A problem is that nowadays pretty much all computer owners are admins. With always on connections like DSL, everybody's at risk.
And since good security is pretty hard to understand and implement properly because it involves so many issues, most people really don't even have time for it. I personally have shut down all the services in my system, and I believe that's what 90% of all home users should do. I wonder why no distro I've seen offers to do this when installing. It would help eliminate a lot of problems.
the added commercialization of Ximian is continuing (started with Evolution connector)
Hmm, aren't companies supposed to be commercial? What you're saying is that Ximian is shipping yet another proprietary product, and I agree, it's not a good choice. Even if it seems they've also shipping Open Office.
With Connector, there was the excuse that if you have to use it, you're already using proprietary software (Microsoft Exchange), so using the connector doesn't make a big difference.
Also there are a lot of very quiet hdd's out there from people like Seagate and Maxtor..
But please, please remember to stay away from Western Digital. I have in my box almost the absolute quietest components from the psu to the processor fan to the special hard drive case that separates the hdd from the case to prevent resonation.
But what I also have is a monstrous sounding Western Digital 40GB hdd that makes this all useless, because let me tell you, that thing is LOUD AS HELL.
(Anyway, I've already bought a Seagate Barracuda to replace it, and I've tested it a bit. It really gives almost no sound at all.)
a lot of people are under the impression that open source means "free as in beer" because it DOES!
Hmm, that's correct. But most concepts have many meanings, denotative and connotative ones. This is a connotative meaning. A valid connotative meaning of "open source" would also be, say, "a geek hobby".
The denotative meaning is more important. Each concept has only one denotative meaning. For open source, or free software (as I like to call it), the denotative meaning is found in the corresponding software licenses. And the meaning is that the user of such software is free to share, free to improve and free to use the software. This is the message I personally want to send out, and not the "free beer" message.
Konqueror takes advantage of the fact that recent versions of Qt have support for client-side AA font rendering. Mozilla is stuck with Gtk+ 1.2, which does not. Gtk+ 2.0 does AA just fine, but the 2.0 API is different enough that it would be silly to try and port Mozilla to it before 1.0 goes gold.
Would you happen to have any info about when Mozilla will be ported to GTK 2.0? In particular, is there some development version for it already in cvs or somewhere?
Now that GNOME 2 is going to be out soon, many new people are going to start to use GTK 2.0 apps. This might accelerate the bugtesting for other GTK 2.0 apps too.
Maybe he's talking about how especially some European countries exploited Africa and South America some 100+ years back. Whether all the comforts we have now would or wouldn't be possible without the wrongdoings of the past is an interesting question.
I don't really believe that. With configure scripts, compiling is really easy. I am very incompetent, but I can compile GNOME from sources (not from GARNOME). Still, I've never managed to create binary packages for any distro (even though I've tried).
As I understand it, Stallman advocates free software as a moral philosophy. From the GNU Manifesto:
"I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way."
This I think is the core of Stallman's ideology. It is in no way economics-related in nature.
Hey, free software and open source are not non-profit. Take a look at this company.
Hmm, maybe it would actually be a good idea to tax all non-free software development and forward the collected taxes as aid to the FSF or some other organization.
Even if involuntary human suffering leads to great achievements, it still should be minimized. Would say Nietzsche have chosen to go mad, if he had had the choice?
Most of the stuff MS produces is irrelevant, as far as technology is concerned. The technical merits are nonexistent. This company is really about power, which this article demonstrates well: yet another platform possibly under Microsoft's control soon.
Could one accomplish something similar with a message like "I'm sorry but I'm unable to read documents in Microsoft Word format because I use Linux. Please send your document in a format that I can read, such as ASCII Text or PDF."
That would be misleading, since no kernel can open Word documents. It's the job of a word processing application. Now we don't want to confuse people stupid enough to use Windows and Word even more, do we?:-)
Don't forget that in the conversion from analog (sound) to digital you already lose some information. If your file has a sufficient bitrate (~300), it might not make such a big difference if you convert from a lossy format to another.
If you can't measure it, it's opinion not science. (No, I can't find who said it first -- it's not original with me.)
A large part of social science isn't measurable. Still, it's considered science. Also, I can measure the average length of my toes, but that's most certainly not science.:-)
I'm sure the keyboard works pretty well as it is, but I need a truly excellent keyboard. I use a PDA to write my philosophy lecture notes.
I don't believe the form factor is an issue. I currently use an Ericsson MC218, which is basically a Psion Series 5mx with an Ericsson logo. It's probably much bigger than this Sharp thing, but not too big for me. And if the keyboard is a sliding one like it seems to be in this machine, it's more about the thickness anyway.
But I'd really like to know if the horizontal idea is even considered when designing gadgets like this.
A pretty sweet machine, but what I'd like to see is to have it horizontal instead of vertical. That way they could probably fit in a bit larger qwerty keyboard. And I'd think the horizontal display is in general more useful, because most text is horizontal too.
Ethics is moral philosophy. It studies what is good and how a moral person - an individual - should live.On the other hand, social philosophy studies how people should organize themselves to achieve a better society, a collective.
Although you could argue that especially the view of rms is based on Kantian ethics, you would be oversimplifying things. Free software is not just an instrument of individual moral philosophy, but it is mainly a political tool to achieve a better society.
Ethics is moral philosophy. It studies what is good and how a moral person - an individualOn the other hand, social philosophy studies how people should organize themselves to achieve a better society, a collective.
Although you could argue that especially the view of rms is based on Kantian ethics, you would be oversimplifying things. Free software is not just an instrument of individual moral philosophy, but it is mainly a political tool to achieve a better society.
Hmm... I'd recommend using 256 if you have a good amplifier, and good speakers (and a good ear:-). My setup isn't strictly high end, but is better than average.
With typical computer speakers, I agree that 160, 192 or something like that is plenty, depending on the kind of music.
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You are forgetting that free and open source software can be commercial as well. Take Red Hat for example.
A problem is that nowadays pretty much all computer owners are admins. With always on connections like DSL, everybody's at risk.
And since good security is pretty hard to understand and implement properly because it involves so many issues, most people really don't even have time for it. I personally have shut down all the services in my system, and I believe that's what 90% of all home users should do. I wonder why no distro I've seen offers to do this when installing. It would help eliminate a lot of problems.
Hmm, aren't companies supposed to be commercial? What you're saying is that Ximian is shipping yet another proprietary product, and I agree, it's not a good choice. Even if it seems they've also shipping Open Office.
With Connector, there was the excuse that if you have to use it, you're already using proprietary software (Microsoft Exchange), so using the connector doesn't make a big difference.
But please, please remember to stay away from Western Digital. I have in my box almost the absolute quietest components from the psu to the processor fan to the special hard drive case that separates the hdd from the case to prevent resonation.
But what I also have is a monstrous sounding Western Digital 40GB hdd that makes this all useless, because let me tell you, that thing is LOUD AS HELL.
(Anyway, I've already bought a Seagate Barracuda to replace it, and I've tested it a bit. It really gives almost no sound at all.)
Hmm, that's correct. But most concepts have many meanings, denotative and connotative ones. This is a connotative meaning. A valid connotative meaning of "open source" would also be, say, "a geek hobby".
The denotative meaning is more important. Each concept has only one denotative meaning. For open source, or free software (as I like to call it), the denotative meaning is found in the corresponding software licenses. And the meaning is that the user of such software is free to share, free to improve and free to use the software. This is the message I personally want to send out, and not the "free beer" message.
Would you happen to have any info about when Mozilla will be ported to GTK 2.0? In particular, is there some development version for it already in cvs or somewhere?
Now that GNOME 2 is going to be out soon, many new people are going to start to use GTK 2.0 apps. This might accelerate the bugtesting for other GTK 2.0 apps too.
Maybe he's talking about how especially some European countries exploited Africa and South America some 100+ years back. Whether all the comforts we have now would or wouldn't be possible without the wrongdoings of the past is an interesting question.
I don't know who's right, though.
I don't really believe that. With configure scripts, compiling is really easy. I am very incompetent, but I can compile GNOME from sources (not from GARNOME). Still, I've never managed to create binary packages for any distro (even though I've tried).
"The" JVM? Aren't there several Java virtual machines available?
As I understand it, Stallman advocates free software as a moral philosophy. From the GNU Manifesto:
This I think is the core of Stallman's ideology. It is in no way economics-related in nature.
Hmm, I guess you don't care about GPRS then.
Granted, gprs service isn't that common yet, but for this kind of phone, you'd think it was one of the most important features.
Hey, free software and open source are not non-profit. Take a look at this company.
Hmm, maybe it would actually be a good idea to tax all non-free software development and forward the collected taxes as aid to the FSF or some other organization.
Even if involuntary human suffering leads to great achievements, it still should be minimized. Would say Nietzsche have chosen to go mad, if he had had the choice?
Most of the stuff MS produces is irrelevant, as far as technology is concerned. The technical merits are nonexistent. This company is really about power, which this article demonstrates well: yet another platform possibly under Microsoft's control soon.
That would be misleading, since no kernel can open Word documents. It's the job of a word processing application. Now we don't want to confuse people stupid enough to use Windows and Word even more, do we? :-)
Don't forget that in the conversion from analog (sound) to digital you already lose some information. If your file has a sufficient bitrate (~300), it might not make such a big difference if you convert from a lossy format to another.
A large part of social science isn't measurable. Still, it's considered science. Also, I can measure the average length of my toes, but that's most certainly not science. :-)
I'm sure the keyboard works pretty well as it is, but I need a truly excellent keyboard. I use a PDA to write my philosophy lecture notes.
I don't believe the form factor is an issue. I currently use an Ericsson MC218, which is basically a Psion Series 5mx with an Ericsson logo. It's probably much bigger than this Sharp thing, but not too big for me. And if the keyboard is a sliding one like it seems to be in this machine, it's more about the thickness anyway.
But I'd really like to know if the horizontal idea is even considered when designing gadgets like this.
A pretty sweet machine, but what I'd like to see is to have it horizontal instead of vertical. That way they could probably fit in a bit larger qwerty keyboard. And I'd think the horizontal display is in general more useful, because most text is horizontal too.
Oops, my HTML sucked. :-) I'll try again:
Ethics is moral philosophy. It studies what is good and how a moral person - an individual - should live.On the other hand, social philosophy studies how people should organize themselves to achieve a better society, a collective.
Although you could argue that especially the view of rms is based on Kantian ethics, you would be oversimplifying things. Free software is not just an instrument of individual moral philosophy, but it is mainly a political tool to achieve a better society.
Ethics is moral philosophy. It studies what is good and how a moral person - an individualOn the other hand, social philosophy studies how people should organize themselves to achieve a better society, a collective.
Although you could argue that especially the view of rms is based on Kantian ethics, you would be oversimplifying things. Free software is not just an instrument of individual moral philosophy, but it is mainly a political tool to achieve a better society.
I'm not sure I understand this comparison. AFAIK rms and O'Reilly are both consequentialists like Mill.
Moreover, this is not as much an ethics issue than it is a matter of social philosophy and politics.
Don't push it. I'm using a 28.8kbps modem. :-)
Hmm... I'd recommend using 256 if you have a good amplifier, and good speakers (and a good ear :-). My setup isn't strictly high end, but is better than average.
With typical computer speakers, I agree that 160, 192 or something like that is plenty, depending on the kind of music.
Portable MP3 recording is a new twist to an old technology, and not an entirely new feature. It's just digital voice recording.
GPRS is something more genuinely new. A somewhat fast mobile connection, without the dialup pain.