RedHat, in removing that choice, has proved themselves once again to the Microsoft of the Linux world.
You wish there were a Microsoft of the Linux world. Linux is going to wander off into world domination without a market leader to take it there. That'll be awsome.
I can't just pick something I'll believe in today.
Right, that's my point. You can't just pick your beliefs. Or your disbeliefs. I'm making a distinction between beliefs and, er, well, I don't have a different word for them, but let's call them thinks. You can just pick something to think. I think quantum physics is "true" in the sense that the theory matches observed phenomena, etc. I also think our understanding of the phenomena will expand and the theory will be adapted to fit as necessary. But I don't "believe" in it; it's just not in my core being. Intellectually though I understand it enough to accept it as true.
Likewise, I have a belief in God -- not a particularly anthropomorphic entity in my mind -- that I absolutely cannot explain rationally, scientifically, through logical presentation of evidence or data. In fact, intellectually, I have no reason the think He either is or isn't there. (In fact I get rather irked when well-intended people try to prove to me things about God, the Bible, the nature of Christ, etc.) So, like your dragon in your cellar, as an intellectual exercise I've got the admit He doesn't exist. Yet I believe. Go figure.
I don't think you'll ever come to religeous enlightenment (or delusion -- hard to find words here that don't carry a lot of baggage) through a scientific, rational thought process. I don't see beliefs and thinks as occupying the same plane, and therefore they don't have much to say about each other. You said there may be many things you "believe on the basis of poor reasoning..." Okay, I know what you meant, but I don't think you can believe anything on the basis of reasoning (poor or otherwise), but you certainly can think things on that basis. That's an important distinction I don't often see made in these discussions.
Careful. We all believe a bunch of things we aren't even aware of, on the basis of no evidence whatever. Why should we discount religeous beliefs particularly?
Okay, here goes: "I hate Microsoft and no amount of logic will change that." Gee, you're right! That was easy, and I feel better already. Thanks for the tip!
If you have or know of a project that no longer has its leader(s), post it on http://www.unmaintained-free-software.org/. At least people will have a chance to find it.
Check it out; you might be surprised what's there -- gs f'rinstance.
Just for the record (not that this is scientific or anything) my current ~/.netscape/cache has
65 PNGs,
1,188 GIFs, and
170 JPGs
in it. I suspect that might be a little higher than average in the PNG department because I tend to frequent sites run by rabid free software rebels. YMMV
make sure you do *daily* builds on each target platform from day 1 of implementation.
I can't agree with this more. The one big source project I've been involved with was a year and a half long migration of a live MVS system to a mass storage archive on a ConvexOS UNIX system while both systems stayed up and in production. I was coding day and night, and the "at night" part included making the ConvexOS side work on my Amiga. (Picture for a moment putting 800,000+ files in 800Gb on an Amiga 3000. We obviously didn't do it, but not because the code wasn't willing!)
The ConvexOS and Amiga systems were different enough to make clear the distinction between those things that were part of the problem vs. those that were implementation issues on a given platform. By forcing me to keep the issues separate, we ended up with a much better product.
As our migration project was winding down, we took it to another university to help them with their MVS to UNIX migration. Their target UNIX platform was much more "normal" than ours, but the platform eccentricities were already abstracted out, and the port went very smoothly, largely because I developed the non-MVS side of the software on multiple platforms from day one. (Actually from about day 85, but day one would have been better.)
(Info about our MVS to UNIX migration is available at here.)
> once you've used BASh in linux, how can you possibly use DOS??
Once you've used BASh in DOS, how can you possibly use DOS?? I had the pleasure of taking a Java course where they had a bunch of laptops running (what else?) Windows, but they gave us BASh shells. It was great!
And of course, the fonts were anti-aliased. (See, even on topic!)
The reason only 3 to 5 percent of DNA strands represent actual instructions is that genetics is basically an object-oriented system. You need some little protein that's been subclassed a hundred thousand times already, and presto! Gene bloat.
Someday they'll map the whole thing to C++ or Java; then you'll see why there's so much worthless code in your genes.
Slashdot Mirror
You wish there were a Microsoft of the Linux world. Linux is going to wander off into world domination without a market leader to take it there. That'll be awsome.
Why? So we'll know at what rate to tax its residents?
Right, that's my point. You can't just pick your beliefs. Or your disbeliefs. I'm making a distinction between beliefs and, er, well, I don't have a different word for them, but let's call them thinks. You can just pick something to think. I think quantum physics is "true" in the sense that the theory matches observed phenomena, etc. I also think our understanding of the phenomena will expand and the theory will be adapted to fit as necessary. But I don't "believe" in it; it's just not in my core being. Intellectually though I understand it enough to accept it as true.
Likewise, I have a belief in God -- not a particularly anthropomorphic entity in my mind -- that I absolutely cannot explain rationally, scientifically, through logical presentation of evidence or data. In fact, intellectually, I have no reason the think He either is or isn't there. (In fact I get rather irked when well-intended people try to prove to me things about God, the Bible, the nature of Christ, etc.) So, like your dragon in your cellar, as an intellectual exercise I've got the admit He doesn't exist. Yet I believe. Go figure.
I don't think you'll ever come to religeous enlightenment (or delusion -- hard to find words here that don't carry a lot of baggage) through a scientific, rational thought process. I don't see beliefs and thinks as occupying the same plane, and therefore they don't have much to say about each other. You said there may be many things you "believe on the basis of poor reasoning..." Okay, I know what you meant, but I don't think you can believe anything on the basis of reasoning (poor or otherwise), but you certainly can think things on that basis. That's an important distinction I don't often see made in these discussions.
Careful. We all believe a bunch of things we aren't even aware of, on the basis of no evidence whatever. Why should we discount religeous beliefs particularly?
Okay, here goes: "I hate Microsoft and no amount of logic will change that." Gee, you're right! That was easy, and I feel better already. Thanks for the tip!
Like 'reader's Digest'? More like 'writer's digest', or maybe 'writer's indigest'.
If you have or know of a project that no longer has its leader(s), post it on http://www.unmaintained-free-software.org/. At least people will have a chance to find it. Check it out; you might be surprised what's there -- gs f'rinstance.
Just for the record (not that this is scientific or anything) my current ~/.netscape/cache has
- 65 PNGs,
- 1,188 GIFs, and
- 170 JPGs
in it. I suspect that might be a little higher than average in the PNG department because I tend to frequent sites run by rabid free software rebels. YMMVI can't agree with this more. The one big source project I've been involved with was a year and a half long migration of a live MVS system to a mass storage archive on a ConvexOS UNIX system while both systems stayed up and in production. I was coding day and night, and the "at night" part included making the ConvexOS side work on my Amiga. (Picture for a moment putting 800,000+ files in 800Gb on an Amiga 3000. We obviously didn't do it, but not because the code wasn't willing!)
The ConvexOS and Amiga systems were different enough to make clear the distinction between those things that were part of the problem vs. those that were implementation issues on a given platform. By forcing me to keep the issues separate, we ended up with a much better product.
As our migration project was winding down, we took it to another university to help them with their MVS to UNIX migration. Their target UNIX platform was much more "normal" than ours, but the platform eccentricities were already abstracted out, and the port went very smoothly, largely because I developed the non-MVS side of the software on multiple platforms from day one. (Actually from about day 85, but day one would have been better.)
(Info about our MVS to UNIX migration is available at here.)
> once you've used BASh in linux, how can you possibly use DOS??
Once you've used BASh in DOS, how can you possibly use DOS?? I had the pleasure of taking a Java course where they had a bunch of laptops running (what else?) Windows, but they gave us BASh shells. It was great!
And of course, the fonts were anti-aliased. (See, even on topic!)
The reason only 3 to 5 percent of DNA strands represent actual instructions is that genetics is basically an object-oriented system. You need some little protein that's been subclassed a hundred thousand times already, and presto! Gene bloat.
Someday they'll map the whole thing to C++ or Java; then you'll see why there's so much worthless code in your genes.