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We need more newbie-friendly tools to be open. That way, we can make other, similar newbie tools.

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Let's all stop using Linux in general, or *BSD, or BeOS, or OS/2, or Hurd, or Plan 9, or Mach, or Minix, just in case any one of them helps a company make money.

Let's stick with the devil we know, just in case it is possible that sometime, somewhere, there may be another devil around the corner, waiting to get bigger.

Perhaps not the wisest thing I've heard today... but you have the choice to do so.

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...recompile continually.

We're going to win this war because we can reconfigure our officers. (Apologies to Iliad)

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I felt the same way when I picked up this one, actually. If you're ever in the Portland, Oregon area, stay away from Powell's Technical books.

Okay, go. Just be aware that you'll find lots of stuff to buy, and prices are pretty good. Then send Slashdot a couple of bucks. (Is that okay to say, Hemos?)

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I personally don't believe that algorithms should be patentable. I don't begrudge anyone proper remuneration for his or her work, however. (I'm also not interested in debating these two points today, for anyone else who may be reading.)

I do consider enforcing the LZW algorithm patent after GIF had become so widely-used rather suspicious, at best.

I also agree that giving away free licences for non-profit use is a Good Thing, if one must be in the position of licensing an algorithm. I suspect that we disagree on how necessary it is to do so, and that is fine.

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Thanks for taking the time to contact Unisys. Their policies leave a bad taste in my mouth, but your point about poor Cheryl is very well taken.

Still, PNG and MNG keep sounding better all of the time....

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I used to use a penguin skin for CTF, but it stood out really well and I kept getting fragged.

Or maybe I'm just lousy. Hmm.

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Send them to Microsoft's website. Maybe they'll just chew on each other for a while and leave the rest of us alone.

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Maybe it's just me, but I climb up telephone poles and wave magnets over the lines.

I bring along a flourescent tube for output. Yah, it's text based, but it runs ttyquake.

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What do you think Perl actually is?

Disclaimer: I really really like Perl. I've just fought with it all morning and through my lunch hour.

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No... just 50,000 12-eyed aliens. Or didn't you read between the lines of that Interplanetary Internet Protocol story yesterday? heh heh

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Stupid nested comments... You're right.

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I guess you missed the first part of the link. I'll give you a hint, it was www.microsoft.com.

No matter how reliable you consider that site, I think it disproves your theory.

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Maybe it's an Open Source article, and we're all supposed to contribute patches.

Or maybe it's the source code to Windows 2000... hmmm.

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You could use a public FTP directory, for files which aren't terribly confidential. Places like wuarchive.wustl.edu come to mind (but I could be way off on the spelling or the status of that one).

The difficulty I see from where I sit is in dealing with a corporate firewall ... you'd have to use a socksified FTP client, which can be a little tricky to set up. There's also the issue of confidential files.

Yes, there are ways around e-mailing attachments, but I know lots of users (and IT managers) who look at the alternatives and ignore them.

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Isn't that taking localization a bit too far?

The obvious solution is to change your name to 'Red Hat Linux'. Then, you can sell stock in yourself!

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I tried. Pity. There was only room for the first two characters.

sigh!

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I have experimented with FrontPage 2000 at work (contrary to what my link below might indicate, oops!). In my defense, however, it was only to train some of my users on how to make web pages. The plan is to wean them off of FP2K and on to Notepad, eventually.

I guess FP2k is okay for automating some of the repetitive and/or tricky stuff, but the default templates make pages that look like PowerPoint slides! Yuck!

The disturbing thing to me is the idea that one has to spend lots of money and or time to have a good web site. That web site will look like all of the others (animated 'Catch The Monkey' ad banner at the top, links to other stories on the right, more ads in the middle... yuck) and it'll cost you $x00 for Office 2k to do it, and $x000 for NT server and IIS to run it and....

Does that make sense? I think lots of those big sites aren't saying much besides "We are giving you a little bit of free stuff just to deliver your eyeballs or your personal information to big companies who also want to deliver your eyeballs to other big companies...." and "Wait here while big graphics and plug-ins download, unless you're not using the latest greatest web browser. In which case, go away."

That's hardly a revolutionary message. My idea of quality has more to do with content than presentation, though. Vive la difference!

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It's probably related to the motivation to write free/open software!

That is, the odds are only unsurmountable if you choose to play by the established rules (such as, security through obscurity, release late and infrequently, charge lots of money, restrict freedoms and so forth).

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I wouldn't say that it appeals to Joe Average, but it is good for building small, dedicated boxes.

For example, previous posters mentioned dedicated MP3 players and firewalls. I might use it to control small electronic devices (like an X10 server, perhaps, just as an example) or some such nonsense.

Basically, I think it would be cool to have a small, low power device that runs an OS I'm familiar with (and use on my desktop) -- that way, I can add new functionality and operate the silly thing with my existing knowledge.

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Hm, how come I posted this while logged in (and I can see my name right next to the Log Out option) and it shows up as an AC?

Very interesting. Oh Rob....

(chromatic, logged in on the Reply screen)

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Will someone elaborate the differences between microevolution (adaptation) and macroevolution (the rise of new species)?

I, for one, am unaware of any scientifically documented and repeatable experiments which demonstrate that members of one species can become members of an entirely new species (which cannot interbreed).

But I spend my time on other things. Mmm, Perl.

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I think we've just found a low-end machine that actually can't run Linux.

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I've rarely seen a theater so quiet.

I've rarely heard a theater so full.

Now all Mr. Katz needs to do is to draw the parallel between independent filmmaking and independent musicmaking with MP3s, and argue for web-, ftp-, and IRC-based distribution of these films and he's on to something here.

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Lack of research and development of existing software, I guess.

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I mean, c'mon - "feedback is assessed and integrated into the system?" What the hell does that even mean?

Well, we know it doesn't mean that customers are submitting patches and bugfixes that make it into the code.

They're probably just changing desktop themes or something like that.

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Surely you mean a reboot.

Anyway, with a moderately well-designed plant, meltdowns are pretty unlikely. Gravity is Y2K-compliant (neutron absorbing control rods go down and curtail the reaction).

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Hardly. I sneezed outside last week, which caused those thunderstorms. Really. I saw Jurassic Park which explained the whole thing.

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Actually, a feature freeze will probably help stability.

Instead of spending more time adding new features than on refining existing code, the kernel folks will spend more time on polishing the code, having stopped adding new features (the word "stop" being a bit relative).

That would give, at the very earliest, assuming that fall in California starts around the 20th of September, about a month of bugfixing. And that's a minimum.

It doesn't seem like such a hurry from where I sit. *shrug*

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I think your subject line should read "Half-Wit", 'cuz of the spammers involved... but no one ever went broke underestimating the taste or intelligence of the American people.

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Actually, I prefer Perl.

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Hmm... does that mean it's not safe around ESR?

(For the humor-impaired, check out the AfterY2K link from the main Slashdot page -- especially the comic for July 27 or so. This is not a rant.)

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Hm, if I fit either of those, I'd probably have more time to work on free software!

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Flippantly, a brokerage run like an open source project. Run away in terror!

More seriously, a brokerage that specializes in open source stocks. Not that there are very many of them -- and that's probably a good thing. Can you imagine the government getting involved in free software? Next, you'll hear Al Gore inventing gcc.

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I wonder if there's such an animal as an open source stock brokerage.

Somehow, I doubt that would work, but it's an interesting idea.

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Watching a movie? Okay...

Here's another fun question:
What if the theater owner had decided not to show the South Park movie?

What would Mr. Katz do? What would you (the readers in general, not user sjames in particular) do?

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Perhaps you could send Mr. Katz some tourism brochures? (insert smiley here)

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Are you sure that watching a movie is a "basic right"?

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... they're just playing Buzzword Bingo with company and technology names instead of terms like 'paradigm', 'restructure', and 'action-item'.

Sorry boys, it doesn't work if you yell out the names.

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I'm not thrilled with Outlook's performance in general, but I blame Exchange for the woes I've seen.

Not that there's any excuse for Outlook being such a pig when it can't connect to the server. *sigh*
I should probably also say that I see nothing but a philosophic difference between malicious code and buggy, showstopping code, just to stay on topic.

I am kinda surprised cDc compares itself to Microsoft, though.

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I believe all that command does is actually execute OUTLOOK.EXE.

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I wonder if one could re-write Perl in Perl. People have ray-traced in Perl.

Hey, you have to boot-strap somewhere! If Be is the Object-Oriented Operating System, PerlOS can be the RegExp TMTOWTDI Operating System!

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7) Dust Puppy!
8) Alan Cox?

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Look at all of the irresponsible closed source software out there, heh heh.

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This is the same George Lucas who wouldn't let theaters show his film unless they banned discount coupons for his movie.

Dunno which Legos, Linux, or Star Wars toys are better at expanding kids' minds. Heh heh.

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I've seen it too.

Advanced Tea Substitute. Can't beat Brownian motion for powering an Infinite Improbability Generator!

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chromatic's law: Web sites that sell stuff expand until they can auction off free e-mail addresses.

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Anyway, it's painfully obvious when so many great artists released all of their best material in near obscurity for the last 20 years that there is something wrong with the monopoly.. er... system. Death to your evil mega-corporation.

The only thing that is obvious (and I use the term ironically) is that equating artistry and beauty and talent with commercial success is a mistake. How many people suffer from the illusion that the big record companies spend so much money on marketing to promote great artists?

How many people suffer from the illusion that Sony executives are going to shut down and confiscate my computer because I have written and recorded songs and I distribute them in MP3 format? I have no contract with Sony. They have no legal right to do so. Nice monopoly.

Otherwise one might have to conclude that those awful "When ______ Attack!" specials on the US FOX network have some artistic merit.

How naive. You only get one vote; I suppose you're happy with the political system too? What? You never vote? Sorry.

In a capitalistic, market-driven system, I have as many votes as I have dollars to spend on entertainment from the Giant Five. (and that's a very small amount, as I am generally unwilling to finance such pablum)

In the boardroom, I have as many votes as I have voting-shares of stock.

You're right -- blame the people who don't vote, or who don't care what they support. Or who do. I don't care.

Just don't expect me to believe that there are very many conspiracies out there that don't focus mainly on money.

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The core issues are really choice and price, and whether individuals can take back some creative power and influence for the mega-corporations that now control American culture, from music to broadcasting to publishing.

I guess I'd better sell my stock, 'cuz I'm an owner of those evil mega-corporations. I guess I'd better stop choosing to use their products and services... it's the people who define culture, and the same people who own corporations. If we chose not to pay for their stuff, they would have to sell something else, or go out of business.

In the United States, the five labels sell $14 billion worth of music every year. Small wonder kids rebelled and began downloading the music they wanted.

Sounds more like people with $14 billion dollars bought the music they wanted. People getting what they want makes other people want to rebel? I don't understand this line of thought. Perhaps the intermediary logics are missing.

Zappers and switchers permitted TV watchers to take control of their sets back from the three networks that monopolized TV programming for half-a-century. People could make choices about what they wanted to watch, and were no longer forced to choose from the tepid offerings of three networks.

Please. Until entertainment industry executives break into my house and force me even to buy a television, much less watch it all of the time, the idea that people don't have a choice is a joke.

You have a choice not to watch TV. Or to watch only public TV. Or not to own a TV. Or to change the channel. (And unless by "zapper" you mean "free cable or digital broadcasting", your point is silly anyway.)

As for the rest, there have been garage bands making tapes and CDs and what-have-you for decades. The real revolution is just a means of communication.

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