Was wondering myself a few days ago:
http://beta.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Q_2067 9294.html
It seems companies are content at just using proprietary messengers, there seem to be many made for local networks. Jabberd does work, but it's not flexible at all. Would make a nice project...
However, Passau University has filed international patents for the automatic isolation of cause-effect chains from computer programs--that is, Delta Debugging applied to program states. This is the core technology of AskIgor. This means that if you want to make money out of AskIgor technologies, you'll have to license the patent.
Arg, I thought us Euro's didn't have to worry about software patents anymore. Then again, isn't it a bit weird to have AskIgor licensed under the GPL and filing patents on it at the same time? IANAL, but is this possible? You file a patent to make cash from it by licensing it to others (or using the technique yourself), or you make it opensource and give it away freely. They say that "Delta Debugging" isn't patented, but when it's applied to program states it is (will be).
Well, then why another distro? Morphix is free, it isn't build by a company (poor student here). I welcome any and all help I can get. Everything made for it is licenced under the GPL. There are dozens of Morphix-derivatives ("morph's"), with instructions on how to make them, a small community for building-problems and more morph's are being made as we speak.
I've already commented about the same in another reply, and tend to keep quiet when it comes to promoting Morphix, but you can understand that it's frustrating when you give the same distro on a platter and people are talking about making (almost) the same thing. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, use what comes close and make it better (Raymond said it best, did that when I decided to base Morphix on Knoppix).
Then again, I welcome any and all competition, so UserLinux: bring it on!:)
/me goes back to porting Fedora-tools to Debian...
Like there aren't enough half-baked distro's already;)
I mean, he could have supported Morphix, which is moving in exactly the direction Bruce wants to go (even the 3D-drivers), and I really could use all the help I can get on it. I love the competition, but if you want integration of distributions the last thing you need is yet another one.
Bruce, if you want integration: put your weight behind one of the existing distro's (doesn't have to be mine, but I wouldn't mind;) If you want yet another distro then go right ahead with UserLinux. I hope it would rock well enough for me to (ab)use in the true Free Software spirit, but get ready for a serious amount of work getting everything up to speed. I've been there and am still enjoying the ride after 8 months of work:)
We already have a Gamer-module (by default filled with a large number of opensource games) with Enemy Territory, and also have Q3A and UT2k3-demo modules. They work, are fun at lan-parties, but besides that not a lot of people are going to reboot just to play a game (especially when booting could take a few minutes).
There are a few small retailers selling Morphix Game pre-installed, though. Comes close to having a console:)
Re:Jess in action somewhat fustrating...
on
Jess in Action
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Trust me, you're not the only one
A few months ago, we had to implement a rule-based system for our AI course, using Jess. Now, I'm all for CLISP-like syntax, but it's very annoying to actually get something working in Jess: the documentation on the site was incomplete and sketchy (had to discover how stuff worked the hard way, by breaking it) and also to me it seemed Jess wasn't even complete (defqueries were very messy, although using the java API should have proven better results. maybe). Our Mr. Friedman-Hill seemed to be too busy working on his book for the last 4/5 years and wasn't interested in developing something that actually was complete.
In short, my opinion is: don't use it. There are far better alternatives for rule-based solutions, maybe not as the java API Jess is (although I havn't used drool either). It'll save you a real headache once you actually use the beast and need something working... then again, I might just be disillusionised, as I was hoping it to be far more useful...
Near the end Linus was saying something about pipechecking, didn't have a clue what he was on about ('some kind of IPC-thingy?'). Was a google whack, only then did I notice it was about typechecking. pipe/type. Ahh, nevermind, was an interesting read nonetheless. Was a bit harsh on OO.org though...
Ditto. They're cheap, and give you the freedom to do what you want with your domain without extra costs. No newsletters or other crap, they only contact you when your domain will expire. A registar without the fuss.
FYI, Apache isn't licensed under the GPL. But you're right, if you use something under the GPL but don't change it's code the code doesn't have to be distributed afaik (as it hasn't been modified). The difference is between using and modifying the software.
With kernel modules this is different again, as you can link non-GPL'ed with the kernel (like nvidia's prop driver does), and even then you don't have to distribute the module's code. You only have to distribute the code of the kernel if you've changed it, or one of the already existing GPL-licensed modules, directly.
IANAL, of course. But if Linksys had modified and distributed Linux directly, they should just release the code and be done with it. Forbes does have a point (FSF suing Cisco, while SCO is suing IBM, as we do balk at the latter but not at the first), but the GPL needs to be enforced by someone if it wants to maintain it's credibility and keep us holding hands and singing our marxist songs while coding away. IMHO, the FSF shouldn't settle, or have settled, it should sue to get the code opened. That should be it's goal, nothing less...
For all I care, SCO can rot, but if the article is anywhere near true it does indicate that we should be watchful, even regarding the FSF. There's nothing wrong with a good dose of self-criticism.
When that deadline is just 24 hours off, it all comes down to either having good (ie. working, fast and neatly written) code or having a pile of rubbish in need of a serious rewrite. A customer / your users couldn't care less if you use C# or COBOL. You're perfectly right in that to get there, you need to exploit the strengths and make up for the weaknesses of your programming language. Only then do you have a chance in getting some sleep in the next 24 hours.
Another aspect is having a project leader that knows how to interact with users. It's a very simple way to either rise above otherwise mediocre programming skills, or to turn a perfectly good project into a deserted wasteland. People like enthusiastic or helpful leaders, not whiners or hermits. Running an Open Source project means more than just writing code.
Was just finishing an essay on the 'OSS development model', partly on my own experiences from my own projects. Although being an undergraduate AI, having a BSc/MSc really doesn't help you to lead an open source project. The only way you can learn to lead a project, is to learn by experience. If you lead a project that sticks out, it's very much a matter of having the right people-skills, imo...
well, I do want to note that Morphix has had a Gnome module for about 6 months now (was the second thing i made, after the really nice XFCE4 desktop-module, my personal fav.). Saw something about Gnome 2.4 in another comment... you never know what I have been cooking up:)
anyway, Gnoppix will be using Morphix's install/configuration tools. I've talked to Sven of the Gnoppix team, and it seems like they don't like inventing the wheel again, so we'll work on them together (now just to convince them on using our modular design, but we'll leave that for another day). You can read his notice here.
Currently we have the (gtk2) installer and a few configuration tools, but a (gtk2) partitioner is nearing completion which will replace cfdisk, together with a few new tools bundled together in a control-panel-thingy. Debian is too nice to be user-unfriendly:)
Probably, looks fake enough for me, probably a Akamai-frontend of some sort (didn't they have a distributed content network? not bothered enough to check, but probably a joke from their admin's). Do note that windowsupdate.com (thus without the leading www.) uses Win 2k3 and IIS, so don't get your hopes up...
Also, linuxsucks.org uses Linux. It's probably been noted by enough posters, but ohhh, the bitter irony of it all:)
69% of these comments are about how stupid the administrators are, and that they need to read their Linux-for-dummies again. These are comments from the general Linux zealots^Wusers, and are naturally ignored. We already know that admin's are brain-dead. 7% talk about how safe their MacOS is, but 93% will skip those comments, as Apple is just another Microsoft OS (MS has a large portion of Apple's stock) 3% blame Apache, and promote the use of proprietary solutions as they are So Much More Secure(tm). Good for a laugh. 8% are the BSD-trolls. Only problem is that they still have to use lynx to post their remarks, nobody cares about them anymore. Especially not the general Linux zealot^Wuser reading their posts. BSD, pfff, something that free can't be good. I mean, Windows used their code... 6% are the trolls ranting against something called google, that makes all those script kiddies so-called blackhats after enough time. Yes, your kid brother has just grown up, and has exploited apache and your 2.4.20 kernel to gain root privileges on your box. Even worse, he's just told your mother about your secret pr0n stash in/root/.this/.is/.secret/. Life's a b*tch... 4% are the MS-trolls, those who have lived under a rock for the last decade. Or at least the last few weeks. Anyway, there would be more of these posts, but i'm afraid 98% of people using Windows(tm) were attacked by all em scary worms out there, and rebooted for the 50th time today. Whoopie! No Blue -Screens anymore! 2% are the ones commenting the BSD trolls, but nobody sees their remarks or could care less. 1% are the lame people that rant about how deceptive statistics are... this post is one:
It won't. Really, if a kernel works for you, and you have no interest in upgrading it if a new release only contains bugfixes, don't. It would be different if there were serious security issues, but it's just a bugfixing-release (with speedtouch usb and crypto support added). Repeat after me: 'My Life Will Go On With An Older Kernel', there ya go...
So the difference is that SCO didn't say, "Here is my copyrighted material, and I'm knowingly and willingly giving it to you under the GPL. Here's my copyrighted work."
You're not going to see that when you go into Linux. You're not going to see "copyright, The SCO Group." You'll see copyright IBM[bladiebla]
Not quite SCO, but still:
% grep -rn "Caldera"/usr/src/linux/*
arch/i386/kernel/smpboot.c:12: * Original development of Linux SMP code supported by Caldera.
arch/x86_64/kernel/smpboot.c:13: * Original development of Linux SMP code supported by Caldera.
drivers/net/tlan.c:8: * (C) 1997-1998 Caldera, Inc.
drivers/net/tlan.h:10: * (C) 1997-1998 Caldera, Inc. etc etc etc...
Then again, who cares, SCO laywers are the real trolls here
We just ignore anything SCO says or does> They've had enough/.-promotion of their fight against Linux, and quite frankly, each new bit of news is being blown up like they really have a clue what they are doing. Lets just ignore SCO and their demented actions, let IBM and Redhat fight it out, and in the mean time actually have some serious news we actually care a bit about...
Well, at least one (M$-OS's get ritually burned here). Q3A, UT and UT2003 were all available for Linux, and I've thrown weeks/months/years into playing them online. Then came Enemy Territory, and it's chewing up all my time now. It seems that 'Hardcore Gamers' is definied as all those CS freaks, but if you look beyond CS you'll find quite a few interesting titles, even for the hardcore gamer.
However, the only thing I sometimes miss are good Linux-based RTS-games. Starcraft works perfectly using Wine, but thats already pretty ancient by todays standards.
Oh, and for those causal gamers, try out the Morphix Game-flavour livecd. It's full of open-source games, and the 0.4 one has Enemy Territory, with modules available for Q3 and UT2003-demo's. It might not convince you completly, but it's fun to just have a cd full of games to take with you, or to get those kid's quiet. Best of all: you don't need to install a thing, it just boots and works.
Cool indeed! You could have worms working together to attack machines, and groups of other worms attacking the first ones. The start of a sort of worm-biodiversity, all in a race to obtain as many hosts as possible or clear others out.
Next thing, we're having worms using evolution-like ways of adapting to eachother: "hey, this host used to be one of ours, but now certain files were removed, lets rename our files to counter the threat!"... maybe T3's SkyNet isn't that far off:)
Gotta love chaos
Re:You can detect manufactured diamons
on
The Diamond Age
·
· Score: 2, Informative
This is mentioned a few times in the article, it's clear you havn't read it. It goes on and on about the ways to detect 'cultured' diamonds. Also:
"De Beers?" he says. "Nobody cares if it's from De Beers. My clients just want a nice diamond."
Good to see a monopoly coming to an end. If it's OS's or diamonds, a monopoly and scarcity hurt the end-user/wearer's pocket. Good work and kudos to Apollo and Gemesis for their hard work. I for one know my girl wouldn't mind if i gave her a 'perfect' diamond ring (and i wouldn't mind paying a little less than the fortune those stones cost now:)
One group consisted of 60 users aged 25 to 55 with computer skills but no prior experience with Linux or Windows XP.
Well, what computer skills did they have? Windows 95 skills? DOS and Wordperfect? Mac? The differences between WinXX and WinXP are a lot less than those between WinXX and KDE. Given that they didn't take a few hours for their tasks, knowledge on the Windows-IDE and familiarity with Office/IE/Explorer would easily tip the balance towords WinXP
Then again, I think we tend to underestimate the flexibility users have. I mean, the same users were able to learn key-combinations when they used Wordperfect 10 years ago, and some were damn fast using them. Good introductions and documentation on how to get stuff done, thats what counts. Once users know how to get mundane stuff done, they couldn't care less if they're looking at tux or clippy...
The Dynix patch mentioned in the lawsuit:
http://lse.sourceforge.net/locking/rcu/patches/rcl ock-2.4.1-01.patch
Thus a patch for 2.4.1, but the code isn't in the 2.4.20 linux kernel proper, well, atleast not anymore. Now the big question is: Is the code still in the kernel, and has the patch entered linux proper?
Slashdot Mirror
Was wondering myself a few days ago: http://beta.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Q_2067 9294.html
It seems companies are content at just using proprietary messengers, there seem to be many made for local networks. Jabberd does work, but it's not flexible at all. Would make a nice project...
Arg, I thought us Euro's didn't have to worry about software patents anymore. Then again, isn't it a bit weird to have AskIgor licensed under the GPL and filing patents on it at the same time? IANAL, but is this possible? You file a patent to make cash from it by licensing it to others (or using the technique yourself), or you make it opensource and give it away freely. They say that "Delta Debugging" isn't patented, but when it's applied to program states it is (will be).
Gotta love IP...
Okay, it's not as good as Tux & Linus bending spoons, but it's a start and I have the karma to burn. Any FX guys in the house? ;-)
I've already commented about the same in another reply, and tend to keep quiet when it comes to promoting Morphix, but you can understand that it's frustrating when you give the same distro on a platter and people are talking about making (almost) the same thing. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, use what comes close and make it better (Raymond said it best, did that when I decided to base Morphix on Knoppix).
Then again, I welcome any and all competition, so UserLinux: bring it on! :)
I mean, he could have supported Morphix, which is moving in exactly the direction Bruce wants to go (even the 3D-drivers), and I really could use all the help I can get on it. I love the competition, but if you want integration of distributions the last thing you need is yet another one.
Bruce, if you want integration: put your weight behind one of the existing distro's (doesn't have to be mine, but I wouldn't mind ;) If you want yet another distro then go right ahead with UserLinux. I hope it would rock well enough for me to (ab)use in the true Free Software spirit, but get ready for a serious amount of work getting everything up to speed. I've been there and am still enjoying the ride after 8 months of work :)
Cheers,
Alex
We already have a Gamer-module (by default filled with a large number of opensource games) with Enemy Territory, and also have Q3A and UT2k3-demo modules. They work, are fun at lan-parties, but besides that not a lot of people are going to reboot just to play a game (especially when booting could take a few minutes).
There are a few small retailers selling Morphix Game pre-installed, though. Comes close to having a console :)
A few months ago, we had to implement a rule-based system for our AI course, using Jess. Now, I'm all for CLISP-like syntax, but it's very annoying to actually get something working in Jess: the documentation on the site was incomplete and sketchy (had to discover how stuff worked the hard way, by breaking it) and also to me it seemed Jess wasn't even complete (defqueries were very messy, although using the java API should have proven better results. maybe). Our Mr. Friedman-Hill seemed to be too busy working on his book for the last 4/5 years and wasn't interested in developing something that actually was complete.
In short, my opinion is: don't use it. There are far better alternatives for rule-based solutions, maybe not as the java API Jess is (although I havn't used drool either). It'll save you a real headache once you actually use the beast and need something working... then again, I might just be disillusionised, as I was hoping it to be far more useful...
as always, my 2 eurocents
Near the end Linus was saying something about pipechecking, didn't have a clue what he was on about ('some kind of IPC-thingy?'). Was a google whack, only then did I notice it was about typechecking. pipe/type. Ahh, nevermind, was an interesting read nonetheless. Was a bit harsh on OO.org though...
Ditto. They're cheap, and give you the freedom to do what you want with your domain without extra costs. No newsletters or other crap, they only contact you when your domain will expire. A registar without the fuss.
If they didn't, they just bought themselfs some really fancy hardware for their pr0n collection...
With kernel modules this is different again, as you can link non-GPL'ed with the kernel (like nvidia's prop driver does), and even then you don't have to distribute the module's code. You only have to distribute the code of the kernel if you've changed it, or one of the already existing GPL-licensed modules, directly.
IANAL, of course. But if Linksys had modified and distributed Linux directly, they should just release the code and be done with it. Forbes does have a point (FSF suing Cisco, while SCO is suing IBM, as we do balk at the latter but not at the first), but the GPL needs to be enforced by someone if it wants to maintain it's credibility and keep us holding hands and singing our marxist songs while coding away. IMHO, the FSF shouldn't settle, or have settled, it should sue to get the code opened. That should be it's goal, nothing less...
For all I care, SCO can rot, but if the article is anywhere near true it does indicate that we should be watchful, even regarding the FSF. There's nothing wrong with a good dose of self-criticism.
Don't count on it though
anyway, Gnoppix will be using Morphix's install/configuration tools. I've talked to Sven of the Gnoppix team, and it seems like they don't like inventing the wheel again, so we'll work on them together (now just to convince them on using our modular design, but we'll leave that for another day). You can read his notice here.
Currently we have the (gtk2) installer and a few configuration tools, but a (gtk2) partitioner is nearing completion which will replace cfdisk, together with a few new tools bundled together in a control-panel-thingy. Debian is too nice to be user-unfriendly :)
Also, linuxsucks.org uses Linux. It's probably been noted by enough posters, but ohhh, the bitter irony of it all :)
And now back to your regular SCO-bashing...
69% of these comments are about how stupid the administrators are, and that they need to read their Linux-for-dummies again. These are comments from the general Linux zealots^Wusers, and are naturally ignored. We already know that admin's are brain-dead. /root/.this/.is/.secret/. Life's a b*tch...
7% talk about how safe their MacOS is, but 93% will skip those comments, as Apple is just another Microsoft OS (MS has a large portion of Apple's stock)
3% blame Apache, and promote the use of proprietary solutions as they are So Much More Secure(tm). Good for a laugh.
8% are the BSD-trolls. Only problem is that they still have to use lynx to post their remarks, nobody cares about them anymore. Especially not the general Linux zealot^Wuser reading their posts. BSD, pfff, something that free can't be good. I mean, Windows used their code...
6% are the trolls ranting against something called google, that makes all those script kiddies so-called blackhats after enough time. Yes, your kid brother has just grown up, and has exploited apache and your 2.4.20 kernel to gain root privileges on your box. Even worse, he's just told your mother about your secret pr0n stash in
4% are the MS-trolls, those who have lived under a rock for the last decade. Or at least the last few weeks. Anyway, there would be more of these posts, but i'm afraid 98% of people using Windows(tm) were attacked by all em scary worms out there, and rebooted for the 50th time today. Whoopie! No Blue -Screens anymore!
2% are the ones commenting the BSD trolls, but nobody sees their remarks or could care less.
1% are the lame people that rant about how deceptive statistics are... this post is one:
lies, damned lies and statistics.
We now return to our regular programming...
It won't. Really, if a kernel works for you, and you have no interest in upgrading it if a new release only contains bugfixes, don't. It would be different if there were serious security issues, but it's just a bugfixing-release (with speedtouch usb and crypto support added). Repeat after me: 'My Life Will Go On With An Older Kernel', there ya go...
Not quite SCO, but still:
Then again, who cares, SCO laywers are the real trolls hereWe just ignore anything SCO says or does> They've had enough /.-promotion of their fight against Linux, and quite frankly, each new bit of news is being blown up like they really have a clue what they are doing. Lets just ignore SCO and their demented actions, let IBM and Redhat fight it out, and in the mean time actually have some serious news we actually care a bit about...
However, the only thing I sometimes miss are good Linux-based RTS-games. Starcraft works perfectly using Wine, but thats already pretty ancient by todays standards.
Oh, and for those causal gamers, try out the Morphix Game-flavour livecd. It's full of open-source games, and the 0.4 one has Enemy Territory, with modules available for Q3 and UT2003-demo's. It might not convince you completly, but it's fun to just have a cd full of games to take with you, or to get those kid's quiet. Best of all: you don't need to install a thing, it just boots and works.
And now back to our regular programming
Next thing, we're having worms using evolution-like ways of adapting to eachother: "hey, this host used to be one of ours, but now certain files were removed, lets rename our files to counter the threat!"... maybe T3's SkyNet isn't that far off :)
Gotta love chaos
Then again, I think we tend to underestimate the flexibility users have. I mean, the same users were able to learn key-combinations when they used Wordperfect 10 years ago, and some were damn fast using them. Good introductions and documentation on how to get stuff done, thats what counts. Once users know how to get mundane stuff done, they couldn't care less if they're looking at tux or clippy...
never mind, mod me down:
http://lwn.net/Articles/36164/
The Dynix patch mentioned in the lawsuit: http://lse.sourceforge.net/locking/rcu/patches/rcl ock-2.4.1-01.patch
Thus a patch for 2.4.1, but the code isn't in the 2.4.20 linux kernel proper, well, atleast not anymore. Now the big question is: Is the code still in the kernel, and has the patch entered linux proper?