What if software companies start requiring new programmers to sign something to declare they had never worked for or seen code from companies or software that was not open source?
That would definitly bugger up any chance of programmers moving from one closed source company to another - but it would force everyone to start developing OSS, because all programmers working for closed source outfits would be tainted, and thus un-employable by anyone else (and who would want to take a job that guaranteed they could never get another job in programming?).
sometimes great advances come from the stupidest things:)
- Writing the improvements is cheaper than writing the whole program, and possibly cheaper than paying the original developer for specific improvements (which will likely end up in the software everyone else buys anyway)
- Once you have the improved/customized software, at reduced cost over the closed source variant, it costs you nothing to release the improvements. This in turn makes it possible for others to build on your work, possibly with improvements you end up using - at no cost to you! (with closed source, you might have to pay for an upgrade, or worse, pay for features you never wanted in an upgrade)
Yes, open source can be / is a marketing tool. It can also be a service guarantee - particularly in niche market software - even if the original author goes broke, or the product is no longer viable to support, if the company supports open source there is a fair chance they will release all their work so their product can continue on.
Take some of the early 3d games for example - even though the software was originally closed source, once the software stopped being profitable, the company released the source, and those who wished to continue improving it have done so. The same can apply to any software, and can be particularly important for business.
Of course they would be looking much more closely (well be both hope so at least)
However thet is always a possibility the hack is not detected for some time (eg the possibility of an inside job, or just a damn good hack)
Anyone hacking windowsupdate is going to be acutely aware of the level of security around the site - and be trying to act acordingly.
The amount of traffic to the site would mean even a short time before detection would see a lot of machines updated - presumably with a patch that disabled or even re-directed windows update to prevent automated fixes (and force MS to admit something had happened).
Nice easy dialogs and next buttons are good if you've never used something, and for the average user (web, email, desktop publishing etc) they are perfect - ie they don't want to know about doing wierd things that no-one else thought of, and the less choices they have about how the OS works, the better.
On the other hand, I choose Slackware because there is NO big magic button that you press to make it all work like someone else wanted, and hose all your tweaked scripts back to default, or worse completely dead, at the same time:-) (yes, there are the standard KDE/Gnome config tools, but they are designed to be reasonably distro-neutral)
That said, once the system is configured, there is basically zero difference between distros - they all run the same window managers, and the same linux apps, and the same kernels (just different versions of each, mostly depending on release date).
Probably a better solution is to have a set of "unofficially supported" extensions for which the mozilla team keep a stable copy of the source, updated by the original author.
The mozilla team then updates these extensions for new browsers where necessary (but never adds features - that's the authors job), and make the updated xpi file available with new browser releases, as a separate single download, or as individual downloads.
-- $0.02? sorry we don't supply opinions in large quantities.
Not knowing your network setup, this may be totally wrong, but I've seen "every second dns lookup fails" before.
It was a bug in windows 98 ICS, combined with the ISP providing an incorrect DNS to dial-in customers. Basically win98 behaves correctly and ignores the dead DNS, using only the good one, but ICS continues to alternate between the two.
The result - the machine running ICS has perfect browsing, everyone else gets pissed off.
I can't say for 8/7, but I have had many systems running 24/7 and EXPECT 5+ years out of every hard drive - I can't remember the last time a drive actually failed when up 24/7, although I'm sure it must have happened (but not in the last 5 or 6 years)
Usually drives get replaced due to lack of space after a few years, but I have a 300MB drive somewhere that ran for 4 years (around 1997 - 2000) as / on a linux dial-in server and was still operational when I took the server offline. Obviously it was a pre-loved unit when installed - most likely taken out of another server that had grown.
Inidentally, the box had an uptime over 400 days at one point - reason for shutdown - PSU failure. (it had a UPS that could hold out for about 6 hours - truck batteries may not be ideal, but they _are_ effective:)
Another machine I installed has been there for about 6 or 7 years now, running 24/7 and only ever re-started when the power fails. The machine was again built from re-cycled parts - it's at a school, so the drive was probably 2 years old when it went in. (no idea what it's best uptime is, but it doesn't have a UPS).
As for time involved in failed drives - there is also the cost of lost data (no-one backs up THAT religiously)
AFAIK the serial number has only ever been in the format of YYYYMMDDNN as a reccomendation. There is nothing in the spec preventing you from numbering versions from 1.
Changing to a UTC timestamp in seconds is no big issue, but for conformity, it's nice if everyone does the same thing, or at least knows what everyone else is doing, especially if you have some software trying to make sense of it all.
I guess it's new that an under-prevelaged country is using this approach, but I have a "camper" (ok, it's a double-decker bus) that has solar panels for hot water and power - enough to run a decent sized fridge, a pressure pump for water, and even the tv & video. I haven't tried to run this power-guzzler I cal a computer yet - mainly due to its power requirements compared to the logical choice for a solar powered computer - a laptop.
ooh, lookee, first post! and in my first hour as a subscriber too:)
So if MS are claiming the invention of static... does all static belong to them... and does that mean I can sue them for allowing their "inferior" product to take over parts of my product (radio signals), thus reducing it's effectiveness?
I wonder how long it would take MS to catch onto this idea if applied to spyware/viruses and windows, and sue the crap out of someone:)
No, they'd be patenting "a display element by which a device indicates it is or is not ready for input which may or may not include an indication of the security or access level or user identification"
So?? install XMail and configure it through it's web interface.....
Tools for the job... makes all the difference....
Yes, someone who knows how can probably do wonders with sendmail, but sendmail config files are not something I want to get to know (I have better things to do) - so I pick a tool that does it for me.
Sounds like a customer of mine that wanted to order a second ADSL for redundancy - not only was all the DSL hardware in australia provided by Telstra, but they were going to use the same ISP!:(
More recently, some providers have started installing their own DSLAMs to create their own DSL network, so at least Australia won't be left in the dark when some idiot takes out telstra's DSL gear.
Its simply amazing to me that someone who isn't a linux head is doing an article on yahoo/washington post. Slowly but _surely_ I say.
This can mean only one thing - linux is reaching the point where people who have no idea about linux are starting to look at it and think it's usable. Usable enough that they can install it without help, and without knowing anything about computers.
This is a good thing - as more of the uninitiated masses look at linux, it will help keep the pressure on distros to fine tune their installs.
In my opinion, in the next coule of years linux is going to reach that critical mass some of the more zealous geeks have been promising for about 5 years now - mainly due to hardware support for just about everything (it's reached that point where I can walk into a random computer shop, order the latest and greatest hardware, and expect linux to support it, even with a high-end graphics card/sound card/digital camera/webcam/mobile phone/whatever that looked cool in the shop).
The office apps are up to speed too - what linux is missing now is some of the more exotic applications, and some polish on those that are around - for example Ardour looks like it will be a very professional audio editor that can hold it's own against pro-tools, but it has issues if things are not quite the way it likes them (on my system it tends to crash, probably because of a configuration problem, but it doesn't tell me what went wrong). Cinelerra will be as good as Adobe Premiere, but it has similar problems - it doesn't handle my not-too-well configured system, and needs support for real-time editing and hardware (which comes back to manufacturers). I realize these apps work fine on the developers machines, and I should get off my butt and fix my config (it's just minor issues with things like the jack audio server, and video capture, which works in other apps) but handling these situations well, with informative messages rather than a crash, is one of the marks of a mature application - something that is just a matter of time.
I hear Longhorn will come on a DVD and be a 5 gig install.... no wonder, if they are trying to make it as complete as linux out of the box!
I wonder when we will start measuring operating systems in terms of station wagons full of floppy disks...
Hmmmm... 5Gig = approx 2777 floppies (if formatted at 1.8meg/floppy) 1 floppy = 3mm x 94mm x 91mm. Multiply that out - 0.0000256 cubic metres = 1 floppy disk. Times 2777 = 0.0711 cubic metres.... or a 41cm x 41cm x 41cm cube (that's about 16in x 16 in x 16in in english).
That would be a decent sized carry bag at least.
In comparison, a 700mb CD holds 21cm x 21cm x 21cm worth of floppies (about 1/8th of the volume).
Slashdot Mirror
What if software companies start requiring new programmers to sign something to declare they had never worked for or seen code from companies or software that was not open source?
:)
That would definitly bugger up any chance of programmers moving from one closed source company to another - but it would force everyone to start developing OSS, because all programmers working for closed source outfits would be tainted, and thus un-employable by anyone else (and who would want to take a job that guaranteed they could never get another job in programming?).
sometimes great advances come from the stupidest things
A few points to consider:
- The original software is free
- Writing the improvements is cheaper than writing the whole program, and possibly cheaper than paying the original developer for specific improvements (which will likely end up in the software everyone else buys anyway)
- Once you have the improved/customized software, at reduced cost over the closed source variant, it costs you nothing to release the improvements. This in turn makes it possible for others to build on your work, possibly with improvements you end up using - at no cost to you! (with closed source, you might have to pay for an upgrade, or worse, pay for features you never wanted in an upgrade)
Yes, open source can be / is a marketing tool.
It can also be a service guarantee - particularly in niche market software - even if the original author goes broke, or the product is no longer viable to support, if the company supports open source there is a fair chance they will release all their work so their product can continue on.
Take some of the early 3d games for example - even though the software was originally closed source, once the software stopped being profitable, the company released the source, and those who wished to continue improving it have done so.
The same can apply to any software, and can be particularly important for business.
Why buy it when you can hack it?
Of course they would be looking much more closely (well be both hope so at least)
However thet is always a possibility the hack is not detected for some time (eg the possibility of an inside job, or just a damn good hack)
Anyone hacking windowsupdate is going to be acutely aware of the level of security around the site - and be trying to act acordingly.
The amount of traffic to the site would mean even a short time before detection would see a lot of machines updated - presumably with a patch that disabled or even re-directed windows update to prevent automated fixes (and force MS to admit something had happened).
The odds of WU getting hacked are pretty slim as surely Microsoft concentrates all its security efforts there
Sure, I'd trust them...
No-one is beyond reach....
Agreed...
Nice easy dialogs and next buttons are good if you've never used something, and for the average user (web, email, desktop publishing etc) they are perfect - ie they don't want to know about doing wierd things that no-one else thought of, and the less choices they have about how the OS works, the better.
On the other hand, I choose Slackware because there is NO big magic button that you press to make it all work like someone else wanted, and hose all your tweaked scripts back to default, or worse completely dead, at the same time
(yes, there are the standard KDE/Gnome config tools, but they are designed to be reasonably distro-neutral)
That said, once the system is configured, there is basically zero difference between distros - they all run the same window managers, and the same linux apps, and the same kernels (just different versions of each, mostly depending on release date).
Probably a better solution is to have a set of "unofficially supported" extensions for which the mozilla team keep a stable copy of the source, updated by the original author.
The mozilla team then updates these extensions for new browsers where necessary (but never adds features - that's the authors job), and make the updated xpi file available with new browser releases, as a separate single download, or as individual downloads.
--
$0.02? sorry we don't supply opinions in large quantities.
Not knowing your network setup, this may be totally wrong, but I've seen "every second dns lookup fails" before.
It was a bug in windows 98 ICS, combined with the ISP providing an incorrect DNS to dial-in customers. Basically win98 behaves correctly and ignores the dead DNS, using only the good one, but ICS continues to alternate between the two.
The result - the machine running ICS has perfect browsing, everyone else gets pissed off.
My Slackware is quite sporadic - just like my work on kernel code - in fact it only ever crashes when I do something stupid in kernel space
I suppose you could call it regular though - it seems to happen several times about once/year.
I can't say for 8/7, but I have had many systems running 24/7 and EXPECT 5+ years out of every hard drive - I can't remember the last time a drive actually failed when up 24/7, although I'm sure it must have happened (but not in the last 5 or 6 years)
:)
Usually drives get replaced due to lack of space after a few years, but I have a 300MB drive somewhere that ran for 4 years (around 1997 - 2000) as / on a linux dial-in server and was still operational when I took the server offline.
Obviously it was a pre-loved unit when installed - most likely taken out of another server that had grown.
Inidentally, the box had an uptime over 400 days at one point - reason for shutdown - PSU failure. (it had a UPS that could hold out for about 6 hours - truck batteries may not be ideal, but they _are_ effective
Another machine I installed has been there for about 6 or 7 years now, running 24/7 and only ever re-started when the power fails. The machine was again built from re-cycled parts - it's at a school, so the drive was probably 2 years old when it went in. (no idea what it's best uptime is, but it doesn't have a UPS).
As for time involved in failed drives - there is also the cost of lost data (no-one backs up THAT religiously)
Somehow I don't think my "entire MP3 collection" would fit too well, especially not with a few movies!
:)
At least there is a USB port for external storage... pity they didn't include a firewire port too.
I like the GPS and built in WiFi as standard though, and at comparable pricing to a laptop, they might even sell a few
AFAIK the serial number has only ever been in the format of YYYYMMDDNN as a reccomendation. There is nothing in the spec preventing you from numbering versions from 1.
Changing to a UTC timestamp in seconds is no big issue, but for conformity, it's nice if everyone does the same thing, or at least knows what everyone else is doing, especially if you have some software trying to make sense of it all.
maybe it needs meta-moderating as redundant :)
I see we are getting re-runs of the early series late at night...
actually Scully looks almost geekish from some angles.....
Definitly got hotter as it went on though.
DOH!
I guess it's new that an under-prevelaged country is using this approach, but I have a "camper" (ok, it's a double-decker bus) that has solar panels for hot water and power - enough to run a decent sized fridge, a pressure pump for water, and even the tv & video. I haven't tried to run this power-guzzler I cal a computer yet - mainly due to its power requirements compared to the logical choice for a solar powered computer - a laptop.
:)
ooh, lookee, first post! and in my first hour as a subscriber too
Replacement staff are available from your nearest employment agency or social security office.
Units still capable of operating may be secured by downloading a "rubber glove" patch.
So if MS are claiming the invention of static... does all static belong to them... and does that mean I can sue them for allowing their "inferior" product to take over parts of my product (radio signals), thus reducing it's effectiveness?
:)
I wonder how long it would take MS to catch onto this idea if applied to spyware/viruses and windows, and sue the crap out of someone
I wonder if that would count as a base jump?
No, they'd be patenting "a display element by which a device indicates it is or is not ready for input which may or may not include an indication of the security or access level or user identification"
Tools for the job... makes all the difference....
Yes, someone who knows how can probably do wonders with sendmail, but sendmail config files are not something I want to get to know (I have better things to do) - so I pick a tool that does it for me.
Sounds like a customer of mine that wanted to order a second ADSL for redundancy - not only was all the DSL hardware in australia provided by Telstra, but they were going to use the same ISP! :(
More recently, some providers have started installing their own DSLAMs to create their own DSL network, so at least Australia won't be left in the dark when some idiot takes out telstra's DSL gear.
This can mean only one thing - linux is reaching the point where people who have no idea about linux are starting to look at it and think it's usable. Usable enough that they can install it without help, and without knowing anything about computers.
This is a good thing - as more of the uninitiated masses look at linux, it will help keep the pressure on distros to fine tune their installs.
In my opinion, in the next coule of years linux is going to reach that critical mass some of the more zealous geeks have been promising for about 5 years now - mainly due to hardware support for just about everything (it's reached that point where I can walk into a random computer shop, order the latest and greatest hardware, and expect linux to support it, even with a high-end graphics card/sound card/digital camera/webcam/mobile phone/whatever that looked cool in the shop).
The office apps are up to speed too - what linux is missing now is some of the more exotic applications, and some polish on those that are around - for example Ardour looks like it will be a very professional audio editor that can hold it's own against pro-tools, but it has issues if things are not quite the way it likes them (on my system it tends to crash, probably because of a configuration problem, but it doesn't tell me what went wrong). Cinelerra will be as good as Adobe Premiere, but it has similar problems - it doesn't handle my not-too-well configured system, and needs support for real-time editing and hardware (which comes back to manufacturers). I realize these apps work fine on the developers machines, and I should get off my butt and fix my config (it's just minor issues with things like the jack audio server, and video capture, which works in other apps) but handling these situations well, with informative messages rather than a crash, is one of the marks of a mature application - something that is just a matter of time.
Thus the question - because there is only one CDMA provider, at least where I am, so i can't try any other.
I hear Longhorn will come on a DVD and be a 5 gig install.... no wonder, if they are trying to make it as complete as linux out of the box!
I wonder when we will start measuring operating systems in terms of station wagons full of floppy disks...
Hmmmm... 5Gig = approx 2777 floppies (if formatted at 1.8meg/floppy)
1 floppy = 3mm x 94mm x 91mm.
Multiply that out - 0.0000256 cubic metres = 1 floppy disk. Times 2777 = 0.0711 cubic metres....
or a 41cm x 41cm x 41cm cube (that's about 16in x 16 in x 16in in english).
That would be a decent sized carry bag at least.
In comparison, a 700mb CD holds 21cm x 21cm x 21cm worth of floppies (about 1/8th of the volume).
No, only the undocumented features that let you get control back.