For something like FrameMaker, the "tricks" are more a matter of Solaris/HP-UX/AIX being much more homogenous target environments than Linux. QA and technical support costs add up much faster than development costs when end-user configurations vary dramatically.
For example, anyone who participated in the beta release from its inception will remember that there were some important bugs in the initial release, having to do with particular versions of RPC packages, particular versions of glibc compiled with particular versions of gcc, etc. Linux is the wild frontier of Unix.
Even restricting the "official support" to a subset of distributions such as "RedHat 6.x" may mean a support burden higher than other Unix releases, because the vibrancy of the Linux community drives the rate of patches and point releases at a dizzying pace compared to commercial flavors of Unix. This is a great thing, but hard on those who insist on keeping the code (and the compiling!) to themselves.
Adobe has been shrinking the list of Unix platforms for FrameMaker in recent years; adding any would probably take a very clear and obvious revenue-based case (like a major customer pre-ordering a zillion copies, or making it a condition of a zillion copy sale of Acrobat Distiller). Presumably nothing like that happened along during the beta. Sigh.
Re:Guinness didn't want to be remembered for Obi W
on
Sir Alec Guinness Dies
·
· Score: 1
He thought enough of the property to negotiate a percentage;
the fact that he got it is probably the main reason he took the
role. It is also a tacit admission on the part of the production
as to how much they needed an actor of his stature to put across
that dialogue.
As for "dissing" it later, he assuredly never volunteered
anything about it. Imagine an interview with 15 consecutive
"Star Wars" questions, when you could be talking about
acting in John Gielgud's "Hamlet". Aargh.
I didn't like drag-n-drop text editing to begin with; having to actually carry the words from paragraph to paragraph, dodging grammatical errors all the while, is just too much.
Hopefully a pretty healthy one, at that (bet he didn't take a profit participation). If this makes him more likely to appear in low-budget gems like "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" then I'm all for it, as long as I don't have to sit through the results.
Similarly, what's the best thing about "Jaws IV"? Michael Caine got a payday. The worst thing about Jaws IV? Its filming schedule prevented Mr. Caine from being at the Academy Awards to accept his "Hannah and Her Sisters" Oscar.
No one has to be a jerk to protect their copyright. They just have to take obvious measures that they can point to in the event of future legal proceedings.
If people are acting like jerks, it is because they are jerks. If Fuji TV entrusts their U.S. legal representation to people who act like jerks, well, there probably are some transitive laws of jerkdom that apply.
The ironchef.com web site was a wonderful piece of work; if people want it back, I suggest sending words of encouragement to the author, and contacting the Food Network, since they are the only corporate entity that has any economic interest at stake.
Actually, you don't have to kill the elephants to get the ivory, unless you're a low-tech poacher. Here's the Carmichael Save the Elephants(and the rhinos, more immediately) plan:
(1) figure out how to provide the animals with prosthetic tusks, from some ivory-like synthetic.
(2) harvest ivory from wild elephants that might otherwise be subject to poaching.
(3) Set up certified ivory markets, with prices high enough to to pay for (1) and (2), other conservation efforts, and a bunch of government graft. They should try to stay low enough to heavily discourage any poaching of animals that haven't been brought under the harvesting regime yet.
Two potent disadvantages: some elephants will die, since tranquilizer darts are not an exact science; and anyone going to Africa and Asia to see wild elephants will have to see elephants with braces. The former problem could hopefully be minimized through further research; I have no idea what current techniques allow for. The latter issue doesn't seem like a stopper.
And then there's "shigawire" in Dune, and a bunch of variants in various Niven stories. I think there must have been some contemporary science in the 60s that fed in to all these fictional devices; anyone know anything about that?
By the way, for anyone hasn't taken a look at "Stand on Zanzibar" by Brunner: what the hell are you doing here?
No, only the elephant. Promoting any sort of ivory goods naturally creates some demand for elephant ivory, if only as a suitable raw ingredient for faking mammoth ivory. Ever tried digging in permafrost?
I agree that this is way the hell up the slippery slope from gorilla's palm ashtrays, but it is still a bit dodgy.
Slashdot Mirror
For something like FrameMaker, the "tricks" are more a matter of Solaris/HP-UX/AIX being much more homogenous target environments than Linux. QA and technical support costs add up much faster than development costs when end-user configurations vary dramatically.
For example, anyone who participated in the beta release from its inception will remember that there were some important bugs in the initial release, having to do with particular versions of RPC packages, particular versions of glibc compiled with particular versions of gcc, etc. Linux is the wild frontier of Unix.
Even restricting the "official support" to a subset of distributions such as "RedHat 6.x" may mean a support burden higher than other Unix releases, because the vibrancy of the Linux community drives the rate of patches and point releases at a dizzying pace compared to commercial flavors of Unix. This is a great thing, but hard on those who insist on keeping the code (and the compiling!) to themselves.
Adobe has been shrinking the list of Unix platforms for FrameMaker in recent years; adding any would probably take a very clear and obvious revenue-based case (like a major customer pre-ordering a zillion copies, or making it a condition of a zillion copy sale of Acrobat Distiller). Presumably nothing like that happened along during the beta. Sigh.
He thought enough of the property to negotiate a percentage;
the fact that he got it is probably the main reason he took the
role. It is also a tacit admission on the part of the production
as to how much they needed an actor of his stature to put across
that dialogue.
As for "dissing" it later, he assuredly never volunteered
anything about it. Imagine an interview with 15 consecutive
"Star Wars" questions, when you could be talking about
acting in John Gielgud's "Hamlet". Aargh.
If the material is static-resistant, then we really have a
bundling opportunity...
I didn't like drag-n-drop text editing to begin with; having
to actually carry the words from paragraph to paragraph,
dodging grammatical errors all the while, is just too much.
Hopefully a pretty healthy one, at that (bet he didn't take a profit
participation). If this makes him more likely to appear in
low-budget gems like "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai"
then I'm all for it, as long as I don't have to sit through the
results.
Similarly, what's the best thing about "Jaws IV"? Michael
Caine got a payday. The worst thing about Jaws IV? Its
filming schedule prevented Mr. Caine from being at the
Academy Awards to accept his "Hannah and Her Sisters"
Oscar.
No one has to be a jerk to protect their copyright. They just
have to take obvious measures that they can point to in the
event of future legal proceedings.
If people are acting like jerks, it is because they are jerks.
If Fuji TV entrusts their U.S. legal representation to people
who act like jerks, well, there probably are some transitive
laws of jerkdom that apply.
The ironchef.com web site was a wonderful piece of work; if
people want it back, I suggest sending words of encouragement
to the author, and contacting the Food Network, since they are
the only corporate entity that has any economic interest at stake.
Actually, you don't have to kill the elephants to get the ivory,
unless you're a low-tech poacher. Here's the Carmichael
Save the Elephants(and the rhinos, more immediately) plan:
(1) figure out how to provide the animals with prosthetic
tusks, from some ivory-like synthetic.
(2) harvest ivory from wild elephants that might otherwise
be subject to poaching.
(3) Set up certified ivory markets, with prices high enough to
to pay for (1) and (2), other conservation efforts, and a
bunch of government graft. They should try to stay low enough
to heavily discourage any poaching of animals that haven't been
brought under the harvesting regime yet.
Two potent disadvantages: some elephants will die, since
tranquilizer darts are not an exact science; and anyone going to
Africa and Asia to see wild elephants will have to see elephants
with braces. The former problem could hopefully be minimized
through further research; I have no idea what current techniques
allow for. The latter issue doesn't seem like a stopper.
And then there's "shigawire" in Dune, and a bunch of variants
in various Niven stories. I think there must have been some
contemporary science in the 60s that fed in to all these fictional
devices; anyone know anything about that?
By the way, for anyone hasn't taken a look at "Stand on Zanzibar"
by Brunner: what the hell are you doing here?
No, only the elephant. Promoting any sort of ivory goods
naturally creates some demand for elephant ivory, if only
as a suitable raw ingredient for faking mammoth ivory.
Ever tried digging in permafrost?
I agree that this is way the hell up the slippery slope from
gorilla's palm ashtrays, but it is still a bit dodgy.