And, aside from the ramifications of accounting rules here and in most other countries trying to stamp out corruption and bribery (below the politician level), at LEAST in some places like country, you just pay a little side money and get things DONE.
Here in the US, some people I know who emigrated from old communist regimes HATE the bullshit and bureaucracy of starting a business here. All the red tape, innumerable neighborhood reviews, stamps and design review just to freakin' move a counter or adjust the toilet (even THO the changes still fit within ADA and special requirements....)
One said, "hell it's easier to get business done under communism than all these fuckin' greedy local, state and federal roadblocks."
Mind you, these are smart, entrepreneurial, savvy people, and they UNDERSTAND the need to have ordinances and zoning rule, but the time and politics (and, sometimes blatant but masked racism--- I know of one Vietnamese coffee shop that had to put up with a LOT of bullshit in a small town when an inspector screwed off a lot of time, costing these people maybe TENS of thousands of dollars they had to pay the contractors just to get back on schedule...)...
Yeh, GOOGLE, just open a subsidiary and let the money stay in China. Page, Brin and gang can just take PTO and eat ice cream in Macau or Hainan or some other place as an unlisted fringe benefit.
Meanwhile, back in CONgress (the opposite of PROgress), politicians stew in jealousy that they can't send their lobbyists and page boys on tax-payer-funded vacations, err, umm, "good will missions"....
We would say "fork your mother", really, in this case... the mother of all GPL... uh, hold that...
IN US: I'm gonnato forkin' fork with you by forkin' gettin' another forkin' version of my forkin MySQL. She will be the MOTHER of all forker's. Watch me FORK you over...
Yeh, FORK you, you...
(Ok, enough FORKin' around and forkin' get back to forkin' work.)
Re:It's not a virus... eet's ahhh... eeet's ahhh
on
First Mac OS X Virus?
·
· Score: 1
TriRus or a VoJan...
Well, then, if the user is careless enough to provide the admin password for one of these "concept gone wild" pieces of code, then at SOME point is no longer is the case of:
"The executable never actually crashes any part of the OS to gain control of the OS and do something that the user doesn't authorize."
It probably won't need to 'crash' the os, but it'll have free reign to run, or worse, free run to reign OVER your system (hmm, think I just coined a cool phrase...).
Who cares that it "doesn't authorize" before hand? Isn't the worm/virus/trojan going to get access?
I think one way to deal with this is to make the OS provide the user or admin the option to "chunkify" the task so that an operation that is wide in scope and deep in penetration has to "hit up against" an execution firewall. Meaning: intense processes could be made to be "stopped" or "interrupted" to help contain SOME of the damage. A process could be divided into, say, 10ths, and the user hast to SIT there. Most of us are sitting there, anyway. If it's a short process, then clicking yes 10 times to some rogue or new app could be disguised by making the OS show some OS-useful/informative admin/user-needed material. If it's a LONG process, then most likely this will slow down the admins and FORCE them to THINK about what they're going to be implementing.
Just some ideas. Don't know if parallels already exist. So, not claiming anything new or novel, except my "free reign to run/free run to reign"
just putting up with windoze's interface at workplaces. I recently contracted with a couple guys who also use Linux at home, but we have (had in my case) to use windoze xp or 2k at work. Two of us just cannot fathom how geeks in windows land put up with the xp/2k windowing interface. It (the stock version) is so limiting and so downright uninspired.
I have been using KDE since 1999 off and on, and then regularly since about mid 2000 up to 10-15 hours a day when my computer is on. I surf in it. I file manage in it. I archive pages via the.war-making archiver.
I LOVE being able to minimize, roll up, and shade KDE when IIIII feel like it. I like being able to Alt-RightDrag a window to resize it. I can't DO those things with windoze or stock windoze. I utter recoiled in fury when in the past ms' bizarre logic told ME I could not resize the canvas to see dialog in the bars and in other places.
KDE might be a memory hog and chew up 50MB per instance, but I sometimes have 7 instances of KDE open and two of them have 3 to 15 tabs running.
I wish book mark management from the menu bar were improved...I have sloppy bookmark management and now my entire desktop is blanketed with folders and bookmarks--mostly folders. It would be nice if it could sense your screen resolution and desktop space and then offer up a "re-org" dialog for dragging and dropping stuff. But, that's an individual user issue, I admit.
I TRIED using Gnome/Nautilus a few times. I used Enlightenment, mainly to show off the cool/snazzy window effects to observers. I used ICEWFM and Blackbox/Fluxbox. Why'd I stop? Well, Kicker and Kasbar are TWO main reasons. I LOVE Kasbar's snapshot/preview. When the preview icon setting is large, it looks KEWL.
Also, I LOVE chewing up RAM with 1 desktops, each virtual desktop cycling thru dozens if not up to 100 different images. I only have 256 MB RAM on a 900 MHz celery processor FIC computer case I built into a home-made machine. It's quiet. Actually, the hard drive is quieter, but I am thinking of putting a spare laptop disk on the connector vice the 5.25 inch disk. The machine is virtually silent with the laptop drive. It's also virtually silent with the Seagate "Barracuda 7200.7 160 Gbytes" disk (it's got some special bearings or fluid mounting system going on in it...)
Yeh, I LOVE KDE, even tho in this Mandriva 2005 LE it blows up and locks up my machine (or, there's some trojan/rootkit I need to hunt down...). Yesterday, it crashed when I killed Firestarter via a button on the title bar vice killing it via the Firestarter menu. Was the first time KDE locked up THAT way for me. Since I don't have a serial connection, I had to reboot. Sometimes when I run Win4Lin, Amarok or KSCD, and have Etherape, Firestarter, and 10 different terminals and KDE sessions going, it's inevitable that I'm thrashing disk and swapping RAM like crazy. Then, BING. KDE goes flashes out like a failed star (minus the gravimetric and light show effects), I see a black desktop, and have NO keyboard response. I definitely should go to Mandriva 2006 (full-distro) AND go to 512 MB or more, but I'm NOT going past 900 MHz unless there is a compelling reason. I don't play games, so so far I don't have such a reason...
Well, what about the various cables in the rats-nest behind the console?
Is it possible that they DVD player connected to the control box that is connected to the other boxes that ultimately are connected to the STB could be "interrogated" via the cable line?
I imagine they CAN right now interrogate and deactivate a huge swath of DVD player, bu they are fearful of the legal ramifications and the consumer blowback if, say 75,000 or 200,000 deactivated DVD players (console as well as computer-hosted) had one thing in common: remote deactivation/kill.
It's just a matter of time before they decide they have to deactivate our refrigerators, toilets and reading lamps.
In time, China WILL get there. But, she'll do it in her OWN time--NOT on the US' timetable. And, why should she?
We have a number of jobless, homeless, uninsured, and others left-outs here in the Good O'le YOO-ESS-of-AYE, yet we can pump up and infuse the hell out of a expeditious "defense" industry that is all too Amoral and comfortable looking the other when when hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax-payer funded weapons end up in the hands of warlords, regimes, cartels, cabals, and other despots who get (politically) hunted down after we've funded and dumped them when the political winds change.
But, I digress. I would recommend for those wanting to read a memoir that takes about 15 hours to read: "Mr. China: A Memoir", by Tim Clissold. He's a UK guy who was among the first to get VC/Investor money into China in the 90's. BIG MONEY, to to tune of half a BILLION. It reads fairly straightforward, is funny, and is devoid of esoteric wall-streeteese. In the end, the book made me feel the West has STILL got a LOT to learn when it comes to trying to wrangle China as if it's a bull to be fenced in. Asians in general, but China in particular, WILL trade with and absorb the best of the west, but they DO have their heritage, culture and other ways which never, ever will be suppressed, striped or otherwise co-opted by western or outside ways.
In due time, many more Chinese will see their standard of living rise. Many won't, either. There are over 1+ billion there, and way too many of them for innumerable reasons won't touch "new stuff", while many will be eager to. Cars are getting there, OIL, plastic, electronics... all a matter of patience and distribution keeping up with (or, trailing but not getting too far apace of) the increase in wages or standard of living.
Besides, the US ought to be careful of what it asks for. If for some reason China aggressively over the next 5 years made a 90% improvement in human rights issues alone, that would by necessity cause a whole lot of other issues to be addressed. Even if China could print and distribute cash and be immune to inflation, the US would eventually suffer. Domestically, China has enough people that she doesn't even NEED the US for trade of every-day goods. I've seen some of the goods. Some are useful, some inferior. Well, inferior if you have big, clumsy hands or you're abusive with fragile products. OTOH, the sink in my apartment has a drain pipe that says "CHINA"; not "MADE IN CHINA", but "CHINA". It's not inferior to my hand or my dishes. It's presence is the choice of the non-Chinese landlord or handyman who installed it before I moved in. It could have said Moen, or Delta or some other brand that OSH or Home Depot might carry, but...
As for the 20% export/trade from China into the US, that's because US-BASED companies (for their boards' benefit) are divesting themselves of labor-related costs and other overhead. If they can send designs to a Chinese CNC company and have goods come back here for 1/3 cheaper, then to them it's a business decision that cannot be ignored. Even if local government is trying to "protect da werkers", certain people in various levels of government WILL and smell cash. Some of that 1/3 savings will grease and lube the machine back home to keep away the heat of politicians.
As for pollution cleanup, the recent fuel spill contaminating the public water supply has gotten attention. Most likely it's due to external observers putting heat on Chinese officials. They know the right thing is to clean it up, punish the slackers who caused or enabled the spill, and that to not reduce or prevent such things will only become a health issue in 10 or 20 years.
If the US politicos are worried about pollution, they should make it domestically illegal for bottled water to be sold at the store level. At least Oakland, CA is the first city in the US to charge convenience stores and fast-food restaurants a "pollution tax" which is only a few cents a day, yet some business operators bitched about it. Well, if yo
Well, what IIII like about China is the often don't FUCK around when it comes to EXECUTING corrupt politicians. They executed a number of them in the 90's when they found them stealing from the public. Sure, it might have been to show the world they would clamp down on accounting irregularities and to punish those (convenient to punish) when caught stealing Western investor's huge cash infusions to China...
But, we need some of that "political assassination" here, NOW. We've been for way too damned long paying excess taxes for fat-assed politicos who get huge retirement benefits, yet can't get off their asses to timely send armor to service personnel fighting/hijacking lands in the ME; veterans are being miscounted as to the extent and effects of their injuries; schools are not getting enough money; the worst bad teachers and police are protected by unions and tenure, and more.
Talk about oPPRESSION. These dumb-assed, self-serving, two-faced politicians think they are doing the right thing? They'll just create a vacuum. Google, Yahoo!, ms and others will just shadow-fund non-US companies and then remain in China under another name, a partnership, or some other (ad)venture.
But, wait! Why stop at ISP and data-mining companies. They haven't yet done much about the (defunct) C-cube, DiviComs and the fiberoptic and data storage companies that in the 90's set up shop not only in Hong Kong, Tokyo and the UK, but in China. Innumerable, but certainly a good 10 of these such companies helped China not only get wider Internet access and VCD inspirations (VCDs sprung up because the Chinese (rightly or not) indignantly re-effing-FUSED to pay (what they consider) extortionist cartel fees to the DVD consortium; later VCDs got so good as to error-correct shitty or scratched-up DVDs. VCDs popped up all over the place in the US, particularly in Asian neighborhoods, but also in neighborhood stores, and since so many (not just Asian) Americans were bootlegging DVDs and ripping VCDs, the price of DVDs couldn't compete with VCDs. The profits suffered and VCDs then--particularly in small, poor, rural areas of China, but also in the US, took off like hot cakes.
But aside from that, the Cicso and Broadcoms DiviComs and others who started ventures in China not only helped China get better diffused/spread out news coverage (and, for those of you who don't KNOW, China has at least TWO sources of news: that for the politicians who don't want to find their names linked to corruption and scandal, and that which is for public consumption), but they ALSO "complied with local law" (in direct contravention to what the current ad-hoc, reactionary cabal in office and congress (the opposite of PROgress) claims to be feeling now) of China and enabled China to tap, filter, redirect, drop, disrupt and otherwise suppress information flow to the masses.
Now, in reality, those companies helped diffuse (as in spread, not just water down) information to a Chinese public that otherwise would have far LESS information (well, until European and Japanese companies filled the void) access.
Telling Google, Yahoo! and ms and the others they can't "be there with critical servers" is dumb-assed, too-little-too-late bullshit. It's posturing and probably going to backfire on them when the time for reelections returns. Those mega $100,000 meal tickets will dry up pretty fast. But, oh, I almost forgot: many CEOs and typical 'merikuns have short memories.
But, China is NOT going to take this sitting down, either. Rhetorically and politically, this is an opportunity to roundly slam the US and give more publicity to US interventions, jailings, and corrupt police, as others here have been pointing out. In the worst case scenario, this could end up in trade sanctions.
But, as for the US exporting only "1%" to China, the reality of it is: TOO BAD. Most US companies are so greedy they' try to sell for $100 to some item they can get domestically for under $1. Besides, $100 is a
New Hire: Ess-skyuuz, me, suh, have you evuh heard of the Imasipayshu Proklumayshu?
CEO (Gruff, fidgeting): ***III*** don't lissun to hip-hop... Now TAKE this job and this green glass capsule and SHOVE it. Here's your AT-RFID chip. Got see the insertion specialist..
New Hire: Hwuss dat? Am I gohn get gayn-green in ma ass?
CEO: No, it's medically and technically certified. It's the wave of the future (and my stocks will grow an ASSload): Ass-Trackin' RearFinder/Intrusion Detection. We can track yo ass day or night......
======== Now, the boss really has a hand in/up your ass. You screw up, your ass really IS glass...
At least now, when someone wands your ass up close, it means what want a piece of your ass, but not the way you think. Sometimes, traditions CAN change...
Having TWO flagship office suites for Linux/FLOSS couldn't hurt. There are PLENTY of IBM customers who are still using SmartSuite, yet, IBM must be interested (it would seem) in not rocking the ms boat, as in not encouraging those customers to dump *doze a little bit more. Or, not encouraging those customers to switch to OO.o, they encourage those customers to stay on SmartSuite, which won't run native on Linux.
Well, I for one PREFER to keep SmartSuite around. SO & OO.o could USE a good number of the features that SmartSuite has had since 1995, particularly the:
-LWP tabbed interface for dealing with multiple/compound/master documents -non-modal, compact Properties Dialog (WHY does OO.o have supersized/larger-than-necessary boxes?) Maybe it could be called "Writer Pro"...
-Approach database interface, which puts to shame the inch-along-by-the-release interface in base, which has taken way too long to arrive. Approach could replace base. Maybe call it "BaseApproach"
If any of the SO/OO.o team actually LOOKED at SmartSuite instead of ignoring the LWP filters and user interface, SO.o and OO.o would probably have TWICE the amount of uptake-- assuming Sun and IBM/Lotus could work together. It's damned annoying to see OO.o forging ahead in oblivion, rejecting award-winning user interface aspects that should NOT be ignored in a nascent (or, potentially nascent) Open Source project.
Since IBM/Lotus are reticent to Open Source the parts of SmartSuite they own, then I am sure that if OO.o were to take on some prized aspects of SmartSuite but the code offered back to IBM/Lotus, then maybe, just MAYbe, IBM/Lotus would try to breathe life back into that product-- and possibly be willing to more publically admit to some interest in springboarding OO.o ahead.
For posters to have SOME modicum of credibility or open-mindedness or regard for proper casing, PLEASE assist them through taking the liberty to make case proper.
If anyone KVETCHES, then pass on their article for another. Anyone who can take the time to submit should take the time to correct proper names, and even SLASH CODE should force or enforce it. (Apparently, it is not one of the words caught, but "america" is red-flagged.
What about these:
africa japan NOT red-flagged russia asia spain germany NOT red-flagged tokyo brazil mexico italy...just to test a few...
would be a UAV taking out a live-piloted plane. Any countries with enough advanced manufacturing, electronics and RC hobbyists could probably (but not very stealthily) train and equip its distant citizenry with "Homeland UAV" kits and flare/decoy launchers that are meant to temporarily disrupt or confuse (but not necessarily prevent) air attacks.
Imagine some farmer in Italy or Vietnam or the Philippines with a home-brew (nationally tested) UAV that only needs to get lucky ONCE. It goes UP, it shoots, and if the missile misses, then it has about 300 rounds with with to dogfight. Or, it could be a variant UAV which is a quasi-proximity-fused bomb that can be brought back home if the missile does its part in taking out a plane.
Yep, the days of piloted strike planes are steadily declining for missions where on-scene visual identification is not of paramount import.
If I had a lot of Vaseline and gasoline (or, the real components), I'd build an RPN-1 (Rocket-Propelled Napalm) and just play tag with those balloons if those were MY fields I had to protect from invaders or unauthorized landings.
Don't need to shoot'em down. Just light their asses up, like Roman candles in the sky. Watch how fast becomes the requirement for escape parachutes and emergency fast-roping at 500 to 50 feet. Increased flame-retardant requirements, better air frame; greater separation between balloon and cargo/stowage/personnel modules; anti-zip-away thrusters...
Alternatively, the less-rich locals in the target site need only set up their fields to go aflame. Smoke will obscure SOME of the landings, and other fields will just be "too hot to handle".
Even more interesting is that DESTROYING the balloons need not be a priority; just riddle, smear, or structurally weaken them to increase the repair and inspection times... make them "untrustworthy for repeat use" and watch the inventory requirements 'go through the fucking roof"; the reserves/spares costs should climb enough to make the balloon project untenable as a stealth strategy component.
Just as a US Marine I used to answer to for a few months used to say, "Where there's a WAY, there's a WILL." as motivation.
It would be impressive to watch a $500, ad-hoc anti-balloon implementation wipe out BILLIONS of dollars of boondoggle dreaming and tax-grabbing. Maybe that money would be diverted to feeding people instead of fragging them. But, nobody's portfolios grow as well from feeding as they do from blasting. This country's foreign policy needs to change from power projection to cooperation. But, as some pundits would say, "NO US presidential candidate runs on the promise to make "America 'Number Two'"...
Just sounds like a RIPE opportunity for anti-LM contractors in many countries to counter farm-hopping balloons with fleschettes and pellet systems, but in the reverse of "Black Sunday". Probably some short wave, tree-top search mode radars in passive mode could watch for these balloons, look for thermals, and then just before landing, flay the balloons. Anything not armor-protected (I assume TOO much armor delays flight, increases gas load to remain aloft...) gets turned to hamburger or warped, fried electronics.
Anyone with worries, just look to pot field managers for inspiration: booby trap your fields. The suppression attacks then presage/forewarn that ballooners are coming... At least you'll get a warning, and maybe destroy the element of surprise.
When are these f*ing humans going to distance themselves from the business of making money on planning FOR war?
When it comes to the nuke bits, there's Nuclear Data, and NoForN (No Foreign Nationals).
But, for Westinghouse to be bought out, they must be running out of steam. Would be a coup and a major event for To-shih-bah to be in control of Westing house. Maybe they ought to retain some aspect of Westinghouse's name after the pending purchase:
Personally, in my line of interests, I am wondering if this is an *at-home-politically-acceptable* way for Japan to get into the nuke boat building business. After spending a few years culling the bets bits of Westinghouse, maybe the shore powerplants could be adapted to fit the diesel boats. Who needs 360-foot or -480-foot boats of SSN-688 or SSN-21 size when the size and existing quietness of the J-diesels and German boats beat ANY nuke when it comes to stealth. B'ides, when the J-Diesels wanted to disappear from SOSUS and aerial detection, they D-I-S-A-P-P-E-A-R-E-D!!!. VANISHED!
Hopefully, tho, unlike with propeller milling machines, no nuke bits disappear. OTOH, maybe sub proliferation could make life interesting for some nascent navies...
But, every time I see bits of news like this, I keep remembering one of the Aliens movies. Who was behind "The Company". Turned out to be Japanese. But, today, some might feel that China will be "The Company", depending on who ends up reigning in the East. Now, imagine Admiral Zheng He's fleet revived, except with stealthy subs and long-ranged surface ships. Personally, though, I am of the mind that China is NOT interested in starting WWIII--it'll take some others, some miscreants with resources to make it appear China is trying to escalate and start WWIII.
No, THEY are nascent, have a LOT of people to feed. Bellicose like the US or any country is when it comes to hegemony, empires and such, but China wants to live through this course in history, not beCOME history. But, between Japan and China and rest of Asia needing oil (and China alone is poised to outstrip world capacity to support her growth, which scares the HELL out of western power mongers), I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years China has an at-sea, bluewater, Toshiba-related navy or (paid-contract/ed) escort force that is tasked with defending merchants from rogue (maybe sour grapes) nations, terrorists and at-sea/bluewater pirates.
"Everything under heaven is in utter chaos;
the situation is perfect."
the nuts. Just leave it on, in search/roam mode, draining itself, in your pocket. Soon, you'll have roasted nuts.
The way my cheap-assed phone is designed, when it goes searching due to a weak or lost signal, it STAYS in that mode, wiping out my battery in 8 HOURS even if I don't talk on it. Somebody ought to WHACK such engineers. I DO have a spare battery, but it should be able to go a whole work day without "Searching" mode killing my battery in zero-talk-time. The damn phone should go into an intermittent pause, say, every 15 minutes, or just go to sleep automatically and if it senses a cell burst, then wake back up.
Until then, I leave the nuts roaster OUTSIDE of my pocket to keep IT sizzling without whacking my wattage..
If your current employer doesn't know it's you (well, "multinational" and the Lotus notes and excel stuff might give you away...), then review your HR policy. If there's no written objection, and if your "flex-time" and telecommuting allow, then see if that startup will allow you to work as an off-site, staff employee. The cut in pay will have no hit, and you'll be able to contribute to Open Source.
But, honestly, with your skills and degree, why keep contributing to the megalomaniac machine, especially where it involves facilitating another little piece of Lotus down. See if you can help Lotus and IBM port Lotus SmartSuite to Open Source. I'd LOVE to be an end user/beta tester. I'm doing in Approach some stuff I'll NEVER be able to do in Open Source as a non-programmer. All IBM & Lotus need to be convinced to do is flip the flags in their asset survey (SURELY IBM surveyed all of Lotus' IP before they bought the company years ago...) and just dump the non-IBM code before uploading the Lotus SmartSuite stuff to a CVS.
Why not try to coordinate between Sun and IBM to merge the best of both suites. Star Office and OO.o DOOOO have a few neat/nifty things but the charting and database stuff is just utterly depressing to my mind given how intuitive and well-designed Approach and Word Pro are.
At the rate IBM and Lotus are going by not contributing SmartSuite code for a thing I loosely call "Open SmartSuite", Open Source is being seriously deprived of something that would so quickly fill a void you'd hear the "KLANG" as SmartSuite assumed it's position and Approach takes more awards (after years of hiatus, languishing in windoze land...). If I knew how to code, I'd probably just give up and go for a combination of Trolltech QT Designer and MySQL for the thing I'm doing. Actually, since my efforts and activities are ultimately (apparently) "going for shit" given the heart-rending absence of SmartSuite in Open Source, I ought to do JUST THIS: take my prototype stuff and present it to TrollTech and MySQL. THAT could be JUST what it takes to light a fire under IBM and Lotus to give ME what I want and need and what millions of others DEFINITELY can use. And, it could be done without harming Open Source. After all, if Open Source is giving ms a run (for it's grip) on the money, then IBM/Lotus can help reinforce what end-user databases and end-user (non-geek) word processors SHOULD look like, and act like.
Approach and Word Pro and Organizer could be JUST what Open Source needs when it comes to quality, thought-out interfaces and functionality.
Rather than slowly build to intense, irreversible bitterness, I think YOUR post has revived my recent consideration to "approach" Trolltech and MySQL. Better to do THAT than to continue stewing and getting no where.
So, keep YOUR day job and consider a real challenge: Assaulting bad end-user database and word processor interface design in the OS community.
Well, I see numerous people reading manuals, novels, albums and whatnot in major book sellers. These people are not being kicked out. Some read, some drink coffee, and some are there to meet with and collaborate on projects with others. Ideally, I suppose, one of these visitors to the store will buy something or cause to show up someone else who will buy something.
But, suppose the book distributors decide to shrink wrap paperbacks the way some CD-content can be found. It suddenly will be hard to read a book. Even if we ignore rampant, illegal or "public-service" copies floating around on the Internet or copied and dropped off in places, people will just tear the wrappers. Those wrappers cost money and at SOME point, to save costs, the distribution system will dispense with the wrappers. Maybe the price of books will come down, just to tease readers into becoming purchasers.
Many books I buy are of a narrow range of topics at times, and then many are impulse purchases. I rarely use an on-line review to influence my purchases. Actually, when I read some of the reviews **after** I have finished a book, the damned review is nothing like the book's contents.
I suppose if AUTHORS use the technology fate has provided them, they could create their own distribution teams and houses and dispense with the existing structure. Of course, the stores will balk since they won't get bulk, cheap copies, and may not have the ability to return unsold materials.
Well, maybe there are TOO many books being displayed. I wonder what markets these books make it into (other than secondary, reduced-price). I wonder if they are shredded, pulpled, and recycled.
I wish FF would list the OS platforms alphabetically or by virtue and nascence. Bigger shouldn't always mean listed FIRST.
But, I hope the Kasbar maintainers extend Kasbar to do this. Is there any plugin for it, anyone?
I'm no programmer, but I imagine it could be something akin to the news tickers. You just feed Kasbar a bunch of your bookmarks or URL history/cache and then have Kasbar periodically pop up the refreshed web page in an Aqua/translucent-like form for a duration the user specifies.
Or, interestingly (possibly) Kasbar-Webar/Kwebar could feed from the screensaver module that takes random URLs from the web.
But, in either case, I hope they make it to Konqueror, Gnome, and the other browsers in *nux land...
I wonder if Kasbar will be adapted to show these thumbnails like they already show the desktop. I like seeing my Lotus SmartSuite appear in a Kasbar thumbnail, especialy a giant/huge thumbnail. Kasbar is nice for showing off.
Well, as a show of the state of my mind, I can't help but say this:
Don't catch any brain illnesses: you don't want to be achurch of the poisoned mind... (for some reason I was thinking of Culture Club when I saw your response....)
(A few more spoonerisms to try out:
A Tale of Two Cities
More Tales of the Cities
Rules and Guides
Take the Shot
Five Hissing Moores
A Sandwich with Turkey Meat
Take a/Your Shower (and if you're male and endowed... you can...)
Slashdot Mirror
And, aside from the ramifications of accounting rules here and in most other countries trying to stamp out corruption and bribery (below the politician level), at LEAST in some places like country, you just pay a little side money and get things DONE.
Here in the US, some people I know who emigrated from old communist regimes HATE the bullshit and bureaucracy of starting a business here. All the red tape, innumerable neighborhood reviews, stamps and design review just to freakin' move a counter or adjust the toilet (even THO the changes still fit within ADA and special requirements....)
One said, "hell it's easier to get business done under communism than all these fuckin' greedy local, state and federal roadblocks."
Mind you, these are smart, entrepreneurial, savvy people, and they UNDERSTAND the need to have ordinances and zoning rule, but the time and politics (and, sometimes blatant but masked racism--- I know of one Vietnamese coffee shop that had to put up with a LOT of bullshit in a small town when an inspector screwed off a lot of time, costing these people maybe TENS of thousands of dollars they had to pay the contractors just to get back on schedule...)...
Yeh, GOOGLE, just open a subsidiary and let the money stay in China. Page, Brin and gang can just take PTO and eat ice cream in Macau or Hainan or some other place as an unlisted fringe benefit.
Meanwhile, back in CONgress (the opposite of PROgress), politicians stew in jealousy that they can't send their lobbyists and page boys on tax-payer-funded vacations, err, umm, "good will missions"....
obligatory in Mother Russia...
We would say "fork your mother", really, in this case... the mother of all GPL... uh, hold that...
IN US:
I'm gonnato forkin' fork with you by forkin' gettin' another forkin' version of my forkin MySQL. She will be the MOTHER of all forker's. Watch me FORK you over...
Yeh, FORK you, you...
(Ok, enough FORKin' around and forkin' get back to forkin' work.)
TriRus or a VoJan...
Well, then, if the user is careless enough to provide the admin password for one of these "concept gone wild" pieces of code, then at SOME point is no longer is the case of:
"The executable never actually crashes any part of the OS to gain control of the OS and do something that the user doesn't authorize."
It probably won't need to 'crash' the os, but it'll have free reign to run, or worse, free run to reign OVER your system (hmm, think I just coined a cool phrase...).
Who cares that it "doesn't authorize" before hand? Isn't the worm/virus/trojan going to get access?
I think one way to deal with this is to make the OS provide the user or admin the option to "chunkify" the task so that an operation that is wide in scope and deep in penetration has to "hit up against" an execution firewall. Meaning: intense processes could be made to be "stopped" or "interrupted" to help contain SOME of the damage. A process could be divided into, say, 10ths, and the user hast to SIT there. Most of us are sitting there, anyway. If it's a short process, then clicking yes 10 times to some rogue or new app could be disguised by making the OS show some OS-useful/informative admin/user-needed material. If it's a LONG process, then most likely this will slow down the admins and FORCE them to THINK about what they're going to be implementing.
Just some ideas. Don't know if parallels already exist. So, not claiming anything new or novel, except my "free reign to run/free run to reign"
just putting up with windoze's interface at workplaces. I recently contracted with a couple guys who also use Linux at home, but we have (had in my case) to use windoze xp or 2k at work. Two of us just cannot fathom how geeks in windows land put up with the xp/2k windowing interface. It (the stock version) is so limiting and so downright uninspired.
.war-making archiver.
I have been using KDE since 1999 off and on, and then regularly since about mid 2000 up to 10-15 hours a day when my computer is on. I surf in it. I file manage in it. I archive pages via the
I LOVE being able to minimize, roll up, and shade KDE when IIIII feel like it. I like being able to Alt-RightDrag a window to resize it. I can't DO those things with windoze or stock windoze. I utter recoiled in fury when in the past ms' bizarre logic told ME I could not resize the canvas to see dialog in the bars and in other places.
KDE might be a memory hog and chew up 50MB per instance, but I sometimes have 7 instances of KDE open and two of them have 3 to 15 tabs running.
I wish book mark management from the menu bar were improved...I have sloppy bookmark management and now my entire desktop is blanketed with folders and bookmarks--mostly folders. It would be nice if it could sense your screen resolution and desktop space and then offer up a "re-org" dialog for dragging and dropping stuff. But, that's an individual user issue, I admit.
I TRIED using Gnome/Nautilus a few times. I used Enlightenment, mainly to show off the cool/snazzy window effects to observers. I used ICEWFM and Blackbox/Fluxbox. Why'd I stop? Well, Kicker and Kasbar are TWO main reasons. I LOVE Kasbar's snapshot/preview. When the preview icon setting is large, it looks KEWL.
Also, I LOVE chewing up RAM with 1 desktops, each virtual desktop cycling thru dozens if not up to 100 different images. I only have 256 MB RAM on a 900 MHz celery processor FIC computer case I built into a home-made machine. It's quiet. Actually, the hard drive is quieter, but I am thinking of putting a spare laptop disk on the connector vice the 5.25 inch disk. The machine is virtually silent with the laptop drive. It's also virtually silent with the Seagate "Barracuda 7200.7 160 Gbytes" disk (it's got some special bearings or fluid mounting system going on in it...)
Yeh, I LOVE KDE, even tho in this Mandriva 2005 LE it blows up and locks up my machine (or, there's some trojan/rootkit I need to hunt down...). Yesterday, it crashed when I killed Firestarter via a button on the title bar vice killing it via the Firestarter menu. Was the first time KDE locked up THAT way for me. Since I don't have a serial connection, I had to reboot. Sometimes when I run Win4Lin, Amarok or KSCD, and have Etherape, Firestarter, and 10 different terminals and KDE sessions going, it's inevitable that I'm thrashing disk and swapping RAM like crazy. Then, BING. KDE goes flashes out like a failed star (minus the gravimetric and light show effects), I see a black desktop, and have NO keyboard response. I definitely should go to Mandriva 2006 (full-distro) AND go to 512 MB or more, but I'm NOT going past 900 MHz unless there is a compelling reason. I don't play games, so so far I don't have such a reason...
For REAL!
Now THAT's a new Phisher Price Toy!
(Image Word: compass; and it seems the phishers found their compass...)
RAM-RAM: RAM's Read-Aversion Memory.
Well, why DOES RAM have to be human-readable?
Isn't it possible to add more RAM to handle the overhead of encrypting regulary RAM?
QUICK AMD! Product Idea: RAM-RAM to the Rescue... Get there before Intel does! (Beat it out like Bam-Bam of the Flintstones: "BAM! BAM! BAM-BAM-BAM!)
And, why can't the RAM-SUSPEND routine do a series of intermittend re-encrypts? The price you pay for rimming the RAM is a RAM-job.
Well, what about the various cables in the rats-nest behind the console?
Is it possible that they DVD player connected to the control box that is connected to the other boxes that ultimately are connected to the STB could be "interrogated" via the cable line?
I imagine they CAN right now interrogate and deactivate a huge swath of DVD player, bu they are fearful of the legal ramifications and the consumer blowback if, say 75,000 or 200,000 deactivated DVD players (console as well as computer-hosted) had one thing in common: remote deactivation/kill.
It's just a matter of time before they decide they have to deactivate our refrigerators, toilets and reading lamps.
Taps. Taps. Lights out. Go to sleep...
In time, China WILL get there. But, she'll do it in her OWN time--NOT on the US' timetable. And, why should she?
We have a number of jobless, homeless, uninsured, and others left-outs here in the Good O'le YOO-ESS-of-AYE, yet we can pump up and infuse the hell out of a expeditious "defense" industry that is all too Amoral and comfortable looking the other when when hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax-payer funded weapons end up in the hands of warlords, regimes, cartels, cabals, and other despots who get (politically) hunted down after we've funded and dumped them when the political winds change.
But, I digress. I would recommend for those wanting to read a memoir that takes about 15 hours to read: "Mr. China: A Memoir", by Tim Clissold. He's a UK guy who was among the first to get VC/Investor money into China in the 90's. BIG MONEY, to to tune of half a BILLION. It reads fairly straightforward, is funny, and is devoid of esoteric wall-streeteese. In the end, the book made me feel the West has STILL got a LOT to learn when it comes to trying to wrangle China as if it's a bull to be fenced in. Asians in general, but China in particular, WILL trade with and absorb the best of the west, but they DO have their heritage, culture and other ways which never, ever will be suppressed, striped or otherwise co-opted by western or outside ways.
In due time, many more Chinese will see their standard of living rise. Many won't, either. There are over 1+ billion there, and way too many of them for innumerable reasons won't touch "new stuff", while many will be eager to. Cars are getting there, OIL, plastic, electronics... all a matter of patience and distribution keeping up with (or, trailing but not getting too far apace of) the increase in wages or standard of living.
Besides, the US ought to be careful of what it asks for. If for some reason China aggressively over the next 5 years made a 90% improvement in human rights issues alone, that would by necessity cause a whole lot of other issues to be addressed. Even if China could print and distribute cash and be immune to inflation, the US would eventually suffer. Domestically, China has enough people that she doesn't even NEED the US for trade of every-day goods. I've seen some of the goods. Some are useful, some inferior. Well, inferior if you have big, clumsy hands or you're abusive with fragile products. OTOH, the sink in my apartment has a drain pipe that says "CHINA"; not "MADE IN CHINA", but "CHINA". It's not inferior to my hand or my dishes. It's presence is the choice of the non-Chinese landlord or handyman who installed it before I moved in. It could have said Moen, or Delta or some other brand that OSH or Home Depot might carry, but...
As for the 20% export/trade from China into the US, that's because US-BASED companies (for their boards' benefit) are divesting themselves of labor-related costs and other overhead. If they can send designs to a Chinese CNC company and have goods come back here for 1/3 cheaper, then to them it's a business decision that cannot be ignored. Even if local government is trying to "protect da werkers", certain people in various levels of government WILL and smell cash. Some of that 1/3 savings will grease and lube the machine back home to keep away the heat of politicians.
As for pollution cleanup, the recent fuel spill contaminating the public water supply has gotten attention. Most likely it's due to external observers putting heat on Chinese officials. They know the right thing is to clean it up, punish the slackers who caused or enabled the spill, and that to not reduce or prevent such things will only become a health issue in 10 or 20 years.
If the US politicos are worried about pollution, they should make it domestically illegal for bottled water to be sold at the store level. At least Oakland, CA is the first city in the US to charge convenience stores and fast-food restaurants a "pollution tax" which is only a few cents a day, yet some business operators bitched about it. Well, if yo
Wow, "Criminals", with a capital "c", heheheh
Well, what IIII like about China is the often don't FUCK around when it comes to EXECUTING corrupt politicians. They executed a number of them in the 90's when they found them stealing from the public. Sure, it might have been to show the world they would clamp down on accounting irregularities and to punish those (convenient to punish) when caught stealing Western investor's huge cash infusions to China...
But, we need some of that "political assassination" here, NOW. We've been for way too damned long paying excess taxes for fat-assed politicos who get huge retirement benefits, yet can't get off their asses to timely send armor to service personnel fighting/hijacking lands in the ME; veterans are being miscounted as to the extent and effects of their injuries; schools are not getting enough money; the worst bad teachers and police are protected by unions and tenure, and more.
Talk about oPPRESSION. These dumb-assed, self-serving, two-faced politicians think they are doing the right thing? They'll just create a vacuum. Google, Yahoo!, ms and others will just shadow-fund non-US companies and then remain in China under another name, a partnership, or some other (ad)venture.
But, wait! Why stop at ISP and data-mining companies. They haven't yet done much about the (defunct) C-cube, DiviComs and the fiberoptic and data storage companies that in the 90's set up shop not only in Hong Kong, Tokyo and the UK, but in China. Innumerable, but certainly a good 10 of these such companies helped China not only get wider Internet access and VCD inspirations (VCDs sprung up because the Chinese (rightly or not) indignantly re-effing-FUSED to pay (what they consider) extortionist cartel fees to the DVD consortium; later VCDs got so good as to error-correct shitty or scratched-up DVDs. VCDs popped up all over the place in the US, particularly in Asian neighborhoods, but also in neighborhood stores, and since so many (not just Asian) Americans were bootlegging DVDs and ripping VCDs, the price of DVDs couldn't compete with VCDs. The profits suffered and VCDs then--particularly in small, poor, rural areas of China, but also in the US, took off like hot cakes.
But aside from that, the Cicso and Broadcoms DiviComs and others who started ventures in China not only helped China get better diffused/spread out news coverage (and, for those of you who don't KNOW, China has at least TWO sources of news: that for the politicians who don't want to find their names linked to corruption and scandal, and that which is for public consumption), but they ALSO "complied with local law" (in direct contravention to what the current ad-hoc, reactionary cabal in office and congress (the opposite of PROgress) claims to be feeling now) of China and enabled China to tap, filter, redirect, drop, disrupt and otherwise suppress information flow to the masses.
Now, in reality, those companies helped diffuse (as in spread, not just water down) information to a Chinese public that otherwise would have far LESS information (well, until European and Japanese companies filled the void) access.
Telling Google, Yahoo! and ms and the others they can't "be there with critical servers" is dumb-assed, too-little-too-late bullshit. It's posturing and probably going to backfire on them when the time for reelections returns. Those mega $100,000 meal tickets will dry up pretty fast. But, oh, I almost forgot: many CEOs and typical 'merikuns have short memories.
But, China is NOT going to take this sitting down, either. Rhetorically and politically, this is an opportunity to roundly slam the US and give more publicity to US interventions, jailings, and corrupt police, as others here have been pointing out. In the worst case scenario, this could end up in trade sanctions.
But, as for the US exporting only "1%" to China, the reality of it is: TOO BAD. Most US companies are so greedy they' try to sell for $100 to some item they can get domestically for under $1. Besides, $100 is a
New Hire: And, the benefits package"?
CEO: *HWhat* benefits paykage?
New Hire: Ess-skyuuz, me, suh, have you evuh heard of the Imasipayshu
Proklumayshu?
CEO (Gruff, fidgeting): ***III*** don't lissun to hip-hop... Now TAKE this job and this green glass capsule and SHOVE it. Here's your AT-RFID chip. Got see the insertion specialist..
New Hire: Hwuss dat? Am I gohn get gayn-green in ma ass?
CEO: No, it's medically and technically certified. It's the wave of the future (and my stocks will grow an ASSload): Ass-Trackin' RearFinder/Intrusion Detection. We can track yo ass day or night......
========
Now, the boss really has a hand in/up your ass. You screw up, your ass really IS glass...
At least now, when someone wands your ass up close, it means what want a piece of your ass, but not the way you think. Sometimes, traditions CAN change...
Oh, how I WISH IBM/LOTUS would see it that way.
Having TWO flagship office suites for Linux/FLOSS couldn't hurt. There are PLENTY of IBM customers who are still using SmartSuite, yet, IBM must be interested (it would seem) in not rocking the ms boat, as in not encouraging those customers to dump *doze a little bit more. Or, not encouraging those customers to switch to OO.o, they encourage those customers to stay on SmartSuite, which won't run native on Linux.
Well, I for one PREFER to keep SmartSuite around. SO & OO.o could USE a good number of the features that SmartSuite has had since 1995, particularly the:
-LWP tabbed interface for dealing with multiple/compound/master documents
-non-modal, compact Properties Dialog (WHY does OO.o have supersized/larger-than-necessary boxes?) Maybe it could be called "Writer Pro"...
-Approach database interface, which puts to shame the inch-along-by-the-release interface in base, which has taken way too long to arrive. Approach could replace base. Maybe call it "BaseApproach"
If any of the SO/OO.o team actually LOOKED at SmartSuite instead of ignoring the LWP filters and user interface, SO.o and OO.o would probably have TWICE the amount of uptake-- assuming Sun and IBM/Lotus could work together. It's damned annoying to see OO.o forging ahead in oblivion, rejecting award-winning user interface aspects that should NOT be ignored in a nascent (or, potentially nascent) Open Source project.
Since IBM/Lotus are reticent to Open Source the parts of SmartSuite they own, then I am sure that if OO.o were to take on some prized aspects of SmartSuite but the code offered back to IBM/Lotus, then maybe, just MAYbe, IBM/Lotus would try to breathe life back into that product-- and possibly be willing to more publically admit to some interest in springboarding OO.o ahead.
"French"/"France", etc...
...just to test a few...
For posters to have SOME modicum of credibility or open-mindedness or regard for proper casing, PLEASE assist them through taking the liberty to make case proper.
If anyone KVETCHES, then pass on their article for another. Anyone who can take the time to submit should take the time to correct proper names, and even SLASH CODE should force or enforce it. (Apparently, it is not one of the words caught, but "america" is red-flagged.
What about these:
africa
japan NOT red-flagged
russia
asia
spain
germany NOT red-flagged
tokyo
brazil
mexico
italy
THANK YOU!
CONgress.... hehhehe
would be a UAV taking out a live-piloted plane. Any countries with enough advanced manufacturing, electronics and RC hobbyists could probably (but not very stealthily) train and equip its distant citizenry with "Homeland UAV" kits and flare/decoy launchers that are meant to temporarily disrupt or confuse (but not necessarily prevent) air attacks.
Imagine some farmer in Italy or Vietnam or the Philippines with a home-brew (nationally tested) UAV that only needs to get lucky ONCE. It goes UP, it shoots, and if the missile misses, then it has about 300 rounds with with to dogfight. Or, it could be a variant UAV which is a quasi-proximity-fused bomb that can be brought back home if the missile does its part in taking out a plane.
Yep, the days of piloted strike planes are steadily declining for missions where on-scene visual identification is not of paramount import.
If I had a lot of Vaseline and gasoline (or, the real components), I'd build an RPN-1 (Rocket-Propelled Napalm) and just play tag with those balloons if those were MY fields I had to protect from invaders or unauthorized landings.
Don't need to shoot'em down. Just light their asses up, like Roman candles in the sky. Watch how fast becomes the requirement for escape parachutes and emergency fast-roping at 500 to 50 feet. Increased flame-retardant requirements, better air frame; greater separation between balloon and cargo/stowage/personnel modules; anti-zip-away thrusters...
Alternatively, the less-rich locals in the target site need only set up their fields to go aflame. Smoke will obscure SOME of the landings, and other fields will just be "too hot to handle".
Even more interesting is that DESTROYING the balloons need not be a priority; just riddle, smear, or structurally weaken them to increase the repair and inspection times... make them "untrustworthy for repeat use" and watch the inventory requirements 'go through the fucking roof"; the reserves/spares costs should climb enough to make the balloon project untenable as a stealth strategy component.
Just as a US Marine I used to answer to for a few months used to say, "Where there's a WAY, there's a WILL." as motivation.
It would be impressive to watch a $500, ad-hoc anti-balloon implementation wipe out BILLIONS of dollars of boondoggle dreaming and tax-grabbing. Maybe that money would be diverted to feeding people instead of fragging them. But, nobody's portfolios grow as well from feeding as they do from blasting. This country's foreign policy needs to change from power projection to cooperation. But, as some pundits would say, "NO US presidential candidate runs on the promise to make "America 'Number Two'"...
Just sounds like a RIPE opportunity for anti-LM contractors in many countries to counter farm-hopping balloons with fleschettes and pellet systems, but in the reverse of "Black Sunday". Probably some short wave, tree-top search mode radars in passive mode could watch for these balloons, look for thermals, and then just before landing, flay the balloons. Anything not armor-protected (I assume TOO much armor delays flight, increases gas load to remain aloft...) gets turned to hamburger or warped, fried electronics.
Anyone with worries, just look to pot field managers for inspiration: booby trap your fields. The suppression attacks then presage/forewarn that ballooners are coming... At least you'll get a warning, and maybe destroy the element of surprise.
When are these f*ing humans going to distance themselves from the business of making money on planning FOR war?
When it comes to the nuke bits, there's Nuclear Data, and NoForN (No Foreign Nationals).
But, for Westinghouse to be bought out, they must be running out of steam. Would be a coup and a major event for To-shih-bah to be in control of Westing house. Maybe they ought to retain some aspect of Westinghouse's name after the pending purchase:
Toshiba-*EASTING*house.
Westinghouse: UNclear steam?
Toshiba: NUclear Steam.
Personally, in my line of interests, I am wondering if this is an *at-home-politically-acceptable* way for Japan to get into the nuke boat building business. After spending a few years culling the bets bits of Westinghouse, maybe the shore powerplants could be adapted to fit the diesel boats. Who needs 360-foot or -480-foot boats of SSN-688 or SSN-21 size when the size and existing quietness of the J-diesels and German boats beat ANY nuke when it comes to stealth. B'ides, when the J-Diesels wanted to disappear from SOSUS and aerial detection, they D-I-S-A-P-P-E-A-R-E-D!!!. VANISHED!
Hopefully, tho, unlike with propeller milling machines, no nuke bits disappear. OTOH, maybe sub proliferation could make life interesting for some nascent navies...
But, every time I see bits of news like this, I keep remembering one of the Aliens movies. Who was behind "The Company". Turned out to be Japanese. But, today, some might feel that China will be "The Company", depending on who ends up reigning in the East. Now, imagine Admiral Zheng He's fleet revived, except with stealthy subs and long-ranged surface ships. Personally, though, I am of the mind that China is NOT interested in starting WWIII--it'll take some others, some miscreants with resources to make it appear China is trying to escalate and start WWIII.
No, THEY are nascent, have a LOT of people to feed. Bellicose like the US or any country is when it comes to hegemony, empires and such, but China wants to live through this course in history, not beCOME history. But, between Japan and China and rest of Asia needing oil (and China alone is poised to outstrip world capacity to support her growth, which scares the HELL out of western power mongers), I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years China has an at-sea, bluewater, Toshiba-related navy or (paid-contract/ed) escort force that is tasked with defending merchants from rogue (maybe sour grapes) nations, terrorists and at-sea/bluewater pirates.
"Everything under heaven is in utter chaos;
the situation is perfect."
is a phrase that comes to mind...
the nuts. Just leave it on, in search/roam mode, draining itself, in your pocket. Soon, you'll have roasted nuts.
The way my cheap-assed phone is designed, when it goes searching due to a weak or lost signal, it STAYS in that mode, wiping out my battery in 8 HOURS even if I don't talk on it. Somebody ought to WHACK such engineers. I DO have a spare battery, but it should be able to go a whole work day without "Searching" mode killing my battery in zero-talk-time. The damn phone should go into an intermittent pause, say, every 15 minutes, or just go to sleep automatically and if it senses a cell burst, then wake back up.
Until then, I leave the nuts roaster OUTSIDE of my pocket to keep IT sizzling without whacking my wattage..
If your current employer doesn't know it's you (well, "multinational" and the Lotus notes and excel stuff might give you away...), then review your HR policy. If there's no written objection, and if your "flex-time" and telecommuting allow, then see if that startup will allow you to work as an off-site, staff employee. The cut in pay will have no hit, and you'll be able to contribute to Open Source.
But, honestly, with your skills and degree, why keep contributing to the megalomaniac machine, especially where it involves facilitating another little piece of Lotus down. See if you can help Lotus and IBM port Lotus SmartSuite to Open Source. I'd LOVE to be an end user/beta tester. I'm doing in Approach some stuff I'll NEVER be able to do in Open Source as a non-programmer. All IBM & Lotus need to be convinced to do is flip the flags in their asset survey (SURELY IBM surveyed all of Lotus' IP before they bought the company years ago...) and just dump the non-IBM code before uploading the Lotus SmartSuite stuff to a CVS.
Why not try to coordinate between Sun and IBM to merge the best of both suites. Star Office and OO.o DOOOO have a few neat/nifty things but the charting and database stuff is just utterly depressing to my mind given how intuitive and well-designed Approach and Word Pro are.
At the rate IBM and Lotus are going by not contributing SmartSuite code for a thing I loosely call "Open SmartSuite", Open Source is being seriously deprived of something that would so quickly fill a void you'd hear the "KLANG" as SmartSuite assumed it's position and Approach takes more awards (after years of hiatus, languishing in windoze land...). If I knew how to code, I'd probably just give up and go for a combination of Trolltech QT Designer and MySQL for the thing I'm doing. Actually, since my efforts and activities are ultimately (apparently) "going for shit" given the heart-rending absence of SmartSuite in Open Source, I ought to do JUST THIS: take my prototype stuff and present it to TrollTech and MySQL. THAT could be JUST what it takes to light a fire under IBM and Lotus to give ME what I want and need and what millions of others DEFINITELY can use. And, it could be done without harming Open Source. After all, if Open Source is giving ms a run (for it's grip) on the money, then IBM/Lotus can help reinforce what end-user databases and end-user (non-geek) word processors SHOULD look like, and act like.
Approach and Word Pro and Organizer could be JUST what Open Source needs when it comes to quality, thought-out interfaces and functionality.
Rather than slowly build to intense, irreversible bitterness, I think YOUR post has revived my recent consideration to "approach" Trolltech and MySQL. Better to do THAT than to continue stewing and getting no where.
So, keep YOUR day job and consider a real challenge: Assaulting bad end-user database and word processor interface design in the OS community.
Well, I see numerous people reading manuals, novels, albums and whatnot in major book sellers. These people are not being kicked out. Some read, some drink coffee, and some are there to meet with and collaborate on projects with others. Ideally, I suppose, one of these visitors to the store will buy something or cause to show up someone else who will buy something.
But, suppose the book distributors decide to shrink wrap paperbacks the way some CD-content can be found. It suddenly will be hard to read a book. Even if we ignore rampant, illegal or "public-service" copies floating around on the Internet or copied and dropped off in places, people will just tear the wrappers. Those wrappers cost money and at SOME point, to save costs, the distribution system will dispense with the wrappers. Maybe the price of books will come down, just to tease readers into becoming purchasers.
Many books I buy are of a narrow range of topics at times, and then many are impulse purchases. I rarely use an on-line review to influence my purchases. Actually, when I read some of the reviews **after** I have finished a book, the damned review is nothing like the book's contents.
I suppose if AUTHORS use the technology fate has provided them, they could create their own distribution teams and houses and dispense with the existing structure. Of course, the stores will balk since they won't get bulk, cheap copies, and may not have the ability to return unsold materials.
Well, maybe there are TOO many books being displayed. I wonder what markets these books make it into (other than secondary, reduced-price). I wonder if they are shredded, pulpled, and recycled.
I wish FF would list the OS platforms alphabetically or by virtue and nascence. Bigger shouldn't always mean listed FIRST.
But, I hope the Kasbar maintainers extend Kasbar to do this. Is there any plugin for it, anyone?
I'm no programmer, but I imagine it could be something akin to the news tickers. You just feed Kasbar a bunch of your bookmarks or URL history/cache and then have Kasbar periodically pop up the refreshed web page in an Aqua/translucent-like form for a duration the user specifies.
Or, interestingly (possibly) Kasbar-Webar/Kwebar could feed from the screensaver module that takes random URLs from the web.
Kasbar Team?
The moz page was as interesting as vegemite, to me. I found the:
T abSidebar/index.html
http://users.blueprintit.co.uk/~dave/web/firefox/
to be more apparent to my eyes.
But, in either case, I hope they make it to Konqueror, Gnome, and the other browsers in *nux land...
I wonder if Kasbar will be adapted to show these thumbnails like they already show the desktop. I like seeing my Lotus SmartSuite appear in a Kasbar thumbnail, especialy a giant/huge thumbnail. Kasbar is nice for showing off.
And, if you speak the words:
1 2398;ろば貸しな{ 73;い、そうです ;ね?
& #38512;茎の医学操 0316;を燃やす
Okama ga oshiri kashite?
what would it say?
When I put in:
"lend me your ass, won't you?"
Babelfish translates it as:
私をあなた&#
When I put it back in and say translate from Japanese to English, babelfish returnss:
"You it is slow, lend me, so the shank?"
I would have a ball watching Kuroshiiya Ichi (bad memory: "Ichi the Killer"... hmmm, maybe "Kurose Ichiya"?
kerosene burns penis medical operation
becomes:
燈油は
but, converted from Japanese back to English, it becomes:
The kerosene burns the medical operation of the penis
I think if it is cut and pasted randomly, some interesting permutations can be had.
Well, I coulnd't resist checking that out, and from Japanese to English, that last sentence becomes:
"If as for me that pasting optionally, it is interesting permutation it is possible to have, you think."
Funny, I saw, "you think." a number of times in a site that GOOGLE translated for me a couple weeks ago...
Now, I wonder what "reverse discrimination" could be had from "reverse-bad-translation"...
(Yeh, Spoonerisms...)
Well, as a show of the state of my mind, I can't help but say this:
Don't catch any brain illnesses: you don't want to be achurch of the poisoned mind... (for some reason I was thinking of Culture Club when I saw your response....)
(A few more spoonerisms to try out:
A Tale of Two Cities
More Tales of the Cities
Rules and Guides
Take the Shot
Five Hissing Moores
A Sandwich with Turkey Meat
Take a/Your Shower (and if you're male and endowed... you can...)
)
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!