This piece shows, I think, the way forward for linux; managers using it for small projects, realising that they've got uptime that can be measured in years, and gradually porting more important systems over. The fascinating bit for me, though, was the managers who didn't want to be identified. Perhaps they were afraid of Microsoft's anti-linux team; I know I'd run a mile if I saw that guy with the spike on his hat heading my way
One problem is, the US government spending is influenced by the people, and the people all went to see "Star Wars" and think NASA should focus on space travel. It's somewhat short sighted. Trying to figure out a way to populate other planets with people from earth is a very very long and very very expensive process. A true danger that NASA could be working on is to develop a defence against asteroids. I'm not arguing against an asteroid detection system -- it's vital to Earth's long-term survival -- but a permanent presence can be established on Mars for half the cost of the ISS. Check out the Case for Mars site, or read Roger Zubrin's book of the same name (hope I got his name right).
Imagine what the world would be like if heroin were open source. You'd have the option of flying to some poppy field and making your own from the source, or you could buy it from a reseller who'd made his own modifications (say, adding speed). Of course, you'd have the source, so you'd know exactly what you were getting...
I remember when Jolt came out, there were mass predictions that coffee would become a thing of the past. Same when Red Bull came out (you do get that in the US, don't you?). I say now what I said then; nothing will replace coffee. Ever. It may have less caffeine that some of the funky drinks out there, and it may be trivial when compared to caffeine tablets, but coffee was, and always will be, the drink of choice. It's not just the drinking; it the wondering which machine to use; the cool-looking percolator, the fancy expresso maker, the baby expresso maker, the cafetiere... then there's the pouring into the huge Babylon 5 mug, the inhalation of that heady aroma, the first sip... pardon me, I'm getting aroused. Gotta go.
Since they are admitting that the price/performance/features equation of Apache is better than anything Microsoft has to offer, it means they have gotten used to the idea, mulled it over, and came up with a solution That or they're tring to convince the DoJ that there are bits of the world they don't own.
The new free web server / Windows 2000 combination will reduce the appeal of Apache This won't be as easy as deep-sixing Netscape, for a whole bunch of reasons. Off the top of my head... 1. Targetting home users who'll just click'n'install is a lot easier than replacing entrenched, stable technology in the business world. All the PHBs in all the gin-joints in all the world won't be effective in replacing all the apache installations, but they might impinge (slightly) on new installs. 2. Apache is, and always has been, free. netscape lost out to a certain extent because it took them a year and a day to react to the freebie IE. 3. Netscape had/has advocates; Apache has fanatics.
Maybe I'm getting old, but it seems that the rate of technology advances are accelerating faster than ever. In the last year or so we've seen clones, ion drives, artifically-sort-of-intelligent spacecraft, phasers and theoretical advances in, oh, everything. All of which is, of course, a Good Thing.
As far as ethical considerations of cloning are concerned, reports of the dilemma have, I think been greatly exaggerated. If you clone someone, then 1. The result is a child. This child is a normal child in more or less every way, and should be treated as such. 2. A physical clone does not a mental clone make. the resultant offspring will be as unique an individual as anyone else. 3. Remember the brouhaha about IVF when it was first introduced (death of society, brave new world, etc, etc)? Same thing.
Re:Microsoft will be seen in a positive light?...
on
Salon on Mindcraft II
·
· Score: 1
I am not so sure why salon keeps hinting that Microsoft will be seen in a "positive light" though... The whole tone of the article implied that NT was going to come out ahead. After initial remarks about the deck being stacked, the whole remainder was along the lines of 'NT is going to win this round... but Linux will prevail in the long run.' Although it wasn't written that way, there was also the slight implication that given its inevitable defeat this time round, the linux guys had to get their excuses in in advance.
I would suspect that the phrase is in the public domain (nyuk nyuk) at this stage. I'm sure someone will register it, but the first time they try to sue someone they'll come up against the combined might of the FSF and, well, everyone. It'll (I think and hope) stand up in court, even if they're willing to spend godzillions on lawyers.
The author tells us that he wouldn't wish his Linux installation problems on anyone. But is difficulty of installation really still the case? Red Hat 6 and Suse 6.1 offer smooth installs, as long as your hardware is listed. And as time goes by, more and more hardware gets listed. Everyone's looking forward to the day when Linux will be easy to install; they're overlooking the fact that for a significant percentage (the majority?) of hardware, it's already a breeze. It doesn't even require that poxy CDROM loader that Windows (typecast as "the easy-to-install" OS) needs.
Geeks' fascination with Star Wars and the X-Files isn't a sign of irrationality; rather it's the plaintive cry of the oft-mocked, saying "Look! Good science fiction!". Both of the above have achieved phenomenal success despite being in such a marginal genre. [Some of] our nerdly brethern are fanatical about these because they're not only sci-fi that can be held as exemplars, and they show the masses that we're not completely sad bastards. Some of our opinions are worth listening to.
Other than that, I can't comment on the review as I haven't read the book.
My credit card is poised; a while ago I felt similarly, but after putting up with untold shit from Netscape x.x, it's time to bite the bullet and pay the piper. Pardon the mixed metaphor. Don't forget, BTW, that we've got the boys and girls in Redmond to thank for free browsers; if it weren't for their determination to wipe Netscape off the face of the Earth, we'd all be happily downloading trial copies of navigator and not paying for it.
Didn't this first appear on segfault.org? I've seen it a few places since, but it's still good to see Salon getting in on the act. Imagine if the inclusion of the w*rd fuck were a reason for banning something in the eyes of these bastions of democracy. We'd see e-texts of Lady Chatterly's Lover being banned while the print version is readily available. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to think of myriad other examples of this sort of asininity (if that's a word).
Fraggin' PDFs won't let me paste, so a short quote: "Readers are reminded that this group represents largely Microsoft customers and the results are likely to reflect a skewed response in this direction"
Another thing worth noting about the 20% that are considering Linux, BTW, is that 29% are undecided. That makes nearl half that are at least open to the prospect.
Hey kids, this is theoetical physics. It has very little to do with reality as we know it.
No arguments. And as it's something we can't associate with everyday experience, we need a suitable metaphor. And guess what? Most of the people on/. watch (or watched (or saw some episodes of)) Star Trek. Which makes it suitable; not just for slashdotters, but for the godzillions of people (not just trekkie scum) that watch or watched the programme.
I dare you try and explain this article without using the word 'warp'.
It is cool. But is it worth $6300 just so you can pretend to be Stephen Hawking? Maybe (given the week that's in it) you could get two people playing X-Wing and relive the dialogue ("I got him! I got him! "Great, kid. Don't get cocky!). But not for more than a grand. No way.
We've seen a bunch of wearable monitors recently; this looks like it might be the niftiest. By my reckoning, that's pretty much everything that's needed for a wearable computer. Time to save those.02s instead of offering them to/. all the time...
At the risk of dismissing Jon out of hand, we've seen these predicitions a thousand times before, and will again. 125,000 people worldwide doesn't mean Ultima is no longer the domain of geeks, it just means that 125,000 geeks worldwide are playing it. For years now people have been paying for their virtual space in the form of ads (Geocities et al), and hard cash is another step in the process of merging cyberspace with meatspace. It isn't, however, a giant leap for mankind.
They'll stick in the computer section, where it'll get moved to the cartoon section, where people'll complain because it's too esoteric, so it'll go back to the computer section...
I suspect that this is just another exampele of George's megalomania; he (or Lucasarts; take your pick) is going a bit nuts controlling the merchandise and related periphery for the new film, and News.com is trying to stir it up for no reason other than ratings (or hits, I suppose).
I don't mean to sound overly suspicious, but has this been confirmed? Specifically, has the story appeared anywhere other than a Geocities site? I merely ask because if you check out www.tetris.com, you'll see quite a few messages posted on the boards about people looking for specific clones. Hosting these messages doesn't sound like the work of a rabid, lawyer-influenced capitalist.
Slashdot Mirror
This comment, while good, is not Good. Well, it's not bad.
This piece shows, I think, the way forward for linux; managers using it for small projects, realising that they've got uptime that can be measured in years, and gradually porting more important systems over.
The fascinating bit for me, though, was the managers who didn't want to be identified. Perhaps they were afraid of Microsoft's anti-linux team; I know I'd run a mile if I saw that guy with the spike on his hat heading my way
One problem is, the US government spending is influenced by the people, and the people all went to see "Star Wars" and think NASA should focus on space travel. It's somewhat short sighted.
Trying to figure out a way to populate other planets with people from earth is a very very long and very very expensive process. A true danger that NASA could be working on is to develop a defence against asteroids.
I'm not arguing against an asteroid detection system -- it's vital to Earth's long-term survival -- but a permanent presence can be established on Mars for half the cost of the ISS. Check out the Case for Mars site, or read Roger Zubrin's book of the same name (hope I got his name right).
Guess he's off the heroin now...
Imagine what the world would be like if heroin were open source. You'd have the option of flying to some poppy field and making your own from the source, or you could buy it from a reseller who'd made his own modifications (say, adding speed).
Of course, you'd have the source, so you'd know exactly what you were getting...
I remember when Jolt came out, there were mass predictions that coffee would become a thing of the past. Same when Red Bull came out (you do get that in the US, don't you?). I say now what I said then; nothing will replace coffee. Ever. It may have less caffeine that some of the funky drinks out there, and it may be trivial when compared to caffeine tablets, but coffee was, and always will be, the drink of choice. It's not just the drinking; it the wondering which machine to use; the cool-looking percolator, the fancy expresso maker, the baby expresso maker, the cafetiere... then there's the pouring into the huge Babylon 5 mug, the inhalation of that heady aroma, the first sip... pardon me, I'm getting aroused. Gotta go.
Since they are admitting that the price/performance/features equation of Apache is better than anything Microsoft has to offer, it means they have gotten used to the idea, mulled it over, and came up with a solution
That or they're tring to convince the DoJ that there are bits of the world they don't own.
The new free web server / Windows 2000 combination will reduce the appeal of Apache
This won't be as easy as deep-sixing Netscape, for a whole bunch of reasons. Off the top of my head...
1. Targetting home users who'll just click'n'install is a lot easier than replacing entrenched, stable technology in the business world. All the PHBs in all the gin-joints in all the world won't be effective in replacing all the apache installations, but they might impinge (slightly) on new installs.
2. Apache is, and always has been, free. netscape lost out to a certain extent because it took them a year and a day to react to the freebie IE.
3. Netscape had/has advocates; Apache has fanatics.
Connection reset by peer, and not even a comment posted yet. Gotta be a record.
Maybe I'm getting old, but it seems that the rate of technology advances are accelerating faster than ever. In the last year or so we've seen clones, ion drives, artifically-sort-of-intelligent spacecraft, phasers and theoretical advances in, oh, everything. All of which is, of course, a Good Thing.
As far as ethical considerations of cloning are concerned, reports of the dilemma have, I think been greatly exaggerated. If you clone someone, then
1. The result is a child. This child is a normal child in more or less every way, and should be treated as such.
2. A physical clone does not a mental clone make. the resultant offspring will be as unique an individual as anyone else.
3. Remember the brouhaha about IVF when it was first introduced (death of society, brave new world, etc, etc)? Same thing.
I am not so sure why salon keeps hinting that Microsoft will be seen in a "positive light" though...
The whole tone of the article implied that NT was going to come out ahead. After initial remarks about the deck being stacked, the whole remainder was along the lines of 'NT is going to win this round... but Linux will prevail in the long run.'
Although it wasn't written that way, there was also the slight implication that given its inevitable defeat this time round, the linux guys had to get their excuses in in advance.
I would suspect that the phrase is in the public domain (nyuk nyuk) at this stage. I'm sure someone will register it, but the first time they try to sue someone they'll come up against the combined might of the FSF and, well, everyone. It'll (I think and hope) stand up in court, even if they're willing to spend godzillions on lawyers.
The author tells us that he wouldn't wish his Linux installation problems on anyone. But is difficulty of installation really still the case? Red Hat 6 and Suse 6.1 offer smooth installs, as long as your hardware is listed. And as time goes by, more and more hardware gets listed. Everyone's looking forward to the day when Linux will be easy to install; they're overlooking the fact that for a significant percentage (the majority?) of hardware, it's already a breeze. It doesn't even require that poxy CDROM loader that Windows (typecast as "the easy-to-install" OS) needs.
Geeks' fascination with Star Wars and the X-Files isn't a sign of irrationality; rather it's the plaintive cry of the oft-mocked, saying "Look! Good science fiction!". Both of the above have achieved phenomenal success despite being in such a marginal genre. [Some of] our nerdly brethern are fanatical about these because they're not only sci-fi that can be held as exemplars, and they show the masses that we're not completely sad bastards. Some of our opinions are worth listening to.
Other than that, I can't comment on the review as I haven't read the book.
My credit card is poised; a while ago I felt similarly, but after putting up with untold shit from Netscape x.x, it's time to bite the bullet and pay the piper. Pardon the mixed metaphor.
Don't forget, BTW, that we've got the boys and girls in Redmond to thank for free browsers; if it weren't for their determination to wipe Netscape off the face of the Earth, we'd all be happily downloading trial copies of navigator and not paying for it.
Didn't this first appear on segfault.org? I've seen it a few places since, but it's still good to see Salon getting in on the act.
Imagine if the inclusion of the w*rd fuck were a reason for banning something in the eyes of these bastions of democracy. We'd see e-texts of Lady Chatterly's Lover being banned while the print version is readily available. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to think of myriad other examples of this sort of asininity (if that's a word).
Fraggin' PDFs won't let me paste, so a short quote:
"Readers are reminded that this group represents largely Microsoft customers and the results are likely to reflect a skewed response in this direction"
Another thing worth noting about the 20% that are considering Linux, BTW, is that 29% are undecided. That makes nearl half that are at least open to the prospect.
Hey kids, this is theoetical physics. It has very little to do with reality as we know it.
/. watch (or watched (or saw some episodes of)) Star Trek. Which makes it suitable; not just for slashdotters, but for the godzillions of people (not just trekkie scum) that watch or watched the programme.
No arguments. And as it's something we can't associate with everyday experience, we need a suitable metaphor. And guess what? Most of the people on
I dare you try and explain this article without using the word 'warp'.
It is cool. But is it worth $6300 just so you can pretend to be Stephen Hawking? Maybe (given the week that's in it) you could get two people playing X-Wing and relive the dialogue ("I got him! I got him! "Great, kid. Don't get cocky!). But not for more than a grand. No way.
Digital paper is being tested by a couple of companies; it's in a a somewhat different format. Check out last week's New Scientist.
We've seen a bunch of wearable monitors recently; this looks like it might be the niftiest. By my reckoning, that's pretty much everything that's needed for a wearable computer. Time to save those .02s instead of offering them to /. all the time...
At the risk of dismissing Jon out of hand, we've seen these predicitions a thousand times before, and will again. 125,000 people worldwide doesn't mean Ultima is no longer the domain of geeks, it just means that 125,000 geeks worldwide are playing it. For years now people have been paying for their virtual space in the form of ads (Geocities et al), and hard cash is another step in the process of merging cyberspace with meatspace. It isn't, however, a giant leap for mankind.
They'll stick in the computer section, where it'll get moved to the cartoon section, where people'll complain because it's too esoteric, so it'll go back to the computer section...
I suspect that this is just another exampele of George's megalomania; he (or Lucasarts; take your pick) is going a bit nuts controlling the merchandise and related periphery for the new film, and News.com is trying to stir it up for no reason other than ratings (or hits, I suppose).
I don't mean to sound overly suspicious, but has this been confirmed? Specifically, has the story appeared anywhere other than a Geocities site?
I merely ask because if you check out www.tetris.com, you'll see quite a few messages posted on the boards about people looking for specific clones. Hosting these messages doesn't sound like the work of a rabid, lawyer-influenced capitalist.