So, uhh, what if somebody made a radio transmitter that went so high into the spectrum (above EHF) that the frequency matched visible light. Could you see it?
The typical requirements of a typical home/office user.
Not to be anal, but you did say typical, and most typical users use Outlook and [home] color their e-mail or [office] use the address book. There never was a stipulation on if it should come with an office suite. Therefore, the internet stuff goes in there too. To the typical home/office user, a word processor and the "thing" they use to connect to the internet are both programs.
But I do agree with you on
The beauty of e-mail lies in the text itself
Outlook suxors and should be left out of Office;)
Internet connectivity lies with the OS
My beef was only about categorizing the "typical" home/office user. You can't impose "guidelines" on to those kind of people. They'll use whatever the hell they want, which is usually the easiest or easiest to access. I was just trying to add what's needed (for linux/whatever) in comparison to what the home/office user works with in reality.
This isn't THAT new. All the old-school LEGO enthusiasts know that if you bought a big set, like the old space monorail or something like it, that you would get a nice big catalog of just about darn near everything LEGO. In the back, there was a section where you could buy, in bulk, bags of pieces exactly like the ones here. In fact, you could order even more than what you see there, like LEGO men, shrub variety packs, and bulk LEGO man accessories. The only *new* thing going on here is that you can now buy them via LEGO's Shop At Home service. Whoopdie do. What would be a big deal is if they offered EVERY piece they made available in bulk, online ordering or not.
Re:Who here is using KDevelop at work for producti
on
KDevelop 1.2 is out
·
· Score: 1
Allow me to put in a third program into the fray: MicroEdge's Visual SlickEdit.
KDevelop looks and works just like (with a less features) just like SlickEdit. It's got syntax highlighting, object viewer, etc, etc. The build frame and browse frame are in the same locations as KDevelop <sarcasm>What a striking resemblence it has!</sarcasm>
Seriously, KDevelop, Visual Studio, and SlickEdit all share the same interface. Who developed it first? Hell if I know, but there must be something to the layout, if three different programs use it.... Anyway, I use SlickEdit at work, and it's the neatest thing on the planet as far as I'm concerned. It's basically a frontend for all your favorite command line tools. Does multiple language syntax highlighting. You can brew your own syntax rules (Great for in-house languages). There's a ton of other feautures I never use.
However, SlickEdit costs $500 bucks a pop. I would never shell out that much (the upgrades are bad too) when you've got nice little KDevelop here that implements all my favorite features and is free to boot. Where I work, the various developers depend on different pieces of SlickEdit, not all of which are implemented in KDevelop or Visual Studio.
I really don't have a point to this, but just to say the visual interface of KDevelop is not exclusive to MS software and that there are professionals that use that *kind* of visual interface (not explicitly KDevelop) in the production environment.
I'm looking at the Overall Ranking, and I click on #2, Domain Discover. After reading some undescriptive "Registrant Rights Information" in the other entries, I go down to Registration Policy Text at the bottom to interpret for myself. It looks pretty cool; There's only a few circumstances that you can get your domain revoked. But what's this.....
GOVERNING LAW, FORUM The User accepts that Swedish law be applied regarding this agreement and Dispute Policy and that all disputes will be resolved by Gothenburg City Court (Göteborgs tingsrätt) unless otherwise stated in this agreement.
That's just GREAT! I know nothing about Sweedish law. Going back in the browser shows this on the details page:
Ok, that makes a bunch of sense . .. While it was informative and something I'm looking for, it's a total crock. I'll be waiting for the first copycat site.
I think I understand why you posted this now . . . "Be fixes GPL Violation" would attract less readers than "Be Violates GPL". If your intent was to warn GPL developers of danger and alert them to checking licences, etc, then gaining maximum readership was definately obtained.
However, in the process of trying to get everyone to look, you've smeared Be. Yes, you cleaned up by posting that Be is fixing the problem, but you still smeared them.
My thoughts on the matter is that you could have gotten away with a minimal loss of readership if you hadn't smeared them in the first place (posting after word from Be).
I notice Technocrat now has an updated headline on the article to reduce Be smear. I find it very odd. First it's "BeOS Boo-Boo: Violating the GPL" and now it's "BeOS Boo-Boo: GPL violated, They'll Fix It". The first title sounds like you want to roast Be on a spit and the second sounds like a informational post.
To the critical reader, this looks like you smeared Be to further your point and now you want to clean up and and forget you smeared them. It looks like you're trying to manuplate the fact that you originally smeared them.
Thats a Boo-Boo.
I'm not intentionally trying to smear you here, I'm just pointing out whats going on. If more data is forthcoming . . . I'll post a followup.:)
I would not have put this in the public eye except that it's something that people have to be more careful about . . . . . Thus, I publicized this example.
Nobody is denying that it should be publicly advertized that Be messed this up. What slashdotters want to know is why you publicised now instead of later (after you settled it with Be).
At the risk of being redundant, Paytrust's privacy policy looks very sound. They purge certain data (comments, traffic patterns) after 12 months, share only aggregate statistics, encrypts cookies, etc. The model seems very sound, the only thing your personal info gets used for is talioring Paytrust (only) and logging in case of fraud.
If you managed to fill up even half this space, considering you used FAT or NTFS, it would take a good day or two for MS Defrag to fix the thing....a couple hours for Norton Speed Disk
Specifically, which chipset/motherboard are you having this problem with? I have high hopes for VIA, although I know they're not the best, so I keep tabs on things like this. Also, if you don't mind, what exactly goes wrong?
I decided not to mod this comment down, but rather post this comment . . . . otherwise, nobody would understand.
This is propaganda. There is no basis, no links, no hard evidience. Punch the CDA and McCain through your favorite search engine and see what it finds.
In FACT, McCain was reported to say any new measure that resembled the Communications Decency Act probably would not survive his committee, which oversees telecommunications. Furthermore, he's quoted as saying:
"I'm the father of small children, they all are far more computer literate than I am, and I've seen some of the stuff that they see and it disturbs me terribly. But I didn't know how you would implement that [law]. I didn't know who would decide what's decent."
McCain did endorse a bill that required schools and libraries with federally funded internet access, which I won't debate here. A bit more info on that bill is located here
In reality, the original sponsor behind the 1996 CDA was Senator Pressler. More information on authors of specific portions of the CDA are here. McCain did add a lot of amendments to the bill, but so did everyone in the Senate. How else did the thing pass?? I'm not sure exactly what his changes entailed, but you can find out here.
Somebody mod the parent comment down into the flamebait category. It's nothing more than a sweeping piece political propaganda without backing at all.
That was a problem with The Sync. When they fixed it, my braindamaged Win32 Shoutcast (v1.5.0) server doesn't pick up and still reports the same problem. I wasn't paying attention after 2pm today, so I didn't get a chance to reboot the server. Sorry guys:(
This may not be legal, but if it isn't, somebody of importance shoot me down by replying to the thread;) Try this before The Sync to improve eveyone's listening quality.
ashpool7.dhs.org:8000 96 max users (now)
If you're not getting anything, then the main feed is bad/down/not broadcasting.
Let's do this right folks. Let's design it for the future. Let's not get seduced by Microsoft's rapid upgrade cycle of feature glut.
Sure, lets forget about Microsoft and their fancy new things that are being used on a majority of the PCs out there and are slowly being adpoted by new startup corporations and old established ones. Lets screw new features, yet somehow design for the future. Besides, when new markets and standards come out, who needs newfangled protocols when you can do the same thing with the old ones. Sure you can't talk to the new stuff that Microsoft made and is running on a majority of the systems out there, but you can do it.
Whatever. Linux can imatate the ease-of-use and upgradeability of Windows (ha ha joke, right?;) and STILL keep it's reputation as a "stable and robust" system.
Why is this not happening in Linux, though? The community is not willing to make any jumps! Nobody's willing to set a new standard, take the lead, forge ahead and rally others to follow. All people can think about when a new "standard" is suggested is how they don't want to be locked into one standard for development.
This doesn't get us ANYWHERE! The only way unix in general got to where is was by setting etched-in-stone standards. Whats the default method for windowing? X windows. Whats the default method for communicating with other computers on a network? TCP/IP. These were once feared and loathed by people but they were "standard" and you could depend on them to exist. Linux is scared to make such standard because they think they'll offend, exclude, or (horror of horros) centralize. Linux is all about doing your own thing... setting new standards is almost against religion.
This is why Linux will never be mainstream, never grab the desktop, never grace the screen of 50% of the computers out there. Linux is indecisive. If there aren't any new, well thought out, extensible, designed for the future, STANDARDS for Linux, it won't get much farther than a niche OS.
Case in point: Linux needs a standard graphical interface. There's X, but it's slow, bloated, and not really designed for the new visual technology coming out of the labs. XFree86 4.0 is coming with GL and all other sorts of whizz-bang STANDARDS developed by other COMPANIES, so we're coming along there, overhauling the system but stil maintaining the flexability. Now that the visual interface is in place, we need a GUI. Forget that! You'll never get everyone to agree on a widget toolkit, window managaer, or desktop manager for X. It's all about that do-it-whatever-way-you-want thing.
For this reason, developing for Linux is a pain. Programmers can't rely on a standard UI. They have to pick one. Only god knows if their UI will go the way of the dinosaur and everyone else goes to using Fancy Chrome Toolkit and they're stuck looking like Retro 80's and unable to support a new interface without switching toolkits. If there was a standard, then when Fancy Chrome Standard gets upgraded, their look gets upgraded and they an access the new interfaces along with the old.
I've got to go now for a job interview, but I'll be glad to discuss this thread further later on. Just remember, if we don't make the jump, we'll just be left behind to play in our own world.
Now what's wrong with writing scripts and programs to ease the installation and use of a Linux? It's stil linux, except it's easier for people to install it. Thats the whole selling point behind Windows and MacOS: They're (supposively) easy to use. No "average joe" would want to buy a computer if the operating system and all the programs were hard to use, cryptic, and required a learning curve.
If a goal of Linux is getting more support, then gaining more users is a step towards that goal. Corporations don't care if the users are tech-oriented or idiots; they care about how big the market is in Linux. A bigger market equals more companies doing Linux, be it hardware or software.
And if you're a hardcore user that likes to install Debian raw, go ahead! There's enough support from techs to fuel Debian beyond the lifespan of any commercial Linux. Just try and be nice to the companies that are building on the shoulders of the Debian giant, trying to bring Linux to "everyone else". Meanwhile, you can gloat on how you installed Debian by using direct disk and memory writes to your tech friends, because they're the only ones who care.
As for the proliferation of distros based on Debian (Corel, Storm, etc).... may the best installer win and go OSS or GPL.;) Eventually all the stupider distros will disappear and we'll be left with a superior distribution. Perhaps one who's installation programs will make it into core Debian.
The intended platform for the window manager
on
3D Window Manager
·
· Score: 2
Everyone in this thread seemingly ignores the fact that the window manager's intended platform is not a 2D computer screen, but a 3D CAVE, such as the 3D-CUBE mentioned on the homepage. Of course this idea seems stupid to all "flatland" users because you don't use X in a room where you are immersed in a 3D environment. Being able to run on Linux or any other unix is simply a by-product of using the X development environment.
This is a very interesting development for the CAVE environment, as it allows users to interact with X windows without leaving the room and going to a terminal. A CAVE user can start from 3Dwm in the CAVE and switch to other simulations while still in the environment. There is a CAVE at Virginia Tech where I go to school that might be interested in such an application....
1.Communicating an idea which is new to your audience 2.Providing a better discussion/presentation of an old idea than previously existed.
To many programmers out there who have neither the time nor inclination to search out philosophical musings on different thought processes and realate them to their life, the ideas contained in The Programmer's Stone are very new to them.
The whole mapper/packer perspective may be a rehash of some philosophy that is common knowledge in philosophical or literary circles, but that is not the intended target of the writer, and why should you assume that? ("these writings are neither novel...") The Programmer's Stone is directed to a programmer: someone who would come along, see the title, and peek into it to see what it's about. It explains (yes, with flowerly language) things to that programmer in a method similar to how he/she may operate: Mapper Style. A Mapper reading the document will begin to take in the paper and relate it to his/her own network of information, as described in the Stone, and completeley understand the key elements of the paper.
The presentation may seem "not particularly well presented" because of the language, but this is a style reminiscent of William Gibson, who uses long and concise words and sentences to describe not only the thing he is talking about, but to give the reader a feel for the subject as well. This allows a Mapper to not only glean information out of the paper, but have "feelings" for extending the ideas presented out into other reigons of his/her map.
(There is a historical term for this style: either Romantic or Neoclassical, but I don't remember which one it is)
In My Humble Opinion, The Programmer's Stone (specifically) has presented it's ideas well to it's intended audience. I extremely enjoy it and pass it along to my other fellow programmers.
As for the other works, It is to be noted that they aren't really targeted to anyone and are actually spawned off because of the ideas presented in The Programmers Stone. It's the ideas about Mapping that spawned the other articles. Therefore, unless you are a Mapper in the field that is being described, the essays will probably seem like gibberish to you. There's no reference point on your map to link it in.
What the author has done is found out that one of his writings (The Programmer's Stone) was wildly popular and has commenced to publish the rest of his work to see if it garners the same attention. He is probably more a philosopher than a programmer, and wishes to share the rest of his thoughts to the world in hopes that they will enlighten and stimulate those who think in a manner similar to him.
I have a friend who is doing the same thing. I think it's a great idea. It's similar to posting source code to a algorithm. People can stop by and look at it, give their opinion, be inspired, write a new algorithm to do the job better or differently, comment on how crappy the routine is but not do anything about it, etc.
But the first step is reading it...by discounting wildly this man's writings as complete garbage, you are performing the role of a bad critic: Trying to drive away the audience because the writings do not meet all of your criterion for being "good" versus weighing the good with the bad.
For all the Windows users out there, ZDnet created this handy (but slightly annoying to use) tool called C ookie Master that allows you to log and delete cookies along with some other stuff in Netscape and IE. An OSS equivilent program would be nice (turn off the confirmation/alerts every time you delete a cookie) but it works and doesn't screw up the cookie file, which I have done on occasion by hand-hacking it. I usually delete everything except the slashdot cookies and the NYTimes login cookie.
It's interesting to see whats in there...especially the ones from slashdot that have the letters "SSN" in them.
Interesting how moderators haven't wasted any positive points on any posts to this article (at the 64 post point). All I see is one typical -1 to the anonymous first post. Even the geeks who post by default at 2 don't have anything really interesting to say.
Should this tip us off that this isn't worth front page on Slashdot? Most of the posts are about how stupid MTV or this "hacker" is. Hemos, take Foogle's advice and move on to "more serious news". (Resist the temptation to moderate this up:)
Slashdot Mirror
So, uhh, what if somebody made a radio transmitter that went so high into the spectrum (above EHF) that the frequency matched visible light. Could you see it?
Not to be anal, but you did say typical, and most typical users use Outlook and [home] color their e-mail or [office] use the address book. There never was a stipulation on if it should come with an office suite. Therefore, the internet stuff goes in there too. To the typical home/office user, a word processor and the "thing" they use to connect to the internet are both programs.
But I do agree with you on
- The beauty of e-mail lies in the text itself
- Outlook suxors and should be left out of Office;)
- Internet connectivity lies with the OS
My beef was only about categorizing the "typical" home/office user. You can't impose "guidelines" on to those kind of people. They'll use whatever the hell they want, which is usually the easiest or easiest to access. I was just trying to add what's needed (for linux/whatever) in comparison to what the home/office user works with in reality.This isn't THAT new. All the old-school LEGO enthusiasts know that if you bought a big set, like the old space monorail or something like it, that you would get a nice big catalog of just about darn near everything LEGO. In the back, there was a section where you could buy, in bulk, bags of pieces exactly like the ones here. In fact, you could order even more than what you see there, like LEGO men, shrub variety packs, and bulk LEGO man accessories.
The only *new* thing going on here is that you can now buy them via LEGO's Shop At Home service. Whoopdie do. What would be a big deal is if they offered EVERY piece they made available in bulk, online ordering or not.
For those who may not know....
:)
Verizon == Bell Atlantic Mobile
for aproximate rvalues
Allow me to put in a third program into the fray: MicroEdge's Visual SlickEdit.
KDevelop looks and works just like (with a less features) just like SlickEdit. It's got syntax highlighting, object viewer, etc, etc. The build frame and browse frame are in the same locations as KDevelop <sarcasm>What a striking resemblence it has!</sarcasm>
Seriously, KDevelop, Visual Studio, and SlickEdit all share the same interface. Who developed it first? Hell if I know, but there must be something to the layout, if three different programs use it.... Anyway, I use SlickEdit at work, and it's the neatest thing on the planet as far as I'm concerned. It's basically a frontend for all your favorite command line tools. Does multiple language syntax highlighting. You can brew your own syntax rules (Great for in-house languages). There's a ton of other feautures I never use.
However, SlickEdit costs $500 bucks a pop. I would never shell out that much (the upgrades are bad too) when you've got nice little KDevelop here that implements all my favorite features and is free to boot. Where I work, the various developers depend on different pieces of SlickEdit, not all of which are implemented in KDevelop or Visual Studio.
I really don't have a point to this, but just to say the visual interface of KDevelop is not exclusive to MS software and that there are professionals that use that *kind* of visual interface (not explicitly KDevelop) in the production environment.
GOVERNING LAW, FORUM The User accepts that Swedish law be applied regarding this agreement and Dispute Policy and that all disputes will be resolved by Gothenburg City Court (Göteborgs tingsrätt) unless otherwise stated in this agreement.
That's just GREAT! I know nothing about Sweedish law. Going back in the browser shows this on the details page:
- Governing Law: California, U.S.A.
- Governing Jurisdiction:San Diego, California, U.S.A.
Ok, that makes a bunch of sense . .While it was informative and something I'm looking for, it's a total crock. I'll be waiting for the first copycat site.
... I ment "settle" as in "resolve the problem".
:)
I think I understand why you posted this now . . . "Be fixes GPL Violation" would attract less readers than "Be Violates GPL". If your intent was to warn GPL developers of danger and alert them to checking licences, etc, then gaining maximum readership was definately obtained.
However, in the process of trying to get everyone to look, you've smeared Be. Yes, you cleaned up by posting that Be is fixing the problem, but you still smeared them.
My thoughts on the matter is that you could have gotten away with a minimal loss of readership if you hadn't smeared them in the first place (posting after word from Be).
I notice Technocrat now has an updated headline on the article to reduce Be smear. I find it very odd. First it's "BeOS Boo-Boo: Violating the GPL" and now it's "BeOS Boo-Boo: GPL violated, They'll Fix It". The first title sounds like you want to roast Be on a spit and the second sounds like a informational post.
To the critical reader, this looks like you smeared Be to further your point and now you want to clean up and and forget you smeared them. It looks like you're trying to manuplate the fact that you originally smeared them.
Thats a Boo-Boo.
I'm not intentionally trying to smear you here, I'm just pointing out whats going on. If more data is forthcoming . . . I'll post a followup.
I would not have put this in the public eye except that it's something that people have to be more careful about . . . . . Thus, I publicized this example.
Nobody is denying that it should be publicly advertized that Be messed this up. What slashdotters want to know is why you publicised now instead of later (after you settled it with Be).
At the risk of being redundant, Paytrust's privacy policy looks very sound. They purge certain data (comments, traffic patterns) after 12 months, share only aggregate statistics, encrypts cookies, etc. The model seems very sound, the only thing your personal info gets used for is talioring Paytrust (only) and logging in case of fraud.
If you managed to fill up even half this space, considering you used FAT or NTFS, it would take a good day or two for MS Defrag to fix the thing....a couple hours for Norton Speed Disk
wonder what other filesystems might suffer.
Specifically, which chipset/motherboard are you having this problem with? I have high hopes for VIA, although I know they're not the best, so I keep tabs on things like this.
Also, if you don't mind, what exactly goes wrong?
e-mail me if you would rather
There exists such a site devoted to the topic
The Interface Hall Of Shame
Perhaps not as technical as you may like, but certainly pointing out bad choices in UI design.
I decided not to mod this comment down, but rather post this comment . . . . otherwise, nobody would understand.
This is propaganda. There is no basis, no links, no hard evidience. Punch the CDA and McCain through your favorite search engine and see what it finds.
In FACT, McCain was reported to say any new measure that resembled the Communications Decency Act probably would not survive his committee, which oversees telecommunications. Furthermore, he's quoted as saying:
"I'm the father of small children, they all are far more computer literate than I am, and I've seen some of the stuff that they see and it disturbs me terribly. But I didn't know how you would implement that [law]. I didn't know who would decide what's decent."
McCain did endorse a bill that required schools and libraries with federally funded internet access, which I won't debate here. A bit more info on that bill is located here
In reality, the original sponsor behind the 1996 CDA was Senator Pressler. More information on authors of specific portions of the CDA are here.
McCain did add a lot of amendments to the bill, but so did everyone in the Senate. How else did the thing pass?? I'm not sure exactly what his changes entailed, but you can find out here.
Somebody mod the parent comment down into the flamebait category. It's nothing more than a sweeping piece political propaganda without backing at all.
That was a problem with The Sync. When they fixed it, my braindamaged Win32 Shoutcast (v1.5.0) server doesn't pick up and still reports the same problem. I wasn't paying attention after 2pm today, so I didn't get a chance to reboot the server. Sorry guys :(
If you hear nothing playing, they're not broadcasting
If you hear Juno Reactor playing, that means The Sync is down
Well, if you use Winamp for windows >2.05, press Control-L with Winamp selected and put "mp3-2.thesync.com:8000" or my mirror in the box.
ashpool7.dhs.org:8000
96 max users (now)
If you're not getting anything, then the main feed is bad/down/not broadcasting.
Sure, lets forget about Microsoft and their fancy new things that are being used on a majority of the PCs out there and are slowly being adpoted by new startup corporations and old established ones. Lets screw new features, yet somehow design for the future. Besides, when new markets and standards come out, who needs newfangled protocols when you can do the same thing with the old ones. Sure you can't talk to the new stuff that Microsoft made and is running on a majority of the systems out there, but you can do it.
Whatever. Linux can imatate the ease-of-use and upgradeability of Windows (ha ha joke, right? ;) and STILL keep it's reputation as a "stable and robust" system.
Why is this not happening in Linux, though? The community is not willing to make any jumps! Nobody's willing to set a new standard, take the lead, forge ahead and rally others to follow. All people can think about when a new "standard" is suggested is how they don't want to be locked into one standard for development.
This doesn't get us ANYWHERE! The only way unix in general got to where is was by setting etched-in-stone standards. Whats the default method for windowing? X windows. Whats the default method for communicating with other computers on a network? TCP/IP. These were once feared and loathed by people but they were "standard" and you could depend on them to exist. Linux is scared to make such standard because they think they'll offend, exclude, or (horror of horros) centralize. Linux is all about doing your own thing ... setting new standards is almost against religion.
This is why Linux will never be mainstream, never grab the desktop, never grace the screen of 50% of the computers out there. Linux is indecisive. If there aren't any new, well thought out, extensible, designed for the future, STANDARDS for Linux, it won't get much farther than a niche OS.
Case in point: Linux needs a standard graphical interface. There's X, but it's slow, bloated, and not really designed for the new visual technology coming out of the labs. XFree86 4.0 is coming with GL and all other sorts of whizz-bang STANDARDS developed by other COMPANIES, so we're coming along there, overhauling the system but stil maintaining the flexability. Now that the visual interface is in place, we need a GUI. Forget that! You'll never get everyone to agree on a widget toolkit, window managaer, or desktop manager for X. It's all about that do-it-whatever-way-you-want thing.
For this reason, developing for Linux is a pain. Programmers can't rely on a standard UI. They have to pick one. Only god knows if their UI will go the way of the dinosaur and everyone else goes to using Fancy Chrome Toolkit and they're stuck looking like Retro 80's and unable to support a new interface without switching toolkits. If there was a standard, then when Fancy Chrome Standard gets upgraded, their look gets upgraded and they an access the new interfaces along with the old.
I've got to go now for a job interview, but I'll be glad to discuss this thread further later on. Just remember, if we don't make the jump, we'll just be left behind to play in our own world.
If a goal of Linux is getting more support, then gaining more users is a step towards that goal. Corporations don't care if the users are tech-oriented or idiots; they care about how big the market is in Linux. A bigger market equals more companies doing Linux, be it hardware or software.
And if you're a hardcore user that likes to install Debian raw, go ahead! There's enough support from techs to fuel Debian beyond the lifespan of any commercial Linux. Just try and be nice to the companies that are building on the shoulders of the Debian giant, trying to bring Linux to "everyone else". Meanwhile, you can gloat on how you installed Debian by using direct disk and memory writes to your tech friends, because they're the only ones who care.
As for the proliferation of distros based on Debian (Corel, Storm, etc) .... may the best installer win and go OSS or GPL. ;) Eventually all the stupider distros will disappear and we'll be left with a superior distribution. Perhaps one who's installation programs will make it into core Debian.
This is a very interesting development for the CAVE environment, as it allows users to interact with X windows without leaving the room and going to a terminal. A CAVE user can start from 3Dwm in the CAVE and switch to other simulations while still in the environment. There is a CAVE at Virginia Tech where I go to school that might be interested in such an application....
2.Providing a better discussion/presentation of an old idea than previously existed.
To many programmers out there who have neither the time nor inclination to search out philosophical musings on different thought processes and realate them to their life, the ideas contained in The Programmer's Stone are very new to them.
The whole mapper/packer perspective may be a rehash of some philosophy that is common knowledge in philosophical or literary circles, but that is not the intended target of the writer, and why should you assume that? ("these writings are neither novel...") The Programmer's Stone is directed to a programmer: someone who would come along, see the title, and peek into it to see what it's about. It explains (yes, with flowerly language) things to that programmer in a method similar to how he/she may operate: Mapper Style. A Mapper reading the document will begin to take in the paper and relate it to his/her own network of information, as described in the Stone, and completeley understand the key elements of the paper.
The presentation may seem "not particularly well presented" because of the language, but this is a style reminiscent of William Gibson, who uses long and concise words and sentences to describe not only the thing he is talking about, but to give the reader a feel for the subject as well. This allows a Mapper to not only glean information out of the paper, but have "feelings" for extending the ideas presented out into other reigons of his/her map.
(There is a historical term for this style: either Romantic or Neoclassical, but I don't remember which one it is)
In My Humble Opinion, The Programmer's Stone (specifically) has presented it's ideas well to it's intended audience. I extremely enjoy it and pass it along to my other fellow programmers.
As for the other works, It is to be noted that they aren't really targeted to anyone and are actually spawned off because of the ideas presented in The Programmers Stone. It's the ideas about Mapping that spawned the other articles. Therefore, unless you are a Mapper in the field that is being described, the essays will probably seem like gibberish to you. There's no reference point on your map to link it in.
What the author has done is found out that one of his writings (The Programmer's Stone) was wildly popular and has commenced to publish the rest of his work to see if it garners the same attention. He is probably more a philosopher than a programmer, and wishes to share the rest of his thoughts to the world in hopes that they will enlighten and stimulate those who think in a manner similar to him.
I have a friend who is doing the same thing. I think it's a great idea. It's similar to posting source code to a algorithm. People can stop by and look at it, give their opinion, be inspired, write a new algorithm to do the job better or differently, comment on how crappy the routine is but not do anything about it, etc.
But the first step is reading it...by discounting wildly this man's writings as complete garbage, you are performing the role of a bad critic: Trying to drive away the audience because the writings do not meet all of your criterion for being "good" versus weighing the good with the bad.
It's interesting to see whats in there...especially the ones from slashdot that have the letters "SSN" in them.
Will someone please explain what this guy is talking about (and why it was worth moderating up), because I "care", but however "don't know".
Should this tip us off that this isn't worth front page on Slashdot? Most of the posts are about how stupid MTV or this "hacker" is. Hemos, take Foogle's advice and move on to "more serious news". (Resist the temptation to moderate this up :)