I choose to believe that someone has finally figured out a way to stop outrageous patents by patenting more and more outrageous things until FINALLY the system collapses. Is this the straw? Probably not. But I encourage EVERYONE to patent anything they can think of. The system will not be repaired when it's only partially broken -- it has to be broken all the way. And then people will realize that it can't be fixed...and finally we'll get somewhere.
So cheer on the next time you hear about a really stupid, indefensible patent, and think to yourself "We're one step closer to making the whole thing so stupid that it will have to be scrapped."
When I was at Palm, they paid us bonuses for filing for patents, and then extra bonuses for getting the patents. My name is on the patent for the web based calendar. How stupid is that? Apparently not stupid enough. A year later I got a patent for pretty much the same damn thing -- a method of scheduling events over the web. Now when I was doing this, I just wanted the $$$ Palm was paying me to think up stupid ideas, which they would then patent. Then after I left Palm, I felt guilty I had given them all these patents they might use to stifle innovators (namely me). But now I cheer! Because those patents are so dumb that they will fail under challenge, and as more and more patnets fail under challenge, things will start to get better.
Want to help? Apply for more and more stupid patents. See what it takes to get a patent rejected. Break the system.
As an aside, we also just got threatened by Acacia for streaming oggs. Honestly...where DO these people get the balls...
You forgot to mention that it's obvious and patheticly silly in what it does to make the game competitive. The reason the demo was delayed? I would NEVER have bought this if I'd played the demo. But here I was thinking "You know, I like ID, I want to support them." The more fool I. The complaint about Doom have been well documented, so I won't go into them here.
As the only canidate who is in favor of equal civil rights for all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, why is there not more support from those whose freedoms are being limited by Democrepublican party? I'm always AMAZED by gay liberals in Massachussets who tell they are going ot vote for Kerry when
there vote truly is irrellevant if cast for Kerry in Massachussetts
Republicans would like this to be a campaign to be a referendum on gay marriage, because apparently 56% of voters oppose gay marriage Wouldn't it be great to win the support of that 40% who say that they support gay marriage, while really illustrating the ideals of the libertarian party?
How can you get those votes? Do you plan to actively pursue them?
Thank you very much for running. I recognize that running as a 3rd party candidate is draining fiscally, physically and emotionally. I salute you for living up to the principles envisioned by our forefathers, and doing your part to contribute to the health of our country.
Yea, I must agree -- macromedia employs the same tactics as most spyware companies to install stuff without your permission, and with the same excuses. I've stopped allowing Flash on our 300 workstation computers here, and I've banned Flash from the sites we host until I can see Macromedia showing higher level of ethical programming -- namely, I should not need an extension to selectively disable flash.
I talked to a Flash evangelist about this, and he essentially told me "our real business is showing you ads that you cannot avoid. "
Good Lord. If they can get the Red Sox broadcasts fromNESN on this, I predict a HUGE work impact. I know other cities love their sports, but the Red Sox are bigger than Jesus in Boston. If people could watch games on their cellphone, there would be no work done during day games.
My shops have always said Sue-Doh, as in I'm a fake super-user. I'm not sure what the etymology is, but I think that Sudo has become one of those words that the pronunciation of will vary depending onn where you heard it first, like "Data". Pseudophed rine is given a phonetic spelling "soo doe e FED rin" and sounds like this
There have been other discussion of this subject too:
http://www.kottke.org/remainder/04/02/5050.html
Short of a posting here on the official sudo site by Todd or Chris (both of whom I bet could care less) I'm gonna keep saying "Sue-Doh" out of homage to Homer Simpson.
Perhaps MSFT's patent is based on the pronunciation?
You wrote:
Secondly, I've heard this claim about private vs. public donations. I would be willing to listen if you could back it up with some facts and/or figures.
Here is a very very short list of American charities that do work that impacts the world. I'm only listing a few to give you a few links. You can find a gazillion others.
That's only ~$1000 per person in the US, which probably does seem a bit niggardly to other countries who like to envision the United States Citizens as fat bloated and heartless. Look at it this way: The average income for a family of 4 in the US is $40k. Giving $4000 for that family is just down right cheap.
</sarcasm>
Certainly if you look at the charts you'll see that Americans did indeed give the Lions share on internal charity, because charity does in fact begin at home, but the amounts spent on international charities, plus the amounts spent for medical research that will eventually benefit the world are hardly insignificant. Donations to save the environment benefit everyone, as does charitable giving in many scientific and medical areas of research.
So, there are some of my figures. If I may turn the tables, you said:The hike in interest rates in the 1980s, caused indirectly by Star Wars expenditure, raised these repayment rates to crippling levels. Would you return the courtesy and post some documentation/facts/figures to back up that statement? I know that the "Star Wars defense was proposed in 1983, and that $60 Billion had been spent on Star Wars in the last 20 years. Yet, if Americans gave away 241 Billion in 1 year, I can't see how 60 billion over 20 years would have caused a hike in interest rates.
I also agree that debts can be crippling, which is why now there are policies established such as the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (run by USAID) call for forgiving foreign debt (at least in South and Cetral America) in return for children's welfare reform. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative also makes sure that countries are able to survive their debt. I would very much like to see Iraq be forgiven the debts that their Dictator amassed in their name, but it seems Iraq's creditors will have their pound of flesh.
You can bet that the bill will be footed from here, and we
I've been using my Tungsten C (built in wifi).
VNC is the route to go. I use PalmVNC to control my media PC within the network. I do admit that I turned WEP down to 40bit to make the VNC run smoother, but other than that, I'm pretty durn happy. Wireless sync works so well, that now I ahve problems every 2 weeks or so because I never put the Palm in the cradle any more, so it never get's a chance to recharge
I'm not saying that MySQL is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but Open For Business makes their living off of commenting on FREE software, which MySQL is not, nor has every really claimed to be. They sell advertising. They have a financial incentive to claim that
the sky is falling
MySQL is going to screw everyone.
Just because one person's twist on that interview says that MySQL is about to turn evil, doesn;t mean it's true. Read the article, not just the/. headline
I actually think that the article is very fair, but it's considerably more in depth than most people who only read the/. headlines will know.
I think that Java is the language of choice for Software Engineers. Software Engineers are people who write specs, unit test, meet deadlines, write good API's....You know what I mean -- the under-appreciated grunts of the software industry. They are NOT as brilliant as the hackers, but over their lifetime they will be more productive. Just not in any 24 hour period.
There is alot of stuff that definitely be done faster in $LANGUAGE_X than in Java.
To a man with a hammer,
everything looks like a nail. --- Mark Twain
I don't know how maintainable/scaleable/reusable $LANGUAGE_X is compared to java, but I have yet to be on a larger commercial project where realistically, you could expect the code to be maintained by at least 100 different developers over the next 5 years in which anything other than the uber-development languages of Java, C or C++ were being used. Of course I've never worked on a MSFT compatible project either -- I'm sure that VB is used on that scale as well.
Hackers and Software Engineers by definition have different skill sets and goals. You need both. I find I like to let the hacker do it his way, and then we do what we need to language wise to make it conform to "best practices," which the hacker finds restrictive and chafing.
Henry Ford did not invent the car, but he brought it to the people. He was an engineer, not a hacker. And there is room for both types in every industry.
But I guess there is no point in posting to this thread without a backhanded stab at one of these religions, so how about this
I've left the opinion tag open for people who want to reply -- if you're posting FACTS you should close it 8)
Hmmm, I always "knew" that ID was the symbol for Idaho, but it never really registered till I saw it here on/. Now whenever I write getId() in code somewhere, I'm going to think silently "get Idaho."
IT's only in Beta, so be warned. Don't upgrade a critical machine.
http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ to upgrade a windows box (remember to go there in IE)
Just because you don't have broadband in your house, doesn't mean you don't have access to broadband. Most public libraries haev broadbadn and CD burners, and sell CD's at $0.25 each, which is a nice way donate money to them.
I do wonder though if there might be any money to be made by MSFT shipping RC2 on a disk and charging you say $1.00, postage included....What am I saying...I'm sure if there's money to be made, they'll do it.
I've been using XP Windows XP Service Pack 2 RC2 for abnout 2 weeks now. The most striking thing about it is the security stuff. It has a built in functionality that is identical to ZoneAlarm in that it block outgoing traffic from programs it does not know/trust, and asks the user to authenticate these programs.
My problem with this is that it didn't ask me to autheticate IE, or other MSFT services. While I agree that this is better for Joe User, and does indeed make the average computer *somewhat* less vulnerable to becoming zombies I actually think that overall it compromises security, because it has the idea of "pre-trusted" programs. So now all a malware has to do to succeed is become trusted, and then it's BEYOND reproof? I'm not sure that that is exactly how this new system works, but more than anything I'm disputing the notion that this is a panacea.
I'm also concerned about companies that make firewall type products. Are they done? Is MSFT going to claim to have all that functionality in the OS? A FALSE sense of security is worse than being unsure. I'd rather people lock down their machines themselves rather than assuming that MSFT has done it for them.
Still, I do think that this is better than nothing.
Every./ user should be using bugmenot by now. And every person who whines about subscription required should be using and promoting bugmenot! I don't think there's anything wrong with the NYTimes asking for registration. I think it's wrong that you slackers are complaining about it, rather than showing them the futility of trying to gather information this way.
It's similar to people who protests against copyright laws, but aren't actively distributing copyrighted material. The only way to beat the system is to BREAK it. If you aren't being civily disobediant, you are supporting the law.
</grouse>
Finally, as regards the article itself:
But the politics surrounding open-source software do not always fit neatly into party categories. The people who work on software like the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server and others are an eclectic bunch of technologists. "You'll find gun nuts along with total lefties," Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, said in an e-mail message.
So the real point here is that support of open source has nothing to do with political ideology?
"It may be that the populist-versus-establishment dynamic plays out as Democrat versus Republican in this election," Mr. Weitzner said. "But the open-source movement is a populist phenomenon, enabled by the Internet, and not a partisan force in any traditional sense of politics."
So, the article says CLEARLY that open source is not a stricly republican or democrat favorite.
Eric Raymond, a leading open-source advocate, writing in his online "Jargon File," described the politics of the archetypal open-source programmer, whom he calls J. Random Hacker, as "vaguely liberal-moderate, except for the strong libertarian contingent, which rejects conventional left-right politics entirely."
And of course Libertarians are further right on the political line graph than republicans, and they are big supporters of OSS. So OSS views actually have NOTHING to do with your political party?
This story is pure and simple propoganda. The headline and opening paragraphs make it seem like republicans are against open source. It would be like saying Democrats are against gay marriage just because John Kerry is The reality is that politics, like OSS decisions are all about choice. In this case, one person chose their platform of choice. For example, This Repbulican introduced legislation in Texaswhich seeks to ensure that free/open-source software is given a level playing field when competing with proprietary products in state agencies There was a/. article about it a year ago, but damned if I can find it now.
That doesn't mean all republicans are pro OSS either. It just means that
OSS is prefered by everyone who gets to know it
the NYTimes is pro-Kerry
if you must read the Times, read the whole article.
Sometimes (pun intended) the reporting is good, but the headlines are rarely written by the reporters who know the story. Editors write headlines, and they write the headline that will get the most people to buy the paper. They slant them as per their personal choice and perception as to wh
Building your own project is 100% the best way to get hired. One of my first questions (after I've established competency) is "what have you built for yourself." If you haven't built anything, do it now, make it web accessible, and include a link on your resume. A resume that comes across my screeen, with a clickable link ALWAYS gets clicked. That's it -- you could not ask for a better chance to show your stuff.
And heck, build it like your trying to start a business...you just might!
Personally, I feel that there will ALWAYS be a way to circumvent CD protections
You might think that, but do you know of a hack for modern windows XP? I know old XP was cracked pretty easily, with keygens and changekey tricks out within a month of it's release. But I think you'll have to look VERY hard indeed to find a crack for XP that you buy in the store today.
In the age old battle between armor and warhead, one advances in capability and is capable of defeating the other, and then the other catches up. This continues until warhead advances to the point of achieving it's goals by making the warhead irrelevant.
When it's finally time, some EE wil release to the public a way to plug your speaker wires into your PC, and digitally record the sound that was going to your speakers. This method is undefeatable by definition, because the computer will certainly be able to decipher anything the speaker can. And I don't think even the RIAA will be able to force manufacturers to include DRM junk in speakers.
The only reason this hasn't happened yet is that is slows ripping time down to the point htat it equals playing time. and that IS the price that will have to be paid. But fortunately only once, and I don't mind if it's someone who profits from it a little.
I'm sure some RIAA exec is wondering why I would pay for that music, and not pay for a "legal" (your laws there Mr. Man, not mine) version of it. I'll never be able to explain it so that you can understand it Mr. Man. All I can tell you is that there is a price point at which you can get ME, the same guy who once advocated that it was people's civic duty to rip and distribute music, to pay for music. Your job is to find that price point, AND accept the fact that people will always be able to distribute. You have to find a way to make your content actually WORTH what you're charging for it to everyone, and then you'll get sales at the point that it seems a good value. Right now that music IS worth $15.00 a CD to some people, in fact the evidence proves that it is worth $15.00 to MANY people. Are you maximizing your profits that way? I don't know, maybe so. But once released into the public, the music is no longer in your comtrol, and you will never again be able ot change that. What you can control is what you will distribute, and how you will distribute as being the the person with the first and best copy.
Good luck, and you can count on me to make sure that you will always have to make sure you are providing the best value for the consumer by always being aware of my alternatives.
Some more thoughts. Someone posted that a programming langusge has to be Turing complete -- Here are some thoughts on that. I'm sure they read the beginning of the wiki. If you read a little farther it says:
As an actual example, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is not a Turing-complete language because we cannot implement any well-defined computer algorithm in it. To give it Turing-complete ability, one would typically need to add loops, variables, and conditional (IF) statements to the language. However, loops, variables, and conditionals are not the only way to make a language Turing-complete, for there are Turing-complete languages that don't resemble typical programming languages in the least. One curious example is an experimental language called Brainfuck.
One potential advantage of non-Turing-complete languages is added security. It is much harder to write a computer virus in non-Turing-complete languages, for example. Thus, one will probably have more security problems using JavaScript than "plain" HTML because a virus writer can implement a wider variety of algorithms in JavaScript than HTML. The "Macro" ability in Microsoft Word documents gives Word documents the ability to be Turing-complete. Although this makes them potentially more powerful, it is also a source of viruses and unwanted computer security exploits.
Non-Turing complete languages are sometimes called "declarative" languages, and often consist largely of attributes (data) rather than direct commands.
elsewhere wiki says
A declarative programming language is a high-level language that describes a problem rather than defining a solution. Data-oriented languages such as SQL fall into the category of declarative languages.
However also in wiki are many other articles, some of which support the idea that HTML is a programming language, and some of which don't. They make great reading -- I recommend starting here. Wiki does not list HTML in it's list of programming languages.
But my point was more that people who say that HTML is not a programming language rarely do so because of the *hugely dire* technical ramifications of mistakenly thinking that HTML is a programming language (which it may or may not be -- at the LEAST it is a subject which has more than one intepretation and advocates on both sides). Instead, they say that HTML is not a programming language to feel superior.
tag for my closing rant tag. But it probably IS best left open.
You're right. I've met many great programmers who were generous with their time, forgiving with their lessers, and patient with impertinant young upstarts. I hope I am deserving of some (more) of their understanding, because you're right, my brush was not fine enough.
I don't really despair for the profession. Sometimes I just get tired of having to play that game where two developers meet, and we have to sniff each other like dogs to establish pecking order. You're right though, it's not always like that. Mea Culpa
Everyone who said HTML is not a programming language is worried that they are not actually competent programmers. You're missing the big picture.
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. -- E. W. Dijkstra
This is where so many of us fail our customers (and I do mean customers -- we work in a customer service industry, get used to it). We feel like we have to hide the following facts:
we like our work
it's not always super-complicated
Most people COULD become competent programmers
they can understand why the site is down
we are not REALLY mortally insulted when non-techs question us
Being able to code well is not a viture, it's a talent. You're not holy because you can make more efficient use of the EAX register than your neighbor. And being able to code simple things is not out of the realm of ANYONE. It may be VERY simple things, but people can learn to fend for themselves in simple matters. Macros, mail filters, PowerPoint animation -- these things are ALL programming! Maybe not as holy as you all would like, but they are programming. Many developers feel like they are the priests of the code, and they have to prevent the laity from THINKING that they have anything figured out, because if the laity could figure any one thing out for themselves, then they might figure out OTHER things, and soon, what would they need priests for?
Relax, you devout catholic programmers (I mean catholic as in definition #1 -- not religiously) programmers. Just because the laity can learn a little HTML, doesn't mean that your days of molesting your clients are over. You don't have to slam the door on HTML being a language as if it was heresy, and will undermine the church. Lighten UP!!!
My administrative assistant writes simple queries (forgotten username/passwords) because I took the time to show her how to do it. She also now maintains the web pages that deal with technical support for our product. Now, it's true, her account only has select permissions because I'm not ready to give her the keys to the DB. I also don't require her to check her web pages into CVS (although I should, it's so simple). It probably took 15 minutes to teach her how to read the schema, and how to structure a basic select. And she had had NO previous SQL experience. I've also heard MANY people say that SQL is not a programming language. This is just ridiculous.
Some developers poo poo (that's right, I said poo poo) HTML because it is easier to do, and people who THEY don't consider super smart are able to produce web pages. Because someone without formal training in "the art" can make something that makes a computer "do" something, insecure developers must berate that accomplishment.
This is arrogance of the highest order. Get over yourselves. None of us is Einstein. And programming is not the intellectual equivalent of a pissing contest. There is nothing sacred about what we do. Some people tend to talk about programming as if it's some mysterious art (not criticizing the Donald, whose books I revere). It's not. Some developers like to distguish themselves from "scripters." Some developers look down on DBA's as people who only maintain/tend the data.
You're all missing the fact that EVERYTHING that computers do is ONLY about the display and manipulation of data/information. All SGML derivatives are rules that the computer interprets, and then executes instructions based on those rules. And execution of rules is (IMHO)the beginning of programming
The reality is that we should be happy to have people understand how things rea
Slashdot Mirror
So cheer on the next time you hear about a really stupid, indefensible patent, and think to yourself "We're one step closer to making the whole thing so stupid that it will have to be scrapped."
When I was at Palm, they paid us bonuses for filing for patents, and then extra bonuses for getting the patents. My name is on the patent for the web based calendar. How stupid is that? Apparently not stupid enough. A year later I got a patent for pretty much the same damn thing -- a method of scheduling events over the web. Now when I was doing this, I just wanted the $$$ Palm was paying me to think up stupid ideas, which they would then patent. Then after I left Palm, I felt guilty I had given them all these patents they might use to stifle innovators (namely me). But now I cheer! Because those patents are so dumb that they will fail under challenge, and as more and more patnets fail under challenge, things will start to get better.
Want to help? Apply for more and more stupid patents. See what it takes to get a patent rejected. Break the system.
As an aside, we also just got threatened by Acacia for streaming oggs. Honestly...where DO these people get the balls...
*sigh*
Oh yeah, coral BLOWS! Completely inadequate to the task.
Just play the demo before you shell out you cash.
there vote truly is irrellevant if cast for Kerry in Massachussetts
Kerry supports amending the constitution to restrict rights of one group.
Republicans would like this to be a campaign to be a referendum on gay marriage, because apparently 56% of voters oppose gay marriage Wouldn't it be great to win the support of that 40% who say that they support gay marriage, while really illustrating the ideals of the libertarian party?
How can you get those votes? Do you plan to actively pursue them?
Thank you very much for running. I recognize that running as a 3rd party candidate is draining fiscally, physically and emotionally. I salute you for living up to the principles envisioned by our forefathers, and doing your part to contribute to the health of our country.
Idiot, you're the bigot. Metro-sexuals are of all orientations, not just gay, not just straight. It actually IS a choice to be a metro-sexual.
I talked to a Flash evangelist about this, and he essentially told me " our real business is showing you ads that you cannot avoid. "
I do wonder what the impact on people's driving will be.
Short of a posting here on the official sudo site by Todd or Chris (both of whom I bet could care less) I'm gonna keep saying "Sue-Doh" out of homage to Homer Simpson. Perhaps MSFT's patent is based on the pronunciation?
Here is a very very short list of American charities that do work that impacts the world. I'm only listing a few to give you a few links. You can find a gazillion others.
http://www.pedaids.org/
http://www.cancerresearch.org/
http://www.children.org/home.asp?sid=98BD1FD2-E8B7 -42F2-B0A7-BC88E745D831
http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/home
http://www.afsc.org/
http://www.accion.org/default.asp
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php? content_id=49986
You can get a nice list of the top ranked (in terms of money raised being used wisely) charities online
According to American Association of Fundraising Counsel" Americans gave $241 Billion to charity in 2003.
That's only ~$1000 per person in the US, which probably does seem a bit niggardly to other countries who like to envision the United States Citizens as fat bloated and heartless. Look at it this way: The average income for a family of 4 in the US is $40k. Giving $4000 for that family is just down right cheap.
Certainly if you look at the charts you'll see that Americans did indeed give the Lions share on internal charity, because charity does in fact begin at home, but the amounts spent on international charities, plus the amounts spent for medical research that will eventually benefit the world are hardly insignificant. Donations to save the environment benefit everyone, as does charitable giving in many scientific and medical areas of research.
So, there are some of my figures. If I may turn the tables, you said :The hike in interest rates in the 1980s, caused indirectly by Star Wars expenditure, raised these repayment rates to crippling levels. Would you return the courtesy and post some documentation/facts/figures to back up that statement? I know that the "Star Wars defense was proposed in 1983, and that $60 Billion had been spent on Star Wars in the last 20 years. Yet, if Americans gave away 241 Billion in 1 year, I can't see how 60 billion over 20 years would have caused a hike in interest rates.
I also agree that debts can be crippling, which is why now there are policies established such as the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (run by USAID) call for forgiving foreign debt (at least in South and Cetral America) in return for children's welfare reform. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative also makes sure that countries are able to survive their debt. I would very much like to see Iraq be forgiven the debts that their Dictator amassed in their name, but it seems Iraq's creditors will have their pound of flesh.
You can bet that the bill will be footed from here, and we
I've been using my Tungsten C (built in wifi). VNC is the route to go. I use PalmVNC to control my media PC within the network. I do admit that I turned WEP down to 40bit to make the VNC run smoother, but other than that, I'm pretty durn happy. Wireless sync works so well, that now I ahve problems every 2 weeks or so because I never put the Palm in the cradle any more, so it never get's a chance to recharge
the sky is falling
MySQL is going to screw everyone.
Just because one person's twist on that interview says that MySQL is about to turn evil, doesn;t mean it's true. Read the article, not just the /. headline
I actually think that the article is very fair, but it's considerably more in depth than most people who only read the /. headlines will know.
I think that Java is the language of choice for Software Engineers. Software Engineers are people who write specs, unit test, meet deadlines, write good API's....You know what I mean -- the under-appreciated grunts of the software industry. They are NOT as brilliant as the hackers, but over their lifetime they will be more productive. Just not in any 24 hour period.
There is alot of stuff that definitely be done faster in $LANGUAGE_X than in Java.
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. --- Mark Twain
I don't know how maintainable/scaleable/reusable $LANGUAGE_X is compared to java, but I have yet to be on a larger commercial project where realistically, you could expect the code to be maintained by at least 100 different developers over the next 5 years in which anything other than the uber-development languages of Java, C or C++ were being used. Of course I've never worked on a MSFT compatible project either -- I'm sure that VB is used on that scale as well.
Hackers and Software Engineers by definition have different skill sets and goals. You need both. I find I like to let the hacker do it his way, and then we do what we need to language wise to make it conform to "best practices," which the hacker finds restrictive and chafing.
Henry Ford did not invent the car, but he brought it to the people. He was an engineer, not a hacker. And there is room for both types in every industry.
But I guess there is no point in posting to this thread without a backhanded stab at one of these religions, so how about this
I've left the opinion tag open for people who want to reply -- if you're posting FACTS you should close it 8)
thanx
IT's only in Beta, so be warned. Don't upgrade a critical machine. http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ to upgrade a windows box (remember to go there in IE)
I do wonder though if there might be any money to be made by MSFT shipping RC2 on a disk and charging you say $1.00, postage included....What am I saying...I'm sure if there's money to be made, they'll do it.
My problem with this is that it didn't ask me to autheticate IE, or other MSFT services. While I agree that this is better for Joe User, and does indeed make the average computer *somewhat* less vulnerable to becoming zombies I actually think that overall it compromises security, because it has the idea of "pre-trusted" programs. So now all a malware has to do to succeed is become trusted, and then it's BEYOND reproof? I'm not sure that that is exactly how this new system works, but more than anything I'm disputing the notion that this is a panacea.
I'm also concerned about companies that make firewall type products. Are they done? Is MSFT going to claim to have all that functionality in the OS? A FALSE sense of security is worse than being unsure. I'd rather people lock down their machines themselves rather than assuming that MSFT has done it for them.
Still, I do think that this is better than nothing.
Amen.
Every ./ user should be using bugmenot by now. And every person who whines about subscription required should be using and promoting bugmenot! I don't think there's anything wrong with the NYTimes asking for registration. I think it's wrong that you slackers are complaining about it, rather than showing them the futility of trying to gather information this way.
It's similar to people who protests against copyright laws, but aren't actively distributing copyrighted material. The only way to beat the system is to BREAK it. If you aren't being civily disobediant, you are supporting the law.
Finally, as regards the article itself:
So the real point here is that support of open source has nothing to do with political ideology?
So, the article says CLEARLY that open source is not a stricly republican or democrat favorite.
And of course Libertarians are further right on the political line graph than republicans, and they are big supporters of OSS. So OSS views actually have NOTHING to do with your political party?
This story is pure and simple propoganda. The headline and opening paragraphs make it seem like republicans are against open source. It would be like saying Democrats are against gay marriage just because John Kerry is The reality is that politics, like OSS decisions are all about choice. In this case, one person chose their platform of choice. For example, This Repbulican introduced legislation in Texas which seeks to ensure that free/open-source software is given a level playing field when competing with proprietary products in state agencies There was a /. article about it a year ago, but damned if I can find it now.
That doesn't mean all republicans are pro OSS either. It just means that
OSS is prefered by everyone who gets to know it
the NYTimes is pro-Kerry
if you must read the Times, read the whole article.
Sometimes (pun intended) the reporting is good, but the headlines are rarely written by the reporters who know the story. Editors write headlines, and they write the headline that will get the most people to buy the paper. They slant them as per their personal choice and perception as to wh
And heck, build it like your trying to start a business...you just might!
But my point was more that people who say that HTML is not a programming language rarely do so because of the *hugely dire* technical ramifications of mistakenly thinking that HTML is a programming language (which it may or may not be -- at the LEAST it is a subject which has more than one intepretation and advocates on both sides). Instead, they say that HTML is not a programming language to feel superior.
You're reading /. That's superiority enough.
You're right. I've met many great programmers who were generous with their time, forgiving with their lessers, and patient with impertinant young upstarts. I hope I am deserving of some (more) of their understanding, because you're right, my brush was not fine enough.
I don't really despair for the profession. Sometimes I just get tired of having to play that game where two developers meet, and we have to sniff each other like dogs to establish pecking order. You're right though, it's not always like that. Mea Culpa
Everyone who said HTML is not a programming language is worried that they are not actually competent programmers. You're missing the big picture.
This is where so many of us fail our customers (and I do mean customers -- we work in a customer service industry, get used to it). We feel like we have to hide the following facts:
Being able to code well is not a viture, it's a talent. You're not holy because you can make more efficient use of the EAX register than your neighbor. And being able to code simple things is not out of the realm of ANYONE. It may be VERY simple things, but people can learn to fend for themselves in simple matters. Macros, mail filters, PowerPoint animation -- these things are ALL programming! Maybe not as holy as you all would like, but they are programming. Many developers feel like they are the priests of the code, and they have to prevent the laity from THINKING that they have anything figured out, because if the laity could figure any one thing out for themselves, then they might figure out OTHER things, and soon, what would they need priests for? Relax, you devout catholic programmers (I mean catholic as in definition #1 -- not religiously) programmers. Just because the laity can learn a little HTML, doesn't mean that your days of molesting your clients are over. You don't have to slam the door on HTML being a language as if it was heresy, and will undermine the church. Lighten UP!!!
My administrative assistant writes simple queries (forgotten username/passwords) because I took the time to show her how to do it. She also now maintains the web pages that deal with technical support for our product. Now, it's true, her account only has select permissions because I'm not ready to give her the keys to the DB. I also don't require her to check her web pages into CVS (although I should, it's so simple). It probably took 15 minutes to teach her how to read the schema, and how to structure a basic select. And she had had NO previous SQL experience. I've also heard MANY people say that SQL is not a programming language. This is just ridiculous.
Some developers poo poo (that's right, I said poo poo) HTML because it is easier to do, and people who THEY don't consider super smart are able to produce web pages. Because someone without formal training in "the art" can make something that makes a computer "do" something, insecure developers must berate that accomplishment.
This is arrogance of the highest order. Get over yourselves. None of us is Einstein. And programming is not the intellectual equivalent of a pissing contest. There is nothing sacred about what we do. Some people tend to talk about programming as if it's some mysterious art (not criticizing the Donald, whose books I revere). It's not. Some developers like to distguish themselves from "scripters." Some developers look down on DBA's as people who only maintain/tend the data.
You're all missing the fact that EVERYTHING that computers do is ONLY about the display and manipulation of data/information. All SGML derivatives are rules that the computer interprets, and then executes instructions based on those rules. And execution of rules is (IMHO)the beginning of programming
The reality is that we should be happy to have people understand how things rea