Well, since almost 90% is still using IE, it is logical to assume that most of the exploits, etc etc are targeted towards it. I personally know of many people that use alternative browsers just because of that. Being part of the minority in that case makes you a somewhat more difficult target (not invincible though). So even if IE7 becomes better than firefox or opera, it won't matter. If it is going to be used be the average user, many people will avoid it because of that .
I once read in an older post on/. (sorry can't find it) that the European Space Agency has implemented a hardened Sparc implementation based on the standard. Sad that the article fails to mention it completely. Here is an interesting link though. I heard those puppies can work under radiation levels that would fry a normal UltraSparc. If anyone has more information that would be very nice.
[rant]And what's more sad is that we are getting to the point where the x86 has become almost a monoculture, which is way very bad. Apparently there are lots of folks who think that the only processors around are named "pentiums". [/rant]
What a pile of horseshit. This capability has been there since windows 98 if memory serves. I can remember photoshop images appearing as miniature thumbnails in explorer. Has this guy Allchin actually ever used windows? Because from the sound of it he might as well be writing his stupid article on a Mac.
It was my impression that one of the reasons for FreeBSD-5.x was to rearchitecture several parts of the kernel for better SMP support. I know, I know, there were problems but it seems that it had to be done, and the sooner the better.
Now, if DragonFlyBSD continues down the road that was set by the 4.x train, what is going to be done about multiprocessor systems? I mean, multicore processors are right around the corner and other OS's (besides the BSD's I mean) like Linux are getting better and better(I won't even bother to mention Solaris).
I do not profess to be some kind of expert, anyone has anything informative to say about DragonFly's plans on this?
I don't know what should worry me the most: The fact that some people actually believe what this post says or the fact that some other people failed to see that it is funny and they jump to respond.
This is the first thing that came to my mind when I have read this article. When people try to map the interior of the earth using advanced techniques they discover something more than they expected.
IMHO a must read and a trully great short story by the famous English author.
If sick people can get cured by something like this, we can't afford not to exploit it.
Let's just not forget that there is not such thing as evil knowledge. The way we use it makes good or evil.
Re:Since when did algorithms became patentable
on
VLC & European Patents
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Thanks! But isn't it an oxymoron that projects and software that are around for years will become illegal suddenly? I mean, presently, nobody has the ability to patent an algorithm in Europe. So, imagine someone in Europe that has thought of an original algorithm for, say, image compression. He is the first to think of it, but naturally he can't patent it. A year later, a company in America goes an patents the same technology. Now suddenly the EC decides to pass this stupid stupid stupid law. The original inventor would be in danger of getting sued for using something he originaly invented.
Obviously you haven't RTFA because if you did, you would have noticed that he is anwering why they don't want to use the GPL ON THEIR PROJECTS.Sun microsystems has been getting a lot of bashing from slashdot over its OpenSolaris license (CDDL I think) in the past three months, so, well, he has the right to answer in his blog why they created it instead of using the GPL or whatever else.
If you disagree, fine, but plz don't spit out bullshit like "Nobody is forcing Mr. Schwartz to make use of GPL software" or "Sun is in no position to change the rules". It is their source and they can do whatever they see fit with it.
Considering Cpt. Kirks sexual performance during the Enterprise's 5-year mission, he should litteraly wreak havok among the female population (human and alien) of the academy.
Yeah, whatever. It is most surprising that you believe that the developement of a project of that magnitude could be simply "picked up" by *any* other company. Let's take an existing open source project for example, say OO.org. If -hypothetically- it was to be abandoned by Sun microsystems, do you believe that another company could simply download the source and start developing? Get real dude.
customers could be assured of continued support as long as there was demand
Has anyone understood how exactly can this be assured? I mean, if the guys who developed it (even if it is open source) abandon it you are pretty much in the same situation. Support through forums and such is great for simple problems and questions/answers but when it comes to bug fixes or (god forbid!) feature requests, answers like "it will be ready when it is ready" or "go implement it yourself" are abundant. I am taking into account the fact that VB is simplified on purpose so no VB developer would want to start messing with its source even if it was available.
WinFS will allow you to add more meta data to those images, storing the Location, Date taken etc information right there with the image, rather than in the filesystem tree. This allows you to get rid of folders altogether, and have a situation more similiar to the labels system in Gmail - a photo can now be in several 'folders', eg location, resolution, project, allowing you to group dissimiliar items together without having to maintain seperate copies of an item, or symlinks etc.
Hmm to get rid of directories the tagging system would have to be riggidly defined or it would easily lead to complete chaos. Do you have any information whether they are going to use the semantic web framework to tag files?
What has won me over from M$ office is mainly the excellent support for my language. You just grab the version for your language, run the installer and voila!..spell checker, hyphenator all in place and with excellent accuracy. No activations, no product keys, no EULAS. In 5' you have a fully localized working opensource office suite!.. If you stick to M$ you either have to find some form of addon pack for your language (crappy crappy crappy) or get a localized version (and pray that they won't charge you high).
Community support has made OO *VERY* relevant in situations like these. From what I have seen OO2 has a much more agreeable interface and the load times are roughly the same (perhaps slightly better). Well, from my point of view, it definitely gets better all the time...
Apparently Mr. Zealot doesn't recall his favorite SUN platform's proprietary GUI, Motif.
Which is quite natural really, because:
1)Motif is not a proprietary product of Sun. It is owned by the Open Software Foundation which was formed by IBM,DEC and HP. 2)Sun stopped developing motif applications a long time ago. Last time I checked they were actually contributors to GNOME. Solaris has a gnome desktop available (for those who don't want to use CDE) for a couple of years.
I was taking a look at plan 9 and I was impressed by the feature that allows every single process to have a unique perspective of the file system. For example, if a process wants to draw in its window, there is a special file in/dev (I think) that maps on it own window and so on. Features like this are implemented via special handling in normal Unix and are probably rare.
These ideas could perhaps extend the philosophy of "everything is a file" and at the same time improve security.
Oh please, this discussion has already deteriorated to a point where we barely understand each other.
This thing you are quoting from the lkml serves nothing more than to confirm beyond doubt what the original poster was saying. So the fact remains that there is no consistent way in which the modules can interact with the kernel.
If you think this is an advantage, I really have no problem with that. But I retain the right to personally believe that it is a disadvantage and should be rectified in order for Linux to remain relevant. But from what I am reading it seems that the big honcho himself doesn't even want to discuss it. You know, it can be advantageous to be firm on your beliefs but the line is thin from there to stuborness.
It was insightful since many of us are indeed having that sort of problems.
Sorry to break it to you like this, but it IS awkward to change the API between minor releases. Please don't try to reason from effect back to cause by saying that most drivers are already embedded in the source tree of the kernel.
The fact that it is Linus Torvalds' doing does not make automatically make it right or wrong either. Wouldn't you think that trying to enforce policy (i.e. to convince manufacturers to open source drivers) through bad engineering (i.e. changing the API's frequently) is contradiction in itself?
Or should I believe that Linux developers are deliberately making changes not to accomodate the users of the kernel, but to force the makers of drivers to open-source them?
Oh, and if the some guys in the Linux community want to play the "put up or shut up" game, perhaps they need a reality check. The world hasn't been conquered yet and there are still alternatives that, along with other advantages, do maintain binary compatibility BTW.
Some years ago a friend of mine was going through his military service and his specialty was driving large vehicles. You know, busses, tracks etc. One day the two of us took a 50-seater bus for a ride. The bottomline is that if the bus is devoided of other people, it is a dream: First, you are WAY above other drivers and feel sort of a king especialy when you can see past the traffic jam, second, now you can transport the sofa which couldn't fit your ordinary car, third, safety is great (not for the other cars though) and last but not least, you can still impress the chicks contrary to popular belief.
Now isn't that worth a measly 50 litres of petrol every day?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, since almost 90% is still using IE, it is logical to assume that most of the exploits, etc etc are targeted towards it. I personally know of many people that use alternative browsers just because of that. Being part of the minority in that case makes you a somewhat more difficult target (not invincible though). So even if IE7 becomes better than firefox or opera, it won't matter. If it is going to be used be the average user, many people will avoid it because of that .
I once read in an older post on /. (sorry can't find it) that the European Space Agency has implemented a hardened Sparc implementation based on the standard. Sad that the article fails to mention it completely. Here is an interesting link though. I heard those puppies can work under radiation levels that would fry a normal UltraSparc. If anyone has more information that would be very nice.
[rant]And what's more sad is that we are getting to the point where the x86 has become almost a monoculture, which is way very bad. Apparently there are lots of folks who think that the only processors around are named "pentiums". [/rant]
What a pile of horseshit. This capability has been there since windows 98 if memory serves. I can remember photoshop images appearing as miniature thumbnails in explorer. Has this guy Allchin actually ever used windows? Because from the sound of it he might as well be writing his stupid article on a Mac.
Where did you read that? I have always known it as "gnothi seafton". And, well, I speak Greek too ;)
It was my impression that one of the reasons for FreeBSD-5.x was to rearchitecture several parts of the kernel for better SMP support. I know, I know, there were problems but it seems that it had to be done, and the sooner the better.
Now, if DragonFlyBSD continues down the road that was set by the 4.x train, what is going to be done about multiprocessor systems? I mean, multicore processors are right around the corner and other OS's (besides the BSD's I mean) like Linux are getting better and better(I won't even bother to mention Solaris).
I do not profess to be some kind of expert, anyone has anything informative to say about DragonFly's plans on this?
Count me in.
--
Dr. Tolian Soran
I don't know what should worry me the most: The fact that some people actually believe what this post says or the fact that some other people failed to see that it is funny and they jump to respond.
...by Arthur Clark.
This is the first thing that came to my mind when I have read this article. When people try to map the interior of the earth using advanced techniques they discover something more than they expected.
IMHO a must read and a trully great short story by the famous English author.
If sick people can get cured by something like this, we can't afford not to exploit it.
Let's just not forget that there is not such thing as evil knowledge. The way we use it makes good or evil.
Thanks! But isn't it an oxymoron that projects and software that are around for years will become illegal suddenly? I mean, presently, nobody has the ability to patent an algorithm in Europe. So, imagine someone in Europe that has thought of an original algorithm for, say, image compression. He is the first to think of it, but naturally he can't patent it. A year later, a company in America goes an patents the same technology. Now suddenly the EC decides to pass this stupid stupid stupid law. The original inventor would be in danger of getting sued for using something he originaly invented.
...in Europe? I thought that this is possible only in America.
I am not being ironic, could someone clarify this?
Obviously you haven't RTFA because if you did, you would have noticed that he is anwering why they don't want to use the GPL ON THEIR PROJECTS.Sun microsystems has been getting a lot of bashing from slashdot over its OpenSolaris license (CDDL I think) in the past three months, so, well, he has the right to answer in his blog why they created it instead of using the GPL or whatever else.
If you disagree, fine, but plz don't spit out bullshit like "Nobody is forcing Mr. Schwartz to make use of GPL software" or "Sun is in no position to change the rules". It is their source and they can do whatever they see fit with it.
Hmmm, they could do it right if they wanted.
Considering Cpt. Kirks sexual performance during the Enterprise's 5-year mission, he should litteraly wreak havok among the female population (human and alien) of the academy.
Yeah, whatever. It is most surprising that you believe that the developement of a project of that magnitude could be simply "picked up" by *any* other company.
Let's take an existing open source project for example, say OO.org. If -hypothetically- it was to be abandoned by Sun microsystems, do you believe that another company could simply download the source and start developing? Get real dude.
customers could be assured of continued support as long as there was demand
Has anyone understood how exactly can this be assured? I mean, if the guys who developed it (even if it is open source) abandon it you are pretty much in the same situation. Support through forums and such is great for simple problems and questions/answers but when it comes to bug fixes or (god forbid!) feature requests, answers like "it will be ready when it is ready" or "go implement it yourself" are abundant.
I am taking into account the fact that VB is simplified on purpose so no VB developer would want to start messing with its source even if it was available.
WinFS will allow you to add more meta data to those images, storing the Location, Date taken etc information right there with the image, rather than in the filesystem tree. This allows you to get rid of folders altogether, and have a situation more similiar to the labels system in Gmail - a photo can now be in several 'folders', eg location, resolution, project, allowing you to group dissimiliar items together without having to maintain seperate copies of an item, or symlinks etc.
Hmm to get rid of directories the tagging system would have to be riggidly defined or it would easily lead to complete chaos. Do you have any information whether they are going to use the semantic web framework to tag files?
What has won me over from M$ office is mainly the excellent support for my language. You just grab the version for your language, run the installer and voila!..spell checker, hyphenator all in place and with excellent accuracy. No activations, no product keys, no EULAS. In 5' you have a fully localized working opensource office suite!.. If you stick to M$ you either have to find some form of addon pack for your language (crappy crappy crappy) or get a localized version (and pray that they won't charge you high).
Community support has made OO *VERY* relevant in situations like these. From what I have seen OO2 has a much more agreeable interface and the load times are roughly the same (perhaps slightly better). Well, from my point of view, it definitely gets better all the time...
Apparently Mr. Zealot doesn't recall his favorite SUN platform's proprietary GUI, Motif.
Which is quite natural really, because:
1)Motif is not a proprietary product of Sun. It is owned by the Open Software Foundation which was formed by IBM,DEC and HP.
2)Sun stopped developing motif applications a long time ago. Last time I checked they were actually contributors to GNOME. Solaris has a gnome desktop available (for those who don't want to use CDE) for a couple of years.
I was taking a look at plan 9 and I was impressed by the feature that allows every single process to have a unique perspective of the file system. For example, if a process wants to draw in its window, there is a special file in /dev (I think) that maps on it own window and so on. Features like this are implemented via special handling in normal Unix and are probably rare.
These ideas could perhaps extend the philosophy of "everything is a file" and at the same time improve security.
Operate your own Tokamak reactor
looking for wrongs to right and balances to be restored
Yes, I can see it in my head:
KUNG FU: The next generation
The great great grandson of Quai Chang Kane walks out of the past....
Oh please, this discussion has already deteriorated to a point where we barely understand each other.
This thing you are quoting from the lkml serves nothing more than to confirm beyond doubt what the original poster was saying. So the fact remains that there is no consistent way in which the modules can interact with the kernel.
If you think this is an advantage, I really have no problem with that. But I retain the right to personally believe that it is a disadvantage and should be rectified in order for Linux to remain relevant. But from what I am reading it seems that the big honcho himself doesn't even want to discuss it. You know, it can be advantageous to be firm on your beliefs but the line is thin from there to stuborness.
Dude,
It was insightful since many of us are indeed having that sort of problems.
Sorry to break it to you like this, but it IS awkward to change the API between minor releases. Please don't try to reason from effect back to cause by saying that most drivers are already embedded in the source tree of the kernel.
The fact that it is Linus Torvalds' doing does not make automatically make it right or wrong either. Wouldn't you think that trying to enforce policy (i.e. to convince manufacturers to open source drivers) through bad engineering (i.e. changing the API's frequently) is contradiction in itself?
Or should I believe that Linux developers are deliberately making changes not to accomodate the users of the kernel, but to force the makers of drivers to open-source them?
Oh, and if the some guys in the Linux community want to play the "put up or shut up" game, perhaps they need a reality check. The world hasn't been conquered yet and there are still alternatives that, along with other advantages, do maintain binary compatibility BTW.
Some years ago a friend of mine was going through his military service and his specialty was driving large vehicles. You know, busses, tracks etc. One day the two of us took a 50-seater bus for a ride. The bottomline is that if the bus is devoided of other people, it is a dream:
First, you are WAY above other drivers and feel sort of a king especialy when you can see past the traffic jam, second, now you can transport the sofa which couldn't fit your ordinary car, third, safety is great (not for the other cars though) and last but not least, you can still impress the chicks contrary to popular belief.
Now isn't that worth a measly 50 litres of petrol every day?
Java Web Start is pretty cool regarding automatic updating of applications.
For example, I have installed jamp (which is a java based winamp lookalike) and it automaticaly installes a fresh version whenever there is one.