> And I know that aalib comes with an ASCII X server.
Do you have more info on this project? I went to the aalib page and I didn't see anything about an X server.
I am curious how it was implemented. For example I have seen the Doom on aalib port and if I remember right it interlaced graphic characters to create the effect. But for an X server did they just use one character to represent one pixel so that you have an 80x25 window with a larger virtual screen? Or did they do something similar to the Doom port where the screen is constantly flashing?
It's absurd to lock people out of a Web site based on browser-type in the hopes that folks using ancient ("third-generation") Web browsers are actually going to spend 17 hours downloading the latest version on their 14.4 modems.
You're right. Anyone still using Netscape Gold 3.0 would almost certainly still be running some old 386sx/33 with 4MB of RAM. Can't be many of those left.
So the "upgrade recommendation" is really something else isn't it?
PS. I hope whoever marked your post as a troll gets spanked hard in meta-moderation.
But you'd better cc: postmaster@sharpelectronics.com and sales@sharpelectronics.com and support@sharpelectronics.com just to be sure somebody sees it.
And contrary to what another post said, Netscape 4.x does not work correctly. I have it open right now and the DHTML is not displaying correctly so the asses never even tested it. But at least it didn't send me to the 'convert to ie' page.
Too bad they didn't IPO during the dot com boom. With lots of capital maybe they could have hung in there long enough for the market to grow and eventually become a viable company.
1. Generals isn't out yet so wtf are you talking about.
2. " If they want this to catch on, they really need to port the server to Linux." Are you one of those folks who are so deluded that you actually think there is a large Linux gaming market out there?
He specifically stated that he was talking about the porting the server not the client. It's even right there in the snippet that you quoted. So what is with your vicious knee-jerk reaction against his comment?
If you don't understand what clients and servers are, don't be too embarassed to ask. That would be better than flaming someone for making a comment that goes over your head.
This pops up in IE for just a split second when you mistype a hostname or for some other reason it cannot be resolved.
http://auto.search.msn.com/response.asp?MT=someu nk nownhost.someunknowndomain.com&srch=3&prov=&utf8 From which they can get all the connection request information and headers, as well as use pattern matching and best guess techniques to determine what people are searching for.
But it seems even sleazier for AOL to directly collect info from successful searches as well as from failed ones.
Devoting compute cycles to specific, worthy causes is great, but the point of an ISOS would be to make all connected hosts more powerful and efficient. If I want to factor a large prime or predict the weather, I might have hundreds or maybe thousands of otherwise idle computers available to help with the task. So each processor is constantly busy.
Privacy is very important but can certainly be worked out. For one thing, data could be stored in "bit stripes" so that each byte of your data is split into 8 separate streams but stored in more than 8 foreign hosts for redundancy and availability reasons. In that way no one could reconstruct any portion of your data from fragments on their drive and no laws could be broken by storing chains of bits.
Also private and public space could be partitioned off so that things you want kept on your system would stay there and only data associated with your weather predicting program would get stored on the ISOS. And quotas would need to be enforced so that if you donate 100GB to the ISOS storage then you may store, say 30GB (due to redundancy) in the distributed system yourself.
And perhaps your CPU's MIPS rating and uptime could be tracked to keep things fair. Then it would be almost like your computer storing up its processor cycles and getting them back all at once when you have a job to run. Grid computing makes sense and a World Wide Grid could make sense if it is feasible and the logistics could be worked out. Imagine everyone everywhere having the power of a supercomputer at their disposal.
My tax dollars where wasted on a huge court battle about a stupid browser
I would almost agree with you that my tax dollars were wasted on this but only because the guilty party is being allowed to continue leveraging their monopoly power to gain additional monopolies.
It was also free as can be, even though it was boxed in shelves. I don't know anyone (laymens included) who ever purchased NS.
I'm not surprised that you don't know anyone who bought Netscape. I'd bet that you steal most of your software and the only thing you've ever paid for has been windows because it was included into the cost of your pc.
The reality of the situation, was that MS made the better browser. You should note that most IE4.0 browsers where downloaded (just like NS) since Win98 was not even released yet. Most copies of Win95 being sold still had IE3 AND Netscape on it. Really, by the time Win98 came out in June of 1998, IE4 already had made huge gains, based on consumer choice. Furthermore, many remember that at the time most all ISP software packaged Netscape as the exclusive or preferred browser, yet IE still gained marketshare. Again, remember that this is all before IE packaged with Windows.
The actual reality of the situation is that your version of history is a flight of fancy. *You* should note that hardly anyone downloaded IE4 over a modem just like Netscape. The vast majority of users used what came bundled on their pc or on their AOL or Earthlink or whatever diskette that their ISP sent to them. And that was almost always IE because of the exclusive deals that microsoft's OS monopoly allowed them to strongarm out of the providers.
You must have slept through the mid-nineties. The only choice that most consumers made was to not download 10-20 megs of software over their 14k or 9600 baud modems and then have to install a big scary windows program and that was if they even knew there was an alternative and where to get it. Also, IE was packaged with windows in all OEM versions. Only the original packaged version did not contain IE by default and that was soon changed.
Netscape is down to a measly 20% share. But is it any wonder? Who wants to use a browser that hasn't had any serious development work done on it since 1996? (I am only referring to 4.x here, obviously Mozilla will be making waves pretty soon.) How could Netscape afford to spend tens of millions developing a program when a $16B monopoly making 65% margins was burying their development costs in Windows (forcing consumers to buy it) and giving theirs away for "free".
Yes Opera is gaining a small share, no thanks to you. But what a coincidence that 10% of US families now have high speed internet access making the multi-megabyte download fast and painless. Users are also more sophisticated today and are not as afraid to install software by themselves. And as you grudgingly admit, Opera is free software.
You can laugh today because Microsoft is off the hook. Billion dollar lawyers, political donations, and legal maneuvering has won the day for another of our nation's rich law-breaking corporate entities. But I am still laughing at you tshak because your MSFT stock hasn't increased in value in a long, long time. In fact if you bought it about 3 years ago at $120 a share then you have lost half your investment.
And now that Enron has been caught doing some of the same things as Microsoft, don't expect to see your shares split anytime soon. 8^D
If you want Open Source to really take off, forget about a spokes person. Meet these three criteria, and Open Source will speak for itself.
And it is speaking for itself. The change that ESR is talking about is taking place. It is starting overseas but the effects will ripple back to the US and eventually turn the tide here.
I disagree with ESR about the MS tax killing their monopoly. Low cost/no cost PC's were tried and failed. Margins have gone back up for the vendors that didn't go out of business in the price wars. When a vendors margin is razor thin, then MS's ability to adjust pricing gives them even more control over that vendor not less. Of course the vendor could try to opt out of the situation by encouraging linux but then MS could use their competitors to effectively kill them before a linux PC took off. And soon they won't even need to use Dell for the dirty work because they will have their own PC line called Xbox.
If you can't get your book published don't register it for a copyright. The clock starts ticking when you register it. If your grandson & heir discovers your lost novel, he can register it and the clock starts then. I break into your attic I can't register your novel for copyright.
In your vision, whomever registers first for the copyright would be given the exclusive use rights. If someone steals your laptop with your virtually finished literary masterpiece (or song or software) and registers it immediately and without your knowledge, it would be difficult later to prove that you authored the work and you would have no legitimate right to it anyway because you didn't copyright it.
You have an interesting viewpoint. Please tell me how you would cover these cases:
Case 3: Author writes 22 novels over a 20 year period. Can't get published. Finally gets published. Major success. Now everyone wants to read his early stuff. But it would now be public domain so it would only detract from sales of his new stuff. Should it be lost forever?
Case 4: Writer releases book. Slow to catch on. But eventually is enormous hit called Lord of the Rings. Best seller for decades afterward. But writer would get little compensation under your plan.
Case 5: That writer then dies. His son gathers notes and maps of his fathers regarding Middle Earth to release as a book called Silmarillion. But since the it's in public domain, he burns it all instead to make room for wife's new sewing room.
Well I like the way you wish to keep things simple and straightforward. If you ever blast off and claim your own planet maybe I would consider emigrating to your Technocracy.:-)
However I am sure that if the Big3 corporation could immediately begin using Joe Blow's patented idea or copyrighted expression just because he had a sudden and unfortunate accident, that more small-time patent holders and copyright holders would die in sudden, unfortunate accidents.
I surmise that you value life highly. That's great. But you are forgetting that some don't. Remember the mother in texas who tried to have a high school girl murdered so that her daughter would make the cheerleader squad. Remember the Toronto man who tried to have a co-worker murdered because they were both up for the same promotion. These are all too common headlines.
Also I am not proposing anything. The system is already like this. If you have a well thought out alternative to our current system which still accomplishes what patent/copyright was meant to, then I would love to hear it. Really. There has been a lot of discussion around these issues in the Open Source community and we need to keep the topic fresh.
I can't really imagine anyone killing an author just to enrich the public domain. That is far too abstract and selfless a goal to inspire cold-blooded murderer.
Scenario: Bill writes a library of widgets and a computer program based on those widgets. He has the copyright. The source is closed and the file format is closed. Jon must license Bill's widgets to ensure compatability with Bill's program which has the lion's share of the market. Jon knows that if he didn't have to pay the stiff licensing fee that he could take the market from Bill and make millions of dollars. Hmmmm. What to do? What to do?
My point was not that it would pass into the public domain but that if someone could stand to make a lot of money by whatever means, then they would have a motivation.
That is a good point about the copyright holders own family though. I guess he should worry about that after his productive years are over!
That's ridiculous Dude. Human nature dictates that people take the path of least resistance. Because of that, the way a system is set up has an enormous impact on what choices people make. An example: back when Netscape was still a superior browser, did people download a huge install file across their 14.4k modems or use the not so good but already installed browser that came with windows? You know the answer and the consequences.
I totally agree with your sentiment. I was going to point out the infrared/cannabis thing but someone beat me to it. OTOH that was a small win for freedom and it is probably moot now because they can do anything they want now by using words like 'terrorism' and 'national security'.
When I told him that anything like that was obviously a worm or some kind of scam, he responded: "But it was from a girl who DOES send me pictures of herself naked!"
The naked girl pictures are probably from a 46 year old fat, balding, gay man who is just trying to get your friends brother to send back pictures of himself!
Amendment IV of the U.S. Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Slashdot Mirror
> And I know that aalib comes with an ASCII X server.
Do you have more info on this project? I went to the aalib page and I didn't see anything about an X server.
I am curious how it was implemented. For example I have seen the Doom on aalib port and if I remember right it interlaced graphic characters to create the effect. But for an X server did they just use one character to represent one pixel so that you have an 80x25 window with a larger virtual screen? Or did they do something similar to the Doom port where the screen is constantly flashing?
Oh well, I thought this should have made the front page the first time.
But it does make me feel like a redheaded stepchild.
You're right. Anyone still using Netscape Gold 3.0 would almost certainly still be running some old 386sx/33 with 4MB of RAM. Can't be many of those left.
So the "upgrade recommendation" is really something else isn't it?
PS. I hope whoever marked your post as a troll gets spanked hard in meta-moderation.
Actually Mozilla is >= to Netscape 4.x in name only.
It uses a significantly different Document Object Model so it's not merely a matter of sending the same codes to it that you would to Netscape 4.x.
Navigator 4.x used a Netscape proprietary [LAYER] tag for DHTML while Mozilla conforms to the newer HTML specs.
But you'd better cc: postmaster@sharpelectronics.com and sales@sharpelectronics.com and support@sharpelectronics.com just to be sure somebody sees it.
And contrary to what another post said, Netscape 4.x does not work correctly. I have it open right now and the DHTML is not displaying correctly so the asses never even tested it. But at least it didn't send me to the 'convert to ie' page.
I am using Netscape Communicator 4.78 under Linux and the pages do not work correctly for me.
Why would I buy a handheld pc device from them that I can't even use to properly browse their website when I need tech support?
They can take their microsoft centric website and shove it.
'No Sharp for you!' - The Sharp Nazi
Too bad they didn't IPO during the dot com boom. With lots of capital maybe they could have hung in there long enough for the market to grow and eventually become a viable company.
2. " If they want this to catch on, they really need to port the server to Linux." Are you one of those folks who are so deluded that you actually think there is a large Linux gaming market out there?
He specifically stated that he was talking about the porting the server not the client. It's even right there in the snippet that you quoted. So what is with your vicious knee-jerk reaction against his comment?
If you don't understand what clients and servers are, don't be too embarassed to ask. That would be better than flaming someone for making a comment that goes over your head.
This pops up in IE for just a split second when you mistype a hostname or for some other reason it cannot be resolved.
u nk nownhost.someunknowndomain.com&srch=3&prov=&utf8
http://auto.search.msn.com/response.asp?MT=some
From which they can get all the connection request information and headers, as well as use pattern matching and best guess techniques to determine what people are searching for.
But it seems even sleazier for AOL to directly collect info from successful searches as well as from failed ones.
Devoting compute cycles to specific, worthy causes is great, but the point of an ISOS would be to make all connected hosts more powerful and efficient. If I want to factor a large prime or predict the weather, I might have hundreds or maybe thousands of otherwise idle computers available to help with the task. So each processor is constantly busy.
Privacy is very important but can certainly be worked out. For one thing, data could be stored in "bit stripes" so that each byte of your data is split into 8 separate streams but stored in more than 8 foreign hosts for redundancy and availability reasons. In that way no one could reconstruct any portion of your data from fragments on their drive and no laws could be broken by storing chains of bits.
Also private and public space could be partitioned off so that things you want kept on your system would stay there and only data associated with your weather predicting program would get stored on the ISOS. And quotas would need to be enforced so that if you donate 100GB to the ISOS storage then you may store, say 30GB (due to redundancy) in the distributed system yourself.
And perhaps your CPU's MIPS rating and uptime could be tracked to keep things fair. Then it would be almost like your computer storing up its processor cycles and getting them back all at once when you have a job to run. Grid computing makes sense and a World Wide Grid could make sense if it is feasible and the logistics could be worked out. Imagine everyone everywhere having the power of a supercomputer at their disposal.
I would almost agree with you that my tax dollars were wasted on this but only because the guilty party is being allowed to continue leveraging their monopoly power to gain additional monopolies.
It was also free as can be, even though it was boxed in shelves. I don't know anyone (laymens included) who ever purchased NS.
I'm not surprised that you don't know anyone who bought Netscape. I'd bet that you steal most of your software and the only thing you've ever paid for has been windows because it was included into the cost of your pc.
The reality of the situation, was that MS made the better browser. You should note that most IE4.0 browsers where downloaded (just like NS) since Win98 was not even released yet. Most copies of Win95 being sold still had IE3 AND Netscape on it. Really, by the time Win98 came out in June of 1998, IE4 already had made huge gains, based on consumer choice. Furthermore, many remember that at the time most all ISP software packaged Netscape as the exclusive or preferred browser, yet IE still gained marketshare. Again, remember that this is all before IE packaged with Windows.
The actual reality of the situation is that your version of history is a flight of fancy. *You* should note that hardly anyone downloaded IE4 over a modem just like Netscape. The vast majority of users used what came bundled on their pc or on their AOL or Earthlink or whatever diskette that their ISP sent to them. And that was almost always IE because of the exclusive deals that microsoft's OS monopoly allowed them to strongarm out of the providers.
You must have slept through the mid-nineties. The only choice that most consumers made was to not download 10-20 megs of software over their 14k or 9600 baud modems and then have to install a big scary windows program and that was if they even knew there was an alternative and where to get it. Also, IE was packaged with windows in all OEM versions. Only the original packaged version did not contain IE by default and that was soon changed.
Netscape is down to a measly 20% share. But is it any wonder? Who wants to use a browser that hasn't had any serious development work done on it since 1996? (I am only referring to 4.x here, obviously Mozilla will be making waves pretty soon.) How could Netscape afford to spend tens of millions developing a program when a $16B monopoly making 65% margins was burying their development costs in Windows (forcing consumers to buy it) and giving theirs away for "free".
Yes Opera is gaining a small share, no thanks to you. But what a coincidence that 10% of US families now have high speed internet access making the multi-megabyte download fast and painless. Users are also more sophisticated today and are not as afraid to install software by themselves. And as you grudgingly admit, Opera is free software.
You can laugh today because Microsoft is off the hook. Billion dollar lawyers, political donations, and legal maneuvering has won the day for another of our nation's rich law-breaking corporate entities. But I am still laughing at you tshak because your MSFT stock hasn't increased in value in a long, long time. In fact if you bought it about 3 years ago at $120 a share then you have lost half your investment.
And now that Enron has been caught doing some of the same things as Microsoft, don't expect to see your shares split anytime soon. 8^D
And Microsoft didn't even have to pay a $1 fine this time!
Is there no justice? Oh right, I forgot.
And it is speaking for itself. The change that ESR is talking about is taking place. It is starting overseas but the effects will ripple back to the US and eventually turn the tide here.
I disagree with ESR about the MS tax killing their monopoly. Low cost/no cost PC's were tried and failed. Margins have gone back up for the vendors that didn't go out of business in the price wars. When a vendors margin is razor thin, then MS's ability to adjust pricing gives them even more control over that vendor not less. Of course the vendor could try to opt out of the situation by encouraging linux but then MS could use their competitors to effectively kill them before a linux PC took off. And soon they won't even need to use Dell for the dirty work because they will have their own PC line called Xbox.
Do those sup modules have the layer 3 switching?
[Drool]
I am hoping for a $29.95/month Post At +5 subscription.
And all the moderator points you want at a buck a shot.
If you can't get your book published don't register it for a copyright. The clock starts ticking when you register it. If your grandson & heir discovers your lost novel, he can register it and the clock starts then. I break into your attic I can't register your novel for copyright.
In your vision, whomever registers first for the copyright would be given the exclusive use rights. If someone steals your laptop with your virtually finished literary masterpiece (or song or software) and registers it immediately and without your knowledge, it would be difficult later to prove that you authored the work and you would have no legitimate right to it anyway because you didn't copyright it.
You have an interesting viewpoint. Please tell me how you would cover these cases:
Case 3: Author writes 22 novels over a 20 year period. Can't get published. Finally gets published. Major success. Now everyone wants to read his early stuff. But it would now be public domain so it would only detract from sales of his new stuff. Should it be lost forever?
Case 4: Writer releases book. Slow to catch on. But eventually is enormous hit called Lord of the Rings. Best seller for decades afterward. But writer would get little compensation under your plan.
Case 5: That writer then dies. His son gathers notes and maps of his fathers regarding Middle Earth to release as a book called Silmarillion. But since the it's in public domain, he burns it all instead to make room for wife's new sewing room.
Just curious.
P.S. It's spelled Mein Kampf
Well I like the way you wish to keep things simple and straightforward. If you ever blast off and claim your own planet maybe I would consider emigrating to your Technocracy. :-)
However I am sure that if the Big3 corporation could immediately begin using Joe Blow's patented idea or copyrighted expression just because he had a sudden and unfortunate accident, that more small-time patent holders and copyright holders would die in sudden, unfortunate accidents.
I surmise that you value life highly. That's great. But you are forgetting that some don't. Remember the mother in texas who tried to have a high school girl murdered so that her daughter would make the cheerleader squad. Remember the Toronto man who tried to have a co-worker murdered because they were both up for the same promotion. These are all too common headlines.
Also I am not proposing anything. The system is already like this. If you have a well thought out alternative to our current system which still accomplishes what patent/copyright was meant to, then I would love to hear it. Really. There has been a lot of discussion around these issues in the Open Source community and we need to keep the topic fresh.
Scenario: Bill writes a library of widgets and a computer program based on those widgets. He has the copyright. The source is closed and the file format is closed. Jon must license Bill's widgets to ensure compatability with Bill's program which has the lion's share of the market. Jon knows that if he didn't have to pay the stiff licensing fee that he could take the market from Bill and make millions of dollars. Hmmmm. What to do? What to do?
My point was not that it would pass into the public domain but that if someone could stand to make a lot of money by whatever means, then they would have a motivation.
That is a good point about the copyright holders own family though. I guess he should worry about that after his productive years are over!
That's ridiculous Dude. Human nature dictates that people take the path of least resistance. Because of that, the way a system is set up has an enormous impact on what choices people make. An example: back when Netscape was still a superior browser, did people download a huge install file across their 14.4k modems or use the not so good but already installed browser that came with windows? You know the answer and the consequences.
It allows a widow and orphaned children to be provided in case the copyright holder dies early.
It also keeps people from knocking off a copyright holder to open up his exclusive use rights to the public.
I totally agree with your sentiment. I was going to point out the infrared/cannabis thing but someone beat me to it. OTOH that was a small win for freedom and it is probably moot now because they can do anything they want now by using words like 'terrorism' and 'national security'.
The naked girl pictures are probably from a 46 year old fat, balding, gay man who is just trying to get your friends brother to send back pictures of himself!
The government just wants to verify that what Microsoft said is true. If it is then they would have to drop that line of questioning.
Would you like us to all accept microsoft's claims without question, even after Gate's testimony? 'Well, that depends on what the word "the" means.'
Amendment IV of the U.S. Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.