Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:It's not dead. (Score 3, Insightful) 791

I am pretty sure it will. The arrogant folks of at M$ seem to not realize that they got to their position by giving the market enough of what it wanted for them to be worth any hassles. They are leveraging people too hard, and it does drive people away. What they should be doing is trying to slow the flow of R&D dollars to anything Android or IOS based as quickly, and effectively as possible (by pleasing the hell out of their current customer base), because when the ARM architecture catches up close enough behind Intel in terms of power, and large lightweight screen tablets are available for cheap, there really isn't a reason to pay them extra for windows at all. It's more likely at that point that Android will start seeing adoption in the PC space for the same reason M$ thinks it will happen in reverse...

Comment Re:Tap here (Score 2) 791

I personally don't mind the tile thing too much. Though it is stupid on M$'s part to not have the option to revert. I swore it off for the following:

Requires agreeing to binding arbitration. Requires opting out of any future class action lawsuit. Has no mention of upgrade on the packaging, and activates just find from the RC, but isn't legal unless you read the fine print (needing a valid previous OS). When 'upgraded' removes the right to use the OS you 'upgraded from', and it's final death knell the being not allowing me to use my Core2 class processors because they don't have SLAT for HyperV, when the server doesn't require this, and the graphics card in my FILE server has I think 32mb of RAM, it being a PCI card (not E, or X, just PCI).

I'm done with them, and the time I have invested in Ubuntu (and kvm) has rewarded me more than similar amounts of time spent learning the certification material. I'll still support them, as that is what most clients are using, but will happily replace them as often as I can.

Comment Re:Who cares? (Score 5, Insightful) 309

I don't understand this lack of a line of logic. Congress was granted the authority to protect works of art & science for the sake of their authors. They were also charged with doing it a manner that actually furthers the ENTIRE country's artistic & technical development. Patents are only good for 20 years...Did you cure cancer? That'll be 20 years that your work is protected...Did you invent Disney? That'll be 90?! That is thoughtless, and indefensible.

Copyright infringement penalties of $150,000 PER INSTANCE or there about are absurd in a age where I can make millions of copies in minutes by clicking a button.

Patenting molecules for drugs that we have negligently released to the market without adequate testing it preposterous. Drug PROCESSES should be patented, NOT the molecule, as this would actually spur innovation to find a more efficient process, as well as encourage companies that have a modicum of pride in their work to test the molecule perhaps more thoroughly, as they could sell it too...

Patenting genes, and then getting to sue farmers that have copies of these genes on their land (Monsanto), because the wind you know carries things is no small mix of absurd, criminal, ludicrous, unhealthy, and apparently dreamed up by those with no respect for reality.

Anyone who actually bothers to take anything close to a fair & balanced review of our current system regarding Patents, and Copyrights will find nothing short of a full blown kleptocracy.

Alot of people do not seem to understand the reason Congress was granted this authority in the first place. It was to balance the need to protect the creator of the work, with the need for the public to have to access to it. Another example of this is that Patents MUST contain enough detail about the invention that 'anyone similarly skilled in the art can recreate it', otherwise the work is unpatentable, and is to be rejected as such. The Authors have no more right to protection of their work than we have the right to demand it for free to further the good of all. It is a balance between the two, and it is currently quite broken. As congress has engaged in nothing approaching due diligence in the matter.

Comment Re:Embarassing day for whites (Score 1) 622

Firstly the Nasa mistake was actually caused by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed's Deepwater fiasco cost an atrocious amount of money (Billions), and turned the Coast Guard's old (but still usable) cutters into scrap. According to congressional testimony these 8 cutters were unfit to gift to Panama to use in river patrol suffering from 'prematurely' cracked hulls. They would make those mistakes anyway, being (imho) the Microsoft of the Aerospace world.

As for the Tokyo incident, how do you not notice that an axle doesn't fit? If there is slop in it, it's pretty easy to tell there is a problem. The individuals responsible would find ways to make other costly mistakes. Besides these were ASIANS, come on man, if they can't do it, there is no hope for the rest of us. Unless Russians are better at math than Asians? Since we're all being so racist anyway...

I really dislike the idea of America having such racist standards, and it isn't that I am one of those double think monkeys, that loves the idea of celebrating our diversity through being 'Politically Correct', as celebrating diversity by removing it is impressively thoughtless.

Costly mistakes happen regardless (page iv)

I do agree that the metric system is a better system to use as it's flexibility, range, and ease of precisional use keep things more straight forward. I use it myself whenever I am calculating something that matters. I however recognize that it is a person's free choice to use whatever system they prefer. I don't believe in government mandates, I would rather have inefficiency with my freedom, so I won't gripe about it, and overall? It isn't that big of a deal. Converting from one system to another is just one small hassle of an engineering challenge, and life is not ideal. Think of the many many times that people throughout the world convert from one system of calculation, or measurement to another without error.

The biggest problem with our educational system is the way that we are taught. We should be presented with concepts, and have a very firm grasp of them BEFORE vocabulary is introduced. This gives the human mind (at least mine) a firm handle to actually conceptualize, and retain the area being studied. It is a lot like learning hands on for it's effectiveness. It needs to be known that understanding the concept is 90% of education. The vocabulary is necessary, but without a firm grasp on the concept, there is no foundation, and the inextricably linked series of memories that we like to call 'education' will be washed away, never to return. In our current state we would be far better of by polling people who have exited K-12 schools 5 years down the road, and only teaching the things that those people remembered...

Comment Really? (Score 1) 248

I know those things are expensive, but we should really have a self destruct feature on those things...Lose communication while flying over Iran? BLOW IT UP. It pains me to see the amount of money we pour into things like this only for it to be pilfered by Chinese hackers, or this...

Comment What about suburbia? (Score 1) 101

I want to see them put a datacenter in one of the endless expanse of factories downtown with all the busted out windows. Seriously though, It does look like an interesting idea. I wonder how they will hide the backup generators, and what will they have to rip up to run all that cable? At least they will have to employee more engineers to figure it all out...

Comment Failure meets...success? (Score 1) 1303

Engineering failure meets the success of the slave worker. No one should have to be roused out of bed to retool an assembly line because some bright eyed idiots decided to switch things around at the last minute. Let the product be light, it isn't like people's lives are at stake, just their pride. This really makes me not even want to try apple.

Comment The wee little ice age. (Score 1) 420

It must have been all of those looters, and polluters leaving Europe, and moving to the Americas that caused Europe's little ice age. Yep, that must be it, blame the guys who lived half a millenia ago, and don't look at the sun too closely, it has nothing to do with this. I don't know why everyone thinks global warming is a bad thing. I can buy up low priced real estate that will one day be coastal property. I like coastal property, it's just too expensive. It really is a good thing overall...

Comment Re:Why replace? (Score 2) 462

I second this post. Some hard drive media hits 4-10k Oersteds now, and my 2.1 Tesla NdFeB magnet can't erase today's hard drives while it is sitting on top of them, while they are running (they just slow down a bit). Also any of my phones, cordless, or cellular haven't even noticed the same magnets sitting on the outside of their cases. (With regard to call quality, it does mess with the gelocation / magnetic sensor) There is no way that those 'steel joists in the walls' have anywhere near that strong field right next to them, let alone over the air gap of an entire room. As for the T.V., throw away your crt, and get an lcd, led, or plasma, none of those technologies are effect by magnets. I also second the post about ac permanently magnetizing steel (it doesn't happen). Let alone the fact that you would need thosands of Amps, turns, or meters of wire to have a noticeable effect. Somebody never took their middle school physics class. Bloody Pagans.

Slashdot Top Deals

THEGODDESSOFTHENETHASTWISTINGFINGERSANDHERVOICEISLIKEAJAVELININTHENIGHTDUDE

Working...