(or anything similar, Java applets, JavaScript based emulation of similar functionality)
Slows down, even crashes browser/computer/whatever
Audio
Advertisers are inconsiderate (un-optimized, too many on the same page, etc)
Although annoying, moderate levels of flashing and attention seeking (but not by pop-ups or resizes) are quite acceptable to me. Grabbing attention is one of important aspects of an advertisement.
I am not against advertisements on Webpages, because it funds those pages so that poor folks (I am one of those) can access a lot of content, that would otherwise be too expensive.
Many of the more fashionable, high-brow shows tend to be/do one or more of the following:
Too dark and murky
Delve too much into fantasy (I agree that Sci-Fi is fantasy, but technology is king/queen, not pure-pseudo-science (Compare StarTrek/Stargate to science-fictionized vampire shows))
Try to dress fantasy themes as science fiction themes
Watching all the desperate stunts StarTrek Enterprise was pulling as it dies, shows how much our favorite sterile, clean show:-) is losing to the latest fad.
Come on, most of us watch StarTrek to escape from this miserable world, at least for a moment. Why do you want to drag all the misery into the sanctuary of hope, and optimism and fun.
Also, it is nothing new. Star Trek has always been spit on, and will continue to be. Those who like Star Trek have to bear the double stigma of not being "high-brow" and being a "loser".
In any case, the latest 'Evil' Enterprise probably shows how the real future would be.:-)
P.S.:[Man, that scene where Zefram Cochrane shoots the Vulcan is so flipping funny.]
In the real world, fast memorization is important, although, it does not have to be 1000 digits.
For instance, imagine, someone verbally transmits a number to you (a 10 digit number, even 6 digit one). You should be able to remember it and transport it to its destination, maybe to check against a number somewhere else.
Similarly, remembering names of people you meet can be very important when dealing with people.
I have seen these requirements explicity stated in the minimum requirements by many companies.
This might seem silly, and you might say 'That is minimum intelligence for anyone who breathes.' or something to that effect.
But, there are many people, who are knowledgeable (both in breadth and in depth of their respective fields), pretty good at programming or related activities in other fields, but have great trouble, remembering even a small bit of information (they have to keep looking back for each digit) or an inability to remember names.
Productivity would depend on the task at hand (and a lot of other factors).
If you were pampered by the features of decent shells with the usual Unix toolkit, you might find yourself less productive trying to do commandline intensive tasks and some kinds of automation in Windows.
The new improved shell features are nowhere near that of Bash or Tcsh and the problem is worse in company environments where you need to go to the IT department to get each piece of software running.
But, on the other hand, in the case of certain types of software that are only available on Windows, trying to make a half-working or equivalent work on Linux would be a big hit on productivity.
What matters is the toolset that you need for increased prdouctivity is available.
Another way to increase productivity is practice, but you lose productivity on the way to becoming an expert in a particular system.
He's making a case that Harvard needen't worry about having a balanced enrollment in math or science, because females are too stupid to be in those courses of study.
Every school (especially technology schools) are trying to balance enrollment, but it won't succeed until they try to solove the huge image problem that technology field has. I have seen all the frantic acrobatics that goes on in my own school and still their enrollment was increased by adding non-tech areas (sounds to me as if they are trying to circumvent the balancing by dilution).
More and more people are realizing that it is not just lack of opportunitites, but that engineering field is not attractive or glamourous enough for women.
Someone has suggested that there should be hit shows featuring engineers and computer scientists where they are not portrayed as socially inept outcasts. A tech version of 'Ally McBeal', ER or CSI (CSI does not really show the whole spectrum).
If I did not misunderstand your post, No. 3 is unconfirmed.
I think you are right. Although I don't know if it is unconfirmed or not, but it does not seem to affect Mozilla 1.7.5.
I just checked my personal mozilla configuration directories created fresh by a new Mozilla 1.7.5 [official mozilla.org binaries on Debian stable (3.0 'woody')], installation. They are created with permission rwx------ (i.e., groups and others do not have any privileges) and of course, the execute bit is only for directories.
Of course, if some crackpot spoofed my download dialog and made me download a compromised binary....:-)
I haven't read the fine article, but I could not resist asking a couple of question (which I am going to ass-u-me that the article does not answer) And hence it is being put forth for the "wise" consultation of Slashdot.;-)
Do we know any non-single planet species?
How would their reaction be? Would they recommend it?
I am probably looking at it from a different angle, but what the flip, it would be fun to meet a non-single planet species anyway.
Really, every distro should be like this. I'm talking to you, Mandrake. You hear me, Fedora? Achtung, SuSE! RPM is dead, babies. Long live apt/dselect and its gui children.
I wish this were true, but unfortunately, reality is far, far away from it.
With Red Hat and SuSE (both RPM based) leading the way in terms of corporate acceptance (see Novel, IBM and other heavy weights in this arena), RPM, especially with the LSB enforcement will entrench itself as a defacto and in time, (it already had), many binary only packages and even open-source official binary releases would only be available in RPM.
Of course, we can always say we don't care, but, we would be the dead ones, since we would merely be renegades, rebels, elite, whatever. With RPM standardizations, the bad thing of fixed installation directories might pop-up. Worse, alien RPM apps will insist on installing in the 'sacred' apt-dpkg managed locations.
I think he meant Red Hat's "offering" of Linux, not necessarily implying that they were the only one, just the only contender at that level.
Although I do agree with you that Slashdot might be interpreting his words wrongly, it has also to be pointed out that benign interpretations of many SCO statements could also be made. However, they (the SCO statements) were definitely meant to spread misinformation/misrepresent facts etc.
Sun's schizophrenic[1] relationship with Linux and pretty consistent way in which Sun's PR handles Linux (as a second rate alternative to Solaris for cheapos), I believe Slashdot could be forgiven for misinterpreting his words.
[1] Sun has made a lot of contributions to the OSS community, to GNOME, etc. (people could argue stuff here too)
I would like to see Power architecture taking on Intel, but under current situation, unless Microsoft gets into PowerPC et.al., it could be far, far, away into the distant, distant future, when the above statement would make any sense. Microsoft is tooooooo powerful at the moment.
Furthermore, it doesn't seem that Apple would like to see mainstream PowerPC adoption, which could drive people to cheaper solutions such as Linux based desktops --irresepective of how cheap non-Apple solutions would eventually be, the perception of cheapness should be enough. (Now, most PowerPC desktop/laptop computers running non-Apple software are Apple Hardware.)
Again, from what one can see from what IBM is doing, they seem to be more interested in making custom PowerPC or Power-architecture solutions for stuff like PlayStation and servers.
I personally think, that the Alliance itself might prevent mainstream (with official IBM or other big-name support) PowerPC desktop/laptops from emerging. However, they might emerge for a new class of computers --not desktops/laptops, but probably their replacements or descendants, but that is far into the future.
I am using Sarge (testing). When it is released as (stable), Im wondering if I will auto-jump to sid? I ask because in my apt sources.list I have apt sources of "testing".
Don't worry about that, because, the next testing won't be Sid, but Sarge itself. In other words, a particular testing version begins its life as a copy of the stable version. [For an illustration, check the following quote from the Debian Web pages describing the current testing distribution (which is to be called 'sarge'):]
This release started as a copy of woody, and is currently in a state called 'testing'.
But, just don't expect it to stay that way for long, because, I think, they remove the freeze on packages moving in from unstable.
But, one could forgive one for thinking so. Consider all official (state/government) motifs (the wheel, the lion's head, the motto 'Truth Alone Triumphs' etc.). They are all taken from the period of Ashoka, the king who spread Bhuddism to all the parts of the world that we think of as Bhuddist (SriLanka, parts of China etc.).
I believe the the choice of motifs was deliberate. An attempt by the politically correct moderates who dominated the framing of Indian constitution etc., to present a secular image.
Also, if I remember correctly, (I don't know if they took this bit out of their constitution), but India might be the only country with a constitution that explicitly gives the right to preach your religion (except in state sponsored context.). In most other constituions, it is implied under 'Freedom of Speech'. I just thought it was interesting. Funny even. Even Hilarious. (Funny because, this is very reason why Fascists are attacking minorities in India right now, and I think, for the sake of the minorities, that explicit statement should be removed, because as long as it exists, the minorities will feel the urge to preach and get screwed --and it is not funny if you are the minority.)
Yeah, but where do I find an oven that's calibrated in degrees Kelvin?
If you are an engineer, you could probably get one, albeit, really expensive and probably not built to easily accommodate standard kitchen stuff.:-)
By the way, there is no 'degrees Kelvin'. It is an absolute unit, and it is just 'kelvin'. Yeah, there is no 'Kelvin' only 'kelvin', unless you are saying 'Lord Kelvin':-)
That's why I always refer to the Mozilla suite as... Perhaps Netscape could provide them with their newest code instead of letting them just reuse their obsolete Netscape 4.x code. Who knows.
I agree that Firefox is a heading in new avenues of user friendliness, but there is nothing wrong with the Mozilla Suite for its target audience.
Furthermore, there are some serious issues with Firefox (not the browser itself, but the whole movement/its existence itself):
It is on its way, but currently, it is not yet ready.
From what can be seen, it seems to be encouraging separate applications that duplicate Mozilla stuff. e.g. consider Thunderbird.
Why can't Mozilla Mail, Mozilla Addressbook, Mozilla Composer etc. be available as simple extensions? There seems to be tonnes of nifty new extensions, but making these extensions would be great.
Also, there should be a proper way to manage extensions, which should not rely solely on the profile, which can easily be lost (at least for the stuff that are installed in the installation tree and not the profile.) I admit Mozilla Suite doesn't have it, but everyone says it sucks, so one doesn't expect anything good from it, right;-)
The non-Windows versions seem to be neglected in relation to the Windows version (Note: This is a relative thing.)
Some configuration options are missing (I appreciate the necessity of that) which should be available in an 'Advanced' section or something.
The current trend is good, but I would really like to see some oddities gone.
The common dislikes include comparison of 'spatial' Nautilus and 'gconf'/gconf Editor to things that bear a resemblance to it on Windows, which were hideous. However, it is not so, and the GNOME team deserves credit for providing better and good stuff.
I would like to see GNOME's current setup as default, but certain oddities would definitely drive me away. Except for a well organized and very simple home directory with relatively few files, 'spatial' can be quite limiting and makes doing thing very hard.
There should be an option to show a handy location bar (pattern matching and auto completion, for instance) that can be set in the options, at least in the 'Advanced' section.
There must be an feature similar to the 'Explore' context menu item in Windows, since, there are a lot of times a hierarchical view where new windows dont pop up for each opened directory be good.
The file dialog should have a location bar, again a handy one, not just a dumb text box. Again, since GNOME/GTK folks think people are too stupid and get confused, it could be an option, at least in the advanced section. The current file dialog is click intensive and brings up one more dialog to enter our own path.
These features are either not available, or available only through keyboard shortcuts. Having spatial mode which is limiting and a neglected 'browser' mode is not good. Why have two modes in which the system works. The 'browser' mode can be a temporary thing (as in the context menu action of 'Explore').
This, I believe is more inclusive in taking care of wide range of needs without resorting to 'modes' or excessive clutter in which the fork-plan seems to be heading.
True in terms of lack of clutter. This is what impressed me the most.
The GConf thing, as far as I have seen is much better than Windows registry and I don't really care as long as everything works as usual, at least the GNOME's own apps.
Now about 'Spatial Nautilus'. If they are doing this to win the hearts of the 'silent majority', I doubt it will work. A lot of misconceptions to deal with
Furthermore, it is not the right way to do things all the time, for everyone. All those who howl about having shallower directory structures, why do they never realize that there are circumstances when you need to use deeper directory heirarchies?
True, the browser mode can be used, but it looks as if the design of the browser mode has been neglected. I never used the browser Nautilus because it was in a bad state, and so what is the point in using Nautilus. I hope there is a 'Browser this directory' feature.
I regret complaining about GNOME 1.4 (GTK whatever) file-selection dialog. The latest file selection dialog lacks very hand features such as tab-completion withoug invoking yet another dialog.
I am seriously considering XFCE4 as the default environment.
The direction GNOME is taking is both good and bad, but making two forks that go in two extreme directions is not the answer. As another poster said, have an 'expert' or 'whatever' mode.
Instead of watching intelligent, well-written shows like Futurama
Is this the same Futurama where the lead character went back in time and had sex with his grandmother?
I don't know if it was meant to be that way, but in the Hitchhiker's 'Trilogy', there is this character called Zaphod Beeblebrox the First, whose grand-grand parent is Beeblebrox the Fourth said to be the result of time travel and...
Also, I don't think the poster to whom you responded, meant 'intelligent, well-written' to mean it literally. And, when compared to 'American Idol', it is well-written (and from what I have heard a lot more expensive to make than American Idol --I am not sure about this bit).
One could argue that the government is using unfettered powers to protect the people by finding out who could be potential 'terrorists'.
Now the problem is, who is a 'terrorist'?? Who defines the term 'terrorist'?
For instance take this ridiculous example (only to make a point, and makes silly assumptions that does not reflect their true nature):
Say, in a Democrat controlled (assume that they are all pro-Abortion etc.) government, would I be a terrorist if I advocated avoidance of abortion and extolled the virtues of abstinance?
Say, in a Republican controlled (assume that they are all xenophobic and White only), would a person be a terrorist if he/she were of Middle-Eastern descent.
Say, in a Stallmanist regime, would Bill Gates be a terrorist for advocating non-free software:-)
Another irritating point is the use of fancy words to which you cannot say anything near 'no' or 'I object' without the danger of being attacked, like 'Pro-Choice', 'Pro-Life', 'USA Patriot Act', 'Homeland Security', 'Intellectual Property' without looking like a bigot, one-who-condones-murder, unpatriotic, one who does not care for their patriotic duties to protect their homeland and one who condones thieving, respectively..
I have leaned to view everything with such names with suspicion.
I find it funny that people think this is a great idea, but if Microsoft did 1/10th of what they're doing everyone would freak. People go nuts... This article would have fallen under YRO also....pointing out some bias.
Points to remember, before you starting crying 'Bias':
Microsoft might not even tell you they are doing this, but they do tell you.
Microsoft might put it in some obscure corner of EULA and say that you have been told.
Microsoft might make it a violation of EULA, DMCA, Patriot Act, Whatever;-) to not use it.
Windows might have it installed and enabled by default.
It might be transmitting more than just anonymous usage data.
[I know you mentioned this, still worth repeating, because it about why one person would be alarmed, having the source is reassuring.] Microsoft would not give you the source to the program that does this.
Here, they are directly requesting you to install an optional package (not sneaking it in). You even get the source. And when I say Windows and Microsoft, add other software and companies like RealPlayer/Real Networks etc.
An anonymous reader writes:...I mean, we're all going to be buying software direct from Indian companies soon, so why not?
I can understand the frustration, but that statement is quite misinformed, it seems.
From what I have seen, it seems that Indian companies, not just in the computer software/IT industry, but in almost every industry, has always been and for the forseeable future will always be sub-contracting for US and European companies.
Of coure, there will always be exceptions, but that would be a very small minority.
This means that the profits will stay in the US/Europe.
It is a lot like Chevy trucks being made in Mexico. Does anyone say we will be buying trucks direct from Mexican companies soon.
Or say, Chinese products, I have seen a lot of product 'Made in China', but very few from Chinese companies.
I am by no means supporting outsourcing or anything, I am just pointing out that it will only benefit US companies.
...but some Real content just doesn't play without the new player...
I installed Real player, old or new, only because some good content providers out there was provided only in Real and/or Windows media.
I miss the audio streams very much, but RealPlayer is so obnoxious that I have given up my favourite radio programs, which I have no other way to listen to (without getting an expensive Satellite radio, which is not worth it since this is practically all I want to listen to). I just settle for the text on their website.
Yes, they do provide Windows Media for some programmes, but I gave up on Windows a year or two ago.
Helix player seems very promising. At the danger of repeating things I have to say that all I need is:
A player that plays RealMedia files, and nothing else.
Thanks for the info. Here are a couple of things that came to my mind while reading that TOS part.
...a Windows-based operating system...
I would only be willing to accept this if they were an advertisement supported ISP. When I am paying for it, I want choice of operating system.
...an Internet-based e-mail software in order to access electronic communication...
I am not sure what they mean by 'Internet-based e-mail software' but if it means a web-based interface only, it is not acceptable for a paid service. There should be both a web-based and POP or IMAP service.
Don't tell me that they are providing discount rates (USD 9.x), because I currently use a local ISP which lets you use any operating system, provides POP and web-based e-mail access for the same price.
Now someone is going to argue that it is difficult to provide support for multiple operating systems. Come on!
The ISP that I mentioned earlier does not provide in-depth support for anything other than Windows, but they provide all the information you need to connect using other operating systems and FAQ and documentation pages.
Don't tell me that a big corporation like AOL cannot maintain a few FAQ and documentaion pages to this end.
...it says that firebird's developed and targetted mostly for windows
I have noticed this too, but I was afraid it might be something unique to me.
The interface is is pretty good, but many things don't work properly for the non-Windows versions. e.g., the 'Customize Toolbar' feature gives you a panel where the buttons are partially or fully hidden and the panel is not resizable.
I have also seen many, many Windows specifc features (features that seems to depend on the Windows OS features or something).
The Mozilla suite set, which seems to be rather abandoned now (according to what I gathered from Mozillazine (website and IRC channel), had this goal of platform-independence and later on using as much native widgets as possible (to increase speed and consistent look), but only if it did not break platform independence.
I think the Firebird/Thunderbird project seems to have chosen to go for speed and consistent looks at the cost of platform independence and doing it only for Windows, leaving non-Windows users behind.
could this be X's fault?
Could be. Some of them, at least.
But, how did the Mozilla Suite's interface did not do this and worked well on both. (See what I said above).
GrimReality 2003-12-07 15:34:28 UTC (2003-12-07 10:34:28 EST)
However, every action of SCO is hurting the OSS/FS community badly.
Yes, most Slashdotters will see through the lies of SCO, but all those who could make a real effect would get the wrong idea, and OSS/FS will look like some shady business, equated to 'warez', 'pirating' and 'communism'.
corporate users: This will affect the support in industry which would help OSS/FS companies and other users. They will either be misled or be afraid to use OSS/FS even when they see through the lies, simply because the rest of the corporate world thinks differently.
common people: This mainly amounts to repuatation. I makes life difficult for an OSS/FS user, who will be looked on as some kind of criminal.
Before we celebrate that SCO releases are nonsense and will not prevail, think that it has already reaped great rewards for SCO. I have seen it personally. Let us keep that in our mind, and don't be deluded that we have won the battle.
Slashdot Mirror
My number one reason is Macromedia Flash
(or anything similar, Java applets, JavaScript based emulation of similar functionality)
Although annoying, moderate levels of flashing and attention seeking (but not by pop-ups or resizes) are quite acceptable to me. Grabbing attention is one of important aspects of an advertisement.
I am not against advertisements on Webpages, because it funds those pages so that poor folks (I am one of those) can access a lot of content, that would otherwise be too expensive.
When I saw the title "Ice-free summers coming to the Arctic", the first thing that came to my mind was...
The next century is taking this trend a bit too far, don't you think :-)
I agree with you.
Many of the more fashionable, high-brow shows tend to be/do one or more of the following:
Watching all the desperate stunts StarTrek Enterprise was pulling as it dies, shows how much our favorite sterile, clean show :-) is losing to the latest fad.
Come on, most of us watch StarTrek to escape from this miserable world, at least for a moment. Why do you want to drag all the misery into the sanctuary of hope, and optimism and fun.
Also, it is nothing new. Star Trek has always been spit on, and will continue to be. Those who like Star Trek have to bear the double stigma of not being "high-brow" and being a "loser".
In any case, the latest 'Evil' Enterprise probably shows how the real future would be. :-)
P.S.:[Man, that scene where Zefram Cochrane shoots the Vulcan is so flipping funny.]
In the real world, fast memorization is important, although, it does not have to be 1000 digits.
For instance, imagine, someone verbally transmits a number to you (a 10 digit number, even 6 digit one). You should be able to remember it and transport it to its destination, maybe to check against a number somewhere else.
Similarly, remembering names of people you meet can be very important when dealing with people.
I have seen these requirements explicity stated in the minimum requirements by many companies.
This might seem silly, and you might say 'That is minimum intelligence for anyone who breathes.' or something to that effect.
But, there are many people, who are knowledgeable (both in breadth and in depth of their respective fields), pretty good at programming or related activities in other fields, but have great trouble, remembering even a small bit of information (they have to keep looking back for each digit) or an inability to remember names.
Productivity would depend on the task at hand (and a lot of other factors).
If you were pampered by the features of decent shells with the usual Unix toolkit, you might find yourself less productive trying to do commandline intensive tasks and some kinds of automation in Windows.
The new improved shell features are nowhere near that of Bash or Tcsh and the problem is worse in company environments where you need to go to the IT department to get each piece of software running.
But, on the other hand, in the case of certain types of software that are only available on Windows, trying to make a half-working or equivalent work on Linux would be a big hit on productivity.
What matters is the toolset that you need for increased prdouctivity is available.
Another way to increase productivity is practice, but you lose productivity on the way to becoming an expert in a particular system.
Essentially, it 'depends'.
Every school (especially technology schools) are trying to balance enrollment, but it won't succeed until they try to solove the huge image problem that technology field has. I have seen all the frantic acrobatics that goes on in my own school and still their enrollment was increased by adding non-tech areas (sounds to me as if they are trying to circumvent the balancing by dilution).
More and more people are realizing that it is not just lack of opportunitites, but that engineering field is not attractive or glamourous enough for women.
The Debian Women's page points to an article that makes the observation that women are not properly and positively introduced to engineers (almost all of whom work behind the scenes). Of course, that is not the only problem, but a very important one.
Someone has suggested that there should be hit shows featuring engineers and computer scientists where they are not portrayed as socially inept outcasts. A tech version of 'Ally McBeal', ER or CSI (CSI does not really show the whole spectrum).
If I did not misunderstand your post, No. 3 is unconfirmed.
I think you are right. Although I don't know if it is unconfirmed or not, but it does not seem to affect Mozilla 1.7.5.
I just checked my personal mozilla configuration directories created fresh by a new Mozilla 1.7.5 [official mozilla.org binaries on Debian stable (3.0 'woody')], installation. They are created with permission rwx------ (i.e., groups and others do not have any privileges) and of course, the execute bit is only for directories.
Of course, if some crackpot spoofed my download dialog and made me download a compromised binary.... :-)
I haven't read the fine article, but I could not resist asking a couple of question (which I am going to ass-u-me that the article does not answer) And hence it is being put forth for the "wise" consultation of Slashdot. ;-)
Do we know any non-single planet species?
How would their reaction be? Would they recommend it?
I am probably looking at it from a different angle, but what the flip, it would be fun to meet a non-single planet species anyway.
I wish this were true, but unfortunately, reality is far, far away from it.
With Red Hat and SuSE (both RPM based) leading the way in terms of corporate acceptance (see Novel, IBM and other heavy weights in this arena), RPM, especially with the LSB enforcement will entrench itself as a defacto and in time, (it already had), many binary only packages and even open-source official binary releases would only be available in RPM.
Of course, we can always say we don't care, but, we would be the dead ones, since we would merely be renegades, rebels, elite, whatever. With RPM standardizations, the bad thing of fixed installation directories might pop-up. Worse, alien RPM apps will insist on installing in the 'sacred' apt-dpkg managed locations.
So, I think, it is a bit premature to gloat.
Although I do agree with you that Slashdot might be interpreting his words wrongly, it has also to be pointed out that benign interpretations of many SCO statements could also be made. However, they (the SCO statements) were definitely meant to spread misinformation/misrepresent facts etc.
Sun's schizophrenic[1] relationship with Linux and pretty consistent way in which Sun's PR handles Linux (as a second rate alternative to Solaris for cheapos), I believe Slashdot could be forgiven for misinterpreting his words.
[1] Sun has made a lot of contributions to the OSS community, to GNOME, etc. (people could argue stuff here too)
I would like to see Power architecture taking on Intel, but under current situation, unless Microsoft gets into PowerPC et.al., it could be far, far, away into the distant, distant future, when the above statement would make any sense. Microsoft is tooooooo powerful at the moment.
Furthermore, it doesn't seem that Apple would like to see mainstream PowerPC adoption, which could drive people to cheaper solutions such as Linux based desktops --irresepective of how cheap non-Apple solutions would eventually be, the perception of cheapness should be enough. (Now, most PowerPC desktop/laptop computers running non-Apple software are Apple Hardware.)
Again, from what one can see from what IBM is doing, they seem to be more interested in making custom PowerPC or Power-architecture solutions for stuff like PlayStation and servers.
I personally think, that the Alliance itself might prevent mainstream (with official IBM or other big-name support) PowerPC desktop/laptops from emerging. However, they might emerge for a new class of computers --not desktops/laptops, but probably their replacements or descendants, but that is far into the future.
Don't worry about that, because, the next testing won't be Sid, but Sarge itself. In other words, a particular testing version begins its life as a copy of the stable version. [For an illustration, check the following quote from the Debian Web pages describing the current testing distribution (which is to be called 'sarge'):]
This release started as a copy of woody, and is currently in a state called 'testing'.But, just don't expect it to stay that way for long, because, I think, they remove the freeze on packages moving in from unstable.
But, one could forgive one for thinking so. Consider all official (state/government) motifs (the wheel, the lion's head, the motto 'Truth Alone Triumphs' etc.). They are all taken from the period of Ashoka, the king who spread Bhuddism to all the parts of the world that we think of as Bhuddist (SriLanka, parts of China etc.).
I believe the the choice of motifs was deliberate. An attempt by the politically correct moderates who dominated the framing of Indian constitution etc., to present a secular image.
Also, if I remember correctly, (I don't know if they took this bit out of their constitution), but India might be the only country with a constitution that explicitly gives the right to preach your religion (except in state sponsored context.). In most other constituions, it is implied under 'Freedom of Speech'. I just thought it was interesting. Funny even. Even Hilarious. (Funny because, this is very reason why Fascists are attacking minorities in India right now, and I think, for the sake of the minorities, that explicit statement should be removed, because as long as it exists, the minorities will feel the urge to preach and get screwed --and it is not funny if you are the minority.)
If you are an engineer, you could probably get one, albeit, really expensive and probably not built to easily accommodate standard kitchen stuff. :-)
By the way, there is no 'degrees Kelvin'. It is an absolute unit, and it is just 'kelvin'. Yeah, there is no 'Kelvin' only 'kelvin', unless you are saying 'Lord Kelvin' :-)
So much pedantry for the day :-) LoL
I agree that Firefox is a heading in new avenues of user friendliness, but there is nothing wrong with the Mozilla Suite for its target audience.
Furthermore, there are some serious issues with Firefox (not the browser itself, but the whole movement/its existence itself):
Why can't Mozilla Mail, Mozilla Addressbook, Mozilla Composer etc. be available as simple extensions? There seems to be tonnes of nifty new extensions, but making these extensions would be great.
Also, there should be a proper way to manage extensions, which should not rely solely on the profile, which can easily be lost (at least for the stuff that are installed in the installation tree and not the profile.) I admit Mozilla Suite doesn't have it, but everyone says it sucks, so one doesn't expect anything good from it, right ;-)
Ending my dumb views. Thanks for reading.
The current trend is good, but I would really like to see some oddities gone.
The common dislikes include comparison of 'spatial' Nautilus and 'gconf'/gconf Editor to things that bear a resemblance to it on Windows, which were hideous. However, it is not so, and the GNOME team deserves credit for providing better and good stuff.
I would like to see GNOME's current setup as default, but certain oddities would definitely drive me away. Except for a well organized and very simple home directory with relatively few files, 'spatial' can be quite limiting and makes doing thing very hard.
There should be an option to show a handy location bar (pattern matching and auto completion, for instance) that can be set in the options, at least in the 'Advanced' section.
There must be an feature similar to the 'Explore' context menu item in Windows, since, there are a lot of times a hierarchical view where new windows dont pop up for each opened directory be good.
The file dialog should have a location bar, again a handy one, not just a dumb text box. Again, since GNOME/GTK folks think people are too stupid and get confused, it could be an option, at least in the advanced section. The current file dialog is click intensive and brings up one more dialog to enter our own path.
These features are either not available, or available only through keyboard shortcuts. Having spatial mode which is limiting and a neglected 'browser' mode is not good. Why have two modes in which the system works. The 'browser' mode can be a temporary thing (as in the context menu action of 'Explore').
This, I believe is more inclusive in taking care of wide range of needs without resorting to 'modes' or excessive clutter in which the fork-plan seems to be heading.
Pardon my ignorance.
True in terms of lack of clutter. This is what impressed me the most.
The GConf thing, as far as I have seen is much better than Windows registry and I don't really care as long as everything works as usual, at least the GNOME's own apps.
Now about 'Spatial Nautilus'. If they are doing this to win the hearts of the 'silent majority', I doubt it will work. A lot of misconceptions to deal with
Furthermore, it is not the right way to do things all the time, for everyone. All those who howl about having shallower directory structures, why do they never realize that there are circumstances when you need to use deeper directory heirarchies?
True, the browser mode can be used, but it looks as if the design of the browser mode has been neglected. I never used the browser Nautilus because it was in a bad state, and so what is the point in using Nautilus. I hope there is a 'Browser this directory' feature.
I regret complaining about GNOME 1.4 (GTK whatever) file-selection dialog. The latest file selection dialog lacks very hand features such as tab-completion withoug invoking yet another dialog.
I am seriously considering XFCE4 as the default environment.
The direction GNOME is taking is both good and bad, but making two forks that go in two extreme directions is not the answer. As another poster said, have an 'expert' or 'whatever' mode.
I don't know if it was meant to be that way, but in the Hitchhiker's 'Trilogy', there is this character called Zaphod Beeblebrox the First, whose grand-grand parent is Beeblebrox the Fourth said to be the result of time travel and ...
Also, I don't think the poster to whom you responded, meant 'intelligent, well-written' to mean it literally. And, when compared to 'American Idol', it is well-written (and from what I have heard a lot more expensive to make than American Idol --I am not sure about this bit).
One could argue that the government is using unfettered powers to protect the people by finding out who could be potential 'terrorists'.
Now the problem is, who is a 'terrorist'?? Who defines the term 'terrorist'?
For instance take this ridiculous example (only to make a point, and makes silly assumptions that does not reflect their true nature):
Say, in a Democrat controlled (assume that they are all pro-Abortion etc.) government, would I be a terrorist if I advocated avoidance of abortion and extolled the virtues of abstinance?
Say, in a Republican controlled (assume that they are all xenophobic and White only), would a person be a terrorist if he/she were of Middle-Eastern descent.
Say, in a Stallmanist regime, would Bill Gates be a terrorist for advocating non-free software :-)
Another irritating point is the use of fancy words to which you cannot say anything near 'no' or 'I object' without the danger of being attacked, like 'Pro-Choice', 'Pro-Life', 'USA Patriot Act', 'Homeland Security', 'Intellectual Property' without looking like a bigot, one-who-condones-murder, unpatriotic, one who does not care for their patriotic duties to protect their homeland and one who condones thieving, respectively..
I have leaned to view everything with such names with suspicion.
I can understand the frustration, but that statement is quite misinformed, it seems.
From what I have seen, it seems that Indian companies, not just in the computer software/IT industry, but in almost every industry, has always been and for the forseeable future will always be sub-contracting for US and European companies.
Of coure, there will always be exceptions, but that would be a very small minority.
This means that the profits will stay in the US/Europe.
It is a lot like Chevy trucks being made in Mexico. Does anyone say we will be buying trucks direct from Mexican companies soon.
Or say, Chinese products, I have seen a lot of product 'Made in China', but very few from Chinese companies.
I am by no means supporting outsourcing or anything, I am just pointing out that it will only benefit US companies.
I installed Real player, old or new, only because some good content providers out there was provided only in Real and/or Windows media.
I miss the audio streams very much, but RealPlayer is so obnoxious that I have given up my favourite radio programs, which I have no other way to listen to (without getting an expensive Satellite radio, which is not worth it since this is practically all I want to listen to). I just settle for the text on their website.
Yes, they do provide Windows Media for some programmes, but I gave up on Windows a year or two ago.
Helix player seems very promising. At the danger of repeating things I have to say that all I need is:
Thanks for the info. Here are a couple of things that came to my mind while reading that TOS part.
I would only be willing to accept this if they were an advertisement supported ISP. When I am paying for it, I want choice of operating system.
I am not sure what they mean by 'Internet-based e-mail software' but if it means a web-based interface only, it is not acceptable for a paid service. There should be both a web-based and POP or IMAP service.
Don't tell me that they are providing discount rates (USD 9.x), because I currently use a local ISP which lets you use any operating system, provides POP and web-based e-mail access for the same price.
Now someone is going to argue that it is difficult to provide support for multiple operating systems. Come on!
The ISP that I mentioned earlier does not provide in-depth support for anything other than Windows, but they provide all the information you need to connect using other operating systems and FAQ and documentation pages.
Don't tell me that a big corporation like AOL cannot maintain a few FAQ and documentaion pages to this end.
I have noticed this too, but I was afraid it might be something unique to me.
The interface is is pretty good, but many things don't work properly for the non-Windows versions. e.g., the 'Customize Toolbar' feature gives you a panel where the buttons are partially or fully hidden and the panel is not resizable.
I have also seen many, many Windows specifc features (features that seems to depend on the Windows OS features or something).
The Mozilla suite set, which seems to be rather abandoned now (according to what I gathered from Mozillazine (website and IRC channel), had this goal of platform-independence and later on using as much native widgets as possible (to increase speed and consistent look), but only if it did not break platform independence.
I think the Firebird/Thunderbird project seems to have chosen to go for speed and consistent looks at the cost of platform independence and doing it only for Windows, leaving non-Windows users behind.
Could be. Some of them, at least.
But, how did the Mozilla Suite's interface did not do this and worked well on both. (See what I said above).
GrimReality
2003-12-07 15:34:28 UTC (2003-12-07 10:34:28 EST)
True. Very true.
However, every action of SCO is hurting the OSS/FS community badly.
Yes, most Slashdotters will see through the lies of SCO, but all those who could make a real effect would get the wrong idea, and OSS/FS will look like some shady business, equated to 'warez', 'pirating' and 'communism'.
Before we celebrate that SCO releases are nonsense and will not prevail, think that it has already reaped great rewards for SCO. I have seen it personally. Let us keep that in our mind, and don't be deluded that we have won the battle.