Does anyone know if this includes the OS/2 version? That last OS/2 version of StarOffice was 5.1, but all the press releases talk about is 5.2 and 6.0. --
A lot of people say that releasing this information won't deter cell phone usage. That's not the point. What WILL happen is that manufacturers will try to develop cell phones that emit less radiation than their competitors. The above list will then become:
I find that opening my 8600 is way easier than closing it! There's some kind of spring-latch that doesn't really snap when you shut it, so you're not sure if it's fully closed.
But then with OS/2, and the bits n pieces IBM put in for the sake of Windows emulation, there's less work to be done
Not true.
If you're talking about Open32, the Win32 compatibility layer that's part of Warp 4, it is not used in Project Odin. It used to be used, but the Odin developers wrote their own (or grabbed stuff from Wine, probably a combination of both).
and native operating system features that can be utilised.
If you're trying to say that OS/2 is a lot like Windows anyway, that it's easier to support, then I'm not sure I'd agree. For one thing, (0,0) on OS/2 is in the lower-left corner (where it's supposed to be), but in Win32 it's in the upper-left corner.
Project Odin is basically Wine on OS/2. I think there's a lot of Wine code in Odin, but from what I've heard, Odin surpassed Wine in Win32 compatibility a long time ago.
Plus, OS/2 already runs DOS and Windows 3.1 apps better than any other OS out there. It runs XFree86 and several *nix apps have already been ported to OS/2 (Gimp, Apache, MySQL, and thousands more). Not only that, but Everblue is working on adding Linux compatibility to OS/2.
It looks to me like Project Odin is far more interesting than Wine. All of this awesome work being done every day for OS/2 is the reason why I still use it.
About three weeks ago, I submitted a story just like this one about a very similar product from HeartSoft. Of course, Slashdot rejected it. Duh!!!
Anyway, the product is called Internet Safari, and it's a web browser (I guess some hacked up version of IE) that includes a image analysis filter. My guess is that it does the same thing as eyeguard.
The hardware group is the only group that's not a threat to anyone. In fact, it's a group that really is innovative and does not have a monopoly. Ironically, it's the most innovative part of the company, and it has the least integration.
If the rest of company behaved like the hardware company, they wouldn't be in this mess (and neither would the rest of the computer industry that depends on them).
I know that's the intent, but I can easily see some Windows ISV complaining that such-and-such API needs to stay because they don't want to update their app to use the new API.
Just look at Mac OS X's "Carbon" API - a subset of the Mac OS API that works under a true multi-threaded, etc OS. If Apple didn't define the Carbon API, Mac OS X would not be possible, because some of these older Mac OS APIs are just not compatible with OS X.
I sure hope MS doesn't read this comment and use it in their appeal. Message to all Microsoft employees: I think you suck, and I'm looking forward to your company breaking apart!
Microsoft shall not take any action that it knows will interfere with or degrade the performance of any non-Microsoft Middleware when interoperating with any Windows Operating System Product
So that means that MS cannot update the kernel in such a way as make any API obsolete or perform worse if any Windows apps still use it? How many times has a Linux kernel API been removed or "downgraded" because of a change in the way the kernel works? In these cases, a new API is created, and everyone is told to use the new API instead of the old (I think cli() vs. spin_lock_irqsave() is a good example). It looks like MS can't do this, which means the Win32 API is going to stagnate.
Not that this is a bad thing, IMHO, because I've always thought the Win32 API was too much of a moving target, and anything that makes Windows stagnant is a good thing.:-)
One thing I never understood is why MS cared so much about Netscape. What difference did it make to them if some of their users installed Navigator used it to surf the web? I think MS could easily have created IE and integrated it into Windows if they had only left Netscape alone and let OEMs pre-install Navigator. MS could have continued to use IE for their own purposes (e.g. the online "HTML" help), and continued to evolve the browser to something the user would want to use.
Did MS really think they could control the HTML standard if Netscape were crushed?!?!
BTW, the original subject for my comment was "Yes!!!!!!!!!" but for some reason Slashdot thought I had ASCII art and aborted my post. Someone needs to tell the editors that the subject line is too small to hold ASCII art.
I'll bet 90% of the population doesn't really grok the concept of a software license.
How can they? Software licenses don't "look" like other licenses, like renting an apartment or leasing a car. Software licenses don't have a built-in expiration (now there's a novel idea!), so people "buy" the software, take it home, and use it without much afterthought. There are still people out there using software from the mid 80's, happily computing away like they have been for 15 years.
When you rent an apartment, you have to sign a multitude of forms, and it's very obvious to everyone that you're only allowed to live there until your lease expires (typically 12 months). You have to pay every month, and your rent usually goes up when you renew your lease (which isn't always an option - sometimes the landlord wants to kick you out!).
Software is completely different. You plunk down a chunk of money, and with the exception of the Y2K bug, as long as you don't change your hardware or OS, you can use that software for decades, and no one can stop you.
I'm amazed about how few people know Visual SlickEdit. It is an amazing editor, and yes, it has some BRIEF compatibility. However, that's not it's strong point. It's very cross-platform (well, no Mac version, and the OS/2 version stops at 4.0), but mostly it's extremely powerful and configurable. You just have no idea how awesome this editor is until you've used it a couple weeks.
Unfortunately, it's closed-source and rather expensive. But I wouldn't use anything else.
Isn't the point to learn the material rather than to keep a seat warm? If the student doesn't show, but learns his stuff and passes the test, congratulations!
Obviously, you've never taught a class.
It's extremely frustrating and disheartening if your class attendance is poor. It's one thing if only a few people sign up for a class - you know how many there are and you can plan accordingly. It's quite another when you spend hours or days preparing for a class, expecting a bunch of people, and only a few show up. It means that even though you made the effort to make the class a worthwhile experience, most people thought it was a waste of time.
For the end user, it's irrelevant that the content (the crack or the mp3) is hosted elsewhere.
I strongly disagree with this. God help us all if this were ever to come true.
It is extremely important that everyone who surfs the web understand that the location of the files they request, directly or indirectly is relevant. It doesn't matter if you really know where the file is coming from, as long as you understand that it may be from somewhere other than you think.
Not all regular Slashdot readers use Linux (I don't), but I think I can safely say one thing about us all: we are all troubled by uneducated Internet users. I believe it is our responsibility to fight the good fight: try to educate as many people on how the Internet really works. For instance, here's a list of things people should know:
Spam is bad
Privacy is important
Strong encryption should be allowed and used
Use a firewall
Read the FAQ first
Understand that when you access a web page, the location of the content is just as important as the content itself.
Maybe we should make up a Contitution Of The Internet or something like that.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that as soon as you start saying in a public forum that Joe Blow Internet User doesn't care about the location of files he downloads, someone will use that as evidence that it's true.
Most profs have been teaching for years, if not decades. Why should they start using the newsgroups? It's hard enough to get students to come to class, so most professors want to make sure that the students have reason to come to class. If you start using newsgroups, then there will be less incentive for a student to show up, since he can get quite a bit of info from the newsgroup instead.
For instance, he could show up in class only when there will be tests. That wouldn't be the case if he had to go to class to find out when the tests are (ok, it's a weak example, but I still think it proves my point).
When it comes to things like credit cards, there's always a trade-off between convenience and security.
My wife and I both use one credit card for the bulk of our purchases. Actually, we have separate physical cards, but the account number is the same. The name and the signature on the cards are different. However, if I give my card to a clerk, and he gives me a receipt for my signature, my wife can sign it. Is that secure? Not really. But it's damn convenient.
It's all a question of where you draw the line. There have been instances where the lack of security has been a boon. I've been able to order computer hardware for my parents simply by having them give me the CC number and date. That's not secure, IMHO. If CC's were truly secure, I would not be able to do that.
But how do you make e-commerce transactions truly more secure? Adding more numbers or passwords doesn't help - it still lets other people make purchases. You could use biometric scanners, but that's a nightmare of its own, and it's still information being sent over the wire (you could copy the biometric data and retransmit it yourself).
How about limiting CC transactions from one IP address? Or having some kind of special key encoded in the computer (can we say Pentium serial number)? We all know these are bad ideas.
The truth is, there isn't anything you can really do to make CC's more secure over the Internet. The most you can do is make it more inconvenient for everyone. I get the feeling that some people equate less convenient with more secure.
So you might say that it's safer to only purchase items in a store. Well, who says the clerk behind the counter is any more trustworthy than a web site and 128-bit encryption?
The CC companies will reimburse customers for bogus transactions. But because e-commerce is so insecure, they think their risk is too high. So they're sharing the the burden with the vendors, and I think that's fair. If you're a vendor with greater than 1.5% returns, then you have bigger problems than the financial penalty. You either have a major security hole, or your products suck.
Apple mice have only one button (or in this case, "button"), so there is no right or left.
What concerns me is that I like to rest my hand on the mouse while I'm pushing it around. Squeezing the mouse requires a lot more mussle flexing than just pushing a button. Not only that, but it can disrupt movement. Just try it: move the mouse pointer to various parts of the screen and squeeze the sides of your mouse. It's disconcerting.
I suggest that everyone send email to Stacy Elliot asking her how she feels about Microsoft's infringement of the trademark "Digital Diva"? After all, that's what MS is calling her, so wouldn't you feel bad if your nickname was a trademark infringement?
I was in your exact situation a couple years ago. I bought a PowerMac 8600/300 for my wife, but I bought a third-party monitor. In fact, I don't have ANY external or additional internal devices from Apple, and I've made the same kind of upgrades that you're planning. The Macintosh has come a long way in using standard components. There are limits, of course, but here's a list of some things that work:
Normally, PCI cards don't work. The BIOS in most cards is x86 code, so it won't get executed in a Mac. Sometimes, there is a Mac driver which makes up for that. For instance, I was able to take a Diamond Monster 3D (Voodoo 1) video card, stick it in my PowerMac 8600, download some generic Voodoo 1 drivers, and it worked. In most cases, however, you need to have a Mac version of the card, especially for things like SCSI cards that let you boot devices.
Newer macs use USB for most devices, so printers, scanners, external USB drives, etc will work, often without the need for drivers (Macs are generally much better than PC's at supporting hardware without the need for installing drivers). However, you must make sure that your USB device is Mac compatible. That may mean a visit to the manufacturer's web site to find out if there are drivers.
Monitors and hard drives work without a hitch. I never buy Apple hard drives or monitors. In fact, since Macs now use PC video cards, they're even pin compatible (you used to have to buy a VGA-MAC converter). And any SCSI or IDE drive (depending on which Mac you have) will work.
RAM is a little different. Any decent RAM vendor will carry DIMMs that work in Macs, but you should at the very least buy them from a vendor who KNOWS which DIMMs work in which Macs. I have been able to purchase memory at the lowest price for my Mac from a vendor who knows Macs, so you won't be paying more than you have to. Other posters have said that standard PC100 memory will work fine, and I have no reason to think that it won't.
The only options you want to consider are an internal Zip and DVD drives, since they make better internal than external devices. The internal Zip is unfortunately only 100MB. You may also want to get an external 1.44MB floppy compatible device, like an Imation SuperDisk.
To avoid repeating other posts, I just want to say that the moderated posts from SmittyTheBold, Cadre, Que_Ball, and leejor are all excellent.
Road Runner Austin's policy has somewhat changed. They don't allow anonymous servers, which means you can't run a web server or anonymous ftp server. You can run any server you want, as long as you need a password to access it. So you can run a telnet daemon, or an ftp server with no anonymous login, or even a web server if you require a login.
Also, a lot of people DO run public servers, but they configure their firewall to block the port scanning from RR. There are a couple of IP addresses that RR uses to scan systems, so all you need to do is block those addresses. Technically, you're violating the agreement, but as long as the load is light, no one will notice.
I have to disagree with many of the other posters - I've found that web sites with CSS often render poorly with my browser. I'm in favor of simplified HTML that lets the browser do most of the formatting. So what if the colors are bad? A preferences panel for color choices will take care of that. There's no reason to make major changes to Slashcode.
My 8600 is an established system with lots of memory, several SCSI devices, and a huge SCSI hard drive. I couldn't just get a new G4, I'd have to spend $1000+ in upgrades to make it as capable. And even if I did get one, I'd still keep the 8600 as a backup computer (our business runs on Mac technology). Besides, I could always transfer the Voodoo 5 to my G4 and use it in a dual-monitor setup.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post is that there is a petition that asks Apple to include AGP Voodoo 4/5 cards as a build-to-order (BTO) option for G4's. If you're a Mac user, I strongly suggest you sign the petition. We all know that ATI's monopoly on Mac video doesn't encourage them to make good drivers.
It is if you are a Macintosh user. The Voodoo 4 and 5 boards blow away anything else available for the Mac. Granted, some Macs can't take the boards because they don't have any free PCI slots (a big problem in the Mac world), but I have a PowerMac 8600/300 for which the Voodoo 5 5500 PCI is perfect. I'm more than happy to pay the $350 for that card.
What does it mean for one number to be equal to another number? Well, if x = y, then x - y = 0. In this case, what's 1 - 0.9999999999999...? The answer is 0.000000000000....(infinite number of 0's). Since 0.000000000.... = 0, they are indeed the same number.
Actually, there's a much easier to understand proof that 0.999... is equal to 1. What's 1/9? 0.111111.... What's 2/9? 0.22222.... So what's 9/9? 0.999999..... Of course, 9/9 is 1.
Now that I understand these systems better, it appears that OS/2 cannot work on them because of the NUMA architecture. OS/2's kernel would have to be updated to support NUMA, and that's not going to happen.
Slashdot Mirror
Does anyone know if this includes the OS/2 version? That last OS/2 version of StarOffice was 5.1, but all the press releases talk about is 5.2 and 6.0.
--
- size
- weight
- battery life
- features
A lot of people say that releasing this information won't deter cell phone usage. That's not the point. What WILL happen is that manufacturers will try to develop cell phones that emit less radiation than their competitors. The above list will then become:--
--
Not true.
If you're talking about Open32, the Win32 compatibility layer that's part of Warp 4, it is not used in Project Odin. It used to be used, but the Odin developers wrote their own (or grabbed stuff from Wine, probably a combination of both).
and native operating system features that can be utilised.
If you're trying to say that OS/2 is a lot like Windows anyway, that it's easier to support, then I'm not sure I'd agree. For one thing, (0,0) on OS/2 is in the lower-left corner (where it's supposed to be), but in Win32 it's in the upper-left corner.
--
--
Plus, OS/2 already runs DOS and Windows 3.1 apps better than any other OS out there. It runs XFree86 and several *nix apps have already been ported to OS/2 (Gimp, Apache, MySQL, and thousands more). Not only that, but Everblue is working on adding Linux compatibility to OS/2.
It looks to me like Project Odin is far more interesting than Wine. All of this awesome work being done every day for OS/2 is the reason why I still use it.
--
--
Anyway, the product is called Internet Safari, and it's a web browser (I guess some hacked up version of IE) that includes a image analysis filter. My guess is that it does the same thing as eyeguard.
If the rest of company behaved like the hardware company, they wouldn't be in this mess (and neither would the rest of the computer industry that depends on them).
Just look at Mac OS X's "Carbon" API - a subset of the Mac OS API that works under a true multi-threaded, etc OS. If Apple didn't define the Carbon API, Mac OS X would not be possible, because some of these older Mac OS APIs are just not compatible with OS X.
I sure hope MS doesn't read this comment and use it in their appeal. Message to all Microsoft employees: I think you suck, and I'm looking forward to your company breaking apart!
So that means that MS cannot update the kernel in such a way as make any API obsolete or perform worse if any Windows apps still use it? How many times has a Linux kernel API been removed or "downgraded" because of a change in the way the kernel works? In these cases, a new API is created, and everyone is told to use the new API instead of the old (I think cli() vs. spin_lock_irqsave() is a good example). It looks like MS can't do this, which means the Win32 API is going to stagnate.
Not that this is a bad thing, IMHO, because I've always thought the Win32 API was too much of a moving target, and anything that makes Windows stagnant is a good thing. :-)
One thing I never understood is why MS cared so much about Netscape. What difference did it make to them if some of their users installed Navigator used it to surf the web? I think MS could easily have created IE and integrated it into Windows if they had only left Netscape alone and let OEMs pre-install Navigator. MS could have continued to use IE for their own purposes (e.g. the online "HTML" help), and continued to evolve the browser to something the user would want to use.
Did MS really think they could control the HTML standard if Netscape were crushed?!?!
BTW, the original subject for my comment was "Yes!!!!!!!!!" but for some reason Slashdot thought I had ASCII art and aborted my post. Someone needs to tell the editors that the subject line is too small to hold ASCII art.
How can they? Software licenses don't "look" like other licenses, like renting an apartment or leasing a car. Software licenses don't have a built-in expiration (now there's a novel idea!), so people "buy" the software, take it home, and use it without much afterthought. There are still people out there using software from the mid 80's, happily computing away like they have been for 15 years.
When you rent an apartment, you have to sign a multitude of forms, and it's very obvious to everyone that you're only allowed to live there until your lease expires (typically 12 months). You have to pay every month, and your rent usually goes up when you renew your lease (which isn't always an option - sometimes the landlord wants to kick you out!).
Software is completely different. You plunk down a chunk of money, and with the exception of the Y2K bug, as long as you don't change your hardware or OS, you can use that software for decades, and no one can stop you.
I'm amazed about how few people know Visual SlickEdit. It is an amazing editor, and yes, it has some BRIEF compatibility. However, that's not it's strong point. It's very cross-platform (well, no Mac version, and the OS/2 version stops at 4.0), but mostly it's extremely powerful and configurable. You just have no idea how awesome this editor is until you've used it a couple weeks.
Unfortunately, it's closed-source and rather expensive. But I wouldn't use anything else.
Obviously, you've never taught a class.
It's extremely frustrating and disheartening if your class attendance is poor. It's one thing if only a few people sign up for a class - you know how many there are and you can plan accordingly. It's quite another when you spend hours or days preparing for a class, expecting a bunch of people, and only a few show up. It means that even though you made the effort to make the class a worthwhile experience, most people thought it was a waste of time.
I strongly disagree with this. God help us all if this were ever to come true.
It is extremely important that everyone who surfs the web understand that the location of the files they request, directly or indirectly is relevant. It doesn't matter if you really know where the file is coming from, as long as you understand that it may be from somewhere other than you think.
Not all regular Slashdot readers use Linux (I don't), but I think I can safely say one thing about us all: we are all troubled by uneducated Internet users. I believe it is our responsibility to fight the good fight: try to educate as many people on how the Internet really works. For instance, here's a list of things people should know:
Maybe we should make up a Contitution Of The Internet or something like that.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that as soon as you start saying in a public forum that Joe Blow Internet User doesn't care about the location of files he downloads, someone will use that as evidence that it's true.
For instance, he could show up in class only when there will be tests. That wouldn't be the case if he had to go to class to find out when the tests are (ok, it's a weak example, but I still think it proves my point).
My wife and I both use one credit card for the bulk of our purchases. Actually, we have separate physical cards, but the account number is the same. The name and the signature on the cards are different. However, if I give my card to a clerk, and he gives me a receipt for my signature, my wife can sign it. Is that secure? Not really. But it's damn convenient.
It's all a question of where you draw the line. There have been instances where the lack of security has been a boon. I've been able to order computer hardware for my parents simply by having them give me the CC number and date. That's not secure, IMHO. If CC's were truly secure, I would not be able to do that.
But how do you make e-commerce transactions truly more secure? Adding more numbers or passwords doesn't help - it still lets other people make purchases. You could use biometric scanners, but that's a nightmare of its own, and it's still information being sent over the wire (you could copy the biometric data and retransmit it yourself).
How about limiting CC transactions from one IP address? Or having some kind of special key encoded in the computer (can we say Pentium serial number)? We all know these are bad ideas.
The truth is, there isn't anything you can really do to make CC's more secure over the Internet. The most you can do is make it more inconvenient for everyone. I get the feeling that some people equate less convenient with more secure.
So you might say that it's safer to only purchase items in a store. Well, who says the clerk behind the counter is any more trustworthy than a web site and 128-bit encryption?
The CC companies will reimburse customers for bogus transactions. But because e-commerce is so insecure, they think their risk is too high. So they're sharing the the burden with the vendors, and I think that's fair. If you're a vendor with greater than 1.5% returns, then you have bigger problems than the financial penalty. You either have a major security hole, or your products suck.
What concerns me is that I like to rest my hand on the mouse while I'm pushing it around. Squeezing the mouse requires a lot more mussle flexing than just pushing a button. Not only that, but it can disrupt movement. Just try it: move the mouse pointer to various parts of the screen and squeeze the sides of your mouse. It's disconcerting.
I suggest that everyone send email to Stacy Elliot asking her how she feels about Microsoft's infringement of the trademark "Digital Diva"? After all, that's what MS is calling her, so wouldn't you feel bad if your nickname was a trademark infringement?
- Normally, PCI cards don't work. The BIOS in most cards is x86 code, so it won't get executed in a Mac. Sometimes, there is a Mac driver which makes up for that. For instance, I was able to take a Diamond Monster 3D (Voodoo 1) video card, stick it in my PowerMac 8600, download some generic Voodoo 1 drivers, and it worked. In most cases, however, you need to have a Mac version of the card, especially for things like SCSI cards that let you boot devices.
- Newer macs use USB for most devices, so printers, scanners, external USB drives, etc will work, often without the need for drivers (Macs are generally much better than PC's at supporting hardware without the need for installing drivers). However, you must make sure that your USB device is Mac compatible. That may mean a visit to the manufacturer's web site to find out if there are drivers.
- Monitors and hard drives work without a hitch. I never buy Apple hard drives or monitors. In fact, since Macs now use PC video cards, they're even pin compatible (you used to have to buy a VGA-MAC converter). And any SCSI or IDE drive (depending on which Mac you have) will work.
- RAM is a little different. Any decent RAM vendor will carry DIMMs that work in Macs, but you should at the very least buy them from a vendor who KNOWS which DIMMs work in which Macs. I have been able to purchase memory at the lowest price for my Mac from a vendor who knows Macs, so you won't be paying more than you have to. Other posters have said that standard PC100 memory will work fine, and I have no reason to think that it won't.
The only options you want to consider are an internal Zip and DVD drives, since they make better internal than external devices. The internal Zip is unfortunately only 100MB. You may also want to get an external 1.44MB floppy compatible device, like an Imation SuperDisk.To avoid repeating other posts, I just want to say that the moderated posts from SmittyTheBold, Cadre, Que_Ball, and leejor are all excellent.
Road Runner Austin's policy has somewhat changed. They don't allow anonymous servers, which means you can't run a web server or anonymous ftp server. You can run any server you want, as long as you need a password to access it. So you can run a telnet daemon, or an ftp server with no anonymous login, or even a web server if you require a login.
Also, a lot of people DO run public servers, but they configure their firewall to block the port scanning from RR. There are a couple of IP addresses that RR uses to scan systems, so all you need to do is block those addresses. Technically, you're violating the agreement, but as long as the load is light, no one will notice.
I have to disagree with many of the other posters - I've found that web sites with CSS often render poorly with my browser. I'm in favor of simplified HTML that lets the browser do most of the formatting. So what if the colors are bad? A preferences panel for color choices will take care of that. There's no reason to make major changes to Slashcode.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post is that there is a petition that asks Apple to include AGP Voodoo 4/5 cards as a build-to-order (BTO) option for G4's. If you're a Mac user, I strongly suggest you sign the petition. We all know that ATI's monopoly on Mac video doesn't encourage them to make good drivers.
It is if you are a Macintosh user. The Voodoo 4 and 5 boards blow away anything else available for the Mac. Granted, some Macs can't take the boards because they don't have any free PCI slots (a big problem in the Mac world), but I have a PowerMac 8600/300 for which the Voodoo 5 5500 PCI is perfect. I'm more than happy to pay the $350 for that card.
Actually, there's a much easier to understand proof that 0.999... is equal to 1. What's 1/9? 0.111111.... What's 2/9? 0.22222.... So what's 9/9? 0.999999..... Of course, 9/9 is 1.
Now that I understand these systems better, it appears that OS/2 cannot work on them because of the NUMA architecture. OS/2's kernel would have to be updated to support NUMA, and that's not going to happen.