What I meant was that there's an option to equip the machine with no writeable removable drives. This stops kids taking stuff out of the school, like those nice drag-install apps on Mac OS X
The point is that it's a machine designed specifically for education. It has some features and options that consumers don't really want.
One case in point is the CD-ROM only option. Schools like this for security reasons, but who wants to buy a CD-ROM only machine for personal use?
When he introduced the new iMac, Jobs said that they had listened to consumers top 3 requests - Flat Screen, G3 and Superdrive.
The thing about the flat screen is a bit of a killer in education for two reasons - primarly cost, and secondly durability. Schools want the G4 power, but not the extra hassle of the LCD iMac . I'm an admin for a school, and we're certainly leery of the potential for the arm getting busted.
I think the point of edu-only is to give schools what they want and need, without complicating the product line for the general public. I mean, how do explain the differences between the eMac and the basic iMac?
More interesting, and relevant to today, than A/UX is the old Macintosh Application Environment. It was an environment, not unlike classic, that ran System 7 apps on Solaris and other commercial unices.
OK, but what about something like sexual morality where a person only mates with one individual for life (I think swans do this too). Surely it would be genetically better for me to mate with as many girls as possible?
If you think CS exists just to make people memorise algorithms then you've got a bug-eyed view of CS.
Sort algorithms come in code libraries and they come in books. I can't recall any sort algorithm off the top of my head, but I sure as hell know where to find one if I need one.
What's the point in just memorising low-level algorithms? How often do real-world programmers (since you seem to like a focus on the 'real world') reimplement sort algorithms? If your programmers are doing this stuff frequently, I suggest you're not making good use of other parts of CS, like system design and code reuse.
All these cases are just knee jerk reactions. Like the Salon article says, nobody has actually decided on a concrete definition of what software is, so were're seeing them take each case on its merits or demerits.
I find it completely bizzare that technology is now seen as inherently good or evil, not neutral. It seems that it is Napster itself that is bad, not the actions of it's users who download copyrighted MP3.
How come we have double tape decks? Surely that encourages copying? Maybe it's easier to shut down Napster than it is to criminalize millions of users then try to prosecute each one.
The major advantage that RPM has over tar/make is the ease of removal.
Call me a wuss, but I like to know that I'm not going to have to spend an hour tracking down file all over the disk when something I installed sucks and I want rid of it.
Interestingly, if you look at the Levitical laws regarding food preparation (esp. WRT blood), your friendly neighborhood food technologist will tell you that they embody exemplary standards of food hygeine.
Not bad for 10000 years before the Microscope (or something like that:-)
There is no evidence for the creationist side of the argument that holds up to serious scrutiny.
While you're right to say there is no evidence FOR creation, here is a pretty devastating blow for evlolution.
Might I offer for your consideration the Second Law of Thermodynamics? Everything tends towards Entropy. Can anyone explain how at some mysterious point in time that law was not in operation and the world tended towards more order (gas -> planets, amoeba -> humans) rather than less as it does now?
Damn StreetsOnline (www.streetsonline.co.uk)!! They've been keeping on saying "we're waiting for the book from O'Reillyon.co.uk has had it on 24h ship for about 2 weeks now. I ordered this on the release date (April 30) and now they're saying June 10th!!
Maybe Amazon.co.uk can get O'Reilly books faster than other online bookstores. They have an O'Reilly section in their site....
Some evil genius is at work here......
(Apologies for the semi-offtopic outburst, but I'm frustrated...)
As a soon-to-be CS graduate, I've had more than my fill of broad learning and I'm ready to go deep.
My own personal interest is in UI/CSCW stuff, but I also have a lot if other interests, such as programming languages, OS design and internet stuff like email and web technologies.
My goal, FWIW is to have a broad knowledge of many areas - enough to get by - but to be deep in one or two. I think that the more you know, the more you know what you don't know.
What I mean by that is that, OK I may be interested in OS design, but I know that I have neither the dedication or the particular set of skills to be an OS hacker. And I'm not afraid to admit it - that's probably the key thing for me.
I recently wnt on a visit to a major ATM company who are doing research into biometrics. Their problem was with their installed units in South Africa that do use fingerprint authentication.
In the rural areas scythes are still used for crop harvesting and finger loss is a not uncommon injury. People were keeping their severed digits in a box and presenting them to thoroughly grossed-out bank staff for withdrawals.
Of course, multiple biometrics gets around this, but that's just a cute little anecdote for y'all.
I know that I, and most/.'ers would *love* a Linux PDA, but let's think if it's really necessary. Why shoehorn Linux in everywhere we can find an IC? I think that better efforts could be put into improving the connectivity between desktop linux and PDAs.
I don't know where it's all heading, but this whole "world domination" thing feels a little wierd to me. Is Linux really the answer to *every* question?
World Domination is either achieved by force (Microsoft, or Castro) or by simply being better (e.g. capitalism, in it's original form). Let's be better with Linux. I'm not saying don't put it on a PDA, but let's think first.
We really, really need to make Linux into something more than just a more stable and free version of Windows.
Look, people. Get over this intuitive crap will you? No computer will ever be intuitive, in the true sense of innate understanding and comprehension. We can approximate this through a few techniques, but 'intuitive' is a cop-out for really thinking about what's going on.
Affordances Go read Don Norman. Think about affordance theory - this is as close to intuitive as we will probably get. Applying affordances to interfaces makes the small details melt away, leaving the user with the higher level things to work on.
Consistency What the Mac had right way back when, was that things were consistent. Remember when documents were upright rectangles with a dog-ear, and applications were diamond-shaped, with a little writing-hand badge? That was consistency. That was beautiful. Applying these rules consistently means that people leverage the small rules they have learned (NOT intuitively!) in millions of places. This is knowledge reuse - make it work for your users.
New Interfaces It's too easy to just duplicate Windows Explorer and call it gmc. We need to really think about what we can do with all these spare cycles. Check out Lifestreams and let's think about making a Linux version of that. We need integration of services for that kind of handling of heterogeneous information, but it can be done. I, for one, would dearly love to have a Lifestreams computer. Let's see what we can do here.
OK, ranting over, but let's really work at the interfaces and not just make a better Windows or better MacOS. We can take it to another level because we have the resources.
I should add to my previous post: The issue is really ownership, isn't it? I think that shows itself in many ways, not least of which is file compatibility. I mean, forget breaking up M$, just force them to use XML for all their file formats. This returns control of information to the author of the files, leaving them free to move to other apps, and other devlopers can write the appropriate XSLT. On the other hand, we know that information is power. It has always been thus - state secrets for example.
People are lazy and don't consider the ramifications of what they do. This puts more burden on programmers to protect idiots from themselves.
There are many alternatives to Outlook Express (in the case of the love bug) or Hotmail, but people that are too lazy to properly evaluate the suitability and safety of their tools will get hurt. This happens with physical tools
That taiwanese-brand hammer is way more likely to split and send shards into your eye, but is that your fault or the manufacturers fault? In the US, it is of course entirely the manufacturer's. In the UK, well, the judge would make an arbitrary partition and say it was maybe 60% the manufacturers fault, and 40% mine. Of course the UK approach is much less sane.
As for PHP, well, does anyone use it? I've never seen any evidence for its use on the net. Are you crazy? Try http://sourceforge.net for a start - one of the nicest appsites going. Go check http://www.php.net as well - I think they have usage stats from netcraft.
Well, for (1), microsoft.com disallowed me from downloading the 128-bit patch for IE4.5/Mac. I assume they got that from my IP, because I never told them any more info than that. I'm in the UK, FWIW.
Slashdot Mirror
What I meant was that there's an option to equip the machine with no writeable removable drives. This stops kids taking stuff out of the school, like those nice drag-install apps on Mac OS X
It means kids can't steal applications.
The point is that it's a machine designed specifically for education. It has some features and options that consumers don't really want.
One case in point is the CD-ROM only option. Schools like this for security reasons, but who wants to buy a CD-ROM only machine for personal use?
When he introduced the new iMac, Jobs said that they had listened to consumers top 3 requests - Flat Screen, G3 and Superdrive.
The thing about the flat screen is a bit of a killer in education for two reasons - primarly cost, and secondly durability. Schools want the G4 power, but not the extra hassle of the LCD iMac . I'm an admin for a school, and we're certainly leery of the potential for the arm getting busted.
I think the point of edu-only is to give schools what they want and need, without complicating the product line for the general public. I mean, how do explain the differences between the eMac and the basic iMac?
More interesting, and relevant to today, than A/UX is the old Macintosh Application Environment. It was an environment, not unlike classic, that ran System 7 apps on Solaris and other commercial unices.
Manuals are still available from Apple.
In fact, Fred Sanchez said at Usenix that the folks that wrote MAE also wrote Classic for Mac OS X.
OK, but what about something like sexual morality where a person only mates with one individual for life (I think swans do this too). Surely it would be genetically better for me to mate with as many girls as possible?
I didn't necessarily mean things that were illegal, jut mean and selfish.
So, uh, when and why did morality evolve? Surely it's better to screw over everyone else so I can win the Darwinian race? Why do people cooperate?
Just a little question.....
If you think CS exists just to make people memorise algorithms then you've got a bug-eyed view of CS.
Sort algorithms come in code libraries and they come in books. I can't recall any sort algorithm off the top of my head, but I sure as hell know where to find one if I need one.
What's the point in just memorising low-level algorithms? How often do real-world programmers (since you seem to like a focus on the 'real world') reimplement sort algorithms? If your programmers are doing this stuff frequently, I suggest you're not making good use of other parts of CS, like system design and code reuse.
...and says to the security guard, "What's up with the big Q's"?
LOL...or something
All these cases are just knee jerk reactions. Like the Salon article says, nobody has actually decided on a concrete definition of what software is, so were're seeing them take each case on its merits or demerits.
I find it completely bizzare that technology is now seen as inherently good or evil, not neutral. It seems that it is Napster itself that is bad, not the actions of it's users who download copyrighted MP3.
How come we have double tape decks? Surely that encourages copying? Maybe it's easier to shut down Napster than it is to criminalize millions of users then try to prosecute each one.
The major advantage that RPM has over tar/make is the ease of removal.
Call me a wuss, but I like to know that I'm not going to have to spend an hour tracking down file all over the disk when something I installed sucks and I want rid of it.
Not bad for 10000 years before the Microscope (or something like that :-)
While you're right to say there is no evidence FOR creation, here is a pretty devastating blow for evlolution.
Might I offer for your consideration the Second Law of Thermodynamics? Everything tends towards Entropy. Can anyone explain how at some mysterious point in time that law was not in operation and the world tended towards more order (gas -> planets, amoeba -> humans) rather than less as it does now?
Maybe Amazon.co.uk can get O'Reilly books faster than other online bookstores. They have an O'Reilly section in their site....
Some evil genius is at work here......
(Apologies for the semi-offtopic outburst, but I'm frustrated...)
My own personal interest is in UI/CSCW stuff, but I also have a lot if other interests, such as programming languages, OS design and internet stuff like email and web technologies.
My goal, FWIW is to have a broad knowledge of many areas - enough to get by - but to be deep in one or two. I think that the more you know, the more you know what you don't know.
What I mean by that is that, OK I may be interested in OS design, but I know that I have neither the dedication or the particular set of skills to be an OS hacker. And I'm not afraid to admit it - that's probably the key thing for me.
I recently wnt on a visit to a major ATM company who are doing research into biometrics. Their problem was with their installed units in South Africa that do use fingerprint authentication.
In the rural areas scythes are still used for crop harvesting and finger loss is a not uncommon injury. People were keeping their severed digits in a box and presenting them to thoroughly grossed-out bank staff for withdrawals.
Of course, multiple biometrics gets around this, but that's just a cute little anecdote for y'all.
I know that I, and most /.'ers would *love* a Linux PDA, but let's think if it's really necessary. Why shoehorn Linux in everywhere we can find an IC? I think that better efforts could be put into improving the connectivity between desktop linux and PDAs.
I don't know where it's all heading, but this whole "world domination" thing feels a little wierd to me. Is Linux really the answer to *every* question?
World Domination is either achieved by force (Microsoft, or Castro) or by simply being better (e.g. capitalism, in it's original form). Let's be better with Linux. I'm not saying don't put it on a PDA, but let's think first.
We really, really need to make Linux into something more than just a more stable and free version of Windows.
Look, people. Get over this intuitive crap will you? No computer will ever be intuitive, in the true sense of innate understanding and comprehension. We can approximate this through a few techniques, but 'intuitive' is a cop-out for really thinking about what's going on.
Affordances
Go read Don Norman. Think about affordance theory - this is as close to intuitive as we will probably get. Applying affordances to interfaces makes the small details melt away, leaving the user with the higher level things to work on.
Consistency
What the Mac had right way back when, was that things were consistent. Remember when documents were upright rectangles with a dog-ear, and applications were diamond-shaped, with a little writing-hand badge? That was consistency. That was beautiful. Applying these rules consistently means that people leverage the small rules they have learned (NOT intuitively!) in millions of places. This is knowledge reuse - make it work for your users.
New Interfaces
OK, ranting over, but let's really work at the interfaces and not just make a better Windows or better MacOS. We can take it to another level because we have the resources.It's too easy to just duplicate Windows Explorer and call it gmc. We need to really think about what we can do with all these spare cycles. Check out Lifestreams and let's think about making a Linux version of that. We need integration of services for that kind of handling of heterogeneous information, but it can be done. I, for one, would dearly love to have a Lifestreams computer. Let's see what we can do here.
I should add to my previous post: The issue is really ownership, isn't it? I think that shows itself in many ways, not least of which is file compatibility. I mean, forget breaking up M$, just force them to use XML for all their file formats. This returns control of information to the author of the files, leaving them free to move to other apps, and other devlopers can write the appropriate XSLT. On the other hand, we know that information is power. It has always been thus - state secrets for example.
Seems pretty sane, I think! Information is really the new power, if it ever wasn't.
People are lazy and don't consider the ramifications of what they do. This puts more burden on programmers to protect idiots from themselves.
There are many alternatives to Outlook Express (in the case of the love bug) or Hotmail, but people that are too lazy to properly evaluate the suitability and safety of their tools will get hurt. This happens with physical tools
That taiwanese-brand hammer is way more likely to split and send shards into your eye, but is that your fault or the manufacturers fault? In the US, it is of course entirely the manufacturer's. In the UK, well, the judge would make an arbitrary partition and say it was maybe 60% the manufacturers fault, and 40% mine. Of course the UK approach is much less sane.
As for PHP, well, does anyone use it? I've never seen any evidence for its use on the net. Are you crazy? Try http://sourceforge.net for a start - one of the nicest appsites going. Go check http://www.php.net as well - I think they have usage stats from netcraft.
Well, for (1), microsoft.com disallowed me from downloading the 128-bit patch for IE4.5/Mac. I assume they got that from my IP, because I never told them any more info than that. I'm in the UK, FWIW.
Or did I.......?