This really isn't a near anything... It's a huge miss.. Don't get paranoid...
The only thing preventing rocks from pounding earth into dust is chance..
Space is big... The Hitch Hikers guide to the galacy had it right....
Earth is a really tiny target...
Now to get worryed... that is ALL that protects us...
That and we have NASA...
(Hay Rob Limo want help your buddys at NASA when it comes to justifying NASAs budget? Tell em about near misses we keep having and how NASA may be all we have if we ever get something that is NOT a near miss.. we can nuke it if we know about it... thats were Nasa comes in)
Ohhh maybe thats where the Mars landers went... they weren't landers.. they were bombs sent off to blow up asteroids heading into earth... We were never told..
Anyway... don't get complacent... but don't get paranoid...
Random chance is what keeps us from going splat...
and that is like security by obscurity...
It slows down.. it limits.. it dose not prevent...
We are ok... relax...
If a real rock comes... then break out the nukes...
I'm thinking something like the bunker buster we develuped for the Golf War and a nuke... then we plow the missle into the heart of that larg rock and smash it to partical dust...
The KDE Browser gets top rankings...
It's fast.. effective and soon to have Java and Javascript.
Still needs a lot of work but works quite well for most of my browsing...
It looks like KDE is taking the microsoft approch to browser plugins..
Let's hope develupers don't plug into the KDE system with wordprocessors or basic and port e-mail viruses over.
Byond that the KDE browser (and system) is making some nice moves in the area of a user friendly Internet interface...
The only sad side of course being this won't work on Gnome or WindowMaker...
Modzilla. Really just Netscapes dev version.. even before it was open sourced...
It's nice but it's still just the dev browser for Netscapes commertal product. I'm not sure this one will ever be compleatly ready...
There are some nice ports of this to many platforms. Once it plugs into modern libarys it seems to speed up quite a bit...
Arachne. This is really a Dos browser.. for XTs... You may scream now.. It's a full pacage just like Netscape only it's a console browser.
Lacks Java and like Netscape it's free for noncommertal use.
The nice part of Arachne is it's great for a NetBox.. even if your just making one on your own. Just grab an old computer and put Arachne on it. I recomend at least a 386 and no more than 8 meg ram. Arachne accually gets slower when it has to much memory to play with.
VGA and a mouse are good...
This would make a good gift... turns an old PC into a netbox...
The downside... it's not that fast... it uses the hard disk a lot so you want a fast hard disk.. not a big one.. size not issue.. speed is..
I last tryed this on an XT years ago but a while back the min requirements slid up from an 8088 XT to an 8086 XT... wow big jump..
It's safe to say any given XT is a bad move anyway as thies boxes are old enough to have blank BIOS roms.
Anyway there is a Linux version...
Windows users can use the Dos version...
However my recomendation is purely to recycle an old PC and make a NetBox for a famaly member...
http://arachne.browser.org/
And finnaly there is http://lynx.browser.org/
Good old Lynx...
Fast friendly but not GUI...
Lynx is an example of how broken the WWW really is.
Lynx was the second web client.. WWW being the first..
Lynx has had problems supporting HTML every sence HTML 2 and what appears to be a total abandonment of text browsers...
Lynx remains the fastest browser when it comes to loading HTML only pages and of course gets faster when visiting graphic pages (By never loading images).
Obveously Lynx dosn't load banners...
Lacks Java and Javascript and dosn't support plugins.
Mosaic.... a decent base for a web browser itself to old... it won't view most pages (even pages Lynx can view) and is basicly to old to be of any use other than base code for annother browser.
A few updated Mosaics exist however and they are worth using.
Mosaic is a fast decent browser lacking flash and hype... however it's a HTML 1 browser and needs considerable code added if it's to be usable..
My recomendation at this time is the KDE browser...
With the caveot that it needs KDE...
If you want to use Gnome then you probably should look elsewhere...
There are some Modzilla projects to port Modzilla to everything under the sun... odds lay good that a GnomeZilla project exists.. the name sounds to cool to pass up... and such a port is likely gona hook into Gnome something sereous resulting in a nice powerful browser.
One last thing.. I don't nessisarly like KDE I just think it sucks less than Gnome...
Eventually nither will suck... it's just the suckness level of both provides room for Window Manager wars...
Anyway... to take the glass house anolog....
The other camp isn't living in glass houses... they just don't have the walls up yet...
Microsoft Windows still relys on the Intel chip.
Linux runs on a wide range of systems including the x86 and other operating systems have a non Intel box as it's primary target.
With how Linux only systems use Transmeta or MIPS chips and how well Linux runs on the Mac the death of the x86 chip might accually improve the popularity of Linux sence it runs better when you run it on non x86 boxes...
(Apple dosn't make money on MacOs.. thats purely to add value to the Mac so people will buy it... Linux on the Mac dosn't hurt Apple at all)
While Windows NT can and dose run on non X86 chips.. it runs like butt..
If people stop upgrading the X86 chips due to things like 1 pound heatsinks... The X86 dies...
For the first time in history a mega monopoly will find itself with no market...
A 2 pound battery... 1 pound heatsink...
Ahh hack... 5 pound LCD... umm and new RAM that functions by generating gravitational influxes...
This is your new laptop... But the good news is turnning it off reduces the weight to less than 9 pounds... and we are filling the case with helium to give it nutral boiency so it's all a matter of inertia.. BTW turnning it on cancles out the effect due to the gravitational influxes caused by the ram...
Try and picture what a Z80 at 200mzh to 1gzh..
The Z80 is great and is still used for simple appliences (Remote controls use the Z8 but I'm not talking that simple.. the larg sat dish boxes use the Z80..I don't know what direct TV uses but I suspect something more powerful is used)
But the z80 wouldn't hold up well against a Pentium...
The pentium dosn't hold up well against the G4, AMD chips or the Sparc...
We allready went past RISC and entering Code morphing... More over X86 isn't even 1980s tech.. it's still very burnned in the 8 bit procesor design. The 680X and 6800X represent the 1980s technology and RISC 1990s...
Thankfully Intel has chips that do not have procesor structure dating back to the 4004...
But the Pentium 4 isn't it...
I'd expect a one pound heat sink on a 500 mzh Z80...
Try building a game console as powerful as the playstation with the same tech used to build the Channel F... Could it be done? Hack yeah...
And you'd have the worlds larggest building while you were art it...
Yeah it seems like someone forgot some people don't use Windows...
(that seems to happen a lot)
Thats fine thow... It's the hype factor so people just don't know better...
It's when people say "Get a real operating system" when I get annoyed...
*Rant on*
There are only two operating systems that had any real challange against any clame of being a "real" operating system.
Windows and Forth...
Forth is an 1970s programming language... Much like Basic it was in the roms of some 8 bit computers.
However Forth functions as an operating system on thies computers where as Basic never dose get past being a programming language.
Windows clame to being an operating system is the same as Forth... it functions as one...
But as with forth Windows isn't ground up an os. It runs under Dos.. even 9x... An os running under an os? No applications run under an os... therefor Windows is an app...
Now we can dismiss both arguments simply...
An os isn't how it loads or how it runs but what it dose. Windows operates the computer.. It runs programs.. it provides an interface for the user... As dose forth...
Radicly diffrent systems but they both are operating systems...
On the side.. I said "real" challange...
Sevral operating systems have been challanged but here are some examples of those challanges...
Dos.. becouse Dos dosn't have "feature XYZ" while very nice XYZ is a feature and it's absents is like a car with no cup holder.. it's still a car...
XYZ being absent from Dos is what makes Dos obsolete.. but it's still an os...
Annother example....
Geoworks isn't an operating system becouse it runs on top of Dos...
No du... Geoworks was an app pacage (like Ms Office) before it became a PDA operating system.
Other arguments including arguing purely on the sake of the name.
Confusing the os with a similer os.
Having no clue at all... such as "It runs under dos" when it has nothing to do with Dos at all whatsoever..
or confusing the os with the hardware it runs on...
*rant off*
This sort of code reuse is not unlike what is allready done in Unix.
Byond libarys you may pipe from one program to annother.
But....
It ends up being the users choice...
Should my e-mail be in Netscape? Or Pine... Netscape should call up pine and pipe the information....
Quite a number of apps exist that call up "the web browser of your choice" in Linux... tin allows you to send usenet posts to outside applications...
Pipe content to more... ls -xF |more
du | more
It should not be automatic that graphics are pulled by a browser... you should be able to call them up from a graphics viewer instead... like XV.
Unix programmers don't allways make full use of this and thats sad but it's a neat feature to have...
Being able to pipe content from IRC into e-mail... becouse I set that up... not becouse IRC used the wrong part of e-mail code...
Realisticly speaking...
Open source therefor not FUD? Wrong...
Microsoft therefor not Zellot? Wrong
Linux advocate therefor Zellot? Wrong
Assume nothing.....
There are whitehats at MsHQ, BlackHats in Open source...
However for the moment Microsoft is very dark gray and open source very very light gray...
But there are bad guys in every group....
Zellots in every camp... FUD from all sources... No body is perfict...
This is "Yet annother feature" in a long list.
Yes they are features... They are there for the user to enhance the user experence...
All in all they are very much features and do exactly as they were designed...
But thies are stupid features.
The people designing thies features DO NOT think about how they will be used or about the people who will use them.
In order to make a "User Friendly" operating system you MUST protect the user against himself. You MUST consider how the avrage intelegent[1] user will behave and how he will use that feature.
Email viruses are a result of NOT thinking about standard user behavure or protecting the user from himself.
Such things are excusable in an operating system preportedly for techs like Linux or Solarus but not for the avrage user like Windows or Mac.
Linux and Solarus programmers do give SOME consideration to the user experence. Not nesssiarly much but enough to know not to run something sent in e-mail before the user has a chance to examine it first.
E-mail clients don't run code.. that is outside it's function. Wordprocessors shouldn't run programs or execute commands eather.
Nither should wordprocessors pull data up from the outside world.. or call up web browsers...
A wordprocessor file is self contained.. at least should be..
HTML should do this.. HTML dose this... we expect this of HTML..
But a wordprocessor document is a static document. It should never do anything a printed page wouldn't do.
Many HTML documents are "Living" documents and behave very diffrently from wordprocessor documents.
All this behavure is totally normal for an internet document. Wordprocessor files are NOT internet documents.
If emacs did this we wouldn't go bizerk... emacs is far more than an editor.. we expect it to flip and dance. Thats the neat part... thats also why it's a bit on the big side (for an editor..)
But then I use pico for my editing needs...
It's like if your car started to fly when you didn't expect it.. That would NOT be good.
Hovercraft.. yes... Car.. no...
It's a neat SOUNDING feature...
But whats the function?
This is no good...
Microsoft keeps adding thies features and Windows is going to have a great deal of unexpected behavure...
And Linux will seem easy in comparson...
With Linux you know what to expect...
The whole idea of having a user friendly os is so you can easly understand whats going on just by looking at the pritty pictures...
But thats not going to happen when your wordprocessor wants to load stuff from the Internet.
That makes no sence....
At least with Linux the user might be able to figure out why his offline document isn't loading... he'll recognise the attempt to load stuf from the network.... when the DSL or Cable modem is turnned off...
Mac really is user friendly....
I guess thats why Linux develupers are droolling over MacOs hacks... But we end up copying Windows simply becouse Microsoft isn't original enough to get a look and feel patent on anything.
[1] It was once thought you could make an idiot proof operating system but idiots proved to be overwhelming.
The target is scaled back to intelegent users who simply don't have the time to learn what an RS232 is.
Dumb users are simply byond all hope...
What happend.. NSI transfered Sex.com from it's holder to someone else...
The Judge says Domain names are akin to phone numbers and are a service...
Dose this mean PacBell (My local phone carrer) can take away my phone service at any time and give it to someone else?
No... PacBell allmost did this once and returned service to me... (The other guys were a larg company BTW.. I've had the same phone number sence childhood.....)
If it is a phone number then... they can't issue regenal domain names to people in OTHER regens... (*.com, *.org etc are international... like 800,900 and 700 numbers)
They can not remove them for trademark violations.
And first is first...
It is quite posable NSI did this knowingly (Prove it... hmmm?)
PacBell would much sooner sue the larg company for fraud than screw the little guy...
It's probably a matter of being smart and greedy... You can make more money suing a weathy crook than you can by doing busness with same...
Maybe someone should clue NSI in on this fact... they could make a lot of money in the legal area by simply suing fraudulent transfer requests like this...
UUencode... ROT 13.. put in webpage comments...
"This uses the strong encryption of UUencode and ROT 13..."
But those are known encryption systems...
I don't see anything saying known encryption is exempt do you?
Ok.... So UUencode... ROT 13... and put in webpage comments...
I think I'll do that right now......
Yes you should check over a car your going to buy.
It's even more importent when buying used but it's importent for new cars as well.
Mass production is not perfict and defects happen.
It is quite posable for there to be minnor damage like a leak in the break line.
Do we all check our cars for such defects?
No... we don't... We buy expecting to get what we are sold. A new car. If a defect shows up in warrenty we take the car back.
People play the same with software... Take the risk and watch for bug fixes...
If you absolutly must have a stable machine then you absolutly should check it over yourself.
If you must have a car in perfict condition you don't have a choice...
It's something for the paranoids... if you don't care don't bother...
Look at the Empire... the ships look clean.. The Storm troopers battle armor looks clean.
The Empire can afford to repair or replace anything. They have the resorces to keep things in top condition. So ships don't show damage.
The Rebelion however is scrapping together what they can. They don't have the endless resorces of the empire. They don't bother with dents and dings. The helments look scratched up a bit. Everything in the rebelion looks like hell.
Jump to Ep1....
Everyone has the resorces to keep things up. If a fighter is scuffed in battle you fix it. Clean it up. The resorces are there. No reason to leave damage behind. The ships need to be in top shape if they are needed again. Spare no expense.
The Republic has the same issue... Shuttle Jedi in the best... not junk... They have the resorces.
But there is decay... The junk shop looked like a junk shop. The items didn't look clean. It all looked warn out.
C3P0 has the same issue.. he looked incompete. Built from scrap.
It all fits...
You don't show durt when there is a maid unless the maid isn't very good...
Anyway... I suspect the CGI R2D2 is for a reason.
R2 has all thies things he can do but it's not easy to show that off the way it is. In CGI we can see more of what R2D2 can do.
Also Baker is probably getting a bit old by now. I doupt he could do the preformence we are familure with.
Replacement? Medical science has pritty much put an end to the supply of short people...
My guess is the people who will read that will be experts in anchent/dead languages such as english.
Such people exist today.. cyphering Hyroglyphs etc.
I suspect they'll have modern english documents about as well as we have allready documented dead languages.
Language hobbiests document the language as it is currently used noting strangenesses like the use of the words POP and Soda...
As the words go into disuse the documentation becomes of accademic value as well as hobby value.
The older the changes are the more accademic value they have.. the newer the more hobby value they have. By the time English will cease to have any hobby intrest it will have been long dead and become of extream accademic value.
For the hummer impaired.. let me translate the above...
There are airconditioners that sit in an open window.. Thies an appliance.. or application... and it's one that depends on a window...
So he has one appliance that relys on Windows...
Not Microsoft Windows... Anderson Windows...
Not Microsoft Office... Kenmore airconditioner.....
Microsoft has long clammed they have more apps than anyone else.
This clame dates back to the first relases of Windows..
Or in reality it dates back to Dos when IBM made this clame of the PC.
IBM made this clame by comparing the software the PC ran to the software than ran on populare home computers.
This was to prove the IBM PCs strength in the busness market.
However the only busness computer in that list was the Apple II the rest were primarlly entertainment machines such as the Commodore 64.
The Commodore 64 etc had a larg number of busness apps and this helpped IBMs case but thats not the target market.
It is likely most of the appications in IBMs list were CP/M apps running in emulation. CP/M at the time had a stronger marketshare in busness than IBM PCs.
Also this list was to convence managers that other PC clones did not run those apps.
However the number of PC apps that ran only on IBM brand PCs and not on clones was very small.
Jump forward...
Windows had a software toolkit before other PC GUIs however by this time Amiga, Mac and Atari ST allready had software develupment tool and a decent amount of software.
Microsoft would clame Windows had more apps than anyone else. This seemed unlikely sence there were so few Windows apps accually on the shelfs vs other platforms.
It was likely this number included the ammount of Dos applications allready on the market. Such apps ran on PC GUIs and in emulation on the Amiga, Mac and Atari ST.
[The Amiga and ST also running Mac apps creating a very larg total number of appications available for those platforms]
Then Microsoft clammed Windows had more users. It appeared at the time Microsoft was dubble and posably tripple counting.
To explain.. Most PCs had Windows 3.11 preinstalled.. Many offices needed network ready PCs. Some would strip Windows off the PCs and use Dos, Os/2 or Sco/Xenix.
Many would replace Windows 3.11 with Windows for Workgroups 3.11.
The removed systems and workgroups systems are dubble count systems sence they get counted a second time.
The Workgroup boxes giving Microsoft 2 machines when they have 1 OS/2 giving them 1 when they have none.
But wait.. Microsoft made this clame shortly after the release of Windows 95...
Tripple count... now machines running 3.11 workgroups were being counted a third time with Windows 95.
Admittedly Machines going from OS/2 to 95 were also tripple count but in this case Microsoft counting 2 where they had 1 and IBM counting 1 when they had none.
Then Linux....
Microsoft counting 1 when they had none.. Linux counting nothing when they had one...
While Windows was in larg use the statistics were overwhelming and I did not see that in the real world.
I saw XTs, Amigas, Macs and Unix boxes with significant marketshare.
I would find at least 1 non Windows machine for every 3 Windows boxes. This did not sit with Microsofts overwhelming majority clame.
I long came to suspect Microsoft statistics were fudged... Lot's of Windows boxes.. lot's of everythinge else.
Sence then Microsoft would clame [Insert Os here] did not have a significant amount of software.
Amiga was dead.. Atari ST was dying (fallen over the cliff waiting for the splat..).
But Mac had a significant amount of software....
This clame sits even harder with Linux. Microsoft still counting Dos apps... But with Linux only counting the apps for Linux on the shelfs.
But Linux only had Doom and even that wasn't on the shelfs for Linux. Linux had the whole body of GNU software that formed the foundation of Linux.
It also had a larg body of free software for Unix that ran on Linux.
When counting free applications I find more stuff for Linux than I do for Windows.
Example... I know of only ONE security camra program for Windows. It relys on ONE obsolete QuickCam (Obsolete not in that it's old but in that it's not produced anymore)Linux has a few. Two I have tried are motion and gspy...
Motion runs as a deamon gspy as a client... very good software...
There is an older application doing the same job but it's now missing... I've found others but havn't tried them and don't know if they are working yet.
The single Windows appication is good for guarding your office or cubical. This becouse it relys on a camra that can not be far from the computer.
The Linux counterparts are for sereous security as they can use any number of camras including existing survalence camras.
I am currently trying this out however have the problem that our camras are bad and generate the illusion of motion by having an unstable image.
Linux is lacking software in certen areas. This is to be expected. However Linux coders are filling this gap.
This is due not to a lack of programmers or a defecentcy in Linux but a void of anyone using Linux in that area.
If there are 70,000 Windows apps there are likely at least 60,000 Linux apps... I however tend to think there are more Linux apps not less...
I can find more software at Metalabs than I can at Office Depo...
I suspect this remains true for Mac and BeOS... and of course BSD should have more or less the same amount of software as Linux... with a few BSD only and a few Linux only programs..
Sun usually dose a decent job of fixing bugs and deffects...
Suns track record on speed of fixes is slow vs other companys however Sun dose not leave constummers idle like some companys...
Apple activly denied a defect in the original Macs before Apple fixed same.. Becouse Apple was decent about dealing with dead Macs from "Cause unknown" Apple users didn't bitch much about Apple pretending the bug didn't exist.
Microsoft however behaves diffrently. Instead of prevending the bug dosn't exist Microsoft just says "Yeah sorry just turn that feature off" "Reboot" or "Reinstall Windows". They don't ever fix it but then don't say "It dosn't exist". They might say "It's not a bug it's a feature" but they still admit it exists.
Sun just fixes the bug and says "Sorry for the inconvence".....
In a world where we all make mistakes... and so many won't take responsability for them... it's pritty hard to bitch when someone is willing to do everything it takes to fix the problem.
Mistakes happen... Can not avoid it...
It's more sinster than an NDA...
Sun accually takes action so nobody WANTS to talk about the defect....
Thats right people... you can't sue Sun becouse Sun dosn't stop them at the legal level...
They stop them at the ethical level....
There is simply no desire to bitch....
Thats a lesson.... people complain not becouse there is a defect... but becouse you won't fix the defect...
I agree with the words but disagree with the sentiment.
It won't becouse it has...
The failing is the notion that the default language has yet to be selected...
Reality is that language was picked in the 1980s..
The alternitive is Babblefish or some similer agent.
English in my view sucks eggs...
But shear numbers in the real world won't budge the vertual world.
To be exact it's broken english... not American english.
The masses may not speak it.. but thats where the Internet is.
Most websites have a US or UK flag for the english version.. or are english by default.
IRC channels function in much the same way.. mostly english.
On IRC I personally tolerate chatter in any language as long as at least two people speak the language. If only the speaker knows what he is saying then I'll get annoyed.
But I'm the rarity...
Not all IRC channels are english of course.. just the majority..
Usenet.. how many people twitch to read (or even type) "This is an international newsgroup please use english"... It's irritating but thats the way it is.
The Internet is... in short... United States centric... It's foundation is in english.
expect to see more and more non-english websites.. irc channels.. and newsgroups...
But at least for now... to be involved the language is English...
Once the net is larg enough to support a more diverse language base this will cease to be....
And then we'll all need BableFish built into our web browsers....
If I read this correctly.. This is Open source like hackers are crackers...
The key figure is the bad guy who is using the term Open Source for his own agenda.
But the objective of open source isn't to forcably rip peoples copyrights from them but to prevent them from putting copyrights on otherwise free (as in speach) software.
It is also to bring out awareness of todays busnesses (the Hollywood film industry is no exeption) is abusing IP laws by clamming IP rights to everything from trivial ideas to coffy cup stains on the table and enforcing those rights in an outragous manner.
But it is not about violating the law. It is not about taking a persons hard work away from them.
Today an executive gets premoted becouse he bumpped his head had a strange dream and patented it.
I'm all for copyrights on films that cost $1milion to film. I'm all for copyrighting the script that some writer (hack or not) sat down and wrote over 6 months to 4 years (With breaks for bathroom, food, sex, life, etc).
And I'm all for copyrights on even the most trival of code. I'm also for not buying it and leaving him poor for his efforts.
But this isn't open souce... this is a theaf...
To highlight just how little reguard he has for other people...
He calls his effort.. "Open source"
and to show how much Hollywood cares... they never bothered to seperate him from us...
Instead this theaf and our work are lumpped together...
I say we go out and interview Hollywood... no not the industry... the street gang... (there should be at least one named something like "The Hollywood thugs").
Oh no.... The Krull have asimilated the above posters thought processes...
He thinks spelling is the most importent thing in the world...
Ok side rant.
Spelling isn't the most importent thing in the world. It's the lisp/accent of the Internet. I know it makes me hard to understand but it hardly matters. I'm clear enough as it is.
Not everyone can turn out perfict spelling first try and frankly Slashdot isn't importent enough for me to go proffreading posts...
In my opinion.. people who focuse on craftsmenship polish the corners and put varnish on it all. But they don't dot the 'i's or cross the 't's.
Spelling is importent but not to the exlusion of all else... and this is Slashdot... not the great american novel
Quite a bit of that happend.
While your Dad was just playing around and had no plans for his code quite often the theft was of code the original author had quite a few plans for.
Hence GPL...
GPL is basicly "I have given this to the world... Don't you dare take it away"
Thats pritty much the whole idea behind open source liccenses.
To address liccens war...
No I would agree BSD is more free than GPL but whats even the point of the BSD liccens? It dosn't even try to address the problem of code theft and instead says "Yeah it's ok to turn it into a product". Thats cool for BSD etc where the whole objective is to create a product in the end anyway.
To me thow for the avrage open source develuper who isn't trying to make money but trying to give something to the community. The GPL is saying "This is for everyone.. and so are it's changes...". Otherwise it's just public domain...
Slashdot Mirror
This really isn't a near anything... It's a huge miss.. Don't get paranoid...
The only thing preventing rocks from pounding earth into dust is chance..
Space is big... The Hitch Hikers guide to the galacy had it right....
Earth is a really tiny target...
Now to get worryed... that is ALL that protects us...
That and we have NASA...
(Hay Rob Limo want help your buddys at NASA when it comes to justifying NASAs budget? Tell em about near misses we keep having and how NASA may be all we have if we ever get something that is NOT a near miss.. we can nuke it if we know about it... thats were Nasa comes in)
Ohhh maybe thats where the Mars landers went... they weren't landers.. they were bombs sent off to blow up asteroids heading into earth... We were never told..
Anyway... don't get complacent... but don't get paranoid...
Random chance is what keeps us from going splat...
and that is like security by obscurity...
It slows down.. it limits.. it dose not prevent...
We are ok... relax...
If a real rock comes... then break out the nukes...
I'm thinking something like the bunker buster we develuped for the Golf War and a nuke... then we plow the missle into the heart of that larg rock and smash it to partical dust...
The KDE Browser gets top rankings...
It's fast.. effective and soon to have Java and Javascript.
Still needs a lot of work but works quite well for most of my browsing...
It looks like KDE is taking the microsoft approch to browser plugins..
Let's hope develupers don't plug into the KDE system with wordprocessors or basic and port e-mail viruses over.
Byond that the KDE browser (and system) is making some nice moves in the area of a user friendly Internet interface...
The only sad side of course being this won't work on Gnome or WindowMaker...
Modzilla. Really just Netscapes dev version.. even before it was open sourced...
It's nice but it's still just the dev browser for Netscapes commertal product. I'm not sure this one will ever be compleatly ready...
There are some nice ports of this to many platforms. Once it plugs into modern libarys it seems to speed up quite a bit...
Arachne. This is really a Dos browser.. for XTs... You may scream now.. It's a full pacage just like Netscape only it's a console browser.
Lacks Java and like Netscape it's free for noncommertal use.
The nice part of Arachne is it's great for a NetBox.. even if your just making one on your own. Just grab an old computer and put Arachne on it. I recomend at least a 386 and no more than 8 meg ram. Arachne accually gets slower when it has to much memory to play with.
VGA and a mouse are good...
This would make a good gift... turns an old PC into a netbox...
The downside... it's not that fast... it uses the hard disk a lot so you want a fast hard disk.. not a big one.. size not issue.. speed is..
I last tryed this on an XT years ago but a while back the min requirements slid up from an 8088 XT to an 8086 XT... wow big jump..
It's safe to say any given XT is a bad move anyway as thies boxes are old enough to have blank BIOS roms.
Anyway there is a Linux version...
Windows users can use the Dos version...
However my recomendation is purely to recycle an old PC and make a NetBox for a famaly member...
http://arachne.browser.org/
And finnaly there is http://lynx.browser.org/
Good old Lynx...
Fast friendly but not GUI...
Lynx is an example of how broken the WWW really is.
Lynx was the second web client.. WWW being the first..
Lynx has had problems supporting HTML every sence HTML 2 and what appears to be a total abandonment of text browsers...
Lynx remains the fastest browser when it comes to loading HTML only pages and of course gets faster when visiting graphic pages (By never loading images).
Obveously Lynx dosn't load banners...
Lacks Java and Javascript and dosn't support plugins.
Mosaic.... a decent base for a web browser itself to old... it won't view most pages (even pages Lynx can view) and is basicly to old to be of any use other than base code for annother browser.
A few updated Mosaics exist however and they are worth using.
Mosaic is a fast decent browser lacking flash and hype... however it's a HTML 1 browser and needs considerable code added if it's to be usable..
My recomendation at this time is the KDE browser...
With the caveot that it needs KDE...
If you want to use Gnome then you probably should look elsewhere...
There are some Modzilla projects to port Modzilla to everything under the sun... odds lay good that a GnomeZilla project exists.. the name sounds to cool to pass up... and such a port is likely gona hook into Gnome something sereous resulting in a nice powerful browser.
One last thing.. I don't nessisarly like KDE I just think it sucks less than Gnome...
Eventually nither will suck... it's just the suckness level of both provides room for Window Manager wars...
Anyway... to take the glass house anolog....
The other camp isn't living in glass houses... they just don't have the walls up yet...
I think it's aimmed at Windows users...
It's just a guess... but isn't that who all the ZD articals are aimmed at anymore?
The rule today is if it dosn't identify a platform or list of platforms.. it's Windows...
The only time this rule seems exempt is Internet service....
Microsoft Windows still relys on the Intel chip.
Linux runs on a wide range of systems including the x86 and other operating systems have a non Intel box as it's primary target.
With how Linux only systems use Transmeta or MIPS chips and how well Linux runs on the Mac the death of the x86 chip might accually improve the popularity of Linux sence it runs better when you run it on non x86 boxes...
(Apple dosn't make money on MacOs.. thats purely to add value to the Mac so people will buy it... Linux on the Mac dosn't hurt Apple at all)
While Windows NT can and dose run on non X86 chips.. it runs like butt..
If people stop upgrading the X86 chips due to things like 1 pound heatsinks... The X86 dies...
For the first time in history a mega monopoly will find itself with no market...
Naaa Microsoft will go into making computers....
Artic class computers...
Computers that run so hot it's only safe to run in the artic..
Artic researches prefer Intel.. and Linux... (Uptime? If it ever crashes we'd be affrade to reboot... our heater isn't working)
Global warming is a myth..
The earth is falling into the sun...
A 2 pound battery... 1 pound heatsink...
Ahh hack... 5 pound LCD... umm and new RAM that functions by generating gravitational influxes...
This is your new laptop... But the good news is turnning it off reduces the weight to less than 9 pounds... and we are filling the case with helium to give it nutral boiency so it's all a matter of inertia.. BTW turnning it on cancles out the effect due to the gravitational influxes caused by the ram...
This is your next generation laptop... enjoy...
Try and picture what a Z80 at 200mzh to 1gzh..
The Z80 is great and is still used for simple appliences (Remote controls use the Z8 but I'm not talking that simple.. the larg sat dish boxes use the Z80..I don't know what direct TV uses but I suspect something more powerful is used)
But the z80 wouldn't hold up well against a Pentium...
The pentium dosn't hold up well against the G4, AMD chips or the Sparc...
We allready went past RISC and entering Code morphing... More over X86 isn't even 1980s tech.. it's still very burnned in the 8 bit procesor design. The 680X and 6800X represent the 1980s technology and RISC 1990s...
Thankfully Intel has chips that do not have procesor structure dating back to the 4004...
But the Pentium 4 isn't it...
I'd expect a one pound heat sink on a 500 mzh Z80...
Try building a game console as powerful as the playstation with the same tech used to build the Channel F... Could it be done? Hack yeah...
And you'd have the worlds larggest building while you were art it...
Yeah it seems like someone forgot some people don't use Windows...
(that seems to happen a lot)
Thats fine thow... It's the hype factor so people just don't know better...
It's when people say "Get a real operating system" when I get annoyed...
*Rant on*
There are only two operating systems that had any real challange against any clame of being a "real" operating system.
Windows and Forth...
Forth is an 1970s programming language... Much like Basic it was in the roms of some 8 bit computers.
However Forth functions as an operating system on thies computers where as Basic never dose get past being a programming language.
Windows clame to being an operating system is the same as Forth... it functions as one...
But as with forth Windows isn't ground up an os. It runs under Dos.. even 9x... An os running under an os? No applications run under an os... therefor Windows is an app...
Now we can dismiss both arguments simply...
An os isn't how it loads or how it runs but what it dose. Windows operates the computer.. It runs programs.. it provides an interface for the user... As dose forth...
Radicly diffrent systems but they both are operating systems...
On the side.. I said "real" challange...
Sevral operating systems have been challanged but here are some examples of those challanges...
Dos.. becouse Dos dosn't have "feature XYZ" while very nice XYZ is a feature and it's absents is like a car with no cup holder.. it's still a car...
XYZ being absent from Dos is what makes Dos obsolete.. but it's still an os...
Annother example....
Geoworks isn't an operating system becouse it runs on top of Dos...
No du... Geoworks was an app pacage (like Ms Office) before it became a PDA operating system.
Other arguments including arguing purely on the sake of the name.
Confusing the os with a similer os.
Having no clue at all... such as "It runs under dos" when it has nothing to do with Dos at all whatsoever..
or confusing the os with the hardware it runs on...
*rant off*
This sort of code reuse is not unlike what is allready done in Unix.
Byond libarys you may pipe from one program to annother.
But....
It ends up being the users choice...
Should my e-mail be in Netscape? Or Pine... Netscape should call up pine and pipe the information....
Quite a number of apps exist that call up "the web browser of your choice" in Linux... tin allows you to send usenet posts to outside applications...
Pipe content to more... ls -xF |more
du | more
It should not be automatic that graphics are pulled by a browser... you should be able to call them up from a graphics viewer instead... like XV.
Unix programmers don't allways make full use of this and thats sad but it's a neat feature to have...
Being able to pipe content from IRC into e-mail... becouse I set that up... not becouse IRC used the wrong part of e-mail code...
Realisticly speaking...
Open source therefor not FUD? Wrong...
Microsoft therefor not Zellot? Wrong
Linux advocate therefor Zellot? Wrong
Assume nothing.....
There are whitehats at MsHQ, BlackHats in Open source...
However for the moment Microsoft is very dark gray and open source very very light gray...
But there are bad guys in every group....
Zellots in every camp... FUD from all sources... No body is perfict...
This is "Yet annother feature" in a long list.
Yes they are features... They are there for the user to enhance the user experence...
All in all they are very much features and do exactly as they were designed...
But thies are stupid features.
The people designing thies features DO NOT think about how they will be used or about the people who will use them.
In order to make a "User Friendly" operating system you MUST protect the user against himself. You MUST consider how the avrage intelegent[1] user will behave and how he will use that feature.
Email viruses are a result of NOT thinking about standard user behavure or protecting the user from himself.
Such things are excusable in an operating system preportedly for techs like Linux or Solarus but not for the avrage user like Windows or Mac.
Linux and Solarus programmers do give SOME consideration to the user experence. Not nesssiarly much but enough to know not to run something sent in e-mail before the user has a chance to examine it first.
E-mail clients don't run code.. that is outside it's function. Wordprocessors shouldn't run programs or execute commands eather.
Nither should wordprocessors pull data up from the outside world.. or call up web browsers...
A wordprocessor file is self contained.. at least should be..
HTML should do this.. HTML dose this... we expect this of HTML..
But a wordprocessor document is a static document. It should never do anything a printed page wouldn't do.
Many HTML documents are "Living" documents and behave very diffrently from wordprocessor documents.
All this behavure is totally normal for an internet document. Wordprocessor files are NOT internet documents.
If emacs did this we wouldn't go bizerk... emacs is far more than an editor.. we expect it to flip and dance. Thats the neat part... thats also why it's a bit on the big side (for an editor..)
But then I use pico for my editing needs...
It's like if your car started to fly when you didn't expect it.. That would NOT be good.
Hovercraft.. yes... Car.. no...
It's a neat SOUNDING feature...
But whats the function?
This is no good...
Microsoft keeps adding thies features and Windows is going to have a great deal of unexpected behavure...
And Linux will seem easy in comparson...
With Linux you know what to expect...
The whole idea of having a user friendly os is so you can easly understand whats going on just by looking at the pritty pictures...
But thats not going to happen when your wordprocessor wants to load stuff from the Internet.
That makes no sence....
At least with Linux the user might be able to figure out why his offline document isn't loading... he'll recognise the attempt to load stuf from the network.... when the DSL or Cable modem is turnned off...
Mac really is user friendly....
I guess thats why Linux develupers are droolling over MacOs hacks... But we end up copying Windows simply becouse Microsoft isn't original enough to get a look and feel patent on anything.
[1] It was once thought you could make an idiot proof operating system but idiots proved to be overwhelming.
The target is scaled back to intelegent users who simply don't have the time to learn what an RS232 is.
Dumb users are simply byond all hope...
What happend.. NSI transfered Sex.com from it's holder to someone else...
The Judge says Domain names are akin to phone numbers and are a service...
Dose this mean PacBell (My local phone carrer) can take away my phone service at any time and give it to someone else?
No... PacBell allmost did this once and returned service to me... (The other guys were a larg company BTW.. I've had the same phone number sence childhood.....)
If it is a phone number then... they can't issue regenal domain names to people in OTHER regens... (*.com, *.org etc are international... like 800,900 and 700 numbers)
They can not remove them for trademark violations.
And first is first...
It is quite posable NSI did this knowingly (Prove it... hmmm?)
PacBell would much sooner sue the larg company for fraud than screw the little guy...
It's probably a matter of being smart and greedy... You can make more money suing a weathy crook than you can by doing busness with same...
Maybe someone should clue NSI in on this fact... they could make a lot of money in the legal area by simply suing fraudulent transfer requests like this...
UUencode... ROT 13.. put in webpage comments...
"This uses the strong encryption of UUencode and ROT 13..."
But those are known encryption systems...
I don't see anything saying known encryption is exempt do you?
Ok.... So UUencode... ROT 13... and put in webpage comments...
I think I'll do that right now......
Yes you should check over a car your going to buy.
It's even more importent when buying used but it's importent for new cars as well.
Mass production is not perfict and defects happen.
It is quite posable for there to be minnor damage like a leak in the break line.
Do we all check our cars for such defects?
No... we don't... We buy expecting to get what we are sold. A new car. If a defect shows up in warrenty we take the car back.
People play the same with software... Take the risk and watch for bug fixes...
If you absolutly must have a stable machine then you absolutly should check it over yourself.
If you must have a car in perfict condition you don't have a choice...
It's something for the paranoids... if you don't care don't bother...
Look at the Empire... the ships look clean.. The Storm troopers battle armor looks clean.
The Empire can afford to repair or replace anything. They have the resorces to keep things in top condition. So ships don't show damage.
The Rebelion however is scrapping together what they can. They don't have the endless resorces of the empire. They don't bother with dents and dings. The helments look scratched up a bit. Everything in the rebelion looks like hell.
Jump to Ep1....
Everyone has the resorces to keep things up. If a fighter is scuffed in battle you fix it. Clean it up. The resorces are there. No reason to leave damage behind. The ships need to be in top shape if they are needed again. Spare no expense.
The Republic has the same issue... Shuttle Jedi in the best... not junk... They have the resorces.
But there is decay... The junk shop looked like a junk shop. The items didn't look clean. It all looked warn out.
C3P0 has the same issue.. he looked incompete. Built from scrap.
It all fits...
You don't show durt when there is a maid unless the maid isn't very good...
Anyway... I suspect the CGI R2D2 is for a reason.
R2 has all thies things he can do but it's not easy to show that off the way it is. In CGI we can see more of what R2D2 can do.
Also Baker is probably getting a bit old by now. I doupt he could do the preformence we are familure with.
Replacement? Medical science has pritty much put an end to the supply of short people...
My guess is the people who will read that will be experts in anchent/dead languages such as english.
Such people exist today.. cyphering Hyroglyphs etc.
I suspect they'll have modern english documents about as well as we have allready documented dead languages.
Language hobbiests document the language as it is currently used noting strangenesses like the use of the words POP and Soda...
As the words go into disuse the documentation becomes of accademic value as well as hobby value.
The older the changes are the more accademic value they have.. the newer the more hobby value they have. By the time English will cease to have any hobby intrest it will have been long dead and become of extream accademic value.
Thus the hobbiest becomes the historian...
For the hummer impaired.. let me translate the above...
There are airconditioners that sit in an open window.. Thies an appliance.. or application... and it's one that depends on a window...
So he has one appliance that relys on Windows...
Not Microsoft Windows... Anderson Windows...
Not Microsoft Office... Kenmore airconditioner.....
Thank you....
Microsoft has long clammed they have more apps than anyone else.
This clame dates back to the first relases of Windows..
Or in reality it dates back to Dos when IBM made this clame of the PC.
IBM made this clame by comparing the software the PC ran to the software than ran on populare home computers.
This was to prove the IBM PCs strength in the busness market.
However the only busness computer in that list was the Apple II the rest were primarlly entertainment machines such as the Commodore 64.
The Commodore 64 etc had a larg number of busness apps and this helpped IBMs case but thats not the target market.
It is likely most of the appications in IBMs list were CP/M apps running in emulation. CP/M at the time had a stronger marketshare in busness than IBM PCs.
Also this list was to convence managers that other PC clones did not run those apps.
However the number of PC apps that ran only on IBM brand PCs and not on clones was very small.
Jump forward...
Windows had a software toolkit before other PC GUIs however by this time Amiga, Mac and Atari ST allready had software develupment tool and a decent amount of software.
Microsoft would clame Windows had more apps than anyone else. This seemed unlikely sence there were so few Windows apps accually on the shelfs vs other platforms.
It was likely this number included the ammount of Dos applications allready on the market. Such apps ran on PC GUIs and in emulation on the Amiga, Mac and Atari ST.
[The Amiga and ST also running Mac apps creating a very larg total number of appications available for those platforms]
Then Microsoft clammed Windows had more users. It appeared at the time Microsoft was dubble and posably tripple counting.
To explain.. Most PCs had Windows 3.11 preinstalled.. Many offices needed network ready PCs. Some would strip Windows off the PCs and use Dos, Os/2 or Sco/Xenix.
Many would replace Windows 3.11 with Windows for Workgroups 3.11.
The removed systems and workgroups systems are dubble count systems sence they get counted a second time.
The Workgroup boxes giving Microsoft 2 machines when they have 1 OS/2 giving them 1 when they have none.
But wait.. Microsoft made this clame shortly after the release of Windows 95...
Tripple count... now machines running 3.11 workgroups were being counted a third time with Windows 95.
Admittedly Machines going from OS/2 to 95 were also tripple count but in this case Microsoft counting 2 where they had 1 and IBM counting 1 when they had none.
Then Linux....
Microsoft counting 1 when they had none.. Linux counting nothing when they had one...
While Windows was in larg use the statistics were overwhelming and I did not see that in the real world.
I saw XTs, Amigas, Macs and Unix boxes with significant marketshare.
I would find at least 1 non Windows machine for every 3 Windows boxes. This did not sit with Microsofts overwhelming majority clame.
I long came to suspect Microsoft statistics were fudged... Lot's of Windows boxes.. lot's of everythinge else.
Sence then Microsoft would clame [Insert Os here] did not have a significant amount of software.
Amiga was dead.. Atari ST was dying (fallen over the cliff waiting for the splat..).
But Mac had a significant amount of software....
This clame sits even harder with Linux. Microsoft still counting Dos apps... But with Linux only counting the apps for Linux on the shelfs.
But Linux only had Doom and even that wasn't on the shelfs for Linux. Linux had the whole body of GNU software that formed the foundation of Linux.
It also had a larg body of free software for Unix that ran on Linux.
When counting free applications I find more stuff for Linux than I do for Windows.
Example... I know of only ONE security camra program for Windows. It relys on ONE obsolete QuickCam (Obsolete not in that it's old but in that it's not produced anymore)Linux has a few. Two I have tried are motion and gspy...
Motion runs as a deamon gspy as a client... very good software...
There is an older application doing the same job but it's now missing... I've found others but havn't tried them and don't know if they are working yet.
The single Windows appication is good for guarding your office or cubical. This becouse it relys on a camra that can not be far from the computer.
The Linux counterparts are for sereous security as they can use any number of camras including existing survalence camras.
I am currently trying this out however have the problem that our camras are bad and generate the illusion of motion by having an unstable image.
Linux is lacking software in certen areas. This is to be expected. However Linux coders are filling this gap.
This is due not to a lack of programmers or a defecentcy in Linux but a void of anyone using Linux in that area.
If there are 70,000 Windows apps there are likely at least 60,000 Linux apps... I however tend to think there are more Linux apps not less...
I can find more software at Metalabs than I can at Office Depo...
I suspect this remains true for Mac and BeOS... and of course BSD should have more or less the same amount of software as Linux... with a few BSD only and a few Linux only programs..
Sun usually dose a decent job of fixing bugs and deffects...
Suns track record on speed of fixes is slow vs other companys however Sun dose not leave constummers idle like some companys...
Apple activly denied a defect in the original Macs before Apple fixed same.. Becouse Apple was decent about dealing with dead Macs from "Cause unknown" Apple users didn't bitch much about Apple pretending the bug didn't exist.
Microsoft however behaves diffrently. Instead of prevending the bug dosn't exist Microsoft just says "Yeah sorry just turn that feature off" "Reboot" or "Reinstall Windows". They don't ever fix it but then don't say "It dosn't exist". They might say "It's not a bug it's a feature" but they still admit it exists.
Sun just fixes the bug and says "Sorry for the inconvence".....
In a world where we all make mistakes... and so many won't take responsability for them... it's pritty hard to bitch when someone is willing to do everything it takes to fix the problem.
Mistakes happen... Can not avoid it...
It's more sinster than an NDA...
Sun accually takes action so nobody WANTS to talk about the defect....
Thats right people... you can't sue Sun becouse Sun dosn't stop them at the legal level...
They stop them at the ethical level....
There is simply no desire to bitch....
Thats a lesson.... people complain not becouse there is a defect... but becouse you won't fix the defect...
I agree with the words but disagree with the sentiment.
It won't becouse it has...
The failing is the notion that the default language has yet to be selected...
Reality is that language was picked in the 1980s..
The alternitive is Babblefish or some similer agent.
English in my view sucks eggs...
But shear numbers in the real world won't budge the vertual world.
To be exact it's broken english... not American english.
The masses may not speak it.. but thats where the Internet is.
Most websites have a US or UK flag for the english version.. or are english by default.
IRC channels function in much the same way.. mostly english.
On IRC I personally tolerate chatter in any language as long as at least two people speak the language. If only the speaker knows what he is saying then I'll get annoyed.
But I'm the rarity...
Not all IRC channels are english of course.. just the majority..
Usenet.. how many people twitch to read (or even type) "This is an international newsgroup please use english"... It's irritating but thats the way it is.
The Internet is... in short... United States centric... It's foundation is in english.
expect to see more and more non-english websites.. irc channels.. and newsgroups...
But at least for now... to be involved the language is English...
Once the net is larg enough to support a more diverse language base this will cease to be....
And then we'll all need BableFish built into our web browsers....
The real problem is I didn't recognise the name before I posted...
:)
Ohhh I am sooooooo egg faced....
I still think the interview would be a good idea... ask them about an upcomming IPO
Still... parts of what I said was right on...
parts were from outerspace....
Sorry people.. move on
If I read this correctly.. This is Open source like hackers are crackers...
The key figure is the bad guy who is using the term Open Source for his own agenda.
But the objective of open source isn't to forcably rip peoples copyrights from them but to prevent them from putting copyrights on otherwise free (as in speach) software.
It is also to bring out awareness of todays busnesses (the Hollywood film industry is no exeption) is abusing IP laws by clamming IP rights to everything from trivial ideas to coffy cup stains on the table and enforcing those rights in an outragous manner.
But it is not about violating the law. It is not about taking a persons hard work away from them.
Today an executive gets premoted becouse he bumpped his head had a strange dream and patented it.
I'm all for copyrights on films that cost $1milion to film. I'm all for copyrighting the script that some writer (hack or not) sat down and wrote over 6 months to 4 years (With breaks for bathroom, food, sex, life, etc).
And I'm all for copyrights on even the most trival of code. I'm also for not buying it and leaving him poor for his efforts.
But this isn't open souce... this is a theaf...
To highlight just how little reguard he has for other people...
He calls his effort.. "Open source"
and to show how much Hollywood cares... they never bothered to seperate him from us...
Instead this theaf and our work are lumpped together...
I say we go out and interview Hollywood... no not the industry... the street gang... (there should be at least one named something like "The Hollywood thugs").
Oh no.... The Krull have asimilated the above posters thought processes...
He thinks spelling is the most importent thing in the world...
Ok side rant.
Spelling isn't the most importent thing in the world. It's the lisp/accent of the Internet. I know it makes me hard to understand but it hardly matters. I'm clear enough as it is.
Not everyone can turn out perfict spelling first try and frankly Slashdot isn't importent enough for me to go proffreading posts...
In my opinion.. people who focuse on craftsmenship polish the corners and put varnish on it all. But they don't dot the 'i's or cross the 't's.
Spelling is importent but not to the exlusion of all else... and this is Slashdot... not the great american novel
Quite a bit of that happend.
While your Dad was just playing around and had no plans for his code quite often the theft was of code the original author had quite a few plans for.
Hence GPL...
GPL is basicly "I have given this to the world... Don't you dare take it away"
Thats pritty much the whole idea behind open source liccenses.
To address liccens war...
No I would agree BSD is more free than GPL but whats even the point of the BSD liccens? It dosn't even try to address the problem of code theft and instead says "Yeah it's ok to turn it into a product". Thats cool for BSD etc where the whole objective is to create a product in the end anyway.
To me thow for the avrage open source develuper who isn't trying to make money but trying to give something to the community. The GPL is saying "This is for everyone.. and so are it's changes...". Otherwise it's just public domain...