As others have noted in this discussion it's also held Linux back in a few areas. Well, the fact that I'm not willing to give away the fruits of my labor also "holds me back", but I don't look at it that way because I have goals other than just wanting as many people as possible to use my software. The same can be said for the GPL--it's goals are simply not the same as those of Open Source in general. I think you'd have to say that RMS has gone to great ends to make that clear.
I'd say there is no "onus". Linux has a license that the Linux developers like, and ZFS has a license that its owners like. If it happens that they are incompatible, that's okay. As long as no patents are involved, the Linux people are free to reimplement ZFS, and Sun is free to reimplement Linux. This is a good thing.
As a practical matter, I suspect that virtually no one would switch OSes to use ZFS, but for some users this will be a good tradeoff.
Actually, I was referring to OS processes. Within-process "process-like" threads would also be interesting, and a huge improvement other threading as currently practiced.
Their actions may be legal, but I don't understand what they're trying to accomplish. It's true that I have completely ceased any unlawful downloads (that I ever, ahem, hypothetically performed). It's also true that I have completely ceased all lawful purchases of music. Why would I want to do business with an industry like this?
I assume you're being facetious, but I will point out that whether or not this works has nothing to do with whether or not an "end character" is used. If you have a "smart" language mode, it'll work--if not, not.
Most people using C++/Java/C# end up writing "}//end while" anyway,
Pray god I never have to work on code written by these fictitious "most people". Well, actually, once you've programmed in Python for a while, all of those spurious '}'s to close blocks really start to look as annoying and useless as "}//end while".
Yes, the question has never been why the quality of hobby projects is so high, but rather why software produced by commercial organizations works at all...
The Peter Principle is great, and if you liked it you should also check out The Dilbert Principle (and the entire corpus of Dilbert strips) and The Systems Bible.
The Dead Sea effect is not really wrong, but I believe it's swamped by larger effects:
In general, few organizations can recognize competence in computer personnel and very few care about it.
If you do twice as much work (by any relevant measure), you will get at most 5% more pay than if you hadn't.
The measures most highly prized by the organization are attendance (a la Woody Allen), "being a team player", and (perhaps) dress.
Talented employees eventually figure all of this out and look for sinecures. That is, they look for situations that are pleasant and have sufficient compensations (monetary or otherwise), and once they find one, they tend to burrow in. (Note that this tends to offset the Dead Sea effect.)
Technical excellence is only possible on hobby projects or perhaps in a minor eddy of a larger project (e.g., "the 100 million dollar messaging system I worked on was an abject failure, but I implemented a really nice regular expression library").
If this seems upsetting, take a deep breath and go hug your girl, your kid, your dog, or your teddy bear. In 100 years it won't bother you much at all.
After reading this (thanks for the link!!), it appears to be entirely based on a few anecdotes collected by an advocacy group with an axe to grind. One or two of the stories seem suggestive, but the rest look like general sloppiness having nothing to do with the cameras themselves.
Unfortunately, the dry-and-boring, but deeply authoritative ISO we all grew up knowing is nowhere to be seen here. I think they have about a year to repudiate this standard, and hand out appropriate punishment to the instigators. Otherwise, ISO standards will be understood as coming in two flavors: "Classic" ISO (before 2008-04-01) and "New" ISO (after 2008-04-01), the latter being understood to be crap.
Protected from reality your entire life, then when you finally make President (or bag boy at the local mini-mart, as the case may be), you're completely unprepared...
One thing that 20+ years in the computer industry has taught me is that if you don't need a computer for a task, don't use one.
Coincidentally, my first paying job was working as a US Census enumerator for the 1980 census. Paper worked fine. The real problems were with my fellow citizens who didn't want to be enumerated (which I can understand, though calling the police on me seemed like overkill).
Finally, apropos of this topic, I recently discovered that the best "organizer" in the world is an empty file folder (or perhaps several) and a supply of sticky notes. Portable, easy to reorganize, no problem if you run your car over it, easy to back up, etc.
One of my earliest "computer" memories was reading, or reading about, Gates' "everyone is stealing my stuff" letter. It was clear then that he was a jerk, and nothing has changed since...
Slashdot Mirror
As a practical matter, I suspect that virtually no one would switch OSes to use ZFS, but for some users this will be a good tradeoff.
Actually, I was referring to OS processes. Within-process "process-like" threads would also be interesting, and a huge improvement other threading as currently practiced.
Oh, I get it--I misread the parent post...
Your karma-blow would be more useful if you'd say what you think is better...
Well, for starters, there's processes, which were invented in the 1960s. These may not handle every case, but in my experience they'd cover 95+%...
Their actions may be legal, but I don't understand what they're trying to accomplish. It's true that I have completely ceased any unlawful downloads (that I ever, ahem, hypothetically performed). It's also true that I have completely ceased all lawful purchases of music. Why would I want to do business with an industry like this?
I assume you're being facetious, but I will point out that whether or not this works has nothing to do with whether or not an "end character" is used. If you have a "smart" language mode, it'll work--if not, not.
In ten years, 35 won't seem bad at all...
I think he meant "rock guitar", dude...
Maybe not, but his acts in the software industry have probably caused many incremental deaths...
Yes, the question has never been why the quality of hobby projects is so high, but rather why software produced by commercial organizations works at all...
Yeah, I've seen this on more than one occasion.
Please!
The Dead Sea effect is not really wrong, but I believe it's swamped by larger effects:
After reading this (thanks for the link!!), it appears to be entirely based on a few anecdotes collected by an advocacy group with an axe to grind. One or two of the stories seem suggestive, but the rest look like general sloppiness having nothing to do with the cameras themselves.
Alternative theory: This has happened already and you are experiencing it now...
Unfortunately, the dry-and-boring, but deeply authoritative ISO we all grew up knowing is nowhere to be seen here. I think they have about a year to repudiate this standard, and hand out appropriate punishment to the instigators. Otherwise, ISO standards will be understood as coming in two flavors: "Classic" ISO (before 2008-04-01) and "New" ISO (after 2008-04-01), the latter being understood to be crap.
Protected from reality your entire life, then when you finally make President (or bag boy at the local mini-mart, as the case may be), you're completely unprepared...
Coincidentally, my first paying job was working as a US Census enumerator for the 1980 census. Paper worked fine. The real problems were with my fellow citizens who didn't want to be enumerated (which I can understand, though calling the police on me seemed like overkill).
Finally, apropos of this topic, I recently discovered that the best "organizer" in the world is an empty file folder (or perhaps several) and a supply of sticky notes. Portable, easy to reorganize, no problem if you run your car over it, easy to back up, etc.
One of my earliest "computer" memories was reading, or reading about, Gates' "everyone is stealing my stuff" letter. It was clear then that he was a jerk, and nothing has changed since...
occurs in 1 of every 10 people...