Sure they could've licensed it, but saying that, there's no real reason for the skin to use the Apple logo. For a start, the 'feel' of Aqua isn't there.. just the look.
The Apple symbol is their signature. It's theirs to put on *their* products. That's the point of the trademark.
It might've been nicer if they'd nicely asked first, rather than C&D'ing them, but I'm not sure how the obligatory trademark protection thing would like that... maybe they *have* to use lawyers.
It's comments like that from Linus that lead to Distro Hell, along the road paved with AOL CDs.
I'm not trying to start an argument here, but there are two equally valid schools of thought... (a) that fragmentation is good, (b) that fragmentation is bad.
There are prominent BSD developers who actively encourage people to develop for Linux first, as there is a large test-bed. Linux software can run on BSD fine, and if the developers like they can then go back after the testing and redevelop specifically for BSD.
Hell yeah, that's the official line preached by Jordan Hubbard himself! The problem comes when the software developers start shoving out Linux-specific things like kernel modules. =(
Seems to me intracontinental links are rarer than intercontinental...
I don't often see: "...and if you don't like our products, check out our competitor!" on the Microsoft site, "QXL rocks! Go There!" on eBay, or "Those Jews are pretty clued up!" when browsing through www.vatican.va.
By it's nature, any of the commercial sites are less likely to link to something like them (a competitor) than something outside their continent.
CorpNet, InfoNet, BuyNet, CultureNet, GameNet all suffer from this, and I think 'GodNet' would be the Middle East on our little planet. Plus, TechNet and UnderNet are pretty blurred together anyway.
What, what? A mention on/. of a programming language that's not descended from von Neumann ideas? Who knew. =)
I love it when that happens! =)
Out of curiosity, have any projects of reasonable size been implemented in a modern FP such as Haskell? (I ask since I'm taking CS492 right now which is a seminar class on Haskell, and it's a total blast.)
AFAIR, Ericsson invented Erlang for real-life software engineering. They use it in mobile phone switching units among other things.
They claim that as long as a software engineer/programmer doesn't assume they can learn how to use an FP in two days (like most of us assume when we learn a new language), they can be coding more efficiently using that FP than any other language in a short period of time.
In other words, if the time is invested, use of FPs in that kind of environment IS WORTH IT.
I'm a big fan of FPs, although I haven't used Haskell since Uni. I'm designing a new FP though -- specifically for building dynamic web apps. Unfortunately, Haskell (and most FPs) were designed by computer scientists for computer scientists, which is why it sucks for hackers like us. =)
Learning a functional language, such as Haskell, first might be a good plan. We hackers tend to baulk at Haskell, but as a first language, it's surprisingly good.
One thing to remember is that procedural and object-oriented are only two of the classes of programming language.
However, learning Haskell for a career in the IT industry is a bit like learning Chinese as a primer for Indo-European languages.
If I was to recommend anything, I'd say the best way to learn a firm understanding of computing from scratch is to take a really old machine (one of those 8-bit jobs like the BBC Micro or the Commodore ones) and learn the basics on that.
The assembly on those is easy enough for a child to learn, and teaches you what the computer is doing and how it works. That way, you have implicit understanding of the subtleties of computing.
I seem to remember that computer graphics were originally vector-based rather than raster (other than light bulbs on the front of the EDSAC II)... and back then, it was completely vector -- even the CRT display was vector. Now it's just vector -> raster.
If I wish to ensure my data is kept through time, it's time to fire up the printer. Reams and reams of paper. Yes, paper can burn, but I have more faith in paper than current media.
What's the current thinking of the lifetime of laser-printed material? I guess the toner's plain old carbon with an organic binder. Laser toner flakes off with mechanical stress, but will it dessicate with age?
I think your best chance is some acid-based paper printed with an inkjet fed with permanent ink, and then stored in a dry environment.
Either that or papyrus.. it seems to last well! =)
What I'm worried about is that they might pull the plug on DVD completely and replace it with something else altogether. Would DIVX have succeeded if there wasn't a 'traditional' DVD format?
Because it's ALSO a waste to keep old distfiles (original source tarballs) on disk. Lost of people keep their/usr/ports/distfiles trimmed. (make install distclean). It's not feasible.
For a lot of people (me included), disk space is cheaper than bandwidth. I keep my distfiles and my work directories and hive off really old distfiles to CD.
I'd love the CVS of ports idea.. the quality of a lot of the ports is a bit suspect. I'd love a network-oriented ports collection, where apache, for example, is a generic port independent of version number. It'd download specifics and patches of the latest version.
There's a command (can't remember what it is offhand) which checks which packages/ports are up-to-date. It'd be nice to have an auto-upgrade feature. Oh dear.. that sounds too much like Windoze.
The region hack for my DVD player included a Macrovision disable -- the rationale is that it messes up some projection TVs (not mine!)
Since you can get region hacks on the high street now, it's mainstream.
It's never bothered me, though. I haven't copied any DVDs (to disc or to VHS tape), and I legally import all my DVDs for my own private use.
I don't see what the ****ing problem is with them. They make just as much money from me in the UK as the average DVD-buying US resident. Why do they want to make it difficult for me?
Things evolve quicker in a competitive or hostile environment.
With FreeBSD frequently saying things like "Our [insert component here] is better than yours" or Linux saying "Yeah, but our [insert component here] is better than yours", the other operating system (whichever is losing the pissing contest at the given moment) develops to fill those shortcomings.
Linux wouldn't be as good as it is now if it wasn't for FreeBSD.
FreeBSD wouldn't be as good as it is now if it wasn't for Linux.
I see this (supposedly) friendly competition and banter as extremely beneficial to both projects.
Well, he answers to the shareholders. Gates remains chairman, so he hasn't stepped up. There is no single head role of a company like Microsoft, although with Bill occupying most of the top jobs, he personally was the single head of the company. Ballmer is now head of the company, while Bill is the senior big-wig representing the shareholders (the supposed top-dogs)
Theoretically, the shareholders could get rid of Gates. Billy-boy doesn't hold a majority share, so they could just vote him out.
However, they'd be stupid to do so. You can pretty much credit Bill 100% with the high share price of MSFT, and that is the number one (and only?) priority of a CEO/President/Chairman/Whatever.
Anyway, this is all pointless. Bill has his hand shoved firmly up the ass of Steve Ballmer -- why do you think Steve sounds like Bullwinkle? I can't imagine Bill actually turning over the real control of Microsoft. Can you imagine anyone telling him what to do -- Ballmer included?
Billy-boy just doesn't want to have to talk to those pesky partners, clients and suppliers, so he foists it off on Steve. Now he can devote his time to whatever the hell he wants.
AFAICR, a lot of Risc OS's "innovations" came from NeXTSTEP. I think the taskbar was one of them -- Acorn took NeXTSTEP's dock and ran with it.
Microsoft shamelessly lifted a huge chunk of NeXTSTEP's look-and-feel for the Chicago interface... compare the Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 looks against the NeXTSTEP look.
I can't remember which bits were NeXT and which were Acorn. I think NeXTSTEP was in 1988, while Acorn were still running the Arthur OS. Risc OS was a few years later.
MacOS X is pretty much what would've become NeXTSTEP 5.0, with bits on (like Carbon, Classic and Aqua). Go figure.
Diageo is the name for the merged company formed in 1997 (?) from Grand Metropolitan and Guinness. GrandMet in turn owns Burger King, Pillsbury (Haagen-Dazs, Green Giant, etc.), and a big spirits division (used to be called IDV.. can't remember what it is now) which owns Smirnoff, Baileys, J&B, Archers, and a whole load more. Then you've got Guinness.
Yah, and time and again, courts have ruled that implicit agreements don't have the same importance as explicity one's. Blah Blah...
... often in Microsoft's favor. How many times has Microsoft used the small print to screw their collaborators? I think it was someone at 3Com who heard something to the effect of "You were wrong to trust us" from a Microsoft employee.
Okay, maybe people shouldn't stoop to their level, but if a company (any company) is stupid enough to allow such a big loophole through, they deserve all they get.
It seems to me that Jobs is recreating Apple in the image of NeXT.. Yeah, okay, MacOS X might be effectively NeXTSTEP 5.0 (with Cocoa being OpenStep 5.0), but more importantly, the philosophy of what it's trying to provide seems to be that of NeXTSTEP. The hardware's going that way too. NeXT hardware was cool (from a look and feel point-of-view -- a real plug-it-in-and-go computer)
Not that this is a bad thing, mind. It just seems like NeXT bought Apple, not the other way around!
Fair enough if you don't buy videos... you've got little or no need for a DVD player (you might as well rent VHS in that case).
However, I'd say with the popularity of VHS purchases in music shops, supermarkets, etc., most video owners do own at least a few VHS movies. I bought my DVD player in March. I've spent about five times the price of the player on discs since then, and I love it. I haven't bought or rented a tape since (before it was a three or four a week habit).
DVD may "take over" VHS the same way CDs took over cassettes.. ie., budget markets, compilation making, recording TV while out, etc. will stay VHS. Film distribution will become cheaper via DVD in bulk: encoding and mastering is currently very expensive, but will drop. For now, DVD piracy is uneconomic -- for the price of a DVD, you might as well buy the legal version. Not releasing TPM is going to increase piracy.
Maybe wait for high-defn DVD (or whatever).. I'm prepared to fork out for new kit every five years, though.
In response to "DVD will not support THX", THX will certify DVD players. That's DVD supporting THX.
However, whether THX certification will be awarded to individual discs is another matter. Originally, VHS tapes were NEVER going to be THX-certified: Laserdisc only (specification like CAV only). Then the rules changed. I don't believe it will be long before individual DVD's are certified. Just wait for someone to pay for it.
Also, as far as I can remember, you won't necessarily gain anything by playing a cert'd disc in non THX equipment, but you are guaranteed that it'll be as good quality as you can get through that equipment. Some discs are high quality anyway, but some of my DVDs have terrible sound mixes... THX'ed discs would be good.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure they could've licensed it, but saying that, there's no real reason for the skin to use the Apple logo. For a start, the 'feel' of Aqua isn't there.. just the look.
The Apple symbol is their signature. It's theirs to put on *their* products. That's the point of the trademark.
It might've been nicer if they'd nicely asked first, rather than C&D'ing them, but I'm not sure how the obligatory trademark protection thing would like that... maybe they *have* to use lawyers.
It's comments like that from Linus that lead to Distro Hell, along the road paved with AOL CDs.
I'm not trying to start an argument here, but there are two equally valid schools of thought... (a) that fragmentation is good, (b) that fragmentation is bad.
There are prominent BSD developers who actively encourage people to develop for Linux first, as there is a large test-bed. Linux software can run on BSD fine, and if the developers like they can then go back after the testing and redevelop specifically for BSD.
Hell yeah, that's the official line preached by Jordan Hubbard himself! The problem comes when the software developers start shoving out Linux-specific things like kernel modules. =(
I don't often see: "...and if you don't like our products, check out our competitor!" on the Microsoft site, "QXL rocks! Go There!" on eBay, or "Those Jews are pretty clued up!" when browsing through www.vatican.va.
By it's nature, any of the commercial sites are less likely to link to something like them (a competitor) than something outside their continent.
CorpNet, InfoNet, BuyNet, CultureNet, GameNet all suffer from this, and I think 'GodNet' would be the Middle East on our little planet. Plus, TechNet and UnderNet are pretty blurred together anyway.
In summary, (IMHO) Katz is wrong. =)
What company do you know that doesn't advertise its products before they are released?
Transmeta's the closest. (..and even they put up info on their website before then)
What, what? A mention on /. of a programming language that's not descended from von Neumann ideas? Who knew. =)
I love it when that happens! =)
Out of curiosity, have any projects of reasonable size been implemented in a modern FP such as Haskell? (I ask since I'm taking CS492 right now which is a seminar class on Haskell, and it's a total blast.)
AFAIR, Ericsson invented Erlang for real-life software engineering. They use it in mobile phone switching units among other things.
They claim that as long as a software engineer/programmer doesn't assume they can learn how to use an FP in two days (like most of us assume when we learn a new language), they can be coding more efficiently using that FP than any other language in a short period of time.
In other words, if the time is invested, use of FPs in that kind of environment IS WORTH IT.
I'm a big fan of FPs, although I haven't used Haskell since Uni. I'm designing a new FP though -- specifically for building dynamic web apps. Unfortunately, Haskell (and most FPs) were designed by computer scientists for computer scientists, which is why it sucks for hackers like us. =)
Learning a functional language, such as Haskell, first might be a good plan. We hackers tend to baulk at Haskell, but as a first language, it's surprisingly good.
One thing to remember is that procedural and object-oriented are only two of the classes of programming language.
However, learning Haskell for a career in the IT industry is a bit like learning Chinese as a primer for Indo-European languages.
If I was to recommend anything, I'd say the best way to learn a firm understanding of computing from scratch is to take a really old machine (one of those 8-bit jobs like the BBC Micro or the Commodore ones) and learn the basics on that.
The assembly on those is easy enough for a child to learn, and teaches you what the computer is doing and how it works. That way, you have implicit understanding of the subtleties of computing.
I seem to remember that computer graphics were originally vector-based rather than raster (other than light bulbs on the front of the EDSAC II)... and back then, it was completely vector -- even the CRT display was vector. Now it's just vector -> raster.
Hmmm.
If I wish to ensure my data is kept through time, it's time to fire up the printer. Reams and reams of paper. Yes, paper can burn, but I have more faith in paper than current media.
What's the current thinking of the lifetime of laser-printed material? I guess the toner's plain old carbon with an organic binder. Laser toner flakes off with mechanical stress, but will it dessicate with age?
I think your best chance is some acid-based paper printed with an inkjet fed with permanent ink, and then stored in a dry environment.
Either that or papyrus.. it seems to last well! =)
..or make a gold gramaphone disc of your vital data, then nail it to the side of the nearest convenient space probe.
Bit difficult to retrieve, though.
What I'm worried about is that they might pull the plug on DVD completely and replace it with something else altogether. Would DIVX have succeeded if there wasn't a 'traditional' DVD format?
Because it's ALSO a waste to keep old distfiles (original source tarballs) on disk. Lost of people keep their /usr/ports/distfiles trimmed. (make install distclean). It's not feasible.
For a lot of people (me included), disk space is cheaper than bandwidth. I keep my distfiles and my work directories and hive off really old distfiles to CD.
I'd love the CVS of ports idea.. the quality of a lot of the ports is a bit suspect. I'd love a network-oriented ports collection, where apache, for example, is a generic port independent of version number. It'd download specifics and patches of the latest version.
There's a command (can't remember what it is offhand) which checks which packages/ports are up-to-date. It'd be nice to have an auto-upgrade feature. Oh dear.. that sounds too much like Windoze.
Serve the web... they sponsored the work on jail() in FreeBSD 4.0. They use "a heavily hacked version of FreeBSD" to do the same thing. Very cool.
The region hack for my DVD player included a Macrovision disable -- the rationale is that it messes up some projection TVs (not mine!)
Since you can get region hacks on the high street now, it's mainstream.
It's never bothered me, though. I haven't copied any DVDs (to disc or to VHS tape), and I legally import all my DVDs for my own private use.
I don't see what the ****ing problem is with them. They make just as much money from me in the UK as the average DVD-buying US resident. Why do they want to make it difficult for me?
Things evolve quicker in a competitive or hostile environment.
With FreeBSD frequently saying things like "Our [insert component here] is better than yours" or Linux saying "Yeah, but our [insert component here] is better than yours", the other operating system (whichever is losing the pissing contest at the given moment) develops to fill those shortcomings.
Linux wouldn't be as good as it is now if it wasn't for FreeBSD.
FreeBSD wouldn't be as good as it is now if it wasn't for Linux.
I see this (supposedly) friendly competition and banter as extremely beneficial to both projects.
Well, he answers to the shareholders. Gates remains chairman, so he hasn't stepped up. There is no single head role of a company like Microsoft, although with Bill occupying most of the top jobs, he personally was the single head of the company. Ballmer is now head of the company, while Bill is the senior big-wig representing the shareholders (the supposed top-dogs)
Theoretically, the shareholders could get rid of Gates. Billy-boy doesn't hold a majority share, so they could just vote him out.
However, they'd be stupid to do so. You can pretty much credit Bill 100% with the high share price of MSFT, and that is the number one (and only?) priority of a CEO/President/Chairman/Whatever.
Anyway, this is all pointless. Bill has his hand shoved firmly up the ass of Steve Ballmer -- why do you think Steve sounds like Bullwinkle? I can't imagine Bill actually turning over the real control of Microsoft. Can you imagine anyone telling him what to do -- Ballmer included?
Billy-boy just doesn't want to have to talk to those pesky partners, clients and suppliers, so he foists it off on Steve. Now he can devote his time to whatever the hell he wants.
Just took another look at Arthur:
/acorn/emulation/arthur/
http://www.cybervillage.co.uk
I'm not sure whether that thing at the bottom could really be called a taskbar. It was more of a launcher. It's a close call.
AFAICR, a lot of Risc OS's "innovations" came from NeXTSTEP. I think the taskbar was one of them -- Acorn took NeXTSTEP's dock and ran with it.
Microsoft shamelessly lifted a huge chunk of NeXTSTEP's look-and-feel for the Chicago interface... compare the Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 looks against the NeXTSTEP look.
I can't remember which bits were NeXT and which were Acorn. I think NeXTSTEP was in 1988, while Acorn were still running the Arthur OS. Risc OS was a few years later.
MacOS X is pretty much what would've become NeXTSTEP 5.0, with bits on (like Carbon, Classic and Aqua). Go figure.
Diageo is the name for the merged company formed in 1997 (?) from Grand Metropolitan and Guinness. GrandMet in turn owns Burger King, Pillsbury (Haagen-Dazs, Green Giant, etc.), and a big spirits division (used to be called IDV.. can't remember what it is now) which owns Smirnoff, Baileys, J&B, Archers, and a whole load more. Then you've got Guinness.
It's a big company.
Yah, and time and again, courts have ruled that implicit agreements don't have the same importance as explicity one's. Blah Blah...
... often in Microsoft's favor. How many times has Microsoft used the small print to screw their collaborators? I think it was someone at 3Com who heard something to the effect of "You were wrong to trust us" from a Microsoft employee.
Okay, maybe people shouldn't stoop to their level, but if a company (any company) is stupid enough to allow such a big loophole through, they deserve all they get.
It seems to me that Jobs is recreating Apple in the image of NeXT.. Yeah, okay, MacOS X might be effectively NeXTSTEP 5.0 (with Cocoa being OpenStep 5.0), but more importantly, the philosophy of what it's trying to provide seems to be that of NeXTSTEP. The hardware's going that way too. NeXT hardware was cool (from a look and feel point-of-view -- a real plug-it-in-and-go computer)
Not that this is a bad thing, mind. It just seems like NeXT bought Apple, not the other way around!
It's a shame "Impression" was never Xara-ized. A decent document processor!
Last year, Intel pretty much gave the design of the Pentium to Sandia National Labs and NASA for ruggedization for use in space: Press release
Fair enough if you don't buy videos... you've got little or no need for a DVD player (you might as well rent VHS in that case).
However, I'd say with the popularity of VHS purchases in music shops, supermarkets, etc., most video owners do own at least a few VHS movies. I bought my DVD player in March. I've spent about five times the price of the player on discs since then, and I love it. I haven't bought or rented a tape since (before it was a three or four a week habit).
DVD may "take over" VHS the same way CDs took over cassettes.. ie., budget markets, compilation making, recording TV while out, etc. will stay VHS. Film distribution will become cheaper via DVD in bulk: encoding and mastering is currently very expensive, but will drop. For now, DVD piracy is uneconomic -- for the price of a DVD, you might as well buy the legal version. Not releasing TPM is going to increase piracy.
Maybe wait for high-defn DVD (or whatever).. I'm prepared to fork out for new kit every five years, though.
In response to "DVD will not support THX", THX will certify DVD players. That's DVD supporting THX.
However, whether THX certification will be awarded to individual discs is another matter. Originally, VHS tapes were NEVER going to be THX-certified: Laserdisc only (specification like CAV only). Then the rules changed. I don't believe it will be long before individual DVD's are certified. Just wait for someone to pay for it.
Also, as far as I can remember, you won't necessarily gain anything by playing a cert'd disc in non THX equipment, but you are guaranteed that it'll be as good quality as you can get through that equipment. Some discs are high quality anyway, but some of my DVDs have terrible sound mixes... THX'ed discs would be good.