Moderators, even though later posts may say the same thing much better than this one, that doesn't make the earlier post redundant. That's why there is a time stamp and a CID (the number on the parentheses)...
According to the article, most of the bugs mentioned are already fixed in Mozilla, but won't make it in Netscape 6.0, because of the brain-dead push for a 6.0 release. If you spend time beta-testing anything, it should be Mozilla, and not IE...
I haven't seen this anywhere else, but I got this message, and I thought I would share:
On Friday, October 20, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Judicial Watch will host a nationally televised presidential debate featuring Natural Law candidate John Hagelin, Democrat Al Gore, the Green Party's Ralph Nader, Reform candidate Pat Buchanan, Libertarian candidate Harry Browne, and Howard Phillips. George W. Bush has been invited but has yet to accept.
The debate will be televised on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, and maybe on some local stations. The times are Central, so check you local listings.
During the congressional hearing on Carnivore, the FBI stated that current wire-tapping laws are adequate for the use of Carnivore. Further more, they revealed that the uses so far of Carnivore had been according to the regulations of optaining a "pen-register" wire tap. Are you aware that (from what we know) technically Carnivore is much closer to the concept of trunk-tapping, as most, if not all the traffic at the ISP has to go through Carnivore? AFAIK, trunk-tapping is illegal - would you be of the opinion that Carnivore automatically falls under the same illegal category of wire-tapping?
I also agree that the government needs to get much more efficient in granting green cards. This bill contains several additional things that make the green card process better:
will allow H1B holders to keep the status beyond the six years, if they are waiting for a green card
will allow persons from "oversubscribed" countries (e.g. India and China) to receive Green cards beyond their per-country yearly quota, if there are any left in a given fiscal year. Right now about half of the employment-based green cards that can be awarded in a year go unclaimed while people from India and China wait 5-6 years to fit in their country's quota.
will allow persons, who have filed the paperwork for adjustment of status to permanent residency to change employers (in a similar job), if they have been waiting for more than 180 days.
will allow H1B holders to switch jobs more easily - as soon as their new H1B petition is filed, as opposed to waiting for it to be approved
For a summary of the bill, take a look here. (Warning - a lawyer site).
The "specific job title" can be as broad as software developer or analyst.
H1B visa holders can own company stock.
An H1B holder can work for as many companies as they want, as long as they have a valid H1B approval for each of them.
H1Bs get approved for up to 3 years, with a possible extension for another 3 years - the total time should not exceed 6 years
Actually the bill may address all of this issues (the first one being a non-issue IMO). I say may, because things get changed dirung the discussions - the originally proposed bill addresses these issues.
Please note that this is not just about increasing the annual number of H1B visas, but also makes some important changes about premanent residency, changing employers, etc. You can read a very short FAQ, the full text of the bill (as introduced), and much more at this site.
Also note that this is a bi-partisan bill, with Sen. Lieberman (Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate) a co-sponsor of the bill.
Coming from a school where most of the classes require some (if not all) work to be done on or based on the web, knowing I'm paying $30k and I'm not gonna be able to do my homework because a bunch of slackers who won't be there next semester because they're d/ling music truly pisses me off.
This is a legitimate concern, and a good question. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to it.
The answer is better network management - you don't have to ban Napster to limit the bandwidth used for MP3s. The University of Wisconsin - Madison has developed tools which allow this type of bandwidth management. BTW, the King letter aparently made it there as well, but I haven't heard the response.
I'm fairly confident that there are a lot of folks out there that feel like I do, that what they want is a freakin' Web browser that lets them browse the Web, and browse it well.
And what does thast mean, exactly? For me it means to be able to correctly render HTML and XHTML with CSS1 and CSS2, JavaScript and Java, XML with XSLT. Show me a browser that can do that - there aren't any. It looks like Mozilla will be able to get closest to that goal, while preserving the modularity and extensibility, which allow things like Galeon, and other Mozilla derived apps to happen. Why do you think this is an easy task, that could have been completed by now?
I had high hopes that the Mozilla project would do a lot of fat-trimming; instead, it added neato-schmeato features like skins (ooh, ahh.) Instead of building on the platform-neutral framework that Mozilla already had, they built their own platform-neutral toolkit. (Gee, thanks.)
One more time - skins are not a separate feature, they are a side effect of the UI architecture. It is part of the cross-platform framework that was needed to be built from scratch. (If you think the old/current Netscape cross-paltform capabilities are worth a dime, you haven't used Netscape on Linux).
At the same time, the Konqueror team has come up with a 90% usable browser from scratch in half the time, with a tiny fraction of the developers and bug testers and without the resources and experience of Netscape behind it.
OK, let's see - Mozilla came up with 90% usable browser, plus the architectural foundations which make platform independence and extensibility possible, in only twice the time it took the Konquerer team to make an 90% ready HTML renderer for KDE? I have nothing against Konquerer, and I will be very happy when I have many excelent browsers for Linux, but remember - desktop users mostly use Windows. Can they use Konquerer?
They do say Debian is the most BSD-like of the distros...
That would be Slackware, I think.
Re:This sounds just like the University of Wiscons
on
Disconnected
·
· Score: 1
There is no such person, William Wresch, at UW-Madison, nor at UW-Milwaukee. Since Jon Katz doesn't give us the full information, it is possible that he is mistaken...
Also, the book was written in 96 - I wonder why Katz doesn't discuss if it is still relevant today...
That's good to hear, honestly. Still, I wonder how much stability could be improved, and footprint be reduced, if some of the cool stuff just got temporarily pulled... hmmm.
I don't know which cool stuff you are referring to, but I think there is misconception about things like skins, etc. - these are side effects of the basic Mozilla architecture, not stuff that got added just for the coolness factor...
So some online poll on some website is showing fluctuations. Where one option was leading earlier, another one is now. What am I missing? Why in the world is this news?
You are missing the magnitude of the fluctuations. Read again how many votes per minute had been registered on Saturday and Sunday, compared to Thursday and Friday. I haven't seen any rational explanation for this, other than a script feeding the voting form, or direct results manipulations on the site itself.
According to thisLinux Today story/press release, "Network ICE is disclosing the source code to a new e-mail sniffing program called 'Altivore.' This software provides a potential alternative to ISPs who do not want to install the FBI's secretive black-box known as 'Carnivore.'" The press release is at NewsAlert, and the source is here.
The two issues that get intermixed here are the IT labor shortage and the temporary workers H1-B visas.
I believe the labor shortage is real - look around and tell me how many of your companies are not hiring constantly (Novell excluded:-(? My company is, and has been since at least 1994 (when I started). Our customers seem to be generally understaffed in the IT department. I have been getting unsolicited job offers since at least 1996.
H1-B visas are not specifically for IT workers. They are also used for all other kinds of skilled workers (most requiring a college degree), including models (obviously not requiring a college degree:-). While H1-B holders can only work for the employer who petitioned for their visa (including multiple employers), changing employers is not hard - the new employer can get a transfer H1B, which is not subject to the yearly cap, and it takes about 2 months to get it. Many H1-B holders change employers within the first or second year of their employment.
I believe that solving the shortage with H1-B visas is the wrong approach. The only reason H1-B visas are used for this is because of the inefficiency of the INS and the Labor department in processing employment based permanent residency applications (close to 6 years in many places, which is also the time limit of the H1-B visas). This is also the chain which holds many foreign workers with the same employer, not the H1-B visas. There should be a fast-track way for companies, who have shown constant need for qualified people, to get permanent residency for foreign workers. The current requirements for employment based green cards are good (they include provisions like the company must not have laid off workers recently, etc.) but the time it takes can be easily cut down to 6 months.
Some of the bills currently in congress and in the senate try to deal with these issues - go read about them at this site.
This is such a crock! I'm sure companies will go through the whole process of H-1B AND pay them the same rate as a US programmer instead of hiring a US programmer. Because we all know that companies don't care about labor costs. (bzzzz, wrong answer)
What US programmers? The company I work at hires people straight out of college and Cobol programmers coming out of the Y2K support trenches, trains as part of the job, and even though we are in a major college town, we have a very hard time finding good people. The interview process includes passing a test, though...
First of all, he makes it look he along with his cronies decided to develop Gnome, then he insists on calling it GNU Gnome - everything is not GNU !
Its NOT GNU Linux and its NOT GNU Gnome !
Gnome is very much a GNU project - obviously you are just trolling. Check the list of GNU software, and also check the copyright of the GNU source code (listed on top of every file).
It's not DeCSS - it is the concept of having digital content not protected by stupid access restriction schemes. Dropping this would encourage the much wider availability of DVDs, and even DIVX encoded content - I wouldn't mind paying a dollar or 2 to download a DIVX copy of a movie to check out...
That's supposed to be the spirit of free software? Our (== FSF) project must win? What about freedom of choice?
You seem to be reading too much into the Go get 'em, gnomes! statement. I don't see it as implying that one project will "win". What would this mean in the first place? Has vi won? Has emacs won? Has Xemacs won?
The important thing to remember is that the two projects have different approaches to modularity and desktop integration. By being able to compete on equal footing, the outcome will be very benefficial for the end user, because now only the technical side will matter. I am certain that pieceful co-existance of the two desktops is entirely possible, and we'll see it very soon. The most interesting times for this rivalry are yet to come!
Okay, I can see where their in trouble with that.:> I hope RMS has the ability to speak for the FSF as a whole. (Yes, I know his position, but above he indicated that only the copyright holders could grant that permission. Does the FSF retain copyright?)
Yes and yes - the FSF is the copyright holder of most (if not all) of the GNU code, and RMS can speak for the FSF.
Slashdot Mirror
Moderators, even though later posts may say the same thing much better than this one, that doesn't make the earlier post redundant. That's why there is a time stamp and a CID (the number on the parentheses)...
According to the article, most of the bugs mentioned are already fixed in Mozilla, but won't make it in Netscape 6.0, because of the brain-dead push for a 6.0 release. If you spend time beta-testing anything, it should be Mozilla, and not IE...
Try NPSIS. I've had them as a host since December, and I am very happy with them.
--Vassil
I haven't seen this anywhere else, but I got this message, and I thought I would share:
On Friday, October 20, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Judicial Watch will host a nationally televised presidential debate featuring Natural Law candidate John Hagelin, Democrat Al Gore, the Green Party's Ralph Nader, Reform candidate Pat Buchanan, Libertarian candidate Harry Browne, and Howard Phillips. George W. Bush has been invited but has yet to accept.
The debate will be televised on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, and maybe on some local stations. The times are Central, so check you local listings.
During the congressional hearing on Carnivore, the FBI stated that current wire-tapping laws are adequate for the use of Carnivore. Further more, they revealed that the uses so far of Carnivore had been according to the regulations of optaining a "pen-register" wire tap. Are you aware that (from what we know) technically Carnivore is much closer to the concept of trunk-tapping, as most, if not all the traffic at the ISP has to go through Carnivore? AFAIK, trunk-tapping is illegal - would you be of the opinion that Carnivore automatically falls under the same illegal category of wire-tapping?
will allow H1B holders to keep the status beyond the six years, if they are waiting for a green card
will allow persons from "oversubscribed" countries (e.g. India and China) to receive Green cards beyond their per-country yearly quota, if there are any left in a given fiscal year. Right now about half of the employment-based green cards that can be awarded in a year go unclaimed while people from India and China wait 5-6 years to fit in their country's quota.
will allow persons, who have filed the paperwork for adjustment of status to permanent residency to change employers (in a similar job), if they have been waiting for more than 180 days.
will allow H1B holders to switch jobs more easily - as soon as their new H1B petition is filed, as opposed to waiting for it to be approved
For a summary of the bill, take a look here. (Warning - a lawyer site).
Can only hold a specific job title
Can not be an owner of company stock
Only valid to work for 1 company
Only good for specified time (4 years?)
Most of this in incorrect.
The "specific job title" can be as broad as software developer or analyst.
H1B visa holders can own company stock.
An H1B holder can work for as many companies as they want, as long as they have a valid H1B approval for each of them.
H1Bs get approved for up to 3 years, with a possible extension for another 3 years - the total time should not exceed 6 years
Actually the bill may address all of this issues (the first one being a non-issue IMO). I say may, because things get changed dirung the discussions - the originally proposed bill addresses these issues.
Please note that this is not just about increasing the annual number of H1B visas, but also makes some important changes about premanent residency, changing employers, etc. You can read a very short FAQ, the full text of the bill (as introduced), and much more at this site.
Also note that this is a bi-partisan bill, with Sen. Lieberman (Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate) a co-sponsor of the bill.
Yes, this has been discussed on Slashdot. Check these two discussions: 08/17 and 08/16.
The answer is better network management - you don't have to ban Napster to limit the bandwidth used for MP3s. The University of Wisconsin - Madison has developed tools which allow this type of bandwidth management. BTW, the King letter aparently made it there as well, but I haven't heard the response.
I'm fairly confident that there are a lot of folks out there that feel like I do, that what they want is a freakin' Web browser that lets them browse the Web, and browse it well.
And what does thast mean, exactly? For me it means to be able to correctly render HTML and XHTML with CSS1 and CSS2, JavaScript and Java, XML with XSLT. Show me a browser that can do that - there aren't any. It looks like Mozilla will be able to get closest to that goal, while preserving the modularity and extensibility, which allow things like Galeon, and other Mozilla derived apps to happen. Why do you think this is an easy task, that could have been completed by now?
I had high hopes that the Mozilla project would do a lot of fat-trimming; instead, it added neato-schmeato features like skins (ooh, ahh.) Instead of building on the platform-neutral framework that Mozilla already had, they built their own platform-neutral toolkit. (Gee, thanks.)
One more time - skins are not a separate feature, they are a side effect of the UI architecture. It is part of the cross-platform framework that was needed to be built from scratch. (If you think the old/current Netscape cross-paltform capabilities are worth a dime, you haven't used Netscape on Linux).
At the same time, the Konqueror team has come up with a 90% usable browser from scratch in half the time, with a tiny fraction of the developers and bug testers and without the resources and experience of Netscape behind it.
OK, let's see - Mozilla came up with 90% usable browser, plus the architectural foundations which make platform independence and extensibility possible, in only twice the time it took the Konquerer team to make an 90% ready HTML renderer for KDE? I have nothing against Konquerer, and I will be very happy when I have many excelent browsers for Linux, but remember - desktop users mostly use Windows. Can they use Konquerer?
They do say Debian is the most BSD-like of the distros...
That would be Slackware, I think.
There is no such person, William Wresch, at UW-Madison, nor at UW-Milwaukee. Since Jon Katz doesn't give us the full information, it is possible that he is mistaken...
Also, the book was written in 96 - I wonder why Katz doesn't discuss if it is still relevant today...
That's good to hear, honestly. Still, I wonder how much stability could be improved, and footprint be reduced, if some of the cool stuff just got temporarily pulled... hmmm.
I don't know which cool stuff you are referring to, but I think there is misconception about things like skins, etc. - these are side effects of the basic Mozilla architecture, not stuff that got added just for the coolness factor...
IIRC, M17 was the feature freeze milestone. Looks like M18 (due any day now) will become the point beyond which Netscape 1.0 will branch out.
So some online poll on some website is showing fluctuations. Where one option was leading earlier, another one is now. What am I missing? Why in the world is this news?
You are missing the magnitude of the fluctuations. Read again how many votes per minute had been registered on Saturday and Sunday, compared to Thursday and Friday. I haven't seen any rational explanation for this, other than a script feeding the voting form, or direct results manipulations on the site itself.
According to this Linux Today story/press release, "Network ICE is disclosing the source code to a new e-mail sniffing program called 'Altivore.' This software provides a potential alternative to ISPs who do not want to install the FBI's secretive black-box known as 'Carnivore.'" The press release is at NewsAlert, and the source is here.
:-)
Can't stop snickering...
The two issues that get intermixed here are the IT labor shortage and the temporary workers H1-B visas.
:-(? My company is, and has been since at least 1994 (when I started). Our customers seem to be generally understaffed in the IT department. I have been getting unsolicited job offers since at least 1996.
I believe the labor shortage is real - look around and tell me how many of your companies are not hiring constantly (Novell excluded
H1-B visas are not specifically for IT workers. They are also used for all other kinds of skilled workers (most requiring a college degree), including models (obviously not requiring a college degree:-). While H1-B holders can only work for the employer who petitioned for their visa (including multiple employers), changing employers is not hard - the new employer can get a transfer H1B, which is not subject to the yearly cap, and it takes about 2 months to get it. Many H1-B holders change employers within the first or second year of their employment.
I believe that solving the shortage with H1-B visas is the wrong approach. The only reason H1-B visas are used for this is because of the inefficiency of the INS and the Labor department in processing employment based permanent residency applications (close to 6 years in many places, which is also the time limit of the H1-B visas). This is also the chain which holds many foreign workers with the same employer, not the H1-B visas. There should be a fast-track way for companies, who have shown constant need for qualified people, to get permanent residency for foreign workers. The current requirements for employment based green cards are good (they include provisions like the company must not have laid off workers recently, etc.) but the time it takes can be easily cut down to 6 months.
Some of the bills currently in congress and in the senate try to deal with these issues - go read about them at this site.
This is such a crock! I'm sure companies will go through the whole process of H-1B AND pay them the same rate as a US programmer instead of hiring a US programmer. Because we all know that companies don't care about labor costs. (bzzzz, wrong answer)
What US programmers? The company I work at hires people straight out of college and Cobol programmers coming out of the Y2K support trenches, trains as part of the job, and even though we are in a major college town, we have a very hard time finding good people. The interview process includes passing a test, though...
Argh! Replying to myself:
...check the copyright of the GNU source code should be check the copyright of the GNOME source code.
First of all, he makes it look he along with his cronies decided to develop Gnome, then he insists on calling it GNU Gnome - everything is not GNU !
Its NOT GNU Linux and its NOT GNU Gnome !
Gnome is very much a GNU project - obviously you are just trolling. Check the list of GNU software, and also check the copyright of the GNU source code (listed on top of every file).
It's not DeCSS - it is the concept of having digital content not protected by stupid access restriction schemes. Dropping this would encourage the much wider availability of DVDs, and even DIVX encoded content - I wouldn't mind paying a dollar or 2 to download a DIVX copy of a movie to check out...
That's supposed to be the spirit of free software? Our (== FSF) project must win? What about freedom of choice?
You seem to be reading too much into the Go get 'em, gnomes! statement. I don't see it as implying that one project will "win". What would this mean in the first place? Has vi won? Has emacs won? Has Xemacs won?
The important thing to remember is that the two projects have different approaches to modularity and desktop integration. By being able to compete on equal footing, the outcome will be very benefficial for the end user, because now only the technical side will matter. I am certain that pieceful co-existance of the two desktops is entirely possible, and we'll see it very soon. The most interesting times for this rivalry are yet to come!
Okay, I can see where their in trouble with that. :> I hope RMS has the ability to speak for the FSF as a whole. (Yes, I know his position, but above he indicated that only the copyright holders could grant that permission. Does the FSF retain copyright?)
Yes and yes - the FSF is the copyright holder of most (if not all) of the GNU code, and RMS can speak for the FSF.