That's such a bullshit argument anyway. The Loki ports were almost all of older games, it wasn't clear that the Linux world either needed or wanted games, and, doggone it, if you had used Corel's "ports" you'd understand what was wrong with them. I'd be willing to pay for a nice graphics editing suit as long as it didn't suck.
Well, I just replaced MacOS 9 Server + ASIP with Debian. The corporate monkeys are gonna freak. I feel I stand a good chance of losing my job this week, 'coz the corp monkeys are going to have a freakin' fit. Whatever; mail's flowing smoothly, file services seem to be going great (once I replaced the braindead Debian netatalk package with a hand-built netatalk) and it hasn't crashed (yet.)
Of course, OS X Server would have been a nice choice, but I didn't feel like warezing it or talking my boss into plunking down money on the darn thing.
I don't know if you're trolling or just dumb, but the last time I checked there was one true standard for Linux audio right now. I don't know where you're getting your four or five. Okay, so there's commercial OSS, there's OSS/free, there's, um, whatever the kernel uses (thought it was still OSS, but they've got a separate config in the kernel now) which is OSS-compliant and there's ALSA, which is OSS compatible.
Okay, so if you want to write audio apps, there's OSS. Okay, if you want to get down to it, GNOME and KDE have their own sound *servers* which communicate with OSS/ALSA/whatever. Doing it that way just makes *sense* because KDE and GNOME run on more than one platform, not just Linux. Linux ain't the only game in town, and neither is Windows. MS forgets that and foists Windows-only, x86-only crapola like DirectX on us.
And if you want to target Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc. DirectX is a poor choice. Heck, if you want to target something other than Windows DirectX is a stupid choice. SDL targets a number of platforms and will even work with OpenGL (which is an open standard, and even has MS as part of its steering committee.)
I know people are thinking that it's great that Adobe is getting smacked for this one . . . but once again, it's the customers of Adobe, ITC, and Agfa who're suffering. If I'm understanding this right, I'm breakin' the law any time I use an ITC/AGFA Monotype font in something that's later converted to a PDF (so long as Distiller is set up to embed fonts.)
It's not cool, especially since ITC and AGFA have some awesome fonts. I suppose it's time to ask Adobe to step up to the plate and make suitable replacements.
Way to dodge the issue there, chief. Those services aren't necessarily there for the average business user. More than likely, it'll be the IT guy who needs 'em to do whatever bizarre setup "the boss" demands this week.
And quite frankly, after spending time installing/upgrading on a number of boxes, commercial software is just a headache. This app needs a CD key every time, this one needs a special floppy disk, this one needs this, this one needs that, this one needs to be installed before the other one, this version of the upgrade that the website demands you install really breaks the app, this app is only upgradable by a full-price upgrade, etc. It's no fun blowing a weekend because the boss wants this week's latest updates (and it's no fun telling him that, say, upgrades cost $300 a seat on some stuff, especially when he takes out his anger on whoever is closest.)
OTOH (I'll not talk about RH because I'm not the biggest RH fan) if you give me a system that I can upgrade without sitting in front of a box with CD key in hand, and in fact can upgrade overnight while I'm sleeping, I'm all for it.
Too bad those prepress apps just ain't there yet, or I'd ask my boss if I could cram those Macs in the office into the Dumpster.
(BTW, it's amusing to get release announcements and read them on an OS 10.2 box before the official release.:-D)
1. Spring-loaded folders. I find them indispensible.
2. A return of old-style "Find Files." No longer are you forced to use Sherlock.
3. As the journalists have been spouting, there are a number of optimizations that both make OS X faster and make OS X seem faster. Also, the interface has been cleaned up a bit; some people might complain that it's a bit more utilitarian than the "classic" Aqua look-and-feel, but it's still nice.
Now, if only I could find a decent TWAIN driver for my Epson Perfection 1640SU that worked with Photoshop 7. Yes, I know there's both the Epson Scan-To-File utility and the TWAIN driver, but it doesn't work--yet. For that reason (and the fact that USB support under Classic seems to be broken *again*) I won't use OS X 10.2 at this time . . . leaving me with 9.2.2 *sigh*
The company got absorbed by Micron, true, but a ca. 1990 Zeos keyboard is every bit the keyboard a Model M is. Well, okay; it doesn't have drainholes (great idea!) or interchangable cables but it feels great to type on and could probably pass the 3-story test. I've got one stored away in a closet; I switch back to it when whatever my latest keyboard happens to be decides to crap out.
free your ass from Windows-alike interfaces
on
Windependence Day
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· Score: 2
Windows-alike interfaces aren't that special. Let's start doing something revolutionary, like paying attention to UI research results.
To understand what's so cutting edge about Gentoo, one has to use it.
First of all, thanks to its Ports-like Portage tree, most the software is up-to-date.
Secondly, well, it's just about the highest-performance distribution I've ever used. You name a feature that can improve the performance of a modern Linux system; you'll find it here.
Thirdly, the init scripts are light-years ahead of what you'll find on most Linux systems.
Re:time to ditch Microserf XP?
on
Gnome 2.0 RC1
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
Sorry, the most common OS that GNOME runs on is not Free, and further, is developed on the non-Free OS Linux. Further, many GNOME developers use Debian, which should be boycotted due to its blatant disregard for the non-Free nature of the Linux kernel, and its violation of its own DFSG. Even if the Debian project were to discontinue the GNU/Linux distribution, and the GNOME project were to move to a Free system such as Hurd (but not Debian GNU/Hurd, due to the Debian project's blatant disregard for GPL violations) or FreeBSD, we should still hold both GNOME and Debian accountable for past transgressions.
To get a jump on the gun here, I'll point out (before the flames start rolling in) that some people hold the same sort of grudge against EMusic that some hold against Apple for both embracing Open Source and being so anal-retentive about sharing info about hardware and about what sort of hardware one can install whatever version of their OS.
To break it down succinctly: EMusic has, in the past, attempted to track their MP3s traded via P2P clients.
Quite frankly, I see no problem with it, because, doggone it, as a GPL supporter, I see GPL's greatest strength coming from respecting copyright law (I know RMS hates it but he relies so heavily on it) and b.) respecting licensing agreements. If you trade free MP3s without the artist's (or, more likely, the record label's) explicit or implied permission, you're breaking the law. Sorry.
And quite frankly, yes, I've grabbed MP3s via Gnutella clients. Most people have such shitty encoders that I'd either rather buy the MP3, or buy the CD, rip the CD, and use the MP3s.:-D
Jon Katz -- falling further from reality
on
The Empire Stumbles
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· Score: 2
All in an effort to appeal to pseudo-intellectuals who spend more time perusing sites like kuro5hin, perhaps.
The numbers I've seen paint just the opposite picture--that Star Wars has surpassed Spider-Man (according to an AP wire story.) Which numbers are correct?
Hrm. I'm somewhat amused by Adams, but don't really care for his writing all that much (not enough to show up to a movie premier with a towel, at least.)
I, for one, am a bit tired of the Adams worship. Then again, I'm growing tired of just about any sort of worship of pop icons.;-D
It rather confused me the first time I did a ScanDisk/defrag cycle, rebooted the computer, and didn't get a LILO prompt.
My solution: don't run Windows. If I feel a need for more mainstream apps later on, I'll save my nickels and dimes and buy a Mac (which is arguably a more restrictive company, but at least they don't do evil things like rewriting a bootrecord without asking first.)
True, but as far as I'm concerned, it's not that big of a deal. I work in a print-oriented shop, and as far as I can tell, the only hardare we're missing out on is the cheap crap--and not much of that.
Oh, wait, I forgot. We're still in the post-dotbomb days of "CHOICE IS BAD" and it's time to hail MS for helping keep the geriatric x86 line around.
I run KDE 2.2.2 on a K62-350 w/64MB of RAM. Shut down some unnecessary services and you'll find that the "slow" stuff isn't so slow anymore (hint: you're probably running out of "real" RAM.) And even poor old Win98 runs slow on this box.
I'm sick of every single program havng its own way of doing fonts and printing.
Hate to tell ya this, but the Windows world is standardized only in theory.
C) Umm, you can do remote desktop on Win2K as well, its called Citrix. The damn thing is fast enough to run Word comfortably over a medium-speed DSL line.
Hooray. I run VNCServer on *n?x, MacOS (including OSX), and Windows. You have to have that faster network connection for it to be worthwile, though, especially with eyecandy-happy OSX.
Back to A)...
A) GNOME and KDE, as good as they might be to deluded Linux users, is nothing compared to BeOS and Windows. I know. After having used BeOS for years on my 300MHz PII, KDE 2.2 and GNOME 1.4 run painfully slow, even on my new Athlon 1700+. Win2K on both machines is blazingly fast.
Repeat after me: there's speed, then there's stability and security. Guess what's more important? And as I said before, you're probably some poor sap without enough RAM, and you probably have Apache and all sorts of crap you shouldn't have running if you're using your machine as a desktop machine. Shut off the network services. All of 'em. Now. Now go find some small company with a fair amount of computers, and ask them if they'd like to unload any old 486's or Pentiums (or, if it's a print business, any old beige G3s or something) on anyone. Run Apache on that.
Or Libranet. I know, I know; it's Debian, so why not use Debian? There were only one or two spots where I really had to be all that clueful during the installation, but other than that, it was an easy install and easy-to-use. A nice balance of "you must learn" regular features and "duh I'm lost" hand-holding features.
Oh, and it's Potato with an actual set of current, working KDE packages.:-P
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That's such a bullshit argument anyway. The Loki ports were almost all of older games, it wasn't clear that the Linux world either needed or wanted games, and, doggone it, if you had used Corel's "ports" you'd understand what was wrong with them. I'd be willing to pay for a nice graphics editing suit as long as it didn't suck.
Of course, OS X Server would have been a nice choice, but I didn't feel like warezing it or talking my boss into plunking down money on the darn thing.
I'd like to hear from you on this subject.
Damn, you kids gotta learn how to troll. Come up with something harder to refute, man!
Okay, so if you want to write audio apps, there's OSS. Okay, if you want to get down to it, GNOME and KDE have their own sound *servers* which communicate with OSS/ALSA/whatever. Doing it that way just makes *sense* because KDE and GNOME run on more than one platform, not just Linux. Linux ain't the only game in town, and neither is Windows. MS forgets that and foists Windows-only, x86-only crapola like DirectX on us.
And if you want to target Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc. DirectX is a poor choice. Heck, if you want to target something other than Windows DirectX is a stupid choice. SDL targets a number of platforms and will even work with OpenGL (which is an open standard, and even has MS as part of its steering committee.)
If you need Exchange compatibility, quitcherbitchin and pay for the Evolution extension. Yeah, it's proprietary, but so's Exchange.
It's not cool, especially since ITC and AGFA have some awesome fonts. I suppose it's time to ask Adobe to step up to the plate and make suitable replacements.
And quite frankly, after spending time installing/upgrading on a number of boxes, commercial software is just a headache. This app needs a CD key every time, this one needs a special floppy disk, this one needs this, this one needs that, this one needs to be installed before the other one, this version of the upgrade that the website demands you install really breaks the app, this app is only upgradable by a full-price upgrade, etc. It's no fun blowing a weekend because the boss wants this week's latest updates (and it's no fun telling him that, say, upgrades cost $300 a seat on some stuff, especially when he takes out his anger on whoever is closest.)
OTOH (I'll not talk about RH because I'm not the biggest RH fan) if you give me a system that I can upgrade without sitting in front of a box with CD key in hand, and in fact can upgrade overnight while I'm sleeping, I'm all for it.
Too bad those prepress apps just ain't there yet, or I'd ask my boss if I could cram those Macs in the office into the Dumpster.
1. Spring-loaded folders. I find them indispensible.
2. A return of old-style "Find Files." No longer are you forced to use Sherlock.
3. As the journalists have been spouting, there are a number of optimizations that both make OS X faster and make OS X seem faster. Also, the interface has been cleaned up a bit; some people might complain that it's a bit more utilitarian than the "classic" Aqua look-and-feel, but it's still nice.
Now, if only I could find a decent TWAIN driver for my Epson Perfection 1640SU that worked with Photoshop 7. Yes, I know there's both the Epson Scan-To-File utility and the TWAIN driver, but it doesn't work--yet. For that reason (and the fact that USB support under Classic seems to be broken *again*) I won't use OS X 10.2 at this time . . . leaving me with 9.2.2 *sigh*
Probably more like real mediathat can be snailmailed.
Moron.
The company got absorbed by Micron, true, but a ca. 1990 Zeos keyboard is every bit the keyboard a Model M is. Well, okay; it doesn't have drainholes (great idea!) or interchangable cables but it feels great to type on and could probably pass the 3-story test. I've got one stored away in a closet; I switch back to it when whatever my latest keyboard happens to be decides to crap out.
Windows-alike interfaces aren't that special. Let's start doing something revolutionary, like paying attention to UI research results.
First of all, thanks to its Ports-like Portage tree, most the software is up-to-date.
Secondly, well, it's just about the highest-performance distribution I've ever used. You name a feature that can improve the performance of a modern Linux system; you'll find it here.
Thirdly, the init scripts are light-years ahead of what you'll find on most Linux systems.
Boycott Linux and GNOME today!
To break it down succinctly: EMusic has, in the past, attempted to track their MP3s traded via P2P clients.
Quite frankly, I see no problem with it, because, doggone it, as a GPL supporter, I see GPL's greatest strength coming from respecting copyright law (I know RMS hates it but he relies so heavily on it) and b.) respecting licensing agreements. If you trade free MP3s without the artist's (or, more likely, the record label's) explicit or implied permission, you're breaking the law. Sorry.
And quite frankly, yes, I've grabbed MP3s via Gnutella clients. Most people have such shitty encoders that I'd either rather buy the MP3, or buy the CD, rip the CD, and use the MP3s. :-D
The numbers I've seen paint just the opposite picture--that Star Wars has surpassed Spider-Man (according to an AP wire story.) Which numbers are correct?
I suppose BeOS and MacOS X are just liberal conspiracies.
Some nobody trashes Casablanca for no apparent reason.
I, for one, am a bit tired of the Adams worship. Then again, I'm growing tired of just about any sort of worship of pop icons.
Canada is cold.
My solution: don't run Windows. If I feel a need for more mainstream apps later on, I'll save my nickels and dimes and buy a Mac (which is arguably a more restrictive company, but at least they don't do evil things like rewriting a bootrecord without asking first.)
I'd like to add that GVim did it first, and people didn't really complain too much about it. I guess it's okay if the front end is GTK+. ;-D
Oh, wait, I forgot. We're still in the post-dotbomb days of "CHOICE IS BAD" and it's time to hail MS for helping keep the geriatric x86 line around.
I'm sick of every single program havng its own way of doing fonts and printing.
Hate to tell ya this, but the Windows world is standardized only in theory.
C) Umm, you can do remote desktop on Win2K as well, its called Citrix. The damn thing is fast enough to run Word comfortably over a medium-speed DSL line.
Hooray. I run VNCServer on *n?x, MacOS (including OSX), and Windows. You have to have that faster network connection for it to be worthwile, though, especially with eyecandy-happy OSX.
Back to A)...
A) GNOME and KDE, as good as they might be to deluded Linux users, is nothing compared to BeOS and Windows. I know. After having used BeOS for years on my 300MHz PII, KDE 2.2 and GNOME 1.4 run painfully slow, even on my new Athlon 1700+. Win2K on both machines is blazingly fast.
Repeat after me: there's speed, then there's stability and security. Guess what's more important? And as I said before, you're probably some poor sap without enough RAM, and you probably have Apache and all sorts of crap you shouldn't have running if you're using your machine as a desktop machine. Shut off the network services. All of 'em. Now. Now go find some small company with a fair amount of computers, and ask them if they'd like to unload any old 486's or Pentiums (or, if it's a print business, any old beige G3s or something) on anyone. Run Apache on that.
Oh, and it's Potato with an actual set of current, working KDE packages.