So the question of course becomes--how do you dodge the bullet of crap positions? Doing well in academia is probably unfortunately the best solution.
I very much doubt that. The #1 method of succeeding in ANY business, whether it's programming, engineering, or even performing, is the ability to market and sell what you do. All the skill in the world isn't going to count for aught if you can't sell what you do... and if you can't program worth beans, if you can sell, then you're going to be able to make big bucks on crap.
Hey, if it can work for Bill Gates, it can work for you!
Okay, say, for example... You're a kid, and you just raided the cookie jar without my permission.
I give you a good hard whack to the bottom, one that will sting for a while.
You do it again. I smack you again, harder.
You stop. No smacking.
You do your homework. You receive a cookie.
The next day, you not only do your homework, but you do homework for the next day, and even find a little something interesting to research, two cookies, or perhaps a trip to Dairy Queen (or other place you would find pleasurable... and NO, I'm not talking a pr0n store, either, you sick, twisted puppies!
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're going to be more likely to follow the behaviours that reward you (homework, cleaning your room), and avoid the ones that hurt you (stealing from the cookie jar).
While simplistic, THIS is the core to teaching children discipline, and discipline is what anyone needs to learn, not genetics. Unless you can discipline yourself to sit down and read something boring, you'll never begin to understand it enough to follow up once it becomes interesting, or, heaven forbid, useful!
However, if you never receive the proper treatment for right or wrong actions, you will find your childhood easy, but your adulthood nearly impossible.
That kind of training is not something a school can teach (anymore), that can only be taught by one of two people... mom and/or dad.
Apparently, they read in a book that after the body gets used to not having food, it draws the energy from the body itself and doesn't need food anymore.
Of course it does! And what better place to get the body's food than from it's own muscle tissue?
THAT'LL improve their spot performance, alright; they'll fall on the spot faster!
No, the story is about launching a games based distribution, not a games-based console OS (Of which PS2 already is, and from what I can understand, XBox is capable of becoming when it grows up)
Here's the statement on the original blurb to make my point for me...
The PS2 and the X-Box(sic) run Linux, so let's create a distro that turns home PC into a console with development potential.
Then here's your response...
Seriously, the OS doesn't *do* anything for a game. All a game really needs is a collection of APIs to transparently access low-level hardware. Threading is nice, but "green" thread libraries can be used in its stead.
This can be understood, but then again, Linux has just that; examples would be OpenGL, SDL, and OpenAL. They are there to make the hardware dance to the game's tune... however, if I'm stuck in a game, I would like the freedom to switch to the desktop, open a web browser, and check out a walkthrough... something that is particularly impossible in a single-tasking console-type system.
And finally, to explain my previous post, here's the rest of your post...
That's much the reason why MSDOS (save for the 640K barrier) was such a great gaming platform. The OS literally did nothing. It got the frick out of the way, and stayed there.
However, the idea that DOS is a model to use where gaming systems are concerned is laughable at best... nightmarish at worst.
I still remember the amazing scads of fun I had trying to get sound in particular working on my various sound cards over the years on games like Dark Legions, Warcraft 2, Command and Conquer (the original), and even Descent 2 on a couple of cards. Add the fun of having the audio drivers support joysticks, and you have the makings of a not-so-much-fun system to play games in.
*shrug* Or maybe my experience was rather uncharacteristic of MSDOS gaming...
I also remember DOS games locking up the system if a memory leak occurred... even worse with sloppy programming. I prefer the operating system to retain control of things like memory and hardware access, thanks.
Even Windows 95 wasn't as bad as all that (at least it gave an error message)
Perhaps, But I don't think I want to play around with the slashdot effect on my own webserver, thankx. I'm struggling to keep my bills paid as it is...
You want a screenshot? Well, who am I to let you down?:D
lilypond (GNU LilyPond) 2.1.0 Running usr... Now processing: `airship.ly' Parsing... Interpreting music...[8][16][24][32][34] Preprocessing graphical objects... Calculating line breaks... [3][6][9][12][15][18][21][24][27][30][33][34] war ning: Could not find line breaking that satisfies constraints. paper output to `airship.tex'...
Interpreting music...
...warning/error messages eliminated...
MIDI output to `airship.midi'... Track... writing header field `title' to `airship.title'... writing header field `subtitle' to `airship.subtitle'... writing header field `footer' to `airship.footer'...
Analyzing airship.tex... Running latex... Running dvips... Running ps2pdf... DVI output to `airship.dvi'... MIDI output to `airship.midi'... PDF output to `airship.pdf'... PS output to `airship.ps'...
*chuckle* A beautiful screenshot to the CLI geeks like me.;)
It's called financial consideration; the people with the big money wanted nothing to do with it, as opposed to Mono, where the development is outside the scope of financial consideration... it'll continue to be developed even if Ximian goes under.
He said that they brought baseball bats along in case the perpetrator was larger than they were, no doubt meaning to use it upon the possibility of violent response; at the time, they had thought this was a bank robber.
When they reached the place and found out who it was who was doing it, they did not threaten him with a baseball bat... they threatened to inform the FBI of a bank robbery.
'til ol' McBride has a problem with his vehicle. He goes to Auto Zone:
"Well, if it ain't Mr. McBride. What can I do fer ya today?"
"I need some parts."
"Well, we can offer ya some parts, but ya gotta sign this here license agreement saying that you will not go to any other parts provider, and that you give us written proof that you never have. Otherwise, we'll sue you fer using our store."
Some people don't want to replace a computer, because transferring the information from their old computer to their new one would be a daunting task.
Don't forget, while computers are an end to themselves to us, to others, they're only a means to an end, and they don't want to have to risk losing what they've done so far.
The same applies to Linux; you need to run the software as root in order for it to install. By default, in Debian, all services are turned off, and some require manual activation in the inetd.conf (or, in my case, xinetd.conf) file.
Second, I wouldn't recommend Debian to a new user for that very reason; it requires some skill and experience in *NIX system administration to actually install and lock down a debian or slackware box, as opposed to a SuSE or Redhat box... it's not designed to be a full-graphical-configured system, despite the way dpkg sometimes brings up config screens; you need to follow through with configuration files using your favorite editor to make sure everything's running snazzily.
Yes, I know Debian's the easiest distro to install software and their dependencies, but there are some things that are better off left alone until you're ready to get dirty.
I spent nearly the same amount of time reinstalling operating systems on my computers... and not just DOS/Win... some of us are just obsessed like that.
'Sides, it's a good feeling to reinstall or reboot knowing you just added a.0195% increase in efficiency, or a new utility/feature that will prove useful in the long run.
*shrug* Kinda the same thing as adding a fancy whorl on a table or desk; it's not so much required, as it just seems like a way to up the coolness factor.
Program name is obvious. Drive number; on the C64, there were four designations for drive numbers, 8, 9, 10, and 11. The first disk drive was 8, and since it was the most likely to exist (especially for people like me who had only one drive), it's pretty much habit for that one.
In the Commodore, the last number indicated whether a loading program was a binary one, or one written in the commodore's BASIC interpreter. If left out, the operating system assumed it was BASIC, while putting "1" there would ensure that the OS didn't try to substitute values for BASIC commands.
You make it sound like someone who would insert a backdoor into a binary distribution of a software project would be bound by a license... which he can just as easily hide by distributing the source minus his backdoor.
Unless the GPL had magically grown a body, and bashed down the doors of violators, this particular argument is pretty much moot.
All that being said, the only response I have to this particular article is, "So what makes this specific to OSS?"
One other little thought.
The number of "eyes" for a particular project tend to be proportionate to the number of computers using it. Not 1:1, miond you, but it's a good guess that if a program has very few "eyes" looking out for it, then it'll probably not have a lot of users, either.
Here's the logic behind my thinking in terms of a couple algebraic lines:
Eyes == (bug reports(developer users + development team))(rnd(1))
For every user and every developer who has a problem with the software there's the potential of a bug report. The rnd(1) multiplier is an arbirary pseudo-function (.0001 to 1) implying that a percentage of the users will not submit a bug report, either out of laziness, or some other personal reason.
Now, the bug report alerts all developers to the bug, and thus, for every bug report, a number of the developers will look to the source in whatever specialty they represent to find the problem. In Open Source, this includes those users who also happen to be skilled in programming. So, you multiply the number of programmers, and those members of the core team against the bug reports, and modify (rnd(1) multiplier) according to the number of programmers who actually know of one particular section of the program, and are willing to look.
Well, I'll just shut up now and let the discourse continue.;)
If you had been without electricity for a week and if you had the source to the application you might have had some insentive to look into the source yourself to prevent it from happening to you again.
...Provided your laptop batteries could hold out...
A properly raised Baynesian is your best friend, so you need to feed it daily to make sure it grows to be a healthy ratcatcher.
The best food for this pet is spam and ham... lots of both for best results. You can get a lifetime supply at http://spamassassin.org/publiccorpus
Just place them in a folder, and feed that hungry little bugger 'till 'e's stuffed!
Then watch the spam run for hiding! Muaahahahahah!!!
Another point; where Spamassassin is concerned, sa-learn is your best friend; that program's purpose is to train the spamassassin with the false negatives, thereby preventing the "evil" spam training from working.
Slashdot Mirror
So the question of course becomes--how do you dodge the bullet of crap positions? Doing well in academia is probably unfortunately the best solution.
I very much doubt that. The #1 method of succeeding in ANY business, whether it's programming, engineering, or even performing, is the ability to market and sell what you do. All the skill in the world isn't going to count for aught if you can't sell what you do... and if you can't program worth beans, if you can sell, then you're going to be able to make big bucks on crap.
Hey, if it can work for Bill Gates, it can work for you!
Okay, say, for example... You're a kid, and you just raided the cookie jar without my permission.
I give you a good hard whack to the bottom, one that will sting for a while.
You do it again. I smack you again, harder.
You stop. No smacking.
You do your homework. You receive a cookie.
The next day, you not only do your homework, but you do homework for the next day, and even find a little something interesting to research, two cookies, or perhaps a trip to Dairy Queen (or other place you would find pleasurable... and NO, I'm not talking a pr0n store, either, you sick, twisted puppies!
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're going to be more likely to follow the behaviours that reward you (homework, cleaning your room), and avoid the ones that hurt you (stealing from the cookie jar).
While simplistic, THIS is the core to teaching children discipline, and discipline is what anyone needs to learn, not genetics. Unless you can discipline yourself to sit down and read something boring, you'll never begin to understand it enough to follow up once it becomes interesting, or, heaven forbid, useful!
However, if you never receive the proper treatment for right or wrong actions, you will find your childhood easy, but your adulthood nearly impossible.
That kind of training is not something a school can teach (anymore), that can only be taught by one of two people... mom and/or dad.
Apparently, they read in a book that after the body gets used to not having food, it draws the energy from the body itself and doesn't need food anymore.
Of course it does! And what better place to get the body's food than from it's own muscle tissue?
THAT'LL improve their spot performance, alright; they'll fall on the spot faster!
No, the story is about launching a games based distribution, not a games-based console OS (Of which PS2 already is, and from what I can understand, XBox is capable of becoming when it grows up)
Here's the statement on the original blurb to make my point for me...
The PS2 and the X-Box(sic) run Linux, so let's create a distro that turns home PC into a console with development potential.
Then here's your response...
Seriously, the OS doesn't *do* anything for a game. All a game really needs is a collection of APIs to transparently access low-level hardware. Threading is nice, but "green" thread libraries can be used in its stead.
This can be understood, but then again, Linux has just that; examples would be OpenGL, SDL, and OpenAL. They are there to make the hardware dance to the game's tune... however, if I'm stuck in a game, I would like the freedom to switch to the desktop, open a web browser, and check out a walkthrough... something that is particularly impossible in a single-tasking console-type system.
And finally, to explain my previous post, here's the rest of your post...
That's much the reason why MSDOS (save for the 640K barrier) was such a great gaming platform. The OS literally did nothing. It got the frick out of the way, and stayed there.
However, the idea that DOS is a model to use where gaming systems are concerned is laughable at best... nightmarish at worst.
I still remember the amazing scads of fun I had trying to get sound in particular working on my various sound cards over the years on games like Dark Legions, Warcraft 2, Command and Conquer (the original), and even Descent 2 on a couple of cards. Add the fun of having the audio drivers support joysticks, and you have the makings of a not-so-much-fun system to play games in.
*shrug* Or maybe my experience was rather uncharacteristic of MSDOS gaming...
I also remember DOS games locking up the system if a memory leak occurred... even worse with sloppy programming. I prefer the operating system to retain control of things like memory and hardware access, thanks.
Even Windows 95 wasn't as bad as all that (at least it gave an error message)
Perhaps, But I don't think I want to play around with the slashdot effect on my own webserver, thankx. I'm struggling to keep my bills paid as it is...
> Of course 5 years from now that will be different, but 5 years from now everyone will be running free GNU on their 200 MIPS, 64M SPARCstation-5
Wow... I MUST be behind the times; I only have a Pentium 4... a mere 4000 MIPS, 256M Intel-compatible PC...
*looks for parts to begin assembling a SPARCStation 5...* Dang! I know they're around here somewheres... *looks some more*
There's it's own layout; Mono is what seems to be Open Source "Embrace and Extend." ;)
.NET framework, and build GNOME, POSIX, and GTK extensions to it.
Specifically, it is trying to take MS's
The primary goal here is to assist transitions from Windows programming to Linux.
Remember why OS/2 was dropped?
It's called financial consideration; the people with the big money wanted nothing to do with it, as opposed to Mono, where the development is outside the scope of financial consideration... it'll continue to be developed even if Ximian goes under.
Won't work; that used to be their logo, when they were Caldera. Now it's that rediculous bansai tree silhouette.
I don't understand what's the workup about...
He said that they brought baseball bats along in case the perpetrator was larger than they were, no doubt meaning to use it upon the possibility of violent response; at the time, they had thought this was a bank robber.
When they reached the place and found out who it was who was doing it, they did not threaten him with a baseball bat... they threatened to inform the FBI of a bank robbery.
'til ol' McBride has a problem with his vehicle. He goes to Auto Zone:
"Well, if it ain't Mr. McBride. What can I do fer ya today?"
"I need some parts."
"Well, we can offer ya some parts, but ya gotta sign this here license agreement saying that you will not go to any other parts provider, and that you give us written proof that you never have. Otherwise, we'll sue you fer using our store."
You might notice that where transparency is used, transparent windows do not overlap other windows.
The reason for this is that it would kill the effect pretty badly...
Why is choosing Linux over Windows a POLITICAL statement? Is Microsoft some kind of politicking engine?
... there might just be something to that...
Wait...
Some people don't want to replace a computer, because transferring the information from their old computer to their new one would be a daunting task.
Don't forget, while computers are an end to themselves to us, to others, they're only a means to an end, and they don't want to have to risk losing what they've done so far.
The same applies to Linux; you need to run the software as root in order for it to install. By default, in Debian, all services are turned off, and some require manual activation in the inetd.conf (or, in my case, xinetd.conf) file.
Second, I wouldn't recommend Debian to a new user for that very reason; it requires some skill and experience in *NIX system administration to actually install and lock down a debian or slackware box, as opposed to a SuSE or Redhat box... it's not designed to be a full-graphical-configured system, despite the way dpkg sometimes brings up config screens; you need to follow through with configuration files using your favorite editor to make sure everything's running snazzily.
Yes, I know Debian's the easiest distro to install software and their dependencies, but there are some things that are better off left alone until you're ready to get dirty.
I spent nearly the same amount of time reinstalling operating systems on my computers... and not just DOS/Win... some of us are just obsessed like that.
.0195% increase in efficiency, or a new utility/feature that will prove useful in the long run.
'Sides, it's a good feeling to reinstall or reboot knowing you just added a
*shrug* Kinda the same thing as adding a fancy whorl on a table or desk; it's not so much required, as it just seems like a way to up the coolness factor.
It was as follows:
LOAD [PROGRAMNAME],[Drive #],[Binary code?]
Program name is obvious.
Drive number; on the C64, there were four designations for drive numbers, 8, 9, 10, and 11. The first disk drive was 8, and since it was the most likely to exist (especially for people like me who had only one drive), it's pretty much habit for that one.
In the Commodore, the last number indicated whether a loading program was a binary one, or one written in the commodore's BASIC interpreter. If left out, the operating system assumed it was BASIC, while putting "1" there would ensure that the OS didn't try to substitute values for BASIC commands.
You make it sound like someone who would insert a backdoor into a binary distribution of a software project would be bound by a license... which he can just as easily hide by distributing the source minus his backdoor.
;)
Unless the GPL had magically grown a body, and bashed down the doors of violators, this particular argument is pretty much moot.
All that being said, the only response I have to this particular article is, "So what makes this specific to OSS?"
One other little thought.
The number of "eyes" for a particular project tend to be proportionate to the number of computers using it. Not 1:1, miond you, but it's a good guess that if a program has very few "eyes" looking out for it, then it'll probably not have a lot of users, either.
Here's the logic behind my thinking in terms of a couple algebraic lines:
Eyes == (bug reports(developer users + development team))(rnd(1))
bug reports == problem(developers + users)(rnd(1))
Explanation:
For every user and every developer who has a problem with the software there's the potential of a bug report. The rnd(1) multiplier is an arbirary pseudo-function (.0001 to 1) implying that a percentage of the users will not submit a bug report, either out of laziness, or some other personal reason.
Now, the bug report alerts all developers to the bug, and thus, for every bug report, a number of the developers will look to the source in whatever specialty they represent to find the problem. In Open Source, this includes those users who also happen to be skilled in programming. So, you multiply the number of programmers, and those members of the core team against the bug reports, and modify (rnd(1) multiplier) according to the number of programmers who actually know of one particular section of the program, and are willing to look.
Well, I'll just shut up now and let the discourse continue.
If you want an OS totally optimized for your CPU, use Gentoo.
apt-build [package-name]
No, he invented the internet; Linux was a conspiracy by those college kooks to get out of paying SCO's rightful license fee for their IP!
Waitaminute... If Gore invented the internet, he invented IP, too! Gore can sue SCO for copyright infringement!
A properly raised Baynesian is your best friend, so you need to feed it daily to make sure it grows to be a healthy ratcatcher.
The best food for this pet is spam and ham... lots of both for best results. You can get a lifetime supply at http://spamassassin.org/publiccorpus
Just place them in a folder, and feed that hungry little bugger 'till 'e's stuffed!
Then watch the spam run for hiding! Muaahahahahah!!!
Another point; where Spamassassin is concerned, sa-learn is your best friend; that program's purpose is to train the spamassassin with the false negatives, thereby preventing the "evil" spam training from working.
Actually, I think HiThere was referring to the concept of "eternal torment in the lake of fire" kinda torture... not man vs. man torture.