The day Microsoft released Internet Explorer for Solaris
I fail to see why this is a top moment in Unix history. If anything, this is a downfall, as as far as I'm concerned, the last thing we need running on unix platforms is Microsoft software.
Netscape's introduction of an integrated mail, news, and browser application
I can't say I'm too much of a fan of this one either, at least not the way it's implemented. While I use Communicator for browsing and Mail under RH6.1, I hate the fact that whenever one function (mail or browser) locks up/crashes, the other does too. I think you could have the two as separate applications that were still tightly integrated.
I think the problem with roadmaps is that they "show you the way" to get from A to B, but ignore the fact that, as in real life travel, there is almost always seven thousand other ways to get from where you started to where you're going.
And for an author to presume that his/her way is the only way or the best way or is the way to success is rather ignorant. To me, that attitude is like trying to answer a hypothetical question; it's almost impossible to give a valid answer as there are always so many factors to consider.
Other than running on the server, servlets and CGI spawned processes are nothing alike. One is always in state, threaded, and represents an actual API, the other isn't. They are quite different technologies.
Ya, I realize that. I guess I was thinking in terms of the whole notion of things like environment variables and such. Mostly I was wrong, but in my mind I knew what I was talking about... I think.:)
Nothing can beat the ease of implementing anything in Perl
I'm not convinced of that, though I used to be. Anyway, we can just agree to disagree.
I personally grow tired of digging through java to find html tags in order to change the page layout (or at least i did when i was building CGI in C/C++)
Ya, I did one servlet before I said this is stupid. So my business partner and I built a template framework, which completely (well 99%) separates the HTML from the business logic. The end result is pretty slick, and is a simplified version of webmacro.
Many programmers can build an application. Few can build good libraries
Ya, that why my partner and I haven't hired anyone else yet...:)
Java Servlets are rapidly becoming an excellent alternative to doing CGI.
Isn't CGI (common gateway Interface) a protocol/standard? Cause a Java Servlet is still a CGI-like program, it just doesn't use Perl. I think too many people think CGI == web-based Perl.
Anyway, I think that for large scale, robust web applications, servlets are the way to go, especially once you build a library of classes from which you can use over and over again in your servlets. Plus, things important to website growth, such as the ability to easily load balance with too many coding changes are extremely easy to do using Java servlets (check out http://java.apache.org/jserv/howto.load-balancing.html for a cool how-to on load balancing/failover with servlets under Apache JServ)
However, if you are doing a smaller application, especially a form input-type program/script, I don't think even the fastest Java coder could beat the ease of Perl.
An even better solution is the extension of servlets called JSP -- Java Server Pages
Although I think JSP is better than ASP, as JSP is more cross platform, I think that standard servlets are better for properly separating design from business logic. Of course, depending on how youprogram it, servlets could also be worse than JSP. But in the end, a proper design done with servlets is much cleaner.
Not that it's any excuse but, it's almost 3am and I've been up since 6am (mostly coding)...:)
Just went though the OpenSRS site again, but found it to be almost useless for general information/overview. Are there any other related links that anyone knows of?
You still have to pay InterNIC... what's the point?
Ahh, but you won't have to pay as much (hopefully). This in turn will result in more money in your pocket each year (for beer). And it will add up to a bunch of savings for those of us who seem to have collected a bunch of domains during our travels (legitimately, not due to so-called squatting).
As a side note, I'd like to express my awe at the whole first post game. I still don't get it. Let it go already. Maybe the first 5-10 posts should display the user's IP so we can ridicule those who have nothing better to do at 2am than wait around to make the first post, with no inciteful text in the posting.
I wouldn't grapple with the problem of "not getting the poll"... they don't give much in terms of the poll from a bird's eye view. Who did they poll? Were they young, old? Do they have educations? Did they only poll developers at Microsoft partner companies? We just don't know (at least at 7am I couldn't find any links with any poll info/background).
I agree that C/C++ will probably never die (look at Cobol/Fortran), and I think Java will continue to grow huge on the server-side, especially servlets, given how easily they are developed and scale.
As I was driving to a client [physical] site site this morning I was thinking about how fantastic the web was for the pure fact that we have access to great documents/research like the Programmers Stone. Prior to this, such academic reading material was only available at the university libraries. And nowhere near the amount today was available since usually only thesis-type work was carried by the libraries and it was all hidden in obscure corners in the basement.
Now we have entire [web] sites devoted to this kind of stuff... sure makes it hard to code when there's all this great reading available and so close at hand. Now if we could just globally increase bandwidth to get rid of this/. effect...:)
You could always move to (or open up an office in) Canada where it's okay to use Apache with mod_ssl/OpenSSL.
Of course, you'll have to learn to build igloos (since that's what we live in) and you'll also have to buy a snowmobile to get around (or get a dog sled team if you're a traditionalist).:)
I agree that it is good that Linux continues to get more publicity, causing more people to open their eyes and take a look at this "Linux thing". However, if that publicity is at the expense of something else, I think you have to weigh the options. If we get some publicity but lose a site which was a valuable resource, was it worth it? I'd say no. If we get publicity and the site becomes twice as good as it now has money behind it, well that's probably a good thing.
Can we determine if something will be better afterwards? Not for sure until someone completes the building of a time machine, but we can look at the buying company's track record... with internet.com's not so good record, I'd say that too many people see that money stuff and throw in the towel hastily without considering the ramifications of doing so.
I would say that the company is tapping a market of people who want to own a Palm but aren't willing (or can't be bothered) to learn a whole new way of writing.
I mean, graffiti isn't that hard to learn, and there are some alternates for characters.
I'm not entirely sure that is the case; the graffiti for the alphanumerics is quite easy, but everything else is much more complicated and not at all intuitive. And learning can't be frustrating also when the graffiti misinterprets your entry.
Personally, I like writing with the stylus and graffiti, but then again, I'm easily entertained; all I need is a beer and the giraffe game (which only lasts until my gf catches up with me)...:)
While I have never approached venture capitalists, I have always had to sign non-disclosure agreements with companies when they are asking me to bid on projects. I would say that such a document is the single most important document that your friend can have to protect himself against anyone stealing his idea. There are a bunch floating around, but his best bet is to go have his lawyer draw one up for him. The lawyer can't tell anyone about the idea due to lawyer/client relationship rules, so he okay there. By having a VC signing the non-disclosure before your friend tells them anything basically insures that they (the VC's) won't tell anyone about the idea (ever) without his permission; if they do, they are liable for damages incured.
The other thing I think would be important would be to ensure that you approach reputable VC's, who have a good track record of no ripping people off. Remembering, of course, that in exchange for money the VC's will expect part of the company/profit, you will want VC(s) that you trust and are thinking in the same 'ballpark' that your friend is. Talking to Slashdot is a good first step, but your friend will also have to do some of the research into VC's himself.
Not a good assumption. Go read Applied Cryptography. There are a lot of companies that have gone and put out systems that were advertised as secure that in reality were almost trivially breakable.
You're right. I guess sometimes I (naively) forget that companies sometimes (or maybe most times) are out to make money and not serve the greater good of us all. Plus, it's almost always a good rule to never assume anything.
I want to know all the details about their system before deciding whether it's secure or not. If the details aren't disclosed, it's not secure.
I agreee. The main point (which I should have stuck to) that I was trying to get across was that it is premature to discuss security without knowing details.
I think it is a bit premature to assume that something is a bad idea just because you don't understand the technology behind it or because you don't know what security measures the company has in place to prevent ill-use. One would assume that the signature is encrypted and that signing the document is like signing in PGP; it just let's people know that it's you without giving up your secret key. But, since I don't know all that much about cryptography (wish I did though), I won't say for sure.:)
On the same token, I highly doubt that this company would try and sell a system that is advertised as secure without putting in a lot of thought into the system as a whole, and ensuring protection against fraud. And if the system is insecure, I'm pretty such that the Slashdot-er's will be the first to find that out and make it known to the world, thus preventing the so called wide spread fraud.
I found the list of keywords in the Wired News article about this somewhat bizarre (among other things). The word which initially caught my attention was the would militia which has a completely different meaning here in Canada than it does down south in the US. Up here, the Militia is the common name for the Primary Army Reserves (in which I'm a soldier) dating back to the days of adhoc armies made up of a few professionals leading a rabble of locals with rifles. Anyway, I digress.
I find it so bizarre that whomever is running this Echelon program would waste time, money, hard drive space (I started to try to calculate the amount of disk space required but got distracted by a beer and it got too complex), etc... tracking email because of key words, especially when words can vary so much based on context, location, etc... And how likely is it that these "bad guys with guns" would do all of their master planning over email? Personally I think these guys would be too busy using what little money they have buying up guns and explosives and stuff rather than buying computers so they could ICQ their ideas back and forth.
Instead, I think the wasted time and resources would be better spent employing a national gun/rifle/rocket launcher registration system. Then build an expert-system which monitors these registrations looking for "pecularities," much like the system that Visa uses to check for abnormal purchases.
No I'm not trying to start a gun control flame war, I'm simply expressing my complete and utter disbelief that an Echelon system could exist. You Americans are funny that way; but we still like ya.:)
I think it's interesting that there doesn't seem to be too much of a grey area on this subject; either you're totally for the idea of bringing the mammoth back to life or you're against it.
While I do think it would be 'neat' (I hate that word) to have the mammoth around again, I'm pretty sure that much thought would have to be put into issues like it's affect on the food chain. I also think there would be a huge market for them immediately on the black market as everyone would want to have their own 'piece' of a wooly mammoth. As long as the best interests of all involved (mostly those of the mammoth) I'm all for this kind of use of technology. If not, and the mammoth is just being brought back to life so we can hunt it and such, I'm against it. (So, I guess it's balck and white for me too, except I can't make up my mind... *grin*)
> In fact I am shocked they even wrote about open > bsd in a city where money talks - esspecially > oil and gas money. I think that you will see more of these articles as the writer is young and isn't blinded by the money of oil and gas. I think he also realizes that technology in our city isn't limited (anymore) to oil and gas companies...especially since most oil and gas companies are no where near the leading edge, let alone bleeding edge of anything technology releated.
No matter how much we try, there is always going to be morons digging up cables. I think what really needs to be done is increase the redundancy so that whole deal isn't slowed to a three-toed sloth's pace because of a yellow piece of machinery... isn't the whole reason the Internet came to be was to ensure communication was maintained in the event of nuclear war strikes? If that redundancy is there but is practically useless due to high volume of traffic, then it may as well not be there at all.
Slashdot Mirror
I fail to see why this is a top moment in Unix history. If anything, this is a downfall, as as far as I'm concerned, the last thing we need running on unix platforms is Microsoft software.
Netscape's introduction of an integrated mail, news, and browser application
I can't say I'm too much of a fan of this one either, at least not the way it's implemented. While I use Communicator for browsing and Mail under RH6.1, I hate the fact that whenever one function (mail or browser) locks up/crashes, the other does too. I think you could have the two as separate applications that were still tightly integrated.
Man, you been living in a box lately or what? :) Go to http://www.mozilla.org...
I think the problem with roadmaps is that they "show you the way" to get from A to B, but ignore the fact that, as in real life travel, there is almost always seven thousand other ways to get from where you started to where you're going.
And for an author to presume that his/her way is the only way or the best way or is the way to success is rather ignorant. To me, that attitude is like trying to answer a hypothetical question; it's almost impossible to give a valid answer as there are always so many factors to consider.
I'm impressed. I haven't seen anyone use argument fallacies since I was in university some 3 years ago.
Ya, I realize that. I guess I was thinking in terms of the whole notion of things like environment variables and such. Mostly I was wrong, but in my mind I knew what I was talking about... I think. :)
Nothing can beat the ease of implementing anything in Perl
I'm not convinced of that, though I used to be. Anyway, we can just agree to disagree.
Ya, I did one servlet before I said this is stupid. So my business partner and I built a template framework, which completely (well 99%) separates the HTML from the business logic. The end result is pretty slick, and is a simplified version of webmacro.
Many programmers can build an application. Few can build good libraries
Ya, that why my partner and I haven't hired anyone else yet... :)
Isn't CGI (common gateway Interface) a protocol/standard? Cause a Java Servlet is still a CGI-like program, it just doesn't use Perl. I think too many people think CGI == web-based Perl.
Anyway, I think that for large scale, robust web applications, servlets are the way to go, especially once you build a library of classes from which you can use over and over again in your servlets. /howto.load-balancing.html for a cool how-to on load balancing/failover with servlets under Apache JServ)
Plus, things important to website growth, such as the ability to easily load balance with too many coding changes are extremely easy to do using Java servlets (check out http://java.apache.org/jserv
However, if you are doing a smaller application, especially a form input-type program/script, I don't think even the fastest Java coder could beat the ease of Perl.
Although I think JSP is better than ASP, as JSP is more cross platform, I think that standard servlets are better for properly separating design from business logic. Of course, depending on how youprogram it, servlets could also be worse than JSP. But in the end, a proper design done with servlets is much cleaner.
Just went though the OpenSRS site again, but found it to be almost useless for general information/overview. Are there any other related links that anyone knows of?
Ahh, but you won't have to pay as much (hopefully). This in turn will result in more money in your pocket each year (for beer). And it will add up to a bunch of savings for those of us who seem to have collected a bunch of domains during our travels (legitimately, not due to so-called squatting).
As a side note, I'd like to express my awe at the whole first post game. I still don't get it. Let it go already. Maybe the first 5-10 posts should display the user's IP so we can ridicule those who have nothing better to do at 2am than wait around to make the first post, with no inciteful text in the posting.
I agree that C/C++ will probably never die (look at Cobol/Fortran), and I think Java will continue to grow huge on the server-side, especially servlets, given how easily they are developed and scale.
Now we have entire [web] sites devoted to this kind of stuff... sure makes it hard to code when there's all this great reading available and so close at hand. Now if we could just globally increase bandwidth to get rid of this /. effect... :)
There's no need to be rude about it there, slick. I was simply responding to the /.-er who seem to miss the fact that the guy was being sarcastic.
I think he is a Linux supporter, and is doing it through sarcasm...
If you mean about the igloo and such, of course I am... I'm from Alberta.
Of course, you'll have to learn to build igloos (since that's what we live in) and you'll also have to buy a snowmobile to get around (or get a dog sled team if you're a traditionalist). :)
Can we determine if something will be better afterwards? Not for sure until someone completes the building of a time machine, but we can look at the buying company's track record... with internet.com's not so good record, I'd say that too many people see that money stuff and throw in the towel hastily without considering the ramifications of doing so.
Long live the greater good of Linux.
I mean, graffiti isn't that hard to learn, and there are some alternates for characters.
I'm not entirely sure that is the case; the graffiti for the alphanumerics is quite easy, but everything else is much more complicated and not at all intuitive. And learning can't be frustrating also when the graffiti misinterprets your entry.
Personally, I like writing with the stylus and graffiti, but then again, I'm easily entertained; all I need is a beer and the giraffe game (which only lasts until my gf catches up with me)... :)
The other thing I think would be important would be to ensure that you approach reputable VC's, who have a good track record of no ripping people off. Remembering, of course, that in exchange for money the VC's will expect part of the company/profit, you will want VC(s) that you trust and are thinking in the same 'ballpark' that your friend is. Talking to Slashdot is a good first step, but your friend will also have to do some of the research into VC's himself.
You're right. I guess sometimes I (naively) forget that companies sometimes (or maybe most times) are out to make money and not serve the greater good of us all. Plus, it's almost always a good rule to never assume anything.
I want to know all the details about their system before deciding whether it's secure or not. If the details aren't disclosed, it's not secure.
I agreee. The main point (which I should have stuck to) that I was trying to get across was that it is premature to discuss security without knowing details.
On the same token, I highly doubt that this company would try and sell a system that is advertised as secure without putting in a lot of thought into the system as a whole, and ensuring protection against fraud. And if the system is insecure, I'm pretty such that the Slashdot-er's will be the first to find that out and make it known to the world, thus preventing the so called wide spread fraud.
Once again the world is saved by Slashdot.
I find it so bizarre that whomever is running this Echelon program would waste time, money, hard drive space (I started to try to calculate the amount of disk space required but got distracted by a beer and it got too complex), etc... tracking email because of key words, especially when words can vary so much based on context, location, etc... And how likely is it that these "bad guys with guns" would do all of their master planning over email? Personally I think these guys would be too busy using what little money they have buying up guns and explosives and stuff rather than buying computers so they could ICQ their ideas back and forth.
Instead, I think the wasted time and resources would be better spent employing a national gun/rifle/rocket launcher registration system. Then build an expert-system which monitors these registrations looking for "pecularities," much like the system that Visa uses to check for abnormal purchases.
No I'm not trying to start a gun control flame war, I'm simply expressing my complete and utter disbelief that an Echelon system could exist. You Americans are funny that way; but we still like ya. :)
While I do think it would be 'neat' (I hate that word) to have the mammoth around again, I'm pretty sure that much thought would have to be put into issues like it's affect on the food chain. I also think there would be a huge market for them immediately on the black market as everyone would want to have their own 'piece' of a wooly mammoth. As long as the best interests of all involved (mostly those of the mammoth) I'm all for this kind of use of technology. If not, and the mammoth is just being brought back to life so we can hunt it and such, I'm against it. (So, I guess it's balck and white for me too, except I can't make up my mind... *grin*)
> In fact I am shocked they even wrote about open
> bsd in a city where money talks - esspecially
> oil and gas money.
I think that you will see more of these articles as the writer is young and isn't blinded by the money of oil and gas. I think he also realizes that technology in our city isn't limited (anymore) to oil and gas companies...especially since most oil and gas companies are no where near the leading edge, let alone bleeding edge of anything technology releated.
No matter how much we try, there is always going to be morons digging up cables. I think what really needs to be done is increase the redundancy so that whole deal isn't slowed to a three-toed sloth's pace because of a yellow piece of machinery... isn't the whole reason the Internet came to be was to ensure communication was maintained in the event of nuclear war strikes? If that redundancy is there but is practically useless due to high volume of traffic, then it may as well not be there at all.