I used to despise Microsoft. But then, after several years writing drivers for various OS'es, I came to the conclusion that Microsoft tries hard to be everything , for everybody. For instance, if you were to build yourself a VGA adaptor, and based it roughly on a known video chipset, Windows probably has a driver for it.
MS has been trying to build ease of use and compatibility into Windows since the step up from 3..12. Granted, plug'n'play used to be much more akin to plug'n'pray, but it has improved remarkably since 4.1.2222 for 98, and SP5 for NT4. If nothing else, MS deserves credit for the efforts they have made to create a standard platform.
I have a whole new set of issues nowadays with MS. The trading off security versus ease of use was acceptable up until the late 1990s, when the web usage became much more widespread. Back in the "old days" you actually had to known something to compromise system security. Now, with the like of Montreal's Mafiaboy using freely available scripts, anyone smart enough to figure out how a QWERTY board and mouse works, can cause major havoc with web services.
Besides, who needs to worry about hackers now? Google Desktop is much more insidious, and Microsoft seems to not only license Windows, but dictates how it works, and creates a sense that if you don't have a licenced copy of Windows, you've somehow been duped because you're a few McNuggets short of a happy meal...
BTW, I don't use Windows myself, and have never encountered WGA in my time behind a keyboard. I'm too much a fan of IRIX, and I don't think they make a version for MIPS chips. And I apologize for taking up your boss' time to read my tangent.
One point I think that was either overlooked or just not stated overtly in previous tangents on this topic is that evolution is a constant game of catch-up. The best "evolved" organism is well-adapted to the here and now, not two generations ago nor two generations into the future. Agreed that most evolutionary changes in such a short frame of time is not apparent, but a single allele is all that it takes to make one organism more suited than another, assuming that there will be some selective pressure that would suit such a tiny variation. Contrariwise, if there is an organism "perfectly" suited for an environment, any variations in that environment that would select against such an allele would not be beneficial to such an organism.
Genetic plasticity is one thing that H. sapiens have in apparent abundance: For the millions of genes we all carry, the vast majority of them are identical. But that differences is what allows us to each shine in our own little tiny unique way.
Unlike most organisms that with which we share the Earth, we have not evolved for any specific climate, food source, altitude or seasonality. Most life specializes in something; we are adapted to excel at nothing in particular, but we are at least capable of dealing with most environments that the Earth can throw at us. We have evolved to become very good generalists, much like other members of our extended family; we're just a bit better at it!
What if a person cites a source correctly, then annotates it as a summary of the gist of the article? I've had to do that many a time in a literature review and not once did my academic adviser accuse of me plagiarizing. Is the infringement based solely on how it's done, either as a direct quote or a paraphrase? I always thought that this was a grey area, academically speaking.
Five feet per second or five meters per second? Heck, that's slow pitch speeds. Why not just equip the satellites with a Louisville Slugger? (Aluminum, not wood. The thrusters must be detrimental to the integrity of the wood.) That'll really knock 'em out of the park.
...That is not long enough time for a new species to evolve...
Actually, evolution comes in fits and spirts. Something that Steven J. Gould refered to as "Punctuated Equilibrium." The rate of evolution is dictated by the instability of the environment, and/or increases in selective pressures. And an environment with increased amounts of solar radiation and the instability of the magnetosphere may well account for a sudden increase in the rate of evolution, perhaps even spawning an adaptive radiation or six...
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I used to despise Microsoft. But then, after several years writing drivers for various OS'es, I came to the conclusion that Microsoft tries hard to be everything , for everybody. For instance, if you were to build yourself a VGA adaptor, and based it roughly on a known video chipset, Windows probably has a driver for it.
MS has been trying to build ease of use and compatibility into Windows since the step up from 3..12. Granted, plug'n'play used to be much more akin to plug'n'pray, but it has improved remarkably since 4.1.2222 for 98, and SP5 for NT4. If nothing else, MS deserves credit for the efforts they have made to create a standard platform.
I have a whole new set of issues nowadays with MS. The trading off security versus ease of use was acceptable up until the late 1990s, when the web usage became much more widespread. Back in the "old days" you actually had to known something to compromise system security. Now, with the like of Montreal's Mafiaboy using freely available scripts, anyone smart enough to figure out how a QWERTY board and mouse works, can cause major havoc with web services.
Besides, who needs to worry about hackers now? Google Desktop is much more insidious, and Microsoft seems to not only license Windows, but dictates how it works, and creates a sense that if you don't have a licenced copy of Windows, you've somehow been duped because you're a few McNuggets short of a happy meal...
BTW, I don't use Windows myself, and have never encountered WGA in my time behind a keyboard. I'm too much a fan of IRIX, and I don't think they make a version for MIPS chips. And I apologize for taking up your boss' time to read my tangent.
Unlike most organisms that with which we share the Earth, we have not evolved for any specific climate, food source, altitude or seasonality. Most life specializes in something; we are adapted to excel at nothing in particular, but we are at least capable of dealing with most environments that the Earth can throw at us. We have evolved to become very good generalists, much like other members of our extended family; we're just a bit better at it!
What if a person cites a source correctly, then annotates it as a summary of the gist of the article? I've had to do that many a time in a literature review and not once did my academic adviser accuse of me plagiarizing. Is the infringement based solely on how it's done, either as a direct quote or a paraphrase? I always thought that this was a grey area, academically speaking.
Five feet per second or five meters per second? Heck, that's slow pitch speeds. Why not just equip the satellites with a Louisville Slugger? (Aluminum, not wood. The thrusters must be detrimental to the integrity of the wood.) That'll really knock 'em out of the park.
Actually, evolution comes in fits and spirts. Something that Steven J. Gould refered to as "Punctuated Equilibrium." The rate of evolution is dictated by the instability of the environment, and/or increases in selective pressures. And an environment with increased amounts of solar radiation and the instability of the magnetosphere may well account for a sudden increase in the rate of evolution, perhaps even spawning an adaptive radiation or six...
If interested, this link http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~theobal/PE.html provides more info than any layman would really want about the topic of my irrelevant tangent...