What's a "dvb"? Do you mean "dvd" instead? If so, every DVD drive I've ever tried has worked flawlessly the first time using the generic ATA driver. And even one USB DVD drive I tried worked via umass.
"and there's no alsa."
Don't need alsa, we have our own audio drivers that aren't Linux-only audio drivers. Granted, some of your newer 4D hypersurround $300 cards aren't supported, so you might have a point. But my Linux-using coworker's advice to me is "dump alsa use oss", so maybe the grass really isn't greener over there.
Far from it. Despite what Slashdot editors may tell you, many people have been barred from moderating without cause. I myself have not been given the opportunity to moderate in over a year, despite a high karma and regular metamoderation.
Drivers? What drivers are those? In terms of video drivers, you guys got a proprietary closed source Radeon driver, while we have to stick with the free-as-in-freedom driver. For other drivers it seems to be on par. For example, a coworker's quest for non-crap non-ndis wifi cards led him to one that was supported on Linux but not FreeBSD, and one that was supported on FreeBSD but not Linux.
What I have heard, but which I cannot verify, is that FreeBSD tends to release new drivers later than Linux, but that they tend to be higher quality at time of release. In other words, "early and often" equates to "soon but buggy".
Do I have to repeat myself? I've READ that page. if you look carefully, you'll see that the page is complete devoid of context. I'm only asking someone to explain it to me.
What is XFixes as a WHOLE? None of the concrete but trivial items mentioned seem to be related in any manner. "Vaguely related extension bits" just isn't explanation enough for me.
If you're willing to experiment, no system offers you as many possibilities as Linux.
I'm going to have to call your bluff. Consider FreeBSD as one example. Same desktop. Same graphics subsystem, including DRI. And if you're into proprietary graphics drivers, NVidia's is even available.
This service announcement brought to you by the Pedantry Police...
its that polish matters... OS X really has that aspect nailed down
Yet Linux has just recently managed to surpass OSX in installation. Maybe polish doesn't matter to the real world as much as it does to the amateur marketing departments of Slashdot.
XFixes? I've read the link and came away confused. Obviously this must be something outstanding or it wouldn't be in the story blurb. So someone explain to me what it is...
Where was the so-called "liberal" media when Clinton was going through all the sex scandal?
A "liberal media" is not the same thing as a "clinton media". The Clinton sex scandal was reported because sex sells. Simple as that.
The liberal bias doesn't mean that they don't report potentially embarassing news about those on their "side", it merely means that they have a "bias". Please look up the word. It doesn't mean the media is an Orwellian conspiracy of absolutists. It merely means that they, like everyone else including you and I, are not objective. In the case of the media, the reporters and commentators tend to have liberal biases.
No, you Wikipedia disciples have missed the point. RANDOM ANONYMOUS INEXPERT people can alter the information in the "encyclopedia" at any time.
There is no Free or Open Source Software project that does this. They all have gatekeepers of some kind. Can you imagine how horrible the Linux kernel would be if random users could check in code without asking? What if random users with barely two weeks into an introductory programming class decided to hack on GNOME or KDE? Of course most errors (but not all) won't be subsequently pushed out to the rest of the users, because the compiler or the testers will throw them out. But Wikipedia isn't software. Mistakes in the information WILL get pushed out to the other users.
I don't expect my authoritative sources to be error free, but I do expect them to be authoritative. You cannot do that without restricting membership to authoritative sources.
Now if the menu contains mixed entries: icons and text, then there is a good solution which is sometimes used...
Or why not use the Qt/KDE solution? Create the icons the same time you create the menu and keep them in memory. This will cause a slight delay in loading the application if you load icons from the filesystem, but it doesn't bother me nearly as much as the delay at the point of menu display.
Actually you CANNOT relicense BSD code under the GPL. I don't think you understand what "relicense" means. It means to remove the BSD license from the code completely. No Open Source license allows relicensing.
What you can do, however, is to redistribute BSD licensed code under the GPL. You can also license your own derivative works under the GPL. But you certainly may not take BSD licensed code and file off the license.
An even better example was during my friend's recent vacation. My friend tried to call his mom to tell he he made it safely. But not recognizing the hotel's phone number, she never picked up. After the third attempt she had it blocked.
For alot of people, this is baseline functionality, despite your finger-waving over running 'servers'.
Unfortunately, it is expected functionality. But the people who expect this need to understand that what they're doing is running a wide open server. If they're not prepared to adequately configure and maintain this server, they shouldn't be running it.
When it comes to computers, people are incredibly inconsistant. People who bitch about Microsoft's lack of security and then demand file sharing out-of-the-box, are like those who complain about crime in the neighborhood but leave their doors wide open when they leave.
This should be a no brainer. If you aren't running a server, you don't need any ports open. I'm running FreeBSD with only one port open (ssh) and I have lost zero functionality.
Part of the problem is that Windows shouldn't be running these services by default. The rest of the problem is that too many people want to run servers without having to be a competent sysadmin. My friend called me the other day with his latest Windows gripe. It seems that he was having a very difficult time running five different P2P programs without the firewall popping up every five minutes and calling him a stupid chowderhead. I told him either to stop running P2P ("but I'm not running a server!") or learn how to properly configure and *maintain* a firewall.
While I tend to agree with you, getting rid of intellectual property laws isn't going to solve the problem. Companies want to keep their ideas and implementations secret, and without copyright and patent laws, will still find ways to keep their stuff secret.
If you think this is nonsense, then consider that EULAs are *not* based on copyright law, but on contract law. Copyright law could be abolished tomorrow and every EULA in the land would still be valid.
You're both right. In a corporate fascism, it gets hard to tell who's in charge and who's the mouthpiece. And you're both wrong in implying that this is a US-only problem.
As a libertarian I have absolutely nothing against big business. But a public corporation cannot exist without government privilege, and are antithetical to the free market.
Are you saying you would still use Linux if it were completely proprietary and closed?
I'm not saying you need to be a religious zealot, I'm just saying that there are very practical reasons to want Open Source Software. I myself switched to ATI from NVidia because NVidia refused for six months to fix a bug in their proprietary FreeBSD driver. Six months without a working video card is highly impractical! Even though the Open Source ATI driver isn't perfect, at least I don't have to worry about which exact kernel options I'm using, whether I have XFree86 or X.org, worrying if my next buildworld is going to break the driver, etc.
An Open Source driver can be included as a base component of an Open Source operating system. This isn't about being a disciple wearing sackcloth and ashes and trudging along behind RMS, this is about being pragmatic.
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for example dvb drivers
What's a "dvb"? Do you mean "dvd" instead? If so, every DVD drive I've ever tried has worked flawlessly the first time using the generic ATA driver. And even one USB DVD drive I tried worked via umass.
"and there's no alsa."
Don't need alsa, we have our own audio drivers that aren't Linux-only audio drivers. Granted, some of your newer 4D hypersurround $300 cards aren't supported, so you might have a point. But my Linux-using coworker's advice to me is "dump alsa use oss", so maybe the grass really isn't greener over there.
Hell man, comments are moderated by popular vote!
Far from it. Despite what Slashdot editors may tell you, many people have been barred from moderating without cause. I myself have not been given the opportunity to moderate in over a year, despite a high karma and regular metamoderation.
Drivers? What drivers are those? In terms of video drivers, you guys got a proprietary closed source Radeon driver, while we have to stick with the free-as-in-freedom driver. For other drivers it seems to be on par. For example, a coworker's quest for non-crap non-ndis wifi cards led him to one that was supported on Linux but not FreeBSD, and one that was supported on FreeBSD but not Linux.
What I have heard, but which I cannot verify, is that FreeBSD tends to release new drivers later than Linux, but that they tend to be higher quality at time of release. In other words, "early and often" equates to "soon but buggy".
Okay, I understand now. Though I am still slightly confused as to why it's an extension instead of just a set of bug fixes.
Do I have to repeat myself? I've READ that page. if you look carefully, you'll see that the page is complete devoid of context. I'm only asking someone to explain it to me.
What is XFixes as a WHOLE? None of the concrete but trivial items mentioned seem to be related in any manner. "Vaguely related extension bits" just isn't explanation enough for me.
If you're willing to experiment, no system offers you as many possibilities as Linux.
I'm going to have to call your bluff. Consider FreeBSD as one example. Same desktop. Same graphics subsystem, including DRI. And if you're into proprietary graphics drivers, NVidia's is even available.
This service announcement brought to you by the Pedantry Police...
Sheesh, there have been shadowed cursors in X for a few years now, and putting shadows on static regions like menus is old hat...
its that polish matters... OS X really has that aspect nailed down
Yet Linux has just recently managed to surpass OSX in installation. Maybe polish doesn't matter to the real world as much as it does to the amateur marketing departments of Slashdot.
Forever? Sheesh, Windows barely got it three years ago, and I'm still waiting for a mainstream application to use it...
XFixes? I've read the link and came away confused. Obviously this must be something outstanding or it wouldn't be in the story blurb. So someone explain to me what it is...
Where was the so-called "liberal" media when Clinton was going through all the sex scandal?
A "liberal media" is not the same thing as a "clinton media". The Clinton sex scandal was reported because sex sells. Simple as that.
The liberal bias doesn't mean that they don't report potentially embarassing news about those on their "side", it merely means that they have a "bias". Please look up the word. It doesn't mean the media is an Orwellian conspiracy of absolutists. It merely means that they, like everyone else including you and I, are not objective. In the case of the media, the reporters and commentators tend to have liberal biases.
However, he misses the point.
No, you Wikipedia disciples have missed the point. RANDOM ANONYMOUS INEXPERT people can alter the information in the "encyclopedia" at any time.
There is no Free or Open Source Software project that does this. They all have gatekeepers of some kind. Can you imagine how horrible the Linux kernel would be if random users could check in code without asking? What if random users with barely two weeks into an introductory programming class decided to hack on GNOME or KDE? Of course most errors (but not all) won't be subsequently pushed out to the rest of the users, because the compiler or the testers will throw them out. But Wikipedia isn't software. Mistakes in the information WILL get pushed out to the other users.
I don't expect my authoritative sources to be error free, but I do expect them to be authoritative. You cannot do that without restricting membership to authoritative sources.
Wikipedia != Authoritative?
Duh!
The 'G' in both GTK and GNOME stands for "GNU". Therefore all of G* items stand for GNU.
Now if the menu contains mixed entries: icons and text, then there is a good solution which is sometimes used...
Or why not use the Qt/KDE solution? Create the icons the same time you create the menu and keep them in memory. This will cause a slight delay in loading the application if you load icons from the filesystem, but it doesn't bother me nearly as much as the delay at the point of menu display.
But is still is impressive on a 2.8 Xeon, which is what the blurb stated.
Actually you CANNOT relicense BSD code under the GPL. I don't think you understand what "relicense" means. It means to remove the BSD license from the code completely. No Open Source license allows relicensing.
What you can do, however, is to redistribute BSD licensed code under the GPL. You can also license your own derivative works under the GPL. But you certainly may not take BSD licensed code and file off the license.
When you get a dozen telemarketing calls a day, you don't stop to look up each number to see if it might possibly the hotel your son is staying at.
Any phone company charging their customers extra for Caller ID could possibly have a case against the company over lost revenue.
Sounds like the RIAA defense. Now I'm confused. As a loyal Slashdot poster, who am I supposed t root for? Don't make me think for myself!
An even better example was during my friend's recent vacation. My friend tried to call his mom to tell he he made it safely. But not recognizing the hotel's phone number, she never picked up. After the third attempt she had it blocked.
For alot of people, this is baseline functionality, despite your finger-waving over running 'servers'.
Unfortunately, it is expected functionality. But the people who expect this need to understand that what they're doing is running a wide open server. If they're not prepared to adequately configure and maintain this server, they shouldn't be running it.
When it comes to computers, people are incredibly inconsistant. People who bitch about Microsoft's lack of security and then demand file sharing out-of-the-box, are like those who complain about crime in the neighborhood but leave their doors wide open when they leave.
This should be a no brainer. If you aren't running a server, you don't need any ports open. I'm running FreeBSD with only one port open (ssh) and I have lost zero functionality.
Part of the problem is that Windows shouldn't be running these services by default. The rest of the problem is that too many people want to run servers without having to be a competent sysadmin. My friend called me the other day with his latest Windows gripe. It seems that he was having a very difficult time running five different P2P programs without the firewall popping up every five minutes and calling him a stupid chowderhead. I told him either to stop running P2P ("but I'm not running a server!") or learn how to properly configure and *maintain* a firewall.
While I tend to agree with you, getting rid of intellectual property laws isn't going to solve the problem. Companies want to keep their ideas and implementations secret, and without copyright and patent laws, will still find ways to keep their stuff secret.
If you think this is nonsense, then consider that EULAs are *not* based on copyright law, but on contract law. Copyright law could be abolished tomorrow and every EULA in the land would still be valid.
You're both right. In a corporate fascism, it gets hard to tell who's in charge and who's the mouthpiece. And you're both wrong in implying that this is a US-only problem.
As a libertarian I have absolutely nothing against big business. But a public corporation cannot exist without government privilege, and are antithetical to the free market.
Are you saying you would still use Linux if it were completely proprietary and closed?
I'm not saying you need to be a religious zealot, I'm just saying that there are very practical reasons to want Open Source Software. I myself switched to ATI from NVidia because NVidia refused for six months to fix a bug in their proprietary FreeBSD driver. Six months without a working video card is highly impractical! Even though the Open Source ATI driver isn't perfect, at least I don't have to worry about which exact kernel options I'm using, whether I have XFree86 or X.org, worrying if my next buildworld is going to break the driver, etc.
An Open Source driver can be included as a base component of an Open Source operating system. This isn't about being a disciple wearing sackcloth and ashes and trudging along behind RMS, this is about being pragmatic.