My company, a BIG Wall Street firm, is currently testing LINUX to replace Solaris as our server OS.
This is a good thing. My company gets to save few bucks (they need to after paying all those fines last quarter), and we developers will get to keep a UNIX like environment.
It might not be such a good thing for Sun, as we're thinking about contingency for when/if they go out of business. It's also not too good for MSFT. Without LINUX, the suits at my co would have migrated everyone over to NT sever.
It's a good thing for the LINUX community... those of us who don't like the MS monopoly, and want to see 'mainstream' LINUX.
Anyway, what you say about 'big business coming in and taking over', is really LINUX vendors and service providers trying to make a sale TO big business.
This IS what we want to happen. Right? Microsoft losing market share has to start somewhere. This is that start.
>>If you think about it, trying to determine if your just using a kernel as opposed to a graphical interface is pointless. It is not like you can actually "see" the kernel. The kernel merely controls the rest of the OS and responds to commands that are given to it. Even different distributions of Linux show different graphical items and pictures while booting the kernel. It's not just a clear-cut thing.
I hear you. You're right. However a simple command line interface running on top of basic kernel or OS services is a LOT lighter than running all of windows networking/gui/'insert bloated service here' code on top of it.
In addition to the theft question, I'm wondering if the DMCA could come into play.
Could the manufacturer claim that their product was reverse engineered? After all, you had to 'hack'/study/modify the product in order to get the new functionality.
>>If you, as an end user, can overclock the 9500 to the 9700 pro for little money, then what the hell are they charging so much more money for the 9700?
Well, if you don't want to pay market prices for the stuff you want, you'll just have to do without it untill the price drops. And by that time, you'll want the latest and greatest which will be as expensive as the latest and greatest is now.
I can hack my 1974 Chevy Impala's 350 engine into a nitris driven speed machine/death-trap, relatively cheaply. And I can also blow it, and myself to hell trying. Or I can buy a new high performace sports car. Becasue I appreciate what I have and I don't want to destroy it, and because I can't afford to upgrade, I do without.
And I strive to figure out how to better myself so that one day maybe I can earn enough money to upgrade.
Or I could just dump the Chevy and buy a Harley.:)
>>We just don't know because a separation of the windowing system from the real OS isn't possible with MS's closed source system.
I'll wager that the guys in Redmond have the Windows Kernel running on machines without the windowing system/fluff. They're not stupid people over there. There's no way that they could accurately benchmark kernel performance with all that crap running on top of it.
I'll bet that they even develop the kernel seperately from the windowing system. They probably only test the 2 components together after a round of kernel changes, and standalone stability has been acheived.
Even if the above isn't true, you know that somewhere in Redmond, some developer or group has got to have the Windows Kernel running standalone on a machine.
Also, MS would be stupid to not benchmark their product's performance against the 'competition': LINUX and BSD. The only way to do so is with the raw kernel. At least it's the start of a good test.
>>As far as the implementation goes, the programming, that is the trivial part.
This is exactly what the elders in my shop have been trying to pound into my head for the last couple of years.
I'm beginning to see that they're right. Anyone can learn the latest hot language. The language and the machine are only tools. The work is really about solving problems.
OK, I don't want to sound prejudiced or sexist. Please don't troll me down or anything.
At my shop, there is a signifigant number of programers that have come from the former Soviet Union. Both male & female.
The problem that we have is that the male Russian programmers, do the work of 2 people. That being their own, and the work of at least 1 female russian 'programmer'. Usually they're relatives, or married. Working in different groups, but the guy does all the work.
This is no joke.
Fortunately, it's not happening in my group, but I've been seeing this for years in others. We've even done some minor investigative work, where we figure out the login id's of the people involved, and then go into the system (Mainframe), and check the ID's on the female's code. It's always the male programmer's. 100% of the time.
I can't say how the ladies get past the tech interview. Our thinking is that this group of people has someone 'up there' somehere who has enough juice to let the hirings happen.
The ladies draw a full developer's salary. They're usually not senior developers, or even programmer analysts. They have straight 'coder' titles. But that's still good for $50K -> $70K. For doing nothing but sitting in their helper's cubes, taking smoke breaks, and going to lunch.
We thought, with the economic slowdown that this would 'go away'. It hasn't. In the last 8 years there's only been 1 firing over this. Well 2 really. One pair was fired for a mistake that booked a billion or so too little to the ledger.
My point. Well, these are the majority of female developers in my shop. I see no capacity to learn, or even try to understand what they're doing. The others, all seem to have admistrative, or business related jobs. No coders.
There's 1 group of about 5 women that runs our Function Point / Software Development Life Cycle program. You can imagine what a mess this thing is. It's even worse than you can imagine. Non coders, trying to measure coding productivity.
Yeaahh Riiigght.
I know that there are female doctors, female scientists etc.., but in my career I have not seen 1 competant developer. Not 1. It's not that women aren't smart enough, or can't think logically( when they want to;-) ). There's something about the IT field that doesn't attract the smart ones.
Who knows what it is? Is a programmers work really that much different from any other service or science related job?
>> since when did a linux user care what's in some mainstream windows centric pc gaming magazine?
Since the LINUX user in question happens to use multiple operating systems for both work AND gaming.
This kind of comment really pisses me off. Grow up bud. LINUX is a tool, not a religion or a way of life. The same can be said for Windows or any other hunk of software.
It's a tool provided by a very generous group of people, and one extremely generous individual. They deserve our support, and our thanks. But even they know, I think, that LINUX isn't everything. Nor can it be everything.
>>FCC chair Michael Powell got a TiVo for Christmas and calls it "God's machine."
Um OK. So we now equate God with an fancy, glorified VCR. Terrific.
I'm not religious or anything, but the only tech that I'd even come close to calling God's Machines are those that save or improve the quality of lives. Like artifical organs, medical equipment. For me, even the simple concept of an ambulance is about 10,000 orders of magnitude above a Tivo.
Please don't think in any way that I'm trying to detract or slam your new project. I happen to think that Open Source in all forms, from all sources is a great thing.
Slashdot Mirror
I like having Apache and an FTP server on my laptop.
:)
1. When inspiration strikes, tt's nice to be able to do development & test new ideas on my long bus ride.
2. Showing my bosses the next generation of our web application, running on my personal laptop is a great thing in so many, many different ways.
3. It's sometmes easier to FTP files back and forth from the laptop than to set up an NFS mount.
My company, a BIG Wall Street firm, is currently testing LINUX to replace Solaris as our server OS.
This is a good thing. My company gets to save few bucks (they need to after paying all those fines last quarter), and we developers will get to keep a UNIX like environment.
It might not be such a good thing for Sun, as we're thinking about contingency for when/if they go out of business. It's also not too good for MSFT. Without LINUX, the suits at my co would have migrated everyone over to NT sever.
It's a good thing for the LINUX community... those of us who don't like the MS monopoly, and want to see 'mainstream' LINUX.
Anyway, what you say about 'big business coming in and taking over', is really LINUX vendors and service providers trying to make a sale TO big business.
This IS what we want to happen. Right? Microsoft losing market share has to start somewhere. This is that start.
So since Spock is half human/half vulcan, for trade purposes is he human or not?
What about Guinan? Is she human? Nope. Just looks it.
Stormtroopers? Are they human? Well that depends. Was Jango Fett human? Even if he is (probably) do cloned humans count as dolls or toys?
I could go on like this all day...
>>If you think about it, trying to determine if your just using a kernel as opposed to a graphical interface is pointless. It is not like you can actually "see" the kernel. The kernel merely controls the rest of the OS and responds to commands that are given to it. Even different distributions of Linux show different graphical items and pictures while booting the kernel. It's not just a clear-cut thing.
I hear you. You're right. However a simple command line interface running on top of basic kernel or OS services is a LOT lighter than running all of windows networking/gui/'insert bloated service here' code on top of it.
>> but lousy if you are trying to teach those internals.
Or reaching those internals.
In addition to the theft question, I'm wondering if the DMCA could come into play.
Could the manufacturer claim that their product was reverse engineered? After all, you had to 'hack'/study/modify the product in order to get the new functionality.
Scary stuff. Very scary.
>>If you, as an end user, can overclock the 9500 to the 9700 pro for little money, then what the hell are they charging so much more money for the 9700?
:)
Well, if you don't want to pay market prices for the stuff you want, you'll just have to do without it untill the price drops. And by that time, you'll want the latest and greatest which will be as expensive as the latest and greatest is now.
I can hack my 1974 Chevy Impala's 350 engine into a nitris driven speed machine/death-trap, relatively cheaply. And I can also blow it, and myself to hell trying. Or I can buy a new high performace sports car. Becasue I appreciate what I have and I don't want to destroy it, and because I can't afford to upgrade, I do without.
And I strive to figure out how to better myself so that one day maybe I can earn enough money to upgrade.
Or I could just dump the Chevy and buy a Harley.
>>We just don't know because a separation of the windowing system from the real OS isn't possible with MS's closed source system.
I'll wager that the guys in Redmond have the Windows Kernel running on machines without the windowing system/fluff. They're not stupid people over there. There's no way that they could accurately benchmark kernel performance with all that crap running on top of it.
I'll bet that they even develop the kernel seperately from the windowing system. They probably only test the 2 components together after a round of kernel changes, and standalone stability has been acheived.
Even if the above isn't true, you know that somewhere in Redmond, some developer or group has got to have the Windows Kernel running standalone on a machine.
Also, MS would be stupid to not benchmark their product's performance against the 'competition': LINUX and BSD. The only way to do so is with the raw kernel. At least it's the start of a good test.
Would any MS developers like to comment?
This guy has something good to say.
Please mod him up.
>>Once you've said PC, you've excluded those other electronic devices.
Is a handheld device not a computer? A computer that is used my a person for personal reasons?
It could be argued that we need to rethink what the term Personal Computer means.
Just a thought.
Do you have an FTP site for those Quake models?
And yet they don't have a screenshot after all this time.
From the web page: TODO: Insert Ark Linux screenshot here
Click on the 'Why Linux?' link, and look at the end of the third paragraph.
>>As far as the implementation goes, the programming, that is the trivial part.
This is exactly what the elders in my shop have been trying to pound into my head for the last couple of years.
I'm beginning to see that they're right. Anyone can learn the latest hot language. The language and the machine are only tools. The work is really about solving problems.
I think I'm really starting to 'get it' now.
Well, their servers are slashdotted already.
I hope they can sell some kits to help pay for their troubles.
OK, I don't want to sound prejudiced or sexist. Please don't troll me down or anything.
;-) ). There's something about the IT field that doesn't attract the smart ones.
At my shop, there is a signifigant number of programers that have come from the former Soviet Union. Both male & female.
The problem that we have is that the male Russian programmers, do the work of 2 people. That being their own, and the work of at least 1 female russian 'programmer'. Usually they're relatives, or married. Working in different groups, but the guy does all the work.
This is no joke.
Fortunately, it's not happening in my group, but I've been seeing this for years in others. We've even done some minor investigative work, where we figure out the login id's of the people involved, and then go into the system (Mainframe), and check the ID's on the female's code. It's always the male programmer's. 100% of the time.
I can't say how the ladies get past the tech interview. Our thinking is that this group of people has someone 'up there' somehere who has enough juice to let the hirings happen.
The ladies draw a full developer's salary. They're usually not senior developers, or even programmer analysts. They have straight 'coder' titles. But that's still good for $50K -> $70K. For doing nothing but sitting in their helper's cubes, taking smoke breaks, and going to lunch.
We thought, with the economic slowdown that this would 'go away'. It hasn't. In the last 8 years there's only been 1 firing over this. Well 2 really. One pair was fired for a mistake that booked a billion or so too little to the ledger.
My point. Well, these are the majority of female developers in my shop. I see no capacity to learn, or even try to understand what they're doing. The others, all seem to have admistrative, or business related jobs. No coders.
There's 1 group of about 5 women that runs our Function Point / Software Development Life Cycle program. You can imagine what a mess this thing is. It's even worse than you can imagine. Non coders, trying to measure coding productivity.
Yeaahh Riiigght.
I know that there are female doctors, female scientists etc.., but in my career I have not seen 1 competant developer. Not 1. It's not that women aren't smart enough, or can't think logically( when they want to
Who knows what it is? Is a programmers work really that much different from any other service or science related job?
Well I was referring to Linus.
But I take your point about Stallman. Without him, open source probably woldn't exist.
>> since when did a linux user care what's in some mainstream windows centric pc gaming magazine?
Since the LINUX user in question happens to use multiple operating systems for both work AND gaming.
This kind of comment really pisses me off. Grow up bud. LINUX is a tool, not a religion or a way of life. The same can be said for Windows or any other hunk of software.
It's a tool provided by a very generous group of people, and one extremely generous individual. They deserve our support, and our thanks. But even they know, I think, that LINUX isn't everything. Nor can it be everything.
On one hand yes. I wish these developers every possible success.
On the other hand. Well, I haven't heard of Grin, or it's games. Sorry. I can't recall seeing anything in a PC Gamer, or a box in a software shop.
There's no planetbandits.
Oh well. I wish everyone involved the best.
YAULSS. Yet Another Useless Linux Slashdot Story
I wonder if there's anything in the laws of Islam that can be used to do the same for the people in Redmond.
That would be a nice twist, given that some of the terrorist whackos use Windows, Word & IE.
Nice comment BTW, portnux. I agree with the AC. It's the best ever.
>>FCC chair Michael Powell got a TiVo for Christmas and calls it "God's machine."
Um OK. So we now equate God with an fancy, glorified VCR. Terrific.
I'm not religious or anything, but the only tech that I'd even come close to calling God's Machines are those that save or improve the quality of lives. Like artifical organs, medical equipment. For me, even the simple concept of an ambulance is about 10,000 orders of magnitude above a Tivo.
Not just human life. Any life.
>>Now, it's an annoying piece of software
Actually, she's an annoying, buggy, piece of software. You could say that she doesn't get out of the house too much.
I dumped her a long time ago for her hip, worldly, and open neighbor MySQL. She might not be perfect, but she's got style and class.
Sure this can me modded down as off-topic. But I'm trying to have fun with the 'she's'. Lighten up. It's Saturday.
My company won't fire you for using encryption. However it raises flags, and they're more likely to scrutinize the contents.
The same goes for attachments. Especially compressed files.
Yeah great. So If I want to give myself my first heart attack on a schedule, I know where to go.
Bruce,
I'm honored that you've responded to my comment.
Please don't think in any way that I'm trying to detract or slam your new project. I happen to think that Open Source in all forms, from all sources is a great thing.
I wish you the best of luck.
Eckel is to be commended for his bravery, and generosity in doing this.
I own the printed versions of his Thinking in C++ & Java books, and keep the HTML versions at home & office.
It would be nice if ORA did this more often, instead of leasing access to electronic copies through Safari.