Yes, it's just a gimmick. But, it's a gimmick designed to cooperate with many other gimmicks as a way of keeping a monopoly in power. Sadly, artists like Fripp and Justin Timberlake are being drawn into battles they don't understand, and therefore they don't get to properly choose a side. If only they knew that MS will destroy the industry they love.
I guess it's possible that some unknown physics could have resulted in ignition of the atmosphere anyway, but we are always at risk from that, so it's somewhat silly to worry about it.
I understand what you're saying; it's silly to worry about things that may never happen, normally. But, if you're talking about igniting the earth's atmosphere, then I think the safety margin needs to be increased a little, even if that means verging on superstition about what could happen. It's OK to take risks with things you can fix or recover from if the worst happens, but if, by ignite the atmosphere, you mean that the whole atmosphere would burn away, then that's really not a "silly" concern, no matter how unlikely.
Exactly. "The position has not changed" most likely means the exact opposite: that the position has changed, but since they're not actually saying how they're interpreting the previous position, they'll work out what they'll actually say later, once the deal is done with MS.
Actually, I'm wondering why so many people are suddenly supporting MS on this site, even when "MS-bashers" are entirely right. It's surely not because they've earned it through their good products. Maybe it has more to do with the advertising that's become more frequent on slashdot recently, and the dollars behind them.
First of all, Linux no longer monolithic. Second, Microsoft are taking credit for others' work, not just making good use of it. Third, most of it is already put to good use -- having a monopoly that lets you spread things further than the competition that you keep down is not a virtue. Fourth, singularity is a rip-off of HURD. Fifth, linux video works better for me than Microsoft Windows Media Player, so I wouldn't go shouting the virtues of windows video too highly. Sixth, reiserfs is here, now. Vista's still not here, and most of it's advanced features have been cancelled. Regardless, BeOS innovated in Filesystems years ago, so none of the major OS's are in the lead there. Seventh, claimign that Linux stiffles innovation while making false claims about Microsoft's goodwill shows you for the corporate shill you are. I'm just trying to work out if you've had the sense to get paid for being a shill, or if you do it out of some twisted sense of belonging to a cause.
Microsoft has been releasing a lot of Vista video "interviews" and tech intros lately. If you believed what they're trying to sell you, you would easily think that the Microsoft Vista teams are developing ground-breaking new technology for the benefit of us all.
However, any remotely circumspect look at them will reveal that they're carefully choreographed attempts to show microsoft as a powerhouse with new ideas behind every corner... i.e., "Ohh look, here's Joe, the guy responsible for all this, right behind the camera...". What's more, they're basically doing what they've always done, stealing other peoples' technology and claiming is as their own, in the process. One of these videos, for instance, is all about microsoft's new printing architecture, which is basically just a rip-off of postscript. Microsoft is finally catching up, and yet they tell their customers that they're doing new stuff.
It must be nice to have mainstream consumers for your main customers, rather than IT pros. You can sell 'em anything, and they'll never know it's crap, because they don't keep up with the industry.
Yep, I'm actually using one of those lowly Rage128's in a G3 laptop running KDE. It does everything I need fine so far. But, part of what I "need" is the latest KDE, so I'll really feel it if KDE 4 is less responsive rather than more, as been promised:)
I wasn't aware of the multi-headed OpenGL issues, although I knew multihead did have some issues. Sad, considering that multihead basically seems to have started on X:(
Agreed. I tried to implement something like this back in my Amiga days. Truly resolution-independant graphics are well overdue.
However, I'd also like to see the 3D engine (and other specialised chips like audio DSPs etc.) becoming more like standard system resources, used as an when possible, for whatever they can be used for. This idea of having specialised chips that just sit there unless something needs to be drawn, while the CPU simulates a weather system is a bit wasteful.
Not to add a pointless "me too", but I would also agree with this. I'd just like to add that this massive time for dealing with types does make C++ very unwieldy for quick prototypes if you just want to test an idea. To that end, I find the common approach of prototyping or doing quick utilities in python, and re-doing mission-critical stuff in C++ to be a great compromise.
The point of XGL is to take the 3D engine in most graphics cards and use it as the basis for X's acceleration.
Before, the 2D acceleration engine was used, but 2D has fallen behind in terms of performance, and 3D can do everything 2D can do, plus more. XGL uses OpenGL to render bitmaps, as well as to render video, composite alpha-channeled windows, rotate and deform windows, etc. I think font antialiasing will benefit, via a (potentially) faster XRender implementation. I gather it's also integrated with glitz already, which means that vector graphics like SVG and scalable icons, buttons, widget themes, etc. will also be done via OpenGL.
The one remaining gap (that I know of) is hardware support. The Novell guy releasing this (sorry, I forget his name right now) seems to say that it works with relatively minor changes on Free Software DRI drivers. I know that was always an intention, at least. So, hopefully, we'll see more drivers trying to support DRI as base level of driver compliance, rather than as an afterthought. The X desktop will be faster, smoother, and more featureful... so long as desktop developers don't go overboard and expects everyone to have next-generation 3D engine performance just to run a wordprocessor;)
I gather this is HTML- and Javascript-based, whereas (Super)karamba is python-based, I think.
But, the biggest difference will probably be proper support for desktop widgets. In other words, it won't be a "hack" any more that doesn't really work like you'd expect it to.
Right now, superkaramba widgets, like gapplet applets in GNOME, are little windows on the screen, that stay on the bottom. But, this screws up various things. For instance, icons get hidden underneath them, rather than the widget or the icons moving around to fit nicely together.
At least, I hope they're going to fix that... the whole "layer" thing is a little worrying. But yes, proper design and integration will be the best part of KDE 4's desktop widgets.
I installed KDE on what used to be a gui-less ubuntu install yesterday -- with an open mind to try it again
Good job. That's commendable, really. Too many people are afraid to try new ideas. I myself was a GNOME user once upon a time, and wouldn't even consider KDE after trying it when I first heard of it. I'm glad I finally changed my mind and gave it a proper shot.
and when I did, found that the programs menu _still_ made no sense.
That's true. The menu system is a little confusing, regarding the overlap of system, system menu, settings, and utilities. But, system menu and settings can be turned off if you don't like them. Utilities, I agree, has completely the wrong content. Most of the stuff in there are small office applets. But, really, is "accessories" any better? Most people work it out, given a bit of time.
Honestly, does anyone really use menus for day-to-day stuff anyway? I find things once, and make shortcuts on my panel for them. KDE does have very innovative ways of getting to programs as well as the traditional menu way -- some much more advanced and usable than anything in GNOME right now.
Anyway, you do have a point there. KDE 4 will be working on that a lot, I hear. In the mean time, I don't think it's a show-stopper, in all honesty.
so I can say to whoever is using it: "remember to stay away from *this* menu, nothing you need is there
If an administrator wants to lock down the system so that inexperienced users don't get lost or get into trouble, they can do that easily, with menu editors, or in a final way, with KDE's kiosk tools. It's quite a rare case for one inexperienced user to tell another inexperienced user what (s)he should or shouldn't be doing, though. Without meaning to be harsh, I do want to gently bring up a notion here, as for consideration. Frankly, it reminds me of the blind leading the blind.
KDE's code is great, I'm sure, but again, bloat or non-bloat is a non-issue. Its interface organization is, to me, weak. I'm sure that spending a few dedicated days (read: a few weeks in real time) would be enough to customize it myself to the point it's not only usable, but comfortable. But if it's too much of a pain in the ass in the first place, why bother? It's organized in such a way that finding what I want to, fast, is more work than I want to put in...
Well, the point is that the code is useful, to actual users. The design actually shows, in powerful and labour-saving ways, if you spend a little time getting to know what KDE can actually do for you. You don't realise how powerful KDE is, precisely because it's mostly well designed, and all of the power is subtly hidden away until you need it. It looks, for the most part, like GNOME or any other desktop, albeit with some small differences here and there. But, when you actually use it for daily work, you'll discover things which make life easier, and make you wonder how you ever did without them. I say discover things, not because they're hard to find, but because they're where you need them, when you need them. You discover the first one purely by accident, and then you think, "oh, that was cool". And then, later, you might think, "oh, it would be cool if it did this.." and you try it, and, much to your surprise, it works. This is a GOOD way of learning a user interface. It's discovery learning, which is one of the most powerful ways for people to learn. It's hidden power, which doesn't interfere, but which users can discover at their own pace, if and when they need it. If not, it just looks like a basic desktop.
The difference is, any time I try something that would save me trouble in GNOME, like dragging a colour onto another colour to copy it, or uploading a file from a remote computer to a remote computer, what happens is absolutely nothing, and I have to do it the old, illogical way.
No, they compared a layer itself to a layer in photoshop. Big difference. As for "bloat": people accused desktops of being bloated without knowing what they talking about. Often, they're misreading how memory is used in apps, and when they're not, they're probably misunderstanding how systems like KDE share features. The whole point of a desktop environment is to create a platform that has lots of useful code built in, so that apps can be quickly developed from common widgets etc., without reinventing the wheel, and without wasting memory that could have been shared. In systems like KDE, the "bloat" is a feature. But, in GNOME, code-sharing is much less common due to it's lack of object-orientation. It really is bloated and slow, even with fewer features.
Actually, it IS his copy of the game, for as long as he's rented it. Essentially, he has an unseen license with his copy. If that copy fails, the license is still valid, and he should be able to whip out another copy, and use it instead, without any problems.
However, anyone who buys an X-Box is supporting a company that wants to harm their rights, so it's a non-issue for me either way. Make your bed, lie in it.
Agreed. Although, having said that, I was suprised by the new King Kong film. It really does try to do something new with an old film, rather than just watering it down and selling it as a basic adventure or feel-good movie.
King Kong isn't really about big creatures or evolution, though. It's about how humans are sacrificing nature on the altar of concrete monuments to our own "achievements".
Sheesh. You think global warming is "caused by the sun", and you accuse me of knee-jerk reactions? As for "primary emitters", you obviously have no idea of mathematics, if you think that the primary source of anything is what pushes it beyond a natural balance into something we need to address.
I would call what you're referring to intelligence overload:)
Information overload, to me, is simple having too much information to study in a given time. In other words, even if you can understand all of the information, there is simply too much to keep track of.
The problem here is that information on websites is infinite, not that the information is particularly complex. For example, I have RSS feeds from about 40 websites, along with personal emails and mailing list emails to keep track of. I just about manage to do that, with the great RSS and email software in KDE.
Now, ideally, I would like to keep track of MUCH more information: many more websites, many more mailing lists, many video tutorials for blender, and programming, and conferences and presentations, etc., all in spare time besides my day job.
RSS simply doesn't cut it for this sort of information load. What ever happened to the symantic web anyway?
Given that many of the storms have hit oil infrastructure and hiked up prices, I'd be more suspicious of the oil industry or Bush.
But seriously.. I really hope we all start to take action on global warming before it's too late. Maybe it already is, and we're just waiting for the fallout now:(
No, but you can quietly observe that Intel has lost the technical lead to AMD, so now they're focusing more and more on the mainstream consumer recognition that doesn't care for technical details.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, it's just a gimmick. But, it's a gimmick designed to cooperate with many other gimmicks as a way of keeping a monopoly in power. Sadly, artists like Fripp and Justin Timberlake are being drawn into battles they don't understand, and therefore they don't get to properly choose a side. If only they knew that MS will destroy the industry they love.
Exactly. "The position has not changed" most likely means the exact opposite: that the position has changed, but since they're not actually saying how they're interpreting the previous position, they'll work out what they'll actually say later, once the deal is done with MS.
Actually, I'm wondering why so many people are suddenly supporting MS on this site, even when "MS-bashers" are entirely right. It's surely not because they've earned it through their good products. Maybe it has more to do with the advertising that's become more frequent on slashdot recently, and the dollars behind them.
First of all, Linux no longer monolithic. Second, Microsoft are taking credit for others' work, not just making good use of it. Third, most of it is already put to good use -- having a monopoly that lets you spread things further than the competition that you keep down is not a virtue. Fourth, singularity is a rip-off of HURD. Fifth, linux video works better for me than Microsoft Windows Media Player, so I wouldn't go shouting the virtues of windows video too highly. Sixth, reiserfs is here, now. Vista's still not here, and most of it's advanced features have been cancelled. Regardless, BeOS innovated in Filesystems years ago, so none of the major OS's are in the lead there. Seventh, claimign that Linux stiffles innovation while making false claims about Microsoft's goodwill shows you for the corporate shill you are. I'm just trying to work out if you've had the sense to get paid for being a shill, or if you do it out of some twisted sense of belonging to a cause.
Microsoft has been releasing a lot of Vista video "interviews" and tech intros lately. If you believed what they're trying to sell you, you would easily think that the Microsoft Vista teams are developing ground-breaking new technology for the benefit of us all.
However, any remotely circumspect look at them will reveal that they're carefully choreographed attempts to show microsoft as a powerhouse with new ideas behind every corner... i.e., "Ohh look, here's Joe, the guy responsible for all this, right behind the camera...". What's more, they're basically doing what they've always done, stealing other peoples' technology and claiming is as their own, in the process. One of these videos, for instance, is all about microsoft's new printing architecture, which is basically just a rip-off of postscript. Microsoft is finally catching up, and yet they tell their customers that they're doing new stuff.
It must be nice to have mainstream consumers for your main customers, rather than IT pros. You can sell 'em anything, and they'll never know it's crap, because they don't keep up with the industry.
Yep, I'm actually using one of those lowly Rage128's in a G3 laptop running KDE. It does everything I need fine so far. But, part of what I "need" is the latest KDE, so I'll really feel it if KDE 4 is less responsive rather than more, as been promised :)
I wasn't aware of the multi-headed OpenGL issues, although I knew multihead did have some issues. Sad, considering that multihead basically seems to have started on X :(
Agreed. I tried to implement something like this back in my Amiga days. Truly resolution-independant graphics are well overdue.
However, I'd also like to see the 3D engine (and other specialised chips like audio DSPs etc.) becoming more like standard system resources, used as an when possible, for whatever they can be used for. This idea of having specialised chips that just sit there unless something needs to be drawn, while the CPU simulates a weather system is a bit wasteful.
Not to add a pointless "me too", but I would also agree with this. I'd just like to add that this massive time for dealing with types does make C++ very unwieldy for quick prototypes if you just want to test an idea. To that end, I find the common approach of prototyping or doing quick utilities in python, and re-doing mission-critical stuff in C++ to be a great compromise.
The point of XGL is to take the 3D engine in most graphics cards and use it as the basis for X's acceleration.
Before, the 2D acceleration engine was used, but 2D has fallen behind in terms of performance, and 3D can do everything 2D can do, plus more. XGL uses OpenGL to render bitmaps, as well as to render video, composite alpha-channeled windows, rotate and deform windows, etc. I think font antialiasing will benefit, via a (potentially) faster XRender implementation. I gather it's also integrated with glitz already, which means that vector graphics like SVG and scalable icons, buttons, widget themes, etc. will also be done via OpenGL.
The one remaining gap (that I know of) is hardware support. The Novell guy releasing this (sorry, I forget his name right now) seems to say that it works with relatively minor changes on Free Software DRI drivers. I know that was always an intention, at least. So, hopefully, we'll see more drivers trying to support DRI as base level of driver compliance, rather than as an afterthought. The X desktop will be faster, smoother, and more featureful... so long as desktop developers don't go overboard and expects everyone to have next-generation 3D engine performance just to run a wordprocessor ;)
All in all, a very good thing :)
Of course, maybe he had such a humbled, awed, pacifistic and spiritual world view because of his deep understanding of it ;)
Much like humans "are" bananas, if the statistic I heard of 60% shared DNA is correct...
Ahh, that clears it up then, thanks :)
I gather this is HTML- and Javascript-based, whereas (Super)karamba is python-based, I think.
But, the biggest difference will probably be proper support for desktop widgets. In other words, it won't be a "hack" any more that doesn't really work like you'd expect it to.
Right now, superkaramba widgets, like gapplet applets in GNOME, are little windows on the screen, that stay on the bottom. But, this screws up various things. For instance, icons get hidden underneath them, rather than the widget or the icons moving around to fit nicely together.
At least, I hope they're going to fix that... the whole "layer" thing is a little worrying. But yes, proper design and integration will be the best part of KDE 4's desktop widgets.
Good job. That's commendable, really. Too many people are afraid to try new ideas. I myself was a GNOME user once upon a time, and wouldn't even consider KDE after trying it when I first heard of it. I'm glad I finally changed my mind and gave it a proper shot.
That's true. The menu system is a little confusing, regarding the overlap of system, system menu, settings, and utilities. But, system menu and settings can be turned off if you don't like them. Utilities, I agree, has completely the wrong content. Most of the stuff in there are small office applets. But, really, is "accessories" any better? Most people work it out, given a bit of time.
Honestly, does anyone really use menus for day-to-day stuff anyway? I find things once, and make shortcuts on my panel for them. KDE does have very innovative ways of getting to programs as well as the traditional menu way -- some much more advanced and usable than anything in GNOME right now.
Anyway, you do have a point there. KDE 4 will be working on that a lot, I hear. In the mean time, I don't think it's a show-stopper, in all honesty.
If an administrator wants to lock down the system so that inexperienced users don't get lost or get into trouble, they can do that easily, with menu editors, or in a final way, with KDE's kiosk tools. It's quite a rare case for one inexperienced user to tell another inexperienced user what (s)he should or shouldn't be doing, though. Without meaning to be harsh, I do want to gently bring up a notion here, as for consideration. Frankly, it reminds me of the blind leading the blind.
Well, the point is that the code is useful, to actual users. The design actually shows, in powerful and labour-saving ways, if you spend a little time getting to know what KDE can actually do for you. You don't realise how powerful KDE is, precisely because it's mostly well designed, and all of the power is subtly hidden away until you need it. It looks, for the most part, like GNOME or any other desktop, albeit with some small differences here and there. But, when you actually use it for daily work, you'll discover things which make life easier, and make you wonder how you ever did without them. I say discover things, not because they're hard to find, but because they're where you need them, when you need them. You discover the first one purely by accident, and then you think, "oh, that was cool". And then, later, you might think, "oh, it would be cool if it did this.." and you try it, and, much to your surprise, it works. This is a GOOD way of learning a user interface. It's discovery learning, which is one of the most powerful ways for people to learn. It's hidden power, which doesn't interfere, but which users can discover at their own pace, if and when they need it. If not, it just looks like a basic desktop.
The difference is, any time I try something that would save me trouble in GNOME, like dragging a colour onto another colour to copy it, or uploading a file from a remote computer to a remote computer, what happens is absolutely nothing, and I have to do it the old, illogical way.
KDE still has a f
No, they compared a layer itself to a layer in photoshop. Big difference. As for "bloat": people accused desktops of being bloated without knowing what they talking about. Often, they're misreading how memory is used in apps, and when they're not, they're probably misunderstanding how systems like KDE share features. The whole point of a desktop environment is to create a platform that has lots of useful code built in, so that apps can be quickly developed from common widgets etc., without reinventing the wheel, and without wasting memory that could have been shared. In systems like KDE, the "bloat" is a feature. But, in GNOME, code-sharing is much less common due to it's lack of object-orientation. It really is bloated and slow, even with fewer features.
Actually, it IS his copy of the game, for as long as he's rented it. Essentially, he has an unseen license with his copy. If that copy fails, the license is still valid, and he should be able to whip out another copy, and use it instead, without any problems.
However, anyone who buys an X-Box is supporting a company that wants to harm their rights, so it's a non-issue for me either way. Make your bed, lie in it.
Agreed. Although, having said that, I was suprised by the new King Kong film. It really does try to do something new with an old film, rather than just watering it down and selling it as a basic adventure or feel-good movie.
King Kong isn't really about big creatures or evolution, though. It's about how humans are sacrificing nature on the altar of concrete monuments to our own "achievements".
Sheesh. You think global warming is "caused by the sun", and you accuse me of knee-jerk reactions? As for "primary emitters", you obviously have no idea of mathematics, if you think that the primary source of anything is what pushes it beyond a natural balance into something we need to address.
I would call what you're referring to intelligence overload :)
Information overload, to me, is simple having too much information to study in a given time. In other words, even if you can understand all of the information, there is simply too much to keep track of.
The problem here is that information on websites is infinite, not that the information is particularly complex. For example, I have RSS feeds from about 40 websites, along with personal emails and mailing list emails to keep track of. I just about manage to do that, with the great RSS and email software in KDE.
Now, ideally, I would like to keep track of MUCH more information: many more websites, many more mailing lists, many video tutorials for blender, and programming, and conferences and presentations, etc., all in spare time besides my day job.
RSS simply doesn't cut it for this sort of information load. What ever happened to the symantic web anyway?
Given that many of the storms have hit oil infrastructure and hiked up prices, I'd be more suspicious of the oil industry or Bush. But seriously.. I really hope we all start to take action on global warming before it's too late. Maybe it already is, and we're just waiting for the fallout now :(
Printing press, hangglider, ...