I think this is the biggest factor causing more and more bandwidth usage, and your best angle for convinciong management to buy more. It is true that extra computing power lets people get away with writing bigger web pages, but also the number of web sites is quickly growing, as is the number of people who use them and the number of things they use them for. I'm sure there are hundreds of studies and surveys that show this. It's only a small exageration to say that you could afford to pay more for internet connectivity by not paying phone bills or postage stamps.
So you know exactly how many spyware programs are collecting lists of websites you visit and which companies they're being sent to? I think there really is a slippery slope here, and open source will become more popular as people realize it's naturally free of spyware and DRM.
MSN - Ability to change your nick. Ability to accept or decline others from adding you to their buddy lists.
Yahoo and Jabber both have a subscription model like this that prevents some stalking. Skype also lets you set a different username and display name. Of course it gets confusing when people switch the display name too often. A better approach to this might be gaim's alias feature, where YOU assign nicknames to other people.
AIM - Ability to set auto-reply messages. Direct connect for quicker file transfers.
IMO AIM's auto-reply feature is one of the most useless parts of it (probably left over from an earlier version of the protocol). As if their presense system wasn't clunky enough. Direct connect is useful sometimes, but I usually find standard file transfers easier. Of course I'm biased because I use gaim, which has extremely buggy and unstable handling of direct im and inline images.
Yahoo! - Ability to send messages to people that are offline that they will receive next time they sign on. Ability to go invisible.
Jabber supports offline messages (on some servers). AIM, MSN, and Jabber have invisible mode. What I like about yahoo (as opposed to AIM) is the ability to have longer names, the "Buzz" command, and the fallback file transfer mode that uploads to an intermediate server (eg both users have NAT).
There's a plugin for gaim that speaks messages using the festival text to speech engine. Last time I used it it was rather lacking in terms of configurability, but I'm sure it could be improved. There's still the issue of how well it can understand your typical acronym/typo-ridden IM conversation, though.
Documents can be applications, this has been true ever since people started putting script on web pages. DHTML, the big buzzword 5 years ago, gave web pages the ability to change their layout and formatting without being completely reloaded. That made some things possible without the extra time required to download a new page. AJAX uses scripting to also change the content of a document (which is being used as an application) without reloading the entire page. It's just moving more and more processing from the server to the client.
Multizilla
Lost of enhancements for tabbed browsing. You can drag tabs around, move tabs between windows or into new windows, etc.
Qprefs
Included with the above. Quick access to UA spoofing, disable javascript, referer spoofing
Mouse Gestures
Saves a lot of time not having to move the mouse all the way up to the toolbar.
Download statusbar
Replaces the download manager with a bar that pops up at the bottom of the browser window when downloads are active
Web developer toolbar
Lots of commands for debugging web pages. turn off style sheets, add your own, quick access to W3C HTML/CSS and Section 501 validators. Even lets you upload a file to the HTML validator, for local files, POST forms, slashdot...
Live HTTP headers
adds a tab to the page info window that shows the HTTP request/response headers for the current page, also lets you request a page with custom request headers.
AdBlock
Probably mentioned several times before
Enigmail
GPG encryption and signatures for mail
What the hell does it do? For some reason moz update won't let me see it because I'm using mozilla and the extension author only made it work with firefox.
I think the consensus is a resounding "Never, use FOSS!"
But seriously, I don't think this will draw any significant number of users away from the proprietary software world. As long as we keep paying for virus scanner updates and game subscriptions, which we happily do now, vendors will keep charging for them.
This was one of the big reasons I switched. For any of the various tasks I wanted to do with my computer, there were usually two major options: an expensive Windows app or an open source app that worked almost or as well. Not having any money, I could either pirate the windows program, usually involving slow p2p networks or sketchy keygen websites, and I don't like violating copyright any more than I have to, or install an open source program for free. After using gimp and emacs under windows for a while I finally installed gentoo and found all kinds of other cool programs that were easy to install and interacted with each other much better than anything on windows.
Not exactly. The LGPL allows you to use the software as a library and link it with proprietary applications, but changes to the program itself are still governed the same way as the original GPL.
As far as I can tell, it's the same developers working on the same code to release a product targeted at the same user base. I don't get why the Foundation needs to disown it. They seem to be totally lost in terms of organizing their project nowadays.
I stopped reading the article halfway through, but I doubt the reviewer will mention anything about the supported audio formats. First he wasted three paragraphs discussing all the different ways 2GB can be divided up between X songs, Y audio books, and Z pictures. Then he felt the need to explain that it used "slim, small" flash chips instead of a hard drive as if this was the first consumer device to ever use flash memory. That's when I hit the back button. In what way is this "news for nerds?"
If anything, gaim-vv will add jabber/voice capability, which may eventually get merged into the mainstream gaim code along with their yahoo and msn webcam work. IMO the gaim people should first work on getting some of the simpler, useful features of jabber implemented, like service discovery and a presense system that's more advanced than anything AIM (and therefore gaim) currently supports. I think some of this is in the 2.0 version in cvs, but i haven't played with it that much. But I wouldn't go around "assuming" that a new voice subsystem is going to be integrated into gaim in the near future.
"Nikon's powerful yet fun-to-use and easy PictureProject software."
Sure sounds like a "fugly piece of shit windows only program." The only way i would buy this would be if I were sure it used something simple like FTP. But then Nikon wouldn't be able to make money selling crappy software that we shouldn't need.
Exactly. MD5 alone can't prove "integrity" in the context of security or privacy. It's usually used to ensure that information wasn't accidentally changed or corrupted during a communication error. If someone can modify an image, he can easily find the MD5 hash and update it to reflect the new image. If you need to make sure that your data hasn't been intentionally tampered with, you have to encrypt the hash using a digital signature mechanism. Using simple MD5 works to detect when your transmission or storage systems are bad, but that's it.
AFAIK, the MP3 patent licensors don't require you to pay royalties if you don't sell your software; this covers GPL and [proprietary] freeware. Royalties fees are required, however, if the resulting product ir being sold; I assume this includes hardware players.
You know, the article only mentioned the "Ogg [contianer] file format," and the submitter had no reason to insert "vorbis," so some of it might be Ogg/FLAC. Could even be theora video, which would make the assertion that 12% of the "audio" traffic is ogg... we've long ago collectively learned that AVI is a container not a compression scheme, so can we start using the right terminology for Ogg now?
Slashdot Mirror
the number of web sites has grown exponentially
I think this is the biggest factor causing more and more bandwidth usage, and your best angle for convinciong management to buy more. It is true that extra computing power lets people get away with writing bigger web pages, but also the number of web sites is quickly growing, as is the number of people who use them and the number of things they use them for. I'm sure there are hundreds of studies and surveys that show this. It's only a small exageration to say that you could afford to pay more for internet connectivity by not paying phone bills or postage stamps.
/me considers the irony of opening that pdf with Adobe's "plugin"....
So you know exactly how many spyware programs are collecting lists of websites you visit and which companies they're being sent to? I think there really is a slippery slope here, and open source will become more popular as people realize it's naturally free of spyware and DRM.
you know, AIM could probably integrate that into their rate limit system...
MSN - Ability to change your nick. Ability to accept or decline others from adding you to their buddy lists.
Yahoo and Jabber both have a subscription model like this that prevents some stalking. Skype also lets you set a different username and display name. Of course it gets confusing when people switch the display name too often. A better approach to this might be gaim's alias feature, where YOU assign nicknames to other people.
AIM - Ability to set auto-reply messages. Direct connect for quicker file transfers.
IMO AIM's auto-reply feature is one of the most useless parts of it (probably left over from an earlier version of the protocol). As if their presense system wasn't clunky enough. Direct connect is useful sometimes, but I usually find standard file transfers easier. Of course I'm biased because I use gaim, which has extremely buggy and unstable handling of direct im and inline images.
Yahoo! - Ability to send messages to people that are offline that they will receive next time they sign on. Ability to go invisible.
Jabber supports offline messages (on some servers). AIM, MSN, and Jabber have invisible mode. What I like about yahoo (as opposed to AIM) is the ability to have longer names, the "Buzz" command, and the fallback file transfer mode that uploads to an intermediate server (eg both users have NAT).
There's a plugin for gaim that speaks messages using the festival text to speech engine. Last time I used it it was rather lacking in terms of configurability, but I'm sure it could be improved. There's still the issue of how well it can understand your typical acronym/typo-ridden IM conversation, though.
Documents can be applications, this has been true ever since people started putting script on web pages. DHTML, the big buzzword 5 years ago, gave web pages the ability to change their layout and formatting without being completely reloaded. That made some things possible without the extra time required to download a new page. AJAX uses scripting to also change the content of a document (which is being used as an application) without reloading the entire page. It's just moving more and more processing from the server to the client.
Multizilla Lost of enhancements for tabbed browsing. You can drag tabs around, move tabs between windows or into new windows, etc. Qprefs Included with the above. Quick access to UA spoofing, disable javascript, referer spoofing Mouse Gestures Saves a lot of time not having to move the mouse all the way up to the toolbar. Download statusbar Replaces the download manager with a bar that pops up at the bottom of the browser window when downloads are active Web developer toolbar Lots of commands for debugging web pages. turn off style sheets, add your own, quick access to W3C HTML/CSS and Section 501 validators. Even lets you upload a file to the HTML validator, for local files, POST forms, slashdot... Live HTTP headers adds a tab to the page info window that shows the HTTP request/response headers for the current page, also lets you request a page with custom request headers. AdBlock Probably mentioned several times before Enigmail GPG encryption and signatures for mail
What the hell does it do? For some reason moz update won't let me see it because I'm using mozilla and the extension author only made it work with firefox.
Does the use of a noodly appendage make the cow easier to tip?
I think the consensus is a resounding "Never, use FOSS!"
But seriously, I don't think this will draw any significant number of users away from the proprietary software world. As long as we keep paying for virus scanner updates and game subscriptions, which we happily do now, vendors will keep charging for them.
This was one of the big reasons I switched. For any of the various tasks I wanted to do with my computer, there were usually two major options: an expensive Windows app or an open source app that worked almost or as well. Not having any money, I could either pirate the windows program, usually involving slow p2p networks or sketchy keygen websites, and I don't like violating copyright any more than I have to, or install an open source program for free. After using gimp and emacs under windows for a while I finally installed gentoo and found all kinds of other cool programs that were easy to install and interacted with each other much better than anything on windows.
Not exactly. The LGPL allows you to use the software as a library and link it with proprietary applications, but changes to the program itself are still governed the same way as the original GPL.
"find / -name '*.mp3' -exec rm -f {} \;" would make more sense.
As far as I can tell, it's the same developers working on the same code to release a product targeted at the same user base. I don't get why the Foundation needs to disown it. They seem to be totally lost in terms of organizing their project nowadays.
I stopped reading the article halfway through, but I doubt the reviewer will mention anything about the supported audio formats. First he wasted three paragraphs discussing all the different ways 2GB can be divided up between X songs, Y audio books, and Z pictures. Then he felt the need to explain that it used "slim, small" flash chips instead of a hard drive as if this was the first consumer device to ever use flash memory. That's when I hit the back button. In what way is this "news for nerds?"
Click Here!
OK
If anything, gaim-vv will add jabber/voice capability, which may eventually get merged into the mainstream gaim code along with their yahoo and msn webcam work. IMO the gaim people should first work on getting some of the simpler, useful features of jabber implemented, like service discovery and a presense system that's more advanced than anything AIM (and therefore gaim) currently supports. I think some of this is in the 2.0 version in cvs, but i haven't played with it that much. But I wouldn't go around "assuming" that a new voice subsystem is going to be integrated into gaim in the near future.
Uh... Google Talk just uses the Jabber/XMPP protocol, so you can connect to it with Gaim, Psi, or whatever you want.
"Nikon's powerful yet fun-to-use and easy PictureProject software." Sure sounds like a "fugly piece of shit windows only program." The only way i would buy this would be if I were sure it used something simple like FTP. But then Nikon wouldn't be able to make money selling crappy software that we shouldn't need.
... but Jesus didn't patent it when he said it.
Exactly. MD5 alone can't prove "integrity" in the context of security or privacy. It's usually used to ensure that information wasn't accidentally changed or corrupted during a communication error. If someone can modify an image, he can easily find the MD5 hash and update it to reflect the new image. If you need to make sure that your data hasn't been intentionally tampered with, you have to encrypt the hash using a digital signature mechanism. Using simple MD5 works to detect when your transmission or storage systems are bad, but that's it.
Comparing music and video by bytes is like comparing apples and oranges.
I think it's more like comparing grapes to watermelons.
AFAIK, the MP3 patent licensors don't require you to pay royalties if you don't sell your software; this covers GPL and [proprietary] freeware. Royalties fees are required, however, if the resulting product ir being sold; I assume this includes hardware players.
You know, the article only mentioned the "Ogg [contianer] file format," and the submitter had no reason to insert "vorbis," so some of it might be Ogg/FLAC. Could even be theora video, which would make the assertion that 12% of the "audio" traffic is ogg... we've long ago collectively learned that AVI is a container not a compression scheme, so can we start using the right terminology for Ogg now?