Just as you wouldn't expect a driver written for Microsoft's MS-DOS to be effective on a modern NUMA machine, you shouldn't expect any driver interface standardized today to be effective 10 or 20 years from now
You are right. It is not realistic to cast the API in stone. But what we could imagine is fixing an API for 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8,... and then provide in every new major release optional compatibility wrappers for the old APIs (if we can write ndiswrapper, this is certainly possible).
That way either you are commited to work on a driver and update it to the new API or (if it is older and for less used hardware) you keep it as it was in the previous version and rest assured it will work.
This remove the burden to fix old drivers not many people are interested in and doesn't force the ones who are interested to stick with an old kernel that may be unusable because it doesn't support necessary new features.
And before you tell me that explorer.exe is essential whereas iexplore.exe is not let me say that
1. In 2006 a web client may be considered essential
2. There are many non essential things in windows. If I sell screensavers, can I ask for the removal of the star field saver ? And what if I sell a calculator ?
I see your point: both Apple and Microsoft bundle potentially useful applications with their OS but Apple does nothing to try to convince you to use them.
But I maintain that not being able to remove IE (the application) is in itself not a big deal as you can install third party applications that work well.
I guess it is more psychological than anything. You can remove IE desktop icon, make another application the default browser, and after all, no OS allow you to remove every single feature you may not use (unless you build it yourself). Can you remove the finder ? All the bundled utilities ? (and yes I understand that no monopoly means Apple doesn't have to allow it but that's beside the point)
If the idea is to force Microsoft, because of its monopoly, to allow removal of every feature that may be provided commercialy by a third party then there is no way to draw the line since everything may be replaced.
If I sell an alternative to explorer.exe, can I sue ? This is ridiculous.
This is different than the Intel bug; that was a logic flaw, where the chip computed a floating point quantity using an incorrect algorithm
This was not a logic flaw. The algorithm was correct. The problem was that the table used as an oracle by the algorithm was not downloaded in the chip in its entirety, so that a few entries which should have been non-zero were left at zero. Of course when they simulated the circuit they didn't see any problem.
There are several quite impressive natural language generation tools available. For instance:
http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/scigen/ "SCIgen is a program that generates random Computer Science research papers, including graphs, figures, and citations. It uses a hand-written context-free grammar to form all elements of the papers. Our aim here is to maximize amusement, rather than coherence.... The code for SCIgen is released under GPL, and is currently available via anonymous CVS."
http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern/ FYI: The Postmodernism Generator was described by Dinitia Smith in her article, When Ideas Get Lost in Bad Writing as "an Internet site that automatically creates a "post-modern" essay, replete with bloated jargon and incomprehensible sentence structure, every time someone logs onto it."
Is there such a thing (on the black/grey market or whatever) as a reprogrammable SIM card?
There is. However you won't be able to clone an existing SIM card, because you cannot read it and so won't know the shared key used for network authentication.
A PhD for a usability study ? Now *that* will advance human knowledge. I have come to think that whatever useless crap you are doing you automatically get your PhD after working on it for a few years.
The key word here is *matrix*. One qubit represents 256 states, so a transition between two states can be described by a 256x256 transition matrix m where m[i][j] is a complex number whose squared norm is the probability of going from state j to state i.
*mostly independent* refers here to the fact that the matrix must be unitary since the squared norm of a row or colum is a total probability, which must equal 1.
Great, they discovered that an iPod photo can store (guess what) pictures. Next you'll see ornithologists discovering that cameras can be used to take pictures of birds.
Slashdot Mirror
Pfff, verilog of course
Those who choose convenience over inconvenience deserve it
That way either you are commited to work on a driver and update it to the new API or (if it is older and for less used hardware) you keep it as it was in the previous version and rest assured it will work.
This remove the burden to fix old drivers not many people are interested in and doesn't force the ones who are interested to stick with an old kernel that may be unusable because it doesn't support necessary new features.
So I guess no one got the joke about the supposedly new "google tagging" service just introduced by Google, in beta status of course.
So what is this google tagging thing ?
What about this one ? http://www.roi-president.com/galerie/images/Pyrami de_2.jpg
It's like sex really. Some talk about it, the others do it.
And before you tell me that explorer.exe is essential whereas iexplore.exe is not let me say that 1. In 2006 a web client may be considered essential 2. There are many non essential things in windows. If I sell screensavers, can I ask for the removal of the star field saver ? And what if I sell a calculator ?
I see your point: both Apple and Microsoft bundle potentially useful applications with their OS but Apple does nothing to try to convince you to use them. But I maintain that not being able to remove IE (the application) is in itself not a big deal as you can install third party applications that work well. I guess it is more psychological than anything. You can remove IE desktop icon, make another application the default browser, and after all, no OS allow you to remove every single feature you may not use (unless you build it yourself). Can you remove the finder ? All the bundled utilities ? (and yes I understand that no monopoly means Apple doesn't have to allow it but that's beside the point) If the idea is to force Microsoft, because of its monopoly, to allow removal of every feature that may be provided commercialy by a third party then there is no way to draw the line since everything may be replaced. If I sell an alternative to explorer.exe, can I sue ? This is ridiculous.
Can't you see that there is no difference ? Sure you can remove safari, but can you remove webkit, no.
What's wrong with an MDA ?
They are not idiots. They are professional murderers who deserve what they get.
Or even better, two : "native intel" mac support
There are so late that the game is updated before it is even released!
right or wrong -> write or wrong
copyright -> copywrite
hum... must be a hidden message
What advantage is electronic voting supposed to bring ? Don't we just do it... because we can ?
A PhD for a usability study ? Now *that* will advance human knowledge. I have come to think that whatever useless crap you are doing you automatically get your PhD after working on it for a few years.
I meant one qubyte represents 256 states of course.
The key word here is *matrix*. One qubit represents 256 states, so a transition between two states can be described by a 256x256 transition matrix m where m[i][j] is a complex number whose squared norm is the probability of going from state j to state i. *mostly independent* refers here to the fact that the matrix must be unitary since the squared norm of a row or colum is a total probability, which must equal 1.
What a cheap-ass!
Great, they discovered that an iPod photo can store (guess what) pictures. Next you'll see ornithologists discovering that cameras can be used to take pictures of birds.