I'm sure the blind would also appreciate the 3d interface screenshots of the GUI discussed in this article!
How come this turned into a little flame war on Flash? The people that authored the web site for the VM just don't know how to provide alternate content to Flash, that doesn't mean it's not possible (and that there aren't a variety of different means of doing this, heck even Flash MX does some automatically!).
On another, note, what do you think of the GUI of the original post? Since we're somewhat already on this topic, how do you think the underlying structure of the VM would lend itself to accessibility for people with disabilities, such as the blind?
I find this interesting because our user interfaces are getting progressively more visually oriented. I'm not saying I want to go back to 100% CLI, but I wonder what efforts are being made in helping with accessibility of such visual interfaces. So much of what streamlines the control in GUI's is often described as "click here" or "drag this here".
I would imagine that there are linux projects out there that create such interfaces for X. Perhaps even plugins for the more popular linux GUI's. Does anybody know of any?
Yep, but the mini-cds have one other distinct advantage over CompactFlash. Most, if not all computers today have some sort of CD Drive (or DVD, or CD Burner, or DVD Burner) that are compatible with mini-cds.
The only type of drive I can imagine that is probably incompatible with it could be the drives on some apple machines (though, no currently shipping models, I think)... the old iMac comes to mind, with those car stereo style, tray-less cd-drives. In theory loading a mini-cd into one of those should be possible (correct me if I'm wrong with this assumption), but I'm not too sure about doing it consistently (I'd have to see it to believe it I guess, a bad picture comes to mind, for some reason, of the mini-cd playing pin-ball inside your computer if improperly positioned while loaded...).
Other than that, most modern drives are compatible with the media. Consequently, most computers would support updates / boot disks / etc. from mini-cds regardless of the sized drive and can burn them from any modern CD Burner...
I like the compactflash idea, though! Also, an even more expensive option is the (formerly IBM Storage) Microdrive. Of course, these all, as you've pointed out, can't currently touch CD's in any size on price point... and hey, those mini-cd's can hold 185 MB!
Precisely, and the AC stuff that is actually good will be seen as it will usually get moderated above the threshold.
NOTE: This is suggested usage in response (up the thread) to "dragontooth", who clearly doesn't like reading the typical AC comments. YMMV.
And, if you'll notice, my response to "dragontooth" was riddled with sarcasm. In other words, I was stating that if he had such a problem with AC's then he could simply ignore them by dropping the majority of their posts (that haven't been modded up) below his threshold.
Perhaps multi-player adventure games (with stories, are there any out there?) that do more than just have you walking around collecting stuff and learning skills would be fun to have. Where you have to work as a team to accomplish a goal.
Those online RPG's have the potential if story line played a bigger role. Once the game gets going it's just a fancy chat room and a huge scale walk around killing everything / acquiring objects.
I'd love to see like a multi-player Space Quest where you have to work together (maybe a time limit that forces you to work cooperatively and efficiently?) to be able to win?
If you set your/. threshold to 1, you cast a magic spell that makes this evil Anonymous Coward disappear (most of the time, anyhow).
I usually don't even bother reading what this guy Anonymous Coward has to say... I mean, after all, if it was so important, he'd want everyone to know who was saying it, now wouldn't he!
What you are referring to is what Nvidia has planned for the current and future lines of GPU's... beginning with the GeForce FX.
Have you tried Final Fantasy X? This game is about as close to an interactive movie as you can get in a console... imagine a game WITH a story! Essentially, an adventure game (in the oldest D&D form) combined with beautiful eye candy. Truly fun to play!
And, you know, the FPS games are very cool and becoming progressively more technologically advanced and laced with eye candy, but I miss games where the story is the most important component... "Strategy" games and online community games don't fill this need. It was those witty games where you were participating in the story that were super fun to play.
I agree with you 6d, it'd be cool to play more games that are dynamic movies! Nothing against a good blood-bath and frag-fest from time to time, but where's the storyline in those? People fighting at (insert location here).
I am not a corporate zombie, thank you very much. What I was saying is that if people want to get the latest software for their computers (ie, upgrade to Office 2003, what the post was about, remember?) then it's not unreasonable for the vendor to only support the platforms they choose to.
If they choose not to create new versions of Office for Win98 and older that is their right. Guess what?
I didn't say, everyone out there, throw away your old software and machines! Guess what, I have a PI running Win98 SE as well, don't need to get rid of it. But, if I expect to play Unreal 2006, and it doesn't support Win98 SE anymore, if I want to play the game, I'll have to pony up some money and upgrade!
In other words, if you want to upgrade to Office 2003 you will have to upgrade the OS too. Sorry kids. But hey, guess what? NO ONE ON THIS GREEN EARTH IS FORCING ANYONE ELSE TO UPGRADE TO OFFICE 2003. So, lucky for you, you won't ever have to:)
Thanks for the lesson on Microsoft OS's though... Since you believe I started using computers (by your remarks) only about a year or two ago I better go ahead and believe your anonymous'ness knows everything and then some. I'll start reading up to remind myself of the past 20 years of experience with computers I've had... must've been some acid trip for me to have forgotten.
So, as you see, not reading and comprehending posts you flame actually makes your opinion that of a --> Mindless Jackass!
Perhaps I was not specific enough in my comments. I was referring to creating software for old operating systems (of which companies can finally refuse to create new software for).
There is nothing at all wrong with running old software on old operating systems. What I was referring to was having new software ported to old operating systems.
For instance, in the Windows world, whether anyone considers Win2k or XP secure, they are, at least much more secure than the older DOS based operating systems such as Win95 / 98 / ME.
Since writing software for WinNT and Win9x is not the same beast (at least, not in a completely 100% compatible sort of way) I am expressing my opinion that new software shouldn't be written for it specifically for it.
It's like writing versions of web sites specifically for 7 year old web browsers! Would you want to allow your customers (if you were creating, say, a modern e-commerce site with the latest encryption and security technology) to access it using technologies that don't take advantage of the latest security technology! Because, yes, it works (to an extent) on the older browser but, if the unsupported older browser is incapable of securing your transaction as all newer ones must, allowing (and by writing a version specifically compatible with older and obsolete security protocols of the older browser) the older browser to complete transactions with your site is placing liability squarely on you if that obsolete security is breached.
Perhaps I was modded a troll because I see the more business side of this. Of course I think if you run an older computer / os / software and it gets the job done for you... GREAT! If it makes you happy to write new software for older operating systems, that is fantastic too! I'm just saying that MS's logic in not supporting their older and all but obsolete operating systems in their applications makes sense from a business point of view.
If seeing something logical that is not explicitly ANTI-MS or ANTI-big business makes me a troll than so be it. I suppose all it takes to be a troll is to have an opinion that doesn't 100% microsoft or big business bash. I'd rather think things through, THEN decide for myself what my opinion is rather than blindly bash everything MS.
Of course, MS is trying to push their newer technologies.NET, etc. through this new version of Office... guess what? NO ONE IS FORCING ANYONE TO UPGRADE TO IT! There's plenty of competition from Corel and even for FREE from OpenOffice now. In the US, money does the talking. If customers don't buy this because they need to keep using their Win98 machines then, you'll see, Microsoft will come out with a "special" version that runs on Win98 rather than see customers switch to Corel or Open Office suites. Don't forget, they're out to make money above all of their other (evil) ambitions.
In other words, don't take offense to my opinion, after all, I didn't say go out and burn your old software!
As they say: There is NO bad publicity. Everytime you say Microsoft it appears on a web page... or even MS or M$... If people hate Microsoft so much they shouldn't say their name so much on these bulletin boards. It just improves their Search Engine rankings... where quantity of a word used creates a weighted score in a web search on most search engines.
Therefore mentioning Microsoft and all their products, even if it's surrounded by trash talking and bad words and whatever, is just free advertising for MS. If people truly hate them, they shouldn't even mention their names.
Besides, I'm sure Microsoft secretly loves Xbox mods... they're developing quite a following nowadays. How long do you think it'll be before Microsoft sells its own mod chip? Remember too that their saying NO, don't do this only makes people want to do it more... don't people realize that they are being manipulated?
Sigh, as much as we all hate Microsoft, they are pure genius in marketing and even reaping free marketing from people that hate them.
Not to mention, those very same people that are using Win98 (ok, let's say most of them) are probably running it on their Pentium II boxen that are just fine and spiffy for Office 97... they probably can't even run office XP if they tried on that old hardware.
I think software should expire after a certain amount of time (software euthanasia?)... the thing is "perfect" software from 5 years ago has no clue on how to deal with modern security problems. That is assuming it WAS perfect even 5 years ago... which, folks, that's not true (no matter what software it is... if it hasn't been bug-fixed since then it has been abandoned, not glorified as perfect).
It's extremely sad to have to keep creating software for operating systems that are far more than 5 years old (I mean, 98 is a very retrofitted Win95 as it is, which is really DOS being pushed beyond what it was EVER meant to do reliably... and DOS wasn't reliable (it was abandoned)!
Not to say that backward compatibility isn't good to have.... but people running Win98 on 5 year old boxes should go and get themselves some el-cheapo computers (much cheaper today than they were back then!) that BLOW their computers away (hell, even the $200 walmart boxen blow 5 year old computers away! $200 folks, not $1000, not $2000... that's cheaper than upgrading your video card these days or even buying Windows in a Shrink-wrapped Cardboard box!).
I know, I know, not every company can afford to upgrade their computers... but the Internet bubble burst less than 5 years ago! What are they still doing with that crap?!?
Ooh... I know! You could use one of those tiny pc cases like this Shuttle one...
Of course, the built-in graphics and sound suck (for gaming, okey doke for everything else) so you'd have to get ye a Radeon 9700 (Almost twice the price of an XBOX and with it's own loud cooling fan and extra power attachment to the power supply, but hey, it has video out so you can plug it into your HD-TV) and a Soundblaster Audigy II (only half the price of an XBOX)... then a DVD-Drive... a P-4 (again, about twice the price of an XBOX and boy that poor little power supply! How's it gonna handle all the juice this hungry set of components guzzles), a lot of RAM, USB Controllers (game controllers, it actually includes USB ports)... when all's said and done, for about $1500 - $2000 (TV announcer voice) You could build your own smokingly fast gaming PC about the size of an XBOX, lots louder, lots warmer (you can have your own space heater!)... and that's not even including modding the case so it at least *looks* cooler!
Ok, so the XBOX is mondo cheaper, in fact, cheaper than the parts it's made of (damn, that's a cheap box, not like what you'll find on the street!). My question is: Why is it that on a message board that so THOROUGLY hates MS (even more than MS the degenerative muscular disease) ANY mod to the XBOX is such a huge deal! Next up, the MS XBOX super toaster mod... install a P4, sans heat sink and accompanying refrigerator. Turn on modded XBOX and put toast on the melting plastic... replace melted plastic case with Iron (ooh... a case with substance, not like those *wimpy* aluminum cases, this puppy weighs a ton and can really keep its heat ((homer simpson voice) stupid efficient, lightweight aluminum!)) to create a lovely skillet!
Exactly. And, the more involved people become in projects, the more tunnelvision they tend to get with the particular segment they are working on. If someone less closely involved takes a look, they also bring a fresh perspective of the overall picture and can easily spot mounting design problems.
How about Swordfish.. where a guy hacks into like a government system with a laptop he's never seen before (has no idea what software / development tools are on it) with a gun to his head and his other head quite occupied.
Wow, if computer programming is all about that, I'm leaving the super secret spy business right away and becoming a programmer:)
I don't think being smarter is a problem. Unfortunately, high school is all about conformity.
College is about non-conformity (geek friendly)... and the real world either embraces non-comformity (successful entrepreneurs) or smashes them to pieces.
"And I think to myself... what a wonderful world..."
Don't you see? It's part of the U.S. Government's new "cyber defense strategy".
Upon further inspection, this is NOT a dupe, it is REDUNDANT posting so that in case of the first/. post on the story being slashdotted by cyber-terrorists, the second one will be available.
See,/. is beta testing the "cyber defense strategy". Way to go Taco!!!
I'd like to bring you the world's first duplicate post within a post:
Posted by thx2001r on Tuesday February 18, @09:55AM from the innovating-the-art-of-duplicate-posting dept. An anonymous re-poster writes "Toms Hardware has an interesting review of 65 processors ranging from 100 MHz to 3066 MHz. They spent more than 300 hours benchmarking and recording the scores. Worth a quick glance, especially for the Unreal Tournament 2003 scores on the 100 MHz pentium! Not to mention, imagine a beowulf cluster of those!"
Well, for the simple reason of: What better way to highlight the advantages of Open Source than to show the (stark) opposite viewpoing?
That way it's not a "we rule, we're great" type of event and more of a "this is why we rule, this is why we're great".
It's about the contrast! I mean if you're passionate about something, defining in clear terms what you don't want is the best starting point for cheering!
Besides, saying it's a private conference seems a bit of the opposite effect of what open source wants to do! This isn't, after all a "proprietary" conference!
I guess I misunderstood what you were trying to say. I don't apologize (not because I'm an asshole, but hey, who isn't) but because you're brevity in most of the cases left much of what you were trying to say a complete mystery to me.
I had to try to piece together what you were trying to respond. I suppose I come from a lineage of long-windedness and am not too polite dealing with people that are more reserved in the quantity of response they give.
No offense man, and I see your point (finally after your last two posts). I must sound like a complete jackass... I suppose every time I say anything that can even remotely be perceived as pro-microsoft, I feel the Torches and Pitchforks coming after me. Perhaps I'm a bit too jumpy and defensive. I'll work on it, I promise!
Thanks for clarifying and you brought up some interesting points!
Oh, by the way... the SFU uses Interix which contains all the items (GNU C, etc.) you were describing Microsoft being evil for "selling"... they are being "licensed" to MS by Interop Systems.
Perhaps if you carefully re-inspect the GNU license (and if necessary, find a lawyer friend to interpret it for you) you will see that MS is following the licensee rights of the GNU license.
Remember, they have the same legal rights to distribute, package, and even warranty (these include the ability to charge a fee under the GNU license) GNU licensed software as you or I do. The GNU does not specify that Multi-billion dollar corporations do not have the same terms to follow as you or I.
The beauty of the GNU license is that it IS open to the little people instead of JUST the big people. This is done by not discriminating, regardless of the licensee.
Also, Mandrake and RedHat do indeed also "offer free 100%-OSS versions of their stuff. Every tool that Mandrake develops is GPLed". That is their right to choose to do. They may also, at their choice (as MS does) choose to offer 100% closed source commercial versions of their stuff. Because MS does not release software they've developed under GPL or GNU license does not mean that they do not have the right to do what they do. They may ALSO distribute (according to the license terms of the software being distributed) any GNU software they want to (even alongside their closed source software).
As long as they don't violate the terms of the license (and I bet you a buck they have really expensive lawyers making sure they don't) what they are doing is perfectly legal, and you and I have the right to do the exact same thing (if we wanted to).
If you want to just say Microsoft Sucks and are a bunch of assholes because you don't like what they do, that is your right. But do not claim they violate licenses that they don't.
Besides, AC, what kind of stability does it demonstrate that SUN machines need to have hot-swappable CPU's?
Does the machine automatically swap the CPU for you? I assume that the machine needs human interaction, just the same as an x86 component of an x86 cluster would. If SUN creates a robot that spots physical problems (and fixes them without human interaction), such as impending CPU failures, before they occur, I will really agree that suns are vastly more stable.
Unfortunately, they don't have that system in place yet so I don't see how a sun machine is in any way more stable than a cluster of redundant x86 machines?
When was the last time you pulled a CPU out of a SUN machine and (if it was a single processor system as most clustered x86 machines are (assuming you want to compare fairly)) that node did any more processing (during the time the CPU was out) than did any x86 machine with its CPU out?
Thanks for nitpicking my plea that someone not nitpick the misplacement of an accent (which is extraordinarily nitpicky, well, at least in a forum that is predominantly in the English language).
Of course, and in English there are likewise plenty of words that are directly borrowed from other languages... In fact, "soccer mom" recently became an official word (even though it is composed of two words that were already official words).
The word software, as you noted, is an English origin word. As such, while it may be adopted, as you've pointed out, it is NOT a true Spanish word (though it may be added by an officiating language body such as the RASE in their list of what they consider accepted Spanish words (and likely because it was used so often in Slang that an actual Spanish rooted word was never conceived because it would never be used by the masses)) and does not have a consistent phonetic pronounciation in Spanish nor does it consistently mimic Spanish grammatical rules and will undoubtedly be pronounced in the way that it is pronounced in English by people using it.
If I say "hors d'oeuvre", while the English language has "adopted" the word, I am STILL using a French word. It has become so accepted by the masses that it has been adopted but it STILL does not comform to any rules of English grammer in its proper pronounciation (mainly because it retains its largely French spelling and phonetics).
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sure the blind would also appreciate the 3d interface screenshots of the GUI discussed in this article!
How come this turned into a little flame war on Flash? The people that authored the web site for the VM just don't know how to provide alternate content to Flash, that doesn't mean it's not possible (and that there aren't a variety of different means of doing this, heck even Flash MX does some automatically!).
On another, note, what do you think of the GUI of the original post? Since we're somewhat already on this topic, how do you think the underlying structure of the VM would lend itself to accessibility for people with disabilities, such as the blind?
I find this interesting because our user interfaces are getting progressively more visually oriented. I'm not saying I want to go back to 100% CLI, but I wonder what efforts are being made in helping with accessibility of such visual interfaces. So much of what streamlines the control in GUI's is often described as "click here" or "drag this here".
I would imagine that there are linux projects out there that create such interfaces for X. Perhaps even plugins for the more popular linux GUI's. Does anybody know of any?
Yep, but the mini-cds have one other distinct advantage over CompactFlash. Most, if not all computers today have some sort of CD Drive (or DVD, or CD Burner, or DVD Burner) that are compatible with mini-cds.
The only type of drive I can imagine that is probably incompatible with it could be the drives on some apple machines (though, no currently shipping models, I think)... the old iMac comes to mind, with those car stereo style, tray-less cd-drives. In theory loading a mini-cd into one of those should be possible (correct me if I'm wrong with this assumption), but I'm not too sure about doing it consistently (I'd have to see it to believe it I guess, a bad picture comes to mind, for some reason, of the mini-cd playing pin-ball inside your computer if improperly positioned while loaded...).
Other than that, most modern drives are compatible with the media. Consequently, most computers would support updates / boot disks / etc. from mini-cds regardless of the sized drive and can burn them from any modern CD Burner...
I like the compactflash idea, though! Also, an even more expensive option is the (formerly IBM Storage) Microdrive. Of course, these all, as you've pointed out, can't currently touch CD's in any size on price point... and hey, those mini-cd's can hold 185 MB!
Precisely, and the AC stuff that is actually good will be seen as it will usually get moderated above the threshold.
NOTE: This is suggested usage in response (up the thread) to "dragontooth", who clearly doesn't like reading the typical AC comments. YMMV.
And, if you'll notice, my response to "dragontooth" was riddled with sarcasm. In other words, I was stating that if he had such a problem with AC's then he could simply ignore them by dropping the majority of their posts (that haven't been modded up) below his threshold.
Perhaps multi-player adventure games (with stories, are there any out there?) that do more than just have you walking around collecting stuff and learning skills would be fun to have. Where you have to work as a team to accomplish a goal.
Those online RPG's have the potential if story line played a bigger role. Once the game gets going it's just a fancy chat room and a huge scale walk around killing everything / acquiring objects.
I'd love to see like a multi-player Space Quest where you have to work together (maybe a time limit that forces you to work cooperatively and efficiently?) to be able to win?
If you set your /. threshold to 1, you cast a magic spell that makes this evil Anonymous Coward disappear (most of the time, anyhow).
I usually don't even bother reading what this guy Anonymous Coward has to say... I mean, after all, if it was so important, he'd want everyone to know who was saying it, now wouldn't he!
What you are referring to is what Nvidia has planned for the current and future lines of GPU's... beginning with the GeForce FX.
Have you tried Final Fantasy X? This game is about as close to an interactive movie as you can get in a console... imagine a game WITH a story! Essentially, an adventure game (in the oldest D&D form) combined with beautiful eye candy. Truly fun to play!
And, you know, the FPS games are very cool and becoming progressively more technologically advanced and laced with eye candy, but I miss games where the story is the most important component... "Strategy" games and online community games don't fill this need. It was those witty games where you were participating in the story that were super fun to play.
I agree with you 6d, it'd be cool to play more games that are dynamic movies! Nothing against a good blood-bath and frag-fest from time to time, but where's the storyline in those? People fighting at (insert location here).
Yeah, but they fixed that one about 4 years ago! Run Windows Update.
Well, you misunderstood my post.
:)
I am not a corporate zombie, thank you very much. What I was saying is that if people want to get the latest software for their computers (ie, upgrade to Office 2003, what the post was about, remember?) then it's not unreasonable for the vendor to only support the platforms they choose to.
If they choose not to create new versions of Office for Win98 and older that is their right. Guess what?
I didn't say, everyone out there, throw away your old software and machines! Guess what, I have a PI running Win98 SE as well, don't need to get rid of it. But, if I expect to play Unreal 2006, and it doesn't support Win98 SE anymore, if I want to play the game, I'll have to pony up some money and upgrade!
In other words, if you want to upgrade to Office 2003 you will have to upgrade the OS too. Sorry kids. But hey, guess what? NO ONE ON THIS GREEN EARTH IS FORCING ANYONE ELSE TO UPGRADE TO OFFICE 2003. So, lucky for you, you won't ever have to
Thanks for the lesson on Microsoft OS's though... Since you believe I started using computers (by your remarks) only about a year or two ago I better go ahead and believe your anonymous'ness knows everything and then some. I'll start reading up to remind myself of the past 20 years of experience with computers I've had... must've been some acid trip for me to have forgotten.
So, as you see, not reading and comprehending posts you flame actually makes your opinion that of a --> Mindless Jackass!
Perhaps I was not specific enough in my comments. I was referring to creating software for old operating systems (of which companies can finally refuse to create new software for).
.NET, etc. through this new version of Office... guess what? NO ONE IS FORCING ANYONE TO UPGRADE TO IT! There's plenty of competition from Corel and even for FREE from OpenOffice now. In the US, money does the talking. If customers don't buy this because they need to keep using their Win98 machines then, you'll see, Microsoft will come out with a "special" version that runs on Win98 rather than see customers switch to Corel or Open Office suites. Don't forget, they're out to make money above all of their other (evil) ambitions.
There is nothing at all wrong with running old software on old operating systems. What I was referring to was having new software ported to old operating systems.
For instance, in the Windows world, whether anyone considers Win2k or XP secure, they are, at least much more secure than the older DOS based operating systems such as Win95 / 98 / ME.
Since writing software for WinNT and Win9x is not the same beast (at least, not in a completely 100% compatible sort of way) I am expressing my opinion that new software shouldn't be written for it specifically for it.
It's like writing versions of web sites specifically for 7 year old web browsers! Would you want to allow your customers (if you were creating, say, a modern e-commerce site with the latest encryption and security technology) to access it using technologies that don't take advantage of the latest security technology! Because, yes, it works (to an extent) on the older browser but, if the unsupported older browser is incapable of securing your transaction as all newer ones must, allowing (and by writing a version specifically compatible with older and obsolete security protocols of the older browser) the older browser to complete transactions with your site is placing liability squarely on you if that obsolete security is breached.
Perhaps I was modded a troll because I see the more business side of this. Of course I think if you run an older computer / os / software and it gets the job done for you... GREAT! If it makes you happy to write new software for older operating systems, that is fantastic too! I'm just saying that MS's logic in not supporting their older and all but obsolete operating systems in their applications makes sense from a business point of view.
If seeing something logical that is not explicitly ANTI-MS or ANTI-big business makes me a troll than so be it. I suppose all it takes to be a troll is to have an opinion that doesn't 100% microsoft or big business bash. I'd rather think things through, THEN decide for myself what my opinion is rather than blindly bash everything MS.
Of course, MS is trying to push their newer technologies
In other words, don't take offense to my opinion, after all, I didn't say go out and burn your old software!
As they say: There is NO bad publicity. Everytime you say Microsoft it appears on a web page... or even MS or M$... If people hate Microsoft so much they shouldn't say their name so much on these bulletin boards. It just improves their Search Engine rankings... where quantity of a word used creates a weighted score in a web search on most search engines.
Therefore mentioning Microsoft and all their products, even if it's surrounded by trash talking and bad words and whatever, is just free advertising for MS. If people truly hate them, they shouldn't even mention their names.
Besides, I'm sure Microsoft secretly loves Xbox mods... they're developing quite a following nowadays. How long do you think it'll be before Microsoft sells its own mod chip? Remember too that their saying NO, don't do this only makes people want to do it more... don't people realize that they are being manipulated?
Sigh, as much as we all hate Microsoft, they are pure genius in marketing and even reaping free marketing from people that hate them.
Exactly!
... the thing is "perfect" software from 5 years ago has no clue on how to deal with modern security problems. That is assuming it WAS perfect even 5 years ago... which, folks, that's not true (no matter what software it is... if it hasn't been bug-fixed since then it has been abandoned, not glorified as perfect).
Not to mention, those very same people that are using Win98 (ok, let's say most of them) are probably running it on their Pentium II boxen that are just fine and spiffy for Office 97... they probably can't even run office XP if they tried on that old hardware.
I think software should expire after a certain amount of time (software euthanasia?)
It's extremely sad to have to keep creating software for operating systems that are far more than 5 years old (I mean, 98 is a very retrofitted Win95 as it is, which is really DOS being pushed beyond what it was EVER meant to do reliably... and DOS wasn't reliable (it was abandoned)!
Not to say that backward compatibility isn't good to have.... but people running Win98 on 5 year old boxes should go and get themselves some el-cheapo computers (much cheaper today than they were back then!) that BLOW their computers away (hell, even the $200 walmart boxen blow 5 year old computers away! $200 folks, not $1000, not $2000... that's cheaper than upgrading your video card these days or even buying Windows in a Shrink-wrapped Cardboard box!).
I know, I know, not every company can afford to upgrade their computers... but the Internet bubble burst less than 5 years ago! What are they still doing with that crap?!?
Ooh... I know! You could use one of those tiny pc cases like this Shuttle one...
Of course, the built-in graphics and sound suck (for gaming, okey doke for everything else) so you'd have to get ye a Radeon 9700 (Almost twice the price of an XBOX and with it's own loud cooling fan and extra power attachment to the power supply, but hey, it has video out so you can plug it into your HD-TV) and a Soundblaster Audigy II (only half the price of an XBOX)... then a DVD-Drive... a P-4 (again, about twice the price of an XBOX and boy that poor little power supply! How's it gonna handle all the juice this hungry set of components guzzles), a lot of RAM, USB Controllers (game controllers, it actually includes USB ports)... when all's said and done, for about $1500 - $2000 (TV announcer voice) You could build your own smokingly fast gaming PC about the size of an XBOX, lots louder, lots warmer (you can have your own space heater!)... and that's not even including modding the case so it at least *looks* cooler!
Ok, so the XBOX is mondo cheaper, in fact, cheaper than the parts it's made of (damn, that's a cheap box, not like what you'll find on the street!). My question is: Why is it that on a message board that so THOROUGLY hates MS (even more than MS the degenerative muscular disease) ANY mod to the XBOX is such a huge deal! Next up, the MS XBOX super toaster mod... install a P4, sans heat sink and accompanying refrigerator. Turn on modded XBOX and put toast on the melting plastic... replace melted plastic case with Iron (ooh... a case with substance, not like those *wimpy* aluminum cases, this puppy weighs a ton and can really keep its heat ((homer simpson voice) stupid efficient, lightweight aluminum!)) to create a lovely skillet!
Exactly. And, the more involved people become in projects, the more tunnelvision they tend to get with the particular segment they are working on. If someone less closely involved takes a look, they also bring a fresh perspective of the overall picture and can easily spot mounting design problems.
How about Swordfish.. where a guy hacks into like a government system with a laptop he's never seen before (has no idea what software / development tools are on it) with a gun to his head and his other head quite occupied.
:)
Wow, if computer programming is all about that, I'm leaving the super secret spy business right away and becoming a programmer
I don't think being smarter is a problem. Unfortunately, high school is all about conformity.
College is about non-conformity (geek friendly)... and the real world either embraces non-comformity (successful entrepreneurs) or smashes them to pieces.
"And I think to myself... what a wonderful world..."
Don't you see? It's part of the U.S. Government's new "cyber defense strategy".
/. post on the story being slashdotted by cyber-terrorists, the second one will be available.
/. is beta testing the "cyber defense strategy". Way to go Taco!!!
Upon further inspection, this is NOT a dupe, it is REDUNDANT posting so that in case of the first
See,
I'd like to bring you the world's first duplicate post within a post:
Well, for the simple reason of: What better way to highlight the advantages of Open Source than to show the (stark) opposite viewpoing?
That way it's not a "we rule, we're great" type of event and more of a "this is why we rule, this is why we're great".
It's about the contrast! I mean if you're passionate about something, defining in clear terms what you don't want is the best starting point for cheering!
Besides, saying it's a private conference seems a bit of the opposite effect of what open source wants to do! This isn't, after all a "proprietary" conference!
Well said!
I guess I misunderstood what you were trying to say. I don't apologize (not because I'm an asshole, but hey, who isn't) but because you're brevity in most of the cases left much of what you were trying to say a complete mystery to me.
I had to try to piece together what you were trying to respond. I suppose I come from a lineage of long-windedness and am not too polite dealing with people that are more reserved in the quantity of response they give.
No offense man, and I see your point (finally after your last two posts). I must sound like a complete jackass... I suppose every time I say anything that can even remotely be perceived as pro-microsoft, I feel the Torches and Pitchforks coming after me. Perhaps I'm a bit too jumpy and defensive. I'll work on it, I promise!
Thanks for clarifying and you brought up some interesting points!
Oh, by the way... the SFU uses Interix which contains all the items (GNU C, etc.) you were describing Microsoft being evil for "selling"... they are being "licensed" to MS by Interop Systems.
Perhaps if you carefully re-inspect the GNU license (and if necessary, find a lawyer friend to interpret it for you) you will see that MS is following the licensee rights of the GNU license.
Remember, they have the same legal rights to distribute, package, and even warranty (these include the ability to charge a fee under the GNU license) GNU licensed software as you or I do. The GNU does not specify that Multi-billion dollar corporations do not have the same terms to follow as you or I.
The beauty of the GNU license is that it IS open to the little people instead of JUST the big people. This is done by not discriminating, regardless of the licensee.
Also, Mandrake and RedHat do indeed also "offer free 100%-OSS versions of their stuff. Every tool that Mandrake develops is GPLed". That is their right to choose to do. They may also, at their choice (as MS does) choose to offer 100% closed source commercial versions of their stuff. Because MS does not release software they've developed under GPL or GNU license does not mean that they do not have the right to do what they do. They may ALSO distribute (according to the license terms of the software being distributed) any GNU software they want to (even alongside their closed source software).
As long as they don't violate the terms of the license (and I bet you a buck they have really expensive lawyers making sure they don't) what they are doing is perfectly legal, and you and I have the right to do the exact same thing (if we wanted to).
If you want to just say Microsoft Sucks and are a bunch of assholes because you don't like what they do, that is your right. But do not claim they violate licenses that they don't.
Besides, AC, what kind of stability does it demonstrate that SUN machines need to have hot-swappable CPU's?
Does the machine automatically swap the CPU for you? I assume that the machine needs human interaction, just the same as an x86 component of an x86 cluster would. If SUN creates a robot that spots physical problems (and fixes them without human interaction), such as impending CPU failures, before they occur, I will really agree that suns are vastly more stable.
Unfortunately, they don't have that system in place yet so I don't see how a sun machine is in any way more stable than a cluster of redundant x86 machines?
When was the last time you pulled a CPU out of a SUN machine and (if it was a single processor system as most clustered x86 machines are (assuming you want to compare fairly)) that node did any more processing (during the time the CPU was out) than did any x86 machine with its CPU out?
Thanks for nitpicking my plea that someone not nitpick the misplacement of an accent (which is extraordinarily nitpicky, well, at least in a forum that is predominantly in the English language).
Of course, and in English there are likewise plenty of words that are directly borrowed from other languages... In fact, "soccer mom" recently became an official word (even though it is composed of two words that were already official words).
The word software, as you noted, is an English origin word. As such, while it may be adopted, as you've pointed out, it is NOT a true Spanish word (though it may be added by an officiating language body such as the RASE in their list of what they consider accepted Spanish words (and likely because it was used so often in Slang that an actual Spanish rooted word was never conceived because it would never be used by the masses)) and does not have a consistent phonetic pronounciation in Spanish nor does it consistently mimic Spanish grammatical rules and will undoubtedly be pronounced in the way that it is pronounced in English by people using it.
If I say "hors d'oeuvre", while the English language has "adopted" the word, I am STILL using a French word. It has become so accepted by the masses that it has been adopted but it STILL does not comform to any rules of English grammer in its proper pronounciation (mainly because it retains its largely French spelling and phonetics).
I suppose it was time for ME to be nitpicky.