Not sure about the swap encrypting, but I'd imagine encrypting the data in physical RAM would incur sever performance hit. Usually, memory related code and structures are optimized highly, to squeeze the last micro-sec of speed. -- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
So? I employ proven, stable technologies like Python and Gtk+ to create an interface so flexible, that it is written and intepreted at runtime.
Seems a narrow point of view... If Python and Gtk+ suit your needs, then no one is shoving Mozilla down your throat. But what if you needed a cross platform framework? What if you had to (or wanted to) support Macintosh, i386 Linux, Windows, Irix, i386 Solaris (and those are just from the homepage) without so much as a recompile (assuming the rest of your code is written in a good cross-platform cross-compiler manner)?
I need a fast Mozilla is faster and more responsive than Netscape 4.x (P3 450)
Over half of those algorithms are patented by UNISYS! I think they are charging $1000 per use of each algorithm (that's per use, not per application!!)
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
The article states that Java 3D for linux is forthcoming, implying that it is not available yet. It is (not a production release, though), and I've been using it for about a couple weeks now, and its very stable and clean, and other than my machine being horrendously outdated, it performs well. See the blackdown.org site for more information.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
But look at the KDE browser. That's come a lot further a lot faster than the Mozilla project.
That statement really bothers me, because while the KDE browser is just that, a web browser, you have to understand that Mozilla is as much as application framework as it is a web browser. The ability to parse HTML is just one part of what the Mozilla project is all about.
Did you know that every part of Mozilla's UI and dialogs are written in an XML doc type called XUL? By doing this, the Netscape guys no longer have to deal with half a dozen UI toolkits for each platform. As you can imagine, this is no small task.
Konqueror has come along faster, but there are different design goals: Browser vs. complex cross platform app framework (wrapped around a browser).
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
The difference between Palm and this unit is that Palm is shipping. If I had a nickel for every press release about a Linux-based PDA, I'd have, like, at least a buck.
Note to companies: I will pay for your stuff. Please make your Linux PDA's soon. Thank you.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Yes, but changes to the Linux API have always been open to developers, as opposed to shifty, secret changes to the Windows API, implemented specifically to screw !Microsoft developers.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I've yet to find a SNES emulator that doesn't suck. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough. Which one do you use, and does it have good speed, sound quality? Does it play Mario Kart? </offtopic>
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
You are correct on all counts. Unfortunately, while tech-heads can think of half a dozen solutions to the case, Judge Jackson cannot. It's not his fault, of course, he's a law-man, not a binary-man. I think the proposed "splitting" solution is very old-fashioned, can't be enforced without a lot of work, and will most likely not be as good as Open API's, open office file formats, or other possible punishments.
I don't know what M$ is whining about, they're getting off pretty easily.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
IMHO they should split them into two or three companies that can do the same things.
I never understood how this would work. Would there be MicrosoftA MicrosoftB and MicrosoftC? Would they all produce the same products? What's stopping them from forming alliances with each other, as even competing companies do? "OK, A, you produce so-and-so libraries, and in return, B will give you so-and-so libraries." In other words, how would you enforce their competition instead of cooperation? This plan seems to be very vague and a lot of work.
And if they would compete honestly, wouldn't the market shift toward one of them, sooner or later? And when that happened, wouldnt the other two go out of business? And then we're right back where we started, except now its MicrosftC running things and bullying people.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
A while ago I heard the DOJ was considering making Micros~1 open up completely their Office file formats. I really wanted this to come about, even if it was a side note to a much stiffer punishment. Office sales are about 70% of Micros~1's sales, IIRC. Making them open these formats, and keep their future versions open would seriously hurt their control over the market, especially since no one, even me, is willing to use any office suite that has less than 100% compatibilty.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
No one is forcing the consumer to use IE, they're just making it slightly more convenient, and everpresent.
But don't you see that "forcing" and "slightly more convenient" are almost the same we're dealing with Joe Q Public who just bought is Compaq? He doesn't know there are other browsers out there, let alone how to download/install them, and so he is content to click on the blue E.
If a contractor who made houses also made refrigerators, and he gave me a fridge with every house I bought, why the hell would I even bother looking at the other fridge makers? Microsoft cut out the competition (Netscape) in the exact same way. They stole the consumers right to choose.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I'm a fan of open-source software for the exact reasons you mentioned: being able to contribute. Thinking of an idea or feature, and then actually doing something about it (ie, writing it in) gives me a natural high.
But being a fan of open-source software does not mean I am a fan of the open-source movement. Commercial software is not the work of Satan, it is the work of society. And if you haven;t noticed, people in all societies like to get paid to feed themselves, improve their quality of life, etc. Thinking that all commercial developers are minions of Hell is just plain idiocy.
To not be able to sit down to dinner with a commercial developer without going berzerk about free-software preachings (section 4 of the article) is absolute lunacy! People like Stallman do no favors to any organization.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I agree. Developers in the commercial world are under different constraints and requirements than the shuttle software crew. Commercial shops are motivated by $$$, not perfect code. If "good enough" will sell (and that it does!), then why bother with anything else? If no one cares about 5000 errors, then why spend $35mil (assuming the company has/can/wants to spend that much money on 1 application) writing phone books of specs?
There's also the matter of competition. The reason we have tales of hackers writing deep into the night to get a product out the door is because if they didn't, competition could very well spring up out of the blue and beat them to market.
There are lessons to be learned, however, even for open source developers like ourselves. About every project on, say, freshmeat, has a link to a source tarball on it's web page. But how many of those projects have even a single design document on their sites? Why is that? Design/specification is not a development phase that can be skipped, just because you want to get coding because its fun. Proper documentation is vital before coding all but the most trivial of applications.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
It's not just KDE that slavishly copies MS (as GNOME zealots would lead you to believe). In fact, didn't Miguel himself say that he copied Excel exactly when he worked on Gnumeric? Don't remember the link, probably on/. a while ago.
Evolution looks a damn lot like Outlook as well.
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I prefer a variant of your method, sir. I like dividing by 10 first. Then I only have to move the decimal over 1 place, saving me some time and effort!
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Uhmm.. then let the people that know give their opinions without being chastised by the people that don't know. VB does in fact suck. It's power and usefulness do not compare to languages like Java or C++ or even perl. And thats the point: it is a language written for managers and PHB's, not hackers, as most slashdotters are.
A negative informed opinion about something is not bigotry.
"Signing off for good" Promise?
-- "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
It's a pretty sad world when we have to worry about our browsers crashing because of HTML/Javascript they read. Isn't it true that correctly written software should _never_ crash on any input?
BTW, does the erroneous javascript crash Mozilla as well? Might make a nice bugzilla bug.
How exactly can you play Quake or Tomb Raider on a screen the size of your thumb? How to write successful vapor specifications that will appear on slashdot: Take an already existing technology (like GameBoy) Mix in hype words like "Download" "Quake" "PDA"
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure about the swap encrypting, but I'd imagine encrypting the data in physical RAM would incur sever performance hit. Usually, memory related code and structures are optimized highly, to squeeze the last micro-sec of speed.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
So? I employ proven, stable technologies like Python and Gtk+ to create an interface so flexible, that it is written and intepreted at runtime.
Seems a narrow point of view... If Python and Gtk+ suit your needs, then no one is shoving Mozilla down your throat. But what if you needed a cross platform framework? What if you had to (or wanted to) support Macintosh, i386 Linux, Windows, Irix, i386 Solaris (and those are just from the homepage) without so much as a recompile (assuming the rest of your code is written in a good cross-platform cross-compiler manner)?
I need a fast
Mozilla is faster and more responsive than Netscape 4.x (P3 450)
lightweight
Smaller download/footprint too.
standards-compliant web browser!
As standards-compliant as they come, along with MathML and scalable vector graphics.
Take your buzzwords and shove them.
Jeez, does another application framework piss you off that much?? Wow...
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Over half of those algorithms are patented by UNISYS! I think they are charging $1000 per use of each algorithm (that's per use, not per application!!)
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
The article states that Java 3D for linux is forthcoming, implying that it is not available yet. It is (not a production release, though), and I've been using it for about a couple weeks now, and its very stable and clean, and other than my machine being horrendously outdated, it performs well. See the blackdown.org site for more information.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
But look at the KDE browser. That's come a lot further a lot faster than the Mozilla project.
That statement really bothers me, because while the KDE browser is just that, a web browser, you have to understand that Mozilla is as much as application framework as it is a web browser. The ability to parse HTML is just one part of what the Mozilla project is all about.
Did you know that every part of Mozilla's UI and dialogs are written in an XML doc type called XUL? By doing this, the Netscape guys no longer have to deal with half a dozen UI toolkits for each platform. As you can imagine, this is no small task.
Konqueror has come along faster, but there are different design goals: Browser vs. complex cross platform app framework (wrapped around a browser).
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
The difference between Palm and this unit is that Palm is shipping. If I had a nickel for every press release about a Linux-based PDA, I'd have, like, at least a buck.
Note to companies: I will pay for your stuff. Please make your Linux PDA's soon. Thank you.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
In addition, will /. now have to have 2 Microsoft topic icons?
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Yes, but changes to the Linux API have always been open to developers, as opposed to shifty, secret changes to the Windows API, implemented specifically to screw !Microsoft developers.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I've yet to find a SNES emulator that doesn't suck. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough. Which one do you use, and does it have good speed, sound quality? Does it play Mario Kart?
</offtopic>
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Hmm... I'm curious. Would a nuclear missile, or a handful of them, do any serious damage to the Death Star?
Interesting...
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
You are correct on all counts. Unfortunately, while tech-heads can think of half a dozen solutions to the case, Judge Jackson cannot. It's not his fault, of course, he's a law-man, not a binary-man. I think the proposed "splitting" solution is very old-fashioned, can't be enforced without a lot of work, and will most likely not be as good as Open API's, open office file formats, or other possible punishments.
I don't know what M$ is whining about, they're getting off pretty easily.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
IMHO they should split them into two or three companies that can do the same things.
I never understood how this would work. Would there be MicrosoftA MicrosoftB and MicrosoftC? Would they all produce the same products? What's stopping them from forming alliances with each other, as even competing companies do? "OK, A, you produce so-and-so libraries, and in return, B will give you so-and-so libraries." In other words, how would you enforce their competition instead of cooperation? This plan seems to be very vague and a lot of work.
And if they would compete honestly, wouldn't the market shift toward one of them, sooner or later? And when that happened, wouldnt the other two go out of business? And then we're right back where we started, except now its MicrosftC running things and bullying people.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
A while ago I heard the DOJ was considering making Micros~1 open up completely their Office file formats. I really wanted this to come about, even if it was a side note to a much stiffer punishment. Office sales are about 70% of Micros~1's sales, IIRC. Making them open these formats, and keep their future versions open would seriously hurt their control over the market, especially since no one, even me, is willing to use any office suite that has less than 100% compatibilty.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
No one is forcing the consumer to use IE, they're just making it slightly more convenient, and everpresent.
But don't you see that "forcing" and "slightly more convenient" are almost the same we're dealing with Joe Q Public who just bought is Compaq? He doesn't know there are other browsers out there, let alone how to download/install them, and so he is content to click on the blue E.
If a contractor who made houses also made refrigerators, and he gave me a fridge with every house I bought, why the hell would I even bother looking at the other fridge makers? Microsoft cut out the competition (Netscape) in the exact same way. They stole the consumers right to choose.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
XMLTerm is a mozilla based x-term, with some web-like features (check the screenshots). Here it is in the tree:
http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozi lla/source/extensions/xmlterm
amazing!
To try it out, you'll need the source, Luke:
./configure --with-extensions=xmlterm {others}
./mozilla -chrome chrome://xmlterm/content/xmlterm.xul
see the pages for more details.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I'm a fan of open-source software for the exact reasons you mentioned: being able to contribute. Thinking of an idea or feature, and then actually doing something about it (ie, writing it in) gives me a natural high.
But being a fan of open-source software does not mean I am a fan of the open-source movement. Commercial software is not the work of Satan, it is the work of society. And if you haven;t noticed, people in all societies like to get paid to feed themselves, improve their quality of life, etc. Thinking that all commercial developers are minions of Hell is just plain idiocy.
To not be able to sit down to dinner with a commercial developer without going berzerk about free-software preachings (section 4 of the article) is absolute lunacy! People like Stallman do no favors to any organization.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I agree. Developers in the commercial world are under different constraints and requirements than the shuttle software crew. Commercial shops are motivated by $$$, not perfect code. If "good enough" will sell (and that it does!), then why bother with anything else? If no one cares about 5000 errors, then why spend $35mil (assuming the company has/can/wants to spend that much money on 1 application) writing phone books of specs?
There's also the matter of competition. The reason we have tales of hackers writing deep into the night to get a product out the door is because if they didn't, competition could very well spring up out of the blue and beat them to market.
There are lessons to be learned, however, even for open source developers like ourselves. About every project on, say, freshmeat, has a link to a source tarball on it's web page. But how many of those projects have even a single design document on their sites? Why is that? Design/specification is not a development phase that can be skipped, just because you want to get coding because its fun. Proper documentation is vital before coding all but the most trivial of applications.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
It's not just KDE that slavishly copies MS (as GNOME zealots would lead you to believe). In fact, didn't Miguel himself say that he copied Excel exactly when he worked on Gnumeric? Don't remember the link, probably on /. a while ago.
Evolution looks a damn lot like Outlook as well.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Some other classics that I would love to see these guys make:
Tetris (200+ lines starting on level 19, baby!)
Super Mario Bros (#1)
Zelda 2
Megaman!
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Yeah, but does anyone remember what this code is from, and what it does:
007-373-5963
Who knows how many countless megabytes NES games are holding in my brain...
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
Maybe - Will you be my friend?
Yes.
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
I prefer a variant of your method, sir. I like dividing by 10 first. Then I only have to move the decimal over 1 place, saving me some time and effort!
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
"I Don't Know"
Uhmm.. then let the people that know give their opinions without being chastised by the people that don't know. VB does in fact suck. It's power and usefulness do not compare to languages like Java or C++ or even perl. And thats the point: it is a language written for managers and PHB's, not hackers, as most slashdotters are.
A negative informed opinion about something is not bigotry.
"Signing off for good"
Promise?
--
"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
It's a pretty sad world when we have to worry about our browsers crashing because of HTML/Javascript they read. Isn't it true that correctly written software should _never_ crash on any input?
BTW, does the erroneous javascript crash Mozilla as well? Might make a nice bugzilla bug.
How exactly can you play Quake or Tomb Raider on a screen the size of your thumb?
How to write successful vapor specifications that will appear on slashdot:
Take an already existing technology (like GameBoy)
Mix in hype words like "Download" "Quake" "PDA"