You raise a good point. I code some for fun, but I do agree that the larger the personal project the more difficult it is to finish, and too many developers try to bite off more than they can reasonably chew. Take, for example, any of the thousands of ambitious open source projects started by eager-beaver developers that soon become half-finished, abandoned derelicts. Sourceforge is littered with them.
The advantage of having that much money is that you could dream big, and you wouldn't have to write that last 20%. You could hire someone else to do the monkey stuff. For example, I'd love to see a real open source 3D parametric CAD/CAM application for Linux, with an open file format in the style of OpenOffice ODF. Basically SolidWorks for Linux, done right. But there's no way one person could write an application like that in one lifetime, and the user base is too small to attract the sort of open source development community a browser like Firefox or an office suite like OpenOffice enjoy (and both started as commercial apps anyway). However, if I had the money to keep a handful of top-notch developers around to help get the thing done right, sure, I'd go for it.
It all depends on acceleration from your frame of reference, which is simply change of velocity over time (deceleration if the sign is negative--same thing). From the point of view of the driver, two cars of equal mass and head-on velocities have the same deceleration as a car hitting the infamous 'immovable object'. Hit a train head-on, and the train driver feels little acceleration (change in velocity) while the car driver experiences a huge change in velocity (positive to negative) and the huge corresponding acceleration.
That's why modern racecars are designed to disintegrate on impact with things like walls. In the old days, the cars would be built tough, and when they hit walls they would come out in good shape but the driver inside would be mush. These days, the cars fall apart, dissipating kinetic energy and slowing the rate of deceleration, destroying the car but saving the driver in the process.
Off-topic correction: hitting a non-moving wall at 60MPH is the same thing as hitting a car of equal mass coming directly at you at the same speed you're traveling. There is no '60 vs 120 mph' delta. The delta is '60 to 0 in the same distance' in both cases.
What makes the second amendment powerful is that it--along with the rest of the Bill of Rights--codifies the belief that government exists to serve the people, not the other way around; and that faith and trust is placed in the people, not the government.
OK, here's another person who would fork over the dough for a Linux port, although I'd prefer a version that ran on my Gentoo system.
Currently, I'm using a paid-for, licensed copy of VariCAD. Not in the class of SW, but adequate for my needs at the moment. There are only a few viable solutions for 3D mechanical design on Linux that I'm aware of: VariCAD on the low end, and NX on the very $$$$$ high end. What I'd really like to see is someone like Alibre CAD offer a Linux version for the same price as the Windows version. That would be sweet. If it had an open, readable native file format for archival purposes, that would be incredible. And if by some miracle either intel, nvidea or ati actually manage to develop a decent 3D graphics card with decent 3D open-source drivers, that would be heaven.
Of course, none of this is in their 'best interests'. Hell, what would be in their best interests would be to sell you a locked-down PC with only their software on it. Guaranteed lock-in. However, as the entire CAD space becomes more crowded and more mainstream, you'll see folks like Google introducing a cross-platform sketch-up, or some open-source project gaining momentum like gimp, blender, firefox and Ooo did, and then you'll start to see the prices come down and the porting start as the established players attempt to maintain their market share.
Windows 98 was the last Windows OS I owned. I switched my Mom (now 70) to Linux 8 years ago. When I put together a system for my niece (now 13) I installed Linux. Both are currently running Ubuntu just fine; Firefox for web, Thunderbird for email, Open Office for letters, medicine lists, school reports, etc. My service calls have dropped 90% because things just work, and the viruses, worms, popups and other crud have just gone away.
Better yet, the rest of the Windows-Using family members now know I'm that 'Linux' guy. I'm no longer fixing broken drivers for the gamers or trying to figure out why Word ate their business report.
I agree--this is the question of most interest to me. If the age-span of fertility isn't significantly increased and all of us currently living get 1000 year lifespans, doesn't the human race go extinct in say, 1500 years? Let's say you have your 2.1 kids at 30 (yeah, these days it's 16, but that's another article...) When your children hit 30, you get 2.1 grandchildren. When your grandchildren hit 30, they have 2.1 kids. And so on. This works now because most folks never live to see their great-great grandchildren. But after just a few hundred years, you'll have great-great-great-great grandchildren, as will a few billion other happy young couples. The earth can't cope. So, sooner or later you have to tell some future generation to stop having/desiring their own children for the 'good of all'. If this happens at say, year now+300, and if the age of menopause happens at year 100, at year 400 no one is able to have any more children. The last human on the planet can turn off the lights at year now+1400.
One solution, of course, is a controlled breeding program. No more of my neighbor down the street breeding with every guy she brings home from the bar. Future generations will need a 'parent license', with strict limits on when and how many children they can have.
So my question to the parents out there: how many of you are willing to die so your children may live? And so they, and your grandchildren, and their children, can enjoy the same things in life you do?
Exactly. And that is why Nowheresville should have the option of running it's own broadband access service. In this day and age the broadband infrastructure is no less important for the economic and social well-being of a community than the transportation infrastructure (roads et. al. ) The problem is that the AT&T Death Star and other providers file lawsuits against the Nowheresville's of this country that try to do that. That's not capitalism. That's monopolistic/anti-trust behaviour. And it should be stamped out vigorously by the federal government. But when you're pouring millions into the re-election campaigns of your local congressman you can pretty much do what you want I guess...
Frustrating at times, but the best source distro
on
Is Gentoo in crisis?
·
· Score: 1
Haven't used Windows in 10 years. Started with slackware. Moved to Redhat, then Debian. Settled on Gentoo a few years back and haven't changed since. Like any Linux/OSS/Gnu effort Gentoo has it's ups and downs, but I doubt it's going away any time soon. It's core competency is source code distribution and fine-grained tweaking, and I suspect there are enough users who want that to keep it going. Sure, if your goal is to effortlessly run aMSN or fire up OpenOffice spreadsheets, get another distro. I install Ubuntu on the systems I build for family members. But for supporting obscure programs nothing beats Gentoo. For example, I use xfoil occasionally. When the 4.0 gcc broke it due to reworked g77 code, I was able to fix it on the spot with a quick portage overlay patch and post a bug report/patch upstream. And for other esoteric apps that aren't in the portage tree, it is a lot easier to create a quick ebuild in a portage overlay than it is to work up an rpm or dep package. Yeah, sometimes I wish the Gentoo quality control was a little better, but I still find it easier to keep Gentoo current than any other distro I've used in the past. And for supporting or building the obscure scientific/engineering apps I like to run no other distro comes close.
Slashdot Mirror
You raise a good point. I code some for fun, but I do agree that the larger the personal project the more difficult it is to finish, and too many developers try to bite off more than they can reasonably chew. Take, for example, any of the thousands of ambitious open source projects started by eager-beaver developers that soon become half-finished, abandoned derelicts. Sourceforge is littered with them. The advantage of having that much money is that you could dream big, and you wouldn't have to write that last 20%. You could hire someone else to do the monkey stuff. For example, I'd love to see a real open source 3D parametric CAD/CAM application for Linux, with an open file format in the style of OpenOffice ODF. Basically SolidWorks for Linux, done right. But there's no way one person could write an application like that in one lifetime, and the user base is too small to attract the sort of open source development community a browser like Firefox or an office suite like OpenOffice enjoy (and both started as commercial apps anyway). However, if I had the money to keep a handful of top-notch developers around to help get the thing done right, sure, I'd go for it.
Exactly. That's why I mentioned equal mass.
It all depends on acceleration from your frame of reference, which is simply change of velocity over time (deceleration if the sign is negative--same thing). From the point of view of the driver, two cars of equal mass and head-on velocities have the same deceleration as a car hitting the infamous 'immovable object'. Hit a train head-on, and the train driver feels little acceleration (change in velocity) while the car driver experiences a huge change in velocity (positive to negative) and the huge corresponding acceleration.
That's why modern racecars are designed to disintegrate on impact with things like walls. In the old days, the cars would be built tough, and when they hit walls they would come out in good shape but the driver inside would be mush. These days, the cars fall apart, dissipating kinetic energy and slowing the rate of deceleration, destroying the car but saving the driver in the process.
Off-topic correction: hitting a non-moving wall at 60MPH is the same thing as hitting a car of equal mass coming directly at you at the same speed you're traveling. There is no '60 vs 120 mph' delta. The delta is '60 to 0 in the same distance' in both cases.
What makes the second amendment powerful is that it--along with the rest of the Bill of Rights--codifies the belief that government exists to serve the people, not the other way around; and that faith and trust is placed in the people, not the government.
This is slashdot. The 'physical limitation' is getting it up the basement stairs...
OK, here's another person who would fork over the dough for a Linux port, although I'd prefer a version that ran on my Gentoo system.
Currently, I'm using a paid-for, licensed copy of VariCAD. Not in the class of SW, but adequate for my needs at the moment. There are only a few viable solutions for 3D mechanical design on Linux that I'm aware of: VariCAD on the low end, and NX on the very $$$$$ high end. What I'd really like to see is someone like Alibre CAD offer a Linux version for the same price as the Windows version. That would be sweet. If it had an open, readable native file format for archival purposes, that would be incredible. And if by some miracle either intel, nvidea or ati actually manage to develop a decent 3D graphics card with decent 3D open-source drivers, that would be heaven.
Of course, none of this is in their 'best interests'. Hell, what would be in their best interests would be to sell you a locked-down PC with only their software on it. Guaranteed lock-in. However, as the entire CAD space becomes more crowded and more mainstream, you'll see folks like Google introducing a cross-platform sketch-up, or some open-source project gaining momentum like gimp, blender, firefox and Ooo did, and then you'll start to see the prices come down and the porting start as the established players attempt to maintain their market share.
Exactly.
Windows 98 was the last Windows OS I owned. I switched my Mom (now 70) to Linux 8 years ago. When I put together a system for my niece (now 13) I installed Linux. Both are currently running Ubuntu just fine; Firefox for web, Thunderbird for email, Open Office for letters, medicine lists, school reports, etc. My service calls have dropped 90% because things just work, and the viruses, worms, popups and other crud have just gone away.
Better yet, the rest of the Windows-Using family members now know I'm that 'Linux' guy. I'm no longer fixing broken drivers for the gamers or trying to figure out why Word ate their business report.
It's a two-fer, IMO.
I agree--this is the question of most interest to me. If the age-span of fertility isn't significantly increased and all of us currently living get 1000 year lifespans, doesn't the human race go extinct in say, 1500 years? Let's say you have your 2.1 kids at 30 (yeah, these days it's 16, but that's another article...) When your children hit 30, you get 2.1 grandchildren. When your grandchildren hit 30, they have 2.1 kids. And so on. This works now because most folks never live to see their great-great grandchildren. But after just a few hundred years, you'll have great-great-great-great grandchildren, as will a few billion other happy young couples. The earth can't cope. So, sooner or later you have to tell some future generation to stop having/desiring their own children for the 'good of all'. If this happens at say, year now+300, and if the age of menopause happens at year 100, at year 400 no one is able to have any more children. The last human on the planet can turn off the lights at year now+1400. One solution, of course, is a controlled breeding program. No more of my neighbor down the street breeding with every guy she brings home from the bar. Future generations will need a 'parent license', with strict limits on when and how many children they can have. So my question to the parents out there: how many of you are willing to die so your children may live? And so they, and your grandchildren, and their children, can enjoy the same things in life you do?
Exactly. And that is why Nowheresville should have the option of running it's own broadband access service. In this day and age the broadband infrastructure is no less important for the economic and social well-being of a community than the transportation infrastructure (roads et. al. ) The problem is that the AT&T Death Star and other providers file lawsuits against the Nowheresville's of this country that try to do that. That's not capitalism. That's monopolistic/anti-trust behaviour. And it should be stamped out vigorously by the federal government. But when you're pouring millions into the re-election campaigns of your local congressman you can pretty much do what you want I guess...
Haven't used Windows in 10 years. Started with slackware. Moved to Redhat, then Debian. Settled on Gentoo a few years back and haven't changed since. Like any Linux/OSS/Gnu effort Gentoo has it's ups and downs, but I doubt it's going away any time soon. It's core competency is source code distribution and fine-grained tweaking, and I suspect there are enough users who want that to keep it going. Sure, if your goal is to effortlessly run aMSN or fire up OpenOffice spreadsheets, get another distro. I install Ubuntu on the systems I build for family members. But for supporting obscure programs nothing beats Gentoo. For example, I use xfoil occasionally. When the 4.0 gcc broke it due to reworked g77 code, I was able to fix it on the spot with a quick portage overlay patch and post a bug report/patch upstream. And for other esoteric apps that aren't in the portage tree, it is a lot easier to create a quick ebuild in a portage overlay than it is to work up an rpm or dep package. Yeah, sometimes I wish the Gentoo quality control was a little better, but I still find it easier to keep Gentoo current than any other distro I've used in the past. And for supporting or building the obscure scientific/engineering apps I like to run no other distro comes close.