What is wrong with using nVidia's drivers for nVidia's cards?
Just a few things off the top of my head...
nVidia has dropped support for cards older than the GForce4. I have a GForce2 with 64MB and TV tuner that would benefit from this driver.
A while back I was running Hardened Gentoo. When I asked the maintainer why the nVidia driver was masked (blocked), he replied:
... One of the very reasons for using hardened is for
increased security protections. The way nvidia wrote the drivers is
really crappy as does run time execution. That means it behaves exactly
as shellcode does, which is the very thing we are trying to prevent in
the first place. Now when that glx (libGL.so) gets installed every
single package it that links to it then causes a PaX violation.
I suggest you email the nvidia vendor and request that they stop taking
shortcuts in the driver code and release something that's
1) PIC proper [no TEXTREL's]
2) stop using JIT.
Several projects have worked to create versions of xorg or window managers that take advantage of 3D hardware. However, xorg relies on nVidia's driver (with nVidia hardware) for 3D. That code can't be modified.
Finally, my understanding is that the nVidia driver only works with x86 hardware. All of my hardware is x86, so I've never verified this.
The "security theater" aspect is important to people as unreasonable, emotional creatures. They felt safer with national guardsmen with unloaded weapons walking around the airports. No government could educate people to the point you expect
Who are these people that you are referring to? The "Security Theater" aspect makes most of the people I know feel much less secure. When you smack people in the face with an obvious farce, they tend to think that anything you provide will also be a farce. I don't know anyone who believes airport security is possible after being smacked with "Security Theater".
The report compares the tactics employed by the oil giant to those used by the tobacco industry in previous decades, and identifies key individuals who have worked on both campaigns.
This calls up an old thought. Back when fast food restaurants first started banning indoor smoking, I was having a smoke outside after eating. There was a woman in a SUV waiting in the drive-through line. The SUV wasn't in very good repair judging by the amount of smoke it was producing. The woman yelled out to me, telling me how bad smoking was. All I could do is roll my eyes and shrug.
I've often wondered since then, when will the oil companies get sued for all of the damage they do? I don't remember ever being told that it's unsafe to breath the air outside due to smokers. The smog from cars on the other hand...
Akamai is a commercial service and is only available to people who are willing to pay for it. If CNN.com pays for it, and MSNBC.com does not, CNN.com will get better service.
I'm confused by this. If CNN.com pays for some of Akamai's bandwidth, they have that much more bandwidth. If I pay a hosting site to put pictures on the net, I have that much more bandwidth. Now, does that mean that CNN's service will be slower if my hosting company doesn't provide them with bandwidth as well? No. The analogy is not only invalid, it's seriously flawed.
On the flip side, maybe the good professor is arguing that net neutrality would force all porn providers to give you service if you joined just one of their sites? I think he's dreaming...
I've never understood the attitude that "metric is too hard". It's all powers of ten and standard prefixes.
Metric being hard or easy has nothing to do with it. Part of it is about being able to eye-ball something and make semi-accurate guess as to it's measurement. Thanks to soda-pop, I know about how much 2 liters is. Thanks to milk, I know about how much a gallon is.
The other part is converting between units that are used around you. I'd have to look up the conversion for liters/gallons if someone asked me to run to the store and pick up a gallon of soda-pop.
Thinking of metric, why do people get measured in centimeters? It would make a little more sense to me to use decimeters. (18.288 dm vs. 182.88 cm)
Seriously, after 9/11 the push was to Afghanistan and NO ONE protested.
As I recall, most people were still in shock at that time. Afghanistan wasn't really presented as an invasion. The news said we were going into Afghanistan to find the mastermind behind 9/11, not to invade the country or overthrow the government. When it came to bombing, most people that I talked to at the time didn't really see the point. The country had already been throughly bombed. We were just bombing rubble. Adding to that, it was a quick invasion. We moved on to Iraq before most people really noticed.
The videos I downloaded had had ALL THE COMMERCIALS REMOVED! No revenue for you, NBC
This is something I've wondered about. If no one knows that you watched the commercial, how is any revenue generated? Are they going to the advertisers and telling them "90 billion people pirated our show with your commercial in it. You need to pay us for that air time"? Maybe that is why they come up with such obviously exaggerated numbers?
Linux does support a lot of file systems. About a third of them are for compatibility with other systems, a third are because the steering wheel from an 18-wheel semi-truck is hard to handle when mounted in a Honda, and the last third are research and development.
That said, you do know there is a difference between a file system and a partition, right? Your list above from fdisk only shows partition types, not file systems. Linux uses two partition types, 82 (swap) and 83 (Linux). The majority of the rest are to maintain compatibility with Windows, OS/2, Sun, BSD, and other systems.
The nice thing about GNU/Linux is that when someone tells you to "get on my bandwagon or get the fuck out", you can get out and still obtain the functionality you need. It's like having icing with your cake.
That requires a "server" to be on at all times though, whereas if I could directly access the scanner from any computer, only that computer and the scanner would have to be powered up.
True. I've seen quite a few Linux-based router projects. I wonder how hard it would be to wire up an embedded controller with USB and Ethernet to run Sane/Cups?
I would like to be able to scan from our multi-function printer to any of the computers in my house.
Have you looked into the network options for Sane on Linux? I have a HP PSC 2400 shared between 10 computers in my office. Scanning is shared via Sane and printing is shared via Cups. It works out really nice.
If you're relying on smell to tell you when things are sneaking up on you, it will probably be too late by the time you really get a good whiff.
Deer often use smell as a warning. However, it just spooks them. Once they smell you, they use sound and sight to run. Wind can carry smell quite a distance.
why don't you show users how to do it better under Linux?
I really do wish the FSF would put up such a page. I get so tired of people slapping a random distribution of Linux on their computer, having a problem with some piece of hardware, and proclaiming to the world that Windows is so much better. Of course, they ignore hardware problems with Windows. I also get tired of people touting all the new features of Vista, and ignoring that fact that many of those features have been available under OSX and/or Linux for years.
It would be nice if I could just post a link to the FSF's site when people post nonsense about Linux.
While I like online storage for transferring files between machines in different geological locations, I don't trust it for the majority of my files.
You are protected against fire, theft, and (possibly) accidental deletions. You don't have to open up an FTP channel on your local router.
Keeping an off-site backup of data does protect against fire. However, you'd be relying of your service provider to protect against theft and accidental deletions. No, you wouldn't need to open a local ftp channel with online file storage. However, your service provider would need to provide 27/7 online access. At least with having a local channel open, you can control how and when people access your data.
You can backup things which were previously impractical to back up, such as ripping your entire DVD collection
As this is illegal in several countries, I wouldn't recommend it. Service providers have a poor track record when it comes to handing data over to police without a search warrant.
One last thought, most corporations have policies against storing data on servers not controlled by said corporation. If the business sector doesn't trust them, why should I?
This announcement doesn't really come as a surprise. Microsoft needs OpenOffice.org to support Open XML. In several articles I've read on Slashdot, OpenOffice.org has pointed to the fact that only Microsoft products support Open XML. It has been one of the main reasons given for adopting OpenDocument. Several applications support OpenDocument. If OpenOffice.org supports it, Microsoft can point to it and say "See, even open source programs support our format".
As for if this is a Good Thing(tm) or not, I'm not sure. However, I'm sure it's what Novel had in mind when they talked about interoperability.
My bank started doing something similar recently. They don't block IE or Firefox. However, they do block Konqueror. I simply changed the user agent ID and everything works the same. I don't think it's really a conspiracy, rather poor coding on the part of the web designer.
Of more concern to me is the actions of my local TV news station. In the past they offered video feeds in Real format. Real works on all platforms and with all browsers as far as I know. However, they recently switched to some new proprietary format that only works with Windows and IE.
I often wanted to ask these companies if they are being directly paid by Microsoft or if they are purposely pushing Microsoft's monopoly on us. However, I think the truth is that there are a lot of people making IT decisions that don't have a clue what they are doing. They know the buzz words and marketing hype and simply parrot it.
Why isn't anyone discussing how his years of experience both managing a bank account the size of a small country's GDP and running a huge corporation would be beneficial/detrimental to him being a President?
I'll take your second point first. I've meet a few large corporation CEOs in my lifetime. They are generally good at managing other managers. Put them in charge of regular people and they fail miserably. The main reason for this seems to be a complete lack of understanding of the common person. CEOs spend all of their time with like-minded people. You won't find them at the bar down the street.
On the positive side, the same could be said of the President. Has anyone on Slashdot ever sat down and had a beer with the President? However, without an understanding of the common person, and with corporate interests at heart, you end up with a government that favors corporations over the common person.
As for the management of money, that's the CFO's job. I've never met a businessman that didn't point to their accountant when it comes to matters involving money.
I should hang my head in shame... I don't know what I was thinking. The model I was talking about was for Everquest. I just realized my mistake while reading one of Zonk's stories. Now I feel stupid...
I'd say the rest of my arguments hold though. I was really disappointed when my games didn't work with Linux 2.6. It's great that Bioware is looking into supporting Linux. However, please don't abandon the software and keep it closed. If you can't maintain it anymore, please release the code so someone else can maintain it.
The best model for many of these games is to open the code and keep the content closed. This eases maintenance, adds platforms. and you profit from the content. I realize this model doesn't work for a lot of games. However, if the content is what sells the game, it works really well.
but you forgot to mention all the crap OEM's install on their computers... i've been wondering for months why anyone with half a brain would want to slow down the perfectly good new computers they're selling...
Two reasons:
First, to prevent returns. You would be amazed at how many people return computers because trialware isn't installed. Customers want DVD Playback/CD Writing/Anti-Virus software. OEMs don't want to pay for that software. So they install trialware. The funny part about the CD Writing software is that XP doesn't need it. However, customers insist that they need a separate application to write to CD.
Second, economics. Some companies pay the OEM to install their trialware.Most customers are not willing to pay to not include it. The people who care just uninstall it.
nothing is required but the game and an account to login with
The account to login with is what I was referring to when talking about a monthly charge. Are these free now? That's great if they are. I may look into picking the game up. However, they weren't when the game came out. I passed on buying then and never looked back at it.
I'd have to say that I'm not the target audience that game companies are looking for. I never bought Neverwinter Nights for Windows or Linux. I love D&D. However, for $50, I want a game, not a client. Maybe I missed something there. I just never understood paying $50 for a game that requires a monthly paid subscription.
I did buy SimCity 3000 and Myth II for Linux. They were great games. However, they stopped working after I upgraded to Linux 2.6. Now the disks just sit in a drawer.
What I'm looking for are some fun games that are not overly expensive and will be playable for longer than a couple of years. Linux offers a lot of simple, fun games. However, none of the games from commercial vendors offer what I'm looking for.
It's great that Bioware is interested in the Linux market. But please, support your product by keeping it updated and don't charge outrageous amounts for the client if you are also going to charge for required services.
Ignore it. It's big right now because it's relativity new. In time it will be old news and no one will believe video downloaded from the net.
On the other hand, most of the schools I know already ban cell phones. A student shouldn't be taking calls when they are in lecture, or passing notes (electronic or traditional) for that matter.
and the Dell XPS M2010 doesn't look much different than my Atari ST
I don't know. It looks more like my bedroom CD player, with the addition of keyboard and monitor. The VGC-LS1 does remind me of late Atari styling. However, this is a bit more stylized. It reminds me more of the last Commodore 128. I think it was the C model. I still have an Atari 130XE that I use, though I'm currently scouting for a replacement keyboard.
As for putting the PC in a wood colored box, why color it at all? A clear case tell the owner to clean it once in a while. It appeals to a certain set of people who like the look of exposed electronics. And finally, it's going to end up hidden in the desk anyway.
Then let the parties declare their positions on each issue, and match the one to the other.
I would change this part. Instead, I'd want voting records consulted to determine each party's position on a given issue. Of course, riders become a problem. "They voted to kill all the cute little puppies. Oh wait, the bill they voted against said Save the puppies and kill all humans." You'd have to take the full wording of the bill into account.
Years ago, in watching the fight between Microsoft and Apple over the GUI, I made the comment to a friend that Apple should just patent the interface. It seemed like they were attempting to use copyright law when patent law would make more sense. I didn't give it much more thought until the last couple of years.
I caught a headline on Slashdot the other day saying that Intel had been granted a patent on Web phones. The summary said it had been filed for in 2000. I didn't get the chance to read the article or comments. However, it struck me as ridiculous that a patent filed for in a technology's infancy wouldn't get awarded until after that technology had matured and was in wide use. It seems to me that if a patent can't be awarded within a year of filing, it should invalidated.
It also seems to me that the length of time that a patent is valid is ridiculously long. Now it may be that it takes twenty years to take an idea from prototype to profit. However, I've never seen this as being the case with software. If software patents must exist, they should be valid for, at most, four years. It's wrong that a piece of software be protected by patent law for what is effectively it entire life of said software. How many people remember when the GIF patent expired? Now, how many even knew what a computer was when it was filed? GIF was an important step forward in exchanging information between computers. Before GIF, digital images were stored as raw memory dumps that could only be viewed using the same type of system. However, GIF was soon replaced by a hundred different image formats and died long before it's patent expired.
Of course, how much protection a patent (or copyright for that matter) can provide is determined by how wealthy you are. Sure, the law says you are protected. However, you are only protected in so far as you can afford a lawyer, court costs, etc. One of my favorite stories is about the invention of television. The poor guy spent every penny he had and died broke before he was awarded the patent. It didn't hurt RCA any to fight him.
The catastrophe is that these mistakes have led to the demise of many of these companies. And from what I gather from the review, most of the companies mentioned still exist,
If you want see some truly catastrophic marketing mistakes, take a look at the history of Atari. They had a very innovative computer at one time. However, all that is left of them is the brand name.
Slashdot Mirror
What is wrong with using nVidia's drivers for nVidia's cards?
... One of the very reasons for using hardened is for
increased security protections. The way nvidia wrote the drivers is
really crappy as does run time execution. That means it behaves exactly
as shellcode does, which is the very thing we are trying to prevent in
the first place. Now when that glx (libGL.so) gets installed every
single package it that links to it then causes a PaX violation.
Just a few things off the top of my head...
nVidia has dropped support for cards older than the GForce4. I have a GForce2 with 64MB and TV tuner that would benefit from this driver.
A while back I was running Hardened Gentoo. When I asked the maintainer why the nVidia driver was masked (blocked), he replied:
I suggest you email the nvidia vendor and request that they stop taking shortcuts in the driver code and release something that's
1) PIC proper [no TEXTREL's]
2) stop using JIT.
Several projects have worked to create versions of xorg or window managers that take advantage of 3D hardware. However, xorg relies on nVidia's driver (with nVidia hardware) for 3D. That code can't be modified.
Finally, my understanding is that the nVidia driver only works with x86 hardware. All of my hardware is x86, so I've never verified this.
The "security theater" aspect is important to people as unreasonable, emotional creatures. They felt safer with national guardsmen with unloaded weapons walking around the airports. No government could educate people to the point you expect
Who are these people that you are referring to? The "Security Theater" aspect makes most of the people I know feel much less secure. When you smack people in the face with an obvious farce, they tend to think that anything you provide will also be a farce. I don't know anyone who believes airport security is possible after being smacked with "Security Theater".
The report compares the tactics employed by the oil giant to those used by the tobacco industry in previous decades, and identifies key individuals who have worked on both campaigns.
This calls up an old thought. Back when fast food restaurants first started banning indoor smoking, I was having a smoke outside after eating. There was a woman in a SUV waiting in the drive-through line. The SUV wasn't in very good repair judging by the amount of smoke it was producing. The woman yelled out to me, telling me how bad smoking was. All I could do is roll my eyes and shrug.
I've often wondered since then, when will the oil companies get sued for all of the damage they do? I don't remember ever being told that it's unsafe to breath the air outside due to smokers. The smog from cars on the other hand...
Akamai is a commercial service and is only available to people who are willing to pay for it. If CNN.com pays for it, and MSNBC.com does not, CNN.com will get better service.
I'm confused by this. If CNN.com pays for some of Akamai's bandwidth, they have that much more bandwidth. If I pay a hosting site to put pictures on the net, I have that much more bandwidth. Now, does that mean that CNN's service will be slower if my hosting company doesn't provide them with bandwidth as well? No. The analogy is not only invalid, it's seriously flawed.
On the flip side, maybe the good professor is arguing that net neutrality would force all porn providers to give you service if you joined just one of their sites? I think he's dreaming...
I've never understood the attitude that "metric is too hard". It's all powers of ten and standard prefixes.
Metric being hard or easy has nothing to do with it. Part of it is about being able to eye-ball something and make semi-accurate guess as to it's measurement. Thanks to soda-pop, I know about how much 2 liters is. Thanks to milk, I know about how much a gallon is.
The other part is converting between units that are used around you. I'd have to look up the conversion for liters/gallons if someone asked me to run to the store and pick up a gallon of soda-pop.
Thinking of metric, why do people get measured in centimeters? It would make a little more sense to me to use decimeters. (18.288 dm vs. 182.88 cm)
Seriously, after 9/11 the push was to Afghanistan and NO ONE protested.
As I recall, most people were still in shock at that time. Afghanistan wasn't really presented as an invasion. The news said we were going into Afghanistan to find the mastermind behind 9/11, not to invade the country or overthrow the government. When it came to bombing, most people that I talked to at the time didn't really see the point. The country had already been throughly bombed. We were just bombing rubble. Adding to that, it was a quick invasion. We moved on to Iraq before most people really noticed.
The videos I downloaded had had ALL THE COMMERCIALS REMOVED! No revenue for you, NBC
This is something I've wondered about. If no one knows that you watched the commercial, how is any revenue generated? Are they going to the advertisers and telling them "90 billion people pirated our show with your commercial in it. You need to pay us for that air time"? Maybe that is why they come up with such obviously exaggerated numbers?
Linux does support a lot of file systems. About a third of them are for compatibility with other systems, a third are because the steering wheel from an 18-wheel semi-truck is hard to handle when mounted in a Honda, and the last third are research and development.
That said, you do know there is a difference between a file system and a partition, right? Your list above from fdisk only shows partition types, not file systems. Linux uses two partition types, 82 (swap) and 83 (Linux). The majority of the rest are to maintain compatibility with Windows, OS/2, Sun, BSD, and other systems.
The nice thing about GNU/Linux is that when someone tells you to "get on my bandwagon or get the fuck out", you can get out and still obtain the functionality you need. It's like having icing with your cake.
That requires a "server" to be on at all times though, whereas if I could directly access the scanner from any computer, only that computer and the scanner would have to be powered up.
True. I've seen quite a few Linux-based router projects. I wonder how hard it would be to wire up an embedded controller with USB and Ethernet to run Sane/Cups?
I would like to be able to scan from our multi-function printer to any of the computers in my house.
Have you looked into the network options for Sane on Linux? I have a HP PSC 2400 shared between 10 computers in my office. Scanning is shared via Sane and printing is shared via Cups. It works out really nice.
If you're relying on smell to tell you when things are sneaking up on you, it will probably be too late by the time you really get a good whiff.
Deer often use smell as a warning. However, it just spooks them. Once they smell you, they use sound and sight to run. Wind can carry smell quite a distance.
why don't you show users how to do it better under Linux?
I really do wish the FSF would put up such a page. I get so tired of people slapping a random distribution of Linux on their computer, having a problem with some piece of hardware, and proclaiming to the world that Windows is so much better. Of course, they ignore hardware problems with Windows. I also get tired of people touting all the new features of Vista, and ignoring that fact that many of those features have been available under OSX and/or Linux for years.
It would be nice if I could just post a link to the FSF's site when people post nonsense about Linux.
While I like online storage for transferring files between machines in different geological locations, I don't trust it for the majority of my files.
You are protected against fire, theft, and (possibly) accidental deletions. You don't have to open up an FTP channel on your local router.
Keeping an off-site backup of data does protect against fire. However, you'd be relying of your service provider to protect against theft and accidental deletions. No, you wouldn't need to open a local ftp channel with online file storage. However, your service provider would need to provide 27/7 online access. At least with having a local channel open, you can control how and when people access your data.
You can backup things which were previously impractical to back up, such as ripping your entire DVD collection
As this is illegal in several countries, I wouldn't recommend it. Service providers have a poor track record when it comes to handing data over to police without a search warrant.
One last thought, most corporations have policies against storing data on servers not controlled by said corporation. If the business sector doesn't trust them, why should I?
This announcement doesn't really come as a surprise. Microsoft needs OpenOffice.org to support Open XML. In several articles I've read on Slashdot, OpenOffice.org has pointed to the fact that only Microsoft products support Open XML. It has been one of the main reasons given for adopting OpenDocument. Several applications support OpenDocument. If OpenOffice.org supports it, Microsoft can point to it and say "See, even open source programs support our format".
As for if this is a Good Thing(tm) or not, I'm not sure. However, I'm sure it's what Novel had in mind when they talked about interoperability.
My bank started doing something similar recently. They don't block IE or Firefox. However, they do block Konqueror. I simply changed the user agent ID and everything works the same. I don't think it's really a conspiracy, rather poor coding on the part of the web designer.
Of more concern to me is the actions of my local TV news station. In the past they offered video feeds in Real format. Real works on all platforms and with all browsers as far as I know. However, they recently switched to some new proprietary format that only works with Windows and IE.
I often wanted to ask these companies if they are being directly paid by Microsoft or if they are purposely pushing Microsoft's monopoly on us. However, I think the truth is that there are a lot of people making IT decisions that don't have a clue what they are doing. They know the buzz words and marketing hype and simply parrot it.
Why isn't anyone discussing how his years of experience both managing a bank account the size of a small country's GDP and running a huge corporation would be beneficial/detrimental to him being a President?
I'll take your second point first. I've meet a few large corporation CEOs in my lifetime. They are generally good at managing other managers. Put them in charge of regular people and they fail miserably. The main reason for this seems to be a complete lack of understanding of the common person. CEOs spend all of their time with like-minded people. You won't find them at the bar down the street.
On the positive side, the same could be said of the President. Has anyone on Slashdot ever sat down and had a beer with the President? However, without an understanding of the common person, and with corporate interests at heart, you end up with a government that favors corporations over the common person.
As for the management of money, that's the CFO's job. I've never met a businessman that didn't point to their accountant when it comes to matters involving money.
I should hang my head in shame... I don't know what I was thinking. The model I was talking about was for Everquest. I just realized my mistake while reading one of Zonk's stories. Now I feel stupid...
I'd say the rest of my arguments hold though. I was really disappointed when my games didn't work with Linux 2.6. It's great that Bioware is looking into supporting Linux. However, please don't abandon the software and keep it closed. If you can't maintain it anymore, please release the code so someone else can maintain it.
The best model for many of these games is to open the code and keep the content closed. This eases maintenance, adds platforms. and you profit from the content. I realize this model doesn't work for a lot of games. However, if the content is what sells the game, it works really well.
but you forgot to mention all the crap OEM's install on their computers... i've been wondering for months why anyone with half a brain would want to slow down the perfectly good new computers they're selling...
Two reasons:
First, to prevent returns. You would be amazed at how many people return computers because trialware isn't installed. Customers want DVD Playback/CD Writing/Anti-Virus software. OEMs don't want to pay for that software. So they install trialware. The funny part about the CD Writing software is that XP doesn't need it. However, customers insist that they need a separate application to write to CD.
Second, economics. Some companies pay the OEM to install their trialware.Most customers are not willing to pay to not include it. The people who care just uninstall it.
nothing is required but the game and an account to login with
The account to login with is what I was referring to when talking about a monthly charge. Are these free now? That's great if they are. I may look into picking the game up. However, they weren't when the game came out. I passed on buying then and never looked back at it.
I'd have to say that I'm not the target audience that game companies are looking for. I never bought Neverwinter Nights for Windows or Linux. I love D&D. However, for $50, I want a game, not a client. Maybe I missed something there. I just never understood paying $50 for a game that requires a monthly paid subscription.
I did buy SimCity 3000 and Myth II for Linux. They were great games. However, they stopped working after I upgraded to Linux 2.6. Now the disks just sit in a drawer.
What I'm looking for are some fun games that are not overly expensive and will be playable for longer than a couple of years. Linux offers a lot of simple, fun games. However, none of the games from commercial vendors offer what I'm looking for.
It's great that Bioware is interested in the Linux market. But please, support your product by keeping it updated and don't charge outrageous amounts for the client if you are also going to charge for required services.
Ignore it. It's big right now because it's relativity new. In time it will be old news and no one will believe video downloaded from the net.
On the other hand, most of the schools I know already ban cell phones. A student shouldn't be taking calls when they are in lecture, or passing notes (electronic or traditional) for that matter.
and the Dell XPS M2010 doesn't look much different than my Atari ST
I don't know. It looks more like my bedroom CD player, with the addition of keyboard and monitor. The VGC-LS1 does remind me of late Atari styling. However, this is a bit more stylized. It reminds me more of the last Commodore 128. I think it was the C model. I still have an Atari 130XE that I use, though I'm currently scouting for a replacement keyboard.
As for putting the PC in a wood colored box, why color it at all? A clear case tell the owner to clean it once in a while. It appeals to a certain set of people who like the look of exposed electronics. And finally, it's going to end up hidden in the desk anyway.
Then let the parties declare their positions on each issue, and match the one to the other.
I would change this part. Instead, I'd want voting records consulted to determine each party's position on a given issue. Of course, riders become a problem. "They voted to kill all the cute little puppies. Oh wait, the bill they voted against said Save the puppies and kill all humans." You'd have to take the full wording of the bill into account.
Years ago, in watching the fight between Microsoft and Apple over the GUI, I made the comment to a friend that Apple should just patent the interface. It seemed like they were attempting to use copyright law when patent law would make more sense. I didn't give it much more thought until the last couple of years.
I caught a headline on Slashdot the other day saying that Intel had been granted a patent on Web phones. The summary said it had been filed for in 2000. I didn't get the chance to read the article or comments. However, it struck me as ridiculous that a patent filed for in a technology's infancy wouldn't get awarded until after that technology had matured and was in wide use. It seems to me that if a patent can't be awarded within a year of filing, it should invalidated.
It also seems to me that the length of time that a patent is valid is ridiculously long. Now it may be that it takes twenty years to take an idea from prototype to profit. However, I've never seen this as being the case with software. If software patents must exist, they should be valid for, at most, four years. It's wrong that a piece of software be protected by patent law for what is effectively it entire life of said software. How many people remember when the GIF patent expired? Now, how many even knew what a computer was when it was filed? GIF was an important step forward in exchanging information between computers. Before GIF, digital images were stored as raw memory dumps that could only be viewed using the same type of system. However, GIF was soon replaced by a hundred different image formats and died long before it's patent expired.
Of course, how much protection a patent (or copyright for that matter) can provide is determined by how wealthy you are. Sure, the law says you are protected. However, you are only protected in so far as you can afford a lawyer, court costs, etc. One of my favorite stories is about the invention of television. The poor guy spent every penny he had and died broke before he was awarded the patent. It didn't hurt RCA any to fight him.
The catastrophe is that these mistakes have led to the demise of many of these companies. And from what I gather from the review, most of the companies mentioned still exist,
If you want see some truly catastrophic marketing mistakes, take a look at the history of Atari. They had a very innovative computer at one time. However, all that is left of them is the brand name.