Let's be clear, free software is not really free. I worked for a company that jumped heavily into a linux-based product and we soon found bugs in all kinds of underlying linux infrastructure... Sure it's open source, but realistically no small company that is cutting cost to deploy open-source in the first place will have the resources to go in and hack code to fix bugs.
We ended up spending a small fortune in consultant costs to hire outside programmers to fix small bugs thoughout several linux subsystems... and the kicker was we were theoretically expected to release those fixes back into the open-source community. Needless to say, our executives said "screw it, let everyone else figure it out for themselves".
Yes, you can cut costs with open source, but god help you if you need to fix something because you won't have the expertise to do it anymore that you'd have the expertise to recompile MS Office.
This isn't a rant against open source (I use several open source packages myself), but it isn't a panacea and you still need to allocate funds for things like developing your own bug fixes. Nothing is truly free.
So the shuttle will fly again this year... Who cares?
The United States space program is a joke. NASA has a perfectly good launch system (Liquid + solid boosters) that is going to get pissed away just like the Saturn 5 and every other successful system from the 60's and 70's. Instead, they will again burn through money to develop something new from scratch.
Imagine if Goodyear designed a new tire each time a new car model came out.... give me a break. That's the point of standardization: to leverage what works and reduce costs for a derivative.
What is wrong with leveraging the launcher and developing a new shuttle to strap onto it? Then as stage two upgrading, design more powerful solid boosters.... I bet within 5-7 years you could have a revamped shuttle program. NASA is nothing but pie-in-the-sky techno geeks managed by scared-shitless administrators.
Pack up and go home. The first humans to return to the moon will be Chinese. If anyone makes it to Mars, it will be a privately designed, built, and financed ship - no NASA there either.
Every time I hear Condi Rice blabber about some American philosophical bullshit regarding Cuba or Iran or wherever, I freely admit that I hope someone sticks it to America.
Imagine my glee when I saw that North Korea finally made a nuclear weapon while Georgy Boy was busy hunting those imaginary WMD in Iraq. How appropriate that Georgy Boy's fake war opened the door to North Korea.
Of course now the story is that it is America's duty to spread democracy around the world, and that Iraq is better off now... hmmm
Democracy, while generally good, isn't a panacea. Increasingly, it is being used as a way for rich nations to rape poor ones though such cherished democratic institutions like free trade and globalization. Granted most dictators are bad, but a dictator can say "screw you Haliburton, get the hell out of our country".
So here is a news flash: you have already lost the war on terror America if you continue with your current tactics of using democracy as a tool to plunder and manipulate other countries. To win, you need the guy on the park bench in Paris or Istanbul to tip you off if he overhears something sinister. There is no way you'll get that kind of support any time soon. If anything, that guy on the bench is already laughing his head off at the impending Iranian fiasco.
Every time I hear Condi Rice blabber about some American philosophical bullshit regarding Cuba or Iran or wherever, I freely admit that I hope someone sticks it to America.
Imagine my glee when I saw that North Korea finally made a nuclear weapon while Georgy Boy was busy hunting those imaginary WMD in Iraq. How appropriate that Georgy Boy's fake war opened the door to North Korea.
Of course now the story is that it is America's duty to spread democracy around the world, and that Iraq is better off now... hmmm
Democracy, while generally good, isn't a panacea. Increasingly, it is being used as a way for rich nations to rape poor ones though such cherished democratic institutions like free trade and globalization. Granted most dictators are bad, but a dictator can say "screw you Haliburton, get the hell out of our country".
So here is a news flash: you have already lost the war on terror America if you continue with your current tactics of using democracy as a tool to plunder and manipulate other countries. To win, you need the guy on the park bench in Paris or Istanbul to tip you off if he overhears something sinister.
There is no way you'll get that kind of support any time soon. If anything, that guy on the bench is already laughing his head off at the impending Iranian fiasco.
Does anyone ever trip over their own ego?
on
Mac mini to PC Hack
·
· Score: 1
I am a technical guy.. been doing support for 5 years. What is it with the petulant attitude of most Mac and many Linux users?
Give the guy a break for having some fun with hardware... some of the criticism is like criticizing a model airplane builder for not flying a real 747. The point, more than anything, was to try out a neat PC based motherboard in the smallest Mac case. It was not to build a better Mac.
If anyone really thinks AMD couldn't engineer an AMD64 onto a similar motherboard, keep deluding yourselves. Getting a 64 bit processor into that space isn't very special in the grand scheme,a nd anyone who has seen the inside of a laptop knows any manufacturer could do it.
The bigger question for Apple is how practical is such a small computer whether it is Mac or PC, and will non-apple consumers (the target audience) embrace this machine beyond it's initial "cuteness" appeal?
For myself, there is no way I would purchase something like that either PC or Mac. If I want something small, a laptop is way more practical (can travel with it), and for a desktop having a mini mac with snaking firewire or usb cords to external drives and devices doesn't fit my description of elegant. Give me a tower with drive bays any day.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's be clear, free software is not really free. I worked for a company that jumped heavily into a linux-based product and we soon found bugs in all kinds of underlying linux infrastructure... Sure it's open source, but realistically no small company that is cutting cost to deploy open-source in the first place will have the resources to go in and hack code to fix bugs. We ended up spending a small fortune in consultant costs to hire outside programmers to fix small bugs thoughout several linux subsystems... and the kicker was we were theoretically expected to release those fixes back into the open-source community. Needless to say, our executives said "screw it, let everyone else figure it out for themselves". Yes, you can cut costs with open source, but god help you if you need to fix something because you won't have the expertise to do it anymore that you'd have the expertise to recompile MS Office. This isn't a rant against open source (I use several open source packages myself), but it isn't a panacea and you still need to allocate funds for things like developing your own bug fixes. Nothing is truly free.
So the shuttle will fly again this year... Who cares? The United States space program is a joke. NASA has a perfectly good launch system (Liquid + solid boosters) that is going to get pissed away just like the Saturn 5 and every other successful system from the 60's and 70's. Instead, they will again burn through money to develop something new from scratch. Imagine if Goodyear designed a new tire each time a new car model came out.... give me a break. That's the point of standardization: to leverage what works and reduce costs for a derivative. What is wrong with leveraging the launcher and developing a new shuttle to strap onto it? Then as stage two upgrading, design more powerful solid boosters.... I bet within 5-7 years you could have a revamped shuttle program. NASA is nothing but pie-in-the-sky techno geeks managed by scared-shitless administrators. Pack up and go home. The first humans to return to the moon will be Chinese. If anyone makes it to Mars, it will be a privately designed, built, and financed ship - no NASA there either.
Every time I hear Condi Rice blabber about some American philosophical bullshit regarding Cuba or Iran or wherever, I freely admit that I hope someone sticks it to America. Imagine my glee when I saw that North Korea finally made a nuclear weapon while Georgy Boy was busy hunting those imaginary WMD in Iraq. How appropriate that Georgy Boy's fake war opened the door to North Korea. Of course now the story is that it is America's duty to spread democracy around the world, and that Iraq is better off now... hmmm Democracy, while generally good, isn't a panacea. Increasingly, it is being used as a way for rich nations to rape poor ones though such cherished democratic institutions like free trade and globalization. Granted most dictators are bad, but a dictator can say "screw you Haliburton, get the hell out of our country". So here is a news flash: you have already lost the war on terror America if you continue with your current tactics of using democracy as a tool to plunder and manipulate other countries. To win, you need the guy on the park bench in Paris or Istanbul to tip you off if he overhears something sinister. There is no way you'll get that kind of support any time soon. If anything, that guy on the bench is already laughing his head off at the impending Iranian fiasco.
Every time I hear Condi Rice blabber about some American philosophical bullshit regarding Cuba or Iran or wherever, I freely admit that I hope someone sticks it to America. Imagine my glee when I saw that North Korea finally made a nuclear weapon while Georgy Boy was busy hunting those imaginary WMD in Iraq. How appropriate that Georgy Boy's fake war opened the door to North Korea. Of course now the story is that it is America's duty to spread democracy around the world, and that Iraq is better off now... hmmm Democracy, while generally good, isn't a panacea. Increasingly, it is being used as a way for rich nations to rape poor ones though such cherished democratic institutions like free trade and globalization. Granted most dictators are bad, but a dictator can say "screw you Haliburton, get the hell out of our country". So here is a news flash: you have already lost the war on terror America if you continue with your current tactics of using democracy as a tool to plunder and manipulate other countries. To win, you need the guy on the park bench in Paris or Istanbul to tip you off if he overhears something sinister. There is no way you'll get that kind of support any time soon. If anything, that guy on the bench is already laughing his head off at the impending Iranian fiasco.
I am a technical guy.. been doing support for 5 years. What is it with the petulant attitude of most Mac and many Linux users? Give the guy a break for having some fun with hardware... some of the criticism is like criticizing a model airplane builder for not flying a real 747. The point, more than anything, was to try out a neat PC based motherboard in the smallest Mac case. It was not to build a better Mac. If anyone really thinks AMD couldn't engineer an AMD64 onto a similar motherboard, keep deluding yourselves. Getting a 64 bit processor into that space isn't very special in the grand scheme,a nd anyone who has seen the inside of a laptop knows any manufacturer could do it. The bigger question for Apple is how practical is such a small computer whether it is Mac or PC, and will non-apple consumers (the target audience) embrace this machine beyond it's initial "cuteness" appeal? For myself, there is no way I would purchase something like that either PC or Mac. If I want something small, a laptop is way more practical (can travel with it), and for a desktop having a mini mac with snaking firewire or usb cords to external drives and devices doesn't fit my description of elegant. Give me a tower with drive bays any day.