Hey guys,
I'm a pretty geeky dude, but I guess I really can't know everything all the time. What is XAML and XUL, and how do they compete with each other?
And I believe the answer customers respond with is: Save lots, and lots of money. R&D, Purchase, and Maintenance.
In the world of buisness, ideology often needs to take a back seat to good common sense. Personally, I feel it's to their credit. This way they can focus less on their last innovation, and more on the next one.
I think there's a difference here... In the US, it's about the government removing Christianity from Sate holdings (Separation of Church and State). It's more "We're not going to take any sides" than "Christianity is wrong". So, while the Christians are loosing presence in state holdings, it does help ensure that non-Christians are not percecuted the way they have been in the past.
The idea is to try to get places like Indonesia and Sudan (over time) to use the same kinds of policies. That way, the Christians aren't the ones being percecuted.
Why are Christians conservative? The answer, it turns out, is not a matter of religion or theology, but instead sociology and psychology.
Basically put: It's not the christians as individuals that are perpetuating the conservative line, but the organizations that are in power.
It turns out that an organization's level of conservatism is usually related to how large/powerful the group is. Playing it conservative helps preserve things the way they are now, which is beneficial to the people on top.
Think about this: At the height of Christianity, the church was as strong as the government (Or was an integral part of the government). That's also when things were so conservative that speaking out in the wrong ways could get you killed.
As always, there are exceptions to the rule, but generally it goes like this: The people in power want to preserve their power. They will write policies and teach conservative views to make sure most people view the world the same way they do. The ones with liberal views are then going to be (generally) those who have the least power.
Interestingly, there comes a time when the conservative line takes away too much power from your average Joe, and they join the liberal ranks. The liberals overthrow the conservatives, and the cycle continues.
It's not about Jesus and his teachings, it's about the church having had large amounts of power. As Christianity is in the decline you will find there will be a higher ratio of Christians who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, instead of those who profess to follow Jesus but do what they want anyway.
Don't really know what the next conservative religious group may be. My colleagues say it'll be the pagans, which (as a pagan leader) scares me. Why? Simply put: To organize and make powerful paganism would be to remove what I consider to be it's greatest benefits: The power given to individuals through self-discovery.
The Gish demo is a little short, but it's fun platformer none-the-less.
Puzzle Pirates has a free demo, and can be a lot of fun if you find some cool people on-line. Lots of innovation and good ideas there.
Star Chamber involves a fair amount of thinking ahead, strategy, and adaptability. It's card-based strategy game like Magic, but provides multiple ways to win, allowing for a lot more thinking.
I've already built in code that will let me grandfather the software and self-destruct the checking mechanism if I decide to:
1) Open the source 2) Close the project 3) Leave the market
True, 8 years down the road after I leave the market, I might not have my website to send the grandfather code. Of course, half my software relies on the site for other purposes as well.
Could this feature be exploited by crackers? Yes. Pretty much any copy protection can though. It's designed to be a flexible way of dealing with guys who are looking for a quick free program.
As I said... There is no real protection against people rewriting your software. At the same time, most people in for a quick free program won't have nearly as much luck.
I prefer MAC address. I'm also not terribly draconian about it either. Red flag at about 5 mac addresses, shutdown at 10 or so. Be sure to contact the customer to find out what's going on.
True, from everything that I understand, it always comes down to a single if statement somewhere. Get that sucker to return true, and you're set.
At the same time, I think there's a difference between stopping the pros (As I said in a different post, no defense against them rewriting your software), and stopping some guy with KaZaA who wants a free ride by looking up a key somewhere.
To be honest dude... If you're using my software 10 years from now, or this guy's HTML editor 10 years from now, I'll be surprised. Sure, there are lots of companies that have some seriously legacy software... But to be honest, I'm not writing it.
As for forced upgrades and such, you have no guaruntees that I wouldn't do that other than my word. Of course, my word is more than MicroSoft or someone else will give you. Who knows? Maybe XP will auto-die in 2006. Nothing says they can't do it.
Sure, I like OSS too, and I'd like to make a living doing it. Unfortunately, it's REALLY hard to make money doing OSS. It's hard enough to have the project break even at all, let alone feed the kids.
I find it hard to believe that nobody has bought your software with millions of downloads. I find that a really good program gets about a 1% (ouch) download/purchase rate.
I'm working on designing my site so that the keys are available on a web-based DB. Do an MD5 on the key, and match hashes with with the one on-line at program startup. No match, no save capability. Too many people going for one key? Disable that key.
Have the program run OK if it fails once or twice in a row, but the third time, the program dies until it can check its key.
People may still be able to crack your software (No real defense against people rewriting your program...), but keygens and re-used keys become a rarity.
It's not that the disk acts as a booting device, it's just the storage medium for external drivers.
What happens is this:
For my motherboard, Windows XP install needs external HDD drivers to format the (brand new, totally blank) SATA HDD, set up its environment, and install Windows XP correctly.
So, you put in the XP CD-ROM, and it loads a ZILLION drivers for crap I don't have. Then, it asks me if I need to load drivers from an external source. Having a SATA device, I say "yes".
Unfortunately, when the Win XP install gives the option to load external drivers, it asks you for a floppy. No options at all. You cannot swap out the XP install CD for a driver CD, fetch them from a network, or load the drivers from a USB drive. I guess these three options would just make too much goddamn sense.
I just built a (screaming) athlon system that included SATA. However, the SATA drivers were not availble when installing Windows (Linux isn't an option for me at this point) off of the XP CD. So I had to load an external driver using... You guessed it, a floppy.
I had actually considered not buying a floppy for the machine, but I did "just in case". If I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to get the machine working until I went out and bought one.
emtboy9's writeup is not much of a writeup. It's word for word the first 3 paragraph of the article without giving CNet credit for it. That's kind of a no-no to me.
Since we're on the topic. Does anyone know of a super-small/simple MP3 player that just plays from my system tray?
I want a music player that has no skins, no visiualizations, just a small program that keeps track of a playlist, plays music, and stays out of my way.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean id was willing to be flexible with the DOOM storyline? The storyline that went something like...
It's demons.
It's aliens.
No... wait... It's demonic aliens.
No, they're really demons, from hell.
You go to hell and kill all of the demons.
Research on Mars summons demons who try to steal ships to invade Earth.
I don't know how they could EVER justify deviation.
~D
From what I can tell from the articles, your money is going to pay off debt that the FCC has generated because of corrupt business practices.
Cheers.
~D
Hey guys,
;)
I'm a pretty geeky dude, but I guess I really can't know everything all the time. What is XAML and XUL, and how do they compete with each other?
This is an easy +5 informative to someone...
~D
Ok... Who gave Bonsai Buddy a seat in the HoR?
~D
And I believe the answer customers respond with is: Save lots, and lots of money. R&D, Purchase, and Maintenance.
In the world of buisness, ideology often needs to take a back seat to good common sense. Personally, I feel it's to their credit. This way they can focus less on their last innovation, and more on the next one.
~D
I guess the chickens win after all.
~D
I think there's a difference here... In the US, it's about the government removing Christianity from Sate holdings (Separation of Church and State). It's more "We're not going to take any sides" than "Christianity is wrong". So, while the Christians are loosing presence in state holdings, it does help ensure that non-Christians are not percecuted the way they have been in the past.
The idea is to try to get places like Indonesia and Sudan (over time) to use the same kinds of policies. That way, the Christians aren't the ones being percecuted.
~D
Why are Christians conservative? The answer, it turns out, is not a matter of religion or theology, but instead sociology and psychology.
Basically put: It's not the christians as individuals that are perpetuating the conservative line, but the organizations that are in power.
It turns out that an organization's level of conservatism is usually related to how large/powerful the group is. Playing it conservative helps preserve things the way they are now, which is beneficial to the people on top.
Think about this: At the height of Christianity, the church was as strong as the government (Or was an integral part of the government). That's also when things were so conservative that speaking out in the wrong ways could get you killed.
As always, there are exceptions to the rule, but generally it goes like this: The people in power want to preserve their power. They will write policies and teach conservative views to make sure most people view the world the same way they do. The ones with liberal views are then going to be (generally) those who have the least power.
Interestingly, there comes a time when the conservative line takes away too much power from your average Joe, and they join the liberal ranks. The liberals overthrow the conservatives, and the cycle continues.
It's not about Jesus and his teachings, it's about the church having had large amounts of power. As Christianity is in the decline you will find there will be a higher ratio of Christians who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, instead of those who profess to follow Jesus but do what they want anyway.
Don't really know what the next conservative religious group may be. My colleagues say it'll be the pagans, which (as a pagan leader) scares me. Why? Simply put: To organize and make powerful paganism would be to remove what I consider to be it's greatest benefits: The power given to individuals through self-discovery.
~D
http://www.modernwiccan.com
Actually, the poster put up some good ones.
The Gish demo is a little short, but it's fun platformer none-the-less.
Puzzle Pirates has a free demo, and can be a lot of fun if you find some cool people on-line. Lots of innovation and good ideas there.
Star Chamber involves a fair amount of thinking ahead, strategy, and adaptability. It's card-based strategy game like Magic, but provides multiple ways to win, allowing for a lot more thinking.
~D
Oh damnit... It nuked extra spaces. Those markers are all wrong now. (sigh)
~D
Yep. I think they might be right on this one.
~D
I've already built in code that will let me grandfather the software and self-destruct the checking mechanism if I decide to:
1) Open the source
2) Close the project
3) Leave the market
True, 8 years down the road after I leave the market, I might not have my website to send the grandfather code. Of course, half my software relies on the site for other purposes as well.
Could this feature be exploited by crackers? Yes. Pretty much any copy protection can though. It's designed to be a flexible way of dealing with guys who are looking for a quick free program.
~D
As I said... There is no real protection against people rewriting your software. At the same time, most people in for a quick free program won't have nearly as much luck.
~D
I prefer MAC address. I'm also not terribly draconian about it either. Red flag at about 5 mac addresses, shutdown at 10 or so. Be sure to contact the customer to find out what's going on.
~D
True, from everything that I understand, it always comes down to a single if statement somewhere. Get that sucker to return true, and you're set.
At the same time, I think there's a difference between stopping the pros (As I said in a different post, no defense against them rewriting your software), and stopping some guy with KaZaA who wants a free ride by looking up a key somewhere.
~D
To be honest dude... If you're using my software 10 years from now, or this guy's HTML editor 10 years from now, I'll be surprised. Sure, there are lots of companies that have some seriously legacy software... But to be honest, I'm not writing it.
As for forced upgrades and such, you have no guaruntees that I wouldn't do that other than my word. Of course, my word is more than MicroSoft or someone else will give you. Who knows? Maybe XP will auto-die in 2006. Nothing says they can't do it.
Sure, I like OSS too, and I'd like to make a living doing it. Unfortunately, it's REALLY hard to make money doing OSS. It's hard enough to have the project break even at all, let alone feed the kids.
~D
I find it hard to believe that nobody has bought your software with millions of downloads. I find that a really good program gets about a 1% (ouch) download/purchase rate.
I'm working on designing my site so that the keys are available on a web-based DB. Do an MD5 on the key, and match hashes with with the one on-line at program startup. No match, no save capability. Too many people going for one key? Disable that key.
Have the program run OK if it fails once or twice in a row, but the third time, the program dies until it can check its key.
People may still be able to crack your software (No real defense against people rewriting your program...), but keygens and re-used keys become a rarity.
~D
Better alternative: Self destruct the software, and place a setting (or two) somewhere sneaky, so the software won't run until they get a legit key.
~D
It's not that the disk acts as a booting device, it's just the storage medium for external drivers.
What happens is this:
For my motherboard, Windows XP install needs external HDD drivers to format the (brand new, totally blank) SATA HDD, set up its environment, and install Windows XP correctly.
So, you put in the XP CD-ROM, and it loads a ZILLION drivers for crap I don't have. Then, it asks me if I need to load drivers from an external source. Having a SATA device, I say "yes".
Unfortunately, when the Win XP install gives the option to load external drivers, it asks you for a floppy. No options at all. You cannot swap out the XP install CD for a driver CD, fetch them from a network, or load the drivers from a USB drive. I guess these three options would just make too much goddamn sense.
~D
I'm not totally convinced, and here's why:
I just built a (screaming) athlon system that included SATA. However, the SATA drivers were not availble when installing Windows (Linux isn't an option for me at this point) off of the XP CD. So I had to load an external driver using... You guessed it, a floppy.
I had actually considered not buying a floppy for the machine, but I did "just in case". If I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to get the machine working until I went out and bought one.
~D
I turns out that reading these languages uses a very different part of the brain, so I'm not sure you could build any kind of correlation at all...
5 88 96
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=220&sid=2
~D
What's even more bizzare is that the article doesn't link to the ThinkGeek page for this. Instead, they link to a competitor, thetechzone.com.
Congratulations slashdot! you've just shot your sister-company in the foot!
~D
As cool as it is, as much as it calls to my inner artist, I just can't justify buying one.
Hell, I just put together a screaming fast Athlon 64 machine with a gig of RAM, a faster HDD, and DVD-R, for the same price as the base model G5.
Just doesn't make sense where it counts: My wallet. True, my new machine didn't come with a nice new display, but then again, I didn't NEED one.
~D
emtboy9's writeup is not much of a writeup. It's word for word the first 3 paragraph of the article without giving CNet credit for it. That's kind of a no-no to me.
Since we're on the topic. Does anyone know of a super-small/simple MP3 player that just plays from my system tray?
I want a music player that has no skins, no visiualizations, just a small program that keeps track of a playlist, plays music, and stays out of my way.
~D