I really think this is a clever new business model. Charge people for using another company / group's product.
Hey Windows users, you owe me $99.95 a year for those "Icon" things I invented last year.
No, you have got it wrong. It should be:
Hey Windows users, you owe me $99.95 a year for some top-secret things I invented last year. Since they are top secret, I can't tell you what they are.
Not much of a joke to me. One of the servers at work recently trashed its boot disk. Running Memtest86 shows memory errors throughout its 4GB of RAMBUS memory.
I wouldn't recommend it unless you don't want to actually work on that box.
While not very usable on a single 5 year old box, Gentoo can be used on such hardware. I manage a small network of systems that run Gentoo. Some are 5 years old. One of the systems is used to compile and build binary packages. All the other machines install or upgrade from these binary packages. Some of the other machines also participate in the compilation process using distcc.
Though AFAIR Thomas dedicated the sequel to Eastwood, so he must have liked something about the film (possibly the cheque for the movie rights!).
When he sold the rights to the book, it was through an intermediary and he did not know who the real buyer was. IIRC, he was paid 100k UK pounds. It was all in the local press at the time.
Another piece of trivia, the art teacher at my school was credited in many of his books for the technology ideas. IIRC: Terry Jones.
What always amazed me was the lack of sex in his books. He left us (his pupils) with no doubts about the meanings of some passages in Shakespear's and Keats' writings!
What was the name of that car that was a joint effort by Alfa Romeo and some Japanese car manufacturer? That one deserves to be on the top 10 of worst cars... ahhh, the flair of Japanese design combined with rock-solid Italian engineering. Ouch
Well, it is possible to convert the car to be negative earth -- althought it's rather more involved that reversing the battery terminals.
One has to re-polarize the generator also. I would also have to check my fuel pump (it may have a diode in it). There are no other semiconductors in the car.
Why is it that no one has taken SCO to court to get an injunction filed against them, barring them from collecting money or sending 'extortion' letters until their case is proved in court?
Er.... That would be RedHat, would'nt it? Isn't that exactly what RedHat's lawsuit is about?
I would not be too quick to point to Netcraft. Look at this
Netcraft report and then try using nmap to determine the OS. Nmap reports OpenServer or similar.
Imagine how fast jobs would go overseas if the US did ban FOSS?
That giant sucking sound that was in the news a few years ago (about NAFTA) would be back, but this time, it would be real and it would be all the software and services jobs going to India, China, etc., maybe even Europe. Anywhere that was not so stupid as to ban FOSS.
Direct quote from the article: Now, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, Livingston and a small army of plaintiffs, attorneys and self-appointed activists
They would be the self-appointed activists because:
They received an unsolicited fax?
They decided to avail themselves of the rights grated to them by the US legislature?
The sentence I quoted is a blatant attempt to make the people who sue sound like kooks, while there is no justification for this.
I don't think you are getting the fine point I am trying to make.
Is Gentoo then somehow authorative for Linux? Is it not a minority? Last time I checked, Debian, Redhat, and distros that used their packaging systems (or direct descendants thereof) were still vastly outnumbering the number of installed Gentoo bases.
Clearly, Gentoo is not authoritative for Linux. However, the author's point is that, with BSD, you can choose to install from source, using the ports system. My point is that this is not a disadvantage for Linux, because you can choose to install from source by using Gentoo. The fact that most people don't choose to do so is not a disadvantge.
Fundamentally, what I am saying is that the ports system is not a distinguising advantage over Linux because:
1. A similar system is available in Linux if you want it and
2. Since most people want to install from binaries, one could conclude that the preferred system is to install from binaries -- and the author has a minority viewpoint.
Of course, I know that the majority is not always right (otherwise, why would I use Gentoo?).
The author's comments would be fair if he wanted to compare *BSD against specific binary-based distributions of Linux, but not Linux as a whole.
This leads to a lot of differences. In a very real sense, BSD systems are constantly developed; I can always update my system to the absolute latest code, irrespective of "releases". In Linux, that doesn't really have as much meaning, because the release process is very different. I think the most appropriate verb for a Linux release is "assembled". A Linux release is assembled from version A.B of this program, plus version C.D of this program, plus version E.F of this program... all together with version X.Y.Z of the Linux kernel. In BSD, however, since the pieces are all developed together, the verb "cut" makes a lot more sense; a release is "cut" at a certain time.
Now, it's true that most Linux users install binary packages, and most BSD users install by building from source. Partly, that's a result of the tools; the ports system is designed around the concept of building from source, with the ability to make and install binary packages being something of an afterthought, while Linux packaging like RPM and dpkg and such are designed around the concept of installing a binary package, with building from source as an afterthought. Some of this is historical; binary packaging historically isn't a predominant theme in Unix systems, as I mentioned earlier. For that matter, packaging itself is a more recent thing. Traditionally, you'd deal with uninstalling and such manually.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes. I realized that 5 seconds after posting. Thanks for the correction!
I don't think Verisign has anything to do with IP assignment. Isn't that IANA's job?
No, you have got it wrong. It should be:
Hey Windows users, you owe me $99.95 a year for some top-secret things I invented last year. Since they are top secret, I can't tell you what they are.
Here is a link to a google cache of the summary.
Isn't this what Vipul's Razor and DCC are supposed to do?
Not much of a joke to me. One of the servers at work recently trashed its boot disk. Running Memtest86 shows memory errors throughout its 4GB of RAMBUS memory.
The article ranks only Web servers. So it's hardly going to provide useful numbers on desktops.
While not very usable on a single 5 year old box, Gentoo can be used on such hardware. I manage a small network of systems that run Gentoo. Some are 5 years old. One of the systems is used to compile and build binary packages. All the other machines install or upgrade from these binary packages. Some of the other machines also participate in the compilation process using distcc.
When he sold the rights to the book, it was through an intermediary and he did not know who the real buyer was. IIRC, he was paid 100k UK pounds. It was all in the local press at the time.
Another piece of trivia, the art teacher at my school was credited in many of his books for the technology ideas. IIRC: Terry Jones.
What always amazed me was the lack of sex in his books. He left us (his pupils) with no doubts about the meanings of some passages in Shakespear's and Keats' writings!
He taught me english at high school!
Viruses: Bad!
SCO: Bad!
Anti-SCO viruses: Error@!!!! Did not compute!
It was the "Alfa Arna" or the "Cherry Europe"
Actually, it had Alfa's flat-4 engine, which was wonderful. At least partly designed by a British company (Ricardo Engineering???).
In standard form, those engines would rev up to 8000 rpm and were very smooth, and reliable.
Well, it is possible to convert the car to be negative earth -- althought it's rather more involved that reversing the battery terminals.
One has to re-polarize the generator also. I would also have to check my fuel pump (it may have a diode in it). There are no other semiconductors in the car.
Now if someone would tell me where I can find a working positive ground radio for my car (yes, really), I would appreciate it.
Er.... That would be RedHat, would'nt it? Isn't that exactly what RedHat's lawsuit is about?
Am I the only person that thinks these two items might be connected?
Actually, it sounds like he is the sort of person who would not need to cheat.
I would not be too quick to point to Netcraft. Look at this Netcraft report and then try using nmap to determine the OS. Nmap reports OpenServer or similar.
That giant sucking sound that was in the news a few years ago (about NAFTA) would be back, but this time, it would be real and it would be all the software and services jobs going to India, China, etc., maybe even Europe. Anywhere that was not so stupid as to ban FOSS.
Now, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, Livingston and a small army of plaintiffs, attorneys and self-appointed activists
They would be the self-appointed activists because:
They received an unsolicited fax?
They decided to avail themselves of the rights grated to them by the US legislature?
The sentence I quoted is a blatant attempt to make the people who sue sound like kooks, while there is no justification for this.
I don't think you are getting the fine point I am trying to make.
Is Gentoo then somehow authorative for Linux? Is it not a minority? Last time I checked, Debian, Redhat, and distros that used their packaging systems (or direct descendants thereof) were still vastly outnumbering the number of installed Gentoo bases.
Clearly, Gentoo is not authoritative for Linux. However, the author's point is that, with BSD, you can choose to install from source, using the ports system. My point is that this is not a disadvantage for Linux, because you can choose to install from source by using Gentoo. The fact that most people don't choose to do so is not a disadvantge.
Fundamentally, what I am saying is that the ports system is not a distinguising advantage over Linux because:
1. A similar system is available in Linux if you want it and
2. Since most people want to install from binaries, one could conclude that the preferred system is to install from binaries -- and the author has a minority viewpoint.
Of course, I know that the majority is not always right (otherwise, why would I use Gentoo?).
The author's comments would be fair if he wanted to compare *BSD against specific binary-based distributions of Linux, but not Linux as a whole.
Correct. I should have been more careful and read a little more carefully, but WTH, this is /. isn't it?
No, I'm trying to say that there is a Linux that does things more like BSD and by the author's criteria Linux is better than the author has perceived.
Apparently, you have not studied Gentoo
Apparently, he has not studied Gentoo
Don't forget that Netcraft's accounting of uptimes cannot detect uptimes beyond 497 days for older versions of Linux.