SIP is a fun feature, but I think it has the potential to be more. I agree, it's "nothing more" than simple collocations, but I'm not sure how that's a critique. In the end, all software boils down to simple assembly instructions, nonetheless the magic emerges.
For further commentary, see this blog post. SIP is just simple collocations, but that's exactly what makes it so appealing. It's moving indexing and search in a more semantic direction, but in a way that's reasonable to design and implement.
This is probably premature, but I've even heard some pundits compare SIP to PageRank.
Amazon has done some interesting research and development lately. In particular, look at Amazon's EC2 cloud computing platform, as well as Amazon's statistically improbable phrases (SIP) algorithm. I have a fetish for natural language parsing, so SIP is particularly interesting to me. These are innovations.
The ISPs will continue down this path until it is no longer economically feasible to do so. And that day *is* coming. One day, it'll be more expensive to play these cat-and-mouse games than to just give away cheap bandwidth, disk space, etc.
Your argument isn't as original as you'd like. It's also flawed. Just compare Apache to IIS. Apache has much greater market share, but IIS get exploited like Swiss cheese. How do you explain that?
Another counter argument: Although Linux has a much smaller installed base than Windows, a cracker could stand to gain much more by exploiting Linux. Imagine the wealth of sensitive data hosted on Linux servers.
What's the reward for goodwill towards murderous enemies again? Does it make European elites send you a birthday card or something? Can we drink organic cocktails at the enlightenment club while turning a blind eye toward the suffering that results? Do we get a 2% discount on a Prius?
I don't harbor goodwill toward my "murderous enemies." I harbor goodwill toward their children.
The Free Software / Open Source "community" is and has always been split. That's its greatest strength. Some people (like RMS) are into Free Software for idealistic reasons. Other people (like Linus) are into Open Source for practical reasons. People disagree about everything on every level - from the topmost philosophical level all the way down to the implementation details of the code. There's enough room for everyone and, frankly, the discussions and flamewars are healthy.
I don't care that my address is going to be harvested. I post it without obfuscation all over the web. I use Apple Mail (which has a spam filter) as a POP3 client for Gmail (which also has a spam filter). Every week, only about one spam trickles through Gmail, and Apple Mail always catches it. And neither has ever marked a legitimate email as spam.
Also, I think it makes more of a statement to provide my email address.
The bad news: It may be difficult to jump onboard a specific project (particularly one as complex as Linux or Firefox) solely as a technical writer. Documentation ranges from extremely technical (as in code comments) to quite understandable (as in FAQs on websites). In my experience, the more technical documentation is left for the developers and the more understandable documentation is left for the admins.
The good news: If you're creative, you'll find a fulfilling way to help. If you're only interested in supporting a particular project, you could find its official discussion channel and work your way up to being a channel operator. If you're interested in the movement as a whole, you could contribute to a more generic (non-project-specific) documentation site. Many such sites even have author's guides where you can RTFM about WTFM (Writing The Firkin' Manual).
I firmly believe that social problems require social solutions, business problems require business solutions, technical problems require technical solutions, etc.
Two of the issues that you mention are poor code reuse and a lack of code comments. These sound like human problems. Don't try to solve them with technology.
Your company may benefit from a different project management style. As many people have mentioned, you may be interested in Agile (specifically Scrum and XP). Lightweight management, lightweight processes, and lightweight tools can breathe new life into a company.
You're right. Sadly, misguided politicians use unfortunate incidents like this to hammer through legislation. This has less to do with the internet than one might think. Assault has been illegal long before the birth of the internet.
"Gates: Software in general, whether it was from Microsoft or somebody else, was not set up for an environment where all the computers were connected together. So it's not like there was some software that had this security capability and our software did not."
Mr Gates, you're wrong. The internet is the very tool that enables distributed development. Networking (in both the technical and social senses) is at the core of Linux development.
Slashdot Mirror
SIP is a fun feature, but I think it has the potential to be more. I agree, it's "nothing more" than simple collocations, but I'm not sure how that's a critique. In the end, all software boils down to simple assembly instructions, nonetheless the magic emerges.
For further commentary, see this blog post. SIP is just simple collocations, but that's exactly what makes it so appealing. It's moving indexing and search in a more semantic direction, but in a way that's reasonable to design and implement.
This is probably premature, but I've even heard some pundits compare SIP to PageRank.
Amazon has done some interesting research and development lately. In particular, look at Amazon's EC2 cloud computing platform, as well as Amazon's statistically improbable phrases (SIP) algorithm. I have a fetish for natural language parsing, so SIP is particularly interesting to me. These are innovations.
The ISPs will continue down this path until it is no longer economically feasible to do so. And that day *is* coming. One day, it'll be more expensive to play these cat-and-mouse games than to just give away cheap bandwidth, disk space, etc.
Really? Where are the gozillion iTunes exploits? Or is iTunes "less popular" too?
Your argument isn't as original as you'd like. It's also flawed. Just compare Apache to IIS. Apache has much greater market share, but IIS get exploited like Swiss cheese. How do you explain that?
Another counter argument: Although Linux has a much smaller installed base than Windows, a cracker could stand to gain much more by exploiting Linux. Imagine the wealth of sensitive data hosted on Linux servers.
...over goodwill.
The Free Software / Open Source "community" is and has always been split. That's its greatest strength. Some people (like RMS) are into Free Software for idealistic reasons. Other people (like Linus) are into Open Source for practical reasons. People disagree about everything on every level - from the topmost philosophical level all the way down to the implementation details of the code. There's enough room for everyone and, frankly, the discussions and flamewars are healthy.
I don't care that my address is going to be harvested. I post it without obfuscation all over the web. I use Apple Mail (which has a spam filter) as a POP3 client for Gmail (which also has a spam filter). Every week, only about one spam trickles through Gmail, and Apple Mail always catches it. And neither has ever marked a legitimate email as spam.
Also, I think it makes more of a statement to provide my email address.
Uh oh. The Pidgin server seems to be hammered, but you can still download it from its SourceForge page.
The bad news: It may be difficult to jump onboard a specific project (particularly one as complex as Linux or Firefox) solely as a technical writer. Documentation ranges from extremely technical (as in code comments) to quite understandable (as in FAQs on websites). In my experience, the more technical documentation is left for the developers and the more understandable documentation is left for the admins.
The good news: If you're creative, you'll find a fulfilling way to help. If you're only interested in supporting a particular project, you could find its official discussion channel and work your way up to being a channel operator. If you're interested in the movement as a whole, you could contribute to a more generic (non-project-specific) documentation site. Many such sites even have author's guides where you can RTFM about WTFM (Writing The Firkin' Manual).
Good luck!
I firmly believe that social problems require social solutions, business problems require business solutions, technical problems require technical solutions, etc.
Two of the issues that you mention are poor code reuse and a lack of code comments. These sound like human problems. Don't try to solve them with technology.
Your company may benefit from a different project management style. As many people have mentioned, you may be interested in Agile (specifically Scrum and XP). Lightweight management, lightweight processes, and lightweight tools can breathe new life into a company.
Good luck!
Suddenly, Apple's 1984 commercial seems even more appropriate.
You're right. Sadly, misguided politicians use unfortunate incidents like this to hammer through legislation. This has less to do with the internet than one might think. Assault has been illegal long before the birth of the internet.
For the younger ones in the audience, Vim is a superset of vi, which was originally written by Bill Joy.
:-)
Yes, the same Bill Joy who heavily contributed to BSD, TCP/IP, NFS, and csh.
Yet I still count vi as one of his top contributions.
It seems as though, after the first viewing, The Statesman harasses you to register. Here are some more reports of the same story.
Why does this look so farmiliar?
Interestingly, there already seems to be a bit of friction between Apple's and Intel's marketing departments.
Our other customers aren't boring
New Apple ad catches Intel by surprise
Also, the following quotes are spoken by Steve Jobs' character in the movie Pirates of the Silicon Valley. Steve Wozniak has verified the movie as accurate.
It makes me sad that this is news.
Some of us don't see assembling a computer as work -- we see it as play.
DIY -- scratching the itch -- is the very spirit of Linux.
I enjoy these Linux features. But I prefer traditional, Unix-like distros. I use Slackware.
Mr Gates, you're wrong. The internet is the very tool that enables distributed development. Networking (in both the technical and social senses) is at the core of Linux development.
From this interview, it looks like Rickford Grant knows what he's talking about, but crosses the line into over-simplification.
I don't think I'll recommend this book.