Microsoft and Sony need to keep in mind I've spent a lot of money on media for the older systems; compatibility makes me buy, lack of it makes me look at the other system. So of course I have an original PS3, which is highly compatible with the PS2. I eventually bought a 360, but it was literally years after release (and I'm still pissed it won't run Mechassault... and I *still* have an original XBox hooked up so I can play those games.)
If they don't care about the money I've invested already... then I don't really care about their new hotness. It's really just that simple. It's not like I don't have other things to do, or other choices I can make. My lady and I just had an interesting conversation about all the cool stuff that competes for our attention these days. No big loss if the 720 or ps4 or whatever doesn't get to join the clamor.
By traveling through the lymphatic system, or actually through the flesh, or starting on top of the flesh and only eating until it hits blood vessels, which would be enough to annoy you severely, at the very least. Or by eating the laser, or some essential part of its mechanism.
I own both an AppleTV and a Roku XDS. The Apple has only HDMI output and Ethernet, and will do really annoying things like quit providing Internet Radio within just a few minutes if you turn off the HDMI monitor.
The Roku XDS has HDMI+audio, composite, component, analog audio, digital optical audio and USB ports, along with WiFi and Ethernet connectivity. And it works just fine if you tune in, say, the (totally awesome) 1rockfm* stream, and then turn off the monitor.
The *new* Roku looks more like the AppleTV, it's missing all that glorious connectivity; that lack sent us to EBay recently looking for another Roku XDS.
The very first thing that comes to mind when I hear about new set-top boxes is connectivity. Because what use is one of these if you can't hook up to it? And why should I have to keep my video monitor on in order to listen to an audio stream?
*not associated with 1rockfm other than it's my favorite rock station
you need to convince your local congressmen that the laws of physics need to be repealed
Don't you know that congress never repeals any laws, for any reason? Congress only makes more laws. Now, if you'd like congress to make some NEW laws of physics, I'm sure that with the appropriate donation, they'd be pleased to oblige you.
Imagine a drug company who spends a very large amount of money designing a cure for disease X.
They can't really "hide" the formula; once the pill or whatever is out there, its composition can rather easily be determined, almost no research required.
That means the effort to innovate and the effort to copy are seriously disjoint.
And *that* means that the copy can sell for a lot less than the original; which means the original basically won't sell; which means that the research money was wasted; which means next time, they won't authorize such research and disease Y goes uncured.
So in the end, a trade secret based system will lead to fewer high-end innovations from the private sector.
Now... if we task the government with those expensive kinds of research projects, so that profit isn't the motive... maybe it could work. But we'd need more change than just the patent/copyright system in order to make it practical.
And it's worth pointing out that our government really does a shitty job at just about everything it is tasked with. No profit motive = poor money handling... and it's our money.
We have always known of disrespect for the enemy; it is part and parcel of the mindset that allows most people to kill other people in the face of the knowledge that they are otherwise people just like them, with families, etc. History is rife with reports of disrespect on the battlefield. Spitting, pissing, dismemberment, burial of Muslims in pigskin, burial of Christians with no marker or no blessing, rape of surviving family members, etc., etc., etc.
The fact that these things happen with mind-numbing regularity has never served to prevent anyone from going to war. Religion is insufficient (and in fact serves quite commonly as cause.) Pacifism is plowed under in the face of those comfortable with violence.
What we can say is that the least likely occurrence of war has been when the parties (not) involved are strongly connected by trade, common language, and social patterns, and where the society at hand doesn't busy itself with creating, maintaining, or ignoring a growing underclass of people with less privilege, opportunity, and respect than others.
It's just compiled as c, though -- the library works perfectly under linux, for instance, and isn't developed under xcode or using the ObjC capabilities of gcc. So I think not. The only bridge here is that ObjC knows how to talk to a standard library.
You ever LOOK at the amount of money spent to support "art" in the USA? Current budget for the NEA alone is 154 million dollars. You have any idea how many people that could feed and/or house and/or provide basic medical care and/or meds for?
In any case, if you look back a few posts in this thread, you'll see I did not neglect the military aspect, I was simply responding to someone who felt that the poor needed the arts, or something along those lines.
My feeling is, when you have everyone fed, housed and provided with medical care, then you look at your budget, and if there's room for arts, fine, if not, tough.
Also, there are plenty of sources of orchestral music, plays, etc. that are accessible to the poor. One doesn't have to support a bloody opera-house to see to that.
There's no buzz about C++ because it is well established, but that doesn't mean it isn't getting used. It means the people using it don't feel the need to go on about it.
...and that goes double for C -- can't think of the last time I had a C question I couldn't answer without even cracking a reference or prodding Google. I spend my time being productive with it, not talking about it, except I do tend to say something when the wags around here declare it's dead, etc., lol
...and I don't agree with you. There is nothing about Python 3 that is worth the incompatibility. We're at 2 here and we're staying there. And we write one heck of a lot of Python.
Python had a "Perl 6" experience - von Rossum pushed the language to Python 3, which is only marginally better, no faster, and incompatible. That seems to have hurt the language's market share.
Knowing full well that the plural of anecdote is not data...
I write a lot of Python, it's my preferred scripting language. We use 2.x, looked at 3 when it came out, determined it was thoroughly incompatible and that translation and testing of our existing codebase wasn't practical, and proceeded to ignore it completely, no harm done. Now, one relevant point is that we don't generally use a lot of externally written python -- frameworks, etc -- so we don't have to worry about who is migrating, or not, etc.
What keeps me with Python (aside from familiarity) is the broad functionality available within the basic language distribution itself; the elegance of the language; an appreciation for the indent mechanism (I know others hate it, my point is I like it) and a certain perceived readability that may be the result of a personal quirk more than anything else.
Also... the more I learn about the functionality that is part of the base 2.x distribution, the more comfy I get with the whole thing.
The seemingly random mix of I and we in the above is the result of there being a programming team, but I get to make the key decisions.:)
I'm in the midst of a pretty large image processing project for OS X, and the UI "wrapper", which is minimal, is in ObjC, but everything else is in C, implemented as a library. So we barely code in ObjC at all.
Seems to me that terms like "must" are being thrown around here without any real knowledge of the options available.
Yeah, but maybe if we stopped the "stupid bullshit" like having military bases in a ridiculous fucking number of countries, making war all the time, putting up monuments and public buildings that look like Roman Imperial architecture, blowing public funds on stadia and "art", running huge government agencies that really do very little except retard progress... maybe we could do better on the social safety net front.
Nah, fuck it, let's just elect the same old people and get the same old results.
I'm a martial arts instructor. Inevitably, a time comes when certain types of people ask me to teach them some "quick self defense." What I tell them is that I can pretty much show them all the basics they need to know in a long day; but that without knowing when to use these things, how to use them, what degree of the various implementations to apply, learning to see things coming sooner, hopefully before they create mayhem upon your person... it does very little good.
I see programming as somewhat like that. I can show how to write a conditional loop, maybe teach what a class is, talk about different kinds of variables... but without considerable experience wrapped around those things, not to mention at least some math, some tech savvy, some idea about what hardware actually consists of, and a goodly bit of time, you're not going to be a "programmer" any more than a day under my tender care will turn you into Bruce Lee.
Which is not to say you can't go out and get those things over the long term (by which I do not mean one year, btw). But most people are looking for the easy fix, and they, consequently, are going nowhere.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft and Sony need to keep in mind I've spent a lot of money on media for the older systems; compatibility makes me buy, lack of it makes me look at the other system. So of course I have an original PS3, which is highly compatible with the PS2. I eventually bought a 360, but it was literally years after release (and I'm still pissed it won't run Mechassault... and I *still* have an original XBox hooked up so I can play those games.)
If they don't care about the money I've invested already... then I don't really care about their new hotness. It's really just that simple. It's not like I don't have other things to do, or other choices I can make. My lady and I just had an interesting conversation about all the cool stuff that competes for our attention these days. No big loss if the 720 or ps4 or whatever doesn't get to join the clamor.
WHOOSH!
NO!
By traveling through the lymphatic system, or actually through the flesh, or starting on top of the flesh and only eating until it hits blood vessels, which would be enough to annoy you severely, at the very least. Or by eating the laser, or some essential part of its mechanism.
What are you saying? Prejudice will kill them after we color them purple?
I own both an AppleTV and a Roku XDS. The Apple has only HDMI output and Ethernet, and will do really annoying things like quit providing Internet Radio within just a few minutes if you turn off the HDMI monitor.
The Roku XDS has HDMI+audio, composite, component, analog audio, digital optical audio and USB ports, along with WiFi and Ethernet connectivity. And it works just fine if you tune in, say, the (totally awesome) 1rockfm* stream, and then turn off the monitor.
The *new* Roku looks more like the AppleTV, it's missing all that glorious connectivity; that lack sent us to EBay recently looking for another Roku XDS.
The very first thing that comes to mind when I hear about new set-top boxes is connectivity. Because what use is one of these if you can't hook up to it? And why should I have to keep my video monitor on in order to listen to an audio stream?
*not associated with 1rockfm other than it's my favorite rock station
Don't you know that congress never repeals any laws, for any reason? Congress only makes more laws. Now, if you'd like congress to make some NEW laws of physics, I'm sure that with the appropriate donation, they'd be pleased to oblige you.
Imagine a drug company who spends a very large amount of money designing a cure for disease X.
They can't really "hide" the formula; once the pill or whatever is out there, its composition can rather easily be determined, almost no research required.
That means the effort to innovate and the effort to copy are seriously disjoint.
And *that* means that the copy can sell for a lot less than the original; which means the original basically won't sell; which means that the research money was wasted; which means next time, they won't authorize such research and disease Y goes uncured.
So in the end, a trade secret based system will lead to fewer high-end innovations from the private sector.
Now... if we task the government with those expensive kinds of research projects, so that profit isn't the motive... maybe it could work. But we'd need more change than just the patent/copyright system in order to make it practical.
And it's worth pointing out that our government really does a shitty job at just about everything it is tasked with. No profit motive = poor money handling... and it's our money.
Just FYI
It's "strait of Hormuz", not "straight of Hormuz"
Y'know, not to suggest anything radical or anything, but maybe slashdot should pursue the idea of hiring an editor who can, you know... edit.
Are you suggesting this person is making a living competing against a fractal farming operation?
There's another kind?
You don't even have to do that for many applications -- I regularly run linux and windows in VMs under OSX, no reboot required.
We have always known of disrespect for the enemy; it is part and parcel of the mindset that allows most people to kill other people in the face of the knowledge that they are otherwise people just like them, with families, etc. History is rife with reports of disrespect on the battlefield. Spitting, pissing, dismemberment, burial of Muslims in pigskin, burial of Christians with no marker or no blessing, rape of surviving family members, etc., etc., etc.
The fact that these things happen with mind-numbing regularity has never served to prevent anyone from going to war. Religion is insufficient (and in fact serves quite commonly as cause.) Pacifism is plowed under in the face of those comfortable with violence.
What we can say is that the least likely occurrence of war has been when the parties (not) involved are strongly connected by trade, common language, and social patterns, and where the society at hand doesn't busy itself with creating, maintaining, or ignoring a growing underclass of people with less privilege, opportunity, and respect than others.
It's just compiled as c, though -- the library works perfectly under linux, for instance, and isn't developed under xcode or using the ObjC capabilities of gcc. So I think not. The only bridge here is that ObjC knows how to talk to a standard library.
You ever LOOK at the amount of money spent to support "art" in the USA? Current budget for the NEA alone is 154 million dollars. You have any idea how many people that could feed and/or house and/or provide basic medical care and/or meds for?
In any case, if you look back a few posts in this thread, you'll see I did not neglect the military aspect, I was simply responding to someone who felt that the poor needed the arts, or something along those lines.
So let us squabble. ;o)
My feeling is, when you have everyone fed, housed and provided with medical care, then you look at your budget, and if there's room for arts, fine, if not, tough.
Also, there are plenty of sources of orchestral music, plays, etc. that are accessible to the poor. One doesn't have to support a bloody opera-house to see to that.
Knowing full well that the plural of anecdote is not data...
I write a lot of Python, it's my preferred scripting language. We use 2.x, looked at 3 when it came out, determined it was thoroughly incompatible and that translation and testing of our existing codebase wasn't practical, and proceeded to ignore it completely, no harm done. Now, one relevant point is that we don't generally use a lot of externally written python -- frameworks, etc -- so we don't have to worry about who is migrating, or not, etc.
What keeps me with Python (aside from familiarity) is the broad functionality available within the basic language distribution itself; the elegance of the language; an appreciation for the indent mechanism (I know others hate it, my point is I like it) and a certain perceived readability that may be the result of a personal quirk more than anything else.
Also... the more I learn about the functionality that is part of the base 2.x distribution, the more comfy I get with the whole thing.
The seemingly random mix of I and we in the above is the result of there being a programming team, but I get to make the key decisions. :)
I'm in the midst of a pretty large image processing project for OS X, and the UI "wrapper", which is minimal, is in ObjC, but everything else is in C, implemented as a library. So we barely code in ObjC at all.
Seems to me that terms like "must" are being thrown around here without any real knowledge of the options available.
Yeah, but maybe if we stopped the "stupid bullshit" like having military bases in a ridiculous fucking number of countries, making war all the time, putting up monuments and public buildings that look like Roman Imperial architecture, blowing public funds on stadia and "art", running huge government agencies that really do very little except retard progress... maybe we could do better on the social safety net front.
Nah, fuck it, let's just elect the same old people and get the same old results.
I'm a martial arts instructor. Inevitably, a time comes when certain types of people ask me to teach them some "quick self defense." What I tell them is that I can pretty much show them all the basics they need to know in a long day; but that without knowing when to use these things, how to use them, what degree of the various implementations to apply, learning to see things coming sooner, hopefully before they create mayhem upon your person... it does very little good.
I see programming as somewhat like that. I can show how to write a conditional loop, maybe teach what a class is, talk about different kinds of variables... but without considerable experience wrapped around those things, not to mention at least some math, some tech savvy, some idea about what hardware actually consists of, and a goodly bit of time, you're not going to be a "programmer" any more than a day under my tender care will turn you into Bruce Lee.
Which is not to say you can't go out and get those things over the long term (by which I do not mean one year, btw). But most people are looking for the easy fix, and they, consequently, are going nowhere.
Just an IMHO from a bit of a cynic.
Rejection of the possibility of alien life == lack of basic scientific understanding.
You have absolutely no evidence to back up this assertion; your argument, then, fails utterly.