First of all, Offspring were presented with a "Cease and Desist" order and not a lawsuit. They are NOT being sued at this point.
However, Napster and the Offspring have already come to an agreement. Read the MTV News story Offspring, Napster Reach T-Shirt Accord. Napster is now allowing Offspring to sell merchadies and is even giving them more stuff to sell.
What is the status of Open Inventor? The news keeps on changing; one day it is to be open-sourced, another day it will be scrapped. The article mentions about the introduction of Linux into the 3D world, but there is no mention of Inventor. --weenie NT4 user: bite me!
No, you fail to read English correctly. The original post stated that changing look and feel is an essential part of a usable User Interface. I replied with facts stating how this is not true. I agree that selectable window managers is a good thing, but only for power users and not for general comsumption.
BTW, my NT sig is just there to piss of some Linux zealots. I only spend 25% of my time on NT (for audio), the rest is spent on my IRIX box, which has a superb window manager! And you talk about MS's (oh wait, I should be uber-cool/original and write M$) world come crashing down? Have you seen Red Hat stock or VA Linux stock lately? Can you say choke? Then again, have you seen SGI stock lately? Sadly, it is extremely low. --weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Oops, I meant to say one of its weakness when it comes to UNIX becoming mainstream as a desktop standard. Not everyone wants to change the window manager, especialy non power users. How often have I come across Unices that have different window managers and even I was baffled about how to use them. --weenie NT4 user: bite me!
... is vital for a usable computer. So is being able to change the interfaces you are given.
And let me ask: what usabilities studies have you conducted/read that back up these statements? I think I can answer this one for you: none. Why are you choosing to attack Microsoft with such a erronous statement?
I have a Masters degree in HCI (but I choose to code because it is more interesting), and I can state that consistency is better if trying to achieve a usable interface for many. Users look for commonalities in menu/button placement, wording and overall look and feel. Different window manager are one of the weak points of unices, which is very much different from the lies you are trying to spread.
You had iced tea in Charolotte, North Carolina? No, no, no, you had *sweet* tea. Ah, one of the best things of the South, sweet tea. I can't even go into a Southern cuisine up here in-around Boston and get decent sweet tea.
Exactly. We use everything from very high-end Origin servers to desktop O2s. For one project, everything is server-side Java (no graphics involved). Even with the 4 processor behemouth like the Origin, Java is still quite slow compared to the same code running on a small Win box.
As far as graphics goes, SGI still has to make decent devices drivers for their own graphics hardware. We have some applications that require Octanes (very expensive) because the O2 can't handle the power we need. A $10K computer can't handle it! And SGI wants to push us to Linux? Make some damn drivers!
I can care less about what OS I use. Give me power, hardware support, OpenGL and Inventor and I am golden. We have started to use NT because the graphics support on Windows has really improved.
When is SGI going to do something good for IRIX? I am a developer that uses IRIX. No other OS can give us the graphics power that we require. I use Java on IRIX and it is awful. SGI has only 3 developers working on the Java port, and has dozens working on these little Linux projects. Come on SGI, don't forget IRIX.
Netscape has always released multiple binaries with its preleases. This is the first time since I can recall (~4.0) where they have not down this. Is Netscape going to forget about the rest? I run IRIX and Netscape is really the only browser out there. I hate it, but that's all there is.
Emacs and Java, the two tastes that go great together.
Seriously, as far as development "tools", Emacs is the way to go. I hate to start a new job and being forced to use some development environment. Give me Emacs with its keybindings and its full glory anyday.
If you are developing cross-platform and do not need a GUI, go for C++. If you need a GUI, go for Java. If you are really courageous, go for Squeak, the most cross-platform language ever.
Ha! The "T" is not as a good as the system in my beloved hometown (uh, try to figure that out), but it is very cheap at $0.85. The big problem with the "T" is that it closes at 12:30am. You can't go out drinking and take public transportaion home. This damn state is so screwy!:) --Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
I know this is slighty off-topic, but for all the PotA fans out there: have you seen the posters made by poster artist Alan Forbes? Check out some of these beauties:
Check out the lower-left hand corner of the Human poster, it's Charleston Heston himself! Alan has other posters with the PotA theme. I have the Fu Manchu poster in my bedroom, very sweet.
No, this is not entirely correct. My company is a *huge* SGI client. We have already been notified that the next versions of the O2 desktops wll be Linux boxes. Higher end machine (aka non-graphics) such as Origin and Octances, will remain IRIX, but the lower-level will be Linux.
Why do you think that SGI is porting many things to Linux? Look at OpenGL and Inventor: all being ported to Linux.
IRIX on the desktop is going away. Unless you happen to have an Octance on your desk!:)
Underneath the big headline of "RealPlayer for LINUX" people seem to have overlooked the fact that a beta for Solaris was also released.
The list of new betas is: Solaris 2.6 (Sparc only) Solaris 2.7 (Sparc only) Red Hat Linux 6.0 (i386 only) RPM Red Hat Linux 6.0 (i386 only) non-RPM
What I am sad to see is the lack of IRIX. I use SGIs at work, and RealPlayer 5.0 is just not cutting it. RealPlayer either can't support the formats or crashes.
A couple of months from now, SGI will be moving toward Linux for their desktop boxes, so I guess I will have to wait 'til then.
I remember getting my first computer, an 8088 (with turbo switch to go from 4.77MHz to 7.26MHz), while all my other friends were getting Commodore 64s. I spent hours trying to come up with ways to break the new copy-protection schemes that companies put on floppies. You did not have hard drives back then, they were to expensive! Ah yes, putting in one disk with a cracker util and inspecting the other floppy drive. Looking a pure assembly in DOS. Creating virtual drives in memory using DOS commands. Blah...
I really did not understand the code until I started doing assembly programming on a Zilog Z-80 processors inputting in straight hex codes. At least it was not punch cards.
Although I do understand that the question were supposed to be related to Human-Computer Interaction issues, Jakob Nielsen could have at least tried to answer some of the issues I believe are important: Amazon Affiliation? Patent culture vs Open Source culture
These questions were moderated to #4 and #7. So, where these questions deemed offtopic, or is Slashdot trying to avoid some topics with its guests. Slashdot is not quite hard journalism, but I will like to see a more no-holds barred forum. Obviously for the thousands of Slashdot readers/moderators, these issues were important according to the moderation.
Slashdot is another means on asynchronous communication. Many come here to rant and rave about various topics, and most of us have e-mail addresses attached to our comments.
Can Slashdot forum contents be subpoenaed? We often discuss on "controversial" topics such as hacking, computer security, virus, etc. We often express our displeasure with people (Bill Gates), entities (Microsoft) and even countries (Australia). What if Bill Gates was murdered by some Linux zealot cult. Will every Linux mailing list and Slashdot contents be subpoenaed?
If such a thing every did happen, will we start to refrain ourselvers from posting notes that may be used in some court of law? Very scary stuff indeed. And these days we are seeing bigger hard drivers, and better backup software/hardware. This will make Document Retention times higher.
Let me finish by saying my employer sucks! We need some release parties! We want free sode like at Microsoft! Higher pay!:)
No you don't. Most Linux users for the most part could care less about Java. It's one of the big complaints you hear from the Java crowd.
No, you are incorrect. Take a look at: Java Request For Enhancements. The Java port was *by far* the number one requested enhancement ever. I am not saying there is anything wrong, just don't say Linux users never ask for anything from big companies.
"The fact you don't see Linux users for instance starting a write-in campain asking Microsoft to port IE and other Microsoft software to linux like the Amiga and Atari ST users did should tell you something......" No, but you do see Linux users begging Sun to port Java for them. Before Sun released the JDK for Linux, the Linux port was the #1 RFE on the Java developer site. Now, it is the BSD Port. Linux users do ask for things they want from companies instead of doing it themselves (with the exception of Blackdown). --Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Well, IE is not an option on my SGI IRIX box. Actually, Netscape is the only browser I found for IRIX. At least Linux has *some* options: Opera, KBrowser, Mozilla binaries, and others. IRIX is just behind (until SGI switches over to Linux).
But I my Windows box I use IE. It is worlds better than Netscape.
Besides, surfing the web got boring.:) I prefer to use my computers for some hacking. (Windows for music, SGI for graphics).
Slashdot Mirror
However, Napster and the Offspring have already come to an agreement. Read the MTV News story Offspring, Napster Reach T-Shirt Accord . Napster is now allowing Offspring to sell merchadies and is even giving them more stuff to sell.
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
I remember that article well...I submitted it!
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
What is the status of Open Inventor? The news keeps on changing; one day it is to be open-sourced, another day it will be scrapped. The article mentions about the introduction of Linux into the 3D world, but there is no mention of Inventor.
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
BTW, my NT sig is just there to piss of some Linux zealots. I only spend 25% of my time on NT (for audio), the rest is spent on my IRIX box, which has a superb window manager! And you talk about MS's (oh wait, I should be uber-cool/original and write M$) world come crashing down? Have you seen Red Hat stock or VA Linux stock lately? Can you say choke? Then again, have you seen SGI stock lately? Sadly, it is extremely low.
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Oops, I meant to say one of its weakness when it comes to UNIX becoming mainstream as a desktop standard. Not everyone wants to change the window manager, especialy non power users. How often have I come across Unices that have different window managers and even I was baffled about how to use them.
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
And let me ask: what usabilities studies have you conducted/read that back up these statements? I think I can answer this one for you: none. Why are you choosing to attack Microsoft with such a erronous statement?
I have a Masters degree in HCI (but I choose to code because it is more interesting), and I can state that consistency is better if trying to achieve a usable interface for many. Users look for commonalities in menu/button placement, wording and overall look and feel. Different window manager are one of the weak points of unices, which is very much different from the lies you are trying to spread.
Please, keep your Linux zealot FUD out of this...
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
With Squeak, we can use the PS2 to surf the web and use e-mail. Squeak's license is more open than the GNU License.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Cheers!
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Exactly. We use everything from very high-end Origin servers to desktop O2s. For one project, everything is server-side Java (no graphics involved). Even with the 4 processor behemouth like the Origin, Java is still quite slow compared to the same code running on a small Win box.
As far as graphics goes, SGI still has to make decent devices drivers for their own graphics hardware. We have some applications that require Octanes (very expensive) because the O2 can't handle the power we need. A $10K computer can't handle it! And SGI wants to push us to Linux? Make some damn drivers!
I can care less about what OS I use. Give me power, hardware support, OpenGL and Inventor and I am golden. We have started to use NT because the graphics support on Windows has really improved.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
When is SGI going to do something good for IRIX? I am a developer that uses IRIX. No other OS can give us the graphics power that we require. I use Java on IRIX and it is awful. SGI has only 3 developers working on the Java port, and has dozens working on these little Linux projects. Come on SGI, don't forget IRIX.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Netscape has always released multiple binaries with its preleases. This is the first time since I can recall (~4.0) where they have not down this. Is Netscape going to forget about the rest? I run IRIX and Netscape is really the only browser out there. I hate it, but that's all there is.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Seriously, as far as development "tools", Emacs is the way to go. I hate to start a new job and being forced to use some development environment. Give me Emacs with its keybindings and its full glory anyday.
If you are developing cross-platform and do not need a GUI, go for C++. If you need a GUI, go for Java. If you are really courageous, go for Squeak, the most cross-platform language ever.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Is there any link to the name of the program and the name of the afternoon-special movie WAVE?
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Ha! The "T" is not as a good as the system in my beloved hometown (uh, try to figure that out), but it is very cheap at $0.85. The big problem with the "T" is that it closes at 12:30am. You can't go out drinking and take public transportaion home. This damn state is so screwy! :)
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Human, you're next!
Fu Manchu
Check out the lower-left hand corner of the Human poster, it's Charleston Heston himself!
Alan has other posters with the PotA theme. I have the Fu Manchu poster in my bedroom, very sweet.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Mmmmm, chocalate hazelnut spread. Us coders need a steady stream of Mountain Dew and chocolate goodies.
Cheers
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Ack! Why is it that I seem to write "Octance" all the time? Sorry, it is a common typo I make.
Cheers.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
No, this is not entirely correct. My company is a *huge* SGI client. We have already been notified that the next versions of the O2 desktops wll be Linux boxes. Higher end machine (aka non-graphics) such as Origin and Octances, will remain IRIX, but the lower-level will be Linux.
:)
Why do you think that SGI is porting many things to Linux? Look at OpenGL and Inventor: all being ported to Linux.
IRIX on the desktop is going away. Unless you happen to have an Octance on your desk!
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Underneath the big headline of "RealPlayer for LINUX" people seem to have overlooked the fact that a beta for Solaris was also released.
The list of new betas is:
Solaris 2.6 (Sparc only)
Solaris 2.7 (Sparc only)
Red Hat Linux 6.0 (i386 only) RPM
Red Hat Linux 6.0 (i386 only) non-RPM
What I am sad to see is the lack of IRIX. I use SGIs at work, and RealPlayer 5.0 is just not cutting it. RealPlayer either can't support the formats or crashes.
A couple of months from now, SGI will be moving toward Linux for their desktop boxes, so I guess I will have to wait 'til then.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
I remember getting my first computer, an 8088 (with turbo switch to go from 4.77MHz to 7.26MHz), while all my other friends were getting Commodore 64s. I spent hours trying to come up with ways to break the new copy-protection schemes that companies put on floppies. You did not have hard drives back then, they were to expensive! Ah yes, putting in one disk with a cracker util and inspecting the other floppy drive. Looking a pure assembly in DOS. Creating virtual drives in memory using DOS commands. Blah...
I really did not understand the code until I started doing assembly programming on a Zilog Z-80 processors inputting in straight hex codes. At least it was not punch cards.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Amazon Affiliation?
Patent culture vs Open Source culture
These questions were moderated to #4 and #7. So, where these questions deemed offtopic, or is Slashdot trying to avoid some topics with its guests. Slashdot is not quite hard journalism, but I will like to see a more no-holds barred forum. Obviously for the thousands of Slashdot readers/moderators, these issues were important according to the moderation.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
Can Slashdot forum contents be subpoenaed? We often discuss on "controversial" topics such as hacking, computer security, virus, etc. We often express our displeasure with people (Bill Gates), entities (Microsoft) and even countries (Australia). What if Bill Gates was murdered by some Linux zealot cult. Will every Linux mailing list and Slashdot contents be subpoenaed?
If such a thing every did happen, will we start to refrain ourselvers from posting notes that may be used in some court of law? Very scary stuff indeed. And these days we are seeing bigger hard drivers, and better backup software/hardware. This will make Document Retention times higher.
Let me finish by saying my employer sucks! We need some release parties! We want free sode like at Microsoft! Higher pay! :)
Cheers.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
No, you are incorrect. Take a look at: Java Request For Enhancements. The Java port was *by far* the number one requested enhancement ever. I am not saying there is anything wrong, just don't say Linux users never ask for anything from big companies.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
"The fact you don't see Linux users for instance starting a write-in campain asking Microsoft to port IE and other Microsoft software to linux like the Amiga and Atari ST users did should tell you something......" No, but you do see Linux users begging Sun to port Java for them. Before Sun released the JDK for Linux, the Linux port was the #1 RFE on the Java developer site. Now, it is the BSD Port. Linux users do ask for things they want from companies instead of doing it themselves (with the exception of Blackdown).
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
But I my Windows box I use IE. It is worlds better than Netscape.
Besides, surfing the web got boring. :) I prefer to use my computers for some hacking. (Windows for music, SGI for graphics).
Cheers!
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!