From the post: the fact that OpenOffice.org is collaborating with _all_ the other major Linux office suites and word processors towards the creation of a new, open XML-based, file format.
From the article: some Gobe people were there, and they were all discussing the idea of creating a new, XML-based, common format
Isn't there a difference between 'discussing the idea' of creating a new format and actually doing it?
One thing that makes Linux much easier (IMHO) to install is the device drivers. Although not every manufacturer makes device drivers for Linux, for those that are included in the distribution, they get installed along with the base system.
For Windows, you have to install the system, reboot, finish the installation, reboot, and then reboot another time for just about each driver you install. So getting a new system up and running is usually much faster under Linux.
I believe this is the first mobile phone to come out which has a digital camera that doesn't require an add- on.
I've been eyeing this phone for almost a year-- no, make that I had been eyeing it for almost a year, until I realized that I'd never be able to afford it in a million years.
That said, a phone with a truly integrated digital camera is an extremely powerful concept: how often we find ourselves without a camera during crucial events, yet people tend to carry their mobile phones with them everywhere they go. In other words, with the 7650, you wouldn't have to worry about not being able to take that candid shot at least once in a while!
It's not the features that are the problem, it's the way people use their mobile phones!
Where I live people are not allowed to drive and converse on their mobiles at the same time, at least not without a hands- free set. I think this makes good sense, and should be implemented in the US as well, if this has not already been done-- I wouldn't know.
But for the most part, we need people to be aware of the effect that their actions have on others, even if it's 'only' irritation. And we need them to act on them. Is that not, after all, the only effective way to a gracious society?
Because as the technology becomes feasible this is what people will want!
Maybe it isn't 'round the corner' or even in the near future... but if it became possible, why _wouldn't_ someone develop this? It sure looks like a KILLER product to me!
Suppose all cars use electricity instead of gasoline. Under present circumstances, that does mean much of the pollution is simply moved to a centralised plant. But remember that not all power plants pollute equally. What if all that electricity came from a hydroelectric power plant instead of a coal power plant? Or a wind field?
As advances in electricity- producing technology appear, less and less of the pollution will be simply moved, and will disappear instead. Even today, we don't get all our power from coal or oil plants. So electric cars would indeed help the environment as a whole, and especially result in cleaner air in ciy areas where cars are used the most.
Probably not worth the price . . . yet. You don't really need such a high- end card to play today's games, and if ou wait a couple of months the price should drop to a more affordable $400 - $500.
How in the world could you know anything about Microsoft code, unless you work for them? They could code in hex (yeah, riiight) and no one would be able to tell from the binaries anyway.
The bit about Open Source . . . you get all these interesting 'games' as you call them, but to me that's people being interested in what they do! An important principle of Open Source or Free Software is that people love to code.
With DDR SDRAM giving such good results and Intel regretting its decision to support RAMBUS, how long before RAMBUS finally realizes its game is over?
(One of the things that irritate me about the PS2, by the way, is that it uses RDRAM. I'm sure the price of the console would be a lot cheaper if it used DDR SDRAm instead . ..)
Whether or not the Mozilla team is behind schedule, whether or not they have failed to produce a usable browser, it has to be admitted that Mozilla is a grandiose project on a scale unlike that of IE. Mozilla is basically the kind of thing that could win the Browser War; in fact, I'm sure that if the Mozilla team had simply concentrated on improving the NS 4.x code base, NS and IE would be pretty evenly matched. But NS has unofficially been dead for years! It shouldn't be considered part of the equation, and it shouldn't be lumped together with Mozilla, because the two are essentially very, very different beings altogether. Furthermore, need I remind everyone here that Mozilla is still an alpha program? Netscape 6 PR 1 is a beta for Netscape, but I think Netscape jumped the gun on this one. Mozilla.org expects M17 to be the first beta! Performance issues are being worked on . . . hello? People are knocking it before it's even been released! And by jove, whatever it is, at least it doesn't blatantly flaunt Web standards! If everyone here thinks Mozilla is not good enough for prime time use (and I for one do), why not also send an email of encouragement to Mozilla.org? These people will have done us a big favour in the long run. Maybe we should start thanking them now.
'PETA' stands for 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals', and that is exactly what they are about, not treating animals as human equals, and certainly not allowing the rights of animals to override those of humans. Not eating animals because the process of raising them and/ or the very act of eating them are/ is cruel is NOT equivalent to putting animals on a pedestal as high as that on which humans (like to think they) stand. Furthermore, Hitler was not a vegetarian. It is in fact well known that while his doctor prescribed a vegetarian diet for his health, he 'secretly' had his 'vegetarian' ravioli stuffed with ground beef. And even if he had been a vegetarian, it wouldn't have proven anything. He wouldn't have been a vegetarian for ethical reasons, and 'proof by example' constitutes a serious logical flaw-- even if I found a million errant Christians, it wouldn't mean a thing to what Christianity, as a religion, really preaches. I fully sympathize with your former countrymen, but I don't think PETA should be devoting resources to their liberation at the expense of their own cause, because I believe their cause ultimately to be a good one. A little bit of compassion here and there would go a long way to improving the human race.
Just wondering if having different distributions -isn't like the functional equivalent of having different products?
Given the incompatibilities that make RH different from Debian, which is different from SuSE, which is different from TurboLinux, etc., would a Red hat user find it difficult to use a box running some other distro?
Of course, different distros would still be able to run any Linux binary, but given a choice btw. Red Hat Linux and HardToUse Linux, wouldn't/every/ newbie choose Red Hat and likely stick to it thereafter, creating an even greater rift in marketshare as Linux gains in popularity?
I use Red Hat myself, and like it. But can you imagine what would happen if Bill Gates were running the company? Brrr.
I think this is great news. Although some people might not like the idea of a 'dumbing- down' of Linux, I think it's really good news as this will doubtless help convince other people that Linux really is one of the best choices (if not the best choice) around.
I tried to convince a friend of mine to switch to Linux a while ago, and he was dismayed at having to _type_ in the name of a file in the WM menu configurator instead of being able to browse for it. I consider it a trivial inconvenience, but to him it's still a big deal.
Let's face it folks, most people out there use Windows at least partly because they're lazy. (I didn't say all!) And from what we've heard about Windows 2000 I think it's clear that it's not all that unstable. Plus it's more user- friendly than any desktop we have . . . I still prefer Linux, but an easy- to use GUI would be welcome.
So the technology exists. But there are still several barriers that stand between the company and its professed goals:
(1) Morality. Even if the company feels absolutely justified in doing what they apparently plan to, many people, while whimsically wishing for a perfect clone of themselves, could well still <I>feel</I> it wrong to use the company's services. People who think the company's actions morally wrong might (read: will) create some sort of protest. And the protest will likely be <I>big</I>.
(2) Legislation-- existing and future. Although cloning might be legal in some other country, that does not mean the United States will allow it even so. Maybe the company could lawfully carry out their activities in some other country, but (new?) US laws might just render it impossible for them to service US citizens.
(3) Technology. Ironically so, but yes, technology might be a factor. I might be mistaken, but as far as I know, though it is possible to clone just about anything, the cloned being will not live long because of the 'genetic age' of its cells. Or something like that.
There are probably even more reasons why the company might not be able to carry out its plans. Frankly, they sound wacky to me, and I'm not sure just how many folks would buy the company's pitch. I wouldn't.
Perhaps the results are what they are because people have an innate fear of the unknown. Whatever it is, Micrrosofft does have the dominant OS, and many people are satisfied with it. Personally I dislike Microsoft, but I can see what people are thinking: it's not all that stable, but I can get what I need done.
Since this has worked for them in the past, and they _don't_know_ what would happen if M$ was broken up, they probably feel that breaking the company up is a little like trying to fix something that isn't broken. At least that's how I think I would feel if I were the average Windows user.
It is important for a programming language such as Java to have a 'standard' because the whole point of Java, the area in which it has an advantage over other programming languages, is portability. That is, as long as you have your virtual machines running, you can port any program easily to any platform you like. Sure, C and C++ can be portable as well, but then you need different compilers for different platforms, whereas for Java you only need different virtual machines for different platforms. Java is then interpreted in the same way by the different virtual machines. If something like J++ comes along, it defeats the whole purpose of Java having a 'standard'-- the very thing that gives Java so much portability.
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Heck, all your thoughts are already belong to them.
All your thought are belong to us! :)
Sorry, couldn't resist...
From the post: the fact that OpenOffice.org is collaborating with _all_ the other major Linux office suites and word processors towards the creation of a new, open XML-based, file format.
From the article: some Gobe people were there, and they were all discussing the idea of creating a new, XML-based, common format
Isn't there a difference between 'discussing the idea' of creating a new format and actually doing it?
One thing that makes Linux much easier (IMHO) to install is the device drivers. Although not every manufacturer makes device drivers for Linux, for those that are included in the distribution, they get installed along with the base system.
For Windows, you have to install the system, reboot, finish the installation, reboot, and then reboot another time for just about each driver you install. So getting a new system up and running is usually much faster under Linux.
What's so special about low quality streamed audio and video that ot needs this special treatment?
One word: pr0n
I believe this is the first mobile phone to come out which has a digital camera that doesn't require an add- on.
I've been eyeing this phone for almost a year-- no, make that I had been eyeing it for almost a year, until I realized that I'd never be able to afford it in a million years.
That said, a phone with a truly integrated digital camera is an extremely powerful concept: how often we find ourselves without a camera during crucial events, yet people tend to carry their mobile phones with them everywhere they go. In other words, with the 7650, you wouldn't have to worry about not being able to take that candid shot at least once in a while!
SuSE 7.3 has an option in its default LILO menu to run memtest.
Not really...
Every dungeon, every corridor and nook and cranny in Morrowind will be hand- placed, i.e., NOT random. NPCs will no longer look the same.
And if it's not nearly as buggy as Daggerfall, which was quite capable of crashing Windows 95... oh, wait...
Morrowind will be quite different, but you can wait for actual reviews to come out before you decide.
It's not the features that are the problem, it's the way people use their mobile phones!
Where I live people are not allowed to drive and converse on their mobiles at the same time, at least not without a hands- free set. I think this makes good sense, and should be implemented in the US as well, if this has not already been done-- I wouldn't know.
But for the most part, we need people to be aware of the effect that their actions have on others, even if it's 'only' irritation. And we need them to act on them. Is that not, after all, the only effective way to a gracious society?
Because as the technology becomes feasible this is what people will want!
Maybe it isn't 'round the corner' or even in the near future... but if it became possible, why _wouldn't_ someone develop this? It sure looks like a KILLER product to me!
I don't suppose we could increase the efficiency of the handheld by switching from the miniaturized X to a pure CLI?
<BR>
<BR>
It's not just moving the pollution.
Suppose all cars use electricity instead of gasoline. Under present circumstances, that does mean much of the pollution is simply moved to a centralised plant. But remember that not all power plants pollute equally. What if all that electricity came from a hydroelectric power plant instead of a coal power plant? Or a wind field?
As advances in electricity- producing technology appear, less and less of the pollution will be simply moved, and will disappear instead. Even today, we don't get all our power from coal or oil plants. So electric cars would indeed help the environment as a whole, and especially result in cleaner air in ciy areas where cars are used the most.
So wouldn't it make perfect sense for the two projects to work closely together?
Of course, that's the beauty of free software/ open source software . . .
Probably not worth the price . . . yet. You don't really need such a high- end card to play today's games, and if ou wait a couple of months the price should drop to a more affordable $400 - $500.
This is a nanoporn version of that famous goatse.cx picture, greatly magnified:
.
How in the world could you know anything about Microsoft code, unless you work for them? They could code in hex (yeah, riiight) and no one would be able to tell from the binaries anyway.
The bit about Open Source . . . you get all these interesting 'games' as you call them, but to me that's people being interested in what they do! An important principle of Open Source or Free Software is that people love to code.
With DDR SDRAM giving such good results and Intel regretting its decision to support RAMBUS, how long before RAMBUS finally realizes its game is over?
.)
(One of the things that irritate me about the PS2, by the way, is that it uses RDRAM. I'm sure the price of the console would be a lot cheaper if it used DDR SDRAm instead . .
Hippopotamus -> Hippopotami . . .
Whether or not the Mozilla team is behind schedule, whether or not they have failed to produce a usable browser, it has to be admitted that Mozilla is a grandiose project on a scale unlike that of IE. Mozilla is basically the kind of thing that could win the Browser War; in fact, I'm sure that if the Mozilla team had simply concentrated on improving the NS 4.x code base, NS and IE would be pretty evenly matched. But NS has unofficially been dead for years! It shouldn't be considered part of the equation, and it shouldn't be lumped together with Mozilla, because the two are essentially very, very different beings altogether. Furthermore, need I remind everyone here that Mozilla is still an alpha program? Netscape 6 PR 1 is a beta for Netscape, but I think Netscape jumped the gun on this one. Mozilla.org expects M17 to be the first beta! Performance issues are being worked on . . . hello? People are knocking it before it's even been released! And by jove, whatever it is, at least it doesn't blatantly flaunt Web standards! If everyone here thinks Mozilla is not good enough for prime time use (and I for one do), why not also send an email of encouragement to Mozilla.org? These people will have done us a big favour in the long run. Maybe we should start thanking them now.
'PETA' stands for 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals', and that is exactly what they are about, not treating animals as human equals, and certainly not allowing the rights of animals to override those of humans. Not eating animals because the process of raising them and/ or the very act of eating them are/ is cruel is NOT equivalent to putting animals on a pedestal as high as that on which humans (like to think they) stand.
Furthermore, Hitler was not a vegetarian. It is in fact well known that while his doctor prescribed a vegetarian diet for his health, he 'secretly' had his 'vegetarian' ravioli stuffed with ground beef. And even if he had been a vegetarian, it wouldn't have proven anything. He wouldn't have been a vegetarian for ethical reasons, and 'proof by example' constitutes a serious logical flaw-- even if I found a million errant Christians, it wouldn't mean a thing to what Christianity, as a religion, really preaches.
I fully sympathize with your former countrymen, but I don't think PETA should be devoting resources to their liberation at the expense of their own cause, because I believe their cause ultimately to be a good one. A little bit of compassion here and there would go a long way to improving the human race.
Just wondering if having different distributions -isn't like the functional equivalent of having different products?
/every/ newbie choose Red Hat and likely stick to it thereafter, creating an even greater rift in marketshare as Linux gains in popularity?
Given the incompatibilities that make RH different from Debian, which is different from SuSE, which is different from TurboLinux, etc., would a Red hat user find it difficult to use a box running some other distro?
Of course, different distros would still be able to run any Linux binary, but given a choice btw. Red Hat Linux and HardToUse Linux, wouldn't
I use Red Hat myself, and like it. But can you imagine what would happen if Bill Gates were running the company? Brrr.
I think this is great news. Although some people might not like the idea of a 'dumbing- down' of Linux, I think it's really good news as this will doubtless help convince other people that Linux really is one of the best choices (if not the best choice) around.
I tried to convince a friend of mine to switch to Linux a while ago, and he was dismayed at having to _type_ in the name of a file in the WM menu configurator instead of being able to browse for it. I consider it a trivial inconvenience, but to him it's still a big deal.
Let's face it folks, most people out there use Windows at least partly because they're lazy. (I didn't say all!) And from what we've heard about Windows 2000 I think it's clear that it's not all that unstable. Plus it's more user- friendly than any desktop we have . . . I still prefer Linux, but an easy- to use GUI would be welcome.
Unless it comes with a one button mouse.
So the technology exists. But there are still several barriers that stand between the company and its professed goals:
(1) Morality. Even if the company feels absolutely justified in doing what they apparently plan to, many people, while whimsically wishing for a perfect clone of themselves, could well still <I>feel</I> it wrong to use the company's services. People who think the company's actions morally wrong might (read: will) create some sort of protest. And the protest will likely be <I>big</I>.
(2) Legislation-- existing and future. Although cloning might be legal in some other country, that does not mean the United States will allow it even so. Maybe the company could lawfully carry out their activities in some other country, but (new?) US laws might just render it impossible for them to service US citizens.
(3) Technology. Ironically so, but yes, technology might be a factor. I might be mistaken, but as far as I know, though it is possible to clone just about anything, the cloned being will not live long because of the 'genetic age' of its cells. Or something like that.
There are probably even more reasons why the company might not be able to carry out its plans. Frankly, they sound wacky to me, and I'm not sure just how many folks would buy the company's pitch. I wouldn't.
Perhaps the results are what they are because people have an innate fear of the unknown. Whatever it is, Micrrosofft does have the dominant OS, and many people are satisfied with it. Personally I dislike Microsoft, but I can see what people are thinking: it's not all that stable, but I can get what I need done.
Since this has worked for them in the past, and they _don't_know_ what would happen if M$ was broken up, they probably feel that breaking the company up is a little like trying to fix something that isn't broken. At least that's how I think I would feel if I were the average Windows user.
It is important for a programming language such as Java to have a 'standard' because the whole point of Java, the area in which it has an advantage over other programming languages, is portability. That is, as long as you have your virtual machines running, you can port any program easily to any platform you like. Sure, C and C++ can be portable as well, but then you need different compilers for different platforms, whereas for Java you only need different virtual machines for different platforms. Java is then interpreted in the same way by the different virtual machines. If something like J++ comes along, it defeats the whole purpose of Java having a 'standard'-- the very thing that gives Java so much portability.