without even commenting on the quality of oracle's rdbms, this statement: Why not the Month of Oracle Database Bugs? We could do the Year of Oracle Database Bugs but we think a week is enough to show how flawed Oracle software is, also we don't want to give away all our 0days:), anyways if you want to contribute send your Oracle 0days so this can be extended for another week or more.
doesn't even make sense. They have enough to do a whole year but ask for people to send in more to extend it to a second week? Because they don't want to compromise their entire zero day horde? Sorry but I just can't take these people too seriously.
i caught on to xkcd with the 'sudo sandwich' comic. i've been reading it since and it's now a part of my regular comic lineup (penny arcade, pvp, megatokyo, ctrl-alt-del and xkcd). you know it's good when you resonate with such a large audience using stick figures.
It is 10 bucks cheaper at Amazon. (That's an associate link - if that bothers you - just go search it at amazon- 'on the edge' returned it as the top hit for me.)
he says, This isn't a company that bought some software ten years ago and don't have the source code. They have the source code for all of their scripts.
this is a bit confusing to me. is he saying they have the source code of the apps and the install scripts or that they have the 'source code' of install scripts only? and if so- wouldn't that just make sense? Are there people out there running some kind of binary install scripts that they can't read themselves?
my next question is this - is the need to run older apps one of cost, or one of technical complexity? i ask this because my initial reaction is that, when i don't want to upgrade something it is usually because i don't want to pay for the new version, if the old version meets my needs. with the open source software i use, i may hold off on an upgrade until i'm sure it is stable, but then i go get it. i understand that in the corporate world it isn't that simple, but is it so complicated that this blog post is accurate? would it still take three years to get their software to install on a new setup if the software and os were both open?
i agree - i used the term very loosely as to be honest, i don't know too much about it all. it's one area of his writing that i find interesting but i don't really agree with his conclusions. prof is a great character. i find myself saying tanstaafl all the time.
Dune is even worse because it is antithetical to much of what Herbert had to say. Starship Troopers does this too, but not to the same extent. Both movies mock the books. I find myself going back to the movie dune, sort of like when i go back to the fridge and look inside, even though i already know i don't want what is inside.
I don't revisit the Starship Troopers film, because as has already been mentioned, everything of substance is completely dropped or ridiculed. Both books, Dune and Troopers are books that I read at least once a year.
It's art. Some people like it and respond to it in a positive way. A lot of people love RAH - but some don't. And probably the number of people who've never even heard of him is larger than both of the other two put together. No big deal. I don't get ballet. Doesn't mean it isn't meaningful and worthwhile, it just isn't for me.
RAH's libertarian philosophy is a bit beyond that of a 14 year old I think, but when you consider that his target audience was 14 and younger, I think your critique falls in his favor. As for not nice, well, I don't think so.
Offensive? I can see that, especially some of the later stuff. But once again, we are talking about personal preference. I cut my teeth on his juveniles which were very sanitary and inspiring. Horatio Alger kind of stuff. As a young geek it was escapism that I could really enjoy. I read Have Spacesuit Will Travel many times over, each time seeing how that could be me. Same with a ton of his other titles (Starman Jones (except for the memory part), Rocketship Galileo, and so on).
so does that mean the other 800 or 900 work fine? i don't own a ps2 or ps3 - i own a gamecube, but when i go into a gamestop (or something similar) it feels like there are thousands of play station games out there, me i've just got to look for the little bitty gc section.
I've thought about the book quite a bit more since. I did not make the same connection to 9/11 that the reviewer made. There were similarities, but the description could have fit another set of events that would be in our future. Heinlein did this himself and so I took it the same way - as referring to events that have not happened yet.
I think part of the appeal RAH's juveniles hold is the naivete they present. By mixing in some of the 'worldliness' of the later novels, a bit of that is lost. Sometimes it felt like watching an old Andy Griffith re-run and having Aunt Bea drop the occasional f-bomb. I don't think someone new to Heinlein would notice it, but having re-read those older works many times, it was a bit jarring.
I had pre-ordered my copy and read it right away. Of course, you can't really go back. It's not Heinlein, it couldn't be. But it is pretty close and I guess it speaks volumes about how many of us feel, that we would be willing to grasp at those straws. And as excited as I was to have had two 'new' Heinleins come out, I hope they are done and will just let his body of work stand as it is. The great thing is the works we have can still be just as powerful. Hopefully somewhere right now, some young kid is getting chills, just like I did, as he reads about Johnny Rico's combat drops. Or maybe some other kid is closing their copy of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and feeling that same sense of loss, and hope that Mike is still alive in their somewhere.
I used to wonder why Hollywood wasn't cranking out movies based on Heinlein now that special effects are so good. But after what they did to troopers, I hope they stay away from all the rest. I think his biggest impact will be with all of those like Spider Robinson and myself, who found the master at our public library.
the whole charity thing is really pretty much irrelevant. sure, charities get big breaks on software and hardware. at the same time they often have much smaller budgets for things like i.t. (and hopefully they are careful not to waste donation money) so really the question is the same question for business - which ultimately costs more? and you can go out and find studies and anecdotal evidence all day and just about all of it is tainted in some way. the study was payed for by some big company or the anecdotal evidence is coming from someone with an agenda to push.
i work for a very large non-profit. we get huge breaks and we still spend a lot (to me anyway) because there is some stuff we do that justifies the cost. when we can - and when the tool best fits, we use open source. just like a big for-profit company should do. a person who writes off open source completely without analyzing each situation is really just hurting themselves. often OSS might not work, but when it does it can really be a great cost saver. especially if you can train volunteers or existing staff.
is OSS free as in beer completely? no - of course not. does it cost more than a closed source solution? it really depends on so many variables that change from situation to situation that there is no way to make a blanket statement.
my organization just got oracle to give us a huge break on some stuff. it was a huge deal to get them to do it. they had to be sure that it wouldn't violate some of their contracts with the government. (by giving someone else lower prices or something-- i'm not involved at a level to know the details) it went through, we saved an insane amount compared to the 'list price' but it was still expensive. and getting skilled people is not a walk in the park. but we think it is the tool that will best meet our needs in a specific area. we also use linux (server and some desktops), we use some OSS project management tools, we use a ton of stuff all over the place that is open source. and we use windows. but i don't see the windows stuff as saving us a ton of money. shoot, we had a virus problem the other week that caused a lot of issues. i think part of that was because we run a.v. that isn't the greatest - but it was cheaper (not in the long i don't think, but that's not my area). on my aix and linux servers-- i don't have to pay for or worry about a.v. and they don't even address the cost of compliance management.
so there you have it -- on charities pro-oss story to balance out anothers con-oss story.
is using a time and attendance system that i wrote and next year, they are going to find out that it needs to be fixed for the people who log in from the chicago office (the server is in arizona-- they'll be o.k.)
that's what i'm afraid of. i think they'll get this worked out the day after the peace process is succesful in the middle east -- which is highly rumored to coincide with the release of duke nukem forever.
i don't think so. i think that china is more motivated to play nice with the rest of the world. they wont just follow the lead of the other nations, but i think having them involved certainly raises the chances of success in these talks.
i have a windows machine, but this is still what i did. it was cheaper, as you mention, and gaming on windows can be a hassle sometimes too. when i was younger i had time for that. but now the most precious commodity i have is time. when i can squeeze in playing some games, i just fire up my game cube and don't worry about what will work or what wont. i'll do the same with the wii.
when the kids have grown and gone, maybe i'll return to trying to keep up with pc games but that's at least 15 years off. who knows what will be the best platform by then.
Slashdot Mirror
but why do they need help to extend it a week if they have enough to last a year?
without even commenting on the quality of oracle's rdbms, this statement:
Why not the Month of Oracle Database Bugs?
We could do the Year of Oracle Database Bugs but we think a week is enough to show how flawed Oracle software is, also we don't want to give away all our 0days:), anyways if you want to contribute send your Oracle 0days so this can be extended for another week or more.
doesn't even make sense. They have enough to do a whole year but ask for people to send in more to extend it to a second week? Because they don't want to compromise their entire zero day horde? Sorry but I just can't take these people too seriously.
i caught on to xkcd with the 'sudo sandwich' comic. i've been reading it since and it's now a part of my regular comic lineup (penny arcade, pvp, megatokyo, ctrl-alt-del and xkcd). you know it's good when you resonate with such a large audience using stick figures.
actually - that is more clear than what i read in any of the links. thanks!
i eagerly await someone, lawyer or not, who is willing to explain this in plain english - i read a bunch of the links and i still don't understand it.
It is 10 bucks cheaper at Amazon. (That's an associate link - if that bothers you - just go search it at amazon- 'on the edge' returned it as the top hit for me.)
not after the variable star discussion just the other day.
That's definitely not the one that i have. mine has a green & white cover. thanks for the tip.
he says, This isn't a company that bought some software ten years ago and don't have the source code. They have the source code for all of their scripts.
this is a bit confusing to me. is he saying they have the source code of the apps and the install scripts or that they have the 'source code' of install scripts only? and if so- wouldn't that just make sense? Are there people out there running some kind of binary install scripts that they can't read themselves?
my next question is this - is the need to run older apps one of cost, or one of technical complexity? i ask this because my initial reaction is that, when i don't want to upgrade something it is usually because i don't want to pay for the new version, if the old version meets my needs. with the open source software i use, i may hold off on an upgrade until i'm sure it is stable, but then i go get it. i understand that in the corporate world it isn't that simple, but is it so complicated that this blog post is accurate? would it still take three years to get their software to install on a new setup if the software and os were both open?
I own it. I've read it 4 or 5 times. I do not think it is the edition you mention though. I'll have to dig it up and check.
i agree - i used the term very loosely as to be honest, i don't know too much about it all. it's one area of his writing that i find interesting but i don't really agree with his conclusions. prof is a great character. i find myself saying tanstaafl all the time.
just in case anybody goes looking - Bujold.
Dune is even worse because it is antithetical to much of what Herbert had to say. Starship Troopers does this too, but not to the same extent. Both movies mock the books. I find myself going back to the movie dune, sort of like when i go back to the fridge and look inside, even though i already know i don't want what is inside.
I don't revisit the Starship Troopers film, because as has already been mentioned, everything of substance is completely dropped or ridiculed. Both books, Dune and Troopers are books that I read at least once a year.
It's art. Some people like it and respond to it in a positive way. A lot of people love RAH - but some don't. And probably the number of people who've never even heard of him is larger than both of the other two put together. No big deal. I don't get ballet. Doesn't mean it isn't meaningful and worthwhile, it just isn't for me.
RAH's libertarian philosophy is a bit beyond that of a 14 year old I think, but when you consider that his target audience was 14 and younger, I think your critique falls in his favor. As for not nice, well, I don't think so.
Offensive? I can see that, especially some of the later stuff. But once again, we are talking about personal preference. I cut my teeth on his juveniles which were very sanitary and inspiring. Horatio Alger kind of stuff. As a young geek it was escapism that I could really enjoy. I read Have Spacesuit Will Travel many times over, each time seeing how that could be me. Same with a ton of his other titles (Starman Jones (except for the memory part), Rocketship Galileo, and so on).
so does that mean the other 800 or 900 work fine? i don't own a ps2 or ps3 - i own a gamecube, but when i go into a gamestop (or something similar) it feels like there are thousands of play station games out there, me i've just got to look for the little bitty gc section.
I wrote up a few of my impressions of the book in this journal entry.
I've thought about the book quite a bit more since. I did not make the same connection to 9/11 that the reviewer made. There were similarities, but the description could have fit another set of events that would be in our future. Heinlein did this himself and so I took it the same way - as referring to events that have not happened yet.
I think part of the appeal RAH's juveniles hold is the naivete they present. By mixing in some of the 'worldliness' of the later novels, a bit of that is lost. Sometimes it felt like watching an old Andy Griffith re-run and having Aunt Bea drop the occasional f-bomb. I don't think someone new to Heinlein would notice it, but having re-read those older works many times, it was a bit jarring.
I had pre-ordered my copy and read it right away. Of course, you can't really go back. It's not Heinlein, it couldn't be. But it is pretty close and I guess it speaks volumes about how many of us feel, that we would be willing to grasp at those straws. And as excited as I was to have had two 'new' Heinleins come out, I hope they are done and will just let his body of work stand as it is. The great thing is the works we have can still be just as powerful. Hopefully somewhere right now, some young kid is getting chills, just like I did, as he reads about Johnny Rico's combat drops. Or maybe some other kid is closing their copy of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and feeling that same sense of loss, and hope that Mike is still alive in their somewhere.
I used to wonder why Hollywood wasn't cranking out movies based on Heinlein now that special effects are so good. But after what they did to troopers, I hope they stay away from all the rest. I think his biggest impact will be with all of those like Spider Robinson and myself, who found the master at our public library.
I'm not African-American, and I have never been to Africa or the less affluent regions of any major city.
you didn't need to tell us that- it's self-evident.
the whole charity thing is really pretty much irrelevant. sure, charities get big breaks on software and hardware. at the same time they often have much smaller budgets for things like i.t. (and hopefully they are careful not to waste donation money) so really the question is the same question for business - which ultimately costs more? and you can go out and find studies and anecdotal evidence all day and just about all of it is tainted in some way. the study was payed for by some big company or the anecdotal evidence is coming from someone with an agenda to push.
i work for a very large non-profit. we get huge breaks and we still spend a lot (to me anyway) because there is some stuff we do that justifies the cost. when we can - and when the tool best fits, we use open source. just like a big for-profit company should do. a person who writes off open source completely without analyzing each situation is really just hurting themselves. often OSS might not work, but when it does it can really be a great cost saver. especially if you can train volunteers or existing staff.
is OSS free as in beer completely? no - of course not. does it cost more than a closed source solution? it really depends on so many variables that change from situation to situation that there is no way to make a blanket statement.
my organization just got oracle to give us a huge break on some stuff. it was a huge deal to get them to do it. they had to be sure that it wouldn't violate some of their contracts with the government. (by giving someone else lower prices or something-- i'm not involved at a level to know the details) it went through, we saved an insane amount compared to the 'list price' but it was still expensive. and getting skilled people is not a walk in the park. but we think it is the tool that will best meet our needs in a specific area. we also use linux (server and some desktops), we use some OSS project management tools, we use a ton of stuff all over the place that is open source. and we use windows. but i don't see the windows stuff as saving us a ton of money. shoot, we had a virus problem the other week that caused a lot of issues. i think part of that was because we run a.v. that isn't the greatest - but it was cheaper (not in the long i don't think, but that's not my area). on my aix and linux servers-- i don't have to pay for or worry about a.v. and they don't even address the cost of compliance management.
so there you have it -- on charities pro-oss story to balance out anothers con-oss story.
this may end up being the most worthwhile post in this thread.
is using a time and attendance system that i wrote and next year, they are going to find out that it needs to be fixed for the people who log in from the chicago office (the server is in arizona-- they'll be o.k.)
those costumes are really cool. so you made the dot with the tank cam and now this. you are almost as famous as the star wars kid.
i'm holding out on linux being ready for the desktop :)
you gave me a good chuckle though- thanks.
that's what i'm afraid of. i think they'll get this worked out the day after the peace process is succesful in the middle east -- which is highly rumored to coincide with the release of duke nukem forever.
i don't think so. i think that china is more motivated to play nice with the rest of the world. they wont just follow the lead of the other nations, but i think having them involved certainly raises the chances of success in these talks.
i have a windows machine, but this is still what i did. it was cheaper, as you mention, and gaming on windows can be a hassle sometimes too. when i was younger i had time for that. but now the most precious commodity i have is time. when i can squeeze in playing some games, i just fire up my game cube and don't worry about what will work or what wont. i'll do the same with the wii.
when the kids have grown and gone, maybe i'll return to trying to keep up with pc games but that's at least 15 years off. who knows what will be the best platform by then.