Anyone who was using Linux in 1999 remembers when there were announcements like this every day. (Dell partners with Red Hat! Compaq partners with Ximian! Dell partners with Eazel! Compaq partners with Red Hat!) None of it amounted to anything.
This is good news, I guess, and making something work with free drivers on any one distribution makes it work (with some kicking and swearing, anyway) on all Linux. But I'm not throwing a party just yet...
The Polycom system is pretty good (and a huge improvement over whatever it was that we had before). But it still regularly fails beyond the ability of a room full of scientists and programmers to restart it. It definitely hasn't reached the ease of use level suitable for the CEO mentioned in the request, although the CEO's admin should be able to master it with time.
In general, I find videoconferencing a huge waste. You can't see anything, anyway, and the added breakdowns more than exceed any benefits over a teleconference.
Those computerized canvas "whiteboards" are kewl when you fist see them, but I haven't seen one yet that didn't entirely suck for actual use.
One was the official OSDL presence on the DTL (Desktop Linux working group), and the other was assisting the DTL with experiences from her time on the DCL (Data Center Linux) group.
No offence to your friends, but if those were their full-time positions (which may not be the case -- I can't tell from your phrasing), I don't have any trouble believing they were expendable.
I don't work at MSN and had exactly the same thought -- the Google satellite map is a (much-improved, although they've had several years of Moore's Law to work with) knockoff of Terraserver.
This is statistically interesting. It is interesting enough to warrant further study...
Actually, I'd say the numbers they claim are astonishing. A p-value would have been nice, but with any estimate of the variance of sex ratios that seems remotely plausible to me, the difference they're reporting is enormous.
"...Counterintuitively, companies that spend less in order to get more from information technology will likely be the big winners." That's quite a claim...
Huh? It strikes me as, if anything, utterly obvious.
So we get a completely unsupported assertion that depression is higher among IT workers, a link to what I assume is intended as a humorous bit (although who knows with Kuro5hin*?) about WWW addiction that has nothing to do with IT and two epic-length bits about depression that have little or nothing (I lacked the patience to read closely enough to state "nothing" with confidence) about IT work?
And your point is what?
* I threw in the towel for good on that site when one of their recurring flamewars about the Middle East devolved into a dispute about whether Israel is or isn't in Africa.
They have a lot of services, some of which are quite good, but the only things I'd put in the "hit" category so far are the web searching and Google News.
Mapquest, Babelfish and Pubmed are still synonomous with the services they provide, the way Google is with web searching.
No, there are privately-owned computers. There used to be internet access available at home, but all dial-up service (except for elites) was suspended about a year and a half ago.
I submitted it here as a YRO story, but it was deemed less relevant to Your Rights Online than Darl McBride's new open letter in response to Groklaw's new open letter to Darl McBride.
The Jewish policy is the same. There are three sins which one should die rather than commit (idolatry, murder, incest) -- otherwise, saving a life overrides all prohibitions and requirements.
Amateur radio is a lovably nerdy hobby left over from the 20th century. Unfortunately, to the degree that there's a conflict between 21st century telecommunications and 20th, it will (sooner or later) be settled in favor of the former.
Highway trafic has a negative effect on horses, you know.
That's generally just because of the technology....Second, uploading appears to be a bigger violation simply because you could be uploading to hundreds of people.
Uh, no kidding. That'd be the entire freaking point why Cuban's argument is idiotic.
Meanwhile, Jeff van Gundy must be shaking his head at the irony of all this..
...but since we haven't had a Google story today (And it's nearly noon EDT! And the only Apple "news" is from 1981! Is something broken at OSDN?):
1) I'm so used to the minimalist Google page that the Google Toolbar banner they're running now is as intrusive as a Punch The Monkey ad.
2) Are the new Google ads here context-driven? If so, what on earth about "Microsoft Finalizes Its Desktop Search Software" makes their system think "Meet Eritrean Singles" is relevant?
Isnt this what makes Linux so hard to work with some times, is that code has to be 'ported' to different window managers?
To answer your question more politely than the other guy did -- no, with some very minor exceptions, all applications can be run in any window manager. You're thinking of graphics toolkits (like the Qt and Gtk toolikts underlying KDE and GNOME), or maybe the communications mechanisms of desktop applications, but the real "window managers" don't have those issues.
Anyway, as the angry guy pointed out, the news here is that this is a Be-compliant WM for OpenBeOS. It has nothing to do with Linux.
[T]he KDE developers should follow Apple's lead and focus more on the needs of users, instead of insisting on software perfection.
I got on the KDE guys for their bit yesterday, so today I'll point out to the Mozilla side that the reason there was a decent browser for Linux in 1999 was that the Konqueror guys satisfied the needs of users while Mozilla went off constructing a whole new software platform...
Also, you have to to end with "Anyway, I only bought one because Bill Gates loses money on each one they sell."
Re:Its only the bad things we head about?
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Safari vs. KHTML
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· Score: 1, Interesting
I went to the FSF site to pull the relevant text, but was distracted by Stallman's reference to "the US decision to blame Syria for the assassination of Hariri".
The guy is a brilliant programmer but, ughh, what a completely sociopathic asshole. He goes to a police state, runs into an edge of their censorship that blocks ssh and complains "that this prevents people from participating in world-wide free software development projects, and that it needed to change." Or this gem: "I don't know whether Syrian mass media are more controlled than the likes of CNN and Fox News."
You know -- I've lost any interest in arguing Apple versus KDE. It's inconsequential. You guys can take it from here...
Re:Its only the bad things we head about?
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Safari vs. KHTML
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· Score: 4, Informative
Absolutely not. Apple is required to offer source code to their product in the "preferred form". They have absolutely no obligation to make their changes trivially backportable to the original codebase.
Do you think the code to all those Linux-based hardware devices can be instantly patch'ed into the kernel.org source?
Re:Its only the bad things we head about?
on
Safari vs. KHTML
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· Score: 2, Informative
In any case, the patches that triggered this whole issue were perfectly manageable in size.
This is just stupid
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Safari vs. KHTML
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· Score: 5, Insightful
The original story just had Zach Rusin saying that Apple's contributions to KHTML were exaggerated. OK, fine.
This stuff is just stupid. Apple has done absolutely nothing illegal; arguably they've done nothing inappropriate. KDE and KHTML are not in any way any less well-off, and if this story accurately reflects the attitude of the primary KHTML developers, honestly, they're being jackasses.
What all this demonstrates is why using free code (especially GPL/LGPL code) is much more of a minefield than a reading of the license would suggest. You can comply to every last detail, and it doesn't do you any good against the negative publicity when someone decides you "owe something to the community".
Slashdot Mirror
This is good news, I guess, and making something work with free drivers on any one distribution makes it work (with some kicking and swearing, anyway) on all Linux. But I'm not throwing a party just yet...
In general, I find videoconferencing a huge waste. You can't see anything, anyway, and the added breakdowns more than exceed any benefits over a teleconference.
Those computerized canvas "whiteboards" are kewl when you fist see them, but I haven't seen one yet that didn't entirely suck for actual use.
...I notice that Slashdot has banned itself from the Ask Slashdot RSS feed for downloading too often...
After looking at that site (OMG, he's watching old Dr. Who episodes!) I'd tell him not to quit his day job, but apparently he already has...
No offence to your friends, but if those were their full-time positions (which may not be the case -- I can't tell from your phrasing), I don't have any trouble believing they were expendable.
I don't work at MSN and had exactly the same thought -- the Google satellite map is a (much-improved, although they've had several years of Moore's Law to work with) knockoff of Terraserver.
Actually, I'd say the numbers they claim are astonishing. A p-value would have been nice, but with any estimate of the variance of sex ratios that seems remotely plausible to me, the difference they're reporting is enormous.
Huh? It strikes me as, if anything, utterly obvious.
And your point is what?
* I threw in the towel for good on that site when one of their recurring flamewars about the Middle East devolved into a dispute about whether Israel is or isn't in Africa.
Mapquest, Babelfish and Pubmed are still synonomous with the services they provide, the way Google is with web searching.
I submitted it here as a YRO story, but it was deemed less relevant to Your Rights Online than Darl McBride's new open letter in response to Groklaw's new open letter to Darl McBride.
I figured the review was written in Lisp...
The Jewish policy is the same. There are three sins which one should die rather than commit (idolatry, murder, incest) -- otherwise, saving a life overrides all prohibitions and requirements.
Highway trafic has a negative effect on horses, you know.
Uh, no kidding. That'd be the entire freaking point why Cuban's argument is idiotic.
Meanwhile, Jeff van Gundy must be shaking his head at the irony of all this..
Eritrea and Italy are connected, I suppose -- maybe the Google algorithm confuses "Microsoft" with "Mussolini"?
...but since we haven't had a Google story today (And it's nearly noon EDT! And the only Apple "news" is from 1981! Is something broken at OSDN?):
1) I'm so used to the minimalist Google page that the Google Toolbar banner they're running now is as intrusive as a Punch The Monkey ad.
2) Are the new Google ads here context-driven? If so, what on earth about "Microsoft Finalizes Its Desktop Search Software" makes their system think "Meet Eritrean Singles" is relevant?
To answer your question more politely than the other guy did -- no, with some very minor exceptions, all applications can be run in any window manager. You're thinking of graphics toolkits (like the Qt and Gtk toolikts underlying KDE and GNOME), or maybe the communications mechanisms of desktop applications, but the real "window managers" don't have those issues.
Anyway, as the angry guy pointed out, the news here is that this is a Be-compliant WM for OpenBeOS. It has nothing to do with Linux.
I got on the KDE guys for their bit yesterday, so today I'll point out to the Mozilla side that the reason there was a decent browser for Linux in 1999 was that the Konqueror guys satisfied the needs of users while Mozilla went off constructing a whole new software platform...
Also, you have to to end with "Anyway, I only bought one because Bill Gates loses money on each one they sell."
The guy is a brilliant programmer but, ughh, what a completely sociopathic asshole. He goes to a police state, runs into an edge of their censorship that blocks ssh and complains "that this prevents people from participating in world-wide free software development projects, and that it needed to change." Or this gem: "I don't know whether Syrian mass media are more controlled than the likes of CNN and Fox News."
You know -- I've lost any interest in arguing Apple versus KDE. It's inconsequential. You guys can take it from here...
Do you think the code to all those Linux-based hardware devices can be instantly patch'ed into the kernel.org source?
In any case, the patches that triggered this whole issue were perfectly manageable in size.
This stuff is just stupid. Apple has done absolutely nothing illegal; arguably they've done nothing inappropriate. KDE and KHTML are not in any way any less well-off, and if this story accurately reflects the attitude of the primary KHTML developers, honestly, they're being jackasses.
What all this demonstrates is why using free code (especially GPL/LGPL code) is much more of a minefield than a reading of the license would suggest. You can comply to every last detail, and it doesn't do you any good against the negative publicity when someone decides you "owe something to the community".
OK, thanks! I'm less concerned with "dumbed-down" than with things that are actively false.