It's not just the artwork but the titles as well. I'm nervous about making negative comments since I wonder if my ebook covers are any better; they couldn't be worse... or are they?... http://www.k1e.org/press
When I hear the term flying car I picture something like the PAL-V (http://pal-v.com/), which had its maiden flight last year. rather than a dune buggy with a powered parachute (as per the description in the article).
For those too lazy to click to see the official response, (which is pretty damning):
INTEL RESIGNS FROM OLPC
We at OLPC have been disappointed that Intel did not deliver on any of the promises they made when they joined OLPC; while we were hopeful for a positive, collaborative relationship, it never materialized.
Intel came in late to the OLPC association: they joined an already strong and thriving OLPC Board of Directors made up of premier technology partners; these partners have been crucial in helping us fulfill our mission of getting laptops into the hands of children in the developing world. We have always embraced and welcomed other low-cost laptop providers to join us in this mission. But since joining the OLPC Board of Directors in July, Intel has violated its written agreement with OLPC on numerous occasions. Intel continued to disparage the XO laptop in nations that had already decided to partner with OLPC (Uruguay and Peru), with countries that were in the midst of choosing a laptop solution (Brazil and Nigeria), and other countries contemplating a laptop program (Mongolia).
Intel was unwilling to work cooperatively with OLPC on software development. Over the entire six months it was a member of the association, Intel contributed nothing of value to OLPC: Intel never contributed in any way to our engineering efforts and failed to provide even a single line of code to the XO software efforts - even though Intel marketed its products as being able to run the XO software. The best Intel could offer in regards to an "Intel inside" XO laptop was one that would be more expensive and consume more power - exactly the opposite direction of OLPC's stated mandate and vision.
Despite OLPC's best efforts to work things out with Intel and several warnings that their behavior was untenable, it is clear that Intel's heart has never been in working collaboratively as a part of OLPC. This is well illustrated by the way in which our separation was announced singlehandedly by Intel; Intel issued a statement to the press behind our backs while simultaneously asking us to work on a joint statement with them. Actions do speak louder than words in this case. As we said in the past, we view the children as a mission; Intel views them as a market.
The benefit to the departure of Intel from the OLPC board is a renewed clarity in purpose and the marketplace; we will continue to focus on our mission of providing every child with an opportunity for learning.
Or are they saying that there can only be evil if there is a god? This is a pretty weak argument, which has been often clearly dispelled by the Rational Response Squad (RRS), which can be seen at... doh!
Seriously though, it would be nice to see common sense prevail a little more often.
It may be that if adverts are not being viewed by those browsing the site, that the person or company running the site may decide that it is not worth putting adverts up on the site.
If more people view adverts rather than block them, isn't that going to encourage more sites to fill their pages with adverts?
As an aside, I would wager that the majority of sites online are not dependent on this type of advertising revenue.
There is still no written Chinese character recognition for GNU/linux on the desktop, specifically so that a pen and tablet or mouse can be used to write characters
Motorola have already done it on their Ming A1200 phone which runs linux, I wish i had it for my desktop!
I am pretty happy with my GNU/linux boxes. They are stable, have good hardware support, provide a good user interface and have a great set of tools. From this baseline further progress is being made in these areas (big thanks to all you developers).
The one application missing from my box is having a great video editor (such as Apple's Final Cut, Premiere or even the new iMovie) that supports HD video, (preferably licensed under the GPL). The nearest that I have seen was MainActor which was proprietary, but is not longer sold. Even that does not support HD.
While I applaud efforts such as Kino, cinelerra and gopchop they lag significantly behind I am able to live with MainActor for the moment but I dream of a better video editor for GNU/linux.
Here's some personal anecdotal evidence suggesting a different reason...
My experience in Hong Kong is that most people haven't even heard of linux, although many are willing to try it once I tell them about it and give them a CD.
Similarly uptake of Firefox in HK is fairly low for the same reason that people are unaware.
I agree that writing characters by hand is less efficient than using the keyboard, however it does mean that people can do it straight away without additional training. I think that some of the input methods, such as the 9 key one which is supposed to be pretty efficient may be patented as well, which doesn't help matters.
> The source includes two stroke definition data files. strokes.txt has the original > hand-input definitions for about 4,000+ characters. > The second, strokes-extended.txt has the original plus almost 10,000 more that > Erik Peterson of www.mandarintools.com generated programatically. > Older machines might want to stick to the smaller file as it limits the computation > required to find a match and takes less memory.
and it is licensed under GPL!
I think that a really good recognition algorithm is probably pretty hard, but I'm no expert. It certainly can be done as shown in the proprietary world.
As to linux adoption in Hong Kong, on the one hand things are pretty bleak in that most people are using windows. However, I have managed to convert some people either to Ubuntu or to using things like Firefox and OpenOffice. I think that the problem is not really reluctance to try something else, but being unaware of alternatives. There seems to be little grass roots movement or publicity about the alternatives, I am guessing HK probably has one of the lowest Firefox adoption rates in the world. That's why I think a polished free handwriting character recognition under linux would help matters.
Well you may think I'm nuts, but it seems that my experience contradicts several of your points.
I live in Hong Kong and see lots of people using tablets for entering Chinese (as well as lots of people using keyboards for entering Chinese).
Also although there may be variations in stroke entry, the better recognition systems cope very well. For example I use the Motorola A732 phone, which has excellent handwriting recognition even for those who have very cursive writing, (several of my friends have very cursive writing have used it without problems).
In addition, the people that I see in shops using the keyboard input everyday do not write stroke by stroke like a first grade student (and neither do I).
Your statement that everyone is able to use keyboard entry for Chinese is innaccurate for the current Hong Kong population. I have no figures but from the sample of people that I know I would think that it is probably more that can't than can.
I can't comment on the Nokia phones that you refer to since i have not tried them, but if you're suggesting that the performance is poor i have no reason to disbelieve you.
> As a Mandarin-speaker who uses Linux exclusively, I can say that the only real bar to a totally free > Chinese operating system that would satisfy 99% of mainland corporate users is the lack of Free high > quality, hinted Chinese truetype fonts
Yes, but I am a Cantonese speaker, talking about Desktop adoption for the home and business user in Hong Kong and not restricted to corporate use in the mainland only. Just because the need doesn't fit in to your segment, does not justify denying it exists or propogating other lies to suit your side of the argument.
btw for your future reference insulting someone is often not the best way to try to convince them of your point of view:)
Slashdot Mirror
It's not just the artwork but the titles as well.
I'm nervous about making negative comments since I wonder if my ebook covers are any better;
they couldn't be worse... or are they?... http://www.k1e.org/press
When I hear the term flying car I picture something like the PAL-V (http://pal-v.com/), which had its maiden flight last year.
rather than a dune buggy with a powered parachute (as per the description in the article).
http://www.gpl-violations.org/
might be a good place to start.
you mean the toad croaked!
will it be a game of dodge the flying chair?
don't flame me please, it was just a thought!
INTEL RESIGNS FROM OLPC
We at OLPC have been disappointed that Intel did not deliver on any of the promises they made when they joined OLPC; while we were hopeful for a positive, collaborative relationship, it never materialized.
Intel came in late to the OLPC association: they joined an already strong and thriving OLPC Board of Directors made up of premier technology partners; these partners have been crucial in helping us fulfill our mission of getting laptops into the hands of children in the developing world. We have always embraced and welcomed other low-cost laptop providers to join us in this mission. But since joining the OLPC Board of Directors in July, Intel has violated its written agreement with OLPC on numerous occasions. Intel continued to disparage the XO laptop in nations that had already decided to partner with OLPC (Uruguay and Peru), with countries that were in the midst of choosing a laptop solution (Brazil and Nigeria), and other countries contemplating a laptop program (Mongolia).
Intel was unwilling to work cooperatively with OLPC on software development. Over the entire six months it was a member of the association, Intel contributed nothing of value to OLPC: Intel never contributed in any way to our engineering efforts and failed to provide even a single line of code to the XO software efforts - even though Intel marketed its products as being able to run the XO software. The best Intel could offer in regards to an "Intel inside" XO laptop was one that would be more expensive and consume more power - exactly the opposite direction of OLPC's stated mandate and vision.
Despite OLPC's best efforts to work things out with Intel and several warnings that their behavior was untenable, it is clear that Intel's heart has never been in working collaboratively as a part of OLPC. This is well illustrated by the way in which our separation was announced singlehandedly by Intel; Intel issued a statement to the press behind our backs while simultaneously asking us to work on a joint statement with them. Actions do speak louder than words in this case. As we said in the past, we view the children as a mission; Intel views them as a market.
The benefit to the departure of Intel from the OLPC board is a renewed clarity in purpose and the marketplace; we will continue to focus on our mission of providing every child with an opportunity for learning.
it looks like you're trying to light a firework,
do you want help with that?
The question is which will be first -
dell actually promoting linux on their front page or duke nukem forever going gold...
Seriously they must have sold a lot of the linux line to be doing this.
I bet all the chairs in Redmond are very afraid at the moment.
is this what you are looking for?
freebeer.org
is that you Chuck?
consistently annoying?
moderate this comment as a flamebait if you must,
moderate it as funny if you have a sense of humor!
What happened to the Google "do no evil" policy?
Or are they saying that there can only be evil if there is a god?
This is a pretty weak argument, which has been often clearly dispelled by the Rational Response Squad (RRS), which can be seen at... doh!
Seriously though, it would be nice to see common sense prevail a little more often.
Here is an alternative line of reasoning...
It may be that if adverts are not being viewed by those browsing the site,
that the person or company running the site may decide that it is not worth
putting adverts up on the site.
If more people view adverts rather than block them, isn't that going to
encourage more sites to fill their pages with adverts?
As an aside, I would wager that the majority of sites online are not dependent
on this type of advertising revenue.
As it's a Christmas list anyway, I would also add written Chinese character recognition
d =16186751
I posted about it before
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=197503&ci
There is still no written Chinese character recognition for GNU/linux on the desktop,
specifically so that a pen and tablet or mouse can be used to write characters
Motorola have already done it on their Ming A1200 phone which runs linux,
I wish i had it for my desktop!
I am pretty happy with my GNU/linux boxes.
They are stable, have good hardware support, provide a good user interface and have
a great set of tools.
From this baseline further progress is being made in these areas (big thanks to all you developers).
The one application missing from my box is having a great video editor
(such as Apple's Final Cut, Premiere or even the new iMovie) that supports HD video,
(preferably licensed under the GPL).
The nearest that I have seen was MainActor which was proprietary, but is not longer sold.
Even that does not support HD.
While I applaud efforts such as Kino, cinelerra and gopchop they lag significantly behind
I am able to live with MainActor for the moment but I dream of a better video editor for GNU/linux.
MainActor, a decent(ish) video editor for linux. :(
It was withdrawn from market just around the time I started using it
Here's some personal anecdotal evidence suggesting a different reason...
My experience in Hong Kong is that most people haven't even heard of linux,
although many are willing to try it once I tell them about it and give them a CD.
Similarly uptake of Firefox in HK is fairly low for the same reason
that people are unaware.
For a small - medium size project here is one idea:
The equivalent of DTXMania (a simulators to play Drummania) for Linux.
http://www.gdamania.net/
I don't think that there is any linux equivalent and I've been unable to get
dtxmania or the other simulators to work with wine on debian etch.
It's not just about encrypting messages,
another use for this is for signing your messages
so that the receiver can be more certain that it was sent by you.
if you are using a local email client:
creating your keys and publishing them is as easy on linux as
$ gpg --gen-key
$ gpg --send-key XXXXXXXX
and don't forget a revocation key
$ gpg --output revoke.asc --gen-revoke XXXXXXXX
well they may not be providing details for purchasing but they have certainly
identified the target market...
from the article,
> The best part is when you have lost your cool with the blue screen of death,
> just hit the button with your fist to reboot.
actually i was thinking that this should be a slashdot poll
In the case of Jack Thompson versus Microsoft, I am rooting for
- microsoft
- jack thompson
- both
- neither
- cmdr taco
> they are taking the piss, literally
no they are not literally taking the piss,
they are however patenting methods and means of urine extraction.
ignore all comments above, i should be sleeping
But how are they going to attach the TVs to the frickin' sharks' heads? ...Duct tape?
I agree that writing characters by hand is less efficient than using the keyboard,
however it does mean that people can do it straight away without additional training.
I think that some of the input methods, such as the 9 key one which is supposed
to be pretty efficient may be patented as well, which doesn't help matters.
Character databases exist already, from the hanzilookup page
http://www.kiang.org/jordan/software/hanzilookup/
Don't know if this includes the 1000 odd HK official additional characters.
> The source includes two stroke definition data files. strokes.txt has the original
> hand-input definitions for about 4,000+ characters.
> The second, strokes-extended.txt has the original plus almost 10,000 more that
> Erik Peterson of www.mandarintools.com generated programatically.
> Older machines might want to stick to the smaller file as it limits the computation
> required to find a match and takes less memory.
and it is licensed under GPL!
I think that a really good recognition algorithm is probably pretty hard, but I'm no expert.
It certainly can be done as shown in the proprietary world.
As to linux adoption in Hong Kong, on the one hand things are pretty bleak in that most people
are using windows. However, I have managed to convert some people either to Ubuntu or to using
things like Firefox and OpenOffice.
I think that the problem is not really reluctance to try something else, but being unaware of
alternatives. There seems to be little grass roots movement or publicity about the alternatives,
I am guessing HK probably has one of the lowest Firefox adoption rates in the world.
That's why I think a polished free handwriting character recognition under linux would help matters.
Well you may think I'm nuts, but it seems that my experience contradicts several of your points.
:)
I live in Hong Kong and see lots of people using tablets for entering Chinese
(as well as lots of people using keyboards for entering Chinese).
Also although there may be variations in stroke entry, the better recognition systems cope very well.
For example I use the Motorola A732 phone, which has excellent handwriting recognition even for
those who have very cursive writing, (several of my friends have very cursive writing have used it without problems).
In addition, the people that I see in shops using the keyboard input everyday do not write stroke by stroke
like a first grade student (and neither do I).
Your statement that everyone is able to use keyboard entry for Chinese is innaccurate for the current
Hong Kong population. I have no figures but from the sample of people that I know I would think that
it is probably more that can't than can.
I can't comment on the Nokia phones that you refer to since i have not tried them,
but if you're suggesting that the performance is poor i have no reason to disbelieve you.
> As a Mandarin-speaker who uses Linux exclusively, I can say that the only real bar to a totally free
> Chinese operating system that would satisfy 99% of mainland corporate users is the lack of Free high
> quality, hinted Chinese truetype fonts
Yes, but I am a Cantonese speaker, talking about Desktop adoption for the home and business user in
Hong Kong and not restricted to corporate use in the mainland only.
Just because the need doesn't fit in to your segment, does not justify denying it exists or propogating
other lies to suit your side of the argument.
btw for your future reference insulting someone is often not the best way to try to convince them of your
point of view