Posted by
timothy
on from the cd-r-handheld-ogg-player dept.
ThatKidYouDid writes "Wired.com is holding a vote for this years best
vaporware. My vote definitely goes to the oqo, although I'd still snag one if they ever materialized. What do others really wish could have happened by Xmas?"
It's quite real, I assure you. We have a test server running it right now. Not sure what the timeline for the rest of teh beta is, but it is finished and in testing.
Wow, I'm typing this message on vaporware.. I've never done that before.
Re:MS .Net Server
by
TeknoDragon
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
RTFM
"As in previous years, software locked in the pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available. It hasn't shipped until it's shrink-wrapped."
On a related note, my vote goes to an MS server -- any service -- that I would be willing to run without having to worry about security risks.
--
I pledge allegiance to the flag...
of the Corporate States of America...
Re:MS .Net Server
by
kraksmoka
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· Score: 3, Funny
nah, my favorite is Mono by the good folks at Ximian.
better to promote free-vaporware than vaporware you're paying for if it's released or not.
-- "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
Re:MS .Net Server
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3, Funny
Beta software is considered Vaporware? But I have windows installed right now!
Re:MS .Net Server
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Interesting
RTFM
"As in previous years, software locked in the pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available. It hasn't shipped until it's shrink-wrapped."
I guess that must include ICQ, which I don't ever has had a release go past "beta" stage.
Also, emacs, where the 0. just got dropped off the release number after a while, so 21.2 is really 0.21.2
Re:MS .Net Server
by
vbweenie
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· Score: 2, Insightful
That would be Mono that I'm currently using on my Linux desktop to learn C# with, right?
Hard to think of that many other vaporware projects that can actually compile themselves. Although I suppose if there were nothing but vapor to compile, a vapor compiler would do just as well as a real one...
-- Experience is a hard school, but fools will learn no other.
Interesting??? Moderators are on stronger crack than usual...
You'll be meta-moderated accordingly
-- If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you
While not 2002's.... UO 2...
by
TibbonZero
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I would have really liked to see UO ship, or at least release the source... instead of basically firing everyone and burning most of the work for no good reason..
I remember when the GeForce 3 came out, and it was supposed to be THE card to run Doom III. Now it's looking like it won't be even close to powerfull enough.
While we all know that Doom III will be out eventually, I would say that it's been delayed enough to be considered vapourware.
At least we know from the leaked alpha that the game will ROCK:-)
What? Doom III isn't delayed, is it? It's supposed to be out "when it's done". I'd vote, as always, for Daikatana. No, just kidding. That'd be Duke Nukem Forever.
Re:Doom III
by
tbradshaw
·
· Score: 3, Informative
At least we know from the leaked alpha that the game will ROCK:-)
If you've played the alpha and it rocks, and you're sure that it will rock when it comes out... how exactly is it vaporware?
I've had the pleasure of seeing the DOOM 3 theater presentation at QuakeCon 2002, and I can assure you that DOOM 3 is no where near vaporware. It's just so advanced that it's taking a slightly longer development cycle than your typical derived engined game.
I would probably guess that it's more finished than unfinished at this point. (entirely speculation) And Todd Hollenshead did joke with the crowd at QCon that id wasn't in the habit of showing preview versions of the same game year after year at E3.
Well, looks like the GF5 (FX) will be out before DOOM3.
Re:Doom III
by
TeknoDragon
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
"If you've played the alpha and it rocks, and you're sure that it will rock when it comes out... how exactly is it vaporware?"..... again RTFM
"As in previous years, software locked in the pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available. It hasn't shipped until it's shrink-wrapped."
if it counts for.NET server... it counts for Doom III
and with the paragraph preceeding the one I quoted... sounds like Doom III should be in the top ten.
DOOM isn't locked in a "pre-release, beta-testing state", it's currently under development and has not been pre-released for testing and is not in some kind of limbo state of Q/A. The leak was just that, a leak from a hardware vendor.
By your expert interpretation of "the manual", every piece of software in development is therefore vaporware until it's shrinked wrapped. That wouldn't be a very useful definition if it makes the word all-inclusive.
In fact, the DOOM III poster that's up here on my wall has a 2003 release date in big bold letters right at the bottom.
Perhaps you should tell me to RTFM next, if it actually misses a release date.
If there is a piece of vaporware to rule them all it is Team Fortress 2. Check out the website http://tf2.sierra.com. The last time the news on the site was updated was Jan 23, 2001!!! The game has been in the works since 1998!! According to all the official websites TF2 is still in developement/coming soon. Neither Sierra nor Valve has reported that the game is dead. Some version of the game was even demo'd once or twice, which means it was SOMETHING.
TF2, king of vaporware.
-- The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
I suppose the work went into TFC for Half-Life, but still, they wanted to call it TF2.
Doubtful. TFC was initially created as a proof of concept for the Half-Life mod SDK. It was also a pretty close translation of the original TF for Quake (they screwed up a bunch of stuff, like letting the HWGuy walk while shooting, and totally f'ing over canalzon with the should've-been-aborted map cz2). TFC shared almost nothing in common with the ideas that were tossed around for TF2 (two-man gunner teams on fixed-position turrets, requiring a gunner and an ammo-feeder; medics with absolutely no offensive capabilities; a WW2-ish setting, etc).
I actually did some sound effects work for this back when it was originally slated to be a Quake 2 mod by the TF team (before they all joined on with Valve). You can actually still download the MP3 of the sounds all put together, made to sound like one huge battle.
Once they got bought out by Valve, I got paid for the work I did and that was the last I saw/heard about the game really. Looking back at it now though, I hope they really don't use my old sounds, as they're quite dated and admitedly amateur.
At one point, while I was working on the last version of TF released for QuakeWorld (remember that?), Robin of TF had me take a look at a first run of TF2 for Quake2. I actually think I have that still laying around here on an old CD somewhere.
What are you talking about? TF2 was released ages ago with only a few hiccups in production. IIRC the only the problems they suffered were:
1. They had to outsource development.
2. They had to rename the game to Counter-Strike.
I am only half joking. CS now has nearly all the important features that TF2 was meant to have, along with polish, popularity and panache that it could never have hoped for.
In addition, the Half-Life engine has undergone tremendous enhancement over the years, to nearly the state that TF2 promised. Voice communication has already been added, and a player can assume a "commander role" if the mod allows (as in Natural Selection). The graphics were also bumped up with higher quality texture maps. There have also been many many other enhancements, great and small. In fact, I think the HL engine is the most heavily upgraded engine of all time.
As far as I'm concerned, CS *IS* TF2 and Valve gave it out for free. Yay!
At one point, while I was working on the last version of TF released for QuakeWorld (remember that?), Robin of TF had me take a look at a first run of TF2 for Quake2. I actually think I have that still laying around here on an old CD somewhere.
Huh. That would actually be a really cool thing to see, if you still have it. If you're still in touch with Robin, could you ask him if he'd mind seeing that released? Q2 is so old, and TF2 so delayed, that I can't imagine it would be at risk of digging into their sales, and I'd be shocked if they're actually still using any of the game elements from the Q2 version...
I am still in touch with Robin here and there, but honestly that "demo" I have is barely anything worth looking at for anything but nostalgia's sake. From what I know of the real TF2, it's absolutely nothing like what you'll see. One thing I recall from the Q2 version was that the spy had a teeny, tiny robotic spider that he could throw on the ground and control to infiltrate the enemy base and detonate. You could also look through the spider's eyes while controlling it and use it as a camera. Keep in mind that this work was done, if I recall, a few months after Quake 2 was released. A lot has changed since then.
Re:Non-Computer Related Nominations...
by
Chicane-UK
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· Score: 4, Insightful
No offence, but I am more than prepared to let an Iraq war never come to pass. Its vaporwar (ho ho) that I am prepared to let go!
-- "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
Re:Non-Computer Related Nominations...
by
0x0d0a
·
· Score: 2
Iraq War - how long have we been waiting for this to happen? Maybe it'll come out next year?
Only in America. Clinton gets impeached for lying about having sex with a (willing) girl. Dubya doesn't get impeached for starting a war with a country to continue a family feud.
One of my neighbors works at Amazon.com and got to try one out for a while (he was riding it around the neighborhood, unfortunately, it ran out of batteries right was we approached him). My mom also saw one in Seattle.
I live in Suburban Maryland. Considering how people drive in this area, I certainly wouldn't be riding around town on a 17mph target. I have enough problems riding around on my Triumph.
--
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
I'm sure we're both going to be moderated as trolls or flamebaits or whatever for this, but it's true. Yet another year has gone by with no sign, not even an inkling, of a suitable Linux-based desktop operating system.
OS X, on the other hand, just keeps getting better, proving that user-friendly yet powerful UNIX is not only possible, but damn profitable.
Re:Portable Vorbis Players
by
Minna+Kirai
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· Score: 2
After the Vorbis guys released the free integer Ogg codec, you no longer need to buy tkcPlayer to get mobile ogginess. The Linux standby XMMS and also Opie Player can play them on a Zaurus (and probably some Ipaqs too).
the idea that the music industry would get with the program and market a huge selection of unrestricted quality digital music files online at a reasonable price. Oops sorry, that's snake oil.
All the "gains in profits" over the past couple years have come from slashed budgets and layoffs. Which means - less corporate spending, and far less consumer spending. Which leads to more layoffs, and more slashed budgets.
It was the quarter-to-quarter hunger for a paper-profit (to pump up share prices) that has turned into an engine of recession. Too few businesses are working on long-term productivity. I consider this a further demonstration that shareholder capitalism as we know it is broken.
...I have a thing against people using acronyms that are not common knowledge. After forgiving my ignorance, can you please tell me exactly what UO is?
--
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt. --E.C. Stanton
Remember Zeosync made that huge fuss claiming 100:1 compression on random data?
Many news agencies like Reuters ran with it and as usual Shanon proved them wrong (try www.zeosync.com hehe)
If only they had read the newsgroup compression FAQ they would have saved time and all that investor money (they had over $10 million at one point I believe).
Anyhow I thought that was the best vaporware... if only it could have been true;(
Re:100:1 Compression Baby!!!
by
frozenray
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· Score: 4, Funny
> Remember Zeosync made that huge fuss claiming 100:1 compression on random data?
I bet that they probably achieved an even better compression ratio than 100:1 on their venture capital.
-- "There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
I agree with you, Maxis isn't usually one to deliver products late (some would argue that games like Simcity3k should have been tested more). The Simcity series has been in development for quite some time, and I think the Sims series caught them by surprise with its popularity.
It would make sense to push the better selling series over the Christmas period, with the release of SimsOnline, since that has the potential to lock a lot of customers into a monthly billing revenue cycle.
Soviet Russian Linux Distro?
by
TibbonZero
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Never came out.. but Soviet Russia was mentioned a few too many times...
> not even an inkling, of a suitable Linux-based > desktop operating system. OS X, on the other hand, > just keeps getting better,
I would certainly hope so, since you know, OS X isn't free.
Not that cost is a surefire gauge of quality, but considering most people who use linux haven't paid for anything more than media (ie, cd's) I'd say overall it's doing pretty darn well in what it's accomplished.
If OS X had been introduced to the world the same way Linux had been.. would it have as much to brag about?
Neverwinter Nights for Linux is technically vaporware, as it has yet to be released, and isn't going to be released before January 10.
QuarkXPress for Mac OS X
by
phillymjs
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I actually submitted this one to Wired last week when they originally posted the request for submissions.
Those fuckwits at Quark have been pissing on their customers for years, and now they're making my life harder because I have to deal with supporting the Classic environment instead of being able to make a clean break to OS X.
I've heard that this way-overdue version of XPress has been the final straw for many of Quark's customers, and they're finally dropping XPress for Adobe InDesign. Quark's customer-hostility has done more to sell copies of InDesign than anything dreamed up by the folks in Marketing at Adobe.
Times like this, I wish there was a "-1, Moron" option.
-- Slackware forever. Honestly, what else would you trust when it absolutely positively has to be stable, secure, and easy
Re:A working Linux distro
by
manly_15
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
In my mind, Mandrake has come close, but who knows how long they will continue to be around.
I don't think the actual software is the big problem. Most things are not too different from the various Windows OSes. The two main issues for the desktop are:
1. Command line fear. Let's face it. As easy as something like "ifup eth0" is, the idea of typing commands scares users. Sometimes, it can almost be more difficult for newbies to navigate a GUI, especially when you get multiple windows open. It would be really cool if there was a shell that understood straight english and was able to execute commands based on them, ex "connect to the internet", "delete file called xxx", etc.
2. Documentation A lot of the documentation for *nix is very good. However, most newbies wouldn't even think to look on the web, much less in on line help. Sort of like the Mandrake Installer, a desktop OS should have help integrated EVERYWHERE, with the option to turn it off once the user is comfortable with the system.
While vaporware is generally thought of as software, what about hardware? I'd say AMD's Hammer not coming out this year was the biggest vaporware of the year.
-- Slackware forever. Honestly, what else would you trust when it absolutely positively has to be stable, secure, and easy
Re:Might I suggest...?
by
sparrow_hawk
·
· Score: 2, Informative
*cough*RedHat8.0*cough*
Ehrm, sorry about that. Got a nasty cold right now. (/me wipes germ-filled spittle off my face.)
YMMV, but I think that RedHat 8.0 is really surprisingly usable, though it does take a little bit of tweaking. Unifying the desktops was a brilliant move, Bluecurve is servicable (certainly better than Luna!), and they're working at eliminating the complexity of install and configuration. Now if they would fix that @#$*!!! menu structure (!!Extras!!), reduce the number of separate configuration applets I need to wade through to do darn near *anything*, and reinclude MP3 support. (Licensing schmicensing.)
For that matter, it would be nice if they'd include xine or mplayer (preferably with QT and WMA support), RealPlayer, and Flash for those who gotta get their Flash game fix. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know -- it ain't OSS. While we're wishing, maybe RedHat could fund open-source alternatives?
Still, it's the largest step in the right direction I've seen a distro take. It isn't there yet, but it's closer. Don't knock it.:)
Never Winter Nights for linux ...
by
phoxix
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Sorry mates
But my vote goes for NWN on linux.
They stated that they'd have linux support ASAP. But with the recent events I wonder if they even knew what they were talking about. My gut feeling is that they stated linux support just to generate PR.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful, nor do I want to sound 'mean' in anyway. But this has become one of those I'll believe it when I see it sort things
... a RMS approved completely free operating system with nothing but GNU tools/kernel/etc.
... an actual gaming system based on linux.
... a crash proof secure windows distro.
... peace on earth
so many to choose from... so so many. I know HURD will never reach full developement (no one will dump linux to do something new), 3D in linux sucks hence why there are no games for linux, crash proof windows that is secure (MS always promises and always fails horribly, and well peace on earth and good will towards men (not so long as we got a war mongers running america...)
-- Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
Re:Vaporware ...
by
(startx)
·
· Score: 4, Informative
... an actual gaming system based on linux
Did you try the Gentoo 1.4rc1 live cd? It booted, loaded the nvidia driver, and started the ut2003 demo for me with zero trouble.
Unless you have a raid controller on your motherboard.
Oh, and it looks like a sweaty set of nuts under links.
Oh, and it's not a linux gaming platform, cause, you know, it's a windows game, ported to linux.
Jesus. Stop bitching about "no games for linux" and buy a gaming machine and put windows on it. Get over your need to run linux. Clue-by-four: If you're opposed to running windows cause it's not free (speech), if you're running linux to get around that, most games ported to linux aren't free either. You think they're going to GPL the NWN linux port?
-- sig?
Re:A working Linux distro
by
Knife_Edge
·
· Score: 2
OS X as unix on the desktop may be nice, but has anyone here ever used OS X Server as a server? I think it is really crummy, especially if you are trying to provide services (like authentication, remote home directories, etc) to OS X clients. Most of the Apple proprietary server stuff hardly works at all. Difficult to configure and also poorly documented, in addition to being expensive.
Check out the forums on the Apple website if you don't believe me. Loads of people saying things along the lines of, "I just bought a XServe for my school lab, and it is not working for an unexplained reason." The solution Apple often uses is to deny that the problem even exists.
Totally offtopic.
No contest...
by
gregwbrooks
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· Score: 3, Redundant
Best vaporware of the past year? Economic recovery.
--
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
I wonder how well the geek-virgin stereotype holds up to the myth, or if it just gets thrown around because we like to poke fun at ourselves. I'd like to see this slashdot poll:
Are you a virgin?
Yes
No
I'm keeping my virginty for Cowboy Neal you insensitve cold!
> Actually, I don't think any of the geek > stereotypes hold too well anymore
That's more to do with the fact that "definition" of geek is so dilluted now. Anyone who knows how to get on the internet is considered a "geek." Anyone who can find a MapHack utility for Warcraft is elite, hell, if you can install your new Graphics card, you must be a geek or a nerd!!
User-centric design has destroyed the empire of geekdom!!
OS X, on the other hand, just keeps getting better, proving that user-friendly yet powerful UNIX is not only possible, but damn profitable.
However, you can't use it like unix; it and its applications are certainly not unix-like. So it really doensn't matter what's underneath. I use unix because it acts like unix, which is defined by five things in my book:
the powerful shell
everything is a file (Plan9 is even better)
everything in simple text files
the terminal
the fork/exec model
the matrix reloaded?
by
jefdiesel
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
sure i know the vampire queen's pilot was smoked out after a big week in the sun, but this movie was due out a while ago.. wasn't it?
Silicon Film Technologies should be on there, hands down. They won in 2000 or so. You'd think after two more years they'd find a way to make this work.
It's vapor, but it could be the road to digital for people with high-quality 35mm SLR cameras. Everyone wants to go digital for the convenience, the instant feedback on the shot, the uh, privacy of not going through a photo lab, etc. There must be over a million people with SLR's of higher optical quality than most of today's point-and-shoot digitals.
In fact, I can't imagine why this hasn't flown. I don't think anyone else has beaten them to the punch, and it seems technically feasible. Maybe they can't get the sensor thin enough to close the camera back?
Right here at home! Are you listening?
by
teamhasnoi
·
· Score: 2
Slashdot's Radio section! No update since June 29th!
Awhile back I posted (the/. search? Does that box DO anything?) a good use for it - review new music and bands (RIAA free!?) and links to free mp3 downloads.
Perhaps we can teach a old dead dog new tricks...I sure would like to hear what other/.ers are listening to.
Vaporware since 20 years. Not even "Duke Nukem Forever in Development" can beat GNU/Hurd.
Gotta be Duke Nukem Forever
by
hoser
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Yeah, it's made the list before, but it deserves to be on there again. We've been waiting for this game since:
- Clinton was president.
- The Spice Girls were popular.
- Princess Diana was alive.
- Tony Soprano was a twinkle in David Chase's eye.
- Yahoo was a good search engine.
- The X-Files was on, and it was worth watching.
It's been a long, long time since Duke Nukem Forever was announced. 3DRealms should get an award for most vapourous software ever.
--
hoser: Slashdot reader since 1987.
Re:Gotta be Duke Nukem Forever
by
(startx)
·
· Score: 2
hell yeah, when Duke nukem forever was announced (aka shortly after duke nukem 3d came out) 3D realms had yet to produce a game that ran in windows instead of DOS
Slashdot posters have provided many examples of corporate acceptance of Gnome and KDE, ranging from governments to universities to Canadian national banks. Walmart is shipping systems pre-loaded. Sun adopted a Linux desktop as its standard. Is 'no sign, no inkling' a personal judgement?
I'm sure we're both going to be moderated as trolls or flamebaits or whatever for this, but it's true.
Not to worry, from what I've seen you've never posted a single positive comment on Linux and it hasn't hurt your Karma yet.
Since he turned 64 this year (he termed it getting a "bit" older:) he'd better get it published soon!
Re:Next TAOCP volume from Knuth?
by
bedessen
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Knuth is a guy who likes to plan ahead. On his web site he states that Volume 4 (of The Art Of Computer Programming) will be ready in 2007, and Vol. 5 will be published in 2009. He then goes on to describe how he plans to rewrite Vols. 1-3 after he finishes 5. Finally after that, "God willing" he says, he plans to write Vol. 6 (context-free languages) and Vol. 7 (Compiler Techniques.) We're talking probably 10-20 years into the future here, certainly what I'd call long-term planning.
Re:Might I suggest...?
by
Chazmati
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· Score: 3, Informative
Ditto here! RH 8.0 is nice, and you hit the nail on the head:
Extras? (slaps forehead) So THAT'S where gftp, abiword, tux racer etc. went. What were they thinking? Half of the menu items removed and duplicated under "Extras"?
And although I can't knock them for the.mp3 support, I thought 'Psyche' was surprisingly weak on video tools. Why not include Kino, dvgrab, gscanbus, avifile, mjpegtools, mplayer, etc?
How about....
by
KAMiKAZOW
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· Score: 3, Insightful
And just wait til Wife 1.1 gets forcibly upgraded to Divorce 2.0, and breaks all your financial applications!!
-- ~REZ~
#43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:A working Linux distro
by
spoonist
·
· Score: 2
Dude, I'm a diehard UNIX fan and it's quite easy to use OS X like a UNIX box. The biggest thing to do is to go here and swipe all their packages (esp bash (powerful shell)).
I've done some development on OS X (porting apps from other UNIX platforms to X) and it's very, very easy and very, very UNIX like. Everything I saw was a file. Almost everything I saw were simple text files. There are most definitely fork and exec on OS X. There is a terminal app (although I miss xterm-type three button mouse cut and paste).
The largest hurdle is the damned netinfo database. All the/etc files are there, but they're not used... that SUCKS... but oh well, in my book OS X is worth the adjustment I had to made to deal with netinfo.
That's good to hear. I didn't mean to imply that OS X lacked everything unixy, just that it didn't have enough for my tastes.
BTW, by 'everything is a file' I mean the idea that the interface to most system things are files. E.g.,/dev/sound, network connections, etc. Plan 9 goes even further, having things like the network connection being locatable on the filesystem (/net/tcp/483/in or the like).
Re:A working Linux distro
by
aussersterne
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I am about to speak for all those of us who use a multimedia Linux desktop now for years, complete with audio, 3D acceleration, DVD, streaming video, full MS Office interoperability and KDE ease-of-use that even our Windows-ing friends comment on with envy...
You're absolutely wrong about Linux. Maybe you're even simple.
I'm very tired of the so-and-so's on Slashdot who keep posting that Linux is unusable without even giving any major distribution a real try. Linux on the desktop rules, I wouldn't use anything else. No, it's not exactly like Windows. In fact, it's better-- faster workflow, more intuitive desktop, better icons and themes, nicer applications, the ability to run Windows applications (under VMWare or Win4Lin) more stably than under Windows... But of course there's no arguing that it's different.
Still, if you can't be bothered to figure out your way around the differences and appreciate the wealth of features and applications that are already there for Linux and that have been putting Windows to shame already for years, it isn't the fault of Linux or the Linux community, it's the fault of you and nobody else. Some have said they don't have the time to figure out the features of Linux. Fine, they don't get to use them. But that doesn't mean they aren't there or that they aren't as usable as those of Windows or Mac OS! Sit a Windows guy down in front of a Mac OS X machine and watch what happens: he's as confused as hell. But nobody is storming around claiming that OS X is bad for the desktop because such claims aren't fashionable.
Justification: I am writing this right now from a multimedia tablet PC running Red Hat Linux and KDE3 with Light.v3 style and the iKons theme. Yes, the touchscreen works wonderfully! Yes, I have handwriting recognition via xscribble! Yes, I'm using all external USB peripherals, including a DVD player which is right now playing "Lola Rennt"! Yes, onboard audio and onboard 3D acceleration work properly! Yes, it makes my friends green with envy!
We keep hearing about technologies for making low-cost, large flat panel displays. But either they don't work, or they don't stay cheap if made large.
There's been talk for years about "printing transistors", "organic light emitting diodes", "E-Ink", and similar concepts. So far, none of these technologies have progressed beyond the prototype or tiny screen level.
Since the market for this technology would be huge (all TV sets, for starters) if it worked and was cheaper than CRTs, it's the premiere vaporware technology. Nothing else actually promoted as Real Soon Now has similar volume potential.
It isn't really vaporware -- no one's promised it. Slashdot likes taking research articles, trumpeting them, and then including a little blurb from the editor about how much he'd like one.
Vaporware-like
by
Devil's+BSD
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
The all-time best vaporware, IMHO, is fusion power. In 1950, the experts were saying that we would have self-sustained, controlled fusion reactions on Earth within 50 years. 50 years later, the new deadline is 2050. Curious, isn't it?
-- I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
Another claim in the 50s wrt power was nuclear power. The big slogan back then was "too cheap to meter." As in, it would make electricity so cheap that it'd not be cost effective to meter it, you'd just pay a flat rate for all you could use.
Bah, fusion power is much too newfangled. Perpetual motion machines have been in the offing for a couple thousand years!!
-- ~REZ~
#43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
ICQ and AIM meld (aka unified messaging format)
by
Gudlyf
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· Score: 5, Insightful
How long has it been sice AOL bought out ICQ, yet we still have both ICQ #'s and AOL login names, and still a seperate messenger for each? How long will it be before these two finally become one, never mind having a single, unified messaging format that we can all use without having to either install one special client to handle all the different servers (i.e., Everybuddy, Trillian, etc.), or run seperate clients for each? ANd I'm not talking about something like Jabber.
Re:ICQ and AIM meld (aka unified messaging format)
by
jpt.d
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
ICQ Qualifies:
It has been in beta since before 98.
-- What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock
Now search for that bug slave!
Re:ICQ and AIM meld (aka unified messaging format)
by
Jerf
·
· Score: 2
ANd I'm not talking about something like Jabber.
Despite your protest, that is the answer. The IETF has formed the XMPP working group, where XMPP stands for "Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol", which should become the interoperability standard for instant messaging services; it's certainly the closest thing we've got. And XMPP is basically Jabber with a spit-polish.
I have to second a vote for Shadowbane, "The MMOG without all that pesky RPG stuff" lol. This game has been waiting for release "next month" since like December of 2000. Pure vapor!
How about the DOJ "punishment" in the MS antitrust case?
Other games: Horizons and expecially Soveriegn
by
Gudlyf
·
· Score: 2
I've been waiting around for Horizons for quite some time. At least the beta is seeing some light of day recently. But it sure doesn't beat the long awaited Sovereign that I believe was announced sometime after Everquest was launched...Everquest!
The Integrated On-demand Network that is supposed to magically deliver high speed video, voice, data, and even to the home. Didn't really take off. (Not a full-fledged product, alpha, really.) Crashed hard. The only thing I'm uncertain on are the dates. Was this 2001 or 2002?
Last Year's Vaporware: Materialized
by
fo0bar
·
· Score: 5, Funny
It should be noted that out of the 10 items listed by Wired for the 2001 Vaporware list, the following have materialized:
* 3G wireless networks (Although not what we were promised. I have a 3G phone from sprint, but cannot do things like video on demand) * Photoshop for OS X * Warcraft III * Duke Nukem Forever
Err, wait, never mind on the last one.
Re:Last Year's Vaporware: Materialized
by
0x0d0a
·
· Score: 2
3G wireless networks (Although not what we were promised. I have a 3G phone from sprint, but cannot do things like video on demand)
I demand not to have to carry a cell *and* not to watch video on ridiculously tiny screens...and *I* got it!
I met with the oqo guys at the last Pocket PC Summit (in Hollywood at the end of October). They let me play with their device and it was pretty neat. After some small talk, they let on that the reason we haven't seen these in the consumer market yet is because that isn't their business plan. Their business plan is to get bought up by some large company (Microsoft and Intel were mentioned as potential canditates) and retire. Unfortunately, they forgot to check first on whether or not corresponded with the strategy of any potential buyer. So sadly it appears that while these devices are *real*, we won't be seeing them on store shelves.
Didnt read closely did you? A product can exist and still be Vapour. If you cant go down to your local electronics store and BUY one, then it's vapour. Doesnt matter if they have protoypes, even if they work like a hot damn and could be off the line next week. Unless they ARE off the line next week, it's still vapour.
On a side note, these guys must be insane. If you have a good product, go for it. Then the big boys will buy you up because you have a viable and consumer attractive product. Sounds like more of the typical.com thinking to believe that just because it might be cool and sell, that someone is going to buy them for gobs of cash.
I never said it wasn't vaporware... just that they *are* real.
While I agree that they really blew it on the business side of things, the problem is that it costs a good deal of money to manufacture these things - especially as a new company with low quantities. So they'd still need to find a serious invester to get these things on store shelves. My guess is that they quickly got turned down by a bunch of investors and switched to the "please buy our company" approach.
All the/etc files are there, but they're not used... that SUCKS...
That hasn't been true since 10.1, and it wasn't even true then. For example, host name lookups are handled by lookupd. In 10.1 and earlier, lookupd was configured to ignore/etc/hosts by default, but could very easily be changed. In 10.2 and later, lookupd uses/etc/hosts by default. That's just one example.
Yes, I have all of those features on my computer, too, and I didn't have to spend dozens or hundreds of hours making it all work.
You are the typical Linux elitist. You have managed to cobble together a computer that is almost as good as a Windows PC. Congratulations, here's your cookie.
Let me give you just one example of how your computer is not the hot shit that you think it is: you said, "Yes, I have handwriting recognition via xscribble!" Great. My computer also has handwriting recognition, via Ink. Let's see how they compare.
To get xscribble working on your computer, you first had to be aware that it exists. Don't laugh; we're talking about Linux for average folks here. Then you had to find it-- Google makes this easy in this case, but that's still an extra step, and one that would be far from obvious to a novice user. I spent three or four minutes popping around the xscribble home page looking for a link that said "click here to install," with no luck, so obviously finding the software takes more than three or four minutes. If you're lucky enough to find a compatible binary package, there's still the problem of installing it: depending on which sub-flavor of Linux you have, this could be anything from running command-line RPM to a half-finished graphical tool to god knows what. Maybe it includes a kernel module that requires you to manually update modules.conf or some such. And that's if you're lucky enough to find a binary for it. Building from sources is another circle of hell altogether.
You know how I got Ink working on my computer? I plugged in my tablet. That's it. That's the beginning and ending of it, the alpha and the omega.
Before you go bragging about how your little hobby "rules," you might want to spend a moment reflecting on the facts of the situation.
When half-life came out, I preordered TF2 for its "scheduled" release date of November 22 1998. I received an e-mail from EB.com 2 months later notifying me that TF2 was removed.
Not according to 3D Realms...
by
antdude
·
· Score: 2
Link: "It's funny that our news piece a few days ago said "We're still here" when some game magazines think we're be dead. That's what it appears we are to Computer Gaming World. They have a monthly section in their magazine called "Pipeline" where they talk about their "educated guesses" on game release dates. As everyone knows (or should know) by now, the release date for Duke Nukem Forever is "When it's done".
Last month we were labeled "Never", and now we're labeled "RIP" by the article's author Rich Laporte. Be curious to see what Rich has to say when DNF is released (When it's done, of course). [Wink]"
-- Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
The .Net "Revolution"
by
Drakker
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Yes,.Net is coming! Is it a revolution? Not at all, we're going back to the good old mainframes.
Beside, 99% of their architecture isnt even ready.
Re:The .Net "Revolution"
by
Iamthefallen
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Interesting? hardly, it is however getting a wee bit annoying that people are seen as insightful just cause they whine about.Net. If you don't like.Net on techincal merit, fine. If you don't like it cause MS made it, fine. But quit whining about it just because you don't understand it and you're too lazy to pick up some books.
.Net has been compared to most modern languages/runtimes/architectures/strategies in a ".Net is just xxx with yyy!" way, sorry, it is nothing like those. Yes it is similar to J2EE, not Java, J2EE, but not many other things, so please stop the comparisons if you don't know what you're talking about.
99% of their architecture isn't ready, pray tell what that refers to?
-- Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
I know we've got a Release Candidate, but I was really eager to do the upgrade thing.
Re:A working Linux distro
by
aussersterne
·
· Score: 2
Yes, and if Linux had shipped with my tablet PC instead of Windows, such things as xscribble would have been installed by default, without needing my intervention, just as you've described.
So what you've just argued is that Linux isn't usable because it doesn't have Microsoft's monopoly. Now there's a political statement...
So what you've just argued is that Linux isn't usable because it doesn't have Microsoft's monopoly.
HUH? I'm arguing that Linux isn't usable because it's a pain in the ass to set up and use. Shifting that burden from the end user to the OEM wouldn't make Linux any better. It'd still be a pain in the ass.
In order for Linux to be on par with either Mac OS or Windows, a huge amount of work is going to have to go into things like software installation, a unified framework for managing and controlling daemons and other non-interactive software services, how to manage shared libraries and other components, drivers and modules, and so on. These are the things that make Linux a pain in the ass.
Putting a pretty UI and some poorly designed "wizards" on top of Linux as it stands today is like spray-painting a turd.
Uh, no. Here they say "The preferred choice of independent professionals, enthusiasts, and students worldwide." (emphasis mine) Note they still have a 'personal' version. It's bad business to ignore a demographic, and how hard would it be to include some packages and add options under the "Multimedia" section of the installer? Isn't this sort of thing the reason why they developed RPM? So you can add/remove what you want from an installation? But I gripe too much, they did an awesome job.
The Red Hat Speaks on 8.0 and Multimedia page specifically mentions only mp3 audio. Even if MPEG-1 video is banned, they could still include kino and libdv.
That last link is a good one, though, they mention where to get Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer, Macromedia Flash, xine...
Re:You can have both
by
sparrow_hawk
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Huh. Didn't know that. Wish they would include a prominent link to that Multimedia page on their initial "do you want to register?" web page.
Their "revamped" RPM manager makes me grouchy too, since it can only see those packages that the installation program installed, and not anything I add later. Grr... At least there's always the command-line.
Halo on PC is not vaporware in comparisson to Halo on the Mac: Mac users have been hearing "Real soon now" from Bungie since 2000, before the Microsoft buyout.
Just because Sprint calls it 3G...
by
wilson_c
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
...doesn't mean it is.
The reason your Sprint "3G" phone can't handle 3G features like video is that it isn't 3G. Sprint is using interim technology that the rest of the world refers to a "2.5G" - it offers some of the features of 3G while still building on a second generation base. Since 3G has been hyped so much, Sprint just decided to piggyback their inferior technology by calling it 3G.
Re:A working Linux distro
by
aussersterne
·
· Score: 2
Sorry, but you're just wrong. It's not a pain in the ass. Maybe it's a pain in the ass for you, but certainly you're not suggesting that you should be held up as the sole benchmark for normalcy in the world? Or are you?! I spent less than an hour getting everything up and running on my Tablet PC when I got it. Of course, this is because I use Linux all the time, so I know all of the little tweaks that I want to make and software that I want to grab and where they can be found. But that's my point!
To suggest that this is somehow *different* from Windows is disingenuous. Last time I installed Windows 2000 on a friend's desktop, we came up on first boot to a 16 color desktop and no ethernet. D'oh! How is this so much more user-friendly or brilliant than Linux? We had to know how to get to the control panel and instruct Windows to install a driver for the ethernet card from a driver CD. We then had to go to Web site for his 3D accelerator manufacturer and download the drivers. Of course, they were zipped, so we had to go to www.shareware.com and find an unzipper. Then, it conflicted with the incorrect driver Windows had chosen to install for the graphics hardware, so we had to uninstall that first. Blah, blah, blah.
God knows I can do these things faster by far on Linux. There are a whole bunch of people out there complaining about how hard Linux is to use and configure... but their basis for comparison is a different system -- Windows -- with which they are obviously much more familiar, and which more than likely came pre-installed on their PC with drivers loaded, etc., as you yourself already admitted. Hardly a fair basis for comparison, is it?
So I'll suggest again that you're implicitly arguing that either a) Linux will never be usable until it comes pre-installed, or b) Linux will never be usable until it is an exact Windows clone. That's certainly a point of view that some people have around here... but I certainly hope it doesn't happen because I personally find Linux easier to use as it is now, period.
And no, I'm not some kind of ueber-geek with a pimple problem who spends hours a day tweaking configuration files. You seem to suggest that I've made a "hobby" out of Linux and spend lots of hours banging my head against system libraries or installing software. I can't tell you the last time I had to do any of that stuff. I write books. I use a word processor. I take photos. That's what I do. I have to earn a living, I don't have time to fsck with my computer all day!
And anyway, I have apt-rpm installed -- that's usually my first thing -- just like Windows users head straight for WinZip to install their software. There's no difference! And once apt-rpm is installed, if I want some software, all I have to do is type:
apt-get install xmms...and away we go. You see? No trouble. No hassle. Works great. And it's much faster than having to click, click, click through a thousand Wizards and registration screens like one does in Windows! Maybe it doesn't seem intuitive to you, a Windows user, but then the Windows add/remove software system with its broken registry keys seems very odd and complicated to me, a Linux user. See?
-- STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Re:My vote: non zealous Linux users.
by
Seehund
·
· Score: 2
AFAIK, nobody has announced a release date for such a thing.
Seeing your joke about zealous Linux users being modded as "Flamebait" just makes the joke even better.;)
I was about to say it died this year, but when I went to check, it looks like they have changed the concept a bit, adding an external piece at the bottom of the camera.
The original concept had only a "roll" that had to be removed to transfer the images. The CCD (or cmos?) did not cover the full frame and the quality of the posted tiffs were crap.
With the new Full Frame chips from Kodak etc, chances are SF won't be able to compeat
So wait a minute. You're saying that your experience installing Windows 2000-- on a no-name box built at the discount mall, no doubt-- was unpleasant, but that the exact same process to install Linux is somehow acceptable? Talk about your double standards.
So I'll suggest again that you're implicitly arguing...
Suggest all you like. I'm being quite explicit, if you'll notice. I'm not mincing words here. Linux sucks as a single-user operating system.
And anyway, I have apt-rpm installed...
So once again, it comes down to having to have special knowledge to make the system work. Great endorsement, friend.
Maybe it doesn't seem intuitive to you, a Windows user...
Did you miss the part where I talked about OS X? I haven't used Windows for the better part of a year, and before that I only used it occasionally. Windows is definitely not my thing, nor is it my basis for comparison. Since Windows is not UNIX in any sense of the term, it's not productive to think about what's wrong with Linux in terms of what's right with Windows. That's like talking about what's wrong with your car in terms of what's right with my umbrella. Instead, it makes sense to compare a successful single-user UNIX system, Mac OS X, to an unsuccessful single-user UNIX, Linux.
Oh, and as for installing software? I don't really care much for your "simple" method. I just drag the icon from the disk image to my Applications folder. No dependencies, no incompatibilities. Doesn't get any simpler than that.
The slashcode spell checker and redundant article blocker.
-- Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Counter-Strike Condition Zero
by
jeramybsmith
·
· Score: 2
Not to mention the aforementioned Team Fortress 2: Brothers in Arms
-- Never overestimate the end user.
-jeramy b. smith
Re:A working Linux distro
by
aussersterne
·
· Score: 2
No, "friend", you're the one who suggested that the process in Windows was fine, but the process in Linux was not. I'm suggesting that it's the same process and that Linux is at least as viable as Windows as a desktop operating system, and that furthermore, I prefer it.
You're the one who (obviously) is decalring his/her own experiences to be the only ones of import. You think it, therefore naturally it must be true for everyone. Well, that's crap, plain and simple. I won't mince words either. I find Linux easy to use. It makes sense. It has detailed logging. It's well-documented, even down to the dusty depths.
And I find Windows much easier to use than Mac OS X. I bought a Beige G3 to play with OS X. It's supposed to be a "supported" system according to Apple. Well... OS 9 worked. But under 10.1, SCSI doesn't work, video is unaccelerated, ethernet disappears all the time without warning and the CD-ROM drive (the Apple CD-ROM drive) tends to hang the system.
No wonder you're on my enemies list; you simply discount any experiences or opinions other than your own as nonsense, all the while patronizingly referring to people as "friends" and putting ther feelings in "scare quotes".
This is my last post in this thread. I'll summarize.
1. Linux is not more difficult to use or install than Windows; it is merely different.
2. I prefer Linux to Windows.
3. All of my devices and software work under Linux. They work well. The Linux desktop works well. My friends who have tried it like it very much.
4. I do not spend hours and hours banging away at system libraries.
5. I find Windows confusing.
6. I find Mac OS X unstable (yes, on Apple hardware) and somewhat limiting.
7. I am perfectly willing to admit that others feel that Mac OS and Windows are easier to use that Linux. You, however, are not willing to admit that some people like myself might legitimately find Linux to be a perfectly viable desktop system.
Oh well. Long live Linux. And maybe Apple will fix Mac OS X.
1. Linux is not more difficult to use or install than Windows; it is merely different.
This is demonstrably untrue. Try the mom test and you'll see what I mean.
2. I prefer Linux to Windows.
I don't see where that really matters in context of this discussion. I'm being objective, while you're being subjective.
3. All of my devices and software work under Linux. They work well.
Only after a still-undisclosed number of hours spent making everything work just so.
The Linux desktop works well. My friends who have tried it like it very much.
As above, I don't see where that's relevant. Unless your friends are about 2,000 people chosen at random, of course.
4. I do not spend hours and hours banging away at system libraries.
I doubt that very much. If you've never had to resolve a shared library dependency, then you're either very lucky or you just haven't used your system that much.
5. I find Windows confusing.
I find you confusing. These things you're saying, they just make no sense. But since we're talking about Linux, I find Linux to be inconsistent, incomplete, unpolished, unprofessional, undocumented, and downright frustrating. And that's on a good day. On a bad day I find it to be uninstalled.
6. I find Mac OS X unstable (yes, on Apple hardware) and somewhat limiting.
Since you've already admitted that you find Windows confusing, it's not terribly surprising that you can't wrap your head around the much simpler Mac OS X. Earlier versions of the OS had some fairly serious problems. These have been largely eradicated since version 10.1. I own four Macs running OS X; the one I'm using now I bought in August, and it's been up continuously without a single interruption since. I rebooted it once to move it, and once for each kernel update. Your experience is definitely not typical.
7. I am perfectly willing to admit that others feel that Mac OS and Windows are easier to use that Linux. You, however, are not willing to admit that some people like myself might legitimately find Linux to be a perfectly viable desktop system.
I am more than happy to admit that people like yourself find Linux to be viable. I'm just arguing that you're wrong.
Maybe that's the source of your confusion. This is not a matter of opinion; it's pure objective fact. Mac OS X is far easier to use than Linux. Linux is so hard to use, in fact, that they literally can't give it away.
Pushed back again. Star Control 2 required a 486 DX 4 100. Need I say more about the wait between versions?
The funniest part is that the strategy guide for it shipping to EBs across Canada and the US. Then they pushed back the release date a month again. I expect they'll be recalled soon, even though they're the closest that anyone can get to actually playing the game.
-- -- Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
-- -- Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
No wonder Americans are fat
by
DABANSHEE
·
· Score: 2
Millions of people arround the world spend their entire working days walking on their feet, it's not that hard once you get used to it.
But in the US workers use machines just to get arround airports, no wonder they are fat. Gez they spend all day at work utilising tools to avoid burning energy & instead buy exercise machines off TV shooping channels because they get fat.
You'd think they'd realise if they don't use the Sedgeway machine (& walk instead), then they don't need the exercise machine.
Just in under the wire ... DirectX 9.0
by
telstar
·
· Score: 2
Athlon XP2800+ with the 333 FSB.... Paper launches and the exceptionally long ramp ups... what is up with that? I sat and waited while 2400+ chips were trickled into the market (and was lucky to snag one)....
nVidia NV30 -- while not quite vaporware, 'officially' releasing it in 12/02, while stating that no one would actually get their hands on one until February 2003 should net at least an honorable mention.
-- ...we are from the government - we are here to help...
I guess it's because Diablo II is old, but... That patch is still showing many signs of vaporness.:-)
For an entire year, Blizzard Entertainment had *one* programmer on it. So sure, it took some time. A few months ago they doubled the size of the development team (they used words like these in an official statement). So they added another guy.
They recently said that they *hoped* to get it out before the next issue of the Blizzard Insider, their newsletter. The problem now is that the Blizzard Insider is released at irregular times -- from every 1 months to every 4 months. And it was only a hope...
I recently mailed them about the matter and actually got a non-automated reply. Among others, it said (and I quote): "There is no date for the patch, of course." (emphasis added)
Oh well.:-)
-- Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Linux stampede, MS death
by
NineNine
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I nominate the stampede of users rushing away from Windows to some flavor of Linux. Every other article here is something like, "Company x is installing Linux on xxx,xxx boxes!! Linux is winning! So, how much longer do you think Microsoft will be around?" Yet somehow, this hasn't even begun to happen.
I took a peek at the project's web page. As far as actual product, there appears to be:
A Windows only reader for "CosmicBook"
A demo for "ZigZag" in bootable floppy form--the link to the supposed Java version leads only to a page reading
OOOOOOH YEAH BABBBBBBY!
Site is underway as we are GO GO GO GO GO with our sponsor. We will be bringing you the big time content with eye popping, mouth drooling, ear candy delights of wonderful visuals.
along with a link to teen porn (as Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up)
There is yet another version of Xanadu code under development; the web page says there will be a presentation given on it at a conference in August 2001, which says something about how up to date the Project Xanadu site is.
Ted Nelson is quite correct about the drawbacks of the web as it stands, but I fear that the 42-year-old Xanadu has become a victim of worse is better.
Everything you described in your previous post already exists, like the other guy said, all that's lacking is it being shipped on PCs.
Arguing with you is like arguing with a fuckin' wall, no good can come of it.
-- Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Re:Ballistic Missile Defense
by
base3
·
· Score: 2
What's the problem? Enemy missiles will be much easier to shoot down provided they are transmitting their GPS coordinates in realtime. The fact that that "test" wasn't a scandal that drove the resignations of everyone from the President down to those working on the "test" assures me that Americans as a group are either terribly apathetic, horridly stupid, or both.
-- One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
How about an exclusive XBox game? lol.
by
Viewsonic
·
· Score: 2
I'd love to see that. Hahahahahahahaa oh I slay me.
That's a *really* awful definition, when I think about it.
I mean, I can see saying that a demo on stage doesn't count (Apple's put out plenty of programs "built" in Director to get people excited) but beta software in your hands means that there's code there.
Vaporware traditionally refers to when you have a bunch of promises from a company but no software. You can grab CVS from Ximian -- they've got plenty of code in it.
not trying to be original here, but . . ... . ... . .
RTFM
"As in previous years, software locked in the pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available. It hasn't shipped until it's shrink-wrapped."
mono isn't a full release yet, even 1.0 includes vapor ware (forms feature). all the good wishes to mono and ximian.
-- "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
And the tradition of using "generation" in names is getting more popular.
Apple *could* have called their processors the 730 and 740 (or whatever, names could be wrong here), but instead it's the Generation 3 and Generation 4 PowerPC.
Sprint should just call their phones, which *obviously* come *after* 3G (in Japan at least) "4G". This is technically correct, would piss off their competitors, and prevent other people from benefitting from the hype.
1) Produce prohibitively expensive technology. 2) Have complete and utter lack of a plan to make money on this.
Surprise, no one *else* wants to buy you and try to make money off your product *either*.
I'm going to be quite surprised if the Tablet PC takes off either. Oh, I doubt it'll be a complete flop, but the overwhelming majority of people are better off with a keyboard. Maybe if it had better battery life and was sold as an e-book reader as well...
Anyway, the reason why more people run linux is b/c x86 is cheaper than mac.
Which is not something that one can ignore. The reason Apple can do OS X at all is because they make huge quantities of money off hardware. And to use Apple software, one must purchase Apple hardware.
They want to install on the corporate network, you get your Office Apps, you get connection to the intranet, you get your database. You do NOT sit and listen to mp3's, watch porno avi's, and download w4r3z. That's what Mandrake is for.
No, that's what Mandrake *aspires* to be. And RH certainly does not ignore the desktop. RH simply has more deals with large-machine and server vendors than Mandrake. Neither distro ignores the desktop user.
While I like Linux more than OS X, OS X is quite capable of keeping a UNIX guy happy.
1. the powerful shell
I don't think much of csh either, but BSD uses it. You going to call BSD not UNIXy enough? If you want, you can plop zsh or bash or whatever on your machine.
2. everything is a file (Plan9 is even better)
I though OS X had/dev, though I could be wrong.
everything in simple text files
Netinfo isn't used for *everything*...
4 the terminal
I'm sure there's a fullscreen terminal app.
5. the fork/exec model
OS X definitely has this. It wouldn't run many UNIX programs without it...:-)
The big advantage OS X has over Linux is maturity. Apple's had tons and tons of people working on OS X full time for longer than there were tons and tons of people working on Linux full time.
Slashdot Mirror
My vote goes to .net server.
I would have really liked to see UO ship, or at least release the source... instead of basically firing everyone and burning most of the work for no good reason..
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Duke Nukem: Forever. 'nuff said.
You zap the moderators with a wand of humor! The moderators resist!
Biggest vaprware: enforcement of the DOJ's MS antitrust settlement.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
I remember when the GeForce 3 came out, and it was supposed to be THE card to run Doom III. Now it's looking like it won't be even close to powerfull enough. While we all know that Doom III will be out eventually, I would say that it's been delayed enough to be considered vapourware. At least we know from the leaked alpha that the game will ROCK :-)
If there is a piece of vaporware to rule them all it is Team Fortress 2. Check out the website http://tf2.sierra.com. The last time the news on the site was updated was Jan 23, 2001!!! The game has been in the works since 1998!! According to all the official websites TF2 is still in developement/coming soon. Neither Sierra nor Valve has reported that the game is dead. Some version of the game was even demo'd once or twice, which means it was SOMETHING.
TF2, king of vaporware.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Sex - Find It
While they allegedly exist, I have yet to actually see one on the street.
And yet Amazon promises to deliver them any month now...
SpyDock: Scientific Python in a Docker container
I second this nomination.
I'm sure we're both going to be moderated as trolls or flamebaits or whatever for this, but it's true. Yet another year has gone by with no sign, not even an inkling, of a suitable Linux-based desktop operating system.
OS X, on the other hand, just keeps getting better, proving that user-friendly yet powerful UNIX is not only possible, but damn profitable.
I write in my journal
Auto-Mod-Down 1) In Soviet Russia Vaporware....... 2) Beowulf Cluster of Vaporware 3) Idea, Vaporware, ???, Profit 4) AND THIS POST!
22 years of empty promises... now *that* is a winner!
I really want one :)
"You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help" -- Calvin
the idea that the music industry would get with the program and market a huge selection of unrestricted quality digital music files online at a reasonable price. Oops sorry, that's snake oil.
Sigs are bad for your health.
News just came today of a new Law and Order series - Law and Order: Special Friends Unit.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
MS Bob XP
Recovery of the American Economy.
employment?
...I have a thing against people using acronyms that are not common knowledge. After forgiving my ignorance, can you please tell me exactly what UO is?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Augmented Reality. I'm stuck with my imagination until then. Oh, and I still have to type this message on a keyboard.
Sorry about that.. I hate it when others do that... and I really hate it when I do it :)
UO2 == Ultima Online 2 == Never came out, and never will
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Oh yes... and auto mod for people that can't see humor when its right in front of their face.
Remember Zeosync made that huge fuss claiming 100:1 compression on random data?
;(
Many news agencies like Reuters ran with it and as usual Shanon proved them wrong (try www.zeosync.com hehe)
If only they had read the newsgroup compression FAQ they would have saved time and all that investor money (they had over $10 million at one point I believe).
Anyhow I thought that was the best vaporware... if only it could have been true
Master of Orion 3, since 2001... no, Nov 2002, December 4th... Maybe January?
Shadowbane, a MMORPG without all that pesky RPG stuff
SimCity 4, delayed 'till January. "It's in 3D, trust us", except you can't swivel the camera
Never came out.. but Soviet Russia was mentioned a few too many times...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
> not even an inkling, of a suitable Linux-based
> desktop operating system. OS X, on the other hand,
> just keeps getting better,
I would certainly hope so, since you know, OS X isn't free.
Not that cost is a surefire gauge of quality, but considering most people who use linux haven't paid for anything more than media (ie, cd's) I'd say overall it's doing pretty darn well in what it's accomplished.
If OS X had been introduced to the world the same way Linux had been.. would it have as much to brag about?
The new feature of slashcode to cut down on duplicate stories...
Post this early, funny. Post this late, redundant... better click submit now...
Neverwinter Nights for Linux is technically vaporware, as it has yet to be released, and isn't going to be released before January 10.
I actually submitted this one to Wired last week when they originally posted the request for submissions.
Those fuckwits at Quark have been pissing on their customers for years, and now they're making my life harder because I have to deal with supporting the Classic environment instead of being able to make a clean break to OS X.
I've heard that this way-overdue version of XPress has been the final straw for many of Quark's customers, and they're finally dropping XPress for Adobe InDesign. Quark's customer-hostility has done more to sell copies of InDesign than anything dreamed up by the folks in Marketing at Adobe.
~Philly
The first .NET post modded redundant? The MS marketing brigade at work again?
Itll disappear in a couple of years when the govt cant get any more PR out of it for TWAT
Times like this, I wish there was a "-1, Moron" option.
Slackware forever. Honestly, what else would you trust when it absolutely positively has to be stable, secure, and easy
In my mind, Mandrake has come close, but who knows how long they will continue to be around.
I don't think the actual software is the big problem. Most things are not too different from the various Windows OSes. The two main issues for the desktop are:
1. Command line fear.
Let's face it. As easy as something like "ifup eth0" is, the idea of typing commands scares users. Sometimes, it can almost be more difficult for newbies to navigate a GUI, especially when you get multiple windows open. It would be really cool if there was a shell that understood straight english and was able to execute commands based on them, ex "connect to the internet", "delete file called xxx", etc.
2. Documentation
A lot of the documentation for *nix is very good. However, most newbies wouldn't even think to look on the web, much less in on line help. Sort of like the Mandrake Installer, a desktop OS should have help integrated EVERYWHERE, with the option to turn it off once the user is comfortable with the system.
Perhaps #2 is why OSX is so great?
While vaporware is generally thought of as software, what about hardware? I'd say AMD's Hammer not coming out this year was the biggest vaporware of the year.
Slackware forever. Honestly, what else would you trust when it absolutely positively has to be stable, secure, and easy
*cough*RedHat8.0*cough*
:)
Ehrm, sorry about that. Got a nasty cold right now. (/me wipes germ-filled spittle off my face.)
YMMV, but I think that RedHat 8.0 is really surprisingly usable, though it does take a little bit of tweaking. Unifying the desktops was a brilliant move, Bluecurve is servicable (certainly better than Luna!), and they're working at eliminating the complexity of install and configuration. Now if they would fix that @#$*!!! menu structure (!!Extras!!), reduce the number of separate configuration applets I need to wade through to do darn near *anything*, and reinclude MP3 support. (Licensing schmicensing.)
For that matter, it would be nice if they'd include xine or mplayer (preferably with QT and WMA support), RealPlayer, and Flash for those who gotta get their Flash game fix. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know -- it ain't OSS. While we're wishing, maybe RedHat could fund open-source alternatives?
Still, it's the largest step in the right direction I've seen a distro take. It isn't there yet, but it's closer. Don't knock it.
But my vote goes for NWN on linux.
They stated that they'd have linux support ASAP. But with the recent events I wonder if they even knew what they were talking about. My gut feeling is that they stated linux support just to generate PR.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful, nor do I want to sound 'mean' in anyway. But this has become one of those I'll believe it when I see it sort things
Sunny Dubey
I'm still holding my breath on flying cars...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
so many to choose from ... so so many. I know HURD will never reach full developement (no one will dump linux to do something new), 3D in linux sucks hence why there are no games for linux, crash proof windows that is secure (MS always promises and always fails horribly, and well peace on earth and good will towards men (not so long as we got a war mongers running america ...)
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
OS X as unix on the desktop may be nice, but has anyone here ever used OS X Server as a server? I think it is really crummy, especially if you are trying to provide services (like authentication, remote home directories, etc) to OS X clients. Most of the Apple proprietary server stuff hardly works at all. Difficult to configure and also poorly documented, in addition to being expensive.
Check out the forums on the Apple website if you don't believe me. Loads of people saying things along the lines of, "I just bought a XServe for my school lab, and it is not working for an unexplained reason." The solution Apple often uses is to deny that the problem even exists.
Totally offtopic.
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
What do others really wish could have happened by Xmas?
/. and all, I was thinking sex would be the #1 answer and might say I'm surprised it's not here.
this being
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
Oh never mind, HL Blue Shift was satisfying.
However, you can't use it like unix; it and its applications are certainly not unix-like. So it really doensn't matter what's underneath. I use unix because it acts like unix, which is defined by five things in my book:
sure i know the vampire queen's pilot was smoked out after a big week in the sun, but this movie was due out a while ago..
wasn't it?
I hate spyware and spies
Silicon Film Technologies should be on there, hands down. They won in 2000 or so. You'd think after two more years they'd find a way to make this work.
It's vapor, but it could be the road to digital for people with high-quality 35mm SLR cameras. Everyone wants to go digital for the convenience, the instant feedback on the shot, the uh, privacy of not going through a photo lab, etc. There must be over a million people with SLR's of higher optical quality than most of today's point-and-shoot digitals.
In fact, I can't imagine why this hasn't flown. I don't think anyone else has beaten them to the punch, and it seems technically feasible. Maybe they can't get the sensor thin enough to close the camera back?
Awhile back I posted (the /. search? Does that box DO anything?) a good use for it - review new music and bands (RIAA free!?) and links to free mp3 downloads.
Perhaps we can teach a old dead dog new tricks...I sure would like to hear what other /.ers are listening to.
Vaporware since 20 years. Not even "Duke Nukem Forever in Development" can beat GNU/Hurd.
Yeah, it's made the list before, but it deserves to be on there again. We've been waiting for this game since:
- Clinton was president.
- The Spice Girls were popular.
- Princess Diana was alive.
- Tony Soprano was a twinkle in David Chase's eye.
- Yahoo was a good search engine.
- The X-Files was on, and it was worth watching.
It's been a long, long time since Duke Nukem Forever was announced. 3DRealms should get an award for most vapourous software ever.
hoser: Slashdot reader since 1987.
I'm sure we're both going to be moderated as trolls or flamebaits or whatever for this, but it's true.
Not to worry, from what I've seen you've never posted a single positive comment on Linux and it hasn't hurt your Karma yet.
Since he turned 64 this year (he termed it getting a "bit" older :) he'd better get it published soon!
Ditto here! RH 8.0 is nice, and you hit the nail on the head:
.mp3 support, I thought 'Psyche' was surprisingly weak on video tools. Why not include Kino, dvgrab, gscanbus, avifile, mjpegtools, mplayer, etc?
Extras? (slaps forehead) So THAT'S where gftp, abiword, tux racer etc. went. What were they thinking? Half of the menu items removed and duplicated under "Extras"?
And although I can't knock them for the
Osama Bin Laden?
Lots of guys are still waiting for this.
Dude, I'm a diehard UNIX fan and it's quite easy to use OS X like a UNIX box. The biggest thing to do is to go here and swipe all their packages (esp bash (powerful shell)).
/etc files are there, but they're not used... that SUCKS... but oh well, in my book OS X is worth the adjustment I had to made to deal with netinfo.
I've done some development on OS X (porting apps from other UNIX platforms to X) and it's very, very easy and very, very UNIX like. Everything I saw was a file. Almost everything I saw were simple text files. There are most definitely fork and exec on OS X. There is a terminal app (although I miss xterm-type three button mouse cut and paste).
The largest hurdle is the damned netinfo database. All the
Master of Orion 3 being pushed back to past Christmas was a pretty big disappointment.
That's good to hear. I didn't mean to imply that OS X lacked everything unixy, just that it didn't have enough for my tastes.
BTW, by 'everything is a file' I mean the idea that the interface to most system things are files. E.g., /dev/sound, network connections, etc. Plan 9 goes even further, having things like the network connection being locatable on the filesystem (/net/tcp/483/in or the like).
I am about to speak for all those of us who use a multimedia Linux desktop now for years, complete with audio, 3D acceleration, DVD, streaming video, full MS Office interoperability and KDE ease-of-use that even our Windows-ing friends comment on with envy...
You're absolutely wrong about Linux. Maybe you're even simple.
I'm very tired of the so-and-so's on Slashdot who keep posting that Linux is unusable without even giving any major distribution a real try. Linux on the desktop rules, I wouldn't use anything else. No, it's not exactly like Windows. In fact, it's better-- faster workflow, more intuitive desktop, better icons and themes, nicer applications, the ability to run Windows applications (under VMWare or Win4Lin) more stably than under Windows... But of course there's no arguing that it's different.
Still, if you can't be bothered to figure out your way around the differences and appreciate the wealth of features and applications that are already there for Linux and that have been putting Windows to shame already for years, it isn't the fault of Linux or the Linux community, it's the fault of you and nobody else. Some have said they don't have the time to figure out the features of Linux. Fine, they don't get to use them. But that doesn't mean they aren't there or that they aren't as usable as those of Windows or Mac OS! Sit a Windows guy down in front of a Mac OS X machine and watch what happens: he's as confused as hell. But nobody is storming around claiming that OS X is bad for the desktop because such claims aren't fashionable.
Justification: I am writing this right now from a multimedia tablet PC running Red Hat Linux and KDE3 with Light.v3 style and the iKons theme. Yes, the touchscreen works wonderfully! Yes, I have handwriting recognition via xscribble! Yes, I'm using all external USB peripherals, including a DVD player which is right now playing "Lola Rennt"! Yes, onboard audio and onboard 3D acceleration work properly! Yes, it makes my friends green with envy!
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Yes! The amiga HAS to be it. the last decade worth of "but wait till you see what's coming!" is only a small taste of what's to come.
...ok ok so you can place an order for the motherboard of an Amiga One now!
But you can get the AmigaOne now!
alright... you can order the AmigaOne now!
Still gotta wait another 6 months for the OS. Hrm. that does sound suspiciously like "wait till next year..." again.
a grrl & her server
Easy - FREEDOM!
--
http://nemilar.net - Not your grandmother's soup kitchen
*Cough* XChat comes with Mandrake 9 *Cough*
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Remember this thing? They were supposed to release this over 2 to 3 years ago.
Since the market for this technology would be huge (all TV sets, for starters) if it worked and was cheaper than CRTs, it's the premiere vaporware technology. Nothing else actually promoted as Real Soon Now has similar volume potential.
The all-time best vaporware, IMHO, is fusion power. In 1950, the experts were saying that we would have self-sustained, controlled fusion reactions on Earth within 50 years. 50 years later, the new deadline is 2050. Curious, isn't it?
I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
How long has it been sice AOL bought out ICQ, yet we still have both ICQ #'s and AOL login names, and still a seperate messenger for each? How long will it be before these two finally become one, never mind having a single, unified messaging format that we can all use without having to either install one special client to handle all the different servers (i.e., Everybuddy, Trillian, etc.), or run seperate clients for each? ANd I'm not talking about something like Jabber.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
I have to second a vote for Shadowbane, "The MMOG without all that pesky RPG stuff" lol. This game has been waiting for release "next month" since like December of 2000. Pure vapor!
KDE 3.1 ?
The Raven
How about the DOJ "punishment" in the MS antitrust case?
I've been waiting around for Horizons for quite some time. At least the beta is seeing some light of day recently. But it sure doesn't beat the long awaited Sovereign that I believe was announced sometime after Everquest was launched...Everquest!
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
The Integrated On-demand Network that is supposed to magically deliver high speed video, voice, data, and even to the home. Didn't really take off. (Not a full-fledged product, alpha, really.) Crashed hard. The only thing I'm uncertain on are the dates. Was this 2001 or 2002?
It should be noted that out of the 10 items listed by Wired for the 2001 Vaporware list, the following have materialized:
* 3G wireless networks (Although not what we were promised. I have a 3G phone from sprint, but cannot do things like video on demand)
* Photoshop for OS X
* Warcraft III
* Duke Nukem Forever
Err, wait, never mind on the last one.
I didn't mean to imply that OS X lacked everything unixy, just that it didn't have enough for my tastes.
/dev. If you don't want to use /dev, use IOKit.
/etc/hosts and /etc/hostconfig) or in plist files (which are XML).
But it has everything that you mentioned on your list.
1. Use whatever shell you like. Sh, csh, tcsh and bash are included, and anything else can be compiled from sources if you like.
2. Find whatever you like under
3. Configurations are stored either in old-style text files (like
4. Yes, there's a terminal.
5. Yes, the fork/exec model is used for launching processes.
So what's your bitch about OS X again?
I write in my journal
I met with the oqo guys at the last Pocket PC Summit (in Hollywood at the end of October). They let me play with their device and it was pretty neat. After some small talk, they let on that the reason we haven't seen these in the consumer market yet is because that isn't their business plan. Their business plan is to get bought up by some large company (Microsoft and Intel were mentioned as potential canditates) and retire. Unfortunately, they forgot to check first on whether or not corresponded with the strategy of any potential buyer. So sadly it appears that while these devices are *real*, we won't be seeing them on store shelves.
All the /etc files are there, but they're not used... that SUCKS...
/etc/hosts by default, but could very easily be changed. In 10.2 and later, lookupd uses /etc/hosts by default. That's just one example.
That hasn't been true since 10.1, and it wasn't even true then. For example, host name lookups are handled by lookupd. In 10.1 and earlier, lookupd was configured to ignore
I write in my journal
It was renamed to the ClearChannel section. They must have forgotten to remove 'Radio" from the list, is all.
that's my vote.
This space available.
Yes, I have all of those features on my computer, too, and I didn't have to spend dozens or hundreds of hours making it all work.
You are the typical Linux elitist. You have managed to cobble together a computer that is almost as good as a Windows PC. Congratulations, here's your cookie.
Let me give you just one example of how your computer is not the hot shit that you think it is: you said, "Yes, I have handwriting recognition via xscribble!" Great. My computer also has handwriting recognition, via Ink. Let's see how they compare.
To get xscribble working on your computer, you first had to be aware that it exists. Don't laugh; we're talking about Linux for average folks here. Then you had to find it-- Google makes this easy in this case, but that's still an extra step, and one that would be far from obvious to a novice user. I spent three or four minutes popping around the xscribble home page looking for a link that said "click here to install," with no luck, so obviously finding the software takes more than three or four minutes. If you're lucky enough to find a compatible binary package, there's still the problem of installing it: depending on which sub-flavor of Linux you have, this could be anything from running command-line RPM to a half-finished graphical tool to god knows what. Maybe it includes a kernel module that requires you to manually update modules.conf or some such. And that's if you're lucky enough to find a binary for it. Building from sources is another circle of hell altogether.
You know how I got Ink working on my computer? I plugged in my tablet. That's it. That's the beginning and ending of it, the alpha and the omega.
Before you go bragging about how your little hobby "rules," you might want to spend a moment reflecting on the facts of the situation.
I write in my journal
37 years and running.
When half-life came out, I preordered TF2 for its "scheduled" release date of November 22 1998. I received an e-mail from EB.com 2 months later notifying me that TF2 was removed.
Link: "It's funny that our news piece a few days ago said "We're still here" when some game magazines think we're be dead. That's what it appears we are to Computer Gaming World. They have a monthly section in their magazine called "Pipeline" where they talk about their "educated guesses" on game release dates. As everyone knows (or should know) by now, the release date for Duke Nukem Forever is "When it's done".
Last month we were labeled "Never", and now we're labeled "RIP" by the article's author Rich Laporte. Be curious to see what Rich has to say when DNF is released (When it's done, of course). [Wink]"
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Yes, .Net is coming! Is it a revolution? Not at all, we're going back to the good old mainframes.
Beside, 99% of their architecture isnt even ready.
I know we've got a Release Candidate, but I was really eager to do the upgrade thing.
Yes, and if Linux had shipped with my tablet PC instead of Windows, such things as xscribble would have been installed by default, without needing my intervention, just as you've described.
So what you've just argued is that Linux isn't usable because it doesn't have Microsoft's monopoly. Now there's a political statement...
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
So what you've just argued is that Linux isn't usable because it doesn't have Microsoft's monopoly.
HUH? I'm arguing that Linux isn't usable because it's a pain in the ass to set up and use. Shifting that burden from the end user to the OEM wouldn't make Linux any better. It'd still be a pain in the ass.
In order for Linux to be on par with either Mac OS or Windows, a huge amount of work is going to have to go into things like software installation, a unified framework for managing and controlling daemons and other non-interactive software services, how to manage shared libraries and other components, drivers and modules, and so on. These are the things that make Linux a pain in the ass.
Putting a pretty UI and some poorly designed "wizards" on top of Linux as it stands today is like spray-painting a turd.
I write in my journal
Uh, no. Here they say "The preferred choice of independent professionals, enthusiasts, and students worldwide." (emphasis mine) Note they still have a 'personal' version. It's bad business to ignore a demographic, and how hard would it be to include some packages and add options under the "Multimedia" section of the installer? Isn't this sort of thing the reason why they developed RPM? So you can add/remove what you want from an installation? But I gripe too much, they did an awesome job.
The Red Hat Speaks on 8.0 and Multimedia page specifically mentions only mp3 audio. Even if MPEG-1 video is banned, they could still include kino and libdv.
That last link is a good one, though, they mention where to get Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer, Macromedia Flash, xine...
Halo for PC.. ive been waiting since it first came out for xbox. I want! I want!
...doesn't mean it is.
The reason your Sprint "3G" phone can't handle 3G features like video is that it isn't 3G. Sprint is using interim technology that the rest of the world refers to a "2.5G" - it offers some of the features of 3G while still building on a second generation base. Since 3G has been hyped so much, Sprint just decided to piggyback their inferior technology by calling it 3G.
Sorry, but you're just wrong. It's not a pain in the ass. Maybe it's a pain in the ass for you, but certainly you're not suggesting that you should be held up as the sole benchmark for normalcy in the world? Or are you?! I spent less than an hour getting everything up and running on my Tablet PC when I got it. Of course, this is because I use Linux all the time, so I know all of the little tweaks that I want to make and software that I want to grab and where they can be found. But that's my point!
...and away we go. You see? No trouble. No hassle. Works great. And it's much faster than having to click, click, click through a thousand Wizards and registration screens like one does in Windows! Maybe it doesn't seem intuitive to you, a Windows user, but then the Windows add/remove software system with its broken registry keys seems very odd and complicated to me, a Linux user. See?
To suggest that this is somehow *different* from Windows is disingenuous. Last time I installed Windows 2000 on a friend's desktop, we came up on first boot to a 16 color desktop and no ethernet. D'oh! How is this so much more user-friendly or brilliant than Linux? We had to know how to get to the control panel and instruct Windows to install a driver for the ethernet card from a driver CD. We then had to go to Web site for his 3D accelerator manufacturer and download the drivers. Of course, they were zipped, so we had to go to www.shareware.com and find an unzipper. Then, it conflicted with the incorrect driver Windows had chosen to install for the graphics hardware, so we had to uninstall that first. Blah, blah, blah.
God knows I can do these things faster by far on Linux. There are a whole bunch of people out there complaining about how hard Linux is to use and configure... but their basis for comparison is a different system -- Windows -- with which they are obviously much more familiar, and which more than likely came pre-installed on their PC with drivers loaded, etc., as you yourself already admitted. Hardly a fair basis for comparison, is it?
So I'll suggest again that you're implicitly arguing that either a) Linux will never be usable until it comes pre-installed, or b) Linux will never be usable until it is an exact Windows clone. That's certainly a point of view that some people have around here... but I certainly hope it doesn't happen because I personally find Linux easier to use as it is now, period.
And no, I'm not some kind of ueber-geek with a pimple problem who spends hours a day tweaking configuration files. You seem to suggest that I've made a "hobby" out of Linux and spend lots of hours banging my head against system libraries or installing software. I can't tell you the last time I had to do any of that stuff. I write books. I use a word processor. I take photos. That's what I do. I have to earn a living, I don't have time to fsck with my computer all day!
And anyway, I have apt-rpm installed -- that's usually my first thing -- just like Windows users head straight for WinZip to install their software. There's no difference! And once apt-rpm is installed, if I want some software, all I have to do is type:
apt-get install xmms
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
AFAIK, nobody has announced a release date for such a thing.
;)
Seeing your joke about zealous Linux users being modded as "Flamebait" just makes the joke even better.
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
The project I'm doing for work...
I was about to say it died this year, but when I went to check, it looks like they have changed the concept a bit, adding an external piece at the bottom of the camera.
The original concept had only a "roll" that had to be removed to transfer the images. The CCD (or cmos?) did not cover the full frame and the quality of the posted tiffs were crap.
With the new Full Frame chips from Kodak etc, chances are SF won't be able to compeat
So wait a minute. You're saying that your experience installing Windows 2000-- on a no-name box built at the discount mall, no doubt-- was unpleasant, but that the exact same process to install Linux is somehow acceptable? Talk about your double standards.
So I'll suggest again that you're implicitly arguing...
Suggest all you like. I'm being quite explicit, if you'll notice. I'm not mincing words here. Linux sucks as a single-user operating system.
And anyway, I have apt-rpm installed...
So once again, it comes down to having to have special knowledge to make the system work. Great endorsement, friend.
Maybe it doesn't seem intuitive to you, a Windows user...
Did you miss the part where I talked about OS X? I haven't used Windows for the better part of a year, and before that I only used it occasionally. Windows is definitely not my thing, nor is it my basis for comparison. Since Windows is not UNIX in any sense of the term, it's not productive to think about what's wrong with Linux in terms of what's right with Windows. That's like talking about what's wrong with your car in terms of what's right with my umbrella. Instead, it makes sense to compare a successful single-user UNIX system, Mac OS X, to an unsuccessful single-user UNIX, Linux.
Oh, and as for installing software? I don't really care much for your "simple" method. I just drag the icon from the disk image to my Applications folder. No dependencies, no incompatibilities. Doesn't get any simpler than that.
I write in my journal
The slashcode spell checker and redundant article blocker.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Not to mention the aforementioned Team Fortress 2: Brothers in Arms
Never overestimate the end user. -jeramy b. smith
No, "friend", you're the one who suggested that the process in Windows was fine, but the process in Linux was not. I'm suggesting that it's the same process and that Linux is at least as viable as Windows as a desktop operating system, and that furthermore, I prefer it.
You're the one who (obviously) is decalring his/her own experiences to be the only ones of import. You think it, therefore naturally it must be true for everyone. Well, that's crap, plain and simple. I won't mince words either. I find Linux easy to use. It makes sense. It has detailed logging. It's well-documented, even down to the dusty depths.
And I find Windows much easier to use than Mac OS X. I bought a Beige G3 to play with OS X. It's supposed to be a "supported" system according to Apple. Well... OS 9 worked. But under 10.1, SCSI doesn't work, video is unaccelerated, ethernet disappears all the time without warning and the CD-ROM drive (the Apple CD-ROM drive) tends to hang the system.
No wonder you're on my enemies list; you simply discount any experiences or opinions other than your own as nonsense, all the while patronizingly referring to people as "friends" and putting ther feelings in "scare quotes".
This is my last post in this thread. I'll summarize.
1. Linux is not more difficult to use or install than Windows; it is merely different.
2. I prefer Linux to Windows.
3. All of my devices and software work under Linux. They work well. The Linux desktop works well. My friends who have tried it like it very much.
4. I do not spend hours and hours banging away at system libraries.
5. I find Windows confusing.
6. I find Mac OS X unstable (yes, on Apple hardware) and somewhat limiting.
7. I am perfectly willing to admit that others feel that Mac OS and Windows are easier to use that Linux. You, however, are not willing to admit that some people like myself might legitimately find Linux to be a perfectly viable desktop system.
Oh well. Long live Linux. And maybe Apple will fix Mac OS X.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
that secure version of Windows that microsoft took a whole month securing?
1. Linux is not more difficult to use or install than Windows; it is merely different.
This is demonstrably untrue. Try the mom test and you'll see what I mean.
2. I prefer Linux to Windows.
I don't see where that really matters in context of this discussion. I'm being objective, while you're being subjective.
3. All of my devices and software work under Linux. They work well.
Only after a still-undisclosed number of hours spent making everything work just so.
The Linux desktop works well. My friends who have tried it like it very much.
As above, I don't see where that's relevant. Unless your friends are about 2,000 people chosen at random, of course.
4. I do not spend hours and hours banging away at system libraries.
I doubt that very much. If you've never had to resolve a shared library dependency, then you're either very lucky or you just haven't used your system that much.
5. I find Windows confusing.
I find you confusing. These things you're saying, they just make no sense. But since we're talking about Linux, I find Linux to be inconsistent, incomplete, unpolished, unprofessional, undocumented, and downright frustrating. And that's on a good day. On a bad day I find it to be uninstalled.
6. I find Mac OS X unstable (yes, on Apple hardware) and somewhat limiting.
Since you've already admitted that you find Windows confusing, it's not terribly surprising that you can't wrap your head around the much simpler Mac OS X. Earlier versions of the OS had some fairly serious problems. These have been largely eradicated since version 10.1. I own four Macs running OS X; the one I'm using now I bought in August, and it's been up continuously without a single interruption since. I rebooted it once to move it, and once for each kernel update. Your experience is definitely not typical.
7. I am perfectly willing to admit that others feel that Mac OS and Windows are easier to use that Linux. You, however, are not willing to admit that some people like myself might legitimately find Linux to be a perfectly viable desktop system.
I am more than happy to admit that people like yourself find Linux to be viable. I'm just arguing that you're wrong.
Maybe that's the source of your confusion. This is not a matter of opinion; it's pure objective fact. Mac OS X is far easier to use than Linux. Linux is so hard to use, in fact, that they literally can't give it away.
I write in my journal
Pushed back again. Star Control 2 required a 486 DX 4 100. Need I say more about the wait between versions?
The funniest part is that the strategy guide for it shipping to EBs across Canada and the US. Then they pushed back the release date a month again. I expect they'll be recalled soon, even though they're the closest that anyone can get to actually playing the game.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Not Star Control 3 :)
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Millions of people arround the world spend their entire working days walking on their feet, it's not that hard once you get used to it.
But in the US workers use machines just to get arround airports, no wonder they are fat. Gez they spend all day at work utilising tools to avoid burning energy & instead buy exercise machines off TV shooping channels because they get fat.
You'd think they'd realise if they don't use the Sedgeway machine (& walk instead), then they don't need the exercise machine.
Made it into 2002 by about a week..
don't need to stinkin' imagination
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
nVidia NV30 -- while not quite vaporware, 'officially' releasing it in 12/02, while stating that no one would actually get their hands on one until February 2003 should net at least an honorable mention.
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
Mod parent up + Funny. Please. It's 6:40AM and I haven't slept in 2 days, and that still made me laugh.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
My vote goes for the 1.10 patch for Diablo II.
:-)
:-)
I guess it's because Diablo II is old, but... That patch is still showing many signs of vaporness.
For an entire year, Blizzard Entertainment had *one* programmer on it. So sure, it took some time. A few months ago they doubled the size of the development team (they used words like these in an official statement). So they added another guy.
They recently said that they *hoped* to get it out before the next issue of the Blizzard Insider, their newsletter. The problem now is that the Blizzard Insider is released at irregular times -- from every 1 months to every 4 months. And it was only a hope...
I recently mailed them about the matter and actually got a non-automated reply. Among others, it said (and I quote):
"There is no date for the patch, of course." (emphasis added)
Oh well.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Well, if all the beta testers die, no wonder!
I nominate the stampede of users rushing away from Windows to some flavor of Linux. Every other article here is something like, "Company x is installing Linux on xxx,xxx boxes!! Linux is winning! So, how much longer do you think Microsoft will be around?" Yet somehow, this hasn't even begun to happen.
along with a link to teen porn (as Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up)
There is yet another version of Xanadu code under development; the web page says there will be a presentation given on it at a conference in August 2001, which says something about how up to date the Project Xanadu site is.
Ted Nelson is quite correct about the drawbacks of the web as it stands, but I fear that the 42-year-old Xanadu has become a victim of worse is better.
Arguing with you is like arguing with a fuckin' wall, no good can come of it.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
What's the problem? Enemy missiles will be much easier to shoot down provided they are transmitting their GPS coordinates in realtime. The fact that that "test" wasn't a scandal that drove the resignations of everyone from the President down to those working on the "test" assures me that Americans as a group are either terribly apathetic, horridly stupid, or both.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
I'd love to see that. Hahahahahahahaa oh I slay me.
GNU/Hurd. Has been promised to us for eons.
What is oqo? I followed the link but the site is too flash-heavy for my weak little PC to handle. Could someone explain it?
That's a *really* awful definition, when I think about it.
I mean, I can see saying that a demo on stage doesn't count (Apple's put out plenty of programs "built" in Director to get people excited) but beta software in your hands means that there's code there.
May we never see th
Vaporware traditionally refers to when you have a bunch of promises from a company but no software. You can grab CVS from Ximian -- they've got plenty of code in it.
May we never see th
And the tradition of using "generation" in names is getting more popular.
Apple *could* have called their processors the 730 and 740 (or whatever, names could be wrong here), but instead it's the Generation 3 and Generation 4 PowerPC.
Sprint should just call their phones, which *obviously* come *after* 3G (in Japan at least) "4G". This is technically correct, would piss off their competitors, and prevent other people from benefitting from the hype.
May we never see th
1) Produce prohibitively expensive technology.
2) Have complete and utter lack of a plan to make money on this.
Surprise, no one *else* wants to buy you and try to make money off your product *either*.
I'm going to be quite surprised if the Tablet PC takes off either. Oh, I doubt it'll be a complete flop, but the overwhelming majority of people are better off with a keyboard. Maybe if it had better battery life and was sold as an e-book reader as well...
May we never see th
The migration on the server is already happening.
May we never see th
Anyway, the reason why more people run linux is b/c x86 is cheaper than mac.
Which is not something that one can ignore. The reason Apple can do OS X at all is because they make huge quantities of money off hardware. And to use Apple software, one must purchase Apple hardware.
May we never see th
They want to install on the corporate network, you get your Office Apps, you get connection to the intranet, you get your database. You do NOT sit and listen to mp3's, watch porno avi's, and download w4r3z. That's what Mandrake is for.
No, that's what Mandrake *aspires* to be. And RH certainly does not ignore the desktop. RH simply has more deals with large-machine and server vendors than Mandrake. Neither distro ignores the desktop user.
May we never see th
While I like Linux more than OS X, OS X is quite capable of keeping a UNIX guy happy.
/dev, though I could be wrong.
1. the powerful shell
I don't think much of csh either, but BSD uses it. You going to call BSD not UNIXy enough? If you want, you can plop zsh or bash or whatever on your machine.
2. everything is a file (Plan9 is even better)
I though OS X had
everything in simple text files
Netinfo isn't used for *everything*...
4 the terminal
I'm sure there's a fullscreen terminal app.
5. the fork/exec model
OS X definitely has this. It wouldn't run many UNIX programs without it...:-)
The big advantage OS X has over Linux is maturity. Apple's had tons and tons of people working on OS X full time for longer than there were tons and tons of people working on Linux full time.
May we never see th
Best Vaporware of 1997... 1998... 1999... 2000... 2001... 2002...: Grimoire! (Site requires Javascript.)
When the request for nominations went out, I posted my nomination, QuarkXPress for OS X, in the previous /. discussion, and also submitted it to Wired.
Lo and behold, not only is it #7 on the list, but they quoted me in the article!
To quote Bart Simpson, "There's only one thing to do at a moment like this: strut!"
<cues up "Stayin' Alive">
~Philly