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It is being sponsored by DARPA.

Cool stuff. They built it with security in mind and it runs under:
Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Solaris.

While I think some of your points are valid, I also think Sun has made a huge improvement in the area of application setup with their Java Web Start product (now part of the standard jre distribution)

http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/

With Java Web Start installed in the client's computer you can distribute your Java application by just setting up a web page with a configuration file. The user just click a link in the page and Java Web Start downloads your code, all the libraries and even a newer version of the jre if needed. The application runs on an applet-like sandbox, so it will not read or modify local files, unless the user authorizes it. The applicacion is then cached for future use, so it will not be downloaded again, unless an automatic checking proves it has changed. If you are using Windows Java Web Start will ask you whether you want to add an icon to the menu the second time you start an application.

Of course, all this wonderful features work only if you have the jre installed in the first place. So it's some kind of chicked and egg situation. Anyway, I don't find the standard jre installation more complex that, say, installing Acrobat Reader, or other commonly used plug-ins.

Sun mantains a collection of links to third party Java applications:
Swing sightings. Some of them very interesting, some of them Web-startable.

While I think some of your points are valid, I also think Sun has made a huge improvement in the area of application setup with their Java Web Start product (now part of the standard jre distribution)

http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/

With Java Web Start installed in the client's computer you can distribute your Java application by just setting up a web page with a configuration file. The user just click a link in the page and Java Web Start downloads your code, all the libraries and even a newer version of the jre if needed. The application runs on an applet-like sandbox, so it will not read or modify local files, unless the user authorizes it. The applicacion is then cached for future use, so it will not be downloaded again, unless an automatic checking proves it has changed. If you are using Windows Java Web Start will ask you whether you want to add an icon to the menu the second time you start an application.

Of course, all this wonderful features work only if you have the jre installed in the first place. So it's some kind of chicked and egg situation. Anyway, I don't find the standard jre installation more complex that, say, installing Acrobat Reader, or other commonly used plug-ins.

Sun mantains a collection of links to third party Java applications:
Swing sightings. Some of them very interesting, some of them Web-startable.

SSA and Fibre Channel are two seperate technologies. You can find some (biased) information about them here.

The way I heard it is, historically SSA and Fibre Channel competed somewhat, and since IBM was pushing SSA and got off to a late start on Fibre Channel development, they were actually trying to kill Fibre Channel for awhile.

Though I have no idea what's up with SSA these days, Fibre Channel is mostly alive and well. It is intended to be a higher-performance replacement for SCSI. It is also higher cost, even though the components are supposed to cost less to manufacture, and I think this is hurting it. I think companies inflate the cost of their FC products because of the economies of scale *and* simply because it performs better than SCSI. Well, and also the FC protocol (in all its glory) is wayyyy complex. The designers went for total flexibility (multiple topologies, multiple classes of service.. heck you can run TCP/IP over it) and it shows -- most vendors only support a limited subset of the possible functionality.

One other interesting thing about Fibre Channel is that gigabit ethernet borrowed its physical interface (up through the 8B/10B encoding method).

It's worth noting that if you are using a relatively recent version of the JDK/JRE, you're already safe. From the Sun press release:

This vulnerability does not affect the Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, versions 1.4 and 1.3.1.

1.3.1 has been out since the middle of last year.

Actually, Sun's had a 24.1" LCD out for a while now with the 1900x1200 resolution that the new 23" Apple LCD features.

http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hw/periphe rals/monitors.html#24.1inch

Sun has a 24.1" LCD display, which offers the same resolution of the new Apple display, though about $1000 more (from what I've read from other sources). Still, I drool over the Apple display.

I wouldn't exactly call that a user manual ;o)

Subject: The Worst Job in the World
From: Michael Tiemann <tiemann@cygnus.com>

I have a friend who has to have the worst job in the world: he is a Unix system administrator. But it's worse than that, as I will soon tell.

Being a Unix system administrator is like being a tech in a biological warfare laboratory, except that none of the substances are labeled consistently, any of the compounds are just as likely to kill you by themselves as they are when mixed with one another, and it is never clear what distinction is made between a catastrophic failure in the lab and a successful test in the field.

But I don't want to tell you about biological warfare, I want to tell you about what makes my friend's job so terrible. First, some context.

The training for Unix system administration is a frightening process. When machines start dying, users start screaming, and everything grinds to a halt, the novice feels the cold fingers of terror clutching about his heart.

#!/bin/sh
# this doesn't work, but no time to fix it -- hope nothing crashes
progname=$0

But if one stays the course, one might some day achieve the dubious satisfaction of being able to mutter "at least I know why it broke!".

#!/bin/sh
# This works...I wonder if it will get me laid
progname="`echo $0 | sed 's:^\./\./:\./:'`"

But there are many who must dwell in this miasma both day and night. What makes my friend's job so ugly is that he doesn't only work with just any strain of Unix -- he works with Solaris. And he doesn't just deal with just any braindead users -- his users are the executives at Sun Microsystems.

Let me tell you about Sun Microsystems. At Sun, there's a long history of executives playing pranks on one another. For April Fools, these rowdies would play tricks like putting a golf course (complete with putting green) in Scott McNealy's office, or floating Bill Joy's Ferrari in one of the landscaped ponds. Things have come a long way since then. Now every day is April Fools, and my friend doesn't like it one bit.

====

VP: "Admin!! What the fuck is this thing running on my machine?"

Admin: "It's Solaris, sir."

VP: "Get it off of my machine at once!"

Admin: "But sir, Ed Zander told me that you should be running Solaris now."

VP: "Zander, huh? I'll fix him. Is he running Solaris?"

Admin: "No sir."

VP: "Why not?"

Admin: "If he ran Solaris, he wouldn't be able to get any work done."

VP: "Very well, restore my machine to SunOS, and put this Solaris crap on Zander's machine."

Admin: "But sir..."

VP: "That's an order! And tell him Scott gave you the directive himself!"

Admin: "Yes, sir."

====

Zander: "Admin!! What the fuck is this thing running on my machine?"

Admin: "It's Solaris, sir."

Zander: "Get it off of my machine at once!"

Admin: "But sir, Scott McNealy told me that you should be running Solaris now."

Zander: "McNealy, huh? I'll fix him. Is he running Solaris?"

====

The only thing worse that being a Unix system administrator is doing the job for ungrateful users.

The full and custom installations of Netscape 6.1, 6.0.1, and 6.0
are affected since they include an affected version of the
Java Runtime Environment. The default Java runtime environments of
Netscape(TM) Communicator version 4.79 and earlier are affected.

When I got to grad school at UNC in 1988, our custom built machine, Pixel planes would draw 30,000 triangle a second! How about that? And it only took several thousand ASICs. dave

uhm.... the release announcement mentions the inclusion of Star Office 6.0 in the "power pack" edition, but a glance at http://www.sun.com/staroffice seems to indicate that this hasn't even been released yet? I wonder if this means Sun will be doing the final release soon?

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to paedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

• Linus Torvalds is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practice. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering together their postings and publishing them en masse to further his twisted and manipulative journalistic agenda.

Sick, disgusting antichristian perverts, the lot of them.

In addition, many of the Linux distributions (a 'distribution' is the most common way to spread the faggots' wares) are run by faggot groups. The Slackware distro is named after the 'Slack-wear' fags wear to allow easy access to the anus for sexual purposes. Furthermore, Slackware is a close anagram of claw arse, a reference to the homosexual practise of anal fisting. The Mandrake product is run by a group of French faggot satanists, and is named after the faggot nickname for the vibrator. It was also chosen because it is an anagram for dark amen and ram naked, which is what they do.

Another 'distro,' (abbrieviated as such because it sounds a bit like 'Disco,' which is where homosexuals preyed on young boys in the 1970s), is Debian, an anagram of in a bed, which could be considered innocent enough (after all, a bed is both where we sleep and pray), until we realise what other names Debian uses to describe their foul wares. 'Woody' is obvious enough, being a term for the erect male penis, glistening with pre-cum. But far sicker is the phrase 'Frozen Potato' that they use. This filthy term, again found in the secret homosexual 'Sauce Code,' refers to the solo homosexual practice of defecating into a clear polythene bag, shaping the turd into a crude approximation of the male phallus, then leaving it in the freezer overnight until it becomes solid. The practitioner then proceeds to push the frozen 'potato' up his own rectum, squeezing it in and out until his tight young balls erupt in a screaming orgasm.

And Red Hat is secret homo slang for the tip of a penis that is soaked in blood from a freshly violated underage ringpiece.

The fags have even invented special tools to aid their faggotry! For example, the 'supermount' tool was devised to allow deeper penetration, which is good for fags because it gives more pressure on the prostate gland. 'Automount' is used, on the other hand, because Linux users are all fat and gay, and need to mount each other automatically.

The depths of their depravity can be seen in their use of 'mount points.' These are, plainly speaking, the different points of penetration. The main one is obviously /anus, but there are others. Militant fags even say 'there is no /opt mount point' because for these dirty perverts faggotry is not optional but a way of life.

More evidence is in the fact that Linux users say how much they love `man`, even going so far as to say that all new Linux users (who are in fact just innocent heterosexuals indoctrinated by the gay propaganda) should try out `man`. In no other system do users boast of their frequent recourse to a man.

Other areas of the system also show Linux's inherit gayness. For example, people are often told of the 'FAQ,' but how many innocent heterosexual Windows users know what this actually means. The answer is shocking: Faggot Anal Quest: the voyage of discovery for newly converted fags!

Even the title 'Slashdot' originally referred to a homosexual practice. Slashdot of course refers to the popular gay practice of blood-letting. The Slashbots, of course are those super-zealous homosexuals who take this perversion to its extreme by ripping open their anuses, as seen on the site most popular with Slashdot users, the depraved work of Satan, http://www.eff.org/.

The editors of Slashdot also have homosexual names: 'Hemos' is obvious in itself, being one vowel away from 'Homos.' But even more sickening is 'Commander Taco' which sounds a bit like 'Commode in Taco,' filthy gay slang for a pair of spreadeagled buttocks that are caked with excrement. (The best form of lubrication, they insist.) Sometimes, these 'Taco Commodes' have special 'Salsa Sauce' (blood from a ruptured rectum) and 'Cheese' (rancid flakes of penis discharge) toppings. And to make it even worse, Slashdot runs on Apache!

The Apache server, whose use among fags is as prevalent as AIDS, is named after homosexual activity -- as everyone knows, popular faggot band, the Village People, featured an Apache Indian, and it is for him that this gay program is named.

And that's not forgetting the use of patches in the Linux fag world -- patches are used to make the anus accessible for repeated anal sex even after its rupture by a session of fisting.

To summarise: Linux is gay. 'Slash -- Dot' is the graphical description of the space between a young boy's scrotum and anus. And BeOS is for hermaphrodites and disabled 'stumpers.'

FEEDBACK

What worries me is how much you know about what gay people do. I'm scared I actually read this whole thing. I think this post is a good example of the negative effects of Internet usage on people. This person obviously has no social life anymore and had to result to writing something as stupid as this. And actually take the time to do it too. Although... I think it was satire.. blah.. it's early. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

Well, the only reason I know all about this is because I had the misfortune to read the Linux 'Sauce code' once. Although publicised as the computer code needed to get Linux up and running on a computer (and haven't you always been worried about the phrase 'Monolithic Kernel'?), this foul document is actually a detailed and graphic description of every conceivable degrading perversion known to the human race, as well as a few of the major animal species. It has shocked and disturbed me, to the point of needing to shock and disturb the common man to warn them of the impending homo-calypse which threatens to engulf our planet.

You must work for the government. Trying to post the most obscene stuff in hopes that slashdot won't be able to continue or something, due to legal woes. If i ever see your ugly face, i'm going to stick my fireplace poker up your ass, after it's nice and hot, to weld shut that nasty gaping hole of yours. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

Doesn't it give you a hard-on to imagine your thick strong poker ramming it's way up my most sacred of sphincters? You're beyond help, my friend, as the only thing you can imagine is the foul penetrative violation of another man. Are you sure you're not Eric Raymond? The government, being populated by limp-wristed liberals, could never stem the sickening tide of homosexual child molesting Linux advocacy. Hell, they've given NAMBLA free reign for years!

you really should post this logged in. i wish i could remember jebus's password, cuz i'd give it to you. -- mighty jebus, Slashdot

Thank you for your kind words of support. However, this document shall only ever be posted anonymously. This is because the 'Open Sauce' movement is a sham, proposing homoerotic cults of hero worshipping in the name of freedom. I speak for the common man. For any man who prefers the warm, enveloping velvet folds of a woman's vagina to the tight puckered ringpiece of a child. These men, being common, decent folk, don't have a say in the political hypocrisy that is Slashdot culture. I am the unknown liberator.

ROLF LAMO i hate linux FAGGOTS -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

We shouldn't hate them, we should pity them for the misguided fools they are... Fanatical Linux zeal-outs need to be herded into camps for re-education and subsequent rehabilitation into normal heterosexual society. This re-education shall be achieved by forcing them to watch repeats of Baywatch until the very mention of Pamela Anderson causes them to fill their pants with healthy heterosexual jism.

Actually, that's not at all how scrotal inflation works. I understand it involves injecting sterile saline solution into the scrotum. I've never tried this, but you can read how to do it safely in case you're interested. (Before you moderate this down, ask yourself honestly -- who are the real crazies -- people who do scrotal inflation, or people who pay $1000+ for a game console?) -- double_h, Slashdot

Well, it just goes to show that even the holy Linux 'sauce code' is riddled with bugs that need fixing. (The irony of Jon Katz not even being able to inflate his scrotum correctly has not been lost on me.) The Linux pervert elite already acknowledge this, with their queer slogan: 'Given enough arms, all rectums are shallow.' And anyway, the PS2 sucks major cock and isn't worth the money. Intellivision forever!

dude did u used to post on msnbc's nt bulletin board now that u are doing anti-gay posts u also need to start in with anti-black stuff too c u in church -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

For one thing, whilst Linux is a cavalcade of queer propaganda masquerading as the future of computing, NT is used by people who think nothing better of encasing their genitals in quick setting plaster then going to see a really dirty porno film, enjoying the restriction enforced onto them. Remember, a wasted arousal is a sin in the eyes of the Catholic church. Clearly, the only god-fearing Christian operating system in existence is CP/M -- The Christian Program Monitor. All computer users should immediately ask their local pastor to install this fine OS onto their systems. It is the only route to salvation.

Secondly, this message is for every man. Computers know no colour. Not only that, but one of the finest websites in the world is maintained by a Black Man . Now fuck off you racist donkey felcher.

And don't forget that slashdot was written in Perl, which is just too close to 'Pearl Necklace' for comfort.... oh wait; that's something all you heterosexuals do.... I can't help but wonder how much faster the trolls could do First-Posts on this site if it were redone in PHP... I could hand-type dynamic HTML pages faster than Perl can do them. -- phee, Slashdot

Although there is nothing unholy about the fine heterosexual act of ejaculating between a woman's breasts, squirting one's load up towards her neck and chin area, it should be noted that Perl (standing for Pansies Entering Rectums Locally) is also close to 'Pearl Monocle,' 'Pearl Nosering,' and the ubiquitous 'Pearl Enema.'

One scary thing about Perl is that it contains hidden homosexual messages. Take the following code: LWP::Simple -- It looks innocuous enough, doesn't it? But look at the line closely: There are two colons next to each other! As Larry 'Balls to the' Wall would openly admit in the Perl Documentation, Perl was designed from the ground up to indoctrinate it's programmers into performing unnatural sexual acts -- having two colons so closely together is clearly a reference to the perverse sickening act of 'colon kissing,' whereby two homosexual queers spread their buttocks wide, pressing their filthy torn sphincters together. They then share small round objects like marbles or golfballs by passing them from one rectum to another using muscle contraction alone. This is also referred to in programming 'circles' as 'Parameter Passing.'

And PHP stands for Perverted Homosexual Penetration. Didn't you know?

Thank you for your valuable input on this. I am sure you will be never forgotten. BTW: Did I mention that this could be useful in terraforming Mars? Mars rulaa. -- Eimernase, Slashdot

Well, I don't know about terraforming Mars, but I do know that homosexual Linux Advocates have been probing Uranus for years.

That's inspiring. Keep up the good work, AC. May God in his wisdom grant you the strength to bring the plain honest truth to this community, and make it pure again. Yours, Cerberus. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

*sniff* That brings a tear to my eye. Thank you once more for your kind support. I have taken faith in the knowledge that I am doing the Good Lord's work, but it is encouraging to know that I am helping out the common man here.

However, I should be cautious about revealing your name 'Cerberus' on such a filthy den of depravity as Slashdot. It is a well known fact that the 'Kerberos' documentation from Microsoft is a detailed manual describing, in intimate, exacting detail, how to sexually penetrate a variety of unwilling canine animals; be they domesticated, wild, or mythical. Slashdot posters have taken great pleasure in illegally spreading this documentation far and wide, treating it as an 'extension' to the Linux 'Sauce Code,' for the sake of 'interoperability.' (The slang term they use for nonconsensual intercourse -- their favourite kind.)

In fact, sick twisted Linux deviants are known to have LAN parties, (Love of Anal Naughtiness, needless to say.), wherein they entice a stray dog, known as the 'Samba Mount,' into their homes. Up to four of these filth-sodden blasphemers against nature take turns to plunge their erect, throbbing, uncircumcised members, conkers-deep, into the rectum, mouth, and other fleshy orifices of the poor animal. Eventually, the 'Samba Mount' collapses due to 'overload,' and needs to be 'rebooted.' (i.e., kicked out into the street, and left to fend for itself.) Many Linux users boast about their 'uptime' in such situations.

Inspiring stuff! If only all trolls were this quality! -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

If only indeed. You can help our brave cause by moderating this message up as often as possible. I recommend '+1, Underrated,' as that will protect your precious Karma in Metamoderation. Only then can we break through the glass ceiling of Homosexual Slashdot Culture. Is it any wonder that the new version of Slashcode has been christened 'Bender'???

If we can get just one of these postings up to at least '+1,' then it will be archived forever! Others will learn of our struggle, and join with us in our battle for freedom!

It's pathetic you've spent so much time writing this. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

I am compelled to document the foulness and carnal depravity that is Linux, in order that we may prepare ourselves for the great holy war that is to follow. It is my solemn duty to peel back the foreskin of ignorance and apply the wire brush of enlightenment.

As with any great open-source project, you need someone asking this question, so I'll do it. When the hell is version 2.0 going to be ready?!?! -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

I could make an arrogant, childish comment along the lines of 'Every time someone asks for 2.0, I won't release it for another 24 hours,' but the truth of the matter is that I'm quite nervous of releasing a 'number two,' as I can guarantee some filthy shit-slurping Linux pervert would want to suck it straight out of my anus before I've even had chance to wipe.

I desperately want to suck your monolithic kernel, you sexy hunk, you. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

I sincerely hope you're Natalie Portman.

Dude, nothing on slashdot larger than 3 paragraphs is worth reading. Try to distill the message, whatever it was, and maybe I'll read it. As it is, I have to much open source software to write to waste even 10 seconds of precious time. 10 seconds is all its gonna take M$ to whoop Linux's ass. Vigilence is the price of Free (as in libre -- from the fine, frou frou French language) Software. Hack on fellow geeks, and remember: Friday is Bouillabaisse day except for heathens who do not believe that Jesus died for their sins. Those godless, oil drench, bearded sexist clowns can pull grits from their pantaloons (another fine, fine French word) and eat that. Anyway, try to keep your message focused and concise. For concision is the soul of derision. Way. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

What the fuck?

I've read your gay conspiracy post version 1.3.0 and I must say I'm impressed. In particular, I appreciate how you have managed to squeeze in a healthy dose of the latent homosexuality you gay-bashing homos tend to be full of. Thank you again. -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

Well bugger me!

ooooh honey. how insecure are you!!! wann a little massage from deare bruci. love you -- Anonymous Coward, Slashdot

Fuck right off!

IMPORTANT: This message needs to be heard (Not HURD, which is an acronym for 'Huge Unclean Rectal Dilator') across the whole community, so it has been released into the Public Domain. You know, that licence that we all had before those homoerotic crypto-fascists came out with the GPL (Gay Penetration License) that is no more than an excuse to see who's got the biggest feces-encrusted cock. I would have put this up on Freshmeat, but that name is known to be a euphemism for the tight rump of a young boy.

Come to think of it, the whole concept of 'Source Control' unnerves me, because it sounds a bit like 'Sauce Control,' which is a description of the homosexual practice of holding the base of the cock shaft tightly upon the point of ejaculation, thus causing a build up of semenal fluid that is only released upon entry into an incision made into the base of the receiver's scrotum. And 'Open Sauce' is the act of ejaculating into another mans face or perhaps a biscuit to be shared later. Obviously, 'Closed Sauce' is the only Christian thing to do, as evidenced by the fact that it is what Cathedrals are all about.

Contributors: (although not to the eternal game of 'soggy biscuit' that open 'sauce' development has become) Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, phee, Anonymous Coward, mighty jebus, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, double_h, Anonymous Coward, Eimernase, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward, Anonymous Coward. Further contributions are welcome.

Current changes: This version sent to FreeWIPO by 'Bring BackATV' as plain text. Reformatted everything, added all links back in (that we could match from the previous version), many new ones (Slashbot bait links). Even more spelling fixed. Who wrote this thing, CmdrTaco himself?

Previous changes: Yet more changes added. Spelling fixed. Feedback added. Explanation of 'distro' system. 'Mount Point' syntax described. More filth regarding `man` and Slashdot. Yet more fucking spelling fixed. 'Fetchmail' uncovered further. More Slashbot baiting. Apache exposed. Distribution licence at foot of document.

ANUX -- A full Linux distribution... Up your ass!

Does anyone here on Slashdot hold a particular opinion of Sun's Java developer certification exams? I'm only 18, and it's a very old story: it's hard to get job experience without already having experience. I'm interested in knowing whether those tests would be worthwhile if I wanted to break into the Java programming racket.

You are severely disillusioned, my friend.

It really isnt suitable for handhelds which have low cpu (and storage?) resources available.

Perhaps you didn't notice this article, but the latest wave of mobile phones are all Java-enabled, a fact casting immediate doubt on your above claim.

[...] java was designed to be slower than other languages.

Bwa ha ha ha!!!!! Do you honestly think Bill Joy and pals sat down and wrote "Must be slower than other languages" into their Java design spec.? You moron. Don't you know Java was initially designed to execute on washing machine controllers, and set-top boxes?

The reason why Java is slow does not come from a specific design decision to make it such, rather, speed (or lack thereof) is a consequence of Java providing its own run-time environment with windowing API, class library, and a plethora of other useful programming toolkits.

Obviously, if you are running a Java Virtual Machine in a restricted embedded environment, you don't need the functionality for a complex desktop system. Thus, large parts of the Java virtual environment can be stripped away to leave a streamlined execution platform ideal for an embedded environment.

Take a look at Sun's J2 Micro Edition page, and learn something for yourself instead of regurgitating the same tired old nonsense perpetuated by idiotic anti-Java morons like you.

Using these tools, the same application can be written to any device that has a profile. If the handheld has a different interface or implements different network protocols, developers can just change the relevant portion of their application to conform.

The same idea is also being used for games across different systems (PC, Playstation, etc.) so that games can be written in Java without worrying about the different implementations.

Another issue with MIDP is that you can't access any of the internal databases (address book, date book, to do, memos...). It's a security thing (you don't want apps you download to be able to read/write your contacts). But it's also annoying for anyone wanting to write apps that do things with the information you already have on a palm.

The Java Spotless system (the forerunner to MIDP/CDLC) did allow you to do this and from memory had a richer UI... but it's dead now. See MIDP4Palm FAQ. I hope the PDAP picks up some of the Spotless systems' abilities.

If you go and read the Sun Wireless sites, then you will understand what's going on.

The reason there has been a delay is that there is two configurations for J2ME. The MIDP (Mobile information device profile) is destined for the mobile phone/pager market. This has been implemented first, for reasons that I suspect have to do with the power of the phone manufacturers compared to the handset manufacturers, and because the phones have build in networking compared with the Palms which for the vast majority don't.

The MIDP doesn't work well on a Palm because the display capabilities are aimed at a mobile phone which is less sophisticated, as compared to a Palm.

However, the good news is that the PDAP (pda profile) has now reached the stage for community review which will mean that a fully fledged profile for use on PDA devices is now available.

Basically, there's been fragmentation (between KVM, MIDP and PDAP) for development on the Palm, and until now there hasn't been a coherent strategy for companies to follow.

I expect there will be a massive increase in development on these platforms with the support that is now available, and the direction of the profiles.

If you want to see what can be done, and a presentation that I gave about J2ME, then have a look at : my J2ME page

If you want to contact me directly, I can provide further information in this area.

Actually, Sun has some fairly decently (?) priced low end systems. 64 bits for a grand -- rack mounted. Only I think they still lock you in with proprientary RAM.

Actually, Sun has some fairly decently (?) priced low end systems. 64 bits for a grand -- rack mounted. Only I think they still lock you in with proprientary RAM.

As for raw compute performance, if you believe Sun's SPEC ratings from their product site, a 1.05GHz SPARC CPU is only just lagging behind an Intel 2.2GHz PIV on integer performance and beating it on FP.

Where do they claim that? According to the SPECcpu website, a 1.05 GHz SPARC III Cu gets 537 base SPECint and 701 SPECfp, while a 2.2 GHz P4 easily beats it with 790 SPECint and 779 SPECfp.

Intel is way ahead in integer, and although the Sun catches up somewhat in FP, if you look at the individual results, it's entirely due to one massive spike on the art test. They recently figured out a (controversial) compiler trick that gave them nearly an order of magnitude increase on that one SPECfp test, and doubled their overall SPECfp score. Sun are known for their stability & scalability, but not their CPU speed.

Of course, if you have 106 of the things, that's different. But you'll be paying over US$4M for it, which isn't exactly workstation class anymore.

Gee seeing as how it only has a 500 mhz processor, why oh why would it be slower ?

http://www.sun.com/2002-0314/feature/

The system ships with a 73gb fibrechannel harddisc, 900 or 1.05 UltraSparcIII (dual capable), and a gig of ram. nice box. It sets a world record in workstation performance (halfway down the press-release).

Let's face it. Java's worst enemy is not Microsoft. It's Sun. It's true that Microsft did a pretty good job of screwing up Java. But they didn't do it out of malice or greed. The folks in Redmond simply suffer from the arrogant believe that only they know how to architect software platforms -- and so do the folks in Menlo Park.

I was thinking, if these satellite companies implement their smart cards using Java Cards (which are themselves dynamically reprogramable by nature), couldn't they deal better with these issues???

When something like this happens (i.e.: the code is broken), all the satellite operator has to do is send new code to the setup box which will write it on the card, then the code in the card is used to decode the incoming broadcast.

It's like assigning the card a new set of keys in a public-private cryptographic key.

HOWEVER, I think this will never be solved until satellite operators can do two-way communications with the setup boxes themselves. Who knows, maybe in the future satellite operators will require users to connect to the Internet at least once a month to update the software of the smart cards, thus giving them enough time for the new codes to be deployed far and wide. Heck, I'd actually have new codes daily!!!

For those into techno-religious wars, I used Java Cards as an example, as opposed to other types of smart cards, because Java gives a unified API and object-based execution environment for ALL cards regardless of their origin, which is exactly what's needed to help this situation out.

All of the suggestions I've read - and I was fed up by half way down the first page - suggest that the people answering this question have:

• no damn business in a datacentre
• an inability to read the question posed
• an inability to keep their mouth shut when they have nothing useful to add to a conversation

In an effort to put some kind of useful answer into this space, please have a look at Sun BluePrints Online - Datacenter Naming Scheme - PDF and see what professionals have to say rather than the rantings of a 16 year old who dreams of running out of names from the seven dwarves when he gets his eighth computer.

Feel free to mod me down for ranting, but damnit, people deserve a decent answer to a question that is not easily answered by 2 minutes on google.

It makes (at least) 6 months since SIM cards with java have been shipped to customer (in Europe).

So, it is already there in many phones and peoples already made some applets for them

• sun doc
• SIMagine contest

At http://www.sun.com/blueprints/0501/Naming.pdf you will find a Sun BluePrint entitled "Datacenter Naming Scheme" that offers methodologies to do exactly what you are looking for.

Is switching to FreeBSD an option? The virtual memory management there is much better than in Linux under stress.

I'd have to agree. The author should look into using FreeBSD. A GIS project I'm currently working on allocates 3GB of RAM at startup. Until we get the rest of the funding for our SunFire solution, we're using what we have available, which is (was, actually: we've replaced the OS with FreeBSD) a P4 Linux box with 2GB of RAM, a 9GB SCSI drive for swap partition and a 36GB SCSI drive for everything else.

I'm not a Linux expert, but the techs in the department are. After a few weeks of their tinkering, it did pretty much the same thing as you're experiencing. I have a small development system at home (P3, 1GB RAM, 4GB SCSI swap, 40GB IDE for all else) running FreeBSD. Installed the software, and it runs like a charm. X works beautifully, Apache still serves up pages (of course, it doesn't get much traffic at home) and the program never chokes the system. Granted, with only a gig of real memory, it spends a fair amount of time accessing the disk (about 30 seconds every 2 minutes), and it steals almost all the cycles from dnetc!

You can download the Java SDK for free. You can also use NetBeans which is a nice, open-source IDE.

Java3D is the answer to most of those questions.

...licensing scheme that everybody in the Open Source Community should bitch and moan?

Just a thought.

The "fly over the documents" metaphor has been tried before. In some ways it was the precursor to the office metaphor used for the Macintosh (As noted in the Son of Dataland section of the paper Inventing the Lisa User Interface

The "fly over the documents" metaphor has been tried before. In some ways it was the precursor to the office metaphor used for the Macintosh (As noted in the Son of Dataland section of the paper Inventing the Lisa User Interface

"On October 10th, 2001, Microsoft released a beta version of a product called Visual J#.NET. [...] Although Visual J#.NET purports to provide support for writing programs in the Java language, Microsoft has changed the syntax of the Java language in a number of ways, ensuring that the source code written using Visual J#.NET will not be compatible with source code written following the public specification for the Java language"

It's amazing that Sun's (or any other non-M$) VM could approach the M$ VM perf considering the proprietary hooks and low-level tricks M$ used to get that kind of performance.

Let's ignore for a moment the fact that Sun's 1.1 JVM had comparable performance with Microsoft's - how do you explain then that the JVMs Sun makes for Linux (open source, no hidden hooks or APIs) and Solaris (their own platform) aren't any faster? How do you explain the fact that IBM has consistently released JVMs that run faster than Sun's? How do you explain bugs like Integer division and modulo operations are 10 times slower on Hotspot?

They can't call it J#... there is a J# that's part of Visual Studio.Net. In fact, J# is mentioned in the complaint, since Sun alleges that J# is in violation of the Java injunction in a couple of ways!

Having read their complaint, the reasoning is interesting. Essentially, Sun claims that the injunction from their successful trial agains MS in regards to Java technology only allows distribution of their JVM in ways that and with products that it was previously distributed with.

Since MS is now distributing the JVM through an on-demand download, which they did not previously do, Sun claims that they are violating this piece of the injunction (which is, probably, technically correct). IOW, either distribute it like you used to (bundled with the OS/Browser), or don't do it at all (damaging the user experience when using the IE browser even more).

The rest of the complaint is also interesting - some strong points, some weak points (their IIS tying claim is probably the weakest one). Everyone should read it... the full complaint can be found here

• Complaint PDF (~7MB)
• Motion for Preliminary Injunction PDF (~3MB)

• Complaint PDF (~7MB)
• Motion for Preliminary Injunction PDF (~3MB)

• 184. Microsoft's products in the middleware runtime market include Microsoft's implementation of the Java Runtime Environment and Microsoft's .NET Framework - the Common Language Runtime and .NET Framework classes. Sun competes in the market by offering its implementation of the Java Runtime Environment.

• Disclose and license proprietary interfaces, protocols and formats.
• Unbundle tied products like Internet Explorer, IIS and .NET framework."

It is amazing that the disclosure of proprietary interfaces, protocols, etc (Open Source) can be the single solution to Microsoft's violation of 7 (summary different anti-trust laws.

Sun has posted a response to the Microsoft text about Java and XP.

Spider Sun and never find a single page in common with their close competitors like IBM.

i guess this page doesn't list a bunch of Sun competitors, like IBM, BEA, and CA, then. even competitors thrive off of partering with each other.

-rp

Taco said "I think people overrate them. Several people said that we should follow what google does. But they don't understand that we're very different then google. What keywords do we sell, and to who? It just doesn't make as much sense."

Every story could have words replaced by links e.g. IBM has just sued Sun because of GPL infringement becomes IBM has just sued SUN because of GPL infringement

next

yep.. like $20M sure

• Myth: KDE is more integrated than GNOME
  
  Reality: The oft-heard cry of the noisiest KDE advocates. No explanation is given - the reader is expected to simply grok the wholesomeness of KDE, and the lack of this mystical quality in GNOME. It's nonsense of course. Neither desktop is particularly "integrated" compared to Windows XP, and certainly not compared any version of the Apple Mac.

• Myth: KDE is easier to use
  
  Reality: Again, such nebulous arguments are never explained, and the reader is expected to simply understand the truth. Both KDE and GNOME have user-interface irritations (indeed, all systems do) - but "ease of use" is not a simple thing to measure. What about application (see GNOME apps later) installation and removal: GNOME has the excellent RedCarpet by Ximian , which makes the installation, removal and updating of applications trivial. KDE users are expected to fend for themselves with brutal command line driven systems. GNOME also has the excellent Ximian setup tools to handle various very tricky cross-platform and potentially risky system configuration operations - KDE offers a few small half-assed Linux-only tools, which make no attempt at check-pointing to return to known working configurations.

• Myth: KDE is more popular
  
  Reality: In what sense? Arguably more people use KDE - but it is a close run thing. Most KDE zealots claim the results of online polls as proof of their superior userbase... which is, quite frankly, complete and utter nonsense. Online polls are the joke of the century; it doesn't even require a motivated script kiddie to render then worthless. A single post on a zealot-ridden site can reduce the result to a running joke. Popularity is also difficult to measure when both GNOME and KDE are frequently installed on the same system - and indeed, can co-exist except for certain applications such as panels. Many KDE users actually run GNOME applications for their superior features and stability.

  One of the few solid measures of popularity is the adoption in commercial use - and here, GNOME is far ahead. Both Hewlett- Packard and Sun Microsystems have committed to using GNOME as the desktop for their Unix systems. This ties in with the previously mentioned ease of use - Sun's major contribution to the GNOME effort is in the areas of user/developer documentation, testing, accessiblity and user-testing. Three of the less glamourous parts of desktop development. The arrival of the GNOME 2.x series will see these contributions reach fruitition and allow GNOME to make a quantum leap ahead of KDE in most of the basic computer/user issues.

• Myth: Konqueror is the best Linux browser
  
  Reality: Oh for a penny every time this lie is told in any KDE story! Konqueror is a fine piece of software - it's authors deserve plently of praise - it is, however, quite unreliable and lax in its support of basic web standards compared to either Mozilla or Opera . It is also extremely slow - slower than the latest incarnations of the GNOME Nautilus filemanager/browser.

• Myth: KDE applications are better/more advanced than GNOME ones due to the ease of developing in C++ using the Qt toolkit
  
  Reality: See also: Qt/TrollTech. Easily the most common wail heard by KDE developers - and yet it is easily disproved by looking at the actual applications for GNOME/GTK and KDE/Qt . KDE applications often have larger version numbers than GNOME ones... an old trick played by commerical software developers. Most KDE apps seem to jump for 1.x releases long before they are ready - KOffice being the best example. None of the components in Koffice are worthy of a 1.0 release, let alone 1.1 or 1.2. GNOME applications wait longer and get more testing in their 0.x stages and despite shorter development phases mature more quickly and reach stable featureful release states more quickly: the superb Evolution (groupware/email), Gnumeric (spreadsheet), Pan (newsreader), The GIMP (image manipulation), Abiword (word processing), RedCarpet ,X-Chat (IRC client), XMMS (media player), Galeon (web browser), and for developers: Glade , Anjuta . All of these packages ooze quality, far outclass and are, at least, 18 months ahead of their KDE/Qt counterparts. It's not only in the area of user applications that GNOME is lightyears ahead, with the forthcoming 2.x a number of impressive behind the scenes technology will finally mature: component technology (bonobo ), media (Gstreamer ), internationalisation (pango ). As a developement platform, GNOME 2.x is, frankly, years ahead of KDE. And what's more, it is not tied to a lowest common denominator cross-platform bloat-fest like Qt. Yet despite all this, we are still fed the lie that Qt and C++ makes development easier. Judge for yourself.

• Myth: KDE is faster and/or takes less memory than GNOME
  
  Reality: KDE is written in C++. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is when the programmers do not know enough to avoid certain pitfalls that can plague software projects. Stupid use of ++/-- with C++ objects; masses of unnecessary allocations and deallocations of memory, and the most cretinous of all, blaming the extremely slow startup times of KDE apps on GCC. The GNOME 1.x releases were hardly svelt (2.x fixes many of these issues), but GNOME is a fashion cat-walk superwaif when compared to KDE's 500lb fat-momma cheese-burger scoffing trailer trash. One need only look at the recent fuss over ugly KDE hacks (such as prelinking) to see the problem inherent in the KDE architecture and basic design.

• Myth: GNOME development is slower. KDE releases faster.
  
  Reality: Fundamental misunderstanding. KDE releases as one big lump of code due to its use of C++ and the consequent problems with libraries. It bumps the version number of the entire KDE system for the smallest modifications. GNOME, on the other hand is componentized and each component releases on a (almost) separate schedule, bumping it's own version number but not the main GNOME version. Occasional releases of the entire GNOME system are done, and that's when the GNOME version number is bumped (currently it is 1.4). To see this in action, use RedCarpet and you will regular updates to GNOME components. GNOME development is not slower, it is in fact faster and more advanced. Lamers and newbies, however, fail to understand the advantages and just see KDE 1.1.1 followed a few weeks later by KDE 1.1.2. Wow! KDE roolz.

• Myth: TrollTech is a friend of Free software.
  
  Reality: Qt started out as non-Free. KDE developers knew this violated the GPL and are therefore untrustworthy. KDE core developers work for TrollTech. Expensive per developer licensing for writing closed-source with Qt. Labyrinthine licensing nightmare.

• Myth: Most good GNOME apps are actually GTK applications.
  
  Reality: Most KDE apps, such as those from The Kompany are actually Qt apps because they want to port to the more lucrative Windows/Qt market.

• Myth: KDE is attractive/GNOME/GTK is ugly
  
  Reality: Mosfet liquid theme is an ugly and unstable hack. GNOME GTk icons are of a far higher quality than the cartoonish and confusing KDE ones. Qt is basically a Windows-look on a Unix platform.

Ya cause MS pays for that license to distribute the JRE.

Are you sure? J2SE 1.4 (not the SDK) is free as in beer to redistribute with other programs. Read the "Supplemental License Terms" that begin halfway down the license agreement.

Maybe I'll write an efficient embedded OS in Java... oh, wait.

Wait no longer. J2ME is here. Yes, I understand what you're saying (C tends to be more efficient than some other popular languages for writing stuff that directly bangs on the hardware), but an embedded Java OS does exist.

Alrighty, then. I'll write my large, distributed database system in Java. Hey, that'll work! Too bad Visual Basic would cut my development time in half.

Time is money, and money is time. The Java tools are available for almost free as in beer (Mandrake CD + Internet conn for downloading J2SDK). Visual Basic, on the other hand, costs much more per seat (Windows XP Pro license + Visual Studio license + Windows licenses for all the testers' machines), money that somebody has to earn. Does your estimate take into account the opportunity cost of the time you spend working to make up the cost of expensive software licenses?