Free Republic

<p>REDMOND, Wash. -- First Microsoft set out to put a computer in every home. Now the software giant hopes to put one in every vehicle, too.</p> <p>"We'd like to have one of our operating systems in every car on Earth," said Dick Brass, vice-president of Microsoft's automotive business unit. "It's a lofty goal."</p>

This is another neat toy. Create imaginary landscapes with this program. Below are a few I made in just a few minutes with Tarragen and PhotoShop Elements Sunset In Tiu Vallis, Mars Mars Another Addy for a guy who does neat Mars pics.. http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~veenen/terragen/mars/mars.html Just cut and paste the addy.

"Celestia is a free real-time space simulation that lets you experience our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All travel in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit." Available for MAC...

Today Linux, Tomorrow the World? By James V. DeLong The term "open source" is linked with software, and most particularly with Linux, the operating system which, it is hoped or feared, can challenge both Microsoft's position on the desktop and its ambitions to extend its empire into server space. The theory is that Linux and other open source programs are written by hordes of volunteers, each contributing his/her widow's mite of code, communicating at zero cost over the Internet, and self-organizing their efforts without need for either the incentives of markets or the commands of organizational hierarchies. The proof that...

SCO is expanding its campaign to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about open source software to Congress. The excessive hyperbole and “the sky is falling rhetoric” underlines the failure SCO has had in advancing its apparently frivolous claims against other companies which still create technology products and innovate. The company has been spreading FUD through past letters and lawsuits, and now SCO executives are telling Congress that Linux, open source software in general, and specifically, the General Public License (GPL), which protects most open source software is: a threat to the U.S. information technology industry; a threat to U.S.’ competitive...

This month, the U.S. Army is installing new software in Iraq that allows troops to search over two dozen databases containing information on hostile Iraqis. Many units have developed databases to assist in finding Iraqis who are attacking, or planning to attack, coalition forces. The new "Horizontal Fusion" software can search through all the databases for relevant information, and show duplicate and conflicting information as well. The Internet based software will work with existing secure (cut off from the public Internet) networks used in Iraq. The individual databases have been a big help in figuring out who the enemy is,...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2003 -- The Defense Department's unquenchable quest to make troops less vulnerable and more lethal has led to a concept called "horizontal fusion." Horizontal fusion is a DoD transformation initiative focused on enabling "net- centric" warfare. DoD officials said net-centric warfare is a concept of operations with information superiority and the ability to make sense of that information as its foundation. The idea is to increase combat power by utilizing all assets in the field and at home to link decision makers and shooters electronically. With access to the same information at the same time, they achieve...

My family runs the greeting card "ministry" at our church. Basically, what we do is create birthday, anniversary, and get well cards for everyone at church to sign and send off to those "special people". Currently, we use the American Greetings Creat-A-Card Select 6 Program. It's a nice program and all, but I find that there aren't enough design choices (there is only one anniversary card under the "religious" catergory, and most of the religious birthday cards seem more like they're for women). I've changed up other cards to be more religious in the message, but I'd like more choices,...

It's getting to be that time of year again, and I'm looking for tax software to file online. I have TaxAct and am considering using it, but before I do I thought I'd put this question out to the Freeper community and see what everyone else is going to use. Have at it!

Am using a Visoneer 8900 USB scanner. In geneeal, it works well and gives a good quality output: copy (though only 1 print per run!), print and scans. OCR is adequate, though not often needed. But - what software/freeware/shareware do you recommend for faxing? Am on Windows XP, earthlink DSL, connected via USB, and have the usual Word and Excel programs. Paperport comes with the scanner, but it doesn't have a fax feature.

Legislation that would require publicly traded companies to conduct independent security audits and detail the results in their annual reports could be revived as early as next spring if a special vendor task force fails to produce a viable alternative. That was the message this week from Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) after the release of his subcommittee's annual report on government cybersecurity efforts (see story). Putnam, chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, failed in his attempt to introduce the legislation last month and instead formed the task force.Most federal agencies received low grades from the subcommittee for...

I've tried everything I can think of and continue to become more and more locked by a virus. Since it won't allow me internet access I'm using another station. Time to abort and erase. Haven't cleaned off an HD for a long time and want to get this over with. Made a Windows start-up disc before it became critical. Using 98se and 6.22. What's the best way to do this? Thanks TC

The mysterious people designing open-source software are the same people who are working for you right now Worried about trusting your infrastructure to a bunch of shaggy college kids who might bolt at any moment for a yearlong backpacking trip to Switzerland? Don't worry. Even if every one of them left for the Alps tomorrow, 90 percent of the open-source community would still be checking in to one of the community's Internet hangouts (SourceForge.net and Freshmeat.net are the most popular) to see what's new. Turns out these people have real jobs—58 percent of the open-source community is made up of...

<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. said on Monday it would start selling specialized software for industries in January and focus its sales force more on business sector than brand to meet customer demand.</p> <p>IBM spokesman Joe Stunkard said the company believes customers want to buy software that is already tailored to their industry, making it cheaper and easier to use.</p>

After watching Microsoft stock fall despite this year's tech rally, Microsoft shareholders sharply questioned Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer during the company's annual meeting yesterday in Bellevue. Investors in general are more skeptical after recent corporate scandals and, after three relatively weak years for Microsoft's stock, there were few cheers from the crowd of 1,250 at Meydenbauer Center. Shareholders did not go so far as to throw out any board members, all of whom were re-elected yesterday, and they approved changes to the stock-option plan that Ballmer proposed in July. But they asked when the company will...

Software can tell if insurance claimants lying By Sean O’Riordan PLANS by companies to install software that detects people making fraudulent insurance claims were welcomed yesterday. With insurance fraud expected to cost over €100 million this year, the Insurance Federation of Ireland said both companies and policy holders would benefit from the development. Two Irish companies have expressed interest in acquiring the software, created by British-based firm Digilog, which is headed by a former police detective. The software analyses voice patterns, and detects subtle changes which can point to the claimants lying. Those making claims are asked general questions which...

Bill Gates on Monday offered the first public look at Longhorn, the next generation of the Windows PC operating system that he said would be Microsoft's "biggest release of this decade and the biggest since Windows 95." However, the Microsoft chairman gave no timetable for the launch of the software, which has already slipped to a later timetable than originally thought. With Longhorn now not expected before 2006, Microsoft faces a gap in its new product cycle that has left a question over its growth rate in the meantime. Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer, has called Longhorn a "bet the...

When techies consider unions By Aliza Earnshaw, The Business Journal of Portland The very notion of a labor union for software developers and other information-technology workers may strike some as paradoxical, or even ridiculous. After all, techies are thought of as well-compensated, highly skilled workers. So the beginnings of a techie labor union here in the Portland area, called ORTech, may come as a surprise to many who work with or are themselves high-tech workers. "THEY [TECHIES] THINK of themselves as highly skilled individuals who are valued for what they are," said Ilya Ratner, a programmer with years of experience...

A small woodworking tool manufacturer, Stots Corporation, includes a license agreement on its TemplateMaster jig tool. The tool is licensed, not sold, and customers cannot sell it or lend it to others. Nor can they sell or lend the jigs they make with it. We’re all familiar with license agreements on software tools that limit what you can with the product. But what about a license agreement on a real tool limiting what you can with the product and the things you make with it? “Shrinkwrap licenses are showing up everywhere,” a reader recently wrote. “I just bought a jig...

Software frustration stacks up One program does this, another does that - but they don't work together 12:53 PM CDT on Saturday, October 18, 2003 By VIKAS BAJAJ / The Dallas Morning News Software vendors peddled programs during the tech boom as if they were Lego blocks, infinitely stackable to make corporations more efficient. But the sector's go-go days ended a few years ago, in part because many companies arrived at a harsh realization: The programs to manage customer relationships, human resources, logistics and other functions didn't lock snugly into each other after all. "We wish they were Lego...