PostgreSQL is superior to MySQL in amny ways Ruby has many advantages over Perl and Python... I have been using Perl for 5 years. After 1 month with Ruby, I'm not going back.
while it may be superior (I still don't know if I believe this), the support is still not there. The mysql/php combo is installed on most web-hosting providers.
I'm a computer tech for Staples Business Depot (Canadian branch of Staples), and for the record, I almost never reinstall windows, even if it takes an extra week to solve the problem. We're not -all- button-pushing know-nothings.
Sometimes a re-format and re-install just needs to be done (as well as re-installing windows), even if you can show your elite skills by solving a problem.
if you were working for me and were taking an extra week to solve a problem that could have been solved in a day by re-installing windows or re-formatting the system, I would have fired you.
most computers are cheap these days (under $500). By taking that extra time, you are losing money (well, your company is) (because a customer will not pay $600 for labor).
Because no sane administrator would recommend or implement sendmail when there are numerous other open source applications to replace it? Sendmail is a case where the community determined the entire design had to trashed and replaced with an entirely new solution. Only ancient unix installations (or new installations created by ancient admins) utilize sendmail. That would be like comparing the security of OSX or Ubuntu to that of win95a...
okay, when looking at iis 6.0, there are a lot less security issues than in any of their previous versions.
For the final time, a user CAN NOT simply download and execute a file under linux. A downloaded file is created with the default creation mask which will render it non-executable. A user would actually have to understand the permissions model and have a general idea how to run the system beyond clicking icons on his/her desktop to accomplish this. Further, users who would intentionally execute a file from email are few nowdays. Usually they are led to believe the file is not an executable
Even with the linux security model, there are still exploits and holes. If we took the average or inexperienced user out of the equation, windows would have a lot less issues. This is something we can't really see with linux (because the majority of users are somewhat experienced with computers), but is unfairy compared with windows when it comes to security.
It just tickles me the wrong way when I realize that every time the subject of windows security comes up there is something like that to point out. Perhaps last time it was not 0-day exploits, it was just remote execute holes, or script kiddy url spoofs but there is always something.
right. To point out that it is not always the fault of microsoft, but of the dumbass admins and users that don't update their systems.
I would never deny that with increased popularity there will be attacks on linux. Even without them, more exploits would be found and patched because with an increase in popularity, linux gains an increase in developers as well. But at this time there is no reason to believe that an innately more secure design like linux would be as easy to exploit as windows.
I'm not really sure about the developer increase. I think there are a lot less developers working on linux than you think. At the core level, there aren't a lot of people even experienced enough to add fixes or updates (maybe even less than the amount of engineers working at Microsoft).
open source sounds great on paper, but in the end, 1% of the people getting the source are doing the work. The rest are just interested in it because of the price.
I think the point was that even though MS and other companies have their hand in just about any market they chose they are unable to do so easily. Look how difficult it was for them to break into the console market for example. MS also has a tendancy of letting other companies lead the way and once a market is proven they try to jump in and "900-pound-gorilla" their way to the top
This is called an intelligent business strategy. Why take all the risk when someone else can do it for you?
If we had no copyrights or patents, this would be happening in almost every market. Small company A releases a new product (with all of the research and time/money invested). Large company B could just come along and resell their product at a cheaper rate or just use all of their research and development to undercut them.
Innovation would slow to a crawl, because the only people with the ability to take the hit from being undercut by other companies would be the large ones.
Apache is an excellent example, Apache is the market leader in a much more financially appealing segment than the desktop. Strangely it is Microsoft's underdog IIS program that suffers from exploits and worms
and by financially, if you are talking about spyware infections, there is no point in infecting a server with spyware.
why don't we look at something like sendmail? It has had more exploits over the years than any other mailserver and is also open source and as popular as apache is in the webserver market.
Remember the permissions model under linux does not allow you to simply click a link and execute code... not even local executable code
that may be true, but even with no security flaws, there is still one major issue: the user that will download a file and execute it because they are told to..this is one of the major issues with windows.
Microsoft may be behind with some security patches, but many are available before major worms can reak havoc on the internet. People just aren't keeping their systems up-to-date.
Gone are the days when kids could write closed source software, sell it to Microsoft or Oracle or Cisco and cash out and get rich.
The days are still here. Rather than applications, it's web-sites/communities. The facebook.com was recently offered $750 milion. It was created by a couple of college kids about 2 years ago. I still think you can create a closed source app that gets bought by a large company. There is just a lot more competition.
Gone are the days when VCs would drop in millions to fund software development because today, they tell you to just open source your stuff so that all the "waiting millions" of open source developers can help you remove bugs and make it better. Open sourcing of software has driven down the costs and removed the value from software. No wonder kids aren't going into CS any more. There's more money to be made in Biotech where RMS and his ilk have no presence.
This is true to some extent, but It seems like you are just trolling.
Yes. But they exist at all times on windows systems. At the present moment there are none I am aware of on linux systems. If there were, they would probably be patched by tomorrow. I am not aware of any zero day exploits for linux. I can log onto a user account under windows and browse porn for a couple hours and see spyware that has infected the browser under every profile, right now with a fully patched XP. The same has been true since the release of the OS.
and what is the motivation behind spyware? to make money why infect windows? because 90% of the people visiting the site will be running a windows variant.
There is no motivation to create spyware, worms, or viruses for linux/*nix. Yes, windows has many security issues, but this does not mean linux is any better.
If Linux had 90% desktop marketshare, we would start seeing worms, exploits, and spyware written for it. This is because the average user will click on a link that says "click here to see naked women", even though it may be an executable file that may install malicious programs.
Whatever you do, do not try to turn your hobby into a job.
In other words, if you, as I have been for much of my life, are a big fan of computer games and enjoy amateur programming, do not aim towards working in the tech sector. Why? Because you are moving yourself into a situation where your work and your hobby are the same thing.
I feel that making your passion in life your job is a good idea. An even better ideas is to make it into a business. I know it isn't possible for everyone to do this, but it is much more satisfying. A person just needs to figure out how to separate work from play.
You do have some good points however. I started as a computer tech. (when I was 15 years old) because I liked computers. When I finished my second year of college I was sick of that kind of work and got a job as a programmer for a small web hosting company. Now (with a degree in CS) I work as a contractor for various companies and am moving towards selling my own software. I enjoy what I do and have learned to separate my time accordingly.
Do you really not see the distinction? The difference seems obvious: I'm not using '**AA' in an effort to extort money through threatened litigation. You seem to still be stuck on that 'cops and blogs' type of analogy. Newsflash - it still doesn't fit this discussion which, as far as I'm concerned, is over. I've wasted enough time already and am clearly not getting through to you.
HAND
HAND? HAND?
what the fuck is that supposed to mean?
I have been using the words "pirated" and my personal favorite: "warezed" for illegal software for at least 10 years. Ever hear of the word "bootleg"? It's also a word used for illegal software or music.
New flash: if you really want to stop the RIAA, you need to stop concerning yourself with something as petty and pointless as word usage. It will only make you look foolish.
Netflix is being evil. Patenting an on-line business model is retarded. It might make since to get the patents before someone else does to protect yourself, but to enforce them? That's just wrong. I hope they either 1) make things right or 2) lose all their customers. I just terminated my service. I was hoping they'd have a comment box asking why. Was going to link to this slashdot article.
if you get a patent, you need to enforce it, or you can lose it.
Look, do most people think like you and consider 'copyright infringement' to be 'piracy'? Yes, it's a fact that they do. Is that good? IMHO, no. My point is that it plays into the hands of the **AA's. Maybe that's not important to most people. Fair enough. I prefer to make the distinction because I feel that it is important.
Interesting that you say the RIAA using the word piracy as a weapon, when you are in fact doing the same thing with **AA.
I see no distinction. The word is now (and has been for quite some time) commonly known as a synonym for copyright infringement. Although it not stealing per se, it is a form of software counterfeiting, which does cause the value to go down over time and a loss in revenue.
Yeah, I know. It's a fairly silly description. But that's how people perceive the words 'pirate' and 'piracy'. They don't think of their son or daughter sitting in a dorm room at college downloading mp3s. They think of the guy with the pegleg and the buried treasure. These small concepts add up quickly. By not making the proper distinctions, we allow the **AA to use words as weapons. For this reason, when the topic comes up, I always make the distinction between 'piracy' and 'copyright infringement'.
should police officers not be called cops? or web logs not blogs?....
When I hear the word "piracy", I think of copyright infringement..not a pirate on the high sea. Pirates haven't really been around for many years..so I don't think the general public will get too confused.
hi kz45, No, you can't get almost every commercial Linux distro in most computer stores. Check out the videos that I took while in the CompUSA store, for example. They offer ONLY two commercial Linux distros: Linspire and SuSE. Mepis Linux is not there, nor is Xandros Linux. The videos are found on page two of my article here: http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&id=652 1&page=2 [madpenguin.org]
hi christian.
what the hell is mepis linux?
most stores will only carry well-known distros (that have the money to put them there)). I have about 5 or 6 computer stores in my area, and almost all of them carry redhat,xandros,linspire and suse (I can't remember the names at the moment). They are also right alongside microsoft products. You can even get computers with linspire on them instead of windows.
Piracy, schmiracy. I don't see any eyepatches, parrots, or bottles of grog being passed around
I think the slashdot crowd has gotta let this one go. Piracy now means copyright infringement. Hacking also means to get unauthorized access to a person's computer.
Stallman has been making a living selling Free Software for over a decade. RMS holds some interesting ideas, but he doesn't believe that programmers should work for free
Stallman has been making money on speeches and talks and the fact that he is a celebrity. I would be very surprised if he wasn't a millionaire.
I find it hard to believe that anyone pays for GCC or any other GNU program stallman writes. He may have made some money before the Internet, because getting his apps required them to be mailed, but most are now included for free or just downloaded.
Stallman may not be against making money, but if you write GNU software, it is nearly impossible (it's hard enough selling proprietary software).
Here are the situations where it works:
1) you did not write the software. Reselling software created by another programmer. 2)working for a company that wants you write software for them 3)getting hired as a result of GNU project X that you created 4) you sell each copy for the price of youur labor (Most people will not pay $20,000 per copy).
In the long run, it hurts smaller software companies and leaves only large ones to compete with their free counterpart.
The Free Software Foundation also owns the copyright to your software once you use their license, so even though stallman believes "software should have no owners", he really believes that software should all be owned by the FSF. While this is may be their ideal of "freedom", it basically takes all the rights away from the original programmer.
I have read a few posts about passing a free software law that would fund open source projects. If this happened, all software would be under one monopoloy: the government.
As Stallman's ideals become less and less attractive to businesses, the free software movement will fade into the distance.
Rubbish. It drives the cost of software down to its value. Like everything should be in a free market. i.e. not using tricks like vendor lockin to artificially reduce developer efficiency, inflate prices and encourace incumbancy
so charging $0 dollars drives software down to what...$0?
inflate prices? if you don't like the price of a proprietary application, buy it from somewhere else.
We have a free market with software right now. You can go on the Internet or your local computer store and find 100s of apps at different prices. What is the problem?
if open source was law, we would no longer have a free market.
open source + casual dress = no credibility regardless of the quality of work
open source + "professional" dress = complete credibility regardless of the quality of work
Someone needs to do a study on this. I'm fascinated by the attitiude that some people have that the design of the cotton on the outside of our skin somehow has a direct correlation on the ability for us to maintain our servers through open source. It must be some kind of intellectually stimulating chemical that is weaved into the fibers of "professional" clothing that we absorb through our skin whereas casual dress does the opposite.
Do you really not understand this mentality?
You can fight the current all you want, but you will only get left behind. Everything in this world is about marketing. an interview or a date, you are marketing yourself. A business is marketing their product.
If a person knows nothing about you, they will judge you on the way you look and dress. It's just human nature.
Software is the same way. Most users will not judge a product on functionality but on the way it looks. If an application, open source or not, has a bad UI, it will have less of a chance in becoming popular. In this respect, the open source community should look at Microsoft.
Actually, I think male circumcision is barbaric and am not afraid to label it as sexual mutilation. It should be totally outlawed, and I don't give a crap if a religion thinks it's part of their cultural heritage (e.g., Jewish religion).
It's unfortunately too late for me on the score, but my son was not circumcised.
I have agreed with you up until this statement. Male circumcision is actually healthier for males (I have talked to numerous doctor's about this). There is less of a chance for spreading diseases and it's an overall pain in the ass to have your foreskin still attached. You are doing your son a great disservice in not having him circumcised.
A female circumcision, however, offers no benefits. It is barbaric.
A successful public business has a responsibility to its shareholders to use every available avenue to maximize corporate value. I know that in your idealistic world, a "good company" just wouldn't register these patents, but that's not reality.
The main problem is that if a company does not get a patent, another company will get one instead and use it against them. Patents are used as Defense.
Remember BeOS it went into the grave for this very reason. No larger distributor would touch it because MS threatened to remove any discount if they did. Wow that is freedom of the market in action!
hmmm..is that why I can get almost every commercial linux distro available alongside windows in Best buy, Microcenter, (insert your local computer store here)? I think the reason Linux isn't mainstream is because it just isn't ready yet. When the the developers finally realize this, they will be ready to create a desktop operating system that can compete with Windows.
Günther Krings, the Christian Democrat legal affairs spokesman, said: There should be no legal distinction between stealing chewing gum from a shop and performing an illegal download
copyright infringement is not like stealing an item from a store. It's closer to counterfeiting money. As more and more infringe on a person or company owned copyrighted work, it is devalued over time (less and less people will be willing to pay for it when they can just get it for free from their friend or favorite website). In a sense, copyright infringement does cost a company money..but over a very long period of time.
I have seen stats from a few mISV owners that I know personally. You can clearly see a pattern when a crack gets released for their application. Sales almost immediately drop (I have seen as much as 75%) and bandwidth is wasted (another side-effect of piracy).
When an update is made, and the cracks no longer work, sales gradually go back up.
2 years in prison for sharing is too much. I don't think the germans should be filling their jails with people sharing copyrighted material.
I have seen some convincing studies showing strong correlation between downloading and sales
When downloading is made easy, and a non-tech savvy user can easily get a song, sales are directly affected. If it stays in the background (like in the IRC days), the loss is a lot smaller. I feel that the RIAA has won the battle. Most of my friends are too afraid to download music anymore (even through there are many P2P networks still alive and well).
So if I was to take that as the lone reason why teens play MMOs, I'd say then teens are _less_ hardcore than us old farts. That's youth nowadays for you. Back in my day... *ahem*
What is considered "adult"? 20 and over? During college, you have a lot more time to be a hardcore gamer than in any other time in your life. As a teen, you are forced in a structured routine that leaves less time for having fun.
After college, most people are more interested in getting their next rent check than playing a game..unless you are an addict or are in a rare situation.
Doubly so for teenage females, who in a lot of cases aren't exactly pushed towards anything either scientific or computer-related by their parents. I'd imagine a lot have a harder time getting their parents to fork over the cash for computer games. So I can easily imagine one staying with a MMO instead if she got her parents to buy one.
Teenage Females just aren't interested in computers/science. Generally, women are interested in things that involve things that are somewhat social. (There are exceptions) Sitting in front of a computer for hours and playing against people you may never meet isn't social.
I think as a society, we give up on the idea that everyone has to be exactly the same. There are vast differences in the way women and men think and what interests them. This has more to do with human nature than not pushing women to the computer/science/math fields (I think I would have only liked this push during my college years, when most computer science classes were a sausage fest). Why aren't we pusing more guys into the elementary education/nursing fields?
Ermm, the question is whether he had any chemical weapons beyond what is known. The US and/or UK governments have admitted that he probably didn't after all.
That's why an iraqi general came out a few months back and admitted (I think he also has a book) that he helped move and hide piles of chemical weapons. I think it will be great when the proof is finally out in the open.
It will be the equivalent of one, large, bitch-slap to all the Democrats...and then they won't have anything left to harp on. But by then, Bush will most likely be out of office..and the truth will mosty likely stay hidden.
I think it's pretty obvious that Sadaam had some chemical weapons of sorts. Things aren't as simple as they seem. Our government has all kinds of intelligence...if they thought there were WMDs, there must have been a good reason.
Slashdot Mirror
PostgreSQL is superior to MySQL in amny ways ... I have been using Perl for 5 years. After 1 month with Ruby, I'm not going back.
Ruby has many advantages over Perl and Python
while it may be superior (I still don't know if I believe this), the support is still not there. The mysql/php combo is installed on most web-hosting providers.
I'm a computer tech for Staples Business Depot (Canadian branch of Staples), and for the record, I almost never reinstall windows, even if it takes an extra week to solve the problem. We're not -all- button-pushing know-nothings.
Sometimes a re-format and re-install just needs to be done (as well as re-installing windows), even if you can show your elite skills by solving a problem.
if you were working for me and were taking an extra week to solve a problem that could have been solved in a day by re-installing windows or re-formatting the system, I would have fired you.
most computers are cheap these days (under $500). By taking that extra time, you are losing money (well, your company is) (because a customer will not pay $600 for labor).
Because no sane administrator would recommend or implement sendmail when there are numerous other open source applications to replace it? Sendmail is a case where the community determined the entire design had to trashed and replaced with an entirely new solution. Only ancient unix installations (or new installations created by ancient admins) utilize sendmail. That would be like comparing the security of OSX or Ubuntu to that of win95a...
0 /7882.aspx
okay, when looking at iis 6.0, there are a lot less security issues than in any of their previous versions.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/bernard/archive/2004/06/1
For the final time, a user CAN NOT simply download and execute a file under linux. A downloaded file is created with the default creation mask which will render it non-executable. A user would actually have to understand the permissions model and have a general idea how to run the system beyond clicking icons on his/her desktop to accomplish this. Further, users who would intentionally execute a file from email are few nowdays. Usually they are led to believe the file is not an executable
Even with the linux security model, there are still exploits and holes. If we took the average or inexperienced user out of the equation, windows would have a lot less issues. This is something we can't really see with linux (because the majority of users are somewhat experienced with computers), but is unfairy compared with windows when it comes to security.
It just tickles me the wrong way when I realize that every time the subject of windows security comes up there is something like that to point out. Perhaps last time it was not 0-day exploits, it was just remote execute holes, or script kiddy url spoofs but there is always something.
right. To point out that it is not always the fault of microsoft, but of the dumbass admins and users that don't update their systems.
I would never deny that with increased popularity there will be attacks on linux. Even without them, more exploits would be found and patched because with an increase in popularity, linux gains an increase in developers as well. But at this time there is no reason to believe that an innately more secure design like linux would be as easy to exploit as windows.
I'm not really sure about the developer increase. I think there are a lot less developers working on linux than you think. At the core level, there aren't a lot of people even experienced enough to add fixes or updates (maybe even less than the amount of engineers working at Microsoft).
open source sounds great on paper, but in the end, 1% of the people getting the source are doing the work. The rest are just interested in it because of the price.
I think the point was that even though MS and other companies have their hand in just about any market they chose they are unable to do so easily. Look how difficult it was for them to break into the console market for example. MS also has a tendancy of letting other companies lead the way and once a market is proven they try to jump in and "900-pound-gorilla" their way to the top
This is called an intelligent business strategy. Why take all the risk when someone else can do it for you?
If we had no copyrights or patents, this would be happening in almost every market. Small company A releases a new product (with all of the research and time/money invested). Large company B could just come along and resell their product at a cheaper rate or just use all of their research and development to undercut them.
Innovation would slow to a crawl, because the only people with the ability to take the hit from being undercut by other companies would be the large ones.
Apache is an excellent example, Apache is the market leader in a much more financially appealing segment than the desktop. Strangely it is Microsoft's underdog IIS program that suffers from exploits and worms
and by financially, if you are talking about spyware infections, there is no point in infecting a server with spyware.
why don't we look at something like sendmail? It has had more exploits over the years than any other mailserver and is also open source and as popular as apache is in the webserver market.
Remember the permissions model under linux does not allow you to simply click a link and execute code... not even local executable code
that may be true, but even with no security flaws, there is still one major issue: the user that will download a file and execute it because they are told to..this is one of the major issues with windows.
Microsoft may be behind with some security patches, but many are available before major worms can reak havoc on the internet. People just aren't keeping their systems up-to-date.
Gone are the days when kids could write closed source software, sell it to Microsoft or Oracle or Cisco and cash out and get rich.
The days are still here. Rather than applications, it's web-sites/communities. The facebook.com was recently offered $750 milion. It was created by a couple of college kids about 2 years ago. I still think you can create a closed source app that gets bought by a large company. There is just a lot more competition.
Gone are the days when VCs would drop in millions to fund software development because today, they tell you to just open source your stuff so that all the "waiting millions" of open source developers can help you remove bugs and make it better. Open sourcing of software has driven down the costs and removed the value from software. No wonder kids aren't going into CS any more. There's more money to be made in Biotech where RMS and his ilk have no presence.
This is true to some extent, but It seems like you are just trolling.
Yes. But they exist at all times on windows systems. At the present moment there are none I am aware of on linux systems. If there were, they would probably be patched by tomorrow. I am not aware of any zero day exploits for linux. I can log onto a user account under windows and browse porn for a couple hours and see spyware that has infected the browser under every profile, right now with a fully patched XP. The same has been true since the release of the OS.
and what is the motivation behind spyware? to make money
why infect windows? because 90% of the people visiting the site will be running a windows variant.
There is no motivation to create spyware, worms, or viruses for linux/*nix. Yes, windows has many security issues, but this does not mean linux is any better.
If Linux had 90% desktop marketshare, we would start seeing worms, exploits, and spyware written for it. This is because the average user will click on a link that says "click here to see naked women", even though it may be an executable file that may install malicious programs.
Whatever you do, do not try to turn your hobby into a job.
In other words, if you, as I have been for much of my life, are a big fan of computer games and enjoy amateur programming, do not aim towards working in the tech sector. Why? Because you are moving yourself into a situation where your work and your hobby are the same thing.
I feel that making your passion in life your job is a good idea. An even better ideas is to make it into a business. I know it isn't possible for everyone to do this, but it is much more satisfying. A person just needs to figure out how to separate work from play.
You do have some good points however. I started as a computer tech. (when I was 15 years old) because I liked computers. When I finished my second year of college I was sick of that kind of work and got a job as a programmer for a small web hosting company. Now (with a degree in CS) I work as a contractor for various companies and am moving towards selling my own software. I enjoy what I do and have learned to separate my time accordingly.
H.A.N.D. Have A Nice Day
ahh, kind of like: c u next tuesday.
Do you really not see the distinction? The difference seems obvious: I'm not using '**AA' in an effort to extort money through threatened litigation. You seem to still be stuck on that 'cops and blogs' type of analogy. Newsflash - it still doesn't fit this discussion which, as far as I'm concerned, is over. I've wasted enough time already and am clearly not getting through to you.
HAND
HAND? HAND?
what the fuck is that supposed to mean?
I have been using the words "pirated" and my personal favorite: "warezed" for illegal software for at least 10 years. Ever hear of the word "bootleg"? It's also a word used for illegal software or music.
New flash: if you really want to stop the RIAA, you need to stop concerning yourself with something as petty and pointless as word usage. It will only make you look foolish.
Netflix is being evil. Patenting an on-line business model is retarded. It might make since to get the patents before someone else does to protect yourself, but to enforce them? That's just wrong. I hope they either 1) make things right or 2) lose all their customers. I just terminated my service. I was hoping they'd have a comment box asking why. Was going to link to this slashdot article.
if you get a patent, you need to enforce it, or you can lose it.
http://www.whenpenguinsattack.com/2006/02/mysql-vs -postgres.html
b ase-speed-tests.html
and a speed test of various databases
http://www.whenpenguinsattack.com/2006/03/10-data
Look, do most people think like you and consider 'copyright infringement' to be 'piracy'? Yes, it's a fact that they do. Is that good? IMHO, no. My point is that it plays into the hands of the **AA's. Maybe that's not important to most people. Fair enough. I prefer to make the distinction because I feel that it is important.
Interesting that you say the RIAA using the word piracy as a weapon, when you are in fact doing the same thing with **AA.
I see no distinction. The word is now (and has been for quite some time) commonly known as a synonym for copyright infringement. Although it not stealing per se, it is a form of software counterfeiting, which does cause the value to go down over time and a loss in revenue.
Yeah, I know. It's a fairly silly description. But that's how people perceive the words 'pirate' and 'piracy'. They don't think of their son or daughter sitting in a dorm room at college downloading mp3s. They think of the guy with the pegleg and the buried treasure. These small concepts add up quickly. By not making the proper distinctions, we allow the **AA to use words as weapons. For this reason, when the topic comes up, I always make the distinction between 'piracy' and 'copyright infringement'.
....
should police officers not be called cops? or web logs not blogs?
When I hear the word "piracy", I think of copyright infringement..not a pirate on the high sea. Pirates haven't really been around for many years..so I don't think the general public will get too confused.
hi kz45, No, you can't get almost every commercial Linux distro in most computer stores. Check out the videos that I took while in the CompUSA store, for example. They offer ONLY two commercial Linux distros: Linspire and SuSE. Mepis Linux is not there, nor is Xandros Linux. The videos are found on page two of my article here: http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&id=652 1&page=2 [madpenguin.org]
hi christian.
what the hell is mepis linux?
most stores will only carry well-known distros (that have the money to put them there)). I have about 5 or 6 computer stores in my area, and almost all of them carry redhat,xandros,linspire and suse (I can't remember the names at the moment). They are also right alongside microsoft products. You can even get computers with linspire on them instead of windows.
Piracy, schmiracy. I don't see any eyepatches, parrots, or bottles of grog being passed around
I think the slashdot crowd has gotta let this one go. Piracy now means copyright infringement. Hacking also means to get unauthorized access to a person's computer.
Stallman has been making a living selling Free Software for over a decade. RMS holds some interesting ideas, but he doesn't believe that programmers should work for free
Stallman has been making money on speeches and talks and the fact that he is a celebrity. I would be very surprised if he wasn't a millionaire.
I find it hard to believe that anyone pays for GCC or any other GNU program stallman writes. He may have made some money before the Internet, because getting his apps required them to be mailed, but most are now included for free or just downloaded.
Stallman may not be against making money, but if you write GNU software, it is nearly impossible (it's hard enough selling proprietary software).
Here are the situations where it works:
1) you did not write the software. Reselling software created by another programmer.
2)working for a company that wants you write software for them
3)getting hired as a result of GNU project X that you created
4) you sell each copy for the price of youur labor (Most people will not pay $20,000 per copy).
In the long run, it hurts smaller software companies and leaves only large ones to compete with their free counterpart.
The Free Software Foundation also owns the copyright to your software once you use their license, so even though stallman believes "software should have no owners", he really believes that software should all be owned by the FSF. While this is may be their ideal of "freedom", it basically takes all the rights away from the original programmer.
I have read a few posts about passing a free software law that would fund open source projects. If this happened, all software would be under one monopoloy: the government.
As Stallman's ideals become less and less attractive to businesses, the free software movement will fade into the distance.
Rubbish. It drives the cost of software down to its value. Like everything should be in a free market. i.e. not using tricks like vendor lockin to artificially reduce developer efficiency, inflate prices and encourace incumbancy
so charging $0 dollars drives software down to what...$0?
inflate prices? if you don't like the price of a proprietary application, buy it from somewhere else.
We have a free market with software right now. You can go on the Internet or your local computer store and find 100s of apps at different prices. What is the problem?
if open source was law, we would no longer have a free market.
open source + casual dress = no credibility regardless of the quality of work
open source + "professional" dress = complete credibility regardless of the quality of work
Someone needs to do a study on this. I'm fascinated by the attitiude that some people have that the design of the cotton on the outside of our skin somehow has a direct correlation on the ability for us to maintain our servers through open source. It must be some kind of intellectually stimulating chemical that is weaved into the fibers of "professional" clothing that we absorb through our skin whereas casual dress does the opposite.
Do you really not understand this mentality?
You can fight the current all you want, but you will only get left behind. Everything in this world is about marketing. an interview or a date, you are marketing yourself. A business is marketing their product.
If a person knows nothing about you, they will judge you on the way you look and dress. It's just human nature.
Software is the same way. Most users will not judge a product on functionality but on the way it looks. If an application, open source or not, has a bad UI, it will have less of a chance in becoming popular. In this respect, the open source community should look at Microsoft.
Actually, I think male circumcision is barbaric and am not afraid to label it as sexual mutilation. It should be totally outlawed, and I don't give a crap if a religion thinks it's part of their cultural heritage (e.g., Jewish religion).
It's unfortunately too late for me on the score, but my son was not circumcised.
I have agreed with you up until this statement. Male circumcision is actually healthier for males (I have talked to numerous doctor's about this). There is less of a chance for spreading diseases and it's an overall pain in the ass to have your foreskin still attached. You are doing your son a great disservice in not having him circumcised.
A female circumcision, however, offers no benefits. It is barbaric.
A successful public business has a responsibility to its shareholders to use every available avenue to maximize corporate value. I know that in your idealistic world, a "good company" just wouldn't register these patents, but that's not reality.
The main problem is that if a company does not get a patent, another company will get one instead and use it against them. Patents are used as Defense.
Remember BeOS it went into the grave for this very reason. No larger distributor would touch it because MS threatened to remove any discount if they did. Wow that is freedom of the market in action!
hmmm..is that why I can get almost every commercial linux distro available alongside windows in Best buy, Microcenter, (insert your local computer store here)? I think the reason Linux isn't mainstream is because it just isn't ready yet. When the the developers finally realize this, they will be ready to create a desktop operating system that can compete with Windows.
Günther Krings, the Christian Democrat legal affairs spokesman, said: There should be no legal distinction between stealing chewing gum from a shop and performing an illegal download
copyright infringement is not like stealing an item from a store. It's closer to counterfeiting money. As more and more infringe on a person or company owned copyrighted work, it is devalued over time (less and less people will be willing to pay for it when they can just get it for free from their friend or favorite website). In a sense, copyright infringement does cost a company money..but over a very long period of time.
I have seen stats from a few mISV owners that I know personally. You can clearly see a pattern when a crack gets released for their application. Sales almost immediately drop (I have seen as much as 75%) and bandwidth is wasted (another side-effect of piracy).
When an update is made, and the cracks no longer work, sales gradually go back up.
2 years in prison for sharing is too much. I don't think the germans should be filling their jails with people sharing copyrighted material.
I have seen some convincing studies showing strong correlation between downloading and sales
When downloading is made easy, and a non-tech savvy user can easily get a song, sales are directly affected. If it stays in the background (like in the IRC days), the loss is a lot smaller. I feel that the RIAA has won the battle. Most of my friends are too afraid to download music anymore (even through there are many P2P networks still alive and well).
So if I was to take that as the lone reason why teens play MMOs, I'd say then teens are _less_ hardcore than us old farts. That's youth nowadays for you. Back in my day... *ahem*
What is considered "adult"? 20 and over? During college, you have a lot more time to be a hardcore gamer than in any other time in your life. As a teen, you are forced in a structured routine that leaves less time for having fun.
After college, most people are more interested in getting their next rent check than playing a game..unless you are an addict or are in a rare situation.
Doubly so for teenage females, who in a lot of cases aren't exactly pushed towards anything either scientific or computer-related by their parents. I'd imagine a lot have a harder time getting their parents to fork over the cash for computer games. So I can easily imagine one staying with a MMO instead if she got her parents to buy one.
Teenage Females just aren't interested in computers/science. Generally, women are interested in things that involve things that are somewhat social. (There are exceptions) Sitting in front of a computer for hours and playing against people you may never meet isn't social.
I think as a society, we give up on the idea that everyone has to be exactly the same. There are vast differences in the way women and men think and what interests them. This has more to do with human nature than not pushing women to the computer/science/math fields (I think I would have only liked this push during my college years, when most computer science classes were a sausage fest). Why aren't we pusing more guys into the elementary education/nursing fields?
Ermm, the question is whether he had any chemical weapons beyond what is known. The US and/or UK governments have admitted that he probably didn't after all.
That's why an iraqi general came out a few months back and admitted (I think he also has a book) that he helped move and hide piles of chemical weapons. I think it will be great when the proof is finally out in the open.
It will be the equivalent of one, large, bitch-slap to all the Democrats...and then they won't have anything left to harp on. But by then, Bush will most likely be out of office..and the truth will mosty likely stay hidden.
I think it's pretty obvious that Sadaam had some chemical weapons of sorts. Things aren't as simple as they seem. Our government has all kinds of intelligence...if they thought there were WMDs, there must have been a good reason.