No, I'd put Michael as a troll actually... "definately a better browser" is almost purposely phrased to get people to yell at each other. Out with him;-)
I bought this book about a month ago for work and found it to be an excellent overview and guide. The author does an excellent job of talking about actual routing situations, not just theoretical concepts of different issues.
Falsifying paper votes is pretty easy. Its paper. Think bribery.
At any rate, digital signatures, if used properly (sufficient key sizes, certification systems, etc.) would make a very provable record of peoples' votes. The problem is that its no longer a secret ballot. What you probably need is something like a one-time pad of secret keys to be used to encrypt the ballots (Thats a lot of bit-space;-) and they're dispensed to people as they prove their identity (I'm talking over a network, etc.) -- this gives security as strong as the network security system (high-bit public keys) and the anonymity of using your piece of the OTP instead of your actual public key to encrypt your vote.
I didn't claim we had proportional representation (and I'm sorry if it came across that way). We don't have an electoral college system, though, more to the point.
BTW, When you consider 301 ridings for ~ 40 million people vs. the US's count, we represent our individual population groups (ridings) much better.
I've used @Home for almost a year now and called them up the first week I had it to tell them that I'm a tech and I run several server daemons on my machine to log in from work, etc. They just flagged my account.
How many people yell and scream about companies, but don't actually just call and say something and be honest for once?
Sony would have no ability to require money from someone writing software for Crystal Space unless they managed to include in their NDA to the Crystal Space developer a licensing clause requiring Crystal Space to require its developers to pay a licensing fee.
I wouldn't put it past them, but that developer wouldn't have those rights anyway.
You are facing a choice now, a choice about values. You have to choose between the goal of supporting one more platform and the goal of freedom.
So in a way, what we want to do is to give users of the Crystal Space package more freedom by allowing them to run the games they create with.
Practical flexibility is not freedom. Helping people accept chains is not giving them more freedom, it is helping them surrender it.
To support freedom sometimes means resisting a temptation. This is one of those times. So if I were you, I would refuse to support the PS2 until it can be done with free software, and I would say so loud and clear to the public and the users.
RMS obviously still has some pretty up-tight views about what 'freedom' means and what it doesn't. The original author is right in saying that he's offering developers freedom by supporting the PS/2. Why? Because he's developing a programming library, not a software end-user program. He's not tying, nor helping to tie anyone to a closed platform, including the PS/2 and/or Windows and/or Mac. These are all supported by his game library, but the library is written to interface with all of these and is itself entirely "Free Software".
If you initially disagree with this view, change the thought-experiment slightly: what if the library were released with open hooks to attach additional interface libraries to and released as an entirely "Free Software" package as RMS would see it. What if then, Microsoft came along and loved it (wierd concept) and wrote a driver library to make the game library work with Direct/X. What if 3dFX then came along and did the same thing for Glide, and Sony did the same for the PS/2. Well, besides being the only game library all of the above actually approve of, how would the software be affected in its 'free'ness? Not at all is the correct answer.
If these interfaces are then written by the game library authors themselves instead but still distributed "external" to the game library, the game library continues to be free.
For total argument's sake... the fact of the matter is, the game library never has been totally "Free Software" in the RMS sense, because it has been licensed under the LGPL which RMS feels is almost an evil in itself compared to the GPL.
I'll note that not many people are actually reading the article this news item is about, but focusing on Every's comments instead.
Let me quote:
Every has missed the whole point of the Open Source movement and of UNIX in general. His real purpose, of course, is not to denigrate UNIX, but to build a case for Apple's adoption of the BSD kernel with Mac OS X. However, rather than stating that OS X uses the UNIX core as its core, he states that OS X uses UNIX as its core, and implies that the additional functions OS X provides above the kernel have no equivalent in UNIX.
This is so well said, its sad to not see anyone else respond to it.
Unix is all about component architecture. Maybe not all about, but its been forefront in how Unix systems differ from others. When my dad first introduced me to Unix, his first comment was about piping commands' I/O together -- the fact that using multiple smaller and sophisticated programs together could do the same job as one monolithic program, if not as visually appealing.
Component architecture has appeared more recently with Corba and DOM, and nobody seems to give Unix credit for the background concepts. The fact is that the instantaneous bandwidth usage counter I use for our hosted domains is actually a string of several commands (grep domain from file, cut field out with bytes, sed out number and append "+", echo "p", pipe above through dc, grab output) is invisible to the user, but does the job fast and perfectly.
Non-unix people often seem to think that the above is not using a UI... but it is. It may not be graphical, but its a user interface, and it suffices for my work. The things I don't do in a text window I do in Mozilla or GVIM. My GUI has made the web prettier. That's about it. Single keystroke commands (VI / Emacs) are still a lot faster than menus, if not as 'new-user-friendly'.
Ahh well...
Re:/. is never afraid to ask the tough questions..
on
Is UNIX An OS?
·
· Score: 2
What, not enough yet? Join the
Just a kernel with some services
on
Is UNIX An OS?
·
· Score: 2
And I quote:
Unix... isn't an OS any more; mostly it's a kernel with a shell and some services on top.
So, I beg you David, please define an Operating System as something that the above does not fulfill.
Sure, there are plenty of things a Mac may do inherently that, say, the Linux kernel does not, but this is simply being ignorant of how a Mac's OS structure works and what its hiding from you.
In the case of Windows 3.1 and in the case of Linux running XFree86 (for two examples), the user is made aware (at least at first) that the GUI is a seperate application interfacing with the base kernel functions, not an integrated piece.
Ask any kernel programmer though and you'll find out that this is simply a design decision, not an inherent shortcoming. Micro-kernel operating systems take this a step further and sometimes make everything a loadable module, right down to your memory and disk sub-systems. Are these "applications" that are loaded (automatically) on boot-up, but can be unloaded and replaced, simply applications running on a kernel that isn't an operating system?
Unix, in some forms, may simply be a shell on a kernel offering services. In that state, it provides a human interface to hardware devices and allows me to run any form of software I wish (I just have to write it in some cases;-). As such, it is a complete operating system. It does all the low-level work, not I.
Incidentally, I guess Mac OS X won't be an Operating System anymore... what with its new layered structure involving an overhauled *nix kernel with a translation system and a GUI running on top of that (all hidden from the user)...
On the same note, I guess Corel Linux really is an operating system, since after installation you come straight into a GUI and can click and drag and do whatever you want without realising all these application services are running behind the scenes.
Considering how many companies no longer operate 9-5, having functional communications systems at all hours of the day and night makes sense. The fact that you may wish to send a Word document or PGP signed Network Solutions update at 9PM is a valid reason to choose a support contract that offers those options.
Within Ontario, Canada, ICS is helping the local Public Utilities companies to set up fibre optic networks to the door of businesses in most cities. The PUCs are laying fibre in the ground all over in those cities (Sudbury, Ottawa, Peterborough, Toronto, London, etc.) and they're able to get you high-speed Internet access where you are with very little effort.
That's what we're using at FibreSpeed for our new line of integrated web application services. Gotta love those strands in that metal pipe on the ceiling.
Within Ontario, Canada, ICS is helping the local Public Utilities companies to set up fibre optic networks to the door of businesses in most cities. The PUCs are laying fibre in the ground all over in those cities (Sudbury, Ottawa, Peterborough, Toronto, London, etc.) and they're able to get you high-speed Internet access where you are with very little effort.
<P>That's what we're using at <a href="http://www.fibrespeed.net">FibreSpeed</a> for our new line of integrated web application services. Gotta love those strands in that metal pipe on the ceiling.</P>
Anyone feel like looking up how much data two strands of fibre can handle?
And for correction's sake: they bought two strands running cross-country (for starters), and another strand elsewhere.
Those two strands across the country, according to the article, are hooked up to Internet-only switches. That means they're not sharing voice or other data, so they can handle huge amounts of theoretical bandwidth (current use is gigabits/sec per strand, and they're claiming we're under half a percent of their possible use).
That would let you sell 100Mb a shot pretty comfortably. Who needs more than two strands of something that carries thousands of copper lines worth of data?
A lot of people have wanted to go very different places with Samba, and have had different visions of how to get there.
I just wish that everyone could resolve their differences through modularisation of the code so that desired features can be compiled in or not. Some of these require rewrites, or different handling, but many can often be done in a complimentary manner.
Slashdot Mirror
No, I'd put Michael as a troll actually ... "definately a better browser" is almost purposely phrased to get people to yell at each other. Out with him ;-)
I bought this book about a month ago for work and found it to be an excellent overview and guide. The author does an excellent job of talking about actual routing situations, not just theoretical concepts of different issues.
Any particular reason why my karma hasn't changed in months even though I get the odd moderation point (and almost never lose any)?
Falsifying paper votes is pretty easy. Its paper. Think bribery.
;-) and they're dispensed to people as they prove their identity (I'm talking over a network, etc.) -- this gives security as strong as the network security system (high-bit public keys) and the anonymity of using your piece of the OTP instead of your actual public key to encrypt your vote.
At any rate, digital signatures, if used properly (sufficient key sizes, certification systems, etc.) would make a very provable record of peoples' votes. The problem is that its no longer a secret ballot. What you probably need is something like a one-time pad of secret keys to be used to encrypt the ballots (Thats a lot of bit-space
I didn't claim we had proportional representation (and I'm sorry if it came across that way). We don't have an electoral college system, though, more to the point.
BTW, When you consider 301 ridings for ~ 40 million people vs. the US's count, we represent our individual population groups (ridings) much better.
Incidentally, I use w3m when I need a text-mode browser. Supports frames and tables and has colour support too. See it on freshmeat.
Or in Canada ... where I'm glad we don't have a stupid electoral college system.
I've used the Logitech cordless keyboard + mouse combo set and they've been very good. Very power-efficient too.
The mouse is one of those slightly tilted deals with a thumb-clicked left mouse button, so if you don't like ergo-stuff, don't get one :-).
cf. http://www.logitech.com/cf/products/productovervie w.cfm/64 - a newer model
As my little cousin would say: "Ya, so?"
...
This has little to do with essence of the post
I've used @Home for almost a year now and called them up the first week I had it to tell them that I'm a tech and I run several server daemons on my machine to log in from work, etc. They just flagged my account.
How many people yell and scream about companies, but don't actually just call and say something and be honest for once?
I thought the old rule applied ... if it starts to suck, make your own.
Sony would have no ability to require money from someone writing software for Crystal Space unless they managed to include in their NDA to the Crystal Space developer a licensing clause requiring Crystal Space to require its developers to pay a licensing fee.
I wouldn't put it past them, but that developer wouldn't have those rights anyway.
RMS said:
RMS obviously still has some pretty up-tight views about what 'freedom' means and what it doesn't. The original author is right in saying that he's offering developers freedom by supporting the PS/2. Why? Because he's developing a programming library, not a software end-user program. He's not tying, nor helping to tie anyone to a closed platform, including the PS/2 and/or Windows and/or Mac. These are all supported by his game library, but the library is written to interface with all of these and is itself entirely "Free Software".
If you initially disagree with this view, change the thought-experiment slightly: what if the library were released with open hooks to attach additional interface libraries to and released as an entirely "Free Software" package as RMS would see it. What if then, Microsoft came along and loved it (wierd concept) and wrote a driver library to make the game library work with Direct/X. What if 3dFX then came along and did the same thing for Glide, and Sony did the same for the PS/2. Well, besides being the only game library all of the above actually approve of, how would the software be affected in its 'free'ness? Not at all is the correct answer.
If these interfaces are then written by the game library authors themselves instead but still distributed "external" to the game library, the game library continues to be free.
For total argument's sake ... the fact of the matter is, the game library never has been totally "Free Software" in the RMS sense, because it has been licensed under the LGPL which RMS feels is almost an evil in itself compared to the GPL.
I'll note that not many people are actually reading the article this news item is about, but focusing on Every's comments instead.
Let me quote:
This is so well said, its sad to not see anyone else respond to it.
Unix is all about component architecture. Maybe not all about, but its been forefront in how Unix systems differ from others. When my dad first introduced me to Unix, his first comment was about piping commands' I/O together -- the fact that using multiple smaller and sophisticated programs together could do the same job as one monolithic program, if not as visually appealing.
Component architecture has appeared more recently with Corba and DOM, and nobody seems to give Unix credit for the background concepts. The fact is that the instantaneous bandwidth usage counter I use for our hosted domains is actually a string of several commands (grep domain from file, cut field out with bytes, sed out number and append "+", echo "p", pipe above through dc, grab output) is invisible to the user, but does the job fast and perfectly.
Non-unix people often seem to think that the above is not using a UI ... but it is. It may not be graphical, but its a user interface, and it suffices for my work. The things I don't do in a text window I do in Mozilla or GVIM. My GUI has made the web prettier. That's about it. Single keystroke commands (VI / Emacs) are still a lot faster than menus, if not as 'new-user-friendly'.
Ahh well ...
What, not enough yet? Join the
And I quote:
So, I beg you David, please define an Operating System as something that the above does not fulfill.
Sure, there are plenty of things a Mac may do inherently that, say, the Linux kernel does not, but this is simply being ignorant of how a Mac's OS structure works and what its hiding from you.
In the case of Windows 3.1 and in the case of Linux running XFree86 (for two examples), the user is made aware (at least at first) that the GUI is a seperate application interfacing with the base kernel functions, not an integrated piece.
Ask any kernel programmer though and you'll find out that this is simply a design decision, not an inherent shortcoming. Micro-kernel operating systems take this a step further and sometimes make everything a loadable module, right down to your memory and disk sub-systems. Are these "applications" that are loaded (automatically) on boot-up, but can be unloaded and replaced, simply applications running on a kernel that isn't an operating system?
Unix, in some forms, may simply be a shell on a kernel offering services. In that state, it provides a human interface to hardware devices and allows me to run any form of software I wish (I just have to write it in some cases ;-). As such, it is a complete operating system. It does all the low-level work, not I.
Incidentally, I guess Mac OS X won't be an Operating System anymore ... what with its new layered structure involving an overhauled *nix kernel with a translation system and a GUI running on top of that (all hidden from the user) ...
On the same note, I guess Corel Linux really is an operating system, since after installation you come straight into a GUI and can click and drag and do whatever you want without realising all these application services are running behind the scenes.
I've never generated a 40 bit key.
I have a 1024 bit key, a 1280 bit key, a 1694 bit key and a 2048 bit key.
What are you talking about?
So it uses encrypted public keys ...
... your files are as safe as the encryption of the PKCS files.
Considering how many companies no longer operate 9-5, having functional communications systems at all hours of the day and night makes sense. The fact that you may wish to send a Word document or PGP signed Network Solutions update at 9PM is a valid reason to choose a support contract that offers those options.
Within Ontario, Canada, ICS is helping the local Public Utilities companies to set up fibre optic networks to the door of businesses in most cities. The PUCs are laying fibre in the ground all over in those cities (Sudbury, Ottawa, Peterborough, Toronto, London, etc.) and they're able to get you high-speed Internet access where you are with very little effort.
That's what we're using at FibreSpeed for our new line of integrated web application services. Gotta love those strands in that metal pipe on the ceiling.
Within Ontario, Canada, ICS is helping the local Public Utilities companies to set up fibre optic networks to the door of businesses in most cities. The PUCs are laying fibre in the ground all over in those cities (Sudbury, Ottawa, Peterborough, Toronto, London, etc.) and they're able to get you high-speed Internet access where you are with very little effort.
<P>That's what we're using at <a href="http://www.fibrespeed.net">FibreSpeed</a> for our new line of integrated web application services. Gotta love those strands in that metal pipe on the ceiling.</P>
Anyone feel like looking up how much data two strands of fibre can handle?
And for correction's sake: they bought two strands running cross-country (for starters), and another strand elsewhere.
Those two strands across the country, according to the article, are hooked up to Internet-only switches. That means they're not sharing voice or other data, so they can handle huge amounts of theoretical bandwidth (current use is gigabits/sec per strand, and they're claiming we're under half a percent of their possible use).
That would let you sell 100Mb a shot pretty comfortably. Who needs more than two strands of something that carries thousands of copper lines worth of data?
A lot of people have wanted to go very different places with Samba, and have had different visions of how to get there.
I just wish that everyone could resolve their differences through modularisation of the code so that desired features can be compiled in or not. Some of these require rewrites, or different handling, but many can often be done in a complimentary manner.
All things considered, it probably uses a hash of your unique userid and your password, both of which are stored in the registry (sort of).
If voting in your next national election has anything to do with which idiot you make president you have a deep misunderstanding of politics.