Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Agenda, Reproduction, Aesthetics
I can't be dead -- I still have batteries! Bill Kendrick writes: "Just when you thought the first Linux-based PDA was dead and gone, someone announces a compatible version, the STVR3 from Softfield Technologies (who actually did the hardware design for the original AgendaVR3). Only $105 for the 8MB, and $135 for a new 16MB version. Not bad if you want a bash prompt in your pocket, and can't afford the $500 for a Zaurus!"
De gustibus non est disputandum. An Anonymous Coward writes: "Mosfet has posted a reply to Bart Decrem's interview regarding Bart's comments on KDE and its looks. Mosfet explains how KDE has a very elegant system for users and developers using the flexibility of C++ and Qt, which creates a more consistent look and feel. He makes many good points that developers and users often disregard when considering desktop environments and their toolkits. Good read, expecially for those who participate in the 'Desktop Wars.'"
Borrowed at gunpoint, but spent much more freely. blankmange writes: "CNet is carrying a followup to a story that was posted here not too long ago. The State of California apparently ordered too many licenses for Oracle's database software: 'A top official in California Gov. Gray Davis' administration has resigned in a growing controversy over a $95 million software contract with Oracle. Barry Keene, director of the state's Department of General Services, quit after a highly critical state audit said the contract--awarded without competitive bids and for software that is little used--could cost taxpayers $41 million.' Sounds like there may be more resignations and a further investigation."
I wish Gary Trudeau would run a few strips skewering these presumptuous bureaucrat wastrels, prodigal even by the standards of the public trough.
Welcome to my secret underground lair. ceswiedler writes: "Salon is running a story that Sen. Hollings' new Online Personal Privacy Act 'would place a congressional stamp of approval on precisely the kinds of practices that purveyors of spyware are eager to engage in.' The writer is particularly concered with the 'nonsensitive' information clause, which is 'a huge gaping loophole' for companies like KaZaA and Brilliant Digital."
Science greatly ups my odds of reproducing. Transcendent writes: "I just recently read an article at SpaceDaily about how there are three women due to give birth to clones. Italian Professor, Severino Antinori, told reporters that two of the women were from the former Soviet Rebublic, and one from an Islamic country. They're keeping specific details from the public, but it's still a huge shake to an ever-changing legal, scientific, and moral society."
A bedtime story for very, very bad children. tulare writes: "Microsoft is hosting Bill Gates' written testimony online. At 42,000 words, it's not neccessarily light reading, but to their credit, it is nicely indexed. Probably a must-read." Also good for European insomniacs to start boring through.
Lobby your library. Lots of readers inquired where they could find copies of The Computer and the Skateboard . Filmmaker Paul David writes: "DVD copies of this movie will be ready to ship in mid-may. The Cinema Guild website will be e-commerce ready by June 1. If you would like to order a copy before June 1, The Cinema Guild will take your order over the phone: (800) 723-5522 or (212) 685-6242. dvds for home use are $59.95. vhs copies (for home use) are available for $79.95."
Umm, California didn't get shafted, California happily gave it self the ready and willing shaft. (Must like they have done with their recent power situation...) Being the largest state is an advantage, only if you aren't a Californian...
But for his money, why anyone would care about Gates's thoughts on anything is beyond me. He is sort of like a third world despot with a couple nuclear weapons. If it weren't for the weapons, no one would give a flying F**K what he had to say. I'm mean, hey, it's not like Gates is an Einstein. Say what you will about Richard Stallman, people listen to RMS for his provocative ideas, not because he wields some great financial power.
Privacy is one of those issues where you should watch what people do, not what they say. Everyone *says* they value their privacy online and off. But almost everyone also gives away their privacy for the smallest benefit - like 5% discounts at your local grocery store, in exchange for them tracking everything you ever buy from them...
I'm convinced that until people actually start acting the way they talk, privacy online and offline will continue to get worse.
**If you value your privacy, don't give it up for small discounts, or extra convenience, or anything!**
Websurfing done right! StumbleUpon
augment your senses: http://sensebridge.net/
You are a moron of the highest order.
The facts about illegal aliens.
They take shit jobs no one else wants, e.g. backbreaking farm work. They pay taxes (taken out before they get paid), but never file for refunds (which most would be entitled to if they did file). They don't use medicare and such, because they are afraid they will get deported if they do. The same is true for all the other "freebies" that you mention.
If illegal aliens disappeared form California, vegetables would rot in the fields, grocery prices would skyrocket, and the economy would probably be crippled.
We need them. They need us.
Until you spend a season picking artichokes in the central coast, you can just shut the fuck up, you racist asshole.
Go ahead, moderate me down. I don't care.
-- Will program for bandwidth
Reading the various documents by Stallman, I've come to the conclusion that he's every bit as delusional as Gates. To Gates' tinpot dictator, RMS makes a great Marxist revolutionary, but his tactics are flawed by petty things like the GPL.
The GNU General Public License, to put it in one word, sucks. Much better licenses exist, ranging from the Mozilla Public License to the University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License. Because of Stallman's inane "demand" (we'll call it) to use nothing but the GPL, or to assign all IP rights to his Free Software Foundation, he scares away many of those thinking that open source might be the solution they're looking for.
It is perhaps best for the Open Source Revolution (if it still is a revolution) that both Microsoft (with Bill Gates) and the FSF (with Stallman) go away and never return.
Chris 'coldacid' Charabaruk Meldstar Entertainment
KDE should default to *everything* cool.
Good Icons, window decoration, styles, fonts, everything, at the expense of more memory and cpu usage. A bit like windows, really, but simple and elegant, like windows 2000, not garish and irritating like XP.
Like me, those who know how to change their desktop to look prettier, also know how to make it faster and with less eye-candy. The opposite is not always true, no matter how simple it can be done.
I really like my kde3 desktop with Ikons and the Keramik style. It's gorgeous just to look at. It's not very fast, or snappy like windows2k feels on the same computer, but it's very beautiful, and nevermind that this is just release 3.0. I expect the same speed improvements as those that followed the 2.0 release.
I really want the desktop icons to cast shadows on the desktop, a bit like Ximian Gnome does. I'm a coder and I would make it myself, but where to start in all those kde/qt source files?
That's just great! We're already running 6 billion, by 2021 there'll be 7. That's what we really need: More people.
Why can't we just work with what we got?
I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
Why on earth do people freak so badly over this concept? A clone (theoretically) is no different than an identical twin. It is a fetus until birth, and thence a person. Done. Are identical twins truly identical people? No. Could this offer tremendous hope for both stem cell research and infertility? Yes.
I do not buy objections based on religion. I do not buy objections based on overpopulation.
So what's the big freaking deal?
"Avast! Prepare for the rodgering!" THWACK! "Arrr.. me nards.."
Hey, I live on the Central Coast (and am an economics student)
This guy's right. It's the free market at work.
"If illegal aliens disappeared form California, vegetables would rot in the fields, grocery prices would skyrocket, and the economy would probably be crippled.
We need them. They need us."
End of argument.
We need them because of what, exactly? To temporarily conceal the fact that the economy you refer to is unbalanced? I'm not a big fan of bandaids on a sucking chest wound, even when there's alot of ready bandaids.
We don't need them. We need to make those jobs they're being exploited for into NON-shit jobs, and realize the standard of living we're taking for granted costs more than we thought.
> 94. We work to enable interoperability because the market demands it. Proof of our success is provided by the large number of products that interoperate with Windows today, including server software from Sun and Novell and, of course, tens of thousands of Web sites that run on various versions of UNIX and are accessible from Windows-based PCs.
Gee, isn't that a high standard for "interoperability"! I mean, wow, you can view Web pages served from other operating systems, woo-hoo.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade