Consider that collapsing bridge in Minnesota recently. Consider also the Tacoma Narrows fiasco, now some decades ago, which in my opinion is not a mistake that competent engineers make, but one due to social promotion at the highest levels of our education system, which is also symptomatic of an empire in decline.
The Minnesota I-35W bridge collapse is indeed a symptom of our inability (or at least shortsighted unwillingness) to maintain our infrastructure. But the Tacoma Narrows (a.k.a. "Galloping Gertie") collapse happened in 1940 -- that's before the "empire" you claim is declining even existed! (The United States became a "superpower" during/after/because of WW2.)
Those were merely well-known examples, not an exhaustive list. There are many, many others.
Also remember, GCC and XFree86, to my knowledge, were/are completely non-profit projects, not products made by a for-profit company (unlike StarOffice/OpenOffice). So those examples aren't even applicable here; those projects weren't even for-profit businesses, and weren't in the business of trying to get companies to pay them for custom versions, and basically any changes they made they made for reasons not having to do with making money.
I don't think that difference matters.
As long as (now) Oracle's customers are happy with Oracle's support and prices, and Oracle's making money in it, they're probably not too worried about LO. Besides, there's nothing preventing them from copying LO's improvements and merging them at their convenience.
That depends on how many of the developers were Sun employees, and how many jumped ship when Sun became Oracle. If most of the development effort is outside Oracle now (and I have no idea whether or not it is), then Oracle could indeed have trouble keeping up with the changes
In general, though, once you give up the source code, you've lost control. From that point on, if you don't make the improvements that the customers want, they can go to someone for improvements, and you no longer have a revenue stream from upgrades.
Ok, and how many times has that happened?
Actually, forking a project because the people in charge aren't managing it right is pretty common. For example:
GCC->egcs (which then got re-taken over by GNU and renamed GCC again)
Shareholders only want to put their money in a company and get a fast return so they can dump it before it starts to flatten out or decline, as they move on to the next company.
This is the problem that dividends are supposed to solve: instead of relying on increasing share price for their returns, shareholders collect dividends periodically. If the company is stable (i.e., neither growing nor declining), then the dividends and share price should remain stable too.
Sony generally figures out who their majority users are and tries to screw over as many people who are not in that group as possible.... This is a gaming machine and they want gamers to use it.
Oh really? Then how do you explain their "it only does everything" marketing?
MMC is very related, in the sense that SD is just MMC + DRM support. MemoryStick was pointlessly created to compete with MMC, because Sony can't bear to support a standard that it doesn't control.
"Mac verses Emacs" makes about as much sense as "apples vs. sofas" (let alone oranges) -- not only are they not mutually exclusive, they're not even in the same category of things (jokes about Emacs being an operating system aside). Emacs runs on OS X, not to mention every other PC OS. What's the problem?!
Personally, I think that Thinkpads are the ultimate dev machines because they give you easy access to all major browsers on all major platforms (that is > 5% market share for our target demographic, which excludes any specific mac/browser combination), has awesome editors, great support for all 'alternative' technologies except for git.
Macs give you easy access to all those things, plus any specific mac/browser combination.
I don't see what the big difference is. He's complaining that he bought the wrong computer because he wants to run Linux, but the computer he bought can run Linux, so...?
Aside from the OS X license and EFI/GPT instead of BIOS/MBR (although it can be configured to use those too), there isn't any functional difference between a Mac and a Thinkpad!
This is why I bought a house as quickly as I possibly could (about a year ago, at age 25), with a 5.25% fixed-rate loan and a down payment paid mostly by government assistance. I hope to buy more property, potentially on credit, in the next few years (before the market recovers).
That doesn't mean I'll keep the same strategy 10, 20, or 30 years from now, of course.
The trouble is, those baby boomers won't be selling everything at once; they'll be selling continuously until they die. That means the prices will drop and remain depressed for 30 years!
Typing?...Oh I see, you can send text messages with it. I never send text messages; I would have assumed it integrated with the messaging app the same way it does with the dialer.
I can't say I agree; on my (fairly low-end) Samsung Intercept, it's no more laggy than anything else. (It could just be that since everything's a little laggy, I'm used to it.)
I have the same problem. I've (so far) got degrees in two different fields (CS and civil engineering), and can't decide whether to get a job in one of those or go back for a masters in CS, civil, city planning, or business administration.
Wait, so you can get AT&T dry-loop DSL on AT&T-owned lines, but not a competitor's dry-loop DSL? That sounds blatantly illegally anti-competitive to me, even by AT&T standards!
Google Voice is too cumbersome to use on non-smartphones (you have to dial your GV number, enter your PIN, go through a menu, and then dial the number you actually wanted to call). All smartphones have data plans. Therefore, practically any phone with GV has a data plan.
Slashdot Mirror
That makes me think we need a Linux equivalent of Automator
It's set 300 years in the future; what'd you expect?!
Besides, that's just natural language parsing and AI. What's really impressive are the psychic doors!
The Minnesota I-35W bridge collapse is indeed a symptom of our inability (or at least shortsighted unwillingness) to maintain our infrastructure. But the Tacoma Narrows (a.k.a. "Galloping Gertie") collapse happened in 1940 -- that's before the "empire" you claim is declining even existed! (The United States became a "superpower" during/after/because of WW2.)
Those were merely well-known examples, not an exhaustive list. There are many, many others.
I don't think that difference matters.
That depends on how many of the developers were Sun employees, and how many jumped ship when Sun became Oracle. If most of the development effort is outside Oracle now (and I have no idea whether or not it is), then Oracle could indeed have trouble keeping up with the changes
Actually, forking a project because the people in charge aren't managing it right is pretty common. For example:
Wow, no kidding! Never mind...
This is the problem that dividends are supposed to solve: instead of relying on increasing share price for their returns, shareholders collect dividends periodically. If the company is stable (i.e., neither growing nor declining), then the dividends and share price should remain stable too.
(Does Red Hat give dividends? I don't know.)
Oh really? Then how do you explain their "it only does everything" marketing?
(It was a joke; I like Savannah. I was going to protest you dissing Atlanta -- where I live -- instead, but then I realized you kind of had a point.)
What's so great about Savannah?
MMC is very related, in the sense that SD is just MMC + DRM support. MemoryStick was pointlessly created to compete with MMC, because Sony can't bear to support a standard that it doesn't control.
What about PBS; is that safe from Sony?
He's still clearly an idiot (albeit a lucky one); if he were competent he wouldn't have written what he wrote.
"Mac verses Emacs" makes about as much sense as "apples vs. sofas" (let alone oranges) -- not only are they not mutually exclusive, they're not even in the same category of things (jokes about Emacs being an operating system aside). Emacs runs on OS X, not to mention every other PC OS. What's the problem?!
Macs give you easy access to all those things, plus any specific mac/browser combination.
I don't see what the big difference is. He's complaining that he bought the wrong computer because he wants to run Linux, but the computer he bought can run Linux, so...?
Aside from the OS X license and EFI/GPT instead of BIOS/MBR (although it can be configured to use those too), there isn't any functional difference between a Mac and a Thinkpad!
Reasons to hate and boycott Sony:
...and that's not even a complete list, I'm sure!
This is why I bought a house as quickly as I possibly could (about a year ago, at age 25), with a 5.25% fixed-rate loan and a down payment paid mostly by government assistance. I hope to buy more property, potentially on credit, in the next few years (before the market recovers).
That doesn't mean I'll keep the same strategy 10, 20, or 30 years from now, of course.
The trouble is, those baby boomers won't be selling everything at once; they'll be selling continuously until they die. That means the prices will drop and remain depressed for 30 years!
(If his theory is correct, of course.)
Typing? ...Oh I see, you can send text messages with it. I never send text messages; I would have assumed it integrated with the messaging app the same way it does with the dialer.
I can't say I agree; on my (fairly low-end) Samsung Intercept, it's no more laggy than anything else. (It could just be that since everything's a little laggy, I'm used to it.)
With that applied math degree, it sounds like you'd make a good quant. Too bad you have morals...
I have the same problem. I've (so far) got degrees in two different fields (CS and civil engineering), and can't decide whether to get a job in one of those or go back for a masters in CS, civil, city planning, or business administration.
Wait, so you can get AT&T dry-loop DSL on AT&T-owned lines, but not a competitor's dry-loop DSL? That sounds blatantly illegally anti-competitive to me, even by AT&T standards!
Google Voice is too cumbersome to use on non-smartphones (you have to dial your GV number, enter your PIN, go through a menu, and then dial the number you actually wanted to call). All smartphones have data plans. Therefore, practically any phone with GV has a data plan.
What, you think Verizon doesn't have shitty customer service too?!
My advice is to go with something like Virgin Mobile: no contract and ridiculously lower prices (I pay $40/month for 1200 minutes and unlimited data).