The involvement of the person behind the project is really important. Submitting bugs and patches is one thing, but if none one looks at them, why bother? In fact it's a two way route: the more involved the original developer, the more people will take interest in the project.
I submitted bugreports on several occasions in various projects. Most rewarding was when I submitted a small bug in Magpie. I got a personal reply by mail from the original developer. Seeing how your solutions are considered by the developer and how your contributions matter is big aspect of what's open source all about.
As long as there isn't any profound support for wind'ohwsgames like Half-life 2, Defcon, Battlefield and the like whom I love to play, I'm not going to switch a 100% overnight.
Don't get me wrong here. I love linux and Ubuntu and I'm an avid open source user when it comes to common desktop chores like surfing, mailing,... Heck, even image- (GIMP) and documentmanipulation (OOo) have won me over!
Same goes for everyone else: no support for that one specific app one just *craves* to use, they are not fully going to switch. No matter how shiny or shitty it looks.
In Belgium, the IFPI (that's like RIAA to you, yankees) started litigation aganst seniorennet.be, a website for 50+ surfers. They object against the fact that seniorennet hosted several discussionboards where visitors shared links to IP protected material.
Altough the webmasters of seniorennet.be complied with their demands and shut the boards down, the IFPI isn't satisfied: seniorennet.be effectivly still "provides" the means to share protected files through comments, etc.
It's not the first time this thing happens over here. But as far as the IFPI is concerned: even the most simple guestbook should be shut down as it provides "means to share links to website that share protected material".
We all know this a year of change in the video game market place.
I stopped readin TFA. Why? Because it's what's being said every year. Sure, the industry has a problem: it got too big, too fast. It has great technology, but unimaginative software. We know that already.
So, while I don't want to flame the author of TFA, I wonder why he tries to point the obvious out to the consumer. If anyone should play repetitive, braincellmurdering videoentertainement for the sake of a good storyline and great gameplay, it should be publishers, slick marketeers, editors ánd entire - rather meek to say the least - developement studio's.
Given that companies actually use Google to assess sollicitants and employees, I'd rather worry about the pervassiveness of the Web over some robot drone flying over our heads.
If anything, these days, there's no such thing as privacy. And you can't blame just the current administration for that.
Suppose GM would sell you a car and the thing steers like you are coming from a booze slap-up on saturdaynight, while in fact, you are bringen your children to school on a mondaymorning...
... would you accept they'd charge you extra for merely patching - not even replacing - that defective steering column?
Personally, I'd rather mudwrestle with my own mother over paying piles of cash yearly for a shoddy produced solution.
As other belgian readers already stated: it's about the content. Not the package. This was an illegal mediachannel, administered by a political party/politician, used to spread fascism, hate and fear amongst the nation.
Altough the extreme-right winged party in Flanders can't *actually* make any policy decisions, they are still in the opposition. And *any* excuse is good enough to gain votes. And I don't really want to think about what happens if they did make it into governing majority.
Freedom of speech can be used to do much good. But it can also be horribly abused. If anything, Jurgen Verstrepen has definitly crossed the line here having listened on several occasions to his broadcasts.
I foresee that you should be able to read your paper, but the material could prevent photocopying or scanning (i.e. turning black, etc.). But that shouldn't stop you from just manually typing the article.
They could let the information disappear after say a day. But nobody in his/her righ mind will keep a newspaper longer then a week before chucking it in the bin. Information in newspapers gets outdated very quick anyway.
Newspapers do pose a problem for archives and libraries already though. Newspapers are generally not designed to be conserved over time. Let alone decades. As the - recycled - paper decays quickly, valuable information gets lost eitherway. Conservation institutions rely on the ability to copy that information. There are a lot of projects going on to digitize newspapers. Either the old, or the new. I definitly see problems when DRM and ePaper come into play. Preventing the ability to make a copy of information, enhances the chances of loss.
Am I keen on this new technology? Not really. As analogue information on i.e. parchement can survive for centuries, this technology endangers today's information and - in the long run - cultural heritage.
True. But then again, I don't think a "pay-per-use" model will ever totally defeat the "buy-once, use-many-times" model. Why? There's always a population that wants to spend money on the first (because i.e. it has nifty new feats) and the latter are costconscient. That's why commercial and open source can coexist.
However. Hardware producers my favor the "pay-per-use" model. The moment networks are fast enough and servers can hold massive amounts of data (and that day is soon to come), computers could evolve into (mobile) thin clients. Everyone is afraid of wintel. And with good reason. In a doom scenario, there would be a day when you could only buy computers with windows baked into a chip or on an inaccessible HD. Then it's not even physically possible to install apps or store data locally.
But then again, apart from obvious FUD, I think this is highly unlikely. I suppose the future will bring something in between. As always.
So they want our mobile numbers? I'm guessing that they are going to try to triangulate our positions. So they can put your position in Google Earth. Can you picture all those red dots in Google Earth? Can you picture the accompanying tooltips?
"CowboyNeal is currently in Club Blue Oyster and has unchecked mail"
Okay, so I take my statement back. Indeed, it's a problem of perception. As far as we are concerned, in the - american dominated - media, the image we get of the US school system isn't one of hard work, study and labor.
Apart from the perception discussion, I agree with the people who question the investement in iBooks for "rich" schools while poor schools don't even have enough money to provide books for everyone. Sure, technology should play a part in education, but not in way that it's widening the gap between social classes.
I'm not a US citizen so I can't really speak from experience, but the perception we get from the US education is that it's not very "high standard". By which I personally perceive it as not "in depth". For example history: as far as I can tell, you guys get mostly US history and some european history. Which is mostly limited to facts and names and not really the "bigger picture". The same thing applies to math imho: several US exchange students went over here and it turned out that belgian high school students learn Math paradigms which are taught at college in the US.
Besides, what's the deal with classes like "woodshop" or "household"?
So, even as technology is used in the US educational system, I don't think it would create any added value to the information. Worst case scenario: information taught through powerpoint and multimedia systems is less "rich" or "dense" then information found in textbooks.
Does it have a place in a philosophy class? Absolutely.
So. This is the point i'm totally behind. There isn't much more to be said. Either that, or they should teach Boedishm or satanism in Biology class too!
My 'higher entity that has the power over life and dead whatever'! It's a conspiracy! Now. Where's that blinded pizzavan with the oversized satellitedish?
Am I the only one that notices the difference between the IE7 'home' button and the one from FF? Examine it closely, the only 'real' differences are the makeshift chimney and the absence of windows. I - for one - wouldn't trust a home with no windows and a chimney. This is especially disturbing for the elderly!
In conclusion: IE7 makes you go bald and infertile. Your wife *will* leave you and your cat will most likely vomit on your keyboard. (can I have a cookie now?)
A rusty tank with liquid oxigen can't replace a good trebuchet. Or a catapult for that matter! Heck, they even launched pigs with those things back then!!
Slashdot Mirror
The involvement of the person behind the project is really important. Submitting bugs and patches is one thing, but if none one looks at them, why bother? In fact it's a two way route: the more involved the original developer, the more people will take interest in the project.
I submitted bugreports on several occasions in various projects. Most rewarding was when I submitted a small bug in Magpie. I got a personal reply by mail from the original developer. Seeing how your solutions are considered by the developer and how your contributions matter is big aspect of what's open source all about.
"Thank you, come again!"
As long as there isn't any profound support for wind'ohwsgames like Half-life 2, Defcon, Battlefield and the like whom I love to play, I'm not going to switch a 100% overnight.
Don't get me wrong here. I love linux and Ubuntu and I'm an avid open source user when it comes to common desktop chores like surfing, mailing,... Heck, even image- (GIMP) and documentmanipulation (OOo) have won me over!
Same goes for everyone else: no support for that one specific app one just *craves* to use, they are not fully going to switch. No matter how shiny or shitty it looks.
Russian spaceparts, american spaceparts...
ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!!
In Belgium, the IFPI (that's like RIAA to you, yankees) started litigation aganst seniorennet.be, a website for 50+ surfers. They object against the fact that seniorennet hosted several discussionboards where visitors shared links to IP protected material.
Altough the webmasters of seniorennet.be complied with their demands and shut the boards down, the IFPI isn't satisfied: seniorennet.be effectivly still "provides" the means to share protected files through comments, etc.
It's not the first time this thing happens over here. But as far as the IFPI is concerned: even the most simple guestbook should be shut down as it provides "means to share links to website that share protected material".
Kinda spooky!
So what? I was born the day the IBM PC was released. Ha!
I stopped readin TFA. Why? Because it's what's being said every year. Sure, the industry has a problem: it got too big, too fast. It has great technology, but unimaginative software. We know that already.
So, while I don't want to flame the author of TFA, I wonder why he tries to point the obvious out to the consumer. If anyone should play repetitive, braincellmurdering videoentertainement for the sake of a good storyline and great gameplay, it should be publishers, slick marketeers, editors ánd entire - rather meek to say the least - developement studio's.
Given that companies actually use Google to assess sollicitants and employees, I'd rather worry about the pervassiveness of the Web over some robot drone flying over our heads.
If anything, these days, there's no such thing as privacy. And you can't blame just the current administration for that.
Suppose GM would sell you a car and the thing steers like you are coming from a booze slap-up on saturdaynight, while in fact, you are bringen your children to school on a mondaymorning...
... would you accept they'd charge you extra for merely patching - not even replacing - that defective steering column?
Personally, I'd rather mudwrestle with my own mother over paying piles of cash yearly for a shoddy produced solution.
... I can only applaud this.
As other belgian readers already stated: it's about the content. Not the package. This was an illegal mediachannel, administered by a political party/politician, used to spread fascism, hate and fear amongst the nation.
Altough the extreme-right winged party in Flanders can't *actually* make any policy decisions, they are still in the opposition. And *any* excuse is good enough to gain votes. And I don't really want to think about what happens if they did make it into governing majority.
Freedom of speech can be used to do much good. But it can also be horribly abused. If anything, Jurgen Verstrepen has definitly crossed the line here having listened on several occasions to his broadcasts.
I foresee that you should be able to read your paper, but the material could prevent photocopying or scanning (i.e. turning black, etc.). But that shouldn't stop you from just manually typing the article. They could let the information disappear after say a day. But nobody in his/her righ mind will keep a newspaper longer then a week before chucking it in the bin. Information in newspapers gets outdated very quick anyway. Newspapers do pose a problem for archives and libraries already though. Newspapers are generally not designed to be conserved over time. Let alone decades. As the - recycled - paper decays quickly, valuable information gets lost eitherway. Conservation institutions rely on the ability to copy that information. There are a lot of projects going on to digitize newspapers. Either the old, or the new. I definitly see problems when DRM and ePaper come into play. Preventing the ability to make a copy of information, enhances the chances of loss. Am I keen on this new technology? Not really. As analogue information on i.e. parchement can survive for centuries, this technology endangers today's information and - in the long run - cultural heritage.
With "high prized" magazine, what do they mean? Playboy? Gives the brand a whole new meaning!
In Sovjet Russia, Star Office kills you!
True. But then again, I don't think a "pay-per-use" model will ever totally defeat the "buy-once, use-many-times" model. Why? There's always a population that wants to spend money on the first (because i.e. it has nifty new feats) and the latter are costconscient. That's why commercial and open source can coexist.
However. Hardware producers my favor the "pay-per-use" model. The moment networks are fast enough and servers can hold massive amounts of data (and that day is soon to come), computers could evolve into (mobile) thin clients. Everyone is afraid of wintel. And with good reason. In a doom scenario, there would be a day when you could only buy computers with windows baked into a chip or on an inaccessible HD. Then it's not even physically possible to install apps or store data locally.
But then again, apart from obvious FUD, I think this is highly unlikely. I suppose the future will bring something in between. As always.
I'd rather go deaf then stand the endless chatter from my coworkers about the next episode of The Gilmore Girls...
So they want our mobile numbers? I'm guessing that they are going to try to triangulate our positions. So they can put your position in Google Earth. Can you picture all those red dots in Google Earth? Can you picture the accompanying tooltips?
"CowboyNeal is currently in Club Blue Oyster and has unchecked mail"
Okay, so I take my statement back. Indeed, it's a problem of perception. As far as we are concerned, in the - american dominated - media, the image we get of the US school system isn't one of hard work, study and labor.
Apart from the perception discussion, I agree with the people who question the investement in iBooks for "rich" schools while poor schools don't even have enough money to provide books for everyone. Sure, technology should play a part in education, but not in way that it's widening the gap between social classes.
I'm not a US citizen so I can't really speak from experience, but the perception we get from the US education is that it's not very "high standard". By which I personally perceive it as not "in depth". For example history: as far as I can tell, you guys get mostly US history and some european history. Which is mostly limited to facts and names and not really the "bigger picture". The same thing applies to math imho: several US exchange students went over here and it turned out that belgian high school students learn Math paradigms which are taught at college in the US.
Besides, what's the deal with classes like "woodshop" or "household"?
So, even as technology is used in the US educational system, I don't think it would create any added value to the information. Worst case scenario: information taught through powerpoint and multimedia systems is less "rich" or "dense" then information found in textbooks.
Tinfoil hats for everyone! Guess it will be some fireworks when this suckah comes down!
Does it have a place in a biology class? No.
Does it have a place in a philosophy class? Absolutely.
So. This is the point i'm totally behind. There isn't much more to be said. Either that, or they should teach Boedishm or satanism in Biology class too!
In other news:
Discovery will return safely after all. Nasa officials seen laughing their asses off.
("Dang, this was the best prank one yet since that apollo 11 goof!")
My 'higher entity that has the power over life and dead whatever'! It's a conspiracy! Now. Where's that blinded pizzavan with the oversized satellitedish?
Am I the only one that notices the difference between the IE7 'home' button and the one from FF? Examine it closely, the only 'real' differences are the makeshift chimney and the absence of windows. I - for one - wouldn't trust a home with no windows and a chimney. This is especially disturbing for the elderly!
In conclusion: IE7 makes you go bald and infertile. Your wife *will* leave you and your cat will most likely vomit on your keyboard. (can I have a cookie now?)
A rusty tank with liquid oxigen can't replace a good trebuchet. Or a catapult for that matter! Heck, they even launched pigs with those things back then!!