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Comment: Re:Makes sense (Score 1) 84

by sunderland56 (#39009329) Attached to: Canada ISPs Not Subject To Content Rules, Court Says
Say I have both cable TV and internet from Bell. A show I want to watch is available, in digitized compressed format via protocol A over cable TV, or via protocol B via the internet. All the bits travel down the same wire to my house. So the *only* difference is in the transmission protocol. Why should one method be taxed, and the other not? How does that make sense?

Comment: Re:Obvious *benefit* is the drivers (Score 5, Interesting) 370

by sunderland56 (#38994749) Attached to: Microsoft Details Windows 8 for ARM
Drivers are the largest problem with x86 Windows - well over 50% of the stability problems and blue screens come from badly written drivers. Microsoft has a process to submit a driver to their labs for testing and approval today - but (a) they make it insanely difficult and expensive, and (b) the market doesn't care whether a driver is approved or not.

Drivers are also the largest security hole there is - a kernel module has full and complete access to your system. People claim to be concerned about security, but then install third party drivers without a second thought.

Overall, it looks like Microsoft is doing exactly what people have been asking for - a more secure Windows environment. Locking down software to approved sources only, and getting rid of creakingly old APIs that date back to Windows 3.1, will make it faster, more stable, and more secure - but now people are complaining.

Note that for the hardware/software developers - hobbyist or professional - there will be a developer switch, to turn off security and allow you to load unsigned/unapproved programs and drivers.

Comment: Re:I guess it's time to say "I told you so"? (Score 1) 603

by sunderland56 (#38980577) Attached to: TomTom Satnavs To Set Insurance Prices

Doesn't everyone realize the "tom tom pro 3100" won't be able to communicate without some sort of data plan?

Apps like waze provide GPS routing and real-time traffic information (including location of police speed-traps) for free, all you need is a smartphone.

You do realize that your smartphone won't work without some sort of data plan, right?

Comment: Re:In perspective (Score 3, Interesting) 378

Fortunately, on the millions of other projects that do succeed, the right calls are made.

Not exactly. On the millions of other decisions, when the wrong call was made, it was either (a) caught in time, or (b) was non-fatal, or (c) was like Apollo 13, where an engineering mistake caused an extremely serious incident, which was rescued by the brilliance of other engineers.

QOTD: "Overweight is when you step on your dog's tail and it dies."

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