Fussion exists. Heck the guys down at the UW are playing with it. The problem with Fussion is that it takes almost as much power to get to atoms close enough together for strong forces to take over. It's not economically sound. We'll see what the french can do though.
From TFA: "You can't try this case in your publication, it's only to be tried in a court of law," John Skalko [Lucent Spokesman] adds -- a prospect that seems increasingly unlikely.
That about sums it up. Gov prevents it from going to trial, and Lucient doesn't care about a loose cannon trade rag.
But can I shoot people? Take a stroll through hookerville? Hang out at a strip joint?
What's the fun of a virtual life that's just like normal life? Give it some edge. Go to the bar, catch a great show, have fun with the buds, and run a 10% chance of getting gunned down! 40% chance of bar brawls breaking out, 30% chance of getting arrested, 15% chance of getting laid, etc.
Absolutely. If a company produces CD's that don't work on Customer's systems, the Customers won't buy them. it's that simple. That drops demand, which makes the DRMed CDs worth less. And the RIAA losses money. They either need to stick to DRMless content, or use a DRM with an open standard so that the content could be played on any player capable of interacting with the IEEE DRM standard interface.
Yes. Notice that at this point, no one is getting sued for content downloading, they are getting sent collection letters. The only 3 content download cases that I am aware of are the 3 single mothers going to court.
-Rick
An excellent summary. I totally agree with the issues IE 6/7 have, specificly the quirks mode crap. My guess is that the issue is deeply imbedded in the rendering engine and correcting it will take either a significant investment in redesigning the renderer, or a 'kludge' of building in a rendering 'corrector' like the JS tricks. I'm in the same boat though, I'm an app developer, and some of the apps I have writen and worked on have been web based, and getting cross browser formating to work correctly has always been a pain.
As for Media Player, I've never liked the layout, but I did just download the lastest greatest version to rip my CD collection for my new pocket PC. I was amazed at how easy and intuitive the layout seemed for that process. I haven't used it much since then however.
"is that solar panels are (last I knew?) very inefficient in that it takes more power to make the panels than what they can create over the span of their lifetime,"
No longer true. current theoretical limits put the power generation at 30% of the power received by the sun. And life spans of 20+ years. New thin film technology is allowing PV cells to be made cheaper and easier, and in much better applications. Gone are the huge 6 foot panels. Now you can get a PV sheet that can be rolled up and put in a backpack for power on low impact camping trips. Companies like UniSolar produce integrate PV roofing. Which are roll out solar power shingles, looks just like a normal roof, only a little shinier. If you are replacing your roof anyways, gov funding will pick up most of the extra costs and the power savings will pay off the remainder well before the end of it's life cycle.
"huge freaking magnets that you're trying to *gently* set into a wheel with opposing poles dangerously nearby. hope you didn't want that hand..."
They're not that big. There was a story posted here a few months about about building your own 30' tower. The problem is, in order to harness the really strong winds, you need to get 30m+ off the ground. We have a new wind farm being built in Wisconsin, each turnbine is 130' tall, with 100' blades if I recall correctly. so at it's highest point, the blade tip is 230' above the ground. Great for wind generation, but they're freaking huge. Nebraska is the place to do it though, huge flat plans with tons of wind. If Nebraska had the infrastructure, enough wind farms could be built to power the entire western half of the US.
have you looked at the dsire site? Here in Wisconsin I can get half of the expence paid for by the state, tax exemptions on any increase in property value becuase of it, net metering on the juice (If I produce more juice then I use, I get paid for it) and my power company will pay me $1000 up front and I can apply for up to $500 maintenance every few years if needed. I can even take out a $30k interest free loan to pay for the system.
Also, Cali isn't the best place for solar power. AZ has it beat, but you'd be supprized how much of the rest of the country averages Zone 3 or better. Even here in Wisconsin with a small roof you can push out just shy of a megawatt ever year. Larger roof lines can do even better. Cali is just a hot bed for this activity because of it's social atmosphere (damn hippies) and the power market instability (thanks to ass hats like Enron pumping power in and out).
If you really want to isolate the system look into installing a photovalitile roof system. Not only can you keep your whole house up and running during power outages, you can reduce your monthly power bill.;) And those system, while still a challange to get OKed by the building inspector, can get federal and state funding, tax incentives, and even cash from your power company.
A surge strip and extention cord for the work bench. If you are going to try to patch into the house wiring you're going to want a certified electritian, and depending on housing codes in your area, you may need a certificate from the building inspector.
Much easier to mount the UPS under the work bench and to run an extention cord/surge strip to the other PCs. You don't want to have anything running off the protector you don't need. Things like speakers, printers, PDA chargers, etc.
I don't know about that. Solid documentation can save maintenance time and reduce costs. It also makes bringing a new developer up to speed much easier. Wether you get canned, or a new employee is brought on, it's a good idea to have.
check out a tool called nDoc. It can take the/// documentation auto generated in C# (in VS 2k3), or with VBCommentor (a plug in for VB/ASP.Net 2k2 and 2k3) and build it into CHM/HTML/MSDN help files.
Its nice since the/// auto documentation is built into the VS.Net IDE. I managed to talk my manager into encorporating it. And we have about 75% of our library documented in API style (class definitions and descriptions, function definitions, parameters, thread saftey, namespaces, the whole gambit.) The remaining 25% is under redesign so its documentation is still in limbo. But with VBCommentor/C#/// going back to document namespaces/classes/methods/members is a brease.
Thanks for the reply, sorry about the zealiot claim. The line between devils advocate and zealiot can be kinda blury in text. And with the widespread *Nix/OSS/FF fanboyism on/. well, my appologies.
As for the maturity of IE, it has some areas that are more mature, and some that are less. I don't know all of what code was replaced, reused, rehashed, or just removed from v5. I would still give IE more consideration as a mature app then FF. Even with the overhaul, which does reduce maturity, it's coming from a company with some pretty strict guidlines on software release (Check out the 'How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a lightbulb' essay) which helps it avoid a lot of common immature code pitfalls.
FF has the FF org, which also helps it out alot. FF org is a lot more flexible though, which will >hopefully
In any case, I expect FF to catch up with IE in terms of maturity, once they slow down a bit. And in the mean time, I see them as continuing to offer more options to the user. Of course MS will counter and it will drive both apps to become better and better.
A multi-million dollar market and a technology super center valued at some ubsurd price. The most entrenched interest is that of the lawyers trying to figure out just how long they can milk this fight for. 5 years in court will styfle technology, cost the book industry millions and net the lawyers for both sides hunders of millions of dollars all told.
Jaded? nah, realistic.
-Rick
If there is one thing I hate more then unconditional hatred, its Lawyers.
Do you have your company name trademarked? Its a long shot, but see if there is any presidence for trademark violation on squaters. There was a (US) law passed a few years ago dealing with squaters and selling domain names, but I have no memory of what it actually entailed. How far back does the/. archive go?
"There's no two ways about this. Either the laws have to be changed, or Google is in the wrong."
There is a third option. How ever unlikely, no one sues google. If no one sues google, the law will never be challanged, so there will be no presidence set and no drive to revamp the law.
However, I consider that to be highly unlikely judging by the market size and the tappable funds lawyers are drooling over.
The/. synopsis leaves a bit out as usual. Google is going to some pretty good lengths to make sure the system is not exploited in any non-fair use ways.
For instance, you can only read a few pages of the book related to your search. And even if you search multiple times, you can only read a few more pages. You can not use google to download the entire book for free.
Also, google is cutting publishers in on the advertising for the pages their book is displayed on.
I don't have time to argue each point of maturity, but its what happens to ALL software that doesn't get abandoned or purged and re-writen. Even rewrites can be considered to have some maturity, but more so in the business rules aspect.
It's a term used in software development. If you are not familiar with it, suffice it to say that "more mature" means that the application is "older" and that it has both positive and negative connotations.
I disagree. I beleive FF users are, on average, smarter/more computer literate then IE users. I'm not saying all FF users are rocket scientists, but they atleast have some grasp of the social circle that is the net. That rules out a lot of stupid people that do not perform safe browsing.
The fact is, that we can both come up with anecdotal evidence for both sides of this arguement, but large amounts of anecdotal evidence != data. As mentioned in another post, you really have to look at the number of people effected, the level of exposure, the possible damages, and the length of the exposure. And that's why I say they are both good products. FF had more exposures in the last 6 months, but fixed them faster, IE had less, but it took longer to get them fixed, the over all net balance is that each app had a similar level of insecurity over the time period.
Will FF's open source development reduce problems? will it make it easier for hackers to penetrate as it's market share rises? will the net effect of those two forces balance out to be better or worse then IE's security performance? Only time will tell. In any case, each app drives the other to improve and innovate. With out either of these apps, both would be worse off.
And I have yet to get a spyware infection using IE. Safe browsing habbits will do as much for your security as using one browser over another.
I use IE at home, and FF at work. I think they are both good products, I like the multi-tabs of FF, and I like the history pull that IE does on new windows.
I personally think that at THIS POINT IN TIME, IE has the edge. Just because it is more mature. But I think that FF will have the edge in the future as the rapid open source development forces it to mature faster.
Slashdot Mirror
Fussion exists. Heck the guys down at the UW are playing with it. The problem with Fussion is that it takes almost as much power to get to atoms close enough together for strong forces to take over. It's not economically sound. We'll see what the french can do though.
-Rick
From TFA:
"You can't try this case in your publication, it's only to be tried in a court of law," John Skalko [Lucent Spokesman] adds -- a prospect that seems increasingly unlikely.
That about sums it up. Gov prevents it from going to trial, and Lucient doesn't care about a loose cannon trade rag.
-Rick
But can I shoot people? Take a stroll through hookerville? Hang out at a strip joint?
What's the fun of a virtual life that's just like normal life? Give it some edge. Go to the bar, catch a great show, have fun with the buds, and run a 10% chance of getting gunned down! 40% chance of bar brawls breaking out, 30% chance of getting arrested, 15% chance of getting laid, etc.
-Rick
Someone needs to make a Sin City redux of Sim City. That would be significantly more entertaining.
-Rick
Absolutely. If a company produces CD's that don't work on Customer's systems, the Customers won't buy them. it's that simple. That drops demand, which makes the DRMed CDs worth less. And the RIAA losses money. They either need to stick to DRMless content, or use a DRM with an open standard so that the content could be played on any player capable of interacting with the IEEE DRM standard interface.
-Rick
Yes. Notice that at this point, no one is getting sued for content downloading, they are getting sent collection letters. The only 3 content download cases that I am aware of are the 3 single mothers going to court. -Rick
An excellent summary. I totally agree with the issues IE 6/7 have, specificly the quirks mode crap. My guess is that the issue is deeply imbedded in the rendering engine and correcting it will take either a significant investment in redesigning the renderer, or a 'kludge' of building in a rendering 'corrector' like the JS tricks. I'm in the same boat though, I'm an app developer, and some of the apps I have writen and worked on have been web based, and getting cross browser formating to work correctly has always been a pain.
As for Media Player, I've never liked the layout, but I did just download the lastest greatest version to rip my CD collection for my new pocket PC. I was amazed at how easy and intuitive the layout seemed for that process. I haven't used it much since then however.
-Rick
My bust. You are correct, a small roof in wisconsin can produce 800+ kWh of energy.
-Rick
"is that solar panels are (last I knew?) very inefficient in that it takes more power to make the panels than what they can create over the span of their lifetime,"
No longer true. current theoretical limits put the power generation at 30% of the power received by the sun. And life spans of 20+ years. New thin film technology is allowing PV cells to be made cheaper and easier, and in much better applications. Gone are the huge 6 foot panels. Now you can get a PV sheet that can be rolled up and put in a backpack for power on low impact camping trips. Companies like UniSolar produce integrate PV roofing. Which are roll out solar power shingles, looks just like a normal roof, only a little shinier. If you are replacing your roof anyways, gov funding will pick up most of the extra costs and the power savings will pay off the remainder well before the end of it's life cycle.
"huge freaking magnets that you're trying to *gently* set into a wheel with opposing poles dangerously nearby. hope you didn't want that hand..."
They're not that big. There was a story posted here a few months about about building your own 30' tower. The problem is, in order to harness the really strong winds, you need to get 30m+ off the ground. We have a new wind farm being built in Wisconsin, each turnbine is 130' tall, with 100' blades if I recall correctly. so at it's highest point, the blade tip is 230' above the ground. Great for wind generation, but they're freaking huge. Nebraska is the place to do it though, huge flat plans with tons of wind. If Nebraska had the infrastructure, enough wind farms could be built to power the entire western half of the US.
-Rick
have you looked at the dsire site? Here in Wisconsin I can get half of the expence paid for by the state, tax exemptions on any increase in property value becuase of it, net metering on the juice (If I produce more juice then I use, I get paid for it) and my power company will pay me $1000 up front and I can apply for up to $500 maintenance every few years if needed. I can even take out a $30k interest free loan to pay for the system.
Also, Cali isn't the best place for solar power. AZ has it beat, but you'd be supprized how much of the rest of the country averages Zone 3 or better. Even here in Wisconsin with a small roof you can push out just shy of a megawatt ever year. Larger roof lines can do even better. Cali is just a hot bed for this activity because of it's social atmosphere (damn hippies) and the power market instability (thanks to ass hats like Enron pumping power in and out).
-Rick
If you really want to isolate the system look into installing a photovalitile roof system. Not only can you keep your whole house up and running during power outages, you can reduce your monthly power bill. ;) And those system, while still a challange to get OKed by the building inspector, can get federal and state funding, tax incentives, and even cash from your power company.
See http://www.dsireusa.org/ for more info on your local photo volatile power system incentives
-Rick
A surge strip and extention cord for the work bench. If you are going to try to patch into the house wiring you're going to want a certified electritian, and depending on housing codes in your area, you may need a certificate from the building inspector.
Much easier to mount the UPS under the work bench and to run an extention cord/surge strip to the other PCs. You don't want to have anything running off the protector you don't need. Things like speakers, printers, PDA chargers, etc.
-Rick
I don't know about that. Solid documentation can save maintenance time and reduce costs. It also makes bringing a new developer up to speed much easier. Wether you get canned, or a new employee is brought on, it's a good idea to have.
-Rick
check out a tool called nDoc. It can take the /// documentation auto generated in C# (in VS 2k3), or with VBCommentor (a plug in for VB/ASP.Net 2k2 and 2k3) and build it into CHM/HTML/MSDN help files.
/// auto documentation is built into the VS.Net IDE. I managed to talk my manager into encorporating it. And we have about 75% of our library documented in API style (class definitions and descriptions, function definitions, parameters, thread saftey, namespaces, the whole gambit.) The remaining 25% is under redesign so its documentation is still in limbo. But with VBCommentor/C# /// going back to document namespaces/classes/methods/members is a brease.
Its nice since the
-Rick
Thanks for the reply, sorry about the zealiot claim. The line between devils advocate and zealiot can be kinda blury in text. And with the widespread *Nix/OSS/FF fanboyism on /. well, my appologies.
As for the maturity of IE, it has some areas that are more mature, and some that are less. I don't know all of what code was replaced, reused, rehashed, or just removed from v5. I would still give IE more consideration as a mature app then FF. Even with the overhaul, which does reduce maturity, it's coming from a company with some pretty strict guidlines on software release (Check out the 'How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a lightbulb' essay) which helps it avoid a lot of common immature code pitfalls.
FF has the FF org, which also helps it out alot. FF org is a lot more flexible though, which will >hopefully
In any case, I expect FF to catch up with IE in terms of maturity, once they slow down a bit. And in the mean time, I see them as continuing to offer more options to the user. Of course MS will counter and it will drive both apps to become better and better.
-Rick
I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was speaking with a zealiot. I will leave you to your Linux/FF bubble of perfection. Dr. Bion is proud of you.
-Rick
"Too many entrenched interests."
A multi-million dollar market and a technology super center valued at some ubsurd price. The most entrenched interest is that of the lawyers trying to figure out just how long they can milk this fight for. 5 years in court will styfle technology, cost the book industry millions and net the lawyers for both sides hunders of millions of dollars all told.
Jaded? nah, realistic.
-Rick
If there is one thing I hate more then unconditional hatred, its Lawyers.
Do you have your company name trademarked? Its a long shot, but see if there is any presidence for trademark violation on squaters. There was a (US) law passed a few years ago dealing with squaters and selling domain names, but I have no memory of what it actually entailed. How far back does the /. archive go?
-Rick
True enough, but lets look to the future, technology is pushing the limits of copywrite law. And the laws will eventually be challanged or adapted.
-Rick
"There's no two ways about this. Either the laws have to be changed, or Google is in the wrong."
There is a third option. How ever unlikely, no one sues google. If no one sues google, the law will never be challanged, so there will be no presidence set and no drive to revamp the law.
However, I consider that to be highly unlikely judging by the market size and the tappable funds lawyers are drooling over.
-Rick
The /. synopsis leaves a bit out as usual. Google is going to some pretty good lengths to make sure the system is not exploited in any non-fair use ways.
For instance, you can only read a few pages of the book related to your search. And even if you search multiple times, you can only read a few more pages. You can not use google to download the entire book for free.
Also, google is cutting publishers in on the advertising for the pages their book is displayed on.
-Rick
Maturity Benefits:
Maturity Detriments:
I don't have time to argue each point of maturity, but its what happens to ALL software that doesn't get abandoned or purged and re-writen. Even rewrites can be considered to have some maturity, but more so in the business rules aspect.
-Rick
It's a term used in software development. If you are not familiar with it, suffice it to say that "more mature" means that the application is "older" and that it has both positive and negative connotations.
-Rick
I disagree. I beleive FF users are, on average, smarter/more computer literate then IE users. I'm not saying all FF users are rocket scientists, but they atleast have some grasp of the social circle that is the net. That rules out a lot of stupid people that do not perform safe browsing.
The fact is, that we can both come up with anecdotal evidence for both sides of this arguement, but large amounts of anecdotal evidence != data. As mentioned in another post, you really have to look at the number of people effected, the level of exposure, the possible damages, and the length of the exposure. And that's why I say they are both good products. FF had more exposures in the last 6 months, but fixed them faster, IE had less, but it took longer to get them fixed, the over all net balance is that each app had a similar level of insecurity over the time period.
Will FF's open source development reduce problems? will it make it easier for hackers to penetrate as it's market share rises? will the net effect of those two forces balance out to be better or worse then IE's security performance? Only time will tell. In any case, each app drives the other to improve and innovate. With out either of these apps, both would be worse off.
-Rick
And I have yet to get a spyware infection using IE. Safe browsing habbits will do as much for your security as using one browser over another.
I use IE at home, and FF at work. I think they are both good products, I like the multi-tabs of FF, and I like the history pull that IE does on new windows.
I personally think that at THIS POINT IN TIME, IE has the edge. Just because it is more mature. But I think that FF will have the edge in the future as the rapid open source development forces it to mature faster.
-Rick