If you want to install the new Firefox 3.5, you are well advised to remove all traces of previous versions. Otherwise your new install will have bizarre behavior like failing to open up links from websites like digg and being slow.
What I did was to uninstall it through the Windows XP control panel and delete all instances of Mozilla and Firefox in the registry. This is one bit of info developers should have informed us about.
Does anyone know how to use its geo-location feature?
By the way, it does not score 100% on the ACID 3 test and some links are returned as invalid but on clicking the "back" button, the sites load! I am also surprised that Yahoo Search is the engine that reports the error. Why, I do not have an idea. Could it be my ISP?
I certainly hope it does. You see, I have doubts on the viability of whatever Yahoo does. A company that shuts down three services in less than 8 months (Y!Live, Jumpcut and Maven Networks), you begin to wonder whether they know what they are doing.
On my mail account, Yahoo have decided to make it more bloated with Facebook/Twitter like services while requiring money to mark more than 500 addresses as spam addresses. By the way, you cannot redirect mail from a Yahoo account or access it via POP3 without shelling out cash. Insane with the likes of free Gmail out there.
I have also noticed that Yahoo search is capturing any invalid URLs I enter into the Google search page...adding to my agony and dislike of the company. If I want to search, I know where to go. Bottom line, Yahoo do not know what they are doing in my not so humble opinion.
"...Apparently, the data will be free to download and use."
How do these folks break even if the data will be free to download and use? A small nominal charge for use or download would not hurt for sure...or would it?
"...They found that on average, people used the Escape and Delete keys 700 times per week..."
are meaningless unless they (Lenovo) tell us what type of keyboard layout the tested computers had or even what applications people used. By the way, who constituted what they refer to as "people?"
"...To build servers for companies like Facebook, and Amazon, and other people who are operating fairly homogeneous applications, the servers have to be cheap, and they have to be super power-efficient..."
Sounds like ARM processors are being described here. Whether they can deliver is another subject in itself. On this front, I have my doubts on ARM's ability to deliver. That's my bias.
I suggest we first define who a nerd is. Otherwise this being slashdot, we'll end up submitting comments about something that is entirely different depending on who is posting.
My submission: I agree with this definition and hope that all of you use it as a bench mark as you post your comments.
In part: "...derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests..."
Firefox on Windows looks great/awesome/beautiful....name it. But on Linux, it is inherently ugly. The beast looks ancient and the fonts and dialogs make matters worse.
Folks, I am not trolling so have a look for yourselves and compare. There were efforts to "QT-size" it on Linux distros running KDE but that effort has no results I can see though there was something done by Nokia.
In its current status, Firefox needs serious love on Linux. Even my 14 year old sis can see the ugliness that Firefox shows.
In addition to all the features, a nice looking application is always pleasing to work with. Ask Apple or even Windows folks. They will agree.
Or even then...How would a good looking Firefox harm Firefox?
I hope they are promoting slimness with performance. I wonder why today's computing power with 1GHz machines and 1GB memories does not feel snappy at all.
I remember using computers years ago with Windows 95 that were quite fast on systems with 200MHz CPUs and 64Mb RAM modules.
I hope they will not forget performance...maybe the ARM systems will deliver on this.
I know nobody has exact numbers but wish Mr. Jobs well. I wonder how much it cost though. Is the cost of such a procedure high to the extent that it would force an average family into bankruptcy? If bankruptcy is indeed a realistic possibility then I support some sort of government involvement in health care.
Until developers can write apps and be sure that they will behave as he expects when it comes to sound across the vast majority of distros, I am afraid that we in the Linux world will still be playing catch up when it comes to multimedia. Sadly, the article did not show that things are improving in any way!
So much for the so called "freedom of choice"...but what's wrong with choosing a technology and throwing all development efforts behind it?
Those who crave the freedom to do whatever they want can still do precisely that since Linux and most software that makes a distro is open source.
The mere fact that there are folks that "spread FUD" is indicative of a degree of problems when it comes to Linux and sound.
...He concludes that Opera Unite's server is impressive, and that the others come nowhere close to the ease of use...
When I suggested that Apache needed some thing near to easy configuration, I was labeled a troll and requested not to tinker with such a server if I did not know what I was doing. By the way, I know Apache has some configuration GUIs but none comes close to Opera's offer.
In fact, I was castigated for being one of those who crave "point and click" interfaces that are "responsible" for most of the chaos on the internet.
I am happy that I have one fellow who agrees with me. I will not be surprised if Opera's web server snatches market share from the established ones.
What I hear is that "we need an open standard on video that is not controlled by one [proprietary] company."
But when it comes to Linux and where system files are "kept" (read installed), versions and naming conventions for files and all the rest, folks advocate for what is essentially chaos on the Linux platform.
How do they do it? By making lots of noise about choice. Where choice has put us to date is: Being behind on the desktop. We should have a target system configuration and still leave those who want the status quo to pursue their dreams. Folks, we can do better.
So Canada only realizes now that such a service makes sense? No wonder it has slipped from a near the top position in terms of technology penetration to near bottom.
Companies like Nortel Networks, Corel and others are shells of their former glory!
Even 3rd world countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and many others have had such a service for years!
To make matters worse, the service is still riddled with restrictions.
For Silverlight, the only direction it had to go was "up". I mean, it had an almost zero percent installed base. Now if I were Adobe, I would seriously consider open sourcing Flash and all technologies around it. Otherwise Adobe will only continue to lose market share to Silverlight.
I thought Unix has lots of so called "flavors" so which one are they talking about?
In fact, the little piece I link to has this introduction:
Unix is not a single operating system. It has many flavors (aka. variants, types, or implementations). Although based on a core set of Unix commands, different flavors have their own unique commands and features, and designed to work with different types of hardware. No one knows exactly how many Unix flavors are there, but it is safe to say that if including all those that are obscure and obsolete, the number of Unix flavors is at least in the hundreds. You can often tell that an operating system is in the Unix family if it has a name that is a combination of the letters U, I, and X.
Why don't you and your colleagues in the same situation band up and start up a non-profit phone company? This company will not have a shortage of subscribers as the number of people being ripped off by these phone companies is not in short supply.
It reminds me of the town of Wilson that Time Warner refused internet service and they (the town), did something about it.
"He acknowledged two concerns for smartbooks are the lack of native support for Adobe Flash on ARM and the fragmentation of Linux application environments. However, he said solutions to both issues are in the works." Emphasis in bold mine.
And further,
"One of the downsides of Linux is the fragmented nature of it," he said. "That's why so many designers are excited about Google's Android, because it's managed by a single entity," he added."
Now, these are folks doing very serious work with Linux. Many Slashdoters have said the same things only to be branded as trolls. I can see a future for Android if Google continues to do a good job.
What if we in the Linux world could confidently say that an app can be written and be able to run as expected on everything Linux?
If such were to be the case, news such as this would be sweet. Sadly, it's going to be a "mess" to Microsoft's delight.
Sometimes I wonder whether Microsoft is responsible for some of the chaos in the Linux OS community.
Distros that feature...
(a) Different libraries to do the same thing
(b) Different versions of the same software to do similar stuff
(c) Different naming conventions for libraries
(d) Different "homes" for applications and systems files
(e) An over zealous following, some of who make key decisions
(f) Creators that do not appreciate the fact that human beings do not neccessarily want change...even when the change is for their own good...will always be "behind."
Now kudos to the developers for I know writing code that actually does something useful is no easy task.
I have used Linux and Unix systems for over a decade now. What boggles my mind me is why a [Linux/Unix] "encrypted password" stored in/etc/security/passwd cannot easily be "reverse engineered."
If a known algorithm produces the encrypted password, why can't that algorithm be "reversed" to produce the original password in the first place? Algorithms follow a set of logical instructions.
Even in open source systems, encrypted passwords are not easy to crack. Why?
Could a slashdotter post some "simple to understand code" that produces output I cannot reverse engineer?
Slashdot Mirror
If you want to install the new Firefox 3.5, you are well advised to remove all traces of previous versions. Otherwise your new install will have bizarre behavior like failing to open up links from websites like digg and being slow.
What I did was to uninstall it through the Windows XP control panel and delete all instances of Mozilla and Firefox in the registry. This is one bit of info developers should have informed us about.
Does anyone know how to use its geo-location feature?
By the way, it does not score 100% on the ACID 3 test and some links are returned as invalid but on clicking the "back" button, the sites load! I am also surprised that Yahoo Search is the engine that reports the error. Why, I do not have an idea. Could it be my ISP?
I certainly hope it does. You see, I have doubts on the viability of whatever Yahoo does. A company that shuts down three services in less than 8 months (Y!Live, Jumpcut and Maven Networks), you begin to wonder whether they know what they are doing.
On my mail account, Yahoo have decided to make it more bloated with Facebook/Twitter like services while requiring money to mark more than 500 addresses as spam addresses. By the way, you cannot redirect mail from a Yahoo account or access it via POP3 without shelling out cash. Insane with the likes of free Gmail out there.
I have also noticed that Yahoo search is capturing any invalid URLs I enter into the Google search page...adding to my agony and dislike of the company. If I want to search, I know where to go. Bottom line, Yahoo do not know what they are doing in my not so humble opinion.
"...Apparently, the data will be free to download and use."
How do these folks break even if the data will be free to download and use? A small nominal charge for use or download would not hurt for sure...or would it?
...is the ability to employ goto, though it is not allowed to jump into a loop or switch statement. A fatal error is issued in such cases.
Is there anything like this in these United States of America? I will not be surprised if there is none.
Why? Because such a thing would be tantamount to "limiting our freedoms." We do the same thing in the Linux space.
"...They found that on average, people used the Escape and Delete keys 700 times per week..."
are meaningless unless they (Lenovo) tell us what type of keyboard layout the tested computers had or even what applications people used. By the way, who constituted what they refer to as "people?"
"...To build servers for companies like Facebook, and Amazon, and other people who are operating fairly homogeneous applications, the servers have to be cheap, and they have to be super power-efficient..."
Sounds like ARM processors are being described here. Whether they can deliver is another subject in itself. On this front, I have my doubts on ARM's ability to deliver. That's my bias.
I suggest we first define who a nerd is. Otherwise this being slashdot, we'll end up submitting comments about something that is entirely different depending on who is posting.
My submission: I agree with this definition and hope that all of you use it as a bench mark as you post your comments.
In part: "...derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests..."
Thank you.
Firefox on Windows looks great/awesome/beautiful....name it. But on Linux, it is inherently ugly. The beast looks ancient and the fonts and dialogs make matters worse.
Folks, I am not trolling so have a look for yourselves and compare. There were efforts to "QT-size" it on Linux distros running KDE but that effort has no results I can see though there was something done by Nokia.
In its current status, Firefox needs serious love on Linux. Even my 14 year old sis can see the ugliness that Firefox shows.
In addition to all the features, a nice looking application is always pleasing to work with. Ask Apple or even Windows folks. They will agree.
Or even then...How would a good looking Firefox harm Firefox?
I hope they are promoting slimness with performance. I wonder why today's computing power with 1GHz machines and 1GB memories does not feel snappy at all.
I remember using computers years ago with Windows 95 that were quite fast on systems with 200MHz CPUs and 64Mb RAM modules.
I hope they will not forget performance...maybe the ARM systems will deliver on this.
I know nobody has exact numbers but wish Mr. Jobs well. I wonder how much it cost though. Is the cost of such a procedure high to the extent that it would force an average family into bankruptcy? If bankruptcy is indeed a realistic possibility then I support some sort of government involvement in health care.
It amazes me that the company that "promotes" open source uses a proprietary or not fully open method (read Flash), to deliver video. What's going on?
Until developers can write apps and be sure that they will behave as he expects when it comes to sound across the vast majority of distros, I am afraid that we in the Linux world will still be playing catch up when it comes to multimedia. Sadly, the article did not show that things are improving in any way!
So much for the so called "freedom of choice"...but what's wrong with choosing a technology and throwing all development efforts behind it?
Those who crave the freedom to do whatever they want can still do precisely that since Linux and most software that makes a distro is open source.
The mere fact that there are folks that "spread FUD" is indicative of a degree of problems when it comes to Linux and sound.
...He concludes that Opera Unite's server is impressive, and that the others come nowhere close to the ease of use...
When I suggested that Apache needed some thing near to easy configuration, I was labeled a troll and requested not to tinker with such a server if I did not know what I was doing. By the way, I know Apache has some configuration GUIs but none comes close to Opera's offer.
In fact, I was castigated for being one of those who crave "point and click" interfaces that are "responsible" for most of the chaos on the internet.
I am happy that I have one fellow who agrees with me. I will not be surprised if Opera's web server snatches market share from the established ones.
Why is the site you link to in your piece show as 100% black in Firefox 3.0.11?
Disclaimer: I am no web developer.
What I hear is that "we need an open standard on video that is not controlled by one [proprietary] company."
But when it comes to Linux and where system files are "kept" (read installed), versions and naming conventions for files and all the rest, folks advocate for what is essentially chaos on the Linux platform.
How do they do it? By making lots of noise about choice. Where choice has put us to date is: Being behind on the desktop. We should have a target system configuration and still leave those who want the status quo to pursue their dreams. Folks, we can do better.
Question is: Why the double standard?
I do not understand...but since when have problems in Java been Apple's problems?
Seriously, the title talks of problems with Java and then goes ahead to mention that these problems are Apple's problems - absurd!
May be the title should be changed to say something like: -
"...Java exploits a vulnerability on Apple's OSX..."
So Canada only realizes now that such a service makes sense? No wonder it has slipped from a near the top position in terms of technology penetration to near bottom.
Companies like Nortel Networks, Corel and others are shells of their former glory!
Even 3rd world countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and many others have had such a service for years!
To make matters worse, the service is still riddled with restrictions.
Canadians...wake up!
For Silverlight, the only direction it had to go was "up". I mean, it had an almost zero percent installed base. Now if I were Adobe, I would seriously consider open sourcing Flash and all technologies around it. Otherwise Adobe will only continue to lose market share to Silverlight.
I thought Unix has lots of so called "flavors" so which one are they talking about?
In fact, the little piece I link to has this introduction:
Unix is not a single operating system. It has many flavors (aka. variants, types, or implementations). Although based on a core set of Unix commands, different flavors have their own unique commands and features, and designed to work with different types of hardware. No one knows exactly how many Unix flavors are there, but it is safe to say that if including all those that are obscure and obsolete, the number of Unix flavors is at least in the hundreds. You can often tell that an operating system is in the Unix family if it has a name that is a combination of the letters U, I, and X.
So what exactly are these folks talking about?
Californians are in some kind of budget crisis...or are they? I am in Timbuktu if that matters.
Why don't you and your colleagues in the same situation band up and start up a non-profit phone company? This company will not have a shortage of subscribers as the number of people being ripped off by these phone companies is not in short supply.
It reminds me of the town of Wilson that Time Warner refused internet service and they (the town), did something about it.
From one of the linked articles...
"He acknowledged two concerns for smartbooks are the lack of native support for Adobe Flash on ARM and the fragmentation of Linux application environments. However, he said solutions to both issues are in the works." Emphasis in bold mine.
And further,
"One of the downsides of Linux is the fragmented nature of it," he said. "That's why so many designers are excited about Google's Android, because it's managed by a single entity," he added."
Now, these are folks doing very serious work with Linux. Many Slashdoters have said the same things only to be branded as trolls. I can see a future for Android if Google continues to do a good job.
What if we in the Linux world could confidently say that an app can be written and be able to run as expected on everything Linux?
If such were to be the case, news such as this would be sweet. Sadly, it's going to be a "mess" to Microsoft's delight.
Sometimes I wonder whether Microsoft is responsible for some of the chaos in the Linux OS community.
Distros that feature...
(a) Different libraries to do the same thing
(b) Different versions of the same software to do similar stuff
(c) Different naming conventions for libraries
(d) Different "homes" for applications and systems files
(e) An over zealous following, some of who make key decisions
(f) Creators that do not appreciate the fact that human beings do not neccessarily want change...even when the change is for their own good ...will always be "behind."
Now kudos to the developers for I know writing code that actually does something useful is no easy task.
I have used Linux and Unix systems for over a decade now. What boggles my mind me is why a [Linux/Unix] "encrypted password" stored in /etc/security/passwd cannot easily be "reverse engineered."
If a known algorithm produces the encrypted password, why can't that algorithm be "reversed" to produce the original password in the first place? Algorithms follow a set of logical instructions.
Even in open source systems, encrypted passwords are not easy to crack. Why?
Could a slashdotter post some "simple to understand code" that produces output I cannot reverse engineer?