Could/. posters stop asking other/. posters to stop summarizing articles with "Could this be the end of ?"?
Mod parent Funny, by all means, but the previous poster raises, IMO, a valid point.
A quick scan of the front page shows two stories with a "could this mean..." summary endings.
IMO prose like this is redundant at best, and anywhere from condescending (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/23 16201) to outright misleading (this article) at the worst, and reads like tabloid journalism and sensationalism at its finest.
I think it rarely adds anything interesting to the article in question, and can be done without.
Instead, focus on upgrading the infrastructure and giving people more bandwidth, the US is already behind pretty much the rest of the world
You think you've got it bad? Try getting decent broadband in Australia. ADSL2+ (up to 24Mbit/s) has just recently been introduced, and is only available in a limited number of exchanges. Until very recently, ADSL speeds provided by the incumbent infrastructure owner and telco (Telstra) were limited to 1.5 megaBITS per second, and for this, with a download limit if about 10GB per month, you would pay in the $50/mo ballpark. The introduction of ADSL2+ has stirred the marked up a bit, but you'd probably pay about $80 per month for a 20Gb ADSL2+ service at the moment. Note that these prices don't include the monthly line rental, which is about $25-$30 per month.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've been waiting since the discovery was first announced for a definitive answer on this matter.
If this represents a new species of human, and given how recently this species is shown to have lived, then whole textbooks on the subject will likely need rewriting. I find it quite exciting, and I'm not even an anthropologist.
As an aside, I'm also quite interested to see what the bible-thumpers eventually come to make of all of this.
The nice thing about BitTyrant is that this strategy only works if everybody else is using different BitTorrent tools
I believe you're wrong. From my reading, the BitTorrent system/network world would work better if everybody used BitTyrant, as the leechers would get pushed right to the bottom of the priority queue.... Please correct me if I misunderstood what BitTyrant is about.
My point is that any business that's interested could switch today if they wanted
Your over-simplification amuses me. My specific experience relates to:
Custom-written software (could work well under emulation unless designed specifically to thwart WINE)
These two statements combined say to me that you have no idea whatsoever of what goes on in an organisation of any significant size with regards to its IT infrastructure. Even if the custom software I used to work on did work on WINE, and even if all the other software the organisations that used the software I used to work on also either worked on WINE or had a fully-functional Linux alternative, I would expect that if a decision to migrate 'today' was made today, the actual migration would take anywhere from a few months to a year, possibly longer and not likely shorter, to occur.
First, add up the resources needed over those months to 'build' a Linux desktop (more likely multiple desktop configurations) and test that the applications perform all functionality as required. Then add up the resources needed to train users in the new environment, including lost time to the actual 'workers' who use the systems. Then add up the resources to perform the rollout, including managing any issues that may occur when the rollout is half done and something big and/or unexpected happens.
Now find me an accountant and/or manager who can actually add up the TCO of a Linux desktop plus rollout and compare it to the cost of an ongoing Windows environment, and convince the higher-ups that the ROI of a Linux rollout is worth it.... If you understand what I'm saying then you'll know why every single organisation that could use Linux isn't necesarily using Linux. In the corporate world, momentum is one of the most powerful forces you'll ever encounter.
I think you have nailed the current problem - the patent trolls who patent things that others have done but didn't think it was patentable/worth patenting. Of course, prior art should invalidate the patent, but that only works if you've got the money to pay for a lawyer, which brings me back to what I said above, and what appears to have been ignored. The problem with the system is the requirement for judges and lawyers to make decisions that they are seemingly not qualified or able to make.
As with most, inclined to agree, however I like this quote from the article:
In hindsight everybody says, 'I could've thought of that,'...
Strikes me as true, and as always when claiming something is obvious, it begs the question "how come you didn't think of it then?"
I think this exposes a fundamental problem with the system - you have judges and lawyers deciding what is and isn't obvious/patentable. And I think that a swing too far in the opposite direction would be just as harmful as the (current) swing in the direction of extreme patentism (hah, I just made up a word). Of course, it'd be an interesting thing to behold.
I somewhat agree with your assertion that LimeWire may not be doing themselves any favours by making huge sweeping generalisations (see #28 you quoted). However, IMHO the RIAA doesn't behave entirely different when the tables are turned and it's their turn to claim the sky is falling in.
I'm not saying that imitating the RIAA's legal tactics is either good or bad, mind you - so far it's worked for them.:)
However, reading past the hyperbole and exaggeration (again, see #28), I see a nugget of truth that, if refined and polished enough to present to a court, may actually make for an interesting case.
I work with about 35-40 software developers. I think about 8 own a DS, one (that I know of) owns a PSP. The DS owners get together every lunch time to play Mario Kart. I've never seen anyone playing a PSP.
I was personally wondering when (not if - it was bound to happen) Intel would re-take the performance lead. Looks like it's happened quite convincingly. Funny because for a while there I would have sworn that Intel had the best price/performance - they really did trade spots in the market.
Still if you're like me and price to get the job done is more important than performance you'll still be buying AMD for some time yet. Although it looks like Intel has also grabbed the price/performance lead too. Watch out AMD fanbois.
Although, in terms of price/performance, they are just looking at chip costs. I wonder how it looks when you add mobo and ram to the equation? In my limited recent syste-building experience these components on Intel systems tend to be a bit dearer too.
As a sofware developer, I can't help but think the move to multiple cores is a good thing. In my mind, anything that makes software development MORE complex can only improve my employability.
Talk about dumbing it down. Still, maybe they should put it in terms the average real computer user would understand.
How about, you can illegally download a DVD whilst watching another illegally downloaded DVD.
Or, more likely, you can play your pirate copy of Civ4 while compressing your CD collection so you can share it illegally over the internet.
Or, even more likely, you can watch illegally-downloaded pr0n on your monitor whilst watching more illegally-downloaded pr0n on your TV through your video-out.
I reckon with 4 cores hyper-threaded you could do all of the above at the same time. *swoon*
Your analogy is false.
AFAIK nobody is saying cold fusion can't happen. They are saying that this guy didn't make it happen in the way he described.
Now, either his description of his methods is unintentionally incomplete, which makes him incompetent, or it is intentially incomplete, which makes him dishonest and possibly a money-grubbing attention-whore. Or he's a fraud.
Pick whichever you like, but don't attack the people who are unable to do what he said he did by doing what he said he did. Any failure to reproduce his successful results is his and his alone.
Slashdot Mirror
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
And now
Insecurity is protection
A few years late, but not unexpected..
Mod parent Funny, by all means, but the previous poster raises, IMO, a valid point.
A quick scan of the front page shows two stories with a "could this mean..." summary endings.
IMO prose like this is redundant at best, and anywhere from condescending (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/23 16201) to outright misleading (this article) at the worst, and reads like tabloid journalism and sensationalism at its finest.
I think it rarely adds anything interesting to the article in question, and can be done without.
Just me $0.02
You think you've got it bad? Try getting decent broadband in Australia. ADSL2+ (up to 24Mbit/s) has just recently been introduced, and is only available in a limited number of exchanges. Until very recently, ADSL speeds provided by the incumbent infrastructure owner and telco (Telstra) were limited to 1.5 megaBITS per second, and for this, with a download limit if about 10GB per month, you would pay in the $50/mo ballpark. The introduction of ADSL2+ has stirred the marked up a bit, but you'd probably pay about $80 per month for a 20Gb ADSL2+ service at the moment. Note that these prices don't include the monthly line rental, which is about $25-$30 per month.
I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture.
If this represents a new species of human, and given how recently this species is shown to have lived, then whole textbooks on the subject will likely need rewriting. I find it quite exciting, and I'm not even an anthropologist.
As an aside, I'm also quite interested to see what the bible-thumpers eventually come to make of all of this.
I believe you're wrong. From my reading, the BitTorrent system/network world would work better if everybody used BitTyrant, as the leechers would get pushed right to the bottom of the priority queue.... Please correct me if I misunderstood what BitTyrant is about.
Your over-simplification amuses me. My specific experience relates to:
Custom-written software (could work well under emulation unless designed specifically to thwart WINE)
These two statements combined say to me that you have no idea whatsoever of what goes on in an organisation of any significant size with regards to its IT infrastructure. Even if the custom software I used to work on did work on WINE, and even if all the other software the organisations that used the software I used to work on also either worked on WINE or had a fully-functional Linux alternative, I would expect that if a decision to migrate 'today' was made today, the actual migration would take anywhere from a few months to a year, possibly longer and not likely shorter, to occur.
First, add up the resources needed over those months to 'build' a Linux desktop (more likely multiple desktop configurations) and test that the applications perform all functionality as required. Then add up the resources needed to train users in the new environment, including lost time to the actual 'workers' who use the systems. Then add up the resources to perform the rollout, including managing any issues that may occur when the rollout is half done and something big and/or unexpected happens.
Now find me an accountant and/or manager who can actually add up the TCO of a Linux desktop plus rollout and compare it to the cost of an ongoing Windows environment, and convince the higher-ups that the ROI of a Linux rollout is worth it.... If you understand what I'm saying then you'll know why every single organisation that could use Linux isn't necesarily using Linux. In the corporate world, momentum is one of the most powerful forces you'll ever encounter.
I think you have nailed the current problem - the patent trolls who patent things that others have done but didn't think it was patentable/worth patenting. Of course, prior art should invalidate the patent, but that only works if you've got the money to pay for a lawyer, which brings me back to what I said above, and what appears to have been ignored. The problem with the system is the requirement for judges and lawyers to make decisions that they are seemingly not qualified or able to make.
In hindsight everybody says, 'I could've thought of that,'...
Strikes me as true, and as always when claiming something is obvious, it begs the question "how come you didn't think of it then?"
I think this exposes a fundamental problem with the system - you have judges and lawyers deciding what is and isn't obvious/patentable. And I think that a swing too far in the opposite direction would be just as harmful as the (current) swing in the direction of extreme patentism (hah, I just made up a word). Of course, it'd be an interesting thing to behold.
This is New Zealand - everything is bass ackward.
I somewhat agree with your assertion that LimeWire may not be doing themselves any favours by making huge sweeping generalisations (see #28 you quoted). However, IMHO the RIAA doesn't behave entirely different when the tables are turned and it's their turn to claim the sky is falling in. I'm not saying that imitating the RIAA's legal tactics is either good or bad, mind you - so far it's worked for them. :)
However, reading past the hyperbole and exaggeration (again, see #28), I see a nugget of truth that, if refined and polished enough to present to a court, may actually make for an interesting case.
I work with about 35-40 software developers. I think about 8 own a DS, one (that I know of) owns a PSP. The DS owners get together every lunch time to play Mario Kart. I've never seen anyone playing a PSP.
Philip Morris = my brother.
Seriously.
I was personally wondering when (not if - it was bound to happen) Intel would re-take the performance lead. Looks like it's happened quite convincingly. Funny because for a while there I would have sworn that Intel had the best price/performance - they really did trade spots in the market. Still if you're like me and price to get the job done is more important than performance you'll still be buying AMD for some time yet. Although it looks like Intel has also grabbed the price/performance lead too. Watch out AMD fanbois. Although, in terms of price/performance, they are just looking at chip costs. I wonder how it looks when you add mobo and ram to the equation? In my limited recent syste-building experience these components on Intel systems tend to be a bit dearer too.
You must be thinking of spanking the monkey. Punching the monkey doesn't sound as fun.
Funny? Funny!? I wasn't trying to be funny - I thought I was being serious!!
As a sofware developer, I can't help but think the move to multiple cores is a good thing. In my mind, anything that makes software development MORE complex can only improve my employability.
How about, you can illegally download a DVD whilst watching another illegally downloaded DVD.
Or, more likely, you can play your pirate copy of Civ4 while compressing your CD collection so you can share it illegally over the internet.
Or, even more likely, you can watch illegally-downloaded pr0n on your monitor whilst watching more illegally-downloaded pr0n on your TV through your video-out.
I reckon with 4 cores hyper-threaded you could do all of the above at the same time. *swoon*
Until such time as MS/Oracle/VendorOfChoice decides to (re-)institute per-core (or even better - per-virtual-core) licencing...
You act like being raped by MS/Oracle/VendorOfChoice isn't a priviledge and an honour.
Either way I'd want royalties - you just made a game about what I did last Saturday night!
Only while you're letting the air out of her.
Some of those places sound made up. Let me Czech my atlas.
Your analogy is false. AFAIK nobody is saying cold fusion can't happen. They are saying that this guy didn't make it happen in the way he described. Now, either his description of his methods is unintentionally incomplete, which makes him incompetent, or it is intentially incomplete, which makes him dishonest and possibly a money-grubbing attention-whore. Or he's a fraud. Pick whichever you like, but don't attack the people who are unable to do what he said he did by doing what he said he did. Any failure to reproduce his successful results is his and his alone.
> Nintendo will need to do something really stupid to screw up their shot at the title this generation.
Never underestimate the ability of a large company to jump the shark despite any free-kicks their competitors may give them.
I would like to think that I would have mailed her back a photocopy of a different set of floppies...
Not to mention the obligatory teabagging.