The parent makes a good point that I feel exactly the same about. How much can it cost to implement an Ogg Vorbis decoder anyway?
Let's see: Open source integer-only decoding algorithm, check. Zero royalties, check.
The demand isn't going to change hugely until some hardware players are out there.. so what's stopping the hardware players get out there with Vorbis support? (don't say lack of demand, I know that already)
However, some people are bound to complain at its integrated standard toolkit. I like the idea of a standard toolkit for consistency across applications, but to keep everybody happy (and for ultimate flexibility, which is what Linux is about, right?), it would be good for the choice of toolkit to be pluggable... Not based on top, as current toolkits are, but just swappable by Y. That way, we could all be using the same API and have things just the (consistent) way we want them.
Some native OpenGL and SVG support might prove useful too..:-)
The parent does sound like an idealistic plea, but the concept of a simple, componentised distro is going to be very important in the future if Linux is going to win desktop space.
It would be very nice (IMO), for instance to have a nice CLEAN/dev directory (maybe make things easier and call it/devices instead) with things organised in a monkey-could-understand intuitive way. A clean and modular replacement and/or extension to X, with, say, and OpenGL backend and native SVG support would do wonders yet still provide flexibility, and so on and so forth.. I could add a quick plug for Gentoo while I'm at it and say a system such as portage would be excellent for installing & removing programs (it doesn't have to be portage, but it would be nice if it were just as simple)
Are there any distro projects (aside from Morphix Linux) that really aim to simplify and tidy up Linux as much as is possible?
If it's within my coding capabilities, I'd even like to undertake such a project myself given the time..
I'll certainly say that Xfree86 isn't going anywhere for a while, as it is all over the place now. But I do feel (and others probably do too) that it's about time we 'started again' with something like X but a whole lot neater and simpler.
I would have thought that, since consumers don't really care what format their music is on when they listen to it on a portable device, provided they can listen to it as and when they like, that a manufacturer of a portable player would choose the cheapest one they could afford..
Such a shame, as I have a lot of my music collection in Ogg Vorbis format and I really don't want to have to transcode it to put it on a portable device.. (although as a counter-point, does the quality really matter that much when I'm mostly listening to my music as I'm walking down the street with the noise of traffic and other pedestrians all around me?)
Call me weird for thinking that using a superior format is the way to go, but in addition to all the technical superiority it has over mp3/wma, I would have thought that the "free-to-implement" aspect would quite encourage hardware device manufacturers to consider it.
.. and whilst we're moaning about it not supporting various other formats, is it really too much trouble to put in a Ogg Vorbis decoder? That *really* should be the lossy codec of choice these days (in my personal opinion, of course).
I have managed to convince a number of my friends to swtich to using Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird, but I always kept in mind that people are inherently lazy and non-techies often don't really care, so long as something is good enough.
The factor that has convinced them to at least 'try' Firebird has been popup blocking. But I've often found that it is *then* all the other great features (tabs, speed, simple configuration etc.) that make them stay. So go ahead.. when numerous people complain that their computer is slow, suggest it as an alternative.
"You could always use a different internet browser you know. I'll install one that blocks popup adverts and is much faster, if you like. And if you don't like it, I'll get rid of it for you" - 90% of people I've said that to have agreed, and probably a further 90% of them have stuck with it. Let's educate the masses!
I'm currently using Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1, and I installed Tabbrowser Extensions (an incredibly good plugin, I might add), but clicking on its settings when logged in as a non-root user causes Moz to lock up.
It's possible to set it up as root, but that's not the point. I read a bug report a while back that said it was due partly to Moz, but partly to extension programmers not considering that their extensions might not be run as root either.
However, most release-groups remove the serials (by blurring or just placing a black box) on the movies they release.
There are quite a few steganographic techniques that would not be defeated by blurring and black box techniques in development at the moment, unfortunately I can't reference any because I have only briefly heard the outlines of them in some lectures I attended at university last term.
That said, I don't think I've ever seen blurring being used on screeners.. A powerful steganographic technique would prove quite useful if properly employed, and would be a whole lot better than messages periodically scrolling across the bottom of the film with the text "For Your Consideration", or so on.
Parent moderated as Insightful? Yes, that's some good moderation..
But back on topic, to make everything closer to Windows, you might want to introduce some new features that make X crash randomly on some hardware. Oh hang on..
None, but I took apart my keyboard and spray-painted the whole thing in a nice silver/blue, deliberately leaving each key blank (i.e. no labels on the keys). Because I can touchtype, this isn't a problem for me, and as well as looking rather cool it stops any clueless people from using my computer too:).
Why would presumably rational delegates and senators pay much heed to a single company... which obviously has no purpose EXCEPT to benefit that single company?
Oh, I'm quite sure it's money money money, or promise of. Human and corporate greed is one of the biggest sources of irrational decisions here, it seems.
Slashdot Mirror
Hear hear...
The parent makes a good point that I feel exactly the same about. How much can it cost to implement an Ogg Vorbis decoder anyway?
Let's see:
Open source integer-only decoding algorithm, check.
Zero royalties, check.
The demand isn't going to change hugely until some hardware players are out there.. so what's stopping the hardware players get out there with Vorbis support? (don't say lack of demand, I know that already)
You've got to be trolling.. with an average of 4 minutes per song..
4900 * 128 / 192 = ?
Tough one, I know.
Very much like Y.
:-)
However, some people are bound to complain at its integrated standard toolkit. I like the idea of a standard toolkit for consistency across applications, but to keep everybody happy (and for ultimate flexibility, which is what Linux is about, right?), it would be good for the choice of toolkit to be pluggable... Not based on top, as current toolkits are, but just swappable by Y. That way, we could all be using the same API and have things just the (consistent) way we want them.
Some native OpenGL and SVG support might prove useful too..
The parent does sound like an idealistic plea, but the concept of a simple, componentised distro is going to be very important in the future if Linux is going to win desktop space.
/dev directory (maybe make things easier and call it /devices instead) with things organised in a monkey-could-understand intuitive way. A clean and modular replacement and/or extension to X, with, say, and OpenGL backend and native SVG support would do wonders yet still provide flexibility, and so on and so forth.. I could add a quick plug for Gentoo while I'm at it and say a system such as portage would be excellent for installing & removing programs (it doesn't have to be portage, but it would be nice if it were just as simple)
It would be very nice (IMO), for instance to have a nice CLEAN
Are there any distro projects (aside from Morphix Linux) that really aim to simplify and tidy up Linux as much as is possible?
If it's within my coding capabilities, I'd even like to undertake such a project myself given the time..
And here it is with the correct link.
I'll certainly say that Xfree86 isn't going anywhere for a while, as it is all over the place now. But I do feel (and others probably do too) that it's about time we 'started again' with something like X but a whole lot neater and simpler.
I would have thought that, since consumers don't really care what format their music is on when they listen to it on a portable device, provided they can listen to it as and when they like, that a manufacturer of a portable player would choose the cheapest one they could afford..
Such a shame, as I have a lot of my music collection in Ogg Vorbis format and I really don't want to have to transcode it to put it on a portable device.. (although as a counter-point, does the quality really matter that much when I'm mostly listening to my music as I'm walking down the street with the noise of traffic and other pedestrians all around me?)
Call me weird for thinking that using a superior format is the way to go, but in addition to all the technical superiority it has over mp3/wma, I would have thought that the "free-to-implement" aspect would quite encourage hardware device manufacturers to consider it.
.. and whilst we're moaning about it not supporting various other formats, is it really too much trouble to put in a Ogg Vorbis decoder? That *really* should be the lossy codec of choice these days (in my personal opinion, of course).
There was always a 5-10 second lag between the music played on the client machines and the server machine.
Make the server machine's instance of winamp connect via the server's local ip perhaps? Would that work?
Just wait until your security is compromised and they start printing out wooden pr0n..
I have managed to convince a number of my friends to swtich to using Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird, but I always kept in mind that people are inherently lazy and non-techies often don't really care, so long as something is good enough.
The factor that has convinced them to at least 'try' Firebird has been popup blocking. But I've often found that it is *then* all the other great features (tabs, speed, simple configuration etc.) that make them stay. So go ahead.. when numerous people complain that their computer is slow, suggest it as an alternative.
"You could always use a different internet browser you know. I'll install one that blocks popup adverts and is much faster, if you like. And if you don't like it, I'll get rid of it for you" - 90% of people I've said that to have agreed, and probably a further 90% of them have stuck with it. Let's educate the masses!
You wouldn't happen to know of a well-packaged alternative to Tabbrowser Extensions, would you?
At any rate, I hope that they've managed to stop a 'badly'-packaged extension crashing the browser.. I hope to upgrade later on today.
I'm currently using Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1, and I installed Tabbrowser Extensions (an incredibly good plugin, I might add), but clicking on its settings when logged in as a non-root user causes Moz to lock up.
It's possible to set it up as root, but that's not the point. I read a bug report a while back that said it was due partly to Moz, but partly to extension programmers not considering that their extensions might not be run as root either.
Crucially, have they fixed the bug in the Linux build that stops non-root users using some extensions properly?
I remember this being quite a task to solve..
I've been viewing 3d images on my current screen for ages!
However, most release-groups remove the serials (by blurring or just placing a black box) on the movies they release.
There are quite a few steganographic techniques that would not be defeated by blurring and black box techniques in development at the moment, unfortunately I can't reference any because I have only briefly heard the outlines of them in some lectures I attended at university last term.
That said, I don't think I've ever seen blurring being used on screeners.. A powerful steganographic technique would prove quite useful if properly employed, and would be a whole lot better than messages periodically scrolling across the bottom of the film with the text "For Your Consideration", or so on.
Parent moderated as Insightful? Yes, that's some good moderation..
But back on topic, to make everything closer to Windows, you might want to introduce some new features that make X crash randomly on some hardware. Oh hang on..
What keys do you "liberate" from your keyboards?
:).
None, but I took apart my keyboard and spray-painted the whole thing in a nice silver/blue, deliberately leaving each key blank (i.e. no labels on the keys). Because I can touchtype, this isn't a problem for me, and as well as looking rather cool it stops any clueless people from using my computer too
... some key technologies -- such as HyperCard and the Newton.
Now call me ignorant, but I haven't heard very much about those two technologies recently at all.. Are/were they really that 'key'?
Why would presumably rational delegates and senators pay much heed to a single company ... which obviously has no purpose EXCEPT to benefit that single company?
Oh, I'm quite sure it's money money money, or promise of. Human and corporate greed is one of the biggest sources of irrational decisions here, it seems.
- No SYSV code has been misappropriated into Linux and SCO gets nothing, or
- Some code has been misappropriated into Linux and SCO gets full damages.
The real truth is likely between these two, and much closer to (1)."And based on the case of the atoi() function, we award SCO $1 in damages..."
I think you missed the joke..
...certainly not to have Windows users change their passwords or logoff.
I think that describing the process of hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del as "logging off" is a rather loose term, don't you think?
At what point do they have to be careful? Is there a specific frame-rate or resolution when the human eye thinks something is 'real'?
And speaking of which, is there a resolution to the human eye?