African grey parrots are kept as pets. These are said to be as intelligent as a two-year old. Some of them can understand sentances from a vocabulary of hundreds of words. They don't progress much beyond a two year old. And they are Not Like Us, so it's OK to keep them in cages. Apparently. Hmmm.
But we keep ywo year olds of our own species, in cages. Haven't you watched "Rugrats"?? they were kept in cages!
The only proprietary drivers are Nvidia, ATI, or some other proprietary card distributor. If they want/need to do things differently than the rest of the people, the burden of making a good installation, and making ou happy, should be on them. Go bith to them, and leave me alone, without binary drivers.
I don't know what you are using, but I believe you are not living in the same world I am.
I am mainly a Java developer at work.
I used GNU/Linux, almost exclusively, at work, and at home (and win98 to run FIFA2005, until it just broke apart, now I run it on winex). I had old Slackware 9.1 systems with Gnome, with lots of software installed with configure/make/make install.
In February, I changed jobs, and I am working at a place that uses Windows XP. It's just hell for me. I need to search for software around the internet, and the simplest tasks like searching fast for a file, installing software or publishing a PDF are hell. I need to publish PDF!! I could do it, finally, getting some software. Open Office just had a PDF icon, no extra software installation required. I need to find and install a program for every little thing I need to do. Desktop themes are very difficult to understand. It gives me a way to change colors, but then it doesn't respect it. I need to run as an administrator, because I can't install software without it. Well, I can install software, but not into default folders, it's just too complicated. And you have to go and buy the software in order to use it!! that implies actually going to a store, or an online store and give your credit card (in my case I would need to get an international Master Card) . that's not convenient, for me. Well, they sell all kinds of software on the streets, but then I would have to get up early on a sunday, and then trust the guy who sells it.
Plus, I kept hearing about how stable winXP was. In my case, I have seen Eclipse die in three months twice as much as in two years running on Slackware. And I have more memory. And it's very difficult to understand why that happens to me. And it's difficult to find someone who actually knows. Its was a lot easier before.
Meanwhile, in my house I installed Ubuntu, installation was completely straightforward. Most of the trouble new users have with GNU/Linux, is disk partitioning. If you just don't have a win partition in the disk you install it, it's a breeze. Hardware detection just worked. My tv card required changing a line in/etc/modules, I read that was because the particular tv card I use doesn't have a memory chip to identify itself. That's ok, in win98 I needed to install custom software to use it. Plus, tvtime looks much better, and is much easier to use compared to the win application. Installing software is very easy. Synaptic finds the software for you, and it installs it. I don't need to run as the administrator, because ubuntu asks me for a password everytime an admin task is called. It manages security updates alone. For _ALL_ the software I have installed.
I understand that for people who does use WinXP, WinXP is much easier than ubuntu. I don't think that even right now, WinXP is easier for real new people. Gnome is great, from a usability standpoint. It copies the good from apple, and some good stuff from redmond, and gives a consistent interface, very easy on the user.
KDE used to be the way you describe in 1) , but that stuff is in the past. It has evolved, I believe that Gnome based distros are much better for new users, and KDE -based are good for so-called windows power-users, because they are more configurable, yet less usable.
Aside from that, I don't think that FOSS is a good term. Free software is what counts. Open source means too little to take into account. What good is the source without the freedom to use it?? The whole issue is free software vs non free/proprietary software. Proprietary software that just happens to be open source is almost as bad as closed source software. Open source software that is free software would be better described as "free software"
On top of that, the idea that being reimbursed for more than the capital expenditure for that process is somehow evil is ludicrous.
Nobody said that. The problem is the restrictions that people put on software in order to regain that investment. In fact, if you look at it, there's not much of a market for people who sell licenses.
I write software for hire, and right now what I write is for internal use, for the state telephone company. Before that, I worked for a cmall company that wrote custom software, and we delivered software with sources and all, and no specific licenses. Before that, I worked by myself, developing custom software (POS, web stuff) and although I never agreed to a license, I delivered full sources and makefiles, bundled with a copy of the GPL. There is room in some markets for shrinkwrapped proprietary software, but it's mostly dominated by big monopolies or oligopolies. Lots of people make their money working for hire, and lots of companies don't have anything to lose by giving rights on the code they write. That kind of people, the ones that do work for hire, could have a lot to win by selling customizing and extension services for the software they already wrote. In my experience, I have never seen companies stop spending money on software, because they have the software they need, they just start contracting for more advanced stuff, free software doesn't need to make software budgets smaller, only they wuldn't be spent on making or licensing the same software 1000 times.
You should get paid for writing free software. Lots of people are. The GPL would be about not getting paid by monopolic distribution of the software you just wrote. The whole idea is to get funding (self funding, or funding by people interested) to develop software, so the work is paid for, and then the software can be free. But it doesn't even need to be free as in free beer. If you only give the software to the people who paid for it, noone else is getting it for free. Plus they can sell it, too. And you could get paid for making extensions. But the catch is that everyone who gets the software gets as much power regarding the software as anyone else, and of course that leads usually to everybody getting the software for free, if they want it, but it's not what the FSF stands for, or what the GPL is supposed to do.
You didn't understand the quote you made: the guy said that everywhere AJAX doesn't work, javascript doesn't work either (and we all know that most web applications, AJAX or not, have problems if you don't have javascript/jscript). Of course, places that don't allow javascript, will always have problem with webapps, but it's not an AJAX exclusive problem.
HTML itself does allow for audio. It's not nice, but you could do it, without flash.
Ok. I just started. While you are waiting, please call the GNU/Linux system by it's real name, thre GNU system with the Linux Kernel. Like the OS/X System, with the mach kernel, or the Windows XP System, with kernel32
The answer to the question of why you can't do the same with Linux in two minutes that you can do in Windows is in your post.
You said you have spent _forever_ learning Windows.
Of course it's harder to do something with a different tool than with the same tool you have been doing it.
I bet that for someone who uses a nail to make holes, using a drill would be way harder the first time. That doesn't mean it's actually harder. It's just not a fair comparison.
The problem is that most people haven't used Windows forever.
People who are just starting can learn gnome or mswindows at the same speed, in my personal experience. I have made that experiment.
Old farts like me (28 yo), who were used to old DOS programs, 123, WordPerfect, DBase III+, could handle that kind of stuff, so my generation can handle gnome ok.
Of course, there is a big chunk of people (but they don't represent everybody) who has used exclusively Windows for some time, but most of them can't tell IE from firefox, or MSword from OOWriter. For the minority to which _you_ belong, they will have some relearning to do. Tough luck. There are more important things than your comfort. Specially if it makes life easier for new people.
The sensible choice in XP is to use the horrid new themes. They look awful, but they are improved in usability. If you look closely, you will see that the "start" button is much easier to click, as is the "close" button in maximized windows, and the minimized window buttons, because there is no dead zone between the buttons and the edge of the monitor, effective making the button way bigger, and much easier to click when you do those tasks with a mouse (fitt's law, says so, at least).
I have an XP machine at my new job, and I miss gnome a lot, but the classic windows theme wouldn't make it any better.
I'll tell your Grandpa that he doesn't need to buy software for his kid, that's what synaptic is for!
And if you actually meant "games", then OK. If games is the issue, then get an XBOX360 for games, and an actual machine (the cheapest one) for web/mail . It's much less expensive, because you don't need a 3d card, or a Pentium VVIVIIVVV or two gigs of memory for actual work, and the XBOX 360 , a playstation 3 when there is one, or even a playstation 2 are much better designed for games at home than a mswindows machine bought at walmart and administered by your nephew.
From the "I can't believe it's not actual grass" department...
You sound too much like an astroturfer, either if you are one, or if you are not. Real people don't write "SmartFetch or whatever it's called". And real people _in_slashdot_ don't say Microsoft in a sentence that doesn't include "shit" . (see?)
Don't forget that the main product RMS ever made is the GPL and the ideals behind it. And I belive it's the GPL the main instrument in helping Linux become popular, and survive the years without been killed by unfair competition.
Aside from that, an OS kernel is a great thing, but it's not rocket science. Of course it was really good for making the free OS happen early enough.
More to the point, a free user that shares his bandwidth for free, and a paid user that wants people to pay him is obviously better represented by Bill Gates and RMS than with Linus. Linus doesn't really care about licenses or prices, he cares only about technology. The right tool for the job. RMS on the other hand, although he says it's not about the money, does care about free access, and free as in beer is good for some of the freedom he stands for.
That's because you are seeing the software as the subject of freedom. The user is the subject. The software is a tool. Of course the software remains "free", whatever that means. The problem is that you risk having your software used to take freedom away from people.
_I_ care about that, because I don't care about software, and I care about people. Of course, it's always our choice what to care about.
"GPL people" don't care about the future of the software. The whole idea of using the GPL is that you are protecting the users, because you are making sure that your software will not serve as a tool so somebody can restrict their users freedom, for example by placing restrictions on the software you made. Of course, your copy will remain free, but the users will get the shaft.
"a victim that doesn't want to deal with it shouldn't be in the trial about their rape."
I meant exactly that. If "not dealing with it" is the most important thing for the victim, the worst thing they could do is to go to a trial where they will be questioned, and the whole idea is to reconstruct the facts. Of course, if justice, or even revenge is what is most important for the victim, they are forced to "deal with it", because that's the only way they can make a case against the rapist.
I didn't say that the first choice was sane (I don't think it is), but I think that it logically follows the premise of "not dealing with it".
Emotional pain? Well, if you don't remember what you did that caused it (cheated on your wife with a hooker and she finally dumped you), you're apt to repeat it.
In her case, it would be like: Note to self: don't marry an asshole again ???
Of course, rape victims will be made victims twice because they will not be able to both use this pill to prevent the psychological damage and be considered a reliable witness. Defense Lawyers will say, just as you have assumed, that her memories were changed and there's no way she could identify her attacker reliably. And gullible people on the jury will go for it. "We can give you this pill that will help you be whole, but you'll have to give up on having a solid prosecution against your attacker." What a choice. Ironically, I would imagine that by reducing the tramatic effect of the attack, the victims memories might actually be more reliable.
You make your assumptions about lawyers, and then you criticize those products of your imagination. Remember that you are the ne who made them up.
The problem you are pointing out is real, and happens everytime. After something bad happens with you, you always have the choice to deal with it, or just try to forget it. This pill would be more on the second part. So a victim that doesn't want to deal with it shouldn't be in the trial about their rape. Of course defense lawyers could use any drug with psycological consequences against the witness, and they would be right. In thos disciplines, we don't really understand what happens in the mind. We have trouble understanding people who don't take drugs, it's much worse to make an assumption of reliability on someone that uses drugs to change memories.
If you want to do the comparison with Eclipse 3.1, this could be useful:
F2 (or hover mouse) * Ctrl-Q: show definition (and docs, if any) of symbol under the cursor
F3 * Ctrl-B: jump to definition of symbol under the cursor
Alt-LeftArrow * Ctrl-Alt-Left Arrow: back to previous location (like back in your browser, it has a stack of visited edit locations)
Ctrl-Shift-T * Ctrl-N: find class by name
Ctrl-Shift-R * Ctrl-Shift-N: find non-Java file by name
Ctrl-H (java search)? * Ctrl-Alt-Shift-N: find any method by name
Alt-Shift-L * Ctrl-Alt-V: extract highlighted expression as variable
Alt-Shift-I * Ctrl-Alt-N: Inline highlighted variable or method
Alt-Shift-M * Ctrl-Alt-M: extract highlighted block as method
Alt-Shift-R * Ctrl-F6: global symbol rename (does it via the parse tree, so variables or methods with the same name in different contexts won't be touched; if you rename a class or package, it takes care of all filenames and related import statements)
Alt-Shift-C * Ctrl-Shift-F6: change method signature (again, global based on the parse tree)
Girlfriend: you can get them for lots of money (nice car, good clothes, Kenzo parfum, drinks), or no upfront cost, but it has hidden costs all over. You _will_ get screwed. Drunk girl at the bar: FREE
Remember that reviewers are helping the guy who makes the picture. If he doesn't trust you with an readable DVD, why would you want to use your time to help him?
Slashdot Mirror
African grey parrots are kept as pets. These are said to be as intelligent as a two-year old. Some of them can understand sentances from a vocabulary of hundreds of words. They don't progress much beyond a two year old. And they are Not Like Us, so it's OK to keep them in cages. Apparently. Hmmm.
But we keep ywo year olds of our own species, in cages. Haven't you watched "Rugrats"?? they were kept in cages!
The only proprietary drivers are Nvidia, ATI, or some other proprietary card distributor. If they want/need to do things differently than the rest of the people, the burden of making a good installation, and making ou happy, should be on them. Go bith to them, and leave me alone, without binary drivers.
I don't know what you are using, but I believe you are not living in the same world I am.
/etc/modules, I read that was because the particular tv card I use doesn't have a memory chip to identify itself. That's ok, in win98 I needed to install custom software to use it. Plus, tvtime looks much better, and is much easier to use compared to the win application.
I am mainly a Java developer at work.
I used GNU/Linux, almost exclusively, at work, and at home (and win98 to run FIFA2005, until it just broke apart, now I run it on winex). I had old Slackware 9.1 systems with Gnome, with lots of software installed with configure/make/make install.
In February, I changed jobs, and I am working at a place that uses Windows XP. It's just hell for me. I need to search for software around the internet, and the simplest tasks like searching fast for a file, installing software or publishing a PDF are hell. I need to publish PDF!! I could do it, finally, getting some software. Open Office just had a PDF icon, no extra software installation required.
I need to find and install a program for every little thing I need to do. Desktop themes are very difficult to understand. It gives me a way to change colors, but then it doesn't respect it. I need to run as an administrator, because I can't install software without it. Well, I can install software, but not into default folders, it's just too complicated.
And you have to go and buy the software in order to use it!! that implies actually going to a store, or an online store and give your credit card (in my case I would need to get an international Master Card) . that's not convenient, for me. Well, they sell all kinds of software on the streets, but then I would have to get up early on a sunday, and then trust the guy who sells it.
Plus, I kept hearing about how stable winXP was. In my case, I have seen Eclipse die in three months twice as much as in two years running on Slackware. And I have more memory. And it's very difficult to understand why that happens to me. And it's difficult to find someone who actually knows. Its was a lot easier before.
Meanwhile, in my house I installed Ubuntu, installation was completely straightforward.
Most of the trouble new users have with GNU/Linux, is disk partitioning. If you just don't have a win partition in the disk you install it, it's a breeze. Hardware detection just worked. My tv card required changing a line in
Installing software is very easy. Synaptic finds the software for you, and it installs it. I don't need to run as the administrator, because ubuntu asks me for a password everytime an admin task is called.
It manages security updates alone. For _ALL_ the software I have installed.
I understand that for people who does use WinXP, WinXP is much easier than ubuntu. I don't think that even right now, WinXP is easier for real new people.
Gnome is great, from a usability standpoint. It copies the good from apple, and some good stuff from redmond, and gives a consistent interface, very easy on the user.
KDE used to be the way you describe in 1) , but that stuff is in the past. It has evolved, I believe that Gnome based distros are much better for new users, and KDE -based are good for so-called windows power-users, because they are more configurable, yet less usable.
Aside from that, I don't think that FOSS is a good term. Free software is what counts. Open source means too little to take into account. What good is the source without the freedom to use it?? The whole issue is free software vs non free/proprietary software.
Proprietary software that just happens to be open source is almost as bad as closed source software. Open source software that is free software would be better described as "free software"
On top of that, the idea that being reimbursed for more than the capital expenditure for that process is somehow evil is ludicrous.
Nobody said that. The problem is the restrictions that people put on software in order to regain that investment.
In fact, if you look at it, there's not much of a market for people who sell licenses.
I write software for hire, and right now what I write is for internal use, for the state telephone company. Before that, I worked for a cmall company that wrote custom software, and we delivered software with sources and all, and no specific licenses. Before that, I worked by myself, developing custom software (POS, web stuff) and although I never agreed to a license, I delivered full sources and makefiles, bundled with a copy of the GPL.
There is room in some markets for shrinkwrapped proprietary software, but it's mostly dominated by big monopolies or oligopolies. Lots of people make their money working for hire, and lots of companies don't have anything to lose by giving rights on the code they write.
That kind of people, the ones that do work for hire, could have a lot to win by selling customizing and extension services for the software they already wrote. In my experience, I have never seen companies stop spending money on software, because they have the software they need, they just start contracting for more advanced stuff, free software doesn't need to make software budgets smaller, only they wuldn't be spent on making or licensing the same software 1000 times.
Funny, but misleading.
You should get paid for writing free software. Lots of people are.
The GPL would be about not getting paid by monopolic distribution of the software you just wrote.
The whole idea is to get funding (self funding, or funding by people interested) to develop software, so the work is paid for, and then the software can be free. But it doesn't even need to be free as in free beer. If you only give the software to the people who paid for it, noone else is getting it for free. Plus they can sell it, too. And you could get paid for making extensions. But the catch is that everyone who gets the software gets as much power regarding the software as anyone else, and of course that leads usually to everybody getting the software for free, if they want it, but it's not what the FSF stands for, or what the GPL is supposed to do.
A large cloak so you can't be seen? who are you having sex with? Harry Potter?
> Because sex outdoors is more uncomfortable than sexy.
Yes, but only when performed properly.
You didn't understand the quote you made: the guy said that everywhere AJAX doesn't work, javascript doesn't work either (and we all know that most web applications, AJAX or not, have problems if you don't have javascript/jscript). Of course, places that don't allow javascript, will always have problem with webapps, but it's not an AJAX exclusive problem.
HTML itself does allow for audio. It's not nice, but you could do it, without flash.
Ok. I just started.
While you are waiting, please call the GNU/Linux system by it's real name, thre GNU system with the Linux Kernel.
Like the OS/X System, with the mach kernel, or the Windows XP System, with kernel32
The answer to the question of why you can't do the same with Linux in two minutes that you can do in Windows is in your post.
You said you have spent _forever_ learning Windows.
Of course it's harder to do something with a different tool than with the same tool you have been doing it.
I bet that for someone who uses a nail to make holes, using a drill would be way harder the first time. That doesn't mean it's actually harder. It's just not a fair comparison.
The problem is that most people haven't used Windows forever.
People who are just starting can learn gnome or mswindows at the same speed, in my personal experience. I have made that experiment.
Old farts like me (28 yo), who were used to old DOS programs, 123, WordPerfect, DBase III+, could handle that kind of stuff, so my generation can handle gnome ok.
Of course, there is a big chunk of people (but they don't represent everybody) who has used exclusively Windows for some time, but most of them can't tell IE from firefox, or MSword from OOWriter. For the minority to which _you_ belong, they will have some relearning to do. Tough luck. There are more important things than your comfort. Specially if it makes life easier for new people.
The sensible choice in XP is to use the horrid new themes. They look awful, but they are improved in usability. If you look closely, you will see that the "start" button is much easier to click, as is the "close" button in maximized windows, and the minimized window buttons, because there is no dead zone between the buttons and the edge of the monitor, effective making the button way bigger, and much easier to click when you do those tasks with a mouse (fitt's law, says so, at least).
I have an XP machine at my new job, and I miss gnome a lot, but the classic windows theme wouldn't make it any better.
Can I answer??
I'll tell your Grandpa that he doesn't need to buy software for his kid, that's what synaptic is for!
And if you actually meant "games", then OK.
If games is the issue, then get an XBOX360 for games, and an actual machine (the cheapest one) for web/mail .
It's much less expensive, because you don't need a 3d card, or a Pentium VVIVIIVVV or two gigs of memory for actual work, and the XBOX 360 , a playstation 3 when there is one, or even a playstation 2 are much better designed for games at home than a mswindows machine bought at walmart and administered by your nephew.
From the "I can't believe it's not actual grass" department...
You sound too much like an astroturfer, either if you are one, or if you are not.
Real people don't write "SmartFetch or whatever it's called".
And real people _in_slashdot_ don't say Microsoft in a sentence that doesn't include "shit" . (see?)
Don't forget that the main product RMS ever made is the GPL and the ideals behind it. And I belive it's the GPL the main instrument in helping Linux become popular, and survive the years without been killed by unfair competition.
Aside from that, an OS kernel is a great thing, but it's not rocket science. Of course it was really good for making the free OS happen early enough.
More to the point, a free user that shares his bandwidth for free, and a paid user that wants people to pay him is obviously better represented by Bill Gates and RMS than with Linus.
Linus doesn't really care about licenses or prices, he cares only about technology. The right tool for the job.
RMS on the other hand, although he says it's not about the money, does care about free access, and free as in beer is good for some of the freedom he stands for.
Are you talking .doc or .odf?
.doc, so you can have formatting problems, and the solution would be .odf.
.odf, presumably using OOffice, could you please elaborate on the issue?
Because the whole point of this is that it's actually difficult to write
If you are having problems with "complicated tables" when saving
That's because you are seeing the software as the subject of freedom.
The user is the subject. The software is a tool.
Of course the software remains "free", whatever that means.
The problem is that you risk having your software used to take freedom away from people.
_I_ care about that, because I don't care about software, and I care about people. Of course, it's always our choice what to care about.
"GPL people" don't care about the future of the software.
The whole idea of using the GPL is that you are protecting the users, because you are making sure that your software will not serve as a tool so somebody can restrict their users freedom, for example by placing restrictions on the software you made. Of course, your copy will remain free, but the users will get the shaft.
"a victim that doesn't want to deal with it shouldn't be in the trial about their rape."
I meant exactly that.
If "not dealing with it" is the most important thing for the victim, the worst thing they could do is to go to a trial where they will be questioned, and the whole idea is to reconstruct the facts.
Of course, if justice, or even revenge is what is most important for the victim, they are forced to "deal with it", because that's the only way they can make a case against the rapist.
I didn't say that the first choice was sane (I don't think it is), but I think that it logically follows the premise of "not dealing with it".
Emotional pain? Well, if you don't remember what you did that caused it (cheated on your wife with a hooker and she finally dumped you), you're apt to repeat it.
In her case, it would be like: Note to self: don't marry an asshole again ???
Of course, rape victims will be made victims twice because they will not be able to both use this pill to prevent the psychological damage and be considered a reliable witness. Defense Lawyers will say, just as you have assumed, that her memories were changed and there's no way she could identify her attacker reliably. And gullible people on the jury will go for it. "We can give you this pill that will help you be whole, but you'll have to give up on having a solid prosecution against your attacker." What a choice. Ironically, I would imagine that by reducing the tramatic effect of the attack, the victims memories might actually be more reliable.
You make your assumptions about lawyers, and then you criticize those products of your imagination. Remember that you are the ne who made them up.
The problem you are pointing out is real, and happens everytime.
After something bad happens with you, you always have the choice to deal with it, or just try to forget it.
This pill would be more on the second part. So a victim that doesn't want to deal with it shouldn't be in the trial about their rape.
Of course defense lawyers could use any drug with psycological consequences against the witness, and they would be right. In thos disciplines, we don't really understand what happens in the mind. We have trouble understanding people who don't take drugs, it's much worse to make an assumption of reliability on someone that uses drugs to change memories.
If you want to do the comparison with Eclipse 3.1, this could be useful:
F2 (or hover mouse) * Ctrl-Q: show definition (and docs, if any) of symbol under the cursor
F3 * Ctrl-B: jump to definition of symbol under the cursor
Alt-LeftArrow * Ctrl-Alt-Left Arrow: back to previous location (like back in your browser, it has a stack of visited edit locations)
Ctrl-Shift-T * Ctrl-N: find class by name
Ctrl-Shift-R * Ctrl-Shift-N: find non-Java file by name
Ctrl-H (java search)? * Ctrl-Alt-Shift-N: find any method by name
Alt-Shift-L * Ctrl-Alt-V: extract highlighted expression as variable
Alt-Shift-I * Ctrl-Alt-N: Inline highlighted variable or method
Alt-Shift-M * Ctrl-Alt-M: extract highlighted block as method
Alt-Shift-R * Ctrl-F6: global symbol rename (does it via the parse tree, so variables or methods with the same name in different contexts won't be touched; if you rename a class or package, it takes care of all filenames and related import statements)
Alt-Shift-C * Ctrl-Shift-F6: change method signature (again, global based on the parse tree)
And it was ++C and C++ both!
Free as in Freedom.
The sexual metaphor is:
Girlfriend: you can get them for lots of money (nice car, good clothes, Kenzo parfum, drinks), or no upfront cost, but it has hidden costs all over. You _will_ get screwed.
Drunk girl at the bar: FREE
Condoms are not optional.
Does that apply to mature women as well? now those links on porn sites seem much creepier.
Remember that reviewers are helping the guy who makes the picture.
If he doesn't trust you with an readable DVD, why would you want to use your time to help him?