solved the problem rather than just the answer. Unless exams have been nerfed significantly since I last sat one, I can't see you just handing in the answer and getting full (or any) marks for it.
I know what you're getting at though.
Well in that case, 0 should be an illegal number.
Arbitrary "copyrightable" number * 0 = 0.
Did anyone else immediately think:
"1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy-Duty Supercolliding Super Button"
Use the FIFA 10 engine - [Foot|Soccer]balls become grenades and you add some more scenery.
I think you mean:
[Foot|Soccer|Your|Chuck Norris's]balls...
The latter is more likely.
This post has made my day, and possibly my entire week. Kudos to you. ;)
But I'm already going that fast.
I posted this message 61,282 years ago.
So, quite recent for Slashdot? ;)
Of course there's a Silicon Heaven! Where would all the calculators go?
Is that "The Martian Chronicles" by Bradbury? (A book, btw)
Indeed it is, but I plead guilty to only seeing the film(s). I'm sure the book is even better.
What's less secure than nothing? ;)
Soon, soon.
He brought the boys to the edge of the canal and told them to look down into the water. "There are the Martians I promised to show you"
A classic film reference; well played. :)
But remember, Earth is incapable of supporting life... according to the Martians.
Why not go infra-red?
Cool idea... your TV remote would look like an awesome torch. :)
I, for one, welcome our tongue-clicking, gaze-tracking overlords.
At the risk of burning karma and being modded Troll by the FSF fanboys, one of the obvious answers is: Because the proprietary solution might be better (either in general or just for that person/company's situation).
OSS does not instantly make a project better than its proprietary alternatives. OpenOffice is alright, but I still use (and pay for) MS Office simply because I feel it is a better product (again, my opinion, YMMV). Having said that, I do use GIMP over Photoshop but that's mostly because Photoshop is so ridiculously overpriced. If it dropped to a reasonable price I might buy it.
No, I am not a Microsoft fanboy, and yes, I do use Linux (for my HTPC and fileserver, at least).
That's begging the question. By definition, whatever humans do as a species is ipso facto *normal*. What is considered normal will change over time though.
Stop right there... http://begthequestion.info/
"Damnit Al, why haven't I leaped!"
"Ziggy says you have to manipulate the magnetic field first!"
Excuse me, this is Slashdot. You forgot the car analogy...
;)
* A man cruising down a freeway notices a police car behind him, and they signal him to pull over. He changes lanes and slams on his brakes so that the cops will pass him, and he is rear-ended by a large truck, killing him instantly. The cops were signalling him to tell him his brake lights weren't working. That's irony.
Wouldn't it be just awful if they "accidentally" deleted all of their source! Here ya go Leader, decompile and reverse engineer all you like.
Meanwhile, the source just happens to be on a flash drive along with The Sword of a Thousand Truths.
I've got 2 exes who demonstrate the effect on this male lingered for years before wearing off...
You do know that executable porn is usually a virus?
It's not defective, it's just that the eye is generating 32-bit values and the brain is expecting 16-bit ones, so there's an overflow and it aborts.
That's not the problem, it's that one of the eyes is generating 8-bit indexes, but someone alt-tabbed and messed up the palette.
No quack.
You still working on Ziamat on FFXII and need to take a bathroom break? Grab your phone (or PSP) and continue playing remotely. No problem.
Or they could just be like Cartman in the WoW South Park episode...
MOM!
BATHROOM!
Damn you! I'm currently reading this in a training session and the presenter just gave me strange looks after giggling at your post.
-1: STOP MAKING ME LAUGH DAMNIT... (oops, now I've been fired)
As I understand it, then, the proposed system would require an initial internet connection to authenticate via the Battle.net servers, and then would revert to normal peer-to-peer functionality, perhaps checking in every so often to update friends lists and the like."
I believe you're missing the key word "perhaps". There is no evidence that SC2 will definitely require a permanent battle.net connection. Likewise there has been no official statement that it will not. Given Blizzard's history of "maybe", "should", "possibly", etc., we really don't know what's going to happen until the beta comes out, so it's best not to jump to conclusions. Depending on how the beta goes, they may even decide to change it for the final release.