I bought Crosssover online this morning, and so far it has been an installation from hell. My Linux distro (SuSE 7.3) is on their supported list, but I must say that the install has been one of the most frustrating Linux expereinces that I have had (I have been using Linux since 1994).
I find the news coverage on Salon to be broad and uncensored. Usually, I peruse foreign newspapers (German FAZ, British news, Times of India, English version of Pravda, etc.) at least once a week to get a broader view of what is going on in the world. I find much of the same news in Salon.
Don't misunderstand me: I am fairly conservative (voted for George W.), but I still realize that huge corporations in the US own the news media so, for example, lot's of anti-globalization news is not covered in the US.
I had the experience of the dot com that I was working for (an AI company) going out of business earlier this year.
One good thing that happened was that for a few months I was not very busy doing paid work, so I had the chance to work on another Open Source project (Lisp wrapper for the Brill tagger) and to finally release the first version of a free web book (sequel to my published Java AI book).
Bad economic times and slow employment are a bummer, but Open Source projects can benefit from extra free time. (Beats watching network TV!).
My point is that both Java and C# are great (and fun!!) languages to develop in. What really matters is how interesting a job is, not the platform. That said, it takes me twice as long to design and code in C++ as in either Java or C#.
Good summary of similarities and differences between Java and C#.
I spend most of my time in the Java world (I have written 5 Java books, the latest of J2EE, and almost all of my consulting is done with Java.)
That said, C# and Visual Studio.Net are very cool.
Since Java is not my language of choice (hey, I would use Common LISP more if there were more consulting jobs requiring LISP!), I would not be too bothered if I had to use C# and the.Net stuff.
Really, what really matters is finding interesting jobs to do, not the development platform.
I also have high-hopes for interop between the Java J2EE world and.Net using SOAP. (I am working on SOAP support for Common LISP in my spare time so Lis can play nice with.Net and J2EE.)
If you want real insight to the various evils of globalization, read "Power Politics" by Arundhati Roy.
Roy writes from personal experience and research on the effects of globalization in India.
Most US citizens don't know how multinational corporations bribe local officials in third world countries to make business deals that are very bad for their countries. We benefit from globalization, while poor people in thirld world countries get screwed.
--Mark Watson www.markwatson.com (Open Source and Content)
Read "Power Politics" by Arundhati Roy
on
Globalization
·
· Score: 1
Arundhati Roy has just written a short and very, very interesting book "Power Politics" in which she discusses the extremely negative effects of globalization on India.
Of particular interest is how the US government (including a trip by Clinton) strong armed the Indian government to play ball with US companies like Enron. She also explains clearly the tactics used to bribe local officials to make deals that are very, very bad for their own countries.
Anyway, Roy is a great writer who uses personal experience and a lot of research to tell an interesting story that would surprise most US citizens.
I earn my living as a Java developer (with little paid work with Lisp in the last 10 years) and I am finishing my 5th book on Java (J2EE stuff).
My one big gripe about Java is the same feature creep that you complain about in Common LISP. For me, following the latest Java APIs is a lot of fun, but I believe that it would benefit the use of Java to more or less do a freeze on the language and the APIs.
One good example: while the new JAXM APIs look good, why not keep higher level tools and APIs in the hands of independent developers? Compare, for example, using JAXM to the free version of GLUE. We should keep space open for small companies to inovate.
BTW, Common LISP is very stable. Sometimes this is a hassle: earlier this year, it took a while just to get a good XML parser that handled namespaces. Also, I want to use SOAP with Common LISP, and I find myself hacking something together because there is no standard SOAP support at this time in Common LISP.
The Xananlys free educational system is very usable as-is. The only real constraints on the free personal version is that it will only run for 5 hours (then you simple have to restart the IDE) and that you can not save small stand-alone executables.
That said, try the free personal version, and if later you need to distribute small compiled applications for Linux or Windows, then buy the Pro version.
Under Linux, CMU Common LISP is free and generates very fast compiled code. Under Windows, Linux, etc., CLisp is free and although uses compiled pseudo-code, it is fairly fast, and uses very little memory so it is very appropriate for writing small scripts and utility programs.
I have written 2 Lisp books for Springer-Verlag and 4 Java books, so you bet that I have an opinion on my two favorite languages.
First, given free choice, I would use Common LISP for most of my devlopment work. Common LISP has a huge library and is a very stable language. Although I prefer Xanalys LispWorks, there are also good free Common LISP systems.
Java is also a great language, mainly because of the awesome class libraries and the J2EE framework
(I am biased here because I am just finishing up writing a J2EE book).
Peter Norvig once made a great comment on Java and Lisp (roughly quoting him): Java is only half as good as Lisp for AI but that is good enough.
Anyway, I find that both Java and Common LISP are very efficient environments to code in. I only use Java for my work because that is what my customers want.
BTW, I have a new free web book on Java and AI on my web site - help yourself!
Although I need to run Windows 2000 about half the time (I am an author, and many publishers want Word documents and provide all sorts of macros that don't always work in the excellent OpenOffice), Open Source is a big-big win for:
End users - can't beat the price, and Linux with KDE, etc. is fine for a naive user, if they get a little startup help
Programmers working as consultants and for in-house development - a time/money saver because of code re-use
Government and large organizations - no license costs, often easier install because of not having to mess with license servers, etc.
Let's face it: Windows 2000 is a great OS, and there is a lot of good (often Open Source!) software for Windows 2000 (forget about previous versions!), but Linux is catching up fast.
As an author, I am also getting into Open Content, largely because of a desire to "give something back" to society. (I just released a web book on Java and AI at www.markwatson.com - pardon the plug:-) )
I use J2EE every day, and it is a great infrastructure built on open standards. It would be great if Sun made its implementation of Java GPL or BSD, but there is an alternative:
The GNU gcj compiler keeps getting better; with version 3.0, inner classes are supported, and I think that it will not be too long until Open Source J2EE implementations like JBoss (http://www.jboss.org) will work with GNU gcj and the CLASSPATH project.
If you really want a GPL alterntive to.Net, it seems like putting effort into getting JBoss running with GNU gcj and CLASSPATH is a way better alternative.
-- Mark Watson -- Open Source and Content at http://www.markwatson.com
Although I enjoy Debian (an easy install using the install-from-internet option, BTW), I just installed SuSE 7.2 Personal Edition a few days ago. I have purchased about 4 SuSE distros over the years, and they have all been great.
With 7.2, you get nice TrueType font support, autodetection of IDE CDR writers, good USB support, and a really simple install.
Anyway, we all vote with our wallets, and as someone who used to spend a small fortune every year buying software at EggHead, CompUSA, etc., paying for a $30 distro evry 6-9 months, and the occasional small donations to FSF and Debian is way less expensive, and generally feels better.
-- Mark Watson
-- Open Source and Content at www.markwatson.com
What would you charge for a single PC subscription
on
Ask Robert Young
·
· Score: 1
Hello, first, as a possible customer (I have purchased 3 Caldera and 3 SuSE distros in the past) let me tell you what product that I would like, then please make an estimate on what the yearly charge would be.
I would like a single user/ single PC subscription that would default to relatively high security settings with a firewall, and automatic RPM package installation from your web site of selected packages. Further, I would like limitted off site secure backup of selected data on my PC (a client would encrypt it, perhaps using already installed PGP, so your company would not have access to my data). In order to cut down bandwidth requirements, I would want installed packages stored locally for fast re-installs, etc. One of the most valuable tools that I own for managing Linux installations is DriveImage because it lets me compress and backup Linux partitions so that if anything gets messed up when upgrading, I can do a quick restore. Some such utility should be bundled with your service.
What might be a reasonable charge for such a service?
Your new services seem geared towards businesses rather than individual users.
Wow, a great article that really cuts through a lot of bull shit. I especially liked the point that authors of free software might consider acknowledging the designers of the commercial packages that they copy. -Mark Watson
Yeah, Enlightenment tends to be a little unusual, (and the packaged sounds almost caused me to go into a homicidal rage), but I actually really like using it. I personnaly find it more intuitive than FVWM, and it doesn't give me a head ache to look at. I have to admit that I really didn't give all the windows managers a go before decided on E but overall i have to say I have few complaints with it. And seeing as right now, E.14 has so few none-barebones features, I'd be hard pressed to call it gimmicky. The only current thing gimmicky is the window panes (or what ever those are called) and I would rather use that system than pagers. I agree however that E is not the wm to introduce chartered accountants to, but man, does it ever have a nice feel to it.
Also the fact that almost every e-theme has women in chainmail bikinis fighting dragons might also limit it's corporate appeal.
Slashdot Mirror
I just got a response from Crossover's customer support.
Very helpfull!
-Mark
-Mark
On the otherhand, the lower bound of most estimates for Linux on the desktop seems to be about 3 million users, which seems like a healthy user base.
Who cares if more people use Windows anyways?
-Mark
I find the news coverage on Salon to be broad and uncensored. Usually, I peruse foreign newspapers (German FAZ, British news, Times of India, English version of Pravda, etc.) at least once a week to get a broader view of what is going on in the world. I find much of the same news in Salon.
Don't misunderstand me: I am fairly conservative (voted for George W.), but I still realize that huge corporations in the US own the news media so, for example, lot's of anti-globalization news is not covered in the US.
BTW, there is porn on Salon? I haven't seen it.
-Mark
Since I am playing with Tomcat and Cocoon myself right now, I was interested to read about how Salon is also gettin into XML publishing techniques.
-Mark
Microsoft must force people to upgrade to keep their revenue stream healthy.
BTW, I hope that Win2000 is the last version of Windows I ever need!
-Mark
That said, the EJB component model is cool, and getting the Tomcat/JBoss bundle is a great way to get started with servlets/JSPs/EJBs.
To add 'icing on the cake', add the Apache SOAP servlet (or the newer Apache Axis servlet) and also get SOAP support for interop with other systems.
- Mark
PS. I live in the mountains in Northern Arizona, and it is snowing. Cool :-)
One good thing that happened was that for a few months I was not very busy doing paid work, so I had the chance to work on another Open Source project (Lisp wrapper for the Brill tagger) and to finally release the first version of a free web book (sequel to my published Java AI book).
Bad economic times and slow employment are a bummer, but Open Source projects can benefit from extra free time. (Beats watching network TV!).
-Mark
Best regards,
Mark
I spend most of my time in the Java world (I have written 5 Java books, the latest of J2EE, and almost all of my consulting is done with Java.)
That said, C# and Visual Studio.Net are very cool.
Since Java is not my language of choice (hey, I would use Common LISP more if there were more consulting jobs requiring LISP!), I would not be too bothered if I had to use C# and the .Net stuff.
Really, what really matters is finding interesting jobs to do, not the development platform.
I also have high-hopes for interop between the Java J2EE world and .Net using SOAP. (I am working on SOAP support for Common LISP in my spare time so Lis can play nice with .Net and J2EE.)
Best regards,
Mark Watson
That said, the upgrade to XP seems like a poor idea for people already using Windows 2000 (mostly because of licensing issues, IMHO).
As Linux for the desktop gets better, I hope that Windows 2000 will be the last version of Windows that I will ever purchase (OK, wishfull thinking).
Mark Watson
If you want real insight to the various evils of globalization, read "Power Politics" by Arundhati Roy.
Roy writes from personal experience and research on the effects of globalization in India.
Most US citizens don't know how multinational corporations bribe local officials in third world countries to make business deals that are very bad for their countries. We benefit from globalization, while poor people in thirld world countries get screwed.
--Mark Watson www.markwatson.com (Open Source and Content)
Of particular interest is how the US government (including a trip by Clinton) strong armed the Indian government to play ball with US companies like Enron. She also explains clearly the tactics used to bribe local officials to make deals that are very, very bad for their own countries.
Anyway, Roy is a great writer who uses personal experience and a lot of research to tell an interesting story that would surprise most US citizens.
-- Mark Watson www.markwatson.com
I earn my living as a Java developer (with little paid work with Lisp in the last 10 years) and I am finishing my 5th book on Java (J2EE stuff).
My one big gripe about Java is the same feature creep that you complain about in Common LISP. For me, following the latest Java APIs is a lot of fun, but I believe that it would benefit the use of Java to more or less do a freeze on the language and the APIs.
One good example: while the new JAXM APIs look good, why not keep higher level tools and APIs in the hands of independent developers? Compare, for example, using JAXM to the free version of GLUE. We should keep space open for small companies to inovate.
BTW, Common LISP is very stable. Sometimes this is a hassle: earlier this year, it took a while just to get a good XML parser that handled namespaces. Also, I want to use SOAP with Common LISP, and I find myself hacking something together because there is no standard SOAP support at this time in Common LISP.
-Mark
The Xananlys free educational system is very usable as-is. The only real constraints on the free personal version is that it will only run for 5 hours (then you simple have to restart the IDE) and that you can not save small stand-alone executables.
That said, try the free personal version, and if later you need to distribute small compiled applications for Linux or Windows, then buy the Pro version.
Under Linux, CMU Common LISP is free and generates very fast compiled code. Under Windows, Linux, etc., CLisp is free and although uses compiled pseudo-code, it is fairly fast, and uses very little memory so it is very appropriate for writing small scripts and utility programs.
-Mark
Try the free personal version of LispWorks at http://www.xanalys.com/software_tools/downloads/lw -personal-edition.html.
It has great multithreading support under Windows and Linux.
-Mark
I have written 2 Lisp books for Springer-Verlag and 4 Java books, so you bet that I have an opinion on my two favorite languages.
First, given free choice, I would use Common LISP for most of my devlopment work. Common LISP has a huge library and is a very stable language. Although I prefer Xanalys LispWorks, there are also good free Common LISP systems.
Java is also a great language, mainly because of the awesome class libraries and the J2EE framework (I am biased here because I am just finishing up writing a J2EE book).
Peter Norvig once made a great comment on Java and Lisp (roughly quoting him): Java is only half as good as Lisp for AI but that is good enough.
Anyway, I find that both Java and Common LISP are very efficient environments to code in. I only use Java for my work because that is what my customers want.
BTW, I have a new free web book on Java and AI on my web site - help yourself!
Best regards,
Mark
-- www.markwatson.com -- Open Source and Content
- End users - can't beat the price, and Linux with KDE, etc. is fine for a naive user, if they get a little startup help
- Programmers working as consultants and for in-house development - a time/money saver because of code re-use
- Government and large organizations - no license costs, often easier install because of not having to mess with license servers, etc.
Let's face it: Windows 2000 is a great OS, and there is a lot of good (often Open Source!) software for Windows 2000 (forget about previous versions!), but Linux is catching up fast.As an author, I am also getting into Open Content, largely because of a desire to "give something back" to society. (I just released a web book on Java and AI at www.markwatson.com - pardon the plug :-) )
Best regards,
Mark Watson
I use J2EE every day, and it is a great infrastructure built on open standards. It would be great if Sun made its implementation of Java GPL or BSD, but there is an alternative:
The GNU gcj compiler keeps getting better; with version 3.0, inner classes are supported, and I think that it will not be too long until Open Source J2EE implementations like JBoss (http://www.jboss.org) will work with GNU gcj and the CLASSPATH project.
If you really want a GPL alterntive to .Net, it seems like putting effort into getting JBoss running with GNU gcj and CLASSPATH is a way better alternative.
-- Mark Watson -- Open Source and Content at http://www.markwatson.com
With 7.2, you get nice TrueType font support, autodetection of IDE CDR writers, good USB support, and a really simple install.
Anyway, we all vote with our wallets, and as someone who used to spend a small fortune every year buying software at EggHead, CompUSA, etc., paying for a $30 distro evry 6-9 months, and the occasional small donations to FSF and Debian is way less expensive, and generally feels better.
-- Mark Watson -- Open Source and Content at www.markwatson.com
Hello, first, as a possible customer (I have purchased 3 Caldera and 3 SuSE distros in the past) let me tell you what product that I would like, then please make an estimate on what the yearly charge would be.
I would like a single user/ single PC subscription that would default to relatively high security settings with a firewall, and automatic RPM package installation from your web site of selected packages. Further, I would like limitted off site secure backup of selected data on my PC (a client would encrypt it, perhaps using already installed PGP, so your company would not have access to my data). In order to cut down bandwidth requirements, I would want installed packages stored locally for fast re-installs, etc. One of the most valuable tools that I own for managing Linux installations is DriveImage because it lets me compress and backup Linux partitions so that if anything gets messed up when upgrading, I can do a quick restore. Some such utility should be bundled with your service.
What might be a reasonable charge for such a service?
Your new services seem geared towards businesses rather than individual users.
Thanks,
--Mark Watson
--Java consulting: www.markwatson.com
Wow, a great article that really cuts through a lot of bull shit. I especially liked the point that authors of free software might consider acknowledging the designers of the commercial packages that they copy. -Mark Watson
Yeah, Enlightenment tends to be a little unusual, (and the packaged sounds almost caused me to go into a homicidal rage), but I actually really like using it. I personnaly find it more intuitive than FVWM, and it doesn't give me a head ache to look at. I have to admit that I really didn't give all the windows managers a go before decided on E but overall i have to say I have few complaints with it.
And seeing as right now, E.14 has so few none-barebones features, I'd be hard pressed to call it gimmicky. The only current thing gimmicky is the window panes (or what ever those are called) and I would rather use that system than pagers. I agree however that E is not the wm to introduce chartered accountants to, but man, does it ever have a nice feel to it.
Also the fact that almost every e-theme has women in chainmail bikinis fighting dragons might also limit it's corporate appeal.
mark