"be a good idea that companies are not allowed to patent an idea "

Ideas are NOT patentable - at least in sensible countries- only implementations are patentable. I can't patent an idea for treating a disease for example but I can patent a chemical entity that has some effect that might be useful in treating that disease, even if it turns out to be not so useful in practice due to side-effects or unrealistic doses or whatever.

"Add to that the fact radio transmissions travel a little slower than the speed of light"

I think I'd alert a physicist about that !

Re: Some Forth:

Sorry, should qualify, that's for indirect threaded code as per most early 8-bit Forths

Re: Some Forth:

No, most 8 bit forths need to JSR which , of course, can be a variable length routine depending on processsor. With the 6809 the actual code to implement NEXT is 4 bytes and can be put in-line saving the sub-routine call at the expense of slightly longer code

LDX 0,Y++

JMP [0,X]

Re: Some Forth:

I'm more impressed by NEXT in 6809 assembler - 4 bytes !

Re: USB 2.0

"I get a desktop up very quickly."

Ditto

Re: "Can you think of a reason they [Microsoft] can get away with this?" ....

I've only use Linux but that's not the point at all.

If you've backed yourself into being dependent on Windows ( or anything else) that is a de facto monopoly, even if it's largely self-inflicted.

Re: NOOooooooo!

Excellent - many thanks.

Re: NOOooooooo!

I know what you mean - I was taught Physics by a guy who had worked on the Manchester "baby" - he had a photo showing him stripped to the waist working in a cellar surrounded by racks of valves.

I thin Douglas Adams sums it up very well in a passage that kind of parodies the "Seven Ages of Man" speech from "As You Like It" but I can't just put my hand on just now. It's along the lines of - a technology that's invented when you reach a certain age is new and exciting and you could possibly get a job working with it ..........

I'm sure someone will have the passage off by heart

Re: NOOooooooo!

I can only repeat :-

"What do old people know about computers apart from the fact they invented them"

Re: What amazes me...

"Linux is unusable - even if you are a computer bod you actually want to use your computer to achieve something, this just isn't possible with an OS so full of holes, problems.."

I don't recognise any of this !

It's certainly totally usable for me and mine, we don't use anything else. It was usable ( in fact essential) for the major pharmaceutical company I worked for and that was 8-9 years ago.

This is the usual ignorance or FUD

Re: The actual reason Linux has never seen mainstream successful on the desktop...

"it's a disjointed pile of mish-mashed shit"

Strange then that I can read your wise words at all as OpenSuse is on all 6 of my computers and gives me a stable productive environment to support my many interests. There isn't one single thing I want to do that I can't do. Updates are automatic and easy, I don't have one piece of hardware that isn't supported - webcams, scanner, 2 printers, USB/serial converters, video acceleration, 3G dongle, wifi. A little bit of research before buying and sticking with a reliable distro has worked well for me.

Re: Lets not just blame java here

"Richto; who is paying you and how much?"

Trevor - I really can't believe ANYONE would pay RICHTO to produce the sort of babbling that he does.

Re: Electric jet

"but with a really big electric heater "

And the really LARGE amount of electricity ?

Re: "And running any platform without some antivirus software is reckles at best, idiotic at worst."

@Richto - from your link - final paragraph

"We should close by saying that the number of Linux viruses that could possibly damage your system in any way is currently less than 10, so don't have any nightmares"

"Except that in the US patent can be renewed"

It can't !

"Nikola Tesla? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they have expired."

If they are relevant they are still prior art though

"He could have been writing Vogon poetry... "

No wonder he was depressed !

Re: Linux trojan ? Utter rubbish!

Any fool can install a trojan - so you should have no trouble !

"why is Linux marketshare so poor?"

Well let's try and work it out.

Essentially all computers come with Windows installed. To have Linux you either :

1) Build your own computer from parts

2) Delete Windows ( which has been paid for) and install Linux

3) Try and find a retailer who isn't cowed and buy from them

4) Get a second-hand machine/hard-drive broken machine and fix and install (really a variant of 1 but useful for laptops)

Given that most people don't even know about alternative operating system and most others have to put up with what their employers/school whatever provide I think 1% of desktops using Linux is actual a very creditable number.

AFAIK

They have a relatively stable population AND well-recorded health data.

So data-mining for health trends/associations is well worth while.

Re: Note their goal is to demonstrate the *tech*, not actually solve a problem.

LOTS of heuristics are used.

Re: Well ...

The problem is really basic science. It's possible now to homology model a modest single domain protein in a few hours even on a desktop workstation. Understanding how the current algorithms and model assumptions fail is MUCH harder. In the end a protein is a dynamic entity and that makes it all much harder.

A few years ago I was interested in a kinase enzyme. A xtal structure was available but the reality turned out that the protein was in dynamic equilibrium between ( at least ) two forms. One was equivalent to the xtal structure, the other was a form that could be activated to give the (unstable) working form - what the structure of that was ???.

The whole reason to model proteins is to make use of the information gained - a fast method of getting the wrong, non-physiological answer is useless on it's own. I'm very optimistic really but there are many problems to solve that don't depend on calculation speed.

Re: Well ...

"protein folding calculation"

It's not a 'calculation' really -just a series of relatively poor algorithms. Huge strides in the basic science have taken place in recent years - these have been assisted by the huge increase in processing power but it's all still far from routine - it's often (relatively) easy to fold a new protein if it has homology to a known structure but even in that 'easy' case it's often found that the optimized solution is still a poor fit to the eventual x-ray structure.

Even x-ray structures, produced as they are at very low temperatures in the solid state may not reflect the 'real' situation in vivo, where the protein is in aqueous solution and may well be associated metal ions (esp. calcium) AND other proteins AND be in dynamic equilibrium with various conformations of itself.

So great if the number crunching can be massively speeded-up but in all other respects there is still a long way to go.

Re: "“Did you use open source code to save time, and the virus was hidden in it?”"

" How many people using open source software actually know how to read the code to see what it does"

How many people using closed source software actually know what it does - fixed that for you

Re: Is El Reg the new Slashdot?

"more directed against Windows than I do against Linux."

Well you would do. There's a lot more Microsoft stuff about.

Re: Is El Reg the new Slashdot?

"put blind hatred and/or favouritism toward a different product/manufacturer above rationality. It is irrational. It is not sane behaviour."

So how do you rationalize your stupid "45 linux desktop users" with your above statement ?

I've worked at a pharma that had 200+ Linux desktops in one department alone (years ago) and know that many others are similar.

I'm all in favour of rational debate about problems/merits of different OS and approaches but as a "minority" Linux user I'm also sick of the FUD spread about Linux. Just in recent days " need the CLI to do anything", "need to compile programs to use them", " drivers only available on certain hardware" - it's not true and there's lots of it. Mostly it's ignorant people but some of it is malicious - so don't whinge on about Windows getting a hard time - it all depends where you're standing.

Re: Is El Reg the new Slashdot?

"created by all 45 users of linux on the desktop"

By the way if you believe that you're delusional

Re: Is El Reg the new Slashdot?

"self-selecting group where a qualification for entry is hating on Microsoft. Which given the law that competition is good for consumers is financial self-harming."

Microsoft and competition - words not often seen together !

and how a group of individuals can become self-selecting ..!!??

It seems that almost NO-ONE love microsoft - some find them useful, some are forced to use their software, some game, some know no better. But hardly anyone likes them.

Re: Am I the only one...

Indeed 1 (and only 1) photon triggers 1 photoreceptor ( which is a modified G-protein coupled receptor). Certainly the retinal cells are capable of truly extraordinary sensitivity.

Re: Finally it's official!

"That's the sole reason I bother to post here"

Please don't feel obligated to continue. I'm sure we'll all get along without you

Re: It gets better

"Bungalarizitation"

Failure to rob a single-story property

Re: @RICHTO

"You don't get away with that shit here any more, without an avalanche of downvotes"

You've obviously not read the reams of similar garbage he's put out in the last month or so - troll or fool who knows ?

Re: @RICHTO

"post more fail if you've got nothing better to do."

He hasn't - he's been posting cr*p like this all over The Reg recently (and being downvoted like no-one I've ever seen)

Re: "tiny herd of nerds"

That 1.5% is people who have voted to use Linux, mostly installed it themselves and maybe incurred the extra cost of Windows to do it.

Compared with go into shop, get essentially no choice and use ( and in many cases ) curse WIndows. As someone else said we wouldn't put up with 1 or 2 models of car, esp. if we had to buy the petrol and tyres from the manufacturer as well.

Re: @Richto

"a put down of Linux."

A very ill-informed put down of Linux I suggest.

Never seen so many down-votes in such a short time.

"Because if you do then no one else can use the idea ever again without paying you money.."

Not true, of course, I think you meant during the patent lifetime of ~~20 years

The whole thingis still Bl**dy stupid !

Re: Whatever is bad for Microsoft is good for everyone else.

@RICHTO

As you seem convinced of the superiority of Windows software over ANYTHING else I'm suprised that you waste your obviously valuable time on us philistines.

So I suggest that you let us get on with using 'inferior' software and in exchange we won't think about you at all.

How about that ?

Re: $90

""ditch the OS""

I think rather a lot more want NO OS devices so they can chose !

"Can the robot arm do ctrl-alt-delete?"

No, but it can probably make a 'gesture' to the camera that will probably do the same - just like many users will to a BSOD.