Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Of course XP is outselling Linux... (Score 2, Informative) 497

by padonak (#25604369) Attached to: Asus To Phase Out Sub-10" Eee PCs
In my country, only XP models are available. All the retail networks here buy them from one or two importers, who only provide XP models.
That way, they can charge for them almost as much as for real laptops.
Wasn't this clear from the beginning, when they only started offering XP as a choice? Soon you won't be able to run Linux on them at all, not without tricks like ndiswrapper at least...
Space

Submission + - Space Station Gets Protective Shielding

Submitted by solitas
solitas writes: Two Russian cosmonauts climbed out of the international space station Wednesday to install protective panels designed to shield the orbiting outpost from dangerous space debris... [while] The station's third occupant, U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams, remained inside.

An independent safety task force in February said that there was a 9 percent risk that the space station, once completed in 2010, could be hit with space debris severe enough to cause the loss of the outpost or crew members. That risk estimate was reduced to 5 percent if protective panels were installed on Russian portions of the space station.

Sections of the space station built by NASA and the Japanese and European space agencies were protected sufficiently against space debris, the task force said.

—
It's been 40-odd frickin' years since Star Trek and we still don't have forcefields. Apalling.
Linux Business

Submission + - Putting Together The Linux Office

Submitted by somethinginmyeye
somethinginmyeye writes: There's a lot of chatter about 2007 being the "Year of the Linux Desktop," but what about the "Linux Office"? The CRN Test Center took a crack at putting together an open-source environment for a small-business office. The verdict: Microsoft has a lot to worry about down the road, but in 2007, Linux is still lacking the driver support, ease of use and interoperability with mainstream, legacy software to make office migration pain-free. http://www.crn.com/software/199601459
Music

Submission + - British police raid allofmp3.com voucher seller

Submitted by
Gossi
Gossi writes: "The Register reports a 25-year-old man has been arrested under the Fraud Act. His crime? "Advertising and selling allofmp3.com vouchers through auction sites such as eBay and the website allofmp3vouchers.co.uk". Apparently the bust followed an investigation by global recording industry body IFPI and the BPI. What's interesting about the case is that it's now a criminal offence in the UK under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 to sell music without authorisation, rather than it being a civil matter, and that law is being used to target sellers of vouchers."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Escort agency launches virgin service for geeks

Submitted by 6Yankee
6Yankee writes: A Dutch escort agency is offering a "virgin service" — and most of the customers work in IT. Says boss Zoe Vialet: "They are very sweet but are afraid of seeking contact with other people. They mean it very well but are very scared." In what might be considered a very cunning move, the three-hour-minimum appointment includes — a bath.
Microsoft

Submission + - Bill Gates blamed for Virginia Tech shooting

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: US morals advocate and publicity hound Jack Thompson has suggested that Bill Gates and Microsoft are responsible for the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. According to an early report in the Washington Post, the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, was a fan of violent video games, especially Counter-strike, which Microsoft publishes for the Xbox. The reference to Counter-strike and violent video games has now been removed from the report, but that hasn't stopped Thompson from lashing out at Gates.

Feed Open source protestor crashes Bill Gates' speech in China (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

We've certainly seen a variety of crashings go down on stage, but a determined protester and undeterred advocate for open source software rudely (albeit humorously) interrupted Bill Gates' speech at Peking University in Beijing, China. Gates, who was speaking on the topic of Innovation in China's future and receiving (yet another) honorary manager title, had his after-party all shook up by an off-kilter open source proponent who reportedly darted across the stage, "loudly shouted against Microsoft's monopoly," proudly displayed a sign of "Free software, open source," and was promptly "tackled by security and removed for questioning." It was suggested that the culprit may have been a member of the Linux Professional Institute, and while we're not exactly sure if Michael Dell would've shown any forgiveness, feel free click on through for a closeup of the sign and the unfortunate aftermath.

[Via SeattlePI, thanks Ralf]

Continue reading Open source protestor crashes Bill Gates' speech in China

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Announcements

Submission + - Bigger, better U.S. scientific ocean drilling ship

Submitted by joncors
joncors writes: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 19, 2007

Bigger, better U.S. scientific ocean drilling ship for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

All-new quarters and laboratories — labs more than 25% larger

WASHINGTON — Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), a consortium of 31 U.S. oceanographic research institutions, announced that Overseas Drilling Limited has signed a contract with Jurong Shipyard PTE LTD for the overhaul and enhancement of the research vessel JOIDES Resolution, a 20-year workhorse for scientific seabed exploration and observation. The shipyard contract was signed April 9, 2007, and covers work through the end of 2007, when the vessel is to be delivered for sea trials before returning to service for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) in early 2008.

Overseas Drilling Limited (ODL) is owned 50% by a subsidiary of Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, and 50% by Siem Offshore Inc., an offshore vessel owner and operator for the oil and gas industry. ODL is the owner of the vessel and a subcontractor to the Texas A&M Research Foundation (TAMRF), a partner with JOI.

The renovation plans, paid for mostly by the National Science Foundation and partly by ODL, include:

State-of-the-art upgrades to the ship's science laboratories and facilities;

Augmentation of logging and drilling capabilities;

All -new, expanded and refined accommodations;

Refurbishment and renewal of ship equipment and infrastructure;

Advanced safety and environment safeguards.

"The resulting science facility will be a vast improvement over the existing vessel," said Steven Bohlen, president of JOI. "The IODP-U.S. Implementing Organization and partners have worked very hard to redesign laboratory, sleeping and living spaces so that all of the objectives of the science community will be met within budget."

For a complete list of enhancements and detailed specifications, please visit http://www.joiscience.org/sodv

During the past three years, the JOIDES Resolution has been the U.S. platform for the IODP. For the majority of the previous two decades, the ship was employed by the Ocean Drilling Program, predecessor to the IODP.

Jeff Fox, director of science operations at IODP at Texas A&M University, said "The JOIDES Resolution has been our wagon train, allowing the world's scientists to explore and read the record of our planet's history and to monitor ongoing processes. We will be much better able to do this as a result of this transformational enhancement, which is made possible by the National Science Foundation's generous support."

The newly refurbished and enhanced research facility, which is the U.S. contribution to the international IODP fleet, will join the Japanese-built Chikyu and European-sponsored mission-specific vessels.

Mark Smock, president and CEO of Texas A&M Research Foundation, said "The Foundation is excited at this opportunity to combine a longtime relationship with its partners in support of scientific ocean drilling. We are particularly excited to contribute to an initiative to create an enhanced scientific drilling capability that will ensure continued scientific discoveries far into the future."

Science outcomes from expeditions completed under ODP and the first phase of IODP have advanced our understanding of sea level and climate history, gas hydrates, deep biosphere and the structure of ocean crust. Scientific ocean drilling expeditions have validated the theory of plate tectonics, given researchers insights into Earth's ancient climate and provided evidence of an asteroid impact that caused mass extinctions 65 million years ago.

###
Portables

Submission + - OLPC manufacturer to sell $200 laptop

Submitted by srinravi
srinravi writes: ArsTechnica reports that — Quanta, the company manufacturing the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's XO laptops, plans to begin selling low-cost budget mobile computers for $200 later this year. According to Quanta president Michael Wang, the company plans to leverage the underlying technologies associated with OLPC's XO laptop to produce laptop computers that are significantly less expensive than conventional laptops.

The OLPC project, which hopes to bring inexpensive Linux-based laptops to the education market in developing countries, selected Quanta (the laptop manufacturing company that produces mobile computers for HP, Dell, and Acer) to produce the individual XO laptop units. OLPC project founder Nicholas Negroponte says that OLPC has no plans to make XO laptops, which are "designed for the poorest and most remote children in the world," available to ordinary consumers in developed countries. OLPC plans to sell the laptops in bulk to governments, which will then distribute the hardware to school children.
Space

Submission + - A hole in the earth's crust?

Submitted by Rockin' Green
Rockin' Green writes: There's a hole in the earth's crust, according to this story by the Associated Press (via Yahoo). Normally, the earth's crust is a thick layer of hot lava. But in one spot, three miles below the ocean and 2,000 nautical miles off the Canary Islands, the normal crust is missing — replaced by the dark green rock from the earth's mantle, the layer below the crust. "It is like a window into the interior of the Earth," Bramley Murton, a geophysicist who is taking part in the six-week mission, said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070306/ap_on_sc/seabe d_expedition;_ylt=Ai0v_8.DZ1WEjHhooLUyhQ_MWM0F
Music

Submission + - Save Online Radio

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has just issued a decision on the royalty rates that webcasters have to pay to record labels for the period 2006-2010. (See Wired News coverage http://www.wired.com/news/culture/music/0,72879-0. html?tw=wn_index_2.) The rates are so high that they exceed 100% of most webcasters' total revenues! If the CRB's decision stands, the retroactive portion for 2006 alone will bankrupt virtually all independent webcasters, including AccuRadio. Furthermore, the CRB's schedule of huge annual increases in the rate will probably drive most other Internet radio stations off the air as well. Here's how you can help: You can sign an online petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveinternetrad io/, and/or you can use THIS LINK http://capwiz.com/congressorg/sbx/f/?aid=9461656&r =1 to call, write, or e-mail (that's in descending order of effectiveness) your representatives in the U.S. Congress. Along with all other independent webcasters, AccuRadio and others may only be a few weeks away from being driven out of business. Please help if you can!"

Slashdot Top Deals

A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable. -- Thomas Jefferson

Close