wow, thats some messed up logic. So Linux distros should be at the behest of every other project?
The issue here isn't the kernel being used at all. I've never heard of anyone complain about XFree86 not being Linux-friendly or it favoring *BSD or something.
You can clearly see XFree86's problem when you compile it in Gentoo. The amount of patches that the Gentoo dev's have added to XFree86 number in the dozens upon dozens. Sometimes Gentoo will have a patch here and there. Sometimes to makefiles and the like, just to adapt a package to Gentoo's way of compiling. Or perhaps some bug fixes that come out shortly after a release. But with XFree86, its clear that something is wrong, there's a whole extra.tar.bz2 it has too download full of patches. And it might download some more patches as well.
And they're important (and some humorous) sounding patches too, heres a sample: 0182_all_4.3.0-redhat-xlib-linux-fix-avoi ding-subs tance-abuse-job.patch 0199_all_4.2.0-die-ugly-pat tern-die-die-die-v2.pat ch 0230_all_4.3.0-craptastic-cast.patch 5325_all _4.3.0-nv-unresolved-symbols.patch
Note that they have to have a 4 digit number to keep track of the patches.
Now granted, XFree86 is not just fairly large (though projects like KDE are far larger), but is also very dependent on hardware making debugging difficult. Which is why XFree86 more then any project needs requires the cooperation and to graciously accept the cooperation of the distros, whose users will be on the frontline of finding bugs.
I good explanation for it that I read at osnews.com was that the XFree86 and the Distros (commercial and community alike) started to increasingly have differences in priorities and culture. The license change was a like message from XFree86 to the distros that they didn't care one way or another for their support. The distros response is logical. Additionally while most of the distros have pleny of software incompatible with the GPL, it is not ideal to have something as central to an operating system as the X server to be GPL-incompatible.
Personally I never have any trouble downloading kernels (usually straight from kernel.org... they have a lot of bandwidth) but I usual don't download the day-of.
A kernel BitTorrent would probably work quick successfully. Not really so much because of the whole upload-while-you-download thing (not as important for such a small download), more because it makes it so easy to provide bandwidth and I bet there would be tons of seeds for something like the kernel.
No, they come in and we fix the problem most of the time. Usually an anti-virus and a spyware/ad-aware scan fixes it. Sometimes it doesn't. And if it does, the machines aren't always working like their supposed to, but they do work. We don't provide full support to students computers, we refer them downtown if they need something drastic like an OS reinstall.
Then I can here and 'slag Microsoft' (slag: the "the scum formed by oxidation at the surface of molten metals") out of frustration. And for some fun.
Yes, we have distributed such CDs. Doesn't mean everyone uses them. We also have a McAfee license for every student. Next year we will probably be giving such a CD as part of the welcome-to-the-dorms pack of junk everyone gets.
Ad-Aware and I think Spybot Search and Destroy both are for non-commercial use only, which I think means can't give them out, though I'm not sure. Ad-Aware would cost like $15000 if we wanted to give it to every student (when they can just download it free). Though, as I said, I'm not sure on this.
A typical user experience. 1) Buy computer with Windows XP Home Edition pre-installed. 2) They get a virus, perhaps even a trojan. Or maybe a worm, since the computer wasn't up-to-date. Or they were stupid and opened MyDoom. Regardless, it cripples the computer. 3) They buy or download an antivirus software. Perhaps their computer works well enough to install it, and reinstall Windows if it does not. 4)Ok, finally a working computer again. But since they browse the internet as administrator (as it works by default) they get spyware. Lot's of spyware. It builds up on each other and Internet Explorer has trouble starting. Pop-ups occur on every website, even Google or when IE isn't open. Perhaps their credit card info is stolen. 5) If their lucky, they would have heard of Ad-Aware or Spybot Search and Destroy and they somehow get it on their computer to install it (no IE remember?). It deals with most of the pop-ups. But nothing really works right. Reinstall Windows. 6) Go to step 2.
I work at the campus helpdesk, so I see students with these sorts of problems all the time. I have a problem respecting an OS that will get a worm before the user has a chance to do Windows Update, an occurance I've seen a few times.
RTFA: "IBM is ready to provide technical resources and code for the open source Java implementation while Sun provides the open source community with Sun materials, including Java specifications, tests and code."
So, since its IBM offering the code for the Java implementation, it sounds like IBM just wants Sun to provide the documention and what not. And therefore implicitly approve of IBM's Java implementation. So, Sun would be losing some control.
Right, I think this is the real story here. Basically, IBM doesn't want to piss off Sun more then they already have. So its a backwards way of asking Sun if it would be alright if they opensourced IBM's Java.
Except there are already several implementations of Java: IBM, Blackdown, Sun, and of course, Microsofts ill-fated implementation.
Its already an open standard more or less. Anyone can implement Java. How is IBM opensourcing their Java, and Sun providing a developer community changing that?
Except that isn't what IBM is asking! They want Sun to create a developer community, as well as technical work. RTFA: "IBM is ready to provide technical resources and code for the open source Java implementation while Sun provides the open source community with Sun materials, including Java specifications, tests and code."
So IBM would be providing the code for the Java implementation.
The analogy doesn't work. Notice IBM would be offering the code. IBM already has a quality Java implementation, its just not open source and you have to register to even download it.
Since I use Eclipse I thought it would make sense to use IBM's VM to run an essentially IBM product, so its my default Java. I've read that its supposedly faster then Suns as well, though that was a while ago.
Really, the question here should be why IBM needs Sun at all, why don't they just work on releasing their implementation. I imagine there might be code in IBM's VM that is owned by other companies that prevents its immediate release (not to mention however a company like IBM makes decisions). But I don't see why they are asking for Sun's help on this. Perhaps because IBM open-sourcing their Java implementation might be seen as a act of aggression by Sun, so its kind of a peace offering.
The key is probably the amount of RAM. All the KDE libraries will just stay in memory. Linux does a good job of exploiting all available RAM to make the system run faster (which is why you occasionally see people complaining about how little free ram they have in Linux... empty RAM isn't doing you any good).
In my experience, as long as you lower the amount of eye candy (easy to do, in that initial KDE configuration wizard) KDE is more then usable on the lower-end computers, though the startup time can be somewhat tedious.
I think that is the valid agrument in the context of a mainstream distro carefully selecting what packages to put in (or what the defaults are at least.) Koffice is still fairly immature as a whole. I've been getting crashs in 1.3 as I've played around with it.
However, Kivio looks better then Dia and while I don't find Karbon to be as easy to use as Flash, it's shaping up.
I actually find Word's "Web Page, Filtered" setting to produce fairly clean HTML. As it implies it says it doesn't keep all formating, though in my limited use of it I didn't notice any problems.
Its regular Web Page setting outputs HTML that looks identical to the word file, but only in Internet Explorer.
Well making things less bloated is always a good thing, it really shouldn't be a high priority given that computers are only going to get faster.
I find oowriter to be pretty complete feature wise, but it suffers from the same sorts of problems that all word processors I've used have. Cumbersome use with things like bullets, tables etc.
Though I haven't used 1.3, the previous version of KWord and KPresenter weren't really ready for prime time.
The advantages would be tighter intergration with KDE (network transparent files system) and *nix in general. Faster startup times. I'm compiling KOffice right now, I'll have to see if its improved.
Also, a few of the programs in KOffice don't have a counterpart in OpenOffice.
The notion that KOffice is diverting resources from OpenOffice is really pretty bogus though. Theres no reason to think the developers of KOffice would be developing OpenOffice if KOffice didn't exist.
I guess it doesn't say it out right that the press photos are enhanced, but its implied since there is a difference made between Press photos and Raw photos.
It does talk about the enhancements in the Maestro program, so that would be the thing to check out if your interested.
Its no secret that they doctor the images for press release. They also have the original available. Check out Maestro, it was mentioned on Slashdot a few days ago, its almost the same software JPL uses, and the images in the data set are the original ones.
Slashdot Mirror
wow, thats some messed up logic. So Linux distros should be at the behest of every other project?
.tar.bz2 it has too download full of patches. And it might download some more patches as well.
i ding-subs tance-abuse-job.patcht tern-die-die-die-v2.pat chl _4.3.0-nv-unresolved-symbols.patch
The issue here isn't the kernel being used at all. I've never heard of anyone complain about XFree86 not being Linux-friendly or it favoring *BSD or something.
You can clearly see XFree86's problem when you compile it in Gentoo. The amount of patches that the Gentoo dev's have added to XFree86 number in the dozens upon dozens. Sometimes Gentoo will have a patch here and there. Sometimes to makefiles and the like, just to adapt a package to Gentoo's way of compiling. Or perhaps some bug fixes that come out shortly after a release. But with XFree86, its clear that something is wrong, there's a whole extra
And they're important (and some humorous) sounding patches too, heres a sample:
0182_all_4.3.0-redhat-xlib-linux-fix-avo
0199_all_4.2.0-die-ugly-pa
0230_all_4.3.0-craptastic-cast.patch
5325_al
Note that they have to have a 4 digit number to keep track of the patches.
Now granted, XFree86 is not just fairly large (though projects like KDE are far larger), but is also very dependent on hardware making debugging difficult. Which is why XFree86 more then any project needs requires the cooperation and to graciously accept the cooperation of the distros, whose users will be on the frontline of finding bugs.
The reviewer miswrote. Must of have been confused with the Windows non-commercial (essentially a trial) version of Qt.
You can sell KDE (example: most commercial Linux distributions.) You can sell GPL Qt applications.
Nothing to see here. Move on folks.
I good explanation for it that I read at osnews.com was that the XFree86 and the Distros (commercial and community alike) started to increasingly have differences in priorities and culture. The license change was a like message from XFree86 to the distros that they didn't care one way or another for their support. The distros response is logical. Additionally while most of the distros have pleny of software incompatible with the GPL, it is not ideal to have something as central to an operating system as the X server to be GPL-incompatible.
Personally I never have any trouble downloading kernels (usually straight from kernel.org... they have a lot of bandwidth) but I usual don't download the day-of.
A kernel BitTorrent would probably work quick successfully. Not really so much because of the whole upload-while-you-download thing (not as important for such a small download), more because it makes it so easy to provide bandwidth and I bet there would be tons of seeds for something like the kernel.
No I don't remember.
That sounds bogus, if ship ripped MP3's you can't check checksums. MP3 is a lossy format.
Doesn't mean they can't figure out in some manner, not via checksums.
No, they come in and we fix the problem most of the time. Usually an anti-virus and a spyware/ad-aware scan fixes it. Sometimes it doesn't. And if it does, the machines aren't always working like their supposed to, but they do work. We don't provide full support to students computers, we refer them downtown if they need something drastic like an OS reinstall.
Then I can here and 'slag Microsoft' (slag: the "the scum formed by oxidation at the surface of molten metals") out of frustration. And for some fun.
Yes, we have distributed such CDs. Doesn't mean everyone uses them. We also have a McAfee license for every student. Next year we will probably be giving such a CD as part of the welcome-to-the-dorms pack of junk everyone gets.
Ad-Aware and I think Spybot Search and Destroy both are for non-commercial use only, which I think means can't give them out, though I'm not sure. Ad-Aware would cost like $15000 if we wanted to give it to every student (when they can just download it free). Though, as I said, I'm not sure on this.
A typical user experience.
1) Buy computer with Windows XP Home Edition pre-installed.
2) They get a virus, perhaps even a trojan. Or maybe a worm, since the computer wasn't up-to-date. Or they were stupid and opened MyDoom. Regardless, it cripples the computer.
3) They buy or download an antivirus software. Perhaps their computer works well enough to install it, and reinstall Windows if it does not.
4)Ok, finally a working computer again. But since they browse the internet as administrator (as it works by default) they get spyware. Lot's of spyware. It builds up on each other and Internet Explorer has trouble starting. Pop-ups occur on every website, even Google or when IE isn't open. Perhaps their credit card info is stolen.
5) If their lucky, they would have heard of Ad-Aware or Spybot Search and Destroy and they somehow get it on their computer to install it (no IE remember?). It deals with most of the pop-ups. But nothing really works right. Reinstall Windows.
6) Go to step 2.
I work at the campus helpdesk, so I see students with these sorts of problems all the time. I have a problem respecting an OS that will get a worm before the user has a chance to do Windows Update, an occurance I've seen a few times.
OK, that makes sense. But there isn't any reason IBM couldn't just open Java on their own, outside of not wanting to make Sun mad.
RTFA: "IBM is ready to provide technical resources and code for the open source Java implementation while Sun provides the open source community with Sun materials, including Java specifications, tests and code."
So, since its IBM offering the code for the Java implementation, it sounds like IBM just wants Sun to provide the documention and what not. And therefore implicitly approve of IBM's Java implementation. So, Sun would be losing some control.
Right, I think this is the real story here. Basically, IBM doesn't want to piss off Sun more then they already have. So its a backwards way of asking Sun if it would be alright if they opensourced IBM's Java.
Except there are already several implementations of Java: IBM, Blackdown, Sun, and of course, Microsofts ill-fated implementation.
Its already an open standard more or less. Anyone can implement Java. How is IBM opensourcing their Java, and Sun providing a developer community changing that?
Except that isn't what IBM is asking! They want Sun to create a developer community, as well as technical work.
RTFA: "IBM is ready to provide technical resources and code for the open source Java implementation while Sun provides the open source community with Sun materials, including Java specifications, tests and code."
So IBM would be providing the code for the Java implementation.
except IBM does have its own Java already...
The analogy doesn't work. Notice IBM would be offering the code. IBM already has a quality Java implementation, its just not open source and you have to register to even download it.
Since I use Eclipse I thought it would make sense to use IBM's VM to run an essentially IBM product, so its my default Java. I've read that its supposedly faster then Suns as well, though that was a while ago.
Really, the question here should be why IBM needs Sun at all, why don't they just work on releasing their implementation. I imagine there might be code in IBM's VM that is owned by other companies that prevents its immediate release (not to mention however a company like IBM makes decisions). But I don't see why they are asking for Sun's help on this. Perhaps because IBM open-sourcing their Java implementation might be seen as a act of aggression by Sun, so its kind of a peace offering.
The key is probably the amount of RAM. All the KDE libraries will just stay in memory. Linux does a good job of exploiting all available RAM to make the system run faster (which is why you occasionally see people complaining about how little free ram they have in Linux... empty RAM isn't doing you any good).
In my experience, as long as you lower the amount of eye candy (easy to do, in that initial KDE configuration wizard) KDE is more then usable on the lower-end computers, though the startup time can be somewhat tedious.
I think that is the valid agrument in the context of a mainstream distro carefully selecting what packages to put in (or what the defaults are at least.) Koffice is still fairly immature as a whole. I've been getting crashs in 1.3 as I've played around with it.
However, Kivio looks better then Dia and while I don't find Karbon to be as easy to use as Flash, it's shaping up.
Um, the Guardian? RTFA. And considering there is a quote in the Guardian from BBC concerning the manner, it likely quite accurate.
I think the BBC probably canceled the ad-words after Guardian's article.
I actually find Word's "Web Page, Filtered" setting to produce fairly clean HTML. As it implies it says it doesn't keep all formating, though in my limited use of it I didn't notice any problems.
Its regular Web Page setting outputs HTML that looks identical to the word file, but only in Internet Explorer.
Well making things less bloated is always a good thing, it really shouldn't be a high priority given that computers are only going to get faster.
I find oowriter to be pretty complete feature wise, but it suffers from the same sorts of problems that all word processors I've used have. Cumbersome use with things like bullets, tables etc.
Though I haven't used 1.3, the previous version of KWord and KPresenter weren't really ready for prime time.
The advantages would be tighter intergration with KDE (network transparent files system) and *nix in general. Faster startup times. I'm compiling KOffice right now, I'll have to see if its improved.
Also, a few of the programs in KOffice don't have a counterpart in OpenOffice.
The notion that KOffice is diverting resources from OpenOffice is really pretty bogus though. Theres no reason to think the developers of KOffice would be developing OpenOffice if KOffice didn't exist.
With high-end digital cameras, there are three seperate CCDs. I don't know if thats the case here, or if they use one 3 times in sequence.
I guess it doesn't say it out right that the press photos are enhanced, but its implied since there is a difference made between Press photos and Raw photos.
It does talk about the enhancements in the Maestro program, so that would be the thing to check out if your interested.
Um, no they're not all in black and white. If you go through the 'conductor' program all the way through, you'll get to first color images from Mars.
Its no secret that they doctor the images for press release. They also have the original available. Check out Maestro, it was mentioned on Slashdot a few days ago, its almost the same software JPL uses, and the images in the data set are the original ones.