Umm, websites that use Java, thats a tough one, after all CGI is such a scalable tool... http://java.sun.com long shot that one... http://www.clip2.com/ is another one, and the list goes on.
Java is far from a dead language but many people see it as being it or CGI. It isn't Java is an _application_ language. Projects I have worked on have tended to have very thin client sides with Java running on a big piece of iron out back.
Java is far from dead, HTTP and Web-browsers however are a very poor means of communication and IMO will probably die in the next few years.
For cool toys in Java go to http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com
In summary Java is a commercial application language that makes it simpler (its no silver bullet mind) to develop larger scale projects and deploy in a number of enviroments.
The basic principle of all UI design has been for years and years Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) or reductive design to give it an academic name. Anything on the interface that does not add to the information is detracting from the information so should be removed. Some people will bitch and moan that it doesn't look "pretty" and they nicely fall under the heading of "Well I Like It" WILI design.
Look at slashdot, bugger all colours, a few Icons for information and basic basic tools. And guess what its pretty much ideal for its target audience. Take a "Tomy" toy for a 4 year old. Big and Bright with easy controls. Take the TV Remote, some people have got only 6 buttons on theirs. Simplicity IS an effective interface.
On the other end of the scale is Themes, their entire concept is based around what looks cool, this isn't the same as an effective interface.
The Mona Lisa is a cracking painting, but it sucks as a User interface.
3) The courts find for Godfrey. Demon pay up damages. From now on any British ISP is, by legal precedent, responsible for any slanderous content that it makes available, included hosted sites and newsgroups. This is what has prompted NetBenefit's actions - they're covering their arses.
Not quite true, the court did not find for Godfrey, Demon elected to settle, this doesn't set a precedent in English Law (a judge has to rule for a precedent to be set) but it does place a worry for ISPs. Lets face it who wants to risk being the one setting a precedent ?
Okay now go and look at the first games ever released for the playstation, now compare them with games running on that same piece of hardware now. The difference is stunning.
No platform is pushed to its limits until developers have tried to squeeze the last ounce of power out of it for a few years.
Its not a lawsuit in the normal way of things, its a goverment/legal ruling on whether a company is anti-competitive.
As for why this is a problem, have you ever seen old style eastern block TV, monopoly gives no drive to improve quality. The aim of a company is to make as much money as possible for its shareholders, this is enshrined in law, that they treat consumers fairly is not.
If the world had no monopoly rules then you'd see a massive merger of Big Companies into monopolies, this would enable them to make more money and not care for competition.
Basic rule of business
"Fuck 95% of the industry but leave the other 5% to prove you used KY"
Compare the commercial revenues of Fox, NBC, CBC et al with Comedy Central.
Now which is currently producing the best programs ? The call isn't down to price, great programs can be made on small budgets and awful ones on large budgets. Do you think South Park costs as much to make as some of the god awful stuff on US PrimeTime ?
Thankgod for the BBC, lots of top programs with no adverts.
I've worked around 25% or more offsite for previous clients and the biggest advantage is that you get much more work done as you aren't interupted as much (and less prone to RAMs (Random Acts of Mangament)).
The problems however are coordination, it requires a lot of effort from the team leader to make sure that everyone is on track and on the ball. Once the pattern is laid out however its very easy to manage.
The biggest problem is Configuration Management and releases. If your company uses something like StarTeam or ClearCase it becomes unusable over a sluggish (less than 10Mb/s) connection for large projects.
The biggest win for the company however is the save in travelling time and the reduction in stress which produces better quality work.
The downside for the worker is the lack of face to face and the inability to physically threaten the sys-admin when they switch off access to something you need.
Asimov had a great book about a voting system by which a computer picked A voter who represented all of the variables required to choose the right president.
And then the question comes down to. Who do you trust most ? Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ronald Regan, Margret Thatcher, Francois Mitterand, Helmut Kohl or a sentient machine.
Lets face it machines can't fuck up half as badly as politicians have mangaged to do over the last 100 years.
Very true, and I've never seen a case where it would happen until now. PC Gaming will continue, but whereas now people will buy a PC for gaming as certain types of games are only available for the PC the next generation of consoles are lining up as category killers. PC Gaming will remain, but the importance of it as a distinguishing mark will diminish as the consoles cease to become pure gaming machines and become PCs hiding under a pretty case.
One line on the website made be laugh the power of the future with the power of the future's operating system. Now come on guys Linux is a good OS but the saddest thing about the rise of Linux is that the competition was so poor for an adaptation of a 1980s OS.
Some people have said here that Linux must be able to play games to compete with Windows, in part this is true, but when the PS2 and Dolphin come out it will change the perception of the home games machine. Why buy a Windows or a Linux box when your PS2/Dolphin plays DVDs on the TV and allows you to browse the web and send emails ?
The market is about to change and while a supply of games does give Linux some credibility it doesn't mark the OS out as happened with Windows v Mac 10 years or so ago. Linux is a long way from competing with Windows as a gaming station, and MS-Linked it may be but DirectX, Sound and Video are very powerful tool kits for the developer. Linux needs those sorts of kits and intercommnication in order to really push itself as a gaming platform.
To see the lack of forking in OSS all you need do is look at the older generation of projects. The great Emacs/XEmacs revolt led to two completely incompatible.... oh okay then, two occasionally incompatible versions of the editor. While the code was different beheath the surface they can still use each other.el files on most occasions. That split is probably the most famous in OSS, most other projects result in the killer App destroying the competition rather than two competing forks.
fetchmail and sendmail, both had competitors, and especially with fetchmail there were chances for a fork when the philosophy behind it changed. Thanks to the massive climate of "don't branch on pain of death" with pervades OSS it didn't happend (read the Cathedral and the Bazaar for more on that).
Compare this to the world of closed source Unixes and the fatanstically non-interoperable plethora of mail tools that have come out for Windows over the year.
Splits happen when there is a clear difference of opinion that is supported by a significant proportion of the development community. This differs with the "upgrade or die" philosophy that keeps many vendors afloat.
OSS can result in forking but doesn't tend to result in popular forks. And even when it does it doesn't have to lead to incompatiability between the branches.
------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- MICROSOFT LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR ZONE INTEGRATION SERVER By modifying or distributing the Zone Integration Server (the "Program") or any modifications or derivatives based on the Program, you indicate your acceptance of this License and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program. There is no warranty for the Program.
Microsoft Corporation ("Microsoft") is the title and copyright owner of the Program and offers this License which gives the licensee ("you") the legal permission to copy, distribute, modify and/or create derivatives based on the Program. The act of running the Program is not restricted.
License Grant. Subject to the restrictions in Section 2 below, your use of the Program is as follows: Use and Copy of Source Code. You may copy and distribute the Program source code exactly as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you (i) conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice, if applicable, and disclaimer of warranty; (ii) keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and (iii) give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program. All recipients must receive the same rights you have. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. Modification. You may modify the Program or create derivative works and copy and distribute such modifications or derivative works, provided that you also: (i) cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change so that the recipients know they are not receiving the original Program; (ii) cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole to all third parties under the terms of this License; and (iii) provide notice to users under the same terms of distribution as set forth in Sections 1(a)(i), 1(a)(ii) and 1(a)(iii) above. DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS. Patents. Any patent obtained by a redistributor of the Program must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all. Other Limitations. You may not copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance. Education Purposes Only. The Program is licensed exclusively for educational purposes. You have no rights under this License unless you are using the Program for educational purposes only and solely within the educational system (e.g., grades K-12 or higher education use). Fees. You cannot charge a fee for licensing the Program. You may charge a fee (i) for the physical act of transferring a copy of the Program; (ii) in the event you wish to provide support services for the Program; or (iii) for any modifications or derivatives of the Program. Intellectual Property Claims. If, as a result of an intellectual property claim, conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from compliance with the terms and conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute the Program so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then you may not distribute the Program at all. MISCELLANEOUS. This License represents the complete agreement concerning the subject matter hereof. If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable. This License is governed by the laws of the State of Washington. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. NO WARRANTY. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS-IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PEROFRMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFENCTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT, ITS SUPPLIERS NOR THIRD-PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF MICROSOFT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY UNDER THIS LICENSE SHALL NOT EXCEED FIVE DOLLARS (U.S.$5.00).
When I worked coding on an Air Traffic Control system doing the Radar display I had the sort of screen space that made developing a breeze. Connected to one box were:
1) 21" Trinitron monitor
And the best of the bunch
2) A 2048x2048 30" Flat Screen by Sony. A real beast of a monitor.
Requiring a £30,000 graphics box (Barco) plugged into an RS6000.
6 normal size emacs windows on the 30" and the app running on the 21". One day I shall have such riches again. I've never suffered from such information overload. Magic stuff
>I find it annoying that you feel you have to > bash Windows when it obviously is a commercial > grade UI.
I understand what you mean by this, but IMO Windows is not a commercial grade GUI (some of my previous work has been in designing Air Traffic Control working positions) it contains too many "clever" touches and several inconsistent features in the major products. The use of pointless icons that are never used is widespread and the excessive use of pointless colours is just window dressing for the bored.
The Mac is better but is far from perfect.
Maybe its time to revolutionise the UI from the ground up ? Tech, interoperability, interaction model and look and feel.
Trouble is this would require IMO a bigger effort than that to get Linux off the ground. Who is the next Linus ?
Okay lets try it for the simple crowd. Jakob Nielsen is a GUI designer, most Websites are designed by Graphic Designers. These are mostly interested in pretty pictures and bright fluffy graphics.
These also do not make a good UI. A GUI designer is about simplicity and ease of interaction. As a GUI designer I understand where your misunderstanding is comming from. But that is my point with KDE, technically they are brilliant, UI wise they lack certain skills. In the same way as most Web Sites are from the WILI school but on the excessive graphics and roll-overs side.
There is a happy medium that equals an effective interface. If you want a cracking example of a good interface, look at some commercial devices (videos et al) and see how easy or hard an interface can make a product to use.
Whow calm down there, the issue isn't that work hasn't been put in, it clearly has. And for that the KDE boys have my respect and admiration. Where the release lacks is in its look and feel. KDE _isn't_ a better GUI than Windows, it is more complex it has possibly more configuration options but that does not a great GUI make. The good news is that that can be retro fitted as a later project (not a theme, I'm talking about a proper GUI design).
The real question is how can we manage that sort of project, its part code and part idea and concept. Traditionally we've only had to worry about the technology, now its time to care about the Users. And not in the Windows/Mac/KDE/Gnome way but a new approach to GUI design.
That could really change the perception of Linux and OSS, if we have the best interaction system, truly we'll dominate the world.
While I applaud the efforts of both the KDE and Gnome communities neither of them are actually resulting in a commercial grade UI (Windows is not a commercial grade UI either IMO). Its a fantastic effort to make the interface more usable but as Jakob Nielsen said on Slashdot these are not revolutionary steps but the same old things again. Most of KDE and Gnome away from the interface itself is fine, its just that last bit to the user that fails to reach the heights that the more pure technology aspects of Linux reach.
Is it time for some Cathedral to enter the Bazaar to enforce an interaction metaphor and a look and feel onto the Linux world rather than the continuing rise of the WILI (Well I like It) school of GUI design.
Don't get me wrong, KDE and Gnome are superb as technology projects but as UIs they fail to reach even the marsh land set by Windows let alone the heights that could be reached.
Great reading and a lesson in the world of KISS, remember folks just because it looks pretty doesn't mean its a good UI. Van Gough's Sunflowers looks very beautiful but it sucks as a User Interface.
If only Themes and the plethora of websites would realise that.
Nasa Scientist A: I'm getting bored at looking at Jupiter
Nasa Scientist B: I know what you mean, same old same odl
A: Mind you those comets that smashed into it were pretty cool B: Yeah, 11 years watching and its all clouds and methane, where is the fun in that ? A: We need to do something exciting.
Enter Military Man C
C: Hi Guys, anything new ? A: Nope, just a big red dot and a possible ocean. B: And of course the black bits. C: Okay I'll be off. A: Hang On, we're just wondering how to make this job more interesting, any ideas ? C: Well you could take the military approach... B: Which is ? C: If it costs over a billion dollars, make sure it crashes, we did it with the Stealth Fighters and Bombers, its the whole purpose of the ICBMs. And they make WAY cool noises and pretty lights when they go up. A: You mean you crash these things on purpose ? C: Sure sometimes, but we video everything just incase we get lucky by accident.
And that ladies and gentlemen was how the plan was formed.
What is it over there in the land of the free that creates such draconian laws ? Giving Lawyers as much power as the likes of the FBI and other elements of the goverment is way beyond bizarre.
The Playstation 2 is what is known as a category killer. Not just a console but a DVD player, firewire gives it the ability to connect to disk-drives, video cameras and of course the web.
Secure e-commerce from your TV. Welcome to a plan for World Domination. But at least this one comes in a sexy box:-)
1) The internet has its origins and owes much of its early development to the funding of one organisation. The good old DoD a very goverment organisation. So its a case of been there done that got the swatch.
2) Germany already has fairly high taxes so I wouldn't expect an increase, and if they are paying for the phone costs it could actually be a revenue creator.
3) If the goverment pays for roads (and your okay with that) and indeed the road right up to your door, what is the difference between that and paying for the local connection to the public backbone.
4) If Hamburg thinks that by netting all of its people it can gain economic advantage over other cities then good on them.
Free and unfettered access to information is surely the greatest public good.
Let me get this straight, its okay for people to enact laws that violate the rights of people as long as a majority of the people want it.
Here are a few you'd probably get past in several US states
1) All individuals who don't go to a Christian Church are to be registered and this will be marked on their driving license.
2) If a majority of people determine that an individual is subversive that individual is required to carry an identity card at all times.
3) Evolution (the theory of descent through modification and natural selection) is not to be taught.
The "people" does not mean 100% it means either a majority of the vote or a vocal minority. A lot of these censorship and anti-evolution type bills can be reduced to the distorted application of supposed "Christian" morality. This small mindedness can be very dangerous if allowed to continue. How highly do you value the first ammendment ? Should Utah or any other state be allowed to restrict it because they don't like you to see certain things and their approach to preventing anyone seeing these pages is to stop anyone seeing various other completely safe pages.
This is censorship by bigotry, if the Netherlands has no such censorship and yet has lower crime, teenage pregnancy etc etc than almost everyone else (especially the States) then what is the point of these actions ?
Slashdot Mirror
Umm, websites that use Java, thats a tough one, after all CGI is such a scalable tool... http://java.sun.com long shot that one... http://www.clip2.com/ is another one, and the list goes on.
Java is far from a dead language but many people see it as being it or CGI. It isn't Java is an _application_ language. Projects I have worked on have tended to have very thin client sides with Java running on a big piece of iron out back.
Java is far from dead, HTTP and Web-browsers however are a very poor means of communication and IMO will probably die in the next few years.
For cool toys in Java go to http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com
In summary Java is a commercial application language that makes it simpler (its no silver bullet mind) to develop larger scale projects and deploy in a number of enviroments.
The basic principle of all UI design has been for years and years Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) or reductive design to give it an academic name. Anything on the interface that does not add to the information is detracting from the information so should be removed. Some people will bitch and moan that it doesn't look "pretty" and they nicely fall under the heading of "Well I Like It" WILI design.
Look at slashdot, bugger all colours, a few Icons for information and basic basic tools. And guess what its pretty much ideal for its target audience. Take a "Tomy" toy for a 4 year old. Big and Bright with easy controls. Take the TV Remote, some people have got only 6 buttons on theirs. Simplicity IS an effective interface.
On the other end of the scale is Themes, their entire concept is based around what looks cool, this isn't the same as an effective interface.
The Mona Lisa is a cracking painting, but it sucks as a User interface.
3) The courts find for Godfrey. Demon pay up damages. From now on any British ISP is, by legal precedent, responsible for any slanderous content that it makes available, included hosted sites and newsgroups. This is what has prompted NetBenefit's actions - they're covering their arses.
Not quite true, the court did not find for Godfrey, Demon elected to settle, this doesn't set a precedent in English Law (a judge has to rule for a precedent to be set) but it does place a worry for ISPs. Lets face it who wants to risk being the one setting a precedent ?
Okay now go and look at the first games ever released for the playstation, now compare them with games running on that same piece of hardware now. The difference is stunning.
No platform is pushed to its limits until developers have tried to squeeze the last ounce of power out of it for a few years.
Its not a lawsuit in the normal way of things, its a goverment/legal ruling on whether a company is anti-competitive.
As for why this is a problem, have you ever seen old style eastern block TV, monopoly gives no drive to improve quality. The aim of a company is to make as much money as possible for its shareholders, this is enshrined in law, that they treat consumers fairly is not.
If the world had no monopoly rules then you'd see a massive merger of Big Companies into monopolies, this would enable them to make more money and not care for competition.
Basic rule of business
"Fuck 95% of the industry but leave the other 5% to prove you used KY"
Compare the commercial revenues of Fox, NBC, CBC et al with Comedy Central.
Now which is currently producing the best programs ? The call isn't down to price, great programs can be made on small budgets and awful ones on large budgets. Do you think South Park costs as much to make as some of the god awful stuff on US PrimeTime ?
Thankgod for the BBC, lots of top programs with no adverts.
I've worked around 25% or more offsite for previous clients and the biggest advantage is that you get much more work done as you aren't interupted as much (and less prone to RAMs (Random Acts of Mangament)).
The problems however are coordination, it requires a lot of effort from the team leader to make sure that everyone is on track and on the ball. Once the pattern is laid out however its very easy to manage.
The biggest problem is Configuration Management and releases. If your company uses something like StarTeam or ClearCase it becomes unusable over a sluggish (less than 10Mb/s) connection for large projects.
The biggest win for the company however is the save in travelling time and the reduction in stress which produces better quality work.
The downside for the worker is the lack of face to face and the inability to physically threaten the sys-admin when they switch off access to something you need.
Asimov had a great book about a voting system by which a computer picked A voter who represented all of the variables required to choose the right president.
And then the question comes down to. Who do you trust most ? Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ronald Regan, Margret Thatcher, Francois Mitterand, Helmut Kohl or a sentient machine.
Lets face it machines can't fuck up half as badly as politicians have mangaged to do over the last 100 years.
Very true, and I've never seen a case where it would happen until now. PC Gaming will continue, but whereas now people will buy a PC for gaming as certain types of games are only available for the PC the next generation of consoles are lining up as category killers. PC Gaming will remain, but the importance of it as a distinguishing mark will diminish as the consoles cease to become pure gaming machines and become PCs hiding under a pretty case.
One line on the website made be laugh the power of the future with the power of the future's operating system. Now come on guys Linux is a good OS but the saddest thing about the rise of Linux is that the competition was so poor for an adaptation of a 1980s OS.
Some people have said here that Linux must be able to play games to compete with Windows, in part this is true, but when the PS2 and Dolphin come out it will change the perception of the home games machine. Why buy a Windows or a Linux box when your PS2/Dolphin plays DVDs on the TV and allows you to browse the web and send emails ?
The market is about to change and while a supply of games does give Linux some credibility it doesn't mark the OS out as happened with Windows v Mac 10 years or so ago. Linux is a long way from competing with Windows as a gaming station, and MS-Linked it may be but DirectX, Sound and Video are very powerful tool kits for the developer. Linux needs those sorts of kits and intercommnication in order to really push itself as a gaming platform.
To see the lack of forking in OSS all you need do is look at the older generation of projects. The great Emacs/XEmacs revolt led to two completely incompatible.... oh okay then, two occasionally incompatible versions of the editor. While the code was different beheath the surface they can still use each other .el files on most occasions. That split is probably the most famous in OSS, most other projects result in the killer App destroying the competition rather than two competing forks.
fetchmail and sendmail, both had competitors, and especially with fetchmail there were chances for a fork when the philosophy behind it changed. Thanks to the massive climate of "don't branch on pain of death" with pervades OSS it didn't happend (read the Cathedral and the Bazaar for more on that).
Compare this to the world of closed source Unixes and the fatanstically non-interoperable plethora of mail tools that have come out for Windows over the year.
Splits happen when there is a clear difference of opinion that is supported by a significant proportion of the development community. This differs with the "upgrade or die" philosophy that keeps many vendors afloat.
OSS can result in forking but doesn't tend to result in popular forks. And even when it does it doesn't have to lead to incompatiability between the branches.
ZIS EULA
-----------------------------------------------
MICROSOFT LICENSE AGREEMENT
FOR ZONE INTEGRATION SERVER
By modifying or distributing the Zone Integration Server (the "Program") or any modifications or derivatives based on the Program, you indicate your acceptance of this License and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program. There is no warranty for the Program.
Microsoft Corporation ("Microsoft") is the title and copyright owner of the Program and offers this License which gives the licensee ("you") the legal permission to copy, distribute, modify and/or create derivatives based on the Program. The act of running the Program is not restricted.
License Grant. Subject to the restrictions in Section 2 below, your use of the Program is as follows:
Use and Copy of Source Code. You may copy and distribute the Program source code exactly as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you (i) conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice, if applicable, and disclaimer of warranty; (ii) keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and (iii) give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program. All recipients must receive the same rights you have. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
Modification. You may modify the Program or create derivative works and copy and distribute such modifications or derivative works, provided that you also: (i) cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change so that the recipients know they are not receiving the original Program; (ii) cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole to all third parties under the terms of this License; and (iii) provide notice to users under the same terms of distribution as set forth in Sections 1(a)(i), 1(a)(ii) and 1(a)(iii) above.
DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS.
Patents. Any patent obtained by a redistributor of the Program must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
Other Limitations. You may not copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
Education Purposes Only. The Program is licensed exclusively for educational purposes. You have no rights under this License unless you are using the Program for educational purposes only and solely within the educational system (e.g., grades K-12 or higher education use).
Fees. You cannot charge a fee for licensing the Program. You may charge a fee (i) for the physical act of transferring a copy of the Program; (ii) in the event you wish to provide support services for the Program; or (iii) for any modifications or derivatives of the Program.
Intellectual Property Claims. If, as a result of an intellectual property claim, conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from compliance with the terms and conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute the Program so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then you may not distribute the Program at all.
MISCELLANEOUS.
This License represents the complete agreement concerning the subject matter hereof. If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
This License is governed by the laws of the State of Washington.
If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.
NO WARRANTY. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS-IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PEROFRMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFENCTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT, ITS SUPPLIERS NOR THIRD-PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF MICROSOFT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY UNDER THIS LICENSE SHALL NOT EXCEED FIVE DOLLARS (U.S.$5.00).
When I worked coding on an Air Traffic Control system doing the Radar display I had the sort of screen space that made developing a breeze.
Connected to one box were:
1) 21" Trinitron monitor
And the best of the bunch
2) A 2048x2048 30" Flat Screen by Sony. A real beast of a monitor.
Requiring a £30,000 graphics box (Barco) plugged into an RS6000.
6 normal size emacs windows on the 30" and the app running on the 21". One day I shall have such riches again. I've never suffered from such information overload. Magic stuff
Damn, I can't make it then as my printer won't even plug into my Linux box :-)
So I will start a rival Certification process in which I will send you the certificate if you answer the following question correctly
Q: After issuing the shutdown -h now command, what colour is the sky outside ?
and send me $50
And MY certification program includes a pointless newsletter written about gardening.
>I find it annoying that you feel you have to
> bash Windows when it obviously is a commercial > grade UI.
I understand what you mean by this, but IMO Windows is not a commercial grade GUI (some of my previous work has been in designing Air Traffic Control working positions) it contains too many "clever" touches and several inconsistent features in the major products. The use of pointless icons that are never used is widespread and the excessive use of pointless colours is just window dressing for the bored.
The Mac is better but is far from perfect.
Maybe its time to revolutionise the UI from the ground up ? Tech, interoperability, interaction model and look and feel.
Trouble is this would require IMO a bigger effort than that to get Linux off the ground. Who is the next Linus ?
Okay lets try it for the simple crowd. Jakob Nielsen is a GUI designer, most Websites are designed by Graphic Designers. These are mostly interested in pretty pictures and bright fluffy graphics.
These also do not make a good UI. A GUI designer is about simplicity and ease of interaction. As a GUI designer I understand where your misunderstanding is comming from. But that is my point with KDE, technically they are brilliant, UI wise they lack certain skills. In the same way as most Web Sites are from the WILI school but on the excessive graphics and roll-overs side.
There is a happy medium that equals an effective interface. If you want a cracking example of a good interface, look at some commercial devices (videos et al) and see how easy or hard an interface can make a product to use.
Whow calm down there, the issue isn't that work hasn't been put in, it clearly has. And for that the KDE boys have my respect and admiration. Where the release lacks is in its look and feel. KDE _isn't_ a better GUI than Windows, it is more complex it has possibly more configuration options but that does not a great GUI make. The good news is that that can be retro fitted as a later project (not a theme, I'm talking about a proper GUI design).
The real question is how can we manage that sort of project, its part code and part idea and concept. Traditionally we've only had to worry about the technology, now its time to care about the Users. And not in the Windows/Mac/KDE/Gnome way but a new approach to GUI design.
That could really change the perception of Linux and OSS, if we have the best interaction system, truly we'll dominate the world.
While I applaud the efforts of both the KDE and Gnome communities neither of them are actually resulting in a commercial grade UI (Windows is not a commercial grade UI either IMO). Its a fantastic effort to make the interface more usable but as Jakob Nielsen said on Slashdot these are not revolutionary steps but the same old things again. Most of KDE and Gnome away from the interface itself is fine, its just that last bit to the user that fails to reach the heights that the more pure technology aspects of Linux reach.
Is it time for some Cathedral to enter the Bazaar to enforce an interaction metaphor and a look and feel onto the Linux world rather than the continuing rise of the WILI (Well I like It) school of GUI design.
Don't get me wrong, KDE and Gnome are superb as technology projects but as UIs they fail to reach even the marsh land set by Windows let alone the heights that could be reached.
Great reading and a lesson in the world of KISS, remember folks just because it looks pretty doesn't mean its a good UI. Van Gough's Sunflowers looks very beautiful but it sucks as a User Interface.
If only Themes and the plethora of websites would realise that.
1) But Miss I did hand in the assignment, check the web interface out you gave me an A.
2) Of course its unreadable Sir, its Perl.
3) I know it doesn't work properly and crashes alot, but I thought you wanted it to be a real world example.
4) No Johnny using server side includes to reference another web site is NOT the same as doing it yourself.
5) Umm Jenny
Yes Sir ?
Could you tell me again why rm -rf
And of course top of the shop
6) Oh sir thats not fair, its not my fault I've only got MFC at home.
Nasa Scientist A: I'm getting bored at looking at Jupiter
Nasa Scientist B: I know what you mean, same old same odl
A: Mind you those comets that smashed into it were pretty cool
B: Yeah, 11 years watching and its all clouds and methane, where is the fun in that ?
A: We need to do something exciting.
Enter Military Man C
C: Hi Guys, anything new ?
A: Nope, just a big red dot and a possible ocean.
B: And of course the black bits.
C: Okay I'll be off.
A: Hang On, we're just wondering how to make this job more interesting, any ideas ?
C: Well you could take the military approach...
B: Which is ?
C: If it costs over a billion dollars, make sure it crashes, we did it with the Stealth Fighters and Bombers, its the whole purpose of the ICBMs. And they make WAY cool noises and pretty lights when they go up.
A: You mean you crash these things on purpose ?
C: Sure sometimes, but we video everything just incase we get lucky by accident.
And that ladies and gentlemen was how the plan was formed.
I know, I was coffee mug D.
What is it over there in the land of the free that creates such draconian laws ? Giving Lawyers as much power as the likes of the FBI and other elements of the goverment is way beyond bizarre.
Time to have another revolution guys.
The Playstation 2 is what is known as a category killer. Not just a console but a DVD player, firewire gives it the ability to connect to disk-drives, video cameras and of course the web.
Secure e-commerce from your TV. Welcome to a plan for World Domination. But at least this one comes in a sexy box
1) The internet has its origins and owes much of its early development to the funding of one organisation. The good old DoD a very goverment organisation. So its a case of been there done that got the swatch.
2) Germany already has fairly high taxes so I wouldn't expect an increase, and if they are paying for the phone costs it could actually be a revenue creator.
3) If the goverment pays for roads (and your okay with that) and indeed the road right up to your door, what is the difference between that and paying for the local connection to the public backbone.
4) If Hamburg thinks that by netting all of its people it can gain economic advantage over other cities then good on them.
Free and unfettered access to information is surely the greatest public good.
Let me get this straight, its okay for people to enact laws that violate the rights of people as long as a majority of the people want it.
Here are a few you'd probably get past in several US states
1) All individuals who don't go to a Christian Church are to be registered and this will be marked on their driving license.
2) If a majority of people determine that an individual is subversive that individual is required to carry an identity card at all times.
3) Evolution (the theory of descent through modification and natural selection) is not to be taught.
The "people" does not mean 100% it means either a majority of the vote or a vocal minority. A lot of these censorship and anti-evolution type bills can be reduced to the distorted application of supposed "Christian" morality. This small mindedness can be very dangerous if allowed to continue. How highly do you value the first ammendment ? Should Utah or any other state be allowed to restrict it because they don't like you to see certain things and their approach to preventing anyone seeing these pages is to stop anyone seeing various other completely safe pages.
This is censorship by bigotry, if the Netherlands has no such censorship and yet has lower crime, teenage pregnancy etc etc than almost everyone else (especially the States) then what is the point of these actions ?