You may not believe this, but I'm in complete agreement with you. My main point isn't whether or not the U.S. is actually a shining example of free thinking, it's the fact that (as you so correctly put it) the cat is indeed already out of the bag, and all of this was inevitable. China's populace will have to be the driving force in deciding what is or isn't acceptable under their regime... my hope is that sweeping change won't have to involve a lot of bloodshed, but I'm fairly certain it will at some point.
Brilliant. You're capable of taking a single sentence in an article completely out of context. Awesome, dude.
As far as girls staying away from Linux, that's not exactly what I'm seeing. Take my wife, for example. She knows virtually nothing about how computers work; she just knows she got fed up with XP and couldn't bear "upgrading" to Vista after trying it. She's happily using Ubuntu now.
Engadget notes that the difference here is that the RIAA is deliberately describing ripped MP3 backups as 'unauthorized copies'... I guess if you want to get technical, rips are "unauthorized" in the sense that the music industry doesn't grant us specific permission to perform such backup and shifting operations. Thank goodness fair use doctrine does.
Here's another thought for you. How many universities run supercomputing clusters based on open source operating systems, with open source clustering tools, open source compilers, open source visualization suites, and open source analytics tools? Lots of good research comes out of these setups, at a fraction of the cost it would take to implement them using closed platforms.
Also reference projects like Folding@Home. Although their core engine isn't open source software, virtually everything that supports it is. Additionally, their plugin engine is written specifically to encourage open source addons. No innovation there, of course...
Who needs "screaming innovation"? Even projects that make small advances in functionality contribute to overall march of progress. Multiply that out by thousands of projects and you just might see some interesting results.
Not good enough? Okay, let's put things in a different light: open applications tend to lower boundaries to broad adoption, and tend to follow open standards. Commercial software firms do not have a vested interest in maintaining open standards for development, as this inhibits their ability to control the use (and profit from) their products. If it weren't for open source software supporting open standards, I assure you we would have far fewer options in computing than we have now.
The simple fact that a college student can install any Linux distro he/she likes and start writing software is a great way to encourage research into computing. The compiler he's using may not be "original, groundbreaking software" but the end result just might be.
Open wisdom-of-crowds software movements have become influential, but they haven't promoted the kind of radical creativity I love most in computer science. Everybody knows there's not a shred of original code or thought on such sites as SourceForge. Nobody ever visits sites like Apple's development center. After all, they despise open source developers, right? And let's just completely write off sites like Open Source Alternatives, because they've never listed any software that showed promise or included innovative new features. Microsoft and companies like them are the only true source of innovation on this planet, and always will be.
Yes, I'm keenly aware I'm preaching to the choir. This article is the most flame-baiting piece I've seen on the front page in a long, long time. I have to admit, it'll be good for driving traffic, and unfortunately the author is probably going to make a bunch of money on it. He won't get my clicks, though... I flatly refuse to read TFA.
There's an orbital deathstar-like supership known only as Broadcom. Complete with storm troopers ready to quash any attempts at some process called "reverse engineering."
But don't sanctions prevent the spread of technologies to countries we don't like? There's an impenetrable anti-technology force field emitted by Congress, transmitted via satellite uplink to unfriendly nations. All the members of Congress hold hands in a big circle, and hum the theme from Star Wars backward to activate the super-wamodyne technology impairment field.
... and that the technology left behind after the games are over could be used to track dissident elements... I don't think the Chinese government necessarily needs outside assistance with implementing technologies to track political dissidents. They might be pretty backward with their approach to human rights, but technologically impaired they are not. Their "Great Internet Wall of Censorship" is designed to filter the exposure of the populace to other cultures, for example. I don't think they're going to have any difficulty implementing more severe monitoring programs, with or without Western assistance.
This is not to say that it's ethical for Western security firms to help their government, but business isn't always ethical.
Hey, I'm not saying Roland hasn't reached a "come to Jesus" sort of understanding with the community, but you have to admit the tag does bring back memories of the good old days... this article submission really isn't helping to bolster his reputation, however.
Exactly my point. Folks can also reference this article on endoscopy and related topics for additional information. While there may indeed be innovative research going on in the field, the submitted article is about as newsworthy as an advertisement for a wheel.
Thanks for the extra info. I stopped reading the article after the first couple of paragraphs made me slightly queasy. Seems like everybody wants to be a software or hardware review expert these days. Sadly, a few of these idiots seem to have fantastic success at getting published on mainstream tech sites.
I don't understand why they're calling this device a robot in the first place. It doesn't operate in even a semi-autonomous fashion, at least given the information found in the (very sparse) linked article. I fail to see how this device is groundbreaking; similar surgical techniques have been in use for years. If somebody has a better link, or at least one that doesn't sound like a fluffed-up ad, please help me out here.
Dude, calm down. My point was that this stuff is incredibly easy to install and test, and I can't believe the linked article actually made it to the front page. Have a beer and relax.
I can name all those, does that mean I get two votes? Sadly, no. In my opinion, it does bestow upon you a certain responsibility to try to educate those around you. I believe that with greater knowledge or intellectual capacity comes an increased burden of responsibility to help those around us. The 3rd rock reference did put a smile on my face, though:).
I prefer the term, "beefier." Sounds more manly. It doesn't help that the author of the article's cause that he comes across sounding like a 15 year old kid who just discovered the wide world of Linux last week.
No. You, sir, are full of crap. When you look at what's actually used and widely recognized in the world of Linux (especially for desktops), you'll plainly see that there are several "mainstream" distros that garner the lion's share of attention and represent the vast majority of the installed base:
Yes, we also have Debian, Slackware and many others that don't necessarily have huge commercial ties, but they're also the base for many commercial distros. You might be using Linux From Scratch, or one of several dozen other random distros with has an installed base of 100 users, but if that's the case you're pretty far from the average desktop or server Linux user.
My Apache logs tell the story pretty well. As Captial One might say, what's in your logfiles?
Fedora is an upgrade treadmill. With Fedora, you're stuck upgrading every 12 months or so, or you can't get security updates anymore. With Fedora, install an LTS version and you're covered for 5 years on the server. That's why I switched. I think you wanted the bolded text to read "Ubuntu".
Slashdot Mirror
You may not believe this, but I'm in complete agreement with you. My main point isn't whether or not the U.S. is actually a shining example of free thinking, it's the fact that (as you so correctly put it) the cat is indeed already out of the bag, and all of this was inevitable. China's populace will have to be the driving force in deciding what is or isn't acceptable under their regime... my hope is that sweeping change won't have to involve a lot of bloodshed, but I'm fairly certain it will at some point.
Brilliant. You're capable of taking a single sentence in an article completely out of context. Awesome, dude.
As far as girls staying away from Linux, that's not exactly what I'm seeing. Take my wife, for example. She knows virtually nothing about how computers work; she just knows she got fed up with XP and couldn't bear "upgrading" to Vista after trying it. She's happily using Ubuntu now.
OpenOffice.org
Mozilla Firefox
Clam Antivirus
BitTorrent
Apache Web Server
MySQL Database
PostgreSQL Database
I could go on, but my fingers are getting tired...
Nobody's bothered to note in the article summary that there's an updated version upstream: RIAA Not Suing Over CD Ripping, Still Calling Rips 'Unauthorized'
Here's another thought for you. How many universities run supercomputing clusters based on open source operating systems, with open source clustering tools, open source compilers, open source visualization suites, and open source analytics tools? Lots of good research comes out of these setups, at a fraction of the cost it would take to implement them using closed platforms.
Also reference projects like Folding@Home. Although their core engine isn't open source software, virtually everything that supports it is. Additionally, their plugin engine is written specifically to encourage open source addons. No innovation there, of course...
Who needs "screaming innovation"? Even projects that make small advances in functionality contribute to overall march of progress. Multiply that out by thousands of projects and you just might see some interesting results.
Not good enough? Okay, let's put things in a different light: open applications tend to lower boundaries to broad adoption, and tend to follow open standards. Commercial software firms do not have a vested interest in maintaining open standards for development, as this inhibits their ability to control the use (and profit from) their products. If it weren't for open source software supporting open standards, I assure you we would have far fewer options in computing than we have now.
The simple fact that a college student can install any Linux distro he/she likes and start writing software is a great way to encourage research into computing. The compiler he's using may not be "original, groundbreaking software" but the end result just might be.
Since you asked, here's the Netcraft query results: Netcraft Results for discovermagazine.com.
Looks like a proxy server frontend running Squid on Linux, so this alone won't tell you what the backend is running, but it does lead one to wonder.
Yes, I'm keenly aware I'm preaching to the choir. This article is the most flame-baiting piece I've seen on the front page in a long, long time. I have to admit, it'll be good for driving traffic, and unfortunately the author is probably going to make a bunch of money on it. He won't get my clicks, though... I flatly refuse to read TFA.
That has got to be one of the most breathtaking troll posts I've seen in a long, long time. Who's got mod points?
There's an orbital deathstar-like supership known only as Broadcom. Complete with storm troopers ready to quash any attempts at some process called "reverse engineering."
But don't sanctions prevent the spread of technologies to countries we don't like? There's an impenetrable anti-technology force field emitted by Congress, transmitted via satellite uplink to unfriendly nations. All the members of Congress hold hands in a big circle, and hum the theme from Star Wars backward to activate the super-wamodyne technology impairment field.
... and that the technology left behind after the games are over could be used to track dissident elementsThis is not to say that it's ethical for Western security firms to help their government, but business isn't always ethical.
It's just downright coincidental that the article describes technology that closely resembles endoscopy, right?
Hey, I'm not saying Roland hasn't reached a "come to Jesus" sort of understanding with the community, but you have to admit the tag does bring back memories of the good old days... this article submission really isn't helping to bolster his reputation, however.
Exactly my point. Folks can also reference this article on endoscopy and related topics for additional information. While there may indeed be innovative research going on in the field, the submitted article is about as newsworthy as an advertisement for a wheel.
I had to wipe tears of laughter from my eyes when I notice one of the tags for this article: :"ohnoitsroland"
To anyone who doesn't get it, don't worry... hang around here for a little longer and you'll understand. That tag just made my day a little brighter.
Thanks for the extra info. I stopped reading the article after the first couple of paragraphs made me slightly queasy. Seems like everybody wants to be a software or hardware review expert these days. Sadly, a few of these idiots seem to have fantastic success at getting published on mainstream tech sites.
I don't understand why they're calling this device a robot in the first place. It doesn't operate in even a semi-autonomous fashion, at least given the information found in the (very sparse) linked article. I fail to see how this device is groundbreaking; similar surgical techniques have been in use for years. If somebody has a better link, or at least one that doesn't sound like a fluffed-up ad, please help me out here.
Dude, calm down. My point was that this stuff is incredibly easy to install and test, and I can't believe the linked article actually made it to the front page. Have a beer and relax.
I prefer the term, "beefier." Sounds more manly. It doesn't help that the author of the article's cause that he comes across sounding like a 15 year old kid who just discovered the wide world of Linux last week.
No. You, sir, are full of crap. When you look at what's actually used and widely recognized in the world of Linux (especially for desktops), you'll plainly see that there are several "mainstream" distros that garner the lion's share of attention and represent the vast majority of the installed base:
In no particular order:
(1) Red Hat Linux
(2) Fedora Linux (community bleeding-edge source for Red Hat)
(2) Mandriva Linux (used to be Mandrake)
(3) Ubuntu Linux (plus variants, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc)
(4) SUSE Linux (owned by Novell these days)
(5) Gentoo Linux
Yes, we also have Debian, Slackware and many others that don't necessarily have huge commercial ties, but they're also the base for many commercial distros. You might be using Linux From Scratch, or one of several dozen other random distros with has an installed base of 100 users, but if that's the case you're pretty far from the average desktop or server Linux user.
My Apache logs tell the story pretty well. As Captial One might say, what's in your logfiles?
They're definitely in competition, given the fact that most distros have a commercial arm supporting a large portion of their development.