I think there's a fundamental confusion of abstract concepts vs. languages by those who prefer to have thousands of languages.
All languages evolve with culture, so: If language A has a word for idea X today, but language B doesn't, it won't mean that we will be unable to express idea X when language A dies out.
That is plain silly.
When speakers of a language on the verge of extintion switch to a new, more universal language, they will carry with them those concepts and eventually the new language will be able to express them too.
I speak 2 languages fluently and 2 others "poorly" and I personally don't think in any "language".
I think in abstract constructs with images, sounds etc (it's way more efficient and natural). If I need to express those verbally, it will become whichever language I need to use in that situation.
Unless I need to say it out loud, I don't actually "say" my head in English or Hungarian or whatnot that "I'm hungry, I'll go get a sandwich". I just get a feeling of emptiness in the stomach and have some vague image of a sandwich and my fridge appear in my head etc...
Any multi-lingual person will tell you that if you thought in one native language and then "translated" it to another, it would be way to slow and awkward.
I can't wait until there only a handful of languages. Maybe we'll understand each-other better and have fewer wars (as for the Babel fish reference: I'd argue that the LACK of understanding and misunderstandings / mis-translations caused MORE wars than good communication...)
Language is primarily a means of communication. Have too many and the meaning will get lost in the noise. There are plenty of other avenues to express cultural identity that do not hinder mankind.
Having maybe 3-4 different languages would be fine, just to keep things interesting, but hundreds is a total waste of human brain power.
By the way, English is not my native language, and I'd be happy to "drop" my native language for a "universal" one.
I use OO for all my word processing, spreadsheet etc. work (on Linux and Mac) and my biggest problem with it is: the bloat and hte ugly, slow, spazzy / flickering GUI (for crying out loud, why does a file selection box need to be cleared and redrawn multiple times when it pops up?). This is really the only reason I'm still on a look-out for another cross-platform office suite.
The problem is that "creationism/intelligent design" ARE religion, under a very weak "science disguise".
They go not only against the theory of evolution, but astronomy, geology (claiming that the Earth was "created" only a few thousand years ago etc.) and practically all the fundamentals of modern science.
And yes, you can bet that in the case of someone fanatical enough to deny all that, religion WILL have an effect on how (s)he governs. Just look at how the right wing is "buchering" science and the whole stem-cell research, global warming issue.
Religion, for the most part, attempts to fill the gaps in individuals' knowledge (not unlike science). Having been "designed" in simpler times, religion is simpler, so the more lazy / non-curious the individual, the more gaps are filled with religion, instead of science (religion is simpler).
How much grant money do you think a dogmatically religious politician will approve, if (s)he doesn't think science is important?
It's nice to see. If we are to compete with the evil M$, we need cooperation between distros, not bickering. United, we stand.:) Sure, I have my favorite distro(s), but as long as it's not Microsoft, I'm happy.
It's funny how there's all that talk about spyware on Windows. But Windows itself IS spyware, so I guess that makes all other spyware just "3rd party system utilities"?:)
I completely agree with the list and I've been trying to address them in my 3D application, EQUINOX-3D
- migration: accept controls most commonly used in other similar software, such as camera control (the first thing a "migrating" 3D artist will want to do is move the camera), support common/standard file formats etc.
- "stability" (the author might want to call this self-sufficient/self-contained software): I include as much as possible and not depend on external APIs to avoid the infamous "library dependency hell" that he was describing
- simplicity: strive for a simple, "discoverable" user interface, no obscure/unnecessary settings, unless you specifically open the "advanced drawers"
- comfort: see under migration
People often say that EQUINOX-3D has the best user interface among free (or even commerical) modelers and I'm convinced it's because of keeping in mind the points he summarized so well.
"who assume that everyone wants to work for Microsoft."
What incredible arrogance. They could not pay me enough to "sell my soul". I would not even date someone if she worked for M$. (Yes, I have turned down girls for that reason).
I use a 100% green electricity provider, so if I could plug in my car, it would be definitely better for the environment.
With the rise in oil prices, solar and other renewable energy sources are getting more and more competitive. We're getting very close to a break-even point.
I used to do VR research at SEGA in 1995 and we had a head-mount display with a pair of 640x480 color LCDs about the same size. It probably cost a fortune back then, but it was available.
The number for contrast has no dimension. It is the light intensity ratio between the brightest white and the darkest black the display can reproduce. It should have been be written as 450:1
Slashdot Mirror
``What's the point? All it can do is surf the internet and make phone calls.''
;)
Yeah, that's like what 99% of people use a computer for.
I think there's a fundamental confusion of abstract concepts vs. languages by those who prefer to have thousands of languages.
All languages evolve with culture, so:
If language A has a word for idea X today, but language B doesn't, it won't mean that we will be unable to express idea X when language A dies out.
That is plain silly.
When speakers of a language on the verge of extintion switch to a new, more universal language, they will carry with them those concepts and eventually the new language will be able to express them too.
I speak 2 languages fluently and 2 others "poorly" and I personally don't think in any "language".
I think in abstract constructs with images, sounds etc (it's way more efficient and natural). If I need to express those verbally, it will become whichever language I need to use in that situation.
Unless I need to say it out loud, I don't actually "say" my head in English or Hungarian or whatnot that "I'm hungry, I'll go get a sandwich". I just get a feeling of emptiness in the stomach and have some vague image of a sandwich and my fridge appear in my head etc...
Any multi-lingual person will tell you that if you thought in one native language and then "translated" it to another, it would be way to slow and awkward.
I can't wait until there only a handful of languages. Maybe we'll understand each-other better and have fewer wars (as for the Babel fish reference: I'd argue that the LACK of understanding and misunderstandings / mis-translations caused MORE wars than good communication...)
Language is primarily a means of communication.
Have too many and the meaning will get lost in the noise.
There are plenty of other avenues to express cultural identity that do not hinder mankind.
Having maybe 3-4 different languages would be fine, just to keep things interesting, but hundreds is a total waste of human brain power.
By the way, English is not my native language, and I'd be happy to "drop" my native language for a "universal" one.
and that makes injuring someone and stealing their hard-earned laptom OK?
I use OO for all my word processing, spreadsheet etc. work (on Linux and Mac) and my biggest problem with it is:
the bloat and hte ugly, slow, spazzy / flickering GUI (for crying out loud, why does a file selection box need to be cleared and redrawn multiple times when it pops up?).
This is really the only reason I'm still on a look-out for another cross-platform office suite.
This movie explains it all.
The problem is that "creationism/intelligent design" ARE religion, under a very weak "science disguise".
They go not only against the theory of evolution, but astronomy, geology (claiming that the Earth was "created" only a few thousand years ago etc.) and practically all the fundamentals of modern science.
And yes, you can bet that in the case of someone fanatical enough to deny all that, religion WILL have an effect on how (s)he governs.
Just look at how the right wing is "buchering" science and the whole stem-cell research, global warming issue.
Religion, for the most part, attempts to fill the gaps in individuals' knowledge (not unlike science).
Having been "designed" in simpler times, religion is simpler, so the more lazy / non-curious the individual, the more gaps are filled with religion, instead of science (religion is simpler).
How much grant money do you think a dogmatically religious politician will approve, if (s)he doesn't think science is important?
It's nice to see. :)
If we are to compete with the evil M$, we need cooperation between distros, not bickering.
United, we stand.
Sure, I have my favorite distro(s), but as long as it's not Microsoft, I'm happy.
Build a noise canceller for the given frequency. :)
It's funny how there's all that talk about spyware on Windows. :)
But Windows itself IS spyware, so I guess that makes all other spyware just "3rd party system utilities"?
But you wouldn't see the beams. Especially in space...
I completely agree with the list and I've been trying to address them in my 3D application, EQUINOX-3D
- migration: accept controls most commonly used in other similar software, such as camera control (the first thing a "migrating" 3D artist will want to do is move the camera), support common/standard file formats etc.
- "stability" (the author might want to call this self-sufficient/self-contained software): I include as much as possible and not depend on external APIs to avoid the infamous "library dependency hell" that he was describing
- simplicity: strive for a simple, "discoverable" user interface, no obscure/unnecessary settings, unless you specifically open the "advanced drawers"
- comfort: see under migration
People often say that EQUINOX-3D has the best user interface among free (or even commerical) modelers and I'm convinced it's because of keeping in mind the points he summarized so well.
"who assume that everyone wants to work for Microsoft."
What incredible arrogance.
They could not pay me enough to "sell my soul".
I would not even date someone if she worked for M$.
(Yes, I have turned down girls for that reason).
I use a 100% green electricity provider, so if I could plug in my car, it would be definitely better for the environment.
With the rise in oil prices, solar and other renewable energy sources are getting more and more competitive.
We're getting very close to a break-even point.
You can't be serious.
So you're EXPECTING your elected officials to be corrupt?
Can- as in "is able to".
:)
Now they can...
I used to do VR research at SEGA in 1995 and we had a head-mount display with a pair of 640x480 color LCDs about the same size.
It probably cost a fortune back then, but it was available.
The number for contrast has no dimension.
It is the light intensity ratio between the brightest white and the darkest black the display can reproduce.
It should have been be written as 450:1
According to Microsoft, this limitation 'helps [users] stay organized and reduces confusion.'
;)
Is it just me or Microsoft just insulted the intelligence of its customers.
Example 3: if the radios fail, tower will use the standard light signals:
R .s html
http://www.risingup.com/fars/info/part91-125-FA
I vacuum the inside of my computers once in a while.
It's fun! You should too!
...nirvana?
That was simply because you were missing the font containing the bullets.
It's not the application's fault.
We had the same issue when reading a powerpoint file into OpenOffice but after installing the appropriate TrueType fonts, it looked exactly the same.
they got me on camera...
SGI's IRIX (5.2 I think) had this back in 1993.
I also implemented a version of it in 1995 in an X11 debug tool.