By "dearth of innovation" do you mean that no one is adding new tags like or ? If so, lack of innovation is a good thing. Browser development seems currently geared toward getting browsers to implement common standards, correctly. (By the way, previewing seems to screw up character codes in the text box, in case no one noticed.)
Sometimes this is a response to the sheer volume of information, sometimes an effort to screen out unwanted points of view.
Jon, please remember that moderation serves two purposes: screening out junk and raising the profile of good posts. I've read a lot of really thoughtful posts that I would have missed were it not for up-moderation. Sometimes, someone makes a good point deeper within a thread than I would have dug on my own. Other times, when comments overflow my thresholds, I can at least get some idea of the discussion from the highly-rated posts.
Anybody check out John C. Dvorak's column last week? That was whining; he just used his column to strike back at the groups he perceived as picking on him. Katz's article may have incorporated a bit of whining, but it was a lot more thoughtful than Dvorak's. Katz talked more about the effects of flamage, and even considered the possibility that flames do serve a purpose. Above all, he tried to calm things down with his plea for civility, as opposed to fanning the flames like Dvorak.
Would somebody please explain exactly what part of any commonly-accepted definition of "Open Source" dictates what release methodology or schedule the developers are compelled to follow?
I'll probably get flamed and moderated down for this (there seems to be a rather vocal fundamentalist open source community here on/.)
Okay, is there any basis for this? Please, can somebody point out an example, any example, where someone was moderated down simply for expressing an unpopular opinion? For expressing an unpopular opinion in a rude, off-topic, or incomprehensible way, maybe. More often, however, posts like this seem to get moderated up, possibly because someone is determined to show how open-minded they are.
On the other hand, I've been tempted to make "I'm gonna get moderated down" posts self-fulfilling. Haven't yet.
Jesse Berst goes all over the map on every subject you can imagine, not just Linux. One week he's anti-Linux, next week he's pro-Linux. So what? I've seen him flip-flop on nearly every subject in the industry: Java, network computers, cheap PC's, operating systems, Microsoft/DOJ, etc. Either Jesse Berst has Multiple Personality disorder, or "Jesse Berst" is a pen name used by a different writer every day.
Where Livinston says, "...Microsoft is catching up with Linux..." he is referring to one specific aspect of the operating system: stability. From what I've read here on/. it appears that everyone is interpreting it as an across-the-board condemnation of W2K. For ghod's sake, people, please go out and read the article in its entirety.
Just this week, the Register posted this story about software piracy in UK schools. I would have assumed that this new school's switch to Red Hat was prompted by the flap over piracy, but the article seems to imply that this has been an ongoing project. At least, I'm assuming that the school has been installing Linux on the computers as they're being installed, as opposed to a last-minute emergency switchover. Still, if UK schools are cracking down on piracy, this is a golden opportunity for Linux to step in and replace traditionally-licensed software.
I'll have to disagree with you on the worst example. My choice is Microsoft's habit of clumping a group of programs together into a "suite" and then matching up the version numbers of all the components. For example, Visual J++ (an abombination of a name in and of itself) leaped from something like 1.1 or 2.0 to 5.0 when it was thrown into Visual Studio along with Visual C++ 5.0. Similarly, I believe Visual InterDev leaped from 1.0 on its introduction in Visual Studio 97 to 6.0 in Visual Studio 98.
I don't believe that your comments are accurate for all nerds. I've run into a few competent programmers who've actually bought into leftist "Round Earth" theories.
Any? I thought there was only one, with associated footnote. I'll admit I didn't really get that one. Still, this points out why I like Pratchett's style of humor so much better than American comic-fantasy authors like Anthony or Asprin. Pratchett seems to be satisfied with throw-away jokes: If you get it, good; if not, maybe you'll get the next one. Sometimes I won't even notice some particularly British reference; sometimes I'll notice that there's something going on that I just don't get, but move on. Pratchett doesn't rub my nose in the jokes I don't get, and provides more than enough jokes than I do. Too many other authors (Piers Anthony is the worst) seem to feel a need to make sure you know exactly how clever they are. The last time (years ago) I read Piers, I wanted to sit him down and explain to him (possibly using a LART) that, "If you need to explain the joke, it wasn't funny." In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn, "The boy's about as subtle as a hand grenade in a barrel of oatmeal."
Personally, I'd consider Equal Rites to be a better starting point than The Colour of Magic. (Subject to availability, of course; Small Gods may be the best starting point still in print in the U.S.) Colour reads like too many other authors who just wanted to parody the conventions of fantasy novels. IMHO, Rites is the first book where Pratchett decided to build his own, distinct, richly developed world.
Small Gods is probably the best starting point that U.S. readers are likely to find, anyway. SG was the first novel published after the series's current U.S. publisher took over from Roc. Anything older seems to be out of print here, or only available as an import. Maybe the Good Omens movie will stir up enough interest in Pratchett to get the entire series back in print.
Several months ago, I found a URL for a page that had a sort of map of the Discworld novels. The relationship between the various novels is complex, because there are several different "threads" dealing with different groups of characters, with crossovers between groups to make things really confusing. It showed which books happened before others, which ones stood alone, which ones followed different characters. Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the page, and con't for the life of me find it using search engines. Can anyone give me the URL?
Good ghod, man, isn't there an entire industry centered around helping newbies cram to do just that?
Re:This merger is good... how?
on
AOL Nation
·
· Score: 2
Dan Gillmor has a pretty good piece on the merger today. One of the best point he makes is that AOL is even less enthusiastic about supporting open protocols, file formats, etc. than Microsoft. Remember the Instant Messenger nightmare of last year? Also, I think AOL has created their own wierd proprietary format (.ART) for web graphics.
We have X-stop at my orkplace as well. One of the worst parts of URL filtering is that every now and then a GUID in a dynamically generated URL recreation group, founded at a May Day garden contains some string that the filter doesn't like.
Also, I've heard one problem that a lot of SCA folks have run into. The SCA, or Society for Creative Anachronism, is a medeival party sometime in the late 60's (can't remember what year). The SCA often uses "Anno Societatis" dates originating from said garden party, often written as roman numerals. In the late 90's, SCA members started having problems with filtering software blocking many new SCA web sites. Didn't take long for someone to figure out that blocking software didn't like the SCA dates (when this problem started showing up in A.S. XXX) in the URL.
Sexually explicit artwork is not new by any means. Treating sexually explicit artwork as a distinct, separate category from other types of artwork may be. At least, I think that's the point he was trying to make.
How much work on support of new hardware is done by people who have no interest in development beyond getting decent performance out of their new hardware?
Real Programmer? *howls of derisive laughter* Toggle in bytes on a switch panel and we'll talk.(And I'm leaving this thread before we reach the "banging rocks together to make bits" stage)
Slashdot Mirror
Uhh... MSNBC?
By the way, I think I've figured out the AOL/Time thing: Steve Case just wants to make himself Man of the Year.
Slashdot poster uses word "looser" correctly. .mpg at 11.
By "dearth of innovation" do you mean that no one is adding new tags like or ? If so, lack of innovation is a good thing. Browser development seems currently geared toward getting browsers to implement common standards, correctly. (By the way, previewing seems to screw up character codes in the text box, in case no one noticed.)
Sometimes this is a response to the sheer volume of information, sometimes an effort to screen out unwanted points of view.
Jon, please remember that moderation serves two purposes: screening out junk and raising the profile of good posts. I've read a lot of really thoughtful posts that I would have missed were it not for up-moderation. Sometimes, someone makes a good point deeper within a thread than I would have dug on my own. Other times, when comments overflow my thresholds, I can at least get some idea of the discussion from the highly-rated posts.
Anybody check out John C. Dvorak's column last week? That was whining; he just used his column to strike back at the groups he perceived as picking on him. Katz's article may have incorporated a bit of whining, but it was a lot more thoughtful than Dvorak's. Katz talked more about the effects of flamage, and even considered the possibility that flames do serve a purpose. Above all, he tried to calm things down with his plea for civility, as opposed to fanning the flames like Dvorak.
Would somebody please explain exactly what part of any commonly-accepted definition of "Open Source" dictates what release methodology or schedule the developers are compelled to follow?
I'll probably get flamed and moderated down for this (there seems to be a rather vocal fundamentalist open source community here on /.)
Okay, is there any basis for this? Please, can somebody point out an example, any example, where someone was moderated down simply for expressing an unpopular opinion? For expressing an unpopular opinion in a rude, off-topic, or incomprehensible way, maybe. More often, however, posts like this seem to get moderated up, possibly because someone is determined to show how open-minded they are.
On the other hand, I've been tempted to make "I'm gonna get moderated down" posts self-fulfilling. Haven't yet.
Jesse Berst goes all over the map on every subject you can imagine, not just Linux. One week he's anti-Linux, next week he's pro-Linux. So what? I've seen him flip-flop on nearly every subject in the industry: Java, network computers, cheap PC's, operating systems, Microsoft/DOJ, etc. Either Jesse Berst has Multiple Personality disorder, or "Jesse Berst" is a pen name used by a different writer every day.
Where Livinston says, "...Microsoft is catching up with Linux..." he is referring to one specific aspect of the operating system: stability. From what I've read here on /. it appears that everyone is interpreting it as an across-the-board condemnation of W2K. For ghod's sake, people, please go out and read the article in its entirety.
Browse at -1, and you'll see who they're writing for.
dammitdammitdammitishouldahitpreviewdammit
Just this week, the Register posted this story about software piracy in UK schools. I would have assumed that this new school's switch to Red Hat was prompted by the flap over piracy, but the article seems to imply that this has been an ongoing project. At least, I'm assuming that the school has been installing Linux on the computers as they're being installed, as opposed to a last-minute emergency switchover. Still, if UK schools are cracking down on piracy, this is a golden opportunity for Linux to step in and replace traditionally-licensed software.
I'll have to disagree with you on the worst example. My choice is Microsoft's habit of clumping a group of programs together into a "suite" and then matching up the version numbers of all the components. For example, Visual J++ (an abombination of a name in and of itself) leaped from something like 1.1 or 2.0 to 5.0 when it was thrown into Visual Studio along with Visual C++ 5.0. Similarly, I believe Visual InterDev leaped from 1.0 on its introduction in Visual Studio 97 to 6.0 in Visual Studio 98.
I don't believe that your comments are accurate for all nerds. I've run into a few competent programmers who've actually bought into leftist "Round Earth" theories.
Any? I thought there was only one, with associated footnote. I'll admit I didn't really get that one. Still, this points out why I like Pratchett's style of humor so much better than American comic-fantasy authors like Anthony or Asprin. Pratchett seems to be satisfied with throw-away jokes: If you get it, good; if not, maybe you'll get the next one. Sometimes I won't even notice some particularly British reference; sometimes I'll notice that there's something going on that I just don't get, but move on. Pratchett doesn't rub my nose in the jokes I don't get, and provides more than enough jokes than I do. Too many other authors (Piers Anthony is the worst) seem to feel a need to make sure you know exactly how clever they are. The last time (years ago) I read Piers, I wanted to sit him down and explain to him (possibly using a LART) that, "If you need to explain the joke, it wasn't funny." In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn, "The boy's about as subtle as a hand grenade in a barrel of oatmeal."
Personally, I'd consider Equal Rites to be a better starting point than The Colour of Magic. (Subject to availability, of course; Small Gods may be the best starting point still in print in the U.S.) Colour reads like too many other authors who just wanted to parody the conventions of fantasy novels. IMHO, Rites is the first book where Pratchett decided to build his own, distinct, richly developed world.
Small Gods is probably the best starting point that U.S. readers are likely to find, anyway. SG was the first novel published after the series's current U.S. publisher took over from Roc. Anything older seems to be out of print here, or only available as an import. Maybe the Good Omens movie will stir up enough interest in Pratchett to get the entire series back in print.
Several months ago, I found a URL for a page that had a sort of map of the Discworld novels. The relationship between the various novels is complex, because there are several different "threads" dealing with different groups of characters, with crossovers between groups to make things really confusing. It showed which books happened before others, which ones stood alone, which ones followed different characters. Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the page, and con't for the life of me find it using search engines. Can anyone give me the URL?
IIRC, Neverwhere was a novelization of a series Gaiman wrote for the BBC. Does anyone know if there's any way to get the series on NTSC video?
Good ghod, man, isn't there an entire industry centered around helping newbies cram to do just that?
Dan Gillmor has a pretty good piece on the merger today. One of the best point he makes is that AOL is even less enthusiastic about supporting open protocols, file formats, etc. than Microsoft. Remember the Instant Messenger nightmare of last year? Also, I think AOL has created their own wierd proprietary format (.ART) for web graphics.
We have X-stop at my orkplace as well. One of the worst parts of URL filtering is that every now and then a GUID in a dynamically generated URL recreation group, founded at a May Day garden contains some string that the filter doesn't like.
Also, I've heard one problem that a lot of SCA folks have run into. The SCA, or Society for Creative Anachronism, is a medeival party sometime in the late 60's (can't remember what year). The SCA often uses "Anno Societatis" dates originating from said garden party, often written as roman numerals. In the late 90's, SCA members started having problems with filtering software blocking many new SCA web sites. Didn't take long for someone to figure out that blocking software didn't like the SCA dates (when this problem started showing up in A.S. XXX) in the URL.
Sexually explicit artwork is not new by any means. Treating sexually explicit artwork as a distinct, separate category from other types of artwork may be. At least, I think that's the point he was trying to make.
How much work on support of new hardware is done by people who have no interest in development beyond getting decent performance out of their new hardware?
Real Programmer? *howls of derisive laughter* Toggle in bytes on a switch panel and we'll talk.(And I'm leaving this thread before we reach the "banging rocks together to make bits" stage)