License, for me, is part and parcel with functionality. It's not the only part, however (though it is large; when I say I have philosophical bias, that bias is based on what I believe are tangible capitalistic advantages of such licenses, not the crypto-anarchism often ascribed to FOSS proponents).
In those cases where proprietary technology presents a clear technical superiority to its FOSS counterpart, even despite what benefit its license might convey, I will use the proprietary technology. In my first post, I gave two examples: C# and nVidia drivers. They are certainly not the only ones on my system.
Except for the part where I said a Microsoft language was the most superior available? That's too zealously anti-Microsoft for you to include me in a "rational discussion of these matters?" Holy crap, the fanboys have gone off the deep end.
As a user, I am philosophically opposed to Mono as an unwanted Windows fingerprint on my completely FOSS system (except for my nVidia drivers; alas, I am not perfect).
As a developer, I am so completely convinced of the superiority of the.NET model and the C# language (Anders Hejlsberg has been my hero ever since he developed Delphi during his Borland years) that I cannot help but prefer its usage, even in a Linux environment.
I'm thinking about developing a split personality to deal with this paradox.
The main concern should not be the product, but the packaging. No one is throwing their Wii's and DS's away; they're going to throw away the boxes and clamshells they're shipped in. Having said that, Nintendo uses 80% recycled packaging and no styrofoam. That's pretty significant, IMHO.
Oh, please. Having your HDD screwed with is not a human rights violation. The purpose of the Geneva convention was not to outlaw everything that can hurt you. It was conceived so that the slaughter of human beings on a massive scale would be conducted with some sort of decorum... like not chemically flaying people alive and making their eyes explode.
It's surprising that this doesn't get more attention, especially from a group that leans as libertarian as Slashdot: the BSA, MPAA, and RIAA are made up of companies that donate almost overwhelmingly to progressive candidates.
What surprises me is not that a tech-savvy, cartel-snubbing crypto-anarchist is in the Republican party. What surprises me is that more aren't.
PS: We should obey the law: from a moral, ethical, and religious stance I believe this. That doesn't mean the law is always right.
ext4fs is designed to be used in systems requiring many terabytes of storage and vast directory trees. It is unlikely the common desktop (or even, for that matter, the common server) will see appreciable performance increase with it.
I have a friend whose co-located server went down. The Linux partition was screwed, and it needed a reinstall something fierce. I couldn't reach him (he was on vacation), so I drove down to the provider to grab the box. They did not so much as ask for my name; they just let me in, said, "go on in the machine room and grab it." This perturbed me a bit (because the machine clearly had a label that said "Property of [not me]. Do not touch."), but I went in, took it, brought it home, and fixed it up. When I brought it back (with a new install of SuSe and the then newly-released 2.6 stable), the techs remarked that the owner's roommate showed up to see what was wrong with the server. Having been told that an unnamed individual was allowed to make off with the server, he threatened to call the police. The service provider's response to him was, (and I quote), "fuck off."
don't discount the "thinking" part of programming. Sometimes using a blunt tool works great, but overall it's best to shoot for something higher.
If someone is using a global variable, goto, or thread model as a "blunt tool" without concern for elegance, readability and robustness, they have already validated all the dire warnings against using these constructs. I use them only where, after rigorous examination, I have decided I can use them without sacrificing the three aforementioned design goals.
Goto's and global variables are not inherently wrong or evil. They are tools. Granted, they are tools that, if misused, will wreak havoc on your code's stability and maintainability. The same could be said, however, for pointers. Threads are dangerous, and require special care. This is not a reason to avoid them; it is only a reason to be incredibly careful with them.
Use the best tool for the job, regardless of whether your CS professors demonized it or not.
Slashdot Mirror
I kan't stand it, either, komrade.
A perfect fit! I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
License, for me, is part and parcel with functionality. It's not the only part, however (though it is large; when I say I have philosophical bias, that bias is based on what I believe are tangible capitalistic advantages of such licenses, not the crypto-anarchism often ascribed to FOSS proponents).
In those cases where proprietary technology presents a clear technical superiority to its FOSS counterpart, even despite what benefit its license might convey, I will use the proprietary technology. In my first post, I gave two examples: C# and nVidia drivers. They are certainly not the only ones on my system.
Patents.
And yes, they exist on elements of the ECMA-334 and ECMA-335 specifications.
Except for the part where I said a Microsoft language was the most superior available? That's too zealously anti-Microsoft for you to include me in a "rational discussion of these matters?" Holy crap, the fanboys have gone off the deep end.
I'm a Windows developer who uses Linux at home.
.NET model and the C# language (Anders Hejlsberg has been my hero ever since he developed Delphi during his Borland years) that I cannot help but prefer its usage, even in a Linux environment.
As a user, I am philosophically opposed to Mono as an unwanted Windows fingerprint on my completely FOSS system (except for my nVidia drivers; alas, I am not perfect).
As a developer, I am so completely convinced of the superiority of the
I'm thinking about developing a split personality to deal with this paradox.
The main concern should not be the product, but the packaging. No one is throwing their Wii's and DS's away; they're going to throw away the boxes and clamshells they're shipped in. Having said that, Nintendo uses 80% recycled packaging and no styrofoam. That's pretty significant, IMHO.
It's posts like these that make we wish we had a (-1, Funny) option.
WTF? Is hacking a human rights violation, now? Should they have hung Captain Crunch at the Hague?
Jeez, that's some hyperbole, there.
Not to mention: the bus you don't see will still run you over.
ORLY? So how long have you been wearing your orange jumpsuit? How many people do you know in orange jumpsuits? The only country?
Okay, Br00tus... show us on the doll where the bad jooz touched you...
Are you joking?
Oh, please. Having your HDD screwed with is not a human rights violation. The purpose of the Geneva convention was not to outlaw everything that can hurt you. It was conceived so that the slaughter of human beings on a massive scale would be conducted with some sort of decorum... like not chemically flaying people alive and making their eyes explode.
You got a virus on your computer? Cry me a river.
It sure would be nice to live in a world as black and white as yours.
Exactly. I'm not buying a product whose only real advantage comes when you void the warranty.
*ducks*
*runs*
I believe you meant "Republican 1337".
It's surprising that this doesn't get more attention, especially from a group that leans as libertarian as Slashdot: the BSA, MPAA, and RIAA are made up of companies that donate almost overwhelmingly to progressive candidates.
What surprises me is not that a tech-savvy, cartel-snubbing crypto-anarchist is in the Republican party. What surprises me is that more aren't.
PS: We should obey the law: from a moral, ethical, and religious stance I believe this. That doesn't mean the law is always right.
ext4fs is designed to be used in systems requiring many terabytes of storage and vast directory trees. It is unlikely the common desktop (or even, for that matter, the common server) will see appreciable performance increase with it.
I have a friend whose co-located server went down. The Linux partition was screwed, and it needed a reinstall something fierce. I couldn't reach him (he was on vacation), so I drove down to the provider to grab the box. They did not so much as ask for my name; they just let me in, said, "go on in the machine room and grab it." This perturbed me a bit (because the machine clearly had a label that said "Property of [not me]. Do not touch."), but I went in, took it, brought it home, and fixed it up. When I brought it back (with a new install of SuSe and the then newly-released 2.6 stable), the techs remarked that the owner's roommate showed up to see what was wrong with the server. Having been told that an unnamed individual was allowed to make off with the server, he threatened to call the police. The service provider's response to him was, (and I quote), "fuck off."
Goto's and global variables are not inherently wrong or evil. They are tools. Granted, they are tools that, if misused, will wreak havoc on your code's stability and maintainability. The same could be said, however, for pointers. Threads are dangerous, and require special care. This is not a reason to avoid them; it is only a reason to be incredibly careful with them.
Use the best tool for the job, regardless of whether your CS professors demonized it or not.
NO NO NO!!! It goes: "duh... duh... dundundah... DUNUH DUNUH DUNUNUH duh-nu-nuh...."
Idiot.