I generally don't bother worrying aboutthings mroe than 3 years old. For Windows platforms, anything older than Windows 98 is unacceptable. With web development, I'll make sure it (whatever it may be) works in NS4 and IE4, but I target IE5 and now NS6 and Mozilla (yes, I know this breaks my rule, but it's a rule of thumb, and on my thumb, Internet years are shorter than human years). For Linux, anything older than a 2.0 kernel is not worth it, if even that old. I don't think 2.2 would be unreasonable. For hardware, I'm not going to worry about anything less than 400MHz, either a K6-2, or Pentium 2.
Yeah, it's a bit harsh sometimes, but in the real world, if something is REALLY useful and necessary, people will do what they have to do to get and use it.
It's good to keep in mind older platforms, but there comes a time to cut off the dead weight. No matter where you draw that line, it's going to be tough for someone. Rather than making it too tough on the developer, or too harsh on the platform, I think the approach I've taken balances the two.
I have yet to go to a dealership and have the sales man tell me I need to repave all the roads I plan on using to be compatible with their car. Or worse, told that while this new car is the hottest thing since fire, there aren't any roads for it yet, but they have a GREAT demo road that is compatible out back I'm welcome to use until the new roads are built.
Still, nothing beats a wireless laptop on a shaded porch, beverage in hand.
I can think of slightly better accommodations, but that's beside the point. I think Taco and Hemos should be banned from posting stories where they bitch slap us with their luxuries such as 7 laptops, a handful of arcade games complete with cabinet, T1's in the bathroom, and everything else out slavish devotion to/. has brought them.
Unless of course I can get a job slapping a -1 on "Forst Pist!" and "goatse.cx" that will buy me all that stuff. In that case, mail me(now!), and keep bragging.
These baords/BIOSes aren't meant for J. Random Hacker. They're meant for the embeddable computing sector. These types of systems don't change the hardware setup, so all that configurability is useless. These are systems where downtime means something BAD. Thinks nuclear plant regulator systems, telephone switching systems, etc. These could even be used for high-end PBX style boxes where there's zero need for constant upgrades and hardware swapping, but you need fast off-to-operational status.
Mozilla Quest is the single biggest source of lies on the net today. This is the same man who claimed Netscape 6.1 wasn't based on Mozilla code. The more attention this guy gets, the more lies he spreads. Would a "LinuxQuest" that posts crap about how Linus is an MS employee who's being paied to drive Linux into the ground get as much attention around here?
Being a former Verizon customer, I know first hand that are one of the most abuseive telcos around. While I'm not surprised a judge ruled against this guy (can you say DEEP PPOCKETS), hopefully more people will step forward and put this monster it it's place.
Ok, they're about 45 light years away, which means that they're probably watching I Love Lucy, a great comedy show. Sadly, by decoding the signal, they're violating the DMCA. I'm sorry, but they're going to have to be arrested. Anyone know if California courts take Buckazoids for bail?
Her name sounds EXTREMELY familiar, but I can't place it, and IMDB has nothing, just a Shelly Reynolds, which isn't her. Anybody know WHY her name sounds familiar? Or other work she's done?
Yes yes, but I mean no more STUPID laws like making it illegal to spoof the FROM: field.
Faked FROM fields.
on
Eliza for Spam
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I agree it's nasty, but hardly forgery. It's no more forgery than writing "Dr. Nikolai Pantsanundies, 6th planet of the Gastric System, 7th Dimention" in the return address portion of an envelope. What we NEED instead of more stupid laws (we have enough idiotic ideas about computer "crime" in law enforcement already, Taco) is legal recourse for the recipient. I say, if we can track down who sent it, we should have a legal right to send them a bill, and sue if it's not paid. I mean a law that explicitly states this, not just a sig tagline like some guys have tried over the years.
I fully expect to get modded down for this, but someone has to say it.
Voyager does NOT suck! Sure, there were some crappy episodes. There were also some crappy episodes of Dr. Who! Some people happen to think Stra Wars sucks too. Just because YOU may not like a show does not mean it's to blame for a dearth of good SciFi on TV. For that, blame TV execs. Afer all, THEY are the ones who first canceled the original Star Trek, only to find out the next year (via a revised Neilsen Ratings system) that they were hitting the exact market demographic they wanted. For the crappy Voyager episodes (and the less than ideal finale) blame Brannon Braga and Rick Berman (primarily Braga).
Star Trek is often the whipping post of scifi diehards. But corner most of them and they'll admit they either STILL love it, or that at least they got their start on a steady diet of Star Trek.
Responding to the main topic though, Farscape is indeed the pinnacle of new SciFi right now. 6 months ago I'd have tied it with Voyager, but since Voyager is no longer running new episodes, Farscape wins.:)
I must admit though, I'm glad to be rid of Zhaan. She was way too sotto voce for me.
As stated in the FAQ, the criteria for being "eligible" to be moved to MSN:
Currently, the plan is to transition those customers who:
* Have Qwest.net Internet Access using an analog dial-up line, Qwest DSL 256, Qwest DSL Select, or Qwest DSL Deluxe connection and,
* Use the Windows operating system.
MAC Customers: MSN is working on a MAC solution for your Internet access needs. Until that time, there will not be any changes to your Qwest.net Internet Access service.
Now, if this truly was ignorant of anyone not using a Mac or Windows box, then the second * would not have been posted, they'd have just told Mac users to hold on while Microsoft figures out how to best punish - er, service them. But Quest explicitly states this is for Windows users only. From what I see here, it's obvious that they recognize not everyone is either a Mac or Windows user.
I had one of these for 12 years... I got it when I was 6, and learned to code on it. I spent days PEEKing and POKEing when other kids were playing hide and seek. When I saved up for the modem cable my life was NEVER the same. I remember when I finally got a 1200 baud modem, a whopping 4 times faster than the built in 300 baud, it was heaven. I was 8. I took the damn computer with me everywhere. I loved that little beast. Even with a PC I still my Trash80 more. Some of the best computing memories I have are from that. Playing Space Empire (and winning) on it's 8 little 40 character lines over a whopping 30 character per second connection; Programming pixel-by-pixel animations; those adventure books with the BASIC programs in them. You can replace those memories. And even the nicest laptop today will never replace my Model 100 in my heart...
Actually, under copyright law you cannot copyright a word, phrase, or title. Also, you're not supposed to be able to copyright cultural things ("For he's a jolly good fellow" and "Heppy Brthday to you...") but it happens sometimes. That's why you can have dozens of songs and movies and books, etc., with the same title but not being the same story. Now, you can trademark words, but only if you meet crtain criteria. Think of McDonald's TM on Smile. It's not REALLY on the word smile, it's on the presentation of the word, in the semi-hand writen style. You can also trademark misspellings and special spellings, etc.
Actually, as crasy as it seems, it's almost happened. They tried to trademark the terms Windows, Window, Win, windows, window, win, and extend that application to programs that begin with the word Win. This was to give them the ability to squash apps they didn't like by attacking their name of WinAppX but leave others alone that they liked, etc. It was shot down, but this was years ago, before the PTO lost it's collective marbles.
SImilarly, Intel tried to trademark the letter i since it's part of their logo.
It's still called Microsoft Windows. Just like the word processor is called Microsoft Word, etc. We all know it's from MS, so we hack off the Microsoft part in our informal conversations. I can't think of very many MS apps thta DON'T begin with Microsoft.
They aren't your employers, thus, there is no withholding taxes, as such. Nothing is withheld, since you are working for yourself. You pay your taxes on (or before) April 15 with the rest of us who are self employed. Withholding is merely a way for the government to be assured of getting their due via compliance through employers. That's also why most people get a refund at tax time, because the withholding does not calculate your allowable deductions.
You might be required to calculate your taxes on a quarterly basis, depending on how you set up your financial situation with your state's business laws, and you may choose to set aside a portion of your weekly pay in a separate account for taxes (not a bad idea, and you can give yourself a "refund" at the end of the year after calculating your allowable deductions), but there is no "withholding" as you are used to with a regular weekly/biweekly/semi-monthly/monthly paycheck.
Remeber Alpha's FX!32 from a decade ago? I was going to allow Alphas to run any 32 bit x86 Windows software through binary translation on NT Alpha. Worked pretty damn well too. I had the pleasure of running it once on a test machine. The first time an app ran, it sucked, but after than, it FLEW. Too bad it never caught on...
I got my first one two weeks ago, and just got another yesterday. Now they're giving them away in nice special bags with the big Cue logo and everything, as though you just came out of the CueCat Store.:)
are you also trying to imply that radio shack was hertz-so-good?
That's a reference to Space Quest 4. In the original version of the game, one place you had to go was a place called Radio Shock. Radio Shack didn't like that, especially since the sign for Radio Shock looked exactly like the radio Shack signs of the day. So, Sierra (the game's maker) changed it to Hz-So-Good as a play on words.
I can't say I knwo where to buy them off hand, but I've mad dozens of them for pennies a piece. Go to Radio Shack (nee Hertz-So-Good) and pick up a few LEDs and a couple RJ45's.
I have a crimper (what good geek doesn't), so I can email you a copy of it. Maybe fax one instead?;)
Actually, RMS may have said, "Just because it's free software doesn't mean that you can afford it," but if you read just about anything he's written you'll see that he vehemently opposes charging money for software. To RMS, software is a right, not a priviledge. The source code should be published, freely accessable at all times, to anyone, for nothing, always. He's a bit fanatical about it.
I for one like the idea of openly published source code, but I think the GPL is actualyl too restrictive, as opposed to being unrestrictive. The LGPL goes a long way to help, though. The BSD license is great. I think I may like the MPL/NPL the best though. I think people SHOULD be able to make money on their work, and if they see fit to include some piece of someone else's code to make the project bettr, then they should be able to, but with proper credit (and maybe some profit sharing too) for the contributor.
But I feel RMS goes too far. At the risk of precious Karma, I somewhat share JWZ's feelings on the matter...
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Re:I said it before, and I'll say it again...
on
Legitimacy Of ICANN?
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· Score: 1
No, again, I did NOT confuse the two. Not all registrars run their own registries, but all registries are run by registrars.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, it's a bit harsh sometimes, but in the real world, if something is REALLY useful and necessary, people will do what they have to do to get and use it.
It's good to keep in mind older platforms, but there comes a time to cut off the dead weight. No matter where you draw that line, it's going to be tough for someone. Rather than making it too tough on the developer, or too harsh on the platform, I think the approach I've taken balances the two.
I have yet to go to a dealership and have the sales man tell me I need to repave all the roads I plan on using to be compatible with their car. Or worse, told that while this new car is the hottest thing since fire, there aren't any roads for it yet, but they have a GREAT demo road that is compatible out back I'm welcome to use until the new roads are built.
I can think of slightly better accommodations, but that's beside the point. I think Taco and Hemos should be banned from posting stories where they bitch slap us with their luxuries such as 7 laptops, a handful of arcade games complete with cabinet, T1's in the bathroom, and everything else out slavish devotion to /. has brought them.
Unless of course I can get a job slapping a -1 on "Forst Pist!" and "goatse.cx" that will buy me all that stuff. In that case, mail me(now!), and keep bragging.
These baords/BIOSes aren't meant for J. Random Hacker. They're meant for the embeddable computing sector. These types of systems don't change the hardware setup, so all that configurability is useless. These are systems where downtime means something BAD. Thinks nuclear plant regulator systems, telephone switching systems, etc. These could even be used for high-end PBX style boxes where there's zero need for constant upgrades and hardware swapping, but you need fast off-to-operational status.
I have no idea why you ask that in response to my comment. I was talking abotu how bad MozillaQuest is, not Slashdot.
Mozilla Quest is the single biggest source of lies on the net today. This is the same man who claimed Netscape 6.1 wasn't based on Mozilla code. The more attention this guy gets, the more lies he spreads. Would a "LinuxQuest" that posts crap about how Linus is an MS employee who's being paied to drive Linux into the ground get as much attention around here?
Being a former Verizon customer, I know first hand that are one of the most abuseive telcos around. While I'm not surprised a judge ruled against this guy (can you say DEEP PPOCKETS), hopefully more people will step forward and put this monster it it's place.
Ok, they're about 45 light years away, which means that they're probably watching I Love Lucy, a great comedy show. Sadly, by decoding the signal, they're violating the DMCA. I'm sorry, but they're going to have to be arrested. Anyone know if California courts take Buckazoids for bail?
Someone screwed up. They're firing to increase PROFITS, not revenue. CNN had this a day or so ago. LEss payroll = more profit.
Her name sounds EXTREMELY familiar, but I can't place it, and IMDB has nothing, just a Shelly Reynolds, which isn't her. Anybody know WHY her name sounds familiar? Or other work she's done?
Yes yes, but I mean no more STUPID laws like making it illegal to spoof the FROM: field.
I agree it's nasty, but hardly forgery. It's no more forgery than writing "Dr. Nikolai Pantsanundies, 6th planet of the Gastric System, 7th Dimention" in the return address portion of an envelope. What we NEED instead of more stupid laws (we have enough idiotic ideas about computer "crime" in law enforcement already, Taco) is legal recourse for the recipient. I say, if we can track down who sent it, we should have a legal right to send them a bill, and sue if it's not paid. I mean a law that explicitly states this, not just a sig tagline like some guys have tried over the years.
Voyager does NOT suck! Sure, there were some crappy episodes. There were also some crappy episodes of Dr. Who! Some people happen to think Stra Wars sucks too. Just because YOU may not like a show does not mean it's to blame for a dearth of good SciFi on TV. For that, blame TV execs. Afer all, THEY are the ones who first canceled the original Star Trek, only to find out the next year (via a revised Neilsen Ratings system) that they were hitting the exact market demographic they wanted. For the crappy Voyager episodes (and the less than ideal finale) blame Brannon Braga and Rick Berman (primarily Braga).
Star Trek is often the whipping post of scifi diehards. But corner most of them and they'll admit they either STILL love it, or that at least they got their start on a steady diet of Star Trek.
Responding to the main topic though, Farscape is indeed the pinnacle of new SciFi right now. 6 months ago I'd have tied it with Voyager, but since Voyager is no longer running new episodes, Farscape wins. :)
I must admit though, I'm glad to be rid of Zhaan. She was way too sotto voce for me.
As stated in the FAQ, the criteria for being "eligible" to be moved to MSN:
Currently, the plan is to transition those customers who:
* Have Qwest.net Internet Access using an analog dial-up line, Qwest DSL 256, Qwest DSL Select, or Qwest DSL Deluxe connection and,
* Use the Windows operating system.
MAC Customers: MSN is working on a MAC solution for your Internet access needs. Until that time, there will not be any changes to your Qwest.net Internet Access service.
Now, if this truly was ignorant of anyone not using a Mac or Windows box, then the second * would not have been posted, they'd have just told Mac users to hold on while Microsoft figures out how to best punish - er, service them. But Quest explicitly states this is for Windows users only. From what I see here, it's obvious that they recognize not everyone is either a Mac or Windows user.
I had one of these for 12 years... I got it when I was 6, and learned to code on it. I spent days PEEKing and POKEing when other kids were playing hide and seek. When I saved up for the modem cable my life was NEVER the same. I remember when I finally got a 1200 baud modem, a whopping 4 times faster than the built in 300 baud, it was heaven. I was 8. I took the damn computer with me everywhere. I loved that little beast. Even with a PC I still my Trash80 more. Some of the best computing memories I have are from that. Playing Space Empire (and winning) on it's 8 little 40 character lines over a whopping 30 character per second connection; Programming pixel-by-pixel animations; those adventure books with the BASIC programs in them. You can replace those memories. And even the nicest laptop today will never replace my Model 100 in my heart...
--
Actually, under copyright law you cannot copyright a word, phrase, or title. Also, you're not supposed to be able to copyright cultural things ("For he's a jolly good fellow" and "Heppy Brthday to you...") but it happens sometimes. That's why you can have dozens of songs and movies and books, etc., with the same title but not being the same story. Now, you can trademark words, but only if you meet crtain criteria. Think of McDonald's TM on Smile. It's not REALLY on the word smile, it's on the presentation of the word, in the semi-hand writen style. You can also trademark misspellings and special spellings, etc.
--
Actually, as crasy as it seems, it's almost happened. They tried to trademark the terms Windows, Window, Win, windows, window, win, and extend that application to programs that begin with the word Win. This was to give them the ability to squash apps they didn't like by attacking their name of WinAppX but leave others alone that they liked, etc. It was shot down, but this was years ago, before the PTO lost it's collective marbles.
SImilarly, Intel tried to trademark the letter i since it's part of their logo.
--
It's still called Microsoft Windows. Just like the word processor is called Microsoft Word, etc. We all know it's from MS, so we hack off the Microsoft part in our informal conversations. I can't think of very many MS apps thta DON'T begin with Microsoft.
--
You might be required to calculate your taxes on a quarterly basis, depending on how you set up your financial situation with your state's business laws, and you may choose to set aside a portion of your weekly pay in a separate account for taxes (not a bad idea, and you can give yourself a "refund" at the end of the year after calculating your allowable deductions), but there is no "withholding" as you are used to with a regular weekly/biweekly/semi-monthly/monthly paycheck.
--
Here are a couple links to the now dead FX!32.
--
I got my first one two weeks ago, and just got another yesterday. Now they're giving them away in nice special bags with the big Cue logo and everything, as though you just came out of the CueCat Store. :)
--
That's a reference to Space Quest 4. In the original version of the game, one place you had to go was a place called Radio Shock. Radio Shack didn't like that, especially since the sign for Radio Shock looked exactly like the radio Shack signs of the day. So, Sierra (the game's maker) changed it to Hz-So-Good as a play on words.
--
I can't say I knwo where to buy them off hand, but I've mad dozens of them for pennies a piece. Go to Radio Shack (nee Hertz-So-Good) and pick up a few LEDs and a couple RJ45's.
;)
I have a crimper (what good geek doesn't), so I can email you a copy of it. Maybe fax one instead?
--
I for one like the idea of openly published source code, but I think the GPL is actualyl too restrictive, as opposed to being unrestrictive. The LGPL goes a long way to help, though. The BSD license is great. I think I may like the MPL/NPL the best though. I think people SHOULD be able to make money on their work, and if they see fit to include some piece of someone else's code to make the project bettr, then they should be able to, but with proper credit (and maybe some profit sharing too) for the contributor.
But I feel RMS goes too far. At the risk of precious Karma, I somewhat share JWZ's feelings on the matter...
--
No, again, I did NOT confuse the two. Not all registrars run their own registries, but all registries are run by registrars.
--