I wonder if the Mozilla people are taking note of the vocal (at least on slashdot) outcry for a SMALL, STANDARDS COMPLIANT, SIMPLE, and FAST browser?
I could well apply the same question to window-managers and desktop environments. I'd be already using - or at least trying to use - Galeon, if it didn't require existing Gnome installation. Even for building. And believe me, I've tried that with every consievable./configure --without-foo and their ilk
I like my desktop as it is, SMALL and quite SIMPLE. I have no use for Gnome, nor KDE. Even at the risk of taking serious flak, I don't see a single reason for using Gnome. I don't need it and I really, really don't want it.
Why, oh why can't the developers of these stripped-down versions realize that there are users of stripped-down desktops as well?
Me and my fioncee played Black Dahlia through, with the help of a walkthrough, and it still took a really long time.
That, if anything, was a game that capturred the player into the storyline and theme. Only one of the eight CD's was unnecessary, the other seven served us both for a VERY long time of entertainment.
I would love to see more games like this, with the intensive plot and atmosphere being more of a matter than blazing fast 3D effects and humongous multiplayer functionalities. Honestly, Black Dahlia was the best puzzle/problem solving game I've ever played - And I did enjoy both Monkey Islands, Discworlds and others.
It's really a shame that no game makers vreate such games any longer. I would gladly pay the price for them if they really proved to be worth the challenge. Preferably in Linux as well.
Are there only that few others who share the interest and love for these kind of games? Please identify yourselves.
Wouldn't big progam houses be interested in getting their applications branded "Secure" by a likewise trusted authority? (think CERT) My guess is yes. Microsoft, for example, would benefit (at least in large, mission critical installations) from having their source code audited and confirmed by a third party.
Unfortunately it wouldn't work. The big software companies are extremely reluctant to letting anyone outside their realm see the source code.
While it certainly would help to find these biggest holes, it is quite possible that the product code itself is so shoddy, so obfuscated to begin with, that even with enough time and knowledge, it is unsure if the audit would do any good. Probably the code has never been rewritten, but only new stuff has been added and old modified, to add some new functionality.
This is another example journalistic integrity, a subject which has been pointed out by several other posts.
I'm personally very heavily attuned to security side of technology. As there are not that many like me around here (waaaayy up north and in Europe) it's not that odd that I've been doing every now and then some reviews for a computer magazine.
As these occasions are quite far apart, I haven't had the option of actually hoarding the reviews and getting those review copies. And that also leads to the fact that the few reviews I've done, are pretty objective (or at least that's what I'd like to think).
It's not that amazing that I endorse the use of SSH, and last summer I was given the option to review Anne Carasik's book about unix SSH. I had the possibility of having a nice talk with ther and my copy of the book is even signed for me. I think well of Anne, and I had the courtesy of sending her my review before it went to press. She liked it and appreciated that I pointed out what she could've done better.
Having a VIP treatment didn't prevent me from being objective as I clearly pointed out in my review where the book excelled and where it could've done far better. I apply the same principle to all my reviews. Yes, I don't get to do them that often but at least the editors know from experience that my reviews aren't bought.
And even if I did these reviews frequently, I'd still like to think that my integrity is not for sale. Is it just me?
Ok, shouldn't have hit enter on subject field. Let's try this again.
I for one would love to have Nethack, ADOM, Omega or such in my cell phone. I don't carry a laptop with me but a phone goes where ever I do.
Just imagine, three hours in a train/bus/whatnot, with nothing to do, you could simply grab your phone and have a good game session. Travelling would never be that boring again.
The next logical step would be the development of multi-player capability in these. And we all know how well MUDs and on-line gaming communities appeal...
This is a layman's view of an agreeably complicated thing. According to some theories all forces have to have transmitting particles. Gravity is a force there as any other but insofar there are disputes whether gravitons (particles transmitting [the effect of] gravity) even exist - not to mention actually someone having discovered them.
We know from experience and several tests that basic particles have their anti-equivalents. If this indeed is a universal fact and gravitons actually exist, why wouldn't there be anti-gravitons as well?
When particle and anti-particle collide, they annihilate each other - so it would be theoretically possible to destroy gravitons with their counterparts and hence deprive an object from the effect of gravity. And YES, I know I will get flamed for this kind of herecy. Even if this was ever actually possible, it would require unbelievable advances in nuclear and particle physics, and that in areas who are not far from fantasy or imagination. Not to mention the shielding required to withstand the enormous energies that are unleashed with particle annihilation.
While personally I don't believe Project Greenglow has any chance of success, at least they're doing some valuable research on gravity, and possibly even on Einstein's gravity waves. And IIRC, even those are yet to discover.
This is one of the best things I've seen in a long time. The current exams test nothing more than the ability to collect and memorize raw information. I know, I've used the method on several more or less useless exams where the testing has nothing to do with content.
I know that many of you are going to whine and moan about this being unfair and that the exams won't test anything useful. Allow me to put it simply: This kind of testing does not measure the knowledge or memory as we're used to. It concentrates the tests to measure the ability to find content. The tests are not meant to rate how good a memory you have. They are testing how well you understand the consept and subject you're given. And then it naturally measures how well you manage to put that in simple, readable form. It's like doing a summary for your boss in real life work.
The joke held true, once again. Debian potato frozen and not too far from stable and NOW they tell us XFree 4.0 - the most anticipated release since 2.2-kernel - is nearly out.
Well, I can only hope Vincent will once again see through the trouble and provide the more recent XFrees than those in stable release.
I'm quite astonished that at this point, this side of the issue has not been discussed.
United States is pretty damn close to UK in one aspect. When it comes to talking about sex, should it be to one's children or just in general way, both nations have severe difficulties. They shun from the mere subject.
I'm not the forst one to take note that both in UK and U.S. the teen pregnancy rates are just horribly high. Sex is considered something you don't talk about - and you sure as hell don't teach anything about it to your kids. As a result teens don't know what to do and hence don't know much about contraception. Right here (Nordic Countries) comdoms are openly advertised and sold. Their use is discussed even during late grade school. Prevention of unwanted pregnancy and/or veneral deceases is more a norm than an exception.
And much to this, we have the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the world. Sexual education is not only good, it should be mandatory. No matter what the fundamentalist puritans claim or wish to, education in sexual matters helps teens. When they know better, they are less prone to making irrevocable mistakes. (No, abortion is not birth control!)
I'm not trying to say this is the only reason but the correlation between the lack sexual education and teen pregnancies is quite clear.
This is exactly the aspect that made me worried as well. According to the article, authorities can get a permit to break in and check the data. There is absolutely nothing preventing them from cracking their way in prior to the search and PLANTING the evidence they then find when the court order/permit allows.
As they sure as h*ll will modify the data on the computer during both processes, there is no way the victim (er, the owner of the computer) can point to what would have been changed without his knowlegde or consent. In effect, he has no ability to prove that the evidence wasn't there in the first place. ("Of course the files have been modified! How else would the police have managed to access everything on the computer?")
This may set an unwanted precedence and a disasterous example. Orwellian police states may no longer be mere horror speculations, but the standard in the 3rd millenium. I expect with utmost terror as to what countries follow the Australian Way.
A sequel to Matrix? That was my initial reaction. Then I took to the reading of the article and discovered that unlike most sequels, this one will be done by the same guys who breathed life into the first one.
True, I am both excited and scared. That someone has guts to continue the storyline, is a brave deed. If done right, it may yet prove to be the ultimate movie experience. If screwed up, we could have another set of Jaws or Rocky-pictures. I truly hope the brothers are putting all they have into this.
It would truely be a shame to have Matrix raped just to make some quick buck. Hollywood should by now have the understanding that crappy sequels will not bring in the cash they want. Or maybe I'm just a bit too optimistic in this?
Let's hope the storyline has the potential to carry the oncoming sequels. And pray that Wachowskis are not just doing this out of greed.
Personally, I'm all for it. GIF, as a graphic format, is pretty much deprecated and useless. The two uses there still are: ad-banners and tiny pictures on homepages. Yes, I would love to have transparency for PNG, but I can live without it. There are ways to circumvent the absence.
Of all the graphics I've done recently, they're just about anything but GIFs. Should it be grayscale or full-color, I just don't see the need for GIF-use any longer. It was a fine format once in its time, but evolution does happen. Even in computer world, where draggind the past along with is de facto.
True, Unisys can never enforce their license to the full. They don't even have to. There are much better formats available, and people are actually starting to use them.
As to the annoyance of potential java-banners... True, they are really horrible. The few I've witnessed are not easy for eyes and not the browsers either. Who ever said java should be kept on at all times? From personal experience it only hinders surfing. And I'm not the only one, this opinion seems to be commonly shared.
Actually, Unisys may be doing a big favor to the web community. By being greedy, they encourage the users to stop using GIFs in the first place. No, it's not the license itself but all the talk and noise it invariably generates among the public.
Now, are there any other deprecated formats, of any kind or in any use, that we should get rid of?
Slashdot Mirror
It seems secure IRC-like systems are spranging up. Quite understandable. From the land of Linux comes one.
SILC takes a new approach. It's not about adding encryption via SSL to existing networks, but building secure network and clients from ground up.
And no, it's not intended as a replacement for IRC. It's an alternative. - And if I understood C any better, I'd be developing this one as well.
I could well apply the same question to window-managers and desktop environments. I'd be already using - or at least trying to use - Galeon, if it didn't require existing Gnome installation. Even for building. And believe me, I've tried that with every consievable ./configure --without-foo and their ilk
I like my desktop as it is, SMALL and quite SIMPLE. I have no use for Gnome, nor KDE. Even at the risk of taking serious flak, I don't see a single reason for using Gnome. I don't need it and I really, really don't want it.
Why, oh why can't the developers of these stripped-down versions realize that there are users of stripped-down desktops as well?
Me and my fioncee played Black Dahlia through, with the help of a walkthrough, and it still took a really long time.
That, if anything, was a game that capturred the player into the storyline and theme. Only one of the eight CD's was unnecessary, the other seven served us both for a VERY long time of entertainment.
I would love to see more games like this, with the intensive plot and atmosphere being more of a matter than blazing fast 3D effects and humongous multiplayer functionalities. Honestly, Black Dahlia was the best puzzle/problem solving game I've ever played - And I did enjoy both Monkey Islands, Discworlds and others.
It's really a shame that no game makers vreate such games any longer. I would gladly pay the price for them if they really proved to be worth the challenge. Preferably in Linux as well.
Are there only that few others who share the interest and love for these kind of games? Please identify yourselves.
Unfortunately it wouldn't work. The big software companies are extremely reluctant to letting anyone outside their realm see the source code.
While it certainly would help to find these biggest holes, it is quite possible that the product code itself is so shoddy, so obfuscated to begin with, that even with enough time and knowledge, it is unsure if the audit would do any good. Probably the code has never been rewritten, but only new stuff has been added and old modified, to add some new functionality.
Isn't this how most of us write code, anyway?
This is another example journalistic integrity, a subject which has been pointed out by several other posts.
I'm personally very heavily attuned to security side of technology. As there are not that many like me around here (waaaayy up north and in Europe) it's not that odd that I've been doing every now and then some reviews for a computer magazine.
As these occasions are quite far apart, I haven't had the option of actually hoarding the reviews and getting those review copies. And that also leads to the fact that the few reviews I've done, are pretty objective (or at least that's what I'd like to think).
It's not that amazing that I endorse the use of SSH, and last summer I was given the option to review Anne Carasik's book about unix SSH. I had the possibility of having a nice talk with ther and my copy of the book is even signed for me. I think well of Anne, and I had the courtesy of sending her my review before it went to press. She liked it and appreciated that I pointed out what she could've done better.
Having a VIP treatment didn't prevent me from being objective as I clearly pointed out in my review where the book excelled and where it could've done far better. I apply the same principle to all my reviews. Yes, I don't get to do them that often but at least the editors know from experience that my reviews aren't bought.
And even if I did these reviews frequently, I'd still like to think that my integrity is not for sale. Is it just me?
Ok, shouldn't have hit enter on subject field. Let's try this again.
I for one would love to have Nethack, ADOM, Omega or such in my cell phone. I don't carry a laptop with me but a phone goes where ever I do.
Just imagine, three hours in a train/bus/whatnot, with nothing to do, you could simply grab your phone and have a good game session. Travelling would never be that boring again.
The next logical step would be the development of multi-player capability in these. And we all know how well MUDs and on-line gaming communities appeal...
This is a layman's view of an agreeably complicated thing. According to some theories all forces have to have transmitting particles. Gravity is a force there as any other but insofar there are disputes whether gravitons (particles transmitting [the effect of] gravity) even exist - not to mention actually someone having discovered them.
We know from experience and several tests that basic particles have their anti-equivalents. If this indeed is a universal fact and gravitons actually exist, why wouldn't there be anti-gravitons as well?
When particle and anti-particle collide, they annihilate each other - so it would be theoretically possible to destroy gravitons with their counterparts and hence deprive an object from the effect of gravity. And YES, I know I will get flamed for this kind of herecy. Even if this was ever actually possible, it would require unbelievable advances in nuclear and particle physics, and that in areas who are not far from fantasy or imagination. Not to mention the shielding required to withstand the enormous energies that are unleashed with particle annihilation.
While personally I don't believe Project Greenglow has any chance of success, at least they're doing some valuable research on gravity, and possibly even on Einstein's gravity waves. And IIRC, even those are yet to discover.
This is one of the best things I've seen in a long time. The current exams test nothing more than the ability to collect and memorize raw information. I know, I've used the method on several more or less useless exams where the testing has nothing to do with content.
I know that many of you are going to whine and moan about this being unfair and that the exams won't test anything useful. Allow me to put it simply: This kind of testing does not measure the knowledge or memory as we're used to. It concentrates the tests to measure the ability to find content. The tests are not meant to rate how good a memory you have. They are testing how well you understand the consept and subject you're given. And then it naturally measures how well you manage to put that in simple, readable form. It's like doing a summary for your boss in real life work.
I envy these students. I really do.
The joke held true, once again. Debian potato frozen and not too far from stable and NOW they tell us XFree 4.0 - the most anticipated release since 2.2-kernel - is nearly out.
Well, I can only hope Vincent will once again see through the trouble and provide the more recent XFrees than those in stable release.
I'm quite astonished that at this point, this side of the issue has not been discussed.
United States is pretty damn close to UK in one aspect. When it comes to talking about sex, should it be to one's children or just in general way, both nations have severe difficulties. They shun from the mere subject.
I'm not the forst one to take note that both in UK and U.S. the teen pregnancy rates are just horribly high. Sex is considered something you don't talk about - and you sure as hell don't teach anything about it to your kids. As a result teens don't know what to do and hence don't know much about contraception. Right here (Nordic Countries) comdoms are openly advertised and sold. Their use is discussed even during late grade school. Prevention of unwanted pregnancy and/or veneral deceases is more a norm than an exception.
And much to this, we have the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the world. Sexual education is not only good, it should be mandatory. No matter what the fundamentalist puritans claim or wish to, education in sexual matters helps teens. When they know better, they are less prone to making irrevocable mistakes. (No, abortion is not birth control!)
I'm not trying to say this is the only reason but the correlation between the lack sexual education and teen pregnancies is quite clear.
This is exactly the aspect that made me worried as well. According to the article, authorities can get a permit to break in and check the data. There is absolutely nothing preventing them from cracking their way in prior to the search and PLANTING the evidence they then find when the court order/permit allows.
As they sure as h*ll will modify the data on the computer during both processes, there is no way the victim (er, the owner of the computer) can point to what would have been changed without his knowlegde or consent. In effect, he has no ability to prove that the evidence wasn't there in the first place. ("Of course the files have been modified! How else would the police have managed to access everything on the computer?")
This may set an unwanted precedence and a disasterous example. Orwellian police states may no longer be mere horror speculations, but the standard in the 3rd millenium. I expect with utmost terror as to what countries follow the Australian Way.
Well, this certainly puts Lotus Notes in new light.
In its wisdom, Micro$oft has now declared Notes a tool of such power that should never be wielded by ordinary users.
Apparently SP6 does exactly what it should: plug a security hole.
A sequel to Matrix? That was my initial reaction. Then I took to the reading of the article and discovered that unlike most sequels, this one will be done by the same guys who breathed life into the first one.
True, I am both excited and scared. That someone has guts to continue the storyline, is a brave deed. If done right, it may yet prove to be the ultimate movie experience. If screwed up, we could have another set of Jaws or Rocky-pictures. I truly hope the brothers are putting all they have into this.
It would truely be a shame to have Matrix raped just to make some quick buck. Hollywood should by now have the understanding that crappy sequels will not bring in the cash they want. Or maybe I'm just a bit too optimistic in this?
Let's hope the storyline has the potential to carry the oncoming sequels. And pray that Wachowskis are not just doing this out of greed.
Personally, I'm all for it. GIF, as a graphic format, is pretty much deprecated and useless. The two uses there still are: ad-banners and tiny pictures on homepages. Yes, I would love to have transparency for PNG, but I can live without it. There are ways to circumvent the absence.
Of all the graphics I've done recently, they're just about anything but GIFs. Should it be grayscale or full-color, I just don't see the need for GIF-use any longer. It was a fine format once in its time, but evolution does happen. Even in computer world, where draggind the past along with is de facto.
True, Unisys can never enforce their license to the full. They don't even have to. There are much better formats available, and people are actually starting to use them.
As to the annoyance of potential java-banners... True, they are really horrible. The few I've witnessed are not easy for eyes and not the browsers either. Who ever said java should be kept on at all times? From personal experience it only hinders surfing. And I'm not the only one, this opinion seems to be commonly shared.
Actually, Unisys may be doing a big favor to the web community. By being greedy, they encourage the users to stop using GIFs in the first place. No, it's not the license itself but all the talk and noise it invariably generates among the public.
Now, are there any other deprecated formats, of any kind or in any use, that we should get rid of?