Linux-Advocacy Digest #547, Volume #25 Tue, 7 Mar 00 18:13:07 EST
Contents:
Re: I can't stand this X anymore! (Jan Wielemaker)
Re: Salary? (Randy Crawford)
Re: Criticism (Darren Winsper)
Re: Open Software Reliability (Bastian)
Re: Salary? (JCA)
Re: Windows 2000: Put A Fork In IT (Gary Hallock)
Re: Salary? ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Salary? ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Why not Darwin AND Linux rather than Darwin OR Linux? (was Re: Darwin or Linux
(Matt Kennel)
Re: Thoughts and answers sought for Linux research article (Philip Niznik)
Re: Giving up on NT - So Where's The Emotion? (Marty)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jan Wielemaker)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: I can't stand this X anymore!
Date: 7 Mar 2000 21:04:10 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Donovan Rebbechi wrote:
>
>On Tue, 7 Mar 2000, Lyle R. Taylor wrote:
>
>> I would not say that lack of font smoothing is the only inadequacy of X.
>> It's weakest link appears to me to be the whole font system.
>
>I'd agree that the lack of a unified print/display system is a problem, but
>not necessarily a problem with X.
I think you're right that it is not an X-problem. X should remain
what it is: a remote protocol to handle screen, mouse and keyboard. This
approach allows for a layered API, which is the best option to allow for
distributed development and improvement.
Printers are another beasts and can properly be handled by the GUI library
at hand. The standard on Unix is the printer language (PostScript), which
at least allows me to deliver a document in printable format.
Out-of-the-box and widely available support for TrueType (or other
high-quality scalable fonts) would be nice though.
Regards --- Jan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jan Wielemaker Author of SWI-Prolog and the XPCE GUI library
SWI, University of Amsterdam http://www.swi.psy.uva.nl/projects/SWI-Prolog/
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.swi.psy.uva.nl/projects/xpce/
------------------------------
From: Randy Crawford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Salary?
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 21:45:31 +0000
Big Circle wrote:
>
> Can you tell us your duties and daily works?
> Any vacancies in your company?
$100K and no benefits == consultant. Fair to middlin' wages for a
consultant at that ($100,000 / (35 hours x 52 weeks) = $55/hour).
There are LOTS of such jobs all over the US. Most are temporary.
Randy
>
> Peter Morris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > Underpaid? That's interesting because whenever I've talked to people
> > about working in the USA, they've always quoted less that I was
> > earning in UK.
> > I'm currently an A/P earning over US$100K. 35hr a week but admittedly,
> > no benefits.
> >
> > PAM.
--
Randy Crawford
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.engin.umich.edu/labs/cpc
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Darren Winsper)
Subject: Re: Criticism
Date: 8 Mar 2000 05:44:08 GMT
On Mon, 06 Mar 2000 21:13:20 -0600, Robert Canup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> To those of you who are critical of Linux: Fix what is wrong - or keep
> your mouths shut.
I happen to be one of those "incompetants" you talk about. I do
criticise the areas of Linux that need to improve, but don't think I'm
not grateful people are willing to do this for free.
Even if I did have the skills, I would not have the time. With my
college and various other commitments, I barely have time to answer all
my e-mails regarding Stellar Legacy, especially since I'm now learning
PHP for the new site.
--
Darren Winsper (El Capitano) - ICQ #8899775
Stellar Legacy project member - http://www.stellarlegacy.tsx.org
DVD boycotts. Are you doing your part?
"Microsoft is estimating that 28,000 of these [bugs] are likely to be 'real'
problems [in Windows2000]."
-http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2436920,00.html?chkpt=zdhpnews01
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bastian)
Subject: Re: Open Software Reliability
Date: 07 Mar 2000 21:43:26 GMT
On Tue, 7 Mar 2000 18:17:02 +0100, Davorin Mestric wrote:
>you did not understand his comment.
>
>
>Bastian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Linux is posix compatible. You can write mails from and to linux systems,
>you
>> can access linux-based web-servers (running apache using a standard). You
>can
>> read and write all graphic formats, all audio formats, burn cds in the
>cdda
>> and the iso9660 format, install networks based on the tcp/ip standard,
>watch
>> tv with pal/ntsc standards, etc. (how much do you wanna hear :-)
>
I guess you're not so kind to tell me why.
Bastian
------------------------------
From: JCA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Salary?
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 13:46:56 -0800
I would hesitate when it comes to measuring the relative technical savvy
of places like MIT and INRIA; I wouldn't really know how to begin to do
it. The fact that some good software is produced by some companies in
Europe doesn't change my basic premise, since in a large enough population
you will always have exceptional individuals.
In my opinion, it's still the case that the top-notch software produced by
private companies is, by and large, that developed in the US of A, not Europe,
Japan or elsewhere. And changes for the better in Europe are not in the horizon,
for all I know.
Eric LEMAITRE wrote:
> You're wrong whan you conclude immediatly that the consequence means an
> immediate technical suppremacy of US produces, and that any good European
> software is developed by universities, not by private companies. In france we
> have many private companies which are famous worldwide such as Business
> Objects, GemPlus, Cap-Gemini, ... and their programmers are very qualified too,
> but the awful trouble for us Europeans is the lack of strategical efforts at
> government level. Most of all have left France mainland for abroad where taxes
> are much lower. There is a business war raging on using new technologies, and
> in Europe we have no headquarters, every single company fights alone for
> herself, while in USA whole country is involved in technical worldwide
> standards domination. We have among finest worldwide scientifics at INRIA in
> France on the pure technical field, perhaps better than at MIT itself although
> MIT people are allready excellent too, but what use of any good technical
> knowledge if we can't use it for making business ? Clearly none for us, this is
> where we are clearly inferior. USA is often less (not much) advanced on
> technological field, but it clearly smashes us in the business field.
> USA are much better than others for they are much more efficient for using
> their skills into making money, not for technical supremacy, but in overall you
> are right, the result will be the same : more and more taxes will make our best
> people flee to USA or elswhere for getting better life and salary, this can't
> be avoided for us.
> In California, first most important community in number are Chinese, second are
> ... French, allmost all involved in computing. Awfull waste, but politically
> planified so whe could leave but not fight against it.
>
> Bye !
>
> --
> Eric LEMAITRE
> Ingénieur CNAM (CNAM Computer Engineer, MSD)
> Ingénieur et Formateur certifié Linux Red-Hat (RHCE & RHCX Certified)
> Responsable de formation pour les filières Internet et Linux (Head of
> Internet/Linux Education Department)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 17:08:48 -0500
From: Gary Hallock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Windows 2000: Put A Fork In IT
Jim Richardson wrote:
>
>
> If you have a spare P390 card hanging around, I'll, er, "review"
> it for you :) shouldn't take more than a month or two, maybe
> three, well four to be safe...
>
> --
> Jim Richardson
> Anarchist, pagan and proud of it
> WWW.eskimo.com/~warlock
> Linux, because life's too short for a buggy OS.
I wish I did. I can tell you that Linux has been successully run on P390.
Gary
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Salary?
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.misc
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 20:11:37 +0000
And verily, didst The Ghost In The Machine hastily scribble thusly:
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote on Mon, 6 Mar 2000 21:31:57 +0000 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>>And verily, didst Desmond Coughlan hastily scribble thusly:
>>> I think it's a myth that wages are higher in the United States, at least
>>> when the high cost of living is taken into account.
>>
>>What high cost of living?
>>Food's cheap. Petrol's cheap. PHone calls are cheap?
>>You don't have a HIGH cost of living.
> You haven't been seeing the price of gas rise lately,
> have you, then? :-)
I doubt it beats ours yet. 79p/Litre (Thats almost 3 POUNDS per gallon, $4.50
ish).
> Around here, it's hovering around $1.60 a gallon, and that's
> for the ultra-cheapie stuff. I don't know how many pounds
> per liter that is offhand, though.
So we have to pay about 3 times as much then.
> (Of course, living in the San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley
> might have something to do with that...)
79p is from a CHEAP area!
--
______________________________________________________________________________
| [EMAIL PROTECTED],uk | "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Pinky?" |
| Andrew Halliwell BSc | |
| in | "I think so brain, but this time, you control |
| Computer Science | the Encounter suit, and I'll do the voice..." |
==============================================================================
|GCv3.12 GCS>$ d-(dpu) s+/- a C++ US++ P L/L+ E-- W+ N++ o+ K PS+ w-- M+/++ |
|PS+++ PE- Y t+ 5++ X+/X++ R+ tv+ b+ DI+ D+ G e++ h/h+ !r!| Space for hire |
==============================================================================
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Salary?
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 22:34:16 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
thomas park <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Those figures sound a little high to me - in the New England area, a
> typical sysadmin with 4 years experience would probably gross $40 -
50K
> (USD). And the cost of living here is, as I understand it, higher
than
> in the south (I don't know about Atlanta).
>
> There's a site, http://www.computerjobs.com that lists job openings -
I
> believe they also have salary surveys that seem reasonable and are
> localized for several parts of the US.
>
> thomas
I'm quoting the numbers given by Matrix (the best consulting firm in
town) as of August 1999 and published in the Atlanta Journal and
Constitution. These are their salaries for permanent placement of
people to jobs. Now, they are a good consulting firm, but right now
there is a run of e-business in town and the demand for people with
Solaris experience is incredible. And it's distinctly Solaris oriented,
as the quoted Solaris full time salaries (as opposed, to say, AIX
salaries) is often a $20,000 premium over other Unix flavors. I recall
one ad asking for AIX admins, 70,000 maximum, and Solaris admins,
96,000 maximum.
I understand Atlanta is a hot market, but "bob" is in Southern
California. I see nothing wrong with him asking for 60k given the
cost of living there. All his employers can say is "no".
>
> > Last time anyone published any figures in Atlanta, the going rates
for a
> > sysadmin were:
> >
> > Salary Considered
> > 58,000 Low
> > 72,000 Medium
> > 80,000 High (don't recall the exact high end fig)
> >
> > Now that's a little distorted by the local run on Solaris admins.
Good
> > Sun admins command a premium in the local market.
> >
> > Considering the difference in cost of living between Southern
California
> > and Atlanta, asking for 60k seems very reasonable. You *have* 4
years
> > experience, which is a fair amount of it. Ask for your rate.
> >
> > David.
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > Before you buy.
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Matt Kennel)
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.next.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: Why not Darwin AND Linux rather than Darwin OR Linux? (was Re: Darwin or
Linux
Date: 7 Mar 2000 22:44:07 GMT
Reply-To: mbkennel@<REMOVE THE BAD DOMAIN>yahoo.spam-B-gone.com
On 7 Mar 2000 15:13:38 GMT, John Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
:Sal Denaro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
:: On 5 Mar 2000 04:04:09 GMT, John Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
:
:: >My subject today is why I personally find Linux to be
:: >more interesting.
:
:: Yawn. Linux testimonials are starting to get a little boring. [...]
:
:OK, I've had a little time, and I think I can address why this should not
:be boring:
:
:1. The Apple Company perspective
:
:I was here the first time around, when Apple through a series of missteps
:became largely irrelevant in a world centered around the Windows standard.
:It is a little frustrating therefore, to see Apple now make the explicit
:choice to become irrelevant in a world increasingly centered around a
:Linux standard. (This standard is by no means a "done deal", but given
:this first possiblity of a non-Windows standard, why turn away?)
I have to disagree: because I don't see an opportunity for Apple becoming
``relevant'' in a Linux standard any more than it could be relevant in
a Windows standard other than making x86 PC's, in which case it would have
preceded Packard Bell into Dogbert's Dumb-pster.
:You and others are correct that Apple does not need to use the Linux
:kernel to enguage the Linux movement. I think their current plan is too
:centered on the "Darwin alternative", while they wish Linux would just go
:away.
I think their current plan is to work on OS X really hard.
:(Keen observers will note that the above paragraphs muddle the concepts of
:Linux the kernel and Linux the movement. That's because it _is_ a muddle
:in the real world, together with concepts like "open source" and "free
:software". Treating Linux as just a kernel or just a particularly-named
:movement is self-deceiving.)
Another muddle is : Linux is big! Apple just has to *do something*!
What, exactly? Two things that are clear wins it's already done: QTSS and
OpenPlay (network gaming library to compete against Microsoft's). But
I can't figure out any grand strategy.
I'm a Linux user and AAPL stockholder. It would be great if there were
an answer. (Opensourcing "Cocoa" would not do very much, IMHO: GNOME and
KDE would continue with little perturbation and people would bitch at
Apple for further 'fragmenting the desktop' or whatever.)
Frankly Microsoft has a significantly clearer and more obvious Linux
opportunity: write Office for Linux once its market share is big
enough.
:John
--
* Matthew B. Kennel/Institute for Nonlinear Science, UCSD
*
* "To chill, or to pop a cap in my dome, whoomp! there it is."
* Hamlet, Fresh Prince of Denmark.
------------------------------
From: Philip Niznik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Thoughts and answers sought for Linux research article
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 22:49:02 +0000
> 1) What is interesting about Linux? Why do people talk about it at all?
Openness and transparency (we can read the code).
Reliability.
Powerful business tools (such as databases, web servers, file sharing, print
sharing etc.)
Community.
People talk about it because it is a roller coaster ride that gets better as
more
people come to the theme park. They also don't have to pay an entrance fee if
they don't wish. Also if I needed to fix a bug in Windows 98, I am prevented
from doing so, in GNU-Linux I can fix any aspect or adapt code to my needs and
share my change with others.
> 2) Why has Linux achieved what it has?
Richard Stallman, Linus & thousands of others doing not just talking.
The Internet.
Microsoft and others producing closed products and binding the computing
community to "their" vision of how we should work.
> 3) What has Linux really achieved?
Forcing the current economic model of software to be re-examined. When a bunch
of people can come up with a better product than many multinational companies
this must be the best disorganised organisation on the planet. And with no pay.
> 4) Where is Linux heading, realistically, in the short, medium and long
> terms?
Short: Linux will may dominate small to medium sized company servers. Linux may
overtake Windows in all technical areas.
Medium: Linux has many more applications that entice many more companies to try
and use Linux as an MS alternative.
Long: Linux will be made as easy to use as any other OS and will finally reach
the desktop, claiming a fair share of all PC users. Linux will dominate the
server space.
> 5) Is Linux sustainable as a project? Is it more or less sustainable than
> non-free projects?
Who knows? Probably. The snow ball effect has created a community.
It is far more sustainable that non-free projects. The only thing that matters
for Linux is technical correctness, not deadlines or profit margins.
> 6) Is Linux actually aiming at a level of desktop usability on par with
> Windowz? If so, when? If not, why not?
Yes, but it will be in the medium term. At the moment all the best people
are working of making GNU-Linux a world-class OS in the technical department,
this has left usability as a secondary concern. Companies such as Redhat are
helping making things easier, as are other free projects.
> 7) Is it more than just a typical manifestation of idealism which cannot
> threaten the products of the financial incentives of the proprietory
> software world? Could Linux become the CND of the modern age, if the
> Microsoft case ever ends?
Idealism doesn't produce a world class OS alone. Traditional companies will find
it very difficult to compete with free software, but will survive. If Evian can
sell us water when we get it out of the taps (fossets?) then MS can sell some OS
boxes!
> 8) Which is better Windows or Linux? ( jk )
:-)
------------------------------
From: Marty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Giving up on NT - So Where's The Emotion?
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 22:57:22 GMT
I didn't know exactly where to tac this on, but it's appropriate to the
discussion.
http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/16173.html
It has been announced today that Planetweb will be releasing v2.0 of their
browser for the Dreamcast probably at or around E3 this year. The browser will
now be capable of handling such things as: MP3s, more Javascript, Flash 3.0,
PNG graphics files, and more.
[summary blurb courtesy of the Vintage Gaming Network
(http://www.vintagegaming.com)]
--
The wit of Bob Osborn in action:
"Perhaps it something you should try to your kids don't end up as stupid as
you."
"There is an old saying fartface."
"Not only are you a filthy low-life lying bastard pig, you are too stupid to
know it."
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Advocacy Digest
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