It's absolutely the most idiotic thing anyone has ever thought up.
Oh, I don't know. I think the pet rock tops this.
Really, though, this isn't anything new. Groups get pissed at hollywood all the time. Look at the controversy surrounding Dogma. I'm sure that the Catholic church thinks Dogma's worse sin out of hollywood since "The Last Temptation of Christ". Or take "Basic Instinct", where lesbian groups got steamed that the killer was gay (or bi).
Or how about the recent 2 volcano movies and the 2 meteor movies (why do disaster flicks come in twos?). I'm sure parts of the scientific community thought these movies would needlessly cause the general public to be misinformed and alarmed. It's just that this time it's our field of expertise (computer sci) - so "we" are outraged. I put we in quotes because I'm not outraged, I'm more amused (and somewhat ashamed) at the attitudes here -- it's like people want to censor the studio and slam them with lawsuits!
You know, perhaps it will panic some of the public. Good. When this happened with Welles "War of the World's" broadcast -- which caused widespread panic -- afterwords people felt pretty silly, and maybe they'll think twice before being so gullible again.
Where's everyone's sense of humor? Hollywood has a time honored tradition of making over the top disaster movies. Yeah, they're usually stupid, but nonetheless they are often fun to watch. (Airport '77 anyone?)
From what I'm hearing from the majority here, I suspect slash dotters would have harped on Orson Welles' radio production of "War of the Worlds" in a similar manner (although I don't mean to overplay the Welles comparison -- I highly doubt tonight's movie will have anywhere near the class that Welles did)
So what if we all know that the Y2K bug won't spell doom and disaster like many in the general public seem to think. I think the scenario is just too good to *not* make a story out of. I would have preferred a comedy, though -- I think the comical effects of random everyday items failing and causing distasters would have been quite fun.
Too bad... I have to admit that I was somewhat addicted to ZDTV. I truly hope that they can keep some kind of journalistic integrity and control away from Paul. I doubt it though. I'd suspect that all negative M$ pieces probably have to get the stamp of approval from Paul directly.
Oh, wait... wasn't he investing in a cable company too?
After spending 20 minutes on dejanews reading about the principals, I must admit that this would make for a very entertaining Supreme Court "freedom of speech" ruling. Scott Abrahams appears to be quite a character, as does Robert, the guy that put up rude (but funny as hell) parody websites about him. Personally, I think this has zero chance of standing up to appeals. Barring him from making contact with a person is one thing, but barring him from speaking in a public forumn about the intended topic is way over the top. *Maybe* I could see the judge ruling that he can no longer make physical threats (which, from what I saw in my 20 minute tour, he hadn't done -- just lots of typical lame flameage, you know, of the "blow me" variety).
Hmm.. someone complained about the java bashing, you bitch about the slashdot bashing. I bitch about your meta-bash-bitching. Where will it end! (Hmm.. maybe there's your term? Meta-bashing?)
Microsoft is a monopoly because of their current 60% share)
No, Microsoft is a monopoly because they can tank anyone that gets in their way.
Netscape wasn't a monopoly by definition, as evidenced by the fact that they couldn't hold the browser market, even WITH a 95% share.
If ever there was a case of winning against M$, they should have been it. But they lost, again proving that it you have more money you can kill anything you want. Now, you tell us, genius, how in the hell was Microsoft supposed to compete against a monopoly that gave its software away? The only choice they had was to do the same.
Your argument assumes that Netscape would have thrived if it had continually given away it's software never making money. 20/20 hindsight shows us that they couldn't. M$ forced them to give up permanently the idea of charging for their browser. And where did it get them? Tanked. Clearly, they just weren't making enough MONEY to stay afloat, keep good engineers, keep their market share -- heck, even a reasonable share of the market. They LOST.
It's a pretty simple equation: little income against big bad M$ == death. Your only hope is to try avoid their radar altogether, or to have them fuck up somehow and sign a contract with you such that they can't screw you over (read: Java -- even still they tried to subvert it at every chance they got).
And yes, I once worked at a company that had M$ aim it's guns at us. It was a medium sized company, we tried to buy a smaller startup that had some technology we wanted to compete with a M$ product (something already on the market but theirs sucked the big weenie). M$ got wind of what we were up to, counterbid against us several times until we couldn't bid higher, up to the point of a ridicuous amount (way more than the startup was worth) and then --- get this --- M$ killed the technology that they just bought. Never saw the light of day.
*That*, my friend, is why M$ is a monopoly. They can do damn near anything they wanted. Bob
> Java is a pain. Not only is it a pain to write in
Am I the only one who is getting sick and tired of the constant Java bashing that goes on here? "A pain to write in"? Good fucking grief! Compared to what I had to write in before (C, C++) it's a godsend! God damn if I ever go back to dealing with a language that easily lets you corrupt the heap, horrible (and easy to create) memory leaks, crappy window toolkits (MFC? X/Motif? YUCK!).
Just get over it already! If you don't like it, don't use it, but your incessant bitching about it just clutters up otherwise interesting discussions. If anyone says either the word "Sun" or "Java" in a sentence, it turns into a bitch session. Slashdot is looking less and less like a good forum to have good technical discussions. More and more like an asylum of whiney losers.
If Netscape was any good, it would have stood the test of time, despite it's mighty opponent(s).
Are you insane? What planet do you live on? I hope Microsoft never points it's big guns at you. Gee... lets see.. I'm going to put out some software, try and make some money one so I can eat. Microsoft comes along, throws 100 million at their own version, and gives it away for free. Gee... big suprise when my company goes down the toilet.
So tell me, genius, how would *you* have stayed afloat in your new startup, no capital, next to no income, and not charged for your software? How do you compete with a behemouth with billions that wants to squash you?
One more thing:I am using 1.1.7b on Linux and 1.1.2 on Windows ( that's it the JDK the whole project is running on so I don't have a choice here)
Ugh... 1.1.2 is really buggy -- swing depends on a whole slew of bug fixes that went into 1.1.(5or6).
Just curious, whose 1.1.2 you using? I've heard that IBM's 1.1.6 is a lot quicker than Sun's (although I haven't used it myself), which is hurtin for speed.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, I don't know. I think the pet rock tops this.
Really, though, this isn't anything new. Groups get pissed at hollywood all the time. Look at the controversy surrounding Dogma. I'm sure that the Catholic church thinks Dogma's worse sin out of hollywood since "The Last Temptation of Christ". Or take "Basic Instinct", where lesbian groups got steamed that the killer was gay (or bi).
Or how about the recent 2 volcano movies and the 2 meteor movies (why do disaster flicks come in twos?). I'm sure parts of the scientific community thought these movies would needlessly cause the general public to be misinformed and alarmed. It's just that this time it's our field of expertise (computer sci) - so "we" are outraged. I put we in quotes because I'm not outraged, I'm more amused (and somewhat ashamed) at the attitudes here -- it's like people want to censor the studio and slam them with lawsuits!
You know, perhaps it will panic some of the public. Good. When this happened with Welles "War of the World's" broadcast -- which caused widespread panic -- afterwords people felt pretty silly, and maybe they'll think twice before being so gullible again.
From what I'm hearing from the majority here, I suspect slash dotters would have harped on Orson Welles' radio production of "War of the Worlds" in a similar manner (although I don't mean to overplay the Welles comparison -- I highly doubt tonight's movie will have anywhere near the class that Welles did)
So what if we all know that the Y2K bug won't spell doom and disaster like many in the general public seem to think. I think the scenario is just too good to *not* make a story out of. I would have preferred a comedy, though -- I think the comical effects of random everyday items failing and causing distasters would have been quite fun.
Isn't he still the second largest shareholder and on the board? Anyways, I hope you're right.
Too bad... I have to admit that I was somewhat addicted to ZDTV. I truly hope that they can keep some kind of journalistic integrity and control away from Paul. I doubt it though. I'd suspect that all negative M$ pieces probably have to get the stamp of approval from Paul directly.
Oh, wait... wasn't he investing in a cable company too?
After spending 20 minutes on dejanews reading about the principals, I must admit that this would make for a very entertaining Supreme Court "freedom of speech" ruling. Scott Abrahams appears to be quite a character, as does Robert, the guy that put up rude (but funny as hell) parody websites about him. Personally, I think this has zero chance of standing up to appeals. Barring him from making contact with a person is one thing, but barring him from speaking in a public forumn about the intended topic is way over the top. *Maybe* I could see the judge ruling that he can no longer make physical threats (which, from what I saw in my 20 minute tour, he hadn't done -- just lots of typical lame flameage, you know, of the "blow me" variety).
Hmm.. someone complained about the java bashing, you bitch about the slashdot bashing. I bitch about your meta-bash-bitching. Where will it end! (Hmm.. maybe there's your term? Meta-bashing?)
No, Microsoft is a monopoly because they can tank anyone that gets in their way.
Netscape wasn't a monopoly by definition, as evidenced by the fact that they couldn't hold the browser market, even WITH a 95% share.
If ever there was a case of winning against M$, they should have been it. But they lost, again proving that it you have more money you can kill anything you want. Now, you tell us, genius, how in the hell was Microsoft supposed to compete against a monopoly that gave its software away? The only choice they had was to do the same.
Your argument assumes that Netscape would have thrived if it had continually given away it's software never making money. 20/20 hindsight shows us that they couldn't. M$ forced them to give up permanently the idea of charging for their browser. And where did it get them? Tanked. Clearly, they just weren't making enough MONEY to stay afloat, keep good engineers, keep their market share -- heck, even a reasonable share of the market. They LOST.
It's a pretty simple equation: little income against big bad M$ == death. Your only hope is to try avoid their radar altogether, or to have them fuck up somehow and sign a contract with you such that they can't screw you over (read: Java -- even still they tried to subvert it at every chance they got).
And yes, I once worked at a company that had M$ aim it's guns at us. It was a medium sized company, we tried to buy a smaller startup that had some technology we wanted to compete with a M$ product (something already on the market but theirs sucked the big weenie). M$ got wind of what we were up to, counterbid against us several times until we couldn't bid higher, up to the point of a ridicuous amount (way more than the startup was worth) and then --- get this --- M$ killed the technology that they just bought. Never saw the light of day.
*That*, my friend, is why M$ is a monopoly. They can do damn near anything they wanted. Bob
Am I the only one who is getting sick and tired of the constant Java bashing that goes on here? "A pain to write in"? Good fucking grief! Compared to what I had to write in before (C, C++) it's a godsend! God damn if I ever go back to dealing with a language that easily lets you corrupt the heap, horrible (and easy to create) memory leaks, crappy window toolkits (MFC? X/Motif? YUCK!).
Just get over it already! If you don't like it, don't use it, but your incessant bitching about it just clutters up otherwise interesting discussions. If anyone says either the word "Sun" or "Java" in a sentence, it turns into a bitch session. Slashdot is looking less and less like a good forum to have good technical discussions. More and more like an asylum of whiney losers.
Are you insane? What planet do you live on? I hope Microsoft never points it's big guns at you. Gee... lets see.. I'm going to put out some software, try and make some money one so I can eat. Microsoft comes along, throws 100 million at their own version, and gives it away for free. Gee... big suprise when my company goes down the toilet.
So tell me, genius, how would *you* have stayed afloat in your new startup, no capital, next to no income, and not charged for your software? How do you compete with a behemouth with billions that wants to squash you?
Ugh... 1.1.2 is really buggy -- swing depends on a whole slew of bug fixes that went into 1.1.(5or6).
Just curious, whose 1.1.2 you using? I've heard that IBM's 1.1.6 is a lot quicker than Sun's (although I haven't used it myself), which is hurtin for speed.