Yahoo's got a good chance if they continue promoting services that can't be solved just by throwing a bunch of computers at them (no offence to Google intended).
In my case, I teach English in Korea. There's a great webpage that has an English/Korean dictionary with phrases of the day, sound files for pronunciation, and a bunch of sample sentence translations for the common words in the dictionary. It's even smart enough to know whether or not Korean or English was the original language and spits out the opposite language accordingly. Granted, that type of feature is probably easy to replicate, but it's still smart thinking, and shows that they're working on services that make things easy for users.
That's not something that Google can offer, even with its translation services, which can be notoriously buggy for going back and forth between Western and Eastern languages anyway.
Now, THAT said, nothing Yahoo's got right now is going to keep me away from google.com for searches. But they still have a decent portal service that integrates with email, along with yahoo groups and games, they probably don't have to worry TOO much yet.
Good lord! They want to combine a light-weight, ultra-strength tether with a means of transmitting power wirelessly. Read that again. A light-weight, ultra-strength tether with a means of transmitting power wirelessly. My God! Do you know what this means? Do you?!?
Once upon a midnight dreary, gcc compiled, growing weak and weary, code obfuscated like ne'er seen before. I could hear a faint grinding, As the preprocessor went on finding, it was a noise I could plainly say I abhor. T'was an executable destined to dump quite a core.
It was a nice sunny day, I remember, in May, and there lay pizza boxes scattered all o'er the floor. But because of this Gentoo, I felt I was being sent to the depths of hell for damnation evermore. All for a program that would dump its core.
In time, day diminished, and gcc was finished, and the program was a size worthy of lore, because of the a.out, my hard drive near ran out, as the program took up gigabytes galore, and when I ran it, quoth the output, "I've just dumped a core."
Fingers to the keys to the code I be typing I'll bash that script, like a process I be sniping You're lamer than some h4x0r saying "Yo! Yo! Whatsup?!" I wish that somebody would terminate ya with a kill -HUP. I'm flying like Apache, you're slower than concrete. You're built like a gnome, and I ain't talking 'bout no suite. No shortcuts'll save you, your doom is complete No Alt-F4'll help you, no Ctl-Alt-Delete will stop this feet, you better believe it this ain't no superstition, I'll open all your ports and your hardrive repartition.
So, you say you're fighting for the nerdcore crown... But I'd say that you're closer to a nerdcore clown. Pack it in, save your ass, yo H4x getthefuckouttadodge! You're a Beowulf unclustered, with its power cords dislodged. You're too l4me for this g4me, wanna fl4me? It's all the s4me Cuz you're an Apple 2c and I'm a mainframe. You're inept! Can't even play dead, you play sick. We couldn't pityyoumore if you were Visual Basic. You like that kid? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! It's a rout! I flout my stout clout with this cool cool cout << and I'm out.
The Korean language has some similarities to Latin, if you can believe it. First off, the most basic sentence structure is subject-object-verb, secondly, you know which word is the subject or object based on the suffix that the word has. eg, "The man talks to Sam." vs "Sam talks to the man." In English you keep the same word, and change the sentence order around. In Korean and Latin, theoretically the order could be kept the same, but the words "man" and "Sam" would have to be altered with different suffixes to show who's talking to whom.
After this the differences start to show up -- the Korean language is populated with many more suffixes than Latin and they're used used all over the place, also as clause endings or honorific indicators. That can be a pain, but at least in Korean you don't need to know thirty different forms (single/plural * gender (masculine/feminine/neutral) * five aspects of declension) of an adjective to use it correctly.
It's funny, isn't it, that on the same day we have a story about Linux distros being insecure by default, EXCEPT Debian, we have another story where Debian is being criticized for not releasing updates more often.
Maybe, and here's a thought, just maybe, it's wise to take a decent, stable distro and perfect it, instead of taking a distro and submerging it in a state of perpetual flux with constant updates.
Just a thought. I might be biased because it's a Debian-based distro that finally put a working Linux on my laptop. But you know what? Every now and then the bias is there for a reason...
Here's my thing. I like debian's stability. In a way, it guarantees a certain degree of consistency amongst debian-based platforms. There's an interoperability on my computer right now that I really like. It's a creation of a sort of de-facto standard. It's pretty calming, to be honest.
Meanwhile, you've got Fedora and Mandrake and Suse constantly pushing towards more advanced releases, but with all those changes, that means there's a lot of programs that are going to need to be updated more frequently. Right now you've got Ubuntu, Knoppix and Mepis based off a reliable distribution. It's a solid foundation. Change the foundation, and all of a sudden you'll throw those three distributions off-kilter.
Wouldn't it be easier for the applications and distributions to achieve their own respective nirvanas of perfection if the goal posts aren't moving?
[/devil's advocacy]
Alright, to be honest, I don't necessarily agree with all of the above, but I REALLY don't agree with change for the sake of change. What seems to be happening here is that a lot of people are saying that debian is stagnating. Yeah. Okay. The formula for mixing hydrogen and oxygen hasn't been changing all that much, and yet it's still pretty useful as is. Want to start messing with that? (Yes, I know there's a big difference between water and debian. I just want to see some of the proponents for change start mapping out the gray area)
So debian's getting stale. So what? It injected new life into my laptop, and I'll tell you what, that ISN'T stale to me.
Hey, is anybody using the gnu java compiler much? How's the performance on java programs made with it? Obviously there'd be some positive side effects, but exactly how much could the community benefit from having Sun's compiler open-sourced?
This isn't real life, it's just some fantasy. Look! It's Sauron's eye, threatening catastrophe. His tower is tall, and hobbits are small and wee...
Frodo: I'm just a poor boy, this ring is haunting me. Gandalf: The Nazghul come! It's time to go! Samwise: I wish I had some potatoes.
Gollum: Other than my Precious, nothing really matters to me... To me....
Gimli: Legolas! I've just killed an orc! Legolas: That's nothing Mr. Dwarf, Why just now I killed my fourth... Aragorn: Arwen! Our love's just begun, but I fear it's time for me to go away...
Gollum: Mastah! Oooooooooooo! Get down! The Nazghul fly! Frodo: Sometimes I wish I never got this ring at all... Samwise: Carry on! Carry on! Gollum: Without Precious nothing matters...
Theoden: It's too late, our time has come. How do we fight such hate? Aragorn: Let's ride out! We'll all do great!
Pippin: Goodbye, Merry buddy, I've got to go. Merry: On the battlefields of Gondor, I'll see you...
Gollum: Mastah! Oooooooooo! (Frodo: Where do those Urukai go?) We runsiz out of time! This staircase we must climb! (Samwise: But it's so tall...)
[nonsenical flashback]
Gandalf: I see a little silhouetto of an eye! Saruman: Mordor rules, stupid fool! Can't you hear the eye calling? Thunderbolts and lightning, Lord Sauron is calling thee!
[switch scenes]
Frodo: Samwise Gamgee! Samwise: Mr. Frodo! Frodo: Samwise Gamgee! Samwise: Mr. Frodo! Frodo: Samwise Gamgee, off the road! [chorus]: The Nazgul come!!!
[flash forward]
Gollum: I'm just a poor boy, give my Precious to me! [chorus]: He's just a poor boy, corrupted for eternity! The ring twisted him into this monstrosity!
Faramir: Give me the ring! Frodo: No! Let me go! Samwise: Won't you let us go? Fa-ra-mir? Faramar: No! I will not let you go! Frodo: Let me go! Samwise: Hey! She-Lob! Shelob: No! I will not let him go! Samwise: Let him go! [Chorus]: It's Mount Doom! Frodo: No! I will not let it go! Samwise: Let it go! Frodo: I will not let it go! Samwise: Let it go! Frodo: I will not let it go! Samwise: Let it go! Frodo: No no no no no no NO! Samwise: Oh Mr. Baggins, Mr Baggins, Mr Baggins let it go! Gollum: My Precious! No! There's a devil rising up in me, in me, in meeeeeeeeee!
[Fight scene to the guitar solo]
Aragorn: I bind all you tormented spirits to me! Fulfill your oath and then I'll let you go free. [Cut to Gondor] Gandalf: Sauron, baby! Can't do this to us, baby! We're gonna drive you out, we're gonna drive you right out of here.
[More guitar solo, Gollum bites ring off Frodo's finger, trips and falls over the edge]
Gollum [ecstatic]: Nothing really matters, my precious is with me! Nothing really matters... nothing really matters, to me...
People in power love the idea of others sucking up to them. Even if they can get security fixes quicker via opens source, the idea that Microsoft is effectively prioritizing them ought to be incentive enough. You could give them good practical and logical reasons for going open source anyway, and they'd MAKE UP their own reasons for not doing it, because they'd LIKE the idea of having a position like this over Microsoft, and would go along with whatever rationalizing they'd have to do to accept it.
What's more satisfying? The idea of having some small company like Red Hat at your beck and call? Or Microsoft?
I was always wondering how developers behind BSD-licensed products felt about this whole thing. Before you pounce on me, I know PearPC is a GPLed product, but the way I see it, the risks are pretty similar.
So, how would BSD developers feel about creating something, having it ripped off, and bandied about by someone else as if it was their own creation, with the original developers getting no credit? Has it happened? Did it cause you to think about switching to GPL, or maybe some other license?
1) Some people might suggest that it's a good idea to put the md5 sum in the version. I couldn't agree more. In these days of rip-offs and trojans, you can't be too careful. I haven't been doing this with dml2xml2004 just yet, but it should become standard in one of the upcoming 3 1/2 releases.
2) Others might think that based on the way debian does things, you might want to put "stable" or "unstable". With all due respect to the folks at debian, I personally find this overkill.
Okay, you've got your x.0 release. These are for major releases of the software. 1.0, 2.0, etc.
Then you've got your x.x.0 release. Basically, you subdivide your release schedule according to the major tasks needed to get there. So, for instance, if you're creating a video player, 0.1.0 would be to get something proof-of-concept running some basic video codec. 0.2.0 would be for major GUI additions, 0.3.0 would be for extra codeces, etc. These should adhere to a strict roadmap.
Next, you've got the x.x.x release. So, let's say that you're at the GUI stage above, if you've added the player buttons, you're at 0.1.1 (0.2.0 should be reserved for completion of the GUI stage -- are you writing this down?). A menu means 0.1.2, a status bar, 0.1.3 etc. Once more, this should also adhere strictly to the roadmap.
However, you might run into situations where a bug might creep up, and you want to do an extra release between x.x.x releases. This is where you incorporate the a/b/c etc. releases -- for minor changes that occur between the smallest parts of the roadmap. So, if you had an eject button that wasn't working, and you wanted to fix that before moving onto the menu bar, you release 0.1.1a. Small video glitch that arose because of this? 0.1.1b.
But then there are situations in which, well, if you're like myself and consider CVS use to be a waste of time, you'll need to upload release candidates on the above. Hence, the need for a "_rc" suffix. So, if you're checking to see if the fix you made to the eject button is working, you'll have to upload 0.1.1a_rc. If someone wants to add a small change, you get 0.1.1a_rc2, and so on. You might find it easier to add the initials of the developer just so you know who is doing what. So, a 0.1.1a_rc2_fg might not be out of the question.
(By the way, it's a good time to mention that it's best to have any project you're working on include the year that it was started. Why? Just because. Trust me. With all the projects out there right now anyway, we're starting to have to recycle names. So anyway, we're working on vid2004-0.1.1a_rc2_fg at this point.)
Now, and most developers will agree with me on this, every now and then you're going to get sick of the roadmap and want to deviate from it. Maybe add a feature or something ahead of time, just because you find that more motivating than doing extra testing on some module that's probably going to be obsolete by version 0.3.4a_rc3_fg_rt anyway. For these special instances, a descriptive "_plus" is in order.
If you want to see this versioning system in action, check out the latest release of my own project: dml2xml2004-0.4.12aq_plus_rc3.5_a_mdc_ls.tar.gz. What? Too confusing you say? Just try it. I've found that all three users of my project have no trouble following this extremely clear numbering system.
Netscape's name-brand recognition among the great uneducated masses of Internet users might actually convince millions of otherwise-competent people to use this abomination.
The old Netscape might have been junk. This new Netscape might also be junk. But who the heck cares? You don't need to like the smell of manure to appreciate roses at the flower shop.
Netscape's decision once upon a time to release the source code gave us an excellent browser. The license for that browser is such that anybody can take it and release their own abomination, so if Netscape itself wants to do that, more power to them.
Last I heard, the only proper way to spell Japanese words was in Japanese. Ditto for Chinese and Korean.
Romanization rules are frequently nebulous, and for good reason. Seoul, for instance, is often pronounced like "soul" in English, because people looking at the romanization don't realize that there are actually two syllables in the city's name.
I don't know if I'll switch off my.yahoo just yet because of the services that it has built in and the amount of traffic my email gets, but conceivably it makes a lot of sense for them to do this.
Slashdot Mirror
Yahoo's got a good chance if they continue promoting services that can't be solved just by throwing a bunch of computers at them (no offence to Google intended).
In my case, I teach English in Korea. There's a great webpage that has an English/Korean dictionary with phrases of the day, sound files for pronunciation, and a bunch of sample sentence translations for the common words in the dictionary. It's even smart enough to know whether or not Korean or English was the original language and spits out the opposite language accordingly. Granted, that type of feature is probably easy to replicate, but it's still smart thinking, and shows that they're working on services that make things easy for users.
That's not something that Google can offer, even with its translation services, which can be notoriously buggy for going back and forth between Western and Eastern languages anyway.
Now, THAT said, nothing Yahoo's got right now is going to keep me away from google.com for searches. But they still have a decent portal service that integrates with email, along with yahoo groups and games, they probably don't have to worry TOO much yet.
Some people have entirely too much time on their hands.
Actually, this guy almost has his hands on the time.
AhahaHAHAHAHahahahaha I am so, so sorry.
Good lord! They want to combine a light-weight, ultra-strength tether with a means of transmitting power wirelessly. Read that again. A light-weight, ultra-strength tether with a means of transmitting power wirelessly. My God! Do you know what this means? Do you?!?
Yeah, neither do I.
Once upon a midnight dreary, gcc compiled, growing weak and weary,
code obfuscated like ne'er seen before.
I could hear a faint grinding,
As the preprocessor went on finding,
it was a noise I could plainly say I abhor.
T'was an executable destined to dump quite a core.
It was a nice sunny day, I remember, in May,
and there lay pizza boxes scattered all o'er the floor.
But because of this Gentoo, I felt I was being sent to
the depths of hell for damnation evermore.
All for a program that would dump its core.
In time, day diminished, and gcc was finished,
and the program was a size worthy of lore,
because of the a.out, my hard drive near ran out,
as the program took up gigabytes galore,
and when I ran it, quoth the output, "I've just dumped a core."
Fingers to the keys to the code I be typing
I'll bash that script, like a process I be sniping
You're lamer than some h4x0r saying "Yo! Yo! Whatsup?!"
I wish that somebody would terminate ya with a kill -HUP.
I'm flying like Apache, you're slower than concrete.
You're built like a gnome, and I ain't talking 'bout no suite.
No shortcuts'll save you, your doom is complete
No Alt-F4'll help you, no Ctl-Alt-Delete
will stop this feet, you better believe it
this ain't no superstition,
I'll open all your ports and your hardrive repartition.
So, you say you're fighting for the nerdcore crown...
But I'd say that you're closer to a nerdcore clown.
Pack it in, save your ass, yo H4x getthefuckouttadodge!
You're a Beowulf unclustered, with its power cords dislodged.
You're too l4me for this g4me, wanna fl4me? It's all the s4me
Cuz you're an Apple 2c and I'm a mainframe.
You're inept! Can't even play dead, you play sick.
We couldn't pityyoumore if you were Visual Basic.
You like that kid? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!
It's a rout! I flout my stout clout with this cool cool cout <<
and I'm out.
IBM Unveils Anti-Spam Services to Stop Spammers
Anti-Spam services that STOP spam?!? You don't say? Now there's a novel idea...
This joke was brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department.
...with a show floor the size of 2,700 city blocks...
Well, I for one welcome our colossal, city-eating trade shows.
The Korean language has some similarities to Latin, if you can believe it. First off, the most basic sentence structure is subject-object-verb, secondly, you know which word is the subject or object based on the suffix that the word has. eg, "The man talks to Sam." vs "Sam talks to the man." In English you keep the same word, and change the sentence order around. In Korean and Latin, theoretically the order could be kept the same, but the words "man" and "Sam" would have to be altered with different suffixes to show who's talking to whom.
After this the differences start to show up -- the Korean language is populated with many more suffixes than Latin and they're used used all over the place, also as clause endings or honorific indicators. That can be a pain, but at least in Korean you don't need to know thirty different forms (single/plural * gender (masculine/feminine/neutral) * five aspects of declension) of an adjective to use it correctly.
It's funny, isn't it, that on the same day we have a story about Linux distros being insecure by default, EXCEPT Debian, we have another story where Debian is being criticized for not releasing updates more often.
Maybe, and here's a thought, just maybe, it's wise to take a decent, stable distro and perfect it, instead of taking a distro and submerging it in a state of perpetual flux with constant updates.
Just a thought. I might be biased because it's a Debian-based distro that finally put a working Linux on my laptop. But you know what? Every now and then the bias is there for a reason...
Here's my thing. I like debian's stability. In a way, it guarantees a certain degree of consistency amongst debian-based platforms. There's an interoperability on my computer right now that I really like. It's a creation of a sort of de-facto standard. It's pretty calming, to be honest.
Meanwhile, you've got Fedora and Mandrake and Suse constantly pushing towards more advanced releases, but with all those changes, that means there's a lot of programs that are going to need to be updated more frequently. Right now you've got Ubuntu, Knoppix and Mepis based off a reliable distribution. It's a solid foundation. Change the foundation, and all of a sudden you'll throw those three distributions off-kilter.
Wouldn't it be easier for the applications and distributions to achieve their own respective nirvanas of perfection if the goal posts aren't moving?
[/devil's advocacy]
Alright, to be honest, I don't necessarily agree with all of the above, but I REALLY don't agree with change for the sake of change. What seems to be happening here is that a lot of people are saying that debian is stagnating. Yeah. Okay. The formula for mixing hydrogen and oxygen hasn't been changing all that much, and yet it's still pretty useful as is. Want to start messing with that? (Yes, I know there's a big difference between water and debian. I just want to see some of the proponents for change start mapping out the gray area)
So debian's getting stale. So what? It injected new life into my laptop, and I'll tell you what, that ISN'T stale to me.
Meanwhile, Duke Nukem Forever plans to number its first release i.
Hey, is anybody using the gnu java compiler much? How's the performance on java programs made with it? Obviously there'd be some positive side effects, but exactly how much could the community benefit from having Sun's compiler open-sourced?
"...I think I'll have a sandwhich."
I'm sure he said some other thing, but that's the one that comes to mind.
[ps: if anybody posts the actual friggin' quote in a followup reply to this article, I hope your genitalia sprouts wings and flies away.]
If you can believe that, there's actually two other versions of Bohemian Rhapsody vs. Lord of the Rings....
Here and here.
This isn't real life, it's just some fantasy.
Look! It's Sauron's eye, threatening catastrophe.
His tower is tall, and hobbits are small and wee...
Frodo: I'm just a poor boy, this ring is haunting me.
Gandalf: The Nazghul come! It's time to go!
Samwise: I wish I had some potatoes.
Gollum: Other than my Precious, nothing really matters to me... To me....
Gimli: Legolas! I've just killed an orc!
Legolas: That's nothing Mr. Dwarf, Why just now I killed my fourth...
Aragorn: Arwen! Our love's just begun, but I fear it's time for me to go away...
Gollum: Mastah! Oooooooooooo! Get down! The Nazghul fly!
Frodo: Sometimes I wish I never got this ring at all...
Samwise: Carry on! Carry on!
Gollum: Without Precious nothing matters...
Theoden: It's too late, our time has come.
How do we fight such hate?
Aragorn: Let's ride out! We'll all do great!
Pippin: Goodbye, Merry buddy, I've got to go.
Merry: On the battlefields of Gondor, I'll see you...
Gollum: Mastah! Oooooooooo! (Frodo: Where do those Urukai go?)
We runsiz out of time! This staircase we must climb! (Samwise: But it's so tall...)
[nonsenical flashback]
Gandalf: I see a little silhouetto of an eye!
Saruman: Mordor rules, stupid fool! Can't you hear the eye calling? Thunderbolts and lightning, Lord Sauron is calling thee!
[switch scenes]
Frodo: Samwise Gamgee! Samwise: Mr. Frodo!
Frodo: Samwise Gamgee! Samwise: Mr. Frodo!
Frodo: Samwise Gamgee, off the road!
[chorus]: The Nazgul come!!!
[flash forward]
Gollum: I'm just a poor boy, give my Precious to me!
[chorus]: He's just a poor boy, corrupted for eternity! The ring twisted him into this monstrosity!
Faramir: Give me the ring! Frodo: No! Let me go!
Samwise: Won't you let us go?
Fa-ra-mir? Faramar: No! I will not let you go! Frodo: Let me go!
Samwise: Hey! She-Lob! Shelob: No! I will not let him go!
Samwise: Let him go!
[Chorus]: It's Mount Doom!
Frodo: No! I will not let it go! Samwise: Let it go!
Frodo: I will not let it go! Samwise: Let it go!
Frodo: I will not let it go! Samwise: Let it go!
Frodo: No no no no no no NO!
Samwise: Oh Mr. Baggins, Mr Baggins, Mr Baggins let it go!
Gollum: My Precious! No! There's a devil rising up in me, in me, in meeeeeeeeee!
[Fight scene to the guitar solo]
Aragorn: I bind all you tormented spirits to me!
Fulfill your oath and then I'll let you go free.
[Cut to Gondor]
Gandalf: Sauron, baby! Can't do this to us, baby!
We're gonna drive you out, we're gonna drive you right out of here.
[More guitar solo, Gollum bites ring off Frodo's finger, trips and falls over the edge]
Gollum [ecstatic]: Nothing really matters, my precious is with me! Nothing really matters... nothing really matters, to me...
hobbits: Back to the Shire, we go...
Babelfish translation...
People in power love the idea of others sucking up to them. Even if they can get security fixes quicker via opens source, the idea that Microsoft is effectively prioritizing them ought to be incentive enough. You could give them good practical and logical reasons for going open source anyway, and they'd MAKE UP their own reasons for not doing it, because they'd LIKE the idea of having a position like this over Microsoft, and would go along with whatever rationalizing they'd have to do to accept it.
What's more satisfying? The idea of having some small company like Red Hat at your beck and call? Or Microsoft?
I grok the pain his webserver is going to feel.
This is kind of off-topic, but...
I was always wondering how developers behind BSD-licensed products felt about this whole thing. Before you pounce on me, I know PearPC is a GPLed product, but the way I see it, the risks are pretty similar.
So, how would BSD developers feel about creating something, having it ripped off, and bandied about by someone else as if it was their own creation, with the original developers getting no credit? Has it happened? Did it cause you to think about switching to GPL, or maybe some other license?
1) Some people might suggest that it's a good idea to put the md5 sum in the version. I couldn't agree more. In these days of rip-offs and trojans, you can't be too careful. I haven't been doing this with dml2xml2004 just yet, but it should become standard in one of the upcoming 3 1/2 releases.
2) Others might think that based on the way debian does things, you might want to put "stable" or "unstable". With all due respect to the folks at debian, I personally find this overkill.
Okay, you've got your x.0 release. These are for major releases of the software. 1.0, 2.0, etc.
Then you've got your x.x.0 release. Basically, you subdivide your release schedule according to the major tasks needed to get there. So, for instance, if you're creating a video player, 0.1.0 would be to get something proof-of-concept running some basic video codec. 0.2.0 would be for major GUI additions, 0.3.0 would be for extra codeces, etc. These should adhere to a strict roadmap.
Next, you've got the x.x.x release. So, let's say that you're at the GUI stage above, if you've added the player buttons, you're at 0.1.1 (0.2.0 should be reserved for completion of the GUI stage -- are you writing this down?). A menu means 0.1.2, a status bar, 0.1.3 etc. Once more, this should also adhere strictly to the roadmap.
However, you might run into situations where a bug might creep up, and you want to do an extra release between x.x.x releases. This is where you incorporate the a/b/c etc. releases -- for minor changes that occur between the smallest parts of the roadmap. So, if you had an eject button that wasn't working, and you wanted to fix that before moving onto the menu bar, you release 0.1.1a. Small video glitch that arose because of this? 0.1.1b.
But then there are situations in which, well, if you're like myself and consider CVS use to be a waste of time, you'll need to upload release candidates on the above. Hence, the need for a "_rc" suffix. So, if you're checking to see if the fix you made to the eject button is working, you'll have to upload 0.1.1a_rc. If someone wants to add a small change, you get 0.1.1a_rc2, and so on. You might find it easier to add the initials of the developer just so you know who is doing what. So, a 0.1.1a_rc2_fg might not be out of the question.
(By the way, it's a good time to mention that it's best to have any project you're working on include the year that it was started. Why? Just because. Trust me. With all the projects out there right now anyway, we're starting to have to recycle names. So anyway, we're working on vid2004-0.1.1a_rc2_fg at this point.)
Now, and most developers will agree with me on this, every now and then you're going to get sick of the roadmap and want to deviate from it. Maybe add a feature or something ahead of time, just because you find that more motivating than doing extra testing on some module that's probably going to be obsolete by version 0.3.4a_rc3_fg_rt anyway. For these special instances, a descriptive "_plus" is in order.
If you want to see this versioning system in action, check out the latest release of my own project: dml2xml2004-0.4.12aq_plus_rc3.5_a_mdc_ls.tar.gz.
What? Too confusing you say? Just try it. I've found that all three users of my project have no trouble following this extremely clear numbering system.
Netscape's name-brand recognition among the great uneducated masses of Internet users might actually convince millions of otherwise-competent people to use this abomination.
The old Netscape might have been junk. This new Netscape might also be junk. But who the heck cares? You don't need to like the smell of manure to appreciate roses at the flower shop.
Netscape's decision once upon a time to release the source code gave us an excellent browser. The license for that browser is such that anybody can take it and release their own abomination, so if Netscape itself wants to do that, more power to them.
Debian is about to get some major exposure in Asia according to a report.
Debian to be Marketed to Japan and China
Meanwhile, Korea wonders if it should use its powers of invisibility for good or evil...
Last I heard, the only proper way to spell Japanese words was in Japanese. Ditto for Chinese and Korean.
Romanization rules are frequently nebulous, and for good reason. Seoul, for instance, is often pronounced like "soul" in English, because people looking at the romanization don't realize that there are actually two syllables in the city's name.
When are they actually going to do a portal page?
I don't know if I'll switch off my.yahoo just yet because of the services that it has built in and the amount of traffic my email gets, but conceivably it makes a lot of sense for them to do this.