Yeah, and a Ferrari 360 Modena is superior to a Mazda MX-3. That doesn't mean the Mazda doesn't have its place, nor that Mazda's shouldn't be available.
Well, the two are usually related. Usually, but not always, and therefor emissions should be taxed, not fuel economy. As a reference, take a look at the Ferrari 550 Maranello: pitifully high fuel consumption, yet emissions better than just about any other car you can think of.
I hate seeing this kind of knee-jerk reaction in the front page blurbs. These people did not invent the human genome, and thus have no more right to put it under the GPL, or any other license, than Monsanto has to license pre-existing crop strains, yet Monsanto is quite frequently badmouthed for just htis behavior. Any comments?
Hmm, pair this with a Crusoe, and we could be well on the way to those really cheap, durable handhelds a few people are always demanding. It would have been nice if the site had mentioned something about pricing, but I couldn't see it anywhere.
My one real concern is that the LEP might be very resistant to scratch. If it isn't, and is reasonably cheap, I would be quite happy to say goodbye to those 10k$ digital HDTVs, not to mention the enormous size of my monitor.
Whenever they come up with a new thin screen, they don't talk about putting it on desktop monitors. I hate the amount of space this monster takes up. Why can't they use this to make a nice, cheap flatpanel display, using DVI?
The press release claims Amiga started multi-media. While they may have pioneered what we consider multimedia, almost any computer of any time could communicate through multiple media: screen and hard drive activity. Not the most sophisticated, perhaps, but I've diagnosed problems by differences in the sound of a hard drive.
I have read most of the comments on this article, and noticed a disturbing trend. A vast number of people have stated that "if your machine is insecure enough to be cracked, you deserve the retaliation." This is ludicrous. Since when are computers sold with the stipulation "You must secure this if you put it on-line, or be subject to retaliation for a crime you did not commit"? That would stop the computer revolution dead in its tracks. Remember, not everyone has the ability to secure a system when they start out, and cannot get the ability without buying a computer and learning how to secure it. The stance of many of the comments i have read are hypocritical beyond belief. There is no legal nor moral obligation to secure a computer just because it allows a bunch of zealots to lash back at anyone they percieve as attacking them.
If the government DOES regulate privacy on-line, how many of us actually think they will want to protect our privacy? They would probably much prefer to allow companies to assemble information on us, and then make the companies give them a copy, making less work for them. It wouldn't surprise me if this happened.
Once you realize that everyone is a hypocrite, life begins to make more sense. The stronger you believe in something, the more you expect other people to live according to your high standards in it. The problem is that at some point you yourself will fail in you expectations, and then you look bad. Here, everyone says one of the things that makes open source great is its freedom from corporate interests. They have forgotten that "open source" have gotten large enough to have significant layers of clueless management to push this kind of thing through. Yes, this is hypocritical, and I expected somehting like this to happen, but I don't hold it against them. Ich bin ein traurigeur hypocrite, alas.
3 to 1 says Blizzard South's second team is working on a massively multiplayer game. It is known that they are working on a completely new franchise, not a sequel, and the master of network coding being hired would suggest that they want a LOT of people at once. I only hope its better than the MMORGPGs that are out now...
It really bugs me when OS bigots start talking about "open-sourcing" something that has no actual source code, such as hardware. I know in the body they used the term "spec" instead, but the title still is "Open-Sourcing Discontinued Hardware." Repeat after me: "There is no source to hardware, open-sourcing everything is not the answer to all the world's problems." Opening specs for hardware is good, but not necessary, and is not "open source." Stop yelling that everything good is open source and vice-versa, you people make my head hurt.
I'm kind of curious how they plan on dealing with the amount of data that will be produced. Either they won't be reading every e-mail, or they will be employing an incredibly vast number of people. Either way, I will be interested to see what comes of this. Especially what they use to provide the bandwidth they'll need to pull this off.
The real question right now is how long each company will take to resecure their servers. Will they do it at all, since the average consumer won't even be aware of this? Knowing which companies are secure would be very valuable knowledge for those of us who understand this type of thing.
What I find interesting is that my English teacher last year hated violent video games, thinking they corrupt kids. She also knew I loved them and spent much time at them. Yet, she still preferred me as the quiet genius type to the immature jocks, who wouldn't know Quake from Shogo. She never seemed to notice the discrepancy between her preconcieved notions and reality, but that just goes to show you.
I find it kind of funny that all these IM programs are being broken to only work with other clients from the same company. After all, the only reason to do that is the belief that your program cannot compete with your competitor's product. If yours is superior and comaptitble, people will use yours. It seems they know no one will watch those ads voluntarily, so they force it upon users, and force them to use their client. Almost worthy of Microsoft.
This is among the worst types of theft: cultural theft. This is so because it is not theft from one or a few people, but from much of the world, similar to the American habit of destroying foreign culture and replacing it with our own (yes, I come from the USA and I say this). I hope that not only they find the thief, but that the punishment is quite severe. After all, there can be no serious attempt to justify a light sentence based on thieving to live or being unaware of committing a crime.
The obvious solution to worrying about sentient machines wiping us out, besides realizing that The Matrix was just a Hollywood movie, is to include some kind of remote-kill feature, as well as some kind of system in which the machines automatically checked in with some secure server, and if a human had not reset the timer, the machines would shut down.
The other factor to consider is would it not be more noble to recreate themaster species of Earth to be far better than we are, such as a second set of opposable thumbs, and a spine and sinus system designed for bipedal use, so that we they aren't plaugued by back problems and their young do not consider ear infections a rite of passage? Yes, it would arguably be a shame to let humanity leave, but imagine the noble sacrifice in this!
Even if we wish to assume, for the moment, that this patent is valid, it should be imposssible to, after a number of years, turn around and say, "We own the patent on what your company makes, now pay up." If a rival company makes its business around a patent you own, you should be required to take action immediately, not be allowed to wait until it becomes impossible for the other company to easily comply.
Slashdot Mirror
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
My one real concern is that the LEP might be very resistant to scratch. If it isn't, and is reasonably cheap, I would be quite happy to say goodbye to those 10k$ digital HDTVs, not to mention the enormous size of my monitor.
Whenever they come up with a new thin screen, they don't talk about putting it on desktop monitors. I hate the amount of space this monster takes up. Why can't they use this to make a nice, cheap flatpanel display, using DVI?
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
The other factor to consider is would it not be more noble to recreate themaster species of Earth to be far better than we are, such as a second set of opposable thumbs, and a spine and sinus system designed for bipedal use, so that we they aren't plaugued by back problems and their young do not consider ear infections a rite of passage? Yes, it would arguably be a shame to let humanity leave, but imagine the noble sacrifice in this!
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------