Remind me to try that on some cute 14 year old royal-type in my next life when I'm some mega-Force-sensitive 9 year-old who was immaculately conceived. =)
As I understand it, the Sith Lords originated somehow like this.
There was one of the Jedi order who was experimenting with the effects of anger and hatred in his use of the force.
When he tried to insist to the Jedi Council that his method was viable and compatible with the Jedi Code, they disavowed him. He fled with various followers to found the Lords of Sith. As an organization they are devoted not to preservation, but domination. They also have a grudge against the Jedi for the expulsion of the founder of the Sith.
Unfortunately, since they were devoting themselves to an "evil" cause, they eventually turned upon one another. Among the first to die was the founder of the Sith.
The Jedi merely sat back as the Sith Lords disintegrated as an organization and then mopped up the remainders.
Apparently some of the Sith survived. But, learning from the experience with their founder, the Sith now RARELY operate in groups of more than 2, master and apprentice, due to the frictions that evil people place upon each other.
The Sith are so hard to detect for several reasons. As Yoda implied, the Dark Side is difficult to see unless you're specifically looking for it. Usually the only people SPECIFICALLY looking for the Dark Side are Sith Lords and those in immediate combat with said Sith Lords.
In addition, like Jedi, Sith train to conceal themselves. Similar to the way Luke hid himself from Vader near the end of ROTJ. He couldn't necessarily conceal his thoughts, but he was able to conceal his actual whereabouts.
Saw it 6 times on opening day between 9AM and Midnight.
Saw it twice more with a friend and his kids today.
The part I love the best is the filming of Anakin in the pod race. I keep getting this surreal overlay of Darth Vader in his TIE fighter, prepping to wreak havoc on his enemies.
Yes! Another tasteless joke at someone else's expense! I kill me.
Now, for those of you able to read beyond a tasteless joke......
I really see no reason why anyone should be surprised if the government reads your mail. They've been doing it for years.
For those of you old enough to have grandparents in the second world war, ask your grandmother about receiving messages from grandpa with whole sections blacked out through both sides of the paper.
Key Escrow is just a Bad Idea{TM}. It doesn't make catching criminals any easier, since they merely don't use the aforementioned encryption schemes. It doesn't make catching foreign powers in malicious acts any easier, since they've got THEIR OWN encryption.
It DOES open up holes that foreign powers can exploit. It DOES enable the government to spy on nobody BUT THEIR OWN CITIZENS. It DOES allow the government to compromise their own home-grown corporations and steal their technology.
Get wise people. Start screaming at your elected officials. If they don't jump fast enough, replace the bastards. If THEY don't jump fast enough, replace them with someone who WILL. They work FOR US. Not vice-versa
Okay, for this platform test, if it's going to be run AT ALL:
Start each machine from a BARE system with empty, unformatted hard drives.
Limited to what they can buy off the shelf (no access to MS's devel labs code, no "special HD flashers of unbought/DL'ed code), downloaded/buy off the Internet, or hack out themselves while they're there. Allow choice of servers (don't necessarily limit the Linux group to Apache or MS to IIS.
Allow Linux to substitute hardware for equivallent ones that are better supported. (If you were going to run NT on a system, would you buy and use a card that had great Mac OS support and lousy NT support? No, you'd buy equipment accordingly.)
Add a demand that the NT machines also support more than just NT and 98 clients. Make sure they're also supporting Mac and Linux.
This should help level the playing field a bit. Anyone else out there have anything to add?
Now if we can just get Billgatus to donate 1% of his fortune......well, let's just say sirloin would be commonplace around the households of MESA guys. =)
One problem. The US doesn't sell nukes to the Chinese!
You also are taking the argument off on an irrelvant tangent.
Source code is valuable to the writer because:
It allows them to perform bug tracking.
It allows them to develop their code base further by refinement of current code.
It shows that they actually wrote the code, as opposed to copying it from someone else (mostly irrelevant in an open source environment).
Source code is also valuable to the user for the first two reasons as well.
If Mitnick had actually sold/distributed the information. Then there might be some way to justify PART of the development cost being compromised.
But since they STILL had copies of their own source code, what actual damage did they accrue? They're still able to utilize the code, bugtrack, and refine it.
There's a problem with your hypothetical MP3 player example. The hypothetical thief stole the player, yes. But he then SOLD it.
As far as I recollect, Kevin Mitnick never sold ANYTHING to ANYBODY. So how can product standards be compromised?
The companies knew that someone out there had copies of the code and important documents. The hole has been sealed nigh-on FOUR YEARS now. Ask Mitnick himself. He never sold any of it.
Ask the government! All Mitnick really did was horde information to get his own jollies.
Since industrial espionage (stealing the code with intent to use it or redistribute it for gain of any sort) did NOT take place, Mitnick should be charged in the same manner as if he'd stolen one of these phones off the shelf at a store, or stolen a copy of Solaris off a shelf somewhere.
Until I see Mitnick Unix 2.whatever that's 100% Solaris 2.whatever compatible, I will hold this opinion.
I want something that will not die. I don't want to have to keep rebooting it with new kernels.
You obviously aren't looking at some of the Linux uptimes people post are you? Most of the time it's
Power
Hardware
Connectivity
that go out first. NOT the OS or the application.
As to installing every tiny incremental kernel upgrade. This is NOT necessary!
As long as the machine is doing it's job acceptably, and there are no major security/stability holes discovered that could affect YOUR implementation, you could, conceivably, run for years at a time.
Was running (and will be again as soon as my new box goes up this week) a web/IRC/FTP/news/mail server off one box for well over a year (appoximately 20 months). We had about 30 minutes of downtime in the entire period regarding software issues (usually arbitrary kernel upgrades). All other "downtime" issues were due to our provider dicking around with our hardware, shutting off the machine, disconnecting it from the network, power outages, etc.
Properly configured, Linux is very stable. And TRY to tell me that ALL implementations of UNIX are that stable. Or any other OS for that matter.
And with Linux, it's not a PROMISE of a stable kernel. It's promise and delivery. Bugs are religiously tracked and patched before most people know the problems exist.
Please do post it. I, personally, may not use it. But that's how the community gets more robust applications. Someone does the basic fleshing out, and others add onto it what they feel they need.
That's all programmer certification would be in this case.
Set up a host of certifications from everything from A to Z.
Then charge a couple hundred bucks for some silly little test.
Then, 2-3 years down the road, charge for a renewal/retest.
The whole problem is, certification doesn't improve the quality of the code AT ALL.
Currently I'm a certified Nursing Aide, as well as a Certified Phlebotomist. I'm better than most, but not as good as some. You have no IDEA what kind of dregs can actually qualify for certification!
All the certification would prove is that you're good at memorizing facts and taking tests.
How many Linux servers do you see in production environments at Fortune 500 companies?
Probably a lot more than you would believe.
Nobody takes an assay of "servers" if it's "just that box in the corner there". The only time people worry about their servers is when they're not doing what they're supposed to.
And the legacy of it still hurts me today. I dislike being at school (college), even anonymously as an adult student.
I used to be unable to get to or from school without being attacked or harrassed (and I only live a fricking block away!). Beatings, insults, exclusion, etc. All a normal every day part of my life.
I fought back, physically, all of ONCE. A kid had been confronting me in-class, in front of a teacher who was ambivalent. I'd go home bitching all the time. Finally my parents got sick of hearing me and I was told that if he kept it up to beat the crap out of him (I don't fight real well, but I at least have the luxury of being able to).
Next day rolls around, and my daily drubbing happened. I got up out of my seat, and jacked the kid's jaw.
I was sent to the principal's office and sent home for a week. Since I was following orders from god (well, Dad), I didn't get grounded or anything. My parents tried to help (we had a massive feud with that principal for the entire time any of my family went to that school) but they couldn't protect me all the time.
One of the things they couldn't protect me from was the gang-bang-style beating I received the day I got back to school.
I can completely sympathize with these kids who did the shooting (as I was THIS CLOSE to it at certain times in my life as well). I would never have actually done it. It's one of the reasons I didn't fight in the first place. I don't like hurting people at all.
The media campaign on this issue is completely off kilter. Yeah, it's a tragedy that all those people got killed.
But when they focus on the kids who did the shooting? They focus on what the kid DID, not what was done TO the kid. No game, or activity, or person can "make" someone do what these kids did. These kids had problems of their own that had NOTHING to do with Quake or Doom or BattleTech or D&D or anything else in the little bit of a social life the mainstream kids allowed them.
All I can do is express my disgust at the educational, journalistic, and counselling systems in place today. They are inadequate and completely reactive when they should be PROACTIVE. Instead of the useless patch of informing people who geeks are (which only alienates them further), they need to be counselling EVERYONE on tolerance and acceptance of people who don't necessarily share your views.
Simple. Undetectable. They cannot try to bill you for a second IP, since you're not using another one of THEIR IP's. All for the one-time cost of a second NIC, and some gateway software if you're running WinDOS.
The traffic systems in this country are a pathetic joke....on us. All the system is, is a cash cow, and it's employees? Revenue officers. Depending on the state, the district in which the "bust" happens, gets up to 40% of the ticket costs. The courts also get their fees.
If anyone goes to traffic court expecting to get a fair shake, think again! It's not "the people" vs you. It's "the revenue officers" vs you. With them acting as judge and prosecutor.
I attended court dates for THREE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS before I got sick of having to take the day off of work (costing me over $200 a day) and sit in on a court session to plead not guilty and hear "Trial set for next month". Then have them "lose" the trial setting by the next month. I plead guilty, paid my $100 fine, and got on with my life.
I need to move to another country. I'm getting sick of the BS levels in this one.
No. You're thinking of the Metabyte PGC process. AFAIK, nobody has yet announced support for PGC. Metabyte has said that their system will work on any current graphics system, not just TNT.
Not that I'd turn my nose up at a PGC TNT2. Just that I don't expect it to be coming out on the initial crop of TNT2 and TNT2 Ultra cards.
In the Binary Beat Article for 4/25/99, James Coates advocated further Windows development over use of Linux. I wish to respond to certain points within his article:
Bill Gates isn't a monster.
We never said he was. He's a business man, and a damn good one.
The complaints more have are areas where the PRODUCTS he sells are lacking. This is where alternatives like Unix, MacOS, and yes Linux, come in.
Mr. Coates refers to Linux as weak and application starved.
Has he ever utilized Linux? There are more applications showing up for Linux each and every day. There are CHOICES about what you use as well, as there isn't much choice with Windows.
Multiple desktop control programs. Multiple webservers, multiple database and productivity packages. Guess what, most of them are FREE.
How about graphic manipulation? For high end stuff you need to go burn a couple hundred bucks for a copy of Adobe Photoshop. The GIMP come free with Linux.
Weak? You're apparently referring to that study done that "proves" NT is 2-4 times faster as a file and web server than Linux is. What you haven't heard, or have ignored, is that Microsoft paid for a study proving that NT was faster.
That's what they got. A highly tuned (both hardware and software-wise) NT server is FAR faster as a file and web server than the base install (with poor tuning) of RedHat Linux.
In addition, a good deal of software from corporate *NIX environments can be ported into Linux with little more than a recompile. I'd like to see many of the NT applications ported to Windows 9*.
Also, I shall sound the "STABILITY" horn again. Yes, under some application NT is a fairly stable and solid OS. Unfortunately we have YET to see reports of an NT box coming close to the STANDARD uptimes reported by Linux. Also, downtime on NT boxes is measured in hours and days. Linux? Minutes.
These gloriously anti-establishmentarian crowds swarmed over young Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, whose anti-Microsoft pronouncements started to sound like some kind of call for jihad.
As with any other issue out there, you have people who tend to take their positions to an ultimate extreme. Similar to the touted Mac-Zealotry.
Do not judge an entire community by thos few who must scream that Linux will eventually replace the toothbrush, the car, etc. A goodly portion of the Linux community are merely people who prefer using Linux to other OS's and don't particularly care about political/social rammifications.
Personal complaints about the "self riteousness of Linus Torvalds".
This can be viewed in the same vein as "Bill Gates is a Monster". And what does your age have to do with you not liking him?
They chafe at the fact that most of us are prisoners of the Microsoft model, working in jobs where the Windows desktop has become our home away from home and where our daily bread is earned working in Word, Excel, Access, Outlook and other Microsoft software.
That's, again, a case of painting the entire community with the same, broad stroke. There are people out there, Torvalds included, who do not CARE what you use. Simply that there are options for themselves and others.
At his pre-Comdex Q&A at Fermilab, he was asked about gaming on the Linux platform. He recommended Windows as a gaming platform.
Best of all, the open source code that makes up Linux is free of charge.....
No, the best part about open-source code is that if it doesn't work, you can CHANGE it so it does work. The same cannot be said in the Microsoft Programming Model.
Linux runs on maybe 7 million machines, and in many cases those are machines at places where the majority of stuff is done the Microsoft way and the Linux machines are a minority.
This is pure speculation on your part. About the only way most people find out they're running Linux is if they ask their networking admins. Usually, if it isn't crashing people have no reason to ask. This makes any REAL assay of Linux penetration very, very difficult.
Sometimes St. George can be a pain in the tail that should just go away.
The only problem with this view is, it eliminates choice. I'm sure there's a lot of little tin-pot dictators in this world that would LOVE for the US to "just go away" so that they wouldn't have to answer for their abuse of the civilian population.
Also, competition is GOOD. Do you REALLY want to have to go back to paying $300 for your operating system?
Whatever the merits Linux might offer the highly technical specialists who use it to administer Internet servers or use turbo-charged text commands to perform complex file transfers, Linux currently offers mighty slim pickings for ordinary computer users.
Actually this has been an issue within the Linux community for several years now. The only place where Linux has little support is in the Gaming market. There are several professional-level office productivity packages out there (one of which is Word Perfect). There are multiple choices for a desktop interface (you only need to use command line if you want to).
There are even applications for Linux that allow you to run Windows inside a window if you MUST have Microsoft Office or your game-du-jour.
Slim pickings? Hardly.
While Canada's Corel Corp. has ported a version of its WordPerfect software for Linux, the sad reality is that the great bulk of software that people can actually run on Linux is just as home-brewed as is the Linux operating system itself.
I think a small lesson is needed here. Microsoft's beginnings were every bit as "home brew" as a good deal of the Linux-based code. DOS (which Microsoft BOUGHT (not programmed) for a couple grand) was initially written as QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System).
QDOS was really only meant as a program for testing Intel-based hardware. Some of the major problems in Windows-based programs are STILL directly traceable to insufficiencies in QDOS.
Also, home-brew isn't necessarily BAD. These days, the people are very concerned about the stability of the product (as the developers are running it on their own systems, not a box paid for by their employer that can be replaced if it takes a dive).
Also, with the projects staying in a more personal sphere of development, it is usually far easier to gain tech support and report bugs than it is with a closed system such as Microsoft. Microsoft bug fixes come at random, multi-month intervals. Linux can, if the user desires or requires, be updated almost every day.
As for the lack of features implied by "home brewed". I have yet to suffer from any such perceived lack.
Meanwhile, billions of human hours have been spent writing the amazing applications that run on the Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Time spent on a project doesn't make it any more or less home-brew. Since Linux' inception approximately 8 years ago, roughly 70,125 hours have passed. Let's say 1/3 of this has been spent developing just the kernel of Linux. That's over 23 thousand hours. Realistically only maybe 1/2 of this is time spent doing viable work. So 12.5 thousand hours.
That's probably less than the amount of time Linus Torvalds has spent working on Linux (by himself). Take into account all the people working on various projects and you have several million hours of development time. And in only 8 years. Right now they're beyond the point Windows was at in 1995.
The Internet was working swell on traditional Unix, Macintosh and Windows NT before Linux was much more than a glimmer in Linus' eye, and it will work better whether or not the true believers pull off a miracle and slay the dragon.
Okay. I can accept the Unix part. As for Mac and NT? NT was barely beta in 1991. MacOS was NOT being utilized server-side. That's not it's role.
Will Unix work better? Look at the Unix philosophy. Tailor the environment to what you wish to do. So YES. Unix will work better. For NT? Yes. It'll work better with about 10 times the hardware.
Meanwhile, they would have us reinvent the wheel by wasting billions more hours creating applications to take advantage of Linux and make Torvalds' colleagues at Linux software houses like Red Hat Inc. and Caldera Systems Inc. rich.
Perhaps if the wheel and been invented square it too would have needed to be reinvented. And what waste? So long as we don't HAVE to take a DEFAULT, it's worth it.
In addition, I don't think the people at Caldera or RedHat are getting rich off Linux. Making money? Yes. But a large chunk of the money they make is poured right back into development. Linux distributions have their place. They are the people that assemble, test, and distribute complete systems to use, as opposed to searching the internet for each and every desired package.
Also, you complain that we're making them rich. Why make Bill Gates rich(er)? You, yourself are now "demonizing" people for making money in the computer industry.
RedHat has started actually PAYING hardworking programmers to work on Linux-based projects! BAD!
RedHat has turned their source over to the public through the GPL! Oooh! Thos EVIL BASTICHES!
RedHat has helped let the world know about Linux! Just when our deep, dark little cellar was getting comfy!
RedHat has made Linux usable by anyone who's able to program a VCR! Ohhh! They'll burn in hell for that one!
RedHat has drawn CORPORATE INTEREST (not to mention FUNDING!) to the Linux community! AHH! MORE MONEY! NO! BAD! BAAAD! Suits who like Linux! Now it's not "hip" or "cool" or "renegade" enough for us!
RedHat is nonstandard Linux! Though, offhand, I cannot think of what IS "standard" Linux.....But they're EVIL for it! Mark my words!
They dumbed Linux down with RPM! Only people who have ALL DAY to futz around in the source should be allowed to use Linux! That should be OBVIOUS!
RedHat's install is too big! What? Other's have installs that can get bigger? SHUTUP! YOU LIE! What? A decent, usable install of Windows (with additional apps) is bigger by 1000% I cannot believe that! RedHat is the new $atan. They have to be worse! No! I don't want to go out and blow a hundred and fifty bucks on a new 10 gig hard drive! My ancient, full-width, double height, 80 megger will hold all I'll ever need!
This PROVES that RedHat is evil, beyond redemption, and it must die!!!
Oh. Can I have access to their bank account though? I've been jealous of how much money they make!
I'd called up Fermilab just to verify that I could come. So I did.
They really didn't need to worry. There were only about 300 or so people there with room for a couple hundred more.
Linus was fairly personable and articulate.
A couple of the points he raised (that were of particular interest to me).
File systems (both large and journaling) and SMB are fairly major issues floating around in the development kernel.
Linus has gotten a Quad processor system to compile it's own kernel in 73 seconds (OOOH!).
Linus recommends a sometimes buggy program loader called Windows for games. His recommendation says that Windows does one intelligent thing with games. It just gets out of the game's way and lets the game run itself.
But, as he stated over and over. He's not interested in that. He just wants to hack the kernel!
>On the NT vs Linux file server issue. And I quote/paraphrase "A company that's know for "NT beats (name it) in this this and this" has an NT box that's been finely tuned/tweaked for running the benchmark setup that beats out a poorly tuned/tweaked Linux box that's been set up for a home user".
He did say he received the initial report a couple weeks ago right before another of his public addresses in Atlanta. Needless to say it wasn't a pleasant Q&A session for him then.
Basically a lot of fun all around.
I'd have liked to ask one guy who got Linus' autograph on his Linux CD. "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" T-Shirts I can see. Books I can see. Signed Tux dolls, I can see. But a CD?
If you get more info on this "All of us LUG'ers" meeting lemme know. AALUG (I live right down the road from Argonne) has been really unresponsive and I'm trying to find a group simply so I can meet others who use Linux in my area and learn more.
Slashdot Mirror
"Are you an angel?" "..most beautiful..."
Pretty slick for an ankle-biter!
Remind me to try that on some cute 14 year old royal-type in my next life when I'm some mega-Force-sensitive 9 year-old who was immaculately conceived. =)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
As I understand it, the Sith Lords originated somehow like this.
There was one of the Jedi order who was experimenting with the effects of anger and hatred in his use of the force.
When he tried to insist to the Jedi Council that his method was viable and compatible with the Jedi Code, they disavowed him. He fled with various followers to found the Lords of Sith. As an organization they are devoted not to preservation, but domination. They also have a grudge against the Jedi for the expulsion of the founder of the Sith.
Unfortunately, since they were devoting themselves to an "evil" cause, they eventually turned upon one another. Among the first to die was the founder of the Sith.
The Jedi merely sat back as the Sith Lords disintegrated as an organization and then mopped up the remainders.
Apparently some of the Sith survived. But, learning from the experience with their founder, the Sith now RARELY operate in groups of more than 2, master and apprentice, due to the frictions that evil people place upon each other.
The Sith are so hard to detect for several reasons. As Yoda implied, the Dark Side is difficult to see unless you're specifically looking for it. Usually the only people SPECIFICALLY looking for the Dark Side are Sith Lords and those in immediate combat with said Sith Lords.
In addition, like Jedi, Sith train to conceal themselves. Similar to the way Luke hid himself from Vader near the end of ROTJ. He couldn't necessarily conceal his thoughts, but he was able to conceal his actual whereabouts.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Saw it 6 times on opening day between 9AM and Midnight.
Saw it twice more with a friend and his kids today.
The part I love the best is the filming of Anakin in the pod race. I keep getting this surreal overlay of Darth Vader in his TIE fighter, prepping to wreak havoc on his enemies.
GOTTA get me a copy of StarWars: Pod Racer
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Yes! Another tasteless joke at someone else's expense! I kill me.
Now, for those of you able to read beyond a tasteless joke......
I really see no reason why anyone should be surprised if the government reads your mail. They've been doing it for years.
For those of you old enough to have grandparents in the second world war, ask your grandmother about receiving messages from grandpa with whole sections blacked out through both sides of the paper.
Key Escrow is just a Bad Idea{TM}. It doesn't make catching criminals any easier, since they merely don't use the aforementioned encryption schemes. It doesn't make catching foreign powers in malicious acts any easier, since they've got THEIR OWN encryption.
It DOES open up holes that foreign powers can exploit. It DOES enable the government to spy on nobody BUT THEIR OWN CITIZENS. It DOES allow the government to compromise their own home-grown corporations and steal their technology.
Get wise people. Start screaming at your elected officials. If they don't jump fast enough, replace the bastards. If THEY don't jump fast enough, replace them with someone who WILL. They work FOR US. Not vice-versa
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Okay, for this platform test, if it's going to be run AT ALL:
This should help level the playing field a bit. Anyone else out there have anything to add?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Now if we can just get Billgatus to donate 1% of his fortune......well, let's just say sirloin would be commonplace around the households of MESA guys. =)
Way to go JC!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
One problem. The US doesn't sell nukes to the Chinese!
You also are taking the argument off on an irrelvant tangent.
Source code is valuable to the writer because:
Source code is also valuable to the user for the first two reasons as well.
If Mitnick had actually sold/distributed the information. Then there might be some way to justify PART of the development cost being compromised.
But since they STILL had copies of their own source code, what actual damage did they accrue? They're still able to utilize the code, bugtrack, and refine it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
There's a problem with your hypothetical MP3 player example. The hypothetical thief stole the player, yes. But he then SOLD it.
As far as I recollect, Kevin Mitnick never sold ANYTHING to ANYBODY. So how can product standards be compromised?
The companies knew that someone out there had copies of the code and important documents. The hole has been sealed nigh-on FOUR YEARS now. Ask Mitnick himself. He never sold any of it.
Ask the government! All Mitnick really did was horde information to get his own jollies.
Since industrial espionage (stealing the code with intent to use it or redistribute it for gain of any sort) did NOT take place, Mitnick should be charged in the same manner as if he'd stolen one of these phones off the shelf at a store, or stolen a copy of Solaris off a shelf somewhere.
Until I see Mitnick Unix 2.whatever that's 100% Solaris 2.whatever compatible, I will hold this opinion.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I want something that will not die. I don't want to have to keep rebooting it with new kernels.
You obviously aren't looking at some of the Linux uptimes people post are you? Most of the time it's
that go out first. NOT the OS or the application.
As to installing every tiny incremental kernel upgrade. This is NOT necessary!
As long as the machine is doing it's job acceptably, and there are no major security/stability holes discovered that could affect YOUR implementation, you could, conceivably, run for years at a time.
Was running (and will be again as soon as my new box goes up this week) a web/IRC/FTP/news/mail server off one box for well over a year (appoximately 20 months). We had about 30 minutes of downtime in the entire period regarding software issues (usually arbitrary kernel upgrades). All other "downtime" issues were due to our provider dicking around with our hardware, shutting off the machine, disconnecting it from the network, power outages, etc.
Properly configured, Linux is very stable. And TRY to tell me that ALL implementations of UNIX are that stable. Or any other OS for that matter.
And with Linux, it's not a PROMISE of a stable kernel. It's promise and delivery. Bugs are religiously tracked and patched before most people know the problems exist.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Please do post it. I, personally, may not use it. But that's how the community gets more robust applications. Someone does the basic fleshing out, and others add onto it what they feel they need.
Glad Linux worked out so well for you guys.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
That's all programmer certification would be in this case.
Set up a host of certifications from everything from A to Z.
Then charge a couple hundred bucks for some silly little test.
Then, 2-3 years down the road, charge for a renewal/retest.
The whole problem is, certification doesn't improve the quality of the code AT ALL.
Currently I'm a certified Nursing Aide, as well as a Certified Phlebotomist. I'm better than most, but not as good as some. You have no IDEA what kind of dregs can actually qualify for certification!
All the certification would prove is that you're good at memorizing facts and taking tests.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Nope.
Your post has been up all of about 5 minutes, and already it's slashdotted.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
How many Linux servers do you see in production environments at Fortune 500 companies?
Probably a lot more than you would believe.
Nobody takes an assay of "servers" if it's "just that box in the corner there". The only time people worry about their servers is when they're not doing what they're supposed to.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
And the legacy of it still hurts me today. I dislike being at school (college), even anonymously as an adult student.
I used to be unable to get to or from school without being attacked or harrassed (and I only live a fricking block away!). Beatings, insults, exclusion, etc. All a normal every day part of my life.
I fought back, physically, all of ONCE. A kid had been confronting me in-class, in front of a teacher who was ambivalent. I'd go home bitching all the time. Finally my parents got sick of hearing me and I was told that if he kept it up to beat the crap out of him (I don't fight real well, but I at least have the luxury of being able to).
Next day rolls around, and my daily drubbing happened. I got up out of my seat, and jacked the kid's jaw.
I was sent to the principal's office and sent home for a week. Since I was following orders from god (well, Dad), I didn't get grounded or anything. My parents tried to help (we had a massive feud with that principal for the entire time any of my family went to that school) but they couldn't protect me all the time.
One of the things they couldn't protect me from was the gang-bang-style beating I received the day I got back to school.
I can completely sympathize with these kids who did the shooting (as I was THIS CLOSE to it at certain times in my life as well). I would never have actually done it. It's one of the reasons I didn't fight in the first place. I don't like hurting people at all.
The media campaign on this issue is completely off kilter. Yeah, it's a tragedy that all those people got killed.
But when they focus on the kids who did the shooting? They focus on what the kid DID, not what was done TO the kid. No game, or activity, or person can "make" someone do what these kids did. These kids had problems of their own that had NOTHING to do with Quake or Doom or BattleTech or D&D or anything else in the little bit of a social life the mainstream kids allowed them.
All I can do is express my disgust at the educational, journalistic, and counselling systems in place today. They are inadequate and completely reactive when they should be PROACTIVE. Instead of the useless patch of informing people who geeks are (which only alienates them further), they need to be counselling EVERYONE on tolerance and acceptance of people who don't necessarily share your views.
I know, I'm a dreamer.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Simple. Undetectable. They cannot try to bill you for a second IP, since you're not using another one of THEIR IP's. All for the one-time cost of a second NIC, and some gateway software if you're running WinDOS.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
The traffic systems in this country are a pathetic joke....on us. All the system is, is a cash cow, and it's employees? Revenue officers. Depending on the state, the district in which the "bust" happens, gets up to 40% of the ticket costs. The courts also get their fees.
If anyone goes to traffic court expecting to get a fair shake, think again! It's not "the people" vs you. It's "the revenue officers" vs you. With them acting as judge and prosecutor.
I attended court dates for THREE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS before I got sick of having to take the day off of work (costing me over $200 a day) and sit in on a court session to plead not guilty and hear "Trial set for next month". Then have them "lose" the trial setting by the next month. I plead guilty, paid my $100 fine, and got on with my life.
I need to move to another country. I'm getting sick of the BS levels in this one.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
No. You're thinking of the Metabyte PGC process. AFAIK, nobody has yet announced support for PGC. Metabyte has said that their system will work on any current graphics system, not just TNT.
Not that I'd turn my nose up at a PGC TNT2. Just that I don't expect it to be coming out on the initial crop of TNT2 and TNT2 Ultra cards.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
In the Binary Beat Article for 4/25/99, James Coates advocated further Windows development over use of Linux. I wish to respond to certain points within his article:
We never said he was. He's a business man, and a damn good one.
The complaints more have are areas where the PRODUCTS he sells are lacking. This is where alternatives like Unix, MacOS, and yes Linux, come in.
Has he ever utilized Linux? There are more applications showing up for Linux each and every day. There are CHOICES about what you use as well, as there isn't much choice with Windows.
Multiple desktop control programs. Multiple webservers, multiple database and productivity packages. Guess what, most of them are FREE.
How about graphic manipulation? For high end stuff you need to go burn a couple hundred bucks for a copy of Adobe Photoshop. The GIMP come free with Linux.
Weak? You're apparently referring to that study done that "proves" NT is 2-4 times faster as a file and web server than Linux is. What you haven't heard, or have ignored, is that Microsoft paid for a study proving that NT was faster.
That's what they got. A highly tuned (both hardware and software-wise) NT server is FAR faster as a file and web server than the base install (with poor tuning) of RedHat Linux.
In addition, a good deal of software from corporate *NIX environments can be ported into Linux with little more than a recompile. I'd like to see many of the NT applications ported to Windows 9*.
Also, I shall sound the "STABILITY" horn again. Yes, under some application NT is a fairly stable and solid OS. Unfortunately we have YET to see reports of an NT box coming close to the STANDARD uptimes reported by Linux. Also, downtime on NT boxes is measured in hours and days. Linux? Minutes.
As with any other issue out there, you have people who tend to take their positions to an ultimate extreme. Similar to the touted Mac-Zealotry.
Do not judge an entire community by thos few who must scream that Linux will eventually replace the toothbrush, the car, etc. A goodly portion of the Linux community are merely people who prefer using Linux to other OS's and don't particularly care about political/social rammifications.
This can be viewed in the same vein as "Bill Gates is a Monster". And what does your age have to do with you not liking him?
That's, again, a case of painting the entire community with the same, broad stroke. There are people out there, Torvalds included, who do not CARE what you use. Simply that there are options for themselves and others.
At his pre-Comdex Q&A at Fermilab, he was asked about gaming on the Linux platform. He recommended Windows as a gaming platform.
No, the best part about open-source code is that if it doesn't work, you can CHANGE it so it does work. The same cannot be said in the Microsoft Programming Model.
This is pure speculation on your part. About the only way most people find out they're running Linux is if they ask their networking admins. Usually, if it isn't crashing people have no reason to ask. This makes any REAL assay of Linux penetration very, very difficult.
The only problem with this view is, it eliminates choice. I'm sure there's a lot of little tin-pot dictators in this world that would LOVE for the US to "just go away" so that they wouldn't have to answer for their abuse of the civilian population.
Also, competition is GOOD. Do you REALLY want to have to go back to paying $300 for your operating system?
Actually this has been an issue within the Linux community for several years now. The only place where Linux has little support is in the Gaming market. There are several professional-level office productivity packages out there (one of which is Word Perfect). There are multiple choices for a desktop interface (you only need to use command line if you want to).
There are even applications for Linux that allow you to run Windows inside a window if you MUST have Microsoft Office or your game-du-jour.
Slim pickings? Hardly.
I think a small lesson is needed here. Microsoft's beginnings were every bit as "home brew" as a good deal of the Linux-based code. DOS (which Microsoft BOUGHT (not programmed) for a couple grand) was initially written as QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System).
QDOS was really only meant as a program for testing Intel-based hardware. Some of the major problems in Windows-based programs are STILL directly traceable to insufficiencies in QDOS.
Also, home-brew isn't necessarily BAD. These days, the people are very concerned about the stability of the product (as the developers are running it on their own systems, not a box paid for by their employer that can be replaced if it takes a dive).
Also, with the projects staying in a more personal sphere of development, it is usually far easier to gain tech support and report bugs than it is with a closed system such as Microsoft. Microsoft bug fixes come at random, multi-month intervals. Linux can, if the user desires or requires, be updated almost every day.
As for the lack of features implied by "home brewed". I have yet to suffer from any such perceived lack.
Time spent on a project doesn't make it any more or less home-brew. Since Linux' inception approximately 8 years ago, roughly 70,125 hours have passed. Let's say 1/3 of this has been spent developing just the kernel of Linux. That's over 23 thousand hours. Realistically only maybe 1/2 of this is time spent doing viable work. So 12.5 thousand hours.
That's probably less than the amount of time Linus Torvalds has spent working on Linux (by himself). Take into account all the people working on various projects and you have several million hours of development time. And in only 8 years. Right now they're beyond the point Windows was at in 1995.
Okay. I can accept the Unix part. As for Mac and NT? NT was barely beta in 1991. MacOS was NOT being utilized server-side. That's not it's role.
Will Unix work better? Look at the Unix philosophy. Tailor the environment to what you wish to do. So YES. Unix will work better. For NT? Yes. It'll work better with about 10 times the hardware.
Perhaps if the wheel and been invented square it too would have needed to be reinvented. And what waste? So long as we don't HAVE to take a DEFAULT, it's worth it.
In addition, I don't think the people at Caldera or RedHat are getting rich off Linux. Making money? Yes. But a large chunk of the money they make is poured right back into development. Linux distributions have their place. They are the people that assemble, test, and distribute complete systems to use, as opposed to searching the internet for each and every desired package.
Also, you complain that we're making them rich. Why make Bill Gates rich(er)? You, yourself are now "demonizing" people for making money in the computer industry.
Linux is about choices.
Is it for everyone? No.
Are we trying to push Linux on everone? No.
Thank you for your time.
Charles Borner
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Check out Tom's Hardware he just put up an article on his work with a Kryotech case and a Celeron 400.
Had the beastie running looped Timedemo1 for a straight WEEK!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Note for the Humor Impaired, this is SATIRE!
This PROVES that RedHat is evil, beyond redemption, and it must die!!!
Oh. Can I have access to their bank account though? I've been jealous of how much money they make!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Well, I didn't see this before I hit Fermilab.
I'd called up Fermilab just to verify that I could come. So I did.
They really didn't need to worry. There were only about 300 or so people there with room for a couple hundred more.
Linus was fairly personable and articulate.
A couple of the points he raised (that were of particular interest to me).
But, as he stated over and over. He's not interested in that. He just wants to hack the kernel!
He did say he received the initial report a couple weeks ago right before another of his public addresses in Atlanta. Needless to say it wasn't a pleasant Q&A session for him then.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
That page that's pointed to is merely a staff announcement.
I called Fermilab and was given confirmation that I could show up and hit the address.
I'm there! I'll have BEER! Linus will NEVER be the same!
Muahahahahahahahaha!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
If you get more info on this "All of us LUG'ers" meeting lemme know. AALUG (I live right down the road from Argonne) has been really unresponsive and I'm trying to find a group simply so I can meet others who use Linux in my area and learn more.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
It's complete and utter BULL****.
At that point, nothing more can be said about it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
We'll see.
Every day
In every way
I'm getting better and better.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!