I guess that's why there's a range
on
Creative Labs PC
·
· Score: 1
Why stop with FM radio? I guess the TV tuner is one of the up-model options.
BTW, DVD is included, with a hardware decoder. I wonder if that can be, or is, used for mp3? The SB Live's DSP should be able to handle mp3 as well. And I'd be surprised if Creative didn't put a Nomad checkbox on their order form, whenever Nomad becomes available.
Keith Russell OS != Religion
Re:I've never seen an OS/2 article on Slashdot
on
GTK+ for BeOS Update
·
· Score: 1
There are OS/2 sites out there. OS/2 SuperSite and OS2.org are two I can name off the top of my head. That's not the point.
The subhead at the top of the page says "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Unfortunately, it usually ends up "News for kernel hackers. Linux stuff that matters." The only reason this BeOS story got posted is because the subject (GTK+) tied back to Linux. That's the way it is for all BeOS stories. I sometimes think this is how they determine what gets posted:
Linux: Always!
Windows: Only if it's an Evil Empire story
BeOS: If they can grep "linux" or "open source", and find something
OS/2:... (blank stare)... Ooh, look! The next story mentions Linus Torvalds!
To be fair, Linux gets (and deserves) far more press than OS/2 does. Outside of existing OS/2 shops, Linux is more relevant. As far as Slashdot's OS coverage goes, however, I'd rate them only slightly above InfoWorld, who have recently trampled "reviews" of BeOS 4.5 and OS/2 Warp Server for e-Commerce on their way to yet another "Linux will rule the world" column.
It's not a fair fight because they didn't want one. Microsoft themselves put that W2K server out there for public persecution, hoping crackers would expose flaws.
Of course, crashing 9 times in 2+ days should give them plenty of flaws to work on!
I wonder who's busier: the W2K developers, or the PR department?
You're correct that Be is a big gamble, but I'm not so sure of your reasoning.
Most companies have lost to Microsoft using "MS's rules" because they each made the Big Screwup: failing to capitalize on Microsoft's missteps. When Win95 was late, IBM could have made OS/2 3.0 a real contender. Instead, they tried to market a business OS to consumers with a series of stupid TV ads. Apple made a bunch of little screwups that became one collective Big Screwup, without ever needing to wait for MS to stumble. That's why Jean Louis Gassee left Apple to found Be in the first place. Digital Research was the only real "victim" of Microsoft, IMHO.
Be is tiptoeing through a minefield of Big Screwups right now. (There's a really big one marked "Java" that they keep getting close to.) If their ambitions in the set-top space work out, and they can drum up the application support they think they can, they can probably get out alive. But that's a big if, considering we haven't seen anything concrete on either subject.
Oh, and the MacOS/DOS war? One OS tied to one closed hardware platform from one manufacturer, against one dominant OS and a few alternative OSs on a somewhat open hardware platform from a myriad of manufacturers. The OS was only part of the issue.
Sweet, smoking savings accounts! $3500 for a chair? I could probably build one for less, and mine won't put a full tower case between my knees. Actually, once I waded through their website (which seems to be disguised as an Orgy video), I noticed the Netsurfer Lite, which puts the case in a separate base unit beside the chair, and the monitor and keyboard shelves are on a swing arm mounted to the base unit. Looked OK, but I couldn't find any prices in that mess. Did anyone else?
And what is up with that website, anyway? Two, count 'em two splash screens. The first has a seizure-inducing animated GIF background, and the second launches a new window. The bottom menu bar graphic repeats after only 800px. "Screen contains virtual buttons: Simulate an operational click by pointing and clicking with your mouse." Wow. Image maps: What a concept! I've never seen one of those before! Proper image maps are A: obvious, and B: backed up by text links. If I want to play Hunt the Hotspot, I'll buy Myst.
The website, while gee-whiz neat-o cool, is horribly unusable. And this is a design company. How do you think this reflects on the products they make? These guys should fire whoever saddled them with such an reputation-damaging mess.
Keith Russell OS != Religion
Re:WHOA - GO LUCAS! GO LUCAS! GO LUCAS!
on
Quickie Fu
·
· Score: 1
Sounds like last night's Becker rerun. For those of you who don't know (non-Americans, non-TV viewers), Becker is a sitcom about Dr. John Becker, a perpetually bitter, abrasive, and vocal New York family doctor. The locations are split between his office and a diner owned by a woman named Reggie. There's a newsstand in the diner run by a blind black man (whose name escapes me at the moment). Reggie and The Newsstand Guy are accustomed to Beckers rants, even when they are potentially racist, sexist, and/or otherwise insensitive, and usually give as good as they get in response. They'd have to, or else it wouldn't be an American sitcom.
Becker storms into Reggie's, yelling over his shoulder at the driver of a car blasting rap music loud enough to be heard from blocks away. He then proceeds to complain about his neighbors, who cook on the sidewalk. Finally, an asian driver dings Becker's car, which, of course, sets Becker off even worse. In the meantime, Becker engages in the usual acid-tongued banter with Reggie and The Newsstand Guy. What Becker didn't know was that a newspaper columnist overheard the whole thing, and then wrote a scathing column about a loud-mouthed bigot he encountered in a diner.
The episode builds up to a confrontation between the columnist and Becker on a radio talk show, where Becker launches a rant that could have been ghost-written by Dennis Miller, slamming Political Correctness and catches the columnist proving Lucas' point. (Took a while to get here; hope it was worth it.) When the columnist assumes that the sidewalk-cooking neighbors are Puerto Rican, Becker points out that he doesn't know what ethnicity they are, and never offered any description, except for their cooking preferences.
The best part of the rant is when Becker points out that most of the people who advocate PC thinking are actually perpetuating the stereotypes they're trying to dispell. He used that to set up the Puerto Rican killshot.
Granted, a sitcom script is a rather contrived arena for such debate, but the point was driven home well.
I have a feeling the brothers have enough "future history" to flesh out two more films. What we saw in The Matrix was somewhere in the middle, allowing them to make the next two films any way they liked. They can make two prequels, and show us the rich history they've conceived. (Although fitting Keanu in all that would be tricky.) If they go with two sequels, however, they can still draw from that history, even though we'd only get it second-hand through dialogue or brief flashbacks.
Imagine Babylon 5 being presented in the same way. Say the first movie is the second Shadow War (essentially, the series in really condensed form). From there, JMS could do two prequels, say the first Shadow War and the Earth/Minbari War ("In The Beginning"). Or there could be two sequels, like the Telepath War and "Crusade." Or he could mix-and-match.
Keith Russell OS != Religion
Anything you can do, I can do better?
on
Be Inc. IPO-bound
·
· Score: 1
Do you really think Microsoft can add BeOS' advantages to NT without breaking it? Microsoft is continually making strides to improve DirectX performance. However, there are early reports that future versions of NT's DirectX layer will break current and near-future DX-based games. (Here's the ZDNet article) What do you think would happen if MS added a low-latency timer? They'd probably have to rip the entire OS apart.
How do you know they aren't doing anything with settops? Be is fairly well behaved when it comes to vapourware, but that doesn't mean they don't have settops in development. Besides, BeOS' small, tight, fast kernel would scale wonderfully to a settop.
Failed to innovate? (There's that "I" word again.) Granted, Be hasn't "integrated" NetPositive or made their UI widgets skinable, but BeOS' API is absoultely brilliant. It has a logical object model, complements the architecture wonderfully, and is simple enough for an "idiot Visual Basic" programmer like myself to understand. Besides, the real innovation and the real killer apps will come from competition in the application space, not from one company building things into its operating system.
It's hard to "screw away" advantages that are so intrinsic to the OS. Any well-written app for any platform will gain from that platform's advantages.
You're right about advocacy, though. BeOS attracts many Mac and Amiga partisans by its very nature, so it's easy to envision Team OS/2 calibre religious fervor. Just like any other OS, BeOS advocates must build up BeOS, not tear down [Windows | Mac | Linux | etc].
There's still plenty of work for Be to do (accelerated OpenGL, more hardware support, Java, and SBLive drivers (HINT, HINT), just off the top of my head), but this IPO may give them the infusion of cash they need to get those things done, and reach the critical mass Linux has.
Yes, his is the song of the disgruntled enduser. That's the point. Users aren't always Gurus. The point of good desktop OS design is to make the user experience as simple and painless as possible. I like to think of my mother as the ultimate usability test.
If I installed Red Hat on my mom's system, and showed her how to install StarOffice, she'd never understand it, and she'd be mad because I put this goofy Linux on her PC that she can't figure out. She'd also have to leave the room, because I'd be cursing the trail of library dependencies RPM is prone to, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
If I installed BeOS on my mom's system, and showed her how to install Gobe Productive, she'd say "That's easy," because she could write it all down on one page of the little steno notebook she uses to remember these things. That way, when it's time to install something else, she can do it herself. She's happy, because she's confident in her skills, and I'm happy, because I don't have to babysit her through it.
I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but most of the responses to this article have been either the usual chants of Open Source zealots who see operating systems as religions instead of tools, or technical eliteists who think Hacker is the village idiot because he somehow managed to screw up an RPM install. These are the same people who wonder how anyone can speak an ill word about Linux or Open Source, unless, of course, they are on Microsoft's payroll. A bit of advice:
Those who do not learn from history (read Team OS/2) are doomed to repeat it.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. (With apologies to Dennis Miller)
They're still missing their targets!
on
Cool PC Cases
·
· Score: 1
While Intel is trying to design props for a Luc Besson movie, they're missing their two largest markets:
Mom and Pop. The standard by which all inexperienced users are based. Wants a simple system. So far, so good: the Easy PC initiative was tailor-made for people like Mom and Pop. But show one of those designs to Mom and Pop and you'll either hear "Looks like a Fisher-Price thingamabob!" (my dad) or "But the den's Colonial. That would look tacky." (my mom)
Geeks. You know who you are. After all, you're reading Slashdot. You probably had the same reaction I did: "Finally, cool cases!" Then I saw that they were Easy PCs. Damn. I was hoping for a big, sinister, monolithic full tower to replace the cheesy, afraid-I'm-gonna-break-the-front-panel Gateway tower I have now.
Now, if they could get Martha Stewart and Sid Mead on board...
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Remember, the first trilogy is, essentially, the life of Anakin Skywalker. If The Phantom Menace seems light-hearted and childish, it's because Anakin is still a child. As the first trilogy goes on, the tone should get darker as Anakin is seduced by the Dark Side, and becomes the heavy-breathing, mask-wearing, subordinate-choking SOB we loved to hate in the second trilogy.
Once the first six episodes are out on video, and you take it all in during one (marathon) sitting, the "mythic epic space opera" will be clearer. And, after 12 hours of movie watching, the cheesy ending on Return of the Jedi SE might be tolerable. (Although I'll still fast forward past the musical number in Jabba's Palace.):-)
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Lemme see. Take my Palm IIIx, add a cellular modem, a "Don't Panic" sticker, and a whole lot of spare batteries...
EUREKA! IT FLOATS!
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
"Media Violence" is a symptom, not a cause.
on
Why Kids Kill
·
· Score: 1
Everyone is quick to blame violent video games and movies for inspiring violent behavior.
If my kid was enthralled by The Basketball Diaries or Natural Born Killers, I'd be concerned that they were relating to the characters too much. And that's where these movies have their influence. The Trench Coat Mafia didn't look to Leonardo DiCaprio's character simply for fashion sense or gun-toting bravado. In that character, they found a kindred spirit. They may have been watching a fantasy they've had many times themselves, made more real by props, squibs, and a charismatic star with the identity they felt they didn't have.
My mom has asked me many times why I like games like Half-Life, Unreal, and Jedi Knight. The answer is simple: The challenge. Yes, I'm shooting "guns." Yes, opponents are "dying," because they'd just as soon "kill" me. But I'm "killing" nobody! It's the same tumble-happy Skaarj, the same three-armed alien slave, the same faceless Stormtrooper with bad aim, again and again. Ask any of the school shooters (the ones who haven't died, that is) about what they're killing in these games, and "what" becomes "who." The black-clad assassin becomes the cheerleader who won't give him the time of day. The Skaarj is the captain of the football team who keeps pushing him around at lunch. Under the Stormtrooper helmets are the homogenized, Gap-shopping masses that serve as a constant reminder of what's wrong with their lives.
My point is this: There was already something wrong with these kids. The media may have been an outlet or a touchstone, but it has only fed a fire that already started long before.
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Sporting events: The HUD becomes a "super scoreboard" the wearer can use to switch between player stats, out-of-town scores/highlights, or multiple camera angles of the game they're watching.
Driving: Cadillac already has a night vision system for the DeVille that displays on a windshield-mounted HUD. Add wearable HUD and eye/head tracking, and the IR image could appear "in place" in the driver's field of view.
Medicine: A surgeon can view the image from an endoscope on a HUD. They may be doing this already, but they probably use the older, bulkier equipment.
Geeks: When can I get one for my Palm III?
Ubergeeks: HUD + Portable MP3 player + Little gizmo that runs WinAmp-style visualization plugins = Chemical-free LSD trip (and people asking me why I don't wear contacts anymore:-))
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Visual Basic (Great for bloating LOC: You can acheive COBOL-like verbosity if you put your mind to it.)
C++
PL/SQL
Home:
VB
Java
Python (newbie)
Computer languages are much like any other language. Volume and effectiveness/efficiency have almost no relation. William Gibson can pack more story into one chapter than Harold Robbins can into an entire book. If novels were held to the same standard as source code, Gibson would be a script kiddie, and Robbins a wizard.
This "study" is a classic. Somebody wanted to show that American programmers are "lazy", so they picked the old Lines of Code metric, which they knew would validate their assertion, without any other metrics to undermine that assertion. Redirect this to/dev/null with all the other "Death of the American Programmer" stories.
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Lessee, what do I have on my work PC that won't fit?
Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty: 64.1 M
Dave Matthews Band: Before These Crowded Streets: 64.4 M
Rush: Different Stages (Disc 1): 67.2 M
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik: 67.7 M
All 128k stereo. (No sense sampling higher with this corporate-issue Ensoniq POS!)
There are still too many fidelity/size trade-offs, even at 64 M built in. 72 M looks more like a sweet spot for a CD's worth of 128k audio. Unfortunately, that would drive up the price, and Rio's already too expensive.
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
<rant tone="I don't mean to go off on one, but...">
Naming Nintendo, Sony, and Sega because the kid played violent video games is like naming Phillips because he watched his movies and played his games on a Magnavox TV. They'll probably be dropped from the suit.
There are rating systems for movies and video games. The Basketball Diaries was rated R, and, IIRC, the games in question were not rated "Everybody". Did the killer's parents even know what this kid was watching or playing?
There are filter programs for web browsers. Granted, they can be circumvented, but I'd bet good money that they weren't even installed on any computers this kid used.
I don't think right-thinking Americans have anything to worry about. This case reeks of Lawyer Greed and Parental Blame Redirection.
</rant>
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Remember that real-world damage was caused by the mind's strong belief in the reality of the Matrix. Even skilled hackers, like Morpheus, could not suspend their belief enough to avoid getting hurt.
Neo was the One because he could "disbelieve." I think he was hurt by the virtual bullets, went into cardiac arrest, and was forced to disbelieve the effect of the bullets to survive. His success allowed him to cross the threshold to the next level of his abilities, allowing him to do things like "see" the Matrix, stop bullets in mid-air, and kill an Agent.
Of course, finding out he was destined to be with Trinity couldn't hurt!;->
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
I was just speaking in the scope of privacy issues. My cable company (I'll name names: Comcast) just decided that the last free channel on my system would be best filled with the Game Show Network instead of Comedy Central or FX, so they're rapidly climbing my s***list. At least they're rewiring my neighborhood for digital/internet cable, so they have a chance to redeem themselves.
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Evil Companies that Should Die: Cable providers and video rental companies must comply with federal laws that govern their use of personal information. I'm not sure Divx is held to the same standard. Better the evil I know than the evil I don't.
Collecting and DVD features: The two subjects relate very well. Some people may be rather lemming-like in their selections ("The #1 movie of the summer!"), but I only buy what I like. My tastes lean towards movies with a distinct visual style. (Note to self: Reserve The Matrix!) That makes widescreen/letterbox very important. I also like the optional commentary audio tracks (like Aronofsky and Gullette's tracks on Pi), that provide insight into the writer's or director's vision of the film.
V is for Video?: IIRC, DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. My DVD player is the DVD-ROM that came with my PC. The decoder card has S-Video out, so I can watch it on my TV or monitor. The last time I was at CompUSA, I saw Myst, Riven, Journeyman Project 3, and Encarta on DVD-ROM, and my company gets Microsoft Developer Network's optional DVD-ROM version of their library, which is normally 3 CD-ROMs. Divx has no plans to create some sort of "Divx-ROM," because of the security issues. I'm certainly not going to attach something to my computer that dials out in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping.
I'm sure you, like most people, are happy with nothing more than the enhanced A/V quality of DVD that Divx offers. But for me, Divx is nothing but a supercharged VHS with the late fee built into the "purchase" price.
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
The fact that the acting and writing were adequate, rather than the typical USA "Up All Night"-calibre tripe that leaves you thinking "That was two hours of my life that I will never get back."
The sparring session between Neo and Morpheus. Reeves and Fishburne did that scene themselves, with no stuntmen. The Wachowskis took full advantage, pulling the camera into the fight. Usually, such scenes are between Jackie Chan and a stuntman listed in the credits as "Chinese Thug #2."
The Style. The monochrome wardrobes. The way Morpheus' shades weren't mirrored, yet reflected everything. The campy, wooden-cool performances. The Nokia cellphones with the spring-loaded covers snapping out like empty gun clips (I want one!). And, most importantly, FX that served to emphasize the super-reality of the Matrix. There were plenty of money shots, but they fit the scenes, instead of bringing the movie to a screeching halt and saying "Hey, lookie what we did!"
Bottom line: Go see this movie!
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
plugging into a phone jack is hard?
on
Anti-DIVX article
·
· Score: 1
You, as a/. reader, probably know your way around the backside of a workstation, so running the phone lines is no big deal. (This, of course, assumes that you have suffered sufficient blunt-force crainial trauma to actually buy a Divx player.)
Compare your experience to Joey Baggadonuts, fresh from getting smoke blown up his butt by a Circuit City salesdrone. He carts home his overpriced Divx player, pulls it out of the box, takes one look at the spaghetti they call a wiring diagram, and says "What the hell is this?"
Just connecting the Divx player to the TV and the phone may be confusing enough. Add the VCR. Add the modem line. Add the kids' Playstation/N64/Intellivision. What if a tech-savvy person hooked all that up, but isn't available now?
Customer satisfaction becomes customer confusion.
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
plugging into a phone jack is hard?
on
Anti-DIVX article
·
· Score: 1
You, as a/. reader, probably know your way around the backside of a workstation, so running the phone lines is no big deal. (This, of course, assumes that you have suffered sufficient blunt-force crainial trauma to actually buy a Divx player.) Compare this to Joey Baggadonuts, fresh from getting smoke blown up his butt by a Circuit City salesdrone. He carts home his overpriced Divx player, pulls it out of the box, takes one look at the spaghetti they call a wiring diagram, and says "What the hell is this?"
Keith Russell Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Kipling Damage Control, reporting for duty!
on
Wired on Kipling
·
· Score: 1
Made my contribution to the/. Effect, and noticed that Kipling's Hacker front page has changed.
"A hacker is a malicious computerexpert who breaks the security of computersystems not to steal or destroy sensitive information but mostly just for the kick."
Note the contrast between "not to steal or destroy" and "malicious". And what's up with the "computerexpert" double-speak? Double plus ungood. Keith Russell
Slashdot Mirror
Why stop with FM radio? I guess the TV tuner is one of the up-model options.
BTW, DVD is included, with a hardware decoder. I wonder if that can be, or is, used for mp3? The SB Live's DSP should be able to handle mp3 as well. And I'd be surprised if Creative didn't put a Nomad checkbox on their order form, whenever Nomad becomes available.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
The subhead at the top of the page says "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Unfortunately, it usually ends up "News for kernel hackers. Linux stuff that matters." The only reason this BeOS story got posted is because the subject (GTK+) tied back to Linux. That's the way it is for all BeOS stories. I sometimes think this is how they determine what gets posted:
- Linux: Always!
- Windows: Only if it's an Evil Empire story
- BeOS: If they can grep "linux" or "open source", and find something
- OS/2:
... (blank stare) ... Ooh, look! The next story mentions Linus Torvalds!
To be fair, Linux gets (and deserves) far more press than OS/2 does. Outside of existing OS/2 shops, Linux is more relevant. As far as Slashdot's OS coverage goes, however, I'd rate them only slightly above InfoWorld, who have recently trampled "reviews" of BeOS 4.5 and OS/2 Warp Server for e-Commerce on their way to yet another "Linux will rule the world" column.Keith Russell
OS != Religion
It's not a fair fight because they didn't want one. Microsoft themselves put that W2K server out there for public persecution, hoping crackers would expose flaws.
Of course, crashing 9 times in 2+ days should give them plenty of flaws to work on!
I wonder who's busier: the W2K developers, or the PR department?
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
You're correct that Be is a big gamble, but I'm not so sure of your reasoning.
Most companies have lost to Microsoft using "MS's rules" because they each made the Big Screwup: failing to capitalize on Microsoft's missteps. When Win95 was late, IBM could have made OS/2 3.0 a real contender. Instead, they tried to market a business OS to consumers with a series of stupid TV ads. Apple made a bunch of little screwups that became one collective Big Screwup, without ever needing to wait for MS to stumble. That's why Jean Louis Gassee left Apple to found Be in the first place. Digital Research was the only real "victim" of Microsoft, IMHO.
Be is tiptoeing through a minefield of Big Screwups right now. (There's a really big one marked "Java" that they keep getting close to.) If their ambitions in the set-top space work out, and they can drum up the application support they think they can, they can probably get out alive. But that's a big if, considering we haven't seen anything concrete on either subject.
Oh, and the MacOS/DOS war? One OS tied to one closed hardware platform from one manufacturer, against one dominant OS and a few alternative OSs on a somewhat open hardware platform from a myriad of manufacturers. The OS was only part of the issue.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
Sweet, smoking savings accounts! $3500 for a chair? I could probably build one for less, and mine won't put a full tower case between my knees. Actually, once I waded through their website (which seems to be disguised as an Orgy video), I noticed the Netsurfer Lite, which puts the case in a separate base unit beside the chair, and the monitor and keyboard shelves are on a swing arm mounted to the base unit. Looked OK, but I couldn't find any prices in that mess. Did anyone else?
And what is up with that website, anyway? Two, count 'em two splash screens. The first has a seizure-inducing animated GIF background, and the second launches a new window. The bottom menu bar graphic repeats after only 800px. "Screen contains virtual buttons: Simulate an operational click by pointing and clicking with your mouse." Wow. Image maps: What a concept! I've never seen one of those before! Proper image maps are A: obvious, and B: backed up by text links. If I want to play Hunt the Hotspot, I'll buy Myst.
The website, while gee-whiz neat-o cool, is horribly unusable. And this is a design company. How do you think this reflects on the products they make? These guys should fire whoever saddled them with such an reputation-damaging mess.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
Sounds like last night's Becker rerun. For those of you who don't know (non-Americans, non-TV viewers), Becker is a sitcom about Dr. John Becker, a perpetually bitter, abrasive, and vocal New York family doctor. The locations are split between his office and a diner owned by a woman named Reggie. There's a newsstand in the diner run by a blind black man (whose name escapes me at the moment). Reggie and The Newsstand Guy are accustomed to Beckers rants, even when they are potentially racist, sexist, and/or otherwise insensitive, and usually give as good as they get in response. They'd have to, or else it wouldn't be an American sitcom.
Becker storms into Reggie's, yelling over his shoulder at the driver of a car blasting rap music loud enough to be heard from blocks away. He then proceeds to complain about his neighbors, who cook on the sidewalk. Finally, an asian driver dings Becker's car, which, of course, sets Becker off even worse. In the meantime, Becker engages in the usual acid-tongued banter with Reggie and The Newsstand Guy. What Becker didn't know was that a newspaper columnist overheard the whole thing, and then wrote a scathing column about a loud-mouthed bigot he encountered in a diner.
The episode builds up to a confrontation between the columnist and Becker on a radio talk show, where Becker launches a rant that could have been ghost-written by Dennis Miller, slamming Political Correctness and catches the columnist proving Lucas' point. (Took a while to get here; hope it was worth it.) When the columnist assumes that the sidewalk-cooking neighbors are Puerto Rican, Becker points out that he doesn't know what ethnicity they are, and never offered any description, except for their cooking preferences.
The best part of the rant is when Becker points out that most of the people who advocate PC thinking are actually perpetuating the stereotypes they're trying to dispell. He used that to set up the Puerto Rican killshot.
Granted, a sitcom script is a rather contrived arena for such debate, but the point was driven home well.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
I have a feeling the brothers have enough "future history" to flesh out two more films. What we saw in The Matrix was somewhere in the middle, allowing them to make the next two films any way they liked. They can make two prequels, and show us the rich history they've conceived. (Although fitting Keanu in all that would be tricky.) If they go with two sequels, however, they can still draw from that history, even though we'd only get it second-hand through dialogue or brief flashbacks.
Imagine Babylon 5 being presented in the same way. Say the first movie is the second Shadow War (essentially, the series in really condensed form). From there, JMS could do two prequels, say the first Shadow War and the Earth/Minbari War ("In The Beginning"). Or there could be two sequels, like the Telepath War and "Crusade." Or he could mix-and-match.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
Do you really think Microsoft can add BeOS' advantages to NT without breaking it? Microsoft is continually making strides to improve DirectX performance. However, there are early reports that future versions of NT's DirectX layer will break current and near-future DX-based games. (Here's the ZDNet article) What do you think would happen if MS added a low-latency timer? They'd probably have to rip the entire OS apart.
How do you know they aren't doing anything with settops? Be is fairly well behaved when it comes to vapourware, but that doesn't mean they don't have settops in development. Besides, BeOS' small, tight, fast kernel would scale wonderfully to a settop.
Failed to innovate? (There's that "I" word again.) Granted, Be hasn't "integrated" NetPositive or made their UI widgets skinable, but BeOS' API is absoultely brilliant. It has a logical object model, complements the architecture wonderfully, and is simple enough for an "idiot Visual Basic" programmer like myself to understand. Besides, the real innovation and the real killer apps will come from competition in the application space, not from one company building things into its operating system.
It's hard to "screw away" advantages that are so intrinsic to the OS. Any well-written app for any platform will gain from that platform's advantages.
You're right about advocacy, though. BeOS attracts many Mac and Amiga partisans by its very nature, so it's easy to envision Team OS/2 calibre religious fervor. Just like any other OS, BeOS advocates must build up BeOS, not tear down [Windows | Mac | Linux | etc].
There's still plenty of work for Be to do (accelerated OpenGL, more hardware support, Java, and SBLive drivers (HINT, HINT), just off the top of my head), but this IPO may give them the infusion of cash they need to get those things done, and reach the critical mass Linux has.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
Yes, his is the song of the disgruntled enduser. That's the point. Users aren't always Gurus. The point of good desktop OS design is to make the user experience as simple and painless as possible. I like to think of my mother as the ultimate usability test.
If I installed Red Hat on my mom's system, and showed her how to install StarOffice, she'd never understand it, and she'd be mad because I put this goofy Linux on her PC that she can't figure out. She'd also have to leave the room, because I'd be cursing the trail of library dependencies RPM is prone to, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
If I installed BeOS on my mom's system, and showed her how to install Gobe Productive, she'd say "That's easy," because she could write it all down on one page of the little steno notebook she uses to remember these things. That way, when it's time to install something else, she can do it herself. She's happy, because she's confident in her skills, and I'm happy, because I don't have to babysit her through it.
I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but most of the responses to this article have been either the usual chants of Open Source zealots who see operating systems as religions instead of tools, or technical eliteists who think Hacker is the village idiot because he somehow managed to screw up an RPM install. These are the same people who wonder how anyone can speak an ill word about Linux or Open Source, unless, of course, they are on Microsoft's payroll. A bit of advice:
Those who do not learn from history (read Team OS/2) are doomed to repeat it.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. (With apologies to Dennis Miller)
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
From ZDNN:
Diamond shareholders balk at S3 deal
The full story should be very interesting.
Keith Russell
OS != Religion
While Intel is trying to design props for a Luc Besson movie, they're missing their two largest markets:
Mom and Pop. The standard by which all inexperienced users are based. Wants a simple system. So far, so good: the Easy PC initiative was tailor-made for people like Mom and Pop. But show one of those designs to Mom and Pop and you'll either hear "Looks like a Fisher-Price thingamabob!" (my dad) or "But the den's Colonial. That would look tacky." (my mom)
Geeks. You know who you are. After all, you're reading Slashdot. You probably had the same reaction I did: "Finally, cool cases!" Then I saw that they were Easy PCs. Damn. I was hoping for a big, sinister, monolithic full tower to replace the cheesy, afraid-I'm-gonna-break-the-front-panel Gateway tower I have now.
Now, if they could get Martha Stewart and Sid Mead on board...
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Remember, the first trilogy is, essentially, the life of Anakin Skywalker. If The Phantom Menace seems light-hearted and childish, it's because Anakin is still a child. As the first trilogy goes on, the tone should get darker as Anakin is seduced by the Dark Side, and becomes the heavy-breathing, mask-wearing, subordinate-choking SOB we loved to hate in the second trilogy.
:-)
Once the first six episodes are out on video, and you take it all in during one (marathon) sitting, the "mythic epic space opera" will be clearer. And, after 12 hours of movie watching, the cheesy ending on Return of the Jedi SE might be tolerable. (Although I'll still fast forward past the musical number in Jabba's Palace.)
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Lemme see. Take my Palm IIIx, add a cellular modem, a "Don't Panic" sticker, and a whole lot of spare batteries...
EUREKA! IT FLOATS!
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Everyone is quick to blame violent video games and movies for inspiring violent behavior.
If my kid was enthralled by The Basketball Diaries or Natural Born Killers, I'd be concerned that they were relating to the characters too much. And that's where these movies have their influence. The Trench Coat Mafia didn't look to Leonardo DiCaprio's character simply for fashion sense or gun-toting bravado. In that character, they found a kindred spirit. They may have been watching a fantasy they've had many times themselves, made more real by props, squibs, and a charismatic star with the identity they felt they didn't have.
My mom has asked me many times why I like games like Half-Life, Unreal, and Jedi Knight. The answer is simple: The challenge. Yes, I'm shooting "guns." Yes, opponents are "dying," because they'd just as soon "kill" me. But I'm "killing" nobody! It's the same tumble-happy Skaarj, the same three-armed alien slave, the same faceless Stormtrooper with bad aim, again and again. Ask any of the school shooters (the ones who haven't died, that is) about what they're killing in these games, and "what" becomes "who." The black-clad assassin becomes the cheerleader who won't give him the time of day. The Skaarj is the captain of the football team who keeps pushing him around at lunch. Under the Stormtrooper helmets are the homogenized, Gap-shopping masses that serve as a constant reminder of what's wrong with their lives.
My point is this: There was already something wrong with these kids. The media may have been an outlet or a touchstone, but it has only fed a fire that already started long before.
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
- Visual Basic (Great for bloating LOC: You can acheive COBOL-like verbosity if you put your mind to it.)
- C++
- PL/SQL
Home:- VB
- Java
- Python (newbie)
Computer languages are much like any other language. Volume and effectiveness/efficiency have almost no relation. William Gibson can pack more story into one chapter than Harold Robbins can into an entire book. If novels were held to the same standard as source code, Gibson would be a script kiddie, and Robbins a wizard.This "study" is a classic. Somebody wanted to show that American programmers are "lazy", so they picked the old Lines of Code metric, which they knew would validate their assertion, without any other metrics to undermine that assertion. Redirect this to
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
- Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty: 64.1 M
- Dave Matthews Band: Before These Crowded Streets: 64.4 M
- Rush: Different Stages (Disc 1): 67.2 M
- Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik: 67.7 M
All 128k stereo. (No sense sampling higher with this corporate-issue Ensoniq POS!)There are still too many fidelity/size trade-offs, even at 64 M built in. 72 M looks more like a sweet spot for a CD's worth of 128k audio. Unfortunately, that would drive up the price, and Rio's already too expensive.
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
- Naming Nintendo, Sony, and Sega because the kid played violent video games is like naming Phillips because he watched his movies and played his games on a Magnavox TV. They'll probably be dropped from the suit.
- There are rating systems for movies and video games. The Basketball Diaries was rated R, and, IIRC, the games in question were not rated "Everybody". Did the killer's parents even know what this kid was watching or playing?
- There are filter programs for web browsers. Granted, they can be circumvented, but I'd bet good money that they weren't even installed on any computers this kid used.
I don't think right-thinking Americans have anything to worry about. This case reeks of Lawyer Greed and Parental Blame Redirection.</rant>
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
You're on to something here.
;->
Remember that real-world damage was caused by the mind's strong belief in the reality of the Matrix. Even skilled hackers, like Morpheus, could not suspend their belief enough to avoid getting hurt.
Neo was the One because he could "disbelieve." I think he was hurt by the virtual bullets, went into cardiac arrest, and was forced to disbelieve the effect of the bullets to survive. His success allowed him to cross the threshold to the next level of his abilities, allowing him to do things like "see" the Matrix, stop bullets in mid-air, and kill an Agent.
Of course, finding out he was destined to be with Trinity couldn't hurt!
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
I was just speaking in the scope of privacy issues. My cable company (I'll name names: Comcast) just decided that the last free channel on my system would be best filled with the Game Show Network instead of Comedy Central or FX, so they're rapidly climbing my s***list.
At least they're rewiring my neighborhood for digital/internet cable, so they have a chance to redeem themselves.
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Evil Companies that Should Die: Cable providers and video rental companies must comply with federal laws that govern their use of personal information. I'm not sure Divx is held to the same standard. Better the evil I know than the evil I don't.
Collecting and DVD features: The two subjects relate very well. Some people may be rather lemming-like in their selections ("The #1 movie of the summer!"), but I only buy what I like. My tastes lean towards movies with a distinct visual style. (Note to self: Reserve The Matrix!) That makes widescreen/letterbox very important. I also like the optional commentary audio tracks (like Aronofsky and Gullette's tracks on Pi), that provide insight into the writer's or director's vision of the film.
V is for Video?: IIRC, DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. My DVD player is the DVD-ROM that came with my PC. The decoder card has S-Video out, so I can watch it on my TV or monitor. The last time I was at CompUSA, I saw Myst, Riven, Journeyman Project 3, and Encarta on DVD-ROM, and my company gets Microsoft Developer Network's optional DVD-ROM version of their library, which is normally 3 CD-ROMs.
Divx has no plans to create some sort of "Divx-ROM," because of the security issues. I'm certainly not going to attach something to my computer that dials out in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping.
I'm sure you, like most people, are happy with nothing more than the enhanced A/V quality of DVD that Divx offers. But for me, Divx is nothing but a supercharged VHS with the late fee built into the "purchase" price.
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Bottom line: Go see this movie!
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
You, as a /. reader, probably know your way around the backside of a workstation, so running the phone lines is no big deal. (This, of course, assumes that you have suffered sufficient blunt-force crainial trauma to actually buy a Divx player.)
Compare your experience to Joey Baggadonuts, fresh from getting smoke blown up his butt by a Circuit City salesdrone. He carts home his overpriced Divx player, pulls it out of the box, takes one look at the spaghetti they call a wiring diagram, and says "What the hell is this?"
Just connecting the Divx player to the TV and the phone may be confusing enough. Add the VCR. Add the modem line. Add the kids' Playstation/N64/Intellivision. What if a tech-savvy person hooked all that up, but isn't available now?
Customer satisfaction becomes customer confusion.
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
You, as a /. reader, probably know your way around the backside of a workstation, so running the phone lines is no big deal. (This, of course, assumes that you have suffered sufficient blunt-force crainial trauma to actually buy a Divx player.)
Compare this to Joey Baggadonuts, fresh from getting smoke blown up his butt by a Circuit City salesdrone. He carts home his overpriced Divx player, pulls it out of the box, takes one look at the spaghetti they call a wiring diagram, and says "What the hell is this?"
Keith Russell
Whatever happened to peaceful coexistance?
Made my contribution to the /. Effect, and noticed that Kipling's Hacker front page has changed.
"A hacker is a malicious computerexpert who breaks the security of computersystems not to steal or destroy sensitive information but mostly just for the kick."
Note the contrast between "not to steal or destroy" and "malicious". And what's up with the "computerexpert" double-speak? Double plus ungood.
Keith Russell