oh , and even if you get past the messenger level, how about font/language support for my friends who speak amharic, sinhala etc?
Weird thing, the best language support I've seen in terms of translations of software has been on Ubuntu Linux. The best keymap support in a standard-language (ie: English) OS is under Mac OS X.
OSX.app package: download disk image, which then mounts itself and opens a Finder window. Open another Finder window if necessary and navigate to the make the/Applications folder visible. Drag.app package to the Applications folder. Done.
All distros are incompatible at the binary level. An actual Independent Software Vendor who code and distribute closed-source software simply can't afford to recompile their program for every common basic distro (ie: Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo). At some level they need an assurance of binary-compatibility, and Linux almost deliberately doesn't provide that.
You know, you're actually right about that Distrowatch thing. This is a psychology problem known as the Problem of Choice: when faced with more choices than one can count on one's fingers, people tend to "turn off" and take the default option or the status-quo rather than make any effort to understand the choice.
I do try to evangelize for Linux (even though I spend half my time in OS X), but I take what I think is an unusual approach. If someone tells me Windoze or Mac sucks, I say they should try Linux. If they express interest in an alternative operating system, I tell them that Linux can be put together in many different ways called "distributions".
Now here's where I do something clever and innovative. Rather than give my prospective convert even a short, 5-item list of common distributions, I simply assure them that I know all about Linux and can select a distribution appropriate for their needs. I then give them a simple quiz on these needs:
1) Do you run a standard, recent desktop/laptop system? Answer yes or no. 2) Do you need any specialized applications most people don't use, such as multimedia software, games, or a programming environment? Answer yes or no.
Most users answer "yes", followed by "no". I tell them to go straight to Ubuntu, collecting $200 in a Windows license refund as they pass Go. Maybe, if they happen to run one or two Windows-specific apps (like games, for example) I explain about Wine to them and check its compatibility list.
Now, if I receive answers deviating from that well-known pattern, then I start in asking about this user's specific needs to select a distro that can satisfy them.
By these efforts I've actually gotten a good 2 or 3 people I know to start using Linux. Hell, my mom now refuses to use Windows and wants it put on our 10 year old dinosaur.
That's bloody-stupid. Quotation marks imply quotation, and punctuation shows the grammar and syntax of the sentence. If the quoted sentence doesn't have a damned period at the end, put the damned period outside the quotes.
() "" Always match brackets. Always match quotes. And use your terminator outside of string literals.
Yeah, you really can't call them "fuck rooms" when used by the USAF. Now, when they start selling these things to the IDF Air Force, then it's a fuck room!
In case you haven't heard, IDF brass have seen lots of scandals about sexual harassment and affairs with young enlisted women in recent years.
Admittedly, I've seen extremely good "nerd news" sites get bogged down in political/governmental stories and completely lose sight of their original purpose. I'd give up a certain extent of politics on Slashdot to keep the science and technology stuff, but I've seen no evidence Slashdot is being overwhelmed.
Okay. But you're not listening to me. There are other things that need to be taken into account here. Like the whole spectrum of human emotion. You can't just lump everything into these two categories and then just deny everything else!
See, the problem with your view is the assumption that the terrorists (whose motives are, I agree, exactly as you state them) can carry out their war against the West (and a couple bits of the East, too) without any recruitment or support from the civilian population of the Muslim world. If we settle things diplomatically we please the moderates of the Muslim world, isolating the terrorists and making them all the more vulnerable when the time comes to actually fight them.
See, the problem with primaries (and with the whole US system) is that even at the primary stage, everyone votes strategically for the candidate they think can realistically move to the center and win the general election rather than the candidate they actually agree with. The whole US system has a fucking cancer of strategic voting -- vote Libertarian to Nader the Republicans, endorse Clinton to drag the party rightward, vote for the new FISA bill because it's just slightly better than total fascism even if it remains mostly fascism. YICH!
We don't need a standardized package manager for Linux../configure;make;make install does that in the corner case that absolutely no repo is available from anyone. What we need is a standard UNINSTALL program to remove the files that make install put there without having to keep source trees around.
Slashdot Mirror
oh , and even if you get past the messenger level, how about font/language support for my friends who speak amharic, sinhala etc?
Weird thing, the best language support I've seen in terms of translations of software has been on Ubuntu Linux. The best keymap support in a standard-language (ie: English) OS is under Mac OS X.
OSX .app package: download disk image, which then mounts itself and opens a Finder window. Open another Finder window if necessary and navigate to the make the /Applications folder visible. Drag .app package to the Applications folder. Done.
All distros are incompatible at the binary level. An actual Independent Software Vendor who code and distribute closed-source software simply can't afford to recompile their program for every common basic distro (ie: Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo). At some level they need an assurance of binary-compatibility, and Linux almost deliberately doesn't provide that.
You know, you're actually right about that Distrowatch thing. This is a psychology problem known as the Problem of Choice: when faced with more choices than one can count on one's fingers, people tend to "turn off" and take the default option or the status-quo rather than make any effort to understand the choice.
I do try to evangelize for Linux (even though I spend half my time in OS X), but I take what I think is an unusual approach. If someone tells me Windoze or Mac sucks, I say they should try Linux. If they express interest in an alternative operating system, I tell them that Linux can be put together in many different ways called "distributions".
Now here's where I do something clever and innovative. Rather than give my prospective convert even a short, 5-item list of common distributions, I simply assure them that I know all about Linux and can select a distribution appropriate for their needs. I then give them a simple quiz on these needs:
1) Do you run a standard, recent desktop/laptop system? Answer yes or no.
2) Do you need any specialized applications most people don't use, such as multimedia software, games, or a programming environment? Answer yes or no.
Most users answer "yes", followed by "no". I tell them to go straight to Ubuntu, collecting $200 in a Windows license refund as they pass Go. Maybe, if they happen to run one or two Windows-specific apps (like games, for example) I explain about Wine to them and check its compatibility list.
Now, if I receive answers deviating from that well-known pattern, then I start in asking about this user's specific needs to select a distro that can satisfy them.
By these efforts I've actually gotten a good 2 or 3 people I know to start using Linux. Hell, my mom now refuses to use Windows and wants it put on our 10 year old dinosaur.
You never heard about opportunity cost, did you?
And I always say, "never attribute to incompetence that which you can explain by misplaced good intentions".
Dude. Why aren't you married?
Although kavya has more reason to learn English than you have to learn Urdu or Punjabi (unless you travel to Pakistan on a regular basis).
That's bloody-stupid. Quotation marks imply quotation, and punctuation shows the grammar and syntax of the sentence. If the quoted sentence doesn't have a damned period at the end, put the damned period outside the quotes.
() "" Always match brackets. Always match quotes. And use your terminator outside of string literals.
Usually by calling Babby::Babby(Father dad,Mother mom).
Not if my side wins. Do you see the Germans or the Japanese gunning for Americans?
Yeah, you really can't call them "fuck rooms" when used by the USAF. Now, when they start selling these things to the IDF Air Force, then it's a fuck room!
In case you haven't heard, IDF brass have seen lots of scandals about sexual harassment and affairs with young enlisted women in recent years.
We don't have an aristocracy in this country. An aristocracy feels noblesse oblige.
Admittedly, I've seen extremely good "nerd news" sites get bogged down in political/governmental stories and completely lose sight of their original purpose. I'd give up a certain extent of politics on Slashdot to keep the science and technology stuff, but I've seen no evidence Slashdot is being overwhelmed.
Now why exactly do you have to convince your girlfriend before buying a system with your own money?
Sorry, it ain't kosher.
If you die fighting you can take the other sorry bastard with you.
My God, what do you have against English drinking establishments?
Okay. But you're not listening to me. There are other things that need to be taken into account here. Like the whole spectrum of human emotion. You can't just lump everything into these two categories and then just deny everything else!
See, the problem with your view is the assumption that the terrorists (whose motives are, I agree, exactly as you state them) can carry out their war against the West (and a couple bits of the East, too) without any recruitment or support from the civilian population of the Muslim world. If we settle things diplomatically we please the moderates of the Muslim world, isolating the terrorists and making them all the more vulnerable when the time comes to actually fight them.
I'm sorry, exactly how is getting yourself killed the mightiest force in the world?
Lesson of history: It's no use enjoying the sympathy and pity of the rest of the world if you're dead.
Hell yes, because it would make so many people switch to Linux.
See, the problem with primaries (and with the whole US system) is that even at the primary stage, everyone votes strategically for the candidate they think can realistically move to the center and win the general election rather than the candidate they actually agree with. The whole US system has a fucking cancer of strategic voting -- vote Libertarian to Nader the Republicans, endorse Clinton to drag the party rightward, vote for the new FISA bill because it's just slightly better than total fascism even if it remains mostly fascism. YICH!
Why don't we start a new party? Left on economic matters, libertarian against the nanny state?
We can call it... the Forwards Party. Actually, no, that name's cursed. AH! How about the Optimism Party? Ain't nobody can argue with that!
We don't need a standardized package manager for Linux. ./configure;make;make install does that in the corner case that absolutely no repo is available from anyone. What we need is a standard UNINSTALL program to remove the files that make install put there without having to keep source trees around.