It's true that Fedora Core, SuSE, and Ubuntu don't work well on old systems...
Eh? I've got 4 counterexamples sitting in my spare room upstairs. 3 are P2's, one's a P3. I've run recent versions of all 3 of those distros on all of them without a hint of trouble. This month, 2 of those machines are running SuSE 10.0, one's running CentOS 4.1, and the other's dual-booting Windows 2000 and one of the Ubuntu 2005 releases. One of the P2's is an old Compaq dual-233 for which there's no Windows 2000 HAL file, so it can't use both CPUs - but both SuSE and FC4 automatically install and run an SMP kernel on that box just fine.
I thought it a bit odd that a judge would leave something hanging like that - i.e that IBM were guilty, but that SCO couldn't prove it.
No, the judge is spot on.
SCO has accused IBM of shoplifting a good many different items, so to speak.
The judge has not yet ruled on whether or not IBM shopifted anything. What she has said is that SCO has failed to provide evidence even to warrant such a ruling regarding the alleged shoplifting of most of the items, and dropped those counts.
However, there are a few items left of which IBM remains accused of taking (to continue with the "shoplifting" analogy).
For the judge to appear to have decided on IBM's "guilt" or "innocence" with regard to any of the remaining items at this point in time would be improper because that evidence has not yet been given a full hearing. IBM does in fact remain accused by SCO - nothing more, nothing less - and that's what she must say if she is to appear impartial.
The next step is for the remaining counts to be presented, along with evidence, in court. Only after that happens will IBM's "guilt" or "innocence" of the (remaining) charges brought by SCO be determined.
Rip off various Microsoft windowing desktop features and innovations...
Like the multiple desktops common to most OSS desktop managers? I use WindowMaker - please tell me what's in there that got stolen from Microsoft.
Rail against a current impartial Justice department reversal of a prior political decision...
Oh? Did the court decide that Microsoft wasn't a monopolist, after all? Guess I missed that one.
...bundle NOT ONLY a firefox browser with all linux distributions...
"All"? You're 100% sure of that? And many of those that do (or don't, for that matter) include Konqueror, Opera, and others as well - none of which you're required to install in order to use the OS - whereas you can't run MSIE except on Windows (unless you use something like WINE), and you can't run Windows without MSIE (not easily or well, at any rate).
I can (and do) use Firefox on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and Windows. It works great on all of them, and it doesn't act as a conduit for viruses, trojans, or spyware.
...media players and codecs on overseas distros to circumvent patent laws.
Closed media players and codecs, closed in order to force you to use the One True Media Player (and OS). And for those of us who don't live in the US (quite a large number, last time I checked), we're not "circumventing" any laws, because they don't apply out here in the real world.
Rip off music and video files on p2p networks while starving future artists...
This has diddley-squat to do with OSS.
I use OSS. I don't pirate music or videos. Hell, I don't even use any P2P filesharing apps.
...wonder where all the good modern music has gone.
Again this has nothing to do with OSS. But it's most likely being made by people you never get to hear on commercial media, which is geared towards the lowest common denominator. Which is why Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake get wads of cash, and most interesting artists and performers are with small independents, or self-publish.
I think the reasoning could be something like this: "Reverting to LGPL for the client libraries [which is where this sort of discussion almost invariably leads] would give people carte-blanche to write non-free-as-in-beer AND non-free-as-in-speech apps against MySQL, and we don't think that's a very nice thing to want to do with something we let you use for free".
I'm not sure I agree with that 100%, but I do like the idea of promoting openness... as well as the idea of getting paid a little something for doing so.;)
Please bear in mind that I do NOT speak for MySQL AB in this or any other matter - this is just my take on the policy, and I could be dead wrong about the rationale behind it.
My understanding of MySQL licensing is that unless you're non-commercial (or non-profit?), MySQL is in fact _not_ free.
That's not how it works.
This is how it works, more or less:
1. SIMPLE (OWN) USE: You can use MySQL *yourself* for whatever purpose without charge. If you make money from it, how nice for you.
2. REDISTRIBUTION: If your app using MySQL is GPL (or another approved licence), then you can redistribute at no charge. If your app isn't GPL (or another approved licence), then you need to buy a licence to distribute MySQL with your app.
I just moved 2km down the road and went from paying $59.95 a month for cable (3 mbps down/512 kbps up) to $99.95 a month for ADSL (1500 down / 256 up). Both plans feature 10GB/month *cough* unlimited *cough* transfer.
That's right, I'm now paying nearly twice as much for half the speed from the same company in the same city (same suburb, even). WTF?
Update: I didn't know this at the time I posted the previous comment, but oXygen released a new version yesterday which includes a built-in SVN client. Seems to work pretty well, and can even handle repositories using svn+ssh:// with usernames and public/private keys.
The upgrade to 7.2 is free if you're already using a licenced 7.0 or 7.1.
When I last looked at XMLmind, it couldn't handle XIncludes, and automatically expanded all entity references on save (WTF??). Both of these were deal-breakers for us.
Transaction support in MySQL doesn't depend on the version, it depends on the storage engine you're using for your tables. The InnoDB, NDB Cluster, and BerkeleyDB storage engines all support transactions. InnoDB also supports foreign keys. InnoDB has been available in the -max releases since MySQL 3.23.43a (early 2002) and has been part of -all- MySQL releases since 4.0 (late 2002). Any web host offering a MySQL server that doesn't support transactions and referential integrity either can't be bothered to update their software at least once every 4 years, or else they're building their own and deliberately leaving out InnoDB. In either case, you need to find another hosting company.
We use DocBook XML for the source format of the MySQL Manuals, and SVN for version control. We maintain 3 distinct versions of a >1600-page software manual this way, in numerous translations. We produce end-user docs in HTML, PDF, TexInfo, plaintext, CHM, and a couple of other formats. These include the online manuals at dev.mysql.com which get updated 4 times a day from our SVN repositories. We also maintain the Internals Manual using this system. It's also relatively easy for us to produce documentation that's either standalone or integrated with larger documents, such as the Connectors manuals.
We are very happy with this system. Our users seem to be also.
I use oXygenXML as my principal XML editor. So do some of my teammates. It's thoroughly DocBook-aware and does nice transformations of shorter DocBook documents into HTML and PDF. It also validates, pretty-prints, and does a good job performing diffs and merges between different versions of large (100+ K) documents. (It also provides for editing and debugging XSLT stylesheets, although I don't personally use it for that at present.) It's available on *nix, Windows, and Mac (yes, it's a Java GUI app, but it's remarkably fast and stable one). It's neither libre nor gratis, but it's well worth the money, and much cheaper than the (other) commercial alternatives. If you are working hands-on with large amounts of XML in a production setting, I strongly recommend that you check it out.
What's the matter with WindowMaker, other than the fact that the lead developer is now too busy with his day job to maintain it?
(This is a serious question - I happen to use it, but it's a bit frustrating since nobody seems to be writing or maintaining many dock apps for it anymore. Is there something actually *wrong* with it that I'm not aware of?)
Back on topic - PC-BSD has been very nice for someone like me who had no prior experience with *BSD but would like to have a working system to play with and maybe even get something useful done with whilst learning more about it. Haven't had a chance to use 1.1 yet (or even 1.0) but I'm running 0.8 on a spare machine, it seems pretty cool, and I'll definitely be taking 1.1 for a spin sometime soon.
People also don't seem to understand that you moderate posts. If you don't (or do) like somebody, that's what the relationship thingo is for. I guess the idea that you might mod up a post from somebody you don't like (or mod down a post from someone you do like) is just too mind-numbing for some.
BTW, I'd buy one of those T-shirts. It'd go well with the one that says, "In Soviet Russia... Shirt Wears YOU!!"
Not that it really matters to me in any case, since I run Linux or FreeBSD on all of my machines except one (and that box isn't allowed to surf the Net).
(I can't believe I'm about to get downmodded for going to bat for someone who's on my Foes list...)
I'm running SuSE 10.0 on an Acer 2316 (go ahead and laugh if you like, but I like the wide screen and full-size keyboard, and it's cheap and reasonably fast) that came as a replacement unit for a stolen 2310 before the 2316 was even in the stores. Only hardware issue was the Broadcom wireless card, and ndiswrapper took care of that handily.
...I have never seen any java application where I've just said "Wow, that just worked."
Well, that is exactly what I said when I found oXygenXML.
It's a damn fine XML editor (and a bunch of other things handy for working with XML). I use it every single day in my job, which involves lots of writing, updating, validating, and transforming monstro-DocBook XML files. A couple of my teammates and I went into absolute hysterics when we found it, because it Does What We Need It To Do, does it fairly quickly and painlessly, and it does it on *nix, Windows, and OS X.
The goalposts have been moved from "merely usable" to "reads all proprietary datafiles with no end user action required".
Give this man a cigar and a +1 Insightful. First it was, "Can I sit down at a Linux machine and get my work done?"; now it's turned into "Can Linux be used exactly like Windows, and can it do all the exact same flashy crap that Windows does?"
I just moved and am being forced to switch from cable to ADSL, with a 50% increase to maintain roughly the same level of service. WTF? When my contract with Telstra is up later this year (yes, I was taken in by their offer of a free cable modem), I'm switching to Optus. Or somebody.
Telstra continue to advertise their 10-GB/month cable and ADSL plans as "unlimited" on their website and elsewhere. Of course, the way it's presented is something like this:
. . .
[huge]Unlimited*[/huge]
. . .
[tiny]*Download speed shaped to 64K after 10GB[/tiny]
. . .
and other such fine-print tricks that enable them to pretend that 'unlimited' means '10GB cap'.
"It is better to perform a number of small transactions with a few operations each than to attempt a single large transaction containing a great many operations" misses the point of transactions...
I've always thought it was better to be minimalistic in that regard.
In any case, the reason this advice is emphasised for Cluster in MySQL 4.1/5.0 is that all tables are in-memory. This won't be such an issue in 5.1, which implements Disk Data tables for Cluster.
Slashdot Mirror
Woohoo, time to collect some licencing fees! :)
Eh? I've got 4 counterexamples sitting in my spare room upstairs. 3 are P2's, one's a P3. I've run recent versions of all 3 of those distros on all of them without a hint of trouble. This month, 2 of those machines are running SuSE 10.0, one's running CentOS 4.1, and the other's dual-booting Windows 2000 and one of the Ubuntu 2005 releases. One of the P2's is an old Compaq dual-233 for which there's no Windows 2000 HAL file, so it can't use both CPUs - but both SuSE and FC4 automatically install and run an SMP kernel on that box just fine.
My dog resents that comparison, you insensitive clod!
No, the judge is spot on.
SCO has accused IBM of shoplifting a good many different items, so to speak.
The judge has not yet ruled on whether or not IBM shopifted anything. What she has said is that SCO has failed to provide evidence even to warrant such a ruling regarding the alleged shoplifting of most of the items, and dropped those counts.
However, there are a few items left of which IBM remains accused of taking (to continue with the "shoplifting" analogy).
For the judge to appear to have decided on IBM's "guilt" or "innocence" with regard to any of the remaining items at this point in time would be improper because that evidence has not yet been given a full hearing. IBM does in fact remain accused by SCO - nothing more, nothing less - and that's what she must say if she is to appear impartial.
The next step is for the remaining counts to be presented, along with evidence, in court. Only after that happens will IBM's "guilt" or "innocence" of the (remaining) charges brought by SCO be determined.
Like the multiple desktops common to most OSS desktop managers? I use WindowMaker - please tell me what's in there that got stolen from Microsoft.
Oh? Did the court decide that Microsoft wasn't a monopolist, after all? Guess I missed that one.
"All"? You're 100% sure of that? And many of those that do (or don't, for that matter) include Konqueror, Opera, and others as well - none of which you're required to install in order to use the OS - whereas you can't run MSIE except on Windows (unless you use something like WINE), and you can't run Windows without MSIE (not easily or well, at any rate).
I can (and do) use Firefox on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and Windows. It works great on all of them, and it doesn't act as a conduit for viruses, trojans, or spyware.
Closed media players and codecs, closed in order to force you to use the One True Media Player (and OS). And for those of us who don't live in the US (quite a large number, last time I checked), we're not "circumventing" any laws, because they don't apply out here in the real world.
This has diddley-squat to do with OSS.
I use OSS. I don't pirate music or videos. Hell, I don't even use any P2P filesharing apps.
Again this has nothing to do with OSS. But it's most likely being made by people you never get to hear on commercial media, which is geared towards the lowest common denominator. Which is why Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake get wads of cash, and most interesting artists and performers are with small independents, or self-publish.
Not even a good troll. Bah.
Plane ticket from Munich to Bangkok: $950.00.
Connexion for the 11-hour flight: $19.95.
Mod points at 10,000 metres over Kazahkstan: priceless.
I think the reasoning could be something like this: "Reverting to LGPL for the client libraries [which is where this sort of discussion almost invariably leads] would give people carte-blanche to write non-free-as-in-beer AND non-free-as-in-speech apps against MySQL, and we don't think that's a very nice thing to want to do with something we let you use for free".
;)
I'm not sure I agree with that 100%, but I do like the idea of promoting openness... as well as the idea of getting paid a little something for doing so.
Please bear in mind that I do NOT speak for MySQL AB in this or any other matter - this is just my take on the policy, and I could be dead wrong about the rationale behind it.
That's not how it works.
This is how it works, more or less:
1. SIMPLE (OWN) USE: You can use MySQL *yourself* for whatever purpose without charge. If you make money from it, how nice for you.
2. REDISTRIBUTION: If your app using MySQL is GPL (or another approved licence), then you can redistribute at no charge. If your app isn't GPL (or another approved licence), then you need to buy a licence to distribute MySQL with your app.
See http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/faq.
I just moved 2km down the road and went from paying $59.95 a month for cable (3 mbps down/512 kbps up) to $99.95 a month for ADSL (1500 down / 256 up). Both plans feature 10GB/month *cough* unlimited *cough* transfer.
That's right, I'm now paying nearly twice as much for half the speed from the same company in the same city (same suburb, even). WTF?
You forgot the umlaut, Laura. :)
Update: I didn't know this at the time I posted the previous comment, but oXygen released a new version yesterday which includes a built-in SVN client. Seems to work pretty well, and can even handle repositories using svn+ssh:// with usernames and public/private keys.
The upgrade to 7.2 is free if you're already using a licenced 7.0 or 7.1.
When I last looked at XMLmind, it couldn't handle XIncludes, and automatically expanded all entity references on save (WTF??). Both of these were deal-breakers for us.
MySQL has supported subqueries since version 4.1.
Transaction support in MySQL doesn't depend on the version, it depends on the storage engine you're using for your tables. The InnoDB, NDB Cluster, and BerkeleyDB storage engines all support transactions. InnoDB also supports foreign keys. InnoDB has been available in the -max releases since MySQL 3.23.43a (early 2002) and has been part of -all- MySQL releases since 4.0 (late 2002). Any web host offering a MySQL server that doesn't support transactions and referential integrity either can't be bothered to update their software at least once every 4 years, or else they're building their own and deliberately leaving out InnoDB. In either case, you need to find another hosting company.
DocBook rocks.
We use DocBook XML for the source format of the MySQL Manuals, and SVN for version control. We maintain 3 distinct versions of a >1600-page software manual this way, in numerous translations. We produce end-user docs in HTML, PDF, TexInfo, plaintext, CHM, and a couple of other formats. These include the online manuals at dev.mysql.com which get updated 4 times a day from our SVN repositories. We also maintain the Internals Manual using this system. It's also relatively easy for us to produce documentation that's either standalone or integrated with larger documents, such as the Connectors manuals.
We are very happy with this system. Our users seem to be also.
I use oXygenXML as my principal XML editor. So do some of my teammates. It's thoroughly DocBook-aware and does nice transformations of shorter DocBook documents into HTML and PDF. It also validates, pretty-prints, and does a good job performing diffs and merges between different versions of large (100+ K) documents. (It also provides for editing and debugging XSLT stylesheets, although I don't personally use it for that at present.) It's available on *nix, Windows, and Mac (yes, it's a Java GUI app, but it's remarkably fast and stable one). It's neither libre nor gratis, but it's well worth the money, and much cheaper than the (other) commercial alternatives. If you are working hands-on with large amounts of XML in a production setting, I strongly recommend that you check it out.
What's truly sad is that the Supreme Court never actually did any such thing.
What's the matter with WindowMaker, other than the fact that the lead developer is now too busy with his day job to maintain it?
(This is a serious question - I happen to use it, but it's a bit frustrating since nobody seems to be writing or maintaining many dock apps for it anymore. Is there something actually *wrong* with it that I'm not aware of?)
Back on topic - PC-BSD has been very nice for someone like me who had no prior experience with *BSD but would like to have a working system to play with and maybe even get something useful done with whilst learning more about it. Haven't had a chance to use 1.1 yet (or even 1.0) but I'm running 0.8 on a spare machine, it seems pretty cool, and I'll definitely be taking 1.1 for a spin sometime soon.
People also don't seem to understand that you moderate posts. If you don't (or do) like somebody, that's what the relationship thingo is for. I guess the idea that you might mod up a post from somebody you don't like (or mod down a post from someone you do like) is just too mind-numbing for some.
BTW, I'd buy one of those T-shirts. It'd go well with the one that says, "In Soviet Russia... Shirt Wears YOU!!"
You can't have one without the other.
But you can have them only if you're willing take
RESPONSIBILITY.
The moment you allow someone else to be responsible for your freedom *or* your security, you start losing both of them.
Troll? I thought this was pretty funny.
Not that it really matters to me in any case, since I run Linux or FreeBSD on all of my machines except one (and that box isn't allowed to surf the Net).
(I can't believe I'm about to get downmodded for going to bat for someone who's on my Foes list...)
I'm running SuSE 10.0 on an Acer 2316 (go ahead and laugh if you like, but I like the wide screen and full-size keyboard, and it's cheap and reasonably fast) that came as a replacement unit for a stolen 2310 before the 2316 was even in the stores. Only hardware issue was the Broadcom wireless card, and ndiswrapper took care of that handily.
Well, that is exactly what I said when I found oXygenXML.
It's a damn fine XML editor (and a bunch of other things handy for working with XML). I use it every single day in my job, which involves lots of writing, updating, validating, and transforming monstro-DocBook XML files. A couple of my teammates and I went into absolute hysterics when we found it, because it Does What We Need It To Do, does it fairly quickly and painlessly, and it does it on *nix, Windows, and OS X.
I still can't believe it's a Java app sometimes.
Give this man a cigar and a +1 Insightful. First it was, "Can I sit down at a Linux machine and get my work done?"; now it's turned into "Can Linux be used exactly like Windows, and can it do all the exact same flashy crap that Windows does?"
I just moved and am being forced to switch from cable to ADSL, with a 50% increase to maintain roughly the same level of service. WTF? When my contract with Telstra is up later this year (yes, I was taken in by their offer of a free cable modem), I'm switching to Optus. Or somebody.
Telstra continue to advertise their 10-GB/month cable and ADSL plans as "unlimited" on their website and elsewhere. Of course, the way it's presented is something like this:
. . .
[huge]Unlimited*[/huge]
. . .
[tiny]*Download speed shaped to 64K after 10GB[/tiny]
. . .
and other such fine-print tricks that enable them to pretend that 'unlimited' means '10GB cap'.
I've always thought it was better to be minimalistic in that regard.
In any case, the reason this advice is emphasised for Cluster in MySQL 4.1/5.0 is that all tables are in-memory. This won't be such an issue in 5.1, which implements Disk Data tables for Cluster.