Your boss is holding your company back. What if he was running things when the electronics industry switched from vacuum tubes to transistors, from transistors to integrated circuits, or from TTL to CMOS?
Just because a technology is not used now does not mean it isn't a viable commercial technology for the future.
"People are saying by and large, `It might be easier for me to move my Unix apps to Linux than to Windows,' although we're pretty close to making that untrue."
How much easier does it get than a recompile? OK, I admit that Linux isn't 100% compatible with all flavors of Unix, but it has got to be easier in any case than porting an application to windows.
What do you mean by needing a desktop instead of LFS? I run XFree86 4.2 just fine, including Nvidia drivers, and compiled and installed Gnome 2.0 the first week it was released. It runs way faster than any other distribution I've run on that machine.
The main distinguishing feature of Mandrake over other distros is that it is great for newbies. My parents, in-laws, and soon my brother all have Mandrake on their systems. This differs a lot from the typical slashdotter requirements of speed and a unique looking user interface. I say to each his own distro.
In my opinion choosing a distribution is like choosing a car. All cars get you from point A to point B. Some people need a minivan, some a pickup, and some a sports car. But it is really difficult to say that one type of vehicle is the best for everyone.
Not just the trailers. I go for the trivia questions, too. If I get there early enough I can see all of the slides twice and know all the answers the second time. People who come later think I'm a genius!
Yes, using SSL or SSH is illegal on the ham bands. The purpose of the "private codes" rule is to ensure that the other rules are being followed. If your transmission is encrypted, how can they know if you are discussing business or downloading obscene material?
Bottom line is, if you want secure transmissions don't use the amateur radio service. If you really want secure transmissions, don't use wireless at all.
However, I don't think the FCC will come after you for encrypting a password, like how hotmail uses ssl for login and then drops it afterward. They've always supported the right of private access codes for repeater control, etc.
I think hams are accustomed to a certain lack of privacy. It's the price we pay for free bandwidth.
The most important thing in my book is to allow as much customization as possible. Start with a default that is easily usable by your target users, and allow them to change it to suit their needs. Someone who thinks that the mouse is the best thing since sliced cheese will have an entirely different view from the guy who uses only screen and ratpoison.
The other thing I would suggest is to pattern it as much as possible after other products the end user is likely to use. If you are trying to woo people away from AutoCAD, make your interface similar to AutoCAD, etc. When I asked my wife what she wanted for her icon to launch mozilla from her gnome desktop, guess what she said? Yep, a big blue 'e'. People want to have a familiar interface until they learn the application enough to do 'power' customizations. Unless your interface is extremely intuitive, don't change it too much from what is familiar. What if a new word processor mapped control-s to 'quit without saving?' No one would use it.
Talk to people who use competing products. They always have something they don't like about the interface, like "why do I have to click through 2 dialog boxes to type a superscript?" Or my pet complaint, "Why can't I use vi editing commands when typing a slashdot post in my web browser?"
I communicate quite happily on my HF radio on PSK31. In case any of you didn't know, the 31 stands for 31 baud, which happens to coincide fairly closely with an average person's typing speed. PSK31 gives a rather robust connection even with my paltry rig and antenna. More importantly, it is extremely narrow band. You can fit at least 10 connections in the space of a normal SSB voice signal. When you set up a wireless LAN in your house, you only have to worry about interfering with other LANs on your street. When you set up a wireless connection on HF, you have to share your bandwidth with the entire planet. On HF, the narrower the better. Why do you need a connection that's 1000 times faster than you can type if all you are doing is sending email?
Gnome is not a window manager. Nor, I suspect, is KDE. You can run WindowMaker or almost any other window manager with Gnome instead of sawfish, which is only the default window manager for Gnome.
On a related note, I connect to Sun servers via exceed at work. I switched to a highly-customized version of fvwm95 and use exceed's multiple window mode so that I would have a more consistent user interface between the windows and unix sides. It's amazing how many unix programmers come up and ask me how I got our unix applications to run "in windows."
How can you know that your technology is inside a processor?
You open the processor and take a look under a microscope. This was a major task in a previous job I held in a department that made support chips. Patent infringement happens all of the time in that industry. The punishment is not always monetary forfeiture, either. Sometimes a judge will order that you get to take some of their IP in return.
It's not that housing prices are especially low lately, its the interest rates. The first year of your mortgage something like 95% of your payments go toward interest only. If you wait to buy a house, you might get a slightly lower price, but you'll get a higher interest rate, which is where a vast majoriy of your money goes.
Also, there is a big difference between the housing market and the tech market. A bad economy is precisely the best time to buy a house (if you have a job). For that matter, once things bottom out, it is also the best time to wisely invest in the stock market. Remember buy low, sell high? Part of the problem two years ago was people were doing buy high, sell low (selling when the value dropped).
I'm one of those people who had to max out $10,000 in credit cards to get through college. When an good IPO opportunity came up, we took the "old-fashioned" advice and only invested money we didn't care if we losed, only about $200 at the time, even though we could have come up with more with some sacrifice. Some family members did the sacrificing, took out a second mortage, maxed their credit cards, etc. and bought as much as they could. The very next week the bubble burst. They are still struggling. We have since bought a house, paid off all our credit cards and one major student loan, have a few months salary in savings, and will have our cars completely paid off in a few months.
Now don't get me wrong, there are many people who are struggling through no fault of their own. But for many people, the economy didn't do the hurting, they did the hurting to themselves. This goes for businesses as well, by not following tried and true business principles, they not only hurt themselves, but hurt many others as well. How did so many people suddenly come to believe that the basic rules of economics had changed?
I don't consider contributing to an open source project as 'giving away' my work. 'Giving away' would be what Microsoft would do if they suddenly GPLed all their existing products. What do they get in return?
When a Linux kernel hacker, for instance, contributes his work to the kernel, he gets in exchange the fruits of the labor of other kernel hackers, the developers for GNU, the developers for XFree86, the developers for Gnome, the developers for Mozilla, etc. The sum total of what he gets back is worth well more than what he put in.
Even people who don't contribute code usually add value to the overall product. Some people pay cash for tech support. Personally, I 'paid' for my Mandrake 9.0 cds by contributing about $700 worth of free labor in answering those questions. Other people may work as a 'marketing department', advocating Linux to their family, friends, and colleagues.
Mechanics may not work for free, but I have heard of many mechanics who will fix a Doctor's car in exchange for a free checkup, etc. Developers get 'paid' in one way or another for their contributions to open source, otherwise it wouldn't have lasted this long.
As far as putting ourselves out of business, probably a great majority of developers work on internal company software rather than software that gets sold. Or software that is sold but as part of another product. I may be biased because I never wanted to work developing commercial software. Although, I read once that there are 10 embedded processors for every 1 processor in a desktop computer. Also, some projects just plain don't fit with open source. I am fairly confident that the software I help develop for the AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopter will not be open sourced anytime soon!
There was a quote on this same story on the news last night that said something to the effect of "The criminal's trying to be unpredictable is exactly what makes him predictable". In other words, humans attempt unpredictability in predictable ways.
My theory on the criminal mind is that people who would be smart enough to indefinitely outsmart detectives in a crime are generally smart enough to reason themselves out of committing the crime in the first place. And most of the "criminal geniuses" become to cocky for their own good.
This sniper's weakness is that he is going to do it again. And every time he does, we will get closer to catching him. People without the willpower to stop themselves from doing it the first time certainly don't have the willpower to stop themselves subsequently.
Unplanned murders are generally messy and planned murders are done by people not entirely in their right mind. That is why this guy is going to be caught.
If you stick to the programs that come on your distribution CDs, installation is extrememly easy. Just use the package manager and all of the dependencies are installed automatically. Distros nowadays can come on a DVD that contain almost every Linux program known to man.
The main problem is that open source developers aren't as concerned about ease of installation as the distributors. Developers make it installable and the distributors make it easily installable.
Personally, I think it works out perfectly. People who want and need a stable, easy to install, solution just wait for the next version of their favorite distro to come out. People who have the knowledge to compile and install software can use the bleeding edge, possibly unstable versions. Most commercial software for Linux (stuff that doesn't come on distro CDs) features installshield style installation programs and the ones that don't are aimed at developers anyway.
My parents run Mandrake on their computer and couldn't care less if they have the latest minor increment of Mozilla or not. Give distributors the credit they deserve for doing what they do well -- resolving dependencies so we don't have to.
I have to agree with you on the automation point, as long as you understand shell programming. He does have a point though in the fact that you can't install a virus on linux just by reading an email. Even if the mail client allowed it, you would only be affecting your personal account, not the entire machine. As far as email viruses are concerned, I say long live difficult installation.
Nope. And that's something considering I compiled my entire system (including XFree86, Gnome, and Xine) from source.
Of course my definition of "problem" may be different from yours. If./configure says clearly that I need a library and I can go to freshmeat or the application's website and download and install that library, I don't consider that to be a "problem".
Slashdot Mirror
Good point except for those particular applications were running on Unix before, not Windows.
Just because a technology is not used now does not mean it isn't a viable commercial technology for the future.
when we know we all hate email spam even more? Where can I send my spam printouts for delivery?
The main distinguishing feature of Mandrake over other distros is that it is great for newbies. My parents, in-laws, and soon my brother all have Mandrake on their systems. This differs a lot from the typical slashdotter requirements of speed and a unique looking user interface. I say to each his own distro.
In my opinion choosing a distribution is like choosing a car. All cars get you from point A to point B. Some people need a minivan, some a pickup, and some a sports car. But it is really difficult to say that one type of vehicle is the best for everyone.
Not just the trailers. I go for the trivia questions, too. If I get there early enough I can see all of the slides twice and know all the answers the second time. People who come later think I'm a genius!
Bottom line is, if you want secure transmissions don't use the amateur radio service. If you really want secure transmissions, don't use wireless at all.
However, I don't think the FCC will come after you for encrypting a password, like how hotmail uses ssl for login and then drops it afterward. They've always supported the right of private access codes for repeater control, etc.
I think hams are accustomed to a certain lack of privacy. It's the price we pay for free bandwidth.
73 de KD7KME
The other thing I would suggest is to pattern it as much as possible after other products the end user is likely to use. If you are trying to woo people away from AutoCAD, make your interface similar to AutoCAD, etc. When I asked my wife what she wanted for her icon to launch mozilla from her gnome desktop, guess what she said? Yep, a big blue 'e'. People want to have a familiar interface until they learn the application enough to do 'power' customizations. Unless your interface is extremely intuitive, don't change it too much from what is familiar. What if a new word processor mapped control-s to 'quit without saving?' No one would use it.
Talk to people who use competing products. They always have something they don't like about the interface, like "why do I have to click through 2 dialog boxes to type a superscript?" Or my pet complaint, "Why can't I use vi editing commands when typing a slashdot post in my web browser?"
I apologize for replying to the wrong post. The original did not show up on my page for some reason.
73, KD7KME
On a related note, I connect to Sun servers via exceed at work. I switched to a highly-customized version of fvwm95 and use exceed's multiple window mode so that I would have a more consistent user interface between the windows and unix sides. It's amazing how many unix programmers come up and ask me how I got our unix applications to run "in windows."
Once they gain control of a system, do they use it to launch a DOG attack?
And risc assembly would only have a 30 word vocabulary, but could still recite shakespearean sonnets quite beautifully.
Also, there is a big difference between the housing market and the tech market. A bad economy is precisely the best time to buy a house (if you have a job). For that matter, once things bottom out, it is also the best time to wisely invest in the stock market. Remember buy low, sell high? Part of the problem two years ago was people were doing buy high, sell low (selling when the value dropped).
I'm one of those people who had to max out $10,000 in credit cards to get through college. When an good IPO opportunity came up, we took the "old-fashioned" advice and only invested money we didn't care if we losed, only about $200 at the time, even though we could have come up with more with some sacrifice. Some family members did the sacrificing, took out a second mortage, maxed their credit cards, etc. and bought as much as they could. The very next week the bubble burst. They are still struggling. We have since bought a house, paid off all our credit cards and one major student loan, have a few months salary in savings, and will have our cars completely paid off in a few months.
Now don't get me wrong, there are many people who are struggling through no fault of their own. But for many people, the economy didn't do the hurting, they did the hurting to themselves. This goes for businesses as well, by not following tried and true business principles, they not only hurt themselves, but hurt many others as well. How did so many people suddenly come to believe that the basic rules of economics had changed?
When a Linux kernel hacker, for instance, contributes his work to the kernel, he gets in exchange the fruits of the labor of other kernel hackers, the developers for GNU, the developers for XFree86, the developers for Gnome, the developers for Mozilla, etc. The sum total of what he gets back is worth well more than what he put in.
Even people who don't contribute code usually add value to the overall product. Some people pay cash for tech support. Personally, I 'paid' for my Mandrake 9.0 cds by contributing about $700 worth of free labor in answering those questions. Other people may work as a 'marketing department', advocating Linux to their family, friends, and colleagues.
Mechanics may not work for free, but I have heard of many mechanics who will fix a Doctor's car in exchange for a free checkup, etc. Developers get 'paid' in one way or another for their contributions to open source, otherwise it wouldn't have lasted this long.
As far as putting ourselves out of business, probably a great majority of developers work on internal company software rather than software that gets sold. Or software that is sold but as part of another product. I may be biased because I never wanted to work developing commercial software. Although, I read once that there are 10 embedded processors for every 1 processor in a desktop computer. Also, some projects just plain don't fit with open source. I am fairly confident that the software I help develop for the AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopter will not be open sourced anytime soon!
--
Anyone ever died from 86 straight hours reading Slashdot?
My theory on the criminal mind is that people who would be smart enough to indefinitely outsmart detectives in a crime are generally smart enough to reason themselves out of committing the crime in the first place. And most of the "criminal geniuses" become to cocky for their own good.
This sniper's weakness is that he is going to do it again. And every time he does, we will get closer to catching him. People without the willpower to stop themselves from doing it the first time certainly don't have the willpower to stop themselves subsequently.
Unplanned murders are generally messy and planned murders are done by people not entirely in their right mind. That is why this guy is going to be caught.
Good point. Can't argue with that.
The main problem is that open source developers aren't as concerned about ease of installation as the distributors. Developers make it installable and the distributors make it easily installable.
Personally, I think it works out perfectly. People who want and need a stable, easy to install, solution just wait for the next version of their favorite distro to come out. People who have the knowledge to compile and install software can use the bleeding edge, possibly unstable versions. Most commercial software for Linux (stuff that doesn't come on distro CDs) features installshield style installation programs and the ones that don't are aimed at developers anyway.
My parents run Mandrake on their computer and couldn't care less if they have the latest minor increment of Mozilla or not. Give distributors the credit they deserve for doing what they do well -- resolving dependencies so we don't have to.
I have to agree with you on the automation point, as long as you understand shell programming. He does have a point though in the fact that you can't install a virus on linux just by reading an email. Even if the mail client allowed it, you would only be affecting your personal account, not the entire machine. As far as email viruses are concerned, I say long live difficult installation.
Double-click
Enter root password
wait...
done
In fact, I'd be suprised if someone hasn't done so already.
Of course my definition of "problem" may be different from yours. If ./configure says clearly that I need a library and I can go to freshmeat or the application's website and download and install that library, I don't consider that to be a "problem".
Do I even need to mention the even easier alternatives such as rpm and apt-get?
I could add the functionality to mozilla to automatically install anything downloaded in a matter of an hour or so, but why take the security risk?
I am now charging for security as well. You all must send me a check for $1000 (paypal accepted) in exchange for me not breaking into your house.