Yeah, but the perversity of the universe is such that the company you're with in 10 years could buy up (or be bought by) the company with now, and you could end up responsible for the very same code...
I spent almost 14 years at my last job. I maintained the same code base for several applications that evolved over that entire time. And when somebody comes across a bug in a program you haven't updated in 2 or 3 years, you're bloody grateful for comments that let you know what the code is doing.
I also think that comments should not only describe intent, they should describe function. It's there where we can often see a discrepancy between what we want the code to do and what it actually does.
Makes me think what other "natural augmented reality senses" are possible, or even already exist in other species.
In our own species, some claim to be able to perceive life-force energy in a multitude of fashions, e.g., tactile, sight, taste, etc. The entire energy-healing paradigm is based on this premise.
Re:lack of distro support killed it for me
on
Kylix in Limbo
·
· Score: 1
> I think there is a way to get it to run on RH9 or > Mandrake, but the steps are not for the feint of > heart.
Actually, Borland's own CodeCentral contains a patch that helps get things running. If you've installed your glibc compat libs and then apply the Kylix3-NewDistros unofficial patch, you'll be up and running in minutes. Add the VisualCLX patches that are announced regularly in the Borland newsgroups and you're cookin'.
Sure, there are still bugs, but many of those can be dealt with. After all, the VisualCLX source code is open and available.
> Everybody who has purchased a commercial software > product for Linux, please raise your hand.
I've paid for the commercial OSS sound driver on at least 4 systems and put a commercial X server on one. I've been evaluating the OE version of Kylix 3 and will cough up for the Pro version. Finally, if Cakewalk ever gets off their derriers and release Guitar Tracks Pro and Pyro on Linux, I'll pony up in a heartbeat. Oh, yeah, and I'd gladly pay for a Linux version of either PowerDVD or WinDVD (of which I own both).
I have no qualms about paying for software. I also have no qualms about financially supporting the FSF. Does that make me AC/DC?;^)
Re:I wasted $200 on it...
on
Kylix in Limbo
·
· Score: 1
> Version 3 wouldn't run on my box.
It probably would with some unofficial patches applied. I've had a few problems with Slack upgrades, but V3 is now purring along nicely on my Slack 9.1 system. CodeCentral, the Borland newsgroups and Google are your friends.
Man, you sure nailed it with that comment. Sure, I'm a Yahoo! Messenger user (trane608), under both Windows and Linux. Wonderful -- NOT -- that if I want to use Yahoo!'s Net2Phone component, I have to boot Windows. Sure, it's great that a hardware solution exists. The more options available the better, but what I really want is to be able to use my Yahoo! Net2Phone account under BOTH Linux and Windows.
It doesn't sound like the right attitude to me, either.
One of the greatest uses for open source software is to steal ideas of how to approach a problem. Maybe you don't borrow the code itself, but you borrow bits of an algorithm here and there to build your own application.
TurboPower makes great stuff. It pleases me to no end to see them giving a whole bunch of proven algorithms back to the community now that they've chosen to pack up shop. Two thumbs up!
Shareware under Linux? Sure, why not? As a DOS & OS/2 user, I registered tons of the stuff. My BBS software, various transfer protocols, doors, editors, mailers, readers... There was very, very little installed on my system that WASN'T shareware or freeware.
As a Linux user, there is less need for it simply because computing has come a long way since the early '80s. Back in '83 when I got started, there was barely any software out there period. Common sales line was "I want WordStar & SuperCalc" and the sales guy would put together a computer for you to run it on.
A lot of what has been done incrementally over the years has been reinvented on Linux. Overall, the amount of software available is boggling. So, what about Shareware? Is there still a need for it?
Absolutely. I'm a registered user of several licenses of the shareware OSS sound driver for Linux. I've been using it for years. Why? Well, if you don't know, you haven't tried it. Yes, I can compile sound support under Linux. Been there, done that and, frankly, I'd rather spend a few bucks to have installable support that doesn't require even the most basic kernel compile. Just fire up the installer and if you've ordered the right options, 60 seconds later you've got sound.
Even better? Found a bug and reported it. Less than 48 hours later, OSS sent me a new binary to test. Works like a charm. Open source fixes bugs the fastest? DON'T COUNT ON IT, PEOPLE. In fact, when it comes to bugs, I most often here "fix it yourself if you want it fixed." That's open source mentality. You have the code, so fix it.
I don't have time. I'd rather pay some bucks and have somebody worry about the nuts'n'bolts for me. OSS is a perfect example of finding a niche market and really capitalizing on it.
Next PC I build will definitely have a commercial OSS driver installed. And feel free to flame away. I could care less.:o)
Are you a potential shareware developer? Know a huge amount about audio recording? Intimate with Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro and its recording console UI metaphor? Have some time? Want some money?
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.
Linux, as great as it is, still has some huge holes. I want a Cakewalk GT2/GTPro clone under Linux. Cakewalk isn't interested. There are a bunch of musicians out there, like me, who only boot Windows to use Cakewalk.
Code it. If it works well, I'll pay, say, $50 for a good GT2 clone. Double the price if you can do a good GTPro clone.
b) evil 'cause The System can use it to track you and make sure you're not doing something "subversive"
LOL! Man, now I have really read it all. If you'd bothered to read the article, you might have noted that the tools would enable locating and getting critical health information up to 80 metres away. For The System to use this for their subversive and privacy-invading gain, they'd have to be 80 metres or less away from their target.
I got news for you...if The System is 80 metres-or-less away from you, they don't need no steenkin' fancy climber-tracking system to cap your ass. The technology to close-monitor targets has been around for decades.
But, yeah, I hear ya, man. When you're dilly-dallying over the Hillary Step, you gotta be prepared for those loitering Sherpas to take advantage of your low O's and diminishing stamina. They don't call it The Death Zone for nothing, ya know.
This is really something that should be addressed by all distros, not just Debian.
When the user makes any customizations, she should be given an option to test the changes ("Try it now" button) and revert to the previous settings. Inexperienced users are often afraid to make changes, which in their minds (or in reality) might break something, and have a hard time getting into the habit of just playing with different options, unless they are specifically encouraged or made to feel safe.
These are great ideas.
One of the things I've seen over my many years of Slackware use is that the menus for installed window managers often do not reflect actually installed packages. It's simply got to be frustrating for a newbie to see a menu entry for an app that is not installed on the system.
And how about upgrades? It seems to me that upgrading from one version to another should automatically trigger a search to ensure that installed programs are still there so that everything actually works.
Can I help? Erm, no...sorry. I wish I could. It doesn't bother me so much as I've grown accustomed to it, but grandma sure wouldn't tolerate that for very long.
It's a great idea and I'm totally stoked. This leads me to the very real problem of choosing an appropriate telescope. I got a 100x "department store" 'scope last year and it's barely useful for looking at the moon. There's too much chromatic abberation and the optics are plastic junk. My airline mileage club telescope has been more of a frustration than anything.
I will confess that I'm partial to the Celestron 'scopes. Which Celestron scopes would be good to get a view of the rings? Please bear in mind that I live in Tokyo, so I'm entirely unsure of whether an equatorial mount is appropriate due to light pollution affecting my ability to sight on Polaris. Therefore, comments regarding the use of telescopes in bright areas are highly encouraged.
Is it even possible within a bright city such as Tokyo to see Saturn and Jupiter?
In light of several posts made regarding several space-exploration-related articles in recent weeks, I thought this comment was particularly insightful:
Now with no further technology objectives and no further science objectives, there is not sufficient justification for keeping the spacecraft operating.
In the comments posted regarding the recent space-station article, for example, several posters alleged that NASA simply chooses to throw good money after bad. The italicized quote from the above-linked article indicates that just isn't reality. When the science for a particular project is complete and no further useful information can be gleaned, the project is abandoned.
This continues to give me hope for the space program. As much as the penny pinchers do have a say over things, the scientists still obviously manage to make good decisions and carry through with them.
Stewey, I have to agree about OS/2 being a remarkable OS. As an ex-IBMer, I guess I'm biased, but I truly believe that the VDM in OS/2 was a better DOS than DOS. The fine tuning you could do on the behaviour of DOS apps was incredible.
An example of this would be an app written using Borland's Turbo Vision framework. These apps poll for keyboard input like no tomorrow. Under any flavour of Windows, you can get the CPU useage down to about 50%, but no better. On OS/2, you could get CPU useage down to 1% and still have a nice, snappy response.
I ran a 3-node DOS-based BBS package (RemoteAccess) for several years and enjoyed it most when running under OS/2. Most of my apps were DOS apps and running them there was a far better experience than using DOS and DESQview.
For what it's worth, I concur with ShavenYak's statement that what they meant was that apps compiled with 3.1.1 will run on 3.1.0 systems and vice versa. The term forward compatible itself, therefore, is redundant, not the parent. Backward compatibility already takes care of the "forward" part (3.1.0 apps working with 3.1.1), so we must relegate this part of the release announcement to the realm of Buzzword Compliant.;-P
I'm a telecommuter. Admittedly, I tend to work on small, one-man projects, but multi-person projects can work just fine, IME, as long as everyone involved understands the need for face time.
We're living in a broadband era, so things such as Netmeeting and the like are marvelous for exchanging ideas. Real-time video conferencing is possible for next to no expense when using such software. Real-time code walk-throughs, specification reviews, prototype demos....it's all possible with such software packages.
Since I develop for NT and Win2k, we use Netmeeting. The shared whiteboard, shared apps and video/audio/text capabilities are invaluable for fleshing out ideas and being sure of everyone's intentions. So, no, you don't need to guess every possible question that might be asked, you just have to make sure that the tools available to communicate are well and truly used.
The risk is that we telecommuters tend to really enjoy the isolation and may lean toward maintaining that isolation rather than reach out on a regular basis to make sure that we're all (project-wide) marching to the same drummer. To minimize this risk, therefore, it's incumbent upon project management to ensure that these tools are used and used well. Doing so will ensure that there are no unwanted surprises brought about due to the development process being distributed.
Write it into the terms of usage agreement for joining the newsletter that the user agrees to accept a confirmation e-mail to a user-specified e-mail address. To protect the user, create a server-side database that monitors sign-ups and disallows multiple-signups within a 24-hour period. Additionally, accounts for which no confirmation is received in, say, a 72-hour period would then be moved to an "unconfirmed" database. A user would get a second chance to join and ask for confirmation on this address and, if still unconfirmed, the account would be marked void.
These are just some ideas on how to take care of it. Unfortunately, there's no real way to do this on the client side....at least none of which I can think.
With EDS being a huge supplier of IT infrastructure in companies around the world -- the company for which I work having long since outsourced network/IT support to EDS -- I've got news for you: EDS and Microsoft are seriously in bed with each other. You want to get desktop PC's running some office productivity software, do you? EDS gives you Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows 98 as your choices of OS and MS Office, MS Office or MS Office as your choice of productivity suite.
(Yes, folks, I understand that EDS does UNIX, too, so spare me and let me make gross generalizations for the moment.)
EDS brokers worldwide licenses for Microsoft to corporations willing to shell out the bucks. Make no mistake; Microsoft is quite happy to see EDS doing what it's doing. The more desktops EDS controls, the more software Microsoft will sell.
The article itself is interesting, but not so startling in its ramifications. Outsourcing and "secure" partnerships have been around for a very long time now. Many companies do work under restriction of NDAs. Mine is one. EDS would absolutely be under various NDAs to protect the privacy of the data they're administering. In fact, I'd probably be more comfortable with outsourced services from a reputable company than I would with the government.
A company will do something for financial gain. A government will do something for power. The difference may appear subtle, but it is significant, IMO.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't eat the fugu.
LOL - Thankfully, fugu and jellyfish are seldom mistaken for one another. :)
As long as your kid's apathetic teacher isn't banging the chef, I suppose things will be okay.
I recognize the words as English, but the sentence itself certainly seems apropos of nothing whatsoever.
If an "effort" is required to get Japanese people to eat something that comes out of the ocean, you really don't want to go near it.
Kurage (jellyfish) have featured in the Japanese diet throughout history. There is no "effort" of which I'm aware, and I've been in Japan since 1991.
Yeah, but the perversity of the universe is such that the company you're with in 10 years could buy up (or be bought by) the company with now, and you could end up responsible for the very same code...
I spent almost 14 years at my last job. I maintained the same code base for several applications that evolved over that entire time. And when somebody comes across a bug in a program you haven't updated in 2 or 3 years, you're bloody grateful for comments that let you know what the code is doing.
I also think that comments should not only describe intent, they should describe function. It's there where we can often see a discrepancy between what we want the code to do and what it actually does.
Makes me think what other "natural augmented reality senses" are possible, or even already exist in other species.
In our own species, some claim to be able to perceive life-force energy in a multitude of fashions, e.g., tactile, sight, taste, etc. The entire energy-healing paradigm is based on this premise.
> I think there is a way to get it to run on RH9 or
> Mandrake, but the steps are not for the feint of
> heart.
Actually, Borland's own CodeCentral contains a patch that helps get things running. If you've installed your glibc compat libs and then apply the Kylix3-NewDistros unofficial patch, you'll be up and running in minutes. Add the VisualCLX patches that are announced regularly in the Borland newsgroups and you're cookin'.
Sure, there are still bugs, but many of those can be dealt with. After all, the VisualCLX source code is open and available.
> Apparently the C++ Builder (or something, correct
> me if I'm wrong
C++BuilderX. C++ Builder was an older product that was Windows-specific. C++BuilderX offers cross-platform development (Win32, Linux, Solaris).
> Everybody who has purchased a commercial software
;^)
> product for Linux, please raise your hand.
I've paid for the commercial OSS sound driver on at least 4 systems and put a commercial X server on one. I've been evaluating the OE version of Kylix 3 and will cough up for the Pro version. Finally, if Cakewalk ever gets off their derriers and release Guitar Tracks Pro and Pyro on Linux, I'll pony up in a heartbeat. Oh, yeah, and I'd gladly pay for a Linux version of either PowerDVD or WinDVD (of which I own both).
I have no qualms about paying for software. I also have no qualms about financially supporting the FSF. Does that make me AC/DC?
> Version 3 wouldn't run on my box.
It probably would with some unofficial patches applied. I've had a few problems with Slack upgrades, but V3 is now purring along nicely on my Slack 9.1 system. CodeCentral, the Borland newsgroups and Google are your friends.
Man, you sure nailed it with that comment. Sure, I'm a Yahoo! Messenger user (trane608), under both Windows and Linux. Wonderful -- NOT -- that if I want to use Yahoo!'s Net2Phone component, I have to boot Windows. Sure, it's great that a hardware solution exists. The more options available the better, but what I really want is to be able to use my Yahoo! Net2Phone account under BOTH Linux and Windows.
I'm really sick of dual-boot.
It doesn't sound like the right attitude to me, either.
One of the greatest uses for open source software is to steal ideas of how to approach a problem. Maybe you don't borrow the code itself, but you borrow bits of an algorithm here and there to build your own application.
TurboPower makes great stuff. It pleases me to no end to see them giving a whole bunch of proven algorithms back to the community now that they've chosen to pack up shop. Two thumbs up!
Shareware under Linux? Sure, why not? As a DOS & OS/2 user, I registered tons of the stuff. My BBS software, various transfer protocols, doors, editors, mailers, readers... There was very, very little installed on my system that WASN'T shareware or freeware.
:o)
As a Linux user, there is less need for it simply because computing has come a long way since the early '80s. Back in '83 when I got started, there was barely any software out there period. Common sales line was "I want WordStar & SuperCalc" and the sales guy would put together a computer for you to run it on.
A lot of what has been done incrementally over the years has been reinvented on Linux. Overall, the amount of software available is boggling. So, what about Shareware? Is there still a need for it?
Absolutely. I'm a registered user of several licenses of the shareware OSS sound driver for Linux. I've been using it for years. Why? Well, if you don't know, you haven't tried it. Yes, I can compile sound support under Linux. Been there, done that and, frankly, I'd rather spend a few bucks to have installable support that doesn't require even the most basic kernel compile. Just fire up the installer and if you've ordered the right options, 60 seconds later you've got sound.
Even better? Found a bug and reported it. Less than 48 hours later, OSS sent me a new binary to test. Works like a charm. Open source fixes bugs the fastest? DON'T COUNT ON IT, PEOPLE. In fact, when it comes to bugs, I most often here "fix it yourself if you want it fixed." That's open source mentality. You have the code, so fix it.
I don't have time. I'd rather pay some bucks and have somebody worry about the nuts'n'bolts for me. OSS is a perfect example of finding a niche market and really capitalizing on it.
Next PC I build will definitely have a commercial OSS driver installed. And feel free to flame away. I could care less.
Are you a potential shareware developer? Know a huge amount about audio recording? Intimate with Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro and its recording console UI metaphor? Have some time? Want some money?
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.
Linux, as great as it is, still has some huge holes. I want a Cakewalk GT2/GTPro clone under Linux. Cakewalk isn't interested. There are a bunch of musicians out there, like me, who only boot Windows to use Cakewalk.
Code it. If it works well, I'll pay, say, $50 for a good GT2 clone. Double the price if you can do a good GTPro clone.
You're right; xv is not free software, but it IS free for personal use. Only corporations need register it.
Yep, I remember LORD. I ran this on RA and, yes, I registered the thing, too. It was very, very popular with the users.
If you'd have read the license agreement, you'd have found that xv only needs to be registered for corporate use. Private use is free of charge.
The web site shows current contact info:
Starium LTD.
1346 The Alameda
Suite 7-171
San Jose, CA
95126
Telephone:
+1-831-624-3322
Facsimile:
+1-831-624-3373
E Mail:
sales@starium.com
Did you actually try to contact the company to see if they'd be forthcoming with a tidbit of information?
I got news for you...if The System is 80 metres-or-less away from you, they don't need no steenkin' fancy climber-tracking system to cap your ass. The technology to close-monitor targets has been around for decades.
But, yeah, I hear ya, man. When you're dilly-dallying over the Hillary Step, you gotta be prepared for those loitering Sherpas to take advantage of your low O's and diminishing stamina. They don't call it The Death Zone for nothing, ya know.
This is really something that should be addressed by all distros, not just Debian.
When the user makes any customizations, she should be given an option to test the changes ("Try it now" button) and revert to the previous settings. Inexperienced users are often afraid to make changes, which in their minds (or in reality) might break something, and have a hard time getting into the habit of just playing with different options, unless they are specifically encouraged or made to feel safe.
These are great ideas.
One of the things I've seen over my many years of Slackware use is that the menus for installed window managers often do not reflect actually installed packages. It's simply got to be frustrating for a newbie to see a menu entry for an app that is not installed on the system.
And how about upgrades? It seems to me that upgrading from one version to another should automatically trigger a search to ensure that installed programs are still there so that everything actually works.
Can I help? Erm, no...sorry. I wish I could. It doesn't bother me so much as I've grown accustomed to it, but grandma sure wouldn't tolerate that for very long.
It's a great idea and I'm totally stoked. This leads me to the very real problem of choosing an appropriate telescope. I got a 100x "department store" 'scope last year and it's barely useful for looking at the moon. There's too much chromatic abberation and the optics are plastic junk. My airline mileage club telescope has been more of a frustration than anything.
I will confess that I'm partial to the Celestron 'scopes. Which Celestron scopes would be good to get a view of the rings? Please bear in mind that I live in Tokyo, so I'm entirely unsure of whether an equatorial mount is appropriate due to light pollution affecting my ability to sight on Polaris. Therefore, comments regarding the use of telescopes in bright areas are highly encouraged.
Is it even possible within a bright city such as Tokyo to see Saturn and Jupiter?
In light of several posts made regarding several space-exploration-related articles in recent weeks, I thought this comment was particularly insightful:
Now with no further technology objectives and no further science objectives, there is not sufficient justification for keeping the spacecraft operating.
In the comments posted regarding the recent space-station article, for example, several posters alleged that NASA simply chooses to throw good money after bad. The italicized quote from the above-linked article indicates that just isn't reality. When the science for a particular project is complete and no further useful information can be gleaned, the project is abandoned.
This continues to give me hope for the space program. As much as the penny pinchers do have a say over things, the scientists still obviously manage to make good decisions and carry through with them.
Stewey, I have to agree about OS/2 being a remarkable OS. As an ex-IBMer, I guess I'm biased, but I truly believe that the VDM in OS/2 was a better DOS than DOS. The fine tuning you could do on the behaviour of DOS apps was incredible.
An example of this would be an app written using Borland's Turbo Vision framework. These apps poll for keyboard input like no tomorrow. Under any flavour of Windows, you can get the CPU useage down to about 50%, but no better. On OS/2, you could get CPU useage down to 1% and still have a nice, snappy response.
I ran a 3-node DOS-based BBS package (RemoteAccess) for several years and enjoyed it most when running under OS/2. Most of my apps were DOS apps and running them there was a far better experience than using DOS and DESQview.
The parent is modded Redundant? Hmmmm.
;-P
For what it's worth, I concur with ShavenYak's statement that what they meant was that apps compiled with 3.1.1 will run on 3.1.0 systems and vice versa. The term forward compatible itself, therefore, is redundant, not the parent. Backward compatibility already takes care of the "forward" part (3.1.0 apps working with 3.1.1), so we must relegate this part of the release announcement to the realm of Buzzword Compliant.
I'm a telecommuter. Admittedly, I tend to work on small, one-man projects, but multi-person projects can work just fine, IME, as long as everyone involved understands the need for face time.
We're living in a broadband era, so things such as Netmeeting and the like are marvelous for exchanging ideas. Real-time video conferencing is possible for next to no expense when using such software. Real-time code walk-throughs, specification reviews, prototype demos....it's all possible with such software packages.
Since I develop for NT and Win2k, we use Netmeeting. The shared whiteboard, shared apps and video/audio/text capabilities are invaluable for fleshing out ideas and being sure of everyone's intentions. So, no, you don't need to guess every possible question that might be asked, you just have to make sure that the tools available to communicate are well and truly used.
The risk is that we telecommuters tend to really enjoy the isolation and may lean toward maintaining that isolation rather than reach out on a regular basis to make sure that we're all (project-wide) marching to the same drummer. To minimize this risk, therefore, it's incumbent upon project management to ensure that these tools are used and used well. Doing so will ensure that there are no unwanted surprises brought about due to the development process being distributed.
Write it into the terms of usage agreement for joining the newsletter that the user agrees to accept a confirmation e-mail to a user-specified e-mail address. To protect the user, create a server-side database that monitors sign-ups and disallows multiple-signups within a 24-hour period. Additionally, accounts for which no confirmation is received in, say, a 72-hour period would then be moved to an "unconfirmed" database. A user would get a second chance to join and ask for confirmation on this address and, if still unconfirmed, the account would be marked void.
These are just some ideas on how to take care of it. Unfortunately, there's no real way to do this on the client side....at least none of which I can think.
With EDS being a huge supplier of IT infrastructure in companies around the world -- the company for which I work having long since outsourced network/IT support to EDS -- I've got news for you: EDS and Microsoft are seriously in bed with each other. You want to get desktop PC's running some office productivity software, do you? EDS gives you Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows 98 as your choices of OS and MS Office, MS Office or MS Office as your choice of productivity suite.
(Yes, folks, I understand that EDS does UNIX, too, so spare me and let me make gross generalizations for the moment.)
EDS brokers worldwide licenses for Microsoft to corporations willing to shell out the bucks. Make no mistake; Microsoft is quite happy to see EDS doing what it's doing. The more desktops EDS controls, the more software Microsoft will sell.
The article itself is interesting, but not so startling in its ramifications. Outsourcing and "secure" partnerships have been around for a very long time now. Many companies do work under restriction of NDAs. Mine is one. EDS would absolutely be under various NDAs to protect the privacy of the data they're administering. In fact, I'd probably be more comfortable with outsourced services from a reputable company than I would with the government.
A company will do something for financial gain. A government will do something for power. The difference may appear subtle, but it is significant, IMO.