You're confusing media and format. A particular piece of digital storage media (eg. a hard disk, or a DVD) may not be reliable over 5 years. That's why most people are smart enough to keep copies of valuable data on more than one physical piece of media. (ie. multiple DVD backups, or IDE hard disks in a RAID formation).
Once a newer/better/more reliable storage medium comes around, it takes an hour or two (usually) to transfer the data to the new media.
Formats however are fine. GIFs, TIFFs and JPGs have been around around 15-25 years (not all that sure myself) and if they ever get superceded, we can be sure there will be a basic conversion program. Plain text files will be readable forever. GEDCOM has been a standard for a while and again, if updated, older files will be readable or convertable for some time to come.
there is somewhat of an anti-American culture within Wikipedia, even from many of the Americans.
So not being totally biased towards the US is "anti American"?
Example: Both International English and American English are valid languages for the english wikipedia (so long as each article is internally consistent). If Wikipedia was anti-American, wouldn't everything be expected to be in International English?
Sometimes poor grammar and spelling is harmless, but other times a single missed comma or misspelt word is enough to completely change the meaning of a sentence.
After a read of This Wikipedia article, it makes you wonder how some old school geeks are all "high and mighty" about teenagers that use abbreviations in their SMS chat, and how they have no grasp of the english language..
If only morse code transmitters had predictive text...
FWIW.. these are the OOo 2.0 beta supported formats:
.odt = Open Document Text (Word Processor) .ods = Open Document Spreadsheet .odp = Open Document Presentation .odg = Open Document Drawing (G for Graphic?) .odb = Open Document DataBase .odf = Open Document Formula (math markup)
The odt, ods, odp and odg formats also have template versions (ott, ots, otp and otg). There is a template format for HTML files,.oth - naturally.htm/.html are used for the standard HTML file format!)
There is also.odm - Open Document Master File - I guess for opening/managing a group of files at once.
Of course WP is free so it isn't an exact parallel, but Slashdot and Fark do the same thing: more $ == more priviledges. Not to mention that Slashdot, Fark, and Whirlpool are not run as a commercial entity to make money (well, Slashdot sort of is) - AtomicMPC is first and foremost a magazine.
Oh, and something else I found out today (thanks Arghdee) - the $20 a year not only gets you into the extra forums, but allows you to access the ENTIRE magazine electronically, every month, for a year. (I'm not sure what sort of method - maybe PDF, or something similar).
I'm usually a fan of publicising rights restrictions on the net and so on, but this article is a fucking abuse of the "YRO" tag.
The restrictions affect two of their about twenty forums - those two being a "general chat" forum and a "buy/sell" forum. All the others, general PC chat, hardware, linux, programming etc. will still be free for all. And being a computer magazine, these are what the forums are about - anything else is a bonus.
It's the same as Aussie broadband site, Whirlpool, only allows access to its "off-topic" forums (TV, sports, news, music, etc) to long standing members. The site is about broadband, and anyone can access those forums, but off-topic forums are a priviledge.
Sure he would (well, I would), if they resolve ambiguity.
I think these new terms increase ambiguity. Beforehand, when someone said 1Gb you could be pretty sure they meant 2^30 bytes. Now, you can't be sure either way.
Actually, this was resolved in 1999 in an IEC standard in favor of a kilobyte being 1000 bytes.
I wouldn't call it "resolved" - those stupid prefixes have caused more complaints and discussions than they solved. I guess the same group would also "resolve" pi as being equal to 3.
Being the geek that I am, I've also started using the correct prefixes verbally as well.
Assuming you mean mebi/gibi as the "correct" prefixes, I wouldn't have thought a geek would just start using words made up by a committee because he was told to.
"Not many" was my answer to "How many people are like me [..] had to use IE to get the update?"
"The only time I didn't use auto update was when I had a copy of the install sitting on another machine, and I didn't want to download it again." - by this I meant that auto update has always worked for me when I wanted to use it - which was several times (many different machines) over the past few weeks - indicating that it is not a problem effecting everyone and is likely a problem specific to the original poster.
The only time I didn't use auto-update, was when I didn't attempt it to start with (ie. the new version was already downloaded).
Not many, probably. The only time I didn't use auto update was when I had a copy of the install sitting on another machine, and I didn't want to download it again.
While I'm certainly not defending the MPAA's actions or saying that things are hunky dory, their shitty actions are not a reasonable justification to steal.
I didn't realise DVDs being taken off store shelves was such a huge problem in the US.
(Hint: If you meant "copyright infringement", say it. Don't say "steal", as that means something else.)
In fact, after the last election I had a nifty idea to create some sort of animated map of the US showing how political affiliations have geographically shifted over the years (primarily, the North slowly turning blue and the South slowly turning red). Then I started to think about extending that to a generic web app to display and animate various demographic data. Basically, a very dumbed down and animated online GIS.
This sounds like it would be most easily done with a WorldwindAdd-on!
What's really stupid, is that they are showing American Idol (whatever the current US series is) in Australia. Why, I have no idea. But they can't show programs like 24 and Lost?
Australia actually gets US shows unedited (well, bits cut out to fit more ads in, but we learn your "cultural" terms).
Its actually happens the other way around - some lines in "Crocodile Dundee" were changed for Americans - I think 'stickybeak' became 'busybody' or something obscure - but that whole movie is a stereotype anyway. In "The Castle", 'rissoles' became 'meatloaf'.
Slashdot Mirror
Try the Sun - about 5 times as many readers.
Yes, but the Telegraph has the greater total IQ.
Not that that likely has any bearing on things astrologically, but there you go.
You say that like the sun passing through any of the other 12 does?
You're confusing media and format. A particular piece of digital storage media (eg. a hard disk, or a DVD) may not be reliable over 5 years. That's why most people are smart enough to keep copies of valuable data on more than one physical piece of media. (ie. multiple DVD backups, or IDE hard disks in a RAID formation).
Once a newer/better/more reliable storage medium comes around, it takes an hour or two (usually) to transfer the data to the new media.
Formats however are fine. GIFs, TIFFs and JPGs have been around around 15-25 years (not all that sure myself) and if they ever get superceded, we can be sure there will be a basic conversion program. Plain text files will be readable forever. GEDCOM has been a standard for a while and again, if updated, older files will be readable or convertable for some time to come.
there is somewhat of an anti-American culture within Wikipedia, even from many of the Americans.
So not being totally biased towards the US is "anti American"?
Example: Both International English and American English are valid languages for the english wikipedia (so long as each article is internally consistent). If Wikipedia was anti-American, wouldn't everything be expected to be in International English?
Sometimes poor grammar and spelling is harmless, but other times a single missed comma or misspelt word is enough to completely change the meaning of a sentence.
Even a single capital letter:
"I helped my uncle Jack off a horse"
"I helped my uncle jack off a horse"
Gerry Harvey is definitely Australian, so I figure the store is! 99.9999% sure though..
I didn't think that argument existed in the first place.
After a read of This Wikipedia article, it makes you wonder how some old school geeks are all "high and mighty" about teenagers that use abbreviations in their SMS chat, and how they have no grasp of the english language..
If only morse code transmitters had predictive text...
The odt, ods, odp and odg formats also have template versions (ott, ots, otp and otg). There is a template format for HTML files,
There is also .odm - Open Document Master File - I guess for opening/managing a group of files at once.
The Whirlpool Forum FAQ says otherwise.
Of course WP is free so it isn't an exact parallel, but Slashdot and Fark do the same thing: more $ == more priviledges. Not to mention that Slashdot, Fark, and Whirlpool are not run as a commercial entity to make money (well, Slashdot sort of is) - AtomicMPC is first and foremost a magazine.
Oh, and something else I found out today (thanks Arghdee) - the $20 a year not only gets you into the extra forums, but allows you to access the ENTIRE magazine electronically, every month, for a year. (I'm not sure what sort of method - maybe PDF, or something similar).
The restrictions affect two of their about twenty forums - those two being a "general chat" forum and a "buy/sell" forum. All the others, general PC chat, hardware, linux, programming etc. will still be free for all. And being a computer magazine, these are what the forums are about - anything else is a bonus.
It's the same as Aussie broadband site, Whirlpool, only allows access to its "off-topic" forums (TV, sports, news, music, etc) to long standing members. The site is about broadband, and anyone can access those forums, but off-topic forums are a priviledge.
Sure he would (well, I would), if they resolve ambiguity.
I think these new terms increase ambiguity. Beforehand, when someone said 1Gb you could be pretty sure they meant 2^30 bytes. Now, you can't be sure either way.
Actually, this was resolved in 1999 in an IEC standard in favor of a kilobyte being 1000 bytes.
I wouldn't call it "resolved" - those stupid prefixes have caused more complaints and discussions than they solved. I guess the same group would also "resolve" pi as being equal to 3.
Being the geek that I am, I've also started using the correct prefixes verbally as well.
Assuming you mean mebi/gibi as the "correct" prefixes, I wouldn't have thought a geek would just start using words made up by a committee because he was told to.
No.
"Not many" was my answer to "How many people are like me [..] had to use IE to get the update?"
"The only time I didn't use auto update was when I had a copy of the install sitting on another machine, and I didn't want to download it again." - by this I meant that auto update has always worked for me when I wanted to use it - which was several times (many different machines) over the past few weeks - indicating that it is not a problem effecting everyone and is likely a problem specific to the original poster.
The only time I didn't use auto-update, was when I didn't attempt it to start with (ie. the new version was already downloaded).
Not many, probably. The only time I didn't use auto update was when I had a copy of the install sitting on another machine, and I didn't want to download it again.
At my workplace, the current system build is Win XP, MS Office 2003 (that is, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Frontpage and Outlook) ... and Access 97.
Exactly. The definition you gave says "To take or appropriate" - nothing about "To duplicate".
While I'm certainly not defending the MPAA's actions or saying that things are hunky dory, their shitty actions are not a reasonable justification to steal.
I didn't realise DVDs being taken off store shelves was such a huge problem in the US.
(Hint: If you meant "copyright infringement", say it. Don't say "steal", as that means something else.)
If the grandparent poster really is Everyking or referring to him, then I can vouch that the admin is probably in the right.
See history of Ashlee Simpson for the kind of crap Everyking inflicts upon Wikipedia.
It's a case of VB. If I went to the checkout I'd expect them to give me money to take it away.
If I had points I would give +1, just for the veiled HHGTTG reference!
In fact, after the last election I had a nifty idea to create some sort of animated map of the US showing how political affiliations have geographically shifted over the years (primarily, the North slowly turning blue and the South slowly turning red). Then I started to think about extending that to a generic web app to display and animate various demographic data. Basically, a very dumbed down and animated online GIS.
This sounds like it would be most easily done with a Worldwind Add-on!
What's really stupid, is that they are showing American Idol (whatever the current US series is) in Australia. Why, I have no idea. But they can't show programs like 24 and Lost?
Australia actually gets US shows unedited (well, bits cut out to fit more ads in, but we learn your "cultural" terms).
Its actually happens the other way around - some lines in "Crocodile Dundee" were changed for Americans - I think 'stickybeak' became 'busybody' or something obscure - but that whole movie is a stereotype anyway. In "The Castle", 'rissoles' became 'meatloaf'.
Yeah, we don't want people thinking that the nickname "Oz" comes from the pronunciation of the first syllable of "Australia" or anything.