"You do realize of course that the very computer you are using to bash Compaq would not be in existence if it wasn't for Compaq, right?" Yes, we'd probably be using something superior to x86. The IBM compatibles survived because they... were compatible. If Compaq hadn't reverse-engineered the PC, someone else would have, or someone would have reverse-engineered Macintosh, or something entirely different.

There's an app for that.

Wake me up when it's "over nine thousaand" teraelectronvolts.

Longerhorn.

I used MIPS, you insensitive clod!

I don't think Microsoft will keep a GPL program floating around when they could could put a few developers on the project and have an identical (Microsoft-owned) tool in a matter of days.

If it were me, I'd keep it around as a reminder to do better code reviews!

...if "Will Smith" is a typo of "Cowboy Neal".

For the last time, FOSS does not live or die based on interoperability with closed-source standards. Look at the .docx file format. How long did we have to wait go get competent FOSS text editors compatible with it? I don't know where this belief started. FOSS does not "die" when nobody uses it, because the people who use it do not develop for it. The much-anticipated "year of the linux desktop" is meaningless because very few of those desktop users will ever become a software developer.

So, Microsoft can take all the end-users they want, the real developers develop not for personal gain or furthered relations with the closed-source world... They do so out of a belief that there should be free alternatives to everything Microsoft and Co. churn out.

This is obviously the first killer app for the 3D laptop: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/10/14/1739214

Requiring that doctors RTFM is the first step.

I can't come out of the woodwork every time FOSS is targeted by trolls, but every once in awhile I have to make an exception. FOSS is like a reverse-idiocracy. Those who are easily swayed by popular opinion will undoubtedly leave FOSS for more PR-competent grounds (Microsoft, etc.). Those of us who evaluate software on it's merits, instead of the failings of the spokespersons for that software, will continue to use FOSS and reap the benefits.
But let's get back to developers. If you are angered by the sexism displayed by certain members of the FOSS community, you will most likely be reluctant to contribute to the projects represented by those individuals. Thus, any public outcry against those individuals should be welcomed, but sadly most of the outcry is Microsoft FUD in disguise, which is not aimed at the individuals, but the FOSS movement as a whole.

"The new service will eventually be rolled out in the rest of the country, replacing the phone calls Comcast has been using to notify customers to security problems, Opperman said."

So wait, instead of a personal phone call (which they apparently had been doing before anyway), now it'll be a popup just like the 50 other ones the user sees because he or she's infected with malware to begin with?

Nice.

As long as they don't act upon this information I don't see any issue with it. I bet most run-of-the-mill users don't know they have the infection and could act upon it if they knew.

Sounds like a win-win for both Comcast and their customers if it's informational only.

This is both brilliant and terrifying all at the same time..

On one hand excellent we catch toe rags quicker with a lower overhead for manning the CCTV.

On the other I am terrified about the power this gives the government and I expect we will soon be living in 1930/40s Germany with the SS around every corner.

If ever there was a time for a Guy Fawkes type plot now is it, before the madness gets worse..