I don't see why anyone, male or female would be attracted to computer science these days. Salaries have fallen and there are not many jobs (we won't whine against outsourcing right now). Also, there's a tendency for women to get paid less than men in the tech world. And the best looking guys are in Pol Sci:)
No, an employer does not own your thoughts, but they do own any product of those thoughts (i.e., invention) if you've signed an agreement to that effect. It seems that the main piece of evidence that worked against Mr. Brown was a memo he wrote that stated " I have developed a method of converting machine executable binary code into high level source code form using logic and data abstractions. The purpose of this idea is to take existing executable programs and "reverse engineer" the intelligence from the programs and "re-code" the intelligence into a portable high level language." Also, it seems that Mr.Brown was working on projects like this while at DSC (Alcatel). So it would seem that Evan Brown is being disingenuous. I feel that if you don't want your inventions to become your employers', then don't sign these kind of agreements. The reason people do sign these type of agreements is that they want the security of a job, otherwise they would start their own businesses using their "great ideas". It's a tradeoff -- security or freedom?? You always give up rights in order to obtain more security. Of course the loss of those rights is very painful (see "The Patriot Act"). I think John Gardner once wrote " We don't deceive ourselves about the consequences of our actions, we deceive ourselves about the ease with which we can live with those consequences...".
Maybe I'm missing something, but if you're going to buy an Pocket PC, why do you need the IR Gadget? My iPaq PPC has IR built in, and it's trivial to write a remote control program in Embeddeded C++ (or just download one). Then you don't even need the iPod. By the way, I can play music (ogg or mp3s) on my iPaq, as well as do spreadsheets, read e-books, do horoscopes etc...
I don't see any "resounding victory". If there is any victory for consumers in this fiasco, it's a pyrrhic one. What "full and effective" remedy?? Microsoft's OS and application development are not separated, so that unfair advantage is still there: not only can Microsoft developers access new APIs and OS changes before Microsoft's application development competitors, Microsoft can continue to play that game of "breaking the competitor's products" with every new release or patch to the OS (one as to be very circumspect about Windows' Updates if you're running non-Microsoft applications). Microsoft's licensing schemes are very nearly extortion, especially since they keep changing the OS and then dropping support for earlier versions...Microsoft also plays the game of removing features from new versions of the OS, so that when you upgrade you suddenly find that you have to pay for something you used to get for free -- in the mean time competition has been destroyed. Does anybody remember MS stealing stacker? Crippling Wordperfect with OS changes? Removing Exchange from Windows? Removing SFC? Removing Netbeui and Automatic Server Logon from XP Home? Removing tape drive support from ME? What does this settlement do to prevent Microsoft from continuing to conduct business any differently. Microsoft must love getting sued. Even when they lose, they win big and their "enemies" are weakened or destroyed. In fact, decisions like this must encourage Microsoft to be even more brazen in their anticompetitve conduct -- they probably can't wait to get sued again...
What newbies need to switch to the GNU/Linux platform are applications -- not just any applications, but the applications that they want to run. Most people run relatively few applications: word-processing, browsing, music downloading, etc...I've been able to switch most people over to Linux just by setting boxes that do everything they need to do. They then are overjoyed that everything works faster, they don't get viruses, they don't have to run AD-AWARE everyweek to get rid of trojans etc... People who are resistant to switching over are resistant not because they like Windows or MAC OS, but because there are no comparable applications to what they use on the Linux platform that are better than what they use now. I get questions like: "Does Linux run GoldMine?", "Does Linux run Alpha 5?", "Does Linux run 'Soldier Of Fortune'?", "Will Linux run my online banking program?","Does Linux run Quicken?". Most newbies don't care about the OS, they care about APPLICATIONS. Setting up Samba or Wine is not a problem (they'll just call me to do that).
Actually, it wouldn't be strange if the cost of broadband increased as the demand for broadband increased. Also the economic model has to change. While $40/month more than pays for the bandwidth my mother uses (ocassional e-mail, sporadic browsing), the cable company is losing money on someone who downloads and uploads constantly, browses everyday, spams their firends, etc... Not to mention, many households share the bandwidth by installing wireless routers. My 7-year-old is constantly on his computer playing on-line games at nick.com, while my wife e-mails constantly and uploads to her own website. I download music, software, books etc... and also maintain several websites -- the cable modem is never turned off. Someone is paying for that bandwidth as i don't think my $40.00/month covers it. More and more customers are like me, and customers like my mother are becoming more like me after they discover how much more powerful their broadband connection is than their dial-up was. Unless broadband providers start charging for actual usage rather than flat fees for unlimited usage, they will lose more and more money as they get more customers.
The install of SUSE is very good, everything was detected and the boot-up was relatively fast. For some reason the video was strange on the laptop I installed it on (a Dell Latitude --the viewport of the screen appeared as a small rectangle in the middle of the screen and no fiddling with settings could fix it ), so I gave up on that and installed it on a HP desktop. It detected the Gigabit Ethernet with no problems (something Knoppix didn't do, and Fedora needed some tweaking to get it to work properly) and the screen was okay.
This is a beautiful distro. The default fonts and aliasing are excellent. The whole distro has a very polished, professional feel. The amount of commercial software you get for a couple of hundred dollars is perhaps the best bargain on the planet. I like downloading and compiling software as much as the next guy, but it's nice to have a super-productive system right out of the box.
What's really impressive is the way Samba is configured right out of the box. I didn't have to do anything, the system just booted up and found all the domains on my company's intranet, and I could log into everything as easily as with the Windows 2000 box I have ( actually, it was ironic that I was able to get to a Server easily from the SUSE box that I was having trouble reaching from the Win2K box).
I'm really attached to my Debian box, and I really like my Fedora Core box, too, so at home I probably won't use SUSE, but at work, where smooth networking is important, I'm replacing one Fedora box with the SUSE distribution (though I still will keep another Fedora box for development).
Except for the video problem on the Dell laptop, this Distro is very solid, very professional. It really shows why SUSE has always had significant market share in Europe. It's more usable than Windows XP, without trojans, activation and all that "other MS nonsense".
The idea of trying to convert alien life-forms to a terrestrial religion is problematic if not inherently absurd. Most religions are "planet specific" -- evolving out of events and situations specific to terrestrial historical events and terrestrial entities. Outside of Earth (Terra, Urantia, whatever...) terrestrial religions are irrelevant in as much as they center their metaphysics around the problems of incarnation on this planet. No doubt alien religions developed out of historical events on their respective worlds. "Good and Evil" is relative to the context of one's mortal existence, if indeed it is a mortal existence. Most terrestrial religions obsess around maing sense of death and postulating an afterlife. What meaning would this have to entities that do not experience death? What meaning would religion have to aliens who do not experience emotion?
Also, the posibility is hardly ever (actually "quite often") entertained that what we experience as conscious reality may not be the reality of our existence. Perhaps this is a dream world, and in our "real" lives there's no need for religion because there are no physical limitations . Consider that if in reality, we are all all-powerful, all-knowing and infinitely wise beings -- we have no need for religion. I suspect that what we experience now as reality is really the ultimate "virtual reality" game.
Why didn't I take the blue pill? (Well, because being omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent can be quite boring at times...).
The worst thing that can happen to a user interface is having developers design it with no input from psychologists (remember all those 'human factors' people who were the first to get laid off). For some reason developers seem strangely out of touch with "what is easy" and "what is hard", so user interfaces designed with this unique lack of insight suffers from bizarre inconsistencies. Gnome is one such user interface. Now if a user interface is configurable, one can always fix these inconsistencies. The BIG mistake that developers make is making their badly configured user interface less configurable. Gnome now seems to be even less flexible than Windows, and ironically, it seems that that is what they were trying for.
Also, an annoying trend in development seems to be the obsession with "new paradigms". New paradigms are introduced and then one has to jump through hoops to do everything the old paradigm did with more elegance.
My experience with Linux, and those who I have converted to Linux is much more pleasant (i.e., I get done what I want to do ) when I use KDE with it's default window manager or Windowmaker. Gnome draws to much attention to itself...
How do you know the government hasn't taken control of your mother's computer?? Or Microsoft?? Remember "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you."... And can't your laptop do high resolution video conferencing with sound ( we did something like that at AT&T in System 75 forward-looking development group back in the 90's).And you can get pretty good 3D rendering on a PC with the right software. "viruses turning machines against their owners" -- well, that's pretty much the definition of a virus -- and they are fast spreading... Hmmmm..."Every program runs anywhere..." sounds like project David.
It's quite possible the US will not follow suit, but this will be bad for the US, not for the rest of the world. The US seems to be obssessed with the relentless pursuit of technological inferiority. There are probably more Asian engineering students than Americans in American Graduate Schools right now. This coupled with the fact that more and more American companies are outsourcing IT jobs to Asia, probably means that in the very near future, technological dominance will move "Eastward". Software Patents in the US and in Europe will simply result in Linux and OSS becoming dominant in Asia. The fact that Windows and closed software will be dominant in the US and maybe in the EU will be irrelevant, as the US and EU fall further and further behind Asia. This will probably coincide with a economic shift also. Right now, the US is dependent on the Middle East and South America for Oil. Is is too farfetched to believe that eventually the US will be just as dependent upon the Far East for Technology?? It seems inconceivable, but inconceivable things have been happening for a while now. A few years ago some of us were getting stock options to buy Lucent stock at $54.00 a share as bonuses. It was inconceivable that the stock would ever go that low. Last I checked, Lucent was selling at $3.23 a share. The problem with the US's arrogance is that it's not always in touch with reality. By the time the US wakes up, it may not matter to anybody else except the US. Linux could end up dominating the world even if nobody in the US uses it.
I think the authors of computer viruses should be treated as terrorists. They cause lots of damage to innocent people. George W. should include computer virus authors as "enemy combatants" in the "war on terror". Lock them up. Throw away the key.
Microsoft's Business model has always been to create an artificial demand for non-essential products. Why should you have to upgrade your OS every 2 years!?? I have clients who are still happily running their businesses with Windows 2000 Server and Windows 98SE clients; and if it wasn't for Microsoft eliminating support for NT and 95, they would probably still be happily using those products. What's especially annoying about Microsoft is that they keep removing features with every upgrade. When one of my clients upgraded from 95 to 98 they were surprised to find that they lost their intra-office e-mail (MS Exchange Server used to be free with 95) and couldn't understand why they had to BUY Outlook. Another client was incensed when they replaced one of their 98SE computers and were forced by Dell to purchase it with Windows ME (ugh!) only to find out that Microsoft had removed all support for tape drives. Another client was pissed off when they replaced one of their Win 98 clients with a Windows XP Home machine only to find out that he would have to pay more to upgrade to XP Pro because XP home wouldn't automatically log in to his NT server like his 98 clients could. Another reason Microsoft likes to release new OSes often is that it gives them many opportunities to "break" their competitor's programs (in the application "space"). Just ask Corel or Borland how they feel about MS's new OSes. Also, with each new OS, Microsoft becomes more draconian. Don't forget what they've done with Media Player (with the EULA that grants them the right to pretty much do whatever they want to to your computer). Now they're going to build DRM right into the OS!? We're supposed to trust Microsoft!!? I do like Win 2000, and that's the main OS on most of my Windows boxes. I think that Windows XP would be a fine OS if not for the mediocre apps you get with it (Internet Explorer, Outlook, etc...)and the annoying invasive features (Media Player's DRM, activation etc...). It would be nice if Microsoft would work on getting one OS right and then supporting it for a while, rather than giving us "disposables" (ME being the most obvious example). Microsoft treats it's Operating System just like it was an application suite. That's not what I call a stable platform. This also MS's strategy in the "development space". Everything's a moving target and there's attempts to make everything "proprietary Microsoft" (just look at Microsoft's attempts to derail Java with J++, and any resemblance of VisualBasic.NET to Visual Basic is purely coincidental...). I'm steadily migrating clients to Linux, on both the Server and Client side, and also in the "application and development space". Those I have migrated so far are very happy with the stability and security, and enjoy not feeling manipulated by microsoft's release schedules and arbitrary licensing.
I don't see why "compatibility with Windows" is such a great selling point. If I want to run Windows apps, I'll run Windows. If I want to run Linux apps I'll run Linux. If I want to run Linux and Windows apps, there are a number of solutions already available -- WINE, Win4Lin, etc..., not to mention dual-booting. If the goal is to convert Windows users to Linux, I would suggest introducing them to some good Linux applications, and letting them get the feel of Linux by running a Live CD (I find Knoppix to be very good ). I find that most average computer users don't care about the "platform", they care about the applications. My mother loves my Linux box because she loves XScrabble more than any of the scrabble programs that run under windows, likes FireFox (mostly because of the tabbed browsing) more than Internet Explorer, and finds OpenOffice fine for word processing. The fact that my Linux boxes never crash and never get viruses are good selling points too. To keep one's Windows' box clear of trojans, you pretty much have to run Ad-Aware every week. I've given up on Outlook -- It's like a virus proliferation engine. Linux applications are what I've used to win over people (Gimp is a winner, too) to Linux, not Windows Applications.
Many artists probably don't know the money is owed to them and no doubt the RIAA doesn't make it easy for artists to keep track of their royalties. Also, many successful artists aren't very educated and don't understand all the "legalese" in their contracts. The RIAA probably depends upon a lot of artists' naivete and/or ignorance. I remember when Tupac Shakur died his mother found out that he was penniless and that somehow all the money that he got were someohow "loans" from the record company. Artists can easily be taken advantage of by the record companies, especially if they directly deal with the company without a lawyer or agent. It's the same kind of game that the IRS plays. Many people who don't use HR Block or have someone knowledgeble do their taxes, file a short form and pay much more in tax than they should. The IRS isn't going to go out of their way to educate these people. The RIAA probably has the same attitude --"...your ignorance is our profit...".Kudos to Spitzer for successfully getting the RIAA to "do the right thing" even though one could easily argue that they did nothing illegal. Hypocrisy is annoying, but it's not illegal:)
It seems to me that the unsubstantiated claims of security holes in OS X is an attempt to bait Apple into revealing what security holes there are so that the can be exploited. Why would you tell the world what "locks are broken". Apple is probably quietly going about fixing any security problems befoire they ever get exploited. Seems like an intelligent strategy.
I've tried many, many different "Linuxes" and have read many, many reviews. I've learned to look for the following when reading reviews: 1) Did the distro detect all the hardware without intervention? Many times a reviewer, if he's a Linux aficionado to begin with, will skim over hardware detection problems, with a sentence like "everything went smoothly, except it didn't detect my soundcard, but I just download, compiled, etc... and all was good...". 2) Was the desktop environment configured logically? Almost all the distros come with KDE or Gnome pre-configured, but the initial desktops can be very different. Sometimes the KDE "start menu" is just packed with redundant applications, and it's not clear where to find things. Other times the environment is set up to look and feel like some version of Windows. Sometimes the environment is stark and a very carefully selected group of applications are configured. 3) What packaging scheme is used? This is a big distinction between distros. Some distros are set up to easily use.rpm packages, others use Debians.deb packages, some have package handling apps that can handle both. Some distros have GUI-based packaging handling apps that handle.rpms,.debs, tar files. tar.gz files, etc.. seamlessly. 4) What version of XFree86 or other X-server is used? This is another big distinction between distros. How snazzy a distribution looks on your box, or whether it has drivers for your video card at all can depend upon this factor. 5) What Linux kernel is used? Again, this can determine just how well the OS works with your hardware and peripherals, and also how much aggravation you'll have to go through to get your system up and running to do everything you need to do. 6) Is the distribution targeted at newbies, Windows defectors, hardcore Linux hackers, Hobbyists, Business desktop users, Developers,--who? The target for the distro is one of the most important things to look for in a review? A distro which might be just what a Business user wants may seem very bad to a Linux hacker.
I've found that understanding exactly who is writing a review is important. I like reviews written by someone who is new to Linux but is computer literate, having used Windows or Macs. A review by someone like that will usually reveal how easy the distro is to install and get up and running doing basic things like e-mail, surfing the web and word processing. I like reading reviews by Linux hackers when I am look for a distro that is good for software development or if I want a flexible distro that I can tinker with and configure myself.
I am actually quite surprised at how different distros can be; not only in "Look and Feel", but in stability and configurability. Personally, I'm not that interested in how easy or difficult the OS is to install. Being a computer professional, I know that I can get "it" installed. I am more concerned about how it runs, what apps I can get, how easy it is to get WINE and SAMBA running, how easy is it to configure etc...
The decline of education in this country is a very big factor in the US fall from Scientific Supremecy, but it's not the only one. Fewer and fewer kids are opting for a science education for several reasons: 1) Our culture demeans scientists: "geeks", "nerds" are common words that are not exactly positive. 2) Sci/Tech Jobs are gone and it's not getting better. There's going to be more outsourcing, not less. Kids want to major in something that will allow them to work in the US. R&D is just not getting funded. 3) Each generation since the 60s has gotten lazier and lazier. LAzy parents pass on the poor work ethic to their kids. Science education is hard work. 4) The government is allowing food companies like Mosanto to proliferate additives like nutrasweet (Aspartame, Phenylalanine...) in all our foods -- causes brain damage. In Asia they use non-toxic sweeteners like Stevia. Our whole society is just getting more stupid.
Also, we have an administration right now, though filled with very well-educated people (Condoleeza got her PhD at 19), they seem to hold the scientific community in contempt. Time after time this administration has ignored the scientific community's recommendations concerning the environment, education,economics and research. The current administration sets the tone for our society, and right now it is setting a tone that is hostile towards Science.
I used Knoppix to install Debian and it was so easy compared to the installation of ANY operating system that it makes up for any drawbacks installing this way may have. First of all, you can run Knoppix first, and know that all of your hardware works, your internet works, and the applications work before installing. So you know exactly what you're going to get when you do install. The install takes less than 20 minutes!
I haven't experienced many package dependency problems, but even if I had, the strength of Debian is it's package managing system, so it's rather easy to resolve dependencies.
Also, after installing Knoppix, I can just use my Debian CDs to install any of the 8710 packages that I want.
Debian is now one of my favorite distros. I would have never bothered with it (why suffer through an excruciating install, when there are solid distros that are easy to install) if I couldn't get up and running so easily.
I've converted more people to Linux using Knoppix, than with any other distro. And usually, after they've been hooked using the live CD, they do the hard disk install and they end up upgrading to the latest version of Debian, or continue using Knoppix the way it is.
There's probably a live CD distro out by now that does install a "clean" install of Debian. It probably is trivial to create one. Also,the biggest problem I usually have when installing a new OS is hardware detection. Knoppix probably has the best hardware detection of any distro, and certainly does a better job of it than the Debian installers.
These CEOs who claim that they are just being competitive are really just being short-sighted and, well, stupid. The CEOs in other countries are quite willing to subsidize kids from their country getting a good American education, while American kids have to fight for scholarships or hope their unemployed parents can find the money to send them to college. They are happy to see American firms ship jobs to their country... American kids are not going to educate themselves in engineering only to be unemployed... They're going to try and get MBAs so they can be the next Darl McBride. The only problem is, that by the time they graduate, there won't be any tech firms in the US for them to head up. How long before the Chinese, Indian and Russians have the infrastructure to say, "hey all the engineers are here, why do they need to work for American Companies?" . It's time for CEOs to wake up and see what's happening: AT&T has been removed from the Dow, DEC is no more, Lucent is a mere shadow of it's former self (stock at less than $5.00 after a reverse split), and WalMart is the most profitable US firm. In a mere 3 years I have seen the billing rates fall to less than half of what they were. So maybe the best we can hope for is that in a decade, Indian, Chinese and Russian firms will be wanting to Outsource to the U.S. because engineering labor will be cheaper HERE (Intel will be owned by an Indian firm and Craig Barrett will be out of a job)...
I've put Fedora Core on my newest machine (replaced Windows XP Home). I'm running Debian, RH7.2 and Windows 2000 on my older machines. I have to say that the Fedora machine has become my favorite. The install was easy (detected all my hardware -- more than Knoppix! which is quite a feat), and It's been very stable. Now that apt-get works, I don't see Debian holding any advantage. I use the Fedora box as both my development machine and my main browse and e-mail box -- I've downloaded and installed the latest versions of EClipse and FireFox. Netscape 7.1 sometimes gives a segmentation fault when trying to start under Fedora, but I don't think that that's Fedora's fault.
Fedora is very, very good. I tried Mandrake 9.2, Knoppix 3.2 (hard disk install -- quick Debian System), ArkLinux, and Sun's Java Desktop before trying Fedora, and none was good enough to keep on the box, except Fedora. I was surprised that I got more software with Fedora than with Sun's Java Desktop (which I paid for) -- What market are they going for?? ( SJD is somewhat SCO-like -- ugh!). ArkLinux kept crashing (they do say that it's alpha software). I had a hard time getting Knoppix to work with my Gigabit Ethernet, my wireless card and didn't have my usual "Debian patience". Mandrake 9.2 kept freezing during the install and when I finally did get it installed, it too had trouble with the Gigabit Ethernet and wireless. Fedora handled my hardware with ease, was child's play to configure the way I wanted it, and hasn't crashed once.
"Although, I've asked before, and I'll probably ask again - Why not just rip from CDs borrowed from friends (or the library)? "
Exactly. This is the safest route and the person who lends you the CD is immune from prosecution (whereas the person who shares music online is at risk to lose their life savings to the RIAA). Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Stream-ripping software will be found illegal under the DMCA as a technology that enables piracy...
Maybe you didn't keep up with the news the last couple of years, but there's a crisis here in the US when it comes to programming jobs. Surely you would have changed your major after your sophomore year if you had been reading SlashDot... People with a lot more experience than you, and a lot more education than you are unemployed at the moment. Seeing as there are programmers in India (with more education and more experience than you) that are willing to work for $22000/year, and companies here know that (and $22000 is upper-middle class in India), consider yourself fortunate to find a job for $40000/year. Of course you can probably make more money fixing PCs on the side and converting small businesses to Linux...but then, you could do that without a college degree, couldn't you...
Well, Mom and Pop don't usually install their operating systems, they either buy a PC with the operating system already installed or have someone like me install it for them. For the record, I've had just as many nightmares (maybe more) installing or upgrading Windows as I have with Linux. Recently I've done some Linux installs that have actually impressed me: Fedora installed on several diverse boxes (HPs, Compaqs, Dells) without incident and everything worked, including sound. I've also cheated to install a Debina System by running Knoppix and then doing a hard disk install ( a full Debian System in less than 15 minutes!!! --- can you install any version of Windows that quickly??). I think that installation problems are moot. Most "Mom and Pops" won't be installing the operating system. What I've found is that those I've converted to Linux are surprised at how easy it is to use ( I've had an easier time moving people from Win 98 or Win 2000 to KDE, than to XP... Many of the people I upgrade to XP choose to use the "Classic Desktop" option. People who switch from Win2K to KDE actually find the GUI just as easy to use ). Also, users I switch are presently surprised at the fact that the computer never crashes, seldom hangs, never gets a virus, and seems to work faster than when it was running Windows. The main complaint I get is that Linux lacks some particular application (like a greeting card creator). But the majority of "Mom and Pops" just want to use word processing , send e-mail, and surf the web. Open Office is good enough for every Linux Home user I've installed, and FireFox and Netscape are so superior to Internet Explorer that their browsing experience is actually improved. My mother, when she visits me from Florida, actually spemds more time on my Linux box because she prefers xscrabble to any of the scrabbnle programs I have on my Windows machines, and she can check her web e-mail without the machine "freezing". Hard Core gamers willbe dissapointed with the lack of applications more than anyone else, and I've found some resistance in the small businesses from doing complete migration, because there's no good contact management program like Goldmine that runs under Linux (if anyone knows of one, please let me know). But even these businesses are happy to move their employees who just do word-processing, e-mail and spreadsheets, over to Linux. Small software firms are the easiest to convert to Linux, but this is really stealing market share from UNIX, asd much as Windows (for Java developpment in particular, Linux is a better development, and easier to use platform). I would never expect my clients to install the operating system any more than I would expect them to compile their applications. I've also found that many "Mom and Pops" are presently surprised at all the software they get for free with Linux (especially Fedora or Debian). Now when I speak of "Mom and Pops" I am talking about mostly those people between 40 - 90 who are not computer savvy. or marginally computer literate, and just want to be "computer users" -- not tinkerers and not power users. Just those who want to maybe burn some CDs, write e-mail, write some documents, save and edit photos, etc... I think that the Linux Desktop is making definite inroads, especially since Microsoft seems to be involved in the relentless pursuit of making their software more difficult and more annoying to use with each new version, and is continuing their policy of removing capability that used to be free in order to create multiple versions with higher pricing so that if you "upgrade" you have to pay more to get less.
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I don't see why anyone, male or female would be attracted to computer science these days. Salaries have fallen and there are not many jobs (we won't whine against outsourcing right now). Also, there's a tendency for women to get paid less than men in the tech world. And the best looking guys are in Pol Sci :)
No, an employer does not own your thoughts, but they do own any product of those thoughts (i.e., invention) if you've signed an agreement to that effect. It seems that the main piece of evidence that worked against Mr. Brown was a memo he wrote that stated " I have developed a method of converting machine executable binary code into high level source code form using logic and data abstractions. The purpose of this idea is to take existing executable programs and "reverse engineer" the intelligence from the programs and "re-code" the intelligence into a portable high level language." Also, it seems that Mr.Brown was working on projects like this while at DSC (Alcatel). So it would seem that Evan Brown is being disingenuous. I feel that if you don't want your inventions to become your employers', then don't sign these kind of agreements. The reason people do sign these type of agreements is that they want the security of a job, otherwise they would start their own businesses using their "great ideas". It's a tradeoff -- security or freedom?? You always give up rights in order to obtain more security. Of course the loss of those rights is very painful (see "The Patriot Act"). I think John Gardner once wrote " We don't deceive ourselves about the consequences of our actions, we deceive ourselves about the ease with which we can live with those consequences...".
Of course SCO isn't going to sue any more customers -- they don't have any left. Is anybody buying SCO Unix??
Maybe I'm missing something, but if you're going to buy an Pocket PC, why do you need the IR Gadget? My iPaq PPC has IR built in, and it's trivial to write a remote control program in Embeddeded C++ (or just download one). Then you don't even need the iPod. By the way, I can play music (ogg or mp3s) on my iPaq, as well as do spreadsheets, read e-books, do horoscopes etc...
I don't see any "resounding victory". If there is any victory for consumers in this fiasco, it's a pyrrhic one. What "full and effective" remedy?? Microsoft's OS and application development are not separated, so that unfair advantage is still there: not only can Microsoft developers access new APIs and OS changes before Microsoft's application development competitors, Microsoft can continue to play that game of "breaking the competitor's products" with every new release or patch to the OS (one as to be very circumspect about Windows' Updates if you're running non-Microsoft applications). Microsoft's licensing schemes are very nearly extortion, especially since they keep changing the OS and then dropping support for earlier versions...Microsoft also plays the game of removing features from new versions of the OS, so that when you upgrade you suddenly find that you have to pay for something you used to get for free -- in the mean time competition has been destroyed. Does anybody remember MS stealing stacker? Crippling Wordperfect with OS changes? Removing Exchange from Windows? Removing SFC? Removing Netbeui and Automatic Server Logon from XP Home? Removing tape drive support from ME?
What does this settlement do to prevent Microsoft from continuing to conduct business any differently. Microsoft must love getting sued. Even when they lose, they win big and their "enemies" are weakened or destroyed. In fact, decisions like this must encourage Microsoft to be even more brazen in their anticompetitve conduct -- they probably can't wait to get sued again...
What newbies need to switch to the GNU/Linux platform are applications -- not just any applications, but the applications that they want to run. Most people run relatively few applications: word-processing, browsing, music downloading, etc...I've been able to switch most people over to Linux just by setting boxes that do everything they need to do. They then are overjoyed that everything works faster, they don't get viruses, they don't have to run AD-AWARE everyweek to get rid of trojans etc... People who are resistant to switching over are resistant not because they like Windows or MAC OS, but because there are no comparable applications to what they use on the Linux platform that are better than what they use now. I get questions like: "Does Linux run GoldMine?", "Does Linux run Alpha 5?", "Does Linux run 'Soldier Of Fortune'?", "Will Linux run my online banking program?","Does Linux run Quicken?". Most newbies don't care about the OS, they care about APPLICATIONS. Setting up Samba or Wine is not a problem (they'll just call me to do that).
Actually, it wouldn't be strange if the cost of broadband increased as the demand for broadband increased. Also the economic model has to change. While $40/month more than pays for the bandwidth my mother uses (ocassional e-mail, sporadic browsing), the cable company is losing money on someone who downloads and uploads constantly, browses everyday, spams their firends, etc... Not to mention, many households share the bandwidth by installing wireless routers. My 7-year-old is constantly on his computer playing on-line games at nick.com, while my wife e-mails constantly and uploads to her own website. I download music, software, books etc... and also maintain several websites -- the cable modem is never turned off. Someone is paying for that bandwidth as i don't think my $40.00/month covers it. More and more customers are like me, and customers like my mother are becoming more like me after they discover how much more powerful their broadband connection is than their dial-up was. Unless broadband providers start charging for actual usage rather than flat fees for unlimited usage, they will lose more and more money as they get more customers.
The install of SUSE is very good, everything was detected and the boot-up was relatively fast. For some reason the video was strange on the laptop I installed it on (a Dell Latitude --the viewport of the screen appeared as a small rectangle in the middle of the screen and no fiddling with settings could fix it ), so I gave up on that and installed it on a HP desktop. It detected the Gigabit Ethernet with no problems (something Knoppix didn't do, and Fedora needed some tweaking to get it to work properly) and the screen was okay. This is a beautiful distro. The default fonts and aliasing are excellent. The whole distro has a very polished, professional feel. The amount of commercial software you get for a couple of hundred dollars is perhaps the best bargain on the planet. I like downloading and compiling software as much as the next guy, but it's nice to have a super-productive system right out of the box. What's really impressive is the way Samba is configured right out of the box. I didn't have to do anything, the system just booted up and found all the domains on my company's intranet, and I could log into everything as easily as with the Windows 2000 box I have ( actually, it was ironic that I was able to get to a Server easily from the SUSE box that I was having trouble reaching from the Win2K box). I'm really attached to my Debian box, and I really like my Fedora Core box, too, so at home I probably won't use SUSE, but at work, where smooth networking is important, I'm replacing one Fedora box with the SUSE distribution (though I still will keep another Fedora box for development). Except for the video problem on the Dell laptop, this Distro is very solid, very professional. It really shows why SUSE has always had significant market share in Europe. It's more usable than Windows XP, without trojans, activation and all that "other MS nonsense".
The idea of trying to convert alien life-forms to a terrestrial religion is problematic if not inherently absurd. Most religions are "planet specific" -- evolving out of events and situations specific to terrestrial historical events and terrestrial entities. Outside of Earth (Terra, Urantia, whatever...) terrestrial religions are irrelevant in as much as they center their metaphysics around the problems of incarnation on this planet. No doubt alien religions developed out of historical events on their respective worlds. "Good and Evil" is relative to the context of one's mortal existence, if indeed it is a mortal existence. Most terrestrial religions obsess around maing sense of death and postulating an afterlife. What meaning would this have to entities that do not experience death? What meaning would religion have to aliens who do not experience emotion?
Also, the posibility is hardly ever (actually "quite often") entertained that what we experience as conscious reality may not be the reality of our existence. Perhaps this is a dream world, and in our "real" lives there's no need for religion because there are no physical limitations . Consider that if in reality, we are all all-powerful, all-knowing and infinitely wise beings -- we have no need for religion. I suspect that what we experience now as reality is really the ultimate "virtual reality" game.
Why didn't I take the blue pill? (Well, because being omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent can be quite boring at times...).
The worst thing that can happen to a user interface is having developers design it with no input from psychologists (remember all those 'human factors' people who were the first to get laid off). For some reason developers seem strangely out of touch with "what is easy" and "what is hard", so user interfaces designed with this unique lack of insight suffers from bizarre inconsistencies. Gnome is one such user interface. Now if a user interface is configurable, one can always fix these inconsistencies. The BIG mistake that developers make is making their badly configured user interface less configurable. Gnome now seems to be even less flexible than Windows, and ironically, it seems that that is what they were trying for.
Also, an annoying trend in development seems to be the obsession with "new paradigms". New paradigms are introduced and then one has to jump through hoops to do everything the old paradigm did with more elegance.
My experience with Linux, and those who I have converted to Linux is much more pleasant (i.e., I get done what I want to do ) when I use KDE with it's default window manager or Windowmaker. Gnome draws to much attention to itself...
How do you know the government hasn't taken control of your mother's computer?? Or Microsoft?? Remember "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you."... And can't your laptop do high resolution video conferencing with sound ( we did something like that at AT&T in System 75 forward-looking development group back in the 90's).And you can get pretty good 3D rendering on a PC with the right software. "viruses turning machines against their owners" -- well, that's pretty much the definition of a virus -- and they are fast spreading... Hmmmm..."Every program runs anywhere..." sounds like project David.
It's quite possible the US will not follow suit, but this will be bad for the US, not for the rest of the world. The US seems to be obssessed with the relentless pursuit of technological inferiority. There are probably more Asian engineering students than Americans in American Graduate Schools right now. This coupled with the fact that more and more American companies are outsourcing IT jobs to Asia, probably means that in the very near future, technological dominance will move "Eastward". Software Patents in the US and in Europe will simply result in Linux and OSS becoming dominant in Asia. The fact that Windows and closed software will be dominant in the US and maybe in the EU will be irrelevant, as the US and EU fall further and further behind Asia. This will probably coincide with a economic shift also. Right now, the US is dependent on the Middle East and South America for Oil. Is is too farfetched to believe that eventually the US will be just as dependent upon the Far East for Technology?? It seems inconceivable, but inconceivable things have been happening for a while now. A few years ago some of us were getting stock options to buy Lucent stock at $54.00 a share as bonuses. It was inconceivable that the stock would ever go that low. Last I checked, Lucent was selling at $3.23 a share. The problem with the US's arrogance is that it's not always in touch with reality. By the time the US wakes up, it may not matter to anybody else except the US. Linux could end up dominating the world even if nobody in the US uses it.
I think the authors of computer viruses should be treated as terrorists. They cause lots of damage to innocent people. George W. should include computer virus authors as "enemy combatants" in the "war on terror". Lock them up. Throw away the key.
Microsoft's Business model has always been to create an artificial demand for non-essential products. Why should you have to upgrade your OS every 2 years!?? I have clients who are still happily running their businesses with Windows 2000 Server and Windows 98SE clients; and if it wasn't for Microsoft eliminating support for NT and 95, they would probably still be happily using those products. What's especially annoying about Microsoft is that they keep removing features with every upgrade. When one of my clients upgraded from 95 to 98 they were surprised to find that they lost their intra-office e-mail (MS Exchange Server used to be free with 95) and couldn't understand why they had to BUY Outlook. Another client was incensed when they replaced one of their 98SE computers and were forced by Dell to purchase it with Windows ME (ugh!) only to find out that Microsoft had removed all support for tape drives. Another client was pissed off when they replaced one of their Win 98 clients with a Windows XP Home machine only to find out that he would have to pay more to upgrade to XP Pro because XP home wouldn't automatically log in to his NT server like his 98 clients could. Another reason Microsoft likes to release new OSes often is that it gives them many opportunities to "break" their competitor's programs (in the application "space"). Just ask Corel or Borland how they feel about MS's new OSes. Also, with each new OS, Microsoft becomes more draconian. Don't forget what they've done with Media Player (with the EULA that grants them the right to pretty much do whatever they want to to your computer). Now they're going to build DRM right into the OS!? We're supposed to trust Microsoft!!? I do like Win 2000, and that's the main OS on most of my Windows boxes. I think that Windows XP would be a fine OS if not for the mediocre apps you get with it (Internet Explorer, Outlook, etc...)and the annoying invasive features (Media Player's DRM, activation etc...). It would be nice if Microsoft would work on getting one OS right and then supporting it for a while, rather than giving us "disposables" (ME being the most obvious example). Microsoft treats it's Operating System just like it was an application suite. That's not what I call a stable platform. This also MS's strategy in the "development space". Everything's a moving target and there's attempts to make everything "proprietary Microsoft" (just look at Microsoft's attempts to derail Java with J++, and any resemblance of VisualBasic.NET to Visual Basic is purely coincidental...). I'm steadily migrating clients to Linux, on both the Server and Client side, and also in the "application and development space". Those I have migrated so far are very happy with the stability and security, and enjoy not feeling manipulated by microsoft's release schedules and arbitrary licensing.
I don't see why "compatibility with Windows" is such a great selling point. If I want to run Windows apps, I'll run Windows. If I want to run Linux apps I'll run Linux. If I want to run Linux and Windows apps, there are a number of solutions already available -- WINE, Win4Lin, etc..., not to mention dual-booting. If the goal is to convert Windows users to Linux, I would suggest introducing them to some good Linux applications, and letting them get the feel of Linux by running a Live CD (I find Knoppix to be very good ). I find that most average computer users don't care about the "platform", they care about the applications. My mother loves my Linux box because she loves XScrabble more than any of the scrabble programs that run under windows, likes FireFox (mostly because of the tabbed browsing) more than Internet Explorer, and finds OpenOffice fine for word processing. The fact that my Linux boxes never crash and never get viruses are good selling points too. To keep one's Windows' box clear of trojans, you pretty much have to run Ad-Aware every week. I've given up on Outlook -- It's like a virus proliferation engine. Linux applications are what I've used to win over people (Gimp is a winner, too) to Linux, not Windows Applications.
Many artists probably don't know the money is owed to them and no doubt the RIAA doesn't make it easy for artists to keep track of their royalties. Also, many successful artists aren't very educated and don't understand all the "legalese" in their contracts. The RIAA probably depends upon a lot of artists' naivete and/or ignorance. I remember when Tupac Shakur died his mother found out that he was penniless and that somehow all the money that he got were someohow "loans" from the record company. Artists can easily be taken advantage of by the record companies, especially if they directly deal with the company without a lawyer or agent. It's the same kind of game that the IRS plays. Many people who don't use HR Block or have someone knowledgeble do their taxes, file a short form and pay much more in tax than they should. The IRS isn't going to go out of their way to educate these people. The RIAA probably has the same attitude --"...your ignorance is our profit...".Kudos to Spitzer for successfully getting the RIAA to "do the right thing" even though one could easily argue that they did nothing illegal. Hypocrisy is annoying, but it's not illegal :)
It seems to me that the unsubstantiated claims of security holes in OS X is an attempt to bait Apple into revealing what security holes there are so that the can be exploited. Why would you tell the world what "locks are broken". Apple is probably quietly going about fixing any security problems befoire they ever get exploited. Seems like an intelligent strategy.
I've tried many, many different "Linuxes" and have read many, many reviews. I've learned to look for the following when reading reviews: .rpm packages, others use Debians .deb packages, some have package handling apps that can handle both. Some distros have GUI-based packaging handling apps that handle .rpms, .debs, tar files. tar.gz files, etc.. seamlessly.
1) Did the distro detect all the hardware without intervention? Many times a reviewer, if he's a Linux aficionado to begin with, will skim over hardware detection problems, with a sentence like "everything went smoothly, except it didn't detect my soundcard, but I just download, compiled, etc... and all was good...".
2) Was the desktop environment configured logically? Almost all the distros come with KDE or Gnome pre-configured, but the initial desktops can be very different. Sometimes the KDE "start menu" is just packed with redundant applications, and it's not clear where to find things. Other times the environment is set up to look and feel like some version of Windows. Sometimes the environment is stark and a very carefully selected group of applications are configured.
3) What packaging scheme is used? This is a big distinction between distros. Some distros are set up to easily use
4) What version of XFree86 or other X-server is used? This is another big distinction between distros. How snazzy a distribution looks on your box, or whether it has drivers for your video card at all can depend upon this factor.
5) What Linux kernel is used? Again, this can determine just how well the OS works with your hardware and peripherals, and also how much aggravation you'll have to go through to get your system up and running to do everything you need to do.
6) Is the distribution targeted at newbies, Windows defectors, hardcore Linux hackers, Hobbyists, Business desktop users, Developers,--who? The target for the distro is one of the most important things to look for in a review? A distro which might be just what a Business user wants may seem very bad to a Linux hacker.
I've found that understanding exactly who is writing a review is important. I like reviews written by someone who is new to Linux but is computer literate, having used Windows or Macs. A review by someone like that will usually reveal how easy the distro is to install and get up and running doing basic things like e-mail, surfing the web and word processing. I like reading reviews by Linux hackers when I am look for a distro that is good for software development or if I want a flexible distro that I can tinker with and configure myself.
I am actually quite surprised at how different distros can be; not only in "Look and Feel", but in stability and configurability. Personally, I'm not that interested in how easy or difficult the OS is to install. Being a computer professional, I know that I can get "it" installed. I am more concerned about how it runs, what apps I can get, how easy it is to get WINE and SAMBA running, how easy is it to configure etc...
The decline of education in this country is a very big factor in the US fall from Scientific Supremecy, but it's not the only one. Fewer and fewer kids are opting for a science education for several reasons:
1) Our culture demeans scientists: "geeks", "nerds" are common words that are not exactly positive.
2) Sci/Tech Jobs are gone and it's not getting better. There's going to be more outsourcing, not less. Kids want to major in something that will allow them to work in the US. R&D is just not getting funded.
3) Each generation since the 60s has gotten lazier and lazier. LAzy parents pass on the poor work ethic to their kids. Science education is hard work.
4) The government is allowing food companies like Mosanto to proliferate additives like nutrasweet (Aspartame, Phenylalanine...) in all our foods -- causes brain damage. In Asia they use non-toxic sweeteners like Stevia. Our whole society is just getting more stupid.
Also, we have an administration right now, though filled with very well-educated people (Condoleeza got her PhD at 19), they seem to hold the scientific community in contempt. Time after time this administration has ignored the scientific community's recommendations concerning the environment, education,economics and research. The current administration sets the tone for our society, and right now it is setting a tone that is hostile towards Science.
I used Knoppix to install Debian and it was so easy compared to the installation of ANY operating system that it makes up for any drawbacks installing this way may have. First of all, you can run Knoppix first, and know that all of your hardware works, your internet works, and the applications work before installing. So you know exactly what you're going to get when you do install. The install takes less than 20 minutes!
I haven't experienced many package dependency problems, but even if I had, the strength of Debian is it's package managing system, so it's rather easy to resolve dependencies.
Also, after installing Knoppix, I can just use my Debian CDs to install any of the 8710 packages that I want.
Debian is now one of my favorite distros. I would have never bothered with it (why suffer through an excruciating install, when there are solid distros that are easy to install) if I couldn't get up and running so easily.
I've converted more people to Linux using Knoppix, than with any other distro. And usually, after they've been hooked using the live CD, they do the hard disk install and they end up upgrading to the latest version of Debian, or continue using Knoppix the way it is.
There's probably a live CD distro out by now that does install a "clean" install of Debian. It probably is trivial to create one. Also,the biggest problem I usually have when installing a new OS is hardware detection. Knoppix probably has the best hardware detection of any distro, and certainly does a better job of it than the Debian installers.
These CEOs who claim that they are just being competitive are really just being short-sighted and, well, stupid. The CEOs in other countries are quite willing to subsidize kids from their country getting a good American education, while American kids have to fight for scholarships or hope their unemployed parents can find the money to send them to college. They are happy to see American firms ship jobs to their country... American kids are not going to educate themselves in engineering only to be unemployed... They're going to try and get MBAs so they can be the next Darl McBride. The only problem is, that by the time they graduate, there won't be any tech firms in the US for them to head up. How long before the Chinese, Indian and Russians have the infrastructure to say, "hey all the engineers are here, why do they need to work for American Companies?" . It's time for CEOs to wake up and see what's happening: AT&T has been removed from the Dow, DEC is no more, Lucent is a mere shadow of it's former self (stock at less than $5.00 after a reverse split), and WalMart is the most profitable US firm. In a mere 3 years I have seen the billing rates fall to less than half of what they were. So maybe the best we can hope for is that in a decade, Indian, Chinese and Russian firms will be wanting to Outsource to the U.S. because engineering labor will be cheaper HERE (Intel will be owned by an Indian firm and Craig Barrett will be out of a job)...
I've put Fedora Core on my newest machine (replaced Windows XP Home). I'm running Debian, RH7.2 and Windows 2000 on my older machines. I have to say that the Fedora machine has become my favorite. The install was easy (detected all my hardware -- more than Knoppix! which is quite a feat), and It's been very stable. Now that apt-get works, I don't see Debian holding any advantage. I use the Fedora box as both my development machine and my main browse and e-mail box -- I've downloaded and installed the latest versions of EClipse and FireFox. Netscape 7.1 sometimes gives a segmentation fault when trying to start under Fedora, but I don't think that that's Fedora's fault.
Fedora is very, very good. I tried Mandrake 9.2, Knoppix 3.2 (hard disk install -- quick Debian System), ArkLinux, and Sun's Java Desktop before trying Fedora, and none was good enough to keep on the box, except Fedora. I was surprised that I got more software with Fedora than with Sun's Java Desktop (which I paid for) -- What market are they going for?? ( SJD is somewhat SCO-like -- ugh!). ArkLinux kept crashing (they do say that it's alpha software). I had a hard time getting Knoppix to work with my Gigabit Ethernet, my wireless card and didn't have my usual "Debian patience". Mandrake 9.2 kept freezing during the install and when I finally did get it installed, it too had trouble with the Gigabit Ethernet and wireless. Fedora handled my hardware with ease, was child's play to configure the way I wanted it, and hasn't crashed once.
"Although, I've asked before, and I'll probably ask again - Why not just rip from CDs borrowed from friends (or the library)? "
Exactly. This is the safest route and the person who lends you the CD is immune from prosecution (whereas the person who shares music online is at risk to lose their life savings to the RIAA).
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Stream-ripping software will be found illegal under the DMCA as a technology that enables piracy...
Maybe you didn't keep up with the news the last couple of years, but there's a crisis here in the US when it comes to programming jobs. Surely you would have changed your major after your sophomore year if you had been reading SlashDot... People with a lot more experience than you, and a lot more education than you are unemployed at the moment. Seeing as there are programmers in India (with more education and more experience than you) that are willing to work for $22000/year, and companies here know that (and $22000 is upper-middle class in India), consider yourself fortunate to find a job for $40000/year. Of course you can probably make more money fixing PCs on the side and converting small businesses to Linux...but then, you could do that without a college degree, couldn't you...
Well, Mom and Pop don't usually install their operating systems, they either buy a PC with the operating system already installed or have someone like me install it for them. For the record, I've had just as many nightmares (maybe more) installing or upgrading Windows as I have with Linux. Recently I've done some Linux installs that have actually impressed me: Fedora installed on several diverse boxes (HPs, Compaqs, Dells) without incident and everything worked, including sound. I've also cheated to install a Debina System by running Knoppix and then doing a hard disk install ( a full Debian System in less than 15 minutes!!! --- can you install any version of Windows that quickly??). I think that installation problems are moot. Most "Mom and Pops" won't be installing the operating system. What I've found is that those I've converted to Linux are surprised at how easy it is to use ( I've had an easier time moving people from Win 98 or Win 2000 to KDE, than to XP... Many of the people I upgrade to XP choose to use the "Classic Desktop" option. People who switch from Win2K to KDE actually find the GUI just as easy to use ). Also, users I switch are presently surprised at the fact that the computer never crashes, seldom hangs, never gets a virus, and seems to work faster than when it was running Windows. The main complaint I get is that Linux lacks some particular application (like a greeting card creator). But the majority of "Mom and Pops" just want to use word processing , send e-mail, and surf the web. Open Office is good enough for every Linux Home user I've installed, and FireFox and Netscape are so superior to Internet Explorer that their browsing experience is actually improved. My mother, when she visits me from Florida, actually spemds more time on my Linux box because she prefers xscrabble to any of the scrabbnle programs I have on my Windows machines, and she can check her web e-mail without the machine "freezing". Hard Core gamers willbe dissapointed with the lack of applications more than anyone else, and I've found some resistance in the small businesses from doing complete migration, because there's no good contact management program like Goldmine that runs under Linux (if anyone knows of one, please let me know). But even these businesses are happy to move their employees who just do word-processing, e-mail and spreadsheets, over to Linux. Small software firms are the easiest to convert to Linux, but this is really stealing market share from UNIX, asd much as Windows (for Java developpment in particular, Linux is a better development, and easier to use platform). I would never expect my clients to install the operating system any more than I would expect them to compile their applications. I've also found that many "Mom and Pops" are presently surprised at all the software they get for free with Linux (especially Fedora or Debian). Now when I speak of "Mom and Pops" I am talking about mostly those people between 40 - 90 who are not computer savvy. or marginally computer literate, and just want to be "computer users" -- not tinkerers and not power users. Just those who want to maybe burn some CDs, write e-mail, write some documents, save and edit photos, etc... I think that the Linux Desktop is making definite inroads, especially since Microsoft seems to be involved in the relentless pursuit of making their software more difficult and more annoying to use with each new version, and is continuing their policy of removing capability that used to be free in order to create multiple versions with higher pricing so that if you "upgrade" you have to pay more to get less.