If some asshole comes over and punches you in the balls every day for a decade, then one day offers to rake your lawn and bake cookies, you'd be a fool to take him at his word.
There it is in Squeak Smalltalk, which runs on pretty much everything out there. Not only that, but EVERYTHING about Squeak is cross platform.
Of course some people can't get over the fact that your IDE and your application and everything else about the system are melded into one beautiful edifice, small and lean and a hundred thousand times more object oriented than Java, but that's ok.
Google is pulling another dick move here. Their bounty for bugs program provided an incentive for people to report the bugs to Google. Even though a bug may be "low priority" to Google, a researcher probably spent some pretty decent time finding and verifying the bug.
Maybe other parties will start offering bounties for Google bugs. Perhaps their intentions will be noble, and perhaps they are goin' fishin'...
Sun MADE the Java platform, and it seems that Oracle as their successor can do pretty much what it likes with Java.
Again, this should be taken as a good, hard lesson - don't bet the farm on a proprietary language that is encumbered with patents and copyrights and etc.
Yeah, I know that Java is GPLd now, but in the strictest sense it still isn't Free as there are other gotchas and pitfalls.
Actually, if you simply copy the GPL'd code and relicense it as you wish, you are committing a violation of the GPL at the very least.
If you clean-roomed the code, you may not have a problem. However, if tiny details in your Apache code are identical with the GPL'd code, you are clearly messing around with the GPL.
This all ignores the fact that Dalvik was created as a way to bypass Sun's mobile Java licensing, without actually giving up compatibility with Sun's language files, passing their compliance tests, etc, and all the while fragmenting the Java platform.
So Google rips off most of Java, makes an incompatible bytecode format, calls it something else, and it's magically *NOT* Java?
Google could have protected itself from this fiasco by starting fresh and not using any of the Sun (Oracle) Java implementation, and calling it something else. What they did instead is take a buttload of Java stuff and call it something else so they didn't have to pay up on the licensing fees.
They were betting on massive amounts of applications being written for Android deviced by Java coders because ***___--- IT'S JAVA ---___*** for all practical intents and purposes!
My point was, ripping off Java and bypassing the licensing requirements for a mobile Java might have been a good way to save some cash, but it was slightly shady at best, and is going to kill Android as this struggle battles on.
They *call* it Dalvik and the bytecode differs, but the fact remains that it sucks in Oracle(TM) Java classfiles and spits out a proprietary, incompatible binary format. One of the general complaints in the broader struggle between Oracle and Google is precisely this.
The idea that Google copied some code isn't hard to believe, as the whole of Dalvik is just a ripped off Java, with just enough changes here and there to make it appear that it isn't a ripped off Java.
This should teach everybody a good lesson about trusting Google, and also about coding for proprietary VMs be they from Oracle or Google or Microsoft even.
What's this "and Android" crap? All we have seen so far is the unfinished but released Archos, and a few ultra-shitty tablets from China.
There is no worthwhile Android tablet as of now. The iPad has the tablet market all to itself. It's been what, 6 months since the iPad came out, 10 since it was announced, and over 2 years since everybody saw it coming.
By the time there's a halfway decent Android tablet, there will be a newer, better iPad out. You can bet the farm on that.
This is extremely revealing. Not only is google content to throw its customers (!?! depending on how they used Android) under the bus, but it is almost a tacit admission that they knew their Dalvik name swap trick won't work.
iPods are available almost everywhere, even Afghanistan.
Sure, people have mobile phones, but they are poor music players. In parts of the world where mobile phone service is spotty at best, iPods are preferable.
I haven't seen anybody listening to music on a mobile phone, except for iPhones.
Sure, that situation may change, but for now iPods are still the king, queen, and jack of the music player business.
This is true to some extent, but the demo ware only basically offsets the cost of the Windows license. Dell is not making money shipping demo ware, they are just subsidizing the copy of Windows.
You are missing the point. People no longer care much about the 'specs' as long as their machine will do the job they want it to, and it is nicely made.
We hit the point where your average computer is good enough for 90% of the people out there 10 or more years ago. What people want now is something that is small, light, and has excellent battery life. The "specs" people now care about are weight, XYZ dimensions, and battery life.
An ARM laptop would be cheap. USB works with ARM, and that's all the average Joe needs. I used a PowerBook G4 for years and it had bog standard PCI, USB, FireWire, IDE, etc and so on.
Software would be handled with a simple recompile, and in the case of commercial software multiple binaries for the various architectures could be provided.
There is no reason for Granny or little Billy in the third grade to have a Core2 Duo just to type and surf and mail. That is like buying a freight train so you can drive to the store.
Linux must compete with Windows if there is ever going to be a "year of Linux on the desktop."
That would force manufacturers to release more compatible products, perhaps even contributing drivers to the kernel. It would spur the release of more commercial software, and gather more interest in the open source software that already exists as well as fostering new growth there.
Computers would be cheaper, as there wouldn't be a Windows tax, and additionally there would be more form factors available. How about ARM laptops with 30-40 hour battery life? Oh, sorry, that's not really happening now because manufacturers are afraid their customers will be confused, and they are afraid of losing their partnering bribes - I mean "incentives" with Microsoft.
Linux on the desktop, from the store, for average people, with first-party support, is extremely desirable for the future of computing. One thing that would be nice is to see some Linux games. Oh sure, you can run Wine or one of the commercial variants of Wine, but most people are just going to stick with Windows.
It doesn't matter if the hardware is faster. People aren't benchmarking their phones.
Only two things matter to users, as far as hardware goes:
1) Will it run the UI and applications smoothly?
2) If there is an OS update, will you be left in the dust?
The iPhone isn't just popular because it's pretty, it's popular because the UI isn't too busy. You know Android phones are in trouble when you can't rotate the screen (or if you tilt the phone and nothing happens for 3+ seconds), and when there's a Nascar app included on every phone's front page, which on some phones you can not delete.
"Music capable" phones are somewhat misleading. A lot of phones play music, and for most it's a bullet point on a checklist that most people are not interested in.
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If some asshole comes over and punches you in the balls every day for a decade, then one day offers to rake your lawn and bake cookies, you'd be a fool to take him at his word.
Squeak Smalltalk. Until recently, it did not have multicore support, but IBM has recently contributed a nice, Free munticore Squeak to the world.
Seriously, Smalltalk is something that seems to be from far in the future.
Transcript show: "Hello World."
There it is in Squeak Smalltalk, which runs on pretty much everything out there. Not only that, but EVERYTHING about Squeak is cross platform.
Of course some people can't get over the fact that your IDE and your application and everything else about the system are melded into one beautiful edifice, small and lean and a hundred thousand times more object oriented than Java, but that's ok.
Google is pulling another dick move here. Their bounty for bugs program provided an incentive for people to report the bugs to Google. Even though a bug may be "low priority" to Google, a researcher probably spent some pretty decent time finding and verifying the bug.
Maybe other parties will start offering bounties for Google bugs. Perhaps their intentions will be noble, and perhaps they are goin' fishin'...
Not Java, but just different enough to avoid paying the licensing fee.
This is a Jedi mind game. "Move along, no Java here..."
But Dalvik is Java in everything but name and byte code format. Sigh, I guess you drank the Google kool-aid.
Sun MADE the Java platform, and it seems that Oracle as their successor can do pretty much what it likes with Java.
Again, this should be taken as a good, hard lesson - don't bet the farm on a proprietary language that is encumbered with patents and copyrights and etc.
Yeah, I know that Java is GPLd now, but in the strictest sense it still isn't Free as there are other gotchas and pitfalls.
Actually, if you simply copy the GPL'd code and relicense it as you wish, you are committing a violation of the GPL at the very least.
If you clean-roomed the code, you may not have a problem. However, if tiny details in your Apache code are identical with the GPL'd code, you are clearly messing around with the GPL.
This all ignores the fact that Dalvik was created as a way to bypass Sun's mobile Java licensing, without actually giving up compatibility with Sun's language files, passing their compliance tests, etc, and all the while fragmenting the Java platform.
How about the functions in the classfiles?
Are you saying Google reimplemented every Java class from scratch, in a clean-room fashion, without having seen it first?
So Google rips off most of Java, makes an incompatible bytecode format, calls it something else, and it's magically *NOT* Java?
Google could have protected itself from this fiasco by starting fresh and not using any of the Sun (Oracle) Java implementation, and calling it something else. What they did instead is take a buttload of Java stuff and call it something else so they didn't have to pay up on the licensing fees.
They were betting on massive amounts of applications being written for Android deviced by Java coders because ***___--- IT'S JAVA ---___*** for all practical intents and purposes!
My point was, ripping off Java and bypassing the licensing requirements for a mobile Java might have been a good way to save some cash, but it was slightly shady at best, and is going to kill Android as this struggle battles on.
They *call* it Dalvik and the bytecode differs, but the fact remains that it sucks in Oracle(TM) Java classfiles and spits out a proprietary, incompatible binary format. One of the general complaints in the broader struggle between Oracle and Google is precisely this.
The idea that Google copied some code isn't hard to believe, as the whole of Dalvik is just a ripped off Java, with just enough changes here and there to make it appear that it isn't a ripped off Java.
This should teach everybody a good lesson about trusting Google, and also about coding for proprietary VMs be they from Oracle or Google or Microsoft even.
Yeah, yeah, but it is *Java* in the sense that a jury will understand it. That's all that really matters here.
Archos releases products WAY before they are done.
I guess the neat thing about Android is that you can do their debugging for them!
From the Archos 101 site:
"The ARCHOS 101 internet tablet is a tablet who's choice you'll be proud of."
WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?
Gosh, I just got an update to OS X yesterday. It's a shocker that it's been abandoned.
Additionally, the iOS is about exactly the same as OS X until you hit the UI stack. Even in the UI stack, it's just mildly different.
Troll on, Mr. Wonderful!
What's this "and Android" crap? All we have seen so far is the unfinished but released Archos, and a few ultra-shitty tablets from China.
There is no worthwhile Android tablet as of now. The iPad has the tablet market all to itself. It's been what, 6 months since the iPad came out, 10 since it was announced, and over 2 years since everybody saw it coming.
By the time there's a halfway decent Android tablet, there will be a newer, better iPad out. You can bet the farm on that.
This is extremely revealing. Not only is google content to throw its customers (!?! depending on how they used Android) under the bus, but it is almost a tacit admission that they knew their Dalvik name swap trick won't work.
Most music on iPods is not from any music store.
iPods are available almost everywhere, even Afghanistan.
Sure, people have mobile phones, but they are poor music players. In parts of the world where mobile phone service is spotty at best, iPods are preferable.
I haven't seen anybody listening to music on a mobile phone, except for iPhones.
Sure, that situation may change, but for now iPods are still the king, queen, and jack of the music player business.
Here there are many 2002 era iPods still in use.
This is true to some extent, but the demo ware only basically offsets the cost of the Windows license. Dell is not making money shipping demo ware, they are just subsidizing the copy of Windows.
You are missing the point. People no longer care much about the 'specs' as long as their machine will do the job they want it to, and it is nicely made.
We hit the point where your average computer is good enough for 90% of the people out there 10 or more years ago. What people want now is something that is small, light, and has excellent battery life. The "specs" people now care about are weight, XYZ dimensions, and battery life.
What?
Why the fuck would Linux clone one of the weakest parts Windows? Are fucking high on crack?
MS will kill Toshiba's partner status if they try to ship an ARM notebook (ie something with a screen bigger than 12" I think).
An ARM laptop would be cheap. USB works with ARM, and that's all the average Joe needs. I used a PowerBook G4 for years and it had bog standard PCI, USB, FireWire, IDE, etc and so on.
Software would be handled with a simple recompile, and in the case of commercial software multiple binaries for the various architectures could be provided.
There is no reason for Granny or little Billy in the third grade to have a Core2 Duo just to type and surf and mail. That is like buying a freight train so you can drive to the store.
Linux must compete with Windows if there is ever going to be a "year of Linux on the desktop."
That would force manufacturers to release more compatible products, perhaps even contributing drivers to the kernel. It would spur the release of more commercial software, and gather more interest in the open source software that already exists as well as fostering new growth there.
Computers would be cheaper, as there wouldn't be a Windows tax, and additionally there would be more form factors available. How about ARM laptops with 30-40 hour battery life? Oh, sorry, that's not really happening now because manufacturers are afraid their customers will be confused, and they are afraid of losing their partnering bribes - I mean "incentives" with Microsoft.
Linux on the desktop, from the store, for average people, with first-party support, is extremely desirable for the future of computing. One thing that would be nice is to see some Linux games. Oh sure, you can run Wine or one of the commercial variants of Wine, but most people are just going to stick with Windows.
It doesn't matter if the hardware is faster. People aren't benchmarking their phones.
Only two things matter to users, as far as hardware goes:
1) Will it run the UI and applications smoothly?
2) If there is an OS update, will you be left in the dust?
The iPhone isn't just popular because it's pretty, it's popular because the UI isn't too busy. You know Android phones are in trouble when you can't rotate the screen (or if you tilt the phone and nothing happens for 3+ seconds), and when there's a Nascar app included on every phone's front page, which on some phones you can not delete.
"Music capable" phones are somewhat misleading. A lot of phones play music, and for most it's a bullet point on a checklist that most people are not interested in.