Last week I realized the error of my ways in running all one platform, therefore I took an old PC and installed DOS 6.2 and Windows 1.0 on it.
And where exactly did you get your copies of DOS 6.2 and Windows 1.0 ? We would like to see your papers, please.
The BSA
Re:Other IT Myths
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IT Myths
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Point taken, but when you're in an auditorium, and the principal manager of a death march is given an award for documenting the *lessons learned* (which are all related to incompetent or untrained IT staff), it's even worse than seeing him promoted. Sometimes I wonder why IT people don't go postal.
Re:No...the biggest myth is:
on
IT Myths
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Your opinion matters to the one who authorizes purchases.
In our company, it's more like:
Boss: Our Megabux system does not meet the organization's needs because it doesn't do X, Y, and Z.
IT: It does do all those things.
Boss: It doesn't work correctly because it does not programatically match our mission and is architectually incompatible and too tightly coupled with our other existing systems, according to my golfing partner.
IT: It meets all the design and functional requirements. In fact, it works quite well.
Boss: I know we can improve the system by leveraging the superior talent used by commercial software companies and using COTS software because I read it in a magazine, and I want everyone to know I knew it first. It will also save us tons of money.
IT: It will be a huge, costly, time-consuming project to replace our working system with COTS and integrate all the interconnected systems.
Boss: Send out an RFP, and I'll be watching this project closely since you've made your opposition known. If it fails, I'll know why.
What about "outsourcing doesn't work", at least when it comes to software development projects.
The myth would be "outsourcing works", but I get your point. If you've read the trade rags like Infoworld and Computerworld, you'll find the *success* stories are all the same. The company gets rid of most of its developers, but has to triple the work done in project management, design, and writing rock-solid requirements and test cases for acceptance testing. If anything needs to be changed or is disputed, the whole thing falls apart. The savings reported by *successful* outsourced projects are generally small (less than 20%, and those are assumed). The losses reported by failed outsourced projects are large (and easily documented from the recovery costs), and that's only from the companies that are willing to admit having failed.
Ouch. That struck a nerve. Everyone who's seen companies hire Junior incompetents over Senior Engineers, raise your hand.
I've seen companies retain Junior incompetents over Senior Engineers. Our new management's philosophy is that seniority or length of service has no weight. Apparently, salary does, and it's a negative weight. Now, it often takes three people to do the work one was doing before. Oh well, management will get bonuses for lowering the average salary - that's all that really matters.
Re:Other IT Myths
on
IT Myths
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Phase 7: Promotion of nonparticipants.
In our company, phase 7 is awards for the managers.
So having the shareholders rise up and start a class action lawsuit against SCO's upper management for acts in violation of U.S. securities fraud laws wouldn't be good enough?
Okay, I'm torn on that one, but in this case, I have to think any remaining shareholders are speculators who deserve to get burned when the stock becomes worthless.
How about combining the goatse guy and Darl's likeness for a mascot?
While that is a good idea, I don't think it would make people think better of SCO's name or business.
I wouldn't call it that, but then I don't drop into AC mode during an argument either.
This is a major point of disagreement I have with many OSS people. And a main reason I call them idealists. Technologies don't win the war, money and power do. The real fight here is between the two powers, Microsoft and anti-Microsoft corporations, such as IBM and Oracle. OSS is simply a pawn in the game.
There is no war. There is no anti-Microsoft cartel. IIRC, both IBM and Oracle are partners with MS on several initiatives. OSS is not a pawn, it is a tool, and different people may use it for different reasons. What's happening is not a revolution, it is an evolution from single-source software to commodity software - the same thing that happened with PC hardware.
You should have just admitted that you work for Microsoft at the start.
Actually I think the best use for the SCO name after all this is over is a SCO linux distro which helped former SCO users migrate.
No, nothing should be done to redeem SCO's name. Like WorldCom and Enron, it should remain a name too evil to use. SCO should be remembered by the warning signs around the barren, salted ground where its razed building once stood. Not that I have strong feelings about it.
Obviously the topics, OSS and communism, are too broad to narrow down in a few paragraphs.
Yes, when you find you've dug yourself into a hole, the wisest thing it to stop digging.
Microsoft is not scared by the geeks in the OSS community, but by IBM and Oracle's taking advantage of those geeks to attain their own, money-making, goals which they cannot do in the traditional business way. If Linux stays a hobby, then Microsoft has nothing to be afraid of.
If Microsoft starts offering secure products without bloat at reasonable prices and without restricting the user's ability to use their own computer, Microsoft has nothing to fear at all. Who would switch? IBM and other companies have begun to support and even contribute to OSS because it offers customers an alternative. As a customer, the last thing I want is to be locked into a single supplier, and Microsoft proved that danger to the world with product activation and MS Licensing 6.0. There are a lot of unhappy people out there who paid for MS products that never happened. That is the real threat to Microsoft. Whether MS is scared or not is not germane - any well-run company that is not a monopoly should always be "scared".
You think communists steal land from people.
Don't put thoughts in my head or words in my mouth. You are the one ranting about how communist steal land and stuff and trying to draw a silly parallel to OSS.
For example, without grabbing the land from American Indians two hundreds years, America wouldn't be here to be an example of justice and democracy to the world.
Conquerors and invaders come in all flavors, which has nothing to do with communism, capitalism, or other econonic systems. America (as in the USA) is not a democracy, it is a republic, and during the last twenty years, I certainly would not hold it up as an example of justice to the rest of the world.
You can argue communists didn't create land or factories.
I've no doubt that communists did build lots of factories - it's even in our history books. Nobody has ever created land, unless you want to argue that the Dutch and their dikes "created" it.
All this has little relevance to the point. OSS deprives no rich people of their possessions. Unlike land, which existed before us and is finite, software is created as a mental activity, and OSS allows people to do as they choose with the fruits of their own labor. If you believe that people should only be allowed to write software under the aegis of a business, then you are either a looneytune whacko or you have no idea what software is. You continue to pontificate about communist confiscations of property and OSS without ever providing a concrete example. If you have a real point, then fer-cryin-out-loud, MAKE IT. However, if it follows the usual form, this is where tell you me that I have been trolled.
You are behaving just like a communist: classifying everyone who happens to have a different view from you as your enemy.
I didn't declare anyone my enemy. It seems you're projecting your feelings.
Just like any two complicated phenomena, you can always point out tons of differences in details. If you are not willing to see the paralell, then they are not there for you.
Which two phenomena are you referring to? It's not complicated, you presented a broken, insulting metaphor and have still not answered the question: exactly what software was confiscated from wealthy people and given to the unwashed OSS masses? Name it.
I can see a paralell between communist's view on land ownership and your view on software business.
Then your vision is foggy. I don't create land. I do create software and the occasional painting, and I can do with them as I please, whether that be selling or giving it away, or licensing it.
IBM and Oracle are self-professed leaders of software industry as well, how come the OSS people are in love with them?
Another mistaken assumption. If you are bored enough to go through my comment history, you will find I'm no fan of IBM and don't trust them in the least. I'm no friend to Oracle either.
You think OSS is not detrimental to the society? Communists were extremely friendly to the society before they came to power.
That's a major tinfoil hat you've got. Do you really believe that an unorganized hodgepodge of software geeks who can't even be prodded to vote are out to seize power? Like most people, what they want is freedom from opression.
You think you know right from wrong? I am not so sure. Are you sure you haven't been indoctrinated? How come you take for granted communism is wrong?
Yet another faulty assumption. I don't believe that communism is inherently bad/wrong or that capitalism is inherently good/right. Both are economic models that have serious flaws which prevent them from working in pure form in the real world.
If you are for free software, why not free land to the society as well? Isn't the latter nobler than just free software?
Again, you are insinuating that software is being stolen from someone who owns it and being used by the OSS community. Unless you can name that software (and you can't, since it doesn't exist), I have to believe you really don't know anything about OSS at all. Nobody is suggesting that Microsoft should be forced to give away products for free. F/OSS does allow people to license or give away software they've created if they want to. It's called freedom.
Oh I don't know, by holding elections and voting a leader in. That's democracy.
No that is not a democracy. We do that in the USA, and the USA is not a democracy, it is a republic. Democracies do not need to elect *leaders* or legislators or representatives, because all matters are brought to public vote. People (especially on Slashdot) use the word democracy a lot where it is not appropriate.
Duh, you're getting close to the point. There are no democracies. However, I can see how one COULD exist under either capitalism or communism (for a short period or with a very small population).
So, all-knowing and courageous AC, name that country in Europe with a socialist goverment that is a true democracy. If it has a population of less than 1000, it doesn't count. You do know what a true democracy is, don't you?
They confiscated land and businesses from wealthy people and then distributed them among the poor people.
Are you aSCOturfing? Since you're drawing a parallel, exactly what software was confiscated from wealthy people and given to the unwashed OSS masses?
The idea was very attractive to idealistic young people.
You mean the OSS ideas that home computer users had way before Microsoft, or ideas that musicians had about music before the music *Industry*? That kind of communism? Kind of like sharing what you've created? You mean the same idealistic *young* people who have spent several decades watching the small companies and jobs being decimated and common ideas being patented by the self-professed leaders of software capitalism? I doubt it. My idealism is battered and perhaps broken, but I still believe I know right from wrong, and OSS is not wrong or detrimental to any company that is not trying to enforce a lock on the marketplace (and that's against the law).
Democracy can happen under communism, socialism, or capitalsim.
I don't see how you envision a democracy under socialism, but in any case, people in the real world don't want a true democracy, which is why there aren't any. We rightfully fear mob rule, so true democracy won't happen anywhere on any large scale.
I also work with Linux and WIndows and have discovered the exact opposite to be true. I've never spent a penny on Windows books, and tons on Linux books. I also rarely spend more than an hour troubleshooting WIndows. I have had problems under Linux I could NEVER solve, things that I just stopped working on because they were taking too long and weren't worth it.
Have you had a paternity test against Bill Gates done to see if you're genetically predisposed to Windows? I have to admit I have no idea how much money our sysadmins have spent on books of either flavor, and I don't think it's relevant. When we first started our migration from Windows to Linux servers, I often had to make suggestions or give explicit instructions to get something done on a Linux box. Now, when I ask for something, the answer is usualy, "Give me two minutes, and it's done." The sysadmins seem to be more cheerful now that they're not spending all their time fighting virus outbreaks and intrusions. Unfortunately, they still have the Windows LAN to contend with. One step at a time. One admin at a time. One desktop at a time. It's happening.
Not really. He knows that if his document gets posted to a anti-MS site such as Slashdot, and if the people see versions of the document that are in MS format, they will immediately dismiss his article as FUD - regardless of what other versions might be available.
It's fairly obvious that neither the AC nor the clueless moderator who modded it Insightful read the document, which was a parody and hardly likely to be in any Microsoft-specific format. I could have moderated it down, but I don't like wasting mod points on ACs. I do hope I get to metamod the moderation.
Heh. I'd say that the only way this would work is if the SCO people could manufacture a loyal userbase, but it's more likely that they'll just hire PR people to constantly post BS, which is about the sorriest thing I can think of.
Last I heard, SCO still had about 300 people. Say 100 are lawyers. That still leaves 200 with nothing to do except post on Slashdot. Some old timers may even have low UIDs. Has anyone ever seen a (non-funny) post from anyone who admits to working for SCO in the last couple of years? I'm not paranoid, but I know they're here - watching, waiting.:)
If there isn't a band by the same name, I hereby copyright and reserve all rights to the term aSCOturfer.
If you lived in a section of the country with a significant American "Indian" population (and, yes they are still called that) where discrimination is a constant hot topic, your perception might be different. The higher probability that the sig refers to people from India does not make it unambiguous.
Accusing a group of people of racism without cause sounds like a racist troll to me. I've not seen any rampant racism against either "Indian" race on Slashdot. Objecting to having your job offshored has nothing to do with racism, it's a matter of economics.
If there is any evidence of racism on Slashdot, it is the GNAA posts, which have nothing to do with Indians. I would also object to a sig saying, "Don't reply unless you're Aryan". I don't believe race-baiting sigs have a place here. You're entitled to believe otherwise.
I currently use the dvorak keyboard layout on a powerbook. This means that without an external keyboard with a numberpad there is no efficient way for me to play
My first thought is that anyone employing a dvorak keyboard layout is masochistic enough to enjoy the added pain, so why ask for a cure?;)
SCO is being attacked? Didn't they start all this? Oh, I see, they were just defending their rights that "heroes died for"... What a blatent pull at heartstrings. What utter crap.
Truly. That was some incredible chutzpah. When I read the same paragraph, I was thinking: Fade in with America the Beautiful as the camera slowly pans in to see the author in a battered flak jacket partially showing under an American flag draped over his shoulders - with a $699 price tag attached to it. He couldn't even spell *bullshit*. What a sorry joke. He's in good company hanging with SCO. Apparently he's also too memory-impaired to remember that there was freeware, shareware, and public domain software before Microsoft and (either incarnation of) SCO, right here in the US of A. I doubt any heroes died intending that their sacrifice would allow Darl and company to pull a fast one on the American people.
Point taken. But if JAWS does not run under WINE, it would be a good thing to let the publisher know of the need for a version that is not locked into Windows (for security reasons if nothing else). If nobody complains, they won't know there are potential customers. I nag other vendors about producing Linux versions of their products. (It worked with Backpack drives.)
Slashdot Mirror
Last week I realized the error of my ways in running all one platform, therefore I took an old PC and installed DOS 6.2 and Windows 1.0 on it.
And where exactly did you get your copies of DOS 6.2 and Windows 1.0 ? We would like to see your papers, please.
The BSA
Point taken, but when you're in an auditorium, and the principal manager of a death march is given an award for documenting the *lessons learned* (which are all related to incompetent or untrained IT staff), it's even worse than seeing him promoted. Sometimes I wonder why IT people don't go postal.
Your opinion matters to the one who authorizes purchases.
In our company, it's more like:
Boss: Our Megabux system does not meet the organization's needs because it doesn't do X, Y, and Z.
IT: It does do all those things.
Boss: It doesn't work correctly because it does not programatically match our mission and is architectually incompatible and too tightly coupled with our other existing systems, according to my golfing partner.
IT: It meets all the design and functional requirements. In fact, it works quite well.
Boss: I know we can improve the system by leveraging the superior talent used by commercial software companies and using COTS software because I read it in a magazine, and I want everyone to know I knew it first. It will also save us tons of money.
IT: It will be a huge, costly, time-consuming project to replace our working system with COTS and integrate all the interconnected systems.
Boss: Send out an RFP, and I'll be watching this project closely since you've made your opposition known. If it fails, I'll know why.
What about "outsourcing doesn't work", at least when it comes to software development projects.
The myth would be "outsourcing works", but I get your point. If you've read the trade rags like Infoworld and Computerworld, you'll find the *success* stories are all the same. The company gets rid of most of its developers, but has to triple the work done in project management, design, and writing rock-solid requirements and test cases for acceptance testing. If anything needs to be changed or is disputed, the whole thing falls apart. The savings reported by *successful* outsourced projects are generally small (less than 20%, and those are assumed). The losses reported by failed outsourced projects are large (and easily documented from the recovery costs), and that's only from the companies that are willing to admit having failed.
Ouch. That struck a nerve. Everyone who's seen companies hire Junior incompetents over Senior Engineers, raise your hand.
I've seen companies retain Junior incompetents over Senior Engineers. Our new management's philosophy is that seniority or length of service has no weight. Apparently, salary does, and it's a negative weight. Now, it often takes three people to do the work one was doing before. Oh well, management will get bonuses for lowering the average salary - that's all that really matters.
Phase 7: Promotion of nonparticipants.
In our company, phase 7 is awards for the managers.
So having the shareholders rise up and start a class action lawsuit against SCO's upper management for acts in violation of U.S. securities fraud laws wouldn't be good enough?
Okay, I'm torn on that one, but in this case, I have to think any remaining shareholders are speculators who deserve to get burned when the stock becomes worthless.
How about combining the goatse guy and Darl's likeness for a mascot?
While that is a good idea, I don't think it would make people think better of SCO's name or business.
You are as cocky as ever.
I wouldn't call it that, but then I don't drop into AC mode during an argument either.
This is a major point of disagreement I have with many OSS people. And a main reason I call them idealists. Technologies don't win the war, money and power do. The real fight here is between the two powers, Microsoft and anti-Microsoft corporations, such as IBM and Oracle. OSS is simply a pawn in the game.
There is no war. There is no anti-Microsoft cartel. IIRC, both IBM and Oracle are partners with MS on several initiatives. OSS is not a pawn, it is a tool, and different people may use it for different reasons. What's happening is not a revolution, it is an evolution from single-source software to commodity software - the same thing that happened with PC hardware.
You should have just admitted that you work for Microsoft at the start.
Actually I think the best use for the SCO name after all this is over is a SCO linux distro which helped former SCO users migrate.
No, nothing should be done to redeem SCO's name. Like WorldCom and Enron, it should remain a name too evil to use. SCO should be remembered by the warning signs around the barren, salted ground where its razed building once stood. Not that I have strong feelings about it.
Obviously the topics, OSS and communism, are too broad to narrow down in a few paragraphs.
Yes, when you find you've dug yourself into a hole, the wisest thing it to stop digging.
Microsoft is not scared by the geeks in the OSS community, but by IBM and Oracle's taking advantage of those geeks to attain their own, money-making, goals which they cannot do in the traditional business way. If Linux stays a hobby, then Microsoft has nothing to be afraid of.
If Microsoft starts offering secure products without bloat at reasonable prices and without restricting the user's ability to use their own computer, Microsoft has nothing to fear at all. Who would switch? IBM and other companies have begun to support and even contribute to OSS because it offers customers an alternative. As a customer, the last thing I want is to be locked into a single supplier, and Microsoft proved that danger to the world with product activation and MS Licensing 6.0. There are a lot of unhappy people out there who paid for MS products that never happened. That is the real threat to Microsoft. Whether MS is scared or not is not germane - any well-run company that is not a monopoly should always be "scared".
You think communists steal land from people.
Don't put thoughts in my head or words in my mouth. You are the one ranting about how communist steal land and stuff and trying to draw a silly parallel to OSS.
For example, without grabbing the land from American Indians two hundreds years, America wouldn't be here to be an example of justice and democracy to the world.
Conquerors and invaders come in all flavors, which has nothing to do with communism, capitalism, or other econonic systems. America (as in the USA) is not a democracy, it is a republic, and during the last twenty years, I certainly would not hold it up as an example of justice to the rest of the world.
You can argue communists didn't create land or factories.
I've no doubt that communists did build lots of factories - it's even in our history books. Nobody has ever created land, unless you want to argue that the Dutch and their dikes "created" it.
All this has little relevance to the point. OSS deprives no rich people of their possessions. Unlike land, which existed before us and is finite, software is created as a mental activity, and OSS allows people to do as they choose with the fruits of their own labor. If you believe that people should only be allowed to write software under the aegis of a business, then you are either a looneytune whacko or you have no idea what software is. You continue to pontificate about communist confiscations of property and OSS without ever providing a concrete example. If you have a real point, then fer-cryin-out-loud, MAKE IT. However, if it follows the usual form, this is where tell you me that I have been trolled.
You are behaving just like a communist: classifying everyone who happens to have a different view from you as your enemy.
I didn't declare anyone my enemy. It seems you're projecting your feelings.
Just like any two complicated phenomena, you can always point out tons of differences in details. If you are not willing to see the paralell, then they are not there for you.
Which two phenomena are you referring to? It's not complicated, you presented a broken, insulting metaphor and have still not answered the question: exactly what software was confiscated from wealthy people and given to the unwashed OSS masses? Name it.
I can see a paralell between communist's view on land ownership and your view on software business.
Then your vision is foggy. I don't create land. I do create software and the occasional painting, and I can do with them as I please, whether that be selling or giving it away, or licensing it.
IBM and Oracle are self-professed leaders of software industry as well, how come the OSS people are in love with them?
Another mistaken assumption. If you are bored enough to go through my comment history, you will find I'm no fan of IBM and don't trust them in the least. I'm no friend to Oracle either.
You think OSS is not detrimental to the society? Communists were extremely friendly to the society before they came to power.
That's a major tinfoil hat you've got. Do you really believe that an unorganized hodgepodge of software geeks who can't even be prodded to vote are out to seize power? Like most people, what they want is freedom from opression.
You think you know right from wrong? I am not so sure. Are you sure you haven't been indoctrinated? How come you take for granted communism is wrong?
Yet another faulty assumption. I don't believe that communism is inherently bad/wrong or that capitalism is inherently good/right. Both are economic models that have serious flaws which prevent them from working in pure form in the real world.
If you are for free software, why not free land to the society as well? Isn't the latter nobler than just free software?
Again, you are insinuating that software is being stolen from someone who owns it and being used by the OSS community. Unless you can name that software (and you can't, since it doesn't exist), I have to believe you really don't know anything about OSS at all. Nobody is suggesting that Microsoft should be forced to give away products for free. F/OSS does allow people to license or give away software they've created if they want to. It's called freedom.
Oh I don't know, by holding elections and voting a leader in. That's democracy.
No that is not a democracy. We do that in the USA, and the USA is not a democracy, it is a republic. Democracies do not need to elect *leaders* or legislators or representatives, because all matters are brought to public vote. People (especially on Slashdot) use the word democracy a lot where it is not appropriate.
Duh, you're getting close to the point. There are no democracies. However, I can see how one COULD exist under either capitalism or communism (for a short period or with a very small population).
So, all-knowing and courageous AC, name that country in Europe with a socialist goverment that is a true democracy. If it has a population of less than 1000, it doesn't count. You do know what a true democracy is, don't you?
They confiscated land and businesses from wealthy people and then distributed them among the poor people.
Are you aSCOturfing? Since you're drawing a parallel, exactly what software was confiscated from wealthy people and given to the unwashed OSS masses?
The idea was very attractive to idealistic young people.
You mean the OSS ideas that home computer users had way before Microsoft, or ideas that musicians had about music before the music *Industry*? That kind of communism? Kind of like sharing what you've created? You mean the same idealistic *young* people who have spent several decades watching the small companies and jobs being decimated and common ideas being patented by the self-professed leaders of software capitalism? I doubt it. My idealism is battered and perhaps broken, but I still believe I know right from wrong, and OSS is not wrong or detrimental to any company that is not trying to enforce a lock on the marketplace (and that's against the law).
Democracy can happen under communism, socialism, or capitalsim.
I don't see how you envision a democracy under socialism, but in any case, people in the real world don't want a true democracy, which is why there aren't any. We rightfully fear mob rule, so true democracy won't happen anywhere on any large scale.
I also work with Linux and WIndows and have discovered the exact opposite to be true. I've never spent a penny on Windows books, and tons on Linux books. I also rarely spend more than an hour troubleshooting WIndows. I have had problems under Linux I could NEVER solve, things that I just stopped working on because they were taking too long and weren't worth it.
Have you had a paternity test against Bill Gates done to see if you're genetically predisposed to Windows? I have to admit I have no idea how much money our sysadmins have spent on books of either flavor, and I don't think it's relevant. When we first started our migration from Windows to Linux servers, I often had to make suggestions or give explicit instructions to get something done on a Linux box. Now, when I ask for something, the answer is usualy, "Give me two minutes, and it's done." The sysadmins seem to be more cheerful now that they're not spending all their time fighting virus outbreaks and intrusions. Unfortunately, they still have the Windows LAN to contend with. One step at a time. One admin at a time. One desktop at a time. It's happening.
Not really. He knows that if his document gets posted to a anti-MS site such as Slashdot, and if the people see versions of the document that are in MS format, they will immediately dismiss his article as FUD - regardless of what other versions might be available.
It's fairly obvious that neither the AC nor the clueless moderator who modded it Insightful read the document, which was a parody and hardly likely to be in any Microsoft-specific format. I could have moderated it down, but I don't like wasting mod points on ACs. I do hope I get to metamod the moderation.
Heh. I'd say that the only way this would work is if the SCO people could manufacture a loyal userbase, but it's more likely that they'll just hire PR people to constantly post BS, which is about the sorriest thing I can think of.
Last I heard, SCO still had about 300 people. Say 100 are lawyers. That still leaves 200 with nothing to do except post on Slashdot. Some old timers may even have low UIDs. Has anyone ever seen a (non-funny) post from anyone who admits to working for SCO in the last couple of years? I'm not paranoid, but I know they're here - watching, waiting. :)
If there isn't a band by the same name, I hereby copyright and reserve all rights to the term aSCOturfer.
If you lived in a section of the country with a significant American "Indian" population (and, yes they are still called that) where discrimination is a constant hot topic, your perception might be different. The higher probability that the sig refers to people from India does not make it unambiguous.
Accusing a group of people of racism without cause sounds like a racist troll to me. I've not seen any rampant racism against either "Indian" race on Slashdot. Objecting to having your job offshored has nothing to do with racism, it's a matter of economics.
If there is any evidence of racism on Slashdot, it is the GNAA posts, which have nothing to do with Indians. I would also object to a sig saying, "Don't reply unless you're Aryan". I don't believe race-baiting sigs have a place here. You're entitled to believe otherwise.
It's interesting how many idiots like yourself take issue with my sig. And, also, how often they themselves are racist.
Okay, I'll bite. Why do you have an ambiguous, racist, troll comment as a sig and then object when people take exception to it?
I currently use the dvorak keyboard layout on a powerbook. This means that without an external keyboard with a numberpad there is no efficient way for me to play
My first thought is that anyone employing a dvorak keyboard layout is masochistic enough to enjoy the added pain, so why ask for a cure? ;)
SCO is being attacked? Didn't they start all this? Oh, I see, they were just defending their rights that "heroes died for"... What a blatent pull at heartstrings. What utter crap.
Truly. That was some incredible chutzpah. When I read the same paragraph, I was thinking: Fade in with America the Beautiful as the camera slowly pans in to see the author in a battered flak jacket partially showing under an American flag draped over his shoulders - with a $699 price tag attached to it. He couldn't even spell *bullshit*. What a sorry joke. He's in good company hanging with SCO. Apparently he's also too memory-impaired to remember that there was freeware, shareware, and public domain software before Microsoft and (either incarnation of) SCO, right here in the US of A. I doubt any heroes died intending that their sacrifice would allow Darl and company to pull a fast one on the American people.
JAWS
Point taken. But if JAWS does not run under WINE, it would be a good thing to let the publisher know of the need for a version that is not locked into Windows (for security reasons if nothing else). If nobody complains, they won't know there are potential customers. I nag other vendors about producing Linux versions of their products. (It worked with Backpack drives.)
She probably would switch operating systems, if she could. There are no viable alternatives. So she can't.
A strange claim indeed for those of us who have found viable alternatives.