ne of the great misfortunes of today is that people think they should vote whether they understand the issues and the candidates or not. You shouldn't vote just because you can, you should only vote if you have a good reason to support one person over the others.
OSS projects *do* take a lot of ideas from others, but they also do lots of things on their own that nobody else has done.
For example, Python has evolved into an extremely intuitive yet powerful programming language.
Perl was also fairly new in its time.
There's GNU Emacs which is one of the most powerful text editors in existence.
There's the Apache Webserver. Although webservers aren't new, I would hardly call Apache a copy of anything.
I'm not sure whether the first publicly-released blog software was open source, but I think it might have been.
OpenBSD was, AFAIK, the first secure-by-default modern Unix system.
Linux (the kernel) has also done (or been modified to do) several things not done before.
X11 started as a project out of MIT (which I would guess was open-source, even though the phrase hadn't been coined yet.)
GNU readline is also something that is exclusive to open source
I'd guess that ls --color was something new to free software, as well, just because I douby anyone with a pure profit motive would consider it worth the time to implement.:-)
The Debian Project has made several innovations in operating system integration.
Anyway, there are plenty of examples. You just have to look.
I got into a 'spam war' with one of my roommates back in college, and with that Spamcop list I was able to render his email account COMPLETELY useless within a couple of hours (If you're reading this, sorry 'bout that Brian... )
Please try to remember that the end-recipient of spam is not the only one who is hurt by spam.
However, if people allow a language to change too quickly, then what you end up with is a large numbers of colloquialisms that basically form a new, incompatible language.
Because of the length of time over which this generally occurs, I fail to see the problem.
Please re-read what I wrote. I am talking specifically about the case where this length of time is short. Also, there are reasons why that length of time has been short in the past, which might include:
the lack of cheap, efficient means of global communication
so-called "language lawyers"
(Confused? Consider these: HTML, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, Java... you get the idea.)
HTML, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, Java, and PDP-11 still mean pretty much the same thing they did a year ago. They aren't changes in existing language, just additions to it.
There is already an efficient means of stating that something "raises a question", and this is different from "begging the question". Merging these two logically distinct phrases in our language makes the language a less efficient tool for communicating.
Also, in this case, we are discussing a term which is specific to the science of Logic. I think that when a non-logician tells a group of logicians that they need to invent a new phrase because "language evolves" simply demonstrates the non-logician's ignorance. It's no different than a PHB who, when corrected, tells Bruce Schneier that ROT-13 really is a "strong cipher", just because he and his friends have been calling it one (or that Sun Java really is "open source").
I agree that language evolves, but people have lately been using that fact as a means to justify their ignorance.
I was taught that english rules are determined by usage, not the other way around....
English is a living language. Get used to it.
Yes it is. However, if people allow a language to change too quickly, then what you end up with is a large numbers of colloquialisms that basically form a new, incompatible language.
How useful is a programming language whose syntax and semantics are redefined on an annual basis? The same applies to spoken/written languages.
I gave up on Debian because Debian's installer gave up on me before my system was up and running.
I gave up trying to use Debian's installer long ago. I typically boot Knoppix and then do a network install using the debootstrap command. Although, I tried a debian-installer CD image lately (inside VMware -- VMware is great), and it worked quite well for me.
I'm still on windows though. Linux has other problems that need solutions before I move over (and I really wanna ditch XP.)
I have, and I can definitely say that, since I started using these three programs, I have never needed to boot Windows natively to do anything (though I don't typically play Win32 3D games, but I think VMware might support these now).
It involves shelling out a bit of money, but it's worth it!
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. (I'd mod you up if I had the points...)
This is silly. If you generalize things enough, nothing looks innovative. "Software is hardly new", you might say.
For example, Python has evolved into an extremely intuitive yet powerful programming language. :-)
Perl was also fairly new in its time.
There's GNU Emacs which is one of the most powerful text editors in existence.
There's the Apache Webserver. Although webservers aren't new, I would hardly call Apache a copy of anything.
I'm not sure whether the first publicly-released blog software was open source, but I think it might have been.
OpenBSD was, AFAIK, the first secure-by-default modern Unix system.
Linux (the kernel) has also done (or been modified to do) several things not done before.
X11 started as a project out of MIT (which I would guess was open-source, even though the phrase hadn't been coined yet.)
GNU readline is also something that is exclusive to open source
I'd guess that ls --color was something new to free software, as well, just because I douby anyone with a pure profit motive would consider it worth the time to implement.
The Debian Project has made several innovations in operating system integration.
Anyway, there are plenty of examples. You just have to look.
How would you know?
I probably would, but I only drink coffee when it's late and I need a caffiene boost to stay awake.
GNOME 2.4 and Evolution 1.4.5 are both in unstable, as far as apt-cache tells me.
Of course, my last install was using the new debian-installer CD, which I have to say was really quite painless.
Enable DMA transfers on your hard disk?
Have you tried VMware?
Vehicles aren't supposed to roll over when their tires fail.
IANAL.
If a reasonable person would take you seriously, then yes, it is illegal.
I wouldn't be so sure. There's a lot about subatomic physics that we don't know.
Cool! What country do you live in?
Please try to remember that the end-recipient of spam is not the only one who is hurt by spam.
If your supercomputer cluster nodes are cheaper/more energy efficient, then given a fixed budget, your supercomputer can be bigger!
Do you mean ClusterKnoppix? Or, are you talking about the hardware, as well?
I'm not sure if I want to use PostgreSQL. I'm afraid SCOracle will start claiming that it infringes on their copyrights.
"Warmer sound" == distorted sound. You can distort digital signals too, you know.
And "[insert OS name here] is no better" is not an excuse.
Because of the length of time over which this generally occurs, I fail to see the problem.
Please re-read what I wrote. I am talking specifically about the case where this length of time is short. Also, there are reasons why that length of time has been short in the past, which might include:
(Confused? Consider these: HTML, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, Java... you get the idea.)
HTML, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, Java, and PDP-11 still mean pretty much the same thing they did a year ago. They aren't changes in existing language, just additions to it.
There is already an efficient means of stating that something "raises a question", and this is different from "begging the question". Merging these two logically distinct phrases in our language makes the language a less efficient tool for communicating.
Also, in this case, we are discussing a term which is specific to the science of Logic. I think that when a non-logician tells a group of logicians that they need to invent a new phrase because "language evolves" simply demonstrates the non-logician's ignorance. It's no different than a PHB who, when corrected, tells Bruce Schneier that ROT-13 really is a "strong cipher", just because he and his friends have been calling it one (or that Sun Java really is "open source").
I agree that language evolves, but people have lately been using that fact as a means to justify their ignorance.
Yes it is. However, if people allow a language to change too quickly, then what you end up with is a large numbers of colloquialisms that basically form a new, incompatible language.
How useful is a programming language whose syntax and semantics are redefined on an annual basis? The same applies to spoken/written languages.
I gave up trying to use Debian's installer long ago. I typically boot Knoppix and then do a network install using the debootstrap command. Although, I tried a debian-installer CD image lately (inside VMware -- VMware is great), and it worked quite well for me.
I'm still on windows though. Linux has other problems that need solutions before I move over (and I really wanna ditch XP.)
Ever considered buying the Crossover Plugin and either Win4Lin or VMware?
I have, and I can definitely say that, since I started using these three programs, I have never needed to boot Windows natively to do anything (though I don't typically play Win32 3D games, but I think VMware might support these now).
It involves shelling out a bit of money, but it's worth it!
Sure. Just convince a few volunteers to actually develop it.
When you boot from the CD, I don't think it boots DOS. At least, not with W2K.