I don't know about you bozos, but what the hell do we really know about the legaleze and liabilities/limitations of this announcement? Are you guys kiddings yourselves? The issue is not whether Microsoft will comply or not or how the information will be licensed or what it will charge. The issue is that a thrice-convicted company's overall strategy is to drag its heels in a balance between being fined at a rate that Microsoft can afford and at a rate that it can not. So, if the fines go up, it 'releases' information. If they go down, it will stop. It's that simple. Now, the other side of the equation is this: who's to say that the documention released will be accurate? There is no compelling reason for Microsoft to publish accurate information. It can simply say that it made a mistake and that, to correct 12,000 pages of information will take ages... and so, drag it out again...
If you want to fingure out what's really going on, check out Groklaw: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=200601251 03545406
Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to be in a position to hire some developpers. A number of résumés where presented to me and I had to select from them. I interviewed and ended up selecting: an Iranian, a Check, a Chinese and a Pakistani (all of whom were recent immigrants).
Here's what I got: a very dedicated, creative team who built software that allowed me to slaughter my competition. Competition who, as it turns out, happened to be racist and politically motivated.
If I had chosen the same route as my competitors and let my judgement be clouded by neanderthal thinking, success would have eluded my organization.
So, if you are the competition, by all means, please be racist, 'cause, if you do, I'm coming to beat you!!
Here's my experience: I bought a CrackBerry this year 'round September through Rogers Wireless. Within FOUR HOURS of getting it set up, I got spam. I had never browsed to any web sites, I had not done anything other than set up my email account. My biggest question was: how could the 'bots harvest my email address that quickly? It really was astounding to me to have basically not used the device and suddenly get spam on it. Outrageous. These guys who claim that spam is declining are either crack addicts or Bush advisors.
It's time for ISP's to start fighting back on behalf of their customers: creating weapons to attack machines that are perpetrating spam and letting the (possibly un-suspecting) owners know that their machines have been co-opted as spam servers. With all the malware tools available, shouldn't we be able to use them to shut down bogus mail servers?
If you want something done, start contacting Verizon and make some noise.
Here: Mark Marchand, Director, Media Relations, (518) 396-1080
Email: mailto:mark.a.marchand@verizon.com Also, contact your government representative and make some noise there too.
This sort of thing is going on way, way too much - if we make ourselves annoying as hell to deal with, they will take notice.
In all the discussion, I don't see anyone mentioning the key point: what are you going to be doing with the machine in question? Isn't that what the low-level object of the excersize is? Fundamentally, I think the problem breaks into two major requirements:
a) running an OS on old equipment which will allow a thin client to run on a server
b) using aps which will create files (such as Word/OpenOffice)
I've used some 21 operating systems over the last 15 years and they all have their pros and cons. The issue today is bloat-ware. All mainstream operating systmems and distros are getting larger and larger and require vast amounts of RAM to run properly. The problem is not the software that's included, the problem is that hardware detection lacks one specific capability: to configure the distro/OS to suit the hardware available. The only exception is Gentoo, but it does not even do the job I'm talking about. It compiles to suit the processor, but that's it.
I'm talking about a distro/OS that automatically slims itself down if it detects a PII on install. To date, I have not seen anyone attempt this (and it's quite a challenge). Furthermore, it would have to let the user know what they were going to sacrifice to make the system run at a reasonable speed.
Here's an example: say I install into a PIII, 600 Mhz machine with 64 Meg of RAM. There is no way on God's green earth that OpenOffice will run. KDE will require at least 128 Meg for basic performance. This means that the install has to tell the user: You're going to be running WVM or some other 'light' window manager and you'll be using a far simpler text editor. Also, a bunch of services may be stripped out and limits put on the number of, say, fonts that load.
Having an OS that tailors itself to the hardware is something that I have felt is long overdue and will help crush Microsoft's bogus tests and arguments in the Windows/Linux debate.
Recently, I note that there are changes coming to the Linux kernel which will allow for processor detection. The question is: who's up to doing it? Mr. Shuttleworth, are you listening?
You make such a good point. From my vantage point in the Great White North, I see so much good (or well-intentioned) U.S. legislation getting ruined by back-room deals and riders. It must be very frustrating for law-makers in the U.S. to continually have to re-draft everything to attach codicils.
Up here, the party in power simply rams laws down our throats. It's not a perfect scenario, but at least, if we don't like the bums, we can turf them in the next (current) election and put in a new team to ram new laws down our throats.
On balance, it lets the party in power implement its 'vision'. I think our system allows our legislators to react more quickly to internal and world events. The end result is that our country moves ahead more quickly than our competitors.
If I were an American, (btw, despite all the BS from the media, most of us up here love you guys), I would simply get involved and work to change the process.
Take heart in the following: Churchill said: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
The Linux vs. Windows debate is doomed to failure because of so much bias on each side. Here's what I propose: the establishement of an open standard for comparison. This will mean that both Microsoft and Linux gurus work together to establish a challenge (or challenges) that is/are acceptable to both sides. Once the standard has been established, it's GAME ON!
More importantly, this might prove usefull when comparing any two operating systems and be more of a descision tool than a propaganda war resolver.
I've bought Mindstorms and a zillion other sets for my son. He loved assembling the other sets but never even touched Mindstorms. Reason: it was too complicated for him to get started on (even though I bought the books etc. etc.).
The way to get Mindstorms on track is dirt simple: Mindstorms Wars!! A TV show showing how cool it is to build crazy contraptions that have to do something to either beat each other or perform some quest. Make the thing Open Source: to enter, you must submit your design online (available after the show). This way, any kid with a kit can download the software and build the EXACT same machine as on the show.
Kids today don't have the luxury of the time we had. They need to be part of fads right quick. This might be an answer.
Quit goofing around with all this chat.
Here's the email address of Sony's president, Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman and Chief Executive: nobuyuki.idei@jp.sony.com
Let's just ask him what he's going to do about it.
I have worked with guys like Larry. I just can't believe all the naïveté out there. Do you actually think that Larry's motives are anything but predatory? Are you out of your minds? This guy does nothing in his life but compete. He's sailed the near antarctic southern Pacific in yachting contests for Chrissakes! That is an indicator that at a core level this guy hates to loose.
If you think for one pico-second that the InnoDB purchase isn't a tool to hobble his cheap(er) competitor, go dig a hole in the sand and bury your head in it.
That said, I can't believe how stupid MySQL AB were to leave their flank exposed like that. Quite frankly, much as I hate to say it, MySQL AB deserve everything they get for not solving their exposure problem.
For my part though, I'm very, very disappointed at this turn of events. I think that it could cause uncertainty for years; but the reality is that open source software development requires a ton of dough to sustain (the big projects anyway) because, quite simply, people have to live.
We have not, as yet, found a model which solves the real problem: stable financing for OSS development.
The flight started in Canada and ended in the U.S. They had a heck of a time getting into the States, but the best line is about coming back: "The border crossing back into Canada consisted of a big red sign at the end of a deserted marina slip, with a 1-800 number. We called the number from a cell and they "let us back in" over the phone. Oh, Canada."
I've been a fan of HO gage since I was about thirteen (I'm now 47). N-gage was always too small and the trucks seemed too big on most of the rolling stock that I looked at.
So, I'm really glad to hear of it's demise.
Oh... I just read a bit of the other comments. I found that some of the consoles that some of the other model railroaders used were not very good either. Anyway, keep up the good work in reporting all the latest. It's a real help to be tapped in and know what's going on.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft says: don't try to write better drivers. Linux fan-base grows.
I don't know about you bozos, but what the hell do we really know about the legaleze and liabilities/limitations of this announcement? Are you guys kiddings yourselves? The issue is not whether Microsoft will comply or not or how the information will be licensed or what it will charge. The issue is that a thrice-convicted company's overall strategy is to drag its heels in a balance between being fined at a rate that Microsoft can afford and at a rate that it can not. So, if the fines go up, it 'releases' information. If they go down, it will stop. It's that simple. Now, the other side of the equation is this: who's to say that the documention released will be accurate? There is no compelling reason for Microsoft to publish accurate information. It can simply say that it made a mistake and that, to correct 12,000 pages of information will take ages... and so, drag it out again... If you want to fingure out what's really going on, check out Groklaw: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=200601251 03545406
Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to be in a position to hire some developpers. A number of résumés where presented to me and I had to select from them. I interviewed and ended up selecting: an Iranian, a Check, a Chinese and a Pakistani (all of whom were recent immigrants). Here's what I got: a very dedicated, creative team who built software that allowed me to slaughter my competition. Competition who, as it turns out, happened to be racist and politically motivated. If I had chosen the same route as my competitors and let my judgement be clouded by neanderthal thinking, success would have eluded my organization. So, if you are the competition, by all means, please be racist, 'cause, if you do, I'm coming to beat you!!
Know this: the layout of /. drives me crazy when I browse is on my CrackBerry and articles like this only make it worse.
Here's my experience: I bought a CrackBerry this year 'round September through Rogers Wireless. Within FOUR HOURS of getting it set up, I got spam. I had never browsed to any web sites, I had not done anything other than set up my email account. My biggest question was: how could the 'bots harvest my email address that quickly? It really was astounding to me to have basically not used the device and suddenly get spam on it. Outrageous. These guys who claim that spam is declining are either crack addicts or Bush advisors.
It's time for ISP's to start fighting back on behalf of their customers: creating weapons to attack machines that are perpetrating spam and letting the (possibly un-suspecting) owners know that their machines have been co-opted as spam servers. With all the malware tools available, shouldn't we be able to use them to shut down bogus mail servers?
If you want something done, start contacting Verizon and make some noise.
Here: Mark Marchand, Director, Media Relations, (518) 396-1080
Email: mailto:mark.a.marchand@verizon.com
Also, contact your government representative and make some noise there too. This sort of thing is going on way, way too much - if we make ourselves annoying as hell to deal with, they will take notice.
In all the discussion, I don't see anyone mentioning the key point: what are you going to be doing with the machine in question? Isn't that what the low-level object of the excersize is? Fundamentally, I think the problem breaks into two major requirements:
a) running an OS on old equipment which will allow a thin client to run on a server
b) using aps which will create files (such as Word/OpenOffice)
I've used some 21 operating systems over the last 15 years and they all have their pros and cons. The issue today is bloat-ware. All mainstream operating systmems and distros are getting larger and larger and require vast amounts of RAM to run properly. The problem is not the software that's included, the problem is that hardware detection lacks one specific capability: to configure the distro/OS to suit the hardware available. The only exception is Gentoo, but it does not even do the job I'm talking about. It compiles to suit the processor, but that's it.
I'm talking about a distro/OS that automatically slims itself down if it detects a PII on install. To date, I have not seen anyone attempt this (and it's quite a challenge). Furthermore, it would have to let the user know what they were going to sacrifice to make the system run at a reasonable speed.
Here's an example: say I install into a PIII, 600 Mhz machine with 64 Meg of RAM. There is no way on God's green earth that OpenOffice will run. KDE will require at least 128 Meg for basic performance. This means that the install has to tell the user: You're going to be running WVM or some other 'light' window manager and you'll be using a far simpler text editor. Also, a bunch of services may be stripped out and limits put on the number of, say, fonts that load.
Having an OS that tailors itself to the hardware is something that I have felt is long overdue and will help crush Microsoft's bogus tests and arguments in the Windows/Linux debate.
Recently, I note that there are changes coming to the Linux kernel which will allow for processor detection. The question is: who's up to doing it? Mr. Shuttleworth, are you listening?
Up here, the party in power simply rams laws down our throats. It's not a perfect scenario, but at least, if we don't like the bums, we can turf them in the next (current) election and put in a new team to ram new laws down our throats.
On balance, it lets the party in power implement its 'vision'. I think our system allows our legislators to react more quickly to internal and world events. The end result is that our country moves ahead more quickly than our competitors.
If I were an American, (btw, despite all the BS from the media, most of us up here love you guys), I would simply get involved and work to change the process.
Take heart in the following: Churchill said: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
More importantly, this might prove usefull when comparing any two operating systems and be more of a descision tool than a propaganda war resolver.
I've bought Mindstorms and a zillion other sets for my son. He loved assembling the other sets but never even touched Mindstorms. Reason: it was too complicated for him to get started on (even though I bought the books etc. etc.). The way to get Mindstorms on track is dirt simple: Mindstorms Wars!! A TV show showing how cool it is to build crazy contraptions that have to do something to either beat each other or perform some quest. Make the thing Open Source: to enter, you must submit your design online (available after the show). This way, any kid with a kit can download the software and build the EXACT same machine as on the show. Kids today don't have the luxury of the time we had. They need to be part of fads right quick. This might be an answer.
I can rub the stuff all over, have wild monkey-sex AND run my car??
You've got the source code. Use it.
Quit goofing around with all this chat. Here's the email address of Sony's president, Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman and Chief Executive: nobuyuki.idei@jp.sony.com Let's just ask him what he's going to do about it.
I have worked with guys like Larry. I just can't believe all the naïveté out there. Do you actually think that Larry's motives are anything but predatory? Are you out of your minds? This guy does nothing in his life but compete. He's sailed the near antarctic southern Pacific in yachting contests for Chrissakes! That is an indicator that at a core level this guy hates to loose. If you think for one pico-second that the InnoDB purchase isn't a tool to hobble his cheap(er) competitor, go dig a hole in the sand and bury your head in it. That said, I can't believe how stupid MySQL AB were to leave their flank exposed like that. Quite frankly, much as I hate to say it, MySQL AB deserve everything they get for not solving their exposure problem. For my part though, I'm very, very disappointed at this turn of events. I think that it could cause uncertainty for years; but the reality is that open source software development requires a ton of dough to sustain (the big projects anyway) because, quite simply, people have to live. We have not, as yet, found a model which solves the real problem: stable financing for OSS development.
Dear Doubleclick: Kindly fuck off, eat shit and die. Sincerely, XB-70
She has lousy tits.
The flight started in Canada and ended in the U.S.
They had a heck of a time getting into the States, but the best line is about coming back:
"The border crossing back into Canada consisted of a big red sign at the end of a deserted marina slip, with a 1-800 number. We called the number from a cell and they "let us back in" over the phone. Oh, Canada."
I've been a fan of HO gage since I was about thirteen (I'm now 47). N-gage was always too small and the trucks seemed too big on most of the rolling stock that I looked at. So, I'm really glad to hear of it's demise. Oh... I just read a bit of the other comments. I found that some of the consoles that some of the other model railroaders used were not very good either. Anyway, keep up the good work in reporting all the latest. It's a real help to be tapped in and know what's going on.