...that a server side widget toolkit is a usable thing.
All my instincts tell me that network latency and screen refreshes would be much better done if the widget manipulation were client side. And I'm sure this is still the case.
That this kind of thing is used is a testiment to how client-side web widgets have not been living up to their potential. Security problems, perhaps (ActiveX)? It's not like PHP applications come in with a squeaky clean reputation on the security front, either...
large software companies are doing layoffs, due in part to OSS.
That has to be weighed against the benefit derived by consumers of software.
Exactly the same argument could be made about lost jobs in any existing industry where there are artificial barriers in the marketplace.
If solar photovoltaic cells were suddenly available that produced electricity for US$0.005/kW-hr, a lot of good people in energy producing industries would lose their jobs, too. And if I were one of them I'd be put out. But overall, it's the best thing.
Likewise with software. There's a big shakeout going on because of latent pressure for commoditisation of software that has been held back for too long.
Unless you can demonstrate real value-added in software and services, and not something whose value hinges upon some artificial barrier, you'll have to start looking for something different to do.
I'm sorry for anyone that has to undergo the discomfort of change, but I still have to believe it's for the overall good.
The cold war brought us opponents with arsenals so fearsome that no sane person could use them.
With what's been going on in the software and business practice patents, we're coming to the same kind of brink (Eolas, this, the Amazon one-click, etc.).
Enforcement of some of these patents would bring destruction onto large parts of the economy, only for the sake of a system that was originally meant to give innovators just enough incentive to keep innovating, so that society at large would benefit in the long run. It's pretty clear the current system is acting at least as much as a brake as it is an engine for progress.
It's going horribly wrong. If the whole notion of "intellectual property" isn't fixed, then the entire system is in jeopardy of collapse.
IIRC, DEC did make a Rainbow computer to compete against the IBM PC but it didn't get very far.
Ken Olsen's biggest mistake was dismissing UNIX in the late 1970's even though DEC had a better position than anyone else because BSD was developed on their VAX machines and SysV at ATT on their PDP machines. Instead, they let Sun, Apollo and HP take the UNIX white box market.
VMS was and remains a fine OS, but proprietary for too long. DEC always treated Ultrix and OSF/1 like a red-headed stepchild.
Both the G5 and the AMD64 are great chips, but they really only represent the intrustion of 64 bit computing in the popular consciousness, not the actual beginning of 64 bit computing.
Compare their performance with the last Alpha chip, development of which was cut off years ago, and tell me again how the best is being brought to us.
Even as Intel picks the carcass of Alpha to revive the still-born Itanium series, the killed off Alpha chip line has performance that embarrasses HP into covering it up.
Really great SVG support, IMHO, is one of the necessary ingredients for making the web more exciting. This is the kind of innovation that is not just useful, but something the whole community can participate in.
Vector graphics,
independent of screen resolution,
able to convey layout information, and in
a standard format accessible to anyone who can download and read a specification,
would really help the web become a better place.
Mozilla's market share is so low that it is not regarded as a serious competitor to IE.
The only way Mozilla can gain broader acceptance is if it not only does the standard HTML rendering acceptably good, but if it offers exciting new technology that is not available in IE.
IIRC, an SVG implementation is already in IE, but there's little incentive for it to be further developed. Arguably there's incentive for SVG in IE not to be further developed by Microsoft because a robust successful implementation may displace competing product lines of their own and other partners (Shockwave, Adobe). There's a potential wonderful application area to be served, but it will require someone besides established big-names to develop.
The distortions, name-calling and casting of aspersions on the FSF by this particular writer for Forbes has garnered ATTENTION, mostly by virtue of its contrary point of view and inflammatory words.
For a magazine that wants to keep readers looking at glossy advertising, this represents SUCCESS.
I think it's a testament to the increasing presence and success of GNU/Linux and the FSF that their opponents are no longer commentators from CNet, ZD, or the tech-oriented publishers, but from mainstream publications.
[Long ago, far away, I recall hearing some quote, perhaps someone knows it, about how the importance of a person or an idea can be judged by the size of their enemies.]
Doesn't this mean that anyone can post anything regardless of it being true?
Yes.
However, it would be nice if information were digitally signed so that it could be both uniquely attributable and authentic. This need not compromise anonymity, either.
Over time, those users contributing consistently good information would gradually become more trusted, while those contributing rumour or libel would be largely ignored.
This kind of P2P network would be a good testbed for making a web of trust work.
Actually, look at this from a biological standpoint: A slow lethal viruses like AIDS has the highest mortality rates.
Good point.
My contention is that the most viable and useful organisms won't be the obviously destructive viri and worms.
No, the smart viri and worm writers will create parasites that leave the host alive and suck off resources for the benefit of the parasite. Adware and spyware fit into this category.
My army of zombie PCs is a whole lot more effective if the owner doesn't realize they're infected and starts wiping the disk and re-installing a fresh OS, possibly with some greater security hardening.
No, only a fool kills a host that can better serve as a slave.
When you have almost half of your customer base thinking about switching away from your product
I've been very disappointed with my local electric utility service but it hasn't prompted me to change providers. My only choice is to generate my own power and, as bad as the monopoly provider happens to be, as long as it costs less than the fringe competition, I will stick with my unsatisfactory provider.
[There were arguments a while back that Windows had become an essential facility, like a utility, and with a comparable stranglehold. The majority of corporate IT folks would agree.]
They are busy with their own larger concerns of conquering new markets. Egg on face security flaps seem to be one of the few things that will goad them to act.
It is unfortunate their response is of the shoot-the-messenger strategy, though.
worried about C++ portability, they will a) test on multiple compilers
Yes.
The interesting thing is how the intersection of supported features has changed a lot over the past decade.
There used to be some C++ coding standard guidelines used by the Netscape/Mozilla team that were quite restrictive because of the need for Windows/Mac/Unix cross platform use.
I imagine a lot of those restrictions have dissolved as new compilers have become more standards compliant.
The really nice thing about standards, though, is that developers can extrapolate forward a little in the direction of standards. Not too much, mind you, but for a project that is under development for many years, as many C++ projects are, this can help reduce crufty anachronisms introduced soley so that code will compile on 8 year old compilers.
An earlier poster alluded to ftp's strength - it's faster than snot. And while I'm sure ftp is faster than SMB, I'd guess it's faster than NFS as well. [Didn't Van Johnson (UCB) do early speed tests for Ethernet using ftp?]
I haven't used sftp.
I'm curious how it performs relative to ftp and to scp (as well as NFS and SMB) for different frame sizes.
Any PHB that is afraid of "looking weak or unknowlegeable" is an inferior manager.
Really good managers recognize who their experts are and aren't afraid to solicit the opinions of people that spend all their time keeping up to speed in some area of technology. My boss doesn't know what I know, but I recognize that, he recognizes that, and I don't deride him for not knowing technical details. I count on him to be intelligent enough to learn enough to judge situations that include technology and people.
Really good managers also have the ability to recognize when "an expert" is just blowing smoke.
Before committing to some significant course of action, they'll check with multiple experts to make sure they're getting the right overall picture.
not always that easy to find the real "root of the evil"
I have to smile when I think of how true that is. All of the onus of responsibility for computer viri and worms these days is conveniently placed on the writer and dispatcher of the virus or worm. And, yes, they should be held responsible for their primary role.
Fewer people take the time to think that such viri and worms would be fewer and farther between if the underlying OS were designed and implemented better.
Fewer still concede that they have some personal responsibility to apply patches and updates in a timely manner, or that they have to take the time to understand how to harden their systems.
But it's a whole lot more convenient and comfortable to place blame onto the "hacker" than to think that we all have a hand in the creating environment where exploits flourish. Despite how comfortable we feel about placing blame in a simple-minded way, it doesn't seem to have been an effective framework for a policy for improving the situation. At least, not if the past 5 years are any guide, it hasn't.
It's consistent, though. Along with an incorrect view of the problem will come an incorrect solution. TCPA will be foisted upon us in the name of curing "The" problem of "hackers", just as the "Patriot" Act has cured us of the problem of "terrorists."
some effete board such as the W3C sets the standards instead of the market leader Microsoft Corporation
Here, here!
I mean, how could we possibly entrust the setting of standards to the W3C?!?
I've trusted my money to Microsoft -- so I feel much more confident that they will look after setting standards for MyBenefit much more than some $ADJECTIVE committee!
Microsoft is always telling me about how they're innovating and making my life better. Meanwhile, I hardly ever hear about the W3C on teh news; it's probably just full of technical nerds arguing about some stupid stuff I don't understand!
Why do people have a problem with Mozilla?...
It gets my mail.
Because I don't want it to get my mail.
I've used Mozilla for a couple of years, but have lately moved to Firebird because I don't need or want my Mail client necesarily so coupled with my HTML browser.
I don't mind having applications like HTML browser, mail, calendar, IM, able to talk to one another through well-defined public interfaces, but I don't want some preconceived notion of integration imposed and frozen into a black box.
If you're happy with "any color as long as it's black" application integration, then MS is certainly willing to sell you plenty of such beasts. But if you must have integration, then at least go with a Mac.
Slashdot Mirror
Sonic analysis and natural-language processors will be able to detect if those VoIP packets contain data inconsistent with verbal communication
Not just a few people at my workplace make noises that are so inconsistent with verbal communication.
So this other related recent accomplishment must just be chopped liver at only 6.8 Gbps, then?
...that a server side widget toolkit is a usable thing.
All my instincts tell me that network latency and screen refreshes would be much better done if the widget manipulation were client side. And I'm sure this is still the case.
That this kind of thing is used is a testiment to how client-side web widgets have not been living up to their potential. Security problems, perhaps (ActiveX)? It's not like PHP applications come in with a squeaky clean reputation on the security front, either...
large software companies are doing layoffs, due in part to OSS.
That has to be weighed against the benefit derived by consumers of software.
Exactly the same argument could be made about lost jobs in any existing industry where there are artificial barriers in the marketplace.
If solar photovoltaic cells were suddenly available that produced electricity for US$0.005 /kW-hr, a lot of good people in energy producing industries would lose their jobs, too. And if I were one of them I'd be put out. But overall, it's the best thing.
Likewise with software. There's a big shakeout going on because of latent pressure for commoditisation of software that has been held back for too long.
Unless you can demonstrate real value-added in software and services, and not something whose value hinges upon some artificial barrier, you'll have to start looking for something different to do.
I'm sorry for anyone that has to undergo the discomfort of change, but I still have to believe it's for the overall good.
I assume this fire paste is really just a ceramic after it's been cured.
Then, the issues are the same as with the tiles: can it withstand
- incredible heat
- hypersonic wind loading
- vibrations during take-off
These are not easy requirements to satisfy simultaneously.IIRC, the tiles have to be inspected and some of them replaced after every flight.
The cold war brought us opponents with arsenals so fearsome that no sane person could use them.
With what's been going on in the software and business practice patents, we're coming to the same kind of brink (Eolas, this, the Amazon one-click, etc.).
Enforcement of some of these patents would bring destruction onto large parts of the economy, only for the sake of a system that was originally meant to give innovators just enough incentive to keep innovating, so that society at large would benefit in the long run. It's pretty clear the current system is acting at least as much as a brake as it is an engine for progress.
It's going horribly wrong. If the whole notion of "intellectual property" isn't fixed, then the entire system is in jeopardy of collapse.
Probably only an option with dedicated lines, though. I don't think they bothered with authentication. But the transfer rates are nice.
IIRC, DEC did make a Rainbow computer to compete against the IBM PC but it didn't get very far.
Ken Olsen's biggest mistake was dismissing UNIX in the late 1970's even though DEC had a better position than anyone else because BSD was developed on their VAX machines and SysV at ATT on their PDP machines. Instead, they let Sun, Apollo and HP take the UNIX white box market.
VMS was and remains a fine OS, but proprietary for too long. DEC always treated Ultrix and OSF/1 like a red-headed stepchild.
both 64-bit contenders
Both the G5 and the AMD64 are great chips, but they really only represent the intrustion of 64 bit computing in the popular consciousness, not the actual beginning of 64 bit computing.
Compare their performance with the last Alpha chip, development of which was cut off years ago, and tell me again how the best is being brought to us.
Even as Intel picks the carcass of Alpha to revive the still-born Itanium series, the killed off Alpha chip line has performance that embarrasses HP into covering it up.
Granted, that's got SVG in it too
Really great SVG support, IMHO, is one of the necessary ingredients for making the web more exciting. This is the kind of innovation that is not just useful, but something the whole community can participate in.
- Vector graphics,
- independent of screen resolution,
- able to convey layout information, and in
- a standard format accessible to anyone who can download and read a specification,
would really help the web become a better place.Mozilla's market share is so low that it is not regarded as a serious competitor to IE.
The only way Mozilla can gain broader acceptance is if it not only does the standard HTML rendering acceptably good, but if it offers exciting new technology that is not available in IE.
IIRC, an SVG implementation is already in IE, but there's little incentive for it to be further developed. Arguably there's incentive for SVG in IE not to be further developed by Microsoft because a robust successful implementation may displace competing product lines of their own and other partners (Shockwave, Adobe). There's a potential wonderful application area to be served, but it will require someone besides established big-names to develop.
What I like about Green Destiny is that DOE is actually doing something about getting the most MFLOPS/Watt.
For far too long supercomputing has been a business of paying incredible money for only logarithmic gains in performance.
The distortions, name-calling and casting of aspersions on the FSF by this particular writer for Forbes has garnered ATTENTION, mostly by virtue of its contrary point of view and inflammatory words.
For a magazine that wants to keep readers looking at glossy advertising, this represents SUCCESS.
I think it's a testament to the increasing presence and success of GNU/Linux and the FSF that their opponents are no longer commentators from CNet, ZD, or the tech-oriented publishers, but from mainstream publications.
[Long ago, far away, I recall hearing some quote, perhaps someone knows it, about how the importance of a person or an idea can be judged by the size of their enemies.]
Ironic.
Netscape's name gets used in some weird marketing ploy that probably has very little to do with the Netscape browser.
Serves `em right after pushing Javascript that had nothing to do with Java....
Doesn't this mean that anyone can post anything regardless of it being true?
Yes.
However, it would be nice if information were digitally signed so that it could be both uniquely attributable and authentic. This need not compromise anonymity, either.
Over time, those users contributing consistently good information would gradually become more trusted, while those contributing rumour or libel would be largely ignored.
This kind of P2P network would be a good testbed for making a web of trust work.
I count 4+2+1=7
If they call it "Seven", then we can really say it's "Heavy as Sin".
I received a form letter saying that my complaint needed to have the business's name
Don't be so disappointed.
The legal clause responsible for that loophole was the pride and joy of a lobbyist who worked long and hard to make it happen for his constituent$.
Actually, look at this from a biological standpoint: A slow lethal viruses like AIDS has the highest mortality rates.
Good point.
My contention is that the most viable and useful organisms won't be the obviously destructive viri and worms.
No, the smart viri and worm writers will create parasites that leave the host alive and suck off resources for the benefit of the parasite. Adware and spyware fit into this category.
My army of zombie PCs is a whole lot more effective if the owner doesn't realize they're infected and starts wiping the disk and re-installing a fresh OS, possibly with some greater security hardening.
No, only a fool kills a host that can better serve as a slave.
When you have almost half of your customer base thinking about switching away from your product
I've been very disappointed with my local electric utility service but it hasn't prompted me to change providers. My only choice is to generate my own power and, as bad as the monopoly provider happens to be, as long as it costs less than the fringe competition, I will stick with my unsatisfactory provider.
[There were arguments a while back that Windows had become an essential facility, like a utility, and with a comparable stranglehold. The majority of corporate IT folks would agree.]
That's why putting pressure on microsoft to fix its damn browser is such a good idea!
Just because it's a good idea doesn't mean that MS will respond to your concerns.
They are busy with their own larger concerns of conquering new markets. Egg on face security flaps seem to be one of the few things that will goad them to act.
It is unfortunate their response is of the shoot-the-messenger strategy, though.
worried about C++ portability, they will a) test on multiple compilers
Yes.
The interesting thing is how the intersection of supported features has changed a lot over the past decade.
There used to be some C++ coding standard guidelines used by the Netscape/Mozilla team that were quite restrictive because of the need for Windows/Mac/Unix cross platform use.
I imagine a lot of those restrictions have dissolved as new compilers have become more standards compliant.
The really nice thing about standards, though, is that developers can extrapolate forward a little in the direction of standards. Not too much, mind you, but for a project that is under development for many years, as many C++ projects are, this can help reduce crufty anachronisms introduced soley so that code will compile on 8 year old compilers.
SFTP
An earlier poster alluded to ftp's strength - it's faster than snot. And while I'm sure ftp is faster than SMB, I'd guess it's faster than NFS as well. [Didn't Van Johnson (UCB) do early speed tests for Ethernet using ftp?]
I haven't used sftp.
I'm curious how it performs relative to ftp and to scp (as well as NFS and SMB) for different frame sizes.
Any PHB that is afraid of "looking weak or unknowlegeable" is an inferior manager.
Really good managers recognize who their experts are and aren't afraid to solicit the opinions of people that spend all their time keeping up to speed in some area of technology. My boss doesn't know what I know, but I recognize that, he recognizes that, and I don't deride him for not knowing technical details. I count on him to be intelligent enough to learn enough to judge situations that include technology and people.
Really good managers also have the ability to recognize when "an expert" is just blowing smoke. Before committing to some significant course of action, they'll check with multiple experts to make sure they're getting the right overall picture.
not always that easy to find the real "root of the evil"
I have to smile when I think of how true that is. All of the onus of responsibility for computer viri and worms these days is conveniently placed on the writer and dispatcher of the virus or worm. And, yes, they should be held responsible for their primary role.
Fewer people take the time to think that such viri and worms would be fewer and farther between if the underlying OS were designed and implemented better.
Fewer still concede that they have some personal responsibility to apply patches and updates in a timely manner, or that they have to take the time to understand how to harden their systems.
But it's a whole lot more convenient and comfortable to place blame onto the "hacker" than to think that we all have a hand in the creating environment where exploits flourish. Despite how comfortable we feel about placing blame in a simple-minded way, it doesn't seem to have been an effective framework for a policy for improving the situation. At least, not if the past 5 years are any guide, it hasn't.
It's consistent, though. Along with an incorrect view of the problem will come an incorrect solution. TCPA will be foisted upon us in the name of curing "The" problem of "hackers", just as the "Patriot" Act has cured us of the problem of "terrorists."
some effete board such as the W3C sets the standards instead of the market leader Microsoft Corporation
Here, here!
I mean, how could we possibly entrust the setting of standards to the W3C?!?
I've trusted my money to Microsoft -- so I feel much more confident that they will look after setting standards for MyBenefit much more than some $ADJECTIVE committee!
Microsoft is always telling me about how they're innovating and making my life better. Meanwhile, I hardly ever hear about the W3C on teh news; it's probably just full of technical nerds arguing about some stupid stuff I don't understand!
Why do people have a problem with Mozilla?... It gets my mail.
Because I don't want it to get my mail.
I've used Mozilla for a couple of years, but have lately moved to Firebird because I don't need or want my Mail client necesarily so coupled with my HTML browser.
I don't mind having applications like HTML browser, mail, calendar, IM, able to talk to one another through well-defined public interfaces, but I don't want some preconceived notion of integration imposed and frozen into a black box.
If you're happy with "any color as long as it's black" application integration, then MS is certainly willing to sell you plenty of such beasts. But if you must have integration, then at least go with a Mac.