In fact, I had to pull out my Knoppix 3.6 CD today. When I needed to store something onto a USB drive, I plug it in and wait, thinking Knoppix is slick enough to have automated this. After a while, I see nothing's happening, and it's not at all obvious what to do. Fortunately, I'm a former Linux user, and I had previously written down the right device to mount. Not that big of deal once you've done it, but Windows just pops it up automatically.
Maybe Knoppix does now. 3.6 is a little old, but not that old.
There are benefits to both the BSD and GPL license, and I think that BSD, OS X, and Linux feed off another.
Linux has come a long way and mainly because people's software lives on to be used by others. However, it always seems like it's 90% of the way to being useful by the masses, so it's primarily used by the people who are really "into it" and treat it somewhat as a hobby.
BSD on the other hand allows companies (like Apple) to come in and pay people to accomplish the extremely difficult and painful final 10% and still keep the result as a competitive edge.
At the end of the day, OS X, BSD, and Linux are still UNIX and can support various X Window applications. Cygwin is too for that matter. Their similarities and unique strengths help one another become more widely used and eventually improved.
I suppose the main benefit I saw was a more palatable way to tap into the winforms api. Of course, as another poster mentioned, it still needs a lot of work to be usable.
I believe the poster's point is relative to Mono and how it's being pitched for cross-platform development. The poster also points out that there are potential problems with using either GTK or winforms across platforms, and how it is likely to lag pure MS.Net.
I'm glad that Mono is being developed to bring the CLR technology to other platforms, but I understand the poster's skepticism for using the GUI APIs across platforms.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Linux, but keep in mind, the article is 3 days old.
Also, how will I be to apply the patch and where is it? Do I have to recompile my kernel?
If this were a Windows bug, it would have been thoroughly exploited, made the news, and I would have already applied the patch by clicking "Windows Update". A bigger deal would have been made of it, but it would have only taken about a minute of my time.
And this is usually compared to having cops on the street. If everyone is so concerned about privacy, why do they want a cop on every corner? I don't really believe that these cameras are being used to catch people picking their nose or cheating on their spouse. Also, as someone else noted: downtown at night in a major metro, your privacy is your LAST concern.
2) The money is better spent on street-cops.
If Baltimore could replace every camera with an officer standing on the street, don't you think they would? I'm sure that this is considered as a less expensive way to get more coverage.
3) They don't help.
Have you never watched the news and seen murders or child abductions where the perpetrator was apprehended because of video. These were of course after it was too late because that's how surveillance video is currently used - police viewing it after the crime. If someone were actually behind the cameras, perhaps some the terrible results of the crimes might have been prevented.
4) This is a step toward a Big Brother society.
Not necessarily. There's a big difference between having some monitored surveillance cameras and a spreadsheet of all the citizens' activities. There is a lot of camera-to-camera coordination before you're actually "tracked", and that capability is not-at-all present.
One thing I have trouble understanding is how companies like Redhat and SUSE can sell a package that mainly consists of open source code. I don't really object because I like their products, but how is it different than selling a single proprietary program that has a GPL'd function. I don't see how selling a CD with one executable is that different from selling a CD with multiple executables.
I hope Kandalf ceases to be present. (Although, I guess it depends on the distro. I think Redhat omits him.) The silly dragon reminds me of Clippy in MS Word and the dog in Windows XP search. Kandalf looks like a Barney wannabe.
Otherwise, however, I think KDE's great.
Slashdot Mirror
In fact, I had to pull out my Knoppix 3.6 CD today. When I needed to store something onto a USB drive, I plug it in and wait, thinking Knoppix is slick enough to have automated this. After a while, I see nothing's happening, and it's not at all obvious what to do. Fortunately, I'm a former Linux user, and I had previously written down the right device to mount. Not that big of deal once you've done it, but Windows just pops it up automatically. Maybe Knoppix does now. 3.6 is a little old, but not that old.
There are benefits to both the BSD and GPL license, and I think that BSD, OS X, and Linux feed off another.
Linux has come a long way and mainly because people's software lives on to be used by others. However, it always seems like it's 90% of the way to being useful by the masses, so it's primarily used by the people who are really "into it" and treat it somewhat as a hobby.
BSD on the other hand allows companies (like Apple) to come in and pay people to accomplish the extremely difficult and painful final 10% and still keep the result as a competitive edge.
At the end of the day, OS X, BSD, and Linux are still UNIX and can support various X Window applications. Cygwin is too for that matter. Their similarities and unique strengths help one another become more widely used and eventually improved.
I suppose the main benefit I saw was a more palatable way to tap into the winforms api. Of course, as another poster mentioned, it still needs a lot of work to be usable.
I believe the poster's point is relative to Mono and how it's being pitched for cross-platform development. The poster also points out that there are potential problems with using either GTK or winforms across platforms, and how it is likely to lag pure MS .Net.
I'm glad that Mono is being developed to bring the CLR technology to other platforms, but I understand the poster's skepticism for using the GUI APIs across platforms.
I agree. I'd like to use the CLR, but maybe I'll wait and use wxNet and ironpython.
Thanks for the info.
In the near future, I want to use SUSE 9.1. Their YAST tool supposedly helps automate security updates.
Excuse my ignorance (anyone who wants to respond), but do I use YAST to
get the kernel update and then recompile?
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Linux, but keep in mind, the article is 3 days old.
Also, how will I be to apply the patch and where is it? Do I have to recompile my kernel?
If this were a Windows bug, it would have been thoroughly exploited, made the news, and I would have already applied the patch by clicking "Windows Update". A bigger deal would have been made of it, but it would have only taken about a minute of my time.
I do prefer Linux, but we need to be open-minded.
The arguments against cameras in public places.
1) They invade privacy.
And this is usually compared to having cops on the street. If everyone is so concerned about privacy, why do they want a cop on every corner? I don't really believe that these cameras are being used to catch people picking their nose or cheating on their spouse. Also, as someone else noted: downtown at night in a major metro, your privacy is your LAST concern.
2) The money is better spent on street-cops.
If Baltimore could replace every camera with an officer standing on the street, don't you think they would? I'm sure that this is considered as a less expensive way to get more coverage.
3) They don't help.
Have you never watched the news and seen murders or child abductions where the perpetrator was apprehended because of video. These were of course after it was too late because that's how surveillance video is currently used - police viewing it after the crime. If someone were actually behind the cameras, perhaps some the terrible results of the crimes might have been prevented.
4) This is a step toward a Big Brother society.
Not necessarily. There's a big difference between having some monitored surveillance cameras and a spreadsheet of all the citizens' activities. There is a lot of camera-to-camera coordination before you're actually "tracked", and that capability is not-at-all present.
One thing I have trouble understanding is how companies like Redhat and SUSE can sell a package that mainly consists of open source code. I don't really object because I like their products, but how is it different than selling a single proprietary program that has a GPL'd function. I don't see how selling a CD with one executable is that different from selling a CD with multiple executables.
I hope Kandalf ceases to be present. (Although, I guess it depends on the distro. I think Redhat omits him.) The silly dragon reminds me of Clippy in MS Word and the dog in Windows XP search. Kandalf looks like a Barney wannabe. Otherwise, however, I think KDE's great.