Thanks, I stand corrected. Could hipersockets be used to build something like what Danathar suggested? Is there a good reason to consider porting old but solid programs to this configuration?
I am not a mainframe guy, but IIRC VM partitions don't know anything about one another and cannot communicate. VM is supposed to make the guest operating system (MVS, Linux, whatever) think it is talking to the bare metal. Perhaps some real mainframe guys could correct me if I am mistaken.
In any event, I can't see any reason to build something like that. You would still be supporting a mainframe. You would be adding Linux to the mix, but unless you could also get rid of MVS (doubtful) I don't see any advantage.
Many of the old COBOL applications rely on other components of the IBM mainframe environment. CICS, IMS, MVS etc. are often required. It is not just a matter of compiler quirks. The entire environment would need to be emulated. Not trivial.
The level of abstraction is the key point. The article did not express the problem well. Current user interfaces do not express the real world well enough to permit us to work efficiently unless we understand concepts like file hierarchies, programs, URLs, etc. The author suggests that we need to understand those things in order to use computers well today, and I agree. However, I think that a better solution to the problem would be to devise new level of abstractions that hide all the gory details better than we are doing today.
Interestingly, there is no reason to think that a GUI would necessarily be better than a CLI, assuming that the command interpreter were smart enough. The ultimate goal, after all, is the Star Trek computer, which responds appropriately to a (voice) CLI. In the meantime, it is hard to disagree that understanding a few basic concepts will make computers more useful to people who lack the basics.
Well, yeah, and it would be really nice if they got it right and kept it right. But so far, Mapquest driving instructions cannot be considered reliable. I imagine that it would take a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of driving to keep up with construction projects and traffic rule changes all over the country, not to mention world. There are changes all the time. How could Mapquest afford to keep the database current?
The driving directions are often mistaken, generally because they do not always take into account one-way streets and prohibited turns. So the simple solution is to just use the maps and figure out the rest by yourself. Just like you used to five years ago. Remember?
This article is insulting to every IT professional, whether they are using open source software or not. No responsible professional would rely on untested, uncontrolled software. It doesn't matter whether it was developed in house (for free or at great cost) or acquired externally (for free or at great cost). People using open source software generally follow the same process as people using Microsoft, Oracle and other more expensive options. I would be surprised if things were any different at Princeton.
And that would be great for everyone. Google will not sit still either, so we should expect to see better and better search capabilites from both camps. Real competition. Gee, what a thought. Or has someone already patented it as a business process?
You have hit on the key point for me, which is that I would prefer to keep my politics separate from my technology providers. Why should I make good technology vulnerable to bad politics?
Even if a site were completely consistent with my own (admittedly inconsistent) political views, I would not want to find myself simultaneously pissed off at world events over which I have no control and also unable to update my own software because my provider is also pissed off.
Sad to say, the best that I have been able to come up with is to just hang up. Everything else I could think of was just more hassle than it was worth. This doesn't solve the problem of the long pitches left on my old, inflexible answering machine, which does not let me skip messages. Fortunately, I have been systematically telling telemarketers to take me off their list for years, and in fact I receive few calls.
Well, karma might be more like a complex number than an integer. There's a real part and an imaginary one. Perhaps one of those parts is moderated on/. but I doubt that both of them are. As to which is moderated on/., Vishnu only knows...
SCO is obviously out to destroy the open source community, but their method is more subtle than previously thought. They just make an outrageous claim and then watch all the open source developers spend their time flaming on./ rather than doing real work. Pretty sneaky...
I have ignored C# since its inception. I would be interested in hearing from slashdotters who have used it. What's good about it and what's bad? Of course, I expect nothing less than purely objective replies...
Like most of the posts I have read, I doubt that this bill will make much of a difference. Seems to me that at a minimum, any legal approach must include severe penalties against the businesses that are using spam for marketing as well as the spammers. Since every spam message that is trying to sell something has to have a contact point--a real URL or phone number--it should be easier to trace back to the business itself than to the source of the email.
Conscience or consciousness? It seems to me that it would be miraculous enough to achieve sentience. By that, I mean a sense of self awareness. Soul is, as you seem to agree, a rather loaded word. I wouldn't swear to having one myself.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks, I stand corrected. Could hipersockets be used to build something like what Danathar suggested? Is there a good reason to consider porting old but solid programs to this configuration?
In any event, I can't see any reason to build something like that. You would still be supporting a mainframe. You would be adding Linux to the mix, but unless you could also get rid of MVS (doubtful) I don't see any advantage.
Many of the old COBOL applications rely on other components of the IBM mainframe environment. CICS, IMS, MVS etc. are often required. It is not just a matter of compiler quirks. The entire environment would need to be emulated. Not trivial.
Interestingly, there is no reason to think that a GUI would necessarily be better than a CLI, assuming that the command interpreter were smart enough. The ultimate goal, after all, is the Star Trek computer, which responds appropriately to a (voice) CLI. In the meantime, it is hard to disagree that understanding a few basic concepts will make computers more useful to people who lack the basics.
Neither one nor the other. Who cares, whether it is true or false?
Well, yeah, and it would be really nice if they got it right and kept it right. But so far, Mapquest driving instructions cannot be considered reliable. I imagine that it would take a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of driving to keep up with construction projects and traffic rule changes all over the country, not to mention world. There are changes all the time. How could Mapquest afford to keep the database current?
The driving directions are often mistaken, generally because they do not always take into account one-way streets and prohibited turns. So the simple solution is to just use the maps and figure out the rest by yourself. Just like you used to five years ago. Remember?
This article is insulting to every IT professional, whether they are using open source software or not. No responsible professional would rely on untested, uncontrolled software. It doesn't matter whether it was developed in house (for free or at great cost) or acquired externally (for free or at great cost). People using open source software generally follow the same process as people using Microsoft, Oracle and other more expensive options. I would be surprised if things were any different at Princeton.
If you submit this question, the site responds, "Actually, I prefer the term jovial." So they are not entirely humorless.
And that would be great for everyone. Google will not sit still either, so we should expect to see better and better search capabilites from both camps. Real competition. Gee, what a thought. Or has someone already patented it as a business process?
Even if a site were completely consistent with my own (admittedly inconsistent) political views, I would not want to find myself simultaneously pissed off at world events over which I have no control and also unable to update my own software because my provider is also pissed off.
Yeah, I know, -1 Offtopic.
Sad to say, the best that I have been able to come up with is to just hang up. Everything else I could think of was just more hassle than it was worth. This doesn't solve the problem of the long pitches left on my old, inflexible answering machine, which does not let me skip messages. Fortunately, I have been systematically telling telemarketers to take me off their list for years, and in fact I receive few calls.
Well, karma might be more like a complex number than an integer. There's a real part and an imaginary one. Perhaps one of those parts is moderated on /. but I doubt that both of them are. As to which is moderated on /., Vishnu only knows...
Hey, man, chill out. Real karma is not an integer and has nothing to do with Slashdot.
Superfast processor, but no memory. See yesterday's discussion.
Workers of the world untie!
SCO is obviously out to destroy the open source community, but their method is more subtle than previously thought. They just make an outrageous claim and then watch all the open source developers spend their time flaming on ./ rather than doing real work. Pretty sneaky...
So Vietnam wasn't a real war just because there was no Congressional declaration? That's just bullshit and you know it.
The most insidious are the ones we don't even know about.
I have ignored C# since its inception. I would be interested in hearing from slashdotters who have used it. What's good about it and what's bad? Of course, I expect nothing less than purely objective replies...
Like most of the posts I have read, I doubt that this bill will make much of a difference. Seems to me that at a minimum, any legal approach must include severe penalties against the businesses that are using spam for marketing as well as the spammers. Since every spam message that is trying to sell something has to have a contact point--a real URL or phone number--it should be easier to trace back to the business itself than to the source of the email.
...election results that I can finally feel good about. I live in California and I had been wondering why I always thought democracy was a good idea.
Curiously, comedy is a lot more demanding than law. At least for a computer.
Conscience or consciousness? It seems to me that it would be miraculous enough to achieve sentience. By that, I mean a sense of self awareness. Soul is, as you seem to agree, a rather loaded word. I wouldn't swear to having one myself.