The simple solution is for Apple to integrate X11 completely into their existing windows system so that the X11.app simply goes away, and all linux/unix apps simply run without the need of X11.app.
Then Apple's Java could always start as an X11 version, possibly from Sun, then be better integrated later into Cocoa if needed.
The One Laptop Per Child.. or XO device (http://laptop.org/) runs Linux and will be soon the dominant desktop for children in many parts of the world. I'm fairly sure you'll see far more interesting numbers then.. especially this November with the "get one, give one" program (http://www.xogiving.org/).
That'd be cool: a Christmas gift for Linux: your over 1% now, baby!! Hoot!
BTW: I sure which folks responding to this would watch the video!
However.. the main impact this will likely have is on English as a second language. Why?
Try to search for "how to purify water" in Twi (one of the major languages in Ghana). Damn! No luck. Oh well.
Also Semi-Off-Topic: Python vs. Java
on
Guido Goes Google
·
· Score: 1
My Gawd, folks responded really well to the Semi-Off-Topic Python vs. Perl discussion! This leads me to ask a similar question about Java vs Python.
Specifically: What can a Java programmer do that a Python programmer cannot?
I suspect the answer lies in the libraries -- Java has standard GUIs and lots of libraries for doing damn near everything. But the verbosity! I cringe every time I start a new Java project.
I tried Python/Jyton for a bit and indeed did get used to the white space thing. The classes seemed weird beyond belief: __foobar__ just sucks as does explict self reference for all instance variables. But again, I suspect I can get used to it.
Anyhoo.. any insights into limits from a Java point of view?
It is a rebuild of Office using Java as the UI. This allows the UI to be manipulated to be closer to the Mac OS X LAF.
But it also basically would allow you to use Office on the server, and Java as the front end within a web browser. Not easy, but it at least points the way.
I've bounced from Safari to Firefox, but then with the Tiger Safari fixing several problems, I've bounced back. (For sure, like most, I use both 'cause some web sites are still browser-picky).
The switch to FF was due to wierdness in Safari's UI (search popup vs search bar, menu bar buttons vs menu behavior) and performance (large number of favicons apparently slowed menus way down, page rendering faster in FF)
But eventually, once Safari fixed some of the above, the UI/desktop integration brought me back to Safari. Full-size window button is smart in Safari: goes to just wide enough. Bookmark search and editing better in Safari. Weirdnesses with which app a download should use. New PDF in browser window. EMacs key bindings. (Yes, there is a fix in FF for that but...) Way better form fill-in. And tens of tiny UI incompatibilities which started to drive me over the edge.
So back to Safari, using FF when needed.
My hope is that FF eventually gains enough Mac integration and I again switch back to FF. I really do like it a bunch.
I couldn't believe it. Just this morning I was feeling down about Bush winning. But then I realized I'd come to hate all the things I used to stand for! I can feel my new self skrunching out of my chest just like in the movies and its way, way great to stop worrying about responsibility ever again.
First of all, all the poor folks in the world holding down two jobs that Michael Moore was in such pain over: You voted for Bush. You deserve what you got. And damn the eyes of your children and their children's children who will shoulder the huge debt you gave them. Let them be poor and grovel in their poverty. I can't believe I used to care about you.
Second, the war. I want every mother or father sending their son or daughter to die or be maimed to look elsewhere for sympathy. You can wail without me. You asked for your pain. Your ignorance and love of "moral values" (which are neither) brought it upon them. Please mourn without me. If your children left as innocent but now return as killers and sadists, you have a problem. I don't, sorry.
Third, the tax cut for the rich. I'm well-off so thank you. I'm delighted to take your money. I can't believe you're letting me get away with it but if you're that dumb, you deserve it. I'm going to buy me a HumVee just to burn gas, be roudy, and I can and insulate myself from all you idiots.
Fourth, democracy. There's never been any. Ever. We smart, shitty, manipulative clever people have been screwing you for years and you fell for it. We'll cheat if we have to but generally its so easy to convince you idiots to vote for our puppets that we don't need to cheat. Get used to it. Kerry? Gawd, give me a break! We did it.. yes it IS a conspiracy.
Fifth, fiscal responsibility. Why in the world should I care about you and yours? I know what kind of disaster we're in so I just move aside and let it happen. Its easy to hedge in gold while you poor wimps get crushed. Social security? Lets spend it on killing terrorists. Medicare? Let them all get sick and get out of our way. Drugs? I'll take mine hard. Infrastructure, give me a break. Move to europe? Why should I bother.. I'll just fly to Paris for lunch any time I want. Its way, way fun to be a debt-and-spend neocon.
Given all that, I've just joined the Republican Party, suckers, and it feels GREAT!
First, being 62, I really don't have the time for a gradual improvement. I'm not even sure that's in the offing. Bush offered an unimaginable list of negatives: war and all its attendant horrors, debt-and-spend financial irresponsibility, a broken economy, squandering the world sympathy after 9/11 with a loss of any world friendship. Simply no positive factor. Oh, yes, unless you consider "moral issues".
It appears religion has truly become the opiate of the people. How can one help via charity any of those too ignorant, too lead by demagoguery, to at least act in their own interests? How is it moral to create a horrid war leading to your children committing the Abu Grabe atrocities? How can I feel sympathy for mothers of dead children when they favored the war themselves? How can I feel sympathy for vets who vote for decreasing their own benefits?
It appears that I am not an american. I do not believe in democracy. It simply does not work. The "demos" simply are incapable of charting a reasonable course into the future. Let them have their comfortable morality. And let them sink further into desperate lack of social infrastructure, into unaffordable medical care, into homelessness. They have brought all this upon themselves.
So what would Jesus have done? Would he have voted for war? For ignoring the poor? For pandering to the rich? Maybe Jesus is not moral.
It'll be interesting to see what positive spin Michael Moore will be able to put on this. His "50 50 50" split argument appears to have failed: the missing 50% did not make even a dent.
Hmm..as I type this on a Mac Powerbook, I wonder if I could get a similar Linux critter *supported* by the manufacturer. I've earned way too many Linux Merit Badges figuring out how to get my old ThinkPad to do things that are just built in on my Mac.
This isn't whining.. I really want a rock solid Linux laptop supported by an interesting set of manufacturers with simple updating and configuring. And I really like the fact that many things I do are actually a bit better supported on Linux. But I'm just not willing to spend most of my time fussing with the computer rather than computing!
So is IBM up to this yet? Dell? Toshiba? *ANYBODY*?
The recent Wired article on this topic:
--> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india_pr. html .. had a great section where the reporter was yanking on the
chain of a New Jersey State Senator:
So I toss a slur across her desk. I call her a protectionist.
"Oh, and I'm proud of it," she responds. "I wear that badge with
honor. I am a protectionist. I want to protect America. I want to
protect jobs for Americans."
"But isn't part of this country's vitality its ability to make these
kinds of changes?" I counter. "We've done it before - going from
farm to factory, from factory to knowledge work, and from knowledge
work to whatever's next."
She looks at me. Then she says, "I'd like to know where you go from
knowledge."
Sorta interesting, in light of this discussion. Entertainment is certainly going to be part of the outsourcing, as mentioned by Tom's reference to animation. Many countries outside of Europe are also getting in the act. Possibly the next LOTR will be from India's Bollywood!?
Slashdot Mirror
The simple solution is for Apple to integrate X11 completely into their existing windows system so that the X11.app simply goes away, and all linux/unix apps simply run without the need of X11.app.
Then Apple's Java could always start as an X11 version, possibly from Sun, then be better integrated later into Cocoa if needed.
The One Laptop Per Child .. or XO device (http://laptop.org/) runs Linux and will be soon the dominant desktop for children in many parts of the world. I'm fairly sure you'll see far more interesting numbers then .. especially this November with the "get one, give one" program (http://www.xogiving.org/).
That'd be cool: a Christmas gift for Linux: your over 1% now, baby!! Hoot!
Er.. isn't documentation the whole POINT of this article!
However .. the main impact this will likely have is on English as a second language. Why?
Try to search for "how to purify water" in Twi (one of the major languages in Ghana). Damn! No luck. Oh well.
Specifically: What can a Java programmer do that a Python programmer cannot?
I suspect the answer lies in the libraries -- Java has standard GUIs and lots of libraries for doing damn near everything. But the verbosity! I cringe every time I start a new Java project.
I tried Python/Jyton for a bit and indeed did get used to the white space thing. The classes seemed weird beyond belief: __foobar__ just sucks as does explict self reference for all instance variables. But again, I suspect I can get used to it.
Anyhoo .. any insights into limits from a Java point of view?
I was a bit surprised folks did not mention the Neo implementation for Mac OS X:
http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php
It is a rebuild of Office using Java as the UI. This allows the UI to be manipulated to be closer to the Mac OS X LAF.
But it also basically would allow you to use Office on the server, and Java as the front end within a web browser. Not easy, but it at least points the way.
I've bounced from Safari to Firefox, but then with the Tiger Safari fixing several problems, I've bounced back. (For sure, like most, I use both 'cause some web sites are still browser-picky).
...) Way better form fill-in. And tens of tiny UI incompatibilities which started to drive me over the edge.
The switch to FF was due to wierdness in Safari's UI (search popup vs search bar, menu bar buttons vs menu behavior) and performance (large number of favicons apparently slowed menus way down, page rendering faster in FF)
But eventually, once Safari fixed some of the above, the UI/desktop integration brought me back to Safari. Full-size window button is smart in Safari: goes to just wide enough. Bookmark search and editing better in Safari. Weirdnesses with which app a download should use. New PDF in browser window. EMacs key bindings. (Yes, there is a fix in FF for that but
So back to Safari, using FF when needed.
My hope is that FF eventually gains enough Mac integration and I again switch back to FF. I really do like it a bunch.
First, being 62, I really don't have the time for a gradual improvement. I'm not even sure that's in the offing. Bush offered an unimaginable list of negatives: war and all its attendant horrors, debt-and-spend financial irresponsibility, a broken economy, squandering the world sympathy after 9/11 with a loss of any world friendship. Simply no positive factor. Oh, yes, unless you consider "moral issues". It appears religion has truly become the opiate of the people. How can one help via charity any of those too ignorant, too lead by demagoguery, to at least act in their own interests? How is it moral to create a horrid war leading to your children committing the Abu Grabe atrocities? How can I feel sympathy for mothers of dead children when they favored the war themselves? How can I feel sympathy for vets who vote for decreasing their own benefits? It appears that I am not an american. I do not believe in democracy. It simply does not work. The "demos" simply are incapable of charting a reasonable course into the future. Let them have their comfortable morality. And let them sink further into desperate lack of social infrastructure, into unaffordable medical care, into homelessness. They have brought all this upon themselves. So what would Jesus have done? Would he have voted for war? For ignoring the poor? For pandering to the rich? Maybe Jesus is not moral. It'll be interesting to see what positive spin Michael Moore will be able to put on this. His "50 50 50" split argument appears to have failed: the missing 50% did not make even a dent.
This isn't whining .. I really want a rock solid Linux laptop supported by an interesting set of manufacturers with simple updating and configuring. And I really like the fact that many things I do are actually a bit better supported on Linux. But I'm just not willing to spend most of my time fussing with the computer rather than computing!
So is IBM up to this yet? Dell? Toshiba? *ANYBODY*?
--> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india_pr
Sorta interesting, in light of this discussion. Entertainment is certainly going to be part of the outsourcing, as mentioned by Tom's reference to animation. Many countries outside of Europe are also getting in the act. Possibly the next LOTR will be from India's Bollywood!?