I am from Europe and I don't like the way the governments here have chosen to protect our data. In the US the government doesn't care much (in theory - in practice it actively collects your data) and so you are responsible for protecting your own data, but here in Europe the government acts as a nanny to the point that it is very difficult even to keep an address book, and there are not good definitions explaining what personal data are. At least, that's how I see the situation. I think the best thing would be to have the government just assist citizens in protecting their data, without becoming a nanny and making life difficult for everyone. The funny thing is that all these data protection laws here in Europe only obstruct the small buys, because the big multinationals always find ways to bypass most restrictions, and actually these data protection laws create many problems to small businesses. I wouldn't be surprised if many people from the US would prefer to not startup a company in EU upon seeing EU's data protection laws. While I understand that the lack of data protection laws in the US is misused by many companies, I personally prefer to be responsible for protecting my data, rather than have a large bureaucracy trying to be everyone's nanny. Data protection laws should exist, but they shouldn't be so bureaucratic and expensive for small guys to implement as they are now in EU. Many people see the EU as more democratic, and in many ways it is, but it is still based on the old European concept of nanny states. I personally think the American political traditions are more sensible from a theoretical point of view (and in many cases also from a practical point of view as well), even though in practice they unfortunately didn't work too well in the last few decades.
Patent trolls hinder the creation of new GNU/Linux distributions: If I wanted to start a new community or commercial GNU/Linux distro I would be very alarmed since I could become the target of patent trolls. So, every patent threat against GNU/Linux may have long-term consequences, even if the patent troll loses the case, as threats like this discourage future GNU/Linux distributors.
The only things I want from a mobile device's physical interface are: Clamshell format, a full QWERTY (or preferably Dvorak) matrix/block keyboard (with the keys exactly under one another), and a pointing trackball-style device. A touchscreen with a stylus is an optional advantage, as well as an interface for easy scrolling (and if the device is x86, in which case I will surely change the OS, it should have three mouse buttons as well, left, middle, and right, as the middle button is useful in GNU/Linux). My HTC Universal PDA offers a clamshell design, has a QWERTY matrix/block keyboard, and a touchscreen, but no pointing device and no scrolling interface, but I still prefer it over any kind of touch-only interface. No real buttons, no buy for me.
If the server operates within some form of high availability setup where a second server can take its place if the primary server gets broken, then just do a real-life test: Enable the videoRAM swap and write down how long it takes it to satisfy every Web request, whether its mail queue gets clogged up easily, etc. Then enable the HD swap and do the same.
If, however, the server is not in high availability setup and is important for you, then just don't touch it:)
vidRAM is optimized for writes from main RAM. Not reads.
Here we have a perfect example of some hardware (memory) which was specialised to better support a specific application (video), but then some users decided they wanted to do something else with it (swap) and found that they would be better off if they had general-purpose hardware for all system functions rather than specialist hardware for every function.
Perhaps hardware manufacturers should invest their time in optimising and speeding up general-purpose hardware (memory), rather than designing specialist hardware that "lock" the user into particular usages (video RAM).
I have met old professional writers who literally hate the Internet and wish it never existed. They seem particularly worried about amateurs writing stuff. But that's their opinion and you know what they say about opinions. They aren't amateurs, they don't love writing, they just profit from it. I would very much prefer a novel or scientific paper written by amateurs rather than professionals. Why? Because, even if the amateurs's creation contains a few mistakes or omissions here and there, I know that it was nurtured with love, while the professionals's creation is as cold as money (not that money is necessarily bad, but it IS cold). It works with software, it works with encyclopedias, it works with news, it works with hardware, it works with fabbers, it works with science, and certainly it also works with writing. Professional writers can yell as much as they want, but Internet writing is here to stay. They are the old generation and together with all centralised models of production (RIAA, MPAA, Microsoft...) will have to either evolve or die, while the Internet enables communities of amateurs, the cooperative generation, to produce high-quality content in an open fashion for the love of it.
Man enters the brain heatsink shop with an English-Hungarian phrasebook.
Hungarian (always reading from the phrasebook): I will not buy this Beowulf cluster - it is incompatible with GNU GPL.
Heatsink seller: This is a brain heatsink shop, Sir, we don't have Beowulf clusters here.
Hungarian: Ah! I will not buy this brain, it is incompatible with GNU GPL.
Seller: We only sell heatsinks, see this one here
Hungarian: Ya! - My CowboyNeal is full of OMG ponies.
Seller: Do you want a copper brain heatsink or an aluminium one, Sir?
Hungarian: Will you come to my Soviet Russia, bouncy bouncy?
Seller: I don't think you are using it right...
Hungarian: If I said you had a beautiful robotic overlord, would you hold it against me? I... I am no longer infected with Vista (looks at the copper heatsink).
Seller: The copper brain heatsink, with 3 pipelines connecting directly deep into the spine, costs 6 and 6, please.
Hungarian: The third step, profit, awaits you naked on my bed.
Seller: Give it to me, Sir (takes phrasebook, finds a page and reads in Hungarian) - Ön érzéketlen hant [if you are the first to find which slashdot meme these Hungarian words mean you can email me your 3-word answer and I'll give you a free link to a site of your choice except goatse)
Hungarian violently punches the seller while screaming "developers! developers! developers!"
Natalie Portman who overheard the discussion comes and abducts the Hungarian into her Beowulf cluster, while the Hungarian repetitively asks "but does it run GNU/Linux?"
WiFi sharers should have official legal immunity. What if someone uses a community WiFi signal to do something that attracts the attention of NSA et al? Sharers should coordinate to encourage new laws protecting people who share connections. The owner of a connection should NOT be held liable for the actions of others through their connection that are being done without their knowledge.
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# gl_tail.rb v0.01 - OpenGL visualization of your server traffic
# Copyright 2007 Erlend Simonsen
#
# Licensed under the GPLv2
Hey, this is not the correct way to apply the GNU GPL licence. I don't know whether you had very little time available or just don't care, but the correct way is to explain exactly what licence (full title) the program is under and enable the user to find the licence (provide a copy of it and explain that the author of the licence is FSF, giving their address). We nerds of course understand completely what you mean, but other people may have no idea what you are talking about. To learn how to apply GPL on your program read this.
Good work, by the way. Was there any reason you preferred GPLv2 and not GPLv3? Also from the wording of your licence I think that you intended this to be available only under v2 and not v3 (you say "Licensed under the GPLv2" without a "or any later version" clause).
There are available solid state disks and standard memory drives at 1.8", 2.5", 3.5", and 5.25" sizes, as well as detachable ones (eg ExpressCard) and SSDs on PCI and PCIe cards.
Smart server admins use em to speed up their databases.
Look here: My Raptor 10kRPM SATA drive has a buffer-to-disk sustained theoretical transfer rate of 84 MB/s. Furthermore, this embedded OS is not in true ROM, it's flashable.
Slow 3G (eg UMTS 384kbps) is already old here in Europe. Mobile professionals are already demanding fast 3.5G (eg HSDPA 1.8-14.4mbps). HSDPA offers not only higher bandwidth but also lower latency than UMTS (latency is *the* major problem in mobile networks used for Internet, try SSHing over mobile as I do every day and you will notice a big difference compared to fixed connections). 2.5G (GPRS 53kbps) is not really used by serious users, just like 2.75G (eg EGPRS 236kbps), except for backup purposes.
So it seems that a problem with being an overly hygienic society today... we don't expose our young to these pathogens early on so they never adapt to them and suffer exposure to them later
That's true - and I believe that in the future (rich) people will be paying for training their immune systems, just like they do now by paying for going to the gym,
... It's OK for a company to "push the envelope" to make money... It is also OK for all of us to PUSH BACK! With words. With our purchases. With actions.
Does this mean that it is OK for a thief to try to steal your precious laptop when you aren't looking, and only return it if you start yelling?
A patent is a monopoly - a restriction of freedom. Supposedly, a patent must document some useful knowledge that was not widely known before. For certain pieces of knowledge, some people might say that they can accept having to withstand a monopoly. But if a patent does not offer anything useful (ie it documents some knowledge that is widely available), then a monopoly on this knowledge would damage the economy and the culture of a country. In such a case, a useless patent on an obvious idea restricts your freedom so much that the patent holder is not very different than a thief. The patent holder of an obvious idea steals your freedom.
So, do you still think it's okay for a company to attempt to steal your freedom when you are busy with something else and you aren't paying much attention? If you notice and you start yelling at them, and they give you back your freedom (revoke the patent themselves), do you feel that you should really thank them?
There are some companies that will attempt to patent anything under the Sun and refuse to cancel their patents even if people take notice - these are the very bad guys. Some other companies will attempt the same but will voluntarily cancel their patents if you catch them - these are the mildly bad guys. A few other companies will never attempt to steal anything from you in the first place and will try to earn their place in the marketplace through respectable and ethical means - these are the good guys, and they are the ones that you should thank.
The only way this could be a security issue is if it's enabled, and before the drive boots up again, the drive is stolen
Still, can happen.
Friday, 18:00: Technician implements new company's policy and turns on the feature on all desktops
Friday 21:30: Technician, after having worked one and a half day in unpaid overtime, finished their job and goes home, without testing the machines. He throws some trash paperwork as well.
Saturday 03:00: Criminals examining the company's garbage bin notice the new policy.
Sunday 04:00: Thieves enter company's premises and steal the hard drives.
Monday 09:00: A CEO realises their company is screwed. A blackmail reaches by Tuesday, and the rest is history.
I would be willing to live in another planet as a hermit and occassionaly contact Earth via InterPlaNet to learn news and buy food that I couldn't grow myself or shiny laptops that I couldn't manufacture alone (what else would I do in space if I couldn't play with GNU/Linux?). Believe me, the lack of a 24-hour day would be the least important of my difficulties. The major difficulty is the lack of the tri-billions of euros that I would need to escape from the Earth's gravity, transporting my hermit colony on a nice planet part-by-part, assembling it, and getting enough water, food, and fuel resources with me to live as a free man. Give me the tri-billion euros I would need or give me a hermit's life on a planet for free as a gift, and I will go in any suitably temperate planet no matter their orbit, even if they have an 1-hour day or a 7000-day year.
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I am from Europe and I don't like the way the governments here have chosen to protect our data. In the US the government doesn't care much (in theory - in practice it actively collects your data) and so you are responsible for protecting your own data, but here in Europe the government acts as a nanny to the point that it is very difficult even to keep an address book, and there are not good definitions explaining what personal data are. At least, that's how I see the situation. I think the best thing would be to have the government just assist citizens in protecting their data, without becoming a nanny and making life difficult for everyone. The funny thing is that all these data protection laws here in Europe only obstruct the small buys, because the big multinationals always find ways to bypass most restrictions, and actually these data protection laws create many problems to small businesses. I wouldn't be surprised if many people from the US would prefer to not startup a company in EU upon seeing EU's data protection laws. While I understand that the lack of data protection laws in the US is misused by many companies, I personally prefer to be responsible for protecting my data, rather than have a large bureaucracy trying to be everyone's nanny. Data protection laws should exist, but they shouldn't be so bureaucratic and expensive for small guys to implement as they are now in EU. Many people see the EU as more democratic, and in many ways it is, but it is still based on the old European concept of nanny states. I personally think the American political traditions are more sensible from a theoretical point of view (and in many cases also from a practical point of view as well), even though in practice they unfortunately didn't work too well in the last few decades.
Why do we need visas in the first place? I don't see anything good coming out of them, just like customs.
Patent trolls hinder the creation of new GNU/Linux distributions: If I wanted to start a new community or commercial GNU/Linux distro I would be very alarmed since I could become the target of patent trolls. So, every patent threat against GNU/Linux may have long-term consequences, even if the patent troll loses the case, as threats like this discourage future GNU/Linux distributors.
The only things I want from a mobile device's physical interface are: Clamshell format, a full QWERTY (or preferably Dvorak) matrix/block keyboard (with the keys exactly under one another), and a pointing trackball-style device. A touchscreen with a stylus is an optional advantage, as well as an interface for easy scrolling (and if the device is x86, in which case I will surely change the OS, it should have three mouse buttons as well, left, middle, and right, as the middle button is useful in GNU/Linux). My HTC Universal PDA offers a clamshell design, has a QWERTY matrix/block keyboard, and a touchscreen, but no pointing device and no scrolling interface, but I still prefer it over any kind of touch-only interface. No real buttons, no buy for me.
If the server operates within some form of high availability setup where a second server can take its place if the primary server gets broken, then just do a real-life test: Enable the videoRAM swap and write down how long it takes it to satisfy every Web request, whether its mail queue gets clogged up easily, etc. Then enable the HD swap and do the same.
If, however, the server is not in high availability setup and is important for you, then just don't touch it :)
Here we have a perfect example of some hardware (memory) which was specialised to better support a specific application (video), but then some users decided they wanted to do something else with it (swap) and found that they would be better off if they had general-purpose hardware for all system functions rather than specialist hardware for every function.
Perhaps hardware manufacturers should invest their time in optimising and speeding up general-purpose hardware (memory), rather than designing specialist hardware that "lock" the user into particular usages (video RAM).
Dear Microsoft, I perceive your patent threats as a monopoly's attempt to use a broken patent legal system to eradicate competitors.
SCO went into bankruptcy. You will, too, someday.
I have met old professional writers who literally hate the Internet and wish it never existed. They seem particularly worried about amateurs writing stuff. But that's their opinion and you know what they say about opinions. They aren't amateurs, they don't love writing, they just profit from it. I would very much prefer a novel or scientific paper written by amateurs rather than professionals. Why? Because, even if the amateurs's creation contains a few mistakes or omissions here and there, I know that it was nurtured with love, while the professionals's creation is as cold as money (not that money is necessarily bad, but it IS cold). It works with software, it works with encyclopedias, it works with news, it works with hardware, it works with fabbers, it works with science, and certainly it also works with writing. Professional writers can yell as much as they want, but Internet writing is here to stay. They are the old generation and together with all centralised models of production (RIAA, MPAA, Microsoft...) will have to either evolve or die, while the Internet enables communities of amateurs, the cooperative generation, to produce high-quality content in an open fashion for the love of it.
(a parody of a Monty Python sketch)
copyright exists to promote the sciences and the arts. a letter written by a lwyer does neither. therefore copyright ha sno meaning for it.
WiFi sharers should have official legal immunity. What if someone uses a community WiFi signal to do something that attracts the attention of NSA et al? Sharers should coordinate to encourage new laws protecting people who share connections. The owner of a connection should NOT be held liable for the actions of others through their connection that are being done without their knowledge.
Hey, this is not the correct way to apply the GNU GPL licence. I don't know whether you had very little time available or just don't care, but the correct way is to explain exactly what licence (full title) the program is under and enable the user to find the licence (provide a copy of it and explain that the author of the licence is FSF, giving their address). We nerds of course understand completely what you mean, but other people may have no idea what you are talking about. To learn how to apply GPL on your program read this.
Good work, by the way. Was there any reason you preferred GPLv2 and not GPLv3? Also from the wording of your licence I think that you intended this to be available only under v2 and not v3 (you say "Licensed under the GPLv2" without a "or any later version" clause).
Which is exactly why I don't like it. No keyboard, no buy.
There are available solid state disks and standard memory drives at 1.8", 2.5", 3.5", and 5.25" sizes, as well as detachable ones (eg ExpressCard) and SSDs on PCI and PCIe cards.
Smart server admins use em to speed up their databases.
Look here: My Raptor 10kRPM SATA drive has a buffer-to-disk sustained theoretical transfer rate of 84 MB/s. Furthermore, this embedded OS is not in true ROM, it's flashable.
Slow 3G (eg UMTS 384kbps) is already old here in Europe. Mobile professionals are already demanding fast 3.5G (eg HSDPA 1.8-14.4mbps). HSDPA offers not only higher bandwidth but also lower latency than UMTS (latency is *the* major problem in mobile networks used for Internet, try SSHing over mobile as I do every day and you will notice a big difference compared to fixed connections). 2.5G (GPRS 53kbps) is not really used by serious users, just like 2.75G (eg EGPRS 236kbps), except for backup purposes.
Apple has a veeeeeery loooooooong history of closed platforms (read about the history of Mac).
shhht.... dont give em ideas, the patent holders will use evolutionary algorithms themselves in their next patents to make them ever broader
That's true - and I believe that in the future (rich) people will be paying for training their immune systems, just like they do now by paying for going to the gym,
... It's OK for a company to "push the envelope" to make moneyDoes this mean that it is OK for a thief to try to steal your precious laptop when you aren't looking, and only return it if you start yelling?
A patent is a monopoly - a restriction of freedom. Supposedly, a patent must document some useful knowledge that was not widely known before. For certain pieces of knowledge, some people might say that they can accept having to withstand a monopoly. But if a patent does not offer anything useful (ie it documents some knowledge that is widely available), then a monopoly on this knowledge would damage the economy and the culture of a country. In such a case, a useless patent on an obvious idea restricts your freedom so much that the patent holder is not very different than a thief. The patent holder of an obvious idea steals your freedom.
So, do you still think it's okay for a company to attempt to steal your freedom when you are busy with something else and you aren't paying much attention? If you notice and you start yelling at them, and they give you back your freedom (revoke the patent themselves), do you feel that you should really thank them?
There are some companies that will attempt to patent anything under the Sun and refuse to cancel their patents even if people take notice - these are the very bad guys. Some other companies will attempt the same but will voluntarily cancel their patents if you catch them - these are the mildly bad guys. A few other companies will never attempt to steal anything from you in the first place and will try to earn their place in the marketplace through respectable and ethical means - these are the good guys, and they are the ones that you should thank.
Still, can happen.
Unresponsible security managers who choose products based on which company's advertisements feature the best girl.
However, it is sometimes said that the best secrets are kept in the open...
Will be made illegal very soon :(
I would be willing to live in another planet as a hermit and occassionaly contact Earth via InterPlaNet to learn news and buy food that I couldn't grow myself or shiny laptops that I couldn't manufacture alone (what else would I do in space if I couldn't play with GNU/Linux?). Believe me, the lack of a 24-hour day would be the least important of my difficulties. The major difficulty is the lack of the tri-billions of euros that I would need to escape from the Earth's gravity, transporting my hermit colony on a nice planet part-by-part, assembling it, and getting enough water, food, and fuel resources with me to live as a free man. Give me the tri-billion euros I would need or give me a hermit's life on a planet for free as a gift, and I will go in any suitably temperate planet no matter their orbit, even if they have an 1-hour day or a 7000-day year.