In the beginning there were easy rules like : this block of socket is for phone this other if for network,... but the needs of the company "evolved".. unlike the cabling and some of the plugs were reused for a new set of test machine, some of them to hook a computer in the dmz, or before/after some firewall/leased line, or some phone plug had other "purpose" (like direct outside line for modem out)... after 5 years of moving desks / machines / phones around the situation was a mess.
Off course physically going in the basement was a bit exagerated (and actually it was in the ground floor), but it was certainly a pain. I suppose ( hope ) they did find some budget to clean that:-)
This is very difficult to use the word Free in a company. Because actually nothing is free for a company.
If you take a guy that is costing you 1000 $/day and you replace his desktop. If you need to replace his desktop by Windows or Linux, the cost of the license itself will be pretty insignificant compared to what you loose when the guy is learning the new product ( be it a new version of windows or a linux desktop )
Free software or not, the cost of migration is != 0 The fact that the license to use the software is free is only a factor when comparing 2 solutions. License cost is clearly in favor of OSS but other may count aswell such as availability of training course or resources at the requested level ( SysAdmin level != Secretary Level ), technical team/in-house expertise,...
In a company I worked for, phone and network uses RJ45 cables. It was a pain in the ass to determine if you have to plug your network cable in the socket with label D123-S2, D123-S3, or D123-S4 (for your company laptop). The only way to know for sure that was to go in the basement to check if the cable was physically plug into a switch or a pbx ( or often nowhere )
Yes it is. 99% of BT user use it for illegal activities 99% of mass mailer are in fact doing illegal SPAM 99% of Pron provider sell access to material they don't have rights for.
BT and SPAM are probably the most heavey bandwidth user (even as a/. reader I have difficult to think that illegal Pron alone could wigth 10%+ of internet usage but hell, who knows) but I don't think SPAM really have an interest in crypting their content. Note that I would be very very pleased if they did: I could redirect all crypted messages( and unreadable content ) to my junk folder.
I whish you were right, but I think you are overconfident in the learning capacity/personal interest of the users.
If user where really able/willing to get the magic clue from somewhere, security differences between Windows/Linux/... would be a geeky discussion left by mainstream press at the same level than vi vs emacs. Phishing would have never existed and spam neither ( nobody buys - no interest to spam ) Apple would be dead ( Just Works(tm) is less powerfull when Joe user is able to configure is firewall on the command line )...
Does that really matter for Bob the Moron? Bob the Moron will do whatever it takes to see "Nude Britney Spears" if he doesn't have a clue of what he is doing.
One of my 'family member' decided recently that he really wanted those cooool free smiley to chat with his friends. So he went to the website (!) downloaded the stuff in firefox, logoff/logon as admin ( I configured it to run in user mode by default but give the admin pass to avoid being their local helpdesk ) Install the shit, logoff/logon as user and play with messenger.
Result: the same as using an unpatched windows and browsing this website with internet explorer.
"Linux and other *NIXes are designed in a way that makes it extremely difficult for a virus to do more than damage a user's home directory"
Seriously, I don't know for you but for me nothing else on my computer really matters more than my home directory. Yes I would be pissed off having to reinstall the system but nothing more. ( OK technically yes I'm using a backup software )
"unless you are stupid enough to always run as root."
Which is exactly the problem on Windows currently. And that's why reduce right context is an intersting feature of Vista.
"Lack of viruses has very little, if anything, to do with how prevalent an OS is."
True. But in real life? What would do all those windows users that happily install those wonderful "Free smiley", "Free Nude Pron", "Free cursor", "Shopping helper"... willingly/on purpose on their computer if they move tomorrow to Linux or MacOS ? They will get a magic clue with the install CD ?
The fact is that probably most slashdot reader are able to secure their favorite OS ( without extra penny ) whatever it is Windows, Linux, AmigaOS, CustomCollege LabOS... even if it is the worst crap full of bug/exploit ever.
They do not call everybody a criminal. It is just that nothing is copyrighted and that's fair to reward the original author of nothing with some cash...
Don't complain too much, I haven't burned a music/mp3 CD in years ( and I don't play on moral justification like it's not stealing or fair use or music wants to be free ) When you pay the tax, at least you can think that's little less you will put in CD buying and that's basically like a price increase for you music needs. For me every time I burn a backup CD, it's a little less for anything else I value more than music, I cannot spend less than 0 per year in music!
No "analyst" working for Merryl-Lynch knows enougha bout the hardware to grasp costs."
That pretty much include almost everybody here on slashdot aswell. And the rest, the people who knows are probably under NDA anyway.
I should trust the opinion of someone for whom there are no consequences for being wrong, but plenty on consequences for saying nothing?
Well, not much different than posting on slashdot:-)
I agree it's foolish to trust the Merryl-Lynch employee, but the fact is, he probably has at least as much information as we do. And it's even possible that the guy is in fact competent.
So is 900$ too much when the CPU cost is 50$ and the drive costs about the same as a DVDReader? Well, if I take the (CPU+DVD)/Total ratio of my home pc, it's about correct. On the other hand if I take my father PC, it is way off and it should be more like 300$ !
But Anti-MS here? In a war between Sony and Microsoft choosing one or the other looks more like choosing between being shot by a Beretta or a Smith & Wesson.
The problem here is simply that your new HD/BD-player will not *produce* HD signal if the display device does not support HDMI, whenever your display device *would* be able to display it.
HD-Ready "helps" customer to choose a TV set that is really HiDef. If you go in a shop like Dixons, those days ALL TV sets have at least one reference to high definition, extra fine crisp wonderful display, beter resolution,... in their description. However if you look carefully at the resolution very very few are really HD-Ready ( ie can display at least 720i ) If you talk to the vendor of those shop, they don't talk to you about Blue Ray or HD, they just tell you that you are ready for the wonderful future... I don't think they [the vendors] even *know* that their are a format war coming and that those nice HDReady TV set future will probably restricted to only see HDContent from your HD-Cam sold in the next aisle.
In fact, unlike WoW or computer/generic experience, with tabletop RPG are a team game. You team with the GM and other players. When the game starts, the fun starts. I played lots of games where we never reach the "point B", hell I have even played game where my character cannot go outside his house alive:-) much less start the adventure.
RPG has more to do with story telling. If you have nothing interesting with the travel from A to B, you skip it.
Windows is not to blame here. OK I'm not saying that Windows has nothing, but that kind the tool used by this kind of crook today.
The guy is simply using the weakness of people to make big bucks in highly immoral operations. This kind of profile is old like the world. People making big bucks creating sects, selling drugs, breaking into houses, stealing cars, illegal gambling, slave market, child pornography,... There are tons of way to make big money, when you have basically no moral value.
Today a weakness is using being an average Joe user using Windows on the Web. Sure people will need to learn to protect themself, they will learn to use other operating system or to secure their computer. But it is an endless battle if it remains legal or at least very unlikely to get caught in such activities. If you want to blame somebody start by the Laws, Police and of course the Crook.
Of course if you want to control data on the Internet globally, it is much easier if you don't have 20% of the world population trained to avoid filtering and monitoring. I guess in the future, for his own survival, the average China user will be far more skilled in protecting his identity and accessing 'hidden' data!
Technically maybe but what is important is that for a linux user it looks like a linux application. It will be supported like a Linux application. It is not a hack you need to do and support yourself in the back of the original developer.
In any cross-platform development you try to limit the difference between different platform source trees, generally you isolate all platform specific functions in a common framework and only port the common framework on different platforms, leaving the rest of code unchanged. There are plenty of cross-platform frameworks for plenty of use ( from simply using stdio.h to opengl ), in this case they choosed WINE. That is surprising yes, but that does make sense for a project that need to be crossplatform retroactively.
You can see that Google apps are still Windows applications but you can see them as using a cross platform framework developped conjointly by Microsoft on Windows and WINE team on Linux:-)
I thing that for the incompetent developer (or not yet competent) it would be far easier to fall back on little java applet/flash game on the web than try the mobile phone.
On PC, if you are lasy or simply learning you can bet that most user of your game will use IE on a Windows machine that display at least 800*600 and that you have enough horse power and memory not to worry too much ( ie if you test on a common machine you can be confident other will be able to play )
That's not the case on a Mobile: Mobile phone game have very strict development restriction, a broad range of graphic resolutions ( from everything between 64*64 to 320*240), ram from 4K to 1Gb, different type of control (multiple key press,...), and even for the same spec the performance difference between 2 phones can be abysmal... Most of the time you 3-4 release of the same to cover a wide range of phone, meaning be able to design 4 times your game. Additionally games must live in a shared ecosystem and handle different kind of interuption like phone calls, SMS,... and of course, a phone is a phone not a game console and the design of the game should always take that into account.
I got exactly the same here in the uk unless that instead of stopping immediatly I do like any joe user I called back the number, gave my credit card number, birth date but before answering for my mother maiden name, I just realised what I was saying and felt the little tickling in the belly meaning stress...
I asked the women on the other hand what was that about - why I need to give this info? She told me she need 'security check - blabla' I asked why they asked me to call and where I was exactly she just told me the name of the bank (thanks,easy) but she needed the security check to give the reason of the call (best excuse ever)...
I hang up - ( I start to sweat ) - I went straight to the website to find the number I just called in the bank public phonebook but nada... the number was not even close to any number used by the bank. I googled the number, nothing... ( arghhhh )
I called the bank, this time I have to give the security ID again ( after the previous experience, even if you pick the number yourself in your monthly statement, you really feel uneasy ) I asked the girl what was this number I just called, and what I'm suppose to do know... she took less than 2 min ( from my point of view, a very big value of 2 ) to find out that this number is not in the bank private directory either...
Hopefuly the girl ring herself to the mysterious number and found out that it was only a number setup for the billing departement ( yeah I missed a payment:-) )...
They had a valid reason to contact me, I had an urgent action to take but why in hell do they use the same trick the spammers use? They use an unknown number not even known from the bank employees ? If I did as we are told in the security leaflet given by the very same bank, I should have called the fraud departement of the bank to report the phishing attempt instead of ringing back!
The monthly rate is the same if you are a casual player or an hardcore gamer, so that make sense if game companies tries to keep casual player. After all by being casual, they also consume a lot less resource... Additionally think of the hardcore gamer coming back from holliday or after the exams, the harder it is to come back the more likely this gamer will try some other game and because the games favorise that much deep commitment, that also mean that player is lost.
But I aggree that its overly difficult to keep game intersting for both casual and hardcore so maybe game designer should get over it and design their game for only 1 group. (ex: hardcore WoW servers and casual WoW servers with different sets of rule and maybe also different price/account/server availability/...)
On the other hand, Game publisher are not autist either. They read the news, and they decide to invest the initial fee only if they are convinced that the market is worth it: i.e. people actually buying games. I'm not sure Microsoft could ask the same price for 1 million console market console where almost nobody can pirate game vs where anybody with a dvd burner can copy a game. Game publisher will also look their concurrent and the number of game they sale to evaluate the price Microsoft ask. If 100% of XBox run linux webserver and nobody buys anything Microsoft will have to be very convincing to ask for anything at all.
Indeed that's capitalism and Google is only a company like any other.
When they say "do no evil" to their kids, most parents mean, do no evil even when somebody else is likely to do the evil whatever benefit that can give. You don't tell your kid that's ok to steal a car to come back from school if a dude left it downtown with the engine running where it is 100% sure somebody will steal it.
When google say "we do no evil" a lot of people, including me, have thought that this company was talking from a human point of view ( by oposition to the evil empire of Microsoft for example ) and not from a marketing/capitalist point of view. Well, that was not the case, if they cannot have the market and the morality, they keep the market.
( NB: If you tell your kids that they cannot steal a car because they can go to jail, I guess there is something very wrong )
Especially because the google servers for China will be in... China. Google would need a very convincing fuck you to stop censoring while keeping the servers !
Slashdot Mirror
In the beginning there were easy rules like : this block of socket is for phone this other if for network, ... but the needs of the company "evolved" .. unlike the cabling and some of the plugs were reused for a new set of test machine, some of them to hook a computer in the dmz, or before/after some firewall/leased line, or some phone plug had other "purpose" (like direct outside line for modem out) ... after 5 years of moving desks / machines / phones around the situation was a mess.
:-)
Off course physically going in the basement was a bit exagerated (and actually it was in the ground floor), but it was certainly a pain. I suppose ( hope ) they did find some budget to clean that
This is very difficult to use the word Free in a company. Because actually nothing is free for a company.
...
If you take a guy that is costing you 1000 $/day and you replace his desktop. If you need to replace his desktop by Windows or Linux, the cost of the license itself will be pretty insignificant compared to what you loose when the guy is learning the new product ( be it a new version of windows or a linux desktop )
Free software or not, the cost of migration is != 0 The fact that the license to use the software is free is only a factor when comparing 2 solutions. License cost is clearly in favor of OSS but other may count aswell such as availability of training course or resources at the requested level ( SysAdmin level != Secretary Level ), technical team/in-house expertise,
In a company I worked for, phone and network uses RJ45 cables.
It was a pain in the ass to determine if you have to plug your network cable in the socket with label D123-S2, D123-S3, or D123-S4 (for your company laptop). The only way to know for sure that was to go in the basement to check if the cable was physically plug into a switch or a pbx ( or often nowhere )
Yes it is.
/. reader I have difficult to think that illegal Pron alone could wigth 10%+ of internet usage but hell, who knows) but I don't think SPAM really have an interest in crypting their content. Note that I would be very very pleased if they did: I could redirect all crypted messages( and unreadable content ) to my junk folder.
99% of BT user use it for illegal activities
99% of mass mailer are in fact doing illegal SPAM
99% of Pron provider sell access to material they don't have rights for.
BT and SPAM are probably the most heavey bandwidth user (even as a
"The alphabet is so small though. Short and long beats and short, long, and zero rests. That's 4 characters"
- this message uses only 0 and 1 characters -
I whish you were right, but I think you are overconfident in the learning capacity/personal interest of the users.
...
If user where really able/willing to get the magic clue from somewhere, security differences between Windows/Linux/... would be a geeky discussion left by mainstream press at the same level than vi vs emacs. Phishing would have never existed and spam neither ( nobody buys - no interest to spam ) Apple would be dead ( Just Works(tm) is less powerfull when Joe user is able to configure is firewall on the command line )
Does that really matter for Bob the Moron? Bob the Moron will do whatever it takes to see "Nude Britney Spears" if he doesn't have a clue of what he is doing.
One of my 'family member' decided recently that he really wanted those cooool free smiley to chat with his friends. So he went to the website (!) downloaded the stuff in firefox, logoff/logon as admin ( I configured it to run in user mode by default but give the admin pass to avoid being their local helpdesk ) Install the shit, logoff/logon as user and play with messenger.
Result: the same as using an unpatched windows and browsing this website with internet explorer.
"Linux and other *NIXes are designed in a way that makes it extremely difficult for a virus to do more than damage a user's home directory"
... willingly/on purpose on their computer if they move tomorrow to Linux or MacOS ? They will get a magic clue with the install CD ?
... even if it is the worst crap full of bug/exploit ever.
Seriously, I don't know for you but for me nothing else on my computer really matters more than my home directory. Yes I would be pissed off having to reinstall the system but nothing more. ( OK technically yes I'm using a backup software )
"unless you are stupid enough to always run as root."
Which is exactly the problem on Windows currently. And that's why reduce right context is an intersting feature of Vista.
"Lack of viruses has very little, if anything, to do with how prevalent an OS is."
True. But in real life? What would do all those windows users that happily install those wonderful "Free smiley", "Free Nude Pron", "Free cursor", "Shopping helper"
The fact is that probably most slashdot reader are able to secure their favorite OS ( without extra penny ) whatever it is Windows, Linux, AmigaOS, CustomCollege LabOS
They do not call everybody a criminal. It is just that nothing is copyrighted and that's fair to reward the original author of nothing with some cash...
Don't complain too much, I haven't burned a music/mp3 CD in years ( and I don't play on moral justification like it's not stealing or fair use or music wants to be free ) When you pay the tax, at least you can think that's little less you will put in CD buying and that's basically like a price increase for you music needs. For me every time I burn a backup CD, it's a little less for anything else I value more than music, I cannot spend less than 0 per year in music!
NoNo DRM and Shiny new interface are only for the Premium and Ultimate edition.
For the rest of the versions ( so, 50% )
Notable Windows VistaFeatures includes:
- RedScreen of Death
No "analyst" working for Merryl-Lynch knows enougha bout the hardware to grasp costs."
:-)
That pretty much include almost everybody here on slashdot aswell. And the rest, the people who knows are probably under NDA anyway.
I should trust the opinion of someone for whom there are no consequences for being wrong, but plenty on consequences for saying nothing?
Well, not much different than posting on slashdot
I agree it's foolish to trust the Merryl-Lynch employee, but the fact is, he probably has at least as much information as we do. And it's even possible that the guy is in fact competent.
So is 900$ too much when the CPU cost is 50$ and the drive costs about the same as a DVDReader? Well, if I take the (CPU+DVD)/Total ratio of my home pc, it's about correct. On the other hand if I take my father PC, it is way off and it should be more like 300$ !
Pro PS, ok.
Anti XBox, ok.
But Anti-MS here? In a war between Sony and Microsoft choosing one or the other looks more like choosing between being shot by a Beretta or a Smith & Wesson.
Yep, completely confused it seems ...
:-)
And the "label" HDTV-Compatible doesn't help.
I guess that means I doesn't qualify as a good HDTV buyer, too bad I have to stick with DVD
'HD Ready' means that your "display device" is capable to process and display HD signals. (http://www.eicta.org/press.asp?level2=24&level1=6 &level0=1&year=2005&docid=398)
... in their description. However if you look carefully at the resolution very very few are really HD-Ready ( ie can display at least 720i ) ... I don't think they [the vendors] even *know* that their are a format war coming and that those nice HDReady TV set future will probably restricted to only see HDContent from your HD-Cam sold in the next aisle.
The problem here is simply that your new HD/BD-player will not *produce* HD signal if the display device does not support HDMI, whenever your display device *would* be able to display it.
HD-Ready "helps" customer to choose a TV set that is really HiDef. If you go in a shop like Dixons, those days ALL TV sets have at least one reference to high definition, extra fine crisp wonderful display, beter resolution,
If you talk to the vendor of those shop, they don't talk to you about Blue Ray or HD, they just tell you that you are ready for the wonderful future
3. Travel should be easy
:-) much less start the adventure.
In fact, unlike WoW or computer/generic experience, with tabletop RPG are a team game. You team with the GM and other players. When the game starts, the fun starts. I played lots of games where we never reach the "point B", hell I have even played game where my character cannot go outside his house alive
RPG has more to do with story telling. If you have nothing interesting with the travel from A to B, you skip it.
Windows is not to blame here. OK I'm not saying that Windows has nothing, but that kind the tool used by this kind of crook today.
... There are tons of way to make big money, when you have basically no moral value.
The guy is simply using the weakness of people to make big bucks in highly immoral operations. This kind of profile is old like the world. People making big bucks creating sects, selling drugs, breaking into houses, stealing cars, illegal gambling, slave market, child pornography,
Today a weakness is using being an average Joe user using Windows on the Web. Sure people will need to learn to protect themself, they will learn to use other operating system or to secure their computer. But it is an endless battle if it remains legal or at least very unlikely to get caught in such activities. If you want to blame somebody start by the Laws, Police and of course the Crook.
Of course if you want to control data on the Internet globally, it is much easier if you don't have 20% of the world population trained to avoid filtering and monitoring.
I guess in the future, for his own survival, the average China user will be far more skilled in protecting his identity and accessing 'hidden' data!
Technically maybe but what is important is that for a linux user it looks like a linux application. It will be supported like a Linux application.
:-)
It is not a hack you need to do and support yourself in the back of the original developer.
In any cross-platform development you try to limit the difference between different platform source trees, generally you isolate all platform specific functions in a common framework and only port the common framework on different platforms, leaving the rest of code unchanged.
There are plenty of cross-platform frameworks for plenty of use ( from simply using stdio.h to opengl ), in this case they choosed WINE. That is surprising yes, but that does make sense for a project that need to be crossplatform retroactively.
You can see that Google apps are still Windows applications but you can see them as using a cross platform framework developped conjointly by Microsoft on Windows and WINE team on Linux
I thing that for the incompetent developer (or not yet competent) it would be far easier to fall back on little java applet/flash game on the web than try the mobile phone.
...), and even for the same spec the performance difference between 2 phones can be abysmal ... Most of the time you 3-4 release of the same to cover a wide range of phone, meaning be able to design 4 times your game. ... and of course, a phone is a phone not a game console and the design of the game should always take that into account.
On PC, if you are lasy or simply learning you can bet that most user of your game will use IE on a Windows machine that display at least 800*600 and that you have enough horse power and memory not to worry too much ( ie if you test on a common machine you can be confident other will be able to play )
That's not the case on a Mobile:
Mobile phone game have very strict development restriction, a broad range of graphic resolutions ( from everything between 64*64 to 320*240), ram from 4K to 1Gb, different type of control (multiple key press,
Additionally games must live in a shared ecosystem and handle different kind of interuption like phone calls, SMS,
I got exactly the same here in the uk unless that instead of stopping immediatly I do like any joe user I called back the number, gave my credit card number, birth date but before answering for my mother maiden name, I just realised what I was saying and felt the little tickling in the belly meaning stress ...
... the number was not even close to any number used by the bank. I googled the number, nothing ... ( arghhhh )
... she took less than 2 min ( from my point of view, a very big value of 2 ) to find out that this number is not in the bank private directory either...
:-) ) ...
I asked the women on the other hand what was that about - why I need to give this info?
She told me she need 'security check - blabla'
I asked why they asked me to call and where I was exactly she just told me the name of the bank (thanks,easy) but she needed the security check to give the reason of the call (best excuse ever)...
I hang up - ( I start to sweat ) - I went straight to the website to find the number I just called in the bank public phonebook but nada
I called the bank, this time I have to give the security ID again ( after the previous experience, even if you pick the number yourself in your monthly statement, you really feel uneasy )
I asked the girl what was this number I just called, and what I'm suppose to do know
Hopefuly the girl ring herself to the mysterious number and found out that it was only a number setup for the billing departement ( yeah I missed a payment
They had a valid reason to contact me, I had an urgent action to take but why in hell do they use the same trick the spammers use?
They use an unknown number not even known from the bank employees ?
If I did as we are told in the security leaflet given by the very same bank, I should have called the fraud departement of the bank to report the phishing attempt instead of ringing back!
The monthly rate is the same if you are a casual player or an hardcore gamer, so that make sense if game companies tries to keep casual player. After all by being casual, they also consume a lot less resource ...
Additionally think of the hardcore gamer coming back from holliday or after the exams, the harder it is to come back the more likely this gamer will try some other game and because the games favorise that much deep commitment, that also mean that player is lost.
But I aggree that its overly difficult to keep game intersting for both casual and hardcore so maybe game designer should get over it and design their game for only 1 group. (ex: hardcore WoW servers and casual WoW servers with different sets of rule and maybe also different price/account/server availability/...)
On the other hand, Game publisher are not autist either. They read the news, and they decide to invest the initial fee only if they are convinced that the market is worth it: i.e. people actually buying games.
I'm not sure Microsoft could ask the same price for 1 million console market console where almost nobody can pirate game vs where anybody with a dvd burner can copy a game. Game publisher will also look their concurrent and the number of game they sale to evaluate the price Microsoft ask. If 100% of XBox run linux webserver and nobody buys anything Microsoft will have to be very convincing to ask for anything at all.
Indeed that's capitalism and Google is only a company like any other.
When they say "do no evil" to their kids, most parents mean, do no evil even when somebody else is likely to do the evil whatever benefit that can give. You don't tell your kid that's ok to steal a car to come back from school if a dude left it downtown with the engine running where it is 100% sure somebody will steal it.
When google say "we do no evil" a lot of people, including me, have thought that this company was talking from a human point of view ( by oposition to the evil empire of Microsoft for example ) and not from a marketing/capitalist point of view. Well, that was not the case, if they cannot have the market and the morality, they keep the market.
( NB: If you tell your kids that they cannot steal a car because they can go to jail, I guess there is something very wrong )
Especially because the google servers for China will be in ... China. Google would need a very convincing fuck you to stop censoring while keeping the servers !
"and yet here we are" ;-)
where exactly is that ? only a bunch of words in a public forum ?