I agree completely. A fellow by the name of Harrison Owen also noticed this phenomenon and created an interesting way of holding conventions to try and take advantage of it. Far be it for me to play to/.'s biases, but there's a nice parallel between his methods and those of the open source community in terms of structure (or lack thereof). It would probably be a good match for meetings such as these.
There's a really interesting org called the Long Bets Foundation which takes bets that won't be resolved for many years. One for the first was Esther Dyson's for ten grand:
I think that ClarkConnect (free as in beer for the home edition) is exactly what the community needs to make inroads in the SOHO: take an old computer, put in two nic cards, pop the CD in the drive, answer about ten questions (mostly everything autodetects), and you've got a small business server.
Web based administration (you don't have to touch the cli), samba, firewire, vpn, antispam/anitvirus filters, apache, email/DNS backup. Best of all, there's a solid community behind it.
In the classic LucasArts adventure game Monkey Island 2, there is a character called Largo LeGrande. When we first meet him, IIRC, he tells Guybrush (the protangonist) that this island isn't safe, and then procedes to turn him upside down and shake all the money out of his pockets. Also, he has an oppressive embargo on the whole island (The Largo Embargo).
Also, Point Clark Networks has a similar, very excellect package. You burn a CD, create an installation disk using a GUI, pop both in an old boxen... you're off to the races. It does web serving, local file sharing, ad blocking, etc.
It's a massive international effort to produce a proof of concept, apparently the power output is going to be on the scale of a conventional power plant. They are expecting it to be finished in about 10 years (IIRC)
Certainly it's one of the main reasons I prefer C++ over C, even for relatively simple programs, because C doen't have any natural way of assigning namespaces in a clean way that's guaranteed not to clash.
This is the reason I like Objective-C so much. I like OO in it's purest form, but I could honestly be happy with just C-with-namespaces. Obj-C does this (plus everything else you could want from OO) while still feeling like C. Whereas a language like C++ feels much more like something like ADA, ie increasing the complexity of the language to meet the complexity of the problem, as opposed to increasing the fexiblilty.
I do realise that I'm not contributing much to the conversation by saying this, but goddamn thanks for saying that. So much human suffering for abstact intellectual concepts. I couldn't have said it better myself.
The overwhelming fact often ignored when discussing North American tribal societies is that the incredible abundance of resources made most notions of ownership unnecessay.
So what you are saying that the natives had more access to material goods than we do now? Are you on crack? The very scarceness of resources necessitated their sharing, not the other way around.
For example, the coastal natives, who did have things pretty easy, definately had the concept of property. The plains natives and the inuit where the ones who didn't own anything. If they selfishly hoarded to themselves, the whole tribe would die, so they were forced to pool their resources.
BTW the project that orkz mentions is on Source Forge here. They are called Action Apps, they are an automated web publishing and sharing application, it's actually fairly extensive and easy to use. It is still in the works however, but the early institutors will be putting it up in a matter of weeks.
I always kind of wonder whether this will divide the whole internet along monetary lines. When this switch happens, networks in the third world are likely going to take significantly longer to upgrade, if they do at all. Also the transition would create a glut of very cheap, very good IPv4 routers that might be just too tempting to someone who has to create a network on a very small budget.
Since you can browse an IPv4 network from IPv6, but not vice versa, this creates pockets of the internet only accessable to people with the cash to upgrade their routers. Maybe I'm wrong, I hope I am, because I don't much like the ramifications of having two "internet classes"
I would put up thousands of computers running Napster 24/7, and every mp3 file on them would have some really annoying error right in the middle of the song, and then cut off five seconds before the end. Oooooh I hate that!
...supply of youthful talent will shrink during the next 10 years as the "Baby Bust" generation continues to move out of school and into the workforce.
Alright, I'm 21, in Canada that means that I am at the apex of the Baby Bust. As of this year, with the 20 year olds coming out of their two year programs, the IT workforce is starting to get the Echo. Ergo, from here on in the "youthful talent" will only grow.
I do realise that US demographics are at one or two years offset from us, but not ten years as the author suggests. Maybe I'm missing something here, but honesty I have a hard time taking the rest of the article seriously when he can't grasp simple demographics...
While you play Brainball, you also play Super Mario Bros on Nintendo 16. I've heard that people playing on NES have even lower levels of brain activity than people who are sleeping...
Slashdot Mirror
I agree completely. A fellow by the name of Harrison Owen also noticed this phenomenon and created an interesting way of holding conventions to try and take advantage of it. Far be it for me to play to /.'s biases, but there's a nice parallel between his methods and those of the open source community in terms of structure (or lack thereof). It would probably be a good match for meetings such as these.
It's worth checking out: Open Space Technology
"The future has arrived; it's just not evenly distributed." - William Gibson
There's a really interesting org called the Long Bets Foundation which takes bets that won't be resolved for many years. One for the first was Esther Dyson's for ten grand:
"By 2012, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times will have referred to Russia as "the world leader in software development" or words to that effect."
It will be interesting to see if the world looks back in nine years at this event and sees it as a turning point.
I think that ClarkConnect (free as in beer for the home edition) is exactly what the community needs to make inroads in the SOHO: take an old computer, put in two nic cards, pop the CD in the drive, answer about ten questions (mostly everything autodetects), and you've got a small business server.
Web based administration (you don't have to touch the cli), samba, firewire, vpn, antispam/anitvirus filters, apache, email/DNS backup. Best of all, there's a solid community behind it.
In the classic LucasArts adventure game Monkey Island 2, there is a character called Largo LeGrande. When we first meet him, IIRC, he tells Guybrush (the protangonist) that this island isn't safe, and then procedes to turn him upside down and shake all the money out of his pockets. Also, he has an oppressive embargo on the whole island (The Largo Embargo).
:)
Couldn't think of a better name, myself.
I think the big killer app for linux, if someone can come up with one, will be a new, or at least cheap and easy, way of communicating
I think this would fit the bill. Not so much the instant messaging part, but the concept of using it as a generic XML router.
So, anyone been working on using computers to create new lifeforms?
Yes.
Also, Point Clark Networks has a similar, very excellect package. You burn a CD, create an installation disk using a GUI, pop both in an old boxen... you're off to the races. It does web serving, local file sharing, ad blocking, etc.
Here's the URL:
http://clarkconnect.org
... in Canada:
http://www.iter.org
It's a massive international effort to produce a proof of concept, apparently the power output is going to be on the scale of a conventional power plant. They are expecting it to be finished in about 10 years (IIRC)
Certainly it's one of the main reasons I prefer C++ over C, even for relatively simple programs, because C doen't have any natural way of assigning namespaces in a clean way that's guaranteed not to clash.
This is the reason I like Objective-C so much. I like OO in it's purest form, but I could honestly be happy with just C-with-namespaces. Obj-C does this (plus everything else you could want from OO) while still feeling like C. Whereas a language like C++ feels much more like something like ADA, ie increasing the complexity of the language to meet the complexity of the problem, as opposed to increasing the fexiblilty.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Like, say, strapping yourself to 5000 tons of high explosives setting it off in an attempt to go on vacation?
;)
Obtaining an official UNIX title is merely achieved when key functionality is added
Ironic, considering that to be a Eunuch, key functionality has to be removed....
[Bad da Domp!]
I'm getting really tired of people just blindly assuming that Microsoft is going to turn out a poor piece of software.
Hmmmm. Why would we assume that everything Microsoft turns out will be crap?
How about 25 years of precedent?
I do realise that I'm not contributing much to the conversation by saying this, but goddamn thanks for saying that. So much human suffering for abstact intellectual concepts. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Heath
The overwhelming fact often ignored when discussing North American tribal societies is that the incredible abundance of resources made most notions of ownership unnecessay.
So what you are saying that the natives had more access to material goods than we do now? Are you on crack? The very scarceness of resources necessitated their sharing, not the other way around.
For example, the coastal natives, who did have things pretty easy, definately had the concept of property. The plains natives and the inuit where the ones who didn't own anything. If they selfishly hoarded to themselves, the whole tribe would die, so they were forced to pool their resources.
Heath
BTW the project that orkz mentions is on Source Forge here. They are called Action Apps, they are an automated web publishing and sharing application, it's actually fairly extensive and easy to use. It is still in the works however, but the early institutors will be putting it up in a matter of weeks.
Check it out, vive la revolution!!!
I always kind of wonder whether this will divide the whole internet along monetary lines. When this switch happens, networks in the third world are likely going to take significantly longer to upgrade, if they do at all. Also the transition would create a glut of very cheap, very good IPv4 routers that might be just too tempting to someone who has to create a network on a very small budget.
Since you can browse an IPv4 network from IPv6, but not vice versa, this creates pockets of the internet only accessable to people with the cash to upgrade their routers. Maybe I'm wrong, I hope I am, because I don't much like the ramifications of having two "internet classes"
I would put up thousands of computers running Napster 24/7, and every mp3 file on them would have some really annoying error right in the middle of the song, and then cut off five seconds before the end. Oooooh I hate that!
Alright, I'm 21, in Canada that means that I am at the apex of the Baby Bust. As of this year, with the 20 year olds coming out of their two year programs, the IT workforce is starting to get the Echo. Ergo, from here on in the "youthful talent" will only grow.
I do realise that US demographics are at one or two years offset from us, but not ten years as the author suggests. Maybe I'm missing something here, but honesty I have a hard time taking the rest of the article seriously when he can't grasp simple demographics...
While you play Brainball, you also play Super Mario Bros on Nintendo 16. I've heard that people playing on NES have even lower levels of brain activity than people who are sleeping...
by Lyle Lovett, from the album "I Love Everybody"
I don't go for fancy cars
For diamond rings
Or movie stars
I go for penguins
Oh Lord I go for penguins
Throw your money out the door
We'll just sit around
And watch it snow
I go for penguins
Oh Lord I go for penguins
Penguins are so sensitive
Penguins are so sensitive
Penguins are so sensitive
To my needs
Penguins are so sensitive
Penguins are so sensitive
Penguins are so sensitive
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
Penguins are so sensitive
Penguins are so sensitive
Penguins are so sensitive
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
To my needs
Ha! Good thing they're Canadian!
(Also kind of nice to see the brain drain going the other way)