Of all the anti-trust suits outstanding against Microsoft right now (DOJ, Bristol, Caldera), I think Caldera's has the most merit.
There is overwhelming evidence that MS deliberatly tried to make Win3.1 (at least the beta) unneccessarily incompatible with DRDOS. This 1993 Dr. Dobbs article shows the code that does it and points out how it was deliberatly obfuscated, too.
I've spent many hours researching this topic:), and some of the problems I've found are:
1. No real variation in strategy. The strategy can be summed up as this: if (myForces > yourForces || youExpanded) attack();
2. No adapting to your behavior. It won't build up the appropriate counters for your attackers or defences; it always builds up a general purpose mix of units. If you've blocked off a route, it won't search for a weakness elsewhere.
3. The AI relies on having full map information and enemy unit locations. But it fails to use this information effectively.
4. Too many fatal flaws. E.g. attack with one worker at the begining of the game, and it will counter with all of its workers, taking them off production.
The AI is so predictable, playing against it is simply playing the percentages. Make sure you control more resources, make sure you win the battles, and exploit the computers short sightedness.
This, IMHO, is the antithesis of what strategy games are about. I like games that force you to be creative and innovative to win, and the current crop of RTS game AIs don't measure up.
Set breakpoints in the source editor? Yes: C-c C-b
When in a "break", can you query various variables, including members of structures? Get a list of the local variables? Cast pointers to other types and query them?
Yes: print You can also call functions from the debugger (e.g. print strlen(foo))
Mouse-select text for copying and pasting? Of course.
Grab the latest versions of files from source control programs? See Version Control in Emacs Info.
Can you add conditions to a break, so it doesn't always trigger? Yep: condition in gdb. You can do this in VC++ by going to Edit/Breakpoints and setting the breakpoint properties (warning -- slows things don't to a crawl).
Can you syntax color matching parentheses/brackets? Hmmm, don't know. Possibly. Emacs does the flashing cursor brace/bracket/paren matching which is enough for me.
You can set Emacs key-bindings in VC++, too. It is hidden away under Tools/Customize/Compatibility. Set the current source editor emulation to Epsilon (a windows/DOS emacs-like editor).
This is a good thing. In the short term, it will cause some pain for the small percentage of web developers who actually used the proprietary Netscape or MS DOMs.
But in the long term, it goes a long way to forcing developers to code to the standard. This is a good thing. This can be seen as the opposite of what MS is doing, i.e., encouraging developers to break the standards.
North America imports a lot of hardware from Taiwan. What makes this different?
From a legality standpoint, it should be ok. It doesn't record, so it should fall in the catagory of devices as the Rio and other portable MP3 players. The fact that MP3s are played from CD and not from RAM might cause some concern from the RIAA and their lawyers, though.
Perhaps the demand won't be as large here. MP3s on CD are certainly not widely available here, so access to a computer with a CD burner would be a requirement. Even so, I'd buy one to go with my stereo.
Can we please stop using the term piracy for using unlicenced software? Call it copyright violation, or call it licence infringment, but not piracy. It is a ridiculous term that tries to equate intellectual property theft with "physical" property theft.
Publishers often refer to prohibited copying as "piracy." In this way, they imply that illegal copying is ethically equivalent to attacking ships on the high seas, kidnaping and murdering the people on them.
If you don't believe that illegal copying is just like kidnaping and murder, you might prefer not to use the word "piracy" to describe it. Neutral terms such as "prohibited copying" or "unauthorized copying" are available for use instead. Some of us might even prefer to use a positive term such as "sharing information with your neighbor."
Re:FreeBSD v.s. other *BSD variants
on
Slashdot Tweaks
·
· Score: 1
This picture illustrates most of the BSD family tree (except OpenBSD, which forked from NetBSD): Link.
Microsoft vice Steve Ballmer praised the competition product Apache Webserver in a key note expressly: " do not offer if we with our servers enough features, which justify our prices, are we ourselves debt. Apache is simply better than we, if it concerns, several Sites on a server to hosten ", like that Ballmer with its speech in Vienna for the conception of Office 2000. The WWW server Apache maintained by an open project is a competitor of the Microsoft Internet information server (IIS), a constituent of Windows NT sound Netcraft has the Apache server a spreading of 56, IIS against it only 23 per cent. (jo/ c't)
Widget: generic user interface component. e.g. button, text field, menu, etc. Windows calls them controls. The term originates with the original Xt toolkit, and Motif which is layered on top of Xt.
GTK: aka GTK+. The {Generic|GNU|GIMP} toolkit. A specific GUI toolkit that sits on top of X11. An alternative to Motif and Qt. Unlike Motif, it is not layered on Xt. Started as part of the GIMP project when Motif was dropped because of functionality/availability/licence concerns.
Ah, but who would the NSA have to steal information from? Sun? SGI? HP? Cray? IBM? Do we see a pattern here, like maybe, all of these are U.S.-based companies?
How about Fujitsu, Sony, Hitachi, NEC, Siemens Nixdorf, Bull, Olivetti, Phillips, etc.?
Well, the Mindcraft tests did expose some problems with Linux (or at least raised the priority of some known issues).
For example, Linux did have suboptimal scheduling behavior when many processes are waiting on a single event. This happens when a web server such as Apache forks itself many times to provide ready servers for incoming connections.
The scheduler would awaken all the processes even though only one would actually get the event. The rest would just go back to sleep. So the solution was to just wake one up. Hopefully this speeds up the Linux/Apache web server.
Ok, now we have a high-quality state of the art turn based strategy game for Linux. This joins Quake/Quake2/q3test as high quality first person shooter for Linux.
When will we get a half-decent real-time strategy game for Linux? I looked through the available information on the up and coming titles by Cavedog, Blizzard, Westwood and none of them mention Linux! Damn, I would give my right nut for Linux Starcraft.
Outlook may have a lot of whiz-bang Intelli-*(tm) slickness, but what it really comes down to is that it is pretty lacking in when you are working in an open-standards environment.
Here are some of my biggest beefs. Does Outlook have:
1. Roaming access like Netscape Messenger? As a contractor who spends a significant amount of time on client site, I'd constantly be setting up new mail profiles. With roaming access, all my settings follow me around (with my bookmarks and browser settings too). Plus my Netscape settings are consistant whether I boot into Linux or Windows. (I think Win2000 Intelli-mirror does something similar.)
2. Decent handling of multiple IMAP servers? Makes life much easier when you recieve mail from multiple sources.
3. LDAP address books? Many companies have their e-mail directories available through LDAP. Can Outlook use them?
4. Command line functionality? Sometimes, telnet is your only friend...
5. Available on Unix and Windows platforms? Sounds like Microsoft is getting better here.
6. Mail filters? Ok, I actually use procmail for this, but still. The last version of Outlook I used had the annoying and inexplicable limitation of not allowing (client side) mail filters unless the mail server was MS Exchange.
Until I find a mail client with all of these, I'll stick to Netscape and Pine.
MS porting a package to a non-MS operating system? Not in my lifetime. This is obviously just a vaporware announcement to get the Armies attention.
Why? Because MS's operating systems are its bread and butter, its cash cow. Witness IE and the whole anti-trust deal. They needed IE to succeed (for strategic, not monetary reasons), so they bundled it. Anything that weakens the operating system business won't fly.
I expect this to go as far as IE for Solaris (which they mislabeled "IE for Unix", as in we support (all) Unices). Just lip service to satisfy people who argue "we need (portability|security)".
My advise to the US Army: take a cue from the Navy (can you say "dead in the water"?), and don't touch MS software with a laser guided smart bomb.
That would be fairly ironic, given that the book had the exact opposite message. That is, the book said that military service - and possibly sacrificing your life - is the highest calling of human society. The book was completely clear about the bugs desire to destroy the human race.
I think the movie tried to follow the book; just not very well. Instead of an excellent philosophical movie we got a good action flick. Oh well.
BTW, I highly recommend the book (Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein).
If Red Hat goes public now, it will make Rob Young and the rest of the Red Hat crew a ton of money. Almost guaranteed.
Why?
1. Because traders love the internet. Linux is related to the internet (somewhat). Look at stocks like Amazon (no profits *ever*) and K-TEL (ugh).
2. Operating systems are big money and make good stocks. Witness Microsoft, the company with the largest market capitalization *ever*. Granted, MS does other things besides OS's, and Linux is non-proprietary, so the potential is smaller. But even if Red Hat becomes 1/100th the size of MS it will be huge.
3. Linux is in the news. In case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, Linux is the newest media darling. Even my mom has heard of it now. And news affects stock price. Thousands of traders are sitting out there watching news reports and press releases, trying to get in before the flood on the smallest announcement.
I know I'll be watching Red Hat on IPO day. Hey Rob Y., you got a presidents list?:)
Slashdot Mirror
Does it address the other ext2 limitations? In particular, does it address the lack of metadata for new features such as:
1. access control lists
2. capabilities (keep them out of ELF -- yuck)
3. compression
4. undeletability
Of all the anti-trust suits outstanding against Microsoft right now (DOJ, Bristol, Caldera), I think Caldera's has the most merit.
There is overwhelming evidence that MS deliberatly tried to make Win3.1 (at least the beta) unneccessarily incompatible with DRDOS. This 1993 Dr. Dobbs article shows the code that does it and points out how it was deliberatly obfuscated, too.
Sorry, SC (Broodwar included) sucks.
:), and some of the problems I've found are:
I've spent many hours researching this topic
1. No real variation in strategy. The strategy can be summed up as this:
if (myForces > yourForces || youExpanded)
attack();
2. No adapting to your behavior. It won't build up the appropriate counters for your attackers or defences; it always builds up a general purpose mix of units. If you've blocked off a route, it won't search for a weakness elsewhere.
3. The AI relies on having full map information and enemy unit locations. But it fails to use this information effectively.
4. Too many fatal flaws. E.g. attack with one worker at the begining of the game, and it will counter with all of its workers, taking them off production.
The AI is so predictable, playing against it is simply playing the percentages. Make sure you control more resources, make sure you win the battles, and exploit the computers short sightedness.
This, IMHO, is the antithesis of what strategy games are about. I like games that force you to be creative and innovative to win, and the current crop of RTS game AIs don't measure up.
Anybody know how to get M7 to go through a http proxy? I remember seeing something about modifying prefs.js, but I can't find it anymore.
Even then, on the same hardware GEM was better (I still have a copy).
For what its worth, the GEM source code has been released under the GPL. Here it is.
Remember to start the debugger first: M-: gdb
Set breakpoints in the source editor?
Yes: C-c C-b
When in a "break", can you query various variables, including members of structures? Get a list of the local variables? Cast pointers to other types and query them?
Yes: print
You can also call functions from the debugger (e.g. print strlen(foo))
Mouse-select text for copying and pasting?
Of course.
Grab the latest versions of files from source control programs?
See Version Control in Emacs Info.
Can you add conditions to a break, so it doesn't always trigger?
Yep: condition in gdb. You can do this in VC++ by going to Edit/Breakpoints and setting the breakpoint properties (warning -- slows things don't to a crawl).
Can you syntax color matching parentheses/brackets?
Hmmm, don't know. Possibly. Emacs does the flashing cursor brace/bracket/paren matching which is enough for me.
You can set Emacs key-bindings in VC++, too. It is hidden away under Tools/Customize/Compatibility. Set the current source editor emulation to Epsilon (a windows/DOS emacs-like editor).
Done right, a UNIX IDE would consist of:
1. a replacable editor component, your choice of emacs, vi, etc. compatibility (or better yet, emacs or vi themselves seamlessly integrated)
2. a replacable DDD-ish debugger component with graphical and command-line capabilities
3. a project manager that maintains a human readable Makefile, possibily layered on automake
4. gcc
All of it tied together with CORBA component objects, like the GNOME or KDE COMs.
At least thats how I would do it.
This is a good thing. In the short term, it will cause some pain for the small percentage of web developers who actually used the proprietary Netscape or MS DOMs.
But in the long term, it goes a long way to forcing developers to code to the standard. This is a good thing. This can be seen as the opposite of what MS is doing, i.e., encouraging developers to break the standards.
North America imports a lot of hardware from Taiwan. What makes this different?
From a legality standpoint, it should be ok. It doesn't record, so it should fall in the catagory of devices as the Rio and other portable MP3 players. The fact that MP3s are played from CD and not from RAM might cause some concern from the RIAA and their lawyers, though.
Perhaps the demand won't be as large here. MP3s on CD are certainly not widely available here, so access to a computer with a CD burner would be a requirement. Even so, I'd buy one to go with my stereo.
Can we please stop using the term piracy for using unlicenced software? Call it copyright violation, or call it licence infringment, but not piracy. It is a ridiculous term that tries to equate intellectual property theft with "physical" property theft.
From the FSF website:
Publishers often refer to prohibited copying as "piracy." In this way, they imply that illegal copying is ethically equivalent to attacking ships on the high seas, kidnaping and murdering the people on them.
If you don't believe that illegal copying is just like kidnaping and murder, you might prefer not to use the word "piracy" to describe it. Neutral terms such as "prohibited copying" or "unauthorized copying" are available for use instead. Some of us might even prefer to use a positive term such as "sharing information with your neighbor."
This picture illustrates most of the BSD family tree (except OpenBSD, which forked from NetBSD): Link.
English translation (from babelfish):
Ballmer: Apache is simply better
Microsoft vice Steve Ballmer praised the competition product Apache Webserver in a key note expressly: " do not offer if we with our servers enough features, which justify our prices, are we ourselves debt. Apache is simply better than we, if it concerns, several Sites on a server to hosten ", like that Ballmer with its speech in Vienna for the conception of Office 2000. The WWW server Apache maintained by an open project is a competitor of the Microsoft Internet information server (IIS), a constituent of Windows NT sound Netcraft has the Apache server a spreading of 56, IIS against it only 23 per cent. (jo/ c't)
Widget: generic user interface component. e.g. button, text field, menu, etc. Windows calls them controls. The term originates with the original Xt toolkit, and Motif which is layered on top of Xt.
GTK: aka GTK+. The {Generic|GNU|GIMP} toolkit. A specific GUI toolkit that sits on top of X11. An alternative to Motif and Qt. Unlike Motif, it is not layered on Xt. Started as part of the GIMP project when Motif was dropped because of functionality/availability/licence concerns.
Ah, but who would the NSA have to steal information from? Sun? SGI? HP? Cray? IBM? Do we see a pattern here, like maybe, all of these are U.S.-based companies?
How about Fujitsu, Sony, Hitachi, NEC, Siemens Nixdorf, Bull, Olivetti, Phillips, etc.?
Well, the Mindcraft tests did expose some problems with Linux (or at least raised the priority of some known issues).
For example, Linux did have suboptimal scheduling behavior when many processes are waiting on a single event. This happens when a web server such as Apache forks itself many times to provide ready servers for incoming connections.
The scheduler would awaken all the processes even though only one would actually get the event. The rest would just go back to sleep. So the solution was to just wake one up. Hopefully this speeds up the Linux/Apache web server.
Ok, now we have a high-quality state of the art turn based strategy game for Linux. This joins Quake/Quake2/q3test as high quality first person shooter for Linux.
When will we get a half-decent real-time strategy game for Linux? I looked through the available information on the up and coming titles by Cavedog, Blizzard, Westwood and none of them mention Linux! Damn, I would give my right nut for Linux Starcraft.
Outlook may have a lot of whiz-bang Intelli-*(tm) slickness, but what it really comes down to is that it is pretty lacking in when you are working in an open-standards environment.
Here are some of my biggest beefs. Does Outlook have:
1. Roaming access like Netscape Messenger? As a contractor who spends a significant amount of time on client site, I'd constantly be setting up new mail profiles. With roaming access, all my settings follow me around (with my bookmarks and browser settings too). Plus my Netscape settings are consistant whether I boot into Linux or Windows. (I think Win2000 Intelli-mirror does something similar.)
2. Decent handling of multiple IMAP servers? Makes life much easier when you recieve mail from multiple sources.
3. LDAP address books? Many companies have their e-mail directories available through LDAP. Can Outlook use them?
4. Command line functionality? Sometimes, telnet is your only friend...
5. Available on Unix and Windows platforms? Sounds like Microsoft is getting better here.
6. Mail filters? Ok, I actually use procmail for this, but still. The last version of Outlook I used had the annoying and inexplicable limitation of not allowing (client side) mail filters unless the mail server was MS Exchange.
Until I find a mail client with all of these, I'll stick to Netscape and Pine.
Carmack has awarded the first bug. Apparently to do with an message passed from the server to the client with a %s embedded that chokes up vsprintf.
MS porting a package to a non-MS operating system? Not in my lifetime. This is obviously just a vaporware announcement to get the Armies attention.
Why? Because MS's operating systems are its bread and butter, its cash cow. Witness IE and the whole anti-trust deal. They needed IE to succeed (for strategic, not monetary reasons), so they bundled it. Anything that weakens the operating system business won't fly.
I expect this to go as far as IE for Solaris (which they mislabeled "IE for Unix", as in we support (all) Unices). Just lip service to satisfy people who argue "we need (portability|security)".
My advise to the US Army: take a cue from the Navy (can you say "dead in the water"?), and don't touch MS software with a laser guided smart bomb.
That would be fairly ironic, given that the book had the exact opposite message. That is, the book said that military service - and possibly sacrificing your life - is the highest calling of human society. The book was completely clear about the bugs desire to destroy the human race.
I think the movie tried to follow the book; just not very well. Instead of an excellent philosophical movie we got a good action flick. Oh well.
BTW, I highly recommend the book (Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein).
If Red Hat goes public now, it will make Rob Young and the rest of the Red Hat crew a ton of money. Almost guaranteed.
:)
Why?
1. Because traders love the internet. Linux is related to the internet (somewhat). Look at stocks like Amazon (no profits *ever*) and K-TEL (ugh).
2. Operating systems are big money and make good stocks. Witness Microsoft, the company with the largest market capitalization *ever*. Granted, MS does other things besides OS's, and Linux is non-proprietary, so the potential is smaller. But even if Red Hat becomes 1/100th the size of MS it will be huge.
3. Linux is in the news. In case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, Linux is the newest media darling. Even my mom has heard of it now. And news affects stock price. Thousands of traders are sitting out there watching news reports and press releases, trying to get in before the flood on the smallest announcement.
I know I'll be watching Red Hat on IPO day. Hey Rob Y., you got a presidents list?
Sounds like Aussies are getting a package deal on the two worst aspects of gov't.
Hmmm, I'm tempted to get one of these just to write a kernel driver for it. Imagine playing mp3s with: /dev/mp3
cat song.mp3 >
Sure, here are some contrived examples (indentation is left as an exercise). In each case C and C++ will give different results.
//* */ 2
int main() {
printf("%d\n", sizeof('a'));
}
int main() {
int foo;
foo = 4
+ 1;
printf("%d\n", foo);
}
Good question. IIRC, it was coined by the Cygnus guys. I think it may have something to do with our three-party political system.
:)
Of course, Canada now has five significant parties, so I don't know if that works anymore