Re: Starlink?
Pity...
50 publicly visible posts • joined 11 May 2007
The advantage of being unelected is that there are no term limits, you have no reason to adhere to a Constitution and nobody can stop you doing what you like.
Moreover, given the flawed Justice system in the US where a felon may avoid jail time by being elected President, there is no measures that may be taken against him, however many laws he may breach. He can't even be impeached.
JD Vance makes the point that, while nobody might voted for Musk, they voted for Trump and Musk came with the package.
It certainly sounded like a call for volunteers.
Although the tweet (xeet, considering it's on Xitter) has since been deleted, the fool has not apologised, instead claiming that when he's made the comment previously, it was well received.
I find it difficult to believe that anyone this moronic actually has an engineering degree and the strong suspicion arises that he paid someone to sit his examinations.
As somebody that hasn't lived in the UK for 17 years, I watched the results of the referendum with disbelief.
That a Nation could collectively hold it's future prosperity to ransom over thinly veiled xenophobia and rampant nationalism seemed perverse.
That you should double down on this mistake, even in the face of the mounting evidence which suggests the disruption arising from Brexit because of the perception that "arrogant remainders" were "so smug and satisfied" merely manages to prove his point.
I've asked this question before and had it answered on here, but is there a source that I can quote in conversation with all the know-it-all twenty-somethings who confidently state that Chinese tech cannot be trusted because of a proliferation of backdoors which can turn it into a weapon at the touch of a button in Beijing? An article by Vulture Central analysing this and setting out what is possible and what is not would be helpful.
Nice rant.
CAD software is one area where it would be nice to have some compatibility through wine. I use and have used Linux for the last 20 years or so and I would love to get rid of the Virtualbox running an XP guest that my CAD application runs on.
If Kernighan and Ritchie (or whoever it was) had bothered to patent the 'for' loop and the 'while' loop among others, then programming would now be the sole preserve of the mega-corporates.
Makes you wonder.
Personally a pox on both their houses, and on software patents (and Microsoft, too)
I agree with Chronos.
Having known some of the early crew in Harcourt Street when they were producing the PSION ll and the series 3 and 5 PDA's I always felt that the move to Symbian which swamped the company was not all that well advised.
The fact that Sean Timarco Baggaley appears to feel that the ZX81 and Spectrum games were what defined PSION and appears to be completely unaware of some of the revolutionary work done in those years in no way detracts from the mind-blowing work that they were doing at the time.
They were a BRITISH company producing revolutionary BRITISH designed hardware in BRITAIN with very little support.
Good luck on your retirement, David.
Microsoft will not give up on this, the potential rewards are too great.
Microsoft's attempts to lock out users of competing OS's might have hit a little bit of a hurdle, but I'm pretty sure that this would not have been unexpected at Redmond.
In the end, I'm pretty sure that Microsoft will triumph in this.
I remember seeing the Luxo Jnr short at school, which ain't yesterday.
Disney must feel that they have a very good case for the name to be deemed to be associated with Pixar rather than Luxo (who?).
IANAL, but is it not the case that the trademarked lamp has been in the public domain for some years (decades)? and given that the patent-holder has not hitherto objected, I would say that Disney are probably going to win it.
Rather like a right of way at the foot of your garden that people have used for years. Technically, it's still your property (I think), but you can't put a gate across it.
Although I am not in favour of software patents, it would appear that, in this case, the patent holders had a product that they thought was protected by the patent. Microsoft employed them to collate data from the 911 attacks, got to the point where they understood how the patent holder's software worked, incorporated that methodology into Word and then stole the patent holder's customer base.
It's important to note 2 things here; firstly the implication is that the methodology was non-trivial to the point that Microsoft were not able to incorporate it into Word without studying the patent-holder's methods.
And secondly, it is only Word which has been litigated against; the other elements of the Office suite, which use the same XML formatting and data storage model were not affected.
So it seems that rather than just being a simple patent troll seeking to extract maximum monetary recompense from Microsoft, the patent holders are simply asking for a wrong to be righted.
But from what I understand, the patent is horribly loose and merely describes a system of mapping data and formatting information separately by using metacodes: a description that surely applies to most formatted data files, from HTML through to Words own .doc format and which should probably fail on prior art.
So, much as I believe that Microsoft have knowingly and cynically swindled their erstwhile partners, it seems difficult to believe that this patent has any merit at all.
In which case, not only was the money spent on the patent completely wasted, but worse, it probably gave the patent holders a false sense of security in the face of their business partnership with Microsoft.
If I have misunderstood what has happened here, I'm very happy to have it explained to...
Sheesh.
How many times do I have to explain it?
It is not a question of using shady business tactics, although it's a moot point whether a company like Microsoft is behaving entirely legally, given the strength of it's monopoly.
What I find irritating is the amount of people who support them in this. A significant section of web users risk having their access curtailed for no other reason than one bloated, greedy and dysfunctional Multinational is trying to force up it's profits, and all you can do is applaud?
You wilfully miss my point.
This is not about Microsoft producing a better product.
This is about Microsoft using shady business tactics to take the web away from a significant portion of Users. But, to be honest, shady business practices are what defines Microsoft, so I guess we should expect nothing less.
What I find irritating is this craven sycophantic article which carefully skirts around this issue in an effort to more effectively kiss the Microsoft backside.
I don't care how good this Microsoft product is, the objective is clearly to force Linux users away from their OS and back into the MS fold.
Currently the MS shills say "You can't run <insert random MS software here> on Linux".
In six months they'll say 'You can't browse the web with Linux because Linux doesn't have a Silverlight client'.
This is a blatant and transparently shady and underhand business ploy and it stinks.
The only thing that can possibly prevent it from working is if the web community at large refuse to implement it.
And that's not likely to happen when the media put out arse-licking articles like this which completely fail to address it.
To be honest I am less interested in speed and new features than I am in compatibility.
It's a lot cheaper than MS Office ( :) ), so I don't expect it to be faster or to have additional features. What I DO want is to be able to open a .DOC file and have the bullets in the correct places and in the correct size and shape and the graphics correctly positioned on the page as the original author intended.
Without that, I will probably have to shell out for the Microsoft product.
@Psymon, if you honestly believe that the only reason that Macs and *nix machines have only a handful of viruses compared to the huge Windows malware database is because of the numbers involved, then a little research is in order. And not merely from Steve Balmer-approved sources.
I suspect, however, that you already know that your claims are facile and that you are simply being a Troll.
>It’s too early to tell if Microsoft plans to
>mass produce its smart cradle anytime soon.
I doubt it.
The purpose of this patent is to prevent any of their competitors from producing such a device.
Or, if they do, Microsoft are probably hoping to skim a percentage.
Rather than encouraging innovation and invention patents are now used to block the development of technology.
As an example, when PSION first produced their Organiser, they had to pay a percentage to an American lawyer who had patented the general term 'electronic diary', obviously without any idea of how such a device might be implemented but in the reasonably certain knowledge that someone would build such a device and they could then cash in.
I think Microsoft's intentions here are similar.
Thanks for the clarification.
Presumably the web page itself needs to carry the required Javascript redirection function? In which case, surely whoever inserts the Javascript into the webpage can ensure that the tags needed for the clickjack protection mechanism employed by this fiendishly clever plan are turned off?
Or am I missing something?
Living in a country without a quality broadcaster like the BBC, I feel that the British Public badly underestimate the importance of the BBC.
As an institution it is that rare thing: a trusted conglomerate and as such it allows Britain to have influence where it would otherwise have none.
Unfortunately, though, it needs to be funded from somewhere, and to me it make sense to do it through a license fee which means that the revenue raised cannot be channeled by politicians into their own pet projects. Nor can the ruling party of the day force it to compromise by injudicious control of the purse strings.
Just a couple of points.
I know it's a week or so on, but this story is continuing.
Firstly, the guys who went to get their guns were Policemen. Therefore the issue of gun ownership is irrelevant.
Secondly, because this IS South Africa, the shooters are claiming that they were defending themselves from racial slurs.
Linux is an OS.
However, you make a damn good point; even a bog-standard Linux distribution will come complete with Apache2, Squid and various other server-specific items such as a SMTP mail transport agent and Pop3 and IMAP services.
I'm not really sure how the EU would view this....
The penguin, because they're from the Southern Hemisphere.
Unless you have a pretty unequivocal paper trail starting (and ending) before (or after) the contract period, you will be pretty hard-pressed to make a convincing case that said invention process occurred in *your own time*.
Sorry buddy, I tend to go with the majority here. This myth is busted.
Try buying a Packard Bell.
If you repartition it, then you void the warranty.
http://forum.packardbell.com/en/viewtopic.php?t=36486
It apparently has a non-visible partition (FAT12, if I'm not mistaken) on which software (called "The Tattoo") resides which validates yer Microsoft Winders.
I would guess that this machine would be less use than a chocolate teapot for a Packard Bell owner.
on my SMC Barricade router, and now I can no longer control it. Typing 192.168.1.254 in my browser reports a 404. Niether can I telnet or ssh it.
In order to change anythong in the configuration I will have to use a paperclip to clear take it back to it's defaults. If I can remember my ISP user name and password.
@Ever hear of an anchor.
I worked on the design of the Command Ship and the conversion of the Ocean Oddesey from oil drilling rig in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The point about launching from the middle of the ocean, rather than anchored off an island is that you don't have to worry too much about the hospital bills should the rocket explode over said island.
They light the blue touch paper and hop aboard the Command Ship to retire just over the horizon where they can safely watch the show from the various hospitality suites on board.
Yes, and Angola is another 5 star example.
Angola is incredibly wealthy with massive oil reserves and is widely predicted to out-produce Saudi Arabia soon.
However, the country is controlled by a clique of generals and the citizens themselves are dirt poor.
"according to a recent World Bank report, 70 percent of the population lives on the equivalent of less than $2 a day, the majority lack access to basic health care and about one in four children die before their fifth birthday."
The generals are extremely jealous of their control and do not allow anyone to tread on their turf.
The Generals operate an air transport company, for example (road travel is not recommended because of the landmines). There are other air transport companies (or there were), but if you use these, you can expect a visit from the secret police.
The white farmers were perfectly entitled to work their farms under President Mugabe.
However, in 1999, the President organised a referendum to change the constitution to allow himself to be President-for-life, without having to go through the tedium of re-election.
The white farmers made the mistake of organising their workers to vote against this and what has happened since is justifiable retribution for the treachery of these whites.
Robert Mugabe said that they could stay and work their farms; he did not give them permission to be politically active.
It is surprising that London University is not making a lot more of the fact that President Mugabe has his MSc in Business Economics from their August Institution.
The fact is that His Excellency has been conducting a ground breaking study in the dynamics of hyperinflation, and, in the process confounding so-called 'experts' in this field across the World.
As such he should be hailed as the true genius he is and revered.
Seven years ago these experts said that Zimbabwe was 'finished' and the end-game had begun for his excellency's exit from power. Where are these so-called experts now?
Zimbabwe has the most dynamic stock market in the world, the balance of trade figures are 10% in the black, Bush would just love to have a fraction of that.
The fact is that the official exchange rate is $1.00 US to $250.00 Zim (source Yahoo! finance). The parallel rate is $1.00:$200,000.00. This means that if a Zimbabwean in the US sends $1 home to his family, it buys $200,000Zim. The Government gives 250 of that to his family and keeps $199,750 or 99.875%.
Now you tell me that that isn't a successful economy.
Who needs Farms? Who needs Agriculture? Who needs Industry?
And the best bit is that the more uncomfortable life is for the general populace, the more they join the diaspora abroad; the bigger the payoff!
I signed up for a hotmail account in the mid-ninetys when it was about the only way that you could send or receive email for free without spending 200 quid to join CIX or Compuserve.
That was before Microsoft bought them.
I suggest that Hotmail is not so much the runt of the litter, but the mother.
I read the thing on the 'Swindle' and, for me at least, it indicates a degree of duplicity from the makers of the film which borders on the fraudulent.
Master Baker seems to require proof beyond any element of doubt before he would accept that the film is little more than propaganda.
Surely, just this evidence of 'one scientist' undermines the credibility of the film as a whole?
Currently you can buy a pre-pay sim for under 5 Rand (about 30p), so all you need to do is hold a gun to a tourist's head and you're in business.
Still, like most legislative action of this kind, it will not hinder the criminals, merely inconvenience the law abiding citizen.
The bulk of South Africans have no way of proving their address and the identity document system here is a shambles with duplicate numbers common and the issuing of such documents routinely taking several years to process.
But, yes, as TFA states, a great way for the telkom companies to make money....