The big one is cloning. Every time a really good new program idea comes out and someone tries to sell it, a thousand hackers jump on it and clone it, guaranteeing that the originator won't make a dime. Sometimes, the clone is even inferior, but at $0 it's impossible to compete against.
You're also forgetting that certain quality and innovation can only be carried through in the OS world.
Look at the PC BIOSes. They all suck hard. Online help that simply lists the options you can choose from? I could have fscking figured that out with with the PgUp/PgDn keys jackass. (I'm talking to Award here)
Do you really think it will get better? Can you really make money by pouring into R&D and creating a better one? Companies have tried, but I've seen significantly more Award BIOSes these past year than any other. They all suck and you generally have to go out to the web to figure out what BIOS settings will get your computer working properly. That's much easier when your computer *is* working.
Then they decide to try sticking advertising in your bootup? It thankfully didn't happen, but they were going to. Why not use that space for some plain-fscking <insert your language here>?
A project like OpenBIOS has much more of a chance of going somewhere interesting, because money is not a factor. Given proper time, it could provide much better, innovative, software.
...claiming that they violated fedral trademark and copyright laws by creating an "operating system(TM)(R)(C)."
In related news, MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club filed suit against Microsoft for using their own mark within a legal document used in a suit against the US DOJ.
An outraged senior member was heard saying, "all they did was throw some fscking parantheses in there. Those bastards won't get away with this."
XP is way too generic. For one, it has only two letters. There are always a lot of generic things two letters could stand for sensibly. Not so with four or five. I might as well trademark the letter F.
Then again, common sense doesn't seem to prevail very much lately in matters like this.
Well, the VA Linux packaging is pretty cool. The server goes in, then a box containing cables, books, etc. It's easy to pull the top box out. I've done a few trade shows and demos and it comes in pretty handy for cables and small devices. Now if only the servers weren't so damn big. I couldn't close the back door of a rack one time if anything was plugged into it.
Also, I got an IBM Thinkpad a few years ago that was suspended in a plastic sheet inside the box. That was pretty cool
Let's face it, no one has a legitimate need to view pornography or bomb making schematics or the formulas for illicit drugs.
Let's face it, no one has a legitimate need to watch "Friends."
Both statements are equally true.
A restriction on sensitive content available on the Internet will cause no inconvenience to most of us, and help stop the criminals out there from having access to mind warping propaganda.
So tell me, where is the line drawn?
More importantly, who draws it?
I think "Friends" is mind warping propaganda. I want it banned. All websites about the topic should be shut down and their limbs cut off.
Even better, say I am in a minority religion and the majority religion (here in NA, that's Christianity) doesn't like it. They want it shut down. They say it's evil and makes kids shoot each other in schools (not true at all). Because of jerks like you, my say is repressed by the majority. Not only that but my views are seen as illegal. My right to exist as I am, for all intents and purposes, ends, at least in the fucked up country you want.
Have I demonstrated why free speech should be all-emcompassing, yet?
whatever...when the shoe's on the other foot (or OS in this case), you start whining. How lame is that?
I'm not whining, I'm just pointing something out. I don't even have a need for this software.
I simply found it funny that the "shoe was on the other foot," as you say. I had an old job where I had to use NT. I grabbed stuff like Cygwin and GNUplot to do my work (sensor stuff) and found that a ton of apps didn't work, like AfterStep.:-)* Sometimes, I VNC'ed to my box at home to do stuff.
The reason for all that is that open source software is generally developed with other open source software: OSes, libraries, etc. Windows didn't really have a lot of support for that stuff.
You also say that I'm complaining that "it'll have to be rewritten in before it's useful." Well, it's true, and I'm not complaining. I have no use for it, remember? It's just that a number of people are used to the notion of open source almost always running under Linux. Notice the load of posts talking about, "yay, stuff for Linux!"
The truth is, for that to happen, there will be a porting effort, which will probably be non-trivial. That's a simple fact, that I'm stating to those who haven't realised, many other posters to this story.
An open source project where open source operating systems are the second-class citizens.
Traditionally, open source stuff was taken care of on the Unices, especially Linux and BSD, first. Windows was the second-class citizen simply due to it's lack of portability.
As time went, open source software appeared that made software developed under the Unices easy to port to Windows. SDL and GTK for Win32 come immediately to mind. The Gimp doesn't seem to lag very much, and the OS SDL games out there don't seem to lag at all.
Now we have open source developed under Windows that people want under the Unices. I bet that's going to be fun to deal with. That's going to end up having to be completely rewritten under SDL/GTK/Qt or something before being useful.
There are a bunch of people here saying, "Yay, 3d software for Linux."
I upgraded to XFree86 4 and the default fonts are pretty nice. I prefer sans serif fonts and I'm using KDE 2 at 1280x1024.
The fun part is that SuSE included a happy script called 'getmsttfonts' with their XFree4 packages that grabs all of Microsoft's free fonts from ftp.microsoft.com, uncompresses them, and installs them. Ready for immediate use.
I don't find them any better. I have them there, but I'm still using the default helvetica, 100dpi for pretty much everything.
So, the first step is probably going to be upgrading to XFree86 4.
The third mouse button (paste) is the MIDDLE ONE. If you have two buttons, hit them both simultaneously. If that doesn't work, set Emulate3Buttons in your XF86Config.
I always copy and paste with my mouse. Hitting those ridiculous key combos is annoying when there's a much quicker way.
I used Xfree86 -configure to grab all those values and create a working XF86Config. It will grab your monitor's specs from the video card (yep, it worked on my TFT and my 19 inch CRT at home). If you're using SuSE, SaX2 is a frontend to this, and is quite cool, giving you a lot of control.
I'd suggest giving it a try, you'll probably get working modelines.
My solution is to simply not give out my email address.
I have email addresses that couldn't possibly have been leaked that were spammed.
The funniest example: SuSE 7 set up a user called "cyrus" which is for Cyrus IMAP. "Cyrus" got spammed.
I found out how this happened in my Sendmail logs. This is a pretty obnoxious practise that has grown popular recently. I'll show a tiny portion:
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <miguel@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <homes@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <gateway@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <lincoln@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
See the trend? My mail log is huge. Spammers now have the email equivalents of wardialers, and they're using them.
Under my current ISP, I have an email address. I have never given it out. I have never used it. It's good for getting warnings of service disruptions. It gets spam.
I still have and use my old RoadRunner address above. (the service is still up and used by my brother) I've had it for at least 3 years now. Up until a few of months ago I got about 1 or 2 spam per week. I was sort of open with it, too. Notice that I didn't spam-proof it or anything but I used it (and still do) for many site registrations. It only got bad when the dot.coms felt the crunch. I have a feeling my address was sold.
On my mailserver for funktronics.ca, I was dealing with spammers individually at first. I made a bounce message that read "Sender featured at http://goatse.cx" and added the IP. That didn't work so well so I have since set up the RBL. Cyrus hasn't gotten spam since then.
After all that, I'm surprised that your real address has not been spammed. I'm guessing it will be unless your using the RBL or something.
I'm running KDE 2.1b2 and it will resume, though I haven't tried it.
I highly recommend turning on the option for having one file operation window. It will even tell you your total download rate if you're downloading multiple files.
Another neat GetRight-ish feature (but better) is the little menu that comes up when you select a URL that isn't a link. Klipper, the ultra-neat clipboard tool asks if you want to open it in Konqueror, or (depending on availability) Nestcape or Mozilla, or it will let you pop up a window to edit your selection and then allow you to choose again. You can add more applications and regexes for processing. By default, mailto: links can be handled by kmail or mutt.
There are some features that are lacking, however. I can't click on a partial file (Konqueror adds a.part extension) and resume it. I have to go to the site again and click on the link. I also can't give it a bunch of mirrors and have it calculate which is the fastest one whilst downloading. That was my favourite GetRight feature.
If I told my parents about something my brother did, I would get in more trouble than my brother. Same for him if he told on me.
I'm glad it was like that. My parents, my mom especially, taught us the important social skill of not being a tattle.
Even as an adult, I dare you to try that kind of crap in your (as long as it's sane) workplace. You will be hated, and not just by the the person you told on. The person you told would probably hate you, too.
It was made clear from high where I work that crap like that would not be appreciated.
Of course, if you wanted to make sure that everybody wouldn't work together and fear you and each other instead, you'd run your company like these schools. Seems like a great way to avoid any sort of revolt, don't you think?
just wait until you get some sysadmin trying to reconfigure his/her server using voice control while driving...
You think that's bad? Check out VOCP, which is a voice mail system that allows you to get a shell. Yep, it decodes DTMF and allows you to type in commands. The whole thing is extremely cool.
So I'd rather the voice recognition for the driving admin thank you.
Do not comment on what you clearly do not understand. As for Communism, it is probably one of the greatest evils ever inflicted on man. Horror, strife, demoralization and death of the human spirit are born of this atrocity.
...and you put both sentences right there together. Bravo, hypocrite.
Interesting getting such a lecture from a citizen of a country without free speech. Anyway we've wasted enough time. Back to work. Nose to the grindstone citizen we have a 5 year plan to complete!
That you would even say such a thing shows how truly clueless you are. We have more free speech than you. Censorship is rampant in your country, in case you haven't noticed. We didn't make DeCSS illegal. We didn't pass some stupid DMCA law.
How about a cluelink. Note that freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is worded to allow for new technologies.
This is a country that released a pamphlet about how to use encryption.
What a fantastic idea. If only it had been tried before! (cough, cough Communism cough).
McCarthy really warped the minds of American people. Once someone says "commie!" everyone wants to run someone out of town.
Meanwhile, the post you're responding to mentioned the BBC, and your calling the UK "commies."
Here in Canada, we have the CBC, which is costing me 6 pennies a day (that's 4 American pennies). I think it's money very well spent. I can clearly listen to Radio Canada International on shortwave pretty much anywhere in the world (BBC radio does this too). We can watch and listen to Enlish and French programming anywhere in Canada.
At this point certain people are thinking that the government is using this to brainwash us and keep us complacent. You'll see more criticism of the government on CBC than on any other channel.
Then there's the other government funded content like the NFB, and the tax credits for Canadian shows. For a recent American-known example of a show that was helped by this: The Tom Green Show.
What I'm really liking lately is "Made in Canada."
"Here's the vice president of communications, and the vice president of...," bunch of different VPs are introduced, "...and the vice president of vice presidential affairs." I laughed my ass off.
Slackware install floppies which I painfully downloaded from a BBS at 2400 baud sometime way back around 1993?
Oh man, I remember the disk box I had that was just for Slackware. Then a new version would be released and my week would be gone. After a while, I broke down and got a 4x CD-ROM specifically for Slackware (and having music was a big plus). I paid $180 for it and it's still in my main desktop.
Anyway, most of the disks ended up being various other things, mostly Linux boot disks, DR-DOS, thrown out due to bad sectors, etc. I haven't seen one around in ages. I've been using whatever driver disks come with my hardware.
I'm amazed that yours are in good condition. I wonder if you can get ridiculously old versions of Slackware... or Yggdrasil or SLS (my first) for that matter. I'm going to look around.
Apparently, Samba TNG is able to do a full PDC, including ADS. I'm not sure how stable it is right now (I work for a Linux company and don't need to deal with that stuff too much).
I suggest trying it out and getting on the mailing list.
You see, the greatest strength of open source, the reson I use it, is that you can fix a bug if you find one. The free part doesn't matter at all here. In fact, you always have the option of contracting someone to do such development for you. It's not free anymore, but you have control, not a company who withholds information...
Quite frankly, I'm glad I don't have to depend on one company who may or may not care about whether their software works for me. Not being able to see Sorenson QuickTime is an extremely small price to pay.:-)*
Slashdot Mirror
You're also forgetting that certain quality and innovation can only be carried through in the OS world.
Look at the PC BIOSes. They all suck hard. Online help that simply lists the options you can choose from? I could have fscking figured that out with with the PgUp/PgDn keys jackass. (I'm talking to Award here)
Do you really think it will get better? Can you really make money by pouring into R&D and creating a better one? Companies have tried, but I've seen significantly more Award BIOSes these past year than any other. They all suck and you generally have to go out to the web to figure out what BIOS settings will get your computer working properly. That's much easier when your computer *is* working.
Then they decide to try sticking advertising in your bootup? It thankfully didn't happen, but they were going to. Why not use that space for some plain-fscking <insert your language here>?
A project like OpenBIOS has much more of a chance of going somewhere interesting, because money is not a factor. Given proper time, it could provide much better, innovative, software.
In related news, MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club filed suit against Microsoft for using their own mark within a legal document used in a suit against the US DOJ.
An outraged senior member was heard saying, "all they did was throw some fscking parantheses in there. Those bastards won't get away with this."
How about The Extreme Programming guys.
How about Roland. My brother has an XP-50.
XP is way too generic. For one, it has only two letters. There are always a lot of generic things two letters could stand for sensibly. Not so with four or five. I might as well trademark the letter F.
Then again, common sense doesn't seem to prevail very much lately in matters like this.
I think they should take Apple's lead and call it BHC.
:-)*
Butt-Head Cryptographer...
Besides, I can type bcp a smidgeon faster than scp.
Seems like a good idea until you see the goatse.cx guy mass posted to every story. Some people just love to ruin it for everyone else.
Well, the VA Linux packaging is pretty cool. The server goes in, then a box containing cables, books, etc. It's easy to pull the top box out. I've done a few trade shows and demos and it comes in pretty handy for cables and small devices. Now if only the servers weren't so damn big. I couldn't close the back door of a rack one time if anything was plugged into it.
Also, I got an IBM Thinkpad a few years ago that was suspended in a plastic sheet inside the box. That was pretty cool
I'll have to agree with the guy recommending ArgoUML. I've tried it and it's pretty zippy on my 400MHz, 96MB machine, despite the Java.
I'll also have to point you to KUML, which is for KDE2. It should run even faster, but is not as full featured.
Let's face it, no one has a legitimate need to watch "Friends."
Both statements are equally true.
So tell me, where is the line drawn?
More importantly, who draws it?
I think "Friends" is mind warping propaganda. I want it banned. All websites about the topic should be shut down and their limbs cut off.
Even better, say I am in a minority religion and the majority religion (here in NA, that's Christianity) doesn't like it. They want it shut down. They say it's evil and makes kids shoot each other in schools (not true at all). Because of jerks like you, my say is repressed by the majority. Not only that but my views are seen as illegal. My right to exist as I am, for all intents and purposes, ends, at least in the fucked up country you want.
Have I demonstrated why free speech should be all-emcompassing, yet?
I'm not whining, I'm just pointing something out. I don't even have a need for this software.
I simply found it funny that the "shoe was on the other foot," as you say. I had an old job where I had to use NT. I grabbed stuff like Cygwin and GNUplot to do my work (sensor stuff) and found that a ton of apps didn't work, like AfterStep.
The reason for all that is that open source software is generally developed with other open source software: OSes, libraries, etc. Windows didn't really have a lot of support for that stuff.
You also say that I'm complaining that "it'll have to be rewritten in before it's useful." Well, it's true, and I'm not complaining. I have no use for it, remember? It's just that a number of people are used to the notion of open source almost always running under Linux. Notice the load of posts talking about, "yay, stuff for Linux!"
The truth is, for that to happen, there will be a porting effort, which will probably be non-trivial. That's a simple fact, that I'm stating to those who haven't realised, many other posters to this story.
Complaining has nothing to do with it.
An open source project where open source operating systems are the second-class citizens.
Traditionally, open source stuff was taken care of on the Unices, especially Linux and BSD, first. Windows was the second-class citizen simply due to it's lack of portability.
As time went, open source software appeared that made software developed under the Unices easy to port to Windows. SDL and GTK for Win32 come immediately to mind. The Gimp doesn't seem to lag very much, and the OS SDL games out there don't seem to lag at all.
Now we have open source developed under Windows that people want under the Unices. I bet that's going to be fun to deal with. That's going to end up having to be completely rewritten under SDL/GTK/Qt or something before being useful.
There are a bunch of people here saying, "Yay, 3d software for Linux."
Not for a while...
Ok, I'm replying to my own post but it is quite relevant.
/pub/suse/i386/X. The coolest part is that a new Qt is included.
I just checked ftp.suse.com and SuSE has new new X 4.02 packages in
So a bunch of 'rpm -Uvh' commands later, and I'm typing this in anti-aliased fonts under Konqueror.
Not exactly useful for FreeBSD (you could just compile everything) but it would be cool for some people watching this Ask Slashdot with interest.
I upgraded to XFree86 4 and the default fonts are pretty nice. I prefer sans serif fonts and I'm using KDE 2 at 1280x1024.
The fun part is that SuSE included a happy script called 'getmsttfonts' with their XFree4 packages that grabs all of Microsoft's free fonts from ftp.microsoft.com, uncompresses them, and installs them. Ready for immediate use.
I don't find them any better. I have them there, but I'm still using the default helvetica, 100dpi for pretty much everything.
So, the first step is probably going to be upgrading to XFree86 4.
One thing that may confuse people though:
The third mouse button (paste) is the MIDDLE ONE. If you have two buttons, hit them both simultaneously. If that doesn't work, set Emulate3Buttons in your XF86Config.
I always copy and paste with my mouse. Hitting those ridiculous key combos is annoying when there's a much quicker way.
I'm now using Xfree86 4.02 on my laptop.
I used Xfree86 -configure to grab all those values and create a working XF86Config. It will grab your monitor's specs from the video card (yep, it worked on my TFT and my 19 inch CRT at home). If you're using SuSE, SaX2 is a frontend to this, and is quite cool, giving you a lot of control.
I'd suggest giving it a try, you'll probably get working modelines.
I have email addresses that couldn't possibly have been leaked that were spammed.
The funniest example: SuSE 7 set up a user called "cyrus" which is for Cyrus IMAP. "Cyrus" got spammed.
I found out how this happened in my Sendmail logs. This is a pretty obnoxious practise that has grown popular recently. I'll show a tiny portion:
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <miguel@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <homes@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <gateway@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
Dec 12 04:08:26 arthur sendmail[1687]: eBC88PC01687: <lincoln@funktronics.dhs.org>... User unknown
See the trend? My mail log is huge. Spammers now have the email equivalents of wardialers, and they're using them.
Under my current ISP, I have an email address. I have never given it out. I have never used it. It's good for getting warnings of service disruptions. It gets spam.
I still have and use my old RoadRunner address above. (the service is still up and used by my brother) I've had it for at least 3 years now. Up until a few of months ago I got about 1 or 2 spam per week. I was sort of open with it, too. Notice that I didn't spam-proof it or anything but I used it (and still do) for many site registrations. It only got bad when the dot.coms felt the crunch. I have a feeling my address was sold.
On my mailserver for funktronics.ca, I was dealing with spammers individually at first. I made a bounce message that read "Sender featured at http://goatse.cx" and added the IP. That didn't work so well so I have since set up the RBL. Cyrus hasn't gotten spam since then.
After all that, I'm surprised that your real address has not been spammed. I'm guessing it will be unless your using the RBL or something.
I'm running KDE 2.1b2 and it will resume, though I haven't tried it.
.part extension) and resume it. I have to go to the site again and click on the link. I also can't give it a bunch of mirrors and have it calculate which is the fastest one whilst downloading. That was my favourite GetRight feature.
I highly recommend turning on the option for having one file operation window. It will even tell you your total download rate if you're downloading multiple files.
Another neat GetRight-ish feature (but better) is the little menu that comes up when you select a URL that isn't a link. Klipper, the ultra-neat clipboard tool asks if you want to open it in Konqueror, or (depending on availability) Nestcape or Mozilla, or it will let you pop up a window to edit your selection and then allow you to choose again. You can add more applications and regexes for processing. By default, mailto: links can be handled by kmail or mutt.
There are some features that are lacking, however. I can't click on a partial file (Konqueror adds a
If I told my parents about something my brother did, I would get in more trouble than my brother. Same for him if he told on me.
I'm glad it was like that. My parents, my mom especially, taught us the important social skill of not being a tattle.
Even as an adult, I dare you to try that kind of crap in your (as long as it's sane) workplace. You will be hated, and not just by the the person you told on. The person you told would probably hate you, too.
It was made clear from high where I work that crap like that would not be appreciated.
Of course, if you wanted to make sure that everybody wouldn't work together and fear you and each other instead, you'd run your company like these schools. Seems like a great way to avoid any sort of revolt, don't you think?
I can see why.
Most of the consultants I have met probably wouldn't even know what the ACM is. Do you really think they've read these documents?
You think that's bad? Check out VOCP, which is a voice mail system that allows you to get a shell. Yep, it decodes DTMF and allows you to type in commands. The whole thing is extremely cool.
So I'd rather the voice recognition for the driving admin thank you.
AFS + Netatalk is used in many places. You can compile Netatalk with AFS support.
I haven't tried it but it is described here.
There are also AFS clients for Windows, and Samba is supposedly "AFS-Aware."
It's worth a shot.
...and you put both sentences right there together. Bravo, hypocrite.
That you would even say such a thing shows how truly clueless you are. We have more free speech than you. Censorship is rampant in your country, in case you haven't noticed. We didn't make DeCSS illegal. We didn't pass some stupid DMCA law.
How about a cluelink. Note that freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is worded to allow for new technologies.
This is a country that released a pamphlet about how to use encryption.
Need I go on?
McCarthy really warped the minds of American people. Once someone says "commie!" everyone wants to run someone out of town.
Meanwhile, the post you're responding to mentioned the BBC, and your calling the UK "commies."
Here in Canada, we have the CBC, which is costing me 6 pennies a day (that's 4 American pennies). I think it's money very well spent. I can clearly listen to Radio Canada International on shortwave pretty much anywhere in the world (BBC radio does this too). We can watch and listen to Enlish and French programming anywhere in Canada.
At this point certain people are thinking that the government is using this to brainwash us and keep us complacent. You'll see more criticism of the government on CBC than on any other channel.
Then there's the other government funded content like the NFB, and the tax credits for Canadian shows. For a recent American-known example of a show that was helped by this: The Tom Green Show.
What I'm really liking lately is "Made in Canada."
"Here's the vice president of communications, and the vice president of...," bunch of different VPs are introduced, "...and the vice president of vice presidential affairs." I laughed my ass off.
Oh man, I remember the disk box I had that was just for Slackware. Then a new version would be released and my week would be gone. After a while, I broke down and got a 4x CD-ROM specifically for Slackware (and having music was a big plus). I paid $180 for it and it's still in my main desktop.
Anyway, most of the disks ended up being various other things, mostly Linux boot disks, DR-DOS, thrown out due to bad sectors, etc. I haven't seen one around in ages. I've been using whatever driver disks come with my hardware.
I'm amazed that yours are in good condition. I wonder if you can get ridiculously old versions of Slackware... or Yggdrasil or SLS (my first) for that matter. I'm going to look around.
Maybe it's just a name they put on it in an attempt to marketeer.
Maybe it's like "blast processing."
Dan has a good point.
:-)*
Apparently, Samba TNG is able to do a full PDC, including ADS. I'm not sure how stable it is right now (I work for a Linux company and don't need to deal with that stuff too much).
I suggest trying it out and getting on the mailing list.
You see, the greatest strength of open source, the reson I use it, is that you can fix a bug if you find one. The free part doesn't matter at all here. In fact, you always have the option of contracting someone to do such development for you. It's not free anymore, but you have control, not a company who withholds information...
Quite frankly, I'm glad I don't have to depend on one company who may or may not care about whether their software works for me. Not being able to see Sorenson QuickTime is an extremely small price to pay.