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Comment Re:And now for a real question (Score 1) 214

The lifetime of your computer is, and always will be, your motherboard. Once it becomes old, outdated, and time for a replacement*, then you also must purchase a new Windows license. That is how it already works today with OEM copies of Windows.

* If it fails, then that's a different story. MS allows motherboard swaps, but it's basically an honor system and they'll stop approving non-human activations if you start abusing it

Comment Re:Goddamn Heartbleed (Score 1) 95

We can't have CVE-1234, no no, must be RageBoner or PantShitter or no one will take it seriously!

We can't have CVE-1234 exactly because no one will take it seriously, though I suspect you have the cause and effect reversed.

When the CVE list numbers in the tens of thousands and contains everything from the trivial (program may crash) to the severe (remote code execution), CVE numbers are meaningless. It doesn't tell me just how important this vulnerability is and whether I should be concerned. Whereas if someone takes the time to name it, it means it was important enough to get a real name.

Which is a terrible precedent to set, but if anyone has a better suggestion for naming vulnerabilities that gives them unique, easily communicated names, and in the process makes it clear whether they're a significant threat or not, well then I'm all ears. Otherwise for the time being, this is like complaining that people call oranges oranges rather than Citrus x sinensis.

Comment Enterprise Turnover? (Score 5, Insightful) 199

For consumers this is likely a great thing. But given enterprise customers and their traditionally fickle software, how are they going to keep up with major Windows changes every few months?

Even service packs break things, and those still aren't as complex as these proposed updates in some ways. Enterprise customers pretty much count on Windows not changing/ And even if Microsoft goes the LTS route, will they support one of these branches for 10+ years like Windows Server 2012 will be?

Comment Re:Two things... (Score 1) 65

I'm not sure what consoles this guy has been playing, but cheating is rampant in pretty much every popular console game. Some kinds of cheats may be harder to implement on consoles, but they always find ways to do it.

Consoles aren't fool-proof. But other than the PS3 there's no easy way to inject arbitrary code. So other than taking advantage of bugs (which are the developer's fault), you can't really cheat on something like the XB1 or PS4 like you can the PC.

Cheating the PC, by comparison, is almost always accomplished via arbitrary code. Wallhacks, aimbots, complex macros, tools that unveil more data than the player is meant to see, etc.

Comment Re:Sadly, I don't see an "out" for AMD (Score 2) 133

I like AMD, I really do. They've gotten the short end of the stick over and over again. But even I have to admit that the Tek Syndicate benchmarks are poor proof of value right now, and for 2 reasons.

  1. They were specifically structured to make the AMD processors look good by running a high CPU load H.264 encoding task (XSplit) while also running a game, which leads us to...
  2. XSplit has been rendered functionally obsolete by newer software that uses the on-board H.264 encoders provided by AMD/NVIDIA/Intel. H.264 encoding is now a virtually free operation (with a 5% perf hit), which means that specific scenario isn't applicable in 2015. And that's about the only reason you'd ever want to run a game and a high CPU load alongside a game

There are still some things AMD does well at, but they're few and far between, especially at the high-end since they haven't introduced a new FX processor architecture since Piledriver. Things are far more interesting towards the low end with Kaveri versus Haswell thanks to AMD's much better GPU, though they still lose in a CPU fight.

Comment Re:not enough money (Score 1) 99

A lot of school districts in California either bought iPads or Chrome Books for every student. It's not a matter of money, it's a matter of weird priorities (and weird bureaucracy).

The issue is usually due to the source of the funding. These devices are purchased using one-time funds, often in the form of grants from the federal government. They either cannot be spent on teachers, or while allowed it would be silly to do so because you'd just have to fire that teacher next year.

Teachers and really big ticket items like buildings are recurring costs, and therefore need consistent funding. To get more of them you need similarly consistent funding and not one-off grants; not all money is equal.

Comment Re:So, were are they assembled or fabed? (Score 1) 229

reproduce that billion+ dollar facility in their production fabs around the world - Costa Rica, Philippines, Malaysia, etc

Quick point of clarification: there are no Intel fabs in any of those countries. All of Intel's leading-edge fabs are located in the US and Israel. There is a single fab in China, Fab 68, but it's purposely well behind the rest (currently at 65nm).

Costa Rica, Philippines, and Malaysia are all "Assembly Test" locations where finished wafers are sent for testing, packaging, and assembly into completed chips.

Otherwise you're spot on about how Intel replicates their new processes once they're up to production quality.

Comment Re:the establishment really does not like competit (Score 4, Informative) 366

This doesn't mean there are no regulations - it means that Uber drivers are required to pay for the cost of a background check by the police department, and provide proof of insurance. This cost is tiny in comparison to buying a medallion, and provides the same level of safety as the background checks the taxi companies were running.

Keep in mind however that only a handful of cities use Medallions. Outside of NYC and those other cities, Uber is getting busted for exactly what you propose: they refuse to do things like pay for police background checks and require drivers to hold a commercial driver's license. Uber is managing to break the law even in cities with a limited number of common sense laws.

Comment Re:AKA as Database Syndrome (Score 2) 112

The crop of PhDs from the last 10 or so years are either unable or unwilling to 'hit the books'. If they can't find it in an electronic database AND easily download a PDF, they will ignore the existence of the work.

One of the primary reasons we even have computers is to help organize and locate information. Meanwhile, because computers are so good at it and we now have so much information to process, information that is not available to a computer in 2015 is not useful information.

Comment Re:Interesting retort (Score 1) 98

I'm with you there. This really is a terrible layout, to the point that I first thought it was Firefox that was broken rather than Slashdot.

I've got a hidden Post button. Reply/Share links are overlaying comment text. Deep comments only fill the left half of the page. And everything else is unbounded to the left, resulting in stories and root comments being nearly the entire width of my screen.

Surely this was tested before it was rolled out, right?

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