Can we start having an option to moderate stories down? Rate them 0 to 10. That way you can browse at whatever you want (either get them all or get only the top)?
If you want that, you know where to find it. In my opinion, that's a bug, not a feature. You only have to look at the moronic articles that moderated up to see what happens when the lunatics run the asylum.
I like Slashdot just the way it is, thanks, flaws and all. I don't want to see it turn into another socialist mutual masturbation society.
And when you come out of your ivory tower, you might notice that the default font on everyone's browser is the sucky, hard-to-read times new roman. Yes, theoretically everyone change their font to a better style, but in practice no one does (or even knows that they can). Therefore, since I want my customers to have a better experience on my web site, I choose to use a better site.
Besides, nothing stops the browser from overriding my font selections.
So the point is having a file format that every other single office suite can talk to. Then we can create a MSOffice import/export filter and that's it.
That's fine -- in theory. I suppose one might argue that we could have a common filter interface. But I didn't see anything in those (admittedly) skimpy reports about that. All I see is talk about having a common format, not for the advantage of being able to read/write MS formats, but just so that there's a common format.
It's obvious that none of the suites are serious about writing MS documents, just based on the fact that THREE of them choke on an extremely simple file created without using ANY of the undocumented features.
I guess what irritates me is just the extreme stupidity that goes into this. It's like, "we hate Microsoft so much that we're going to write this office suite, and just to make sure no one uses it, we'll make the Microsoft import filters completely suck! That'll show Microsoft!"
Leave it to Michael to miss the point right under his nose.
Companies who make shoddy products do lose business when the government ups its standards, and they have the same choice as any business does: either produce better products, or lose the government's business.
Sheesh, Michael, READ YOUR OWN FREAKING WORDS. Yes, that's the way it should be done. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about "affirmative action" for software. Screw using the best solution, we're going to require open source whether it's the best solution or not.
If you want to advocate that all government DOCUMENTS must be in an open format, then that's a reasonable stand most people can get behind.
But to argue on the one hand that Government should be required to use open source no matter what, while on the other hand arguing that the government should always use the best products is nuttiness as best, and idiocy at worst.
So instead of using an open format to create a spreadsheet, you use a perl module and create some.xls closed format file
Apparently, you've been living off planet earth for a while. While you've been gone, we've establish MS/Office as the industry standard document interchange format. My customers use Excel; My customers like Excel; therefore, I send them automatic Spreadsheet reports in Excel.
Besides that, you've apparently bought into the propaganda that Office is a totally closed format. Untrue. There are definitely undocumented parts, but much of it IS documented. That's what Spreadsheet::WriteExcel uses.
then expect other non MS suites to open them perfectly, and when one of them doesn't perfectly open your perl-created closed-format excel you request to have them working right and to not focus in file format?
You're damn right. An office program is completely WORTHLESS if it can't open the industry standard document formats. Maybe it's fine for you if you just want to exchange documents with your l33t haxhor friends, but in the real world, an office suite must read/write MS documents perfectly.
Which is the point. If the filter is such garbage, why even include it in the distribution? I would rather they at least be honest and say "We don't support MS/Office format." and then people can make an honest decision on whether they want to be completely closed off from that part of the world.
But there is just no excuse for not opening a simple Spreadsheet created with a COMPLETELY DOCUMENTED FORMAT.
That "missingkids.com" site seems to be down. Be that as it may, I'm sorry, but I simply don't believe those statistics. It sounds like one of those stats like "50% of women are raped at one time in their life". What they don't tell you about those type of stats is that "rape" is defined as asking a woman, "have you ever had sex when you didn't really want to". Show me some real FBI statistics, with full definitions and breakdowns, and I might believe it. Advocacy sites almost always grossly exaggerate.
In any case, you're focusing on the lightning tree and ignoring the forest of the odds. Fine, I'll drop the lightning example, but it's still way more dangerous to drive a car. When you also combine with the fact that I live in a very quiet, secluded place, the odds of my children getting kidnapped are vanishingly small.
Frankly, if you are worried about kidnapping, yet drive your kids around in a car, you are a bald-faced hypocrite.
I repeat, it is NOT in my children's best interest to lock them in the house and fill their heads with paranoia and fear. I want my children to embrace and explore the world. That's not to say that I don't teach them common sense about these things, but it definitely doesn't mean that they will be leashed to my house.
I hope for your children's sake the inheirited the brains from the other side of the family. RealityMaster, my ass....
Rather than insulting me and offering a pointless refutation of an example that changes nothing about the overall point, why don't you go learn something about statistics.
...so long as you don't place too much value on having any sort of relationship with you children when they're old enough to tell you to fuck off and make it stick.
Oh, bullshit. In fact, it's exactly the opposite -- the best way to lose your kid's respect is to not enforce any discipline and be wishy-washy on the rules you set down. Then they just see you as weak willed.
The key is consistent rules and discipline. They should know what the rules are, and what the consequences are for breaking them. The other key is that they should always know that the rules are not arbitrary and are set down for a reason. They may not agree with the reason, and that's OK (and expected), but they should understand that there IS a reason.
As a parent, the trust of your children is invaluable and utterly fragile- and once you lose it, it's incredibly difficult to get back.
Wrong again. Children naturally trust their parents. It takes a LOT of abuse to break down bonds. Take a look at any child-abuse case, and you'll find children yearning to get love and acceptance from their parents. They'll start trusting instantly.
But it is upsetting that you are using "facts" out of context knowingly to support a point.
Sheesh, calm down. You make a reasonable point, but look 3 up from the bottom. $77, no rebates. Whoa, $8 more. This Lindows thing might not actually include a monitor, but the point is that it's not out of the question that it might if you used cheap enough components.
Man, maybe they should spend some time actually getting their suites to WORK RIGHT rather than file formats.
For various reasons, I needed to open an Excel file under Linux yesterday. Now, this Excel file was created with the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel module for Perl (which rocks, by the way). Totally documented format. So what happens?
Gnumeric: Opens it, but formatting all screwed up
Koffice: Core dumps
OpenOffice: Core dumps
This was NOT a complex spreadsheet. This was seriously pitiful. I hadn't tried the Linux office suites in a while, but this does not give me more motivation to try again.
You know, i often get sick of seeing this. 199/299 is not the FULL price.
Where do you see that it has a lack of a monitor? I can't seem to find anything that says that. Based on all the other statements ("browser the web" etc), that seems to imply that it DOES have a monitor.
And the proper reply would be "OK, two weeks". If the kid wants to escalate it, that's fine. No TV. No computer. No door on your room.
And if I had to implement the ultimate punishment, then so be it. I'll with him to school, and follow the kid around. He'll be begging for mercy after the first period.
you're absurdly naive to reject the possibility of your child being abducted from your neighborhood.
No, you're absurdly paranoid. Way more kids are killed by lightning than are abducted by strangers. Should I never let my child play outside because some stray lightning bolt might get them? Way more kids are killed in car accidents -- should I never drive my kids anywhere? And I'm sure I could go on and on.
The odds of my kids getting abducted are literally millions to one. You'll pardon me if I live my life in a rational way and worry more about my developing my children's independence and trust than filling their mind with worthless thoughts that the entire world is crawling with people just waiting to grab them.
Sheesh, it's no wonder that kids are fat and lazy. Parents keep them chained up around the house all the time, if you're any typical example.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I was not allowed more than a couple yards from my house until I was way more than 7.
I don't know where you lived, but screw that philosophy. I am NOT going to build a prison around my house and keep my kids "safe" from the 1 in a million chance they might be upducted.
Yes, there IS such a thing as too safe. The day my kids can't roam around our neighborhood exploring is the day I find a new neighborhood.
Only if you're a wimpy parent who can't discipline your kid. I'm not saying I would use something like this, but if I did, it's simple to make sure he doesn't forget.
Johnny, this is the rule: "You forget, you are grounded for the next week.". Problem solved.
Most complex games are written in either OpenGL or Direct3D. What, do you think everyone writes there own software renderer?
No, I think each video card has its own bugs and idiosyncracies. You seem to think that every card works exactly identically. Carmack has to do a whole slew of kludges for different types of cards in order to make each one work right.
Saying OpenGL shields you from knowing about what hardware you are running is like saying "I write in standard SQL" or "Java is write once, run anywhere". Great in theory, but the practice is a different matter.
Yes, it does support all video cards. All video cards that support OpenGL 1.3. Which abstracts away the problem of supported video cards.
Now we KNOW you haven't done anything very complex.:)
Physics has never been done well in a game.
Egad, you're right! No one has EVER thought of doing realistic physics before!
I hope to have a GOOD physics and collision detection implementation is about a year.
So let's contrast those last two statements. No one has ever done realistic physics. I hope to have it done in a year (in my spare time, presumably) in my nonexistent gaming engine.
Look dude, I'm not trying to destroy your dream, but bragging about things that "you're working on" as if they are already done just makes you look like an idiot.
When you've actually done something of significance (beyond a simple geometry viewer that any 3rd year CS student can do), then you can bag on current engine technology. Until then, maybe you should turn down the arrogance and the "know it all"-ness a little bit.
You'll note in my original post that I didn't say you could write a game engine in that time.
What bullshit. Quit backtracking, and just admit you shot off your mouth without any thought. Let's review what you said:
"But, just to implement all the Q3 tech, including BSP+PVS, Q3 Shaders and a loader for the Model files and Map files would take two good 3D engine programmers about a week."
You'll note the key phrase "ALL THE Q3 TECH". ALL the Q3 tech == a gaming engine in ALL its glory. And a gaming engine is more than a badly optimized toy renderer that displays maps.
Slashdot Mirror
Can we start having an option to moderate stories down? Rate them 0 to 10. That way you can browse at whatever you want (either get them all or get only the top)?
If you want that, you know where to find it. In my opinion, that's a bug, not a feature. You only have to look at the moronic articles that moderated up to see what happens when the lunatics run the asylum.
I like Slashdot just the way it is, thanks, flaws and all. I don't want to see it turn into another socialist mutual masturbation society.
Congratulations for proving the point beyond a shadow of a doubt.
And when you come out of your ivory tower, you might notice that the default font on everyone's browser is the sucky, hard-to-read times new roman. Yes, theoretically everyone change their font to a better style, but in practice no one does (or even knows that they can). Therefore, since I want my customers to have a better experience on my web site, I choose to use a better site.
Besides, nothing stops the browser from overriding my font selections.
I seriously want to know why people have moved away from TNR.
Because it's harder to read, at least for me (and apparently others). I find sans-serif fonts like Arial much easier to read.
So the point is having a file format that every other single office suite can talk to. Then we can create a MSOffice import/export filter and that's it.
That's fine -- in theory. I suppose one might argue that we could have a common filter interface. But I didn't see anything in those (admittedly) skimpy reports about that. All I see is talk about having a common format, not for the advantage of being able to read/write MS formats, but just so that there's a common format.
It's obvious that none of the suites are serious about writing MS documents, just based on the fact that THREE of them choke on an extremely simple file created without using ANY of the undocumented features.
I guess what irritates me is just the extreme stupidity that goes into this. It's like, "we hate Microsoft so much that we're going to write this office suite, and just to make sure no one uses it, we'll make the Microsoft import filters completely suck! That'll show Microsoft!"
Sheesh, every time this guy posts we find out who are NOT the Mensa members of Slashdot.
You do realize that the advertising subsidizes the cost of the subway, right?
Personally I would rather have advertising than higher subway rates.
Leave it to Michael to miss the point right under his nose.
Companies who make shoddy products do lose business when the government ups its standards, and they have the same choice as any business does: either produce better products, or lose the government's business.
Sheesh, Michael, READ YOUR OWN FREAKING WORDS. Yes, that's the way it should be done. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about "affirmative action" for software. Screw using the best solution, we're going to require open source whether it's the best solution or not.
If you want to advocate that all government DOCUMENTS must be in an open format, then that's a reasonable stand most people can get behind.
But to argue on the one hand that Government should be required to use open source no matter what, while on the other hand arguing that the government should always use the best products is nuttiness as best, and idiocy at worst.
xIf xYou xCan xRead xThis xYou xHave xWon xA xFabulous xVacation! xClick xHere xTo xRecieve xYour xPrize!
So instead of using an open format to create a spreadsheet, you use a perl module and create some .xls closed format file
Apparently, you've been living off planet earth for a while. While you've been gone, we've establish MS/Office as the industry standard document interchange format. My customers use Excel; My customers like Excel; therefore, I send them automatic Spreadsheet reports in Excel.
Besides that, you've apparently bought into the propaganda that Office is a totally closed format. Untrue. There are definitely undocumented parts, but much of it IS documented. That's what Spreadsheet::WriteExcel uses.
then expect other non MS suites to open them perfectly, and when one of them doesn't perfectly open your perl-created closed-format excel you request to have them working right and to not focus in file format?
You're damn right. An office program is completely WORTHLESS if it can't open the industry standard document formats. Maybe it's fine for you if you just want to exchange documents with your l33t haxhor friends, but in the real world, an office suite must read/write MS documents perfectly.
Which is the point. If the filter is such garbage, why even include it in the distribution? I would rather they at least be honest and say "We don't support MS/Office format." and then people can make an honest decision on whether they want to be completely closed off from that part of the world.
But there is just no excuse for not opening a simple Spreadsheet created with a COMPLETELY DOCUMENTED FORMAT.
That "missingkids.com" site seems to be down. Be that as it may, I'm sorry, but I simply don't believe those statistics. It sounds like one of those stats like "50% of women are raped at one time in their life". What they don't tell you about those type of stats is that "rape" is defined as asking a woman, "have you ever had sex when you didn't really want to". Show me some real FBI statistics, with full definitions and breakdowns, and I might believe it. Advocacy sites almost always grossly exaggerate.
In any case, you're focusing on the lightning tree and ignoring the forest of the odds. Fine, I'll drop the lightning example, but it's still way more dangerous to drive a car. When you also combine with the fact that I live in a very quiet, secluded place, the odds of my children getting kidnapped are vanishingly small.
Frankly, if you are worried about kidnapping, yet drive your kids around in a car, you are a bald-faced hypocrite.
I repeat, it is NOT in my children's best interest to lock them in the house and fill their heads with paranoia and fear. I want my children to embrace and explore the world. That's not to say that I don't teach them common sense about these things, but it definitely doesn't mean that they will be leashed to my house.
I hope for your children's sake the inheirited the brains from the other side of the family. RealityMaster, my ass....
Rather than insulting me and offering a pointless refutation of an example that changes nothing about the overall point, why don't you go learn something about statistics.
Oh, bullshit. In fact, it's exactly the opposite -- the best way to lose your kid's respect is to not enforce any discipline and be wishy-washy on the rules you set down. Then they just see you as weak willed.
The key is consistent rules and discipline. They should know what the rules are, and what the consequences are for breaking them. The other key is that they should always know that the rules are not arbitrary and are set down for a reason. They may not agree with the reason, and that's OK (and expected), but they should understand that there IS a reason.
As a parent, the trust of your children is invaluable and utterly fragile- and once you lose it, it's incredibly difficult to get back.
Wrong again. Children naturally trust their parents. It takes a LOT of abuse to break down bonds. Take a look at any child-abuse case, and you'll find children yearning to get love and acceptance from their parents. They'll start trusting instantly.
But it is upsetting that you are using "facts" out of context knowingly to support a point.
Sheesh, calm down. You make a reasonable point, but look 3 up from the bottom. $77, no rebates. Whoa, $8 more. This Lindows thing might not actually include a monitor, but the point is that it's not out of the question that it might if you used cheap enough components.
That's the $299 Wal-Mart PC. Granted, that's evidence, but not conclusive.
You gotta be jokin' me dude. COMPAQ 15" monitor: $69.
Large quantity wholesale pricing? I wouldn't be surprised if you get something down to $50.
Not to say we're talking GOOD stuff, but...
Man, maybe they should spend some time actually getting their suites to WORK RIGHT rather than file formats.
For various reasons, I needed to open an Excel file under Linux yesterday. Now, this Excel file was created with the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel module for Perl (which rocks, by the way). Totally documented format. So what happens?
Gnumeric: Opens it, but formatting all screwed up
Koffice: Core dumps
OpenOffice: Core dumps
This was NOT a complex spreadsheet. This was seriously pitiful. I hadn't tried the Linux office suites in a while, but this does not give me more motivation to try again.
You know, i often get sick of seeing this. 199/299 is not the FULL price.
Where do you see that it has a lack of a monitor? I can't seem to find anything that says that. Based on all the other statements ("browser the web" etc), that seems to imply that it DOES have a monitor.
And the proper reply would be "OK, two weeks". If the kid wants to escalate it, that's fine. No TV. No computer. No door on your room.
And if I had to implement the ultimate punishment, then so be it. I'll with him to school, and follow the kid around. He'll be begging for mercy after the first period.
Trust me, I'll win.
you're absurdly naive to reject the possibility of your child being abducted from your neighborhood.
No, you're absurdly paranoid. Way more kids are killed by lightning than are abducted by strangers. Should I never let my child play outside because some stray lightning bolt might get them? Way more kids are killed in car accidents -- should I never drive my kids anywhere? And I'm sure I could go on and on.
The odds of my kids getting abducted are literally millions to one. You'll pardon me if I live my life in a rational way and worry more about my developing my children's independence and trust than filling their mind with worthless thoughts that the entire world is crawling with people just waiting to grab them.
Sheesh, it's no wonder that kids are fat and lazy. Parents keep them chained up around the house all the time, if you're any typical example.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I was not allowed more than a couple yards from my house until I was way more than 7.
I don't know where you lived, but screw that philosophy. I am NOT going to build a prison around my house and keep my kids "safe" from the 1 in a million chance they might be upducted.
Yes, there IS such a thing as too safe. The day my kids can't roam around our neighborhood exploring is the day I find a new neighborhood.
Only if you're a wimpy parent who can't discipline your kid. I'm not saying I would use something like this, but if I did, it's simple to make sure he doesn't forget.
Johnny, this is the rule: "You forget, you are grounded for the next week.". Problem solved.
I am standards complient. If the video card is too, it will run correctly.
Heh. Well, try and not be too disappointed when you find out reality doesn't quite match the theory.
Most complex games are written in either OpenGL or Direct3D. What, do you think everyone writes there own software renderer?
No, I think each video card has its own bugs and idiosyncracies. You seem to think that every card works exactly identically. Carmack has to do a whole slew of kludges for different types of cards in order to make each one work right.
Saying OpenGL shields you from knowing about what hardware you are running is like saying "I write in standard SQL" or "Java is write once, run anywhere". Great in theory, but the practice is a different matter.
Yes, it does support all video cards. All video cards that support OpenGL 1.3. Which abstracts away the problem of supported video cards.
Now we KNOW you haven't done anything very complex. :)
Physics has never been done well in a game.
Egad, you're right! No one has EVER thought of doing realistic physics before!
I hope to have a GOOD physics and collision detection implementation is about a year.
So let's contrast those last two statements. No one has ever done realistic physics. I hope to have it done in a year (in my spare time, presumably) in my nonexistent gaming engine.
Look dude, I'm not trying to destroy your dream, but bragging about things that "you're working on" as if they are already done just makes you look like an idiot.
When you've actually done something of significance (beyond a simple geometry viewer that any 3rd year CS student can do), then you can bag on current engine technology. Until then, maybe you should turn down the arrogance and the "know it all"-ness a little bit.
You'll note in my original post that I didn't say you could write a game engine in that time.
What bullshit. Quit backtracking, and just admit you shot off your mouth without any thought. Let's review what you said: