You wanted to be funny, but I do agree with you somewhat. Javascript adds unnecessary size to a lot of web pages. Why, for example, is it necessary to use javascript to cause the browser to follow a link? Or to refresh a page? I haven't seen many particularly novel web sites that actually justify the amount of javascript that is out there. I should be able to browse the web on a 9.6K connection without waiting 5 minutes for 100kb of javascript to load for less than 10kb of content.
Actually, competition among FOSS tends to slow things down. Look at the Compiz/Beryl situation, and why they wound up merging. Or GNOME and KDE (they should be sharing more code, it would solve a lot of compatibility issues).
But if for some reason the source code *must* be kept secret, then there *must* be competition or the code will stagnate.
Seriously, it's not presentations that are the problem, it is a combination of:
Presentation software that offers little more than bullet points and a picture here and there.
Users who have no real training or skill in creating a presentation, but can't find an art department in their company because the manager decided that, with so much presentation software available, why continue paying for people who know how to make a presentation?
I've seen some really good presentations, created by professionals, that incorporated various visual cues, OLE objects (to render some sort of object in real time), etc. I envision presentations that are somewhat interactive -- for example, embedding a 3D rendering object that allows the use of a mouse to rotate the object and zoom in, so that you can answer questions from the audience and show the 3D model in whatever way is necessary to explain some detail. Or an embedded web page, so that you don't have to stop, pull up a web browser, go to the web page, then switch back to the presentation program, and go back to full screen mode.
Really, embedded charts are a good start, but don't go far enough. We need to embed objects that can be updated in real time. Sadly, that requires the skill of a professional presentation designer, and like I said, who wants to pay for someone like that when you can just make a bunch of bullets? Seems to be the solution to everything these days: bullets.
I agree. I was a facebook user for a while, but after being kicked off (in a blatant act of censorship, as far as I can tell), I've noticed something: life without facebook is no different than life with facebook. Facebook serves a need for communicating with friends, but so does e-mail, instant messaging, and the phone. 80's-style BBS's served the same purpose, and I would say they qualify as "social networking."
Plenty of people have been arrested and not put on the list, and that is the problem. The list does not reflect all arrests, and it is at the discretion of the FBI whether or not someone's name will appear on the list. I could be on the list right now, because my friends and I were arrested when I was 16 for running around on halloween with a fake gun; I'm probably not, but suppose I did something legal yet frowned upon by the government.
Combined with the fact that this list is used to determine immigration and visitation status is other countries, and you have something that invites abuse. My question is this: can you be added to the list even if your arrest itself is questionable? That is, if you are arrested while minding your own business, could your name be added to the list?
Except that the telco problem is not a patent one, it is a monopoly one. Patents may be contributing factors, but without any government interference the telcos would be forced to form a trust and exclude companies like Vonage, something that they wouldn't require patents to do. Historically, that is why we started having a government regulated economy.
Oh I think Gates was completely off his rocker when he said NT 3.1 was a better Unix than Unix, and I think that the direction they've gone in is totally misguided. I was just pointing out that historically, the Windows model has not been stream oriented the way *nix is, and that SSH or shell oriented stuff in general is really about streams (the power of Unix shells, in my opinion, is the ability to pipe the output of one program into the input of another).
Doesn't surprise me much, at least if they included a.NET application server. There are JEE AS's that are more than 2GB, and that is just the AS, not all the other stuff a typical server might have these days. So if this is an all-in-one package, you are looking at the entire OS, an AS, possibly a database server, and that right there could be several gigabytes.
Not that that is an excuse, when I can run my web server with a 2GB hard drive and 64MB of ram without any trouble (though the Slashdot effect might be problematic).
They want to differentiate themselves from Unix, in that you should never need such things. Historically, Windows hasn't been command line oriented anyway, and remote access is done with Remote Desktop. Things aren't really character stream oriented in Windows, and for security you are supposed to use IPSec. That's their model of "a better Unix than Unix," if I can be so bold as to reference my own handle.
Uhm, you state your support for Ron Paul in your signature. He is a libertarian, and he is the last person on Earth who will have the government interfere with the "free market." Not to start a slashdot political discussion, but honestly, if you want to support a candidate who might actually do something, you need to look for someone like Ralph Nader (who did fight big corporations, and won, prior to the god-awful Reagen presidency).
Well, what happens with algorithms implemented in hardware? Do I get a chance to patent the algorithm? If someone simulates the digital logic in software, are they in violation of the patent?
Suppose I patent a new type of op amp. If someone accidentally creates that arrangement of transistors as part of a larger circuit, are they in violation of my patent? The problem with patents is that you do not have to knowingly infringe them to be subject to a lawsuit. Patents should be reformed to be more akin to copyrights; that is, you should be forced to demonstrate that the infringement was knowingly committed, rather than just being accidental or developed by an equally intelligent competitor. If it is too difficult to show this, then the "invention" isn't novel or important enough to require any protection -- that is, it is simply too obvious.
"We will continue to grow in this market, despite a 25-fold increase in competition. How? We will just demand that the competition pay us for the privilege to compete with us. What's that? Increase in our stock price?"
Almost all (99%) of modern cell phones have an integrated modem, that can be used by connecting the phone to a computer. For example, I connect to my phone via bluetooth, and then use it as a modem to dial up to the Internet. You can also use it to send faxes; KDE can set up pseudo-printers that behave as fax machines, and use a modem to send the fax. There is still use for this, even given the rise of email.
Yeah, the lack of 3G is a bit of a disappointment. The 9.6K limit on data is basically the lowest tolerable, just enough for some email and weather checks (and even then, only with a non-WWW client).
T-mobile is OK, but not completely without problems. The most annoying problem, which thankfully I only had to deal with once, is that they block fax calls from cell phones; the only way to send a fax through T-mobile is to fork over some extra cash. Not the worst problem in the world, but pretty annoying.
All in all, I agree: T-mobile is the best service I've dealt with. They don't try to squeeze you on dialup access (I use a non-T-mobile ISP, and those calls aren't dropped), they actually send and receive text messages (unlike Verizon which seem to randomly block SMS messages from non-Verizon numbers), and their coverage, while not perfect, is much better than some other companies.
With regard to Fedora, I recommend waiting 2 weeks, so you can get Fedora 8. Fedora 8 will usher in a lot of good changes, including on-demand service loading and KDE4 (or so they say).
I get the feeling that I am not the only one who has noticed that, after Novell, Microsoft hasn't really been able to sign a deal with a major player in the Linux world. Actually, every time I hear a Microsoft deal, I jump back in shock, shock that the other company in the deal still exists. Linspire? Xandros? Turbolinux? These are names that I know, but hadn't heard much about for a long time. I guess it's not a good sign on Microsoft's part that only forgotten companies are willing to sign the pact.
I suppose the only thing that could be worse is if there was an article about a Xenix revival.
Apache can be configured to automatically use the end of a URL as the query string. Just look at any Apache book (I have a PHP one that describes the configuration somewhere). There is so much prior art here it is unbelievable.
The worst part is, it is easy to unwittingly include such a thing in your software and not even realize it (as is the case with all software patents).
"2. The most popular mp3 player on earth does not play Vorbis."
So? That's not a reason not to use Vorbis; that is a reason not to use an iPod (that is, if you are a Vorbis user).
"3. The most popular mp3 ripping software on earth does not rip to Vorbis."
And what software would that be? There must be 1001 ripping programs out that, encoding in various formats. The ripping program that came with my computer rips to Vorbis by default. RealPlayer rips to RMJ (by default, the last time I used it). Windows Media Player rips to WMA (by default, IIRC, it's be a while).
"It is a niche format for niche users, and will be for enough time that recommending it to non-savvy users is pointless and deceitful."
Deceitful? How is it deceitful?
Pointless? Ogg takes less disc space, which could be very useful for a lot end users I know of (whose aging computers are running out of space because of all the music they have; why should they buy a new computer, when they could reëncode that music as Vorbis?). Ogg offers better sound quality than MP3, and there are people who do actually care about that. Ogg is used by Wikipedia and similar projects, so at the very least, people should be encouraged to have Ogg manipulation software (encoders/decoders); once they have that, why shouldn't they start encoding newly ripped CDs as Ogg?
Slashdot Mirror
You wanted to be funny, but I do agree with you somewhat. Javascript adds unnecessary size to a lot of web pages. Why, for example, is it necessary to use javascript to cause the browser to follow a link? Or to refresh a page? I haven't seen many particularly novel web sites that actually justify the amount of javascript that is out there. I should be able to browse the web on a 9.6K connection without waiting 5 minutes for 100kb of javascript to load for less than 10kb of content.
But if for some reason the source code *must* be kept secret, then there *must* be competition or the code will stagnate.
Thank you. There should be competition among proprietary products, that is the only way that they improve.
I've seen some really good presentations, created by professionals, that incorporated various visual cues, OLE objects (to render some sort of object in real time), etc. I envision presentations that are somewhat interactive -- for example, embedding a 3D rendering object that allows the use of a mouse to rotate the object and zoom in, so that you can answer questions from the audience and show the 3D model in whatever way is necessary to explain some detail. Or an embedded web page, so that you don't have to stop, pull up a web browser, go to the web page, then switch back to the presentation program, and go back to full screen mode.
Really, embedded charts are a good start, but don't go far enough. We need to embed objects that can be updated in real time. Sadly, that requires the skill of a professional presentation designer, and like I said, who wants to pay for someone like that when you can just make a bunch of bullets? Seems to be the solution to everything these days: bullets.
I dunno, the man pages are still pretty interesting...
I agree. I was a facebook user for a while, but after being kicked off (in a blatant act of censorship, as far as I can tell), I've noticed something: life without facebook is no different than life with facebook. Facebook serves a need for communicating with friends, but so does e-mail, instant messaging, and the phone. 80's-style BBS's served the same purpose, and I would say they qualify as "social networking."
Combined with the fact that this list is used to determine immigration and visitation status is other countries, and you have something that invites abuse. My question is this: can you be added to the list even if your arrest itself is questionable? That is, if you are arrested while minding your own business, could your name be added to the list?
That's always been the situation with our government.
Except that the telco problem is not a patent one, it is a monopoly one. Patents may be contributing factors, but without any government interference the telcos would be forced to form a trust and exclude companies like Vonage, something that they wouldn't require patents to do. Historically, that is why we started having a government regulated economy.
Oh I think Gates was completely off his rocker when he said NT 3.1 was a better Unix than Unix, and I think that the direction they've gone in is totally misguided. I was just pointing out that historically, the Windows model has not been stream oriented the way *nix is, and that SSH or shell oriented stuff in general is really about streams (the power of Unix shells, in my opinion, is the ability to pipe the output of one program into the input of another).
Except, of course, for the great firewall of China. That's a wall. It's a great wall.
The most widely used operating system, TRON, does not have SSH out of the box...
Not that that is an excuse, when I can run my web server with a 2GB hard drive and 64MB of ram without any trouble (though the Slashdot effect might be problematic).
They want to differentiate themselves from Unix, in that you should never need such things. Historically, Windows hasn't been command line oriented anyway, and remote access is done with Remote Desktop. Things aren't really character stream oriented in Windows, and for security you are supposed to use IPSec. That's their model of "a better Unix than Unix," if I can be so bold as to reference my own handle.
Uhm, you state your support for Ron Paul in your signature. He is a libertarian, and he is the last person on Earth who will have the government interfere with the "free market." Not to start a slashdot political discussion, but honestly, if you want to support a candidate who might actually do something, you need to look for someone like Ralph Nader (who did fight big corporations, and won, prior to the god-awful Reagen presidency).
Suppose I patent a new type of op amp. If someone accidentally creates that arrangement of transistors as part of a larger circuit, are they in violation of my patent? The problem with patents is that you do not have to knowingly infringe them to be subject to a lawsuit. Patents should be reformed to be more akin to copyrights; that is, you should be forced to demonstrate that the infringement was knowingly committed, rather than just being accidental or developed by an equally intelligent competitor. If it is too difficult to show this, then the "invention" isn't novel or important enough to require any protection -- that is, it is simply too obvious.
They probably either buy chips from SanDisk, or they have a license deal with SanDisk.
"We will continue to grow in this market, despite a 25-fold increase in competition. How? We will just demand that the competition pay us for the privilege to compete with us. What's that? Increase in our stock price?"
Almost all (99%) of modern cell phones have an integrated modem, that can be used by connecting the phone to a computer. For example, I connect to my phone via bluetooth, and then use it as a modem to dial up to the Internet. You can also use it to send faxes; KDE can set up pseudo-printers that behave as fax machines, and use a modem to send the fax. There is still use for this, even given the rise of email.
Yeah, the lack of 3G is a bit of a disappointment. The 9.6K limit on data is basically the lowest tolerable, just enough for some email and weather checks (and even then, only with a non-WWW client).
All in all, I agree: T-mobile is the best service I've dealt with. They don't try to squeeze you on dialup access (I use a non-T-mobile ISP, and those calls aren't dropped), they actually send and receive text messages (unlike Verizon which seem to randomly block SMS messages from non-Verizon numbers), and their coverage, while not perfect, is much better than some other companies.
With regard to Fedora, I recommend waiting 2 weeks, so you can get Fedora 8. Fedora 8 will usher in a lot of good changes, including on-demand service loading and KDE4 (or so they say).
I suppose the only thing that could be worse is if there was an article about a Xenix revival.
The worst part is, it is easy to unwittingly include such a thing in your software and not even realize it (as is the case with all software patents).
Magnatune.com?
"2. The most popular mp3 player on earth does not play Vorbis."
So? That's not a reason not to use Vorbis; that is a reason not to use an iPod (that is, if you are a Vorbis user).
"3. The most popular mp3 ripping software on earth does not rip to Vorbis."
And what software would that be? There must be 1001 ripping programs out that, encoding in various formats. The ripping program that came with my computer rips to Vorbis by default. RealPlayer rips to RMJ (by default, the last time I used it). Windows Media Player rips to WMA (by default, IIRC, it's be a while).
"It is a niche format for niche users, and will be for enough time that recommending it to non-savvy users is pointless and deceitful."
Deceitful? How is it deceitful?
Pointless? Ogg takes less disc space, which could be very useful for a lot end users I know of (whose aging computers are running out of space because of all the music they have; why should they buy a new computer, when they could reëncode that music as Vorbis?). Ogg offers better sound quality than MP3, and there are people who do actually care about that. Ogg is used by Wikipedia and similar projects, so at the very least, people should be encouraged to have Ogg manipulation software (encoders/decoders); once they have that, why shouldn't they start encoding newly ripped CDs as Ogg?