Laws are never written to cover every eventuality - there aren't enough hours in the day to do that. What they do is establish the parameters and the clear-cut scenarios, and it is up to lawyers to argue and judges or juries to decide where marginal cases fall. When a judge/jury decides on a marginal case, a legal precedent is created that lawyers can use in future cases to influence the decision-making.
The problem, here, is that the European Patents Office continues to apply their own interpretation to the European Patent Convention, even after the courts in many member states hawe shown their interpretation to be incorrect, thereby creating a precedent. The EPO is not bound to abide by the decisions of national courts, since the EPO does not fall within their jurisdiction. If the EPO were to gain influence in appointing the judiciary overseeing the application of Patent law - as the European Patent Litigation Agreement proposes - they could appoint judges sympathetic to the EPO's views. Now while a judge technically cannot go against the written law, s/he still has a lot of room to decide on the marginal areas, and can also start to bend the marginal areas to include ones that were considered safely codified in law. If there is no further oversight than the EPO's appointments committee, then who is going to stop any rogue judges, who follow the EPO's views?
It's also worth noting that it is CUSTOMARY to follow legal precedent. But it is not the law to do so - judges can choose whether to apply precedent or not. Since the EPLA court is a European-wide court, rather than a national court (where current Patents are argued), the EPLA court could easily argue that the legal precedents don't apply, because they were made in a different jurisdiction.
Finally, as I understand, the EPO is set up by different arrangements than that which establish the European Parliament, Courts and Commission, and therefore is not subject to oversight by any of the Europe-wide democratic organisations. Rather it is governed by its own Administrative council, which is appointed directly by the member states.
In summary -
- Courts get a lot of legal lee-way - they can interpret the law, and refine the law by Precedent - Independent Judiciaries in member states have invalidated Software-only patents issued by the EPO, thereby entering a precedent into their local law. - An EPO court could quite legally decide to ignore these Precedents, as national courts have no jurisdiction outside their own country - As proposed the EPO could appoint judges without oversight to their own EPO court - Any EPO judge would therefore be free to re-interpret the law and set new precedents without recognising the existing ones. - The lack of oversight would make it difficult to remove a "renegade" judge who was overstepping and reinterpretting clear-cut areas of law following the EPOs wishes.
Install XMMS. Its a Winamp clone (in essence) and will accept Shoutcast mp3 streams, and m3u/pls playlists. You'll need to download the unofficial codecs as set out in http://www.fedorafaq.org/
I have to say I prefer the clean interface that RealPlayer for Linux uses - much rather that than the crud that comes with the Windows version.
If you prefer to stay 100% legit (depending on where you are, that is), I believe there is a gstreamer plugin that is licensed for mp3 that you can buy/download. This will make things like Rhythmbox work with mp3s, and Rhythmbox can cope with playlists and the like.
As for your dependency problem, yum does have a force option (I can't remember how it works mind), that will let you force the installation of one dep, to get you out of the cycle. If it's something like kmod-nvidia and xorg-x11-drv-nvidia (which I had trouble with before), the solution was to uninstall them both, and fall back to the Free (nv) driver which requires neither, then install the updated version. IIRC the reason for this was that the update couldn't do its work without overwriting one of the packages that was needed by the existing (and running) nvidia driver - so the existing kmod forbad the upgrade to the newer xorg drv module, while the newer kmod required it. Hopefully that issue is laid to bed now, and a better way of handling the pair has been sorted.
Unlikely... The problem is Patents, and licensing. If Red Hat wants to license, say, mp3 codec, it needs to pay royalties to Thomson to distribute. Is it likely that Red Hat are not going to pay for licenses for you, since they give you Fedora for free. Downloading the Realplayer RPMs and installing them is no more difficult than installing Realplayer on Windows. In fact, if you double click an RPM in GNOME, GNOME will ask for your root password automatically, and run system-install-packages. Real Networks have licensed the mp3 codec, so they are legally entitled to give them to you (as binaries) in Realplayer. Other codecs, like LAME, or FFMPEG are of questionable legallity (in the US at any rate), so you'll have to get them from unofficial sources. And if you follow http://www.fedorafaq.org/ there are EASY, STEP-BY-STEP instructions as to how to do this. "yum" is not hard to use!
It is also in the Fedora "Constitution" that they will only include software that does not impinge on any licensing or patented tech. This is for a very good reason - The GNU GPL has a clause that says if you include code that you are not legally entitled to (or are later banned from using by a court), then you forfeit the right to distribute the software, either in binaries or as source. Thus if Fedora included mp3 codecs in FC6, Thomson could take them to court, and if they were found in breach of the law, Fedora could no longer distribute FC6 or make any derivatives of it. If Fedora included RealPlayer RPMs in the distribution, they would be breaking their commitment to give you only GPL software, and would be unable to give you the source.
If you want a fully paid-up Linux distro, with licensed mp3 codecs and the rest, buy RHEL or SLED. If you want free($) and Free(OSS) software, then you have to live with the fact there are many people (IP holders in particular), that want to make sure you pay for your license to their technology. They won't be easy on you. Rhythmbox and Totem support things like OGG and FLAC out of the box. These are Free(OSS) technologies. You can use them without infringing any patents. MP3, WMA etc. are patented technologies - you need a license to use them, and no doubt the licenses preclude you from distributing them Free(OSS). Using unofficial, and possibly illegal (depending on your location) software is a choice YOU can take. It is not a choice Fedora can take - Red Hat (US company) would end up in court. Knowingly breaking the law can end Directors in jail, and wipe $millions out of their accounts.
Except, the web is international. So "traditional" alphanumerics are not good enough. Or are you telling me that René should spell his name Rene? (in French, the two are pronounced completely differently - Ren (Rene) and Renay (René)) Or how about non-alphabetic languages like Chinese?
Many people use non-alphanumerics in their email. I, for example use underscore.
With the gradual movement of the web to non-latin URLs, too, the need for the acceptance of all printable Unicode in webforms has never been greater.
And as has often been pointed out, you can reduce the risk of your passwords being susceptible to dictionary attacks by using wierd (or perhaps unprintable) Unicode characters. Web & DB devs should do well to note that - I dislike sites immensely that restrict me to alphanumeric passwords - I'd like to use whatever alphabet I choose, to make my password more secure.
I'm not saying that input validation is a bad idea. It just needs to accept and validate input in any appropriate language - which for things like "Name" could be anything, even if the user is an anglophone. Some fields, like DOB, or numeric fields are easily validated - others like "Name" would be better cross-checked against a list of banned inputs, and escaped (or use parameters).
But most modern cars build stereo controls into the steering-wheel.
Also modern car stereos are built with big buttons and a big legible display, along with one-touch operation = nice big target, so you are distracted for less time.
If the iPod responded to instructions from the cd-changer buttons, you'd have an interface more suited to the car.
yes. ls, mv, rm and ps agree with you. cd is just hanging on for the ride.
The big problem with Windows is that it doesn't support Aliases and Symbolic Links properly. You can't rename a DLL or standard executable without breaking older apps. Of course, if you could make symbolic links between the old names and the new, that wouldn't be a problem.......but "why do we need symbolic links when we have shortcuts?" (bangs head)
If, for example, you have a 4-way stacked full access interchange (not a cloverleaf), which are necessary when you can't take all the land you would like - eg in urban or semi-urban areas - you end up with at least three bridges for one interchange. If you have stacked or eleveated highway construction, you may well be able to count that as multiple bridges too. 1.2 bridges per mile is perfectly feasable.
Laboratories, where GMP and GLP are a factor would be a good bet.
The less clutter you have on your workbenches, the cleaner you can keep your environment. This would have been great where I used to work, in processing and labelling Blood donations - because they are medical labs, you have to keep them spotless - but because you have to systematically register and label your products (so there is no chance of mixing up blood group labels etc.) you need ready access to the database system. And in the extremely rare event of a spillage, you run a lower risk of contaminating the PC if it is in the wall rather than on your workbench. The low power consumption means that the heat output will be practically nil, so you could probably seal up the unit in plastic sheathing, to minimise that risk further...
Thanks for replying, I'll eat my words (mostly). Anyone with mod points feel free to mod down (my) OP.
I did see somewhere that C|Net reckons the menus can't be forced to reappear - but you can hide the ribbon - but the proof is in the pudding.
However, my comments about obeying the system theme remain. If you fit into one of the predefined categories eg. "High Contrast", then Accessibility will make Office obey - but what if, for example, you are dyslexic, but read better on a pink background. There is some evidence to support that simply changing the colour of "white" improves the ability to read the text. Office won't obey that, because it doesn't fit in to MS' idea of "assistive tech".
I personally don't have too many sight issues, fortunately. However, with the switch from Office XP to Office 2003, I found that the gradient (coupled with the more cartoony look of the icons themselves) made it harder to discern what they were. And I found the blue toolbars when you have Windows in "Fisher Price - Blue" mode lurid, and overly distracting. I searched high and low to make the toolbars flat again so I could see what I was doing, but apparently MS knew better.
Functionality wise, I'm happy with Word '03 - I don't hate the app. (I don't use it any more though - LyX is my new best friend - WISIWIM-U "What I see is what I mean - usually")
Is it just me, or do you find that every version of Office seems to get further away from following the system's defined theme/UI.
For example - how the hell does a screen-scraper work out that something looking like four crayon-ed squares is in fact a "File" menu?
What about if you can't use a mouse? The menus let you get to the features anyway, but now there are no menus, are you supposed to remember the shortcuts?
What if you have a limited visual field? Now instead of being able to put all the features you need on a daily basis in the same place so you can find them, they are consistently scattered about the program, meaning you have to switch modes all the time - and heaven forbid you mouse over a table while you are trying to peer at the icons...
And if I have put a high contrast colour scheme in my setup - so that I can read the icons and menus easiest - why the hell should MS office be the only major business app to completely disregard my favoured system theme, and instead use its shiny corporate swoooshy effects on the toolbars, so I can't read them properly - every other major app seems capable of obeying the default system theme - If I use the "Windows Classic" theme, with non-standard colours, it might just be for a reason.
It means that Non-USA mp3 streaming stations will suddenly see a jump in listeners - which has to bee good for their ratings with their advertisers. It's all about USA corp screwing USA mom-n-pop, because they know full well that this law won't affect any non-USA radio station - what you gonna do, packet filter every HTTP packet coming through for shoutcast streams?
In fact it could be a good thing for some US citizens, too - non US radio stations getting a greater listenership in the US, thereby fuelling international understanding despite el Prezidente's best efforts.
You too can enhance your driving experience, while really learning about route-planning.
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Plenty of EU states have done plenty for the US in the past. It's a two-way street here. IIRC the french helped out in the fight for independence (hence the two statues of liberty), and the USA has had plenty of access to european military facilities & troops to fight their wars for them. The thing is here, it's not the USA that europe has a distaste for, rather it is US corporations and their political cronies that we dislike. My fiancee is american. I am european. I won't tar the whole US with the brush that GWB, MS et al. deserve.
Actually, the main thrust of this antitrust case is Windows Networking protocols. It is not possible for a server OS vendor to sell a server OS that works as well with Windows clients as Windows Server. Yes, you can release third party drivers, but it would be very hard to get them certified, and many companies won't touch third-party drivers because they can wreak havoc with systems, or system security. The ruling essentially covers the fact that MS is using its dominance of the desktop market to push server OS sales. So the antitrust ruling says that MS have to release full documentation of their networking protocols to anyone who wants them. Problem is, so far, they've tried releasing their own source-code - which is about as helpful as giving a Home Depot customer the instructions on how to cut the pieces of wood that make up their furniture, rather than the instructions of how to put them together.
Windows Media Player is a red-herring here - MS have ALREADY COMPLIED with that section of the ruling.
That's why the UK reorganised its number system a few years ago - so there's enough numbers that they don't get reassigned the moment they are available. In fact the system is designed so you can keep your cell number for life if you want - Cell numbers don't get an area code, rather their "area code" indicates who the provider is.
PS. Making the ID card compulsory if you want a passport is tantamount to mandatory, in such a small country as the UK, where you're in a foreign country if you travel more than a few hundred miles.
And it must always be noted that, in the end, the (elected) house of Commons can force a bill through Parliament (using the Parliament Act) regardless of what the Lords think.
The House of Lords should remain, and should continue to be permitted Parliamentary scrutiny precisely because they act as checks-and-balances, because they are less susceptible to lobbying and the whips, aren't out to win cheap votes/laughs, and actually take the time to consider the ramifications of any bill, which most MPs don't have the time to do (as they have other constituency duties, which often require a lot of travelling).
Commons originally set out a bill that makes ID cards mandatory (and that you have to pay for)
Lords comes back with amendment making ID cards voluntary
Commons counter with, yes they are voluntary, unless you want a passport...
Lords come back with amendment saying that they will be (properly) voluntary until 2012 (which would give time for a rethink)
Commons reject proposals that would make the bill "unworkable"
and so on...
It's worth noting that the ID card as proposed
will set you back £93 (over US$150) if you want a 10-year passport
Has your
biometric data (incl. fingerprints and photo),
a full record of all your addresses, ever,
is linked to your NI number (think social security number),
has your immigration details, work permit details, visa details, etc.
is linked to both your passport number and driving licence number
The data will all be stored on a central database
And it will be a criminal offense to not keep it up to date.
It is also likely that other agencies and companies will start demanding your ID card number to get services, and store it on record.
There will be no guarantees that (particularly the biometric portion) will not be searched by law enforcement agencies and the ministry of information (think CIA/NSA) - whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty...?
Oh, and did I tell you it will record every time you query the central database for your information. Essentially, "they" will know where you live, know your tax records, know your travelling details, know everywhere you have lived, know your fingerprints, know whether you drive, and know every time you have used your ID card "on-line" (and presumably where you accessed the data from). Sounds like a honeypot for spooks (and data miners, both of the legal and illegal kind). Oh, and it will be compulsory, and illegal not to maintain the data up-to-data. And if someone wants to steal your identity - well they now need only forge one card as opposed to numerous documents.
It is this kind of legislation for which the Lords' oversight is absolutely necessary. They have the time to see through the spin, big words, and half-truths. They don't have to please anyone, nobody is going to oust them from office, so they don't havr to tow the party line. And they are generally immune to government FUD, and don't tend to believe ministers who say "but we'll never use that power - it's there just in case".
If the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was already in place, you can bet your bottom dollar that compulsory ID cards would already be on the statute books, without the limited concessions to civil liberty that exist in the current amended bill.
If an elected body were to replace the Lords, I suggest that 15-year tenures be the norm, to allow some sense of continuity, and some long-term thought, and some kind of aptitude test for applicants (Or possibly to expect A-levels or equivalent as a minimum standard), because
FULL documentation for CIFS/SMB and possibly how to let the user part of the reqistry be stored on non-MS servers, and possibly parts of how Active Directory talks to its clients.
Unbundling WMP from Windows, and making sure MS doesn't try to give better deals to conusmers/OEMs who choose to install WMP bundled.
In order to restore the conditions of fair competition, the Commission has imposed the following remedies:
As regards interoperability, Microsoft is required, within 120 days, to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. This will enable rival vendors to develop products that can compete on a level playing field in the work group server operating system market. The disclosed information will have to be updated each time Microsoft brings to the market new versions of its relevant products.
To the extent that any of this interface information might be protected by intellectual property in the European Economic Area(6), Microsoft would be entitled to reasonable remuneration. The disclosure order concerns the interface documentation only, and not the Windows source code, as this is not necessary to achieve the development of interoperable products.
As regards tying, Microsoft is required, within 90 days, to offer to PC manufacturers a version of its Windows client PC operating system without WMP. The un-tying remedy does not mean that consumers will obtain PCs and operating systems without media players. Most consumers purchase a PC from a PC manufacturer which has already put together on their behalf a bundle of an operating system and a media player. As a result of the Commission's remedy, the configuration of such bundles will reflect what consumers want, and not what Microsoft imposes.
Microsoft retains the right to offer a version of its Windows client PC operating system product with WMP. However, Microsoft must refrain from using any commercial, technological or contractual terms that would have the effect of rendering the unbundled version of Windows less attractive or performing. In particular, it must not give PC manufacturers a discount conditional on their buying Windows together with WMP.
The Commission believes the remedies will bring the antitrust violations to an end, that they are proportionate, and that they establish clear principles for the future conduct of the company.
To ensure effective and timely compliance with this decision, the Commission will appoint a Monitoring Trustee, which will, inter alia, oversee that Microsoft's interface disclosures are complete and accurate, and that the two versions of Windows are equivalent in terms of performance.
If you don't want to (or cannot) reinstall the OS and software, then what I usually do is 1. Use Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D and Antivirus first 2. Use Add-Remove programs 3. Check the task list of processes (obviously no help if your system has been rootkit-ed) and run the list of processes you don't know into google. 4. Reboot the system into safe-mode and rename / move all the offending processes' files. 5. Reboot and run Ad-aware, Spybot S&D and Antivirus again 6. Check the process list again 7. Providing nothing is broken, you can safely delete the offending files and associate registry entries.
If you suspect a rootkit, then a liveCD is your best option without reinstalling the OS.
If you can safely and easily format / re-install then that is your best option.
It is worth noting that some of the posters on/. are very security-centric, and as always there is a trade-off between Security, Functionality, and Available time to clean up / secure your system.
Obviously tracking cookies are very likely to turn up on a regular basis - you just need to try and keep them at bay if you want to use cookies.
In the UK, transportdirect.info provides a door-to-door journey planner for free - giving you the option of Public Transport and/or driving - allowing you to compare trip times. It uses expected traffic levels when calculating driving times, and provides details of all rail, metro, light rail, the vast majority of bus and coach services, and some air and sea services.
It'll show you on a map where your nearby bus stops are, and when you plan a journey will show you on a map which stops that you need to catch the bus or change at.
This is in spite of the fact that bus services in the UK were privatised in the 80's, and rail was privatised in '94-'95 - and hence are operated by multiple different companies. Indeed bus companies are completely deregulated, and can more-or-less do what they want (except in London).
It'll tell you the route numbers, who operates the bus or train, what facilities are on board if it's a train, station details (including phone numbers for taxis, and the current departure boards for the station).
It's not perfect - but it generally makes the same decisions that I would when choosing services. I have occasionally had it make stupid choices, but not often.
As an example, planning a journey for tomorrow from my house in a small town (without a train station) to my parents' house in a small village (with only a few buses a day), succeeded in finding the same options I would have chosen, both if driving or by public transport (bus -> station in nearest city. train -> london. tube across london. train -> nearest city. bus -> parents' village). And the driving instructions were spot-on.
The UK is supposed to have the worst public transport in Europe. But if the UK government can manage this, then surely an organisation with much more technical prowess can. As anybody in Public Transport will tell you, the first thing you need to do to get people to consider public transport is to tell them their options. It helps the environment, the public transport user, and the driver. In short, it helps people. The US government should be getting involved in these kind of projects - helping get this information in the public domain. Because oil is a finite resource, and its price will just keep going up!
Slashdot Mirror
What they can do is establish a Legal Precedent.
Laws are never written to cover every eventuality - there aren't enough hours in the day to do that. What they do is establish the parameters and the clear-cut scenarios, and it is up to lawyers to argue and judges or juries to decide where marginal cases fall. When a judge/jury decides on a marginal case, a legal precedent is created that lawyers can use in future cases to influence the decision-making.
The problem, here, is that the European Patents Office continues to apply their own interpretation to the European Patent Convention, even after the courts in many member states hawe shown their interpretation to be incorrect, thereby creating a precedent. The EPO is not bound to abide by the decisions of national courts, since the EPO does not fall within their jurisdiction. If the EPO were to gain influence in appointing the judiciary overseeing the application of Patent law - as the European Patent Litigation Agreement proposes - they could appoint judges sympathetic to the EPO's views. Now while a judge technically cannot go against the written law, s/he still has a lot of room to decide on the marginal areas, and can also start to bend the marginal areas to include ones that were considered safely codified in law. If there is no further oversight than the EPO's appointments committee, then who is going to stop any rogue judges, who follow the EPO's views?
It's also worth noting that it is CUSTOMARY to follow legal precedent. But it is not the law to do so - judges can choose whether to apply precedent or not. Since the EPLA court is a European-wide court, rather than a national court (where current Patents are argued), the EPLA court could easily argue that the legal precedents don't apply, because they were made in a different jurisdiction.
Finally, as I understand, the EPO is set up by different arrangements than that which establish the European Parliament, Courts and Commission, and therefore is not subject to oversight by any of the Europe-wide democratic organisations. Rather it is governed by its own Administrative council, which is appointed directly by the member states.
In summary -
- Courts get a lot of legal lee-way - they can interpret the law, and refine the law by Precedent
- Independent Judiciaries in member states have invalidated Software-only patents issued by the EPO, thereby entering a precedent into their local law.
- An EPO court could quite legally decide to ignore these Precedents, as national courts have no jurisdiction outside their own country
- As proposed the EPO could appoint judges without oversight to their own EPO court
- Any EPO judge would therefore be free to re-interpret the law and set new precedents without recognising the existing ones.
- The lack of oversight would make it difficult to remove a "renegade" judge who was overstepping and reinterpretting clear-cut areas of law following the EPOs wishes.
Install XMMS. Its a Winamp clone (in essence) and will accept Shoutcast mp3 streams, and m3u/pls playlists. You'll need to download the unofficial codecs as set out in http://www.fedorafaq.org/
I have to say I prefer the clean interface that RealPlayer for Linux uses - much rather that than the crud that comes with the Windows version.
If you prefer to stay 100% legit (depending on where you are, that is), I believe there is a gstreamer plugin that is licensed for mp3 that you can buy/download. This will make things like Rhythmbox work with mp3s, and Rhythmbox can cope with playlists and the like.
As for your dependency problem, yum does have a force option (I can't remember how it works mind), that will let you force the installation of one dep, to get you out of the cycle. If it's something like kmod-nvidia and xorg-x11-drv-nvidia (which I had trouble with before), the solution was to uninstall them both, and fall back to the Free (nv) driver which requires neither, then install the updated version. IIRC the reason for this was that the update couldn't do its work without overwriting one of the packages that was needed by the existing (and running) nvidia driver - so the existing kmod forbad the upgrade to the newer xorg drv module, while the newer kmod required it. Hopefully that issue is laid to bed now, and a better way of handling the pair has been sorted.
Unlikely...
The problem is Patents, and licensing. If Red Hat wants to license, say, mp3 codec, it needs to pay royalties to Thomson to distribute. Is it likely that Red Hat are not going to pay for licenses for you, since they give you Fedora for free. Downloading the Realplayer RPMs and installing them is no more difficult than installing Realplayer on Windows. In fact, if you double click an RPM in GNOME, GNOME will ask for your root password automatically, and run system-install-packages. Real Networks have licensed the mp3 codec, so they are legally entitled to give them to you (as binaries) in Realplayer. Other codecs, like LAME, or FFMPEG are of questionable legallity (in the US at any rate), so you'll have to get them from unofficial sources. And if you follow http://www.fedorafaq.org/ there are EASY, STEP-BY-STEP instructions as to how to do this. "yum" is not hard to use!
It is also in the Fedora "Constitution" that they will only include software that does not impinge on any licensing or patented tech. This is for a very good reason - The GNU GPL has a clause that says if you include code that you are not legally entitled to (or are later banned from using by a court), then you forfeit the right to distribute the software, either in binaries or as source. Thus if Fedora included mp3 codecs in FC6, Thomson could take them to court, and if they were found in breach of the law, Fedora could no longer distribute FC6 or make any derivatives of it. If Fedora included RealPlayer RPMs in the distribution, they would be breaking their commitment to give you only GPL software, and would be unable to give you the source.
If you want a fully paid-up Linux distro, with licensed mp3 codecs and the rest, buy RHEL or SLED. If you want free($) and Free(OSS) software, then you have to live with the fact there are many people (IP holders in particular), that want to make sure you pay for your license to their technology. They won't be easy on you. Rhythmbox and Totem support things like OGG and FLAC out of the box. These are Free(OSS) technologies. You can use them without infringing any patents. MP3, WMA etc. are patented technologies - you need a license to use them, and no doubt the licenses preclude you from distributing them Free(OSS). Using unofficial, and possibly illegal (depending on your location) software is a choice YOU can take. It is not a choice Fedora can take - Red Hat (US company) would end up in court. Knowingly breaking the law can end Directors in jail, and wipe $millions out of their accounts.
Except, the web is international. So "traditional" alphanumerics are not good enough. Or are you telling me that René should spell his name Rene? (in French, the two are pronounced completely differently - Ren (Rene) and Renay (René)) Or how about non-alphabetic languages like Chinese?
Many people use non-alphanumerics in their email. I, for example use underscore.
With the gradual movement of the web to non-latin URLs, too, the need for the acceptance of all printable Unicode in webforms has never been greater.
And as has often been pointed out, you can reduce the risk of your passwords being susceptible to dictionary attacks by using wierd (or perhaps unprintable) Unicode characters. Web & DB devs should do well to note that - I dislike sites immensely that restrict me to alphanumeric passwords - I'd like to use whatever alphabet I choose, to make my password more secure.
I'm not saying that input validation is a bad idea. It just needs to accept and validate input in any appropriate language - which for things like "Name" could be anything, even if the user is an anglophone. Some fields, like DOB, or numeric fields are easily validated - others like "Name" would be better cross-checked against a list of banned inputs, and escaped (or use parameters).
But most modern cars build stereo controls into the steering-wheel.
Also modern car stereos are built with big buttons and a big legible display, along with one-touch operation
= nice big target, so you are distracted for less time.
If the iPod responded to instructions from the cd-changer buttons, you'd have an interface more suited to the car.
yes. ls, mv, rm and ps agree with you. cd is just hanging on for the ride.
...but "why do we need symbolic links when we have shortcuts?" (bangs head)
The big problem with Windows is that it doesn't support Aliases and Symbolic Links properly. You can't rename a DLL or standard executable without breaking older apps. Of course, if you could make symbolic links between the old names and the new, that wouldn't be a problem....
If, for example, you have a 4-way stacked full access interchange (not a cloverleaf), which are necessary when you can't take all the land you would like - eg in urban or semi-urban areas - you end up with at least three bridges for one interchange. If you have stacked or eleveated highway construction, you may well be able to count that as multiple bridges too. 1.2 bridges per mile is perfectly feasable.
Laboratories, where GMP and GLP are a factor would be a good bet.
The less clutter you have on your workbenches, the cleaner you can keep your environment. This would have been great where I used to work, in processing and labelling Blood donations - because they are medical labs, you have to keep them spotless - but because you have to systematically register and label your products (so there is no chance of mixing up blood group labels etc.) you need ready access to the database system.
And in the extremely rare event of a spillage, you run a lower risk of contaminating the PC if it is in the wall rather than on your workbench. The low power consumption means that the heat output will be practically nil, so you could probably seal up the unit in plastic sheathing, to minimise that risk further...
Thanks for replying, I'll eat my words (mostly). Anyone with mod points feel free to mod down (my) OP.
I did see somewhere that C|Net reckons the menus can't be forced to reappear - but you can hide the ribbon - but the proof is in the pudding.
However, my comments about obeying the system theme remain. If you fit into one of the predefined categories eg. "High Contrast", then Accessibility will make Office obey - but what if, for example, you are dyslexic, but read better on a pink background. There is some evidence to support that simply changing the colour of "white" improves the ability to read the text. Office won't obey that, because it doesn't fit in to MS' idea of "assistive tech".
I personally don't have too many sight issues, fortunately. However, with the switch from Office XP to Office 2003, I found that the gradient (coupled with the more cartoony look of the icons themselves) made it harder to discern what they were. And I found the blue toolbars when you have Windows in "Fisher Price - Blue" mode lurid, and overly distracting. I searched high and low to make the toolbars flat again so I could see what I was doing, but apparently MS knew better.
Functionality wise, I'm happy with Word '03 - I don't hate the app. (I don't use it any more though - LyX is my new best friend - WISIWIM-U "What I see is what I mean - usually")
Is it just me, or do you find that every version of Office seems to get further away from following the system's defined theme/UI.
For example - how the hell does a screen-scraper work out that something looking like four crayon-ed squares is in fact a "File" menu?
What about if you can't use a mouse? The menus let you get to the features anyway, but now there are no menus, are you supposed to remember the shortcuts?
What if you have a limited visual field? Now instead of being able to put all the features you need on a daily basis in the same place so you can find them, they are consistently scattered about the program, meaning you have to switch modes all the time - and heaven forbid you mouse over a table while you are trying to peer at the icons...
And if I have put a high contrast colour scheme in my setup - so that I can read the icons and menus easiest - why the hell should MS office be the only major business app to completely disregard my favoured system theme, and instead use its shiny corporate swoooshy effects on the toolbars, so I can't read them properly - every other major app seems capable of obeying the default system theme - If I use the "Windows Classic" theme, with non-standard colours, it might just be for a reason.
It means that Non-USA mp3 streaming stations will suddenly see a jump in listeners - which has to bee good for their ratings with their advertisers.
It's all about USA corp screwing USA mom-n-pop, because they know full well that this law won't affect any non-USA radio station - what you gonna do, packet filter every HTTP packet coming through for shoutcast streams?
In fact it could be a good thing for some US citizens, too - non US radio stations getting a greater listenership in the US, thereby fuelling international understanding despite el Prezidente's best efforts.
Um, does anyone actually know that he did this at work? What about the possibility that he took his draft judgement home to check it through??
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Plenty of EU states have done plenty for the US in the past. It's a two-way street here. IIRC the french helped out in the fight for independence (hence the two statues of liberty), and the USA has had plenty of access to european military facilities & troops to fight their wars for them. The thing is here, it's not the USA that europe has a distaste for, rather it is US corporations and their political cronies that we dislike. My fiancee is american. I am european. I won't tar the whole US with the brush that GWB, MS et al. deserve.
Actually, the main thrust of this antitrust case is Windows Networking protocols. It is not possible for a server OS vendor to sell a server OS that works as well with Windows clients as Windows Server. Yes, you can release third party drivers, but it would be very hard to get them certified, and many companies won't touch third-party drivers because they can wreak havoc with systems, or system security. The ruling essentially covers the fact that MS is using its dominance of the desktop market to push server OS sales. So the antitrust ruling says that MS have to release full documentation of their networking protocols to anyone who wants them. Problem is, so far, they've tried releasing their own source-code - which is about as helpful as giving a Home Depot customer the instructions on how to cut the pieces of wood that make up their furniture, rather than the instructions of how to put them together.
Windows Media Player is a red-herring here - MS have ALREADY COMPLIED with that section of the ruling.
That's why the UK reorganised its number system a few years ago - so there's enough numbers that they don't get reassigned the moment they are available. In fact the system is designed so you can keep your cell number for life if you want - Cell numbers don't get an area code, rather their "area code" indicates who the provider is.
PS. Making the ID card compulsory if you want a passport is tantamount to mandatory, in such a small country as the UK, where you're in a foreign country if you travel more than a few hundred miles.
And it must always be noted that, in the end, the (elected) house of Commons can force a bill through Parliament (using the Parliament Act) regardless of what the Lords think.
The House of Lords should remain, and should continue to be permitted Parliamentary scrutiny precisely because they act as checks-and-balances, because they are less susceptible to lobbying and the whips, aren't out to win cheap votes/laughs, and actually take the time to consider the ramifications of any bill, which most MPs don't have the time to do (as they have other constituency duties, which often require a lot of travelling).
A case in point is the Identity Cards Bill
Lords warn over ID cards scheme
To summarise the exchange:
It's worth noting that the ID card as proposed
See here for full details.
Oh, and did I tell you it will record every time you query the central database for your information. Essentially, "they" will know where you live, know your tax records, know your travelling details, know everywhere you have lived, know your fingerprints, know whether you drive, and know every time you have used your ID card "on-line" (and presumably where you accessed the data from). Sounds like a honeypot for spooks (and data miners, both of the legal and illegal kind). Oh, and it will be compulsory, and illegal not to maintain the data up-to-data. And if someone wants to steal your identity - well they now need only forge one card as opposed to numerous documents.
It is this kind of legislation for which the Lords' oversight is absolutely necessary. They have the time to see through the spin, big words, and half-truths. They don't have to please anyone, nobody is going to oust them from office, so they don't havr to tow the party line. And they are generally immune to government FUD, and don't tend to believe ministers who say "but we'll never use that power - it's there just in case".
If the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was already in place, you can bet your bottom dollar that compulsory ID cards would already be on the statute books, without the limited concessions to civil liberty that exist in the current amended bill.
If an elected body were to replace the Lords, I suggest that 15-year tenures be the norm, to allow some sense of continuity, and some long-term thought, and some kind of aptitude test for applicants (Or possibly to expect A-levels or equivalent as a minimum standard), because
Am I the only person to be incensed that Mary Jacoby doesn't refer to Professor Barrett by his proper title, instead relegating him to Mr. Barrett?
In summary:
Taken from European Commission press release IP/04/382? reference=IP/04/382&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN &guiLanguage=en
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do
In order to restore the conditions of fair competition, the Commission has imposed the following remedies:
To the extent that any of this interface information might be protected by intellectual property in the European Economic Area(6), Microsoft would be entitled to reasonable remuneration. The disclosure order concerns the interface documentation only, and not the Windows source code, as this is not necessary to achieve the development of interoperable products.
Microsoft retains the right to offer a version of its Windows client PC operating system product with WMP. However, Microsoft must refrain from using any commercial, technological or contractual terms that would have the effect of rendering the unbundled version of Windows less attractive or performing. In particular, it must not give PC manufacturers a discount conditional on their buying Windows together with WMP.
The Commission believes the remedies will bring the antitrust violations to an end, that they are proportionate, and that they establish clear principles for the future conduct of the company.
To ensure effective and timely compliance with this decision, the Commission will appoint a Monitoring Trustee, which will, inter alia, oversee that Microsoft's interface disclosures are complete and accurate, and that the two versions of Windows are equivalent in terms of performance.
If you don't want to (or cannot) reinstall the OS and software, then what I usually do is
/. are very security-centric, and as always there is a trade-off between Security, Functionality, and Available time to clean up / secure your system.
1. Use Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D and Antivirus first
2. Use Add-Remove programs
3. Check the task list of processes (obviously no help if your system has been rootkit-ed) and run the list of processes you don't know into google.
4. Reboot the system into safe-mode and rename / move all the offending processes' files.
5. Reboot and run Ad-aware, Spybot S&D and Antivirus again
6. Check the process list again
7. Providing nothing is broken, you can safely delete the offending files and associate registry entries.
If you suspect a rootkit, then a liveCD is your best option without reinstalling the OS.
If you can safely and easily format / re-install then that is your best option.
It is worth noting that some of the posters on
Obviously tracking cookies are very likely to turn up on a regular basis - you just need to try and keep them at bay if you want to use cookies.
It'll show you on a map where your nearby bus stops are, and when you plan a journey will show you on a map which stops that you need to catch the bus or change at.
This is in spite of the fact that bus services in the UK were privatised in the 80's, and rail was privatised in '94-'95 - and hence are operated by multiple different companies. Indeed bus companies are completely deregulated, and can more-or-less do what they want (except in London).
It'll tell you the route numbers, who operates the bus or train, what facilities are on board if it's a train, station details (including phone numbers for taxis, and the current departure boards for the station). It's not perfect - but it generally makes the same decisions that I would when choosing services. I have occasionally had it make stupid choices, but not often.
As an example, planning a journey for tomorrow from my house in a small town (without a train station) to my parents' house in a small village (with only a few buses a day), succeeded in finding the same options I would have chosen, both if driving or by public transport (bus -> station in nearest city. train -> london. tube across london. train -> nearest city. bus -> parents' village). And the driving instructions were spot-on.
The UK is supposed to have the worst public transport in Europe. But if the UK government can manage this, then surely an organisation with much more technical prowess can. As anybody in Public Transport will tell you, the first thing you need to do to get people to consider public transport is to tell them their options. It helps the environment, the public transport user, and the driver. In short, it helps people. The US government should be getting involved in these kind of projects - helping get this information in the public domain. Because oil is a finite resource, and its price will just keep going up!