I've made this comment before when file sharing comes up.
File sharing is a dubious business at best, and most of the companies involved in it will try to manipulate your machine in one way or another.
So...let them. Let them prat about with your machine to their heart's content. Let them install all the spyware in the world. Let them share every file that's ever been placed on it. Just one thing - make sure it's not a real machine.
In other words, make use of the virtual machine programs kicking about. VMWare for most, Virtual PC in my case. Use that machine for nothing but running your P2P clients. No email, no web browsing, nothing. Just run your clients and enjoy. Let them spy on everything happening within that machine, because the only thing happening on that machine is the running of their own software.
How much fragmentation can the Open Source community take?...For example, right now I'm working on a Linux system that's probably 75% of the way to being an efficient competitor to Windows on the desktop.
Fair point, but only really valid in a commerical context. Some people are just writing for the hell of it, and they don't care whether they've created a Windows competitor or not - they're just enjoying their code.
Reminds me of a book I used to have, "Programming 68000 Assembler". This excellent book was obviously written by an old cynic, and aged very well. However, it did contain the immortal line:
"Today's powerful Unix systems often contain as much as 256k of memory"
Yes. k. Not Gig. Not even Meg. k.
Aah, for the good old days when programmers were programmers and a complete game of Chess could be fitted into a 1k ZX81. Hmmm, on second thoughts - maybe not.
...do the Shuttle PC's get a lot of free advertising on slashdot. more so than any dell, ibm, etc. equipment. In fact the only other manufacturer that seems to get as much is Apple.
I imagine it's because they're doing something interesting with the design, a quality they share with Apple.
With a standard desktop box, you're more interested in the components themselves and Slashdot gives a fair amount of prominence to the likes of Intel, AMD, nVidea etc.
Well, Europeans for one. That kind of stunt is illegal here under an EU-wide 'Sale of Goods' act.
This was recently upheld by a German court against Microsoft - the topic was covered on Slashdot I think, but the essence is that Microsoft tried to stop people selling on their old Windows licenses along with their machine. Exactly as Sun are now trying to do with Solaris.
this will cause publishers to self-censor their online publishing to avoid offending anyone in any jurisdiction, whatsoever, which if carried to its logical conclusion, means online publishing would simply cease.
Surely the above paragraph could also be applied to national newspapers, national broadcast news, national magazines...basically anything created in one place but available everywhere.
The fact that nationally-available media is still created and published probably means that online media would also still be created and published.
Cheers,
Ian
Disclaimer: Not only am I not a lawyer but I'm British, which means I have no idea about American laws in these circumstances.
There is nothing prevent someone from writing a drop in replacement for the MSHTML API.
I stand corrected on that example. However, I'm sure you see my point - it could be applied to, say, streaming media, viewing image files, launching Java apps...whatever.
Curious - with the drop-in replacement, who sets the the choice? The user? At install time or whilst running? Would an app requesting an HTML rendering component have to specifically request the replacement? Or could it just say 'Give me an HTML component' and the OS would supply it with Mozilla.
However, as I say I stand corrected on the MSHTML stuff.
You mean that application that has already registered with the OS that it can handle files with the extension.xyz and.abc, that match those handled by the MS application? Gee, I dunno.
Despite Unix, there's more to life than files you know.
Modular means that I can programatically get a component that handles foodlewidgets. Not foodlewidget.fwdg documents, but the actual live thingies themselves.
Example: I need a component to play some streamed media. I go to the new registry, find out what the user has told me handles this kind of media, and I play it.
Not a million miles away from MIME types, is it? And the MIME system is good...
3rd party apps will appear as choices if they are coded so that they interface with XP to appear as choices...perhaps even having to use some shared library from MS.
Well of course.
How else am I, as the operating system, supposed to know that this completely unknown executable you've just stuck on the drive handles foodlewidgets unless you tell me that it handles foodlewidgets?
service pack claims to rectify...issues that the average slashdot reader can solve his/herself. I mean, do we really need help making Netscape the default rather than I.E.?
Yes.
You see, you might think that setting Netscape to launch when you click on a hyperlink or double-click an HTML file means you've set the default. What I call setting the default is having the OS itself decide that when an app has programmatically requested an HTML-rendering component, it gets that component from Netscape and not from IE.
No user intervention can achieve that right now. Not even by a Slashdotter.
Long, long ago in a company far, far away my Dad was a quality control manager in a Sheffield steelworks.
Now, office computing didn't really exist at this time - PCs weren't even a glimmer in IBM's corporate eye, and I don't think that Apple had got going either (mid-seventies). Yet projects were still planned and still needed to be tracked.
My dad suggested using Lego. He got laughed at at first, but eventually converted the company to using it. The idea is simple: buy a big base board , some different coloured long bricks, and voila: a fully editable dependency chart can be created just by moving the bricks around.
Unfortunately, Tivo also adds an extra icon and menu item on the main menu
Happening in the UK too - yesterday we got an 'Unmissable viewing from the BBC!' message, with an average new sitcom attached.
My worry is the space requirements. I trust this thing gets deleted if I start running out of space? And I mean, deleted before any of my own programmes or even Tivo-suggested programmes get deleted? The suggestions are based on my preferences. The advert show clearly isn't. I do not want this advert interfering with what I bought the machine for in the first place.
is it possible for there to be any kind of media without advertising?
Yes - it's the BBC. For those who might not know, there are no adverts on the BBC. We pay a 'license fee' (euphamism for a tax levy). This fee then goes towards paying for the BBC. In addition, the BBC also has some merchandising and sells off programmes to foreign stations.
But then you know that. It always raises a giggle from me when I'm in the US and I see PBS saying "it's only with your donations that we're able to bring you quality programming like the Teletubbies". Really? Leaving aside whether you believe Teletubbies to be quality (I do, for it's target audience), I could have sworn that the real reason it exists is because of my UK taxes going towards it...
So there's your answer. Directly funded TV is possible, and does exist. Just not in the US as far as I'm aware.
I'm -really- interested in getting this kit and putting a wireless ethernet adaptor on it. Uses would be none too sophisticated - MAME and MP3 playing really.
All falls apart if I can't connect it to a wireless ethernet router. So...anyone done it?
and it's also too bad that people kept doing dev on possibly not free pgp versions instead on truly free implementations of pgp
It's terrible, yes. So...are you going to pay the people a salary to work on the free versions or shall I?
What? You're not prepared to pay for it? Then how are these coders going to earn their living?
It's good that free alternatives can be developed by those with the interest and time. However, don't knock the people working on the closed stuff - they're just earning their living like any other coder.
I thought we were discussing Sci Fi, not animated Japanese child porn (which, let's face it, is what every piece of Anime really is).
I agree to be honest. I meant that I hadn't seen it on the list the first time I read it - it's at number 19, which means there is at least one non-English language film.
What about Solaris? Alphaville? And the legend...Metropolis?
Cheers ,
Ian
Re:Uhh... This isn't for this crowd.
on
USB Remote Control
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
...my wife bought me one of those cool lcd-screen remotes (The Marantz)...It was just too much work to keep this configured correctly.
What, someone used to sneak in and unconfigure it whilst you weren't looking?
I have one of these - a Philips Pronto. Very nice, and I used to use nothing but this remote. However, since getting a Tivo I find I'm tending to use that. TV only of course, the Pronto is used for everything else.
Slashdot Mirror
Err....yes. It's called Usenet, is implemented using NNTP, and has been going for long before the web has existed.
Cheers,
Ian
File sharing is a dubious business at best, and most of the companies involved in it will try to manipulate your machine in one way or another.
So...let them. Let them prat about with your machine to their heart's content. Let them install all the spyware in the world. Let them share every file that's ever been placed on it. Just one thing - make sure it's not a real machine.
In other words, make use of the virtual machine programs kicking about. VMWare for most, Virtual PC in my case. Use that machine for nothing but running your P2P clients. No email, no web browsing, nothing. Just run your clients and enjoy. Let them spy on everything happening within that machine, because the only thing happening on that machine is the running of their own software.
Cheers,
Ian
Worth knowing - I'm extremely interested in this latest model abd might well be buying.
Cheers,
Ian
Fair point, but only really valid in a commerical context. Some people are just writing for the hell of it, and they don't care whether they've created a Windows competitor or not - they're just enjoying their code.
Cheers,
Ian
Reminds me of a book I used to have, "Programming 68000 Assembler". This excellent book was obviously written by an old cynic, and aged very well. However, it did contain the immortal line:
"Today's powerful Unix systems often contain as much as 256k of memory"
Yes. k. Not Gig. Not even Meg. k.
Aah, for the good old days when programmers were programmers and a complete game of Chess could be fitted into a 1k ZX81. Hmmm, on second thoughts - maybe not.
Cheers,
Ian
I imagine it's because they're doing something interesting with the design, a quality they share with Apple.
With a standard desktop box, you're more interested in the components themselves and Slashdot gives a fair amount of prominence to the likes of Intel, AMD, nVidea etc.
Cheers,
Ian
Well, Europeans for one. That kind of stunt is illegal here under an EU-wide 'Sale of Goods' act.
This was recently upheld by a German court against Microsoft - the topic was covered on Slashdot I think, but the essence is that Microsoft tried to stop people selling on their old Windows licenses along with their machine. Exactly as Sun are now trying to do with Solaris.
Cheers,
Ian
Surely the above paragraph could also be applied to national newspapers, national broadcast news, national magazines...basically anything created in one place but available everywhere.
The fact that nationally-available media is still created and published probably means that online media would also still be created and published.
Cheers,
Ian
Disclaimer: Not only am I not a lawyer but I'm British, which means I have no idea about American laws in these circumstances.
I stand corrected on that example. However, I'm sure you see my point - it could be applied to, say, streaming media, viewing image files, launching Java apps...whatever.
Curious - with the drop-in replacement, who sets the the choice? The user? At install time or whilst running? Would an app requesting an HTML rendering component have to specifically request the replacement? Or could it just say 'Give me an HTML component' and the OS would supply it with Mozilla.
However, as I say I stand corrected on the MSHTML stuff.
Cheers,
Ian
Despite Unix, there's more to life than files you know.
Modular means that I can programatically get a component that handles foodlewidgets. Not foodlewidget.fwdg documents, but the actual live thingies themselves.
Example: I need a component to play some streamed media. I go to the new registry, find out what the user has told me handles this kind of media, and I play it.
Not a million miles away from MIME types, is it? And the MIME system is good...
Cheers,
Ian
Well of course.
How else am I, as the operating system, supposed to know that this completely unknown executable you've just stuck on the drive handles foodlewidgets unless you tell me that it handles foodlewidgets?
No conspiracy here people. Move along now...
Cheers,
Ian
Yes.
You see, you might think that setting Netscape to launch when you click on a hyperlink or double-click an HTML file means you've set the default. What I call setting the default is having the OS itself decide that when an app has programmatically requested an HTML-rendering component, it gets that component from Netscape and not from IE.
No user intervention can achieve that right now. Not even by a Slashdotter.
Cheers,
Ian
Now, office computing didn't really exist at this time - PCs weren't even a glimmer in IBM's corporate eye, and I don't think that Apple had got going either (mid-seventies). Yet projects were still planned and still needed to be tracked.
My dad suggested using Lego. He got laughed at at first, but eventually converted the company to using it. The idea is simple: buy a big base board , some different coloured long bricks, and voila: a fully editable dependency chart can be created just by moving the bricks around.
Powerpoint? Pah. PAH!
Cheers,
Ian
Repetition is one of the most reliable indoctrination (often called by the misnomer "brain washing")
Cheers,
Ian
Oh yes...sorry, didn't mean to imply it was 'dishonest' as such. It's not the whole truth, but then nobody's exactly on trial either.
Cheers,
Ian
Happening in the UK too - yesterday we got an 'Unmissable viewing from the BBC!' message, with an average new sitcom attached.
My worry is the space requirements. I trust this thing gets deleted if I start running out of space? And I mean, deleted before any of my own programmes or even Tivo-suggested programmes get deleted? The suggestions are based on my preferences. The advert show clearly isn't. I do not want this advert interfering with what I bought the machine for in the first place.
Cheers,
Ian
Yes - it's the BBC. For those who might not know, there are no adverts on the BBC. We pay a 'license fee' (euphamism for a tax levy). This fee then goes towards paying for the BBC. In addition, the BBC also has some merchandising and sells off programmes to foreign stations.
But then you know that. It always raises a giggle from me when I'm in the US and I see PBS saying "it's only with your donations that we're able to bring you quality programming like the Teletubbies". Really? Leaving aside whether you believe Teletubbies to be quality (I do, for it's target audience), I could have sworn that the real reason it exists is because of my UK taxes going towards it...
So there's your answer. Directly funded TV is possible, and does exist. Just not in the US as far as I'm aware.
Cheers,
Ian
All falls apart if I can't connect it to a wireless ethernet router. So...anyone done it?
Cheers,
Ian
It's terrible, yes. So...are you going to pay the people a salary to work on the free versions or shall I?
What? You're not prepared to pay for it? Then how are these coders going to earn their living?
It's good that free alternatives can be developed by those with the interest and time. However, don't knock the people working on the closed stuff - they're just earning their living like any other coder.
Cheers,
Ian
Yes, meant it as in meaning #2. However, given the ridiculousness of the debate, I have to say that I quite like meaning #3 as well...
Cheers,
Ian
foreach is a shell construct. Perl took from the shell (I think Bourne), foreach is not Perl's idea.
Cheers,
Ian
I agree to be honest. I meant that I hadn't seen it on the list the first time I read it - it's at number 19, which means there is at least one non-English language film.
Personally, I can't stand anime.
Cheers,
Ian
Cheers,
Ian
Cheers
, Ian
What, someone used to sneak in and unconfigure it whilst you weren't looking?
I have one of these - a Philips Pronto. Very nice, and I used to use nothing but this remote. However, since getting a Tivo I find I'm tending to use that. TV only of course, the Pronto is used for everything else.
Cheers,
Ian