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Education

Submission + - Resources for IT home education?

Submitted by
Peregr1n
Peregr1n writes: "My brother and his wife are home educating their four kids (aged between 0 and 5). I've been tasked with providing their IT education. What free or cheap resources are there around for this purpose, aimed at such young ages? Most books I have found concentrate on Microsoft skillsets (using Windows and Office) but I'd like to give them a more rounded education."
Desktops (Apple)

Submission + - Can Apple Last Without Steve Jobs?

Submitted by
nobody
nobody writes: "This article is pretty on the point. It's scary to think how Apple and Steve Jobs are synonymous with each other. "What's so scary about Apple's continued success is the intermingling of Apple and Steve Jobs as interconnected brands that need each other to define the other's existence. It goes without saying that Jobs has done an exceptional job at leading Apple, and the company is out of control. It's the new Google of consumer electronics that has and will continue to take a lot of other companies by surprise; however, you have to wonder how long the success will last. To be more precise, you have to wonder how long will Apple keep up its success factor without Jobs."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Are End Users to Blame for OS Flaws?

Submitted by
tomsHH
tomsHH writes: "OSWeekly.com author Brandon Watts claims that end users are to be really blamed for many OS flaws. Is that true? "Believe it or not, as users, we also have a large role to play in the evolution of an operating system. We use what's been created, and this means that we're the best people to turn to for judging what works and what doesn't. Passionate communities that are supportive aid development, and when users join their efforts to make their voices heard, this benefits everyone. Have you ever thought that if you wanted something to be improved, then maybe you should just speak up and offer a solution instead of quietly or publicly venting without offering any input? Nothing changes by staying the same. Companies are listening, and as taboo as it may seem, most of them want to make their users happy, so if you shout loud enough, you're bound to be heard. If you need proof of this, then just look at how Linux has progressed in its development."
Operating Systems

Submission + - No Competition Between Open and Closed Source

Submitted by techie
techie writes: MadPenguin.org writes to highlight the lack of competition between open and closed source applications. The author writes, "Is there really the level of competition in the open source world that we see in the closed source world? This is something that has been stuck in my mind lately as I have been told so many times by closed source developers that by opening the code you are creating your own competition. Today, I'm here to explore this theory and hopefully prove why it's false.
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Map your School

Submitted by
dzafez
dzafez writes: "In Response to the Slashdot article covering a Student getting kicked off of his
regular school (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1 839251:

Even though, I don't ever play games anymore, I think this map should be published.
I would even go further, hell kids pick some good anon nicks with a anon e-mail address
and start sending me maps of your schools. I will host them on my german website.
(http:/www.dzafez.de)
Don't forget to let me know where (google maps) exactly the Highschool is, which
you rebuild. I will put that google maps link next to it. Also let me know, for
which game (version) this map is. I would love to see some older games as well.
If you do 3D rebuilds of your School in Autocat, Blender, VRML ... whatever 3D.

Bring it on, map at dzafez .de"
Mozilla

Submission + - In-depth interview with Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker

Submitted by
SlinkySausage
SlinkySausage writes: "APC Magazine in Australia has posted an 8,000 word interview with Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker about where Firefox came from and where it's going. Baker talks about putting Firefox on mobile phones; how Firefox will take on Flash and Silverlight with open source animation and video rendering; where the $55million a year Firefox earns comes from; the struggle with patents in the software industry; how businesses are recontemplating moving to Firefox rather than dealing with the upgrade to IE7, and why Mozilla hasn't yet built an ad-blocker into Firefox. She also talks about how Firefox 3.0 will have a lot more capability around "branding" — will it be the corporate visual theming disaster that was IE4? And how Mozilla's small development office in New Zealand is developing the ability to run web abbs in Firefox without an internet connection. Mozilla Japan's cartoon character, "Foxkeh" makes an appearance too."
Google

Submission + - Google's Blogger output fails XHTML standards

Submitted by
saccade.com
saccade.com writes: "The headers generated by Google's Blogger web site assert it's output is complient with the "XHTML 1.0 Strict" document type definition. Well, John Walker tested it against that standard, and discovered even the simplest Blogger page fails with 73 errors. Walker comments:

...whatever standard you choose, you should be willing to be held to it, and in this case the blogging platform used by tens of millions of people falls flat on its face. Personally, I would be stone ashamed to ship something in this state. That Google, with what amounts to unlimited funds in our talent-constrained industry, plus the putatively smartest and certainly most smug technical staff, contents themselves with this is perhaps an indication that before expounding on issues of good and evil, one should first address the more mundane matter of competence.
"
Privacy

Submission + - American copyright arms get longer

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "In Australia, you are no longer safe from the long arms of American law as the Australian Government recently agreed to extradite an Australian citizen for breach of copyright. As mentioned in The Age, the punishment for copyright crimes in the USA is worse than rape in Australia. Which is the greater crime? And in the Czech Republilc, The Prague Post carries a story about how the police there are now carrying our raids and arrests (at the behest of American copyright giants), now that they can legally download music locally in their country."
United States

Submission + - EPA modifiying fuel efficiency standards in 2008

Submitted by antifoidulus
antifoidulus writes: Yahoo finance is running an article detailing how the EPA is changing fuel efficiency standards for 2008 models. This seems to be the first overhall of the miles per gallon(1 mpg=.42 kpl) since the 1980's. Previous tests assumed that drivers did not exceed 55 mph(88 kph), that drivers never used their air conditioner and heaters. The new tests push cars up to 80 mph(128 kph) and drive them in hot and cold weather conditions. Naturally the reported MPG number has dropped, for example the Prius' reported mileage dropped 20%, but the new number reflects what most drivers see. And as always, your mileage may vary. (Your kilometres per litre may vary)
Announcements

Submission + - Comcast to launch Open Source Email from Zimbra

Submitted by
khenriks
khenriks writes: "Today Comcast and Zimbra have announced (with screenshots) that their next-gen email, voice, and instant messaging platform will be based on Zimbra. Comcast Triple Play has now moved to the web and will give consumers an easy way to manage their communications needs from one portal. Open Source, Linux and related software have been taking IT shops by storm and now it's time mainstream consumers benefited from this technology shift. Zimbra which launched on /. has also been covered here, here, here, here, here, here and here."
Space

Submission + - Space Commercial Refueling Station Changes Things

Submitted by
nlhouser
nlhouser writes: "The Shackleton Energy Company is to be the first explorer in the lead to the moon, exploring for water and fuels in order to process the much needed space fuel directly on the moon, then transferring them to a low Earth orbit refueling station (LEO). Stated by Stone to be a "first-come, first-serve basis," the venture will consist of the provision of fuel and compounds for life support — water, liquid oxygen, nitrogen, methane, liquid hydrogen, hydrogen, and gaseous oxygen."
Communications

Submission + - a slashdot style site for regular news?

Submitted by
OiToTheWorld
OiToTheWorld writes: "Having been reading slashdot for a while now, I find I really enjoy the format and moderation system and debate, however, there are many things that get left out because, obviously this is a tech site. My question is: is there a site out there with a slashdot type format that focuses on international news, world events, and politics?"
Books

Submission + - In Search of Stupidity

Submitted by
Craig Maloney
Craig Maloney writes: "The computer industry has had it's share of successful companies. One can easily name the high-tech high rolling companies like Microsoft, IBM, Intel, and many more. But like most industries, there's a sizable list of companies that didn't make it; companies that shot straight up to the top, only to combust like fireworks. Then there are the companies that, like the fable of the tortoise and the hare, ceded their lead while internal bickering and other navel-gazing caused them to slack while their competition steadily overtook them. In Search of Stupidity is the fireside chat with a wise veteran of several of these now-defunct, long-extinct computer companies. His stories read like parables of warning for those who would soon forget the lessons of the past.

The message of the book is pretty simple: Microsoft became the #1 software company because they didn't screw up like the rest of their peers. When they did screw up, they learned from their mistakes and either killed the offending projects quickly, or made the next release better. Throughout the book, every one of the companies profiled is compared against Microsoft. With the aid of hindsight, the results are not surprising- almost every company profiled in the book had an advantage over Microsoft, and invariably each company squandered their advantage. I almost felt sorry for these companies and how badly they misjudged their lead. Some, like Lotus and Wordstar, fiddled with meaningless technical details at their own peril. Wordstar spent scads of time finely tuning printer drivers and bickering amongst their development teams instead of releasing new and better product. Others, like Ashton-Tate and Borland, actively worked to piss off their developer networks and customers. And every time we boot our computers, we'll never forget the results of that fateful meeting between IBM and Gary Kildall, with a decision that would forever change the IBM PC and the personal computing industry. Even the mighty IBM earns their place this book, with their spectacularly awful IBM PC-Jr, and the "idiot piper" OS/2 (if you ever doubted how much damage OS/2 did to those that followed it down the prim-rose path to ruin, the chapter "The Idiot Piper: OS/2 and IBM" will leave you astounded at the carnage). And lest we forget the mishandling of the Pentium division bug, which ruined Intel's reputation for quite some time. Also well covered are some of the more spectacular venture-capital implosions from the "dot com bubble". Interestingly, Microsoft itself earns it's own comparison against Free and Open Source Software, and their heavy-handed methods of competing. It's clear there was no lack of fodder for this book.

Each of the stories presented in the book is very engaging. I remember reading Byte and Popular Computing as a kid back then and watching these stories unfold, wondering what what caused these companies who were once the top in their field suddenly evaporate with only disks and manuals as proof of their existence. In Search of Stupidity was a fascinating read for me, and explained the history of these companies in a way that nobody else had ever explained it to me before. Many of the stories have footnotes, with the author stating his experiences while working or consulting at the companies profiled. The author describes meetings and trade shows he attended, and gives first-hand accounts whenever possible. It's an enlightening look into an industry that I was too young to have had experienced first-hand.

The latter part of the second edition of In Search of Stupidity gives pointers for how companies can avoid the stupid mistakes that killed or maimed the profiled companies. He mentions that he purposely decided against providing these tips in the last book because he thought the anecdotes and histories provided enough guidance, but decided in this edition to provide analysis, checklists, and other helpful sage advice. The advice portion is broken up into two sections. The first is a set of general tips on how to avoid stupidity, and the second is a detailed analysis of each chapter, and how each individual tale could have been prevented. They provide an additional reinforcement of the topics presented in the book, and are a welcome addition to an already excellent book.

As a fan of computer history, In Search of Stupidity was a perfect read for me. Reading a first-hand account of what caused the death of companies and software that were once the gold-standards of software and hardware was fascinating. This book should be required reading for anyone who currently develops, manages, or is in someway responsible for software, whether commercial or otherwise. It's said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it, and I can think of no better accounting of computing history that should have turned out differently than In Search of Stupidity."

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