I am a web developer and I write pages to follow the W3 and other standards. If it follows the standards and looks right in one IE and looks right in the standards-compliant browsers, then I'm done quite frankly.
Running a virtual Windows is pointless and a load of hassle, for what benefit exactly? Just have one old box with IE6 still on.
In serfdom, the Lords own the land, so when the serfs get a good harvest, the Lords can up their rent, and when the serfs have a bad harvest, they can turf them out and keep sheep.
Microsoft seem to be going for a similar strategy, they want Windows always to be the base. Linux as a Virtual Machine on Microsoft is fine, but Microsoft as a virtual machine is not allowed.
If Windows is the base then they can keep their own products in the picture through bundling, dodgy secret agreements, blackmail and so on.
If they lose the base, then they actually have to compete as equals, and Microsoft does not do competition .
>Yeah mind you i have relatives who live down in London who get an equally poor service but look at my Brum council tax bill with sheer envy.
Yeah okay, good point. But did you get to look at their pay checks? I am sure they were earning several times more than the difference in council tax bills,
Make a system running some Linux distro in a little box with no legacy ports available. Have three giant icons for the browser, simple word processor and email, do not give them the root password.
"I have no idea how anyone could spend half a million pounds on 200 desktops, running free software".
Its Birmingham fucking council, the council tax (a tax on your house that does not vary with income, only with size) goes up every single year, yet they still cannot even pick up rubbish bags without making a mess of the whole area.
I love my city but everyone knows that Birmingham council are a bunch of absolute losers, so this does not comes as any big surpise.
The worrying thing was that he was only caught because he was a crappy driver. The actual 'Link' cash machines (which cost £1.50) to use, are still there in pubs and bars. The banks do not seem to care that normal people are getting their cash stolen.
How many other people are doing this? There seems to be no way to stop it until they recall every one of these machines and remove the USB ports.
>There are not too many "Free" electronic books around. You have to subscribe, and a lot of these subscriptions expire over time.
Well actually this is not the case, the OLPC project is specifically providing freely redistributable content and helping local people and institutions to set up systems to generate more. The idea is to not use these crap electronic books, but to create a whole new wave of educational materials in local languages, rather than imported textbooks from the west, a small pile of which can easily cost far more than the £75 laptop.
I think there is still a large a degree of colonial thinking left around, just under the surface, both in the subdued racism in Western societies (they do not deserve/will never understand laptops) but also in the 'victim mentality' of some ex-colonial states.
Some people have a dislike to the laptop project for two reasons:
1. FUD - They have not actually bothered to consider how revolutionary the laptop is, i.e. redesigning all the hardware, software and content. For these people, salvation can only come through becoming a fat out-of-shape office worker, typing in Word using a crumb covered keyboard.
2. Paternalism - The laptop project is based on the idea that smart but poor kids can learn, create and program, for themselves. This conflicts with embedded western psychological beliefs about how you need a nice western strong man/organistion/society (i.e. 'Hilter') to go and sort those foreigners out.
Its brave but correct to go with Linus over Microsoft. Just because you are a huge company does not always equal innovation or contribution to the human race. I personally would have also plumped for Tim Berners Lee (The WWW) over J.K.Rowling (Harry potter) but thats just me...
Whenever someone who looks a bit newbie asks what computer to get, I say a Mac because for three years they can go into the Apple Shop and ask any stupid question they like and someone will diligently answer. Hopefully, within the three years they will learn just enough to wing it from there.
Existing hardware can become Linux easily, as long as people get out of the habit of buying any old USB device and expecting it to work.
This is not only a Linux problem. I have one relative that has a USB wireless keyboard (Logitech) and a USB printer (Canon). She installed all the crap that came on the driver CDs. The result, when she prints, the keyboard ceases working in Windows as the printer driver seems to completely takes over the USB Bus.
I have never found such a problem using official Linux kernel drivers.
I somehow became the free IT support for family, friends, friends of my family, family of my friends, friends of the family of my friends, and so on.
At one point I just had enough of corrupted registries, malware and those stupid IE toolbars, not to mention people asking me for pirated software (I am a committed Christian and do not want to break the laws of the land).
From then on I said that I only support free/open source software and that if they wanted support then they must install Linux. Anybody that complains gets a lecture about free software until they give up.
Some family moved to Linux, others stopped asking. Balance has been restored.
But nofollow is rubbish, I removed it from my Wordpress install. I want people to link to other articles. There is also no evidence that nofollow has reduced the quantity of spam but rather just hurt innocent small sites from getting anywhere on google.
Far more effective is askismet or other blog comment controls. If you set up a site and then invite comments, then you should moderate your own comments, it is that simple.
Is the fact that Amazon have been using their patents aggressively against other companies, related to the fact that IBM have singled out Amazon?
I think IBM are taking a two-track approach to survive the US patent system:
Track 1, cross-licence patents with everyone. Track 2, provide a shelter for open source software, providing fertile ground to help grow the market and thus the demand for support (which IBM will attempt to supply).
Its a carrot and stick approach. If people do not want to share their toys with IBM then the huge patent portfolio tank comes out.
You could generate new works under creative commons licences or other. I would start with a textbook for every subject and then spend the rest on 1000 new novels from every part of the world.
Sticking in default Windows installers may be convenient but is stupid as you are reinforcing the proprietary and anti-social behaviour where people are encouraged to lie - "Click if you have read and agree to this licence" - even though they know the average person hasn't read it and is not capable of understanding it, let alone agreeing to it.
Well at the time that I wrote my comment, we did not know about the blood and the missing car seat. Now it looks pretty bad. All we can do now is pray for the individuals involved.
On the open source side of things. I think an outside face should be appointed acting head of Namesys ASAP and as many of the developers as possible should be firewalled off from those involved in the case. Preferably the acting/interim lead should be someone internationally known and also independent from HR, perhaps the head of Linspire or someone from Novell, or perhaps the whole project could be 'fostered' by OSTG or GNU or Novell or Linspire or someone.
We also need to consider a new name pretty quick, as it is better to lose the name than the whole filesystem, Reiser4 was going to be the only show in town on the filesystem front. HFS+ is a pretty old filesystem and the demise of WinFS means that, for now, we are still ahead of the game, even with just ext3/4.
What the new name actually is does not matter, LinuxFS or UkraineFS or whatever, just get the thing back into the community until the case is resolved.
There are some other strange aspects to all this, the wife may have been having an affair, but (at least in UK) often divorce lawyers encourage clients to do a 'kitchen-sink' approach to try and wrest custody of the children, so her affair and his domestic violence are both suspect until we get more info.
It will all come out if there is a body, or the wife turns up in Russia.
Slashdot Mirror
>Running an entire separat machine to test on is less hassle than having a few VMs running? What world are you living in?
One with an abundant supply of supply of crap Windows boxes. Just learn over and there is one.
>Personally I develop on a Linux box
Me too, would not pollute my beautiful new dual core machine with proprietary software (Well I need to have Java but that has become GPL).
I am a web developer and I write pages to follow the W3 and other standards. If it follows the standards and looks right in one IE and looks right in the standards-compliant browsers, then I'm done quite frankly.
Running a virtual Windows is pointless and a load of hassle, for what benefit exactly? Just have one old box with IE6 still on.
So "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn".
The article, which I read here, doesn't really say what "its way" is.
I have been shifting between Firefox and Epiphany, as it looks rather nicer on my GNOME system.
In serfdom, the Lords own the land, so when the serfs get a good harvest, the Lords can up their rent, and when the serfs have a bad harvest, they can turf them out and keep sheep.
Microsoft seem to be going for a similar strategy, they want Windows always to be the base. Linux as a Virtual Machine on Microsoft is fine, but Microsoft as a virtual machine is not allowed.
If Windows is the base then they can keep their own products in the picture through bundling, dodgy secret agreements, blackmail and so on.
If they lose the base, then they actually have to compete as equals, and Microsoft does not do competition .
>Yeah mind you i have relatives who live down in London who get an equally poor service but look at my Brum council tax bill with sheer envy.
Yeah okay, good point. But did you get to look at their pay checks? I am sure they were earning several times more than the difference in council tax bills,
Make a system running some Linux distro in a little box with no legacy ports available. Have three giant icons for the browser, simple word processor and email, do not give them the root password.
"I have no idea how anyone could spend half a million pounds on 200 desktops, running free software".
Its Birmingham fucking council, the council tax (a tax on your house that does not vary with income, only with size) goes up every single year, yet they still cannot even pick up rubbish bags without making a mess of the whole area.
I love my city but everyone knows that Birmingham council are a bunch of absolute losers, so this does not comes as any big surpise.
Seems like he should be charged under the DMCA too.
He is in the UK, And US laws do not apply here... Unless they are Illinois laws!!!
The worrying thing was that he was only caught because he was a crappy driver. The actual 'Link' cash machines (which cost £1.50) to use, are still there in pubs and bars. The banks do not seem to care that normal people are getting their cash stolen.
How many other people are doing this? There seems to be no way to stop it until they recall every one of these machines and remove the USB ports.
>There are not too many "Free" electronic books around. You have to subscribe, and a lot of these subscriptions expire over time.
Well actually this is not the case, the OLPC project is specifically providing freely redistributable content and helping local people and institutions to set up systems to generate more. The idea is to not use these crap electronic books, but to create a whole new wave of educational materials in local languages, rather than imported textbooks from the west, a small pile of which can easily cost far more than the £75 laptop.
I think there is still a large a degree of colonial thinking left around, just under the surface, both in the subdued racism in Western societies (they do not deserve/will never understand laptops) but also in the 'victim mentality' of some ex-colonial states.
Some people have a dislike to the laptop project for two reasons:
1. FUD - They have not actually bothered to consider how revolutionary the laptop is, i.e. redesigning all the hardware, software and content.
For these people, salvation can only come through becoming a fat out-of-shape office worker, typing in Word using a crumb covered keyboard.
2. Paternalism - The laptop project is based on the idea that smart but poor kids can learn, create and program, for themselves.
This conflicts with embedded western psychological beliefs about how you need a nice western strong man/organistion/society (i.e. 'Hilter') to go and sort those foreigners out.
Its brave but correct to go with Linus over Microsoft. Just because you are a huge company does not always equal innovation or contribution to the human race. I personally would have also plumped for Tim Berners Lee (The WWW) over J.K.Rowling (Harry potter) but thats just me...
>you buy a Mac, or install Linux.
Whenever someone who looks a bit newbie asks what computer to get, I say a Mac because for three years they can go into the Apple Shop and ask any stupid question they like and someone will diligently answer. Hopefully, within the three years they will learn just enough to wing it from there.
Existing hardware can become Linux easily, as long as people get out of the habit of buying any old USB device and expecting it to work.
This is not only a Linux problem. I have one relative that has a USB wireless keyboard (Logitech) and a USB printer (Canon). She installed all the crap that came on the driver CDs. The result, when she prints, the keyboard ceases working in Windows as the printer driver seems to completely takes over the USB Bus.
I have never found such a problem using official Linux kernel drivers.
I somehow became the free IT support for family, friends, friends of my family, family of my friends, friends of the family of my friends, and so on.
At one point I just had enough of corrupted registries, malware and those stupid IE toolbars, not to mention people asking me for pirated software (I am a committed Christian and do not want to break the laws of the land).
From then on I said that I only support free/open source software and that if they wanted support then they must install Linux. Anybody that complains gets a lecture about free software until they give up.
Some family moved to Linux, others stopped asking. Balance has been restored.
>Mr. Kumar is expected to begin serving time in February 2007
Its more sporting to give him four months to get to the mexico and then a plane to India. He is white-collar after all...
I would not trust my country's election with Windows CE! If they try to bring them into the UK then I will blockade the ballot box, anyone with me?
But nofollow is rubbish, I removed it from my Wordpress install. I want people to link to other articles. There is also no evidence that nofollow has reduced the quantity of spam but rather just hurt innocent small sites from getting anywhere on google.
Far more effective is askismet or other blog comment controls. If you set up a site and then invite comments, then you should moderate your own comments, it is that simple.
...You will reap what you so...
Is the fact that Amazon have been using their patents aggressively against other companies, related to the fact that IBM have singled out Amazon?
I think IBM are taking a two-track approach to survive the US patent system:
Track 1, cross-licence patents with everyone.
Track 2, provide a shelter for open source software, providing fertile ground to help grow the market and thus the demand for support (which IBM will attempt to supply).
Its a carrot and stick approach. If people do not want to share their toys with IBM then the huge patent portfolio tank comes out.
You could generate new works under creative commons licences or other. I would start with a textbook for every subject and then spend the rest on 1000 new novels from every part of the world.
Indeed, also despite its repuation, Clacton is a rather nice place too.
... into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sticking in default Windows installers may be convenient but is stupid as you are reinforcing the proprietary and anti-social behaviour where people are encouraged to lie - "Click if you have read and agree to this licence" - even though they know the average person hasn't read it and is not capable of understanding it, let alone agreeing to it.
Well at the time that I wrote my comment, we did not know about the blood and the missing car seat. Now it looks pretty bad. All we can do now is pray for the individuals involved.
On the open source side of things. I think an outside face should be appointed acting head of Namesys ASAP and as many of the developers as possible should be firewalled off from those involved in the case. Preferably the acting/interim lead should be someone internationally known and also independent from HR, perhaps the head of Linspire or someone from Novell, or perhaps the whole project could be 'fostered' by OSTG or GNU or Novell or Linspire or someone.
We also need to consider a new name pretty quick, as it is better to lose the name than the whole filesystem, Reiser4 was going to be the only show in town on the filesystem front. HFS+ is a pretty old filesystem and the demise of WinFS means that, for now, we are still ahead of the game, even with just ext3/4.
What the new name actually is does not matter, LinuxFS or UkraineFS or whatever, just get the thing back into the community until the case is resolved.
Holy reiserfsck, how bizzare, how fscking bizarre.
/ 13/n/HeadlineNews/HOME-SEARCHED/resources_bcn_html
Read this for another side of the story:
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/09
There are some other strange aspects to all this, the wife may have been having an affair, but (at least in UK) often divorce lawyers encourage clients to do a 'kitchen-sink' approach to try and wrest custody of the children, so her affair and his domestic violence are both suspect until we get more info.
It will all come out if there is a body, or the wife turns up in Russia.
Well don't forget that the pre-releases blow up after 6 months.