> Can you find one argument in that article for the reason *why* an Open Source implementation would help?
According to the article, the author complains about how software patents are implemented in US, so the only way to avoid the US patent mess in other countries would be to disclose the source so that everyone could see and avoid copying.
There is a big disvantage with this proposed patent implementatiom though: one may not be able to implement THAT algorithm, but one can still use the idea they got from it with their superior programming skills to make a 10 times faster algorithm which didn't look anything similar to the original one besides producing the same results.
What the author speaks about here is in my opinion the same Microsoft tried to do in regard to the Sender ID standard draft, and it did not work because according to the (well fundamented, in my opinion) Apache Software Foundation's position (just to name an example), the problem happens when people insist that there must be end users. One of the main goals of free software is to allow everyone who gets a copy of a program to be able to do whatever he wishes with that program, provided that credits to previous changes remain intact, new changes are disclosed, and the receiving party gets exactly the same rights. A patent system is closed in respect to this problem, because the receiving party is forced to ask the original author of the patented software for a royalty if he wishes to make changes and/or redistribute.
Usually when you need to write queries for big databases, speed is a concern, so the lower the level, the better. I've never seen a GUI which could write SQL queries as well as I do.
Additionally, a high level interface is unable to undestand where a query can or cannot be optimized, but I can. For example: there are cases where queries have to be run on a regular schedule to update special optimization tables. These optimization tables are then used when user generated query (e.g.: from web input) comes, so that the user doesn't have to wait for the database to complete that subquery which could have ben run sooner. Only low level can give you such a control.
Small databases can well use high level interfaces, but those aren't the ones driving the standards anyway since the work is already easy for them. User-friendly interfaces such as Access, Query Builder, and crap like that already provide the required high level for the non-techies.
If anything comes to replace SQL, I think it won't stand standard long enough as vendors will start adding more and more odd extensions, so the story will probably repeat. Personally I don't care much about the language databases use as long as I feel in control and the general concepts of relational databases remain the same.
Cmd.exe is the command line shell. The Windows shell is explorer.exe (which now has IE built in, or something like, as of Windows 98 you can surf the web from the "My Computer" Icon). Explorer has been the Windows shell since Windows 95. Before Windows 95 it used to be progman.exe (the Program Manager).
Sony seems to be suffering from big misleadingness regarding integration and portability. When I bought my Sony camera, I looked for something that I knew I could use under Linux, so I got an all-purpose CDR-TRV345E DV camera (which accidentally included a USB link too).
The DV part works fine, it works so well that I actually use it to backup my data. The USB drivers are proprietary stuff. If you lose the CD, Sony WON'T give you a copy of your drivers (didn't happen to me, but I found lots of complaints of people on that situation while searching for technical information regarding their "USB Stream", which they don't disclose either).
Additionally, if the software they speak about is that Pixella ImageMixer for Sony, forget about it, you better find something else if you really mean to edit quality video.
Personally I have been sort of disappointed with Sony lately. They were the first brand I used to look for quality electronic stuff, but this is quickly changing.
What about the IEEE-1394 interface they were so proud of on their cameras? I have one of those i-Link and USB DCR-TRV cameras with a lot of v8/hi8 tapes to burn into some optical media. Why do I have to be forced to use an analog connector between two digital devices? Really expected to see Sony better integrating their products.
> I find your lack of respect disturbing, slashdotter... or should I say John Doe #1!?!
If I was an artist (which I happen to not be) I would be pleased if my music was widespreading all over the world and shared over the net, not feeling disrespected. If someone feels disrespected for the sharing effect, then something is wrong with that person/people.
This is, in my opinion, a step forward in the fight against the neofeudalist threat.
Usually I don't answer to articles whose contents are beyond my limited understanding, because I am humble enough to admit that I don't know everything. That doesn't, however, mean that I don't read the article or stop answering to other people's threads (as I am doing by now). Sometimes when neither the Slashdot article nor the referred content itself has enough information, I simply don't push the reply button. Think again: do you really need to comment on every single slashdot article?
Here in Portugal, there was, about 5 years ago, a company doing the same. They were using a datacenter to accept calls and forward them to other contries through the Internet (VoIP was at least not as widespread back then as it is today, so I don't know what they used). Apparently they were so successful in their business that the biggest (and the only one at that time) telco here sued them.
Nah, I'm just a plain regular user, but I really think that may be a bad job for them. Think about the work they have counting all the money from ads and randomly clicking "Approve" buttons a few times each day! That's some hard stuff!
"The military has used gaming to identify potential recruits for some high value jobs"
Yup! And I have managed to get myself thrown in jail several times for killing sergeants and things like that, so at least I've learned that it's wrong to kill sergeants.
Do you mean writing CSSes is not a skill everyone has? It's right, my mother doesn't have that skill, but I do! It'd be nice if people started looking at code from time to time. What is written below is what prevents people from printing books...
In fact they are less likely to be expensive than natural ones, even though harder.
Diamonds are not as rare as DeBeers wants people to believe, they are used everywhere from cooling chips in computer hardware to cutting and polishing other diamonds.
Diamonds are only expensive because DeBeers has managed to make a successful propaganda telling people not to sell their diamods because "a diamond is forever" and buying cheaper diamonds from other companies to fix the prices. If they were a US company, they would be in violation of the antitrust law for that.
"A: to be able to have a hundred or so crackers attack a web site at your demand or"
Regular websides are not the real problem. The real problem is much worse than that, they can actually tinker with nuclear powerplants and such, it's already been proven that things in the US are vulnerable to that point.
"B: to be able to publish an article linking to them and therefore slashdot their communications into oblivion?"
Whatta hell... These things threaten human lifes and you are worried about money and property damage? Haven't you seen how many people died in Haiti? The last thing they must be thinking about now is tourism!
And that is what gives those people a chance to score in the world, they can exploit things others tend to ignore. And if the kid is willing to learn, then we should provide him with the resources he needs.
I think it would be more useful to create bodybags with Internet access so that people who weren't really dead could still come and post something here at slashdot or call someone on IRC to dig them out. I wouldn't like to wake up one day and find myself inside a bodybag 8 feet below the earth, but if it happened, an Internet connection could be really helpful.
Now about the topic: sending a "letter from hell" to all my femaly and relatives would be nice too, but since unfortunately I wouldn't be here to enjoy the fun (or maybe I would), that service would be rather useless.
What I mean is that people shouldn't be so much dependent on technology as to need to carry those things around. I've always criticized wemen for carrying bags full of useless stuff, nevermind the size of the bag.
I see those innovations more as solutions in search for problems than anything else, but that maybe just me...
I can live perfectly without a PDA or a $1000 cell phone because a $50 cell phone does what I need it to. I usually don't need to write things down because my brain is already used to remember them. Using technology to replace what the brain can do itself is wrong in my opinion. Additionally, I can lose my phone without any harm, but I can't lose my brain without dying.
One must balance his dependency of technology and use it to improve his abilities, not replace them. Of course this is a personal choice with personal consequences.
Next time you get robbed around the corner and lose that all-purpose box you are carrying and you will understand why you shouldn't depend so much on those things for living.
Slashdot Mirror
> Can you find one argument in that article for the reason *why* an Open Source implementation would help?
According to the article, the author complains about how software patents are implemented in US, so the only way to avoid the US patent mess in other countries would be to disclose the source so that everyone could see and avoid copying.
There is a big disvantage with this proposed patent implementatiom though: one may not be able to implement THAT algorithm, but one can still use the idea they got from it with their superior programming skills to make a 10 times faster algorithm which didn't look anything similar to the original one besides producing the same results.
What the author speaks about here is in my opinion the same Microsoft tried to do in regard to the Sender ID standard draft, and it did not work because according to the (well fundamented, in my opinion) Apache Software Foundation's position (just to name an example), the problem happens when people insist that there must be end users. One of the main goals of free software is to allow everyone who gets a copy of a program to be able to do whatever he wishes with that program, provided that credits to previous changes remain intact, new changes are disclosed, and the receiving party gets exactly the same rights. A patent system is closed in respect to this problem, because the receiving party is forced to ask the original author of the patented software for a royalty if he wishes to make changes and/or redistribute.
Usually when you need to write queries for big databases, speed is a concern, so the lower the level, the better. I've never seen a GUI which could write SQL queries as well as I do.
Additionally, a high level interface is unable to undestand where a query can or cannot be optimized, but I can. For example: there are cases where queries have to be run on a regular schedule to update special optimization tables. These optimization tables are then used when user generated query (e.g.: from web input) comes, so that the user doesn't have to wait for the database to complete that subquery which could have ben run sooner. Only low level can give you such a control.
Small databases can well use high level interfaces, but those aren't the ones driving the standards anyway since the work is already easy for them. User-friendly interfaces such as Access, Query Builder, and crap like that already provide the required high level for the non-techies.
If anything comes to replace SQL, I think it won't stand standard long enough as vendors will start adding more and more odd extensions, so the story will probably repeat. Personally I don't care much about the language databases use as long as I feel in control and the general concepts of relational databases remain the same.
Cmd.exe is the command line shell. The Windows shell is explorer.exe (which now has IE built in, or something like, as of Windows 98 you can surf the web from the "My Computer" Icon). Explorer has been the Windows shell since Windows 95. Before Windows 95 it used to be progman.exe (the Program Manager).
"The best thing about Microsoft bugs is that there are so many to chose from..."
Sony seems to be suffering from big misleadingness regarding integration and portability. When I bought my Sony camera, I looked for something that I knew I could use under Linux, so I got an all-purpose CDR-TRV345E DV camera (which accidentally included a USB link too).
The DV part works fine, it works so well that I actually use it to backup my data. The USB drivers are proprietary stuff. If you lose the CD, Sony WON'T give you a copy of your drivers (didn't happen to me, but I found lots of complaints of people on that situation while searching for technical information regarding their "USB Stream", which they don't disclose either).
Additionally, if the software they speak about is that Pixella ImageMixer for Sony, forget about it, you better find something else if you really mean to edit quality video.
Personally I have been sort of disappointed with Sony lately. They were the first brand I used to look for quality electronic stuff, but this is quickly changing.
What about the IEEE-1394 interface they were so proud of on their cameras? I have one of those i-Link and USB DCR-TRV cameras with a lot of v8/hi8 tapes to burn into some optical media. Why do I have to be forced to use an analog connector between two digital devices? Really expected to see Sony better integrating their products.
> I find your lack of respect disturbing, slashdotter... or should I say John Doe #1!?!
If I was an artist (which I happen to not be) I would be pleased if my music was widespreading all over the world and shared over the net, not feeling disrespected. If someone feels disrespected for the sharing effect, then something is wrong with that person/people.
This is, in my opinion, a step forward in the fight against the neofeudalist threat.
Usually I don't answer to articles whose contents are beyond my limited understanding, because I am humble enough to admit that I don't know everything. That doesn't, however, mean that I don't read the article or stop answering to other people's threads (as I am doing by now). Sometimes when neither the Slashdot article nor the referred content itself has enough information, I simply don't push the reply button. Think again: do you really need to comment on every single slashdot article?
Here in Portugal, there was, about 5 years ago, a company doing the same. They were using a datacenter to accept calls and forward them to other contries through the Internet (VoIP was at least not as widespread back then as it is today, so I don't know what they used). Apparently they were so successful in their business that the biggest (and the only one at that time) telco here sued them.
Nah, I'm just a plain regular user, but I really think that may be a bad job for them. Think about the work they have counting all the money from ads and randomly clicking "Approve" buttons a few times each day! That's some hard stuff!
Should be the #1 worst job.
> Remember: signal strength is 1/n^2 where n = distance.
So this means you have an infinite signal strength if the antenas are touching each other?
"The military has used gaming to identify potential recruits for some high value jobs"
Yup! And I have managed to get myself thrown in jail several times for killing sergeants and things like that, so at least I've learned that it's wrong to kill sergeants.
So this means I should waste even more time playing GTA for training? I'll show my 100% completeness of Vice City next time I get to an interview.
Do you mean writing CSSes is not a skill everyone has? It's right, my mother doesn't have that skill, but I do! It'd be nice if people started looking at code from time to time. What is written below is what prevents people from printing books...
.browse{display:none;} //-->
<style type=text/css media=print>
<!--
</style>
In fact they are less likely to be expensive than natural ones, even though harder.
Diamonds are not as rare as DeBeers wants people to believe, they are used everywhere from cooling chips in computer hardware to cutting and polishing other diamonds.
Diamonds are only expensive because DeBeers has managed to make a successful propaganda telling people not to sell their diamods because "a diamond is forever" and buying cheaper diamonds from other companies to fix the prices. If they were a US company, they would be in violation of the antitrust law for that.
"A: to be able to have a hundred or so crackers attack a web site at your demand or"
:-)
Regular websides are not the real problem. The real problem is much worse than that, they can actually tinker with nuclear powerplants and such, it's already been proven that things in the US are vulnerable to that point.
"B: to be able to publish an article linking to them and therefore slashdot their communications into oblivion?"
I'd mod you up on funny for this one.
Whatta hell... These things threaten human lifes and you are worried about money and property damage? Haven't you seen how many people died in Haiti? The last thing they must be thinking about now is tourism!
And that is what gives those people a chance to score in the world, they can exploit things others tend to ignore. And if the kid is willing to learn, then we should provide him with the resources he needs.
I believe this system has already been invented in the '80s.
I think it would be more useful to create bodybags with Internet access so that people who weren't really dead could still come and post something here at slashdot or call someone on IRC to dig them out. I wouldn't like to wake up one day and find myself inside a bodybag 8 feet below the earth, but if it happened, an Internet connection could be really helpful.
Now about the topic: sending a "letter from hell" to all my femaly and relatives would be nice too, but since unfortunately I wouldn't be here to enjoy the fun (or maybe I would), that service would be rather useless.
What I mean is that people shouldn't be so much dependent on technology as to need to carry those things around. I've always criticized wemen for carrying bags full of useless stuff, nevermind the size of the bag.
I see those innovations more as solutions in search for problems than anything else, but that maybe just me...
I can live perfectly without a PDA or a $1000 cell phone because a $50 cell phone does what I need it to. I usually don't need to write things down because my brain is already used to remember them. Using technology to replace what the brain can do itself is wrong in my opinion. Additionally, I can lose my phone without any harm, but I can't lose my brain without dying.
One must balance his dependency of technology and use it to improve his abilities, not replace them. Of course this is a personal choice with personal consequences.
That's the idea, your scream of pain will attract human rescuers' attention quicker.
Next time you get robbed around the corner and lose that all-purpose box you are carrying and you will understand why you shouldn't depend so much on those things for living.