make it a stable and solid development platform...
Whoever said that was their primary, or even secondary goal? I use ruby as a prototyping language before rewriting in C. I only use it because it's so easy to work with all the "features of the day" in it.
I believe the Registry was useful for its one intended purpose: storage of device driver configuration and OS errata (such as MUI caches, last-window-positions and such.) This is the sort of thing that linux is still struggling with, where you have to poke values into/sys/ctl/something/something in order to enable a firewall. This is where a registry would be useful, persisting the state of all those pokes. I admit that, if it were a filesystem, you could just dump the tree and load it all again the next time. That probably would have been the best compromise, but Windows wasn't virtual-filesystem-friendly at the time the Registry came to be--it had actual files and directories, and that's it. Creating a virtual FS tree would seem completely alien to Microsoft's mind at the time, and the other option just wasn't very good: lots of drive activity and inode manipulations on every startup and shutdown to create actual files and directories. So the registry was a good thing. User-mode shouldn't have access to it, though.
About sh et all: Cygwin. Has ssh, too, and X if you install it.
Still, the laptop-to-desktop thing is already built into windows, in the form of Terminal Services. Enable "remote desktop connections" on the desktop, and then run the program "mstsc" (MicroSoft Terminal Services Client) to connect to it. Basically a proprietary VNC, but works without installing anything, which is a plus.
And where's that, exactly? For most kids I know, their day schedule is: wake up, get cleaned up, get on the bus, stay at school for as long as possible, get back on the bus, eat, try to avoid parents until they're asleep, and sleep. The only steps where it's possible to "vent and rebel" are the 3rd through 5th ones, and most kids are just too tired on the bus to even be aware of their problems. What do you suggest?
(For the older ones, there's an alternate schedule: wake up, get cleaned up, drive to school, stay at school for as long as possible, get in their car, go to their shitty, minimum-wage job, try to avoid bosses until quitting time, drive home, eat, try to avoid parents until they're asleep, and sleep.)
Microsoft already does that; it's called the Hardware Compatibility List. But the users haven't and won't learn that it's a good idea to follow, because when they see the $60 HCL-certified webcam beside the $17.95 Taiwanese-manufactured POS, they will choose the cheaper one. Every time.
At least the manuals for these things tell Windows users what to do when Windows says "This driver sucks!" after installation.
XUL is a user-interface description language created by Mozilla.
XAML is a user-interface description language created by Microsoft.
AJAX is a method of using Javascript to asynchronously update parts of page content without refreshing the entire page.
One of my friends used to own a.ca domain name, and originally registered it with an @home.com email address. One day, he gave it to me, along with the registrar account username and password. I tried to change the administrative contact to myself, but it turns out you need an additional "CIRA" username/password to change any of the admin contact information (not to renew the domain, though!). So there's a "request password" button on the registrar site that they say will send the CIRA username/password to the Admin. contact. Useless in my case, though, because said contact still has an @home.com address! I ended up with three options: contact the nice folks at home.com (redirects to home.co.jp now, so that might be a problem), and ask them for a temporary mail account; send in the "change of Admin. contact" paperwork (much, much more work than original registration); or just let the domain lapse and purchase it again myself. My current course of action, actually, is to just live with the invalid information.
The malicious people would already have a base of such information, and would gather it themselves whether such a contest existed or not. However, this only seeks to additionally expose such tricks to view of neutral and positive parties. I would say that parties with all intents (-x + 0 + x) having access to subject material is much better than purely malicious persons (-x) having access. Would you rather a book on bomb building were in a prison library, or a public library?
Simpler method:
Set up a home server running sshd.
Download Putty, and set "dynamic" Tunnel connection on any source port for the terminal, for example 7777. Connect to your computer.
Set your SOCKS proxy to localhost:7777.
Well, Microsoft does have Automatic Update working for them. They may have slower patch creation times, but they can push the created patch to you much more quickly. If you were a corporate executive, would you say that you'd rather immediately install an externally verified patch, or take your own company's time and resources to verify the patch? Sure, for large, computer-intensive operations like air traffic control or medical care, you'd need to verify the patch either way. But if it just means that a secretary wouldn't be able to play Solitare, and especially if your company doesn't have any individually-designated "Computer Security" positions, I think you'd install the patch right away.
Also, it'd be ill-advised for an open-source shop to not regression-test patches before release anyway. I don't want to see the size of your Bugzilla database.
Here's some blatant avertising for a spam protection service I use, http://spamgourmet.com/. You pick out an address to fill in in servicekey.messages_allowed.accountname@spamgourme t.com format, and it forwards messages_allowed messages from the servicekey account, then discards all further ones. I use this for a gmail account I have, and I've never gotten a single spam message to it. Ever.
That'd be a good idea, but he's just one being, etc.
There's more than one person maintaining any other distro. [And if there isn't, it probably is a derivative of another distro, and uses its parent's gnome packages.]
Don't worry, Gnome will still come with slack. It'll just be someone else's problem massaging it into slackpkgs from now on.
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I believe the Registry was useful for its one intended purpose: storage of device driver configuration and OS errata (such as MUI caches, last-window-positions and such.) This is the sort of thing that linux is still struggling with, where you have to poke values into /sys/ctl/something/something in order to enable a firewall. This is where a registry would be useful, persisting the state of all those pokes. I admit that, if it were a filesystem, you could just dump the tree and load it all again the next time. That probably would have been the best compromise, but Windows wasn't virtual-filesystem-friendly at the time the Registry came to be--it had actual files and directories, and that's it. Creating a virtual FS tree would seem completely alien to Microsoft's mind at the time, and the other option just wasn't very good: lots of drive activity and inode manipulations on every startup and shutdown to create actual files and directories. So the registry was a good thing. User-mode shouldn't have access to it, though.
About sh et all: Cygwin. Has ssh, too, and X if you install it. Still, the laptop-to-desktop thing is already built into windows, in the form of Terminal Services. Enable "remote desktop connections" on the desktop, and then run the program "mstsc" (MicroSoft Terminal Services Client) to connect to it. Basically a proprietary VNC, but works without installing anything, which is a plus.
Virtual Dimension might be worth a look: a set of Windows WM enhancements. Open source and everything.
And only the home editions have activation, anyway (of XP--Vista will have it on the non-home editions, and it won't be a one-time thing.)
Apparently, I tried it with the one thing that it consistently produces coasters of: OpenBSD.
No, the suggestion is that someone else takes it off of them.
Microsoft already does that; it's called the Hardware Compatibility List. But the users haven't and won't learn that it's a good idea to follow, because when they see the $60 HCL-certified webcam beside the $17.95 Taiwanese-manufactured POS, they will choose the cheaper one. Every time. At least the manuals for these things tell Windows users what to do when Windows says "This driver sucks!" after installation.
XUL is a user-interface description language created by Mozilla. XAML is a user-interface description language created by Microsoft. AJAX is a method of using Javascript to asynchronously update parts of page content without refreshing the entire page.
One of my friends used to own a .ca domain name, and originally registered it with an @home.com email address. One day, he gave it to me, along with the registrar account username and password. I tried to change the administrative contact to myself, but it turns out you need an additional "CIRA" username/password to change any of the admin contact information (not to renew the domain, though!). So there's a "request password" button on the registrar site that they say will send the CIRA username/password to the Admin. contact. Useless in my case, though, because said contact still has an @home.com address! I ended up with three options: contact the nice folks at home.com (redirects to home.co.jp now, so that might be a problem), and ask them for a temporary mail account; send in the "change of Admin. contact" paperwork (much, much more work than original registration); or just let the domain lapse and purchase it again myself. My current course of action, actually, is to just live with the invalid information.
A decade ago, they might have called them "action figures." Now they call them "anime figurines."
I really hope you never see a tricky LISP hack.
The malicious people would already have a base of such information, and would gather it themselves whether such a contest existed or not. However, this only seeks to additionally expose such tricks to view of neutral and positive parties. I would say that parties with all intents (-x + 0 + x) having access to subject material is much better than purely malicious persons (-x) having access. Would you rather a book on bomb building were in a prison library, or a public library?
Simpler method:
Set up a home server running sshd.
Download Putty, and set "dynamic" Tunnel connection on any source port for the terminal, for example 7777. Connect to your computer.
Set your SOCKS proxy to localhost:7777.
Well, Microsoft does have Automatic Update working for them. They may have slower patch creation times, but they can push the created patch to you much more quickly. If you were a corporate executive, would you say that you'd rather immediately install an externally verified patch, or take your own company's time and resources to verify the patch? Sure, for large, computer-intensive operations like air traffic control or medical care, you'd need to verify the patch either way. But if it just means that a secretary wouldn't be able to play Solitare, and especially if your company doesn't have any individually-designated "Computer Security" positions, I think you'd install the patch right away. Also, it'd be ill-advised for an open-source shop to not regression-test patches before release anyway. I don't want to see the size of your Bugzilla database.
One word for you: HURD.
Here's some blatant avertising for a spam protection service I use, http://spamgourmet.com/. You pick out an address to fill in in servicekey.messages_allowed.accountname@spamgourme t.com format, and it forwards messages_allowed messages from the servicekey account, then discards all further ones. I use this for a gmail account I have, and I've never gotten a single spam message to it. Ever.
Old technology: LISP. New name: XML.
Just have to ask: compared to what? What would you consider a good example of the RPG genre?
Then we know someone has been downloading porn.
It would be quite amusing if it turned out one of the Phisher's names was "John Doe".