When I first saw broadcast 2000, I was excited. When I downloaded the source, I was appaled (note, this was a long time ago). The source seemed to contain every lib the software used (most of which I already had installed), which made the source package HUGE. I recall reading some README and the first thing it said was something like "DO NOT COMPILE THIS YOURSELF!!! IF ONLY THE BINARY WORKS, USE IT, DON'T COMPILE!!". (At that time I mostly compiled stuff myself.)
At that I left it alone. It didn't seem to conform to any of the usual GNU/etc. software conventions (and I don't mean any GNU recommendations, but usual habits and ways of doing things). On the contrary, it seemed developper-hostile. So at that time I guessed that it will never become as mainstream as eg. the GIMP.
Recently I got a new version and I must say that the code (organization) looks a LOT cleaner. But it still doesn't look anything like a GNU project (eg. no autoconf usage). We'll just have to wait and see what becomes of it...
What I have to ask is why hasn't it been packaged in Debian? Is there some problem with it? I can't find any reference to it in the debian-legal mailing list...
That's a very interesting idea, but I don't think it would work just that simply. Everybody would just set the ad threshold very up and nobody would be any wiser.
But... Combine ad karma and moderator karma, as in the postings. The moderators could moderate some ads up and some down. Then the system could generally give them out according to the karma level. Even low-karma ads would be shown, but not as often as the high-karma ones (which should be most interesting to the audience).
Being a moderator and moderating would be a wanted thing exactly the same way as being a post-moderator is: you can directly affect the appearance of the site. Every user (who is willing to be a moderator) has a karma level that affects how often (s)he gets moderator access.
The main problem would be rating the moderators. A simple way of doing it would be to check similarity with other moderators. If 50+ people moderate an ad up and one moderates it down, then the moderator gets a -1 hit (the karma level should probably be invisible to the user - otherwise somebody could get angry). With time the individuals who have a differing opinion from the main population would start getting moderation access fewer and fewer times.
Another method to rate moderators would be through some kind of meta-moderation.
Of course, this does not take into account individual wishes. Therefore everybody (who logs in) could set +5 for this category and -10 for that company. They could affect what ads they see, but not remove them (without ad filters). (Of course, moderating an ad could at the same time moderate its category, style, advertiser, company, etc.)
This system would give response to the advertisers too, in the form of a karma level (I doubt very much response would be given in discussion forums, except for really bad ads. And a -64 karma should say just about the same thing anyway...). All in all, the system might just become a self-fulfilling moderating system from which everybody (or at least the vast majority) benefits.
As to the comment on persistent ads, I don't think that would really work. Advertisers want to get as many different ads to you as possible. Instead, there could be a page where you could browse the latest ads you've seen. Or perhaps a link "View the ads I've seen on this page before?". Or like was replied a "Save/bookmark this ad" link.
God does not play dice with the universe. Albert Einstein
Not only does God play dice, he sometimes throws them where they can't be seen. Stephen Hawking
Stop telling God what to do. Niels Bohr
One type of software that IMHO should be rentable is games. I believe games will play a major role in the future of selling software (creating new games in pace with gamers is a job that needs lots of resources). But games aren't day-to-day utilities - you play with them until you get tired of them. After that they are paperweight.
Rentable games would be cool. You could test them for a while and play them as long as you like. And you would only pay for the amount you play. Of course, for those who really like the game there could be a version in a cute box that would work forever, or long rental periods for a low price.
This model may be becoming true also with GPL games where the server-side space is rented.
Why not FTP? When I clicked on the link, it gave me a dialog saying that the limit of FTP connections has been reached and listed the available mirrors.;-)
Keep the TEXTAREA, add a new one <FORMATTEXT> , or something similar.
Just a quick correction: Use TEXTAREA, but add an option to it, eg. <TEXTAREA FORMAT=HTML>. That way old browsers still support it, only the formatting is missing. Also the format would be extensible.
the whole page is a table
on
Freshmeat II
·
· Score: 1
I'd like to stress this point. Somebody noted that it would be a series of small tables, but imho it's not. There are a few in the beginning and then a looong one.
In the old design I especially liked that the quick search was in the same table as the banner - ie at the very beginning. It was possible to use the search immediately, before the whole slow page was loaded.
The same goes for the software that the shuttles run on (no, Linux is not stable enough!). See the original/. article and the fastcompany article. It's amazing what these people do to get it right!
The specs for the current program fill 30 volumes and run 40,000 pages.
They found a correlation. That's not the same as cause-and-effect.
I know this is a bit off-topic, but I'd like to stress this point. Many many things could be proven argumenting with a correlation and many people (also in high official positions) would believe them. It gets worse when so-called "scientists" start believing it too. (Note, I'm not saying this researcher has, as tbo pointed out.)
The best example in our math class was that ice cream should be banned because it causes a major increase in drownings. It's a fact that there is a clear correlation: significantly more drownings occur in those months of a year when most ice cream is sold. (Especially true in climates where winter is cold.)
That, of course, doesn't make it cause-and-effect...
AFAIK CD-RW's don't fulfill the CD specs (CD-R's only barely), so no player is "required" to play them. I myself haven't seen any CD-RW's play in any CD-players (though I've tested only a few), but they often work in CD-ROMs.
That's the thing that I'm cursing: almost the only thing I can think of to do with CD-RW's would be to store music from my computer temporarily (eg. for a party), but then the players won't play them. For just about everything else CD-R's are a better solution as they are very cheap. (I don't have to carry 600M of stuff (eg. video) around be either.)
Wonder what all that code is on the wallpapers? It's real! It's a multi-threaded HTTP server written in Java from developer.java.sun.com. On the right side (on some image where the head is on the left) you can quite easily make out the comment "go back in wait queue if there's fewer than numHandler connections." - it's on lines 173-174 and the surroundings match too. In the large images one can also see many HTTP-texts on the right side.
Are they into Sun or what? I bet it's GNOME on Solaris...
I agree totally. A friend of mine (female, not a geek) recently bought a computer on which every part was labelled "IBM". When it booted, I was horrified to see that when it normally shows the memory checking etc. was a large "IBM" logo.
Then I thought of pressing Delete - and voila! It was in the setup, and I soon found an option that removes the picture. She didn't like it that way, however.;)
Anyway, I have always in some way admired ID-software games and others that show what they are doing when starting. I guess that's part reason why I love Linux. It doesn't hide things from me.
How many others didn't see the small comma between the words "NOT" and "UPDATED" at first? When I first saw it, it looked largely amusing...until I noticed the comma.
Small things tend to dissappear on monitors, so PLEASE try to make sentences which don't have the possibility of such errors, or put in a larger marker (eg. exclamation point).
Sorry, just because CORBA is used in GNOME doesn't mean CORBA is ONLY used in GNOME. You could still have CORBA without all the GNOME dependencies.
I know CORBA is not used solely in GNOME, but AFAIK KDE uses a different scheme, KParts. So CORBA is a more integral part of GNOME than it is of KDE, in other words, it is more GNOME-specific than it is KDE-specific. That was the point I was trying to make. (And though there surely are many other applications, I have heard of CORBA only in when talking about GNOME, so I'd guess GNOME constitutes a major part of CORBA-using software.)
Your right. I recently discovered Terraform, which seems to implement much that The GIMP already does.
The one thing that AFAIK has not been modularized in GIMP is the drawing of the images to the screen. The height field could be implemented also this way. I think that a plugin or module for drawing the image might be more consistent with the design of The GIMP. This would allow switching between wireframe/2D map/etc. easily or allow for several simultaneously with several views open.
Of course, more modularization could be done to allow external programs to function as "plugins". Could for example CORBA be used? This, OTOH, could make The GIMP more GNOME-specific, which would make some KDE people somewhat angry (or does KDE implement CORBA?)...
I'm sure these kinds of "plantlets" will become ever more common in the future, and some categorizing will have to be done. I don't think people will really accept a new "planet" (unless something really big is found outside Pluto, but still at a reasonable distance). In fact, there has been some debate about whether Pluto should be demoted from its position as a planet, as it is so small and unlike the other planets.
For some discussion about it, see Google hits and for example this text explaining why Pluto should be concidered a planet.
I haven't really read into this particular case, but on the whole, does there exist any site which lists current public petitions on the web? Such a site could be useful, as one could check it a few times a month to see if there are any important petitions that one hasn't noticed yet. It's always so frustrating to head about these petitions afterwards.
And to put it a bit further still, a site to host petitions? Of course, the requests should be scanned very closely and only a few per month granted. Otherwise it's value in the sight of politicians might drop dramatically.
Fed up with cookies, but can't disable them because some sites require them? Easy:
chmod 400 ~/.netscape/cookies
I accept all cookies, but every time (though rarely) when I exit netscape it trashes them. If I want to keep a cookie, then I set the file writable, let netscape write it, emacs the non-wanted cookies away and re-chmod it.
Does Mozilla include a cookie editor? It would be great to be able to "accept" all cookies but throw them away after a while, unless you specifically ask to keep them (without doing that chmod hack).
The one disturbing thing I found about the letter was the paragraph where he talks about not competing with GNOME.
Well, what I always tend to hear in these letters is the glorification of their system. It is so easy to use and so fun to code for and the technology is so amazing and we have so-and-so many users and... It goes on and on through the text, between the lines.
The point you make seems to me like just that, nobly denying competition against their main OSS-enemy.. (Of course, that's the way it should be..)
Of course, it's the same on both sides, like RMS's reply to the GPL-ification of QT.
It just strikes me more in KDE letters as I'm a user of GNOME, but I guess KDE users notice it in all GNOME posts too.
According to Finnish law (and most others, as far as I know), there is no such thing as dual citizenship. If you take another citizenship, you are required to give up the Finnish citizenship.
In practise, though, in birth people can get dual citizenship. For example people born in US territory automatically get US citizenship (so Celeste will have both US and Finnish citizenship), and Finland can't do anything about that. Hell, one of my friends has triple citizenship (mother Finnish, father Australian, born in Scotland). But you can't acquire dual citizenship.
OTOH, one of my friend's friend has acquired it through a mixup. She took UK citizenship and tried to return the Finnish passport to the Finnish embassy. There they said she would have to return it to the UK embassy. There, of course, they wouldn't accept it either. She then let it be and now has both passports - effectively dual citizenship.
Does anybody else wonder why the biggies (UK, Germany, France, Spain,...) are all against the patents? All of those for them are smaller countries, both politically and in sq-km (largest probably Italy).
Could it be the smaller countries fear the competition of the larger and patents help them keep grounds (fair or unfair)? Also against the patents are Sweden and Denmark, which AFAIK are quite IT-developed (at least Finland is).
What are the reasons the small (perhaps not-so-much-IT-developed ?) countries want software patents?
(Note, I'm not trying to diminish the importance of anybody's home country! If I'm wrong about something, please post so, but don't flame!)
Slashdot Mirror
When I first saw broadcast 2000, I was excited. When I downloaded the source, I was appaled (note, this was a long time ago). The source seemed to contain every lib the software used (most of which I already had installed), which made the source package HUGE. I recall reading some README and the first thing it said was something like "DO NOT COMPILE THIS YOURSELF!!! IF ONLY THE BINARY WORKS, USE IT, DON'T COMPILE!!". (At that time I mostly compiled stuff myself.)
At that I left it alone. It didn't seem to conform to any of the usual GNU/etc. software conventions (and I don't mean any GNU recommendations, but usual habits and ways of doing things). On the contrary, it seemed developper-hostile. So at that time I guessed that it will never become as mainstream as eg. the GIMP.
Recently I got a new version and I must say that the code (organization) looks a LOT cleaner. But it still doesn't look anything like a GNU project (eg. no autoconf usage). We'll just have to wait and see what becomes of it...
What I have to ask is why hasn't it been packaged in Debian? Is there some problem with it? I can't find any reference to it in the debian-legal mailing list...
That's a very interesting idea, but I don't think it would work just that simply. Everybody would just set the ad threshold very up and nobody would be any wiser.
But... Combine ad karma and moderator karma, as in the postings. The moderators could moderate some ads up and some down. Then the system could generally give them out according to the karma level. Even low-karma ads would be shown, but not as often as the high-karma ones (which should be most interesting to the audience).
Being a moderator and moderating would be a wanted thing exactly the same way as being a post-moderator is: you can directly affect the appearance of the site. Every user (who is willing to be a moderator) has a karma level that affects how often (s)he gets moderator access.
The main problem would be rating the moderators. A simple way of doing it would be to check similarity with other moderators. If 50+ people moderate an ad up and one moderates it down, then the moderator gets a -1 hit (the karma level should probably be invisible to the user - otherwise somebody could get angry). With time the individuals who have a differing opinion from the main population would start getting moderation access fewer and fewer times.
Another method to rate moderators would be through some kind of meta-moderation.
Of course, this does not take into account individual wishes. Therefore everybody (who logs in) could set +5 for this category and -10 for that company. They could affect what ads they see, but not remove them (without ad filters). (Of course, moderating an ad could at the same time moderate its category, style, advertiser, company, etc.)
This system would give response to the advertisers too, in the form of a karma level (I doubt very much response would be given in discussion forums, except for really bad ads. And a -64 karma should say just about the same thing anyway...). All in all, the system might just become a self-fulfilling moderating system from which everybody (or at least the vast majority) benefits.
As to the comment on persistent ads, I don't think that would really work. Advertisers want to get as many different ads to you as possible. Instead, there could be a page where you could browse the latest ads you've seen. Or perhaps a link "View the ads I've seen on this page before?". Or like was replied a "Save/bookmark this ad" link.
God does not play dice with the universe. Albert Einstein
Not only does God play dice, he sometimes throws them where they can't be seen. Stephen Hawking
Stop telling God what to do. Niels Bohr
(Sorry for the off-topic, I just had to...)
One type of software that IMHO should be rentable is games. I believe games will play a major role in the future of selling software (creating new games in pace with gamers is a job that needs lots of resources). But games aren't day-to-day utilities - you play with them until you get tired of them. After that they are paperweight.
Rentable games would be cool. You could test them for a while and play them as long as you like. And you would only pay for the amount you play. Of course, for those who really like the game there could be a version in a cute box that would work forever, or long rental periods for a low price.
This model may be becoming true also with GPL games where the server-side space is rented.
Why not FTP? When I clicked on the link, it gave me a dialog saying that the limit of FTP connections has been reached and listed the available mirrors. ;-)
Keep the TEXTAREA, add a new one <FORMATTEXT> , or something similar.
Just a quick correction: Use TEXTAREA, but add an option to it, eg. <TEXTAREA FORMAT=HTML>. That way old browsers still support it, only the formatting is missing. Also the format would be extensible.
I'd like to stress this point. Somebody noted that it would be a series of small tables, but imho it's not. There are a few in the beginning and then a looong one. In the old design I especially liked that the quick search was in the same table as the banner - ie at the very beginning. It was possible to use the search immediately, before the whole slow page was loaded.
They found a correlation. That's not the same as cause-and-effect.
I know this is a bit off-topic, but I'd like to stress this point. Many many things could be proven argumenting with a correlation and many people (also in high official positions) would believe them. It gets worse when so-called "scientists" start believing it too. (Note, I'm not saying this researcher has, as tbo pointed out.)
The best example in our math class was that ice cream should be banned because it causes a major increase in drownings. It's a fact that there is a clear correlation: significantly more drownings occur in those months of a year when most ice cream is sold. (Especially true in climates where winter is cold.)
That, of course, doesn't make it cause-and-effect...
AFAIK CD-RW's don't fulfill the CD specs (CD-R's only barely), so no player is "required" to play them. I myself haven't seen any CD-RW's play in any CD-players (though I've tested only a few), but they often work in CD-ROMs.
That's the thing that I'm cursing: almost the only thing I can think of to do with CD-RW's would be to store music from my computer temporarily (eg. for a party), but then the players won't play them. For just about everything else CD-R's are a better solution as they are very cheap. (I don't have to carry 600M of stuff (eg. video) around be either.)
Wonder what all that code is on the wallpapers? It's real! It's a multi-threaded HTTP server written in Java from developer.java.sun.com. On the right side (on some image where the head is on the left) you can quite easily make out the comment "go back in wait queue if there's fewer than numHandler connections." - it's on lines 173-174 and the surroundings match too. In the large images one can also see many HTTP-texts on the right side.
Are they into Sun or what? I bet it's GNOME on Solaris...
No, but this definately puts to end the desktop wars!! This of it! GNOME got into the movies!!! Hahaha.. KDE doesn't stand a chance anymore...
(Humor impaired need not bother.)
I agree totally. A friend of mine (female, not a geek) recently bought a computer on which every part was labelled "IBM". When it booted, I was horrified to see that when it normally shows the memory checking etc. was a large "IBM" logo.
;)
Then I thought of pressing Delete - and voila! It was in the setup, and I soon found an option that removes the picture. She didn't like it that way, however.
Anyway, I have always in some way admired ID-software games and others that show what they are doing when starting. I guess that's part reason why I love Linux. It doesn't hide things from me.
How many others didn't see the small comma between the words "NOT" and "UPDATED" at first? When I first saw it, it looked largely amusing...until I noticed the comma.
Small things tend to dissappear on monitors, so PLEASE try to make sentences which don't have the possibility of such errors, or put in a larger marker (eg. exclamation point).
Sorry, just because CORBA is used in GNOME doesn't mean CORBA is ONLY used in GNOME. You could still have CORBA without all the GNOME dependencies.
I know CORBA is not used solely in GNOME, but AFAIK KDE uses a different scheme, KParts. So CORBA is a more integral part of GNOME than it is of KDE, in other words, it is more GNOME-specific than it is KDE-specific. That was the point I was trying to make. (And though there surely are many other applications, I have heard of CORBA only in when talking about GNOME, so I'd guess GNOME constitutes a major part of CORBA-using software.)
Your right. I recently discovered Terraform, which seems to implement much that The GIMP already does.
The one thing that AFAIK has not been modularized in GIMP is the drawing of the images to the screen. The height field could be implemented also this way. I think that a plugin or module for drawing the image might be more consistent with the design of The GIMP. This would allow switching between wireframe/2D map/etc. easily or allow for several simultaneously with several views open.
Of course, more modularization could be done to allow external programs to function as "plugins". Could for example CORBA be used? This, OTOH, could make The GIMP more GNOME-specific, which would make some KDE people somewhat angry (or does KDE implement CORBA?)...
Funny, yes. But note, however, that NASA didn't try to send any commands to it, they only listened. So there actually was no conversation...
I'm sure these kinds of "plantlets" will become ever more common in the future, and some categorizing will have to be done. I don't think people will really accept a new "planet" (unless something really big is found outside Pluto, but still at a reasonable distance). In fact, there has been some debate about whether Pluto should be demoted from its position as a planet, as it is so small and unlike the other planets.
For some discussion about it, see Google hits and for example this text explaining why Pluto should be concidered a planet.
I haven't really read into this particular case, but on the whole, does there exist any site which lists current public petitions on the web? Such a site could be useful, as one could check it a few times a month to see if there are any important petitions that one hasn't noticed yet. It's always so frustrating to head about these petitions afterwards.
And to put it a bit further still, a site to host petitions? Of course, the requests should be scanned very closely and only a few per month granted. Otherwise it's value in the sight of politicians might drop dramatically.
Fed up with cookies, but can't disable them because some sites require them? Easy:
chmod 400 ~/.netscape/cookies
I accept all cookies, but every time (though rarely) when I exit netscape it trashes them. If I want to keep a cookie, then I set the file writable, let netscape write it, emacs the non-wanted cookies away and re-chmod it.
Does Mozilla include a cookie editor? It would be great to be able to "accept" all cookies but throw them away after a while, unless you specifically ask to keep them (without doing that chmod hack).
The one disturbing thing I found about the letter was the paragraph where he talks about not competing with GNOME.
... It goes on and on through the text, between the lines.
Well, what I always tend to hear in these letters is the glorification of their system. It is so easy to use and so fun to code for and the technology is so amazing and we have so-and-so many users and
The point you make seems to me like just that, nobly denying competition against their main OSS-enemy.. (Of course, that's the way it should be..)
Of course, it's the same on both sides, like RMS's reply to the GPL-ification of QT.
It just strikes me more in KDE letters as I'm a user of GNOME, but I guess KDE users notice it in all GNOME posts too.
...and now the server appears to be down for good.
;)
Well, if it wasn't previously, it sure is now!
New Image Compression Algorithm claims 1000:1 ratio
Talk about posting the same story twice...
According to Finnish law (and most others, as far as I know), there is no such thing as dual citizenship. If you take another citizenship, you are required to give up the Finnish citizenship.
In practise, though, in birth people can get dual citizenship. For example people born in US territory automatically get US citizenship (so Celeste will have both US and Finnish citizenship), and Finland can't do anything about that. Hell, one of my friends has triple citizenship (mother Finnish, father Australian, born in Scotland). But you can't acquire dual citizenship.
OTOH, one of my friend's friend has acquired it through a mixup. She took UK citizenship and tried to return the Finnish passport to the Finnish embassy. There they said she would have to return it to the UK embassy. There, of course, they wouldn't accept it either. She then let it be and now has both passports - effectively dual citizenship.
Does anybody else wonder why the biggies (UK, Germany, France, Spain, ...) are all against the patents? All of those for them are smaller countries, both politically and in sq-km (largest probably Italy).
Could it be the smaller countries fear the competition of the larger and patents help them keep grounds (fair or unfair)? Also against the patents are Sweden and Denmark, which AFAIK are quite IT-developed (at least Finland is).
What are the reasons the small (perhaps not-so-much-IT-developed ?) countries want software patents?
(Note, I'm not trying to diminish the importance of anybody's home country! If I'm wrong about something, please post so, but don't flame!)