I dunno... some high-end games need a high-end system. I very much enjoy Simcity 4, but it crawls to a halt relatively quickly on my pissant P3/867Mhz/384Mb/i810 system.
I agree though, that the vast majority of "high-end" games suck ass.
Um... perhaps I'm very much misinformed, which is entirely possible, but the article submission makes the claim that Dark Matter doesn't interact with regular matter.
WTF? I thought the reason we're looking for Dark Matter is because the matter we *know* about doesn't add up to cause the gravetic interactions that we can observe. I thought Dark Matter was just matter we couldn't observe just yet, not some exotic "doesn't work the same as other matter" matter.
p2p sharing is nothing new. It's just the old client/server with a new name, only everyone is a server.
Now, *distributed* filesharing, like bitTorrent and or Kazaa/Morpheus... that's new. And *that* is here to stay; it's equivalent to switching from circuit-switched networking to packet-switched networking, only with files rather than messages.
I'm late coming into this discussion, and I doubt this will get read, but I have to say it anyway.
The problem with GUIs on linux is not the look/feel of the GUI. Look and feel is nice, but it's to the point where every GUI works in roughly the same way; minor changes are easily caught by the average user.
No, the real problem, the real reason linux hasn't caught Windows is the underlying code that handles the GUI and IO. Part of that my be the OS (I haven't really looked very far under the hood), but I think most of the fault lies on the windowing system and the toolkits the various window managers use. Linux GUIs are slow. Buggy. Unresponsive.
Many people, when trying to compare how well linux performs vs. windows will, for example, time how long it takes to load, say, Mozilla on identical machines. Most of the time linux wins because the underlying OS, which handles most of the loadup, is very well written. But that's not a valid measure of the GUI performance, since, as I mentioned, most of the loadup is outside the scope of the GUI.
A better measure of performance is response to inupt.
How long does it take to, say, maximize a window? On identical machines, Windows will win every time.
How long does it take to, say, drag an icon? Again, on identical machines, Windows wins.
Why? Honestly, I haven't looked deep enough into the code to find out. Maybe it's the event model. Maybe it's too many layers of abstraction. Maybe it's that the code in the toolkits isn't optimal. But that's where the problem lies. Windows is more responsive; a faster, less buggy GUI. Sure, the kernel stinks, but the GUI on top of it outperforms X and anything running on top of it, every time.
That's what needs to be worked on. That's what will put linux on the desktop.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles are needed so we don't depend on fossil fuels (a limited resource), and to reduce pollution. You still gotta replace the batteries or fill the tank, tho.:)
The article mentions: "The craft will make an x-ray map of the moon" in regards to the probe being sent by tht ESA. How, praytell, are they going to do that? You have to have a receptor on the other side of the x-ray beam, don't you? I mean, it's not like *radar* is it? Not the last time I looked...
So, what are they going to do, beam x-rays through the moon down to a receptor on earth or vice-versa? Somehow I doubt they'd get very accurate pictures.
Are they going to have the craft drop a plate off on one side of the planet, zoom across to the other side and take the picture?
Remember when games *were* pop culture? How often do we geeks drop a quote from the games we play? How often do we complain about grues when it's dark? How often do we tell people to quit waving it like a feather duster?
Games *made* pop culture. Now they're exactly as the article claims: "a marketing arm of the film industry or of the music industry."
I'm a slashdotter, and I find the article quite interesting. As a programmer, it helps to keep abreast of *all* options out there, politics/personal opinions aside. Yes, you're right, the article is there to expound the benefits of.NET, but is that a bad thing? No, it's a valid platform for the development and deployment of software, and that's news to slashdot developers.
In fact, I'm somewhat disappointed at the severe *lack* of articles such as this one for the developers section. Developers section articles, indeed articles on programming and languages in general, are unfortunately rare on slashdot anymore.
Personally, I'd like to see more exposure of newer languages, like D, on slashdot.
Others have responded already, but I'd like to also point out that *originally* the Vice President was not the President's right-hand man; he was the runner up of the presidential election. It was the 12th Amendment that changed it to the current system.
I personally also think the 12th Amendment should be repealed.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I dunno... some high-end games need a high-end system. I very much enjoy Simcity 4, but it crawls to a halt relatively quickly on my pissant P3/867Mhz/384Mb/i810 system.
I agree though, that the vast majority of "high-end" games suck ass.
Best platform for games, hands down, and you can do just as much work with it as you can on any other platform.
I like to dual-boot some random linux distro for when I need good old-fashioned CLI goodness that I can't get from DOS, but I mostly stay on Windows.
And you're aware of some elusive Open Source software program that "hardly ever" needs a patch?
:)
'cause I still haven't found one.
Um... perhaps I'm very much misinformed, which is entirely possible, but the article submission makes the claim that Dark Matter doesn't interact with regular matter.
WTF? I thought the reason we're looking for Dark Matter is because the matter we *know* about doesn't add up to cause the gravetic interactions that we can observe. I thought Dark Matter was just matter we couldn't observe just yet, not some exotic "doesn't work the same as other matter" matter.
Am I totally wrong here?
Yes, I know. :)
They want to think like a terrorist, right? Here's a game that's already been made:
Kaboom: Suicide Bomber
You hit the nail right on the head. X is exactly what I was talking about.
Interesting article. Thanks! :)
More important than prettiness is reliability and responsiveness, two things linux currently lacks in the GUI department.
And don't think it can't be done. Just look at OSX.
So why haven't they already been awarded years ago?
p2p sharing is nothing new. It's just the old client/server with a new name, only everyone is a server.
Now, *distributed* filesharing, like bitTorrent and or Kazaa/Morpheus... that's new. And *that* is here to stay; it's equivalent to switching from circuit-switched networking to packet-switched networking, only with files rather than messages.
So, where are all the tiles? Who knows, but it sounds like a fun thing to geocache for. :)
I prefer Eclipse+Java (being unwilling to shell out the cash for VS.NET) and Eclipse doesn't do this either.
:)
I'd call it a nitpick.
I'm late coming into this discussion, and I doubt this will get read, but I have to say it anyway.
The problem with GUIs on linux is not the look/feel of the GUI. Look and feel is nice, but it's to the point where every GUI works in roughly the same way; minor changes are easily caught by the average user.
No, the real problem, the real reason linux hasn't caught Windows is the underlying code that handles the GUI and IO. Part of that my be the OS (I haven't really looked very far under the hood), but I think most of the fault lies on the windowing system and the toolkits the various window managers use. Linux GUIs are slow. Buggy. Unresponsive.
Many people, when trying to compare how well linux performs vs. windows will, for example, time how long it takes to load, say, Mozilla on identical machines. Most of the time linux wins because the underlying OS, which handles most of the loadup, is very well written. But that's not a valid measure of the GUI performance, since, as I mentioned, most of the loadup is outside the scope of the GUI.
A better measure of performance is response to inupt.
How long does it take to, say, maximize a window? On identical machines, Windows will win every time.
How long does it take to, say, drag an icon? Again, on identical machines, Windows wins.
Why? Honestly, I haven't looked deep enough into the code to find out. Maybe it's the event model. Maybe it's too many layers of abstraction. Maybe it's that the code in the toolkits isn't optimal. But that's where the problem lies. Windows is more responsive; a faster, less buggy GUI. Sure, the kernel stinks, but the GUI on top of it outperforms X and anything running on top of it, every time.
That's what needs to be worked on. That's what will put linux on the desktop.
Yeah, I was confused about that too.
:)
Hydrogen-powered vehicles are needed so we don't depend on fossil fuels (a limited resource), and to reduce pollution. You still gotta replace the batteries or fill the tank, tho.
The article mentions: "The craft will make an x-ray map of the moon" in regards to the probe being sent by tht ESA. How, praytell, are they going to do that? You have to have a receptor on the other side of the x-ray beam, don't you? I mean, it's not like *radar* is it? Not the last time I looked...
So, what are they going to do, beam x-rays through the moon down to a receptor on earth or vice-versa? Somehow I doubt they'd get very accurate pictures.
Are they going to have the craft drop a plate off on one side of the planet, zoom across to the other side and take the picture?
Remember when games *were* pop culture? How often do we geeks drop a quote from the games we play? How often do we complain about grues when it's dark? How often do we tell people to quit waving it like a feather duster?
Games *made* pop culture. Now they're exactly as the article claims: "a marketing arm of the film industry or of the music industry."
That's not the way I read the history, but thankfully I've taken off my rose-colored glasses.
Microsoft got on top by making good shit. How they *stayed* on top is where those questionable practices come into play.
Hmm.... you clearly don't get how Microsoft got to be so huge in the first place, do you? :) Home users actually want stuff like this.
I'm a slashdotter, and I find the article quite interesting. As a programmer, it helps to keep abreast of *all* options out there, politics/personal opinions aside. Yes, you're right, the article is there to expound the benefits of .NET, but is that a bad thing? No, it's a valid platform for the development and deployment of software, and that's news to slashdot developers.
In fact, I'm somewhat disappointed at the severe *lack* of articles such as this one for the developers section. Developers section articles, indeed articles on programming and languages in general, are unfortunately rare on slashdot anymore.
Personally, I'd like to see more exposure of newer languages, like D, on slashdot.
The furry crowd must be mighty yiffy over this little development. :)
Of course... they're mostly yiffy all the time.....
Wow, I didn't know that. Very interesting, thanks. :)
That's an excellent point. I forgot that the California recall does not require a majority for the winning candidate.
Which is dangerously bad.
Nothing at all. The question becomes how easy is it for him to organize a recall?
Too easy, IMO. The recall effort should be contained entirely in the legislature.
Others have responded already, but I'd like to also point out that *originally* the Vice President was not the President's right-hand man; he was the runner up of the presidential election. It was the 12th Amendment that changed it to the current system.
:)
I personally also think the 12th Amendment should be repealed.