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GTRacer
- Dec 21, 2004 - The day I find out if I get GT4 imported or not

I find also extremely useful the ability of Emacs (thanks to Ange-FTP) to edit files remotely: is is just as simple as opening ``/username@host:/remote/file/name'', and everything (dired and completion included) just works as if it was on a local filesystem, so I don't even have to move from my workstation...

OTOH, for those who like having everyting and the sink but don't feel comfortable with Emacs, I'd say that JEdit is surely the best choice for them: it is completely scriptable using BeanShell, a Java-like scripting language, and has lots and lots of plugins for additional functionalities.

Another option -- and I can't recommend this highly enough -- is eshell for emacs. It's the best interactive shell I have ever used (by a long shot, and I've used many), and it's especially nice on NT/Win2k/XP because emacs is an infintely better terminal environment than the standard command windows you have to run cmd, tcsh, or bash in.

Eshell is so good that I can see myself giving up emacs as an editor and keeping it for the shell. And that's saying something.

The above port of tcsh would be my next choice, followed by Cygwin's bash. You'll want Cygwin so you can have the full set of commands under eshell anyway, but bash isn't as well integrated with Windows as eshell and the tcsh port.

OpenBSD, for example, was left out of the "most improved" category, despite the security audit that made them the most secure OS in existence. Tim O'Reilly was left out of the advocacy category. Brian Behlendorf, whose Apache project has the distinction of achieving the largest market share of any open source project, was left out of the "unsung hero" category. And what's this about Richard Stallman for "Best dressed?" Unless the intent is to make a sarcastic joke at his expense, this is silly. The FreeBSD Daemon Girl (see http://www.gci-net.com/~u sers/f/fluke/comdex/bsdgirl1.jpg) got my nomination. But she wasn't included on the ballot, even though I both mentioned her in the discussion and entered her into the form.

When I e-mailed Rob Malda asking why none of these folks appeared on the ballot, he said that nominations had been closed and that it was "too late." However, I did mention these candidates in plenty of time in the nomination discussions, and entered all of them on the nomination Web form! Other people also recommended them in the discussions.

I certainly hope that these folks were not excluded from the ballot because the awards were actually intended to go to specific people or only people from certain organizations. (With only one or two exceptions, only people involved with Linux or FSF projects appear on the ballot.) Since Andover is spending enough to buy a house on these awards ($100,000 for the awards themselves and probably about $50,000 on space at the convention, advertising, etc.), they should include candidates such as these. Currently, my ballot mostly says "Abstain" -- and I bet I'm not the only one!

Since this is the Web, it's never too late to add candidates or allow write-ins. How about it, guys? It's sure better than winding up with people who aren't the readers' choices.

--Brett Glass

Since none of the current candidates are particularly interesting, I'd like to nominate the BSD Daemon Girl as a write-in candidate for the "Best Dressed" award. As the picture at http://www.gci-net.com/~u sers/f/fluke/comdex/bsdgirl1.jpg shows, she very much deserves the honor -- certainly more than any candidate on the ballot.

FYI, here's a quick shot of FreeBSD's daemon hostess.