table stakes

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about trusting their data's security to someone who uses gambling metaphors?

FRECKLES

Firing and

Release

Electronics

Comprising

Killswitch and

Locator

Enabling

Stratospheric launch.

New Reg Measurement

Lewis, it's probably a good rule of thumb that if the Daily Mail are being less foaming at the mouth rabidly anti something than you are then you're probably taking it a bit too far (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2201242/Wind-turbines-supply-half-world-s-energy-minimal-damage-environment.html).

Speaking of which can we have a new Reg unit of measurement for foaming-at-the-mouth-rabidly-anti? Eamples would include

Thatcher's distate for the unions ran to one demi-Page,

Lenin was known to express a whole Page towards dissidents, or

PETA will be double-Paging all bacon butties.

Nick

Newer Languages?

It seems Matt's not been paying attention in history class again.

PHP release 1.0 1995 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Php#Release_history)

Python conceived in the 1980s first implementation started in 1989 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_%28programming_language%29#History)

Java started in 1991 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29#History)

Dot Not^WNet initial release in 2002.

So according to strict chronology Python's the oldest, then Java, PHP and .Not^WNet.

Unless if by "newer" you mean "Matt hasn't heard of them before" in which case there a a few Neolithic cricles around my way that are newer than your house.

Unless (2) you mean to associate newness with goodness?

Nick

Plus Ca Change

Well I don't see that this is going to kill off either development or product consultancy due to the rules of reusability.

When something is sufficiently capable as to be widely useful it requires complex configuration to work exactly how you want it to (hence product consultancy).

When a group of things are sufficiently simple to be understandable then a number of them must be integrated to do anything of value (hence bespoke development).

There are advantages and disadvantages to either approach so neither is likely to be universally applicable and so the train rumbles on.

Eh?

Reaches Wales? We've had FTTC in Cas-Gwent (Saesneg: Chepstow) for about a year or so.

Marvellous

Google goggles.

So does that mean

If "The phrase derives from amicus curiae, which means 'friend of the court'." does that mean that amicus brief means friend of the briefs?

Nick

Mistake?

"...media students to argue among themselves. Afterall, they're unlikely to bump into either theologians or physicists."

That can't be right, surely there's at least one physicist or priest(ess) that likes burgers?

Apologies

So does this mean the Australians have lost their marbles?

@Mithvetr

Not entirely sure if you're trolling or overreacting but Linux gaming has evolved a bit beyond Tetris.

http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/products.php?

I was able to get a Linux port of the Doom 3 engine up a running a week or so after the Windows version came out.

That said I'm a long way from being a hard-core games freak and stick to the console nowadays, it being a great deal less hassle anyway.

@ Nigel Wright, @Cameron Colley

A couple of observations. It's probably fair to say that Reg readers have more than a little bit of extra tech knowledge over and above what exists in the general population, so their expectations aren't the same as those of normal users. So installing A.N.Otherlinux or <shudder> XP is what you'd expect. This isn't the area of the market that the manufacturers were targetting and the fact that techy folks can quite happily take care of themselves anyway suggests it's the right approach.

UIs are often a highly individual preference - witness the ability to customise the bejesus out of KDE, Gnome and (to a limited degree) Windows. Personally I've seen people look at the standard UI on the AA1 and go Ooh! - they're relieved that it's so easy to find the functions they're after and not need to click through some K -> Internet -> KMail (insert preferred options here) that only makes sense _after_ you've adapted to it.

The splitting of tasks into areas of related functionality is a complete change from the way that PCs have worked pretty much since day one. It was a relief to see someone trying something different from the desktop metaphor and actually structuring the UI around the tasks that people want to do - turning the PC more into an appliance. It's not going to be to everyone's taste but there are at least some people that prefer it that way and for the rest there's the ability to install whatever else you want.

Missing the Point

There are a number of comments here complaining that the version of Linux installed is the problem, which I think is missing the point of the netbook machine entirely.

They're meant for a bit of email, browsing and light office work at low cost and low weight and without the set-up hassles.

I bought my wife an AA1 with the locked down Linux and it does what it was bought to do perfectly. If anything more heavyweight needs doing there's an iBook sitting around and a desktop with Debian testing on it, but the times when they're needed are vanishingly small.

I think the manufacturers have done an admirable job of understanding their target user population and designing accordingly. The fact that those who need to can always install something with a bit more poke is more of a bonus added extra than a damming indictment of the installed OS.

Sounds Familiar

A long time ago (in IT terms) I did some evaluation work on Egenera's BladeFrame which took (if memory serves) 20 servers and removed the disks and network adapters and virtualsed the lot across a single cabinet. Conceptually at least it doesn't sound a million miles away from this idea and has the advantage that there's actually products that have really been used by real people.

What About the Range?

Running those numbers through a few rough calculations gives 8 minutes of power (admittedly at full whack) from the battery pack. Even at 100 m/h that only gives a range of 13 miles. It looks like the petrol adjunct is going to have to do a lot of work.