Could be worse, if it was Jerry Pournelle, he'd be telling us how he got the company president on the line and an team of ninja engineers dispatched to fix his power-cord problems.
Agreed. I can be playing whatever game and still hear when new mail comes in. (Klingon yellow alert. Remind me never to play Star Fleet Command when expecting important email.) I don't think I can get text-to-speech while something else is playing, but otherwise they all play nice.
That Windows doesn't have problems with various cards. I changed a system from Win98 to XPpro recently and it didn't know about a perfectly good Etherlink III NIC. I checked Microsoft and searched the Web, but anyone with that card is SOL.
Sound cards have definitely got to be one of Windows' strengths. We're 14 years of gaming from Wing Commander and the original Sound Blaster to now. If Microsoft is going to get anything right, it's graphics and sound! Hopefully as gaming picks up on Linux platforms, there will be more pressure on card makers to cooperate, and at least supply data for other people to write drivers.
Sure you can fork. If there's large installed bases running versions of the software different enough that you have to develop for each, then it's a defacto fork.
There's nothing wrong with taking the kernel and modding it all to hell; that's what open source is for. But when your modded version is out there on enough machines that it's a significant part of the market, that's another story. An operating system is supposed to be a stable standard platform for development and use. Slow changes over time are a fact of life, but should rarely break old software. Having to worry about supporting Joez/Linux 2.4b8 with Flux Capacitor mod 1.9 as well as the main versions is a pain for professional developers. (You can't tell a customer that it should work--you have to test it with real QA, over and over, each version bump of any part of it.)
Would the change to 2.6 break that much of their software? Why?
Are the people sticking with 2.4 the sort that need two years of meetings and proposals before they're allowed to bump a version number? (I don't see that back-porting mods is less risky.)
I hate to think on what I've spent on software/hardware tools over the years. At least mechanics' tools don't suffer from bit-rot. (That Megamax C for the Atari ST, what was I thinking?)
Ooh! I once got nominated for an award that I didn't win. (Other Fan Achievement, woo!) I never told anyone what I would have said, so can I call Cory arrogant, please?:^) (Just kidding Cory. A Nebula nomination is no small deal.)
For those that don't know Last Dangerous Visions is the Duke Nukem Forever of the science-fiction world. Only it's been going on a hell of a lot longer, and generated more all around bad feelings. (And on the Interweb almost nothing is gone forever, so here's the flame talked about.)
Re:Microsoft is taking over the world!!!
on
2003 Nebula Awards
·
· Score: 1
They're just angling to get a Nebula award for best fantasy writing. They would have tried for a Hugo, but Scientology is already trying for one with their fantasy retro-history about how Elron Hubbard invented science-fiction. And since Hugos are awarded by fans, they figured they didn't stand a chance against all the Battlefield Earth fans block-voting.
Re:Organists Behaving Badly
on
SimChurch
·
· Score: 1
Cool story.:^) I haven't figured out if these people are serious or not. If they're supposed to be a spoof like Landover Baptist, there's no obvious signs of it. If they just wanted to make money, they could have started their own religion like some 3rd rate hack sci-fi writer. If they just want to combine religion with a certain amount of humour, then bravo!
What I want to know is, will they have customizable skins, and can I join a clan?
I don't know what the state-of-the-art is like at Burning Man, but you could improve the effect of EL-wire by using a micro-controller to control segments of it in chaser sequences or more complex. On/off would be simple, and brightness controlled by on/off duty-cycle. I recall that the colour of EL panels can be shifted a bit by varying the driving AC frequency, but that could wait until the 1.2 version.
I'm not sure what voltage EL wire needs, but I'd suggest not getting the costume wet.
Slashdot Mirror
Well now that it's been released open source anyone can do that, right? :)
See? If it has the XML copyright tag then they own it, and no one can add/remove XML copyright tags. [rolls eyes]
If they're looking for the next name for Firebird, Firefox, whatever, might I suggest Britney? That ought to melt their net spybot.
Could be worse, if it was Jerry Pournelle, he'd be telling us how he got the company president on the line and an team of ninja engineers dispatched to fix his power-cord problems.
Maybe it's a Microsoft Sound Card? (Don't laugh. They did make them, and I've got one in an AuxCon box.)
Agreed. I can be playing whatever game and still hear when new mail comes in. (Klingon yellow alert. Remind me never to play Star Fleet Command when expecting important email.) I don't think I can get text-to-speech while something else is playing, but otherwise they all play nice.
Sound cards have definitely got to be one of Windows' strengths. We're 14 years of gaming from Wing Commander and the original Sound Blaster to now. If Microsoft is going to get anything right, it's graphics and sound! Hopefully as gaming picks up on Linux platforms, there will be more pressure on card makers to cooperate, and at least supply data for other people to write drivers.
There's nothing wrong with taking the kernel and modding it all to hell; that's what open source is for. But when your modded version is out there on enough machines that it's a significant part of the market, that's another story. An operating system is supposed to be a stable standard platform for development and use. Slow changes over time are a fact of life, but should rarely break old software. Having to worry about supporting Joez/Linux 2.4b8 with Flux Capacitor mod 1.9 as well as the main versions is a pain for professional developers. (You can't tell a customer that it should work--you have to test it with real QA, over and over, each version bump of any part of it.)
Are the people sticking with 2.4 the sort that need two years of meetings and proposals before they're allowed to bump a version number? (I don't see that back-porting mods is less risky.)
I hate to think on what I've spent on software/hardware tools over the years. At least mechanics' tools don't suffer from bit-rot. (That Megamax C for the Atari ST, what was I thinking?)
I've got my socket set (metric and Imperial) and my torque wrench, I am so ready!
Ooh! I once got nominated for an award that I didn't win. (Other Fan Achievement, woo!) I never told anyone what I would have said, so can I call Cory arrogant, please? :^) (Just kidding Cory. A Nebula nomination is no small deal.)
And in person, it's a very friendly arrogance. Quite a lot of successful F&SF writers have gone a long way on friendly arrogance. :)
For those that don't know Last Dangerous Visions is the Duke Nukem Forever of the science-fiction world. Only it's been going on a hell of a lot longer, and generated more all around bad feelings. (And on the Interweb almost nothing is gone forever, so here's the flame talked about.)
They're just angling to get a Nebula award for best fantasy writing. They would have tried for a Hugo, but Scientology is already trying for one with their fantasy retro-history about how Elron Hubbard invented science-fiction. And since Hugos are awarded by fans, they figured they didn't stand a chance against all the Battlefield Earth fans block-voting.
Yes, here it is. I doubt I could stop uncontrollable laughter if they played the Black Adder theme
For those that don't have a church handy, there are some portable solutions, even arrival by air.
"Disciple Pimp!" -- Black & Blacker.
But will they provide a link to the Virtual Pet Cemetery?
Watch the clip when T-Rex dies, it's great.
Unreal Tournament 2004® Bible Based Maps and Characters are on the Way! Yeeehah!
What I want to know is, will they have customizable skins, and can I join a clan?
I'm not sure what voltage EL wire needs, but I'd suggest not getting the costume wet.
I dunno, they put you on the game grid until you get the bits blasted out you--and he has a lot of bits.
Well then.. Perhaps that Mr. Morden can later offer him a diet plan as well, yes?