I am always suspicious of "slippery slope" arguments, because they are almost always used to defend radical positions.
Past radical ideas like the end of slavery, female sufferage, social equality for non-whites, unionized labour, paid vacation and abortion rights? Good thing we're so much smarter today that ideas we consider radical couldn't possibly become basic rights tomorrow.
The Zaurus 5500 runs a StrongArm 200 MHz, easily the equivalent of the P2 machines you mention, with additional advantage that the kernel can be highly optimized for a limited subset of accessory hardware and stripped of support it will never require (SCSI for example.) Opera embedded runs plenty fast on a Zaurus, plus you maintain the tradiitonal benefits of Linux such as NFS and SMB support.
Read the article again. This is a consulting firm performing tests for a corporate environment. The inability of college students to run new games isn't a negative, it's an advantage in that world. Nor will those environments install 'a bajillion' different desktops. There will be one, and it will be locally supported. People will be trained in the rollout and new hires will arrive in exactly the environment you say they won't, experienced users helping them with the Xs and Ys. Honest.
The day corporate enterprise environments (the context of the article if you bothered to RTF) allow desktop users to configure machines from scratch is the day your objection has any relevance. And where exactly did the article say anything about a 'tweaked to hell' Linux install? Finally, it's pretty much common knowledge around here that the more desktop-oriented distros such as RedHat, Mandrake or Knoppix install just as easily, if not easier, than XP. Then again, maybe I'm just a bit touchy from trying to install XP Pro on an ASUS with a 865G chipset and having it bomb all week, no matter what we do.
Ironic that you exclude the one reason which formed the basis of the article: it does no harm. Isn't that the primary reason for classifying an act a crime, harm or intent to harm? Call it theft, call it copyright infringement, but at the end of the day it's just outdated industry people trying to come to terms with an information society.
Are you being ironic? I can't tell, the followup is no different than the first. Literacy rates will skyrocket, universities fold and pulp mills close if Mickey went public domain? Leeches, or more in the spirit, 733ch35, just want "The Hulk" for free (not intelligent enough for Chopin I presume?) Society itself depends on entertainment distributors? Queue the locusts, deluge and 4 Horsemen.
BTW, look up the definition of straw man argument, it doesn't mean pointing out extenuating considerations as a rebuttal to a ridiculously simplistic argument.
This is a perfect example of 'ad hominem' reasoning, a simple, denigrating portrayal of anyone opposed to copryright as a leech. You might really, really feel that way, but the argument presents no chain of logic, offers guesses instead of facts, has no historical perspective how copyright evolved into its current form and what the originators intended, or how artists survived before it, no consideration of, for example, how copying in the form of VCRs increased profits, no discussion of what it would mean for innovation in an information society if the RIAA, MPAA had thier way, and therefore no content relevant to the discussion.
'Tens of millions' out of work? What was the source of that number, PIOOMA?
Usenet is still one of the best computer support resources available and Google Groups has unearthed the solution to innumerable problems for me. Like Slashdot, be prepared to sift through a lot of misinformation to find your answer, but Usenet has the advantage of not having moderators push the wrong one up. Usenet's division into areas of interest also helps me discover new music constantly, and there are some real vibrant communities online. One good example is alt.binaries.pictures.aviation. The irony is that Microsoft deliberately chose not to support Usenet a decade ago. Decoding binaries in Windows has long been a trivial exercise with third party software such as Xnews, Agent99 or FreeAgent. Setting it up is usually no harder than typing 'news.mysip.com' in a config field. My guess is their desperation for any new growth area is leading them to revisit Usenet as a 'feature'.
For those who haven't tried Usenet, don't believe the 'cesspool' hype. My ISP provides over 30,000 Usenet groups, most of which never see posts. Some groups are cesspools of viagra, porn and evidence eliminator spam, but 30,000 unmoderated Slashdots would be no different. Check out Fuckedcompany.com's online forums if you think cesspools are a Usenet-only phenomenum.
....these users are power desktop users and not everyone could wait 3 days for X to build.
Desktop power users on 386's are a rare breed nowadays. I don't know how long it took X to build on my P2 366 w/ 192 meg RAM because I started it before going to bed and it was done in the morning. Maybe these power users should consider hardware before choosing distros.
And so what I saw gentoo suddenly doing was having a lot of pre-complied binaries....
Lots? OpenOffice has a precompiled option, Opera does because it isn't open-source, but which other packages do you mean? To the best of my knowledge almost all Gentoo packages are still source-based and more than a few have new options to pull the newest source directly from the CVS tree. Gentoo is expanding into more source-based options, not pre-compiles.
None of this is to say that Debian isn't a better developer's platform, or faster than Gentoo. I wouldn't know, but your post is very misleading.
What's missing in the article is the second half of Gentoo's compile options, the/etc/make.conf USE variables. CFLAGS determines CPU architecture, USE adds or removes the options for extra software support. In stock form Gentoo compiles binaries with a huge number off add-ons, including support for KDE, Gnome, framebuffer, etc. From make.conf: " USE options are inherited from/etc/make.profile/make.defaults." The list from a current Gentoo 1.2 looks like:
Without knowing what support Debian or Mandrake used to compile binaries, this is still an apple/oranges comparison. My notebook isn't configured to compile with KDE or Gnome extensions because the hardare is too old and I use Fluxbox. Mandrake and Debian may still turn out faster (the Gentoo Mozilla e-build was legendary for being slow), but that's not quiet yet proven.
In this day and age of slapdash, sophmoric, poorly crafted trolls, it's a rare pleasure to find an artiste of your stature craft a world-class gem such as you've graced us with today. Patriotism, xenophobic rants, feux anti-capitalist baiting, dead and foreign language links, you wield them as a master wields the foil. Sir, I salute you and your unwavering determination to rise to the top of your field.
What does 'secret code' mean applied to an Open Source project? Is that like finding evidence of the Kennedy assassination by reading every fifth letter of the Bible? Caldera sold Linux for years, in fact was one of the early commercial distributors. They had years of contributing to and examining the code. What could possibly be 'secret' about it?
Errrr, none of this is really correct. Headroom is not the same as dynamic range, the ambient noise level of a quiet room is around 45 db making the jet engine example an improbable 190 db, 16 bit isn't enough for complex pop mixdowns and what's the difference between a pop vocal with acoustic backing and the classical case in terms of bits required? Nothing. Oh, and 16 bit doesn't equal 96 db total dynamic range with noise shaping or dither applied, true of any digital product for a decade. No cigar.
SWAT provides a full, web-based GUI interface for configuring SAMBA, but that still doesn't remove the neccessity of reading documentation. Maybe the can't-be-bothered-reading 'sysadmin' attitude helps explain Window's stellar reputation (and before you hit that troll button, this is a sideways compliment to the OS, much though it pains me.)
You miss the point. The SCO suit and fear of being exposed to litigation are the biggest threat to the adoption of Linux. SCO claims they own Linux IP and are offering exemption from suit to companies who purchase a license from them. Microsoft is investing in SCO and have recently proclaimed Linux a major threat. It makes perfect sense for Gates to misrepresnet the nature of the GPL to those who don't know better and support SCO's claim.
It's in Microsoft's best interest to support SCO's claims on Linux whether it makes sense or not. PHB's aren't reputed in this forum to be the brighest lights in the intellectual sky, they'll eat this up and, should it prove untrue, forget about it in the time it takes to book lunch. For MS it's a no-brainer, win-win scenario.
Slashdot Mirror
Past radical ideas like the end of slavery, female sufferage, social equality for non-whites, unionized labour, paid vacation and abortion rights? Good thing we're so much smarter today that ideas we consider radical couldn't possibly become basic rights tomorrow.
For the first time joining in an activity their Windows bretheren have enjoyed for years. :)
The Zaurus 5500 runs a StrongArm 200 MHz, easily the equivalent of the P2 machines you mention, with additional advantage that the kernel can be highly optimized for a limited subset of accessory hardware and stripped of support it will never require (SCSI for example.) Opera embedded runs plenty fast on a Zaurus, plus you maintain the tradiitonal benefits of Linux such as NFS and SMB support.
Read the article again. This is a consulting firm performing tests for a corporate environment. The inability of college students to run new games isn't a negative, it's an advantage in that world. Nor will those environments install 'a bajillion' different desktops. There will be one, and it will be locally supported. People will be trained in the rollout and new hires will arrive in exactly the environment you say they won't, experienced users helping them with the Xs and Ys. Honest.
Whoop-de-doo (sic) indeed.
Ironic that you exclude the one reason which formed the basis of the article: it does no harm. Isn't that the primary reason for classifying an act a crime, harm or intent to harm? Call it theft, call it copyright infringement, but at the end of the day it's just outdated industry people trying to come to terms with an information society.
BTW, look up the definition of straw man argument, it doesn't mean pointing out extenuating considerations as a rebuttal to a ridiculously simplistic argument.
'Tens of millions' out of work? What was the source of that number, PIOOMA?
For those who haven't tried Usenet, don't believe the 'cesspool' hype. My ISP provides over 30,000 Usenet groups, most of which never see posts. Some groups are cesspools of viagra, porn and evidence eliminator spam, but 30,000 unmoderated Slashdots would be no different. Check out Fuckedcompany.com's online forums if you think cesspools are a Usenet-only phenomenum.
And it would be called Google Groups.
Why do you disable SSE, MMX and 3DNow support? That seems counter-intuitive.
Desktop power users on 386's are a rare breed nowadays. I don't know how long it took X to build on my P2 366 w/ 192 meg RAM because I started it before going to bed and it was done in the morning. Maybe these power users should consider hardware before choosing distros.
And so what I saw gentoo suddenly doing was having a lot of pre-complied binaries ....
Lots? OpenOffice has a precompiled option, Opera does because it isn't open-source, but which other packages do you mean? To the best of my knowledge almost all Gentoo packages are still source-based and more than a few have new options to pull the newest source directly from the CVS tree. Gentoo is expanding into more source-based options, not pre-compiles.
None of this is to say that Debian isn't a better developer's platform, or faster than Gentoo. I wouldn't know, but your post is very misleading.
USE="x86 oss 3dnow apm arts avi berkdb crypt cups encode gdbm gif gpm gtk imlib java jpeg kde libg++ libwww mikmod mmx motif mpeg ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl pam pdflib png python qt quicktime readline sdl slang spell ssl svga tcpd truetype X xml2 xmms xv"
Without knowing what support Debian or Mandrake used to compile binaries, this is still an apple/oranges comparison. My notebook isn't configured to compile with KDE or Gnome extensions because the hardare is too old and I use Fluxbox. Mandrake and Debian may still turn out faster (the Gentoo Mozilla e-build was legendary for being slow), but that's not quiet yet proven.
In this day and age of slapdash, sophmoric, poorly crafted trolls, it's a rare pleasure to find an artiste of your stature craft a world-class gem such as you've graced us with today. Patriotism, xenophobic rants, feux anti-capitalist baiting, dead and foreign language links, you wield them as a master wields the foil. Sir, I salute you and your unwavering determination to rise to the top of your field.
The Japanese with their one desktop?!?!? +5 Funny!
What part of 'News for Nerds' do you find confusing?
What does 'secret code' mean applied to an Open Source project? Is that like finding evidence of the Kennedy assassination by reading every fifth letter of the Bible? Caldera sold Linux for years, in fact was one of the early commercial distributors. They had years of contributing to and examining the code. What could possibly be 'secret' about it?
Don't you mean all 1111111111's?
Errrr, none of this is really correct. Headroom is not the same as dynamic range, the ambient noise level of a quiet room is around 45 db making the jet engine example an improbable 190 db, 16 bit isn't enough for complex pop mixdowns and what's the difference between a pop vocal with acoustic backing and the classical case in terms of bits required? Nothing. Oh, and 16 bit doesn't equal 96 db total dynamic range with noise shaping or dither applied, true of any digital product for a decade. No cigar.
Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but no reputable shop has ever asked to see my Windows license before selling me a computer. Not once.
Port. Forwarding.
SWAT provides a full, web-based GUI interface for configuring SAMBA, but that still doesn't remove the neccessity of reading documentation. Maybe the can't-be-bothered-reading 'sysadmin' attitude helps explain Window's stellar reputation (and before you hit that troll button, this is a sideways compliment to the OS, much though it pains me.)
Nice link. Tx.
Hmmm, sounds like something that'll be useful around here.
It's in Microsoft's best interest to support SCO's claims on Linux whether it makes sense or not. PHB's aren't reputed in this forum to be the brighest lights in the intellectual sky, they'll eat this up and, should it prove untrue, forget about it in the time it takes to book lunch. For MS it's a no-brainer, win-win scenario.