I am realizing I made a terrible mistake going into "computer science".
First off, it's considered a "weak science" -- that is, much easier than physics, chemistry, mech/elec engineering to get a degree.
Just read anything in the trade journals regarding Sun, MS, Microsoft. "no coding required" is the watchword of the day.
I was at a tech fair several months ago -- I saw some vidcap systems on display. After playing with the software for awhile, I mentioned to the sales person that the gui felt "like something from the eighties" and had a lot of grammar errors in the english.
He proudly stated that they had moved all programming to India and "saved a bundle" of money.
Now, do you really want anything to do with programming when India and Chinese outsourcing is on the rise? If you specialize in something like moving shops overseas, you'll do well in the coming years, but the corporations, public opinion and US government view "programmers" as *way overpaid* and "losers" (personality wise).
Do yourself a favor -- do as much hardcore math, physics and chemistry as possible and try to stay away from programming.
Most of the corporate jobsites are heavily padded to make it look like there is a massive shortage of programmers. My brother worked for a company that had hundreds of programming openings on their website -- yet never hired anyone. It's a scam to pressure the government into opening more visa opportunities and easing outsourcing regulations.
In fact, you may want to consider getting out of the sciences altogether. Much of engineering and programming is going to move overeas in the next couple decades.
Don't just take my word for it...research what's really happening in the sciences. Unless you're really a gifted engineer, you may not like what's coming up.
I used to buy 20-25 cds a year, but after the RIAA and bertelsman/seagrams decided to campaign to destroy my rights, as well as the rights of musicians, I swore I would buy no more.
In the last few months, I have backslidden, and bought about 4 new cds. I honesty feel bad that by buying their products, I am harming myself, musicians, and (to an extent) all people everywhere.
BTW, I have never used a "free" music service except for free downloads from mp3.com, and have never infringed.
Buy a cd, buy a microsoft product...and I/we erode everyone's rights.
If anything, you haven't added anything new, just rehashed the old anti-RMS arguments.
First allchin says open source is unamerican. Then he clarifies it by saying the GPL is unamerican and anti ip.
Did he ask RMS? No, he made public statements. So did RMS. Both have a viewpoint, both made public statements. Big deal.
In the context of "american" or not, RMS is using some imagery from american history. Nothing wrong with that.
Perhaps you are forgetting that third party ownership of recorded material is only 70-80 years old, and many of the laws protecting the original creators of IP and even the public's various permissions to use IP have radically changed in just the last two years -- in favor of corporations, not people.
RMS is absolutely right about the USPTO, IP, copyright, etc. -- it's very difficult to discuss any of it cuz it's all in flux right now.
I can say this... I respect Allchin and RMS a hell of a lot more than you, cuz they at least discussed a topic rather than slamming a person.
Any old farts out there? Remember when compilers, linkers, assemblers were like 1-2 thousand dollars? Everyone had a copy (and I do mean copy:-))
Borland broke the mold with Turbo Pascal...innovative, and only $49.00
I hope that ex-rock star running Corel would take a hint and put out really cheap cd's with a paint program, office suite, linux distro...maybe debian with nautilus and ximian gnome for something like $49.00
Economy of scale is the key here...I seriously doubt many people will pay $1500 for Borlands' Kylix.
I'd really like to see Corel recover. Weaning SOHOs and businesses off MS products, for something like $49 a workstation (w/ 30 days support or some such) would be a wise strategy.
What could be more unamerican than the destruction of a free market? One shoe fits all and by the way, it only comes in black. Enjoy your rental warez, sheep.
What could be more "american" that people communicating ideas and building a better future for all? When did greed and competition displace hard work and cooperation? (it's rhetorical, folks, i know when it happened).
Why shouldn't the government spend money on gpl coding and products? They are already spending horrendous amounts of my tax dollars in corporate welfare for Microsoft, every fscking year.
There right wing corporate welfare (Hi, Mr. Gates) and left wing social welfare (you could work, but ya don't).
I would very much like to see some seed money from the gov to open source and gpl projects. Just cut back on the MS welfare and spend it on Linux.
bill joy may have some technical skillz, but he is very weak on history and humanity.
until two *personal* systems can connect, privately, without any government or corporate interference, unless granted by a search warrant (via a judge), our rights are being trampled.
it's as simple as that.
the internet desperately needs a way to tunnel existing services through an encrypted connection.
this is the only interim solution to the theft of our rights and liberties that the governments and corporations are currently undertaking.
...being able to run the custom applications that ISVs as well as inhouse shops develop.
For example, many mid size shops use Borland RAD products to handle things that are specific to their site.
Kylix will help with porting Delphi/Object pascal apps over, and when C++ Builder gets released in Q2 (or thereabouts) even more shops will be able to offload tasks onto Linux.
The "big iron" enterprise apps need a stable platform if they are going to port. Stuff like CA and Peoplesoft makes needs a stable high availability, high resource platform to do their ports.
Hopefully, 2.4 is a solid step to providing a platform for that type of thing.
I wrote some optical storage/doc scanning code in a previous life...would you be willing to share some experiences and insight into the mechanical/database/indexing side of things, past present and future?
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Hurd supposed to correct this?
I mean, it's the linux macrokernel architecture, and the fact that even minor kernel changes force a recompilation (and possibly a rewrite) of the drivers, which means they have to be submitted to Linus, approved, etc.
The Hurd uses a microkernel, and the concept of translators (instead of kernel drivers), and these translators run in user space, via a stable and well defined interface.
Companies can keep the translators on their website, with no need to submit them for review or kernel patching. I don't think they even need to be recompiled if the kernel changes.
Granted, I think there is a slight hit in performance, but you sure seem to get a lot for this tradeoff.
They stole many talented people's ideas, fortunes and futures to feed their shareholders.
Everytime someone uses a Microsoft product, another bit of freedom and democracy dies.
Fortunately, some day, maybe no in my lifetime, your piece of shit corporation and product will get exactly what it deserves...elimination from the public splotlight and the marketplace, and relegated to history as the "Yugo" of science and technology.
If you are planning a rewrite, or find yourself rewriting major portions of the code, you are making a terrible mistake.
One, if you have to rewrite major portions, it was improperly designed in the beginning. This means a group of people, familiar with the task at hand, did not sit down and do a proper design. Note that you are not doing it either!
I don't know many times I've seen people start debugging and rewrite the code, and the next person sees it, says its all junk, and rewrites the code, ad infinitum.
Don't do it unless your serious, and if you are serious you need to be much more formal about it after the bug fixing is done.
BTW, has anyone else noticed what appears to be a pengiun sticker on the back of Johnny Depp's guitar in the "Chocolat" movie?
a national education program embracing open source, spearheaded by this great instructor, could move the emphasis towards low cost PCs and free software (no licensing or tracking hassles).
This would allow a much wider saturation of computing and math in schools, without having to depend on UltraWealth (Gates, Jobs, Rockefeller, Taxes) to do it.
yes, i have no doubt the pro-lifers beleive what they are doing is right.
the problem is...well, let's put it this way, would you mind if a government or religious representative was present at all your visits to the doctor, and intervened in the discussion when they did not agree with your choice?
when people pass laws banning abortion, the fetuses still die -- they just die on coathangers in an alley, and the mother often dies, too. Or she is forced to travel to another state or a foreign country to get the operation. in a way, i think pro-lifers miss this point.
i certainly don't want late term abortions, but i also don't think it's any of my business to intervene early on, especially if the end result is the same. At least get the woman out of the alley once the decision has been made, and don't make it a function of wealth (ie, overseas travel).
i honestly dislike the idea of telling an adult what they can and can't do, via the law, when my opinion has not been requested...especially in a decision that is so private and personal, with the end result being the same...except with legal abortion, there is some safety and dignity in such a difficult process.
They can take the voucher to any school they want to.
But to call itself a "school", eligible to receive vouchers, all teachers in the "school" (as well as the "school" itself) must be certified, by the state or some independant authority.
Butchers, Doctors, Dentists, Policemen, Veterinarians, Engineers, Bus Drivers, Taxi Drivers, Pilots, Electricians, receive training and certification, which is why, in general, you can trust them to do the right thing.
It seems odd to me that you are so obsessed with leaving your children with some adults, in a building, all day long, without knowing that some independent organization has made at least a initial (and perhaps annual) rudimentary inspection of the facility and staff to insure they meet some basic criteria.
Perhaps you are planning on teaching in a church to get a phat check from school vouchers without ever taking a certification exam? Are you afraid you'd fail the exam?
some people are slamming you for preferring not to use MS, but as others have posted it looks like either the 1 yr/20 stream realplayer eval or the QT/Darwin solution will do what you need.
What a shame those people are slamming you for wanting a choice...maybe all microsoft people should be forced to drive a yugo and live in a tent until they sign a statement that they now understand the meaning of the word "choice".
i don't want to see chidren hurt or exploited, but these stories always remind me of this girl i used to work with...i swear, she looked 12 or 13, but was in fact 19.
we went out for lunch a few times and people would stare. she told me it was hell...very difficult getting dates from guys who weren't twisted, and people staring at her in college, etc.
spent a lot of time crying over it, unfortunately. we have a sick/twisted society in many ways that goes far beyond virtual child porn.
IBM settled with the government, and had to accept severe resrictions on their behavior (which was even worse than MS').
Sun, SGI, Microsoft and Apple would not have existed without that case.
Microsoft has refused to settle, even though the evidence is overwhelming.
IBM is doing fine today, and there is a lot of choice.
The last part of your post is also wrong...you imply the population is responsible for monopolies, which is backwards. The population can't opt out of a monopoly if there is no choice.
Example : if many employers force employees to log in from home, as part of their job, and have an exchange server, the choices are : use MS at work and home or starve. And that, my friend, is exactly what Bill Gates wants, and what the government must stop.
Slashdot Mirror
I am realizing I made a terrible mistake going into "computer science".
First off, it's considered a "weak science" -- that is, much easier than physics, chemistry, mech/elec engineering to get a degree.
Just read anything in the trade journals regarding Sun, MS, Microsoft. "no coding required" is the watchword of the day.
I was at a tech fair several months ago -- I saw some vidcap systems on display. After playing with the software for awhile, I mentioned to the sales person that the gui felt "like something from the eighties" and had a lot of grammar errors in the english.
He proudly stated that they had moved all programming to India and "saved a bundle" of money.
Now, do you really want anything to do with programming when India and Chinese outsourcing is on the rise? If you specialize in something like moving shops overseas, you'll do well in the coming years, but the corporations, public opinion and US government view "programmers" as *way overpaid* and "losers" (personality wise).
Do yourself a favor -- do as much hardcore math, physics and chemistry as possible and try to stay away from programming.
Most of the corporate jobsites are heavily padded to make it look like there is a massive shortage of programmers. My brother worked for a company that had hundreds of programming openings on their website -- yet never hired anyone. It's a scam to pressure the government into opening more visa opportunities and easing outsourcing regulations.
In fact, you may want to consider getting out of the sciences altogether. Much of engineering and programming is going to move overeas in the next couple decades.
Don't just take my word for it...research what's really happening in the sciences. Unless you're really a gifted engineer, you may not like what's coming up.
I used to buy 20-25 cds a year, but after the RIAA and bertelsman/seagrams decided to campaign to destroy my rights, as well as the rights of musicians, I swore I would buy no more.
In the last few months, I have backslidden, and bought about 4 new cds. I honesty feel bad that by buying their products, I am harming myself, musicians, and (to an extent) all people everywhere.
BTW, I have never used a "free" music service except for free downloads from mp3.com, and have never infringed.
Buy a cd, buy a microsoft product...and I/we erode everyone's rights.
golly, maybe he owns a toyota, too. that's always a dead giveway -- registered toyota users.
I don't see why people think you're insightful.
... I respect Allchin and RMS a hell of a lot more than you, cuz they at least discussed a topic rather than slamming a person.
If anything, you haven't added anything new, just rehashed the old anti-RMS arguments.
First allchin says open source is unamerican. Then he clarifies it by saying the GPL is unamerican and anti ip.
Did he ask RMS? No, he made public statements. So did RMS. Both have a viewpoint, both made public statements. Big deal.
In the context of "american" or not, RMS is using some imagery from american history. Nothing wrong with that.
Perhaps you are forgetting that third party ownership of recorded material is only 70-80 years old, and many of the laws protecting the original creators of IP and even the public's various permissions to use IP have radically changed in just the last two years -- in favor of corporations, not people.
RMS is absolutely right about the USPTO, IP, copyright, etc. -- it's very difficult to discuss any of it cuz it's all in flux right now.
I can say this
Any old farts out there? Remember when compilers, linkers, assemblers were like 1-2 thousand dollars? Everyone had a copy (and I do mean copy :-))
Borland broke the mold with Turbo Pascal...innovative, and only $49.00
I hope that ex-rock star running Corel would take a hint and put out really cheap cd's with a paint program, office suite, linux distro...maybe debian with nautilus and ximian gnome for something like $49.00
Economy of scale is the key here...I seriously doubt many people will pay $1500 for Borlands' Kylix.
I'd really like to see Corel recover. Weaning SOHOs and businesses off MS products, for something like $49 a workstation (w/ 30 days support or some such) would be a wise strategy.
What could be more unamerican than the destruction of a free market? One shoe fits all and by the way, it only comes in black. Enjoy your rental warez, sheep.
What could be more "american" that people communicating ideas and building a better future for all? When did greed and competition displace hard work and cooperation? (it's rhetorical, folks, i know when it happened).
Why shouldn't the government spend money on gpl coding and products? They are already spending horrendous amounts of my tax dollars in corporate welfare for Microsoft, every fscking year.
There right wing corporate welfare (Hi, Mr. Gates) and left wing social welfare (you could work, but ya don't).
I would very much like to see some seed money from the gov to open source and gpl projects. Just cut back on the MS welfare and spend it on Linux.
i really enjoyed it, to the last bite.
it is, after all, a love story.
will clarice be tempted by the flesh in hannibal III? after the FBI truly humiliates her?
we can all hope.
still had some months left on that one.
hate to say it, but since marg left linux journal, it has been run by trollish little vermin, so i won't be getting that.
i liked max linux. it was more light hearted than other linux stuff. we all need a break from solid tech now and then.
what's the take on linux magazine? who owns it, what are the financials, etc.? any good stuff in it?
bill joy may have some technical skillz, but he is very weak on history and humanity.
until two *personal* systems can connect, privately, without any government or corporate interference, unless granted by a search warrant (via a judge), our rights are being trampled.
it's as simple as that.
the internet desperately needs a way to tunnel existing services through an encrypted connection.
this is the only interim solution to the theft of our rights and liberties that the governments and corporations are currently undertaking.
but i have to wonder about all the health issues "dolly" the sheep suffered. premature aging, etc.
/usr/mp3s/britney/oops_i_did_it_again.mp3 &
if a clone has major health/lifespan issues, can they sue the researcher who created them for malpractice?
after all, they cannot possibly have signed a waiver or agreement prior to the dd...
small_dick@clone.factory bash> dd if=/dev/britney_spears of=/tmp/playtoy_001 count=1 &
small_dick@clone.factory bash> mpg123
small_dick@clone.factory bash>
...being able to run the custom applications that ISVs as well as inhouse shops develop.
For example, many mid size shops use Borland RAD products to handle things that are specific to their site.
Kylix will help with porting Delphi/Object pascal apps over, and when C++ Builder gets released in Q2 (or thereabouts) even more shops will be able to offload tasks onto Linux.
The "big iron" enterprise apps need a stable platform if they are going to port. Stuff like CA and Peoplesoft makes needs a stable high availability, high resource platform to do their ports.
Hopefully, 2.4 is a solid step to providing a platform for that type of thing.
Hi,
I wrote some optical storage/doc scanning code in a previous life...would you be willing to share some experiences and insight into the mechanical/database/indexing side of things, past present and future?
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Hurd supposed to correct this?
I mean, it's the linux macrokernel architecture, and the fact that even minor kernel changes force a recompilation (and possibly a rewrite) of the drivers, which means they have to be submitted to Linus, approved, etc.
The Hurd uses a microkernel, and the concept of translators (instead of kernel drivers), and these translators run in user space, via a stable and well defined interface.
Companies can keep the translators on their website, with no need to submit them for review or kernel patching. I don't think they even need to be recompiled if the kernel changes.
Granted, I think there is a slight hit in performance, but you sure seem to get a lot for this tradeoff.
some of their gui installers and enhancements were very cool.
but it was all kde, and i could not seem to get it properly gnomeified...so i switched to debian.
some of the stuff was broken...but they sure had a great support list.
BTW, I think they are still seeking an infiusion of cash, and are close to breaking even, so I don't think I'd write them off just yet.
Maybe we should slashdot the stores and rescue them? Just kidding.
I hate microsoft.
They stole many talented people's ideas, fortunes and futures to feed their shareholders.
Everytime someone uses a Microsoft product, another bit of freedom and democracy dies.
Fortunately, some day, maybe no in my lifetime, your piece of shit corporation and product will get exactly what it deserves...elimination from the public splotlight and the marketplace, and relegated to history as the "Yugo" of science and technology.
don't kill yourself.
go see the movie "chocolat" instead. it's pretty good.
then take a music or acting class or something. many people with strong emotions/feelings do well at things like that.
it might be fun!!
There is NO WAY you should do this.
If you are doing bugfixes, fix the bug.
If you are planning a rewrite, or find yourself rewriting major portions of the code, you are making a terrible mistake.
One, if you have to rewrite major portions, it was improperly designed in the beginning. This means a group of people, familiar with the task at hand, did not sit down and do a proper design. Note that you are not doing it either!
I don't know many times I've seen people start debugging and rewrite the code, and the next person sees it, says its all junk, and rewrites the code, ad infinitum.
Don't do it unless your serious, and if you are serious you need to be much more formal about it after the bug fixing is done.
BTW, has anyone else noticed what appears to be a pengiun sticker on the back of Johnny Depp's guitar in the "Chocolat" movie?
cool high school
...using low cost PeeCees and open source solutions.
cool high school instructor
cool high school instructor's supercomputer course
a national education program embracing open source, spearheaded by this great instructor, could move the emphasis towards low cost PCs and free software (no licensing or tracking hassles).
This would allow a much wider saturation of computing and math in schools, without having to depend on UltraWealth (Gates, Jobs, Rockefeller, Taxes) to do it.
Kernel source, Apache, Samba, Gnome Bonobo, KDevelop, Mozilla, Konquerer...the big name stuff should be pretty juicy.
yes, i have no doubt the pro-lifers beleive what they are doing is right.
the problem is...well, let's put it this way, would you mind if a government or religious representative was present at all your visits to the doctor, and intervened in the discussion when they did not agree with your choice?
when people pass laws banning abortion, the fetuses still die -- they just die on coathangers in an alley, and the mother often dies, too. Or she is forced to travel to another state or a foreign country to get the operation. in a way, i think pro-lifers miss this point.
i certainly don't want late term abortions, but i also don't think it's any of my business to intervene early on, especially if the end result is the same. At least get the woman out of the alley once the decision has been made, and don't make it a function of wealth (ie, overseas travel).
i honestly dislike the idea of telling an adult what they can and can't do, via the law, when my opinion has not been requested...especially in a decision that is so private and personal, with the end result being the same...except with legal abortion, there is some safety and dignity in such a difficult process.
They can take the voucher to any school they want to.
But to call itself a "school", eligible to receive vouchers, all teachers in the "school" (as well as the "school" itself) must be certified, by the state or some independant authority.
Butchers, Doctors, Dentists, Policemen, Veterinarians, Engineers, Bus Drivers, Taxi Drivers, Pilots, Electricians, receive training and certification, which is why, in general, you can trust them to do the right thing.
It seems odd to me that you are so obsessed with leaving your children with some adults, in a building, all day long, without knowing that some independent organization has made at least a initial (and perhaps annual) rudimentary inspection of the facility and staff to insure they meet some basic criteria.
Perhaps you are planning on teaching in a church to get a phat check from school vouchers without ever taking a certification exam? Are you afraid you'd fail the exam?
some people are slamming you for preferring not to use MS, but as others have posted it looks like either the 1 yr/20 stream realplayer eval or the QT/Darwin solution will do what you need.
What a shame those people are slamming you for wanting a choice...maybe all microsoft people should be forced to drive a yugo and live in a tent until they sign a statement that they now understand the meaning of the word "choice".
....kinda make me laugh.
i don't want to see chidren hurt or exploited, but these stories always remind me of this girl i used to work with...i swear, she looked 12 or 13, but was in fact 19.
we went out for lunch a few times and people would stare. she told me it was hell...very difficult getting dates from guys who weren't twisted, and people staring at her in college, etc.
spent a lot of time crying over it, unfortunately. we have a sick/twisted society in many ways that goes far beyond virtual child porn.
when i say "religious schools" i mean "schools that teach religion".
in many cases, these schools are exempt from state certification.
i would be adamantly against such schools receiving any dollars from taxpayers.
OTOH, if the instructors and school meet (or hopefully exceed) the same kind of certification requirements as public schools, i'm fine with that.
wroooooooooong.
IBM settled with the government, and had to accept severe resrictions on their behavior (which was even worse than MS').
Sun, SGI, Microsoft and Apple would not have existed without that case.
Microsoft has refused to settle, even though the evidence is overwhelming.
IBM is doing fine today, and there is a lot of choice.
The last part of your post is also wrong...you imply the population is responsible for monopolies, which is backwards. The population can't opt out of a monopoly if there is no choice.
Example : if many employers force employees to log in from home, as part of their job, and have an exchange server, the choices are : use MS at work and home or starve. And that, my friend, is exactly what Bill Gates wants, and what the government must stop.