The x-ray comparison is nonsense. Light is radiation but you don't advocate staying in the dark.
I don't care for cell phones, though. The "transmitting into the head" can't be good, and basically I just don't want to be bothered by people calling me.
In general, it's an interesting article. It seems to support my contention that not all software can be free (that money needs to enter the system at some point) and there is a place for commercial software. Thanks for the link.
My point is that all software cannot be free because money has to enter the system at some point. Programmers need food. Food requires money. Adding value through services (RedHat, MySQL) will not support all the programmers working on free software. Therefore those programmers must be getting money from somewhere. Looking at The Gimp homepage, Spencer Kimball has an e-mail address at xcf.berkeley.edu. This is where his money comes from.
My bigger point is that not only is there is a place for commercial software but that it is necessary to have commercial software for free software to exist.
Yes, it's annoying, but this too shall pass and the software will be better for it.
Sure, free is nice for consumers but it's a crappy business model. More and more companies are going to implement license protection schemes and these things will come up. Eventually the bugs will be worked out...
I like open source and free software and use assorted free libraries and tools in my day-to-day programming. I even have OpenOffice on my computer at home (because I installed my 1 copy of Office XP on my wife's computer, though if I had to do heavy duty work I'd have to get Office). I think the flaw in the open source food chain is the food part, as in, who is buying the food? At some point money has to enter the picture because there's no such thing as open source or free food (excepting dumpsters). I don't think this business model:
Write free software
Sell services for that free software
Profit!
will be enough to keep all the open source coders fed. It smacks too much of the "attract visitors with free stuff then sell ads" model.
I think license protection is a necessary thing. People should get paid for their efforts. That keeps food on the table and allows free software to be written for the love of it.
The latest update was the Java fix, and that weighed in at 5MB. If that's all it takes to spike your traffic then you're probably getting off cheap the rest of the time, with most users not doing much downloading other than mail and news.
Why don't you post some hard data instead of percentages? Saying windows update is 50% of your traffic is meaningless unless you provide background. What is your normal traffic? How close are you to capacity?
At first I didn't understand. This is the first "car" posting I've ever seen on Slashdot. I like cars (I also like sports and have sex on a regular basis, which makes me atypical around here) but don't like anime so I usually just skip the cartoon threads (as that seems a reasonable thing to do: skip threads that don't interest me).
I was surprised at some of the reactions to this posting. "WTF is this doing here?" "OMG, a car!". Then it dawned on me that the reaction is probably a throwback to high school. Maybe the "car guys" (usually found in wood/auto/metal shop) picked on these complaining geeks, and now the geeks feel as if their online safe haven has been violated.
Don't worry, geeks. Car guys won't start hanging out here. You won't get stuffed in any lockers, have your lunch taken, or get a melvin (wedgie if you prefer). Now go put in your Sailor Moon DVD, pop open a Red Bull and chill out.
True, but those usually aren't integrated into the system. The application starter or link can call the required java.exe explicitly. It's silly to do that now, though. A good installer (like InstallAnywhere) can detect the installed Java to ensure the right version is installed and offer the option to install Java with the application.
Anyone who needs Java, for applets, webstart, applications, should install Java directly from Sun. You'll get the latest and greatest implementation (for Windows anyway) and it will integrate seamlessy with IE so you'll never notice any difference (other than the time to download the damn thing).
Second, what the hell kind of question is Should geeks around the world take the lead in getting Iraq back online? "Take the lead"? Yeah, let's all go to Home Depot and pick up spools of cat5e cable and get on one of those "human shield" buses that aren't needed any longer and get to stringing. Not only are there many other priorities as others have pointed out but more likely than not you're calling on people that don't do volunteer work in their own communities to do some unspecified good deeds far far away.
You don't need to ask slashdot if there are things to be done. If you want to help, then help, but you're asking the wrong people. You need to ask the Iraqis what they want and need (see above link on human shields). Perhaps you can contact the Iraqi Forum for Democracy or take a look at iraqipages.com for other contacts. If you are of a mind to do good works, help in your local community, which probably needs it since international attention is not focused on it and there are no lucrative contracts to be had.
I'm not knocking your willingness to help. I think it's great. I think posting here is barking up the wrong tree though. Perhaps you can find out what really needs to be done and make a page for others to visit and contribute what they can.
Fucking coward. Your words would carry more weight if you actually stood behind them. Actually, that's not true. You're an idiot so it is impossible for your words to carry any more weight.
Thinking something is wrong, immoral, or just distasteful is not equivalent to prejudice. I think it's wrong, immoral, and distasteful that Bob puts his dick in John's ass. According to you that makes me a prejudiced redneck. I also happen to think that Mike cheating on his wife is wrong, immoral, and distasteful.
Learn what the words mean before you use them, moron. Your little rant was so gay.
So you see, taco, you're only limited by your imagination. Of course, that could be like saying your writing is limited by your spelling and grammar but still...maybe someone can help you come up with something better.
Your filters suck. Try POPFile, a cross-platform open-source mail sorter. Once it is properly trained you shouldn't get less than 90% accuracy and you will probably get even higher.
Microsoft have expressed an interest in the search engine market. From past behaviour, we all expect Microsoft to use its market share to crush or buy Google, resulting in people being stuck with an inferior product.
In case you hadn't noticed, MS has already integrated search into IE. Google seems to be doing just fine. Now go google yourself...
As for the other issues, not all of them are relevant. "Skinning"? Whoopee. "Sidebar support"? Hmmm, isn't that a Mozilla unique feature? Why not add a "feature": "Is named Mozilla?".
Seriously, though, through the power of Proxomitron and Cookie Cop I get more configurability than I know what to do with. Throw in POPFile and I've got the power, baby. As for security I've never had a virus, never been hacked, never had any problems. I keep my stuff patched, run a good cheap virus scanner and, oh yeah, use common sense.
I have used OS X (we have a test box that runs OS X...I work in a Java shop so we have to test across platforms). I should have included a caveat in my original post stating I would use OS X over XP at work (at home, I need the games, man). When my company purchased a new computer for me they bought me a Dell. Fine machine, but I really lobbied for a G4 running OS X and was turned down. I continue to rag on the IT guys about it (one of whom uses a Mac as his primary computer!) so perhaps in the next upgrade cycle I'll get my wish...
I do. They make a better browser. The make a better word processor. They make the best mice and joysticks. They make great games. XP is an excellent OS. Not everything they make is great but no company has a perfect track record.
Back in grad school (starting in '93) I was anti-MS, for no good reason other than they were so big. When I bought a new computer I strongly considered geting OS/2 for it (phew...dodged that bullet). I bought the WordPerfect suite to write my thesis with. I used Navigator to surf the web on my PC. You know, a funny thing happened. WordPerfect was ok for small documents but for something like my modest thesis with images it sucked. I gave MS Office a go (I had never used it before then) and was sold...it got the job done. After I left grad school IE3 was released...the first version to exceed NN. IE has never looked back. For an OS, I have XP at work and home (in addition to an installation of Linux via VMWare for testing) and it works. It doesn't crash, runs fine. One of my Linux zealot coworkers seems to be forever downloading the latest build of something or looking for a better widget, all while Linux looks more and more like Windows on the desktop. I do use OpenOffice.org suite on my home computer, because I gave my wife my copy of Office XP to use on her computer. For simple spreadsheet work and basic letter writing it's fine. It's still no match for Office though.
So years ago I gave up the pro-this, anti-that stance and took one that's pro-me. I use what works best for me. Period. Best search engine? Google (which is not a verb, you trying-to-be-cool buzzword compliant geeks). If another search engine is better for me, than great, I'll use it. Same goes for other products. I don't have time to waste on half-assed products just to make a point. I want to spend less time wrestling with software and more time getting things done (which translates to more time with my family). I know it's sacrilege to say so here in the geek hive, but MS products generally are better than competing products.
They're not clearly marked as sponsor links? Gee, let's take a look. The first three are marked as "featured sites" by the text, "FEATURED SITES - ABOUT". The next 3 hits are labeled, "SPONSORED SITES - ABOUT" in exactly the same font. Furthermore, the "sponsored sites" which you are complaining about are not numbered and instead marked by a bullet, further setting them apart.
Slashdot Mirror
The x-ray comparison is nonsense. Light is radiation but you don't advocate staying in the dark.
I don't care for cell phones, though. The "transmitting into the head" can't be good, and basically I just don't want to be bothered by people calling me.
A little poking around and it seems that for each referral the referrer gets $40 in credit.
Sounds interesting. What do you get for referring customers, sorehands? Or should I call you "refer_id=5938p911"?
If you stand behind Theo, why are you AC?
In general, it's an interesting article. It seems to support my contention that not all software can be free (that money needs to enter the system at some point) and there is a place for commercial software. Thanks for the link.
My point is that all software cannot be free because money has to enter the system at some point. Programmers need food. Food requires money. Adding value through services (RedHat, MySQL) will not support all the programmers working on free software. Therefore those programmers must be getting money from somewhere. Looking at The Gimp homepage, Spencer Kimball has an e-mail address at xcf.berkeley.edu. This is where his money comes from.
My bigger point is that not only is there is a place for commercial software but that it is necessary to have commercial software for free software to exist.
Sure, free is nice for consumers but it's a crappy business model. More and more companies are going to implement license protection schemes and these things will come up. Eventually the bugs will be worked out...
I like open source and free software and use assorted free libraries and tools in my day-to-day programming. I even have OpenOffice on my computer at home (because I installed my 1 copy of Office XP on my wife's computer, though if I had to do heavy duty work I'd have to get Office). I think the flaw in the open source food chain is the food part, as in, who is buying the food? At some point money has to enter the picture because there's no such thing as open source or free food (excepting dumpsters). I don't think this business model:
Write free software
Sell services for that free software
Profit!
will be enough to keep all the open source coders fed. It smacks too much of the "attract visitors with free stuff then sell ads" model.
I think license protection is a necessary thing. People should get paid for their efforts. That keeps food on the table and allows free software to be written for the love of it.
The latest update was the Java fix, and that weighed in at 5MB. If that's all it takes to spike your traffic then you're probably getting off cheap the rest of the time, with most users not doing much downloading other than mail and news.
Why don't you post some hard data instead of percentages? Saying windows update is 50% of your traffic is meaningless unless you provide background. What is your normal traffic? How close are you to capacity?
Cars are cool, no doubt about it, but instead of Firebird how about Mad Dog, Mogen David, or Night Train?
Drink up!
Oh, come on Wil Wheaton, I know that's you. You should at least post under your nick, coward.
At first I didn't understand. This is the first "car" posting I've ever seen on Slashdot. I like cars (I also like sports and have sex on a regular basis, which makes me atypical around here) but don't like anime so I usually just skip the cartoon threads (as that seems a reasonable thing to do: skip threads that don't interest me).
I was surprised at some of the reactions to this posting. "WTF is this doing here?" "OMG, a car!". Then it dawned on me that the reaction is probably a throwback to high school. Maybe the "car guys" (usually found in wood/auto/metal shop) picked on these complaining geeks, and now the geeks feel as if their online safe haven has been violated.
Don't worry, geeks. Car guys won't start hanging out here. You won't get stuffed in any lockers, have your lunch taken, or get a melvin (wedgie if you prefer). Now go put in your Sailor Moon DVD, pop open a Red Bull and chill out.
True, but those usually aren't integrated into the system. The application starter or link can call the required java.exe explicitly. It's silly to do that now, though. A good installer (like InstallAnywhere) can detect the installed Java to ensure the right version is installed and offer the option to install Java with the application.
Anyone who needs Java, for applets, webstart, applications, should install Java directly from Sun. You'll get the latest and greatest implementation (for Windows anyway) and it will integrate seamlessy with IE so you'll never notice any difference (other than the time to download the damn thing).
I mean, really.
First of all, the war is not over. Yet.
Second, what the hell kind of question is Should geeks around the world take the lead in getting Iraq back online? "Take the lead"? Yeah, let's all go to Home Depot and pick up spools of cat5e cable and get on one of those "human shield" buses that aren't needed any longer and get to stringing. Not only are there many other priorities as others have pointed out but more likely than not you're calling on people that don't do volunteer work in their own communities to do some unspecified good deeds far far away.
You don't need to ask slashdot if there are things to be done. If you want to help, then help, but you're asking the wrong people. You need to ask the Iraqis what they want and need (see above link on human shields). Perhaps you can contact the Iraqi Forum for Democracy or take a look at iraqipages.com for other contacts. If you are of a mind to do good works, help in your local community, which probably needs it since international attention is not focused on it and there are no lucrative contracts to be had.
I'm not knocking your willingness to help. I think it's great. I think posting here is barking up the wrong tree though. Perhaps you can find out what really needs to be done and make a page for others to visit and contribute what they can.
Oh, c'mon, aren't you going to post using your user name?
You still need to look up the word "prejudice".
Good post. It was definitely not gay.
Fucking coward. Your words would carry more weight if you actually stood behind them. Actually, that's not true. You're an idiot so it is impossible for your words to carry any more weight.
Thinking something is wrong, immoral, or just distasteful is not equivalent to prejudice. I think it's wrong, immoral, and distasteful that Bob puts his dick in John's ass. According to you that makes me a prejudiced redneck. I also happen to think that Mike cheating on his wife is wrong, immoral, and distasteful.
Learn what the words mean before you use them, moron. Your little rant was so gay.
Sweet ride...thanks for the link. Could have done without the "action" shot though...
Not sure what this is about...topless women in leather pants. (SFW)
What's cooler than a Toyota Matrix, all decked out in racing stickers?
Oh yeah, baby...Matrix, the board game
How about the Matrix folding bike? Before or after
The Vic-20 fans out there might appreciate a look at the Matrix game for that platform.
Flashback to math class! Matrix multiplication!
So you see, taco, you're only limited by your imagination. Of course, that could be like saying your writing is limited by your spelling and grammar but still...maybe someone can help you come up with something better.
Your filters suck. Try POPFile, a cross-platform open-source mail sorter. Once it is properly trained you shouldn't get less than 90% accuracy and you will probably get even higher.
Microsoft have expressed an interest in the search engine market. From past behaviour, we all expect Microsoft to use its market share to crush or buy Google, resulting in people being stuck with an inferior product.
In case you hadn't noticed, MS has already integrated search into IE. Google seems to be doing just fine. Now go google yourself...
Where's the rating for speed and UI?
As for the other issues, not all of them are relevant. "Skinning"? Whoopee. "Sidebar support"? Hmmm, isn't that a Mozilla unique feature? Why not add a "feature": "Is named Mozilla?".
Seriously, though, through the power of Proxomitron and Cookie Cop I get more configurability than I know what to do with. Throw in POPFile and I've got the power, baby. As for security I've never had a virus, never been hacked, never had any problems. I keep my stuff patched, run a good cheap virus scanner and, oh yeah, use common sense.
I have used OS X (we have a test box that runs OS X...I work in a Java shop so we have to test across platforms). I should have included a caveat in my original post stating I would use OS X over XP at work (at home, I need the games, man). When my company purchased a new computer for me they bought me a Dell. Fine machine, but I really lobbied for a G4 running OS X and was turned down. I continue to rag on the IT guys about it (one of whom uses a Mac as his primary computer!) so perhaps in the next upgrade cycle I'll get my wish...
I do. They make a better browser. The make a better word processor. They make the best mice and joysticks. They make great games. XP is an excellent OS. Not everything they make is great but no company has a perfect track record.
Back in grad school (starting in '93) I was anti-MS, for no good reason other than they were so big. When I bought a new computer I strongly considered geting OS/2 for it (phew...dodged that bullet). I bought the WordPerfect suite to write my thesis with. I used Navigator to surf the web on my PC. You know, a funny thing happened. WordPerfect was ok for small documents but for something like my modest thesis with images it sucked. I gave MS Office a go (I had never used it before then) and was sold...it got the job done. After I left grad school IE3 was released...the first version to exceed NN. IE has never looked back. For an OS, I have XP at work and home (in addition to an installation of Linux via VMWare for testing) and it works. It doesn't crash, runs fine. One of my Linux zealot coworkers seems to be forever downloading the latest build of something or looking for a better widget, all while Linux looks more and more like Windows on the desktop. I do use OpenOffice.org suite on my home computer, because I gave my wife my copy of Office XP to use on her computer. For simple spreadsheet work and basic letter writing it's fine. It's still no match for Office though.
So years ago I gave up the pro-this, anti-that stance and took one that's pro-me. I use what works best for me. Period. Best search engine? Google (which is not a verb, you trying-to-be-cool buzzword compliant geeks). If another search engine is better for me, than great, I'll use it. Same goes for other products. I don't have time to waste on half-assed products just to make a point. I want to spend less time wrestling with software and more time getting things done (which translates to more time with my family). I know it's sacrilege to say so here in the geek hive, but MS products generally are better than competing products.
They're not clearly marked as sponsor links? Gee, let's take a look. The first three are marked as "featured sites" by the text, "FEATURED SITES - ABOUT". The next 3 hits are labeled, "SPONSORED SITES - ABOUT" in exactly the same font. Furthermore, the "sponsored sites" which you are complaining about are not numbered and instead marked by a bullet, further setting them apart.