I've thought about this a bit... why couldn't you develop your app as GPL until it's ready, then get the development license? The only catch is that while it's GPL, don't distribute it to anyone.
The GPL doesn't require you make your source available to the universe, just to those you distribute your app to. If you don't distribute your app to anyone, you're following it to the letter.
Not sure about rpm/yum, but the Debian package system is mostly written in perl. It's still an interpreted language, and it just depends what you're using it for whether it'll be faster.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear about this, but I already agreed BSD is better for a server than a mac, but I was addressing the eye candy topic separately. Now sure you were making the point that it isn't necessary on a server - but many seem to have the impression its unnecessary altogether. That's what I was addressing.
the (unnecessary) eye candy. I agree BSD is great for servers, but I want to tackle this little comment on the side.
While eye candy is not necessary, I suppose, that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a productive purpose. For hardcore multitaskers, expose is a must - in a second you can pick the window you want out of the 20 that you have open.
But the thing that most often gets ignored in geek circles is the bling factor. We can't mathematically quantify any use for it, so we assume its useless and frown upon the simpleminded advocates of eye candy. Truth is, we're humans. We have an artistic side, and when our desktop interface is beautiful to use we're happier when we use it. I get more done when I'm in a good mood, and I'm in a better mood when my interface is entertaining and beautiful.
Necessary? No, but it enhances productivity. So it's only necessary if you want optimal productivity.:-)
Not surprising that the computers most artists and musicians use sort of pioneered this.
he has denied making this remark. He also "didn't recall" making a lot of statements he made in the Halloween documents in his court deposition. If he'll say that under oath there's no reason to trust his self commentary when not under oath.
Yeah... fun times. I removed a DVD drive from my machine and got locked out by WGA. It'd been more than 30 days since I removed it, and it decided that this was a significant enough hardware change to require re-activation.
So when I finally had to actually use Windows on this machine, I had to suffer through a lengthy phone call to Microsoft before I could actually use my legal copy. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry, and good thing I expect things like that from Windows.
The.rpm package system is not like the.deb package system at all. Many (including me) have had a hell of a time with.rpm based systems (Mandriva, Redhat/Fedora/Centos, I'm looking at you) but found the Debian system to be a joy. I'm not saying it's without flaws, but I have yet to encounter any and I've been using it for half a decade.
I'm not saying you're an idiot, but a bit uninformed. I'm not the only person I know that was frustrated with installing programs on Linux until I tried a Debian-based distro.
How is $80+/month for 2 phones and 500 minute competitive? It's competitive with other carriers. If it's competitive with other carriers but still heinously overpriced, suspect a trust.
It's evidence of [...] a lack of progress. Holy shit you're right, it's almost like progress has been hampered by some outside force. Like abuse of a monopoly. ... weird.
It actually doesn't do too poorly with them. I have an ATI chipset on my laptop. I've been using Ubuntu since 2005 with this machine.
history:
October 2005 - Ubuntu 5.10: very hard to get working
June 2006 - Ubuntu 6.06: Worked out of the box, full acceleration took manual tweaks, but wasn't hard.
October 2006 - Ubuntu 6.10: Worked, but needed manual tweaks for full acceleration, as above.
April 2007 - Ubuntu 7.04: Worked flawlessly. Upon first boot a prompt in the task bar said I had restricted drivers that should be installed. I clicked it, it installed them, everything just worked.
October 2007 - Ubuntu 7.10: Worked equally flawlessly.
So it looks like, from my experiences (this is even with laptop hardware - which tends to be less supported), Ubuntu supports ATI decently. It's the least supported of the big 3 chipsets (ATI, Intel, NVidia), but even then it's not bad.
I mean, for heaven's sake for the last year it's been harder to get full driver support for my ATI card under WINDOWS than under Linux: Go to site (better hope you know which, and mom and pop do *not* know to go to ATI.com for their graphics drivers, nor what a graphics driver is), tell it what OS you have (most people have that down), download driver, run executable, next next next *you need the.net framework*...
The thing is that Java is extraordinarily similar to C++. If you are a competent C++ programmer, you can learn Java in an afternoon (or less). If you are a competent Java programmer, it will take you a little bit longer to learn C++. At least a few days by my estimation. WHOA. I think you just underlined the point of the article hardcore. Ow, my faith in mankind.
Even web developers no longer need to keep a Windows box handy "for compatability testing" - IE 7 runs fine under linux. As a matter of fact, you can run IE 5.5, 6, and 7 simultaneously in Linux, making it easier for IE compatibility testing than Windows. Oh, the irony.
In Vista, explorer has crashed as many as four times during a phone call (not a long one, or at least it'd have been shorter if explorer hadn't crashed four times) for me. On a Dell. We're not talking about unsupported hardware.
While I haven't experienced your frustration with Amarok (not saying it doesn't exist, I just haven't had that happen), I've found most of the uninitiated are just less frustrated with Amarok in general than WMP. They don't give up in exasperation trying to find how to get it to do the one stupid thing they want, etc. People are used to software frustrating them. They just want the program that sucks the least. They tend to be very happy with Amarok for that.
As far as printing - I've only had to print of a page now and again, sometimes to a print server sometimes not, and it's worked alright. Sounds like you've had worse battles with it than I have so I can see why you're frustrated, but most of the people I know (people with non tech related jobs in general) never print anything. The few times they've tried to print something it's either worked for them or worked with no more frustration than it would have with Windows.
It's been a long time since I first fired up Windows, and it's easy to forget how mysterious every little thing seems to someone new. While all the things you mentioned are no brainers to those with experience in Windows, they're still a task and a learning curve to the newbies. I've found that curve to be a lot less steep when I sit them in front of an Ubuntu box. Also, while I prefer KDE to Gnome myself, I tend to favor Ubuntu over Kubuntu simply because the userbase is much larger so the programs get much better testing. Some of the issues you relate may be worked out in the generic mainstream Ubuntu.
While many of the issues pointed out specifically used Excel 2007 as an example, doesn't ISO require an existing reference implementation for a standard like this to be approved? If so, since not even Microsoft Office does predictable things given only the standard specified, they've failed to meet that requirement, right?
I do not deny that there are plenty of design issues with OOXML. The statement which I have been challenging was that Microsoft "refused to address" them. Not having first hand experience with this particular issue, I can't refute that. I have to admit I'd be very suspicious that any software company would be too willing to spend time addressing issues with a format that they've obviously spent the least possible effort on (binary format with 15 years of cruft -> xml copy of the exact same thing), but my suspicion doesn't match up to first hand experience, no.
What decade are you in, man? Every camera I've ever plugged into an Ubuntu box opened up with a native image collection program - screw putting in a disk and installing something. All the power point presentations and excell spreadsheets open up fine in OO.org. The only e-mail program I've -ever- seen an unititiated user using is Outlook Express, and Thunderbird is almost identical. I've had one (entire) printer act up on me.
With the advent of HPLIP and Cups printer manufacturers have finally caught onto how to keep things compatible right off the manufacturing line, the office formats have been nailed for years (with little exception) except for ooxml, which is still barely in use.
All those hardware devices (mp3 players, cameras, etc) come with 3rd party apps that often don't work too nicely with other Windows apps (like media player). In better-integrated environments that are already expecting cameras/music players (KDE/Gnome), that stuff's already taken care of.
For the most part I only get calls when they have a power out and something weird happens and they can't get into Linux. Often it's the larger, more readable fonts (older people LOVE that), or the music player (I always set their default to Amarok), or the photo collection browser, but they want it back.
Sorry for the late reply.
Re:One link. There are many out there. Just look.
on
India Votes Against OOXML
·
· Score: 5, Informative
This is a great example of concrete unsolved problems with OOXML both in documentation and design. In an earlier comment in the thread you asked someone to name one unaddressed issue, there are 15 or so there. If you really are involved in the standards body for your country/region, I really hope you know about glaring issues like these and disapprove on grounds more substantial than just the fast track request.
I do not think it is out of scope to take into account the past trustworthiness of Microsoft as an international entity, either. You may disagree with that, but the linked post can't really be argued against.
Slashdot Mirror
I've thought about this a bit... why couldn't you develop your app as GPL until it's ready, then get the development license? The only catch is that while it's GPL, don't distribute it to anyone.
The GPL doesn't require you make your source available to the universe, just to those you distribute your app to. If you don't distribute your app to anyone, you're following it to the letter.
Am I missing something?
Well the exact term on the page is "95% complete", and if the 5% that isn't implemented is just never used by game creators, it won't be missed.
DX8 support in wine has been solid for a while now, and it's listed as "95% complete" as well, for what it's worth.
And, according to Microsoft, the customer as well. Not sure how well that stands up in case law...
Not sure about rpm/yum, but the Debian package system is mostly written in perl. It's still an interpreted language, and it just depends what you're using it for whether it'll be faster.
For a package manager, specifically, it sounds like Perl is a better choice
, but it's not a clear winner in all categories vs. Java.
I'm not a huge fan of Java, but I think it has its place.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear about this, but I already agreed BSD is better for a server than a mac, but I was addressing the eye candy topic separately. Now sure you were making the point that it isn't necessary on a server - but many seem to have the impression its unnecessary altogether. That's what I was addressing.
While eye candy is not necessary, I suppose, that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a productive purpose. For hardcore multitaskers, expose is a must - in a second you can pick the window you want out of the 20 that you have open.
But the thing that most often gets ignored in geek circles is the bling factor. We can't mathematically quantify any use for it, so we assume its useless and frown upon the simpleminded advocates of eye candy. Truth is, we're humans. We have an artistic side, and when our desktop interface is beautiful to use we're happier when we use it. I get more done when I'm in a good mood, and I'm in a better mood when my interface is entertaining and beautiful.
Necessary? No, but it enhances productivity. So it's only necessary if you want optimal productivity.
Not surprising that the computers most artists and musicians use sort of pioneered this.
Film at 11.
Yeah... fun times. I removed a DVD drive from my machine and got locked out by WGA. It'd been more than 30 days since I removed it, and it decided that this was a significant enough hardware change to require re-activation.
So when I finally had to actually use Windows on this machine, I had to suffer through a lengthy phone call to Microsoft before I could actually use my legal copy. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry, and good thing I expect things like that from Windows.
1 Apple + 2 Oranges == 1 bad analogy.
.rpm package system is not like the .deb package system at all. Many (including me) have had a hell of a time with .rpm based systems (Mandriva, Redhat/Fedora/Centos, I'm looking at you) but found the Debian system to be a joy. I'm not saying it's without flaws, but I have yet to encounter any and I've been using it for half a decade.
The
I'm not saying you're an idiot, but a bit uninformed. I'm not the only person I know that was frustrated with installing programs on Linux until I tried a Debian-based distro.
I'd mod that up.
history:
- October 2005 - Ubuntu 5.10: very hard to get working
- June 2006 - Ubuntu 6.06: Worked out of the box, full acceleration took manual tweaks, but wasn't hard.
- October 2006 - Ubuntu 6.10: Worked, but needed manual tweaks for full acceleration, as above.
- April 2007 - Ubuntu 7.04: Worked flawlessly. Upon first boot a prompt in the task bar said I had restricted drivers that should be installed. I clicked it, it installed them, everything just worked.
- October 2007 - Ubuntu 7.10: Worked equally flawlessly.
So it looks like, from my experiences (this is even with laptop hardware - which tends to be less supported), Ubuntu supports ATI decently. It's the least supported of the big 3 chipsets (ATI, Intel, NVidia), but even then it's not bad.I mean, for heaven's sake for the last year it's been harder to get full driver support for my ATI card under WINDOWS than under Linux: Go to site (better hope you know which, and mom and pop do *not* know to go to ATI.com for their graphics drivers, nor what a graphics driver is), tell it what OS you have (most people have that down), download driver, run executable, next next next *you need the
Pain in the butt.
No. You make the pop. That is your role, and you will accept it.
It comes IN PINTS?! imgettingone.
In Vista, explorer has crashed as many as four times during a phone call (not a long one, or at least it'd have been shorter if explorer hadn't crashed four times) for me. On a Dell. We're not talking about unsupported hardware.
The crap load is a metric unit?
While I haven't experienced your frustration with Amarok (not saying it doesn't exist, I just haven't had that happen), I've found most of the uninitiated are just less frustrated with Amarok in general than WMP. They don't give up in exasperation trying to find how to get it to do the one stupid thing they want, etc. People are used to software frustrating them. They just want the program that sucks the least. They tend to be very happy with Amarok for that.
As far as printing - I've only had to print of a page now and again, sometimes to a print server sometimes not, and it's worked alright. Sounds like you've had worse battles with it than I have so I can see why you're frustrated, but most of the people I know (people with non tech related jobs in general) never print anything. The few times they've tried to print something it's either worked for them or worked with no more frustration than it would have with Windows.
It's been a long time since I first fired up Windows, and it's easy to forget how mysterious every little thing seems to someone new. While all the things you mentioned are no brainers to those with experience in Windows, they're still a task and a learning curve to the newbies. I've found that curve to be a lot less steep when I sit them in front of an Ubuntu box. Also, while I prefer KDE to Gnome myself, I tend to favor Ubuntu over Kubuntu simply because the userbase is much larger so the programs get much better testing. Some of the issues you relate may be worked out in the generic mainstream Ubuntu.
I pity you.
What decade are you in, man? Every camera I've ever plugged into an Ubuntu box opened up with a native image collection program - screw putting in a disk and installing something. All the power point presentations and excell spreadsheets open up fine in OO.org. The only e-mail program I've -ever- seen an unititiated user using is Outlook Express, and Thunderbird is almost identical. I've had one (entire) printer act up on me.
With the advent of HPLIP and Cups printer manufacturers have finally caught onto how to keep things compatible right off the manufacturing line, the office formats have been nailed for years (with little exception) except for ooxml, which is still barely in use.
All those hardware devices (mp3 players, cameras, etc) come with 3rd party apps that often don't work too nicely with other Windows apps (like media player). In better-integrated environments that are already expecting cameras/music players (KDE/Gnome), that stuff's already taken care of.
For the most part I only get calls when they have a power out and something weird happens and they can't get into Linux. Often it's the larger, more readable fonts (older people LOVE that), or the music player (I always set their default to Amarok), or the photo collection browser, but they want it back.
Sorry for the late reply.
This is a great example of concrete unsolved problems with OOXML both in documentation and design. In an earlier comment in the thread you asked someone to name one unaddressed issue, there are 15 or so there. If you really are involved in the standards body for your country/region, I really hope you know about glaring issues like these and disapprove on grounds more substantial than just the fast track request.
I do not think it is out of scope to take into account the past trustworthiness of Microsoft as an international entity, either. You may disagree with that, but the linked post can't really be argued against.