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FreeBSD 5.1 Released
LogicX writes "FreeBSD 5.1 is now available. Mirrors and press release are at FreeBSD.org. Enjoy." Here are the release notes for this new version. Update: 06/09 18:15 GMT by S : Here's a BitTorrent link at scarywater.net, and another BitTorrent link from the original poster.
Imagine a CLIC cluster of these running a Linux-powered wi-fi access point that is used by an Apache web server that is hosting a site advocating the legal fight against SCO and the RIAA/MPAA which shares files using an open source P2P client developed at MIT or Berkely and has an Nvidia graphics card with special drivers that make increase performance under the goatse benchmark test application!
It's too bad *BSD is dying.
Netcraft and some trolls said so. So it has to be true right? Right?
an Elegy For Java
I am a Java user
and I try hard to be brave
That is a tall order
Java's foot is in the grave.
I tap at my toy keyboard
and whistle a happy tune
but keeping happy's so hard,
Java died so soon.
Each day I wake and softly sob
Nightfall finds me crying
Not only am I a zit faced slob
but Java is dying.
Why not ask Iraq? They never accounted for the weapons they supposedly destroyed.
Who gives a flying fuck? We got the oil. We can *buy* all the WMD's we want now. Christ are Europeans really fucking stupid or what?
J - O - K - E
Hope this clarifies it a bit for you.
How does someone who cheated on his wife and lied to a grand jury keep his job, as President of the United States, leader of the free world. Lieing to his wife and nation, it is unfrigginbelievable that he stayed on till end of term.
wmds, moved or destroyed, there is mass evidence based on the powell presentation to the UN.
Where do you want to be, What are you doing to get there.
Cripes, you think it's easy manufacturing WMD, then importing them to Iraq, only to be found later as proof that the US was right to start an illegal war? Well, I guess they could bring back Reagan and ask him how he sent 'em over the first time...
So? and?
What is your point?
How does someone who cheated on his wife and lied to a grand jury keep his job, as President of the United States, leader of the free world.
Could it have anything to do with the fact that his sex life has nothing to do with being the President? I know that it must be shocking to you to discover that a married man lied about an affair he had. That's never happened before in the history of man.
And I don't care that he lied to Ken Starr about it. Getting a blowjob from Monica Lewinsky had nothing to do with Starr's investigation into a 20 year old land deal in which Clinton lost money. The question shouldn't have been asked and I don't care that Clinton lied about it. Not all people can be pillers of virtue like many of Clinton's Republican critics.
Most of us would rather have a competent President who occasionally gets a blowjob than have the idiot we have in office now. When Clinton left office, we had a budget surplus. Since Bush's idiotic tax cuts for the rich, his war on Iraq, and wasteful government spending, we now have the largest deficit this country has ever seen. I'd rather have a President that fucks an intern rather than one who fucks the entire country.
NBC Nightly News refuses to simply inform its viewers that those making between about $10,000 and $27,000 who do not get a hike in the child credit in the tax cut bill which passed, do not pay income taxes, at least not any net income tax after deductions, credits and EITC paybacks.
I said that the tax cuts are for the rich, which they are. Look at the tax cut on stock dividends. The poor are not big stock investors, so that does nothing for them. Very few middle class investors directly hold dividend paying stocks and those who do usually realize very little income from that stock. The majority of middle-class investors who hold dividend-paying stock do so through retirement plans which are invested in mutual funds. Since the funds reinvest the dividend income and since the taxes are deferred, individuals see no tax break from the dividend tax cut. But, when they retire and start drawing income from those retirement plans, they will pay more in taxes on those dividends than the directly-invested rich will pay today.
How about the cut in capital gains taxes. Sure, it helps some guy who sells his $750,000 home. How does it help a person of lesser means who lives in a rented apartment? It doesn't.
The poor vote for Demoncrats because they believe the Demoncraticly controled media. They have no incentive to believ anything else. Collage students vote Demoncrate because its the cool thing to do and their Political Science prof. is a Demoncrate. Students are also usualy poor. As soon as someone desires to become other then poor and starts working for a living, they normally become Republicans ( or Republicrats like me) unless the early scholastic brainwashing plus media hype is so strong as to drown out reason. The result is a desire by the Demoncrats, to keep everyone one poor. BTW the Demoncrating definition for rich, is anyone who is making more the the cost of living. The policies of the Clinton administration devistated the economy. The media was liing about the streangth of the economy. 2% growth, come on a bank acount is better then that. Also notice that befor Bush, the econmy was great, but the very day he took office, the economy was reported to be in trouble.
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It'
It hurts and stuff.