Considering that the Zoo system on/. seems to allow people to filter out what they do and don't want to hear, there's probably some socializing going on that would or wouldn't otherwise happen. It would be interesting to see what effects/. itself has had on the social aspect of its readers. I find myself interacting a little too much with people here some times.:)
With the amount of people out there doping up to try and avoid every sign of being human, I would definitely consider a second or even third opinion on the ADD diagnosis. I seriously hope that there has been more than one opinion. I can't say because I don't know your situation.
If my folks would have taken me to a doctor as a kid because I spaced out on the gym floor, I would surely have been diagnosed with ADD. But the real truth is that I wasn't a jock.
Going back to my first statement (about people doping up for everything under the sun), think about it:
1. I've got a few age lines in my face. Solution? Inject toxin just under the skin to make it swell and fill in the wrinkles for a few months! 2. I've got reflux (probably the fallout of too many antibiotics and a bad yeast infection in the digestive tract) disorder. Solution? Get the purple pill that costs an arm and a leg and I will have to stay on for life lest my symptoms get worse. 3. I'm going bald. (Hey... we all get old eventually) Solution? There's just too many to go into, but I'll point out that the list of side effect for Propecia is mind boggling. Especially the one that says to not even TOUCH Propecia if you are pregnant!
I'm not denying that there ARE people with problems out there. I'm not even saying that this guy's kid may not have problems. But let's step back a bit. Back to the time when kids were allowed to be kids. When they didn't have to "perform" in a certain way by a certain age lest they be considered "freaks". Hell... most of us were considered "freaks" but I think we fared pretty well over our lifetimes. Haven't we? The first thing I would say is that this child may just normally be less social and more introverted. Is that REALLY a problem? Do we REALLY need to drug people who just don't get on well with other people?
The other thing is the expectation people place on their kids these days. And the ridiculous level of activity kids are expected to be involved in. (Baseball, Soccer, Football every F*cking day?!! WTF?!) Kids should be allowed to do things like sit in the backyard baking mud pies or making snowmen. They should be allowed to make "chemistry sets" with water, food coloring and old bottles. They should be free to dig holes in the ground in hopes that they will reach whatever it is they believe to be on the other side. But most of all they should be allowed to dream. Because those dreams will take them farther than any drugs they are getting pumped into them.
There's no source code in SFU. But, you do have a point that this COULD be what MS paid those SCO folks for. The right to use their supposed code in a product of theirs.
It sounds like MS is going to try the free (as in beer) vs. free (as in beer and speech) approach. Pitting Windows+SFU against Linux might make Linux a little harder to sell since a lot of corporate environments already have Windows. I can hear the execs now, "So you're telling me that we can still run some Unix stuff that we might have wanted to run on Linux, but we don't have to install or buy any *nix?" Of course, you'll have Windows admins rejoicing and telling the suits, "Yes. This is what we want." But any decent admin is going to know that it might be useful, but there are alternatives.
Exactly the point. People can be made to believe anything. Especially when it is financially advantageous to the ruling class. Anyone who believes that a perfectly preserved passport was found outside of the wreckage of the plane that crashed in PA on 9-11-2001 will believe anything.
All I can imagine is some future generation of rich folks taking off in one of these things for a base on Mars. While their ship rains down nuclear radiation on the poor left behind on Earth, the last bits of whatever life support the ecosystem had left are destroyed. Oh well... I suppose that the rise of the working class against the rich might be more interesting if it was a war between two worlds.
...do you really think any ISP or admin is just going to allow machines to be directly exposed to the internet on equal footing with servers, routers and more important equipment? I don't care if there'e IPSec in there, it just isn't reality unfortunately.
The only way IPv6 is going to take off is if there is some profit motive behind it, because that's what drives the idiots of business. They don't care about whether it's better, faster, safer or newer unless "Joe Consumer" is going to jump on it like a jackrabbit in heat.
And... the only way that "Joe Consumer" will want it is if it's trouble-free and comes built into their computer. So... when M$ launches Windows Longhorn XP Trusted Networthy v1.0 and it comes pre-installed on any PC from the big two vendors, then... maybe "Joe Consumer" will buy into it. And it would have to provide some noticeable benefit. Peer-to-peer aint' it. "Joe Consumer" would probably be more impressed if his cell phone was an IM device that was always on and proxied to his desktop/IP phone/fridge/TV etc...
But think about it. Do you REALLY want your devices directly on the net? Especially these days? I mean really... with the number of cracked and infected Windows boxes on the net, I'm seeing 600-1000 hits per hour now on my firewall logs. There's so much crap on the internet right now from infected and 0wn3z0r3d machines, it's really not funny any more. They need to make damn sure that this stuff WON'T be a problem before they attempt to jump to IPv6 and give everything an IP.
You are correct sir. However, it's human nature to automatically assume that everyone else thinks the same way that you yourself do. This is something that some of us are better at working against than others. It just sounds like Mann is less adept at this.
An example for me is that I was raised in a fairly liberal and very cultured city in Ohio (a rarity I know). The emphasis in my education was on intellect and the arts with less emphasis on sports. The best way to describe the city I grew up in is just to watch Ferris Beuhler's Day Off and note the kids around him and the neighborhood they lived in. Mix in a high percentage of punk rockers and new wavers (an 80s kid here) as well as a decent racial balance of about 60% caucasian to %40 non-caucasian (very generalized numbers as I don't really care much about racial issues other than to say I believe in totally equal rights to the detriment of the majority)) and you have a decent picture of the neighborhood I grew up in.
Naturally, when I went off to college in a small southern Ohio rural town (Ohio U), I was taken aback by the imbalance of races (predominantly white/conservative students) and the lack of liberal views. There were a ton of ditto heads at O.U. even though it's SUPPOSED to be a fairly liberal school. I figured this was just an abberation at the time. But over the years that I've travelled and met other people from outside of where I grew up, I found that MY background was an abberation. It was hard to accept because... I figured most people thought like I do.
When I became aware of this, it also gave me insight into why people like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly think that their views are "normal". They live in a vacuum.
Getting back to Mann (as this isn't really a political discussion and I hate politics) I think he and people like him are also living in a vacuum. I would argue that I am living in a vacuum of my own making based on how involved I am with computers. A few of my friends have commented on how I see the world through computer tinted sunglasses. They can't relate, and a part of me has trouble understanding why they can't. But the difference is that I accept it try to tamp down my internal reactions so as to appear more civil.
If anyone were to read my internal thoughts regarding computers and technology, they probably would think that I was a prick. But it's really hard to back down from something you know to be true just to appease someone who doesn't "get it". In fact it's damn near impossible and downright frustrating as hell. Kind of like the people who don't "get" the way the X window system works. If you know how it works, you understand that it is a thing of beauty and quite advanced compared to other systems. So it leads to great flamewars between those who DO "get it" and those who don't.
Like one of the other posters said, he does appear to have become a little more... pedantic(?) with age. But to be fair, I think this is one of the possible problems with people who are heavily involved with computing.
I've found myself having a greater amount of trouble interacting and dealing with other people as I've become more and more entrenched in computing. I spend about 12-20 hours a day using computers. Whether it's at work (about 7.5 hours spent there. I don't even go out for lunch anymore.) at home (multiple projects going on here with my systems) or at friends and relatives homes (fixing problems or connecting them to my network via VPN). My general day starts at 8:00AM and ends at about 3:00/4:00AM every day with about 95% of it spent in front of computers.
The funny thing is that I find myslef becoming so annoyed with people when they claim to know something about computers, but in the end they only know a little bit about one aspect (web design, hardware, specific lnaguages, etc...). What's really funny is that I am completely aware of the fact that I have (in psychology more than anything else) become the "Unix guy". When I first started working with PCs back in the late 90s, I ran into a few "Unix guys" (which Mann seems to be one of) and they annoyed the piss out of me. They seemed arrogant, impatient and generally unpleasant. I never really understood why. (This was also back when I thought Unix was dying) But after getting annoyed with Windows and moving to Linux, and then working with Sun Solaris, Tru64 and HP-UX... well, I started to see a lot of those traits just naturally manifesting themselves within me. I still work hard to maintain a pleasant personality and I don't wear suspenders or have any facial hair, so I'm not 100% the "Unix guy". But I can now understand their frustrations. Here is the key issue: (Note this in your memory banks for future use in arguments) Many of the concepts of Unix are basic computing concepts applicable to ALL platforms that people on ANY platform SHOULD be made aware of IF they really want to know how to use a computer. The frustration of the "Unix guy" is much like that of the parent that has to deal with the 16 year old who just got a driver's license and now thinks they actually know how to drive. (I'm not saying that all users of other platforms are like this, but many are. I've met plenty of really great Windows admins on the net who know as much about basic computing concepts as any other Unix guy.)
So... I think that Mann's experience is very similar with regard to his take on the world. He's moved ahead in a way. Concepts that are basic to him, are esoteric to the world at large. However, his concepts are a set of meta-realities that many of us have not fully experienced. I will argue that some of us are halfway there though. Just yesterday when I was talking to my wife about my lifelong love of machines over humans, I mentioned to her that to me a computer is an extension of the physical world. Back when I was in high school (1980s) I became instantly aware of how I could move much of what I had in the real world into the computer. That continues to my homelife today. All of my computers here at home are networked and any one of them serves as a head for all the others. I've eliminated cassettes, video tapes, audio cds and dvds from my visible life by keeping them only for backup purposes. They take up less space when they needn't be displayed. Instead, all of my important data is on the home application/file server. I am also slowly moving to a point where the majority of the CPU power will be centralized in a cluster with only a few wireless terminals needed around the house. Ideally one or more of those terminals will be wearable. At that point, the need for much in the way of physical items becomes less useful. What need is there for a television, when I can look anywhere in front of me an watch a movie while surrounded with data that constantly keeps me informed of all things that are per
How can this NOT be connected to Microsoft? Microsoft, earlier this year stated that they were going after Google in the search engine business. What better way to get your competition out of the way than to use your tool (SCO) that is already working against your other competition (Linux) that the competitor(Google) is using for it's service?
Can it be any more obvious than this? What will it take for peopple to really take notice? SCO targets everything that Microsoft speaks out against. SCO spun off from Microsoft's old Unix product Xenix. Hello??? Anyone awake yet?! McFly!???
SCO is atacking Linux (a big headache for Microsoft in the OS arena). SCO is attacking the GPL (a big headache in the software arena for Microsoft). SCO is now attacking Google (a headache for Microsoft in the search engine arens). Does it get any clearer people?!
A properly calibrated monitor (and software that can recognize it) is essential to anything thats non-toy graphics work.
True. Just like you can't make decent audio recordings with a standard 16-bit soundcard... but people do it every day anyway. And... "non-toy" is pretty much a very small niche market.
"Zealot" is a useless label meant to make the "other side" look bad to a third party. (I'm not attacking you by the way as our discussion has been pretty rational) I could just as easily talk about the Photoshop "zealots" on/. who always claim that the GIMP isn't quite up to snuff without actually taking into account how people may actually use it at home.
I just moved my folks over to Linux at their request for X-mas. (I have a JE about it for anyone interested) So far, they are much happier with Linux than they were with Windows (I'm keeping an open mind since they may find things that it doesn't do for them) especially since Windows XP, Office XP and Photoshop are out of their price range. So... it's not impossible for Joe Average to use Linux. Many of us are proving that.
I'm not saying that Photoshop doesn't do some really nice things. But for all that it offers, the average user can't tell much of a difference between it and the GIMP. With UI enhancements in GIMP, even less so.
Also... to be fair I'll point out that I've been using Windows XP on my work laptop for a little over a year now and it's the first version of Windows that they got close to being "right". It's got it's problems, but the layout is much more logical (I hate Classic mode, I only use XP native mode since I'm originally a Mac guy). But... I still use GIMP in XP. It worked well for me on my trip to Australia last year (posting digital pics on the web). Of course I still load up Cygwin as CMD is pretty useless...;)
Yes. So... why is CMYK such a big deal then? You (and I) are obviously not Joe point and shoot. So... if you had an interest in investing the time to overcome the limitations (as I have) then the GIMP works just fine. For me it does what I need it to do:
1. Edit 6 megapixel TIFFs and get them "just right". 2. Send to my Epson photo printer.
For Joe average it can also do what he wants:
1. Take that picture of cousin Willy and put him next to the Hollwywood flavor of the month and e-mail it to everyone in his address book.
With the improvements in the UI that GIMP will have in 2.0, usability won't be much of an issue either.
Yes, but... that doesn't sound like the average person. When I say "average person" I mean the guy who grabs a picture off the web that's 72dpi at 240x120 pixels and prints it out at 360dpi on 8x11 photo paper. That guy isn't going to be needing CMYK.
In my case I AM into digital photography as a semi-hobby. The GIMP suits me fine. Especially with GIMP Print. I've done quite a bit of nice work with it any my USB Epson photo printer. Of course, these are things the average user would never do (even though they think they might).
Why do people always bring up printing? How many people at home ACTUALLY print using CMYK or plan to take their family photos to a service bureau and have them printed in large format? A professional designer might be limited by this, but they are not likely to use GIMP for final output. The printing issue is a non-issue for about 90% of the GIMP user base since many of us do not ever intend to go to print. Besides... dead tree publishing is overrated.
Sorry... but this needs to be said. Baneblackblade, you are an asshole. I hope a thousand people with your attitude are in charge of your destiny someday. And I hope they all feel that you are as expendable as you think many other people are. Screw off jackass.
Spot on my good man! (or woman since I can't tell over the net)
To anyone else who cares to listen:
My wife and I have been on a diet that excludes sugar, white flour and white rice since May 2003. We've both lost nearly 20 pounds and are back to our starting college weights. (I'm 33, she's 37) We noticed within weeks of starting the diet, that EVERYTHING started tasting better. Even different waters have distinctive flavors. I know it sounds impossible to a lot of people, but cutting this stuff out of your diet is a lot easier once you find alternatives. We've been making our own ice cream, chips and sodas for snacks. We make our own spaghetti sauces and pizzas. We've replaced breakfast bars and bagels with a special bundt cake that uses whole wheat pastry flour, stevia (to sweeten) and yogurt. If anything, we both feel like we eat better than we did before. Sure, it takes a little more time, but when you feel as good as we do it's worth it. I'm serious when I say I feel like I've gotten back 7-10 years of my life. I was really starting to feel like I was getting "old" before we started the diet.
Keep in mind.. it's not Atkins or no-carb. It's SPECIFIC carbs. Fruits in moderation. And whole wheat flour are just fine. Need to avoid yeasts as well... and READ the labels on everything before you buy. You'd be surprised at what they sneak sugar into. Ahhh hell... just look back at one of my old JEs about dieting. It's got all the specific info in there.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean? I've been using PCs for a short while and Linux/*nix even shorter. "Years of experience" isn't necessary. However, the point I was trying to make was that for the time being, it's up to those of us who CAN set this kind of thing up to do it for our families and friends. Once they get used to it, they will come to expect it from the commercial vendors and will be dissatisfied when they find out it isn't yet available. That should get the ball rolling, so to speak. Trust me, I'm just a slightly above average computer user, not some wizard. Let's put it this way... if you understand the difference between opening the Microsoft Word application as opposed to launching it by attempting to execute a document, then you can install cygwin and configure it for tunneling. It's just not that hard. All it requires is a little time and patience.
...for the common man like STunnel, FreeSWAN, or OpenVPN, how long can it be before people are just using private networks between family and friends at home to do IM, P2P or even Windows File Sharing? I've moved in this direction already with my family and friends. All it took was a little of my time to set up SSH clients with Local and Remote forwards that my family and friends initiate connection to my server with. Then they just access the Jabber server I run or, the internal mail server using IMAP, or the recipe database I've created, etc...
Since some of my friends and family are Windows bound, I've been able to get them to use the Exodus client for Jabber with cygwin SSH to communicate with me. We even share RDP and VNC sessions. So... what does this have to do with the article? I would argue that there are a good number of people out there doing more than just IM, P2P or web browsing and they are probably doing it via tunneling. It can't be long before this becomes a part of the OS (even for Windows) to allow people to share data in new and very secure/private ways. It's done wonders for the support I offer my friends and family too...
Slashdot Mirror
You are quite welcome sir.
/. experience. Any other way is like fucking with a rubber on.
-1, the only way to get the FULL
Considering that the Zoo system on /. seems to allow people to filter out what they do and don't want to hear, there's probably some socializing going on that would or wouldn't otherwise happen. It would be interesting to see what effects /. itself has had on the social aspect of its readers. I find myself interacting a little too much with people here some times. :)
With the amount of people out there doping up to try and avoid every sign of being human, I would definitely consider a second or even third opinion on the ADD diagnosis. I seriously hope that there has been more than one opinion. I can't say because I don't know your situation.
If my folks would have taken me to a doctor as a kid because I spaced out on the gym floor, I would surely have been diagnosed with ADD. But the real truth is that I wasn't a jock.
Going back to my first statement (about people doping up for everything under the sun), think about it:
1. I've got a few age lines in my face. Solution? Inject toxin just under the skin to make it swell and fill in the wrinkles for a few months!
2. I've got reflux (probably the fallout of too many antibiotics and a bad yeast infection in the digestive tract) disorder. Solution? Get the purple pill that costs an arm and a leg and I will have to stay on for life lest my symptoms get worse.
3. I'm going bald. (Hey... we all get old eventually) Solution? There's just too many to go into, but I'll point out that the list of side effect for Propecia is mind boggling. Especially the one that says to not even TOUCH Propecia if you are pregnant!
I'm not denying that there ARE people with problems out there. I'm not even saying that this guy's kid may not have problems. But let's step back a bit. Back to the time when kids were allowed to be kids. When they didn't have to "perform" in a certain way by a certain age lest they be considered "freaks". Hell... most of us were considered "freaks" but I think we fared pretty well over our lifetimes. Haven't we? The first thing I would say is that this child may just normally be less social and more introverted. Is that REALLY a problem? Do we REALLY need to drug people who just don't get on well with other people?
The other thing is the expectation people place on their kids these days. And the ridiculous level of activity kids are expected to be involved in. (Baseball, Soccer, Football every F*cking day?!! WTF?!) Kids should be allowed to do things like sit in the backyard baking mud pies or making snowmen. They should be allowed to make "chemistry sets" with water, food coloring and old bottles. They should be free to dig holes in the ground in hopes that they will reach whatever it is they believe to be on the other side. But most of all they should be allowed to dream. Because those dreams will take them farther than any drugs they are getting pumped into them.
It sounds like MS is going to try the free (as in beer) vs. free (as in beer and speech) approach. Pitting Windows+SFU against Linux might make Linux a little harder to sell since a lot of corporate environments already have Windows. I can hear the execs now, "So you're telling me that we can still run some Unix stuff that we might have wanted to run on Linux, but we don't have to install or buy any *nix?" Of course, you'll have Windows admins rejoicing and telling the suits, "Yes. This is what we want." But any decent admin is going to know that it might be useful, but there are alternatives.
..."Photshop fails it" ;P
Just kidding folks.
Exactly the point. People can be made to believe anything. Especially when it is financially advantageous to the ruling class. Anyone who believes that a perfectly preserved passport was found outside of the wreckage of the plane that crashed in PA on 9-11-2001 will believe anything.
All I can imagine is some future generation of rich folks taking off in one of these things for a base on Mars. While their ship rains down nuclear radiation on the poor left behind on Earth, the last bits of whatever life support the ecosystem had left are destroyed. Oh well... I suppose that the rise of the working class against the rich might be more interesting if it was a war between two worlds.
...do you really think any ISP or admin is just going to allow machines to be directly exposed to the internet on equal footing with servers, routers and more important equipment? I don't care if there'e IPSec in there, it just isn't reality unfortunately.
The only way IPv6 is going to take off is if there is some profit motive behind it, because that's what drives the idiots of business. They don't care about whether it's better, faster, safer or newer unless "Joe Consumer" is going to jump on it like a jackrabbit in heat.
And... the only way that "Joe Consumer" will want it is if it's trouble-free and comes built into their computer. So... when M$ launches Windows Longhorn XP Trusted Networthy v1.0 and it comes pre-installed on any PC from the big two vendors, then... maybe "Joe Consumer" will buy into it. And it would have to provide some noticeable benefit. Peer-to-peer aint' it. "Joe Consumer" would probably be more impressed if his cell phone was an IM device that was always on and proxied to his desktop/IP phone/fridge/TV etc...
But think about it. Do you REALLY want your devices directly on the net? Especially these days? I mean really... with the number of cracked and infected Windows boxes on the net, I'm seeing 600-1000 hits per hour now on my firewall logs. There's so much crap on the internet right now from infected and 0wn3z0r3d machines, it's really not funny any more. They need to make damn sure that this stuff WON'T be a problem before they attempt to jump to IPv6 and give everything an IP.
You lose. How can she be cheating if we have an agreement that we can sleep around?
You are correct sir. However, it's human nature to automatically assume that everyone else thinks the same way that you yourself do. This is something that some of us are better at working against than others. It just sounds like Mann is less adept at this.
:P
An example for me is that I was raised in a fairly liberal and very cultured city in Ohio (a rarity I know). The emphasis in my education was on intellect and the arts with less emphasis on sports. The best way to describe the city I grew up in is just to watch Ferris Beuhler's Day Off and note the kids around him and the neighborhood they lived in. Mix in a high percentage of punk rockers and new wavers (an 80s kid here) as well as a decent racial balance of about 60% caucasian to %40 non-caucasian (very generalized numbers as I don't really care much about racial issues other than to say I believe in totally equal rights to the detriment of the majority)) and you have a decent picture of the neighborhood I grew up in.
Naturally, when I went off to college in a small southern Ohio rural town (Ohio U), I was taken aback by the imbalance of races (predominantly white/conservative students) and the lack of liberal views. There were a ton of ditto heads at O.U. even though it's SUPPOSED to be a fairly liberal school. I figured this was just an abberation at the time. But over the years that I've travelled and met other people from outside of where I grew up, I found that MY background was an abberation. It was hard to accept because... I figured most people thought like I do.
When I became aware of this, it also gave me insight into why people like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly think that their views are "normal". They live in a vacuum.
Getting back to Mann (as this isn't really a political discussion and I hate politics) I think he and people like him are also living in a vacuum. I would argue that I am living in a vacuum of my own making based on how involved I am with computers. A few of my friends have commented on how I see the world through computer tinted sunglasses. They can't relate, and a part of me has trouble understanding why they can't. But the difference is that I accept it try to tamp down my internal reactions so as to appear more civil.
If anyone were to read my internal thoughts regarding computers and technology, they probably would think that I was a prick. But it's really hard to back down from something you know to be true just to appease someone who doesn't "get it". In fact it's damn near impossible and downright frustrating as hell. Kind of like the people who don't "get" the way the X window system works. If you know how it works, you understand that it is a thing of beauty and quite advanced compared to other systems. So it leads to great flamewars between those who DO "get it" and those who don't.
Get it?
Who said anything about sleeping? :P The remaining 3-4 hours are usually evenly split between sex and sleep.
Like one of the other posters said, he does appear to have become a little more... pedantic(?) with age. But to be fair, I think this is one of the possible problems with people who are heavily involved with computing.
I've found myself having a greater amount of trouble interacting and dealing with other people as I've become more and more entrenched in computing. I spend about 12-20 hours a day using computers. Whether it's at work (about 7.5 hours spent there. I don't even go out for lunch anymore.) at home (multiple projects going on here with my systems) or at friends and relatives homes (fixing problems or connecting them to my network via VPN). My general day starts at 8:00AM and ends at about 3:00/4:00AM every day with about 95% of it spent in front of computers.
The funny thing is that I find myslef becoming so annoyed with people when they claim to know something about computers, but in the end they only know a little bit about one aspect (web design, hardware, specific lnaguages, etc...). What's really funny is that I am completely aware of the fact that I have (in psychology more than anything else) become the "Unix guy". When I first started working with PCs back in the late 90s, I ran into a few "Unix guys" (which Mann seems to be one of) and they annoyed the piss out of me. They seemed arrogant, impatient and generally unpleasant. I never really understood why. (This was also back when I thought Unix was dying) But after getting annoyed with Windows and moving to Linux, and then working with Sun Solaris, Tru64 and HP-UX... well, I started to see a lot of those traits just naturally manifesting themselves within me. I still work hard to maintain a pleasant personality and I don't wear suspenders or have any facial hair, so I'm not 100% the "Unix guy". But I can now understand their frustrations. Here is the key issue: (Note this in your memory banks for future use in arguments) Many of the concepts of Unix are basic computing concepts applicable to ALL platforms that people on ANY platform SHOULD be made aware of IF they really want to know how to use a computer. The frustration of the "Unix guy" is much like that of the parent that has to deal with the 16 year old who just got a driver's license and now thinks they actually know how to drive. (I'm not saying that all users of other platforms are like this, but many are. I've met plenty of really great Windows admins on the net who know as much about basic computing concepts as any other Unix guy.)
So... I think that Mann's experience is very similar with regard to his take on the world. He's moved ahead in a way. Concepts that are basic to him, are esoteric to the world at large. However, his concepts are a set of meta-realities that many of us have not fully experienced. I will argue that some of us are halfway there though. Just yesterday when I was talking to my wife about my lifelong love of machines over humans, I mentioned to her that to me a computer is an extension of the physical world. Back when I was in high school (1980s) I became instantly aware of how I could move much of what I had in the real world into the computer. That continues to my homelife today. All of my computers here at home are networked and any one of them serves as a head for all the others. I've eliminated cassettes, video tapes, audio cds and dvds from my visible life by keeping them only for backup purposes. They take up less space when they needn't be displayed. Instead, all of my important data is on the home application/file server. I am also slowly moving to a point where the majority of the CPU power will be centralized in a cluster with only a few wireless terminals needed around the house. Ideally one or more of those terminals will be wearable. At that point, the need for much in the way of physical items becomes less useful. What need is there for a television, when I can look anywhere in front of me an watch a movie while surrounded with data that constantly keeps me informed of all things that are per
How can this NOT be connected to Microsoft? Microsoft, earlier this year stated that they were going after Google in the search engine business. What better way to get your competition out of the way than to use your tool (SCO) that is already working against your other competition (Linux) that the competitor(Google) is using for it's service?
Can it be any more obvious than this? What will it take for peopple to really take notice? SCO targets everything that Microsoft speaks out against. SCO spun off from Microsoft's old Unix product Xenix. Hello??? Anyone awake yet?! McFly!???
SCO is atacking Linux (a big headache for Microsoft in the OS arena). SCO is attacking the GPL (a big headache in the software arena for Microsoft). SCO is now attacking Google (a headache for Microsoft in the search engine arens). Does it get any clearer people?!
Oh man... I sure hope they don't send up a tin full of /.ers. Can you imagine the flamewars? ;P
(Laugh people... it's funny)
True. Just like you can't make decent audio recordings with a standard 16-bit soundcard... but people do it every day anyway. And... "non-toy" is pretty much a very small niche market.
#!/bin/bash
while(1)
do
feltch http://goatse.cx &
done
"Zealot" is a useless label meant to make the "other side" look bad to a third party. (I'm not attacking you by the way as our discussion has been pretty rational) I could just as easily talk about the Photoshop "zealots" on /. who always claim that the GIMP isn't quite up to snuff without actually taking into account how people may actually use it at home.
;)
I just moved my folks over to Linux at their request for X-mas. (I have a JE about it for anyone interested) So far, they are much happier with Linux than they were with Windows (I'm keeping an open mind since they may find things that it doesn't do for them) especially since Windows XP, Office XP and Photoshop are out of their price range. So... it's not impossible for Joe Average to use Linux. Many of us are proving that.
I'm not saying that Photoshop doesn't do some really nice things. But for all that it offers, the average user can't tell much of a difference between it and the GIMP. With UI enhancements in GIMP, even less so.
Also... to be fair I'll point out that I've been using Windows XP on my work laptop for a little over a year now and it's the first version of Windows that they got close to being "right". It's got it's problems, but the layout is much more logical (I hate Classic mode, I only use XP native mode since I'm originally a Mac guy). But... I still use GIMP in XP. It worked well for me on my trip to Australia last year (posting digital pics on the web). Of course I still load up Cygwin as CMD is pretty useless...
Yes. So... why is CMYK such a big deal then? You (and I) are obviously not Joe point and shoot. So... if you had an interest in investing the time to overcome the limitations (as I have) then the GIMP works just fine. For me it does what I need it to do:
1. Edit 6 megapixel TIFFs and get them "just right".
2. Send to my Epson photo printer.
For Joe average it can also do what he wants:
1. Take that picture of cousin Willy and put him next to the Hollwywood flavor of the month and e-mail it to everyone in his address book.
With the improvements in the UI that GIMP will have in 2.0, usability won't be much of an issue either.
Yes, but... that doesn't sound like the average person. When I say "average person" I mean the guy who grabs a picture off the web that's 72dpi at 240x120 pixels and prints it out at 360dpi on 8x11 photo paper. That guy isn't going to be needing CMYK.
In my case I AM into digital photography as a semi-hobby. The GIMP suits me fine. Especially with GIMP Print. I've done quite a bit of nice work with it any my USB Epson photo printer. Of course, these are things the average user would never do (even though they think they might).
Why do people always bring up printing? How many people at home ACTUALLY print using CMYK or plan to take their family photos to a service bureau and have them printed in large format? A professional designer might be limited by this, but they are not likely to use GIMP for final output. The printing issue is a non-issue for about 90% of the GIMP user base since many of us do not ever intend to go to print. Besides... dead tree publishing is overrated.
Sorry... but this needs to be said. Baneblackblade, you are an asshole. I hope a thousand people with your attitude are in charge of your destiny someday. And I hope they all feel that you are as expendable as you think many other people are. Screw off jackass.
Spot on my good man! (or woman since I can't tell over the net)
To anyone else who cares to listen:
My wife and I have been on a diet that excludes sugar, white flour and white rice since May 2003. We've both lost nearly 20 pounds and are back to our starting college weights. (I'm 33, she's 37) We noticed within weeks of starting the diet, that EVERYTHING started tasting better. Even different waters have distinctive flavors. I know it sounds impossible to a lot of people, but cutting this stuff out of your diet is a lot easier once you find alternatives. We've been making our own ice cream, chips and sodas for snacks. We make our own spaghetti sauces and pizzas. We've replaced breakfast bars and bagels with a special bundt cake that uses whole wheat pastry flour, stevia (to sweeten) and yogurt. If anything, we both feel like we eat better than we did before. Sure, it takes a little more time, but when you feel as good as we do it's worth it. I'm serious when I say I feel like I've gotten back 7-10 years of my life. I was really starting to feel like I was getting "old" before we started the diet.
Keep in mind.. it's not Atkins or no-carb. It's SPECIFIC carbs. Fruits in moderation. And whole wheat flour are just fine. Need to avoid yeasts as well... and READ the labels on everything before you buy. You'd be surprised at what they sneak sugar into. Ahhh hell... just look back at one of my old JEs about dieting. It's got all the specific info in there.
I submit the following under the GPL (see http://www.gnu.org):
/var/spool/mail | grep [0-9]+\.[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]
;)
Unix version 0.1:
grep -i "recieved from:"
Windows Version 0.1:
Save the e-mail message you get back from the perpetrator to a *.eml file and then use Notepad to find "recieved from:"
I'm not sure exactly what you mean? I've been using PCs for a short while and Linux/*nix even shorter. "Years of experience" isn't necessary. However, the point I was trying to make was that for the time being, it's up to those of us who CAN set this kind of thing up to do it for our families and friends. Once they get used to it, they will come to expect it from the commercial vendors and will be dissatisfied when they find out it isn't yet available. That should get the ball rolling, so to speak. Trust me, I'm just a slightly above average computer user, not some wizard. Let's put it this way... if you understand the difference between opening the Microsoft Word application as opposed to launching it by attempting to execute a document, then you can install cygwin and configure it for tunneling. It's just not that hard. All it requires is a little time and patience.
...for the common man like STunnel, FreeSWAN, or OpenVPN, how long can it be before people are just using private networks between family and friends at home to do IM, P2P or even Windows File Sharing? I've moved in this direction already with my family and friends. All it took was a little of my time to set up SSH clients with Local and Remote forwards that my family and friends initiate connection to my server with. Then they just access the Jabber server I run or, the internal mail server using IMAP, or the recipe database I've created, etc... Since some of my friends and family are Windows bound, I've been able to get them to use the Exodus client for Jabber with cygwin SSH to communicate with me. We even share RDP and VNC sessions. So... what does this have to do with the article? I would argue that there are a good number of people out there doing more than just IM, P2P or web browsing and they are probably doing it via tunneling. It can't be long before this becomes a part of the OS (even for Windows) to allow people to share data in new and very secure/private ways. It's done wonders for the support I offer my friends and family too...