Because your mom was spouting an old cliche and this is a project that will have an effect in the complex Real World.
Are you proposing that everyone in Africa who has an idea for improving the quality of life abandon it and give any money they may have to the "Improve Farming And Irrigation Fund"?
It looks to me like they're hoping to attract investors with this scheme. How many investors would they attract if the scheme was "well we'll take your money and give it to some organization that's going to improve farming and irrigation" - here's the answer: the big donut.
You are being ridiculous. The continent of Africa, with its myriad cultures and countries has as many complex needs as anywhere else on Earth. I think a high quality communication infrastructure is a basic necessity to get on in this world.
Well, I hate me-too posts in general. But I think your post says it all. It saves me from having to spend the time trying to put it down. (Thanks) Reading the posts dripping with ignorance in this discussion just ruined my day. There were some intelligent responses but they were definately in the minority.
But who won in the end? In your analogy the decaying republic turned roman empire (i.e. propriatary s/w companies and wannabe monopolists) eventually collapses in on itself and the real winners are the unwashed hordes at the fringes of the empire who go on to rule Europe.
Who are the unwashed hordes of barbarians at the gate who eventually win... the goths, visigoths, vandals and franks?
Naw, "people with a clue" built most of the net (some of whom were surfing the cold.war industro-military complex thing) - many were Americans but others were not. People with a clue do all the cool things. The vast majority of Americans are clue-lacking. Luckily not all of them are.
I read/heard the same story in the Canadian media recently. I can't remember where - a couple of places probably. Chocolate bar worse than pirated software... yeah that was the story all right...
I assume by "candy bar" the original poster means "chocolate bar"... what the hell is this crypto-'merican "candy bar" crap?:-)
Google is "cool" because a bunch of math guys came up with a really interesting new idea for searching the web which makes the others look très "brute force". Basically, their brainwave was to use the fact that hypertext documents contain links to other hypertext documents - seems obvious doesn't it? So instead of just looking for instances of a word or phrase in various webpages they rank webpages by popularity and the popularity of each webpage is determined by how many other webpages with a high popularity ranking link to it in a kind of smart crypto-recursive-algorithm sort of way. It's elegant. It's smart. It's running on Linux. What's not to love?
It's clever algorithm produces very accurate search results try it for yourself. Type in Linux and the top hits in Google are stuff like: www.linux.org www.redhat.com www.li.org www.linuxtoday.com
i.e. the top linux websites
*None*, ***None***, of those sites will appear in your first page or results at altavista or excite...
Give it a try... it's not the "less mainstream", it's the "works better"
But the sad truth that sort of thing wouldn't be too surprising - take a look at the number of people who are worried about ruining the lunar "environment".
Friend you are correct. Rest assured the sun is *much* larger than the moon. Folks, it's a god-damned star! The Earth would fit in to the sun about a million times over. The previous poster is either on crack or another sad example of the scientific-illiterates being produced by the American education system.
Microsoft-VP Steve Ballmer, speaking in a Keynote address, openly praised the Apache Webserver, a competing product: "If we don't offer enough features to justify our pricing, we have only ourselves to blame. Apache is simply better than us, when it comes to hosting several sites on a single server", said Ballmer during a speech in Vienna introducing Office 2000. The Open Source WWW Server Apache is a competitor of Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS), a component of Windows NT. According to Netcraft Apache has a 56% share of websites versus IIS which has only 23%.
No it fails on more than one key point. Another would be that Microsoft is Linux's father. UNIX is the father of Linux. Is RMS Princess Leia? Who are the ewoks?... I'm confused...
Thank God for CBC radio! I've lived in a few different cities in different parts of Canada lately and man its hard to find a half-decent radio station in this country. CBC radio rocks!
Full democracy hadn't arrived yet no, but things were generally headed in that direction. "We had a king" seems to imply an absolute monarchy which certainly wasn't the case. The supremacy of parliament had already been long established by the time of the American Revolution.
The successful revolution didn't establish democracy. It merely replaced the "effete English wanker" oligarchy with it's 13-Colonies equivalent.
Full democracy took about the same time to develop in both the USA and in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Although in the latter case slavery was abolished a good two generations before the USA.
Its pointless arguing about who invented things. Scientists stand on the shoulders of giants. They are part of an international community. Its these communities that produce great ideas and inventions - not petty nationalisms
That is a good point. And I also think you have to take into account what sort of "fun" one is talking about.
Linus was talking about the fun of a challenge. Something many of us are familiar with by using-learning/helping to build open source s/w. Although I'm sure we could all name a whole whack of other examples (like learning history!). I think this is "good fun" which makes one grow and (usually) develop relationships with other "good fun" sorts of people.
The other type of fun is passive - a life revolving around the modern colleseum - mindless television and blockbuster hollywood movies and little else. If people end up getting all their fun from these "bad fun" activites I think this can be... problematic.
(?)
Just a theory off the top of my head. Feel free to tear it apart.
Hey, did anyone actually look at the source on that page? There's a little letter from AG that starts by saying " Thanks for checking out our source code!"
Scrolling down a bit will take you to the "Attention Open Source Enthusiasts" section where they want people to develop a Linux screensaver:
"A special message for Open Source Software enthusiasts: We are very interested in developing content that takes advantage of Open Source software such as Linux. For starters, we are conducting a Gore 2000 Linux Screen Saver design competition among volunteers to see who can build the best Gore 2000 Linux screen savers. If you would like to submit a Gore 2000 Linux screen saver for consideration, or if you have ideas for this project, please send an e-mail to: opensource@algore2000.com Watch this space for more Open Source ideas and volunteer opportunities."
Not being American I'll bow out of the competition, but I imagine a lot of you should have something whipped up in a jif... get to it:-)
Slashdot Mirror
learn what sarcasm is
Because your mom was spouting an old cliche and this is a project that will have an effect in the complex Real World.
Are you proposing that everyone in Africa who has an idea for improving the quality of life abandon it and give any money they may have to the "Improve Farming And Irrigation Fund"?
It looks to me like they're hoping to attract investors with this scheme. How many investors would they attract if the scheme was "well we'll take your money and give it to some organization that's going to improve farming and irrigation" - here's the answer: the big donut.
You are being ridiculous. The continent of Africa, with its myriad cultures and countries has as many complex needs as anywhere else on Earth. I think a high quality communication infrastructure is a basic necessity to get on in this world.
Well, I hate me-too posts in general. But I think your post says it all. It saves me from having to spend the time trying to put it down. (Thanks)
Reading the posts dripping with ignorance in this discussion just ruined my day.
There were some intelligent responses but they were definately in the minority.
Thank you for your excellent post.
Citizens of the U.K. are "citizens".
The same term is used in the British Nationality Act as in its American counterpart, i.e. "citizen".
Stop living in your crack-induced dreamworld.
American fundies... "end times" "creation science"
tee hee
tee hee
so funny
But who won in the end?
In your analogy the decaying republic turned roman empire (i.e. propriatary s/w companies and wannabe monopolists) eventually collapses in on itself and the real winners are the unwashed hordes at the fringes of the empire who go on to rule Europe.
Who are the unwashed hordes of barbarians at the gate who eventually win... the goths, visigoths, vandals and franks?
Naw, "people with a clue" built most of the net (some of whom were surfing the cold.war industro-military complex thing) - many were Americans but others were not.
People with a clue do all the cool things.
The vast majority of Americans are clue-lacking.
Luckily not all of them are.
Same in other countries.
I'll give it *anecdotal* backup.
:-)
I read/heard the same story in the Canadian media recently. I can't remember where - a couple of places probably. Chocolate bar worse than pirated software... yeah that was the story all right...
I assume by "candy bar" the original poster means "chocolate bar"... what the hell is this crypto-'merican "candy bar" crap?
I use this word.
Or I used to anyway.
It can backfire:
Our CFO is always asking me to "McGyver" up a new report for him nowadays... I infected him
Google is "cool" because a bunch of math guys came up with a really interesting new idea for searching the web which makes the others look très "brute force".
Basically, their brainwave was to use the fact that hypertext documents contain links to other hypertext documents - seems obvious doesn't it?
So instead of just looking for instances of a word or phrase in various webpages they rank webpages by popularity and the popularity of each webpage is determined by how many other webpages with a high popularity ranking link to it in a kind of smart crypto-recursive-algorithm sort of way.
It's elegant. It's smart. It's running on Linux.
What's not to love?
It's clever algorithm produces very accurate search results try it for yourself. Type in Linux and the top hits in Google are stuff like: www.linux.org
www.redhat.com
www.li.org
www.linuxtoday.com
i.e. the top linux websites
*None*, ***None***, of those sites will appear in your first page or results at altavista or excite...
Give it a try... it's not the "less mainstream", it's the "works better"
Yeah, I saw the winky-smiley.
But the sad truth that sort of thing wouldn't be too surprising - take a look at the number of people who are worried about ruining the lunar "environment".
It's no excuse. I must flame.
Friend you are correct.
Rest assured the sun is *much* larger than the moon.
Folks, it's a god-damned star!
The Earth would fit in to the sun about a million times over.
The previous poster is either on crack or another sad example of the scientific-illiterates being produced by the American education system.
I believe I mentioned the physical location of the server being the United States.
/. is not in the U.S. whine-boy
* **
* **
the guys who run slashdot and the equipment its hosted on are in the U.S.
/. is on the Internet - national borders are something we are trying to overcome here
usually when someone posts an article here that links to a non-english article you'll find people rushing to try and get the "best" translation out...
here's my attempt:
***********************************************
Ballmer: Apache is simply better
Microsoft-VP Steve Ballmer, speaking in a Keynote address, openly praised the Apache Webserver, a competing product: "If we don't offer enough features to justify our pricing, we have only ourselves to blame. Apache is simply better than us, when it comes to hosting several sites on a single server", said Ballmer during a speech in Vienna introducing Office 2000. The Open Source WWW Server Apache is a competitor of Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS), a component of Windows NT. According to Netcraft Apache has a 56% share of websites versus IIS which has only 23%.
***********************************************
The Arrow:
Thanks for nothing, Diefy!
Hope you had a nice ride on the way down!
BLACK FRIDAY 40th ANNIVERSARY
NEVER FORGIVE ~ NEVER FORGET
No it fails on more than one key point.
Another would be that Microsoft is Linux's father. UNIX is the father of Linux.
Is RMS Princess Leia? Who are the ewoks?... I'm confused...
Thank God for CBC radio! I've lived in a few different cities in different parts of Canada lately and man its hard to find a half-decent radio station in this country.
CBC radio rocks!
Full democracy hadn't arrived yet no, but things were generally headed in that direction. "We had a king" seems to imply an absolute monarchy which certainly wasn't the case. The supremacy of parliament had already been long established by the time of the American Revolution.
The successful revolution didn't establish democracy. It merely replaced the "effete English wanker" oligarchy with it's 13-Colonies equivalent.
Full democracy took about the same time to develop in both the USA and in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.
Although in the latter case slavery was abolished a good two generations before the USA.
Its pointless arguing about who invented things. Scientists stand on the shoulders of giants. They are part of an international community. Its these communities that produce great ideas and inventions - not petty nationalisms
Degrassi rocked.
And Gordie would disagree with you I imagine.
Right on!
Quebec bashers suck.
There's a lot of diversity of opinion in Quebec and out. Knee-jerk anti-Quebec crap makes me ill.
(Some people in Quebec even use Linux)
Here's the "I feel lucky" link from Google for this hierarchy of needs thing:
Google Link
That is a good point. And I also think you have to take into account what sort of "fun" one is talking about.
Linus was talking about the fun of a challenge. Something many of us are familiar with by using-learning/helping to build open source s/w. Although I'm sure we could all name a whole whack of other examples (like learning history!). I think this is "good fun" which makes one grow and (usually) develop relationships with other "good fun" sorts of people.
The other type of fun is passive - a life revolving around the modern colleseum - mindless television and blockbuster hollywood movies and little else. If people end up getting all their fun from these "bad fun" activites I think this can be... problematic.
(?)
Just a theory off the top of my head. Feel free to tear it apart.
Hey, did anyone actually look at the source on that page? There's a little letter from AG that starts by saying "
:-)
Thanks for checking out our source code!"
Scrolling down a bit will take you to the "Attention Open Source Enthusiasts" section where they want people to develop a Linux screensaver:
"A special message for Open Source Software enthusiasts: We are very interested in developing content that takes advantage of Open Source software such as Linux. For starters, we are conducting a Gore 2000 Linux Screen Saver design competition among volunteers to see who can build the best Gore 2000 Linux screen savers. If you would like to submit a Gore 2000 Linux screen saver for consideration, or if you have ideas for this project, please send an e-mail to: opensource@algore2000.com
Watch this space for more Open Source ideas and volunteer opportunities."
Not being American I'll bow out of the competition, but I imagine a lot of you should have something whipped up in a jif... get to it
"As expected, Slashdot's readers gave Gore 2000 a shellacking..."
they should have added:
"...not unlike ZDNet receives on a regular basis"
:^)
> Sprachen sie Deutsch, Amigo??
"Sprechen Sie Deutsch" might work better,
but I'd go with
"kannst Du Deutsch?"
if you don't want to sound like a Lehrbuch