I used to live in Plymouth and I used an inverse model of persistence: if it is raining this morning it will be dry later or visa versa. I used to feel I had a high degree of accuracy!
I think what the FSF can do is to upgrade the licence from GPLv2 to GPLv3 automatically for the products that they distribute, and that includes the term "GPL v2 or greater" in the licence.
Now the Kernel is GPLv2, Linus seems to want to keep it like that. So Novell will be able to have a kernel. But, as the FSF like to say, Novell distributes a GNU/Linux system. The kernel is Linux but the important system libraries and userland utilities belong to GNU and without which the kernel is a hunk of code. It can`t boot, and the use can`t use a shell, none of the basic disk commands would work for example. Yes, the desktop applications on top are important but it is the base of the stack that would be most vulnerable. Imagine no security fixes or support for new and old devices or bugs for critical system operation!
It is a software stack and Novell is wobbling on the top of it. FSF has the power to force a licence change over their software. Novell would be stuck at their current level and be unable to use the improved versions of the software without rewriting it all themselves (or borrowing from BSD for example). This may prove tricky for them! I doubt they would get much community help as they have somewhat disenfranchised themselves there.
This is where the "viral" nature of the GPL comes in to play. Stallman was smart enough to write it this way in order to protect the freedom of the software. I think it shows some of the brilliance of Stallmann and co.
Now the issue for him and the FSF is whether they will follow this tack. They can, they might not want to. They have a powerful bargaining chip here.
I implemented a grey list filter with Postgrey on Postfix. This works on the premise that spammers do not use RFC compliant mail servers (or they would be more easily tracked down and stopped!) and refuses all mail for a set period. Standards compliant mail servers resubmit mail and it is accepted. After a while regular mail is placed on a white list and let through straight away.
It was easy to implement and has worked well at cutting down a large amount of spam. I recommend it. It saves cycles on a mail server if you spam filter after greylisting!
If I understand you correctly you state that eventually one "will need to not only read them [word docs] but edit them and send them back" so your argument is that everyone needs this new upgrade...
However, you state that "Even MS word on mac is in 100% compatible with ms word on PC". I think you meant is NOT 100% compatible.
This is the problem with your argument - if not even MS can guarantee file compatibility across its own range then there is NO way anyone else can guarantee it.
So why bother with 100% when 99% or 90% will do?
In my experience I have found OpenOffice is compatible ENOUGH. We run a small office with a ratio of 10 Open Office to 1 MS Office installs (and growing) for more than 2 years now. A little training stops people sending files out in OpenOffice format, and PDF is preferred for document sending. My staff love being able to send newsletters and such and be able have photo's downscaled in the PDF thus saving contact's bandwidth AND knowing that it will appear as designed at the other end.
Yes, that one copy of Word is handy to have around, yes there is a pain of a.DOC that Openoffice can not open (and that doesn't matter).
But if the strongest argument is 100% compatibility and in reality it is unachievable, then 90% compatibility is enough.
This is fantastic!!! I am using it to remove Norton from an ACER laptop right now! I will be adding this to my toolkit...
By the way, is this me or does Norton's Internet stuff really snarl up machines or is this my warped perspective? Anyone else have lots of problems with it?
I'm COMPELLED to use it as the web based accounts package we have switched too will not run on firefox (yet). Myself and my ofther staff have linux desktops, either native or as X terminals and hence need a solution like this to do our bookkeeping!
I'm an unusual Slashdot reader in that I had a girlfirend and I am now married to her. The Laptop is banned from the bedroom (I only used it once, please note, and that was without my wife there). And for very good reasons too. I intend my relationships to outlast my PC's and not the other way around!!!!
(On an afternote how is laptop usage more anti-socail than book-reading or playing with jigsaw's????? This is an argument I havn't won yet!)
4) Stability. I have been thinking about this for a little time now. I can't think of any 3D game or app I use or my kids use that doesn't crash on me regularly.
With all this new GL or D3D eye candy are we going to import this instability? (I use Linux for my daily desktop and the XGL server is wonderful...)
I am really getting concerned about this - I want to write a document and if the transparency and dropshadows cause it to crash what is the point of that??? Eye candy could suck!
I was intrigued to see that system restore is being "tweaked" to make it even more useful.
Really, has anyone EVER used this thing and EVER found it useful?
I've turned it off and never used it. HOWEVER, I found where they hid the Backup program on the XP Home CD and I use that each week! Glad to hear it seems like it will be installed as default.
This is very helpful. I am currently in the UK but will be back in a week or so. Had trouble replying personally to your post via email but will perservere when back in Brussels.
I am searching for a replacement package for our small charity in Brussels. My main concern is that the authorities here have quite clear guidelines for reporting our finances - they dictate account codes for example. To do quaterly VAT returns we need to know some precise details for some precise forms.
My question is are the FLOSS accounting packages up to this. Can the/have they been customised for the accounting systems here in Europe?
I too find the Gimp a mindbogglingly difficult piece of software to use and have rarely completed any serious task in it. Perhaps I would struggle just as much with Photoshop: I could never get my head around layers.
I have been looking at Krita recently and instantly feel more at home with it. But it is too early to to really say I have made more progress with it!
I do think competition in this area is needed and I think that Krita may heat up the pace of development of Gimp too.
I wonder whether the reason the wmf vulnerability was fixed in 9X and then broken in XP/2000 has to do with the way the NT stream was created. If I understand it correctly the initially diverged from Win 3.0. Perhaps the code was "fixed" in 9X but they reverted to the NT core code as the development went on into 2000/XP. I hear a lot about the compartmentalisation at MS.
I am inclined to believe in incompetence before conspiracy theories... (although incompetence does not leave me all warm and glowy)
You sound like you speak from experience!!! I try not to speak from experience in this area. However everything you are saying is very subjective. All the empirical evidence I have seen, heard and read is that alcohol reduces the ability to drive well through a mixture of dimishished judgment, over confidence, decreased reaction times etc.
On a lighter note, I live in Belgium and with beer at 11% if find my peaks are between the 15th and 17th sips!
I can heartily agree with you. I was a very happy WordPro user and tried vainl;y to make it run with Wine etc. I've switched to Linux now and actually really like OpenOffice. I miss the swift and slick WordPro approach but I am so glad that OO got the styles right.
I wish IBM would opensource this product asap. There is much to gain and even if they simply bolted OpenDocument onto it I would like it! Infact if they can keep the speed they have a winner!
Actually my wish list for WordPro is:
Linux version
OpenDocument
The nifty convert to PDF (and niftier email doc as PDF!!!)
Multi-languages (in Belgium I have to use French, Dutch and English, often in the same documents)
I still deeply mourn the passing of Wordpro 97. Zippy, strongly style orientated and had the nifty (or annoying) toolpalette thing. I so wish IBM would open source it...
Imagine - ODF compatible and open source version of WordPro.
Well it pleases me!
Try out using the Linux Terminal Server Project. I have been overwhelmed with the efficiency of this system. I've had old P100's with 32Mb ram working with no problems. My users never complain of speed issues. In fact one is using an old Dell Optiplex 233 with 64Mb ram that for her Firefox, Thunderbird and Openoffice needs is faster than the cronky old Win 98 P100 with 90 Mb ram.
Make sure you have a decent 100mb network card or it will all feel like treacle.
Check out www.ltsp.org, k12ltsp and Edubuntu also! The LTSP guys have done an amazing job. It was not the hardest admin job I have done with Linux to get it running.
(Migrating the user to Linux was done by stealth too... first change the apps to FLOSS then change the OS! I'm working on the rest of them...)
Slashdot Mirror
I used to live in Plymouth and I used an inverse model of persistence: if it is raining this morning it will be dry later or visa versa. I used to feel I had a high degree of accuracy!
I still took my coat with me whenever!
I think what the FSF can do is to upgrade the licence from GPLv2 to GPLv3 automatically for the products that they distribute, and that includes the term "GPL v2 or greater" in the licence.
Now the Kernel is GPLv2, Linus seems to want to keep it like that. So Novell will be able to have a kernel. But, as the FSF like to say, Novell distributes a GNU/Linux system. The kernel is Linux but the important system libraries and userland utilities belong to GNU and without which the kernel is a hunk of code. It can`t boot, and the use can`t use a shell, none of the basic disk commands would work for example. Yes, the desktop applications on top are important but it is the base of the stack that would be most vulnerable. Imagine no security fixes or support for new and old devices or bugs for critical system operation!
It is a software stack and Novell is wobbling on the top of it. FSF has the power to force a licence change over their software. Novell would be stuck at their current level and be unable to use the improved versions of the software without rewriting it all themselves (or borrowing from BSD for example). This may prove tricky for them! I doubt they would get much community help as they have somewhat disenfranchised themselves there.
This is where the "viral" nature of the GPL comes in to play. Stallman was smart enough to write it this way in order to protect the freedom of the software. I think it shows some of the brilliance of Stallmann and co.
Now the issue for him and the FSF is whether they will follow this tack. They can, they might not want to. They have a powerful bargaining chip here.
Since when did a reduction in half a percent become statistically significant?
I implemented a grey list filter with Postgrey on Postfix. This works on the premise that spammers do not use RFC compliant mail servers (or they would be more easily tracked down and stopped!) and refuses all mail for a set period. Standards compliant mail servers resubmit mail and it is accepted. After a while regular mail is placed on a white list and let through straight away.
It was easy to implement and has worked well at cutting down a large amount of spam. I recommend it. It saves cycles on a mail server if you spam filter after greylisting!
If I understand you correctly you state that eventually one "will need to not only read them [word docs] but edit them and send them back" so your argument is that everyone needs this new upgrade...
.DOC that Openoffice can not open (and that doesn't matter).
However, you state that "Even MS word on mac is in 100% compatible with ms word on PC". I think you meant is NOT 100% compatible.
This is the problem with your argument - if not even MS can guarantee file compatibility across its own range then there is NO way anyone else can guarantee it.
So why bother with 100% when 99% or 90% will do?
In my experience I have found OpenOffice is compatible ENOUGH. We run a small office with a ratio of 10 Open Office to 1 MS Office installs (and growing) for more than 2 years now. A little training stops people sending files out in OpenOffice format, and PDF is preferred for document sending. My staff love being able to send newsletters and such and be able have photo's downscaled in the PDF thus saving contact's bandwidth AND knowing that it will appear as designed at the other end.
Yes, that one copy of Word is handy to have around, yes there is a pain of a
But if the strongest argument is 100% compatibility and in reality it is unachievable, then 90% compatibility is enough.
This is fantastic!!! I am using it to remove Norton from an ACER laptop right now! I will be adding this to my toolkit... By the way, is this me or does Norton's Internet stuff really snarl up machines or is this my warped perspective? Anyone else have lots of problems with it?
I'm COMPELLED to use it as the web based accounts package we have switched too will not run on firefox (yet). Myself and my ofther staff have linux desktops, either native or as X terminals and hence need a solution like this to do our bookkeeping!
Without Wine or IE4Linux I would be most stuck!
Hmmm I will have to look into that. Perhaps I might persuade my wife to play Tetris in the dark soon!
I'm an unusual Slashdot reader in that I had a girlfirend and I am now married to her. The Laptop is banned from the bedroom (I only used it once, please note, and that was without my wife there). And for very good reasons too. I intend my relationships to outlast my PC's and not the other way around!!!! (On an afternote how is laptop usage more anti-socail than book-reading or playing with jigsaw's????? This is an argument I havn't won yet!)
Indeed and just think of the benefits to terrorists with scanners! A sure-fire way to distinguish American passport holders from everyone else!
What about a #4?
4) Stability. I have been thinking about this for a little time now. I can't think of any 3D game or app I use or my kids use that doesn't crash on me regularly.
With all this new GL or D3D eye candy are we going to import this instability? (I use Linux for my daily desktop and the XGL server is wonderful...)
I am really getting concerned about this - I want to write a document and if the transparency and dropshadows cause it to crash what is the point of that??? Eye candy could suck!
Of course the manufacturers will set the default code in the factory: "Shave and a haircut, two bits!"
Not with all that extra java you wont!
I was intrigued to see that system restore is being "tweaked" to make it even more useful.
Really, has anyone EVER used this thing and EVER found it useful?
I've turned it off and never used it. HOWEVER, I found where they hid the Backup program on the XP Home CD and I use that each week! Glad to hear it seems like it will be installed as default.
Don't most of these run on Linux under Wine/Codeweavers Crossover anyway? http://appdb.winehq.org/
Thanks!
This is very helpful. I am currently in the UK but will be back in a week or so. Had trouble replying personally to your post via email but will perservere when back in Brussels.
I am searching for a replacement package for our small charity in Brussels. My main concern is that the authorities here have quite clear guidelines for reporting our finances - they dictate account codes for example. To do quaterly VAT returns we need to know some precise details for some precise forms.
My question is are the FLOSS accounting packages up to this. Can the/have they been customised for the accounting systems here in Europe?
Any ideas/help please!
I too find the Gimp a mindbogglingly difficult piece of software to use and have rarely completed any serious task in it. Perhaps I would struggle just as much with Photoshop: I could never get my head around layers.
I have been looking at Krita recently and instantly feel more at home with it. But it is too early to to really say I have made more progress with it!
I do think competition in this area is needed and I think that Krita may heat up the pace of development of Gimp too.
Exactly - Sadly I am not erudite enough to accurately quote as you did. but I will make a note if it for the future!
It explains so much...
I wonder whether the reason the wmf vulnerability was fixed in 9X and then broken in XP/2000 has to do with the way the NT stream was created. If I understand it correctly the initially diverged from Win 3.0. Perhaps the code was "fixed" in 9X but they reverted to the NT core code as the development went on into 2000/XP. I hear a lot about the compartmentalisation at MS.
I am inclined to believe in incompetence before conspiracy theories... (although incompetence does not leave me all warm and glowy)
You sound like you speak from experience!!! I try not to speak from experience in this area. However everything you are saying is very subjective. All the empirical evidence I have seen, heard and read is that alcohol reduces the ability to drive well through a mixture of dimishished judgment, over confidence, decreased reaction times etc.
On a lighter note, I live in Belgium and with beer at 11% if find my peaks are between the 15th and 17th sips!
I thought it was chemisty behind many car crashes:
probability of crash = direct proportion to alcohol drunk
I can heartily agree with you. I was a very happy WordPro user and tried vainl;y to make it run with Wine etc. I've switched to Linux now and actually really like OpenOffice. I miss the swift and slick WordPro approach but I am so glad that OO got the styles right.
I wish IBM would opensource this product asap. There is much to gain and even if they simply bolted OpenDocument onto it I would like it! Infact if they can keep the speed they have a winner!
Actually my wish list for WordPro is:
Linux version
OpenDocument
The nifty convert to PDF (and niftier email doc as PDF!!!)
Multi-languages (in Belgium I have to use French, Dutch and English, often in the same documents)
Sigh...
I still deeply mourn the passing of Wordpro 97. Zippy, strongly style orientated and had the nifty (or annoying) toolpalette thing. I so wish IBM would open source it... Imagine - ODF compatible and open source version of WordPro. Well it pleases me!
Try out using the Linux Terminal Server Project. I have been overwhelmed with the efficiency of this system. I've had old P100's with 32Mb ram working with no problems. My users never complain of speed issues. In fact one is using an old Dell Optiplex 233 with 64Mb ram that for her Firefox, Thunderbird and Openoffice needs is faster than the cronky old Win 98 P100 with 90 Mb ram. Make sure you have a decent 100mb network card or it will all feel like treacle. Check out www.ltsp.org, k12ltsp and Edubuntu also! The LTSP guys have done an amazing job. It was not the hardest admin job I have done with Linux to get it running. (Migrating the user to Linux was done by stealth too... first change the apps to FLOSS then change the OS! I'm working on the rest of them...)