The only fairy tale is that this would ever happen. Who gives a crap whether the web would disappear if the masses started blocking ads? The masses will never start blocking ads. The masses don't care. They are fine with ads. They filter them out mentally, instead of using technology.
> Google has already demonstrated that it is willing to pull certain apps that T-mobile doesn't like.
Except it doesn't matter, because on an Android phone you can install an apk package from anywhere on the web without rooting your phone. (There is a single checkbox in the settings you need to check first.) The Market actually has a strong incentive to be less fascist than the app store, because if it is perceived as hampering developers, developers will simply go elsewhere. I have no doubt that Google knew this when they designed the OS, and that they intend to be more egalitarian in the future. They're also still getting used to this thing, so I'm cutting a little slack. Have no doubt that if, in the future, Google decides to be dicks about the Market, I will put the apps I develop for Android online somewhere else.
I'm sorry - now it's brave for a news publisher, someone concerned with selling facts to the public, to publish some actual facts? That's not brave; THEY GOT A SCOOP! "Journalism Sucks! We Eat Any Lies We Are Fed! You Heard It Here First!"
I can only echo the OP - Poor Guardian. You know what else would be brave? To require that journalists in the Guardian's employee do their fucking jobs and fact check.
Honestly, even if none of that were true, you're not allowed to be an asshole any more if you are in charge of a major project. Open source is a *community*, and people flee the community when it's populated by assholes. Darwinian selection tends to filter out assholes in this environment, because it doesn't take all that much to advance a better project, even if the asshole is extremely gifted.
These are not necessarily unrelated. You can't rule out the possibility that glibc problems are caused by a reluctant maintainer not fixing known issues because the known issues are a hassle.
That said, I cast a very skeptical eye on anyone who says glibc toasted their system. What they usually really mean is "I installed this unsupported sid package, which required a newer glibc version, and it brought in the kitchen sink with it because of the dependency tree, and now I'm toast."
You're thinking about this all backwards
on
Tactical Camera
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· Score: 5, Funny
Taking pictures is illegal now and helps the terrorists. But we still have our second amendment rights. This cleverly conceals the dangerous camera as a harmless rifle.
The worst part is this should have been an absolute no-brainer. Trent Reznor fits their marketing approach: that to be hip, artistic, alternative, young and cool, you need Apple products. But they've started to eat their own bellies on this one. They are so concerned with having total image control, that they are now excluding things that match their own image.
The more they tighten their grip, the more (handheld operating) systems will slip through their fingers.
It's certainly not insane for the drug companies. You can put pressure directly on your doctor to get the drug that the teevee says will cure you. If he's ethical and doesn't comply (when the treatment isn't appropriate), well, there's plenty of other doctors. They'll comply out of apathy, or because it has a direct payoff in perks from drug companies.
It's a totally rational strategy for drug companies.
No benefit? Do you have any idea how much effort is wasted testing these platforms? How many opportunity costs there are to supporting old stuff?
You can't say you "support" a platform these days unless your tests pass on it. That means you need it installed somewhere running test software, and someone familiar with the platform needs to be around to help you when things break, which they do. Supporting it also means crippling any software that wants to use APIs that later versions of the platform supports. You either need two versions of the code (one with the feature you want, one without, a serious nightmare) or you have to tell the users of Windows XP from *years* ago "so sorry, we can't use that important performance optimization. Some idiot somewhere is still running Win2k".
Platform support is a huge cost. Dropping it is an easy savings. Any organization that acts without regard to cost has never even seen the way, never mind "lost" it.
You'll still be able to download older versions of Firefox; they might even continue to provide security updates for them.
Actually, the problem is that "being gay" is really a choice
I have no idea why anyone thinks this matters.
Uh, duh, because they're closeted. The subtext here is "look at me! I have managed to repress my urges. So should you. Unless you know a way I can avoid getting caught?"
Really? Because that actually sounds pretty cool other than the stench. "Today I reprogrammed a microcontroller on a 20 degree roof in high winds" is a much more badass story to tell people than "I wrote unit tests all day and made them pass," when someone asks you what you do you for a living. They're probably imaging Spiderman fighting Doc Ock in the background as you mumble "Unix! I know this!"
#1: Their new license basically rapes you if you want to publish OGL content. It's explicitly designed so that publishers supporting 4e must throw away their 3.xE content, including anything based on OGL, and start over. I read it as "ha ha, fuck you publishers, upgrade bitches." So you're absolutely right that this is not about "piracy", this is consistent with a strategy of wizards desperately trying to scramble for more control of the game. It's about kicking out everyone who might make money off their product who isn't them. It's completely retrogressive and I expect Wizards to get killed in the marketplace; it just takes one strong competitor who Does It Right.
#2: Check out Paizo publishing. They're doing it right, making a game that continues to be freely licensed and does allow other publishers to add on. With the upcoming Pathfinder RPG, they've basically forked the D&D 3.5E rules, opened them up, and given the finger to Wizards. (Incidentally they were one of the PDF resellers who got kicked in the groin by the recent delisting of PDFs.)
My money's on Paizo. Literally. I'll be spending money on their products as soon as the release edition is available for sale. The beta edition is already a free PDF download. I've got my copy.
WTF? You paid for Windows, dude. It counts in the only way that matters to Microsoft: revenue. Your installing Linux afterwards just reduces their support burden.
Scientology is the one that hates psychology. Christian Science is the one that says only God cures you. (I exist on this Earth in part because my grandmother refused my Christian Scientist grandfather and took my dad to the hospital with pneumonia when he was little.)
Both loathsome in their own way, but get em straight.
All of which misses the point; the OP wanted a fun platform to develop on, not a huge installed base. Making a platform fun to develop on is how you get apps; apps are how you get users. iPhone's perceived sexiness will wear off, and be replaced by people who need functionality, and Android can be there for them.
It's true that t-mobile's 3g coverage is not great, although it's improving. I've been using my phone on the Edge network since I bought it. It could be faster, but it's fast enough.
In any case, there are more Android-based phones coming out. Expect to see more networks involved.
Since Android came out I've been cheerleading/fanboying for it. I own a G1, the 1.1 version of the OS is about to come out, and although there are many apps for it already it needs a lot more, and a lot of people who find the platform fun.
Android ought to be the platform you thought Apple used to be. No stupid rules, no Apple kowtowing, just write your code. If you don't like the way Android Market works (and it can't be as bad for developers as Apple's) then you can still publish your.apk file anywhere else you please online.
I had the same thought; their options were "a. tell nobody and do it", "b. tell everyone and do it", "c. tell nobody and not do it", and "d. tell everyone, and when they show up, not do it".
B is the most dangerous option; phew, they didn't do that. C and D are the least dangerous. Out of the four, they went with the second-most-dangerous option, and put people in danger.
I love the show, but the risk analysis is flawed here.
After ascertaining the necessary baseline of technological expertise, I try to direct all interviews toward trying to find out whether this person is an explorer and researcher, or a doctrinaire user of whatever is force-fed to them.
There is no short list. Anyone who falls into the second category is out.
Slashdot Mirror
The only fairy tale is that this would ever happen. Who gives a crap whether the web would disappear if the masses started blocking ads? The masses will never start blocking ads. The masses don't care. They are fine with ads. They filter them out mentally, instead of using technology.
I share your dream, brotha. I just happen to think you're more likely to get there on Android than iPhone, recent events notwithstanding.
> Google has already demonstrated that it is willing to pull certain apps that T-mobile doesn't like.
Except it doesn't matter, because on an Android phone you can install an apk package from anywhere on the web without rooting your phone. (There is a single checkbox in the settings you need to check first.) The Market actually has a strong incentive to be less fascist than the app store, because if it is perceived as hampering developers, developers will simply go elsewhere. I have no doubt that Google knew this when they designed the OS, and that they intend to be more egalitarian in the future. They're also still getting used to this thing, so I'm cutting a little slack. Have no doubt that if, in the future, Google decides to be dicks about the Market, I will put the apps I develop for Android online somewhere else.
I'm sorry - now it's brave for a news publisher, someone concerned with selling facts to the public, to publish some actual facts? That's not brave; THEY GOT A SCOOP! "Journalism Sucks! We Eat Any Lies We Are Fed! You Heard It Here First!"
I can only echo the OP - Poor Guardian. You know what else would be brave? To require that journalists in the Guardian's employee do their fucking jobs and fact check.
Honestly, even if none of that were true, you're not allowed to be an asshole any more if you are in charge of a major project. Open source is a *community*, and people flee the community when it's populated by assholes. Darwinian selection tends to filter out assholes in this environment, because it doesn't take all that much to advance a better project, even if the asshole is extremely gifted.
These are not necessarily unrelated. You can't rule out the possibility that glibc problems are caused by a reluctant maintainer not fixing known issues because the known issues are a hassle.
That said, I cast a very skeptical eye on anyone who says glibc toasted their system. What they usually really mean is "I installed this unsupported sid package, which required a newer glibc version, and it brought in the kitchen sink with it because of the dependency tree, and now I'm toast."
Taking pictures is illegal now and helps the terrorists. But we still have our second amendment rights. This cleverly conceals the dangerous camera as a harmless rifle.
The worst part is this should have been an absolute no-brainer. Trent Reznor fits their marketing approach: that to be hip, artistic, alternative, young and cool, you need Apple products. But they've started to eat their own bellies on this one. They are so concerned with having total image control, that they are now excluding things that match their own image.
The more they tighten their grip, the more (handheld operating) systems will slip through their fingers.
It's certainly not insane for the drug companies. You can put pressure directly on your doctor to get the drug that the teevee says will cure you. If he's ethical and doesn't comply (when the treatment isn't appropriate), well, there's plenty of other doctors. They'll comply out of apathy, or because it has a direct payoff in perks from drug companies.
It's a totally rational strategy for drug companies.
God, if that isn't a literal prisoner's dilemma then nothing is.
If everyone cooperates (turns themselves in), then they all win by having successfully blockaded (DoS'd) the attempt to criminalize what TPB is doing.
If only a few do, they get screwed.
Sure. I know you're kidding, but that's actually one of the most complex things to test a lot of the time.
No benefit? Do you have any idea how much effort is wasted testing these platforms? How many opportunity costs there are to supporting old stuff?
You can't say you "support" a platform these days unless your tests pass on it. That means you need it installed somewhere running test software, and someone familiar with the platform needs to be around to help you when things break, which they do. Supporting it also means crippling any software that wants to use APIs that later versions of the platform supports. You either need two versions of the code (one with the feature you want, one without, a serious nightmare) or you have to tell the users of Windows XP from *years* ago "so sorry, we can't use that important performance optimization. Some idiot somewhere is still running Win2k".
Platform support is a huge cost. Dropping it is an easy savings. Any organization that acts without regard to cost has never even seen the way, never mind "lost" it.
You'll still be able to download older versions of Firefox; they might even continue to provide security updates for them.
Actually, the problem is that "being gay" is really a choice
I have no idea why anyone thinks this matters.
Uh, duh, because they're closeted. The subtext here is "look at me! I have managed to repress my urges. So should you. Unless you know a way I can avoid getting caught?"
Really? Because that actually sounds pretty cool other than the stench. "Today I reprogrammed a microcontroller on a 20 degree roof in high winds" is a much more badass story to tell people than "I wrote unit tests all day and made them pass," when someone asks you what you do you for a living. They're probably imaging Spiderman fighting Doc Ock in the background as you mumble "Unix! I know this!"
#1: Their new license basically rapes you if you want to publish OGL content. It's explicitly designed so that publishers supporting 4e must throw away their 3.xE content, including anything based on OGL, and start over. I read it as "ha ha, fuck you publishers, upgrade bitches." So you're absolutely right that this is not about "piracy", this is consistent with a strategy of wizards desperately trying to scramble for more control of the game. It's about kicking out everyone who might make money off their product who isn't them. It's completely retrogressive and I expect Wizards to get killed in the marketplace; it just takes one strong competitor who Does It Right.
#2: Check out Paizo publishing. They're doing it right, making a game that continues to be freely licensed and does allow other publishers to add on. With the upcoming Pathfinder RPG, they've basically forked the D&D 3.5E rules, opened them up, and given the finger to Wizards. (Incidentally they were one of the PDF resellers who got kicked in the groin by the recent delisting of PDFs.)
My money's on Paizo. Literally. I'll be spending money on their products as soon as the release edition is available for sale. The beta edition is already a free PDF download. I've got my copy.
WTF? You paid for Windows, dude. It counts in the only way that matters to Microsoft: revenue. Your installing Linux afterwards just reduces their support burden.
Scientology is the one that hates psychology. Christian Science is the one that says only God cures you. (I exist on this Earth in part because my grandmother refused my Christian Scientist grandfather and took my dad to the hospital with pneumonia when he was little.)
Both loathsome in their own way, but get em straight.
| "It's a free country."
You must have missed that we're talking about the UK.
"Billy Goat Gruff": modded someone (-1) Troll at least 25 times.
All of which misses the point; the OP wanted a fun platform to develop on, not a huge installed base. Making a platform fun to develop on is how you get apps; apps are how you get users. iPhone's perceived sexiness will wear off, and be replaced by people who need functionality, and Android can be there for them.
It's true that t-mobile's 3g coverage is not great, although it's improving. I've been using my phone on the Edge network since I bought it. It could be faster, but it's fast enough.
In any case, there are more Android-based phones coming out. Expect to see more networks involved.
Since Android came out I've been cheerleading/fanboying for it. I own a G1, the 1.1 version of the OS is about to come out, and although there are many apps for it already it needs a lot more, and a lot of people who find the platform fun.
Android ought to be the platform you thought Apple used to be. No stupid rules, no Apple kowtowing, just write your code. If you don't like the way Android Market works (and it can't be as bad for developers as Apple's) then you can still publish your .apk file anywhere else you please online.
I had the same thought; their options were "a. tell nobody and do it", "b. tell everyone and do it", "c. tell nobody and not do it", and "d. tell everyone, and when they show up, not do it".
B is the most dangerous option; phew, they didn't do that. C and D are the least dangerous. Out of the four, they went with the second-most-dangerous option, and put people in danger.
I love the show, but the risk analysis is flawed here.
Kittens are a zero? Man, kittens can *kill* you. I almost choked on one once.
After ascertaining the necessary baseline of technological expertise, I try to direct all interviews toward trying to find out whether this person is an explorer and researcher, or a doctrinaire user of whatever is force-fed to them.
There is no short list. Anyone who falls into the second category is out.