Basically, I do think file formats should always be generic, as soon as there is a good demand for it. However, I work as a computer programmer and I can tell small companies wouldn't always be glad that their formats would be used by their competitors.
That said, if a company specifically bases its edge on the competition by the specificity, uniqueness and closeness of their file format, that company is in big trouble IMHO. For security and encryption, well, if you need encryption, use strong one!
This question leaves me thinking about the algorithm question. I am a strong believer what makes a good software is not the unique algorithms that are used in it... it's HOW they use them. And as such, I think algorithms, _all_ algorithms, should be open-sourced, for the same reason as the file format.
I had repeating workplace-related tendinitis. I basically said to them "either buy me a ergonomic keyboard, or I won't be able to work". I never used a ergonomic keyboard before and it took a little while to get accustomed to it (M$ Nat Key, which is also the only M$-thingie I have at home). However, it made all the difference in the world. From that point on, no more pain. I am 6'4" and quite large and for me, a standard keyboard is simply not a natural position. By no mean at all.
And workplace is definitely not the best ergonomically-designed place in the world for most of us. Chairs are cheap, desks are made for common people (when they're not done for the design), keyboards are created for people with normal hands and not bear paws. So for me, being a computer programmer is a definite and constant strain. Although not perfect, at least ergonomic keyboards tend to help reduce a part of my strain.
Hey, we won't find a perfect pill cure for everything. Keyboard help it's part, chairs help others, screens help, desk help, lighting help, disposition of materials help, everything helps. And for me, it did the trick.
I had to go to that particular process for the place I work.
Usually, why do you evaluate a software?
To EVALUATE it!
Why bother to have a cluttered software that can't be used in the workplace? We tried all the software in cracks. Paint Shop Pro cracked, Photoshop cracked, KPT cracked, Aura cracked, and so on...
And finally, we bought 30 Photoshop and 30 Aura. How could we evaluate Photoshop if we couldn't save our files?
My 2 cents...
Mike
I find that extremely weird that the only apps that consistently crashes so far on my PBG3's MacOSX are M$ apps.
IE crashes about every two hours of use... MSN is a total piece of crap that should've never existed in that way (crashes every 10 mins on my comp, trails behind in feature support, doesn't connect once every two or three times)... K, might be only on my comp, but anyways, it's what happened so far.
Apple! Why do you ask for Explorer to use ITools?:P Trillian crew! When will you finally give us an alternative to M$N?
... And support? Please. Msn zone doesn't work on Mac, IE sites aren't always compatible on Mac. MacOS X support is quite flaky, for example still no driver for the Natural Keyboard Pro. MS games are inexistent on Mac (other than Sublogic's Flight Simulator, and one or two games, what's good anyways). And after everyone says they're nice for the crumbles they give us? Blah!
BUT in fairness, IE is still quite nicely done and my friend's Office:X seems to work very well so far... and Outlo... err... Entourage (whatever) is extremely well polished. -- Not that I use them, I would never buy a software M$ product...
This is a great experiment. However, I do think that animals need to be taken care of. They also give back a lot of love, not only take. And they are moody, they need as much as they give. I think that's what will be missing in the end... a small furry nose besides the person in the bed, giving heat.
Come on, such destructive technologies. If I was them, I would've never allowed these to come on the market:
- The VCR (VHS and Beta alike). I mean, everything should be 35mm or maybe I'll tolerate Betamax but it should be really really only for very precise people and with confidentiality licences and everything.
- The CD-R and RW. Hey, what is this? Come on! It's SOLE purpose is to copy CDs. No one use this for legit use. If people want a compilation CD, well, take the glue and the scissors and have fun with your originals.
- The DVD-R and RW. Eek! This is satan's work for sure. Especially since it's the dawn of the dual-layer recordables, which is the absolute certain doom for every movie ever conceived.
- The Internet and networking products. I mean, such a massive group of people, all able to share files like there's nothing. I do not think that the Internet should be banned, please correct me. But FTP, HTTP, Samba, AppleTalk, Novell, Gopher and that ever elusive E-Mail should all be destroyed. It's simply too dangerous. In fact, BBSes should've never been created in the first place, simply see all that pirate software being tossed around in those (eek) underground BBSes.
- Acquisition devices. A-Ds are pure evils. Scanners, sound cards with ins, video grabbers. Since the Amiga blew that revolution offhand, it all went downhill. Hey, imagine, the video overlay of the Amiga had a... Genlock (boo & hiss). That means that even Macrovision didn't affected it. What can you do with such a malicious intent? I'll say that the keyboard, mouse and graphical tablet are... well... borderline. I'll close my eyes for a moment on these, please move fast!
- Tape decks. Hey, tape is the worst invention of the (prev) century! Large open reel one with great quality... Or small k7 running at 1 7/8... They should've never been invented at the first time. Imagine how much the industry loses with all this crap?
...
This is a start!
They should've stopped this in its infancy!
Remove all the pencils, pens and that destructive Guttenberg...thing!
Hey, even go farther. Who said you could copy what I do? I mean, you know things when you're born and after, you should never have to learn anything else from anyone else. Especially from books (which is (c), look at the top dumbest US patents).
And you have the same basic shape as I do! What are you doing? This is (c) Me. So reproductive instinct is only a bad omen, it should be destroyed and controlled too.
Slashdot Mirror
Basically, I do think file formats should always be generic, as soon as there is a good demand for it. However, I work as a computer programmer and I can tell small companies wouldn't always be glad that their formats would be used by their competitors.
That said, if a company specifically bases its edge on the competition by the specificity, uniqueness and closeness of their file format, that company is in big trouble IMHO. For security and encryption, well, if you need encryption, use strong one!
This question leaves me thinking about the algorithm question. I am a strong believer what makes a good software is not the unique algorithms that are used in it... it's HOW they use them. And as such, I think algorithms, _all_ algorithms, should be open-sourced, for the same reason as the file format.
My 2 cents
Mike
I had repeating workplace-related tendinitis. I basically said to them "either buy me a ergonomic keyboard, or I won't be able to work". I never used a ergonomic keyboard before and it took a little while to get accustomed to it (M$ Nat Key, which is also the only M$-thingie I have at home).
However, it made all the difference in the world. From that point on, no more pain. I am 6'4" and quite large and for me, a standard keyboard is simply not a natural position. By no mean at all.
And workplace is definitely not the best ergonomically-designed place in the world for most of us. Chairs are cheap, desks are made for common people (when they're not done for the design), keyboards are created for people with normal hands and not bear paws. So for me, being a computer programmer is a definite and constant strain. Although not perfect, at least ergonomic keyboards tend to help reduce a part of my strain.
Hey, we won't find a perfect pill cure for everything. Keyboard help it's part, chairs help others, screens help, desk help, lighting help, disposition of materials help, everything helps. And for me, it did the trick.
Have a nice day
Mike
Sheesh... I used to do web sites. There was one I had a lot of fun doing, a few years ago. I had the hell of a time doing it because I wanted it to be as high-tech as it could possibly be. JavaScript was the new baby in town, barely out of the diapers (Actually the first browser that allowed it was made available as I created the site). I took about 3 days (and night) of my existence to try to figure out how this puppy worked and how to create rollovers that were compatible (and fast) for JS-compliant and non-JS-compliant browsers... There were no site whatsoever with such "finesse" (actually, none that I knew that used rollovers) and had to create my own caching scheme, functions, and so on. Should've made a patent on this, I would be the new instant-billionaire today! I do think that algorithms should be made open-source. ALL ... A-L-L of them! Creating a new algorithm is not something that should be copyrightable. What SHOULD is the way you use it, the mix of algorithms, the way you optimize it.
Creating a Quicktime-player shouldn't be copyrightable. All the formats, no ©s. The way they did, the perfect integration and optimization for the playback, for the screen rendering, this should be.
The algorithm to calculate GPS's multiple-local-zone trajectories in Mercator should not be (c). It should be freely available (and guess what, if you search far enough, you might find it). The WAY you use it, it should.
You find a new way to compress data lossless 100 to 1 for random binary (yeah right), this should be open source. You take this algorithm and optimize its code so that it's possible to compress more than one byte per millenium, well, good for you!
Have a nice day
Mike
I had to go to that particular process for the place I work. Usually, why do you evaluate a software? To EVALUATE it! Why bother to have a cluttered software that can't be used in the workplace? We tried all the software in cracks. Paint Shop Pro cracked, Photoshop cracked, KPT cracked, Aura cracked, and so on... And finally, we bought 30 Photoshop and 30 Aura. How could we evaluate Photoshop if we couldn't save our files? My 2 cents... Mike
Heeheehee... Yeah.
:P Trillian crew! When will you finally give us an alternative to M$N?
I find that extremely weird that the only apps that consistently crashes so far on my PBG3's MacOSX are M$ apps.
IE crashes about every two hours of use... MSN is a total piece of crap that should've never existed in that way (crashes every 10 mins on my comp, trails behind in feature support, doesn't connect once every two or three times)... K, might be only on my comp, but anyways, it's what happened so far.
Apple! Why do you ask for Explorer to use ITools?
... And support? Please. Msn zone doesn't work on Mac, IE sites aren't always compatible on Mac. MacOS X support is quite flaky, for example still no driver for the Natural Keyboard Pro. MS games are inexistent on Mac (other than Sublogic's Flight Simulator, and one or two games, what's good anyways). And after everyone says they're nice for the crumbles they give us? Blah!
BUT in fairness, IE is still quite nicely done and my friend's Office:X seems to work very well so far... and Outlo... err... Entourage (whatever) is extremely well polished. -- Not that I use them, I would never buy a software M$ product...
Have a nice day
Mike
This is a great experiment. However, I do think that animals need to be taken care of. They also give back a lot of love, not only take. And they are moody, they need as much as they give. I think that's what will be missing in the end... a small furry nose besides the person in the bed, giving heat.
Hey, finally, the big companies awake.
... Genlock (boo & hiss). That means that even Macrovision didn't affected it. What can you do with such a malicious intent? I'll say that the keyboard, mouse and graphical tablet are ... well... borderline. I'll close my eyes for a moment on these, please move fast!
...thing!
Come on, such destructive technologies. If I was them, I would've never allowed these to come on the market:
- The VCR (VHS and Beta alike). I mean, everything should be 35mm or maybe I'll tolerate Betamax but it should be really really only for very precise people and with confidentiality licences and everything.
- The CD-R and RW. Hey, what is this? Come on! It's SOLE purpose is to copy CDs. No one use this for legit use. If people want a compilation CD, well, take the glue and the scissors and have fun with your originals.
- The DVD-R and RW. Eek! This is satan's work for sure. Especially since it's the dawn of the dual-layer recordables, which is the absolute certain doom for every movie ever conceived.
- The Internet and networking products. I mean, such a massive group of people, all able to share files like there's nothing. I do not think that the Internet should be banned, please correct me. But FTP, HTTP, Samba, AppleTalk, Novell, Gopher and that ever elusive E-Mail should all be destroyed. It's simply too dangerous. In fact, BBSes should've never been created in the first place, simply see all that pirate software being tossed around in those (eek) underground BBSes.
- Acquisition devices. A-Ds are pure evils. Scanners, sound cards with ins, video grabbers. Since the Amiga blew that revolution offhand, it all went downhill. Hey, imagine, the video overlay of the Amiga had a
- Tape decks. Hey, tape is the worst invention of the (prev) century! Large open reel one with great quality... Or small k7 running at 1 7/8... They should've never been invented at the first time. Imagine how much the industry loses with all this crap?
...
This is a start!
They should've stopped this in its infancy!
Remove all the pencils, pens and that destructive Guttenberg
Hey, even go farther. Who said you could copy what I do? I mean, you know things when you're born and after, you should never have to learn anything else from anyone else. Especially from books (which is (c), look at the top dumbest US patents).
And you have the same basic shape as I do! What are you doing? This is (c) Me. So reproductive instinct is only a bad omen, it should be destroyed and controlled too.
WHEN
WILL
IT
STOP?