From http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/howtobuy/defa ult.asp:
The GPL utility source code for Services for UNIX 3.0 contains the base utilities diff, sdiff, bc, dc, cpio, gzip, gunzip, gawk, patch, csplit, nl, strings, rpm, and SDK utilities/libraries ld.so, gcc, gdb, g++, g77, gasp, objcopy, ld, as, ar, nm, size, strip, ci, co, diff3 rcs, rlog, and ident.
Does that mean that MS does not want the bash on Windows desktops? I wonder how a unix system could be useful without using any unix shell (not even CSH or someting is included). How easy is it to port a serious app without having the shell available?
Well, I guess for anything like that we'll have to keep using cygwin, which has all these features. I wonder why cygwin didn't win the award. If you want to port something to windows, cygwin is far more useful (though it doesn't include an nfs server as far as I know).
Did you see that rpm is included? Does that meant that there will be rpms from microsoft soon?;-)
On another note: Will MS now have to pay royalties to them for each CPU where windows runs on??;-)
... without destroying the tire. Has anybody done this? Could you please build a tiny-chip-destruction device (9-Volt battery, antenna, some circuit?) and then post the pictures and construction manuals on the web. We'll be happy to slashdot you...;-)
It's interesting to see that the talks focused on heuristics exclusively. The main problem with all of these techniques is that they may classify legitimate email as spam as well.
Since two months, I've been using the Active Spam Killer (ASK) now, and this has been mostly successful. In short: If a person writes me an email, they will have to confirm the mail, unless they are on my whitelist or the email contains a magic key (which is included in my sig and will thus be included in a reply). Confirmation also places a person on the whitelist, automatically. Since most spammers forge the From: address, they are not able to confirm their mail, even if they wanted... -> Pretty much no spam (dropped from approx. 20-30 spam-messages per day to 1-3 per week). Sure, if you order a book at amazon, their computer might not confirm. Thus I look into the confirmation queue from time to time whether anything in there is legitimate. Thus far it has not yet occurred that a person would not confirm his/her email, by the way. ASK is well documented, written in python and easy to setup.
There is another similar system (which I haven't checked out): TMDA.
I am wondering why big corporations, universities, ISPs are not providing such a (preconfigured) system as an option in their email packages...
How does one certify that the binary that is shipped corresponds 1:1 to the code, especially if only parts of the source code are revealed (you can't compile yourself!). Sorry, but even with non-corrupt governments, one could not trust this... Note that the compiler is also a potential source of trojan horses, even if the sources they disclose were the ones they compile.
To Bill Gates: Put Windows under GPL, make it compile with gcc, and we can talk about this again...
Well, I've been trying to submit
this
as a story before but the slashdot editors rejected it. It's not about the same person, not the same "crimes", but somewhat related (feel free to mod me down!). Promise: An interesting and revealing read.
... any attempt by terrorists to try to hide the radiation (thick lead, etc)...
Well, could you also just require these patients to wear something like that (thick lead jacket and pants, plus a lead face mask and hat) so that these tiny amounts of radiation will then not be detected any more??! I am sure the paranoid US agencies would like such a solution better than making the detectors less sensitive...
I've used Eiffel quite a bit; actually, I was a TA in a class that used Eiffel. Being an experienced Java programmer also, I would say that:
Eiffel's syntax is a matter of taste. However, no matter what taste it is very clean and easy to learn, but sometimes trades this beauty for inefficiencies that ruin your daily life. For example, the semicolons between statements are completely optional, so you can write a:=1; b:=2 or a:=1 b:=2. This does not make the language ambiguous, but it means that you can only catch very few syntax errors at a time (usually, parsers can skip erroneous statements and report syntax errors even after them). The compiler we used to work with (ISE's Eiffel Bench) actually reported only one error at a time which was at some random place in the code. Just imagine the experience of writing a bigger piece and then trying to compile it.
What I liked about the language is its consistency, especially in the library. The standard library is a textbook grade collection of container classes and there are standards for naming things. For example, to retrieve something you will always use the function 'item' and not like in Java get, getItem getElementAt and so on. This is at least useful if you don't have an IDE that shows all the possible functions while you are typing.
Eiffel has full generics. This even includes bounded genericity, so you can do things like a sorted list of some sort where the sort has to be a subclass of Comparable. This rocks, especially when you compare it to the weak generics that Java is going to have.
Full multiple inheritance, even with renaming functions. A matter of taste but it can be useful.
Some features of Eiffel are debatable, one of which is covariance for parameters: This means that if you override a method in a subclass, you may make its parameters more specific. This means that you can get dynamic type errors even though the system is mostly statically checked. Also, you can throw out a function when you are inheriting, which also may lead to dynamic type errors. In practice, this won't hurt you (and can even be useful), but hardcore type system people can become upset about it.
Overall, Eiffel is a great language for philosophers. In practice, Java is more convenient and even though it's not as consistent and pure it has a more useful library (I don't mean the collections but the other things it comes with). Another aspect is that Sun's Java licensing is nicer than ISE's (Bertrand Meyer's Company). Be careful with them, they are cooperating with the evildoers and integrating Eiffel into.NET.
Even though some language features are debatable, there is a great book available that I would even recommend to non-Eiffel folks: Bertrand Meyers OOSC.
[...] Microsoft could sell it for $45 and still make a profit.[...]
Well, could they? Even then, many would not be willing to pay the price, I guess. If you can get something so much better for free... Since we have a site license here, I could have all the crap MS produces for free, but even with that, I don't feel like it.
Just listen to webradio from other countries then
on
Congress Passes SWSA
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Well, I don't really care where the music comes from. Even if you don't understand the foreign languages, there are tons of webradios elsewhere that will not suffer from these problems (i.e. don't have to do massive advertisements to afford casting good music).
I am proposing the following business model for your company: I pay you the price that I am paying you now (1-3 CDs a year): about 5 bucks a month. For that price (a monthly flatrate), I want all the records that you have in your archives. Please provide for easy download via FTP. I prefer to use wget --mirror. Bandwith doesn't matter. Your business will then depend on new, interesting releases. I would also be willing to make an agreement with you in which access to earlier records will increase over time. For example: After 1 year of membership, I will be able to retrieve all the stuff in the last two years, after 2 years four years and so on.
As long as you deliver content that is
e.g. not accessible for me (e.g. some proprietary player as Liquid audio in the EMI example)
e.g. not reusable (DRM shit) or
not playable on any device that I own (CD with copy protection)
A number of postings have complained about the fact that many compilers / platforms / libaries do not follow the STL standard precisely.
If that is one of your concerns, I suggest using Dinkumware's standard libary. This is the only implementation of the C++ libraries that is truely 100% specification conformant and well documented. I am not affiliated with this company in any way, but their stuff is kick-ass. So if you need something that works across platforms etc., go with them. As far as I remeber, Intel's C++ compiler also supports the dinkumware libararies, and is very ISO C++ compliant. If you use these two together, then you may end up with 100% ISO C++ / STL compatibility / support.
Porting applications from one compiler to another or from one library flavor to another can be a bit painful. I would suggest you pay the price of kick-ass commercial implementations and start with them right from the beginning, if you care about these issues.
Why not have a character based X-server for the console (this would have been the real joke for April 1)... If some open source dude could implement this in Emacs lisp, one could finally say: Now I can run all X-applications inside Emacs on a 80x25 serial terminal. Just press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+W, N to switch to another emacs virtualized X-window. So aunt Lilly will never have to buy a 17 inch monitor to run mozilla...:-)
I am using a low-latency kernel on my notebook at the moment and I can report the following behavior:
In X (KDE), I can move windows around, load programs, webpages etc. without my MP3-player ever beginning to skip.
When doing massive file IO, the MP3-player begins to skip. tar cvzf file.tar.gz bla/ is still ok, but cp -R bla1 bla2 causes massive skipping.
When I use the notebook as a samba server,
things get worse. Still, massive skpping. Additionally, the samba becomes dog-slow and even the mouse falls asleep.
Often times, after such phases of heavy load, the skipping and sound-distortion remains! So I have to reboot the machine from time to time to enjoy music again. Closing the player and opening it again is not enough. Somehow, under heavy load things get messed up enough to make a recovery impossible.
I did use the preemptive patch before, but performance under heavy load was even worse and the similar problems with rebooting occurred. I was using kernel 2.4.12 for preemptive and I am using kernel 2.4.17 currently. The machine is a Celeron 466 with 128 megs of ram.
Still, the low-latency patch makes sense for machines that are primary for playing MP3s and reading emails (that's what my notebook is), but not for desktops with a wider variety of usage patterns. It's just not ready for primetime yet, but it's promising and fun!
Slashdot Mirror
It's interesting to see that the talks focused on heuristics exclusively. The main problem with all of these techniques is that they may classify legitimate email as spam as well.
...
Since two months, I've been using the Active Spam Killer (ASK) now, and this has been mostly successful. In short: If a person writes me an email, they will have to confirm the mail, unless they are on my whitelist or the email contains a magic key (which is included in my sig and will thus be included in a reply). Confirmation also places a person on the whitelist, automatically. Since most spammers forge the From: address, they are not able to confirm their mail, even if they wanted... -> Pretty much no spam (dropped from approx. 20-30 spam-messages per day to 1-3 per week). Sure, if you order a book at amazon, their computer might not confirm. Thus I look into the confirmation queue from time to time whether anything in there is legitimate. Thus far it has not yet occurred that a person would not confirm his/her email, by the way. ASK is well documented, written in python and easy to setup.
There is another similar system (which I haven't checked out): TMDA.
I am wondering why big corporations, universities, ISPs are not providing such a (preconfigured) system as an option in their email packages
Hint: in the long run, you'll be much better off with a good university degree.
Do some research what universities fit your needs and get started
Here are some prominent pointers
- NYU
- Columbia
For more, check out the google directory , for exampleHow does one certify that the binary that is shipped corresponds 1:1 to the code, especially if only parts of the source code are revealed (you can't compile yourself!). Sorry, but even with non-corrupt governments, one could not trust this... Note that the compiler is also a potential source of trojan horses, even if the sources they disclose were the ones they compile.
To Bill Gates: Put Windows under GPL, make it compile with gcc, and we can talk about this again...
Well, I've been trying to submit this as a story before but the slashdot editors rejected it. It's not about the same person, not the same "crimes", but somewhat related (feel free to mod me down!). Promise: An interesting and revealing read.
... any attempt by terrorists to try to hide the radiation (thick lead, etc) ...
Well, could you also just require these patients to wear something like that (thick lead jacket and pants, plus a lead face mask and hat) so that these tiny amounts of radiation will then not be detected any more??! I am sure the paranoid US agencies would like such a solution better than making the detectors less sensitive...
actually, I was a TA in a class that used Eiffel.
Being an experienced Java programmer also,
I would say that:
[...] Microsoft could sell it for $45 and still make a profit.[...] ...
Well, could they?
Even then, many would not be willing to pay the price, I guess.
If you can get something so much better for free
Since we have a site license here,
I could have all the crap MS produces for free,
but even with that, I don't feel like it.
Well, I don't really care where the music comes from.
Even if you don't understand the foreign languages,
there are tons of webradios elsewhere
that will not suffer from these problems
(i.e. don't have to do massive advertisements to afford casting good music).
- Antenne Bayern (Bavaria, Germany) - click on "Live h\"oren"
- FFH (germany)
- HR XXL (Germany)
- BBC (UK)
Does anybody have some links to good webradios in Italy, spain, mexico etc.?? Please post!Dear record company CEOs!
I am proposing the following business model for your company:
I pay you the price that I am paying you now (1-3 CDs a year): about 5 bucks a month. For that price (a monthly flatrate), I want all the records that you have in your archives.
Please provide for easy download via FTP. I prefer to use wget --mirror. Bandwith doesn't matter. Your business will then depend on new, interesting releases. I would also be willing to make an agreement with you in which access to earlier records will increase over time. For example: After 1 year of membership, I will be able to retrieve all the stuff in the last two years, after 2 years four years and so on.
As long as you deliver content that is
- e.g. not accessible for me (e.g. some proprietary player as Liquid audio in the EMI example)
- e.g. not reusable (DRM shit) or
- not playable on any device that I own (CD with copy protection)
- overpriced
SCREW YOU!A number of postings have complained about the fact that many compilers / platforms / libaries do not follow the STL standard precisely. If that is one of your concerns, I suggest using Dinkumware's standard libary. This is the only implementation of the C++ libraries that is truely 100% specification conformant and well documented. I am not affiliated with this company in any way, but their stuff is kick-ass. So if you need something that works across platforms etc., go with them. As far as I remeber, Intel's C++ compiler also supports the dinkumware libararies, and is very ISO C++ compliant. If you use these two together, then you may end up with 100% ISO C++ / STL compatibility / support. Porting applications from one compiler to another or from one library flavor to another can be a bit painful. I would suggest you pay the price of kick-ass commercial implementations and start with them right from the beginning, if you care about these issues.
Why not have a character based X-server for the console (this would have been the real joke for April 1) ... If some open source dude could implement this in Emacs lisp, one could finally say: Now I can run all X-applications inside Emacs on a 80x25 serial terminal. Just press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+W, N to switch to another emacs virtualized X-window. So aunt Lilly will never have to buy a 17 inch monitor to run mozilla... :-)
-
In X (KDE), I can move windows around, load programs, webpages etc. without my MP3-player ever beginning to skip.
- When doing massive file IO, the MP3-player begins to skip. tar cvzf file.tar.gz bla/ is still ok, but cp -R bla1 bla2 causes massive skipping.
- When I use the notebook as a samba server,
things get worse. Still, massive skpping. Additionally, the samba becomes dog-slow and even the mouse falls asleep.
-
Often times, after such phases of heavy load, the skipping and sound-distortion remains! So I have to reboot the machine from time to time to enjoy music again. Closing the player and opening it again is not enough. Somehow, under heavy load things get messed up enough to make a recovery impossible.
I did use the preemptive patch before, but performance under heavy load was even worse and the similar problems with rebooting occurred. I was using kernel 2.4.12 for preemptive and I am using kernel 2.4.17 currently. The machine is a Celeron 466 with 128 megs of ram. Still, the low-latency patch makes sense for machines that are primary for playing MP3s and reading emails (that's what my notebook is), but not for desktops with a wider variety of usage patterns. It's just not ready for primetime yet, but it's promising and fun!