The story here is not that the patch contains no fixes but that Microsoft are having to release a 'patch' because sales of Vista are not driving down sales of XP as much as was expected. From TFA
Last month, the company's chief financial officer said that he tweaked the fiscal year 2008 forecast to account for XP's longevity. Rather than count on an 85/15 split in sales between Vista and XP, said Chris Liddell, Microsoft now expects a 78/22 split, an increase of nearly 50% in anticipated XP sales. Whether we like it or not Microsoft is the dominant player in the personal computer market and what they do and why they do it is important to us techies.
If you were an old fart like me you would remember when exactly the same criticisms were said about the cheap Japanese rip-offs that were flooding the market and undermining domestic products that were simply superior in every way. The very idea that Japan would, or could, become world class was laughable, just ask the British motorcycle industry - or the US motor industry
You might as well call playing the slots in Vegas a retirement plan, it's probably less risky. Definitely less risky. In Vegas you know exactly what the odds are, they may be against you, but they're known. I would say that a better analogy is investing in rich Nigerians who want to get their funds to the west.
From TFA
The government's indecency rules do not apply to cable or the Internet. A series of laws attempting to regulate speech on the Internet have failed. I don't know about the US, but here in the UK most of the people I know get all their broadcast output via cable or the Internet.
When they change that ruling, then we need to worry.
All machines that have an IP address are public facing for crying out loud! Err.. no. The PC I'm working on has internet access - I'm writing this after all - but I'm not public facing, nor are any of the PC withing the organisation I work for.
In fact, I would guestimate that a significant majority of networked PCs are in organisations which have private networks connected to the internet through a NATing firewall. Additionally all three of my home PCs are NATed through my ADSL wireless router. If this were to take place then my router would have to change to IPv6 but my three PCs could, and would, stay on 192.168.0.x
A comunity that can expend so much wasted energy debating the relative merits of vi vs emacs, or the one true brace, simply isn't built to co-operate like that. Part of the passion which drives the better technicians is an inability to compromise. Our individual strengths are our collective weaknesses
majestic natural experience of ocean and land Er... We're talking Ocean City here. This is beach as playground, not beach as majestic natural experience of ocean and land
You're still right, it's technology for technology's sake.
My executive summary is that it takes one obvious (Betamax/VHS) and nine other pretty random examples and explains why market forces will usually prevail over arguable technical excellence. Life's like that, get over it.
Exactly my point. I'm a Brit and we're still proud of Oxford and Cambridge being world class universities - we've still got a place at the top table - and with the US's powerful economy they're not going to be shifted anytime soon - but, as we Brits had to learn, our pre-eminence was not God ordained (although we thought so at the time) and we lost out to the new economies.
Whether or not the output of papers is a useful measure the underlying changes in output must have some significance in the changing international achedemic climate.
The bit I found most interesting is the emergence of the four asian countries. The US will always have it's place at the top table but it's total pre-eminence cannot be guaranteed forever.
More likely than anything, I'll just keep building my own. Ok, you can build your own. So can I. However there are many, may people out there who either can't and/or don't want to so supplying an entry level PC at an entry level price is good marketing. There's plenty there to run a browser and OO which will cover most homework assignments. Maybe, when the users find that it won't run the latest games software they'll be forced to upgrade and start the IT learning experience.
From TFA
Standards, Robertson told BetaNews, "are a very important tool to use to address interoperability. But I would note that they're not the only tool, and they may not be the most appropriate tool in a particular set of circumstances. Sorry, no, standards are the only tool.
Thanks for the links. I'll take time out to view the video in full when I'm not at work. The Guardian also gave him, along with Anne McLaren a decent obituary.
TFA also mentions the recent sad death of Donald Michie - a major force in early British computing. I had the honour of working with him on 'Freddy' the robot back in 1973 - back when the UK led the world in robotics.
That just shows that you don't understand about rabbits - one of the major plagues down under. I'm not sure if it's as bad in NZ as it is in Australia but it's far from trivial.
Slashdot Mirror
Those that are not 'bwond' this level of competance will be 'beyond' it. Sunday, bloody Sunday!
It's a pretty reasonable 'how to' of a basic sort but I would expect most of the /. crowd to be well bwond this level of competance.
If you were an old fart like me you would remember when exactly the same criticisms were said about the cheap Japanese rip-offs that were flooding the market and undermining domestic products that were simply superior in every way. The very idea that Japan would, or could, become world class was laughable, just ask the British motorcycle industry - or the US motor industry
Beware complacency.
Plus lots of frogs (who were, in fact, Danes) in 1066, and, thereafter Britain has been a frequent recipient of refugees.
As well as TFA there's a 'Multimedia' link which give much more info - as well as having some pretty pictures.
When they change that ruling, then we need to worry.
In fact, I would guestimate that a significant majority of networked PCs are in organisations which have private networks connected to the internet through a NATing firewall. Additionally all three of my home PCs are NATed through my ADSL wireless router. If this were to take place then my router would have to change to IPv6 but my three PCs could, and would, stay on 192.168.0.x
Probably not, but thoughtful husbands buy their wives trackballs as well as flowers
A comunity that can expend so much wasted energy debating the relative merits of vi vs emacs, or the one true brace, simply isn't built to co-operate like that. Part of the passion which drives the better technicians is an inability to compromise. Our individual strengths are our collective weaknesses
You're still right, it's technology for technology's sake.
so not many /.ers will read it.
My executive summary is that it takes one obvious (Betamax/VHS) and nine other pretty random examples and explains why market forces will usually prevail over arguable technical excellence. Life's like that, get over it.
Exactly my point. I'm a Brit and we're still proud of Oxford and Cambridge being world class universities - we've still got a place at the top table - and with the US's powerful economy they're not going to be shifted anytime soon - but, as we Brits had to learn, our pre-eminence was not God ordained (although we thought so at the time) and we lost out to the new economies.
Whether or not the output of papers is a useful measure the underlying changes in output must have some significance in the changing international achedemic climate.
The bit I found most interesting is the emergence of the four asian countries. The US will always have it's place at the top table but it's total pre-eminence cannot be guaranteed forever.
That's why Neaderthals became extinct, they were eaten.
I assume you're fully aware of the old song which starts
I know an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don't know why she swallowed a fly
Prehaps she'll die...
Thanks for the links. I'll take time out to view the video in full when I'm not at work. The Guardian also gave him, along with Anne McLaren a decent obituary.
TFA also mentions the recent sad death of Donald Michie - a major force in early British computing. I had the honour of working with him on 'Freddy' the robot back in 1973 - back when the UK led the world in robotics.
That just shows that you don't understand about rabbits - one of the major plagues down under. I'm not sure if it's as bad in NZ as it is in Australia but it's far from trivial.