You're bound for some failures when you launch a piece of tin to another planet. If they can't make contact, I'm sure they'll say that the probe was most likely damaged, or there was an error in the probe's systems, or something like that. There are tons of things that could happen to the probe in the process of reaching Mars that have nothing to do with aliens, monoliths, conspiracies, the KGB, or whatever else some people would have you believe. When there is a successful mission, some people say "It was a conspiracy, they were really taking photos of the Arizona desert!" When there is not a successful mission, the same people say, "It was a conspiracy, they found alien life and now are covering it up!" Seriously, will most people really care if they find any type of alien life forms? If they do, it'll probably be some type of very primitive, simple, single celled organism. If they find evidence of a long dead high technology martian civilization, does it make a difference? I don't see a reason to cover anything up. I mean, if there was a hostile race of Martians bent on taking over earth with their far superior technology, wouldn't they have done so already? What the most concerning thing is that if NASA keeps failing, they might actually start to lose some of their funding, which means we might not actually be able to send a group of humans to Mars anytime soon.
I really doubt that this will work, or at least to the degree they'd like it too. However, we shouldn't just discount this even if doesn't work. The fact that someone famous is trying it out could further the cause to use technology to fix vision and other things. If we could implant a successful version of this device in children who go blind early in life, or when someone just starts to lose their vision, it would be great.
Maybe in the future we can give people super vision or something. It'd be interesting to see how these types of implants do for us in the future. Using similar devices, one day we might be able to cure paralysis by installing some kind of electrical signal re-router in people's spines to make up for damaged nerves, and who knows what else.
I browse the web in Linux with Netscape. I don't have any trouble viewing 99% of the sites that I want to see.
If a webmaster can't dedicate enough time to making sure that their homepage works in every browser at a satisfactory level, we should not be giving that webmaster's page the time of day.
Any plugin that isn't ported to Linux (or another OS that people use for that matter) is in violation of what the web is supposed to be.
Now, if Mozilla materialized into a good usable browser, that'd be great. However, it saddens me that people are bring the OS war to this stupid level of "I can't view MTV's web page because they require the MegaKewlKrad2000 plugin!"
Hopefully the Judge will release a ruling so harsh that it will utterly destroy Microsoft, rendering it incapable of producing any more versions of Windows. Of course, he'll probably just do something like charge a huge fine at first, which MS will just pay... And I'm sure MS will appeal if they lose and the punishment is actually detrimental to them. And even though Bill Gates should get the chair for his evil ways, this alone probably won't mean the end of MS. I'm just hoping they'll actually be weakened enough so that it gives a chance for others to take advantage and return competition to the market place.
When all those fools rush out on the release date to get their copy of Win2K, which will cost them an arm and a leg, I'll be sitting here posting on/. from my Linux box.
I'm pretty used to this from Katz, but it is getting old.
He advocates the rights of one group while bashing another. It seems he's trying to lead us to believe that Christian games will somehow oppress geeks. This game is just like DOOM, and many others. You use weapons to fight demons and the forces of evil. This time, however, you are an angel instead of a space marine.
Katz claims that he's for free speech, rights online, and so forth... then he goes around bashing other groups for taking advantage of the same rights. At the same time, he seems to assume that no/. readers are both geeks and Christians, which it appears many of us are.
Strangely enough, a lot of Christians and geeks actually share a lot of the same ideals, mainly minimum government control. (A few Christians even believe that Bill Gates is the antichrist, so would gladly join in your Redmond bashing.) Please remember that the televangelists you see running around don't represent all Christians. These people are basically acting. They're on TV, afterall, and they put on a show.
Anyway, Katz is entitled to his view. Many of you may agree with him. He obviously thinks Christians are all part of an anti-geek conspiracy. With his double standards on who should be allowed to express their views, I can't really respect what he says though.
Of course I've used Photoshop. Photoshop is easier to use than the GIMP, but that's actually about it. The GIMP can support a lot of things that Photoshop can do, if you are willing to take the time to learn them. Which of course, anyone who is named "Anonymous Coward" is probably isn't willing, since they aren't even willing to take the time to create a login for/. Anyway, most good artists I know (I do actually know some) don't overuse the many filters of Photoshop. To them, it doesn't really matter what they use, PS is just the "industry standard."
And the software is still half of the battle, when it is running over a crappy OS. Even if Photoshop is twice as good (which, IMO, it is not), I'm not going to boot Winblows just to use it. If Adobe wants to port Photoshop to Linux, I'm all for it, even if it isn't free.
Maybe Roblimo likes to have a "little wife" sitting around at home doing nothing, awaiting his return so that he can be served. Some of us actually want a person we can relate to, not someone who just cooks and cleans for us.
Is there something wrong with a geek girl who works on her own projects and posts on Slashdot? I think not. Roblimo's saying that we shouldn't go for girls who maybe as smart or smarter than us.
And I think most of us already knew not to expect to have the chicks in Playboy before reading Roblimo's happy little article. I don't think/. readers want to hang around the cheerleaders, etc. They aren't smart enough for our tastes.
But I guess we can't all be 1337 chix0r magnets like Roblimo...
The GIMP is an excellent tool, on par with Photoshop, I believe. It may have a ways to go in the "ease of use" category, but just about everything is there.
And there ARE some add ons and such for the Gimp, and better yet, if one you want doesn't exist, you CAN make it yourself, and send it around to people who may be interested in helping you make it better.
And even if Photoshop is a little better by itself, remember that you'll be running it over a Crappy OS that is very likely to crash, especially when you're using a lot of memory (which is the case when you're doing image manipulation).
But in the respect of Photogenics, I'm not going to bash it for not being open source. Sure, I'd love it if the code was released, but it could be good to have an alternate to the GIMP, especially in the form of a new version of some great Amiga software.
I hardly believe that MacOS is any worse than Windows. I see that a few developers are dropping Mac support in favor of Linux support. What I really want to see is developers dropping Win32 support in favor of Linux support.
We don't need this. We need real Linux apps. Why would I want to use software that was designed for a crappy OS, by a crappy company?
Linux already has software for everything I need, including Quake. If you complain that Netscape is unstable (it isn't TOO bad under Linux, but it does die once in a while), use Lynx.
The only thing this is useful for is StarCraft anyway.
This is the sort of thing you come to expect from MTV. Like I said before, they should just go back to showing music videos, what the channel was originally created for.
I just stick the MP3 playlist on "random" and start coding. Although, sometimes slow music will increase the effect of Java's slow compile time... so I just avoid Java at all costs.
Remember, People delete their Winblows that come with PCs and install Linux all the time. However, Microsoft still makes money from the version of Winblows that came with the computer.
Yes, there are stories of refunds. They are obtainable, but I don't think that most people have the time to be persistant enough to get them.
Obviously, some of the things the DOJ put there are obvious. Don't break into other people's computers. Don't copy commercial software, blah, blah. Things that SHOULD be illegal anyway. Unfortunately, the Government has crackers working for it to break into computers, and MS even gave the NSA a nifty little key in Windows.
As others have already said, Justice needs to put her blindfold back on.
However, The most concerning thing to me is that the Government seems not to want kids to learn about their computers. They seem to be taking the attitude of "You should only do things on your computers that your teachers and parents say you should." The government doesn't want too many people to become too familiar with the actual workings of computers, because then they might actually value their privacy online!
Yeah. Mozilla shows promise. There are still some screwy bugs in it (sometimes telling it to quit makes it print the page), but I wouldn't discount it yet. It will be interesting to see which one turns out better, Mozilla or Opera.
MTV is no longer the music television network it once was. It is now a core network in the quest to turn teenagers into mindless zombies who spend money on MTV's sponsors.
And of course, this is a special on crackers, and I'm sure they'll feature a bunch of script kiddies using BO2K and other such things. I suppose that the term hacker, to everyone else but a real hacker, is synonimous with cracker or script kiddie, or even people who run "Warez" sites and stuff like that. The press is a very powerful force, and the "true" term of hacker is probably lost forever except among slashdotters and other geeks.
The fact that NT alledgedly supports more RAM is irrelevant. No matter how much RAM you stuff inside an NT box, it'll probably still not be enough to keep it running more than a week.
NT is a huge bloated POS, as is almost every MS product. The bug fixes end up adding more bugs, it doesn't even support everything MS claims it does, and the only reason that anyone uses it is because some people actually believe FUD.
Remember, MS FUD is not designed to make Slashdotters change their ways. It is designed to sway people considering Linux, who might not know better (like the exec in charge of buying all the stuff and forcing it down admins throats).
I know a guy who interned for MS. Some of the people working there secretly use MacOS and Linux. Those who look at the source code know for a fact how bad Windows really is.
Well, this may not actually be LEGAL, but I think the Government should break MS up into multiple pieces. OS, Non-internet app, and internet app, and maybe more. Then each piece of MS should be forced to GPL all their past and future codes, and give refunds for all versions of their old code. Then they should make Bill Gates resign from all boards etc., devalue their stock to zero, etc. etc. etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Oops. Accidentally pasted my email address into the subject box. ^_^ The real subject should say "Screw-ups are expected" or something like that.
You're bound for some failures when you launch a piece of tin to another planet. If they can't make contact, I'm sure they'll say that the probe was most likely damaged, or there was an error in the probe's systems, or something like that. There are tons of things that could happen to the probe in the process of reaching Mars that have nothing to do with aliens, monoliths, conspiracies, the KGB, or whatever else some people would have you believe. When there is a successful mission, some people say "It was a conspiracy, they were really taking photos of the Arizona desert!" When there is not a successful mission, the same people say, "It was a conspiracy, they found alien life and now are covering it up!" Seriously, will most people really care if they find any type of alien life forms? If they do, it'll probably be some type of very primitive, simple, single celled organism. If they find evidence of a long dead high technology martian civilization, does it make a difference? I don't see a reason to cover anything up. I mean, if there was a hostile race of Martians bent on taking over earth with their far superior technology, wouldn't they have done so already? What the most concerning thing is that if NASA keeps failing, they might actually start to lose some of their funding, which means we might not actually be able to send a group of humans to Mars anytime soon.
Maybe in the future we can give people super vision or something. It'd be interesting to see how these types of implants do for us in the future. Using similar devices, one day we might be able to cure paralysis by installing some kind of electrical signal re-router in people's spines to make up for damaged nerves, and who knows what else.
I just hope this TV movie is stupid enough to not influence any people into a frenzied panick.
But it is pretty sick that Yahoo is even attempting this.
If a webmaster can't dedicate enough time to making sure that their homepage works in every browser at a satisfactory level, we should not be giving that webmaster's page the time of day.
Any plugin that isn't ported to Linux (or another OS that people use for that matter) is in violation of what the web is supposed to be.
Now, if Mozilla materialized into a good usable browser, that'd be great. However, it saddens me that people are bring the OS war to this stupid level of "I can't view MTV's web page because they require the MegaKewlKrad2000 plugin!"
Hopefully the Judge will release a ruling so harsh that it will utterly destroy Microsoft, rendering it incapable of producing any more versions of Windows. Of course, he'll probably just do something like charge a huge fine at first, which MS will just pay... And I'm sure MS will appeal if they lose and the punishment is actually detrimental to them. And even though Bill Gates should get the chair for his evil ways, this alone probably won't mean the end of MS. I'm just hoping they'll actually be weakened enough so that it gives a chance for others to take advantage and return competition to the market place.
When all those fools rush out on the release date to get their copy of Win2K, which will cost them an arm and a leg, I'll be sitting here posting on /. from my Linux box.
Next thing you know, someone will be pateting the process of reaching for the power button to turn on your computer.
He advocates the rights of one group while bashing another. It seems he's trying to lead us to believe that Christian games will somehow oppress geeks. This game is just like DOOM, and many others. You use weapons to fight demons and the forces of evil. This time, however, you are an angel instead of a space marine.
Katz claims that he's for free speech, rights online, and so forth... then he goes around bashing other groups for taking advantage of the same rights. At the same time, he seems to assume that no /. readers are both geeks and Christians, which it appears many of us are.
Strangely enough, a lot of Christians and geeks actually share a lot of the same ideals, mainly minimum government control. (A few Christians even believe that Bill Gates is the antichrist, so would gladly join in your Redmond bashing.) Please remember that the televangelists you see running around don't represent all Christians. These people are basically acting. They're on TV, afterall, and they put on a show.
Anyway, Katz is entitled to his view. Many of you may agree with him. He obviously thinks Christians are all part of an anti-geek conspiracy. With his double standards on who should be allowed to express their views, I can't really respect what he says though.
Of course I've used Photoshop. Photoshop is easier to use than the GIMP, but that's actually about it. The GIMP can support a lot of things that Photoshop can do, if you are willing to take the time to learn them. Which of course, anyone who is named "Anonymous Coward" is probably isn't willing, since they aren't even willing to take the time to create a login for /. Anyway, most good artists I know (I do actually know some) don't overuse the many filters of Photoshop. To them, it doesn't really matter what they use, PS is just the "industry standard."
And the software is still half of the battle, when it is running over a crappy OS. Even if Photoshop is twice as good (which, IMO, it is not), I'm not going to boot Winblows just to use it. If Adobe wants to port Photoshop to Linux, I'm all for it, even if it isn't free.
Is there something wrong with a geek girl who works on her own projects and posts on Slashdot? I think not. Roblimo's saying that we shouldn't go for girls who maybe as smart or smarter than us.
And I think most of us already knew not to expect to have the chicks in Playboy before reading Roblimo's happy little article. I don't think /. readers want to hang around the cheerleaders, etc. They aren't smart enough for our tastes.
But I guess we can't all be 1337 chix0r magnets like Roblimo...
And there ARE some add ons and such for the Gimp, and better yet, if one you want doesn't exist, you CAN make it yourself, and send it around to people who may be interested in helping you make it better.
And even if Photoshop is a little better by itself, remember that you'll be running it over a Crappy OS that is very likely to crash, especially when you're using a lot of memory (which is the case when you're doing image manipulation).
But in the respect of Photogenics, I'm not going to bash it for not being open source. Sure, I'd love it if the code was released, but it could be good to have an alternate to the GIMP, especially in the form of a new version of some great Amiga software.
We all can dream can't we?
Linux already has software for everything I need, including Quake. If you complain that Netscape is unstable (it isn't TOO bad under Linux, but it does die once in a while), use Lynx.
The only thing this is useful for is StarCraft anyway.
This is the sort of thing you come to expect from MTV. Like I said before, they should just go back to showing music videos, what the channel was originally created for.
I just stick the MP3 playlist on "random" and start coding. Although, sometimes slow music will increase the effect of Java's slow compile time... so I just avoid Java at all costs.
I'd rather be under the control of the Government than control of Microsoft. Microsoft is an evil institution, no doubt about it.
Yes, there are stories of refunds. They are obtainable, but I don't think that most people have the time to be persistant enough to get them.
As others have already said, Justice needs to put her blindfold back on.
However, The most concerning thing to me is that the Government seems not to want kids to learn about their computers. They seem to be taking the attitude of "You should only do things on your computers that your teachers and parents say you should." The government doesn't want too many people to become too familiar with the actual workings of computers, because then they might actually value their privacy online!
Yeah. Mozilla shows promise. There are still some screwy bugs in it (sometimes telling it to quit makes it print the page), but I wouldn't discount it yet. It will be interesting to see which one turns out better, Mozilla or Opera.
And of course, this is a special on crackers, and I'm sure they'll feature a bunch of script kiddies using BO2K and other such things. I suppose that the term hacker, to everyone else but a real hacker, is synonimous with cracker or script kiddie, or even people who run "Warez" sites and stuff like that. The press is a very powerful force, and the "true" term of hacker is probably lost forever except among slashdotters and other geeks.
Nothing like Penguin images to brighten your day.
NT is a huge bloated POS, as is almost every MS product. The bug fixes end up adding more bugs, it doesn't even support everything MS claims it does, and the only reason that anyone uses it is because some people actually believe FUD.
Remember, MS FUD is not designed to make Slashdotters change their ways. It is designed to sway people considering Linux, who might not know better (like the exec in charge of buying all the stuff and forcing it down admins throats).
I know a guy who interned for MS. Some of the people working there secretly use MacOS and Linux. Those who look at the source code know for a fact how bad Windows really is.
Boy, I really hate MS don't I?