I'm lucky; I just went to ebay and picked up two(both for home & work)IMB model-m keyboards. The reason I want the buckling spring is a) I like the tactile feedback and b) what u said "IBM just drops on down once the initial edge resistance is breached"--easier to press for my weak pinky fingers.
Thanks, I found out at work that current keyboards are just too big...I looked at Pfuca site...and man that keyboard is small. Especially since my fingers are not 'gracefully spider-like' and dance around the edges of my keyboard.
Only thing is, before I shell out money, is the tactile feedback of a Buckling Spring type? Anyone? Please let me know...!
People who buy pirate DVDs at the flea market for fewer than ten dollars won't pay full retail for legit ones
This is why you see IBM selling their iron with Linux: to open/grab new markets. IBM have claimed(on the past slashdot interview), that they would lose sales if they did not offer low-cost solutions.
It wasn't until the NES rose out of the console market's ashes did things kick back in gear. One thing that was great about the NES was it was stable and long lived. The same goes for the next market leader, Playstation
Ummm no. SNES was the next market leader. Even though Sega Genesis came out first(4 months I believe), SNES still climbed to the top 'cause they had a lot of quality titles. However Megadrive(SG)doing quite well in Japan.
One of the primary reasons why Playstation was the next leader was because of Nintendo's arrogance with N64 cartridge format(they made gobs of money on royalties from their 'custom' cartridge format and didn't want to lose it).
Playstation2 is similar to SNES, as the current market leader. Recent stats show PS2 selling double of GC or Xbox(60K units vs 30K) in North America. In Japan, PS2 is dominating.
Now whats interesting is: Who's the next NES or Playstation?
PS. I'm glad M$ is getting smacked around the console market. Don't they know Halo isn't going to save them?
Replacement BIOS - $55,000 Kernel and XFree drivers - $25,000 FATX and miscellaneous - $10,000 XBE bootloader $10,000 Run unsigned code on an Xbox without any hardware modification - $100,000 Turning Microsoft's business against them - Priceless
Seeing Billy Gates facial expressions after seeing a Penguin logo with "All Your Bases Belong to Us"(tm) on bootup - Even More Priceless
You forgot to add:
Programming languages that only compile *for* MS approved(i.e..NET) operating systems.
I hate M$:
First they the Operating Systems field(aka Computer Science) and fuck around with it.
Secondly, they force everyone to use their OS from OEMS to end-users. Even use dirty tactics to eliminate any compatible OSs.
Thirdly, they fuck around with standards and create proprietary interfaces. They eliminate any interoperability(*cough* CIFS/Samba).
Fourthly, they spend millions of dollars to promote.NET to build a framework around M$ OSs. They infected the root: Programming Languages which can only be run on their OS and no other. The implications of this are really scary. This isn't like trying to get everyone attached to their OS through applications(i.e. Office); but rather every line of code can only run on M$'s shit.
Fifthly and the end: Pallidium. In a nutshell, Microsoft Universe. They make laws. Unlike other industries, M$ really already owns major markets of the OS industry(consumer/mainstream 95%, server, high level--not sure but I hear its around 50-60%).
Truth be told, the company has always been run by a man who truly couldn't care less about customers, a development manager who can't understand why you don't call virtuals from a constructor, and a project lead who thinks UI coding is the end-all-be-all of computer science.
People who think UI coding is computer science should be lined up and killed. UI is like fat: it shrinks and grows. When was the last time UI was discussed in an OS class?
Put them together and you end up with very little experience trying to manage a product that has long since outlived its usefulness.
As a person who has been using GameSpy services every since Quake came out, I can say that what you say is true. I mean ever since "Gamespy Industries" came to existence, Gamespy has gone down into the gutter. With the dozens and dozens of planetfuck sites, ad-ridden Gamespy arcade, and now the line-up Fileplanet(subscription service)...Gamespy has moved from what once had humble origins to corporate fuck up.
Take for instance Gamespy Arcade. It is a novel idea, in that you can play webbie games and other fav. games from one client/w integrated IE web browser. They took the online game service models(M$ zone, Sega Heat, etc) and placed it coveniently under one app. But the point that pisses me off in Gamespy Arcade is simply the fact of those fuck-filled almost-full-screen ads. They force you to watch and wait for the ads(before the 'X' is enabled).
When I want to play a game like Quake3, I want to quickly browse the list, check available servers, and join. GSA prevents this, and makes everything time-consuming to the point that I'm not in the "mood" to play anymore.
Another quibble about Gamespy Industries(yes I want to really bash those fuckers), is they were one of the first big gaming sites to implement(badly) Flash-based ads. I remember the day Xbox was launched...I went to www.gamespy.com only to be served with a FULL-SCREEN fucking ad about Xbox. This was followed by lots of Taco-bell ads that fly across the screen where I difficulty of closing them(small 'x').
This is when Gamespy became to corporatish for me, and I realized they didn't give a hootnany about gamers.
Not EULA, but Microsoft's property. Apparently binaries compiled with the XDK end up with some part of them still copyrighted by Microsoft, so they clearly have a case here.
If I recall, the original author of glide underground created some sort of a 'glide wrapper'...I can't remember too much as this was way back in 3dfx days.
But the point that stuck to me, is the same point you mention. 3dfx complained(with a cease and desist...if my memory is correct) to the author that the glide wrapper was created using 3dfx's proprietary SDK(using its headers and what not).
I'm still hazy on the details, but the glide wrapper author stopped development for a while. I don't want to say more, otherwise I'd be pulling arguments out of my ass. But I'll say this much, when people did reverse-engineer the API(nm'ed the glide DLLs), 3dfx couldn't say nothing. I guess the same would be for M$.
The whole point of this post is to show you that a similar incident regarding proprietary sdks already happened in the past. People learned, and moved on.
I agree with many points you have brought up. My primary concern with KDE3 is the baffling number of "k" programs that don't really work in my experience. And the ones that do work, well, don't work too well(they are not too stable...Konqueror)
There's Kthis, kthat, etc. And then you got KWord,KPresenter, etc. I mean WTF! Desktop Managers should only focus on the desktop. Let groups who specialize in office-like suites do their job(OpenOffice,StarOffice,etc). Make a few k-style programs, not knote, kjot, kedit, kview...where they all pretty much fuckin' to the same thing. This point is fucking serious.
I guess my main gripe with KDE is that is tries to do too much without being focused. Sure, I love the konsole program, and love the Konqueror with its ability to add a terminal to the bottom pane...but KDE in the end just pisses me off.
Also, kde doesn't have a lot of originality. Meaning it is too much like fucking Windows--but not consisent in that regard. This is open source--there is no freakin' manager trying to say "release! release!". At the very least they should think of new ways of doing things better than windows, simpler than windows. If Apple can do Aqua, so can we.
I liked the design approach of Gnome2, where they actually did usability testing and were looking for new ways to do things and remained focus. This is why I am really looking forward to Gnome2.
What ever you do, do not rely upon general information or discussions you may hear on/. even if the poster is a lawyer.
The best advice anyone can give for those who may get their asses sued. Also, don't believe posters who say they are lawyers. Who knows what they fuck they do in real life.
"But your honour, I saw a post on Slashdot by a laywer who firmly stated I am not liable!"
They want lotsa gamers...just read the following excerpt from the article:
After much hand-wringing, Mr. Gates approved the box because he felt Microsoft needed to face the threat of the PlayStation 2 and hook gamers on Microsoft products(emphasis mine)
"There is a debate going on if it is better for Microsoft to lose more money and get an installed base, or underperform in unit sales and lose less money," said John Taylor, an analyst at Arcadia Investment in Portland, Oregon. "My sense in strategic sales is it is more important to get an installed base."(emphasis mine)
WTF! This is why I hate Microsoft and do not want them to acquire every fucking market out there, 'cause I like games with a passion. They are so fucking desperate to "own" us, and are willing to throw $$$ at my face. They don't care how long or how much money...oh shit I hope it doesn't lead to Yet Another Market Owned by Microsoft(YAMOM).
They have screwed every other market with their inferior tech, from OS to APIs to Internet products, so that we get hooked on "Microsoft Products".
Sorry M$ that you are losing in the game market, assholes. The reason I bought PS2 was 'cause it had awesome games from MSG2 to FFX. And I'm gonna buy the Gamecube too when those good games start to role in. You see I still have choice in the game market, and I like that.
Who's the sucker? The company "stealing" 5000-man-hours code created by volunteers or the volunteers not understanding what the GPL is?
If you, the author of your code, don't like "Big Companies" stealing code, then change your license. Attach a license that more or less says, that no one can use your code commercially(for profit).
IF you don't realize this or don't care(and think GPL is the holy grail of "Open Source"(tm)), then I don't give a flying fuck who's using your GPL'ed code as long as they comply with the license.
As an aside, don't cry about UL not releasing binaries either; as they are adding a "cost-to-use" factor. For example, not many people would install linux, if you had to compile the kernel, compile 100s of packages, configure and write scripts, etc. all on your own.
You might want to wait and let the dust settle rather than risk a heavy investment in a possible orphan format.
Call me pragmatic, but I just wanna know which DVD-burner will burn Playstation 2 dvds:)
Generally speaking I try to buy the majority, if not all my parts from one or two vendors, because shipping can really make or break a deal.
That's the case with us Canadian boys. We don't have a lot of online retailers up here. And I've found a lot of good deals down south, but shipping and duty remove the low price advantage. I mean to ship to Canada:
a) US currency for us Canadians is expensive these days. Before 1.29CDN bought $1.00US, now its (omg) ~$1.53CDN.
b) Fucking Duty. Canadian gov't love their fuckin' tax. I mean for duty we have to pay 15% tax(7% federal tax, 8% provincial) on top of the item. For example, if I buy something that costs $200 CDN from states, I still gotta pay an extra $30 for the tax.
c) High shipping costs. While most online retailers have "normal" shipping rates for US residents, for Canadian/International suckers they inflate the price. Plus, we don't get choice of shipping courier, and usually have to default to an expensive one like Fedex($20US - $30US).
d) And now we have a mysterious handling charge after 9/11. $5-$10 bucks CDN for package inspection.
All this means: I don't order from states anymore unless I get an excellent deal(only happens on ebay).
If people who advertise on Google make more money than they do with banner ads, pop-ups, etc. then we'll see the idea spread. I don't like in-my-face ads, so I do what I can to tell companies that. It's called being a responsible consumer.
This argument was already talked about extensively in the past. I don't have the direct references, but you have to understand how Google is funded and why it is radically different from every other "good-at-first-ad-shit-later" search engine.
In a nutshell, Google had an infusion of venture capital. They are still living off that capital today. No wonder they can keep themselves humble, simple, fast with features I like with non-intrusive ads. Also their "pigeon-based" search algorithm is very fast:)
But, do you really think Google found a way to keep itself profitable with small ads when *every* major site is using Flash, sounds, 4x4 ads, flying flash ads, etc? And the fact that most sites are turning into subscription-based news sites like Slashdot, IGN, Gamespot, and others?
It sounds kind of silly how can Google survive the market conditions these days. But the matter of fact is, they are rich AND they are hiring. No shit.
Windows declares itself better than linux, Gnome declares itself better than KDE Emacs declares itself better than VI PHP declares itself better than Perl
Well, I can:
#undef Windows #undef Gnome #undef Emacs #undef PHP
.debs suffer from all the same problems he complained about rpms having, because.debs are just a single package file. so do source code files (a la gentoo etc), since alot of your source code out there wont even./configure without the right stuff in place. where debian has apt-get to manage the dependency nightmare, gentoo has emerge.
I have to disagree with you here. While every software package has dependencies, binary software packages like RPM can depend on some package versioned 1.0.0.1 and you have 1.0.0.2. Then you go ahead and download the package ver 1.0.0.1 and install it. Problem is, rpm would say package 1.0.0.1 conflicts with 1.0.0.2. Then you try to remove 1.0.0.2 and you get a bunch of more dependency errors.
With source code files, you don't have this problem AS LONG AS the external libs the source code files reference haven't changed too much(e.g. API interface + function is same).
I'm not too familiar with building rpm packages from scratch, but there should be a base compatability version say 1.0.x that would allow a package to work with 1.0.0.1 or 1.0.0.2.
I briefly looked how to program for the GBA's video controller. Essentially it is just a plane-based method(similar to the plane-modes in VGA). Of course they have other fancy shit with this such as "mode 7"-like graphics and sprite-handling.
I believe(though I am not certain) that programming graphics for the SNES and NES would be similar, and hence the huge porting of games from those platforms. But I don't think they use the same CPU(GBA uses Arm, dunno about SNES or NES). Maybe someone can enlighten me here.
Mozilla already boast features that IE does not have: Tab browsing, ad disabling, cleaner javascript, multiple platform support
Microsoft, if they want to, can implement tabbed browsing and disabling of javascript pop-ups. And if they really wanted to, they can become a W3C compliant browser. After all, M$ has shown they can flex their muscles, throw $$$, and do such shit(which is not difficult).
On the otherhand, M$ will have a hard time to beat multiplatform support. Yes, IE runs on Mac and Solaris, but doesn't run as good as the Windows counterpart. IE was ugly and slow on Solaris...
Personally I believe that when AOL starts bundling Mozilla/Netscape 7 with their software, only then will we see the fall of the behemoth.(Anyone know how well is the Compuserve test going with the new Netscape?)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm lucky; I just went to ebay and picked up two(both for home & work)IMB model-m keyboards. The reason I want the buckling spring is a) I like the tactile feedback and b) what u said "IBM just drops on down once the initial edge resistance is breached"--easier to press for my weak pinky fingers.
Well, tell the aerospace companies that millions were spent on sending the little Mars Lander to space, but it crashed and burned.
All because someone put in metric data, when the little 'bot only understood imperial. Doh! Now's the time to change to the mighty metric system!
Thanks, I found out at work that current keyboards are just too big...I looked at Pfuca site...and man that keyboard is small. Especially since my fingers are not 'gracefully spider-like' and dance around the edges of my keyboard. Only thing is, before I shell out money, is the tactile feedback of a Buckling Spring type? Anyone? Please let me know...!
People who buy pirate DVDs at the flea market for fewer than ten dollars won't pay full retail for legit ones
This is why you see IBM selling their iron with Linux: to open/grab new markets. IBM have claimed(on the past slashdot interview), that they would lose sales if they did not offer low-cost solutions.
First they ignore you...
Then they laugh at you...
Then they fight you...
Then...
They fuck you.
"Microsoft Linux" Isn't that an oxymoron?
Last time I checked, April Fools was 3 months ago.
It wasn't until the NES rose out of the console market's ashes did things kick back in gear. One thing that was great about the NES was it was stable and long lived. The same goes for the next market leader, Playstation
Ummm no. SNES was the next market leader. Even though Sega Genesis came out first(4 months I believe), SNES still climbed to the top 'cause they had a lot of quality titles. However Megadrive(SG)doing quite well in Japan.
One of the primary reasons why Playstation was the next leader was because of Nintendo's arrogance with N64 cartridge format(they made gobs of money on royalties from their 'custom' cartridge format and didn't want to lose it).
Playstation2 is similar to SNES, as the current market leader. Recent stats show PS2 selling double of GC or Xbox(60K units vs 30K) in North America. In Japan, PS2 is dominating.
Now whats interesting is: Who's the next NES or Playstation?
PS. I'm glad M$ is getting smacked around the console market. Don't they know Halo isn't going to save them?
Thanks. I added the removal request for sourceforge.
But I also evilishly added a new one: www.microsoft.com to be filtered under Cults,Occults.
Happy Birthday Microsoft.
Replacement BIOS - $55,000
Kernel and XFree drivers - $25,000
FATX and miscellaneous - $10,000
XBE bootloader $10,000
Run unsigned code on an Xbox without any hardware modification - $100,000
Turning Microsoft's business against them - Priceless
Seeing Billy Gates facial expressions after seeing a Penguin logo with "All Your Bases Belong to Us"(tm) on bootup - Even More Priceless
You forgot to add: Programming languages that only compile *for* MS approved(i.e. .NET) operating systems.
I hate M$:
First they the Operating Systems field(aka Computer Science) and fuck around with it.
Secondly, they force everyone to use their OS from OEMS to end-users. Even use dirty tactics to eliminate any compatible OSs.
Thirdly, they fuck around with standards and create proprietary interfaces. They eliminate any interoperability(*cough* CIFS/Samba).
Fourthly, they spend millions of dollars to promote .NET to build a framework around M$ OSs. They infected the root: Programming Languages which can only be run on their OS and no other. The implications of this are really scary. This isn't like trying to get everyone attached to their OS through applications(i.e. Office); but rather every line of code can only run on M$'s shit.
Fifthly and the end: Pallidium. In a nutshell, Microsoft Universe. They make laws. Unlike other industries, M$ really already owns major markets of the OS industry(consumer/mainstream 95%, server, high level--not sure but I hear its around 50-60%).
Truth be told, the company has always been run by a man who truly couldn't care less about customers, a development manager who can't understand why you don't call virtuals from a constructor, and a project lead who thinks UI coding is the end-all-be-all of computer science.
/w integrated IE web browser. They took the online game service models(M$ zone, Sega Heat, etc) and placed it coveniently under one app. But the point that pisses me off in Gamespy Arcade is simply the fact of those fuck-filled almost-full-screen ads. They force you to watch and wait for the ads(before the 'X' is enabled).
People who think UI coding is computer science should be lined up and killed. UI is like fat: it shrinks and grows. When was the last time UI was discussed in an OS class?
Put them together and you end up with very little experience trying to manage a product that has long since outlived its usefulness.
As a person who has been using GameSpy services every since Quake came out, I can say that what you say is true. I mean ever since "Gamespy Industries" came to existence, Gamespy has gone down into the gutter. With the dozens and dozens of planetfuck sites, ad-ridden Gamespy arcade, and now the line-up Fileplanet(subscription service)...Gamespy has moved from what once had humble origins to corporate fuck up.
Take for instance Gamespy Arcade. It is a novel idea, in that you can play webbie games and other fav. games from one client
When I want to play a game like Quake3, I want to quickly browse the list, check available servers, and join. GSA prevents this, and makes everything time-consuming to the point that I'm not in the "mood" to play anymore.
Another quibble about Gamespy Industries(yes I want to really bash those fuckers), is they were one of the first big gaming sites to implement(badly) Flash-based ads. I remember the day Xbox was launched...I went to www.gamespy.com only to be served with a FULL-SCREEN fucking ad about Xbox. This was followed by lots of Taco-bell ads that fly across the screen where I difficulty of closing them(small 'x').
This is when Gamespy became to corporatish for me, and I realized they didn't give a hootnany about gamers.
Not EULA, but Microsoft's property. Apparently binaries compiled with the XDK end up with some part of them still copyrighted by Microsoft, so they clearly have a case here.
If I recall, the original author of glide underground created some sort of a 'glide wrapper'...I can't remember too much as this was way back in 3dfx days.
But the point that stuck to me, is the same point you mention. 3dfx complained(with a cease and desist...if my memory is correct) to the author that the glide wrapper was created using 3dfx's proprietary SDK(using its headers and what not).
I'm still hazy on the details, but the glide wrapper author stopped development for a while. I don't want to say more, otherwise I'd be pulling arguments out of my ass. But I'll say this much, when people did reverse-engineer the API(nm'ed the glide DLLs), 3dfx couldn't say nothing. I guess the same would be for M$.
The whole point of this post is to show you that a similar incident regarding proprietary sdks already happened in the past. People learned, and moved on.
I agree with many points you have brought up. My primary concern with KDE3 is the baffling number of "k" programs that don't really work in my experience. And the ones that do work, well, don't work too well(they are not too stable...Konqueror)
There's Kthis, kthat, etc. And then you got KWord,KPresenter, etc. I mean WTF! Desktop Managers should only focus on the desktop. Let groups who specialize in office-like suites do their job(OpenOffice,StarOffice,etc). Make a few k-style programs, not knote, kjot, kedit, kview...where they all pretty much fuckin' to the same thing. This point is fucking serious.
I guess my main gripe with KDE is that is tries to do too much without being focused. Sure, I love the konsole program, and love the Konqueror with its ability to add a terminal to the bottom pane...but KDE in the end just pisses me off.
Also, kde doesn't have a lot of originality. Meaning it is too much like fucking Windows--but not consisent in that regard. This is open source--there is no freakin' manager trying to say "release! release!". At the very least they should think of new ways of doing things better than windows, simpler than windows. If Apple can do Aqua, so can we.
I liked the design approach of Gnome2, where they actually did usability testing and were looking for new ways to do things and remained focus. This is why I am really looking forward to Gnome2.
What ever you do, do not rely upon general information or discussions you may hear on /. even if the poster is a lawyer.
The best advice anyone can give for those who may get their asses sued. Also, don't believe posters who say they are lawyers. Who knows what they fuck they do in real life.
"But your honour, I saw a post on Slashdot by a laywer who firmly stated I am not liable!"
"Slash what?"
They want lotsa gamers...just read the following excerpt from the article:
After much hand-wringing, Mr. Gates approved the box because he felt Microsoft needed to face the threat of the PlayStation 2 and hook gamers on Microsoft products(emphasis mine)
"There is a debate going on if it is better for Microsoft to lose more money and get an installed base, or underperform in unit sales and lose less money," said John Taylor, an analyst at Arcadia Investment in Portland, Oregon. "My sense in strategic sales is it is more important to get an installed base."(emphasis mine)
WTF! This is why I hate Microsoft and do not want them to acquire every fucking market out there, 'cause I like games with a passion. They are so fucking desperate to "own" us, and are willing to throw $$$ at my face. They don't care how long or how much money...oh shit I hope it doesn't lead to Yet Another Market Owned by Microsoft(YAMOM).
They have screwed every other market with their inferior tech, from OS to APIs to Internet products, so that we get hooked on "Microsoft Products".
Sorry M$ that you are losing in the game market, assholes. The reason I bought PS2 was 'cause it had awesome games from MSG2 to FFX. And I'm gonna buy the Gamecube too when those good games start to role in. You see I still have choice in the game market, and I like that.
Who's the sucker? The company "stealing" 5000-man-hours code created by volunteers or the volunteers not understanding what the GPL is?
If you, the author of your code, don't like "Big Companies" stealing code, then change your license. Attach a license that more or less says, that no one can use your code commercially(for profit).
IF you don't realize this or don't care(and think GPL is the holy grail of "Open Source"(tm)), then I don't give a flying fuck who's using your GPL'ed code as long as they comply with the license.
As an aside, don't cry about UL not releasing binaries either; as they are adding a "cost-to-use" factor. For example, not many people would install linux, if you had to compile the kernel, compile 100s of packages, configure and write scripts, etc. all on your own.
But who will watch those watchers? And who will watch them?
"Double Cross."
Look into your history books for this special term...
You might want to wait and let the dust settle rather than risk a heavy investment in a possible orphan format. Call me pragmatic, but I just wanna know which DVD-burner will burn Playstation 2 dvds:)
Generally speaking I try to buy the majority, if not all my parts from one or two vendors, because shipping can really make or break a deal.
That's the case with us Canadian boys. We don't have a lot of online retailers up here. And I've found a lot of good deals down south, but shipping and duty remove the low price advantage. I mean to ship to Canada:
a) US currency for us Canadians is expensive these days. Before 1.29CDN bought $1.00US, now its (omg) ~$1.53CDN.
b) Fucking Duty. Canadian gov't love their fuckin' tax. I mean for duty we have to pay 15% tax(7% federal tax, 8% provincial) on top of the item. For example, if I buy something that costs $200 CDN from states, I still gotta pay an extra $30 for the tax.
c) High shipping costs. While most online retailers have "normal" shipping rates for US residents, for Canadian/International suckers they inflate the price. Plus, we don't get choice of shipping courier, and usually have to default to an expensive one like Fedex($20US - $30US).
d) And now we have a mysterious handling charge after 9/11. $5-$10 bucks CDN for package inspection.
All this means: I don't order from states anymore unless I get an excellent deal(only happens on ebay).
If people who advertise on Google make more money than they do with banner ads, pop-ups, etc. then we'll see the idea spread. I don't like in-my-face ads, so I do what I can to tell companies that. It's called being a responsible consumer.
This argument was already talked about extensively in the past. I don't have the direct references, but you have to understand how Google is funded and why it is radically different from every other "good-at-first-ad-shit-later" search engine.
In a nutshell, Google had an infusion of venture capital. They are still living off that capital today. No wonder they can keep themselves humble, simple, fast with features I like with non-intrusive ads. Also their "pigeon-based" search algorithm is very fast:)
But, do you really think Google found a way to keep itself profitable with small ads when *every* major site is using Flash, sounds, 4x4 ads, flying flash ads, etc? And the fact that most sites are turning into subscription-based news sites like Slashdot, IGN, Gamespot, and others?
It sounds kind of silly how can Google survive the market conditions these days. But the matter of fact is, they are rich AND they are hiring. No shit.
Windows declares itself better than linux,
Gnome declares itself better than KDE
Emacs declares itself better than VI
PHP declares itself better than Perl
Well, I can:
#undef Windows
#undef Gnome
#undef Emacs
#undef PHP
Who's better now?
.debs suffer from all the same problems he complained about rpms having, because .debs are just a single package file. so do source code files (a la gentoo etc), since alot of your source code out there wont even ./configure without the right stuff in place. where debian has apt-get to manage the dependency nightmare, gentoo has emerge.
I have to disagree with you here. While every software package has dependencies, binary software packages like RPM can depend on some package versioned 1.0.0.1 and you have 1.0.0.2. Then you go ahead and download the package ver 1.0.0.1 and install it. Problem is, rpm would say package 1.0.0.1 conflicts with 1.0.0.2. Then you try to remove 1.0.0.2 and you get a bunch of more dependency errors.
With source code files, you don't have this problem AS LONG AS the external libs the source code files reference haven't changed too much(e.g. API interface + function is same).
I'm not too familiar with building rpm packages from scratch, but there should be a base compatability version say 1.0.x that would allow a package to work with 1.0.0.1 or 1.0.0.2.
I briefly looked how to program for the GBA's video controller. Essentially it is just a plane-based method(similar to the plane-modes in VGA). Of course they have other fancy shit with this such as "mode 7"-like graphics and sprite-handling.
I believe(though I am not certain) that programming graphics for the SNES and NES would be similar, and hence the huge porting of games from those platforms. But I don't think they use the same CPU(GBA uses Arm, dunno about SNES or NES). Maybe someone can enlighten me here.
Mozilla already boast features that IE does not have: Tab browsing, ad disabling, cleaner javascript, multiple platform support
Microsoft, if they want to, can implement tabbed browsing and disabling of javascript pop-ups. And if they really wanted to, they can become a W3C compliant browser. After all, M$ has shown they can flex their muscles, throw $$$, and do such shit(which is not difficult).
On the otherhand, M$ will have a hard time to beat multiplatform support. Yes, IE runs on Mac and Solaris, but doesn't run as good as the Windows counterpart. IE was ugly and slow on Solaris...
Personally I believe that when AOL starts bundling Mozilla/Netscape 7 with their software, only then will we see the fall of the behemoth.(Anyone know how well is the Compuserve test going with the new Netscape?)