America, clean up your own backyard

I refer to your article "Singapore puts Draconian thumbscrews on PC use" at this page.

Firstly I think you should know that the correct spelling is SINGAPURA and NOT Singhapura. Secondly, Singapore is known as the Lion CITY not Lion Town. It would be useful for a respectable journalist to at least bother to do enough research to get simple facts like these right.

Secondly, why is the opposition being underfunded an issue? Is the government supposed to fund the opposition with taxpayers' money? Do u see the Democrats funding the Republicans or vice versa? I think not! So if Bush doesn't fund Al Gore's party, why should the People's Action Party fund the opposition?

Before harping about how the Singapore government jails Jehovah Witnesses, it would be good to understand the reason behind this. Instead of making it sound as if the government has something against the JW, why don't you take a moment to realise that ANYONE who refuses to serve National Service will be jailed. And since the JW refuse to serve NS, that is why they are jailed. They are jailed for refusing to serve National Service & not for the fact that they are JW.

As for the Internal Security Act which allows indefinite detention without trial, perhaps you would like to kindly enlighten me as to how different the ISA is from the supposed terrorists being detained at Guatemala [sic, Guantanamo, Ed.] Bay? These people are accused of being terrorists, detained indefinitely, are not given a fair trial, are fed food fit for a dog & live in conditions that are far from what one considers humane. The US govt has even gone as far as to "kidnap" supposed terrorists from other countries, something reported in a BBC documentary.

So if the US government can engage in such activities against people whom they consider a threat to security, then why can't the Singapore government use the ISA against those them deem a threat to security?

It is sad enough that a journalist like yourself doesn't bother to get simple things like names correct. To top it off, you talk about Jehovah Witnesses being arrested without explaining what is the real reason behind their arrests. PLUS you feel that the Singapore government should fund the opposition when Bush doesn't give a cent to Al Gore. Interesting! And then you wax lyrical about the ISA when your own country is subjecting the Guatemala Bay victims to something far worst that the ISA.

Singapore may not be the "best country" in the world but at least we don't have homeless, starving beggars roaming the streets. At least when our soldiers go to other countries for training, they do not get off scot free if they commit murder or rape. Which is more than I can say for US servicemen who are above the law & walk away from crimes be it in South Korea or Okinawa.

And at least the citizens of Singapore can walk down the streets at night without fear of having their heads blown off by a shotgun wielding maniac. Yes, freedom is good. But too much freedom isn't exactly great.

I don't know if you've heard of this saying but it certainly applies here. "Clean up your own backyard before you criticise your neighbour's yard". Singapore is not perfect but the US sure isn't perfect either. So perhaps you would like to write an article critising [sic, Ed.] the US government too.

And the next time you write an article, may I suggest you get simple stuff like names correct AND also do enough research & be fair enough to give more than one side of the story. I do not know if you are familiar with the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics. But I sure as heck see many violations of that code in your article.

I would have expected you, as a journalist, to give an accurate, balanced & complete account rather than write a decisively one-sided anti-Singapore story. But I guess there are journalists and there are journalists.

John Arbuckle
Email supplied

[NUJ code of ethics here. What's the Society of Professional Journalists? Please don't answer, Ed.]

Computer holds Gary Kasparov to draw

Mike

The funny thing about these matches is that you can see the dreaded Kasparov - who often beats human opponents through sheer dread - reacting to the computer program just the way his human opponents react to him. That is, like a rabbit facing a snake.

Kasparov usually seeks complications, knowing he can find his way through them better than anyone else. Against the computer, he avoids them like the plague. Playing a human opponent, he would play on in a drawn position hoping for a blunder. Against the computer, he will agree a draw in a position that is better for himself, fearing a blunder.

All very reassuring, but for those of us who have played computers in earnest it is a bit sad. You are reminded of the old engineer's paraphrase of the laws of thermodynamics: "you can't win, and you can't break even either". If you think you see a clever way of winning material (or, worse still, checkmating) you can be quite sure there is something wrong with it. The only way you can draw is by studiously avoiding the slightest mistake or concession until all the material is off the board. As for winning - forget it.

Chess used to be quite fun before computers!

Tom W.

Hi Mike,

I just wondered....if you look at this.....

Intel "launched" the P4 EEk!, but it's just another 32 Bit CPU....nothing special.....AMD LAUNCHED the Opteron, Athlon64 and AthlonFX....this is special....

Why? Because it can run 64 bit software and Intel can't....that is why....!

If you look else where in the industry, you find that buying the future is allway's better....But people are stupid.... Like videocards, people buy DX9 cards a long time now, because the future games areDX9 and an old DX7/8 card doesn't cope that well.If you try to sell a DX7/8 card today, people start laughing at you....for being stupid:-)

But if you buy a future CPU like the AMD's people look at you if you are coming from mars.....They all say, Intel P4 that's the future....they are wrong but they don't know it yet....

Offcourse some tests show the AMD slower....but in the future they WILL run 64 bit software.....The people with Intel's EE? can't run it.....think of it....Intels offerings are NOT future proof!!!!

I predict that in the next year (maybe 2) we will see many software coming where you have to say: Sorry but your Intel is not 64 bit capable....:-) As you know the prices of Intels EE and AMD64's are very high, too high in my opinion...why would anyone buy an Intel solution today, you would be mad spending soooo much money on somethingwithout a future....

I ordered myself a Opteron 240, it's pretty cheap and runs today's software very good...even the board isn't much more expensive then a top-notch P4 or AMD32bit board....Just the ram is a bit more expensive, all in all, a cheap future proof system isn't that expensive, but will run the new software, and WindowsX64 is just around the corner....Do people realize this when they spend tons of money??? I doubt it....

Bas

Intel, IBM and the Xbox2

That's interesting. So far, MS has announced suppliers for three major Xbox-2 subsystems, and Intel isn't on the list.

I wonder if MS wants something really *big* from Intel, and is giving Intel a little taste of what happens when MS doesn't get what it wants? My guess is it would be something connected with Longhorn, probably some special feature(s) in CPUs and/or chipsets that only MS code would be able to use.

I've heard stories about MS wanting special BIOS features just for MS products. Given the way Intel is fond of licensing the use of their technology, it's not hard to envision a hardware+BIOS combination licensing lock-in that would lead to computers that only worked with MS software.

Jude

Intel, IBM and the Xbox2

Bill Gates is dead right

I completely agree with Mr Gates.

I fully expect when I go to a customer's PC that the Windows Update tray Icon will be flashing, despite the fact their PC is infested with the vulnerabilities that could have been patched. A conversation ensues where I explain what Windows Update is and the customer ALWAYS admits he saw it and wondered what it did.

Also, as a support agent for a Broadband ISP in the States, I would wager that less than 5 percent, i.e. only those actually in the tech industry, actually say they have updated their PC or know what Windows update is. Less than ten percent have a firewall and nobody has the XP integrated firewall on. Add to this the neurotic people who have two or even three virus scanners on and the half who have no virus scanning at all and it makes for a big mess. The cheap price and availability of routers is making security a little bit easier, but, again, nobody outside of the tech industry realizes it is a security device.

Add to this the Pavlovian reflex to agree to “always trust software from Gator Corporation” and “make SearchforSex.com you default homepage” and it is no wonder computer users are frustrated. For some unknown reason, even the smartest people turn into chimps in front of their PC. They expect not to understand and act accordingly.

So what now? I hear people bitching that Microsoft is playing with the idea of forced updates and turning the XP firewall on by default. Stop bitching. The only people who are complaining are those that would know how to turn off these services in the first place. Your anti-virus automatically updates. The average Joe wants to sit down at his computer and have it work, not have to go through all that work involved in clicking on a tray icon.

Gordon

HP and Ethics
Am I the only one who finds what HP is calling this anti-propaganda training in bad taste?

A company that is laying off loyal, long-term employees in favor of cheap (and bad) outsorcing efforts shouldn't be trying to tell anyone about business ethics.

HPQ is doing bad, but I think everyone watching from the outside realizes that any effort it makes to right itself seems to fail due to bad execution and stupid ideas. Both sides (Compaq and HP) had profitable businesses for years. Some job overlap is expected during a merger - but the layoffs now routinely comming through are getting rid of the employees that have been there and made both organizations profitable in the past. And now they spend money that could be used to retain good people on training that isn't needed, and dare to say the training is about ethics.

Maybe Carly and the gang could use some ethics training.

Jon Franz

IBM and the Xbox 2 again

The original Xbox used an Intel CPU, NVIDIA graphics processor and Intel Chipset. The new xbox is going to use and IBM cpu, ATI graphics processor and SIS will make the chipset.

This news that hit the markets yesterday evening did not have much effect on Intel nor IBM's stock (IBM is almost 100 billion company and Intel somewhere about 30 billion). But this could be an interesting development that could show the shape of future politics in the chip business. It is speculated that IBM probably won this bid on price and its semiconductor and fab business isn't doing too well so it probably under bid Intel - Last time around the fight was between AMD and Intel - I don't know whether AMD bided or not this time. AMD is supposed to be really busy expanding its Flash business (now the no 1 flash company) and busy ramping Athlon 64 production to take advantage of opportunity windows next year to 18 months and they have already started on K9 designs. AMD is pretty tight on resources fighting a goliath like Intel, especially all that is going on and they now have to deal with the great expectations of shareholders and analysts on becoming a profitable entity.

From a political stand point this is a huge loss to Intel where we've been seeing a gradual but sure erosion to the Wintel coalition. It is highly believed that the Pentium 5 will have AMD64 extensions (with additional Intel64) as per Microsoft's insistence. Additionally, Intel doesn't show any support for Microsoft's anti Linux stance.

What is also interesting is that IBM does not have an x86 license directly - which the current Xbox architecture uses. It makes sense that all of the new Hardware software designs of the new Xbox maintain its x86 lineage. It will probably be cheaper for SIS and ATI to design around an x86 system rather than going for some Power 'X' design. Recently there have been a lot of technical and manufacturing cooperation between IBM and AMD. I recall reading that IBM and AMD has a joint engineering campus in New York. IBM could supply an x86 system under AMD's license. Even suppose its an Athlon variant - one of the most proven and consistent x86 processors now toward the end of its life. Is there life after death for the Athlon? With some modification to its cache or other minor details and you have a processor that could suit everyone, design cost next to zero. This could also lead the way for X86-64 to find its way into game consoles in the future. The interesting question is: Does anyone know if AMD bit on this Xbox 2 CPU? Because if my speculation is correct - it wont, knowing that its coperating with IBM.

If this happens it could be very positive news for AMD both politically in gaining acceptance as a serious challenger to Intel's dominance and to the bottom line.

Just my $0.02

Wilmark