I totally agree. The "help the newbies" attitude of Linux users has deteriorated into a "newbie backlash". If you want to increase the overall growth of the OS, you can't have an elitist attitude ("I don't Windows in a dual boot, so why should YOU?")
What would keep DirectX from making a splash on the Linux platform? It's not a *bad* set of graphics libraries, just underappreciated because it's not OpenGL.
Case in point: Homeworld. Built on Direct3D, it's one of the best engines I've seen (for infinite-space horizons). No, it's not based on OpenGL, but should we avoid it entirely because it isn't?
Someone has to explain to me why they think licensing is a bad thing for a company. Granted, Microsoft's extremely overpriced OS updates (89.99 for Windows 98 SE) is an exception, but Sega and Sony make their livelihood off licensing agreements (Nintendo is a notable exception).
The whole concept of console development is to produce inexpensive hardware then charge moderate license fees to make back the cost and then earn profit. If you didn't have licensing fees, the Playstation 2 wouldn't be $400, it'd be $600-700. The Dreamcast would be closer to $350 than $150.
Nintendo, again, is the exception (their games are extremely expensive, and they make most of their money off of product licensing like the Pokemon line, not game licensing). Still, to shoot down companies like Sega for charging a little for licensing fees, and/or subverting their fees by developing games with hacked systems, defeats their whole profit potential -- and any potential they might have otherwise. Hack the development systems if you want, but do realize there's a good chance there won't be any new systems in the future.
Now where's the Bluetooth device that shuts off people's pagers, turns off their PDA's, makes them drive reasonably, provides them a decent wardrobe, and slaps them in the face when I'm talking?
Assuming both machines had a regular RAID configuration (the article never says) the benchmark all comes down to the hard drives.
Web administrators generally like to cluster machines with no more than four drives: any more and the OS spends more time searching for the file than delivering it. Assuming the network traffic they built up was the same in each test (again, they are a little shaky on that as well), Windows is taking more time to search across 7 drives vs. Linux's 5. Put 4 drives on each machine and you'd have a much better "real world" test.
While this isn't the total reason for the discrepancy, it's a good chunk of it. I'm also going on a hunch that the network traffic they created was similar but didn't really match up for both tests. We all know Linux is a good web server, but it's not that good.:)
I began to notice this when I worked for Refer-it, an "ecommerce" site. A lot of Doubleclick's add banners contained code for a 1x1 clear pixel that sent code along (some kind of CGI script on Doubleclick's servers).
Problem was the stupid thing wrecked havoc with our banner code (we were using Cold Fusion and it didn't like dealing with the banner and 1x1 pixel in one shot), so I cleverly "omitted" the pixel.:) My boss never knew about it.
Microsoft has a big showing at the PC Expo, which has been dominated by Win32 programs for the past 5 years. Anyone really surprised by this?
If Microsoft suddenly showed up at an Open Source convention and said "Here's Office 2001 with source code for *NIX", yeah, then I would be surprised. But as it stands Microsoft has the same monopoly share at the expos as it does with OS's in general: all of it.
Besides, I'm not a big detractor of MS at shows anyway. They give some pretty awesome prizes for 15 minutes of their time. I watched from afar while Sun was doing their Java presentation at one show, and the Microsoft presenter asked "OK, here's a quiz, where should you go for up-to-date travel information?" "Expedia," I answered. Bam. Free Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer and Natural Keyboard Pro.
Not bad for pandering to a major corporation for 30 seconds (and I can go right back to Linux and FreeBSD).
Was anyone else having this problem? Ever since Google came about I've been fleeing Yahoo, despite the fact that I thought it had the best site design of the major portals, most cross-platform games (their Java game programmers must be top-notch), and simple but powerful email and calender programs that worked with my Palm easily.
But when Google came out, I had to add them to my Favorites. Their search engine is just plain better.
I've been waiting a long time for Yahoo to wake up and realize Inktomi sucked (as it did for most portal sites). Now Yahoo will have my eyeballs fully -- and I'm very happy about it.
While a new chip introduction is always interesting, do we only really care because Linus is involved? The SpeedStep technology by Intel was just as interesting a news story, but Slashdot all but ignored it. Get a new chip startup with Linus Torvalds involed and suddenly Slashdot throws praises into the wind.
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Transmeta fail. Nothing I have seen in their chip design actually suggests any kind of power to back up the battery life. Their handling of x86 code seems suspect, and the underlying design of the core instructions seem to show no speed benefits (e.g. like the Velocity engine of G4's, or MMX and SSID instructions in Pentium III's).
I say let them try, but take their product introductions with a grain of salt. I'm no conservative, but I prefer an established hardware infrastructure that works, over an unestablished one that sounds flaky (and we are only monitoring because some guy named "Linus" is involved).
Most likely it will run in that emulation "box" Mac developers keep talking about. In that case, the actual BSD code would be kept to a minimum.
In either case, I love Office. I don't know why most slashdoters have to continually shoot down EVERYTHING MS creates. Office on the Mac is extremely stable, and I think lately MS has catered to Mac users far more than in the past. Given a choice between StarOffice and MS Office I'd choose MS Office any day (a far more professional program).
This just proves that most programmers, particularly those with huge glasses and bad fashion sense (*cough, cough, Torvalds, Gates, cough*) have absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever.
Automatic dial-ins for pizza? Overheats and it fries all available cellular antennas?
Every system Sony has released has had some major flaw (PS overheated, prompted a complete overhaul of the system; PS2 can't get antialiasing straight, offers DVD region workarounds, prompts developers queries and redesigned DVD drivers).
Hopefully they will be able to get this system out without it frying.
For most users a change from 66 to 100 isn't going to make much of a difference. If you're a power user (a true power user) you would already have a 10,000 RPM drive sitting on your desk, with an ultra-huge-wide (whatever standard they're up to now) SCSI adaptor.
If a user can't mind his own actions, and becomes the "victim" of attacks, he or she is responsible. It is not the ISPs fault that the user decided to go out on a limb and get attacked. They have every right to pull the plug.
To make another analogy in this series: suppose a gunmaker sells a gun to both a pyschopath and someone who wants to protect himself from psychopaths. The psychopath goes and kills 50 people, prompting the police to kill him.
Shouldn't the gun company have the right to allow background checks, and disallow gun sales to other nuts, so this doesn't happen in the future?
Generally, it goes without saying that Apple has most of its fans wrapped around its finger. Any company that can sell a candy-colored version of its basic machine (with USB ports) for $400-600 more than its original beige machine has to be.
Although, I have to admit I was bitten by the Apple bug. 1.5 years ago I saw a refurbished iMac Rev. A sitting in a corner at CompUSA. It was 800 dollars, worked fine on startup, so I bought it.
It performs ok. My family immediately replaced the puck mouse with an extra USB one we had on one of the Windows PCs. The keyboard was eventually replaced as well.
My biggest problem is the total lack of software support. Mac fans can argue all they want: there simply isn't as much quality software for Mac as there is for Windows. And despite what people say, the MacOS is BUGGY. This is even more irritating considering the small amount of hardware supported needed within the OS, and that most of the hardware comes out of Apple.
Anyone who doesn't believe Apple has consumers wrapped around their finger is brainwashed himself. Take a look at Hackers by Levy and judge for yourself whether Woz or Jobs had more influence in the original Apple's final design.
For those of us who aren't politically-minded, I say use both. What harm can it do?
I use Windows when I want to play games or do any real work (despite StarOffice's attempts, it's nowhere near Word). When I need to program in C++ or just browse the internet, I use Linux.
In addition, I'd love to know what version of Windows you guys are running. I've been running Windows 98 SE solidly for over 4 weeks, with no need to reboot. I like the concept of having a crashless operating system, but is it really required for the average user? I don't mind a crash here and there, if it affords me extra affordiability and solid support (MS's Technet section of their website is the most comprehensive I've seen by any software developer).
And to those who say "Well, Windows 98 SE rarely crashes because it's Windows 98 Second Edition, the latest in a long string of upgrades", all I have to say is: "What about Linux?" Doesn't anyone remember the almost hourly crashes of the first few point releases (it took 2 years to get anything close to stable).
There was a Palm-based shooter called Raygin that made quite a debut on Palm in the beginning of 1999. It was more simple, but the functionality was all there. You can download it from ZDNet
Also, remember that Faceball 2000, a rocking 3D shooter for the original Gameboy (where you ran around mazes and shot 3D smiley faces) ran on a 4.19 mhz processor. That makes the 20+ mhz Palm III processor look like an Athlon.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I totally agree. The "help the newbies" attitude of Linux users has deteriorated into a "newbie backlash". If you want to increase the overall growth of the OS, you can't have an elitist attitude ("I don't Windows in a dual boot, so why should YOU?")
Last time I checked Corel's CEOs haven't been sleeping in the Microsoft hotel (although, I was hearing rumors their cleaning ladies have)...
Oh I forgot. Netscape good, Microsoft bad. How silly of me...
Also, of course, keeping in mind that noone but 0.01% of the Linux/Unix population actually uses Lynx.
Case in point: Homeworld. Built on Direct3D, it's one of the best engines I've seen (for infinite-space horizons). No, it's not based on OpenGL, but should we avoid it entirely because it isn't?
Another flame.
Isn't the above post a flame?
The whole concept of console development is to produce inexpensive hardware then charge moderate license fees to make back the cost and then earn profit. If you didn't have licensing fees, the Playstation 2 wouldn't be $400, it'd be $600-700. The Dreamcast would be closer to $350 than $150.
Nintendo, again, is the exception (their games are extremely expensive, and they make most of their money off of product licensing like the Pokemon line, not game licensing). Still, to shoot down companies like Sega for charging a little for licensing fees, and/or subverting their fees by developing games with hacked systems, defeats their whole profit potential -- and any potential they might have otherwise. Hack the development systems if you want, but do realize there's a good chance there won't be any new systems in the future.
Why only go cell phones. Let's go whole hog!
Go with Caldera. They already have Webmin, which is far more robust (and user-friendly).
Web administrators generally like to cluster machines with no more than four drives: any more and the OS spends more time searching for the file than delivering it. Assuming the network traffic they built up was the same in each test (again, they are a little shaky on that as well), Windows is taking more time to search across 7 drives vs. Linux's 5. Put 4 drives on each machine and you'd have a much better "real world" test.
While this isn't the total reason for the discrepancy, it's a good chunk of it. I'm also going on a hunch that the network traffic they created was similar but didn't really match up for both tests. We all know Linux is a good web server, but it's not that good. :)
Problem was the stupid thing wrecked havoc with our banner code (we were using Cold Fusion and it didn't like dealing with the banner and 1x1 pixel in one shot), so I cleverly "omitted" the pixel. :) My boss never knew about it.
If Microsoft suddenly showed up at an Open Source convention and said "Here's Office 2001 with source code for *NIX", yeah, then I would be surprised. But as it stands Microsoft has the same monopoly share at the expos as it does with OS's in general: all of it.
Besides, I'm not a big detractor of MS at shows anyway. They give some pretty awesome prizes for 15 minutes of their time. I watched from afar while Sun was doing their Java presentation at one show, and the Microsoft presenter asked "OK, here's a quiz, where should you go for up-to-date travel information?" "Expedia," I answered. Bam. Free Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer and Natural Keyboard Pro.
Not bad for pandering to a major corporation for 30 seconds (and I can go right back to Linux and FreeBSD).
But when Google came out, I had to add them to my Favorites. Their search engine is just plain better.
I've been waiting a long time for Yahoo to wake up and realize Inktomi sucked (as it did for most portal sites). Now Yahoo will have my eyeballs fully -- and I'm very happy about it.
Not for those of us using Windows.
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Transmeta fail. Nothing I have seen in their chip design actually suggests any kind of power to back up the battery life. Their handling of x86 code seems suspect, and the underlying design of the core instructions seem to show no speed benefits (e.g. like the Velocity engine of G4's, or MMX and SSID instructions in Pentium III's).
I say let them try, but take their product introductions with a grain of salt. I'm no conservative, but I prefer an established hardware infrastructure that works, over an unestablished one that sounds flaky (and we are only monitoring because some guy named "Linus" is involved).
For an extremely funny take on the situation, check out the awesome Shockwave animation with Metallica against Napster.
In either case, I love Office. I don't know why most slashdoters have to continually shoot down EVERYTHING MS creates. Office on the Mac is extremely stable, and I think lately MS has catered to Mac users far more than in the past. Given a choice between StarOffice and MS Office I'd choose MS Office any day (a far more professional program).
This just proves that most programmers, particularly those with huge glasses and bad fashion sense (*cough, cough, Torvalds, Gates, cough*) have absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever.
Every system Sony has released has had some major flaw (PS overheated, prompted a complete overhaul of the system; PS2 can't get antialiasing straight, offers DVD region workarounds, prompts developers queries and redesigned DVD drivers).
Hopefully they will be able to get this system out without it frying.
For most users a change from 66 to 100 isn't going to make much of a difference. If you're a power user (a true power user) you would already have a 10,000 RPM drive sitting on your desk, with an ultra-huge-wide (whatever standard they're up to now) SCSI adaptor.
To make another analogy in this series: suppose a gunmaker sells a gun to both a pyschopath and someone who wants to protect himself from psychopaths. The psychopath goes and kills 50 people, prompting the police to kill him.
Shouldn't the gun company have the right to allow background checks, and disallow gun sales to other nuts, so this doesn't happen in the future?
Although, I have to admit I was bitten by the Apple bug. 1.5 years ago I saw a refurbished iMac Rev. A sitting in a corner at CompUSA. It was 800 dollars, worked fine on startup, so I bought it.
It performs ok. My family immediately replaced the puck mouse with an extra USB one we had on one of the Windows PCs. The keyboard was eventually replaced as well.
My biggest problem is the total lack of software support. Mac fans can argue all they want: there simply isn't as much quality software for Mac as there is for Windows. And despite what people say, the MacOS is BUGGY. This is even more irritating considering the small amount of hardware supported needed within the OS, and that most of the hardware comes out of Apple.
Anyone who doesn't believe Apple has consumers wrapped around their finger is brainwashed himself. Take a look at Hackers by Levy and judge for yourself whether Woz or Jobs had more influence in the original Apple's final design.
I use Windows when I want to play games or do any real work (despite StarOffice's attempts, it's nowhere near Word). When I need to program in C++ or just browse the internet, I use Linux.
In addition, I'd love to know what version of Windows you guys are running. I've been running Windows 98 SE solidly for over 4 weeks, with no need to reboot. I like the concept of having a crashless operating system, but is it really required for the average user? I don't mind a crash here and there, if it affords me extra affordiability and solid support (MS's Technet section of their website is the most comprehensive I've seen by any software developer).
And to those who say "Well, Windows 98 SE rarely crashes because it's Windows 98 Second Edition, the latest in a long string of upgrades", all I have to say is: "What about Linux?" Doesn't anyone remember the almost hourly crashes of the first few point releases (it took 2 years to get anything close to stable).
Also, remember that Faceball 2000, a rocking 3D shooter for the original Gameboy (where you ran around mazes and shot 3D smiley faces) ran on a 4.19 mhz processor. That makes the 20+ mhz Palm III processor look like an Athlon. :)