least competent, most gullible ones choosing to work with Windows
Your comparison of open source software and the Windows OS is complete bullshit. What about open source software that runs on Windows eh??
You come across as both an immature and arrogant zealot.
The most competent programmers, when choosing their tools, listen and read a *range* of expert opinions (not just open source) and disseminate advice and product recommendations from that knowledge. A lot of times the best choice is open source, a lot of the time it isn't.
Anyone who truly believes that all good engineers develop with open source products (the people at IBM must be really dumb for example, they use products like VisualAge and WebSphere) is either trolling, should be modded up to funny, or is deluded. Maybe all three.
I would like to say that the name GnuCash sounds really cool for a finance program! It sounds so much better than OldCash!
Unfortunately I have no money, therefore I have no real questions to ask you and any questions I did ask would make me look stupid.
However, I feel that I need a question to avoid being moderated offtopic so - "Does GnuCash have turbo and come with a subwoofer?"
Okay there, now onto the important stuff, being a cricket type guru/tragic yourself, I thought I would pass on my helpful tips learnt over the years when explaining cricket to Americans:
I call it the "5 Easy Steps to Learning Cricket and Changing your Life". The movie is due out later this year.
1) Use fuzzy abstract concepts like "ball" and "bat". Explain that two people from one team have the "bat" at any time and there are 11 people on the field from the *other* team who are allowed have the "ball". These people with the "ball" want to eliminate the people with the "bat".
2) In normal play, the "ball" is thrown at the "bat", similar to this game you may have heard of called baseball - except in cricket you are allowed to hit the person - in fact it is encourage and looked upon as *good tactics*;-).
The people with the "bat" try to hit the ball to the edge of the ground (a 4) or out of the ground (a 6).
3) Then explain the nitty gritty, that "silly mid on" is actually a fielding position etc, the importance of the box;-)
4) Emphasise the fact that England are the worst cricket team on the planet, just to dramatise it.
Emphasise the fact that New Zealand are the second worst team on the planet, just to add humour.
5) Finally, explain the joys of a cricket game that lasts 5 days and still gets no result, the joys of no more than 30 seconds for ad breaks while a cricket game is on, the joys of waking up a 2am to watch international cricket cause no other country in the world is in your damn time zone, the joys of spending a whole day watching cricket and feeling like your doing something, the joys of trying to drink one beer for each 4 or 6 hit in a limited overs match......
Well, gotta cruise, good luck with that cash thingy I've been hearing so many good things about!
Cheers,
Benspionage
** Aussies have found a glitch in the english language where you can add "spionage" to any name in the world and it still makes sense, try it at home kids!! Bobspionage, Davespionage, Brittany Spearspionage)
Top Reason 3) My arse now has more musical talent the top 40 combined.
Top Reason 2) An apocalypse is the best way to make some of my favourite companies succesfull dammit. Just think of the marketing: Apocalypse = less countries with people who are alive = less worries for people who are alive (us!!) = more happiness for people who are alive and who write quality software = women/money/happiness, fame, fortune and... umm.... well Ill just leave that one for now
(drum roll)...... most importantly...
Top Reason 3) Society is now allowing people like me post messages like this
Okay, most Americans probably aren't aware of this but two key attitudes that Australians like myself like to have are:
a) A HATE of arrogance. Americans encourage the NFL type of attitude, your brought up on it "Im da man", "I am the greatest", "You can't play me" etc.
We in Australia really don't give a shit how good you think you are, coming across as one of us, a mate as such, is much more important. This means we draw a fine line between confidence and arrogance.
2) A desire to back the underdog (backing the "team" given the least chance to "win") and a attitude of general dislike to positions of authority. Basically, we really get the shits when corporations / big companies try to show their muscle on the little guy.
Note that Im not saying these traits are unique or consistent to just Australians but that are something we claim as part of our identity (well the white mans identity anyway....)
So what has this got to do with the the story I hear you ask????
Well the government is in a pickle here. They can't just demand that Mr Elz hand over his control of the.au domains because that would cause a HUGE public backlash. It would violate both attitudes above.
In a news bulletin I just watched an hour ago, Pizza hut has just realised how dangerous it is to take patriotic type issues to the court (they are fighting against an Aussie pizza company). I'm sure the government is also fully aware of the implications of getting on the wrong side of the public (admittedly the media plays a big role here).
Mr Elz is considered somewhat of a hero for refusing to create the cyber squatting nightmares some countries have. Sure this has also made.au domain names difficult to obtain sometimes (i.e. you have to actually show you're a legit company, want to use the domain for good reasons - shock horror).
Don't bank on the addressing system changing for a while either, if for no other reason than the mess the government would create if it forced the issue (our elections are coming up this year). I for one don't mind Mr Elz controlling the country's system instead the "regulatory" bodies who have done so (*cough*) well overseas.
Try listening to Australian radio - triple J broadcasts on the internet.
EXACTLY!! Australia has an excellent local
band scene (like most countries Id guess) if you care to listen.
TripleJ is the only major station here in Australia not to play your typical plastic top 40 music. It is goverment funded and doesnt have to give a fuck about major record companies. I don't listen to anything else myself, almost on principle.
Sure I also hear a lot of crap on TripleJ, but it's not the cringe/soppy/lovey shit that America seems to churn out. It's usually just some band which just doesnt play my style of music.
Overall though, TripleJ play *what they want to play* and what they want to play usually correlates somewhat with what I want.
They also have a competition called unearthed that occurs several times a year which locates the best band in a given part of the country (ANYONE is eligible) and gives that band recording time and initial airplay.
Americans may have heard of a band called Silverchair - they were discovered in the unearthed competition.
So I guess my message is, if you want to hear music that makes you think and is the music you enjoy, you have to do some searching yourself, don't hear whats on the freakin mainstream radio stations and think that "that is where music is at".
I play guitar, I love real music written by the performing artist, always will, many others love
it too. Unfortunately we will always be a minority.
No one will probably read this post but
anyhow.......
Out of all the people criticising jini/jxta/p2p
in general (i.e. most people above), how many
of you have actually looked at jxta or read
about it?
Did you know that jxta is actually a "protocol"
specfication based on xml. Maybe if they called it
"pxta" or something without a damn J it wouldnt
confuse you.
Java is a nice language to implement jxta
(of course) but jxta != java.
jxta is *language independant". Implement it
in perl if it turns you on.
Project JXTA addresses the need for an open, generalized protocol that interoperates with any peer on the network including PCs, servers and other connected devices.
Jxta might be a step forward and basing it on xml is a good idea IMHO. Im developing an xml
messaging application (using SOAP) so yes Im interested in what jxta has to offer.
It might be a total flop, who knows but don't write off something you haven't even looked at...
BTW, if any reading this is in the know. Does
jxta hope to complement/support SOAP or
replace it altogether???
I've been using similiar technology to train CowboyNeal to get me coffee/cookies/girls
So lemme see.....
Priority 1: Coffee
Priority 2: Cookies
Otherwise: Girls
Either Taco is doing strange stuff with cookies
and coffee (maybe he thought limp bizkit said: I did it all for the cookie!;)) or he's met some shocking girls in his time.
And asking CowboyNeal?? He's to girls what Taco is to gay whales.
CowboyNeal would curdle the coffee, scare the shit out of the cookies and bring back a girl which you need to inflate first!!;)
Let this be a lesson on how fatal software
bugs can be and how even bad jokes can lead
to tragic results:
The wrong poverty attribute is set in the
method solveWorldPoverty() - I mean how bloody
obvious was that but still - the worldPoverty attribute is actually part of the super languagePlatform.., Java and not relevant here. I should have set the attribute noMorePoverty instead. (Note to self: you are an idiot!)
See how such a small error can cause such a catastrophic problems on a world scale! My apologies go out to all the victims. I am truly
sorry.
Just imagine if I had used Office 2000 instead of Office 10 to cure cancer though... *shiver*
IMHO, Open Source Voice over IP software is a great development and I sense that people don't realise how good VOIP *could* be.
Im currently involved a project for broadband home networking, part of which is a 3COM SIP phone, and there's some damn cool things that can
be done - I know, I know there's superior VOIP phones but 3com target small business/home and they support SIP).
*Interesting Aside:* This work is for an Aussie telco - can't say which one;) - and they have told me to assume broadband connection for all home networking projects which suggests to me that broadband to the masses (we're talking ADSL here, Cable coverage is pretty small in Australia) is coming quicker than I thought!
okay lets see, oh yeah I was mentioning VOIP
fun back there, lemme see, where do I start, how about:
Log into any SIP phone and all user preferences and incoming calls follow the user
Free PDA control application to "beam" phone numbers from your PDA (only works with Palm OS,
via IR)
Standard VOIP features: conferencing, chat, unified messaging
Software version of VOIP phone on a laptop to make mobile calls (hellooo open source!)
Also remember you save money when using VOIP
(apart fromt the fact the VOIP phone's cost 3 years worth of phone bills up front!!) as you are now transmiting voice over IP packets instead of
in house systems.
is probably the best suggestion Id have for a CS course.
I'm currently a 5th year Comp. Eng. / Comp. Sc. and a key difference between the 2 degrees has been the Comp. Eng. requirement that 12 weeks in a relevant workplace (i.e. with a qualified engineer) is *compulsary* to get your degree.
I have found the Comp. Sc. only students at my Uni to be very technically sound but totally unprepared for the workplace life.
For example, you *can't* teach stuff like face to face communication, office politics, learning the right approach to talk to the boss etc. in a CS degree.
A minimum of 12 weeks work at a company can do the world of difference. It did for me anyway.
Be as hero, save napster, dont go putting these "Napster clone server" ideas to waste "on a sovreign island". Come to the land of freedom that
is Australia.
Hell you can set your servers up in my house
if you want and the Government over here is...., hey, wait, shit I just remembered, no dont do it, turn back I got it all wrong, please ignore this post and slashdot DO NOT FORWARD THIS, I do not
want to be sued
Doesn't a search engine, such as Google, serve the same purpose?
No. It enables you and me to find/buy an artists cd or whatever sure, but it does not provide a consistent, average joe proof way to buy cd's online.
The power of a.music domain is that you *know* where to buy the cd without having to search for it.
You want to limp bizkit? Goto www.limpbizkit.music
You want powderfinger (my favourite australian band)? Goto www.powderfinger.music.au
You get the idea.
And how many independent artist really trademark their band name?
Well, every indep. artist planning on being
succesfull sure as hell does. Nothing better
than reaching a wide audience then discovering
someone else has your name (e.g. Blink 182).
And thats the idea anyhow - to stop dodgy people claiming.music domain names. If an up and coming indep. artist knew that no trademark name meant no.music sales then you can bet that they'll do something about it. They might even discover that
"pearl jam" has already been used b4 its too late:\
Want I would like to see is a.music
domain that only trademarked musical artists/groups could apply for.
AFAIK, musical group names are unique for
each country and "trademark only" means
no cybersquatting problems.
Why do I even mention this?
Well think of some of the potential:
Eliminate the middle man for artists big and small in selling cd's i.e. **** off Big Recording Labels and your crazy profits/cd
Musicians establishing a company to handle the distribution of all cd's sold on.music domains. (funded by a tiny fraction of all.music sales??) Further eliminates any influence of themiddle man.
Napster could link to.music sites ONLY
ALL trademarked musical groups could be provided with a default.music web site to sell
their music. The bigger bands would obviously
design their own.
So why is this good?
Well for music buying people like myself, it means
anytime I wanted to purchase a cd from my favourite group, say bandX, I simply go to
www.bandX.music and I know that it will be
there.
I also know that pretty much all my money is going to the artist and NOT to some f***** up large corporation.
Since the vast percentage of music lovers are able to buy over the net it could made
successful simply by market force.
more confidence in online purchase (may increase e-commerce confidence in general)
Im sure there's a bootload of beauracracy and
ego's to be destroyed for this to happen but if
the artists really wanted it (huge profit/cd increase in their pocket could help here) it
couldnt fail right?
Being in the 5th year of a Comp Eng. / Comp Sc.
degree (Uni of Newcastle, Australia), I thought it might help to give some subjects Ive done from each side of my degree to get a feel for the differences.
Comp Eng:
ELEC220 - Sensors and Actuators
ELEC340 - Signal Processing
ELEC371 - Microprocessor Systems
ELEC470 - Advanced Computer Systems
ELEC471 - Real Time Systems
ELEC480 - Computer Engineering Project
Comp Sc:
SENG205 - Introduction to Web Programming
COMP223 - Introduction to Algorithmics
SENG211 - Software Analysis and Verification (Java)
COMP325 - Database Systems
SENG328 - Computer Networks
The first number in the above subject codes gives the year they are undertaken. As you can see it largely backs up what other posters have
been saying regarding Comp Eng. having a larger hardware/electronics/system design emphasis with Comp Sci. emphasising algorithm/programming/internet skills.
However, youll notice I have bolded the last Comp. Eng. point because, IMHO, an important difference b.w. the degrees that has not been emphasised is that Computer Engineers do a final year practical project. This project is 9 months work and is a BIG chunk of your final mark. It is the principal reason a Comp Eng. degree goes for 4 years (vs 3 years for Comp Sc.).
With Comp Sc. there is no final year project. An
honours year after you graduate (provided you
have the marks) will let you do a project similar
to that of a final year Comp Eng. but this means the degree will also go for 4 years.
Computer Engineers get honours based on their
final mark. For example at my University a final mark of 77 or greater gives you first class
honours. This may seem easy to get but no more
than the top 5% of the course attain this mark.
My final point is that I believe the Comp Eng.
part of the course has been much harder than the Comp Sc. part. The maths is far more involved and the amount of theory including circuit knowledge is harder to grasp.
But this is just my opinion relating to my particuar University and although my mates at Uni have said similar things, Im sure it does not
apply for everybody.
As other posters have noted, a lot of problems
have been caused by the so called "race to the bottom" where current browsers try to render the worst HTML code possible.
That is exactly why we need XHTML where the authors are forced to write DTD compliant documents to start off with or they simply will not be displayed.
This means that the people writing XML processors
for a given browser don't have to worry about
supporting anything outside the specification.
(Although displaying useful error messages for
incorrect documents may be a sticky point)
Nothing annoys me more than people who
say "Product/program A is always the best and
Product/Program B is fucked".
For example most of your/. perl scripting kiddies think it is the "one and only solution" -
WRONG. Sure perl works great in many cases and/. is certainly proof of its success on a large scale but the moment you say "this is the tool for all occasions" I then know to ignore anything else you say because you clearly have no perspective in your argument. Most have never
even tried using php or java servlets.
Similarly with this M$ vs Linux debate (and how
original to bring it up again CmdrTaco) where the/. zealots basically say fuck any M$ products cause Linux is king.
The irony is that it is this attitude that prevents Linux from becoming as mainstream as/.ers hope it will.
Well at the risk of being flamebait to all I would
like to point out that I dont like M$ or Linux
(yes I run both Windows & Linux and Id bet 50%
of/.ers do to if they were really honest about it)
M$ are your typical money hungry large corporation who have security flaws throughout their products (how many crackers do you reckon use Win95/Win98 huh?), have shocking coding solutions due to reusing old poorly written code (e.g. anyone tried to use the semaphore/lock mechanism implemented in NT4 - its a nightmare)
Linux has hopeless support for many peripherals
(I havent yet installed 2.4 - better USB support etc - but it cannot possibly hope to have improved THAT much), is a joke for doing Photoshop type graphical design and has such poor usability (I take it you Linux zealots heard indeed heard of that word) for your average Joe e.g. no standards for GUI's etc, that it cannot possibly hope to become a desktop option (I agree it is a great server side solution but win2K/Solaris can also be great if know how to
set it up correctly)
So I think the current OS's could do well to learn
from each other so that future versions can indeed
provide a reliably, user friendly environment.
But then again Ive always been told Im a dreamer.....
Geeks flame away because they have the intelligence it takes to do so
Haha, thats some good shit mate - why not stop flaming and turn to comedy instead. In any case you obviously equate intelligence with flaming so youve backed up my point nicely
is your.sig supposed to be some kinda haiku?
Thats a pretty heavy insult there ninewands, I can tell youre a real flame genius from that one.
Going on your intelligence = flaming rule Id say
youd be on par with.... ohhh.... my weakest
farts
I dont mind flaming in the name of good fun myself... I was referring to geeks who threaten real physical violence etc. but would struggle to defeat a mosquito in real life. What was it Einstein said "If you cant back up your threats, then one day Ill kick your arse"
Slashdot Mirror
Your comparison of open source software and the Windows OS is complete bullshit. What about open source software that runs on Windows eh??
You come across as both an immature and arrogant zealot.
The most competent programmers, when choosing their tools, listen and read a *range* of expert opinions (not just open source) and disseminate advice and product recommendations from that knowledge. A lot of times the best choice is open source, a lot of the time it isn't.
Anyone who truly believes that all good engineers develop with open source products (the people at IBM must be really dumb for example, they use products like VisualAge and WebSphere) is either trolling, should be modded up to funny, or is deluded. Maybe all three.
G'day Robert!!
(aka Robertspionage**)
I would like to say that the name GnuCash sounds really cool for a finance program! It sounds so much better than OldCash!
Unfortunately I have no money, therefore I have no real questions to ask you and any questions I did ask would make me look stupid.
However, I feel that I need a question to avoid being moderated offtopic so - "Does GnuCash have turbo and come with a subwoofer?"
Okay there, now onto the important stuff, being a cricket type guru/tragic yourself, I thought I would pass on my helpful tips learnt over the years when explaining cricket to Americans:
I call it the "5 Easy Steps to Learning Cricket and Changing your Life". The movie is due out later this year.
1) Use fuzzy abstract concepts like "ball" and "bat". Explain that two people from one team have the "bat" at any time and there are 11 people on the field from the *other* team who are allowed have the "ball". These people with the "ball" want to eliminate the people with the "bat".
2) In normal play, the "ball" is thrown at the "bat", similar to this game you may have heard of called baseball - except in cricket you are allowed to hit the person - in fact it is encourage and looked upon as *good tactics* ;-).
The people with the "bat" try to hit the ball to the edge of the ground (a 4) or out of the ground (a 6).
3) Then explain the nitty gritty, that "silly mid on" is actually a fielding position etc, the importance of the box ;-)
4) Emphasise the fact that England are the worst cricket team on the planet, just to dramatise it. Emphasise the fact that New Zealand are the second worst team on the planet, just to add humour.
5) Finally, explain the joys of a cricket game that lasts 5 days and still gets no result, the joys of no more than 30 seconds for ad breaks while a cricket game is on, the joys of waking up a 2am to watch international cricket cause no other country in the world is in your damn time zone, the joys of spending a whole day watching cricket and feeling like your doing something, the joys of trying to drink one beer for each 4 or 6 hit in a limited overs match......
Well, gotta cruise, good luck with that cash thingy I've been hearing so many good things about!
Cheers,
Benspionage
** Aussies have found a glitch in the english language where you can add "spionage" to any name in the world and it still makes sense, try it at home kids!! Bobspionage, Davespionage, Brittany Spearspionage)
Top Reason 3) My arse now has more musical talent the top 40 combined.
Top Reason 2) An apocalypse is the best way to make some of my favourite companies succesfull dammit. Just think of the marketing: Apocalypse = less countries with people who are alive = less worries for people who are alive (us!!) = more happiness for people who are alive and who write quality software = women/money/happiness, fame, fortune and ... umm .... well Ill just leave that one for now
(drum roll) ...... most importantly ...
Top Reason 3) Society is now allowing people like me post messages like this
a) A HATE of arrogance. Americans encourage the NFL type of attitude, your brought up on it "Im da man", "I am the greatest", "You can't play me" etc.
We in Australia really don't give a shit how good you think you are, coming across as one of us, a mate as such, is much more important. This means we draw a fine line between confidence and arrogance.
2) A desire to back the underdog (backing the "team" given the least chance to "win") and a attitude of general dislike to positions of authority. Basically, we really get the shits when corporations / big companies try to show their muscle on the little guy.
Note that Im not saying these traits are unique or consistent to just Australians but that are something we claim as part of our identity (well the white mans identity anyway ....)
So what has this got to do with the the story I hear you ask????
Well the government is in a pickle here. They can't just demand that Mr Elz hand over his control of the .au domains because that would cause a HUGE public backlash. It would violate both attitudes above.
In a news bulletin I just watched an hour ago, Pizza hut has just realised how dangerous it is to take patriotic type issues to the court (they are fighting against an Aussie pizza company). I'm sure the government is also fully aware of the implications of getting on the wrong side of the public (admittedly the media plays a big role here).
Mr Elz is considered somewhat of a hero for refusing to create the cyber squatting nightmares some countries have. Sure this has also made .au domain names difficult to obtain sometimes (i.e. you have to actually show you're a legit company, want to use the domain for good reasons - shock horror).
Don't bank on the addressing system changing for a while either, if for no other reason than the mess the government would create if it forced the issue (our elections are coming up this year). I for one don't mind Mr Elz controlling the country's system instead the "regulatory" bodies who have done so (*cough*) well overseas.
A mate has told me about PBS, I might check it out tonight. It's great to hear other stations in Australia doing similar stuff. The more the better.
EXACTLY!! Australia has an excellent local band scene (like most countries Id guess) if you care to listen.
TripleJ is the only major station here in Australia not to play your typical plastic top 40 music. It is goverment funded and doesnt have to give a fuck about major record companies. I don't listen to anything else myself, almost on principle.
Sure I also hear a lot of crap on TripleJ, but it's not the cringe/soppy/lovey shit that America seems to churn out. It's usually just some band which just doesnt play my style of music.
Overall though, TripleJ play *what they want to play* and what they want to play usually correlates somewhat with what I want.
They also have a competition called unearthed that occurs several times a year which locates the best band in a given part of the country (ANYONE is eligible) and gives that band recording time and initial airplay.
Americans may have heard of a band called Silverchair - they were discovered in the unearthed competition.
So I guess my message is, if you want to hear music that makes you think and is the music you enjoy, you have to do some searching yourself, don't hear whats on the freakin mainstream radio stations and think that "that is where music is at".
I play guitar, I love real music written by the performing artist, always will, many others love it too. Unfortunately we will always be a minority.
Out of all the people criticising jini/jxta/p2p in general (i.e. most people above), how many of you have actually looked at jxta or read about it?
Did you know that jxta is actually a "protocol" specfication based on xml. Maybe if they called it "pxta" or something without a damn J it wouldnt confuse you.
Java is a nice language to implement jxta (of course) but jxta != java.
jxta is *language independant". Implement it in perl if it turns you on.
Taken straight from jxta.org
Project JXTA addresses the need for an open, generalized protocol that interoperates with any peer on the network including PCs, servers and other connected devices.
Jxta might be a step forward and basing it on xml is a good idea IMHO. Im developing an xml messaging application (using SOAP) so yes Im interested in what jxta has to offer.
It might be a total flop, who knows but don't write off something you haven't even looked at ...
BTW, if any reading this is in the know. Does jxta hope to complement/support SOAP or replace it altogether???
So lemme see .....
Priority 1: Coffee
Priority 2: Cookies
Otherwise: Girls
Either Taco is doing strange stuff with cookies and coffee (maybe he thought limp bizkit said: I did it all for the cookie! ;)) or he's met some shocking girls in his time.
And asking CowboyNeal?? He's to girls what Taco is to gay whales.
CowboyNeal would curdle the coffee, scare the shit out of the cookies and bring back a girl which you need to inflate first!! ;)
Let this be a lesson on how fatal software bugs can be and how even bad jokes can lead to tragic results:
The wrong poverty attribute is set in the method solveWorldPoverty() - I mean how bloody obvious was that but still - the worldPoverty attribute is actually part of the super languagePlatform.., Java and not relevant here. I should have set the attribute noMorePoverty instead. (Note to self: you are an idiot!)
See how such a small error can cause such a catastrophic problems on a world scale! My apologies go out to all the victims. I am truly sorry.
Just imagine if I had used Office 2000 instead of Office 10 to cure cancer though ... *shiver*
Hahahahahaha! Python, Perl, Java,
I own your buzzwords .... I own your languages ......
Ladies and Gentleman I introduce the language, the platform, the enabler that will unite the world ..........
Jython#PerlC++XMLNET
I have a prototype and some examples shown below, in java, for you to realise the power and show that I am not talking out my arse:
public languagePlatformEnablerAndAllRoundGoodGuy Jython#PerlC++XMLNET extends Java implements Python, Perl, C++, C, C#, .NET, XML
{
private boolean worldPeace = false;
private boolean noMorePoverty = false;
public void solveWorldPeace()
// World peace brother!
{
worldPeace = true;
}
public void solveWorldPoverty()
// No more poverty man!
{
worldPoverty = true;
}
public void cureCancer()
// With the powerful new feature of M$ Office 10 who needs cancer!
{
new MSOffice10().setCancer(false);
}
}
I was just about to post the same thing! Maybe someone's been messin' with their IP tables ;)
First thing I thought was, "oh no not another problem with my win95 firewall" but it's a linux bug, Im safe!!
IMHO, Open Source Voice over IP software is a great development and I sense that people don't realise how good VOIP *could* be.
Im currently involved a project for broadband home networking, part of which is a 3COM SIP phone, and there's some damn cool things that can be done - I know, I know there's superior VOIP phones but 3com target small business/home and they support SIP).
*Interesting Aside:* This work is for an Aussie telco - can't say which one ;) - and they have told me to assume broadband connection for all home networking projects which suggests to me that broadband to the masses (we're talking ADSL here, Cable coverage is pretty small in Australia) is coming quicker than I thought!
okay lets see, oh yeah I was mentioning VOIP fun back there, lemme see, where do I start, how about:
Log into any SIP phone and all user preferences and incoming calls follow the user
Free PDA control application to "beam" phone numbers from your PDA (only works with Palm OS, via IR)
Standard VOIP features: conferencing, chat, unified messaging
Software version of VOIP phone on a laptop to make mobile calls (hellooo open source!)
Also remember you save money when using VOIP (apart fromt the fact the VOIP phone's cost 3 years worth of phone bills up front!!) as you are now transmiting voice over IP packets instead of in house systems.
"Black and White Goes Gold"
Bah, humbug! Color has already gone multi platinum baby. Remember CD's like the classic "RGB Rock"? Hello?
I'm currently a 5th year Comp. Eng. / Comp. Sc. and a key difference between the 2 degrees has been the Comp. Eng. requirement that 12 weeks in a relevant workplace (i.e. with a qualified engineer) is *compulsary* to get your degree.
I have found the Comp. Sc. only students at my Uni to be very technically sound but totally unprepared for the workplace life.
For example, you *can't* teach stuff like face to face communication, office politics, learning the right approach to talk to the boss etc. in a CS degree.
A minimum of 12 weeks work at a company can do the world of difference. It did for me anyway.
Hell you can set your servers up in my house if you want and the Government over here is ...., hey, wait, shit I just remembered, no dont do it, turn back I got it all wrong, please ignore this post and slashdot DO NOT FORWARD THIS, I do not
want to be sued
The power of a .music domain is that you *know* where to buy the cd without having to search for it.
You want to limp bizkit? Goto www.limpbizkit.music
You want powderfinger (my favourite australian band)? Goto www.powderfinger.music.au
You get the idea.
Well, every indep. artist planning on being succesfull sure as hell does. Nothing better than reaching a wide audience then discovering someone else has your name (e.g. Blink 182).
And thats the idea anyhow - to stop dodgy people claiming .music domain names. If an up and coming indep. artist knew that no trademark name meant no .music sales then you can bet that they'll do something about it. They might even discover that
"pearl jam" has already been used b4 its too late :\
The current TLD's suck in my opinion.
Want I would like to see is a .music
domain that only trademarked musical artists/groups could apply for.
AFAIK, musical group names are unique for each country and "trademark only" means no cybersquatting problems.
Why do I even mention this?
Well think of some of the potential:
Eliminate the middle man for artists big and small in selling cd's i.e. **** off Big Recording Labels and your crazy profits/cd
Musicians establishing a company to handle the distribution of all cd's sold on .music domains. (funded by a tiny fraction of all .music sales??) Further eliminates any influence of themiddle man.
Napster could link to .music sites ONLY
ALL trademarked musical groups could be provided with a default .music web site to sell
their music. The bigger bands would obviously
design their own.
So why is this good?
Well for music buying people like myself, it means anytime I wanted to purchase a cd from my favourite group, say bandX, I simply go to www.bandX.music and I know that it will be there.
I also know that pretty much all my money is going to the artist and NOT to some f***** up large corporation.
Since the vast percentage of music lovers are able to buy over the net it could made successful simply by market force.
Just a few advantages for us music buyers:
convenience
cheaper cd's (current_price -big_company_percentages = cheaper_cd)
more confidence in online purchase (may increase e-commerce confidence in general)
Im sure there's a bootload of beauracracy and ego's to be destroyed for this to happen but if the artists really wanted it (huge profit/cd increase in their pocket could help here) it couldnt fail right?
Comp Eng:
Comp Sc:
The first number in the above subject codes gives the year they are undertaken. As you can see it largely backs up what other posters have been saying regarding Comp Eng. having a larger hardware/electronics/system design emphasis with Comp Sci. emphasising algorithm/programming/internet skills.
However, youll notice I have bolded the last Comp. Eng. point because, IMHO, an important difference b.w. the degrees that has not been emphasised is that Computer Engineers do a final year practical project. This project is 9 months work and is a BIG chunk of your final mark. It is the principal reason a Comp Eng. degree goes for 4 years (vs 3 years for Comp Sc.).
With Comp Sc. there is no final year project. An honours year after you graduate (provided you have the marks) will let you do a project similar to that of a final year Comp Eng. but this means the degree will also go for 4 years.
Computer Engineers get honours based on their final mark. For example at my University a final mark of 77 or greater gives you first class honours. This may seem easy to get but no more than the top 5% of the course attain this mark.
My final point is that I believe the Comp Eng. part of the course has been much harder than the Comp Sc. part. The maths is far more involved and the amount of theory including circuit knowledge is harder to grasp.
But this is just my opinion relating to my particuar University and although my mates at Uni have said similar things, Im sure it does not apply for everybody.
Hello XHML (HTML described in XML)
As other posters have noted, a lot of problems have been caused by the so called "race to the bottom" where current browsers try to render the worst HTML code possible.
That is exactly why we need XHTML where the authors are forced to write DTD compliant documents to start off with or they simply will not be displayed.
This means that the people writing XML processors for a given browser don't have to worry about supporting anything outside the specification. (Although displaying useful error messages for incorrect documents may be a sticky point)
For a good description on why we need XHTML, see http://www.webreference.com/xml/column6/
For example most of your /. perl scripting kiddies think it is the "one and only solution" -
WRONG. Sure perl works great in many cases and /. is certainly proof of its success on a large scale but the moment you say "this is the tool for all occasions" I then know to ignore anything else you say because you clearly have no perspective in your argument. Most have never
even tried using php or java servlets.
Similarly with this M$ vs Linux debate (and how original to bring it up again CmdrTaco) where the /. zealots basically say fuck any M$ products cause Linux is king.
The irony is that it is this attitude that prevents Linux from becoming as mainstream as /.ers hope it will.
Well at the risk of being flamebait to all I would like to point out that I dont like M$ or Linux (yes I run both Windows & Linux and Id bet 50% of /.ers do to if they were really honest about it)
M$ are your typical money hungry large corporation who have security flaws throughout their products (how many crackers do you reckon use Win95/Win98 huh?), have shocking coding solutions due to reusing old poorly written code (e.g. anyone tried to use the semaphore/lock mechanism implemented in NT4 - its a nightmare)
Linux has hopeless support for many peripherals (I havent yet installed 2.4 - better USB support etc - but it cannot possibly hope to have improved THAT much), is a joke for doing Photoshop type graphical design and has such poor usability (I take it you Linux zealots heard indeed heard of that word) for your average Joe e.g. no standards for GUI's etc, that it cannot possibly hope to become a desktop option (I agree it is a great server side solution but win2K/Solaris can also be great if know how to set it up correctly)
So I think the current OS's could do well to learn from each other so that future versions can indeed provide a reliably, user friendly environment.
But then again Ive always been told Im a dreamer .....
Haha, thats some good shit mate - why not stop flaming and turn to comedy instead. In any case you obviously equate intelligence with flaming so youve backed up my point nicely
Thats a pretty heavy insult there ninewands, I can tell youre a real flame genius from that one. Going on your intelligence = flaming rule Id say youd be on par with .... ohhh .... my weakest
farts
I dont mind flaming in the name of good fun myself ... I was referring to geeks who threaten real physical violence etc. but would struggle to defeat a mosquito in real life. What was it Einstein said "If you cant back up your threats, then one day Ill kick your arse"
Regards, benspionage