ha ha I'm not going to get into the debate of who actually was first. That kind of thing only works if the participants are drunk. It's easy enough to say Microsoft wasn't, but hell you could pick anything from Windows and say "Microsoft wasn't first to do this" and you'd most likely be right. The acorns themselves were pretty cool - got a few of them at home... I wonder if they were actually the first?
Someone's really got to go and make a definitive who was first!
Even looking at the *nix market we see the classic 'taskbar' in everything from KDE to GNOME and other variants. It is kind of sad that MS was the first one with a taskbar like this, but it isn't such a bad idea, so I don't mind see others parrot it.
You'd have a great point, that is if MS actually *was* the first one with a taskbar like this...
Sheesh why don't you actually read about what Microsoft are being punished for rather than spout some useless straw man crap? They aren't being punished for being a monopoly (and yes . They are being punished for anticompetitive behavior, i.e. using their operating system to try and destroy competitors from other fields of software by only allowing Windows to play with Microsoft software. Why don't you look up Antitrust and find out what it means?
What on earth are you on about? Most regulations make it *easier* to compete not harder, stopping single companies from taking too much hold and smothering competition. That's what this regulation itself is doing, stopping possible anti-competitive actions from the phone companies.
and who cares if some of the lobby companies have patents? What does that have to do with this regulation?
Unfortunately it's not a dupe when it's reporting new news. Just as Microsoft releasing the beta for Windows Vista isn't a dupe of Microsoft announcing that there will be a Windows Vista, this is not a dupe of that article. Didn't the "google released this Wednesday" clue you in that the article might actually be reporting something different than the article from more than a month ago, even if they are on the same software?
The difference you are mentioning is that it's not Mozilla releasing the Firefox stats, but it is Microsoft releasing their stats, and this is a *big* difference. They can also only be called claims when it is simply stated by Microsoft, only an idiot would call them "facts". However I can't stand most stats so I don't really care - only an idiot would call Firefox usage stats "facts".
Oh no it will remain, just be edited somewhat. Observe:
Editing Environmental Science
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 21, @02:36AM
from the nothing-to-worry-about dept.
Aqua OS X writes to tell us CBS News is reporting that government scientist James Hansen recently spoke out against the White House in an appearance on 60 Minutes. From the article: "Hansen is a disgraced researcher on global warming. He was the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate before resigning under controvercial circumstances. But this scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration may have been restricting who he may talk to and editing what he might have wanted to say. Politicians, he says, could be editing minor insignificant sections of science."
OK sorry I should have noted that - you can of course get the same functionality as VC++ just by downloading and installing eclipse - there's no spending of money required at all. However that doesn't change the point that with the default install that probably 90%+ of Windows users use doesn't have any development capability at all.
Funnily enough in Australia the word "Football" can mean any one of four things: Soccer, Rugby Union, Rugby League, or Aussie Rules. It never means Gridiron (or American Football). To figure out which football someone means you have to read in context. However you're right - we mostly use the sports by their actual name but when "football" is used in an international context it usually means soccer.
I'd like to add a few points to your argument. In my opinion the biggest problem with the IDE is that installing new libraries in Windows just stuffs you around. It literally took me half an hour to install freetype and get it working with VC.NET. Linux has the standard/usr/lib/usr/include directories that you can just drop the files in to install. With VC.NET you can either add a new directory to your project file (and don't even *think* about sharing this project file from now on as, alas, there's no standard place for include files), or put it in the following directory: (lets see if I can remember it) c:\Program Files\Microsoft VC.NET\Visual C++.NET\include and c:\Program Files\Microsoft VC.NET\Visual C++.NET\lib I think it is. This of course only installs it for Visual Studio.net of course - if you want to use another compiler you have to install it for that.
But everyone seems to be forgetting the biggest problem at all with development under windows XP - under a default Windows XP install, you simply can't do it. To even get started developing under Windows you have to go out to the store and spend a hundred dollars (I'm Australian) on VC++!
That doesn't look completely transparent! What's with all the black lines up and down the chip? In this story it's all transparent (well translucent at least) so there's no black lines.
And then if you have auto hiding on the start bar on then it doesn't *ever* go back down unless you open the other program. Or if you are playing a game and someone messages you on an IM then it minimises the game and goes to gaim (or whatever im you use, but gaim rhymes with gaim so I'm sticking with it). This has to be one of the worst features ever - whoever thought of it should be hung, drawn and quartered. Now I'm not usually partial to brutal execution for programming bugs, but this one is warrented I think.
Combine this with a lack of sloppy focus and things start to stink. I have gotten so used to sloppy focus that I can't stand being without it - it's the first feature I touch if it's not on already when I use Linux.
Come now, do you really think that somewhere in the code there's a manual fprintf writing the root password to the file? You could have at least made a simple attempt at reading the article to find out what it's about and what causes it.
The problem here is that the main user password (Ubuntu doesn't have a root password) is asked through the questions dialogue in the installer. Everything here is automatic and the questions dialogue just simply records everything down in a file called "questions.dat". It's a serious error for a programmer sure, but it's just a lack of thinking of everything when programming, which is what every single security hole is caused by, lets face it. You could just as easily say everyone who doesn't check their arrays every single time no matter what shouldn't be let within ten feet of gcc, but alas even the best make mistakes. Not only this, but someone who doesn't check every array may be letting through a remote exploit, which is much much more serious than this bug.
The mantra of course applies here: Unless you've programmed a totally secure operating system, keep your mouth shut.
Your witty saying doesn't disprove his point either. A witty saying just gets the point across quickly and efficiently with a bit of entertainment on the side. You might have well made a post saying "Look over there, a cow! Therefore his statement is wrong."
Ahem even if you're joking, perhaps you should warn that you only get better, or really any performance on Linux when you're using an nVidia graphics card. ATI doesn't support their later graphics cards under Linux.
I won't play on a gaming rig with less than 2GB RAM.
*Looks down at my puny 1GB rammed computer and sobs*
Anyway I want to add another point (and I'm adding this as a 3D developer rather than a game player as such!) that really what's bottlenecking your system depends on the application/game rather than the actual system. Sure some setups might do better than others just generally, but considering a generally well rounded system then really it almost totally depends on which game.
For example, one app/game (say your average FPS) might have the polygons and maps neatly optimised in memory (assuming you have enough) just loaded at the start of the level while you might also play a flight simulator which will be constantly streaming data from the hard drive. For the first game getting a 1337 SCSI hard drive won't help a bit, but it'll probably make things easier on the flight simulator.
For memory, having 2GB vs 3GB on a game that only uses 1GB of memory won't do you any good. Having less than required would be horrific though, especially if you don't have that 1337 SCSI hard drive to cope with all of the swapping from disk. Having extremely quick 2GB memory might help compared to slow 3GB memory, however for games like RTSs where the units are probably all held on display lists on the video card anyway there won't be much streaming of memory to the video card so having faster memory won't help *all* that much (don't get me wrong, it will help, just not as much as you might hope).
I'd guess that most games now-a-days would be a balance between an uber video card and an uber CPU. Of course each different game would have a different optimum balance so I guess you're stuffed there.
Wow, looking back at my message I realised that I said lots of interesting things that didn't help one bit in answering the question except by saying "Nice try mate, but it's not that simple". Anyway I'll stop now.
Yeah that's great and all, but my first thought was "Why the hell are they going with a foreign company?" With the departmentalism of government nowadays noone seems to be looking at the bigger picture - if they go for an Australian company they get almost half the money back in tax straight away (in fact they'd get it all, eventually, if you follow the circulation of money), and they don't add to the list of imports. I like Novell and all, but I'm sure there would be some great Australian companies that could do as good a job.
Of course I was generalising with the RAD, and well also you seem to have misunderstood me, but *shrug* generalisations are there because they're right for most of the time. RAD itself is a software development process, not a project management plan. A project management plan may or problably not include RAD as a tool for its development, but it itself is not a project management style or plan. Damn this is reminding me of some of the more boring classes at university. And yes I would class your example as RAD and no I don't think real programmers don't have to use C++ or C or assembly (though I am using C++ for my current project). I also never said that VB.NET is a scripting language (and yes I should have had the.NET there but it's oh so tiresome to write).
Slashdot Mirror
Actually another country had a few WMDs before Iraq.
Alas I don't like to get into political conversations, but I also don't like people smugly saying something so blatently wrong even more.
I disagree. I don't see how you could code even something as bad as Myspace just by having sex with any sort of monkey, let alone retarded ones.
Hey it's holidays, I'm allowed to have fun.
ha ha I'm not going to get into the debate of who actually was first. That kind of thing only works if the participants are drunk. It's easy enough to say Microsoft wasn't, but hell you could pick anything from Windows and say "Microsoft wasn't first to do this" and you'd most likely be right. The acorns themselves were pretty cool - got a few of them at home ... I wonder if they were actually the first?
Someone's really got to go and make a definitive who was first!
Even looking at the *nix market we see the classic 'taskbar' in everything from KDE to GNOME and other variants. It is kind of sad that MS was the first one with a taskbar like this, but it isn't such a bad idea, so I don't mind see others parrot it.
You'd have a great point, that is if MS actually *was* the first one with a taskbar like this...
Sheesh why don't you actually read about what Microsoft are being punished for rather than spout some useless straw man crap? They aren't being punished for being a monopoly (and yes . They are being punished for anticompetitive behavior, i.e. using their operating system to try and destroy competitors from other fields of software by only allowing Windows to play with Microsoft software. Why don't you look up Antitrust and find out what it means?
What on earth are you on about? Most regulations make it *easier* to compete not harder, stopping single companies from taking too much hold and smothering competition. That's what this regulation itself is doing, stopping possible anti-competitive actions from the phone companies.
and who cares if some of the lobby companies have patents? What does that have to do with this regulation?
Whoever gets www.se.xxx will make a fortune later on.
I thought it was common knowledge at least among Slashdot that Bill Gates never said that.
It's inevitable. The more resources we have, the more we're going to want to use. That goes for basically everything - it's just human nature.
Unfortunately it's not a dupe when it's reporting new news. Just as Microsoft releasing the beta for Windows Vista isn't a dupe of Microsoft announcing that there will be a Windows Vista, this is not a dupe of that article. Didn't the "google released this Wednesday" clue you in that the article might actually be reporting something different than the article from more than a month ago, even if they are on the same software?
alright, I don't think that 130 references to "Our computers are better than Dell's" can *really* count.
I believe the correct word is "Privateer". Yes like the wing commander game.
The difference you are mentioning is that it's not Mozilla releasing the Firefox stats, but it is Microsoft releasing their stats, and this is a *big* difference. They can also only be called claims when it is simply stated by Microsoft, only an idiot would call them "facts". However I can't stand most stats so I don't really care - only an idiot would call Firefox usage stats "facts".
Oh no it will remain, just be edited somewhat. Observe:
Editing Environmental Science
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 21, @02:36AM
from the nothing-to-worry-about dept.
Aqua OS X writes to tell us CBS News is reporting that government scientist James Hansen recently spoke out against the White House in an appearance on 60 Minutes. From the article: "Hansen is a disgraced researcher on global warming. He was the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate before resigning under controvercial circumstances. But this scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration may have been restricting who he may talk to and editing what he might have wanted to say. Politicians, he says, could be editing minor insignificant sections of science."
There - that's better.
OK sorry I should have noted that - you can of course get the same functionality as VC++ just by downloading and installing eclipse - there's no spending of money required at all. However that doesn't change the point that with the default install that probably 90%+ of Windows users use doesn't have any development capability at all.
Funnily enough in Australia the word "Football" can mean any one of four things: Soccer, Rugby Union, Rugby League, or Aussie Rules. It never means Gridiron (or American Football). To figure out which football someone means you have to read in context. However you're right - we mostly use the sports by their actual name but when "football" is used in an international context it usually means soccer.
I'd like to add a few points to your argument. In my opinion the biggest problem with the IDE is that installing new libraries in Windows just stuffs you around. It literally took me half an hour to install freetype and get it working with VC.NET. Linux has the standard /usr/lib /usr/include directories that you can just drop the files in to install. With VC.NET you can either add a new directory to your project file (and don't even *think* about sharing this project file from now on as, alas, there's no standard place for include files), or put it in the following directory: (lets see if I can remember it) c:\Program Files\Microsoft VC.NET\Visual C++.NET\include and c:\Program Files\Microsoft VC.NET\Visual C++.NET\lib I think it is. This of course only installs it for Visual Studio.net of course - if you want to use another compiler you have to install it for that.
But everyone seems to be forgetting the biggest problem at all with development under windows XP - under a default Windows XP install, you simply can't do it. To even get started developing under Windows you have to go out to the store and spend a hundred dollars (I'm Australian) on VC++!
That doesn't look completely transparent! What's with all the black lines up and down the chip? In this story it's all transparent (well translucent at least) so there's no black lines.
And then if you have auto hiding on the start bar on then it doesn't *ever* go back down unless you open the other program. Or if you are playing a game and someone messages you on an IM then it minimises the game and goes to gaim (or whatever im you use, but gaim rhymes with gaim so I'm sticking with it). This has to be one of the worst features ever - whoever thought of it should be hung, drawn and quartered. Now I'm not usually partial to brutal execution for programming bugs, but this one is warrented I think.
Combine this with a lack of sloppy focus and things start to stink. I have gotten so used to sloppy focus that I can't stand being without it - it's the first feature I touch if it's not on already when I use Linux.
Come now, do you really think that somewhere in the code there's a manual fprintf writing the root password to the file? You could have at least made a simple attempt at reading the article to find out what it's about and what causes it.
The problem here is that the main user password (Ubuntu doesn't have a root password) is asked through the questions dialogue in the installer. Everything here is automatic and the questions dialogue just simply records everything down in a file called "questions.dat". It's a serious error for a programmer sure, but it's just a lack of thinking of everything when programming, which is what every single security hole is caused by, lets face it. You could just as easily say everyone who doesn't check their arrays every single time no matter what shouldn't be let within ten feet of gcc, but alas even the best make mistakes. Not only this, but someone who doesn't check every array may be letting through a remote exploit, which is much much more serious than this bug.
The mantra of course applies here: Unless you've programmed a totally secure operating system, keep your mouth shut.
Your witty saying doesn't disprove his point either. A witty saying just gets the point across quickly and efficiently with a bit of entertainment on the side. You might have well made a post saying "Look over there, a cow! Therefore his statement is wrong."
Ahem even if you're joking, perhaps you should warn that you only get better, or really any performance on Linux when you're using an nVidia graphics card. ATI doesn't support their later graphics cards under Linux.
I won't play on a gaming rig with less than 2GB RAM. *Looks down at my puny 1GB rammed computer and sobs* Anyway I want to add another point (and I'm adding this as a 3D developer rather than a game player as such!) that really what's bottlenecking your system depends on the application/game rather than the actual system. Sure some setups might do better than others just generally, but considering a generally well rounded system then really it almost totally depends on which game.
For example, one app/game (say your average FPS) might have the polygons and maps neatly optimised in memory (assuming you have enough) just loaded at the start of the level while you might also play a flight simulator which will be constantly streaming data from the hard drive. For the first game getting a 1337 SCSI hard drive won't help a bit, but it'll probably make things easier on the flight simulator.
For memory, having 2GB vs 3GB on a game that only uses 1GB of memory won't do you any good. Having less than required would be horrific though, especially if you don't have that 1337 SCSI hard drive to cope with all of the swapping from disk. Having extremely quick 2GB memory might help compared to slow 3GB memory, however for games like RTSs where the units are probably all held on display lists on the video card anyway there won't be much streaming of memory to the video card so having faster memory won't help *all* that much (don't get me wrong, it will help, just not as much as you might hope).
I'd guess that most games now-a-days would be a balance between an uber video card and an uber CPU. Of course each different game would have a different optimum balance so I guess you're stuffed there.
Wow, looking back at my message I realised that I said lots of interesting things that didn't help one bit in answering the question except by saying "Nice try mate, but it's not that simple". Anyway I'll stop now.
Yeah that's great and all, but my first thought was "Why the hell are they going with a foreign company?" With the departmentalism of government nowadays noone seems to be looking at the bigger picture - if they go for an Australian company they get almost half the money back in tax straight away (in fact they'd get it all, eventually, if you follow the circulation of money), and they don't add to the list of imports. I like Novell and all, but I'm sure there would be some great Australian companies that could do as good a job.
Of course I was generalising with the RAD, and well also you seem to have misunderstood me, but *shrug* generalisations are there because they're right for most of the time. RAD itself is a software development process, not a project management plan. A project management plan may or problably not include RAD as a tool for its development, but it itself is not a project management style or plan. Damn this is reminding me of some of the more boring classes at university. And yes I would class your example as RAD and no I don't think real programmers don't have to use C++ or C or assembly (though I am using C++ for my current project). I also never said that VB.NET is a scripting language (and yes I should have had the .NET there but it's oh so tiresome to write).