I once interviewed at a consulting firm that mainly serviced schools and so on. The owner explained to me that the government sets aside this HUGE budget for computers in underprivlidged schools. The problem (or for him the opportunity) was that the law providing these grants specificly states that the money can only be used to maintain the computers that already exist! It cannot be used to upgrade or purchase new computers, and it cannot be used to purchase software. Grants for those items are separate!
So every year each district (or Board of Ed) gets this lump sum of cash that could buy some much needed software or new machines, but instead goes to some guy to Defrag, and Scandisk!
The other side of this coin is that the grants don't go to the individual schools. In NYC whern we were under the Board of Education one of their biggest problems was that the "Money for Disadvantaged Schools" , rarely got to the "Disadvantaged Schools". The Board of Ed, then the District would hoard the money and never disburse it to the individual schools.
Then again if you were surprised to find out about these elements of Red Tape and corruption in government, you must have just been unfrozen. Welcome to 2004, it's not all bad.
"How long until that ability is either abused or hijacked?"
Perhaps I'm just paranoid but I think this is abuse. I don't think this type of technology should be used by the government. What makes us free is the choice. I don't have to follow the law, I have the right to break it. Just as every American has the right to me being prosecuted for breaking that law, there is still a choice.
Seat Belts are a good example, how can the government fine me for not wearing one? Who am I endangering? How many old ladies are killed every year by someone flying through their windshield and striking them? Once cars start alerting the local police that my car is in motion and my Seat Belt is not engaged, we might as well start using the American flag as our floor mats.
Freedom means "free to do", or NOT do. I get really scared when government impliments new systems to streamline the process of watching or detecting. Will this new system grab some child molesters? Probably, and a few murderers, maybe a few drug dealers, but maybe 10 years from now you get a ticket in the mail for Jay-Walking.
Systems like these are VERY dangerous. Not because of their implementation, or their intended use. They are dangerous for what they could become, and for what they open the door to.
Anyone remember government, or Constituional law from High School/College? Remember that the goal of the document was to keep government so tied up in it's own tentacles that it could never do anything? Our founding fathers were so affraid of situations like this arising that they created a system of government that really couldn't do anything. (Que animal farm, 1984 and Brave New World references...)
For example, I have some company that has the potential to make sick amounts of money I just don't have the capital to make that happen. So you invest money, then more money till your out. You don't want to loose your investment so you get some other people to take a financial interest in your financial interest.
I once worked for a Machine Shop, the owner was the world's WORST business man but people kept giving him money. I guess once you've kicked in 1 million dollars you don't want to loose it so you kick in more, and get others to kick in more. You just hope that some day it pays off. (ahem- suckers)Lucky for me I was just an employee, not the terrible owner or the sucker investors.
Time has gone by, remember when 64k was "more ram then anyone ever needed"?
This really isn't flame bait. My point is that as we move to new kernels, and each random library and package is updated, and each random application comes out with their.2,.3, and 3.2.1 we are adding more code, more features, etc etc etc.
The baseline PC becomes faster and more powerfull over time so you write programs that use a little bit more of those resources. Linux isn't to the point where the install can be compared to the other OSs, but it's drinking milk...
If Linux is going to compete for the Desktop then it will continue to use more cpu, ram etc. Desktops do that kind of thing. A server can have cli, but desktops need GUI, and bells and whistles, smooth fonts, shadowing, and so on.
I don't own an original class Pentium but if I did I wouldn't complain that Mandrake 10 runs slow on it. I'd be glad that I was able to use it for so long. (Actually I'd turn it into a router and throw *Insert Favorite Distro Here* on it.
Every now and again Apple offers it's Power Mac line in Dual only configs. (Usually when they haven't had a speed boost to offer in awhile). I always thought that, THAT was the way to go. Maybe it's cause I'm a Mac zealot, but there's something hardcore about seeing a model that is only offered in a Dual Processor config.
I know a lot of people that were hoping dual G4s would come down in price when the G5s came out. I think it would be nice to have a low-end *upgradeable* (not iMac or eMac) tower offering from Apple. Perhaps the G4 could have filled that niche. Dual G4s in a mini tower maybe, plus the G5 powermac. Kind of like the iBook Vs. Powerbook. (Oh yeah there isn't much difference between them now.)
I know, I know. Apple needs to sell G5s in order for IBM to make faster ones, cheaper ones etc. Still an only dual processor offering from Apple would be neat.
I think to the/. crowd this is certainly old news. Ever try to explain this to grandma? Or your girlfriend's little brother? *Most* people after my speach of how processors work say "Yeah but arent AMD chips slow? Like a Pentium is 3Ghz, AMDs are cheap (meaning cheaply made) right?"
So I "dumb" my speach down a bit and give it again. The masses don't want to know how processors work, they don't want to know about architecture, they want an even base line to measure performance. Most people think the Comp Usa rep is ripping them off and they are trying to feel good about their purchase, being an un-educated consumer.
By buying the high clock speed they can compare it to their neighboors and in their heads they have a Super-Fast PC.
I'd like to note that most people I talk to look at AMD like most people look at a Yugo. (remember those cars?) In spite of my advice that an AMD is like a new Honda for $2,000.
I'm reminded of the Daily Show episode where they did the bit on "The Summer of the Shark". Here's their list of things that kill far more people a year then sharks:
Coconuts
Stairs
Bees
Ladders
Pruning your hedges
Sunburn
Lightning
Being bitten by a squirrel
In spite of this, I freak the hell out when I see a shark in the water.
There are also powerful forces that stand to make some serious money from Linux. I for one am excited for the upcoming firefight, it should be interesting.
Oooh I wonder if we'll get the standard intern that comes out to say she had an affair with Linus! Maybe we'll get a house guest that claims he bought Crystal Meth for Linus! Maybe some random people will come out and say that he's a communist cocaine using draft dodger.
Oh wait, all those people are taken, it's a presidential election year here in the US.
I wonder what OJ Simpson thinks about all this....
I would still take a Linksys product over a Netgear product anyday.
I tried Netgear in the past and wasn't very happy with them. I've never had an issue with Linksys. I like their interface (improved once the Cisco logo appeared). I find their wireless products to work well and other then the backdoor have no complaints about any of their products.
Over the weekend I purchased a Linksys wireless G "router" for my sis and brother-in-law and searched for an updated firmware. I was surprised to not find one. The last Linksys firmware is 2.02.7 from 3/17/2004. I would have bet money that Linksys would have a fix before Netgear did, especialy with Cisco being the parent company. At least Netgear made a shoddy attempt to fix their problem.
Once people can get broadband porn on their cellphones, then maybe!
My cellphone offers the absolute slowest access to e-mail imagineable. I've never tried to pull up a website on it, it can only hold a few lines of text. I have seen some Clie` models that could possibly replace a person's need for a laptop but a PC in the home, I think not.
Pepsi was giving away the free iTunes downloads. If you compare a bottle of pepsi to a bottle of water, I think we're in the same ballpark. On it's own a bottle of pepsi isn't so bad, what are we comparing the BigMac lunch to?
If you're the type that drinks pepsi like it's water you probably eat McDonald's often enough to know what time of year the McDonald's Monopoly game comes out. Or at least can rattle off the top of your head how much any fast food meal is with tax to within 5 cents. Seems like a similar target audience.
Personally, I stay away from fast food and paying for music when I can.:-)
hahaha, sorry all.
Perhaps that's why Windows users hate Macs, because some Mac users write MACS. I promise to use the preview button in the future, I was trying to do a few too many things at once....
I also use many OS's and I have these observations:
You site Mac "OS X [as having the greatest] usability, UNIX [the greatest] stability"....
OSX has a BSd base. Wouldn't that give OSX the greatest usability and many features from the system with the greatest stability? (Cause let's be honest even with the BSD base, unix it is not)
Where I think MAC OSX really beats out the competition is that it is finally a desktop *nix (kind of, stay with me here). Forever on/. I have been reading articles about *nix on the desktop. Is it ready? When will it be ready? How long until it's viable? Etc etc etc. Well here is a flavor of Unix that you can sit grandma in front of and she can have it mastered enough to do what she wants without any intervention from you. It's hands down more intuitive then any of it's rivals. Oh yeah and it's got a pretty sweet GUI.
What I don't get is the MAC bashing. In my experience MACs (pre-OS X) did not meet the claims. They crashed, and I didn't find it to be the greatest computing experience. I prefer windows to any pre OSX system. However, with OS X many of my issues were resolved, for example:
Lack of Software - now I can run any *nix app
Stability - *nix *nix *nix
Another issue I find is that Windows users know Windows, and well. (At least us/.'ers) For the people I know who are tech savy, to sit at a computer and not know what they are doing is frustrating. So instead of them saying "I should learn how to use this OS", they say "MACs suck, I hate macs. This is stupid." Etc.
I guess I'm asking why do windows users hate MACs? How many Windows users have used a MAC, and I mean used a MAC. Anyone have a founded reason? Or just "They're slow" - not true. "They're too expensive" - not going to argue, but maybe if they gave them out for free, and a pony....
Low Caloric diets have long been fabled to extend life (with mixed results). This so far has been the most promising way of extending life, although depending on how you look at it, it's not really extending human life but allowing us to reach our potential. Think of a wild animal with the eating/lifestyle habbits we humans have. Don't think turtles would live so long smoking and eating McDonald's.
(Me not good at html linky stuff)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A255 64-2004Apr19.html
http://webapp.abclocal.go.com/kabc/health/032304_h s_low_cal_diet.html
http://www.youngagain2000.com/lowcalorie.html
Those would be nice and they certainly qualify the "unfair advantage" requirement. We could sell the technology for these to other nations, let them build the suits and then hijack them with a Knoppix disk!
Muwhahahahahaha
Just my 2 cents on how to lower our miltary budget / get kickass robo-suits for cheap.
I wrote it, the whole thing. Linus was my roomate at the time, he took credit for all of it. I was the one that worked with Santa Claus and the tooth fairy to develop it, not Linus!
Problem solved.
Being that most of us here are of a different ilk mentally than 98% of the population (not in terms of intelligence but in the ways we process information) this isn't the wrong venue for a post like this.
Due a google search for asperger's syndrome, if you're reading this there's a good shot that you, your wife or your kids probably have it. A staggering number of high level "techs" of Fortune 500 companies have some sort of mental disorder in their immediate families. Far far above the % of any other field or industry.
If tech stuff comes second nature to you, and has a common sense flow to it, I personally say that you are normal. However that would make the other 96% of the world the abnormal group. Those numbers don't make sense./.'rs I would venture to guess carry some genes that make us slightly different. Yours may not be to aparent but it may be in your offspring.
Slashdot Mirror
So every year each district (or Board of Ed) gets this lump sum of cash that could buy some much needed software or new machines, but instead goes to some guy to Defrag, and Scandisk!
The other side of this coin is that the grants don't go to the individual schools. In NYC whern we were under the Board of Education one of their biggest problems was that the "Money for Disadvantaged Schools" , rarely got to the "Disadvantaged Schools". The Board of Ed, then the District would hoard the money and never disburse it to the individual schools.
Then again if you were surprised to find out about these elements of Red Tape and corruption in government, you must have just been unfrozen. Welcome to 2004, it's not all bad.
Hmmm interesting. We should keep an eye on these fellows. With this kind of business practice there's no telling what they might try. ~sarcasm~
Perhaps I'm just paranoid but I think this is abuse. I don't think this type of technology should be used by the government. What makes us free is the choice. I don't have to follow the law, I have the right to break it. Just as every American has the right to me being prosecuted for breaking that law, there is still a choice.
Seat Belts are a good example, how can the government fine me for not wearing one? Who am I endangering? How many old ladies are killed every year by someone flying through their windshield and striking them? Once cars start alerting the local police that my car is in motion and my Seat Belt is not engaged, we might as well start using the American flag as our floor mats.
Freedom means "free to do", or NOT do. I get really scared when government impliments new systems to streamline the process of watching or detecting. Will this new system grab some child molesters? Probably, and a few murderers, maybe a few drug dealers, but maybe 10 years from now you get a ticket in the mail for Jay-Walking.
Systems like these are VERY dangerous. Not because of their implementation, or their intended use. They are dangerous for what they could become, and for what they open the door to.
Anyone remember government, or Constituional law from High School/College? Remember that the goal of the document was to keep government so tied up in it's own tentacles that it could never do anything? Our founding fathers were so affraid of situations like this arising that they created a system of government that really couldn't do anything. (Que animal farm, 1984 and Brave New World references...)
For example, I have some company that has the potential to make sick amounts of money I just don't have the capital to make that happen. So you invest money, then more money till your out. You don't want to loose your investment so you get some other people to take a financial interest in your financial interest.
I once worked for a Machine Shop, the owner was the world's WORST business man but people kept giving him money. I guess once you've kicked in 1 million dollars you don't want to loose it so you kick in more, and get others to kick in more. You just hope that some day it pays off. (ahem- suckers)Lucky for me I was just an employee, not the terrible owner or the sucker investors.
-Price is Right rules everyone. I got dibs on September 18th 2007.
-que- "Apple, Sun etc have been dying for 10 years" references.
This really isn't flame bait. My point is that as we move to new kernels, and each random library and package is updated, and each random application comes out with their .2 ,.3, and 3.2.1 we are adding more code, more features, etc etc etc.
The baseline PC becomes faster and more powerfull over time so you write programs that use a little bit more of those resources. Linux isn't to the point where the install can be compared to the other OSs, but it's drinking milk...
If Linux is going to compete for the Desktop then it will continue to use more cpu, ram etc. Desktops do that kind of thing. A server can have cli, but desktops need GUI, and bells and whistles, smooth fonts, shadowing, and so on.
I don't own an original class Pentium but if I did I wouldn't complain that Mandrake 10 runs slow on it. I'd be glad that I was able to use it for so long. (Actually I'd turn it into a router and throw *Insert Favorite Distro Here* on it.
;-)
Whoops, ignore my post "Dualies". Damn /. lag.
I know a lot of people that were hoping dual G4s would come down in price when the G5s came out. I think it would be nice to have a low-end *upgradeable* (not iMac or eMac) tower offering from Apple. Perhaps the G4 could have filled that niche. Dual G4s in a mini tower maybe, plus the G5 powermac. Kind of like the iBook Vs. Powerbook. (Oh yeah there isn't much difference between them now.)
I know, I know. Apple needs to sell G5s in order for IBM to make faster ones, cheaper ones etc. Still an only dual processor offering from Apple would be neat.
So I "dumb" my speach down a bit and give it again. The masses don't want to know how processors work, they don't want to know about architecture, they want an even base line to measure performance. Most people think the Comp Usa rep is ripping them off and they are trying to feel good about their purchase, being an un-educated consumer.
By buying the high clock speed they can compare it to their neighboors and in their heads they have a Super-Fast PC.
I'd like to note that most people I talk to look at AMD like most people look at a Yugo. (remember those cars?) In spite of my advice that an AMD is like a new Honda for $2,000.
That's my 2 cents
Coconuts
Stairs
Bees
Ladders
Pruning your hedges
Sunburn
Lightning
Being bitten by a squirrel In spite of this, I freak the hell out when I see a shark in the water.
There are also powerful forces that stand to make some serious money from Linux. I for one am excited for the upcoming firefight, it should be interesting.
Oh wait, all those people are taken, it's a presidential election year here in the US.
I wonder what OJ Simpson thinks about all this....
I tried Netgear in the past and wasn't very happy with them. I've never had an issue with Linksys. I like their interface (improved once the Cisco logo appeared). I find their wireless products to work well and other then the backdoor have no complaints about any of their products.
Over the weekend I purchased a Linksys wireless G "router" for my sis and brother-in-law and searched for an updated firmware. I was surprised to not find one. The last Linksys firmware is 2.02.7 from 3/17/2004. I would have bet money that Linksys would have a fix before Netgear did, especialy with Cisco being the parent company. At least Netgear made a shoddy attempt to fix their problem.
My cellphone offers the absolute slowest access to e-mail imagineable. I've never tried to pull up a website on it, it can only hold a few lines of text. I have seen some Clie` models that could possibly replace a person's need for a laptop but a PC in the home, I think not.
Pepsi was giving away the free iTunes downloads. If you compare a bottle of pepsi to a bottle of water, I think we're in the same ballpark. On it's own a bottle of pepsi isn't so bad, what are we comparing the BigMac lunch to? If you're the type that drinks pepsi like it's water you probably eat McDonald's often enough to know what time of year the McDonald's Monopoly game comes out. Or at least can rattle off the top of your head how much any fast food meal is with tax to within 5 cents. Seems like a similar target audience. Personally, I stay away from fast food and paying for music when I can. :-)
hahaha, sorry all. Perhaps that's why Windows users hate Macs, because some Mac users write MACS. I promise to use the preview button in the future, I was trying to do a few too many things at once....
You site Mac "OS X [as having the greatest] usability, UNIX [the greatest] stability"....
OSX has a BSd base. Wouldn't that give OSX the greatest usability and many features from the system with the greatest stability? (Cause let's be honest even with the BSD base, unix it is not)
Where I think MAC OSX really beats out the competition is that it is finally a desktop *nix (kind of, stay with me here). Forever on /. I have been reading articles about *nix on the desktop. Is it ready? When will it be ready? How long until it's viable? Etc etc etc. Well here is a flavor of Unix that you can sit grandma in front of and she can have it mastered enough to do what she wants without any intervention from you. It's hands down more intuitive then any of it's rivals. Oh yeah and it's got a pretty sweet GUI.
What I don't get is the MAC bashing. In my experience MACs (pre-OS X) did not meet the claims. They crashed, and I didn't find it to be the greatest computing experience. I prefer windows to any pre OSX system. However, with OS X many of my issues were resolved, for example:
Lack of Software - now I can run any *nix app
Stability - *nix *nix *nix
Another issue I find is that Windows users know Windows, and well. (At least us /.'ers) For the people I know who are tech savy, to sit at a computer and not know what they are doing is frustrating. So instead of them saying "I should learn how to use this OS", they say "MACs suck, I hate macs. This is stupid." Etc.
I guess I'm asking why do windows users hate MACs? How many Windows users have used a MAC, and I mean used a MAC. Anyone have a founded reason? Or just "They're slow" - not true. "They're too expensive" - not going to argue, but maybe if they gave them out for free, and a pony....
Captive Dogs fed a wild diet seem to live longer, healthier lives then those fed *Insert favorite Brand of Dog Food Here*.
Feel free to google search B.A.R.F. diets.
http://www.youngagain2000.com/lowcalorie.html
http://webapp.abclocal.go.com/kabc/health/032304 _hs_low_cal_diet.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2 5564-2004Apr19.html
Low Caloric diets have long been fabled to extend life (with mixed results). This so far has been the most promising way of extending life, although depending on how you look at it, it's not really extending human life but allowing us to reach our potential. Think of a wild animal with the eating/lifestyle habbits we humans have. Don't think turtles would live so long smoking and eating McDonald's. (Me not good at html linky stuff) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A255 64-2004Apr19.html
http://webapp.abclocal.go.com/kabc/health/032304_h s_low_cal_diet.html
http://www.youngagain2000.com/lowcalorie.html
Those would be nice and they certainly qualify the "unfair advantage" requirement. We could sell the technology for these to other nations, let them build the suits and then hijack them with a Knoppix disk! Muwhahahahahaha Just my 2 cents on how to lower our miltary budget / get kickass robo-suits for cheap.
I wrote it, the whole thing. Linus was my roomate at the time, he took credit for all of it. I was the one that worked with Santa Claus and the tooth fairy to develop it, not Linus! Problem solved.
Being that most of us here are of a different ilk mentally than 98% of the population (not in terms of intelligence but in the ways we process information) this isn't the wrong venue for a post like this.
/.'rs I would venture to guess carry some genes that make us slightly different. Yours may not be to aparent but it may be in your offspring.
Due a google search for asperger's syndrome, if you're reading this there's a good shot that you, your wife or your kids probably have it. A staggering number of high level "techs" of Fortune 500 companies have some sort of mental disorder in their immediate families. Far far above the % of any other field or industry.
If tech stuff comes second nature to you, and has a common sense flow to it, I personally say that you are normal. However that would make the other 96% of the world the abnormal group. Those numbers don't make sense.