With all that flame war nonsense about communication (which sucks unfortunately in Debian) and AMD64 inclusion in Sarge, it's great that someone has cleared mind and moved forward.
No offence to Debian AMD64 guys, thought. But they should at least understand that Sarge release already TOO late.
First, it doesn't require any kind of email registration. Second, it based on GTK - that's great, no more outdated Modif GUI.
Let's see how it will be handled. I would like to point out that if we would have two descent Media frameworks - Helix and GStreamer (which still has to mature), then it would be very good.
It's nice to see that Real learns something from their past.
Wrong. Microsoft isn't largest company in the world, and it isn't largest IT company in the world. It is just biggest software wendor, and it impacts are more visible not because of bigness or whatever, but simply of Microsoft wanting to donimate. To rule.
IBM is largest IT company, in fact. Twice income as Microsoft each year and Fourth times bigger if we count people.
However, there is the difference - IBM has writen/unwritten law inside it that they not provide political contributions. They don't buy it.
Just because they want to think they are big, it doesn't create any valid point to think so. They just want to influence people. That's why Microsoft PR is "we are everything".
We live in real world, where most users won't patch their systems even if there Armageddon will depend on that. They are just clueless. And it is social problem. But let's leave that.
In reality, we would like to have less exploited Windows boxes in Internet, right? Even if you are Linux/BSD/Mac user/admin, you should wish that, because less exploited Windows boxes => less DoS attacks, less spam (certanly), less talking about dying e-mail, etc.
So it overall, if they made properly, "white knight" viruses can form some kind of Internet "white blood cells". It could be very interesting technique and is worth future research.
I will second that. XCDRoast maybe is useful sometimes when I need something more advanced, but K3b is one good example how things should be handled in Apps world (not only in Linux). Fast, rock solid, feature rich, easy to understand interface and the main point - it works.
It's a little bullshit. And I will prove my point.
First, let's look at the chain of so called "entertaiment business".
Let's take for example there is some new pop group, called "Simple". Managers create PR, Image, everything. Specially hired medicore or good songwriters write possible top hits.
Radio because of special agreements overlplay those medicore songs over and over so much that even slightly good song sounds like shit for me, sorry.
So, I just wanted to point out. It's all god damned FAKED. It feels faked. It feels... Really stubborn to play over and over the same styles and songs.
Creativity is a sparkle. Song is that what you want to say to world. For example, Keane. Yes, there are for poprock in this market. But they still get such songs like "She has no time" and "Bedshaped", which, I guess is something that no one of those medicore specially hired song writers will ever write.
Ok, I keep forgeting that music WAS a business from time being - not vice versa. Just because there are greedy middle man aka publishing companies, it doesn't make a music obligatory a business. It is like that - artist creates something, because he wants to say something/try to prove something/etc. Then publisher publishes it. And that's it. Now we live to see industry who try to fake the souls of song because they figured to make bilions out of it. And they cry out when something really don't go that way.
So, in overall, some indies are more entertaiment than mainstream. It is so. Just a problem - they don't get so much publicity. Maybe it's good. Maybe it's bad. Who knows.
I would like to simply second that. I don't get RIAA actions - they are all against customer these days. I really see lot of indie label rising because of all that. I don't give a shit of RIAA surviving emerging online market because of such attitude. It is very shortsighted, period.
*flame mode* Oh, I don't like it, and I don't like it, oh, and it is broken because of Spatial mode which I can't get to... */flame mode*
Ok, first of all, about fork - I don't get a news. This guy gets too much attention, it is not worth that for even himself. If he will get anything done, then we can welcome him as proven his point. Until then, he is simply... a flamer.
BUT let's look at the problem from other side - fact one, there are many (however, we can't count how much percent of GNOME user base) people who doesn't like the way GNOME drives away from childishly old UNIX style of thinking (in GUI case, not in overall) and thinks that all this HIG thinky is stupid and so on and so on. fact two, many people simply dislike GNOME because of serious companies backing it - and guess what, again it is partly of HIG and simpliness/coolness GNOME provides. It's all against everything geeky, in their opinion.
So there is very practical solution - write a Control Center-like superb GNOME tweaking program for expert mode!
Or there is second, emotional solution - prove your point maybe with providing details and all info for another Usability Guide. Prove your point that buttons should be in that order you have used to use, not how current HIG suggests. HIG doesn't have to be perfect, so if you have something really to add, then do it. Don't rant.
p.s. While I wrote this post I read that someone compared Windows Registry with GConf. Sights, if they have EVER used it, then they won't be talkin bullshit. GConf rocks, I would really love that many programms of GNOME would use it. It is easy to hack, easy to use, easy to change from ssh session for client, easy to make lot of kickstart options for bunch of users. It's all very simple and useful XML conf structure, nothing of big fat one file Windows registry.
p.s.s. rembember, there are ranters and flamers in all kind of camps - GNOME, KDE, Linux, BSD, Windows, Apple, whatever. I don't hate those people, however, I hate the whole process. It's all useless.
I guess it's just low level ammo - it comes too late, it has very doubtful claims - as copyrighted ELF, for Christ sakes - and stock doesn't buy it.
I'm actually tired of all this SCOism, but I have to admit that it cleared lot of legal things in Linux/Free Software field. We have started thought for defense from ligitious bastards in many forms (not only SCO). So there is still good things in all that.
Ardour is more Pro Tools, sound tweaking tool, as MusE is full audio/midi sequencer. I guess in future Ardour and MusE could be in battle for good meaning, but Ardour is more really for sound tweakage.
I'm really getting more and more excited about Linux pro audio, as I have Ice1712 based (ALSA drivers fully support this cipset) sound card from Terratec EWS88MT. It rocks. And Jack and Ardour shows big improvements.
Of coarse, there are still long road ahead for fully user friendly Linux audio studio which could be used for low and medium level pro audio studios, but it's getting there. And it WILL get there.
This disscusion, I guess, is rather old and pointless too, because it have been always the same..
In 50-60ties there was sheet music industry (publishers). They were a middle man, actually they did NOTHING in creation of work of art, but they wanted EVERYTHING. Profits, everything. Musicians usually didn't wanted to take care of redistribution, publishing, so they given those rights to publishers.
As anywhere, when bigger and bigger money appears in industry, middle man is always trying to gain more and more money, actually even don't caring that could turn lot of tallented people away from mainstream publishers and to try independent ones.
So, question is, when there is REASONABLE to extend copyright? I would say - a little bit, BUT not 100 years, not 'forever'. However the greed of middle man aka big fat publishing companies are actually unstoppable, as they all are...American.
So, whatever. BUT one thing they don't know - that their actions actually shrinks their market. They looking for today's profits, don't care about tomorrow.
And I call your arguments plainly out of context. Sometimes, I'm really tired of this all old Windows IT departement mentality and sentimentality, which really loves their jobs of patching and reinstalling.
First, in my practice, 95% of situations normal desktop PC (not laptops, it's another story and problems, but lot of people working on it) never need aditional Linux drivers. And most of commercial ones has very good driver support, even lot of semi-comercial and comercial ones, which can't be included in free web versions.
Second, most of distros has very good autodetection, in fact, in my own tuned Debian based distro, used by small program 'discover', I don't need to do anything to get sound and network work, usually. Oh, yes, there are not nvidia drivers included by default and, oh, last prioritary wifi card doesn't work due of vendors lack of interest, etc. etc. But in good comercial distro with proper support it's actually matter of minutes, not hours.
Sights, I NEVER needed to recompile kernel due of drivers. Create big one, with all kind of modules, and use kuzu or discover to detect hardware and load them.
In fact, you are the one who flames. Linux doesn't work for you - so you bash it? At least when I have done things to one box - and you can do lot of things to create your own custom installation with Nvidia and ATI 3d binary only drivers included - I don't need to tach it anymore. It doesn't brake, it doesn't hang, what a heck, sometimes I'm really afraid about my job security. But I don't care, I move on and install another bunch of boxes of my own Debian based distro while someone whines about 'compiling from source'.
Sight, I'm really geting tired of all this... If you try to use hammer for nails, but you hit your hands, don't blame a tool, blame yourself.
It's very strange. I have had very rarerly kernel panics, sometimes when I haven't properly set up my/etc/fstab for my numerous servers or workstations I support, NEVER had a kernel panic due of hardware misfunction or damage (thanks god!), I never had problems with drivers provided by vendor, etc. etc.
In opposite, I have to plug off box from INTERNET while installing Windows XP and install updates OFF-LINE, otherwise it will be full of viruses in matter of minutes.
Yes, there ARE lot of thing to improve, BUT please, install is NOT what most people will do anyway - they just their box to work.
Linux has improved very much last few years and if you don't see it, well, maybe then Linux is simply not for you.
For Exchange, use Ximian Connector, which is GPLed now by Novell. I guess you should investigate more, as there are many options to run linux on your desktop, even if you are not Linux admin and require special programs.
But I have fell in love with Wikipedia. Hell, I even have added it a info search sequence - first Google, then Wikipedia, sometimes Wikipedia goes first.
It s i m p l y r o c k s!
AFAIK next Moore documentary (yes, I said that wrong word, so sue me:)) will be about US Health system. Altought, I would like him to make documentary about Intelectual Property myth.
I'm from Europe, Latvia so I still wait for F911 to show up in my local cinema, because our local politics where totally ignorant about issues questioning Bush real reasons. So it could rise a disscussion and bring some common sence back here.
Ok, first of all, it's open source player, so it's really not a problem any more about prioritary codecs, about that it is coming from Real (king of bloated player), etc. Yes, Real codecs still will be closed and let them stay in that way if they want to be - it's not a main point this time. I hope at least they will ease distribution of their codecs so they could be included in distros and every distro won't require additional hacking for including them - as it is now. Yes, there are still their official player, but it is very outdated with it's Motif GUI.
Second, there's no worry about it because Helix support Ogg Vorbis/Thedora codecs from the very begining. So, they are open source formats and will play in the Gstreamer enabled apps (Totem) as in Helix.
If there are competition - that's good. Main goal for me in media players is support for patent-free and royality-free codecs. Helix support that. So I don't think that there is something to worry about.
Very short and insightful comment: it should be free. And it will stay free. Just because someone built it's business on information, provided by goverment and now is frightened that 'sky is falling'... Sorry. Be smarter next time.
I'm not against business, but business IS a risk. It's the same way to make a business plan, hoping that country won't change taxes for 100 years. So, beat it.
NOT a bullshit. Right, in the begining, it's clearly GoodEnoughWare. But later, when I found lot of functions which helped my productivity, I fell love with it.
Yes, I still want to load it faster, take less footprint in my system, be with more apps, be more correct, support much of Microsoft closed doc format. BUT I know that If I will (or at least 5% of those people who use it everyday) will help developers with bug reports and suggestions, I think it will succeed and everyone will love it.
So, actually, you are wrong. I love it because I see what it can became. In other corner, Microsoft Office have been stagnating for years. And each next version requires newer Windows version for perfect work, etc.
I think most persons who works with Linux and even loves that, won't start to play - ohh, it's a just small bumb on the road. Bug is serious, and Linux kernel team will take a look at it and will find correct and final solution for this. And as everyone said, patch is already aviable.
If someone states that modern Linux deskop is slow, well, I can't agree on this anymore.
Ok, Mandrake and Fedora IS slow, but just because it launches bunch of unnecessary services in the background (as the users prefer to get a FULLY functional desktop, even if they don't have a USB memory sticks or Firewire hard disks to plug in), not because of slowness of KDE/GNOME. Get real, people, most of your testings propably are based on one, two, three accidents, not everyday use.
I and my company created a lean, compact GNOME 2.4 based desktop distro for local distribution and use. It works like charm even on Pentium II 350 with 128 MB memory! OpenOffice.org, GNOME apps - everything second recent (GNOME 2.6, for my point of view, is even faster, so I'm looking forward to use it as the base for our version 2.x). Of course, almost all this is thanks to our knowledge and distro which we are based on - Debian. You can laugh at them guys, but I have seen nowhere (even on Windows) the browser with Java and Flash (Epiphany, Mozilla Firefox) work so fast as on our Debian based distro. Kutos to all Debianists!
So, get a grip. It's not getting heavier and slower. Just some distros which tends to include everything, including kichen sink, so they are paying the price.
I guess it's a step forward, yeah, yeah, someone will say - it's not happened *YET*. BUT it could change certainly several things:
1) every distribution now could distribute JRE without any licensing issues - I guess it's first and main point about Java widespread on Linux boxes
2) Allow changes for others/forks - I guess second is rather risky, but I guess no one will fork Java unless it will be very necessary and pressing. I guess it could be done the same way it worked for Openoffice.org project - one project site, everyone can contribute, submit changes, Sun engineers do the rest.
Yes, I guess most of you should understand that isn't that easy to open source Java - Sun clearly see beneficts, but legal team should figure everything out, everything must be sorted out, even code - I asume. So let's just wait for that.
And yes, it is about god damned time - for people who don't want to use Mono because of fear from Microsoft.
Pixar have not failed me with Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, I hope they will rock this time again. And let's forget about commerciality, Disney, or whatever - it's cinema, it should entertain, at least from Pixar.
Slashdot Mirror
With all that flame war nonsense about communication (which sucks unfortunately in Debian) and AMD64 inclusion in Sarge, it's great that someone has cleared mind and moved forward. No offence to Debian AMD64 guys, thought. But they should at least understand that Sarge release already TOO late.
First, it doesn't require any kind of email registration. Second, it based on GTK - that's great, no more outdated Modif GUI. Let's see how it will be handled. I would like to point out that if we would have two descent Media frameworks - Helix and GStreamer (which still has to mature), then it would be very good. It's nice to see that Real learns something from their past.
Wrong. Microsoft isn't largest company in the world, and it isn't largest IT company in the world. It is just biggest software wendor, and it impacts are more visible not because of bigness or whatever, but simply of Microsoft wanting to donimate. To rule.
IBM is largest IT company, in fact. Twice income as Microsoft each year and Fourth times bigger if we count people.
However, there is the difference - IBM has writen/unwritten law inside it that they not provide political contributions. They don't buy it.
Just because they want to think they are big, it doesn't create any valid point to think so. They just want to influence people. That's why Microsoft PR is "we are everything".
We live in real world, where most users won't patch their systems even if there Armageddon will depend on that. They are just clueless. And it is social problem. But let's leave that. In reality, we would like to have less exploited Windows boxes in Internet, right? Even if you are Linux/BSD/Mac user/admin, you should wish that, because less exploited Windows boxes => less DoS attacks, less spam (certanly), less talking about dying e-mail, etc. So it overall, if they made properly, "white knight" viruses can form some kind of Internet "white blood cells". It could be very interesting technique and is worth future research.
I will second that. XCDRoast maybe is useful sometimes when I need something more advanced, but K3b is one good example how things should be handled in Apps world (not only in Linux). Fast, rock solid, feature rich, easy to understand interface and the main point - it works.
It's a little bullshit. And I will prove my point.
... Really stubborn to play over and over the same styles and songs.
First, let's look at the chain of so called "entertaiment business".
Let's take for example there is some new pop group, called "Simple". Managers create PR, Image, everything. Specially hired medicore or good songwriters write possible top hits.
Radio because of special agreements overlplay those medicore songs over and over so much that even slightly good song sounds like shit for me, sorry.
So, I just wanted to point out. It's all god damned FAKED. It feels faked. It feels
Creativity is a sparkle. Song is that what you want to say to world. For example, Keane. Yes, there are for poprock in this market. But they still get such songs like "She has no time" and "Bedshaped", which, I guess is something that no one of those medicore specially hired song writers will ever write.
Ok, I keep forgeting that music WAS a business from time being - not vice versa. Just because there are greedy middle man aka publishing companies, it doesn't make a music obligatory a business. It is like that - artist creates something, because he wants to say something/try to prove something/etc. Then publisher publishes it. And that's it. Now we live to see industry who try to fake the souls of song because they figured to make bilions out of it. And they cry out when something really don't go that way.
So, in overall, some indies are more entertaiment than mainstream. It is so. Just a problem - they don't get so much publicity. Maybe it's good. Maybe it's bad. Who knows.
I would like to simply second that. I don't get RIAA actions - they are all against customer these days. I really see lot of indie label rising because of all that. I don't give a shit of RIAA surviving emerging online market because of such attitude. It is very shortsighted, period.
*flame mode* ...
Oh, I don't like it, and I don't like it, oh, and it is broken because of Spatial mode which I can't get to
*/flame mode*
Ok, first of all, about fork - I don't get a news. This guy gets too much attention, it is not worth that for even himself. If he will get anything done, then we can welcome him as proven his point. Until then, he is simply... a flamer.
BUT let's look at the problem from other side - fact one, there are many (however, we can't count how much percent of GNOME user base) people who doesn't like the way GNOME drives away from childishly old UNIX style of thinking (in GUI case, not in overall) and thinks that all this HIG thinky is stupid and so on and so on. fact two, many people simply dislike GNOME because of serious companies backing it - and guess what, again it is partly of HIG and simpliness/coolness GNOME provides. It's all against everything geeky, in their opinion.
So there is very practical solution - write a Control Center-like superb GNOME tweaking program for expert mode!
Or there is second, emotional solution - prove your point maybe with providing details and all info for another Usability Guide. Prove your point that buttons should be in that order you have used to use, not how current HIG suggests. HIG doesn't have to be perfect, so if you have something really to add, then do it. Don't rant.
p.s. While I wrote this post I read that someone compared Windows Registry with GConf. Sights, if they have EVER used it, then they won't be talkin bullshit. GConf rocks, I would really love that many programms of GNOME would use it. It is easy to hack, easy to use, easy to change from ssh session for client, easy to make lot of kickstart options for bunch of users. It's all very simple and useful XML conf structure, nothing of big fat one file Windows registry.
p.s.s. rembember, there are ranters and flamers in all kind of camps - GNOME, KDE, Linux, BSD, Windows, Apple, whatever. I don't hate those people, however, I hate the whole process. It's all useless.
I guess it's just low level ammo - it comes too late, it has very doubtful claims - as copyrighted ELF, for Christ sakes - and stock doesn't buy it.
I'm actually tired of all this SCOism, but I have to admit that it cleared lot of legal things in Linux/Free Software field. We have started thought for defense from ligitious bastards in many forms (not only SCO). So there is still good things in all that.
Ardour is more Pro Tools, sound tweaking tool, as MusE is full audio/midi sequencer. I guess in future Ardour and MusE could be in battle for good meaning, but Ardour is more really for sound tweakage. I'm really getting more and more excited about Linux pro audio, as I have Ice1712 based (ALSA drivers fully support this cipset) sound card from Terratec EWS88MT. It rocks. And Jack and Ardour shows big improvements. Of coarse, there are still long road ahead for fully user friendly Linux audio studio which could be used for low and medium level pro audio studios, but it's getting there. And it WILL get there.
This disscusion, I guess, is rather old and pointless too, because it have been always the same..
...American.
In 50-60ties there was sheet music industry (publishers). They were a middle man, actually they did NOTHING in creation of work of art, but they wanted EVERYTHING. Profits, everything. Musicians usually didn't wanted to take care of redistribution, publishing, so they given those rights to publishers.
As anywhere, when bigger and bigger money appears in industry, middle man is always trying to gain more and more money, actually even don't caring that could turn lot of tallented people away from mainstream publishers and to try independent ones.
So, question is, when there is REASONABLE to extend copyright? I would say - a little bit, BUT not 100 years, not 'forever'. However the greed of middle man aka big fat publishing companies are actually unstoppable, as they all are
So, whatever. BUT one thing they don't know - that their actions actually shrinks their market. They looking for today's profits, don't care about tomorrow.
And I call your arguments plainly out of context. Sometimes, I'm really tired of this all old Windows IT departement mentality and sentimentality, which really loves their jobs of patching and reinstalling.
First, in my practice, 95% of situations normal desktop PC (not laptops, it's another story and problems, but lot of people working on it) never need aditional Linux drivers. And most of commercial ones has very good driver support, even lot of semi-comercial and comercial ones, which can't be included in free web versions.
Second, most of distros has very good autodetection, in fact, in my own tuned Debian based distro, used by small program 'discover', I don't need to do anything to get sound and network work, usually. Oh, yes, there are not nvidia drivers included by default and, oh, last prioritary wifi card doesn't work due of vendors lack of interest, etc. etc. But in good comercial distro with proper support it's actually matter of minutes, not hours.
Sights, I NEVER needed to recompile kernel due of drivers. Create big one, with all kind of modules, and use kuzu or discover to detect hardware and load them.
In fact, you are the one who flames. Linux doesn't work for you - so you bash it? At least when I have done things to one box - and you can do lot of things to create your own custom installation with Nvidia and ATI 3d binary only drivers included - I don't need to tach it anymore. It doesn't brake, it doesn't hang, what a heck, sometimes I'm really afraid about my job security. But I don't care, I move on and install another bunch of boxes of my own Debian based distro while someone whines about 'compiling from source'.
Sight, I'm really geting tired of all this...
If you try to use hammer for nails, but you hit your hands, don't blame a tool, blame yourself.
Common sence, perhaps?
It's very strange. I have had very rarerly kernel panics, sometimes when I haven't properly set up my /etc/fstab for my numerous servers or workstations I support, NEVER had a kernel panic due of hardware misfunction or damage (thanks god!), I never had problems with drivers provided by vendor, etc. etc.
In opposite, I have to plug off box from INTERNET while installing Windows XP and install updates OFF-LINE, otherwise it will be full of viruses in matter of minutes.
Yes, there ARE lot of thing to improve, BUT please, install is NOT what most people will do anyway - they just their box to work.
Linux has improved very much last few years and if you don't see it, well, maybe then Linux is simply not for you.
And everyone have enough with 640 kb of memory. And yes, floppy disk drives are in dying mode already for 7-8 years. Sure, right :)
Bill, people simply don't change technology so ofen. They simply enjoy things longer. They all are NOT stupid consumers.
For Exchange, use Ximian Connector, which is GPLed now by Novell. I guess you should investigate more, as there are many options to run linux on your desktop, even if you are not Linux admin and require special programs.
But I have fell in love with Wikipedia. Hell, I even have added it a info search sequence - first Google, then Wikipedia, sometimes Wikipedia goes first. It s i m p l y r o c k s!
AFAIK next Moore documentary (yes, I said that wrong word, so sue me :)) will be about US Health system. Altought, I would like him to make documentary about Intelectual Property myth.
I'm from Europe, Latvia so I still wait for F911 to show up in my local cinema, because our local politics where totally ignorant about issues questioning Bush real reasons. So it could rise a disscussion and bring some common sence back here.
Ok, first of all, it's open source player, so it's really not a problem any more about prioritary codecs, about that it is coming from Real (king of bloated player), etc. Yes, Real codecs still will be closed and let them stay in that way if they want to be - it's not a main point this time. I hope at least they will ease distribution of their codecs so they could be included in distros and every distro won't require additional hacking for including them - as it is now. Yes, there are still their official player, but it is very outdated with it's Motif GUI.
Second, there's no worry about it because Helix support Ogg Vorbis/Thedora codecs from the very begining. So, they are open source formats and will play in the Gstreamer enabled apps (Totem) as in Helix.
If there are competition - that's good. Main goal for me in media players is support for patent-free and royality-free codecs. Helix support that. So I don't think that there is something to worry about.
Very short and insightful comment: it should be free. And it will stay free. Just because someone built it's business on information, provided by goverment and now is frightened that 'sky is falling'... Sorry. Be smarter next time.
I'm not against business, but business IS a risk. It's the same way to make a business plan, hoping that country won't change taxes for 100 years. So, beat it.
NOT a bullshit. Right, in the begining, it's clearly GoodEnoughWare. But later, when I found lot of functions which helped my productivity, I fell love with it.
Yes, I still want to load it faster, take less footprint in my system, be with more apps, be more correct, support much of Microsoft closed doc format. BUT I know that If I will (or at least 5% of those people who use it everyday) will help developers with bug reports and suggestions, I think it will succeed and everyone will love it.
So, actually, you are wrong. I love it because I see what it can became. In other corner, Microsoft Office have been stagnating for years. And each next version requires newer Windows version for perfect work, etc.
I think most persons who works with Linux and even loves that, won't start to play - ohh, it's a just small bumb on the road. Bug is serious, and Linux kernel team will take a look at it and will find correct and final solution for this. And as everyone said, patch is already aviable.
If someone states that modern Linux deskop is slow, well, I can't agree on this anymore.
Ok, Mandrake and Fedora IS slow, but just because it launches bunch of unnecessary services in the background (as the users prefer to get a FULLY functional desktop, even if they don't have a USB memory sticks or Firewire hard disks to plug in), not because of slowness of KDE/GNOME. Get real, people, most of your testings propably are based on one, two, three accidents, not everyday use.
I and my company created a lean, compact GNOME 2.4 based desktop distro for local distribution and use. It works like charm even on Pentium II 350 with 128 MB memory! OpenOffice.org, GNOME apps - everything second recent (GNOME 2.6, for my point of view, is even faster, so I'm looking forward to use it as the base for our version 2.x). Of course, almost all this is thanks to our knowledge and distro which we are based on - Debian. You can laugh at them guys, but I have seen nowhere (even on Windows) the browser with Java and Flash (Epiphany, Mozilla Firefox) work so fast as on our Debian based distro. Kutos to all Debianists!
So, get a grip. It's not getting heavier and slower. Just some distros which tends to include everything, including kichen sink, so they are paying the price.
I guess it's a step forward, yeah, yeah, someone will say - it's not happened *YET*. BUT it could change certainly several things: 1) every distribution now could distribute JRE without any licensing issues - I guess it's first and main point about Java widespread on Linux boxes 2) Allow changes for others/forks - I guess second is rather risky, but I guess no one will fork Java unless it will be very necessary and pressing. I guess it could be done the same way it worked for Openoffice.org project - one project site, everyone can contribute, submit changes, Sun engineers do the rest. Yes, I guess most of you should understand that isn't that easy to open source Java - Sun clearly see beneficts, but legal team should figure everything out, everything must be sorted out, even code - I asume. So let's just wait for that. And yes, it is about god damned time - for people who don't want to use Mono because of fear from Microsoft.
Pixar have not failed me with Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, I hope they will rock this time again. And let's forget about commerciality, Disney, or whatever - it's cinema, it should entertain, at least from Pixar.