...that's because no one wants to corrupt young minds with their proprietary, inferior academic and development tools. If you don't believe that they are inferior, just try using their c++ compiler for classes that use inheritance and/or polymorphism. Getting it to work is more or less a crapshoot. [Granted, gcc 2.x has problems too, but that's what 3.x is for.]
And, for the record, the reason Sun does so well in academia is that they purposely avoid locking people into using their products through proprietary-isms. Profesionals in academia don't take to well to that kind of bullying, and they tend to be computer-literate enough to depoly OSS.
The case goes before the court Oct. 9. How long until we actually hear a verdict? IIRC, the surpreme court usually waits until after they've heard every case on the docket before it announces its verdicts, and that could be sometime in 2003.
Having done my share of XP, Red Hat and Mandrake installs, I will say I agree with (almost) everyone else here - XP is definitely easier to install and the article is obviously biased in favor of linux, and XP still comes out on top.
But, having said this, I'd like to point out one counter example. The disk partitioning utility run by XP/2K when you install is *TERRIBLE*. I accidentally installed XP to the wrong hard drive just 2 weeks ago because it's so vague. If nothing else, Mandrake and Red Hat get this part of it right - the graphical partioning (disk druid in Red Hat, I don't know about Mandrake) leaves no chance of error.
Your comment reminds me of one of the all time funniest moments from that classic of american TV, Married with Children. The scene: Al Bundy is at the DMV. He asks (in english) to take the written exam. The clerk asks him what language. Al: I speak the language that everyone in this country speaks
Clerk: Ah, spanish it is
Al: No. This is america. I speak american.
Clerk: American, eh? (Looks in the file cabinet) Aha, here it is. American. Wow, I hope you know a lot about trucking.
I'm 20, and I have and use a rotary phone that my grandfather used to own. This makes me (just about?) the youngest person on the planet with one of those. I swear, it must weigh 10 pounds and is built like a sherman tank - it must be 90% metal.
Re:For the chess nuts
on
Men vs. Machines
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I have to take exception with your point on original thought - here's what comes to mind. You say that original thought comes from generating and discounting possible approaches. The example that came to my mind are works by MC Esher. He draws parodixes - things that cannot exist in nature. How could he have created them, being that he could *not* have encountered them, or anything simliar?
I agree with the parent. First of all, (and I do this to be specific, not to be an nitpicker) let's be specific - you are talking using the recognized "turing test", where a computer and people try to convince judges via telatype that they are human. [Turing's original test was slightly different, and included gender as a factor, but that has been disgarded as a red herring]. Now, the reason I say I want to be specific is because in order to "pass" the test, the computer has to fool humans 70% of the time, not just once. No computer has ever come close - IIRC, the last Loebner winner as in the 15% range. So saying that beating a grandmaster in chess is harder than passing the turning test is complete bull
Lisa: Well, look at the wonders of the computer age now.
Homer: Wonders, Lisa, or blunders?
Lisa: I think that was implied by what I said.
Homer: Implied, Lisa, or implode?
Yes, capitalism isn't perfect, but it's the best system there is. It tends to produce cyclic, unstable economies, joblessness, and negative externalities (like pollution). But all of these can be minimize or eliminated with vigouresly enfouced laws.
Sorry if this is picky, but I'd like to draw a distinction between your two examples and the US as it is today. Our troops are abroad primarily as international peacekeepers, not as conquerors like the romans and the british. They are in a few established bases, and they don't go out and conqueror more land. Second, look at where our bases, are: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Italy, Germany, and Japan. All of these are hotspots in the world that could flare up, and our troops help keep the peace. The only possible exceptions to that are Italy and Germany, which are relics of the Cold War (which, keep in mind didn't end all that long ago). And, those bases are vital to peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, another hot spot. The British and Romans were intent on taking uncivilized parts of the world and making them part of their respective empires; our troops are abroad to keep them countries stable, wars from being fought, to prevent ethnic cleansing, etc. Say what you will about US miltiary impearialism, but I much rather have them there than risk going through another world war because they aren't.
I think you misunderstand - I am not saying that renewable energy, end military and cultural imperialism, et al aren't noble (if not debatable) goals , but I am speaking specifically to the what was stated several parent-posts ago - I want to know what the Green party's beliefs on DRM and software are. Yeesh, damned cranky trolls.
You are overlooking one critical idea. Monopolies on thought tend to be near-impossible to break (just look at pharmaceutical companies). Microsoft has adopted an attitude specifically to avoid interoperatability with other companies' products. (Just look at kerberos, samba, the office.doc format, et al) The playing field is obviously not level - companies may choose to buy inferior microsoft products simply because they need that interoperability. Therefore, you can't simply let the free-market choose. I'll go so far as to say that Peru doesn't need to mandate open source - they just need to mandate open standards.
What can you tell us about those beliefs? I check the websites you mentioned, and the only thing of interest to the slashdot community is this:Advanced and high definition TV, digital communications, and wireless communications hold promise and challenge. For example, the public airwaves that will accommodate the new generation of telecommunications technology should not be free giveaways to media giants. An auction and built in requirements that attach to these licenses to act "in the public interest" is needed.
(Sorry if this is a tad offtopic, but...)
The more I hear about stories like these, the more I think we need campaign finiance reform. Think how much more productive and progressive our laws would be if our senators weren't owned by companies. The problem I see with my fellow americans is that we tend to be, for lack of a better word, shallow. For most, memory of things political is only a few months at best. Further, yes, occasionally you get something like CBDTBA (or whatever it was named) that cause outrage, but the underlying problem - that most congressmen are owned my big cooperations (particularly republican, but democrats aren't immune either) - is the one that never gets solved.
I saw that. IIRC, A laywer got on in his brand-new luxury car. He was in an accident (not his fault, I believe) That's when he finds out that they he had one of these, he calls the maker, who claims they were using it to gather information to improve the car. He sues them, claiming he had not given them permission, and therefore they were violating his rights.
Programmer man-hours are a limited resource, whether you work for Microsoft or Linux. Linux has a larger talent pool, but that effort is divided into dozens of differnet desktop enviroments, all of which, IMHO, are inferior to windows (and I haven't seen whole lot of improvement here, either). Konq is a terrible way of browsing the file system, not to mention slow. You can't even copy/cut/paste reliably between applications. So forget about coding for them. Linux is wonderful for programming and remote access, speed and reliability, but when it comes to the UI, it stinks.
Slashdot Mirror
I saw one of their posters... the geek in the picture scared the hell out of me...
...that's because no one wants to corrupt young minds with their proprietary, inferior academic and development tools. If you don't believe that they are inferior, just try using their c++ compiler for classes that use inheritance and/or polymorphism. Getting it to work is more or less a crapshoot. [Granted, gcc 2.x has problems too, but that's what 3.x is for.]
And, for the record, the reason Sun does so well in academia is that they purposely avoid locking people into using their products through proprietary-isms. Profesionals in academia don't take to well to that kind of bullying, and they tend to be computer-literate enough to depoly OSS.
The case goes before the court Oct. 9. How long until we actually hear a verdict? IIRC, the surpreme court usually waits until after they've heard every case on the docket before it announces its verdicts, and that could be sometime in 2003.
Having done my share of XP, Red Hat and Mandrake installs, I will say I agree with (almost) everyone else here - XP is definitely easier to install and the article is obviously biased in favor of linux, and XP still comes out on top.
But, having said this, I'd like to point out one counter example. The disk partitioning utility run by XP/2K when you install is *TERRIBLE*. I accidentally installed XP to the wrong hard drive just 2 weeks ago because it's so vague. If nothing else, Mandrake and Red Hat get this part of it right - the graphical partioning (disk druid in Red Hat, I don't know about Mandrake) leaves no chance of error.
Your comment reminds me of one of the all time funniest moments from that classic of american TV, Married with Children. The scene: Al Bundy is at the DMV. He asks (in english) to take the written exam. The clerk asks him what language.
Al: I speak the language that everyone in this country speaks
Clerk: Ah, spanish it is
Al: No. This is america. I speak american.
Clerk: American, eh? (Looks in the file cabinet)
Aha, here it is. American. Wow, I hope you know a lot about trucking.
I'm 20, and I have and use a rotary phone that my grandfather used to own. This makes me (just about?) the youngest person on the planet with one of those. I swear, it must weigh 10 pounds and is built like a sherman tank - it must be 90% metal.
Whoops... misread that there for a second :-D
I have to take exception with your point on original thought - here's what comes to mind. You say that original thought comes from generating and discounting possible approaches. The example that came to my mind are works by MC Esher. He draws parodixes - things that cannot exist in nature. How could he have created them, being that he could *not* have encountered them, or anything simliar?
I agree with the parent. First of all, (and I do this to be specific, not to be an nitpicker) let's be specific - you are talking using the recognized "turing test", where a computer and people try to convince judges via telatype that they are human. [Turing's original test was slightly different, and included gender as a factor, but that has been disgarded as a red herring]. Now, the reason I say I want to be specific is because in order to "pass" the test, the computer has to fool humans 70% of the time, not just once. No computer has ever come close - IIRC, the last Loebner winner as in the 15% range. So saying that beating a grandmaster in chess is harder than passing the turning test is complete bull
It's time like these there should be a "+1, Pitiful" as a moderator option. Or, -1 maybe?
Lisa: Well, look at the wonders of the computer age now.
Homer: Wonders, Lisa, or blunders?
Lisa: I think that was implied by what I said.
Homer: Implied, Lisa, or implode?
This kind of story isn't new. This is typical PR stuff. Anyone who wants to lean more should read Toxic Sludge is Good For You, Lies, Damn Lies, and the PR industry.
Yep, I'm from DE. Looks like I'll be making a few phone calls in the near future.
Yes, capitalism isn't perfect, but it's the best system there is. It tends to produce cyclic, unstable economies, joblessness, and negative externalities (like pollution). But all of these can be minimize or eliminated with vigouresly enfouced laws.
Sorry if this is picky, but I'd like to draw a distinction between your two examples and the US as it is today. Our troops are abroad primarily as international peacekeepers, not as conquerors like the romans and the british. They are in a few established bases, and they don't go out and conqueror more land. Second, look at where our bases, are: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Italy, Germany, and Japan. All of these are hotspots in the world that could flare up, and our troops help keep the peace. The only possible exceptions to that are Italy and Germany, which are relics of the Cold War (which, keep in mind didn't end all that long ago). And, those bases are vital to peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, another hot spot. The British and Romans were intent on taking uncivilized parts of the world and making them part of their respective empires; our troops are abroad to keep them countries stable, wars from being fought, to prevent ethnic cleansing, etc. Say what you will about US miltiary impearialism, but I much rather have them there than risk going through another world war because they aren't.
I think you misunderstand - I am not saying that renewable energy, end military and cultural imperialism, et al aren't noble (if not debatable) goals , but I am speaking specifically to the what was stated several parent-posts ago - I want to know what the Green party's beliefs on DRM and software are. Yeesh, damned cranky trolls.
You are overlooking one critical idea. Monopolies on thought tend to be near-impossible to break (just look at pharmaceutical companies). Microsoft has adopted an attitude specifically to avoid interoperatability with other companies' products. (Just look at kerberos, samba, the office .doc format, et al) The playing field is obviously not level - companies may choose to buy inferior microsoft products simply because they need that interoperability. Therefore, you can't simply let the free-market choose. I'll go so far as to say that Peru doesn't need to mandate open source - they just need to mandate open standards.
What can you tell us about those beliefs? I check the websites you mentioned, and the only thing of interest to the slashdot community is this:Advanced and high definition TV, digital communications, and wireless communications hold promise and challenge. For example, the public airwaves that will accommodate the new generation of telecommunications technology should not be free giveaways to media giants. An auction and built in requirements that attach to these licenses to act "in the public interest" is needed.
(Sorry if this is a tad offtopic, but...)
The more I hear about stories like these, the more I think we need campaign finiance reform. Think how much more productive and progressive our laws would be if our senators weren't owned by companies. The problem I see with my fellow americans is that we tend to be, for lack of a better word, shallow. For most, memory of things political is only a few months at best. Further, yes, occasionally you get something like CBDTBA (or whatever it was named) that cause outrage, but the underlying problem - that most congressmen are owned my big cooperations (particularly republican, but democrats aren't immune either) - is the one that never gets solved.
I saw that. IIRC, A laywer got on in his brand-new luxury car. He was in an accident (not his fault, I believe) That's when he finds out that they he had one of these, he calls the maker, who claims they were using it to gather information to improve the car. He sues them, claiming he had not given them permission, and therefore they were violating his rights.
For the record: To the person compiling the recipe, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T USE THAT ONE
Rack of goatse.cx
Open source cookbook?.... Mmmm....tastes like burning....
Programmer man-hours are a limited resource, whether you work for Microsoft or Linux. Linux has a larger talent pool, but that effort is divided into dozens of differnet desktop enviroments, all of which, IMHO, are inferior to windows (and I haven't seen whole lot of improvement here, either). Konq is a terrible way of browsing the file system, not to mention slow. You can't even copy/cut/paste reliably between applications. So forget about coding for them. Linux is wonderful for programming and remote access, speed and reliability, but when it comes to the UI, it stinks.
If Larry Flint can go to court and win (in the Surpreme Court, no less), why can't we?