I hear this word doled out by folks on Slashdot a lot, but it must be some special geek code word because I have no idea what it means (beyond those little brown things with the foofy hair I used to collect as a kid:-) Would you care to explain it to me? Anyway, thanks for the, er, compliment (I think).
If you use gcc, you probably have benefited from fixes of bugs those programs have helped uncover.
When I say I'm not much of a programmer, I mean that I'm not a programmer at all:-) I don't use gcc, but if this contest has helped to improve it, then maybe I was wrong about it. Thanks for pointing that out to me!
Is it really a good idea to have contests like this which encourage slovenly, inscrutable, and altogether unmaintainable coding? I'll admit I don't know much about computer science, but I do know that it's important to keep your code clear, well-documented and easy to understand. My boyfriend obsesses over this sort of thing, and he's always cursing when he has to deal with other people's code (like when he tries to hack his Linux kernel:-) "What the hell sort of coding standards are this?" "Have these people ever heard of a comment?" "What the hell was Linus smoking when he wrote THIS code?" are just some of the things I've heard him yell. I imagine I'd have to take the poor guy to the hospital if he ever tried to look at any of the entries for this contest;-)
As I said, I'm not much of a programmer, but it seems that enough people generate obfuscated code unintentionally that having a contest to encourage this sort of thing is silly and counterproductive to the advancement of programming techniques. I just hope the people who enter this contest are a bit cleaner coders when they have real work to do!
What a fucking troll. AOL does not have a linux dial up client and no one can use winmodems under linux. That you call the Winmodem crappy and shit on everything free software stands for shows that you know what you say is as false as your pretended ignorance. Go away!
You're right, Linux doesn't support AOL or winmodems, and because of this I can't use Linux as my primary operating system. I'd love to get a real modem and a real ISP, but I don't have the cash for it. I can't believe how thickheaded and self-righteous you are. I can still learn to use a Unix system without Internet access under that system. I can know that my hardware is shit without being a "troll". Unfortunately, YOU can not see beyond your own small-minded pettiness.
The current take over of the net by ATT, AOL/Time Warner, Microsoft and friends will destroy it. That will make all them happy. I will serve untill they turn my connection off.
Don't be so fatalistic. The fact that wonderful, community-driven sites like Slashdot exist and thrive should be proof enough to you that the Internet is still firmly in the hands of the end users. While corporate-packaged portals like Excite, msn, and Netscape wither away and die, user-moderated and peer-contributed sites like Slashdot, LiveJournal, and Kuro5hin continue to grow and thrive at unprecedented rates. Everyday another technically adept, ambitious writer downloads Slashcode or another weblog system and starts his own site.
Much like modern music, art, and pop culture, the corporate-owned, glossy stuff only seems to be taking control because it's most visible. They pay for it to be visible. It's not hard to look past the screen of Britney Spears and the Pepsi Generation and see that regular old people are still producing plenty of worthwhile content.
Just because I'm not adept with computers doesn't mean I don't like them:-) As a sociology major, I find the impact that global networks like the Internet are having on our society and culture to be endlessly fascinating. And while the "bash" prompt still confuses the hell out of me, my boyfriend (who is the sort of nerd who fits right in around here) is slowly trying to get me into Linux and programming and all that.
In short, I guess Slashdot and the whole culture it spawned just fascinates the hell out of me, and I thought it was about time I contributed to it. Hopefully my insecure computer bumblings aren't TOO hard to deal with for geniuses like you:-)
I didn't mean to offend you, and I'm sorry if you did, but that's no reason to be making personal attacks.
TV, for all its faults, still provides a common cultural base for people in this day and age. Believe me, I've given up the idiot box for lengths of time, and I can't believe how socially isolated the lack of that common medium made me after a while. I'm certainly not any stupider for watching the occasional Ally McBeal episode or CNN newscast.
(this, by the way folks, is where the sterotypes about females and computing come from. Ignoring that it is a troll, the last line insulting nerds is not a good thing. I am not pasty faced, though I do aim for it.:P )
I don't see what my being female has to do with my lack of technical fortitude. I'm sure I could become a commandline jock like all you Slashdotters with practice, but I just don't have the time or inclination to do that sort of thing. The computer is just a tool to me, not a pastime or a toy. If that makes me a "troll", then I'm sorry. My "pasty-faced nerd" comment was a bit out of line, but I thought you guys took pride in being geeks;-)
I don't DO any of those things online, and neither do most of my friends. Put yourself in an average technophobic person's shoes, and think about what you just said:
Web use: 1 hour of 'net christmas shopping via broadband == 6 hours of 'net christmas shopping over a modem.
Why would your average person spend hours in front of a computer screen trying to navigate some byzantine e-commerce site, when they could call up a couple friends and go down to the local shopping center? You can't underestimate the importance of having that social element when shopping, something which web shopping will never be able to replicate.
Mail use: 200 e-mails a day == 30 seconds to check via broadband, 10 minutes to check via modem.
200 emails a day sounds like a rather exceptional number to me; I doubt I receive more than 10 pieces a day. My hypersocial roommate spends more time on Hotmail than anyone else I know, and I still don't believe she gets more than 40 mails a day.
Research: 100.PDF files from scholarly journals for a research paper == 1 afternoon to find and download via broadband, 3 weeks to find and download via modem.
Once again, I would probably head down to the library with a friend or two before I tried to search the Internet for any length of time. I think the "3 weeks" figure you posit for modem users is a bit excessive; I'm a lousy Googler and can still find what I'm looking for in a matter of hours if I'm determined enough.
Software: 1 download of Red Hat, FreeBSD, OpenOffice, Your Favorite Game Demo == 10 minutes to 1 hour via broadband, NEVER (good luck!) via modem.
Your average person doesn't download operating systems or game demos off the Internet. I know I sure don't.
Please realize that people like you who depend on the Internet for everything are a minority. There is a market for broadband in your demographic, sure, but my point was that this demographic that needs/wants broadband is much smaller than the providers think, and it is market forces that killed @home.
I'm not much of a techie, I'll admit. My primary Internet connection is AOL over a crappy winmodem, but this is perfectly adequate for what I use the Internet for. When I'm at my boyfriend's apartment I play around with his cable internet connection sometimes; the only real advantage I see is that webpages load a bit faster. He tried to show off all the fancy streaming media, Flash animations, and online games his broadband connection supported, but I have to admit I am not impressed in the least.
I'm not interested in Quake 3. There's no "streaming media" or whatever it's called on the Internet I can find that I can't just watch on TV. All I need the 'net for is e-mail, looking up the occasional website, and maybe talking to some friends on ICQ. This is what killed @home, and what is slowly cutting away the margins of the few remaining broadband companies. There are too many players in a field we consumers just aren't interested in, and the market can't support it. The "broadband revolution" is a fluke, just like the Internet Appliance hubbub a few years ago.
I might look into getting a cable internet connection in a few years, when a "killer app" comes out that makes it worth my time and money; right now, I just can't see why anybody other than a pasty-faced computer dork would need broadband.
Slashdot Mirror
I hear this word doled out by folks on Slashdot a lot, but it must be some special geek code word because I have no idea what it means (beyond those little brown things with the foofy hair I used to collect as a kid :-) Would you care to explain it to me? Anyway, thanks for the, er, compliment (I think).
When I say I'm not much of a programmer, I mean that I'm not a programmer at all :-) I don't use gcc, but if this contest has helped to improve it, then maybe I was wrong about it. Thanks for pointing that out to me!
As I said, I'm not much of a programmer, but it seems that enough people generate obfuscated code unintentionally that having a contest to encourage this sort of thing is silly and counterproductive to the advancement of programming techniques. I just hope the people who enter this contest are a bit cleaner coders when they have real work to do!
You're right, Linux doesn't support AOL or winmodems, and because of this I can't use Linux as my primary operating system. I'd love to get a real modem and a real ISP, but I don't have the cash for it. I can't believe how thickheaded and self-righteous you are. I can still learn to use a Unix system without Internet access under that system. I can know that my hardware is shit without being a "troll". Unfortunately, YOU can not see beyond your own small-minded pettiness.
The current take over of the net by ATT, AOL/Time Warner, Microsoft and friends will destroy it. That will make all them happy. I will serve untill they turn my connection off.
Don't be so fatalistic. The fact that wonderful, community-driven sites like Slashdot exist and thrive should be proof enough to you that the Internet is still firmly in the hands of the end users. While corporate-packaged portals like Excite, msn, and Netscape wither away and die, user-moderated and peer-contributed sites like Slashdot, LiveJournal, and Kuro5hin continue to grow and thrive at unprecedented rates. Everyday another technically adept, ambitious writer downloads Slashcode or another weblog system and starts his own site.
Much like modern music, art, and pop culture, the corporate-owned, glossy stuff only seems to be taking control because it's most visible. They pay for it to be visible. It's not hard to look past the screen of Britney Spears and the Pepsi Generation and see that regular old people are still producing plenty of worthwhile content.
In short, I guess Slashdot and the whole culture it spawned just fascinates the hell out of me, and I thought it was about time I contributed to it. Hopefully my insecure computer bumblings aren't TOO hard to deal with for geniuses like you :-)
TV, for all its faults, still provides a common cultural base for people in this day and age. Believe me, I've given up the idiot box for lengths of time, and I can't believe how socially isolated the lack of that common medium made me after a while. I'm certainly not any stupider for watching the occasional Ally McBeal episode or CNN newscast.
(this, by the way folks, is where the sterotypes about females and computing come from. Ignoring that it is a troll, the last line insulting nerds is not a good thing. I am not pasty faced, though I do aim for it. :P )
I don't see what my being female has to do with my lack of technical fortitude. I'm sure I could become a commandline jock like all you Slashdotters with practice, but I just don't have the time or inclination to do that sort of thing. The computer is just a tool to me, not a pastime or a toy. If that makes me a "troll", then I'm sorry. My "pasty-faced nerd" comment was a bit out of line, but I thought you guys took pride in being geeks ;-)
Web use: 1 hour of 'net christmas shopping via broadband == 6 hours of 'net christmas shopping over a modem.
Why would your average person spend hours in front of a computer screen trying to navigate some byzantine e-commerce site, when they could call up a couple friends and go down to the local shopping center? You can't underestimate the importance of having that social element when shopping, something which web shopping will never be able to replicate.
Mail use: 200 e-mails a day == 30 seconds to check via broadband, 10 minutes to check via modem.
200 emails a day sounds like a rather exceptional number to me; I doubt I receive more than 10 pieces a day. My hypersocial roommate spends more time on Hotmail than anyone else I know, and I still don't believe she gets more than 40 mails a day.
Research: 100 .PDF files from scholarly journals for a research paper == 1 afternoon to find and download via broadband, 3 weeks to find and download via modem.
Once again, I would probably head down to the library with a friend or two before I tried to search the Internet for any length of time. I think the "3 weeks" figure you posit for modem users is a bit excessive; I'm a lousy Googler and can still find what I'm looking for in a matter of hours if I'm determined enough.
Software: 1 download of Red Hat, FreeBSD, OpenOffice, Your Favorite Game Demo == 10 minutes to 1 hour via broadband, NEVER (good luck!) via modem.
Your average person doesn't download operating systems or game demos off the Internet. I know I sure don't.
Please realize that people like you who depend on the Internet for everything are a minority. There is a market for broadband in your demographic, sure, but my point was that this demographic that needs/wants broadband is much smaller than the providers think, and it is market forces that killed @home.
I'm not interested in Quake 3. There's no "streaming media" or whatever it's called on the Internet I can find that I can't just watch on TV. All I need the 'net for is e-mail, looking up the occasional website, and maybe talking to some friends on ICQ. This is what killed @home, and what is slowly cutting away the margins of the few remaining broadband companies. There are too many players in a field we consumers just aren't interested in, and the market can't support it. The "broadband revolution" is a fluke, just like the Internet Appliance hubbub a few years ago.
I might look into getting a cable internet connection in a few years, when a "killer app" comes out that makes it worth my time and money; right now, I just can't see why anybody other than a pasty-faced computer dork would need broadband.