well done, guys. Even if this man is bad in his job: the reactions of many of his students (and even more the reactions of those who never were his students) probably have pretty much destroyed his reputation in his job and his private life. May be even destroyed his life. The net gives people a huge audience. It doesn't make a difference between intelligent and stupid people, between thoughtful and cruel people. The language one can read on this website makes it hard to believe that those who are writing are really students. Sure: not court, but the internet community itself should control the net. But noone has the right to destroy another one's life. Hell, I don't come to any conclusion here...may be everyone should just take a moment to think twice about what to post on the net.
since I've been starting with Linux a couple of years ago as a complete UNIX illiterate I've always found the piece of information that I needed to accomplish something. For almost everything there is documentation available for newbies as well as gurus. Working in the IT industry I have rarely seen commercial software with this amount of usable documentation. There is one point, however, that really needs to be improved: we need to organize all the documentation in a way that makes it easier to find it. One gets spoiled so easily when using OS software. And yes, it's important to push things to get even better. But we should also spread the word that there is great documentation available for most packages TODAY.
It never ceases to surprise me how many of those "open source-", "freedom of speech-", and whatsoever-lovers get militant as soon as the topic involves the relationship between different nations. Then it is "our" corporations, "our" economy versus "the other's" economy. This is a mindset that that shows that the average IQ on this site is not really higher than on the rest of the net. To call oneself "nerd" or a "geek" is obviously only just another way of saying one is "better" than others, just as in "I'm american and the others suck" or "I'm european and the others suck". I am so very much disappointed about the oftentimes quite primitive niveau of these discussions.
Hey, many of us (including me) disagree on ESR's words here. But then, how many wrong things (TM) have I said in my life? And: it takes people who are very emotional and controversial to promote visions. These people make mistakes, have ideas that not everyone shares, etc. But we need people like ESR anyways. Alone the fact that he made us discuss about OS being a political issue or not, was worth his comment. It is important to loudly disagree on his words, if you have a different standpoint. But no ESR-bashing, please.
1) If these species have the potential to cause environmental havoc they shouldn't be allowed at all 2) These "variations" have been developped to provide higher productivity. So a farmer using the natural, lower-productivity seeds has a severe disadvantage, as higher productivity yields lower prices. That puts a certain pressure on farmers to use these "variations". 3) Now, you may say that producers of organic food could advertise not using GM species and so have their own market. BUT...the US have threatened Europe with a trade war if they only *allow* to advertise with the label "GM-free". The bottom line is: always see the big picture. 4) There is really one thing that is more important than Open Source software: and that is sharing our knowledge about producing more food with the people who don't have enough food. That's not even a matter of moral or being a christian, that's a matter of being civilized. Making money with the misery of hungry people is much worse than making money with bad software.
Yes, it is a theory. And theories and models are scientific concepts. If someone would say "let's not teach Newton's laws anymore, Einstein has proven they are wrong", everyone would laugh. Science is NOT about *knowing* everything, it is about trying to *understand* things and make small steps *towards* knowing. Every serious scientist agrees that we are far from *knowing*, but concepts like evolution helped us to proceed. It is funny to read this and at the same time the US threatens Europe with a trade war if we keep *allowing* producers of organic food to state that their food products don't contain gene-food components. Maybe the next step will be that they try to force us to write on each package that god created it. Makes me throw up.
When the first CDs came out, I used to complain about a very high-frequency "shimmering" noise in the background of all CD music. And I was not the only one. May be a musician is over-sensitive to artifacts - other musicians I knew, also complained. Now we are all used to it. This is not to justify the lower quality of mp3. Just try to put the sound quality in a perspective with the *means* of mp3. mp3 is a standard that tries to enable new forms of music distribution. Clearly better compression algorithms will come along. Clearly hearing music live will always be more fun. And *that* is the alternative to hearing "low-quality" mp3 music. Complaining that one format produces some more artifacts than another one does not really make sense. I enjoy hearing mp3 music because there is now a wealth of new exciting music on the net - bands and artists who dont get a chance in the traditional music industry. May be mp3 is over-hyped currently. But obviously it gives music enthusiasts something they really want. Why else would it be so successful? Lets see mp3 as a start. Rome hasnt been built in one day. just my 2 pfennig:-)
Slashdot Mirror
hell, I can't remember when I had so much fun on a website before...would be PERFECT if source would be available!!
well done, guys. Even if this man is bad in his job: the reactions of many of his students (and even more the reactions of those who never were his students) probably have pretty much destroyed his reputation in his job and his private life. May be even destroyed his life. The net gives people a huge audience. It doesn't make a difference between intelligent and stupid people, between thoughtful and cruel people. The language one can read on this website makes it hard to believe that those who are writing are really students.
Sure: not court, but the internet community itself should control the net. But noone has the right to destroy another one's life.
Hell, I don't come to any conclusion here...may be everyone should just take a moment to think twice about what to post on the net.
since I've been starting with Linux a couple of years ago as a complete UNIX illiterate I've always found the piece of information that I needed to accomplish something. For almost everything there is documentation available for newbies as well as gurus. Working in the IT industry I have rarely seen commercial software with this amount of usable documentation.
There is one point, however, that really needs to be improved: we need to organize all the documentation in a way that makes it easier to find it.
One gets spoiled so easily when using OS software. And yes, it's important to push things to get even better. But we should also spread the word that there is great documentation available for most packages TODAY.
It never ceases to surprise me how many of those "open source-", "freedom of speech-", and whatsoever-lovers get militant as soon as the topic involves the relationship between different nations. Then it is "our" corporations, "our" economy versus "the other's" economy.
This is a mindset that that shows that the average IQ on this site is not really higher than on the rest of the net.
To call oneself "nerd" or a "geek" is obviously only just another way of saying one is "better" than others, just as in "I'm american and the others suck" or "I'm european and the others suck".
I am so very much disappointed about the oftentimes quite primitive niveau of these discussions.
Hey, many of us (including me) disagree on ESR's words here. But then, how many wrong things (TM) have I said in my life?
And: it takes people who are very emotional and controversial to promote visions. These people make mistakes, have ideas that not everyone shares, etc.
But we need people like ESR anyways. Alone the fact that he made us discuss about OS being a political issue or not, was worth his comment.
It is important to loudly disagree on his words, if you have a different standpoint. But no ESR-bashing, please.
1) If these species have the potential to cause environmental havoc they shouldn't be allowed at all
2) These "variations" have been developped to provide higher productivity. So a farmer using the natural, lower-productivity seeds has a severe disadvantage, as higher productivity yields lower prices. That puts a certain pressure on farmers to use these "variations".
3) Now, you may say that producers of organic food could advertise not using GM species and so have their own market. BUT...the US have threatened Europe with a trade war if they only *allow* to advertise with the label "GM-free".
The bottom line is: always see the big picture.
4) There is really one thing that is more important than Open Source software: and that is sharing our knowledge about producing more food with the people who don't have enough food. That's not even a matter of moral or being a christian, that's a matter of being civilized. Making money with the misery of hungry people is much worse than making money with bad software.
well..if you are not interested in what's going on in the Linux community, how about posting your comments on msn.com?
Sorry, I don't like arrogance.
Yes, it is a theory. And theories and models are scientific concepts. If someone would say "let's not teach Newton's laws anymore, Einstein has proven they are wrong", everyone would laugh. Science is NOT about *knowing* everything, it is about trying to *understand* things and make small steps *towards* knowing. Every serious scientist agrees that we are far from *knowing*, but concepts like evolution helped us to proceed.
It is funny to read this and at the same time the US threatens Europe with a trade war if we keep *allowing* producers of organic food to state that their food products don't contain gene-food components. Maybe the next step will be that they try to force us to write on each package that god created it. Makes me throw up.
When the first CDs came out, I used to complain about a very high-frequency "shimmering" noise in the background of all CD music. And I was not the only one. May be a musician is over-sensitive to artifacts - other musicians I knew, also complained. :-)
Now we are all used to it. This is not to justify the lower quality of mp3. Just try to put the sound quality in a perspective with the *means* of mp3. mp3 is a standard that tries to enable new forms of music distribution. Clearly better compression algorithms will come along. Clearly hearing music live will always be more fun. And *that* is the alternative to hearing "low-quality" mp3 music. Complaining that one format produces some more artifacts than another one does not really make sense.
I enjoy hearing mp3 music because there is now a wealth of new exciting music on the net - bands and artists who dont get a chance in the traditional music industry. May be mp3 is over-hyped currently. But obviously it gives music enthusiasts something they really want. Why else would it be so successful?
Lets see mp3 as a start. Rome hasnt been built in one day.
just my 2 pfennig