I am sorry to hear of the death of your software. I was working on big commercial software until my company got liquidated and I felt sad because the package itself was very good- it was just marketed sub-optimally and had features and fixes applied to it too fast and for the wrong reasons. I always hate to see good software treated badly and it sounds as if that happened to yours.
What you said made me re-think my attitude a bit. I didn't realize I could be seen as some vainglorious, self-promoting person. I take up crack challenges because I like puzzles- I like computers, and I love assembly language. I assure you it is more the hackish (old sense) spirit in me, and not the desire to appear superior to the person who coded the protection- especially since I probably have more time than them to work anyway.
If this movie had actually used all the FF elements I wouldn't have cared about the plot. I would pay the ticket price again and again to see the following things on da big screen:
1) Bahamut SWOOP
2) Chocobos run to the chocobo theme song
(and best of all)
3) Someone summon Shiva!
It was Square's unscrupulous use of the FF name, betraying their loyal fans that hurt me, more than the stale subject matter, awful plot, unnoticeable music etc.
Firstly I would like to point out that Mr. Graham was probably not lying when he made this statement- he was mistaken; there is a difference.
Secondly, the book with the "lie" you mention is "ANSI COMMON LISP"- a different book to the one being discussed here. ('On Lisp' came first).
Thirdly- "Ansi Common Lisp" is my favourite computer book ever and in my opinion is very good for learing lisp.
Fourthly- given the abusive nature of your "friend" I feel it is only fair to nitpick and point out that the supplied C file won't compile- that is unless/. did something weird with the name of the include file in angle brackets.
I am the most honest person I know with regard to software. Years ago when I was unemployed and on state benefits I had pirate copies of everything from Paintshop Pro to Winzip.
Then I got a decent job. I bought Paintshop Pro on electronic download, I registered Winrar, I bought Windows ME (haha, hmm) and I bought hundreds of games.
When I wanted final fantasy anthology for the playstation I couldn't buy it (in the uk), so I copied the disks off my brother. When it became apparent that squaresoft weren't going to release it in the uk I bought an import copy.
Now, I think I am just honest- a bunch of people probably think I am stupid. The weird thing is that now I am unemployed again with even less money than before, with debt collectors chasing my ass, andh yet I can no longer bring myself to pirate software, even knowing that I will buy it when I get another job...
Maybe it's because I always "justified" (!) my honesty with the excuse that cracks and warez could contain trojans or viruses, also they might be beta copies or crash on the last level of the game etc.
On the other side of the spectrum we have the sort of scum who download iso images of playstation games, burn them to cdr, download cover images to print out and then ask around for protection schemes (!) so that when they sell their playstation warez for 10 quid no-one can copy them! That sort of behaviour actually makes me feel physically ill. (Maybe it's my blood boiling).
What's the app with the uncrackable protection and where can I download it? If it takes me more than a week to crack it, I'll buy a copy!
graspee
(I don't crack software then spread the crack or the knowledge of how to crack. I don't use cracked software- I am a firm believer in legal software. I just enjoy the challenge of cracking).
You know, I would be a lot more impressed with Jawa bytecode. The label "utinni" would stand for any register- let the computer worry about it. If it was English it would be like saying "move 0x203 over there".
"1. If other OSes released kernels in a timely fashion that Linux does, they would also get equal coverage. "
If Microsoft released kernels at the same rate Linux did then your copy of Windows would be obsolete before it had finished installing.
If the BSDs and other operating systems all released kernels as often as linux there would be no bandwidth left on the internet.
And to think that if Linus had a patch penguin they could probably release kernels twice as often! Ftp servers would have to start using a filesystem that allowed for nanoseconds in date-stamps!
Ok, having started something of a mini flame-fest with my original comment, claiming that irix is crap I am responding to some of the criticisms:
Firstly, for the record I do own and play with sgi machines; I have an Indigo solid impact and an old Indy, both running irix 6.x (6.5 and 6.2 to be exact).
In answer to the question of why they are porting selected bits of irix to linux if it is so crap, see the article at: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19990810S0019
...where there are the following two quotes:
"The emergence of Linux as an industry standard, and the fact that Linux is better than any proprietary version of Unix, led SGI to reassess its position in the Windows NT market, Vrolyk said."
"SGI formed a relationship with Veritas Software Corp. to extend and enhance the file system and other systems software on Irix and Linux, for example. SGI will make the merged technology available via Open Source in preparation for the day when all SGI products will be migrated to Intel CPUs and Linux. "
(side note: "extend and enhance" the file system- sounds familiar doesn't it?)
So you see, this backs up my original claim that sgi were planning to convert to linux from irix (and this article is at least 6 months old). Presumably the reason they are porting low-level components like the fs and memory-management stuff is just to make the transition easier- akin to taking just your favourite possessions with you when you move house, leaving the crap behind.
Anyway, if you really want to know why I think irix is crap:
1) Security: Considering the percentage of market-share, irix has been plagued by a large number of exploits. Look at http://www.dsinet.org/tools/exploits/irix-exploits /
for a goodly selection arranged by version. Note that some of these were really embarassingly simple to exploit- e.g. using just the gui you could get a root shell.
(It was actually lucky for me that these exploits exist because the Indy I bought came with a root password no-one knew, so I had to script-kiddie my way into it).
2) Userland gui apps are the usual ugly, bland, non-functional stuff we are used to from other commercial unices- e.g. solaris and friends. Ok, so they're ugly to remind you that you are there to do work, not have fun, but if you are not a complete CLI fanboy (heheh sure to offend...) then you feel limited by for example the file-manager. Also the userland cli apps are some crappy reduced subset of what you actually need to get real work done, so you have to get the gnu stuff.
Note that I am not dissing the kernel here- it's probably great- I wouldn't know since I can't read the source, but as someone pointed out in some other/. posting recently (in relation to linus and how much of linuk was written by him), the kernel is not the os- it's just part of it.
I thought I read somewhere that they had dumped that piece of crap IRIX and all their new machines would run Linux? I know that they haven't even got X working on the Indigo yet but I assumed they would be using different new excitng processors or something. It's certainly a different world with professional unix workstations- the processors evolve much more slowly than the pc market.
I just heard the sad news on CBC radio. GNU fanatic Richard Stallman was found alive in his home this morning. Even if you never used his apps, you can appreciate what he did for GNU(/LINUX). Truly a low-res icon. He won't be missed;)
graspee
Re:Linux needs a "centralized clearinghouse"
on
Linus Does Not Scale
·
· Score: 1
"Word doesn't launch. It requires money to launch. It requires that you buy the whole banana to get Word. "
Well hmm, sorta. You do have to be running Windows, but there is a free Word document viewer from Microsoft that will display Word Documents. And no, I don't know why they didn't make it part of the operating system- probably something about monopolies or something.
I want my whole table-top to be an ultra-hi-res flat screen and have a built in camera facing up. Then I can have real fun using my hand to drag around virtual bits of paper, bring up flat keyboards to type on (yeah ok the lack of tactile feedback would suck).
Actually, if you did this you might want the desk surface to be at 45 degrees or something so you could see it better... Maybe have a real keyboard but no mouse.
You could basically almost do this now by building a desk with a 45 degree angle with a small keyboard shelf on the front of it, then getting an awesomely huge lcd flat panel and putting on the desk. Of course it would have to be a touch screen too.
Haha probably then people would start getting real-life nasty letters from the bank manager in the mail and wondering why they didn't disappear when they stabbed their finger into the top-righthand corner of them.
an online rpg with the biz. model you suggest- download the client (or get it on a covermount), pay to play. You even play free until you reach level 6 or something.
graspee
Re:Oh YES I can claim FP...
on
Lindows Reviewed
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
They just removed my first post on the original article!
FYI it said: (Topic "First")
"I claim this first post in the name of the great Slashdot. Hiya beotches!"
"Note how Allegro and Quake [two prominent program items] started in DJGPP not in Watcom."
You can discount Allegro (fine library, btw) because it was open source; It only made sense to target an open source compiler- other Mr. Hargreaves would have been severely limiting the number of people who could use Allegro.
Off off topic- but I have a feeling that early versions of Allegro could be compiled with Watcom anyway- obviously the syntax of the asm bits would have to have been converted...
And I'm not sure that the reason Watcom was more popular then (note I'm in no way saying it is *now*- we're talking years ago here) was because it was more stable- if anything it was more suspicious because there were always bugs being discovered in code compiled with max opts turned on!
No, the real reason was that Watcom produced faster code. My primitive, (and extremely crappy by today's standards) 3d engine always ran about 10fps faster when compiled with Watcom. I remember using the textures out of quake in my demo scene, so we're talking quite late on in the DOS scene here too...
The two alternative dpmi extendors you mention for djgpp were fairly late arrivals on the scene too, and never really got to the same level of performance as dos4gw until very late.
Sorry if you think I'm being petty replying to your reply- I'm not- it's just that I enjoy discussing these good old days- Watcom was simply the God of compilers at that time- a true classic. Sure, they went all crappy when they got taken over, and they never really got the hang of the Windows compiler market, but man, in DOS they were so damn hot!
graspee, remembering with bliss what great days they were...
Slashdot Mirror
I am sorry to hear of the death of your software. I was working on big commercial software until my company got liquidated and I felt sad because the package itself was very good- it was just marketed sub-optimally and had features and fixes applied to it too fast and for the wrong reasons. I always hate to see good software treated badly and it sounds as if that happened to yours.
What you said made me re-think my attitude a bit. I didn't realize I could be seen as some vainglorious, self-promoting person. I take up crack challenges because I like puzzles- I like computers, and I love assembly language. I assure you it is more the hackish (old sense) spirit in me, and not the desire to appear superior to the person who coded the protection- especially since I probably have more time than them to work anyway.
graspee
If this movie had actually used all the FF elements I wouldn't have cared about the plot. I would pay the ticket price again and again to see the following things on da big screen:
1) Bahamut SWOOP
2) Chocobos run to the chocobo theme song
(and best of all)
3) Someone summon Shiva!
It was Square's unscrupulous use of the FF name, betraying their loyal fans that hurt me, more than the stale subject matter, awful plot, unnoticeable music etc.
graspee
Firstly I would like to point out that Mr. Graham was probably not lying when he made this statement- he was mistaken; there is a difference.
/. did something weird with the name of the include file in angle brackets.
Secondly, the book with the "lie" you mention is "ANSI COMMON LISP"- a different book to the one being discussed here. ('On Lisp' came first).
Thirdly- "Ansi Common Lisp" is my favourite computer book ever and in my opinion is very good for learing lisp.
Fourthly- given the abusive nature of your "friend" I feel it is only fair to nitpick and point out that the supplied C file won't compile- that is unless
graspee
According to the article, Richard Purcell said that Bill Gates ?is really annoyed by the incredible pain we put everyone through in computing.?
I mean is this a golden quote or what? It can't be real, can it?
I stared, mesmerized at the page for ages, thinking I was reading it wrong- but no!
Time to update the fortune file methinks!
graspee
I am the most honest person I know with regard to software. Years ago when I was unemployed and on state benefits I had pirate copies of everything from Paintshop Pro to Winzip.
Then I got a decent job. I bought Paintshop Pro on electronic download, I registered Winrar, I bought Windows ME (haha, hmm) and I bought hundreds of games.
When I wanted final fantasy anthology for the playstation I couldn't buy it (in the uk), so I copied the disks off my brother. When it became apparent that squaresoft weren't going to release it in the uk I bought an import copy.
Now, I think I am just honest- a bunch of people probably think I am stupid. The weird thing is that now I am unemployed again with even less money than before, with debt collectors chasing my ass, andh yet I can no longer bring myself to pirate software, even knowing that I will buy it when I get another job...
Maybe it's because I always "justified" (!) my honesty with the excuse that cracks and warez could contain trojans or viruses, also they might be beta copies or crash on the last level of the game etc.
On the other side of the spectrum we have the sort of scum who download iso images of playstation games, burn them to cdr, download cover images to print out and then ask around for protection schemes (!) so that when they sell their playstation warez for 10 quid no-one can copy them! That sort of behaviour actually makes me feel physically ill. (Maybe it's my blood boiling).
graspee
What's the app with the uncrackable protection and where can I download it? If it takes me more than a week to crack it, I'll buy a copy!
graspee
(I don't crack software then spread the crack or the knowledge of how to crack. I don't use cracked software- I am a firm believer in legal software. I just enjoy the challenge of cracking).
Smokers in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccceee!
(Space shuttle black box recording starts:)
'Naut 1: Hey! You can't smoke in here!
Me: Uh, Ok. I'll go outside.
'Naut 1: Ok........................hey!
(Sound of airlock opening. Whooshing sound)
(There is nothing except silence on the rest of the tape. The crew were never found.)
graspee
You know, I would be a lot more impressed with Jawa bytecode. The label "utinni" would stand for any register- let the computer worry about it. If it was English it would be like saying "move 0x203 over there".
graspee
"Translation: I don't have the facts to back up my statement, but I am the type of tedious prick who will post a defensive response anyway."
As opposed to someone who not only posts their own defensive response but has to resort to name-calling and still not have the courage to log in?
You know nothing about me- I know even less about you. Whohohoh- it's the internet all right.
graspee
"1. If other OSes released kernels in a timely fashion that Linux does, they would also get equal coverage. "
If Microsoft released kernels at the same rate Linux did then your copy of Windows would be obsolete before it had finished installing.
If the BSDs and other operating systems all released kernels as often as linux there would be no bandwidth left on the internet.
And to think that if Linus had a patch penguin they could probably release kernels twice as often! Ftp servers would have to start using a filesystem that allowed for nanoseconds in date-stamps!
graspee
If you don't have the courage to log in then you don't have the right to question me.
graspee
Video tapes you can't rewind, for rental purposes? It's been done. It died. Nothing to see here.
graspee
Doesn't the middle east go by the european scheme- e.g. 11-09 rather than 9-11 ? Also, their emergency number is likely not 911.
This theory depends on the terrorists having a sense of irony and a familiarity with American Culture.
graspee
That's "Berkley Beard of Directors"
graspee
"Finally, I'll have a good controller to play Final Fantasy VI!"
Just buy Final Fantasy Anthology for the ps1 and run it on the ps2. That's what I did.
graspee
Ok, having started something of a mini flame-fest with my original comment, claiming that irix is crap I am responding to some of the criticisms:
s /
/. posting recently (in relation to linus and how much of linuk was written by him), the kernel is not the os- it's just part of it.
Firstly, for the record I do own and play with sgi machines; I have an Indigo solid impact and an old Indy, both running irix 6.x (6.5 and 6.2 to be exact).
In answer to the question of why they are porting selected bits of irix to linux if it is so crap, see the article at: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19990810S0019
...where there are the following two quotes:
"The emergence of Linux as an industry standard, and the fact that Linux is better than any proprietary version of Unix, led SGI to reassess its position in the Windows NT market, Vrolyk said."
"SGI formed a relationship with Veritas Software Corp. to extend and enhance the file system and other systems software on Irix and Linux, for example. SGI will make the merged technology available via Open Source in preparation for the day when all SGI products will be migrated to Intel CPUs and Linux. "
(side note: "extend and enhance" the file system- sounds familiar doesn't it?)
So you see, this backs up my original claim that sgi were planning to convert to linux from irix (and this article is at least 6 months old). Presumably the reason they are porting low-level components like the fs and memory-management stuff is just to make the transition easier- akin to taking just your favourite possessions with you when you move house, leaving the crap behind.
Anyway, if you really want to know why I think irix is crap:
1) Security: Considering the percentage of market-share, irix has been plagued by a large number of exploits. Look at http://www.dsinet.org/tools/exploits/irix-exploit
for a goodly selection arranged by version. Note that some of these were really embarassingly simple to exploit- e.g. using just the gui you could get a root shell.
(It was actually lucky for me that these exploits exist because the Indy I bought came with a root password no-one knew, so I had to script-kiddie my way into it).
2) Userland gui apps are the usual ugly, bland, non-functional stuff we are used to from other commercial unices- e.g. solaris and friends. Ok, so they're ugly to remind you that you are there to do work, not have fun, but if you are not a complete CLI fanboy (heheh sure to offend...) then you feel limited by for example the file-manager. Also the userland cli apps are some crappy reduced subset of what you actually need to get real work done, so you have to get the gnu stuff.
Note that I am not dissing the kernel here- it's probably great- I wouldn't know since I can't read the source, but as someone pointed out in some other
graspee
I thought I read somewhere that they had dumped that piece of crap IRIX and all their new machines would run Linux? I know that they haven't even got X working on the Indigo yet but I assumed they would be using different new excitng processors or something. It's certainly a different world with professional unix workstations- the processors evolve much more slowly than the pc market.
graspee
I just heard the sad news on CBC radio. GNU fanatic Richard Stallman was found alive in his home this morning. Even if you never used his apps, you can appreciate what he did for GNU(/LINUX). Truly a low-res icon. He won't be missed ;)
graspee
"A camel is a horse designed by a committee"
- except when that camel is a perl.
graspee
"I heard that a guy lost his man thing and then had it replaced with one of his fingers"
Cool! Imagine giving people directions- go THAT way!
Giving people the finger would take on a whole new meaning.
You could scratch your scrotum without anyone noticing!
graspee
"Word doesn't launch. It requires money to launch. It requires that you buy the whole banana to get Word. "
Well hmm, sorta. You do have to be running Windows, but there is a free Word document viewer from Microsoft that will display Word Documents. And no, I don't know why they didn't make it part of the operating system- probably something about monopolies or something.
graspee
I want my whole table-top to be an ultra-hi-res flat screen and have a built in camera facing up. Then I can have real fun using my hand to drag around virtual bits of paper, bring up flat keyboards to type on (yeah ok the lack of tactile feedback would suck).
Actually, if you did this you might want the desk surface to be at 45 degrees or something so you could see it better... Maybe have a real keyboard but no mouse.
You could basically almost do this now by building a desk with a 45 degree angle with a small keyboard shelf on the front of it, then getting an awesomely huge lcd flat panel and putting on the desk. Of course it would have to be a touch screen too.
Haha probably then people would start getting real-life nasty letters from the bank manager in the mail and wondering why they didn't disappear when they stabbed their finger into the top-righthand corner of them.
graspee
www.legendofmir.net
an online rpg with the biz. model you suggest- download the client (or get it on a covermount), pay to play. You even play free until you reach level 6 or something.
graspee
They just removed my first post on the original article!
FYI it said: (Topic "First")
"I claim this first post in the name of the great Slashdot. Hiya beotches!"
Fancy removing it! Bastards.
"Note how Allegro and Quake [two prominent program items] started in DJGPP not in Watcom."
You can discount Allegro (fine library, btw) because it was open source; It only made sense to target an open source compiler- other Mr. Hargreaves would have been severely limiting the number of people who could use Allegro.
Off off topic- but I have a feeling that early versions of Allegro could be compiled with Watcom anyway- obviously the syntax of the asm bits would have to have been converted...
And I'm not sure that the reason Watcom was more popular then (note I'm in no way saying it is *now*- we're talking years ago here) was because it was more stable- if anything it was more suspicious because there were always bugs being discovered in code compiled with max opts turned on!
No, the real reason was that Watcom produced faster code. My primitive, (and extremely crappy by today's standards) 3d engine always ran about 10fps faster when compiled with Watcom. I remember using the textures out of quake in my demo scene, so we're talking quite late on in the DOS scene here too...
The two alternative dpmi extendors you mention for djgpp were fairly late arrivals on the scene too, and never really got to the same level of performance as dos4gw until very late.
Sorry if you think I'm being petty replying to your reply- I'm not- it's just that I enjoy discussing these good old days- Watcom was simply the God of compilers at that time- a true classic. Sure, they went all crappy when they got taken over, and they never really got the hang of the Windows compiler market, but man, in DOS they were so damn hot!
graspee, remembering with bliss what great days they were...