Here in Mexico City criminals work inside prison. They get smuggled cellphones and do their threaten calls/intelligence operations. Safetey measures such as jamming cellphone signals inside prison have been proposed - unfortunately their implementation is at the local (corrupt) government's will.
I'm glad I can bring this out now that you give me the chance.
A pseudonym like the ones that Slashdot gives us are an alter ego, a persona which we build our reputation upon (that's what karma points are for). Subscribers can see the WHOLE HISTORY of a user's comments, you can see how the user thinks, what bothers him/her, etc., and know him a lot. And yes, make one mistake and all that reputation goes down the drain (like mine did a few months ago).
So, no, a pseudonym is NOT equivalent to being anonymous. Without pseudonyms we couldn't communicate and exchange ideas.
So, when I speak, I speak for myself. And fellow users, even if they don't know my real identity, know who I am by what I write.
This is something that I still don't get: Why do businesses require all printable documents to be written in a WRITABLE format? Oh, right. Word doesn't have one by default. Why Innovate when you got 100% of the market?
Re:Translation: This is what he is trying to say.
on
Roland Piquepaille Dies
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Perhaps that was right, but Roland has earned a place in the slashdot community.
I had a good time tagging all of Roland's articles as "ohnoitsroland". It made my days more bearable, and everytime I saw his stories tagged already, I chuckled.
Roland was a traditional part of Slashdot (for good or bad), and even if only in the form of a meme, I will miss him.
You're correct that the vast majority of improvements in the Linux kernel - when taken by themselves - are unlikely to change anything for any specific end user. These become significant when you add them all together.
You're right. The problem is that there are still many hurdles for end-users to adopt GNU/Linux.
As an example: * Easy virtualization with DirectX support. Kinda fixed with Virtualbox 2.1 (supports experimental OpenGL, but still no cigar) * Ugly fonts. Fixed whenever all distros install the Liberation fonts by default. * I want to receive and send animated MSN smileys! (Don' know about AMSN, but it kept crashing on me the last time - and pidgin doesn't support saving animated smileys yet) * Games, games and more games. (When will Wine support 100% Windows apps?) * Support for all video card vendors. Sigh. * Support for all network card vendors. Sigh. * Support for all webcam vendors. Sigh. * Support for all other hardware vendors. Sigh. * Partitioning setup problems, unexplained hangs while booting/shutting down, WTF? (Blame the distros) * And while some particular kernel/software feature is already available, it usually takes a few months before it's available on the user's distro's repository. And trust me, the user does NOT want to get into command line to compile the latest version of his favorite software. I simply got tired of hunting for dependencies. Even as a GNU/Linux supporter, I've had enough.
I believe that there'll come a time when all the above features become "good enough" that a great majority of users will be satisfied with that. Then GNU/Linux adoption will reach the critical mass we're all expecting.
I don't buy that it's not ready for Joe Sixpack. It's been ready for years now.
It wasn't ready for me 3 years ago. The most painful part of it was the installation... the repartitioning and GRUB errors nightmares...
Let me tell you what factors helped Linux gain market acceptance (at least for me):
1) Free Virtualization with Virtualbox. Why would you need to pay EXTRA money to run your ALREADY PAID operating system inside a free one?
2) Post-Ubuntu Linux distros, made to "Just work" (in no particular order): Mepis, PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint (but then again, maybe Linux has been improving over time). Particularly, PCLinuxOS cured my Linux-phobia. Finally I got a Linux distro that gave me internet access even before installation.
3) The latest kernel advancements, supporting modern webcams, USB devices, etc. Of course, this didn't help if your distro still uses an outdated 2.6.1x kernel.
4) Windows Vista's flops.
5) Wine 1.0. At first I didn't believe it, but after the guys at Wine released 1.0, I've seen a lot of improvements in Wine.
Now, the things that STILL keep Linux from gaining a wide acceptance:
a) Proprietary Driver (nVidia, I'm looking at you) problems, laptop hardware. I know, it's not the Linux devs' fault, but unless I don't need to download, untar, configure, make, sudo make install additional software to enable the damn xyz hardware on my Linux, I doubt Joe Sixpack will accept to install Linux on his machine.
b) Dependency hell. Or should I say version hell? We all know how this much hurts, but it hurts even more when a software you want to install needs newer libraries than the ones available in the repos (Ubuntu, I'm looking at you). The *ONLY* way to do this is to download the libraries and start hunting for sub-libraries to compile the latest QT so you can finally get to test the latest Virtualbox. Or how about the latest graphical libraries so I can finally get the latest GIMP to work? This is a F****NG NIGHTMARE.
I know the Linux gurus around here can say it's a piece of cake, but Joe Sixpack has neither the intelligence nor the persistence to hunt down package versions.
c) Developers' arrogance. Remember the latest Pidgin scandal? Or how about the GIMP developers' reaction to Gimpshop, or their stubbornness to keep multiple window interfaces even when we all know they SUCK? (This was kinda fixed in the latest gimp, but then again, read point b). What worries me the most is that some developers STILL DON'T GET IT. The Gimp developer said (forgot when, sorry) that Gimp was never meant to replace Photoshop. Then why the hell are Linux fanbois still telling people to ditch Photoshop for Gimp? That leads me to the next pont.
d) Adobe's products. I could swear there's some hidden back-scratching between Microsoft and Adobe. Their products complement each other's. And as long as Adobe keeps making good Windows-only products, People will still ask if they can run the latest Adobe xxxxxxx CS3 on WINE. And yes, I know Adobe makes Flash for Linux, but it keeps freezing Firefox.
So, no, I don't think Linux is Joe-Sixpack ready yet. Perhaps in another 5 years... maybe.
But use the right term, "copy protection" and people will start ranting about how they can't copy/play/backup their favorite game/music/video from/to their favorite player, and then ask "but what can we do about it?".
The true message from DefectiveByDesign would be "you CAN do something about copy protection!"
I'm not saying Stallman is not a great person/revolutionary/programmer, but he certainly isn't well-versed in Public Relations.
Sophisticated graphical applications are no fun to write in C.
I for one would recommend Python, Ruby, or Java for desktop apps that a user interacts with graphically.
I do not recommend python at all for desktop apps. Python is especially itchy about dependencies. Unless you have access to the computers in question and don't plan to mass deploy your applications.
Slashdot Mirror
Here in Mexico City criminals work inside prison. They get smuggled cellphones and do their threaten calls/intelligence operations. Safetey measures such as jamming cellphone signals inside prison have been proposed - unfortunately their implementation is at the local (corrupt) government's will.
You should have kept it informative. Think of it as "the Rickroll of science" :)
No, FTP, BitTorent, P2P, and web pages should have priority over VoIP! VoIP is f**king usless and needs to be killed off!
Um, and why is it useless? Let me guess - because it sucks with latency? :)
As in youtube streaming? Because youtube videos, compared to live TV, are not TRUE streaming. They're downloading + playing.
So this opens the question: What streaming applications are actually downloading (buffering...), and which ones are really time-sensitive streaming?
And doesn't the discrimination algorithm prevent P2P video streaming (not that there's a working algorithm right now, but there COULD be)?
I'm glad I can bring this out now that you give me the chance.
A pseudonym like the ones that Slashdot gives us are an alter ego, a persona which we build our reputation upon (that's what karma points are for). Subscribers can see the WHOLE HISTORY of a user's comments, you can see how the user thinks, what bothers him/her, etc., and know him a lot. And yes, make one mistake and all that reputation goes down the drain (like mine did a few months ago).
So, no, a pseudonym is NOT equivalent to being anonymous. Without pseudonyms we couldn't communicate and exchange ideas.
So, when I speak, I speak for myself. And fellow users, even if they don't know my real identity, know who I am by what I write.
Why do you know this stuff?
I think it's called "Otakuness".
Not only is he a nobody he offers little unique insight
GASP! Wow, I never thought about it. You're ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, Mr. Anonymous Coward!
Just export as PDF.
This is something that I still don't get: Why do businesses require all printable documents to be written in a WRITABLE format? Oh, right. Word doesn't have one by default. Why Innovate when you got 100% of the market?
Perhaps that was right, but Roland has earned a place in the slashdot community.
I had a good time tagging all of Roland's articles as "ohnoitsroland". It made my days more bearable, and everytime I saw his stories tagged already, I chuckled.
Roland was a traditional part of Slashdot (for good or bad), and even if only in the form of a meme, I will miss him.
If you want to minimize latency in your applications, chances are you'll like the new scheduler implemented in 2.6.23 and following. In general, 2.6 has better support for realtime (low-latency) applications: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-real-time-linux/index.html
What you're basically saying is that just one raid justifies MS annoying all of us legitimate users and treating us like criminals.
this is slashdot, and people here aren't idiots
You must be new here.
I'm an idiot, you insensitive clod!
I'm an insensitive clod, you idiot!
I'm not related to this discussion, just wanted to get in the picture. Hi mom!
This is why Scotty never bothered to install them. When going from Warp 8 to zero, seat belts are _not_ the issue
Lord Helmet begs to differ!
Its way too long for me. Can someone sumarize please using the medium of dance.
Sure!
Basically, the RIAA said: You are a pirate!
Well, at least it's a nice hotel.
... with broken windows.
You're correct that the vast majority of improvements in the Linux kernel - when taken by themselves - are unlikely to change anything for any specific end user. These become significant when you add them all together.
You're right. The problem is that there are still many hurdles for end-users to adopt GNU/Linux.
As an example:
* Easy virtualization with DirectX support. Kinda fixed with Virtualbox 2.1 (supports experimental OpenGL, but still no cigar)
* Ugly fonts. Fixed whenever all distros install the Liberation fonts by default.
* I want to receive and send animated MSN smileys! (Don' know about AMSN, but it kept crashing on me the last time - and pidgin doesn't support saving animated smileys yet)
* Games, games and more games. (When will Wine support 100% Windows apps?)
* Support for all video card vendors. Sigh.
* Support for all network card vendors. Sigh.
* Support for all webcam vendors. Sigh.
* Support for all other hardware vendors. Sigh.
* Partitioning setup problems, unexplained hangs while booting/shutting down, WTF? (Blame the distros)
* And while some particular kernel/software feature is already available, it usually takes a few months before it's available on the user's distro's repository. And trust me, the user does NOT want to get into command line to compile the latest version of his favorite software. I simply got tired of hunting for dependencies. Even as a GNU/Linux supporter, I've had enough.
I believe that there'll come a time when all the above features become "good enough" that a great majority of users will be satisfied with that. Then GNU/Linux adoption will reach the critical mass we're all expecting.
Not all Linux users are Christians, you know. I know several devoutly pagan Linux advocates, and quite a few Jewish ones.
What about those of us belonging to the Church of Emacs?
There's no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels O:)
You mean XF86-mas, or X.org-mas?
I don't buy that it's not ready for Joe Sixpack. It's been ready for years now.
It wasn't ready for me 3 years ago. The most painful part of it was the installation... the repartitioning and GRUB errors nightmares...
Let me tell you what factors helped Linux gain market acceptance (at least for me):
1) Free Virtualization with Virtualbox. Why would you need to pay EXTRA money to run your ALREADY PAID operating system inside a free one?
2) Post-Ubuntu Linux distros, made to "Just work" (in no particular order): Mepis, PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint (but then again, maybe Linux has been improving over time). Particularly, PCLinuxOS cured my Linux-phobia. Finally I got a Linux distro that gave me internet access even before installation.
3) The latest kernel advancements, supporting modern webcams, USB devices, etc. Of course, this didn't help if your distro still uses an outdated 2.6.1x kernel.
4) Windows Vista's flops.
5) Wine 1.0. At first I didn't believe it, but after the guys at Wine released 1.0, I've seen a lot of improvements in Wine.
Now, the things that STILL keep Linux from gaining a wide acceptance:
a) Proprietary Driver (nVidia, I'm looking at you) problems, laptop hardware.
I know, it's not the Linux devs' fault, but unless I don't need to download, untar, configure, make, sudo make install additional software to enable the damn xyz hardware on my Linux, I doubt Joe Sixpack will accept to install Linux on his machine.
b) Dependency hell. Or should I say version hell? We all know how this much hurts, but it hurts even more when a software you want to install needs newer libraries than the ones available in the repos (Ubuntu, I'm looking at you). The *ONLY* way to do this is to download the libraries and start hunting for sub-libraries to compile the latest QT so you can finally get to test the latest Virtualbox. Or how about the latest graphical libraries so I can finally get the latest GIMP to work? This is a F****NG NIGHTMARE.
I know the Linux gurus around here can say it's a piece of cake, but Joe Sixpack has neither the intelligence nor the persistence to hunt down package versions.
c) Developers' arrogance. Remember the latest Pidgin scandal? Or how about the GIMP developers' reaction to Gimpshop, or their stubbornness to keep multiple window interfaces even when we all know they SUCK? (This was kinda fixed in the latest gimp, but then again, read point b). What worries me the most is that some developers STILL DON'T GET IT. The Gimp developer said (forgot when, sorry) that Gimp was never meant to replace Photoshop. Then why the hell are Linux fanbois still telling people to ditch Photoshop for Gimp? That leads me to the next pont.
d) Adobe's products. I could swear there's some hidden back-scratching between Microsoft and Adobe. Their products complement each other's. And as long as Adobe keeps making good Windows-only products, People will still ask if they can run the latest Adobe xxxxxxx CS3 on WINE. And yes, I know Adobe makes Flash for Linux, but it keeps freezing Firefox.
So, no, I don't think Linux is Joe-Sixpack ready yet. Perhaps in another 5 years... maybe.
This reminds me of the Superman Returns movie. Lex Luthor got free because Superman sent him to jail, but forgot to press charges at the end :P
But use the right term, "copy protection" and people will start ranting about how they can't copy/play/backup their favorite game/music/video from/to their favorite player, and then ask "but what can we do about it?".
The true message from DefectiveByDesign would be "you CAN do something about copy protection!"
I'm not saying Stallman is not a great person/revolutionary/programmer, but he certainly isn't well-versed in Public Relations.
Not for anyone who watched "Into thin air".
Or Vertical Limit.
If only presidents were like this!
I read that as "Guitar Hero 5: New Call of Duty", where you were a rock star raising the morale of the Iraq troops. Star power gives them more ammo.
Sophisticated graphical applications are no fun to write in C.
I for one would recommend Python, Ruby, or Java for desktop apps that a user interacts with graphically.
I do not recommend python at all for desktop apps. Python is especially itchy about dependencies. Unless you have access to the computers in question and don't plan to mass deploy your applications.