And it's practiced every month or so. Luckily, I can usually keep track and bring flowers to lighten the mood. I find the best thing to do during crisis week is to just shut up and get out of the way. Let the experts handle most of the issues.
My point exactly. The perceived toy-aspect of Linux is being shed. Linux is moving closer to the mainstream as evidenced by benchmarks such as this. It isn't the fact that Linux set some world record (dubiously), it's that Linux is represented as a viable alternative to Windows and other Unix systems.
They must be doing a really great job, having only 6 complaints to field. The censorship agency is able to keep things pretty tightly controlled, it seems.
It's a little like my elephant repellent. There ain't no elephants around here, are there? Heh heh heh.
Given that the plausibility of a guy that is invisible, that no one has ever seen except as described in very old books, and that is supposed to have absolute power and knowledge is about the same as the plausibility that unicorns exists
Please be aware that the books about me are not *that* old.
There are a lot of problems with coming out and saying that Linux is the hands-down winner of this benchmark. The first problem is that the Linux system has twice as many processors as the next system down. The second problem is that the system costs twice as much as the next runner up. For these reasons alone it is foolhardy to immediately claim that Linux is now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the database world.
However, the story is more than that. The most important thing to notice is not that Linux is at the top, or the number of processors is so high, or even that the cost is exorbitant. The important thing is the Linux is a contender at all. This is an OS that hasn't until recently gotten a lot of respect. That Linux can "keep up with the big boys", it shows that it is certainly capable of handling the computing needs of the corporate community.
Of course, if you live by the benchmark, you die by the benchmark. Linux apologists would do well to acknowledge that it only breaks the world record because the hardware is twice as powerful as the next OS's. However, they can still crow about the significant progress that Linux has made over its relatively short lifetime. What other OS has gone from 0 to 60 in such a short time?
Yes. Not only that, it shows that Linux can win hands down when the number of processors is double the competition and the price is more than double the next runner-up.
If I look at the code, then incorporate that code (via my memory, not cut+paste) into my closed source project, I have violated the GPL. If I do the same with public domain source, I have not violated any copyright. It is in this way that the GPL does not encourage real freedom.
Your point about the BSD license being more free than the GPL is well-taken. I believe that the BSD license is as close as you can come to public domain without losing the original author's rights.
The FSF may be founded on those carefully argued principles, but it doesn't act in accordance with those principles. The "Freedom" that the FSF promotes does not connote the same Freedom that anyone else outside the FSF reasonably thinks of. If it really thought that user freedom as well as software freedom were so important, it would ditch the GPL altogether and release *ALL* FSF-built software into the public domain. The GPL is a crutch that helps the FSF appear to support freedom, but in practice restricts the number of eyes allowed to see the source code.
The FSF would have you believe that the GPL supports development by requiring that any modifications must be accompanied by source code. This completely violates any "freedom to keep changes proprietary" that a developer may have had. In fact, when this type of violation of the GPL occurs, the FSF and its advocates are quick upon the scene to denounce such actions. As a developer, am I not free to keep my changes to myself?
The GPL does not support Freedom because it is an attempt to keep a watchful eye on users.
I think you've mistaken Windows CE for desktop Windows. CE is fairly customizable from a minimum 500K OS (please correct if you have the right number) to a full-blown Windows shell. The slimness of Linux comes at a price, just as the slimness of CE comes at a price. The price is in functionality. You'd be fooling yourself if you thought that a tiny Linux OS supported the same featureset as the version on your desk.
The Windows CE API is no more "fat" than any other embedded OS, though it has the possibility to become so as necessary.
If you want to talk NT embedded, that's a whole 'nother story, though.
It's all a matter of steps. Progress doesn't happen overnight, and something as large as a quiet takeover of the desktop by Linux will take quite a while. It requires small steps like this that make the platform attractive to people who may be interested in the latest idiotic flash animation (though that kung-fu one was pretty cool).
Free software does not live in a bubble, at least not in the eyes of the public. In fact, what you think of as free today may not be what will eventually be considered free 5 years from now. Perhaps it the definition is faltering now? When you say that Real and Macromedia no longer have to worry about developing for anything other than Windows, aren't you also, in essence, saying that Linux (or any OS that Codeweavers supports) is a viable choice for an OS? It seems that freedom from a single vendor is much more important than any ideology that attempts to lock me into a single "Open" vendor, namely the FSF.
Maybe it isn't Open Source, but the Codeweaver product allows greater leeway in choice of OSs. If that isn't progress towards freedom, maybe your definition needs tweaking.
If you are unaware of why you use inheritance with COM objects, it's really a waste of time for me to explain it in a forum like this. Any decent COM or MFC book would explain it much more clearly than I could.
I have several years of Perl expertise, as well as a trackable history in clpm (no, not as a troll there, but as a living, breathing contributor). If interested, you know how to contact me. I'll require full accomodations (I don't fit so well in economy class seats).
in my 7 years as a programmer I still haven't seen a truly valid reason to use inheritance
You like those controls and ActiveX and OLE objects that you can stick to your VB apps? Those REQUIRE inheritance. While it may not be visible to you, someone's using inheritance (and polymorphism and the rest of OO stuff) to bring these controls to you.
Actually, I wasn't sure what he was talking about in regards to gcc and embedded systems either. It would have been nice if he had fleshed out what he thought the impacts of gcc were. *shrug*
Well, Guinan was an eons-old alien. Picard and she probably couldn't have had offspring in the first place. Not that Beverly was a spring chicken, herself.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
I accidentally opened the email. I didn't think IT would send me a virus.
And it's practiced every month or so. Luckily, I can usually keep track and bring flowers to lighten the mood. I find the best thing to do during crisis week is to just shut up and get out of the way. Let the experts handle most of the issues.
Dancin Santa
if someone eats nothing but bean sprouts then they're going to turn out pretty messed up as well
Quite the contrary. You'd expect that they'd be pretty regular.
Dancin Santa
My point exactly. The perceived toy-aspect of Linux is being shed. Linux is moving closer to the mainstream as evidenced by benchmarks such as this. It isn't the fact that Linux set some world record (dubiously), it's that Linux is represented as a viable alternative to Windows and other Unix systems.
Dancin Santa
the only people who are in favor of censorship are those who fear the truth, or whose own ideas do not stand up to cross examination.
No. The primary aim of censorship is not to prevent adults from obtaining information, but to prevent children from accessing inappropriate materials.
Many people who support censorship believe that it is a crime to expose children to violence and pornography.
Perhaps you think children should have unhindered access to these materials?
Dancin Santa
They must be doing a really great job, having only 6 complaints to field. The censorship agency is able to keep things pretty tightly controlled, it seems.
It's a little like my elephant repellent. There ain't no elephants around here, are there? Heh heh heh.
Dancin Santa
Buzzkill.
Given that the plausibility of a guy that is invisible, that no one has ever seen except as described in very old books, and that is supposed to have absolute power and knowledge is about the same as the plausibility that unicorns exists
Please be aware that the books about me are not *that* old.
Dancin Santa
There are a lot of problems with coming out and saying that Linux is the hands-down winner of this benchmark. The first problem is that the Linux system has twice as many processors as the next system down. The second problem is that the system costs twice as much as the next runner up. For these reasons alone it is foolhardy to immediately claim that Linux is now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the database world.
However, the story is more than that. The most important thing to notice is not that Linux is at the top, or the number of processors is so high, or even that the cost is exorbitant. The important thing is the Linux is a contender at all. This is an OS that hasn't until recently gotten a lot of respect. That Linux can "keep up with the big boys", it shows that it is certainly capable of handling the computing needs of the corporate community.
Of course, if you live by the benchmark, you die by the benchmark. Linux apologists would do well to acknowledge that it only breaks the world record because the hardware is twice as powerful as the next OS's. However, they can still crow about the significant progress that Linux has made over its relatively short lifetime. What other OS has gone from 0 to 60 in such a short time?
Dancin Santa
SShhh... I only saw that weird, half-baked, half-rendered HTML page 3 times so far. Of course, I've only been logged in for about 5 minutes.
Dancin Santa
it's legitimate because Linux wins?
Yes. Not only that, it shows that Linux can win hands down when the number of processors is double the competition and the price is more than double the next runner-up.
Dancin Santa
Go SMP!
Ode for a Billionaire
;-D
I like it!
Dancin Santa
If I look at the code, then incorporate that code (via my memory, not cut+paste) into my closed source project, I have violated the GPL. If I do the same with public domain source, I have not violated any copyright. It is in this way that the GPL does not encourage real freedom.
Your point about the BSD license being more free than the GPL is well-taken. I believe that the BSD license is as close as you can come to public domain without losing the original author's rights.
Dancin Santa
The FSF may be founded on those carefully argued principles, but it doesn't act in accordance with those principles. The "Freedom" that the FSF promotes does not connote the same Freedom that anyone else outside the FSF reasonably thinks of. If it really thought that user freedom as well as software freedom were so important, it would ditch the GPL altogether and release *ALL* FSF-built software into the public domain. The GPL is a crutch that helps the FSF appear to support freedom, but in practice restricts the number of eyes allowed to see the source code.
The FSF would have you believe that the GPL supports development by requiring that any modifications must be accompanied by source code. This completely violates any "freedom to keep changes proprietary" that a developer may have had. In fact, when this type of violation of the GPL occurs, the FSF and its advocates are quick upon the scene to denounce such actions. As a developer, am I not free to keep my changes to myself?
The GPL does not support Freedom because it is an attempt to keep a watchful eye on users.
Lame
Dancin Santa
I think you've mistaken Windows CE for desktop Windows. CE is fairly customizable from a minimum 500K OS (please correct if you have the right number) to a full-blown Windows shell. The slimness of Linux comes at a price, just as the slimness of CE comes at a price. The price is in functionality. You'd be fooling yourself if you thought that a tiny Linux OS supported the same featureset as the version on your desk.
The Windows CE API is no more "fat" than any other embedded OS, though it has the possibility to become so as necessary.
If you want to talk NT embedded, that's a whole 'nother story, though.
Dancin Santa
It's all a matter of steps. Progress doesn't happen overnight, and something as large as a quiet takeover of the desktop by Linux will take quite a while. It requires small steps like this that make the platform attractive to people who may be interested in the latest idiotic flash animation (though that kung-fu one was pretty cool).
Free software does not live in a bubble, at least not in the eyes of the public. In fact, what you think of as free today may not be what will eventually be considered free 5 years from now. Perhaps it the definition is faltering now? When you say that Real and Macromedia no longer have to worry about developing for anything other than Windows, aren't you also, in essence, saying that Linux (or any OS that Codeweavers supports) is a viable choice for an OS? It seems that freedom from a single vendor is much more important than any ideology that attempts to lock me into a single "Open" vendor, namely the FSF.
Maybe it isn't Open Source, but the Codeweaver product allows greater leeway in choice of OSs. If that isn't progress towards freedom, maybe your definition needs tweaking.
Dancin Santa
He must not have been a Blue.
Dancin Santa
If you are unaware of why you use inheritance with COM objects, it's really a waste of time for me to explain it in a forum like this. Any decent COM or MFC book would explain it much more clearly than I could.
Dancin Santa
The non-GPL version of what you're talking about is called many names: COM, OLE, Javabeans, VB, Corba...
Bring on an Open Source development environment as productive as VB!
Dancin Santa
I have several years of Perl expertise, as well as a trackable history in clpm (no, not as a troll there, but as a living, breathing contributor). If interested, you know how to contact me. I'll require full accomodations (I don't fit so well in economy class seats).
Dancin Santa
in my 7 years as a programmer I still haven't seen a truly valid reason to use inheritance
You like those controls and ActiveX and OLE objects that you can stick to your VB apps? Those REQUIRE inheritance. While it may not be visible to you, someone's using inheritance (and polymorphism and the rest of OO stuff) to bring these controls to you.
Dancin Santa
Gotcha! Thanks, +1 Informative, I'd mod. Can anyone spare a mod for Ayende?
Actually, I wasn't sure what he was talking about in regards to gcc and embedded systems either. It would have been nice if he had fleshed out what he thought the impacts of gcc were. *shrug*
Dancin Santa
I'm sure your parents wouldn't be too happy.
"You're 45 years old. Your father and I can't support you your whole life, you know!"
"But mom... I'm so happy making $15,000 a year doing what I do. Can't you be happy for me?"
Something tells me I wouldn't be bringing presents to your abode.
Dancin Santa
Well, Guinan was an eons-old alien. Picard and she probably couldn't have had offspring in the first place. Not that Beverly was a spring chicken, herself. :-)
Dancin Santa