Many Slashdotters NOT Linuxheads. OSX just better?
on
Flirting With Mac OS X
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· Score: 1
Believe it or not, Slashdot and linux are wedded. If there was no Linux talk here, a major percentage of the audience would be elsewhere. If Cmdr Taco and others are no longer going to "live the life", this forum will lose its credibility.
No doubt you're right. But I'm one who doesn't care about Linux. And there are also lots like me who are interested in science, technology, and computing who aren't ubergeeks and aren't interested in Linux. Also, I doubt Slashdot has much to lose in the credibility department.
An argument can be made that OSX is the perfect combination of Open Source and commercial interests. OS X finally does "Just Work" with a nifty geek-friendly back-end while many of its technologies are open.
So what you're reading in this thread IS truly terrible for Linux development. OSX has beaten Linux at its own game. If we have true competition rather than Linux or open source zealotry, OS X will win, IMO.
Finally - just because open source development matured (birthed?) with Linux doesn't mean that it will die if Linux dies. In other words - it doesn't follow that future open source development will be dependent on Linux.
I feel your pain. I understand your principles, and I mostly agree with them, but I think Linux will lose.
P.S. - Where can I read about the history of the open source movement?
It's decomposing. Don't kick it. Your foot might go through its rib cage.
Everything that's going to be said about a possible Intel or x86 switch has been said. Let me sum up the entire thread for you, so you don't have to bother to read the rest: 1. Apple will never switch to x86 b/c Apple is a hardware company and MS would kill them. 2. I don't know anything about this so I guess it could happen but Intel/x86 is faster, thus Apple should switch. 3. My sister's boyfriend's roommate knows someone who works for Apple and they already have boxen running x86 in research. 4. Darwin already works in x86. It's just a matter of porting Aqua. Oh wait. And EVERY application. 5. Apple can't put its installed base through another architecture switch. (witness 68 to PPC) 6. Apple's already put its installed base through an architecture switch AND an OS switch. They can do the x86 switch easily. 7. x86 is dead. Why move to a dead architecture? 8. Apple would NEVER allow OS X to run on non-Apple hardware, so x86 isn't an issue. 9. Forget x86. Go IBM PowerPC 10. But what about Altivec? They'd have to license it from Motorola. 11. Oh, yeah. They would.
Etc.. etc.. Not that this topic isn't worthy. But it's been done to death! I'm tired of it. Please please please let it die.
Proof that the poster is Ralph Wiggum
on
Mac OS in a Lab
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· Score: 2, Funny
Two possibilities: 1. The poster's native language isn't English. The usage is pretty weird: "Severance's contract" 2. The terms are actually "dragonian." The boss is a dragon? The HR department is run by dragons? Legal is full of dragons? There are lots of possibilities.
IMHO the best way to make an all-electronic voting system would be to use some sort of smartcard system. If there were a smartcard available that could sign stuff transmitted to it with the user's private key, the voting machine would...
Joe AOL just had apoplexy.
No matter how good the technical system, you must take into account the voter's confidence in the system. You have to use words and systems the voter can trust and understand.
For voting purposes, I don't see an advantage to electronic systems at all.
Obviously the electronic systems would give a result as soon as polling closes
Naturally, you would THINK that would be the case, but in Florida, it wasn't during this last primary. The votes weren't counted instantly. There was some sort of counting going on all Tuesday night and all day Wednesday.
In Oklahoma, I think we have some of the best ballot systems in America. (PDF file) We mark the ballot with a marker - connecting the two lines together to indicate candidate preference. It's not at all electronic. It's near-foolproof, and it's easy to count.
BTW, "scrutineer" is a really cool word you don't hear in America - at least, I don't hear it.
Wow! It looks like everyone disagrees with you. Simple carbs, white bread, potatoes, rice, and low-fat ultraprocessed packaged foods make you FAT, increase your triglycerides, LDL, and blood sugar.
Sugar & the carbs I mentioned above are the real evil for people who have developed insulin resistance and the vicious carb cycle. That is a surprisingly large number of people in the states. (I'll betcha 99% of the obese people you see in stores are victims of low-fat diets)
For everyone else, moderation works. Does Alton look unhealthy to you?
Ever been to France? They are some skinny folks. And they eat cheese, butter, bernaise, and bechamel like they're going out of style - in moderation.
I treasure Joy, but I like How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman, even better. We have given it as a gift innumerable times and everyone just loves it. It's all scratch recipes which focus on enhancing a relatively small number ingredients, not using a million ingredients and fancy techniques.
It assumes almost zero cooking knowledge and goes from there. My wife and I both love it. Bittman says "Everyone can cook, and most people should."
Microsoft tried this, (By trying to leverage NT4 for the desktop) and watched it backfired horribly.
Yeah, now NOBODY uses Windows. That silly Microsoft. If they hadn't tried to leverage NT4, they'd have 90% market share now. Oh, wait.
Just teasing..
In agreement with you - this is going to hurt a lot of feelings, and that's bad for a touchy-feely sort of user base like Apple's. I'm 95% OS9 free, so I don't give a crap, but some people do. And people's feelings count, at least in Apple's marketshare they do.
Sure, vi, NetBSD. I'll let YOU train the 2nd grader in vi. Heck, I'll let you train her in emacs. That'll be a LOT of fun. Oh, and I guess you'll volunteer to support that machine and get it on the school network? Help them print from it? Find old ADB equipment to hook up to it and the NetBSD or OS 7/8 drivers for said equipment?
Let's be realistic. Nobody wants an old duo except hobbyists like the poster.
This kind of strategy - giving poor people old, crappy, non-standard computers - perpetuates the so-called digital divide. And does it really help? People don't want to be continually marginalized by having to use a time machine. And non-profits don't have TONS of money to spend on support and training. They need out-of-the-box solutions and volunteers. Geeks really can help small schools by volunteering services and time. (everyone can, not just geeks, for that matter)
People feel like they're doing something great when they give away an essentially worthless computer, but they're not. They get a warm and fuzzy feeling, but COO from training and support actually detracts from the effectiveness of small organizations.
"They" and "their" as singular pronouns have been in popular use for over 200 years.
I am too lazy to verify the length of the time "they/their" have been in popular use as neuter pronouns, but I am surprised. I have not run into it. What am I missing?
Come on - if you can write a sentence like this: "Given that language is a set of arbitrary rules which shifts along with culture and usage, why do you have a problem with this?" surely you have a few holdover prescriptivist tendencies yourself!;-)
As long as intention can be clearly conveyed and interpreted, there is no right or wrong in language, especially English.
That is the descriptivist view, to which I adhere, for the most part. However, society imposes a standard upon the language. This dialect, as I'm sure you know, is called "Standard American English (SAE)" or as I like to call it "Tom Brokaw English."
There are lots of reasons society imposes these standards. Some of them are good reasons. Many of them aren't. In any case, everyone who wants to be taken seriously in any formal context needs to know them.
When I get an e-mail from a vendor (usually it's a vendor) with an apostrophe-s for a plural, or a "their" instead of "there" I lose a lot of respect for that person. Is that fair? Probably not. Is it going to happen? Yes. And we can't stop it, so we should teach our kids SAE in addition to whatever non-standard dialect they speak at home.
Still I contend "DEATH TO 'THEY/THEIR' AS SINGULARS"
Well, you're wrong. And I don't give a damn about karma, so mod me down. I don't care.
Alternating pronouns is correct. Using plurals consistently is also correct. ("Users should be able to move their icons around.") Consult any style guide.
As one of my college profs said "Including half of the population is not "politically correct." Yes, Yes, I have a degree in English. Yes, I'm a conservative Republican, so I don't suffer PC crap well. This is just common sense.
(Note: "They" and "their" should NEVER be used as singular neuter pronouns. "Someone left their shoes on the bleachers." ACK!)
You're right. Should be clearer. It's complicated by the fact that the driver is called "Wireless Driver."
I'm a little surprised that an Apple-thread-reading/.er wouldn't know about this project. Are you a regular OS X user? Maybe you've always had an Airport card ?(NOT a flame - just curious)
I lived there from '96 - '98. I'm in the US now and I will hopefully be headed back at some point in the future. I have been back once since '98 for just a few days.
I read the article. You didn't make an argument, and you still haven't made one or said anything new. Do you have anything to add? In effect you said "I agree. I like to insult people with profanity."
I understand you are angry and I appreciate that, but I would like to raise the level of rhetoric. We shouldn't just mod stuff up because we agree with it and we shouldn't post unless we think we have something new to add to the dialogue.
Agreed. Where Japan does differ, however, is that once something is accepted, it does so at a breakneak pace.
Yes, and I think this is true for their culture in general. Witness the conversion to the seven-day week, the rebuilding after the Pacific War (WWII), and on and on. They need to fix their bad debt problems and work on transitioning from a manufacturing-based economy. When (or if) they finally decide to embrace the Information Economy, which IMO will be immensely hard because of their difficulty with English, they will be even more powerful and wealthy. If they don't manage the transition and fix the economy, they will fade. But I don't think that's gonna happen. Do you agree?
Couldn't agree with you more on every point. Thanks for the insightful comments.
Just because you aren't happy with your service doesn't make the poster wrong. The US is more rural than Japan or Korea. That's a valid point. Now Canada..
Slashdot Mirror
Believe it or not, Slashdot and linux are wedded. If there was no Linux talk here, a major percentage of the audience would be elsewhere. If Cmdr Taco and others are no longer going to "live the life", this forum will lose its credibility.
No doubt you're right. But I'm one who doesn't care about Linux. And there are also lots like me who are interested in science, technology, and computing who aren't ubergeeks and aren't interested in Linux. Also, I doubt Slashdot has much to lose in the credibility department.
An argument can be made that OSX is the perfect combination of Open Source and commercial interests. OS X finally does "Just Work" with a nifty geek-friendly back-end while many of its technologies are open.
So what you're reading in this thread IS truly terrible for Linux development. OSX has beaten Linux at its own game. If we have true competition rather than Linux or open source zealotry, OS X will win, IMO.
Finally - just because open source development matured (birthed?) with Linux doesn't mean that it will die if Linux dies. In other words - it doesn't follow that future open source development will be dependent on Linux.
I feel your pain. I understand your principles, and I mostly agree with them, but I think Linux will lose.
P.S. - Where can I read about the history of the open source movement?
Yet another name to insure that Ogg is completely unmarketable!
It's decomposing. Don't kick it. Your foot might go through its rib cage.
Everything that's going to be said about a possible Intel or x86 switch has been said. Let me sum up the entire thread for you, so you don't have to bother to read the rest:
1. Apple will never switch to x86 b/c Apple is a hardware company and MS would kill them.
2. I don't know anything about this so I guess it could happen but Intel/x86 is faster, thus Apple should switch.
3. My sister's boyfriend's roommate knows someone who works for Apple and they already have boxen running x86 in research.
4. Darwin already works in x86. It's just a matter of porting Aqua. Oh wait. And EVERY application.
5. Apple can't put its installed base through another architecture switch. (witness 68 to PPC)
6. Apple's already put its installed base through an architecture switch AND an OS switch. They can do the x86 switch easily.
7. x86 is dead. Why move to a dead architecture?
8. Apple would NEVER allow OS X to run on non-Apple hardware, so x86 isn't an issue.
9. Forget x86. Go IBM PowerPC
10. But what about Altivec? They'd have to license it from Motorola.
11. Oh, yeah. They would.
Etc.. etc.. Not that this topic isn't worthy. But it's been done to death! I'm tired of it. Please please please let it die.
Look Lisa: I learnded!
Me fail English? That's unpossible!
Two possibilities:
1. The poster's native language isn't English. The usage is pretty weird: "Severance's contract"
2. The terms are actually "dragonian." The boss is a dragon? The HR department is run by dragons? Legal is full of dragons? There are lots of possibilities.
IMHO the best way to make an all-electronic voting system would be to use some sort of smartcard system. If there were a smartcard available that could sign stuff transmitted to it with the user's private key, the voting machine would ...
Joe AOL just had apoplexy.
No matter how good the technical system, you must take into account the voter's confidence in the system. You have to use words and systems the voter can trust and understand.
For voting purposes, I don't see an advantage to electronic systems at all.
Obviously the electronic systems would give a result as soon as polling closes
Naturally, you would THINK that would be the case, but in Florida, it wasn't during this last primary. The votes weren't counted instantly. There was some sort of counting going on all Tuesday night and all day Wednesday.
In Oklahoma, I think we have some of the best ballot systems in America. (PDF file) We mark the ballot with a marker - connecting the two lines together to indicate candidate preference. It's not at all electronic. It's near-foolproof, and it's easy to count.
BTW, "scrutineer" is a really cool word you don't hear in America - at least, I don't hear it.
How many cows could an orker ork if an orker could ork cows?
Amen.
But margarine will kill you! Not kidding. Watch out for trans-fats. They are evil, artificial, broken fats.
Check out the Washington Post article.
Exceptions: Brummel & Brown is yummy and has no trans fat. (Don't have any stock in or relation to whatever company makes Brummel & Brown)
Wow! It looks like everyone disagrees with you. Simple carbs, white bread, potatoes, rice, and low-fat ultraprocessed packaged foods make you FAT, increase your triglycerides, LDL, and blood sugar.
Sugar & the carbs I mentioned above are the real evil for people who have developed insulin resistance and the vicious carb cycle. That is a surprisingly large number of people in the states. (I'll betcha 99% of the obese people you see in stores are victims of low-fat diets)
For everyone else, moderation works. Does Alton look unhealthy to you?
Ever been to France? They are some skinny folks. And they eat cheese, butter, bernaise, and bechamel like they're going out of style - in moderation.
Low-fat diets are a scam!
I treasure Joy, but I like How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman, even better. We have given it as a gift innumerable times and everyone just loves it. It's all scratch recipes which focus on enhancing a relatively small number ingredients, not using a million ingredients and fancy techniques.
It assumes almost zero cooking knowledge and goes from there. My wife and I both love it. Bittman says "Everyone can cook, and most people should."
I'm sorry for your loss. May God bless you and your family.
Microsoft tried this, (By trying to leverage NT4 for the desktop) and watched it backfired horribly.
Yeah, now NOBODY uses Windows. That silly Microsoft. If they hadn't tried to leverage NT4, they'd have 90% market share now. Oh, wait.
Just teasing..
In agreement with you - this is going to hurt a lot of feelings, and that's bad for a touchy-feely sort of user base like Apple's. I'm 95% OS9 free, so I don't give a crap, but some people do. And people's feelings count, at least in Apple's marketshare they do.
Sure, vi, NetBSD. I'll let YOU train the 2nd grader in vi. Heck, I'll let you train her in emacs. That'll be a LOT of fun. Oh, and I guess you'll volunteer to support that machine and get it on the school network? Help them print from it? Find old ADB equipment to hook up to it and the NetBSD or OS 7/8 drivers for said equipment?
Let's be realistic. Nobody wants an old duo except hobbyists like the poster.
This kind of strategy - giving poor people old, crappy, non-standard computers - perpetuates the so-called digital divide. And does it really help? People don't want to be continually marginalized by having to use a time machine. And non-profits don't have TONS of money to spend on support and training. They need out-of-the-box solutions and volunteers. Geeks really can help small schools by volunteering services and time. (everyone can, not just geeks, for that matter)
People feel like they're doing something great when they give away an essentially worthless computer, but they're not. They get a warm and fuzzy feeling, but COO from training and support actually detracts from the effectiveness of small organizations.
"They" and "their" as singular pronouns have been in popular use for over 200 years.
;-)
I am too lazy to verify the length of the time "they/their" have been in popular use as neuter pronouns, but I am surprised. I have not run into it. What am I missing?
Come on - if you can write a sentence like this: "Given that language is a set of arbitrary rules which shifts along with culture and usage, why do you have a problem with this?" surely you have a few holdover prescriptivist tendencies yourself!
As long as intention can be clearly conveyed and interpreted, there is no right or wrong in language, especially English.
That is the descriptivist view, to which I adhere, for the most part. However, society imposes a standard upon the language. This dialect, as I'm sure you know, is called "Standard American English (SAE)" or as I like to call it "Tom Brokaw English."
There are lots of reasons society imposes these standards. Some of them are good reasons. Many of them aren't. In any case, everyone who wants to be taken seriously in any formal context needs to know them.
When I get an e-mail from a vendor (usually it's a vendor) with an apostrophe-s for a plural, or a "their" instead of "there" I lose a lot of respect for that person. Is that fair? Probably not. Is it going to happen? Yes. And we can't stop it, so we should teach our kids SAE in addition to whatever non-standard dialect they speak at home.
Still I contend "DEATH TO 'THEY/THEIR' AS SINGULARS"
Well, you're wrong. And I don't give a damn about karma, so mod me down. I don't care.
Alternating pronouns is correct. Using plurals consistently is also correct. ("Users should be able to move their icons around.") Consult any style guide.
As one of my college profs said "Including half of the population is not "politically correct." Yes, Yes, I have a degree in English. Yes, I'm a conservative Republican, so I don't suffer PC crap well. This is just common sense.
(Note: "They" and "their" should NEVER be used as singular neuter pronouns. "Someone left their shoes on the bleachers." ACK!)
--Now setting prefs to filter out ACs--
How many people can answer these questions with a response of No?
Lots and lots of people. Most of them, in fact.
(nt) means "no text"
You're right. Should be clearer. It's complicated by the fact that the driver is called "Wireless Driver."
/.er wouldn't know about this project. Are you a regular OS X user? Maybe you've always had an Airport card ?(NOT a flame - just curious)
I'm a little surprised that an Apple-thread-reading
I saw this on CNN yesterday. I didn't understand how it works from this explanation, but here is the transcript page for NEXT@CNN. (Click August 31)
I lived there from '96 - '98. I'm in the US now and I will hopefully be headed back at some point in the future. I have been back once since '98 for just a few days.
I read the article. You didn't make an argument, and you still haven't made one or said anything new. Do you have anything to add? In effect you said "I agree. I like to insult people with profanity."
I understand you are angry and I appreciate that, but I would like to raise the level of rhetoric. We shouldn't just mod stuff up because we agree with it and we shouldn't post unless we think we have something new to add to the dialogue.
Agreed. Where Japan does differ, however, is that once something is accepted, it does so at a breakneak pace.
Yes, and I think this is true for their culture in general. Witness the conversion to the seven-day week, the rebuilding after the Pacific War (WWII), and on and on. They need to fix their bad debt problems and work on transitioning from a manufacturing-based economy. When (or if) they finally decide to embrace the Information Economy, which IMO will be immensely hard because of their difficulty with English, they will be even more powerful and wealthy. If they don't manage the transition and fix the economy, they will fade. But I don't think that's gonna happen. Do you agree?
Couldn't agree with you more on every point. Thanks for the insightful comments.
Oh, I forgot something..
Nepotism, cronyism, and George W. Bush are who we have to thank for this fiasco more than anyone else, and I for one hold those corrupt...
Do you have some substantive arguments, or do you just call names? Are you referring to Michael Powell? Substantiate your arguments. Don't call names.
Just because you aren't happy with your service doesn't make the poster wrong. The US is more rural than Japan or Korea. That's a valid point. Now Canada..