I figure if just this once, Slashdot put its money where its mouth is and bought the game, the gaming companies might realize what kind of a market there is. Linux is getting more desktop users every day. Keeping software portable isn't difficult if you keep your code multi-tiered and that relatively small effort gets income from Windows, Linux, XBox, etc... this seems to be a trend.
I thought this game sounded good, much like Allegiance or even Battlezone II. The graphics look nice, and I could use a new game. But normally I'd just wait until it hit shelves and take a look then.
But Linux support? Hell yeah. I just preordered this game from EB.
$39.99. That's $10 off, you get access to the ongoing beta when your order is confirmed (which Linux is a part of, per the article), a free comic about the game and Linux support in what looks to be a good game. Not bad.
Awe... I was expecting someone to say "Your office must have a crappy admin. My office does fine."
Which is probably the case, or you're using outdated software maybe?
However, I would like to pose the following to the Slashdot community: Windows does poorly in many situations because it has horrible defaults. Bug and security hole patches aside, admins need to tweak Windows (especially recent versions) for them to work well. On the other hand, rarely do I see unstable or unsecure default settings in installations of Red Hat, Debian, etc.
Admins are required, but is it really unfair to blame Windows problems on bad admins? Or should we just be complimenting Linux for its good defaults?
I do see what you're getting at, but the general concept is this: the human body is a machine. Synapses fire, pathways are formed in the brain, muscles contract, etc. I honestly don't see anything (including emotions) that can't be replicated well enough in a robot to replace a human. All that is needed is for technology to allow us to produce chips with comparable complexity to the human brain, and frankly, I don't see any limits to that. If it proves that no amount of time will allow us to cross certain barriers in this area, I will stand corrected.
Textiles are a limited industry. Automated manufacturing is limited to a few industries. Robots, in concept, can literally replace an entire human being. There is a very large distinction.
The problem with your argument is that while textiles may displace workers that move to other industries that textiles don't affect, robots can go anywhere. The first step will be teaching them to recognize things and people and make basic decisions, but when they finally are taught to LEARN, they'll program themselves and that's the ball game.
Textiles are static. They don't adapt. Robots do.
The only industries that are safe are those specific to humans. Arguably, robots may never have emotions due to the idea that if you take all available information, past experience and apply logic, emotion is unnecessary. Thus art and the like may be the only things we have left.
Maybe robots will just want to learn, create and perfect and will be happy to leave us to our devices and let us use their goods. However, it is a plausible theory that they won't want to give us their goods (why? It's illogical, what benefit are we to them once they can learn?) and will even decide that we're a hinderance, taking up space. The more I think about this, the more I worry that Terminator could be a reality.
Chip fabs and automakers need workers that do a precision job over and over and over and over again, and fast. Robots today fit that perfectly.
As dumb as some kids at McDonald's can be, they have to understand speech, options and occasionally faces. These simple tasks are all but impossible for robots to mimic perfectly. But that technology is coming and coming fast. Once it's here, robots will have the catalyst needed to expand into other markets.
Then, when we finally teach them to learn and program themselves, that's the ball game. They'll be infinitely stronger, faster, more logical and have better memory. No emotions. No apathy. No illogic or ignorance. They'll actually learn from their mistakes because they're a machine -- they have no pride or ego to bruise, they will merely seek perfection, which is exactly what we'll program them with from day one. Anyone who thinks that "human inginuity and cunning" or plain old "human drive" can outdo robots in a war is smoking something really good.
I for one welcome our robotic overlords with open arms. As crazy and sci-fi like as it sounds, this seriously may just be the next form of evolution.
It's scary what a little competition can do to a monolithic company, isn't it?
Linux and OSS. Like it or hate it, it's making Microsoft do more of its job. They can't buy it, they can't squash it, they're having trouble taking legal action against it and their FUD efforts aren't doing much good and are backfiring in their faces.
Let me clarify. True libel is one thing. Making factual claims that are baseless and have a negative effect should be grounds for the victim to sue, but society's mentality has gone well beyond that. These days if anyone hurts your feelings, you can sue and often win with relatively light penalties if you do in fact lose. The favor is so far in the hands of those initiating a lawsuit that most companies will just settle to avoid costs.
This is not how government nor courts were intended, at least in the United States.
It all depends on what you think government is for. Somehow I feel that a government shouldn't regulate name-calling matches. Grade-school teachers do that, not governments comprised of adults.
Take the warning labels off of everything, quit protecting everyone with a victim mentality and let smart people live their lives, average people learn their lesson and dumb people be cast into oblivion. This process is also known as evolution.:D
Re:Stuck with Java? Get your facts straight please
on
.Net:... 3 Years Later
·
· Score: 1
Besides the projects that compile java bytecode, yes, the JVM is specific to Java, but that by no means limits what you can get to work with Java. Without a JVM, you don't have WORA, but.NET doesn't mean that either unless the person considering this point can't see past the stained glass windows in Redmond. Basically, I didn't see much of a point in your mention. If I've missed something here, please smack me upside the head.:)
We're using CORBA at my office to cache remote (across-country) databases in separate processes so Apache child processes can access them quickly. IIRC, the CORBA ORB just uses local UNIX sockets to do the talking, so while I would guess there's a speed hit by not running the whole thing in a VM, you've still got effective language interoperability.
I might be reading this wrong, but it seems that this would allow one to examine the Microsoft digital signing code. Circumventing that code to run Linux isn't, in my book, for the purpose of exploring the system. Throw in the rest of the DMCA which is very broadly worded, and you've got yourself a violation of trying to 'circumvent copyright protection technologies.'
To be more specific, it will suck up the data you give it and overwrite what is currently in memory. If you can tailor your data to put the right info in the right places in memory, you can overwrite other portions of memory that contain instructions that will later be run with your own instructions.
Now you folks all know how buffer overflows work. Sloppy programming at its best, eh?
Anyone recall the vulnerability Code Red exploited in IIS? That's right. Buffer overflow in code handling the HTTP request (the core of what a webserver handles -- hence, the core of the webserver). Sloppy code in the most important parts. Amusing, to say the least.
When will people understand that a software solution almost exclusively never works unless it involves a solution that, to reverse engineer, is NP Complete time (like good encryption)?
I"ll explain this in English. Pretend Windows XP sends a little message saying "Hello, I have a braille translator." Now, imagine a spammer with some form of technical knowledge (yes, some of them actually have some). Putting a network sniffer up and finding out how to duplicate this message is likely trivial.
Why will copyright protection on CDs always fail? The same reason. Software solutions almost never work.
That makes sense in the case which a business has bad documentation (changelogs for patches), and a poor or nonexistant repository of known bugs (like the company I work for =\), but somehow I can't see this happening with Microsoft.
Understood. Thinking back to my knowledge of Apache, I do fail to see how a support person is going to help you better than yourself, as you know your setup, etc., but I'll take your word for it.
I *do* still wonder about some sysadmins, though. Many of them make it sound like they can't do their jobs without support. As a programmer who's JOB it is to fix problems for his company, I don't see how people like that get paid.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I haven't worked as an admin (although I do run a few services out of my home), but isn't your job as an admin to fix these problems?
If I'm a programmer and my Java code is buggy, I don't call up Sun and ask what's wrong. If your profession is an administrator, shouldn't you be able to fix your own problems?
His post is comprised of: -One sentence stating his support. -Four paragraphs of explaing how he isn't going to drop to ZWelch's level and how ZWelch is a liar spreading FUD and distortions. -One paragraph mentioning how all Gentoo developers can ask him any questions they like. -Two sentences stating his support.
It looks to me like he's insulting, but tries to fluff that with two statements of support; I think these pale in light of the rest. He dismisses the rest as lies and FUD and says that Gentoo developers can ask him what they want.
I think it's reasonable to point out that not only ZWelch left -- a number of developers did and others are considering. I think it's obvious that Gentoo developers want some answers to the questions raised by ZWelch's actions. Indeed, Drobbins's activities, as outlined by ZWelch, were very secretive (gentoo-biz, gentoo games). Maybe he wants to be asked directly and in private, but personally, I think he failed in answering the questions of Gentoo devs and the Gentoo community.
And just to set the record straight, I'm not sure which "side" I'm on. I was very cautious and critical of ZWelch until I read Daniel's response. His reaction gives more credit to ZWelch's claim than ZWelch did, in my opinion.
Dear Lord, was that a threat of force on Slashdot? A reply akin to Daniel's, even, how apropos.
Robbins's post manages to be scathing, retortful, immature and yet hold no valuble information, all at the same time.
In regards to "getting both sides of the story", I was in #gentoo on freenode until 4 AM last night talking with the folks there, including one Gentoo developer (still on the project) whom I happen to share a day job with. I'm quite familiar with an "insider's" point of view.
Er... well, that, yes. However I wonder how he convinced his fellow leaders or if he just found folks that agreed with him.
I think it's safe to say that Germany was more a case of fear and general pressure from all angles. What I failed to mention was that I was referring to the underdog, minority side, namely, RMS's side (and often my own).
Slashdot Mirror
Do you have to concentrate to breathe?
With all due respect, you honestly shouldn't have to know what you're doing besides "installing a program."
Installing Apache, SSL, etc. are completely different issues, but user end programs are meant to be used.
This is why I love Gentoo.
No kidding.
I figure if just this once, Slashdot put its money where its mouth is and bought the game, the gaming companies might realize what kind of a market there is. Linux is getting more desktop users every day. Keeping software portable isn't difficult if you keep your code multi-tiered and that relatively small effort gets income from Windows, Linux, XBox, etc... this seems to be a trend.
I thought this game sounded good, much like Allegiance or even Battlezone II. The graphics look nice, and I could use a new game. But normally I'd just wait until it hit shelves and take a look then.
But Linux support? Hell yeah. I just preordered this game from EB.
$39.99. That's $10 off, you get access to the ongoing beta when your order is confirmed (which Linux is a part of, per the article), a free comic about the game and Linux support in what looks to be a good game.
Not bad.
Awe... I was expecting someone to say "Your office must have a crappy admin. My office does fine."
Which is probably the case, or you're using outdated software maybe?
However, I would like to pose the following to the Slashdot community:
Windows does poorly in many situations because it has horrible defaults. Bug and security hole patches aside, admins need to tweak Windows (especially recent versions) for them to work well. On the other hand, rarely do I see unstable or unsecure default settings in installations of Red Hat, Debian, etc.
Admins are required, but is it really unfair to blame Windows problems on bad admins? Or should we just be complimenting Linux for its good defaults?
I do see what you're getting at, but the general concept is this: the human body is a machine. Synapses fire, pathways are formed in the brain, muscles contract, etc. I honestly don't see anything (including emotions) that can't be replicated well enough in a robot to replace a human. All that is needed is for technology to allow us to produce chips with comparable complexity to the human brain, and frankly, I don't see any limits to that. If it proves that no amount of time will allow us to cross certain barriers in this area, I will stand corrected.
Textiles are a limited industry. Automated manufacturing is limited to a few industries. Robots, in concept, can literally replace an entire human being. There is a very large distinction.
Please catch me if I've missed something.
The problem with your argument is that while textiles may displace workers that move to other industries that textiles don't affect, robots can go anywhere. The first step will be teaching them to recognize things and people and make basic decisions, but when they finally are taught to LEARN, they'll program themselves and that's the ball game.
Textiles are static. They don't adapt. Robots do.
The only industries that are safe are those specific to humans. Arguably, robots may never have emotions due to the idea that if you take all available information, past experience and apply logic, emotion is unnecessary. Thus art and the like may be the only things we have left.
Maybe robots will just want to learn, create and perfect and will be happy to leave us to our devices and let us use their goods. However, it is a plausible theory that they won't want to give us their goods (why? It's illogical, what benefit are we to them once they can learn?) and will even decide that we're a hinderance, taking up space. The more I think about this, the more I worry that Terminator could be a reality.
Chip fabs and automakers need workers that do a precision job over and over and over and over again, and fast. Robots today fit that perfectly.
As dumb as some kids at McDonald's can be, they have to understand speech, options and occasionally faces. These simple tasks are all but impossible for robots to mimic perfectly. But that technology is coming and coming fast. Once it's here, robots will have the catalyst needed to expand into other markets.
Then, when we finally teach them to learn and program themselves, that's the ball game. They'll be infinitely stronger, faster, more logical and have better memory. No emotions. No apathy. No illogic or ignorance. They'll actually learn from their mistakes because they're a machine -- they have no pride or ego to bruise, they will merely seek perfection, which is exactly what we'll program them with from day one. Anyone who thinks that "human inginuity and cunning" or plain old "human drive" can outdo robots in a war is smoking something really good.
I for one welcome our robotic overlords with open arms.
As crazy and sci-fi like as it sounds, this seriously may just be the next form of evolution.
It's scary what a little competition can do to a monolithic company, isn't it?
Linux and OSS. Like it or hate it, it's making Microsoft do more of its job. They can't buy it, they can't squash it, they're having trouble taking legal action against it and their FUD efforts aren't doing much good and are backfiring in their faces.
Let me clarify. True libel is one thing. Making factual claims that are baseless and have a negative effect should be grounds for the victim to sue, but society's mentality has gone well beyond that. These days if anyone hurts your feelings, you can sue and often win with relatively light penalties if you do in fact lose. The favor is so far in the hands of those initiating a lawsuit that most companies will just settle to avoid costs.
This is not how government nor courts were intended, at least in the United States.
It all depends on what you think government is for. Somehow I feel that a government shouldn't regulate name-calling matches. Grade-school teachers do that, not governments comprised of adults.
:D
Take the warning labels off of everything, quit protecting everyone with a victim mentality and let smart people live their lives, average people learn their lesson and dumb people be cast into oblivion. This process is also known as evolution.
Besides the projects that compile java bytecode, yes, the JVM is specific to Java, but that by no means limits what you can get to work with Java. Without a JVM, you don't have WORA, but .NET doesn't mean that either unless the person considering this point can't see past the stained glass windows in Redmond. Basically, I didn't see much of a point in your mention. If I've missed something here, please smack me upside the head. :)
We're using CORBA at my office to cache remote (across-country) databases in separate processes so Apache child processes can access them quickly. IIRC, the CORBA ORB just uses local UNIX sockets to do the talking, so while I would guess there's a speed hit by not running the whole thing in a VM, you've still got effective language interoperability.
"Try that in Java. Try any cross language development in Java."
It wouldn't be another day at Slashdot without misinformation...
Click here please.
"Even though Java's done it for a long time, you're tied to one language"
You might look into CORBA before you go making such claims.
I might be reading this wrong, but it seems that this would allow one to examine the Microsoft digital signing code. Circumventing that code to run Linux isn't, in my book, for the purpose of exploring the system. Throw in the rest of the DMCA which is very broadly worded, and you've got yourself a violation of trying to 'circumvent copyright protection technologies.'
Can someone correct me?
To be more specific, it will suck up the data you give it and overwrite what is currently in memory. If you can tailor your data to put the right info in the right places in memory, you can overwrite other portions of memory that contain instructions that will later be run with your own instructions.
Now you folks all know how buffer overflows work. Sloppy programming at its best, eh?
Anyone recall the vulnerability Code Red exploited in IIS? That's right. Buffer overflow in code handling the HTTP request (the core of what a webserver handles -- hence, the core of the webserver). Sloppy code in the most important parts. Amusing, to say the least.
But then you're discriminating against retarded people.
;)
Yeesh, will you folks never learn!
When will people understand that a software solution almost exclusively never works unless it involves a solution that, to reverse engineer, is NP Complete time (like good encryption)?
I"ll explain this in English. Pretend Windows XP sends a little message saying "Hello, I have a braille translator." Now, imagine a spammer with some form of technical knowledge (yes, some of them actually have some). Putting a network sniffer up and finding out how to duplicate this message is likely trivial.
Why will copyright protection on CDs always fail?
The same reason.
Software solutions almost never work.
That makes sense in the case which a business has bad documentation (changelogs for patches), and a poor or nonexistant repository of known bugs (like the company I work for =\), but somehow I can't see this happening with Microsoft.
Can you correct me here?
Understood. Thinking back to my knowledge of Apache, I do fail to see how a support person is going to help you better than yourself, as you know your setup, etc., but I'll take your word for it.
I *do* still wonder about some sysadmins, though. Many of them make it sound like they can't do their jobs without support. As a programmer who's JOB it is to fix problems for his company, I don't see how people like that get paid.
Cheers
Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I haven't worked as an admin (although I do run a few services out of my home), but isn't your job as an admin to fix these problems?
If I'm a programmer and my Java code is buggy, I don't call up Sun and ask what's wrong. If your profession is an administrator, shouldn't you be able to fix your own problems?
His post is comprised of:
-One sentence stating his support.
-Four paragraphs of explaing how he isn't going to drop to ZWelch's level and how ZWelch is a liar spreading FUD and distortions.
-One paragraph mentioning how all Gentoo developers can ask him any questions they like.
-Two sentences stating his support.
It looks to me like he's insulting, but tries to fluff that with two statements of support; I think these pale in light of the rest. He dismisses the rest as lies and FUD and says that Gentoo developers can ask him what they want.
I think it's reasonable to point out that not only ZWelch left -- a number of developers did and others are considering. I think it's obvious that Gentoo developers want some answers to the questions raised by ZWelch's actions. Indeed, Drobbins's activities, as outlined by ZWelch, were very secretive (gentoo-biz, gentoo games). Maybe he wants to be asked directly and in private, but personally, I think he failed in answering the questions of Gentoo devs and the Gentoo community.
And just to set the record straight, I'm not sure which "side" I'm on. I was very cautious and critical of ZWelch until I read Daniel's response. His reaction gives more credit to ZWelch's claim than ZWelch did, in my opinion.
We have yet to see.
Dear Lord, was that a threat of force on Slashdot? A reply akin to Daniel's, even, how apropos.
Robbins's post manages to be scathing, retortful, immature and yet hold no valuble information, all at the same time.
In regards to "getting both sides of the story", I was in #gentoo on freenode until 4 AM last night talking with the folks there, including one Gentoo developer (still on the project) whom I happen to share a day job with. I'm quite familiar with an "insider's" point of view.
Go back to your bridge.
Daniel Robbins's reply reads like it was written by the Iraqi Information Minister...
Er... well, that, yes. However I wonder how he convinced his fellow leaders or if he just found folks that agreed with him.
I think it's safe to say that Germany was more a case of fear and general pressure from all angles. What I failed to mention was that I was referring to the underdog, minority side, namely, RMS's side (and often my own).
Er... I used "variable costs" in completely the wrong fashion, but I think you understand what I was getting at.