> WINE doesn't run CS, Starcraft, UT, and all the other online games that make third-world cyber cafes profitable.
Wine in fact does run Starcraft. UT (and UT2003) are released natively for Linux. CS I don't know about.
New games (which aren't likely to run on Wine) require the frequently upgraded hardware, which is too expensive for India anyway.
Not that any of this matters; caffes will stop piracy when they get closed down because of it and no sooner. They also won't change the OS because it's simply a hassle.
I wouldn't be surprised if it could. There's some pretty scary stuff in Boost.
Note that your example isn't just about 'implies', it's about linking state transitions (which hide/show do) to the state property (either shown or hidden).
I'm not sure you profit from magically doing this linking... but it'd sure be interesting to see if it can be abstracted into a pattern of some sort.
Well, nothing's impossible with some template magic. The example (thoroughly untested and probably doesn't even compile) uses signal and lambda libraries from boost.org:
// signal and lambda magic - lambda library delays the evaluation // This is pretty much like your IMPLIES thing foo.notify.connect(toolbar.set_visible(_1)) ;
Quoting from ASUS FAQ on Anandtech (this seems to be the general issue with all BX boards):
'With many of the ASUS Slot 1 boards, you can even use 133MHz FSB processors. Be aware though, that the BX chipset does not officially support the 133MHz FSB and is not guaranteed to operate at this frequency. In addition, the AGP bus will be running out of spec at 89MHz as the BX chipset has no 1/2 AGP multiplier. Most recent video cards, such as the nVidia GeForce family, are able to handle these speeds without too much difficulty.'
While the FAQ says that the cards/should/ handle weird AGP clock, it doesn't mean that they do. I'd tend to blame BX chipset for your problems.
Nah.:) I just got tired of the gratuitous language changes, and I don't believe that Microsoft is in any way the only culprit of what has become the standard marketing practice.
Being tired of something does make me express myself hyperbolically, though.
Remember that the purpose of the newspeak is to make people unable to conceive of the thought crime (which, in this case, is buying from the anybody who isn't Microsoft).
Hence operating system was arranged to mean 'whatever you get preloaded when you buy the computer', user-friendly now means 'Windows-like', computer means 'PC compatible computer', and, finally, security means 'being unable to run anything but Windows'.
I'd actually *like* to be able to buy a whipping cool card for $100. And it's quite plausible that Trident will be able to deliver (after all, they've stopped doing ISA cards ages ago).
The real potential problems with this: driver compatilibity and Linux support. If their drivers turn out sucky, well, *DUH*. And if they remain tight-lipped about their 'intellectual property', they'd better release decently performing DRI drivers.
Checked the article. They describe the case where a program inadvertantly builds a (potentially) infinite data structure - they plonked every object (of a certain kind) into a hashtable that wasn't weak. This isn't a memory leak, really, just shoddy logic - I'd prefer if the article called it for what it really was.
Furthermore, GC is not a solution for shoddy programming, it's a tool that allows a different approach to programming (my favorite feature: exceptions become *VERY* cheap, as they reduce to, basically, a longjmp - no stack rollbacks). And it does make memory-related bugs very rare (modulo programmer stupidity:) ). --
The bulk of the music industry's loss comes from the fact that the offer sucks.
Or to put it different way: for most of the music worth listening, the only two ways to get it are mail order over the Net, or download. And unfortunately, the mail order is not a real option: it involves hassle, and wait, and having a credit card (not standard for your typical target audience). For the music that you can buy in a shop, well... ugh. Most of it isn't worth/downloading/, let alone buying.
First, it might happen that in the future, non-Pd systems will not be available.
Second, the trick with the software that uses Pd for authorization is that once you crack Pd, you can also crack the software. In particular, DRM is pretty useless once you crack Pd.
The trick is, once you uncover the key,/you/ own your machine. It will *not* be Pd-compliant.
And I didn't even begin to go into all the chipping possibilities. PSX/PSX2 hardware-based protection was also 'unbeatable', wasn't it? (Yes, I know that CPU integration sucks. So do lots of other things, but don't underestimate hardware hack ingenuity).
The entire system, even with Fritz in the CPU, absolutely depends on the single private key: The one required by Fritz to boot the machine. And there is another key, the one used to sign the trusted software.
Frankly, I think it HIGHLY unlikely that one of these keys won't be uncovered, either by an insider or by a large distributted cracking project. And once a key is out, ALL THE MACHINES CAN USE IT TO BYPASS PALLADIUM.
Okay, here's how Palladium's supposed to work: You have an encryption chip and an OS that talks to it. OS monitors the binaries you run, network connections, you name it. The OS contains the code that denies access to the user. The OS is written on the hard disk, and before that, on the installation media. As far as DRM implications of this go, do you all really, honestly believe that the same thing that happened with XP's registration (Cracked By l33t h4x0R) won't happen again? As for the network services, the server will accept whatever you wire it through your network card. Meaning, certified binaries mean squat over the network.
--
And another free game engine, Linux-ready
on
OGRE GPL'ed 3D Engine
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
German company Radon Labs released their game engine under a free licence (but not GPL nor LGPL). It has very impressive feature list, check their Sourceforge site. It already works on Linux.
> Finally, XP doesn't seem to offer any solution for testing GUIs, which make up a large part of our product.
Well, testing anything specific (and GUIs in particular) is not something that development methodology has to answer for. You're on your own, just as if you were to test, say, a numerical algorithm used in your code.
That said, there/are/ methods to test GUIs. For example, use GUI toolkit that allows a scripted access to the GUI controls. Applescript does that for Macs and Accessibility Toolkit does it for Gnome2/Gtk2 applications (once GNOME 2 officially comes out, of course). I know for a fact that a number of companies have their own in-house testing harnesses for Windows.
Well, it's been a high time to get real components on UNIX. Considering that UNIX (and Linux) are all about small tools doing their jobs and integrating with each other, components are logical extension of pipes... Now I just wish I had the time to start a project - I'd probably write component browser/method invoker module for zsh.:)
Anyway... kudos to VIM folks for getting this right.
Good idea, and in fact, that's exactly how it's done. I've worked in several UNIX setups that share home dirs via NFS, and use automounter to locate and mount your home on each login. So, you login to any machine on the net, and voila, you have all your settings/and/ your files. Of course, this requires a fast LAN but is a standard practice...
So I kept wondering what the heck was Jeff blattering about in his article - customisations are a solved problem.
> Now, I agree that Windows is butt-ugly, but one thing it's not, as long as you stay away from buggy-as-hell out-of-date shareware pieces of arse, is inconsistent.
Well, while I/would/ agree that MS Media Player is buggy-as-hell out-of-date piece of arse, it's hardly a shareware and you can NOT stay away from it. And it's inconsistent as heck. In particular, it doesn't have the buttons in the expected places, and every theme shuffles things around in unrecognisable ways.
Also, I guess you've never used Windows XP. Compare the normally accessible XP dialogs with NT admin tools you can access from the control panel and then with the installers generated from InstallShield and WISE. No consistency, either. And you/still/ have no way out of using any of these tools.
At least KDE can snarf the GNOME themes, which is more than can be said about the current situation on Windows.
Although, prior to XP, I'd have to at least partially agree with your comments.
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> WINE doesn't run CS, Starcraft, UT, and all the other online games that make third-world cyber cafes profitable.
Wine in fact does run Starcraft. UT (and UT2003) are released natively for Linux. CS I don't know about.
New games (which aren't likely to run on Wine) require the frequently upgraded hardware, which is too expensive for India anyway.
Not that any of this matters; caffes will stop piracy when they get closed down because of it and no sooner. They also won't change the OS because it's simply a hassle.
--
*splatt!*
--
On the downside, /. will need one to run a few years down the road. :)
--
I wouldn't be surprised if it could. There's some pretty scary stuff in Boost.
Note that your example isn't just about 'implies', it's about linking state transitions (which hide/show do) to the state property (either shown or hidden).
I'm not sure you profit from magically doing this linking... but it'd sure be interesting to see if it can be abstracted into a pattern of some sort.
--
Well, nothing's impossible with some template magic. The example (thoroughly untested and probably doesn't even compile) uses signal and lambda libraries from boost.org:
....
....
// This is pretty much like your IMPLIES thing) ;
template<typename T>
struct monitored {
T val;
signal<void, T> notify;
const T& read() { return val; }
void write(const T& v) { val = v; notify(val); }
};
monitored<bool> foo;
// signal and lambda magic - lambda library delays the evaluation
foo.notify.connect(toolbar.set_visible(_1)
--
Quoting from ASUS FAQ on Anandtech (this seems to be the general issue with all BX boards):
/should/ handle weird AGP clock, it doesn't mean that they do. I'd tend to blame BX chipset for your problems.
'With many of the ASUS Slot 1 boards, you can even use 133MHz FSB processors. Be aware though, that the BX chipset does not officially support the 133MHz FSB and is not guaranteed to operate at this frequency. In addition, the AGP bus will be running out of spec at 89MHz as the BX chipset has no 1/2 AGP multiplier. Most recent video cards, such as the nVidia GeForce family, are able to handle these speeds without too much difficulty.'
While the FAQ says that the cards
--
Nah. :) I just got tired of the gratuitous language changes, and I don't believe that Microsoft is in any way the only culprit of what has become the standard marketing practice.
Being tired of something does make me express myself hyperbolically, though.
--
Remember that the purpose of the newspeak is to make people unable to conceive of the thought crime (which, in this case, is buying from the anybody who isn't Microsoft).
Hence operating system was arranged to mean 'whatever you get preloaded when you buy the computer', user-friendly now means 'Windows-like', computer means 'PC compatible computer', and, finally, security means 'being unable to run anything but Windows'.
--
I'd actually *like* to be able to buy a whipping cool card for $100. And it's quite plausible that Trident will be able to deliver (after all, they've stopped doing ISA cards ages ago).
The real potential problems with this: driver compatilibity and Linux support. If their drivers turn out sucky, well, *DUH*. And if they remain tight-lipped about their 'intellectual property', they'd better release decently performing DRI drivers.
--
Checked the article. They describe the case where a program inadvertantly builds a (potentially) infinite data structure - they plonked every object (of a certain kind) into a hashtable that wasn't weak. This isn't a memory leak, really, just shoddy logic - I'd prefer if the article called it for what it really was.
:) ).
Furthermore, GC is not a solution for shoddy programming, it's a tool that allows a different approach to programming (my favorite feature: exceptions become *VERY* cheap, as they reduce to, basically, a longjmp - no stack rollbacks). And it does make memory-related bugs very rare (modulo programmer stupidity
--
> Sorry guys, but as far as C/C++ development goes, nothing beats an XP box with Visual Studio 7, Intel C/C++ 6 and Rational PurifyPlus.
How about XEmacs, gcc 3.1, Valgrind and a summer vacation on a tropical island of your choice, for the same price?
--
> It is possible to leak memory in Java too (by making circular structures).
GC present in just about any Java VM handles circular structures just fine (hint: They don't use refcounting).
--
> It was this or Cmdrtacos basement.
That'd be CowboyNeal's basement, of course. No?
--
The bulk of the music industry's loss comes from the fact that the offer sucks.
/downloading/, let alone buying.
Or to put it different way: for most of the music worth listening, the only two ways to get it are mail order over the Net, or download. And unfortunately, the mail order is not a real option: it involves hassle, and wait, and having a credit card (not standard for your typical target audience). For the music that you can buy in a shop, well... ugh. Most of it isn't worth
--
Well, that's not quite my point.
First, it might happen that in the future, non-Pd systems will not be available.
Second, the trick with the software that uses Pd for authorization is that once you crack Pd, you can also crack the software. In particular, DRM is pretty useless once you crack Pd.
--
Yes, I did read the article.
/you/ own your machine. It will *not* be Pd-compliant.
The trick is, once you uncover the key,
And I didn't even begin to go into all the chipping possibilities. PSX/PSX2 hardware-based protection was also 'unbeatable', wasn't it? (Yes, I know that CPU integration sucks. So do lots of other things, but don't underestimate hardware hack ingenuity).
--
The entire system, even with Fritz in the CPU, absolutely depends on the single private key: The one required by Fritz to boot the machine. And there is another key, the one used to sign the trusted software.
Frankly, I think it HIGHLY unlikely that one of these keys won't be uncovered, either by an insider or by a large distributted cracking project. And once a key is out, ALL THE MACHINES CAN USE IT TO BYPASS PALLADIUM.
Nuff said.
--
Okay, here's how Palladium's supposed to work: You have an encryption chip and an OS that talks to it. OS monitors the binaries you run, network connections, you name it. The OS contains the code that denies access to the user. The OS is written on the hard disk, and before that, on the installation media.
As far as DRM implications of this go, do you all really, honestly believe that the same thing that happened with XP's registration (Cracked By l33t h4x0R) won't happen again?
As for the network services, the server will accept whatever you wire it through your network card. Meaning, certified binaries mean squat over the network.
--
German company Radon Labs released their game engine under a free licence (but not GPL nor LGPL). It has very impressive feature list, check their Sourceforge site. It already works on Linux.
--
IIRC, unlike the Explorer, Konq has a neat little 'Use Gecko' checkbox somewhere in the preferences.
--
> Finally, XP doesn't seem to offer any solution for testing GUIs, which make up a large part of our product.
/are/ methods to test GUIs. For example, use GUI toolkit that allows a scripted access to the GUI controls. Applescript does that for Macs and Accessibility Toolkit does it for Gnome2/Gtk2 applications (once GNOME 2 officially comes out, of course). I know for a fact that a number of companies have their own in-house testing harnesses for Windows.
Well, testing anything specific (and GUIs in particular) is not something that development methodology has to answer for. You're on your own, just as if you were to test, say, a numerical algorithm used in your code.
That said, there
--
Angels.
Gawd, been watching too much Anime again.
--
Well, it's been a high time to get real components on UNIX. Considering that UNIX (and Linux) are all about small tools doing their jobs and integrating with each other, components are logical extension of pipes... Now I just wish I had the time to start a project - I'd probably write component browser/method invoker module for zsh. :)
Anyway... kudos to VIM folks for getting this right.
--
Good idea, and in fact, that's exactly how it's done. I've worked in several UNIX setups that share home dirs via NFS, and use automounter to locate and mount your home on each login. So, you login to any machine on the net, and voila, you have all your settings /and/ your files. Of course, this requires a fast LAN but is a standard practice...
So I kept wondering what the heck was Jeff blattering about in his article - customisations are a solved problem.
--
> Now, I agree that Windows is butt-ugly, but one thing it's not, as long as you stay away from buggy-as-hell out-of-date shareware pieces of arse, is inconsistent.
/would/ agree that MS Media Player is buggy-as-hell out-of-date piece of arse, it's hardly a shareware and you can NOT stay away from it. And it's inconsistent as heck. In particular, it doesn't have the buttons in the expected places, and every theme shuffles things around in unrecognisable ways.
/still/ have no way out of using any of these tools.
Well, while I
Also, I guess you've never used Windows XP. Compare the normally accessible XP dialogs with NT admin tools you can access from the control panel and then with the installers generated from InstallShield and WISE. No consistency, either. And you
At least KDE can snarf the GNOME themes, which is more than can be said about the current situation on Windows.
Although, prior to XP, I'd have to at least partially agree with your comments.
--