MntlKaos - Slashdot User

Pluto — a Complex and Changing World 191

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 04, 2010 @09:57PM from the can-imagine-quite-a-bit dept.

astroengine writes "After 4 years of processing the highest resolution photographs the Hubble Space Telescope could muster, we now have the highest resolution view of Pluto's surface ever produced. Most excitingly, these new observations show an active world with seasonal changes altering the dwarf planet's surface. It turns out that this far-flung world has more in common with Earth than we would have ever imagined."

First MySQL 5.5 Beta Released 95

Posted by kdawson on Friday December 18, 2009 @01:29PM from the taking-care-of-business dept.

joabj writes "While MySQL is the subject of much high-profile wrangling between the EU and Oracle (and the MySQL creator himself), the MySQL developers have been quietly moving the widely-used database software forward. The new beta version of MySQL, the first publicly available, features such improvements as near-asynchronous replication and more options for partitioning. A new release model has been enacted as well, bequeathing this version the title of 'MySQL Server 5.5.0-m2.' Downloads here."

Yellowstone Supervolcano Larger Than First Thought 451

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 15, 2009 @11:50AM from the even-superer dept.

drewtheman writes "New studies of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park shows the plume and the magma chamber under the volcano are larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists. University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest."

He's a Mac, He's a PC, But We're Linux! 508

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @10:06AM from the those-other-people-are-blenders dept.

davidmwilliams writes "Earlier this year the Linux Foundation launched a competition for budding writers, film makers and just general Linux enthusiasts to make their own grassroots advertisement to compete with Apple's highly-successful 'I'm a Mac' series of adverts. The winner has now been announced."

Google Apps Deciphered 91

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 25, 2009 @02:47PM from the read-all-about-it dept.

Lorin Ricker writes "Computing in the Cloud — Free Apps — Outsource It! Yippee! Automation TCO nirvana at last! You can hear the non-technical managers and home-users unite in grateful song and dance! If we can just offload our office applications and data to the Cloud Known As Google, that apparently bottomless source of storage, search and now other useful capabilities, our office automation problems will be solved! Hooray! 'Well, just y'all hold up there a minit, lil' cowboy. Thar's a few thangs y'all oughta know 'bout afore ya go rushin' off...' If John Wayne didn't say exactly that, well, he should'a." Keep reading for the rest of Lorin's review.

Apple Allows Lotus On iPhone (After Banning Competitor) 150

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 01, 2008 @08:44AM from the stay-classy-apple dept.

ImNotAtWork writes "Apple is allowing IBM's Lotus to be installed on iPhones. Recently it killed a developer-submitted program that was deemed competitive with Apple's product."

EU Patent Staff Go On Strike 116

Posted by timothy on Tuesday September 23, 2008 @10:32AM from the stop-exploiting-me dept.

h4rm0ny writes "Last Friday, staff at the European Patent Office went on strike. They protested outside for several hours and issued a statement claiming that 'the organisation is decentralising and focusing on granting as many patents as possible to gain financially from fees generated.' They also declared this as being disastrous for innovation and that their campaign was not for better wages, but for better quality patents. Meanwhile, an article on it discusses the US's own approach to dealing with the increasing flood of patent applications: a community patent project to help identify prior art. It might sound like a grass-roots scheme, and maybe it is, but those roots include such patent behemoths as IBM. So it looks like on both sides of the Atlantic, some signs of sanity might be emerging in the patent world from those people right in the thick of it." Note, this was a half-day strike, not ongoing.

Comment This is good for Linux (Score 2) 163

by MntlKaos on Tuesday March 30, 1999 @01:13PM (#1956191) Attached to: SAP invests in Red Hat

At the Company I work for, we have used SAP for quite a number of years now. The "NEW" direction is to move away from our AIX and Solaris boxes to Windows NT. However, with all the news about Linux, I have been put on a committee to evaluate Linux and its place here in this company. I've already heard today after reading this article, that they are thinking of Linux instead of NT. This is a GOOD thing.

IMHO, any big company exposure to Linux can only help the Linux cause, not hurt it.

I now use my Linux laptop for dial in support instead of having to rely on my Windows box because SAP did not have a port of its GUI. I downloaded it last week and have since installed it and it work great. Just the MSCHAP stuff is giving me fits.

I will reserve comments about RedHat becoming the next Microsoft and SAP suck comments because that is the kind of talk that will hurt the Linux cause. If people view Linux'ers as complete anti-Microsoft bigots, it does hurt Linux in the suits eyes. I'm definitely NOT defending Micro$oft and its tactics, I would just like to help Linux get into companies such as mine. Now that SAP backs Linux, it truly does stand a chance of getting used here.

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