You'e buying something that you can do pretty much anything with. There is no license on music.
Not exactly true. I'm prohibited, for example, from public performance of the music. I'm not allowed to broadcast it via radio. License, law, whatever the fact remains that you do NOT own the music or the software. You own the medium and the right to do certain things with the content.
The DMCA and UCITA have given software licenses some bite where before they were nothing but bark. I fully expect to see a great deal more of this sort of thing.
Buying software is more like buying a music CD/record/tape/etc. than it is like buying a car. You are buying the *right* to use the IP in a limited way. The difference is that the record companies have not yet managed to prohibit reselling of their media. Give them time.
How is the command-line client? I've worked a little with perforce and was pretty neutral about it.
For me, a vcs MUST have a command line client to be useful. I'm a big believer in reproducible builds and good version control and a command-line client go a long ways towards realizing that.
I've tried them all. Well, maybe not all, but a bunch. Let me start by saying that these are based on my personal experiences with the following and that YMMV. Mmm-kay?
Source Safe I've used multiple versions all the way back to 1994. (That was before Microsoft got their hands on it.)
Pros:
Decent client UI, fairly intuitive.
Easy to set up and administer.
Integrates well with MS tools.
"Project Oriented" -- maps well to your file system.
Cons:
Doesn't scale well.
Performs like dog crap unless you're running it on a local network.
Tends to get corrupted for no apparent reason.
Support for non-windows platforms is weak.
PVCS Used in 1995 and 1999. The company I worked for in 1996 bought it over my strenuous objections then threw it away in favor of Source Safe.
Pros:
Industry standard, at least at one point.
Cons:
Slow.
Expensive.
Slow.
Arcane.
Slow.
Totally counter-intuitve. The client UI is, perhaps, the worst ever.
Oh, did I mention Slow?
Perforce Have very little experience with this and none at all on a local network. I would rate it somewhere between SS and PVCS in terms of useability. Probably faster than both in a non-local network scenario. Disclairmer: We were running it over a vpn. Our client (owner of the repository) not exactly network whiz-kids. It took them months to get us additional VPN logins when we added more people to the contract. I suspect that, given a different client, Perforce might have been much better.
Pros:
True client-server.
Speed is okay provided you have decent bandwidth between client and server.
Cons:
Configuring it was a little weird.
Never quite managed to wrap my head around the way it wanted you to work. (Didn't use it for long enough, I guess.)
Clear Case I have the least experience with this. I'd like it to stay that way, but... my current employer spent about a gazllion dollars buying into the whole "Rational Suite" idea, the gullible bastards.
Pros:
Uh, it's from Rational?
Cons:
Uh, it's from Rational?
Expensive. (Oops. Guess that's included in the previous point.)
Extremely difficult client configuration, at least on Windows. (Why does it need to run as a service on the client?)
Needs mondo hardware on the server.
Harder to administer.
The server crashes alot, at least ours does.
CVS Those Linux geeks can't all be wrong, can they?
Pros:
True client-server. (Or not, your choice.)
Scales extremely well.
Free/beer.
Free/speech.
Requires very little server horsepower.
Flexible.
Plays well with others. etc.
Cons:
Doesn't handle binary files well.
Documentation leaves a little to be desired.
Like most Open/Free software there's nobody to point the finger at when something goes wrong -- this makes suits nervous.
Confusing use of the term "checkout."
The whole "concurrent" thing can take some getting used to.
I'm sure there are other pros/cons but I think that's enough.
I propose that we pass legislation enforcing the separation of hardware and software! When you buy your PC you get NO operating system, none. Buy the one you want and install it your own self.
Too feeble to install your own OS? Perhaps you should just give it up and buy WebTV.
--john
Re:And for my next trick...
on
ORBS Forks
·
· Score: 1
Ahhh, but if those duly authorized people would wear their employee security badges...
--john
And for my next trick...
on
ORBS Forks
·
· Score: 1
I have a plan for where to turn after we've completely driven ORB[SZ] into the ground and spammers are assured their God-given-free-speech rights to use other peoples equipment and services. We need to start a jihad against all companies that provide corporate security services: alarms, guards, etc. After all, these things prevent me from going into corporate mail rooms and using their envelopes, stamps, and other goodies to further my direct mail marketing campaign! How DARE they interfere with MY God-given right to free speech?
Come on, people. ORB[SZ] is a GoodThing(tm). Nobody is coerced into using it. ISPs who use it should be commended! If you have stron feelings against it then get another ISP! Better yet, get the people sending you mail to get their ISPs to close their relays!
--john
Re:Let a little air out of the tires...
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
I know I shouldn't respond to such an obvious troll, but I really don't understand the anti-SUV rage. (I also don't understand these people who are all hopped up over using cell-phones while driving. But that's another story.)
My SUV doesn't accelerate slowly. I'm not saying I'm going to win a 1/4 mile against some muscle car or anything, but my acceleration is more than adequate.
I am several times more courteous than pretty much any of the other drivers I see on a daily basis. I always use turn signals and I don't automatically speed up when the guy ahead of me uses his; I allow people to merge even if I have to slow down or change lanes; I don't cut people off. In short I try to be as safe and courteous as possible.
I don't own a SUV because my neighbors do -- I own it because I like it. It allows me to carry things and it allows me to tow things.
I understand that I may not be representative of all SUV drivers. There are always some assholes in every group. In my driving experience SUV drivers are no more or less safe/courteous/annoying than anybody else with the possible exception of mini-van drivers -- those people bug me.;)
Where should we turn our attention after we finish banninng those wicked, wicked, SUVs?
How about:
ALL gasoline, diesel, coal, and ethanol powered vehicles of any sort? They aren't as bad as those terrible SUVs but they do pollute the environment!
Why stop at vehicles? We certainly can't use any fossil fuels for generating electricity! Think of the pollution!
After that we'll take on nuclear power: musn't forget the eco-lessons of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl!
Next I nominate commercial farming. Who needs food, anyway?
Last, but certainly not least, we have to stop the spread of entropy! If we don't, the universe will certainly die of it!!! Sure, this means completely obliterating life as we know it -- as well as most of the rest of the contents of the universe -- but the end certainly justifies the means, right?
I have a handheld unit that I use on my boat and in my truck. It's pretty good for what I want it for which is basic navigation. After a recent trip I looked at the page that shows all the statistics such as average speed, total time, max speed, etc. It showed my max speed for the trip as being 89 mph which is at least 20 over what I was doing at any given time. (I don't think I could go 89 while towing my boat -- my truck doesn't have the balls.) I suspect that what happened is it switched satellites and got a different fix on my position -- which it then interpreted as actual movement. It would truly suck to get fined based on that...
Your chain of events is somewhat faulty. The article is *not* about TiVo -- they are not the ones doing the "on demand PVR."
Also, #3 has been in the works for a long time. I saw a demo at NAB in 1999 of a similar service. I seem to remember that Larry Ellison was involved somehow, also.
Actually, it makes a twisted sort of business sense, I suppose. Some possible reasons for NOT using T2 to send this data:
URL data in T2 can be encoded on the tape or inserted later, right up to and including at time of air. Anyone along the broadcast chain -- from content originator right up to whomever is actually broadcasting the signal you're actually receiving -- can stick that data in there. That would make it difficult for DC to collect.
Data in T2 can also be removed just about any time you want, again including at time of air.
Broadcasters want to be able to charge their advertisers separately for having URLs (or "Cross-Over Links" as they like to call them) in their commercials. Don't want to pay extra? Guess we'll just shut them off, then. Now, imagine that a cable or DSS provider decided they wanted to do the same thing to the broadcaster. Don't share that revenue? We'll turn T2 off so YOU won't get the $$$ either.
Bandwidth. T2 gets a max of about 60 characters per second. EIA suggests that you don't use nearly that much. (I think the guideline is 15% of total Line 21 usage or something like that. It's been a while.) Much more bandwidth available in the audio signal. There are (or possibly were) companies who were doing various interactive TV things using the audio signal.
Compression. Certain networks (PAX comes to mind) do time compression. They "speed up" the playback in order to squeeze in extra commercial spots. (Something like 30 seconds per hour maybe?) This does some very bad stuff to all line 21 data. Don't know how it would affect the audio tracks.
I don't know, the whole idea sounds really dumb if you ask me.
--john
p.s. The URLs you see on your TV when you put your decoder in T2 mode are indeed intended for WebTV users. Most broadcasters aren't doing much with it yet but usage is increasing. To see a whole bunch of them, tune to the Weather Channel.
Any/.'ers old enough to remember the whole "Paul is dead" thing from the 60's? All the subliminal "messages" hidden in all the Beatles' lyrics, music, album covers, etc. that were supposed to prove that Paul McCartney was actually dead? I'm not (quite) old enough to have experienced it the first time around but my friends and I had a go at it in the late 70's. We turned up all kinds of "evidence" of our own to support our (foregone) conclusion. What we actually proved was this: If you look hard enough you'll find what you're looking for.
When I look at this review I find a petty, overeducated bufoon pointlessly belittling someone who tried to write a fair critique. While Cliff's review may not have been that great it was enough to get me interested in Mr. Wheat's book. I looked unsuccessfully for it in several bookstores. I won't be looking anymore.
It wouldn't surprise me if it were a common dirty trick of this and every incumbent administration to intercept these and other absentee ballots and hold them as an "ace in the hole" in case of a close election.
That's the most ridiulous thing I've heard yet today. Everybody knows that what they actually do is to use the orbital mind control lasers to activate the Bermuda Triangle. The aliens then abduct all the absentee voters and force them to eat pop rocks and drink Coke until they explode. Their ballots are then filed in a special section of Warehouse 23. Or not.
MacOSX's GUI is written by a team of professionals
Yeah? These same pros felt that PDF was a good choice for an internal rendering engine. I'm guessing they must have stock in Motorola because that's going to require some serious CPU power.
Aqua/Quartz will become (overnight) the domainant industry standard of UNIX GUI interfaces.
Anybody that schedules a specific number of release candidates obviously doesn't understand the concept.
Perhaps their combined experience in shipping software lead them to the conclusion that two RC's would likely be needed. Certainly not out of the question. Also, doesn't it make more sense to plan for 2 than to just assume you'll get everything the first time?
Is a "Final Release Candidate" still considered beta? Or is it typically considered stable enough to use in most distros?
Actually, the last several betas have been fairly stable. There are occasionally crashes, but ususally they're only inconvenient instead of catastrophic. Ex: on my machine (running RC1, or something like it) konqueror occasionally crashes while I'm shutting it down. Annoying, but it doesn't prevent me from getting my work done.
Some facts, some pure guessing. Guesses ain't facts, though, folks
True, and I'll be the first to admit so. There's a lot of talk though, and smoke being generally located near to fire...
Weaselly? SEC blackout regs are the law, like it or not.
Yep, but the laws didn't tell them to announce their IPO as far in advance as they did. The question also remains as to what exactly the SEC does or does not prohibit during the blackout.
you missed that there's no monthly subscription fee
Yes, but I also didn't mention that it costs $200 more than TiVo. And am I misremembering or was there an issue with local access numbers for some subscribers?
the only partnership to build cable/DVR combo boxes
I don't mean to sound flip, but does anybody really want a cable combo box? I get the point of the Direct TV combo box (I have one) but I can't really see the point of doing it with cable.
The bottom line remains the same: TiVo and Replay are two products that do (approximately) the same thing in very, very different manners. As a consumer you really need to decide which one best suits your needs, habits, preference, etc.
but I still don't like the idea that they're able (note: no proof that they're DOING it, but they CAN) to target ads to users
You might want to do some research into Replay TV's business model then.
They have plans, among other things, to have banner ads when you press the pause button.
It is also quite likely that they will eventually offer a "premium" service that doesn't have ads.
They are totally not enlightened when it comes to hacking the box. TiVo is down with it as long as people don't try to steal the service.
Don't neglect that they (ReplayTV) hid behind the cloak of the SEC "Blackout Period" for a long time before ultimately cancelling their IPO. They wouldn't even talk about what features were going to be in/out upcoming releases. That's pretty weaselly, IMHO.
Lots and lots of people who have bought the Panasonic boxes returned them. Unlike other manufactureres, Panasonic chose to honor/interperet the Macrovision signal. TiVo and other Replay units pass the signal through but do not "honor" it. This means that the other units will be able to record Macrovision-enabled programs but not copy them. The Panasonic units will not even *record* them. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. However, the Showstopper occasionally misinterperets a weak signal as Macrovision -- efectively stopping the show.
Lastly, don't forget that ReplayTV != TiVo. They have drastically different recording paradigms. Ultimately, you need to make your decision based on operational criteria.
For (a lot) more information, check out the TiVo and Replay TV forums at AVS Forum
Could someone please tell me what extensions? I have no doubt that Microsoft was forced to make some stuff up in order to get MFC to do what they wanted. I'd just like to know what these "extensions" are and how they make it difficult to port from MFC to Gtk.
My point is that it is best to keep a portable codebase that runs kinda fast on several platforms than to have a code base that only runs on one platform but is a little faster.
Valid, but only assuming that you actually care about portability. Not everybody does. Microsoft obviously doesn't.
I've developed quite a few solutions for various clients using MFC. They were not portable -- nor were they meant to be.
Yeah, I was kinda wondering what extensions he was talking about. If he's talking about things like __declspec I can't understand why anyone would care.
If he's talking about the ability to export an entire class from a DLL, well... I hardly think that it's fair to fault VC++ for being able to do something that another compiler can't.
Beyond that I really am not sure what extensions he could be complaining about...
Slashdot Mirror
Not exactly true. I'm prohibited, for example, from public performance of the music. I'm not allowed to broadcast it via radio. License, law, whatever the fact remains that you do NOT own the music or the software. You own the medium and the right to do certain things with the content.
--john
The DMCA and UCITA have given software licenses some bite where before they were nothing but bark. I fully expect to see a great deal more of this sort of thing.
Buying software is more like buying a music CD/record/tape/etc. than it is like buying a car. You are buying the *right* to use the IP in a limited way. The difference is that the record companies have not yet managed to prohibit reselling of their media. Give them time.
--john
For me, a vcs MUST have a command line client to be useful. I'm a big believer in reproducible builds and good version control and a command-line client go a long ways towards realizing that.
Source Safe
I've used multiple versions all the way back to 1994. (That was before Microsoft got their hands on it.)
Pros:
Decent client UI, fairly intuitive.
Easy to set up and administer.
Integrates well with MS tools.
"Project Oriented" -- maps well to your file system.
Cons:
Doesn't scale well.
Performs like dog crap unless you're running it on a local network.
Tends to get corrupted for no apparent reason.
Support for non-windows platforms is weak.
PVCS
Used in 1995 and 1999. The company I worked for in 1996 bought it over my strenuous objections then threw it away in favor of Source Safe.
Pros:
Industry standard, at least at one point.
Cons:
Slow.
Expensive.
Slow.
Arcane.
Slow.
Totally counter-intuitve. The client UI is, perhaps, the worst ever.
Oh, did I mention Slow?
Perforce
Have very little experience with this and none at all on a local network. I would rate it somewhere between SS and PVCS in terms of useability. Probably faster than both in a non-local network scenario. Disclairmer: We were running it over a vpn. Our client (owner of the repository) not exactly network whiz-kids. It took them months to get us additional VPN logins when we added more people to the contract. I suspect that, given a different client, Perforce might have been much better.
Pros:
True client-server.
Speed is okay provided you have decent bandwidth between client and server.
Cons:
Configuring it was a little weird.
Never quite managed to wrap my head around the way it wanted you to work. (Didn't use it for long enough, I guess.)
Clear Case
I have the least experience with this. I'd like it to stay that way, but... my current employer spent about a gazllion dollars buying into the whole "Rational Suite" idea, the gullible bastards.
Pros:
Uh, it's from Rational?
Cons:
Uh, it's from Rational?
Expensive. (Oops. Guess that's included in the previous point.)
Extremely difficult client configuration, at least on Windows. (Why does it need to run as a service on the client?)
Needs mondo hardware on the server.
Harder to administer.
The server crashes alot, at least ours does.
CVS
Those Linux geeks can't all be wrong, can they?
Pros:
True client-server. (Or not, your choice.)
Scales extremely well.
Free/beer.
Free/speech.
Requires very little server horsepower.
Flexible.
Plays well with others. etc.
Cons:
Doesn't handle binary files well.
Documentation leaves a little to be desired.
Like most Open/Free software there's nobody to point the finger at when something goes wrong -- this makes suits nervous.
Confusing use of the term "checkout."
The whole "concurrent" thing can take some getting used to.
I'm sure there are other pros/cons but I think that's enough.
--john
As far as /. can be said to have an ideology I would say that it is obvious:
The DMCA is wrong.
What Mafiaboy did was wrong.
What do the two things have to do with each other?
I propose that we pass legislation enforcing the separation of hardware and software! When you buy your PC you get NO operating system, none. Buy the one you want and install it your own self.
Too feeble to install your own OS? Perhaps you should just give it up and buy WebTV.
--john
--john
Come on, people. ORB[SZ] is a GoodThing(tm). Nobody is coerced into using it. ISPs who use it should be commended! If you have stron feelings against it then get another ISP! Better yet, get the people sending you mail to get their ISPs to close their relays!
--john
My SUV doesn't accelerate slowly. I'm not saying I'm going to win a 1/4 mile against some muscle car or anything, but my acceleration is more than adequate.
I am several times more courteous than pretty much any of the other drivers I see on a daily basis. I always use turn signals and I don't automatically speed up when the guy ahead of me uses his; I allow people to merge even if I have to slow down or change lanes; I don't cut people off. In short I try to be as safe and courteous as possible.
I don't own a SUV because my neighbors do -- I own it because I like it. It allows me to carry things and it allows me to tow things.
I understand that I may not be representative of all SUV drivers. There are always some assholes in every group. In my driving experience SUV drivers are no more or less safe/courteous/annoying than anybody else with the possible exception of mini-van drivers -- those people bug me. ;)
--john
How about:
ALL gasoline, diesel, coal, and ethanol powered vehicles of any sort? They aren't as bad as those terrible SUVs but they do pollute the environment!
Why stop at vehicles? We certainly can't use any fossil fuels for generating electricity! Think of the pollution!
After that we'll take on nuclear power: musn't forget the eco-lessons of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl!
Next I nominate commercial farming. Who needs food, anyway?
Last, but certainly not least, we have to stop the spread of entropy! If we don't, the universe will certainly die of it!!! Sure, this means completely obliterating life as we know it -- as well as most of the rest of the contents of the universe -- but the end certainly justifies the means, right?
--john
I have a handheld unit that I use on my boat and in my truck. It's pretty good for what I want it for which is basic navigation. After a recent trip I looked at the page that shows all the statistics such as average speed, total time, max speed, etc. It showed my max speed for the trip as being 89 mph which is at least 20 over what I was doing at any given time. (I don't think I could go 89 while towing my boat -- my truck doesn't have the balls.) I suspect that what happened is it switched satellites and got a different fix on my position -- which it then interpreted as actual movement. It would truly suck to get fined based on that...
Also, #3 has been in the works for a long time. I saw a demo at NAB in 1999 of a similar service. I seem to remember that Larry Ellison was involved somehow, also.
A. Extrememly crappy picture quality.
Also, TiVo does have a feature that allows you to dump a recorded program off to VCR if you need to keep it.
Actually, it makes a twisted sort of business sense, I suppose. Some possible reasons for NOT using T2 to send this data:
URL data in T2 can be encoded on the tape or inserted later, right up to and including at time of air. Anyone along the broadcast chain -- from content originator right up to whomever is actually broadcasting the signal you're actually receiving -- can stick that data in there. That would make it difficult for DC to collect.
Data in T2 can also be removed just about any time you want, again including at time of air.
Broadcasters want to be able to charge their advertisers separately for having URLs (or "Cross-Over Links" as they like to call them) in their commercials. Don't want to pay extra? Guess we'll just shut them off, then. Now, imagine that a cable or DSS provider decided they wanted to do the same thing to the broadcaster. Don't share that revenue? We'll turn T2 off so YOU won't get the $$$ either.
Bandwidth. T2 gets a max of about 60 characters per second. EIA suggests that you don't use nearly that much. (I think the guideline is 15% of total Line 21 usage or something like that. It's been a while.) Much more bandwidth available in the audio signal. There are (or possibly were) companies who were doing various interactive TV things using the audio signal.
Compression. Certain networks (PAX comes to mind) do time compression. They "speed up" the playback in order to squeeze in extra commercial spots. (Something like 30 seconds per hour maybe?) This does some very bad stuff to all line 21 data. Don't know how it would affect the audio tracks.
I don't know, the whole idea sounds really dumb if you ask me.
--john
p.s. The URLs you see on your TV when you put your decoder in T2 mode are indeed intended for WebTV users. Most broadcasters aren't doing much with it yet but usage is increasing. To see a whole bunch of them, tune to the Weather Channel.
When I look at this review I find a petty, overeducated bufoon pointlessly belittling someone who tried to write a fair critique. While Cliff's review may not have been that great it was enough to get me interested in Mr. Wheat's book. I looked unsuccessfully for it in several bookstores. I won't be looking anymore.
That's the most ridiulous thing I've heard yet today. Everybody knows that what they actually do is to use the orbital mind control lasers to activate the Bermuda Triangle. The aliens then abduct all the absentee voters and force them to eat pop rocks and drink Coke until they explode. Their ballots are then filed in a special section of Warehouse 23. Or not.
--john
Yeah? These same pros felt that PDF was a good choice for an internal rendering engine. I'm guessing they must have stock in Motorola because that's going to require some serious CPU power.
Aqua/Quartz will become (overnight) the domainant industry standard of UNIX GUI interfaces.
Yeah, and monkeys will fly out of my butt.
--john
Perhaps their combined experience in shipping software lead them to the conclusion that two RC's would likely be needed. Certainly not out of the question. Also, doesn't it make more sense to plan for 2 than to just assume you'll get everything the first time?
--john
Actually, the last several betas have been fairly stable. There are occasionally crashes, but ususally they're only inconvenient instead of catastrophic. Ex: on my machine (running RC1, or something like it) konqueror occasionally crashes while I'm shutting it down. Annoying, but it doesn't prevent me from getting my work done.
--john
True, and I'll be the first to admit so. There's a lot of talk though, and smoke being generally located near to fire...
Weaselly? SEC blackout regs are the law, like it or not.
Yep, but the laws didn't tell them to announce their IPO as far in advance as they did. The question also remains as to what exactly the SEC does or does not prohibit during the blackout.
you missed that there's no monthly subscription fee
Yes, but I also didn't mention that it costs $200 more than TiVo. And am I misremembering or was there an issue with local access numbers for some subscribers?
the only partnership to build cable/DVR combo boxes
I don't mean to sound flip, but does anybody really want a cable combo box? I get the point of the Direct TV combo box (I have one) but I can't really see the point of doing it with cable.
The bottom line remains the same: TiVo and Replay are two products that do (approximately) the same thing in very, very different manners. As a consumer you really need to decide which one best suits your needs, habits, preference, etc.
--john
Instead of "Sgt. Pepper" it sounds more like that song The Beatles released a couple of years ago with an old Lennon vocal track...
--john
You might want to do some research into Replay TV's business model then.
They have plans, among other things, to have banner ads when you press the pause button.
It is also quite likely that they will eventually offer a "premium" service that doesn't have ads.
They are totally not enlightened when it comes to hacking the box. TiVo is down with it as long as people don't try to steal the service.
Don't neglect that they (ReplayTV) hid behind the cloak of the SEC "Blackout Period" for a long time before ultimately cancelling their IPO. They wouldn't even talk about what features were going to be in/out upcoming releases. That's pretty weaselly, IMHO.
Lots and lots of people who have bought the Panasonic boxes returned them. Unlike other manufactureres, Panasonic chose to honor/interperet the Macrovision signal. TiVo and other Replay units pass the signal through but do not "honor" it. This means that the other units will be able to record Macrovision-enabled programs but not copy them. The Panasonic units will not even *record* them. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. However, the Showstopper occasionally misinterperets a weak signal as Macrovision -- efectively stopping the show.
Lastly, don't forget that ReplayTV != TiVo. They have drastically different recording paradigms. Ultimately, you need to make your decision based on operational criteria.
For (a lot) more information, check out the TiVo and Replay TV forums at AVS Forum
--john
Could someone please tell me what extensions? I have no doubt that Microsoft was forced to make some stuff up in order to get MFC to do what they wanted. I'd just like to know what these "extensions" are and how they make it difficult to port from MFC to Gtk.
--john
Valid, but only assuming that you actually care about portability. Not everybody does. Microsoft obviously doesn't.
I've developed quite a few solutions for various clients using MFC. They were not portable -- nor were they meant to be.
--john
Yeah, I was kinda wondering what extensions he was talking about. If he's talking about things like __declspec I can't understand why anyone would care.
If he's talking about the ability to export an entire class from a DLL, well... I hardly think that it's fair to fault VC++ for being able to do something that another compiler can't.
Beyond that I really am not sure what extensions he could be complaining about...
--john