Okay, from what I skimmed, this law says that people must properly label their products so that parents, school, etc can make proper and informed decisions.
What is wrong with that?
If I were a parent, I would want to know if a product contained what I judge as inappropriate content for my children to view.
That isn't a limiting of freedom, that is informing the consumer.
Or do you think that a manufacturer has a right to lie to consumers.
Maybe this is overlegislated, but it doesn't sound like an evil removal of freedom.
Neuromancer movie rumors have existed since the early 90s. In fact, at a convention I went to back in 1989 (I think), I saw a neuromancer movie script for sale. I don't know why it keeps fizzling out, but it does, constantly.
Maybe now that there is the mainstream culture to support it, the movie will be made (i.e., the fact that Matrix was a hit).
Joe Haldeman (who also wrote Forever War) wrote a book Forever Peace, which had the premise that scientists were building a huge collider in the orbit of Jupiter to study and recreate the big bang, but, as it turns out, would actually create a new big bang, destroying life, the universe and everything.
Anyways, I find it interesting that the news story and a recent sci fi novel have the same premise.
And aolsearch doesn't fit that? I think aolsearch is at very least at the level at which AOL could start litigation.
It doesn't matter is AOL wins litigation against NSI or the other company. It just matters that they throw enough lawyers and keep it going long enough to kill the business.
So of course NSI is going to fold easily to AOL, esp. back in 1998.
First, NSI had a monopoly then. What were people going to do, boycott?
Second, AOL is a mucking huge company. So if I'm some small company, and NSI screws me, I could sue them, but they probably could afford dragging it out much longer than I could afford.
However, AOL has a zip code full of lawyers who only purpose is to be thrown at people whom they don't like. NSI could weather the smaller companies lawsuit, no problem, but would be hurt badly from AOL's lawsuit.
Lastly, AOL needs to protect the AOL trademark. AOLSearch has potential to dilute the trademark.
It sucks. NSI sucks. AOL sucks. However, in the end, neither NSI nor AOL had a choice in the matter.
It is a well known fact that occasionally one hand of the TNT management tries to play up to the nerd population and then stops immediately when the other hand finds out what the first is trying to do. This can be shown quite clearly in TNTs dealing with Babylon 5, its occasional choice of movies and a situation like Pirates of Silicon Valley.
I think that the movie started as a documentary, in which the story would be told, and then got mangled into a docudrama and then further got mangled into a story that has a clear "Bill Gates Won" ending.
Sigh.
Methinks the actual history was far more interesting. The sad thing is the lukewarm reception this will get in feedback and numbers when they show it again will give TNT the impression that geeks are not a signifigent part of the viewing population and then it is a waste to give them anything that is catered to them.
Anyways, I did like the ending. Here's Steve B as President of MS, Gates as richest man in the world, Jobs running Apple (and leaving us with the impression that he's Gates' bitch).
And then we have Woz. He teaches kids how to use computers and funds a ballet.
I know who I think got the best deal out of the whole thing.
Okay, maybe I missed the memo, but when did linux become solely about world domination and success. I think it happened the minute the media started look at it. I think the concept of "We're writing this operating system because it is interesting and useful to us" doesn't make good press.
So linux was around long before anyone had the thought "I'll install linux instead of DOS/Windows/OS2/BeOS" and its continued success has nothing to do with people thinking that.
So once upon a time (two years ago, maybe) some genius got himself accidentally subscribed to the perl5porters mailing list around the time of the major perl5.004 push (lots and lots of messages a day, probably more than linux-kernel).
So the genius, as they are prone to do, said "GET ME OFF THE *#@%$%$# MAILING LIST RIGHT NOW". Everyone on the list, as they are prone to do said "Figure it out yourself, dingus" and forwarded him his own subscribe message.
So the genius then said "Get me off this mailing list or I'll spam the entire mailing list every day for the rest of my life and you'll be sorry".
So Larry then said "You don't threaten with a slingshot the inventer of the rocket launcher".
The genius was never heard from again.
This whole situation makes me remember that story. Whether or not this guy likes it, he's brought down the ire of the/. community which, as we've seen, is capable of generating more email by shear volume than any spam program ever could.
Poor bastard. If he's actual email address ever gets out... We'll, let's not think about that...
Okay, instead of preaching the dogma, I'll say that I happily and constantly recommend purchasing OSS around my department.
The situation is simple. We have 150 Linux machines, all of them have sound cards. These machines have all been purchased from various companies over the past 3 years, and all run Linux and only Linux. Many of these machines don't have any decent specs as to what cards they run.
Oh yeah, and we have a single sysadmin who needs to maintain all these machines, set up all these machines, handle department firefighting issues and maintain the other 50 non-Linux boxes.
For 20$ a machine, sound is fire and forget. One out of every 10 will need more tweaking, maybe less. The alternative is to sit and tweak the kernel and isapnp until it starts working on each machine.
The fact of the matter is that 4front made the black art of sound (esp PnP sound) under linux doable without taking out an afternoon for it.
Because of that, they've gotten my money and will continue to get money from any one I know who says "Could you help me get sound working under my linux box".
1. Is this IBM's in house code or a port of the JDK? They say in the FAQ they don't have a right to the code, but blackdown's JDK license let's them release diffs, did they get a better license than IBM?:)
2. I wonder if IBM and blackdown might benefit from joining forces here. Blackdown's done a lot of work in getting JDK 117 and 12 up and running under linux. I'm sure a couple full time IBM engineers could finish the job effectively and quickly.
My only true complain about java under linux (I develop java under linux "grad student full time" for my research) is that the time from sun announcement to linux usable port is rather slow. This is a lousy artifact of Sun's business model. Hopefully IBM joining into the fray, Transvirtual (sp?) making their clean room implementation more usable all the time and blackdown folding their changes into the main source tree will change this... (as well as the gnu supported classpath and japhar, but those aren't contenders just yet).
According to this page, IPIX and this guy are working out a way to continue the distribution of this free software. They aren't outright suing him.
It seems that IPIX believes it owns the ability to limit usage of its file format, to stop people from making use of its viewer without paying royalities (which is a mistake in their marketing model). However, the tone of the page doesn't make it sounds like they are in the inquisition mode of suing all people, everywhere.
I remember, not too long ago, MS ported IE 3(?) to Solaris (?) and was saying that they were porting it to the two remaining big unicies (which were HP-UX and SCO, as I recall) which caused a huge stir b/c Linux wasn't on the list.
IIRC, one of the guys who did the majority of the porting of the JDK to Linux was involved with the initial port of IE to Solaris. I forget if it was Randy or Steve.
Is keeping moderator status secret still necessry?
on
Slashdot Notes
·
· Score: 5
By the current method, it sounds like keeping moderator status secret is unnecessary for the purpose it was meant to serve (which I assume is to keep people from bugging you to increase their points). If anyone might be a moderator on a given "day" (where day is some arbitrary, short period of time), why bother keeping your current status a secret?
Basically, a kernel leaves linus's hands well (for some definition there of) tested and debugged. However, linus does not have the capability of beating up the kernel at the level at which the users do, nor does he have the QA necessary to make sure a new kernel is fit for all purposes.
I think there is an unspoken convention that if you can't afford any downtime, you wait a little while before jumping on the cutting edge. This is why many people still run a 2.0 kernel.
That being said, the fact that Slashdot runs a 2.2 kernel is doing more for getting the really nasty bugs out of the 2.2 series than any three hundred normal people, because of the extremes slashdot must go through (specifically, being under heavy load, high end hardware, etc)
Andy Grove is going to be so disappointed when half his company doesn't bother showing up May 19th (and the other half are coming in late 'cause they caught the midnight showing). "Our engineers have too much work to do."
So I think the concept of the behind the scenes stuff is cool, I've always tuned into those silly HBO behind the scenes specials and unmuted when someone besides the actor is talking...
Therefore, I think that putting in music video, without some dumb actor hyping in the foreground, behind the scene shots is really cool.
However, the concept of VH-1 having the video on autorepeat for a half hour straight (we're in the second showing now) is both very cool and very silly all at the same time.
Okay, so redhat puts out a decent to good product, in terms of its distribution. My university uses RedHat as its official linux distro (though my machines are debian, which is my preference). RedHat has pioneered the concept of an easier method of installing software (and, more importantly, maintaining software) on a Linux system through its RPM format.
Also, it has supported free software via the right methods, by fundings its general development and releasing its source code under the GPL, without replacing the copyright and without claiming ownership.
So, while it is possible their may be an evil plan afoot, I can't possibly see what it is. Closing the RPM format? It would succeed to breaking old distributions and a converter would exist within hours of its release to an open format. Closing other code? What code?
JOT is a good concept, but I don't think it is going to be nearly as good as the newton's. JOT will only do individual characters, and is only an incremental improvement over graffiti.
The biggest change I've heard is that it is wireless (using RF, not IR), will have a direct to PS/2, not just serial, connector and have the option of coming with a pilot cable.
Okay, palmOS is great, and I wouldn't trade in my PalmIII (or my PalmPro before that which my g/f now has) for anything. However, PalmOS could be better or be extended.
I'd love to see a PalmOS device the size of a newton with real handwriting recognition. I like the PalmOS application launcher and feel better than newton's. There are times I'd really like to have a fuller sized screen, though, not all the time, however.
Okay, how about a Palm docking station, which adds a bigger screen and maybe a PC Card slot? That would be *COOL*.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, from what I skimmed, this law says that people must properly label their products so that parents, school, etc can make proper and informed decisions.
What is wrong with that?
If I were a parent, I would want to know if a product contained what I judge as inappropriate content for my children to view.
That isn't a limiting of freedom, that is informing the consumer.
Or do you think that a manufacturer has a right to lie to consumers.
Maybe this is overlegislated, but it doesn't sound like an evil removal of freedom.
Or am I missing something?
Neuromancer movie rumors have existed since the early 90s. In fact, at a convention I went to back in 1989 (I think), I saw a neuromancer movie script for sale. I don't know why it keeps fizzling out, but it does, constantly.
Maybe now that there is the mainstream culture to support it, the movie will be made (i.e., the fact that Matrix was a hit).
Joe Haldeman (who also wrote Forever War) wrote a book Forever Peace, which had the premise that scientists were building a huge collider in the orbit of Jupiter to study and recreate the big bang, but, as it turns out, would actually create a new big bang, destroying life, the universe and everything.
Anyways, I find it interesting that the news story and a recent sci fi novel have the same premise.
And aolsearch doesn't fit that? I think aolsearch is at very least at the level at which AOL could start litigation.
It doesn't matter is AOL wins litigation against NSI or the other company. It just matters that they throw enough lawyers and keep it going long enough to kill the business.
So of course NSI is going to fold easily to AOL, esp. back in 1998.
First, NSI had a monopoly then. What were people going to do, boycott?
Second, AOL is a mucking huge company. So if I'm some small company, and NSI screws me, I could sue them, but they probably could afford dragging it out much longer than I could afford.
However, AOL has a zip code full of lawyers who only purpose is to be thrown at people whom they don't like. NSI could weather the smaller companies lawsuit, no problem, but would be hurt badly from AOL's lawsuit.
Lastly, AOL needs to protect the AOL trademark. AOLSearch has potential to dilute the trademark.
It sucks. NSI sucks. AOL sucks. However, in the end, neither NSI nor AOL had a choice in the matter.
So I buy a machine Q4 99 which boots up and gives me a website pointer or an ad for Newer Coke or something.
So by Q4 2005, this machine is my mail server and I boot up and the web site hasn't existed for 3 years and newer coke fizzled in Q1 2000.
Sigh. Anyone else see a problem?
This is part of the reason why books and CDs and things like that don't contain ads on them. Ads are far too temporal based.
It is a well known fact that occasionally one hand of the TNT management tries to play up to the nerd population and then stops immediately when the other hand finds out what the first is trying to do. This can be shown quite clearly in TNTs dealing with Babylon 5, its occasional choice of movies and a situation like Pirates of Silicon Valley.
I think that the movie started as a documentary, in which the story would be told, and then got mangled into a docudrama and then further got mangled into a story that has a clear "Bill Gates Won" ending.
Sigh.
Methinks the actual history was far more interesting. The sad thing is the lukewarm reception this will get in feedback and numbers when they show it again will give TNT the impression that geeks are not a signifigent part of the viewing population and then it is a waste to give them anything that is catered to them.
Anyways, I did like the ending. Here's Steve B as President of MS, Gates as richest man in the world, Jobs running Apple (and leaving us with the impression that he's Gates' bitch).
And then we have Woz. He teaches kids how to use computers and funds a ballet.
I know who I think got the best deal out of the whole thing.
Okay, maybe I missed the memo, but when did linux become solely about world domination and success. I think it happened the minute the media started look at it. I think the concept of "We're writing this operating system because it is interesting and useful to us" doesn't make good press.
So linux was around long before anyone had the thought "I'll install linux instead of DOS/Windows/OS2/BeOS" and its continued success has nothing to do with people thinking that.
So once upon a time (two years ago, maybe) some genius got himself accidentally subscribed to the perl5porters mailing list around the time of the major perl5.004 push (lots and lots of messages a day, probably more than linux-kernel).
/. community which, as we've seen, is capable of generating more email by shear volume than any spam program ever could.
... We'll, let's not think about that ...
So the genius, as they are prone to do, said "GET ME OFF THE *#@%$%$# MAILING LIST RIGHT NOW". Everyone on the list, as they are prone to do said "Figure it out yourself, dingus" and forwarded him his own subscribe message.
So the genius then said "Get me off this mailing list or I'll spam the entire mailing list every day for the rest of my life and you'll be sorry".
So Larry then said "You don't threaten with a slingshot the inventer of the rocket launcher".
The genius was never heard from again.
This whole situation makes me remember that story. Whether or not this guy likes it, he's brought down the ire of the
Poor bastard. If he's actual email address ever gets out
Okay, instead of preaching the dogma, I'll say that I happily and constantly recommend purchasing OSS around my department.
The situation is simple. We have 150 Linux machines, all of them have sound cards. These machines have all been purchased from various companies over the past 3 years, and all run Linux and only Linux. Many of these machines don't have any decent specs as to what cards they run.
Oh yeah, and we have a single sysadmin who needs to maintain all these machines, set up all these machines, handle department firefighting issues and maintain the other 50 non-Linux boxes.
For 20$ a machine, sound is fire and forget. One out of every 10 will need more tweaking, maybe less. The alternative is to sit and tweak the kernel and isapnp until it starts working on each machine.
The fact of the matter is that 4front made the black art of sound (esp PnP sound) under linux doable without taking out an afternoon for it.
Because of that, they've gotten my money and will continue to get money from any one I know who says "Could you help me get sound working under my linux box".
Okay, so a bunch of questions
:)
... (as well as the gnu supported classpath and japhar, but those aren't contenders just yet).
1. Is this IBM's in house code or a port of the JDK? They say in the FAQ they don't have a right to the code, but blackdown's JDK license let's them release diffs, did they get a better license than IBM?
2. I wonder if IBM and blackdown might benefit from joining forces here. Blackdown's done a lot of work in getting JDK 117 and 12 up and running under linux. I'm sure a couple full time IBM engineers could finish the job effectively and quickly.
My only true complain about java under linux (I develop java under linux "grad student full time" for my research) is that the time from sun announcement to linux usable port is rather slow. This is a lousy artifact of Sun's business model. Hopefully IBM joining into the fray, Transvirtual (sp?) making their clean room implementation more usable all the time and blackdown folding their changes into the main source tree will change this
According to this page, IPIX and this guy are working out a way to continue the distribution of this free software. They aren't outright suing him.
It seems that IPIX believes it owns the ability to limit usage of its file format, to stop people from making use of its viewer without paying royalities (which is a mistake in their marketing model). However, the tone of the page doesn't make it sounds like they are in the inquisition mode of suing all people, everywhere.
I remember, not too long ago, MS ported IE 3(?) to Solaris (?) and was saying that they were porting it to the two remaining big unicies (which were HP-UX and SCO, as I recall) which caused a huge stir b/c Linux wasn't on the list.
IIRC, one of the guys who did the majority of the porting of the JDK to Linux was involved with the initial port of IE to Solaris. I forget if it was Randy or Steve.
By the current method, it sounds like keeping moderator status secret is unnecessary for the purpose it was meant to serve (which I assume is to keep people from bugging you to increase their points). If anyone might be a moderator on a given "day" (where day is some arbitrary, short period of time), why bother keeping your current status a secret?
I disagree with the spirit of this post.
Basically, a kernel leaves linus's hands well (for some definition there of) tested and debugged. However, linus does not have the capability of beating up the kernel at the level at which the users do, nor does he have the QA necessary to make sure a new kernel is fit for all purposes.
I think there is an unspoken convention that if you can't afford any downtime, you wait a little while before jumping on the cutting edge. This is why many people still run a 2.0 kernel.
That being said, the fact that Slashdot runs a 2.2 kernel is doing more for getting the really nasty bugs out of the 2.2 series than any three hundred normal people, because of the extremes slashdot must go through (specifically, being under heavy load, high end hardware, etc)
It may only be me, but the explanation of the force had me thinking about O.S. Card's concept of the ansibles from Speaker and Xenocide.
The only difference is the version number :
-PATCHLEVEL = 2
-SUBLEVEL = 8
+PATCHLEVEL = 3
+SUBLEVEL = 0
Hopefully lots of interesting new stuff will come out in 2.3.1.
Andy Grove is going to be so disappointed when half his company doesn't bother showing up May 19th (and the other half are coming in late 'cause they caught the midnight showing). "Our engineers have too much work to do."
Uh-huh.
The VH-1 announcer is really freaking annoying. "Join Yoda and Obi Wan and the whole Jedi crew ..." Sigh ...
...
I need to get my laptop IRDA port to speak TV remote so I can get to the mute button in time
So I think the concept of the behind the scenes stuff is cool, I've always tuned into those silly HBO behind the scenes specials and unmuted when someone besides the actor is talking ...
Therefore, I think that putting in music video, without some dumb actor hyping in the foreground, behind the scene shots is really cool.
However, the concept of VH-1 having the video on autorepeat for a half hour straight (we're in the second showing now) is both very cool and very silly all at the same time.
Okay, so redhat puts out a decent to good product, in terms of its distribution. My university uses RedHat as its official linux distro (though my machines are debian, which is my preference). RedHat has pioneered the concept of an easier method of installing software (and, more importantly, maintaining software) on a Linux system through its RPM format.
Also, it has supported free software via the right methods, by fundings its general development and releasing its source code under the GPL, without replacing the copyright and without claiming ownership.
So, while it is possible their may be an evil plan afoot, I can't possibly see what it is. Closing the RPM format? It would succeed to breaking old distributions and a converter would exist within hours of its release to an open format. Closing other code? What code?
I guess I just don't see it.
Okay, how about USB?
JOT is a good concept, but I don't think it is going to be nearly as good as the newton's. JOT will only do individual characters, and is only an incremental improvement over graffiti.
Has anyone looked at TealScript?
The biggest change I've heard is that it is wireless (using RF, not IR), will have a direct to PS/2, not just serial, connector and have the option of coming with a pilot cable.
Okay, palmOS is great, and I wouldn't trade in my PalmIII (or my PalmPro before that which my g/f now has) for anything. However, PalmOS could be better or be extended.
I'd love to see a PalmOS device the size of a newton with real handwriting recognition. I like the PalmOS application launcher and feel better than newton's. There are times I'd really like to have a fuller sized screen, though, not all the time, however.
Okay, how about a Palm docking station, which adds a bigger screen and maybe a PC Card slot? That would be *COOL*.
\end{braindump}