Illegal is illegal, that is the point of this case. Laws against monopolies don't exist for nothing. The idea that capitalism can order itself fully without laws and regulation is an illusion.
Following your reasoning, one could also say ('survival of the fittest') that the company that manages to eliminate (i.e. kill, murder) all staff/CEO's of its competitors, shall win. And if the state would try to prevent those illegal actions (killing is illegal in the US I assume) that would be "the government sticking it's nose into the economy"?!?
It is common practice in Holland and Switzerland too. In Holland you pay even some extra (about $25 for a TV or Computer) when you buy it, to pay in advance to the recycling afterwards.
In Switzerland, they still assume that people are more decent, thus you have to pay afterwards. In Holland they would assume one would dump the old TV's and Computers in a lake etc. to avoid the recycling costs:)
The producers are responsible, but the consumer has to pay the costs the producer makes for recycling. The producers must do the recycling (i.e. they can't refuse to take used products back) for a set price.
Cern is not Swiss. It is 50% in Geneva, 50% in France. It is funded by many European countries. Their scientists (and also US scientists, I believe US also pays some part of Cerns budget) have access to the facilities.
It looks like it is somewhere in between vmware and wine: They emulate windows basically (like wine) but only to a certain level (to save work and the compatability problems that keep plaguing wine). The hard parts are copied directly from Windows, thus you need the licence.
Hmm, in the Netherlands, the last time I saw a check was 15 years ago (way before general use of online banking, though that is available for 10 years now, not via internet but via dial-up modems or automatic systems that work via ordinary telephones).
When I was in the US some years ago, I was amazed by the primitive banking system too.
The reason you don't have checks (at least in the Netherlands) is that there is a (state-promoted) Giro system, that all banks must be attached to. Thus, you could always transfer money from anyone to anyone, as long has he has a bank account somewhere. All banks participate in the Giro-system where the exchanges are made.
Same in Switzerland. In fact in all European countries it is also possible to transfer money directly (for minimal cost) to bank accounts in other European countries. You just give the SWIFT code of the bank (SWIFT is a European system that all banks are part of (must be by law)) and the account number. No checks involved.
Three years ago I received a check from the US. I had to go through great troubles to even cash it (had to open a new bank account just to cash the check).
The US has always lacked a centrally dictated bank system, which led to fragmentation and to a primitive check system (and thus also to the rise of credit cards as a kind of alternative banking system that is interoperable).
Therefore, in the US now you see many different initiative such as PayPal.
In Europe there are much less, bigger similar systems for online payments. Usually there is one such system per state (sometimes a few of them cooperate) which is sanctioned by that countries central bank.
IMO it is very likely that the European central bank will sanction one or two systems for online (micro)payments in the near future, based on things like SET. I don't believe that the small scale US initiatives like will get hold here.
The established banks, which already have a tradition of more cooperation (having mutuals exchange systems) and online banking, will come up with the systems for online payments.
Bringing up questionble examples won't help such a case (rather damage it).
xrn (usenet) is not really 3-tier. If something it is rather 2-tier. The client (xrn) connects to the server. The server is part of a "distributed database" if you will (certainly not an RDBMS), it does *not* behave like a middle tier.
Those releases are the reference implementation, which is taken almost "as is" by most vendors.
Only the hardware specific parts of the X server (the rest of X is not hardware dependant) must be adapted to a particular platform (this is, for the PC architecture, what XFree86 does). The rest is 99% the plain release from X.org.
Also for many HW platforms, support is in the X.org release. I used to get their releases and recompile it myself on Sun, AIX, SGI etc for years.
For years I've been using ctwm because of this. Any window manager with virtual screens would do.
I bind f10,f11,f12 to switch to screen 1, 2, 3 quickly. You can have a screen dedicated to programming, one to netscape window(s), one to games for example.
Pity there is no real equivalent for NT though (only some inconvenient things that try to approach it).
The port of IE to Solaris was only done to satisfy formal requirements that some institutions have, that the programs they depend on should be available on Open Systems etc.
It's similar to NT being POSIX compliant, but in such a way that it's of no use. IE port to Solaris was purely for formal reasons.
A port of Office to Linux, if it's true, would not be I assume. So it could either be
- a real effort, which might result in a useful port
- or just an attempt to show how bad Linux is since comparing Office running on Linux is terrible when compared to the Windows version
Hmm, AIX 1 and 2 (not the version three which was a complete and inferior rewrite) which ran on the IBM RT and on PS/2 model 80, had real clustering end of the 80's. We had a network of them, where you weren't aware where the disks are (e.g. you can have two mirrored disks on two physical nodes, available to all), had process migration (move running processes to the node with the least load automatically or explicitly) etcetera.
Very similar to VAX clustering.
When MS-SQL/Oracle etc is overkill, then maybe Mysql is more appropriate. But I think that in many cases where mysql is appropriate (i.e. no concurrent access, only small queries) one could have made the same using direct file-based storage, using DB (hash) files etc.
I've built quite large applications using Perl and it's AnyDBM_File hashes. (one administers networks, addresses and generates DHCP and DNS files for 40000 nodes, has been running for 4 years without any changes, fixes or intervention now).
Many who claim Mysql is so fast and a real RDBMS would be overkill for their app, should question whether Mysql itself wouldn't be overkill either, and whether a simple (hash)file-based solution wouldn't do even better. DBM files (bsd-db, ndbm, or whatever variant) can be used from many languages and are really fast. The latest versions derived from bsd-db (though no longer free) even have transaction support.
How would it come that the cheapest bidder runs BSD? Could it be because it:
- is easy (i.e. cheap) to administer
- gets max. performance from the hardware
- has least downtime
In most (european) countries the political parties just get a fixed amount from the state. Donations from companies or lobby groups or whatever are strictly forbidden.
Nice example is the downfall of Helmut Kohl, who is accused of having taken money from some companies. His party had to replay millions, and he himself has been disgraced completely and could even be sent to jail.
For me it is unthinkable and ridiculous that politicians really are allowed to be bribed.
This discussion makes me extremely pessimistic about the future of the US. I think I'm gonna sell my US equity funds...
Shareware often doesn't work because it is way too expensive. Generally $30 or $40, while hardly having distribution and/or marketing costs.
Shareware used to be cheap (years ago), cheaper than software you'd buy in a store, but nowadays all kind of mediocre or nice-to-have utilities seem to cost as much as, say, Q3A. That is unreasonable.
OOP (object oriented programming) has little to do with OOD (design). What you have been doing is mainly OOP I guess.
Java with it's framework is nice, since it contains a lot of useful functionality already, and the OOP helps structuring things.
But: did you make your own framework? did you make use cases, sequence diagrams, analysis classes etc. for this project? Then it would be OOD but I hope and think you did not.
As someone who has used C++ for 11 years, Java for 4 years, and has been involved in UML designes etc. in 5 different companies (one of them should be doing it right) amongst which Lucent/Bell Labs, I have to agree with Ars-Fartsica fully.
Just now I'm involved again in a project with full-blown UML lifecycle, implementing the project in a very interesting self-developed framework (for handling applets-servlets-corba chain) with highly interesting MVC and what have you patterns and paradigms.
It is a disaster.
Everything is soooo very structured, but so complex and difficult. Only the framework developer (and myself) really know what is going on (and still we have to think hard to know). The rest are just developing according to a "cook-book" and have no clue on what's going on.
Using non-OO (or maybe mixed, using some OOP handy things but no full-blown approach), perl, php or whatever with some RDBMS API, the project would for sure already have been finished (after 4 months now) but in reality we have implemented just some sketchy parts yet (design keeps changing, framework too) and it won't be before 2001 before it could be finished.
From an academic point of view, I find it all very interesting and even beautiful, but for the project itself this is not good.
As for maintainability: structured C code can be very well maintainable. But in this case, when the experts are gone and the project goes into maintenance mode, there won't be anyone left who has a clue on what's going on or who would even have the intellectual capabilities to do so.
"Poor bastards" running Slack usually can and will build from sources.
Also why the association from a Slack user with a 486? I'd rather think the average Slack user is a power user with very new hardware, whereas probably a RH user is more likely to have an old 486.
As for myself I run FreeBSD (so have to rebuild from source too) on a Thunderbird/800/512MB RAM. If I would run Linux, it would be Slack.
Good, that will be the end of Office for the home user. Who in their right mind is going to pay hundreds of $$$ for just a wordprocessor/spreadsheet. I've been hoping for long that MSFT would get more strict on license enforcement.
I bought a HP 49G some months ago, and as you say, it isn't very useful. I haven't touched it yet (sticking to a very old but handy small HP calculator, I do need RPM), it's just to big and complicated.
This is another example of how child pornography is misused. Something generally deemed horrible (by me too, mind you, having too small children myself I can't stand the thought of it) is used to ban all kind of things and to gain control in general. Some fanatic groups have found out that mentioning "child pornography" works very well.
Anyone who dares to object to this censorship in general (going much further than the excuse alone) "obviously" is a supporter of child pornography, thus noone dares to open his mouth in public against such laws.
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Illegal is illegal, that is the point of this case. Laws against monopolies don't exist for nothing. The idea that capitalism can order itself fully without laws and regulation is an illusion.
Following your reasoning, one could also say ('survival of the fittest') that the company that manages to eliminate (i.e. kill, murder) all staff/CEO's of its competitors, shall win. And if the state would try to prevent those illegal actions (killing is illegal in the US I assume) that would be "the government sticking it's nose into the economy"?!?
It is common practice in Holland and Switzerland too. In Holland you pay even some extra (about $25 for a TV or Computer) when you buy it, to pay in advance to the recycling afterwards.
:)
In Switzerland, they still assume that people are more decent, thus you have to pay afterwards. In Holland they would assume one would dump the old TV's and Computers in a lake etc. to avoid the recycling costs
The producers are responsible, but the consumer has to pay the costs the producer makes for recycling. The producers must do the recycling (i.e. they can't refuse to take used products back) for a set price.
The problem is that the US has the tendency to force other countries to implement its laws, or otherwise threaten with boycotts, trade sanctions etc.
Especially where IP is concerned, countries not taking IP so serious (according to US standards of course) are put under heavy pressure.
I can only hope that Europe can and will withstand US blackmail in these issues, and will go its own (better) way.
Cern is not Swiss. It is 50% in Geneva, 50% in France. It is funded by many European countries. Their scientists (and also US scientists, I believe US also pays some part of Cerns budget) have access to the facilities.
It looks like it is somewhere in between vmware and wine: They emulate windows basically (like wine) but only to a certain level (to save work and the compatability problems that keep plaguing wine). The hard parts are copied directly from Windows, thus you need the licence.
Hmm, in the Netherlands, the last time I saw a check was 15 years ago (way before general use of online banking, though that is available for 10 years now, not via internet but via dial-up modems or automatic systems that work via ordinary telephones).
When I was in the US some years ago, I was amazed by the primitive banking system too.
The reason you don't have checks (at least in the Netherlands) is that there is a (state-promoted) Giro system, that all banks must be attached to. Thus, you could always transfer money from anyone to anyone, as long has he has a bank account somewhere. All banks participate in the Giro-system where the exchanges are made.
Same in Switzerland. In fact in all European countries it is also possible to transfer money directly (for minimal cost) to bank accounts in other European countries. You just give the SWIFT code of the bank (SWIFT is a European system that all banks are part of (must be by law)) and the account number. No checks involved.
Three years ago I received a check from the US. I had to go through great troubles to even cash it (had to open a new bank account just to cash the check).
The US has always lacked a centrally dictated bank system, which led to fragmentation and to a primitive check system (and thus also to the rise of credit cards as a kind of alternative banking system that is interoperable).
Therefore, in the US now you see many different initiative such as PayPal.
In Europe there are much less, bigger similar systems for online payments. Usually there is one such system per state (sometimes a few of them cooperate) which is sanctioned by that countries central bank.
IMO it is very likely that the European central bank will sanction one or two systems for online (micro)payments in the near future, based on things like SET. I don't believe that the small scale US initiatives like will get hold here.
The established banks, which already have a tradition of more cooperation (having mutuals exchange systems) and online banking, will come up with the systems for online payments.
Development in cars (technological) is 10 times slower than computers. So in fact you should be very glad when you can still use it after one year.
Also, nothing stops you from using your computer after 10 years, with software from 10 year ago.
Be sure to keep some spare parts in stock though.
Bringing up questionble examples won't help such a case (rather damage it).
xrn (usenet) is not really 3-tier. If something it is rather 2-tier. The client (xrn) connects to the server. The server is part of a "distributed database" if you will (certainly not an RDBMS), it does *not* behave like a middle tier.
Those releases are the reference implementation, which is taken almost "as is" by most vendors.
Only the hardware specific parts of the X server (the rest of X is not hardware dependant) must be adapted to a particular platform (this is, for the PC architecture, what XFree86 does). The rest is 99% the plain release from X.org.
Also for many HW platforms, support is in the X.org release. I used to get their releases and recompile it myself on Sun, AIX, SGI etc for years.
For years I've been using ctwm because of this. Any window manager with virtual screens would do.
I bind f10,f11,f12 to switch to screen 1, 2, 3 quickly. You can have a screen dedicated to programming, one to netscape window(s), one to games for example.
Pity there is no real equivalent for NT though (only some inconvenient things that try to approach it).
I'm also getting really sick and bored with all this license stuff. Just BSD everything, then there are no problems. Sigh...
The port of IE to Solaris was only done to satisfy formal requirements that some institutions have, that the programs they depend on should be available on Open Systems etc.
It's similar to NT being POSIX compliant, but in such a way that it's of no use. IE port to Solaris was purely for formal reasons.
A port of Office to Linux, if it's true, would not be I assume. So it could either be
- a real effort, which might result in a useful port
- or just an attempt to show how bad Linux is since comparing Office running on Linux is terrible when compared to the Windows version
Hmm, AIX 1 and 2 (not the version three which was a complete and inferior rewrite) which ran on the IBM RT and on PS/2 model 80, had real clustering end of the 80's. We had a network of them, where you weren't aware where the disks are (e.g. you can have two mirrored disks on two physical nodes, available to all), had process migration (move running processes to the node with the least load automatically or explicitly) etcetera.
Very similar to VAX clustering.
When MS-SQL/Oracle etc is overkill, then maybe Mysql is more appropriate. But I think that in many cases where mysql is appropriate (i.e. no concurrent access, only small queries) one could have made the same using direct file-based storage, using DB (hash) files etc.
I've built quite large applications using Perl and it's AnyDBM_File hashes. (one administers networks, addresses and generates DHCP and DNS files for 40000 nodes, has been running for 4 years without any changes, fixes or intervention now).
Many who claim Mysql is so fast and a real RDBMS would be overkill for their app, should question whether Mysql itself wouldn't be overkill either, and whether a simple (hash)file-based solution wouldn't do even better. DBM files (bsd-db, ndbm, or whatever variant) can be used from many languages and are really fast. The latest versions derived from bsd-db (though no longer free) even have transaction support.
I wonder why especially those Mysql users are always so fanatic/religious about their database. That makes me very suspicious.
Just take the right tool for the right job, but people that claim their tool/religion/ideology is the One True Way make me stay away from their thing.
If normal, rational reasoning doesn't work and one has to resort to fanaticism, there is usually something wrong.
You make it sound that that would be coincidence.
How would it come that the cheapest bidder runs BSD? Could it be because it:
- is easy (i.e. cheap) to administer
- gets max. performance from the hardware
- has least downtime
In most (european) countries the political parties just get a fixed amount from the state. Donations from companies or lobby groups or whatever are strictly forbidden.
Nice example is the downfall of Helmut Kohl, who is accused of having taken money from some companies. His party had to replay millions, and he himself has been disgraced completely and could even be sent to jail.
For me it is unthinkable and ridiculous that politicians really are allowed to be bribed.
This discussion makes me extremely pessimistic about the future of the US. I think I'm gonna sell my US equity funds...
Shareware often doesn't work because it is way too expensive. Generally $30 or $40, while hardly having distribution and/or marketing costs.
Shareware used to be cheap (years ago), cheaper than software you'd buy in a store, but nowadays all kind of mediocre or nice-to-have utilities seem to cost as much as, say, Q3A. That is unreasonable.
Not that again...
There are enough OSses on 32-bit CPU's that can handle large files. NT and FreeBSD to name two.
It is unbelievable that Linux still hasn't fixed this.
OOP (object oriented programming) has little to do with OOD (design). What you have been doing is mainly OOP I guess.
Java with it's framework is nice, since it contains a lot of useful functionality already, and the OOP helps structuring things.
But: did you make your own framework? did you make use cases, sequence diagrams, analysis classes etc. for this project? Then it would be OOD but I hope and think you did not.
As someone who has used C++ for 11 years, Java for 4 years, and has been involved in UML designes etc. in 5 different companies (one of them should be doing it right) amongst which Lucent/Bell Labs, I have to agree with Ars-Fartsica fully.
Just now I'm involved again in a project with full-blown UML lifecycle, implementing the project in a very interesting self-developed framework (for handling applets-servlets-corba chain) with highly interesting MVC and what have you patterns and paradigms.
It is a disaster.
Everything is soooo very structured, but so complex and difficult. Only the framework developer (and myself) really know what is going on (and still we have to think hard to know). The rest are just developing according to a "cook-book" and have no clue on what's going on.
Using non-OO (or maybe mixed, using some OOP handy things but no full-blown approach), perl, php or whatever with some RDBMS API, the project would for sure already have been finished (after 4 months now) but in reality we have implemented just some sketchy parts yet (design keeps changing, framework too) and it won't be before 2001 before it could be finished.
From an academic point of view, I find it all very interesting and even beautiful, but for the project itself this is not good.
As for maintainability: structured C code can be very well maintainable. But in this case, when the experts are gone and the project goes into maintenance mode, there won't be anyone left who has a clue on what's going on or who would even have the intellectual capabilities to do so.
"Poor bastards" running Slack usually can and will build from sources.
Also why the association from a Slack user with a 486? I'd rather think the average Slack user is a power user with very new hardware, whereas probably a RH user is more likely to have an old 486.
As for myself I run FreeBSD (so have to rebuild from source too) on a Thunderbird/800/512MB RAM. If I would run Linux, it would be Slack.
Good, that will be the end of Office for the home user. Who in their right mind is going to pay hundreds of $$$ for just a wordprocessor/spreadsheet. I've been hoping for long that MSFT would get more strict on license enforcement.
I bought a HP 49G some months ago, and as you say, it isn't very useful. I haven't touched it yet (sticking to a very old but handy small HP calculator, I do need RPM), it's just to big and complicated.
This is another example of how child pornography is misused. Something generally deemed horrible (by me too, mind you, having too small children myself I can't stand the thought of it) is used to ban all kind of things and to gain control in general. Some fanatic groups have found out that mentioning "child pornography" works very well.
Anyone who dares to object to this censorship in general (going much further than the excuse alone) "obviously" is a supporter of child pornography, thus noone dares to open his mouth in public against such laws.