There's a ton of bad closed source software too. For the most part it ends up in the $4.99 bin, if it ever gets into stores at all.
.... And some of it sells -- sorry -- licenses -- for thousands of dollars. Mr. Strauss's two examples of "good" commercial software, WebCT and Peoplesoft, are exemplary. In my experience, they are some of the worst stuff ever made. I am fairly confident that I could do better than WebCT in a couple of months at a fraction of its cost.
Re:Especially in the fog of marketese that is .NET
on
Advanced .NET Remoting
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· Score: 1
True, but how accessible will the alternatives be?
What if the law mandated that you needed a government license to publish books? How much choice would you have for your hammock reading material? (this is exactly how it worked in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries) Obviously a bit more extreme than the broadcast flag, but not unrelated.
Personally, I don't care that much about TV, nevermind "HDTV". I think we need to really care when similar controls start changing the openness of the net, though.
Why the heck would you run Solaris on an x86 instead of Sparc? Linux was written for the x86. Solaris was written for the Sparc. Each uses different approaches depending on what the architecture offers or doesn't offer. So why bother with this kind of comparison?
I think you're right, ralf. Small-scale operations like the neighborhood grocery offer a lot of benefits that are not possible in impersonal supermarkets. Same goes for most stores, even though large chain stores offer the best prices and more selection.
We are losing something by paving the world and setting up supermarkets: we are losing some very important aspects of true "quality of life". (When QoL is *not* measured by income alone!)
This would definitely be a killer app here. As described in the article, this tech does not offer that much that is new (except the locating items feature).
It would probably best be implemented on a website though (keyed to your frequent shopper card -- I agree with other comments that these things ought to be anonymous -- I don't have one yet partially for this reason), dealing with compatability of random devices you bring into the store would be a nightmare.
Then you could also determine if the market (and which markets) had the item you need while you were making the list: that would have saved me some time last night figuring out alternatives to different ingredients.
Conventional distributed mains and fossil fuel generated power are disallowed, leading to a demonstration of inventive technologies that are hopefully less harmful to the planet.
Unfortunately the rocket that put the sattellites in orbit was a tad less than "earth-friendly":) (Never mind all the messy heavy manufacturing processes that produced all of the gear)
Next time it might be fun to try something more decentralized, and owe more step away from the military-industrial complex (which admittedly is bringing us lots of this great tech). E.g. an ad-hoc network of stations routing back to the main uplink, or a bunch of shortwave transmitters.
The best numbers you can get are probably from your own university's IT department. In fact I will bet that the computer science department is at least 50/50 Linux/Windows if not more.
Yeah, no one reads articles -- let alone moderates them -- on slashdot older than about an hour I'm afraid.
Thanks to the AC for the "REAL answer". My guess then is that it adds some special Apple features, but still has all the same C++ bugs as 3.2 (and Dec02 "3.3") since it's not based on any real 3.3 releases (first one was in May; this one still has the February date).
OK, does anyone have any real information on this supposed 3.3 version? The *last* time the released a so-called "3.3" version of GCC (April/June), I discovered after WEEKS of frustration that it was really just some 3.2 CVS snapshot from last February, and was no better really than the 3.2 version
I am grateful that a free compiler is available for my Mac but that was annoying.
So is this REALLY gcc 3.3? Can someone who has installed it please run "gcc-3.3 -v" and post the output?
Gnumeric seems to work ok on OSX. You need to install an X11 Server and Fink, and then, in a Terminal: sudo fink install gnumeric (and wait a long time) or sudo apt-get install gnumeric.
An Aqua or Carbon port would be cool though.
If more people used wxWindows, then (a) porting to Windows and Mac would be really easy, and (b) wxWindows would continue to improve as people contributed.
Gnumeric seems to work ok on OSX. You need to install an X11 Server and Fink, and then, in a Terminal: sudo fink install gnumeric (and wait a long time) or sudo apt-get install gnumeric.
An Aqua or Carbon port would be cool though.
If more people used wxWindows, then (a) porting to Windows and Mac would be really easy, and (b) wxWindows would continue to improve as people contributed.
What if, as some people believe, the spammers aren't in it for the money? What if they are just sending spam as a DoS attack?
I get lots of spam that has no business purpose. "Get out of debt now," "Add length to your member,"
Wow, that's a good conspiracy. Those pesky extra terrestrial islamist terrorist nazi CIA-funded hacker-spamers again!
Those guys that aren't really selling anything are just collecting your email address and other information to sell to real companies that sell similar products.
The best thing, IMO, is to let players start running their own worlds/servers at some point. The company could even move on to something else, and just keep selling client software (or not). It could even move into the new world of independent servers and sell game items and services, or contract tools and services to the people running independent servers. (On the other hand, maybe they would just be putting themselves out of business, I don't know:)
This is generally where I'd like to see online gaming/entertainment go, maybe a mixture of free and commercial software, but with low barriers on people who want to run servers. This is how the Web happened:)
So basically they're all just knock-offs of Konfabulator...
Here is a Gnome desktop widget that is actually quite a bit more interesting: Dashboard, software that gets fed "clues" from other applications, and searches some databases for related information.
it's still a stellar example of bad UI design. Tiny buttons with cryptic icons, a GUI interface that works in an irritatingly nonstandard fasion, and so forth.
Are your statements based on taking an hour and learning how to use Blender, or just dogma?
Really, this guy is right. You're not going to save the Earth by recycling your trash. It's a drop in the bucket. The things that are killing the environment are heavy consumption: cars, trucks, and various heavy industries, home and building construction, heating and electric energy use and food production (especially cattle). Compared to this stuff, your batteries are nothing.
I also noticed all those cryptic Registry keys tucked away at the end (vs. three cryptic Samba config entries and one cryptic kernal param in/proc).
It also appears that only "peak" throughput was emphasized. Not sure what that means. Speed under the heaviest load? Highest speed recorded?
Also, what was the request pattern? Did they access the same files frequently, or each file just once? Were the files small or large? Did all the clients access at once?
Finally, one nice thing about Linux is that you don't need to use a stock binary kernel -- you can choose exactly which features you want, and then recompile it specifically for your CPU model. That's what I would have done if I was setting up a file server like that.
The thing is, home computers are not single user, they are used by everyone in the family. My mom doesn't want my really slick background image, 12 dock apps, super rad window styles, my email settings, my web bookmarks, and I don't want my directory filled with her files either.
The multi-user paradigm is still very useful-- even if all those users can still access some root stuff (change settings, install programws, etc).
You're right, that M$ needs to recover initial losses with licensing fees. This is how the console game industry has always functioned. It's exactly how Nintendo was so incredibly successful (that, and choosing REALLY GOOD games to license!)
But with M$ in the game (basing the X-Box on PC architecture obviously because of their existing PC expertise and codebase) we now have a bridge between two sectors that were previously only indirectly related (through the chip manufacturers)-- Namely, the general purpose, rather open PC world and the closed game console world. If the latter encroaches too much on the former, we lose some freedom.
Slashdot Mirror
temojen wrote:
.... And some of it sells -- sorry -- licenses -- for thousands of dollars. Mr. Strauss's two examples of "good" commercial software, WebCT and Peoplesoft, are exemplary. In my experience, they are some of the worst stuff ever made. I am fairly confident that I could do better than WebCT in a couple of months at a fraction of its cost.
What do you suggest we use instead?
I'm afraid that wouldn't stop the open relays and spam servers.
Of course, this whole thing would make my mail server useless, and I have no way of getting most of my mail.
We are becoming slaves to upstream servers... how much longer before my PC is just an expensive TV?
Azghoul wrote:
True, but how accessible will the alternatives be?
What if the law mandated that you needed a government license to publish books? How much choice would you have for your hammock reading material? (this is exactly how it worked in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries) Obviously a bit more extreme than the broadcast flag, but not unrelated.
Personally, I don't care that much about TV, nevermind "HDTV". I think we need to really care when similar controls start changing the openness of the net, though.
Why the heck would you run Solaris on an x86 instead of Sparc? Linux was written for the x86. Solaris was written for the Sparc. Each uses different approaches depending on what the architecture offers or doesn't offer. So why bother with this kind of comparison?
I think you're right, ralf. Small-scale operations like the neighborhood grocery offer a lot of benefits that are not possible in impersonal supermarkets. Same goes for most stores, even though large chain stores offer the best prices and more selection.
We are losing something by paving the world and setting up supermarkets: we are losing some very important aspects of true "quality of life". (When QoL is *not* measured by income alone!)
reed
This would definitely be a killer app here. As described in the article, this tech does not offer that much that is new (except the locating items feature).
It would probably best be implemented on a website though (keyed to your frequent shopper card -- I agree with other comments that these things ought to be anonymous -- I don't have one yet partially for this reason), dealing with compatability of random devices you bring into the store would be a nightmare.
Then you could also determine if the market (and which markets) had the item you need while you were making the list: that would have saved me some time last night figuring out alternatives to different ingredients.
Unfortunately the rocket that put the sattellites in orbit was a tad less than "earth-friendly"
Next time it might be fun to try something more decentralized, and owe more step away from the military-industrial complex (which admittedly is bringing us lots of this great tech). E.g. an ad-hoc network of stations routing back to the main uplink, or a bunch of shortwave transmitters.
reed
The best numbers you can get are probably from your own university's IT department. In fact I will bet that the computer science department is at least 50/50 Linux/Windows if not more.
Yeah, no one reads articles -- let alone moderates them -- on slashdot older than about an hour I'm afraid.
Thanks to the AC for the "REAL answer". My guess then is that it adds some special Apple features, but still has all the same C++ bugs as 3.2 (and Dec02 "3.3") since it's not based on any real 3.3 releases (first one was in May; this one still has the February date).
reed
OK, does anyone have any real information on this supposed 3.3 version? The *last* time the released a so-called "3.3" version of GCC (April/June), I discovered after WEEKS of frustration that it was really just some 3.2 CVS snapshot from last February, and was no better really than the 3.2 version
I am grateful that a free compiler is available for my Mac but that was annoying.
So is this REALLY gcc 3.3? Can someone who has installed it please run "gcc-3.3 -v" and post the output?
Thanks!
reed
Gnumeric seems to work ok on OSX. You need to install an X11 Server and Fink, and then, in a Terminal: sudo fink install gnumeric (and wait a long time) or sudo apt-get install gnumeric.
An Aqua or Carbon port would be cool though.
If more people used wxWindows, then (a) porting to Windows and Mac would be really easy, and (b) wxWindows would continue to improve as people contributed.
Gnumeric seems to work ok on OSX. You need to install an X11 Server and Fink, and then, in a Terminal: sudo fink install gnumeric (and wait a long time) or sudo apt-get install gnumeric.
An Aqua or Carbon port would be cool though.
If more people used wxWindows, then (a) porting to Windows and Mac would be really easy, and (b) wxWindows would continue to improve as people contributed.
Wow, that's a good conspiracy. Those pesky extra terrestrial islamist terrorist nazi CIA-funded hacker-spamers again!
Those guys that aren't really selling anything are just collecting your email address and other information to sell to real companies that sell similar products.
What about distributing signed spam lists through Freenet or Bit Torrent or something similar?
Do you think that would work?
Another idea, if you just want to keep players, is to allow very high level players become gods, and they can help run the game, and add to it.
The best thing, IMO, is to let players start running their own worlds/servers at some point. The company could even move on to something else, and just keep selling client software (or not). It could even move into the new world of independent servers and sell game items and services, or contract tools and services to the people running independent servers. (On the other hand, maybe they would just be putting themselves out of business, I don't know :)
:)
This is generally where I'd like to see online gaming/entertainment go, maybe a mixture of free and commercial software, but with low barriers on people who want to run servers. This is how the Web happened
reed
So basically they're all just knock-offs of Konfabulator...
Here is a Gnome desktop widget that is actually quite a bit more interesting: Dashboard, software that gets fed "clues" from other applications, and searches some databases for related information.
Blender also works on Mac OSX.
I go back and forth between my iBook at home and Linux boxes at work all the time.
Are your statements based on taking an hour and learning how to use Blender, or just dogma?
Really, this guy is right. You're not going to save the Earth by recycling your trash. It's a drop in the bucket. The things that are killing the environment are heavy consumption: cars, trucks, and various heavy industries, home and building construction, heating and electric energy use and food production (especially cattle). Compared to this stuff, your batteries are nothing.
Sounds like you need a Fujitsu Lifebook.
I also noticed all those cryptic Registry keys tucked away at the end (vs. three cryptic Samba config entries and one cryptic kernal param in /proc).
It also appears that only "peak" throughput was emphasized. Not sure what that means. Speed under the heaviest load? Highest speed recorded?
Also, what was the request pattern? Did they access the same files frequently, or each file just once? Were the files small or large? Did all the clients access at once?
Finally, one nice thing about Linux is that you don't need to use a stock binary kernel -- you can choose exactly which features you want, and then recompile it specifically for your CPU model. That's what I would have done if I was setting up a file server like that.
reed
The thing is, home computers are not single user, they are used by everyone in the family. My mom doesn't want my really slick background image, 12 dock apps, super rad window styles, my email settings, my web bookmarks, and I don't want my directory filled with her files either.
The multi-user paradigm is still very useful-- even if all those users can still access some root stuff (change settings, install programws, etc).
Lindows should use this "power" feature!
You're right, that M$ needs to recover initial losses with licensing fees. This is how the console game industry has always functioned. It's exactly how Nintendo was so incredibly successful (that, and choosing REALLY GOOD games to license!)
But with M$ in the game (basing the X-Box on PC architecture obviously because of their existing PC expertise and codebase) we now have a bridge between two sectors that were previously only indirectly related (through the chip manufacturers)-- Namely, the general purpose, rather open PC world and the closed game console world. If the latter encroaches too much on the former, we lose some freedom.