Seriously, what do people use them for? The primary reason I can think of goes along the line of video editing. Other than that, I can't really see why people would forego a generally bigger/cheaper TV screen to see video on a smaller window on a computer monitor.
Any arguments of mobility (as in using laptops to view stuff) seems weak since you'd need to PLUG your TV-tuner onto an antenna/cable/vcr/etc. to get anything.
I'd seriously like to know what uses people have had for such things and reasons why such devices would be worth looking into.
If this is the case, I wouldn't go until about version 6. Good luck nonetheless -- as this has to be one of the coolest frontiers (private spaceflight) in space travel lately.
Man, I don't know how many times I've used Festival to say "retard" or "main screen turn on" -- it's awesome. It's also a good thing to use when you're proofing essays or whatnot. It's different when you're reading it and having something read it aloud to you.
Not sure if you can make an entire movie with it, though. If nothing else, they should have one with MC Hawking (and DJ Doomsday) doing the soundtrack.
I propose owning a patent for middle-clicking in such a way as to extend the middle finger while curling the others.
This "click" does not need to be made on any particular surface. In fact, you could roll down your car window, double-click on your horn, then middle click the air with your arm extended outside said vehicle.
Maybe we should all middle-click Microsoft with both hands as an act of civil disobedience. Needless to say, I don't advice nor advocate doing so while driving.
"investigation, evaluation, adoption, and communication"
Isn't this true for just about every migration plans?
Investigate -- find out if this will do what you want it to do.
Evaluate -- dig deeper into the idea. Get a better feasibility study with numbers and monetary figures. Make cool looking presentations to the higher-ups that sign the checks.
Adoption -- this is where you SLOWLY incorporate the new with the old. Make sure everything is working well. People may have to do double-duty to work with both systems just so they can give it their blessing (that it all works properly). This is where you train a "core" group of support folks from each department so they burden you less.
Communication -- this really should be earlier on, before adoption. Find people who run this stuff already and communicate whether it may work for you too. See if you can get a "we'll help you through it" before you even adopt.
Again, this isn't anything strictly for Open Source. I'm sure there are nuances and cultures, yadda yadda yadda...but a good plan of action helps minimize risk with ANY project.
The SCO 699 principle -- Since I didn't specifically see anything about P2P, transferring content over the Internet would include stuff over the web.
I post to slashdot and claim copyright to my comments (which Slashdot willingly concedes with "Comments are owned by the Poster."
I then state in my comment that it is intended for viewing only by myself and trained monkeys from the San Diego Zoo.
Thus any Italians who are in violation of this -- by logging onto slashdot and downloading this page with MY copyrighted material and without my permission are jailward bound.
Hang on to your meatballs, dudes.
Just a testament to how lame this law sounds. I understand what they're trying to accomplish, but this can't be the way it's supposed to be done.
Alrighty, I admit it -- I went to Shrek 2 for the story and experience...not because I wanted to gawk at purtty graphics. Isn't that what movies are about?
Let's face it, I saw Titanic, all the Jurassic Park movies, the Matrix sequels, and the Star Wars prequels for the effects. Not expecting a story...just give me the oohs and aahs and wows and I'll concede the plot. With Shrek, the animation was secondary to the writing. I mean even Banderas made for a good cat!
Just making a point that pretty isn't always the best thing to have. If nothing else, the moral and plot of both Shrek movies tells us that.
Folks, general advice is for something tangible. Cashage, hardware, caffeine, a trip to tahiti.:)
The main thing to consider here is bartering to begin with. If you're willing to do this for the love of the game, any kudos you receive is nothing more than a bonus whether it be tangible or just goodwill.
If you're not willing to do such things without some form of compensation, go for tangibles. Sticks and carrots suck. Case in point -- "maintain my web site and I'll refer clients over to you." The guy's maintenance needs can be too demanding for empty promises after a while.
In the end, bartering is a dangeous proposition. Love what you do and be willing to help friends out for nothing in return. Otherwise, there may be profits to be had doing consulting work.
Ok, so if I hypothetically had this idea to include a few lines into the kernel...I managed to slip a couple of lines of code into a "thank you" postcard to Linus eons ago. After reading it, he thought it was utter rubbish and tossed it away.
Actually, he was so pissed off about the whole stupidity that it motivated him to stay up an extra two hours hacking away. So technically, some of his code should be attributed to me, right?
Much like how some of that code should be credited to Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and a few different candy bars. So where's the documentation on that?
All the changelogs, the comments, and any other bits of documentation aren't enough. Where's the credit to the pizza delivery guy? He helped develop some of that code! Ingrates, I tell ya.
First Line of Subpoena: "How Are You, Gentlemen?"
on
FSF Subpoenaed by SCO
·
· Score: 1
Subpoenas seem to be a rather intrusive lot. They pretty much throw any confidentiality aside in favor of "justice" or whatnot.
Kind of like the way the RIAA subpoenas IP addresses and other bits of information from ISPs in their quest to shake down some junior high kid who not only gets the heat for downloading music but also has to suffer humiliation as his peers find out he's downloading Backstreet Boys songs.
Litigation is the name of the game, and SCO seems to be trying to posture for higher stakes even when everyone's calling their bluff. Can't SCO dig up details of the GPL and its enforcement on its own? Oh yeah, more delay tactics. Cute. But that was a few months ago. The playing field is a bit different now. A bit more leveled. As in SCO is getting leveled.
SCO -- you have no chance to survive make your time.
Actually, if this were a slashdot article eons ago, it probably got slashdotted, and thus have lots of slashketeers on their list. Those that cared to RTFA, anyway...so that drops it down to a handful.:)
Guess here's one of those instances where it pays NOT to RTFA. Like we ever do anyway.
Isn't this almost similar to getting yourself one of those membership-style "club cards" for supermarkets where they collect data on you, then print out coupons for products competing with those you've purchased? You know, the ones that print coke coupons when they ring up a pepsi. What will this mean to THAT industry? Will Pepsi sue Coke for advertising directly to their customers? I'm not sure that'll go over very well.
In other news...I run Mozilla -- so what popups?:)
So we're used to having MS release a new hit cd every two years. By hit I mean boy-band tracks hastily cobbled together and pushed out the door to an awaiting fanbase. (look, how else do you explain it?)
Ballmer and Gates make press conferences touting their new hit singles like "A New Outlook" and "DRM - Quicker Than A Ray Of Light" -- but of course you can't just buy the singles. You have to buy the entire CD...and good luck trying to get rid of the tracks you don't want.
Now people started complaining about how their hits aren't put together well so they decided to finally take it slow, spend time at the studio, and actually sit down to make good music. The fanbase was like "awwww, you didn't have to do that!" while the critics were "riiiight, like they'd REALLY do that."
Then MS realized they're not going make the 2 year cycle deadline so faster than you can say "oops, I did it again" they start tossing out stuff they were promising to deliver. Their new hit "Palladium Blues" may have to wait. That new Filesystem track that you could Tae Bo to -- gone.
So what's left? Probably a complete rehash of their latest album. Maybe they'll P-Diddy some of the stuff Apple released a few years ago. Toss in a reworked "IE Blockin' Da Poppas" along with Ballmer's dance moves and the fanbase will eat it up like a warm leftover casserole.
As for me, I'm a critic, not a fan. I'll stick to my GPL's Greatest Hits cd. You know, the one that comes with the "I Honk For Herring" sticker and a video of Stallman singing the "Hacker Song." I must say I passed on the Torvalds In Speedos poster, though.
As interesting as all that may seem, Linux really isn't much of a threat there if that's what you're trying to get at. Run all the machines through a proxy server that does all the filtering for you. If nothing else, have it go through something like n2h2 or something that the government is pleased with to comply with CIPA standards and you'll be ok.
Whether that is an agreeable thing is another matter...but compliance isn't dependent on the underlying OS you're working with.
Sooo, anyone feel like creating a small web design firm with a freakishly obnoxious evangelical name? Something like maybe Stairway to Heaven...except that's taken. Gateway to Heaven? E-machines to heaven? Ah yes, Heaven's Gate or something like that. That's not taken.
To express solidarity, we'll all wear the same shoes, ok? I mean how are we going to be convincing if we don't wear the same shoes? Screw that up and companies will outsource to India for sure. So we'll all wear the same shoes...got it?
Next thing...and this is solidarity here we're talking about. Castration. As geeks, it's not like it's of much use anyway, right? It'll be alright -- we'll hang out and watch Star Trek or X-Files reruns or something. No need to be rejected by women. Besides, that organ is of no real use anyway...it's just a distraction that keeps us from thinking straight.
If you're interested, join us in the hall for some apple sauce followed by a quick nap. Be sure to take our standard-issue purple blanket. Then we can all dream about that large chunk of rock that's going to do a fly-by on Earth (nudge-nudge, wink-wink).
With this venture, we'll turn this outsourcing tide for sure!
1) Installation -- if there are any WTF options that need to be figured out by joe sixpack (partitioning?)...and any options that don't stick even after you explicitly select it.
2) Hardware autodetection -- this is part of the install but deserves its own spiel. Do I have to dig out the paperwork that came with my computer to find out that I have a ZXG9000 XT BFE3G whatchamahoozit card or can I trust that the distro can figure this out for me? Will the soundcard driver it selects from the few choices actually work or will it autodetect the wrong thing and make me have to change it later?
3) Included software -- does it stick with Mozilla or does it have Firefox and Thunderbird separate? Will it play MP3s out of the box? Will it do DVDs? (ha!) Does it include the latest and greatest of the absolutely needed software? Does it include some of the more obscure things that people MIGHT want and would like an easy install of? (Nessus, Blender, etc.)
4) Ease of use -- does it run "easy" pointy-clicky config tools or are people expected to vi their way through config files? How pointy-clicky is it? Do the GUI tools bork config files if they were previously edited by hand?
Do you get 500 items on the menus? Are they organized well or do you have to hunt through obscure sections to find what you're looking for?
Can you add software easily? Can you add fonts? Can you set up e-mail, web access, and word processing ASAP?
5) Underlying features -- does it run as root automatically or is it more secure than that? What version of the kernel? What version of everything, for that matter? Is it running SELinux? How compatible is it with the old distro you were running?
6) Talk about how Linux is getting better, how it's not quite there yet but almost. Gripe about certain killer apps that don't exist or aren't refined yet. Rag on Microsoft security and warn them that Linux is coming. Promise that year n+1 is the year of Desktop Linux
As an act of rebellion, I ran all my web pages through deCSS and now I've got the MPAA after me!!!
On a more serious note, I do like CSS as it is very handy when it comes to making site-wide changes. The big thing about it, though, is that it has to be there from the very beginning. Not that planning is a bad thing, but when you inherit site maintenance from someone that apparently heard Frontpage was "da bomb" and those FONT tags are everywhere, it hurts.
I'm still having problems doing positioning with CSS, but I figure that comes with actually trying it out and working through various browser issues. Tables are still a very convenient way to get layout going...and it's a bad habit that needs to be fixed.
For anyone who's starting a web project, DEFINITELY look into CSS. Even though it's got a bigger initial time investment, it pays off greatly in maintenance. Especially when the marketeers ask for a blue that's 3 shades lighter than what you currently have on 100 or so pages.
Technically, don't MOST companies include open source in their planning? I mean after the widely publicized MS discounts given after the mention of anything Open Source, you'd at least try to leverage that.
The cynic in me thinks the term "Open Source" is used more as a bargaining tool than anything that gets implemented. I'm not sure I like that idea.
Ah yes, BASIC. I remember it distinctly as it's what I used for the longest time. Didn't have to declare your variables, had to contend with line numbers (that renum thing came in very handy), and of course the ever-popular GOTO statements.
Eventually I evolved onto qbasic with its functions and subs and (gasp) no line numbers! Then there's VB and VBA. The most fun I've had with those are the shell calls.
On machines that are so locked down that you can't even traverse directories let alone get a shell prompt, you run your form of BASIC, and do basic shells through it or even shell to cmd.exe or command.com -- at one point, I had a really lamed out, simple, featureless, just for fun version of netcat that executed shell commands, piped it to a text file, and had the text file's contents sent through the network. (this with VB's socket stuff). If nothing else, it was a good way to make fake Novell login prompts in the mid 90's.;-)
In the end, not a lot of people will be taken seriously for knowing BASIC, but since it was the first language I used, I appreciated the retro code.
Pst (pronounced pissed...or post, depending on who you ask) is a Python fork of the now-popular kst program. Instead of astrophysics, it endeavors to plot a graph of aggression among IT employees.
Finding absolutely no funding from anyone, including government agencies, the project has taken a life of its own among overworked volunteer developers. These Pst programmers work dilligently on the code while concurrently providing enough test data to plot.
Due to its popularity, a port using Microsoft Foundation Classes is in the works. Rumor has it that it will be called MFT (pronounced miffed). A C port is also being made -- and their sourceforge project is located at ifuckinhateusers.sourceforge.net
Alrighty, I'm going to sound like a SUN-basher but so be it. I've been admonished here before for voicing my opinions against the company's actions but I'll type away undeterred.
At one point in time, I believed that SUN was going to take over the server market and squeeze Microsoft out. Don't laugh, it was the.COM era, MS was fussing with SE and ME, NT was their server, and all signs pointed to SUN being The One. Heck, even colleges were changing their C curriculum over to Java!
Somewhere along the line, Linux seems to have blindsided both of them. Now SUN wants to market a Linux because their customers ask for it. At the same time, they still have their Solaris. They do hardware, too! They also do an office suite replacement, and they're holding on to that same Java (probably their saving grace).
We were wondering what they were doing -- and how they're spreading themselves thin instead of trying to define who they are by focusing on something and doing it well.
Then they struck that deal with Microsoft and we're left wondering how this whole Linux thing will pan out. Time will tell, but I'm not expecting them to suddenly be all flowery happy about embracing Open Source.
"if you are planning on putting together a website, using MySQL and Perl that MySQL & Perl for the Web will aid immensely in that development."
However if you are putting together a basket and require that this be done while not being mentally "all there" and submerged in seawater, "Underwater Basketweaving for the Mildly Retarded" will aid immensely in your project.
I mean c'mon, can't we infer the subject matter from the book title? I'll admit that there are some obscure ones out there that you can't tell but this one just seems to be a no-brainer.
As many have pointed out, loyalty to a computer is, for the most part, based on conditions other than the computer itself.
Where I work, there are patrons who frequent a particular machine (#12) because it has exhibited features that the other machines don't seem to have. It played streaming audio when the other machines didn't. It was more stable and it was also in the back row. So that's stability, features, and location.
On the other hand, when I teach at the same place, I encourage people to name their computers. With beginners who are intimidated by machines, I always felt it was better if the machines had a name (other than their numbers). In the end, I suppose that could promote loyalty as it's easier to come back to a named machine than not.
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously, what do people use them for? The primary reason I can think of goes along the line of video editing. Other than that, I can't really see why people would forego a generally bigger/cheaper TV screen to see video on a smaller window on a computer monitor.
Any arguments of mobility (as in using laptops to view stuff) seems weak since you'd need to PLUG your TV-tuner onto an antenna/cable/vcr/etc. to get anything.
I'd seriously like to know what uses people have had for such things and reasons why such devices would be worth looking into.
If this is the case, I wouldn't go until about version 6. Good luck nonetheless -- as this has to be one of the coolest frontiers (private spaceflight) in space travel lately.
MS Tour Bus has caused a General Pedestrian Fault at 0x013 and Main. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart your vehicle or press any key to continue.
(honks horn)
Unsober Bus (USB) Driver has caused a Generic Pint Fault at 0x013 and Main. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart your vehicle or press any key to continue.
(turns off radio)
Airbag.exe has caused a General Protection Fault at 0x013 and Main. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart your vehicle or press any key to continue.
Back to the classic joke of closing all windows and apps, then restarting the bus.
Man, I don't know how many times I've used Festival to say "retard" or "main screen turn on" -- it's awesome. It's also a good thing to use when you're proofing essays or whatnot. It's different when you're reading it and having something read it aloud to you.
Not sure if you can make an entire movie with it, though. If nothing else, they should have one with MC Hawking (and DJ Doomsday) doing the soundtrack.
I propose owning a patent for middle-clicking in such a way as to extend the middle finger while curling the others.
This "click" does not need to be made on any particular surface. In fact, you could roll down your car window, double-click on your horn, then middle click the air with your arm extended outside said vehicle.
Maybe we should all middle-click Microsoft with both hands as an act of civil disobedience. Needless to say, I don't advice nor advocate doing so while driving.
"investigation, evaluation, adoption, and communication"
Isn't this true for just about every migration plans?
Investigate -- find out if this will do what you want it to do.
Evaluate -- dig deeper into the idea. Get a better feasibility study with numbers and monetary figures. Make cool looking presentations to the higher-ups that sign the checks.
Adoption -- this is where you SLOWLY incorporate the new with the old. Make sure everything is working well. People may have to do double-duty to work with both systems just so they can give it their blessing (that it all works properly). This is where you train a "core" group of support folks from each department so they burden you less.
Communication -- this really should be earlier on, before adoption. Find people who run this stuff already and communicate whether it may work for you too. See if you can get a "we'll help you through it" before you even adopt.
Again, this isn't anything strictly for Open Source. I'm sure there are nuances and cultures, yadda yadda yadda...but a good plan of action helps minimize risk with ANY project.
The SCO 699 principle -- Since I didn't specifically see anything about P2P, transferring content over the Internet would include stuff over the web.
I post to slashdot and claim copyright to my comments (which Slashdot willingly concedes with "Comments are owned by the Poster."
I then state in my comment that it is intended for viewing only by myself and trained monkeys from the San Diego Zoo.
Thus any Italians who are in violation of this -- by logging onto slashdot and downloading this page with MY copyrighted material and without my permission are jailward bound.
Hang on to your meatballs, dudes.
Just a testament to how lame this law sounds. I understand what they're trying to accomplish, but this can't be the way it's supposed to be done.
Finally something that has higher system requirements than Longhorn!!!
Alrighty, I admit it -- I went to Shrek 2 for the story and experience...not because I wanted to gawk at purtty graphics. Isn't that what movies are about?
Let's face it, I saw Titanic, all the Jurassic Park movies, the Matrix sequels, and the Star Wars prequels for the effects. Not expecting a story...just give me the oohs and aahs and wows and I'll concede the plot. With Shrek, the animation was secondary to the writing. I mean even Banderas made for a good cat!
Just making a point that pretty isn't always the best thing to have. If nothing else, the moral and plot of both Shrek movies tells us that.
Folks, general advice is for something tangible. Cashage, hardware, caffeine, a trip to tahiti. :)
The main thing to consider here is bartering to begin with. If you're willing to do this for the love of the game, any kudos you receive is nothing more than a bonus whether it be tangible or just goodwill.
If you're not willing to do such things without some form of compensation, go for tangibles. Sticks and carrots suck. Case in point -- "maintain my web site and I'll refer clients over to you." The guy's maintenance needs can be too demanding for empty promises after a while.
In the end, bartering is a dangeous proposition. Love what you do and be willing to help friends out for nothing in return. Otherwise, there may be profits to be had doing consulting work.
Ok, so if I hypothetically had this idea to include a few lines into the kernel...I managed to slip a couple of lines of code into a "thank you" postcard to Linus eons ago. After reading it, he thought it was utter rubbish and tossed it away.
Actually, he was so pissed off about the whole stupidity that it motivated him to stay up an extra two hours hacking away. So technically, some of his code should be attributed to me, right?
Much like how some of that code should be credited to Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and a few different candy bars. So where's the documentation on that?
All the changelogs, the comments, and any other bits of documentation aren't enough. Where's the credit to the pizza delivery guy? He helped develop some of that code! Ingrates, I tell ya.
Subpoenas seem to be a rather intrusive lot. They pretty much throw any confidentiality aside in favor of "justice" or whatnot.
Kind of like the way the RIAA subpoenas IP addresses and other bits of information from ISPs in their quest to shake down some junior high kid who not only gets the heat for downloading music but also has to suffer humiliation as his peers find out he's downloading Backstreet Boys songs.
Litigation is the name of the game, and SCO seems to be trying to posture for higher stakes even when everyone's calling their bluff. Can't SCO dig up details of the GPL and its enforcement on its own? Oh yeah, more delay tactics. Cute. But that was a few months ago. The playing field is a bit different now. A bit more leveled. As in SCO is getting leveled.
SCO -- you have no chance to survive make your time.
Actually, if this were a slashdot article eons ago, it probably got slashdotted, and thus have lots of slashketeers on their list. Those that cared to RTFA, anyway...so that drops it down to a handful. :)
Guess here's one of those instances where it pays NOT to RTFA. Like we ever do anyway.
Isn't this almost similar to getting yourself one of those membership-style "club cards" for supermarkets where they collect data on you, then print out coupons for products competing with those you've purchased? You know, the ones that print coke coupons when they ring up a pepsi. What will this mean to THAT industry? Will Pepsi sue Coke for advertising directly to their customers? I'm not sure that'll go over very well.
:)
In other news...I run Mozilla -- so what popups?
So we're used to having MS release a new hit cd every two years. By hit I mean boy-band tracks hastily cobbled together and pushed out the door to an awaiting fanbase. (look, how else do you explain it?)
Ballmer and Gates make press conferences touting their new hit singles like "A New Outlook" and "DRM - Quicker Than A Ray Of Light" -- but of course you can't just buy the singles. You have to buy the entire CD...and good luck trying to get rid of the tracks you don't want.
Now people started complaining about how their hits aren't put together well so they decided to finally take it slow, spend time at the studio, and actually sit down to make good music. The fanbase was like "awwww, you didn't have to do that!" while the critics were "riiiight, like they'd REALLY do that."
Then MS realized they're not going make the 2 year cycle deadline so faster than you can say "oops, I did it again" they start tossing out stuff they were promising to deliver. Their new hit "Palladium Blues" may have to wait. That new Filesystem track that you could Tae Bo to -- gone.
So what's left? Probably a complete rehash of their latest album. Maybe they'll P-Diddy some of the stuff Apple released a few years ago. Toss in a reworked "IE Blockin' Da Poppas" along with Ballmer's dance moves and the fanbase will eat it up like a warm leftover casserole.
As for me, I'm a critic, not a fan. I'll stick to my GPL's Greatest Hits cd. You know, the one that comes with the "I Honk For Herring" sticker and a video of Stallman singing the "Hacker Song." I must say I passed on the Torvalds In Speedos poster, though.
As interesting as all that may seem, Linux really isn't much of a threat there if that's what you're trying to get at. Run all the machines through a proxy server that does all the filtering for you. If nothing else, have it go through something like n2h2 or something that the government is pleased with to comply with CIPA standards and you'll be ok.
Whether that is an agreeable thing is another matter...but compliance isn't dependent on the underlying OS you're working with.
Sooo, anyone feel like creating a small web design firm with a freakishly obnoxious evangelical name? Something like maybe Stairway to Heaven...except that's taken. Gateway to Heaven? E-machines to heaven? Ah yes, Heaven's Gate or something like that. That's not taken.
To express solidarity, we'll all wear the same shoes, ok? I mean how are we going to be convincing if we don't wear the same shoes? Screw that up and companies will outsource to India for sure. So we'll all wear the same shoes...got it?
Next thing...and this is solidarity here we're talking about. Castration. As geeks, it's not like it's of much use anyway, right? It'll be alright -- we'll hang out and watch Star Trek or X-Files reruns or something. No need to be rejected by women. Besides, that organ is of no real use anyway...it's just a distraction that keeps us from thinking straight.
If you're interested, join us in the hall for some apple sauce followed by a quick nap. Be sure to take our standard-issue purple blanket. Then we can all dream about that large chunk of rock that's going to do a fly-by on Earth (nudge-nudge, wink-wink).
With this venture, we'll turn this outsourcing tide for sure!
1) Installation -- if there are any WTF options that need to be figured out by joe sixpack (partitioning?)...and any options that don't stick even after you explicitly select it.
2) Hardware autodetection -- this is part of the install but deserves its own spiel. Do I have to dig out the paperwork that came with my computer to find out that I have a ZXG9000 XT BFE3G whatchamahoozit card or can I trust that the distro can figure this out for me? Will the soundcard driver it selects from the few choices actually work or will it autodetect the wrong thing and make me have to change it later?
3) Included software -- does it stick with Mozilla or does it have Firefox and Thunderbird separate? Will it play MP3s out of the box? Will it do DVDs? (ha!) Does it include the latest and greatest of the absolutely needed software? Does it include some of the more obscure things that people MIGHT want and would like an easy install of? (Nessus, Blender, etc.)
4) Ease of use -- does it run "easy" pointy-clicky config tools or are people expected to vi their way through config files? How pointy-clicky is it? Do the GUI tools bork config files if they were previously edited by hand?
Do you get 500 items on the menus? Are they organized well or do you have to hunt through obscure sections to find what you're looking for?
Can you add software easily? Can you add fonts? Can you set up e-mail, web access, and word processing ASAP?
5) Underlying features -- does it run as root automatically or is it more secure than that? What version of the kernel? What version of everything, for that matter? Is it running SELinux? How compatible is it with the old distro you were running?
6) Talk about how Linux is getting better, how it's not quite there yet but almost. Gripe about certain killer apps that don't exist or aren't refined yet. Rag on Microsoft security and warn them that Linux is coming. Promise that year n+1 is the year of Desktop Linux
As an act of rebellion, I ran all my web pages through deCSS and now I've got the MPAA after me!!!
On a more serious note, I do like CSS as it is very handy when it comes to making site-wide changes. The big thing about it, though, is that it has to be there from the very beginning. Not that planning is a bad thing, but when you inherit site maintenance from someone that apparently heard Frontpage was "da bomb" and those FONT tags are everywhere, it hurts.
I'm still having problems doing positioning with CSS, but I figure that comes with actually trying it out and working through various browser issues. Tables are still a very convenient way to get layout going...and it's a bad habit that needs to be fixed.
For anyone who's starting a web project, DEFINITELY look into CSS. Even though it's got a bigger initial time investment, it pays off greatly in maintenance. Especially when the marketeers ask for a blue that's 3 shades lighter than what you currently have on 100 or so pages.
Technically, don't MOST companies include open source in their planning? I mean after the widely publicized MS discounts given after the mention of anything Open Source, you'd at least try to leverage that.
The cynic in me thinks the term "Open Source" is used more as a bargaining tool than anything that gets implemented. I'm not sure I like that idea.
Ah yes, BASIC. I remember it distinctly as it's what I used for the longest time. Didn't have to declare your variables, had to contend with line numbers (that renum thing came in very handy), and of course the ever-popular GOTO statements.
;-)
Eventually I evolved onto qbasic with its functions and subs and (gasp) no line numbers! Then there's VB and VBA. The most fun I've had with those are the shell calls.
On machines that are so locked down that you can't even traverse directories let alone get a shell prompt, you run your form of BASIC, and do basic shells through it or even shell to cmd.exe or command.com -- at one point, I had a really lamed out, simple, featureless, just for fun version of netcat that executed shell commands, piped it to a text file, and had the text file's contents sent through the network. (this with VB's socket stuff). If nothing else, it was a good way to make fake Novell login prompts in the mid 90's.
In the end, not a lot of people will be taken seriously for knowing BASIC, but since it was the first language I used, I appreciated the retro code.
Pst (pronounced pissed...or post, depending on who you ask) is a Python fork of the now-popular kst program. Instead of astrophysics, it endeavors to plot a graph of aggression among IT employees.
Finding absolutely no funding from anyone, including government agencies, the project has taken a life of its own among overworked volunteer developers. These Pst programmers work dilligently on the code while concurrently providing enough test data to plot.
Due to its popularity, a port using Microsoft Foundation Classes is in the works. Rumor has it that it will be called MFT (pronounced miffed). A C port is also being made -- and their sourceforge project is located at ifuckinhateusers.sourceforge.net
Alrighty, I'm going to sound like a SUN-basher but so be it. I've been admonished here before for voicing my opinions against the company's actions but I'll type away undeterred.
.COM era, MS was fussing with SE and ME, NT was their server, and all signs pointed to SUN being The One. Heck, even colleges were changing their C curriculum over to Java!
At one point in time, I believed that SUN was going to take over the server market and squeeze Microsoft out. Don't laugh, it was the
Somewhere along the line, Linux seems to have blindsided both of them. Now SUN wants to market a Linux because their customers ask for it. At the same time, they still have their Solaris. They do hardware, too! They also do an office suite replacement, and they're holding on to that same Java (probably their saving grace).
We were wondering what they were doing -- and how they're spreading themselves thin instead of trying to define who they are by focusing on something and doing it well.
Then they struck that deal with Microsoft and we're left wondering how this whole Linux thing will pan out. Time will tell, but I'm not expecting them to suddenly be all flowery happy about embracing Open Source.
"if you are planning on putting together a website, using MySQL and Perl that MySQL & Perl for the Web will aid immensely in that development."
However if you are putting together a basket and require that this be done while not being mentally "all there" and submerged in seawater, "Underwater Basketweaving for the Mildly Retarded" will aid immensely in your project.
I mean c'mon, can't we infer the subject matter from the book title? I'll admit that there are some obscure ones out there that you can't tell but this one just seems to be a no-brainer.
As many have pointed out, loyalty to a computer is, for the most part, based on conditions other than the computer itself.
Where I work, there are patrons who frequent a particular machine (#12) because it has exhibited features that the other machines don't seem to have. It played streaming audio when the other machines didn't. It was more stable and it was also in the back row. So that's stability, features, and location.
On the other hand, when I teach at the same place, I encourage people to name their computers. With beginners who are intimidated by machines, I always felt it was better if the machines had a name (other than their numbers). In the end, I suppose that could promote loyalty as it's easier to come back to a named machine than not.