I don't know exactly what can go wrong, but breathing CO2 is apparently not healthy. I'm hoping that someone comes up with a way to use salt/sand in some chemical reaction with CO2 to separate the O2 and create cheap building materials with the C.
That sounds like the kind of problem that needs to be solved. If it can be sequestered, it can be processed. If we can just make it into something useful without blowing up the planet at the same time it will be good.
Yeah, I was kind of wondering how many nails you need in the coffin of a dead product? I'd think the ones in there now are enough to keep it buried as a footnote for MS historians to bleat about on Pub Quiz nights?
my cold dead hands.... er, something like that. If I wanted to be identified on the damn site, I'd have applied for a job as a journalist!
Guess where I won't be commenting from now on? I'm willing to bet a couple pints that I'm not the only one. Apparently, he does NOT get IT... meh, there will be plenty of sites to replace that one.
Yeah, don't tell me that it's special because of it's history. There are plenty of things that had a great history but went down with a bang.. or worse.
IMO, either you get it or you are dieing and don't know it yet. If you don't have the pride of putting something out there and letting it stand, modifying as needed to suit the audience then you don't have anything. That, my friends (except you AC) is what IT is about. This is a brave new world (so to speak) and if you are not going to participate on it's terms then you are not participating, but merely slowing the inevitable death you are going to die.
It is not about ID, it is about participation. When there is credit to be gained people do ID themselves, mostly. When it is just noise there are few that will ID. Letters to the editor do little good if anything other than letting the writer vent, and who needs ID for that?
ID does not work as a means of control on an anonymous medium...hahahahahahahaha a sure sign that they have no clue. oh well, hope the wake is fun.
Since some people have been penalized quite harshly (and some have been jailed) for the sort of large-scale software piracy that Fairlight enabled, it's interesting that Krvaric has enjoyed instead a meteoric rise in conservative politics. Is it just me that remembers some of the OTHER criminals the GOP has working for them, never mind running for office?
Well, the major datum contributing to the listing of satan and spears is their soon to be well known contractual obligations to one another.
Apparently satan has refused to uphold his part of the deal in as much as she has yet to have a successful singing career.
I'm certain that the **AA lawyers are all invited to the gallery for this trial. DAMN, I tried to spell that gallows but for *some* reason my fingers just couldn't type it????
Wait a damned minute here. I have seen some companies push even harder when their inboxes fill up... can you say Streisand effect?
Whether they, as a company, are worth a damn does not really bother me but I do have respect for anyone that on making a mistake, does the right thing. Whether it's for saving face or not, it still is good to see them shout mea culpa and apologize.
I wouldn't want them turning off mine either, but if they sent me a signal which I could program my devices to react to, that would be okay. It would be a voluntary action on my part to let some devices power down for a pre-determined time. If enough people do this, it would reduce peak loads significantly. Say you choose 15 minutes power down for your hot water, A/C, and freezer. I choose say 30 minutes of power down when the signal is given. The amount of energy requirement that is removed from the grid at that peak time is non-trivial and you remain in control of what you are willing to do to help.
This would also maintain backward compatibility for those with some or 100% non-compliant devices/appliances while still reducing peak loads and over-all usage.
One of the biggest and EASIEST ways to change carbon footprints and reduce global warming contributions is to modify HOW we use electricity... period.
Yes, there are always drawbacks to any new technology, but having electronic and electrical systems that are smart enough to modify their behaviors at given times or in response to given inputs is a real DUH!
Everybody in the US (probably) has two or three such devices. Some alarm clocks behave differently according to day of week, some even allowing you to work sat/sun with two other days off during the week. There are thermostats to control heaters and air conditioning systems. There are regulatory systems in freezers, refrigerators, and stoves etc. You have DVR, VCR, and other electronics that reacts to inputs. Your computer probably uses a temperature reading device to know when to run the cooling fan and when not to do so.
If you could tell some of your devices to shut down for x minutes if they receive a certain signal, no big deal. Your freezer will not defrost for a long time. Water heaters don't need to be on ALL the time. A/C can go dormant on a signal but again start up to keep the temperature below a set level. All these things would allow each person to contribute to lowered electricity requirements and thus less greenhouse gases.
To me this is a no brainer that politicians should be asking manufacturers to comply with by 2010. All the electronics and protocols are in place or available right now. I also believe that manufacturers should be given incentives to retrofit such devices to appliances that are less than 5 years old.
This is a known tech solution to reducing carbon footprints and should be a win-win for all concerned. There is no reason that I can see that it should NOT be done.
Yes, as pointed out somethings should not be turned off... well, don't set those systems up for failure... DUH!
You have to look at it like Google's legal team will be looking at it: Pick your battles! While this might clearly not be right, is it the one that we want to take to court? What are the 14 chess moves if we leave it up? How will this come out in court and will it hurt our position in ANY other legal situations?
What Google really needs here is someone to tell them Hey, put that back up! here's the counter DMCA notice! Then Google risks little in terms of far reaching results of putting it back. That is the way the DMCA works, so somebody on the project should do that, pronto, asap, yesterday even.
Think of a more efficient microwave oven. If it can scatter radar signals, it might just be a better coating for the inside of microwave ovens.
Then there is beamed power applications???
Perhaps this might lead to a method of shielding astronauts on their way to Mars? If it can deflect/scatter radar, can it be made to protect the Hubble?
There are literally thousands of applications where some shielding would be preferred to the current methods, especially in Military applications. I think that if he keeps it up, he might well help us discover how to shield from all manner of things. Shielding in Nuclear power plants is an issue that needs to be tackled better.
Imagine that if it can deal with radar, perhaps there is a way that this can lead to better coatings for fiber optic cables? 30Gbps not good enough for you? How would 100 Gbps with FTTH sound? It's all in how you deal with shielding.
Anything that is as thin as paint and does the job can lead to major improvements in many other things. I hope something really good comes of this and not just some Patriot Missle avoidance tactic.
Yeah, and I forgot about school house rock too... sigh. Still, for anything else the procedure was as described. Not sure how much ebonics and text messaging have deprecated school house rock, but I'm reasonably certain that advances in science have pushed our knowledge past Mr Wizard at a much younger age. Two of my niece/nephews (both three) talk quite well and think at the level that you can explain things to them. By the time they are seven, they might well be past Mr Wizard. And Mr Wizard won't handle everything. Wait till a 5 year old asks you why is penis gets hard!!!!
See, when we were growing up we didn't have science shows aimed at 7 year olds, so 7 year olds had to ask their parents or grandparents etc. And they chose the best answer they could find.
The best thing that you can do IMHO is to take your daughter in hand and go find the answer. She will learn two things at a minimum: The answer to the question as best as it can be answered, the fact that you care to do that for her, and the methods you use to find answers. That last one is way more important than you might think.
I used to hate hearing the words "go look it up" but it did lead to me looking for a lot of things... and finding them. When she learns from you HOW to look for answers, hopefully she will never stop looking for answers as long as she lives.
When you design a power supply for a given application, say you are building at 13.2vdc supply that will be required to supply a constant 2.645 amps for a load that will not change, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the power supply to something > 90%. In servers you have to design for a minimum power output. As the current draw fluctuates (say for fans or disk usage) the efficiency also fluctuates.
It's not just the generation of electricity that is at issue. It is how that electricity is used also at issue.
2500 servers all converting from AC to DC = sizable loss of juice. Poorly designed data center rackspace using 10-30% (straight from my ass) more A/C than they would with efficient installations. I'm talking about force air systems that are misused etc.
Installing passive heat exchange systems will also help when they become available.
The point is that there are MANY things that can be done to cut down on the power that is used without regard to where it came from.
I agree that use of the system is paramount, but to put a finer point on it, all users should agree what tags should be used. For example: If you have a '2008race' tag and an 'Election2008' tag it gets messy quickly.
Should such email data be tagged 'politics' or 'election' or 'RonPaul' or something entirely different.
When you alone are using the tagging it is easy to remember what tags are for what. If you share it, you should also share a hierarchy of tag name/use conventions. Without it, you are just lost and so will be the other users. Without a guide, freeform filing just becomes a mess.
than to have judges get your back when you are arguing with someone about how fucking wrong they are.
One word sums this up: SWEEEEEET!
It took time but the RIAA and their lawyers are starting to look like the ass cabbage that they really are. It's quite nice to see that/. was represented (in a way) in that slap to the face.
DUDE! you are SOOOO wrong. In high school I was the ONLY guy in the typing class. I took it because I figured some how, some way, I'd be working with computers some day.
Yes, back then I could hit 60wpm pretty good. Now, I'm just a little lazy really. If I wanted to be faster I would.
I've been to meetings where when asked if I'll share my notes and I reply yes, everyone else (including the secretary types there) will shut down their notebooks. I type and talk at the same time and only fuck up if I look at the keyboard.
I used to type up trip reports in the airport bar while waiting for the flight home. One time a guy asked me if I was taking notes because I tend to look around the room while I'm typing. I know the words, and don't need to look... guess he thought I was spying and taking notes on people in the bar. Several people thought I was being pretentious and only pretending to type on the keyboard.
Yes, I did learn how to type correctly. I just suffer from some digital dyslexia, such as:
from = form thes = this
and several other 'right finger, wrong hand' issues. Normally I don't do too badly. I just don't care to type more than about 45wpm. It does not do me much good to try to type faster.
Online I keep up with people who type in excess of 100wpm so I don't feel badly about it. It just is.
To some it is boring, yet to others it's a sign that not only is Linux not going to go away, but it is available for any business, government institution, school, person etc. to modify and use it as they please. There is no single church around the globe despite the rather vigorous efforts of several groups. There should be no single OS. The simple reason for this is Born out by your comment. We simply cannot all play nice together and agree on what an OS is supposed to be and do. For that reason alone there should never be a single OS. Vive Slackware! Vive la difference.
You never know, one day next year (around March 15th or so) you will find that you have the perfect application for the use of Slackware. All of a sudden, it will seem like a cool OS for that application and you will have a moment of de ja vu and silently thank me for this moment.
No, you are right on target. That is why I said that the people it will help the most are the ones least able to afford it.
Whether it is for multiple people or not, it does change the interface for the computer to a more 'natural' environment. You and I and many others are quite adept with mouse and keyboard for one reason or another, but joe bloggs is not. It is joe bloggs that it will help the most. In a "failure mode test" (TM) it will succeed where keyboard and mouse do not. Think of the physically impaired, or mentally handicapped. Where you can simply show them how to do something with a finger or hand and they can repeat it. Trying to teach them to type is often the barrier to entry for some classes of users.
The usefulness of this technology has yet to be shown for users of your/my class.
Remember, "there is need of maybe 5 computers in the whole world"... "The phonograph is a swell toy, but it will never catch on" and many other early quotes about technology that later became indispensables.
The mere fact that it radically changes the UI for a computer means that it will open up computing to those who find keyboards/mice a barrier to entry. Yes, it doesn't seem to have immediate game changing applications, but it will.
I think the answer that you are looking for is that it allows joe sixpack (joe bloggs) to use a computer in a more natural fashion. Personally I manage to type at about 45-50 wpm and keyboard shortcuts as well as some mouse effects make me quite a bit more efficient than the low end of computer skills users.
With a multitouch surface and appropriate desktop UI software, it allows anyone to do things that they would be hindered in doing with keyboard and mouse. This type of interface is much more intuitive in as much as it works like our brain wants to work. That is not to say that it doesn't take learning, but it is easier/more natural to the way we work with other things in life. The keyboard and mouse are NOT natural interfaces.
Some demos I've seen let people work with documents and folders in much the way they would on their own desks with paper documents and folders. Ergonomics aside, I think this would help those who can least afford it the most.
Well, national security can be important, believe it or not. If somebody posted the floor plan and guard rotations for a large water processing plant, would you really want a law that said nobody could tell them to take down the information? No, actually I'm more in favor of a law that punish the people who posted the information in the first place for being stupid. An action disclosing the information as you describe is directly against the common sense good of the population, and in fact represents what might be considered reckless endangerment.
On the other hand, merely making available is not copyright infringement so it can't be a terrorist act. It's just stupidity and bad security practice. So have them fired and fined and be done with it. No need for 'national security' and war on terror to get involved.
You are correct, the government shouldn't start censoring. well, you should have stopped at that point anyway.
This is a very important question. With the Whitehouse blaming MS Exchange for the loss of emails (at least in part so no need for flames as that is how joe sixpack will hear the news), the NSA backdoor through security, the high number of vulnerabilities, refusal to use ODF, closed source code, and any number of questionable business practices, it is quite likely that governments as well as big business will begin to question the wisdom of choosing MS to handle their data. This is doubly true if any F/OSS software pops up in competition.
Sure, there are those companies that will simply stay with MS because they are already invested heavily but their numbers will decline with time. This leaves only one other reason: user's are not aware of any other way and just assume that a megabehemoth software giant would never screw them over because of fears of being caught by the law - without ever thinking it is the government that will request that they do so. In short, idiocy and ignorance.
Before the MS fanbois start flaming, think about it. What is YOUR reason for trusting MS?
It's an interesting trick, no doubt. The trouble is that this is like looking at the technology to mark bad sectors on a disk as something on it's own.
When you can teach this to Mars rovers to replace worn parts/systems from a rescue/resupply lander then it's something to yell about. Even better, send up a robot that can repair/upgrade/improve the Hubble Space Telescope for 1/10th the cost of a human mission and you have something REALLY cool.
This is just a first step in that direction, and a good one.
No, actually they don't have anything better to do. If they really wanted to stop drunk driving they would be offering free taxi rides for people. What they want to do is just complain and have the nanny-state take care of everything they are afraid of.
In truth, there are thousands of things in this life that will kill you or hurt you badly and we can't run around having the nanny-state take care of all of them for us. Sure, make sure your kid is wearing a helmet and pads before going down a slide in case he falls, lock down the internet to protect us from bullies, make 1/3 of all citizens cops with tasers so no one can do any wrong, make tv and video games so docile that nobody ever even thinks violent thoughts.....
Sure, that's all going to work about like it has before historically... which is to say not at all. Prohibition does NOT work. at. all. period. ever.
No matter what you prohibit it will not work. Only education, community, and information stops bad things like this. It is well documented on the web where more guns means less gun crime, legal drugs means less drug use, more nudity means less sex crimes, etc. etc. etc.
*'means' == leads to, or is associated with
This is just one more attempt to legislate morality and that can never be done successfully. ever.
Sure, MADD is upset, and perhaps they have a right to be. They do NOT have the right to limit MY rights to make themselves feel better. What comes next? Perhaps we should stop all RAP music as that is bad examples for kids. And for FSM's sake, make Ms Spears stay out of the public eye. While we are at it, lets make all beauty contestants have a healthy BMI before they compete! Drug test all top models. Lets do background checks on all politicians and news anchors.
This is just another attempt by one group to legislate the morality of everyone else for their own benefit. If Jack is on their side you know they are crackpots.
I have great hopes that they are slapped on the wrists and sent home very quickly over this one.
All this means is that the number of computers that are showing the world that they are infected has decreased.
For all we know, Storm has begun morphing and is not being detected in as many computers. There is nothing that says Storm can't be replaced, or hasn't been.
No car analogy, but this is like saying that the number and frequency of active earthquakes is down to 3% of average for this time of year. WTF
I'm not saying that we should see more Storm bots, just that not seeing them does not mean they are not there.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know exactly what can go wrong, but breathing CO2 is apparently not healthy. I'm hoping that someone comes up with a way to use salt/sand in some chemical reaction with CO2 to separate the O2 and create cheap building materials with the C.
That sounds like the kind of problem that needs to be solved. If it can be sequestered, it can be processed. If we can just make it into something useful without blowing up the planet at the same time it will be good.
Yeah, I was kind of wondering how many nails you need in the coffin of a dead product? I'd think the ones in there now are enough to keep it buried as a footnote for MS historians to bleat about on Pub Quiz nights?
my cold dead hands.... er, something like that. If I wanted to be identified on the damn site, I'd have applied for a job as a journalist!
.hahahahahahahaha a sure sign that they have no clue. oh well, hope the wake is fun.
Guess where I won't be commenting from now on? I'm willing to bet a couple pints that I'm not the only one. Apparently, he does NOT get IT... meh, there will be plenty of sites to replace that one.
Yeah, don't tell me that it's special because of it's history. There are plenty of things that had a great history but went down with a bang.. or worse.
IMO, either you get it or you are dieing and don't know it yet. If you don't have the pride of putting something out there and letting it stand, modifying as needed to suit the audience then you don't have anything. That, my friends (except you AC) is what IT is about. This is a brave new world (so to speak) and if you are not going to participate on it's terms then you are not participating, but merely slowing the inevitable death you are going to die.
It is not about ID, it is about participation. When there is credit to be gained people do ID themselves, mostly. When it is just noise there are few that will ID. Letters to the editor do little good if anything other than letting the writer vent, and who needs ID for that?
ID does not work as a means of control on an anonymous medium..
WOW
Well, the major datum contributing to the listing of satan and spears is their soon to be well known contractual obligations to one another.
Apparently satan has refused to uphold his part of the deal in as much as she has yet to have a successful singing career.
I'm certain that the **AA lawyers are all invited to the gallery for this trial. DAMN, I tried to spell that gallows but for *some* reason my fingers just couldn't type it????
Wait a damned minute here. I have seen some companies push even harder when their inboxes fill up... can you say Streisand effect?
Whether they, as a company, are worth a damn does not really bother me but I do have respect for anyone that on making a mistake, does the right thing. Whether it's for saving face or not, it still is good to see them shout mea culpa and apologize.
I wouldn't want them turning off mine either, but if they sent me a signal which I could program my devices to react to, that would be okay. It would be a voluntary action on my part to let some devices power down for a pre-determined time. If enough people do this, it would reduce peak loads significantly. Say you choose 15 minutes power down for your hot water, A/C, and freezer. I choose say 30 minutes of power down when the signal is given. The amount of energy requirement that is removed from the grid at that peak time is non-trivial and you remain in control of what you are willing to do to help.
This would also maintain backward compatibility for those with some or 100% non-compliant devices/appliances while still reducing peak loads and over-all usage.
One of the biggest and EASIEST ways to change carbon footprints and reduce global warming contributions is to modify HOW we use electricity... period.
Yes, there are always drawbacks to any new technology, but having electronic and electrical systems that are smart enough to modify their behaviors at given times or in response to given inputs is a real DUH!
Everybody in the US (probably) has two or three such devices. Some alarm clocks behave differently according to day of week, some even allowing you to work sat/sun with two other days off during the week. There are thermostats to control heaters and air conditioning systems. There are regulatory systems in freezers, refrigerators, and stoves etc. You have DVR, VCR, and other electronics that reacts to inputs. Your computer probably uses a temperature reading device to know when to run the cooling fan and when not to do so.
If you could tell some of your devices to shut down for x minutes if they receive a certain signal, no big deal. Your freezer will not defrost for a long time. Water heaters don't need to be on ALL the time. A/C can go dormant on a signal but again start up to keep the temperature below a set level. All these things would allow each person to contribute to lowered electricity requirements and thus less greenhouse gases.
To me this is a no brainer that politicians should be asking manufacturers to comply with by 2010. All the electronics and protocols are in place or available right now. I also believe that manufacturers should be given incentives to retrofit such devices to appliances that are less than 5 years old.
This is a known tech solution to reducing carbon footprints and should be a win-win for all concerned. There is no reason that I can see that it should NOT be done.
Yes, as pointed out somethings should not be turned off... well, don't set those systems up for failure... DUH!
You have to look at it like Google's legal team will be looking at it: Pick your battles! While this might clearly not be right, is it the one that we want to take to court? What are the 14 chess moves if we leave it up? How will this come out in court and will it hurt our position in ANY other legal situations?
What Google really needs here is someone to tell them Hey, put that back up! here's the counter DMCA notice! Then Google risks little in terms of far reaching results of putting it back. That is the way the DMCA works, so somebody on the project should do that, pronto, asap, yesterday even.
Think of a more efficient microwave oven. If it can scatter radar signals, it might just be a better coating for the inside of microwave ovens.
Then there is beamed power applications???
Perhaps this might lead to a method of shielding astronauts on their way to Mars? If it can deflect/scatter radar, can it be made to protect the Hubble?
There are literally thousands of applications where some shielding would be preferred to the current methods, especially in Military applications. I think that if he keeps it up, he might well help us discover how to shield from all manner of things. Shielding in Nuclear power plants is an issue that needs to be tackled better.
Imagine that if it can deal with radar, perhaps there is a way that this can lead to better coatings for fiber optic cables? 30Gbps not good enough for you? How would 100 Gbps with FTTH sound? It's all in how you deal with shielding.
Anything that is as thin as paint and does the job can lead to major improvements in many other things. I hope something really good comes of this and not just some Patriot Missle avoidance tactic.
Yeah, and I forgot about school house rock too... sigh. Still, for anything else the procedure was as described. Not sure how much ebonics and text messaging have deprecated school house rock, but I'm reasonably certain that advances in science have pushed our knowledge past Mr Wizard at a much younger age. Two of my niece/nephews (both three) talk quite well and think at the level that you can explain things to them. By the time they are seven, they might well be past Mr Wizard. And Mr Wizard won't handle everything. Wait till a 5 year old asks you why is penis gets hard!!!!
See, when we were growing up we didn't have science shows aimed at 7 year olds, so 7 year olds had to ask their parents or grandparents etc. And they chose the best answer they could find.
The best thing that you can do IMHO is to take your daughter in hand and go find the answer. She will learn two things at a minimum: The answer to the question as best as it can be answered, the fact that you care to do that for her, and the methods you use to find answers. That last one is way more important than you might think.
I used to hate hearing the words "go look it up" but it did lead to me looking for a lot of things... and finding them. When she learns from you HOW to look for answers, hopefully she will never stop looking for answers as long as she lives.
When you design a power supply for a given application, say you are building at 13.2vdc supply that will be required to supply a constant 2.645 amps for a load that will not change, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the power supply to something > 90%. In servers you have to design for a minimum power output. As the current draw fluctuates (say for fans or disk usage) the efficiency also fluctuates.
It's not just the generation of electricity that is at issue. It is how that electricity is used also at issue.
2500 servers all converting from AC to DC = sizable loss of juice. Poorly designed data center rackspace using 10-30% (straight from my ass) more A/C than they would with efficient installations. I'm talking about force air systems that are misused etc.
Installing passive heat exchange systems will also help when they become available.
The point is that there are MANY things that can be done to cut down on the power that is used without regard to where it came from.
I agree that use of the system is paramount, but to put a finer point on it, all users should agree what tags should be used. For example: If you have a '2008race' tag and an 'Election2008' tag it gets messy quickly.
Should such email data be tagged 'politics' or 'election' or 'RonPaul' or something entirely different.
When you alone are using the tagging it is easy to remember what tags are for what. If you share it, you should also share a hierarchy of tag name/use conventions. Without it, you are just lost and so will be the other users. Without a guide, freeform filing just becomes a mess.
than to have judges get your back when you are arguing with someone about how fucking wrong they are.
/. was represented (in a way) in that slap to the face.
One word sums this up: SWEEEEEET!
It took time but the RIAA and their lawyers are starting to look like the ass cabbage that they really are. It's quite nice to see that
DUDE! you are SOOOO wrong.
In high school I was the ONLY guy in the typing class. I took it because I figured some how, some way, I'd be working with computers some day.
Yes, back then I could hit 60wpm pretty good. Now, I'm just a little lazy really. If I wanted to be faster I would.
I've been to meetings where when asked if I'll share my notes and I reply yes, everyone else (including the secretary types there) will shut down their notebooks. I type and talk at the same time and only fuck up if I look at the keyboard.
I used to type up trip reports in the airport bar while waiting for the flight home. One time a guy asked me if I was taking notes because I tend to look around the room while I'm typing. I know the words, and don't need to look... guess he thought I was spying and taking notes on people in the bar. Several people thought I was being pretentious and only pretending to type on the keyboard.
Yes, I did learn how to type correctly. I just suffer from some digital dyslexia, such as:
from = form
thes = this
and several other 'right finger, wrong hand' issues. Normally I don't do too badly. I just don't care to type more than about 45wpm. It does not do me much good to try to type faster.
Online I keep up with people who type in excess of 100wpm so I don't feel badly about it. It just is.
To some it is boring, yet to others it's a sign that not only is Linux not going to go away, but it is available for any business, government institution, school, person etc. to modify and use it as they please. There is no single church around the globe despite the rather vigorous efforts of several groups. There should be no single OS. The simple reason for this is Born out by your comment. We simply cannot all play nice together and agree on what an OS is supposed to be and do. For that reason alone there should never be a single OS. Vive Slackware! Vive la difference.
You never know, one day next year (around March 15th or so) you will find that you have the perfect application for the use of Slackware. All of a sudden, it will seem like a cool OS for that application and you will have a moment of de ja vu and silently thank me for this moment.
No, you are right on target. That is why I said that the people it will help the most are the ones least able to afford it.
Whether it is for multiple people or not, it does change the interface for the computer to a more 'natural' environment. You and I and many others are quite adept with mouse and keyboard for one reason or another, but joe bloggs is not. It is joe bloggs that it will help the most. In a "failure mode test" (TM) it will succeed where keyboard and mouse do not. Think of the physically impaired, or mentally handicapped. Where you can simply show them how to do something with a finger or hand and they can repeat it. Trying to teach them to type is often the barrier to entry for some classes of users.
The usefulness of this technology has yet to be shown for users of your/my class.
Remember, "there is need of maybe 5 computers in the whole world"... "The phonograph is a swell toy, but it will never catch on" and many other early quotes about technology that later became indispensables.
The mere fact that it radically changes the UI for a computer means that it will open up computing to those who find keyboards/mice a barrier to entry. Yes, it doesn't seem to have immediate game changing applications, but it will.
I think the answer that you are looking for is that it allows joe sixpack (joe bloggs) to use a computer in a more natural fashion. Personally I manage to type at about 45-50 wpm and keyboard shortcuts as well as some mouse effects make me quite a bit more efficient than the low end of computer skills users.
With a multitouch surface and appropriate desktop UI software, it allows anyone to do things that they would be hindered in doing with keyboard and mouse. This type of interface is much more intuitive in as much as it works like our brain wants to work. That is not to say that it doesn't take learning, but it is easier/more natural to the way we work with other things in life. The keyboard and mouse are NOT natural interfaces.
Some demos I've seen let people work with documents and folders in much the way they would on their own desks with paper documents and folders. Ergonomics aside, I think this would help those who can least afford it the most.
On the other hand, merely making available is not copyright infringement so it can't be a terrorist act. It's just stupidity and bad security practice. So have them fired and fined and be done with it. No need for 'national security' and war on terror to get involved.
You are correct, the government shouldn't start censoring. well, you should have stopped at that point anyway.
This is a very important question. With the Whitehouse blaming MS Exchange for the loss of emails (at least in part so no need for flames as that is how joe sixpack will hear the news), the NSA backdoor through security, the high number of vulnerabilities, refusal to use ODF, closed source code, and any number of questionable business practices, it is quite likely that governments as well as big business will begin to question the wisdom of choosing MS to handle their data. This is doubly true if any F/OSS software pops up in competition.
Sure, there are those companies that will simply stay with MS because they are already invested heavily but their numbers will decline with time. This leaves only one other reason: user's are not aware of any other way and just assume that a megabehemoth software giant would never screw them over because of fears of being caught by the law - without ever thinking it is the government that will request that they do so. In short, idiocy and ignorance.
Before the MS fanbois start flaming, think about it. What is YOUR reason for trusting MS?
It's an interesting trick, no doubt. The trouble is that this is like looking at the technology to mark bad sectors on a disk as something on it's own.
When you can teach this to Mars rovers to replace worn parts/systems from a rescue/resupply lander then it's something to yell about. Even better, send up a robot that can repair/upgrade/improve the Hubble Space Telescope for 1/10th the cost of a human mission and you have something REALLY cool.
This is just a first step in that direction, and a good one.
No, actually they don't have anything better to do. If they really wanted to stop drunk driving they would be offering free taxi rides for people. What they want to do is just complain and have the nanny-state take care of everything they are afraid of.
In truth, there are thousands of things in this life that will kill you or hurt you badly and we can't run around having the nanny-state take care of all of them for us. Sure, make sure your kid is wearing a helmet and pads before going down a slide in case he falls, lock down the internet to protect us from bullies, make 1/3 of all citizens cops with tasers so no one can do any wrong, make tv and video games so docile that nobody ever even thinks violent thoughts.....
Sure, that's all going to work about like it has before historically... which is to say not at all. Prohibition does NOT work. at. all. period. ever.
No matter what you prohibit it will not work. Only education, community, and information stops bad things like this. It is well documented on the web where more guns means less gun crime, legal drugs means less drug use, more nudity means less sex crimes, etc. etc. etc.
*'means' == leads to, or is associated with
This is just one more attempt to legislate morality and that can never be done successfully. ever.
Sure, MADD is upset, and perhaps they have a right to be. They do NOT have the right to limit MY rights to make themselves feel better. What comes next? Perhaps we should stop all RAP music as that is bad examples for kids. And for FSM's sake, make Ms Spears stay out of the public eye. While we are at it, lets make all beauty contestants have a healthy BMI before they compete! Drug test all top models. Lets do background checks on all politicians and news anchors.
This is just another attempt by one group to legislate the morality of everyone else for their own benefit. If Jack is on their side you know they are crackpots.
I have great hopes that they are slapped on the wrists and sent home very quickly over this one.
All this means is that the number of computers that are showing the world that they are infected has decreased.
For all we know, Storm has begun morphing and is not being detected in as many computers. There is nothing that says Storm can't be replaced, or hasn't been.
No car analogy, but this is like saying that the number and frequency of active earthquakes is down to 3% of average for this time of year. WTF
I'm not saying that we should see more Storm bots, just that not seeing them does not mean they are not there.