While it IS a subscription-based service, the price is reasonable ($20/year), and the company releases a good deal of source code from their products under the GPL. Not to mention that it has an awesome XML backend (completely open. the company encourages users to hack it and write new clients via their excellent SDK).
Simply install the server software on the PC(s) which you have the music on, and access your collection(s) from one unified website. Everything is done peer-to-peer, the software supports transcoding, and you can play locally or remotely (another cool feature is that you can start playback on a remote machine (ie. I can control the music being fed into my stereo from my office).
Last week it snowed twice in New Jersey. Supposed to snow tomorrow as well. (True, we did have about a week of 70 degree weather, but that wasn't last week)
I mean, seriously. Open source is about developers. It's generally not about users. And this misunderstanding is producing a lot of discontent. "Why are people writing all these stupid command line programs when I want a GUI program!"
As true as this is, you might want to remember that the most successful OSS projects are those which are DEVELOPED by their USERS. Think Apache, emacs, gpg, gentoo portage, etc.
Developers can work better in a console enviornment or a minimalistic one such as TWM. That's why we don't have good GUI apps. (Though it is interesting that tools such as powerbasic, and the excellent windowing toolkits in Mac OSX have produced many good applications form small-time developers)
While this might not be the place to argue this, here I go.
Bullshit. Really. Apache is still beating IIS in market share and always has.
Agreed
The PS2 is still clobbering the X-Box. Where did you read this? I know the PS2 is making more money, I've heard that the Xbox is surpassing the PS2 in sales. I also believe it to be a superior console in both hardware and the availible games.
The PalmOS is still demolishing the PocketPC.
I certainly perfer the simplicity Palm, although I'm not sure of the sales figures - from what I hear, it's beginning to even out with the new versions of PocketPC (the early CE devices were truly awful compared to the palms)
WebTV has been toast for some time. Yeah. It was simply a bad concept which was poorly executed. Web sites don't look good at TV resolution, and their browser had huge problems.
Heck, the only places Microsoft *have* been successful are Windows (due to a desktop monopoly)
Windows is successful - everybody knows that. Windows is successful because DOS was successful (due to the success of the IBM PC, Lotus 123, etc), and IBM and co. bundled MS-DOS or PC-DOS with all their computers - if they didn't want to pay the M$ tax, they could write their own version of DOS (which IBM did along with a few other companies).
Windows came along, and was the logical upgrade from DOS, but it ended the simplicity of DOS, and companies had to license source from microsoft to ensure compatibility (ie. OS/2). And then M$ decided to drop the IBM contract, killing off the competition, and the rest is history. Windows being successful is IBM's fault.
Explorer (due to leveraging the previous monopoly to squash Netscape)
Name ONE modern operating system that doesn't include a browser. Ummm - KDE is trying to kill mozilla with konq., OSX is trying to kill Microsoft with opera, Gnome is trying to kill kde with mozilla/gecko, Slackware wants lynx to rule the world, BSD is being killed as it is, and BeOS is dead.
Office(due mostly to locked-in data formats). Outside of the narrowly-defined desktop realm, Microsoft is one vast litany of failures.
How do locked-in data formats attribute to the success of office? XML is quite new, and Office is quite old. From what I hear, Office 2003 will use an XML file format. Office has mastered usability engineering. Nothing else comes close.
Re:What about Terrasoft? Can't their machines run
on
Beige Box Apple Clone?
·
· Score: 1
Apple doesn't exactly use MacOS roms any more. I believe they stopped sometime around OS 9 and switched to storing the ROM on disk. Either way, MacOnLinux can successfully boot OSX without a rom. Roms were an issue when the 68k was around. They're not anymore.
The update doesn't make the drives write faster. The article, says that the update allows 4x media to be written to at 1x or 2x speeds on the SuperDrive. I believe it has something to do with the new 4x media being slightly different (I seem to recall that this also effects PC DVD-R drives as well, and similar updates are availible for those drives)
To quote directly from the FAQ:
Will this update enable my 2x SuperDrive to write at a higher speed? This update enables you to read from and write to the new media, but it does not increase the speed of the drive. In fact, the updated 2x SuperDrive writes to this new media at 1x. So to obtain the highest performance from your 2x SuperDrive, we recommend that you continue using 2x DVD-R media just as you do today.
So this means we can't buy the games which aren't sold?
Why is this a big deal? Selling most GPL'd games would be illegal anyway if you wanted to make any sort of profit (of course, not all linux games are GPL'd, but those that aren't are usually availible for other platforms, as Uplink is)
How the heck does a magnetic tape survive a suttle launch/orbit/reentry? The recorder and tape must be continually subjected to dramatic temperature changes, electro-magnetic radiation, radiation from the sun, as well as violent vibrations - it's really hard to do ANYTHING with any degree of precision when being subject to 8g of force. On earth, magnetic media is already one of the least reliable storage mediums.
It seems to me that the most reliable format for data storage in this type of enviornment would be some sort of punch card/optical disk combinarion (no joke!) Why couldn't NASA use a high-speed water-jet torch to bore tiny holes into a circular disc made out of something really really durable (synthetic diamond comes to mind). In function, it would work like a cd, execpt that it would have holes instead of pits.
That's not the point. Desktop enviornments were designed to be controlled with a mouse or trackball, NOT a remote. Using a remote to navigate is extremely awkward.
The hardware's been availible for a really long time. Unfortunately, no software has come out to support it.
What DO these people do with their HTPCs? How the heck do you effectively control windows/linux with a remote (other than moving the mouse around with a joystick)?
We simply need a tivo-like application to organize all our videos, etc. Even the Digital Media Center edition of windows doesn't come close, handles music horribly, requires hardware mpeg compression, and STILL stresses a P4 (and yet the tivo can work easily with a 50mhz PPC chip). Sure, I know about mythTV and freevo - the two projects certainly look promising, but aren't even close to ideal yet (although linux is certainly winning this race, I'd like to see something from apple).
Either all the movies mentioned here really suck, or there's some sort of shortage of moderator points. I'm only seeing 3 comments scored over 2 (out of the 350 posted so far)
I remember that BeOS was extremely multi-threaded, which made it a pain to effectively write complex software applications for. Wouldn't this also be the case for the SPARC.
That being said, multi-threaded processing certainly speeds up an OS. BeOS is by far the fastest OS i've ever used.
It really depends upon the product you're buying...
Recently, I brought a printer and scanner. The CompUSA salesman convinced me to buy a warranty on the printer, and I must say that I do believe that it was a smart choice, as it was only $25 - $10 rebate with the purchase of ink (which I was going to do anyway). You see, devices such as printers are more prone to failure than others, and a carry-in replacment plan is definitely a plus (and a steal at $15).
However, for more expensive devices such as computers, I'd stay away from store warranties when they range over $200. If you REALLY want a longer warranty, buy from a direct company such as dell or IBM, which offers onsite service (which can be a godsend for small businesses).
So, in summary, only get it if you feel the device is prone to failure, and the price is right.
Is this ALL we need to do to get projects approved by M$?
From the looks of it here, these requirments seem VERY resasonable (if only KDE and gnome had such restrictions...). We could probably get projects such as Mozilla approved in the program, or is there some sort of cost involved?
Lastly, how do games get approved? 99% of all fullscreen games I've ever played have no way of supporting all these features, ESPECIALLY d3d games. Most games don't alt-tab properly, or run in multiple instances on multiple accounts, and have no way of supporting visual styles.
The same could be said about programs which are intended to be run as admin-only (user managment, disk managment, etc)
Chances are you're using a high-end CRT, and a low-end LCD.
I have one of the 21" CRT Apple studio displays, and must compliment on its abilities in contrast, geometry, and color controls. Best i've EVER seen.
Sidenote: Up until recently, I used a dual-monitor setup with my 18" LCD and an old small 14" CRT. It was astounding to see the differences in color, etc between them. Not that one was BETTER - chain up any 4 different-model monitors to the same source, and you'll see 4 very different images (LCDS tend to mimic each other much better than CRTs did, though)
While it's true that monitors need to be calibrated, etc. how many people other than graphic artists actually do this? It's time consuming and expensive (although my apple display does it automaticalle:) )
Not true. On my IBM 18" LCD, I can pretty much view it from any angle (even those I'm sure to NEVER be in). Laptops aren't as good, but they've certainly improved quite a bit.
Ok. Now everyone's looking at me because i'm attempting to look at my monitor from every possible angle. I'm going to go now
First off, the fact that DishPVR has a larger customer base than TiVo can be explained easily, and is a statistics gimmick. Dish dropped EVERY one of it's recievers execpt for the PVRs and one ultra-low-end model, thus giving customers who want a better box no choice. In addition, Dish is now giving away one PVR, and one low-end reciever to all new customers (darn... all I got was one low-end box)/
In terms of customer satisfaction, TiVo definitely rules all, and this will ultimately determines the fate of the companies. SonicBlue was known for horrible support, and I believe that the hardware was rumored to be of a lower quality than TiVo. TiVo is known for great customer relations (they even encourage their employees to post in unofficial tivo-related message boards. how many companies do THAT?) The TiVo software couldn't be easier to use, anybody in my family can use it. Replay is harder to use, but not frustratingly so. The dish PVR510 software sucks (haven't used the 721 yet). Pause, rewind, etc. work like they do on TiVo, but the similarities end there. "Season Passes" on the Dish unit work based upon time, not program (similar to they way in which you can program a VCR). Searching for programs to record (IMHO, TiVo's most valuable feature) only works a few days into the future, and takes about 2 minutes per search. The box simply doesn't stand up against the Tivo
I find it disturbing that I have yet to see the media reporting Iraqi civillian casualties. I have heard reports of anti-Saddam protests (though I wonder if any of the country supports him?)
Perhaps the most disturbing thing I've seen from this war was the picture of the Iraq defense ministry after it had been attacked (it was the first target on Wed. night). From what was left of the building's burning skeleton, I estimated the building to be 14 stories tall, and 'cubic' in shape. When I saw those pictures, I knew nobody in that relatively large building had a chance of surviving. Many innocent people were in that building. More disturbing were the reports that 'bunker buster' bombs had been used against the target. And this was just a thumbnail on CNN.com. Not once was it shown on TV, and yet they have the audacity to (re)play the fottage of the horrible events of 9/11.
Destroying buildings so that Saddam can't use them is one thing. Killing every person inside them is another. Even at that, I don't think that destroying buildings is very effective. Unless we rebuild them, Iraq will need to rebuild many many buildings to provide shelter for its citizens.
I don't remember the war in Kosovo ever being this violent. Dropping bombs in the country's most populous city isn't exactly civillian-friendly. If the citizens hate Saddam so much, why cant we just walk in to the city? (Would certainly involve casualties on our side.... which is more important 1 American who is here volluntarily or 10 Iraqis who don't have a choice?)
I'm sad to say that there is no such thing as a perfect war. Unfortunately, that's what the media wants you to think.
I have a duron 1.1 system. You'd have to stack a hell of a lot of these on top of each other to require any sort of special cooling.
I have a small $5 aluminum cooler-master heatsink with a underpowered fan on it which is able to keep the CPU comfortably cool (without a case fan)
I suppose it could get a bit tight in a 1u configuration, but anything more dense would probably require special hardware.
Speaking of special hardware, why can't they just squeeze a bunch of mini-itx motherboards into a server case? They could use IDE compactflash drives to cut down on cost, heat, and space, as beowulf nodes only need enough storage to boot the kernel. I suppose you could fit 4-6+ of these into a 1u case, but you'd probably have to leave 1/2u space between cases to allow for ventilation (bringing it down to a 4x increase in density)
I wonder what type of chemical research these systems will be conducting... perhaps they will determining the reaction between water (H2O) and Silicon printed circuit boards? (come to think of it, reasearch isn't the only thing they'll be conducting)
I wonder if Mac OSX could be easily modified to support a 3d GUI (or at least add some useful 3d effects to the GUI)... After all, Quartz Extreme does use OpenGL for most of the rendering of the desktop, which is responsible to the speed of the OSX gui.
I wonder if we could see usability improvements by using 3d toolbars stacked on top of each other using alpha blending which could be moved by mouse gestures... very cool... Unfortunately, most of the 3d GUIs to date have only decreased usability, and been overly cumbersome.
I'm getting the strong impression that the majority of government desktops will become Linux desktops. Is this true? As of right now, how many US state governments and Canadian provincial governments -do not- use Linux for their work stations?
Slashdot Mirror
Might I ask where you get stuff such as this? :)
Try out Muse.Net
While it IS a subscription-based service, the price is reasonable ($20/year), and the company releases a good deal of source code from their products under the GPL. Not to mention that it has an awesome XML backend (completely open. the company encourages users to hack it and write new clients via their excellent SDK).
Simply install the server software on the PC(s) which you have the music on, and access your collection(s) from one unified website. Everything is done peer-to-peer, the software supports transcoding, and you can play locally or remotely (another cool feature is that you can start playback on a remote machine (ie. I can control the music being fed into my stereo from my office).
Check it out: http://www.muse.net
Not sure what part of the northeast had this :)
Last week it snowed twice in New Jersey. Supposed to snow tomorrow as well. (True, we did have about a week of 70 degree weather, but that wasn't last week)
I mean, seriously. Open source is about developers. It's generally not about users. And this misunderstanding is producing a lot of discontent. "Why are people writing all these stupid command line programs when I want a GUI program!"
As true as this is, you might want to remember that the most successful OSS projects are those which are DEVELOPED by their USERS. Think Apache, emacs, gpg, gentoo portage, etc.
Developers can work better in a console enviornment or a minimalistic one such as TWM. That's why we don't have good GUI apps. (Though it is interesting that tools such as powerbasic, and the excellent windowing toolkits in Mac OSX have produced many good applications form small-time developers)
Some people just don't understand sarcasm. Sheesh.
While this might not be the place to argue this, here I go.
Bullshit. Really. Apache is still beating IIS in market share and always has.
Agreed
The PS2 is still clobbering the X-Box.
Where did you read this? I know the PS2 is making more money, I've heard that the Xbox is surpassing the PS2 in sales. I also believe it to be a superior console in both hardware and the availible games.
The PalmOS is still demolishing the PocketPC.
I certainly perfer the simplicity Palm, although I'm not sure of the sales figures - from what I hear, it's beginning to even out with the new versions of PocketPC (the early CE devices were truly awful compared to the palms)
WebTV has been toast for some time.
Yeah. It was simply a bad concept which was poorly executed. Web sites don't look good at TV resolution, and their browser had huge problems.
Heck, the only places Microsoft *have* been successful are Windows (due to a desktop monopoly)
Windows is successful - everybody knows that. Windows is successful because DOS was successful (due to the success of the IBM PC, Lotus 123, etc), and IBM and co. bundled MS-DOS or PC-DOS with all their computers - if they didn't want to pay the M$ tax, they could write their own version of DOS (which IBM did along with a few other companies).
Windows came along, and was the logical upgrade from DOS, but it ended the simplicity of DOS, and companies had to license source from microsoft to ensure compatibility (ie. OS/2). And then M$ decided to drop the IBM contract, killing off the competition, and the rest is history. Windows being successful is IBM's fault.
Explorer (due to leveraging the previous monopoly to squash Netscape)
Name ONE modern operating system that doesn't include a browser. Ummm - KDE is trying to kill mozilla with konq., OSX is trying to kill Microsoft with opera, Gnome is trying to kill kde with mozilla/gecko, Slackware wants lynx to rule the world, BSD is being killed as it is, and BeOS is dead.
Office(due mostly to locked-in data formats). Outside of the narrowly-defined desktop realm, Microsoft is one vast litany of failures.
How do locked-in data formats attribute to the success of office? XML is quite new, and Office is quite old. From what I hear, Office 2003 will use an XML file format. Office has mastered usability engineering. Nothing else comes close.
True. But film projectors don't :)
Apple doesn't exactly use MacOS roms any more. I believe they stopped sometime around OS 9 and switched to storing the ROM on disk. Either way, MacOnLinux can successfully boot OSX without a rom. Roms were an issue when the 68k was around. They're not anymore.
The update doesn't make the drives write faster. The article, says that the update allows 4x media to be written to at 1x or 2x speeds on the SuperDrive. I believe it has something to do with the new 4x media being slightly different (I seem to recall that this also effects PC DVD-R drives as well, and similar updates are availible for those drives)
To quote directly from the FAQ:
Will this update enable my 2x SuperDrive to write at a higher speed?
This update enables you to read from and write to the new media, but it does not increase the speed of the drive. In fact, the updated 2x SuperDrive writes to this new media at 1x. So to obtain the highest performance from your 2x SuperDrive, we recommend that you continue using 2x DVD-R media just as you do today.
So this means we can't buy the games which aren't sold?
Why is this a big deal? Selling most GPL'd games would be illegal anyway if you wanted to make any sort of profit (of course, not all linux games are GPL'd, but those that aren't are usually availible for other platforms, as Uplink is)
How the heck does a magnetic tape survive a suttle launch/orbit/reentry? The recorder and tape must be continually subjected to dramatic temperature changes, electro-magnetic radiation, radiation from the sun, as well as violent vibrations - it's really hard to do ANYTHING with any degree of precision when being subject to 8g of force. On earth, magnetic media is already one of the least reliable storage mediums.
It seems to me that the most reliable format for data storage in this type of enviornment would be some sort of punch card/optical disk combinarion (no joke!) Why couldn't NASA use a high-speed water-jet torch to bore tiny holes into a circular disc made out of something really really durable (synthetic diamond comes to mind). In function, it would work like a cd, execpt that it would have holes instead of pits.
That's not the point. Desktop enviornments were designed to be controlled with a mouse or trackball, NOT a remote. Using a remote to navigate is extremely awkward.
The hardware's been availible for a really long time. Unfortunately, no software has come out to support it.
What DO these people do with their HTPCs? How the heck do you effectively control windows/linux with a remote (other than moving the mouse around with a joystick)?
We simply need a tivo-like application to organize all our videos, etc. Even the Digital Media Center edition of windows doesn't come close, handles music horribly, requires hardware mpeg compression, and STILL stresses a P4 (and yet the tivo can work easily with a 50mhz PPC chip). Sure, I know about mythTV and freevo - the two projects certainly look promising, but aren't even close to ideal yet (although linux is certainly winning this race, I'd like to see something from apple).
Not yet. Not yet.
Either all the movies mentioned here really suck, or there's some sort of shortage of moderator points. I'm only seeing 3 comments scored over 2 (out of the 350 posted so far)
I remember that BeOS was extremely multi-threaded, which made it a pain to effectively write complex software applications for. Wouldn't this also be the case for the SPARC.
That being said, multi-threaded processing certainly speeds up an OS. BeOS is by far the fastest OS i've ever used.
It really depends upon the product you're buying...
Recently, I brought a printer and scanner. The CompUSA salesman convinced me to buy a warranty on the printer, and I must say that I do believe that it was a smart choice, as it was only $25 - $10 rebate with the purchase of ink (which I was going to do anyway). You see, devices such as printers are more prone to failure than others, and a carry-in replacment plan is definitely a plus (and a steal at $15).
However, for more expensive devices such as computers, I'd stay away from store warranties when they range over $200. If you REALLY want a longer warranty, buy from a direct company such as dell or IBM, which offers onsite service (which can be a godsend for small businesses).
So, in summary, only get it if you feel the device is prone to failure, and the price is right.
Is this ALL we need to do to get projects approved by M$?
From the looks of it here, these requirments seem VERY resasonable (if only KDE and gnome had such restrictions...). We could probably get projects such as Mozilla approved in the program, or is there some sort of cost involved?
Lastly, how do games get approved? 99% of all fullscreen games I've ever played have no way of supporting all these features, ESPECIALLY d3d games. Most games don't alt-tab properly, or run in multiple instances on multiple accounts, and have no way of supporting visual styles.
The same could be said about programs which are intended to be run as admin-only (user managment, disk managment, etc)
Chances are you're using a high-end CRT, and a low-end LCD.
:) )
I have one of the 21" CRT Apple studio displays, and must compliment on its abilities in contrast, geometry, and color controls. Best i've EVER seen.
Sidenote: Up until recently, I used a dual-monitor setup with my 18" LCD and an old small 14" CRT. It was astounding to see the differences in color, etc between them. Not that one was BETTER - chain up any 4 different-model monitors to the same source, and you'll see 4 very different images (LCDS tend to mimic each other much better than CRTs did, though)
While it's true that monitors need to be calibrated, etc. how many people other than graphic artists actually do this? It's time consuming and expensive (although my apple display does it automaticalle
Not true. On my IBM 18" LCD, I can pretty much view it from any angle (even those I'm sure to NEVER be in). Laptops aren't as good, but they've certainly improved quite a bit.
Ok. Now everyone's looking at me because i'm attempting to look at my monitor from every possible angle. I'm going to go now
First off, the fact that DishPVR has a larger customer base than TiVo can be explained easily, and is a statistics gimmick. Dish dropped EVERY one of it's recievers execpt for the PVRs and one ultra-low-end model, thus giving customers who want a better box no choice. In addition, Dish is now giving away one PVR, and one low-end reciever to all new customers (darn... all I got was one low-end box)/
In terms of customer satisfaction, TiVo definitely rules all, and this will ultimately determines the fate of the companies. SonicBlue was known for horrible support, and I believe that the hardware was rumored to be of a lower quality than TiVo. TiVo is known for great customer relations (they even encourage their employees to post in unofficial tivo-related message boards. how many companies do THAT?)
The TiVo software couldn't be easier to use, anybody in my family can use it. Replay is harder to use, but not frustratingly so. The dish PVR510 software sucks (haven't used the 721 yet). Pause, rewind, etc. work like they do on TiVo, but the similarities end there. "Season Passes" on the Dish unit work based upon time, not program (similar to they way in which you can program a VCR). Searching for programs to record (IMHO, TiVo's most valuable feature) only works a few days into the future, and takes about 2 minutes per search. The box simply doesn't stand up against the Tivo
I find it disturbing that I have yet to see the media reporting Iraqi civillian casualties. I have heard reports of anti-Saddam protests (though I wonder if any of the country supports him?)
Perhaps the most disturbing thing I've seen from this war was the picture of the Iraq defense ministry after it had been attacked (it was the first target on Wed. night). From what was left of the building's burning skeleton, I estimated the building to be 14 stories tall, and 'cubic' in shape. When I saw those pictures, I knew nobody in that relatively large building had a chance of surviving. Many innocent people were in that building. More disturbing were the reports that 'bunker buster' bombs had been used against the target. And this was just a thumbnail on CNN.com. Not once was it shown on TV, and yet they have the audacity to (re)play the fottage of the horrible events of 9/11.
Destroying buildings so that Saddam can't use them is one thing. Killing every person inside them is another. Even at that, I don't think that destroying buildings is very effective. Unless we rebuild them, Iraq will need to rebuild many many buildings to provide shelter for its citizens.
I don't remember the war in Kosovo ever being this violent. Dropping bombs in the country's most populous city isn't exactly civillian-friendly. If the citizens hate Saddam so much, why cant we just walk in to the city? (Would certainly involve casualties on our side.... which is more important 1 American who is here volluntarily or 10 Iraqis who don't have a choice?)
I'm sad to say that there is no such thing as a perfect war. Unfortunately, that's what the media wants you to think.
I have a duron 1.1 system. You'd have to stack a hell of a lot of these on top of each other to require any sort of special cooling.
I have a small $5 aluminum cooler-master heatsink with a underpowered fan on it which is able to keep the CPU comfortably cool (without a case fan)
I suppose it could get a bit tight in a 1u configuration, but anything more dense would probably require special hardware.
Speaking of special hardware, why can't they just squeeze a bunch of mini-itx motherboards into a server case? They could use IDE compactflash drives to cut down on cost, heat, and space, as beowulf nodes only need enough storage to boot the kernel. I suppose you could fit 4-6+ of these into a 1u case, but you'd probably have to leave 1/2u space between cases to allow for ventilation (bringing it down to a 4x increase in density)
I wonder what type of chemical research these systems will be conducting... perhaps they will determining the reaction between water (H2O) and Silicon printed circuit boards? (come to think of it, reasearch isn't the only thing they'll be conducting)
I wonder if Mac OSX could be easily modified to support a 3d GUI (or at least add some useful 3d effects to the GUI)... After all, Quartz Extreme does use OpenGL for most of the rendering of the desktop, which is responsible to the speed of the OSX gui.
I wonder if we could see usability improvements by using 3d toolbars stacked on top of each other using alpha blending which could be moved by mouse gestures... very cool... Unfortunately, most of the 3d GUIs to date have only decreased usability, and been overly cumbersome.
I'm getting the strong impression that the majority of government desktops will become Linux desktops. Is this true? As of right now, how many US state governments and Canadian provincial governments -do not- use Linux for their work stations?
Quick answers: No, All of them (as far as I know)