P2P software only checks the hash to make sure that you're downloading the same file from different sources, despite the filename. It is not used to verify that the file you are downloading is actually the file you want. The **AA can upload a file with the name "Britney Spears - Hit me one more time.mp3" with any filesize and hash they want. If they flood the network with enough bogus filenames P2P users wont be able to be able to find a legitimate (or is that illegitimate?) file to download without wasting lots of time (and bandwidth).
The issue of hashes only comes into play once you have started to download a real copy of the file. If you were downloading a bogus copy from the start, a bogus file is what you'll get.
I used to work as a tutor at a university here in australia. Each time there was an assignment the lecturer/professor would go over it with us, tell us what to look for, how to designate grades, and then the other tutors and I would go off and mark a bunch of them. It worked really well, so long as the tutors were qualified enough.
The point is there are other ways to save the time spent marking.
The problem with automated marking is that there are so many solutions to the one problem. I was quite surprised at the different ways students would attack each problem - especially so for maths assignments, which I thought would be more standardised. I first started marking by trying to make sure every proof was completely flawless. That strategy was soon revised to "If I can't find a flaw in 3 minutes, you get full marks."
"whether you'd rather be annoyed but spend no money, or spend money and not be annoyed"
You left out the third option: spend time and not be annoyed. A little messing around on bittorrent would get you the file for free.
People will pay for officially downloadable content because it offers a quick no fuss solution. You click, you pay, you download. Compare this to bittorrenting 99% of a 10gig file only to have the site go down, or all the seeds dissapear, or it's in spanish.
TV ads are localised. They can target their audience, you can see that bob's staple supplies in your part of the country is having a sale.
While you may promise to watch the ads I doubt the majority of people will. The TV networks are scared of computers because they are used to being in control of the broadcast.
I'm surprised the spammers haven't caught on yet. You download the torrent of stargate and halfway through watching it a badly dubbed Jack O'neal is asking you "Is your penis is big enough? Go to www.penispumpsrus.com and make yourself a real man! I know I did."
Why the fuck would you want to play a video inside a word document?
Oh wait... you could pretend you were working, when really you were watching the latest Dr Who you downloaded from btorrent. Now I get it. Maybe I can use the same thinking and build a slashdot site viewer into the C++ IDE....
Has anyone here ever considered the fact that slashdot isn't the only site that links to others? You all seem to like taking credit for rendering a site inaccessible, but here's a humbling thought: almost every IT and sci-tech site in the world is currently linking to Jon's blog.
I'm not sure where you're from, but if you're an american you might have a point. Your legal noise levels are way above ours (I'm australian). I work for Holden - we make the Monaro, exported to america as the Pontiac GTO. The holden badged cars get a completely different muffler system to the pontiac, and the difference in sound levels is huge.
As for motorbikes, I ride one of those japanese sportbike types, with a stock muffler. Everytime I pull up alongside a car they turn their head and you can hear them think "shit, I didn't know he was there." I've also ridden on the back of a harley with very loud pipes and trust me, they knew exactly where we were.
Yellow fluorescent clothing only works if they actually bother to check their mirrors or blindspots.
"However, as this sounds like the code was written at work for his job, then it is reasonable for the company to claim ownership of the code"
RTFA. He said he wrote this code before he joined the company and only brought it in because it was useful to the current project. He also got the verbal okay from his employers that the code would not be owned by them. Ethically they have no right to be acting as they are. Legally, well, I'll let someone more knowledgable talk about that.
"The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL."
Blogging is not journalism. Journalism reports the facts in an objective manner. I haven't seen one blog that does this.
Of course by that definition most "news" services could not be called journalism. It's ironic but the best news services we have in australia aren't the commercial ones, but the ones owned and run by the government.
Slashdot Mirror
The issue of hashes only comes into play once you have started to download a real copy of the file. If you were downloading a bogus copy from the start, a bogus file is what you'll get.
No, scrambling a fighter jet is an amazing waste of money. This system is designed to avoid that. RTFA.
The point is there are other ways to save the time spent marking.
The problem with automated marking is that there are so many solutions to the one problem. I was quite surprised at the different ways students would attack each problem - especially so for maths assignments, which I thought would be more standardised. I first started marking by trying to make sure every proof was completely flawless. That strategy was soon revised to "If I can't find a flaw in 3 minutes, you get full marks."
You left out the third option: spend time and not be annoyed. A little messing around on bittorrent would get you the file for free.
People will pay for officially downloadable content because it offers a quick no fuss solution. You click, you pay, you download. Compare this to bittorrenting 99% of a 10gig file only to have the site go down, or all the seeds dissapear, or it's in spanish.
While you may promise to watch the ads I doubt the majority of people will. The TV networks are scared of computers because they are used to being in control of the broadcast.
I'm surprised the spammers haven't caught on yet. You download the torrent of stargate and halfway through watching it a badly dubbed Jack O'neal is asking you "Is your penis is big enough? Go to www.penispumpsrus.com and make yourself a real man! I know I did."
Oh wait... you could pretend you were working, when really you were watching the latest Dr Who you downloaded from btorrent. Now I get it. Maybe I can use the same thinking and build a slashdot site viewer into the C++ IDE....
Has anyone here ever considered the fact that slashdot isn't the only site that links to others? You all seem to like taking credit for rendering a site inaccessible, but here's a humbling thought: almost every IT and sci-tech site in the world is currently linking to Jon's blog.
As for motorbikes, I ride one of those japanese sportbike types, with a stock muffler. Everytime I pull up alongside a car they turn their head and you can hear them think "shit, I didn't know he was there." I've also ridden on the back of a harley with very loud pipes and trust me, they knew exactly where we were.
Yellow fluorescent clothing only works if they actually bother to check their mirrors or blindspots.
There are ads on slashdot??? Oh yeah that's right... geez I love adblock.
RTFA. He said he wrote this code before he joined the company and only brought it in because it was useful to the current project. He also got the verbal okay from his employers that the code would not be owned by them. Ethically they have no right to be acting as they are. Legally, well, I'll let someone more knowledgable talk about that.
"The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL."
Yes it can be done in software. Of course getting that software installed might be difficult when you can't click on "setup.exe".
Blogging is not journalism. Journalism reports the facts in an objective manner. I haven't seen one blog that does this. Of course by that definition most "news" services could not be called journalism. It's ironic but the best news services we have in australia aren't the commercial ones, but the ones owned and run by the government.
" Looks very interesting, BUT EVERYTHING IS IN FRENCH! How the hell am I supposed to read it?" You could try using the google translation service....