Why, thank you! Though I prefer the spelling arsehole.
However, I think it's a little uncalled-for: I was just correcting my own spelling. I realise that using correct spelling on Slashdot is something of a minority interest, but still...
I've had luggage take forever in JFK airport, and the fastest was in another country!
This may come as a surprise to you, but some of us out here in the rest of the world don't consider US technology to represent the absolute pinnacle of human achievement.
That's not to say that you don't lead in some areas, just not all of them. Judging by the horror stories one hears about US airports, I'm lead to think that aerial transportation is in the latter category.
Just use Linux: the poor audio support prevents you from hearing anything.
I kid! I kid!*
Actually, my Ubuntu box handles audio on websites rather too well for my liking. It's such an unpleasant surprise to be greeted with some obnoxious sound effect or gratingly overcompressed voice that I sometimes pine for the days of incomplete audio support.
* Well, mostly. Audio support and standardisation could be better.
The average computer uses as much as two circus tents worth of coal to run on any given day.
No it doesn't.
Imagine the heat given off by burning a coal fire. Now imagine how much more heat is given off by a circus tent's worth of coal. Sure, modern computers get hot, but not hot enough to incinerate the neighbourhood!
Given that the energy used by a computer ends up as heat, anyone with basic cognitive skills ought to realise that a computer uses nowhere near one circus tent worth of coal, let alone two.
Then again, Sheetrock has previously claimed that a computer requires "seventeen swimming pools worth of coal" to run for a day. He's either a troll or, more likely, a clown.
Isn't open source DRM about as useful as a woollen condom? All the DRM I've seen (and worked with) uses obfuscated keys and black box decryption libraries; if it's open source, how does it work?
Now, I don't think that DRM has much use anyway, but where it does "work", it generally does so through obfuscation. I can't see the content providers springing for this. On the other hand, they've already been sold snake oil by other DRM vendors, so just maybe...
Realistically, though, the only way I can see open source DRM working at all is if it uses TPM in some way.
You're not alone. My 768 MB iBook G4 has suffered a performance downgrade with Tiger, frequently swapping like mad, although matters have improved quite a lot since I disabled Dashboard entirely.
Safari also eats memory, and benefits from a regular termination and restart.
Tiger's Mail is deeply flawed, especially when dealing with IMAP accounts. It often freezes when receiving new IMAP messages. It deletes IMAP emails without moving them to the Trash properly (settings to the contrary regardless), so I have to be careful not to hit the Delete key accidentally. It can't "Save as Draft" when composing in ISO-2022-JP (the email encoding used in Japan). Most of all, though, it has apparently been coded with a complete lack of concern for data integrity.
Or, as I do on my site, you can take the time to make it render (mostly) properly in IE, but display a fake information bar across the top inviting the user to check out the alternatives.
I think it's a bit less user-hostile, but might get the message across at the same time.
That's a fine plan. Something like: <link rel="font" href="/foo/bar.ttf"/>
Formats aren't a problem, either: OS X, X11, and Windows can all handle Windows-format TrueType fonts.
The only real problem is likely to be licensing costs for those using fonts in their webpages - it would tend to be very expensive, since using the technology would essentially involve giving away a copy of the font. (I have disregarded DRM snake oil solutions that would in any case exclude open source software.) Then again, there are plenty of free headline fonts, which is where variation is wanted most.
It also wouldn't be practical for complex scripts: Japanese and Chinese fonts are often tens of megabytes in size.
I'm sure that you could make a real HHGG substitute with a Palm LifeDrive (or indeed anything with a few gigabytes of storage, a screen, and input) and a dump of Wikipedia. It could even have a conduit to synchronise your offline changes with the master on the internet.
It won't work. Add heavy taxation to the already stringent legal requirements, and the remaining US-based porn companies will simply take their operations offshore, to more amenable locations such as the Netherlands.
In case it wasn't obvious, that should read "for a CRT" above.
OS X-alike font rendering in Gnome
on
GNOME 2.12 Previewed
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Personally, I despise Windows' hinted rendering. I like the heavily anti-aliased look on OS X, especially when dealing with Japanese text.
If you want to emulate OS X's font rendering, that's easy to achieve in Gnome. Just go to Font Preferences, Details..., and set Smoothing to Subpixel (or Greyscale for a TFT) and Hinting to None. Then walk away from the computer for a few minutes, because it looks weird in direct comparison. When you come back, enjoy the smooth text!
Don't make the mistake of assuming that because you don't want something, nobody does.
I like big icons, because they are easier to click. I have plenty of screen space, so wasting it isn't a problem.
I like stripes, because it's easier to track the information across.
I even like the spacial browsing mode of Nautilus.
Now, you can say that I'm an idiot for liking these things, but if nothing else, it proves that some people are happy with the direction Gnome's taking. We just don't tend to make a loud noise about it.
Ruby on Rails is just so sweet, just like the original Java alpha was all those years ago.
Bah! I tried the original Java back in nineteen-ninety-whatever. It sucked then, and I haven't been back since. (Yes, I know it's improved since, but that initial exposure prompted me to take my focus in other directions.)
Ruby, on the other hand, is a lovely language, although the speed issue has caught me out a couple of times.
I've used the same approach, albeit with a Ruby backend:
PostgreSQL <-> Ruby <--SOAP--> PHP
PHP is a reasonable templating language, which is really what it should have been all along. The business logic goes into something saner and more maintainable, and everyone's happy.
Don't get me started on the problems of SOAP interoperability, however. Each implementation has its own quirks and foibles. I'd have chosen XML-RPC, but my boss was enamoured with the SOAP buzz....
If you people can't even write everyday English, let along meet the more stringent requirements imposed by programming languages, then no wonder software sucks so much.
Slashdot Mirror
You're an asshole!
Why, thank you! Though I prefer the spelling arsehole.
However, I think it's a little uncalled-for: I was just correcting my own spelling. I realise that using correct spelling on Slashdot is something of a minority interest, but still...
Make that "I'm led to think".
I've had luggage take forever in JFK airport, and the fastest was in another country!
This may come as a surprise to you, but some of us out here in the rest of the world don't consider US technology to represent the absolute pinnacle of human achievement.
That's not to say that you don't lead in some areas, just not all of them. Judging by the horror stories one hears about US airports, I'm lead to think that aerial transportation is in the latter category.
I suspect that the majority of people who buy a wi-fi router in the next five years will still not bother to even change the default admin password.
I hope you're right! All those open WAPs are so convenient.
(This post should not be interpreted to advocate actions which may be illegal in your jurisdiction and probably mine too.)
Just use Linux: the poor audio support prevents you from hearing anything.
I kid! I kid!*
Actually, my Ubuntu box handles audio on websites rather too well for my liking. It's such an unpleasant surprise to be greeted with some obnoxious sound effect or gratingly overcompressed voice that I sometimes pine for the days of incomplete audio support.
* Well, mostly. Audio support and standardisation could be better.
The average computer uses as much as two circus tents worth of coal to run on any given day.
No it doesn't.
Imagine the heat given off by burning a coal fire. Now imagine how much more heat is given off by a circus tent's worth of coal. Sure, modern computers get hot, but not hot enough to incinerate the neighbourhood!
Given that the energy used by a computer ends up as heat, anyone with basic cognitive skills ought to realise that a computer uses nowhere near one circus tent worth of coal, let alone two.
Then again, Sheetrock has previously claimed that a computer requires "seventeen swimming pools worth of coal" to run for a day. He's either a troll or, more likely, a clown.
Isn't open source DRM about as useful as a woollen condom? All the DRM I've seen (and worked with) uses obfuscated keys and black box decryption libraries; if it's open source, how does it work?
Now, I don't think that DRM has much use anyway, but where it does "work", it generally does so through obfuscation. I can't see the content providers springing for this. On the other hand, they've already been sold snake oil by other DRM vendors, so just maybe...
Realistically, though, the only way I can see open source DRM working at all is if it uses TPM in some way.
I second that comment on screen brightness. Using my iBook on the lowest brightness setting increases the battery life by over an hour.
You're not alone. My 768 MB iBook G4 has suffered a performance downgrade with Tiger, frequently swapping like mad, although matters have improved quite a lot since I disabled Dashboard entirely.
Safari also eats memory, and benefits from a regular termination and restart.
Tiger's Mail is deeply flawed, especially when dealing with IMAP accounts. It often freezes when receiving new IMAP messages. It deletes IMAP emails without moving them to the Trash properly (settings to the contrary regardless), so I have to be careful not to hit the Delete key accidentally. It can't "Save as Draft" when composing in ISO-2022-JP (the email encoding used in Japan). Most of all, though, it has apparently been coded with a complete lack of concern for data integrity.
Or, as I do on my site, you can take the time to make it render (mostly) properly in IE, but display a fake information bar across the top inviting the user to check out the alternatives.
I think it's a bit less user-hostile, but might get the message across at the same time.
That's a fine plan. Something like: />
<link rel="font" href="/foo/bar.ttf"
Formats aren't a problem, either: OS X, X11, and Windows can all handle Windows-format TrueType fonts.
The only real problem is likely to be licensing costs for those using fonts in their webpages - it would tend to be very expensive, since using the technology would essentially involve giving away a copy of the font. (I have disregarded DRM snake oil solutions that would in any case exclude open source software.) Then again, there are plenty of free headline fonts, which is where variation is wanted most.
It also wouldn't be practical for complex scripts: Japanese and Chinese fonts are often tens of megabytes in size.
Yes, I have it. Does it conflict with Composite?
I'm sure that you could make a real HHGG substitute with a Palm LifeDrive (or indeed anything with a few gigabytes of storage, a screen, and input) and a dump of Wikipedia. It could even have a conduit to synchronise your offline changes with the master on the internet.
I believe that they market themselves as the largest-selling "quality" daily. Presumably, that excludes the red tops.
According to the National Readership Survey, they are sixth. All the higher-placed papers are tabloids.
It won't work. Add heavy taxation to the already stringent legal requirements, and the remaining US-based porn companies will simply take their operations offshore, to more amenable locations such as the Netherlands.
Aye, it's not for everyone. Some people seem to really hate "blurry fonts". I, on the other hand, like it - and it is the way that OS X does it.
It might help that I sit a good metre away from my TFT (yes! LCD!) monitors, so I can't discern the individual pixels anyway.
Even with nvidia and the binary drivers, X Composite is flaky and slow on my computer (2.6 GHz P4, not bleeding edge, but not slow either).
With Composite enabled, I frequently suffer from complete lockups of Xorg (the mouse moves, but nothing else works).
So yeah, I'm with you on the "hope it doesn't".
In case it wasn't obvious, that should read "for a CRT" above.
Personally, I despise Windows' hinted rendering. I like the heavily anti-aliased look on OS X, especially when dealing with Japanese text.
If you want to emulate OS X's font rendering, that's easy to achieve in Gnome. Just go to Font Preferences, Details..., and set Smoothing to Subpixel (or Greyscale for a TFT) and Hinting to None. Then walk away from the computer for a few minutes, because it looks weird in direct comparison. When you come back, enjoy the smooth text!
Don't make the mistake of assuming that because you don't want something, nobody does.
I like big icons, because they are easier to click. I have plenty of screen space, so wasting it isn't a problem.
I like stripes, because it's easier to track the information across.
I even like the spacial browsing mode of Nautilus.
Now, you can say that I'm an idiot for liking these things, but if nothing else, it proves that some people are happy with the direction Gnome's taking. We just don't tend to make a loud noise about it.
Bah! I tried the original Java back in nineteen-ninety-whatever. It sucked then, and I haven't been back since. (Yes, I know it's improved since, but that initial exposure prompted me to take my focus in other directions.)
Ruby, on the other hand, is a lovely language, although the speed issue has caught me out a couple of times.
I've used the same approach, albeit with a Ruby backend:
PostgreSQL <-> Ruby <--SOAP--> PHP
PHP is a reasonable templating language, which is really what it should have been all along. The business logic goes into something saner and more maintainable, and everyone's happy.
Don't get me started on the problems of SOAP interoperability, however. Each implementation has its own quirks and foibles. I'd have chosen XML-RPC, but my boss was enamoured with the SOAP buzz....
It works for Microsoft. Let's face it, their chief asset is ubiquity, not quality.
All self-respecting MS bashers are composing screeds against the mediocrity of Internet Explorer version 7, based on reviews.
Disclaimer: mine's already written, that's why I'm here.
This is a new one for the Eggcorn Database, I think.