No, I just have a burning hatred for fascists and fascism and would rather choose death over it.
Puh-leaze! It's stupid hyperbole's like this that make you and your entire political aisle look like idiots. This is every bit as asinine as conservatives calling liberals "communists".
Get a dictionary and look up "fascism". Then get a history book and look up Franco and Mussolini to put it in context. If after all that you still think the people who "lost" the last election are fascists, then permit me the pleasure of calling you a communist. Just to be fair.
The FSF are True Believers(tm). You will never be able to tell them they are wrong. Once they get an idea in their head, there's no going back. It's best to just ignore them.
Negative campaigns only work when the consumer/voter has two choices (which is why the US political system reeks with it). When there are three or more choices, all it does is to rally the already-converted.
If this smear Vista campaign does anything at all, it will drive consumers away from Windows and towards Mac OSX. I suspect that isn't the FSF's goal.
How many times have/. readers been reminded that companies exist to generate profit for their owners?
Thank you Sherlock for telling us that companies exist to make profit. Next thing you know you'll be telling us that people work for companies to get a salary.
Here's a big cluestick to knock that tinfoil off your head: there is a world of difference between the goal of generating profit legally and ethically, and the goal of generating profit by any means whatsover.
Unless you're on the shell. Then use a shell scripting language.
Or if you don't know what version of your favorite "modern programming language" the user will have installed on their system. Or if the user is a Bad Person(tm) who doesn't even have your favorite "modern programming language" installed. Or even worse, using a system or distro that doesn't install your favorite "modern programming language" by default.
Or if you just want to do something simple. Sheesh.
This is one of the things I dislike about my fellow liberals...
Only about a quarter of liberals are truly liberal. The other three quarters adopting that label are control freaks who want to manage other people's lives. Which isn't much different from the three quarters of conservatives who are control freaks wanting to manage other people's lives.
Politics is about power, which is why it attacts people who get off on telling other people what they can or cannot do. If you can manage to use the correct rhetoric, not only do you get to tell other people how to live their lives, you get lauded in the press as being a compassionately wonderful person.
Dangerous? Not compared to other toys not on this list! As near as I can tell, the criteria for this list is a commercial toy sold after 1950.
The common wooden top. Take a block of hardwood, lathe it into the classic top shape, then stick a sharp nail in the point. Wind it with string and throw it hard at the sidewalk. Helps to explain why Uncle Jack is missing the tip of his pinky finger.
Marbles and jacks. Obvious choking hazards. But more than that, marbles of yesteryear were ceramic with lead based glaze. Swallow one of those and you're poisoned. I'm amazed our grandparents lived long enough to breed.
Slingshot. Yes, I know the list deliberately excluded them, but just think how dangerous they are. Even when used responsibly, the elastic could snap, ripping your arm while sending the projectile into your brother's eye.
Yo-yos. While not particularly deadly, they have an amazing tendency to give concussions to small children trying to do 'round the world.
Sticks. Baseball bats. Cricket bats. Plain old hickory stickball stick. You don't need much imagination to know how dangerous they can be.
Balls. If the swinging bat doesn't hit the catcher, that rock hard baseball might. Ever been hit by a softball in the head? The "soft" in the name is a cruel irony.
Toy boats. There can't be anything dangerous about a toy boat, can there? No. Not unless you're running along with your toy sailboat, trip, and get impaled through the heart with the mast.
I guess it mildly annoys me because they aren't that dangerous if you know how to use them properly.
I agree. With even minimal adult supervision, there's no problem with them. It's a heavy metal toy meant to stick in stuff, so only idiot parents would let their kids use them unattended.
I feel sorry for children who have stupid parents, but that's no excuse to punish the children of intelligent parents.
If something is obvious, not innovative, and done before, can you patent it? Yes! As long as you are the first person to patent it, you can patent anything!
I say this is all seriousness, because that's what the system as devolved to. This is why companies try to patent everything, because if they don't their competitors will.
The teacher of the science class had apparently even taken the step of stating at the start of the school year that there were other theories on the origin of life.
OMG! The sky if falling! Imminent destruction is upon us! Cats and dogs living together! Won't someone think of the Russian Children!?
but I know that true and rational conservatives don't agree with Bush's follies.
What the fuck does Bush have to do with my last post? You rant about the conservative movement being taken over. But the liberal movement has been coopted as well. You guys are enslaved to BDS. Bush Derangement Syndrome. You hate Bush so much, that he occupies your entire consciousness. Why do you give a man you hate so much power? Can you even manage to go ten minutes without thinking of him?
p.s. True and rational conservatives don't agree with Bush, because Bush is a true liberal. Only a few particulars of his foreign policy keep him from the liberal label.
I fully agree. I read the article summary and wondered to myself what the controversy was. Is it really the Slashdot meme to discriminate on the basis of visual acuity? Then I realized that it's about guns. The only thing Slashdot hates more than guns is Texas.
You can't poke fun of people's skin color, gender, sexual orientation, or eccentric proclivities, but by damn if they're from Texas you can make fun of their physical disabilities! It shows just how regressive some of you progressives really are.
Am I opposed to the blind hunting? Hell no! If there were a safe way to allow it, I would let them drive on the freeways too!
Liberals would find that more people would take their global warming doom and gloom scenario seriously if they didn't deliberately alienate conservatives at the same time.
If we're all truly going to die if we don't do something about global warming, then don't turn your back on half the population. Because you might need their help to survive. But I guess your petty political snarking is more important than survival...
2040? I'll still be alive then! So how about a wager? I wager $1000 (adjusted for inflation) that the arctic ice will still be around all through 2040.
I'm quite confident in my wager. History shows that doom and gloom timetables are invariably wrong. Malthus's timetable was wrong. Carson's timetable was wrong. 1970's global cooling timetable was wrong. And this global warming timetable will be shown to be just as wrong.
Any takers? I won't put any money in escrow for 34 years, but I will sign a formal wager agreement.
Embedded systems (that use true embedded operating systems) do this all the time. The first boot takes longer, but subsequent boots are pre-configured and boot much faster. Heck, many of them are pre-configured in manufacturing, so other than some necessary sanity checks, are as close to "instant on" as you can get.
PCs are different, because they do necessary hardware checks. Even if you compile the drivers into the kernel, they still need to query the system to know what's there. Then there are various daemons or services to start.
Why does a PC need to check? Well for starters, what if you install new hardware? You at least have to check for that. And what if the printer attached to the USB bus were powered on while booting (or powered off it it were normally powered on)? What if the mouse was in the second USB slot instead of the first? What if your ethernet cable were unplugged? What if your wifi router were powered off? Etc, etc.
In short, a PC doesn't know what state its hardware/connections are going to be in, so it needs to check. This is also why PCs are much more flexible pieces of equipment than single-purpose embedded systems.
Get an internship. That's what they're for. I've had some interns who were absoutely brilliant, but didn't know the first thing about real world programming.
p.s. If you're worried that you might get in over your head, it's just a normal part of the job. I start most assignments feeling like a deer in the headlights.
There is a difference between specifications and software. Really there is. End users do not need specifications in order to run software. Thus, your dooom and gloom is unjustified. As long as the specs are patent-hindered, use them to your heart's content.
Reverse compiling Microsoft's software to figure out how they implemented the spec, on the other hand, is a whole other kettle of fish. So don't do it. Get the specs directly from ECMA and start implementing.
This was a civil case, and HP essentially settled. If the case had gone on and HP lost, all that would have happened is that they would have paid a slightly larger amount of money. This action also applies only to the State of California. It doesn't stop any other party from continuing/seeking a lawsuit over the matter.
Your initial post seemed to deny ANY link between Microsoft and SCO
No, my initial post denied PJ's silly implications. Let me quote from PJ: "As victory is in sight, Novell signs a patent agreement with Microsoft..." What the fsck does the indemnity agreement have to do with the SCO case? Nothing!
Microsoft isn't The Enemy. Microsoft is ONE of MANY enemies.
Slashdot Mirror
No, I just have a burning hatred for fascists and fascism and would rather choose death over it.
Puh-leaze! It's stupid hyperbole's like this that make you and your entire political aisle look like idiots. This is every bit as asinine as conservatives calling liberals "communists".
Get a dictionary and look up "fascism". Then get a history book and look up Franco and Mussolini to put it in context. If after all that you still think the people who "lost" the last election are fascists, then permit me the pleasure of calling you a communist. Just to be fair.
The FSF are True Believers(tm). You will never be able to tell them they are wrong. Once they get an idea in their head, there's no going back. It's best to just ignore them.
As for our government, the election turned out promising so maybe we will not have to revolt against it with any hope.
So in other words, you only like democracy when your candidates win.
Negative campaigns only work when the consumer/voter has two choices (which is why the US political system reeks with it). When there are three or more choices, all it does is to rally the already-converted.
If this smear Vista campaign does anything at all, it will drive consumers away from Windows and towards Mac OSX. I suspect that isn't the FSF's goal.
How many times have /. readers been reminded that companies exist to generate profit for their owners?
Thank you Sherlock for telling us that companies exist to make profit. Next thing you know you'll be telling us that people work for companies to get a salary.
Here's a big cluestick to knock that tinfoil off your head: there is a world of difference between the goal of generating profit legally and ethically, and the goal of generating profit by any means whatsover.
Duh.
When possible, avoid shell scripting
Unless you're on the shell. Then use a shell scripting language.
Or if you don't know what version of your favorite "modern programming language" the user will have installed on their system. Or if the user is a Bad Person(tm) who doesn't even have your favorite "modern programming language" installed. Or even worse, using a system or distro that doesn't install your favorite "modern programming language" by default.
Or if you just want to do something simple. Sheesh.
This is one of the things I dislike about my fellow liberals...
Only about a quarter of liberals are truly liberal. The other three quarters adopting that label are control freaks who want to manage other people's lives. Which isn't much different from the three quarters of conservatives who are control freaks wanting to manage other people's lives.
Politics is about power, which is why it attacts people who get off on telling other people what they can or cannot do. If you can manage to use the correct rhetoric, not only do you get to tell other people how to live their lives, you get lauded in the press as being a compassionately wonderful person.
Dangerous? Not compared to other toys not on this list! As near as I can tell, the criteria for this list is a commercial toy sold after 1950.
The common wooden top. Take a block of hardwood, lathe it into the classic top shape, then stick a sharp nail in the point. Wind it with string and throw it hard at the sidewalk. Helps to explain why Uncle Jack is missing the tip of his pinky finger.
Marbles and jacks. Obvious choking hazards. But more than that, marbles of yesteryear were ceramic with lead based glaze. Swallow one of those and you're poisoned. I'm amazed our grandparents lived long enough to breed.
Slingshot. Yes, I know the list deliberately excluded them, but just think how dangerous they are. Even when used responsibly, the elastic could snap, ripping your arm while sending the projectile into your brother's eye.
Yo-yos. While not particularly deadly, they have an amazing tendency to give concussions to small children trying to do 'round the world.
Sticks. Baseball bats. Cricket bats. Plain old hickory stickball stick. You don't need much imagination to know how dangerous they can be.
Balls. If the swinging bat doesn't hit the catcher, that rock hard baseball might. Ever been hit by a softball in the head? The "soft" in the name is a cruel irony.
Toy boats. There can't be anything dangerous about a toy boat, can there? No. Not unless you're running along with your toy sailboat, trip, and get impaled through the heart with the mast.
Sigh. Childhood is so dangerous.
I guess it mildly annoys me because they aren't that dangerous if you know how to use them properly.
I agree. With even minimal adult supervision, there's no problem with them. It's a heavy metal toy meant to stick in stuff, so only idiot parents would let their kids use them unattended.
I feel sorry for children who have stupid parents, but that's no excuse to punish the children of intelligent parents.
If something is obvious, not innovative, and done before, can you patent it? Yes! As long as you are the first person to patent it, you can patent anything!
I say this is all seriousness, because that's what the system as devolved to. This is why companies try to patent everything, because if they don't their competitors will.
The teacher of the science class had apparently even taken the step of stating at the start of the school year that there were other theories on the origin of life.
OMG! The sky if falling! Imminent destruction is upon us! Cats and dogs living together! Won't someone think of the Russian Children!?
but I know that true and rational conservatives don't agree with Bush's follies.
What the fuck does Bush have to do with my last post? You rant about the conservative movement being taken over. But the liberal movement has been coopted as well. You guys are enslaved to BDS. Bush Derangement Syndrome. You hate Bush so much, that he occupies your entire consciousness. Why do you give a man you hate so much power? Can you even manage to go ten minutes without thinking of him?
p.s. True and rational conservatives don't agree with Bush, because Bush is a true liberal. Only a few particulars of his foreign policy keep him from the liberal label.
I fully agree. I read the article summary and wondered to myself what the controversy was. Is it really the Slashdot meme to discriminate on the basis of visual acuity? Then I realized that it's about guns. The only thing Slashdot hates more than guns is Texas.
You can't poke fun of people's skin color, gender, sexual orientation, or eccentric proclivities, but by damn if they're from Texas you can make fun of their physical disabilities! It shows just how regressive some of you progressives really are.
Am I opposed to the blind hunting? Hell no! If there were a safe way to allow it, I would let them drive on the freeways too!
Liberals would find that more people would take their global warming doom and gloom scenario seriously if they didn't deliberately alienate conservatives at the same time.
If we're all truly going to die if we don't do something about global warming, then don't turn your back on half the population. Because you might need their help to survive. But I guess your petty political snarking is more important than survival...
...both of those news organisations are known to be the main global warming deniers in each of those countries.
So instead we have to listen to those organizations who are the main global warming promoters in those countries?
2040? I'll still be alive then! So how about a wager? I wager $1000 (adjusted for inflation) that the arctic ice will still be around all through 2040.
I'm quite confident in my wager. History shows that doom and gloom timetables are invariably wrong. Malthus's timetable was wrong. Carson's timetable was wrong. 1970's global cooling timetable was wrong. And this global warming timetable will be shown to be just as wrong.
Any takers? I won't put any money in escrow for 34 years, but I will sign a formal wager agreement.
Embedded systems (that use true embedded operating systems) do this all the time. The first boot takes longer, but subsequent boots are pre-configured and boot much faster. Heck, many of them are pre-configured in manufacturing, so other than some necessary sanity checks, are as close to "instant on" as you can get.
PCs are different, because they do necessary hardware checks. Even if you compile the drivers into the kernel, they still need to query the system to know what's there. Then there are various daemons or services to start.
Why does a PC need to check? Well for starters, what if you install new hardware? You at least have to check for that. And what if the printer attached to the USB bus were powered on while booting (or powered off it it were normally powered on)? What if the mouse was in the second USB slot instead of the first? What if your ethernet cable were unplugged? What if your wifi router were powered off? Etc, etc.
In short, a PC doesn't know what state its hardware/connections are going to be in, so it needs to check. This is also why PCs are much more flexible pieces of equipment than single-purpose embedded systems.
A GUI designed by committee. This is sure to be as wildly popular as Ada, a language designed by committee.
Get an internship. That's what they're for. I've had some interns who were absoutely brilliant, but didn't know the first thing about real world programming.
p.s. If you're worried that you might get in over your head, it's just a normal part of the job. I start most assignments feeling like a deer in the headlights.
There is a difference between specifications and software. Really there is. End users do not need specifications in order to run software. Thus, your dooom and gloom is unjustified. As long as the specs are patent-hindered, use them to your heart's content.
Reverse compiling Microsoft's software to figure out how they implemented the spec, on the other hand, is a whole other kettle of fish. So don't do it. Get the specs directly from ECMA and start implementing.
So you're saying we should just give up and forget EVER trying to create and promote a different standard?
"Normal" people go to jail...../eM?
Not in civil cases they don't.
This was a civil case, and HP essentially settled. If the case had gone on and HP lost, all that would have happened is that they would have paid a slightly larger amount of money. This action also applies only to the State of California. It doesn't stop any other party from continuing/seeking a lawsuit over the matter.
Yet you're still rich enough to have the leisure time to bitch online.
Your initial post seemed to deny ANY link between Microsoft and SCO
No, my initial post denied PJ's silly implications. Let me quote from PJ: "As victory is in sight, Novell signs a patent agreement with Microsoft..." What the fsck does the indemnity agreement have to do with the SCO case? Nothing!
Microsoft isn't The Enemy. Microsoft is ONE of MANY enemies.
"Those who do not understand statistics are doomed to use repeat stupid statistics."
If the richest 2% of the people owned only 2% of the wealth, then they wouldn't be the richest 2%, now would they?