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User: CritterNYC

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  1. Re:Has Rackspace had any outages in 10 years or so on Dark Day In the AWS Cloud: Big Name Sites Go Down · · Score: 5, Informative

    It depends which data center you're in. PortableApps.com has been hosted at Rackspace for years and we had multiple major outtages due to ongoing power issues in the Dallas data center in 2009. The switch from grid to ups was failing and would take the whole wing of the data center out with every server crashing hard. It would take quite a while to come back up. Then we'd have to wait hours for the Rackspace folks to rebuild our corrupted database (fully managed account on a dedicated server). It happened two weekends in a row in June and one other time if I recall correctly, basically costing us a full day of downtime each time.

  2. $575- 16GB, mid-range CPU, AT&T-only 32GB/colo on Hands On With Motorola's Moto X · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's $575 for the 16GB ($630 for the 32GB which is AT&T only at present) and no microSD so you're locked to that size. The customizations options are similarly on the worst-rated carrier in the US, AT&T. T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon get a black or white 16GB version. That's it. It's $199 for the 16GB one on a 2 year contract, which is the same as you'd pay for a top-tier phone like the HTC One 32GB or the Samsung Galaxy S4 16GB (with microSD so you can add up to 64GB more space on the cheap).

  3. Open Source on LibreOffice 4.1 Released · · Score: 3, Informative

    LibreOffice is free to take everything OpenOffice releases under the Apache license and release it under GPL/LGPL 3.0 of their release. Unfortunately, OpenOffice can't do the reverse without switching their license.

  4. Re:How about fixing a 7-month old text rendering b on Firefox Takes the Performance Crown From Chrome · · Score: 2

    Just set gfx.direct2d.disabled=true and the problem is solved. That's what the fix for the bug is anyway (they'll do it automatically with a hardware blacklist). It isn't like Mozilla can force AMD to fix their broken, abandoned drivers.

  5. about:config, NoScript, etc, etc, etc on Firefox Takes the Performance Crown From Chrome · · Score: 1

    As always, you can disable it yourself within about:config. Or use an extension like NoScript, etc to disable it per-site. You likely knew this and were trolling as most folks who are whining about this setting change are. Mozilla is removing the disable JavaScript box from Options as a browser without JS turned on is pretty useless today. A ton of sites won't work right. Most web developers don't even bother to check for JS being disabled anymore, nor should they as JS exists everywhere and in every modern phone browser, too. And the 2m people running NoScript no enough to enable JS when a website doesn't work.

  6. Re:Firefox only? on Epic and Mozilla Bring HTML5 OpenGL Demo To the Browser · · Score: 1

    If you'd read the links, you'd know that this is new technology being created by the Mozilla folks and being debuted in Firefox first. It's open source (as would be expected from Mozilla) and available to every other browser maker. It uses a subset of JavaScript that's specially compiled to run very fast in the optimized Firefox engine. It's still valid JavaScript, though, so it will run in other browsers, just slower. Some browsers like Chrome can't handle it and crash at the moment. There's already a feature request to add this into Chrome/Chromium. And, since it is in Firefox, it'll be in Firefox OS as well, making gaming on Firefox OS cell phones more of a possibility than it was before.

  7. Same Bugs as Firefox 64-bit on Mozilla Brings Back Firefox 64-Bit For Windows Nightly Builds · · Score: 3, Informative

    Waterfox is just Firefox built as 64-bit with some compiler switches and a name change (required by trademark guidelines). It's not a fork and there are no additional bug fixes. It has all the bugs that Firefox does when compiled as a 64-bit binary. You're far better off sticking with Firefox 32-bit which works just fine under 64-bit Windows.

  8. Re:Apple HAS browser competition! on Android Options Mean "Best" Browsers Might Surprise You · · Score: 1

    Why would Mozilla invest the time and resources into a platform owned by a company that's completely hostile to competition and openness? Not to mention the small number of jailbroken iOS devices makes it a losing proposition. They could do it to prove a point, but that would be a very expensive point considering the effort to port Firefox to Objective C.

  9. Re:Apple HAS browser competition! on Android Options Mean "Best" Browsers Might Surprise You · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sorry, that's not Chrome. It's Safari with a Chrome skin, just like all the other "browsers" in the app store. And, like all Safari skinned browsers, it uses the purposely slower Safari rendering mode so that mobile Safari looks better. There is one exception in the app store, and that's Opera Mini. To get around this rule, Opera has a server farm in the cloud rendering pages and JavaScript and sending the results down to the Opera Mini clients. It's inefficient and doesn't work as well as a native browser, but it's the only way to "compete" with Apple. Oh yeah, and the whole Opera Mini client is designed for dumb phones that lack the power to run a real browser.

  10. Re:Hey, Apple has browser competition! on Android Options Mean "Best" Browsers Might Surprise You · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not sure if trolling or clueless. On the off chance you are clueless, Apple doesn't permit competing browsers in their app store. They sneakily did this by banning all interpreted code (for 'security reasons'). That means no JavaScript. And a browser is mostly useless on the modern internet without JavaScript. So, the only thing you can do with a browser on iOS is to wrap Safari in a skin. But, surprise, Apple screws you there, too, because they give you a slower engine in that mode. So, every single browser on iOS is just a Safari skin and they all run slower than Safari. Hurray for Apple's walled garden. There is one exception in the app store, and that's Opera Mini. To get around this rule, Opera has a server farm in the cloud rendering pages and JavaScript and sending the results down to the Opera Mini clients. It's inefficient and doesn't work as well as a native browser, but it's the only way to "compete" with Apple. Oh yeah, and the whole Opera Mini client is designed for dumb phones that lack the power to run a real browser.

  11. Re:Popular? on Popular Android ROM Accused of GPL Violation · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a Cyanogenmod fork designed to look like iOS. It's been in violation of the GPL since its very first release. MIUI users always try and minimize the fact that it's basically illegal software.

  12. Re:Where is 64-bit version? on Firefox 15 Released: Silent Updates, Compressed Textures, Add-on Memory Leak Fix · · Score: 1

    Something is wrong with your computer. That grid works perfectly fine in 32-bit Firefox.

  13. Re:Professionals Don't Matter on MplayerX Leaving Mac App Store · · Score: 1

    Most open source devs are already out of luck as GPLed code (the most popular open source license used in over 50% of open source apps) is incompatible with the iOS and Mac App Stores. Most consumers don't care as long as they get to play angry birds.

  14. Professionals Don't Matter on MplayerX Leaving Mac App Store · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple is making record profits ($35 billion last quarter) and only 14.2% of those profits ($1.287 billion) came from sales of Mac hardware last quarter (all desktops and laptops). (source) The percentage of money Apple makes from desktops and laptops is getting progressively smaller each quarter. And the number of 'professionals' in those numbers is smaller still. The bottom line is that there is FAR more money to be made from consumers. To the point that professionals really don't matter to Apple's bottom line at all. Consumers, consumers, consumers. Consumers consuming music/video ($1.571 billion, up 29 percent from $1.571 billion a year earlier.) and apps ($891 million, up 28 percent from $696 million a year earlier.) on their iPads ($9.17 billion, up 52 percent from $6.046 billion a year earlier.), iPod Touches ($1.06 billion, down 20 percent from $1.325 billion a year earlier.) and iPhones ($16.425 billion, up 22 percent from $13.31 billion a year earlier.). That's where the money is. That's where nearly ALL the money is. Microsoft is seeing the same light. That's why Windows 8 is what it is. It is a 100% consumer operating system, corporations be damned. It's about setting up an ecosystem of apps, music and video across your desktop, laptop, tablet and phone. So, no, it doesn't matter if you can't install Eclipse, Mac Ports or various command-line tools on your Mac. The Mac App Store is about consumers, just like the iOS App Store. Not creators or 'professionals'. Even if you estimate that 10% of Mac's desktop/laptop hardware sales were 'professionals' (an extremely high estimate) and every single one of them abandoned Mac as a result of these changes (unlikely), that's still only $493 million. 1.4% of Apple's revenue. And that will be more than offset by another platform where Apple for all intents and purposes controls the keys to the kingdom (Mac App Store will be 95%+ of all Mac software sales in the next couple years) and makes a 30% cut of all software sales. They can ditch professionals and make a killing on consumers.

  15. Re:Unfortunate license choice on TextMate 2 Released As Open Source · · Score: 1

    He can if he so chooses. And when he accepts contributions from others, he can ask that they sign a joint copyright assignment (ala OpenOffice.org pre-Oracle/Apache) so that he can include those in the app store version. Or he may choose to go GPL only and not pay the Apple tax, meaning no iOS version at all, and an Apple version that users will have to tick the box allowing non-Apple signed apps to run.

  16. Re:Closed? on Apple Yanks Mac Virus Immunity Claims From Website · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The next Mac OS release will block any software not signed with an Apple-approved digital certificate by default. Advanced users can go into options and untick the option. This is seen as the next step to an iOS-style lockdown of the whole OS. The first being the release of the app store (with some preferential placements of apps installed via said app store). The next step, in Mountain Lion, making it so all developers have to go through apple, pay a yearly Apple developer fee, and be approved through some process before their software is allowed to be installed by default. Likely, a later release will require app store software only by default with an advanced option to disable that.

  17. Eclipse, BlueJ, Text Editors, etc PortableApps.com on Ask Slashdot: No-Install Programming At Work? · · Score: 1

    If you'd like to go all out, you can try something like Eclipse Portable which is available in the C/C++, Java, etc variants. It's technically labeled as a Development Test but it's 'stable' and being added to the main app directory shortly. There's also a test of BlueJ Portable available which is geared towards learning. If you'd like to just try something smaller, you can always start with something like SWI-Prolog Portable. There are a number of text editors available in the Development section of the Portable App Directory a few of which can kick off compilation right in MinGW Portable for you. And, if you're so inclined, you can help out test and code some of the apps requested or tested out in the Development forums or section of the PortableApps.com site. If there's anything else that would help out budding programmers, please just let us know!

  18. Re:Oh, that's bullshit. There's plenty of choices on The Future of Browser Choice · · Score: 4, Informative

    Only Opera Mini, which is a kind of pseudo-browser that offloads rendering to a server-farm in the cloud. It's designed for dumb phones (not smartphones) but was the only way to get a 'kinda of' browser around Apple's 'only Safari can interpret Javascript on the phone' restrictions.

  19. Like vs Review on Ask Slashdot: My Company Wants Me To Astroturf, Should I? · · Score: 1

    There is a big difference between liking something on Facebook and being asked to fabricate a review of a piece of software. Liking something on Facebook is basically just you spreading the word to your friends and adding to the total number of 'likes' on Facebook. You're not doing something unseemly. If they were asking you to review it or give it a 5 star rating or something, that's an entirely different story.

  20. Over 50% on Windows 8 Store Will Allow Open Source Apps · · Score: 1

    As the licensing terms Apple chose to use deny access to the app store for over 50% of open source software worldwide by including language that attempts to place restrictions on software above and beyond what the contributors intend, there's really no other conclusion to come to. Apple and their lawyers know the GPL very well and were well aware of what they were doing. As to their intentions, I won't hazard a guess, but Apple's intentions are seldom honorable.

  21. Licensing Violations on Windows 8 Store Will Allow Open Source Apps · · Score: 1

    The licensing for these open source was done years ago. Two decades at this point in the case of the GPLv2, the world's most popular software license... well before iOS even existed. Apple designed their licensing for the iOS and Mac App Stores so that they are incompatible with said license. That's their own fault. So, even though a couple VLC devs tried to put it in the store, they didn't get the permission of all the copyright holders to violate the terms of the GPL and do so. Thus, those devs and Apple themselves violated the GPL.

  22. iOS and Mac App Stores are GPL/LGPL incompatible on Windows 8 Store Will Allow Open Source Apps · · Score: 3, Informative

    As the iOS and Mac App Stores have restrictive licensing terms and are setup in a way which are incompatible with the GPL and LGPL. And as the GPL and LGPL represent the majority of open source software (about 57% combined). Yes, Apple does indeed restriuct open source apps from their app store.

  23. Re:Gingerbread is still a GPL violation on Android Source Code Gone For Good? · · Score: 1

    Right, and they RELEASED all the source code that was GPLed as well as all source that was directly linked to it. They did this for Honeycomb. They've ALREADY done this for Ice Cream Sandwich. And they've released the FULL source (GPL, Apache, BSD, etc bits) for Gingerbread, as they will for ICS once phones are released.

  24. FUD Alert. FUD Alert on Android Source Code Gone For Good? · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is FUD based on nothing. Google has said for quite some time that Gingerbread was available, that Honeycomb would be closed and only suited for tablets and that Ice Cream Sandwich would have the source available once it was released. Google was true to their word and everything for 2.x is available and 3.x is closed. The post linked to in the main article is the sources they are required to release (GPL) now that the Ice Cream Sandwich SDK is available. It should be noted that Ice Cream Sandwich itself as an OS has not been released and is not available on any shipping product. They've already said "We plan to release the source for the recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices." It's not available on devices yet.

  25. Re:Is this "open source" OS also going to be close on Nexus Prime, And Ice Cream Sandwich, Go For a Video Tour · · Score: 2

    Well, considering the source code to Gingerbread 2.3.4 (what my phone runs) is fully available as Google said it would be, and Google said Android 3.x Honeycomb would be closed as it is, why would you doubt them? Android 4.0 Ice Cream will be open source and the Cyanogen guys will be hacking it into working ROMs for every phone on the market soon after it's released.