But yea, I upgraded at Knot 1 and have been doing dist-upgrades ever since. The only problem I ever encountered was when I installed xgl/compiz on Knot 3 - then I had some issues when I upgraded to RC1. I went through a purged XGL/Compiz from the system and everything was right back on track. I updated to the final release on day 1 and had no problems.
But as someone else said, upgrades that went smoothly aren't exactly the story, so... just my 2 cents.
How about FreeBSD on your servers, Kubuntu on your desktop, and Windows on your laptop due to more advanced power management/factory utilities. Works for me, it could work for you. And none of it is incomfortable - as I prefer to use Kubuntu when I'm not away from home and forced to use my laptop. I don't really see the incomfortable argument if incomfortable is indeed a word. And thats running Edgy Eft knot 3 - which was a breeze to install and caused no further complications in system setup.
You would know the need for this technology if you ever spent time on XBox Live playing Halo. About patenting it? Not sure, but the idea is sound. An alternative I once proposed was allowing individuals who received consistently low marks from their peers to just get matched up to play with others of the same ratings so you could have two teams of de-levelers, PK's, early-quitters, cheaters, and general nuisances fighting it out.
Do you suspend thought the moment your fingers hit the keyboard? When you graduated high school you started making what decisions? Student aid decisions? Because those are made for you - based on your parents income until age 23. You really have no say in the matter, they review your parents income and decide how much your partents owe, whether you have them or not, whether THEY saved or not. Thankfully, I was not in that particular position as I willfully stepped aside from college knowing that despite any talent and family predisposition for computer science I wasn't going to be happy pursuing that field of study.
Your naivete and false sense of responsibility are evident both when you imagine yourself making those tough financial decisions at age 18 - and again when you think that $27,000/yr anywhere in the state of Maryland could be considered 'well-paying.' Rent and utilities alone (in one of the cheapest areas I could find) where nearly enough to empty my bank account - no keggers, no 2000-mi road trips, just real, actual responsibilities. I'm thinking there wasn't enough left over for $9000 in tuition/fees/books.
I'll admit my initial response to the OP was harsh - but everything you do has an effect on others, and abusing the STUDENT LOAN system to harvest investment capital is every bit illegal, a drain on the system, and an overall negative impact on those who choose to use the system the proper way.
As for "taking money that other students might need", if they really need it, then they are going to float higher on the list of the needy and get their share before you do.
Yea, keep telling yourself that. I went back to school after working for several years - I was earning $27,000/yr --- upon return I got ZERO dollars. The following year, I got about half of what the max offer is - b/c I worked that job for 6 months of the last tax year - then had 2 months of no work, followed by my crappy retail bookselling job at $7.25/hr between Oct-Dec. Wanna do the math on that income? Then factor in cost of living in Baltimore, MD. Let me know if you want me to spell the math out for you.
I absolutely NEEDED money for school. And I absolutely got NONE and then next to none for the entire following year. But keep telling yourself it's cool when some prick whose mommy probably already paid his entire tuition screws over the entire rest of the student aid pool.
AAA titles such as Microsoft's own RalliSport2? Didn't think so. Also - Halo 2 - still MS's flagship game runs very poorly at times on Live. Though it has undergone a couple of upgrades since I got my 360 a few months ago, it gets slowdown and sound issues particularly on maps that are "alien" and/or have lots of plasma pistols. Team duals - plasma is nearly unplayable due to slowdown. Also it tends to 'skip' animations such as throwing grenades depending on its current load and has sound issues.
Can't wait for Halo3 so I can be done w/ old xbox titles, right now RockStar Table Tennis is one of the most addictive games I've played in a while.
Oh - And because of a buyout with the creator of RalliSport there will NEVER be a 360 version... That's sad.
Why is it constantly necessary to remind Americans that people who might not live in the same country or speak/type in the same English form as you also post here on Slashdot. Centre = center. It's still English, get a clue you ethnocentric prick.
Sorry, I've been silent after seeing this happen like 3 times today in different threads. Couldn't hold it any longer and I'm fresh out of mod points.
You're clearly insane or a pathological Anyonymous liar. Unless you're referring to the "dual shock" look which they went back to after showing everyone laughed at their "boomerang" controller. But don't forget - while the look is just an updated SNES controller - Sony may not have innovated dual shock either - they're being sued over the 'shock' feature and have lost their first round in March (not keeping up... did they lose in apeals?
They admitted they added the feature to the control 45 days before the E3 - which didn't allow any developers time to even consider what they might do with the feature - and every reporter at the Sony press conference reported that the demos Sony worked up lagged like crazy.
1) We are talking about Google NEWS, not the regular google index. Here is a link to Google's #1 search result for 'mein kampf text' to allay your unfounded fear that Google is somehow censoring information. Now you can stop conflating the two.
2) How about families with children born inside the United States who may be forced to leave their child behind? They seem to have a stake in the debate that would greatly affect the life of an American citizen/child. How about legal immigrant families that own/operate small businesses with friends and/or relatives that may soon be losing a business relationship? How about every legal immigrant that has to cope with the fear-mongering hate-groups and the wrath that they have and could potentially bring upon them? Such as this story, Center ties hate crimes to border debate?
There are more examples than I can list here... But here's an interesting note, the #1 search result for term immigrant, hate, group on Google News is... Slashdot - "Google News, Censorship or Responsible Journalism" - how's that for censorship.
Before I close - let me restate - we are talking about Google News here, not Google Search. They have not precluded any of the sites mentioned from being indexed by their search engine. Just their news aggregator. All political viewpoints do not necessarily constitute news, nor is Google News a 'news' source... they are a news aggregator.
All Nintendo, Sega, XBOX, and Sony systems do not carry MSRP's, they have MAP - Minimum Advertised Price. Thats why Best Buy doesn't run sales on them, thats why no one runs sales on them - until they get the go ahead from the manufacturer.
This is WAY off topic, but I wasn't sure where else to put it.
Can someone please stop the morons who put 'stupid' and 'evil' as a tag on every other story? It's distracting, childish, and clusterf***s Slashdot's front page.
It's just a cowards way of avoiding posting an actual comment and getting modded into oblivion.
If you really believe Sony's interest in IP being so vastly different from others who only manufacture drives is a non-factor, then it is not I who is lacking in elementary business theory concepts.
If you believe Sony's experience in gaining wider DVD acceptance through the PS2 played no part in their belief that they could now use the same strategy to push a new format - thus tying every division of Sony's sales figures to the success/failure of Blu-Ray, you're just insane. Your own argument contradicts itself as you seem to be aware that each division is helping assist overall corporate goals, yet you deride my comments saying the very same and insist the departments act with complete independence.
The difference with this generation of course being the fact that it was Sony that decided to break up the HDDVD consortium and start a format war rather than using the PS3 to gain acceptance of an agreed upon standard. Someone will get burned in the war, and as unhappy as the list of companies you list would be, I'm sure that Warner Bros, Microsoft, Toshiba, et al, would be equally disappointed.
Speaking of lacking, your great analysis of Sony's Blu-Ray partners is highly flawed as well, since none of those companies played a large role in the creation of the medium itself, they were all on board w/ HDDVD - along with the rest of the world, until Sony decided that they alone had a better solution. They merely convinced Dell, Hitachi, et al to join them.
Might I ask why you can't tell the difference between Sony Music and SCEA? This company is so huge that the different divisions hold no sway over each other.
Right, and thats why the PS3 is going to ship with a potentially budget-busting/fan-alienating $1100 Blu-Ray player (stand-alone price minimum) built in so that Sony can attempt to take the HD-Video market share and defeat HDDVD.
And that's why Sony had to part with the HDDVD project so that they could offer up their own version of HD video discs with far more intense DRM to satisfy their pictures/music divisions. (Is it true it requires an internet connection to? Can't remember.)
Nope, I don't see the various departments at Sony having any influence over each other at all, not one bit.
While I won't sit here and pretend that I like republican representatives - what I was saying is that it shocked me that they all seemed to be in agreement that it was something to be taken seriously. It surprised me that the people who seemed so convinced by the testimony of Dr. Wu and representatives from Amazon, etc. turned around the very next day and maimed it. I believe the final pro net neutrality vote was 23 - which means that not nearly 'all' dems voted for it either - and that disappoints me as well.
The analogy in question: I build a road with private money (forgetting that broadband access was built at least 50/50 public/private) - I have the right to say who can drive on my road. I may favor small cars because they don't cost as much in repairs, but I would like to restrict 18-wheelers from galavanting up and down my road and may even charge them a toll for access to recover the costs associated with building roads large enough for them to travel on - as well as maintenance from the damage they cause.
McCormick (Telco Lobby): "Thank you, I really think that analogy is apropos..."
Representative: "So following that analogy you would seek to charge for access from those 18 wheeler companies (Amazon/MySpace/Google/YouTube,) and for those unwilling to pay the toll you would be forced to limit their access so as not to incur losses?
McCormick: "We would not limit, degrade, or block access..."
So I ask you (forgetting this comment is late and you'll probably never receive it,) how is it exactly that you believe that he finds this analogy both apropos yet maintains he would not limit/degrade/block access? How exactly then - will he 'maintain his private road' with non-toll-paying 18 wheelers driving all over it? Care to elaborate? Or did you just feel it was the wiser move to focus in on a couple of words regarding my disbelief with Republican Representatives - rather than have anything to say/add to the discussion of what actually took place.
You called bullshit on a 'story' I was retelling for the 99.9% of people who likely didn't sit through the entirety of the 2 and a 1/2 hour hearing without having seen it yourself. That's dumb.
SOME Congresspeople are not completely oblivous to constituent outreach. Some are deeply entrenched in gerrymandered districts and couldn't give a rats ass if you all died a fiery death.
But not all! Find one that thinks his seat might be in danger and flood his office with calls and you've got yourself your own personal demagogue.
Another interesting question I think needs to be asked - if the United States validates AT&T Chairman's belief that those are 'his pipes' (forgetting its only the last mile,) how long before China decides that those are 'their pipes' and ditto for every connected country in the world.
Doesn't it stand to reason that anyone providing last mile connectivity or even backbone suddenly declare themselves worthy of charging these tolls? So instead of Google/Yahoo/etc paying just SBC/Verizon/AT&T - now they're expected to pay every telco the world over to ensure they're competitive globally vs. local competition?
Very dangerous precedent could potentially be set. (And FYI - Congresspeople are not completely oblivious to phone calls and snail mail. If it adds up on them they take that very seriously particularly if you are a constituent. Sending an e-mail though is completely useless (I know...)
In fairness a plethora of consumer group's pleadings and petitions were filed into the official record - but the only 'man speaking for the people' at the hearing was a guy from Columbia Law.
The only guy on the panel who felt net neutrality was unnecessary was the telco guy 'McCormick' who repeatedly assured the panel they would never 'limit, degrade, or block service' to anyone - all while agreeing that one congressman's analogy that suggested exactly that was 'apropos.' How bout that.
Meanwhile republican bobble-heads were nodding in agreement nearly the entire time with the 4 other panelists who FAVORED net neutrality and seemed to understand the issue. Vote time comes - only one republican voted for it. Another 'gee, how bout that' moment. What I think surprised me the most is that they actually seemed to grasp the necessity of net neutrality throughout - but they're such whores they voted against it anyways when the attention was elsewhere (see gas prices.)
There is no hiragana character for wi - only wa and the original vowel fillers. So maybe they've generated some cool kanji for it, but maybe they just thought it looks really cool in english to a Japanese observer, confusing the popularity of the ipod name perhaps.
If you have one of the world's most recognized brands at your disposal, how fast do you jettison it in favor of marketing a new, unknown brand in its place?
When Lenovo, the Chinese maker of personal computers, bought International Business Machines' PC business for $1.75 billion in December 2004, the deal included the rights to use the IBM name for five years. Lenovo executives figured rightly that the IBM brand would still resonate in the U.S. market and serve to assuage the worries of existing and prospective customers of the IBM ThinkPad line of laptops. They realized there would be concern about buying from a China-based company that American customers had never heard of.
Yet Lenovo has moved far more swiftly to remove the IBM name from its brand-building venture than analysts and marketing experts had expected, leaving many wondering if Lenovo has abandoned the IBM brand too quickly.
No. Since last October my younger brother bought a T43, I purchase a T42, my older brother purchased a T43p, and my roommate purchased a T43 - all of them in excellent working order. The most recent one arrived to my roommate last month and aside from being the 15" vs. my 14" monitor - it looks/feels/runs no different than the one I purchased in October - or any other Thinkpad I've owned before.
I think people need to get some perspective - Dell Laptops have been crap for years according to every Dell laptop owner I've ever known (many...) and Toshiba laptops are known for quality but as a Thinkpad owner I hate to imagine owning one as they really do feel flimsy and cheaply built right out of the box - and the keys are built like buttons (what's that about?)
Short answer is 'no.'
They went through a period of time where IBM's name would continue to be branded on Thinkpads, but that time has expired. But even the one's from the last year or so with IBM printed on them are made by Lenovo.
I purchased a T42 in October and I love it. It's every bit as good as any previous ThinkPad I've owned.
I have noticed on their site they're 'consumerizing' the Thinkpad - silver covers, wide-screens, constant television advertising, and a deal to sell the Thinkpad in Best Buy.
I think it will all work out for them most likely, they may lose the xenophobic but they're picking up consumers IBM never even bothered to court. And as long as they continue to make T-series laptops solid computing workhorses I could care less what they do with their XYZ3001 model or whatever they come up with.
Of course companies like Google have completely changed the meaning of the term BETA as they use it to describe every new product they release because it sounds flashy and cool. People don't really think of BETA as what it used to mean as a result of perpetual BETA-states like Gmail and GoogleTalk.
Slashdot Mirror
But yea, I upgraded at Knot 1 and have been doing dist-upgrades ever since. The only problem I ever encountered was when I installed xgl/compiz on Knot 3 - then I had some issues when I upgraded to RC1. I went through a purged XGL/Compiz from the system and everything was right back on track. I updated to the final release on day 1 and had no problems.
But as someone else said, upgrades that went smoothly aren't exactly the story, so... just my 2 cents.
How about FreeBSD on your servers, Kubuntu on your desktop, and Windows on your laptop due to more advanced power management/factory utilities. Works for me, it could work for you. And none of it is incomfortable - as I prefer to use Kubuntu when I'm not away from home and forced to use my laptop. I don't really see the incomfortable argument if incomfortable is indeed a word. And thats running Edgy Eft knot 3 - which was a breeze to install and caused no further complications in system setup.
You would know the need for this technology if you ever spent time on XBox Live playing Halo. About patenting it? Not sure, but the idea is sound. An alternative I once proposed was allowing individuals who received consistently low marks from their peers to just get matched up to play with others of the same ratings so you could have two teams of de-levelers, PK's, early-quitters, cheaters, and general nuisances fighting it out.
I for one don't shop at government-operated grocery stores just to stick it to the man even further.
Do you suspend thought the moment your fingers hit the keyboard? When you graduated high school you started making what decisions? Student aid decisions? Because those are made for you - based on your parents income until age 23. You really have no say in the matter, they review your parents income and decide how much your partents owe, whether you have them or not, whether THEY saved or not. Thankfully, I was not in that particular position as I willfully stepped aside from college knowing that despite any talent and family predisposition for computer science I wasn't going to be happy pursuing that field of study.
Your naivete and false sense of responsibility are evident both when you imagine yourself making those tough financial decisions at age 18 - and again when you think that $27,000/yr anywhere in the state of Maryland could be considered 'well-paying.' Rent and utilities alone (in one of the cheapest areas I could find) where nearly enough to empty my bank account - no keggers, no 2000-mi road trips, just real, actual responsibilities. I'm thinking there wasn't enough left over for $9000 in tuition/fees/books.
I'll admit my initial response to the OP was harsh - but everything you do has an effect on others, and abusing the STUDENT LOAN system to harvest investment capital is every bit illegal, a drain on the system, and an overall negative impact on those who choose to use the system the proper way.
Yea, keep telling yourself that. I went back to school after working for several years - I was earning $27,000/yr --- upon return I got ZERO dollars. The following year, I got about half of what the max offer is - b/c I worked that job for 6 months of the last tax year - then had 2 months of no work, followed by my crappy retail bookselling job at $7.25/hr between Oct-Dec. Wanna do the math on that income? Then factor in cost of living in Baltimore, MD. Let me know if you want me to spell the math out for you.
I absolutely NEEDED money for school. And I absolutely got NONE and then next to none for the entire following year. But keep telling yourself it's cool when some prick whose mommy probably already paid his entire tuition screws over the entire rest of the student aid pool.
AAA titles such as Microsoft's own RalliSport2? Didn't think so. Also - Halo 2 - still MS's flagship game runs very poorly at times on Live. Though it has undergone a couple of upgrades since I got my 360 a few months ago, it gets slowdown and sound issues particularly on maps that are "alien" and/or have lots of plasma pistols. Team duals - plasma is nearly unplayable due to slowdown. Also it tends to 'skip' animations such as throwing grenades depending on its current load and has sound issues. Can't wait for Halo3 so I can be done w/ old xbox titles, right now RockStar Table Tennis is one of the most addictive games I've played in a while. Oh - And because of a buyout with the creator of RalliSport there will NEVER be a 360 version... That's sad.
Why is it constantly necessary to remind Americans that people who might not live in the same country or speak/type in the same English form as you also post here on Slashdot. Centre = center. It's still English, get a clue you ethnocentric prick.
Sorry, I've been silent after seeing this happen like 3 times today in different threads. Couldn't hold it any longer and I'm fresh out of mod points.
You're clearly insane or a pathological Anyonymous liar. Unless you're referring to the "dual shock" look which they went back to after showing everyone laughed at their "boomerang" controller. But don't forget - while the look is just an updated SNES controller - Sony may not have innovated dual shock either - they're being sued over the 'shock' feature and have lost their first round in March (not keeping up... did they lose in apeals?
They admitted they added the feature to the control 45 days before the E3 - which didn't allow any developers time to even consider what they might do with the feature - and every reporter at the Sony press conference reported that the demos Sony worked up lagged like crazy.
1) We are talking about Google NEWS, not the regular google index. Here is a link to Google's #1 search result for 'mein kampf text' to allay your unfounded fear that Google is somehow censoring information. Now you can stop conflating the two.
2) How about families with children born inside the United States who may be forced to leave their child behind? They seem to have a stake in the debate that would greatly affect the life of an American citizen/child. How about legal immigrant families that own/operate small businesses with friends and/or relatives that may soon be losing a business relationship? How about every legal immigrant that has to cope with the fear-mongering hate-groups and the wrath that they have and could potentially bring upon them? Such as this story, Center ties hate crimes to border debate?
There are more examples than I can list here... But here's an interesting note, the #1 search result for term immigrant, hate, group on Google News is... Slashdot - "Google News, Censorship or Responsible Journalism" - how's that for censorship.
Before I close - let me restate - we are talking about Google News here, not Google Search. They have not precluded any of the sites mentioned from being indexed by their search engine. Just their news aggregator. All political viewpoints do not necessarily constitute news, nor is Google News a 'news' source... they are a news aggregator.
All Nintendo, Sega, XBOX, and Sony systems do not carry MSRP's, they have MAP - Minimum Advertised Price. Thats why Best Buy doesn't run sales on them, thats why no one runs sales on them - until they get the go ahead from the manufacturer.
This is WAY off topic, but I wasn't sure where else to put it.
Can someone please stop the morons who put 'stupid' and 'evil' as a tag on every other story? It's distracting, childish, and clusterf***s Slashdot's front page.
It's just a cowards way of avoiding posting an actual comment and getting modded into oblivion.
If you really believe Sony's interest in IP being so vastly different from others who only manufacture drives is a non-factor, then it is not I who is lacking in elementary business theory concepts.
If you believe Sony's experience in gaining wider DVD acceptance through the PS2 played no part in their belief that they could now use the same strategy to push a new format - thus tying every division of Sony's sales figures to the success/failure of Blu-Ray, you're just insane. Your own argument contradicts itself as you seem to be aware that each division is helping assist overall corporate goals, yet you deride my comments saying the very same and insist the departments act with complete independence.
The difference with this generation of course being the fact that it was Sony that decided to break up the HDDVD consortium and start a format war rather than using the PS3 to gain acceptance of an agreed upon standard. Someone will get burned in the war, and as unhappy as the list of companies you list would be, I'm sure that Warner Bros, Microsoft, Toshiba, et al, would be equally disappointed.
Speaking of lacking, your great analysis of Sony's Blu-Ray partners is highly flawed as well, since none of those companies played a large role in the creation of the medium itself, they were all on board w/ HDDVD - along with the rest of the world, until Sony decided that they alone had a better solution. They merely convinced Dell, Hitachi, et al to join them.
Might I ask why you can't tell the difference between Sony Music and SCEA? This company is so huge that the different divisions hold no sway over each other.
Right, and thats why the PS3 is going to ship with a potentially budget-busting/fan-alienating $1100 Blu-Ray player (stand-alone price minimum) built in so that Sony can attempt to take the HD-Video market share and defeat HDDVD.
And that's why Sony had to part with the HDDVD project so that they could offer up their own version of HD video discs with far more intense DRM to satisfy their pictures/music divisions. (Is it true it requires an internet connection to? Can't remember.)
Nope, I don't see the various departments at Sony having any influence over each other at all, not one bit.
It means you leave the house long enough to buy something to marketing types.
While I won't sit here and pretend that I like republican representatives - what I was saying is that it shocked me that they all seemed to be in agreement that it was something to be taken seriously. It surprised me that the people who seemed so convinced by the testimony of Dr. Wu and representatives from Amazon, etc. turned around the very next day and maimed it. I believe the final pro net neutrality vote was 23 - which means that not nearly 'all' dems voted for it either - and that disappoints me as well.
The analogy in question: I build a road with private money (forgetting that broadband access was built at least 50/50 public/private) - I have the right to say who can drive on my road. I may favor small cars because they don't cost as much in repairs, but I would like to restrict 18-wheelers from galavanting up and down my road and may even charge them a toll for access to recover the costs associated with building roads large enough for them to travel on - as well as maintenance from the damage they cause.
McCormick (Telco Lobby): "Thank you, I really think that analogy is apropos..."
Representative: "So following that analogy you would seek to charge for access from those 18 wheeler companies (Amazon/MySpace/Google/YouTube,) and for those unwilling to pay the toll you would be forced to limit their access so as not to incur losses?
McCormick: "We would not limit, degrade, or block access..."
So I ask you (forgetting this comment is late and you'll probably never receive it,) how is it exactly that you believe that he finds this analogy both apropos yet maintains he would not limit/degrade/block access? How exactly then - will he 'maintain his private road' with non-toll-paying 18 wheelers driving all over it? Care to elaborate? Or did you just feel it was the wiser move to focus in on a couple of words regarding my disbelief with Republican Representatives - rather than have anything to say/add to the discussion of what actually took place.
You called bullshit on a 'story' I was retelling for the 99.9% of people who likely didn't sit through the entirety of the 2 and a 1/2 hour hearing without having seen it yourself. That's dumb.
SOME Congresspeople are not completely oblivous to constituent outreach. Some are deeply entrenched in gerrymandered districts and couldn't give a rats ass if you all died a fiery death.
But not all! Find one that thinks his seat might be in danger and flood his office with calls and you've got yourself your own personal demagogue.
Another interesting question I think needs to be asked - if the United States validates AT&T Chairman's belief that those are 'his pipes' (forgetting its only the last mile,) how long before China decides that those are 'their pipes' and ditto for every connected country in the world.
Doesn't it stand to reason that anyone providing last mile connectivity or even backbone suddenly declare themselves worthy of charging these tolls? So instead of Google/Yahoo/etc paying just SBC/Verizon/AT&T - now they're expected to pay every telco the world over to ensure they're competitive globally vs. local competition?
Very dangerous precedent could potentially be set. (And FYI - Congresspeople are not completely oblivious to phone calls and snail mail. If it adds up on them they take that very seriously particularly if you are a constituent. Sending an e-mail though is completely useless (I know...)
In fairness a plethora of consumer group's pleadings and petitions were filed into the official record - but the only 'man speaking for the people' at the hearing was a guy from Columbia Law.
The only guy on the panel who felt net neutrality was unnecessary was the telco guy 'McCormick' who repeatedly assured the panel they would never 'limit, degrade, or block service' to anyone - all while agreeing that one congressman's analogy that suggested exactly that was 'apropos.' How bout that.
Meanwhile republican bobble-heads were nodding in agreement nearly the entire time with the 4 other panelists who FAVORED net neutrality and seemed to understand the issue. Vote time comes - only one republican voted for it. Another 'gee, how bout that' moment. What I think surprised me the most is that they actually seemed to grasp the necessity of net neutrality throughout - but they're such whores they voted against it anyways when the attention was elsewhere (see gas prices.)
There is no hiragana character for wi - only wa and the original vowel fillers. So maybe they've generated some cool kanji for it, but maybe they just thought it looks really cool in english to a Japanese observer, confusing the popularity of the ipod name perhaps.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
No. Since last October my younger brother bought a T43, I purchase a T42, my older brother purchased a T43p, and my roommate purchased a T43 - all of them in excellent working order. The most recent one arrived to my roommate last month and aside from being the 15" vs. my 14" monitor - it looks/feels/runs no different than the one I purchased in October - or any other Thinkpad I've owned before.
I think people need to get some perspective - Dell Laptops have been crap for years according to every Dell laptop owner I've ever known (many...) and Toshiba laptops are known for quality but as a Thinkpad owner I hate to imagine owning one as they really do feel flimsy and cheaply built right out of the box - and the keys are built like buttons (what's that about?)
Short answer is 'no.' They went through a period of time where IBM's name would continue to be branded on Thinkpads, but that time has expired. But even the one's from the last year or so with IBM printed on them are made by Lenovo.
I purchased a T42 in October and I love it. It's every bit as good as any previous ThinkPad I've owned.
I have noticed on their site they're 'consumerizing' the Thinkpad - silver covers, wide-screens, constant television advertising, and a deal to sell the Thinkpad in Best Buy.
I think it will all work out for them most likely, they may lose the xenophobic but they're picking up consumers IBM never even bothered to court. And as long as they continue to make T-series laptops solid computing workhorses I could care less what they do with their XYZ3001 model or whatever they come up with.
Of course companies like Google have completely changed the meaning of the term BETA as they use it to describe every new product they release because it sounds flashy and cool. People don't really think of BETA as what it used to mean as a result of perpetual BETA-states like Gmail and GoogleTalk.