I'm not trolling here, just genuinely wondering...
Oh, sure you are--only in a good way. This is why/. needs a +1 Troll modifier.
(And because it also lacks a +1 Offtopic mod, I'll answer your other question. Most people here hate Microsoft. Even the Windows users. It's just that simple.)
With computers, hopefully there exists (or will exist) a way of having new (well written) resources for all classes... updated to the minute.
There is, but if your school could only afford new textbooks every ten years, they're not going to be able to afford it. Think of a laptop as a MUCH more expensive wrapper for the textbook's data. Yes, laptops have the advantage of being able to update that data, but all you've saved is the cost of the materials in the textbook--you still have to pay for the cost of the information (which is the larger share of a textbook's cost.
Now, you may be able to use alternative sources for the textbook's data (like MIT's open university thingy), but most states are VERY specific about their curriculum, and the trend is to be even more so, and textbook companies have an advantage there that they're not going to squander.
I have first hand accounts that Bill Gates is a pariah at parties and social events. He mostly sits in the corner alone because nobody will talk to him.
Couldn't he hire someone to talk to him? (Hey Bill, I'm real cheap!)
if the code was trustworthy (open source), I'd happily volunteer to donate my spare cycles to the cause.
The source for addresses would also have to be trusted--much trickier. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of the 'respond to 1%' approach: it's self-distributed.
The problem as I now see it is that it's not reinforcing the way other projects such as SETI@home are. Plus there's a prisoner's dilema aspect to it: if only a few people participate, their valid addresses get nailed by spammers, and spammers aren't sufficiently inundated with responses.
Even better: We write a bunch of viruses to take over underprotected computers. Then we use those computers to respond, en masse, to spammers' solicitations...
Hmmmm. I started out trying to be funny, but if we really want to turn the tables... Anyone know someone in the Russian Mob?
You missed the point of the argument - a lot of professional Photoshop users aren't on the Adobe upgrade train because they what they're currently using does what they need it to.
I stated my point badly, then. What I was trying to point out is that Adobe is starting to 'pull' users along (e.g., disabled forward compatibility in Illustrator.) OSS won't do that. I deal with an awkward interface if it means I can be sure that GIMP 2 will be able to open GIMP 3 TIFFs.
I agree that the GIMP isn't ready for prime time, but I'll be watching it with interest.
I imagine this is what Stallman wanted, a chance to prove the GPL in court.
Earlier in this mess (or a parallel one) someone asked him that, and his answer was something like, "We're prepared to, but you never want to." Going into a courtroom always carries the possibility that you will lose. (RMS isn't a party to this case, but with SCO calling the GPL null and void, he has something to lose..)
Photoshop is a lot like Autocad - once you get used to it functioning a certain way and have customized it, there's no need to upgrade just because Adobe says so. An upgrade may add some new features, but if you've learned quick workarounds, why bother?
That's a good reason WHY we need the GIMP. If you need a set of features, and you have them, why should you have to get on the Adobe upgrade train?
Another reason for open source solutions: Just look at what Adobe is doing with Illustrator; Ill. 9 will balk at opening an EPS created in ILL. 10, even if there's no technical reason for it. Let's face it--Adobe is as bad as Microsoft.
The "study" will also no doubt find that Microsoft fixes their bugs much faster than open source programmers since the Windows bug and downloadable fix are often announced on the same day.
An excellent point. The legnth the vulnerability is open is what's key. If I leave my back door unlocked for a week, and then announce it a minute before I close it, then I have been vulnerable for a week, not a minute.
Another consideration is the legnth of time before the vulnerability is fixed in the real world. MS may pick up some ground here with its recently announced automatic Windows Update.
In Norway we have similar rules: You cannot air commercial claiming something that might be false
I think I prefer the US model (being a native, that's probably to be expected.) In the UK/Norway model, no car could be 'the fastest car', since it would have to be fastest at ALL distances, terrain, etc. Yeah, it's more accurate, but the annoying picky accuracy of grammar nazis.
I hate to feed a troll, but I feel compelled to point out the idiocy of posting a "spoiler" to a story that will only be read by people who've seen the movie
Some of those 'mistakes' are there to protect intellectual property. False streets and other features are inserted into maps so that if your competitor simply copies your maps, you can prove he did. I'd hope that those 'features' would be avoided by the direction software, but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't.
The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project. It is also a proving ground for new technology that may eventually make its way into Red Hat products.
What's so ideal about the Library of Congress to hold an international collection of e-books?
Probably because they could. Of course, it would make more sense to do it on linguistic/regional/national lines and have them point to each other when needed.
"Unexpectedly"?? What, the servers hadn't been set up with the expectation that they'd be receiving results from lots of new machines at the same time?
Damn--that's almost word-for-word what I was about to post.
I do have to wonder what the size of the contract to set that sorry system up was... I'm guessing huge.
You'd think apple would at least sell G5's to VT without SuperDrives
OTOH, five years from now, when they have the world's 65,000th fastest supercomputer, they could just pull the thing apart and give/sell complete computers to their students. Then it's back to the Apple Store to order up a whole lot of G7's.
How does that change the question? Can't you theoretically get talk radio content over, say, the Internet?
You can indeed. The article is really focused on music on the radio, though.
I remember when "alternative" radio was a college phenomenon, and was excited when I heard my first commercial "alternative" station. Inevitably, though, the playlist shrunk until one day I realized, "Holy crap--it's a top 40 station!"
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not trolling here, just genuinely wondering...
Oh, sure you are--only in a good way. This is why /. needs a +1 Troll modifier.
(And because it also lacks a +1 Offtopic mod, I'll answer your other question. Most people here hate Microsoft. Even the Windows users. It's just that simple.)
With computers, hopefully there exists (or will exist) a way of having new (well written) resources for all classes... updated to the minute.
There is, but if your school could only afford new textbooks every ten years, they're not going to be able to afford it. Think of a laptop as a MUCH more expensive wrapper for the textbook's data. Yes, laptops have the advantage of being able to update that data, but all you've saved is the cost of the materials in the textbook--you still have to pay for the cost of the information (which is the larger share of a textbook's cost.
Now, you may be able to use alternative sources for the textbook's data (like MIT's open university thingy), but most states are VERY specific about their curriculum, and the trend is to be even more so, and textbook companies have an advantage there that they're not going to squander.
OK, I get Harry Potter. I get The Simpsons. But why do geeks love Family Guy? Is it a Stewie thing?
I have first hand accounts that Bill Gates is a pariah at parties and social events. He mostly sits in the corner alone because nobody will talk to him.
Couldn't he hire someone to talk to him? (Hey Bill, I'm real cheap!)
if the code was trustworthy (open source), I'd happily volunteer to donate my spare cycles to the cause.
The source for addresses would also have to be trusted--much trickier. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of the 'respond to 1%' approach: it's self-distributed.
The problem as I now see it is that it's not reinforcing the way other projects such as SETI@home are. Plus there's a prisoner's dilema aspect to it: if only a few people participate, their valid addresses get nailed by spammers, and spammers aren't sufficiently inundated with responses.
Even better: We write a bunch of viruses to take over underprotected computers. Then we use those computers to respond, en masse, to spammers' solicitations...
Hmmmm. I started out trying to be funny, but if we really want to turn the tables... Anyone know someone in the Russian Mob?
I am concerned about long-term entrenched confusions such as referring to a version of our GNU OS as 'Linux'
Shouldn't that be "GNU/Linux OS"?
*ducks*
You missed the point of the argument - a lot of professional Photoshop users aren't on the Adobe upgrade train because they what they're currently using does what they need it to.
I stated my point badly, then. What I was trying to point out is that Adobe is starting to 'pull' users along (e.g., disabled forward compatibility in Illustrator.) OSS won't do that. I deal with an awkward interface if it means I can be sure that GIMP 2 will be able to open GIMP 3 TIFFs.
I agree that the GIMP isn't ready for prime time, but I'll be watching it with interest.
I imagine this is what Stallman wanted, a chance to prove the GPL in court.
Earlier in this mess (or a parallel one) someone asked him that, and his answer was something like, "We're prepared to, but you never want to." Going into a courtroom always carries the possibility that you will lose. (RMS isn't a party to this case, but with SCO calling the GPL null and void, he has something to lose..)
The solution is obvious; just patent "Extortion by the web!" Now the crooks will have to pay you!
Photoshop is a lot like Autocad - once you get used to it functioning a certain way and have customized it, there's no need to upgrade just because Adobe says so. An upgrade may add some new features, but if you've learned quick workarounds, why bother?
That's a good reason WHY we need the GIMP. If you need a set of features, and you have them, why should you have to get on the Adobe upgrade train?
Another reason for open source solutions: Just look at what Adobe is doing with Illustrator; Ill. 9 will balk at opening an EPS created in ILL. 10, even if there's no technical reason for it. Let's face it--Adobe is as bad as Microsoft.
The "study" will also no doubt find that Microsoft fixes their bugs much faster than open source programmers since the Windows bug and downloadable fix are often announced on the same day.
An excellent point. The legnth the vulnerability is open is what's key. If I leave my back door unlocked for a week, and then announce it a minute before I close it, then I have been vulnerable for a week, not a minute.
Another consideration is the legnth of time before the vulnerability is fixed in the real world. MS may pick up some ground here with its recently announced automatic Windows Update.
In Norway we have similar rules: You cannot air commercial claiming something that might be false
I think I prefer the US model (being a native, that's probably to be expected.) In the UK/Norway model, no car could be 'the fastest car', since it would have to be fastest at ALL distances, terrain, etc. Yeah, it's more accurate, but the annoying picky accuracy of grammar nazis.
They pulled the ad because EIGHT viewers complained? That's a little more responsive than over here in the US. (I'm not sure that's a good thing.)
I hate to feed a troll, but I feel compelled to point out the idiocy of posting a "spoiler" to a story that will only be read by people who've seen the movie
What we found was that they are full of mistakes.
Some of those 'mistakes' are there to protect intellectual property. False streets and other features are inserted into maps so that if your competitor simply copies your maps, you can prove he did. I'd hope that those 'features' would be avoided by the direction software, but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't.
The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project. It is also a proving ground for new technology that may eventually make its way into Red Hat products.
Hmmm, what does that remind me of?
What's so ideal about the Library of Congress to hold an international collection of e-books?
Probably because they could. Of course, it would make more sense to do it on linguistic/regional/national lines and have them point to each other when needed.
"Unexpectedly"?? What, the servers hadn't been set up with the expectation that they'd be receiving results from lots of new machines at the same time?
Damn--that's almost word-for-word what I was about to post.
I do have to wonder what the size of the contract to set that sorry system up was... I'm guessing huge.
An open plea to the Simpsons writers:
Please, more episodes about cold fusion.
Thank you.
You'd think apple would at least sell G5's to VT without SuperDrives
OTOH, five years from now, when they have the world's 65,000th fastest supercomputer, they could just pull the thing apart and give/sell complete computers to their students. Then it's back to the Apple Store to order up a whole lot of G7's.
...and we're expecting to increase them soon. We'll get back to you.
How does that change the question? Can't you theoretically get talk radio content over, say, the Internet?
You can indeed. The article is really focused on music on the radio, though.
I remember when "alternative" radio was a college phenomenon, and was excited when I heard my first commercial "alternative" station. Inevitably, though, the playlist shrunk until one day I realized, "Holy crap--it's a top 40 station!"
Now, I just don't listen.
Why do you assume that only music is played over the radio? I listen to NPR...
Ditto (as it were.) I haven't listened to music in years. (Pay attention, RIAA.)
If I owned a radio station, I'd cast my lot with talk radio. It's unlikely that people will be trading Rush* MP3s any time soon.
*I was going to specify "Limbaugh", but then I realized that it's probably true either way.
Man, tell me about it.
That's why I came up with my sig. Feel free to steal it.