Have you ever tried to use SunScreen? Very unusable in my experience. You need to be local, running X to install it. Really, who runs X on a server? The initial configuration options are limited an break any remote access you may have just had. The fact that Sun is abandoning it for IPfilter indicates that don't think SunScreen is very good either.
A lot of the times, sun doesn't fix stuff so that they can maintain compatability between different versions which is one of their strong selling points.
You've hit the nail on the head. The days of commercial Unix are numbered. It's sad and tragic. The big commercial Unix vendors have no one to blame but themselves. Unix was powering workstations and servers when Windows was still in its 3.1 days. That was a large lead that they petered away. Instead of spending that time improving their procduct (e.g. making their tools more functional like the GNU tools have become) big Unix sat back and did very little.
Why didn't Sun fix their tar utility to properly strip '/'?
Why didn't Sun fix their tar utility to add on the fly compression (-j -z anyone?)?
Why didn't Sun ever develop a useful packet filtering application instead of relying on the ipfilter whose releases can often be worse than beta quality?
Why are there so many different bin directories that the environment never pointed to (e.g./usr/ucb/bin)?
Sed, Awk, and Vi all had room for improvement. Why did they do nothing?
Addition to Four is a process by which one can, using software, sequence any number of numbers together, via addition, that, when combined, equals the number four. Theses numbers can be both positive and negative integers (e.g. 2, -3, -1, 1) as well as real numbers (e.g. 2.5, 3.2, 1.234) as long as their combined total equals 4.
Such a thing seems rediculous at first glance. However, compare it to some of the patents we've seen discussed on Slashdot.
The patent system seems to work ok for mechanical inventions, but is terribly broken for software.
That's why we argue about why they shouldn't be allowed. The best arguement I saw was someone from Gloklaw. Paraphrased: Software is math. If you allow someone to patent 2+2=4, how long before no one can write any statement about 4 without violating a patent?
Legislation slows progress. In time, nations that do not have these silly laws will surpass those that do in terms of innovation. The question is, will the DMCA countries repeal these laws before that happens or after.
Make me choose between Google and M$ and I'll choose Google every time.
If you are choosing your services based on branding then you are just as ignorant as those soccer moms who run IE because it is set by default. Don't be driven by marketing sizzle.
Use a product for what it actually does not becuase it's popular. That being said, Google still seems to have the best search engine. If that changes, I'll change my search engine, even if it's to the MSN home page.
It was not my intention to imply sharing source. I was implying that one should share changes. The type of sharing could be as open as source code. It could involve more general descriptions.
It's not that I hate Microsoft. However, I am aware of the company's record of adopting standards and then breaking them. Remember 'embrace and extend'? This could be a step forward for us all. It could also be step back.
Apart from initial install, how often does one need to install a browser plugin? Why should it be made easy? What kind of legitimate website needs a plugin to browse it?
There is a fine line between easy to use and easy to exploit. Let's not repeat the mistakes of others.
Want to back up anything above 40 GB? You have to buy incredibly expensive DLT instead of DAT
Where have you been? You can get VXA (now Exabyte) tape drives that store 80GB. That's not including compression. The price is under $2000US. If you think that is expensive, then I don't believe you understand the cost of disaster recovery.
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators convert the heat of naturally decaying nuclear material directly into electricity.
Fission reactors typically control a chain reaction and use the heat to create steam that turns a generator. That generator produces the electricity.
Yes, at an atomic level the processes are similar (or even the same) but it is important to note the differences. The word nuclear is often maligned due to lack of understanding.
Cassini does NOT use a nuclear reactor. It uses Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. Please do no feed misinformation to the nuclear ignorant torch burning masses.
We have not announced pricing and licensing and will not do so until next calendar year. For the time being, we can tell you that the Express Editions will be low-cost and will continue to be easy to acquire.
You don't really whole heartedly believe that do you? Is this moneny "in trust" not being payed to multi-national firms to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure? If so, while not actually controlling the oil, America, and others, are certainly pocketing some of its proceeds.
There are many vendors and buyers out there that honestly believe that one should only buy Intel as AMD is unstable. I once had a vendor tell me that. I asked them to cite proof of their claim. They could not.
It is also important to note that the average user would not notice any difference between the performance of a budget vs a premium CPU. How much speed does one need to send an email to mom?
If you are buying 300 PCs for an office and can save $20 each buy buying a Celeron or Duron that makes you look good.
While I disagree with the biased view of the report, I do agree that is news worthy for those of use who could be bombarded with support requests from user about how their IM client no longer works.
Also, I would not call any client or service that blinks advertisements at you free. There are few things more insidious these days than advertisements. They are everywhere and infecting your subconscious thought whether you like it or not.
Slashdot Mirror
I had backspace key issues with Sol 9, x86, out of the box, while sitting at the console.
Have you ever tried to use SunScreen? Very unusable in my experience. You need to be local, running X to install it. Really, who runs X on a server? The initial configuration options are limited an break any remote access you may have just had. The fact that Sun is abandoning it for IPfilter indicates that don't think SunScreen is very good either.
A lot of the times, sun doesn't fix stuff so that they can maintain compatability between different versions which is one of their strong selling points.
How well has that worked for them?
While I'm still ranting:
Addition to Four is a process by which one can, using software, sequence any number of numbers together, via addition, that, when combined, equals the number four. Theses numbers can be both positive and negative integers (e.g. 2, -3, -1, 1) as well as real numbers (e.g. 2.5, 3.2, 1.234) as long as their combined total equals 4.
Such a thing seems rediculous at first glance. However, compare it to some of the patents we've seen discussed on Slashdot.
That's why we argue about why they shouldn't be allowed. The best arguement I saw was someone from Gloklaw. Paraphrased: Software is math. If you allow someone to patent 2+2=4, how long before no one can write any statement about 4 without violating a patent?
Legislation slows progress. In time, nations that do not have these silly laws will surpass those that do in terms of innovation. The question is, will the DMCA countries repeal these laws before that happens or after.
If you are choosing your services based on branding then you are just as ignorant as those soccer moms who run IE because it is set by default. Don't be driven by marketing sizzle.
Use a product for what it actually does not becuase it's popular. That being said, Google still seems to have the best search engine. If that changes, I'll change my search engine, even if it's to the MSN home page.
..it's time to throw out your organ donar card.
It was not my intention to imply sharing source. I was implying that one should share changes. The type of sharing could be as open as source code. It could involve more general descriptions.
It is; provided that you share the changes you make.
It's not that I hate Microsoft. However, I am aware of the company's record of adopting standards and then breaking them. Remember 'embrace and extend'? This could be a step forward for us all. It could also be step back.
The whole concept of stealing code seems a gray to me.
How many ways can you rewrite that? At what point is it original and at what point is it stealing?
There is a fine line between easy to use and easy to exploit. Let's not repeat the mistakes of others.
Where have you been? You can get VXA (now Exabyte) tape drives that store 80GB. That's not including compression. The price is under $2000US. If you think that is expensive, then I don't believe you understand the cost of disaster recovery.
I have no problem paying a little more if I get good, knowledgable service.
Why can't the bank systems simply expire passwords?
Fission reactors typically control a chain reaction and use the heat to create steam that turns a generator. That generator produces the electricity.
Yes, at an atomic level the processes are similar (or even the same) but it is important to note the differences. The word nuclear is often maligned due to lack of understanding.
When you say reactor the unwashed masses assume you mean fission.
Cassini does NOT use a nuclear reactor. It uses Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. Please do no feed misinformation to the nuclear ignorant torch burning masses.
Are the Express Edition products free?
We have not announced pricing and licensing and will not do so until next calendar year. For the time being, we can tell you that the Express Editions will be low-cost and will continue to be easy to acquire.
You don't really whole heartedly believe that do you? Is this moneny "in trust" not being payed to multi-national firms to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure? If so, while not actually controlling the oil, America, and others, are certainly pocketing some of its proceeds.
There are many vendors and buyers out there that honestly believe that one should only buy Intel as AMD is unstable. I once had a vendor tell me that. I asked them to cite proof of their claim. They could not.
If you are buying 300 PCs for an office and can save $20 each buy buying a Celeron or Duron that makes you look good.
Isn't that the whole point of free software? To create software that is not dependant on a single entity?
Also, I would not call any client or service that blinks advertisements at you free. There are few things more insidious these days than advertisements. They are everywhere and infecting your subconscious thought whether you like it or not.