"Excuse me, miss Alder, its the 90's on the phone, and they'd like they're [grin] tags back."
Now, I have a question that is partly in jest and partly in which I would really like to know the answer. If you started programming in Perl, how on earth did you ever stay interested in programming? I'm a "learn by example" when it comes to new languages, but unless I'm sitting next to an O'Reilly book, there isn't an example in the world that makes sense to me.
Did you ever find the "new" slogan for perl - "There's more than one way to do it, but they're all wrong." ??
Translate Text: Put the gun down and walk away. Immediately place your hands behind your head and lay face down on the ground. Your life is at risk if you do not comply.
Translated to German: Setzen Sie die Gewehr unten und gehen Sie weg. Setzen Sie sofort Ihre Hande hinter Ihren Kopf und legen Sie Gesicht unten aus den Grund. Ihr Leben ist an der Gefahr, wenn Sie nicht einwilligen.
Translated back to english: Set the rifle down and leave you. Set immediately your hands behind your head and put you to face down from the reason. Their life is at the danger, if you do not consent.
While this may be "adequate" I would much rather have a human translator there beside me. Plus this was from english to german and back, I'd hate to see what a non-similar languages would bring...
I am not an automechanic, nor do I admit to being a "gearhead", BUT I know my car has 4 wheels, 4 doors, a V-4 engine, 2 windshield wipers, and an automatic transmission. Is asking a computer user to know generally what the basic parts inside their computer too much to ask???
Also, in general most people aren't stupid, they're just too lazy to move to something that might require a little work. I think it would be great for there to be a large linux user base, but a large ignorant computing user base, I would prefer to have that honor held by MS.
And I'm not trying to be a linux zealot here, there are way to use Outlook, IE, and Windows and never EVER have a problem with worms/viruses. I know, from experience.
Look at the projects we can view the source for...
Linux, Gnome, KDE, OpenOffice, Mozilla, and ummm lets choose, VI.
These code bases are beautiful works which entail blood, sweat, passion, and thought. There are pieces of Art that I think shouldn't qualify as its not an expression of the creator, yet just a piece of art for arts sake.
Just as not all code is something that is enjoyable for many reasons but some being that the end result sucks or the code is so piss poor the end result sucks.
Is Linus a genuis, nope, is he quite possibly the most creative man in OSS programming, sure. I don't think Linus is a superhuman by any means, but I do know he posses the talent to see something and then make it happen. Just as you can have an artist look at a canvas and then paint the mona lisa on it. Its the coders that can see a picture of what they want the end product to look like and make it happen, is the same as an artist looking towards a canvas and seeing the finished product before anyone else can.
So yes, hacking is an art form, but like any art, not just anyone can do it.
... Back when I was a kid slashdot used to have all sorts of crack pot stories where if it involved a computer or linux in some way it was posted to slashdot... thats the way it was and we liked it.
This is exactly what brings me to the nostalgia of what I like to see on slashdot, a story about some guy who attached some wires to a battery tester and then made a LINUX program to pop out the correct varying voltage to display on the battery itself.
This is cool, and you want to know why? Its innovative, sometimes we go so long and things start to get stagnant that it takes these wonderfully clever people to come up with a new innovative way to do something. Is it practical, well no, but that doesnt mean its not cool.
I for one would like to see more things like this and an SCO category so I can start to delete those stories from the front page. I like the true hacker stories, its fun to see how people are innovative. Really was something pleasant to read.
They're called "performers" and those watching are called the "audience". Why are you arguing the technicalities on Girl on Girl on Guy threesomes, if all you have to worry about is correct terminology then you're 10 steps ahead of the game man....
You've got a classic car, one that is a real beauty. You drive it around and everyone loves to look at it and you've had nothing but great experiences with it. But you've repaired the car so many times it's actually cost the equivalent amount of two new cars which are better by features and performance. Now the damned thing has broken down again, the neighborhood loves to see you drive the car around and loves to go for rides in it, but not enough to help you pay for the damned thing.
Hence Hubble. Its taken some pretty pictures dont get me wrong, but has it saved humanity? Do we owe our lives or some pretty pictures to hubble? I think its time to let it die and wait until we get the time to put a newer better space satellite in orbit.
I say don't intentionally kill it, but let it die on its own. AND if you get around to it, see if maybe there isn't a cost effective means to do a little repair work on it. I know I'd rather my tax dollars went to puting a base on the moon where a larger more powerful telescope can be placed on the darkside. Or a roundtrip to mars to begin the study of sustaining life there.
So yes, I'm in favor of killing the hubble if it means more advancement in space science, which it undoubtedly does. Out with the old and in with the new!!! (no comment on voyager though)
I remember when I was a kid... My dad had an operation similar to this... it was code named.
"Close the damned door, we ain't air conditioning the whole damned neighborhood."
That program was affective, dont see why this one won't be.
They couldn't come up with a better name, I mean isn't the whole point of government projects to confuse people as to what the the intent of the program is while tying in some patriotic theme.
Perhaps I might offer a bit of suggestion.
"Operation Cage the Free Eagle"
See, you got no idea what it really means, but it says Operation and includes "FREE and EAGLE", it must be good.
QUOTE:"The problem is a lack of highly educated workers willing to work for the minimum wage or lower in the U.S. Costs are driving outsourcing, not the quality of American schools.'"
Costs are driving outsourcing? How about wanting to make sure that ALL the money stays on the top? This is what completely amazes me in the world we live in, Joe Millionaire really believes that paying family providers a salary 1/100000th of his own is a COST.
Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not some hippie banging my Commie Drum here, but I wouldn't mind some honesty. When saying why you're outsourcing, simply tell what you are doing...
1.) You are not outsourcing, you are laying off americans in a hope that every other company won't follow your lead (you still need people in america to buy your stuff right?)
2.) You are personally making the statement that you believe that it means more to have 3 yachts instead of 2, and the best way to get there is cheap labor.
3.) You believe that you are above 'regular' people in America, and would love to just keep screwing us all.
Well what's the problem with all of this? Think back into the history books for me a little bit here. At what point in America's history did we see an ever pressing economic turmoil because of extremely low cost labor? Was it, ohhh yes the bloodiest battle costing more American lives than any other war in our history?
Lets face it the Civil war was fought not to free the slaves, but in fact because the South was so rich because it legally could force people to work with no pay. This pissed off everyone else who HAD to pay their workers. Believe it or not some of the anger in the "Free North" was because they themselves weren't allowed to have slaves.
Getting a little bit off topic here, the point being is that this country was built on the backs of "Joe Average", who is in the lower to middle class. There's just one big problem with everything here, there are whole lot more "Joe Averages" than there are "Joe Millionaires" and you can only piss "Joe Average" off for so long before he and his buddies organize together.
So Mr Corperate Joe Millionaire, I implore you to please consider your actions and possibly not bite the true hand that feeds you, over and over and over and over again. "Joe Average" is collecting welare/unemployment because you believe he is not worthy. Lastly you can fight the government all you want, but remember there are more "Joe Averages" and if you keep pissing "Joe Average" o you may actually see democracy in action in which you as an American company will be spanked, because "Joe Average" also can vote.
<marcelo.tosatti:cyclades.com>: - Andrea Arcangeli: malicious users of mremap() syscall can gain priviledges
<marcelo:logos.cnet>: - Harald Welte: Fix ipchains MASQUERADE oops - Change EXTRAVERSION to 2.4.24-rc1
<trini:mvista.com>: -/dev/rtc can leak parts of kernel memory to unpriviledged users
Jean Tourrilhes: - IrDA kernel log buster
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Sorry it just seemed a bit more informative than the "YES" reply...
We are building a religion, we are building it bigger, we are widening the corridor and adding new lanes
If you haven't heard the song I would highly recommend it (get it how you please).
Now to the rest of the conversation. The best quote I've ever read is by far: "GNU is like Sex, better when RMS isn't involved" - anoynmous? How true such a comment can be. RMS has again decided to trump his own definition of free by stating that a user cannot be free if they are using a non-free system. But wait isn't that the beauty of free, not that it doesn't require cost, but it is a CHOICE. Can you not be free to chose to use Microsoft or Apple based products?
Are these systems Free Software, of course not, and they will never be as they are part of the new social system we in the 'biz' like to call "Reality". In this system of socioeconomics people like retribution for their work in which you cannot get money for nothin, and you have to actually force those who benifit from your work to give you retribution. Why? Because if people can take something without paying for it, THEY WILL.
Do car dealerships have a sign on the door that says "Here's a car, you can have it for free, but we'd like you to give us some cash for it please". Of course not, and that's why Free Software will fail, but then there's the Open Source movement which seems to have a much better chance as the happy medium between the corperate society and communistic FSF movement.
Communism in which the common man acts with regards to the community as a whole and not the individualistic gain of the self, is not our system. While it seems nice, cozy, and utopic, its not here and my magic 8-ball says that all possibilities point to no. Write all the papers and essays you want, but I'll stick to what works and what works is propritary software.
"I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks" - Fake Bill Gates (simpson's)
"You can't make money by giving something away moron" - My uncle
What I Was trying to make clear is that you can't base an entire review of a distro by simply ignoring the parts of it that make it better. Even Jo Average Computer user who just happened to install linux is going to do a search with the distros name as the criteria, and when they do, they will more than likely come across this community.
You seem to have no grasp about what these "so-called" communities are. These are regular people throughout the world linked by one common denominator, and that's the distribution of linux that they use. Everyone who has had a linux problem can be assured that there is someone else in the world with the same problem, and on top of that you have a very good chance of finding that someone who already had the problem has a fix, and that's where these "so-called" communities come into play.
Nearly every error I've ever had in linux was solved by a google search and a link to a forum or mailing list repository online. It is this "so-called community" that the answers and support for problems can be easily obtained, especially since the tech support dialogue is right there for you to read.
What boggles my mind is that people truly think that installing a distro and using it for a day gives them the ability to review anything. Besides telling about first impressions, there really isn't much to say. Who would you trust a review from, someone who has had their refridgerator for a year, or someone who bought one yesterday and realized that indeed its cold inside?
It drives me nuts to think that someone who uses a distro for a little while after an install actually thinks they have the ability to review said distro.
Let me further clarify, all linux distros have a user base (size varies), and in that user base there are many things that bring a distro to its full potential. There are distro specific forums and IRC channels as well as distro specific webpages and 3rd party packaged binaries for specific distros.
You can't possibly learn about a distro completely until you've also had a chance to explore its community surrounding it. Such as debian, redhat, and mandrake I know have special file and community repositories for such things as music ripping and DVD playback. While not included in the distro did you know that with a broadband connection and in one command you can turn your brand new installation into a fully functioning multimedia system?
Then theres the all important part of linux, the security aspect, while some installers download updates in the install perhaps a review of the distributions updater and the time for the updates for security notices to hit the repositories would be nice to have.
I stopped reading OS news because it wasn't anything about actually using operating systems it was just a club of people who wanted to say that they installed every operating system they could get their hands on and they watched it boot.
In closing the last part of this entire article that urked me was that the reviewer didn't even bother to take a look at Knoppix (maybe they did, but it wasn't in the wrapup summary and I'm not searching osnews to find out). If they only want to use an OS for the time it takes to grab a screenshot and find out that something doesn't work just like redhat then possibly knoppix would fit their operating system attention span. At least with knoppix their poor overly formatted harddrive would get a break.
I have been a mandrake user since day #1. I have also used other distributions, but none of them have included RedHat since version 5.2. I own numerous books with Mandrake CD's and a number of official Mandrake Official boxed sets.
Mandrake in my opinion is the only distribution that provides the packages the users want and a way to easily deliver them. Anyone who has had the "pleasure" of installing gentoo, slackware, or debian, knows that while you may have a more customized machine in the end you have put more time in your install than could ever with mandrake. Those who argue that there is "bloat" with said distro have never taken the time to actually decide what is being installed, which is so much more different than installing after the os is installed right??
Back to your comment. How can mandrake make a profit on a product they give away? Simple, join the mandrake club and you will see what is the difference between downloading and burning a few iso's in comparison to having updates and forums in which mandrake linux developers frequent. Who better to get support from than the people who literally made what you're using?
While Open Source doesn't obligate a company, common sense does. People in general are loyal to brand name or specific products (if you think I'm lying then why are people so set in their ways about coke and pepsi??). If a company to which they have been loyally giving their money to decides to turn around and screw them, then they get pissed off and that gravy train dries up. RedHat switching to Fedora may not have pissed of jo average linux user, but imagine the small companies/schools that were used to previous support plans, most of these groups work on yearly budgets and getting screwed mid fiscal year isn't something they really enjoy.
Anyone can support open source products, but when you rely on support from a specific source, and that source changes the rules, you get upset. This applies to cars, pipes, and swimming pools as much as it does linux and open source. Sure you can fix a leaky pipe, but if you inferred that a plumber would provide support at a set cost monthly, and then decided to flip you the bird, you're going to feel a little cheated at that damned plumber.
RedHat DOES have an ethical obligation to support its products, because without all those little people they've decided to piss on the heads of, they wouldn't be a company. Companies are successful because of their customers, companies go under when they start to fail to realize this.
The primary ethical obligation of an investor is that the company turns a profit. A company is required to keep employees employed, is required to keep customers happy and buying, and is required to do this honestly through quality, profit is a happy by-product of being a successful company.
After actually downloading the article and reading the forbidden pages it seems to me that there are many things that need to be made a little clear to those who will comment without ever reading an iota of the article itself.
First off, Osama Bin Laden does not celebrate christmas. Christmas is a christian holliday in which the Muslim community does not celebrate. This does not mean that all Muslims are terrorists just as it means not all catholics are repbuclicans. While Osama Bin Laden himself has been behind some of the worlds worst acts of terrorism, this should not reflect on all Muslims, and a bit of respect for other religions should be in place, but that would be a matter of decency and humanity.
Secondly the article itself states that this is in no means a "how-to". Reading this article will do nothing in comparison to going to school to learn about physics and chemistry. The article helps put in lamens terms what exactly is done with the creation of such devices. If you notice this article was supressed during the peak of the cold war. At a time when the US Government was playing shadow games by providing tidbits of information for mass consumption but never enough meat to chew on.
The government supressed this to make it seem that there was a large amount of complicated procedures and research being placed in their weapons of mass destruction and that they could load these weapons on the same rockets that sent men into space and ahniliate an entire Soviet city at will. Fair to say that creating an H-Bomb is in fact something that is not at all an easily accomplishment to undertake. While it may be possible to obtain the parts neccessary it still requires someone with a vast amount of knowledge to place all the ingredients together.
I don't think that Al Qaeda or any other terrorist faction will ever be able to design such weapons. I do however think that with the fall of the soviet union and other countries in massive recession that are in fact nuclear that they may be able to purchase said nuclear weapons of mass destruction. So did this article send us to code level orangish red? Nope, but something sure did.
I am not a sympathist by any means for terrorists or freedom fighters who surpass diplomatic measures to accomplish their goals by bringing death and destruction in its place. These people have lost a sense of equality and humanity and are in fact extremely horrible evil people. Should science be supressed because of fears, should we stop manufacturing cars because they are accessories to crimes (bank robberies, car bombs, etc.) NO.
Scientific innovations can be used for good or can be used for bad, it is a matter of the beholder of the information as to what will happen with it. This article meerly suggests that there is a procedure and massive science behind weapons of mass destruction, which is apparent that they are not meant to be used for good, yet will be used for killing and destruction. Think of the good the reasearch itself could be done if only the knowledge was used for good, and not as a weapon to bring death and destruction.
I think this is a prime example of how science for the sake of death is not good, but without the nuclear program we wouldn't have nuclear power. Without a means to deliever said weapons of mass destruction, we wouldn't have a space program. How a redundant communication line for launching said weapons could be used to create the network which has become the worlds internet. There is obviously positive ramifications for the research and design of these technologies, but does that excuse the original intent of the death and destruction even if it was never used to date for such a thing?
Short of WWII with Japan there has never been a nuclear attack on anyone from anyone in the world. Yet we as americans with our democratic control are responsible for this destruction of property and life, and we did it through our research and science.
I'm taking COBOL which is on an IBM s390 running zOS and MVS.
I know that the s390 is relatively new, but the damned thing is still relatively old and a pain to use:-)
I've also got a 486 DX2 running at 66mhz running as a router here, it's not really doing much, besides routing all the houses packets, but it's around 11 - 12 years old. And every now and then I fire up the apple IIe for just plain old fun, I think that thing is getting in the ballpark of 18 - 19 years old.
But as far as "running" or "using" you really can't get by running anything older than 5 years old for a workstation, I don't care how big of a mac fan you are:-)
The television is not a babysitter.... one more time with a little more effort... The television is not a babysitter.
Ahhhh now was that so hard? Since when do we need to compel the government to acknowledge that parents would rather put little Tommy in front of the TV and go about their own things then to start acting like parents and put an interest in the influences their children are exposed to.
If you have kids, then you are a parent, if you are a parent ACT LIKE IT. This is quite simple, stop relying on "the villiage" to "raise the child" and start acting like a parent.
Stop acting so damned surprised to see that your kids are exploring things without you, and making up their own reasonings for those things? If you ignore your kids, they will cope, but don't start complaining about it. And if you don't want the responsibility of looking after a child, then don't have one.
Kids aren't stupid, stop thinking they are, maybe we need to put the stupid identifier on mommy and daddy. Just tired of everyone wanting to "defend the innocence of a child" because of their own indifferences of their childrens lives. Look up neglect before you start claiming neglegance.
I usually am not a fan of the +1 Funny Comments. But let me tell you, I usually cruise the comments at sub 1 with my threshold at -1, and the soviet russia jokes were always amusing, but kudos to reversing the role.
Trolls actually at one time were neccessary for open net conversation, but troll has become more of a "how to best offend" a person. While the standard "RMS Is just a dumb hippie" comments on ANYTHING open/free mentioned on slashdot is a fair representation of Stallmans personality to some, the biggotry posts have taken it too far.
I think that there needs to be a new "modifier" of "SuperTroll" where the threshold is actually taken below -1 for such a modifier, but can only be applied to a -1 troll comment essentially making a -2 "Super Troll". Let the little kiddies be happy to hit "Super Troll" and let the "not the status quo comment" -1 Troll stay where they are.
There is a difference between a "troll" and a "little shit". The "GNAA"/Penis Bird/"Step 1 this... step 2 ????... step 3 profit"/In Soviet Russia/Imagine a beowulf/Natalie Portman/whatever posts are non-essential to a conversation, but a differing opinion should be available even if it is located at -1, so long as you can still get both sides of the story.
So that's my proposal, stick it to the trolls and let the users who "Aren't afraid to burn karma" be seperated.
Slashdot Mirror
"Excuse me, miss Alder, its the 90's on the phone, and they'd like they're [grin] tags back."
Now, I have a question that is partly in jest and partly in which I would really like to know the answer. If you started programming in Perl, how on earth did you ever stay interested in programming? I'm a "learn by example" when it comes to new languages, but unless I'm sitting next to an O'Reilly book, there isn't an example in the world that makes sense to me.
Did you ever find the "new" slogan for perl - "There's more than one way to do it, but they're all wrong." ??
You don't have to reply, its all good.
I can see it now, insted of "3y3 0wn j00"
We will simply see "pwn'd"
Question though, if your directory uses symlinks, would that be considered a wallhack??
here, I did this on babelfish ...
Translate Text: Put the gun down and walk away. Immediately place your hands behind your head and lay face down on the ground. Your life is at risk if you do not comply.
Translated to German: Setzen Sie die Gewehr unten und gehen Sie weg. Setzen Sie sofort Ihre Hande hinter Ihren Kopf und legen Sie Gesicht unten aus den Grund. Ihr Leben ist an der Gefahr, wenn Sie nicht einwilligen.
Translated back to english: Set the rifle down and leave you. Set immediately your hands behind your head and put you to face down from the reason. Their life is at the danger, if you do not consent.
While this may be "adequate" I would much rather have a human translator there beside me. Plus this was from english to german and back, I'd hate to see what a non-similar languages would bring ...
I am not an automechanic, nor do I admit to being a "gearhead", BUT I know my car has 4 wheels, 4 doors, a V-4 engine, 2 windshield wipers, and an automatic transmission. Is asking a computer user to know generally what the basic parts inside their computer too much to ask???
Also, in general most people aren't stupid, they're just too lazy to move to something that might require a little work. I think it would be great for there to be a large linux user base, but a large ignorant computing user base, I would prefer to have that honor held by MS.
And I'm not trying to be a linux zealot here, there are way to use Outlook, IE, and Windows and never EVER have a problem with worms/viruses. I know, from experience.
Are you new to slashdot btw?
Linux, Gnome, KDE, OpenOffice, Mozilla, and ummm lets choose, VI.
These code bases are beautiful works which entail blood, sweat, passion, and thought. There are pieces of Art that I think shouldn't qualify as its not an expression of the creator, yet just a piece of art for arts sake.
Just as not all code is something that is enjoyable for many reasons but some being that the end result sucks or the code is so piss poor the end result sucks.
Is Linus a genuis, nope, is he quite possibly the most creative man in OSS programming, sure. I don't think Linus is a superhuman by any means, but I do know he posses the talent to see something and then make it happen. Just as you can have an artist look at a canvas and then paint the mona lisa on it. Its the coders that can see a picture of what they want the end product to look like and make it happen, is the same as an artist looking towards a canvas and seeing the finished product before anyone else can.
So yes, hacking is an art form, but like any art, not just anyone can do it.
Just as you stated, they are more permissive and free is a term that is relative.
Good comment and I'm glad you were modded up and not set as a flaimbait or troll. Looks like even the moderators are starting to get a clue.
This is exactly what brings me to the nostalgia of what I like to see on slashdot, a story about some guy who attached some wires to a battery tester and then made a LINUX program to pop out the correct varying voltage to display on the battery itself.
This is cool, and you want to know why? Its innovative, sometimes we go so long and things start to get stagnant that it takes these wonderfully clever people to come up with a new innovative way to do something. Is it practical, well no, but that doesnt mean its not cool.
I for one would like to see more things like this and an SCO category so I can start to delete those stories from the front page. I like the true hacker stories, its fun to see how people are innovative. Really was something pleasant to read.
Good Show!!
They're called "performers" and those watching are called the "audience". Why are you arguing the technicalities on Girl on Girl on Guy threesomes, if all you have to worry about is correct terminology then you're 10 steps ahead of the game man ....
Hence Hubble. Its taken some pretty pictures dont get me wrong, but has it saved humanity? Do we owe our lives or some pretty pictures to hubble? I think its time to let it die and wait until we get the time to put a newer better space satellite in orbit.
I say don't intentionally kill it, but let it die on its own. AND if you get around to it, see if maybe there isn't a cost effective means to do a little repair work on it. I know I'd rather my tax dollars went to puting a base on the moon where a larger more powerful telescope can be placed on the darkside. Or a roundtrip to mars to begin the study of sustaining life there.
So yes, I'm in favor of killing the hubble if it means more advancement in space science, which it undoubtedly does. Out with the old and in with the new!!! (no comment on voyager though)
Geared more towards textbooks.
While this movie was in fact "Made In America (TM)" and these boys are in Israel, I am upset.
Not one of them in the story claimed to have used the alias "Whistler" .
BTW - Being blind and being a hacker isn't exactly something thats new to us people in "The Industry".
I remember when I was a kid ... My dad had an operation similar to this ... it was code named.
"Close the damned door, we ain't air conditioning the whole damned neighborhood."
That program was affective, dont see why this one won't be.
They couldn't come up with a better name, I mean isn't the whole point of government projects to confuse people as to what the the intent of the program is while tying in some patriotic theme.
Perhaps I might offer a bit of suggestion.
"Operation Cage the Free Eagle"
See, you got no idea what it really means, but it says Operation and includes "FREE and EAGLE", it must be good.
Sorry, thought I made it clear I lived in America and not India.
Costs are driving outsourcing? How about wanting to make sure that ALL the money stays on the top? This is what completely amazes me in the world we live in, Joe Millionaire really believes that paying family providers a salary 1/100000th of his own is a COST.
Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not some hippie banging my Commie Drum here, but I wouldn't mind some honesty. When saying why you're outsourcing, simply tell what you are doing ...
1.) You are not outsourcing, you are laying off americans in a hope that every other company won't follow your lead (you still need people in america to buy your stuff right?)
2.) You are personally making the statement that you believe that it means more to have 3 yachts instead of 2, and the best way to get there is cheap labor.
3.) You believe that you are above 'regular' people in America, and would love to just keep screwing us all.
Well what's the problem with all of this? Think back into the history books for me a little bit here. At what point in America's history did we see an ever pressing economic turmoil because of extremely low cost labor? Was it, ohhh yes the bloodiest battle costing more American lives than any other war in our history?
Lets face it the Civil war was fought not to free the slaves, but in fact because the South was so rich because it legally could force people to work with no pay. This pissed off everyone else who HAD to pay their workers. Believe it or not some of the anger in the "Free North" was because they themselves weren't allowed to have slaves.
Getting a little bit off topic here, the point being is that this country was built on the backs of "Joe Average", who is in the lower to middle class. There's just one big problem with everything here, there are whole lot more "Joe Averages" than there are "Joe Millionaires" and you can only piss "Joe Average" off for so long before he and his buddies organize together.
So Mr Corperate Joe Millionaire, I implore you to please consider your actions and possibly not bite the true hand that feeds you, over and over and over and over again. "Joe Average" is collecting welare/unemployment because you believe he is not worthy. Lastly you can fight the government all you want, but remember there are more "Joe Averages" and if you keep pissing "Joe Average" o you may actually see democracy in action in which you as an American company will be spanked, because "Joe Average" also can vote.
We are building a religion, we are building it bigger, we are widening the corridor and adding new lanes
If you haven't heard the song I would highly recommend it (get it how you please).
Now to the rest of the conversation. The best quote I've ever read is by far: "GNU is like Sex, better when RMS isn't involved" - anoynmous? How true such a comment can be. RMS has again decided to trump his own definition of free by stating that a user cannot be free if they are using a non-free system. But wait isn't that the beauty of free, not that it doesn't require cost, but it is a CHOICE. Can you not be free to chose to use Microsoft or Apple based products?
Are these systems Free Software, of course not, and they will never be as they are part of the new social system we in the 'biz' like to call "Reality". In this system of socioeconomics people like retribution for their work in which you cannot get money for nothin, and you have to actually force those who benifit from your work to give you retribution. Why? Because if people can take something without paying for it, THEY WILL.
Do car dealerships have a sign on the door that says "Here's a car, you can have it for free, but we'd like you to give us some cash for it please". Of course not, and that's why Free Software will fail, but then there's the Open Source movement which seems to have a much better chance as the happy medium between the corperate society and communistic FSF movement.
Communism in which the common man acts with regards to the community as a whole and not the individualistic gain of the self, is not our system. While it seems nice, cozy, and utopic, its not here and my magic 8-ball says that all possibilities point to no. Write all the papers and essays you want, but I'll stick to what works and what works is propritary software.
"I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks" - Fake Bill Gates (simpson's)
"You can't make money by giving something away moron" - My uncle
What I Was trying to make clear is that you can't base an entire review of a distro by simply ignoring the parts of it that make it better. Even Jo Average Computer user who just happened to install linux is going to do a search with the distros name as the criteria, and when they do, they will more than likely come across this community.
You seem to have no grasp about what these "so-called" communities are. These are regular people throughout the world linked by one common denominator, and that's the distribution of linux that they use. Everyone who has had a linux problem can be assured that there is someone else in the world with the same problem, and on top of that you have a very good chance of finding that someone who already had the problem has a fix, and that's where these "so-called" communities come into play.
Nearly every error I've ever had in linux was solved by a google search and a link to a forum or mailing list repository online. It is this "so-called community" that the answers and support for problems can be easily obtained, especially since the tech support dialogue is right there for you to read.
What boggles my mind is that people truly think that installing a distro and using it for a day gives them the ability to review anything. Besides telling about first impressions, there really isn't much to say. Who would you trust a review from, someone who has had their refridgerator for a year, or someone who bought one yesterday and realized that indeed its cold inside?
Okay so the user did use knoppix, I stand corrected.
So in closing what now urks me is that the user didn't even bother installing Debian Vanilla, there I know mr. point and click didn't do that!
Let me further clarify, all linux distros have a user base (size varies), and in that user base there are many things that bring a distro to its full potential. There are distro specific forums and IRC channels as well as distro specific webpages and 3rd party packaged binaries for specific distros.
You can't possibly learn about a distro completely until you've also had a chance to explore its community surrounding it. Such as debian, redhat, and mandrake I know have special file and community repositories for such things as music ripping and DVD playback. While not included in the distro did you know that with a broadband connection and in one command you can turn your brand new installation into a fully functioning multimedia system?
Then theres the all important part of linux, the security aspect, while some installers download updates in the install perhaps a review of the distributions updater and the time for the updates for security notices to hit the repositories would be nice to have.
I stopped reading OS news because it wasn't anything about actually using operating systems it was just a club of people who wanted to say that they installed every operating system they could get their hands on and they watched it boot.
In closing the last part of this entire article that urked me was that the reviewer didn't even bother to take a look at Knoppix (maybe they did, but it wasn't in the wrapup summary and I'm not searching osnews to find out). If they only want to use an OS for the time it takes to grab a screenshot and find out that something doesn't work just like redhat then possibly knoppix would fit their operating system attention span. At least with knoppix their poor overly formatted harddrive would get a break.
Now let me explain:
I have been a mandrake user since day #1. I have also used other distributions, but none of them have included RedHat since version 5.2. I own numerous books with Mandrake CD's and a number of official Mandrake Official boxed sets.
Mandrake in my opinion is the only distribution that provides the packages the users want and a way to easily deliver them. Anyone who has had the "pleasure" of installing gentoo, slackware, or debian, knows that while you may have a more customized machine in the end you have put more time in your install than could ever with mandrake. Those who argue that there is "bloat" with said distro have never taken the time to actually decide what is being installed, which is so much more different than installing after the os is installed right??
Back to your comment. How can mandrake make a profit on a product they give away? Simple, join the mandrake club and you will see what is the difference between downloading and burning a few iso's in comparison to having updates and forums in which mandrake linux developers frequent. Who better to get support from than the people who literally made what you're using?
While Open Source doesn't obligate a company, common sense does. People in general are loyal to brand name or specific products (if you think I'm lying then why are people so set in their ways about coke and pepsi??). If a company to which they have been loyally giving their money to decides to turn around and screw them, then they get pissed off and that gravy train dries up. RedHat switching to Fedora may not have pissed of jo average linux user, but imagine the small companies/schools that were used to previous support plans, most of these groups work on yearly budgets and getting screwed mid fiscal year isn't something they really enjoy.
Anyone can support open source products, but when you rely on support from a specific source, and that source changes the rules, you get upset. This applies to cars, pipes, and swimming pools as much as it does linux and open source. Sure you can fix a leaky pipe, but if you inferred that a plumber would provide support at a set cost monthly, and then decided to flip you the bird, you're going to feel a little cheated at that damned plumber.
RedHat DOES have an ethical obligation to support its products, because without all those little people they've decided to piss on the heads of, they wouldn't be a company. Companies are successful because of their customers, companies go under when they start to fail to realize this.
The primary ethical obligation of an investor is that the company turns a profit. A company is required to keep employees employed, is required to keep customers happy and buying, and is required to do this honestly through quality, profit is a happy by-product of being a successful company.
Thank you,
SuperDuG
After actually downloading the article and reading the forbidden pages it seems to me that there are many things that need to be made a little clear to those who will comment without ever reading an iota of the article itself.
First off, Osama Bin Laden does not celebrate christmas. Christmas is a christian holliday in which the Muslim community does not celebrate. This does not mean that all Muslims are terrorists just as it means not all catholics are repbuclicans. While Osama Bin Laden himself has been behind some of the worlds worst acts of terrorism, this should not reflect on all Muslims, and a bit of respect for other religions should be in place, but that would be a matter of decency and humanity.
Secondly the article itself states that this is in no means a "how-to". Reading this article will do nothing in comparison to going to school to learn about physics and chemistry. The article helps put in lamens terms what exactly is done with the creation of such devices. If you notice this article was supressed during the peak of the cold war. At a time when the US Government was playing shadow games by providing tidbits of information for mass consumption but never enough meat to chew on.
The government supressed this to make it seem that there was a large amount of complicated procedures and research being placed in their weapons of mass destruction and that they could load these weapons on the same rockets that sent men into space and ahniliate an entire Soviet city at will. Fair to say that creating an H-Bomb is in fact something that is not at all an easily accomplishment to undertake. While it may be possible to obtain the parts neccessary it still requires someone with a vast amount of knowledge to place all the ingredients together.
I don't think that Al Qaeda or any other terrorist faction will ever be able to design such weapons. I do however think that with the fall of the soviet union and other countries in massive recession that are in fact nuclear that they may be able to purchase said nuclear weapons of mass destruction. So did this article send us to code level orangish red? Nope, but something sure did.
I am not a sympathist by any means for terrorists or freedom fighters who surpass diplomatic measures to accomplish their goals by bringing death and destruction in its place. These people have lost a sense of equality and humanity and are in fact extremely horrible evil people. Should science be supressed because of fears, should we stop manufacturing cars because they are accessories to crimes (bank robberies, car bombs, etc.) NO.
Scientific innovations can be used for good or can be used for bad, it is a matter of the beholder of the information as to what will happen with it. This article meerly suggests that there is a procedure and massive science behind weapons of mass destruction, which is apparent that they are not meant to be used for good, yet will be used for killing and destruction. Think of the good the reasearch itself could be done if only the knowledge was used for good, and not as a weapon to bring death and destruction.
I think this is a prime example of how science for the sake of death is not good, but without the nuclear program we wouldn't have nuclear power. Without a means to deliever said weapons of mass destruction, we wouldn't have a space program. How a redundant communication line for launching said weapons could be used to create the network which has become the worlds internet. There is obviously positive ramifications for the research and design of these technologies, but does that excuse the original intent of the death and destruction even if it was never used to date for such a thing?
Short of WWII with Japan there has never been a nuclear attack on anyone from anyone in the world. Yet we as americans with our democratic control are responsible for this destruction of property and life, and we did it through our research and science.
Will our children forgive us, or curse us?
They can't seize that money, part of that 1.5 million is supposed to be mine. Dammit I got the emails to prove it too!
I'm taking COBOL which is on an IBM s390 running zOS and MVS. I know that the s390 is relatively new, but the damned thing is still relatively old and a pain to use :-)
I've also got a 486 DX2 running at 66mhz running as a router here, it's not really doing much, besides routing all the houses packets, but it's around 11 - 12 years old. And every now and then I fire up the apple IIe for just plain old fun, I think that thing is getting in the ballpark of 18 - 19 years old.
But as far as "running" or "using" you really can't get by running anything older than 5 years old for a workstation, I don't care how big of a mac fan you are :-)
Ahhhh now was that so hard? Since when do we need to compel the government to acknowledge that parents would rather put little Tommy in front of the TV and go about their own things then to start acting like parents and put an interest in the influences their children are exposed to.
If you have kids, then you are a parent, if you are a parent ACT LIKE IT. This is quite simple, stop relying on "the villiage" to "raise the child" and start acting like a parent.
Stop acting so damned surprised to see that your kids are exploring things without you, and making up their own reasonings for those things? If you ignore your kids, they will cope, but don't start complaining about it. And if you don't want the responsibility of looking after a child, then don't have one.
Kids aren't stupid, stop thinking they are, maybe we need to put the stupid identifier on mommy and daddy. Just tired of everyone wanting to "defend the innocence of a child" because of their own indifferences of their childrens lives. Look up neglect before you start claiming neglegance.
Trolls actually at one time were neccessary for open net conversation, but troll has become more of a "how to best offend" a person. While the standard "RMS Is just a dumb hippie" comments on ANYTHING open/free mentioned on slashdot is a fair representation of Stallmans personality to some, the biggotry posts have taken it too far.
I think that there needs to be a new "modifier" of "SuperTroll" where the threshold is actually taken below -1 for such a modifier, but can only be applied to a -1 troll comment essentially making a -2 "Super Troll". Let the little kiddies be happy to hit "Super Troll" and let the "not the status quo comment" -1 Troll stay where they are.
There is a difference between a "troll" and a "little shit". The "GNAA"/Penis Bird/"Step 1 this ... step 2 ???? ... step 3 profit"/In Soviet Russia/Imagine a beowulf/Natalie Portman/whatever posts are non-essential to a conversation, but a differing opinion should be available even if it is located at -1, so long as you can still get both sides of the story.
So that's my proposal, stick it to the trolls and let the users who "Aren't afraid to burn karma" be seperated.