Technically, I can retrofit a Ford Pinto to prevent the gas tank problem, but if I'm not an automative engineer that is really not a practical solution to a design flaw. Less than 1% of computer users are computer programmers. "Fix it yourself" is not a feasible solution for everything.
Except that/etc is text-based and human readable in most cases, not to mention easier to back up and restore portions (if not all) of, and almost completely portable between hardware, not to mention it stores only system-wide settings. The Windows registry is none of the above.
Honestly, all of these are only true if you have no idea what you're doing on Windows and have no clue about what the registry does or how it works. Reg.exe does everything you want. 95% of the registry is readable text as most registry values are strings and integers, and everything can be exported and imported as plain text. The registry does much the same task as/etc, some/proc, and/dev. Much like Linux, once you understand how it's organized, it's not that hard. HKLM\Software (analog to/etc) is almost always portable. HKLM\SYSTEM (analog to/dev) almost never is.
The registry hives themselves can be opened from a remote system, or copied off and opened in that manner, too. Once again, you just have to know where things are located instead of thinking MS didn't give you access to it. The registry lives in 8 or so binary files that are not difficult to find at all.
There are configuration issues with Linux in some software, but the difference between Windows and Linux is that with Windows, if the GUI ain't working, the system ain't working.
So? Have you honestly had the problem that the *GUI* wouldn't start in Windows? Ever? And it was a problem with the *OS* -- not hardware or bad drivers or a virus -- so that it was actually Microsoft's problem? And booting to VGA Mode or Safe Mode didn't let you recover? Windows is pretty failsafe as far as loading the GUI.
I've had that problem in Linux. Most modern desktop installations try to run X immediately. I've had default installs of Fedora, SuSE, Debian, and Ubuntu all fail to select a video driver that works on my HP 9000 laptop (which is about as mainstream as a system gets). I boot to a black screen. I can toggle over to a text TTY... which displays at, oh, about 6x8 characters. Yes, six by eight. Six characters across, eight lines. Not even enough to show me a logon prompt, since the system decides it doesn't understand display geometry. And depending on the distro, I may or may not be able to enter bootloader commands to get to single user mode. On that laptop, I use Windows XP because Linux fails to install properly for any distro released in the past year (and Debian Sarge). Windows XP, which is 6 years or so older than the hardware, does not have any drivers for any component in the entire system and yet still boots the first time to a usable interface. The Linux distros --- most of which I've tried are *newer* than the hardware -- do not even present a usable interface for a mainstream hardware configuration.
I was talking to someone about this very thing a few weeks ago, but on the opposite end of the topic.
I was complaining how irritating it was to get Linux to use the proper resolution for my Dell 20" widescreen display (1680x1050). Every time I have to go into/etc and edit something manually that the default installer failed to handle I argue that the Linux model has failed me. My friend -- who has been known to call me to make simple registry edits on Windows -- kept insisting that modifying a simple text file in a well-documented and logical directory structure like/etc was something that all users simply should know how to do.
Me: "So,/etc is just a just a hierarchal text database of configurations, settings, and initialization scripts that the system requires to start and run properly." Him: "Right. See? It's very simple." Me: "That definition for/etc is also suitable for the Windows Registry."
Ha! I've got an OptiPlex G320 and an HP 9000 laptop. You can do a search and find the problems are cross-distribution.
The OptiPlex works just fine with Windows. You can even install Windows XP without the necessity of SATA drivers. No idea how, since it's an SATA hard drive, but it just works. With Linux (and I've tried Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora) none of them recognize the hardware without specific bootloader arguments. And even then when you install, You *must* use LILO. GRUB simply doesn't work.
The HP, well, there are literally no drivers for anything in the damn thing. Often the LiveCD works just fine with the display and the network, but I've never done a default installation and had a usable system. Most often X just pukes and displays a black screen. Mandriva, I think, refused to boot at all. Windows XP, even though it hasn't got any drivers for anything in the default installation, fails safely and displays something usable. The touchpad works (it didn't on several Linux installations) and the display functions (even though it's a horrible 640x480 or 800x600). Then all I need to do is go to HP.com and get drivers, or go to the hardware manufacturer's site and get drivers. I can't do either of those with Linux.
I don't use Linux on these two machines because it's ridiculously difficult to and I get more functionality out of Windows on them for no effort than I do in Linux. I would love to be running Linux on all my systems, but they lack the hardware support I need for even the most basic tasks. Linux doesn't work here.
We spend an amazing amount on education but efforts to improve it are thwarted by Teacher Union's
Yeah, damn those people for complaining about wages after going to school for 5 years, working unpaid for one year, and then starting at $25,000 per year with $60,000 or so in loan debt. It's such a good deal, one has to wonder why anybody would want to be a web designer, nurse, or construction worker.
Perhaps towards Polaris. Or you could use the celestial pole.
Or you could use the plane of the solar system which contains planetary orbits as the "equator" and then decide to orient one as "north" to either the celestial pole or the pole star.
If you understand the difference between hardware and an operating system, you have a choice. The vast majority of the population does not understand this difference. They are hopelessly mated in their minds.
A German cracking an "uncrackable" code used by the German forces in WWII on a computer the British used to crack the same code when the Allied cracking of German "uncrackable" codes helped lead to Allied victory is.
If you don't see it, though, I'm afraid I can't help you in your semantic crusades.
Actually, if you look irony up in a fewonlinedictionaries, you'll find that "unexpected outcome of events" is now an accepted meaning.
It's still a disputed meaning, to be sure, but then I remember hearing "ain't is not a word!" growing up. I never hear that at all anymore. Now it's informal. I imagine most contractions were at one point.
You think the last mile problem is bad with telecom, you try it with asphalt. There's no way a privately held company would maintain anything other than a freeway or bridge.
No, the first thing that happens is continued distribution of the infringed work must cease.
Also keep in mind the penalties for copyright violation. A single instance can be a penalty fine of several thousand dollars in the US. If you run a red light, there's a flat fine simply for punitive reasons. Same thing with copyright violations.
I don't see how it could ever be conceived as anything bad for us consumers. Too many thumbs in the pie is what drives competition for a bigger slice. They will compete on price, features, stability, etc.
Never question the stupidity of a corporation when it's only ever going to improve the products you actually buy (or buy into).
I fully agree with that sentiment, but taking that step leads to one obvious problem: Who pays to maintain the wire, and who's job is it to do the maintaining?
Roads are publicly funded. Should the telecom physical layer do the same? Should property taxes also apply to data transmission lines?
Suing absolutely can be illegal (or, if you prefer, legally actionable). It's known as barratry, abuse of process, vexatious litigation, or frivolous litigation.
If you bring a case against someone solely to punish them with legal proceedings, that's often illegal. Even if it's not, it gets lawyers disbarred.
It's the same reason tax money goes to building and maintaining roads, schools, police, courts, and fire and only a very small portion goes to feeding the poor. A church is a community. The money goes to fund that community to improve it. Most people I know who go to church regularly see their congregation as a group of friends or an extended family. They see these people two or three times a week year round in many cases. They are all friends, and their children are friends and go to school together. Christian or otherwise, these people like to get together and have fun.
Church donations are really just payment for services. Everybody knows that. Nobody is so stupid that they think their money becomes a holy thing by giving it to the church. The church provides activities, food, friendship, emotional support and guidance, and in these manners creates a community from the congregation. Donations are merely an investment in that community.
You get out of a church exactly what you put into it. Some people put a lot into it. And you know what? It's their money, and it's theirs to spend as they see fit. It's not yours. If they want to give it to a church because that's what they want, then leave them alone and let them do it. Other people go into golf leagues, knitting circles, run poker nights, go out for dinner and a movie, or rebuild automobiles. Some people even spend their money on computers and video games when they've already got dozens of each in their own home. These are all wastes of money. The fact that you disagree with some of them gives you no right to judge these people. If all you see is a cold building trying to take your money and use it for nothing you value, well, you're not the church-going type.
I doubt it. Windows 2000 SP4 was still shipped with IE 5.01 (the version that shipped originally), and, indeed, it is the only way to apply the last service pack for IE 5.01.
That highlights the exact problem I have with Linux:
It never installs painlessly on any of my hardware.
I don't know if I'm just the unluckiest person ever, but on the PCs I've tried to use for Linux (a Dell 4200, a Dell 2400, and an HP 9000 laptop) I've had nothing but problems. The LiveCDs always work fine. The problem comes when I go to install.
One or more of the following bits of hardware will fail to work: 1. No video card. X comes up as a black screen because the damn thing still doesn't have a failsafe. 2. No network card. Makes it lots of fun trying to use the installation for Debian (which doesn't even detect the newer Dell or the laptop). It also highlights how useless a PC is without the Internet. 3. No wireless card. And NDISwrapper hasn't worked very well for me. It connects and gets an IP address, but doesn't send or receive any data. Not sure what I was doing wrong there.
I've dried Debian Etch, Ubuntu 6.04, 6.10, and 7.04, OpenSUSE 10, and Fedora. And they *all* do one of these things.
Now, Windows is no better at all. Except that it will failsafe to 640x480 or 800x600 pretty easily by pressing F8 at startup. On Linux, I don't know how to get into single user mode when GRUB doesn't prompt and the logon screen (if there is one) is a black X session. With Windows I can go to random.vendor.com and download the drivers. I still can't do that for Linux. This is not the fault of Linux. This is the fault of the vendors. However, since it's a problem I have when running Linux, it is a problem that Linux has. The problem exists, and that's enough. Blaming vendors doesn't fix the problem for me as a user. It just makes me feel better as a Linux advocate.
For a corporation, "long-term planning" means "next fiscal quarter".
IBM will outsource because it improves their bottom line. And that is the bottom line. The fact that it increases the GDP of foreign nations and reduces the GDP of ours is not something they consider significant at all. When the US is no longer the GDP king, they will relocate their company to the nation that benefits them the most.
1. HIPPA says no. You ask, they must give you complete and total access to your own medical records. They have no authiruty to deny them to you unless you suffer from some fairly specific medical conditions (namely, mental illness).
2. HIPPA says no. If a nurse accidentally allows access to your health information, that's a $10,000 fine for her and a $100,000 fine for the hospital.
3. HIPPA says no.
WRONGFUL DISCLOSURE OF INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION
SEC. 1177. (a) OFFENSE.--A person who knowingly and in violation of this part--
(1) uses or causes to be used a unique health identifier;
(2) obtains individually identifiable health information relating to an individual; or
(3) discloses individually identifiable health information to another person,
shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).
(b) PENALTIES.--A person described in subsection (a) shall--
(1) be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both;
(2) if the offense is committed under false pretenses, be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both; and
(3) if the offense is committed with intent to sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain, or malicious harm, be fined not more than $250,000, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed.
Technically, I can retrofit a Ford Pinto to prevent the gas tank problem, but if I'm not an automative engineer that is really not a practical solution to a design flaw. Less than 1% of computer users are computer programmers. "Fix it yourself" is not a feasible solution for everything.
Exactly. You lose all credibility as soon as you use "M$". It's like calling Linux "Linsux". It looks petty and immature.
Honestly, all of these are only true if you have no idea what you're doing on Windows and have no clue about what the registry does or how it works. Reg.exe does everything you want. 95% of the registry is readable text as most registry values are strings and integers, and everything can be exported and imported as plain text. The registry does much the same task as
The registry hives themselves can be opened from a remote system, or copied off and opened in that manner, too. Once again, you just have to know where things are located instead of thinking MS didn't give you access to it. The registry lives in 8 or so binary files that are not difficult to find at all.
So? Have you honestly had the problem that the *GUI* wouldn't start in Windows? Ever? And it was a problem with the *OS* -- not hardware or bad drivers or a virus -- so that it was actually Microsoft's problem? And booting to VGA Mode or Safe Mode didn't let you recover? Windows is pretty failsafe as far as loading the GUI.
I've had that problem in Linux. Most modern desktop installations try to run X immediately. I've had default installs of Fedora, SuSE, Debian, and Ubuntu all fail to select a video driver that works on my HP 9000 laptop (which is about as mainstream as a system gets). I boot to a black screen. I can toggle over to a text TTY... which displays at, oh, about 6x8 characters. Yes, six by eight. Six characters across, eight lines. Not even enough to show me a logon prompt, since the system decides it doesn't understand display geometry. And depending on the distro, I may or may not be able to enter bootloader commands to get to single user mode. On that laptop, I use Windows XP because Linux fails to install properly for any distro released in the past year (and Debian Sarge). Windows XP, which is 6 years or so older than the hardware, does not have any drivers for any component in the entire system and yet still boots the first time to a usable interface. The Linux distros --- most of which I've tried are *newer* than the hardware -- do not even present a usable interface for a mainstream hardware configuration.
That's a pretty ridiculous failure.
Do not even get me started on my Optiplex 320.
You forgot the part where app devs think that means they don't need to provide documentation.
I was talking to someone about this very thing a few weeks ago, but on the opposite end of the topic.
/etc and edit something manually that the default installer failed to handle I argue that the Linux model has failed me. My friend -- who has been known to call me to make simple registry edits on Windows -- kept insisting that modifying a simple text file in a well-documented and logical directory structure like /etc was something that all users simply should know how to do.
/etc is just a just a hierarchal text database of configurations, settings, and initialization scripts that the system requires to start and run properly." /etc is also suitable for the Windows Registry."
I was complaining how irritating it was to get Linux to use the proper resolution for my Dell 20" widescreen display (1680x1050). Every time I have to go into
Me: "So,
Him: "Right. See? It's very simple."
Me: "That definition for
Ha! I've got an OptiPlex G320 and an HP 9000 laptop. You can do a search and find the problems are cross-distribution.
The OptiPlex works just fine with Windows. You can even install Windows XP without the necessity of SATA drivers. No idea how, since it's an SATA hard drive, but it just works. With Linux (and I've tried Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora) none of them recognize the hardware without specific bootloader arguments. And even then when you install, You *must* use LILO. GRUB simply doesn't work.
The HP, well, there are literally no drivers for anything in the damn thing. Often the LiveCD works just fine with the display and the network, but I've never done a default installation and had a usable system. Most often X just pukes and displays a black screen. Mandriva, I think, refused to boot at all. Windows XP, even though it hasn't got any drivers for anything in the default installation, fails safely and displays something usable. The touchpad works (it didn't on several Linux installations) and the display functions (even though it's a horrible 640x480 or 800x600). Then all I need to do is go to HP.com and get drivers, or go to the hardware manufacturer's site and get drivers. I can't do either of those with Linux.
I don't use Linux on these two machines because it's ridiculously difficult to and I get more functionality out of Windows on them for no effort than I do in Linux. I would love to be running Linux on all my systems, but they lack the hardware support I need for even the most basic tasks. Linux doesn't work here.
So why not move to mag tape?
Yeah, damn those people for complaining about wages after going to school for 5 years, working unpaid for one year, and then starting at $25,000 per year with $60,000 or so in loan debt. It's such a good deal, one has to wonder why anybody would want to be a web designer, nurse, or construction worker.
Why should we pay someone what they're worth?
Perhaps towards Polaris. Or you could use the celestial pole.
Or you could use the plane of the solar system which contains planetary orbits as the "equator" and then decide to orient one as "north" to either the celestial pole or the pole star.
Really, it's not that hard.
If you understand the difference between hardware and an operating system, you have a choice. The vast majority of the population does not understand this difference. They are hopelessly mated in their minds.
A German cracking a code is not unexpected.
A German cracking an "uncrackable" code used by the German forces in WWII on a computer the British used to crack the same code when the Allied cracking of German "uncrackable" codes helped lead to Allied victory is.
If you don't see it, though, I'm afraid I can't help you in your semantic crusades.
Actually, if you look irony up in a few online dictionaries, you'll find that "unexpected outcome of events" is now an accepted meaning.
It's still a disputed meaning, to be sure, but then I remember hearing "ain't is not a word!" growing up. I never hear that at all anymore. Now it's informal. I imagine most contractions were at one point.
English is not a dead language.
Excellent. I hadn't even thought of that. Good call, mate.
You think the last mile problem is bad with telecom, you try it with asphalt. There's no way a privately held company would maintain anything other than a freeway or bridge.
No, the first thing that happens is continued distribution of the infringed work must cease.
Also keep in mind the penalties for copyright violation. A single instance can be a penalty fine of several thousand dollars in the US. If you run a red light, there's a flat fine simply for punitive reasons. Same thing with copyright violations.
I don't see how it could ever be conceived as anything bad for us consumers. Too many thumbs in the pie is what drives competition for a bigger slice. They will compete on price, features, stability, etc.
Never question the stupidity of a corporation when it's only ever going to improve the products you actually buy (or buy into).
I fully agree with that sentiment, but taking that step leads to one obvious problem:
Who pays to maintain the wire, and who's job is it to do the maintaining?
Roads are publicly funded. Should the telecom physical layer do the same? Should property taxes also apply to data transmission lines?
No, the difference is that the 8800 GTS is 90nm, and the 8800 GT is 65nm.
The Anantech review details things much, much better (unsurprisingly).
Suing absolutely can be illegal (or, if you prefer, legally actionable). It's known as barratry, abuse of process, vexatious litigation, or frivolous litigation.
If you bring a case against someone solely to punish them with legal proceedings, that's often illegal. Even if it's not, it gets lawyers disbarred.
It's the same reason tax money goes to building and maintaining roads, schools, police, courts, and fire and only a very small portion goes to feeding the poor. A church is a community. The money goes to fund that community to improve it. Most people I know who go to church regularly see their congregation as a group of friends or an extended family. They see these people two or three times a week year round in many cases. They are all friends, and their children are friends and go to school together. Christian or otherwise, these people like to get together and have fun.
Church donations are really just payment for services. Everybody knows that. Nobody is so stupid that they think their money becomes a holy thing by giving it to the church. The church provides activities, food, friendship, emotional support and guidance, and in these manners creates a community from the congregation. Donations are merely an investment in that community.
You get out of a church exactly what you put into it. Some people put a lot into it. And you know what? It's their money, and it's theirs to spend as they see fit. It's not yours. If they want to give it to a church because that's what they want, then leave them alone and let them do it. Other people go into golf leagues, knitting circles, run poker nights, go out for dinner and a movie, or rebuild automobiles. Some people even spend their money on computers and video games when they've already got dozens of each in their own home. These are all wastes of money. The fact that you disagree with some of them gives you no right to judge these people. If all you see is a cold building trying to take your money and use it for nothing you value, well, you're not the church-going type.
Yes it does.
I doubt it. Windows 2000 SP4 was still shipped with IE 5.01 (the version that shipped originally), and, indeed, it is the only way to apply the last service pack for IE 5.01.
That highlights the exact problem I have with Linux:
It never installs painlessly on any of my hardware.
I don't know if I'm just the unluckiest person ever, but on the PCs I've tried to use for Linux (a Dell 4200, a Dell 2400, and an HP 9000 laptop) I've had nothing but problems. The LiveCDs always work fine. The problem comes when I go to install.
One or more of the following bits of hardware will fail to work:
1. No video card. X comes up as a black screen because the damn thing still doesn't have a failsafe.
2. No network card. Makes it lots of fun trying to use the installation for Debian (which doesn't even detect the newer Dell or the laptop). It also highlights how useless a PC is without the Internet.
3. No wireless card. And NDISwrapper hasn't worked very well for me. It connects and gets an IP address, but doesn't send or receive any data. Not sure what I was doing wrong there.
I've dried Debian Etch, Ubuntu 6.04, 6.10, and 7.04, OpenSUSE 10, and Fedora. And they *all* do one of these things.
Now, Windows is no better at all. Except that it will failsafe to 640x480 or 800x600 pretty easily by pressing F8 at startup. On Linux, I don't know how to get into single user mode when GRUB doesn't prompt and the logon screen (if there is one) is a black X session. With Windows I can go to random.vendor.com and download the drivers. I still can't do that for Linux. This is not the fault of Linux. This is the fault of the vendors. However, since it's a problem I have when running Linux, it is a problem that Linux has. The problem exists, and that's enough. Blaming vendors doesn't fix the problem for me as a user. It just makes me feel better as a Linux advocate.
For a corporation, "long-term planning" means "next fiscal quarter".
IBM will outsource because it improves their bottom line. And that is the bottom line. The fact that it increases the GDP of foreign nations and reduces the GDP of ours is not something they consider significant at all. When the US is no longer the GDP king, they will relocate their company to the nation that benefits them the most.
2. HIPPA says no. If a nurse accidentally allows access to your health information, that's a $10,000 fine for her and a $100,000 fine for the hospital.
3. HIPPA says no.
-- http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/pl104191.htm#1177
Geez, you'd think that people involved in IT would be somewhat aware of the demands of HIPPA PHI.