I know a lot of people who's next OS after they shed Win2k is going to be Linux. Linux needs no comparision with Windows anymore. Be it that Windows Fister has 2D HW accell and E not just yet. Nobody cares. Linux is one free (beer), stable, virus free OS with 9000 applications for free, two dozen of which cover everything a standard computer user would ever want. If properly configured that is. What Linux needs to break the critical mass barrier is a big player sellling PCs with Linux (and only Linux) preinstalled, offering service, gaining foothold and dictating which packaging system everybody else in the Linux game (RH, SuSE/Novell, etc.) should use from now on. The currently best candidate distro for this kind of stunt probably is ubuntu. The first one to do this and to have the guts and money to pull it through will make a shitload of money. Linux is ready for the desktop, people just need to start to believe it for the rest of what a mainstream OS needs to come to life to happen. We all know installing Linux is easyer in the end. It's just that 90% of the people wouldn't know how to install Windows. They just get it with their PCs preinstalled and take the hidden costs for granted. Imagine IBM selling a PC Mini (think Mac Mini as PC) for 500$ with all everyone would ever want and Linux preinstalled with all goodies that go with it. THAT's all that it takes to make Linux mainstream. PC Linux will be on the desktop the day an expensive "DNA print required for unlocking" zero-features-included Windows OS will be an extra option that costs extra 50$, and all HDDs one can buy come with Ubuntu or whatever preinstalled. Chances are that that day may come. For my part, I'm sticking to my forecast for Linux critical mass reaching pointbreak in Germany. (12 Months left)
MS is dependant on hardware people and hardware people don't mind having MS push out another crappy OS that they can call 'superiour (... but only with our expensive new hardware)'. Remember the uber-pointless Winkey keyboards? Keyboard manufacturers are still kissing Mickeysofts feet for that treat. The Monitor vendors will *all* jump to this. Let's hope Apple plays it's own game in this. That way we at least have a little competition.
I hereby hand over to henchmen on Miro payroll (aka "Foundation Administrators") the exclusive total and unrevocable ownage of my ass - and everything attached to it.
I am aware of the fact that this blessing costs me an anual fee of mere 1000$ (US). Which is so totally a once-in-a-lifetime super-bargain, since now above mentioned henchmen will give me an acknowledging nod and a pat on the head whenever I make an improvement suggestion for Mambo.
The best thing Miro could do now is an all-out backpedal with appologies to the core developers of Mambo, a redo of their fondation rules and a free beer for all core participants at the next Mambo convention. Right now _everybody_ is looking at this and it is ultra-evident that Miro did a big screw up. The interview emphasises this once again. The way this whole foundation was built is just plain silly. The conditions for joinging are simular to SCO licences and that tells a lot. Unless the core team really screws up with their successor, this can only turn out bad for Miro. If they don't admit a mistake and see the utter insult their foundation rules are to core developers they will disappear into insignificance in less than a year.
.. what do they get? 15 or only 10 years on the electric chair? Or maybe the judge lets them of the hook and they get away with a good caneing. Like 200 strikes or so.
*remebers Images of a swiss pre-teen boy cuffed in chains brought before a US judge because dared help his little sister use the toilett without closing the curtains*
Mod me down if you wish - but admit I have a point.
I suppose you mean that ever-present universal XAML that all the recent WindowsXP, OS X and GTA San Andreas patches and updates rely on? Not to mention the upcoming Nintendo GBA Micro that runs a special implementation called Micro-XAML....
This is so going on my nerves I can't tell anyone. Once again: As long as JavaScript doesn't behave predictable across Browser DOMs just as CSS has learned by now to behave 95% predictable across plattforms and browsers this whole AJAX thing is NOTHING BUT F*CKING POINTLESS! The concept of rich clients (what Ajax is all about) in ancient! The only thing that lacks is a cross plattform enviroment that people are willing to use by default in favour of dumb clients. We've got Java (to difficult for most people - especially for those getting high on Ajax just now), Flash/ActionScript (good but reputation spoiled by same people) and XUL (Firefox/Mozilla only - xulrunner still in the works) but tres cool and a real GUI kit.
So, if you think rich clients are cool, build them in XUL. That's ten bazillion miles ahead of Ajax.
Ajax is nothing but, and I mean absolutely nothing but a marketing hype scheme started by these people. So would you please just ignore it. There are a lot of other much more mature technologies for this that would actually deseve the attention. I mentioned XUL allready, but those countless open source Flash/AS projects out there are also worth a look.
When I heard about this Mambo foundation thing I thought "Oh, so your ripping of the crappy part of the Typo3 development hype here in germany". Just months after this strange T3 Foundation popped up. Mambo is the best looking OSS CMS but it has it's lasting issues with usability. Building a Foundation won't change that, have people ignore it and pump up the turnover with Miro services. Time and time again I've considered getting down with Mambo improvement but I was hesitant that Mambo quirks persisted so long for a reason and that deving would've meant forking Mambo right from the get-go. Bingo. I'm glad that is settled now. Now if the Typo3 folks calm down again and see to it going PHP 5 and OOP without wasting too much time with a 'foundation' and its various costly 'membership options', we can get back to work and have two PHP CMSes to rule them all.
Time to join the [fill in Mambos new name here] Team.
BTW, there are OSS projects that actually benefit from a foundation. One's the former commercial 3D Package Blender. Ton Roosendahl uses the Blender Stichting as a versatile tool to pull larger Blender development and project stunts. It's tied to a tight knitt team of all-time participants and lacks a pesky babble and paper-releasing faction. A very good example for an OSS foundation that works.
'We're looking at developing some of the softer skills that are needed for the 21st century, such as problem-solving, resilience, persistence and collaboration.'
I really don't understand the reason people (mostly Perl people to my impression) get all worked up about this sentence. Some Perl People tend to think it's an insult to Perl, Which it absolutely isn't. It doesn't even put one PL in a better light than the other. It just adequately describes the character of both compared in a humorous way. I use both (Python more than Perl, but that's only because for the Projects I do Python is suited best) and don't feel the least bit put of from Perl by this true and witty one-liner. Bottom line: Chill out, people. It's just a saying with some truth behind. And I'd even guess it was made by a Perl programmer.
I didn't even notice the whole Perl community up and migrate to Python, abandoning their old CPAN modules and recreating them in Python, thereby taking the Python programmer count from 3 to 3,000,000. Are you sure this has happened. Or do you wish Python was in the position Perl is in?
I mentioned that 'being silly' thing further up. What you're saying here mostly complies with that.
First of all: Python isn't some exotic PL experiment with no one but a group of academics using it. Neither is Perl. Both are PLs that have a solid reputation. And for good reasons too. There are Python projects, components and extension out there that are the reference for everything else in the field they cover. Zope, PyGame, TAL, PythonCard, Soya, WXPython, Blender Realtime Engine.... all those are things are generally refered to as "how things should be done in this area". That's why Python is often refered to as a "Rapid Prototyping Enviroment", in case you've wondered. If you have some cool idea about a new Webapp Server like RoR (see recent/. hysteria), chances are something like that allready is in heavy use by the 'Python people' (Zope). 'Python people'... now I'm sounding silly.... Python, like many other PLs, borrows stuff from Perl - like the Regexes. The Perl community - not entirely made up of silly zealots - ripps of the one or other thing that Python has and is easyly implemented in Perl. PeTAL comes to my mind as example. That's how this great thing called 'open source' works.
Second: What I wish for certainly has nothing to do with a uber-pointless debate over what 'positions' Python, Perl or other OSS PLs are in. But since we've come to 'Have a wish' time, I'll tell you what I wish for: I'd really wish for the total complete no-compromises Perl Regex engine to be a part of the main Python engine, better yet, the entire proposed Perl 6 Regex engine an integral part of Python (getting a hardon allready...) and a full, Python driven, true cross plattform (Linux, OS X/BSD, MickeySuck) OSS GUI kit with out-of-the-box web-remoting and all. Think a working pimped XUL-Runner without the XUL technology mess. That's what I wish for.
First of all some TLC for you Perl Fanboys (and girls) out there: Everybody loves Perl. Perl is cool, fast, delivers fast results in the area it rules and is the grand daddy of OSS languages. Nearly all books on Perl are fun to read and at least a great laugh. In fact it's quite amazing how long this quirky relic of ancient Unix paradigms managed to survive. It's 2005 and Perl _still_ is taken for granted as a PL. That's a terrific feat! The only PL in the same demografic group that is still in use is SQL. And everybody agrees that SQL is a pain in the ass and the people who invented it -if still alive - should be wrapped in brabed wire and shot into the sun. Larry Wall on the other hand still is a hero. Perl is fun. Sort of like riding granddads old bike that has no gearshifts and weighs a metric ton. If you tighten all the screws, fill up the tires and give the chain a good greasing you can feel the raw power.
Yet I choose Python over Perl because of it's better OOP capabilities and the fact that it's code only gets unreadable if you use brute force in making it unreadable. Python enforces good coding habbits making it handy for group projects and n00bs, has a strong foothold in lots of areas where Perl lacks (Gaming, GUI, 3D, large Web frameworks, etc...) and is the best candidate for a Perl successor. It only lacks Perls unmatched regex features. Entry the famous saying:
Perl is executable line noise, Python is executable pseudocode.
However, all academic discussion aside: If you think it's important to be a 'manly' programmer by preferring outdated development habbits over modern and, yes, easyer PLs, you're being silly. Perl being cool or not, there are situations were it is plain irresponsible to use it.
I don't like MS. It's OS Family is a risk to man and mouse in every corporate enviroment and their monopoly in OSes has been holding back IT innovation for years. Day in and day out I have to deal with trouble caused by MS Windows 'insecurity by design'. However, the Windows Family does have a reputation as a gaming OS. I use it to play WoW (my current iBook is to weak for large crowds and Transgaming is to much fuss). Yet this XBox has one thing I've been desperately missing on consoles: Hassle free VGA support. That's why I will check it out. But since the Nintendo Revoultion is gonna be something like twice as powerfull I'll wait for that one before making any buying decisions. It's like everybody said: Maybe if MS can get their hardware as predictable as Apple has theirs and keep a grip on their computer gaming stronghold at the same time they might even stay the 400 pound gorilla they are right now. And - imagine that - build good products too!
They just babble and recite what they heard recently. Linux/OSS is slowly closing in on critical mass and standard procedure - just like everybody in IT predicted. Pupblic opinions adjust accordingly and the press releases articles that say: "Yeah, well, that TCO stuff we told you last year could be wrong because you can't do good TCO prediction without good data. [fill in appropriate external source here]" No, really? Wouldaya thunk! In two years we'll have the same people writing about how Linux desktops kick ass in this or that corporate enviroment that have an own IT administration. For the last 5 years the last advantage of Windows has been the one that counts: Windows has a monopoly. That's an ADVANTAGE to users, so they use it. Luckyly Windows is so crappy it will hopefully lose that advantage in the end.
I just listened to that second link. It has a strange feeling to it listening to somebody flip out in such a way. Curiously enough, the guy yelling/screeching has a solid point. The guy with the calm voice acting (and being) superiour is a prime class super-asshole. He's out of reach and anynomous and thus let all standard moral fare. He probably even faked being a nice party member over days. I play WOW but don't know what a cloudsong is (and couldn't care less) but it is likely the yeller spent weeks or months getting one. Imagine a guy asking you for a shot at your laptop you worked for for weeks and then walking away with it and then convincing bystanders that it's his not yours, so being able to keep it leaving you bare handed. MMORPGs - having no legal system - work just that way. In real life you would at least try break the guys nose..... I'd probably use all my computing,'bot programming and WoW Community skills to make the stealers life online as difficult as possible. Until I've vented all my frustration and satisfied my revenge that is. Would probably happend fast enough. WoW is a faceted MMORPG for intelligent people. Most I've met are super cool, helping me out with Items and Gold. I've increased my fortune 30-fold only by getting presents and loans from higher levels that barely knew me for 5 minutes - I have a level 17 Dwarf Priest and more than 3 Gold. Go figure. The above type of asshole can really spoil the fun. Luckily they are wide and far between.
Yet it goes without saying that screeching about it doesn't change things. The yeller had been better of commentlessly logging out, going outside and chopping the next two years worth of firewood:-) .
... the war but about showing Stalin who was boss. Japan was about to surrender and everybody in charge knew it. (Japan was just slowpoking because the emporer was looking for a way to surrender without him/Japan "losing face" - a *very* important thing in japan). Arguably the bomb minimized those japanese concerns and speeded up the process. The other reason the bomb was used is the usual simple one: Because the US military had it. They had a new toy and were happy to still have a reason to use it. And BTW: Nagasaki was an "accident". Well, sort of. The sky wasn't clear and the bombers couldn't see groung zero clearly and had strikt orders not to drop in that case. But the pilot couldn't open a valve on a fuel tank on the bomber, so they still had to drop the heavy bomb in order to make it back to base.
If your building from the ground up you should stick to one technology, and one only. It's more scalable in the long run, even if you'll have to write stuff the plattform hasn't got yet.
These comply to what you need: Java Python PHP
PHP is the most advanced SSI solution in existance, but can suck for larger specific apps. PHP 5 has changed that, but you still want to keep this problem in mind.
Java has something like 10 Million webappserverwhatnot solutions available - check apache to see what I mean - but has one downside: It's not pure OSS. And this IS a downside if you're into large scale custom developement.
Python has Zope, which is something like 5 years ahead of any other web application server/database out there. It's object database is a slowpoke by relational standards, but loadbalancing with Zope Farms is a piece of cake. And the ease of developement and the absence of ancient SQL crap make data drive development a trip to the theme park. You definitely want to check this out.
I'd recommend Python/Zope based on what you said, but of course you'll have to look into the details.
3 years ago. MS Linux with DX 9 and a big boss dictating which... is the kernel konfig and package management of choice. They would've owned the market within months. They missed out. Now they are facing Apple and OSS aware business users. They could turn the tide, simply because the PC hardware market is a complete mess and could use a big player setting standards for appliances. Which now Apple is probably going to do. But I think it's a bit to late for that. OS X has matured, will get speedy CPUs once again and if Steve Jobs doesn't screw up (which I don't expect) we'll have OS X in the zero-fuss turnkey appliance market and Linux in the cheap workhorse market nibbling away at MS marketshares for top and bottom. If MS hasn't gotten the message yet, it might even be just a little to late to change this.
Nintendo Assistant Hackamoto: "OMFG!!!!1111 Our profits are down from 100 bazillion $ to 20 bazillion $ a week. What a grief dishonor, Great Grand Hackamoto." Nintendo Great Grand Hackamoto: "This is unbearable. Get the Shin-Ken ready and polished, we're in for some serious sepuku today."
Curiously enough, the most "mature" - in terms of scary, frenzy and splatterhackfesty - games I know are from the Resident Evil series on Nintendo GameCube. I recall they've even got some exclusives in that. No? Anyway, it's tough to get any more "mature" than that. Play that time of game longer than 5 minutes and you get an heart attack. No thanks, I'll stick with Viewtyfull Joe, that's just enough exitement for me:-) .
Thats why I specifically asked for a comparsion. Because I use Gimp for the one or other professional situation myself. That was (suprise!) web grafics. Gimp is limited (compared to PS or even Photopaint) but usefull none the less. Especially if you're prime workhorse is Linux.
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I know a lot of people who's next OS after they shed Win2k is going to be Linux.
Linux needs no comparision with Windows anymore. Be it that Windows Fister has 2D HW accell and E not just yet. Nobody cares. Linux is one free (beer), stable, virus free OS with 9000 applications for free, two dozen of which cover everything a standard computer user would ever want. If properly configured that is.
What Linux needs to break the critical mass barrier is a big player sellling PCs with Linux (and only Linux) preinstalled, offering service, gaining foothold and dictating which packaging system everybody else in the Linux game (RH, SuSE/Novell, etc.) should use from now on.
The currently best candidate distro for this kind of stunt probably is ubuntu.
The first one to do this and to have the guts and money to pull it through will make a shitload of money. Linux is ready for the desktop, people just need to start to believe it for the rest of what a mainstream OS needs to come to life to happen. We all know installing Linux is easyer in the end. It's just that 90% of the people wouldn't know how to install Windows. They just get it with their PCs preinstalled and take the hidden costs for granted.
Imagine IBM selling a PC Mini (think Mac Mini as PC) for 500$ with all everyone would ever want and Linux preinstalled with all goodies that go with it. THAT's all that it takes to make Linux mainstream.
PC Linux will be on the desktop the day an expensive "DNA print required for unlocking" zero-features-included Windows OS will be an extra option that costs extra 50$, and all HDDs one can buy come with Ubuntu or whatever preinstalled.
Chances are that that day may come. For my part, I'm sticking to my forecast for Linux critical mass reaching pointbreak in Germany. (12 Months left)
... from man to woman or woman to man allmost all state that living as a woman is noteably more difficult than living as a man.
If anyone can truely compare, then it's this type of people.
...and then even worse terror for being blamed to be a pirate...
Bingo.
That's the very same reason the movies lost me as a regular customer here in Germany.
MS is dependant on hardware people and hardware people don't mind having MS push out another crappy OS that they can call 'superiour (... but only with our expensive new hardware)'.
Remember the uber-pointless Winkey keyboards? Keyboard manufacturers are still kissing Mickeysofts feet for that treat. The Monitor vendors will *all* jump to this.
Let's hope Apple plays it's own game in this. That way we at least have a little competition.
I hereby hand over to henchmen on Miro payroll (aka "Foundation Administrators") the exclusive total and unrevocable ownage of my ass - and everything attached to it.
I am aware of the fact that this blessing costs me an anual fee of mere 1000$ (US). Which is so totally a once-in-a-lifetime super-bargain, since now above mentioned henchmen will give me an acknowledging nod and a pat on the head whenever I make an improvement suggestion for Mambo.
signed
Stupid Me
(currently residing in Dads basement)
The best thing Miro could do now is an all-out backpedal with appologies to the core developers of Mambo, a redo of their fondation rules and a free beer for all core participants at the next Mambo convention.
Right now _everybody_ is looking at this and it is ultra-evident that Miro did a big screw up. The interview emphasises this once again.
The way this whole foundation was built is just plain silly. The conditions for joinging are simular to SCO licences and that tells a lot.
Unless the core team really screws up with their successor, this can only turn out bad for Miro. If they don't admit a mistake and see the utter insult their foundation rules are to core developers they will disappear into insignificance in less than a year.
.. what do they get? 15 or only 10 years on the electric chair? Or maybe the judge lets them of the hook and they get away with a good caneing. Like 200 strikes or so.
*remebers Images of a swiss pre-teen boy cuffed in chains brought before a US judge because dared help his little sister use the toilett without closing the curtains*
Mod me down if you wish - but admit I have a point.
I suppose you mean that ever-present universal XAML that all the recent WindowsXP, OS X and GTA San Andreas patches and updates rely on? ...
Not to mention the upcoming Nintendo GBA Micro that runs a special implementation called Micro-XAML.
This is so going on my nerves I can't tell anyone.
Once again:
As long as JavaScript doesn't behave predictable across Browser DOMs just as CSS has learned by now to behave 95% predictable across plattforms and browsers this whole AJAX thing is NOTHING BUT F*CKING POINTLESS!
The concept of rich clients (what Ajax is all about) in ancient! The only thing that lacks is a cross plattform enviroment that people are willing to use by default in favour of dumb clients.
We've got Java (to difficult for most people - especially for those getting high on Ajax just now), Flash/ActionScript (good but reputation spoiled by same people) and XUL (Firefox/Mozilla only - xulrunner still in the works) but tres cool and a real GUI kit.
So, if you think rich clients are cool, build them in XUL. That's ten bazillion miles ahead of Ajax.
Ajax is nothing but, and I mean absolutely nothing but a marketing hype scheme started by these people. So would you please just ignore it. There are a lot of other much more mature technologies for this that would actually deseve the attention. I mentioned XUL allready, but those countless open source Flash/AS projects out there are also worth a look.
When I heard about this Mambo foundation thing I thought "Oh, so your ripping of the crappy part of the Typo3 development hype here in germany". Just months after this strange T3 Foundation popped up.
Mambo is the best looking OSS CMS but it has it's lasting issues with usability. Building a Foundation won't change that, have people ignore it and pump up the turnover with Miro services.
Time and time again I've considered getting down with Mambo improvement but I was hesitant that Mambo quirks persisted so long for a reason and that deving would've meant forking Mambo right from the get-go.
Bingo.
I'm glad that is settled now.
Now if the Typo3 folks calm down again and see to it going PHP 5 and OOP without wasting too much time with a 'foundation' and its various costly 'membership options', we can get back to work and have two PHP CMSes to rule them all.
Time to join the [fill in Mambos new name here] Team.
BTW, there are OSS projects that actually benefit from a foundation. One's the former commercial 3D Package Blender. Ton Roosendahl uses the Blender Stichting as a versatile tool to pull larger Blender development and project stunts. It's tied to a tight knitt team of all-time participants and lacks a pesky babble and paper-releasing faction. A very good example for an OSS foundation that works.
I have read a few comments and not one has really got to the meat and potatoes of the issue.
A guy was arrested in real life for something he did in a video game.
I am stunned with disbelief.
Well, allow me to stun you even more: You can get arrested in real life for messing with somebody elses bank account too. or credit card data.
'We're looking at developing some of the softer skills that are needed for the 21st century, such as problem-solving, resilience, persistence and collaboration.'
Tribes 2, CTF.
Mind Rover for programming skills.
... executable Pseudocode."
I really don't understand the reason people (mostly Perl people to my impression) get all worked up about this sentence. Some Perl People tend to think it's an insult to Perl, Which it absolutely isn't. It doesn't even put one PL in a better light than the other. It just adequately describes the character of both compared in a humorous way.
I use both (Python more than Perl, but that's only because for the Projects I do Python is suited best) and don't feel the least bit put of from Perl by this true and witty one-liner.
Bottom line:
Chill out, people. It's just a saying with some truth behind. And I'd even guess it was made by a Perl programmer.
Are you saying Perl has been outdated by Python?
.... all those are things are generally refered to as "how things should be done in this area". That's why Python is often refered to as a "Rapid Prototyping Enviroment", in case you've wondered. If you have some cool idea about a new Webapp Server like RoR (see recent /. hysteria), chances are something like that allready is in heavy use by the 'Python people' (Zope). 'Python people' ... now I'm sounding silly....
No.
I didn't even notice the whole Perl community up and migrate to Python, abandoning their old CPAN modules and recreating them in Python, thereby taking the Python programmer count from 3 to 3,000,000. Are you sure this has happened. Or do you wish Python was in the position Perl is in?
I mentioned that 'being silly' thing further up. What you're saying here mostly complies with that.
First of all: Python isn't some exotic PL experiment with no one but a group of academics using it. Neither is Perl. Both are PLs that have a solid reputation. And for good reasons too.
There are Python projects, components and extension out there that are the reference for everything else in the field they cover. Zope, PyGame, TAL, PythonCard, Soya, WXPython, Blender Realtime Engine
Python, like many other PLs, borrows stuff from Perl - like the Regexes. The Perl community - not entirely made up of silly zealots - ripps of the one or other thing that Python has and is easyly implemented in Perl. PeTAL comes to my mind as example. That's how this great thing called 'open source' works.
Second: What I wish for certainly has nothing to do with a uber-pointless debate over what 'positions' Python, Perl or other OSS PLs are in.
But since we've come to 'Have a wish' time, I'll tell you what I wish for:
I'd really wish for the total complete no-compromises Perl Regex engine to be a part of the main Python engine, better yet, the entire proposed Perl 6 Regex engine an integral part of Python (getting a hardon allready...) and a full, Python driven, true cross plattform (Linux, OS X/BSD, MickeySuck) OSS GUI kit with out-of-the-box web-remoting and all. Think a working pimped XUL-Runner without the XUL technology mess.
That's what I wish for.
First of all some TLC for you Perl Fanboys (and girls) out there: Everybody loves Perl. Perl is cool, fast, delivers fast results in the area it rules and is the grand daddy of OSS languages. Nearly all books on Perl are fun to read and at least a great laugh.
...) and is the best candidate for a Perl successor. It only lacks Perls unmatched regex features. Entry the famous saying:
In fact it's quite amazing how long this quirky relic of ancient Unix paradigms managed to survive. It's 2005 and Perl _still_ is taken for granted as a PL. That's a terrific feat!
The only PL in the same demografic group that is still in use is SQL. And everybody agrees that SQL is a pain in the ass and the people who invented it -if still alive - should be wrapped in brabed wire and shot into the sun. Larry Wall on the other hand still is a hero. Perl is fun. Sort of like riding granddads old bike that has no gearshifts and weighs a metric ton. If you tighten all the screws, fill up the tires and give the chain a good greasing you can feel the raw power.
Yet I choose Python over Perl because of it's better OOP capabilities and the fact that it's code only gets unreadable if you use brute force in making it unreadable. Python enforces good coding habbits making it handy for group projects and n00bs, has a strong foothold in lots of areas where Perl lacks (Gaming, GUI, 3D, large Web frameworks, etc
Perl is executable line noise, Python is executable pseudocode.
However, all academic discussion aside: If you think it's important to be a 'manly' programmer by preferring outdated development habbits over modern and, yes, easyer PLs, you're being silly. Perl being cool or not, there are situations were it is plain irresponsible to use it.
I don't like MS. It's OS Family is a risk to man and mouse in every corporate enviroment and their monopoly in OSes has been holding back IT innovation for years. Day in and day out I have to deal with trouble caused by MS Windows 'insecurity by design'.
However, the Windows Family does have a reputation as a gaming OS. I use it to play WoW (my current iBook is to weak for large crowds and Transgaming is to much fuss).
Yet this XBox has one thing I've been desperately missing on consoles: Hassle free VGA support. That's why I will check it out.
But since the Nintendo Revoultion is gonna be something like twice as powerfull I'll wait for that one before making any buying decisions.
It's like everybody said: Maybe if MS can get their hardware as predictable as Apple has theirs and keep a grip on their computer gaming stronghold at the same time they might even stay the 400 pound gorilla they are right now. And - imagine that - build good products too!
They just babble and recite what they heard recently. Linux/OSS is slowly closing in on critical mass and standard procedure - just like everybody in IT predicted. Pupblic opinions adjust accordingly and the press releases articles that say: "Yeah, well, that TCO stuff we told you last year could be wrong because you can't do good TCO prediction without good data. [fill in appropriate external source here]"
No, really? Wouldaya thunk!
In two years we'll have the same people writing about how Linux desktops kick ass in this or that corporate enviroment that have an own IT administration.
For the last 5 years the last advantage of Windows has been the one that counts: Windows has a monopoly. That's an ADVANTAGE to users, so they use it. Luckyly Windows is so crappy it will hopefully lose that advantage in the end.
Firstly, fsck you for your racial stereotype.
Aussies are a race?
I'd never known!
I thought they just were an etnic group.
*David Letterman/Harald Schmidt Big Band Jab*
(Harald Schmidt is the german Letterman, for you non-germans)
I just listened to that second link. It has a strange feeling to it listening to somebody flip out in such a way. ....
:-) .
Curiously enough, the guy yelling/screeching has a solid point. The guy with the calm voice acting (and being) superiour is a prime class super-asshole. He's out of reach and anynomous and thus let all standard moral fare. He probably even faked being a nice party member over days.
I play WOW but don't know what a cloudsong is (and couldn't care less) but it is likely the yeller spent weeks or months getting one.
Imagine a guy asking you for a shot at your laptop you worked for for weeks and then walking away with it and then convincing bystanders that it's his not yours, so being able to keep it leaving you bare handed. MMORPGs - having no legal system - work just that way. In real life you would at least try break the guys nose.
I'd probably use all my computing,'bot programming and WoW Community skills to make the stealers life online as difficult as possible. Until I've vented all my frustration and satisfied my revenge that is. Would probably happend fast enough.
WoW is a faceted MMORPG for intelligent people. Most I've met are super cool, helping me out with Items and Gold. I've increased my fortune 30-fold only by getting presents and loans from higher levels that barely knew me for 5 minutes - I have a level 17 Dwarf Priest and more than 3 Gold. Go figure.
The above type of asshole can really spoil the fun. Luckily they are wide and far between.
Yet it goes without saying that screeching about it doesn't change things. The yeller had been better of commentlessly logging out, going outside and chopping the next two years worth of firewood
The other reason the bomb was used is the usual simple one: Because the US military had it. They had a new toy and were happy to still have a reason to use it.
And BTW: Nagasaki was an "accident". Well, sort of. The sky wasn't clear and the bombers couldn't see groung zero clearly and had strikt orders not to drop in that case. But the pilot couldn't open a valve on a fuel tank on the bomber, so they still had to drop the heavy bomb in order to make it back to base.
and I say there is more than one way to do it.
If your building from the ground up you should stick to one technology, and one only. It's more scalable in the long run, even if you'll have to write stuff the plattform hasn't got yet.
These comply to what you need:
Java
Python
PHP
PHP is the most advanced SSI solution in existance, but can suck for larger specific apps. PHP 5 has changed that, but you still want to keep this problem in mind.
Java has something like 10 Million webappserverwhatnot solutions available - check apache to see what I mean - but has one downside: It's not pure OSS. And this IS a downside if you're into large scale custom developement.
Python has Zope, which is something like 5 years ahead of any other web application server/database out there. It's object database is a slowpoke by relational standards, but loadbalancing with Zope Farms is a piece of cake. And the ease of developement and the absence of ancient SQL crap make data drive development a trip to the theme park. You definitely want to check this out.
I'd recommend Python/Zope based on what you said, but of course you'll have to look into the details.
3 years ago. MS Linux with DX 9 and a big boss dictating which ... is the kernel konfig and package management of choice. They would've owned the market within months.
They missed out. Now they are facing Apple and OSS aware business users.
They could turn the tide, simply because the PC hardware market is a complete mess and could use a big player setting standards for appliances. Which now Apple is probably going to do.
But I think it's a bit to late for that. OS X has matured, will get speedy CPUs once again and if Steve Jobs doesn't screw up (which I don't expect) we'll have OS X in the zero-fuss turnkey appliance market and Linux in the cheap workhorse market nibbling away at MS marketshares for top and bottom.
If MS hasn't gotten the message yet, it might even be just a little to late to change this.
Nintendo Assistant Hackamoto:
"OMFG!!!!1111 Our profits are down from 100 bazillion $ to 20 bazillion $ a week. What a grief dishonor, Great Grand Hackamoto."
Nintendo Great Grand Hackamoto:
"This is unbearable. Get the Shin-Ken ready and polished, we're in for some serious sepuku today."
Curiously enough, the most "mature" - in terms of scary, frenzy and splatterhackfesty - games I know are from the Resident Evil series on Nintendo GameCube. I recall they've even got some exclusives in that. No? :-) .
Anyway, it's tough to get any more "mature" than that. Play that time of game longer than 5 minutes and you get an heart attack. No thanks, I'll stick with Viewtyfull Joe, that's just enough exitement for me
Thats why I specifically asked for a comparsion. Because I use Gimp for the one or other professional situation myself. That was (suprise!) web grafics. Gimp is limited (compared to PS or even Photopaint) but usefull none the less. Especially if you're prime workhorse is Linux.
Don't jump to conclusions to fast.