Trying to show the shortcomings of XP in a satirical way and proposing changes to make it less fragile is a noble goal, and this book has some points to make. Its vast majority is composed of misunderstandings and logical fallacies, though.
Many XP practices are violently misrepresented. The "thorough analysis" promised on the front cover often comes down to quoting an XP proponent out of context and making fun of it. One of the most ridiculous examples is when they quote Ron Jeffries with "'There must be food' is a core XP principle" and then hold XP responsible for the vermin problem of a company.
Another common pattern is the reference to a project which failed to implement XP followed by the conclusion that XPs demands are unrealistic. Reports of successful implementations are with a handwaving attributed to not doing XP by the book.
The style of the book is questionable, too. At times its tone is quite aggressive - ideas are called "idiotic", XP proponents are accused of intellectual dishonesty. Quotes of XPers are marked with a picture of Marx Groucho, so that you don't accidentally take them seriously. I don't think that satire is good in making someone understand a new concept; satire based on an already distorted view feels painfully pointless.
If you have already made up your mind about XP and enjoy making fun of it, you might like this book. I can't recommend it to anyone interested in a serious criticism, though.
Remember, Walmart has a tendency to find music easily offensive, so don't be suprised if the song you want to download isn't available. They stock that kind of music in the same room with all the leftover pregnant Midge dolls from last Christmas.
link That's probably how she got pregnant in the first place....listening to that devil music.;)
opps! sorry, I was in such a hurry on my submission since I know about this (a friend of mine works for E Ink) that I missed that typo, that should have read 2005. I'm still signing cheques with 2003!
Basiclly an electronic newspaper is a self-contained, reusable, and refreshable version of a traditional newspaper that acquires and holds information electronically. (The electronic newspaper should not be confused with newspapers that offer an online version at a Web site.) The near-future technology - researchers expect to have the product available as soon as 2003 - will use e-paper (electronic paper) as the major component. Information to be displayed will be downloaded through a wireless Internet connection. A number of versions of the future technology are in development, although there are two frontrunners: Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is working on a newspaper that would consist of a single sheet of their e-paper (called Gyricon), while Lucent, in partnership with a company called E Ink, is working on a multi-page device (also called E Ink).
The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is holding a demonstration of its Free Software voting system in Santa Clara, California on April 1, 2004 (yeah, I know the date, but it's not a joke)
I use nVidia drivers in Linux for Xfree, will Xorg use the same drivers? are they compatible? I'd hope/assume so since Xorg is a fork of Xfree...correct?
Viacom was trying to warn Dish Network customers over the weekend that it's channels
should be its and not it's (it's would imply 'it is' which doesn't work)
DirecTV sounds like a great choice
it was for DSL until they pulled the plug on that deal. not a great track record, but if you like buying tv channels from best buy, it's (it is) your choice.
The laptop was more what I was talking about, I build my own desktop/workstation boxen, and love doing that (although having a Dell with a nicely designed case (inside and out) would be sweet too), but for laptops we have a choice of Emperor Linux for laptops, or a few others, but that's not much choice. The iBook was far cheaper, and obv Dell wasn't an option even though it was cheaper than Apple, cause you can't buy it w/o Win
yes, "some" Dells can be purchanced "naked" or w/o win, but there aren't many to choose from there either.
if you had an option to either pay it, or buy a PC without an OS. that it's forced upon you when you buy a PC (via OEM agreements) isn't fair regardless of the cost. I bought and iBook just because I wouldn't pay for Windows, since I would never use it. Yes, I pay a little for OS X, but it's something I may actually use (via MOL in Linux).
*** IRAK_4EvR! smoked US_SOLDIER445 with a flying grenede
US_SOLDIER445: damn camper!
IRAK_4EvR!: hahaha, you have no skill!
*** US_SOLDIER445 starts a vote to kick IRAK_4EvR!
US_SOLDIER445: whatever dude, campers suck, you're the one with no skillz!
IRAK_4EvR!: as if
US_SOLDIER445: right, can you use any other weapon, or can you only use the grenede puker! get some skillz, try your luck with a sniper rifle if you're a real soldier of alaha! (haha!)
IRAK_4EvR!: lamer
*** IRAK_4EvR! smoked US_SOLDIER445 with a flying grenede
all I know is at the time I could do everything with my Apple//e, word processing, visicalc, Apple BASIC. Hell, I even had the orig Castle Wolfenstein! Wow, those were the days.
Slashdot Mirror
yes, it *should* have been, but it was not. This is why we will not STOP FIGHTING AGAINST THIS INJUSTICE!
Cbe
Trying to show the shortcomings of XP in a satirical way and proposing changes to make it less fragile is a noble goal, and this book has some points to make. Its vast majority is composed of misunderstandings and logical fallacies, though.
Many XP practices are violently misrepresented. The "thorough analysis" promised on the front cover often comes down to quoting an XP proponent out of context and making fun of it. One of the most ridiculous examples is when they quote Ron Jeffries with "'There must be food' is a core XP principle" and then hold XP responsible for the vermin problem of a company.
Another common pattern is the reference to a project which failed to implement XP followed by the conclusion that XPs demands are unrealistic. Reports of successful implementations are with a handwaving attributed to not doing XP by the book.
The style of the book is questionable, too. At times its tone is quite aggressive - ideas are called "idiotic", XP proponents are accused of intellectual dishonesty. Quotes of XPers are marked with a picture of Marx Groucho, so that you don't accidentally take them seriously. I don't think that satire is good in making someone understand a new concept; satire based on an already distorted view feels painfully pointless.
If you have already made up your mind about XP and enjoy making fun of it, you might like this book. I can't recommend it to anyone interested in a serious criticism, though.
CVb
link That's probably how she got pregnant in the first place....listening to that devil music. ;)
CVew
opps! sorry, I was in such a hurry on my submission since I know about this (a friend of mine works for E Ink) that I missed that typo, that should have read 2005. I'm still signing cheques with 2003!
CB(f&)
Basiclly an electronic newspaper is a self-contained, reusable, and refreshable version of a traditional newspaper that acquires and holds information electronically. (The electronic newspaper should not be confused with newspapers that offer an online version at a Web site.) The near-future technology - researchers expect to have the product available as soon as 2003 - will use e-paper (electronic paper) as the major component. Information to be displayed will be downloaded through a wireless Internet connection. A number of versions of the future technology are in development, although there are two frontrunners: Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is working on a newspaper that would consist of a single sheet of their e-paper (called Gyricon), while Lucent, in partnership with a company called E Ink, is working on a multi-page device (also called E Ink).
interesting times for sure.
CBDS
The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is holding a demonstration of its Free Software voting system in Santa Clara, California on April 1, 2004 (yeah, I know the date, but it's not a joke)
That's what someone pulling a joke would say!
CVBS
isn't that what's for dinner?
CVBS
could have fooled me. still, once you're used to it, there's no better file manager than BASH IMO.
GUIs should just provide what's needed, and then stay outta the way. this is what I have found with XFCE4 - my GUI of choice these days.
P
nice catch, I saw that after I hit 'submit'. I musta thought rouge == red, and red usually means danger...
CVS
or perhaps he also took inspriation when... Bush Markets Burmese Products; Evades Own Trade Ban
there's no end to the fun in catching Dubya in his lies.
CBS
waiting around for this world to become uninhabitable because of a nuclear war, or a strike from some rouge asteriod!
CBS
I use nVidia drivers in Linux for Xfree, will Xorg use the same drivers? are they compatible? I'd hope/assume so since Xorg is a fork of Xfree...correct?
CVS
Let's not forget that this will make Xfce4 even better!
CBS
unfortunately, this is nothing new.
CBS
nicely done, I am in your debt.
cBv
- RedWolves2 writes "As was mention yesterday,
'As was mentioned yesterday'- Viacom was trying to warn Dish Network customers over the weekend that it's channels
should be its and not it's (it's would imply 'it is' which doesn't work)- DirecTV sounds like a great choice
it was for DSL until they pulled the plug on that deal. not a great track record, but if you like buying tv channels from best buy, it's (it is) your choice.CBVB
I build my own x86 boxen, and drop Linux on em, but this is not applicable for laptops.
CBV
The laptop was more what I was talking about, I build my own desktop/workstation boxen, and love doing that (although having a Dell with a nicely designed case (inside and out) would be sweet too), but for laptops we have a choice of Emperor Linux for laptops, or a few others, but that's not much choice. The iBook was far cheaper, and obv Dell wasn't an option even though it was cheaper than Apple, cause you can't buy it w/o Win
yes, "some" Dells can be purchanced "naked" or w/o win, but there aren't many to choose from there either.
CBV
if you had an option to either pay it, or buy a PC without an OS. that it's forced upon you when you buy a PC (via OEM agreements) isn't fair regardless of the cost. I bought and iBook just because I wouldn't pay for Windows, since I would never use it. Yes, I pay a little for OS X, but it's something I may actually use (via MOL in Linux).
CBV
*** IRAK_4EvR! smoked US_SOLDIER445 with a flying grenede
US_SOLDIER445: damn camper!
IRAK_4EvR!: hahaha, you have no skill!
*** US_SOLDIER445 starts a vote to kick IRAK_4EvR!
US_SOLDIER445: whatever dude, campers suck, you're the one with no skillz!
IRAK_4EvR!: as if
US_SOLDIER445: right, can you use any other weapon, or can you only use the grenede puker! get some skillz, try your luck with a sniper rifle if you're a real soldier of alaha! (haha!)
IRAK_4EvR!: lamer
*** IRAK_4EvR! smoked US_SOLDIER445 with a flying grenede
IRAK_4EvR!: eat that!
US_SOLDIER445: I WAS TYPING YOU LOSER!
IRAK_4EvR!: ROTFLOL!
I guess the correcter title is: "ATI Releases Drivers for XFree 4.3.0 for x86 based Linux systems only"
-or-
"ATI Releases Drivers for XFree 4.3.0 for x86 based GNU/Linux systems only"
CBV
...uhhh...wait...forget it.
CBV
Then we got Prodos for //c and //e (worked nice on vanilla ][+ but required an 80columns card
Nice! I had one of those, to init it, I'd type:
INIT3
Ah, the things I can rem from 20 yrs back, but I can't remember to buy milk on the way home from work!
CBV
I still see no support for Linux PPC, so the correct title for this article is: "ATI Releases Drivers for XFree 4.3.0 for x86 based systems only"
Thanks.
CBV
all I know is at the time I could do everything with my Apple //e, word processing, visicalc, Apple BASIC. Hell, I even had the orig Castle Wolfenstein! Wow, those were the days.
CB