The only other nice IRC client in windows that I can think of is Mirc
Ick. Bitch-X will work on Windows. Mozilla has decent IRC capabilities built in. Leaf-chat is quite nice. Even Trillian is a decent IRC client. mIRC just sucks, imho.
I can't help but be reminded of the gully dwarves from Dragonlance when reading this.
I can't help but be reminded of the fact that you are a huge nerd when reading this.
But then, aren't we all. I just thought when I read your sentence that there was no better verification of the "News for Nerds" line. Well, no better except the number of people now destined to begin discussing Dragonlance in this thread.
In fact, most of us use these utilities for non-infringing fair-use purposes like backing up the games we purchased.
My reason for using Nero in priority order:
Backup of digital pictures and documents
Burn Linux ISOs
Burn bootable ISOs like BartPE with anti-virus and anti-malware tools onboard to fix my friends, family, and co-workers' Windows PCs when they INEVITABLY get filled with crap
Making mixed CDs from the ogg files on my HDD that got there from the 100+ CDs I *OWN*
Frankly, Nero comes OEM with most DVD/CD burners nowadays. Most people I know use Nero to backup important files on their PC so the next time they have to WIPE Windows they won't lose all their digital pictures.
The article writer is clearly a moran. (Yes, I spelled it that way on purpose.)
Holy crap! Seriously?! Geez, they really do want to make anonymous travel difficult.
You know, a friend of mine volunteers for this dog rescue group and she described the process they used to get some abused dogs from Texas to New England.
Basically, it's like a relay drive. The first person picks up the dogs and drives them a hundred miles or so, not too far out of that person's way, and meets up with the next driver at a predetermined location. That driver then takes the dogs another ~100 miles...and so on and so forth, until they arrive at their destination.
Perhaps anonymous travellers need to set up a network of volunteers to ferry them around like this. You just pay for the gas and maybe a stipend for the help. It might not be the cheapest way to travel, but you should be able to move about the country fairly anonymously.
Here's the problem, though: airlines are not public transportation. They may get massive funding bailouts and such from the gov't, but in the US anyway, they are corporations...businesses run for profit. They can make a rule that says: show me your ID or you can't get on my plane. Nobody has any right to tell the airlines they can't do that.
However, the opposite should be true: I (or some rich investor) should be able to start a commercial airline and decide to market to that small niche of people who want to travel anonymously without the gov't. saying "umm, no...you can't do that."
I can see the ads now: "Come fly with us. You don't even have to tell us who you are." I'm sure a handful of seats would be taken up by lovers of civil liberty. But my bet is the rest of the plane would be filled with... who knows who. Which is precisely the point...and the reason an airline with this policy would go out of business pretty quickly if left to a free market.
Also, thanks to Groklaw, I learned about this thing called Promissory Estoppel that would pretty much stop them from bringing a patent suit at this point.
I know. And it's a good question. Who will run it? I don't know. But I certainly hope there is a succession plan in place already. What happens if Linus gets proverbially hit by a proverbial bus tomorrow?
Or, even better: what happens if some terrorist organization (*cough*SCOX*cough*) bombs a gathering of kernel maintainers? What if Linus and all of the various sub-system maintainers were all together at some Linux Festivus For The Rest Of Us or something and BOOM they're all vaporized in one Timothy McVeigh moment?
Sorry, GeckoX. I didn't realize Open Office qualified for EMBEDDED SYSTEMS. I can see it now. All those missile guidance or tank operations systems pausing momentarily while I WRITE THIS LETTER.
The KERNEL is what we're talking about in embedded systems. The KERNEL is what that list of individuals I mentioned knows inside and out. Linus only accepts patches into the official kernel from people who have PROVEN themselves worthy. And so on from there.
TRUST is a problem no matter what world you live in: Open or Closed source. It's just when idiots like the Green Hills guy say this is a problem with OSS and not so with his stuff it is:
A. wrong, and
B. S.
No, OSS is NOT a silver bullet. I never said it is. Trust is a thorny issue, no matter what.
The point is, Mr. Green Hills is full of it for being a pot, calling a kettle...black.
Peer review. I imagine Linus, Alan, Andrew, Ingo, Tigran, et. al., are more capable of: A) reviewing code submitted for inclusion in the Linux kernel; B) understanding its purpose; C) deciding who to trust to write proper code; and, D) actually committing the code into the kernel THAN ANY GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL.
As evidenced by his desperate attacks to stave off his dwindling market share, they're obviously doing a better job than the Green Hills CEO.
a claim that the VIN system was created in 1981, and expected to last 30 years
a claim that the numbers could run out by the end of the decade
So, they expected it to last 30 years, and now somebody says it'll probably only last 29 years and you say, "I really hate to see somone that points out that 'It'll Last for X years' and it never does.'
I don't know about anybody else, but if 23 years ago, someobdy engineered a system that was expected to last 30 years...and they were only off by one year...I'd cut them some slack.
Granted, they should've thought about what would happen after thirty years, but they probably did. In fact, they probably thought long and hard about it and decided either:
(a) we'll all be teleporting everywhere by then and cars won't matter anymore; or,
(b) we'll all be retired by then so who gives a rat's ass.
How about we just stop supporting the leaders and pressure other nations to do the same? How about we give more money to international aid agencies instead of to corrupt governments? I'm not necessarily against knocking skulls around if it is warranted. Particularly in the Congo there are atrocities against humanity occurring and the USofA turns a blind eye to it because there's no vested interest in oil or other resource there.
Is what Saddam was doing in Iraq any worse than what's been happening in the DRC? I don't think so. But there's all that oil in Iraq.
And, as for nation-building, no I don't think we should ever be in the business of overthrowing corrupt leaders and installing our own. I'm not against overthrowing corrupt leaders as much as installing our own leaders. The only people who have a right to choose their leaders are the citizens. So, if we choose a path that involves overthrowing an existing dictatorship or otherwise corrupt government, we should plan on investing in a long haul relationship so that we can teach the citizens of that country about real democracy and implement a plan that lets them elect their own government. Then we should get the fuck out. Of course, I doubt any of that would ever happen properly because the US government is too corrupt itself...though not for a lack of voting, writing, and otherwise working for change on my part.
First, I make decent money. This I am not bitching about. I just did a check on the "How rich am I?" calculator (don't have the link handy) and according to its data, I make way more money than most people in the world. I realize how fortunate I am to have as much as I do.
Second, people are people and inherently valuable. They deserve to be treated as such. Is it worth it to be paid well if it drives you into an early grave? Perhaps it's better to work two less stressful jobs than one highly stressful job where you are expected to work 80+ hours per week. But isn't this all up to the individual to decide? We should all live our lives how we each personally see fit. I hear tell of a job in Alaska fishing for crabs or some such that pays over $200,000/yr but has one of the highest death rates of any job there is. On each trip out (supposedly) at least one member of the crew dies. You're on a boat for six months in the worst hell-on-earth conditions there are. But then you get a six month vacation and make a crapload of money. Anybody who wants that job can take it. I'll sit on my ass and develop thrombosis, thank you very much.
Third, about the plight of farmers: WAAA!!! Poor freaking farmers! I'm so sick of hearing about the poow widdle fawma. Fuck 'em. And before you get up in arms, my grandfather was a farmer all his life until he died in his late eighties two years ago. And guess what: he did well at it. All his freaking life. Do you want to know why? Because HE WAS GOOD AT IT. He knew how to raise hogs or steer or chickens or corn or tobacco or whatever and make money at it. He knew how to cover his ASS in case there might be A DROUGHT or FLOOD one year.
Why is it every time there's a freaking flood or drought there's a freaking lobbyist in Congress getting a bill passed to BAIL OUT THE POOR WIDDLE FARMERS??? Why? I know why. Because Agribusiness is big freaking business with a powerful political arm. So the poor little farmer isn't necessary any more. Big commercial farming is running the show. There are too many family farmers in America. WE overproduce food anyway. Those farmers should take a hint from people like you and learn a new freaking skill.
Next time there's an IT crisis ("Oh, no! We've outsourced all our IT infrastructure to China & India now we have a million IT workers out of work!") let's see how many freaking bills make it through Congress to bail us out. ZERO.
I'm fine with making whatever my wages will get me in a competitive market. I'm sick of farmers bitching about the horrible financial situation they're in when there are more subsidies for farming than you can pack in an eighteen-wheeler.
Fourth, some people like slaving in the hot sun digging ditches or roofing houses. I know two people personally who basically said, "Fuck this" and quit their IT jobs and do something different. One paints houses for a living now. Less wages but he's freaking WAY happier. The other does his own deck/patio/landscaping business. Again, he makes less wages, works harder physically, but LOVES his work. And he gets to go home and be with his family when he wants regardless of anybody's arbitrary deadlines. So saying we're bitching when other people have it worse because of what job they do is subjective. People tend to work at the job they like or can put up with because it pays well enough. Period. I get sick of this comparison because so many manual laborers in my family wouldn't take my job even for the money I make because they HATE computers and technology in general, they are OUTDOOR types, and prefer the feeling they get after a day of hard physical labor over the feeling they get after staring at a 17" monitor for 12 hours. I'd hate to have their jobs because I hate the outdoors. It's too freaking hot, too muggy, and full of WAY too many insects. But the fact is, they deserve better than they get and I probably do too.
Your governments are bankrolled by these companies, and the governments write laws to suit these financial giants.
More accurate: Your governments are bankrolled by taxes; but, your politicians are bankrolled by their frat buddies who now run these companies, and those politicians write laws to suit their financial backers...which effectively takes your money and gives it to the wealthy CEO and Chairman of the Board and their pals, and they in turn start the cycle over again by giving the politicians their cut of the take for more favors.
Make no mistake: corporations are not acting of their own accord. A corporation is not a person, no matter how many times a flawed Supreme Court says they are. Corporations don't have a will of their own. They don't have their own morality. They don't take action by themselves. They are not mortal.
Corporations are subject to the will of its management. A corporation's morality is derived from the morality of its management. All actions taken in the name of a corporation are done so by a person. Anybody who tells you corporations have their own morality or whatnot is on some strong drugs. The only reason corporations apparently have morality separate from the people who run them is because the people who run them are sociopaths./rant
Okay, I'm coming to this late, I know. But, you said:
It represents a public shift in their coporate strategy.
I concur. However, the strategy is not (imho) what it seems. The noticeable shift in Sun strategy ever since the Microsoft $2,000,000,000 cash explosion (i.e., settlement) has been to do everything possible to cast a shadow on Linux competitors...Red Hat in particular.
Now we have two recent announcements of open sourcing Sun's MAJOR software products with a vague "someday" air to them, which *reeks* in that way only a "oh, why use that product when we've got a better version that will be out really soon now" statement can. This is combined with recurring public statements by Schwartz attempting to introduce new memes into the I.T. sector ("open standards vs. open source") that (whaddayaknow!) serve to disparage the GPL, those who use it (Linux), and Red Hat *specifically*.
Yes, it's a public shift in their corporate strategy all right. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Microsoft and Sun have a common enemy that they both know will be the end of Microsoft's dominance and could quite possibly be the end of Sun, period, if they don't work in conjunction to slow it down.
So, indeed, we agree also that this is newsworthy. If I'm not mistaken, we believe it is newsworthy for different reasons. You believe they mean what they say. I don't. I will believe it when I see it.
Not only is his basketball analogy offensive, it's completely wrong.
When I see an NBA team fire their talent, go to Africa, find a bunch of tall Etheopians, teach them to play some basketball, and pay them 10% of the salaries their american players were making, then we can talk analogies.
I always thought we bought them because it's more painful than a root canal to get a PC without one of their OS's. They locked up the OEM channel tight and play dirty trying to keep it that way.
I thought the whole debate over "Look & Feel" was resolved. I thought you couldn't patent, trademark, or copyright "Look & Feel". It certainly can't be a trade secret. What's there left to sue over? Am I wrong?
Slashdot Mirror
But then, aren't we all. I just thought when I read your sentence that there was no better verification of the "News for Nerds" line. Well, no better except the number of people now destined to begin discussing Dragonlance in this thread.
- Backup of digital pictures and documents
- Burn Linux ISOs
- Burn bootable ISOs like BartPE with anti-virus and anti-malware tools onboard to fix my friends, family, and co-workers' Windows PCs when they INEVITABLY get filled with crap
- Making mixed CDs from the ogg files on my HDD that got there from the 100+ CDs I *OWN*
Frankly, Nero comes OEM with most DVD/CD burners nowadays. Most people I know use Nero to backup important files on their PC so the next time they have to WIPE Windows they won't lose all their digital pictures.The article writer is clearly a moran. (Yes, I spelled it that way on purpose.)
Holy crap! Seriously?! Geez, they really do want to make anonymous travel difficult.
You know, a friend of mine volunteers for this dog rescue group and she described the process they used to get some abused dogs from Texas to New England.
Basically, it's like a relay drive. The first person picks up the dogs and drives them a hundred miles or so, not too far out of that person's way, and meets up with the next driver at a predetermined location. That driver then takes the dogs another ~100 miles...and so on and so forth, until they arrive at their destination.
Perhaps anonymous travellers need to set up a network of volunteers to ferry them around like this. You just pay for the gas and maybe a stipend for the help. It might not be the cheapest way to travel, but you should be able to move about the country fairly anonymously.
Here's the problem, though: airlines are not public transportation. They may get massive funding bailouts and such from the gov't, but in the US anyway, they are corporations...businesses run for profit. They can make a rule that says: show me your ID or you can't get on my plane. Nobody has any right to tell the airlines they can't do that.
... who knows who. Which is precisely the point...and the reason an airline with this policy would go out of business pretty quickly if left to a free market.
However, the opposite should be true: I (or some rich investor) should be able to start a commercial airline and decide to market to that small niche of people who want to travel anonymously without the gov't. saying "umm, no...you can't do that."
I can see the ads now: "Come fly with us. You don't even have to tell us who you are." I'm sure a handful of seats would be taken up by lovers of civil liberty. But my bet is the rest of the plane would be filled with
You want to travel anonymously? Hitchhike.
Also, thanks to Groklaw, I learned about this thing called Promissory Estoppel that would pretty much stop them from bringing a patent suit at this point.
I thought that's what CPAN was.
I know. And it's a good question. Who will run it? I don't know. But I certainly hope there is a succession plan in place already. What happens if Linus gets proverbially hit by a proverbial bus tomorrow?
Or, even better: what happens if some terrorist organization (*cough*SCOX*cough*) bombs a gathering of kernel maintainers? What if Linus and all of the various sub-system maintainers were all together at some Linux Festivus For The Rest Of Us or something and BOOM they're all vaporized in one Timothy McVeigh moment?
Sorry, GeckoX. I didn't realize Open Office qualified for EMBEDDED SYSTEMS. I can see it now. All those missile guidance or tank operations systems pausing momentarily while I WRITE THIS LETTER. The KERNEL is what we're talking about in embedded systems. The KERNEL is what that list of individuals I mentioned knows inside and out. Linus only accepts patches into the official kernel from people who have PROVEN themselves worthy. And so on from there. TRUST is a problem no matter what world you live in: Open or Closed source. It's just when idiots like the Green Hills guy say this is a problem with OSS and not so with his stuff it is:
A. wrong, and
B. S.
No, OSS is NOT a silver bullet. I never said it is. Trust is a thorny issue, no matter what. The point is, Mr. Green Hills is full of it for being a pot, calling a kettle...black.
As evidenced by his desperate attacks to stave off his dwindling market share, they're obviously doing a better job than the Green Hills CEO.
One Slashdot Account, low six digits, excellent karma.
Respond below with offers.
After this article, it's clear I won't be needing it any longer.
- a claim that the VIN system was created in 1981, and expected to last 30 years
- a claim that the numbers could run out by the end of the decade
So, they expected it to last 30 years, and now somebody says it'll probably only last 29 years and you say, "I really hate to see somone that points out that 'It'll Last for X years' and it never does.'I don't know about anybody else, but if 23 years ago, someobdy engineered a system that was expected to last 30 years...and they were only off by one year...I'd cut them some slack.
Granted, they should've thought about what would happen after thirty years, but they probably did. In fact, they probably thought long and hard about it and decided either:
(a) we'll all be teleporting everywhere by then and cars won't matter anymore; or,
(b) we'll all be retired by then so who gives a rat's ass.
How about we just stop supporting the leaders and pressure other nations to do the same? How about we give more money to international aid agencies instead of to corrupt governments? I'm not necessarily against knocking skulls around if it is warranted. Particularly in the Congo there are atrocities against humanity occurring and the USofA turns a blind eye to it because there's no vested interest in oil or other resource there.
Is what Saddam was doing in Iraq any worse than what's been happening in the DRC? I don't think so. But there's all that oil in Iraq.
And, as for nation-building, no I don't think we should ever be in the business of overthrowing corrupt leaders and installing our own. I'm not against overthrowing corrupt leaders as much as installing our own leaders. The only people who have a right to choose their leaders are the citizens. So, if we choose a path that involves overthrowing an existing dictatorship or otherwise corrupt government, we should plan on investing in a long haul relationship so that we can teach the citizens of that country about real democracy and implement a plan that lets them elect their own government. Then we should get the fuck out. Of course, I doubt any of that would ever happen properly because the US government is too corrupt itself...though not for a lack of voting, writing, and otherwise working for change on my part.
Okay, I'll add my two cents on this...
First, I make decent money. This I am not bitching about. I just did a check on the "How rich am I?" calculator (don't have the link handy) and according to its data, I make way more money than most people in the world. I realize how fortunate I am to have as much as I do.
Second, people are people and inherently valuable. They deserve to be treated as such. Is it worth it to be paid well if it drives you into an early grave? Perhaps it's better to work two less stressful jobs than one highly stressful job where you are expected to work 80+ hours per week. But isn't this all up to the individual to decide? We should all live our lives how we each personally see fit. I hear tell of a job in Alaska fishing for crabs or some such that pays over $200,000/yr but has one of the highest death rates of any job there is. On each trip out (supposedly) at least one member of the crew dies. You're on a boat for six months in the worst hell-on-earth conditions there are. But then you get a six month vacation and make a crapload of money. Anybody who wants that job can take it. I'll sit on my ass and develop thrombosis, thank you very much.
Third, about the plight of farmers: WAAA!!! Poor freaking farmers! I'm so sick of hearing about the poow widdle fawma. Fuck 'em. And before you get up in arms, my grandfather was a farmer all his life until he died in his late eighties two years ago. And guess what: he did well at it. All his freaking life. Do you want to know why? Because HE WAS GOOD AT IT. He knew how to raise hogs or steer or chickens or corn or tobacco or whatever and make money at it. He knew how to cover his ASS in case there might be A DROUGHT or FLOOD one year.
Why is it every time there's a freaking flood or drought there's a freaking lobbyist in Congress getting a bill passed to BAIL OUT THE POOR WIDDLE FARMERS??? Why? I know why. Because Agribusiness is big freaking business with a powerful political arm. So the poor little farmer isn't necessary any more. Big commercial farming is running the show. There are too many family farmers in America. WE overproduce food anyway. Those farmers should take a hint from people like you and learn a new freaking skill.
Next time there's an IT crisis ("Oh, no! We've outsourced all our IT infrastructure to China & India now we have a million IT workers out of work!") let's see how many freaking bills make it through Congress to bail us out. ZERO.
I'm fine with making whatever my wages will get me in a competitive market. I'm sick of farmers bitching about the horrible financial situation they're in when there are more subsidies for farming than you can pack in an eighteen-wheeler.
Fourth, some people like slaving in the hot sun digging ditches or roofing houses. I know two people personally who basically said, "Fuck this" and quit their IT jobs and do something different. One paints houses for a living now. Less wages but he's freaking WAY happier. The other does his own deck/patio/landscaping business. Again, he makes less wages, works harder physically, but LOVES his work. And he gets to go home and be with his family when he wants regardless of anybody's arbitrary deadlines. So saying we're bitching when other people have it worse because of what job they do is subjective. People tend to work at the job they like or can put up with because it pays well enough. Period. I get sick of this comparison because so many manual laborers in my family wouldn't take my job even for the money I make because they HATE computers and technology in general, they are OUTDOOR types, and prefer the feeling they get after a day of hard physical labor over the feeling they get after staring at a 17" monitor for 12 hours. I'd hate to have their jobs because I hate the outdoors. It's too freaking hot, too muggy, and full of WAY too many insects. But the fact is, they deserve better than they get and I probably do too.
Which lead me to this: if
Make no mistake: corporations are not acting of their own accord. A corporation is not a person, no matter how many times a flawed Supreme Court says they are. Corporations don't have a will of their own. They don't have their own morality. They don't take action by themselves. They are not mortal.
Corporations are subject to the will of its management. A corporation's morality is derived from the morality of its management. All actions taken in the name of a corporation are done so by a person. Anybody who tells you corporations have their own morality or whatnot is on some strong drugs. The only reason corporations apparently have morality separate from the people who run them is because the people who run them are sociopaths.
Now we have two recent announcements of open sourcing Sun's MAJOR software products with a vague "someday" air to them, which *reeks* in that way only a "oh, why use that product when we've got a better version that will be out really soon now" statement can. This is combined with recurring public statements by Schwartz attempting to introduce new memes into the I.T. sector ("open standards vs. open source") that (whaddayaknow!) serve to disparage the GPL, those who use it (Linux), and Red Hat *specifically*.
Yes, it's a public shift in their corporate strategy all right. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Microsoft and Sun have a common enemy that they both know will be the end of Microsoft's dominance and could quite possibly be the end of Sun, period, if they don't work in conjunction to slow it down.
So, indeed, we agree also that this is newsworthy. If I'm not mistaken, we believe it is newsworthy for different reasons. You believe they mean what they say. I don't. I will believe it when I see it.
true color vs 16-bit greyscale
Shouldn't that be Pentium YMMV?
Not only is his basketball analogy offensive, it's completely wrong.
When I see an NBA team fire their talent, go to Africa, find a bunch of tall Etheopians, teach them to play some basketball, and pay them 10% of the salaries their american players were making, then we can talk analogies.
Mandrake is not bankrupt.
read me
Dear "ThosLives":
If you keep spreading this propaganda suggesting people don't need automobiles, we will be forced to eliminate you.
Thank you,
The American Petroleum Institute & The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
I thought the whole debate over "Look & Feel" was resolved. I thought you couldn't patent, trademark, or copyright "Look & Feel". It certainly can't be a trade secret. What's there left to sue over? Am I wrong?