Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm, yes. The Gnome mental disease of denial over these things is just plain ridiculous.
So if you want fast flying toaster, you can have fast flying toasters -- just configure a screensaver to run that hack with those options.
So Gnome, as-is, won't allow me to configure screensavers? I believe that was the actual point.
So you can configure screensavers however you like, but you can't reconfigure screensavers on the fly
Are you fucking kidding me sweetheart? "Gnome screensavers are not configurable for totally unspecified usability reasons, but they are actually configurable if you do it yourself!"
Vista will indeed display HD content on this monitor over the D-Sub and component video outputs, which are capable of outputting 1080p and 1080i signals, respectively. In the future, a content provider might choose to constrict the output to these devices, but that decision would apply only to a specific piece of media, and it would have to be disclosed on the package, giving the buyer the opportunity to choose not to purchase it.
So that's a yes then. In the event that special content gets displayed on Vista there is a DRM subsystem all ready and waiting to restrict it.
He's also debunking silly things like stupidly large monitors, and he fills an entire page with it:
So, this is "stupidly large (for a computer monitor)"? Not if you're planning to install it in an airport or an office lobby
Well no, but it is a daft size for the vast majority of people, as indicated when he wrote 'computer monitor'. You devoted a whole page to this?
Regarding code signing:
That sounds awful, doesn't it? If you own a hardware company you are completely at Microsoft's mercy, and if they decide not to approve your drivers, or just delay their approval, you'll starve to death.
Too bad Gutmann is completely wrong. He is confusing digital signatures with the Windows Logo process administered by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL).
Again, he uses an incredible sleight of hand here. He doesn't deny that certificate signing is required, and talks about buying a certificate, which he notes are not controlled by Microsoft but are listed on Microsoft's site:
Anyone can get a software publishing certificate from the independent certification companies listed here, none of which is owned or controlled by Microsoft. I found a suitable certificate for $229.
Bottom line, ergo, you have to have a signed driver for use in the kernel one way or the other. He doesn't deny that at all, and it's an incredible piece of trying to tell us that the emperor is actually wearing clothes.
This is completely, unequivocally wrong. I've tested multiple systems, using HDMI, DVI, and analog outputs for video and TOSLink and coax connections for digital audio. There's no problem playing back HD video and listening to the accompanying audio over this type of connection.
Notice that he doesn't tell us what content he has tested here, nor does he deny that there is a DRM subsystem in Vista preventing playback on certain outputs given certain content.
Arguably the most popular HD DVD player, Microsoft's Xbox 360 drive, which also works on a Windows PC, has only component connections, in fact.
I don't know what kind of a rebuttal this is supposed to be, but you don't need HDMI for gaming as Microsoft has stated. However, Microsoft have not ruled out providing a HDMI pack which inevitably would include content protection for certain kinds of content. He doesn't deny this.
Wow, polling the underlying hardware every 30 ms? What a taxing demand on a modern PC! That's more than 30 separate instructions that have to be processed every single second! That will impose a tremendous drag on performance, won't it?
Oh. Wait. I just looked it up. An entry-level dual-core CPU running at 2.0 GHz or higher
He doesn't deny anything here, but merely tells us that a modern PC can handle all this.
Vista's playback architecture checks the integrity of the video subsystem as part of the process of sending each video frame to the display. If there's a problem with the video subsystem, you'll know about it right away and be able to troubleshoot it. There, that's not nearly as scary, is it?
Depends on how you word it;-). Why does Vista need to 'check the integrity of the vi
It means the most dangerous threat posed by quantum computing - the ability to break the codes that protect our banking, business and e-commerce data - is now a step nearer reality.
It might just show how sadly cynical I am regarding many companies' attitudes towards security, but I looked at that sentence and and thought "This would actually make a difference?"
Well, the obviously binned those plans as soon as they saw them, because the Buran just couldn't have been more different. The shuttle itself didn't have internal engines, and used the heavy lift platform Energia to get it into space without an internal engine making the whole thing inherently safer. The main engine inside the US shuttle was, and still is, the cause of much concern over maintenance and it just shows you how flawed the US shuttle is when someone comes along, looks at it and is the first thing that they junk. Ironically, the Energia heavy lift platform came out of the failed M1 closed loop rocket designed in the 60s to get the Soviets to the moon and the rocket still lives on today as a better way of getting satellites into space. The Buran's first unmanned flight was perfect, and made a perfect unmanned landing with a slight cross-wind.
Although it never gets much publicity, the Russian shuttle program was the most expensive space project ever and it was nowhere near a straight copy as the Tu-144 was of Concorde for example. One can only wonder as to what might have been.
The new Office 2007 file formats are ZIP files that contain parts some of which are XML, some others are native file formats such as JPEG pictures, and the remaining binary parts end up being referred to as BIN parts. BIN parts are of particular interest for the file format consumer or updater since the underlying file formats are undocumented (at the time of writing, August 10 2006) and are several additional file formats to deal with.
The real story is that after the introduction of Java, Sun started creating new Solaris components in Java. Unfortunately, they found out at the time that Java wasn't mature enough for what they were doing.
You would have thought that they would have had some internal communication, and, you know, improved Java.
Sun needed to either make the entire Desktop in Java (in which case most of the performance problems would disappear
That "in theory" part is important. Examine ODT documents actually produced by OpenOffice, and you'll find a ton of application-specific elements that are not covered in the standard, that you have to understand in order to accurately represent the documents.
Welcome to open source software and standards development in action. Open Office has generally been the one to implement things first, and these have then been rolled into ODF version 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 etc. and OpenFormula. ODF has a rolling track record of iterative improvement, which prompts many on MSDN to roll out the blogs and say "Oh my God, look at ODF! It is incomplete!" I've been quite impressed by ODF development really, and it hasn't stood still as good standards shouldn't. Code and implement first, try it out, give feedback, communicate and get the standard nailed down next. At least in the meantime that you have elements that you can understand, rather than embedded BIFF files.
Sadly, OOXML has no such process, and there is no process planned at all for iterative versions of the format to address any problems. It's very much like it or lump it. The only test suite we have for OOXML is Microsoft Office 2007 (and that's live), and since OOXML is just an abstraction, you can never, ever be sure what you have to support and what you don't. ECMA might say that something isn't necessary, but ultimately Office 2007 will almost certainly say different. Despite peoples' best efforts - http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=279 895&cid=20363627 - I have never seen a good rebuttal to this:
In particular, look at point 12 - 'BIFF is gone...not!' Now, Miguel in his 'rebuttal' helpfully tells us that BIFF isn't a part of OOXML, and strictly speaking, that's true - but it's an obviously silly answer because when it comes down to it, an application has to be able to read the file for it to be meaningful. I found that response quite bizarre. He obviously didn't read the link given in Stephane's article, and he obviously hasn't received documents such as this:
The new Office 2007 file formats are ZIP files that contain parts some of which are XML, some others are native file formats such as JPEG pictures, and the remaining binary parts end up being referred to as BIN parts.............If you insert a VBA macro or an OLE object in a Word 2007, Excel 2007 or Powerpoint 2007 document, then there will be one or more BIN parts of interest.
It rather makes a mockery of OOXML's interoperability because it doesn't give you what you need to read any real-world file (Office 2007 is out ownly test container), and rather makes a mockery of people pointing fingers at ODF as to the way new features are tried out and added to the format.
I have a few Windows XP licenses, but they are all OEM XP Home/Media Center licences that came with the computers.......I help exactly one person with an OEM XP Home machine and it gives more headaches than my custom installs. My custom installs are based on a Corporate Edition Windows XP Pro. Those never give problems unless it is hardware. Simply said: Windows XP Pro Corporate^WPirate Edition gives me better *value* for less money.
So Microsoft have already taken their cut, even if you are using a pirated XP Pro? What's Microsoft's problem with piracy again?
And if you bothered to read the wikipedia article you'd see these robots are only $230,000, and could drop to 150k if ordered in large quantities. Dirt cheap compared to a couple of dead soldiers.
Well, let's put it this way. These are drones that any guerrilla in an urban area is going to have a field day with. Trust me, they will have some serious weaknesses. Eventually, soldiers will have to be sent in regardless.
I never cease to be amused by the American attitude that there is always a technical solution to a lack of quality training, lack of intelligence (as in the grey matter stuff) and incompetence.
Dude, have a look at the divorce rate, the number of illegitimate children, the number of cohabiting couples and have a look at how many problems those children have and look at how all that has been steadily rising. I didn't just pick this out of nowhere. It's a general trend in western countries like the US and UK.
Having thought back to my High School days, much of this sounds pretty accurate. I know there'll be many Slashdot jokes around about this, but think seriously about it for a bit. Those who threw it out there too much at High School, how many of those people who you knew are now living on crap wages, in a crap job, are unmarried, uncommitted and immature parents or single mothers struggling to keep a roof over their heads with no ability to plan for the future?
I live in the UK, but the answer in my case is all of the people I could think of scarily. I caught up with a few people from High School not long ago, and the stuff that's happened to many of the people from school who concentrated on sex and immature relationships is shocking. It's a tale of divorce, single motherhood, poverty and immaturity. These people also tend to be extremely crap at romantic and sexual relationships when they're older, as well as pretty immature. Taking one example, how many people in their late twenties think that getting married to someone you only met six months ago, divorcing that person a few years later, getting back together with an ex a few months after said divorce and having a baby with that person after only a few weeks or months of being together is mature? They still act like 15 year olds, and in some cases, worse.
As for me, I have a good job with good money, working with people who I like and get on with, I have a lovely girlfriend and I'm still as horny as hell from all that High School abstinence;-).
Seriously though, looking around from my own personal experience, scarily, I think a whole social underclass is being created. I also think this is largely responsible for the increase in divorce, the increase in single motherhood and the inevitable problems for their children that has brought with it. Those having sex in High School generally just aren't mature enough to handle sex, and that's setting them up for life.
Tells you something about R&D if that 'edge' is 40+ years old...
Well yer. You only need to look at that piece of shite called Orion, that NASA thinks will get them back to the Moon and even Mars. It's basically just Apollo concepts plus 40 years, and gets into space and to the Moon in pretty much exactly the same way as Apollo.
It's still colossally expensive, it still isn't more reliable and it still isn't easier. There are no new fuels being developed and no new concepts. The future of space travel belongs to the private sector.
What they're trying to do is create an entertainment console that everyone, not just hardcore FPS gamers, can have a go at. There are far more ordinary people out there than hardcore gamers (that market is pretty much completely saturated), and this is probably why some people from Microsoft and Sony have got surprised and upset over the success of the Wii.
IANAEE but I found this thing (pdf) from DELL that has a "typical" efficiency curve (fig A, on the third page of the pdf, page # 64) that shows efficiency is pretty flat from 35% up to max load. Within maybe 5%.
If you read the PDF, you'll see that the AMD system was tested with a 500W power supply while the Intel one was tested with a 600W one. I wonder how much of the different can be associated with that.
None. They would draw exactly the same power whether they used 500W or 600W PSUs. Besides (and I haven't got all the way through the article), they may just be using recommended PSUs in pre-built machines.
Are sysadmins at "Data Center USA" morons? "Oh nooo, command line time, I hate that. Oh nooo, my option I want is all grayed out! Help me, help me! Oh I am so sad now."
I'm afraid that's about your average ignoramous comment modded up to +5 Insightful on Slashdot.
Such tools that people want to rely on, oh I don't know, all the time, require good management tools in order to set things up in a straightforward way that can be documented and can be reproduced, and that sys admins can use to find out what on Earth is actually going on in their data centres. Sys admins are many things, but telepathy they don't do very well.
Do you really think editing a bloody XML file is a good idea?
It's a good hacking achievement, but let's just consider the usefulness of this.
Creating Moonlight assumes that there is going to be lots of web content made for Silverlight, and this assumes that Silverlight will be put in a fairly dominant position on the web in the not too distant future as a result. Silverlight is not a open web standard, nor is XAML, and its future development is always controlled by Microsoft.
I just don't think people think through what the ultimate aims, goals and endgames are for things like this regarding open source software.
Well, everyone needs a credible enemy to keep themselves in a job. I mean, what would all those government agencies do with their time? The whole thing is just playing peoples worst fears, and the scenarios they've got there are straight out of Die Hard......or that film Sandra Bullock was in, and of course the all have no basis in reality.
Bring back the Cold War, that's what I say, and it looks as though they are. This whole terrorism thing just isn't working out;-).
What does the Department of Homeland Security do now anyway? It doesn't seem to have very much to do other than looking over the shoulders of people at libraries to see if they're browsing porn, and then trying to arrest them until it's pointed out that they have no jurisdiction.
I mean, everyone is really keen to tell us how we're on the verge of IT meltdown, and terrorists are willing to meltdown the entire western economy through botnets (Die Hard 4), but it's just bull.
An organisation like that, with nothing to do, trying to justify itself by claiming non-existent threats is a bit dangerous to me. They then start telling us that the enemy is within, and when that enemy can't be pinpointed or proved to exist, every citizen then becomes the enemy - because.......it could be anyone. Just look at the way the UK is going with MI5, their security services and CCTV cameras up your backside.
You need to read up on Samba version 4. SLES (or any Linux) can be either an Active Directory client or a server. Linux can just as easily replace Windows servers without anyone being any the wiser. It works both ways.
You misunderstood totally. The deal that Novell signed with Microsoft, whereby Microsoft sells copies of SLES, states that the server must be within a Windows domain controller architecture for that SLES coupon to be sold and it must be surrounded by Windows servers.
Slashdot Mirror
So Gnome, as-is, won't allow me to configure screensavers? I believe that was the actual point.
Are you fucking kidding me sweetheart? "Gnome screensavers are not configurable for totally unspecified usability reasons, but they are actually configurable if you do it yourself!"
So that's a yes then. In the event that special content gets displayed on Vista there is a DRM subsystem all ready and waiting to restrict it.
He's also debunking silly things like stupidly large monitors, and he fills an entire page with it:
Well no, but it is a daft size for the vast majority of people, as indicated when he wrote 'computer monitor'. You devoted a whole page to this?
Regarding code signing:
Again, he uses an incredible sleight of hand here. He doesn't deny that certificate signing is required, and talks about buying a certificate, which he notes are not controlled by Microsoft but are listed on Microsoft's site:
Bottom line, ergo, you have to have a signed driver for use in the kernel one way or the other. He doesn't deny that at all, and it's an incredible piece of trying to tell us that the emperor is actually wearing clothes.
Notice that he doesn't tell us what content he has tested here, nor does he deny that there is a DRM subsystem in Vista preventing playback on certain outputs given certain content.
I don't know what kind of a rebuttal this is supposed to be, but you don't need HDMI for gaming as Microsoft has stated. However, Microsoft have not ruled out providing a HDMI pack which inevitably would include content protection for certain kinds of content. He doesn't deny this.
He doesn't deny anything here, but merely tells us that a modern PC can handle all this.
Depends on how you word it ;-). Why does Vista need to 'check the integrity of the vi
Well, the obviously binned those plans as soon as they saw them, because the Buran just couldn't have been more different. The shuttle itself didn't have internal engines, and used the heavy lift platform Energia to get it into space without an internal engine making the whole thing inherently safer. The main engine inside the US shuttle was, and still is, the cause of much concern over maintenance and it just shows you how flawed the US shuttle is when someone comes along, looks at it and is the first thing that they junk. Ironically, the Energia heavy lift platform came out of the failed M1 closed loop rocket designed in the 60s to get the Soviets to the moon and the rocket still lives on today as a better way of getting satellites into space. The Buran's first unmanned flight was perfect, and made a perfect unmanned landing with a slight cross-wind.
Although it never gets much publicity, the Russian shuttle program was the most expensive space project ever and it was nowhere near a straight copy as the Tu-144 was of Concorde for example. One can only wonder as to what might have been.
http://www.codeproject.com/cs/library/office2007bin.asp
Sadly, OOXML has no such process, and there is no process planned at all for iterative versions of the format to address any problems. It's very much like it or lump it. The only test suite we have for OOXML is Microsoft Office 2007 (and that's live), and since OOXML is just an abstraction, you can never, ever be sure what you have to support and what you don't. ECMA might say that something isn't necessary, but ultimately Office 2007 will almost certainly say different. Despite peoples' best efforts - http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=27
http://ooxmlisdefectivebydesign.blogspot.com/2007
In particular, look at point 12 - 'BIFF is gone...not!' Now, Miguel in his 'rebuttal' helpfully tells us that BIFF isn't a part of OOXML, and strictly speaking, that's true - but it's an obviously silly answer because when it comes down to it, an application has to be able to read the file for it to be meaningful. I found that response quite bizarre. He obviously didn't read the link given in Stephane's article, and he obviously hasn't received documents such as this:
http://www.codeproject.com/cs/library/office2007b
The new Office 2007 file formats are ZIP files that contain parts some of which are XML, some others are native file formats such as JPEG pictures, and the remaining binary parts end up being referred to as BIN parts.............If you insert a VBA macro or an OLE object in a Word 2007, Excel 2007 or Powerpoint 2007 document, then there will be one or more BIN parts of interest.
It rather makes a mockery of OOXML's interoperability because it doesn't give you what you need to read any real-world file (Office 2007 is out ownly test container), and rather makes a mockery of people pointing fingers at ODF as to the way new features are tried out and added to the format.
The time barrier's been broken, so where's that damn warp drive?
I never cease to be amused by the American attitude that there is always a technical solution to a lack of quality training, lack of intelligence (as in the grey matter stuff) and incompetence.
Having thought back to my High School days, much of this sounds pretty accurate. I know there'll be many Slashdot jokes around about this, but think seriously about it for a bit. Those who threw it out there too much at High School, how many of those people who you knew are now living on crap wages, in a crap job, are unmarried, uncommitted and immature parents or single mothers struggling to keep a roof over their heads with no ability to plan for the future?
;-).
I live in the UK, but the answer in my case is all of the people I could think of scarily. I caught up with a few people from High School not long ago, and the stuff that's happened to many of the people from school who concentrated on sex and immature relationships is shocking. It's a tale of divorce, single motherhood, poverty and immaturity. These people also tend to be extremely crap at romantic and sexual relationships when they're older, as well as pretty immature. Taking one example, how many people in their late twenties think that getting married to someone you only met six months ago, divorcing that person a few years later, getting back together with an ex a few months after said divorce and having a baby with that person after only a few weeks or months of being together is mature? They still act like 15 year olds, and in some cases, worse.
As for me, I have a good job with good money, working with people who I like and get on with, I have a lovely girlfriend and I'm still as horny as hell from all that High School abstinence
Seriously though, looking around from my own personal experience, scarily, I think a whole social underclass is being created. I also think this is largely responsible for the increase in divorce, the increase in single motherhood and the inevitable problems for their children that has brought with it. Those having sex in High School generally just aren't mature enough to handle sex, and that's setting them up for life.
.....this isn't the rocket you're looking for.
It's still colossally expensive, it still isn't more reliable and it still isn't easier. There are no new fuels being developed and no new concepts. The future of space travel belongs to the private sector.
What they're trying to do is create an entertainment console that everyone, not just hardcore FPS gamers, can have a go at. There are far more ordinary people out there than hardcore gamers (that market is pretty much completely saturated), and this is probably why some people from Microsoft and Sony have got surprised and upset over the success of the Wii.
Such tools that people want to rely on, oh I don't know, all the time, require good management tools in order to set things up in a straightforward way that can be documented and can be reproduced, and that sys admins can use to find out what on Earth is actually going on in their data centres. Sys admins are many things, but telepathy they don't do very well.
Do you really think editing a bloody XML file is a good idea?
It's a good hacking achievement, but let's just consider the usefulness of this.
Creating Moonlight assumes that there is going to be lots of web content made for Silverlight, and this assumes that Silverlight will be put in a fairly dominant position on the web in the not too distant future as a result. Silverlight is not a open web standard, nor is XAML, and its future development is always controlled by Microsoft.
I just don't think people think through what the ultimate aims, goals and endgames are for things like this regarding open source software.
Well, everyone needs a credible enemy to keep themselves in a job. I mean, what would all those government agencies do with their time? The whole thing is just playing peoples worst fears, and the scenarios they've got there are straight out of Die Hard......or that film Sandra Bullock was in, and of course the all have no basis in reality.
;-).
Bring back the Cold War, that's what I say, and it looks as though they are. This whole terrorism thing just isn't working out
You simply don't understand this.
What does the Department of Homeland Security do now anyway? It doesn't seem to have very much to do other than looking over the shoulders of people at libraries to see if they're browsing porn, and then trying to arrest them until it's pointed out that they have no jurisdiction.
I mean, everyone is really keen to tell us how we're on the verge of IT meltdown, and terrorists are willing to meltdown the entire western economy through botnets (Die Hard 4), but it's just bull.
An organisation like that, with nothing to do, trying to justify itself by claiming non-existent threats is a bit dangerous to me. They then start telling us that the enemy is within, and when that enemy can't be pinpointed or proved to exist, every citizen then becomes the enemy - because.......it could be anyone. Just look at the way the UK is going with MI5, their security services and CCTV cameras up your backside.