Good luck getting the same performance/cost ratio on a Mac...
Thanks, and we do. We can get a 12-core mac pro for around $5000. That's out-of-the box and ready to take the place of one of our other Mac pros. The amount of money we spend on acquiring and backing up the data, the cost of the workstations are miniscule in comparison. Why cheap out with a $500 euro beige-box when we can get a turnkey solution that works with the software we have now?
reporting news outside the comfort of our homes does cost money. I don't like ASCAP because they usually go ape-shit over stuff like how many radios you have in your workplace or the radio station you play as your music on hold.
I do like the idea of a non-profit being a clearinghouse for news reports and media outlets including bloggers can become paying members and as such have access to the late-breaking news first. This can be done without threatening anyone's fair use rights, and allow reporters in the field to continue to have the necessary resources they need.
I'm more worried about some extreme republicans (backed by the Tea Party BTW - I'm looking at you Joe Miller) that has expressed the desire to repeal the 17th amendment to get rid of the direct election of senators. Why try to distract us with your made of crap, when we have actual things to worry about?
I think a lot of Apple devs have been asking for this anyway. I usually stick with the "tried and true" but my colleagues were very vocal about Apple being slow to bring the new features for Java into their JDK.
Now that these people finally got part of what they wanted, let's see if Oracle or more likely OpenJDK steps in and gives them the rest. I personally look forward to helping bring Cocoa to OpenJDK and hope I'm not alone.
How long until the only way to get software on your Mac desktop is via Apple's store and all Mac developers are required to pay a 30% tribute to Apple?
I don't know... when will Skynet take over the internet and prevent me downloading?
But my sample may be skewed because most of the people I know with Macs are trying to get work done with them.
You're just trolling.
Our Macs do a more than satisfactory job at analyzing large amounts of scientific data. For the mundane stuff, most in our office use Office 2008 for the word processing and spreadsheet and Keynote for presentations. Most are looking to upgrade to Office 2010 to regain some macros in Excel.
We don't do any mechanical work, but I've heard that that a new version of Autocad for OS X was just recently announced, and if needed we can run Pro/E within Linux.
Incidentally I use VmWare Fusion to work on some of our server code before I release it to our public hosts. Our OS X desktops work well with our Linux rack mount servers. Though our Mac Pro really crunches the numbers quickly.
Maybe you just need to hang around different people...;)
The key difference between Java on Windows and Java on OS X is that Apple includes Java as part of their OS. It is updated with the rest of their OS.
Of course Apple is slower than Oracle about getting the latest language features out the door, but they are pretty reliable (not perfect) with security updates for the versions already released.
Linux has the same advantage since most people use the package manager to install Java and it's updated as soon as the update reaches the repositories.
Since Java is not part of the Windows update, Oracle relies on their own software updater. Unfortunately, they take the opportunity to use it to push other software which causes most people to disable the updater resulting in all these exploitable machines.
There's a difference between an "open phone OS" and an "open phone".
The OS is open, but the phone is not nor is the Google apps that Google only makes available to the headset manufacturers. Luckily there's been a link to a Google App pkg file that can be downloaded separately from CyanogenMod.
A possible analogy is:
While Linux is an open source operating system, the TiVo that uses it is not.
Yes, because people have proven that having more than one drug store, supermarket, or fast food chain inevitably disorients them and fouls up their lives. Oh, wait.
I have only one Google Marketplace on my phone but the prices are in different world currencies. I have more than one drug store, supermarket, and fast food chain near me most of the time, and they ALWAYS give their prices in my LOCAL currency. Apple's App Store is the same way.
Google's Marketplace needs more work before it can approach the user experience given by Apple's App Store.
The shopkeeper has that right, the customers does not.
Agreed.
The reason ethics is a matter not taken up is that it's quite complex and can't really be appreciated until more time has elapsed to see if any real harm is being done.
Eventually the ethical question comes to "With all the adverse affects that my actions may cause, should I perform them even though it is within my right?"
After further research. It appears that Oracle/Sun latest version of Java addressed these issues for the Windows and Linux platforms. This looks like a case of people not updating their Java JRE.
6. There is nothing legally wrong with trading books online. There may be some social stigma associated with making the books unavailable to actual readers in a local market, but there are no technical reasons for it being wrong. Ethics is another matter.
I think we're in a feedback loop. Let me itemize my position to make it more clear, because I think we are pretty much on the same page:
1. The reason the author feels shameful is because in several instances within the story, he gives examples of the downsides of his chosen profession. (I toned the language down this time)
2. My only concern is that he is poaching the "Friends of the library" sales, and if they don't want to allow electronic devices within the sale then he should abide by their wishes. I think they are more concerned with giving back to their local community while making room for more books. They have no real profit motive.
2.1 (Side note) Some library sales have recently introduced members only days. Where members of their "friends" club have access to the book sale for two days before being available to the public over the weekend. I know my local branch did this to counter the flea market dealers.
3. Private book stores and thrift stores have the right to ask him to leave, yet they shouldn't complain that he is able to make a profit. They can just as easily scan Amazon and price their books accordingly.
4. His actions is raising the price of the books, and diminishing the selection at the local book market. This is more of a generational issue. I see 20 somethings not seeing anything wrong with it, but the 60+ group are frustrated that the books are being sniped out of their reach. In addition they have less disposable income to spend on books (or a computer).
5. #4 above could be easily fixed if the book vendor simply price the books so that the incentive to farm his store is gone, and offer a discount club for senior customers.
Ubuntu has made some progress towards a consumer friendly Linux distribution, but it may not be enough. Truth is Linux is more of a platform OS not a polished user oriented system like Windows or OS X. We can pick and choose what desktop we like (even CLI) and how it will look and operate.
We are a victim of our own success. Linux is designed to be as generic as Unix. It has attracted a lot of computer enthusiasts and professionals each making their own version of Linux. No idea is shot down or ignored. Everybody has a chance to create the next big thing. This generates a lot of noise. The non-computer savvy consumer finds this noise distracting and confusing.
A lot of people (both non-geeks and geeks alike) really like to use an OS that is designed to be user friendly. They crave something that's been designed from the bottom up to be easy for them to use, while being powerful enough to get the job done. This is not Linux. Linux has the power but not the master design, the single vision, or the official "right way" of doing things.
I think we should all admit that we like it this way.
Your previous post focused on the nature of the trade and ended with inferring that the trader was "wrong" and rightfully should be shameful. I inferred from that that you're basically bashing a legal and valid form of trade as "evil". Indeed, you continue to do so and continues to call him an "evil prick".
I guess you didn't read the article. My comment is:
Instead I was referring to the author's own guilty conscience making himself aware that he was an evil prick.
HIS CONSCIENCE was making him aware that he was an evil prick.
Quotes from his article:
On the thrift store end of things, the competition is more phantasmic. At most locations, you see fellow scavengers infrequently, but you can tell when they've been there. I can often "read" the relative disturbance suffered by a body of books from a distance, and based on signs that I'd be hard-pressed to objectify—the intuition of the tracker! Whoever gets to a trove of books first is going to try to take everything that's good, so virginity is paramount. To increase your odds, it's important to maintain a territory. There are certain stores I go to almost every day. This behavior starts a positive feedback loop: If other buyers find little to their liking, they'll show up less frequently, and I'll get even more.
...
If it's possible to make a decent living selling books online, then why does it feel so shameful to do this work?
...
I've had just one confrontation while doing my job, with an elderly man in a suburb. We were in the library's book-sale room when I overheard him telling his friend that the two of them were surrounded by a-------—that is, the people scanning. "It's a business," I said, but I felt all locked up and couldn't bear to turn and say it to his face. "This is a library!" he spat. "You don't work here—you don't work at the library!" He told me that he had 10,000 books in his house, and that he'd read them all.
...
When I work with my scanner and there's someone else shopping near me who wants to read books, I feel that my energy is all wrong—high-pitched, focused narrowly in the present, and jealous. Someone browsing through books does it with a diffuse, forgetful curiosity, a kind of open reckoning that she learned from reading. Good health to you, reader. One day I will be like you again.
In other words, doesn't this basically mean that Oracle is actively planning to screw the pooch with OpenOffice?
More like OpenLibre screwed the pooch with OpenOffice.
How can you openly rebel against your corporate sponsor and then act surprised when that sponsor asks you to leave?
An average person would suspect OpenLibre of generating some propaganda. They ask "See how big and bad that Oracle is? They kicked us out!", yet expect us to forget their previous action "We don't trust Oracle so we are parting ways and renaming the product", and gave everyone the impression that the OpenOffice board changed their name (instead of this being an actual fork).
The plot thickens when their actions are being funded by corporations that actively compete with Oracle or have an agenda against Oracle.
Sometime I wonder how much the FOSS movement is hurt by all the "nerd rage" and egotistical drama that sometimes originate from these projects.
The only problem with your argument is that you keep overlooking an important detail. The main function of the "Friends of the Library" book sale is not to turn a profit. Instead its intent is to make room for more books. Also as the author mentioned, he's been asked to leave on many occasions because the organizations didn't wan't dealers (of any size) to keep books aways from the patrons who would come to purchase said books. After all, these books were purchased with the communities money, and I see nothing wrong with the organization trying to make the market fairer for their non-internet savvy patrons.
Now he can normalize all he wants at used book fairs, books stores, or whatever. But don't try to give a blanket acceptance to his venture when he himself knows he is going against the wishes of the original seller. Which by the way always has a right to refuse to sale (unless of course they were discriminating blah blah blah).
Nice try at the ridiculous notion that I was inferring that intelligence in general was evil. Instead I was referring to the author's own guilty conscience making himself aware that he was an evil prick.
Normalizing would be if the merchant purchased a block of books and made money off of the bargains he found in the lot. Poaching is when the merchant takes advantage of the market and leaves only the less desirable books behind.
Salvage companies in other industries purchase their goods in lots and sort the good ones from the bad ones... There is nothing wrong with a retailer banning other dealers from their premises. It's done all the time, and way before the public had the internet.
The horror was the author knows what he is doing is wrong at some level (he admits it by feeling shameful), yet turns to an audience of like minding individuals to placate his conscience.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks, and we do. We can get a 12-core mac pro for around $5000. That's out-of-the box and ready to take the place of one of our other Mac pros. The amount of money we spend on acquiring and backing up the data, the cost of the workstations are miniscule in comparison. Why cheap out with a $500 euro beige-box when we can get a turnkey solution that works with the software we have now?
Thanks for catching that typo.
reporting news outside the comfort of our homes does cost money. I don't like ASCAP because they usually go ape-shit over stuff like how many radios you have in your workplace or the radio station you play as your music on hold.
I do like the idea of a non-profit being a clearinghouse for news reports and media outlets including bloggers can become paying members and as such have access to the late-breaking news first. This can be done without threatening anyone's fair use rights, and allow reporters in the field to continue to have the necessary resources they need.
I'm more worried about some extreme republicans (backed by the Tea Party BTW - I'm looking at you Joe Miller) that has expressed the desire to repeal the 17th amendment to get rid of the direct election of senators. Why try to distract us with your made of crap, when we have actual things to worry about?
I think a lot of Apple devs have been asking for this anyway. I usually stick with the "tried and true" but my colleagues were very vocal about Apple being slow to bring the new features for Java into their JDK.
Now that these people finally got part of what they wanted, let's see if Oracle or more likely OpenJDK steps in and gives them the rest. I personally look forward to helping bring Cocoa to OpenJDK and hope I'm not alone.
I don't know... when will Skynet take over the internet and prevent me downloading?
You're just trolling.
Our Macs do a more than satisfactory job at analyzing large amounts of scientific data. For the mundane stuff, most in our office use Office 2008 for the word processing and spreadsheet and Keynote for presentations. Most are looking to upgrade to Office 2010 to regain some macros in Excel.
We don't do any mechanical work, but I've heard that that a new version of Autocad for OS X was just recently announced, and if needed we can run Pro/E within Linux.
Incidentally I use VmWare Fusion to work on some of our server code before I release it to our public hosts. Our OS X desktops work well with our Linux rack mount servers. Though our Mac Pro really crunches the numbers quickly.
Maybe you just need to hang around different people... ;)
Citation please.
I know 20 people in my department that hasn't run a windows program on their Mac for over a year.
No I take that back. What I meant was that the software may be open, but that doesn't mean the hardware is (or easily modifiable).
Whoops my bad... Yes you are correct.
The key difference between Java on Windows and Java on OS X is that Apple includes Java as part of their OS. It is updated with the rest of their OS.
Of course Apple is slower than Oracle about getting the latest language features out the door, but they are pretty reliable (not perfect) with security updates for the versions already released.
Linux has the same advantage since most people use the package manager to install Java and it's updated as soon as the update reaches the repositories.
Since Java is not part of the Windows update, Oracle relies on their own software updater. Unfortunately, they take the opportunity to use it to push other software which causes most people to disable the updater resulting in all these exploitable machines.
With a single slashdot post:
There's a difference between an "open phone OS" and an "open phone".
The OS is open, but the phone is not nor is the Google apps that Google only makes available to the headset manufacturers. Luckily there's been a link to a Google App pkg file that can be downloaded separately from CyanogenMod.
A possible analogy is:
While Linux is an open source operating system, the TiVo that uses it is not.
I have only one Google Marketplace on my phone but the prices are in different world currencies. I have more than one drug store, supermarket, and fast food chain near me most of the time, and they ALWAYS give their prices in my LOCAL currency. Apple's App Store is the same way.
Google's Marketplace needs more work before it can approach the user experience given by Apple's App Store.
And how is this different than the Android folks who say the same?
Agreed.
The reason ethics is a matter not taken up is that it's quite complex and can't really be appreciated until more time has elapsed to see if any real harm is being done.
Eventually the ethical question comes to "With all the adverse affects that my actions may cause, should I perform them even though it is within my right?"
After further research. It appears that Oracle/Sun latest version of Java addressed these issues for the Windows and Linux platforms. This looks like a case of people not updating their Java JRE.
CVE-2008-5353 was fixed with Apple's Java Patch #2 on June 15, 2009.
CVE-2009-3867 was fixed with Apples Java for OS X 10.6 Update #1 and Java on 10.5 Patch #6 on December 3, 2009
CVE-2010-0094 was fixed With Apple's Java for OS X 10.6 Update #2 and Java on OS X 10.5 Update #7 on May 18, 2010
The flaw may not be Windows specific, but OS X is not included in your list.
Forgot the last point:
6. There is nothing legally wrong with trading books online. There may be some social stigma associated with making the books unavailable to actual readers in a local market, but there are no technical reasons for it being wrong. Ethics is another matter.
I think we're in a feedback loop. Let me itemize my position to make it more clear, because I think we are pretty much on the same page:
1. The reason the author feels shameful is because in several instances within the story, he gives examples of the downsides of his chosen profession. (I toned the language down this time)
2. My only concern is that he is poaching the "Friends of the library" sales, and if they don't want to allow electronic devices within the sale then he should abide by their wishes. I think they are more concerned with giving back to their local community while making room for more books. They have no real profit motive.
2.1 (Side note) Some library sales have recently introduced members only days. Where members of their "friends" club have access to the book sale for two days before being available to the public over the weekend. I know my local branch did this to counter the flea market dealers.
3. Private book stores and thrift stores have the right to ask him to leave, yet they shouldn't complain that he is able to make a profit. They can just as easily scan Amazon and price their books accordingly.
4. His actions is raising the price of the books, and diminishing the selection at the local book market. This is more of a generational issue. I see 20 somethings not seeing anything wrong with it, but the 60+ group are frustrated that the books are being sniped out of their reach. In addition they have less disposable income to spend on books (or a computer).
5. #4 above could be easily fixed if the book vendor simply price the books so that the incentive to farm his store is gone, and offer a discount club for senior customers.
Yes but not in as entertaining and ignorant way that Fox News does.
Two words: Glen Beck
I don't think so.
Ubuntu has made some progress towards a consumer friendly Linux distribution, but it may not be enough. Truth is Linux is more of a platform OS not a polished user oriented system like Windows or OS X. We can pick and choose what desktop we like (even CLI) and how it will look and operate.
We are a victim of our own success. Linux is designed to be as generic as Unix. It has attracted a lot of computer enthusiasts and professionals each making their own version of Linux. No idea is shot down or ignored. Everybody has a chance to create the next big thing. This generates a lot of noise. The non-computer savvy consumer finds this noise distracting and confusing.
A lot of people (both non-geeks and geeks alike) really like to use an OS that is designed to be user friendly. They crave something that's been designed from the bottom up to be easy for them to use, while being powerful enough to get the job done. This is not Linux. Linux has the power but not the master design, the single vision, or the official "right way" of doing things.
I think we should all admit that we like it this way.
I guess you didn't read the article. My comment is:
HIS CONSCIENCE was making him aware that he was an evil prick.
Quotes from his article:
On the thrift store end of things, the competition is more phantasmic. At most locations, you see fellow scavengers infrequently, but you can tell when they've been there. I can often "read" the relative disturbance suffered by a body of books from a distance, and based on signs that I'd be hard-pressed to objectify—the intuition of the tracker! Whoever gets to a trove of books first is going to try to take everything that's good, so virginity is paramount. To increase your odds, it's important to maintain a territory. There are certain stores I go to almost every day. This behavior starts a positive feedback loop: If other buyers find little to their liking, they'll show up less frequently, and I'll get even more.
...
If it's possible to make a decent living selling books online, then why does it feel so shameful to do this work?
...
I've had just one confrontation while doing my job, with an elderly man in a suburb. We were in the library's book-sale room when I overheard him telling his friend that the two of them were surrounded by a-------—that is, the people scanning. "It's a business," I said, but I felt all locked up and couldn't bear to turn and say it to his face. "This is a library!" he spat. "You don't work here—you don't work at the library!" He told me that he had 10,000 books in his house, and that he'd read them all.
...
When I work with my scanner and there's someone else shopping near me who wants to read books, I feel that my energy is all wrong—high-pitched, focused narrowly in the present, and jealous. Someone browsing through books does it with a diffuse, forgetful curiosity, a kind of open reckoning that she learned from reading. Good health to you, reader. One day I will be like you again.
More like OpenLibre screwed the pooch with OpenOffice.
How can you openly rebel against your corporate sponsor and then act surprised when that sponsor asks you to leave?
An average person would suspect OpenLibre of generating some propaganda. They ask "See how big and bad that Oracle is? They kicked us out!", yet expect us to forget their previous action "We don't trust Oracle so we are parting ways and renaming the product", and gave everyone the impression that the OpenOffice board changed their name (instead of this being an actual fork).
The plot thickens when their actions are being funded by corporations that actively compete with Oracle or have an agenda against Oracle.
Sometime I wonder how much the FOSS movement is hurt by all the "nerd rage" and egotistical drama that sometimes originate from these projects.
Now he can normalize all he wants at used book fairs, books stores, or whatever. But don't try to give a blanket acceptance to his venture when he himself knows he is going against the wishes of the original seller. Which by the way always has a right to refuse to sale (unless of course they were discriminating blah blah blah).
Nice try at the ridiculous notion that I was inferring that intelligence in general was evil. Instead I was referring to the author's own guilty conscience making himself aware that he was an evil prick.
Normalizing would be if the merchant purchased a block of books and made money off of the bargains he found in the lot. Poaching is when the merchant takes advantage of the market and leaves only the less desirable books behind.
Salvage companies in other industries purchase their goods in lots and sort the good ones from the bad ones... There is nothing wrong with a retailer banning other dealers from their premises. It's done all the time, and way before the public had the internet.
The horror was the author knows what he is doing is wrong at some level (he admits it by feeling shameful), yet turns to an audience of like minding individuals to placate his conscience.