I remember a couple of years ago, the US government (after being bullied by the chemical companies) wouldn't allow labeling in regards to Bovine Growth Hormone. Specifically, they wouldn't even let organic farmers label their products as NOT containing BGH! The GE companies were worried that labeling of any kind would create a 'negative perception' about their product.
Sadly, the Canadian government took a similar stance about product labeling, but I believe they didn't allow the use of BGH.
Nah, but some of my neighbours are dumb enough that I call them the Cabbage People.
Also, I am reassured because I have just talked to several friends who say they wouldn't eat tofu-based products, even if the world is ending, so I'll have my pick of the Tofurkeys at the supermarket...
Lucky for me, I (like many/. readers, I suspect) live in a time zone that provides plenty of time to prepare.
I get up for work every morning at almost exactly midnight, Aukland time, so if New Zealand society collapses, I plan to skip work and go back to bed for a few hours, so that I am well rested for all the rioting and looting. I'm not generally inclined to riot and loot, but as has been mentioned before, Winnipeg is awfully cold in the Winter so we will have to riot and burn things to keep warm. (I am again fortunate, because I have almost 5 years of accumulated University notes to use for fuel)
As for food, I'm a vegetarian, so I have to be a little more picky in my food choices (I can't eat my neighbours, at least not many of them). I'm hoping that the canned peas and carrots will be left for last at the grocery store.
Maybe, but what if, oh say M$ pumped out a perl implementatio, added a bunch of keywords, elminated most of the standard modules (replacing them with their own, Windows-specific ones). Then called the product Perl and started selling it heavily.
Of course, we could keep could using 'Wall-style' perl, but I'm sure there would be one or two angry voices voices in the perl community.
In a way, having one strong company with the resources to duke it out with M$ in court was a good thing. It prevent M$ from once again usurping someone else's technology.
I don't think is too worried about other people implementing Java. It's a secondary concern. What there are really scared off (amongst other things) is people changing the language.
M$, for instance, added new keywords to J++ because they didn't like anonymous inner classes. (Apparently, Sun tried the Delegate keyword that M$ added in an early version and didn't like it). On Javalobby this summer, there was a long debate about someone who had created a pre-processor and was trying to add Generic types to the language.
Yes, open source would allow new features to be added quickly, but it's different when you add features to software. Having a bunch of people adding cool new features, or their favourite things from other languages, will break the language specification.
I'm sure Larry Wall keeps a fairly tight fist over what new keywords (not APIs or libraries) are added to Perl, and that is what Sun is trying to do with Java. (That, and make a lot of money...)
Dana
Re:Javalobby members lack of objectivity
on
RMS on Java and GPL
·
· Score: 2
Actually, in my experience, a lot of the JavaLobby members tend to be anti-Sun. I remember a couple of flamewars this summer about whether or not there was too much 'Sun is Bad' knee-jerk reactions.
Most of the folks over there are Java developers ( meaning they develop stuff in Java, not work on Java itself) and there main concerns are pragmatic. They mostly want a java implementation that works well.
With over 30000 members, you don't see a unified opinion.
I read the article and have decided that I should have jumped to conclusions instead of 'waiting for peer review'
Thanks to his Grand Unified Theory, he's almost generated limitless energy (cold fusion?) and revolutionized artifical intelligence. Wow, I wonder what other over-hyped topics his work also touches upon.
VALinux and RedHat probably have the cash now to fight a long, legal fight.
And don't forgot, now that IBM, Compaq and other big companies are taking an interest in Free Software, and releasing some of their code, they'll have an interest, and the resources, to make sure people don't abuse their licenses.
Oh great, the next one just started. 'This is part of a study looking at junk e-mail flow in modern society, please forward this on to whoever you usually forward this crap too.'
I guess I'm going to hell now (if you're right, I'll deserve it!):)
I haven't recieved the Full Moon Forward yet. I feel so isolated and lonely:)
On the other hand, I have recieved Elf Bowling *seven* times, The Elf-Bowling-Is-A-Virus thing twice, and Christmas Carols for the Mentally Deficient 4 times.
I think junk email distribution patterns would make an interesting area of study for Information Theorists:)
The only detailed specification that can be trusted is the source code for the system. Any other spec is out of date by the time its printed.
But a requirements doc shouldn't really be about implementation details. It's a describe of what the software will do and should be high-level enough to present to a non-programmer.
It's true that the client may not know what he/she wants. That's what makes the the requirements so important (at least in my mind). If a project is presented which doesn't do what the client wants and modifications will take a couple of thousand dollars, someone has to absorb that cost. When 'requirements' are decided in phone conversations, 9 out of 10 times, it's our company that absorbs the cost. With a requirements doc that the client has agreed to, we can at least make a case that what he is asking for is new features beyond what we were originally contracted to do. Better still, if the client reviews the documentation and it doesn't match what he wants, he can tell us *before* we get to far into development.
Rapid prototyping is very useful (especially for web-based stuff), but I think sometimes it gives the client the illusion that all changes a simple. He often can't understand why adding a couple of new form fields might break the database structure and take several hours. And that makes him think we're trying to gouge him.
Req docs aren't perfect, but they are far and away better than nothing at all.
I keep harping on my boss to present a detailed specification to our customers for approval.
While my company does medium sized, database driven websites, I still get frustrated everytime my boss comes back and says, "Oh, the customer thought it was going to do this..."
I don't usually consider work 'coding for fun', because it's nothing like what I work on when I have spare time. It's a job for me, so I like it when it is very clearly stated what it is that the code I write should do.
I wasn't suggesting a 'Trashing the Internet HOWTO' (or would it be a mini-HOWTO because it only takes 30 minutes:) )
My point was that the reporter took no steps to verify their (your?) claims. Even if the boasts aren't far-fetched, it's reporting like this that spread confusion and panic.
I remember reading about one of the first high-profile hacker busts (was it Mitnick?) that said the prison officials wouldn't let him use the phone while he was in jail because everyone thought he could make one call and start a nuclear war.
When the general public becomes misinformed, it gives the government excuses to pass regulatory laws. If thousands of average at-work net surfers read the article and start worrying that every 14 year old kid who owns a computer and wears glasses can destroy the internet, the government will helpfully pass all sorts of laws to limit use and what not.
Won't happen? Remember all the stories about Geek Profiling and metal detectors in schools? Youth violence has plummeted since the early 90s and is still falling, but thanks to the media, people *percieve* that kids [esp. geek kids] are getting more and more violent so school officials can now get away with expelling people for playing Quake.
I guess a summary of my point is: Lousy reporting has really annoying consequences.
Wow! I'm not sure if those articles could have been more devoid of content, yet still so sensationalist.
We have a group of hackers (crackers? smackers? ugh...) who claim they can crack any password in seconds and bring down the entire Internet in, what was it? 30 minutes? And the 'reporter' just lets the statements stand! He didn't question (seem to) question them on how feasible this really was or go and talk to security professionals for their take on the claims. Without any attempt to refute or prove their boasts, you'll have even more people scared of the awful hackers. Sigh...
And they probably also realize that FreeBSD is a cost effective solution for their problems. (Although, as has been said, they've been running *nix on Hotmail since before it was bought by Microsoft)
Still, I'm surprised they haven't made another go at converting Hotmail to W2K (perhaps they will now that it's in production). They are going to be billing it (W2K) as a unix competitor and trying to convince people to migrate from unix to W2K, and getting Hotmail converted would be a good case study for them.
On the other hand, maybe their tech managers just want to stick with technology their staff already knows.
That kind of reminded me of Dr. Evil saying he was ransoming the world for, "One MILLION dollars!"
Are they just being humble? Unless the stock market comes to its senses in the next few months, I rather suspect they'll get a little more than $100 million (given absurdly high IPOs we've been seeing)!
When I start to get into a 'The Sky Is Falling' mood, my biggest fear would be a Brave New World situtation.
I mean, not *everyone* can be a 200 IQ movie star/super-model/neurosurgeon/nuclear physics researcher. There still has to be people who work crappy menial jobs (and there will for a long time, in fact some people suggest many jobs will get more menial and more crappy in the near future). So, only a select few get to be the Alpha Class (from Huxley) and most of the rest will be genetically engineered to *like* being burger flippers and what not.
I like to think that society wouldn't allow that to happen, though!
Slashdot Mirror
I remember a couple of years ago, the US government (after being bullied by the chemical companies) wouldn't allow labeling in regards to Bovine Growth Hormone. Specifically, they wouldn't even let organic farmers label their products as NOT containing BGH! The GE companies were worried that labeling of any kind would create a 'negative perception' about their product.
Sadly, the Canadian government took a similar stance about product labeling, but I believe they didn't allow the use of BGH.
Dana
Nah, but some of my neighbours are dumb enough that I call them the Cabbage People.
Also, I am reassured because I have just talked to several friends who say they wouldn't eat tofu-based products, even if the world is ending, so I'll have my pick of the Tofurkeys at the supermarket...
Dana
Lucky for me, I (like many /. readers, I suspect) live in a time zone that provides plenty of time to prepare.
I get up for work every morning at almost exactly midnight, Aukland time, so if New Zealand society collapses, I plan to skip work and go back to bed for a few hours, so that I am well rested for all the rioting and looting. I'm not generally inclined to riot and loot, but as has been mentioned before, Winnipeg is awfully cold in the Winter so we will have to riot and burn things to keep warm. (I am again fortunate, because I have almost 5 years of accumulated University notes to use for fuel)
As for food, I'm a vegetarian, so I have to be a little more picky in my food choices (I can't eat my neighbours, at least not many of them). I'm hoping that the canned peas and carrots will be left for last at the grocery store.
Dana
Does anyone know who owns www.linuxone.com? If you surt there you get the message:
:) )
This page is not here yet.
(with due credit to Transmeta in the source
Linuxone has www.linuxone.net, so who's got linux.com?
Another mysterious start-up? Another soon-to-be IPO?
Dana
It probably is. It was also illegal to violate Sun's license agreement and claim that their product was Java. But the did.
Does LW have the cash to battle Microsoft's legal department in court?
Dana
Maybe, but what if, oh say M$ pumped out a perl implementatio, added a bunch of keywords, elminated most of the standard modules (replacing them with their own, Windows-specific ones). Then called the product Perl and started selling it heavily.
Of course, we could keep could using 'Wall-style' perl, but I'm sure there would be one or two angry voices voices in the perl community.
In a way, having one strong company with the resources to duke it out with M$ in court was a good thing. It prevent M$ from once again usurping someone else's technology.
Dana
I don't think is too worried about other people implementing Java. It's a secondary concern. What there are really scared off (amongst other things) is people changing the language.
M$, for instance, added new keywords to J++ because they didn't like anonymous inner classes. (Apparently, Sun tried the Delegate keyword that M$ added in an early version and didn't like it). On Javalobby this summer, there was a long debate about someone who had created a pre-processor and was trying to add Generic types to the language.
Yes, open source would allow new features to be added quickly, but it's different when you add features to software. Having a bunch of people adding cool new features, or their favourite things from other languages, will break the language specification.
I'm sure Larry Wall keeps a fairly tight fist over what new keywords (not APIs or libraries) are added to Perl, and that is what Sun is trying to do with Java. (That, and make a lot of money...)
Dana
Actually, in my experience, a lot of the JavaLobby members tend to be anti-Sun. I remember a couple of flamewars this summer about whether or not there was too much 'Sun is Bad' knee-jerk reactions.
Most of the folks over there are Java developers ( meaning they develop stuff in Java, not work on Java itself) and there main concerns are pragmatic. They mostly want a java implementation that works well.
With over 30000 members, you don't see a unified opinion.
Dana
I used to talk about this, because I remembered it from when I was a teeny little kid. All my friends think I'm nuts!!
(I don't think proving the existence of a Start Wars Holiday Special will convince them I'm not nuts, but it's a point in my favour)
Dana
What I meant was that the claim of a limitless, cheap, clean energy source sounded an awful lot like the claims made by the cold fusion guys.
:)
When his discoveries save all mankind from our woes (as he seems to think the will), I be considerably less cynical and skeptical
Dana
(Ugh. Responding to my own post...)
I read the article and have decided that I should have jumped to conclusions instead of 'waiting for peer review'
Thanks to his Grand Unified Theory, he's almost generated limitless energy (cold fusion?) and revolutionized artifical intelligence. Wow, I wonder what other over-hyped topics his work also touches upon.
Dana
I'm guessing his work hasn't been peer reviewed, as we haven't heard stories of other scientists verifying, or even testing, his theories.
From what I understood, Unified Theory investigation required massive particle accelerators to generate data and test ideas.
I'm not going to say this guy is a fraud, but I would wait for a few other researchers to go over his work before I start buying stock in his company!
Dana
Yeek, it sorta hurts to think back that far, but didn't he respond to claps or something? He'd change direction when you clapped?
(It's also possible that I just heard those "Clap On! Clap Off" commercials *way* too often)
Dana
VALinux and RedHat probably have the cash now to fight a long, legal fight.
And don't forgot, now that IBM, Compaq and other big companies are taking an interest in Free Software, and releasing some of their code, they'll have an interest, and the resources, to make sure people don't abuse their licenses.
Dana
I feel so fulfilled now :)
I think one of our local newspapers must have pretty much cut n' pasted this straight out of an email as used it as a story.
Dana
Oh great, the next one just started. 'This is part of a study looking at junk e-mail flow in modern society, please forward this on to whoever you usually forward this crap too.'
:)
I guess I'm going to hell now (if you're right, I'll deserve it!)
Dana
The email is from just one guy who says he set the date to Dec 25, rebotted and his computer went down.
:)
I've got counter emails from people saying it it's a hoax, and I haven't heard anything from CERT, Norton or McAfee, so I am assuming it is safe.
The email probably comes from a bitter, disgruntled player who kept getting lousy scores
Dana
I haven't recieved the Full Moon Forward yet. I feel so isolated and lonely :)
:)
On the other hand, I have recieved Elf Bowling *seven* times, The Elf-Bowling-Is-A-Virus thing twice, and Christmas Carols for the Mentally Deficient 4 times.
I think junk email distribution patterns would make an interesting area of study for Information Theorists
Dana
The only detailed specification that can be trusted is the source code for the system. Any other spec is out of date by the time its printed.
But a requirements doc shouldn't really be about implementation details. It's a describe of what the software will do and should be high-level enough to present to a non-programmer.
It's true that the client may not know what he/she wants. That's what makes the the requirements so important (at least in my mind). If a project is presented which doesn't do what the client wants and modifications will take a couple of thousand dollars, someone has to absorb that cost. When 'requirements' are decided in phone conversations, 9 out of 10 times, it's our company that absorbs the cost. With a requirements doc that the client has agreed to, we can at least make a case that what he is asking for is new features beyond what we were originally contracted to do. Better still, if the client reviews the documentation and it doesn't match what he wants, he can tell us *before* we get to far into development.
Rapid prototyping is very useful (especially for web-based stuff), but I think sometimes it gives the client the illusion that all changes a simple. He often can't understand why adding a couple of new form fields might break the database structure and take several hours. And that makes him think we're trying to gouge him.
Req docs aren't perfect, but they are far and away better than nothing at all.
Dana
I keep harping on my boss to present a detailed specification to our customers for approval.
While my company does medium sized, database driven websites, I still get frustrated everytime my boss comes back and says, "Oh, the customer thought it was going to do this..."
I don't usually consider work 'coding for fun', because it's nothing like what I work on when I have spare time. It's a job for me, so I like it when it is very clearly stated what it is that the code I write should do.
Dana
I wasn't suggesting a 'Trashing the Internet HOWTO' (or would it be a mini-HOWTO because it only takes 30 minutes :) )
My point was that the reporter took no steps to verify their (your?) claims. Even if the boasts aren't far-fetched, it's reporting like this that spread confusion and panic.
I remember reading about one of the first high-profile hacker busts (was it Mitnick?) that said the prison officials wouldn't let him use the phone while he was in jail because everyone thought he could make one call and start a nuclear war.
When the general public becomes misinformed, it gives the government excuses to pass regulatory laws. If thousands of average at-work net surfers read the article and start worrying that every 14 year old kid who owns a computer and wears glasses can destroy the internet, the government will helpfully pass all sorts of laws to limit use and what not.
Won't happen? Remember all the stories about Geek Profiling and metal detectors in schools? Youth violence has plummeted since the early 90s and is still falling, but thanks to the media, people *percieve* that kids [esp. geek kids] are getting more and more violent so school officials can now get away with expelling people for playing Quake.
I guess a summary of my point is: Lousy reporting has really annoying consequences.
Dana
Wow! I'm not sure if those articles could have been more devoid of content, yet still so sensationalist.
We have a group of hackers (crackers? smackers? ugh...) who claim they can crack any password in seconds and bring down the entire Internet in, what was it? 30 minutes? And the 'reporter' just lets the statements stand! He didn't question (seem to) question them on how feasible this really was or go and talk to security professionals for their take on the claims. Without any attempt to refute or prove their boasts, you'll have even more people scared of the awful hackers. Sigh...
Dana
And they probably also realize that FreeBSD is a cost effective solution for their problems. (Although, as has been said, they've been running *nix on Hotmail since before it was bought by Microsoft)
Still, I'm surprised they haven't made another go at converting Hotmail to W2K (perhaps they will now that it's in production). They are going to be billing it (W2K) as a unix competitor and trying to convince people to migrate from unix to W2K, and getting Hotmail converted would be a good case study for them.
On the other hand, maybe their tech managers just want to stick with technology their staff already knows.
Dana
That kind of reminded me of Dr. Evil saying he was ransoming the world for, "One MILLION dollars!"
Are they just being humble? Unless the stock market comes to its senses in the next few months, I rather suspect they'll get a little more than $100 million (given absurdly high IPOs we've been seeing)!
Dana
When I start to get into a 'The Sky Is Falling' mood, my biggest fear would be a Brave New World situtation.
I mean, not *everyone* can be a 200 IQ movie star/super-model/neurosurgeon/nuclear physics researcher. There still has to be people who work crappy menial jobs (and there will for a long time, in fact some people suggest many jobs will get more menial and more crappy in the near future). So, only a select few get to be the Alpha Class (from Huxley) and most of the rest will be genetically engineered to *like* being burger flippers and what not.
I like to think that society wouldn't allow that to happen, though!
Dana