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  1. Consider the source - Gartner on Time To Dump XP? · · Score: 0

    I should have pointed out the source - Gartner Group. They are butt-buddies with MS. If you look back at their forecasts and predictions, you'll see they have always projected scenarios that feature Microsoft. That's probably not a surprise in the MS vs. Linux arena because Microsoft has the money to create presentations and to woo the Gartner people, but the result was a consistently bullish projection of Microsoft success.

  2. Bankers would rather eat their young... on Time To Dump XP? · · Score: 1

    No surprise about your bank staying on old stuff; Bankers would rather eat their young than let go of a little money. I'll bet the hardware wouldn't support Vista or 7.

  3. Back to the original subject... on Time To Dump XP? · · Score: 4, Informative

    I work at a company that every reader of slashdot would know, and we are still using XP in the development environment. I suppose that Microsoft would have to stop supporting Visual Studio 2008 on XP to force this organization off of XP and onto 7.

    Vista is loaded on the 'corporate' PC but XP is on the development PC. XP works, it's stable. End of story.

  4. Coming soon... on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    Joe Wilson buys "You Lie!"

    Bill Clinton buys "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"

    Palin buys "Drill, baby, drill"

    Blagojevich buys "pay to play"

    Larry Craig buys "wide stance"

  5. USPTO know difference between font and word? on Microsoft Patents "Fonts With Feelings" · · Score: 1

    Does the USPTO know the difference between a font and a word? Evidently not. We have a problem with technical expertise at the USPTO. They have frequently misunderstood technology and allowed all manner of patents on obvious, trivial, and over-broad ideas. Reform needed here.

  6. Obvious problem with obvious solution on Washington Wants 10,000 Web Surfers · · Score: 1

    You think the FCC didn't already have consultants who considered this possibility? It seems like there would be a variety of ways to defeat this sort of 'gaming' of the system.

    Regardless, this is the sort of thing that would have been unthinkable just two years ago. Glad to see the FCC is working on improving the Googles. The United States has fallen behind many other countries in the metrics of delivery of internet access (speed, price, access). It is a competitive advantage for the U.S. to have it widely available, cheap and fast.

  7. History of cars in the 70's on When the US Government Built Ultra-Safe Cars · · Score: 1

    Prior to the oil price shocks and the recession of the early 70's, the trend for consumers was for bigger cars. The 60's were a time of increasing affluence. The price of gas was below 50 cents a gallon. Mileage wasn't a big concern for many.

    An additional factor was the sudden rise of air pollution in major cities. I lived in the NYC area and can attest to the miserable air quality.

    So, Detroit was tooled up with big cars and big V8's when the recession hit. At a time when sales were down and money got tight, the auto industry was dealing with the need to lower air pollution standards and improve fuel economy. Vegas, Pintos, Gremlins and other vehicles were rapidly designed and brought to market. In the case of the larger cars, the automakers simply de-tuned the engines to get them to comply with emissions standards. In many cases, all you needed to do was change the timing chain to restore most of the performance. Those engines were also fine-tuned using many new controls, mostly actuated by manifold vacuum. Again, all this had to be done at a time when revenues at automakers were down. The results were slipshod.

    The foreign automakers, especially the Japanese, were already completely tooled for high mileage vehicles. Doing the work to lower emissions was easier for the smaller engines. They gained market share with better cars, and the American automakers continued to lose market share.

    By the mid-80's the American automakers started to get their mojo back. Car quality (including performance) returned. I drive a 1986 Ford Mustang with a high performance V8 that gets more than 25 mpg on the highway and has low emissions. I think Detroit had known how to do this for a long time, but there was no profit in it. It's also well known that the oil companies had allied themselves with the car companies to resist fuel economy standards.

    In my opinion, corporations have way too much influence in our political system.

  8. Disheartening on When the US Government Built Ultra-Safe Cars · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Those who have watched the movie "Who killed the Electric Car" know that industry and politics will conspire to do what's profitable, not what's good policy. It is disheartening to hear that, once again, politicians supported by industry killed an effort to do what's good for the public interest.

  9. OT: If Intel is a salty biker, Microsoft must be.. on Intel Targets AMD With Affordable Unlocked CPUs · · Score: 1

    If you are comparing Intel is a salty biker, Microsoft must be a Mafioso.

    I would have compared Intel to a street lawyer.

  10. You must be new here on The Man At Microsoft Charged With Destroying IE6 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    starseeker wrote; "but presumably Microsoft would stand some chance of recognizing such behaviors since they created IE6 to begin with."

    Since when did Microsoft start caring about backward compatibility? Do you even know who we are discussing here? Microsoft has been rather craven about forcing users of its applications to upgrade. They don't make money by allowing people to stay with older operating systems and applications. And now that Apple has passed them in market capitalization, the heat is on to improve profitability. They don't know of any other way to make money than to force people to upgrade.

  11. Don't need IE6 on XP on The Man At Microsoft Charged With Destroying IE6 · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are other browsers that run well on XP. I never use IE unless I get some boneheaded web site that requires IE.

  12. Creative destruction on Local TV Could Go the Way of Newspapers · · Score: 1

    I'm glad broadcast TV is going away. It's about time. It sucked, and it always did.

    What will be interesting to watch is how they garner sponsors for new TV shows. Right now I see Apple and Dell hardware on shows like Bones and House. I'm guessing well be seeing the usual jock itch and toilet paper products popping up in the appropriate settings.

  13. Re:Awesome & aweinspiring on Synthetic Genome Drives Bacterial Cell · · Score: 1

    We all know we need radical new technology to fix the energy crisis and reduce climate gas emissions.

    Let's see, we create a problem with misguided policies and practices. Now we fix said problem with a new, complex technology. What could possibly go wrong?

    This planet will become a barren desert and mankind will vanish. Rightfully so.

  14. Privacy on UC Berkeley Asking Incoming Students For DNA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Privacy used to be expected. Now I no longer expect it. I expect that everything that is done on the internet is viewed by someone, somewhere. In a discussion yesterday about Microsoft's NSAKEY, it was discovered that there was yet another hidden key embedded in Microsoft apps to allow the government access to your data. Brave new world.

    Coming soon to your community; risk assessment of every individual, eugenics, fascism.

  15. Re:Yes they do need hard drives. on FTC Targets Copy Machine Privacy Concerns · · Score: 2, Informative

    Some devices have character recognition, fonts, and other similar data. Some have localization information. New features and functionality are frequently added. The device will want to permanently store information about numbers of copies made, consumables used, logs of errors. The list goes on and on.

    Short answer, yes they do need nonvolatile, writable storage.

  16. No joke... on Researchers Restore Youthful Memory In Aging Mice · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm hoping they can bring this to the public sooner rather than later. It's not funny when you can't remember stuff the way you used to, it's a little scary. I accept that it's part of getting older, but I don't accept it happily.

  17. Their machines require hard disk drives on FTC Targets Copy Machine Privacy Concerns · · Score: 2, Informative

    Most modern digital electronics have a pretty complete operating system on them, including copiers, printers, fax machines. Data storage, especially for very large data sets such as a high resolution digitally scanned image, is pretty much required. Disk storage is the currently used technique for that storage.

    Most copiers do more than copy. They can accept a job over the network, they can use forms or other co-created information, and they can be used to adjust an image after it has been accepted. All this requires RAM and mass storage.

    This issue is not new, but as we all become more sophisticated, it does become easier to compromise a device holding your data. I don't have a good answer for the problem.

  18. The irony of the separation of church and state on Texas Schools Board Rewriting US History · · Score: 1

    During the founding of the United States, it was religious leaders who were adamant that church and state be separated. Religious freedom was what they wanted. It is ironic that the same people who once sought the separation of church and state are now trying to subvert that precept. If they succeed, it will come back to haunt them when their version of church becomes the minority.

  19. Re:Seagate reliability on Seagate Confirms 3TB Hard Drive · · Score: 1

    For those who are curious, see the wikipedia article on Seagate. Toward the bottom are references to two different classes of defects that Seagate has had with its drives. It also describes Seagate's attempts to cover up the problems.

    For now, I'm going to continue to use Western Digital drives until Seagate reestablishes a history of reliability and honesty.

  20. Seagate reliability on Seagate Confirms 3TB Hard Drive · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Seagate used to be the go-to disk drive maker. But in the last few years their quality has slipped and Western Digital became the better manufacturer.

    But I seem to detect that quality and reliability is returning to Seagate's devices. Does anybody have any recent experience with Seagate to share?

  21. The tail is wagging the dog on US Air Force To Suffer From PS3 Update · · Score: 1

    Are you defending capitalism, or corporatism? In the U.S., consumers are 70% of the economy. Yet the politicians are accommodating the 30% who have the money to buy elections. Short answer to your question - yes, more and more people are hating the excessive intrusion that capitalists are imposing on their lives.

    When that 30% is restored to its proper role, the complaining will surely die down. Capitalism will replace corporatism and everybody will prosper.

  22. Re:So what? on Microsoft Kills Support For XP SP2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Microsoft has no incentive to support older operating systems, especially the really good versions of older operating systems. Indeed, they have every reason to be careless about 'updates' to those older operating system and ignore problems caused by those 'updates' because their policy is to recommend their newest product. Obviously, the policy of recommending customers buy their newest product to fix problems with their previous product is a profitable policy.

    The reason that this article is newsworthy is because so many corporate customers balked at the Vista upgrade cycle. XP was known to work better with fewer resource requirements. Many of the PC's built that were claimed to be 'Vista Ready' (TM) were dogs with Vista but were perfectly usable with XP. Imagine, an 'upgrade' to a line of operating systems that performs worse than its predecessor. So, corporate customers demanded, en masse, that Microsoft continue to offer XP as an alternative to Vista.

    For the first time in my memory Microsoft blinked, and extended its support of the XP revision despite the obvious disadvantage to its profits. Its customers had learned to put their foot down and refuse Microsoft's self-serving upgrade recommendations.

    To my mind, XP is the most stable release of an operating system since MS-DOS 5. Everybody hailed it as uncharacteristically stable and usable.

  23. Re:Strange new world on Genetic Testing Coming To a Drugstore Near You · · Score: 1

    There is a truth to what you said; Sanger promoted a compulsory birth control for people with genetically caused disease.

    But, with the availability of low-cost screening of individual genetic makeup, is seems inevitable and advisable that public policy will be created that coerces individuals to avoid parenthood when there is a risk of disease. In a society where health care is becoming an expected socially provided benefit, the impending down-side is that society will act to prevent disease, if only to reduce the burden of health care.

    So, eugenics is arriving. We might as well start addressing the issues related to childbirth, such as preventative measures.

  24. Wonderful comment on Genetic Testing Coming To a Drugstore Near You · · Score: 1

    Family history can give you the clues of what to look for. But family history does not mean that a person has actually inherited a gene with a defect. That's where this sort of DIY genetic screening can come in handy. If your family has a history of a disease, one that you don't want to transmit to your offspring, then this sort of testing can be a godsend. You might discover that you did not get the gene(s) for the disease.

  25. Are you serious? on Genetic Testing Coming To a Drugstore Near You · · Score: 1

    Are you trolling or was that a serious statement?

    We learn more from adversity. Having the perfect child doesn't teach us anything. I would posit that many of those parents who have to deal with children with disabilities learn a lot more about parenting and selflessness than those whose children are considered "normal" by society.

    Take a moment to consider life from the disabled child's point of view. Obviously, you didn't think this one through.