You're both kind of funny in the head. Here's the way I see it. You buy the T-shirts and collect lots of them. Then you become a regional rep for the T-shirt sales and tell others how they can buy the T-shirts from you and you add a few cents for handling. You also tell them that if they buy 1000 t-shirts from you, that they can then become a regional rep too. Have this happen about five or six time and you're a T-shirt mogul! Meanwhile you have tons of tokens to gamble away and you have your winnings converted to items of huge value. Ferraris, one million cans of chicken soup, a sky scraper... then you have those shipped here. Customs would have no idea what hit them and you'd be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams over and over again! (Not sure what to put here) PROFIT!!!
Ahhh.. but you assume that people actually watch TV, read newspaper and magazines, etc... I don't, so I really don't expect that others do either. This means that to someone like me Google is free (or nearly free). Now, if I was living on the massive teat of mainstream media, then I think you'd have a point. I pretty much discount anyone who uses mainstream media as a human being worthy of paying attention to. (And no, I don't think Slashdot counts as mainstream media).
I buy nearly everything used and completely disconnected from advertising. If I want it or need it, I buy it. And sure a few cents here or there goes to advertising which MIGHT make it to Google eventually. But if I pay $200 over the course of my lifeltime to use Google services, it's much better than paying a couple hundred a year to Microsoft to use their software.
1. I'm not really capitalist, but I don't discredit every venture capitalist simply for being part of a system that I think is flawed. He had some great ideas in there. 2. Microsoft DOES suck, but people say that so often that the reasons behind it get lost. The best way to say that Microsoft sucks succinctly is to stop using MS products (as I have) and use Apple or some *nix distro. I prefer Gentoo myself. 3. There are few people who have original ideas. Implementation is what counts for me. If I like an implementation of something, I'll say it's good. 4. Google IS wonderful compared to most other businesses. Why? Let me ask a question... how many businesses out there actually offer you something that is truly useful on a daily basis without you having to pay a cent for it? Google does. Beyond the search engine, they also offer a ton of other services and they charge the right people in order to provide it: other businesses. Face it, businesses are here to serve customers. Customers are NOT here to keep business going. And even deeper, customers are NOT products to be bought and sold! A lot of companies seem to have forgotten their place in society. It's time to remind them.
Wow. Vent much? He sure hit a nerve with you. Frankly I found his blog entry interesting as I am interested in starting a business of my own, but absolutely loathe business operations. His blog entry answered a lot of questions. It sounds like I don't really want to start a business after all. Why are you so harsh on the Ronzo?
Ah yes... the sound of people who disagree with me modding me down. If you read the parent post carefully, you'll see that I speak the truth. Unless you LIKE living in the burbs or the boonies and worshipping at the church of the almighty dollar...
True. Wal-Mart is the ultimate symbol of what is wrong with the world today: TOO MANY MIDDLE MEN WHO DO NOTHING IN TERMS OF ORIGINAL PRODUCTION. Why do you think Dell prefers to buy up technologies from smaller companies rather than having R&D? Not because they love technology and want to help people have better lives, that's for sure... They do it because it allows them to make a lot of money with little investment. The downside is that they have damn little hope of actually fully understanding the technology they sell because they don't have the brains behind them. They buy a technology and just sell it as-is HOPING that it'll all work. Typically it works well enough that people keep buying, but it's not optimal and people are spending too much on things they aren't fully utilizing. Complete inefficiency from the customer's point of view. BUt this is the way things are done these days. Get a bunch of idiots together who know nothing important (examples of important and meaningful knowledge: technology, science, chemistry, film making, musical performance and.or composition, art, history) other than how to convince people to give them money for half-baked products and set them to work with some venture capital and you're halfway there. Don't get me wrong, business DONE RIGHT is not a bad thing.
What proper business practices involve is to actually develop a real product yourself (not calling in experts, you MUST do it yourself) with the intent of solving a problem or providing people with a better quality of life even with something as simple as entertainment, and then working hard to get it to sell. ON YOUR OWN. If your invention or product has any worth it will catch on. If not, you go back to the drawing board and start again. If you MUST involve venture capitalists, make it clear to them that YOU control the way the product works, looks, smells, whatever. They have no right to appropriate your product for their own goals. They are simply along for the ride. If you succeed, they succeed. With success being defined, not by unrealistically huge sales, but by satisfied customers who become loyal to your product above all other competition. That loyalty is built by creating something that actually benefits the customer in ways that no one else can strictly based on a clear understanding of your product (or service). You DO NOT promise them things that you cannot provide. The biggest problem is the claims that a lot of sellers of goods and services make that they can't live up to. Take for example the ISPs who promise they'll prevent spam from ever getting to you. But they don't tell you that "oops" they might from time to time block something you wanted (and may rely on receiving). They don't tell you that some spam DOES slip through due to the incredibly high volumes of spam that are being sent now. ISPs can't live up to those promises for every customer and therefore SHOULDN'T make them. In the end it's all about honesty, making a truly decent product or service and putting the customer at the top. The investors can take a hike if they don't understand that. The end goal should NEVER be about making a mountain of cash. If it is, then you're a miserable individual. The end goal should be about building a long-term organization that you expect to survive for centuries soley on reputation and what you provide to society. That is the ONLY valuable and honorable goal in the end.
Sorry, but it looks like Wal-Mart is the more apparent threat to your freedoms than Google. I don't and WON'T shop at Wal-Mart unless they succeed at infiltrating my neck of the woods. But I doubt it. I live in an inner-ring suburb (probably too many black and poor people for their tastes) of a mid-sized city. And IF they do put one of their monstrous stores in the neighborhood, I'll bet they'll do what I've seen in other areas where there aren't more white folk than black folk... They'll put cops in the store (you don't see that in the burbs) and make sure the stock is of a lower quality compared to their suburban or boonie branches. Amazing that people rail on about the evils of Google while very few actually talk about the cancer that is Wal-Mart. Just like one of my high school classmates said back in the 90s, "Stop the 'Mart Bart"! Wal-Mart IS evil.
True. Most development on the Windows platform is substandard both in terms of functionality and innovation. To be honest I am a bit surprised that neither company sees the comeptition from Microsoft as a good thing since all corporations exist to make money and you can't make money without competition...
...to worry about. Neither software company has products as broad reaching as say... Netscape? I agree that if Microsoft is actually barring the 3rd party software from running at all, that's a bad thing. But defaulting to a Microsoft offering isn't necessarily a bad thing. Considering Microsoft's history, it's highly likely that their firewall and Acrobat-like software will be quite lacking. All the more reason I run... Linux.
You've described pretty much what I do. I use Gentoo as a start, and then set up my devel environment so it optimizes. Then I build what I want from source. I've built both XFree86 and X.org from source (I'm not a fan of the recent modularization but I'll cope). I've set up Enlightenment as I see fit, but I am kind to my wife and default to a customized (Desktop-wise, not code-wise) Gnome anyway even though I don't like using software I didn't build from scratch. As far as performance, you must have had some bad experiences kid... On the same boxes that I used to run RedHat 9 and Fedora Core 2 and 3 on, the Gentoo installs blow them away in terms of performance. Boot time is faster (when I need to boot) which is a combination of optimized code and a more efficient init system. I'll give you a concrete example:
I have an audio-visual workstation I set up to edit multitrack audio, control my outboard digital samplers, synths and drum machines, and edit video. I used to run it on Redhat 9. But I DIDN'T use the Redhat defaults. Instead, I'd install a very spare RedHat 9 with just enough tools to do devel stuff, then I'd start building everything else from source myself. Not SRPMS, but the actual sources from the various sites. Everything from the kernel, to X, to the desktop environment (I've built Gnome and KDE from source with my own choice of what I did and didn't want), to the apps. I did this because I saw notable performance gains over precompiled software. Those notable gains were in things like:
-Snappier desktop performance (thanks to the low latency patches for the 2.4 kernel and my eventual conversion of Redhat 9 to use the 2.6 series kernel) -The ability to run more audio plugins for realtime audio processing (plugins in the multitrack editor Ardour) -Faster performance in the video editor over the precompiled stuff (Cinelerra rocks if you build it yourself, it sucks if you don't or can't) My renders went were nearly twice as fast when I compiled myself instead of using binaries. -Faster CD and DVD ripping (specifically the encoding portion, you obviously can't speed up the read from the drive itself) than the RPMs that I could have used from the net -Integrating Xen into the system once I got it to the 2.6 series kernel
And this was all with Redhat 9. A friend suggested that I try Gentoo. I was a bit intrigued since I'm also a huge fan of Linux from Scratch. So I got another HD in the box and gave it a go. I built nearly the same system using Gentoo and was completely floored by how much faster the system was. Sure, I could wait until Fedora got up to speed by moving to a newer compiler/lib suite, but I don't WANT to wait. I WANT IT NOW. I used to boast that my custom compiled RedHat builds would boot in a little over a minute if you excluded all the BIOS crap when the system starts. But my Gentoo boxes cut that way down and I'm at a desktop in less than a minute even WITH the BIOS stuff.
Another example (you've probably already closed your eyes, ears and mind at this point):
That Media Center I built on a P3? I had attempted the same thing back in 2003 with RedHat and it just never really worked right. So I stuck with Windows ME on that box (which was a fine OS even though a lot of people had bad experinces with it, I never did. Other than the fact that I dislike the Microsoft ethics and their lack of cool desktop stuff). Then I got a new more powerful box and in 2004 I gave Fedora Core 3 a try. It ran fine and I had it up until last month when the box was fried by a power surge. Since I'm strapped for cash right now and my family RELIES on the Media Center, I went back to that old P3. This time I grabbed my Gentoo CDs and it took me about two weeks to get the system back up to where the Fedora Core 3 (P4 era Celeron 1.7 Ghz CPU) was. The only thing I had to lose was the realtime deinterlacing (in xine) of the video for the 1080p LCD monitor. However, once again I was very amused that a box that showed no signs of being a capable Me
I got it in 1997, so it's just shy of ten years old. It cost me $2700 at the time too. But it had everything I needed and it's served me well. In fact I'm typing on it right now...:)
Then get a few newer boxes and run Discoverstation or look at the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) which basically pulls off the same thing. But I really don't think that's what this guy was asking. I think he was probably more concerned about how the workstations were going to be used with students. How do you interest them? That part is hard. The ones who would be interested won't know it until they try it. The ones who just want to play games, and surf for multimedia will probably lose interest quickly. In my opinion, the best use is to just offer them as Wordprocessing/Spreadsheet/Presentation tools with "light" web browsing (meaning that there isn't as much access to multimedia) and e-mail. So they are more utilitarian tools than boxes to have a lot of fun with.
Actually I think that's the mistake that a lot of people make (The author of the article makes it as well). They write these articles from the perspective of, "This OS sucks because..." or "The BEST OS in the world is [insert OS here], because...". Sorry folks but it really comes down to, "This OS sucks for ME because..." or "The BEST OS in the world for ME is [insert OS here] because...".
I love Gentoo. It's my favorite OS experience (and I've been through quite a few in the Atari, Commodore, Mac and PC worlds) because it gives me EXACTLY what I want: complete control and customizability from the ground up and high performance on old hardware. I don't like having to buy new hardware every few years to use new software. In my world view a ten year old box should still be able to run a modern word processor and web browser at a minimum. And that's what I've got at home... an old dual PII with 768 Megs of RAM that does everything I can do on a P4 that I *WANT* to do. Word processing with OpenOffice, no problem. The latest Firefox and Thunderbird? Absolutely. Including plugins for media? Sure thing. Ripping my CDs and DVDs for my digital music collection? Most definitely. At decent speed? Yes. Editing photos at a reasonable speed with GIMP? Without a doubt. OpenGL screensavers that look cool? (this really has more to do with GFX borads, but.. there is some CPU involved) My wife and I lock our virtual desktop screens with them every day. I have a Linux based Media Center PC based on Gentoo running on a P3 800 with 512 Megs of RAM. I watch DVDs on it, record TV. Pause live TV. Etc... (again, I've got a Hauppauge which offloads the encoding from the CPU)
So, Gentoo gives me what I want. Long life for my boxes with the ability to still run the latest software at decent speeds. It also gives me the ability to do a ton of things I couldn't do in Windows. But that's all me. I'm the sort of person that "gets" Gentoo. If you don't "get it" then you're never going to see the beauty in it. I also "get" Windows, I just don't see the beauty in it because I don't need the hand holding anymore. Not only that, but I don't WANT it. That's the biggest difference between the Windows and Mac users and the Linux users of most flavors (Ubuntu, Lycoris and Linspire excepted). So don't rag on Gentoo. If it didn't work for you, go find another distro. Don't go on a campaign to try and make the shoes fit your feet. If you've got big feet, get bigger shoes!
Dickwad? Let it be noted that I did not hurl the first insult. So you like decentralized solutions then? no surprise as that is what most morons who read Slashdot like. You're argument about efficiency falls apart when you consider that even if your producing the power locally it's not being efficiently doled out as a centralized solution would do. Let's put it this way... which approach is going to actually be more efficient:
1. A homo liberal in his SUV with only a latte for a passenger, guzzling tons of gasoline to move his 280 pound ass from work to home and home to work every day?
or...
2. A gorgeous conservative woman (who looks like Anne Coulter) riding an electric bullet train with 75 other similar conservatives who actually put their money behind the environment instead of complaining about "big bad businesses" like the pansy liberals do?
I'd put my money on option two. As a Republican MAN (with the emphasis on MAN), I know how to save the environment and a few dollars as well. And that's to ride clean, efficient bullet trains. Even better if they're running off of solar power or nuclear. So come back to me when you grow a set.
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Cars emit carbon dioxide, otherwise where would the greenhouse gasses that the environmental wackos wring their wimpy little hands about come from? (Yes, I admit that the environmentalists are right about the coming nuclear winter caused by cars, but that doesn't make them right) And as far as the more serious cases of fatal death, I'm talking about the kind of death where someone actually dies. I don't know how I can make it any clearer to you. You're probably one of those pinko liberals who doesn't watch Fox news, which would explain why you can't think straight.
Just what we need these days, not less but MORE dependence on fossil fuels. What idiots! Besides the obvious problem of trying to fuel something that small at the gas pump and then paying for it in fractions of a penny, what about the carbon dioxide emissions that conbustion engines produce? Aren't we going to be in for a lot of people with lots of headaches and brain damage from using a device like this? Even though it's so small, it's STILL emitting carbon dioxide which is known to cause the more serious cases of fatal death. I still get behind my roaring battle cry: SOLAR POWER IS WHERE IT'S AT FOLKS!!! The sun is an abundant energy source. Amp the solar panel production up so that they are 99.999% efficient, and you won't need any other source of energy anywhere on the planet. Combine that with electricity resevoirs that can hold a couple hundred gallons of electricity, and you have a clear winner. Thumbs down on this for sure.
It is indeed amazing how much Rube Goldberg systems have progressed. In fact I'd say that all OSes today as well as this new concept from Warner are all high tech Rube Goldbergs. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it or hit Wookieepedia. Look it up!
...that it's because one of the historic "good things" about America in the early to mid 20th century was the very low cost of transportation. Anyone who had a car (definitely fewer people back then, which is important if you think about the demand element of supply and demand) could go anywhere they wanted to at any time for very little cost. If you wanted to drive from New York city to Los Angeles in the 50s or 60s, the only thing that really had a higher cost was your time. Today, that's a very different picture in all respects. There are tons more cars on the road, meaning much higher demand. With all those cars, there's more crowding which means that driving is no longer as pleasurable as it once was. So not only is it far more expensive, but it's also far less convenient. What does that mean society-wide? It means that driving is no longer the good thing it used to be. That's why the prices matter. If anything, the prices should have gone down to account for how much less convenient driving is. That is... if the consumer actually mattered. But since the stockholders are the only thing that matters, the prices continue to go up. Add to that the matter of being near or possibly having passed peak oil, and you can see why there's a HUGE money grab for the end of the gasoline powered automobile era.
FCC Head: "Can you get me a line to Bill Clinton"? FCC Operator: "Bill Clinton? Why do you want to talk to that no good lying sonovabitch with a cunt for a wife and who likes to get blown by fat ugly chicks who look nothing like Ann Coulter"? FCC Head: "Because I hear he knows of good paper shredding services. I've got some hot docs here that need to be completely and totally destroyed before they make it out to the public". FCC Operator: "Ahhh... all is clear to me now boss. Sure thing sweetie". FCC Head: "By the way, can you head up to my office in fifteen? Remember to dress comfortably and don't forget the donkey". FCC Operator: "Sure thing boss! I can't wait! Imagine the nerve of that Clinton asshole fucking that fat pig of a woman in the Oval office. At least we Republicans know it's far better to fuck REAL farm animals". FCC Head: "See you in fifteen".
...I wrote a JE about this a while back and it might be in my old account, so I can't find it. If I do, I'll link it in a response. But, generally I think that Brin is right. Knowledge and actually being intelligent are not considered positive traits in youth culture these days. I'm not saying that young people are stupid. I'm saying that it's cooler to appear unintelligent than it is not to. And the companies that would furnish teching tools to get the concept of programming across to kids know this, so they don't bother making them. Instead they encourage group think under the guise of team work with the books, videos and toys that are sold to the very young. The big hit with little girls right now is "Bratz" dolls. Girls are being sold the message that as long as they look "hot" nothing else matters. Boys are being sold big trucks and cars as being the "manly" image of power. But there is not any kind of reinforcement of intellect as being the most valuable strength to possess. Knowledge will get you much farther than muscle or sex appeal in reality, especially when society spirals down the toilet as it is currently wanting to do.
However, since the topic is being brought up I think it should be used as a call to arms by the open source community to provide just what Brin is talking about: a langauge that would illustrate the basics of programming with a community around it for kids. This language should allow programs like "Hello World" to be easy to write, but should also convey structured programming concepts in a less efficient but more "friendly" way. It SHOULD be extensible with libraries for doing more complex things (just as the old erector sets of the 40s and 50s could have motors added to them for more advanced structures). I'd say model it on C or Java but remove the non-human readable aspects. In the end computer source code is nothing more than a list of directions for the programming language's interpreter (yes it should be interpretted to remove the concept of compiling and executables) to translate to the machine. It would be wonderful to see kids being encouraged to program. Even if they don't like it or get it, at least it won't be as much of a mystery to them as it is to many of their parents. Then maybe they wouldn't have to take a trip out to Best Buy to have their hard drive reformatted for the fifth time and pay some goon too much to get them back to factory defaults.
I know that as a kid I was encouraged to learn. I was told that being intelligent was something to always strive for. Knowledge was something to be proud of. When I wanted to take my electronic gadgets apart to see how they worked and I broke them, that wasn't discouraged. I was warned about breaking something new, but if I thought I'd gained enough knowledge to handle the dismantling and rebuilding (which I eventually did) that was still encouraged. I got my first soldering iron when I was nine and a lifetime hobby in electronics (which is a natural lead in to music and computers) was born. So today, I'm a Unix guy with tons of Windows knowledge as well, who can design analog and digital circuitry and builds custom solutions around Linux for home use. In short, there's little I need from places like Best Buy. If there are other kids out there today who could take the smae path, they need the tools and the encouragement.
Yeah, but the difference here is that real Trek fans won't get their panties in a bunch about it because they embrace technology at every turn. That's what separates the men from the boys. Errr... I mean the Trekkers from the Jedi.
Slashdot Mirror
You're both kind of funny in the head. Here's the way I see it. You buy the T-shirts and collect lots of them. Then you become a regional rep for the T-shirt sales and tell others how they can buy the T-shirts from you and you add a few cents for handling. You also tell them that if they buy 1000 t-shirts from you, that they can then become a regional rep too. Have this happen about five or six time and you're a T-shirt mogul! Meanwhile you have tons of tokens to gamble away and you have your winnings converted to items of huge value. Ferraris, one million cans of chicken soup, a sky scraper... then you have those shipped here. Customs would have no idea what hit them and you'd be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams over and over again! (Not sure what to put here) PROFIT!!!
Ahhh.. but you assume that people actually watch TV, read newspaper and magazines, etc... I don't, so I really don't expect that others do either. This means that to someone like me Google is free (or nearly free). Now, if I was living on the massive teat of mainstream media, then I think you'd have a point. I pretty much discount anyone who uses mainstream media as a human being worthy of paying attention to. (And no, I don't think Slashdot counts as mainstream media).
Now now NineNine... it's not nice to butt in. ;P
I buy nearly everything used and completely disconnected from advertising. If I want it or need it, I buy it. And sure a few cents here or there goes to advertising which MIGHT make it to Google eventually. But if I pay $200 over the course of my lifeltime to use Google services, it's much better than paying a couple hundred a year to Microsoft to use their software.
1. I'm not really capitalist, but I don't discredit every venture capitalist simply for being part of a system that I think is flawed. He had some great ideas in there.
2. Microsoft DOES suck, but people say that so often that the reasons behind it get lost. The best way to say that Microsoft sucks succinctly is to stop using MS products (as I have) and use Apple or some *nix distro. I prefer Gentoo myself.
3. There are few people who have original ideas. Implementation is what counts for me. If I like an implementation of something, I'll say it's good.
4. Google IS wonderful compared to most other businesses. Why? Let me ask a question... how many businesses out there actually offer you something that is truly useful on a daily basis without you having to pay a cent for it? Google does. Beyond the search engine, they also offer a ton of other services and they charge the right people in order to provide it: other businesses. Face it, businesses are here to serve customers. Customers are NOT here to keep business going. And even deeper, customers are NOT products to be bought and sold! A lot of companies seem to have forgotten their place in society. It's time to remind them.
That is all
Wow. Vent much? He sure hit a nerve with you. Frankly I found his blog entry interesting as I am interested in starting a business of my own, but absolutely loathe business operations. His blog entry answered a lot of questions. It sounds like I don't really want to start a business after all. Why are you so harsh on the Ronzo?
Ah yes... the sound of people who disagree with me modding me down. If you read the parent post carefully, you'll see that I speak the truth. Unless you LIKE living in the burbs or the boonies and worshipping at the church of the almighty dollar...
True. Wal-Mart is the ultimate symbol of what is wrong with the world today: TOO MANY MIDDLE MEN WHO DO NOTHING IN TERMS OF ORIGINAL PRODUCTION. Why do you think Dell prefers to buy up technologies from smaller companies rather than having R&D? Not because they love technology and want to help people have better lives, that's for sure... They do it because it allows them to make a lot of money with little investment. The downside is that they have damn little hope of actually fully understanding the technology they sell because they don't have the brains behind them. They buy a technology and just sell it as-is HOPING that it'll all work. Typically it works well enough that people keep buying, but it's not optimal and people are spending too much on things they aren't fully utilizing. Complete inefficiency from the customer's point of view. BUt this is the way things are done these days. Get a bunch of idiots together who know nothing important (examples of important and meaningful knowledge: technology, science, chemistry, film making, musical performance and.or composition, art, history) other than how to convince people to give them money for half-baked products and set them to work with some venture capital and you're halfway there. Don't get me wrong, business DONE RIGHT is not a bad thing.
What proper business practices involve is to actually develop a real product yourself (not calling in experts, you MUST do it yourself) with the intent of solving a problem or providing people with a better quality of life even with something as simple as entertainment, and then working hard to get it to sell. ON YOUR OWN. If your invention or product has any worth it will catch on. If not, you go back to the drawing board and start again. If you MUST involve venture capitalists, make it clear to them that YOU control the way the product works, looks, smells, whatever. They have no right to appropriate your product for their own goals. They are simply along for the ride. If you succeed, they succeed. With success being defined, not by unrealistically huge sales, but by satisfied customers who become loyal to your product above all other competition. That loyalty is built by creating something that actually benefits the customer in ways that no one else can strictly based on a clear understanding of your product (or service). You DO NOT promise them things that you cannot provide. The biggest problem is the claims that a lot of sellers of goods and services make that they can't live up to. Take for example the ISPs who promise they'll prevent spam from ever getting to you. But they don't tell you that "oops" they might from time to time block something you wanted (and may rely on receiving). They don't tell you that some spam DOES slip through due to the incredibly high volumes of spam that are being sent now. ISPs can't live up to those promises for every customer and therefore SHOULDN'T make them. In the end it's all about honesty, making a truly decent product or service and putting the customer at the top. The investors can take a hike if they don't understand that. The end goal should NEVER be about making a mountain of cash. If it is, then you're a miserable individual. The end goal should be about building a long-term organization that you expect to survive for centuries soley on reputation and what you provide to society. That is the ONLY valuable and honorable goal in the end.
Sorry, but it looks like Wal-Mart is the more apparent threat to your freedoms than Google. I don't and WON'T shop at Wal-Mart unless they succeed at infiltrating my neck of the woods. But I doubt it. I live in an inner-ring suburb (probably too many black and poor people for their tastes) of a mid-sized city. And IF they do put one of their monstrous stores in the neighborhood, I'll bet they'll do what I've seen in other areas where there aren't more white folk than black folk... They'll put cops in the store (you don't see that in the burbs) and make sure the stock is of a lower quality compared to their suburban or boonie branches. Amazing that people rail on about the evils of Google while very few actually talk about the cancer that is Wal-Mart. Just like one of my high school classmates said back in the 90s, "Stop the 'Mart Bart"! Wal-Mart IS evil.
True. Most development on the Windows platform is substandard both in terms of functionality and innovation. To be honest I am a bit surprised that neither company sees the comeptition from Microsoft as a good thing since all corporations exist to make money and you can't make money without competition...
...to worry about. Neither software company has products as broad reaching as say... Netscape? I agree that if Microsoft is actually barring the 3rd party software from running at all, that's a bad thing. But defaulting to a Microsoft offering isn't necessarily a bad thing. Considering Microsoft's history, it's highly likely that their firewall and Acrobat-like software will be quite lacking. All the more reason I run... Linux.
You've described pretty much what I do. I use Gentoo as a start, and then set up my devel environment so it optimizes. Then I build what I want from source. I've built both XFree86 and X.org from source (I'm not a fan of the recent modularization but I'll cope). I've set up Enlightenment as I see fit, but I am kind to my wife and default to a customized (Desktop-wise, not code-wise) Gnome anyway even though I don't like using software I didn't build from scratch. As far as performance, you must have had some bad experiences kid... On the same boxes that I used to run RedHat 9 and Fedora Core 2 and 3 on, the Gentoo installs blow them away in terms of performance. Boot time is faster (when I need to boot) which is a combination of optimized code and a more efficient init system. I'll give you a concrete example:
I have an audio-visual workstation I set up to edit multitrack audio, control my outboard digital samplers, synths and drum machines, and edit video. I used to run it on Redhat 9. But I DIDN'T use the Redhat defaults. Instead, I'd install a very spare RedHat 9 with just enough tools to do devel stuff, then I'd start building everything else from source myself. Not SRPMS, but the actual sources from the various sites. Everything from the kernel, to X, to the desktop environment (I've built Gnome and KDE from source with my own choice of what I did and didn't want), to the apps. I did this because I saw notable performance gains over precompiled software. Those notable gains were in things like:
-Snappier desktop performance (thanks to the low latency patches for the 2.4 kernel and my eventual conversion of Redhat 9 to use the 2.6 series kernel)
-The ability to run more audio plugins for realtime audio processing (plugins in the multitrack editor Ardour)
-Faster performance in the video editor over the precompiled stuff (Cinelerra rocks if you build it yourself, it sucks if you don't or can't) My renders went were nearly twice as fast when I compiled myself instead of using binaries.
-Faster CD and DVD ripping (specifically the encoding portion, you obviously can't speed up the read from the drive itself) than the RPMs that I could have used from the net
-Integrating Xen into the system once I got it to the 2.6 series kernel
And this was all with Redhat 9. A friend suggested that I try Gentoo. I was a bit intrigued since I'm also a huge fan of Linux from Scratch. So I got another HD in the box and gave it a go. I built nearly the same system using Gentoo and was completely floored by how much faster the system was. Sure, I could wait until Fedora got up to speed by moving to a newer compiler/lib suite, but I don't WANT to wait. I WANT IT NOW. I used to boast that my custom compiled RedHat builds would boot in a little over a minute if you excluded all the BIOS crap when the system starts. But my Gentoo boxes cut that way down and I'm at a desktop in less than a minute even WITH the BIOS stuff.
Another example (you've probably already closed your eyes, ears and mind at this point):
That Media Center I built on a P3? I had attempted the same thing back in 2003 with RedHat and it just never really worked right. So I stuck with Windows ME on that box (which was a fine OS even though a lot of people had bad experinces with it, I never did. Other than the fact that I dislike the Microsoft ethics and their lack of cool desktop stuff). Then I got a new more powerful box and in 2004 I gave Fedora Core 3 a try. It ran fine and I had it up until last month when the box was fried by a power surge. Since I'm strapped for cash right now and my family RELIES on the Media Center, I went back to that old P3. This time I grabbed my Gentoo CDs and it took me about two weeks to get the system back up to where the Fedora Core 3 (P4 era Celeron 1.7 Ghz CPU) was. The only thing I had to lose was the realtime deinterlacing (in xine) of the video for the 1080p LCD monitor. However, once again I was very amused that a box that showed no signs of being a capable Me
I got it in 1997, so it's just shy of ten years old. It cost me $2700 at the time too. But it had everything I needed and it's served me well. In fact I'm typing on it right now... :)
Then get a few newer boxes and run Discoverstation or look at the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) which basically pulls off the same thing. But I really don't think that's what this guy was asking. I think he was probably more concerned about how the workstations were going to be used with students. How do you interest them? That part is hard. The ones who would be interested won't know it until they try it. The ones who just want to play games, and surf for multimedia will probably lose interest quickly. In my opinion, the best use is to just offer them as Wordprocessing/Spreadsheet/Presentation tools with "light" web browsing (meaning that there isn't as much access to multimedia) and e-mail. So they are more utilitarian tools than boxes to have a lot of fun with.
Tongue-in-cheek? My tongue went THROUGH my cheek around the back of my head and in the other cheek a few times now...
...dept.
Actually I think that's the mistake that a lot of people make (The author of the article makes it as well). They write these articles from the perspective of, "This OS sucks because..." or "The BEST OS in the world is [insert OS here], because...". Sorry folks but it really comes down to, "This OS sucks for ME because..." or "The BEST OS in the world for ME is [insert OS here] because...".
I love Gentoo. It's my favorite OS experience (and I've been through quite a few in the Atari, Commodore, Mac and PC worlds) because it gives me EXACTLY what I want: complete control and customizability from the ground up and high performance on old hardware. I don't like having to buy new hardware every few years to use new software. In my world view a ten year old box should still be able to run a modern word processor and web browser at a minimum. And that's what I've got at home... an old dual PII with 768 Megs of RAM that does everything I can do on a P4 that I *WANT* to do. Word processing with OpenOffice, no problem. The latest Firefox and Thunderbird? Absolutely. Including plugins for media? Sure thing. Ripping my CDs and DVDs for my digital music collection? Most definitely. At decent speed? Yes. Editing photos at a reasonable speed with GIMP? Without a doubt. OpenGL screensavers that look cool? (this really has more to do with GFX borads, but.. there is some CPU involved) My wife and I lock our virtual desktop screens with them every day. I have a Linux based Media Center PC based on Gentoo running on a P3 800 with 512 Megs of RAM. I watch DVDs on it, record TV. Pause live TV. Etc... (again, I've got a Hauppauge which offloads the encoding from the CPU)
So, Gentoo gives me what I want. Long life for my boxes with the ability to still run the latest software at decent speeds. It also gives me the ability to do a ton of things I couldn't do in Windows. But that's all me. I'm the sort of person that "gets" Gentoo. If you don't "get it" then you're never going to see the beauty in it. I also "get" Windows, I just don't see the beauty in it because I don't need the hand holding anymore. Not only that, but I don't WANT it. That's the biggest difference between the Windows and Mac users and the Linux users of most flavors (Ubuntu, Lycoris and Linspire excepted). So don't rag on Gentoo. If it didn't work for you, go find another distro. Don't go on a campaign to try and make the shoes fit your feet. If you've got big feet, get bigger shoes!
Dickwad? Let it be noted that I did not hurl the first insult. So you like decentralized solutions then? no surprise as that is what most morons who read Slashdot like. You're argument about efficiency falls apart when you consider that even if your producing the power locally it's not being efficiently doled out as a centralized solution would do. Let's put it this way... which approach is going to actually be more efficient:
1. A homo liberal in his SUV with only a latte for a passenger, guzzling tons of gasoline to move his 280 pound ass from work to home and home to work every day?
or...
2. A gorgeous conservative woman (who looks like Anne Coulter) riding an electric bullet train with 75 other similar conservatives who actually put their money behind the environment instead of complaining about "big bad businesses" like the pansy liberals do?
I'd put my money on option two. As a Republican MAN (with the emphasis on MAN), I know how to save the environment and a few dollars as well. And that's to ride clean, efficient bullet trains. Even better if they're running off of solar power or nuclear. So come back to me when you grow a set.
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Cars emit carbon dioxide, otherwise where would the greenhouse gasses that the environmental wackos wring their wimpy little hands about come from? (Yes, I admit that the environmentalists are right about the coming nuclear winter caused by cars, but that doesn't make them right) And as far as the more serious cases of fatal death, I'm talking about the kind of death where someone actually dies. I don't know how I can make it any clearer to you. You're probably one of those pinko liberals who doesn't watch Fox news, which would explain why you can't think straight.
Just what we need these days, not less but MORE dependence on fossil fuels. What idiots! Besides the obvious problem of trying to fuel something that small at the gas pump and then paying for it in fractions of a penny, what about the carbon dioxide emissions that conbustion engines produce? Aren't we going to be in for a lot of people with lots of headaches and brain damage from using a device like this? Even though it's so small, it's STILL emitting carbon dioxide which is known to cause the more serious cases of fatal death. I still get behind my roaring battle cry: SOLAR POWER IS WHERE IT'S AT FOLKS!!! The sun is an abundant energy source. Amp the solar panel production up so that they are 99.999% efficient, and you won't need any other source of energy anywhere on the planet. Combine that with electricity resevoirs that can hold a couple hundred gallons of electricity, and you have a clear winner. Thumbs down on this for sure.
It is indeed amazing how much Rube Goldberg systems have progressed. In fact I'd say that all OSes today as well as this new concept from Warner are all high tech Rube Goldbergs. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it or hit Wookieepedia. Look it up!
I want more lasers on sharks!!! Are you listening to me Dick Cheney!!!??? (Of course you are) ;P
...that it's because one of the historic "good things" about America in the early to mid 20th century was the very low cost of transportation. Anyone who had a car (definitely fewer people back then, which is important if you think about the demand element of supply and demand) could go anywhere they wanted to at any time for very little cost. If you wanted to drive from New York city to Los Angeles in the 50s or 60s, the only thing that really had a higher cost was your time. Today, that's a very different picture in all respects. There are tons more cars on the road, meaning much higher demand. With all those cars, there's more crowding which means that driving is no longer as pleasurable as it once was. So not only is it far more expensive, but it's also far less convenient. What does that mean society-wide? It means that driving is no longer the good thing it used to be. That's why the prices matter. If anything, the prices should have gone down to account for how much less convenient driving is. That is... if the consumer actually mattered. But since the stockholders are the only thing that matters, the prices continue to go up. Add to that the matter of being near or possibly having passed peak oil, and you can see why there's a HUGE money grab for the end of the gasoline powered automobile era.
FCC Head: "Can you get me a line to Bill Clinton"?
FCC Operator: "Bill Clinton? Why do you want to talk to that no good lying sonovabitch with a cunt for a wife and who likes to get blown by fat ugly chicks who look nothing like Ann Coulter"?
FCC Head: "Because I hear he knows of good paper shredding services. I've got some hot docs here that need to be completely and totally destroyed before they make it out to the public".
FCC Operator: "Ahhh... all is clear to me now boss. Sure thing sweetie".
FCC Head: "By the way, can you head up to my office in fifteen? Remember to dress comfortably and don't forget the donkey".
FCC Operator: "Sure thing boss! I can't wait! Imagine the nerve of that Clinton asshole fucking that fat pig of a woman in the Oval office. At least we Republicans know it's far better to fuck REAL farm animals".
FCC Head: "See you in fifteen".
...I wrote a JE about this a while back and it might be in my old account, so I can't find it. If I do, I'll link it in a response. But, generally I think that Brin is right. Knowledge and actually being intelligent are not considered positive traits in youth culture these days. I'm not saying that young people are stupid. I'm saying that it's cooler to appear unintelligent than it is not to. And the companies that would furnish teching tools to get the concept of programming across to kids know this, so they don't bother making them. Instead they encourage group think under the guise of team work with the books, videos and toys that are sold to the very young. The big hit with little girls right now is "Bratz" dolls. Girls are being sold the message that as long as they look "hot" nothing else matters. Boys are being sold big trucks and cars as being the "manly" image of power. But there is not any kind of reinforcement of intellect as being the most valuable strength to possess. Knowledge will get you much farther than muscle or sex appeal in reality, especially when society spirals down the toilet as it is currently wanting to do.
However, since the topic is being brought up I think it should be used as a call to arms by the open source community to provide just what Brin is talking about: a langauge that would illustrate the basics of programming with a community around it for kids. This language should allow programs like "Hello World" to be easy to write, but should also convey structured programming concepts in a less efficient but more "friendly" way. It SHOULD be extensible with libraries for doing more complex things (just as the old erector sets of the 40s and 50s could have motors added to them for more advanced structures). I'd say model it on C or Java but remove the non-human readable aspects. In the end computer source code is nothing more than a list of directions for the programming language's interpreter (yes it should be interpretted to remove the concept of compiling and executables) to translate to the machine. It would be wonderful to see kids being encouraged to program. Even if they don't like it or get it, at least it won't be as much of a mystery to them as it is to many of their parents. Then maybe they wouldn't have to take a trip out to Best Buy to have their hard drive reformatted for the fifth time and pay some goon too much to get them back to factory defaults.
I know that as a kid I was encouraged to learn. I was told that being intelligent was something to always strive for. Knowledge was something to be proud of. When I wanted to take my electronic gadgets apart to see how they worked and I broke them, that wasn't discouraged. I was warned about breaking something new, but if I thought I'd gained enough knowledge to handle the dismantling and rebuilding (which I eventually did) that was still encouraged. I got my first soldering iron when I was nine and a lifetime hobby in electronics (which is a natural lead in to music and computers) was born. So today, I'm a Unix guy with tons of Windows knowledge as well, who can design analog and digital circuitry and builds custom solutions around Linux for home use. In short, there's little I need from places like Best Buy. If there are other kids out there today who could take the smae path, they need the tools and the encouragement.
Yeah, but the difference here is that real Trek fans won't get their panties in a bunch about it because they embrace technology at every turn. That's what separates the men from the boys. Errr... I mean the Trekkers from the Jedi.
...I heard "QUAD DENIED" in my head. Hehehehe...