I cordially despise Alston, but given the record of the current Australian Federal Government, I wouldn't hold out too much hope that his replacement will be any more enlightened.
I would suggest that this reshuffle is more to deflect criticism of the heavy-handed way in which Alston has attempted to directly influence editorial and policy and journalism in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over, for example, the Iraq War II.
OK, OK, Time out. I apologise for my intemperate and ill-considered remark about "complete morons" etc.
The point I was making was that a non-geek already has the tools and interfaces available to get them up and running in an apparently intuitive way.
An example, as a case in point:
I conducted a mini-experiment a few months ago with the assistance of my wife, who is a militant non-geek (a languages teacher and student of mediaeval history.
I downloaded ISOs of RedHat and burned them on to a set of CDROMs which I then handed to my wife to install on a new computer we had just bought. (A disclaimer here; she had some experience of GNOME from playing with my computers, but uses Windows exclusively at work.)
She did quite a creditable job, instinctively keeping system directories on separate partitions from/home, all with no prompting from me. She even succeeded in getting the thing to connect to my home network.
The point I was making in my original post was that this quibbling over interfaces is irrelevant; most users can cope quite adequately with minor differences.
a generic interface makes the norms happy, which is what breaks market share monopolies
That's true, as far as it goes, but is pretty much unnecessary.
The "norms" as you call them can click through a RedHat or Mandrake install if they want, and if they accept the defaults will end up with a desktop that is not so far removed in usability from a Windows interface that they will be incapacitated. At least, unless they are such complete morons that they shouldn't be allowed within spitting distance of a computer...
This notion that everybody should throw out all desktop environments except one and unify is all very well until you try to decide which should go or stay.
The whole point is to enable freedom of choice, not to turn Linux desktops into Microsoft-style dictatorships.
People are willing to offer cycles for SETI and folding, why not spam fighting?
Actually, that's quite an interesting idea; but a stumbling block here is the acceptable-use policy which binds most denizens of the internet. While there are apparently plenty of providers around who are willing to overlook the use of their services for spamming, a lot of providers will happily pull the plug on anyone who can be shown to be participating in an attack.
Well, Mr. Overly Critical Guy, I don't bother with sigs since they rarely express anything germane to the content of the thread, so I've checked the widget that suppresses them.
To the point: If RedHat, Mandrake or Debian distribute those applications, are the holes still specific to Slackware? If so, it seems a bit harsh to saddle Pat Volkerding with the burden of shame for other people's errors.
Given that no non-trivial program is ever bug-free, and that the bugs you list have all been fixed, your argument is nonsensical.
KDE 3.1.4 and ZipSlack are on the second disc; I don't think it's essential (unless you're a KDE user of course!).
Thanks for that, Mr. A. Coward:-) Looks like I can continue to just download the one ISO. Good-oh...:-)
As for Swaret and SlackPKG, I can't think of anything less useful, but then I guess not everybody is happy to tune their systems from the command line...
the chances of anyone producing _exactly_ the same gene sequence as your pet are pretty small, unless you allow them to clone it, no?
For the record, there is rarely any sequence comparison involved here. The vast majority of the proteins coded for by canine DNA are identical to those in humans. The differences in DNA samples between species are more evident in the non-coding regions (introns), which are rarely sequenced as such, but compared by techniques such as restriction fragmant length or polymerase chain reaction techniques.
I can't say I've ever found the need to bother with Swaret, since the distribution is so easy to maintain with a text editor, but I find that it is generally easiest to simply download the source and compile applications rather than bothering with arcane package management systems. Since Slackware mostly has everything in the right place to start with, I rarely have any problems.
RedHat and Mandrake startup scripts are nowhere nearly as simple to understand and modify as Slackware's. Generally, the whole distribution is that much more maintainable.
I got into Linux back in '94 or thereabouts with Slackware, but had flings with RedHat, Mandrake and Debian between 1989 and 2001. Eventually, I got tired of their respective idiocies and went back to Slackware, and I don't regret it.
As a matter of interest, what is on Disc 2? Slackware has come on one CDROM (for the binary/install stuff) for some time now. I have been so used to keeping a separate directory for sources in addition (or complementary) to the distro, I wonder if I need the second CD iso. Anybody have any information on this?
In a nutshell, Slackware gives us everything that the source distributions give us:
A simple build environment, and the choice of whether or not to compile our own applications, while gving us a world to stand on while we do so.
While I admire Gentoo for what they're doing, I can't see that distro being useful anywhere on a network where different architectures are in use simultaneously (such as my home network).
Has it occured to you that targets of jokes like these quite often deserve it?
I'm not so sure that baiting someone who has an underdeveloped humour gland is particularly attractive. In some countries it's regarded as harassment, and consequently frowned upon.
It's much more fun to play the trick on someone who can see the joke...
Their flip-type designs of a year or so ago were much more elegant and functional, and didn't look as if they had come out of a breakfast cereal packet,
I used to be a big fan of Ericsson's phones, but I have to say that the last time I was shopping for a handset in the low to medium price range, I was very disappointed by the clunkiness of their handsets. I ended up deserting them and going for a Motorola T720 instead.
I don't want to spend more than $40 for a phone OR have to sign a contract that has has terms that are grossly not in my favor
I don't know what your situation in the US might be (sorry if I'm making an incorrect assumption) but here in Australia, an option is to buy a pre-paid mobile phone, use the service that comes with it until it expires and then take out a flat-rate pay-per-call plan using the handset which you now own outright.
It isn't what I did, since I wanted a slightly groovier handset, but it is a potentially very cheap option.
I was under the impression you could have a bigger desktop than the window space under any desktop environment. IIRC, that's an X11 function, you don't have to use fvwm.
You obviously don't live in Perth then. The Post Office used to sell "Australia Post Mail Only" mailbox stickers once upon a time, but some months ago when I tried to buy one, I was told that they don't sell tham any more.
When I asked the man if that was because Australia Post is the biggest carrier of junk mail, I was told "I wouldn't deny it".
I used to get a lot of telemarketing calls, but since I adopted a policy of giving them the runaround (putting them on hold etc.) that seems to have stopped.
Seems to me that the best way of stopping spam [obviously inflammatory suggestion follows] is to simply unplug the US internet connections to the rest of the world:-)
Covers Political parties.... They explicitly excluded political parties frlom the Privacy legislation.
This is Australia we're talking about here. If a politician started spamming people, he would very quickly learn the error of his ways.
A number of us are accustomed to taking direct action, and the miscreant would probably get his teeth knocked so far down his throat that he would have to stick his toothbrush up his arse.
I can't say I've seen any spam from non-profit groups, but it strikes me that most probably realise that funds are hard enough to come by without pissing people off.
95% of the spam I've had over the last week has been from http://superrxsalesman.info (prescription drugs) domain registered in Seattle. I can't see our Australian government having any teeth to use against these guys.
In reality, I would be curious to know how many "file sharers" actually buy CDs as well. I certainly do, though I have to admit to knowing at least one person who is such a cheapskate that it wouldn't even cross his mind. Ultimately it boils down to this: the RIAA is mostly peddling third-rate pedestrian rubbish that isn't worth paying for.
There is a growing trend for a number of first-rate artists to do their own publishing and marketing, such as this one and the model works very well, since the people who listen to their music have a stake in making it possible for the artist to keep producing.
It will be interesting to see how well the members of the RIAA stand up to this kind of attrition in the years to come.
Slashdot Mirror
I would suggest that this reshuffle is more to deflect criticism of the heavy-handed way in which Alston has attempted to directly influence editorial and policy and journalism in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over, for example, the Iraq War II.
The point I was making was that a non-geek already has the tools and interfaces available to get them up and running in an apparently intuitive way.
An example, as a case in point:
I conducted a mini-experiment a few months ago with the assistance of my wife, who is a militant non-geek (a languages teacher and student of mediaeval history.
I downloaded ISOs of RedHat and burned them on to a set of CDROMs which I then handed to my wife to install on a new computer we had just bought. (A disclaimer here; she had some experience of GNOME from playing with my computers, but uses Windows exclusively at work.)
She did quite a creditable job, instinctively keeping system directories on separate partitions from /home, all with no prompting from me. She even succeeded in getting the thing to connect to my home network.
The point I was making in my original post was that this quibbling over interfaces is irrelevant; most users can cope quite adequately with minor differences.
That's true, as far as it goes, but is pretty much unnecessary.
The "norms" as you call them can click through a RedHat or Mandrake install if they want, and if they accept the defaults will end up with a desktop that is not so far removed in usability from a Windows interface that they will be incapacitated. At least, unless they are such complete morons that they shouldn't be allowed within spitting distance of a computer...
This notion that everybody should throw out all desktop environments except one and unify is all very well until you try to decide which should go or stay.
The whole point is to enable freedom of choice, not to turn Linux desktops into Microsoft-style dictatorships.
Actually, that's quite an interesting idea; but a stumbling block here is the acceptable-use policy which binds most denizens of the internet. While there are apparently plenty of providers around who are willing to overlook the use of their services for spamming, a lot of providers will happily pull the plug on anyone who can be shown to be participating in an attack.
Well it lost me. Just for my information (and that of other non-USians reading Slashdot)...
What the hell is a ricer car?
To the point: If RedHat, Mandrake or Debian distribute those applications, are the holes still specific to Slackware? If so, it seems a bit harsh to saddle Pat Volkerding with the burden of shame for other people's errors.
Given that no non-trivial program is ever bug-free, and that the bugs you list have all been fixed, your argument is nonsensical.
Thanks for that, Mr. A. Coward :-) Looks like I can continue to just download the one ISO. Good-oh... :-)
As for Swaret and SlackPKG, I can't think of anything less useful, but then I guess not everybody is happy to tune their systems from the command line...
It just goes to show Sunday is a slow news day. Is it a long weekend holiday in the US too?
Well done; a decently informed and informative post on Slashdot. Whatever next?
You could probably clone his brain by just cultivating a few Yersinia pestis cells...
For the record, there is rarely any sequence comparison involved here. The vast majority of the proteins coded for by canine DNA are identical to those in humans. The differences in DNA samples between species are more evident in the non-coding regions (introns), which are rarely sequenced as such, but compared by techniques such as restriction fragmant length or polymerase chain reaction techniques.
I can't say I've ever found the need to bother with Swaret, since the distribution is so easy to maintain with a text editor, but I find that it is generally easiest to simply download the source and compile applications rather than bothering with arcane package management systems. Since Slackware mostly has everything in the right place to start with, I rarely have any problems.
I got into Linux back in '94 or thereabouts with Slackware, but had flings with RedHat, Mandrake and Debian between 1989 and 2001. Eventually, I got tired of their respective idiocies and went back to Slackware, and I don't regret it.
As a matter of interest, what is on Disc 2? Slackware has come on one CDROM (for the binary/install stuff) for some time now. I have been so used to keeping a separate directory for sources in addition (or complementary) to the distro, I wonder if I need the second CD iso. Anybody have any information on this?
A simple build environment, and the choice of whether or not to compile our own applications, while gving us a world to stand on while we do so.
While I admire Gentoo for what they're doing, I can't see that distro being useful anywhere on a network where different architectures are in use simultaneously (such as my home network).
I'm not so sure that baiting someone who has an underdeveloped humour gland is particularly attractive. In some countries it's regarded as harassment, and consequently frowned upon.
It's much more fun to play the trick on someone who can see the joke...
It's clunky.
Their flip-type designs of a year or so ago were much more elegant and functional, and didn't look as if they had come out of a breakfast cereal packet,
I used to be a big fan of Ericsson's phones, but I have to say that the last time I was shopping for a handset in the low to medium price range, I was very disappointed by the clunkiness of their handsets. I ended up deserting them and going for a Motorola T720 instead.
I don't know what your situation in the US might be (sorry if I'm making an incorrect assumption) but here in Australia, an option is to buy a pre-paid mobile phone, use the service that comes with it until it expires and then take out a flat-rate pay-per-call plan using the handset which you now own outright.
It isn't what I did, since I wanted a slightly groovier handset, but it is a potentially very cheap option.
Personally, I find it hard to cope with huge workspaces; I find it more useful to just have more of them, with a good switcher.
I was under the impression you could have a bigger desktop than the window space under any desktop environment. IIRC, that's an X11 function, you don't have to use fvwm.
You obviously don't live in Perth then. The Post Office used to sell "Australia Post Mail Only" mailbox stickers once upon a time, but some months ago when I tried to buy one, I was told that they don't sell tham any more.
When I asked the man if that was because Australia Post is the biggest carrier of junk mail, I was told "I wouldn't deny it".
I used to get a lot of telemarketing calls, but since I adopted a policy of giving them the runaround (putting them on hold etc.) that seems to have stopped.
Seems to me that the best way of stopping spam [obviously inflammatory suggestion follows] is to simply unplug the US internet connections to the rest of the world :-)
This is Australia we're talking about here. If a politician started spamming people, he would very quickly learn the error of his ways.
A number of us are accustomed to taking direct action, and the miscreant would probably get his teeth knocked so far down his throat that he would have to stick his toothbrush up his arse.
95% of the spam I've had over the last week has been from http://superrxsalesman.info (prescription drugs) domain registered in Seattle. I can't see our Australian government having any teeth to use against these guys.
There is a growing trend for a number of first-rate artists to do their own publishing and marketing, such as this one and the model works very well, since the people who listen to their music have a stake in making it possible for the artist to keep producing.
It will be interesting to see how well the members of the RIAA stand up to this kind of attrition in the years to come.