Remember Bill Gates' open letter? The one where he berated people for copying the BASIC port he helped write on a government-funded university computer system? Now think about the past few years, where he has berated the educational system for failing to teach students about technology.
Windows is still the predominant OS in the world. Microsoft could include the classic line entry BASIC with GUI wrapper, with a shortcut on the Desktop of a new installation.
At least 3 of the Linux users I know who have children set up python or perl for their children to learn programming. The problem cited in the article is with the majority of computers today, Linux is a small part of the environment.
Having worked on the Lotus Notes development team from 1995-1998, and having attempted to use Groove at my last company, I can say that Ray Ozzie knows firsthand how complexity can "suck the life out." I am skeptical as to whether or not he can actually do anything about it, especially because Bill Gates is not really "stepping away" for two years. That is plenty of time to keep promising the database filesystem that they've been talking about since 1995.
The point of the "Linux can run on anything" argument is not that Suse 2007 can run on my Vic20, it's that I am free to make it run on anything, and that I am free to restribute the results of that modification.
The BSDs and Linux can run on anything given these freedoms. The reason I cannot run Windows XP on my older hardware is that MS won't even allow me to make it work by stripping away unneccesary code from the kernel and surrounding OS.
I cannnot get XP to run on a 512MB flash card without violating the license. There is nothing stopping me from making a useful device with Linux or a BSD in 128MB flash with 32 MB RAM, and then distributing the software to everyone. This is the reason that there are no Cisco products at my company, and yet we are more secure and our networks perform as well as Cisco could do, with more features and lower cost.
MS seems to want us all to return to the old days, when computers were so mysterious to everyone. We don't need everyone to be able to modify Linux, but we've got enough people who can do that now.
Re:Finally catching up with Apple...
on
Longhorn Preview
·
· Score: 1
I can't wait to search for photos by...camera model? I thought that at least there would be a good ripoff of Spotlight.
OpenBSD is a technical marvel. There is nothing else I would use for a firewall than OpenBSD, and as a router it has been replacing our Cisco systems one at a time. I buy their CDs every release to help support the project.
I use Linux as my desktop, and would not use OpenBSD unless I had endless hours to maintain my system. Just getting X to run reminds me of Linux in 1996. Linux is also easier to maintain depending on the distro.
If you disagree with any of that, fine.
As for behaviour, Mr. De Raadt is seriously inconsistent. In the past he has been quite rude to people who defend the GPL, in one post telling Richard Stallman to "bugger off." It's pretty immature. He has every right to say what he wants, but I have never seen him actually explain why the Linux kernel is "crap." He makes vague statements like "most people can't write 10 lines of C code;" when he is asked how to program with security in mind like OpenBSD does, he says he can't explain it, that you just have to learn it yourself. Again, all within his rights, but now he looks like nothing but a PR flack to be used by a hack like Dan Lyons. Then you go look at the project goals of OpenBSD. My favorite is that politics is secondary to technical merit. That would seem to imply that you can explain your point of view without insulting people who disagree with you, or treating a rival like an enemy of some sort.
And for historical perspective: look at a timeline of UNIX development, and you will see one thing very clearly, the fact that none of the Free BSD systems were released until well after GCC. If only for that, people should be more respectful of Richard Stallman, who started the GNU project by himself in 1984, long before the AT&T vs UC BSD lawsuit.
How much does a media center PC cost? Is it your choice to set up the features as you wish? I've been using eyeTV with a G4 800MHz CPU and 256MB RAM for a year to time shift. It cost about the same as a Tivo except I can control the content I record without any restrictions. I also don't pay any service fees.
It does seem to me that the Mac mini has a lot of potential as a platform for PVR / Music / Photo use at home, but if you want to use an Intel chipset that require fans moving 5 tons of air a minute and Windows, that is your choice.
As for games, I like the XBox and the PS2. These platforms are much easier to develop for than the PC or the Mac, and the result is usually games that never crash or require expensive hardware upgrades to run.
The point is that SCO has tried every kind of weird lie and delay tactic they can think of, and Judge K has put them on notice that he is waiting for evidence, not more filings. When a judge calls one's legal arguments "puzzling," that party is in big trouble. They can file whatever they like; but the judge does have a lot of discretion to stop the filings once he or she decides that everything significant has been seen. In order to get to that point, the judge often has to see some pretty insignificant stuff to be convinced that the plaintiff has exhausted every possibility of his case.
You are mistaken. A judge is supposed to have no pre-existing bias or emotional bias against a party in his court. In this opinion, the judge clearly explained his opinion and backed that up with filings by the plaintiff and defendant, and with his opinion that there has been no credible evidence from the defendant.
This opinion is written in a very common style for US Courts; it is a warning to the plaintiff that the Court is, so far, unconvinced by their evidence, but in the interest of fairness, the judge will reserve further actions until the plaintiff has exhausted the discovery process.
When a judge allows the plaintiff to finish preparing a case that he thinks is doomed, that is bending over backwards to make sure they get a fair chance.
The GPL is a license that operates under copyright law.
If I agree to make changes to GPL code for my employer, and my employer and I agree that my employer owns the copyrights on any code I write for them, then it is my employer who gets the rights and responsibilities of distribution under the GPL, not me.
At the company I work for, we often modify GPL code for our own applications, and the copyright on such code belongs to the company. Company policy forbids redistribution of our in-house apps without their permission, as is their right, since they own the copyright on the apps.
So, if we hack a set top box for company presentations and do not distribute our changes outside the company, we're in compliance with the GPL.
No, it was not clear what the parent post implied.
The replay was not merely pedantic; the distinction is relevant to any discussion of the GPL, because critics of the license state that it forces developers to involuntarily distribute their changes, which is not true.
Here is why my wife likes her ipod mini better than the 15GB iPod:
1. She wants a music player, not a hard disk. 2. the mini controls are laid out better for one hand use 3. the mini is lightweight for running (the regular pod does not feel that heavy until it is bouncing on your belt). 4. She never transfers large files. 5. She has small hands and likes the feel of the mini better. 6. She looked at the other players that are similar in size and weight to the ipod mini and said: 'the controls stink and the interfaces are a joke. I wish I had something like the ipod, but smaller.' 7. She is not a cheapskate.
Here is why I like my 15GB ipod better than the mini:
1. more space 2. I got it for $1 as part of a promotion from my ISP. 3. I sometimes transfer large files.
Another reason to buy gigabit is if you are planning ahead.
Yes, the netgear gigabit switches are actually quite cheap. Plus, SolarFlare claims to have developed a chip that will enable 10Gbit over 100 meters using cat5e copper, so you don't even need to go to cat6.
Re:The whole recycling system needs to be built
on
Control-Alt-Recycle
·
· Score: 1
Yes, I have read the same book and heard one interview with Rathje.
The year that book was published, Japan was recycling 50% of its garbage, not because it was profitable, but because it was too expensive to ship garbage elsewhere, and other places were refusing to provide space at any price.
The problem is waiting for things to "take off." I don't mean anything personal, it's just that that way of thinking very deeply assumes that the "free" market does a better job at everything, which is not true.
Re:The whole recycling system needs to be built
on
Control-Alt-Recycle
·
· Score: 1
do Television sets create the same waste products
Yes.
Re:The whole recycling system needs to be built
on
Control-Alt-Recycle
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The theme of my comment is how to effectively prevent the dumping of toxins into the environment.
You are doing great work, but it only prevents those computers entering a landfill for another couple of years (or for Macs, make it 4 years).
I disagree with you about the school problem. First of all, not every school is run the same way. Also, why should they be taking my old junk? Since an Apple ][ is good enough, why do I replace my computers? Personally, I do it because newer ones use less power and accomplish more work, I need to run Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, and I want Mac OS X which won't run on my old dual PII.
The person buying a new machine, or his first machine, may only run e-mail, but he can't buy an old P75 easily, and he can get a new PC from Gateway for 400 USD. And, that old P75 will not run Windows XP. That is why I think the problem of toxins has to be dealt with on the supply side.
The whole recycling system needs to be built
on
Control-Alt-Recycle
·
· Score: 4, Informative
There are a lot of limitations on what I can do with old computer equipment. True, CRTs contain all sorts of horrible stuff, but LCDs contain a lot of mercury, so they too will need to be reclaimed in a responsible way. It's not enough to put it on the curb with the correct sticker and claim that you are "recycling." It is likely that the thing is still going into a landfill, maybe a lined one, maybe not.
As for donations, the schools in my area won't accept anything less than a Pentium III, so the whole "the only need an old P75" isn't going to work anymore.
Recycling never takes off until the law says it has to. Until real recycling is a requirement, it just is not profitable enough to build that infrastructure.
This is true. Microsoft and IBM fix bugs the minute I report them.
2) Speed of change (not 'velocity')
True enough. Microsoft lets me upgrade in my own good time, and never forces me to adopt new software on their schedule.
3) Lack of roadmap
Yep. Hate to say it, but proprietary companies follow their roadmaps; I can set my clock by them. During the wait for Linux 2.6, I had to close up my business!
4) Functional gaps
Expensive software from companies both large and small does everything I could possibly need.
5) Licensing caveats
Yes. The only power a proprietary license grants is the right of the vendor to audit my business at my expense, and the right to send the BSA after me. The GPL and BSD licenses grant me nothing comparable.
6) ISV endorsements
Just what I look for when setting up my databases.
Is this really how a Fortune 500 company CIO thinks?
Based on comments like yours, I called Speakeasy yesterday and they're going to set me up. They seem a much more techie-friendly ISP than the main choice in my area.
Yeah, here in the US we don't really have any competition in the market. My choices are Comcast for bandwidth, and RCN for a more reliable service agreement, but slower speeds.
My Comcast connection is 3Mb, and RCM would be 384Kb.
I would certainly like an ISP that would connect to a residence and would allow what they call "business use."
I agree with you on your second point. I am a comcast customer because they let me connect out to any port and leave all inbound ports open, which I need to test things as part of my job.
My dream ISP service agreement would be one that guarantees full access to all ports and protocols, but the ISP reserves the right to shut off my connection if it is hijacked.
This is like accusing Ferrari of being a monopoply because they won't release their formula for their special red paint so you can use it on a Toyota.
"Monopoly" is a legal term. Apple is not a monopoly, as they do not control any market in which they participate.
Take the iPod as an example. Apple dominates, but cannot control, the market for portable music players. Apple has no power to dictate terms to the rest of the industry; they are competing solely by putting out a product that more people are willing to pay for than all their competitors combined. Apple's recent licensing deal with HP will not prevent you from buying an HP machine and installing a different music player and software. A deal with the iTunes store does not prevent a label from releasing the same song in mp3 format to a different service.
A monopoly is only found to exist when a company controls so much of the market that they can stifle competition. A company can be a monopoly without being guilty of illegal behaviour. In the US, a monopoly is not itself illegal, but a monopoly player does have different rules to follow than other companies.
Microsoft was found to be a monopoly in the eyes of the law because they could prevent a vendor from including a competing office suite, for example, and it was also found that they used their monopoly status to muscle out competitors.
The most harm Apple can do is make you feel a little jealous that you can't afford their machines, and that's not illegal. Apple fans can also make you mad by saying, for example, that if you did spend the extra money, you would be more productive and lower the time you spend on the care and feeding of your computer, but then, nobody's stopping you from using the wrong computer;-)
Fink. If you cannot figure that out, you probably should not be using OS X.
If you like source code, a very good development environment is included with every copy of Panther. This allows you to build lots of tools from source, and more every day have OS X dependencies in their source distributions.
"Various oddnesses in setup" - Are you saying that Linux and Windows have a "normalized" setup?
"old Apache" - Fink, or, ftp; gunzip -c | tar xf - ;./configure; make install
"I'm am American--I'm quite attached to freedom."
You might want to try getting better attached to your brian stem before using OS X.
Slashdot Mirror
Remember Bill Gates' open letter? The one where he berated people for copying the BASIC port he helped write on a government-funded university computer system? Now think about the past few years, where he has berated the educational system for failing to teach students about technology.
Windows is still the predominant OS in the world. Microsoft could include the classic line entry BASIC with GUI wrapper, with a shortcut on the Desktop of a new installation.
At least 3 of the Linux users I know who have children set up python or perl for their children to learn programming. The problem cited in the article is with the majority of computers today, Linux is a small part of the environment.
Having worked on the Lotus Notes development team from 1995-1998, and having attempted to use Groove at my last company, I can say that Ray Ozzie knows firsthand how complexity can "suck the life out." I am skeptical as to whether or not he can actually do anything about it, especially because Bill Gates is not really "stepping away" for two years. That is plenty of time to keep promising the database filesystem that they've been talking about since 1995.
The BSDs and Linux can run on anything given these freedoms. The reason I cannot run Windows XP on my older hardware is that MS won't even allow me to make it work by stripping away unneccesary code from the kernel and surrounding OS.
I cannnot get XP to run on a 512MB flash card without violating the license. There is nothing stopping me from making a useful device with Linux or a BSD in 128MB flash with 32 MB RAM, and then distributing the software to everyone. This is the reason that there are no Cisco products at my company, and yet we are more secure and our networks perform as well as Cisco could do, with more features and lower cost.
MS seems to want us all to return to the old days, when computers were so mysterious to everyone. We don't need everyone to be able to modify Linux, but we've got enough people who can do that now.
I can't wait to search for photos by...camera model? I thought that at least there would be a good ripoff of Spotlight.
All of the free BSD systems and Linux rely on GCC to build.
OpenBSD is a technical marvel. There is nothing else I would use for a firewall than OpenBSD, and as a router it has been replacing our Cisco systems one at a time. I buy their CDs every release to help support the project.
I use Linux as my desktop, and would not use OpenBSD unless I had endless hours to maintain my system. Just getting X to run reminds me of Linux in 1996. Linux is also easier to maintain depending on the distro.
If you disagree with any of that, fine.
As for behaviour, Mr. De Raadt is seriously inconsistent. In the past he has been quite rude to people who defend the GPL, in one post telling Richard Stallman to "bugger off." It's pretty immature. He has every right to say what he wants, but I have never seen him actually explain why the Linux kernel is "crap." He makes vague statements like "most people can't write 10 lines of C code;" when he is asked how to program with security in mind like OpenBSD does, he says he can't explain it, that you just have to learn it yourself. Again, all within his rights, but now he looks like nothing but a PR flack to be used by a hack like Dan Lyons. Then you go look at the project goals of OpenBSD. My favorite is that politics is secondary to technical merit. That would seem to imply that you can explain your point of view without insulting people who disagree with you, or treating a rival like an enemy of some sort.
And for historical perspective: look at a timeline of UNIX development, and you will see one thing very clearly, the fact that none of the Free BSD systems were released until well after GCC. If only for that, people should be more respectful of Richard Stallman, who started the GNU project by himself in 1984, long before the AT&T vs UC BSD lawsuit.
How much does a media center PC cost? Is it your choice to set up the features as you wish? I've been using eyeTV with a G4 800MHz CPU and 256MB RAM for a year to time shift. It cost about the same as a Tivo except I can control the content I record without any restrictions. I also don't pay any service fees.
It does seem to me that the Mac mini has a lot of potential as a platform for PVR / Music / Photo use at home, but if you want to use an Intel chipset that require fans moving 5 tons of air a minute and Windows, that is your choice.
As for games, I like the XBox and the PS2. These platforms are much easier to develop for than the PC or the Mac, and the result is usually games that never crash or require expensive hardware upgrades to run.
They're going to become resellers of the Mac Mini.
No shit. That is why we have judges.
The point is that SCO has tried every kind of weird lie and delay tactic they can think of, and Judge K has put them on notice that he is waiting for evidence, not more filings. When a judge calls one's legal arguments "puzzling," that party is in big trouble. They can file whatever they like; but the judge does have a lot of discretion to stop the filings once he or she decides that everything significant has been seen. In order to get to that point, the judge often has to see some pretty insignificant stuff to be convinced that the plaintiff has exhausted every possibility of his case.
You are mistaken. A judge is supposed to have no pre-existing bias or emotional bias against a party in his court. In this opinion, the judge clearly explained his opinion and backed that up with filings by the plaintiff and defendant, and with his opinion that there has been no credible evidence from the defendant.
This opinion is written in a very common style for US Courts; it is a warning to the plaintiff that the Court is, so far, unconvinced by their evidence, but in the interest of fairness, the judge will reserve further actions until the plaintiff has exhausted the discovery process.
When a judge allows the plaintiff to finish preparing a case that he thinks is doomed, that is bending over backwards to make sure they get a fair chance.
The GPL is a license that operates under copyright law.
If I agree to make changes to GPL code for my employer, and my employer and I agree that my employer owns the copyrights on any code I write for them, then it is my employer who gets the rights and responsibilities of distribution under the GPL, not me.
At the company I work for, we often modify GPL code for our own applications, and the copyright on such code belongs to the company. Company policy forbids redistribution of our in-house apps without their permission, as is their right, since they own the copyright on the apps.
So, if we hack a set top box for company presentations and do not distribute our changes outside the company, we're in compliance with the GPL.
No, it was not clear what the parent post implied.
The replay was not merely pedantic; the distinction is relevant to any discussion of the GPL, because critics of the license state that it forces developers to involuntarily distribute their changes, which is not true.
Here is why my wife likes her ipod mini better than the 15GB iPod:
1. She wants a music player, not a hard disk.
2. the mini controls are laid out better for one hand use
3. the mini is lightweight for running (the regular pod does not feel that heavy until it is bouncing on your belt).
4. She never transfers large files.
5. She has small hands and likes the feel of the mini better.
6. She looked at the other players that are similar in size and weight to the ipod mini and said: 'the controls stink and the interfaces are a joke. I wish I had something like the ipod, but smaller.'
7. She is not a cheapskate.
Here is why I like my 15GB ipod better than the mini:
1. more space
2. I got it for $1 as part of a promotion from my ISP.
3. I sometimes transfer large files.
Another reason to buy gigabit is if you are planning ahead.
Yes, the netgear gigabit switches are actually quite cheap. Plus, SolarFlare claims to have developed a chip that will enable 10Gbit over 100 meters using cat5e copper, so you don't even need to go to cat6.
Yes, I have read the same book and heard one interview with Rathje.
The year that book was published, Japan was recycling 50% of its garbage, not because it was profitable, but because it was too expensive to ship garbage elsewhere, and other places were refusing to provide space at any price.
The problem is waiting for things to "take off." I don't mean anything personal, it's just that that way of thinking very deeply assumes that the "free" market does a better job at everything, which is not true.
do Television sets create the same waste products
Yes.
The theme of my comment is how to effectively prevent the dumping of toxins into the environment.
You are doing great work, but it only prevents those computers entering a landfill for another couple of years (or for Macs, make it 4 years).
I disagree with you about the school problem. First of all, not every school is run the same way. Also, why should they be taking my old junk? Since an Apple ][ is good enough, why do I replace my computers? Personally, I do it because newer ones use less power and accomplish more work, I need to run Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, and I want Mac OS X which won't run on my old dual PII.
The person buying a new machine, or his first machine, may only run e-mail, but he can't buy an old P75 easily, and he can get a new PC from Gateway for 400 USD. And, that old P75 will not run Windows XP. That is why I think the problem of toxins has to be dealt with on the supply side.
There are a lot of limitations on what I can do with old computer equipment. True, CRTs contain all sorts of horrible stuff, but LCDs contain a lot of mercury, so they too will need to be reclaimed in a responsible way. It's not enough to put it on the curb with the correct sticker and claim that you are "recycling." It is likely that the thing is still going into a landfill, maybe a lined one, maybe not.
As for donations, the schools in my area won't accept anything less than a Pentium III, so the whole "the only need an old P75" isn't going to work anymore.
Recycling never takes off until the law says it has to. Until real recycling is a requirement, it just is not profitable enough to build that infrastructure.
1) Lack of formal support
This is true. Microsoft and IBM fix bugs the minute I report them.
2) Speed of change (not 'velocity')
True enough. Microsoft lets me upgrade in my own good time, and never forces me to adopt new software on their schedule.
3) Lack of roadmap
Yep. Hate to say it, but proprietary companies follow their roadmaps; I can set my clock by them. During the wait for Linux 2.6, I had to close up my business!
4) Functional gaps
Expensive software from companies both large and small does everything I could possibly need.
5) Licensing caveats
Yes. The only power a proprietary license grants is the right of the vendor to audit my business at my expense, and the right to send the BSA after me. The GPL and BSD licenses grant me nothing comparable.
6) ISV endorsements
Just what I look for when setting up my databases.
Is this really how a Fortune 500 company CIO thinks?
Based on comments like yours, I called Speakeasy yesterday and they're going to set me up. They seem a much more techie-friendly ISP than the main choice in my area.
Yeah, here in the US we don't really have any competition in the market. My choices are Comcast for bandwidth, and RCN for a more reliable service agreement, but slower speeds.
My Comcast connection is 3Mb, and RCM would be 384Kb.
I would certainly like an ISP that would connect to a residence and would allow what they call "business use."
I agree with you on your second point. I am a comcast customer because they let me connect out to any port and leave all inbound ports open, which I need to test things as part of my job.
My dream ISP service agreement would be one that guarantees full access to all ports and protocols, but the ISP reserves the right to shut off my connection if it is hijacked.
This is like accusing Ferrari of being a monopoply because they won't release their formula for their special red paint so you can use it on a Toyota.
;-)
"Monopoly" is a legal term. Apple is not a monopoly, as they do not control any market in which they participate.
Take the iPod as an example. Apple dominates, but cannot control, the market for portable music players. Apple has no power to dictate terms to the rest of the industry; they are competing solely by putting out a product that more people are willing to pay for than all their competitors combined. Apple's recent licensing deal with HP will not prevent you from buying an HP machine and installing a different music player and software. A deal with the iTunes store does not prevent a label from releasing the same song in mp3 format to a different service.
A monopoly is only found to exist when a company controls so much of the market that they can stifle competition. A company can be a monopoly without being guilty of illegal behaviour. In the US, a monopoly is not itself illegal, but a monopoly player does have different rules to follow than other companies.
Microsoft was found to be a monopoly in the eyes of the law because they could prevent a vendor from including a competing office suite, for example, and it was also found that they used their monopoly status to muscle out competitors.
The most harm Apple can do is make you feel a little jealous that you can't afford their machines, and that's not illegal. Apple fans can also make you mad by saying, for example, that if you did spend the extra money, you would be more productive and lower the time you spend on the care and feeding of your computer, but then, nobody's stopping you from using the wrong computer
Hm, I'd be more interested in knowing if anyone actually has a nice fast DSL connection.
Fink. If you cannot figure that out, you probably should not be using OS X.
./configure; make install
If you like source code, a very good development environment is included with every copy of Panther. This allows you to build lots of tools from source, and more every day have OS X dependencies in their source distributions.
"Various oddnesses in setup" - Are you saying that Linux and Windows have a "normalized" setup?
"old Apache" - Fink, or, ftp; gunzip -c | tar xf - ;
"I'm am American--I'm quite attached to freedom."
You might want to try getting better attached to your brian stem before using OS X.