Although I'm sure there are applications for GTK
under framebuffer, I tend to prefer to just write
things with access to the display buffer, and simply create my own blitting functions and
interface. Its a lot more flexible in many regards, and for simple programs that just need
to display a plot or a single updated graphic, its
a lot faster to code, and probably to execute. I guess this is more of an issue of what kind of interface one prefers, but I can't stand how so many program interfaces all look alike:)
I think that one major point has been ignored. While new commercial publications may indeed be subject to the problems RMS mentioned, there has been, if not extensive, but at least existant work on what one could call opensource ebooks. The Gutenberg Project: www.promo.net/pg is one example, although that is more related to the distribution of public domain works. A couple of months ago, there was an article on/. about people writing educational books to be distributed for free (I believe it was a guide to HTML and a guide to PERL). Even if commercial books become as repressive as commercial software, there is always the other slant to consider.
Interesting, but that only applies to people who actually buy the products and agree to the license. The thing I'd suggest is, if the UCITA does get pushed through everywhere, simply cease to purchase commercial software of any kind, or cease to purchase commercial software which takes advantage of the UCITA in such a sense. It is a concern, but not on the level that it affects those who did not agree to a limitation of their rights.
Um... I've scanned the UCITA, and I can't see the section everyone keeps referring to about not saying anything about a product? Is this an interpretation of the 'responsibility for faulty information' bit? If so, I think we already have the equivalent in libel laws. It seems everyone keeps talking about this one effect, but no one writes where in the UCITA it is:P
I think the real issue is not whether one should come first or the other, but rather who is going to write the defining application. There are already a few voice recognition programs for linux: gvoice, kvoicecontrol, xvoice, FreeSpeech, and a few others. Handwriting recognition applications are a bit rarer, I'm sure. However, if its a commercial product, then does it really matter? Are we going to pay money for something we can get for free anyways?
And additionally that DoS attacks aren't restricted to pingflooding a machine, but are globally defined as any method which makes the machine lose its connection, or further screw it up remotely, which would be a valid test of linux's security (something wouldn't be too secure if people can easily do the same thing as when reboot is run on a root shell)
Its this battle that has the potential to split computing. From the masses of posts I've skimming through, it seems we're all forgetting that this isn't just between linux and windows in some isolated environment where the both battle it out to control 100% of the users. Theres macs too!:)
I don't think that linux should be used by the kind of person that just uses computers because they have to. Linux is one of those things that you go to because you don't WANT it to be transparent. Now, I know this may seem a bit contradictory, I mean, why would you WANT to make things hard for yourself? Well, part of it is that transparency can make things a pain some times.. It usually means you end up having less control over your own system.
Secondly, although transparency makes the OS easy on the user, it makes life a pain for a programmer. When you start worrying about nice GUIs and making something transparent, you can go one of two ways. You can either break your back coding it yourself, adding reams of code onto a program, additional graphics, file size, cluttle, making it bloatware basically. Two, you can rely on existing libs, widget sets, etc, at the cost of the originality and uniqueness of your program.
Additionally, you don't necessarily want to sacrifice speed for ease of use in all circumstances. If you're doing word processing, and that alone, it doesn't matter what you use, but if you're trying to do 3d rendering (not modelling, rendering) or calculate a couple of million digits of pi or analyze the data from a radiotelescope to search for extraterestrial intelligence, speed does matter. Things don't magically become infinitely fast when you upgrade your system.. there are 800 mHz alpha systems out there that need to be networked together just so someone can render a few seconds of footage in a reasonable ammount of time, or run simulations on the interaction of atoms, or even just to run a really busy server.
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Although I'm sure there are applications for GTK :)
under framebuffer, I tend to prefer to just write
things with access to the display buffer, and simply create my own blitting functions and
interface. Its a lot more flexible in many regards, and for simple programs that just need
to display a plot or a single updated graphic, its
a lot faster to code, and probably to execute. I guess this is more of an issue of what kind of interface one prefers, but I can't stand how so many program interfaces all look alike
I think that one major point has been ignored. /. about people writing educational books to be distributed for free (I believe it was a guide to HTML and a guide to PERL). Even if commercial books become as repressive as commercial software, there is always the other slant to consider.
While new commercial publications may indeed be
subject to the problems RMS mentioned, there has
been, if not extensive, but at least existant work
on what one could call opensource ebooks. The
Gutenberg Project: www.promo.net/pg is one example, although that is more related to the distribution of public domain works. A couple of months ago, there was an article on
Interesting, but that only applies to people who actually buy the products and agree to the license. The thing I'd suggest is, if the UCITA does get pushed through everywhere, simply cease to purchase commercial software of any kind, or cease to purchase commercial software which takes advantage of the UCITA in such a sense. It is a concern, but not on the level that it affects those who did not agree to a limitation of their rights.
Um... I've scanned the UCITA, and I can't see the section everyone keeps referring to about not saying anything about a product? Is this an interpretation of the 'responsibility for faulty information' bit? If so, I think we already have the equivalent in libel laws. It seems everyone keeps talking about this one effect, but no one writes where in the UCITA it is :P
I think the real issue is not whether one should come first or the other, but rather who is going to write the defining application. There are already a few voice recognition programs for linux: gvoice, kvoicecontrol, xvoice, FreeSpeech, and a few others. Handwriting recognition applications are a bit rarer, I'm sure. However, if its a commercial product, then does it really matter? Are we going to pay money for something we can get for free anyways?
And additionally that DoS attacks aren't restricted to pingflooding a machine, but are globally defined as any method which makes the machine lose its connection, or further screw it up remotely, which would be a valid test of linux's security (something wouldn't be too secure if people can easily do the same thing as when reboot is run on a root shell)
Its this battle that has the potential to split computing. From the masses of posts I've skimming through, it seems we're all forgetting that this isn't just between linux and windows in some isolated environment where the both battle it out to control 100% of the users. Theres macs too! :)
I don't think that linux should be used by the kind of person that just uses computers because they have to. Linux is one of those things that you go to because you don't WANT it to be transparent. Now, I know this may seem a bit contradictory, I mean, why would you WANT to make things hard for yourself? Well, part of it is that transparency can make things a pain some times.. It usually means you end up having less control over your own system.
Secondly, although transparency makes the OS easy on the user, it makes life a pain for a programmer. When you start worrying about nice GUIs and making something transparent, you can go one of two ways. You can either break your back coding it yourself, adding reams of code onto a program, additional graphics, file size, cluttle, making it bloatware basically. Two, you can rely on existing libs, widget sets, etc, at the cost of the originality and uniqueness of your program.
Additionally, you don't necessarily want to sacrifice speed for ease of use in all circumstances. If you're doing word processing, and that alone, it doesn't matter what you use, but if you're trying to do 3d rendering (not modelling, rendering) or calculate a couple of million digits of pi or analyze the data from a radiotelescope to search for extraterestrial intelligence, speed does matter. Things don't magically become infinitely fast when you upgrade your system.. there are 800 mHz alpha systems out there that need to be networked together just so someone can render a few seconds of footage in a reasonable ammount of time, or run simulations on the interaction of atoms, or even just to run a really busy server.