IMO this is just going to encourage people for be even less organised than they are already.
Current modern filesystems allow names long enough to be able to sufficiently describe the contents of a file, people are just too lazy to give files decent names or to organise files in to directories/folders. And if people can't be bothered to give files decent names, what makes anybody think they will enter useful meta-data??? GIGO anybody???
Even if the the meta-data is available in files, I've seen enough examples of 'soccer moms' who have trouble finding things on the internet (via google etc) so how are they going to do any better when searching for files on their machine. I am not blaming the soccer moms here, just pointing out that putting a natural language search expression in to a search engine doesn't always give you what you want.
But the Xbox will have 'value' that the PS can't provide if M$ get bigger in the console market and 'pursuade' developers to sign exclusivity agreements!
I'm not saying the current way is the correct way to do things but given that 99% of *nix software it distributed via the net rather than CD, the assumption is made that the user is going to have a reasonable connection. There are distributions that make the dependancy issue less painful such as Gentoo and Debian which do a damn good job of sorting the dependancies for you.
But the other thing you have to bear in mind about *nix software is that it is, more often than not, written portably so it will build on several platforms/architectures in which case the application you want to install may have slightly different dependencies based on the architecture.
It's also easier to write gui software that will work on 99.99% of all windows 98 or higher installations without extensive tweaking, than it is to get running on even 50% of linux installations. Especially if sound is a requirement.
It is just as easy to write software for linux that will run on all installations. Just make it statically linked or take the Mac OSX approach and include all the libraries with the application and stick the lot in a single directory.
Many of the reasons for not doing it like this are going away these days (such as slow network links (as most *nix software is distributed via the web rather than CD), and disk space).
As for sound, it's funny how I can take a copy of UT2003 for linux and have no problems running it on any linux box I've tried!!!!
But if you are using an OS which doesn't need to load up a whole graphical environment which is irrelevent to the game then there will be much more RAM available for caching game data.
If the Gentoo live UT2003 CD detects that you have 512MB or more (very likely these days) it gives you the option of loading most of the game into memory/ramdisk!
I read somewhere that India won't give work permits to foreigners. So you can't even keep your job if you are willing to relocate and work to their salary structure!
I think that illustrates the whole problem. The medicine industry invent a new pill and they have to patent the pill to protect their research and development costs.
They do not patent an idea for a pill!
As I see it the problem with software patents is that it will mainly affect open source projects which are easy targets for patents (obviously you can search through the source code) and in most cases don't generate profit.
Closed source projects in most cases done purely for profit will probably slip through the net if they infringe a patent because the source code if far from accessable.
Surely, it is the second instance which you would want to protect your work from?!?!
The other problem I see is that many of these patents seem to have such broad definitions masses of innovation will be stiffled because a patent will encompass wide areas of work!
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IMO this is just going to encourage people for be even less organised than they are already.
Current modern filesystems allow names long enough to be able to sufficiently describe the contents of a file, people are just too lazy to give files decent names or to organise files in to directories/folders. And if people can't be bothered to give files decent names, what makes anybody think they will enter useful meta-data???
GIGO anybody???
Even if the the meta-data is available in files, I've seen enough examples of 'soccer moms' who have trouble finding things on the internet (via google etc) so how are they going to do any better when searching for files on their machine. I am not blaming the soccer moms here, just pointing out that putting a natural language search expression in to a search engine doesn't always give you what you want.
I think M$ is actually applying for a patent on Viruses here. Is this behaviour exactly what the latest batch of worms achieve???
Actually, Wind River announced that they are going to embrace Linux and have links on their site to Linux information.
It's actually linuxbios.org
But the Xbox will have 'value' that the PS can't provide if M$ get bigger in the console market and 'pursuade' developers to sign exclusivity agreements!
Microsoft (and others) aren't so concerned about jobs in highly developed countries when they move there operations to countries like India!
Microsoft is not interesting in people's welfare, or the advancement of computing.
Microsoft is interested in one thing, increasing their profits.
I'm a bit of an old skool programmer, my IDE consists of 3 - 4 xterms :-) and I find that IDEs get in the way.
I have to use VI/VIM these days, otherwise I end up with code containing spurious 'i's and 'A's :-)
I think you misspelt it, it's actually spelt VI :-)
...so plants will have to license the technology from these guys! :-)
Basic has very little structure can tends to develop bad habits.
Goto anybody???
Mebibytes is easier to pronounce if you've got a mouthful of biscuits (cookies for you Americans! :-)
I'm not saying the current way is the correct way to do things but given that 99% of *nix software it distributed via the net rather than CD, the assumption is made that the user is going to have a reasonable connection. There are distributions that make the dependancy issue less painful such as Gentoo and Debian which do a damn good job of sorting the dependancies for you.
But the other thing you have to bear in mind about *nix software is that it is, more often than not, written portably so it will build on several platforms/architectures in which case the application you want to install may have slightly different dependencies based on the architecture.
It's also easier to write gui software that will work on 99.99% of all windows 98 or higher installations without extensive tweaking, than it is to get running on even 50% of linux installations. Especially if sound is a requirement.
It is just as easy to write software for linux that will run on all installations. Just make it statically linked or take the Mac OSX approach and include all the libraries with the application and stick the lot in a single directory.
Many of the reasons for not doing it like this are going away these days (such as slow network links (as most *nix software is distributed via the web rather than CD), and disk space).
As for sound, it's funny how I can take a copy of UT2003 for linux and have no problems running it on any linux box I've tried!!!!
But if you are using an OS which doesn't need to load up a whole graphical environment which is irrelevent to the game then there will be much more RAM available for caching game data.
If the Gentoo live UT2003 CD detects that you have 512MB or more (very likely these days) it gives you the option of loading most of the game into memory/ramdisk!
I read somewhere that India won't give work permits to foreigners. So you can't even keep your job if you are willing to relocate and work to their salary structure!
I think that illustrates the whole problem. The medicine industry invent a new pill and they have to patent the pill to protect their research and development costs. They do not patent an idea for a pill!
As I see it the problem with software patents is that it will mainly affect open source projects which are easy targets for patents (obviously you can search through the source code) and in most cases don't generate profit. Closed source projects in most cases done purely for profit will probably slip through the net if they infringe a patent because the source code if far from accessable. Surely, it is the second instance which you would want to protect your work from?!?! The other problem I see is that many of these patents seem to have such broad definitions masses of innovation will be stiffled because a patent will encompass wide areas of work!