I'm in a position where, in a few (5-10) years, I'll likely have access to a few million in cash assets.
I'm in on the "ground floor" of a company that's tripled in size in the past year, and is set to do so many times over again. Dreams do, on occasion, come true. My wife is one, and my current job situation is another!
I figure in 10-15 years, I'll cash out and do something else, and I recently decided that I'd take this capital and start or invest an alternative energy company.
I'm young (32) so I have time to consider this.
I figure the two biggest problems facing humanity are education and destruction of our ecosystem (the latter could likely be dealt with by dealing with the former)
I'm right now hitting hard on the first, since my company provides workflow automation for alternative education enterprises. (Charter schools and Independent study programs in California) By an unofficial survey, the end result of my efforts is approximately 500 students getting an education with alternatives that would not exist without my (still small) company.
My company's reach is also growing - within 2 years or so, we'll be providing workflow management to K-12 institutions from coast to coast.
I'm damn proud of this!
I'm not sure what I would want to invest in, would I want to start my own company? What? So far, it seems it might be best option to work towards biodesiel. There was a recennt article here on/. about an algae that grows to become 50% refinable biodeisel. That, so far, seems the most viable alternative.
The key for me? Start/invest in an alternative energy company that is profitable. I honestly don't care if the idea is stolen by a competitor and my wealth amounts to squat. If I can help break the stanglehold of big oil, my life's work will be complete, and my life's meaning as a conttributing member of society will be complete.
So... I have these assets accumulating rapidly - what next?
Don't complain about fuel problems when you live 25 miles from your job and can't take the train!
I live about 500 miles from "my job". Actually, I have several, one of which is about 2024 miles from me. (a la MapQuest) See, I telecommute via the Internet. I can (and do) work anywhere, via any broadband 'net connection, from the Starbucks T-Mobile to some wifi hotspot in a residential area. So, I don't commute at all, though I tend to travel a lot.
But, I live in an area where you *could* do without a car, but I choose not to, owning two, one each for my wife and I.
In your world, am I part of the solution, or part of the problem?
If all ram were written to disk, what is the purpose of ram? Why do kernel developers spend days/months/years developing more efficient file system caching algorithms?
I'm amazed by the uncreative dumb-ass comments on this thread. What amazing lack of vision!
Have you never really used Novell Netware? Back in the 1980s, Novell had "Network File Server" down in ways that still can only be approximated.
Let's say you had a file on the server. It tracked how often you accessed it. When it defragged the disk, it would optimize for the most commonly used files.
If a file went long enough, it would spool that file to tape. You could still do a "dir" (Novell was commonly used in DOS 5 days) and it would show up. But, if you copied it or tried to access it, there would be a delay while the very infrequently used file was pulled from the tape drive.
It was *that* good. But, if you were paying any attention at all, you'd notice that that sounds amazingly like how Virtual Memory..... LRU, anybody?
The only difference between using "everything is a file" and normal RAM is that the MEMORY used by a program would itself be a file handle, even though, being very frequently used, it would be kept in system memory/cache.
If something in memory isn't used, it's written to disk. (Already happens a la VM, but in a screwy, non-uniform way) And so on. In a process that's invisible to the programmer, much as other file handles are.
I'm not suggesting that you'd use fopen() to write an integer to a memory location - I'm not sure which is more retarded, the idea, or thinking that's what I meant.
But, let's say that you wanted to start a process. The first step to using memory is to allocate it, and *THAT* would be done a la fopen() or something similar. The memory used by a process would be tied to a file handle, which, if the process was hung, or sleeping, would eventually get written to disk.
With this model, you could pause the entire machine, write everything to disk, power it down, and turn it back on, reload the processes running, and you wouldn't have to do any weirds like you do now. (think VMWare's suspend, only without all the crazy memory tricks they have to play)
Also, if a process is running, there's a file handle associated there with it, and thus you couldn't have a program hide itself by remaining memory resident. (Which is why it belongs in this article)
Killing a process could be as simple as erasing it's allocated memory.
How is that retarded, infeasible, or whatever else was implied here? Just because it's how it's not Always Been Done (tm), doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be done!
So, the 60-hour workweeks I spend writing workflow automation software is just not all that important? It's not worth the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars we save our clients through streamlining their organizations?
I guess that's not "killer-app" enough like OMFG B00B135!
Perhaps this should be read as
"porn is _your_ killer app of the internet" ?
There are plenty of people who have "killer apps" other than porn.
This is a pretty clear example of why we need to make a change in the way files/memory are kept.
Here's the heirarchy for data storage:
cpu registers (where the data is requested) l1 cache l2 cache l3 cache RAM <snip> disk/network
Notice the disconnect between RAM and disk. All levels of storage above disk are essentially buffers for the RAM - Why the disconnect at disk/network?
I think we should remodel the memory/storage model to fall fully in line with "everything is a file" - including blocks of memory! Treat memory as though it were simply a buffer for a file, and make the concept of "in memory" merely a detail for the disk cache controller.
Writing to memory and writing to disk/network share etc. should be the same operation and would eliminate all kinds of un-needed software complexity.
Microsoft's ridiculous profit margins are drawing competition like moths to a flame.
What are you smoking? 'cause, whatever it is, it must be GOOD...
Wait a minute, perhaps your analogy is right, after all. I mean, Netscape was drawn, like a moth to a flame, and then was burned to a crisp.
So was Corel/Wordperfect. So was Borland, Digital Research, Stac Electronics, IBM, and too many other companies to name.
Yeah, those margins are working alright, because that high-margin business is just so lucrative, it takes software with no cost at all just to provide enough market incentive to effectively compete with Microsoft...
I won't argue that the marketplace is correcting itself - it appears to be, despite the failures of the Justice dept to help the consumers.
However, if only Mozilla supports the Xforms2 standard, not a single site will adapt them. IE is still the market leader (yes, I'm using Firefox, so don't blame me;))...
Actually, that's not my experience at *all*. We vend various workflow automation products for schools and educational facilities. I've already done a survey to determine the impact of requiring the Mozilla browser for a web-ish product, and the issues raised in the survey ended at the words "free download".
We already require them to download our software in order to use it - Mozilla just becomes part of "our software" to download...
(We're talking about institutions of typically between 10 and 100 staff)
So when I hear about Xforms coming out, I just DROOL... If I can deliver a better, more productive product faster using Mozilla, AND get a chance to improve the security of my clients' computer systems, you think I would say no?!??
You're only kidding yourself if you think things like Sendmail are intuitive to set up without needing to hit the web rather often to figure out the right commands to poke in. In the case of Sendmail, for example, it's a right pain in the ass compared to Exchange to get running.
In this case, I'd agree. But, here's the real kicker... how much of a pain is it to KEEP it running?
In the case of sendmail, I've seen installations with medium volume (>200,000 messages per day) run largely unattended for years. Maybe, 1 or 2 relatively minor incidents per year.
Backups are easy, and self-referential. AFAIK, Windows file locking prevents an Exchange system from being properly backed up without shutting down Exchange during the backup process)
So, it takes another day or so to set up. Then you sleep very soundly thereafter, with uptimes frequently exceeding 200 days, and that only broken by applying planned patches.
How is this NOT a winning proposition?
It all comes down to this statement: "You know what you like, and you like what you know".
Ironically, this technology can take us to 'the stars' but not toward our own.
And, why not?
Sailing ships have sailed "upwind" for many centuries.
In outer space, you are either in orbit, or falling directly towards the nearest large body. A solar sail can be used to slow down or accellerate lateral speed simply by rotating it 45 degrees.
Although they are right, in that solar sails do accelerate the entire trip and carry no fuel, I don't think that sails are "the way to go" unless we're talking about a ten thousand year multi-generational ship.
I consider the Bussard RamJet the "only way to fly". It carries no fuel, but is powered by carving a planet-sized swath out of the ambient hydrogen atoms out of interstellar space and fusing them.
With interstellar distances, the real issue is: how quickly can you get to relativistic speeds? Because, at.5 C, it'd take thousands to millions of years to get anywhere. But, at relativistic speeds, it'd still take thousands of years, but to the crew on board, it'd be like mere hundreds or even tens of years.
You need power to get you there in less than hundreds of years - thus the RamJet.
Not true at all. It's so stupid when people keep making this comparison.
Real engineering has many proven designs and is based on physics.
Software "engineering" is nothing like that. It's not physical.
Software engineering is EXACTLY like that. You think software doesn't have "many proven designs" based on the "physics" of computing?
The "physics" you speak of define the abilities and limitations of the medium. The exact same thing is true in software - the hardware platform and programming environment define the abilities and limitations of the medium.
The ONLY difference is the set of rules that comprise the physics - and even then, the real capabilities of what computers can do are bound by the limitations of... you guessed it... PHYSICS.
It's not only similar - it's the same thing. Why else would John Carmack, highly skilled, world-class programmer, be so readily able to convert his skills to a viable contender for the X prize?
Next time, make sure you have some idea what you are talking about before you start talking.
I read somewhere here locally about how "hackable" RFID is. So, here's what I suggest:
Reprogram your id card so that you appear to be the president of Estonia. Get arrested, do all that jazz. Make sure you aren't the only one.
Then, go to your local card issuer and ask for a new card because yours "isn't working". Wash, rinse, repeat.
Better yet, publish all your results on a public web page, and provide press releases to your major media (whatever applies in Estonia)
You'll spend some time in jail, and it might be unpleasant at times, but you'll probably make the point.
If you don't like this advice, don't ask for advice on slashdot. Slashdot is FULL TO THE BRIM OF:
1) Teenagers using Mom's computer in the cellar, and who don't care about you personally in any way,
2) Antisocial tripe who have an oddly foreign sounding accent even though they were raised in the area in which they live, and who, if they cared about you personally, wouldn't do anything whatsoever about it, or
3) Middle-aged (and often wealthy) nerds/geeks who would like to be "hip" but still really don't care about you personally in any way.
I'm probably in the third category. If the advice I give causes jail time, your death, or discomfort, remember what you paid for it.
What's really sad about/. is that there's a good chance this point would be modded as "funny"...
Bottom line is: Advice is only useful when you can evaluate the value of the advice provider. since/. is largely anonymous (you might recognize a sig line, but who ever follows the actual user names? and sig lines can be changed - I changed mine about 2 weeks ago) you can never evaluate the value of advice given.
Did anybody else look at that video and immediately remember the montage sequence from The Right Stuff with archival footage of NASA's rockets blowing up?
Wow... am I with you on this one. Remember people... these are ENGINEERS. They are developing something new...
Compare this engineering to software engineering.
1) A software engineer comes up with an idea.
2) A programmer writes a test case of the idea. Often, the programmer is the engineer in step 1.
3) Software is run. Program crashes, bombs, but does something resembling the goals in step 1.
4) Bugs are found, worked out, kinked, etc.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the program works as it should....
The ONLY difference between this and aeronautics is that when it crashes, you have to rebuild the rocket. (You have to rebuild the software, too, but that's assumed, automatic and usually done in 10 seconds)
So, I really don't get why the disconnect. It's engineering! Products are seldom viable in the first design attempt, but a basically workable design is tweaked until it's ready.
Flamingos don't bury there head in the sand, it's Ostriches you are thinking about.
...and "offense" is not spelled "offence", and "I" should always be capitalized. (relevance...?)
Whats complaining about the "damn gubmint" got to do with voting?
Why should I listen to somebody complain about the actions of their government who has already made it clear they don't want their opinion to matter? Not only do I fail to see how you could see this connection, I fail to see how you could *not* make this connection.
Btw, using unlicensed software isn't a criminal offence, it's a civil offence.
Laws regarding the violation of copyright vary. What's true in the US is not true everywhere.
...in some abstract way i care about both of these things...
It's not abstract at all. I am a software developer, and I frequently use code/software/libraries that I've purchased or found for free on the 'net. Frequently, I cannot use GPL code in my software products due to licensing conflicts.
So, if you develop software (and there are LOTS of slashdotters in my camp) licenses can be very, very important.
And fergawdzakes-- when are you L337 H4X0RZ going to trade up to WPA-Personal from WEP. Come on, people. It's almost 2005 now!
As soon as drivers are available for a Belkin PCI card that support WPA on Win98. In the meantime, I'm left with 128 bit WEP, and a silent (unbroadcasted) SSID.
I think myself, like the majority of people that use software could give a flying fsck about the license some software is using.
And so, I see a clear picture of a large, pink flamingo, with beautiful plumage, with its head in the sand.
I know, it's a myth - they really don't bury their heads in the sand, but that's not true of humans. People bury their heads in intellectual sand all the time.
Software licenses mirror politics in this respect. If anybody EVER begins to complain about the "damn gubmint" my first question is... "Did you vote?". If the answer is anything but "Of course" then nothing they say has any bearing on anything, and I'm very explicit about telling them so. I simply don't engage in verbal political discussions/debates with people who don't vote since they've already made it clear their voice doesn't matter.
So, people don't pay attention to the actions of our president, and don't think about what's going on, and then are screwed in the end.
And that's exactly what software licenses can do. Unix was very nearly killed by Microsoft because the Unix license encouraged forking and balkanization of an "open" product. They then were no longer interoperable, and development tanked. We nearly lost decades of valuable experience and capabilities!
Microsoft's licenses are even more restrictive... if you use your install CD on two computers, you are engaging in criminal behavior. Microsoft's licenses encourage interoperability (with other MS products) and it's the interoperability that people/developers bought.
GPL provides provisions to mitigate the encouragement to fork present in previous *nix licenses - and quite successfully. It's an acceptable balance between totally closed (the MS way) or totally open (the Unix way).
Given the choice between one extreme and the other, the right answer is almost always somewhere in the middle.
Ownership does matter. When you "Buy" software, you are buying it's functionality and a license to use it. Would you buy a CD Player if you could only use it under conditions you don't find acceptable? What if you bought a car that prohibited you from modifying it in any way, (including dice on the rear-view, or removing seats) and that prohibition was backed with the force of law?
Let's try this post with a different kind of product. What if you didn't "buy" a car, but rather just the right to use said car?
"I think myself, like the majority of people that use cars could give a flying fsck about the title of ownership some car is using."
It's 12:28 AM Saturday morning. You'd think that whoever came up with this "evilscheme" could have hosted their !@# website somewhere it could handle a slashdotting at OMFG AM on SaturOMFGday.
WTF?
Unless he's hosting a 150 MB mpeg, why would it be slashdotted... NOW? Is he hosting this on his 64k ISDN line?
gecko#: is OSX/Linux with Win32 support being developed.
No Win32? Sorry, but that's like 90% of my audience.
I HAVE to support Windows. It's my philosophy to support Mac OS and Linux. (which I do with PHP and GTK) If a language/toolkit won't support Win32/MacOS/Linux, I won't use them.
Now, that limits me to Perl (ugly), Java (boring) or PHP. (quick and elegant) C is too low-level to be meaningful in the space I work in. (customized, niche workflow management products for small-to-mid sized organizations)
I don't know about Python's cross-platform support, but I did dink with it for a while, and really liked the tab-indent style that I now structure all my PHP code similarly. (I indent the braces to line up with the code they enclose - which eliminates the "mis-matched braces" issue)
We talked with two Mono guys who showed us MonoDevelop running, and a program which is able to load the Gecko module and create a functional browser in under 35-40 lines of code.
Which is, I think, a silly claim to make. I mean, I can "load the gecko module and create a functional browser in just ONE line of code!"
$ mozilla &
Wow! Wasn't that F@!#ing KEWL!?!?
I guess the real question is... SO? What are you going to do with this?
I can just see it now...
yambb - Yet Another Mozilla Based Browser
yambb2 - Yet Another Mozilla Based Browser... 2
yapteamb - Yet Another Project That Embeds A Mozilla Browser...
Is there anybody who has USED this kewl feature (tm) to make a decent product or project I might be even remotely interested in?
I have a dual monitor setup with Gnome on X.Org with Xinerama, and VMWare works quite well in that setup for running a virtual Windows XP box.
Something very similar here. I have a Linux Laptop with dual-head setup in X. I use KDE.
The most recent VMWare (4.x) works very nicely in Fedora Core 1, and has tabs for VMs. With 1.5 GB of RAM in the laptop, I can run 3-4 VMs simultaneously, and switch between them with the ease of tabs in Moz on the host OS.
It's easy, fast, stable, and secure. What's not to like?
4.x has support for shared folders, though I've never used it. When I used 3.x, I set up a bunch of scripts based around SMBmount, and rather than re-do all that, I just use Samba.
Seriously, if you are developing software, this setup simply kicks some serious ass.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm in a position where, in a few (5-10) years, I'll likely have access to a few million in cash assets.
/. about an algae that grows to become 50% refinable biodeisel. That, so far, seems the most viable alternative.
I'm in on the "ground floor" of a company that's tripled in size in the past year, and is set to do so many times over again. Dreams do, on occasion, come true. My wife is one, and my current job situation is another!
I figure in 10-15 years, I'll cash out and do something else, and I recently decided that I'd take this capital and start or invest an alternative energy company.
I'm young (32) so I have time to consider this.
I figure the two biggest problems facing humanity are education and destruction of our ecosystem (the latter could likely be dealt with by dealing with the former)
I'm right now hitting hard on the first, since my company provides workflow automation for alternative education enterprises. (Charter schools and Independent study programs in California) By an unofficial survey, the end result of my efforts is approximately 500 students getting an education with alternatives that would not exist without my (still small) company.
My company's reach is also growing - within 2 years or so, we'll be providing workflow management to K-12 institutions from coast to coast.
I'm damn proud of this!
I'm not sure what I would want to invest in, would I want to start my own company? What? So far, it seems it might be best option to work towards biodesiel. There was a recennt article here on
The key for me? Start/invest in an alternative energy company that is profitable. I honestly don't care if the idea is stolen by a competitor and my wealth amounts to squat. If I can help break the stanglehold of big oil, my life's work will be complete, and my life's meaning as a conttributing member of society will be complete.
So... I have these assets accumulating rapidly - what next?
Don't complain about fuel problems when you live 25 miles from your job and can't take the train!
I live about 500 miles from "my job". Actually, I have several, one of which is about 2024 miles from me. (a la MapQuest) See, I telecommute via the Internet. I can (and do) work anywhere, via any broadband 'net connection, from the Starbucks T-Mobile to some wifi hotspot in a residential area. So, I don't commute at all, though I tend to travel a lot.
But, I live in an area where you *could* do without a car, but I choose not to, owning two, one each for my wife and I.
In your world, am I part of the solution, or part of the problem?
If all ram were written to disk, what is the purpose of ram? Why do kernel developers spend days/months/years developing more efficient file system caching algorithms?
I'm amazed by the uncreative dumb-ass comments on this thread. What amazing lack of vision!
Have you never really used Novell Netware? Back in the 1980s, Novell had "Network File Server" down in ways that still can only be approximated.
Let's say you had a file on the server. It tracked how often you accessed it. When it defragged the disk, it would optimize for the most commonly used files.
If a file went long enough, it would spool that file to tape. You could still do a "dir" (Novell was commonly used in DOS 5 days) and it would show up. But, if you copied it or tried to access it, there would be a delay while the very infrequently used file was pulled from the tape drive.
It was *that* good. But, if you were paying any attention at all, you'd notice that that sounds amazingly like how Virtual Memory..... LRU, anybody?
The only difference between using "everything is a file" and normal RAM is that the MEMORY used by a program would itself be a file handle, even though, being very frequently used, it would be kept in system memory/cache.
If something in memory isn't used, it's written to disk. (Already happens a la VM, but in a screwy, non-uniform way) And so on. In a process that's invisible to the programmer, much as other file handles are.
I'm not suggesting that you'd use fopen() to write an integer to a memory location - I'm not sure which is more retarded, the idea, or thinking that's what I meant.
But, let's say that you wanted to start a process. The first step to using memory is to allocate it, and *THAT* would be done a la fopen() or something similar. The memory used by a process would be tied to a file handle, which, if the process was hung, or sleeping, would eventually get written to disk.
With this model, you could pause the entire machine, write everything to disk, power it down, and turn it back on, reload the processes running, and you wouldn't have to do any weirds like you do now. (think VMWare's suspend, only without all the crazy memory tricks they have to play)
Also, if a process is running, there's a file handle associated there with it, and thus you couldn't have a program hide itself by remaining memory resident. (Which is why it belongs in this article)
Killing a process could be as simple as erasing it's allocated memory.
How is that retarded, infeasible, or whatever else was implied here? Just because it's how it's not Always Been Done (tm), doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be done!
porn is _the_ killer app of the internet
Wow. What a limited point of view!
So, the 60-hour workweeks I spend writing workflow automation software is just not all that important? It's not worth the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars we save our clients through streamlining their organizations?
I guess that's not "killer-app" enough like OMFG B00B135!
Perhaps this should be read as
"porn is _your_ killer app of the internet" ?
There are plenty of people who have "killer apps" other than porn.
This is a pretty clear example of why we need to make a change in the way files/memory are kept.
Here's the heirarchy for data storage:
cpu registers (where the data is requested)
l1 cache
l2 cache
l3 cache
RAM
<snip>
disk/network
Notice the disconnect between RAM and disk. All levels of storage above disk are essentially buffers for the RAM - Why the disconnect at disk/network?
I think we should remodel the memory/storage model to fall fully in line with "everything is a file" - including blocks of memory! Treat memory as though it were simply a buffer for a file, and make the concept of "in memory" merely a detail for the disk cache controller.
Writing to memory and writing to disk/network share etc. should be the same operation and would eliminate all kinds of un-needed software complexity.
Microsoft's ridiculous profit margins are drawing competition like moths to a flame.
What are you smoking? 'cause, whatever it is, it must be GOOD...
Wait a minute, perhaps your analogy is right, after all. I mean, Netscape was drawn, like a moth to a flame, and then was burned to a crisp.
So was Corel/Wordperfect. So was Borland, Digital Research, Stac Electronics, IBM, and too many other companies to name.
Yeah, those margins are working alright, because that high-margin business is just so lucrative, it takes software with no cost at all just to provide enough market incentive to effectively compete with Microsoft...
I won't argue that the marketplace is correcting itself - it appears to be, despite the failures of the Justice dept to help the consumers.
Also, what is a "Natural" monopoly?
However, if only Mozilla supports the Xforms2 standard, not a single site will adapt them. IE is still the market leader (yes, I'm using Firefox, so don't blame me ;))...
Actually, that's not my experience at *all*. We vend various workflow automation products for schools and educational facilities. I've already done a survey to determine the impact of requiring the Mozilla browser for a web-ish product, and the issues raised in the survey ended at the words "free download".
We already require them to download our software in order to use it - Mozilla just becomes part of "our software" to download...
(We're talking about institutions of typically between 10 and 100 staff)
So when I hear about Xforms coming out, I just DROOL... If I can deliver a better, more productive product faster using Mozilla, AND get a chance to improve the security of my clients' computer systems, you think I would say no?!??
Honestly, I'm glad it's not true - putting admins through that kind of pain would just be... vicious.
Although, having an "API" for backups I find curious. Here's the "API" for backups on Unix:or perhaps
You're only kidding yourself if you think things like Sendmail are intuitive to set up without needing to hit the web rather often to figure out the right commands to poke in. In the case of Sendmail, for example, it's a right pain in the ass compared to Exchange to get running.
In this case, I'd agree. But, here's the real kicker... how much of a pain is it to KEEP it running?
In the case of sendmail, I've seen installations with medium volume (>200,000 messages per day) run largely unattended for years. Maybe, 1 or 2 relatively minor incidents per year.
Backups are easy, and self-referential. AFAIK, Windows file locking prevents an Exchange system from being properly backed up without shutting down Exchange during the backup process)
So, it takes another day or so to set up. Then you sleep very soundly thereafter, with uptimes frequently exceeding 200 days, and that only broken by applying planned patches.
How is this NOT a winning proposition?
It all comes down to this statement: "You know what you like, and you like what you know".
Ironically, this technology can take us to 'the stars' but not toward our own.
.5 C, it'd take thousands to millions of years to get anywhere. But, at relativistic speeds, it'd still take thousands of years, but to the crew on board, it'd be like mere hundreds or even tens of years.
And, why not?
Sailing ships have sailed "upwind" for many centuries.
In outer space, you are either in orbit, or falling directly towards the nearest large body. A solar sail can be used to slow down or accellerate lateral speed simply by rotating it 45 degrees.
A simple google search turned up this in case you are curious.
Although they are right, in that solar sails do accelerate the entire trip and carry no fuel, I don't think that sails are "the way to go" unless we're talking about a ten thousand year multi-generational ship.
I consider the Bussard RamJet the "only way to fly". It carries no fuel, but is powered by carving a planet-sized swath out of the ambient hydrogen atoms out of interstellar space and fusing them.
With interstellar distances, the real issue is: how quickly can you get to relativistic speeds? Because, at
You need power to get you there in less than hundreds of years - thus the RamJet.
Not true at all. It's so stupid when people keep making this comparison.
Real engineering has many proven designs and is based on physics.
Software "engineering" is nothing like that. It's not physical.
Software engineering is EXACTLY like that. You think software doesn't have "many proven designs" based on the "physics" of computing?
The "physics" you speak of define the abilities and limitations of the medium. The exact same thing is true in software - the hardware platform and programming environment define the abilities and limitations of the medium.
The ONLY difference is the set of rules that comprise the physics - and even then, the real capabilities of what computers can do are bound by the limitations of... you guessed it... PHYSICS.
It's not only similar - it's the same thing. Why else would John Carmack, highly skilled, world-class programmer, be so readily able to convert his skills to a viable contender for the X prize?
Next time, make sure you have some idea what you are talking about before you start talking.
I read somewhere here locally about how "hackable" RFID is. So, here's what I suggest:
/. is that there's a good chance this point would be modded as "funny"...
/. is largely anonymous (you might recognize a sig line, but who ever follows the actual user names? and sig lines can be changed - I changed mine about 2 weeks ago) you can never evaluate the value of advice given.
Reprogram your id card so that you appear to be the president of Estonia. Get arrested, do all that jazz. Make sure you aren't the only one.
Then, go to your local card issuer and ask for a new card because yours "isn't working". Wash, rinse, repeat.
Better yet, publish all your results on a public web page, and provide press releases to your major media (whatever applies in Estonia)
You'll spend some time in jail, and it might be unpleasant at times, but you'll probably make the point.
If you don't like this advice, don't ask for advice on slashdot. Slashdot is FULL TO THE BRIM OF:
1) Teenagers using Mom's computer in the cellar, and who don't care about you personally in any way,
2) Antisocial tripe who have an oddly foreign sounding accent even though they were raised in the area in which they live, and who, if they cared about you personally, wouldn't do anything whatsoever about it, or
3) Middle-aged (and often wealthy) nerds/geeks who would like to be "hip" but still really don't care about you personally in any way.
I'm probably in the third category. If the advice I give causes jail time, your death, or discomfort, remember what you paid for it.
What's really sad about
Bottom line is: Advice is only useful when you can evaluate the value of the advice provider. since
Did anybody else look at that video and immediately remember the montage sequence from The Right Stuff with archival footage of NASA's rockets blowing up?
Wow... am I with you on this one. Remember people... these are ENGINEERS. They are developing something new...
Compare this engineering to software engineering.
1) A software engineer comes up with an idea.
2) A programmer writes a test case of the idea. Often, the programmer is the engineer in step 1.
3) Software is run. Program crashes, bombs, but does something resembling the goals in step 1.
4) Bugs are found, worked out, kinked, etc.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the program works as it should....
The ONLY difference between this and aeronautics is that when it crashes, you have to rebuild the rocket. (You have to rebuild the software, too, but that's assumed, automatic and usually done in 10 seconds)
So, I really don't get why the disconnect. It's engineering! Products are seldom viable in the first design attempt, but a basically workable design is tweaked until it's ready.
No different here.
...and "offense" is not spelled "offence", and "I" should always be capitalized. (relevance...?)
Whats complaining about the "damn gubmint" got to do with voting?
Why should I listen to somebody complain about the actions of their government who has already made it clear they don't want their opinion to matter? Not only do I fail to see how you could see this connection, I fail to see how you could *not* make this connection.
Btw, using unlicensed software isn't a criminal offence, it's a civil offence.
Laws regarding the violation of copyright vary. What's true in the US is not true everywhere.
It's not abstract at all. I am a software developer, and I frequently use code/software/libraries that I've purchased or found for free on the 'net. Frequently, I cannot use GPL code in my software products due to licensing conflicts.
So, if you develop software (and there are LOTS of slashdotters in my camp) licenses can be very, very important.
And fergawdzakes-- when are you L337 H4X0RZ going to trade up to WPA-Personal from WEP. Come on, people. It's almost 2005 now!
As soon as drivers are available for a Belkin PCI card that support WPA on Win98. In the meantime, I'm left with 128 bit WEP, and a silent (unbroadcasted) SSID.
I think myself, like the majority of people that use software could give a flying fsck about the license some software is using.
And so, I see a clear picture of a large, pink flamingo, with beautiful plumage, with its head in the sand.
I know, it's a myth - they really don't bury their heads in the sand, but that's not true of humans. People bury their heads in intellectual sand all the time.
Software licenses mirror politics in this respect. If anybody EVER begins to complain about the "damn gubmint" my first question is... "Did you vote?". If the answer is anything but "Of course" then nothing they say has any bearing on anything, and I'm very explicit about telling them so. I simply don't engage in verbal political discussions/debates with people who don't vote since they've already made it clear their voice doesn't matter.
So, people don't pay attention to the actions of our president, and don't think about what's going on, and then are screwed in the end.
And that's exactly what software licenses can do. Unix was very nearly killed by Microsoft because the Unix license encouraged forking and balkanization of an "open" product. They then were no longer interoperable, and development tanked. We nearly lost decades of valuable experience and capabilities!
Microsoft's licenses are even more restrictive... if you use your install CD on two computers, you are engaging in criminal behavior. Microsoft's licenses encourage interoperability (with other MS products) and it's the interoperability that people/developers bought.
GPL provides provisions to mitigate the encouragement to fork present in previous *nix licenses - and quite successfully. It's an acceptable balance between totally closed (the MS way) or totally open (the Unix way).
Given the choice between one extreme and the other, the right answer is almost always somewhere in the middle.
Ownership does matter. When you "Buy" software, you are buying it's functionality and a license to use it. Would you buy a CD Player if you could only use it under conditions you don't find acceptable? What if you bought a car that prohibited you from modifying it in any way, (including dice on the rear-view, or removing seats) and that prohibition was backed with the force of law?
Let's try this post with a different kind of product. What if you didn't "buy" a car, but rather just the right to use said car?
"I think myself, like the majority of people that use cars could give a flying fsck about the title of ownership some car is using."
Doesn't that sound a wee bit different?
1) does SSL prevent this attack from working?
2) What about the data stream that ocmes thru the wire legimately?
3) What effect does WEP encryption have on the new "sploit"?
4) What about SSL? Do HTTPS websites remain at all vulnerable to this attack? Nearest I can tell, the answer is "no".
So, what we have herei is a lame way to spoof packets for unsecuredd onnections. So.... secure your IP already!
It's 12:28 AM Saturday morning. You'd think that whoever came up with this "evilscheme" could have hosted their !@# website somewhere it could handle a slashdotting at OMFG AM on SaturOMFGday.
WTF?
Unless he's hosting a 150 MB mpeg, why would it be slashdotted... NOW? Is he hosting this on his 64k ISDN line?
I guess I just don't get it.
Employees would like or dislike this perk based on their preferences. However, from the company's point of view, I don't think it's a good perk.
I don't know. What if you are a construction company? A good, cold beer at the end of a hard day can be very, very nice.
I do agree with your implied point, though, that the fringe benefit should be appropriate to the kind of employee you want to attract.
What's next? An oxygen license?
What... are you trying to tell me that this license I paid $179 for was not even needed?
Damn! I'm going to have to sue my state! Worthless piece of CRAP.....
gecko#: is OSX/Linux with Win32 support being developed.
No Win32? Sorry, but that's like 90% of my audience.
I HAVE to support Windows. It's my philosophy to support Mac OS and Linux. (which I do with PHP and GTK) If a language/toolkit won't support Win32/MacOS/Linux, I won't use them.
Now, that limits me to Perl (ugly), Java (boring) or PHP. (quick and elegant) C is too low-level to be meaningful in the space I work in. (customized, niche workflow management products for small-to-mid sized organizations)
I don't know about Python's cross-platform support, but I did dink with it for a while, and really liked the tab-indent style that I now structure all my PHP code similarly. (I indent the braces to line up with the code they enclose - which eliminates the "mis-matched braces" issue)
What advantages does "*#" have over PHP?
Ok, I just discovered, that I'm not done ranting.
I write applications using PHP. Sometimes LAMP, sometimes with PHP-GTK. With this toolkit, I get:
1) Reasonable performance
2) Cross platform (Win/Lin/Mac)
3) Very rapid development times
4) Language that lets me focus on the deliverable, not the "how to".
Java comes pretty close to all these criterion, but I'm already most familiar with PHP, so it gets the brunt of my efforts.
But, if I use the neat-o Gnome/UI/Whizbang application framework that can "do X in Y lines!" I lose the very important #2 above.
For the types of boring, niche-market applications I work with, GTK works well enough. Why bother?
Which is, I think, a silly claim to make. I mean, I can "load the gecko module and create a functional browser in just ONE line of code!"Wow! Wasn't that F@!#ing KEWL!?!?
I guess the real question is... SO? What are you going to do with this?
I can just see it now...
yambb - Yet Another Mozilla Based Browser
yambb2 - Yet Another Mozilla Based Browser... 2
yapteamb - Yet Another Project That Embeds A
Mozilla Browser...
Is there anybody who has USED this kewl feature (tm) to make a decent product or project I might be even remotely interested in?
(Developers: If you use 'make install', there should be a 'make uninstall')
You should be using CheckInstall.
You invoke it with "checkinstall -t r" instead of "make install".
It tracks the files copied during "make install" and turns them into an RPM. Cleaning them out is then just as simple as "rpm -e <packagename>".
I have a dual monitor setup with Gnome on X.Org with Xinerama, and VMWare works quite well in that setup for running a virtual Windows XP box.
Something very similar here. I have a Linux Laptop with dual-head setup in X. I use KDE.
The most recent VMWare (4.x) works very nicely in Fedora Core 1, and has tabs for VMs. With 1.5 GB of RAM in the laptop, I can run 3-4 VMs simultaneously, and switch between them with the ease of tabs in Moz on the host OS.
It's easy, fast, stable, and secure. What's not to like?
4.x has support for shared folders, though I've never used it. When I used 3.x, I set up a bunch of scripts based around SMBmount, and rather than re-do all that, I just use Samba.
Seriously, if you are developing software, this setup simply kicks some serious ass.