IIRC Linux Kohan came out only days after the Windows release. For that title, I believe Loki had worked concurrently with the game developers so the two versions would be available at roughly the same time.
Not even close, Kohan for windows was out in February of 2001. Linux Kohan didn't even beta until August.
Take a look at any marina, and you'll see what I mean.
Hmm, I would disagree. Being from the *real* sailing capital of the world, Annapolis MD, I tend to see plenty of carbon stuff at AYC (from Fahr's shop), St Francis, NYYC, Wakiki YC, etc. I've had the luxry of racing from a few of the more prestigous (snobby) yacht clubs around the country and I've seen plenty of both. Those with the money buy the latest toys (Sayonnara???) and others buy the classics. Much like cars, everyones tastes are different and usually go along with the cash flow. It also depends a lot on where you are sailing or racing. I race, not pleasure sail, so that usually dictates the latest and greatest gear. Perhaps you are visiting yacht clubs where racing isn't big?
What a great interview. Wil seems like a very down to earth and likable person (a lot like the guys from Sugar Ray). My opinion of him definetly changed after visiting his website. Points to slashdot for arranging the interview and Wil for answering them. I'll definetly be checking out some of this other (more recent work -- frightening to think we're the same age). Keep the faith Wil.....
Sorry, but you don't understand how Java implementations work. When you run "javac", you produce byte code. That byte code gets turned into native code before being executed when it is part of a performance critical section--the native code compiler is part of the Java runtime.
Are you sure you know how Java works? What you are describing is Just-In-Time Compilation and Hotspot'ing and it's not mandatory. Your better Java interpreters support this, not all of them do however and this isn't required by the spec (unless times have changed). Java is, in fact, compiled to byte code and may be further compiled into native code, pending your JRE choice.
As far as performance goes; you must be the only one in the world seeing close to C/C++ performance. Even Sun has admitted that Java will probably never live up the hype of replacing C/C++ for speed intensive applications. If you can get that kind of performance on most of your code, I've got a seven figure a year job waiting for you as a lead Java engineer.
Around here (Chicago) I've seen actual (as in rouge cans of spray-paint) graffitos that say "AIX" and "FTP".
Hell, in San Francisco I caught a few of them there IBM thugs spray painting penguins, peace signs, and hearts all over the place. Are they going to get reabhilitaed too?
Oh wait, we're not talking about corporate gang-bangers.....
Wouldn't the "best" solution be to update the SDL to run DirectX natively in X on linux?
You'd think, but it's a lot more than that. If understand this, you'd actually use your windows CD's and install the games which would then run via emulation under Wine and this Transgaming DirectX thing. So you need to emulate all the system calls that aren't DirectX, right? Whatever the installer uses, etc. The Wine guys (and gals??) had pretty much already done this over the past few years, so it probably makes a lot more sense to just start there. I've heard rumors that people have gotten DiabloII to run under the Wine version from Codeweavers out of the box, so I'm not sure what TransGaming value add is. I havne't paid much attention (I just run Loki stuff), but if someone has more info, please post.
f you could back up your statements with some outside links to respected spook watchers
Not sure how I can do this? What info I know is still classified.
Second how do you know that the code is still in there?
Two reasons: one, because it's illegal to remove it and the project would be cancelled, and two because I called after posting and verified that things have not changed with regards to the presidential directive. I trust the individual who gave me the answers so I believe it's still in place.
Do you have some evidence to share that shows that what the NSA has is in anyway a useful tool to actually get the bad guys
Yes, but you're not going to like the answer. The project is still alive and grows each year and I was party to phone calls and awards where the project was lauded for giving concrete results. They're not keep the project funded with millions every year just to give us contractors revenue. It's a good project. More than thant is classified still...sorry. If you're really interested, send me an email and I'll tell you off-line the unclassified stuff and you can draw your own conclusions.
I recommend reading the books by James Bamford on the NSA, Body of Secrets and The Puzzle Palace.
I've heard of these books and I'm skeptical for two reasons. One is I truly don't care (despite me posting about it -- I just want to clear up misconceptions and let people draw their own conclusions), I've been there, done that, and I really didn't like all the classified stuff. Second, is can you trust the books. Many people aren't aware of this, but when you get an NSA clearance (different than DoD), you actually waive your first amendment rights to free speech. You may not publish anything without their consent (and I truely hope I'm not violating that because I do respect the government and it's security needs) and review. So you have one of two cases: the person was formerly on the inside and is now writing a book that his been reviewed by the NSA and published with their consent, or they are an outsider and everything they are publishing could be based on rumor and heresay. Draw your own conclusions...:-)
I obviously can't speak for the government, nor the agencies, nor all the projects, but the rules have changed a lot in 30 years or so. What I can tell you is the facts as I know them: There is a presidential order about not spying on US citizens unless they go through the justice department, get a court order, (basically unusual circumstances or you really are guilty of something) etc, and I had to write a heck of a lot of extra code to make sure our project complied with that order. Did I know all the government secrets? Of course not, though at one point in time, I was "in the know" on a lot of stuff. Basically what I'm trying to get at is that Joe User doesn't have to worry about being spied on by the "black" agency of NSA because they aren't allowed and some of us have taken steps to ensure that the rules are strictly followed.
Read their charter; i'm pretty sure it's not classified. When I was a contractor at Ft Meade, I wrote a lot of extra code to specificially make sure of things like this for my project. I can't speak of the FBI, CIA, or DIA however...so draw your own conclusions people. Things may have changed in the last year, but as of a few years ago this was a top priority for each project I was on. If someone can convince me I'm wrong (project names, people, etc, not random web links), I'd love to know about it as I still talk to many friends at the agency (about unclassified things of course).
MS publishes every flaw they find. Literally hundreds of thousands, same as Open Source projects.
While I happen to think you're trolling hard core. The above statement is the whole point. If Microsoft had it's way, we'd be relying on them to act in the best interests of people and actually alert us to any flaws (once a patch was provided I imagine). Microsoft's business is making money, not by prodiving a secure product. I'd much rather someone tell me there is a flaw and be on the lookout for an exploit then just sitting at home hoping my box is secure because Microsoft hasn't said otherwise.
it's kinda like an army making a tank with wooden components inside,
This is so far off-topic (so don't bother moderating it down, I already picked no +1 bonus), but that phrase triggered something I had read about World War II. The Germans had tried to fool the British by making their forces appear larger by building a division/group/battalion whatever out of wood. Very similar to the Allies giving Patton a fake army. Anyway, the British then dropped wooden bombs.....
I'm not not a Brit, but I would have like to have been during that....
Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson has asked that ammunition maker Black Talon stop making bullets since "guns don't kill people, bullets do."
Because, if the security hole didn't exist in the first place, then Microsoft wouldn't have to worry about all this bad press starting to cost them business; and more importantly mindshare.
Re:You have never worked in corporate have you ?
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GOVNET In the Works
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· Score: 1
Agreed. But many of the government buildings are old. I'd rather my tax dollars not be spent on wiring the buildings for Internet access so government employees can check their stock quotes. Some of the newer buildings do have this, but most don't. Very few people in the government need the internet to do the their job efficiently; besides you always run the risk of using a government computer for "non government business" if it's on the Internet.
Re:You have never worked in corporate have you ?
on
GOVNET In the Works
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I just think it's impossible to prevent crossovers between GOVNET/Internet because users are going to balk at having two boxes on their desk. Someone, somewhere is going to present a business case for Internet access (how are the GOVNET techies supposed to download drivers unless everything is mirrored internally?)
This is exactly how intelink (the classified version of in the internet) works dude. It is secure, guess why, because it ain't connected to the internet. You don't get access to it unless you need to have it. Sure you can tap the cable somewhere or steal sensitive info from work and post it on Yahoo. But assuming your a hacker not a traitor, good luck breaking in. I'm sure it's possible, though in the years I worked at NSA/DoD I never heard of someone hacking it.
You want to use the internet from your desk? Tough. You sign up, get permission and walk to a room where unclassfied internet exists. You want the latest device driver? You submit a request, it's downloaded a day or so later, virus scanned, logged in a file, and given to you on a floppy or internal ftp site. Last year I posted a length article on slashdot about pros and cons of working for the classified government. No net access was a big minus. Every friday, someone was nice enough to import Linux weekly news in it's entirety and post it. That's how I got my linux news at work. Note that NSA is working with VMware on a solution to provide internet access and classified access on the same desktop; not sure it will ever happen. Anyway, just some insight from someone who has been there and done that.
You're speaking of Intelink. If I recally correctly, everything on Intelink is classified at one level or another. Government documents (a memo to you boss) is not classfied. If you put everyone on Intelink, you're going to have to give everyone in the government security clearances (which is costs money and time) and you have to classify all your documents. Bad idea. You are effectively making all government operations classified. Again bad idea. It's blantanly obvious the government can't secure their systems (hell, they lose laptops left and right), so this is probably the only way to fence them off from hackers.
Re:Keeping up with kernels
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Torvalds Tells All
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· Score: 3, Interesting
That way companies would have two choices: Support Linux properly (via Open Source) or go away.
Other than the above statement, you have some insight. I think it's great that say, Nvidia for example, is supporting their cards on linux, even if it's a binary module. Companies should be able to leverage linux's sucess without giving up source code.
I do agree with you though on the deal with it aspect. If they don't release under open source, they can deal with the API changes or not suppport linux. But, to only give them two choices: open source or burn in hell isn't a great way to encourage companies to support our favorite OS, be it open source or closed.
I like the fact you are voting with your wallet, however, when you don't buy something because of zero linux support, do you drop a note to the manufacturer? "Dear Company X: Your product rocks and I would loved to have bought it, however you don't support linux. Instead I chose company Y who does. Have a nice day."
This will give them the capital to make v2 that has a long battery life and is commercially accepted.
Not to be too much of a troll, but would you buy a new phone for several hundred bucks (or several thousand yen) with one hour of battery life? Or would you, like most people, wait till rev 2? Where is the capital going to come from? According to reports, they hope to sign up 60 million users by next year. Might be tough when almost every Japanese has a working phone and the 3G stuff is just a little too "new". Just my thoughts.
For those of you who are perhaps, more discriminating buyers, I offer the Lexicon 700t. I used to sell medium to high-end audio/video while in college and we couldn't keep enough of these (and their predecessors) in stock. Be prepared to pay though, they weren't cheap as I recall. Custom buttons with bitmaps...how cool.....
had said that in seven years there would only be three operating systems: Windows, Linux, and zSeries(also what IBM calls the 64bit replacement for OS/390).
Solaris. Sun may have accepted Linux's role in the world, but don't expect them to be nice about it. I have to believe that Solaris has a higher marketshare than anything IBM put out. I can't see that going away in the future. Solaris 8 (and future versions) have some nice features that are going to start becoming more crucial as technology evolves....
would you rather be charged an extra couple of percent for your bandwidth or have propoerty taxes rise AGAIN!??
How about option three, a committee of Joe Public to ensure the government spends tax revenue wisely. You want a new stealth bomber, fine, you can use the regular hammers at Ace Hardware that we all use, the not the $400 uber-hammer. We want to spend $100,000 on microsoft excel licenses to you can have a spreadsheet. How about a free version that does THE SAME THING. Having worked as a government contractor for a few years, you all can rest assured that your tax dollars, however they are collected, are being pissed away . I'd rather not get into what they spend the money on, more that they spend it efficiently when they've made up their minds. Sorry for the rant, but I'm a firm believer that the government can fulfill it's duties to the american people without raising taxes....
It seems to me that dumping an unprofitable bandwidth hogging organization such as Slashdot would be an ideal restructuring move in the eyes of Exodus' execs.
Huh? How do you figure. Exodus is having a hard time generating revenue, hence the filing for Chapter 11. How can you generate revenue if you drop your customers? I've never been in the ISP business, but I would imagine you'd want to negotiate a competitve rate plan to keep the few customers that you do have (Slashdot being one) from telling you to kiss their ass and going to another hosting provider.
You can make that claim of every company. It's simply a good idea to diversify as much as possible, even more so in this type of market.
Look, Oracle execs are selling stock too? Should we panic over a company who has an 80% profit margin? Let's all tone down the sarcasm a bit, it's not pretty.
Terrorists don't need to send messages through SMTP!
No kidding. For all you terrorists out there, how many of you use e-mail encryption? Okay, how many of you talk on hidden IRC channels and satellite phones? You have an excellent point. How many terrorist camps actually have comm lines? My money is on portable sat com dishes and phones.
Slashdot Mirror
IIRC Linux Kohan came out only days after the Windows release. For that title, I believe Loki had worked concurrently with the game developers so the two versions would be available at roughly the same time. Not even close, Kohan for windows was out in February of 2001. Linux Kohan didn't even beta until August.
Hmm, I would disagree. Being from the *real* sailing capital of the world, Annapolis MD, I tend to see plenty of carbon stuff at AYC (from Fahr's shop), St Francis, NYYC, Wakiki YC, etc. I've had the luxry of racing from a few of the more prestigous (snobby) yacht clubs around the country and I've seen plenty of both. Those with the money buy the latest toys (Sayonnara???) and others buy the classics. Much like cars, everyones tastes are different and usually go along with the cash flow. It also depends a lot on where you are sailing or racing. I race, not pleasure sail, so that usually dictates the latest and greatest gear. Perhaps you are visiting yacht clubs where racing isn't big?
What a great interview. Wil seems like a very down to earth and likable person (a lot like the guys from Sugar Ray). My opinion of him definetly changed after visiting his website. Points to slashdot for arranging the interview and Wil for answering them. I'll definetly be checking out some of this other (more recent work -- frightening to think we're the same age). Keep the faith Wil.....
Are you sure you know how Java works? What you are describing is Just-In-Time Compilation and Hotspot'ing and it's not mandatory. Your better Java interpreters support this, not all of them do however and this isn't required by the spec (unless times have changed). Java is, in fact, compiled to byte code and may be further compiled into native code, pending your JRE choice.
As far as performance goes; you must be the only one in the world seeing close to C/C++ performance. Even Sun has admitted that Java will probably never live up the hype of replacing C/C++ for speed intensive applications. If you can get that kind of performance on most of your code, I've got a seven figure a year job waiting for you as a lead Java engineer.
Offtopic.
Not anymore, wasn't his bar revoked after the Monica scandal?
Hell, in San Francisco I caught a few of them there IBM thugs spray painting penguins, peace signs, and hearts all over the place. Are they going to get reabhilitaed too?
Oh wait, we're not talking about corporate gang-bangers.....
You'd think, but it's a lot more than that. If understand this, you'd actually use your windows CD's and install the games which would then run via emulation under Wine and this Transgaming DirectX thing. So you need to emulate all the system calls that aren't DirectX, right? Whatever the installer uses, etc. The Wine guys (and gals??) had pretty much already done this over the past few years, so it probably makes a lot more sense to just start there. I've heard rumors that people have gotten DiabloII to run under the Wine version from Codeweavers out of the box, so I'm not sure what TransGaming value add is. I havne't paid much attention (I just run Loki stuff), but if someone has more info, please post.
Sorry couldn't resist.
Not sure how I can do this? What info I know is still classified.
Second how do you know that the code is still in there?
Two reasons: one, because it's illegal to remove it and the project would be cancelled, and two because I called after posting and verified that things have not changed with regards to the presidential directive. I trust the individual who gave me the answers so I believe it's still in place.
Do you have some evidence to share that shows that what the NSA has is in anyway a useful tool to actually get the bad guys
Yes, but you're not going to like the answer. The project is still alive and grows each year and I was party to phone calls and awards where the project was lauded for giving concrete results. They're not keep the project funded with millions every year just to give us contractors revenue. It's a good project. More than thant is classified still...sorry. If you're really interested, send me an email and I'll tell you off-line the unclassified stuff and you can draw your own conclusions.
I recommend reading the books by James Bamford on the NSA, Body of Secrets and The Puzzle Palace.
I've heard of these books and I'm skeptical for two reasons. One is I truly don't care (despite me posting about it -- I just want to clear up misconceptions and let people draw their own conclusions), I've been there, done that, and I really didn't like all the classified stuff. Second, is can you trust the books. Many people aren't aware of this, but when you get an NSA clearance (different than DoD), you actually waive your first amendment rights to free speech. You may not publish anything without their consent (and I truely hope I'm not violating that because I do respect the government and it's security needs) and review. So you have one of two cases: the person was formerly on the inside and is now writing a book that his been reviewed by the NSA and published with their consent, or they are an outsider and everything they are publishing could be based on rumor and heresay. Draw your own conclusions... :-)
IANAS (I am not a spy)...
I obviously can't speak for the government, nor the agencies, nor all the projects, but the rules have changed a lot in 30 years or so. What I can tell you is the facts as I know them: There is a presidential order about not spying on US citizens unless they go through the justice department, get a court order, (basically unusual circumstances or you really are guilty of something) etc, and I had to write a heck of a lot of extra code to make sure our project complied with that order. Did I know all the government secrets? Of course not, though at one point in time, I was "in the know" on a lot of stuff. Basically what I'm trying to get at is that Joe User doesn't have to worry about being spied on by the "black" agency of NSA because they aren't allowed and some of us have taken steps to ensure that the rules are strictly followed.
NSA does not spy/eavesdrop on US citizens.
Read their charter; i'm pretty sure it's not classified. When I was a contractor at Ft Meade, I wrote a lot of extra code to specificially make sure of things like this for my project. I can't speak of the FBI, CIA, or DIA however...so draw your own conclusions people. Things may have changed in the last year, but as of a few years ago this was a top priority for each project I was on. If someone can convince me I'm wrong (project names, people, etc, not random web links), I'd love to know about it as I still talk to many friends at the agency (about unclassified things of course).
While I happen to think you're trolling hard core. The above statement is the whole point. If Microsoft had it's way, we'd be relying on them to act in the best interests of people and actually alert us to any flaws (once a patch was provided I imagine). Microsoft's business is making money, not by prodiving a secure product. I'd much rather someone tell me there is a flaw and be on the lookout for an exploit then just sitting at home hoping my box is secure because Microsoft hasn't said otherwise.
This is so far off-topic (so don't bother moderating it down, I already picked no +1 bonus), but that phrase triggered something I had read about World War II. The Germans had tried to fool the British by making their forces appear larger by building a division/group/battalion whatever out of wood. Very similar to the Allies giving Patton a fake army. Anyway, the British then dropped wooden bombs.....
I'm not not a Brit, but I would have like to have been during that....
Because, if the security hole didn't exist in the first place, then Microsoft wouldn't have to worry about all this bad press starting to cost them business; and more importantly mindshare.
Agreed. But many of the government buildings are old. I'd rather my tax dollars not be spent on wiring the buildings for Internet access so government employees can check their stock quotes. Some of the newer buildings do have this, but most don't. Very few people in the government need the internet to do the their job efficiently; besides you always run the risk of using a government computer for "non government business" if it's on the Internet.
This is exactly how intelink (the classified version of in the internet) works dude. It is secure, guess why, because it ain't connected to the internet. You don't get access to it unless you need to have it. Sure you can tap the cable somewhere or steal sensitive info from work and post it on Yahoo. But assuming your a hacker not a traitor, good luck breaking in. I'm sure it's possible, though in the years I worked at NSA/DoD I never heard of someone hacking it.
You want to use the internet from your desk? Tough. You sign up, get permission and walk to a room where unclassfied internet exists. You want the latest device driver? You submit a request, it's downloaded a day or so later, virus scanned, logged in a file, and given to you on a floppy or internal ftp site. Last year I posted a length article on slashdot about pros and cons of working for the classified government. No net access was a big minus. Every friday, someone was nice enough to import Linux weekly news in it's entirety and post it. That's how I got my linux news at work. Note that NSA is working with VMware on a solution to provide internet access and classified access on the same desktop; not sure it will ever happen. Anyway, just some insight from someone who has been there and done that.
You're speaking of Intelink. If I recally correctly, everything on Intelink is classified at one level or another. Government documents (a memo to you boss) is not classfied. If you put everyone on Intelink, you're going to have to give everyone in the government security clearances (which is costs money and time) and you have to classify all your documents. Bad idea. You are effectively making all government operations classified. Again bad idea. It's blantanly obvious the government can't secure their systems (hell, they lose laptops left and right), so this is probably the only way to fence them off from hackers.
Other than the above statement, you have some insight. I think it's great that say, Nvidia for example, is supporting their cards on linux, even if it's a binary module. Companies should be able to leverage linux's sucess without giving up source code.
I do agree with you though on the deal with it aspect. If they don't release under open source, they can deal with the API changes or not suppport linux. But, to only give them two choices: open source or burn in hell isn't a great way to encourage companies to support our favorite OS, be it open source or closed.
I like the fact you are voting with your wallet, however, when you don't buy something because of zero linux support, do you drop a note to the manufacturer? "Dear Company X: Your product rocks and I would loved to have bought it, however you don't support linux. Instead I chose company Y who does. Have a nice day."
Not to be too much of a troll, but would you buy a new phone for several hundred bucks (or several thousand yen) with one hour of battery life? Or would you, like most people, wait till rev 2? Where is the capital going to come from? According to reports, they hope to sign up 60 million users by next year. Might be tough when almost every Japanese has a working phone and the 3G stuff is just a little too "new". Just my thoughts.
For those of you who are perhaps, more discriminating buyers, I offer the Lexicon 700t. I used to sell medium to high-end audio/video while in college and we couldn't keep enough of these (and their predecessors) in stock. Be prepared to pay though, they weren't cheap as I recall. Custom buttons with bitmaps...how cool.....
Solaris. Sun may have accepted Linux's role in the world, but don't expect them to be nice about it. I have to believe that Solaris has a higher marketshare than anything IBM put out. I can't see that going away in the future. Solaris 8 (and future versions) have some nice features that are going to start becoming more crucial as technology evolves....
How about option three, a committee of Joe Public to ensure the government spends tax revenue wisely. You want a new stealth bomber, fine, you can use the regular hammers at Ace Hardware that we all use, the not the $400 uber-hammer. We want to spend $100,000 on microsoft excel licenses to you can have a spreadsheet. How about a free version that does THE SAME THING. Having worked as a government contractor for a few years, you all can rest assured that your tax dollars, however they are collected, are being pissed away . I'd rather not get into what they spend the money on, more that they spend it efficiently when they've made up their minds. Sorry for the rant, but I'm a firm believer that the government can fulfill it's duties to the american people without raising taxes....
Huh? How do you figure. Exodus is having a hard time generating revenue, hence the filing for Chapter 11. How can you generate revenue if you drop your customers? I've never been in the ISP business, but I would imagine you'd want to negotiate a competitve rate plan to keep the few customers that you do have (Slashdot being one) from telling you to kiss their ass and going to another hosting provider.
You can make that claim of every company. It's simply a good idea to diversify as much as possible, even more so in this type of market.
Look, Oracle execs are selling stock too? Should we panic over a company who has an 80% profit margin? Let's all tone down the sarcasm a bit, it's not pretty.
No kidding. For all you terrorists out there, how many of you use e-mail encryption? Okay, how many of you talk on hidden IRC channels and satellite phones? You have an excellent point. How many terrorist camps actually have comm lines? My money is on portable sat com dishes and phones.