Slashdot Mirror


User: sk999

sk999's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
211
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 211

  1. Re:SCO still in business? on Appeals Court Rules: SCO v. IBM Case Can Continue (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    In Bankruptcy Court, SCO never listed Caldera Linux as an asset. When the Unix assets were sold to Unxis (now Xinuos), Caldera Linux was not included. Which means that SCO still retains ownership of "OpenLinux".

    R.E. money for lawsuits, one of the sillier things David Boies did was to set up a capped fee arrangement with SCO. Meaning that all the lawyer fees for the services of Boies, Schiller, and Flexner are already paid, so no future payments needed.

  2. In other news ... on How Data Science Powered the Search for MH370 (hpe.com) · · Score: 0, Troll

    Jeff Wise has long claimed that MH370 was hijacked by Putin and flown North, in an elaborate "spoof".

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

    Nevermind your opinion of the Daily Mail - in this case, it nailed the story.

  3. The crab-apple tree is shedding, and the yard is utterly infested with #$%^&*!@ flying insects. Yet more fake news.

  4. Racing Stripes on The ThinkPad At 25 (fastcodesign.com) · · Score: 1

    I always liked the red "racing stripes" on the mouse buttons on my first two Thinkpads. Unfortunately IBM/Lenovo left them off my X60S (which is what I am using right now). If they've been restored, however, I will probably consider a Thinkpad again in the future after this machine gets too old.

  5. Wonder if my account still works? on 48-Year-Old Multics Operating System Resurrected (multicians.org) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had a Multics account way back - used it solve problem sets in Physical Chemistry. It would be cool to resurrect my account, but I don't remember the password. Is there a password reset function?

  6. More famous last words ... on Researchers Create New Probiotic Beer That Boosts Immunity (upi.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "No, No, these are the GOOD kind of bacteria."

  7. Re:Sad end to a great operating system on Oracle Scraps Plans For Solaris 12 (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    Curiously, it was easier to muck with punched cards on the IBM mainframe than it was to deal with the Selectric typewriters on Multics. In both cases, you were reliant on printed output, and a line printer could spew out paper much faster than an electric typewriter.

    VMS was a well engineered OS, very robust, but exceedinglhy pedantic, making tasks that should have been simple (e.g., adding a new native command) excessively complicated. Its reliance on proprietary hardware that could not keep up with competing RISC systems did not help either.

  8. The Best Part on Charter Customer Sues Over Hidden Fees, Claims 'Massive Billing Fraud' (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Song is not asking for his money back. Why? Because cable companies (and others) normally insert an aribitration clause into their agreements to cover such situations, which would require Song to submit his dispute to arbitration (which would cost much more than the amount that could be recovered). Instead, Song is asking for injunctive relief - basically asking that Charter not charge him in the future. Why would he do so? Let's read a bit more of the agreement:

    "Only claims for money damages may be submitted to arbitration; claims for INJUNCTIVE ORDERS or similar relief MUST be brought in a COURT ..."

    Charter basically demands that Song hale it into court. Nice job, Charter lawyers.

  9. From the Slice Intelligence Article ... on New MacBook Pro Has Already Outsold All Other Laptops This Year (macrumors.com) · · Score: 1

    The MacRumors article is based on another article from Slice Intelligence. Gotta like this finding:

    "Those who ordered the new MacBook Pro look strikingly similar to the early adopters who bought the Apple Watch on release."

    So how is the Apple Watch fairing these days?

  10. Re:Stay away from Baytrail on Ask Slashdot: What's The Best Cheap Linux-Friendly Netbook? · · Score: 2

    I have BayTrail a Z3735F machine and agree that it is a pain. Still, a default install of Debian Jessie (which does handle 64-bit CPU and 32-bit firmware out of the box) plus a kernel upgrade was enough to get it running just fine. On the positive side, it only cost around $130, needs no internal fan, weight less than 1 kg, and battery life is about 10 hrs.

  11. Linux here as well, both at home and at work (now going on 20 years). As always, there is that one Windoze-only piece of software that i occassionally need at work, but the sysadmins are responsible for keeping that box updated.

  12. Old-Fashioned Way on Slashdot Asks: How Did You Learn How To Code? · · Score: 1

    I learned it by taking a class. Machine, Assembly, high-level. The arguments were all about which language to learn. Punched cards - the best way to enter code - no upper/lower case, so shift keys put numbers and special symbols onto regular letters. Much faster than stupid keyboards of today.

  13. Re:More is not better on What Happened to Google Maps? (justinobeirne.com) · · Score: 1

    Back in the day of free maps from gas stations, the ones from Esso (made by General Drafting Co.) were considered the best. I still have my copy of "New England Road Map" from 1988 (this one made for Shaw's Supermarkets, not Exxon). AAA maps are also quite good, but my local AAA is now closed.

  14. Thanks, Adobe on Software Audits: How High-Tech Software Vendors Play Hardball (infoworld.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only audit I ever ran into came from Adobe, and it was for some product that I had signed off on the requisition for someone who ended up never using it anyway, but it was still my job to track down the original P.O. Not a huge deal, but it was a waste of a few hours along with accompanying anxiety. My solution to prevent a recurrence in the future: I will never approve a requisition for any product from Adobe ever again.

  15. $1.4 million just to flip a coin? on TSA Paid $1.4 Million For Randomizer App That Chooses Left Or Right (geek.com) · · Score: 1

    Come on now, what could go wrong? Well, OK
    http://www.footballzebras.com/...

  16. Why I Do Not Recommend Oracle on Oracle Seeks $9.3 Billion For Google's Use Of Java In Android (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1

    It all sounds so familiar. Why would that be? Oh yes. Oracle is a purveyor of databases software. The SCO Group used to be a purveyor of operating system software. However, it eventually upped its claims against IBM to at least $5 billion. Not far short of Oracle's demand for $9.3 billion. Where is SCO now?

    http://www.groklaw.net/pdf4/IB...
    "Today SCO is, as the Court is aware, in a LIQUIDATION process ... It started out as a Chapter 11, became a Chapter 7 going back to 2007. These claims are the last, really the only asset remaining of SCO."

    Oracle is threatening to become the new SCO.

    Would you recommend a product from a company that is on a path to Chapter 7?

  17. Re:Actually not quite over on SCO Is Undeniably, Reliably Dead (fossforce.com) · · Score: 1

    The lawsuits that SCO filed against other companies are all resolved. It lost against Novell and DaimlerChrysler and settled out of court against AutoZone (apparently getting a chunk of change from the latter).

    The only other pending lawsuit is Red Hat against SCO, and that case is adminstratively closed, likely to never be reopened.

    R.E. IBM, SCO will undoubtedly file an appeal, so saying that that SCO is absolutely dead is still premature. Kind of like that Monty Python skit https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  18. Re:Whatever happened to Groklaw? on SCO vs. IBM Battle Over Linux May Finally Be Over (networkworld.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Groklaw is not completely closed down - just running in stealth mode. All the recent court filings still show up there. Other updates show up now and again. Note that the link in the summary to the decision itself takes you to ... groklaw. Commentary and discussions do continue on other boards and forums, but not with the same focus that groklaw brought.

  19. Any VGA? on Asus ZenBook UX305CA Shows What Skylake Core M Is Capable Of (hothardware.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just finished giving three talks in three days at three different locations / venues, where I needed to connect my laptop to the overhead projector. In every case the primary connector to the projector was VGA. Fortunately my clunky, old-fashioned, outdated laptop (actually, an old netbook) has a VGA port, so hooking up was always straightforward.

    What does Skylake have to offer?
    http://tech.slashdot.org/story...

  20. What Constitutes Good UI and Good UX? on Improving UI and UX: Changing the "Open Source Is Ugly" Perception (opensource.com) · · Score: 1

    The author recommends three projects as having good UI and UX:

    SASS: http://sass-lang.com/
    Bower: http://bower.io/
    Ember: http://emberjs.com/

    These projects have two things in common: their websites suck, and I've never heard of them before. (Well, Bower's website is OK).

  21. USB Wine on What USB Has Replaced (And What it Hasn't) (arstechnica.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    Before USB, I don't think there was any connector that would let you download wine straight from the vineyard. Quite revolutionary.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  22. My Slashdot bookmark on Ask Slashdot: Is There a Bookmark Manager That Actually Manages Bookmarks? · · Score: 2

    http://slashdot.org/?nobeta=1

    To be honest, doesn't need much management.

  23. Still have one. on When Slide Rules Were Like Cellphones (hackaday.com) · · Score: 1

    The cheapo models were made of plastic, but the debate at the time was whether the best models were of bamboo or magnesium construction. Mine is made of bamboo. There was also an elitism factor - how many scales does your slide rule have? Whether you used them or not was irrelevant.

    The one thing slide rules do not do naturally is plain old addition and subtraction. There are multiple hacks (e.g., antilogs) and it was a competitive challenge to find the "best" way. Seem to recall that my method used the S and T scales.

  24. Re:That's nice but total travel time is a bitch on Proposed Lapcat II Hypersonic Airliner: Brussels to Sydney in Less Than 3 Hours · · Score: 1

    Breakdown of timing for my most recent flight (yesterday):

    Travel time to airport: 90 minutes (normal time 20 minutes, but it was rush hour. A Taylor Swift concert on the way was not a problem.)
    Time in airport, including ground hold time due to weather at destination: 210 minutes (normal 60 minutes)
    Actual flight time: 70 minutes (normal time 50 minutes)
    Time from touchdown to exiting the parking lot: 90 minutes (normal 30 minutes - airport operations stinks late at night)
    Drive home: 90 minutes (normally 60 minutes, but weather and detours factored in).

    Basically, 9 hr total travel time for a nominal 50 minute flight. Driving time is slightly shorter.

  25. Sounds like ... on Intel Launches Onslaught of Skylake CPUs For Laptops, Hybrids and Compute Stick · · Score: -1

    "Throw everything at the wall to see what sticks"

    Will any of these things survive?