The vagaries of hardware, software and natural language will always ensure that exact reproducibility remains uncertain, but withholding code increases the chances that efforts to reproduce results will fail.

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The idea, says Buell Duncan III , IBM's general manager for ISV and developer relations, is to create a network of companies large and small, which are conversant in both nonproprietary, or open, computing standards, like the Linux operating system or the Java programming language, and IBM's suite of hardware, middleware and services.

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The advent of modern optimizing compilers and many fold enhancements in computing hardware performance have now eliminated the need to use an assembly language in most applications and most applications are now written in higher level languages.

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On his most recent trip, he stopped in Shenzhen to confirm that he had lined up nearly every major Chinese computer manufacturer behind his company's "Venus project, " a combination of software and hardware that lets VCD players and other, similar devices display Chinese-language Internet content on an ordinary TV set.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

But that manner of righteous indignation can often fail to make an impression on those attempting to live their lives unaffected on the sidelines, as hardware behemoths level a seemingly endless string of suits based on often overly broad language.

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