Hrm, I don't think that a wolf/poodle cross would fix hip dysplasia or anything. However, it might give you a dog that would bite your leg off and then start humping it;)
Consider for a minute how far out those old probes are. Each day places them further from Earth than any other manmade objects have ever gone. The data they're still able to transmit about the universe still has value from this point alone.
Newer may be "better" than older in terms of more advanced and more capabilities, but newer can also have a lot higher failure rate than older does (I used to have an old 1980 International Scout that gave me far less vehicular problems than my current car does). We could do something like send a probe out with a new ion drive unit, but look at how many things could break on it (ion drive, newer electronics, newer and more complicated software, etc etc).
Yeah, this is the problem I see with the Trolltech guys. I mean, I love Qt and wish it would get a heck of a lot more market penetration, but until they finally make their prices reasonable it'll never happen. Look at Qt itself as an example. Even though it's extremely well designed, allows cross platform, and would make Windows developers' lives easier by replacing MFC, it's not worth $1,550. I mean, as much as I'm biased towards it, it's a toolkit and a sorta IDE. I think they'd sell a lot more licenses for stuff in the end if they'd look around and make their prices more competitive.
You know, you're correct here. RMS does have the right to say and believe whatever he wants. The problem is that many people in the community seem to forget that EVERYONE, not just RMS, has those same rights. People have the right to agree with RMS, and people also have the right to disagree. Yet, look at the comments to this article as an example. People disagree with RMS and get flamed and everything else. So while it's good to know that people will agree that RMS has his rights to say and think whatever he wants, let's all remember that each and every one of us also holds those same rights ok?
There are a lot of us that work very hard to push the use of Free Software and Open Source Software in our organizations. We preach the reasons for using it, cite examples of how it might be better than a commercial alternative, etc etc. But, the community constantly shoots itself in the foot because of the inconsistencies in it's actions. Sure, one person can say or think what he pleases. But disagree and you're an idiot who gets flamed and attacked and just treated in a rather silly manner. Our managers notice this when they read about things, and it rightfully worries them.
We may all want to celebrate a certain Peruvian poltician, but it's a damned shame that so many don't get the point as to why his response was so successful. And yeah, I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but there's a big portion of the Free Software/Open Source Software communitites that could best benefit the community by simply growing up.
It's _OUR_ faults. We're the ones that keep reelecting these crooks. The general public is apathetic and doesn't care to spend any time researching candidates. Instead, they'll get all the information they need from commercials. Heck, we elected a president that in no way, shape, or form has hidden his ownership by corporate America at any time in the past or present. If we want to change our country for the better, _WE_ have to do something about it instead of sitting back and blaming someone else.
Part of the reason you'd emulate what the majority of people are using is to make it easier for them to transition to your software. You can't expect the majority of home users to want to switch to OSS if they'd have to relearn what might have taken them a long time to learn previously (and no, anyone that's had to try to help home users learn software can attest that this isn't an exaggeration).
Businesses are the same way. They've trained users on the software they need to do their jobs. While the total cost of OSS may be lower, we can't forget that switching to OSS would incur training costs more than likely. By making OSS emulate the competitor, you provide an extra enticement for switching.
Yeah, we might not like how some of the MS stuff looks, but the one good thing about most OSS software is that it's often times easy to customize the interface:)
Not necessarily. For example, they can't force me to read every single article and ad on every single page in the physical print version prior to the page I'm interested in. So why should they be allowed to do this with the online version? The medium is completely irrelevant. As others have posted, there are technical solutions to this problem they could have employed. Also, if they wish to have this much control, then they should go to a subscription only service online. Oh but wait, you paid for it and STILL had to read through every page and ad first, no one would pay for it....
While this is partially true, you also are forgetting that the DOI is composed of several agencies. Not all of these agencies have as poor security as BIA would found to have. So first off, saying it's DOI as a whole is incorrect. Plus, as I'm sure someone will say that the DOI should have kept a better eye on things, this is only partially true. The way a government department is set up is that the upper level (ie, the top level DOI staff) have different concerns than the individual agencies. The individual agencies are themselves responsible for day to day operations while Fed department level staff are more concerned with strategic planning. Thus, with the BIA as an example, a part isn't exactly the whole.
See, the thing to keep in mind is that we the people are responsible for how screwed up things get in the government. Contrary to popular belief, WE are the ones in charge. No amount of cynicism can deny the fact that bad officials get into office because the voters put them there. These same officials then strangle budgets so that there's no one left to take care of anything. Many of these agencies also don't have the money to upgrade things. Ask your mom about how much things have gotten cut over the years. Then ask yourself, especially if you're of voting age, how things can get this bad. WE the people have to take the responsibility for OUR government sometime you know.
Umm.... could it be because private citizens and companies looking for governmental corporate welfare would start screaming about this magical "Big Government" bit?
See, any government organization is prone to the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" mantra. In the US case, it's because politicians have been laying out lines of bull for so long that people believe it. Yes, using OSS in some cases and keeping some programmers around would probably be cheaper. If you don't believe me, first go look at how much some governmental contracts cost and then look at what services are provided. Yes, in most cases they're bilking the taxpayers. The problem is that Congressmen get their money from big businesses that want these cash cow contracts and the general public is too lazy to figure out that most of these contracts cost far more than it would to just keep some Federal employees around.
Sorry to break the bubbles of a lot of people on here, but there is already a lot of OSS software in use in the government. Just because you might not know about it doesn't mean that there's some huge evil conspiracy to keep OSS out of the government. A lot of OSS usage just isn't that well known because there's absolutely no reason to go around telling everyone you meet about it. In my agency alone there's a huge use of OSS, from the OS level of Linux and the *BSD's to applications like apache and gcc. My own research uses a nice big Beowulf cluster that's running Linux, as is my desktop machine, as are the machines that my students use. We're also using it to build a bunch of multiterrabyte fileservers.
Other agencies are also running Linux. For example, I know NOAA uses it. In fact, if you haven't been paying attention, they're building a huge Beowulf cluster, and it's not going to be running WinXP. And, if you want to look at things like Apache usage, don't just go by what some main agency webserver uses. Many agencies are composed of a bunch of different centers. Also look to see what the centers are running.
Would you like to know more about the usage of OSS in government? For one, ASK! Don't go dreaming up wierd conspiracy theories. Don't ask the heads of the agencies. They don't know and it's not their jobs to know. Ask the IT groups in the agencies. Don't rely on statistics and check things out yourself.
Want to advocate the increased usage of OSS? Don't run around saying people can't "cut it" or that their managers are stupid. Write, don't email, a letter to your congressman. Be nice about it, don't call names. Rationally explain to them how you think it would save money and list to them HOW it would save money. Don't just go "you all suck and you should use it cause it's cheaper." Being rational and level headed will get you much more attention of politicians and agency heads.
Uninformed cynicism aside, most things in government are bought based on some very strict purchasing rules. For example, you have to find the cheapest product that fulfills the formal requirements. In the case of IT, part of that also deals with maintenance issues. And while we might all like to say that you can just post on Usenet and get an answer, that doesn't always work and it's not always an answer for an IT department. Many of these groups are have extremely low budgets, are understaffed, and desperately need the ability to call someone up to do an on-site visit to fix something.
Yeah, I know I'll get modded down for this, but sometimes you get annoyed with all the silliness that's posted on here and you get tired of it.
While you may choose to base your personal worth on how much money you make, not everyone in the world feels the same way. For example, people who choose to become researchers and scientists don't go into those fields to become the next mega millionaires. Different people are motivated by different things. For some, it's job satisfaction and having a good stable working environment. For others, it's simply the never-ending quest for money. You should be thankful that not everyone is motivated by money, otherwise a lot of cool inventions and toys would either not exist today or would have taken a lot longer to come into being. Some of you may say that "not being motivated by money" is a cop out, and that's fine. It's your own fault you have such a narrow view of the world.:) Also, while it might be "cool" for everyone to jump on the bandwagon and say that government workers are a bunch of idiots that couldn't "cut it" in the private sector, all you're really doing is displaying ego and a extreme lack of knowledge.
As far as dumb IT people, it helps to know what you're talking about:) Believe it or not, the private sector also has its fair share of "dumb" IT people. While this may shock the belief systems of some Slashdot readers to the very core, it's true. If you don't believe this, you haven't paid any attention to the world. ANY job, be it govt or private, has its fair share of "idiots". While it's good that a lot of people who read Slashdot like to think otherwise, reality does have to set in eventually.
Yeap, I build mplayer all the time with 2.96 and haven't had any problems with it. Build it on both RedHat and Mandrake boxes. I also use it all the time to play things under Linux, including playing (S)VCD's and DVD's. Then again, I build from cvs and not the releases so that might explain things also. And yeah, I read it and ignore it cause they're full of it. Sorry, but I haven't had problems with 2.96 that you're experiencing.
Oh please, enough with the fear mongering about 2.96. Yeah, it caused problems in the beginning, but there have been updates you know. Everything I do is in C++, and I've not had a single issue with 2.96. We do things from simple file conversions programs to large distributed processing systems, and we have ZERO difficulties. And yes, this includes anything from the STL to simple inheritance. We also build the kernel on the cluster each time it comes out with 2.96 and have ZERO problems there.
One of the biggest problems you'll find with 2.96/3.0+ is that a lot of crap C++ code won't build anymore. There was also code that quit building between 2.72 and when the egcs group decided to make a more standards compliant compiler. But, surely it's not due to crap code or anything. If people want things to build right, read the standards and UNDERSTAND them. If you don't really know what you're doing when you write code, then don't complain when a compiler tells you that you're wrong. And yes, people can point to Bugzilla reports that show there are problems, but I can also point to how those problems have been fixed and point to a ton of Usenet/Bugzilla reports that were due to user error and not the compiler. Facts are great things, especially when checked:)
Seriously, what have you done? Have you sent the KDE team any ideas? Have you drawn up any ideas of what you think a superior UI is? Given them a detailed description of what you want and why you think it's better than what they're doing now? No, I doubt you have. But, being a board for geeks, it's all about bitching and not about doing.
The KDE team has always seemed open minded for new ideas, and they're always saying that anyone can contribute. For everyone out there that doesn't like the UI, GET INVOLVED! Shees, people lavish the open source/free software culture and then turn around and show they have no idea what it's about. You don't have to be a programmer to contribute to projects. I mean, if all the supposed UI and human factors experts who post on Slashdot got together, we'd have the most perfect interface possible by next May;)
To the KDE team members who read Slashdot, I have an idea. Each time a story gets posted about KDE, and people complain about the UI, why don't you start tracking how many people actually submit ideas to you. I'm sure it would be some interesting statistics.
Look guy, I'm going to go with Bero here. I've been running Red Hat for a very long time, and I've never had problems finding mirrors sites. I've also never had them a few months ago. If the sites didn't have it at that time, that's their problem, not RedHat's.
And most people should also check to see why things are broken. It's not always the faults of ineffectual federal managers. A lot of the problem is directly related to the people you voted into office. Congress gives wierd dictates, and changes their minds on a whim depending on who gave them the most money at the time.
As far as being wasteful, your Congressmen also do NOT reward fiscal responsibility, they penalize it. If an agency finds that it can actually operate under budget for one year, it's funding is cut the next year. This is why agencies use up all of their money, and overspend, because dimwits penalize them for saving money. The best that can be done is to use leftover money from one fiscal year to prepay contracts for the next fiscal year.
What the American people need to do is to quit having their information spoonfed and get off their lazy duffs and read for themselves. Congressmen always complain about big government, and then turn around reward the companies that grease them up the most by giving them contracts that end up costing taxpayers _MORE_ than what federal workers could do the work for. But see, no one complains about this, they believe everything they're fed like a bunch of Lemmings. Ask the military about years of contract renegotiations and the like. I have two friends who used to work as contract officers there and quit because the system was so ridiculous.
Sorry, this isn't a flame. Just my biggest peeve of people going around without checking facts for themselves.
Dunno, I got the RPMS from the kde ftp site and haven't had any problems with them. Everything is nice and snappy, and haven't had any problems so far with it. Then again, I also have 384 meg of RAM so that probably helps;)
Ok, so they play it safe, and they're criticized. They do something risky, same thing happens. Public apathy has been around a lot longer than recently (look back at the last few moon landings). Our culture doesn't support learning and exploration. It supports stabbing everyone you know in the back to become the next Gates.
And no, you'd be surprised about how forward thinking some of these people are. They can't jump on television these days and start pounding their fists about what they really think should be done. They can be far too easily fired, and the public doesn't react too well any more to radicals who voice their beliefs.
Budget cuts on a federal agency mean a lot more than you think. A lot of agencies now don't even have enough money to keep the lights on (reality check time boys and girls. All federal employees don't live in million dollar houses and drive sports cars worth over 100 thousand. Politicians play on that stereotype to get elected because most people are too lazy to actually get the facts). Of course NASA is going to play it safe. If some mission fails, everyone calls their congressmen and complain about their tax dollars being misspent. We're a nation of complainers, we don't call when things go well and voice how we support it. Result, Congress cuts their funding.
I think the public is a lot more to blame then they realize (they also have a lot more power than they realize). If we want back into space, _WE_ have to call, _WE_ have to organize, and play the game their way. Moaning and complaining on the web isn't going to do a damned thing. Pick up the phone, write a letter, get your friends together and do something.
(This rant brought to you by someone who didn't get much sleep last night;)
I've never used it myself, but I know some of the hotels I've stayed at offer some kind of Net access via Ethernet jacks in the rooms. A friend who tried it once said you call the front desk and they'll give you the info you need for it or something along those lines. Might be an option. I mainly saw it in hotels on the East coast, but that's also the only place where I usually travel:)
Neither. I'm in the middle of the USA and have had it for about 6 months or so now. The only real problems I've had is general Windows 98 goofiness. My wife uses 98 so the dish is plugged into hers and I get online via Winroute. Sometimes when 98 crashes, I have to rerun the autosetup since some of the settings get lost in the process. Yes, I may be in the minority, but there are at least a few people who are happy with the service:)
Um, I don't know when you had this, or how it was set up, but I've gotta seriously disagree with you here. I've never been FAP'd. I've sat and downloaded many game demo's (around 50 or so meg a piece) and have downloaded the RedHat updates directory via ftp several times. Every time I sustain around 50 to 55K a second for the duration of the download. And before people start spouting off about cable and dsl, you might want to consider the fact that not everyone lives in an area where these things are available. Some of us still live in towns where a modem is still the only game in town.
Slashdot Mirror
Hrm, I don't think that a wolf/poodle cross would fix hip dysplasia or anything. However, it might give you a dog that would bite your leg off and then start humping it ;)
Consider for a minute how far out those old probes are. Each day places them further from Earth than any other manmade objects have ever gone. The data they're still able to transmit about the universe still has value from this point alone.
Newer may be "better" than older in terms of more advanced and more capabilities, but newer can also have a lot higher failure rate than older does (I used to have an old 1980 International Scout that gave me far less vehicular problems than my current car does). We could do something like send a probe out with a new ion drive unit, but look at how many things could break on it (ion drive, newer electronics, newer and more complicated software, etc etc).
Yeah, this is the problem I see with the Trolltech guys. I mean, I love Qt and wish it would get a heck of a lot more market penetration, but until they finally make their prices reasonable it'll never happen. Look at Qt itself as an example. Even though it's extremely well designed, allows cross platform, and would make Windows developers' lives easier by replacing MFC, it's not worth $1,550. I mean, as much as I'm biased towards it, it's a toolkit and a sorta IDE. I think they'd sell a lot more licenses for stuff in the end if they'd look around and make their prices more competitive.
You know, you're correct here. RMS does have the right to say and believe whatever he wants. The problem is that many people in the community seem to forget that EVERYONE, not just RMS, has those same rights. People have the right to agree with RMS, and people also have the right to disagree. Yet, look at the comments to this article as an example. People disagree with RMS and get flamed and everything else. So while it's good to know that people will agree that RMS has his rights to say and think whatever he wants, let's all remember that each and every one of us also holds those same rights ok?
There are a lot of us that work very hard to push the use of Free Software and Open Source Software in our organizations. We preach the reasons for using it, cite examples of how it might be better than a commercial alternative, etc etc. But, the community constantly shoots itself in the foot because of the inconsistencies in it's actions. Sure, one person can say or think what he pleases. But disagree and you're an idiot who gets flamed and attacked and just treated in a rather silly manner. Our managers notice this when they read about things, and it rightfully worries them.
We may all want to celebrate a certain Peruvian poltician, but it's a damned shame that so many don't get the point as to why his response was so successful. And yeah, I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but there's a big portion of the Free Software/Open Source Software communitites that could best benefit the community by simply growing up.
It's _OUR_ faults. We're the ones that keep reelecting these crooks. The general public is apathetic and doesn't care to spend any time researching candidates. Instead, they'll get all the information they need from commercials. Heck, we elected a president that in no way, shape, or form has hidden his ownership by corporate America at any time in the past or present. If we want to change our country for the better, _WE_ have to do something about it instead of sitting back and blaming someone else.
Part of the reason you'd emulate what the majority of people are using is to make it easier for them to transition to your software. You can't expect the majority of home users to want to switch to OSS if they'd have to relearn what might have taken them a long time to learn previously (and no, anyone that's had to try to help home users learn software can attest that this isn't an exaggeration).
:)
Businesses are the same way. They've trained users on the software they need to do their jobs. While the total cost of OSS may be lower, we can't forget that switching to OSS would incur training costs more than likely. By making OSS emulate the competitor, you provide an extra enticement for switching.
Yeah, we might not like how some of the MS stuff looks, but the one good thing about most OSS software is that it's often times easy to customize the interface
Not necessarily. For example, they can't force me to read every single article and ad on every single page in the physical print version prior to the page I'm interested in. So why should they be allowed to do this with the online version? The medium is completely irrelevant. As others have posted, there are technical solutions to this problem they could have employed. Also, if they wish to have this much control, then they should go to a subscription only service online. Oh but wait, you paid for it and STILL had to read through every page and ad first, no one would pay for it....
While this is partially true, you also are forgetting that the DOI is composed of several agencies. Not all of these agencies have as poor security as BIA would found to have. So first off, saying it's DOI as a whole is incorrect. Plus, as I'm sure someone will say that the DOI should have kept a better eye on things, this is only partially true. The way a government department is set up is that the upper level (ie, the top level DOI staff) have different concerns than the individual agencies. The individual agencies are themselves responsible for day to day operations while Fed department level staff are more concerned with strategic planning. Thus, with the BIA as an example, a part isn't exactly the whole.
See, the thing to keep in mind is that we the people are responsible for how screwed up things get in the government. Contrary to popular belief, WE are the ones in charge. No amount of cynicism can deny the fact that bad officials get into office because the voters put them there. These same officials then strangle budgets so that there's no one left to take care of anything. Many of these agencies also don't have the money to upgrade things. Ask your mom about how much things have gotten cut over the years. Then ask yourself, especially if you're of voting age, how things can get this bad. WE the people have to take the responsibility for OUR government sometime you know.
Umm.... could it be because private citizens and companies looking for governmental corporate welfare would start screaming about this magical "Big Government" bit?
See, any government organization is prone to the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" mantra. In the US case, it's because politicians have been laying out lines of bull for so long that people believe it. Yes, using OSS in some cases and keeping some programmers around would probably be cheaper. If you don't believe me, first go look at how much some governmental contracts cost and then look at what services are provided. Yes, in most cases they're bilking the taxpayers. The problem is that Congressmen get their money from big businesses that want these cash cow contracts and the general public is too lazy to figure out that most of these contracts cost far more than it would to just keep some Federal employees around.
Sorry to break the bubbles of a lot of people on here, but there is already a lot of OSS software in use in the government. Just because you might not know about it doesn't mean that there's some huge evil conspiracy to keep OSS out of the government. A lot of OSS usage just isn't that well known because there's absolutely no reason to go around telling everyone you meet about it. In my agency alone there's a huge use of OSS, from the OS level of Linux and the *BSD's to applications like apache and gcc. My own research uses a nice big Beowulf cluster that's running Linux, as is my desktop machine, as are the machines that my students use. We're also using it to build a bunch of multiterrabyte fileservers.
Other agencies are also running Linux. For example, I know NOAA uses it. In fact, if you haven't been paying attention, they're building a huge Beowulf cluster, and it's not going to be running WinXP. And, if you want to look at things like Apache usage, don't just go by what some main agency webserver uses. Many agencies are composed of a bunch of different centers. Also look to see what the centers are running.
Would you like to know more about the usage of OSS in government? For one, ASK! Don't go dreaming up wierd conspiracy theories. Don't ask the heads of the agencies. They don't know and it's not their jobs to know. Ask the IT groups in the agencies. Don't rely on statistics and check things out yourself.
Want to advocate the increased usage of OSS? Don't run around saying people can't "cut it" or that their managers are stupid. Write, don't email, a letter to your congressman. Be nice about it, don't call names. Rationally explain to them how you think it would save money and list to them HOW it would save money. Don't just go "you all suck and you should use it cause it's cheaper." Being rational and level headed will get you much more attention of politicians and agency heads.
Uninformed cynicism aside, most things in government are bought based on some very strict purchasing rules. For example, you have to find the cheapest product that fulfills the formal requirements. In the case of IT, part of that also deals with maintenance issues. And while we might all like to say that you can just post on Usenet and get an answer, that doesn't always work and it's not always an answer for an IT department. Many of these groups are have extremely low budgets, are understaffed, and desperately need the ability to call someone up to do an on-site visit to fix something.
Yeah, I know I'll get modded down for this, but sometimes you get annoyed with all the silliness that's posted on here and you get tired of it.
:) Also, while it might be "cool" for everyone to jump on the bandwagon and say that government workers are a bunch of idiots that couldn't "cut it" in the private sector, all you're really doing is displaying ego and a extreme lack of knowledge.
:) Believe it or not, the private sector also has its fair share of "dumb" IT people. While this may shock the belief systems of some Slashdot readers to the very core, it's true. If you don't believe this, you haven't paid any attention to the world. ANY job, be it govt or private, has its fair share of "idiots". While it's good that a lot of people who read Slashdot like to think otherwise, reality does have to set in eventually.
While you may choose to base your personal worth on how much money you make, not everyone in the world feels the same way. For example, people who choose to become researchers and scientists don't go into those fields to become the next mega millionaires. Different people are motivated by different things. For some, it's job satisfaction and having a good stable working environment. For others, it's simply the never-ending quest for money. You should be thankful that not everyone is motivated by money, otherwise a lot of cool inventions and toys would either not exist today or would have taken a lot longer to come into being. Some of you may say that "not being motivated by money" is a cop out, and that's fine. It's your own fault you have such a narrow view of the world.
As far as dumb IT people, it helps to know what you're talking about
Yeap, I build mplayer all the time with 2.96 and haven't had any problems with it. Build it on both RedHat and Mandrake boxes. I also use it all the time to play things under Linux, including playing (S)VCD's and DVD's. Then again, I build from cvs and not the releases so that might explain things also. And yeah, I read it and ignore it cause they're full of it. Sorry, but I haven't had problems with 2.96 that you're experiencing.
Oh please, enough with the fear mongering about 2.96. Yeah, it caused problems in the beginning, but there have been updates you know. Everything I do is in C++, and I've not had a single issue with 2.96. We do things from simple file conversions programs to large distributed processing systems, and we have ZERO difficulties. And yes, this includes anything from the STL to simple inheritance. We also build the kernel on the cluster each time it comes out with 2.96 and have ZERO problems there.
:)
One of the biggest problems you'll find with 2.96/3.0+ is that a lot of crap C++ code won't build anymore. There was also code that quit building between 2.72 and when the egcs group decided to make a more standards compliant compiler. But, surely it's not due to crap code or anything. If people want things to build right, read the standards and UNDERSTAND them. If you don't really know what you're doing when you write code, then don't complain when a compiler tells you that you're wrong. And yes, people can point to Bugzilla reports that show there are problems, but I can also point to how those problems have been fixed and point to a ton of Usenet/Bugzilla reports that were due to user error and not the compiler. Facts are great things, especially when checked
Seriously, what have you done? Have you sent the KDE team any ideas? Have you drawn up any ideas of what you think a superior UI is? Given them a detailed description of what you want and why you think it's better than what they're doing now? No, I doubt you have. But, being a board for geeks, it's all about bitching and not about doing.
;)
The KDE team has always seemed open minded for new ideas, and they're always saying that anyone can contribute. For everyone out there that doesn't like the UI, GET INVOLVED! Shees, people lavish the open source/free software culture and then turn around and show they have no idea what it's about. You don't have to be a programmer to contribute to projects. I mean, if all the supposed UI and human factors experts who post on Slashdot got together, we'd have the most perfect interface possible by next May
To the KDE team members who read Slashdot, I have an idea. Each time a story gets posted about KDE, and people complain about the UI, why don't you start tracking how many people actually submit ideas to you. I'm sure it would be some interesting statistics.
Look guy, I'm going to go with Bero here. I've been running Red Hat for a very long time, and I've never had problems finding mirrors sites. I've also never had them a few months ago. If the sites didn't have it at that time, that's their problem, not RedHat's.
And most people should also check to see why things are broken. It's not always the faults of ineffectual federal managers. A lot of the problem is directly related to the people you voted into office. Congress gives wierd dictates, and changes their minds on a whim depending on who gave them the most money at the time.
As far as being wasteful, your Congressmen also do NOT reward fiscal responsibility, they penalize it. If an agency finds that it can actually operate under budget for one year, it's funding is cut the next year. This is why agencies use up all of their money, and overspend, because dimwits penalize them for saving money. The best that can be done is to use leftover money from one fiscal year to prepay contracts for the next fiscal year.
What the American people need to do is to quit having their information spoonfed and get off their lazy duffs and read for themselves. Congressmen always complain about big government, and then turn around reward the companies that grease them up the most by giving them contracts that end up costing taxpayers _MORE_ than what federal workers could do the work for. But see, no one complains about this, they believe everything they're fed like a bunch of Lemmings. Ask the military about years of contract renegotiations and the like. I have two friends who used to work as contract officers there and quit because the system was so ridiculous.
Sorry, this isn't a flame. Just my biggest peeve of people going around without checking facts for themselves.
Dunno, I got the RPMS from the kde ftp site and haven't had any problems with them. Everything is nice and snappy, and haven't had any problems so far with it. Then again, I also have 384 meg of RAM so that probably helps ;)
Ok, so they play it safe, and they're criticized. They do something risky, same thing happens. Public apathy has been around a lot longer than recently (look back at the last few moon landings). Our culture doesn't support learning and exploration. It supports stabbing everyone you know in the back to become the next Gates.
;)
And no, you'd be surprised about how forward thinking some of these people are. They can't jump on television these days and start pounding their fists about what they really think should be done. They can be far too easily fired, and the public doesn't react too well any more to radicals who voice their beliefs.
Budget cuts on a federal agency mean a lot more than you think. A lot of agencies now don't even have enough money to keep the lights on (reality check time boys and girls. All federal employees don't live in million dollar houses and drive sports cars worth over 100 thousand. Politicians play on that stereotype to get elected because most people are too lazy to actually get the facts). Of course NASA is going to play it safe. If some mission fails, everyone calls their congressmen and complain about their tax dollars being misspent. We're a nation of complainers, we don't call when things go well and voice how we support it. Result, Congress cuts their funding.
I think the public is a lot more to blame then they realize (they also have a lot more power than they realize). If we want back into space, _WE_ have to call, _WE_ have to organize, and play the game their way. Moaning and complaining on the web isn't going to do a damned thing. Pick up the phone, write a letter, get your friends together and do something.
(This rant brought to you by someone who didn't get much sleep last night
I've never used it myself, but I know some of the hotels I've stayed at offer some kind of Net access via Ethernet jacks in the rooms. A friend who tried it once said you call the front desk and they'll give you the info you need for it or something along those lines. Might be an option. I mainly saw it in hotels on the East coast, but that's also the only place where I usually travel :)
Neither. I'm in the middle of the USA and have had it for about 6 months or so now. The only real problems I've had is general Windows 98 goofiness. My wife uses 98 so the dish is plugged into hers and I get online via Winroute. Sometimes when 98 crashes, I have to rerun the autosetup since some of the settings get lost in the process. Yes, I may be in the minority, but there are at least a few people who are happy with the service :)
Um, I don't know when you had this, or how it was set up, but I've gotta seriously disagree with you here. I've never been FAP'd. I've sat and downloaded many game demo's (around 50 or so meg a piece) and have downloaded the RedHat updates directory via ftp several times. Every time I sustain around 50 to 55K a second for the duration of the download.
And before people start spouting off about cable and dsl, you might want to consider the fact that not everyone lives in an area where these things are available. Some of us still live in towns where a modem is still the only game in town.