Believe it or not, there are numerous legal issues that Sun has to work through in order to ensure code that is open sourced doesn't get anyone in trouble.
Be patient. They're working on it. Or would you rather they open source some code they don't have the right to, and get people who see that code into trouble?
There is still alot of work to be done, but it is a huge first step.
Some of us think Bill Gates is bad. Some of us think Bill Gates is an evil monopolist.
But to call a man who has given more than $2 billion dollars to charity "anti-social"?
That's just arrogance. I don't like Microsoft's software. I don't like their monopolistic practices. But that doesn't mean I don't respect Bill Gates for forking out money to charity, to actually help and make a positive difference in some people's lives.
The world isn't black and white. The world is unfair. That's why everyone is a mixture of idealism and practicality.
Stallman seems to believe that Free Software is a moral issue. That is his choice.
But what really irks me is that he tries to impose his own set of values and beliefs upon other people.
He talks about "Open Source" having a different philosophy, about how "Open Source" focuses on the GPL and sharing of source code because of its tangible benefits. And how these are "narrowly practical values".
By his definition, that would mean my thoughts about getting a decent job are "narrowly practical values".
People use software for a purpose. People develop software for a purpose. For some it is a hobby. For some it is a way of putting food on the table.
Its just like people who believe that no country really needs a military, since no one fights wars anymore. Is that realistic? Is that practical?
I don't think Stallman even knows what practical means anymore. All he wants is credit, and his chance to shove his world view down other people's throats.
Last I checked, using a license didn't mean subscribing to another person's philosophy.
Another poster mentioned that Linux has come so far in 10 years compared to Hurd. This is because Linus is a practical person. Linux is a practical piece of software engineering. Hurd, is more like a academic research project mired in politics.
Sometimes, talk is cheap. Stallman has made great contributions yes, but that doesn't give him or anyone else the right to shove his views down my throat.
Respect my rights to my own beliefs, morals and ethics, as long as they do not force you to discard your own.
You make it sound like software developers of commercial software are selling child pornography, or drugs.
Have you been poor before? Have you ever wondered where your next meal is coming from, or how to support your family?
Philosophy doesn't pay the bills.
I am not saying we shouldn't have principles. We should have principles. But we all have RESPONSBILITIES.
You talk about freedom. Stallman likes to talk about freedom. But at the end of the day, Stallman is just pushing an agenda.
There is nothing wrong with pushing one's own agenda. Heck, Man is selfish by nature. But please, please call a spade a spade.
People are free to make whatever choices they want. And that includes what type of software they want to write, and what bloody license they want to release it under.
I bought an album from Magnatune just a few days ago (Emma's Mini is the artist). I like the concept, but their selection is too limited IMHO. I only found that one album that really appealed to me.
Why should we be penalised for a flawed business model?
We aren't forcing them to sell us unlimited bandwidth for below cost. They CHOOSE to do so, basing their business model on the fact that most normal users won't consume a T1's worth of bandwidth.
The issue here is that they advertise unlimited, when actually in some cases, unlimited doesn't mean unlimited. And that sucks.
I would be willing to pay for an ISP that advertises unlimited, and delivers. And not just one that advertises unlimited, and then starts pissing me off with letters warning me of "excessive bandwidth usage".
Actually, this is more like someone submitting a decent patch to Linus, and then Linus refusing to accept the patch and giving a reply like "The weather isn't very good today for that sorta thing", as to a "No, because of blah blah technical reason ".
The issue here is that Harold requested that the Cygwin/XFree86 project be allowed to commit patches directly to the XFree86.org CVS tree. Instead of a direct yes/no reply, he basically got flim-flammed by David Dawes.
Transmeta chips are essentially a VLIW CPU, surrounded by a sophisticated JIT compiler that translates and compiles x86 code to the native instruction set of the VLIW CPU, and then runs the code.
This allows Transmeta to save on die space. Smaller die = less transistors = less heat = less power.
Unfortunately, this approach so far has yielded substandard performance. And even though power consumption was better than Intel's mobile processors for awhile, Intel quickly geared up, threw money and engineers at the problem, and came out with the Pentium M.
Arstechnica.com has speculated before that Transmeta could easily use the same approach to optimise for speed/performance as opposed to power consumption : I'm hoping they do.
For those intending to use welder's glass for phototaking/viewing of such events, please get the proper grade of welder's glass, grade #14 and above is good enough.
IMHO:
I find that in his latest books, namely All Tomorrow's Parties and Pattern Recognition, Gibson has moved away from his previous style of "dark cyberpunk". Instead, he explores in detail how technology has social reprecussions.
In ATP, it was a basically about how the matrix of that future made it possible for certain individuals to see future change:ie. Laney. He doesn't emphasize it very much, but what this change in ATP was the advent of nano-fabrication, which is why in the last chapter he talks about how a watch is restored using nano-technology.
In Pattern Recogniton, it is all about the Internet. How messageboards/forums appeal to introverts like Cayce. Even key events, such as the list of numbers hidden in the fragments of the video clips were obtained through F:F:F.
Remember the girl who Taki thought was a japanese school girl but was actually a bartender they took a picture of to get him to give Cayce the numbers? Later on this girl (Judy Tsuzuki) finds out about the whole scam and falls in love with Taki, or so she professes. Someone she has never met before.
And in the ending, he reveals to us that Cayce has hooked up with Parkaboy in a boy-girl relationship. So, i feel that Pattern Recognition is more a commentary on how the Internet has allowed introverts to go about forming human relationships in a non-conventional way, rather than a dark and sharp cyberpunk thriller.
Have you even been to Singapore? I don't recall the Economist being banned. Yes, porn mags are banned. "The Chinese in Singapore" : Singapore is a multi-racial society, not a province of China.
"Both Singapore and the USA are modern societies in terms of technology". Yup, and guess which one has a LAW called the DMCA?
What truly scares me, is the possibility of only the rich being able to afford genetic "enhancements".
Imagine a world where if you want your child to benefit from genetics, you have to spend a proportional amount of money for said engineering to be done.
The social divisions between the rich and the rest of us, will only widen.
Perhaps genetic enhancements should be regulated as a public benefit or utility, where all have somewhat equal opportunity to get them.
Agreed. I think sometimes, companies forget that it is the ability to innovate/create a great product that keeps a company afloat, not the product itself.
The means, not the ends.
"You live in a country with an incredibly good road system. You can get *anywhere* in the continental US by road. You can't get more than 15 miles away from a road in the continetal US."
I live in Singapore. I can get ANYWHERE within Singapore by car OR public transport.
"You have running water. Reliably. You have indoor plumbing. You have readily available food. You have electricity. You live in a place that has as many cars as families, because cars and gas are just that damned cheap here."
So do most developed countries.
"You have the best military in the world. You don't have to fear for your life walking down the street (well, in some places, you do, but it's safer here than much of the rest of the world)."
Best Military? Yes. But is it safe for your 20 year old sister to come home alone at 3 am in the morning without anything bad happening to her?
"I can drink the water anywhere in this nation without fear. Some places it looks a little brown, or have hard water, etc., but you can drink it without *dying*."
The tap water in Singapore is so clean, I don't even have to boil it.
So to use your analogy, if I was to design a car, I can't design one that uses wheels because someone else has done it before?
Microsoft has certain ideas that are sound in theory, but their implementation of it sucks in practice. There is nothing wrong with implementing GUI features in Gnome or KDE that have already proven to be useful in actual use.
Re:Variety of standards
on
Gnutella2?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
While you have a point, I must point out Napster wasn't strictly a peer to peer network system. Napster had a centralised set of servers, and was only peer to peer in the sense that it utilised the bandwidth of those sharing to upload those files to you and vice versa. As far as I know, these centralised servers are in fact what led to litigation against napster.
True peer to peer networks like Gnutella have no real centralised points: the process of discovery of new nodes does not require a a centralised server or servers, unlike Napster.
Re:PDF Files arn't easily modifiable.
on
Microsoft takes on PDF
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
One. Slashdot is a forum, not a united voice.
Two. XML is good, because it's a format that parsers have been written for, so developers don't have to write yet another file format parser, but merely write some additional logic ontop of an existing XML parser.
Three. Microsoft using XML isn't bad. However, given the history of their actions with regards to standards, and common sense, it is highly probable they'll find some way to subvert XML into some bizarre format that only MS Office can handle. This is what some of us at Slashdot feel will happen. XML isn't bad, but Microsoft doesn't have a track record for following standards. They do however, have the high score for subverting them.
It depends really. The vast majority of "broadband" subscriptions merely mention high speed uploads and downloads, and if you're looking at the unlimited price plans, the fact that it's "unlimited". They conveniently omit tiny details, like bandwidth caps.
True, most consumers of broadband don't use it all, allowing service providers to oversell bandwidth, but most of the time, you don't get what you paid for.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Slashdot Mirror
What drop of 32bit hardware in Solaris 10 are you referring to?
Solaris 10 runs on Sparc (which has been 64 bit for quite long), x86 and AMD64/EM64T.
Believe it or not, there are numerous legal issues that Sun has to work through in order to ensure code that is open sourced doesn't get anyone in trouble.
Be patient. They're working on it. Or would you rather they open source some code they don't have the right to, and get people who see that code into trouble?
There is still alot of work to be done, but it is a huge first step.
For more, take a look at the roadmap at
http://opensolaris.org/os/about/roadmap/
On a related note.
Some of us think Bill Gates is bad. Some of us think Bill Gates is an evil monopolist.
But to call a man who has given more than $2 billion dollars to charity "anti-social"?
That's just arrogance. I don't like Microsoft's software. I don't like their monopolistic practices. But that doesn't mean I don't respect Bill Gates for forking out money to charity, to actually help and make a positive difference in some people's lives.
The world isn't black and white. The world is unfair. That's why everyone is a mixture of idealism and practicality.
Stallman seems to believe that Free Software is a moral issue. That is his choice.
But what really irks me is that he tries to impose his own set of values and beliefs upon other people.
He talks about "Open Source" having a different philosophy, about how "Open Source" focuses on the GPL and sharing of source code because of its tangible benefits. And how these are "narrowly practical values".
By his definition, that would mean my thoughts about getting a decent job are "narrowly practical values".
People use software for a purpose. People develop software for a purpose. For some it is a hobby. For some it is a way of putting food on the table.
Its just like people who believe that no country really needs a military, since no one fights wars anymore. Is that realistic? Is that practical?
I don't think Stallman even knows what practical means anymore. All he wants is credit, and his chance to shove his world view down other people's throats.
Last I checked, using a license didn't mean subscribing to another person's philosophy.
Another poster mentioned that Linux has come so far in 10 years compared to Hurd. This is because Linus is a practical person. Linux is a practical piece of software engineering. Hurd, is more like a academic research project mired in politics.
Sometimes, talk is cheap. Stallman has made great contributions yes, but that doesn't give him or anyone else the right to shove his views down my throat.
Respect my rights to my own beliefs, morals and ethics, as long as they do not force you to discard your own.
You make it sound like software developers of commercial software are selling child pornography, or drugs.
Have you been poor before? Have you ever wondered where your next meal is coming from, or how to support your family?
Philosophy doesn't pay the bills.
I am not saying we shouldn't have principles. We should have principles. But we all have RESPONSBILITIES.
You talk about freedom. Stallman likes to talk about freedom. But at the end of the day, Stallman is just pushing an agenda.
There is nothing wrong with pushing one's own agenda. Heck, Man is selfish by nature. But please, please call a spade a spade.
People are free to make whatever choices they want. And that includes what type of software they want to write, and what bloody license they want to release it under.
I bought an album from Magnatune just a few days ago (Emma's Mini is the artist). I like the concept, but their selection is too limited IMHO. I only found that one album that really appealed to me.
While I agree with your logic, I must correct you in your use of Singapore's ban on chewing gum.
Singapore bans the import, sale and manufacture of chewing gum. It isn't illegal to chew it.
There is a 2.6 Input Drivers Faq . It covers some of the more common issues, including some KVM problems.
Singapore's tap water is safe for consumption.
Why should we be penalised for a flawed business model?
We aren't forcing them to sell us unlimited bandwidth for below cost. They CHOOSE to do so, basing their business model on the fact that most normal users won't consume a T1's worth of bandwidth.
The issue here is that they advertise unlimited, when actually in some cases, unlimited doesn't mean unlimited. And that sucks.
I would be willing to pay for an ISP that advertises unlimited, and delivers. And not just one that advertises unlimited, and then starts pissing me off with letters warning me of "excessive bandwidth usage".
Actually, this is more like someone submitting a decent patch to Linus, and then Linus refusing to accept the patch and giving a reply like "The weather isn't very good today for that sorta thing", as to a "No, because of blah blah technical reason ".
The issue here is that Harold requested that the Cygwin/XFree86 project be allowed to commit patches directly to the XFree86.org CVS tree. Instead of a direct yes/no reply, he basically got flim-flammed by David Dawes.
Transmeta chips are essentially a VLIW CPU, surrounded by a sophisticated JIT compiler that translates and compiles x86 code to the native instruction set of the VLIW CPU, and then runs the code.
This allows Transmeta to save on die space. Smaller die = less transistors = less heat = less power.
Unfortunately, this approach so far has yielded substandard performance. And even though power consumption was better than Intel's mobile processors for awhile, Intel quickly geared up, threw money and engineers at the problem, and came out with the Pentium M.
Arstechnica.com has speculated before that Transmeta could easily use the same approach to optimise for speed/performance as opposed to power consumption : I'm hoping they do.
For those intending to use welder's glass for phototaking/viewing of such events, please get the proper grade of welder's glass, grade #14 and above is good enough.
Reference: -1-
-2-
IMHO:
I find that in his latest books, namely All Tomorrow's Parties and Pattern Recognition, Gibson has moved away from his previous style of "dark cyberpunk". Instead, he explores in detail how technology has social reprecussions.
In ATP, it was a basically about how the matrix of that future made it possible for certain individuals to see future change:ie. Laney. He doesn't emphasize it very much, but what this change in ATP was the advent of nano-fabrication, which is why in the last chapter he talks about how a watch is restored using nano-technology.
In Pattern Recogniton, it is all about the Internet. How messageboards/forums appeal to introverts like Cayce. Even key events, such as the list of numbers hidden in the fragments of the video clips were obtained through F:F:F.
Remember the girl who Taki thought was a japanese school girl but was actually a bartender they took a picture of to get him to give Cayce the numbers? Later on this girl (Judy Tsuzuki) finds out about the whole scam and falls in love with Taki, or so she professes. Someone she has never met before.
And in the ending, he reveals to us that Cayce has hooked up with Parkaboy in a boy-girl relationship. So, i feel that Pattern Recognition is more a commentary on how the Internet has allowed introverts to go about forming human relationships in a non-conventional way, rather than a dark and sharp cyberpunk thriller.
Have you even been to Singapore? I don't recall the Economist being banned. Yes, porn mags are banned.
"The Chinese in Singapore" : Singapore is a multi-racial society, not a province of China.
"Both Singapore and the USA are modern societies in terms of technology". Yup, and guess which one has a LAW called the DMCA?
Moderators, please stop modding such FUD up.
Then why hasn't it happened yet to another intelligent species on another planet elsewhere?
What truly scares me, is the possibility of only the rich being able to afford genetic "enhancements".
Imagine a world where if you want your child to benefit from genetics, you have to spend a proportional amount of money for said engineering to be done.
The social divisions between the rich and the rest of us, will only widen.
Perhaps genetic enhancements should be regulated as a public benefit or utility, where all have somewhat equal opportunity to get them.
Agreed. I think sometimes, companies forget that it is the ability to innovate/create a great product that keeps a company afloat, not the product itself.
The means, not the ends.
"Please notice that DEVELOPED countries have no deaths, besides Canada."
And pray tell, why isn't Singapore a developed country? Or do you mean "any country in the west" when you say "developed country"?
"You live in a country with an incredibly good road system. You can get *anywhere* in the continental US by road. You can't get more than 15 miles away from a road in the continetal US."
I live in Singapore. I can get ANYWHERE within Singapore by car OR public transport.
"You have running water. Reliably. You have indoor plumbing. You have readily available food. You have electricity. You live in a place that has as many cars as families, because cars and gas are just that damned cheap here."
So do most developed countries.
"You have the best military in the world. You don't have to fear for your life walking down the street (well, in some places, you do, but it's safer here than much of the rest of the world)."
Best Military? Yes. But is it safe for your 20 year old sister to come home alone at 3 am in the morning without anything bad happening to her?
"I can drink the water anywhere in this nation without fear. Some places it looks a little brown, or have hard water, etc., but you can drink it without *dying*."
The tap water in Singapore is so clean, I don't even have to boil it.
So to use your analogy, if I was to design a car, I can't design one that uses wheels because someone else has done it before?
Microsoft has certain ideas that are sound in theory, but their implementation of it sucks in practice. There is nothing wrong with implementing GUI features in Gnome or KDE that have already proven to be useful in actual use.
6) Realise that "4)" isn't gonna happen.
While you have a point, I must point out Napster wasn't strictly a peer to peer network system. Napster had a centralised set of servers, and was only peer to peer in the sense that it utilised the bandwidth of those sharing to upload those files to you and vice versa. As far as I know, these centralised servers are in fact what led to litigation against napster.
True peer to peer networks like Gnutella have no real centralised points: the process of discovery of new nodes does not require a a centralised server or servers, unlike Napster.
One. Slashdot is a forum, not a united voice.
Two. XML is good, because it's a format that parsers have been written for, so developers don't have to write yet another file format parser, but merely write some additional logic ontop of an existing XML parser.
Three. Microsoft using XML isn't bad. However, given the history of their actions with regards to standards, and common sense, it is highly probable they'll find some way to subvert XML into some bizarre format that only MS Office can handle. This is what some of us at Slashdot feel will happen. XML isn't bad, but Microsoft doesn't have a track record for following standards. They do however, have the high score for subverting them.
It depends really. The vast majority of "broadband" subscriptions merely mention high speed uploads and downloads, and if you're looking at the unlimited price plans, the fact that it's "unlimited". They conveniently omit tiny details, like bandwidth caps.
True, most consumers of broadband don't use it all, allowing service providers to oversell bandwidth, but most of the time, you don't get what you paid for.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.