What I said was that the issue of printer drivers contributed to the GNU license. Not that it was the sole reason. And regarding the issue of Linux an printing it's worth noting the long history of printer driver problems. Now regarding Stallman and printer drivers note the following wikepedia entry about Stallman's time at MIT which I have heard from the horses mouth many times:
In 1980, Stallman and some other hackers at the AI Lab were refused access to the source code for the software of the first laser printer, the Xerox 9700. Stallman had modified the software on an older printer (the XGP, Xerographic Printer), so it electronically messaged a user when the person's job was printed, and would message all logged-in users when a printer was jammed. Not being able to add this feature to the Dover printer was a major inconvenience, as the printer was on a different floor from most of the users. This one experience convinced Stallman of people's need to be free to modify the software they use.
Also some manufactureres such as Canon refuse to publish the specs for their printers, provide drivers for other systems or put restrictive terms on the information. Hence making it almost impossible to write effective drivers for 'unauthorised' systems. And there is no technical reason for the above restrictions. In fact it was trouble with obtaining printer information without having to sign an NDA that contributed to the formulation of the GPL.
The "permanent juvenile" characteristic is known as neoteny. It's also been suggested that homo-sapiens is a form of simian neoteny. This is discussed quite extensively in writings by Steven Jay Gould for example.
There's a company in Australia that provides internet kiosk terminals that run on Linux. It's set up so well that few people notice it's actually running linux and galeon. I've tried it myself and found it quite useful.
Correction, it is not compulsory to register to vote. It just happens that a the electoral role is used as part of verification of identity for a number of institutions. It is possible to never be on the electoral role, and if one choses, be removed from the role. In fact a friend has successfully been removed from the electoral role and therefore the obligation to attend an election.
Have managed to find very distinct limitations with cut and paste in WinXX. Particularly across Microsoft applications like Excell and notepad. Had occurences where the copied text from within Excel would not paste into the text field so it was necessary to manually enter it.
A list of ways to create PDF files in Linux 1) Open office:
i) Version 1.0 Print to file and select pdf as file type
ii) Version 1.1 Save as PDF 2) ps2pdf:
Part of a suite of CLI utilities available for Linux to change file types. The utilities for creating PDF files and such are generally found within the ghost-script packaging.
As can be seen PDF creation is possible in Linux systems.
"..with the right rules set up in software many standard contracts could be quickly approved via computer assuming all the fields are filled in correctly."
Hardly new and innovative there. It's already been possible with PDF for a long time. In fact government departments in Australia use PDF for electronic forms.
Rather incorrect there. It is not voting that is compulsory in Australia. Rather attendance at a polling booth. You can just walk in, have your name crossed off and walk out without filling in a vote. There is no way to tie an individual to a given vote. Also the requirement to attend is only if you chose to register to vote. In fact it is not compulsory to register to vote and one can still be a citizen and not on the electoral role. Also one can be removed from the electoral role. Though it does take a bit of effort. A friend has successfully de-enrolled from the Australian electoral role.
Which is why irrespective of malicious damage it is always a good idea to back up the home directory. There are other nondirected ways to lose that very important document. Such as for example catastrophic hardwared failure, or even simple accidental deletion by the user. Back up is not something that should really be neglected..
Rsync is a nice utility that removes the need to download the entire file.
From the manual.... The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the differences between two sets of files across the network link, using an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical report that accompanies this package.
To clarify, here in Australia (as an example) it is in fact incorrect to say that voting is compulsory. The requirement is only to appear at a polling booth and have your name checked off against a list. After that you are free to do whatever you like to the forms, even writing obscenities, as long as you deposit them in the polling box on the way out. In fact you are entitled to walk in, register, and walk out without writing a thing on the voting form. The system mitigates against intimidation such as that experienced by blacks and other groups in the US throughout history.
A prime number is a number divisible only by itself and one. For example the following sequence; 2,3,5,7,11,13,17. The correct phrase should be 'an easy way to obtain the prime factors of large numbers'. Quite different in meaning to the phrase from Bill.
It seems that a key point has been left out in discussion of airbag fatalaties. Namely they are an apparantly unique problem to the USA. Here in Australia seat belts are a requirement so the airbags are actually set to a lower pressure. AFAIK there have been no airbag related fatalities in Australia. However, in the US the airbags are rated to stop an unrestrained adult due to non uniformity of seat belt legislation. There is also the requirement that children are to be restrained in an appropriate device according to age. I don't know of anybody who has been booked for non compliance, but every person I've met that has a young child has either a capsule or booster seat in their car.
They clone these people. I've just finished a contract where I dealt with much the same sort of person. When trying to establish ftp connection to a particular mainframe the administrator didn't even contemplate changing firewall rules. Instead they thought to tell me that the internet IP of the mainframe blocked by the firewall was a LAN IP address...The poor soul didn't even understand the meaning of a positive result from an nslookup query...:-(
The article about airbags killing more kids than schoolyard shootings doesn't weaken the analogy. In fact the statistic is an example of a uniquely American phenomenon with regards to airbags. Namely due to lax seatbelt laws the airbags in the US have to be configured to stop an unrestrained adult. Hence the force is sufficient to break the neck of an infant.
However, in Australia for example all occupants of a car are expected to be wearing a seatbelt as it is required by law. The result is that the airbags do not need to be set at quite as high a pressure as for the US and afik there have been no airbag fatalities in Australia.
The article about airbags killing more kids than schoolyard shootings doesn't weaken the analogy. In fact the statistic is an example of a uniquely American phenomenon with regards to airbags. Namely due to lax seatbelt laws the airbags in the US have to be configured to stop an unrestrained adult. Hence the force is sufficient to break the neck of an infant.
However, in Australia for example children are not killed by airbags as all occupants of a car are expected to be restrained by seatbelts.
Slashdot Mirror
What I said was that the issue of printer drivers contributed to the GNU license. Not that it was the sole reason. And regarding the issue of Linux an printing it's worth noting the long history of printer driver problems.
Now regarding Stallman and printer drivers note the following wikepedia entry about Stallman's time at MIT which I have heard from the horses mouth many times:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
In 1980, Stallman and some other hackers at the AI Lab were refused access to the source code for the software of the first laser printer, the Xerox 9700. Stallman had modified the software on an older printer (the XGP, Xerographic Printer), so it electronically messaged a user when the person's job was printed, and would message all logged-in users when a printer was jammed. Not being able to add this feature to the Dover printer was a major inconvenience, as the printer was on a different floor from most of the users. This one experience convinced Stallman of people's need to be free to modify the software they use.
Also some manufactureres such as Canon refuse to publish the specs for their printers, provide drivers for other systems or put restrictive terms on the information. Hence making it almost impossible to write effective drivers for 'unauthorised' systems.
And there is no technical reason for the above restrictions. In fact it was trouble with obtaining printer information without having to sign an NDA that contributed to the formulation of the GPL.
It was explained earlier in Dr Who.
They are really from the planet Metebellis III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Spiders
Just a note. :)
Smeg is actually an abreviation of smegma. Otherwise known as dick cheese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smegma
The "permanent juvenile" characteristic is known as neoteny. It's also been suggested that homo-sapiens is a form of simian neoteny. This is discussed quite extensively in writings by Steven Jay Gould for example.
Thankfully the penguins and polar bears live about opposite poles. Otherwise the penguins would have a lot to contend with along with the seals...
tell 'em they're dreamin
There's a company in Australia that provides internet kiosk terminals that run on Linux.
It's set up so well that few people notice it's actually running linux and galeon.
I've tried it myself and found it quite useful.
Samples of products can be found here
More info available on the site for those interested.
Correction, it is not compulsory to register to vote. It just happens that a the electoral role is used as part of verification of identity for a number of institutions. It is possible to never be on the electoral role, and if one choses, be removed from the role.
In fact a friend has successfully been removed from the electoral role and therefore the obligation to attend an election.
Have managed to find very distinct limitations with cut and paste in WinXX. Particularly across Microsoft applications like Excell and notepad.
Had occurences where the copied text from within Excel would not paste into the text field so it was necessary to manually enter it.
A list of ways to create PDF files in Linux
1) Open office:
i) Version 1.0 Print to file and select pdf as file type
ii) Version 1.1 Save as PDF
2) ps2pdf:
Part of a suite of CLI utilities available for Linux to change file types. The utilities for creating PDF files and such are generally found within the ghost-script packaging.
As can be seen PDF creation is possible in Linux systems.
Pain in the donkey?
In countries that speak english Ass is a synonym for donkey.
The backside area is known as an arse...:)
Pedant note: It would actually be Kilo Delta Echo from radio call designation.
"..with the right rules set up in software many standard contracts could be quickly approved via computer assuming all the fields are filled in correctly."
Hardly new and innovative there. It's already been possible with PDF for a long time.
In fact government departments in Australia use PDF for electronic forms.
Rather incorrect there.
It is not voting that is compulsory in Australia.
Rather attendance at a polling booth.
You can just walk in, have your name crossed off and walk out without filling in a vote.
There is no way to tie an individual to a given vote.
Also the requirement to attend is only if you chose to register to vote.
In fact it is not compulsory to register to vote and one can still be a citizen and not on the electoral role.
Also one can be removed from the electoral role.
Though it does take a bit of effort.
A friend has successfully de-enrolled from the Australian electoral role.
This might be the site you're thinking of. It contains quite detailed consideration of the structure of MSFT's finances.
Which is why irrespective of malicious damage it is always a good idea to back up the home directory. There are other nondirected ways to lose that very important document. Such as for example catastrophic hardwared failure, or even simple accidental deletion by the user.
Back up is not something that should really be neglected..
Rsync is a nice utility that removes the need to download the entire file.
From the manual....
The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the differences between two sets of files across the network link, using an efficient checksum-search algorithm described in the technical report that accompanies this package.
Now that in conjunction with apt would be nice.
To clarify, here in Australia (as an example) it is in fact incorrect to say that voting is compulsory. The requirement is only to appear at a polling booth and have your name checked off against a list.
After that you are free to do whatever you like to the forms, even writing obscenities, as long as you deposit them in the polling box on the way out. In fact you are entitled to walk in, register, and walk out without writing a thing on the voting form.
The system mitigates against intimidation such as that experienced by blacks and other groups in the US throughout history.
A prime number is a number divisible only by itself and one. For example the following sequence; 2,3,5,7,11,13,17. The correct phrase should be 'an easy way to obtain the prime factors of large numbers'. Quite different in meaning to the phrase from Bill.
It seems that a key point has been left out in discussion of airbag fatalaties. Namely they are an apparantly unique problem to the USA. Here in Australia seat belts are a requirement so the airbags are actually set to a lower pressure. AFAIK there have been no airbag related fatalities in Australia. However, in the US the airbags are rated to stop an unrestrained adult due to non uniformity of seat belt legislation.
There is also the requirement that children are to be restrained in an appropriate device according to age. I don't know of anybody who has been booked for non compliance, but every person I've met that has a young child has either a capsule or booster seat in their car.
They clone these people. I've just finished a contract where I dealt with much the same sort of person. When trying to establish ftp connection to a particular mainframe the administrator didn't even contemplate changing firewall rules.
Instead they thought to tell me that the internet IP of the mainframe blocked by the firewall was a LAN IP address...The poor soul didn't even understand the meaning of a positive result from an nslookup query...:-(
Odd to here the news is from the BBC. Maybe Dr. Who was a documentary series...:-)
The article about airbags killing more kids than schoolyard shootings doesn't weaken the analogy. In fact the statistic is an example of a uniquely American phenomenon with regards to airbags. Namely due to lax seatbelt laws the airbags in the US have to be configured to stop an unrestrained adult. Hence the force is sufficient to break the neck of an infant.
However, in Australia for example all occupants of a car are expected to be wearing a seatbelt as it is required by law. The result is that the airbags do not need to be set at quite as high a pressure as for the US and afik there have been no airbag fatalities in Australia.
The article about airbags killing more kids than schoolyard shootings doesn't weaken the analogy. In fact the statistic is an example of a uniquely American phenomenon with regards to airbags. Namely due to lax seatbelt laws the airbags in the US have to be configured to stop an unrestrained adult. Hence the force is sufficient to break the neck of an infant.
However, in Australia for example children are not killed by airbags as all occupants of a car are expected to be restrained by seatbelts.