Sun has released the project to the community (which I intrepret as dis-owning it) with a lot left unfinished. 42 of 89 modules don't compile, there is no UNICODE support, no printer support, no sound support , no drag-and-drop support, and the Windowing code is X-11.
They're recommending using C++ and C to call the OS X Windowing APIs, which doesn't sound like a good idea, since the GUI could be built much quicker with Objective-C and AppBuilder.
It almost seems that building a MacOffice from scratch would be easier than this port, but I'm no expert in porting projects.
There appears to be some misconceptions about what the Netwinder really was. It wasn't an end-user 'Internet Appliance', but rather a small, self-contained Linux box.
The Corel Computer NetWinder Linux Computer is a high performance,
compact RISC based machine equipped with a variety of networking,
telephony, and multimedia peripherals.
Based on the Intel StrongARM processor, clocked at 275 MHZ, the
NetWinder uses the performance, and stability of the Linux Operating
System to deliver over 250 MIPS of power, while drawing only 10 watts
of power.
There are two basic hardware choices, a plastic case and a rack mount. SCSI is available as an option on the rack mount. The OS (OfficeServer) and TC (Thin Client) models have depopulated boards, meaning certain hardware (such as video capture) is not normally included.
It wasn't a information appliance for newbies, it was a small form-factor Linux server or thin-client.
SQL Server 6.5 is essentially Sybase 4.2 with a Windows GUI glued on. The underlying database engine is at least ten years old, and does not support referential integrity, exepct through the use of triggers.
I've seen plenty of bad apps written with the VB/SQL Server combination, and very few good ones, so it wouldn't suprise me that they did something dumb, like put the RI in the front-end code, or neglect to use tranactions.
I would suspect that a lack of proper RI has resulted in orphaned records, which could fit their (wierd) explanation of the problem.
Remember that Earth had been decimated in "First Contact". All the infrastructure had been destroyed, so it would take some time, even with the help of the Vulcans, to build it back up. Some of their technology could be more primitive than ours, if the knowledge had been lost.
In the first pilot (with Captain Pike) they had laser pistols, so I can see them sticking with that, but I wish they would use slug throwers, they're much more effective weapons. Laser beams don't have any stopping power!
Exactly. The tech is going to be based on the 21st century tech seen in "Star Trek: First Contact", push buttons, no touch screens, a 'submarine' feel to the interiors of the starships, transporters as new technology (remake of "The Enemy Within" anyone?), etc.
Could be fun; I found all the sequel series rather sterile (and what was with that teak woodwork on the bridge of TNG?)
Yeah, two summers ago when that damn movie came out:)
Re:Books about Graphic Software...
on
The Blender Book
·
· Score: 1
probably half the people who try it give
up in disgust having failed to figure out
ANYTHING.
Uh, that would be me. A friend, who is a 3-D graphics expert, suggested I give it a try, and I found the experience completely frustrating. Then again, the last 3-D package I had any success with was CAD 3-D for the Atari ST. That was a neat little program; pity it never got ported off the Atari.
Why the heck don't you just ask for an RTF file? You can open that in ABIWord or StarOffice, and you're not trading one proprietary file format (.DOC) for another (.PDF).
There's a bit in one of Guy Kawasaki's books in which he gave the Redmond school system free copies of AppleWorks, just to get under Microsoft's skin. I wonder if they're still using AppleWorks there?
It's DOS that was 'acquired', but it was bought rather than stolen.
That depends on your definition of 'steal'.
When you promise someone (IBM) a piece of sofware you don't have, then pay someone $50,000 for a piece of software without telling them you're going to turn around and sell it for millions, then I think you're in ethically murky waters.
Interestingly, there was a Freenet in Toronto (a friend of mine did volunteer support work for them), but it folded due to lack of interest. Dial-up access became too cheap. The dial-up ISP business is really competitive in the Greater Toronto Area, and Toronto has one of the largest internet concentrations in the world, following New York and the SF bay area.
Dune is just too ambitious for TV or even full length feature movies.
If you think Dune is ambitious, try reading Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. Then watch the BBC/PBS mini-series that's airing around the country right now. Gormenghast is at least as ambitious as Dune, probably more so, and the mini-series blows both versions visual versions of Dune out of the water. It can be done, but it takes a lot of elements, none of which seemed to come togther for Dune. Now if the BBC or Channel 4 had done it...
But anyone with half a brain (I assume that includes the "early adopters" who want to run OS X) will buy the base machine (all others come with 128 MB on the motherboard) from a dealer that throws in a free 128 MB upgrade. Almost all of them do.
Apple's online store is a gip, look at the upgrade prices. And they charge sales tax in every state. You've have to be crazy to buy directly from Apple.
There is one good reason to keep your land-line: 911 and caller ID. If you call 911 from your home phone, the emergency services people can immediately locate you and send someone over. They can't trace a movile phone call or a VoIP call.
So if that kind of thing worries you, it's reason enough to keep the land-line.
President's Choice is the Loblaws house brand, orginally started when Dave Nichol was president of Loblaws. It's easily the best house brand available, and the only one I know of that is carried by other retailers. The stuff is so good that some of it is imported into the U.S., but not my favorites, alas.
Okay, one reason: iMovie. iMovie and Firewire was one of the major selling points of the iBook, for me, and digital video takes up a lot of disk. I'll put Linux on a cheaper machine where disk space isn't at a premium. (And I have already cleaned out a lot of the cruft that Apple put on the disk for me. Like Outlook Express.)
Slashdot Mirror
They're recommending using C++ and C to call the OS X Windowing APIs, which doesn't sound like a good idea, since the GUI could be built much quicker with Objective-C and AppBuilder.
It almost seems that building a MacOffice from scratch would be easier than this port, but I'm no expert in porting projects.
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
From the FAQ on www.netwinder.org:
It wasn't a information appliance for newbies, it was a small form-factor Linux server or thin-client.I've seen plenty of bad apps written with the VB/SQL Server combination, and very few good ones, so it wouldn't suprise me that they did something dumb, like put the RI in the front-end code, or neglect to use tranactions.
I would suspect that a lack of proper RI has resulted in orphaned records, which could fit their (wierd) explanation of the problem.
And a laser beam wouldn't cut through the hull in nothing flat? In retrospect, I guess they've been really lucky all these years...
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
In the first pilot (with Captain Pike) they had laser pistols, so I can see them sticking with that, but I wish they would use slug throwers, they're much more effective weapons. Laser beams don't have any stopping power!
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
Could be fun; I found all the sequel series rather sterile (and what was with that teak woodwork on the bridge of TNG?)
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
Great, and with a color screen, it will still be able to have the familar BSOD.
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
According to the ARM site, and as long as I can remember, ARM stood for Advanced RISC Machines. Just a small nitpick.
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
Go on, slashdot them, too :)
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
We don't need to move the plaent to protect the national parks. Just watch Silent Running for a solution.
"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"
(Or is that too obscure?)
More benefical is Quicktime. No more crummy RealPlayer streams, QT is much nicer.
Yeah, two summers ago when that damn movie came out :)
Uh, that would be me. A friend, who is a 3-D graphics expert, suggested I give it a try, and I found the experience completely frustrating. Then again, the last 3-D package I had any success with was CAD 3-D for the Atari ST. That was a neat little program; pity it never got ported off the Atari.
'Flamebait' is right.
There's a bit in one of Guy Kawasaki's books in which he gave the Redmond school system free copies of AppleWorks, just to get under Microsoft's skin. I wonder if they're still using AppleWorks there?
That depends on your definition of 'steal'.
When you promise someone (IBM) a piece of sofware you don't have, then pay someone $50,000 for a piece of software without telling them you're going to turn around and sell it for millions, then I think you're in ethically murky waters.
But then again, who ever said Bill was ethical?
Interestingly, there was a Freenet in Toronto (a friend of mine did volunteer support work for them), but it folded due to lack of interest. Dial-up access became too cheap. The dial-up ISP business is really competitive in the Greater Toronto Area, and Toronto has one of the largest internet concentrations in the world, following New York and the SF bay area.
If you think Dune is ambitious, try reading Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. Then watch the BBC/PBS mini-series that's airing around the country right now. Gormenghast is at least as ambitious as Dune, probably more so, and the mini-series blows both versions visual versions of Dune out of the water. It can be done, but it takes a lot of elements, none of which seemed to come togther for Dune. Now if the BBC or Channel 4 had done it...
But "Inconstant Moon" was filmed as an episode of "The Outer Limits", and worked pretty well, IMHO. Go fig.
Zip, zilch, nada. About the same as the novelization of Star Wars by "George Lucas". it was ghosted by Alan Dean Foster. Lucas didn't write word one.
Apple's online store is a gip, look at the upgrade prices. And they charge sales tax in every state. You've have to be crazy to buy directly from Apple.
So if that kind of thing worries you, it's reason enough to keep the land-line.
President's Choice is the Loblaws house brand, orginally started when Dave Nichol was president of Loblaws. It's easily the best house brand available, and the only one I know of that is carried by other retailers. The stuff is so good that some of it is imported into the U.S., but not my favorites, alas.
Okay, one reason: iMovie. iMovie and Firewire was one of the major selling points of the iBook, for me, and digital video takes up a lot of disk. I'll put Linux on a cheaper machine where disk space isn't at a premium. (And I have already cleaned out a lot of the cruft that Apple put on the disk for me. Like Outlook Express.)