Isn't this something Microsoft did years ago? Forcing Internet Explorer down everybody's throat, and threatening OEMs that didn't include it? They even went as far as requiring that no competing browser be pre-installed.
My... how things come full circle......
Are they serious with this? Who cares? It's CD. Software. We're not talking about underwear people. Get over it! As long as the CD is not damaged or unplayable, then who really cares?
As a DB admin myself, I find these "Us vs Them" arguments to be ultimately pointless. A company will choose a database based on the application's needs. If "immediate consistency" is needed they will choose a standard relational database. If "eventual consistency" is acceptable, the company may opt for one of the other "not-so-relational" databases. The fact that there are other options is actually a good thing. The "old guard" needs to find the positives and embrace change, or run the risk of being left behind in an evolving world of technology.
And since it only runs on Windows, its just more reason send Microsoft some more money! Oh wait! I LOOKED at an ASP page earlier. I think I owe Ballmer another quarter....
I think his problem is with the obfuscation of said javascript and HTML code. His example points to the google code which is supplied with no comments and method naming which has been intentionally obfuscated. A normal web developer has no need to obfuscate the code.
Are you sure that the intent is to obfuscate? There's no other possibility? Maybe shrinking the size of the file transferred to increase performance?
Think of it like modding. Customizing something to fit what the user wants is an incredibly powerful thing and can actually increase the usage of your web app. Think of greasemonkey plugin, which allows you to add some pretty cool functions to certain sites that don't already come with that site. Just because you can't imagine the possibilities doesn't mean someone else won't.
Fine. I'll buy that. But that's a "functionality" thing, not really a "proprietary vs open" thing. Your average user doesn't know or care about that stuff. All they care about is whether or not the website works the way its supposed to.
I think its more along the lines of "WTF now??" It's expasperation... an emotional response to something so utterly stupid and irrelevant that it makes us angry enough to respond. It doesn't help in the long term, but it is relieving in the short term.
It's getting to the point that RMS just spouts crap to be heard. Most website developers use java script to get some functionality working, and java script is the easiest to do so. There is (usually) no intent to do harm, or take over your computer, or lie to you, or stalk your grandmother. The developer just wants to deliver the site to its users complete with certain functionality. Why would you want to run your own version of its java script? This is such nitpicking crap that its not worth reading.
The people that are jumping up and down about Linux not gaining market share simply don't get Linux. It's like market analysts trying to analyze a block party, not realizing that its a block party not a stock exchange. Linux is not about market share. It's about creating an OS that works. If people like it, they use it. If they don't like it (or don't understand it), they use something else. There is no marketing plan. There is no "market expansion". There is no "competition". People who want it, use it. People who want to make it better, develop for it. People who don't, don't. That's it.
Even Linus himself said that the destruction of Microsoft will be a totally unintended side effect. Yes, he was be sarcastic, and he was only talking about one company, but it's basically true. There was no intention of competing with anybody. Anyone who tries to make it out to be simply doesn't understand how Linux came about, why it still exists, and how it will continue to grow and thrive despite other people's warnings of "not gaining market share".
Excuses. Nothing more than excuses. If you really, really wanted to get it working, you would find a way. How important is it to you?
The link you are looking for is on Google. Search for it.
* Going out and buying an overpriced Mac that is useless for anything other than running the Apple devtools
You can build a cheap Intel box out of spare parts and run a hacked copy of Mac OS X on it.
* Having to waste time hooking up monitor and keyboard switches to your work environment just for the Mac hardware
See my comment above.
* Wasting time learning Objective C that no other company uses except Apple
If someone's only goal is to write for Apple, and that's the world they live in, then that is a viable option to them. If its not for you, go about your life and leave them alone. They will live or die with their platform of choice.
* Having your application be at the total whim of Apple who could at any moment or for any reason decide to reject your app or pull your app from the Apple store
This comes down to a business decision. If you are a company (even if you're just an individual developer), you have to realize that the App Store is a distribution channel, and Apple is your distribution partner. You have to play well together. Bear in mind that they are not the only smart phone around, and the agreement is non-exclusive. There is nothing stopping you from offering your same app to other distribution channels.
Android will have rapidly taken over most of the existing Windows Mobile range of devices just looking at the public release list of Android based phones for 2009. And Palm's Pre is now the gold standard for high end phones.
This is pure speculation. If I was an investor, I would not dump my life savings into Android, or any single product platform.
Apple got lucky with Microsoft completely botching their phone efforts and arriving at a time before Android and Palm's efforts.
This issue is moot. Microsoft completely botches everything they do other than contract other companies to build video games for X-Box.
The iPhone is nothing more than an irrelevant and overpriced niche product.
I disagree completely. The "smart phone" movement was dead before the iPhone, because companies were complacent to put out products that people were willing to tolerate. Once iPhone came out, all the big players kicked their game into high gear. You think we would see the Palm Pre or the Blackberry Storm this year if it wasn't for iPhone? Like it or not, iPhone raised the standard for what a smart phone should be, and now everybody is going to look like they are chasing them.
Even more so now that Jobs is out of the picture and Apple can no longer leverage the Cult of Jobs in the media for massive hype, promotion, and marketing for their products.
There is some truth to that. But now this will be the test for Apple. Can they sell products based on their own merits? Or do they need that messiah? Time will tell.
I believe that the best thing by far would be to teach computers to underprivileged children. I have to believe that if you take kids that have not had the chance to even see what's out there, once you put some of today's technology in their hands, their imaginations would take off. Nothing is more powerful than establishing hope and instilling a simple sense of accomplishment.
There is a very simple solution to this. Never, ever, ever, buy music from iTunes. Acquire them from other places and load them into iTunes for syncing. That's it.
What happens when someone gets a virus on theirs and all their work is gone?
-- Bring it to the help desk.
What happens when someone's computer isn't working during a class activity due to some failure (software or hardware)?
-- Bring it to the help desk.
What happens when a student damages their laptop, intentionally or otherwise?
-- They just bought it. Add it to their dorm bill.
What about someone stealing the laptop (not another student, but some random thief)?
-- Call the cops and report it.
What happens when (not if) someone reformat their machine?
-- They just bought it. Add it to their dorm bill. Oh, and it is no longer supported by the help desk.
What happens when (not if) someone bypasses the restrictions on their laptop?
-- They just bought it. Add it to their dorm bill. Oh, and it is no longer supported by the help desk.
Have the teachers been taught how to use a computer (a lot of teachers are idiots when it comes to this)?
-- If they don't know how to use a computer these days, they shouldn't be teaching.
Have the students been trained how to use these computers (there are some idiot students too)?
-- I'm sure they can figure it out. Point... click...
Why can't the students install other software? Do you seriously expect students to use these things if they can't customize them to their own personal tastes?
-- Because then they will install tons of crap and increase the risk of implosion. Will you stop all users forever? No. But that's why you have them sign a statement when the laptop is issued that they won't tamper with it, or they bough it.
How much money is this going to cost the school district every year in terms of support staff and replacement hardware?
-- Take it out of all the tuition and government grant money the school receives. Its about time that money went to the students.
I'm going to go on a rant here:
School districts like yours have way too much money and unfortunately no one seems to have any idea how to spend it responsibly. The decision to give students laptops has already been made, without any type of plan for managing them (as evidenced by you asking slashdot what you should do).
It's stuff like this that pisses off taxpayers. "I agreed to increase my taxes and they spent it on a bunch of worthless computers?!?!?!?"
Don't be surprised if you get your budget slashed in the coming years if this program goes tits-up.
-- Actually, this could end up saving tons of money. Eliminate all the books and give them a login to a site where they can download the PDF. Also, students can submit their homework online IMMEDIATELY (or 5 minutes before class!) Think about all the uses.... Yes, a worthless computer. Now THAT'S an oxymoron!
You can easily block booting from usb flash drive/cd/dvd/whatever in the BIOS. Put a password on the bios and you've stopped most students from booting another OS (sure the BIOS can be changed/reset, but this usually requires some skill).
Huh? Have you ever dual-booted before? The OS selection menu shows up AFTER the bios. Think "grub".
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't this something Microsoft did years ago? Forcing Internet Explorer down everybody's throat, and threatening OEMs that didn't include it? They even went as far as requiring that no competing browser be pre-installed. My... how things come full circle......
As usual, Microsoft finds a way to rip of its customers, again and again and again.... The amazing thing is, people still keep falling for it!!
Just try it mother fuckers!
The potential for abuse of this thing is off the charts. I mean, its even named: PedoHelmet. Problem comes with a complimentary teddy bear.
Are they serious with this? Who cares? It's CD. Software. We're not talking about underwear people. Get over it! As long as the CD is not damaged or unplayable, then who really cares?
As a DB admin myself, I find these "Us vs Them" arguments to be ultimately pointless. A company will choose a database based on the application's needs. If "immediate consistency" is needed they will choose a standard relational database. If "eventual consistency" is acceptable, the company may opt for one of the other "not-so-relational" databases. The fact that there are other options is actually a good thing. The "old guard" needs to find the positives and embrace change, or run the risk of being left behind in an evolving world of technology.
And since it only runs on Windows, its just more reason send Microsoft some more money! Oh wait! I LOOKED at an ASP page earlier. I think I owe Ballmer another quarter....
What about it?
I think his problem is with the obfuscation of said javascript and HTML code. His example points to the google code which is supplied with no comments and method naming which has been intentionally obfuscated. A normal web developer has no need to obfuscate the code.
Are you sure that the intent is to obfuscate? There's no other possibility? Maybe shrinking the size of the file transferred to increase performance?
Think of it like modding. Customizing something to fit what the user wants is an incredibly powerful thing and can actually increase the usage of your web app. Think of greasemonkey plugin, which allows you to add some pretty cool functions to certain sites that don't already come with that site. Just because you can't imagine the possibilities doesn't mean someone else won't.
Fine. I'll buy that. But that's a "functionality" thing, not really a "proprietary vs open" thing. Your average user doesn't know or care about that stuff. All they care about is whether or not the website works the way its supposed to.
I think its more along the lines of "WTF now??" It's expasperation... an emotional response to something so utterly stupid and irrelevant that it makes us angry enough to respond. It doesn't help in the long term, but it is relieving in the short term.
It's getting to the point that RMS just spouts crap to be heard. Most website developers use java script to get some functionality working, and java script is the easiest to do so. There is (usually) no intent to do harm, or take over your computer, or lie to you, or stalk your grandmother. The developer just wants to deliver the site to its users complete with certain functionality. Why would you want to run your own version of its java script? This is such nitpicking crap that its not worth reading.
Woohoo!!! Go for it TomTom!! Don't put up with their crap!
Who's running that Choru$$ company? Is it Steve Ballmer?
The people that are jumping up and down about Linux not gaining market share simply don't get Linux. It's like market analysts trying to analyze a block party, not realizing that its a block party not a stock exchange. Linux is not about market share. It's about creating an OS that works. If people like it, they use it. If they don't like it (or don't understand it), they use something else. There is no marketing plan. There is no "market expansion". There is no "competition". People who want it, use it. People who want to make it better, develop for it. People who don't, don't. That's it. Even Linus himself said that the destruction of Microsoft will be a totally unintended side effect. Yes, he was be sarcastic, and he was only talking about one company, but it's basically true. There was no intention of competing with anybody. Anyone who tries to make it out to be simply doesn't understand how Linux came about, why it still exists, and how it will continue to grow and thrive despite other people's warnings of "not gaining market share".
Excuses. Nothing more than excuses. If you really, really wanted to get it working, you would find a way. How important is it to you? The link you are looking for is on Google. Search for it.
Sounds like you gave up too easily.
* Going out and buying an overpriced Mac that is useless for anything other than running the Apple devtools
You can build a cheap Intel box out of spare parts and run a hacked copy of Mac OS X on it.
* Having to waste time hooking up monitor and keyboard switches to your work environment just for the Mac hardware
See my comment above.
* Wasting time learning Objective C that no other company uses except Apple
If someone's only goal is to write for Apple, and that's the world they live in, then that is a viable option to them. If its not for you, go about your life and leave them alone. They will live or die with their platform of choice.
* Having your application be at the total whim of Apple who could at any moment or for any reason decide to reject your app or pull your app from the Apple store
This comes down to a business decision. If you are a company (even if you're just an individual developer), you have to realize that the App Store is a distribution channel, and Apple is your distribution partner. You have to play well together. Bear in mind that they are not the only smart phone around, and the agreement is non-exclusive. There is nothing stopping you from offering your same app to other distribution channels.
Android will have rapidly taken over most of the existing Windows Mobile range of devices just looking at the public release list of Android based phones for 2009. And Palm's Pre is now the gold standard for high end phones.
This is pure speculation. If I was an investor, I would not dump my life savings into Android, or any single product platform.
Apple got lucky with Microsoft completely botching their phone efforts and arriving at a time before Android and Palm's efforts.
This issue is moot. Microsoft completely botches everything they do other than contract other companies to build video games for X-Box.
The iPhone is nothing more than an irrelevant and overpriced niche product.
I disagree completely. The "smart phone" movement was dead before the iPhone, because companies were complacent to put out products that people were willing to tolerate. Once iPhone came out, all the big players kicked their game into high gear. You think we would see the Palm Pre or the Blackberry Storm this year if it wasn't for iPhone? Like it or not, iPhone raised the standard for what a smart phone should be, and now everybody is going to look like they are chasing them.
Even more so now that Jobs is out of the picture and Apple can no longer leverage the Cult of Jobs in the media for massive hype, promotion, and marketing for their products.
There is some truth to that. But now this will be the test for Apple. Can they sell products based on their own merits? Or do they need that messiah? Time will tell.
I believe that the best thing by far would be to teach computers to underprivileged children. I have to believe that if you take kids that have not had the chance to even see what's out there, once you put some of today's technology in their hands, their imaginations would take off. Nothing is more powerful than establishing hope and instilling a simple sense of accomplishment.
Exactly, how is this different from an iPhone, other than screen size (and of course, allowed software)?
There is a very simple solution to this. Never, ever, ever, buy music from iTunes. Acquire them from other places and load them into iTunes for syncing. That's it.
OOOPS! You're right! There's a moron in every bunch... :-)
Happiness in slavery.
More like ignorance is bliss. Hey, the Christians had Eden! The Chinese have the government.
Hmmm... let me see... Oh yeah... a FIREWALL!
What happens when someone gets a virus on theirs and all their work is gone?
-- Bring it to the help desk.
What happens when someone's computer isn't working during a class activity due to some failure (software or hardware)?
-- Bring it to the help desk.
What happens when a student damages their laptop, intentionally or otherwise?
-- They just bought it. Add it to their dorm bill.
What about someone stealing the laptop (not another student, but some random thief)?
-- Call the cops and report it.
What happens when (not if) someone reformat their machine?
-- They just bought it. Add it to their dorm bill. Oh, and it is no longer supported by the help desk.
What happens when (not if) someone bypasses the restrictions on their laptop?
-- They just bought it. Add it to their dorm bill. Oh, and it is no longer supported by the help desk.
Have the teachers been taught how to use a computer (a lot of teachers are idiots when it comes to this)?
-- If they don't know how to use a computer these days, they shouldn't be teaching.
Have the students been trained how to use these computers (there are some idiot students too)?
-- I'm sure they can figure it out. Point... click...
Why can't the students install other software? Do you seriously expect students to use these things if they can't customize them to their own personal tastes?
-- Because then they will install tons of crap and increase the risk of implosion. Will you stop all users forever? No. But that's why you have them sign a statement when the laptop is issued that they won't tamper with it, or they bough it.
How much money is this going to cost the school district every year in terms of support staff and replacement hardware?
-- Take it out of all the tuition and government grant money the school receives. Its about time that money went to the students.
I'm going to go on a rant here: School districts like yours have way too much money and unfortunately no one seems to have any idea how to spend it responsibly. The decision to give students laptops has already been made, without any type of plan for managing them (as evidenced by you asking slashdot what you should do). It's stuff like this that pisses off taxpayers. "I agreed to increase my taxes and they spent it on a bunch of worthless computers?!?!?!?" Don't be surprised if you get your budget slashed in the coming years if this program goes tits-up.
-- Actually, this could end up saving tons of money. Eliminate all the books and give them a login to a site where they can download the PDF. Also, students can submit their homework online IMMEDIATELY (or 5 minutes before class!) Think about all the uses.... Yes, a worthless computer. Now THAT'S an oxymoron!
You can easily block booting from usb flash drive/cd/dvd/whatever in the BIOS. Put a password on the bios and you've stopped most students from booting another OS (sure the BIOS can be changed/reset, but this usually requires some skill).
Huh? Have you ever dual-booted before? The OS selection menu shows up AFTER the bios. Think "grub".