Even more humorous, there's no need for there even to have been a message. I would love it if this turned out to be someone engineering a plausible slashdot submission that incites slashbots and is accepted as truth by the editors.
No research on the validity of the fairly dubious claim before posting, come on slashdot. Surely you guys use ICQ sometimes, and know that messages come from the system unless hoaxes. What ever happened to Roblimo's well-researched selections, where he'd take a submission and check the facts and put all the info up for us?
First off, filters don't detract from the GIMP, as another person mentioned it is not the same people writing core and plugins.
As far as the list of features that you mention, I think someone else also made a good run-down of where they stand. I just want to point out that Photoshop did not have ANY of these features (except maybe magnetic selection) until version 5.0. That was just a year ago it came out. Now GIMP is in a similar in-between major revisions stage. As is usually the case, open-source trails slightly behind commercial products in some areas. But other features (multi-level undo) have been around for quite some time.
First I ever heard or saw of Dinosaur was the first trailer (saw prior to Toy Story 2:), and I was awe-struck.
The trailer was several minutes long, all just flying around. No voices at all through the entire thing, a roaring classical track as the only sound. The graphics were incredible, I just sat there stunned as it put up (silently) "Dinosaur" "May 2000".
Then I got home and started researching. What, voices? Some cheesy plot about a dinosaur saving lemmings? I haven't seen it yet, my interest has severely decreased - now the graphics are the only draw.
First, just as the third number has gone above one digit, the second might as well. (ie, 3.10.1). Not that I think they will, as the third number has a long way to go, and they claim to be fairly close to releasing 4.0 (which does seem to nicely follow 3.9.x).
Second, the version number is not a mathematical value which needs to be "correct" in a numerilogical (sp) sense. Rather, think of it as three distinct numbers, using a period to delineate the numbers. The major version number, the minor version number, and the minor fix number. Merely stuck together into one symbol which represents the version. Not a number.
It's not a french acronym, but rather the product of an inability to agree on an acronym. (French wanted CUT, English/US wanted UCT, or something like that.)
These time-related answers and more can be found at http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/faq.html
(Though that server appears to be down for the time being.)
Yahoo Mail, formerly owned by Four11, formerly Rocketmail.com, is great. I've used their service (or the predecessors, the interface has barely changed at all) for nearly 4 years.
Availability has never been a problem, and the features are very well laid out and useful. As Roblimo, I use the POP access all the time, makes it so much easier on other people's computers. The filtering is also quite good (bulk mail and personal filters both).
I also give Yahoo kudos for their smooth transition a couple months ago for those of us with Rocketmail accounts, being allowed to keep our addresses but switch over to the "official" Yahoo Mail system. Though for the two years between Yahoo buying it and switching it over we had no advertisements.:)
Andover.net appears to be doing their IPO slightly differently, a so-called OpenIPO. Basically you can place your bid for a given number of shares at a given price, and then shares are allocated independent of the number of shares you asked for, giving everyone a chance.
See http://www.wrhambrecht.com/ and http://open.andover.net/ for more information, and get in on the action without any need for karma!
When writing a patent I believe you are required to phrase the abstract as one sentence. I suppose it was originally intended to show the purpose of a patent as shortly and concisely as possible.
That clearly is not happening. But like so many other things to do with the patent office, this outdated requirement has been preserved.
I agree with your viewpoint on a typical Linux system shown to be less secure. I don't think this reflects on the OS or the principles behind it though.
Rather, I believe that Linux can be at least as secure (and much more quickly fixed) as NT. As numerous people have mentioned, it is a matter of the people administering the system not taking the proper steps. But I don't think this necessarily reflects on them either. (Well, in the case of these "tests" I think it is sloppy. I'm talking about general use of the OSes.)
My concern lately has been on user education. People have to know what they can do to improve their systems, that it is not the OSes fault but simply corrections that need to be made in the setup. I'm not sure about how this user education should occur, but I know it is important. Both Linux and MS zealots will use the latest error-filled results to push their platform, but the end user is not helped by choosing either of these without education about what each really entails.
As far as your comment about no real OS existing anymore...Ok, I see your point. I see no backup for it, no reasoned explanation. You are right, I personally cannot recall an OS which was the epitome of user friendliness while incredibly powerful. And I agree that the future will have OSes that come closer and closer to that goal. Of course, I believe the future is whatever we make it, so I plan on pushing Linux towards that perfect blend.
At my college the sentiment is quite anti-linux in computer services. Lately, through discussion, I have learned that this is mostly because the administrators admit they know little or nothing about linux/unix.
As far as students, particularily non-computer-literate types, using Linux, I see that beginning to change. Your comment about most people not being able or willing to setup a computer running linux is quite true. And as you state, the fact that windows comes pre-installed is why they can even use that. However, I don't think that is a reason to wait for computers to come pre-installed with Linux before they will use them.
As the leader of the Linux movement on campus, I see our purpose very clearly: provide support and guidance so that people are able to use Linux without having to be computer-literate. Yes, we also deal with the nitty-gritty of Linux, learning the details.
My goal in the next 2 years is to have an equal number of students on campus running Linux as are running Windows. And I feel that those Linux users should be spread evenly across all levels of students.
We used to run our entire house (lighting and computer) off of a 12volt deep cycle battery and power inverter. The inverter was a nice StatPower model, 800W, and had a watt meter on the front. The meter was just LED segments, so not too accurate. However, by looking at the meter and judging how long the battery lasted, it was possible to compare devices.
My computer used somewhere between a 100W bulb and 120W. (K6 266, 64MB, IDE drive, 17in monitor)
Our 20in TV/VCR used about 60W, i think.
A 120amp/hour battery lasted around 5 hours with the computer.
I've always been perplexed by people saying "xxx distribution is ok to start with, but no one else should bother with it." (Usually directed at RedHat.)
Let me freely admit that my main Linux machine was originally a RedHat box. Why? I was new to installing linux, for starters. But I also wanted something I could loan to interested friends and relatives that they might be able to install on their own.
I have never bought another distribution. I may pick up Debian or Slack some time in the future, just to compare. But here's my point: My box is Redhat originally, but I feel I have become an intelligent user (compiling the kernel and other software, learning how to manually setup services, boot configurations, etc.). Why would I now go out and buy any other distribution as a "graduation" from RedHat? My machine is my customized version, I have already gone beyond any distribution in terms of what works for me.
(I can see for specialized uses like LRP it is quite a good idea to use another distribution.)
It is my understanding that the value of magnesium (for starting fires) is that it burns very hot. However, it is difficult to light. That is why you have to scrape it into small filings.
Slashdot Mirror
Even more humorous, there's no need for there even to have been a message. I would love it if this turned out to be someone engineering a plausible slashdot submission that incites slashbots and is accepted as truth by the editors.
No research on the validity of the fairly dubious claim before posting, come on slashdot. Surely you guys use ICQ sometimes, and know that messages come from the system unless hoaxes. What ever happened to Roblimo's well-researched selections, where he'd take a submission and check the facts and put all the info up for us?
LoppEar
First off, filters don't detract from the GIMP, as another person mentioned it is not the same people writing core and plugins.
As far as the list of features that you mention, I think someone else also made a good run-down of where they stand. I just want to point out that Photoshop did not have ANY of these features (except maybe magnetic selection) until version 5.0. That was just a year ago it came out. Now GIMP is in a similar in-between major revisions stage. As is usually the case, open-source trails slightly behind commercial products in some areas. But other features (multi-level undo) have been around for quite some time.
LoppEar
First I ever heard or saw of Dinosaur was the first trailer (saw prior to Toy Story 2 :), and I was awe-struck.
The trailer was several minutes long, all just flying around. No voices at all through the entire thing, a roaring classical track as the only sound. The graphics were incredible, I just sat there stunned as it put up (silently) "Dinosaur" "May 2000".
Then I got home and started researching. What, voices? Some cheesy plot about a dinosaur saving lemmings? I haven't seen it yet, my interest has severely decreased - now the graphics are the only draw.
Luke
You may be surprised to notice two things.
First, just as the third number has gone above one digit, the second might as well. (ie, 3.10.1). Not that I think they will, as the third number has a long way to go, and they claim to be fairly close to releasing 4.0 (which does seem to nicely follow 3.9.x).
Second, the version number is not a mathematical value which needs to be "correct" in a numerilogical (sp) sense. Rather, think of it as three distinct numbers, using a period to delineate the numbers. The major version number, the minor version number, and the minor fix number. Merely stuck together into one symbol which represents the version. Not a number.
LoppEar
Actually, the replacement term for GMT is UTC.
It's not a french acronym, but rather the product of an inability to agree on an acronym. (French wanted CUT, English/US wanted UCT, or something like that.)
These time-related answers and more can be found at http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/faq.html
(Though that server appears to be down for the time being.)
LoppEar
Yahoo Mail, formerly owned by Four11, formerly Rocketmail.com, is great. I've used their service (or the predecessors, the interface has barely changed at all) for nearly 4 years.
:)
Availability has never been a problem, and the features are very well laid out and useful. As Roblimo, I use the POP access all the time, makes it so much easier on other people's computers. The filtering is also quite good (bulk mail and personal filters both).
I also give Yahoo kudos for their smooth transition a couple months ago for those of us with Rocketmail accounts, being allowed to keep our addresses but switch over to the "official" Yahoo Mail system. Though for the two years between Yahoo buying it and switching it over we had no advertisements.
Email me at luko (at) rocketmail (dot) com
LoppEar
I though you could switch between windows in MDI (such as word) using Ctrl-Tab. Or was it Ctrl-F6? Too bad I don't use Windows, so I can't check. :)
LoppEar.
Andover.net appears to be doing their IPO slightly differently, a so-called OpenIPO. Basically you can place your bid for a given number of shares at a given price, and then shares are allocated independent of the number of shares you asked for, giving everyone a chance.
See http://www.wrhambrecht.com/ and http://open.andover.net/ for more information, and get in on the action without any need for karma!
When writing a patent I believe you are required to phrase the abstract as one sentence. I suppose it was originally intended to show the purpose of a patent as shortly and concisely as possible.
That clearly is not happening. But like so many other things to do with the patent office, this outdated requirement has been preserved.LoppEar
I agree with your viewpoint on a typical Linux system shown to be less secure. I don't think this reflects on the OS or the principles behind it though.
Rather, I believe that Linux can be at least as secure (and much more quickly fixed) as NT. As numerous people have mentioned, it is a matter of the people administering the system not taking the proper steps. But I don't think this necessarily reflects on them either. (Well, in the case of these "tests" I think it is sloppy. I'm talking about general use of the OSes.)
My concern lately has been on user education. People have to know what they can do to improve their systems, that it is not the OSes fault but simply corrections that need to be made in the setup. I'm not sure about how this user education should occur, but I know it is important. Both Linux and MS zealots will use the latest error-filled results to push their platform, but the end user is not helped by choosing either of these without education about what each really entails.
As far as your comment about no real OS existing anymore...Ok, I see your point. I see no backup for it, no reasoned explanation. You are right, I personally cannot recall an OS which was the epitome of user friendliness while incredibly powerful. And I agree that the future will have OSes that come closer and closer to that goal. Of course, I believe the future is whatever we make it, so I plan on pushing Linux towards that perfect blend.
LoppEar.
At my college the sentiment is quite anti-linux in computer services. Lately, through discussion, I have learned that this is mostly because the administrators admit they know little or nothing about linux/unix.
As far as students, particularily non-computer-literate types, using Linux, I see that beginning to change. Your comment about most people not being able or willing to setup a computer running linux is quite true. And as you state, the fact that windows comes pre-installed is why they can even use that. However, I don't think that is a reason to wait for computers to come pre-installed with Linux before they will use them.
As the leader of the Linux movement on campus, I see our purpose very clearly: provide support and guidance so that people are able to use Linux without having to be computer-literate. Yes, we also deal with the nitty-gritty of Linux, learning the details.
My goal in the next 2 years is to have an equal number of students on campus running Linux as are running Windows. And I feel that those Linux users should be spread evenly across all levels of students.
Luke, St. Norbert College, WI.
We used to run our entire house (lighting and computer) off of a 12volt deep cycle battery and power inverter. The inverter was a nice StatPower model, 800W, and had a watt meter on the front. The meter was just LED segments, so not too accurate. However, by looking at the meter and judging how long the battery lasted, it was possible to compare devices.
My computer used somewhere between a 100W bulb and 120W. (K6 266, 64MB, IDE drive, 17in monitor)
Our 20in TV/VCR used about 60W, i think.
A 120amp/hour battery lasted around 5 hours with the computer.
+LoppEar
How can it be an answer to the Nomad, when all it does it equal the 64MB?
The Nomad apparently has both FM tuning and Voice Recording. It's still my choice for now...
+LO
I've always been perplexed by people saying "xxx distribution is ok to start with, but no one else should bother with it." (Usually directed at RedHat.)
Let me freely admit that my main Linux machine was originally a RedHat box. Why? I was new to installing linux, for starters. But I also wanted something I could loan to interested friends and relatives that they might be able to install on their own.
I have never bought another distribution. I may pick up Debian or Slack some time in the future, just to compare. But here's my point: My box is Redhat originally, but I feel I have become an intelligent user (compiling the kernel and other software, learning how to manually setup services, boot configurations, etc.). Why would I now go out and buy any other distribution as a "graduation" from RedHat? My machine is my customized version, I have already gone beyond any distribution in terms of what works for me.
(I can see for specialized uses like LRP it is quite a good idea to use another distribution.)
+LO
It is my understanding that the value of magnesium (for starting fires) is that it burns very hot. However, it is difficult to light. That is why you have to scrape it into small filings.
+LO
I must have missed the announcement saying what happened to everything.slashdot.org. Did it move, did it die? Why? Where?
Please tell me, I thought it was an awesome concept!
+LO