So the standard, boring "letter" and "article" styles that just scream out: "THIS DOCUMENT WAS TYPESET IN LATEX!" are the rule and we shouldn't deviate from them?
So, the work of your students just screams out: "THIS DOCUMENT WAS LAID OUT IN MS WORD!"?. Because trust me, the page layout of a default Word template is instantly recognisable to anyone with the slightest knowledge of typography and layout (For one, it's f*cking ugly).
Or do your students create those documents full of different typefaces, disjointed figures and tables and sundry unnecessary frills?
I'm sorry to hear of your problems, but I have some good news for you: the G450 is supported in 3D. I have an AGP G450DH, and the combination of XFree86 4.x with DRI works fine.
Just make sure your kernel is compiled with DRI support for Matrox (the module is called mga if you have a modular kernel) and set your X driver to mga as well. Drop me an email if you want commented copies of my config files (kernel.config and XF86Config-4)
The only thing that needs a proprietary module is some extra functionality in Matrox' HAL library, and that is non-essential (in fact, I still don't know what's in that library that would make it worth installing). Your card should work fine, unless DRI only works on AGP cards.
The toothpick and tweezers are only standard on Victorinox knives though. The other preferred supplier of the Swiss Army, Wenger, does not include them.
OTOH, I prefer my Wenger over a comparable Victorinox because the Wenger comes with a built-in Phillips screwdriver (among other things, but the screwdriver was what finally sold me on this knife).
Here's the description of my knife: Wenger Ranger. Click on the pictures on the right to get a detail view.
Scratch what I just said. It seems that this hole is closed. I get 'Operation not permitted' when I try to run an executable. It appears that noexecreally means noexec.
Nope. Sorry, won't work. As long as users have execute access to ld-linux.so.2 (which lives in/lib) or the equivalent on non-Linux boxes, they can run any ELF executable, noexec or not.
And AFAIK, ld-linux.so.2 has to be executable by all in order for the system to function normally, but I am not quite sure there.
Go read Marx yourself. Your paraphrasing of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital is completely out of whack. What you are describing is Leninism, which although founded on Marxism is most assuredly not what Marx meant.
Of course, as a good Libertarian Socialist (aka an Anarchist), I must point out that some of Marx' ideas were a recipe for disaster. His faith in the proletariat rulers after the revolution is what set up the Soviet Union. Unfortunately the problem is that as soon as you create a ruling class, you'll have all the problems that come with it, regardless of whether that ruling class is the bourgeoisie or the proletariat.
The lack of power relationships in Free Software would be a good reason to classify it as at least closely related to Anarchism. In fact, prof. Eben Moglen makes this point very convincingly in this essay.
I see you still haven't learned to control that temper of yours yet. Would you like me to post the link to the relevant slashdot discussion and the relevant Message-IDs? Do remember that I only posted a single post to a single newsgroup where both you and I were known. Your vitriolic attack on me, and your sock-puppetry by posting additional replies as AC was seen by me (and most other regulars there) as typical for your behaviour, and that's why I posted the link to that Slashdot discussion.
Now stop crying about how people on public forums treat you. Don't like the heat? Go join a moderated mailing-list.
According to the most pessimistic estimates, 30% of all public-sector IT projects succeed.
I have a hunch that private sector IT projects on a comparable scale do not do much better, since large corporations are plagued with a similar bureaucracy with all its evils as a large public service.
However, a public service is by it's very nature constrained to publicly announce it's budget overruns, whereas a corporation can keep this an internal secret.
The dutch trading company Hagemeyer almost bankrupted itself when it's IT migration went awry. The only reason we know is because it is publicly traded. Now Hagemeyer is only a mid-sized corporation. Now think back on how large corporations can hide costs (to the point of becoming fraudulent) and tell me if you are 100% convinced that that 30% success rate is unique to public service.
My personal opinion is that the success rate for any large restructuring project is dependent on but two factors: organisation size and organisational culture, and these two are interlinked (i.e., one tends to find static cultures resistant to change in any large organisation, not just government bureaucracies).
A minor note for you: expect nothing but mindless repeating of the Microsoft party line from spectecjr. He's a former Microsoft employee.
I have once before, in another discussion, pointed out that he failed to disclose his possible grounds for bias, only to have him try and smear my reputation all over the 'Net.
I do work in the trenches in IT support, and I agree with you: only a consultant dependent on Microsoft, an MS employee or a total nitwit[1] will uncritically tout Microsoft uber alles.
For less skilled users, even the replacement of Outlook with *any* other email/collaboration program is a difficult task. These people are not very trainable and painfully closed minded (probably due to fear or technology).
You raise an interesting point, close to a question that has been bothering me lately: if people are afraid of technology, afraid of trying new things because the old ways have entrenched themselves in their minds, afraid to try options because 'it might crash the computer', who would be the most likely culprit for instilling that fear in the first place?
I'll leave you and the rest of the readership to ponder that question, especially in the light of Munich's current IT troubles.
If the GNU userland utilities are so bad, how come they consistently come up as best in security tests? Like in this test (follow the PS link for the full report)?
Care to substantiate your attack on GNU coding quality? Your comment makes you sound like another BSD elitist who likes to rag on GNU/Linux for the mere fact that it supplanted your beloved BSD.
Actually, I am not in charge of the Exchange machines, and I don't know what the root cause of the hangups is. But SQL server has nothing to do with this: Exchange uses the Jet database engine to manage it's mailstore, as I understand it.
That wasn't my point though. The grandparent post was touting the use of Jet in Exchange as proof that Jet was worth something. All I wanted to point out was that this no proof at all, as Exchange is pretty crappy as it is.
That's all very nice, but you are missing the point.
It is most definitely the user's right to run his machine as he pleases, however the user has no right whatsoever to demand that someone else gives up his free time to debug his problems. In the case of a closed-source driver doing unknown things to the kernel, it is the very height of arrogance to demand of a total stranger to reverse engineer your personal hardware setup.
It is not about politics. It is about politeness. One does not ask people to do things that by their very nature are extremely hard if not impossible to accomplish at all, especially if people make it known in advance that they do not have the time nor the means (and hence no inclination) to even try.
Tell me, how many times per month does your Exchange server go unavailable with 100% CPU utilisation? Don't tell me it never happens. It is a regular fixture at my workplace.
Now, this might not be caused by the Jet database engine, but touting Exchange as an example of Jet's suitability for enterprise computing is laughable at best. Neither are in the same league as real enterprise quality software.
2. You can't change the location a launcher or shortcut points to once you have created it. That's irritating if you just needed to move the file or rename one folder in a long path and don't want to go through the hassle of creating a new launcher, name it and select icon from a long list again.
You don't quite have to create a whole new launcher from scratch. Here's the procedure to change one:
Open the properties dialog for the launcher (right-click->Properties).
Browse to the new location of the target using Nautilus.
Drag the target to the command field.
Voila, Gnome replaces the command with the new target. I've only tried this with executable launchers, but I would be surprised if this didn't work in other Properties dialogs too.
You're right about the plugin. Then again, if a plugin uses a full browser frame, I generally configure my browser to fire up the program externally. What's the use of a plugin that turns your browser into another application? You might as well launch the application IMO.
You are wrong about the link though. Middle-click on a link will open the link in a new tab, even if a PRIMARY selection is active. Mozilla-based browsers ignore the paste event that they receive in this case.
Here's a little tip if you want to copy&paste an URL into mozilla, overwriting the existing URL in the URL bar:
Select the URL to be copied. It will now be copied into the PRIMARY selection buffer.
Middle-click anywhere on a blank area of the current webpage.
Voila! Mozilla overwrites the existing URL and opens the new page. This has worked at least since Netscape 4.x, all Gecko-based browsers support it, and last I checked Konqueror did too.
That computer had a bunch of PC expansion slots, of which 2 aligned with the Amiga's own expansion slots. You could buy a PC-on-a-Card that would plug into the two aligned slots, so that some hardware could be shared, but it was basically the same as this SunPCI thing.
In the hypothetical case that you would only have to provide source to your clients, your clients would still receive their software under the GPL. Now, as the GPL allows them to redistribute the software, a third party could end up having your binary with the written offer for source.
Since the code is presumably copyrighted by you, and licensed under the GPL by you, your obligation to provide source has now transferred to this third party as well. They have no recourse with your second party, as that has no right to license the code.
This is why the 'any third party' stipulation has been put in clause 3b of the GPL, to spell out this situation explicitly.
The only way out of this is to use the clause 3a method. By providing source with the binary, you have an easy out. If a third party comes up to you and asks for the source, you can point them back to the second party, who by the license conditions should have given source or a written offer for the source from him when he resold the binary. Your obligation to the GPL would have been fullfilled by shipping the source to the second party in the original transaction.
Nothing personal against you here. Your post was just the final straw. I've had it with people saying Slashdot should do such-and-such, when the code is out there for all to see.
May I suggest you run, not walk, to your nearest video store and buy the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set?
If you want the best from Soap Opera (long story lines, new themes and character development) in a sci-fi setting, this is the closest approximation you can get. In fact, it's whole Soap Opera character was what turned off a lot of hard-core Trekkies, so it seems that this is just what you're looking for.
Slashdot Mirror
So, the work of your students just screams out: "THIS DOCUMENT WAS LAID OUT IN MS WORD!"?. Because trust me, the page layout of a default Word template is instantly recognisable to anyone with the slightest knowledge of typography and layout (For one, it's f*cking ugly).
Or do your students create those documents full of different typefaces, disjointed figures and tables and sundry unnecessary frills?
MartI'm sorry to hear of your problems, but I have some good news for you: the G450 is supported in 3D. I have an AGP G450DH, and the combination of XFree86 4.x with DRI works fine.
Just make sure your kernel is compiled with DRI support for Matrox (the module is called mga if you have a modular kernel) and set your X driver to mga as well. Drop me an email if you want commented copies of my config files (kernel .config and XF86Config-4)
The only thing that needs a proprietary module is some extra functionality in Matrox' HAL library, and that is non-essential (in fact, I still don't know what's in that library that would make it worth installing). Your card should work fine, unless DRI only works on AGP cards.
MartThe toothpick and tweezers are only standard on Victorinox knives though. The other preferred supplier of the Swiss Army, Wenger, does not include them.
OTOH, I prefer my Wenger over a comparable Victorinox because the Wenger comes with a built-in Phillips screwdriver (among other things, but the screwdriver was what finally sold me on this knife).
Here's the description of my knife: Wenger Ranger. Click on the pictures on the right to get a detail view.
MartScratch what I just said. It seems that this hole is closed. I get 'Operation not permitted' when I try to run an executable. It appears that noexec really means noexec.
MartNope. Sorry, won't work. As long as users have execute access to ld-linux.so.2 (which lives in /lib) or the equivalent on non-Linux boxes, they can run any ELF executable, noexec or not.
And AFAIK, ld-linux.so.2 has to be executable by all in order for the system to function normally, but I am not quite sure there.
MartGo read Marx yourself. Your paraphrasing of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital is completely out of whack. What you are describing is Leninism, which although founded on Marxism is most assuredly not what Marx meant.
Of course, as a good Libertarian Socialist (aka an Anarchist), I must point out that some of Marx' ideas were a recipe for disaster. His faith in the proletariat rulers after the revolution is what set up the Soviet Union. Unfortunately the problem is that as soon as you create a ruling class, you'll have all the problems that come with it, regardless of whether that ruling class is the bourgeoisie or the proletariat.
The lack of power relationships in Free Software would be a good reason to classify it as at least closely related to Anarchism. In fact, prof. Eben Moglen makes this point very convincingly in this essay.
MartGiven that these Russian rocket scientists:
I'd say that this is more a question of NASA and the US government not wanting to waste billions in reinventing the wheel.
MartTsk, Tsk, Tsk.
I see you still haven't learned to control that temper of yours yet. Would you like me to post the link to the relevant slashdot discussion and the relevant Message-IDs? Do remember that I only posted a single post to a single newsgroup where both you and I were known. Your vitriolic attack on me, and your sock-puppetry by posting additional replies as AC was seen by me (and most other regulars there) as typical for your behaviour, and that's why I posted the link to that Slashdot discussion.
Now stop crying about how people on public forums treat you. Don't like the heat? Go join a moderated mailing-list.
MartI have a hunch that private sector IT projects on a comparable scale do not do much better, since large corporations are plagued with a similar bureaucracy with all its evils as a large public service.
However, a public service is by it's very nature constrained to publicly announce it's budget overruns, whereas a corporation can keep this an internal secret.
The dutch trading company Hagemeyer almost bankrupted itself when it's IT migration went awry. The only reason we know is because it is publicly traded. Now Hagemeyer is only a mid-sized corporation. Now think back on how large corporations can hide costs (to the point of becoming fraudulent) and tell me if you are 100% convinced that that 30% success rate is unique to public service.My personal opinion is that the success rate for any large restructuring project is dependent on but two factors: organisation size and organisational culture, and these two are interlinked (i.e., one tends to find static cultures resistant to change in any large organisation, not just government bureaucracies).
MartA minor note for you: expect nothing but mindless repeating of the Microsoft party line from spectecjr. He's a former Microsoft employee.
I have once before, in another discussion, pointed out that he failed to disclose his possible grounds for bias, only to have him try and smear my reputation all over the 'Net.
I do work in the trenches in IT support, and I agree with you: only a consultant dependent on Microsoft, an MS employee or a total nitwit[1] will uncritically tout Microsoft uber alles.
Hope this helps,
Mart
[1] Sometimes this is one person.
You raise an interesting point, close to a question that has been bothering me lately: if people are afraid of technology, afraid of trying new things because the old ways have entrenched themselves in their minds, afraid to try options because 'it might crash the computer', who would be the most likely culprit for instilling that fear in the first place?
I'll leave you and the rest of the readership to ponder that question, especially in the light of Munich's current IT troubles.
MartAnd what a difference...
Debian makes you create a root user and strongly encourages you to create a normal user.
Windows XP just makes all user accounts created during install Administrator, and gives no warnings about the risks of that.
MartIf the GNU userland utilities are so bad, how come they consistently come up as best in security tests? Like in this test (follow the PS link for the full report)?
Care to substantiate your attack on GNU coding quality? Your comment makes you sound like another BSD elitist who likes to rag on GNU/Linux for the mere fact that it supplanted your beloved BSD.
MartActually, I am not in charge of the Exchange machines, and I don't know what the root cause of the hangups is. But SQL server has nothing to do with this: Exchange uses the Jet database engine to manage it's mailstore, as I understand it.
That wasn't my point though. The grandparent post was touting the use of Jet in Exchange as proof that Jet was worth something. All I wanted to point out was that this no proof at all, as Exchange is pretty crappy as it is.
MartThat's all very nice, but you are missing the point.
It is most definitely the user's right to run his machine as he pleases, however the user has no right whatsoever to demand that someone else gives up his free time to debug his problems. In the case of a closed-source driver doing unknown things to the kernel, it is the very height of arrogance to demand of a total stranger to reverse engineer your personal hardware setup.
It is not about politics. It is about politeness. One does not ask people to do things that by their very nature are extremely hard if not impossible to accomplish at all, especially if people make it known in advance that they do not have the time nor the means (and hence no inclination) to even try.
MartFunny you should mention Exchange...
Tell me, how many times per month does your Exchange server go unavailable with 100% CPU utilisation? Don't tell me it never happens. It is a regular fixture at my workplace.
Now, this might not be caused by the Jet database engine, but touting Exchange as an example of Jet's suitability for enterprise computing is laughable at best. Neither are in the same league as real enterprise quality software.
MartYou don't quite have to create a whole new launcher from scratch. Here's the procedure to change one:
Voila, Gnome replaces the command with the new target. I've only tried this with executable launchers, but I would be surprised if this didn't work in other Properties dialogs too.
MartYou're right about the plugin. Then again, if a plugin uses a full browser frame, I generally configure my browser to fire up the program externally. What's the use of a plugin that turns your browser into another application? You might as well launch the application IMO.
You are wrong about the link though. Middle-click on a link will open the link in a new tab, even if a PRIMARY selection is active. Mozilla-based browsers ignore the paste event that they receive in this case.
MartHere's a little tip if you want to copy&paste an URL into mozilla, overwriting the existing URL in the URL bar:
Voila! Mozilla overwrites the existing URL and opens the new page. This has worked at least since Netscape 4.x, all Gecko-based browsers support it, and last I checked Konqueror did too.
MartAnd Commodore, in the Amiga 2000.
That computer had a bunch of PC expansion slots, of which 2 aligned with the Amiga's own expansion slots. You could buy a PC-on-a-Card that would plug into the two aligned slots, so that some hardware could be shared, but it was basically the same as this SunPCI thing.
MartLeningrad actually.
But you are correct, Leningrad was (at least partially) relieved over the frozen water of Lake Ladoga.
Mart (WWII history buff)Given the propagation speeds of most worms on the Windows platform, I'd think just about all patches?
MartNot quite.
In the hypothetical case that you would only have to provide source to your clients, your clients would still receive their software under the GPL. Now, as the GPL allows them to redistribute the software, a third party could end up having your binary with the written offer for source.
Since the code is presumably copyrighted by you, and licensed under the GPL by you, your obligation to provide source has now transferred to this third party as well. They have no recourse with your second party, as that has no right to license the code.
This is why the 'any third party' stipulation has been put in clause 3b of the GPL, to spell out this situation explicitly.
The only way out of this is to use the clause 3a method. By providing source with the binary, you have an easy out. If a third party comes up to you and asks for the source, you can point them back to the second party, who by the license conditions should have given source or a written offer for the source from him when he resold the binary. Your obligation to the GPL would have been fullfilled by shipping the source to the second party in the original transaction.
MartExcellent idea!
Why don't you go and implement it? Or at least suggest it to the maintainers?
Nothing personal against you here. Your post was just the final straw. I've had it with people saying Slashdot should do such-and-such, when the code is out there for all to see.
MartMay I suggest you run, not walk, to your nearest video store and buy the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set?
If you want the best from Soap Opera (long story lines, new themes and character development) in a sci-fi setting, this is the closest approximation you can get. In fact, it's whole Soap Opera character was what turned off a lot of hard-core Trekkies, so it seems that this is just what you're looking for.
Mart