It sounds a little confused. Until recently (some until a few years ago) many European countries had militiary service, which obliged the whole nation to learn how to use a gun. Previously having a weapon if you could was just common sense, not national obligation, as Kings used to launch wars in Europe pretty much on a whim. It wasn't required though, except in Switzerland which still obliges every male to be armed, every house should have at least one gun per person.
Hopefully the developers will ignore many of the idiotic comments on this thread. It doesn't matter if the prototype has a few security flaws, in fact I would be surprised if it didn't. The idea is to get something out there and people playing with it, evolving it according to the feedback people give, saying what they like and what they don't like, what they would like to see, etc. There is no point shifting the focus onto security whilst it is still evolving rapidly. Eventually the feature list will stabalise and an API becomes fixed. Alternative back-ends and front-end can then be developed in Java, Python, etc.
It's also a question of familiarity. I also think Windows 7 is the best version I've ever used, but I also think Ubuntu blows it away for usability as I've now been using Linux for so long. With Windows 7 the number of dialog boxes that pop up drive me mad, the number of things in the sys tray that keep asking me if I want to update, the number of simple apps that it misses that I can't get without having to pay for (screenshots, etc), the bloated anti-virus/spyware you end up installing, having to hunt around on sites for drivers that don't get found, etc.
If all you know is Windows then Win7 is a great update, but then that is more to do with previous versions not being very good. If you are a gamer, then Win7 is pretty much your only choice. The sheer wealth of free software, coupled with being so customisable, makes Ubuntu already superior for others though. Until Win7 gets the equivalent of apt-get and a similar size software repository, it's not yet there for me in terms of desktop use.
I agree with AC. You obviously aren't a geek if you can't install a Linux distro these days (even journalists seem to be able to without problems). You whinge, ask stupid questions on support forms, and can't even be bothered to use Google to answer basic questions. Stick to Windows please.
Linux won the battle of the desktop for me years ago. Or is the battle of the desktop won in terms of % people using it rather than how much more productive it makes your life?
I agree with the ARM comment, with Ubuntu working hard on an ARM edition on the pretext of it being for notebooks, then ARM announcing a 5x speed increase in their next gen processors for servers. Ubuntu is slowly growing and if cheap ARM machines take off then both Microsoft and Apple will be squeezed upwards competing for the "Premium desktop" market for extreme gamers and graphic artists.
The 'threatening' part of the article immediately stood out. If you threaten a nation's leader, they are hardly going to roll out the red carpet if you want to visit. Especially if you blank out and can't remember what you are doing when you are drunk, but it involves harbouring violent sentiment to the President. Not encouraging.
I don't see any problem with banning the guy from the country until he grows up.
If US government wants to store large amounts of confidential information, have it efficiently sorted and distributed, with practically no down time, then surely they should outsource it to Wikileaks?
Very good retort. However, the governments' inability to shut down The Pirate Bay or Wikileaks is a healthy sign we are not yet headed down that dystopian future.
I think you are in the minority. Most of us think it is no big deal that he thinks it is no big deal. He will probably think that it is no big deal that you do think it is a big deal about him thinking it is no big deal. And you are just going to have to deal with that.
There was a ridiculous piece in the UK newspaper the Guardian which tried to compare that American preacher burning copies of the Koran he had bought to Hitler burning selected 'banned' books nationwide. Burning your own books is not a problem, burning other people's is.
There is nothing sinister about burning books, in fact they are a perfect source of fuel. From plagues to depressions, books have been burned through necessity. With modern printing on demand, the symbolism is now almost irrelevant as you can burn a million copies and you are not going to deprive the world of said literature. Another million can easily be printed.
The lawyer is making the same point about the Koran as defenders of the Danish cartoonist who pictured Muhammad. Feel free to have your beliefs, but if he is not of the same religion then why should he have to share yours?
I know it's been said by posters above already, but why is burning a fictional book any more incitement to riot than burning the American flag? If anything, if he starts a fad for burning the book it should drive up sales! More money in the bank to purchase explosives.
Businesses refuse to business with other businesses all the time. Dell are more than happy to ditch Linux distro providers every time Microsoft click their fingers, and that involves real costs too (in terms of money and also freedom for the public). As long as they respect their written contracts, and provide a reasonable notice period to ensure a smooth transition, there isn't much you can do.
I run my own company, and one of the pleasures is that I don't have to work with people I decide I don't like. I really wouldn't appreciate being forced to.
Yes within their rights. Any normal web host that disagrees with content, not illegal content obviously, would give you a notice period telling you that you are unwelcome and if you do not move your content then you will be cut off.
According to the CNN article Rackspace HAVE NOT cut off access to the web site. They have given the current owners until midnight to move.
Though I find this a little short, the minimum should be 48 hours as this is the minimum recommended period to allow for DNS changes to progagate, it is not as outrageous (and probably libelous) as the Slashdot summary suggests.
It is surprising with such a master plan he eschewed robbing a bank, or laundering billions, but instead decided to sleep with two different women during a relatively short time period. Genius.
Indeed. As long as Dell continue to offer a wide range of Linux system as well as Microsoft Windows PCs then I cannot see anything suspicious about getting cheap access to Microsoft products. I have not seen their web site for a while, but I cannot see why they wouldn't offer just as many Linux products as Microsoft as the operating system is simply a cost to drive the hardware part of their business.
You have heard of 3D? Well, trains and ships and automibiles lack it. They travel on a flat service. Planes don't.
Exactly, lacking that third dimension makes it far more dangerous. You have both the introduced weak points of connecting to the 2D surface (think tyre blow-outs, trains derailing, etc) and also critical reliance on brakes. With planes 3D removes these weak spots and you have an extra dimension in which to take evasive action.
What happens to a ship whose engines stop? Nothing.
Not true. In the case of a large oil tanker you end up with a massive environmental disaster, as we've seen numerous times.
What happens to a car whose engines stop? Nothing.
Sure, only 11M annual road accidents in the US alone. Really safe mode of transport.
What happens to a plane whose engines stops? It crashes into the ground.
Or you could just glide down and land. Apparently even possible to land on a river I hear.
Even terrorists know this. That is why ships and trains have rarely been hijacked. There is no urgency.
The shipping around Somalia will be pleased that you've managed to alter reality to make them more safe.
Wonder how come you forgot to mention the REAL reason brake men could be removed, the simply switch that in the event of a disaster happening to the driver, the train coming to an automatic stop. Wonder why you left this device out? Because it would ruin your entire idiotic rant of "X works in situation Y, so it will work in situation Z"?
That doesn't alwayswork. But aren't you arguing againt yourself? The real reason you can lose the co-pilot is that the plane can land itself in an emergency.
And oh gosh, that is OFTEN the cause of SMALL aircrafti with SINGLE pilots crashing. That is why if you fly passengers, you need two pilots.
By your reasoning, that is why cars, trains, subway systems, trams, boats and every other vehicle needs two drivers/pilots.
It's not a big deal if the pilot trances out. If they can fall asleep without people noticing they aren't exactly that important. As for the poor pilot having to sit on his own for hours... what on earth do you think train/truck/etc drivers have to do?
Also cheap flights if you stand up the whole journey. Actually I would be quite tempted at the proposed £5, I spent years standing 3hrs a day on crappy English commuter trains and paid about €4k per year for the privilege.
In Germany there are around 336,000 road accidents per year, and in the US 11M. Germany has 82M people and the US 307M. That seems to me one accident per 244 residents in Germany, and on per 27 residents in the US (ie Germany is about 10x safer). Or are my calculations faulty?
Blasting up behind whilst flashing your headlights also helps the person in front keep to the right. Driving with the hazard lights on or liberal use of the horn also helps.
You can drive on the German Autobahn at any speed with any valid EU license. I don't think the German test is any more strenuous than the UK or French tests, both countries having similar speed limits, which are very comprehensive.
Slashdot Mirror
It sounds a little confused. Until recently (some until a few years ago) many European countries had militiary service, which obliged the whole nation to learn how to use a gun. Previously having a weapon if you could was just common sense, not national obligation, as Kings used to launch wars in Europe pretty much on a whim. It wasn't required though, except in Switzerland which still obliges every male to be armed, every house should have at least one gun per person.
Phillip.
Hopefully the developers will ignore many of the idiotic comments on this thread. It doesn't matter if the prototype has a few security flaws, in fact I would be surprised if it didn't. The idea is to get something out there and people playing with it, evolving it according to the feedback people give, saying what they like and what they don't like, what they would like to see, etc. There is no point shifting the focus onto security whilst it is still evolving rapidly. Eventually the feature list will stabalise and an API becomes fixed. Alternative back-ends and front-end can then be developed in Java, Python, etc.
Patience everybody.
Phillip.
It's also a question of familiarity. I also think Windows 7 is the best version I've ever used, but I also think Ubuntu blows it away for usability as I've now been using Linux for so long. With Windows 7 the number of dialog boxes that pop up drive me mad, the number of things in the sys tray that keep asking me if I want to update, the number of simple apps that it misses that I can't get without having to pay for (screenshots, etc), the bloated anti-virus/spyware you end up installing, having to hunt around on sites for drivers that don't get found, etc.
If all you know is Windows then Win7 is a great update, but then that is more to do with previous versions not being very good. If you are a gamer, then Win7 is pretty much your only choice. The sheer wealth of free software, coupled with being so customisable, makes Ubuntu already superior for others though. Until Win7 gets the equivalent of apt-get and a similar size software repository, it's not yet there for me in terms of desktop use.
Phillip.
I agree with AC. You obviously aren't a geek if you can't install a Linux distro these days (even journalists seem to be able to without problems). You whinge, ask stupid questions on support forms, and can't even be bothered to use Google to answer basic questions. Stick to Windows please.
Phillip.
Linux won the battle of the desktop for me years ago. Or is the battle of the desktop won in terms of % people using it rather than how much more productive it makes your life?
I agree with the ARM comment, with Ubuntu working hard on an ARM edition on the pretext of it being for notebooks, then ARM announcing a 5x speed increase in their next gen processors for servers. Ubuntu is slowly growing and if cheap ARM machines take off then both Microsoft and Apple will be squeezed upwards competing for the "Premium desktop" market for extreme gamers and graphic artists.
Phillip.
The 'threatening' part of the article immediately stood out. If you threaten a nation's leader, they are hardly going to roll out the red carpet if you want to visit. Especially if you blank out and can't remember what you are doing when you are drunk, but it involves harbouring violent sentiment to the President. Not encouraging.
I don't see any problem with banning the guy from the country until he grows up.
Phillip.
If US government wants to store large amounts of confidential information, have it efficiently sorted and distributed, with practically no down time, then surely they should outsource it to Wikileaks?
Phillip.
Very good retort. However, the governments' inability to shut down The Pirate Bay or Wikileaks is a healthy sign we are not yet headed down that dystopian future.
Phillip.
I think you are in the minority. Most of us think it is no big deal that he thinks it is no big deal. He will probably think that it is no big deal that you do think it is a big deal about him thinking it is no big deal. And you are just going to have to deal with that.
Phillip.
There was a ridiculous piece in the UK newspaper the Guardian which tried to compare that American preacher burning copies of the Koran he had bought to Hitler burning selected 'banned' books nationwide. Burning your own books is not a problem, burning other people's is.
There is nothing sinister about burning books, in fact they are a perfect source of fuel. From plagues to depressions, books have been burned through necessity. With modern printing on demand, the symbolism is now almost irrelevant as you can burn a million copies and you are not going to deprive the world of said literature. Another million can easily be printed.
The lawyer is making the same point about the Koran as defenders of the Danish cartoonist who pictured Muhammad. Feel free to have your beliefs, but if he is not of the same religion then why should he have to share yours?
Phillip.
Sorry, please define a "real job". Are non-crappy jobs not real jobs??
Phillip.
Can't they just print more books?
Phillip.
I know it's been said by posters above already, but why is burning a fictional book any more incitement to riot than burning the American flag? If anything, if he starts a fad for burning the book it should drive up sales! More money in the bank to purchase explosives.
Phillip.
Businesses refuse to business with other businesses all the time. Dell are more than happy to ditch Linux distro providers every time Microsoft click their fingers, and that involves real costs too (in terms of money and also freedom for the public). As long as they respect their written contracts, and provide a reasonable notice period to ensure a smooth transition, there isn't much you can do.
I run my own company, and one of the pleasures is that I don't have to work with people I decide I don't like. I really wouldn't appreciate being forced to.
Phillip.
Yes within their rights. Any normal web host that disagrees with content, not illegal content obviously, would give you a notice period telling you that you are unwelcome and if you do not move your content then you will be cut off.
According to the CNN article Rackspace HAVE NOT cut off access to the web site. They have given the current owners until midnight to move.
Though I find this a little short, the minimum should be 48 hours as this is the minimum recommended period to allow for DNS changes to progagate, it is not as outrageous (and probably libelous) as the Slashdot summary suggests.
Phillip.
It is surprising with such a master plan he eschewed robbing a bank, or laundering billions, but instead decided to sleep with two different women during a relatively short time period. Genius.
Phillip.
Indeed. As long as Dell continue to offer a wide range of Linux system as well as Microsoft Windows PCs then I cannot see anything suspicious about getting cheap access to Microsoft products. I have not seen their web site for a while, but I cannot see why they wouldn't offer just as many Linux products as Microsoft as the operating system is simply a cost to drive the hardware part of their business.
Phillip.
You just have to make sure that the co-pilot doesn't press the red button.
Phillip.
You have heard of 3D? Well, trains and ships and automibiles lack it. They travel on a flat service. Planes don't.
Exactly, lacking that third dimension makes it far more dangerous. You have both the introduced weak points of connecting to the 2D surface (think tyre blow-outs, trains derailing, etc) and also critical reliance on brakes. With planes 3D removes these weak spots and you have an extra dimension in which to take evasive action.
What happens to a ship whose engines stop? Nothing.
Not true. In the case of a large oil tanker you end up with a massive environmental disaster, as we've seen numerous times.
What happens to a car whose engines stop? Nothing.
Sure, only 11M annual road accidents in the US alone. Really safe mode of transport.
What happens to a plane whose engines stops? It crashes into the ground.
Or you could just glide down and land. Apparently even possible to land on a river I hear.
Even terrorists know this. That is why ships and trains have rarely been hijacked. There is no urgency.
The shipping around Somalia will be pleased that you've managed to alter reality to make them more safe.
Wonder how come you forgot to mention the REAL reason brake men could be removed, the simply switch that in the event of a disaster happening to the driver, the train coming to an automatic stop. Wonder why you left this device out? Because it would ruin your entire idiotic rant of "X works in situation Y, so it will work in situation Z"?
That doesn't always work. But aren't you arguing againt yourself? The real reason you can lose the co-pilot is that the plane can land itself in an emergency.
And oh gosh, that is OFTEN the cause of SMALL aircrafti with SINGLE pilots crashing. That is why if you fly passengers, you need two pilots.
By your reasoning, that is why cars, trains, subway systems, trams, boats and every other vehicle needs two drivers/pilots.
Phillip.
It's not a big deal if the pilot trances out. If they can fall asleep without people noticing they aren't exactly that important. As for the poor pilot having to sit on his own for hours... what on earth do you think train/truck/etc drivers have to do?
Phillip.
Also cheap flights if you stand up the whole journey. Actually I would be quite tempted at the proposed £5, I spent years standing 3hrs a day on crappy English commuter trains and paid about €4k per year for the privilege.
Phillip.
Yeah you're wrong. If you are looking any deeper than "because they can" then you are over-analysing.
Phillip.
In Germany there are around 336,000 road accidents per year, and in the US 11M. Germany has 82M people and the US 307M. That seems to me one accident per 244 residents in Germany, and on per 27 residents in the US (ie Germany is about 10x safer). Or are my calculations faulty?
Phillip.
Blasting up behind whilst flashing your headlights also helps the person in front keep to the right. Driving with the hazard lights on or liberal use of the horn also helps.
Phillip.
You can drive on the German Autobahn at any speed with any valid EU license. I don't think the German test is any more strenuous than the UK or French tests, both countries having similar speed limits, which are very comprehensive.
Phillip.