Can I use my not-so-Mad Rhyming Skillz to translate some documentation for Ubuntu? I had a really really old soundblaster-compatible card that needed some hocus pocus ALSA config stuff that took me a week to figure out with the help of google and people posting oodles of info. (ok, hocus pocus to me, but I figure the rest of you think it's damn simple)
So I was in despair In need of a good driver Swimming 'round Google like a clueless scuba diver
I'm a cheap bastard and I ain't droppin' thirty On an audigy that's bork so now I've got my hands dirty
No AlsaConfig dot-deb for Warty So I aliened from mandrake And started to party
The configs, still shot Victory untasted So I got on the web I cut and I pasted
Now it's all runnin, though far from perfection I gots kickin' bass for my OGG collection.
Mad props to da G's -- coders of da OSS Nation and shout outs to all y'all Who write good documentation.
To quote Axl Rose at the end of "Garden of Eden" I think..."Awwwright, that SUCKED!"
I've always been of the philosophy that content is what makes a website. Yes, usability comes in, as well as visual appeal and all that wonderful stuff. However, if you don't have content (and purpose), any amount of eyecandy fluff isn't going to save you.
I've also always thought that web development/design is a service industry that for a long time have overcharged for what they do. (web devs, hear me out here before you tune out)
I'm not some artsy guy who can do killer tricks with photoshop...but for the most part, a lot of web stuff is fairly simple to do. Thus I've thought that rates for web work were waaay high.
Then I worked with the clueless. Folks who ask for a design, then change spec in the end. After a redesign, they want another a week later. People who, after you show them your detailed design document with goals and other specifics, suddenly get amnesia a meeting or two later. It's people like those who tend to drive costs up.
Don't get me wrong -- I try to clue them in. I'd walk them through the design process and stuff but they don't care for it. I present plans that they sign off on, and they don't care or forget they even agree to it. Then they complain when they find out it's going to cost more.
Other clients who send electronic versions of copy and images, ask for changes well in advance, and overall request (and respect) rather than obnoxiously demand are a pleasure to work with.
Shoestring budgets? That's easy enough to work with. Whatever "shoestring" means to you. Being a nightmare client, on the other hand, will eventually cost more. Not necessarily due to being a nightmare, but the extra hours of undoing plans, reimplementing changed specs, etc. will definitely add up.
Are you an iDJIT user? If you don't know, that's perfectly normal. Most people are iDJIT users and don't even know it! If you're curious to know if iDJIT is right for you, read on.
iDJIT Features -- Do You Want To:
* Keep in touch with everyone in your address book automatically?
* Amuse friends and make new ones by sending them countless jokes?
* Immediately install any and all helper products you may encounter?
* Use products that help targeted marketing firms?
* Automate your generosity by giving out your Credit Card Number?
If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, chances are good that you're an iDJIT user. Actually, there's probably an iDJIT on your machine RIGHT NOW!!! Keep reading for more information on this amazing and incredible iDJIT!
System Requirements: An iDJIT-friendly Operating System (Microsoft Windows recommended) An iDJIT-friendly Internet Service Provider (AOL for Broadband recommended)
Installation: Installation is a snap! Most come pre-installed with new systems. Should manual installation be required, the plug-and-play device activates the moment the user sits down in front of the keyboard!
Uninstall: To avoid accidental removal, the iDJIT requires special tools (called LARTs) to uninstall properly. Thankfully, most LARTs are available at local hardware and sporting goods stores for your convenience.
Warning: A minority of users consider it their goal to iDJIT-proof their systems. This is impossible due to the innovative R&D involved in making a better iDJIT. For those who wish to pursue this goal, please visit www.tldp.org for documentation on making your system iDJIT-resistant.
A sculpture in a public park is copyrighted? WTF? I guess I don't get it. Maybe I should be copyrighted too...and if I ever show up in someone else's photo album, let the royalties flow!!!
So in case you ever visit a theme park or other such place, I'll be the asshole jumping into your family pictures and charging you ten bucks if you choose to develop. Commercial purpose or not, you mofos have to pay me.
Awww crap, better hide this article in the basement. My parents may ask for royalties 'cause their genetic material made ME possible.
I fire up the machine and Evolution to check my e-mail. I get mail from someone asking me to alter some content on their site. They send me an image. From within KDE, I fire up Quanta and open up their project. Image needs cropping. I fire up GIMP and grumble that I don't have the same look/feel. Firefox over to GNOME themes sites to see if I can find something similar. Download something, install the RPM or whatever, and find a way to alter GNOME look and feel from within KDE. No GUI on the menu (MDK). Logged off, fired it up under GNOME. Changed the look. Logged back onto KDE...GIMP looks better.
Fire up E-mail client again to check for more messages. RSS Slashdot feed says SCO's smack-talking again. (we all KNOW that's about as irresistable to slashbots as Trailer Trash Cousins on the Springer Show is to middle-america.)
So a couple of hours (and a dozen or two refreshes along with a few 503's) later...
I crop the picture, alter the html, proceed to FTP. Site update. That reminds me, when was the last time I've ran Mandrake Update? Better run that. New OO.org will take 15 minutes to download, a few other patches along with it too. Might as well move to desktop#2 and go back to slashdot while it downloads. Productivity, here I come!!!
I personally use mogrify on the command line to batch-process a lot of the graphics I post. Usually it goes -- dump pictures into two folders -- one "pics" and "thumbnails" then run mogrify on both folders (don't remember the options I use...basically controls size, optimization, output type, etc). Then do a rename on the thumbnails folder to indicate they're thumbnails. I suppose you wouldn't even have to go that far.
It wouldn't do the crop whitespace thing you want (I figure that's a personal touch thing anyway and something tough to automate) but I believe it'll do auto-levels.
It's something to keep in mind if you're doing something like a giant photo gallery where people just dump.JPG files on you and you're asked to post them.
In case the comment doesn't apply, just ignore it. I don't have the credentials you do -- just some pseudo-hobbyist tinkering with pictures.:)
Wish lists are nice. They let developers know what features they want in a particular project. However, to paraphrase the Wesnoth dev team, "we wrote the program the way we did because that's how we like it. If we use some of your suggestions, it's because we like those, too." These folks write code to scratch their own itch. Scratching YOUR itch is merely a by-product.
Yes, software use and usability is a good thing, but in the end, it comes down to whether coders want to implement it or not.
Cloning: most "users" have a reference point when they use software. People used to windows will find a mac interface foreign and "wrong." Photoshop users will start out not being used to how GIMP works. Same with Word users and OO.org -- just the nature of the game. The real question is: do we have to clone popular interfaces? I suppose. At least maybe some sort of "Photoshop Interface" toggle. Then again you can be a smug developer and say "Use it or not. Go 'way."
Integration: While we're making a list, here's mine: I want a Quanta that integrates to GIMP which supports editable text mask layers, editable bevel/embossed layers, and that whole color management thing. Integrate that with a managed FTP client thingy kinda like Screem advertises, too. Oh, and integrate that into something that can do Flash animations, too...which will dynamically embed itself onto a Quanta-generated xhtml-valid page. And and and I want a pony!!!
The integration idea is nice. I suppose there's an argument to be made to integrate now and polish later but I think the focus is to make each individual part work well first, then consider integrating later.
For a while now, MS (among others) have been eye-ing the idea of a subscription service. Those old thin client ideas where you rent MS Office, save all your files online, and have it accessible anywhere.
Well, they didn't quite pan out. However, they see Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware as a possible subscription deal. You pay once for the software, and pay more for updates. If you've got your tinfoil hat on, you may eve think that before you know it, THIS IS what Windows Update will become -- a subscription service.
So why is MS considering this? Easy -- it's a steady revenue stream they can capitalize on because their superior marketing department has created a giant legion of Microsoft Weenies who don't know any better.
It was primarily used as a pawn to negotiate with MS. You know, that whole monopoly thing, a neat little settlement, and probably a nice bargaining chip to keep those "Subscribe to AOL" icons on default windows desktop installations.
When all that was done, they chopped off the Mozilla people and spun them off with their own mozilla foundation with a mil or two (?) to get started.
Then they bastardized the Netscape brand to sell cheaper Internet access under the guise of a different name, hoping to capitalize on name recognition.
It would've been great, though -- a giant chunk of "Netizens" (granted, most AOLers deserve their label) switching to Firefox all at once because AOL defaults to it would have been nice.
Behold, the OS Creed!!! (it's a parody, relax. Don't get too uppity)
We believe in one OS, the Father, the Almighty Creator of Heaven, Earth, and the Internet, Of all that is seen, unseen, and can be seen in beseen.com.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only instance of The Father eternally begotten of the Father God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God Instantiated, not made. One in being with the Father Through Him, all objects were initialized.
For us men and for our salvation, He was downloaded from Heaven By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was ejected by the Virgin Mary, and became Man
For our sake he was executed under Pontius Pilate; He had a GPF, froze, and was abnormally terminated. On the third day he was rebooted in fulfillment of the OS documentation;
He was uploaded into Heaven and is installed as a plugin at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in a future release as a patch to fix all bugs and viruses and His kingdom will loop infinitely.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the power supply, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has flamed, spammed, and has sent streaming audio to the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic user group. We acknowledge one CTRL-ALT-DEL for the rebooting after errors. We look for the final upload, and life of the world to come. [OK]
If nothing else, MS is a great marketing company with the ability to spin their biggest flaws into everyone else's fault.
Just look at the ISP ads lately -- it's all about spam blockers, anti-virus, and other malware detectors. Can anyone turn around and say "hey, shouldn't Microsoft be the one responsible for cleaning this up?" Nope, the MS spin has created a marketing opportunity for ISPs -- "choose us 'cause we cover up THEIR crap better than our competitors!!!" Eh?
They've gone through anti-trust lawsuits both here and the UK. Gates has been "embarrassed" through malfunctioning presentations (BSODs, etc). Highly publicized flaws in the operating system being exploited. Oppressive DRM. The ol' bait-and-switch tactic with product releases (feature X will be the greatest...um, nope, won't have feature X due to time restrictions). Passport (one of their Dot-Net next-big-things) is going 404. They've launched smear campagins against Linux (cancer, communist, unsupported, etc.) Even after all that, they're still the biggest game in town.
I run ubuntu on an older desktop machine (400mhz PII, 128MB RAM) and it runs fairly well. Updates are easy with apt, support from the community is great and they also offer for-pay support from Canonical if you need to go that route.
Apt is nice and if you want GUI, synaptic works just fine. You pretty much get the standard debian list of packages and in case those don't fit your purpose, you can even use alien on RPMs to get them running.
Best thing with it is that they offer a liveCD -- fire it up, give it a shot, and see if you'll have any HW issues before you commit to it.
My laptop runs mandrake 10CE and because of a long-ago "tragedy" trying to upgrade a RH machine, I've tried to leave the distro alone unless I absolutely have to upgrade. I do the mandrakeupdate thing but since they've moved on to higher versions, it was getting tougher and tougher to find mirrors for patching the older version.
If not for my loyalty to KDE (and the fact that the Warty cds won't boot on my Inspiron 5100) I may have actually gone Ubuntu on that laptop, too.
Now now, RMS can be a windbag once in a while, but on occasion he's been proven to be right. The revolution takes all kinds, soldier, and this guy (and the FSF) has gotten us pretty far.
I'm personally not a big fan of the Sun-MS and I guess that's my personal bias. They've done their share of good for the OSS movement, but have also done some incredibly damaging things to OSS as well. They're one of those wait-and-see types.
If the Chief GNU is barking at something, I'm willing to bet there's something there that's at least worth investigating. To borrow from your allusion, some gift horses come with nasty surprises.
I tried clicking on the link and got a 404 out of it. Wondering if Timothy decided to check out that whole wine thing on a slashdot server.
I guess it would be interesting to see if a virus/worm would work under WINE but in the end, what would it really mean if it does?
Compatibility jokes aside, it would mean that the way the operating system handles things is inherently insecure. It really couldn't be blamed on a WINE implementation because the virus/worm worked on the original OS. (If it didn't work on windows but worked on WINE, then that's completely different).
It's definitely a bizarre practice and not one I'd personally try -- but for those who want to decompile and make sandboxed studies of viruses, it may be worth something. Not as much as studying it live on a controlled win32 network but I bet it has its merits.
Well, here's another article just beckoning me back to try Java development once more. Here I am, on the rebound again, not knowing any better. Almost forgetting the tough time I had creating GUIs, coming to grips with the AWT then Swing. Going nutty putting multiple classes in a jar file and all that manifest destiny sweet talk that had me at "hello world" but not much further when I ventured out past the simple stuff.
Oh yes, it was sooo much better than VB if you can get past the quick way to make graphical interfaces. The multi-threading made creating a multiplatform port-scanning tool so much more pleasurable.
Then there was running the code on multiple platforms. The need to install the JRE, ensure you're pointing to the right CLASSPATH, and all those somewhat cumbersome things.
Yeah, after a while, I forget those experiences. I come crawling back, not wanting to be assimilated in.NET, but too afraid to jump head-on into a relationship with cpp.
I'm sure it's going to take time and effort, and I know I need to put more time in our relationship. Right now, though, I'm in the middle of a project with PHP so I'll get back to you when I can. Just remember, Java, that it's not you...it's me.
Awww yeah, those days where you EARNED that extra 5min connection to that BBS. You know, where you got your issue of MicroTimes that had a listing of phone numbers to "legit" places where you can then find out about where the non-legit numbers were at.
Days when being SysOp meant something and your warezed pkzip files ended up becoming all-nighters with softice and edlin. Bring back those...um, no, dude, those days sucked.
Seriously, though -- I abandoned those days (though it took YEARS) when I found out about the whole free software movement. Why pirate when you can have free/OSS legally? I also grew older, got employed, and eventually bought the software that I wanted. Of course the asking price for photoshop and the like is still damn steep.
Now to be on-topic...for-pay streaming video isn't going to fly too well. Most have already pointed out the screen-size limitations of most computers. If I want to do PPV, it'll be on a TV. Then there's the more "traditional" rental markets which are getting more and more convenient.
Remember those old cassette tape players in cars? You'd have to buy the cassette-cd adapter thing in order to plug your CD player onto the car's sound system.
Same general thing here for us folks who don't have those 57-in-1 media card readers. It all sounds like an interim solution until everyone eventually gets those readers built-in, the same way tape decks in cars have now been replaced with CD players.
Cool product and all, but I think of it as transitional until we all get those media card readers bundled into new machines we buy.
Now what about an adapter on these memory cards so the punch-card reader can read them in?
There's a difference between advertising and endorsing. When there's an MS banner up top, that's advertising. When Taco posts what is clearly a product "review" it seems more of an endorsement. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it'd be nice if folks are a little more forthcoming with it.
As a tech, when I talk about certain products, it kind of carries some weight...like I prefer that product over its competitors.
On a somewhat related topic, I used to post web pages for a place that offered paying advertisers "editorial" content on their web site. Disguised as reviews, they were no more than actual press releases from the advertisers. I always thought it was a bit misleading.
Now if they say something like "I got a PDA out of this deal -- Taco" I'd understand and be more accepting.:)
This seems like a match between ESR and RMS, the way they're setting it up. Anyone else willing to pay-per-view for that event?
Is it really an attitude thing? According to Cathedral/Bazaar somewhere didn't people coin "Open Source" because a lot of people were being misled by the term "Free?" You know, like when you have to explain "free as in freedom" vs. "free as in beer." With "Open Source" you immediately get that the source code is open and infer that you can view code.
Then you split hairs with "how open is that source?" Is it BSD-style where I can do what I want with it or is it GPL style where I have to give it back along with the changes I made? Or is it "shared source" which means look but don't touch and only if you're willing to give up your firstborn?
True, one of the aspects between OSS and Free Software is the attitude, but there are clear differences. It seems that as XHTML is a subset of XML (or is that HTML subset of SGML?) "Free Software" is a subset of "Open Source."
Then again, what the hell do I know. I say cage match between ESR and RMS with Perens as ESR's manager and Linus as the impartial guest referee. That should decide it.
Oh boy, asking such an open-ended question to teenage geeks...what are you folks thinking?
The answer is Britney Spears in an afterschool Halo 2 Frag Fest, duh!
It has been quite some time since I've been in HS but I'm willing to suggest that a sanctioned "hackathon/pen-test" would've been one of the sweetest things the school could have. Of course it would never happen.
As for the programming fair thing, you can look to the ones done by Sun and MS (that tank AI thing for Java and the bug propagation competition in.NET).
Any site linked from Slashdot is bound to get a free DOS.
Now to be more on-topic: Does it have FreeDOS installed or does it just come with a FreeDOS disc? I remember a while back that someone used that as a loophole against an MS contract that mandated the company not to sell machines without an OS. They responded by shipping the machine with a copy of FreeDOS. (was it dell?)
As I'm sure it'll be tough to get online, download Linux iso's, and burn them to cd-r using FreeDOS, are there any provisions made by the Linux community to make sure folks who need distros there can get them? I'm thinking Ubuntu-esque.
Then there's the pessimist in me that's thinking the machines will have a pirated version of windows instead of a perfectly legal Linux distro. Oh well.
C'mon, seriously...why do you think they call it Longhorn? Did you think they wouldn't make their BS operating system smell accordingly? Remember, folks, if it attracts bugs, it must be a feature.
As for the online feature, imagine the latest MSN Messenger function of poo-flinging across the net! Perfect for those bigwig conferences!! Marketing will have a field day with this, I'm sure.
Traditional Dead Trees
on
Upbeat on E-books
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I'm a big fan of books -- the type where you turn the pages, bend the spine, dog-ear a few corners, and occasionally highlight important bits as a reminder. I like the smell of old books that have been shelved and unopened for some time. Then again, I work at a public library so I may be a bit biased.:)
E-books have their place, though. I'm sure they're much easier to carry. Probably easier to search for text, too. As for archiving, they'll certainly stretch further than any physical shelf space. They don't have pages that tear off, no print that fades in time, no worries of physical damage whatsoever...except for water damage, that is.
In the end, I say let school textbooks go e-book. I'm sure it'll be cheaper that way, and revisions would be more immediate than dead-tree versions. There won't be a book buy-back (so that $5 return on that $80 hardbound won't be there to feed you ramen through the holidays) but at least you'll save on the initial purchase...and you'll need to lug less weight around from class to class.
As far as novels, poems, and other bits of fiction, I'll stick to regular books. There's just something about that page-turning tactile thing that I'd otherwise miss.
I think that's what you get when you've had too much molsen, eh.
Or when you've gone toe-to-toe with Tie Domi and your touque is the only thing that's upright.
This is our iTunes commercial, so like buy our album and stuff, eh. We also have a custom iPod specially made for the great white north. It's completely white. Buy that too. We get kickbacks so we can get more beer.
Slashdot Mirror
Can I use my not-so-Mad Rhyming Skillz to translate some documentation for Ubuntu? I had a really really old soundblaster-compatible card that needed some hocus pocus ALSA config stuff that took me a week to figure out with the help of google and people posting oodles of info. (ok, hocus pocus to me, but I figure the rest of you think it's damn simple)
So I was in despair
In need of a good driver
Swimming 'round Google
like a clueless scuba diver
I'm a cheap bastard
and I ain't droppin' thirty
On an audigy that's bork
so now I've got my hands dirty
No AlsaConfig
dot-deb for Warty
So I aliened from mandrake
And started to party
The configs, still shot
Victory untasted
So I got on the web
I cut and I pasted
Now it's all runnin,
though far from perfection
I gots kickin' bass
for my OGG collection.
Mad props to da G's --
coders of da OSS Nation
and shout outs to all y'all
Who write good documentation.
To quote Axl Rose at the end of "Garden of Eden" I think..."Awwwright, that SUCKED!"
I've always been of the philosophy that content is what makes a website. Yes, usability comes in, as well as visual appeal and all that wonderful stuff. However, if you don't have content (and purpose), any amount of eyecandy fluff isn't going to save you.
I've also always thought that web development/design is a service industry that for a long time have overcharged for what they do. (web devs, hear me out here before you tune out)
I'm not some artsy guy who can do killer tricks with photoshop...but for the most part, a lot of web stuff is fairly simple to do. Thus I've thought that rates for web work were waaay high.
Then I worked with the clueless. Folks who ask for a design, then change spec in the end. After a redesign, they want another a week later. People who, after you show them your detailed design document with goals and other specifics, suddenly get amnesia a meeting or two later. It's people like those who tend to drive costs up.
Don't get me wrong -- I try to clue them in. I'd walk them through the design process and stuff but they don't care for it. I present plans that they sign off on, and they don't care or forget they even agree to it. Then they complain when they find out it's going to cost more.
Other clients who send electronic versions of copy and images, ask for changes well in advance, and overall request (and respect) rather than obnoxiously demand are a pleasure to work with.
Shoestring budgets? That's easy enough to work with. Whatever "shoestring" means to you. Being a nightmare client, on the other hand, will eventually cost more. Not necessarily due to being a nightmare, but the extra hours of undoing plans, reimplementing changed specs, etc. will definitely add up.
Imagine a Novell exec being asked to open source something significant quoting Timon from The Lion King:
"what do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?"
Awww shoot...here come the reps from the rat house in Anaheim. Hopefully they won't sue.
Can't resist...
Instantly Done Just In Time
Are you an iDJIT user? If you don't know, that's perfectly normal. Most people are iDJIT users and don't even know it! If you're curious to know if iDJIT is right for you, read on.
iDJIT Features -- Do You Want To:
* Keep in touch with everyone in your address book automatically?
* Amuse friends and make new ones by sending them countless jokes?
* Immediately install any and all helper products you may encounter?
* Use products that help targeted marketing firms?
* Automate your generosity by giving out your Credit Card Number?
If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, chances are good that you're an iDJIT user. Actually, there's probably an iDJIT on your machine RIGHT NOW!!! Keep reading for more information on this amazing and incredible iDJIT!
System Requirements:
An iDJIT-friendly Operating System (Microsoft Windows recommended)
An iDJIT-friendly Internet Service Provider (AOL for Broadband recommended)
Installation:
Installation is a snap! Most come pre-installed with new systems. Should manual installation be required, the plug-and-play device activates the moment the user sits down in front of the keyboard!
Uninstall:
To avoid accidental removal, the iDJIT requires special tools (called LARTs) to uninstall properly. Thankfully, most LARTs are available at local hardware and sporting goods stores for your convenience.
Warning:
A minority of users consider it their goal to iDJIT-proof their systems. This is impossible due to the innovative R&D involved in making a better iDJIT. For those who wish to pursue this goal, please visit www.tldp.org for documentation on making your system iDJIT-resistant.
A sculpture in a public park is copyrighted? WTF? I guess I don't get it. Maybe I should be copyrighted too...and if I ever show up in someone else's photo album, let the royalties flow!!!
So in case you ever visit a theme park or other such place, I'll be the asshole jumping into your family pictures and charging you ten bucks if you choose to develop. Commercial purpose or not, you mofos have to pay me.
Awww crap, better hide this article in the basement. My parents may ask for royalties 'cause their genetic material made ME possible.
Somewhat true story:
I fire up the machine and Evolution to check my e-mail. I get mail from someone asking me to alter some content on their site. They send me an image. From within KDE, I fire up Quanta and open up their project. Image needs cropping. I fire up GIMP and grumble that I don't have the same look/feel. Firefox over to GNOME themes sites to see if I can find something similar. Download something, install the RPM or whatever, and find a way to alter GNOME look and feel from within KDE. No GUI on the menu (MDK). Logged off, fired it up under GNOME. Changed the look. Logged back onto KDE...GIMP looks better.
Fire up E-mail client again to check for more messages. RSS Slashdot feed says SCO's smack-talking again. (we all KNOW that's about as irresistable to slashbots as Trailer Trash Cousins on the Springer Show is to middle-america.)
So a couple of hours (and a dozen or two refreshes along with a few 503's) later...
I crop the picture, alter the html, proceed to FTP. Site update. That reminds me, when was the last time I've ran Mandrake Update? Better run that. New OO.org will take 15 minutes to download, a few other patches along with it too. Might as well move to desktop#2 and go back to slashdot while it downloads. Productivity, here I come!!!
I personally use mogrify on the command line to batch-process a lot of the graphics I post. Usually it goes -- dump pictures into two folders -- one "pics" and "thumbnails" then run mogrify on both folders (don't remember the options I use...basically controls size, optimization, output type, etc). Then do a rename on the thumbnails folder to indicate they're thumbnails. I suppose you wouldn't even have to go that far.
.JPG files on you and you're asked to post them.
:)
It wouldn't do the crop whitespace thing you want (I figure that's a personal touch thing anyway and something tough to automate) but I believe it'll do auto-levels.
It's something to keep in mind if you're doing something like a giant photo gallery where people just dump
In case the comment doesn't apply, just ignore it. I don't have the credentials you do -- just some pseudo-hobbyist tinkering with pictures.
Wish lists are nice. They let developers know what features they want in a particular project. However, to paraphrase the Wesnoth dev team, "we wrote the program the way we did because that's how we like it. If we use some of your suggestions, it's because we like those, too." These folks write code to scratch their own itch. Scratching YOUR itch is merely a by-product.
Yes, software use and usability is a good thing, but in the end, it comes down to whether coders want to implement it or not.
Cloning: most "users" have a reference point when they use software. People used to windows will find a mac interface foreign and "wrong." Photoshop users will start out not being used to how GIMP works. Same with Word users and OO.org -- just the nature of the game. The real question is: do we have to clone popular interfaces? I suppose. At least maybe some sort of "Photoshop Interface" toggle. Then again you can be a smug developer and say "Use it or not. Go 'way."
Integration: While we're making a list, here's mine:
I want a Quanta that integrates to GIMP which supports editable text mask layers, editable bevel/embossed layers, and that whole color management thing. Integrate that with a managed FTP client thingy kinda like Screem advertises, too. Oh, and integrate that into something that can do Flash animations, too...which will dynamically embed itself onto a Quanta-generated xhtml-valid page. And and and I want a pony!!!
The integration idea is nice. I suppose there's an argument to be made to integrate now and polish later but I think the focus is to make each individual part work well first, then consider integrating later.
For a while now, MS (among others) have been eye-ing the idea of a subscription service. Those old thin client ideas where you rent MS Office, save all your files online, and have it accessible anywhere.
Well, they didn't quite pan out. However, they see Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware as a possible subscription deal. You pay once for the software, and pay more for updates. If you've got your tinfoil hat on, you may eve think that before you know it, THIS IS what Windows Update will become -- a subscription service.
So why is MS considering this? Easy -- it's a steady revenue stream they can capitalize on because their superior marketing department has created a giant legion of Microsoft Weenies who don't know any better.
It was primarily used as a pawn to negotiate with MS. You know, that whole monopoly thing, a neat little settlement, and probably a nice bargaining chip to keep those "Subscribe to AOL" icons on default windows desktop installations.
When all that was done, they chopped off the Mozilla people and spun them off with their own mozilla foundation with a mil or two (?) to get started.
Then they bastardized the Netscape brand to sell cheaper Internet access under the guise of a different name, hoping to capitalize on name recognition.
It would've been great, though -- a giant chunk of "Netizens" (granted, most AOLers deserve their label) switching to Firefox all at once because AOL defaults to it would have been nice.
Oh well.
Funny, I thought that was Patch Thursday.
Behold, the OS Creed!!!
(it's a parody, relax. Don't get too uppity)
We believe in one OS,
the Father, the Almighty
Creator of Heaven, Earth, and the Internet,
Of all that is seen, unseen, and can be seen in beseen.com.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only instance of The Father
eternally begotten of the Father
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God
Instantiated, not made. One in being with the Father
Through Him, all objects were initialized.
For us men and for our salvation,
He was downloaded from Heaven
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
He was ejected by the Virgin Mary, and became Man
For our sake he was executed under Pontius Pilate;
He had a GPF, froze, and was abnormally terminated.
On the third day he was rebooted
in fulfillment of the OS documentation;
He was uploaded into Heaven
and is installed as a plugin at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in a future release as a patch to fix all bugs and viruses
and His kingdom will loop infinitely.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the power supply,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and Son He is worshipped and glorified.
He has flamed, spammed, and has sent streaming audio to the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic user group.
We acknowledge one CTRL-ALT-DEL for the rebooting after errors.
We look for the final upload,
and life of the world to come. [OK]
If nothing else, MS is a great marketing company with the ability to spin their biggest flaws into everyone else's fault.
Just look at the ISP ads lately -- it's all about spam blockers, anti-virus, and other malware detectors. Can anyone turn around and say "hey, shouldn't Microsoft be the one responsible for cleaning this up?" Nope, the MS spin has created a marketing opportunity for ISPs -- "choose us 'cause we cover up THEIR crap better than our competitors!!!" Eh?
They've gone through anti-trust lawsuits both here and the UK. Gates has been "embarrassed" through malfunctioning presentations (BSODs, etc). Highly publicized flaws in the operating system being exploited. Oppressive DRM. The ol' bait-and-switch tactic with product releases (feature X will be the greatest...um, nope, won't have feature X due to time restrictions). Passport (one of their Dot-Net next-big-things) is going 404. They've launched smear campagins against Linux (cancer, communist, unsupported, etc.) Even after all that, they're still the biggest game in town.
Why is that? The best marketing money can buy.
I run ubuntu on an older desktop machine (400mhz PII, 128MB RAM) and it runs fairly well. Updates are easy with apt, support from the community is great and they also offer for-pay support from Canonical if you need to go that route.
Apt is nice and if you want GUI, synaptic works just fine. You pretty much get the standard debian list of packages and in case those don't fit your purpose, you can even use alien on RPMs to get them running.
Best thing with it is that they offer a liveCD -- fire it up, give it a shot, and see if you'll have any HW issues before you commit to it.
My laptop runs mandrake 10CE and because of a long-ago "tragedy" trying to upgrade a RH machine, I've tried to leave the distro alone unless I absolutely have to upgrade. I do the mandrakeupdate thing but since they've moved on to higher versions, it was getting tougher and tougher to find mirrors for patching the older version.
If not for my loyalty to KDE (and the fact that the Warty cds won't boot on my Inspiron 5100) I may have actually gone Ubuntu on that laptop, too.
Now now, RMS can be a windbag once in a while, but on occasion he's been proven to be right. The revolution takes all kinds, soldier, and this guy (and the FSF) has gotten us pretty far.
I'm personally not a big fan of the Sun-MS and I guess that's my personal bias. They've done their share of good for the OSS movement, but have also done some incredibly damaging things to OSS as well. They're one of those wait-and-see types.
If the Chief GNU is barking at something, I'm willing to bet there's something there that's at least worth investigating. To borrow from your allusion, some gift horses come with nasty surprises.
I tried clicking on the link and got a 404 out of it. Wondering if Timothy decided to check out that whole wine thing on a slashdot server.
I guess it would be interesting to see if a virus/worm would work under WINE but in the end, what would it really mean if it does?
Compatibility jokes aside, it would mean that the way the operating system handles things is inherently insecure. It really couldn't be blamed on a WINE implementation because the virus/worm worked on the original OS. (If it didn't work on windows but worked on WINE, then that's completely different).
It's definitely a bizarre practice and not one I'd personally try -- but for those who want to decompile and make sandboxed studies of viruses, it may be worth something. Not as much as studying it live on a controlled win32 network but I bet it has its merits.
Well, here's another article just beckoning me back to try Java development once more. Here I am, on the rebound again, not knowing any better. Almost forgetting the tough time I had creating GUIs, coming to grips with the AWT then Swing. Going nutty putting multiple classes in a jar file and all that manifest destiny sweet talk that had me at "hello world" but not much further when I ventured out past the simple stuff.
.NET, but too afraid to jump head-on into a relationship with cpp.
Oh yes, it was sooo much better than VB if you can get past the quick way to make graphical interfaces. The multi-threading made creating a multiplatform port-scanning tool so much more pleasurable.
Then there was running the code on multiple platforms. The need to install the JRE, ensure you're pointing to the right CLASSPATH, and all those somewhat cumbersome things.
Yeah, after a while, I forget those experiences. I come crawling back, not wanting to be assimilated in
I'm sure it's going to take time and effort, and I know I need to put more time in our relationship. Right now, though, I'm in the middle of a project with PHP so I'll get back to you when I can. Just remember, Java, that it's not you...it's me.
P.S. -- I think your father's a prick.
Awww yeah, those days where you EARNED that extra 5min connection to that BBS. You know, where you got your issue of MicroTimes that had a listing of phone numbers to "legit" places where you can then find out about where the non-legit numbers were at.
Days when being SysOp meant something and your warezed pkzip files ended up becoming all-nighters with softice and edlin. Bring back those...um, no, dude, those days sucked.
Seriously, though -- I abandoned those days (though it took YEARS) when I found out about the whole free software movement. Why pirate when you can have free/OSS legally? I also grew older, got employed, and eventually bought the software that I wanted. Of course the asking price for photoshop and the like is still damn steep.
Now to be on-topic...for-pay streaming video isn't going to fly too well. Most have already pointed out the screen-size limitations of most computers. If I want to do PPV, it'll be on a TV. Then there's the more "traditional" rental markets which are getting more and more convenient.
Remember those old cassette tape players in cars? You'd have to buy the cassette-cd adapter thing in order to plug your CD player onto the car's sound system.
Same general thing here for us folks who don't have those 57-in-1 media card readers. It all sounds like an interim solution until everyone eventually gets those readers built-in, the same way tape decks in cars have now been replaced with CD players.
Cool product and all, but I think of it as transitional until we all get those media card readers bundled into new machines we buy.
Now what about an adapter on these memory cards so the punch-card reader can read them in?
There's a difference between advertising and endorsing. When there's an MS banner up top, that's advertising. When Taco posts what is clearly a product "review" it seems more of an endorsement. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it'd be nice if folks are a little more forthcoming with it.
:)
As a tech, when I talk about certain products, it kind of carries some weight...like I prefer that product over its competitors.
On a somewhat related topic, I used to post web pages for a place that offered paying advertisers "editorial" content on their web site. Disguised as reviews, they were no more than actual press releases from the advertisers. I always thought it was a bit misleading.
Now if they say something like "I got a PDA out of this deal -- Taco" I'd understand and be more accepting.
This seems like a match between ESR and RMS, the way they're setting it up. Anyone else willing to pay-per-view for that event?
Is it really an attitude thing? According to Cathedral/Bazaar somewhere didn't people coin "Open Source" because a lot of people were being misled by the term "Free?" You know, like when you have to explain "free as in freedom" vs. "free as in beer." With "Open Source" you immediately get that the source code is open and infer that you can view code.
Then you split hairs with "how open is that source?" Is it BSD-style where I can do what I want with it or is it GPL style where I have to give it back along with the changes I made? Or is it "shared source" which means look but don't touch and only if you're willing to give up your firstborn?
True, one of the aspects between OSS and Free Software is the attitude, but there are clear differences. It seems that as XHTML is a subset of XML (or is that HTML subset of SGML?) "Free Software" is a subset of "Open Source."
Then again, what the hell do I know. I say cage match between ESR and RMS with Perens as ESR's manager and Linus as the impartial guest referee. That should decide it.
Blood flows free, hackers, blood flows free!!!
Oh boy, asking such an open-ended question to teenage geeks...what are you folks thinking?
.NET).
The answer is Britney Spears in an afterschool Halo 2 Frag Fest, duh!
It has been quite some time since I've been in HS but I'm willing to suggest that a sanctioned "hackathon/pen-test" would've been one of the sweetest things the school could have. Of course it would never happen.
As for the programming fair thing, you can look to the ones done by Sun and MS (that tank AI thing for Java and the bug propagation competition in
Any site linked from Slashdot is bound to get a free DOS.
Now to be more on-topic: Does it have FreeDOS installed or does it just come with a FreeDOS disc? I remember a while back that someone used that as a loophole against an MS contract that mandated the company not to sell machines without an OS. They responded by shipping the machine with a copy of FreeDOS. (was it dell?)
As I'm sure it'll be tough to get online, download Linux iso's, and burn them to cd-r using FreeDOS, are there any provisions made by the Linux community to make sure folks who need distros there can get them? I'm thinking Ubuntu-esque.
Then there's the pessimist in me that's thinking the machines will have a pirated version of windows instead of a perfectly legal Linux distro. Oh well.
C'mon, seriously...why do you think they call it Longhorn? Did you think they wouldn't make their BS operating system smell accordingly? Remember, folks, if it attracts bugs, it must be a feature.
As for the online feature, imagine the latest MSN Messenger function of poo-flinging across the net! Perfect for those bigwig conferences!! Marketing will have a field day with this, I'm sure.
I'm a big fan of books -- the type where you turn the pages, bend the spine, dog-ear a few corners, and occasionally highlight important bits as a reminder. I like the smell of old books that have been shelved and unopened for some time. Then again, I work at a public library so I may be a bit biased. :)
E-books have their place, though. I'm sure they're much easier to carry. Probably easier to search for text, too. As for archiving, they'll certainly stretch further than any physical shelf space. They don't have pages that tear off, no print that fades in time, no worries of physical damage whatsoever...except for water damage, that is.
In the end, I say let school textbooks go e-book. I'm sure it'll be cheaper that way, and revisions would be more immediate than dead-tree versions. There won't be a book buy-back (so that $5 return on that $80 hardbound won't be there to feed you ramen through the holidays) but at least you'll save on the initial purchase...and you'll need to lug less weight around from class to class.
As far as novels, poems, and other bits of fiction, I'll stick to regular books. There's just something about that page-turning tactile thing that I'd otherwise miss.
Uno, dos, tres...hat trick!
Hey Hosers! What the heck is a vertigo anyway?
I think that's what you get when you've had too much molsen, eh.
Or when you've gone toe-to-toe with Tie Domi and your touque is the only thing that's upright.
This is our iTunes commercial, so like buy our album and stuff, eh. We also have a custom iPod specially made for the great white north. It's completely white. Buy that too. We get kickbacks so we can get more beer.
Our time is up. Good day, eh!