I hope he is implying that. It's admirable that you've taught yourself so well in so many fields, but the fact is a good college education opens your eyes to fields and ideas that you wouldn't even think to bother to learn.
I'm sure you've encountered 'techies' who knew a particular toolset extraordinarily well, maybe even mastered a whole "field", but couldn't put what the knew into context or fit it into a whole solution.... The same idea applies to unrelated fields, if I decide to "train myself" in literature I might read many works and never even know to expose myself to literary criticism, to find related ideas in philosophical works, etc...
In college I met a number of people studying CS for the same reason some techies skip college - to go straight to the big bucks. The people who did well in the program, and the people happiest with life overall, were the ones who A) had a natural intrest in what they were learning and B) realized that there was a whole world out there that could best be discovered by having professors and other students expose them to new ideas and fields.
A requirement to teach at an American University is a firm grasp of English and the ability to speak it coherently.
It is most certainly not a requirement. I graduated last year from a state university with a degree in CS. While most of my professors were very proficient in English (some had heavy accents, but that doesn't mean they weren't coherent), very few of my TAs were.
Say what you like about whether or not a TA (usually a graduate student) ought to be teaching intro level programming/algorithm classes, but it's happening. Why? Money. Native english speakers find better work for more money then schools offer teaching assistants. English proficiency programs exist, but they're mostly a joke.
I'd have to assume that the software uses netscape (remind me, who owns netscape again? (: ) will be the browser.... Might be tough to pitch Linux reliability if your browser keeps crashing. Much as I love linux, we need a better browser.
Let's ignore the DIVX-like aspects... What I'm wondering is what the heck do they think consumers want? I don't know anyone who says "Well, I want to rent a DVD but I sure don't want to have to drive it back and put it in the little drop box in 3 days, maybe I'll get me one of dem self destructing dvds so I can just throw it away"...
If you don't want to return the disk, rent it over the net (they mail it to you, you mail it back, no problems). What possible consumer benefit is there to this?
I think the answer is obvious -- none. I guess in the end it's whether the movie studios are powerful enough to ram things like this down our throats.
Yea, I know the phenomenon exists... Web stocks have soared for quite awhile now and haven't seemed to come much closer to earth... Haven't had any real stellar web-based IPOs lately, but most of the stocks are doing well IIRC. I'm just wondering if or when it comes crashing down... I guess when we see smaller names in linux issuing IPOs they won't do as well...
As far as ESR taking credit, I'll bet it's already done (:
I can't believe anyone would buy at that price... They must be, but what does VA appear to offer an investor? I love the company and wish them the best, but if I'm sitting down and trying to decide which of those new fangled linux stocks to buy what makes me choose VA at >$250 a pop?
think we ought to keep in mind that things you say here are taken to represent a community of technically-minded users.
True,/. is and always has been "News For Nerds..Stuff that matters", and I like it that way. But is that how it's seen? My fear is it's seen by most of the reporters we're talking about as linux freaks... While it may apply in some part it's not, as you said, accurate...
Still, that only increases the need for us lowly posters to make well thought out comments whatever our viewpoint may be...
I misspoke if I led you to believe I thought that slashdot had journalistic (read this sentence carefully please) value beyond reader reaction. Only in rare cases would a post in these discussions be a primary source. That doesn't detract from it's value to the community of computer geeks everywhere though, as a place for mainstream media to gain a little insight.
I think slashdot is becoming a regular resource for some journalists. Is this a problem? Perhaps it's not the best idea if you're a journalist, but it can be good for the community as a whole.
Journalists ought to work to find out all they can about a story, and certainly the geeks reaction as gauged by slashdot is part of that. It's not the whole story, but it's part of it.
What does it mean for slashdot users? I think we ought to keep in mind that things you say here are taken to represent a community of linux users. No one should jump to the conclusion that any of us speak for anyone else, but it's easy to see general trends in controversial stories.
I guess it also means we ought to congratulate Rob & co, they've worked hard to make this a legitimate news site and I believe (and have believed for awhile) that they are successful.
What an ironic post. Anyways, one of the reasons I love slashdot is that there is (fairly) good signal to noise... There are a lot of very intelligent people (experts, even) reading/. and weighing in with their opinions. Why do you read it?
In a way I completely agree that advocates are that "PR department" and wasn't calling for anything as official. I do think that the current advocacy system is (sort of) failing:
A) Some common myths still exist and can't be easily and reliably found false by someone investigating Linux.
I love the linux community, and documents like ESR's response to Halloween are important. But there is a general body of myths, some of which appear in this latest document, that should be addressed. I believe a FAQ of sorts should be developed to address those myths. The linux community, speaking "loudly, and with very big bashing sticks" turns some people off. It shouldn't. That's what the PR "department" idea is...
I'm sure this post is preceded by the usual trolls and flamers, so let's just ignore them.
I just finished reading the article and considered writing a point-by-point analysis. As Rob pointed out there are some good points and some bad points made. It shouldn't take much time to evaluate each claim and write a reasonable response. So should we?
The fact is we are starting to see more and more of these (hey, it's almost Halloween again, isn't it? (: ). Another fact is that some of these claims clearly are FUD. "Security on linux is an all-or-nothing proposition" (paraphrased from the document). Huh? Claims like this are flatly wrong, either intentionally or accidentally (should we expect everyone to know about sudo and groups?).
I believe that what linux truly needs is some sort of a PR "department". No not a fuddish (cool word) marketing department or bloodthirsty advocates for a particular distribution. Just a comprehensive document developed by a variety of people that addresses some of these common concerns and myths. Does such a document exist? Where?
The "Dual Layer technology" that WB used has nothing to do with why The Matrix won't play in your Samsung. Dual layer discs have been around forever and they are a standard. Without going dual layer only 2 hours of content can be put on one side of a disc. Dual layer allows 4 hours of video. Check http://www.dvdtalk.com/ and http://www.dvdresource.com/ for info about the problems. Good call grabbing Monty Python & The Holy Grail, though... I just bought it along with Meaning of Life and Life of Brian...
At the University of Missouri everyone is assigned a student number. That number is a 6-digit (though all the databases hold 9, coincidence?) number assigned randomly. It's printed on your student ID in plain text along with your name and picture. On the back is a magnetic stripe. These are ID cards, _NOT_ badges, so they stay in wallets for the most part. You use your ID for most anything -- it works as a charge card in the bookstore or food courts, you use it to get into computer labs or the rec center, check out books, etc. Our email addresses used to be a c followed by your student number (see my address above for an example). That policy was found to be in direct violation of a privacy in education law passed awhile ago -- they can't use your SSN and they can't even use your student ID anymore. So this year new freshmen get a (blech) NT mail account that is their initials and a 3 character hash code... Anyways, the main point is that at least at MU, ssn's are a no-no... Professors aren't supposed to list studnet grades by student ID number anymore either, though they still do.
I guess I will weigh in on this, though the story has already generated tons of comments.
I should admit that I've been a skeptic about moderation and AC-related stuff for a long time, but I've come around to like slashdot the way it is.
I do love the idea of allowing people to post anonymously even though they are logged in (if moderator's post anonymously through this link is their moderation of that story undone??), so that's a definite plus.
I like the term karma for slashdot and think it's a great way to reward the good/.'ers and "punish" the first posters and trolls (if they log in, I guess)... It's utility is more as a bonus for good users, I think.
I'm not so sure about meta-moderation. Isn't this what moderators should do anyways??? If a moderator see's a comment that's over or under rated they can moderate it down or up. If they see abuse they can fix it by remoderating it (by a point or so anyways). Since there is a relatively small range of scores why worry about it? Just have enough moderators that things get done. If you have too few then there will be abuse and unmoderated comments, too many and you'll get lots of "neutral" comments (up and down by multiple moderators) and lots of over or underrated comments... So just pick out that magic middle (: I know that's harder than it seems, but I think meta-moderation is (as someone alluded to earlier) just an uphill battle against trolls who will always have more time to find ways around your system then you have to fix the system.
Anyways, my humble opinions. Keep up the amazing work Rob & co.
Reel.com has it for $14.99, along with Buy.com, though both charge for shipping.
800.com, which does have free shipping, also has an $8 coupon that's easy to find (go to www.bargainflix.com), making the disk $12 shipped! Reel.com has tons of coupons, you should be able to get it $12 shipped from them too.
Basically DVD's are released in a certain region. Ie, Region 1 is (IIRC), the US, Canada, and Central America (Maybe South America?)... Region II is Europe... There are other regions as well.
Most players are set to play only 1 region. (I believe many computer DVD-ROMs can switch regions a few times before they "lock" at a certain one, though there are hacks available to make them 'region-free').
In most cases, discs released in a certain region are usable only in that region. So studios release say 2 or 3 dvd's, one for each region they target... They might have different languages, different features, different release dates, etc...
Hope this clears things up, I'm sure many know more about it then me.
I read his other silicon valley book, "The First $20 Million is Always The Hardest" and loved it. Some criticize Bronson as an opportunist trying to capitalize on recent trends... So what? He's a damn entertaining writer.
I read the Wired excerpt and can't wait for his newest to come out. While waiting you may well want to check out the First $20 Million.... It's well worth a few bucks for a paperback edition.
As for the release date of "Nudist..", amazon lists July of 1999.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope he is implying that. It's admirable that you've taught yourself so well in so many fields, but the fact is a good college education opens your eyes to fields and ideas that you wouldn't even think to bother to learn.
I'm sure you've encountered 'techies' who knew a particular toolset extraordinarily well, maybe even mastered a whole "field", but couldn't put what the knew into context or fit it into a whole solution.... The same idea applies to unrelated fields, if I decide to "train myself" in literature I might read many works and never even know to expose myself to literary criticism, to find related ideas in philosophical works, etc...
In college I met a number of people studying CS for the same reason some techies skip college - to go straight to the big bucks. The people who did well in the program, and the people happiest with life overall, were the ones who A) had a natural intrest in what they were learning and B) realized that there was a whole world out there that could best be discovered by having professors and other students expose them to new ideas and fields.
A requirement to teach at an American University is a firm grasp of English and the ability to speak it coherently.
It is most certainly not a requirement. I graduated last year from a state university with a degree in CS. While most of my professors were very proficient in English (some had heavy accents, but that doesn't mean they weren't coherent), very few of my TAs were.
Say what you like about whether or not a TA (usually a graduate student) ought to be teaching intro level programming/algorithm classes, but it's happening. Why? Money. Native english speakers find better work for more money then schools offer teaching assistants. English proficiency programs exist, but they're mostly a joke.
Eek.... Did you go at the end of the month? I was going to go in before work one day to get my VA license and get my car registered...Now I'm scared
Anyone have a mirror up? The site and the only mirror posted so far are gone...
"Not a day goes buy I didn't think of killing her" -Homer
I'd have to assume that the software uses netscape (remind me, who owns netscape again? (: ) will be the browser.... Might be tough to pitch Linux reliability if your browser keeps crashing. Much as I love linux, we need a better browser.
What's the old saying?
If you put a thousand microsoft researchers in a cubicle for a thousand years they can eventually code links and locate?
Let's ignore the DIVX-like aspects... What I'm wondering is what the heck do they think consumers want? I don't know anyone who says "Well, I want to rent a DVD but I sure don't want to have to drive it back and put it in the little drop box in 3 days, maybe I'll get me one of dem self destructing dvds so I can just throw it away"...
If you don't want to return the disk, rent it over the net (they mail it to you, you mail it back, no problems). What possible consumer benefit is there to this?
I think the answer is obvious -- none. I guess in the end it's whether the movie studios are powerful enough to ram things like this down our throats.
Yea, I know the phenomenon exists... Web stocks have soared for quite awhile now and haven't seemed to come much closer to earth... Haven't had any real stellar web-based IPOs lately, but most of the stocks are doing well IIRC. I'm just wondering if or when it comes crashing down... I guess when we see smaller names in linux issuing IPOs they won't do as well...
As far as ESR taking credit, I'll bet it's already done (:
I can't believe anyone would buy at that price... They must be, but what does VA appear to offer an investor? I love the company and wish them the best, but if I'm sitting down and trying to decide which of those new fangled linux stocks to buy what makes me choose VA at >$250 a pop?
think we ought to keep in mind that things you say here are taken to represent a community of technically-minded users.
/. is and always has been "News For Nerds..Stuff that matters", and I like it that way. But is that how it's seen? My fear is it's seen by most of the reporters we're talking about as linux freaks... While it may apply in some part it's not, as you said, accurate...
True,
Still, that only increases the need for us lowly posters to make well thought out comments whatever our viewpoint may be...
I misspoke if I led you to believe I thought that slashdot had journalistic (read this sentence carefully please) value beyond reader reaction. Only in rare cases would a post in these discussions be a primary source. That doesn't detract from it's value to the community of computer geeks everywhere though, as a place for mainstream media to gain a little insight.
I think slashdot is becoming a regular resource for some journalists. Is this a problem? Perhaps it's not the best idea if you're a journalist, but it can be good for the community as a whole.
Journalists ought to work to find out all they can about a story, and certainly the geeks reaction as gauged by slashdot is part of that. It's not the whole story, but it's part of it.
What does it mean for slashdot users? I think we ought to keep in mind that things you say here are taken to represent a community of linux users. No one should jump to the conclusion that any of us speak for anyone else, but it's easy to see general trends in controversial stories.
I guess it also means we ought to congratulate Rob & co, they've worked hard to make this a legitimate news site and I believe (and have believed for awhile) that they are successful.
-Scott
The geocities page is unavailable. Guess we'll have to wait for them to get CVS write access.
What an ironic post. Anyways, one of the reasons I love slashdot is that there is (fairly) good signal to noise... There are a lot of very intelligent people (experts, even) reading /. and weighing in with their opinions. Why do you read it?
In a way I completely agree that advocates are that "PR department" and wasn't calling for anything as official. I do think that the current advocacy system is (sort of) failing:
A) Some common myths still exist and can't be easily and reliably found false by someone investigating Linux.
I love the linux community, and documents like ESR's response to Halloween are important. But there is a general body of myths, some of which appear in this latest document, that should be addressed. I believe a FAQ of sorts should be developed to address those myths. The linux community, speaking "loudly, and with very big bashing sticks" turns some people off. It shouldn't. That's what the PR "department" idea is...
I'm sure this post is preceded by the usual trolls and flamers, so let's just ignore them.
I just finished reading the article and considered writing a point-by-point analysis. As Rob pointed out there are some good points and some bad points made. It shouldn't take much time to evaluate each claim and write a reasonable response. So should we?
The fact is we are starting to see more and more of these (hey, it's almost Halloween again, isn't it? (: ). Another fact is that some of these claims clearly are FUD. "Security on linux is an all-or-nothing proposition" (paraphrased from the document). Huh? Claims like this are flatly wrong, either intentionally or accidentally (should we expect everyone to know about sudo and groups?).
I believe that what linux truly needs is some sort of a PR "department". No not a fuddish (cool word) marketing department or bloodthirsty advocates for a particular distribution. Just a comprehensive document developed by a variety of people that addresses some of these common concerns and myths. Does such a document exist? Where?
-Scott
The "Dual Layer technology" that WB used has nothing to do with why The Matrix won't play in your Samsung. Dual layer discs have been around forever and they are a standard. Without going dual layer only 2 hours of content can be put on one side of a disc. Dual layer allows 4 hours of video. Check http://www.dvdtalk.com/ and http://www.dvdresource.com/ for info about the problems. Good call grabbing Monty Python & The Holy Grail, though... I just bought it along with Meaning of Life and Life of Brian...
At the University of Missouri everyone is assigned a student number. That number is a 6-digit (though all the databases hold 9, coincidence?) number assigned randomly. It's printed on your student ID in plain text along with your name and picture. On the back is a magnetic stripe. These are ID cards, _NOT_ badges, so they stay in wallets for the most part. You use your ID for most anything -- it works as a charge card in the bookstore or food courts, you use it to get into computer labs or the rec center, check out books, etc. Our email addresses used to be a c followed by your student number (see my address above for an example). That policy was found to be in direct violation of a privacy in education law passed awhile ago -- they can't use your SSN and they can't even use your student ID anymore. So this year new freshmen get a (blech) NT mail account that is their initials and a 3 character hash code... Anyways, the main point is that at least at MU, ssn's are a no-no... Professors aren't supposed to list studnet grades by student ID number anymore either, though they still do.
I guess I will weigh in on this, though the story has already generated tons of comments.
/.'ers and "punish" the first posters and trolls (if they log in, I guess)... It's utility is more as a bonus for good users, I think.
I should admit that I've been a skeptic about moderation and AC-related stuff for a long time, but I've come around to like slashdot the way it is.
I do love the idea of allowing people to post anonymously even though they are logged in (if moderator's post anonymously through this link is their moderation of that story undone??), so that's a definite plus.
I like the term karma for slashdot and think it's a great way to reward the good
I'm not so sure about meta-moderation. Isn't this what moderators should do anyways??? If a moderator see's a comment that's over or under rated they can moderate it down or up. If they see abuse they can fix it by remoderating it (by a point or so anyways). Since there is a relatively small range of scores why worry about it? Just have enough moderators that things get done. If you have too few then there will be abuse and unmoderated comments, too many and you'll get lots of "neutral" comments (up and down by multiple moderators) and lots of over or underrated comments... So just pick out that magic middle (: I know that's harder than it seems, but I think meta-moderation is (as someone alluded to earlier) just an uphill battle against trolls who will always have more time to find ways around your system then you have to fix the system.
Anyways, my humble opinions. Keep up the amazing work Rob & co.
-Scott
At least "cynics" is better word to use than "mimics" or "gimmicks", which are the only other words I can think of now that rhyme with linux.
Reel.com has it for $14.99, along with Buy.com, though both charge for shipping.
800.com, which does have free shipping, also has an $8 coupon that's easy to find (go to www.bargainflix.com), making the disk $12 shipped! Reel.com has tons of coupons, you should be able to get it $12 shipped from them too.
Suicide Kings uses it for one scene as a bonus feature... Nothing spectacular but kinda cool. Can't wait for Ghostbusters to arrive, though.
Basically DVD's are released in a certain region. Ie, Region 1 is (IIRC), the US, Canada, and Central America (Maybe South America?)... Region II is Europe... There are other regions as well.
Most players are set to play only 1 region. (I believe many computer DVD-ROMs can switch regions a few times before they "lock" at a certain one, though there are hacks available to make them 'region-free').
In most cases, discs released in a certain region are usable only in that region. So studios release say 2 or 3 dvd's, one for each region they target... They might have different languages, different features, different release dates, etc...
Hope this clears things up, I'm sure many know more about it then me.
I read his other silicon valley book, "The First $20 Million is Always The Hardest" and loved it. Some criticize Bronson as an opportunist trying to capitalize on recent trends... So what? He's a damn entertaining writer.
.... It's well worth a few bucks for a paperback edition.
I read the Wired excerpt and can't wait for his newest to come out. While waiting you may well want to check out the First $20 Million
As for the release date of "Nudist..", amazon lists July of 1999.