Eh? This one glitch sends you into a tailspin of not trusting software? You're a real "glass half-empty" kind of guy, aren't you?
Personally, I'd rather look at mind-boggling accomplishments that NASA has done, like those two little rovers on the Martian surface? You know, the ones that were supposed to last some six months and are now going on four YEARS?
Shit happens. The programming and design of anything in space is far beyond the abilities of most people, and I would bet yours as well. The chances of them catching every, single, possible bug is slim. We didn't capture the plume. Okay, fine. So, now NASA can live and learn from this.
You dare deny the various fanboys their need to vent? Do you realize the catastrophe that would occur if the various camps were not allowed to spout their reasons for supporting their particular platform on a regular basis? The build up would be... wait, if we could harness that energy... nah, they need uncontrolled reactions. Let the fanboys have their fun. After all, we don't have to click on any link that is not of interest.;)
How do you figure? He made a direct, verbal assault against close-source software with his "except for all the usual reasons about source code being a prerequisite for software freedom" remark. He directly implied that all software on Linux demands "freedom".
And if you break the meaning of "prerequisite" he is in fact "requiring" source code to be released because of his wonderfully euphemistic "software freedom". (I didn't realize that it was enslaved somewhere.) How did you possibly miss that HUGE brush being swiped -- or did you choose not to see it?
This is exactly the argument that I'm sick of getting into with die-hard console fans with respect to upgrading. Most of us at least know that when upgrading to a new Micosoft operating system to install it on a test box, install it on our main box after all of our pertinent data is backed up, or install it on a box where we don't really care if the data is lost. The average Joe who doesn't know nearly as much about computers as we do and whose kids want to play any DX10-only game is NOT going to take any kinds of precaution and will just throw himself into the trusting arms of Microsoft's developers. If anything happens, there are going to be a lot of curse words thrown around and possibly some memories lost that otherwise might not have been lost. I know, I know, a bitched Vista upgrade doesn't mean that data will be suddenly lost, but I know a lot of people who equate "Windows problem" with "must format the hard drive".
With a console, you don't have a choice -- you MUST buy a new box, so the old one is still around to fall back on. Most people who upgrade to Vista aren't going to have that luxury. A console "upgrade" cannot possibly be compared to a Vista "upgrade" unless people are forced to buy a new PC in order to run Vista, which would be disastrous for Microsoft. Anyone who intentionally tries to make the two the same thing clearly doesn't know what he's talking about or is just looking for an argument.
True, the owners are getting 'over excited' and they aren't using it correctly.
but then you contradict yourself with
Nintendo does share at least some of responsibility about it.
No, Nintendo doesn't share any responsibility, especially when you admit that customers are not using the Wiimote in a manner that is appropriate. You can't have it both ways. If the people playing the games are using it responsibly and the Wiimote still flies out of their hands, then, yes, I would agree that Nintendo bears responsibility. But it's ridiculous to say that Nintendo is responsble for the inappropriate behavior of its customers. Applying that belief to other items that we purchase creates a dangerously, slippery slope and I don't think any of us want to go down.
"Even though people were inappropriately using a toaster as a hand warmer and the toaster manufacturer had very clear statements that the toaster is not to be used as a hand warmer, the toaster manufacturer should have known that as a heat source people might use it for this function; therefore, they bear some responsibility in my client's 2nd degree burns". It's no different than your argument, but I'll bet you would side with the toaster manufacturer, not the idiot who burned himself.
The Wiimote is either being used as instructed or it's not. There's no grey area here. If it's used as instructed and there's a problem, that's Nintendo's problem. If it's not used as instructed, Nintendo has no responsibility. At least they're getting some great PR out of this by handling it over and above how they could have.
Wait... so, if someone posts a response to a higher-level message, that action is automatically astroturfing and deserving of condemnation? Interesting. By all means do post your threshhold for when it is and it is not appropriate to post a response to an early post. I'm absolutely fascinated to see when self-censorship is expected just to avoid a ridiculous label from people such as yourself.
"Flamebait"? There must be some Darryl Hanna fans on Slashdot with mod points to abuse, because the article itself is spot-on.
I would also add many that have already been added, but it would probably just be easier to provide this link to a number of women scientists and mathemeticians. It might not be definitive, but many of the women listed in the replies here are also listed there as well.
Nice straw man argument. Laptops were never even mentioned in the thread. And I don't know any serious gamer who trusts a laptop to be a viable gaming platform. Maybe that's just a stigma that laptops have as I'm fully aware that Alienware offers gaming laptops, but I have yet to meet a serious gamer who prefers a laptop even to a MicroATX system.
You've just come in here for an argument. Five pounds please. If you want to continue arguing, you have to pay.
Wait a minute. Why was the parent post modded as "flamebait"? It's exactly the opposite.
Attaching unrelated riders to "must pass" bills is appalling. It's absolutely staggering that my fellow Americans have allowed our do-nothing-but-try-to-get-reelected officials to continue doing it. I absolutely support Senator Warner with this for two main reasons: (A) the idea of forcing Americans to spend/gamble their money only within American borders for the sole purpose of taxation is repugnant and is exactly what my fellow Republicans are supposed to prevent, and (B) adding totally unrelated riders to a bill is in my opinion completely unethical regardless of whether it's allowed or not. What's next? Preventing Americans from making any purchases on foreign web sites or from foreign companies for the same reason - taxes? Hey, look! Is that a lead balloon coming down on Washington?
Bravo, Senator! There are so many more important things that we should be worried about! Americans spending their money on non-American web sites should be one of the least concerning issues out there!
You obviously missed the part where I said that I have no doubt that The Sims would still be in the top spot. I simply would like to see where other PC games have fared in the list of all-time, unit sales.
The whole PC gaming genre is only about 20 years old. This list would be far more interestng if they included the biggest-selling, PC games of all time. I don't doubt that The Sims would probably still be in the top spot, but I would be far more intersted to see how the following games fared:
- The various Ultima games
- The various Monkey Island games
- The individual LucasArts games like Sam and Max, Maniac Mansion, and Day of the Tentacle
- Myst
- The various King's Quest games
- The various Space Quest games
- The various Leisure Suit Larry games
...and countless others. To take the last six years and compile a "most sales" is ludicrous. We're only talking 20 years or so. Would it have been so dreadfully hard to include all of PC gaming history?
The Delta Tau Chi house is the "party frat" that was the basis for the movie "Animal House". You're a college student and you didn't at least know THAT? I would have thought by now that universities would make that movie required viewing for how NOT to behave on campus.:)
In many ways, this can only be a good thing. Years ago, it was always a bit easier for companies to have defective products or bad customer service because there was no way to really get information out to the masses.
Because information can now get distributed to millions of people by pressing an Enter key, it's great to see that things like this can be exposed. If anything, this should make companies look more closely at product quality and customer service -- or so we would hope. After all, a common mantra in marketing circles is that people rarely say anything when a product does what it's expected to do, but you can be sure they'll let as many people as possible know when something goes wrong.
How true. Customer choice is such a bad idea. I so thank the PC vendors for letting me know that I'm too stupid to decide which processor I want to use in their products.
As soon as the Wii comes out, the first two retro games I'm buying for it (assuming that they're available) are Super Mario Bros. III and Sonic the Hedgehog I and II. Those games were just so much fun to play. Because many of us who grew up with those games now have kids of our own, that gives us an opportunity not only to introduce our kids to this oft-forgotten thing called "gameplay", but it allows us to have our bit of nostalgia as well. At least the Wii will supposedly give us the opportunity to do so without having to buy a used NES or Genesis.
Personally, I think that the article was a bit short-sighted. There are a number of games that follow the simplicity of the great 8-bit and 16-bit classics and sell well - Bejewelled and Zuma being the two most popular that I can think of. There are times when we just want some simplistic fun, then there are times when we want to have complex global battles or intense brain teasers. The article seems to imply that newer and older games are mutually exclusive to a point, which I think all of us can agree is nonsense.
Honstly, I was not surprised with the early up-mods considering it was very early in the morning. I expected to be knocked down as more and more people logged in throughout the day with mod points ho didn't yet have their morning coffee.:) To see that three got modded up and that someone even said that "someone finally said it and said it well" was a total shock, but a pleasant one to be sure.
Not at all, but to call what I've heard from others "bullshit" just because they have never seen or heard makes them the ones with the attitude problem, not me. They've never seen it, so I'm obviously making it up? That's narrow-minded arrogance to an extreme.
Then again, you don't have the balls to post with your real account, so why should I even bother replying?
I'm certain that they were not looking for free coders. Hell, that's asking for trouble... and rejection on the part of the coders, understandably so. Now, I admit that these were a few years ago when Linux was far more niche that it is now and had, I believe, a much more narrowly-focused user mindset. So, it's likely that the "open source the damned thing!" mindset has diminished, but I know it has not disappeared. I've seen postings jrecently from the extremist faction of the Linux community complaining about Linux software that was either not open-source or not adhering to some kind of standard. (I wish I could remember which software it was...) We as geeks know how to handle such attitudes and know that they're not the majority. Management? Well, that's another story. I'm sure that we all have our anecdotes there.
Actually, one in particular tried to get paid, Linux coders a few years ago for one of their projects. Granted, this was many years ago before Linux became as mainstream as it is today, but the few people that they spoke to supposedly voiced displeasure with not making the code available and the deadline for the project was approaching, so they decided to scrap any Linux conversion. Once again... what I was told. An excuse? Could be. But I could tell by the tone of this particular developer's e-mail that he was pro-Linux and would have really liked to have the software ported, but he didn't have the skill set to do so.
*sigh* I probably should have known better than to mention this on Slashdot. Shoot the message, shoot the messenger. Same thing.:/ C'est la vie.
That's true, but if the coder won't accept retaining closed course as a condition for hire, they're under no obligation to accept the job. Again, this is only what I've been told. Just because you don't like it and don't agree with it doesn't make it any less "informative".
I never said it was wrong. I would never work for Microsoft for the same reasons - moral objection.;) Again, I was just relaying what developers have told me as to why there was no Linux port of their software.
I remember one package was a very good astronomy package, and the developer that I spoke to said that he personally would have loved to make a Linux port because he felt that there would be a strong demand for it. Although he stressed resources as the reason why there was no Linux release, he also told me that there was a preconception in his management that Linux users would want the source code to be released, whether right or wrong. His management was obviously not willing to do that.
Granted, this was a few years ago before Linux really started to take off. Their attitude might have changed since then.
As I said, I'm just relaying what other developers have told me. That's all. Take it at face value.
However, you cannot deny that there it a very strong sense of "Make the source code available!" in the Linux community. I'm NOT saying that it's right or wrong, just that it's there. And don't say that Linux coders do not require open source! I've seen postings on Slashdot and other Linux communities that have actually criticized companies for releasing software on Linux but not making their source code available as though it's some kind of expectation! I know enough to take such postings with a grain of salt, knowing that there are extremists in every crowd who will never be satisfied, but what the hell do you expect a developer to think if they had plans on releasing their software but then saw that there's an expectation of releasing their source code?
Perhaps some of this is because there does not appear to be a clear, simple to follow outline cooperative for companies to design for the open source operating system. Arguably this is because of the perceived need to keep things "open," however, I feel it's time for Linux to grow up and find some kind of common ground with the closed source community. I am a firm believer that both parties could learn a lot from each other; unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon."
Actually, this is exactly what I have heard from a number of software vendors. I review software and gadgets for a few web sites. One of my testing criteria, particularly for hardware, is if the hardware is Linux-compatible. When it comes to software I always ask if there are any plans to offer a Linux version of the software. The answer that I hear the most often is in regards to a lack of available resources, which I certainly can understand since I review a lot of software form independent companies. But when I question further about asking Linux coders to help with the conversion, the major of companies that have shown an interest in a Linux port say that they've attempted to do so, but the programmers that they approached expect the software to be open-sourced if the company is to get their help. I've even had some developers of software that's geared more towards a particular science admit that they think there would be a huge demand on their software for Linux, but the "requirement" by Linux coders that the software is open-sourced killed the prospect of releasing a Linux version.
As much as I'd like to brush that off as "just an excuse", look at a lot of the replies here on Slashdot about Linux and open-source and you'll quickly see that HE'S RIGHT! I love open-source (or at the very least open standards) just as much as anyone else here and I use it whenever feasible. But there is definitely an assumption among a lot of Linux users that if it's available on Linux the course code has got to be made available or else it doesn't belong on Linux, like it's some kind of plague.
Now, I'll confess that this attitude has been diminishing as Linux eeks its way into the mainstream. The attitude is shifting away from open source and more towards open standards. But there is still a big movement and big preconception that "Linux == Open Source" and "Closed Source != Welcome On Linux".
NOT flaming here, folks. Just relaying what I've been told by software developers and what I've seen here on/. Sorry if you don't like it or don't believe it, but that doesn't make it less true. Or at least, that doesn't it make it less true in the eyes of software developers.
Actually, you bring up a very good point. Does this device take things like lazy eye into account? Does it only track the movements of one eye or both? This would be a great tool for those who don't have appropriate use of hands or have some kind of physical damage that would make handling a mouse or trackball difficult or impossible. But could this thing compensate for lazy eye or those who only have one useful eye?
The article's premise is completely wrong anyway. It's a bunch of galaxies. It's not a single object. It's like having a headline saying "The largest tomato plant ever!!!" when it's actually thousands of individual tomato plants whose vines have become intertwined.
Slashdot Mirror
Eh? This one glitch sends you into a tailspin of not trusting software? You're a real "glass half-empty" kind of guy, aren't you?
Personally, I'd rather look at mind-boggling accomplishments that NASA has done, like those two little rovers on the Martian surface? You know, the ones that were supposed to last some six months and are now going on four YEARS?
Shit happens. The programming and design of anything in space is far beyond the abilities of most people, and I would bet yours as well. The chances of them catching every, single, possible bug is slim. We didn't capture the plume. Okay, fine. So, now NASA can live and learn from this.
You dare deny the various fanboys their need to vent? Do you realize the catastrophe that would occur if the various camps were not allowed to spout their reasons for supporting their particular platform on a regular basis? The build up would be ... wait, if we could harness that energy ... nah, they need uncontrolled reactions. Let the fanboys have their fun. After all, we don't have to click on any link that is not of interest. ;)
How do you figure? He made a direct, verbal assault against close-source software with his "except for all the usual reasons about source code being a prerequisite for software freedom" remark. He directly implied that all software on Linux demands "freedom".
And if you break the meaning of "prerequisite" he is in fact "requiring" source code to be released because of his wonderfully euphemistic "software freedom". (I didn't realize that it was enslaved somewhere.) How did you possibly miss that HUGE brush being swiped -- or did you choose not to see it?
This is exactly the argument that I'm sick of getting into with die-hard console fans with respect to upgrading. Most of us at least know that when upgrading to a new Micosoft operating system to install it on a test box, install it on our main box after all of our pertinent data is backed up, or install it on a box where we don't really care if the data is lost. The average Joe who doesn't know nearly as much about computers as we do and whose kids want to play any DX10-only game is NOT going to take any kinds of precaution and will just throw himself into the trusting arms of Microsoft's developers. If anything happens, there are going to be a lot of curse words thrown around and possibly some memories lost that otherwise might not have been lost. I know, I know, a bitched Vista upgrade doesn't mean that data will be suddenly lost, but I know a lot of people who equate "Windows problem" with "must format the hard drive".
With a console, you don't have a choice -- you MUST buy a new box, so the old one is still around to fall back on. Most people who upgrade to Vista aren't going to have that luxury. A console "upgrade" cannot possibly be compared to a Vista "upgrade" unless people are forced to buy a new PC in order to run Vista, which would be disastrous for Microsoft. Anyone who intentionally tries to make the two the same thing clearly doesn't know what he's talking about or is just looking for an argument.
Now, this is fascinating. (Emphases mine.)
True, the owners are getting 'over excited' and they aren't using it correctly.
but then you contradict yourself with
Nintendo does share at least some of responsibility about it.
No, Nintendo doesn't share any responsibility, especially when you admit that customers are not using the Wiimote in a manner that is appropriate. You can't have it both ways. If the people playing the games are using it responsibly and the Wiimote still flies out of their hands, then, yes, I would agree that Nintendo bears responsibility. But it's ridiculous to say that Nintendo is responsble for the inappropriate behavior of its customers. Applying that belief to other items that we purchase creates a dangerously, slippery slope and I don't think any of us want to go down.
"Even though people were inappropriately using a toaster as a hand warmer and the toaster manufacturer had very clear statements that the toaster is not to be used as a hand warmer, the toaster manufacturer should have known that as a heat source people might use it for this function; therefore, they bear some responsibility in my client's 2nd degree burns". It's no different than your argument, but I'll bet you would side with the toaster manufacturer, not the idiot who burned himself.
The Wiimote is either being used as instructed or it's not. There's no grey area here. If it's used as instructed and there's a problem, that's Nintendo's problem. If it's not used as instructed, Nintendo has no responsibility. At least they're getting some great PR out of this by handling it over and above how they could have.
Wait ... so, if someone posts a response to a higher-level message, that action is automatically astroturfing and deserving of condemnation? Interesting. By all means do post your threshhold for when it is and it is not appropriate to post a response to an early post. I'm absolutely fascinated to see when self-censorship is expected just to avoid a ridiculous label from people such as yourself.
"Flamebait"? There must be some Darryl Hanna fans on Slashdot with mod points to abuse, because the article itself is spot-on.
I would also add many that have already been added, but it would probably just be easier to provide this link to a number of women scientists and mathemeticians. It might not be definitive, but many of the women listed in the replies here are also listed there as well.
Nice straw man argument. Laptops were never even mentioned in the thread. And I don't know any serious gamer who trusts a laptop to be a viable gaming platform. Maybe that's just a stigma that laptops have as I'm fully aware that Alienware offers gaming laptops, but I have yet to meet a serious gamer who prefers a laptop even to a MicroATX system.
You've just come in here for an argument. Five pounds please. If you want to continue arguing, you have to pay.
Wait a minute. Why was the parent post modded as "flamebait"? It's exactly the opposite.
Attaching unrelated riders to "must pass" bills is appalling. It's absolutely staggering that my fellow Americans have allowed our do-nothing-but-try-to-get-reelected officials to continue doing it. I absolutely support Senator Warner with this for two main reasons: (A) the idea of forcing Americans to spend/gamble their money only within American borders for the sole purpose of taxation is repugnant and is exactly what my fellow Republicans are supposed to prevent, and (B) adding totally unrelated riders to a bill is in my opinion completely unethical regardless of whether it's allowed or not. What's next? Preventing Americans from making any purchases on foreign web sites or from foreign companies for the same reason - taxes? Hey, look! Is that a lead balloon coming down on Washington?
Bravo, Senator! There are so many more important things that we should be worried about! Americans spending their money on non-American web sites should be one of the least concerning issues out there!
You obviously missed the part where I said that I have no doubt that The Sims would still be in the top spot. I simply would like to see where other PC games have fared in the list of all-time, unit sales.
The whole PC gaming genre is only about 20 years old. This list would be far more interestng if they included the biggest-selling, PC games of all time. I don't doubt that The Sims would probably still be in the top spot, but I would be far more intersted to see how the following games fared:
...and countless others. To take the last six years and compile a "most sales" is ludicrous. We're only talking 20 years or so. Would it have been so dreadfully hard to include all of PC gaming history?
- The various Ultima games
- The various Monkey Island games
- The individual LucasArts games like Sam and Max, Maniac Mansion, and Day of the Tentacle
- Myst
- The various King's Quest games
- The various Space Quest games
- The various Leisure Suit Larry games
The Delta Tau Chi house is the "party frat" that was the basis for the movie "Animal House". You're a college student and you didn't at least know THAT? I would have thought by now that universities would make that movie required viewing for how NOT to behave on campus. :)
In many ways, this can only be a good thing. Years ago, it was always a bit easier for companies to have defective products or bad customer service because there was no way to really get information out to the masses.
Because information can now get distributed to millions of people by pressing an Enter key, it's great to see that things like this can be exposed. If anything, this should make companies look more closely at product quality and customer service -- or so we would hope. After all, a common mantra in marketing circles is that people rarely say anything when a product does what it's expected to do, but you can be sure they'll let as many people as possible know when something goes wrong.
How true. Customer choice is such a bad idea. I so thank the PC vendors for letting me know that I'm too stupid to decide which processor I want to use in their products.
As soon as the Wii comes out, the first two retro games I'm buying for it (assuming that they're available) are Super Mario Bros. III and Sonic the Hedgehog I and II. Those games were just so much fun to play. Because many of us who grew up with those games now have kids of our own, that gives us an opportunity not only to introduce our kids to this oft-forgotten thing called "gameplay", but it allows us to have our bit of nostalgia as well. At least the Wii will supposedly give us the opportunity to do so without having to buy a used NES or Genesis.
Personally, I think that the article was a bit short-sighted. There are a number of games that follow the simplicity of the great 8-bit and 16-bit classics and sell well - Bejewelled and Zuma being the two most popular that I can think of. There are times when we just want some simplistic fun, then there are times when we want to have complex global battles or intense brain teasers. The article seems to imply that newer and older games are mutually exclusive to a point, which I think all of us can agree is nonsense.
Honstly, I was not surprised with the early up-mods considering it was very early in the morning. I expected to be knocked down as more and more people logged in throughout the day with mod points ho didn't yet have their morning coffee. :) To see that three got modded up and that someone even said that "someone finally said it and said it well" was a total shock, but a pleasant one to be sure.
Not at all, but to call what I've heard from others "bullshit" just because they have never seen or heard makes them the ones with the attitude problem, not me. They've never seen it, so I'm obviously making it up? That's narrow-minded arrogance to an extreme.
Then again, you don't have the balls to post with your real account, so why should I even bother replying?
I'm certain that they were not looking for free coders. Hell, that's asking for trouble ... and rejection on the part of the coders, understandably so. Now, I admit that these were a few years ago when Linux was far more niche that it is now and had, I believe, a much more narrowly-focused user mindset. So, it's likely that the "open source the damned thing!" mindset has diminished, but I know it has not disappeared. I've seen postings jrecently from the extremist faction of the Linux community complaining about Linux software that was either not open-source or not adhering to some kind of standard. (I wish I could remember which software it was...) We as geeks know how to handle such attitudes and know that they're not the majority. Management? Well, that's another story. I'm sure that we all have our anecdotes there.
Actually, one in particular tried to get paid, Linux coders a few years ago for one of their projects. Granted, this was many years ago before Linux became as mainstream as it is today, but the few people that they spoke to supposedly voiced displeasure with not making the code available and the deadline for the project was approaching, so they decided to scrap any Linux conversion. Once again ... what I was told. An excuse? Could be. But I could tell by the tone of this particular developer's e-mail that he was pro-Linux and would have really liked to have the software ported, but he didn't have the skill set to do so.
:/ C'est la vie.
*sigh* I probably should have known better than to mention this on Slashdot. Shoot the message, shoot the messenger. Same thing.
That's true, but if the coder won't accept retaining closed course as a condition for hire, they're under no obligation to accept the job. Again, this is only what I've been told. Just because you don't like it and don't agree with it doesn't make it any less "informative".
I never said it was wrong. I would never work for Microsoft for the same reasons - moral objection. ;) Again, I was just relaying what developers have told me as to why there was no Linux port of their software.
I remember one package was a very good astronomy package, and the developer that I spoke to said that he personally would have loved to make a Linux port because he felt that there would be a strong demand for it. Although he stressed resources as the reason why there was no Linux release, he also told me that there was a preconception in his management that Linux users would want the source code to be released, whether right or wrong. His management was obviously not willing to do that.
Granted, this was a few years ago before Linux really started to take off. Their attitude might have changed since then.
As I said, I'm just relaying what other developers have told me. That's all. Take it at face value.
However, you cannot deny that there it a very strong sense of "Make the source code available!" in the Linux community. I'm NOT saying that it's right or wrong, just that it's there. And don't say that Linux coders do not require open source! I've seen postings on Slashdot and other Linux communities that have actually criticized companies for releasing software on Linux but not making their source code available as though it's some kind of expectation! I know enough to take such postings with a grain of salt, knowing that there are extremists in every crowd who will never be satisfied, but what the hell do you expect a developer to think if they had plans on releasing their software but then saw that there's an expectation of releasing their source code?
Perhaps some of this is because there does not appear to be a clear, simple to follow outline cooperative for companies to design for the open source operating system. Arguably this is because of the perceived need to keep things "open," however, I feel it's time for Linux to grow up and find some kind of common ground with the closed source community. I am a firm believer that both parties could learn a lot from each other; unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon."
/. Sorry if you don't like it or don't believe it, but that doesn't make it less true. Or at least, that doesn't it make it less true in the eyes of software developers.
Actually, this is exactly what I have heard from a number of software vendors. I review software and gadgets for a few web sites. One of my testing criteria, particularly for hardware, is if the hardware is Linux-compatible. When it comes to software I always ask if there are any plans to offer a Linux version of the software. The answer that I hear the most often is in regards to a lack of available resources, which I certainly can understand since I review a lot of software form independent companies. But when I question further about asking Linux coders to help with the conversion, the major of companies that have shown an interest in a Linux port say that they've attempted to do so, but the programmers that they approached expect the software to be open-sourced if the company is to get their help. I've even had some developers of software that's geared more towards a particular science admit that they think there would be a huge demand on their software for Linux, but the "requirement" by Linux coders that the software is open-sourced killed the prospect of releasing a Linux version.
As much as I'd like to brush that off as "just an excuse", look at a lot of the replies here on Slashdot about Linux and open-source and you'll quickly see that HE'S RIGHT! I love open-source (or at the very least open standards) just as much as anyone else here and I use it whenever feasible. But there is definitely an assumption among a lot of Linux users that if it's available on Linux the course code has got to be made available or else it doesn't belong on Linux, like it's some kind of plague.
Now, I'll confess that this attitude has been diminishing as Linux eeks its way into the mainstream. The attitude is shifting away from open source and more towards open standards. But there is still a big movement and big preconception that "Linux == Open Source" and "Closed Source != Welcome On Linux".
NOT flaming here, folks. Just relaying what I've been told by software developers and what I've seen here on
Actually, you bring up a very good point. Does this device take things like lazy eye into account? Does it only track the movements of one eye or both? This would be a great tool for those who don't have appropriate use of hands or have some kind of physical damage that would make handling a mouse or trackball difficult or impossible. But could this thing compensate for lazy eye or those who only have one useful eye?
And I thought it was Ted Kennedy.
The article's premise is completely wrong anyway. It's a bunch of galaxies. It's not a single object. It's like having a headline saying "The largest tomato plant ever!!!" when it's actually thousands of individual tomato plants whose vines have become intertwined.