Don't consider devphil a kernel developer - more like an apologist (first ammendment anyone?). What we're discussing is the worth of the PATCH, not of people who defend it (that would be an ad-hominem attack - similar to the FUD spread by SCO and Microsoft).
So please rephrase your statement. Current OS kernels created by Linus: 1 Current OS kernel patches created by Gylfason et. al: 1.
That makes it even. Also remember that Linus just gave BIRTH to the Kernel. Hundreds of other programmers nurtured it and made it what it is now (can the Mozilla project, for example, be said to have been made by only one man?)
So please stop idolatring Linus and saying that his word is inspired by God or something. Remember that when he designed Linux, he was trying to improve an existing OS. Who says that nobody can improve his work? Let them try, if it succeeds, it'll be "A better Linux than Linux", just as Linux was "A better Minix than Minix".
I'm sure that Linus' ideas were revolutionary at his time - but what if he fell short in his design? (GASP! Blasphemy!) Who knows what ideas might have been a huge success had they been implemented in Linux in the first place? (Idea for a poll: If you could go back in time and change something in Linux, what would it be?)
So, at least give the guys from Reykjavík the benefit of the doubt. (Unless of course you want to patent Linux and forbid all innovations on it)
If the Kernel is C++, this means the API calls can ALSO be C++ (with some restrictions, of course). This could mean no more kernel-recompiling for loading modules, no more.so recompiling and ending the.os dependancy hell...
What we're talking about is using a whole new computing paradigm in the very core of an operating system. (it may be not new for apps, but for the kernel... just think about it).
As an OOP'er, I'm frankly excited by the idea.
And no, we're not talking about interpreted runtime languages like C# or java. We're talking about the REAL thing.
C++ means that the code will be easier to maintain, changes will be easier to track, and who knows. Perhaps a boost in the development that might JUST be what Linux needs to defeat Winblows as the next Desktop OS.
It's not about saving data... it's about PARALLEL computing. Just think about it. Currently there are computing clusters which use the internet for their calculations. All that transfer mixed up with SPAM, pop-ups, the occasional 419 SCAM, and tons, tons of downloads from other users.
We're talking about 100% network use for scientific purposes. Like, genome research, perhaps...
That's what the researcher-only networks were about in the first place.
You'll see that some projects are labelled "planning", others "beta", others "stable/production" and finally te ones at stage 6 are called "mature".
Being mature doesn't necessary mean fix it for only a few bugs. It depends on the version. Being mature (IMO) means that the last stable release is feature-complete, nearly bugless (only minor bugs), and used by a large user base (i.e. popular).
The key-terms here are "feature-complete" and "minor bugs".
Feature complete means that all the features that were planned on the project's roadmap are fully implemented.
Bugs can be qualified (as I've seen on bugzilla and other sites) as feature request, minor, annoying, moderately critical, severely critical, and maybe showstopper. Showstopper means that a bug will bring down the binary to a halt.
Stable/production projects aren't allowed to have critical bugs (this would bring WinXP down to the category of "beta-testing":P ).
Taking this into consideration, Linux is "Production/Stable". How long before it's mature... who knows. Maybe (IMHO) more user-friendliness (i.e. idiot-proof) in installation/configuration, and being hardware friendly. *shrugs* ?:-/
But I really hope this day comes so everybody can switch to Linux - including me.
Maybe you don't know this because... perhaps you weren't online at the time.
But I remember having to download 80 friggin' MEGS in my win9x for Internet Explorer _5_.
It was so bloated that i had to use a download manager (or did it have its own download manager? Can't remember well).
Now can you tell me now what's so bloated in Firefox? It just happened to have an excellent framework for a SPECIFIC web application (i.e. the browser). But its framework turned out to be SO GOOD, that you can build OTHER applications with it.
Well, at least it's better than something like "Street Fighter the movie", or "Street Fighter the Movie the Game" or -heaven forbid- "Street Fighter the Movie the Game the Movie".
let me just say that its a damned good thing that your type haven't figured out how to weaponize human relationships.. yet.
Oh, but they have! Well at least the americans. Haven't you ever heard of project "MK ultra"? Let me tell you this. Jim Jones was involved in it. The project was about controlling the mind of people after enough exposure to the controlling agents. A quick search on Google may give you more info.
I think the project also involved drugs, but I'm not sure. What creeps me out is that apparently the US aren't wanting to use this project to control the ENEMY, but their own citizens. (Ironically, most cults tend to believe in conspiracy theories, unaware that they might be part of one as well.)
So, did MK-ultra teach the govt some things? Well, yeah. Just look at 9/11 and how people were blinded by fear into letting Bush invade Iraq. Terrorist threatens, varying information, etc... and the citizens were completely fooled. Summarizing, did MK-ultra help the govt win the war vs Iraq? Yes, it has. You can't win a war you can't start in the first place.
Don't believe me. Just read some literature about destructive cults, like Steve Hassan (cult expert and exit counselor) or M.L. Tobias.
Well for one, I like the Smallville story. They present us a vulnerable, guy with problems like everybody else, who wants to hear about caped princes on their stallions to "fight for justice"? Way outdated. (Not that we don't need an idealist hero in this screwed up time, but we need a REAL one)
But if they make a batman based on "Batman of the Future", yeah cool.:)
Comics are always made by people based on the time's moral standards and public expectations.
Like for example, the wonder woman was so popular in the time where women were seen as inferior. One day the guy decided to take away her powers, and the story sucked. Lotsa women protested against that.
And Flash Gordon. Always rescuing the girl. Because in that time, i don't know about you, but IMHO women just acted stupid and submissive.
Another example? Captain America. It was made in WW2. Everybody wanted to see Hitler smashed by capn's shield. Good ol' times when America was the REAL Iron fist of democracy. Is it a coincidence that the "Golden Age" of comics was from 1938 to 1945, just as the WWII?
So, in those days, superheroes were seen as Role models. "What I want my child to be". But now they're the escape of teenagers who can't find their own place. Look at the latest comic movies. Do they focus on the superpowers, or more on the personal problems and conflicts of the heroes (Spiderman, Daredevil)? And they're a hit.
So yeah, the script guys BETTER give us a good movie adapted to our current times, or we'll smash the reels on their faces.
Windows users want things to be installed as easy as they installed windows (but without the inherent security complications, heh).
As a dummy average Joe-user Windows hobbit, I just want to insert a CD and let it do what it has to do. I'm NOT supposed to know about filesystems, nor the directory structure and how to configure the xf86watchamacallit in case the GUI blows, nor what cryptic combinations of keypresses to do to make the frigging ctrl+shift+numeric keypad arrow work as it SHOULD.
I just want a friendly box which lets me open my apps and play my music without having to mess around and compiling an ALSA XMMS plugin because XMMS takes about a minute to play because some by-default misconfiguration in the KDE.
I want to be able to download a program from the internet, press a few clicks, and get it installed in the appropriate directory without having to enter the command line.
In other words, I want to be able to run my favorite apps, word processor, stylesheet, multimedia apps, without having to know ONE SINGLE DETAIL of how Linux works.
Ok, let's summarize this in two words.
IDIOT-PROOF.
Sure, Linux is much more stable than winblows, it doesn't get viruses, etc. But what use is this rock-solid stability if the user has to go to the command line 10 times per day, become a super-user, and navigate in the creepy branches of the directory tree just to adjust something? (Linux Parody here)
Look at windows. You just open the Control Panel, click on an icon... and adjust a few sliders. Is that too hard?
Yes I know, being a windows lamb is dangerous. But not all people were born to be hax0r leaders. You may know how to download a plugin and install it in your OS, but I betcha the 99.99% of Windows users don't know even how to configure their Windows.
And you want them to open a command line, type./configure, make, make install and a bunch of NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED things that an automatic program SHOULD provide? And what if the compilation breaks something? Do you really expect a common housewife to burst in tears, frustrated just because some stupid misconfigured.h header file got a line (i.e. an application path) wrong?
It's the lack of standarization that makes Linux (i'm not talking of a particular distribution, but Linux as a whole) scary for your average windows hobbit. I mean, can't the Linux guys get together, form some kind of "ecumenic council" as seen in Lord of the Ring movies, and decide a "user-friendliness Linux standard" that all Linux distros should follow? The web guys did it with the W3C Web Content Accesibility Guidelines, what makes people think the Linux guys can't? I don't want to think that they're just lazy about it.
Maybe I'm asking the impossible. But think about this. If Linus Torvalds could make Linux, what makes it so difficult for his successors to agree on some points?
As I said, I (and I bet the 99.9% windows hobbits) just want a nifty idiot-proof Operating System that lets me do what I want.
And if Xandros is offering that to me, what's so wrong with it? (Too bad they want to charge for it, but that's a separate matter).
It's not "hackers". It's "intellectuals".
on
Good Bad Attitude
·
· Score: 1
Intellectuals have always been against totalitarianism.
Just say "Orwell" and the book "1984" comes to mind. Say "Bradbury", and you'll remember "Farenheit 451". The threaten of an all-seeing arm of the law, made not to serve people but to make people servants of the law, has very well been studied. Either for captialism (Farenheit), or communism (1984).
In an era of cybernetics, intellectuals have been forced outside the law. But this is not new. They've already been called witches, communists, anarchists, pirates... hackers - and who knows tomorrow. Always a name-calling for those who threaten the Status quo. And it NEVER fails.
Sure, we all fear embarrassment and prison if somehow a man in black knocks at our door saying we downloaded music. But many times the system doesn't question: "Are we doing the right thing?"
Is it really that the RIAA are protecting the musicians' rights, or is it more that they're protecting their OWN income, leaving musicians in bankruptcy?
I often think of Javert from Les Miserables, when I see the RIAA or MPAA trying to use the Law to enslave the people that the Law was precisely supposed to protect (the citizens).
"It's the Law!!!" Javert says. But WHOSE law, I ask?
Common people (whom I call "hobbits", always ignorant of their approaching doom, isolated in their comfy houses in the Shire) just get scandalized. "oh! Hacker! Oh! Law breaker! Oh, criminal!".
But they don't step to realize. What happens when a law does more harm than good? What happens when citizens are manipulated by a political puppet of the CIA to invade Iraq? What happens when people give away their freedom of choice, to the ones that were supposed to protect this very freedom?
I'm not an anarchist. I like the Law. I LOVE the law (Without law, another law would reign, and it's the law of the strongest).
But we all have to remember, that when the Law isn't protecting the citizens, it must be abolished. If it's not, then the governments are just making a recipe for disaster.
Remember what happened in the French Revolution. Had the government (i.e. the King) given his rights to a democracy, so much blood wouldn't have been shed in the name of "liberty, equality, fraternity".
So very well the RIAA, MPAA, and George Bush should remember these words that the world seems to have forgotten:
Here's a VERY GOOD hint for those of you who are starting to program:
THINK UML. THINK OBJECTS. THINK MULTI-TIER. THINK BOTTOM-UP. USE A NOTEBOOK.
If you start designing on paper the functions/object/interfaces/etc for your program, then start coding. As you begin to code, you'll start realizing that you'll need auxiliary functions (like an array searcher or something - most of the time lazy guys like you or me want to do everything in one function or method. Don't fall in the trap. If a series of steps is going to be very difficult, thing bottom-up and put it in a separate function or method. But before you start coding it, add it to a "to-do" list in your notebook.
That way you can keep coding your current function, by calling the not-yet written function that only exists as a declaration on paper. But the idea is there.
In the end, you'll end up with practically a completed.h header file or UML diagram on paper.
That helps a lot when programming (specially for low-termed memory guys like me). When you're finished designing the code, all you got to do is start typing and see which functions need to be coded, or which details . Why? Because you've already solved the problems in your code.
In one day i could design an OOP SQL wrapper (business tier) for my database project, and i only had to adjust minor details (i.e. bugs) when finished coding.
So, believe it or not, paper SAVES TIME. Trust me.
I live in Mexico. Here you can't get a PHP job without a decent pay. Most of the companies are hiring JAVA programmers. And of those there aren't many around. So what do we have? UNEMPLOYMENT.
So unemployed people end up going to the US because AMERICAN companies start overmarketing their products to other countries.
If the disc has a greater data density, OBVIOUSLY it'll have the better data throughput than bigger hard drives.
Just because it's small. And it's also obvious that it'll require less energy to spin the plates, because they're smaller.
So what's the surprise in here? "Hey, it's faster and requires less power!" DOH, it HAS to be that way. A surprise would be if the disc was bigger but was faster and required less energy.
Evil companies have used sender spoofing to do SPAM. Fortunately, they can't do IP spoofing.
However... file sharers MIGHT be able to do it. What will happen when they start using IP-spoofing methods to transmit copyrighted data? Are the authorities prepared for this?
Slashdot Mirror
Even when the slashdot bug has already been filed for Firefox, it won't be available until Firefox 1.1 (aw crap).
/. won't fix their webpages to a CSS layout? I mean, look at what can be done with CSS! Look ma, no layout!
In other news, Slashdot would REALLY do Firefox users a favor if they implemented things like this (Main page here, article here).
I mean, isn't this what web developers have been saying for AGES? "It's NOT the browser, but the WEB DESIGNER'S FAULT!".
So, can somebody explain to me WHY
Don't consider devphil a kernel developer - more like an apologist (first ammendment anyone?). What we're discussing is the worth of the PATCH, not of people who defend it (that would be an ad-hominem attack - similar to the FUD spread by SCO and Microsoft).
So please rephrase your statement.
Current OS kernels created by Linus: 1
Current OS kernel patches created by Gylfason et. al: 1.
That makes it even. Also remember that Linus just gave BIRTH to the Kernel. Hundreds of other programmers nurtured it and made it what it is now (can the Mozilla project, for example, be said to have been made by only one man?)
So please stop idolatring Linus and saying that his word is inspired by God or something. Remember that when he designed Linux, he was trying to improve an existing OS. Who says that nobody can improve his work? Let them try, if it succeeds, it'll be "A better Linux than Linux", just as Linux was "A better Minix than Minix".
I'm sure that Linus' ideas were revolutionary at his time - but what if he fell short in his design? (GASP! Blasphemy!) Who knows what ideas might have been a huge success had they been implemented in Linux in the first place? (Idea for a poll: If you could go back in time and change something in Linux, what would it be?)
So, at least give the guys from Reykjavík the benefit of the doubt.
(Unless of course you want to patent Linux and forbid all innovations on it)
If the Kernel is C++, this means the API calls can ALSO be C++ (with some restrictions, of course). This could mean no more kernel-recompiling for loading modules, no more .so recompiling and ending the .os dependancy hell...
What we're talking about is using a whole new computing paradigm in the very core of an operating system. (it may be not new for apps, but for the kernel... just think about it).
As an OOP'er, I'm frankly excited by the idea.
And no, we're not talking about interpreted runtime languages like C# or java. We're talking about the REAL thing.
C++ means that the code will be easier to maintain, changes will be easier to track, and who knows. Perhaps a boost in the development that might JUST be what Linux needs to defeat Winblows as the next Desktop OS.
It's not about saving data... it's about PARALLEL computing. Just think about it. Currently there are computing clusters which use the internet for their calculations. All that transfer mixed up with SPAM, pop-ups, the occasional 419 SCAM, and tons, tons of downloads from other users.
We're talking about 100% network use for scientific purposes. Like, genome research, perhaps...
That's what the researcher-only networks were about in the first place.
If they want to dominate the market, they must make it CROSS-PLATFORM.
So far I haven't seen any cross-platform RAD tool. Except Delphi/Kylix, rest in peace.
It WASN'T designed with security in mind. (not to mention php-nuke, heh).
I wonder if the "nuke" in the name already gave us a hint?
You can browse some projects at SourceForge.net.
:P ).
You'll see that some projects are labelled "planning", others "beta", others "stable/production" and finally te ones at stage 6 are called "mature".
Being mature doesn't necessary mean fix it for only a few bugs. It depends on the version. Being mature (IMO) means that the last stable release is feature-complete, nearly bugless (only minor bugs), and used by a large user base (i.e. popular).
The key-terms here are "feature-complete" and "minor bugs".
Feature complete means that all the features that were planned on the project's roadmap are fully implemented.
Bugs can be qualified (as I've seen on bugzilla and other sites) as feature request, minor, annoying, moderately critical, severely critical, and maybe showstopper. Showstopper means that a bug will bring down the binary to a halt.
Stable/production projects aren't allowed to have critical bugs (this would bring WinXP down to the category of "beta-testing"
Taking this into consideration, Linux is "Production/Stable". How long before it's mature... who knows. Maybe (IMHO) more user-friendliness (i.e. idiot-proof) in installation/configuration, and being hardware friendly. *shrugs* ?:-/
But I really hope this day comes so everybody can switch to Linux - including me.
We want to take back the web, not take down Mozilla.org. Unless they want us to direct download so they can use the stats on their favor?
Dilemma: waste bandwidth or get underrated stats? Hmmmmmm.......
Maybe you don't know this because... perhaps you weren't online at the time.
But I remember having to download 80 friggin' MEGS in my win9x for Internet Explorer _5_.
It was so bloated that i had to use a download manager (or did it have its own download manager? Can't remember well).
Now can you tell me now what's so bloated in Firefox? It just happened to have an excellent framework for a SPECIFIC web application (i.e. the browser). But its framework turned out to be SO GOOD, that you can build OTHER applications with it.
How can you call code reuse "bloating"?
Well I don't know about Final Fantasy, but some CG characters (i.e. Silent Hill) looked SO realistic and well-done.
Perhaps the movie would be a real hit if instead of 3D-rendering they used cel-shading for the characters. Akira, anyone?
Well, at least it's better than something like
"Street Fighter the movie", or "Street Fighter the Movie the Game" or -heaven forbid- "Street Fighter the Movie the Game the Movie".
let me just say that its a damned good thing that your type haven't figured out how to weaponize human relationships .. yet.
Oh, but they have! Well at least the americans. Haven't you ever heard of project "MK ultra"?
Let me tell you this. Jim Jones was involved in it. The project was about controlling the mind of people after enough exposure to the controlling agents. A quick search on Google may give you more info.
I think the project also involved drugs, but I'm not sure. What creeps me out is that apparently the US aren't wanting to use this project to control the ENEMY, but their own citizens. (Ironically, most cults tend to believe in conspiracy theories, unaware that they might be part of one as well.)
So, did MK-ultra teach the govt some things? Well, yeah. Just look at 9/11 and how people were blinded by fear into letting Bush invade Iraq. Terrorist threatens, varying information, etc... and the citizens were completely fooled. Summarizing, did MK-ultra help the govt win the war vs Iraq? Yes, it has. You can't win a war you can't start in the first place.
Don't believe me. Just read some literature about destructive cults, like Steve Hassan (cult expert and exit counselor) or M.L. Tobias.
I live in Mexico City, and much of the water comes from water-treatment plants.
:P ).
It's completely pure (problem is, water gets re-contaminated later due to poor transport, leaks, etc - so much for treatment, heh!
So, the question is: "Would you drink water that just came out of a water-treatment plant?"
Of course, what's the big deal? As long as it doesn't contain pathogen agents, it's OK. And that's what water treatment is about, isn't it?
I thought software piracy was due to the high SOFTWARE cost.
$200 for WinXP professional PER PC.
$100 for Microsoft Office, per PC.
Hello????
Scene: Woman tries to start her car at midnight as some vandals are threatening her.
"Hello! Welcome to the Windows automotive helper. Would you like me to?
a) Start the car,
b) Open the doors,
c) Call for help.
a a a!!!
"Hmm... the car doesn't seem to start. Would you like me to?
a) Check the oil
b) Check the gas
c) Check the engine temperature
Ok, go back! Call the police!
"Seems you're in an emergency! Is it?
a) Fire,
b) Car crash
c) Other
c, just hurry!
"Okay, I don't know what happened in this emergency. So i'll open the doors. Have a nice day".
NOOOOOOOOOOO
(Evil assault scene follows)
Ten minutes later...
"Hey, looks like you're hurt. Would you like me to?"
a) Call the paramedics
b) Call the police
c) Call the fire dept.
"**** up you idiot!!"
"Self destructing... have a nice day."
Microsoft has predicted the Victory over Sun over Java in 1997, The death of the password in Feb/2004 (also on CNet), and the Death of SPAM by 2006.
Yeah, the same man who said 640K would be enough for everybody. Let's put him on a pedestal and proclaim him messiah, yay!
Well for one, I like the Smallville story. They present us a vulnerable, guy with problems like everybody else, who wants to hear about caped princes on their stallions to "fight for justice"? Way outdated. (Not that we don't need an idealist hero in this screwed up time, but we need a REAL one)
:)
But if they make a batman based on "Batman of the Future", yeah cool.
I remember reading the history of comics on a TV documentary.
(related history of comics link).
Comics are always made by people based on the time's moral standards and public expectations.
Like for example, the wonder woman was so popular in the time where women were seen as inferior. One day the guy decided to take away her powers, and the story sucked. Lotsa women protested against that.
And Flash Gordon. Always rescuing the girl. Because in that time, i don't know about you, but IMHO women just acted stupid and submissive.
Another example? Captain America. It was made in WW2. Everybody wanted to see Hitler smashed by capn's shield. Good ol' times when America was the REAL Iron fist of democracy. Is it a coincidence that the "Golden Age" of comics was from 1938 to 1945, just as the WWII?
So, in those days, superheroes were seen as Role models. "What I want my child to be". But now they're the escape of teenagers who can't find their own place. Look at the latest comic movies. Do they focus on the superpowers, or more on the personal problems and conflicts of the heroes (Spiderman, Daredevil)? And they're a hit.
So yeah, the script guys BETTER give us a good movie adapted to our current times, or we'll smash the reels on their faces.
Windows users want things to be installed as easy as they installed windows (but without the inherent security complications, heh).
./configure, make, make install and a bunch of NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED things that an automatic program SHOULD provide? And what if the compilation breaks something? Do you really expect a common housewife to burst in tears, frustrated just because some stupid misconfigured .h header file got a line (i.e. an application path) wrong?
;-)
As a dummy average Joe-user Windows hobbit, I just want to insert a CD and let it do what it has to do. I'm NOT supposed to know about filesystems, nor the directory structure and how to configure the xf86watchamacallit in case the GUI blows, nor what cryptic combinations of keypresses to do to make the frigging ctrl+shift+numeric keypad arrow work as it SHOULD.
I just want a friendly box which lets me open my apps and play my music without having to mess around and compiling an ALSA XMMS plugin because XMMS takes about a minute to play because some by-default misconfiguration in the KDE.
I want to be able to download a program from the internet, press a few clicks, and get it installed in the appropriate directory without having to enter the command line.
In other words, I want to be able to run my favorite apps, word processor, stylesheet, multimedia apps, without having to know ONE SINGLE DETAIL of how Linux works.
Ok, let's summarize this in two words.
IDIOT-PROOF.
Sure, Linux is much more stable than winblows, it doesn't get viruses, etc. But what use is this rock-solid stability if the user has to go to the command line 10 times per day, become a super-user, and navigate in the creepy branches of the directory tree just to adjust something? (Linux Parody here)
Look at windows. You just open the Control Panel, click on an icon... and adjust a few sliders. Is that too hard?
Yes I know, being a windows lamb is dangerous. But not all people were born to be hax0r leaders. You may know how to download a plugin and install it in your OS, but I betcha the 99.99% of Windows users don't know even how to configure their Windows.
And you want them to open a command line, type
It's the lack of standarization that makes Linux (i'm not talking of a particular distribution, but Linux as a whole) scary for your average windows hobbit. I mean, can't the Linux guys get together, form some kind of "ecumenic council" as seen in Lord of the Ring movies, and decide a "user-friendliness Linux standard" that all Linux distros should follow? The web guys did it with the W3C Web Content Accesibility Guidelines, what makes people think the Linux guys can't? I don't want to think that they're just lazy about it.
Maybe I'm asking the impossible. But think about this. If Linus Torvalds could make Linux, what makes it so difficult for his successors to agree on some points?
As I said, I (and I bet the 99.9% windows hobbits) just want a nifty idiot-proof Operating System that lets me do what I want.
And if Xandros is offering that to me, what's so wrong with it? (Too bad they want to charge for it, but that's a separate matter).
(Update: I'm looking at the 142 Ubuntu Linux Screenshots and it looks JUST LIKE what I wanted to express.
Hmmm. 146 images are worth a thousand words
Intellectuals have always been against totalitarianism.
Just say "Orwell" and the book "1984" comes to mind. Say "Bradbury", and you'll remember "Farenheit 451". The threaten of an all-seeing arm of the law, made not to serve people but to make people servants of the law, has very well been studied. Either for captialism (Farenheit), or communism (1984).
In an era of cybernetics, intellectuals have been forced outside the law. But this is not new. They've already been called witches, communists, anarchists, pirates... hackers - and who knows tomorrow. Always a name-calling for those who threaten the Status quo. And it NEVER fails.
Sure, we all fear embarrassment and prison if somehow a man in black knocks at our door saying we downloaded music. But many times the system doesn't question: "Are we doing the right thing?"
Is it really that the RIAA are protecting the musicians' rights, or is it more that they're protecting their OWN income, leaving musicians in bankruptcy?
I often think of Javert from Les Miserables, when I see the RIAA or MPAA trying to use the Law to enslave the people that the Law was precisely supposed to protect (the citizens).
"It's the Law!!!" Javert says.
But WHOSE law, I ask?
Common people (whom I call "hobbits", always ignorant of their approaching doom, isolated in their comfy houses in the Shire) just get scandalized. "oh! Hacker! Oh! Law breaker! Oh, criminal!".
But they don't step to realize. What happens when a law does more harm than good? What happens when citizens are manipulated by a political puppet of the CIA to invade Iraq? What happens when people give away their freedom of choice, to the ones that were supposed to protect this very freedom?
I'm not an anarchist. I like the Law. I LOVE the law (Without law, another law would reign, and it's the law of the strongest).
But we all have to remember, that when the Law isn't protecting the citizens, it must be abolished. If it's not, then the governments are just making a recipe for disaster.
Remember what happened in the French Revolution. Had the government (i.e. the King) given his rights to a democracy, so much blood wouldn't have been shed in the name of "liberty, equality, fraternity".
So very well the RIAA, MPAA, and George Bush should remember these words that the world seems to have forgotten:
Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
Here's a VERY GOOD hint for those of you who are starting to program:
.h header file or UML diagram on paper.
THINK UML.
THINK OBJECTS.
THINK MULTI-TIER.
THINK BOTTOM-UP.
USE A NOTEBOOK.
If you start designing on paper the functions/object/interfaces/etc for your program, then start coding. As you begin to code, you'll start realizing that you'll need auxiliary functions (like an array searcher or something - most of the time lazy guys like you or me want to do everything in one function or method. Don't fall in the trap. If a series of steps is going to be very difficult, thing bottom-up and put it in a separate function or method. But before you start coding it, add it to a "to-do" list in your notebook.
That way you can keep coding your current function, by calling the not-yet written function that only exists as a declaration on paper. But the idea is there.
In the end, you'll end up with practically a completed
That helps a lot when programming (specially for low-termed memory guys like me). When you're finished designing the code, all you got to do is start typing and see which functions need to be coded, or which details . Why? Because you've already solved the problems in your code.
In one day i could design an OOP SQL wrapper (business tier) for my database project, and i only had to adjust minor details (i.e. bugs) when finished coding.
So, believe it or not, paper SAVES TIME. Trust me.
Get smart.
Get...
The Nerd channel.
(Ding!)
I live in Mexico. Here you can't get a PHP job without a decent pay.
Most of the companies are hiring JAVA programmers. And of those there aren't many around.
So what do we have? UNEMPLOYMENT.
So unemployed people end up going to the US because AMERICAN companies start overmarketing their products to other countries.
Sounds familiar?
If the disc has a greater data density, OBVIOUSLY it'll have the better data throughput than bigger hard drives.
Just because it's small. And it's also obvious that it'll require less energy to spin the plates, because they're smaller.
So what's the surprise in here? "Hey, it's faster and requires less power!" DOH, it HAS to be that way. A surprise would be if the disc was bigger but was faster and required less energy.
Evil companies have used sender spoofing to do SPAM. Fortunately, they can't do IP spoofing.
However... file sharers MIGHT be able to do it. What will happen when they start using IP-spoofing methods to transmit copyrighted data? Are the authorities prepared for this?
Well i'd rather be a "bandit" than an evil banker.
:p
Really, this namecalling won't get us anywhere. Personally I believe SCO is just another dinosaur headed to extinction - just like the RIAA,MPAA, etc.
I mean, come on. They had their chance. Some guy decided to make his own version of minix, and it rocked. Maybe it's that they're jealous?