I would hope that Tom's Hardware would at least try to keep the anti-Mac bias down to a tolerable level.
"At the same time, Apple laid claim that with the G5 model, it would offer the world's most powerful desktop system. Apparently there are users who will believe these kinds of claims. Whatever - at least the G5 also has 64-bit support with regard to the software. Nevertheless, there is still no final operating system available for it."
FUD, lack of evidence, and outright lies - they call this journalism? They dismiss the Apple's claims about the G5's performance without a) including it in their later benchmark or b) citing any references. Why am I suppose to believe someone who is trying to put down a group of users like they are petulent 2 year olds. Also, what is the crack about not having a "final operating system" out yet? 10.2.7 is a fine OS for the G5. If he means that there is no 64-bit OS, why not just come out and say it?
Pfff. I can't believe I took time away from constantly reloading my Fedex tracking page to read that drivel.
I couldn't find this on the site, but how wide of a range of hardware does Knoppix support? I work as a network technician at my university, which entails a good number of calls where I must go out and troubleshoot a resident's network connection. Many a time I will run into a spot where I can nail it down to either being a problem with the OS or a problem with the NIC. For the Macs, I just use my iBook as a Firewire boot drive, however the Windows boxes prove to be somewhat of a pain. It would be a dream if I could just boot from Knoppix and be able to remove the potentially problematic OS from the equation. However, given the wide range of hardware I see out there, I wonder if a standard Knoppix setup would be able to support all the hardware I run into.
Yet plenty of gainfully employed people were able to post on Slashdot before about how they read Slashdot instead of doing actual work. I bet that makes you feel better.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say you've never owned a Mac before. Never having owned a Windows box, I can only speculate that the install process is long and arduous. On a Mac, it's the exact opposite. I've used everything from System 6 on up and not once have I had a problem upgrading the OS. Put the install disc in, double-click the installer, check a couple options, and you are on your way. Total time to get the installer running is maybe 2 minutes. Hell, the biggest pain in the ass I ever ran into was having to change the floppies to install System 7.
OS X is even nicer. It features a clean system install which will reinstall your system but keep/Users and your prefs. So when Panther comes out, you could do a clean install in case you are worried. But really, your fears are unfounded. I'm typing this on a TiBook that I've brought from 10.0.0 to 10.2.6 without a hitch.
I doubt Apple will release XCode separate from Panther. However, I would not be surprised in the least to hear that Panther is released in but a few short hours. At the very worst, I expect Steve to finally announce a specific date for Panther's release.
On the other hand, the question of what we will hear (if anything) about the Powerbooks is beyond my ability to prognosticate. On one hand, I think that they *must* finally be coming out. I mean, it's the year of the laptop and we haven't seen anything since January. However, reportedly the holdup has been because of Motorola's inability to produce the 7457 in quantity, in which case you can never be sure how long they will drag their feet.
Re:We already HAVE the different language.
on
Secure Programming
·
· Score: 1
(And before anyone says "... but you can't write a kernel in LISP!", there are several LISP Machines out there which beg to disagree with you.)
Who needs to write just a kernel in LISP when there is emacs, a complete OS written in LISP?
Does this mean they're planning on running some variant of BSD? I would imaging that, for licensing sake, they wouldn't put a stock Mac OS on there (OSX)... would cost "too much" and would provide "more" than they need.
Each Mac comes with a license for OS X. Besides, I'm sure for such a high profile customer, Apple would work out a nice deal for any future upgrades. Even if they didn't, it would only cost ~$75k to buy a new license of OS X for each machine at EDU prices.
I go to University of Southern California, and our incompetent IT department (ISD) decided that the best way to combat the worm was to block hosts detected on the network sending out constant requests to TCP ports 135, 139, etc. What I'll never understand is why they didn't just shutdown the damn ports in the first place. It's not like these are essential (or even reasonable) ports for students to have open. Instead, our network got swamped because the people contracting the virus would only get booted after the virus delivered its payload to many other computers. It's tough to laugh about Windows users getting viruses from behind your Mac when your precious high-speed connection is getting swamped by their virulent traffic. And worse, being a CS major and general computer geek, of course they ask me how to fix everything.
I, personally, will vote for anyone who guarantees a priority of drastically reducing or eliminating the entire concept of "Intellectual Property" and the sham of goverment endorsement that accompanies it.
If that happens, let me know so I can start distributing a free (as in beer), ad-free, spyware-free version of that app you are whoring in your sig.
The worst part of working at a job where I use a Windows box is I can't ssh to my Mac and set a cron job to accidentally curl their whole site every minute. And to think,/dev/null on my box at home is just screaming "Feed me with wasted bandwidth from spammers!"
Camino/Chimera was my full time browser up until the first public release of the Safari beta with tabs (build v72 I think). While both browsers had good rendering engines and tabs, what drove me to adopt Safari was the responsiveness of the UI. Before Safari was released, Camino seemed fine to me. However, the advent of Safari spoiled me as the UI seemed infinitely more responsive. That, combined with the apparent slowdown in Camino development, has kept me on Safari since. However...
Per your advice, I just downloaded the most recent nightly for Camino, and I must say I'm quite impressed. The UI is much snappier (changing tabs doesn't lag anymore), and the rendering speed seems a bit improved. I thought that Camino was going to get swallowed up by Safari and Firebird, but it is thriving.
Actually I want to have a cool, silent, energy-efficient machine. While current Apples aren't as silent and energy-efficient as I'd like, I can get a silent, energy-efficient EyeTech or Genesi.
I've checked out a 1.6 GHz G5 PowerMac at my campus computer store, and I must say that I was amazed at how quiet it is. (And this is coming from a Cube owner/phanatic.) I had to put my ear right up to it to hear anything.
If it makes you feel any better, the class you are talking about (CS201 with Bono I'm assuming) is no longer taught using MFC. The GUI section of the course is taught using Swing in Java, and everything is required to compile on Solaris using gcc or the Sun java compiler.
Of course, the CS department still whores copies of Win2k/VisualStudio to the students, so there is still room to get better.
One would think they have had enough viruses for a long enough period of time to have caught up by now.
I don't buy that virus infections will help that much in the long run. Most of the times, a quick patch is rushed out. More important to long term security would be code reviews and coding practice changes as a reaction to virus infections. This is why I don't see MS ever catching up to someone like OpenBSD, where proactive measures are taken.
The war against viruses, worms, and exploits cannot be won in a defensive struggle. You have to go on the offensive.
I hate you burst your bubble, but I highly doubt that Gordon Freeman is known outside gaming communities. I'm a pretty avid gamer, and I had to google that name to figure out where it came from. Half Life just doesn't have the mainstream following of a game like Mario Bros. or even Tomb Raider.
And yes, if it weren't obvious enough, I'm a Mac gamer.
If it were Microsoft, I would think that Redmond would have played this up in the press for all it is worth. Despite the fact that many geeks hate Microsoft, many people in the business world are influenced by MS. If Gates and Co. were to come out and say that they bought a license from SCO so they wouldn't be using some pirate Linux, I'm sure many a PHB would read that and be afraid of using Linux.
RMS and the FSF. Then again, the GNU/Hippy crowd often reminds me of a greedy, petulent child. When MacOS was completely proprietary, Apple was evil for not letting the code roam free in wild fields as it is apparently entitled to. When Apple opened up some code, they were chastisted for not opening it in the manner that the FSF demands... err, politely asks. Now Apple has changed its license to appease the FSF, but the first thing the FSF does is spout off about how the changes aren't good enough, and even if they were Apple would still be condemned for not opening up all of OS X.
Frankly, I think Steve should tell RMS to shove it. Apple has already given back a lot of code (ZeroConf, KHTML updates, etc.), but the FSF is never going to be happy. Apple should just continue to make jobs for lots of developers and make quality products, be they proprietary or open source.
A lot of people here have advocated alerting people about this anonymously. Whether or not you feel this is the correct thing to do, consider including a PGP public key with whaterver submissions you turn over to relevant parties. This way, if it becomes advantageous at a later time to take credit for your actions, you can prove that you were the anonymous whistle-blower.
Just like with the GPL, if you release code under a BSD license, it will always be freely distributable over its entire lifetime. However, unlike the GPL, code released under a BSD license can be used freely by anybody for any purpose. The biggest difference is that someone can add their code to BSD code and do whatever the hell they want, while under the GPL they must GPL their new code.
That's why it's called the FREE software foundation and not the Somewhat-Free, Mostly-Free, Free-This-One-Time, Momentarily-Free, or Free-Enough-So-Take-It-Or-Leave-It Foundation.
I think the "Free-With-Our-Exceptions Software Foundation" is most accurate.
Even if it is legal to to port Darwin's SMP code to OpenBSD PPC, I don't see it happening. FreeBSD SMP code has been floating around (albeit not PPC), but that has not been incorporated into any OpenBSD archs yet. I think this is due to the intense scrutiny that such a major portion of code would require to meet the OpenBSD quality standards, and nobody seems to have the time.
As for Firewire and winmodem support, I think there is a much better chance there as it isn't nearly as big of an undertaking. I haven't checked if the TCP/IP over Firewire code is APSL'd, but if it is I would love to see that get ported to OpenBSD PPC if it's available.
Slashdot Mirror
I would hope that Tom's Hardware would at least try to keep the anti-Mac bias down to a tolerable level.
"At the same time, Apple laid claim that with the G5 model, it would offer the world's most powerful desktop system. Apparently there are users who will believe these kinds of claims. Whatever - at least the G5 also has 64-bit support with regard to the software. Nevertheless, there is still no final operating system available for it."
FUD, lack of evidence, and outright lies - they call this journalism? They dismiss the Apple's claims about the G5's performance without a) including it in their later benchmark or b) citing any references. Why am I suppose to believe someone who is trying to put down a group of users like they are petulent 2 year olds. Also, what is the crack about not having a "final operating system" out yet? 10.2.7 is a fine OS for the G5. If he means that there is no 64-bit OS, why not just come out and say it?
Pfff. I can't believe I took time away from constantly reloading my Fedex tracking page to read that drivel.
PS - FEDEX, BRING ME MY DAMN G5 ALREADY!!
The first 64-bit PC processor, in a class by itself,...
Did someone forget to remind their marketing department that PC means "Personal Computer" and not necessarily x86?
I couldn't find this on the site, but how wide of a range of hardware does Knoppix support? I work as a network technician at my university, which entails a good number of calls where I must go out and troubleshoot a resident's network connection. Many a time I will run into a spot where I can nail it down to either being a problem with the OS or a problem with the NIC. For the Macs, I just use my iBook as a Firewire boot drive, however the Windows boxes prove to be somewhat of a pain. It would be a dream if I could just boot from Knoppix and be able to remove the potentially problematic OS from the equation. However, given the wide range of hardware I see out there, I wonder if a standard Knoppix setup would be able to support all the hardware I run into.
I wonder sometimes what Apple doesn't gradually dump AppleScript for Python?
Or why not just include both (as they will soon be doing) and give users more options to choose the right tool for the right job?
Yet plenty of gainfully employed people were able to post on Slashdot before about how they read Slashdot instead of doing actual work. I bet that makes you feel better.
Yes, I'm on the clock too right now.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say you've never owned a Mac before. Never having owned a Windows box, I can only speculate that the install process is long and arduous. On a Mac, it's the exact opposite. I've used everything from System 6 on up and not once have I had a problem upgrading the OS. Put the install disc in, double-click the installer, check a couple options, and you are on your way. Total time to get the installer running is maybe 2 minutes. Hell, the biggest pain in the ass I ever ran into was having to change the floppies to install System 7.
/Users and your prefs. So when Panther comes out, you could do a clean install in case you are worried. But really, your fears are unfounded. I'm typing this on a TiBook that I've brought from 10.0.0 to 10.2.6 without a hitch.
OS X is even nicer. It features a clean system install which will reinstall your system but keep
I doubt Apple will release XCode separate from Panther. However, I would not be surprised in the least to hear that Panther is released in but a few short hours. At the very worst, I expect Steve to finally announce a specific date for Panther's release.
On the other hand, the question of what we will hear (if anything) about the Powerbooks is beyond my ability to prognosticate. On one hand, I think that they *must* finally be coming out. I mean, it's the year of the laptop and we haven't seen anything since January. However, reportedly the holdup has been because of Motorola's inability to produce the 7457 in quantity, in which case you can never be sure how long they will drag their feet.
(And before anyone says "... but you can't write a kernel in LISP!", there are several LISP Machines out there which beg to disagree with you.)
Who needs to write just a kernel in LISP when there is emacs, a complete OS written in LISP?
Does this mean they're planning on running some variant of BSD? I would imaging that, for licensing sake, they wouldn't put a stock Mac OS on there (OSX)... would cost "too much" and would provide "more" than they need.
Each Mac comes with a license for OS X. Besides, I'm sure for such a high profile customer, Apple would work out a nice deal for any future upgrades. Even if they didn't, it would only cost ~$75k to buy a new license of OS X for each machine at EDU prices.
Dear XBox owners,
You bastards.
Sincerely,
The Mac Gaming Community
I go to University of Southern California, and our incompetent IT department (ISD) decided that the best way to combat the worm was to block hosts detected on the network sending out constant requests to TCP ports 135, 139, etc. What I'll never understand is why they didn't just shutdown the damn ports in the first place. It's not like these are essential (or even reasonable) ports for students to have open. Instead, our network got swamped because the people contracting the virus would only get booted after the virus delivered its payload to many other computers. It's tough to laugh about Windows users getting viruses from behind your Mac when your precious high-speed connection is getting swamped by their virulent traffic. And worse, being a CS major and general computer geek, of course they ask me how to fix everything.
I, personally, will vote for anyone who guarantees a priority of drastically reducing or eliminating the entire concept of "Intellectual Property" and the sham of goverment endorsement that accompanies it.
If that happens, let me know so I can start distributing a free (as in beer), ad-free, spyware-free version of that app you are whoring in your sig.
Oh what, you want your IP to be protected?
The worst part of working at a job where I use a Windows box is I can't ssh to my Mac and set a cron job to accidentally curl their whole site every minute. And to think, /dev/null on my box at home is just screaming "Feed me with wasted bandwidth from spammers!"
10Tb/s means ...shit if you don't tell us how many Libraries of Congress it is!
Camino/Chimera was my full time browser up until the first public release of the Safari beta with tabs (build v72 I think). While both browsers had good rendering engines and tabs, what drove me to adopt Safari was the responsiveness of the UI. Before Safari was released, Camino seemed fine to me. However, the advent of Safari spoiled me as the UI seemed infinitely more responsive. That, combined with the apparent slowdown in Camino development, has kept me on Safari since. However...
Per your advice, I just downloaded the most recent nightly for Camino, and I must say I'm quite impressed. The UI is much snappier (changing tabs doesn't lag anymore), and the rendering speed seems a bit improved. I thought that Camino was going to get swallowed up by Safari and Firebird, but it is thriving.
Actually I want to have a cool, silent, energy-efficient machine. While current Apples aren't as silent and energy-efficient as I'd like, I can get a silent, energy-efficient EyeTech or Genesi.
I've checked out a 1.6 GHz G5 PowerMac at my campus computer store, and I must say that I was amazed at how quiet it is. (And this is coming from a Cube owner/phanatic.) I had to put my ear right up to it to hear anything.
If it makes you feel any better, the class you are talking about (CS201 with Bono I'm assuming) is no longer taught using MFC. The GUI section of the course is taught using Swing in Java, and everything is required to compile on Solaris using gcc or the Sun java compiler.
Of course, the CS department still whores copies of Win2k/VisualStudio to the students, so there is still room to get better.
One would think they have had enough viruses for a long enough period of time to have caught up by now.
I don't buy that virus infections will help that much in the long run. Most of the times, a quick patch is rushed out. More important to long term security would be code reviews and coding practice changes as a reaction to virus infections. This is why I don't see MS ever catching up to someone like OpenBSD, where proactive measures are taken.
The war against viruses, worms, and exploits cannot be won in a defensive struggle. You have to go on the offensive.
I hate you burst your bubble, but I highly doubt that Gordon Freeman is known outside gaming communities. I'm a pretty avid gamer, and I had to google that name to figure out where it came from. Half Life just doesn't have the mainstream following of a game like Mario Bros. or even Tomb Raider.
And yes, if it weren't obvious enough, I'm a Mac gamer.
If it were Microsoft, I would think that Redmond would have played this up in the press for all it is worth. Despite the fact that many geeks hate Microsoft, many people in the business world are influenced by MS. If Gates and Co. were to come out and say that they bought a license from SCO so they wouldn't be using some pirate Linux, I'm sure many a PHB would read that and be afraid of using Linux.
Just a little food for thought.
But who really expects them to be Free?
RMS and the FSF. Then again, the GNU/Hippy crowd often reminds me of a greedy, petulent child. When MacOS was completely proprietary, Apple was evil for not letting the code roam free in wild fields as it is apparently entitled to. When Apple opened up some code, they were chastisted for not opening it in the manner that the FSF demands... err, politely asks. Now Apple has changed its license to appease the FSF, but the first thing the FSF does is spout off about how the changes aren't good enough, and even if they were Apple would still be condemned for not opening up all of OS X.
Frankly, I think Steve should tell RMS to shove it. Apple has already given back a lot of code (ZeroConf, KHTML updates, etc.), but the FSF is never going to be happy. Apple should just continue to make jobs for lots of developers and make quality products, be they proprietary or open source.
It appears the site is slashdotted already, so I figure this mirror should work fine.
A lot of people here have advocated alerting people about this anonymously. Whether or not you feel this is the correct thing to do, consider including a PGP public key with whaterver submissions you turn over to relevant parties. This way, if it becomes advantageous at a later time to take credit for your actions, you can prove that you were the anonymous whistle-blower.
Just like with the GPL, if you release code under a BSD license, it will always be freely distributable over its entire lifetime. However, unlike the GPL, code released under a BSD license can be used freely by anybody for any purpose. The biggest difference is that someone can add their code to BSD code and do whatever the hell they want, while under the GPL they must GPL their new code.
That's why it's called the FREE software foundation and not the Somewhat-Free, Mostly-Free, Free-This-One-Time, Momentarily-Free, or Free-Enough-So-Take-It-Or-Leave-It Foundation.
I think the "Free-With-Our-Exceptions Software Foundation" is most accurate.
Even if it is legal to to port Darwin's SMP code to OpenBSD PPC, I don't see it happening. FreeBSD SMP code has been floating around (albeit not PPC), but that has not been incorporated into any OpenBSD archs yet. I think this is due to the intense scrutiny that such a major portion of code would require to meet the OpenBSD quality standards, and nobody seems to have the time.
As for Firewire and winmodem support, I think there is a much better chance there as it isn't nearly as big of an undertaking. I haven't checked if the TCP/IP over Firewire code is APSL'd, but if it is I would love to see that get ported to OpenBSD PPC if it's available.