My wife surprised me for Christmas this year and bought me a GameCube. She couldn't hook it up to the TV (*grin*) but there it was. Can't wait for availability of the broadband adapter, and some games next year which are geared for on-line play!
The intro speaks of MUDs, and the title of the book is "Smart Mobs". So I immediately thought, hey, this key wrote a book about creating intelligent mobiles in MUDs?
From the article on game combat, talking about myths related to "real-time" combat systems:
"RT is cool" - As defined by who? Don't believe the hype kiddies, and besides, as an avid RPGer, I know we have nothing to do with cool. While we're sitting in a basement rolling dice, swilling Mountain Dew and other snacks while pretending to be mighty warriors in an alternate universe, cool people are out doing lines off naked women because they can. It still puzzles me why certain RPG developers seem so intent on following trends, when their consumer base couldn't be trendy, even with a +10 Bag of Conforming to the Social Norm.
I couldn't have put it any better with a +3 megaphone of "you are a geek".
I put WiFi in my house in July of 2000. By January 2001 my wife's law school had it in the library. By May 2001 it was in a few buildings at work. By August 2001 the aforementioned law school had it in all the classrooms.
The problem with a distributed wireless network is that you need distributed electrical power -- when your electricity goes out, having battery power or even generated power in your own house doesn't do much for the WiFi network in the neighborhood, since everybody is out of power -- leaving you with no network to speak of.
Of course, by that time you're probably more worried about ice-coated tree limbs smashing through the roof than lack of internet access.
The base install should allow for boot scripts, minimal drivers, and system binaries. Try using the FreeBSD installer to install a system onto a 64 MB flash IDE drive, for instance -- you can't, because the base system takes up too much space. RAM really isn't the issue, although "whopping" 16 MB is fairly whopping considering the target audience.
FreeBSD has grown larger and larger -- back in the 3.x days I could run it easily. The 4.x series have consumed much more memory, even when the kernel is compiled to use the same features. I had heard that one of the 5.x trees goals was to regain some of that "thin" nature which IMHO is one of FreeBSD's biggest draws. Anyone know how that is coming along?
Even if the government only considered open source software, that does not exclude Microsoft from participation. Microsoft would be free to produce software which meets the requirements set, basically set there to ensure that software running our vital infrastructure, paid for by our taxes, does not place our government at the behest and mercy of a software company.
One way to ensure that safety is through the use of open source software. There are undoubtedly other ways, such as Microsoft could provide source licenses only to the government for software the government buys, etc.
However one of the main factors into considering open source software is the rising cost of software licenses. Since our tax money is used to buy this software, I for one would prefer we don't have to pay year after year for what amounts to yearly abandonware.
A group comprised completely of proprietary software vendors is recommending the use of proprietary software.
In the end, it is up to those who want their government to "choose" other software to let their voices be heard. This will work as long as politicians listen to the populace they supposedly represent, instead of listening with their wallets to companies from other states.
Of course, it may be that both the People and the "Software Choice" group of mega-corps both favor the use of proprietary software in government. My vote happens to be that our tax money which buys the software that runs our infrastructure should not be used to place our infrastructure under the control of a proprietary software vendor.
Yup, they have every right to sue right away. They have no right to send people threatening letters, demanding cash.
What you say would be true if they tried to *force* people to pay the bill. They don't.
What do you call the threat of a legal battle against a multi-million dollar corporation with lawyers on retainer, and politicians in their pocket? That is force.
A company cannot send you a "bill" for a contract you never signed, stating "pay up or else". This is not an electric company talking about getting reimbursement for an unpaid bill. This is a company with which these people have no agreement sending them threats which amount to, "give us money or else".
A straightforward company would simply inform the police if they believe these people to have committed criminal acts and the culprits would be arrested, or simply serve them a summons in the case of a civil dispute.
From the article: "I know it's dumb to take it personally, but it's in your face. These are supposedly objective computers saying, 'This is what we think of you.'"
"Supposedly" objective? It is a machine. What it "thinks" of you? It is a machine.
To close, I'll quote:
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim." -- Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930-2002)
Is that your view of anyone who does not know how to write a C++ function?
Quite the contrary. The parent post to mine simply stated that people in general do not care about the supposed benefits of OSS.
There is a difference between not being a C++ programmer and being an apathetic consumer of goods.
Oh, the cost of Windows comes around to $34
I put together a system for my brother this year, Windows XP Home cost $99.
By the way, how much would it cost me to purchase one year of Linux technical support?
I have never said Linux was easy to use, or cheaper. You must be thinking of someone else.
You are one sad person, if that's the case. There's more to life than programming lamguages, man.
Pretty happy, actually. Brilliant, beautiful wife, new car), new house, good job, plenty of friends, family doesn't hate me. I have a haircut and I shave. Don't confuse me with a Linux zealot. I use IE and Windows 2000 Professional at work and at home. I also use FreeBSD over Solaris, PHP over ASP, JBoss over Weblogic, etc. I pick and choose between vendors when I can, but for a desktop OS, there is no other viable choice. In 10 years, maybe there will be, as long as we're not idiots and lock ourselves into something, that is the ENTIRE point of this discussion.
Go away, elitist-wannabe.
I'm not elitist, and I don't want to be. But the next time I buy a computer for a friend of familiy member I would rather not pay $99 for a $39 piece of software. That's $60 more bucks to spend on a bigger monitor, faster shipping, more games, etc.
There is a reason that Microsoft can charge the extra money over what it should cost. The movements in Peru and India are about restoring sanity, so there can be 3 or 4 desktop OS to choose from in the $39-$59 range, instead of 1 OS to "choose" from at $99.
They are not really about "choosing Linux", at least I hope not. I work with computers for a living, and I am not using a Linux desktop. They are about "getting a choice in 10 years".
OSS means nothing (and should not) to these people.
You obviously underestimate people who do not fall into your generic stereotypes of "domesticated American idiot".
Jimmy's braces are way more important than some piece of software.
Exactly. This is why her OS software shouldn't have to cost $99, and her Office software shouldn't have to cost $299. $39 is pretty acceptable for an OS, and $59 is pretty acceptable for an Office suite. If there was an open market with competing products, that would have been $300 more dollars for Jimmy's braces.
Being selfish can work great for an individual. The government is not supposed to care about what is "easy" or "entertaining". The government is entrusted with a mighty responsibility, and if you take that responsibility seriously, and look at the long-term effects of beginning to suckle at Microsoft's teat... you realise fairly quickly that for a little bit of "fiddling" and "work", in 10 years India can control its own destiny, instead of being enslaved by annual Microsoft subscription fees.
The giant condum-balloon was not to make fun of Mr. Bill G. It was to thank him for his millions of dollars of donations to AIDS research, prevention, and education.
India has 4 million persons infected with HIV, second only to South Africa.
AIDS will kill more people than cancer in the very, very near future.
A free app is worthless if it doesn't do what I need.
that is precisely the point -- even if MS would give their software to the IT@SCHOOL project for free it would not be acceptable.
in the larger view, "do what I need" is not as simple as "performance" and "superiority". it is a healthy IT industry in 10 years, a government not controlled, in essence, by a large foreign software company.
The zealots can't seem to grasp this.
at least in some cases, the zealots are not so unfortunately short-sighted.
Slashdot Mirror
Will the US version of the GameCube play the import Zelda game? Or do you have an import GameCube as well?
My wife surprised me for Christmas this year and bought me a GameCube. She couldn't hook it up to the TV (*grin*) but there it was. Can't wait for availability of the broadband adapter, and some games next year which are geared for on-line play!
The revised theorem: odd numbered moves are bad, even numbered moves are good, movies that are even multiples of 5 are bad.
The "even multiples of 5" thing is too complex. How about "ending in 0" or "multiples of 10"? Ending in "0" is easier I think.
The intro speaks of MUDs, and the title of the book is "Smart Mobs". So I immediately thought, hey, this key wrote a book about creating intelligent mobiles in MUDs?
Fallout was one of the best RPGs I have ever played, CRPG or PnP, period.
I couldn't have put it any better with a +3 megaphone of "you are a geek".
you link to an article on Tesla's Fuelless Generator, here is that same article in a more complete form.
I put WiFi in my house in July of 2000. By January 2001 my wife's law school had it in the library. By May 2001 it was in a few buildings at work. By August 2001 the aforementioned law school had it in all the classrooms.
The problem with a distributed wireless network is that you need distributed electrical power -- when your electricity goes out, having battery power or even generated power in your own house doesn't do much for the WiFi network in the neighborhood, since everybody is out of power -- leaving you with no network to speak of.
Of course, by that time you're probably more worried about ice-coated tree limbs smashing through the roof than lack of internet access.
The base install should allow for boot scripts, minimal drivers, and system binaries. Try using the FreeBSD installer to install a system onto a 64 MB flash IDE drive, for instance -- you can't, because the base system takes up too much space. RAM really isn't the issue, although "whopping" 16 MB is fairly whopping considering the target audience.
FreeBSD has grown larger and larger -- back in the 3.x days I could run it easily. The 4.x series have consumed much more memory, even when the kernel is compiled to use the same features. I had heard that one of the 5.x trees goals was to regain some of that "thin" nature which IMHO is one of FreeBSD's biggest draws. Anyone know how that is coming along?
Even if the government only considered open source software, that does not exclude Microsoft from participation. Microsoft would be free to produce software which meets the requirements set, basically set there to ensure that software running our vital infrastructure, paid for by our taxes, does not place our government at the behest and mercy of a software company.
One way to ensure that safety is through the use of open source software. There are undoubtedly other ways, such as Microsoft could provide source licenses only to the government for software the government buys, etc.
However one of the main factors into considering open source software is the rising cost of software licenses. Since our tax money is used to buy this software, I for one would prefer we don't have to pay year after year for what amounts to yearly abandonware.
A group comprised completely of proprietary software vendors is recommending the use of proprietary software.
In the end, it is up to those who want their government to "choose" other software to let their voices be heard. This will work as long as politicians listen to the populace they supposedly represent, instead of listening with their wallets to companies from other states.
Of course, it may be that both the People and the "Software Choice" group of mega-corps both favor the use of proprietary software in government. My vote happens to be that our tax money which buys the software that runs our infrastructure should not be used to place our infrastructure under the control of a proprietary software vendor.
They have every right to sue right away.
Yup, they have every right to sue right away. They have no right to send people threatening letters, demanding cash.
What you say would be true if they tried to *force* people to pay the bill. They don't.
What do you call the threat of a legal battle against a multi-million dollar corporation with lawyers on retainer, and politicians in their pocket? That is force.
... of extortion.
A company cannot send you a "bill" for a contract you never signed, stating "pay up or else". This is not an electric company talking about getting reimbursement for an unpaid bill. This is a company with which these people have no agreement sending them threats which amount to, "give us money or else".
A straightforward company would simply inform the police if they believe these people to have committed criminal acts and the culprits would be arrested, or simply serve them a summons in the case of a civil dispute.
"Supposedly" objective? It is a machine. What it "thinks" of you? It is a machine.
To close, I'll quote:
Is that your view of anyone who does not know how to write a C++ function?
Quite the contrary. The parent post to mine simply stated that people in general do not care about the supposed benefits of OSS.
There is a difference between not being a C++ programmer and being an apathetic consumer of goods.
Oh, the cost of Windows comes around to $34
I put together a system for my brother this year, Windows XP Home cost $99.
By the way, how much would it cost me to purchase one year of Linux technical support?
I have never said Linux was easy to use, or cheaper. You must be thinking of someone else.
You are one sad person, if that's the case. There's more to life than programming lamguages, man.
Pretty happy, actually. Brilliant, beautiful wife, new car), new house, good job, plenty of friends, family doesn't hate me. I have a haircut and I shave. Don't confuse me with a Linux zealot. I use IE and Windows 2000 Professional at work and at home. I also use FreeBSD over Solaris, PHP over ASP, JBoss over Weblogic, etc. I pick and choose between vendors when I can, but for a desktop OS, there is no other viable choice. In 10 years, maybe there will be, as long as we're not idiots and lock ourselves into something, that is the ENTIRE point of this discussion.
Go away, elitist-wannabe.
I'm not elitist, and I don't want to be. But the next time I buy a computer for a friend of familiy member I would rather not pay $99 for a $39 piece of software. That's $60 more bucks to spend on a bigger monitor, faster shipping, more games, etc.
There is a reason that Microsoft can charge the extra money over what it should cost. The movements in Peru and India are about restoring sanity, so there can be 3 or 4 desktop OS to choose from in the $39-$59 range, instead of 1 OS to "choose" from at $99.
They are not really about "choosing Linux", at least I hope not. I work with computers for a living, and I am not using a Linux desktop. They are about "getting a choice in 10 years".
OSS means nothing (and should not) to these people.
You obviously underestimate people who do not fall into your generic stereotypes of "domesticated American idiot".
Jimmy's braces are way more important than some piece of software.
Exactly. This is why her OS software shouldn't have to cost $99, and her Office software shouldn't have to cost $299. $39 is pretty acceptable for an OS, and $59 is pretty acceptable for an Office suite. If there was an open market with competing products, that would have been $300 more dollars for Jimmy's braces.
Being selfish can work great for an individual. The government is not supposed to care about what is "easy" or "entertaining". The government is entrusted with a mighty responsibility, and if you take that responsibility seriously, and look at the long-term effects of beginning to suckle at Microsoft's teat... you realise fairly quickly that for a little bit of "fiddling" and "work", in 10 years India can control its own destiny, instead of being enslaved by annual Microsoft subscription fees.
I can't see why MS and others do not implement a software technology to prevent piracy.
The first one's always free.
The giant condum-balloon was not to make fun of Mr. Bill G. It was to thank him for his millions of dollars of donations to AIDS research, prevention, and education.
India has 4 million persons infected with HIV, second only to South Africa.
AIDS will kill more people than cancer in the very, very near future.
A free app is worthless if it doesn't do what I need.
that is precisely the point -- even if MS would give their software to the IT@SCHOOL project for free it would not be acceptable.
in the larger view, "do what I need" is not as simple as "performance" and "superiority". it is a healthy IT industry in 10 years, a government not controlled, in essence, by a large foreign software company.
The zealots can't seem to grasp this.
at least in some cases, the zealots are not so unfortunately short-sighted.
You might try thttpd from ACME Labs. I've used it (also Boa) on several 486 and early pentium machines.
These are very, very different approaches to creating a scalable server.
See Non-blocking I/O is good for more background on what multiplexing is and why it is good.
(n.t.)
So my home directory can be on a completely different drive than yours, but they will both be accessible from /home/
In defense of Windows 2000 (I can't believe I am typing this...) you can mount partitions as folders as well.