Given current production methods, certainly. If we had the same sort of money going into farming that we now have going into finding new sources of oil, I'd bet we'd find better ways.
I don't think it's that bad of an idea myself. It's cleaner to burn, and if the demand goes up there will be farmers happy to produce more vegetables. I'd rather the waste vegetable oil goes toward reducing our petroleum dependency than some of the alternatives, and I don't really care if the fast food industry is one of the beneficiaries. Maybe they'll start processing the oil for cars instead of people, finding it more lucrative, and make their food a bit less greasy. We can only hope.
Even if the waste oil is only 1% of petroleum usage, which is not all turned into diesel, if the US ramps up its resources to produce more vegetable-based fuel we'd be able to dramatically reduce the amount of petroleum going into vehicles. Most diesel vehicles in the US tend to be used in freight transport. Imagine smelling french fries or popcorn instead of the current diesel when you're behind a large truck that's belching smoke all over the place. I know what I'd prefer.
I'd also add that vegetable oil is a renewable resource, which is a big plus in my eyes. In the US we have a huge agricultural industry. If we started using vegetable oil for fuel instead of petroleum, that would go a long way toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil. That alone would be a good shot in the arm for our economy. As a nice side effect, farming might even become a good way for a family to support itself again.
As an owner of the console in question, I can tell you that there appears to be no data sent. The Wii remote has an infrared camera in the front, which it uses to determine where the two LEDs are on the sensor bar. Based on where these two LEDs are found, and the size of the 'light', it determines where it should be pointing and how close you are to the console. You can see it in action by calibrating the infrared sensor's sensitivity, the system displays what the remote sees during this process.
In your rush to dish out your sarcasm, you appear to have missed the point. Li-Ion batteries have caused surprise fires and explosions in many devices by the customer - without being shorted or used outside of their specifications. We had a VAIO with a Li-Ion battery catch fire sitting on a table close to here a few years ago, never mind the Nokia phones exploding and the Dell/Apple laptops catching fire. Li-Po batteries are less likely to have these sort of problems since it's a more stable chemistry. Unless of course you dead short or overcharge them, although that gives problems with any battery chemistry.
I guess whether or not it's a plus depends on how much you value your life. I've used Li-Po batteries in other devices, and they're not that much worse than Li-Ion for most uses with reasonable draw. The lithium inside these batteries is dangerous, put in too much energy (typicaly more than 4.6v per cell for Li-Po) and it'll blow up regardless of whether it's a Li-Po, Li-Ion or Li-Mn. Have a look at this video clip, from a company that makes a Li-Po charging safety device, to see the effect:
That's with Li-Po cells, imagine the reaction from a more dangerous battery. Li-Po batteries have a relatively safe medium in which to pack the lithium vs the other technologies, and they're more tolerant to bad treatment. The batteries do indeed come with somewhat less energy density, but if you have too high of an energy density you have a bomb instead of a battery. That is indeed a tradeoff. Loss occurs when you lose an arm, or the plane you're on crashes due to a laptop fire. Whether or not it happens to you is irrelevant. It only needs to happen once to do damage, and in the case of a plane it needn't be your laptop.
You're right, this is fascism. So is a lot of what's happened here in the past several years however. What you're really seeing is apathy for problems that do not affect people directly.
I think right about now, there are a lot of baby boomers looking to spend their money on entertainment. Target them, and you've got a huge market to yourself that's largely being ignored by other gaming console companies. Nintendo's making money off the console, and any other game that looks good to these customers is cake.
I doubt they'd install a regular version of XP on there, it would have to be locked down pretty well security wise for this type of system (which is as it should be anyway.) I'm no Microsoft fan, but if they're willing to provide the software for free then at least they're doing something for the OLPC effort. I doubt the systems will end up running Windows out of the box, but it can't hurt to give the owners of the OLPC systems a choice later on. We do after all have this choice on our computers.
Well, my PS2 isn't modded but I suppose I could pick up the disc the next time I go to Japan. A chip wouldn't be too difficult to acquire. I'd rather Alien Soldier was brought to the virtual console though, I already know Gunstar Heroes is coming and that shows at least some recognition of Treasure's work.
They are responsible for those figures. Without going into too much detail, the cost of the personnel's salary who work on the various aspects of the investigation as well as the salaries of researchers affected is taken into account. If they attach a figure, there's something to back it up.
Why's this marked flamebait? Seriously, Gunstar Heroes was definitely a bright moment for Contra-style shooters. Lots of innovative gameplay elements and effects you wouldn't expect on the Genesis/Mega Drive. I've been waiting expectantly since the console's release myself, as it was in the list of to-be-released VC games. I'd like to see them bring a few more of Treasure's games over though, Alien Soldier in particular was another good run and gun that never made it to the states on the Genesis. It deserves a place in the VC library. Add the Sparkster, Shining Force and Road Rash games from the Genesis to my wish list too.
Perhaps, but the connotation is a bit different in Japanese. It would be more Sony like calling it the MiseryStation here. I'm sure they'll have something, and it'll probably be a PlayStation brand, but they'll likely come up with another way to name it. Maybe PSNext or something to that effect.
In Japanese at least, the on yomi (shi) of the number four is a homonym for death. Probably not the sort of feeling they would want to convey for a new console's launch.
And if they do see a corresponding increase in their music sales, will you then realise the opposite?
The RIAA will never admit to increased sales until they run out of possible vectors to complain about. By that time, we won't be able to listen to music from their supporting labels without being wetwired to an RIAA-sanctioned DRM device.
It seems that they're mostly against GPLed projects which they cannot turn into a closed source product. This in itself is not much of a surprise, but it's also why the software will not dry up even if Linux somehow went down as being MS IP. GPLed software has been around longer than Linux, and Linux is not intended to be the end all, be all of the GNU system. It is a convenient platform however.
Also note that this claim involves patents, and not copyright. Just for the sake of argument, if Linux were to somehow violate some MS patent, then presumably so do the BSDs, Solaris, AIX and any other UNIX-like system with the possible inclusion of MacOS X. UNIX has been around long enough to invalidate just about any patent that MS might have in this case. If the patent is on some form of supporting software (Mono perhaps? FAT/FAT32 support?) we either don't use it, invalidate it with prior art, or come up with a different implementation which does not infringe on the specific claims in the patent.
Microsoft hasn't exactly been forthcoming with which patents they're talking about. In light of this fact, it's likely that this is a marketing effort to get people to move toward Vista rather than Linux. Alternately, there may be either sufficient prior art to invalidate the patent which they'd rather not have tested until they have sufficient capital behind it to convince the courts that they're being harmed. They might even be waiting for their patented techniques to become used in more Free/OSS code so they can sue at a later date - as may be the case with Mono.
Once the details are available and assuming they're not FUD, Free/OSS software will route around their patents in the same way web developers routed around the Unisys patent on GIFs. Life will go on, and MS will have to find another way to discourage people who use or are considering open systems.
Damn straight. I've run Linux-based operating systems since the summer of '95, and it's incredible how far the distributions have come. [k*]ubuntu and Mandriva both come with quite nice out of the box experiences even for new users, and new applications continue to increase the space where Free/OSS software can be useful. I see a lot of people complaining about why it's not ready for them, but luckily there are also plenty of people working on ensuring it will get there.
Well, there's KDE's Konqueror, which can support SVG and Javascript, and is in fact a generic container application itself. It would be a good start, although it would need a security and probably architecture abstraction layer in order to meet security requirements. I'd bet someone could put something together with Konqueror and a persistent Java engine that would fit the bill.
Curious, they're supposed to be using Opera. Maybe they (Opera) need extra time for the porting effort. I suppose I should have went to their website for the channel dates, though I guess I'm more interested in the console at the moment.
I was able to get the console online at around 9am PST after getting it hooked up to the television quickly (no small feat given the number of consoles and associated cables attached to the TV/switchbox.) I put in the WEP key for my ancient wireless access point/router which I keep around for guest laptops, and was online immediately through DHCP. The updates went smoothly and I was able to up Super Mario 64 from the virtual console fairly quickly, but I have a 3mbps downstream so I might have finished early enough to avoid the initial rush. The SMB Mario "progress bar" while downloading the virtual console game only had three reference points/blocks though, and the last one does indeed last longer than the others by having Mario hit one of the coin blocks over and over.
The only thing I'm left wondering is when the News and Weather channels will be open, as they will each require an update. The browser isn't ready for purchase yet either. I kept checking back between trying the different games I picked up, but it always said that it's up to date. OTOH I'd seen online mention that these features would not be available at launch so I shouldn't be surprised. I didn't pick it up for these features, it is a gaming console, but I'm interested in giving them a shot.
Given a few more channels, I think the Wii would make an excellent information kiosk for those who don't want to boot up the computer to check something on the web. Pointing is very intuitive, and the virtual keyboards when entering e.g. names were actually more efficient than I expected.
I tried to pre-order one, unfortunately I was 28th in line and the Toys R Us only had 25 preorders. Pity they didn't mention that on the pre-order sign, it's the first console I've ever stood in line for and I'm never doing that again. Hopefully there are plenty to go around, I'm quite interested in trying the new controllers. 3D graphics are everywhere, but good 3D input has been a long time coming in the console market.
You may have noticed that this is getting a bit unwieldy, I'm going to try to pare this down to the basic points. I do have a life and family outside of Slashdot, despite the length of this debate.
A small minority of users derive benefit from being able to customise the source to their needs, but even those would be just as well served by the BSD or a form of "shared source" license, as they typically have little interest in - if not outright hostility towards - redistributing their modified code. That is because that modified code typically represents an advantage that company has (or perceives it has) over its competitors.
You've come very close to the intent of the GPL in this statement. That part about a company modifying a separate copyright holder's code and then not wanting to distribute the source. If the company never distributes the binaries, this is fine as the GPL doesn't cover modification unless the software is distributed. If they do not hold the copyright, AND do not want to distribute the source, they're out of luck for distributing the binaries. That's precisely what makes the GPL business friendly, this protection that another company will not do exactly this while preventing the original copyright holder from seeing the modifications. If they want to do this, they're going to have to ask the copyright holder. Given, it may be unfriendly to such a company, but that's copyright.
The point I have repeatedly tried to make - and which has been ignored, avoided or brushed aside at pretty much every turn - is that the GPL makes the business of *selling software* practically impossible.
I'll explain it again. If you feel that support is not implied when software is sold, then it may indeed be difficult. If you tell your customers that they're not going to get support or updates of any sort with your application, I'd wager your sales are going to be very low regardless of license. GPLed software is not unique in this respect. Support includes making it function correctly and keeping it secure, extended support may include additional help with making the software do what the user wants. Software provides no value to your customer if they aren't able to use it. If your software doesn't work after your customer clicks on it, and you do not give any form of support (a knowledge base is a form of support) they're not going to be coming back for more. They might demand a refund, they could even try to sue your company.
As for how I define business code, I speak of the software at the core of the business which keeps operational processes functioning. Some of it is custom code, some of it libraries and frameworks, some of it (such as CRM software) may be purchased from a vendor or be GPLed. This is an aside from the point, but you asked and I won't leave you hanging.
My experience as an admin in a reasonably sized facility (1000+ computers) is you try to refresh your hardware every few years, 3 in our case, and always make backups. I see hard drives die all the time, and it does tend to happen just a few years after the system was installed. This is simply how I implement it on my personal systems. I've done this over the past 10 years and have happily never had a drive fail in my system. If I did, I'd still have the rsync backups I keep on the most recently removed disk.
I have occasionally given the older drives to people who needed them after they were no longer used for backups, with the understanding of course that they were old and should be used temporarily. I have seen these drives fail, but if they're not in my system by this time it doesn't affect my data.
I replace one drive in my computer once every year for reliability and capacity reasons, but I use two drives. I take the most recently added drive in the system, which holds my data, and copy it to a new drive. I then copy the oldest drive (which contains the OS, Linux in my case) to my previously-newest drive. I finally put the oldest drive in an external enclosure, back up data that I'd like to keep as long as it fits, remove it from the enclosure, and shelf the drive until I need it. USB2 has made this much easier compared to my previous "add a third drive" method. I tend to spend about $100 on a drive per year, which is cheaper than a few SDLT tapes. It can be rsync'ed to without issue and then disconnected. Since the drive is typically not connected to the system, it tends to last quite some time.
The next year the backup drive is replaced, stuck in my secondary testing PC and wiped with DBAN. I'd rather not use a 3 year old drive in a system I care about. SATA is playing a bit of havoc with my schedule this year, so I've taken the opportunity to replace both drives. My secondary PC has SATA ports, and the newest Seagate 400gb drives are reaching 70mb/sec read speeds according to hdparm, so I don't mind.
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Given current production methods, certainly. If we had the same sort of money going into farming that we now have going into finding new sources of oil, I'd bet we'd find better ways.
I don't think it's that bad of an idea myself. It's cleaner to burn, and if the demand goes up there will be farmers happy to produce more vegetables. I'd rather the waste vegetable oil goes toward reducing our petroleum dependency than some of the alternatives, and I don't really care if the fast food industry is one of the beneficiaries. Maybe they'll start processing the oil for cars instead of people, finding it more lucrative, and make their food a bit less greasy. We can only hope.
Even if the waste oil is only 1% of petroleum usage, which is not all turned into diesel, if the US ramps up its resources to produce more vegetable-based fuel we'd be able to dramatically reduce the amount of petroleum going into vehicles. Most diesel vehicles in the US tend to be used in freight transport. Imagine smelling french fries or popcorn instead of the current diesel when you're behind a large truck that's belching smoke all over the place. I know what I'd prefer.
I'd also add that vegetable oil is a renewable resource, which is a big plus in my eyes. In the US we have a huge agricultural industry. If we started using vegetable oil for fuel instead of petroleum, that would go a long way toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil. That alone would be a good shot in the arm for our economy. As a nice side effect, farming might even become a good way for a family to support itself again.
As an owner of the console in question, I can tell you that there appears to be no data sent. The Wii remote has an infrared camera in the front, which it uses to determine where the two LEDs are on the sensor bar. Based on where these two LEDs are found, and the size of the 'light', it determines where it should be pointing and how close you are to the console. You can see it in action by calibrating the infrared sensor's sensitivity, the system displays what the remote sees during this process.
In your rush to dish out your sarcasm, you appear to have missed the point. Li-Ion batteries have caused surprise fires and explosions in many devices by the customer - without being shorted or used outside of their specifications. We had a VAIO with a Li-Ion battery catch fire sitting on a table close to here a few years ago, never mind the Nokia phones exploding and the Dell/Apple laptops catching fire. Li-Po batteries are less likely to have these sort of problems since it's a more stable chemistry. Unless of course you dead short or overcharge them, although that gives problems with any battery chemistry.
I guess whether or not it's a plus depends on how much you value your life. I've used Li-Po batteries in other devices, and they're not that much worse than Li-Ion for most uses with reasonable draw. The lithium inside these batteries is dangerous, put in too much energy (typicaly more than 4.6v per cell for Li-Po) and it'll blow up regardless of whether it's a Li-Po, Li-Ion or Li-Mn. Have a look at this video clip, from a company that makes a Li-Po charging safety device, to see the effect:
http://www.liposack.com/video.html
That's with Li-Po cells, imagine the reaction from a more dangerous battery. Li-Po batteries have a relatively safe medium in which to pack the lithium vs the other technologies, and they're more tolerant to bad treatment. The batteries do indeed come with somewhat less energy density, but if you have too high of an energy density you have a bomb instead of a battery. That is indeed a tradeoff. Loss occurs when you lose an arm, or the plane you're on crashes due to a laptop fire. Whether or not it happens to you is irrelevant. It only needs to happen once to do damage, and in the case of a plane it needn't be your laptop.
You're right, this is fascism. So is a lot of what's happened here in the past several years however. What you're really seeing is apathy for problems that do not affect people directly.
I think right about now, there are a lot of baby boomers looking to spend their money on entertainment. Target them, and you've got a huge market to yourself that's largely being ignored by other gaming console companies. Nintendo's making money off the console, and any other game that looks good to these customers is cake.
I doubt they'd install a regular version of XP on there, it would have to be locked down pretty well security wise for this type of system (which is as it should be anyway.) I'm no Microsoft fan, but if they're willing to provide the software for free then at least they're doing something for the OLPC effort. I doubt the systems will end up running Windows out of the box, but it can't hurt to give the owners of the OLPC systems a choice later on. We do after all have this choice on our computers.
Well, my PS2 isn't modded but I suppose I could pick up the disc the next time I go to Japan. A chip wouldn't be too difficult to acquire. I'd rather Alien Soldier was brought to the virtual console though, I already know Gunstar Heroes is coming and that shows at least some recognition of Treasure's work.
They are responsible for those figures. Without going into too much detail, the cost of the personnel's salary who work on the various aspects of the investigation as well as the salaries of researchers affected is taken into account. If they attach a figure, there's something to back it up.
Why's this marked flamebait? Seriously, Gunstar Heroes was definitely a bright moment for Contra-style shooters. Lots of innovative gameplay elements and effects you wouldn't expect on the Genesis/Mega Drive. I've been waiting expectantly since the console's release myself, as it was in the list of to-be-released VC games. I'd like to see them bring a few more of Treasure's games over though, Alien Soldier in particular was another good run and gun that never made it to the states on the Genesis. It deserves a place in the VC library. Add the Sparkster, Shining Force and Road Rash games from the Genesis to my wish list too.
Perhaps, but the connotation is a bit different in Japanese. It would be more Sony like calling it the MiseryStation here. I'm sure they'll have something, and it'll probably be a PlayStation brand, but they'll likely come up with another way to name it. Maybe PSNext or something to that effect.
In Japanese at least, the on yomi (shi) of the number four is a homonym for death. Probably not the sort of feeling they would want to convey for a new console's launch.
Game #1 - Rockstar presents Wii Table Tennis. Tell me you don't see it coming.
And if they do see a corresponding increase in their music sales, will you then realise the opposite?
The RIAA will never admit to increased sales until they run out of possible vectors to complain about. By that time, we won't be able to listen to music from their supporting labels without being wetwired to an RIAA-sanctioned DRM device.
It seems that they're mostly against GPLed projects which they cannot turn into a closed source product. This in itself is not much of a surprise, but it's also why the software will not dry up even if Linux somehow went down as being MS IP. GPLed software has been around longer than Linux, and Linux is not intended to be the end all, be all of the GNU system. It is a convenient platform however.
Also note that this claim involves patents, and not copyright. Just for the sake of argument, if Linux were to somehow violate some MS patent, then presumably so do the BSDs, Solaris, AIX and any other UNIX-like system with the possible inclusion of MacOS X. UNIX has been around long enough to invalidate just about any patent that MS might have in this case. If the patent is on some form of supporting software (Mono perhaps? FAT/FAT32 support?) we either don't use it, invalidate it with prior art, or come up with a different implementation which does not infringe on the specific claims in the patent.
Microsoft hasn't exactly been forthcoming with which patents they're talking about. In light of this fact, it's likely that this is a marketing effort to get people to move toward Vista rather than Linux. Alternately, there may be either sufficient prior art to invalidate the patent which they'd rather not have tested until they have sufficient capital behind it to convince the courts that they're being harmed. They might even be waiting for their patented techniques to become used in more Free/OSS code so they can sue at a later date - as may be the case with Mono.
Once the details are available and assuming they're not FUD, Free/OSS software will route around their patents in the same way web developers routed around the Unisys patent on GIFs. Life will go on, and MS will have to find another way to discourage people who use or are considering open systems.
Damn straight. I've run Linux-based operating systems since the summer of '95, and it's incredible how far the distributions have come. [k*]ubuntu and Mandriva both come with quite nice out of the box experiences even for new users, and new applications continue to increase the space where Free/OSS software can be useful. I see a lot of people complaining about why it's not ready for them, but luckily there are also plenty of people working on ensuring it will get there.
Well, there's KDE's Konqueror, which can support SVG and Javascript, and is in fact a generic container application itself. It would be a good start, although it would need a security and probably architecture abstraction layer in order to meet security requirements. I'd bet someone could put something together with Konqueror and a persistent Java engine that would fit the bill.
Curious, they're supposed to be using Opera. Maybe they (Opera) need extra time for the porting effort. I suppose I should have went to their website for the channel dates, though I guess I'm more interested in the console at the moment.
I was able to get the console online at around 9am PST after getting it hooked up to the television quickly (no small feat given the number of consoles and associated cables attached to the TV/switchbox.) I put in the WEP key for my ancient wireless access point/router which I keep around for guest laptops, and was online immediately through DHCP. The updates went smoothly and I was able to up Super Mario 64 from the virtual console fairly quickly, but I have a 3mbps downstream so I might have finished early enough to avoid the initial rush. The SMB Mario "progress bar" while downloading the virtual console game only had three reference points/blocks though, and the last one does indeed last longer than the others by having Mario hit one of the coin blocks over and over.
The only thing I'm left wondering is when the News and Weather channels will be open, as they will each require an update. The browser isn't ready for purchase yet either. I kept checking back between trying the different games I picked up, but it always said that it's up to date. OTOH I'd seen online mention that these features would not be available at launch so I shouldn't be surprised. I didn't pick it up for these features, it is a gaming console, but I'm interested in giving them a shot.
Given a few more channels, I think the Wii would make an excellent information kiosk for those who don't want to boot up the computer to check something on the web. Pointing is very intuitive, and the virtual keyboards when entering e.g. names were actually more efficient than I expected.
I tried to pre-order one, unfortunately I was 28th in line and the Toys R Us only had 25 preorders. Pity they didn't mention that on the pre-order sign, it's the first console I've ever stood in line for and I'm never doing that again. Hopefully there are plenty to go around, I'm quite interested in trying the new controllers. 3D graphics are everywhere, but good 3D input has been a long time coming in the console market.
You may have noticed that this is getting a bit unwieldy, I'm going to try to pare this down to the basic points. I do have a life and family outside of Slashdot, despite the length of this debate.
A small minority of users derive benefit from being able to customise the source to their needs, but even those would be just as well served by the BSD or a form of "shared source" license, as they typically have little interest in - if not outright hostility towards - redistributing their modified code. That is because that modified code typically represents an advantage that company has (or perceives it has) over its competitors.
You've come very close to the intent of the GPL in this statement. That part about a company modifying a separate copyright holder's code and then not wanting to distribute the source. If the company never distributes the binaries, this is fine as the GPL doesn't cover modification unless the software is distributed. If they do not hold the copyright, AND do not want to distribute the source, they're out of luck for distributing the binaries. That's precisely what makes the GPL business friendly, this protection that another company will not do exactly this while preventing the original copyright holder from seeing the modifications. If they want to do this, they're going to have to ask the copyright holder. Given, it may be unfriendly to such a company, but that's copyright.
The point I have repeatedly tried to make - and which has been ignored, avoided or brushed aside at pretty much every turn - is that the GPL makes the business of *selling software* practically impossible.
I'll explain it again. If you feel that support is not implied when software is sold, then it may indeed be difficult. If you tell your customers that they're not going to get support or updates of any sort with your application, I'd wager your sales are going to be very low regardless of license. GPLed software is not unique in this respect. Support includes making it function correctly and keeping it secure, extended support may include additional help with making the software do what the user wants. Software provides no value to your customer if they aren't able to use it. If your software doesn't work after your customer clicks on it, and you do not give any form of support (a knowledge base is a form of support) they're not going to be coming back for more. They might demand a refund, they could even try to sue your company.
As for how I define business code, I speak of the software at the core of the business which keeps operational processes functioning. Some of it is custom code, some of it libraries and frameworks, some of it (such as CRM software) may be purchased from a vendor or be GPLed. This is an aside from the point, but you asked and I won't leave you hanging.
My experience as an admin in a reasonably sized facility (1000+ computers) is you try to refresh your hardware every few years, 3 in our case, and always make backups. I see hard drives die all the time, and it does tend to happen just a few years after the system was installed. This is simply how I implement it on my personal systems. I've done this over the past 10 years and have happily never had a drive fail in my system. If I did, I'd still have the rsync backups I keep on the most recently removed disk.
I have occasionally given the older drives to people who needed them after they were no longer used for backups, with the understanding of course that they were old and should be used temporarily. I have seen these drives fail, but if they're not in my system by this time it doesn't affect my data.
I replace one drive in my computer once every year for reliability and capacity reasons, but I use two drives. I take the most recently added drive in the system, which holds my data, and copy it to a new drive. I then copy the oldest drive (which contains the OS, Linux in my case) to my previously-newest drive. I finally put the oldest drive in an external enclosure, back up data that I'd like to keep as long as it fits, remove it from the enclosure, and shelf the drive until I need it. USB2 has made this much easier compared to my previous "add a third drive" method. I tend to spend about $100 on a drive per year, which is cheaper than a few SDLT tapes. It can be rsync'ed to without issue and then disconnected. Since the drive is typically not connected to the system, it tends to last quite some time.
The next year the backup drive is replaced, stuck in my secondary testing PC and wiped with DBAN. I'd rather not use a 3 year old drive in a system I care about. SATA is playing a bit of havoc with my schedule this year, so I've taken the opportunity to replace both drives. My secondary PC has SATA ports, and the newest Seagate 400gb drives are reaching 70mb/sec read speeds according to hdparm, so I don't mind.