Comment Re:Us! (Score 1) 94
All your root are belong to us.
No, US.
Comment The same piece of news in English (Score 1) 6
Comment Re:competition with Fermilab (Score 1) 164
scooped on its single most important reason for existing.
Not if you take into account the amount of research and project work conducted in CERN that is applicable in other areas - think superconductors, electronics, computing clusters, data processing and storage, etc.
You can compare it to Asimov's Foundation in a matter of speaking - the final goal is overshadowed by the implications of the intermediate work towards reaching it.
Comment Re:If you're moving towards .NET (Score 1) 1055
I've used it, and it's quite good - not up to par with VS in some occasions, but it's FOSS. Supports IronPython as well. Also, you can open directly your VS solutions and projects, and they will just work.
The latest version (3.0) supports .NET 3.5, and the installation is nowhere near as invasive as Visual Studio. The upcoming 3.1 will be compatible with the (currently being developed) .NET 4.0.
Submission + - Ridiculous Software Bug Workarounds?
theodp writes: "Ever get a workaround for a bug from a vendor that's so rigoddamndiculous that there has to be a clueless MBA or an ornery developer behind it? For example, Microsoft once instructed users to wiggle their mouse continuously for several minutes if they wanted to see their Oracle data make it into Excel (yes, it worked!). And more recently, frustrated HP customers were instructed to use non-HP printers as their default printer if they don't want Microsoft Office 2007 to crash (was this demo'ed in The Mojave Experiment?). Any other candidates for the Lame Workaround Hall of Fame?"
Submission + - Pirate Party Being Sabotaged in EU Elections
JoonasD6 writes: "Sweden's Pirate Party, Piratpartiet, is apparently facing sabotage in its first European Parliament elections. In his blog, Rick Falkvinge mentions reports coming that officials are refusing to accept voting ballots for Piratpartiet. It was even caught on film (in Swedish). The antagonists seem to be the members of the current parties in the Swedish parliament. The pirate movement sure seems to put the governmental and legal systems through a stress test here. Will the pirates end up being more virtuous than the current statesmen?"
Comment Re:64bit only DVD's? (Score 1) 164
1. Slack 12 was on 6 CDs, kitchen sink included, or a single DVD. How do you propose they'll squeeze basically twice the content on the same media?
2. Slack does not support upgrades even between major versions - the procedure is admittedly rather invasive and not for the faint of heart. I had no problems personally, though, but YMMV. In fact, this is the first time I've heard for upgrading from x86 to x86-64 for any OS.
3. It will be released when it's ready, as is the long-standing Slack policy. Slackware cannot afford to be both late and unstable.
2. Slack does not support upgrades even between major versions - the procedure is admittedly rather invasive and not for the faint of heart. I had no problems personally, though, but YMMV. In fact, this is the first time I've heard for upgrading from x86 to x86-64 for any OS.
3. It will be released when it's ready, as is the long-standing Slack policy. Slackware cannot afford to be both late and unstable.
Submission + - Washington Post Fighting FireFox and AdBlock 4
wiredog writes: The Washington Post has recently redesigned its webpage in such a way as to make large portions of it unreadable to users who are using FireFox+AdBlock (with "/wp-srv/ad/*" filtering on). There are reports that Safari is also affected. Washington Post tech and security reporters Rob Pegoraro and Brian Krebs have been completely silent on this.
Comment Re:Not for me (Score 1) 674
Very true. I can't be bothered now to remember how many times I've literally struggled with Word with various more or less "advanced" features like cross-referencing inside the documents, *accurate* list of figures and tables, custom "floats" (does Word even have this?), bibliography management (ahhh, the pain!), index, glossary, automatic code highlighting etc. Heck, I'm even doing my presentations in LaTeX... In LaTeX, the pain is setting up the document initially --- after that, the content tend to be very light on markup (if you're doing it right, that is). It just, well, works.
Also, the cost is effectively zero, as it's open-source. Packages for everything that has been ever put into print exist. You don't need fancy hardware to run it --- you can probably run it on Win 98-era machine, and it will still work (granted, the compiling would be a bit on the slow side probably, but still).
LaTeX also gets additional bonus points for the essentially unchanged, and pretty readable as it is, file format. I can still compile sources that I've created several years ago, and the result will be *exactly* the same, without a single change. The same trick also works regardless of the operating system (AFAIK, there are (La)TeX distributions for Windows, *nix, and Mac OS X, and they can deliver the same predictable results across all platforms).
When is Word going to beat that?
Also, the cost is effectively zero, as it's open-source. Packages for everything that has been ever put into print exist. You don't need fancy hardware to run it --- you can probably run it on Win 98-era machine, and it will still work (granted, the compiling would be a bit on the slow side probably, but still).
LaTeX also gets additional bonus points for the essentially unchanged, and pretty readable as it is, file format. I can still compile sources that I've created several years ago, and the result will be *exactly* the same, without a single change. The same trick also works regardless of the operating system (AFAIK, there are (La)TeX distributions for Windows, *nix, and Mac OS X, and they can deliver the same predictable results across all platforms).
When is Word going to beat that?
Submission + - Microsoft Patents Crippling Operating Systems 1
theodp writes: "On Tuesday, U.S. Patent No. 7,536,726 was granted to Microsoft for intentionally crippling the functionality of an operating system by 'making selected portions and functionality of the operating system unavailable to the user or by limiting the user's ability to add software applications or device drivers to the computer' until an 'agreed upon sum of money' is paid to 'unlock or otherwise make available the restricted functionality.' According to Microsoft, this solves a 'problem inherent in open architecture systems,' i.e., 'they are generally licensed with complete use rights and/or functionality that may be beyond the need or desire of the system purchaser.' An additional problem with open architecture systems, Microsoft explains, is that 'virtually anyone can write an application that can be executed on the system.' Nice to see the USPTO rewarding Microsoft's eight problem-solving inventors, including Linux killer (and antelope killer) Joachim Kempin, who's been credited with getting Microsoft hauled into federal court on antitrust charges."
Submission + - Oprah's Web offer causes Food-Swarm in Meatspace
Dystopian Rebel writes: Talk-show personality Oprah Winfrey promoted a free-meal gimmick for KFC (warning: moronic advertising) last week: download a coupon from Oprah's site and get a free (as in chicken) meal from the beloved Colonel himself (or logo thereof).
Trouble ensued when a large number of hungry Oprah acolytes began downloading the coupon. A time limit for the availability of the download was not enough to prevent a food-swarming in meatspace. As noted by the Sunday Herald (Scotland), Web developers responsible for the Oprah-KFC snackfest had done nothing to uniquely identify the coupons and track the identification numbers. Some people who had obtained the coupon were photocopying it so they could plan their meals for the rest of the week. Beseiged KFC locations soon ran out of food amid cries from hungry, angry, coupon-waving crowds.
If only the poor and hungry had private jets of their own, they could fly to another fast-food joint.
Trouble ensued when a large number of hungry Oprah acolytes began downloading the coupon. A time limit for the availability of the download was not enough to prevent a food-swarming in meatspace. As noted by the Sunday Herald (Scotland), Web developers responsible for the Oprah-KFC snackfest had done nothing to uniquely identify the coupons and track the identification numbers. Some people who had obtained the coupon were photocopying it so they could plan their meals for the rest of the week. Beseiged KFC locations soon ran out of food amid cries from hungry, angry, coupon-waving crowds.
If only the poor and hungry had private jets of their own, they could fly to another fast-food joint.
Submission + - Facebook cheating advertisers?
An anonymous reader writes: According to Finland's number one newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, Facebook is reporting incorrect user numbers. Last Tuesday (May 5th), Facebook calculated 562 020 users in Helsinki, a city of 578 000 people, or 97% of its entire population from newborns to pensioners. In Norway the numbers are even more off: Facebook claims to reach 690 640 Norwegians between the ages of 18 and 24, while the country's statistics list only 423 000 people in this age bracket!
See the hilariously garbled Google translation: http://74.125.77.132/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=fi&tl=en&u=http://www.hs.fi/talous/artikkeli/Facebook%2Bilmoittaa%2Bmainostajilleen%2Bylisuuria%2Bk%25C3%25A4ytt%25C3%25A4j%25C3%25A4m%25C3%25A4%25C3%25A4ri%25C3%25A4/1135245889662&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhh01EWNiEGJI_ASi9JyjndBaPgYGg
See the hilariously garbled Google translation: http://74.125.77.132/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=fi&tl=en&u=http://www.hs.fi/talous/artikkeli/Facebook%2Bilmoittaa%2Bmainostajilleen%2Bylisuuria%2Bk%25C3%25A4ytt%25C3%25A4j%25C3%25A4m%25C3%25A4%25C3%25A4ri%25C3%25A4/1135245889662&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhh01EWNiEGJI_ASi9JyjndBaPgYGg
Submission + - MySQL to become Drizzle
Comment Re:Web UI (Score 2, Insightful) 296
True. At least three of the most widely used (Deluge, KTorrent and Transmission) already have web UIs. No links, this can be easily checked on their official websites. rTorrent doesn't have web interface, AFAIK.
Apple will need to ban http to pull this off.
Apple will need to ban http to pull this off.
Comment MSC for research, work for money (Score 1) 834
As someone who was in your shoes two years ago, let me tell you this:
You need MSc basically only if you're going to continue in the academia, or if you're serious about research (more or less the same thing). I went that road, and am at the beginning of a research gig that will last for some time right after I finish the thesis this month.
If you think that MSc will somehow magically open the doors for you, don't. This is more valid for CompSci than Engineering, for example. The knowledge required in the field changes so much through the years, that one or two more will probably leave you with a stale skill set. Not so for research, especially if you're working in a specialized cutting-edge area (I'm at AI).
But if you're a generic Java/C#/C++ guy, with no specialized knowledge or interests, you're the same as a million other people looking for a job that (probably) have more experience than you in the field. You need something to differentiate in this case, and that is either a more specialized skillset, or a more diverse skillset (e.g. MBA).
Good luck, on any occasion.
You need MSc basically only if you're going to continue in the academia, or if you're serious about research (more or less the same thing). I went that road, and am at the beginning of a research gig that will last for some time right after I finish the thesis this month.
If you think that MSc will somehow magically open the doors for you, don't. This is more valid for CompSci than Engineering, for example. The knowledge required in the field changes so much through the years, that one or two more will probably leave you with a stale skill set. Not so for research, especially if you're working in a specialized cutting-edge area (I'm at AI).
But if you're a generic Java/C#/C++ guy, with no specialized knowledge or interests, you're the same as a million other people looking for a job that (probably) have more experience than you in the field. You need something to differentiate in this case, and that is either a more specialized skillset, or a more diverse skillset (e.g. MBA).
Good luck, on any occasion.
