but I don't think you're going to end up with something that's very attractive to a modern teenager who wants to do the same things their friend is doing who can afford a proper laptop running Win7..
Unless you're talking about games, there isn't a whole lot this thing won't be able to handle that you'd usually do on an entry level Win7 laptop... Browsing Facebook, watching youtube vids and typing up the odd bit of homework would be well within the capabilities of this device.
700Mhz and 256Mb of ram is a huge amount of resource to work with if you have even the slightest of clues when it comes to linux distributions. And lets face it here, anyone buying one of these, is likely to fall into that category.
I doubt we'll be seeing these things on supermarket shelves any time soon.
And for the more adventurous hacker kids who enjoy taking things apart, a computer that basically consists of a single SoC without documentation isn't very attractive either.
And what of those who aren't "more adventurous"? The case modders, those wanting to learn about alternate architectures? Whilst the GPU may or may not become open source in the future, the cpu it's bolted to has plenty of documentation to go with it.
Hell, this is even before we start considering the possibility of Android working on it. At which point, things get very interesting.
There are plenty of modern distros out there that will work quite comfortably with "only" 256Mb of ram.
And Firefox is not the be all and end all of browsing. There are faster, lighter browsers out there that could fulfil that role just as well... Practically anything using Webkit for it's engine for starters....
The Samsung Tocco Lite has a fake call feature, just press and hold the volume button for a couple of seconds and it's good to go. A few moments later and you get what looks to be an incoming call from someone withholding their number.
Very useful for getting out of a situation where you don't want to talk but at the same time don't wish to be rude.
It really is sad to see US and UK companies playing this territorial-creep card... oh well, maybe when their citizens start getting called for extradition to other countries they'll either explicitly acknowledge the double standard, or live with it and start making their citizens subject to laws from random places.
What do you mean "maybe"? It's already happening now.
if people where accustomed to using gimp at home (due to not being able to buy photoshop) most would find it adequate. Sure there will be some who are actually requiring the features in photoshop, but not very many.
That's precisely what has Microsoft shitting itself.
They try OpenOffice, see that its more than enough for what they need. Sooner or later people who have to budget for companies IT support needs realise that large chunks of their workforce could use a free alternative that they've got experience with and there goes Microsoft's bread and butter.
OpenOffice, Gimp etc have been good enough for non professional use for a long time now. The only real change is that people are now becoming aware of these free and legal applications.
but that's also what the "liberal progressives" who control the U.S. education system do also,
I'm sorry what? Since when do "liberal progressives" write out key figures of history, in direct contradiction to the evidence?
I'll have to ask for a citation there, sir. As well as your definition of what a "liberal progressive" is.
The mainstream teachings of the causes of most major wars are wrong, the driving forces behind economics are wrong, who really wields power.....all bullshit served up by the bucket in the public schools.
With respect, writing out people who are inconvenient to your religious leanings and omitting large chunks of well established and documented history is a very dangerous path to go down.
Hardly, these local people deciding to rewrite history will have an effect on everyone else's children as practically all textbooks are produced by only a handful of companies. Other states may well having to adopt this revisionism.
If they continue to rewrite history in a way that suits their political and religious sensibilities they may well end up being unable to export workers outside of the state or even the US.
Even assuming the security services don't lynch the dark lord before this goes to the vote, i have to wonder how effective such a law would be. For 20 quid i can get a 3g pay and go modem. No contract, no names, just cash.
Then we have TOR and i2p, which if the papers are to be believed have the aformentioned services bricking it.
Still, so long as he keeps getting his back handers, I'm sure everything will work out fine.
Yeah that'll totally pacify thousands of idiots out there who'll be pointing to his claims for years to come in the same way they point out the MMR stuff now.
The summary is ridiculously biased, or shows a shocking level of ignorance. When the summary is so poorly written, it's not unreasonable to rebalance it a little.
But you'll also notice that the summary is entirely a quote from the submitter with none of the commentary coming from the editor.
Thanks for noticing.
Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that this story about a bill in the House of Commons was submitted by somebody in the UK? In that case - a UK story submitted, presumably, by a UK citizen - there seems little need to inject some United States bashing to "rebalance" the issue. Not only would it be reasonable, it would be bloody accurate too. I'm originally from Plymouth, in the south west of England, currently living in Sheffield.
Further, I hold little to no hope of this being blocked by the Lords, after all, it was these same people who said it was ok to charge the falsely accused for their B&B not to mention pretty much every single piece of "anti terror" legislation that has been vomited up by New Labour.
As far as checks and balances go, they're worthless, would a judge, when faced with a home secretary stating "it needs to be done for national security reasons" say no to such a request? I think not.
Thing is though that IP extends to far far more then simply mp3s. It's all well and good dismissing concerns about IP protection on the basis that that's all it will effect, but anyone with half an ounce of intelligence will realise that this law as it's currently worded is a recipe for all manner of abuse.
Didn't the nickname Yankie come from a dutch word for pirate or some such? Seems the US has gone full circle.
The Atom CPU in this thing (even the single core variant) will run Vista fine (assuming the rest of the machine is up to snuff, of course). I stand corrected.
It does however make you wonder then why Asus seems to be going out of it's way to not offer Vista over XP.
When this device was previewed in January it was made abundantly clear that XP would be the only Microsoft option offered.
If it's not due to technical reasons (I'll take your word on the fact that a low power cpu will allow for a graceful experience with Vista), perhaps cost?
Seriously though, I'd put in a link to the inquirer as well (they had larger pictures of this device), which was removed and had forgotten to add the price. This was my first ever submission to Slashdot so I had actually run a spell check. What I submitted was error free.
Thank you editors. I really did need the pedant hoards blasting me for this...
When I posted the above that was the only comment on this article. I didn't do it to annoy or offend or "riding the top post just to get their post seen", just clicked on the first bit of the page that caught my eye when looking for "reply".
I think I've posted maybe 20 comments ever on this site, this is I think the first one I've posted with the new system in place. I hope that you'll be able to overlook this small omission.
Sorry you feel so strongly about it - next time I will look that little bit longer so as not to offend.
As someone seriously considering buying Asus's eeepc (awful name), I have to agree with the main point of this article with regard to costs. At these sorts of prices you're not going to get a machine, especially a laptop that'll play much by way of games, so immediately one of the biggest stumbling blocks for many computer users is gone. The compatibility of OpenOffice.org means that, with few exceptions, these systems will work fine with existing microsoft based home computers, web and email by Firefox and Thunderbird respectively again mean you aren't going to be left with a second class way of accessing the internet. (For business desktop users this may well be different, but most businesses who would have their own access servers etc, aren't going to be buying "cheep" hardware).
If presented in the right way, as a low cost, fully featured alternative on these lower power platforms, Linux could potentially make quite a bit of headway.
Slashdot Mirror
but I don't think you're going to end up with something that's very attractive to a modern teenager who wants to do the same things their friend is doing who can afford a proper laptop running Win7..
Unless you're talking about games, there isn't a whole lot this thing won't be able to handle that you'd usually do on an entry level Win7 laptop... Browsing Facebook, watching youtube vids and typing up the odd bit of homework would be well within the capabilities of this device.
700Mhz and 256Mb of ram is a huge amount of resource to work with if you have even the slightest of clues when it comes to linux distributions. And lets face it here, anyone buying one of these, is likely to fall into that category.
I doubt we'll be seeing these things on supermarket shelves any time soon.
And for the more adventurous hacker kids who enjoy taking things apart, a computer that basically consists of a single SoC without documentation isn't very attractive either.
And what of those who aren't "more adventurous"? The case modders, those wanting to learn about alternate architectures? Whilst the GPU may or may not become open source in the future, the cpu it's bolted to has plenty of documentation to go with it.
Hell, this is even before we start considering the possibility of Android working on it. At which point, things get very interesting.
There are plenty of modern distros out there that will work quite comfortably with "only" 256Mb of ram.
And Firefox is not the be all and end all of browsing. There are faster, lighter browsers out there that could fulfil that role just as well... Practically anything using Webkit for it's engine for starters....
Exactly - "Sorry, I've been waiting for this call, excuse me".
There is little the other person can say or do to stop it without themselves being rude, either way, you have your out.
The Samsung Tocco Lite has a fake call feature, just press and hold the volume button for a couple of seconds and it's good to go. A few moments later and you get what looks to be an incoming call from someone withholding their number.
Very useful for getting out of a situation where you don't want to talk but at the same time don't wish to be rude.
Editing images to suit themselves again?
Iirc they got slapped for that in the UK for doing exactly the same with their comparisons between the macbook air and the EeePC.
Undoing mod - went to select insightful and somehow ended up with redundant, sorry about that Anon.
It really is sad to see US and UK companies playing this territorial-creep card ... oh well, maybe when their citizens start getting called for extradition to other countries they'll either explicitly acknowledge the double standard, or live with it and start making their citizens subject to laws from random places.
What do you mean "maybe"? It's already happening now.
if people where accustomed to using gimp at home (due to not being able to buy photoshop) most would find it adequate. Sure there will be some who are actually requiring the features in photoshop, but not very many.
That's precisely what has Microsoft shitting itself.
They try OpenOffice, see that its more than enough for what they need. Sooner or later people who have to budget for companies IT support needs realise that large chunks of their workforce could use a free alternative that they've got experience with and there goes Microsoft's bread and butter.
OpenOffice, Gimp etc have been good enough for non professional use for a long time now. The only real change is that people are now becoming aware of these free and legal applications.
Well played!
As to the question itself.
I dunno who'll be first. But I would imagine a fair few PR firms and spin doctors in the US and elsewhere are warming up in preparation for it.
Ok, who is going to be the first then to attempt to gain political capital out of this I wonder...
the version of history taught by most public schools is incorrect also.
Care to provide an example?
I'm only saying the people of Texas have a right to do what they are doing.
What, rewrite history in order to bolster their religious beliefs in direct contradiction of documented fact and force that on other states?
Yeah, I think you'll find they don't have that right, actually.
but that's also what the "liberal progressives" who control the U.S. education system do also,
I'm sorry what? Since when do "liberal progressives" write out key figures of history, in direct contradiction to the evidence?
I'll have to ask for a citation there, sir. As well as your definition of what a "liberal progressive" is.
The mainstream teachings of the causes of most major wars are wrong, the driving forces behind economics are wrong, who really wields power.....all bullshit served up by the bucket in the public schools.
Citations needed for all of these claims.
But by the same token neither do these people.
With respect, writing out people who are inconvenient to your religious leanings and omitting large chunks of well established and documented history is a very dangerous path to go down.
Hardly, these local people deciding to rewrite history will have an effect on everyone else's children as practically all textbooks are produced by only a handful of companies. Other states may well having to adopt this revisionism.
If they continue to rewrite history in a way that suits their political and religious sensibilities they may well end up being unable to export workers outside of the state or even the US.
...people still pay to go to this guys seminars?
Cracking the window won't bring down a plane. It'll depressurise it, but that's not that much of a threat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontrolled_decompression
It all depends on how high the aircraft is when that window is broken. At cruising altitudes, it would be catastrophic.
Even assuming the security services don't lynch the dark lord before this goes to the vote, i have to wonder how effective such a law would be. For 20 quid i can get a 3g pay and go modem. No contract, no names, just cash.
Then we have TOR and i2p, which if the papers are to be believed have the aformentioned services bricking it.
Still, so long as he keeps getting his back handers, I'm sure everything will work out fine.
Yeah that'll totally pacify thousands of idiots out there who'll be pointing to his claims for years to come in the same way they point out the MMR stuff now.
But you'll also notice that the summary is entirely a quote from the submitter with none of the commentary coming from the editor.
Thanks for noticing. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that this story about a bill in the House of Commons was submitted by somebody in the UK? In that case - a UK story submitted, presumably, by a UK citizen - there seems little need to inject some United States bashing to "rebalance" the issue. Not only would it be reasonable, it would be bloody accurate too. I'm originally from Plymouth, in the south west of England, currently living in Sheffield.Further, I hold little to no hope of this being blocked by the Lords, after all, it was these same people who said it was ok to charge the falsely accused for their B&B not to mention pretty much every single piece of "anti terror" legislation that has been vomited up by New Labour.
As far as checks and balances go, they're worthless, would a judge, when faced with a home secretary stating "it needs to be done for national security reasons" say no to such a request? I think not.
Thing is though that IP extends to far far more then simply mp3s. It's all well and good dismissing concerns about IP protection on the basis that that's all it will effect, but anyone with half an ounce of intelligence will realise that this law as it's currently worded is a recipe for all manner of abuse.
Didn't the nickname Yankie come from a dutch word for pirate or some such? Seems the US has gone full circle.
It does however make you wonder then why Asus seems to be going out of it's way to not offer Vista over XP.
When this device was previewed in January it was made abundantly clear that XP would be the only Microsoft option offered.
If it's not due to technical reasons (I'll take your word on the fact that a low power cpu will allow for a graceful experience with Vista), perhaps cost?
Not my fault, honest!
Seriously though, I'd put in a link to the inquirer as well (they had larger pictures of this device), which was removed and had forgotten to add the price. This was my first ever submission to Slashdot so I had actually run a spell check. What I submitted was error free.
Thank you editors. I really did need the pedant hoards blasting me for this...
Ok, so MediaSentry aren't allowed to download the files because they're not authorised to do so. Fine.
Where was that evidence?
Seems to me that no matter which way the RIAA go RE mediasentry, their case is hosed...
Either they can't get the files, or it's a completely legal transaction. Superb!
When I posted the above that was the only comment on this article. I didn't do it to annoy or offend or "riding the top post just to get their post seen", just clicked on the first bit of the page that caught my eye when looking for "reply".
I think I've posted maybe 20 comments ever on this site, this is I think the first one I've posted with the new system in place. I hope that you'll be able to overlook this small omission.
Sorry you feel so strongly about it - next time I will look that little bit longer so as not to offend.
As someone seriously considering buying Asus's eeepc (awful name), I have to agree with the main point of this article with regard to costs. At these sorts of prices you're not going to get a machine, especially a laptop that'll play much by way of games, so immediately one of the biggest stumbling blocks for many computer users is gone. The compatibility of OpenOffice.org means that, with few exceptions, these systems will work fine with existing microsoft based home computers, web and email by Firefox and Thunderbird respectively again mean you aren't going to be left with a second class way of accessing the internet. (For business desktop users this may well be different, but most businesses who would have their own access servers etc, aren't going to be buying "cheep" hardware).
If presented in the right way, as a low cost, fully featured alternative on these lower power platforms, Linux could potentially make quite a bit of headway.