It's especially telling when this law professor makes the statement "Let's call it by it's real name, Hollywood Pork..". Could there be anything more to the point than a learned expert in his field stating publicly that the only point of *this* is to bilk the customer to the maximum possible..
Frankly I couldn't agree more. The sad truth of our age seems to be nowhere more exacerbated than by events like this one. "Geek pride"? So now all of a sudden being geek falls into the same category as being gay - something for which "coming out of the closet" is an apparent necessity.
And how wonderful, we get to "..Listen to them address the assembled throngs, and ask questions..." Since when did we as geeks ever decend to the level of being just another cow in the herd.. I must say I am very disappointed in the way this whole thing has been presented. Instead of being a herald to the *new and better* way of doing things that we as the most intelligent minds of our times could offer, this comes across as nothing better than a frat-house beer party
..there will be food, chair massages, a $500 cash-prize Quake III competition,..
never before has being intelligent meant so little to moving a cause forward..
but enough of a point in favour of the *nix way of doing things. The problem appears to be the solution; the very *difficulties* which prevent *nix from being "user friendly" and all those nice things that MS and Apple claim for themselves is one of the very things that keep the operating system so robust. Of course this also means that when a virus finally DOES manage to "break" through this impediment -watch out cause it'll be unstoppable..
I think the key point here is that this is a run-time operation. It makes a great deal of sense that the compiler can eke out only *so much* extra performance. With the ability to do and REDO the code in real-time we would likely see a continous improvement from using this type of technology. Regardless of how good the existing compiler tech already is, it can't possibly know what's actually going to happen when the cpu is running; and that is the bottleneck that this tech appear to remove.
It would be interesting to see if this could function as an adjunct to the existing compilers. If the compiler were to imbed directional *waypoints* that this could use in the real-time rework.. And of course, this could eventually make it into mainstream CPU in the same manner as Transmeta is using the concept; add some large L2 cache and get this loaded in and we might see real improvements.
NASA is still testing technologies, so failures should be expected
True - and that certainly fits the pattern of all other human endeavors to date, particularly in the sciences. However I wonder a bit about that, since according to the article: But rather than begin an expensive redesign and replacement program, an unnamed space official is said by the source to have altered the test conditions to make it look as though the engines would perform in the conditions expected.
This suggests that the flaw(s) were caught during the testing stages. If true this means a purposeful decision to deceive both scientific and general communities at large. As a matter of course how often are known critical flaws left as is in "release" products, of whatever type.. And furthermore, if these allegation are proven correct, will this lead to further disinterest in the space program and by extension reduced budget for NASA..
Good patches need to include some of the original code to be able to apply with context. That's why it's called a patch - no?
...To me they sound like they are a dirivitive work. You get the original source and produce a work, in this case your patch, that was dirived from the original program. The patch may not contain *any* code that was from the original program but it was dirived from that GPLed source. and that's the crux of the matter. The very concept of patch should preclude it from being licensed in any other way than that which the program is itself licensed. Look at it from the perspective of " what is a patch?".
We are all willing to accept that a patch is a forced change in an application for the purpose of correcting software defects (ie: Bugs) or for the purpose of enhancing the functionality. This means that what a patch really does is move the program to a point that would have been the original release in the first place- had the information prompting the patch been known ahead of time.
In other words, when an application is written the developer(s) writing it obviously didn't/don't know everything and do the best job possible to make the application solid/stable and fit for it's purpose. If it was known about *insert some condition causing problems* they would have put the code in to deal with it originally beforehand and never needed a patch. Since a patch replaces components (in some form or another) it is really a direct replacement. Thus the only conclusion is that a patch needs be released under the same license as the original application; or (if possible, which it doesn't seem to be under GPL) the entire application is relicensed under the "new" license used by the patch.
Are the Pros and Cons unbalanced?
on
Flying Trains
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· Score: 2
This looks like an exceptionally promising piece of technology but I question the viability of it in anything other than cross-country/continent use. This is obviously not something that is expected to help the daily communte, and would in fact be at a severe disadvantage in the metropolitan setting of any city. The noise of an object traveling in excess of 300KMpH at ground level is likely deafening and with most cities already having bylaws controlling when Aircraft may land or takeoff it is unlikely this may receive an exemption. Additionally it makes little sense to cross even the largest city with something like this since acceleration time to get up to cruise speed would reduce the benefit acrued. That cross-country/continent part would be interesting though. North America was built on the back of "The Train". Replacing the existing North American train routes with one of these babies would make the train once more a viable travel solution. Certainly less costly economically and environmentally - especially if this: He says the next step will be to reduce the speed at which the Aerotrain lifts off, so that the amount of time in contact with the track is kept to a minimum. That will cut friction and therefore overall energy consumption. The goal is to reduce pollution emissions to 36 grams of carbon dioxide per person per kilometre, compared with 122 grams for maglev trains. is a trend which continues. What I would like to see are some costs analysis, estimating what the full scale train would cost to build and to run. Not to mention how much the infrastructure upgrades would be..
online services? The article mentions that it is a custom dial-up but makes no mention if it's the hardware that's been customized or if it's simply that they don't support other connections in the software. I suppose for the price I can assume it software-braindead but if it's not a winmodem and it IS on COM1.. I would question the need for Linux on a device that is limited to 640x480 (no - it doesn't make sense to put Linux on everything, just most everything) not to mention just how useful it would be in everyday life in as limited a manner as it currently exists. Though- on the positive side I can see application where this would be very useful. At $99 bucks it would be the cheapest "smart-typewriter" ever and the added advantage of being able to do not only typing but spreadsheet work and presentations might make it a very useful tool for some administrative staff...
Self-destruction in one form or another
on
R.I.P. Iridium
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· Score: 1
is the most typical end-of-life for decomissioned satelite. I don't mean that the device "spontaneously" blows up though it is not unheard of for the self-destruct to be issued. Most usual is that a course-change is issued which takes the satellite into a decayed orbit resulting in it's burning up in the atmosphere or more commonly landing in the ocean and breaking up on impact. This isn't usually problematic since these are hardly what anyone would call implementations of "advanced" or "secret" technology. The older generation originally cost as much as 1 Billion dollars to make and put into orbit which naturally included everything from actual manufacturing of the device to the cost of groundcrew and rocket fuel, so these will be a costly writeoff for someone. Moderm satellites have benefitted immensely from the advance of technology in all sectors and can cost as little as 100Million for the whole thing. Naturally it depends on whether the device is intended for Low-elevation or high-elevation orbit planes, but that just means that if the need to rebuild a satellite network arises it will cost much less for much more capability. The example I like to use is Anik E2, which up until recently was used for broadcasting C-band television signals versus the new "high-performance" NIMIQ satellite which broadcasts all digital signals. Both of these also broadcast radio and comm signals..
for the fact that an overwhelming percentage of product is defective. In light of the PSX2 being the most eagerly awaited console in years, and in light of Sony making a grab to enter the financial industry; it certainly doesn't take a genius to realize that the last thing Sony can afford right now is for the PSX2 to publicly have issues so severe that only a full recall is sufficient to fix the problem. How would those market analysts react to Sony attempting to be part of the financial community when they (Sony) can't even get a video-game right?
No - "Doesn't everyone say this?"
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Genome
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· Score: 1
Actually not. This brings to mind an ancient Chinese curse that I read; "May you live in interesting times" The origin of this is said to be a Chinese peasant in the first(?) dynasty, roughly 4900 years ago. At the time bands of warlords were ravaging the area in their quest for power, and the *ideal* dream of most normal people was to have simple peace and quiet.
of the war against Corporate abuse of privacy. It's interesting to note that both(?!) of Trans Union Corp's competitors have supposedly discontinued the practices involved in this breach. It might also be of interest to note that Equifax is now operating fully as a North American agency, not just a US one. What this underscore to me is a simple question; why are Corporate persons being given more rights than real persons? When are the rights of real people going to receive primacy in Law? Though I didn't pursue a legal career, from what I remember of my Law courses a company is considered a person with all the rights and obligations involved- so why is it becoming more and more that companies are being allowed to abuse not only the system but the people in the system as well? As an individual I'm expected to respect and abide by the laws of the land and to maintain my end of the social contract regardless of my financial means; if I break the law I receive punishment in the form of potentially crippling fines or even jail. If law is to punish me as a legal person for failure in this regard, why is it that the *other* legal persons Business are not only not punished for similar infractions, but are instead rewarded? These guys at Trans Union are laughing at the commission- they've made millions illegally and now that they are finally caught they don't even get a slap on the wrist.
I found the following article which provides a little bit of info on why the PSX2 seems to be considered *hot*.. Here is a link to a Sony press release talking a bit about that "Magic Gate", it's topical but has few technical details..
Seems like the same people with the same attitudes sure do get around. This article amounts to a time capsule; the scariest thing is that the attitude we see through this article bears an uncanny resemblance to the attitude that Jack guy (head of MPAA or was it RIAA?) has.
The mistake that most of the command line crowd (myself included) make is viewing the GUI v. command line debate as being an either/or situation. Well, just because that's how MS does it, it doesn't mean that we have to make the same blinding errors. That is exactly the attitude needed. Surely no one in the community is so stupid to think that MS purposely did things badly? It wasn't lack of pride on the part of the developers at Microsoft that led to useless/cluttered and downright fluff for UI, it was directives issues by management/marketers to do things in as expedient a manner as possible. And why- because the target market (consumers) haven't a clue nor care about the technical issues involved. There is most assuredly a need for more solid UI standards- perhaps even -a- standard for Linux; that is the only way that we will see the numbers in terms of apps (all kinds) that is needed to make Linux King of the Roost. My question to the community is why assume that because there is a UI method in addition to a command-line that suddenly Linux becomes Windows? All I'm hearing is that it can't be done, it can't be done. How about not crying about how badly Windows did the job and writing the killer UI architecture standard to do the job th right way. Write it and everyone benefits - well maybe except for MS..
While I found the idea intriguing, I wondered about how safe this type of thing is in the long run. As I understand it, magnetic fields are not all that great for the life of biological cells. This is supposedly the basis (or at least one of) for the relatively new standards of shielded, Low-radiation monitors, PC's, TV's etc,etc.. In fact it has been proven that excessive use of cell-phones can cause brain tumours. The fact that these gizmo's have shrunk 10-fold from their initial release is very misleading since they are still emitting enough rads to send a signal to a local cell tower. And what about all the cases of children living near power lines and such being exponentially more likely to get lukemia.. I hate being a spoilsport, but it looks like adding more magetic radiation to the *human background* isn't really all that great an idea, and I don't really see that there is a difference between *emissions* and *strong emissions*. So Even if this is theoretically amazing, in practical use we would need to ack the need for something like shielding or whatever other additional materia required between us and the emissions; driving costs up and usefullness down.
physicists around who can confirm the validity of this - OLEDs can be made from two types of molecules, fluorescent and phosphorescent. ?? If this is so then does this mean that there are actual molecules that glow in the familiar yellow/green colour patterns that we've all become familiar with? Heck - or even that molecules themselves give off light; sorta *virtual flashlight* effect. I am the first to admit lack of knowlege but I was under the impression that light in the visible spectrum is a by-product of chemical reaction that occurs at the molecular level, not due to the molecules themselves. Can anyone clarify..
I can safely say that the concept of partitioning sites into distinct categories is not really all that accurate.
Actually, that is exactly what it is - accurate. In some form or another, everything *human* is already set into EXACTLY that- categories. Person of colour X is part of religion Y, or person Y doesn't eat meat (vegetarian) whereas person Z doesn't eat one type of meat but will eat another type, etc..etc. What else would you call things like dietary or religious preferences if not categories of some form? I think Katz is right on the money with the trend he's noticed but not for the same reasons he thinks. What we're seeing is nothing more than the Internet reflecting the realities of life and the people living it; to wit- we're seeing the taming of the net, not by some act (stupid or otherwise) of government, but by the sheer will of the people who live it. Incidentally this is proof that the internet has become an extension to modern life and times, with all the good and bad these times have to offer.
to the success of Linux and OSS in the market place. There is an unfortunate tendency for those in the U.S to act as if they are the center of all that is Linux and OSS ( a side effect of the America tendency to look mostly inwards); this is borne out by the recent Linux IPO's. With this Symposium we see/hear indications of the great progress and inroads that Linux/OSS is making elsewhere in the world. Naturally I for one am very happy about this - it means that Toronto can't be far behind for a Linux expo (hopefully held over the weekend so I can stay for the whole event!). Of course I would be somewhat leery about this - remember that Ottawa is Corel's home town and with the recent Corel/Inprise(?)/Borland (whatever they are now) merger, they doubtless want as much Linux oriented positive spin out as possible. I didn't see any mention of Corel in the article but the fact that there is a solid LUG in Ottawa and Corel being focused in Ottawa does sound a little coincidental..
While I'm the first to admit that 64k is a number best left for describing video; the thought had crossed my mind that maybe this is one of those situations where Anti-MS sentiment is going to get the best of/. 'ers . The more critical questions that comes to mind are 1. what is MS criteria for labeling something a bug 2. how many degrees of importance do they attach to their bugs 3. which bugs are the ones which are left unfixed? Everyone will agree that a typo should carry less weight than problems with Winsock implementation, which should possibly have less priority than a BSOD regularly occuring from using one of the accel keys. To be fair, I'm willing to give them credit for the line about "Bugs are inherent in computer science," she said. "All software ships with issues., and would even go so far as to agree that The difference is (that) no software in the history of Microsoft development has ever been through the incredible, rigorous internal and external testing that Windows 2000 has been through." . These are fair replies to the question and are (excluding that last part) certainly as true for Linux as well. What remains to be seen is not whether MS will patch things (they will!) but when, how often and will duress be needed? Truthfully there really isn't a choice for those who are already MS-shops, as they eventually will need to move over, 20k+ bugs not withstanding. I think it likely that they will maintain current installs of NT for as long as possible but still migrate over eventually. If for no other reason than because the costs associated with switching over to a competing platform such as Linux are still much higher than having to deal with those bugs. And don't forget- MS bugs have spawned an entire industry all on their own, so doubtless some CEO somewhere has begun to count his unit sales already..
These are really two sides of the same coin. Whether you believe in "God" as a supreme being or simply in the idea of "a conscious universe" what difference does it make. Science is at it's core an effort to explain the secrets of existence so that Human consciousness can perceive it, and Religion is at it's core an effort to raise Human consciousness to the level where we can deal with these perceptions of the universe. It is no small coincidence that early scientists were among the religious elite and working under the auspices of their religious leaders. These early scientists appear to have understood best that to learn about the universe is really to learn about God's universe, and our place in the grand scheme.
While I can't comment on the effects of the drugs Ken mentioned, I most certainly can vouch for the hallucinations. When I was working on the technical parts for the ramp-up of a (now-defunct) retail sales location, I went for about 4 periods of 72 hours straight with no sleep at all. In between I got about 1.5 hours of sleep- on the floor under my desk, it was brief and most uncomfortable.. When I finally got to go home I had a two hour drive ahead of me. On the road I was so tired I had to chainsmoke with the window open and the A/C on in the dead-of-Winter, to keep lucid enough to tell when the cars ahead of me had stopped. Fortunately for me that was easier because of the traffic volume- but that was about the time those hallucinations kicked in. I began seeing the cars lose dimensions. If you've ever seen that rendered "The Simpsons" special where Homer comes into 3-d space then think of what the reverse would look like. Cars and trucks began to look like poster-ads from the side of city buses. Very disturbing was the fact that I could tell my brain was overloading from the humming noise that I started to get in my head... Very disturbing and serious enough for me to promise myself NEVER to go more than 48 hours without sleep again.. not to mention that sleeping on the floor under my desk without at least a pillow really sucks..
Since when is it acceptable for a law to be passed allowing government bodies to force handing over *any* document they desire? I can understand a situation such as bank fraud - where they may be wish access to financial documents, or even an email-threat sent by a stalker, but in general anything that they need for proof in court can be obtained by non-intrusive acceptable legal means through the *other* party involved; ie the bank or victim etc.. The very idea that a govenment can force legislation allowing them access to one's personal's on a pc is ridiculous. Encryption of data is no different from writing in one's own personal code, which by the way shorthand is an example of. Well hey- there's the solution. Invent your own form of shorthand and then encrypt that! The bastards will see nothing but gibberish and by the time they work out the meaning of the message you will have re-encypted it with a new stronger algorith..
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It's especially telling when this law professor makes the statement "Let's call it by it's real name, Hollywood Pork..".
Could there be anything more to the point than a learned expert in his field stating publicly that the only point of *this* is to bilk the customer to the maximum possible..
Frankly I couldn't agree more. The sad truth of our age seems to be nowhere more exacerbated than by events like this one. "Geek pride"? So now all of a sudden being geek falls into the same category as being gay - something for which "coming out of the closet" is an apparent necessity.
..there will be food, chair massages, a $500 cash-prize Quake III competition,..
And how wonderful, we get to
"..Listen to them address the assembled throngs, and ask questions..."
Since when did we as geeks ever decend to the level of being just another cow in the herd..
I must say I am very disappointed in the way this whole thing has been presented. Instead of being a herald to the *new and better* way of doing things that we as the most intelligent minds of our times could offer, this comes across as nothing better than a frat-house beer party
never before has being intelligent meant so little to moving a cause forward..
but enough of a point in favour of the *nix way of doing things. The problem appears to be the solution; the very *difficulties* which prevent *nix from being "user friendly" and all those nice things that MS and Apple claim for themselves is one of the very things that keep the operating system so robust. Of course this also means that when a virus finally DOES manage to "break" through this impediment -watch out cause it'll be unstoppable..
I think the key point here is that this is a run-time operation. It makes a great deal of sense that the compiler can eke out only *so much* extra performance. With the ability to do and REDO the code in real-time we would likely see a continous improvement from using this type of technology. Regardless of how good the existing compiler tech already is, it can't possibly know what's actually going to happen when the cpu is running; and that is the bottleneck that this tech appear to remove.
It would be interesting to see if this could function as an adjunct to the existing compilers. If the compiler were to imbed directional *waypoints* that this could use in the real-time rework.. And of course, this could eventually make it into mainstream CPU in the same manner as Transmeta is using the concept; add some large L2 cache and get this loaded in and we might see real improvements.
NASA is still testing technologies, so failures should be expected
True - and that certainly fits the pattern of all other human endeavors to date, particularly in the sciences. However I wonder a bit about that, since according to the article:
But rather than begin an expensive redesign and replacement program, an unnamed space official is said by the source to have altered the test conditions to make it look as though the engines would perform in the conditions expected.
This suggests that the flaw(s) were caught during the testing stages. If true this means a purposeful decision to deceive both scientific and general communities at large. As a matter of course how often are known critical flaws left as is in "release" products, of whatever type.. And furthermore, if these allegation are proven correct, will this lead to further disinterest in the space program and by extension reduced budget for NASA..
Good patches need to include some of the original code to be able to apply with context.
...To me they sound like they are a dirivitive work. You get the original source and produce a work, in this case your patch, that was dirived from the original program. The patch may not contain *any* code that was from the original program but it was dirived from that GPLed source.
That's why it's called a patch - no?
and that's the crux of the matter. The very concept of patch should preclude it from being licensed in any other way than that which the program is itself licensed. Look at it from the perspective of " what is a patch?".
We are all willing to accept that a patch is a forced change in an application for the purpose of correcting software defects (ie: Bugs) or for the purpose of enhancing the functionality. This means that what a patch really does is move the program to a point that would have been the original release in the first place- had the information prompting the patch been known ahead of time.
In other words, when an application is written the developer(s) writing it obviously didn't/don't know everything and do the best job possible to make the application solid/stable and fit for it's purpose. If it was known about *insert some condition causing problems* they would have put the code in to deal with it originally beforehand and never needed a patch.
Since a patch replaces components (in some form or another) it is really a direct replacement. Thus the only conclusion is that a patch needs be released under the same license as the original application; or (if possible, which it doesn't seem to be under GPL) the entire application is relicensed under the "new" license used by the patch.
This looks like an exceptionally promising piece of technology but I question the viability of it in anything other than cross-country/continent use.
This is obviously not something that is expected to help the daily communte, and would in fact be at a severe disadvantage in the metropolitan setting of any city. The noise of an object traveling in excess of 300KMpH at ground level is likely deafening and with most cities already having bylaws controlling when Aircraft may land or takeoff it is unlikely this may receive an exemption. Additionally it makes little sense to cross even the largest city with something like this since acceleration time to get up to cruise speed would reduce the benefit acrued.
That cross-country/continent part would be interesting though. North America was built on the back of "The Train". Replacing the existing North American train routes with one of these babies would make the train once more a viable travel solution. Certainly less costly economically and environmentally - especially if this:
He says the next step will be to reduce the speed at which the Aerotrain lifts off, so that the amount of time in contact with the track is kept to a minimum. That will cut friction and therefore overall energy consumption. The goal is to reduce pollution emissions to 36 grams of carbon dioxide per person per kilometre, compared with 122 grams for maglev trains.
is a trend which continues. What I would like to see are some costs analysis, estimating what the full scale train would cost to build and to run. Not to mention how much the infrastructure upgrades would be..
online services? The article mentions that it is a custom dial-up but makes no mention if it's the hardware that's been customized or if it's simply that they don't support other connections in the software. I suppose for the price I can assume it software-braindead but if it's not a winmodem and it IS on COM1..
I would question the need for Linux on a device that is limited to 640x480 (no - it doesn't make sense to put Linux on everything, just most everything) not to mention just how useful it would be in everyday life in as limited a manner as it currently exists. Though- on the positive side I can see application where this would be very useful. At $99 bucks it would be the cheapest "smart-typewriter" ever and the added advantage of being able to do not only typing but spreadsheet work and presentations might make it a very useful tool for some administrative staff...
is the most typical end-of-life for decomissioned satelite. I don't mean that the device "spontaneously" blows up though it is not unheard of for the self-destruct to be issued. Most usual is that a course-change is issued which takes the satellite into a decayed orbit resulting in it's burning up in the atmosphere or more commonly landing in the ocean and breaking up on impact. This isn't usually problematic since these are hardly what anyone would call implementations of "advanced" or "secret" technology.
The older generation originally cost as much as 1 Billion dollars to make and put into orbit which naturally included everything from actual manufacturing of the device to the cost of groundcrew and rocket fuel, so these will be a costly writeoff for someone. Moderm satellites have benefitted immensely from the advance of technology in all sectors and can cost as little as 100Million for the whole thing. Naturally it depends on whether the device is intended for Low-elevation or high-elevation orbit planes, but that just means that if the need to rebuild a satellite network arises it will cost much less for much more capability.
The example I like to use is Anik E2, which up until recently was used for broadcasting C-band television signals versus the new "high-performance" NIMIQ satellite which broadcasts all digital signals. Both of these also broadcast radio and comm signals..
for the fact that an overwhelming percentage of product is defective. In light of the PSX2 being the most eagerly awaited console in years, and in light of Sony making a grab to enter the financial industry; it certainly doesn't take a genius to realize that the last thing Sony can afford right now is for the PSX2 to publicly have issues so severe that only a full recall is sufficient to fix the problem. How would those market analysts react to Sony attempting to be part of the financial community when they (Sony) can't even get a video-game right?
Actually not. This brings to mind an ancient Chinese curse that I read;
"May you live in interesting times"
The origin of this is said to be a Chinese peasant in the first(?) dynasty, roughly 4900 years ago. At the time bands of warlords were ravaging the area in their quest for power, and the *ideal* dream of most normal people was to have simple peace and quiet.
of the war against Corporate abuse of privacy. It's interesting to note that both(?!) of Trans Union Corp's competitors have supposedly discontinued the practices involved in this breach. It might also be of interest to note that Equifax is now operating fully as a North American agency, not just a US one.
What this underscore to me is a simple question; why are Corporate persons being given more rights than real persons? When are the rights of real people going to receive primacy in Law? Though I didn't pursue a legal career, from what I remember of my Law courses a company is considered a person with all the rights and obligations involved- so why is it becoming more and more that companies are being allowed to abuse not only the system but the people in the system as well?
As an individual I'm expected to respect and abide by the laws of the land and to maintain my end of the social contract regardless of my financial means; if I break the law I receive punishment in the form of potentially crippling fines or even jail. If law is to punish me as a legal person for failure in this regard, why is it that the *other* legal persons Business are not only not punished for similar infractions, but are instead rewarded?
These guys at Trans Union are laughing at the commission- they've made millions illegally and now that they are finally caught they don't even get a slap on the wrist.
I found the following article which provides a little bit of info on why the PSX2 seems to be considered *hot*.. Here is a link to a Sony press release talking a bit about that "Magic Gate", it's topical but has few technical details..
Seems like the same people with the same attitudes sure do get around. This article amounts to a time capsule; the scariest thing is that the attitude we see through this article bears an uncanny resemblance to the attitude that Jack guy (head of MPAA or was it RIAA?) has.
The mistake that most of the command line crowd (myself included) make is viewing the GUI v. command line debate as being an either/or situation. Well, just because that's how MS does it, it doesn't mean that we have to make the same blinding errors.
That is exactly the attitude needed. Surely no one in the community is so stupid to think that MS purposely did things badly? It wasn't lack of pride on the part of the developers at Microsoft that led to useless/cluttered and downright fluff for UI, it was directives issues by management/marketers to do things in as expedient a manner as possible. And why- because the target market (consumers) haven't a clue nor care about the technical issues involved.
There is most assuredly a need for more solid UI standards- perhaps even -a- standard for Linux; that is the only way that we will see the numbers in terms of apps (all kinds) that is needed to make Linux King of the Roost. My question to the community is why assume that because there is a UI method in addition to a command-line that suddenly Linux becomes Windows? All I'm hearing is that it can't be done, it can't be done. How about not crying about how badly Windows did the job and writing the killer UI architecture standard to do the job th right way.
Write it and everyone benefits - well maybe except for MS..
While I found the idea intriguing, I wondered about how safe this type of thing is in the long run. As I understand it, magnetic fields are not all that great for the life of biological cells. This is supposedly the basis (or at least one of) for the relatively new standards of shielded, Low-radiation monitors, PC's, TV's etc,etc..
In fact it has been proven that excessive use of cell-phones can cause brain tumours. The fact that these gizmo's have shrunk 10-fold from their initial release is very misleading since they are still emitting enough rads to send a signal to a local cell tower.
And what about all the cases of children living near power lines and such being exponentially more likely to get lukemia.. I hate being a spoilsport, but it looks like adding more magetic radiation to the *human background* isn't really all that great an idea, and I don't really see that there is a difference between *emissions* and *strong emissions*.
So Even if this is theoretically amazing, in practical use we would need to ack the need for something like shielding or whatever other additional materia required between us and the emissions; driving costs up and usefullness down.
physicists around who can confirm the validity of this - OLEDs can be made from two types of molecules, fluorescent and phosphorescent. ?? If this is so then does this mean that there are actual molecules that glow in the familiar yellow/green colour patterns that we've all become familiar with? Heck - or even that molecules themselves give off light; sorta *virtual flashlight* effect.
I am the first to admit lack of knowlege but I was under the impression that light in the visible spectrum is a by-product of chemical reaction that occurs at the molecular level, not due to the molecules themselves. Can anyone clarify..
Actually, that is exactly what it is - accurate. In some form or another, everything *human* is already set into EXACTLY that- categories. Person of colour X is part of religion Y, or person Y doesn't eat meat (vegetarian) whereas person Z doesn't eat one type of meat but will eat another type, etc..etc. What else would you call things like dietary or religious preferences if not categories of some form?
I think Katz is right on the money with the trend he's noticed but not for the same reasons he thinks. What we're seeing is nothing more than the Internet reflecting the realities of life and the people living it; to wit- we're seeing the taming of the net, not by some act (stupid or otherwise) of government, but by the sheer will of the people who live it. Incidentally this is proof that the internet has become an extension to modern life and times, with all the good and bad these times have to offer.
to the success of Linux and OSS in the market place. There is an unfortunate tendency for those in the U.S to act as if they are the center of all that is Linux and OSS ( a side effect of the America tendency to look mostly inwards); this is borne out by the recent Linux IPO's. With this Symposium we see/hear indications of the great progress and inroads that Linux/OSS is making elsewhere in the world. Naturally I for one am very happy about this - it means that Toronto can't be far behind for a Linux expo (hopefully held over the weekend so I can stay for the whole event!). Of course I would be somewhat leery about this - remember that Ottawa is Corel's home town and with the recent Corel/Inprise(?)/Borland (whatever they are now) merger, they doubtless want as much Linux oriented positive spin out as possible. I didn't see any mention of Corel in the article but the fact that there is a solid LUG in Ottawa and Corel being focused in Ottawa does sound a little coincidental..
While I'm the first to admit that 64k is a number best left for describing video; the thought had crossed my mind that maybe this is one of those situations where Anti-MS sentiment is going to get the best of /. 'ers . The more critical questions that comes to mind are
1. what is MS criteria for labeling something a bug
2. how many degrees of importance do they attach to their bugs
3. which bugs are the ones which are left unfixed?
Everyone will agree that a typo should carry less weight than problems with Winsock implementation, which should possibly have less priority than a BSOD regularly occuring from using one of the accel keys. To be fair, I'm willing to give them credit for the line about "Bugs are inherent in computer science," she said. "All software ships with issues., and would even go so far as to agree that The difference is (that) no software in the history of Microsoft development has ever been through the incredible, rigorous internal and external testing that Windows 2000 has been through." . These are fair replies to the question and are (excluding that last part) certainly as true for Linux as well. What remains to be seen is not whether MS will patch things (they will!) but when, how often and will duress be needed? Truthfully there really isn't a choice for those who are already MS-shops, as they eventually will need to move over, 20k+ bugs not withstanding. I think it likely that they will maintain current installs of NT for as long as possible but still migrate over eventually. If for no other reason than because the costs associated with switching over to a competing platform such as Linux are still much higher than having to deal with those bugs. And don't forget- MS bugs have spawned an entire industry all on their own, so doubtless some CEO somewhere has begun to count his unit sales already..
These are really two sides of the same coin.
Whether you believe in "God" as a supreme being or simply in the idea of "a conscious universe" what difference does it make. Science is at it's core an effort to explain the secrets of existence so that Human consciousness can perceive it, and Religion is at it's core an effort to raise Human consciousness to the level where we can deal with these perceptions of the universe. It is no small coincidence that early scientists were among the religious elite and working under the auspices of their religious leaders. These early scientists appear to have understood best that to learn about the universe is really to learn about God's universe, and our place in the grand scheme.
While I can't comment on the effects of the drugs Ken mentioned, I most certainly can vouch for the hallucinations. When I was working on the technical parts for the ramp-up of a (now-defunct) retail sales location, I went for about 4 periods of 72 hours straight with no sleep at all. In between I got about 1.5 hours of sleep- on the floor under my desk, it was brief and most uncomfortable.. When I finally got to go home I had a two hour drive ahead of me. On the road I was so tired I had to chainsmoke with the window open and the A/C on in the dead-of-Winter, to keep lucid enough to tell when the cars ahead of me had stopped. Fortunately for me that was easier because of the traffic volume- but that was about the time those hallucinations kicked in. I began seeing the cars lose dimensions. If you've ever seen that rendered "The Simpsons" special where Homer comes into 3-d space then think of what the reverse would look like. Cars and trucks began to look like poster-ads from the side of city buses. Very disturbing was the fact that I could tell my brain was overloading from the humming noise that I started to get in my head. .. Very disturbing and serious enough for me to promise myself NEVER to go more than 48 hours without sleep again.. not to mention that sleeping on the floor under my desk without at least a pillow really sucks..
Since when is it acceptable for a law to be passed allowing government bodies to force handing over *any* document they desire? I can understand a situation such as bank fraud - where they may be wish access to financial documents, or even an email-threat sent by a stalker, but in general anything that they need for proof in court can be obtained by non-intrusive acceptable legal means through the *other* party involved; ie the bank or victim etc.. The very idea that a govenment can force legislation allowing them access to one's personal's on a pc is ridiculous. Encryption of data is no different from writing in one's own personal code, which by the way shorthand is an example of. Well hey- there's the solution. Invent your own form of shorthand and then encrypt that! The bastards will see nothing but gibberish and by the time they work out the meaning of the message you will have re-encypted it with a new stronger algorith..