I saw him on CSPAN-2 as well. Whatever you want to say about Stoll, you have to admit he is a very interesting person. I remember seeing him speak years ago and coming away thinking that he was a complete nut. He brings such enthusiasm to whatever topic that he speaks about, that regardless of whether you agree with him, you wind up going away admiring him.
We aren't customers. We haven't purchased anything from him
I enlcosed the word customer in quotes precisely because I was aware of the semantic hoops that we can go through in debating the definiton of customer. Regardless of whether we pay money to Rob Malda directly, Malda does benefit financially by our visits to his site. I'm sure that those ad dollars would dry up if we all stopped using his nice forum. The traditional models of patronage are changing quickly but that discussion is best left for another day.
If people constantly harrassed you about code you wrote, constantly asking for the latest version, you would be annoyed too.
Interesting choice of words. I am not privy to the emails sent Rob's way but just as you can sympathize with Rob getting annoyed, I can sympathize with people getting annoyed at Rob not living up to his promises. No matter what Rob attributes his delays to, he has not fulfilled his promises.
His primary concern is maintaining this site. If he can package up Slash in a tarball, all the better. If he can put up a public CVS server, all the better. Though, the work to put up a CVS server for public use is quite a bit. The work to secure it is even more..
No one has asked Rob to go to all the trouble of setting up a CVS server. Rob is the one who mentioned that he is looking into that aspect. What does it take to tar up the directories to the code, the data model for his database and dump that on a FTP server? I don't think it would take much. He doesn't have to gussy it up. There are some smart people out there who can figure out what his code is doing. He needs to stop underestimating people or hiding behind excuses.
Lucas on the other hand has a small legion of people who could put TPM on a DVD at the snap of his fingers. Given that Malda probably didn't know that Lucas was waiting until he could put all six movies on DVD, I can't fault his attitude. It certainly doesn't smack of hypocracy.
Ok, you allude to Rob being too busy to release the code. I don't buy it. Linus and everyone else working on Linux are working full time jobs and still hacking on Linux and releasing the code. If they need help, why don't they ask for it? Why don't they utilize the Open Source community that they are so quick to laud? You also refer to the fact that Lucas can whip out DVD's without problem. Of course he can. He doesn't want to, however, and has never promised to do so. He can do with his property as he pleases and as long as he doesn't lie to his fans and contradict himself, I cannot complain about his actions.
Actually, what I'm doing is pointing out what a hypocritical bastard Rob Malda is. Nothing more. Nothing less. I have no interest in TPM or Rob's code. I just can't stand hypocrites and will jump and yell to point them out, regardless of whose house I'm in.
hey, it's my little buddy razzmatazz. I will cut to the chase and eschew the tired holier-than-thou cliche that you so skillfully use.
Rob Malda in an earlier article (the useless interview with his partner) made some disparaging remarks about his "customers" who have made demands on him by repeatedly requesting that Rob release the latest and greatest Slash code. Now mind you, Rob Malda has previously released code and has made a firm committment to continue releasing his code. Rob Malda, by virtue of his words and actions, has indicated that he is a firm proponent of Open Source initiatives.
Rob Malda, in posting this article, has attempted to criticize Lucas for not releasing The Phantom Menace on DVD. Mind you, Lucas has never made a committment to releasing TPM on DVD. In fact, Lucas is reported to have concerns about the DVD platform and has made plans to release his Star Wars series as one complete set when all six movies have been made and released.
Rob Malda has attributed his lack of committment to releasing the Code to Slash to it not being his primary concern...his primary concern being the day to day rigors of supporting the website. This of course flies in the face of hundreds of other Open Source endeavors that are much bigger than Slashdot, manned by individuals with full-time jobs, yet these projects seem able to release code often. Robs excuse seems weak at best.
Rob's insistence that Lucas owes him something by virtue of the fact that he has been a customer of Lucas's previous works, in spite of the fact that Lucas has never promised to release a DVD of TPM, is highly hypocritical when contraposed against his inability to fullfill his own obligations, made willingly by Rob himsself, to his own customers.
You can have fun with your newfound signature. I am more than happy to have my opinions spread by you. At least I know my time spent debating you hasn't been fully wasted.
If you don't like the fact that you can't get your very own copy of the latest version of Slash, write your own.
This is too easy but I'll take your bait and pull the old switcheroo on you. Try this on for size:
If CmdrTaco doesn't like the fact that he can't get a copy of TPM on DVD, let him film his own version and create his own DVD of that version.
Do you see how stupid you are?
I personally don't give a rat's ass about Slash. The code to duplicate this rathole would be trivial. I'm speaking about CmdrTaco's hypocrisy on denigrating people who make demands on him to release Slash, when he turns around and makes demands on Lucas.
I'll be waiting for the next of your moronic comments.
I'm making excuses for George Lucas by pointing out CmdrTaco's hypocrisy? Yeah, ok...that's very logical.
I personally don't care what Lucas does with his property, I just can't stand when whiners like CmdrTaco bitches about being pissed on when he's doing the same thing.
This may be a worthy cause, but how the hell do I know what they'r doing with the money? Any background info on how they spend the money? What pct goes directly towards the penguins and what pct goes to admin?
I know CmdrTaco thinks he's doing a service, but I don't need him telling me which causes to support. I'm sure there are some people who will give money because CmdrTaco thinks its a good idea. That's a shame. Besides, how much cash is CmdrTaco giving?
From the tone of previous comments, it seems that CmdrTaco has managed to piss of a lot of people with his hypocritical stance on releasing the code for slashdot. I wonder if this interview will come back to haunt them. The slashdot gang used to garner nothing but love from you guys. Is the tide turning now? Are Rob and Hemos taking their patrons for granted? Time will tell.
OSHA almost shut down the growing telecommuting trend. I plan to take advantage of that in the near future and I do not want OSHA denying me that opportunity.
You have to be one of the silliest people I've seen in these forums. The fact that some people respect you comes as a shock to me. I guess geeks aren't immune to the unwarranted idolization that goes on in other facets of life. I put more weight in you the person than I do on your self-promoted technical ability. To paraphrase you, YOU ARE A WEENIE.
Take a deep breath and count from 1 to 10. Feel better?
The fact that you interpreted my comments as slanderous says more about you than me. Tom Christiansen is a Perl evangelist. Tom Christiansen is an author of Perl books. Tom Christiansen stands to benefit from the proliferation of Perl.
It's also amusing that you ask me not to "attack" Tom when that seems to be his favorite MO. Maybe you need to give Tom a pep talk about that.
Saying that Perl sucks is acceptable in the context of the previous poster's comment. He prefaced his statement accordingly so it didn't just come out of nowhere.
You seem to imply that "competent, professional programmers" can write Perl programs and leave them in good state for future maintainers. I assume you mean programmers who are true CS people and not some accountant who took a course in programming at night school. I don't see where a formal CS education can prepare anyone for the syntactical mess that Perl is. Intelligent people, regardless of background, have been successful programmers. I believe there are some languages that are more suitable for learning and quite frankly, Perl isn't one of them.
You obviously have a vested interest in stating otherwise. The more people you can convince that Perl is easy to learn and work with, the more books you sell. Perl can't be everything to everyone, but please stop denigrating people for either complaining about Perl or for being "an unskilled laborer". You sound elitist and actually contradict yourself when you do that.
It will be a watered down DVD player. The functionality that is found in top tier DVD players just won't be there. Sony is not going to bastardize sales of its premiere DVD players. The DVD players on the PSII will be the equivalent of a teen line...something to pacify the youngsters.
Actually, it was $400 until Dreamcast sold 1 million units its first month out. The breakeven point is rumoured to be $500. Keep in mind that Sony will have to drop prices when/if Dolphin and the Microsoft's console comes out.
The Dreamcast and PSII are the start of the end of the PC as a gaming platform. Microsoft's entry into this market is tacit acknowledgement that the PC's gaming glory days are behind it.
The name of the game in game developmen is developer sign-on. The DreamCast and PSII ofter such rich and simpler development platforms that they will have to fight off the developers moving over to their camps. Developers hate having to code for the base levels of the myriad PC configurations. With the consoles out now and in the future, the state of console gaming will always be ahead of the PC.
Chuck your Voodoo and Banshee's now while you have a chance.
Slashdot Mirror
my freedom to enjoy a parody of a jackass and to wish for his early demise does not have limits.
delete 'is a bad thing'.
the same GW Bush who said "There ought to be limits to freedom" is a bad thing?
No, I think I'll look forward to the day he is buried.
I saw him on CSPAN-2 as well. Whatever you want to say about Stoll, you have to admit he is a very interesting person. I remember seeing him speak years ago and coming away thinking that he was a complete nut. He brings such enthusiasm to whatever topic that he speaks about, that regardless of whether you agree with him, you wind up going away admiring him.
I would love to see him interviewed here.
Steve Wozniak is cool because his last name can be shortened to Woz. The other stuff is secondary. Check out the derivations:
1) Wozzup man !
2) Wozzie
3) Wozzinator
4) Wozster
5) Woz's Happening
etc.
Thanks for the nice interview, Woz !
The promises to stand behind his Open Source convictions to release the code and release it often
We aren't customers. We haven't purchased anything from him
I enlcosed the word customer in quotes precisely because I was aware of the semantic hoops that we can go through in debating the definiton of customer. Regardless of whether we pay money to Rob Malda directly, Malda does benefit financially by our visits to his site. I'm sure that those ad dollars would dry up if we all stopped using his nice forum. The traditional models of patronage are changing quickly but that discussion is best left for another day.
If people constantly harrassed you about code you wrote, constantly asking for the latest version, you would be annoyed too.
Interesting choice of words. I am not privy to the emails sent Rob's way but just as you can sympathize with Rob getting annoyed, I can sympathize with people getting annoyed at Rob not living up to his promises. No matter what Rob attributes his delays to, he has not fulfilled his promises.
His primary concern is maintaining this site. If he can package up Slash in a tarball, all the better. If he can put up a public CVS server, all the better. Though, the work to put up a CVS server for public use is quite a bit. The work to secure it is even more..
No one has asked Rob to go to all the trouble of setting up a CVS server. Rob is the one who mentioned that he is looking into that aspect. What does it take to tar up the directories to the code, the data model for his database and dump that on a FTP server? I don't think it would take much. He doesn't have to gussy it up. There are some smart people out there who can figure out what his code is doing. He needs to stop underestimating people or hiding behind excuses.
Lucas on the other hand has a small legion of people who could put TPM on a DVD at the snap of his fingers. Given that Malda probably didn't know that Lucas was waiting until he could put all six movies on DVD, I can't fault his attitude. It certainly doesn't smack of hypocracy.
Ok, you allude to Rob being too busy to release the code. I don't buy it. Linus and everyone else working on Linux are working full time jobs and still hacking on Linux and releasing the code. If they need help, why don't they ask for it? Why don't they utilize the Open Source community that they are so quick to laud? You also refer to the fact that Lucas can whip out DVD's without problem. Of course he can. He doesn't want to, however, and has never promised to do so. He can do with his property as he pleases and as long as he doesn't lie to his fans and contradict himself, I cannot complain about his actions.
Actually, what I'm doing is pointing out what a hypocritical bastard Rob Malda is. Nothing more. Nothing less. I have no interest in TPM or Rob's code. I just can't stand hypocrites and will jump and yell to point them out, regardless of whose house I'm in.
hey, it's my little buddy razzmatazz. I will cut to the chase and eschew the tired holier-than-thou cliche that you so skillfully use.
Rob Malda in an earlier article (the useless interview with his partner) made some disparaging remarks about his "customers" who have made demands on him by repeatedly requesting that Rob release the latest and greatest Slash code. Now mind you, Rob Malda has previously released code and has made a firm committment to continue releasing his code. Rob Malda, by virtue of his words and actions, has indicated that he is a firm proponent of Open Source initiatives.
Rob Malda, in posting this article, has attempted to criticize Lucas for not releasing The Phantom Menace on DVD. Mind you, Lucas has never made a committment to releasing TPM on DVD. In fact, Lucas is reported to have concerns about the DVD platform and has made plans to release his Star Wars series as one complete set when all six movies have been made and released.
Rob Malda has attributed his lack of committment to releasing the Code to Slash to it not being his primary concern...his primary concern being the day to day rigors of supporting the website. This of course flies in the face of hundreds of other Open Source endeavors that are much bigger than Slashdot, manned by individuals with full-time jobs, yet these projects seem able to release code often. Robs excuse seems weak at best.
Rob's insistence that Lucas owes him something by virtue of the fact that he has been a customer of Lucas's previous works, in spite of the fact that Lucas has never promised to release a DVD of TPM, is highly hypocritical when contraposed against his inability to fullfill his own obligations, made willingly by Rob himsself, to his own customers.
You can have fun with your newfound signature. I am more than happy to have my opinions spread by you. At least I know my time spent debating you hasn't been fully wasted.
thanks for stating it so nicely. it's nice to know there are other sane people here.
razzmataz trolled:
If you don't like the fact that you can't get your very own copy of the latest version of Slash, write your own.
This is too easy but I'll take your bait and pull the old switcheroo on you. Try this on for size:
If CmdrTaco doesn't like the fact that he can't get a copy of TPM on DVD, let him film his own version and create his own DVD of that version.
Do you see how stupid you are?
I personally don't give a rat's ass about Slash. The code to duplicate this rathole would be trivial. I'm speaking about CmdrTaco's hypocrisy on denigrating people who make demands on him to release Slash, when he turns around and makes demands on Lucas.
I'll be waiting for the next of your moronic comments.
I'm making excuses for George Lucas by pointing out CmdrTaco's hypocrisy? Yeah, ok...that's very logical.
I personally don't care what Lucas does with his property, I just can't stand when whiners like CmdrTaco bitches about being pissed on when he's doing the same thing.
Come back when you start to make sense.
oh, so now you're making excuses for CmdrTaco. how fucking convenient. I guess it makes it easier to defend your argument that way.
This may be a worthy cause, but how the hell do I know what they'r doing with the money? Any background info on how they spend the money? What pct goes directly towards the penguins and what pct goes to admin?
I know CmdrTaco thinks he's doing a service, but I don't need him telling me which causes to support. I'm sure there are some people who will give money because CmdrTaco thinks its a good idea. That's a shame. Besides, how much cash is CmdrTaco giving?
From the tone of previous comments, it seems that CmdrTaco has managed to piss of a lot of people with his hypocritical stance on releasing the code for slashdot. I wonder if this interview will come back to haunt them. The slashdot gang used to garner nothing but love from you guys. Is the tide turning now? Are Rob and Hemos taking their patrons for granted? Time will tell.
ahhh, i see. I didnt read the article. I'm suffering from Y2K fatigue.
shouldn't that be, An Open Letter About The Y2K Bug?
</put on flame retarding clothes>
OSHA almost shut down the growing telecommuting trend. I plan to take advantage of that in the near future and I do not want OSHA denying me that opportunity.
You have to be one of the silliest people I've seen in these forums. The fact that some people respect you comes as a shock to me. I guess geeks aren't immune to the unwarranted idolization that goes on in other facets of life. I put more weight in you the person than I do on your self-promoted technical ability. To paraphrase you, YOU ARE A WEENIE.
Take a deep breath and count from 1 to 10. Feel better?
The fact that you interpreted my comments as slanderous says more about you than me. Tom Christiansen is a Perl evangelist. Tom Christiansen is an author of Perl books. Tom Christiansen stands to benefit from the proliferation of Perl.
It's also amusing that you ask me not to "attack" Tom when that seems to be his favorite MO. Maybe you need to give Tom a pep talk about that.
Saying that Perl sucks is acceptable in the context of the previous poster's comment. He prefaced his statement accordingly so it didn't just come out of nowhere.
You seem to imply that "competent, professional programmers" can write Perl programs and leave them in good state for future maintainers. I assume you mean programmers who are true CS people and not some accountant who took a course in programming at night school. I don't see where a formal CS education can prepare anyone for the syntactical mess that Perl is. Intelligent people, regardless of background, have been successful programmers. I believe there are some languages that are more suitable for learning and quite frankly, Perl isn't one of them.
You obviously have a vested interest in stating otherwise. The more people you can convince that Perl is easy to learn and work with, the more books you sell. Perl can't be everything to everyone, but please stop denigrating people for either complaining about Perl or for being "an unskilled laborer". You sound elitist and actually contradict yourself when you do that.
It will be a watered down DVD player. The functionality that is found in top tier DVD players just won't be there. Sony is not going to bastardize sales of its premiere DVD players. The DVD players on the PSII will be the equivalent of a teen line...something to pacify the youngsters.
Actually, it was $400 until Dreamcast sold 1 million units its first month out. The breakeven point is rumoured to be $500. Keep in mind that Sony will have to drop prices when/if Dolphin and the Microsoft's console comes out.
Sony is in a heap of trouble.
The Dreamcast and PSII are the start of the end of the PC as a gaming platform. Microsoft's entry into this market is tacit acknowledgement that the PC's gaming glory days are behind it.
The name of the game in game developmen is developer sign-on. The DreamCast and PSII ofter such rich and simpler development platforms that they will have to fight off the developers moving over to their camps. Developers hate having to code for the base levels of the myriad PC configurations. With the consoles out now and in the future, the state of console gaming will always be ahead of the PC.
Chuck your Voodoo and Banshee's now while you have a chance.
and they're going to sell all of this for $300 and throw in a DVD player, firewire port (royalty fee please), 2 PCMCIA ports and 2 USB ports ?
Can you say "stock plummet" ?