Heavier Different hydrogen bond strength (which causes toxicity in biological systems in large doses) Completely transparent to visible light spectrum - light water is slightly blue due to red end absorbtion Different melting/freezing points Heavy water ice will sink if put in normal water
Well, soundblaster used to be a de-factor standard for sound boards but that seems to have gone by the wayside and now there are a load of different varieties again. Same with VGA graphics - but then the 3D revolution brought along a slew of different boards that all required different drivers. Its also a mystery to me why at least a common base standard can't be thrashed out for common components but I guess it would be like herding cats with all the vested interests out there.
"but it's just silly to expect it to be compatible with some random laptop"
I don't think so. Server farms will go with proper supported Solaris and yes they will check the HCL first. The freebie option is for other people who want to try out solaris and who will have all sorts of random desktop and laptop configurations. If opensolaris doesn't support much hardware then who exactly is it aimed at?
A bloody good version of Unix it is too. 64 bit from the start back in the early 90s when PC manufacturers and Microsoft were still wetting their trousers about moving to proper 32 bit.
The alpha CPU - what a missed opportunity. Perhaps in some ideal world in an alternate reality people woke up to what a dogs dinner x86 is and the alpha chip had as much development effort put into it. I wonder what apps would be possible on a 2010 alpha chip that is still pie in the sky for x86?
... I tried installing the latest version (as of november) on my year old laptop (ok , not its natural enviroment but if they want to compete with linux...) and it looked nice.
However, it didn't detect:
the wifi adaptor the ethernet adaptor the sound ship
wifi and sound I can just about live without , but no ethernet is a show stopper. If I can't access any networks then its little use for any real work. On the same laptop even years old opensuse 10.2 which I installed as a temporary OS when I first bought it saw the ethernet adaptor so we're not talking some brand new chip fresh out the design foundry.
So while I wish opensolaris all the best I think its going to remain a niche OS even if it doesn't get the chop.
"t was created in open collaboration, funded by the US government."
Exactly. Funded by the government.
"The Internet as we know it today would not exist if there was no GCC, BIND, BSD, Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, Python."
Funny - I first used the internet in 1991 and out of the above only BIND and BSD were in any sort of widespread use at that time yet it still seemed pretty much the same to me except there was gopher instead of http.
I'm not sure how you see the internet but it must be radically different to how I see it. As for mysql , perl or python affecting it - give me a break. Even gcc isn't that important since there were plenty of C compilers around in the early 90s which didn't exactly cost a fortune to buy. Just because some 13 old kid couldn't or wouldn't pay for one means sweet FA. Kids can't afford cars either but most still learn to drive eventually.
"The Internet and free software are two world-changing concepts that are evolving in a symbiotic manner; one is not possible without the other."
Total BS. You're living in a hippy propaganda dream world mate. Without the FSF the internet would still be thriving because right now its being driven by business , not hippies.
Like I said , I respect their software and use it myself - but its their choice to release it for free. What gets on my nerves however is that they seem to ultimately expect companies to make everything freely available. Why should they? A company needs to make a profit and in most cases only exist because they do - they don't owe the world any freebies. The FSF needs to wake up to reality.
"Please study your history and particularly the state of computing in the early eighties"
Newsflash - its now 2010. The situation then is about as relevant now as the Sinclair Spectrum is to current corporate IT.
"Imagine yourself using computers and not having any control of what goes on, with corporations controlling everything from the BIOS up."]
I use proprietary systems as well as Linux. I've never been in the situation of "not having any control". Thats just a straw man.
"Do tell, dear Viol8, what you ever accomplished out there in the "real world"?"
Plenty pal, not least earning a living from programming so I can feed myself and my family. Something which is a bit difficult when you give it away for free. But then thats not a problem if you're being funded by the state (Stallman) or your parents (a lot of OSS coders).
Why write an erudite carefully thought out and well argued letter when they can just bang out one of their usual hysterical Good vs Evil style polemics? I doubt anyone except a few dyed in the wool fanbois or anyone who's worked in the real world for more than 6 months take much notice of what the FSF says anymore, they're just a bunch of single issue reactionaries with little new to say. While I respect the software they've written over the years , their politics is a joke.
You don't need a majority for that - look at the old south africa.
And if a majority of a population have such extreme views and hate such that they are willing to go as far as killing others based on ethic grouping or somesuch then all that'll happen if you impose a minority will on them is a violent revolution. This exact thing has happened time and time again.
If you really want to change peoples opinions you educate them and their offspring as happened in the deep south.
"As soon as you're talking about imposing one group's beliefs on another, the first group have no absolute right to that, even if they outnumber them."
Says who? Here in the UK we impose laws that forbid polygamy , female circumcision and numerous other things that some minority could whine are their "beliefs" because the majority of people in the UK think these things are wrong.
"criminalise them because of a minaret, you are severely infringing upon them"
Tough. Last time I looked no one had forced muslims to move to Switzerland. If the swiss want to retain a christian culture thats entirely their choice and immigrants have no right to complain if the swiss don't want the obvious signs of another religion in their landscape. Try building a large church in any number of arab states and see how far you get.
"That's why we put the burden of argument upon those who want to criminalise something"
And who decides whether the argument is correct or not? The minority? How is that any different?
There have been plenty of street surveys done too which are free of the bias based on the type of people watching the show. They've all shown a majority (albeit a small one) in favour of capital punishment.
"If 50% of the population vote yes then they can slaughter of all gays, black people or *generic unpopular group*
And the chances of that happening are....
We're talking about majority voting here, not majority ethnic or sexual groups. Any society where the majority voted for that to happen is way beyond help anyway. But here in britain the majority of people want capital punishment brought back yet for years the politicians have thought they know best and have bowed to noise making "rights" groups. This is plainly wrong and completely undemocratic - having the beliefs of the minority imposed on the majority CANNOT be justified under ANY circumstances and the "we believe we're right" excuse that is used is just another way of saying "fuck you , we don't care what you all think".
Usually by people who wouldn't get their own way in a true democracy. Well boo hoo, suck it up , thats what true democracy is about. But instead in the west we generally have the type of "democracy" where the elected leaders happily ignore the majority in favour of pressure groups and minorities who make lots of noise. How exactly is that anything other than the tyranny of the minority?
The navy even has Windows running ships. How does that square with all the stuff you mentioned? I'm guessing theres some conflicting interests in government.
Slashdot Mirror
The difference in hydrogen bond strength affects cell division but also messes about with enzyme and protein operation.
Never mind its nuclear differences its:
Heavier
Different hydrogen bond strength (which causes toxicity in biological systems in large doses)
Completely transparent to visible light spectrum - light water is slightly blue due to red end absorbtion
Different melting/freezing points
Heavy water ice will sink if put in normal water
That 1 billion would soon seem like chicken feed!
Well, soundblaster used to be a de-factor standard for sound boards but that seems to have gone by the wayside and now there are a load of different varieties again. Same with VGA graphics - but then the 3D revolution brought along a slew of different boards that all required different drivers. Its also a mystery to me why at least a common base standard can't be thrashed out for common components but I guess it would be like herding cats with all the vested interests out there.
With all the legal wrangling , especially in europe , I've rather lost the thread of this ongoing buyout.
"but it's just silly to expect it to be compatible with some random laptop"
I don't think so. Server farms will go with proper supported Solaris and yes they will check the HCL first. The freebie option is for other people who want to try out solaris and who will have all sorts of random desktop and laptop configurations. If opensolaris doesn't support much hardware then who exactly is it aimed at?
A bloody good version of Unix it is too. 64 bit from the start back in the early 90s when PC manufacturers and Microsoft were still wetting their trousers about moving to proper 32 bit.
The alpha CPU - what a missed opportunity. Perhaps in some ideal world in an alternate reality people woke up to what a dogs dinner x86 is and the alpha chip had as much development effort put into it. I wonder what apps would be possible on a 2010 alpha chip that is still pie in the sky for x86?
... I tried installing the latest version (as of november) on my year old laptop (ok , not its natural enviroment but if they want to compete with linux...) and it looked nice.
However, it didn't detect:
the wifi adaptor
the ethernet adaptor
the sound ship
wifi and sound I can just about live without , but no ethernet is a show stopper. If I can't access any networks then its little use for any real work. On the same laptop even years old opensuse 10.2 which I installed as a temporary OS when I first bought it saw the ethernet adaptor so we're not talking some brand new chip fresh out the design foundry.
So while I wish opensolaris all the best I think its going to remain a niche OS even if it doesn't get the chop.
"t was created in open collaboration, funded by the US government."
Exactly. Funded by the government.
"The Internet as we know it today would not exist if there was no GCC, BIND, BSD, Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, Python."
Funny - I first used the internet in 1991 and out of the above only BIND and BSD were in any sort of widespread use at that time yet it still seemed pretty much the same to me except there was gopher instead of http.
I'm not sure how you see the internet but it must be radically different to how I see it. As for mysql , perl or python affecting it - give me a break. Even gcc isn't that important since there were plenty of C compilers around in the early 90s which didn't exactly cost a fortune to buy. Just because some 13 old kid couldn't or wouldn't pay for one means sweet FA. Kids can't afford cars either but most still learn to drive eventually.
"The Internet and free software are two world-changing concepts that are evolving in a symbiotic manner; one is not possible without the other."
Total BS. You're living in a hippy propaganda dream world mate. Without the FSF the internet would still be thriving because right now its being driven by business , not hippies.
You do realise that the creation of the internet had fuck all to do with open source software don't you.
You didn't? Oh , well do yourself a favour and buy a ticket on the clue train .
Yes, because companies like Redhat are real mega corps almost the same size as Microsoft and Oracle!
Oh , wait...
Like I said , I respect their software and use it myself - but its their choice to release it for free. What gets on my nerves however is that they seem to ultimately expect companies to make everything freely available. Why should they? A company needs to make a profit and in most cases only exist because they do - they don't owe the world any freebies. The FSF needs to wake up to reality.
"Please study your history and particularly the state of computing in the early eighties"
Newsflash - its now 2010. The situation then is about as relevant now as the Sinclair Spectrum is to current corporate IT.
"Imagine yourself using computers and not having any control of what goes on, with corporations controlling everything from the BIOS up."]
I use proprietary systems as well as Linux. I've never been in the situation of "not having any control". Thats just a straw man.
"Do tell, dear Viol8, what you ever accomplished out there in the "real world"?"
Plenty pal, not least earning a living from programming so I can feed myself and my family. Something which is a bit difficult when you give it away for free. But then thats not a problem if you're being funded by the state (Stallman) or your parents (a lot of OSS coders).
Why write an erudite carefully thought out and well argued letter when they can just bang out one of their usual hysterical Good vs Evil style polemics? I doubt anyone except a few dyed in the wool fanbois or anyone who's worked in the real world for more than 6 months take much notice of what the FSF says anymore, they're just a bunch of single issue reactionaries with little new to say. While I respect the software they've written over the years , their politics is a joke.
You don't need a majority for that - look at the old south africa.
And if a majority of a population have such extreme views and hate such that they are willing to go as far as killing others based on ethic grouping or somesuch then all that'll happen if you impose a minority will on them is a violent revolution. This exact thing has happened time and time again.
If you really want to change peoples opinions you educate them and their offspring as happened in the deep south.
"Citation?"
GIYF
"As soon as you're talking about imposing one group's beliefs on another, the first group have no absolute right to that, even if they outnumber them."
Says who? Here in the UK we impose laws that forbid polygamy , female circumcision and numerous other things that some minority could whine are their "beliefs" because the majority of people in the UK think these things are wrong.
"criminalise them because of a minaret, you are severely infringing upon them"
Tough. Last time I looked no one had forced muslims to move to Switzerland. If the swiss want to retain a christian culture thats entirely their choice and immigrants have no right to complain if the swiss don't want the obvious signs of another religion in their landscape. Try building a large church in any number of arab states and see how far you get.
"That's why we put the burden of argument upon those who want to criminalise something"
And who decides whether the argument is correct or not? The minority? How is that any different?
There have been plenty of street surveys done too which are free of the bias based on the type of people watching the show. They've all shown a majority (albeit a small one) in favour of capital punishment.
"If 50% of the population vote yes then they can slaughter of all gays, black people or *generic unpopular group*
And the chances of that happening are ....
We're talking about majority voting here, not majority ethnic or sexual groups. Any society where the majority voted for that to happen is way beyond help anyway. But here in britain the majority of people want capital punishment brought back yet for years the politicians have thought they know best and have bowed to noise making "rights" groups. This is plainly wrong and completely undemocratic - having the beliefs of the minority imposed on the majority CANNOT be justified under ANY circumstances and the "we believe we're right" excuse that is used is just another way of saying "fuck you , we don't care what you all think".
Usually by people who wouldn't get their own way in a true democracy. Well boo hoo, suck it up , thats what true democracy is about. But instead in the west we generally have the type of "democracy" where the elected leaders happily ignore the majority in favour of pressure groups and minorities who make lots of noise. How exactly is that anything other than the tyranny of the minority?
Perhaps the Navy isn't quite as smart as the USAF:
http://www.slothmud.org/~hayward/mic_humor/nt_navy.html
I'm hoping they've since given up using Windows for that sort of thing but I wouldn't lay money on it.
The navy even has Windows running ships. How does that square with all the stuff you mentioned? I'm guessing theres some conflicting interests in government.
"If the cost of assessing it [open source] was greater than the cost of the software, you would have to think twice."
Newsflash Mr Fry - if you're using free software that's what you'd expect. Since when did zero multiplied by anything become a number?
Imbecile.
"After that, please ask your parents to lock your pc"
Could be a problem since they've been dead a while. Shall I ask my wife?
Your bleeding heart spill on here was just lame. The article was about heart attacks , it wasn't an invitation to do an Oprah.
Grow yourself a pair.
We don't care.
And if it had really broken twice like in the article and you're still alive then you must be a cheerleader called Claire Bennet.
Can you be extradited for something that isnt even a crime in the state you're in?