However, the reality of it is that our current environment still favors closed source software.
I'd say it's not environment, it's economics. Apache has flourished because the people who develop it are also people who use it. But what percent of graphic designers are really using the Gimp vs. Photoshop? Maybe Photoshop has more bugs, but it has more usable features (performance also?), and that's what its users want. Unless you can come up with a scheme to fund development of open source in the same way that software purchases fund closed source, closed source is going to be the only way to develop software where the users generally aren't also the developers.
I develop commercial closed-source software. I'd absolutely love it if some sugar daddy came up to me and said, keep doing what you're doing and I'll keep paying you what you're getting paid, except we're making the code open source. But it isn't going to happen.
Lastly, if you look at non-volatile memory, like flash, again ignoring the problems like finite writes, it is in the same price ballpark, though MUCH slower in speed than DDR.
But how does it compare to a hard drive in speed, and in read reliability? One could consider, for example, putting the OS on flash memory for quick booting and maybe program loading, if it compares well in both aspects.
D. O. Harrington's 1964 report claims a 100 degree horizontal field of vision, 60 degree vertical. So 10:6 is probably the most "natural" ratio, although our "window" is somewhat oval, so we probably lose more to the sides than to the top and bottom. 4:3 is ~1.333:1; 1:6 is ~1.666:1; 16:9 is ~1.777:1; 16:10 is ~1.6:1.
If knowledge of our impending doom is truly useless and perhaps counter-productive, then why seek the knowledge in the first place?
Not all asteroid impacts would doom the earth. We could evacuuate low-lying regions, etc. if we found and tracked a smaller one. Or, if we had a fifty year impact prediction, we could greatly expand the space program and take defensive measures.
While people are trying to get together, and make a last ditch effort to save humanity, we're running around shooting them, and stealing all their money that they need to finance our survival.
Why would anyone steal money? If we're doomed, no one's going to loaning it out, or saving it for a rainy day, etc. In the event of a week until Doomsday, you steal things you want to use, not money.
Here is why Terraforming is good. It turns an otherwise dead planet into a living one.
Yes, but we're not absolutely sure Mars *is* lifeless. We're far from being able to really colonize Mars -- let's start with the Moon first -- so terraforming can wait a while. (I assume the Moon has insufficient oxygen and gravity to effectively terraform.)
as a offtopic side note, crime went down, and domestic violence vitually disappeared during prohibition.
Nonsense.
The murder rate, for example, clearly trends up, peaking at just about the end of Prohibition. See this chart for U.S government statistics. The FBI uniform crime statistics -- that give a wide variety of info about crime rates -- don't seem to go back that far, unfortunately, but can you provide any evidence for your claims?
Oh well, not like I have a job to pay for it anyway:p
Which is something of a Catch-22, since if you had the job, you could buy one, whereas by not having the job, you have the time to help improve the software if you had one...
Maybe the stores will have to carry paper copies that people have to read and agree to.
What store would agree to that hassle for an object as inexpensive as most software packages? They aren't sheep, you know. Few stores are dependent on software (not counting video games) for that high a percentage of their profits.
The only thing Walmart.com is really good for is printing digital photos.
Thanks for the tip!
there's no ubiquitous read/writeable removable data storage format other than useless floppy disks.
For digital photos, CD-Rs should be the format. I make multiple copies of disks of all the pictures I take, running one to the store and copying those over seems like it would be pretty reasonable.
At what point do YOU dictate what another person can and will do a job for?
Um, he (the YOU in question) said he wouldn't buy at the current price, not that he would force them to produce things for a lower cost. (Although I would add that I'd bitchslap 'em for their various monopolistic practices, such as those they've already been successfully sued for, and region coding, which they haven't.)
How expensive a setting you use to produce a CD depends on your expected payoff. You don't spend $350K if you expect 10,000 sales; you don't spend $10K for an artist who went multi-platinum on their last album.
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Privacy should be inherent and not require laws to protect it.
We shouldn't need laws to protect against theft and murder either, but...
I'd mod this one up if I could :(
You could mark me as a friend, it's more personal that way...:-)
However, the reality of it is that our current environment still favors closed source software.
I'd say it's not environment, it's economics. Apache has flourished because the people who develop it are also people who use it. But what percent of graphic designers are really using the Gimp vs. Photoshop? Maybe Photoshop has more bugs, but it has more usable features (performance also?), and that's what its users want. Unless you can come up with a scheme to fund development of open source in the same way that software purchases fund closed source, closed source is going to be the only way to develop software where the users generally aren't also the developers.
I develop commercial closed-source software. I'd absolutely love it if some sugar daddy came up to me and said, keep doing what you're doing and I'll keep paying you what you're getting paid, except we're making the code open source. But it isn't going to happen.
Lastly, if you look at non-volatile memory, like flash, again ignoring the problems like finite writes, it is in the same price ballpark, though MUCH slower in speed than DDR.
But how does it compare to a hard drive in speed, and in read reliability? One could consider, for example, putting the OS on flash memory for quick booting and maybe program loading, if it compares well in both aspects.
"I don't think I want another television screen that can't also be a computer monitor."
Most HDTVs have DVI or VGA inputs.
Most HDTVs do not have the resolution to handle computer signals, certainly not 1600x1200 for example. And interlacing stinks for computer signals.
D. O. Harrington's 1964 report claims a 100 degree horizontal field of vision, 60 degree vertical. So 10:6 is probably the most "natural" ratio, although our "window" is somewhat oval, so we probably lose more to the sides than to the top and bottom. 4:3 is ~1.333:1; 1:6 is ~1.666:1; 16:9 is ~1.777:1; 16:10 is ~1.6:1.
FWIW, I think you're half right. They still do compulsories. There just not compulsory figures.
There are certain elements that every program must have, but there is still a fair bit of choice in those elements.
Ice dancing still has a compulsory dance component, or at least did as of '98.
Yes, the number of fans you have on slashdot seems way more important than the number of your userid.
Does this mean I overpaid again?
If knowledge of our impending doom is truly useless and perhaps counter-productive, then why seek the knowledge in the first place?
Not all asteroid impacts would doom the earth. We could evacuuate low-lying regions, etc. if we found and tracked a smaller one. Or, if we had a fifty year impact prediction, we could greatly expand the space program and take defensive measures.
While people are trying to get together, and make a last ditch effort to save humanity, we're running around shooting them, and stealing all their money that they need to finance our survival.
Why would anyone steal money? If we're doomed, no one's going to loaning it out, or saving it for a rainy day, etc. In the event of a week until Doomsday, you steal things you want to use, not money.
Here is why Terraforming is good. It turns an otherwise dead planet into a living one.
Yes, but we're not absolutely sure Mars *is* lifeless. We're far from being able to really colonize Mars -- let's start with the Moon first -- so terraforming can wait a while. (I assume the Moon has insufficient oxygen and gravity to effectively terraform.)
I found that pretty funny too - so the possible presence of huge amounts of water, stuff of life, is a *bad* thing?
Sure! It could hurt their chances for tenure or grants! Getting your papers slammed is terrible for that sort of thing...
They don't know how many sheep they've actually cloned, you know. They tried counting the sheep, but they fell asleep...
as a offtopic side note, crime went down, and domestic violence vitually disappeared during prohibition.
Nonsense.
The murder rate, for example, clearly trends up, peaking at just about the end of Prohibition. See
this chart for U.S government statistics. The FBI uniform crime statistics -- that give a wide variety of info about crime rates -- don't seem to go back that far, unfortunately, but can you provide any evidence for your claims?
Oh well, not like I have a job to pay for it anyway :p
Which is something of a Catch-22, since if you had the job, you could buy one, whereas by not having the job, you have the time to help improve the software if you had one...
And if you do need WiFi, what's so hard about plugging a modem in?
If you plug a modem in, you can't plug in something else. CFs tend to come larger and cheaper than SD.
Maybe the stores will have to carry paper copies that people have to read and agree to.
What store would agree to that hassle for an object as inexpensive as most software packages? They aren't sheep, you know. Few stores are dependent on software (not counting video games) for that high a percentage of their profits.
You've clearly never tried to call one of these places on the phone.
I think the point hte other person was trying to make was that you don't risk the store being out if you order on-line.
The only thing Walmart.com is really good for is printing digital photos.
Thanks for the tip!
there's no ubiquitous read/writeable removable data storage format other than useless floppy disks.
For digital photos, CD-Rs should be the format. I make multiple copies of disks of all the pictures I take, running one to the store and copying those over seems like it would be pretty reasonable.
"It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black."
"There's a fine line between clever and stupid."
Last I checked, Wile E Coyote used to chase the Roadrunner.
Yes, but he was trying to catch Woody Woodpecker. A large part of Wiley's problems are caused by his extremely poor eyesight...
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Not really. If your rails are 3.5 inches thick, then it's 5 feet center-to-center.
Personally I still wish Isambard Kingdom Brunel's seven foot guage had won out, but oh well...
At what point do YOU dictate what another person can and will do a job for?
Um, he (the YOU in question) said he wouldn't buy at the current price, not that he would force them to produce things for a lower cost. (Although I would add that I'd bitchslap 'em for their various monopolistic practices, such as those they've already been successfully sued for, and region coding, which they haven't.)
How expensive a setting you use to produce a CD depends on your expected payoff. You don't spend $350K if you expect 10,000 sales; you don't spend $10K for an artist who went multi-platinum on their last album.
I wonder if one could sue Valenti for fraud, since he is a paid representative and spokesman of the movie industry and he made a fraudulent claim.
why waste a cd for a file smaller than 1.44 megs?
Cheapest 50 pack of 3.5" floppies on pricewatch: $11 shipped.
Cheapest 50 pack of CD-Rs on pricewatch: $11 shipped.
What exactly are you wasting? "It just seems wrong somehow"?