I first tried SO 5.2 as an alternative to MS Office shortly before Sun bought it. I fired it up, started writing, wanted to do some simple, repetitive task (I forget exactly what). Since SO looked very similar to MSO I tried the same simple feature that would do it for me there. It didn't work. After fifteen minutes of digging through the documentation I discovered that there was no automation for that feature in SO. I quickly nuked it, booted up Windows, and used the Microsoft product instead.
Since time is money I just found Star Office to be more expensive, even though technically it could do everything I wanted it to do. As long as Microsoft keeps improving the user experience it will have the better product. The product should be an enabler for the functionality it contains, and Microsoft did a much better job of that than Star Division did, even though both had all of the needed functionality.
That's how I can always tell who a TRUE geek is. We were the only ones who watched Voyager, anyway. Hopefully this one will have at least enough appeal to non-geeks to keep it on the air everywhere.
One important reason for this is that the number of rounds fired can be very large, even in a small action with few casualties. Munitions are also used in training, with (we always hope) no casualties at all.
You might say that it is far better to just reduce the amount of violence in the world than to try to make it more environmentally friendly (and you'd be right), but in point of fact, even with minimal or no violence, lots of munitions are used, and reducing the environmental impact can make it easier on people who live near training areas or who are trying to recover from a recent conflict.
I'd feel much better about this whole thing if Linux actually were a decent alternative to a M$ Windows desktop. There are certainly places for Linux in a program like this, particularly in the infrastructure. Unfortunately I feel like I'm pushing substandard goods as a Free software advocate in cases like this.
I know Richard Stallman says we should always use Free software because it is a morally superior thing to do. However I worry about the future when we are using technology that is inferior, just because it may save a bit of money. There are a lot of people counting on this initiative!
That is why we have advanced software engineering techniques like eXtreme Programming. Through it's constant refactoring it makes sure that code is always the best it can be for the task at hand, and constantly improving.
The only reason that so much code is ugly is that most people do not know about and adopt XP. XP closely resembles the reality of Open Source programming in its implement-now mentality and constant addition of features. If everyone used XP, the software world would be a better place!
Sadly, old hardware is usually best for the scrap heap (well, recycling is better, but you get the idea). It is cheaper to get relatively modern hardware because the difference in operating costs and support hardware (such as power supplies and hard drives) for the older computers mean that fast computers have better bang for the buck.
Passport is definitely an easier solution for consumers than any alternative yet presented. Having all your information stored in one central location is definitely better than having all your information stored all over the place. Microsoft also has a lot more motivation and resources to protect it than Joe Random Vendor.
The problem is that they haven't had any success protecting it anyway. To be completely fair, neither has anyone else. The other difficulty is that although I would trust MS rather than JRV to protect my data, the necessity of distribution and interaction opens up a whole new class of security holes that no one has even thought of before.
The unfortunate truth is that right now the only way to protect your privacy online is not to give out any information, and that Passport will do exactly nothing to remedy this situation.
Sklyarov is clearly guilty of violating the DMCA. The not guilty plea is stupid nonsense.
I'm not saying he should be charged or jailed or such. God forbid I support the government's actions here. Thing is, the issue isn't his guilt (as he is clearly guilty) but why the DMCA exists in the first place.
Don't proclaim Sklyarov's innocence, because he isn't. Instead, proclaim the injustice of a law that imposes draconian punishments for things that should not be illegal in the first place.
So digital music is being pushed out of the marketplace until someone can make a useful product out of it? Makes sense to me. Why should I listen to streaming radio when I can listen to a real station that has better quality and ads for places that are at least in my vicinity. And no, I don't particularly want to listen to the BBC.
As for digital music sales, someone has to make money there. No one makes money off mp3, so all they will do is fight it. For legitimate sales, they'll have to wait until someone comes out with a product that gives consumers more of what they want. As you mention, that isn't higher prices or more restrictions.
Linux manages to sucessfully use the same OS for both workstation and server purposes. In fact, I'm quite glad that my workstation doubles as a server for testing purposes, and that I am able to work on my servers in a pinch. Linux sucessfully combines all the good aspects of both workstations and servers; why can't M$ do the same?
You know, this is just the sort of response we DON'T need to see. A simple "I can't put my support behind a company that closes all aspects of its technology and does not support Open Source," would be a much better way of convincing them to change their minds.
This release will not work on AMD SledgeHammer. This one is particularly for the IA64 instruction set, not IA32 or x86-64. The standard Windows 2000 and Windows XP will work just fine on SledgeHammer, if you want to waste all that AMD goodness on a 32-bit Microsoft OS.
Microsoft is also considering an x86-64 port of Windows XP, but they have not announced their decision yet.
No, and no one will, unfortunately. A software hack, at least. The microphone is connected only to the springboard module port, and not to the rest of the visor internally.
That said, it might be possible to build a simple module to connect the microphone to the rest of the visor. All the Perl scripts in the world won't help me there, though, so someone else will have to do it.
Ximian probably has to release quickly. I can't imagine they are in great shape financially. It could easily be that a quick launch is key to their survival, either by allowing them to show product and attract investors, or even by giving them some sort of revenue stream.
I loved lego. My brother and I used to make lego ships with "invincible shields". Then we'd start fighting over whose ships would win, and I'd throw hot wheels cars at his. I guess his shields weren't so invincible after all!
First, RMS attempted to control the technical direction of glibc by telling all developers to work on what he wanted done, which would promote HURD while makin Linux a second-class citizen. He also attempted to install an FSF controlled seering committee that would focus discussion and work around those things. He was unsuccessful in both counts.
Second, Drepper is mad about the name GNU/Linux because he completely understands the significance. Stallman wants to make GNU the primary point, so that someday he can pull out the Linux kernel (which he has always had a grudge against) and install HURD in its place. He wants to change the name so that people see Linux as a minor part of the GNU operating system, and so take that change as a small and natural one, rather than the large and unpleasant one that it is.
For your third point, although you are right about an SC beeing a more democratic way to run a project, this SC was conceived of as a takeover attempt and implemented in an undemocratic way (ie. with RMS choosing his lackeys as the members and people working on the project getting a secondary role). Thus, this particular committee is flawed.
Lastly, you are right that Drepper is not perfect. I definitely disagree about the supreme competence of gcc people, though.
Drepper isn't a control freak. Quite the opposite; he strongly resists being controlled. While that makes him often equally unpleasant, he is not the same magnitude of evil.
From what I understand, Linux and Windows NT have had IPv6 support for quite some time now. The bigger barrier to adoption is that router technology for IPv6 is not quite ready for primetime. When Cisco and Nortel get their act in gear, IPv6 should be up and running in the wild in no time.
They've been losing market share to NT for years already, and now even comitted UNIX houses are switching from Solaris to Linux. Just look at the recent decision by SIAC to switch their mission-critical systems from Solaris to Linux. A combination of slow, overpriced hardware and an inability to compete on the software front has done them in. Even with the Java strategy, they have little hope of survival.
Why would anyone buy a Sun? Historically, they have offered excellent workstation-class machines. Now, their best single and dual processor ultrasparc based workstations are easily outclassed in every way by much cheaper boxes based on Intel and AMD processors. Performance that was once reserved for the most affluent corporate power users can now be found on the desk of the lowly janitor or student. The only place that Sun still distinguishes itself is in the large enterprise server with many processors and multiple layers of redundancy. Even there, solutions based on x86-64 and ia64 are arriving, and promise to offer all the same features at a much lower price.
On the software side, Sun makes an OS that is noted as being slow but scalable. With fast PC's, scalability on a single system is becoming less of a concern. Also, Windows 2000 already has many of the scalability features, and Linux is closing the gap quickly. Even five years ago, it made perfect sense to buy a Sun workstation for a developer. Now Linux fills that position, and a Sun machine is a waste of money. How long can it be before the same is true of high end workstations, clusters, and even enterprise big iron? IBM is putting their massive resources behind mainframe Linux. With Sun's proven inability to compete with Linux in any market that it has entered, they should be very afraid.
Sun's one bright spot is Java. With the massive adoption of J2EE for the middle tier in web infrastructure it is a powerful reminder of what Sun once was, and what they still can do when they get it right. Still, further analysis shows that Java is not a trump card for Sun. Far more than Solaris, two other operating systems are positioning themselves as "the best platform for Java." One is MacOS X, another proprietary UNIX by a more innovative vendor. The other threat to Sun is once again from Linux. With the failure of Java to catch on to the desktop, and the failure in the embedded market, Sun will have great difficulty leveraging Java to improve their financial situation.
The future does not look bright for Sun. Facing cheap hardware from Intel and AMD, and software competition from Linux and Microsoft, they have utterly failed to put together a competitive offering. With the failure of their Java technology to improve the outlook, they have all but curled up and died.
Installing multiple OS's would be trivial. The difficulty is that they would all have to be tested and supported by the vendors. That takes time and money. The cost of putting BeOS on a machine would be much higher than the cost of an OEM license.
Linux is much more popular than BeOS, yet Dell backed away from it on the desktop because it couldn't justify the expenses. The OEM's don't want it because it would hurt their bottom lines.
This signifies even more choice for the long stomped-upon Macintosh user. Apple makes a very good hardware platform for Linux, with its superior G4 processors.
Linux already has more market share than MacOS, but what a great victory it will be when Linux has more market share among Apple users than MacOS does!
Just encrypt your own transmissions violating the dmca using Really Obvious Encryption, then if someone charges you, you can countersue because they don't have a license from you.
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I first tried SO 5.2 as an alternative to MS Office shortly before Sun bought it. I fired it up, started writing, wanted to do some simple, repetitive task (I forget exactly what). Since SO looked very similar to MSO I tried the same simple feature that would do it for me there. It didn't work. After fifteen minutes of digging through the documentation I discovered that there was no automation for that feature in SO. I quickly nuked it, booted up Windows, and used the Microsoft product instead.
Since time is money I just found Star Office to be more expensive, even though technically it could do everything I wanted it to do. As long as Microsoft keeps improving the user experience it will have the better product. The product should be an enabler for the functionality it contains, and Microsoft did a much better job of that than Star Division did, even though both had all of the needed functionality.
That's how I can always tell who a TRUE geek is. We were the only ones who watched Voyager, anyway. Hopefully this one will have at least enough appeal to non-geeks to keep it on the air everywhere.
One important reason for this is that the number of rounds fired can be very large, even in a small action with few casualties. Munitions are also used in training, with (we always hope) no casualties at all.
You might say that it is far better to just reduce the amount of violence in the world than to try to make it more environmentally friendly (and you'd be right), but in point of fact, even with minimal or no violence, lots of munitions are used, and reducing the environmental impact can make it easier on people who live near training areas or who are trying to recover from a recent conflict.
I'd feel much better about this whole thing if Linux actually were a decent alternative to a M$ Windows desktop. There are certainly places for Linux in a program like this, particularly in the infrastructure. Unfortunately I feel like I'm pushing substandard goods as a Free software advocate in cases like this.
I know Richard Stallman says we should always use Free software because it is a morally superior thing to do. However I worry about the future when we are using technology that is inferior, just because it may save a bit of money. There are a lot of people counting on this initiative!
That is why we have advanced software engineering techniques like eXtreme Programming. Through it's constant refactoring it makes sure that code is always the best it can be for the task at hand, and constantly improving.
The only reason that so much code is ugly is that most people do not know about and adopt XP. XP closely resembles the reality of Open Source programming in its implement-now mentality and constant addition of features. If everyone used XP, the software world would be a better place!
Sadly, old hardware is usually best for the scrap heap (well, recycling is better, but you get the idea). It is cheaper to get relatively modern hardware because the difference in operating costs and support hardware (such as power supplies and hard drives) for the older computers mean that fast computers have better bang for the buck.
Great, now maybe the G4 really will be as fast as the P4, or even faster!
Technically, USB still is a serial interface. The change is from RS-232 to USB, both of which are serial interfaces.
Passport is definitely an easier solution for consumers than any alternative yet presented. Having all your information stored in one central location is definitely better than having all your information stored all over the place. Microsoft also has a lot more motivation and resources to protect it than Joe Random Vendor.
The problem is that they haven't had any success protecting it anyway. To be completely fair, neither has anyone else. The other difficulty is that although I would trust MS rather than JRV to protect my data, the necessity of distribution and interaction opens up a whole new class of security holes that no one has even thought of before.
The unfortunate truth is that right now the only way to protect your privacy online is not to give out any information, and that Passport will do exactly nothing to remedy this situation.
Sklyarov is clearly guilty of violating the DMCA. The not guilty plea is stupid nonsense.
I'm not saying he should be charged or jailed or such. God forbid I support the government's actions here. Thing is, the issue isn't his guilt (as he is clearly guilty) but why the DMCA exists in the first place.
Don't proclaim Sklyarov's innocence, because he isn't. Instead, proclaim the injustice of a law that imposes draconian punishments for things that should not be illegal in the first place.
So digital music is being pushed out of the marketplace until someone can make a useful product out of it? Makes sense to me. Why should I listen to streaming radio when I can listen to a real station that has better quality and ads for places that are at least in my vicinity. And no, I don't particularly want to listen to the BBC.
As for digital music sales, someone has to make money there. No one makes money off mp3, so all they will do is fight it. For legitimate sales, they'll have to wait until someone comes out with a product that gives consumers more of what they want. As you mention, that isn't higher prices or more restrictions.
You mean now I can get a MicroSun Cyber Blade XP Workstation?
Err, I think I misread the article. Never mind.
Linux manages to sucessfully use the same OS for both workstation and server purposes. In fact, I'm quite glad that my workstation doubles as a server for testing purposes, and that I am able to work on my servers in a pinch. Linux sucessfully combines all the good aspects of both workstations and servers; why can't M$ do the same?
You know, this is just the sort of response we DON'T need to see. A simple "I can't put my support behind a company that closes all aspects of its technology and does not support Open Source," would be a much better way of convincing them to change their minds.
That's the 64-bit port to IA64. If you read closer on the sight you linked to you will find that out. No x86-64 support has been announced.
This release will not work on AMD SledgeHammer. This one is particularly for the IA64 instruction set, not IA32 or x86-64. The standard Windows 2000 and Windows XP will work just fine on SledgeHammer, if you want to waste all that AMD goodness on a 32-bit Microsoft OS.
Microsoft is also considering an x86-64 port of Windows XP, but they have not announced their decision yet.
No, and no one will, unfortunately. A software hack, at least. The microphone is connected only to the springboard module port, and not to the rest of the visor internally.
That said, it might be possible to build a simple module to connect the microphone to the rest of the visor. All the Perl scripts in the world won't help me there, though, so someone else will have to do it.
Ximian probably has to release quickly. I can't imagine they are in great shape financially. It could easily be that a quick launch is key to their survival, either by allowing them to show product and attract investors, or even by giving them some sort of revenue stream.
I loved lego. My brother and I used to make lego ships with "invincible shields". Then we'd start fighting over whose ships would win, and I'd throw hot wheels cars at his. I guess his shields weren't so invincible after all!
I'll address your points one by one:
First, RMS attempted to control the technical direction of glibc by telling all developers to work on what he wanted done, which would promote HURD while makin Linux a second-class citizen. He also attempted to install an FSF controlled seering committee that would focus discussion and work around those things. He was unsuccessful in both counts.
Second, Drepper is mad about the name GNU/Linux because he completely understands the significance. Stallman wants to make GNU the primary point, so that someday he can pull out the Linux kernel (which he has always had a grudge against) and install HURD in its place. He wants to change the name so that people see Linux as a minor part of the GNU operating system, and so take that change as a small and natural one, rather than the large and unpleasant one that it is.
For your third point, although you are right about an SC beeing a more democratic way to run a project, this SC was conceived of as a takeover attempt and implemented in an undemocratic way (ie. with RMS choosing his lackeys as the members and people working on the project getting a secondary role). Thus, this particular committee is flawed.
Lastly, you are right that Drepper is not perfect. I definitely disagree about the supreme competence of gcc people, though.
Drepper isn't a control freak. Quite the opposite; he strongly resists being controlled. While that makes him often equally unpleasant, he is not the same magnitude of evil.
From what I understand, Linux and Windows NT have had IPv6 support for quite some time now. The bigger barrier to adoption is that router technology for IPv6 is not quite ready for primetime. When Cisco and Nortel get their act in gear, IPv6 should be up and running in the wild in no time.
They've been losing market share to NT for years already, and now even comitted UNIX houses are switching from Solaris to Linux. Just look at the recent decision by SIAC to switch their mission-critical systems from Solaris to Linux. A combination of slow, overpriced hardware and an inability to compete on the software front has done them in. Even with the Java strategy, they have little hope of survival.
Why would anyone buy a Sun? Historically, they have offered excellent workstation-class machines. Now, their best single and dual processor ultrasparc based workstations are easily outclassed in every way by much cheaper boxes based on Intel and AMD processors. Performance that was once reserved for the most affluent corporate power users can now be found on the desk of the lowly janitor or student. The only place that Sun still distinguishes itself is in the large enterprise server with many processors and multiple layers of redundancy. Even there, solutions based on x86-64 and ia64 are arriving, and promise to offer all the same features at a much lower price.
On the software side, Sun makes an OS that is noted as being slow but scalable. With fast PC's, scalability on a single system is becoming less of a concern. Also, Windows 2000 already has many of the scalability features, and Linux is closing the gap quickly. Even five years ago, it made perfect sense to buy a Sun workstation for a developer. Now Linux fills that position, and a Sun machine is a waste of money. How long can it be before the same is true of high end workstations, clusters, and even enterprise big iron? IBM is putting their massive resources behind mainframe Linux. With Sun's proven inability to compete with Linux in any market that it has entered, they should be very afraid.
Sun's one bright spot is Java. With the massive adoption of J2EE for the middle tier in web infrastructure it is a powerful reminder of what Sun once was, and what they still can do when they get it right. Still, further analysis shows that Java is not a trump card for Sun. Far more than Solaris, two other operating systems are positioning themselves as "the best platform for Java." One is MacOS X, another proprietary UNIX by a more innovative vendor. The other threat to Sun is once again from Linux. With the failure of Java to catch on to the desktop, and the failure in the embedded market, Sun will have great difficulty leveraging Java to improve their financial situation.
The future does not look bright for Sun. Facing cheap hardware from Intel and AMD, and software competition from Linux and Microsoft, they have utterly failed to put together a competitive offering. With the failure of their Java technology to improve the outlook, they have all but curled up and died.
Installing multiple OS's would be trivial. The difficulty is that they would all have to be tested and supported by the vendors. That takes time and money. The cost of putting BeOS on a machine would be much higher than the cost of an OEM license.
Linux is much more popular than BeOS, yet Dell backed away from it on the desktop because it couldn't justify the expenses. The OEM's don't want it because it would hurt their bottom lines.
This signifies even more choice for the long stomped-upon Macintosh user. Apple makes a very good hardware platform for Linux, with its superior G4 processors.
Linux already has more market share than MacOS, but what a great victory it will be when Linux has more market share among Apple users than MacOS does!
Just encrypt your own transmissions violating the dmca using Really Obvious Encryption, then if someone charges you, you can countersue because they don't have a license from you.