Re:shades of AOL Time Warner...
on
Hope For H2G2
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· Score: 1
Indeed, the similarities between H2G2 and Time Warner are uncanny. Likewise the BBC to AOL. Just a few years ago it would have been H2G2 buying the BBC; my, how the tables have turned.
Personally, this is the last straw for me. I'd all but given up on the BBC in any case. I switched my viewing habits to the high-quality "Sky One" channel, and haven't looked back. Say what you will, but you can't question the integrity of Rupert Murdoch, can you?
This sounds like a case of magazine freebie software licensitus to me. Basically, because they're "giving away" the software, they don't want people writing and distributing *any* application without first buying a real copy.
A real license will allow you to distribute whatever to whoever you like, pretty much, without breaching the license agreement.
I won't get into any ethical issues between commercial compilers vs GCC, etc. (the question is more about free-as-in-beer licensing than commercial vs gnu/open source)
I've been an avid reader of Terry Pratchett's for quite some time. I very much enjoyed "The Truth", much more so than the last few titles. I think that this is probably because of the introduction of new characters rather than the dependence on old ones, which have seemed a bit stale in their last few outings.
One of his best works, however, is "Small Gods" - a tale of one boy and his tortoise, which I'd heartily recommend to anyone - especially new readers, since it's a story that relies least upon the knowledge of the rest of the series.
earlier today I bought SuSE 6.3 on DVD due to the fact that I managed to lose SuSE 6.1 Install disks 3 and 4 8)
I've literally just finished installing 6.3. I've yet to reboot. Tapped in my network details and here I am!
Anyway, just to add my 10p: SuSE is great, because it *works*. None of the ole redhat shite (I can't believe poeple put up with redhat. I have to use it at work, and it's dreadful at best. Seriously. Probably worse than that, and I've given it every chance since 4.2 (as in evaluate *every* version since 4.2))
SuSE "works". Promise. Drop in the CD/DVD, install, and it drops into a sensible shell. You don't even need to reboot on the latest version. And to be frank. the installer is precisely 1,023,473,121 times better than the DIRE redhat effort, provided you're not phased by a little german (if you're US citizen, you'll need switch the language to english on the first screen. If you're a moron, stick to windows - it's all you deserve).
Debian's good (providing you don't mind a 2.0.x kernel for a stable distro for the next month or two) as is Slackware (which I'd also recommend without pause but *please* avoid redhat. I can't emphasise this enough. And if you *do* have to install it, *promise* me you'll do a "minimum" and compile the rest from tarballs.
Having said that, I wish redhat very success - some of the stuff they come out with is utterly fantastic - but the distro (generally) is dire. Great ideas, but the implementation sucks.
(I mean that the "further up" the distro chain you go, the better redhat is. Gnome support is great, as are highre level OS functions - it's just lower down the OS that it's piss-poor)
Anyway, sorry about the rant; it probably won't do any good, if not for the fact that SuSE is European (and NIH), and RedHat is US. Which is a shame.
Do yourself a favour - install SuSE: and never look back! 8)
I'm still trying to get my head around your argument... Because a *grep* was slow, you assumed that a well-programmed perl script would be too?
I'm flabberghasted! I've written several indexing systems in perl, and although they might not be as fast as highly optimised assembler (and why not? 8) ), they do the job for hundreds of simultaneous users on relatively low-spec machines (486 DX66/32Mb) without any fuss.
It sounds to me that the biggest bottleneck you have is disk I/O. Of course, you might have written some flashy indexing code, but from what you've described, you haven't. You don't store your indices in memory? You reload and process every directory index every time you make a query? That's bonkers (to say the least)!
I've probably got completely the wrong end of the stick, but the solution you've described to your problem is misguided at best. Let's face it, you don't see many farmers ploughing their fields with a plough hooked up to the back of a porsche!
I installed SuSE 6.1 at the weekend, having run into serious problems with the Redhat 5.2 install I had used prior to that. Basically, I started with a clean slate, and within a couple of hours I'd tailored the system to precisely suit my needs.
To say I'd been grappling with Redhat is an understatement - too many issues to list, and I spent most of my time trying to maintain a semi-stable system rather than anything fun.
SuSE 6.1 was a revelation. YAST is a joy to use, the install procedure very easy, SaX is fantastic for setting up X - it all just *worked*, first time, no tinkering or gotchas! The quality of the documentation is also fabulous.
Basically, I've still got a massive grin on my face, and I'm telling everyone about it! 8)
I installed SuSE 6.1 at the weekend, having run into serious problems with the Redhat 5.2 install I had had prior to that. Basically, I started with a clean slate, and within a couple of hours I'd tailored the system to precisely suit my needs.
To say I'd been grappling with Redhat is an understatement - too many issues to list, and I spent most of my time trying to maintain a semi-stable system rather than anything fun.
YAST is a joy to use, the install procedure very easy, SaX is fantastic, it all just *worked*, first time, no tinkering or gotchas! The quality of the documentation is fabulous.
Basically, I've still got a massive grin on my face! 8)
"So, you've been mentally formulating a way to convert old computer code into new languages, eh? As you've sold your soul to us, you're obliged to tell us what that idea is. Or we'll have to remove your brain and pickle it, until such a time as science can reverse-engineer the idea from the network of synaptic connections that have been created throughout your life's experience."
*sound of trousers being filled*
"OK then, it looks like I'll have to spill the beans.
*gulp*
"My idea is that in order to convert an old computer program to high level code, you have to load it into a program which analyses the code byte by byte, looking for patterns in the code that cross-reference to a 'dictionary', eg. of compiled functions and their higher level code equivalents. To get the code, just substitute the patterns for the functions, et voila! There's your totally portable, high level code."
"Is that your idea?"
"Yes".
"You spent 15 years of your life coming out with an idea like *that*?"
"I'm a slow thinker."
"But it seems to me that your idea is flawed. How can it possibly work? If it were that easy, surely somebody would have created something which already does that?"
"Hey, it's just an idea. I'm sure the technical details will sort themselves out once the implementation has begun. Ideas are merely processes, after all."
"So you haven't got any ideas about how your idea would be technically implemented, so to speak?"
"Weeelll, not yet. I haven't even gotten around to writing this idea on a piece of paper yet, have I? I guess I need to develop my ideas a bit further before I come up with a working implementation. I've heard that the Perl regex engine is pretty powerful, though..."
"Oh great. Fantastic. Got any more bright ideas, sunshine?"
"Well, I do have this idea about turning oranges into gold..."
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed, the similarities between H2G2 and Time Warner are uncanny. Likewise the BBC to AOL. Just a few years ago it would have been H2G2 buying the BBC; my, how the tables have turned.
Personally, this is the last straw for me. I'd all but given up on the BBC in any case. I switched my viewing habits to the high-quality "Sky One" channel, and haven't looked back. Say what you will, but you can't question the integrity of Rupert Murdoch, can you?
I always took that to be a tongue-in-cheek take off of Blade Runner! 8)
Don't forget that the director was Tony Scott, Ridley's brother...
C'mon, Enemy of the State wasn't a bad caper movie, as they go...
Even better, the paper tape speed was limited due to the problem of disintigration at even higher speeds! 8)
This sounds like a case of magazine freebie software licensitus to me. Basically, because they're "giving away" the software, they don't want people writing and distributing *any* application without first buying a real copy.
A real license will allow you to distribute whatever to whoever you like, pretty much, without breaching the license agreement.
I won't get into any ethical issues between commercial compilers vs GCC, etc. (the question is more about free-as-in-beer licensing than commercial vs gnu/open source)
I've been an avid reader of Terry Pratchett's for quite some time. I very much enjoyed "The Truth", much more so than the last few titles. I think that this is probably because of the introduction of new characters rather than the dependence on old ones, which have seemed a bit stale in their last few outings.
One of his best works, however, is "Small Gods" - a tale of one boy and his tortoise, which I'd heartily recommend to anyone - especially new readers, since it's a story that relies least upon the knowledge of the rest of the series.
hey ho
earlier today I bought SuSE 6.3 on DVD due to the fact that I managed to lose SuSE 6.1 Install disks 3 and 4 8)
I've literally just finished installing 6.3. I've yet to reboot. Tapped in my network details and here I am!
Anyway, just to add my 10p: SuSE is great, because it *works*. None of the ole redhat shite (I can't believe poeple put up with redhat. I have to use it at work, and it's dreadful at best. Seriously. Probably worse than that, and I've given it every chance since 4.2 (as in evaluate *every* version since 4.2))
SuSE "works". Promise. Drop in the CD/DVD, install, and it drops into a sensible shell. You don't even need to reboot on the latest version. And to be frank. the installer is precisely 1,023,473,121 times better than the DIRE redhat effort, provided you're not phased by a little german (if you're US citizen, you'll need switch the language to english on the first screen. If you're a moron, stick to windows - it's all you deserve).
Debian's good (providing you don't mind a 2.0.x kernel for a stable distro for the next month or two) as is Slackware (which I'd also recommend without pause but *please* avoid redhat. I can't emphasise this enough. And if you *do* have to install it, *promise* me you'll do a "minimum" and compile the rest from tarballs.
Having said that, I wish redhat very success - some of the stuff they come out with is utterly fantastic - but the distro (generally) is dire. Great ideas, but the implementation sucks.
(I mean that the "further up" the distro chain you go, the better redhat is. Gnome support is great, as are highre level OS functions - it's just lower down the OS that it's piss-poor)
Anyway, sorry about the rant; it probably won't do any good, if not for the fact that SuSE is European (and NIH), and RedHat is US. Which is a shame.
Do yourself a favour - install SuSE: and never look back! 8)
Chrimble
I'm still trying to get my head around your argument... Because a *grep* was slow, you assumed that a well-programmed perl script would be too?
I'm flabberghasted! I've written several indexing systems in perl, and although they might not be as fast as highly optimised assembler (and why not? 8) ), they do the job for hundreds of simultaneous users on relatively low-spec machines (486 DX66/32Mb) without any fuss.
It sounds to me that the biggest bottleneck you have is disk I/O. Of course, you might have written some flashy indexing code, but from what you've described, you haven't. You don't store your indices in memory? You reload and process every directory index every time you make a query? That's bonkers (to say the least)!
I've probably got completely the wrong end of the stick, but the solution you've described to your problem is misguided at best. Let's face it, you don't see many farmers ploughing their fields with a plough hooked up to the back of a porsche!
To say I'd been grappling with Redhat is an understatement - too many issues to list, and I spent most of my time trying to maintain a semi-stable system rather than anything fun.
SuSE 6.1 was a revelation. YAST is a joy to use, the install procedure very easy, SaX is fantastic for setting up X - it all just *worked*, first time, no tinkering or gotchas! The quality of the documentation is also fabulous.
Basically, I've still got a massive grin on my face, and I'm telling everyone about it! 8)
Anyway, I'd better shut up now!
To say I'd been grappling with Redhat is an understatement - too many issues to list, and I spent most of my time trying to maintain a semi-stable system rather than anything fun.
YAST is a joy to use, the install procedure very easy, SaX is fantastic, it all just *worked*, first time, no tinkering or gotchas! The quality of the documentation is fabulous.
Basically, I've still got a massive grin on my face! 8)
that the shockwave presentation implies that the memory stick fits into AIBO's (ahem) "rectal cavity"?
Erm... back to work I guess...
"So, you've been mentally formulating a way to convert old computer code into new languages, eh? As you've sold your soul to us, you're obliged to tell us what that idea is. Or we'll have to remove your brain and pickle it, until such a time as science can reverse-engineer the idea from the network of synaptic connections that have been created throughout your life's experience."
*sound of trousers being filled*
"OK then, it looks like I'll have to spill the beans.
*gulp*
"My idea is that in order to convert an old computer program to high level code, you have to load it into a program which analyses the code byte by byte, looking for patterns in the code that cross-reference to a 'dictionary', eg. of compiled functions and their higher level code equivalents. To get the code, just substitute the patterns for the functions, et voila! There's your totally portable, high level code."
"Is that your idea?"
"Yes".
"You spent 15 years of your life coming out with an idea like *that*?"
"I'm a slow thinker."
"But it seems to me that your idea is flawed. How can it possibly work? If it were that easy, surely somebody would have created something which already does that?"
"Hey, it's just an idea. I'm sure the technical details will sort themselves out once the implementation has begun. Ideas are merely processes, after all."
"So you haven't got any ideas about how your idea would be technically implemented, so to speak?"
"Weeelll, not yet. I haven't even gotten around to writing this idea on a piece of paper yet, have I? I guess I need to develop my ideas a bit further before I come up with a working implementation. I've heard that the Perl regex engine is pretty powerful, though..."
"Oh great. Fantastic. Got any more bright ideas, sunshine?"
"Well, I do have this idea about turning oranges into gold..."