So here's your chance to ask questions to the star of Iron Chef USA, Miss Congeniality and TJ Hooker!
Not to mention "Free Enterprise", an offbeat, not widely known film starring Shatner as, as best I can tell, himself!
I guess that's the main question on my mind: were you portraying a character very similar to yourself in "Free Enterprise"?
And I know we're only supposed to ask one question, but it's on the same subject: what are your thoughts and feelings on "Free Enterprise"? Was it fun to poke fun at yourself?
While my snappy answers to stupid questions usually end here, I feel I should elaborate, lest I be called a troll or worse a (gasp) Linux user.
I feel I have sufficent knowledge to answer this question in the affirmative based on my following experiences:
Developing software using carbon on an iBook (450 MHz G3, 128MB RAM). I usually set up my Linux box to run Mozilla for browsing documentation and playing OGGs, since running Project Builder under Mac OS X seems to eat up ALL the RAM (and iTunes won't play my OGGs anyway). Did I mention it takes forever to boot up? Did I mention it also takes at least five minutes to login before I can even start using it?
Developing Tcl/Tk applications on a DUAL G4 (not sure what processor speed or amount of RAM, but it was at least DUAL 450s with at least 512 MB of RAM). You'd think running Mac OS X, a multi-tasking, multithreading operating system, on a dual processor machine would be fast, right? Wrong. This was also butt ass slow. Everything from loading a simple browser to opening a terminal, while not taking minutes, felt like it.
So is Mac OS X slow? In my experience, yes. Does that matter to me? No, as it's not my platform of choice (see my signature) and it's not free anyway. I just use it as a tool in my professional life and to develop my software so that will have a wider audience.
Kind of like Slashdot reports on Linux types... Think about it, it is easy to come up with stereotypes of Wired readers. And slashdot readers for that matter.
Yes, but you forget something:
Slashdot was made by Linux users, for Linux users. Anything else is secondary, and we don't try to hide behind a mask of being a "hip counter-culture 'mag". What do you think "News for Nerds" means, anywhow?
There are regular postings here which imply that government agencies have the same rights as, for instance, an ordinary business.
Even more sad is that many people believe that businesses should have the same rights as individuals. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more true.
As far as the suits go, I think that as Linux has made inroads into big business, Linux and its proponents are being taken seriously enough that the rest of the "suits" would like or expect to see Linux people wearing suits.
Screw that crap, man. If I have to wear a suit to get a job, the job's not worth it. I mean, I'm not applying to be a fashion designer, am I? I work best when I am comfortable, and that includes wearing comfortable clothes that I can afford.
but oh its sOOO COOL TO be a geek, or at least thats what geeks are telling themselves.
Actually, I could care less about what is "cool" and what others think of me; as long as I am doing what makes me happy, that's all that matters. I like the "Got Root?" t-shirt and think it's funny.
The article suggests that real technology guys don't wear shorts, T-shirts or baseball caps.
Really?
(/me looks down at shorts and "Got Root?" t-shirt, as well as Teva sandals)
Hmm, guess I must not be a "real technology guy".
Seriously, who do these people think they're kidding? There will *always* be a contingent of us who wear shorts and t-shirts, and quite frankly we don't *care* what other people think of that.
To conclude, I leave you with a quote:
Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.
-- Henry David Thoreau
Me, for one. Not anymore mind you, but I do hack on it when I get the chance these days.
When was the lat time they did `this'? What did Red Hat so with their packacged kernels that was bad?
I'm not sure, because I stopped running RedHat a long time ago for the kind of stuff I was no longer willing to put with. But I can name some things from when I did run RedHat:
Including a beta compiler in the distribution as the default, which doesn't compile the kernel properly.
Many, many patches that they never passed upstream, but just wrapped up in the source RPM.
Other patches that were RedHat specific and mostly there to cover up inconsistencies and problems with RedHat.
All I'm saying is, this isn't the first time RedHat's done something like this. They aren't being deliberately annoying, and I'm sure some of their changes are good (as were some of the non RedHat specific patches they added to their kernel packages), but for f*cks sake, I wish they'd at least tell the upstream maintainers.
How is providing a consistent desktop theme bad?
It's not, but the least they could do is pass the patches upstream and let the maintainers know about it, instead of breaking things and causing headaches for their customers and the upstream maintainers.
I know the GPL doesn't mandate cooperation, but cooperation is a part of the spirit of the GPL.
Now they know . . .
on
KDE Gets The Hat
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· Score: 2, Insightful
. . . how the Linux kernel developers have felt for years. In other words, this hasn't been the first time RedHat has done this, and they are sure to do it again. It's all a part of Open Source, so get used to it. If RedHat does anything stupid (like they have done in the past with their packaged kernels), it will come back to haunt them. If they do anything good, then great, it will go back to the community.
When the RIAA comes and demands they cut off access to warez.org, they'll be in less of a position to say they can't/don't do content-based filtering. In for a penny, in for a pound; this may be shooting themselves in the foot.
BZZZT, wrong, but thanks for playing! They are blocking potential attackers who have stated their intent to attack. That's just a common sense security precaution, not censorship.
As a side note, just how exactly will the RIAA "demand" they cut off access to warez.org? Is the RIAA one of their clients? No? Well, then I guess they don't have to do a damn thing they say.
Just a note, I like your points, but where did you get the idea that MPEGs are more closed than other formats? At least pure mpeg is open and has players on most major platforms.
Best Deep Thought Ever: "If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." - Jack Handey
And what about carrots? If they screamed, would you eat them? How do you know they're not screaming, and you just can't hear it?
Damn vegetarians; most of them don't have the guts to admit the real reason they are vegetarians: it's good for their health. Not that I really care, I just wish they'd stop trying to lay a guilt trip on everyone else. If Big Macs started being healthier than peas and broccoli, I'm pretty sure that vegetarians would change their tone real quick.
While I must apologize for my fellow country men and women's responses that have offended, I would please ask that you do not lump us all together, lest you become as convinced of your own stereotypes of Americans that you accuse us of having of Europeans.
Also, the only reason some of us are American is that we were born here.
While my snappy answer to stupid questions usually ends here with a "Next question", I feel that this time it is necessary to elaborate.
There are two major reasons I don't ever see this working:
It's the freedom, dummy
The poster asks
Which is more important: the software and how we can continue evolving it by any legal means, or the licensing and philosophy behind it?"
and I'd have to answer that while many will disagree, it's the licensing and philosophy. It used to be that I would use Linux because it was better. To a certain degree, I still do. But even if it wasn't better, I would have switched long ago because it gives me something no other operating system can: freedom. This may seem very anti-pragmatic, but I don't think it is. I believe that truly free software is the only way to get truly great software that truly serves the user's needs. What could be more pragmatic than that?
It's for fun, stupid
Let's face it: Linus made Linux because he wanted to, and he's continued working on it because he enjoys it. This could be said about many pieces of open source software. Every person may have his or her price, but would you rather have something that someone hated making but were paid gobs of money to make, or something that someone made as a labor of love and were paid nothing for it? Again, countering the "well that's all very idealistic, but . . . " naysayers, I would have to say that the most excellent products of human effort have been ones that were not solely inspired by monetary gains.
So, in conclusion, I'd have to say that this won't work, and I'm glad it won't. One of the biggest reasons I switched to Linux early on was that I wasn't inundated with advertising every time I started it up.
However, the lowest emissions vehicle around is a bicycle.
Damn skippy! I was going to mention this, but I didn't want to sound like a prick. I own a bicycle and a Toyota 4Runner. What do I use the bicycle for? Riding to and from work in 100+ F degree weather, of course! And I am doing better by the environment than anyone else who isn't also riding a bicycle to work everyday.
So, you might ask, what do I need the 4Runner for? For three major things:
Long highway trips
Hauling stuff
Off-roading/4 wheeling
And yes, I actually do off-road and use 4 wheel drive. For those that don't believe me, consider this: I bought the Toyota 4Runner to replace a Ford Ranger because I kept getting it stuck and snapping the clutch. I once had to walk back 20 miles! Not that it wasn't an enjoyable hike, it was just a little inconvenient at the time.
So until you start riding a bicycle to work everyday, you can take your "you shouldn't own an SUV, they're evil!" BS and shove it up your ass!
Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed a disturbing trend? A Windows only, closed-source app is getting mentioned very often, and the posts mentioning it (not one, but two) are getting modded to +5 insightful/informative.
Flame me, mod me down if you will, but I think that people here might be more interested in everybuddy, which not only works under Linux, MacOS X and BSD, but is open-source as well.
Bash Microsoft and AOL all you want, but part of their success is definately due to ease of use.
Really? I always thought that their success was due to marketing their products to death. I'm so glad you came and set the record straight. Of course, by your logic, Apple should own 90% of the market. Oh, wait, it doesn't does it?
In the end, it should just work.
Funny that you mention Microsoft in the same post as this, because I've never seen a Microsoft product "just work".
Slashdot Mirror
You will retain copy rights to the program, and they will get the source code. Everyone wins!
A: Yes. Next question.
Not to mention "Free Enterprise", an offbeat, not widely known film starring Shatner as, as best I can tell, himself!
I guess that's the main question on my mind: were you portraying a character very similar to yourself in "Free Enterprise"?
And I know we're only supposed to ask one question, but it's on the same subject: what are your thoughts and feelings on "Free Enterprise"? Was it fun to poke fun at yourself?
While my snappy answers to stupid questions usually end here, I feel I should elaborate, lest I be called a troll or worse a (gasp) Linux user.
I feel I have sufficent knowledge to answer this question in the affirmative based on my following experiences:
So is Mac OS X slow? In my experience, yes. Does that matter to me? No, as it's not my platform of choice (see my signature) and it's not free anyway. I just use it as a tool in my professional life and to develop my software so that will have a wider audience.
Yes, but you forget something:
Slashdot was made by Linux users, for Linux users. Anything else is secondary, and we don't try to hide behind a mask of being a "hip counter-culture 'mag". What do you think "News for Nerds" means, anywhow?
Even more sad is that many people believe that businesses should have the same rights as individuals. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more true.
Screw that crap, man. If I have to wear a suit to get a job, the job's not worth it. I mean, I'm not applying to be a fashion designer, am I? I work best when I am comfortable, and that includes wearing comfortable clothes that I can afford.
Actually, I could care less about what is "cool" and what others think of me; as long as I am doing what makes me happy, that's all that matters. I like the "Got Root?" t-shirt and think it's funny.
Really?
(/me looks down at shorts and "Got Root?" t-shirt, as well as Teva sandals)
Hmm, guess I must not be a "real technology guy".
Seriously, who do these people think they're kidding? There will *always* be a contingent of us who wear shorts and t-shirts, and quite frankly we don't *care* what other people think of that.
To conclude, I leave you with a quote:
Me, for one. Not anymore mind you, but I do hack on it when I get the chance these days.
When was the lat time they did `this'? What did Red Hat so with their packacged kernels that was bad?
I'm not sure, because I stopped running RedHat a long time ago for the kind of stuff I was no longer willing to put with. But I can name some things from when I did run RedHat:
All I'm saying is, this isn't the first time RedHat's done something like this. They aren't being deliberately annoying, and I'm sure some of their changes are good (as were some of the non RedHat specific patches they added to their kernel packages), but for f*cks sake, I wish they'd at least tell the upstream maintainers.
How is providing a consistent desktop theme bad?
It's not, but the least they could do is pass the patches upstream and let the maintainers know about it, instead of breaking things and causing headaches for their customers and the upstream maintainers.
I know the GPL doesn't mandate cooperation, but cooperation is a part of the spirit of the GPL.
. . . how the Linux kernel developers have felt for years. In other words, this hasn't been the first time RedHat has done this, and they are sure to do it again. It's all a part of Open Source, so get used to it. If RedHat does anything stupid (like they have done in the past with their packaged kernels), it will come back to haunt them. If they do anything good, then great, it will go back to the community.
BZZZT, wrong, but thanks for playing! They are blocking potential attackers who have stated their intent to attack. That's just a common sense security precaution, not censorship.
As a side note, just how exactly will the RIAA "demand" they cut off access to warez.org? Is the RIAA one of their clients? No? Well, then I guess they don't have to do a damn thing they say.
Just a note, I like your points, but where did you get the idea that MPEGs are more closed than other formats? At least pure mpeg is open and has players on most major platforms.
"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." - Jack Handey
And what about carrots? If they screamed, would you eat them? How do you know they're not screaming, and you just can't hear it?
Damn vegetarians; most of them don't have the guts to admit the real reason they are vegetarians: it's good for their health. Not that I really care, I just wish they'd stop trying to lay a guilt trip on everyone else. If Big Macs started being healthier than peas and broccoli, I'm pretty sure that vegetarians would change their tone real quick.
Are you sure you'd want to hear what dogs would have to say if they could talk?
I for one, am looking forward to the day we give cats opposable thumbs. Just think of the havoc they could wreak!
Uh huh. Then why doesn't my USB scanner work with MacOSX?
That, of course, is your prerogative. Mine is that I will not watch ads, under any circumstances.
Who said anything about about limiting ourselves?
Granted, two of the three above links are *BSD, but I don't see any reason why we couldn't have Debian GNU/BeOS.
Also, the only reason some of us are American is that we were born here.
While my snappy answer to stupid questions usually ends here with a "Next question", I feel that this time it is necessary to elaborate.
There are two major reasons I don't ever see this working:
- It's the freedom, dummy
- It's for fun, stupid
So, in conclusion, I'd have to say that this won't work, and I'm glad it won't. One of the biggest reasons I switched to Linux early on was that I wasn't inundated with advertising every time I started it up.The poster asks
and I'd have to answer that while many will disagree, it's the licensing and philosophy. It used to be that I would use Linux because it was better. To a certain degree, I still do. But even if it wasn't better, I would have switched long ago because it gives me something no other operating system can: freedom. This may seem very anti-pragmatic, but I don't think it is. I believe that truly free software is the only way to get truly great software that truly serves the user's needs. What could be more pragmatic than that?Let's face it: Linus made Linux because he wanted to, and he's continued working on it because he enjoys it. This could be said about many pieces of open source software. Every person may have his or her price, but would you rather have something that someone hated making but were paid gobs of money to make, or something that someone made as a labor of love and were paid nothing for it? Again, countering the "well that's all very idealistic, but . . . " naysayers, I would have to say that the most excellent products of human effort have been ones that were not solely inspired by monetary gains.
Damn skippy! I was going to mention this, but I didn't want to sound like a prick. I own a bicycle and a Toyota 4Runner. What do I use the bicycle for? Riding to and from work in 100+ F degree weather, of course! And I am doing better by the environment than anyone else who isn't also riding a bicycle to work everyday.
So, you might ask, what do I need the 4Runner for? For three major things:
- Long highway trips
- Hauling stuff
- Off-roading/4 wheeling
And yes, I actually do off-road and use 4 wheel drive. For those that don't believe me, consider this: I bought the Toyota 4Runner to replace a Ford Ranger because I kept getting it stuck and snapping the clutch. I once had to walk back 20 miles! Not that it wasn't an enjoyable hike, it was just a little inconvenient at the time.So until you start riding a bicycle to work everyday, you can take your "you shouldn't own an SUV, they're evil!" BS and shove it up your ass!
Bah. This is old news. Haven't these people ever heard of the Coffee HOWTO?
A: No. Humans might, but the Earth will be around for a long time to come. Next question.
Flame me, mod me down if you will, but I think that people here might be more interested in everybuddy, which not only works under Linux, MacOS X and BSD, but is open-source as well.
I might also mention that everybuddy has been around longer, and they are working on a Java version as well.
Of course, I'm probably talking to deaf ears, seeing as how a large majority of slashdot readers are using Windows (*sigh*).
Really? I always thought that their success was due to marketing their products to death. I'm so glad you came and set the record straight. Of course, by your logic, Apple should own 90% of the market. Oh, wait, it doesn't does it?
In the end, it should just work.
Funny that you mention Microsoft in the same post as this, because I've never seen a Microsoft product "just work".