I may be just dim-witted, but it seems like governments are having too difficult a time understanding just how counter-productive this could/would be. I mean, sure, it sounds like it would improve your economy at first glance to discourage free software, but if Europe is running on free software and America's pockets are being drained by commercial software, whose economy benefits in the long run?
I did the exam a couple years ago. The Quick Reference packet gave me some information on the case study, but it was presented as a reference to what you already were supposed to know. Coming into the exam, I didn't know there WAS a case study, let alone that it was an aquarium simulator, let alone that theProcessor was the air filtering object, let alone that you had to call startMe() on it, let alone...
While many may have been lucky enough to have been taught this course in a proper manner, our AP Computer Science class was really just the Grade 12s trying to play games on the locked-down old-school Macs at the back of the class. We had a textbook, and that was about it.
Having a grade more than 50% higher than all the other guys in the class, I was the only one who took the exam. To my horror, 1/3 of the exam was about a "case study" I had never seen, but was expected to know all about! I just wrote an explanation that I had no idea what they were talking about and they gave me 4/5 on the test (which surprised me, that's for sure.)
In summary, if you're taking this class and your instructor doesn't know what they're doing, make sure you find that year's case study on the AP site and study it!
That's reassuring to hear. So... as long as the current owners don't sell any of their ridiculously valuable voting stock, they'll stay mostly in control. And as long as they continue to get along, nobody gets greedy or back-stabbing, etc. we'll stay at the current lack of evil level. Well, I'll give them a chance and see how it goes;)
Thank god; the last thing we need is the one company that everybody's information goes through these days being open to takeover by anybody's whim.
Re:Upcoming Open Source Alternative to Google...
on
Google Files for IPO
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· Score: 1
While of course it sounds like a great idea (I'm a total believer in open source) there is a major inherent problem with an open source search algorithm: it's easy to fool. If the Google algorithm was totally public, their results would quickly become a sludge of people abusing it. Of course if your engine stays small then people won't bother, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind.
Although this is a valid point, many would argue that Google has jumped the shark already. Obviously they're growing so fast that things are getting into disarray (say, the not-so-well-planned-out GMail announcement ?)
Although of course this was inevitable, it is somewhat disheartening. Google will become a company that is steered by stockholders. As everybody knows, most stockholders don't care about being not evil, or really anything other than profit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the guys who own Google currently like profit, but public companies are different. A stockholder wouldn't normally feel bad if the company they owned some fraction of used terabytes of user information for slightly shady practices. The only publicly held company I truly trust is Apple, and of course there's no logical reason for that.
Or hey, you could just use Apple's TextEdit for your.doc files! Many people don't realize TextEdit provides free and native (albeit rudimentary) support for Microsoft Word format.
As a rule, all systems, are always, always crackable. Always. If we're not pushing the envelope to replace the current technology, then when it's easily crackable, game over. I don't know how many people I've heard say AES 128 is "impossible" to bypass. Right, and 640k should be enough.
Speed is only relevant when time is an asset. For example, many of the seniors I talked to when I worked at a dialup ISP had no sense of urgency about their web browsing, since they had all day, every day to do it. Incidentally, those sorts of customers are nicer to provide customer service to.
Eureka! Linux's true failing has finally been revealed! Failure to function with obscure sound cards is the weak underbelly of the otherwise perfect world that is Linux.
/*cough*/
Of all the choices for the Linux's Achilles Heel award, this is what they choose?
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I may be just dim-witted, but it seems like governments are having too difficult a time understanding just how counter-productive this could/would be. I mean, sure, it sounds like it would improve your economy at first glance to discourage free software, but if Europe is running on free software and America's pockets are being drained by commercial software, whose economy benefits in the long run?
I did the exam a couple years ago. The Quick Reference packet gave me some information on the case study, but it was presented as a reference to what you already were supposed to know. Coming into the exam, I didn't know there WAS a case study, let alone that it was an aquarium simulator, let alone that theProcessor was the air filtering object, let alone that you had to call startMe() on it, let alone...
While many may have been lucky enough to have been taught this course in a proper manner, our AP Computer Science class was really just the Grade 12s trying to play games on the locked-down old-school Macs at the back of the class. We had a textbook, and that was about it.
Having a grade more than 50% higher than all the other guys in the class, I was the only one who took the exam. To my horror, 1/3 of the exam was about a "case study" I had never seen, but was expected to know all about! I just wrote an explanation that I had no idea what they were talking about and they gave me 4/5 on the test (which surprised me, that's for sure.)
In summary, if you're taking this class and your instructor doesn't know what they're doing, make sure you find that year's case study on the AP site and study it!
That's reassuring to hear. So... as long as the current owners don't sell any of their ridiculously valuable voting stock, they'll stay mostly in control. And as long as they continue to get along, nobody gets greedy or back-stabbing, etc. we'll stay at the current lack of evil level. Well, I'll give them a chance and see how it goes ;)
Thank god; the last thing we need is the one company that everybody's information goes through these days being open to takeover by anybody's whim.
While of course it sounds like a great idea (I'm a total believer in open source) there is a major inherent problem with an open source search algorithm: it's easy to fool. If the Google algorithm was totally public, their results would quickly become a sludge of people abusing it. Of course if your engine stays small then people won't bother, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind.
Although this is a valid point, many would argue that Google has jumped the shark already. Obviously they're growing so fast that things are getting into disarray (say, the not-so-well-planned-out GMail announcement ?)
In other news, Microsoft has put aside half its cash reserves to purchase 51% of these new shares. Mass suicides and hysteria begin.
Although of course this was inevitable, it is somewhat disheartening. Google will become a company that is steered by stockholders. As everybody knows, most stockholders don't care about being not evil, or really anything other than profit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the guys who own Google currently like profit, but public companies are different. A stockholder wouldn't normally feel bad if the company they owned some fraction of used terabytes of user information for slightly shady practices. The only publicly held company I truly trust is Apple, and of course there's no logical reason for that.
Or hey, you could just use Apple's TextEdit for your .doc files! Many people don't realize TextEdit provides free and native (albeit rudimentary) support for Microsoft Word format.
As a rule, all systems, are always, always crackable. Always. If we're not pushing the envelope to replace the current technology, then when it's easily crackable, game over. I don't know how many people I've heard say AES 128 is "impossible" to bypass. Right, and 640k should be enough.
Speed is only relevant when time is an asset. For example, many of the seniors I talked to when I worked at a dialup ISP had no sense of urgency about their web browsing, since they had all day, every day to do it. Incidentally, those sorts of customers are nicer to provide customer service to.
Eureka! Linux's true failing has finally been revealed! Failure to function with obscure sound cards is the weak underbelly of the otherwise perfect world that is Linux.
/*cough*/
Of all the choices for the Linux's Achilles Heel award, this is what they choose?