While Mr. Berst does seem to be on the right track with his "who to watch", I don't think it would be wise to give up on Mr. Gates just yet.
Not that I'm a fan or anything. Just that I have a feeling that " a cornered animal fights fiercest" (or something along those lines).
Also, Mr. Berst's reason for counting out Microsoft may not be valid either. He states that the new start-ups may not be talking about M$. However, he doesn't state that they're talking about the competition either.
A lot of these new net players may, whether you like or not, simply consider M$ a given in the situation, which is why they don't stand out. M$ has made gains in getting a large amount of the web to run off their products (I don't know about you, but I;m seeing more and more.asp webpages all the time), and their market share isn't going to evaporate overnight, especially with Win2K on the horizon.
No M$ love here, but if we're going to succeed, we have to remember the wise words of Gold Leader "Stay on target. Stay on target."
Really? I was not aware of this. From the news report I saw (*sigh* TV News...my bad, I'm sorry), I was under the impression that they had 90 days to hold elections to fill the post.
I've never liked the idea of having a set, cast in stone date for elections. IMHO, it makes those involved worrry too much about the next one that they see coming on the horizon, and not spending enough time actually, you know, governing. THat isn't to say I want them more involved, and that the governments need to be making laws to the punching of a time-clock. But just spend more time exploring some iussues from every angle.
Whoops. I think I've used my alloted time. End rant.
Yeltsin has been removed from power in all but name for some time now. This has been in the works for a while, and Putin , who is replacing him, is largely viewed as the favorite to win the next elections anyways.
That being said, Russian law dictates that they have an election within 90 days of resignation, and that date is apparently already set for Mar 26, 2000. So, apparently, they have been expecting this.
Conclusion - by trying to prove the report valid, I seem to always be reaching the conclusion that the report is invalid. This shows that the report really IS invalid.
Unfortunately, some of your proofs may be incorrect.
The fervor to try Linux may very well be peaking right now as we speak. I'm sure that a number of poeple got a boxed version of for X-Mas, mostly because someone in their life knows that they are "into computers" and saw a blurb piece on CNN.
A lot of those users may well be giving it a shot, and running straight into this. This whole scenario may be enough to turn them off Linux, and back to Windows for a long time.
This will do 2 things: 1) Kill the buzz, as everyone who's had a bad Linux newbie experience will tell 10 friends, who won't even bother trying, and 2) Convince the CIO's not to roll out Linux on the corprate desktops, as his personal secretary's son tried it out during his X-Mas break, and inadvertently wiped his hard drive, or was told to RTFM while asking for some help.
As for the Unixes moving together, the logic behind the report seemed to be that the Big Companies were researching both *nix and Linux, and they may well combine the research into one unit. Less duplication of expenditure and all that.
So their logic seems to bear some fruit, and it is something we should all keep in mind, especially when asking ourselves "what does Linux need to be viable on the desktop?"
I'll assume you didn't sit behind the desk at the front of the class and tell the secretaries a/o Air Force personnel to RTFM when they asked a question.
Unfortunately, this is the situation that a lot of Linux Newbies find themselves in. In the abscense of someone they can ask the questions directly to, a different form of documentation may be required. It is not that the current documentation may be incomplete. There just needs to be a more accesible way of approaching it.
There is a Win-to-Linux HOWTO available, AIR. It kind of went through exactly what you were stating. Basics, like 'mounting' and the like.
As for your conclusion, that a lot of people pick up a distro (Mandrake or RedHat, most likely), and bail when they hit a snag, I think you hit the nail on the head. A lot of these poeple are probably technically savvy enough to use Linux, but could sure use a hand getting things going. I know I'm one.
After seeing a re-run of Bob Dole's appearence on Comedy Central from earlier this month, I'm starting to believe that he probably is one of the best men suited for the job. It's a shame that he lost in '96, as he has shown that he still has a keen mind and sharp wit, depsite his age. The fact that he continues to be involved in public service when he is no longer a Senator also makes me belive he cares deeply for the country.
As for issues, well, I'm not sure what his stance is. He comes off as a Republican moderate, from what I've seen. I'm wondering if he could be convinced to get in the ring again. I'm sure he could kick George W.'s ass from Cali to N.Y. and back again.
Of course, if he doesn't run, there's always Cthulhu. An Elder God bent on the subjugation of the human race is preferable to most of the candidates in the race.
So how will this proosal interact with Int'l Law? Most other countries have their own standards bodies with regartds to what and what isn't accpetable for phamaceutical use. (ie. The whole RU-486 thing in France).
As the 'net is supposedly without int'l boundaries, how does the Clinton Administration believe that they will be able to enforce a $500,000 fine?
And last, wouldn't the threat of regulation drive some of these companies completely underground, or at least to places where the drug laws are much more lax? Would there be anything to stop someone from setting up a website from Amsterdam that allows you to buy pot online? Would this not be similar to the current situation?
I understand what you're saying, there is more to DirectX than just the 3D drivers. It also includes Sound, Network, & Controller support, as well as others, and these also matter to games developers.
This is one of the niceties of developing in DirectX. Everything is all in one place, with a (mostly) unified format. Sure, there may be better single-task solutions (eg, sound, OpenGL), but here I get a common API for all.
Linux has been concentrated on the 3D aspect for a while. And hopefully, the next release of XFree will handle a lot of those issues. But in John Carmack's recent interview on/., he said one of the big reasons they used WinNT was for things like audio creation.
Add this to the list of things that need to be added.
I realize this is pretty up-tight, but making Zhirinovsky out to be some fun-lovin', practical-jokin' frat-boy is probably not in anyone's best interests.
Its one thing to be cracking wise and making threats when you're in Delta House, but when you're a political leader who could (potentially) be controlling the world's second largest nuclear arsenal*, cracking wise about expansionism and assaults on other nations doesn't help your cred much.
It didn't work well for Reagan, and we shouldn't be laughing at this wacko either. I'd treat his threats seriously. It may be easy to dismiss him as a nut when he only has 8% share, but that 8% change rapidly (just ask anyone from Minnesota).
* alright, this may be FUD, I'm no longer sure of Russia's potential nuclear capabilities. Somehow I don't think they've gotten rid of everything yet though...
I believe we're talking about any item which can be used to connect to the Web. Think PDA's and Cell phones, or perhaps your "Internet Ready" Standalone MP3 player, that hooks into your standard stereo component system.
I believe IBM has termed it 'ubiquitous computing'. Whatever. It means that things that could benefit from being hooked up to the net will have the capability. It doesn't mean your fridge is going to be running Jini.
C/mon, Bender is a way more fleshed out character than any of the bots from Asimov. The homage to Charles Dickens and the Santa/Punisher-bot was priceless.
On an aside, I tried re-reading some of Asimov's stuff a while back (6 months?), and found it incredibly difficult to get into. I've been finding the same problem with some AC Clarke and Hubbard stuff as well. Just incredibly dated and...hmmm, not sure how to describe it. I;m wondering if this is a post-cyberpunk reaction to pre-cyberpunk writing, in that everything prior has been colored by what has come since.
I;m just curious if anyone else out there in/.-land has thge same feeling to pre-80's Sci-Fi?
So is this Creative simply trying to stay ahead of the OS community, now that the drivers are released? Is it even possible for them to be succesful at this?
They still need to have some way to differentiate themselves from what is out there, so perhaps they are looking at adding some of their own apps (or code, whatever) to their products, using a more thorough documentation of their product that was is out there.
Apologies for the speculation, or if the above didn't come out right. Just thinking out loud, mostly.
AIR, didn't the Linux Journal do the same basic run-down 2 months ago (minus the Corel, natch)?
It seems that C/Net has a different slant, as well as a different criteria for rating (ease of installation, similarity to Windows, and ability to install beside Win), but I'm wondering how much of the 'inspiration' for the article is their own?
You still have Lynx, and pine, and I find I get a whole lot more done without actually playing w/ windows or settings, or Q3A, or pr0n.
I mean, sure you can argue "What's the point?", but it is efficient enough for most work. Just change run-levels when you actually have to scratch your itch, and otherwise, you're good to go.
Well, given the amount of stuff we've sent up, and the vast space we're dealing with (ie, amount of planetary surface), if this stuff is discovered, or hasn't been destroyed by some meteoric impact, then I'd be well and truly surpised.
As it stands, I don't think we have to worry too much about the stuff that is up there now.
...at least not for a long time. They will be useful, but their application is going to be confined to specialized fields to start. For now, these are not going to be intruding into the Gameboy and Palm Pilot realm.
Where will they be used? howabout 1. Workers in labs, or those around hazardous materials who need a HUD. What about those workes in Japan who created that criticality event by putting too much fissionable material in solution? Keep the important numbers right in front of you all the time.
2. Construction Workers a/o archtiects. Guys working on mega projects who can have an archtitectural overlay of the building plan super-imposed over where they are working right at the moment. Keep those mega-projects on schedule.
3. The obvious medical / dental applications for doctors and surgeons.
As for business applications, there are only 2 places where I can see this taking off soon:
4. Wall Street, where having one of these things with a ticker runnign constantly might provide some use,
5. Agents, (think Jerry McQwire [sic], where you are juggling phones and contracts at the same time.
( by the same token, I could see having assitants on the sidelines at Football games having their playbooks on an eyepiece too. The NFL seems to like their gadgets...)
Anyways, still doubtful this will be aimed at consumers anytime soon, though it will likely be used and oding some important work.
but the real boost will be from the engineering, and especially marketing. It took Linux as a whole quite some time to reach the critical mass that is needed to succeed in the marketplace. With some funding in these important projects, it will help to fight the marketing muscle that M$ currently is using to bosst it's proprietary alternatives.
Seeing as Bruce has commented on his words in this column, can someone add ad update to the main page so that people don't think we're going to be sitting at Corel's doors with torches and pitchforks this evening?
Well obviously, this is not for every home user, but it may allow for enough freedom of movement, not only in a walking direction.
Basically, a device around the waist will still allow for enough movement below the waist for walking. The device would look something like a large C-Clamp that would fit around the waist and lift the user up slightly (5-10cm - just enough so they can't touch the ground by stretching). If more support is required, then add shoulder straps or a vest-like harness to the "C-Clamp"
For input, just have the subject in a mo-cap suit (or something equivalent- tracking devices at key joints is what we are looking for to notice body position). This is where things get tricky, as there is no direct input(such as in the exoskeleton ideas) to say where the body is. But if your software can recognize traditional movements (i'm assuming there is enough mo-capped walking to determine some patterns, or enough testing could be done to provide it)), then the software can also recognize the speed at which things are done, allowing for this to be input into the virtual realm.
I believe this would also allow for vertical movement such as climbing stairs, or a ladder as well.
The only problem I could see (at the moment is that some people may not react well to being hoisted oof the ground, as there is no 'rest' position, just a 'hanging' position. If you add the 'mesh of bearings' idea on the floor beneath them, but DON'T use it as an input device, just support, it could work.
Slashdot Mirror
While Mr. Berst does seem to be on the right track with his "who to watch", I don't think it would be wise to give up on Mr. Gates just yet.
.asp webpages all the time), and their market share isn't going to evaporate overnight, especially with Win2K on the horizon.
Not that I'm a fan or anything. Just that I have a feeling that " a cornered animal fights fiercest" (or something along those lines).
Also, Mr. Berst's reason for counting out Microsoft may not be valid either. He states that the new start-ups may not be talking about M$. However, he doesn't state that they're talking about the competition either.
A lot of these new net players may, whether you like or not, simply consider M$ a given in the situation, which is why they don't stand out. M$ has made gains in getting a large amount of the web to run off their products (I don't know about you, but I;m seeing more and more
No M$ love here, but if we're going to succeed, we have to remember the wise words of Gold Leader "Stay on target. Stay on target."
Really? I was not aware of this. From the news report I saw (*sigh* TV News...my bad, I'm sorry), I was under the impression that they had 90 days to hold elections to fill the post.
I've never liked the idea of having a set, cast in stone date for elections. IMHO, it makes those involved worrry too much about the next one that they see coming on the horizon, and not spending enough time actually, you know, governing. THat isn't to say I want them more involved, and that the governments need to be making laws to the punching of a time-clock. But just spend more time exploring some iussues from every angle.
Whoops. I think I've used my alloted time. End rant.
Yeltsin has been removed from power in all but name for some time now. This has been in the works for a while, and Putin , who is replacing him, is largely viewed as the favorite to win the next elections anyways.
That being said, Russian law dictates that they have an election within 90 days of resignation, and that date is apparently already set for Mar 26, 2000. So, apparently, they have been expecting this.
Conclusion - by trying to prove the report valid, I seem to always be reaching the conclusion that the report is invalid. This shows that the report really IS invalid.
Unfortunately, some of your proofs may be incorrect.
The fervor to try Linux may very well be peaking right now as we speak. I'm sure that a number of poeple got a boxed version of for X-Mas, mostly because someone in their life knows that they are "into computers" and saw a blurb piece on CNN.
A lot of those users may well be giving it a shot, and running straight into this. This whole scenario may be enough to turn them off Linux, and back to Windows for a long time.
This will do 2 things:
1) Kill the buzz, as everyone who's had a bad Linux newbie experience will tell 10 friends, who won't even bother trying, and
2) Convince the CIO's not to roll out Linux on the corprate desktops, as his personal secretary's son tried it out during his X-Mas break, and inadvertently wiped his hard drive, or was told to RTFM while asking for some help.
As for the Unixes moving together, the logic behind the report seemed to be that the Big Companies were researching both *nix and Linux, and they may well combine the research into one unit. Less duplication of expenditure and all that.
So their logic seems to bear some fruit, and it is something we should all keep in mind, especially when asking ourselves "what does Linux need to be viable on the desktop?"
I'll assume you didn't sit behind the desk at the front of the class and tell the secretaries a/o Air Force personnel to RTFM when they asked a question.
Unfortunately, this is the situation that a lot of Linux Newbies find themselves in. In the abscense of someone they can ask the questions directly to, a different form of documentation may be required. It is not that the current documentation may be incomplete. There just needs to be a more accesible way of approaching it.
Take a look at The Dos to Linux HOWTO
It should be what you're looking for.
There is a Win-to-Linux HOWTO available, AIR. It kind of went through exactly what you were stating. Basics, like 'mounting' and the like.
As for your conclusion, that a lot of people pick up a distro (Mandrake or RedHat, most likely), and bail when they hit a snag, I think you hit the nail on the head. A lot of these poeple are probably technically savvy enough to use Linux, but could sure use a hand getting things going. I know I'm one.
After seeing a re-run of Bob Dole's appearence on Comedy Central from earlier this month, I'm starting to believe that he probably is one of the best men suited for the job. It's a shame that he lost in '96, as he has shown that he still has a keen mind and sharp wit, depsite his age. The fact that he continues to be involved in public service when he is no longer a Senator also makes me belive he cares deeply for the country.
As for issues, well, I'm not sure what his stance is. He comes off as a Republican moderate, from what I've seen. I'm wondering if he could be convinced to get in the ring again. I'm sure he could kick George W.'s ass from Cali to N.Y. and back again.
Of course, if he doesn't run, there's always Cthulhu. An Elder God bent on the subjugation of the human race is preferable to most of the candidates in the race.
No, but if you look at the cover at fatbrain, they show the URL as www.etronica.com
That should be what you're looking for.
So how will this proosal interact with Int'l Law? Most other countries have their own standards bodies with regartds to what and what isn't accpetable for phamaceutical use. (ie. The whole RU-486 thing in France).
As the 'net is supposedly without int'l boundaries, how does the Clinton Administration believe that they will be able to enforce a $500,000 fine?
And last, wouldn't the threat of regulation drive some of these companies completely underground, or at least to places where the drug laws are much more lax? Would there be anything to stop someone from setting up a website from Amsterdam that allows you to buy pot online? Would this not be similar to the current situation?
I understand what you're saying, there is more to DirectX than just the 3D drivers. It also includes Sound, Network, & Controller support, as well as others, and these also matter to games developers.
/., he said one of the big reasons they used WinNT was for things like audio creation.
This is one of the niceties of developing in DirectX. Everything is all in one place, with a (mostly) unified format. Sure, there may be better single-task solutions (eg, sound, OpenGL), but here I get a common API for all.
Linux has been concentrated on the 3D aspect for a while. And hopefully, the next release of XFree will handle a lot of those issues. But in John Carmack's recent interview on
Add this to the list of things that need to be added.
'nuff said
So, whats the pool at for 'How long before this guy is in some German Fetish pr0n'? Personally, I give it 6 months...
I realize this is pretty up-tight, but making Zhirinovsky out to be some fun-lovin', practical-jokin' frat-boy is probably not in anyone's best interests.
Its one thing to be cracking wise and making threats when you're in Delta House, but when you're a political leader who could (potentially) be controlling the world's second largest nuclear arsenal*, cracking wise about expansionism and assaults on other nations doesn't help your cred much.
It didn't work well for Reagan, and we shouldn't be laughing at this wacko either. I'd treat his threats seriously. It may be easy to dismiss him as a nut when he only has 8% share, but that 8% change rapidly (just ask anyone from Minnesota).
* alright, this may be FUD, I'm no longer sure of Russia's potential nuclear capabilities. Somehow I don't think they've gotten rid of everything yet though...
I believe we're talking about any item which can be used to connect to the Web. Think PDA's and Cell phones, or perhaps your "Internet Ready" Standalone MP3 player, that hooks into your standard stereo component system.
I believe IBM has termed it 'ubiquitous computing'. Whatever. It means that things that could benefit from being hooked up to the net will have the capability. It doesn't mean your fridge is going to be running Jini.
C/mon, Bender is a way more fleshed out character than any of the bots from Asimov. The homage to Charles Dickens and the Santa/Punisher-bot was priceless.
/.-land has thge same feeling to pre-80's Sci-Fi?
On an aside, I tried re-reading some of Asimov's stuff a while back (6 months?), and found it incredibly difficult to get into. I've been finding the same problem with some AC Clarke and Hubbard stuff as well. Just incredibly dated and...hmmm, not sure how to describe it. I;m wondering if this is a post-cyberpunk reaction to pre-cyberpunk writing, in that everything prior has been colored by what has come since.
I;m just curious if anyone else out there in
So is this Creative simply trying to stay ahead of the OS community, now that the drivers are released? Is it even possible for them to be succesful at this?
They still need to have some way to differentiate themselves from what is out there, so perhaps they are looking at adding some of their own apps (or code, whatever) to their products, using a more thorough documentation of their product that was is out there.
Apologies for the speculation, or if the above didn't come out right. Just thinking out loud, mostly.
AIR, didn't the Linux Journal do the same basic run-down 2 months ago (minus the Corel, natch)?
It seems that C/Net has a different slant, as well as a different criteria for rating (ease of installation, similarity to Windows, and ability to install beside Win), but I'm wondering how much of the 'inspiration' for the article is their own?
...and go to Linux without X.
You still have Lynx, and pine, and I find I get a whole lot more done without actually playing w/ windows or settings, or Q3A, or pr0n.
I mean, sure you can argue "What's the point?", but it is efficient enough for most work. Just change run-levels when you actually have to scratch your itch, and otherwise, you're good to go.
Opera's main advantage comes from the Windows platform, where it was:
a) Not IE,
b) not Netscape,
c) still reasonably fast and full functioned.
This was enough to win it some die-hard fans, especially among people who didn't like the alternatives, but were forced to use Win32 in the office.
Not a bad little product, and it catered exactly to what people were looking for: a change from the alternatives.
Well, given the amount of stuff we've sent up, and the vast space we're dealing with (ie, amount of planetary surface), if this stuff is discovered, or hasn't been destroyed by some meteoric impact, then I'd be well and truly surpised.
As it stands, I don't think we have to worry too much about the stuff that is up there now.
...at least not for a long time. They will be useful, but their application is going to be confined to specialized fields to start. For now, these are not going to be intruding into the Gameboy and Palm Pilot realm.
Where will they be used? howabout
1. Workers in labs, or those around hazardous materials who need a HUD. What about those workes in Japan who created that criticality event by putting too much fissionable material in solution? Keep the important numbers right in front of you all the time.
2. Construction Workers a/o archtiects. Guys working on mega projects who can have an archtitectural overlay of the building plan super-imposed over where they are working right at the moment. Keep those mega-projects on schedule.
3. The obvious medical / dental applications for doctors and surgeons.
As for business applications, there are only 2 places where I can see this taking off soon:
4. Wall Street, where having one of these things with a ticker runnign constantly might provide some use,
5. Agents, (think Jerry McQwire [sic], where you are juggling phones and contracts at the same time.
( by the same token, I could see having assitants on the sidelines at Football games having their playbooks on an eyepiece too. The NFL seems to like their gadgets...)
Anyways, still doubtful this will be aimed at consumers anytime soon, though it will likely be used and oding some important work.
but the real boost will be from the engineering, and especially marketing. It took Linux as a whole quite some time to reach the critical mass that is needed to succeed in the marketplace. With some funding in these important projects, it will help to fight the marketing muscle that M$ currently is using to bosst it's proprietary alternatives.
Nice to see all around from Redhat.
So what exactly does Redhat have against BeOS and the commercial Unixes?
Seeing as Bruce has commented on his words in this column, can someone add ad update to the main page so that people don't think we're going to be sitting at Corel's doors with torches and pitchforks this evening?
Just a thought.
Well obviously, this is not for every home user, but it may allow for enough freedom of movement, not only in a walking direction.
Basically, a device around the waist will still allow for enough movement below the waist for walking. The device would look something like a large C-Clamp that would fit around the waist and lift the user up slightly (5-10cm - just enough so they can't touch the ground by stretching). If more support is required, then add shoulder straps or a vest-like harness to the "C-Clamp"
For input, just have the subject in a mo-cap suit (or something equivalent- tracking devices at key joints is what we are looking for to notice body position). This is where things get tricky, as there is no direct input(such as in the exoskeleton ideas) to say where the body is. But if your software can recognize traditional movements (i'm assuming there is enough mo-capped walking to determine some patterns, or enough testing could be done to provide it)), then the software can also recognize the speed at which things are done, allowing for this to be input into the virtual realm.
I believe this would also allow for vertical movement such as climbing stairs, or a ladder as well.
The only problem I could see (at the moment is that some people may not react well to being hoisted oof the ground, as there is no 'rest' position, just a 'hanging' position. If you add the 'mesh of bearings' idea on the floor beneath them, but DON'T use it as an input device, just support, it could work.
Just my thoughts...