I have to disagree, firefox never runs as root because linux users almost without exception do not browse the best when they log in as root. Linux programs are designed you can get all features without being root. Windows programs are not.
Thus in theory you are right. In practice though, Linux users are never logged in as root, while Windows users always are.
Seriously, I want Microsoft to bring it on. You see I don't care if anyone else is running their stuff, I don't want to care. However I have to care everytime I try to write a nice web site, because IE can't get things right. If Microsoft were competing a on a W3C checklist, at least their browser would work.
At work we have concluded it would be cheaper to port Konqueror to Windows than to work around all the IE bugs! (Konqueror seems to support the CSS we are using better than firefox, though it isn't much work to make our site work with firefox)
No, it would be best to open the stock market once every 5 years[1]! These are companies you are buying, not paper. They have value for fundamental reasons, not because the stars are stacked a different way today.
I suppose I should say anything, traders like you are what give students of Benjamin Graham the extra boost to our portfolio in the long run.
[1]Warren Buffet, second richest man in the world (these positions vary from time to time of course) said this. Though I don't recall the extact timeframe he said. He made all his money as a trader. He was Benjamin Graham's most successfull student.
Many windows developers have never considered the idea that all the world isn't the latest version of Windows running on a 386. (That pointers are the same size as integers, and you have little endian machines) They might have gone for SSE or some such 3d extention, but only if they need it.
Unix developers tend to target more machines. This results in a lot of little assumptions they get right. They are likely to have played with several different windowing APIs. (Often starting with Motif, but certainly qt, GTK, and WxWidgets) This results in a code style that is flexable in the face of different machines. It is also more expensive to develop simple software like this. (though because it is well designed,complex software that can't crash is cheaper. Most people don't need this level from their applications)
Windows developers tend start from VB, which in itself ruins any chance of ever becoming a good programmer because it encourages bad habits. Even when they are good, they have not had to deal with the issues that come up when your machines are not all the same family of CPU, with the same API, so they don't make design choices that allow for those differences. This results in most of their code not being as stable (though there is no obvious connection between the two).
Thus Windows developers have more trouble crossing over to Unix, than Unix developers have crossing to Windows. Note however that either direction is painful and difficult. Add in that many Windows developers are not any good to begin with (though there are many bad Unix developers as well), and it is easy to see why there would be problems.
Wine is full of linuxisms. It works on other systems, but only so long as you stay away from a lot of corners, and don't stress it. The lead developer of Wine himself will tell you that linux on x86 is the only platform they target, and it isn't worth their money (Code Weavers - his employer) to make it work on anything else.
Wine has been completely broken for months at a time on FreeBSD, less popular OSes will have even more problems. They will accept patches to fix Wine on other OSes, but they have no problem accepting a patch one hour latter that breaks non-linux all over again, so it is a frustrating task.
Now OSX might be worth the cost - particularly if Apple has some money to help it along. However it is not a trivial effort to make everything work right. Years of effort most likely.
Even then, Wine applications will always look wrong on a mac desktop. The menu bar will be on the menu, and other details. Useable, but must like OpenOffice.org is useable on the Mac - nobody will like it, but they use it when they must.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of Wine. I wouldn't be surprise to see it run under OSX. However don't expect too much from it.
That wasn't enough. I worked on many systems that seemed to work fine when you did that, but still failed in subtile ways. Often the failure wasn't even noticed! We are not talking crashes here, we are talking about data. You might not notice that your lease payments are not going out - they disappear in rounding errors on your bottom line. Your land lord will notice though.
You mean you don't test on anything other than what stopped you last year? When I test my code (which doesn't run cars across deserts) I create every situation I can think of to see what will happen. (This includes everything someone else has told me about that I remember/wrote down)
You know where you failed. You know where your peers failed. You test for that. Then you test it again, because it might be luck that got you by. Then you build your own playground and start testing. I know of many miles of trails to test on. From minimum maintenance roads (the township has them on the map, but they don't send trucks down it most years), to deer paths (which may not be legal to travel). Don't forget all the jeep meets, which are held in places where driving is hard - you go the week before/after and see what happens.
Of course it will be years before you get all the glitches out. However you can work out enough that you can finish, if not this year, next. (I think this year is a little too aggressive, though you should make a good showing, you will know of many bugs in the system that you pray don't strike)
In fact I would expect two batteries, a large main one. When that runs out you have the spare, which is large enough for all the decompression needed. (Actually I'd expect three, one big one for normal diving, one backup for decompression, and a spare just in case battery life whims mean the second isn't big enough for decompression.
What do I know though, I'm not a diver. I've used scuba gear to try it, but only in water I can stand up in.
And they continue to doom them to an unintuitive and hard to use double click because they refuse to ship a two button mouse. (3 would be better yet) Every try to teach someone how to double click? It is hard, particularly when the subject is arthritic an cannot move his joints fast. Not to mention how hard it is to click without moving the mouse a little. I know people who after years of using the mac still cannot consistently double click on an icon.
There are other things I don't like about the mac interface. However this is the only thing that is clearly a mistake. The rest is debatable.
Wine is getter better all the time. There are efforts to separate the presentation from the rest of the API. (reactOS for example) So in theory Apple could pay someone to just to the presentation layer, and have the rest of Wine. Considering the 2 year time frame, Wine might even reach 1.0 by then. (Last I checked, they had lowered the target for Wine 1.0 to just under a year an a half, down from a full year and a half for the last 10+ years)
Many games do run on Wine, and the directX layer is getting a lot of work.
I wouldn't be surprise if Microsoft started supporting OpenFirmware, and got a few manufactures to do so as well. It would make some things easier for Microsoft.
Even if Microsoft doesn't, don't be surprised to see something (though it might never get beyond proof of concept) that emulates BIOS calls on open firmware.
Those masses of people do not contradict the claim that they are a minority. They are just well organized.
If everyone in New York would suddenly agree (as if they could agree) to protest it would be a crowd a couple orders of magnitude the size of those protests you are talking about. Yet it would still be a tiny minority of the US, much less the world.
Though I have no idea if they really are a minority. From the news I hear though
Much as slashdot hates patents, the purpose is to protect you from someone stealing your hard work. If knowing your interface would help me design a device that competes with you, (though there are good arguments that it wouldn't, lets accept that as a fact for this post) then you should patent the device to protect yourself. Patents are public disclosure, and give you all the protection you need. If it would help me compete with you, then you have nothing to gain by hiding your interfaces, so publish them.
In short, not publishing your interface is not a valid way to protect them.
Actually I do email my self once in a while. When I decide to run to a store on my lunch break I'm best off sending an email from my home account to my work account. (why make a special trip for something I don't need tonight when the store is right next to where I eat lunch) I could write a list, but if I don't put it in my pocket the next morning I won't know what I needed. (besides, it is easier for me to type list than to hand write it)
Email doesn't forget (barring a rare system crash) until I tell it to. Email is always there - with webmail I can check my email nearly everywhere, so there is no excuse "unable to read the list".
True a PDA would do most of these tasks better, but I don't have a PDA. I have email.
Apparently all your co-workers come from the same generally area as you. However the guy who works in the cube next to me comes from Pakistan. He is a good developer, but his accent makes him hard to understand. It is often easier to use email than person to person communication with him, because I can read email. (I've had to work with some folks who I needed to read and re-read to understand, his grasp of English is good enough that I don't have to go that far)
When my co-workers all speak with a Iowa accent, face to face communication is easier than email. When they have a southern accent email is better. Most other accents of English are only slightly less understandable than my own. This is related to where I live and work, southerners tend to have as much trouble understanding me as I do them.
Voting is in the constitution - all states MUST have a republic form of government. I don't think this applies to federal office, but for state level offices you must be able to vote for your representatives.
If they want to protect their device, than they should get a patent on it. Patents are the best protection for a device you can get, they allow you to tell everyone how your device works, and yet still be the only one who makes money selling it.
If they don't want patent protection, then they obviously do not care that anyone can make the device. So they should have no problem giving away the specifications to the court.
Most people are like me: buy a few games a year and that is it. When I get a game I expect it to be good because I'm stuck with it. (Returning a game is hard after you open it, not to mention the hassle of a special trip back to the store)
I cannot afford a copy of every game made this year. Even if I could I do not have enough free time to play them. So I buy games that I can trust because earlier versions have been good. I wouldn't mind an innovative game, but I don't like all types of games, and I don't want to make a mistake.
Over the years unions have earned a reputation for corruption by being corrupt. Unions insist on pay based only on years of service. Never mind that old Joe never was a good programmer, he has been around longer than me so he gets more. In fact Joe can goof off all day, the union won't allow him to be fired. (they will, but it is very difficult)
There are labor laws in place that did not exist back when unions started. Conditions are bad in many game development jobs, but they are because workers don't care. People would rather work 80 hours/week for very little and write games, than get paid a little more and work 40 hours/week, to write business applications. However if the game devs would just leave after 40 hours the company would find that there are laws that prevent anything from happening. (though of course they can make it unpleasant until you leave)
The CEO of our company tried to get us to work more hours, we just laughed, and continued to work just over 40/week. He has learned to settle for quality code in a reasonable amount of time. Only the game industry can afford the junk code that results in endless hours of hacking out code. (Games tend to be one offs, with no maintenance after the sale)
The game industry has more programmers than they need trying to get in. So it is no surprise that they can get away with a lot. In the rest of programming it is not that way. (At least not in any of the jobs I've ever had)
Sure there are not 10 Jim Careys, but there are millions of people who have moved to Hollywood over the years looking for their break, only to discover talent is not enough. Most of them have moved back home broke a few years latter. Of course there are many millions more who only thought they had talent, who have moved away too.
Once in a while someone makes it. However there is enough compitition that until you are big enough that they write scripts with you in mind, odds are against you getting into any movie you are qualified for. The person who beats you out may not be any more talented, and may be less - it is who you know and who you sleep with, just like every other job (careful, just like any other job offering to sleep with the boss may get you in, may be a non factor, or it may ruin your chances, depending on the boss's ethics)
If you must have Jim Careys' voice, then you have to have him. Be prepared to pay for it. (though you can often get a sound alike that is close enough) Most games do not need any particular voice. There are millions trying to get into acting, so you can choose any of the talented ones, and pay them little for a lot of work. Just like there are millions of developers trying to get into game programing, so they pay them little for a lot of work. (That is why I don't work in game programming)
Supply and demand applies to actors just as much as anyone else. Until you have a unique name that people know, and thus you are a supply of one, there are millions more waiting at the door.
The union needs to be very careful, because if things get too expensive companies will decide that the professional isn't worth it. They will pick some of the more talented staff (many already do this just because it is easier to pull someone from his desk when you want to make a change, than to call the actor back) and record their own. Maybe not as good, but good enough.
~20 years ago the fast food industry was getting beat up in every publication with any environmental side at all for their foam containers. So they switched to paper which isn't as good. (Foam insulates) I'm not sure that paper is cheaper, foam is cheap itself.
Crowbars work on metal crates. Metal bends nicely once you get the sharp point in a crack. It isn't as satisfying as popping nails from a wood crate, and it is much more work. (though I suppose you could design a fancy latch so you can pry a crate open)
Generally though you are better of with a wrench to remove the bolts holding the top on, or using a key (lock pick) to unlock it, depending on the crate design. Still a crow bar will work if you have the patience and muscle to use one.
That depends on which part(s) fail. Loosing the radio(s) or solar panel(s) would be a disaster that cannot be worked around.
Losing a drive motor might not be too big a deal - if there is one working on the other wheels. They just have to be more careful because less wheels would spin next time the terrain is touch. (I'm not sure how the rover is designed, but I would suspect that there is more than one motor, instead of a complex transmission, or 1 wheel drive)
There are many lesser failures that can be lived with. There are a number of experiments that it can run, if something needed for one experiment fails, the rest can still work just fine.
True, but you could do the same with a car if you were stuck. (though if you were stuck worse it might not work) However most people are not willing to spend a couple months getting unstuck, so they use other methods. Then too, most people have abilities that the rovers don't have.
You need to try some interactive fiction. You get mysteries, romance, collect the treasures, solve the word puzzle, and more. Normally in combination. Most IF is all about story these days, so there often is no puzzle as in the old days.
Despite advancements in GPUs, games from the 1970's played on a vt52 still have better graphics than anything else.
Slashdot Mirror
I have to disagree, firefox never runs as root because linux users almost without exception do not browse the best when they log in as root. Linux programs are designed you can get all features without being root. Windows programs are not.
Thus in theory you are right. In practice though, Linux users are never logged in as root, while Windows users always are.
Seriously, I want Microsoft to bring it on. You see I don't care if anyone else is running their stuff, I don't want to care. However I have to care everytime I try to write a nice web site, because IE can't get things right. If Microsoft were competing a on a W3C checklist, at least their browser would work.
At work we have concluded it would be cheaper to port Konqueror to Windows than to work around all the IE bugs! (Konqueror seems to support the CSS we are using better than firefox, though it isn't much work to make our site work with firefox)
No, it would be best to open the stock market once every 5 years[1]! These are companies you are buying, not paper. They have value for fundamental reasons, not because the stars are stacked a different way today.
I suppose I should say anything, traders like you are what give students of Benjamin Graham the extra boost to our portfolio in the long run.
[1]Warren Buffet, second richest man in the world (these positions vary from time to time of course) said this. Though I don't recall the extact timeframe he said. He made all his money as a trader. He was Benjamin Graham's most successfull student.
Many windows developers have never considered the idea that all the world isn't the latest version of Windows running on a 386. (That pointers are the same size as integers, and you have little endian machines) They might have gone for SSE or some such 3d extention, but only if they need it.
Unix developers tend to target more machines. This results in a lot of little assumptions they get right. They are likely to have played with several different windowing APIs. (Often starting with Motif, but certainly qt, GTK, and WxWidgets) This results in a code style that is flexable in the face of different machines. It is also more expensive to develop simple software like this. (though because it is well designed,complex software that can't crash is cheaper. Most people don't need this level from their applications)
Windows developers tend start from VB, which in itself ruins any chance of ever becoming a good programmer because it encourages bad habits. Even when they are good, they have not had to deal with the issues that come up when your machines are not all the same family of CPU, with the same API, so they don't make design choices that allow for those differences. This results in most of their code not being as stable (though there is no obvious connection between the two).
Thus Windows developers have more trouble crossing over to Unix, than Unix developers have crossing to Windows. Note however that either direction is painful and difficult. Add in that many Windows developers are not any good to begin with (though there are many bad Unix developers as well), and it is easy to see why there would be problems.
Wine is full of linuxisms. It works on other systems, but only so long as you stay away from a lot of corners, and don't stress it. The lead developer of Wine himself will tell you that linux on x86 is the only platform they target, and it isn't worth their money (Code Weavers - his employer) to make it work on anything else.
Wine has been completely broken for months at a time on FreeBSD, less popular OSes will have even more problems. They will accept patches to fix Wine on other OSes, but they have no problem accepting a patch one hour latter that breaks non-linux all over again, so it is a frustrating task.
Now OSX might be worth the cost - particularly if Apple has some money to help it along. However it is not a trivial effort to make everything work right. Years of effort most likely.
Even then, Wine applications will always look wrong on a mac desktop. The menu bar will be on the menu, and other details. Useable, but must like OpenOffice.org is useable on the Mac - nobody will like it, but they use it when they must.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of Wine. I wouldn't be surprise to see it run under OSX. However don't expect too much from it.
That wasn't enough. I worked on many systems that seemed to work fine when you did that, but still failed in subtile ways. Often the failure wasn't even noticed! We are not talking crashes here, we are talking about data. You might not notice that your lease payments are not going out - they disappear in rounding errors on your bottom line. Your land lord will notice though.
You mean you don't test on anything other than what stopped you last year? When I test my code (which doesn't run cars across deserts) I create every situation I can think of to see what will happen. (This includes everything someone else has told me about that I remember/wrote down)
You know where you failed. You know where your peers failed. You test for that. Then you test it again, because it might be luck that got you by. Then you build your own playground and start testing. I know of many miles of trails to test on. From minimum maintenance roads (the township has them on the map, but they don't send trucks down it most years), to deer paths (which may not be legal to travel). Don't forget all the jeep meets, which are held in places where driving is hard - you go the week before/after and see what happens.
Of course it will be years before you get all the glitches out. However you can work out enough that you can finish, if not this year, next. (I think this year is a little too aggressive, though you should make a good showing, you will know of many bugs in the system that you pray don't strike)
In fact I would expect two batteries, a large main one. When that runs out you have the spare, which is large enough for all the decompression needed. (Actually I'd expect three, one big one for normal diving, one backup for decompression, and a spare just in case battery life whims mean the second isn't big enough for decompression.
What do I know though, I'm not a diver. I've used scuba gear to try it, but only in water I can stand up in.
And they continue to doom them to an unintuitive and hard to use double click because they refuse to ship a two button mouse. (3 would be better yet) Every try to teach someone how to double click? It is hard, particularly when the subject is arthritic an cannot move his joints fast. Not to mention how hard it is to click without moving the mouse a little. I know people who after years of using the mac still cannot consistently double click on an icon.
There are other things I don't like about the mac interface. However this is the only thing that is clearly a mistake. The rest is debatable.
Wine is getter better all the time. There are efforts to separate the presentation from the rest of the API. (reactOS for example) So in theory Apple could pay someone to just to the presentation layer, and have the rest of Wine. Considering the 2 year time frame, Wine might even reach 1.0 by then. (Last I checked, they had lowered the target for Wine 1.0 to just under a year an a half, down from a full year and a half for the last 10+ years)
Many games do run on Wine, and the directX layer is getting a lot of work.
I wouldn't be surprise if Microsoft started supporting OpenFirmware, and got a few manufactures to do so as well. It would make some things easier for Microsoft.
Even if Microsoft doesn't, don't be surprised to see something (though it might never get beyond proof of concept) that emulates BIOS calls on open firmware.
Those masses of people do not contradict the claim that they are a minority. They are just well organized.
If everyone in New York would suddenly agree (as if they could agree) to protest it would be a crowd a couple orders of magnitude the size of those protests you are talking about. Yet it would still be a tiny minority of the US, much less the world.
Though I have no idea if they really are a minority. From the news I hear though
Much as slashdot hates patents, the purpose is to protect you from someone stealing your hard work. If knowing your interface would help me design a device that competes with you, (though there are good arguments that it wouldn't, lets accept that as a fact for this post) then you should patent the device to protect yourself. Patents are public disclosure, and give you all the protection you need. If it would help me compete with you, then you have nothing to gain by hiding your interfaces, so publish them.
In short, not publishing your interface is not a valid way to protect them.
Actually I do email my self once in a while. When I decide to run to a store on my lunch break I'm best off sending an email from my home account to my work account. (why make a special trip for something I don't need tonight when the store is right next to where I eat lunch) I could write a list, but if I don't put it in my pocket the next morning I won't know what I needed. (besides, it is easier for me to type list than to hand write it)
Email doesn't forget (barring a rare system crash) until I tell it to. Email is always there - with webmail I can check my email nearly everywhere, so there is no excuse "unable to read the list".
True a PDA would do most of these tasks better, but I don't have a PDA. I have email.
Apparently all your co-workers come from the same generally area as you. However the guy who works in the cube next to me comes from Pakistan. He is a good developer, but his accent makes him hard to understand. It is often easier to use email than person to person communication with him, because I can read email. (I've had to work with some folks who I needed to read and re-read to understand, his grasp of English is good enough that I don't have to go that far)
When my co-workers all speak with a Iowa accent, face to face communication is easier than email. When they have a southern accent email is better. Most other accents of English are only slightly less understandable than my own. This is related to where I live and work, southerners tend to have as much trouble understanding me as I do them.
Voting is in the constitution - all states MUST have a republic form of government. I don't think this applies to federal office, but for state level offices you must be able to vote for your representatives.
If they want to protect their device, than they should get a patent on it. Patents are the best protection for a device you can get, they allow you to tell everyone how your device works, and yet still be the only one who makes money selling it.
If they don't want patent protection, then they obviously do not care that anyone can make the device. So they should have no problem giving away the specifications to the court.
Most people are like me: buy a few games a year and that is it. When I get a game I expect it to be good because I'm stuck with it. (Returning a game is hard after you open it, not to mention the hassle of a special trip back to the store)
I cannot afford a copy of every game made this year. Even if I could I do not have enough free time to play them. So I buy games that I can trust because earlier versions have been good. I wouldn't mind an innovative game, but I don't like all types of games, and I don't want to make a mistake.
Over the years unions have earned a reputation for corruption by being corrupt. Unions insist on pay based only on years of service. Never mind that old Joe never was a good programmer, he has been around longer than me so he gets more. In fact Joe can goof off all day, the union won't allow him to be fired. (they will, but it is very difficult)
There are labor laws in place that did not exist back when unions started. Conditions are bad in many game development jobs, but they are because workers don't care. People would rather work 80 hours/week for very little and write games, than get paid a little more and work 40 hours/week, to write business applications. However if the game devs would just leave after 40 hours the company would find that there are laws that prevent anything from happening. (though of course they can make it unpleasant until you leave)
The CEO of our company tried to get us to work more hours, we just laughed, and continued to work just over 40/week. He has learned to settle for quality code in a reasonable amount of time. Only the game industry can afford the junk code that results in endless hours of hacking out code. (Games tend to be one offs, with no maintenance after the sale)
The game industry has more programmers than they need trying to get in. So it is no surprise that they can get away with a lot. In the rest of programming it is not that way. (At least not in any of the jobs I've ever had)
Sure there are not 10 Jim Careys, but there are millions of people who have moved to Hollywood over the years looking for their break, only to discover talent is not enough. Most of them have moved back home broke a few years latter. Of course there are many millions more who only thought they had talent, who have moved away too.
Once in a while someone makes it. However there is enough compitition that until you are big enough that they write scripts with you in mind, odds are against you getting into any movie you are qualified for. The person who beats you out may not be any more talented, and may be less - it is who you know and who you sleep with, just like every other job (careful, just like any other job offering to sleep with the boss may get you in, may be a non factor, or it may ruin your chances, depending on the boss's ethics)
If you must have Jim Careys' voice, then you have to have him. Be prepared to pay for it. (though you can often get a sound alike that is close enough) Most games do not need any particular voice. There are millions trying to get into acting, so you can choose any of the talented ones, and pay them little for a lot of work. Just like there are millions of developers trying to get into game programing, so they pay them little for a lot of work. (That is why I don't work in game programming)
Supply and demand applies to actors just as much as anyone else. Until you have a unique name that people know, and thus you are a supply of one, there are millions more waiting at the door.
The union needs to be very careful, because if things get too expensive companies will decide that the professional isn't worth it. They will pick some of the more talented staff (many already do this just because it is easier to pull someone from his desk when you want to make a change, than to call the actor back) and record their own. Maybe not as good, but good enough.
~20 years ago the fast food industry was getting beat up in every publication with any environmental side at all for their foam containers. So they switched to paper which isn't as good. (Foam insulates) I'm not sure that paper is cheaper, foam is cheap itself.
Crowbars work on metal crates. Metal bends nicely once you get the sharp point in a crack. It isn't as satisfying as popping nails from a wood crate, and it is much more work. (though I suppose you could design a fancy latch so you can pry a crate open)
Generally though you are better of with a wrench to remove the bolts holding the top on, or using a key (lock pick) to unlock it, depending on the crate design. Still a crow bar will work if you have the patience and muscle to use one.
That depends on which part(s) fail. Loosing the radio(s) or solar panel(s) would be a disaster that cannot be worked around.
Losing a drive motor might not be too big a deal - if there is one working on the other wheels. They just have to be more careful because less wheels would spin next time the terrain is touch. (I'm not sure how the rover is designed, but I would suspect that there is more than one motor, instead of a complex transmission, or 1 wheel drive)
There are many lesser failures that can be lived with. There are a number of experiments that it can run, if something needed for one experiment fails, the rest can still work just fine.
True, but you could do the same with a car if you were stuck. (though if you were stuck worse it might not work) However most people are not willing to spend a couple months getting unstuck, so they use other methods. Then too, most people have abilities that the rovers don't have.
You need to try some interactive fiction. You get mysteries, romance, collect the treasures, solve the word puzzle, and more. Normally in combination. Most IF is all about story these days, so there often is no puzzle as in the old days.
Despite advancements in GPUs, games from the 1970's played on a vt52 still have better graphics than anything else.