There may be hundreds of variations on GNU/Linux, but the kernel and the important core parts (like X) do have an official "upstream" development process, which most individual distributions derive from and contribute back to. Development of the important parts is not as diluted as it may look: While there are a lot of flavors, they are not worked on in isolation.
In some areas there are a few direct "competitors", like Gnome and KDE, but in these cases there are usually only 2-3 popular choices. That degree of fragmentation is average in the commercial world as well, and it's kind of beneficial to have a few alternatives to pick from.
This seems weird, but makes sense in a way. While IE7 initially took a huge market share away from IE6, this is a self-selecting sample of people who both care enough about security (but not enough to ditch IE completely, evidently) and are flexible enough (no intranet lock-in) to upgrade to new versions of IE. These people were more likely to upgrade to IE8. The remaining users of IE6 weren't going to switch then, and aren't going to switch now.
That's why IE8's growth comes out of IE7, not IE6. It will be that way for IE9 as well.
This is frustrating news for web designers, but with the market share down to 15%, it soon will be justifiable to stop maintaining IE6 compatibility on websites.
At that point, why not just go ahead and use a paywall?
Anything so interesting that I'm willing to spend my attention span deactivating the advertisement filter (hint: not much, with so many free alternatives for content) and paying attention would probably be worth paying to see. And any payment I'm willing to make, no matter how small, is likely to exceed the pittance a single ad impression (even a verified one) is worth.
Britain is already the country to go to for libel suits; they want to cement this position by getting a monopoly on on-demand censorship. China may have a more powerful censorship system, but it's centrally run and not available to international customers.
Given the nature of the internet, this will not be an issue as long as it is counterbalanced by another country establishing itself as a forerunner on online freedom.
That only works if the employees really are as powerless as serfs. Sun employees started jumping ship in droves after the Oracle acquisition. If Facebook behaves as hamfistedly, it might not get many of the developers it "paid for".
The employment market isn't so rosy, but for a developer good enough to acquire a company for, it can't be that hard to find another job.
A patent has been applied for on the new technology, university officials say. New companies, industries and high-tech jobs may ultimately emerge from this advance, they add.
Yeah. In twenty years.
Not saying this isn't a great invention; they deserve to earn from this (unlike software patent trolls). But the likely outcome of this system is that the technology will rot for decades until it enters the public domain.
Example: Perpendicular recording has been around since 1976 as an idea. It was commercially implemented in 2005. Part of that time was probably spent on making it viable, but the patents filed between 1976 and 1985 conveniently ran out before it ever reached the market.
I am at risk of foaming at the mouth when I think of IE6, but the news that it is hurting adoption of Windows 7 and costing MS profits puts a smile on my face.
... and with battery lifetimes more commonly associated with netbooks than cellphones. It's almost depressing how people now think it is *normal* for a mobile phone to need charging more than once a week.
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For Microsoft, following any standard at all is very unusual and newsworthy. :P
You're right on these points, but HTML5 is a brand-new standard, so it is to be expected that most current software does not support it yet.
Oracle should slow down; they haven't even finished digesting and ruining Sun yet.
If this continues, SkyNet will rise and take domination of all multi-player strategy games. What are we going to play then?
In other words, there is no spoon, but there are two forks.
There may be hundreds of variations on GNU/Linux, but the kernel and the important core parts (like X) do have an official "upstream" development process, which most individual distributions derive from and contribute back to. Development of the important parts is not as diluted as it may look: While there are a lot of flavors, they are not worked on in isolation.
In some areas there are a few direct "competitors", like Gnome and KDE, but in these cases there are usually only 2-3 popular choices. That degree of fragmentation is average in the commercial world as well, and it's kind of beneficial to have a few alternatives to pick from.
This is cynical enough to sound like material cribbed from the Onion, or possibly Stephen Colbert. :P
But spot-on. When it comes to politics, people don't want to be informed, they want to be agreed with.
Looks like MS learned from Google on that point.
This seems weird, but makes sense in a way. While IE7 initially took a huge market share away from IE6, this is a self-selecting sample of people who both care enough about security (but not enough to ditch IE completely, evidently) and are flexible enough (no intranet lock-in) to upgrade to new versions of IE. These people were more likely to upgrade to IE8. The remaining users of IE6 weren't going to switch then, and aren't going to switch now.
That's why IE8's growth comes out of IE7, not IE6. It will be that way for IE9 as well.
This is frustrating news for web designers, but with the market share down to 15%, it soon will be justifiable to stop maintaining IE6 compatibility on websites.
And here I thought their business was based on, I don't know, selling those DVDs. :P
At that point, why not just go ahead and use a paywall?
Anything so interesting that I'm willing to spend my attention span deactivating the advertisement filter (hint: not much, with so many free alternatives for content) and paying attention would probably be worth paying to see. And any payment I'm willing to make, no matter how small, is likely to exceed the pittance a single ad impression (even a verified one) is worth.
Britain is already the country to go to for libel suits; they want to cement this position by getting a monopoly on on-demand censorship. China may have a more powerful censorship system, but it's centrally run and not available to international customers.
Given the nature of the internet, this will not be an issue as long as it is counterbalanced by another country establishing itself as a forerunner on online freedom.
Yeah, I hear he really goes through that stuff fast.
That only works if the employees really are as powerless as serfs. Sun employees started jumping ship in droves after the Oracle acquisition. If Facebook behaves as hamfistedly, it might not get many of the developers it "paid for".
The employment market isn't so rosy, but for a developer good enough to acquire a company for, it can't be that hard to find another job.
Restricting digital storage to ones and zeros is needlessly polarizing and limiting. Why not allow a 0.5 bit value?
Yeah. In twenty years.
Not saying this isn't a great invention; they deserve to earn from this (unlike software patent trolls). But the likely outcome of this system is that the technology will rot for decades until it enters the public domain.
Example: Perpendicular recording has been around since 1976 as an idea. It was commercially implemented in 2005. Part of that time was probably spent on making it viable, but the patents filed between 1976 and 1985 conveniently ran out before it ever reached the market.
Will this add a Hamilton cycle to the who-sues-whom graph of smartphone makers?
What kind of crappy machine is vulnerable to files on an external medium?
It's not the nineties anymore.
With 80 billion, one should expect a lot more intelligence.
I am at risk of foaming at the mouth when I think of IE6, but the news that it is hurting adoption of Windows 7 and costing MS profits puts a smile on my face.
Karma-rific!
Just book a flight to the US by way of Mexico, then sweat and look a bit constipated at the customs desk.
... and with battery lifetimes more commonly associated with netbooks than cellphones. It's almost depressing how people now think it is *normal* for a mobile phone to need charging more than once a week.
Java belongs to Slashdot? :P
The US doesn't just pay for it with tax dollars, it also pays for it in tourism and business.
Cavity searches are a notoriously unpopular way to begin a vacation.
Nobody is allowed to look at my precious website! NOBODY!
It is MINE! My precioussss!
"-1 Troll"
Whoa, ran headfirst into Poe's Law there.