The one where you can see the source code! The GP said open source, not FOSS.
Remember, most open source software has some form of strings attached as part of the license. Sometimes you have to provide code freedom, other times you have keep comments about who wrote the software, and still other times you can't use it at all but only look at it.
FreeBSD has many packages, but not all of them are quite right. Many port maintainers are lazy about plists for ports and don't get all the files.
During our transition to "mports", we've uncovered a lot of ports that have very bad plists.
The java packages work great, but not everything fits that category.
When things work on a Mac, it is very easy to use. However, not all hardware "just works". For instance, we've got some usb devices at work which cause kernel panics just by plugging them in. As a result, we have to use bootcamp and run the devices with Windows.
The situation did not improve with Leopard.
I would even argue apple went backwards with Leopard on usability. With Linux moving forward with easy to use distros like ubuntu, I think they'll meet up in the next few years. I don't think that means we'll see the year of linux, but hardware support and usability won't be issues at that point.
The next few problems the open source community needs to work on are 1. working together. I'm not just talking bsd and gpl fans. I've seen issues with GNU software and other GNU software. 2. Creating software that fills in holes. We need answers to iTunes, iWork and iLife in the home market. I think there is some promise with several apps to replace iTunes. Open Office does not count. It is not like pages, numbers and keynote but rather Microsoft Office. It is also not that portable. We have nothing to replace iLife. 3. Advertising. No one knows about linux on the desktop. Tell them!
That is a shame. I had a classmate use a naked picture of his girlfriend (also in the class) as a background picture during an intro CS class. The student had to leave class immediately and after a meeting with the dean no longer attended that university. Also, his girlfriend dumped him. I felt bad for her.
Did I mention the guy was in the front row and it was a large room with theater like seating at an angle. I could see it 6 rows up.
Before anyone asks, yes she was attractive and no she didn't date anyone in the department after that.
I have to wonder where you went to school. I've gone to four different schools and I can tell you that there are great differences between the knowledge of professors. You may knock community colleges, but I had a better experience there than at my current university. In a perfect world, the professor is an expert and you may learn a great deal. However, this is not always the case. I've sat through just as many classes where I had to teach the professor something and other students as I did classes that I learned something. (in my major and minor)
I do not think class attendance should be required by any professor. That is a sign they are either not qualified or boring. A good professor will get you to come to class by a quality lecture and the feeling that you are discussing import topics. Only bad professors have trouble.
Not to mention, people who go to class might have an advantage in the real world. Why even out the playing field when I can have an advantage getting a job.
Yeah, but how old are their computers? They mentioned Windows 98! XP requires a few hundred mhz and in reality 128MB ram (even though it's lower on paper).
The kid got them on the NT tree and it's still a security improvement. They just got real user accounts!
I agree with comments about using Linux this case and I'm a BSD guy.
I'm going to have to disagree. The C++ Programming Language is useless to actually learn the language and often times it fails as a reference. If all the ego was removed from the book, it might be useful for something. Compare it to K&R. You'll notice a difference in tone. I realize not everyone likes K&R, but aside from the chapter on pointers I feel it is a very concise book that allows one to pickup the basics of C very quickly.
I am not alone in my opinion. Consider the difference in rank on amazon. Many third party C++ books have better ratings. In fact, I'd argue C++ is such a large language that one needs more than one book to provide adequate information. I don't think The C++ Programming language should be anyone's first book on C++, but it could be an extra backup reference.
As for the O'reilly book, I agree it is not complete but there are a few useful items for reference. Absolute C++ is a better book. Even the deitel C++ how to program book is better and I don't think much of deitel books after having to use three as text books.
1. I believe i mentioned that blizzard is good about patching. I wasn't saying all games from 98 don't work. Please read what i said.
2. Your example with controllers is not a PC game and you are using an emulator which nintendo does not endorse. (coincidently proving that console games are better with controllers)
3. I gave specific examples about games that do not run anymore. I do think it's fair to blame LucasArts because as you pointed out many games do in fact run in xp. As someone else pointed out, it's often copy protection mechanisms. Age of Empires II Conquerers expansion does NOT run in vista 64bit because they didn't fix the copy protection, but supposedly works on 32 bit versions.
Many of you have jumped on me because I said consoles work when pcs don't. My point was that consoles ARE STATIC. I don't know one person with a working PC that shipped with windows 98 or 95 on it. I also know many games do not run in vmware.
I've got copies of id games that work from back in the day, and blizzard games. I also have a bunch of shit from interplay and lucasarts that doesn't work. Try playing Star Trek Star Fleet command in vista or xp. It is possible to get the sequel to play in XP with a patch and some broken menus.
So say half my games can play either in emulator or native. All of my console games work and i have like 200. That isn't to say I don't like PCs. I've got more hours on enemy territory than any other game except doom.
Microsoft and Apple have a history with this on their operating systems. I'm sure apple views it as the same thing.
SoftwareUpdate is used to provide the latest apple software including new software on OS X. It's not that common for apple to do it, but it happens. The name of the application might be misleading.
As I said in my previous post, I don't think it should install safari automagically, but I think it's ok to prompt the user if they want safari (and provide an ignore feature like OS X or windows update).
It uses part of quicktime for encoding. I would imagine the video playback might want things in quicktime too.
Microsoft Office on the Mac installs MSN Messenger.
I think users should be given an opt in with a default of off on the safari install. I guess this story would have more impact if someone from mozilla had not said it. Someone is competing against them and they are pissed.
Frankly, I'd just like a browser without strings that is also open source. I don't care if it's bsd or gpl'd. Before anyone claims firefox, read up on iceweasel or look at the shit we have to go through porting to new platforms. Users know it as firefox but we can't call it that or use the artwork. Oddly enough, Konquerer is the best choice in a gui browser and webkit is derived from that which safari runs. I think webkit is the biggest upcoming threat to mozilla.
Well you could hook up 4 controllers to a PC (USB), but most games don't support them.
The other advantage to game consoles is that they hold up better than most regular PCs. That may change with hard drives and other parts to fail. I have a NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Genesis, 32x, Sega CD, Dreamcast, and GBA all working. i can play the same games on them now I could play in the past. With Windows, games that ran on Windows 98 no longer run. Many games don't even make it to the next windows release. For instance, LucasArts games have terrible compatibility issues. Some of the win98 era games didn't even make it past a DirectX update! Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic has terrible memory leaks and graphics card bugs. (its' great otherwise) I've got a pile of games I can't play anymore that also won't run in emulators yet due to 3d or opengl requirements. I don't have a PC that will run Windows 98 handy anymore either.
It is very rare that I get rid of a game console, but PCs come and go. (and windows versions) In fact, the only console I've sold in the last 12 years was my xbox.
PC gaming has a place, and some companies like id and blizzard know how to make games run on several os versions (or patch them). I couldn't imagine WoW on a console or QuakeWars. I hate FPS on consoles. They look bad and the controls suck. SImulations tend to be better on PCs and Macs too.
I think there is a market for both. If you look at articles, it seems like cell phone gaming is the hot ticket right now anyway.
No, Comcast can file a lawsuit as well. Remember, since they send packets out to p2p apps, it is possible MediaSentry is actually communicating with Comcast instead of you. This is the beauty of Comcast impersonating people online, they get to sue too.
I see your point, but I think most people are thinking fair is fair. If big companies and organizations can ruin people's lives over copyrighted works, individuals should be able to hurt them too. I don't think 100,000 dollars is enough. Since the average person doesn't have 100,000 in a settlement, the value should be a number higher than the IOC can afford to pay. Most people on slashdot love sliding scales based on the infringement. Since we'll never see that, how about based on the size of the target. If one song can be worth so much, imagine what a whole game can be worth? Another option is to charge per infringement. EVERY hit to that website should be like 10,000 dollars.
It doesn't sound fair, but either is the law for the little guy. It would only take one time for this to "fix" the problem.
Accessing the stream can stop paying customers. Why? Bandwidth costs. If this were a story about spam, everyone would be going nuts about bandwidth costs. Streaming multimedia uses a lot of bandwidth, and that costs the company a lot more money.
I don't think it's "hacking" to post a public url, and I think posts regarding moral issues with using it are correct. Bandwidth and CPU resources are limited.
It's probably not the IT people. If you talk to someone working in IT at a University, you will soon realize they just implement the stupid ideas from above. At some point, an idiot says I want Groupwise or Outlook and they have to comply just like any large business. In this case, they might have viewed it as a cost savings or to avoid lawsuits. Talking to those same people, you will find P2P traffic is most of the on campus bandwidth.
I agree it is a stupid ban. I just wanted to point out there are other possible reasons for said stupid ban beyond an idiot in IT.
I realize this won't come out as I intend. I have not been following the development of the mobile version of Firefox, but have they designed it to work in a low memory environment? Many people complain about the memory usage on systems with over a gigabyte of memory. Firefox proponents claim this is due to caching; provided this is true, can the browser run efficiently with almost zero memory for caching?
I'm shocked they didn't have a company lined up before the effort to port was started.
He did say average. I think most of you forget about cost of living. I see this mistake at my university all the time. Graduating students take like $45,000 in LA or something because they don't realize that it's not the same as $45,000 in Ann Arbor, MI. Just because location x pays $85k does not mean that location y pays $85k or even that it's the "same" amount to live on.
Some products cost the same in different parts of the country. Gas is fairly close right now across the board. It's cheaper in New Jersey than the midwest, but it's still within 50 cents or so. A MacBook still costs around $1050 everywhere in the United States. The problem is that in New York or California that is a joke amount of money compared to some farmer or entry level GM line worker might make in the midwest. Hell people make $3 a hour more in Ann Arbor, MI than Kalamazoo, MI at the local burger joint and it's the same state!
This is just in the US; imagine the difference if one were to move to Germany or India or somewhere else in the world.
I feel that the change was forced by telephone companies. In my case, I am only using cell phones in my household. I can't understand why it's $50 for a damn landline. Sure they quote you $20, but add hidden fees, setup fees, monthly taxes and 911 portability charges, and you're near $50. Want caller id or long distance (heaven forbid)... that will cost you. And if you elect not to have all their damn services, they harass you with constant sales calls.
Yeah I tried VOIP too. It was great at first. Then the government stepped in and made them start charging all those taxes, 911 charges, etc. Then they made it so you can't move your phone around with you due to 911 requirements. Soon that nice $20 bill was $30. The last straw for me was when Verizon (originally MCI) told me that I couldn't transition to the new number when I moved that I setup. The power company required a phone number in the area and we didn't want a landline. I made the silly mistake of thinking that I could just add a 734 area code number to my VOIP and KEEP IT after I moved. Wrong. They told us we had to get rid of the number which would cause problems with our power company who is also very inflexible. The solution was to switch cell phone companies and take the number from the VOIP over to cellular. We then dropped VOIP since they didn't want to give us proper service.
Granted, this is just one experience and many people swear by vonage or skype. I just don't think these changes in three years that you speak of are anything to do with technology changes, but rather the increasingly poor customer service we get.
Today, companies want to be a monopoly or nothing. They must have all the customers or they are unhappy. They will do anything to get you back when you leave, but they don't care about you while you're there.
I don't think AT&T should become Google, but I'd love to see companies like Google compete with AT&T. I can always pick a smaller search engine if things go sour, but at least there will be competition for a time. Competition means lower prices and proper service.
Slashdot Mirror
The one where you can see the source code! The GP said open source, not FOSS. Remember, most open source software has some form of strings attached as part of the license. Sometimes you have to provide code freedom, other times you have keep comments about who wrote the software, and still other times you can't use it at all but only look at it.
FreeBSD has many packages, but not all of them are quite right. Many port maintainers are lazy about plists for ports and don't get all the files. During our transition to "mports", we've uncovered a lot of ports that have very bad plists. The java packages work great, but not everything fits that category.
Apple uses a hybrid kernel called XNU actually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XNU
Apple doesn't lower prices that often. With the exception of the iPhone and iPods, I can't think of a lot of instances.
When things work on a Mac, it is very easy to use. However, not all hardware "just works". For instance, we've got some usb devices at work which cause kernel panics just by plugging them in. As a result, we have to use bootcamp and run the devices with Windows.
The situation did not improve with Leopard.
I would even argue apple went backwards with Leopard on usability. With Linux moving forward with easy to use distros like ubuntu, I think they'll meet up in the next few years. I don't think that means we'll see the year of linux, but hardware support and usability won't be issues at that point.
The next few problems the open source community needs to work on are 1. working together. I'm not just talking bsd and gpl fans. I've seen issues with GNU software and other GNU software. 2. Creating software that fills in holes. We need answers to iTunes, iWork and iLife in the home market. I think there is some promise with several apps to replace iTunes. Open Office does not count. It is not like pages, numbers and keynote but rather Microsoft Office. It is also not that portable. We have nothing to replace iLife. 3. Advertising. No one knows about linux on the desktop. Tell them!
That is a shame. I had a classmate use a naked picture of his girlfriend (also in the class) as a background picture during an intro CS class. The student had to leave class immediately and after a meeting with the dean no longer attended that university. Also, his girlfriend dumped him. I felt bad for her. Did I mention the guy was in the front row and it was a large room with theater like seating at an angle. I could see it 6 rows up. Before anyone asks, yes she was attractive and no she didn't date anyone in the department after that.
I have to wonder where you went to school. I've gone to four different schools and I can tell you that there are great differences between the knowledge of professors. You may knock community colleges, but I had a better experience there than at my current university. In a perfect world, the professor is an expert and you may learn a great deal. However, this is not always the case. I've sat through just as many classes where I had to teach the professor something and other students as I did classes that I learned something. (in my major and minor) I do not think class attendance should be required by any professor. That is a sign they are either not qualified or boring. A good professor will get you to come to class by a quality lecture and the feeling that you are discussing import topics. Only bad professors have trouble. Not to mention, people who go to class might have an advantage in the real world. Why even out the playing field when I can have an advantage getting a job.
It looks like there is an Objective-C GTK wrapper among other things.
http://www.foldr.org/~michaelw/objective-c/
Yeah, but how old are their computers? They mentioned Windows 98! XP requires a few hundred mhz and in reality 128MB ram (even though it's lower on paper).
The kid got them on the NT tree and it's still a security improvement. They just got real user accounts!
I agree with comments about using Linux this case and I'm a BSD guy.
I'm going to have to disagree. The C++ Programming Language is useless to actually learn the language and often times it fails as a reference. If all the ego was removed from the book, it might be useful for something. Compare it to K&R. You'll notice a difference in tone. I realize not everyone likes K&R, but aside from the chapter on pointers I feel it is a very concise book that allows one to pickup the basics of C very quickly.
I am not alone in my opinion. Consider the difference in rank on amazon. Many third party C++ books have better ratings. In fact, I'd argue C++ is such a large language that one needs more than one book to provide adequate information. I don't think The C++ Programming language should be anyone's first book on C++, but it could be an extra backup reference.
As for the O'reilly book, I agree it is not complete but there are a few useful items for reference. Absolute C++ is a better book. Even the deitel C++ how to program book is better and I don't think much of deitel books after having to use three as text books.
1. I believe i mentioned that blizzard is good about patching. I wasn't saying all games from 98 don't work. Please read what i said.
2. Your example with controllers is not a PC game and you are using an emulator which nintendo does not endorse. (coincidently proving that console games are better with controllers)
3. I gave specific examples about games that do not run anymore. I do think it's fair to blame LucasArts because as you pointed out many games do in fact run in xp. As someone else pointed out, it's often copy protection mechanisms. Age of Empires II Conquerers expansion does NOT run in vista 64bit because they didn't fix the copy protection, but supposedly works on 32 bit versions.
Many of you have jumped on me because I said consoles work when pcs don't. My point was that consoles ARE STATIC. I don't know one person with a working PC that shipped with windows 98 or 95 on it. I also know many games do not run in vmware.
I've got copies of id games that work from back in the day, and blizzard games. I also have a bunch of shit from interplay and lucasarts that doesn't work. Try playing Star Trek Star Fleet command in vista or xp. It is possible to get the sequel to play in XP with a patch and some broken menus.
So say half my games can play either in emulator or native. All of my console games work and i have like 200. That isn't to say I don't like PCs. I've got more hours on enemy territory than any other game except doom.
Microsoft and Apple have a history with this on their operating systems. I'm sure apple views it as the same thing.
:)
SoftwareUpdate is used to provide the latest apple software including new software on OS X. It's not that common for apple to do it, but it happens. The name of the application might be misleading.
As I said in my previous post, I don't think it should install safari automagically, but I think it's ok to prompt the user if they want safari (and provide an ignore feature like OS X or windows update).
Asking if I RTFA is silly on slashdot.
It uses part of quicktime for encoding. I would imagine the video playback might want things in quicktime too.
Microsoft Office on the Mac installs MSN Messenger.
I think users should be given an opt in with a default of off on the safari install. I guess this story would have more impact if someone from mozilla had not said it. Someone is competing against them and they are pissed.
Frankly, I'd just like a browser without strings that is also open source. I don't care if it's bsd or gpl'd. Before anyone claims firefox, read up on iceweasel or look at the shit we have to go through porting to new platforms. Users know it as firefox but we can't call it that or use the artwork. Oddly enough, Konquerer is the best choice in a gui browser and webkit is derived from that which safari runs. I think webkit is the biggest upcoming threat to mozilla.
Well you could hook up 4 controllers to a PC (USB), but most games don't support them.
The other advantage to game consoles is that they hold up better than most regular PCs. That may change with hard drives and other parts to fail. I have a NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Genesis, 32x, Sega CD, Dreamcast, and GBA all working. i can play the same games on them now I could play in the past. With Windows, games that ran on Windows 98 no longer run. Many games don't even make it to the next windows release. For instance, LucasArts games have terrible compatibility issues. Some of the win98 era games didn't even make it past a DirectX update! Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic has terrible memory leaks and graphics card bugs. (its' great otherwise) I've got a pile of games I can't play anymore that also won't run in emulators yet due to 3d or opengl requirements. I don't have a PC that will run Windows 98 handy anymore either.
It is very rare that I get rid of a game console, but PCs come and go. (and windows versions) In fact, the only console I've sold in the last 12 years was my xbox.
PC gaming has a place, and some companies like id and blizzard know how to make games run on several os versions (or patch them). I couldn't imagine WoW on a console or QuakeWars. I hate FPS on consoles. They look bad and the controls suck. SImulations tend to be better on PCs and Macs too.
I think there is a market for both. If you look at articles, it seems like cell phone gaming is the hot ticket right now anyway.
Ok so on top of being a dick, you're also stupid. She's retired so I bet she's old enough not to get those anymore.
I'm not, but I also have a business package with static IPs. What part of the country are you in?
Airport Express base stations also support IPv6. I have two and it even encourages use of IPv6 in the manual.
I've been tempted to play with it, but I don't believe my Wii can handle it. It's not just routers that need some work.
More like wordpad.. notepad is too small for VB developers. (I started on VB5)
No, Comcast can file a lawsuit as well. Remember, since they send packets out to p2p apps, it is possible MediaSentry is actually communicating with Comcast instead of you. This is the beauty of Comcast impersonating people online, they get to sue too.
I see your point, but I think most people are thinking fair is fair. If big companies and organizations can ruin people's lives over copyrighted works, individuals should be able to hurt them too. I don't think 100,000 dollars is enough. Since the average person doesn't have 100,000 in a settlement, the value should be a number higher than the IOC can afford to pay. Most people on slashdot love sliding scales based on the infringement. Since we'll never see that, how about based on the size of the target. If one song can be worth so much, imagine what a whole game can be worth? Another option is to charge per infringement. EVERY hit to that website should be like 10,000 dollars.
It doesn't sound fair, but either is the law for the little guy. It would only take one time for this to "fix" the problem.
Accessing the stream can stop paying customers. Why? Bandwidth costs. If this were a story about spam, everyone would be going nuts about bandwidth costs. Streaming multimedia uses a lot of bandwidth, and that costs the company a lot more money.
I don't think it's "hacking" to post a public url, and I think posts regarding moral issues with using it are correct. Bandwidth and CPU resources are limited.
It's probably not the IT people. If you talk to someone working in IT at a University, you will soon realize they just implement the stupid ideas from above. At some point, an idiot says I want Groupwise or Outlook and they have to comply just like any large business. In this case, they might have viewed it as a cost savings or to avoid lawsuits. Talking to those same people, you will find P2P traffic is most of the on campus bandwidth.
I agree it is a stupid ban. I just wanted to point out there are other possible reasons for said stupid ban beyond an idiot in IT.
I realize this won't come out as I intend. I have not been following the development of the mobile version of Firefox, but have they designed it to work in a low memory environment? Many people complain about the memory usage on systems with over a gigabyte of memory. Firefox proponents claim this is due to caching; provided this is true, can the browser run efficiently with almost zero memory for caching?
I'm shocked they didn't have a company lined up before the effort to port was started.
He did say average. I think most of you forget about cost of living. I see this mistake at my university all the time. Graduating students take like $45,000 in LA or something because they don't realize that it's not the same as $45,000 in Ann Arbor, MI. Just because location x pays $85k does not mean that location y pays $85k or even that it's the "same" amount to live on.
Some products cost the same in different parts of the country. Gas is fairly close right now across the board. It's cheaper in New Jersey than the midwest, but it's still within 50 cents or so. A MacBook still costs around $1050 everywhere in the United States. The problem is that in New York or California that is a joke amount of money compared to some farmer or entry level GM line worker might make in the midwest. Hell people make $3 a hour more in Ann Arbor, MI than Kalamazoo, MI at the local burger joint and it's the same state!
This is just in the US; imagine the difference if one were to move to Germany or India or somewhere else in the world.
I feel that the change was forced by telephone companies. In my case, I am only using cell phones in my household. I can't understand why it's $50 for a damn landline. Sure they quote you $20, but add hidden fees, setup fees, monthly taxes and 911 portability charges, and you're near $50. Want caller id or long distance (heaven forbid)... that will cost you. And if you elect not to have all their damn services, they harass you with constant sales calls.
Yeah I tried VOIP too. It was great at first. Then the government stepped in and made them start charging all those taxes, 911 charges, etc. Then they made it so you can't move your phone around with you due to 911 requirements. Soon that nice $20 bill was $30. The last straw for me was when Verizon (originally MCI) told me that I couldn't transition to the new number when I moved that I setup. The power company required a phone number in the area and we didn't want a landline. I made the silly mistake of thinking that I could just add a 734 area code number to my VOIP and KEEP IT after I moved. Wrong. They told us we had to get rid of the number which would cause problems with our power company who is also very inflexible. The solution was to switch cell phone companies and take the number from the VOIP over to cellular. We then dropped VOIP since they didn't want to give us proper service.
Granted, this is just one experience and many people swear by vonage or skype. I just don't think these changes in three years that you speak of are anything to do with technology changes, but rather the increasingly poor customer service we get.
Today, companies want to be a monopoly or nothing. They must have all the customers or they are unhappy. They will do anything to get you back when you leave, but they don't care about you while you're there.
I don't think AT&T should become Google, but I'd love to see companies like Google compete with AT&T. I can always pick a smaller search engine if things go sour, but at least there will be competition for a time. Competition means lower prices and proper service.