Posts by Kelvari

Pirate Bay verdict: Three operators lose appeal

Just a minor setback.

Just like Napster, this is only a minor setback to the pirate sub-culture. No matter how many sites are taken down, there will always be one more to take up the torch. History has proven that time and time again.

Two-year wait for Windows 8, MS blurts

In case we've all forgotten....

the 5-year gap between XP and Vista wasn't the norm for Microsoft. It was an exception to the rule. I'd like to point out the following examples: Windows 3.1 (1992), Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows XP (2001). I follow Microsoft's stance that ME never existed, as it never really went mainstream. 3 years between Oses for 4 iterations. Longhorn was initially slated for release in 2004/5, before its developmental reboot. I'm glad to see Microsoft getting their footing again after that SNAFU, but I wonder if the market's ready for it. With everyone having been on XP for so long (there are probably people out there graduating high school this year whose first computer ran XP), nobody bothered to think much about it.

If W8 does make Microsoft go tits-up, then I wonder what's going to come in to fill the massive vacuum that will leave in the market. Will Linux machines be the new thing? Will Apple take over the world?

Firefox 4 beta 7 hits 'spectacular list of crashes' roadblock

It's still a beta...

By default, this means that there are going to be bugs in it. I'd rather see them work out as many as possible - especially the show-stoppers - before declaring it a "final release".

Youth jailed for not handing over encryption password

Would be ironic...

... if "Not sayin" actually WAS the password. Or even something like "There is no encryption password," or anything else to that effect.

US.gov set IPv6 upgrade deadlines

This should've been done already.

IPv6 has been a standard since 1998. Here it is 12 years later, and we're still dealing with IPv4 exhaustion issues? It sounds to me like the big businesses - and maybe government meddling - have really thrown the wrench into the works on this one.

Bill would let feds block pirate websites worldwide

The US is not...

... the police of the world. They need to stop acting like they are. Just because American's don't like what's going on in Siberia, the Ukraine, or wherever else, that doesn't give them the right - by any stretch of the imagination - to go in and raise a temper-tantrum about it. They really need to grow up and learn to play by the same rules as everyone else, I'd say. Worry about your own country first, and don't try to tell everyone else how to live their life.

Pirate Bay beset by tainted ads

Another option...

is to use an ad-blocker program for your web browser. Of course, though, you should always make sure your system is up-to-date anyway, whether it be Linux, Mac, or Windows.

Jolly Roger for TPB.

Pentagon confirms attack breached classified network

Free Software....,

sometimes is only free for home use, such as is the case with AVG and avast! antivirus suites. Admittedly, they're cheaper than the alternatives (ex: Norton, McAfee, etc), but still far from free.

Acrobatic pilot survives loss of wing

A good idea

I've read the posts, and can see where both sides of the argument are coming from. From what I saw in the video, though, I would have to definitely say that, if the issue were to come up for vote, I would vote for the inclusion of a ballistic chute as at least an option (if not exorbitantly priced) for all light aircraft. Obviously, a ballistic chute isn't going to do much for something like a 747, but the training for a 747 as compared to the training for a Cessna are worlds apart.

Is it all over for Mars Rover?

There may yet be hope...

After all, the Martian Solstice is still some time away. Should Spirit not reply, though, then I am sure that March 22 will be a day remembered by all space enthusiasts - maybe with enough petitioning, we can get a global Holiday: Martian Spirit Day!

Perhaps, one day, when man does finally set foot on the surface of Mars, they will find Spirit, and build a shrine to the little rover for going far above and beyond the call of duty.

Tombstone for the dying batteries - but undying spirit - of Spirit.

Hollywood claims Aussie ISP promoted BitTorrent use

RIAA

The way the Reg expanded the acronym summarizes perfectly the way that most Americans feel about it.

3D films fall flat

Avatar

I know from reading the comments that not everyone will agree with me on this, but Avatar was a good example of how 3D should be done. Journey to the Center of the Earth, though, was an example of how 3D should NOT be done. The main trick to keeping your viewers from getting sick, as so many reports have stated happens, is to maintain roughly the same field depth between shots. Don't go from a deep shot to a shallow shot to a wide-angle shot - you'll get people putting their popcorn back in the buckets like that. Instead, make easy transitions from deep field to shallow, or if that's not possible, there's always the old-fashioned 'fade-to-black' routine that has been in cinematography for ages.

Finland mulls legalizing use of unsecured Wi-Fi

Makes sense to me....

After all, most router configurations nowadays only take a matter of minutes to set up properly. I don't see any reason why someone who wants their router to be secured wouldn't be able to secure it. If you want to leave it open, then that's like leaving your car parked with the windows rolled down and the keys in the ignition.

Approaching space object 'artificial, not asteroid' says NASA

It's too bad...

that nobody was able to get a good picture of it. This is where all of those deep-space telescopes and such could come in handy - zoom in and take a nice shot of whatever it is with Hubble or STEREO or something. Then we might have a better chance of figuring it out.

Win XP SP2 support to cease in two months

I'll be glad....

when XP finally does kick the bucket. It wasn't meant to last even half as long as it has - none of Microsoft's OSes were meant to last more than 5 - 6 years, tops, and if you look back at their release cycle, we were looking at a new OS every 3 years (3.1 in 1992, 95 and 98 are both obvious, XP in 2001....) until the development cycle for Longhorn got rebooted just before its launch. By all rights, XP should've been dead years ago. Vista didn't help the migration any when it came out, to be honest, but that was due to poor marketing on Microsoft's part, trying to put Vista on computers that can barely run Windows XP (have you tried to run XP with 512 MB RAM, fully patched, or even 1 GB? It's pretty slow, really....)

The compatibility issues between XP and Vista/7, though, do give a reason to pause and take a look at WINE, though - the cost of the upgrade to 7 can be quite high, with the new hardware and such - but that doesn't mean that Linux is going to be the right choice for everyone. More than likely, though, any 'mission critical' apps will be updated to support Windows 7, and XP will eventually fall to the wayside, just like ME before it and Vista after it.

NASA tests amazing bailout rocket which will never be used

An amazing launch.

Even though the Orion is supposed to have been canceled, the fact remains that NASA will need to have some method of getting its crews safely back to Earth, should the unfortunate happen as it did with both the Challenger and the Columbia shuttles. Either of them most likely could have been saved by such a device, if it were to have been fitted to the shuttles' crew compartments. In my opinion, experimentation in the name of safety should never be overlooked, for you never know when that one idea you had overlooked will be the one that will save the day.

Microsoft's FUD goes mobile

This is sickening....

It's situations like this that make me want to vomit in a box and mail it to MS's HQ. This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. It'd be like saying "You can sell Ford cars, but you have to give 10% of your profit to Chevy." Why? Does Microsoft own Google? Last I checked, no. Does Microsoft own Android? Again, no. Does Microsoft own Linux? They claim to, but without knowing what patents they're saying are being infringed upon, I'd have to say no again. HTC really should've grown a pair and stood up for themselves.

I'm with the others here that say that HTC is now off of their list as a possible handset. I wasn't even in the market right now, but when I do start looking, I know which ones I won't be looking at, or sure.

Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx stalks PC and Mac converts

I agree completely

Though the Ubuntu OS is a wonderful OS, it suffers from the same fatal flaw as any other Linux distribution: Lack of BIG NAME apps. Call of Duty on WINE? Probably not. Visio on WINE? I couldn't get it to work myself.

Admittedly, I only have a few non-native apps that I run - WoW being the main one - but I've had to look up stuff for others before, and I have to admit that I'm disappointed in the lack of major corporate development for Linux apps.

I'm not going to say that they have to be free for us to use them, or even at a reduced price. Go ahead and put them at the same price as the Windows version of it, if you have to make a separate version, or just put an installer program that'll fetch the required packages and such from the central server. There are options, there are possible solutions. It's just that nobody, it seems, is taking the time to implement them. Even Adobe's Flash for Linux doesn't work as well as the Windows version, from my experiences. This is really unacceptable, but it's not anything that the people on the Linux side can do - it's up to the developers to do the proper testing and such to make sure that it works properly for the intended OS.

Watchdog calls for Google break-up

Monopoly by choice

Google may have reached a monopoly status, but they became such because people CHOSE to use them. If you don't like them, then use one of the other search engines out there and a different free email provider. There's even different video sites out there than YouTube.

Microsoft became a monopoly by FORCING their products onto OEMs, with severe penalties and such for allowing any non-MS OS to be sold as an OEM option. They didn't earn their monopoly status - they bought it.