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

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Ballmer Speaks on His Solo Act 196

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "In his first one-on-one interview since Bill Gates's retirement announcement, Steve Ballmer tells the Wall Street Journal he is bullish on Microsoft's investments in online services, and he dismisses as 'random malarkey' the idea that Microsoft is having trouble hiring and keeping the kind of brilliant employees that have always been the company's competitive weapon. Here's Ballmer on Gates's departure: 'As co-leaders of the business, I could allow Bill to be the full-time champion of innovation. And [now] with me really being the guy who's here every day running the place, I must be the champion of innovation.' And on competing with Google: 'We're going to compete. We're going to be in the online business. We are going to have a core around online. We're going to be excellent. That, I would tell people, to count on...'"
Movies

Journal Journal: Alien Resurrection: What The Hell Are They Saying?

I was watching Alien Resurrection the other night, and alas! I also remembered one of my big beefs with that movie. There's one scene where Wren, Gediman and Perez have just visited the queen, and we watch them through the glass from the queens' perspective. They keep on talking, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what they're saying.

EU Prepared to Fine Microsoft $2.5 Million Per Day 659

Lord_Slepnir writes "The European Union is unsatisfied with Microsoft's compliance with their anti-trust compliance from 2004, and is preparing to fine them 2 million Euros ($2.5m US) per day until they comply. Under that ruling, Microsoft must open up parts of their operating system to competitors, and change how they bundle Media Player." From the article: "On Monday, Microsoft said it had begun to provide the information Brussels had demanded, but the Commission has signaled the company acted too late. In December, Brussels informed the software giant that it had failed to comply with the original ruling it issued in March 2004."
Music

Journal Journal: MPAA Hacking Torrentspy?

C|Net news reports that "A month after accusing the Motion Picture Association of America of conspiring to commit data theft, the operators of a file search engine presented more details regarding the alleged relationship between the MPAA and a man who admits hacking the small company's network."

Stupid Engineering Mistakes 592

lee1 writes "Wired has bestowed on us a list of the ten worst engineering mistakes of all time. We have the St. Francis Dam designed by 'self-taught' engineer William Mulholland, which burst and wiped out several towns near LA; the Kansas City Hyatt walkway collapse; the DC-10, and more, but my favorite is the one I'd never heard of: a giant tank of molasses that ruptured in 1919 and sent 'waves of molasses up to 15 feet high' through Boston, killing 21."

Microsoft Flirts with Open Source 163

Vin Daryl writes "ZDNet reports on Microsoft's love-hate relationship with open-source software." From the article: "The interoperability lab focuses on getting products from open-source ISVs such as JBoss, to work on the Microsoft platform, he said. 'For example, we often collaborate with JBoss, but in certain areas we might compete with them. It's competition and cooperation,' Hilf explained. 'Over time, as you see the open-source marketplace maturing and becoming more commercial, I think you'll see more of that kind of dynamics. It's not something that's unique to Microsoft,' he said, adding that IBM and Oracle also compete, and at the same time, cooperate with open-source vendors. "

Groklaw's Unix Methods and Concepts Database 19

jbeaupre writes "Groklaw has spawned a new feature that may prove useful well beyond the current SCO litigation. The UNIX Methods and Concepts Database began as a list of books and papers on Groklaw that became so large it demanded organization. The new system was announced and is currently a work in progress."
Communications

Journal Journal: How's Your Online Spelling? 2

How much attention do you pay to how your spelling and grammar comes across while typing posts, blogs, emails and such? On a daily basis I see more and more bulletin board posts containing things like "u" instead of "you", misues of "their", "they're" and "there", as well as an occasional "OMG!!1 lolz!!1eleven". Granted, there are some pretty benign misspellings like "teh" instead of "the", while others are a bit more severe. Some (like double-capitalization) are caused by speed, while others (l

Using Laptops to Steal Cars 455

Ant writes "Thieves are using laptops/notebooks to steal the most expensive luxury cars. Many of these cars have completely keyless ignitions and door locks, meaning it can all be done wirelessly. Thieves often follow a car until it gets left in a quiet area, and they can steal it in about 20 minutes..."

MPlayer Developers Interviewed 220

cruocitae writes "Three of the MPlayer developers just gave an interview, talking about the "mysterious" versioning system of their software and shared a few secrets about the upcoming releases, for example some words about the long-awaited Windows GUI, and of course, DVD menus. Project integrity also was a subject.."

ABC Launches Full Episode Streaming 261

Cjattwood writes "ABC.com has launched their free online episode streaming service earlier today. Shows available include Lost and Alias among others, and are available to watch for free, albeit with ads and commercials. It works pretty well so far, although no Linux support yet as it requires Flash 8." The first episode of Lost on there is a clip show. You can skip around to a segment of the show, but are forced through a commercial before you play. The quality is approximately what you would expect from flash video.
Biotech

Journal Journal: 20 Years Ago Today: Chernobyl

It is today 20 years since the horrific Chernobyl accident, where the unit 4 reactor of the Chernobyl power plant (known as Chernobyl-4) suffered a catastrophic steam explosion that resulted in a fire, a series of additional explosions, and a nuclear meltdown. The accident left death and injuries in its wake from the radiation fallout (which was 400 times greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb and and affected Europe, Scandinavia, an
Microsoft

Journal Journal: Office Live Goes Beta

Microsoft has released their Office Live product in Beta. Initially, customers can sign up for one of three (all free in beta, one to remain free, two to charge $29.95/month) packages, all consisting of various supersets of your own domain name, easy-to-use design tools, five e-mail accounts, and web site traffic reports. Yes, it looks like Microsoft is doing something pretty cool. However - has anyone read th
Space

Journal Journal: Black Holes - In Our Atmosphere!

According to scientists lead by Dejan Stojkovic of the Case Western Reserve University, a high-energy (multi TeV) cosmic ray particle (such as neutrinos) that passes close to particles in our own atmosphere, could create a very small black hole. A newly built observatory (Pierre Auger Observatory) is designed to detect the following shower of particles. Dejan does however argue that the number of mini-black holes created woul

Slashdot Top Deals

The hardest part of climbing the ladder of success is getting through the crowd at the bottom.

Working...