Guido van Robot is a kid-friendly procedural programming environment written in Python. It is partly written by students for students, and features a grid-like world with a 'robot' icon (a triangle that has the letter 'G' in it) that can move around, walls, and 'beepers' that can be picked up or dropped.
Interestingly enough, this setup is actually Turing-complete.
Bah. If you look at the numbers, King's sales were actually pretty good (in terms of total actual dollars), but he didn't like the downloads-to-sales ratio (in terms of numbers of copies), so he pulled the plug.
Pretty stupid, actually.
Some users were buying extra paid copies to help ensure the success of the experiment, too.
The lesson that should have been learned is that this kind of business model encourages readers to self-select for discriminatory pricing (ie, uber-fans will pay more 'just because'), resulting in greater total revenue, but King focused instead on the growing number of people who were reading for free (ie. the try-before-you-buy crowd).
In short, his criteria for success were totally screwed up, and rather divorced from the actual bottom line.
I use two forefingers and both thumbs. I can get up to about 25 wpm, and I pretty much will never have to worry about RSI. Seems a fair trade to me.
To compensate, I use a very expressive and concise programming language (Python) and a full-featured web application framework (Zope) which allow me to get much more done with far less code.
Decrem later issued a rather funny retraction which can still be found on archive.org. I wish the images that went along with the retraction were archived too, but it's still pretty funny.
Re:You gave the wrong link to OSAF
on
Linux on the Desktop
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
My dad did nearly the same thing several years ago. He discovered all these DLLs on his machine, so he figured he'd delete all the 'duplicates'. I never did entirely cure him of f*cking up his Windows machines, but eventually he became very adept (more so than me) at reinstalling Windows and all his applications and data, sometimes doing so twice a week.
Well, I'm not familiar with the Telebit acquisition, so they may be an exception (and possibly one that proves the rule). Generally technology M&As have a horrible track record, and most fail to produce the promised results. Cisco's track record for successfully executing acquisitions is *far* above average, though I would be surprised if it was perfect.
Also, please note that successfully digesting a company does not necessarily imply keeping and incorporating their product line (although that's pretty common). So, in this case, what happened to the Telebit employees? Cisco doesn't generally purchase companies just for their products or market-share.
Cisco has been running prime-time commercials for a while now ('Cisco, the power of the network. Now'), which had me convinced they were about to push into the consumer market again.
They may maintain Linksys as a sub-brand, or a 'line' of consumer products, but I expect all their products will carry the Cisco brand prominently. Perhaps 'Ciso Inside'?
At any rate, Cisco is one of the few companies that makes the acquisition game work. They have a history of successfully digesting acquired companies, integrating them into their corporate culture, and retaining their key employees. So I don't expect Linksys to remain as an independent entity.
...are written by the science fiction fan community. Commonly called 'filk music' (the name is a typo of 'folk music'), technology is only one of the many themes used by this genre.
Here are some links to technology themed filksongs:
Crap. This means that we'll be dealing with displays that have completely integrated copy-protection mechanisms.
Even if current efforts such as Intel's HDCP are flawed, future versions of these technologies may not be amenable to cryptographic attacks, and hardware based attacks will be extremely difficult if the circuitry is embedded in the screen itself.
This falls perfectly in line with the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group's desire to mandate implementation of a broadcast flag that all devices must honor.
A related point: Taxonomy, as a subdiscipline of Biology, is a dying art.
It's all the more important for the All Species project to get off the ground, because if it doesn't soon, there won't be anyone left to train the generation of Taxonomists necessary to do the job.
My hope for ALL Species in the coming few years is simple. Right now the climate for philanthropy could not be worse, but in a few years it could be better, if not wonderful. I am hoping that the Science Board can help to prepare us for that day when funding opportunities return.
Slashdot Mirror
The terms you're looking for are 'visible source' and 'freeware'.
Guido van Robot is a kid-friendly procedural programming environment written in Python. It is partly written by students for students, and features a grid-like world with a 'robot' icon (a triangle that has the letter 'G' in it) that can move around, walls, and 'beepers' that can be picked up or dropped.
Interestingly enough, this setup is actually Turing-complete.
Bah. If you look at the numbers, King's sales were actually pretty good (in terms of total actual dollars), but he didn't like the downloads-to-sales ratio (in terms of numbers of copies), so he pulled the plug.
Pretty stupid, actually.
Some users were buying extra paid copies to help ensure the success of the experiment, too.
The lesson that should have been learned is that this kind of business model encourages readers to self-select for discriminatory pricing (ie, uber-fans will pay more 'just because'), resulting in greater total revenue, but King focused instead on the growing number of people who were reading for free (ie. the try-before-you-buy crowd).
In short, his criteria for success were totally screwed up, and rather divorced from the actual bottom line.
I use two forefingers and both thumbs. I can get up to about 25 wpm, and I pretty much will never have to worry about RSI. Seems a fair trade to me.
To compensate, I use a very expressive and concise programming language (Python) and a full-featured web application framework (Zope) which allow me to get much more done with far less code.
What Free Software/Open Source projects are the ILUG members most interested in contributing to, or are already participating in?
If you take a look at the README file, you'll see that he prototyped comparator in Python, but the production code is in C.
Bruce, here's an analogy you may find useful:
"requiring proficiency in Morse code is like requiring proficiency in telnet and SMTP before you are allowed to send email."
Hi there! Are you a member of LVLUG?
You're welcome. But could you put the desktop screen shot there too?
Decrem later issued a rather funny retraction which can still be found on archive.org. I wish the images that went along with the retraction were archived too, but it's still pretty funny.
Oops, sorry. Thanks for the correction.
The replay is not available, nor will it be made available by phone.
SCO is going to make an MP3 download available instead, probably by Monday.
I got this information from Paul Hatch of The SCO Group.
My dad did nearly the same thing several years ago. He discovered all these DLLs on his machine, so he figured he'd delete all the 'duplicates'. I never did entirely cure him of f*cking up his Windows machines, but eventually he became very adept (more so than me) at reinstalling Windows and all his applications and data, sometimes doing so twice a week.
I've read all the English language versions (BabelFish, English press release, etc.), and don't see any mention of a fine.
I find that a sword is a very good way to piss someone off...
Well, I'm not familiar with the Telebit acquisition, so they may be an exception (and possibly one that proves the rule). Generally technology M&As have a horrible track record, and most fail to produce the promised results. Cisco's track record for successfully executing acquisitions is *far* above average, though I would be surprised if it was perfect.
Also, please note that successfully digesting a company does not necessarily imply keeping and incorporating their product line (although that's pretty common). So, in this case, what happened to the Telebit employees? Cisco doesn't generally purchase companies just for their products or market-share.
Cisco has been running prime-time commercials for a while now ('Cisco, the power of the network. Now'), which had me convinced they were about to push into the consumer market again.
They may maintain Linksys as a sub-brand, or a 'line' of consumer products, but I expect all their products will carry the Cisco brand prominently. Perhaps 'Ciso Inside'?
At any rate, Cisco is one of the few companies that makes the acquisition game work. They have a history of successfully digesting acquired companies, integrating them into their corporate culture, and retaining their key employees. So I don't expect Linksys to remain as an independent entity.
...are written by the science fiction fan community. Commonly called 'filk music' (the name is a typo of 'folk music'), technology is only one of the many themes used by this genre.
Here are some links to technology themed filksongs:
Steve Savitzky's computer songs. My favorite is The World Inside the Crystal.
There are other technologies besides computers though. Here are some songs about space exploration available as MP3s.
Here is a list of links to science and technology filk songs.
Try this link if you want to read the NewsForge article and all the comments in nested mode, to minimize click-throughs:
SCO follows David Hannum's 'sucker' theory in lawsuit against IBM
Another good source is Edmund's Scientifics.
Crap. This means that we'll be dealing with displays that have completely integrated copy-protection mechanisms.
Even if current efforts such as Intel's HDCP are flawed, future versions of these technologies may not be amenable to cryptographic attacks, and hardware based attacks will be extremely difficult if the circuitry is embedded in the screen itself.
This falls perfectly in line with the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group's desire to mandate implementation of a broadcast flag that all devices must honor.
A related point: Taxonomy, as a subdiscipline of Biology, is a dying art.
It's all the more important for the All Species project to get off the ground, because if it doesn't soon, there won't be anyone left to train the generation of Taxonomists necessary to do the job.
People! Soylent Green is People!
This is the All Species Foundation, Kevin Kelly's latest brainchild.
Kevin Kelly basically figured out how to give away a billion dollars.