First: Their Slashdot section is still there. It's just behind a link from their front page. But did you ever *really* go to Red Hat's site for Slashdot news? It wasn't updated often enough, it was ugly, and it was slow to load.
In any case, this really doesn't look like a portal to me. Yes, they do have links to a lot of places, but links do not a portal make. What they *do* make is a good starting point for a newbie. (And a portal would've put Slashdot, Freshmeat, and Linux Today on the front page.)
When I had just gotten into Linux (two years ago! How both long and short that seems!), the one thing I was starving for was a way to find other Linux sites. It took me until the Mozilla launch in April '98 to find out that Slashdot even existed. And I was the first out of any of my friends.
Yes, Linux.com does a good job already. Yes, there are other portals. But c'mon. Isn't that what Open Source is all about? Don't trust any service of block of information to only a single provider. Hell, that's what Slashdot's all about, if you ask me.
Now, I know that this wasn't the main thrust of your point, but I just wanted to clarify something.
There is essentially no way that a "9.something" quake could be "adjusted down" to a seven-point-soemething. There is a factor of thirty difference between any given integer value of quake intensity and the next value. Two integers difference in magnitude equals a one thousand-fold increase in energy released.
A nine-point-oh would not have taken down a couple of buildings. A nine-point-oh would have eaten out the heart of Los Angeles.
(Now, there *were* directional issues that "aimed" most of the energy of the quake away from the city and towards the mountains. But that alone simply couldn't have turned a 9 into a 7, or anything approaching that.)
To address another point, the Northridge quake was similar in magnitude to the Kobe quake. In the former, a handful of people were killed. The latter quake devestated a city, and killed scores of people. I'd say that the respective building codes of the cities involved are greatly in evidence in that comparison.
I disagree entirely. I think that it is the public that wants sensationalism. I don't know about your friends, but most of my friends, highly educated geeks though they are, will still drop everything to watch a police chase.
I think that we do have a use for "guides" that keep us to task. I have in mind the example of the original ideas behind a Congress in the U.S. Constitution. (And I apologize for the inherent amerocentrism there.) The original idea was that a group of more educated and experienced people would moderate the whims of the populace at large.
I would see it more as a cross between a cocktail party hosted at a professional conference with someone sneaking around with a mike
What a great analogy!
1) clear policy for submission (e.g. compulsary 6 month gag period for new subscribers while they observe the community norms)
Six months is too long. I'd say six weeks, or maybe two months.
3) perhaps more powerful navigation/selection features (e.g. only read articles from people who consistenty rank>2)
Maybe we could combine the ideas, and have a newbie filter.
4) forward/backward links to related topics (actually not as easy as it sounds) so that people can understand the context and trajectory of the information vector
Wow. Now that would be way cool. Not too easy to implement, though, since just moving between the same "topic heading" isn't going to work, and the "department" is just useless for that purpose, since it has its own purpose of humor and commentary.
I think things might not be so bad as that. Those small applications couldn't have been all that much work, in the scheme of things. (Not to put-down the applications, certainly!) It seems to me to be wiser to consider them to be simple test cases of the greater architecture of GNOME or KDE.
Which brings us to the next point, which would be: "Yeah, but isn't the simultaneous development of GNOME and KDE a waste of resources?"
Were it the case that we knew exactly how we want to go in the desktop-look-and-feel arena, I would say yes. But do we? I personally see GNOME and KDE not as a dangerous schism (though it once was, and could be again in the future), but rather as two experimental designs that could merge to the final product.
It's not always good for everyone to agree. The increased contemplation that accompanies a disagreement could spur more innovation. It's just good old-fashioned competition.
We just need to keep the competition healthy and friendly, and pray for some compatibility.
Well, I don't think it was a "guess", exactly. The orbit of Halley's comet is pretty darned well-known. (Though it is pretty darned cool that we're beating him to the punch by over fifty years by landing on a different comet.)
Let's look at this. Internet Explorer 5.0 supports nearly all of the standards, is moderately fast, and--gosh--exists as a real product.
The only thing that is keeping Mozilla afloat--apart from the promise of "it'll be great sometime"--is that it's open source. That's the only thing. Period.
C'mon. If Mozilla closes source, they lose programmers. They lose prestige. They lose their biggest customer base: the Linux/UNIX/Anti-Microsoft communities.
Endgame. Checkmate. IE wins.
(And don't even come to me talking of Opera. I'm not interested in a $30 browser that still uses the MDI interface. Ugh. I'd rather use IE.)
I am a student, hoping to be a professional Web developer come the fall. If this goes down, my career is ruined.
Speaking as a college kid who works for HP (but not for long--I'm in Test & Measurement), I'd certainly not mind being tasked to write printer drivers for Linux.
But, alas! I can't seem to find the paths in the company to get transferred to a division that does Linux stuff.
I just called nVidia, and spoke to a woman who said to go to their website, find the form to place comments, and that the webmaster would "take care of it".
Let's, um, NOT go to their website.
Let's call them and bug the hell out of them. My feeling is that if, by the end of the day, this poor woman (I'm sorry!) hears about a couple thousand anguished but polite pleas for Linux drivers, her superiors are going to hear about it.
Here's what I said to her:
"I found your phone number on a website called Slashdot. I am a Linux user, and I have been hoping that nVidia would release 3D drivers for Linux. What it pretty much comes down to, now, is that by the time that Quake 3 comes out, I will either buy a Riva or a Voodoo, based on whether the Riva has drivers."
[Wonders if the/. effect transfers to the telephone.]
I remember when I first got acquainted with Linux. I bought Red Hat 4.2, and was looking through some of the documentation. As a Windows emigre, I was truly baffled. At one point, I began to give up.
Then, one day at work, I happened across www.rasterman.com. I'd never seen anything so cool in my life. It reinvigorated me, and eventually I had a Linux install.
Now that I am more experienced with Linux, I still love Enlightenment. Thank you Raster, thanks Mandrake, for keeping up the work on a truly cool window manager.
Slashdot Mirror
First: Their Slashdot section is still there. It's just behind a link from their front page. But did you ever *really* go to Red Hat's site for Slashdot news? It wasn't updated often enough, it was ugly, and it was slow to load.
In any case, this really doesn't look like a portal to me. Yes, they do have links to a lot of places, but links do not a portal make. What they *do* make is a good starting point for a newbie. (And a portal would've put Slashdot, Freshmeat, and Linux Today on the front page.)
When I had just gotten into Linux (two years ago! How both long and short that seems!), the one thing I was starving for was a way to find other Linux sites. It took me until the Mozilla launch in April '98 to find out that Slashdot even existed. And I was the first out of any of my friends.
Yes, Linux.com does a good job already. Yes, there are other portals. But c'mon. Isn't that what Open Source is all about? Don't trust any service of block of information to only a single provider. Hell, that's what Slashdot's all about, if you ask me.
Now, I know that this wasn't the main thrust of your point, but I just wanted to clarify something.
There is essentially no way that a "9.something" quake could be "adjusted down" to a seven-point-soemething. There is a factor of thirty difference between any given integer value of quake intensity and the next value. Two integers difference in magnitude equals a one thousand-fold increase in energy released.
A nine-point-oh would not have taken down a couple of buildings. A nine-point-oh would have eaten out the heart of Los Angeles.
(Now, there *were* directional issues that "aimed" most of the energy of the quake away from the city and towards the mountains. But that alone simply couldn't have turned a 9 into a 7, or anything approaching that.)
To address another point, the Northridge quake was similar in magnitude to the Kobe quake. In the former, a handful of people were killed. The latter quake devestated a city, and killed scores of people. I'd say that the respective building codes of the cities involved are greatly in evidence in that comparison.
I disagree entirely. I think that it is the public that wants sensationalism. I don't know about your friends, but most of my friends, highly educated geeks though they are, will still drop everything to watch a police chase.
I think that we do have a use for "guides" that keep us to task. I have in mind the example of the original ideas behind a Congress in the U.S. Constitution. (And I apologize for the inherent amerocentrism there.) The original idea was that a group of more educated and experienced people would moderate the whims of the populace at large.
I would see it more as a cross between a cocktail party hosted at a professional conference with someone sneaking around with a mike
What a great analogy!
1) clear policy for submission (e.g. compulsary 6 month gag period for new subscribers while they observe the community norms)
Six months is too long. I'd say six weeks, or maybe two months.
3) perhaps more powerful navigation/selection features (e.g. only read articles from people who consistenty rank>2)
Maybe we could combine the ideas, and have a newbie filter.
4) forward/backward links to related topics (actually not as easy as it sounds) so that people can understand the context and trajectory of the information vector
Wow. Now that would be way cool. Not too easy to implement, though, since just moving between the same "topic heading" isn't going to work, and the "department" is just useless for that purpose, since it has its own purpose of humor and commentary.
I think things might not be so bad as that. Those small applications couldn't have been all that much work, in the scheme of things. (Not to put-down the applications, certainly!) It seems to me to be wiser to consider them to be simple test cases of the greater architecture of GNOME or KDE.
Which brings us to the next point, which would be: "Yeah, but isn't the simultaneous development of GNOME and KDE a waste of resources?"
Were it the case that we knew exactly how we want to go in the desktop-look-and-feel arena, I would say yes. But do we? I personally see GNOME and KDE not as a dangerous schism (though it once was, and could be again in the future), but rather as two experimental designs that could merge to the final product.
It's not always good for everyone to agree. The increased contemplation that accompanies a disagreement could spur more innovation. It's just good old-fashioned competition.
We just need to keep the competition healthy and friendly, and pray for some compatibility.
Well, I don't think it was a "guess", exactly. The orbit of Halley's comet is pretty darned well-known. (Though it is pretty darned cool that we're beating him to the punch by over fifty years by landing on a different comet.)
Let's look at this. Internet Explorer 5.0 supports nearly all of the standards, is moderately fast, and--gosh--exists as a real product.
The only thing that is keeping Mozilla afloat--apart from the promise of "it'll be great sometime"--is that it's open source. That's the only thing. Period.
C'mon. If Mozilla closes source, they lose programmers. They lose prestige. They lose their biggest customer base: the Linux/UNIX/Anti-Microsoft communities.
Endgame. Checkmate. IE wins.
(And don't even come to me talking of Opera. I'm not interested in a $30 browser that still uses the MDI interface. Ugh. I'd rather use IE.)
I am a student, hoping to be a professional Web developer come the fall. If this goes down, my career is ruined.
In case you hadn't noticed, you Anonymous Coward, all non-AC posts default to +1. Figure it out. The moderators haven't gotten to it, yet.
In the mean time, who the hell are you to be complaining, if you don't even have the courage to register your account?
You got it right. "Kaboom" has only one "a".
:-)
Woo hoo!
Speaking as a college kid who works for HP (but not for long--I'm in Test & Measurement), I'd certainly not mind being tasked to write printer drivers for Linux.
But, alas! I can't seem to find the paths in the company to get transferred to a division that does Linux stuff.
And I have been trying, trust me.
If we can transfer the /. effect to telephone lines, we can make a BIG impression today.
Let's call them and demand Linux drivers by the time Q3A is released!
I just called nVidia, and spoke to a woman who said to go to their website, find the form to place comments, and that the webmaster would "take care of it".
/. effect transfers to the telephone.]
Let's, um, NOT go to their website.
Let's call them and bug the hell out of them. My feeling is that if, by the end of the day, this poor woman (I'm sorry!) hears about a couple thousand anguished but polite pleas for Linux drivers, her superiors are going to hear about it.
Here's what I said to her:
"I found your phone number on a website called Slashdot. I am a Linux user, and I have been hoping that nVidia would release 3D drivers for Linux. What it pretty much comes down to, now, is that by the time that Quake 3 comes out, I will either buy a Riva or a Voodoo, based on whether the Riva has drivers."
[Wonders if the
Well said. Life on the bleeding edge is fun for some, but I've pretty recently discovered the beauty of slightly older but stabler software.
I remember when I first got acquainted with Linux. I bought Red Hat 4.2, and was looking through some of the documentation. As a Windows emigre, I was truly baffled. At one point, I began to give up.
Then, one day at work, I happened across www.rasterman.com. I'd never seen anything so cool in my life. It reinvigorated me, and eventually I had a Linux install.
Now that I am more experienced with Linux, I still love Enlightenment. Thank you Raster, thanks Mandrake, for keeping up the work on a truly cool window manager.
So I'm sittin' here, trying to download the 0.15 files, and my download is currently running at 0.41 kbps. .
If someone could *mail* me the files, I could mirror them at ftp://davidhand.com/. Send mail to davidhand@davidhand.com.
Thanks in advance.
So I'm sittin' here, trying to download the 0.15 files, and my download is currently running at 0.41 kbps. .
If someone could *mail* me the files, I could mirror them at . Send mail to davidhand@davidhand.com.
Thanks in advance.
Um, actually, it's March.
Though I wish this were April 11. That's my 21st birthday! Woo hoo!
I agree. 'Specially since I work for the
Lightwave Division (in the Test and Measurement
Organization). What's going to happen to the
HP Way?