Ah, thanks for finding the key!
No coding needed for this one - just dig into the Chess.app package, find the Info.plist ( only one level down ) and edit it.
Apple has generaly pretty good documentation. The environment variable stuff is documented ( for the most part ) here :
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Co nceptual/BPRuntimeConfig/Concepts/EnvironmentVars. html
The bit at the bottom of the page on setting application-specific environment variables says something about "The second way to associate environment variables with an application is to include the LSEnvironment key in the application's information property list." and includes a link to http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Co nceptual/BPRuntimeConfig/Concepts/PListKeys.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20001431/BCIJIJBH for more information.
Anyway, by setting LSEnvironment in the Info.plist to include "MBC_DEBUG=(whatever)", you should be able to set up any of the associated behaviors. It looks like you want (MBC_DEBUG &16) to eval to false... so LSEnvironment "MBC_DEBUG=16" should do the trick.
eh. Forget I said anything, it's probably easier to just comment out those lines and recompile...
While very cool, I have to ask if this is something new.
The reason I wonder is that when I click on the "About Chess" menu item in Chess 2.0 as installed on OS X 10.3, I notice that in the lower right hand corner of the About window there is a button labeled "Download Source Code...". The button opens this page Apple - Public Source - Miscellaneous.
So, while still cool, this is not likely to be "news". I do appreciate the pointer, though. It'll be nice to check out for programming ideas, as I'm getting back into Objective-C programming again.
For folks wanting Simpsons mods and other simple image changes, though, you probably don't need the source for that, you just need to realize that the images are in the.app package... changing those really shouldn't require a recompile, should it?
The "Listen" sample clips on this service seem pretty darn generous- the one I checked was 45 seconds long, almost the entire song, and there were clips for every song on the album.
So, it's actually *really* easy to know if you'll like something on this service- just check out all of the samples before you buy!
Of course, if you'd rather steal, and be a thief, and justify the RIAA and their tactics, that's your call.
First- is 192kbps a low bitrate? What music download service gives you a better MP3 bitrate than that? Heck, which one matches that? That's what I rip my own discs at...
Second- "Full Price"?!? Compared _maybe_ to iTunes... which is still probably the cheapest service when you correctly account for subscription prices and real-life buying habits.
And oh, did you notice no DRM at all, not even FairPlay's relatively user-friendly DRM flavor?
Oh, wait... I just noticed you want only artists you've "heard of" i.e. "been spoon-fed by MTV and ClearChannel"... sorry, I didn't realize I was replying to the post of a stupid person.
Seriously, there are some great bands on this service, several of which YOU may be too lame to know about, but *MANY* of which I have heard ( and like ) and would like to see in my local music store or promoted on iTMS. "Death Cab for Cutie"... rockin'!
Wait... now I *know* I've just responded to a troll... seriously, you've never heard of Offspring, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles or any of these other bands I see in the "archives" section on the bottom of the main page?!? What, the Offspring isn't current enough for you? Or not big-name enough? How about Bad Religion? Or is it true that you want Britney and nobody with talent will do?
I'm going to tell all of my iTunes-using friends about this site. I hope it does well. I don't buy much music, but before I buy another CD or download from iTMS, I'll be checking this site.
So why would I buy this $700 thing? So I can spend time uploading video and audio to it to remove the inconvenience of carrying around a folder of disks?
I just don't get it... and neither does M$ or any hardware company that thinks this Media Player thingie is in even remotely the same category as the iPod Mini.
I was reading the article, trying to decide if this guy has a clue or not, when I read:
You cannot play games at 35 or 40 and seem like anything but an intellectually-stunted manchild...
Bite me, punk!
That was my instant reaction, and I've made up my mind: this guy's an idiot, with little or no idea what he's talking about. He has a few good points, and it is possible that the heyday of the video game development boom is over, or will be over in the next 8 years. But sales of video games are going to decline like the sales of books and automobiles declined. As in, they won't, they'll mature to become cyclical buisiness markets like every other product category.
Whatever, he can't make me feel bad about playing video games in my mid-30s. My 2-year-old likes playing lots of PS2 and a couple of old Genesis games with me. I may be a bit *socially* stunted, but I don't play video games to the exclusion of all else- I watch movies, read books ( The DaVinci Code, most recently ) and even occasionally get out of the house. The notion that people who like playing video games today won't do so in another 5, 10, 15 or 20 years is just silly. Older family-focused dudes don't play as many video games because they don't have *time* to. These guys just have to learn to put off mowing the lawn and spend some quality time playing with their kids. There's a one-year period there where you might not get to play many video games while your child is still in the pure-parasite stage, but my kid's thought Simpson's Road Rage was a gas to watch since he could sit up.
Heck, the guy makes the point himself that lots of rather *old* games live on in handhelds. I guess his point is that the *growth* won't be there like it was in the past? Well, duh... look at the PC hardware market for an example of that; the product isn't new anymore, what are you going to do ? Dell and Apple aren't going out of business, though, are they? The demand for the product isn't really going away, though, it's just more easily satisfied. So at some point there fewer games in development- but there will always be games in development, and people looking forward to buying those ( new ) games. There will also be plenty of opportunity to market old games to new customers in different forms ( like handhelds ).
So you not only can't record it, I think you might not even be able to watch it unless your set has DVI HDCP inputs.
Actually, you will not be able to watch protected content in HD unless you have an HDCP connection. Sure, you can get component video quality for SVHS copies, but that's not anywhere near HD, now, is it ?
This has implications for all sorts of video equipment- any type of recorder, processor or display device. HDCP encrypted signals also completely screw over anyone who has already purchased a DVI-only display.
All because content providers want to deny you the ability to record over-the-air broadcasts, everyone else has to foot the bill. I'll support this model when the content providers offer to subsidize the cost- otherwise this all amounts to a hidden tax for the benefit of that industry.
Actually, forget that. I'll never support any sort of limit on what I can record off of *public* broadcasts, and I'll do my best to avoid *buying* a content provider's service that limits my personal use of their content.
"The lawsuit"... "charges that the FCC exceeded its jurisdiction, acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, and failed to point to substantial evidence"
No! That doesn't sound like the FCC, or any other government organization, does it?!?!
It's silly to say "outsourcing is always good". It's maybe most of the time good. But not always- take for example the administration's decree that federal employees have to re-apply for their jobs, competing with 'outsourcing' offers from private companies.
One problem they're having with G.W.B's "outsource all federal jobs" decree is that many of the ( specifically federal parks services ) jobs they're looking to replace are currently staffed by people who work for very little *and* volunteer tons of time, *and* rally others to volunteer.
Effectively, we're currently getting tons of free manhours from people who really are working in their own back yards to improve trails and clean up parks. Since there's no exemption from the one-size-fits-all decree, these folks are likely to lose their jobs ( which they're doing quite well ) because some company is willing to pay less than a living wage to part-time employees. Will these new employees work 80 hour work weeks and organize groups of volunteers? Not bloody likely.
Sure, overall, outsourcing federal jobs might save money in the long run, by creating sub-living-wage jobs in federal buildings across the U.S.A. On the other hand, in many cases, you might get what you pay for, causing damage good programs and diminishing the value citizens get for a taxpayer dollar. A more targeted approach of governing and leadership might pay off a little better. Of course, that'd take thought.
This is so far off topic I hate to even respond, but for some reason you're moded up as informative, when really, you should maybe be modded "misinformative"... or "offtopic" at the very least.
Having a job you really enjoy is great-
until you have bills to pay and can't.
Being broke can really ruin your day, even if there's nothing else bad going on. People who say stuff like "Find a job you love..." have never been truly unable to pay bills.
I _love_ my job. Except for the pay. I'm making the average starting salary of my degree field, and I'm far, far away from being entry-level here.
If I didn't have a wife and kid, the pay would be just fine. I don't mind too much that I can't buy a house, and I'm really good at not thinking about what life will be like when I retire. But at some point, I have to ask the question: is it worth working close to home and never touching an M$ PC if I can't even afford to send my kid to preschool?
So, I've asked for a raise. If I don't get it, I'll be looking for work, and I'll have a hour or two commute, and I'll probably have to work on M$ crap. But providing for my family is more important. That's #1. If I get enough of a pay raise or find a better-paying job, I might even be able to start saving for the kid's college...
Um, maybe until the final draft where formatting is applied ( by a secretary ), use a *text* editor, and ask the client to do the same, or save as RTF if they must ? I mean the information exchange is via email, right? maybe you could use oh, I don't know, plain-text email?
or, perhaps y'all could learn to use PDFs ?
yea, I know, these are concepts too advanced for the majority of real-world users, who barely understand the difference between text and formatted display, if they understand at all... hence all the idiots and their HTML-formatted-by-Outlook-default email...
We _finally_ had to upgrade from Word 5 when MS managed to break their own document format really badly in Office2000 or so. We kept getting documents from clients that we couldn't open. Did they need to be in Word format, even? Hell no! But could our clients figure out how to make PDFs or save as RFT or grow brains and stop buying the latest MS bloatware? Of course not. That was sad. Back in the day, we thought Word 5 was bloated, and even though we were right, we didn't know how bad it could get ( heeelllo, Word X... ). It's all been downhill from Word 5.
Given the cost of the MS upgrade/license cycle, it might just be worthwhile to train those secretaries in WordPerfect...
If you do have the money, the convenience of the iPod is worth it.
I know because I don't have the money, thus have to bother with switching out my MP3 CD from my car every couple of weeks because I'm bored stiff of my 10 hour collection. I work with a few folks who have iPods, and they don't think about stuff like which songs they'll listen to this week- they just have *all* of their music, *all* of the time...
It takes a lot to make a company go completely out of business. Sun might actually be able to spin off or sell off a JavaSoft component if it came to that, not that such a company would make much money, though it might _just_ be able to stay afloat.
Why the heck am I answering an AC who's predicting the death of Sun? Sun still has plenty of customers and income, they just need to manage it all a bit better and prove to the market they'll be worth something in the long run. Folks saying they're dead feel a lot to me like folks saying Apple's dead 7 years ago... I'll start to pay attention when the stock is de-listed...
more interestingly, what makes you think Sun is open about giving away it's IP ?
I don't know about "parallel implementation", unless you mean this :
AIX JDK
or this :
Linux JDK
or this :
OS/390 JDK
or... heck, they even have a separate IBM Windows JDK... probably others...
Let's just say IBM has licensed Java for years and leave it at that, OK ? You can download so many versions of the JDK and JRE from IBM it makes your head spin. Nobody has done as many JVM implementations and research as IBM, probably not even Sun. In doing so, they have likely re-written the JDK several times.
It's called the "Java Compatability Kit", and is what JVM implementations are tested against in licensing to get that spiffy Java logo. IMHO, they should be more strict about how well an implementation performs against the JCK, and include more graphical tests ( though of course those are the hard ones to write ).
The key is you only see the JCK after you've agreed to license Java and paid some cash. That's the only *direct* way Sun makes money on Java. If you're asking them to give that up, I Sun's shareholders will have to ask you why, and what they're going to get in return... this will likely be what the IBM conversation consists of- how to give the JCK to one open-source implementation and still keep commercial ventures going to Sun for compatability certification.
I once worked at Sun, and I think you might actually be correct.
Seriously. Something everyone here seems to miss is this : has Sun really made money from licensing Java? Has it? In the long run? Really?
I would doubt it very much. Java to Sun is like the iTunes Music Store to Apple. They don't really make money on it, they might break even on it, but the plan is to make money on things it supports.
Sun makes money sellling servers and services around Java, like Apple makes money selling iPods and computers that use iTMS. Only not quite as successfully, IBM has maybe made more money from Java than Sun has...
There's also a great deal of ambiguity here as to what the heck might be open sourced. Does it mean there'll just be one open-source implementation which will be tested against the Java Compatability Kit for free, and other commercial ventures will have to continue licensing from Sun? Does it mean that not-for-profit ventures can get a copy of the JCK free? What would the license be like?
A big part of the problem here is that one of the strong points of Java is having a standard API with expected behaviors across all platforms. What Sun will ( and should ) _not_ allow is some arrangement where I can grab the source, add some random API or change some existing API behavior to something non-compliant with the JCK, then release it as "x-man Java" or something. That would be very, very bad, and very likely kill Java. They might as well give MS a version and tell them "add all the system-specific OLE/ActiveX/.NET crap extensions you want, we don't mind! Call anything you want Java, that's cool!" Did I mention not going to happen?
Re:A beautiful female crytpographer?
on
Digital Fortress
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Dude, you clearly never met the researcher who was my Stanford University instructor for Discrete Numerical Analysis.
She was from Denmark, and had done some kick-ass work calculating the volume of ocean water contained in coastal fjords or something. But all most guys in my class could think about is the fact that she was the most jaw-droppingly hot woman anyone had ever even imagined. Seriously : true blonde, striking figure, perfect complexion, high cheekbones, peircing blue eyes, georgous smile. She topped it all off by having killer dress sense- the first class she was wearing this red corporate dress number with a form-fitting skirt that stopped about mid-calf. Her figure was striking... and perfect. The woman had no flaw. If you had any idea how long ago this was, and how well I remember it... well, let's just say she was hot hot hot. Her slight but definite Danish accent didn't hurt, either.
At the end of the first class, the guy who had been sitting next to me turned to me and said "There's no way I can take this class. I have to drop it. I'll never be able to pay attention when she lectures." I never saw him again. I on the other hand stayed, and struggled, and met with her in several open office sessions where she sadly informed me that I might want to consider taking Differential Equations first, since the material was blowing my doors off. She was perceptive as well as smart, and she was even nice in letting me down. It made me want to cry how unbelievably out of my league she was, but I got over it, though she obviously left an impression on me.
My point is that smart women can be beautiful, or beautiful women can be smart, however you want to look at it. But they still don't want to date *you*...
As for The Davinci Code, it's a book that everyone should read.
A Bush administration appointee not bought by special interests. That's really funny.
thanks. siff. That was hilarious.
You obviously haven't been watching the FCC's decisions under the current administration. Although there have been some rulings that do favor the public ( mostly hot-button issues like the do-not-call list and number portability ), it's been all about letting really big companies make as much money and own as much of the public's airwaves as possible.
The only _really_ good thing about Powell is he loves his Tivo. To bad he doesn't know the first thing about the engineering side of the businesses he's in charge of regulating, though. He also clearly doesn't think over-the-air broadcasting is worthwhile, which is too bad for anyone who doesn't want to pay monthly fees for content which could otherwise be 'free'.
This guy is getting pointers on giving good PR spin and being a politician, though, clearly being tutored by somebody.
Good point! Since I don't have any direct experience with Ximian, and keep thinking of it as a separate company distinct from Novell, I'd failed to make that connection.
On the other hand, Ximian releases are often Slashdot stories, and thus just as "newsworthy" as this story, I guess... anyway, my point was just to counter that this is actually slightly newsworthy for several reasons; mainly, it's nice to see Apple living up to their promises.
I certainly didn't mean to downplay the great contributions of these other companies.
But really, aren't these most likely to show up as toys ( both for children and rave-going tripsters ) ? At least on a consumer level, I'm having a hard time thinking of other good applications.
Of course, the article was a little thin, and I'm left asking questions.
How much light do these generate? I take it all the light-up kid's shoes we see have batteries in them, right? These won't compare to -or work for- that kind of thing... how many applications require that the light source _always_ works and doesn't need to be very bright ? Basically, I'm wondering if these won't be adopted too well because battery-based solutions will "outshine" them. And with LEDs, batteries last quite a long time. I know my son outgrows his light-up shoes before they stop lighting up...
It may be newsworthy because this time the contribution is squarely in the Application space, and is high-quality and very easily usable, impacting the actual end-user application/desktop experience. It's also newsworthy because so many people were initially skeptical that Apple would give anything back.
To my ( somewhat limited ) knowledge, most of the effort companies you've listed have put in show up only for administrators and developers, not desktop users. Arguably because that's where effort has been needed most ( maybe up until now ), but still...
OpenOffice is equally newsworthy, but maybe not exactly as easily usable and feature-complete, though I'd argue that's mainly due to it's larger feature set as compared to the KHTML engine. I think it'd be interesting to know how many resources Apple has thrown at KHTML compared to the resources Sun has thrown at OpenOffice, for example. If the manhours are comprable, shame on Sun. I personally feel that OpenOffice may be the single most important open source project right now. If I didn't spend all of my spare time surfing/. and raising my two-year-old, I'd contribute...
Of course, I'd like to see Apple pick up and work on OpenOffice as an AppleWorks replacement ( they need one ) but there are so very, very many reasons I can't expect that to happen.
I didn't say M$ were greedy or making poor business decisions. Quite the opposite. They're brilliant in the marketing department. Ignoring compatability is a fine decision for them in the Xbox line.
What I said is that it makes *no* sense for them to worry about backwards compatability with Xbox2. People who bought this round of Xbox will buy it regardless. Others will make the decision to buy Xbox2 v.s. PS3 based largely on what games they want to play, and the MS strategy there is/was to buy Bungie and make other exclusive games.
I have to say, though, I wonder if the majority of consumers want to have more than one console. It might just be me, but I think two consoles is one too many. No, I don't really count as a 'gamer'. Truthfully, if I had no previous games, I might buy an Xbox now that they have the GTA games. But I had previous PS games, and like the idea of having a lot of games to choose from, so I picked PS2, and would do so again, even though I know the Xbox is a better game machine in some respects. Actually, when I bought my PS2, Xbox was over a year from being introduced... but still having the previous games, I'd like to protect that investment, as I still play them. If I didn't play them, that'd be a different matter. I'm not hung up on my Sega Genesis games, let's put it that way.
Sony's backwards-compatabilty was, as you actually point out, quite by design- a design they're sticking with for PS3. For previous console owners, it helps make the decision of what to buy very easy, thus lessening defectors. Don't think Xbox- think Sega DreamCast ( remember that? Better graphics than PS2, before PS2, no backwards compatability, higher price, fewer games... dead ). Compatability isn't everything, but it isn't nothing either, especially for the leader.
Some posters have taken my comments a bit too far. Xbox isn't dead... it also isn't an instant market leader, and it's sales figures aren't trending upward. Neither of these facts means that it won't continue to have some good games- Microsoft will see to that. But it is a bit of a disappointment in terms of what some gamers and industry types had predicted. To gamers who love graphics and 'the best' above all else, of course the choice is Xbox... er, actually, the choice is a $4k computer...
I realise I'm replying a day late, but I had to answer the question about verb tense :
are XBox yearly console sales percentages trending upwards? No? Ok.
And yea, if rumors are to be believed, the HD on Xbox2 will be an external add-on. Probably available in a bundle with other online-gaming-stuff that anyone serious will get anyway, but it will be an add-on, to make the machine cheaper in it's base configuration without hurting the bottom line so much.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, thanks for finding the key! No coding needed for this one - just dig into the Chess.app package, find the Info.plist ( only one level down ) and edit it. Apple has generaly pretty good documentation. The environment variable stuff is documented ( for the most part ) here : http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Co nceptual/BPRuntimeConfig/Concepts/EnvironmentVars. html
The bit at the bottom of the page on setting application-specific environment variables says something about "The second way to associate environment variables with an application is to include the LSEnvironment key in the application's information property list." and includes a link to http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Co nceptual/BPRuntimeConfig/Concepts/PListKeys.html#/ /apple_ref/doc/uid/20001431/BCIJIJBH for more information.
Anyway, by setting LSEnvironment in the Info.plist to include "MBC_DEBUG=(whatever)", you should be able to set up any of the associated behaviors. It looks like you want (MBC_DEBUG &16) to eval to false... so LSEnvironment "MBC_DEBUG=16" should do the trick.
eh. Forget I said anything, it's probably easier to just comment out those lines and recompile...
The reason I wonder is that when I click on the "About Chess" menu item in Chess 2.0 as installed on OS X 10.3, I notice that in the lower right hand corner of the About window there is a button labeled "Download Source Code...". The button opens this page Apple - Public Source - Miscellaneous.
So, while still cool, this is not likely to be "news". I do appreciate the pointer, though. It'll be nice to check out for programming ideas, as I'm getting back into Objective-C programming again.
For folks wanting Simpsons mods and other simple image changes, though, you probably don't need the source for that, you just need to realize that the images are in the .app package... changing those really shouldn't require a recompile, should it?
This Christmas ?!? What have you been smokin' ?
Either way, he outlived Jerry Garcia, and it's truly remarkable either one made it past the year 2000...
That was really a PSA?!? You're joking about that part, right??
The "Listen" sample clips on this service seem pretty darn generous- the one I checked was 45 seconds long, almost the entire song, and there were clips for every song on the album. So, it's actually *really* easy to know if you'll like something on this service- just check out all of the samples before you buy! Of course, if you'd rather steal, and be a thief, and justify the RIAA and their tactics, that's your call.
I think you've missed a few points.
First- is 192kbps a low bitrate? What music download service gives you a better MP3 bitrate than that? Heck, which one matches that? That's what I rip my own discs at...
Second- "Full Price"?!? Compared _maybe_ to iTunes... which is still probably the cheapest service when you correctly account for subscription prices and real-life buying habits.
And oh, did you notice no DRM at all, not even FairPlay's relatively user-friendly DRM flavor?
Oh, wait... I just noticed you want only artists you've "heard of" i.e. "been spoon-fed by MTV and ClearChannel"... sorry, I didn't realize I was replying to the post of a stupid person.
Seriously, there are some great bands on this service, several of which YOU may be too lame to know about, but *MANY* of which I have heard ( and like ) and would like to see in my local music store or promoted on iTMS. "Death Cab for Cutie"... rockin'!
Wait... now I *know* I've just responded to a troll... seriously, you've never heard of Offspring, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles or any of these other bands I see in the "archives" section on the bottom of the main page?!? What, the Offspring isn't current enough for you? Or not big-name enough? How about Bad Religion? Or is it true that you want Britney and nobody with talent will do?
I'm going to tell all of my iTunes-using friends about this site. I hope it does well. I don't buy much music, but before I buy another CD or download from iTMS, I'll be checking this site.
Just one example
So why would I buy this $700 thing? So I can spend time uploading video and audio to it to remove the inconvenience of carrying around a folder of disks?
I just don't get it... and neither does M$ or any hardware company that thinks this Media Player thingie is in even remotely the same category as the iPod Mini.
You cannot play games at 35 or 40 and seem like anything but an intellectually-stunted manchild...
Bite me, punk!
That was my instant reaction, and I've made up my mind: this guy's an idiot, with little or no idea what he's talking about. He has a few good points, and it is possible that the heyday of the video game development boom is over, or will be over in the next 8 years. But sales of video games are going to decline like the sales of books and automobiles declined. As in, they won't, they'll mature to become cyclical buisiness markets like every other product category.
Whatever, he can't make me feel bad about playing video games in my mid-30s. My 2-year-old likes playing lots of PS2 and a couple of old Genesis games with me. I may be a bit *socially* stunted, but I don't play video games to the exclusion of all else- I watch movies, read books ( The DaVinci Code, most recently ) and even occasionally get out of the house. The notion that people who like playing video games today won't do so in another 5, 10, 15 or 20 years is just silly. Older family-focused dudes don't play as many video games because they don't have *time* to. These guys just have to learn to put off mowing the lawn and spend some quality time playing with their kids. There's a one-year period there where you might not get to play many video games while your child is still in the pure-parasite stage, but my kid's thought Simpson's Road Rage was a gas to watch since he could sit up.
Heck, the guy makes the point himself that lots of rather *old* games live on in handhelds. I guess his point is that the *growth* won't be there like it was in the past? Well, duh... look at the PC hardware market for an example of that; the product isn't new anymore, what are you going to do ? Dell and Apple aren't going out of business, though, are they? The demand for the product isn't really going away, though, it's just more easily satisfied. So at some point there fewer games in development- but there will always be games in development, and people looking forward to buying those ( new ) games. There will also be plenty of opportunity to market old games to new customers in different forms ( like handhelds ).
Actually, you will not be able to watch protected content in HD unless you have an HDCP connection. Sure, you can get component video quality for SVHS copies, but that's not anywhere near HD, now, is it ?
This has implications for all sorts of video equipment- any type of recorder, processor or display device. HDCP encrypted signals also completely screw over anyone who has already purchased a DVI-only display.
All because content providers want to deny you the ability to record over-the-air broadcasts, everyone else has to foot the bill. I'll support this model when the content providers offer to subsidize the cost- otherwise this all amounts to a hidden tax for the benefit of that industry.
Actually, forget that. I'll never support any sort of limit on what I can record off of *public* broadcasts, and I'll do my best to avoid *buying* a content provider's service that limits my personal use of their content.
"The lawsuit"... "charges that the FCC exceeded its jurisdiction, acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, and failed to point to substantial evidence"
No! That doesn't sound like the FCC, or any other government organization, does it?!?!
It's silly to say "outsourcing is always good". It's maybe most of the time good. But not always- take for example the administration's decree that federal employees have to re-apply for their jobs, competing with 'outsourcing' offers from private companies.
One problem they're having with G.W.B's "outsource all federal jobs" decree is that many of the ( specifically federal parks services ) jobs they're looking to replace are currently staffed by people who work for very little *and* volunteer tons of time, *and* rally others to volunteer.
Effectively, we're currently getting tons of free manhours from people who really are working in their own back yards to improve trails and clean up parks. Since there's no exemption from the one-size-fits-all decree, these folks are likely to lose their jobs ( which they're doing quite well ) because some company is willing to pay less than a living wage to part-time employees. Will these new employees work 80 hour work weeks and organize groups of volunteers? Not bloody likely.
Sure, overall, outsourcing federal jobs might save money in the long run, by creating sub-living-wage jobs in federal buildings across the U.S.A. On the other hand, in many cases, you might get what you pay for, causing damage good programs and diminishing the value citizens get for a taxpayer dollar. A more targeted approach of governing and leadership might pay off a little better. Of course, that'd take thought.
This is so far off topic I hate to even respond, but for some reason you're moded up as informative, when really, you should maybe be modded "misinformative"... or "offtopic" at the very least.
Having a job you really enjoy is great-
until you have bills to pay and can't.
Being broke can really ruin your day, even if there's nothing else bad going on. People who say stuff like "Find a job you love..." have never been truly unable to pay bills.
I _love_ my job. Except for the pay. I'm making the average starting salary of my degree field, and I'm far, far away from being entry-level here.
If I didn't have a wife and kid, the pay would be just fine. I don't mind too much that I can't buy a house, and I'm really good at not thinking about what life will be like when I retire. But at some point, I have to ask the question: is it worth working close to home and never touching an M$ PC if I can't even afford to send my kid to preschool?
So, I've asked for a raise. If I don't get it, I'll be looking for work, and I'll have a hour or two commute, and I'll probably have to work on M$ crap. But providing for my family is more important. That's #1. If I get enough of a pay raise or find a better-paying job, I might even be able to start saving for the kid's college...
Um,
maybe until the final draft where formatting is applied ( by a secretary ), use a *text* editor, and ask the client to do the same, or save as RTF if they must ? I mean the information exchange is via email, right? maybe you could use oh, I don't know, plain-text email?
or, perhaps y'all could learn to use PDFs ?
yea, I know, these are concepts too advanced for the majority of real-world users, who barely understand the difference between text and formatted display, if they understand at all... hence all the idiots and their HTML-formatted-by-Outlook-default email...
We _finally_ had to upgrade from Word 5 when MS managed to break their own document format really badly in Office2000 or so. We kept getting documents from clients that we couldn't open. Did they need to be in Word format, even? Hell no! But could our clients figure out how to make PDFs or save as RFT or grow brains and stop buying the latest MS bloatware? Of course not. That was sad. Back in the day, we thought Word 5 was bloated, and even though we were right, we didn't know how bad it could get ( heeelllo, Word X... ). It's all been downhill from Word 5.
Given the cost of the MS upgrade/license cycle, it might just be worthwhile to train those secretaries in WordPerfect...
It's only too much if you don't have the money.
If you do have the money, the convenience of the iPod is worth it.
I know because I don't have the money, thus have to bother with switching out my MP3 CD from my car every couple of weeks because I'm bored stiff of my 10 hour collection. I work with a few folks who have iPods, and they don't think about stuff like which songs they'll listen to this week- they just have *all* of their music, *all* of the time...
Ok, so who is going to buy Sun? IBM? Apple?
It takes a lot to make a company go completely out of business. Sun might actually be able to spin off or sell off a JavaSoft component if it came to that, not that such a company would make much money, though it might _just_ be able to stay afloat.
Why the heck am I answering an AC who's predicting the death of Sun? Sun still has plenty of customers and income, they just need to manage it all a bit better and prove to the market they'll be worth something in the long run. Folks saying they're dead feel a lot to me like folks saying Apple's dead 7 years ago... I'll start to pay attention when the stock is de-listed...
more interestingly, what makes you think Sun is open about giving away it's IP ?
I don't know about "parallel implementation", unless you mean this : AIX JDK
or this : Linux JDK
or this : OS/390 JDK
or... heck, they even have a separate IBM Windows JDK... probably others...
Let's just say IBM has licensed Java for years and leave it at that, OK ? You can download so many versions of the JDK and JRE from IBM it makes your head spin. Nobody has done as many JVM implementations and research as IBM, probably not even Sun. In doing so, they have likely re-written the JDK several times.
They have that.
It's called the "Java Compatability Kit", and is what JVM implementations are tested against in licensing to get that spiffy Java logo. IMHO, they should be more strict about how well an implementation performs against the JCK, and include more graphical tests ( though of course those are the hard ones to write ).
The key is you only see the JCK after you've agreed to license Java and paid some cash. That's the only *direct* way Sun makes money on Java. If you're asking them to give that up, I Sun's shareholders will have to ask you why, and what they're going to get in return... this will likely be what the IBM conversation consists of- how to give the JCK to one open-source implementation and still keep commercial ventures going to Sun for compatability certification.
I once worked at Sun, and I think you might actually be correct.
Seriously. Something everyone here seems to miss is this : has Sun really made money from licensing Java? Has it? In the long run? Really?
I would doubt it very much. Java to Sun is like the iTunes Music Store to Apple. They don't really make money on it, they might break even on it, but the plan is to make money on things it supports.
Sun makes money sellling servers and services around Java, like Apple makes money selling iPods and computers that use iTMS. Only not quite as successfully, IBM has maybe made more money from Java than Sun has...
There's also a great deal of ambiguity here as to what the heck might be open sourced. Does it mean there'll just be one open-source implementation which will be tested against the Java Compatability Kit for free, and other commercial ventures will have to continue licensing from Sun? Does it mean that not-for-profit ventures can get a copy of the JCK free? What would the license be like?
A big part of the problem here is that one of the strong points of Java is having a standard API with expected behaviors across all platforms. What Sun will ( and should ) _not_ allow is some arrangement where I can grab the source, add some random API or change some existing API behavior to something non-compliant with the JCK, then release it as "x-man Java" or something. That would be very, very bad, and very likely kill Java. They might as well give MS a version and tell them "add all the system-specific OLE/ActiveX/.NET crap extensions you want, we don't mind! Call anything you want Java, that's cool!" Did I mention not going to happen?
Dude, you clearly never met the researcher who was my Stanford University instructor for Discrete Numerical Analysis.
She was from Denmark, and had done some kick-ass work calculating the volume of ocean water contained in coastal fjords or something. But all most guys in my class could think about is the fact that she was the most jaw-droppingly hot woman anyone had ever even imagined. Seriously : true blonde, striking figure, perfect complexion, high cheekbones, peircing blue eyes, georgous smile. She topped it all off by having killer dress sense- the first class she was wearing this red corporate dress number with a form-fitting skirt that stopped about mid-calf. Her figure was striking... and perfect. The woman had no flaw. If you had any idea how long ago this was, and how well I remember it... well, let's just say she was hot hot hot. Her slight but definite Danish accent didn't hurt, either.
At the end of the first class, the guy who had been sitting next to me turned to me and said "There's no way I can take this class. I have to drop it. I'll never be able to pay attention when she lectures." I never saw him again. I on the other hand stayed, and struggled, and met with her in several open office sessions where she sadly informed me that I might want to consider taking Differential Equations first, since the material was blowing my doors off. She was perceptive as well as smart, and she was even nice in letting me down. It made me want to cry how unbelievably out of my league she was, but I got over it, though she obviously left an impression on me.
My point is that smart women can be beautiful, or beautiful women can be smart, however you want to look at it. But they still don't want to date *you*...
As for The Davinci Code, it's a book that everyone should read.
hahahaahahahahaaha.
A Bush administration appointee not bought by special interests. That's really funny.
thanks. siff. That was hilarious.
You obviously haven't been watching the FCC's decisions under the current administration. Although there have been some rulings that do favor the public ( mostly hot-button issues like the do-not-call list and number portability ), it's been all about letting really big companies make as much money and own as much of the public's airwaves as possible.
The only _really_ good thing about Powell is he loves his Tivo. To bad he doesn't know the first thing about the engineering side of the businesses he's in charge of regulating, though. He also clearly doesn't think over-the-air broadcasting is worthwhile, which is too bad for anyone who doesn't want to pay monthly fees for content which could otherwise be 'free'.
This guy is getting pointers on giving good PR spin and being a politician, though, clearly being tutored by somebody.
Good point!
Since I don't have any direct experience with Ximian, and keep thinking of it as a separate company distinct from Novell, I'd failed to make that connection.
On the other hand, Ximian releases are often Slashdot stories, and thus just as "newsworthy" as this story, I guess... anyway, my point was just to counter that this is actually slightly newsworthy for several reasons; mainly, it's nice to see Apple living up to their promises.
I certainly didn't mean to downplay the great contributions of these other companies.
Neat.
But really, aren't these most likely to show up as toys ( both for children and rave-going tripsters ) ? At least on a consumer level, I'm having a hard time thinking of other good applications.
Of course, the article was a little thin, and I'm left asking questions.
How much light do these generate? I take it all the light-up kid's shoes we see have batteries in them, right? These won't compare to -or work for- that kind of thing... how many applications require that the light source _always_ works and doesn't need to be very bright ? Basically, I'm wondering if these won't be adopted too well because battery-based solutions will "outshine" them. And with LEDs, batteries last quite a long time. I know my son outgrows his light-up shoes before they stop lighting up...
It may be newsworthy because this time the contribution is squarely in the Application space, and is high-quality and very easily usable, impacting the actual end-user application/desktop experience. It's also newsworthy because so many people were initially skeptical that Apple would give anything back.
/. and raising my two-year-old, I'd contribute...
To my ( somewhat limited ) knowledge, most of the effort companies you've listed have put in show up only for administrators and developers, not desktop users. Arguably because that's where effort has been needed most ( maybe up until now ), but still...
OpenOffice is equally newsworthy, but maybe not exactly as easily usable and feature-complete, though I'd argue that's mainly due to it's larger feature set as compared to the KHTML engine. I think it'd be interesting to know how many resources Apple has thrown at KHTML compared to the resources Sun has thrown at OpenOffice, for example. If the manhours are comprable, shame on Sun. I personally feel that OpenOffice may be the single most important open source project right now. If I didn't spend all of my spare time surfing
Of course, I'd like to see Apple pick up and work on OpenOffice as an AppleWorks replacement ( they need one ) but there are so very, very many reasons I can't expect that to happen.
I didn't say M$ were greedy or making poor business decisions. Quite the opposite. They're brilliant in the marketing department. Ignoring compatability is a fine decision for them in the Xbox line.
What I said is that it makes *no* sense for them to worry about backwards compatability with Xbox2. People who bought this round of Xbox will buy it regardless. Others will make the decision to buy Xbox2 v.s. PS3 based largely on what games they want to play, and the MS strategy there is/was to buy Bungie and make other exclusive games.
I have to say, though, I wonder if the majority of consumers want to have more than one console. It might just be me, but I think two consoles is one too many. No, I don't really count as a 'gamer'. Truthfully, if I had no previous games, I might buy an Xbox now that they have the GTA games. But I had previous PS games, and like the idea of having a lot of games to choose from, so I picked PS2, and would do so again, even though I know the Xbox is a better game machine in some respects. Actually, when I bought my PS2, Xbox was over a year from being introduced... but still having the previous games, I'd like to protect that investment, as I still play them. If I didn't play them, that'd be a different matter. I'm not hung up on my Sega Genesis games, let's put it that way.
Sony's backwards-compatabilty was, as you actually point out, quite by design- a design they're sticking with for PS3. For previous console owners, it helps make the decision of what to buy very easy, thus lessening defectors. Don't think Xbox- think Sega DreamCast ( remember that? Better graphics than PS2, before PS2, no backwards compatability, higher price, fewer games... dead ). Compatability isn't everything, but it isn't nothing either, especially for the leader.
Some posters have taken my comments a bit too far. Xbox isn't dead... it also isn't an instant market leader, and it's sales figures aren't trending upward. Neither of these facts means that it won't continue to have some good games- Microsoft will see to that. But it is a bit of a disappointment in terms of what some gamers and industry types had predicted. To gamers who love graphics and 'the best' above all else, of course the choice is Xbox... er, actually, the choice is a $4k computer...
I realise I'm replying a day late, but I had to answer the question about verb tense : are XBox yearly console sales percentages trending upwards? No? Ok. And yea, if rumors are to be believed, the HD on Xbox2 will be an external add-on. Probably available in a bundle with other online-gaming-stuff that anyone serious will get anyway, but it will be an add-on, to make the machine cheaper in it's base configuration without hurting the bottom line so much.