What most people don't realize is that Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, SuSE, Xandros, Mandrake, etc, are all different-but-similar operating systems that software must be ported to. For example, programs running on Debian use debconf for install-time configuration, defoma for font management, mime-tools for handling different "file associations", deb for packaging,/usr/share/doc/copyright for license information, and often link to different libraries than usual (like when the libraries' maintainers don't bumb up the major version number when they should ala libSDL). Sure, you can run some SuSE binaries on Debian, but you can also run some Windows binaries on Debian with enough effort.
There are too many protocols and applications that incorporate their own (poor) security mechanisms. What we should be aiming for is *simplicity*, not redundancy.
Linux has had live CDs for several years, and BSD is finally catching up. Obviously, it's the BSD license that's holding back BSD and keeping Linux technically superior to BSD in all aspects.
YOU MAKE MONEY OFF THE SUPPORT OF OSS NOT THE CODING
Actually, you can make money off both. The trick is that you make money off coding, not the
code itself. i.e. You sell software development services, not software.
(Technically, nothing prevents people from selling OSS itself, but since OSS enables a freely competitive market, the price you can sell will approach the marginal cost -- being almost zero.)
Your comment gives the mistaken impression that OSS is somehow destined to
always be behind proprietary software, as far as innovation and technical
superiority is concerned. Microsoft and SCO love that notion, but
unfortunately for them, it's not true. OSS is overtaking proprietary software
in many areas, and it's reasonable to expect this trend to continue.
Here are just some of many examples of innovative, open-source software:
Python
A very clean, versatile language. Will probably replace VB for custom
RAD in the next decade.
KNOPPIX
A very well-featured bootable OS.
Mozilla
Firefox
There are really too many improvements to list here.
Vorbis
Cutting-edge audio codec
Freenet
Decentralized global data storage system.
WikiWikiWebLaTeX
Widely-used document preparation system. Spawned from TeX, an open-source typesetting system.
Popular among mathematicians any cryptologists.
A completely new approach to global collaborative development.
Eventually led to Wikipedia.
Netscape 3 is better than Netscape 4, because Netscape 3 doesn't support CSS at all, while Netscape 4's support for CSS is a broken mess that ends up destroying even well-designed pages.
I know of at least one instrument used on the space shuttle that *does* use x86 processors. 286, to be exact. The reason for this is that the 286 (at least, the one they're using) is fully static, so it won't get affected by the radiation the way that the dynamic components do in newer processors.
Basically, if you use DRAM in space, the tiny capacitors inside end up getting disrupted by the ambient radiation, causing bits to get flipped.
Wouldn't it be considered negligence if a supermarket had this customer information and decided *not* to use it to notify customers when there is a safety concern?
It'd better bl$$dy well not be a 32bit integer otherwise DNS is screwed in 2038...
The DNS spec specifically states that the value is to be compared using MOD 2**32 arithmetic. Besides, the serial number is only supposed to be used for DNS slaves to sync from the master, so it doesn't really matter.
She is even thinking about using Open Office native format to create all of her tests in (she currently is using Open Office on Windows at home). Her students know only about Microsoft Word and Hangul Word Processor* (HWP) neither of which will open an Open Office native file. So even if they are able to get their hands on one of her test before it is given they still will not be able to read it easily.
I have bad news for you: the Open Office file format is extremely easy to read, even without OpenOffice.org. Here's what you do (on Windows):
Rename test.sxw to test.zip
Extract content.xml from test.zip
Read content.xml with Notepad, or (better) Mozilla (which will format it nicely for you)
For example, my sound card dissappearing after suspend/unsuspend, then randomly reappearing several reboots later. I would say that if broken power management handling causes you to lose devices, that's pretty fragile.
That could be a BIOS issue. The PC BIOS has a fairly active role in power management, and frequently has bugs. This type of thing is also a problem in Linux (usually worked around by ignoring the BIOS and writing chipset-specific drivers, IIRC.)
Slashdot Mirror
What most people don't realize is that Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, SuSE, Xandros, Mandrake, etc, are all different-but-similar operating systems that software must be ported to. For example, programs running on Debian use debconf for install-time configuration, defoma for font management, mime-tools for handling different "file associations", deb for packaging, /usr/share/doc/copyright for license information, and often link to different libraries than usual (like when the libraries' maintainers don't bumb up the major version number when they should ala libSDL). Sure, you can run some SuSE binaries on Debian, but you can also run some Windows binaries on Debian with enough effort.
Amiga has been passed on to:
Commodore
Escom
Gateway
Amiga International
KMOS
Notice a pattern? What's the next letter in the sequence? What company could that be??
If I'm going to be affected by U.S. law, I want a vote in U.S. elections!
Yes you can.
There are too many protocols and applications that incorporate their own (poor) security mechanisms. What we should be aiming for is *simplicity*, not redundancy.
;-)
Actually, you can make money off both. The trick is that you make money off coding, not the code itself. i.e. You sell software development services, not software.
(Technically, nothing prevents people from selling OSS itself, but since OSS enables a freely competitive market, the price you can sell will approach the marginal cost -- being almost zero.)
Your comment gives the mistaken impression that OSS is somehow destined to always be behind proprietary software, as far as innovation and technical superiority is concerned. Microsoft and SCO love that notion, but unfortunately for them, it's not true. OSS is overtaking proprietary software in many areas, and it's reasonable to expect this trend to continue.
Here are just some of many examples of innovative, open-source software:
Python A very clean, versatile language. Will probably replace VB for custom RAD in the next decade. KNOPPIX A very well-featured bootable OS. Mozilla Firefox There are really too many improvements to list here. Vorbis Cutting-edge audio codec Freenet Decentralized global data storage system. WikiWikiWeb LaTeX Widely-used document preparation system. Spawned from TeX, an open-source typesetting system. Popular among mathematicians any cryptologists. A completely new approach to global collaborative development. Eventually led to Wikipedia.To Debian's credit, OpenBSD is based in Canada, but SPI is based in the U.S.
So does this mean Debian can now distribute libdvdcss in main?
Have you actually written a driver for Linux? It's very easy.
Yeah. Who needs simplicity...
It gives an advantage to hardware manufacturers who use open interfaces to the hardware they ship.
You don't want to do that. If you deceive the other party in a contract, then that contract typically is not going to be binding as written.
... and is equally subject to sniffing and replay attacks.
So, yes. Please stop using Netscape 4.
Basically, if you use DRAM in space, the tiny capacitors inside end up getting disrupted by the ambient radiation, causing bits to get flipped.
s/use/distribute/
Wouldn't it be considered negligence if a supermarket had this customer information and decided *not* to use it to notify customers when there is a safety concern?
The DNS spec specifically states that the value is to be compared using MOD 2**32 arithmetic. Besides, the serial number is only supposed to be used for DNS slaves to sync from the master, so it doesn't really matter.
First, the GPL is not an EULA. Second, many people say that EULAs are probably not enforceable.
I have bad news for you: the Open Office file format is extremely easy to read, even without OpenOffice.org. Here's what you do (on Windows):
You won't lose any karma, because you explicitly mentioned the possibility of your post getting modded down.
Heh. I don't think Microsoft can handle writing code for another architecture. If they made a console, it would probably just be a glorified PC!
That could be a BIOS issue. The PC BIOS has a fairly active role in power management, and frequently has bugs. This type of thing is also a problem in Linux (usually worked around by ignoring the BIOS and writing chipset-specific drivers, IIRC.)
No, since NT 4.0, Windows actually qualified as a real operating system. It was not "very good".
In principle, NT 4.0 was pretty good, but tended to not actually work correctly...
Of course, that's always been a problem for Microsoft, it seems.