I disagree. I spent 2 years of my life working with disadvantaged families in the South side of Chicago. I was the only white guy for miles much of the time. I lived in the exact same conditions, ate the same food, froze with everyone else in the winter, etc.
The solution is not money. These problems are extremely, extremely tough to fix. It can't be fixed in a generation. (in fact, I left wondering if a solution can ever be found). As soon as someone 'pulled themselves up by the bootstraps' (often with aid) and went to school, they immediately moved out of the city. This simply leaves 'everything else' in the inner cities. Very few want to stay once they become productive.
Don't get me wrong. I still have many friends who live in inner Chicago (not that it matters, but FYI, almost all black people who grew up there). They are working to fix the problem, but it's not about money. It's about changing culture. It's about changing families. More than anything, it's about getting fathers to get married to those they impregnate and take care of their kids (instead of running off to the next woman). Strong families would solve the problem.
I agree that we should focus on our own problems, but that doesn't preclude us from working with other countries as well. Cities don't need money. They need people to go in and help change culture. How do we do that? I don't know. But after my experience there I don't worry about money the US spends helping other countries. We need a whole lot more than money in the inner city.
OK, I tested OmniWeb for the Mac on the site. Here's the results:
Your IP Address: Not found Hidden tracking files: Not found Exposed Clipboard: Only available on windows Hack & Exploit: Entirely blank Browser & OS: Nothing gound Geographic location: Not found Your Network: Blank
I guess their product wouldn't do much for me.:) (Yes, I know, doesn't mean I'm secure, but I'm amazed at the products people try to make money on)
IMHO, Microsoft's closed office formats are the basis for its monopoly in the Office market. I love LaTeX and use it when I author articles myself. But when I work with others, guess what? I have to use Word.
I've tried using LaTeX with several groups and each group has decided to move back to Word. It is just too familiar, too standard.
The sad part is that I absolutely hate Word as much as I dislike any other program. It has nothing to do with my feelings towards MS. Word is just a poorly done program.
In the real business world, Office will be king until MS opens its format. StarOffice (which I've used quite a bit) is nice, but at 99.5% compatability, it just isn't good enough. No one wants to lose a business deal because they don't use the standard.
I highly doubt MS will ever release its hold on the Office formats. Of course, they are going to XML, but that doesn't mean the format will be open and readable to competitors.
I bought a Mac a year ago and love it. Before that it was PCs and linux. Does anyone have a link to a good person in Apple (not necessarily SJobs) I can email? We need to tell them we CARE about Apple's stance on DRM and we use them because of Apple's support for consumers rather than for big companies.
Apple is feeling A LOT of pressure from companies and others with "power". It needs to hear from its customers that they'll keep buying because its still open. It might not be GNU'd like Linux, but it is certainly more open.
I hope Apple can withstand the increasing pressure for DRM and whatever else over time.
...Mac OS X is slow. Or perhaps I should say that Darwin is slow. Or more correctly, I should say that the G4 800 I have is slower than the PIII's I have.
I regularly do Java and Python development, and I run the same scripts and programs on my Mac and on my Pentium III, 500's (running Linux).
With few exceptions, the programs (which are all console-based, BTW, so it has nothing to do with graphics) are always faster on the PIII. Sometimes faster by twice or three times.
While I agree you can't compare megahertz like people do, I don't think the G4 is as fast as Apple says. If it was as fast, why would Apple be offering dual G4's as the standard for their desktops? Why wouldn't they publicize Darwin on Intel vs. Darwin on PPC results?
Having said this, though, I wouldn't trade my mac for an Intel box any day. I love OS X. So it's not as fast for scripts and programs. It is perfectly usable and fast. The graphics are snappy on my laptop (the top of the line 800MHz until this week). I don't notice any speed problems except for repetitive tasks using Python (for example, inserting millions of calculated rows into Postgres). When I encode sorensen or mp4 video speed would be nicer as well.
I love my Mac. It's been a long time since I loved my laptop the way I do this one. Do I wish it were faster? Not for daily use. My Dell sits on my desk unused while my Apple gets used every day.
I use a Powerbook and love OS X. However, I have to disagree that Apple's VM is the best one out there. I *will* heartily agree that it has the very best integration with the OS. The modified Swing looks awesome and uses regular Cocoa-type controls.
However, I do a lot of development of server-side stuff and benchmark most of them on my 800MHz/1GB RAM Powerbook against my Linux PIII-500, and the PIII is at least 4 times faster for any program (and usually quite a bit more than that). Exact same bytecode, compiled and written on the Powerbook. Executes many times faster on Blackdown's JVM.
Perhaps it's just the processors, but you'd think my G4 would be faster than my PIII.
Why O Why do they not ask fans for help. Perhaps they have, but I do not remember it. Many ST fans know *everything* about the ST universe. They are usually geeks with quite informed and educated ideas about sci fi. Why not have a web page where fans can submit intelligent plots for new shows and films?
I would bet the quality would be better and the originality would increase. Of course, I would think that Rick Berman and his writers would go through and professionalize the plots from the hollywood sense. But at least the ideas and general plot would come from those who live and die by the ST world: the fans!
Perhaps I am placing too much confidence in those I've seen going to ST conventions and clubs. But then again, perhaps not. I'd personally pit them any day against a hollywood writer in coming up with original, science-based ideas.
As a parent of small girls, I welcome this technology. We watch our kids like hawks. They are never more than 5 feet from us. So why would I welcome something like this? Because it's one more level of security.
3 years ago we were at sea world and I was watching my 3 year old on their giant playground. She went behind a slide and disappeared. I immediately ran over to find her, and she was gone. My heart sank. 30 minutes later my wife and I found her 1/4 mile from where we had lost her.
So say all you want about "well, the parent should be watching the child." Blah. Things happen. Kids run. I'd love to have something to help me find them.
That said, an even better technology would be one that would use short-distance (0-5 miles) wireless and simply point in the direction of my child's signal. That would be even more helpful when they wander unexpectedly at sea world or wal-mart or...
Get off your high horses. After all we can do, parents still need help sometimes.
I also run a TiBook and absolutely love it. However, I have to disagree with you on the Java implementation issue. I have a PIII running Debian and I've run several non-ui java programs on both my TiBook (800 MHz G4) and my PIII. The PIII is 5-10 times faster in the java programs. The Debian box uses the Blackdown Java implementation.
Granted this is not a very rigorous test, but my experience has been that Java runs a lot faster on Linux.
I applaud your efforts! I'm a professor in ISys at BYU and my classes get a fresh squeeze of linux evangelism every semester.:) I'll point those that need help your way.
I purchased a titanium powerbook just for the purpose of running YDL 2.2 on it. (I liked the style of the powerbook--still do). I purchased YDL and found it very well put together. I was very impressed with it.
However, after a few weeks of playing with OS X (I left a small OSX partition), I erased YDL and now I work exclusively in OS X. The Linux desktops just don't compare to it, and MS Office runs on OS X as well. I don't personally use it Office, but it's nice to have when I working with others.
In sum, YDL would be great for older Apple hardware that won't run OS X. If you have newer hardware, OS X is wonderful for a desktop machine.
It seems every article comparing DSL to cable focuses on the speed or technology. The primary reason I have DSL is because I have more choice in providers. The cable access is offered only by one large company in my area (read ATT) and I simply don't trust them to meet my needs as a geek.
Contrast that to the DSL front, where I have the choice of many companies. I get a static IP, good speed, Linux supported, etc. because that's what I looked for when I subscribed.
More reviews should look at choice vs. monopolies when comparing DSL and Cable.
This is an old problem in research that has already been solved by the "Rhino problem". I'm not saying this is the method they used, but it might be of interest to some of you.
The problem is how to count the number of Rhinos in the wilderness when you know you can't find them all and count them.
The solution is to capture 100 Rhinos. Tag all of the Rhinos and then release them. After a period, you go back out and capture another 100 Rhinos.
Let's say that out of the one's you've captured, 10 have your tags on them and 90 don't. From this you can extrapolate that you have 10 times the number of Rhinos in the wild than you originally tagged, or 1,000 Rhinos.
Don't know if they used the method or not, but its normally accepted as good research methodology.
I ask them, 'What have you done last week?' They may say they wrote a paper on this or that. So I tell them, 'Oh, you wrote a paper, and you got an A? Would it bother you if somebody could just take that paper and get an A too? Would that bug you?'
Given the quality of popular music, a more accurate analogy would be:
I ask them, 'What have you done last week?' They may say they wrote a paper on this or that. So I tell them, 'Oh, you wrote a paper, and you got an A? Would it bother you if somebody could just take that paper and get an A too? Would that bug you?'
I just wrote an article on this. SOAP gets past firewalls because it *looks* like web traffic (at least, HTTP traffic). That's great because most firewalls let HTTP traffic on port 80 through.
However, once admins realize that we programmers are sending our services (which are inherently a security issue) through port 80, they'll likely start filtering SOAP.
One of the reasons that RMI and CORBA are firewalled is because they provide remote access to *objects* that might be powerful and that can certainly execute behavior within the trusted environment. SOAP does exactly the same thing, only it looks like HTTP traffic.
Yes, SOAP can be detected very easily by firewalls. Therefore, I'm predicting that as it becomes popular, many admins won't let it through as easily as it gets through today.
I didn't regard your post as flamebait. The last part of my message was for the additional posts that may or may not have come (they didn't). You actually had some honest questions.
BTW -- I forgot to add on my other post that I don't know why the "Mormon" commercials stopped in your area. I actually had a tape at one time of all of the commercials from the 70's. There were some really great ones and lots of funny ones, all with messages about how we need to spend more time with our kids, more time with our spouses, etc.
One of the best ones was where they asked 3-5 years olds questions about God and Heaven. The kids had extremely funny answers.
It's always good to laugh at ourselves.:) But seriously, yes, I am a Mormon. Yes, I grew up in Utah. Yes, I even spent a good deal of my summers in Wayne County (great fishing!). We should have fun with the mars site as we go hunting rabbits in the area next time!!!
And yes, Mormons can definately use the Internet. I am a regular Slashdot reader, as well as a Linux user (100% Microsoft free) and Java programmer. I've programmed several open source applications over the years. I do stay away from the Pr0n sites, though.
Before the typical Slashdotters start flaming, please try to be somewhat respectful.:)
I've read that this new distribution just has the user run as root to reduce complexities of file permissions. Is this correct? If so it's a bad, bad idea as it makes the system just as vulnerable as Windows.
I know Corel made a real try to jump into open source, but their release of WP was a sad case. As a long-time WP user, I jumped at the chance to buy WP for Linux. It should never have been released. It was the only proprietary software on my machine, and it was the most buggy and crash-prone. In using Wine and porting their Windows-based product, they brought with them all of the problems with Windows.
I could never use WP for anything useful. When I called tech support to exchange it for the real Windows version (which I could run in Win4Lin), they blew me off.
Sorry, but companies need to step up to the plate if they're going to support linux. This isn't your father's Windows world. People expect better.
(As an aside, I've recently switched to LaTeX and have been happy ever since.)
of what MS will do with this. MS has already taken over the PC market, but there are many, many homes that can't afford a PC. But as someone who lived in the South side of Chicago for over a year (working with many disadvantaged homes), I can tell you *every* home with kids has a Nintendo/Sega/etc.
So now MS has a console to get into those homes. In some senses, it's good for them because they'll get a "real' computer. But of course it just extends the MS monopoly.
It's only a matter of time before we see MS Office for XBox, IE for XBox, etc. where people no longer need a regular computer. The $300 XBox does it all.
Slashdot Mirror
I disagree. I spent 2 years of my life working with disadvantaged families in the South side of Chicago. I was the only white guy for miles much of the time. I lived in the exact same conditions, ate the same food, froze with everyone else in the winter, etc.
The solution is not money. These problems are extremely, extremely tough to fix. It can't be fixed in a generation. (in fact, I left wondering if a solution can ever be found). As soon as someone 'pulled themselves up by the bootstraps' (often with aid) and went to school, they immediately moved out of the city. This simply leaves 'everything else' in the inner cities. Very few want to stay once they become productive.
Don't get me wrong. I still have many friends who live in inner Chicago (not that it matters, but FYI, almost all black people who grew up there). They are working to fix the problem, but it's not about money. It's about changing culture. It's about changing families. More than anything, it's about getting fathers to get married to those they impregnate and take care of their kids (instead of running off to the next woman). Strong families would solve the problem.
I agree that we should focus on our own problems, but that doesn't preclude us from working with other countries as well. Cities don't need money. They need people to go in and help change culture. How do we do that? I don't know. But after my experience there I don't worry about money the US spends helping other countries. We need a whole lot more than money in the inner city.
OK, I tested OmniWeb for the Mac on the site. Here's the results:
:) (Yes, I know, doesn't mean I'm secure, but I'm amazed at the products people try to make money on)
Your IP Address: Not found
Hidden tracking files: Not found
Exposed Clipboard: Only available on windows
Hack & Exploit: Entirely blank
Browser & OS: Nothing gound
Geographic location: Not found
Your Network: Blank
I guess their product wouldn't do much for me.
IMHO, Microsoft's closed office formats are the basis for its monopoly in the Office market. I love LaTeX and use it when I author articles myself. But when I work with others, guess what? I have to use Word.
I've tried using LaTeX with several groups and each group has decided to move back to Word. It is just too familiar, too standard.
The sad part is that I absolutely hate Word as much as I dislike any other program. It has nothing to do with my feelings towards MS. Word is just a poorly done program.
In the real business world, Office will be king until MS opens its format. StarOffice (which I've used quite a bit) is nice, but at 99.5% compatability, it just isn't good enough. No one wants to lose a business deal because they don't use the standard.
I highly doubt MS will ever release its hold on the Office formats. Of course, they are going to XML, but that doesn't mean the format will be open and readable to competitors.
I bought a Mac a year ago and love it. Before that it was PCs and linux. Does anyone have a link to a good person in Apple (not necessarily SJobs) I can email? We need to tell them we CARE about Apple's stance on DRM and we use them because of Apple's support for consumers rather than for big companies.
Apple is feeling A LOT of pressure from companies and others with "power". It needs to hear from its customers that they'll keep buying because its still open. It might not be GNU'd like Linux, but it is certainly more open.
I hope Apple can withstand the increasing pressure for DRM and whatever else over time.
...Mac OS X is slow. Or perhaps I should say that Darwin is slow. Or more correctly, I should say that the G4 800 I have is slower than the PIII's I have.
I regularly do Java and Python development, and I run the same scripts and programs on my Mac and on my Pentium III, 500's (running Linux).
With few exceptions, the programs (which are all console-based, BTW, so it has nothing to do with graphics) are always faster on the PIII. Sometimes faster by twice or three times.
While I agree you can't compare megahertz like people do, I don't think the G4 is as fast as Apple says. If it was as fast, why would Apple be offering dual G4's as the standard for their desktops? Why wouldn't they publicize Darwin on Intel vs. Darwin on PPC results?
Having said this, though, I wouldn't trade my mac for an Intel box any day. I love OS X. So it's not as fast for scripts and programs. It is perfectly usable and fast. The graphics are snappy on my laptop (the top of the line 800MHz until this week). I don't notice any speed problems except for repetitive tasks using Python (for example, inserting millions of calculated rows into Postgres). When I encode sorensen or mp4 video speed would be nicer as well.
I love my Mac. It's been a long time since I loved my laptop the way I do this one. Do I wish it were faster? Not for daily use. My Dell sits on my desk unused while my Apple gets used every day.
I use a Powerbook and love OS X. However, I have to disagree that Apple's VM is the best one out there. I *will* heartily agree that it has the very best integration with the OS. The modified Swing looks awesome and uses regular Cocoa-type controls.
However, I do a lot of development of server-side stuff and benchmark most of them on my 800MHz/1GB RAM Powerbook against my Linux PIII-500, and the PIII is at least 4 times faster for any program (and usually quite a bit more than that). Exact same bytecode, compiled and written on the Powerbook. Executes many times faster on Blackdown's JVM.
Perhaps it's just the processors, but you'd think my G4 would be faster than my PIII.
Why O Why do they not ask fans for help. Perhaps they have, but I do not remember it. Many ST fans know *everything* about the ST universe. They are usually geeks with quite informed and educated ideas about sci fi. Why not have a web page where fans can submit intelligent plots for new shows and films?
I would bet the quality would be better and the originality would increase. Of course, I would think that Rick Berman and his writers would go through and professionalize the plots from the hollywood sense. But at least the ideas and general plot would come from those who live and die by the ST world: the fans!
Perhaps I am placing too much confidence in those I've seen going to ST conventions and clubs. But then again, perhaps not. I'd personally pit them any day against a hollywood writer in coming up with original, science-based ideas.
As a parent of small girls, I welcome this technology. We watch our kids like hawks. They are never more than 5 feet from us. So why would I welcome something like this? Because it's one more level of security.
3 years ago we were at sea world and I was watching my 3 year old on their giant playground. She went behind a slide and disappeared. I immediately ran over to find her, and she was gone. My heart sank. 30 minutes later my wife and I found her 1/4 mile from where we had lost her.
So say all you want about "well, the parent should be watching the child." Blah. Things happen. Kids run. I'd love to have something to help me find them.
That said, an even better technology would be one that would use short-distance (0-5 miles) wireless and simply point in the direction of my child's signal. That would be even more helpful when they wander unexpectedly at sea world or wal-mart or...
Get off your high horses. After all we can do, parents still need help sometimes.
I also run a TiBook and absolutely love it. However, I have to disagree with you on the Java implementation issue. I have a PIII running Debian and I've run several non-ui java programs on both my TiBook (800 MHz G4) and my PIII. The PIII is 5-10 times faster in the java programs. The Debian box uses the Blackdown Java implementation.
Granted this is not a very rigorous test, but my experience has been that Java runs a lot faster on Linux.
I applaud your efforts! I'm a professor in ISys at BYU and my classes get a fresh squeeze of linux evangelism every semester. :) I'll point those that need help your way.
After they collect the $69-$129 upgrade fee to OS X 10.2 from all of their users (many of whom just purchased a computer with 10.1 on it).
Check out dslreports.com. I have speakeasy.net, and I've been very happy with them.
I purchased a titanium powerbook just for the purpose of running YDL 2.2 on it. (I liked the style of the powerbook--still do). I purchased YDL and found it very well put together. I was very impressed with it.
However, after a few weeks of playing with OS X (I left a small OSX partition), I erased YDL and now I work exclusively in OS X. The Linux desktops just don't compare to it, and MS Office runs on OS X as well. I don't personally use it Office, but it's nice to have when I working with others.
In sum, YDL would be great for older Apple hardware that won't run OS X. If you have newer hardware, OS X is wonderful for a desktop machine.
It seems every article comparing DSL to cable focuses on the speed or technology. The primary reason I have DSL is because I have more choice in providers. The cable access is offered only by one large company in my area (read ATT) and I simply don't trust them to meet my needs as a geek.
Contrast that to the DSL front, where I have the choice of many companies. I get a static IP, good speed, Linux supported, etc. because that's what I looked for when I subscribed.
More reviews should look at choice vs. monopolies when comparing DSL and Cable.
This is an old problem in research that has already been solved by the "Rhino problem". I'm not saying this is the method they used, but it might be of interest to some of you.
The problem is how to count the number of Rhinos in the wilderness when you know you can't find them all and count them.
The solution is to capture 100 Rhinos. Tag all of the Rhinos and then release them. After a period, you go back out and capture another 100 Rhinos.
Let's say that out of the one's you've captured, 10 have your tags on them and 90 don't. From this you can extrapolate that you have 10 times the number of Rhinos in the wild than you originally tagged, or 1,000 Rhinos.
Don't know if they used the method or not, but its normally accepted as good research methodology.
Yes, and how long will it be until the 5GHz range is crowded too? It's only a matter of time.
That's exactly what I did. I absolutely love my Powerbook. Apple is not perfect, but they are no MS.
And, BTW, I don't use IE and I only use MS Office when idiots send me attachments in MS formats. Otherwise I use LaTeX and other apps.
Given the quality of popular music, a more accurate analogy would be:
'Oh, you wrote a paper, and you got a D-...'
I ask them, 'What have you done last week?' They may say they wrote a paper on this or that. So I tell them, 'Oh, you wrote a paper, and you got an A? Would it bother you if somebody could just take that paper and get an A too? Would that bug you?'
I just wrote an article on this. SOAP gets past firewalls because it *looks* like web traffic (at least, HTTP traffic). That's great because most firewalls let HTTP traffic on port 80 through.
However, once admins realize that we programmers are sending our services (which are inherently a security issue) through port 80, they'll likely start filtering SOAP.
One of the reasons that RMI and CORBA are firewalled is because they provide remote access to *objects* that might be powerful and that can certainly execute behavior within the trusted environment. SOAP does exactly the same thing, only it looks like HTTP traffic.
Yes, SOAP can be detected very easily by firewalls. Therefore, I'm predicting that as it becomes popular, many admins won't let it through as easily as it gets through today.
My $0.02.
I didn't regard your post as flamebait. The last part of my message was for the additional posts that may or may not have come (they didn't). You actually had some honest questions.
BTW -- I forgot to add on my other post that I don't know why the "Mormon" commercials stopped in your area. I actually had a tape at one time of all of the commercials from the 70's. There were some really great ones and lots of funny ones, all with messages about how we need to spend more time with our kids, more time with our spouses, etc.
One of the best ones was where they asked 3-5 years olds questions about God and Heaven. The kids had extremely funny answers.
It's always good to laugh at ourselves. :) But seriously, yes, I am a Mormon. Yes, I grew up in Utah. Yes, I even spent a good deal of my summers in Wayne County (great fishing!). We should have fun with the mars site as we go hunting rabbits in the area next time!!!
:)
And yes, Mormons can definately use the Internet. I am a regular Slashdot reader, as well as a Linux user (100% Microsoft free) and Java programmer. I've programmed several open source applications over the years. I do stay away from the Pr0n sites, though.
Before the typical Slashdotters start flaming, please try to be somewhat respectful.
I've read that this new distribution just has the user run as root to reduce complexities of file permissions. Is this correct? If so it's a bad, bad idea as it makes the system just as vulnerable as Windows.
Does anyone have info on this?
I know Corel made a real try to jump into open source, but their release of WP was a sad case. As a long-time WP user, I jumped at the chance to buy WP for Linux. It should never have been released. It was the only proprietary software on my machine, and it was the most buggy and crash-prone. In using Wine and porting their Windows-based product, they brought with them all of the problems with Windows.
I could never use WP for anything useful. When I called tech support to exchange it for the real Windows version (which I could run in Win4Lin), they blew me off.
Sorry, but companies need to step up to the plate if they're going to support linux. This isn't your father's Windows world. People expect better.
(As an aside, I've recently switched to LaTeX and have been happy ever since.)
So now MS has a console to get into those homes. In some senses, it's good for them because they'll get a "real' computer. But of course it just extends the MS monopoly.
It's only a matter of time before we see MS Office for XBox, IE for XBox, etc. where people no longer need a regular computer. The $300 XBox does it all.