I spend much of my time using Windows (2K pro, 2003, XP, and Vista) and OS X , and a little on Linux. I consider myself experienced with both OS X and Windows. I much prefer OS X but I can say there is also some things I like about Vista. I have not had any speed issues and only a few software compatibility issues. I appreciate the structural improvements made in such areas as the management console, event logger, command line utilities, and kernel structures. Vista isn't the upgrade it should have been but it is not horrible. Microsoft is on the right track with UAC, and with some fine tuning it will be worth the trouble. The display subsystem is moving in the same direction that NeXT aka OS X took 15 or so years ago (think display post script in NeXT, now display PDF in OS X). It's taken Microsoft far too long to catch up but I do think they are on the right track. Remember the resistance XP met with when it first arrived. Now it's well received. I think Vista will eventually achieve this status a few years down the road.
Don't use them. Buy your music from other providers. The music is owned by its creators and its distributors. If you want free music, buy from artists who choose to give their music out freely. Respect the property rights of others.
Yet another language. So many times it seems, we spend our time re-inventing the wheel. I'm sure this language has its merits and its pitfalls, just like every other language. The question isn't, is it good enough. The question is, isn't everything else , even with all its warts, good enough already. Aren't there new, more interesting problems to solve with computers. Don't we already have enough hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers so to speak.
That means close to 10% of the desktops out there are running UNIX. Linux/Mac OS X, it's all good. It's UNIX, and That's a Good Thing (TM):) There is plenty of room of both Linux and OS X. It's all good
Don't confuse Syntax for Content
on
The Golden Ratio
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
While the syntax we use for mathmatics is culturally defined, the content beneath them is not. We humans discover, not invent mathmatical constructs. As much as we would like to think we create, we do not. We iterate and find the best fit solutions.
Apple's AAC (m4p) format uses security to protect the track from being played on more than 3 computers. Yet, you can copy the AAC file to as many iPod's as you desire. Do the iPods have a global key, or is the data in the AAC not encrypted and the iPod simply ignores the security feature? Has anyone dug around on their iPod to see how the songs are stored on the iPod disk once copied to the iPod from iTunes? I need to do that when I go home today. Hmmmmm, seems like that could be a possible loop hole in the security, which makes the tracks vulnerable to showing up on Kaaza for the world to copy.
I think Humans are reaching a crossroads that every intelligent species in this universe reaches at some point in its history. We are coming to understand the machinery of life and how we ourselves our put together. We now have or will soon posses the knowledge we will need to tweak and adjust human behavior by altering the way our minds form. We will be able to tweak and "improve" our bodies (Or the bodies of subsequent generations). This doesn't mean that our generation or even two or three generations out will be able to do these things, but that in the next 1000 years or so, we will see dramatic self directed changes in our form and function.
Having said that, I don't believe that this will lead to a panacea. There in lies the test, can we survive and thrive under our own evolutionary direction. Our behaviors to date were evolved to help us thrive in somewhat different circumstances. Do we have the foresight to guide our own evolution, can we overcome our shortcomings and make the right decisions. I think the difference will be in how well we temper our aggressive, violent nature. If we can balance aggression with forethought, we might just make it. I'm sure that the universe is littered with failed species that have gotten this far and then imploded. Let us hope we do not become one of them.
The only problem I see is that your current employer would then always wonder if you were looking for a new job. Not that it is a matter of trust, but I do think it would change their perception, and they might not see you as part of the team anymore. That may not be right, but we're talking human perceptions not right or wrong. Ultimately, what is your gut feeling, do you think your current employer would feel jaded, would the environment degrade making it an uneasy and unpleasant place to work. If not, then staying would be fine. That's the question you have to answer, as I see it
But I like my DreamCast more than my Atari 2600.
I can play SoulCalibur all day long, but I can't seem to drive myself to play Missle Command for more than maybe 1/2 hour every year or so.
I like well done games with stunning visuals.
Competition only makes it cheaper for us. I say good luck to MS and the Xbox, if it's a good game system, I'll buy it. It's all about the game, not the system it plays on.
But I don't see the point of Transmeta. Sure, maybe five years ago when Transmeta was just beginning, a low power X86 chip was in need. But, today, I don't see the point. The biggest Power hog for most moderate performance laptop devices(including so called web-pads) isn't the CPU, it's the damn backlit color display. Shaving wattage off of cpu requirements will not gain you much in laptop time. Now, you can say that the super fast laptop chips are power hogs, no one will argue that a PIII mobile running at 600+ MHZ isn't a serious lap heater. The problem is that Transmetta doesn't seem to be able to compete with the high speed chips. So, that targets Transmetta at the midrange laptop device, which again, doesn't suffer from CPU drainage, as much as it suffers from screen power drainage. Now, what happens when the battery manufacturers start to make inroads into higher power density batteries, well, power consumption becomes less of a worry. Now, you could argue that the Transmetta chip could be targeted at devices other than laptops, but here we find that X86 compatablility is a non-issue. Most cell phones use ARM's, PDA's use either MIPS or Motorla 68K variants. You don't need to run PC binaries on these devices. Since power consumption isn't a problem for these chips, what would be the push to use Transmetta chips here? It certaintly wouldn't be performance, since that is not what Transmetta touts as a selling point. It wouldn't be cost either, since ARM's, M68K's, and MIPS variants are all dirt cheap, and can be had from various suppliers, all of whom have a proven track record of delivery. So, no real market in the midrange laptop arena, no market in the high end laptop arena, no market in the PDA and Cell Phone arena. Hmmmm, what market is the Transmetta CPU targeting then? Now, it's cool technology, but I just don't see a strong market for it. I sure hope I'm wrong.
On a similar note, it is implied by quantum physics, that quantum particles appear to be aware of eachother, and that this action at a distance has no time delay, such as the limit of the speed of light. I wonder if SETI is listining to the wrong thing. Imagine this technology coupled with the action at a distance principle, so that you could choose coupled quantum particles to communicate over vast distances with no time delay. Couple these technologies with virtual reality, and it could be possible for communities, seperated by vast distances of space, to communicate and interact in real time. Wouldn't it be surprising to find a universal (literally) quantum network that was in use, and that we have been looking in the wrong place all this time. I would imagine that any species entry in to the universal forum would be predicated by their discovery of the technologies, and their ability to apply them to interact with this universal network. Instead of physically traveling in a space ship to distant worlds, we instead project our consciousness over vast distances with the help of virtual reality and quantum communication. Perhaps ET isn't going to show up in a galactic cruiser, but instead is patiently waiting for us to pick up the damn quantum telephone. We just haven't heard it ring yet.
How do you want it? Rolin in my six fo, kickin it wit da boyz, we'z be in yo hood. I gotsa a linux distro in my lap, to take care o dat.
Thug programas gotsta die, no needs to ask why. I'z be setin UID 0, don't try to be a hero. Everyone drop yo niceness, i'm takin control of dis bitch.
Gotsta give props to da thugz from da way east side. Put ya hands in da air for Linus, Alan, Matti, Dave, Werner, and all da crew, wez be down wit you.
Hmmm, you ask a tough question, but here's a go at an answer.
UNIX encompasses more than just a set of API's, and user shells. UNIX has more to do with an OS design philosiphy, than with any particular implimentation. At the outset, UNIX strives to provide an environment made of small utilities that can easily be used together to accomplish a task. This is true from the kernel design, to the typical C API's, out to the actual user environment. From a kernel perspective, most UNIX's have a virtual file system, virtual memory system, and a process swapper. There is much more than this, but these are the three main components. By utilizing features of each of these basic parts, it is possible to implement inter process communication(Pipes, shared memory, etc), security(mostly via the VFS, since most everything in UNIX is seen as a file), and Time sharing(via the process swapper). The next layer would be the C libraries that most UNIX's come with. While not directly tied to the OS itself, most C libraries will heavily reflect the OS they live on, since they are the common gateway to make sys calls, the main way to call system functions. It is with system calls that a program can interact with files, and access system resources. The OS will handle the scheduling and access control from behind the scenes. The C library is a way to ask for resources.
But, what most people think of when they think of UNIX, is the user environment. Unfortunately, this is missleading. Everything from Windows to OpenVMS, to OS/390 MVS can be made to look and smell like UNIX, but that doesn't make them UNIX. What the user sees is a simplified(if you can believe that grep, sed, and awk, ad nauseam are simple:)) playing field, made of lots of tools that easily allow the user to interact with files, and hence, the computer. Since this is the layer a user spends most of his or her time with, this is what people have come to identify when they say UNIX.
The moral of the story is that UNIX really is a "handle" that is used to encompass an approach to OS design. UNIX is a way of viewing how things should be shared, and managed. That is why UNIX runs on almost every platform. UNIX is really a memme that dictates how system resources are controlled, and not one of how a system should be architected from a hardware perspective. UNIX is a way for multiple users to access a single system, in quasi-realtime , interactive fashion. It lays out such things as scheduling, Access Control architecture, and resource presentation. If an OS follows this design philosophy, than that makes it more a UNIX, than what it's user shells look like. That is why Linux is a UNIX, without having any blessed UNIX C code in it. It's an architecture built on the UNIX philosophy. Just remember to never let a purist hear you call Linux UNIX though. That, unfortunately, is a matter of religion, best left for another discussion.
When we speak of religion, we usually imply the belief in some sort of Super Being, usually a god. I feel that religion is really a "handle" describing an underlying API in human behaviour, the need to belong and the willingness to follow. I find religion every day, in people that champion vi over emacs, GNOME over KDE, Ford over Chevy, Us against Them, etc etc.
People need to find a cause to champion, it helps them define their boundries of existance. Yes, religion plays a vital role in human existance, and yes, religion is a way of life, not simply a belief. Having said that, religion has little to do with a god, as much as it has to do with personal identity. Even athiests have need to champion a cause, perhaps the absolute denial of a god, or whatever else they find important to their existance.
Science, as with anything, can be turned into a religion; there certantly are opposing camps of thought in many areas of science. Whether or not the players see this as religion, is simply a matter of personal perspective. What it is, in my opinion, is a manifestation of a very real human need to belong to a seemingly well defined group, whatever that may be.
What I also find interesting is the human tendency to believe without fully understanding the belief itself. Very few practitioners of the various religions are true masters of their respective religion. Once people grab onto a belief system, they are reluctant to let go, despite any logical arguments. Humans are much less individual than we would like to think. We are slave to the herd mentality, it's just a matter of what herd you follow.
Getting Paid for doing something I think is fun
on
Finding a Linux Job
·
· Score: 1
I spent 5 years studying to get my Bachelor of Sciences in Mechanical Engineering. In the last 6 months of my time in University, I spent every night hacking on Linux, teaching myself the environment and learning C. I did this for lack of a social life and because I was generally curious. As luck would have it, I got hired on at a company that made a VMS emulation suite for UNIX. Once there, they picked up on my love of Linux, and made me head of the Linux port. From there, I got a job working as a Linux SYS admin, and now I get paid a large sum to do what I originally started doing as a hobby. The moral of the story is that there are many more Linux jobs out there, and more coming every day. Roughly 30% of all servers on the Internet are running Linux, even if the companies doing it wont admit it. In the next 5 years, Linux experience will pay a handsome bounty. I'm getting paid about 30% more than if I had stuck with Mechanical Engineering, and my future earnings potential is greater than what I would have had as an engineer. For all my efforts at University, it was those last 6 months with Linux that has put food on my table. Maybe I live a fairytale life, but I don't think I'm at all unusual. Maybe it's just Austin Texas, but Linux is very hot here, and getting hotter. If you can't get a start in Linux, at least get some UNIX experience. Sooner or later, you will end up hacking on Linux, and getting paid a royal sum to do so:) -Cheers, and Much love to Linus, Alan, and all the crew that work to make Linux a reality.
In my humble opinion, it was obvious that Iridium would fail. What audiance are they targeting? There are maybe 50,000 people in this world that need around the world coverage in places like Antartica(I'm probably grossly overestimating). The places where rich business people do business is in places where there is already sufficient coverage by Cellular and or some form of digital wireless. CDMA, TDMA, and the european equivalent (I forget it's name, GSM I think) are in each of the major cities. So, who where they thinking would want this service? It's said to see 5billion go to waste on this. Total gross mismanagement on the side of Venture Capitalists, and market research specialists. Just because we live in a boom economy, doesn't mean people will want to spend a few grand on a phone, and a grand a month on phone service, just so they can have the novelty of calling from the north pole. Well, at least the major satelite launching firms got a boost of capital from the business.
I have worked with both Linux and FreeBSD, and can say that both are stable, and fast. It is good to see FreeBSD take an upgrade on GCC and the threaded libraries. The only reason I can see to chose one over the other is that some people prefer a BSD style environment over the POSIX/SYS5/BSD hodgepodge that Linux offers. Both environments are very good, and none is necessarily better than the other. Choose whatever you are most comfortable with. If you come from SunOS or even Solaris, then FreeBSD is probably a better fit. If you come from AIX, SCO, or HP/UX than Linux is probably a better fit. If you are new, pick either, you can't go wrong. Ofcourse, this is just my humble opinion. Anyhow, congrats FreeBSD folks, keep the up the excellent work!
Slashdot Mirror
I spend much of my time using Windows (2K pro, 2003, XP, and Vista) and OS X , and a little on Linux. I consider myself experienced with both OS X and Windows. I much prefer OS X but I can say there is also some things I like about Vista. I have not had any speed issues and only a few software compatibility issues. I appreciate the structural improvements made in such areas as the management console, event logger, command line utilities, and kernel structures. Vista isn't the upgrade it should have been but it is not horrible. Microsoft is on the right track with UAC, and with some fine tuning it will be worth the trouble. The display subsystem is moving in the same direction that NeXT aka OS X took 15 or so years ago (think display post script in NeXT, now display PDF in OS X). It's taken Microsoft far too long to catch up but I do think they are on the right track. Remember the resistance XP met with when it first arrived. Now it's well received. I think Vista will eventually achieve this status a few years down the road.
Don't use them. Buy your music from other providers. The music is owned by its creators and its distributors. If you want free music, buy from artists who choose to give their music out freely. Respect the property rights of others.
Yet another language. So many times it seems, we spend our time re-inventing the wheel. I'm sure this language has its merits and its pitfalls, just like every other language. The question isn't, is it good enough. The question is, isn't everything else , even with all its warts, good enough already. Aren't there new, more interesting problems to solve with computers. Don't we already have enough hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers so to speak.
Because it will sink the Itanic
Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk
That means close to 10% of the desktops out there are running UNIX. Linux/Mac OS X, it's all good. It's UNIX, and That's a Good Thing (TM) :) There is plenty of room of both Linux and OS X. It's all good
While the syntax we use for mathmatics is culturally defined, the content beneath them is not. We humans discover, not invent mathmatical constructs. As much as we would like to think we create, we do not. We iterate and find the best fit solutions.
OS X.
Linux & FreeBSD on the Server, X on the client, life is good.
Apple's AAC (m4p) format uses security to protect the track from being played on more than 3 computers. Yet, you can copy the AAC file to as many iPod's as you desire. Do the iPods have a global key, or is the data in the AAC not encrypted and the iPod simply ignores the security feature? Has anyone dug around on their iPod to see how the songs are stored on the iPod disk once copied to the iPod from iTunes? I need to do that when I go home today. Hmmmmm, seems like that could be a possible loop hole in the security, which makes the tracks vulnerable to showing up on Kaaza for the world to copy.
You can always burn the music to a CD for archiving purposes
I think Humans are reaching a crossroads that every intelligent species in this universe reaches at some point in its history. We are coming to understand the machinery of life and how we ourselves our put together. We now have or will soon posses the knowledge we will need to tweak and adjust human behavior by altering the way our minds form. We will be able to tweak and "improve" our bodies (Or the bodies of subsequent generations). This doesn't mean that our generation or even two or three generations out will be able to do these things, but that in the next 1000 years or so, we will see dramatic self directed changes in our form and function.
Having said that, I don't believe that this will lead to a panacea. There in lies the test, can we survive and thrive under our own evolutionary direction. Our behaviors to date were evolved to help us thrive in somewhat different circumstances. Do we have the foresight to guide our own evolution, can we overcome our shortcomings and make the right decisions. I think the difference will be in how well we temper our aggressive, violent nature. If we can balance aggression with forethought, we might just make it. I'm sure that the universe is littered with failed species that have gotten this far and then imploded. Let us hope we do not become one of them.
To someone that needs a computer, or a school perhaps. Seems like a waste
The only problem I see is that your current employer would then always wonder if you were looking for a new job. Not that it is a matter of trust, but I do think it would change their perception, and they might not see you as part of the team anymore. That may not be right, but we're talking human perceptions not right or wrong. Ultimately, what is your gut feeling, do you think your current employer would feel jaded, would the environment degrade making it an uneasy and unpleasant place to work. If not, then staying would be fine. That's the question you have to answer, as I see it
But I like my DreamCast more than my Atari 2600. I can play SoulCalibur all day long, but I can't seem to drive myself to play Missle Command for more than maybe 1/2 hour every year or so. I like well done games with stunning visuals.
Competition only makes it cheaper for us. I say good luck to MS and the Xbox, if it's a good game system, I'll buy it. It's all about the game, not the system it plays on.
All you are going to hear here is hype, and bible
thumping. The only true way to get an unbiased
view of things is to try both, and see for yourself.
But I don't see the point of Transmeta. Sure, maybe five years ago when Transmeta was just beginning, a low power X86 chip was in need. But, today, I don't see the point. The biggest Power hog for most moderate performance laptop devices(including so called web-pads) isn't the CPU, it's the damn backlit color display. Shaving wattage off of cpu requirements will not gain you much in laptop time.
Now, you can say that the super fast laptop chips are power hogs, no one will argue that a PIII mobile running at 600+ MHZ isn't a serious lap heater. The problem is that Transmetta doesn't seem to be able to compete with the high speed chips. So, that targets Transmetta at the
midrange laptop device, which again, doesn't suffer from CPU drainage, as much as it suffers from screen power drainage. Now, what happens when the battery manufacturers start to make inroads into higher power density batteries, well, power consumption becomes less of a worry.
Now, you could argue that the Transmetta chip could be targeted at devices other than laptops, but here we find that X86 compatablility is a non-issue. Most cell phones use ARM's, PDA's use either MIPS or Motorla 68K variants. You don't need to run PC binaries on these devices. Since power consumption isn't a problem for these chips, what would be the push to use Transmetta chips here? It certaintly wouldn't be performance, since
that is not what Transmetta touts as a selling point. It wouldn't be cost either, since ARM's, M68K's, and MIPS variants are all dirt cheap, and can be had from various suppliers, all of whom have a proven track record of delivery.
So, no real market in the midrange laptop arena, no market in the high end laptop arena, no market in the PDA and Cell Phone arena. Hmmmm, what market is the Transmetta CPU targeting then? Now, it's cool technology, but I just don't see a strong market for it. I sure hope I'm wrong.
Cause violent behaviour (On Slashdot anyway :)
On a similar note, it is implied by quantum physics, that quantum particles appear to be aware of eachother, and that this action at a distance has no time delay, such as the limit of the speed of light. I wonder if SETI is listining to the wrong thing. Imagine this technology coupled with the action at a distance principle, so that you could choose coupled quantum particles to communicate over vast distances with no time delay. Couple these technologies with virtual reality, and it could be possible for communities, seperated by vast distances of space, to communicate and interact in real time. Wouldn't it be surprising to find a universal (literally) quantum network that was in use, and that we have been looking in the wrong place all this time. I would imagine that any species entry in to the universal forum would be predicated by their discovery of the technologies, and their ability to apply them to interact with this universal network. Instead of physically traveling in a space ship to distant worlds, we instead project our consciousness over vast distances with the help of virtual reality and quantum communication. Perhaps ET isn't going to show up in a galactic cruiser, but instead is patiently waiting for us to pick up the damn quantum telephone. We just haven't heard it ring yet.
How do you want it?
Rolin in my six fo, kickin it wit da boyz, we'z be in yo hood. I gotsa a linux distro in my lap, to take care o dat.
Thug programas gotsta die, no needs to ask why. I'z be setin UID 0, don't try to be a hero. Everyone drop yo niceness, i'm takin control of dis bitch.
Gotsta give props to da thugz from da way east side. Put ya hands in da air for Linus, Alan, Matti, Dave, Werner, and all da crew, wez be down wit you.
Peace to all my hommies, pour an ounce to dis.
-Wit much thugz luv, Mizaster Swizitch.
Hmmm, you ask a tough question, but here's a go at an answer.
:)) playing field, made of lots of tools that easily allow the user to interact with files, and hence, the computer. Since this is the layer a user spends most of his or her time with, this is what people have come to identify when they say UNIX.
UNIX encompasses more than just a set of API's, and user shells. UNIX has more to do with an OS design philosiphy, than with any particular implimentation. At the outset, UNIX strives to provide an environment made of small utilities that can easily be used together to accomplish a task. This is true from the kernel design, to the typical C API's, out to the actual user environment. From a kernel perspective, most UNIX's have a virtual file system, virtual memory system, and a process swapper. There is much more than this, but these are the three main components. By utilizing features of each of these basic parts, it is possible to implement inter process communication(Pipes, shared memory, etc), security(mostly via the VFS, since most everything in UNIX is seen as a file), and Time sharing(via the process swapper).
The next layer would be the C libraries that most UNIX's come with. While not directly tied to the OS itself, most C libraries will heavily reflect the OS they live on, since they are the common gateway to make sys calls, the main way to call system functions. It is with system calls that a program can interact with files, and access system resources. The OS will handle the scheduling and access control from behind the scenes. The C library is a way to ask for resources.
But, what most people think of when they think of UNIX, is the user environment. Unfortunately, this is missleading. Everything from Windows to OpenVMS, to OS/390 MVS can be made to look and smell like UNIX, but that doesn't make them UNIX.
What the user sees is a simplified(if you can believe that grep, sed, and awk, ad nauseam are simple
The moral of the story is that UNIX really is a "handle" that is used to encompass an approach to OS design. UNIX is a way of viewing how things should be shared, and managed. That is why UNIX runs on almost every platform. UNIX is really a memme that dictates how system resources are controlled, and not one of how a system should be architected from a hardware perspective. UNIX is a way for multiple users to access a single system, in quasi-realtime , interactive fashion. It lays out such things as scheduling, Access Control architecture, and resource presentation. If an OS follows this design philosophy, than that makes it more a UNIX, than what it's user shells look like.
That is why Linux is a UNIX, without having any blessed UNIX C code in it. It's an architecture built on the UNIX philosophy. Just remember to never let a purist hear you call Linux UNIX though. That, unfortunately, is a matter of religion, best left for another discussion.
When we speak of religion, we usually imply the belief in some sort of Super Being, usually a god. I feel that religion is really a "handle" describing an underlying API in human behaviour, the need to belong and the willingness to follow. I find religion every day, in people that champion vi over emacs, GNOME over KDE, Ford over Chevy, Us against Them, etc etc.
People need to find a cause to champion, it helps them define their boundries of existance. Yes, religion plays a vital role in human existance, and yes, religion is a way of life, not simply a belief. Having said that, religion has little to do with a god, as much as it has to do with personal identity. Even athiests have need to champion a cause, perhaps the absolute denial of a god, or whatever else they find important to their existance.
Science, as with anything, can be turned into a religion; there certantly are opposing camps of thought in many areas of science. Whether or not the players see this as religion, is simply a matter of personal perspective. What it is, in my opinion, is a manifestation of a very real human need to belong to a seemingly well defined group, whatever that may be.
What I also find interesting is the human tendency to believe without fully understanding the belief itself. Very few practitioners of the various religions are true masters of their respective religion. Once people grab onto a belief system, they are reluctant to let go, despite any logical arguments. Humans are much less individual than we would like to think. We are slave to the herd mentality, it's just a matter of what herd you follow.
Those who don't do politics, get done by politics
I spent 5 years studying to get my Bachelor of Sciences in Mechanical Engineering. In the last 6 months of my time in University, I spent every night hacking on Linux, teaching myself the environment and learning C. I did this for lack of a social life and because I was generally curious. As luck would have it, I got hired on at a company that made a VMS emulation suite for UNIX. Once there, they picked up on my love of Linux, and made me head of the Linux port. From there, I got a job working as a Linux SYS admin, and now I get paid a large sum to do what I originally started doing as a hobby. The moral of the story is that there are many more Linux jobs out there, and more coming every day. Roughly 30% of all servers on the Internet are running Linux, even if the companies doing it wont admit it. In the next 5 years, Linux experience will pay a handsome bounty. I'm getting paid about 30% more than if I had stuck with Mechanical Engineering, and my future earnings potential is greater than what I would have had as an engineer. For all my efforts at University, it was those last 6 months with Linux that has put food on my table. Maybe I live a fairytale life, but I don't think I'm at all unusual. Maybe it's just Austin Texas, but Linux is very hot here, and getting hotter. :)
If you can't get a start in Linux, at least get some UNIX experience. Sooner or later, you will end up hacking on Linux, and getting paid a royal sum to do so
-Cheers, and Much love to Linus, Alan, and all the crew that work to make Linux a reality.
In my humble opinion, it was obvious that Iridium would fail. What audiance are they targeting? There are maybe 50,000 people in this world that need around the world coverage in places like Antartica(I'm probably grossly overestimating). The places where rich business people do business is in places where there is already sufficient coverage by Cellular and or some form of digital wireless. CDMA, TDMA, and the european equivalent (I forget it's name, GSM I think) are in each of the major cities. So, who where they thinking would want this service? It's said to see 5billion go to waste on this. Total gross mismanagement on the side of Venture Capitalists, and market research specialists. Just because we live in a boom economy, doesn't mean people will want to spend a few grand on a phone, and a grand a month on phone service, just so they can have the novelty of calling from the north pole. Well, at least the major satelite launching firms got a boost of capital from the business.
I have worked with both Linux and FreeBSD, and can say that both are stable, and fast. It is good to see FreeBSD take an upgrade on GCC and the threaded libraries. The only reason I can see to chose one over the other is that some people prefer a BSD style environment over the POSIX/SYS5/BSD hodgepodge that Linux offers. Both environments are very good, and none is necessarily better than the other. Choose whatever you are most comfortable with. If you come from SunOS or even Solaris, then FreeBSD is probably a better fit. If you come from AIX, SCO, or HP/UX than Linux is probably a better fit. If you are new, pick either, you can't go wrong. Ofcourse, this is just my humble opinion. Anyhow, congrats FreeBSD folks, keep the up the excellent work!