My benchmark for the day when Linux is regarded as having won the OS war against Microsoft is when a majority of major games are produced for Linux first.
As well as better games, we need up to date games. Unfortunately in the majority of cases we're still getting 'hand me downs' from Windows. i.e. games which Windows first ran 2-3 years ago.
On the bright side, the situation does seem to be improving rapidly; a few years ago most games producers [ID perhaps excepted] wouldn't even have considered producing a Linux/Unix version.
Linux really needs a 'killer app' game - something which is new, different and everyone wants to play.
Actually this robot seems as though it may be the first to qualify as a real new animal as it converts what it hunts into energy - now all you have to do is get them to reproduce:-)
Personally though, I think it would be cheaper to build a birdbox in your back garden in order to encourage a slug eating avian robot to nest near to a good local food supply.
Of course, a Slugbot has no natural predators, yet.
> An Airbus A320 can be told what year to extend the flaps? > I thought that airplane was faster than that.
Nope, but like most avionics computers it did time stamp & record events, actions and faults, and I'm fairly sure it does some 2digit->4digit expansion.
Recalling what I wrote from dim and distant memory, the control program doesn't really care what the date/ time is for normal operation, but we did have problems with timer/counter rollover when checking the data from the various sensors for normal operation. Sort of a Y2K problem compressed into a few milliseconds:-).
The vast majority of users live with whatever OS comes on their PC - I think one of the major reasons for the domination of Windows is simply the fact it comes pre-installed on a lot of PCs
Now Linux is coming preinstalled and readily available as an option more people will be tempted to try it, and having accepted, it will stick with it. Even if Linux systems are sold on to companies more workers will be exposed to it and the dreams of Linux world domination will become more realistic.
Another factor is that Linux is starting to look quite perty now we have desktops like KDE & Gnome.
Two years ago I always said to anyone who asked that Linux is not really for Joe Public and they should stick to Windows. Now I believe I can see the day when I'll change my recommendation. Especially now we're starting to see the two major holes of Games and Office-type apps being filled. I believe Linux can be said to have won when a games manufacturer feels obliged to release a Linux version at the same time or before the Windows version.
I implemented windowed timing when I was working for GEC Avionics 1985-1987 for a slat/flap control computer on Airbus A320. Does this mean I can claim the patent from MD ?
[not that I really want too, because I'm sure other people have used it]
If I set my Linux box next to one of my Win'98 systems, I know that my Linux system will take a lot longer to boot.
Some of this is due to some sysadmin problems that I can never find the time to fix, but it could also be down to the fact that my Linux box has: * 8 partitions (25MB) to fsck, * a dial-up Internet connection, * DNS * Apache * SAMBA, * DHCP * sendmail, innd * lots more.
Having a slow boot up time is normally due to either a bad setup , or due to the fact as system has a lot to do. Of course it is easier to find the former in Linux, as you can look at the startup scripting.
What could be done to speed up Linux boot ups ? Write scripts in Perl instead of bash, perhaps ?
Despite the "I am serious" comments, I think I win the "spot the troll" competition.
You should have read your history books -Other countries can quite happily get into space for themselves.
How did the Americans get into space in the first place ? They asked a guy called Werner von Braun and his merry men to help them. Where did Werner get his experience ? At Peenemunde, designing V2 rockets [for Germany]:-).
Arianespace and numerous other non-American organisations will happily send your sattellite into space for you, and we Europeans are, I believe sending probes into the remote reaches of space just like the Americans. Europeans even occasionally have exploding spacecraft, but are sensible enough not to have people on board when they do so.
Oh, yes: who got into space first ? The Soviet Union First man in space ? The Soviet Union Longest stay in space ? The Soviet Union [probably just Russia by then though:-)]
Consider that you have no real problems about h/w support and there's a hige software base
It might even be a good strategy for Microsoft, as I understand that a large amount of their money comes from selling stuff on top of the basic OS, e.g. Office. It'd be a logical extension of their policy of putting Netscape out of the frame by giving away IE.
[Before anyone flames this, I use Linux as my main OS of choice]
Reasons for not upgrading
on
Kernels Galore
·
· Score: 1
When 2.0.x was in the lower numbers I used to update every couple of kernel releases. On the 2.2.x tree, the "release often" principle seems to have got a bit too overwhelming, and from the rapidity of the changes I haven't been convinced of 2.2.x stability.
Moving from 2.0.x to 2.2.x seems to require changing a number of other products.
Both my machines are running 2.0.x (x=36) and to be quite honest I can't be bothered to fix something that isn't broken.
I may go up to 2.2.x soon, as the changes are starting to look a little less major/ catastrophic, but I think I'll keep at least one removeable HDD with 2.0.x for old times sake/emergencies:-)
I'm really surprised he doesn't like Quake! What could be more satisfying than going online and blowing away one of these 14 year olds he talks about.
More seriously, I find I have to be in the right mood to play specific games
Quake) Desperate Need to Let Out Pent-Up aggression Civ) Feeling creative - what could be more satisfying than building a civilisation all by yourself. Other Strategy Games) I'm bored, got hours to kill, I want to control the pace of what I play
The author of this message is 36 going on 14.
On another point, I am a professional software engineer, and I realise that games are often designed from scratch, but I'm not scornful of the design approaches that games companies have used to get the game to work. Just because they don't use Shlaer-Mellor, Yourden, Teamwork, UML or anything else doesn't make the achievement less stunning. I'm consistently amazed that games deliver what they do out of CPUs; something a formal design approach is unlikely to realize.
I read this article and loved every word of it, despite disagreeing with most of it. It's a pessimistic view of what could happen if we're not careful and Linux gets seduced by "the Dark Side".
I thought its outlook had a similarity to "Animal Farm", sortof like at the end where there was no difference between the animals in charge and the humans.
Anyway this one's going in my favourites archives, next to the "Cathedral and the Bazaar".
I think most programmers (even those of us who call themselves software engineers): a) agree on the need for good documentation b)...provided we don't have to spend too much time writing it.
From looking at KDE, it seems the requirements for a successful open source project are: a) Version control of all software (CVS/PVCS/Clearcase whatever) b) A good centralised mailing list/ UseNet group where all can comment and criticise c) A bug progress tracking system d) Documentation. In KDE, I don't think there are very tight design documents written at the start of the project. Standards have been agreed on and documented, but this appears to have risen organically during the project.
The design process appears to consist of a number of people making a sales pitch for what a program should do, and whether that feature appears or not depends on how much support it gets in the development team, or the single minded dedication of the proposer. A successful Open Source project seems to allow both engineers and programmers to contribute [ I'm using the term engineer in the sense of taking a more formal approach to software design than a programmer]
A large amount of American law relies on English precedents. One of the classic English precedents involved the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company in the late 19th Century. They offered £100 to anyone who caught a cold after using their smoke balls, and to back up their ad, they placed some money on deposit in a bank.
Anyway, someone used their product, caught a cold, and asked for the £100. The case went to court and the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. was forced to cough up. The essential reasons for the decision were: a) the claimant had seen the advert and was relying on the offer when she bought the smoke balls. [True in the Pepsi case]
b) the Company had shown they were serious by putting money to cover any claims in a bank.
In the Pepsi case, Pepsi did NOT [presumably] go out and buy a Harrier to cover their potential liability. This fact might protect them under English law. HOWEVER, presumably, if Pepsi run out of stock of the other goods on offer, they would still honour the promise by going out and restocking. It could be argued that Pepsi just are maintaining a minimum stock level of zero on Harrier jump jets ["Just in Time" ordering]
As a number of people have pointed out, it is not unreasonable to expect a large "return" from a small investment - happens every day in Lotteries and other competitions [also in auctions, if there is no reserve price you can pick up something for much less than its value]. Also the effective price [$700,000] is a serious amount of money and could be used to show that Pepsi were serious about their offer. In another context, if he had actually collected the real points instead of buying them, it could be argued that his effort had value equivalent to the remainder of the price.
Are there any US lawyers/ law students reading this column. I'd love to know if it could be made to run under US law. I'm sure that after requiring Pepsi to deliver one could secure at least a cash alternative.
Even if the product is not available due to restrictions at the present time does not mean that Pepsi could be forced to honour the commitment as soon as it became legal to operate a Harrier jet as a civilian.
Since various people have nominated sci-fi stories, I'd like to suggest a few more.
Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
I suggest the Bastard Operator From Hell stories also belong in Internet (or Computing) history documents. Without these true anecdotes from his life, thousands of network administrators would not be the power mad, paranoid freaks that they are.
I understand BT is already trialling this stuff in some areas [North London] - I believe they are charging around £30 per month for the service [ you get a 24/7 internet connection].
There's been a review in one of the recent computer magazines.
OK, so without GCC & the rest of the GNU tools we probably wouldn't have Linux.
Just because I use somebodys compiler to develop a product I'm not going to stick their name in front of the product I write and compile using their compiler.
In other words I'm not going to name my house after the name of the drill I use to put a few shelves up, or the manufacturer of the cement mixer I used to make my patio.
..and so I'm certainly not going to use the term GNU/Linux!
P.S. Just in case anyone wonders, I think GCC and the rest of their tools are very nice, do a wonderful job and I would like to thank anyone who has assisted on them for their efforts.
AFAIK, it was always envisaged that it is perfectly respectable in the Open/Free/whatever software community to earn money providing software support - Tim has just found a way to provide support to lots of people at the same time. He's managed to get about $500 of "consultancy" fees out of me and I've never even met him:-)
I'm sure the various authors of the books he publishes [normally the people who put the time and effort into writing the software we use daily] don't complain about the parasiticism [big word for this time of night] when their monthly royalty check pops through the letterbox, allowing them to spend more time writing better software for the rest of us.
..from KDE developers - I suspect that without it TrollTech would not have felt quite so pressurised to make the Qt License [almost] totally satisfy the demands of the GPL fraternity. This would probably have resulted in more KDE developers emigrating to GNOME, and this in turn might have killed both KDE and Harmony. Not that I'm saying that GNOME is bad, just that two competing desktops are better than one!
Slashdot Mirror
My benchmark for the day when Linux is regarded as having won the OS war against Microsoft is when a majority of major games are produced for Linux first.
As well as better games, we need up to date games. Unfortunately in the majority of cases we're still getting 'hand me downs' from Windows. i.e. games which Windows first ran 2-3 years ago.
On the bright side, the situation does seem to be improving rapidly; a few years ago most games producers [ID perhaps excepted] wouldn't even have considered producing a Linux/Unix version.
Linux really needs a 'killer app' game - something which is new, different and everyone wants to play.
Actually this robot seems as though it may be the first to qualify as a real new animal as it converts what it hunts into energy - now all you have to do is get them to reproduce :-)
Personally though, I think it would be cheaper to build a birdbox in your back garden in order to encourage a slug eating avian robot to nest near to a good local food supply.
Of course, a Slugbot has no natural predators, yet.
> An Airbus A320 can be told what year to extend the flaps?
:-).
> I thought that airplane was faster than that.
Nope, but like most avionics computers it did time stamp & record events, actions and faults, and I'm fairly sure it does some 2digit->4digit expansion.
Recalling what I wrote from dim and distant memory, the control program doesn't really care what the date/ time is for normal operation, but we did have problems with timer/counter rollover when checking the data from the various sensors for normal operation. Sort of a Y2K problem compressed into a few milliseconds
The vast majority of users live with whatever OS comes on their PC - I think one of the major reasons for the domination of Windows is simply the fact it comes pre-installed on a lot of PCs
Now Linux is coming preinstalled and readily available as an option more people will be tempted to try it, and having accepted, it will stick with it. Even if Linux systems are sold on to companies more workers will be exposed to it and the dreams of Linux world domination will become more realistic.
Another factor is that Linux is starting to look quite perty now we have desktops like KDE & Gnome.
Two years ago I always said to anyone who asked that Linux is not really for Joe Public and they should stick to Windows. Now I believe I can see the day when I'll change my recommendation. Especially now we're starting to see the two major holes of Games and Office-type apps being filled. I believe Linux can be said to have won when a games manufacturer feels obliged to release a Linux version at the same time or before the Windows version.
I implemented windowed timing when I was working for GEC Avionics 1985-1987 for a slat/flap control computer on Airbus A320. Does this mean I can claim the patent from MD ?
[not that I really want too, because I'm sure other people have used it]
Oops..thats 25GB disk space, not 25MB
My system always performs a fsck on startup on all the partitions, since I'd like to know my server is a happy bunny before starting anything else
Yes, but chemical names get very complex and repetitive -
e.g you could accidentally log into:
polyethyldimethylethyl
instead of
polymethyldietheylmethyl
More complex names have dashes and numbers in them, so I'm not sure they'd be compliant
[Sorry, I'm being boring and pedantic this afternoon]
If I set my Linux box next to one of my Win'98 systems, I know that my Linux system will take a lot longer to boot.
Some of this is due to some sysadmin problems that I can never find the time to fix, but it could also be down to the fact that my Linux box has:
* 8 partitions (25MB) to fsck,
* a dial-up Internet connection,
* DNS
* Apache
* SAMBA,
* DHCP
* sendmail, innd
* lots more.
Having a slow boot up time is normally due to either a bad setup , or due to the fact as system has a lot to do. Of course it is easier to find the former in Linux, as you can look at the startup scripting.
What could be done to speed up Linux boot ups ?
Write scripts in Perl instead of bash, perhaps ?
Despite the "I am serious" comments, I think I win the "spot the troll" competition.
:-)]
You should have read your history books -Other countries can quite happily get into space for themselves.
How did the Americans get into space in the first place ? They asked a guy called Werner von Braun and his merry men to help them. Where did Werner get his experience ? At Peenemunde, designing V2 rockets [for Germany]:-).
Arianespace and numerous other non-American organisations will happily send your sattellite into space for you, and we Europeans are, I believe sending probes into the remote reaches of space just like the Americans. Europeans even occasionally have exploding spacecraft, but are sensible enough not to have people on board when they do so.
Oh, yes: who got into space first ?
The Soviet Union
First man in space ?
The Soviet Union
Longest stay in space ?
The Soviet Union [probably just Russia by then though
'nuff said really.
Might be a more interesting "what if".
Consider that you have no real problems about h/w support and there's a hige software base
It might even be a good strategy for Microsoft, as I understand that a large amount of their money comes from selling stuff on top of the basic OS, e.g. Office. It'd be a logical extension of their policy of putting Netscape out of the frame by giving away IE.
[Before anyone flames this, I use Linux as my main OS of choice]
When 2.0.x was in the lower numbers I used to update every couple of kernel releases. On the 2.2.x tree, the "release often" principle seems to have got a bit too overwhelming, and from the rapidity of the changes I haven't been convinced of 2.2.x stability.
:-)
Moving from 2.0.x to 2.2.x seems to require changing a number of other products.
Both my machines are running 2.0.x (x=36) and to be quite honest I can't be bothered to fix something that isn't broken.
I may go up to 2.2.x soon, as the changes are starting to look a little less major/ catastrophic, but I think I'll keep at least one removeable HDD with 2.0.x for old times sake/emergencies
I'm really surprised he doesn't like Quake! What could be more satisfying than going online and blowing away one of these 14 year olds he talks about.
More seriously, I find I have to be in the right mood to play specific games
Quake) Desperate Need to Let Out Pent-Up aggression
Civ) Feeling creative - what could be more satisfying than building a civilisation all by yourself.
Other Strategy Games) I'm bored, got hours to kill, I want to control the pace of what I play
The author of this message is 36 going on 14.
On another point, I am a professional software engineer, and I realise that games are often designed from scratch, but I'm not scornful of the design approaches that games companies have used to get the game to work. Just because they don't use Shlaer-Mellor, Yourden, Teamwork, UML or anything else doesn't make the achievement less stunning. I'm consistently amazed that games deliver what they do out of CPUs; something a formal design approach is unlikely to realize.
I read this article and loved every word of it, despite disagreeing with most of it. It's a pessimistic view of what could happen if we're not careful and Linux gets seduced by "the Dark Side".
I thought its outlook had a similarity to "Animal Farm", sortof like at the end where there was no difference between the animals in charge and the humans.
Anyway this one's going in my favourites archives, next to the "Cathedral and the Bazaar".
I think most programmers (even those of us who call themselves software engineers):
a) agree on the need for good documentation
b)...provided we don't have to spend too much time writing it.
From looking at KDE, it seems the requirements for a successful open source project are:
a) Version control of all software (CVS/PVCS/Clearcase whatever)
b) A good centralised mailing list/ UseNet group where all can comment and criticise
c) A bug progress tracking system
d) Documentation. In KDE, I don't think there are very tight design documents written at the start of the project. Standards have been agreed on and documented, but this appears to have risen organically during the project.
The design process appears to consist of a number of people making a sales pitch for what a program should do, and whether that feature appears or not depends on how much support it gets in the development team, or the single minded dedication of the proposer. A successful Open Source project seems to allow both engineers and programmers to contribute [ I'm using the term engineer in the sense of taking a more formal approach to software design than a programmer]
A large amount of American law relies on English precedents. One of the classic English precedents involved the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company in the late 19th Century. They offered £100 to anyone who caught a cold after using their smoke balls, and to back up their ad, they placed some money on deposit in a bank.
Anyway, someone used their product, caught a cold, and asked for the £100. The case went to court and the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. was forced to cough up. The essential reasons for the decision were:
a) the claimant had seen the advert and was relying on the offer when she bought the smoke balls. [True in the Pepsi case]
b) the Company had shown they were serious by putting money to cover any claims in a bank.
In the Pepsi case, Pepsi did NOT [presumably] go out and buy a Harrier to cover their potential liability. This fact might protect them under English law. HOWEVER, presumably, if Pepsi run out of stock of the other goods on offer, they would still honour the promise by going out and restocking. It could be argued that Pepsi just are maintaining a minimum stock level of zero on Harrier jump jets ["Just in Time" ordering]
As a number of people have pointed out, it is not unreasonable to expect a large "return" from a small investment - happens every day in Lotteries and other competitions [also in auctions, if there is no reserve price you can pick up something for much less than its value]. Also the effective price [$700,000] is a serious amount of money and could be used to show that Pepsi were serious about their offer. In another context, if he had actually collected the real points instead of buying them, it could be argued that his effort had value equivalent to the remainder of the price.
Are there any US lawyers/ law students reading this column. I'd love to know if it could be made to run under US law. I'm sure that after requiring Pepsi to deliver one could secure at least a cash alternative.
Even if the product is not available due to restrictions at the present time does not mean that Pepsi could be forced to honour the commitment as soon as it became legal to operate a Harrier jet as a civilian.
Since various people have nominated sci-fi stories, I'd like to suggest a few more.
Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
I suggest the Bastard Operator From Hell stories also belong in Internet (or Computing) history documents. Without these true anecdotes from his life, thousands of network administrators would not be the power mad, paranoid freaks that they are.
[Take all the above with a pinch of salt]
I understand BT is already trialling this stuff in some areas [North London] - I believe they are charging around £30 per month for the service [ you get a 24/7 internet connection].
There's been a review in one of the recent computer magazines.
..as for leaking oil - I seem to remember a quote from Mr Cray [he of supercomputer fame] saying he was just a good plumber...
OK, so without GCC & the rest of the GNU tools we probably wouldn't have Linux.
Just because I use somebodys compiler to develop a product I'm not going to stick their name in front of the product I write and compile using their compiler.
In other words I'm not going to name my house after the name of the drill I use to put a few shelves up, or the manufacturer of the cement mixer I used to make my patio.
..and so I'm certainly not going to use the term GNU/Linux!
P.S. Just in case anyone wonders, I think GCC and the rest of their tools are very nice, do a wonderful job and I would like to thank anyone who has assisted on them for their efforts.
.."tom eh! tow"
:-)
Lets call the whole thing off!!
P.S.
Another Limey voting for rooter!!
AFAIK, it was always envisaged that it is perfectly respectable in the Open/Free/whatever software community to earn money providing software support - Tim has just found a way to provide support to lots of people at the same time. He's managed to get about $500 of "consultancy" fees out of me and I've never even met him :-)
I'm sure the various authors of the books he publishes [normally the people who put the time and effort into writing the software we use daily] don't complain about the parasiticism [big word for this time of night] when their monthly royalty check pops through the letterbox, allowing them to spend more time writing better software for the rest of us.
..from KDE developers - I suspect that without it TrollTech would not have felt quite so pressurised to make the Qt License [almost] totally satisfy the demands of the GPL fraternity.
This would probably have resulted in more KDE developers emigrating to GNOME, and this in turn might have killed both KDE and Harmony.
Not that I'm saying that GNOME is bad, just that two competing desktops are better than one!