"...is absolutely nothing on Linux that remotely compares to what Adobe Premiere is capable of, and despite many claims to the contrary, The Gimp isn't a viable Photoshop replacement yet, and don't even get me started on games)."
"...Mandrake 9.1 box set up right next to me. It's quite reliable, I use it for mail, web browsing, instant messaging, word processing in OpenOffice, and many other tasks."
"...right now, using it as an everyday machine isn't feasible."
Let me extract your argument. Linux doesn't do _advanced_ image processing as well as a very expensive commercial program. It also doesn't do (Windows) games. It does do mail, browsing, IM, word processing (and other tasks). It does this reliably.
Even so, you can't use it as your "everyday machine".
I guess you need advanced imaged processing and games every day.
You do agree that if a user needs mail, browsing, IM, word processing primarily, and doesn't need Adobe Premiere or Windows games, that Linux would do?
Adobe Premiere is $700 USD. Of course, I assume that you _have_ a license to use it. There are Linux/Unix programs for video editing that do compare (but this is moot, why buy and relearn?).
If you have Premiere, you also have a Windows license. That means you are already $800 - $900 USD invested into your software. So use it.
ISO 9001 is about process. Not warranty or bugs, etc.
To be certified, you must have a process, and must be accountable to the process.
For example - I could say that I take all defect reports, shred them, and that is how I deal with quality. This is ok, as long as I tell my customers that this is what I do, and I am completely accountable. Of course, it wouldn't be worth anything to have this quality method certified.
I guess the answer is "Yes, a patent was granted".
Now I am going to be a mudraker. Here is an implementation of this patent under Linux (so sue me). Effectively only 6 lines of shell script. Do what you want with it.
I would have thought that it should take longer than 4 minutes to implement a patent -- this one is really pushing "obvious", even ignoring the prior art issue.
# create a 2mbyte pds dd if=/dev/zero of=myfile bs=1k count=2k # make it into a file system (pds)/sbin/mke2fs myfile # make a mount point for the pds mkdir mydir mount myfile mydir -o loop # make some files in the new pds for i in a b c d; do touch mydir/$i; done # and now some links to the members for i in a b c d; do ln -s mydir/$i $i; done # now, if you modify file a, b, c or d # the contents of the pds "myfile" are changed. # the pds can be unmounted, and read or # written as a single file "cp myfile myfile2" # would be an example. # When mounted the symbolic links allow automatic # internal access
Women seem to enjoy relationship building activities. My spouse and about 500 books in the local Chapters seem to point to this. So, I can see "Sims" as being popular, and maybe some RPG -- as long as there is relational/point/ to the RPG.
I don't like most of the games out there, because I/don't get the point/. "Grand Theft Auto" seems to deliberately go "anti-relationship". James Bond game that my nephews have kept insisting that I come out shooting -- or I die.
And this is not amusing to me. I enjoy a story arc, I/could/ enjoy an immersive simulation. But I don't get a world where I have to pump my testosterone to 11 before even beginning. Give me another choice (negotiate, be subversive, etc.) to allow me to continue.
So the audience is overcharged young men with something to prove. I find it a laugh, because getting very VERY good at video games is not going to impress the girls. Which was the point of the testosterone boost in the first place. Irony.
Does that have to do with MONITORS? Oh my god. Back in the day (before the "Dot bust"), the "Dot pitch" was something done in an elevator to separate me from my money... or over the phone from a broker...
This patent covers translation by program module; the translation occuring at the sender or the receiver, or in between. It contrasts to having to select a button for the translation, or "cutting and pasting". The only thing unique seems to be the lanugage profiles which must be exchanged.
Babelfish does not conflict, because it is not automatic, and no profiles are exchanged. Use Babelfish with language profiles and you are in violation.
And, given that most OSs these days have user language profiles, it does seem obvious (why have the user restate what is already known?).
Back in the day (before "PC") we had REAL word processors. the MICOM P2000 came with a keyboard that had magnets in plungers, and solid-state pickups for each of the keys. A spring completed the key assembly. Very weighty keys, slowed down the typing nicely. Since switches, etc. were not involved, dishwashers were routinely employed to clean them. And these keyboards were servicable. And they weighed in at 15lbs (7 kilos). Which made them a VERY formidable weapon.
Before that I used an ASR-33. WHACK WHACK WHACK. Very satisfying. Built up my finger strength. Problem is, now I punch holes THROUGH these new "girly-man" keyboards. Such posers.
Seriously, the IBM BS keyboards are my favorites. A bit noisy, but the tactile feedback is worth it. My current keyboard (some "no-name" thing) has the nasty habit of "vibrating" at the bottom end of each keystroke. Feels nasty.
Alright, I fess up... I *do* have my head in the sand. But let's look at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car situation. Without Windows Server 2003, with terminal services, it wouldn't go. Which means that MS FINALLY has a solution. Of course SUN Rays have been around for years. We will see how this installation fairs. I'll keep an eye on how they do, and how MS does. A problem may be that machines cannot be consolidated. We'll see.
$471,000,000 is not "futzing around for weeks". That kind of money buys a major development effort. Or, makes Microsoft very rich. Really, if anti-aliased fonts are important, you can sure get them for a lot less than that! Pretty much whatever you want, actually. What is amazing is that free software has come so far in so little time. Of course some pieces have "corporate sponsorship" or have been donated (OpenOffice.org comes to mind).
What I find sad about this story is that a small injection of funding into the open source pool could have given comparable results, with the additional benefit that everyone would have an improved system to base on. The injection may have been as little as 10,000,000 US but it sure would have helped.
In a sense you are right -- MS offers seamless (at the UI level) integration, and they make damn sure that the GUI functions work (other stuff may be badly broken, but the "user experience" rules). Because these are among the LEAST important aspects of computing for most people who contribute to open software (my list has functionality, stability first; if you want it pretty, pay me, because I can live with text interfaces), it would take an external influence to improve these factors. And a cash payout would have worked.
What level of "enterprise" does Microsoft do well? A hint: they don't. It really is UI flash. MS operating systems don't support major transaction processing systems; they don't support major on-line bidding sites or email. We don't know if they scale well.
It's a sad story; let me call my broker and buy some more MS.
AC who wrote the parent post: Fuck off. And stop hiding behind AC.
Now for the facts. NOTE: I haven't bother with searching ArsTechnica. But here is what I found.
Going to dell.com and searching for "hyperthreading" does not return anything about SPEC2000.
Here is what I *did* do prior to posting.
Googling for "hyperthreading spec2000" returns several papers. One is a potential DoS attack on SMT technology done with Intel funding. Shows a slowdown of up to 30x (based on running a malicious thread).
SPEC2000 isn't (malicious). c't benchmarks SPEC2000 with and without HT. Results:
SPECint_base2000 1085 with, 1085 without SPECfp_base2000 1073 with, 1069 without SPECint_rate_base2000 13,7 with, 12,5 without SPECfp_rate_base2000 13,5 with, 12,6 without
3066Mhz processor
And what does this show? a slight improvement, probably not relevant.
And you know what? I'm even going to give you a URL:
http://www.heise.de/ct/Redaktion/as/spec/
Note that ArsTechnica doesn't come up on that google search! And I actually have a job and family to attend to.
"The other feature he's complaining about is the disabling of hyperthreading. From other benchmarks I've seen before, hyperthreading in SMP systems usually results in equal or slower performance, or at most a 10% addition in certain benchmarks. It was probably better to leave it off."
Which benchmarks would those be? Please reference. I found this one:
that shows 0 to 60%+ improvement with hyperthreading.
Other pages seem to show an improvement of 0 to 20% with hyperthreading.
You dismiss a 10% improvement. Wbat do you think hyperthreading is?
The principle is that a processor execution core can be tied up waiting for a cache line. But, there may be live data belonging to another thread in the cache. Instead of just waiting, the processor can be internally switched to the other thread, and can make progress in the (otherwise) dead time. A damn good idea. An interesting architecture. Explain again why this was disabled for the SMP tests.
(6) User testing, user testing, user testing. Grab someone and ask them if your program is easy to use. Sit them down in front of it -- without a manual -- and ask them to do something that the program was designed to do. If they can do it, then the program has good design. If not, bad design. If they can't do it, or if it took them a long time, ask them what they would expect, or where your program was confusing.
That's just wrong. Really. Calculus is a great tool -- but its too complicated for a lot of people. Certain problems benefit.
Just because some people can't, or are unwilling, to learn doesn't mean that the thing must be "dumbed down".
Take the editor as an example. I am typing this into the Web Browser text box. "Passive memory" galore. Yet I feel uncomfortable. My usual editor is VIM. Oh boy, is it *hard* for someone to learn! But it is very usable and powerful. Yes, VIM could be "dumbed down" to be usuable; it would then be exactely what this text box is (how do I spell check my posting -- without leaving the browser, and then cutting and pasting? how do I...).
And why would I have context menus that I never use? VIMs job is to accept my commands and macros and do them with as little fuss as possible. The true test of a good UI is that it works over a long period of time. VI and EMACS have had a 20+ year history to verify the functionality of the interface. Yes, there have been changes and improvements, but VI and EMACS seem to have "won". There have been other attempts, but not many people use them anymore Remember the "WordStar Diamond"? How about the BRIEF HOME-HOME-HOME and END-END-END?. If these had been good ideas, they would have been incorporated into later products. Borland did keep the WordStar sequences alive for a while, but they are almost completely dead now.
So, don't worry about the UI. "Usability" is what actually lasts. And, with Open Source, the guts can be kept and the UI altered (or the other way around). And if an idea sticks around, it's good. May not appear "easy" at first, but people do come around.
A couple of points. *If* this appears in SCO source, this would be very strange. The 7930 is ONLY used in some 4c and 4m Sparcs. That would be 32 bit SPARC, SBUS based machines. I don't even think these are SUPPORTED by recent Solaris releases.
Nobody uses this for Intel, and these machines are not current anymore.
If SCO has this in THEIR code base, they are really smoking some strange drugs... The only reason this is in Linux is because it was ported to old SUN boxen. Trust me, IBM wouldn't have ANY involvement with that.
News hits/. Biggest slashdot effect ever. Defense fund set up for Linus. I (and millions of other geeks) pony up $100 for the defense fund. Defense fund now has more money than SCO.
SCO gets scorched. Completely.
No one associated with SCO *ever* works in the industry again.
I just did a security update on my wife's laptop. That machine uses Windows 98, but doesn't actually include.NET (at least, I never selected it for download).
The last Microsoft Update included a paragraph in the EULA, that indicated that you may not mention any benchmark comparisions about.NET.
I presume that this includes performance and usability (no mention made of that in the EULA). Now, my wife agreed to the EULA (She must agree to the EULA, so I am not bound by it). Anyway, I have never used.NET, because I do not have a license, nor have I agreed to the EULA.
But, I do take these things seriously. If you HAVE had exposure to.NET and agreed to the EULA, then you are under a gag order from Microsoft. Unless, of course, you have a Microsofts permission. In which case you are a shill.
Now, the SUN license doesn't have such a clause, so you are free to comment on performance 9or lack thereof). So, make comments about J2EE, its performance and its usability.
when shipping product with LGPL libraries, it must be possible to relink the product with later libraries. Which means that either (1) you use shared objects (.so) format of those libraries, or (2) you distribute the objects of your application. Don't statically link LGPL libraries and then not release source or object files.
Yes, I had a AT. No, I don't recall ANYTHING about the hard drives on these units.
However, the CPU was clocked at 6Mhz, and there was anti-overclock code in the BIOS. AT clones started at 8Mhz. The real IBM/AT was expensive. Very expensive. I paid $12,000 (CDN, and at the time US and CDN were very close). For the money:
6Mhz AT 2.5MB memory '287 Hercules monochrome graphics 20MB hard drive.
The "clones" were MUCH less expensive. Say, 1/2 the price.
I have to think that this is "Captain Kirk" -- change the game so you can win. Maybe not win, but at least have more fun.
As to other players being inconvienced: part of the game is figuring out the rules. The game is as "open" as it can be. Some players get god-like powers within the confines of the game, and the game allows this, it is then part of the ruleset. Everyone who plays the game is bound by the ruleset. Changing the ruleset (that is, actually hacking the server) may be an actionable item, but probably shouldn't be. I would argue that that level is simply a meta-ruleset.
Basically, the players should simply "suck it up". From the perspective of the hack players, they have "beaten the game". Now, the hosting company may not like it, but they are at liberty to change the game, or introduce a new game (or refund). But, threatening legal action? That is COMPLETELY off-base. More appropriate would be congradulations, and a thankyou to the hack players.
It is true that I have never played one of these games (they just don't interest me, having nothing to do with my life), and the only way I would be even SLIGHTLY interested would be to have a go at hacking the servers, or writing my own client.
This story is very funny, and sad at the same time. The threat of legal action certainly takes away from the inherent humour in having someone actually "win" the unwinnable.
Of course this address the "source code theft" issue. If Novell has the copyright, Novell must prosecute for copyright infringement. Assuming that the copying happened, and SCO has an interest, it must be material that SCO has copyright on. That leaves whatever has been added since the transfer -- and that isn't much.
So, the issue goes away. Unless SCO disputes the ownership of the copyright.
And *I* don't give a shit if the console is being sold at a loss. That is NOT my problem. Personally, I wouldn't sell 'em at a loss, but hey, who's to say?
And, do you know what else? I don't play video games. Really. I just like shooting holes in them "XBoxes". That cause I hate the commercial. I thought I was doing Microsoft a FAVOUR by buying the damn things. And shooting them.
Now you tell me its going to hurt Microsoft? Gee, i hope not... BAM! Now THAT'S entertainment.
You gone and done used fancy words "my point is not that you should not by modding or pirating.." My head effing hurts! Is your point that I SHOULD be shootin' them basted things or SAVIN' 'em instead "...don't delude yourself into thinking that it is not an illegal acitivity" That's 4 (FOUR) negatives in one sentence. I SHOULD be moddin' and I SHOULD be deludin' myself that it IS ILLEGAL Or maybe not... FUCK.
Microsoft is the beneficiary of this. The software will be given away, and then MS will take a tax deduction (they MUST take it, or face a shareholder action).
It doesn't cost much to "make" the software, so MS will be laughing to the bank. Which is a good thing (speaking as a MS shareholder).
As far as philanthropy goes... it's really nothing. I have to admire Open Source developers, who give away time. And don't get a tax break for it. I WISH I could get tax back for time contributions to worthy projects. But this won't be recognized.
Maybe an OSS company should put a high price on a distribution, and then give it away for the tax benefit. Then, distribute the proceeds to the OSS developers.
802.11b/g is amazing in its variability. Turn on a microwave in the house, and you're in trounble.
So, how do you send video over wireless? My employer (ViXS www.vixs.com) has a solution. Jump on over to www.vixs.com and have a look.
Ratboy
Re:Good thing databases are perfect!
on
Databases and Privacy
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
But the information doesn't have to be scrubbed. All we need is a LOT of it. Don't assume that the people doing the correlations are stupid. For example, you left information in your post above.
From your post, I deduce that you have a college level (post-secondary) education [spelled anonymous correctly]. You are not a "professional" typist. [misstyped "their" as "thier". Confirms first point, you didn't use a spell checker]. Since you used "QA" and "DB", you have familiarity with, or work in the Information field. You used the expression "totally bogus". From this, I deduce you are between 22 and 37 year of age.
I could go on. But I won't. This type of information can be extracted from (say) 10 minutes of your life.
The point I am making (and one of the articles was making), is that it is possible to track EVERYTHING. ALL the minutes of your life.
Nothing by itself may be relevant, but it is possible to uniquely identify a person by 3 or 4 markers. These markers may vary, but they CAN be pulled together. TIA is GOING to pull them together. Indeed, private companies are doing it.
"They" are going to know us better than we know ourselves.
And, it seems that only reasons are to prevent a few people from blowing things up, and to sell us more razorblades.
Slashdot Mirror
"...is absolutely nothing on Linux that remotely compares to what Adobe Premiere is capable of, and despite many claims to the contrary, The Gimp isn't a viable Photoshop replacement yet, and don't even get me started on games)."
"...Mandrake 9.1 box set up right next to me. It's quite reliable, I use it for mail, web browsing, instant messaging, word processing in OpenOffice, and many other tasks."
"...right now, using it as an everyday machine isn't feasible."
Let me extract your argument. Linux doesn't do _advanced_ image processing as well as a very expensive commercial program. It also doesn't do (Windows) games. It does do mail, browsing, IM, word processing (and other tasks). It does this reliably.
Even so, you can't use it as your "everyday machine".
I guess you need advanced imaged processing and games every day.
You do agree that if a user needs mail, browsing, IM, word processing primarily, and doesn't need Adobe Premiere or Windows games, that Linux would do?
Adobe Premiere is $700 USD. Of course, I assume that you _have_ a license to use it. There are Linux/Unix programs for video editing that do compare (but this is moot, why buy and relearn?).
If you have Premiere, you also have a Windows license. That means you are already $800 - $900 USD invested into your software. So use it.
Word
Ratboy
ISO 9001 is about process. Not warranty or bugs, etc.
To be certified, you must have a process, and must be accountable to the process.
For example - I could say that I take all defect reports, shred them, and that is how I deal with quality. This is ok, as long as I tell my customers that this is what I do, and I am completely accountable. Of course, it wouldn't be worth anything to have this quality method certified.
Ratboy.
I guess the answer is "Yes, a patent was granted".
/sbin/mke2fs myfile
Now I am going to be a mudraker. Here is an implementation of this patent under
Linux (so sue me). Effectively only 6 lines of shell script. Do what you want with it.
I would have thought that it should take longer than 4 minutes to implement a patent -- this one is really pushing "obvious", even ignoring the prior art issue.
# create a 2mbyte pds
dd if=/dev/zero of=myfile bs=1k count=2k
# make it into a file system (pds)
# make a mount point for the pds
mkdir mydir
mount myfile mydir -o loop
# make some files in the new pds
for i in a b c d; do touch mydir/$i; done
# and now some links to the members
for i in a b c d; do ln -s mydir/$i $i; done
# now, if you modify file a, b, c or d
# the contents of the pds "myfile" are changed.
# the pds can be unmounted, and read or
# written as a single file "cp myfile myfile2"
# would be an example.
# When mounted the symbolic links allow automatic
# internal access
Ratboy.
Women seem to enjoy relationship building activities. My spouse and about 500 books in the local Chapters seem to point to this. So, I can see "Sims" as being popular, and maybe some RPG -- as long as there is relational /point/ to the RPG.
/don't get the point/. "Grand Theft Auto" seems to deliberately go "anti-relationship". James Bond game that my nephews have kept insisting that I come out shooting -- or I die.
/could/ enjoy an immersive simulation. But I don't get a world where I have to pump my testosterone to 11 before even beginning. Give me another choice (negotiate, be subversive, etc.) to allow me to continue.
I don't like most of the games out there, because I
And this is not amusing to me. I enjoy a story arc, I
So the audience is overcharged young men with something to prove. I find it a laugh, because getting very VERY good at video games is not going to impress the girls. Which was the point of the testosterone boost in the first place. Irony.
Ratboy.
Yup - I'm a geek. Pale, obessesed and anti-social. I don't like playing video games. Does that make me an outcast from the geek fraternity?
Simple rules for playing computer games:
- If you can't write it yourself, spend time learning how instead of wasting your life playing.
- Now that you CAN write it yourself, do it. It's more satisfying.
- If you can write video games, decide if you really want to engineer them, or something else.
- Assuming that you have written the game, play it until you get bored.
My preference has been "something else". Some like to write games and I won't hold it against them.
Real "geeks" don't have enough time to mess around actually PLAYING these things. Well, maybe they do, and I tip my hat, because I don't.
Ratboy.
Does that have to do with MONITORS? Oh my god. Back in the day (before the "Dot bust"), the "Dot pitch" was something done in an elevator to separate me from my money... or over the phone from a broker...
Gotta love tech words...
Ratboy.
This patent covers translation by program module; the translation occuring at the sender or the receiver, or in between. It contrasts to having to select a button for the translation, or "cutting and pasting". The only thing unique seems to be the lanugage profiles which must be exchanged.
Babelfish does not conflict, because it is not automatic, and no profiles are exchanged. Use Babelfish with language profiles and you are in violation.
And, given that most OSs these days have user language profiles, it does seem obvious (why have the user restate what is already known?).
Ratboy666
Back in the day (before "PC") we had REAL word processors. the MICOM P2000 came with a keyboard that had magnets in plungers, and solid-state pickups for each of the keys. A spring completed the key assembly. Very weighty keys, slowed down the typing nicely. Since switches, etc. were not involved, dishwashers were routinely employed to clean them. And these keyboards were servicable. And they weighed in at 15lbs (7 kilos). Which made them a VERY formidable weapon.
Before that I used an ASR-33. WHACK WHACK WHACK. Very satisfying. Built up my finger strength. Problem is, now I punch holes THROUGH these new "girly-man" keyboards. Such posers.
Seriously, the IBM BS keyboards are my favorites. A bit noisy, but the tactile feedback is worth it. My current keyboard (some "no-name" thing) has the nasty habit of "vibrating" at the bottom end of each keystroke. Feels nasty.
Ratboy.
Alright, I fess up... I *do* have my head in the sand. But let's look at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car situation. Without Windows Server 2003, with terminal services, it wouldn't go. Which means that MS FINALLY has a solution. Of course SUN Rays have been around for years. We will see how this installation fairs. I'll keep an eye on how they do, and how MS does. A problem may be that machines cannot be consolidated. We'll see.
Ratboy
$471,000,000 is not "futzing around for weeks". That kind of money buys a major development effort. Or, makes Microsoft very rich. Really, if anti-aliased fonts are important, you can sure get them for a lot less than that! Pretty much whatever you want, actually. What is amazing is that free software has come so far in so little time. Of course some pieces have "corporate sponsorship" or have been donated (OpenOffice.org comes to mind).
What I find sad about this story is that a small injection of funding into the open source pool could have given comparable results, with the additional benefit that everyone would have an improved system to base on. The injection may have been as little as 10,000,000 US but it sure would have helped.
In a sense you are right -- MS offers seamless (at the UI level) integration, and they make damn sure that the GUI functions work (other stuff may be badly broken, but the "user experience" rules). Because these are among the LEAST important aspects of computing for most people who contribute to open software (my list has functionality, stability first; if you want it pretty, pay me, because I can live with text interfaces), it would take an external influence to improve these factors. And a cash payout would have worked.
What level of "enterprise" does Microsoft do well? A hint: they don't. It really is UI flash. MS operating systems don't support major transaction processing systems; they don't support major on-line bidding sites or email. We don't know if they scale well.
It's a sad story; let me call my broker and buy some more MS.
Ratboy.
AC who wrote the parent post: Fuck off.
And stop hiding behind AC.
Now for the facts. NOTE: I haven't bother with searching ArsTechnica. But here is what I found.
Going to dell.com and searching for "hyperthreading" does not return anything about SPEC2000.
Here is what I *did* do prior to posting.
Googling for "hyperthreading spec2000" returns several papers. One is a potential DoS attack on SMT technology done with Intel funding. Shows a slowdown of up to 30x (based on running a malicious thread).
SPEC2000 isn't (malicious). c't benchmarks SPEC2000 with and without HT. Results:
SPECint_base2000 1085 with, 1085 without
SPECfp_base2000 1073 with, 1069 without
SPECint_rate_base2000 13,7 with, 12,5 without
SPECfp_rate_base2000 13,5 with, 12,6 without
3066Mhz processor
And what does this show? a slight improvement, probably not relevant.
And you know what? I'm even going to give you a URL:
http://www.heise.de/ct/Redaktion/as/spec/
Note that ArsTechnica doesn't come up on that google search! And I actually have a job and family to attend to.
So, AC: take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.
Ratboy.
"The other feature he's complaining about is the disabling of hyperthreading. From other benchmarks I've seen before, hyperthreading in SMP systems usually results in equal or slower performance, or at most a 10% addition in certain benchmarks. It was probably better to leave it off."
= 94 75
g /H yperthreading.html
Which benchmarks would those be? Please reference.
I found this one:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article
which is from AMD. No numbers are published in that article.
Now here is an article:
http://home.insightbb.com/~george/Hyperthreadin
that shows 0 to 60%+ improvement with hyperthreading.
Other pages seem to show an improvement of 0 to 20% with hyperthreading.
You dismiss a 10% improvement. Wbat do you think hyperthreading is?
The principle is that a processor execution core can be tied up waiting for a cache line. But, there may be live data belonging to another thread
in the cache. Instead of just waiting, the processor can be internally switched to the other thread, and can make progress in the (otherwise) dead time. A damn good idea. An interesting architecture. Explain again why this was disabled for the SMP tests.
Ratboy.
mSQL is small and fast. Doesn't do anything except manage tables. Very simple. I find it useful for quicky projects that need a database.
And if something works with mSQL, it is pretty certain that it will run with anything else.
Anyway, its off-topic, but I hope it helps.
If you need socket bindings for mSQL, email me at
fred_weigel at h o t m a i l dot c o m.
Ratboy
You said:
...).
(6) User testing, user testing, user testing. Grab someone and ask them if your program is easy to use. Sit them down in front of it -- without a manual -- and ask them to do something that the program was designed to do. If they can do it, then the program has good design. If not, bad design. If they can't do it, or if it took them a long time, ask them what they would expect, or where your program was confusing.
That's just wrong. Really. Calculus is a great tool -- but its too complicated for a lot of people. Certain problems benefit.
Just because some people can't, or are unwilling, to learn doesn't mean that the thing must be "dumbed down".
Take the editor as an example. I am typing this into the Web Browser text box. "Passive memory" galore. Yet I feel uncomfortable. My usual editor is VIM. Oh boy, is it *hard* for someone to learn! But it is very usable and powerful. Yes, VIM could be "dumbed down" to be usuable; it would then be exactely what this text box is (how do I spell check my posting -- without leaving the browser, and then cutting and pasting? how do I
And why would I have context menus that I never use? VIMs job is to accept my commands and macros and do them with as little fuss as possible. The true test of a good UI is that it works over a long period of time. VI and EMACS have had a 20+ year history to verify the functionality of the interface. Yes, there have been changes and improvements, but VI and EMACS seem to have "won". There have been other attempts, but not many people use them anymore Remember the "WordStar Diamond"? How about the BRIEF HOME-HOME-HOME and END-END-END?. If these had been good ideas, they would have been incorporated into later products. Borland did keep the WordStar sequences alive for a while, but they are almost completely dead now.
So, don't worry about the UI. "Usability" is what actually lasts. And, with Open Source, the guts can be kept and the UI altered (or the other way around). And if an idea sticks around, it's good. May not appear "easy" at first, but people do come around.
Ratboy
amd7930.c
A couple of points. *If* this appears in SCO source, this would be very strange. The 7930 is ONLY used in some 4c and 4m Sparcs. That would be 32 bit SPARC, SBUS based machines. I don't even think these are SUPPORTED by recent Solaris releases.
Nobody uses this for Intel, and these machines are not current anymore.
If SCO has this in THEIR code base, they are really smoking some strange drugs... The only reason this is in Linux is because it was ported to old SUN boxen. Trust me, IBM wouldn't have ANY involvement with that.
Ratboy.
Ok, here's what happens.
/. Biggest slashdot effect ever. Defense fund set up for Linus. I (and millions of other geeks) pony up $100 for the defense fund. Defense fund now has more money than SCO.
SCO sues Linus (as you predict).
News hits
SCO gets scorched. Completely.
No one associated with SCO *ever* works in the industry again.
Here's the warning, SCO. Don't fuck with us.
Ratboy
I just did a security update on my wife's laptop. That machine uses Windows 98, but doesn't actually include .NET (at least, I never selected it for download).
.NET.
.NET, because I do not have a license, nor have I agreed to the EULA.
.NET and agreed to the EULA, then you are under a gag order from Microsoft. Unless, of course, you have a Microsofts permission. In which case you are a shill.
The last Microsoft Update included a paragraph in the EULA, that indicated that you may not mention any benchmark comparisions about
I presume that this includes performance and usability (no mention made of that in the EULA). Now, my wife agreed to the EULA (She must agree to the EULA, so I am not bound by it). Anyway, I have never used
But, I do take these things seriously. If you HAVE had exposure to
Now, the SUN license doesn't have such a clause, so you are free to comment on performance 9or lack thereof). So, make comments about J2EE, its performance and its usability.
Ratboy
when shipping product with LGPL libraries, it must be possible to relink the product with later libraries. Which means that either (1) you use shared objects (.so) format of those libraries, or (2) you distribute the objects of your application. Don't statically link LGPL libraries and then not release source or object files.
Ratboy.
Yes, I had a AT. No, I don't recall ANYTHING about the hard drives on these units.
However, the CPU was clocked at 6Mhz, and there was anti-overclock code in the BIOS. AT clones started at 8Mhz. The real IBM/AT was expensive. Very expensive. I paid $12,000 (CDN, and at the time US and CDN were very close). For the money:
6Mhz AT
2.5MB memory
'287
Hercules monochrome graphics
20MB hard drive.
The "clones" were MUCH less expensive. Say, 1/2 the price.
Ratboy
I have to think that this is "Captain Kirk" -- change the game so you can win. Maybe not win, but at least have more fun.
As to other players being inconvienced: part of the game is figuring out the rules. The game is as "open" as it can be. Some players get god-like powers within the confines of the game, and the game allows this, it is then part of the ruleset. Everyone who plays the game is bound by the ruleset. Changing the ruleset (that is, actually hacking the server) may be an actionable item, but probably shouldn't be. I would argue that that level is simply a meta-ruleset.
Basically, the players should simply "suck it up". From the perspective of the hack players, they have "beaten the game". Now, the hosting company may not like it, but they are at liberty to change the game, or introduce a new game (or refund). But, threatening legal action? That is COMPLETELY off-base. More appropriate would be congradulations, and a thankyou to the hack players.
It is true that I have never played one of these games (they just don't interest me, having nothing to do with my life), and the only way I would be even SLIGHTLY interested would be to have a go at hacking the servers, or writing my own client.
This story is very funny, and sad at the same time. The threat of legal action certainly takes away from the inherent humour in having someone actually "win" the unwinnable.
CUL8R
Ratboy
Of course this address the "source code theft" issue. If Novell has the copyright, Novell must prosecute for copyright infringement. Assuming that the copying happened, and SCO has an interest, it must be material that SCO has copyright on. That leaves whatever has been added since the transfer -- and that isn't much.
So, the issue goes away. Unless SCO disputes the ownership of the copyright.
Ratboy.
Wha's "sunk cost" Isn't it just sunk, like GONE.
And *I* don't give a shit if the console is being sold at a loss. That is NOT my problem. Personally, I wouldn't sell 'em at a loss, but hey, who's to say?
And, do you know what else? I don't play video games. Really. I just like shooting holes in them "XBoxes". That cause I hate the commercial. I thought I was doing Microsoft a FAVOUR by buying the damn things. And shooting them.
Now you tell me its going to hurt Microsoft? Gee, i hope not... BAM! Now THAT'S entertainment.
You gone and done used fancy words "my point is not that you should not by modding or pirating.." My head effing hurts! Is your point that I SHOULD be shootin' them basted things or SAVIN' 'em instead "...don't delude yourself into thinking that it is not an illegal acitivity" That's 4 (FOUR) negatives in one sentence. I SHOULD be moddin' and I SHOULD be deludin' myself that it IS ILLEGAL Or maybe not... FUCK.
Ratboy
Microsoft is the beneficiary of this. The software will be given away, and then MS will take a tax deduction (they MUST take it, or face a shareholder action).
It doesn't cost much to "make" the software, so MS will be laughing to the bank. Which is a good thing (speaking as a MS shareholder).
As far as philanthropy goes... it's really nothing. I have to admire Open Source developers, who give away time. And don't get a tax break for it. I WISH I could get tax back for time contributions to worthy projects. But this won't be recognized.
Maybe an OSS company should put a high price on a distribution, and then give it away for the tax benefit. Then, distribute the proceeds to the OSS developers.
Ratboy.
802.11b/g is amazing in its variability. Turn on a microwave in the house, and you're in trounble.
So, how do you send video over wireless? My employer (ViXS www.vixs.com) has a solution. Jump on over to www.vixs.com and have a look.
Ratboy
But the information doesn't have to be scrubbed. All we need is a LOT of it. Don't assume that the people doing the correlations are stupid. For example, you left information in your post above.
From your post, I deduce that you have a college level (post-secondary) education [spelled anonymous correctly]. You are not a "professional" typist. [misstyped "their" as "thier". Confirms first point, you didn't use a spell checker]. Since you used "QA" and "DB", you have familiarity with, or work in the Information field. You used the expression "totally bogus". From this, I deduce you are between 22 and 37 year of age.
I could go on. But I won't. This type of information can be extracted from (say) 10 minutes of your life.
The point I am making (and one of the articles was making), is that it is possible to track EVERYTHING. ALL the minutes of your life.
Nothing by itself may be relevant, but it is possible to uniquely identify a person by 3 or 4 markers. These markers may vary, but they CAN be pulled together. TIA is GOING to pull them together. Indeed, private companies are doing it.
"They" are going to know us better than we know ourselves.
And, it seems that only reasons are to prevent a few people from blowing things up, and to sell us more razorblades.
Ah well, progress.
Ratboy.