Linux-Advocacy Digest #838, Volume #27 Fri, 21 Jul 00 03:13:04 EDT
Contents:
If Microsoft starts renting apts (was: If Microsoft starts renting apps) ("Aaron R.
Kulkis")
Re: Slashdot on AvantGo ("bc90021")
Re: I just don't buy it
Re: No win situation for Linux market ("KLH")
Re: Maximum Linux ("KLH")
Re: Why vi/emacs ("KLH")
Re: Tell me about Gnome.... ("KLH")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Aaron R. Kulkis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,alt.fan.bill-gates,soc.singles,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: If Microsoft starts renting apts (was: If Microsoft starts renting apps)
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 01:20:40 -0400
>
> All of this discussion about Microsoft renting apps with .NET
> got me to thinking...what are we facing if, in fact, Microsoft
> does start renting apts???
>
> Microsoft Apts 2000
>
> WINDOW
>
> No apartment may ever have more than one window. Residents might
> forget which window they were looking out of and get confused.
>
> The window will be open, all the time, even in the dead of winter,
> because marketing discovered that most people want the window open.
>
> APARTMENT SNAPSHOT TRANSMISSIONS
>
> When you arrive home each day, a security camera will photograph you,
> and send a picture to Microfoft Headquarters. It's for your own good.
>
> LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR APARTMENT
>
> Residents are not be allowed to change the curtains, nor hang blinds
> in the window. Microsoft has already provided the most popular
> window. Shut up and be thankful you have a window.
>
> THE BLUE LIGHT OF DEATH
>
> Some times, you may find all of your normal lights have shut off
> and your entire apartment is suddenly filled with a blue light,
> with a strange message is written on the wall, like "Illegal Fork
> in Virtual Device 0x0BEDB00F." This indicates that a rodent or
> ghost in your system has died...or maybe not...actually, we don't
> know. Don't bother to call the manager, he won't know why, either.
> Simply leave your apartment, come back in, and usually, the lights
> will come back on. If the lights don't go back on, you can always
> try having replacement furniture delivered, as that seems to help.
>
> Nobody knows why this shit happens, but you should consider normal.
> [Why??? Because if we've kept your head filled with low expectations
> for this long...why should anything change now?]
>
> APARTMENT FORMAT SERVICE
>
> If your lights STILL do not come back on, management provides a
> Format service. When a resident requests Format C:, a man with
> a flame thrower will come to your apartment, and incinerate the
> entire contents. After the flames die out, you can begin reinstalling
> your apartment, You can install new copies of your old furniture, and
> everything will be just like before, only better, because that arm
> off the old couch--you remember the one that your nephew accidentally
> removed...it will be back when you re-install your couch. Not only
> that,
> but all of those old photo albums and billing records and stuff...you
> really don't need all of that old clutter around, anyway.
>
> Also, it is improper to put anything away in the usual fashion.
> For example, if you get a suit back from the cleaners, just wad
> it all up in a ball, and throw it into he middle of the room.
> The jacket, might, for example, end up on a chair, and the vest,
> hangingon your sink faucet and your pants in the dishwasher. If you
> have a game...NO PROBLEM...just throw the box up in the air, and
> the board, and all the cars and pieces will land SOMEPLACE. The
> point is...you don't have to worry about that right now!
>
> When your apartment gets too cluttered, simply call management to
> come defragment your room. Be careful not to move anything while
> management is defragmenting your room, or they will have to start
> the entire process all over again. We advise going shopping for
> more furniture for your apartment.
>
> PARTITIONING YOUR APARTMENT
>
> Although it is possible to "partition" your apartment, by reducing
> the size of the C: room to make rooms D:, E:, F:, etc... Microsoft
> advises against it. Why do you need unnecessary walls in your
> apartment? Microsoft advises having everything in one big room
> Everything....the kitchen sink, the refrigerator, your bed,
> your medicine cabinet, even your toilet. One big room, with
> one window and your Microsoft curtains. That's all you need!
>
> TRASH
>
> Also, every Microsoft apartment has an expandable dumpster.
> When you put some object, like, the toaster your little brother
> broke and you had to re-install.... the OLD, broken toaster can
> be conveniently stored in the dumpster in case you want to get
> it back again. As time goes on, you might notice that your
> apartment is getting smaller and smaller. Actually, that' not
> the case...when you put something into the Microsoft dumpster,
> it actually stays in your apartment, and so, with time, your
> trash can keeps getting bigger and bigger, filling up a larger and
> larger portion of your apartment. So, if you ever want that stupid
> old broken toaster again....even months later....just look in
> your dumpster, it's still there, right inside your apartment.
>
> ELECTRICITY
>
> All electrical outlets conform to the Microsoft Plug-1 API. The Plug-1
> API uses only ONE terminal; the other electrical contact is a ground
> strap which you attach to the metal floor with screws. In a few years,
> the Plug-4 specification will be released. Plug-4 sockets will be
> fully backwards compatible with Plug-1 appliances, but slight
> increases in blown fuses will be a risk.
>
> AIRWAYS EXPLORER
>
> The 60Hz wave will be processed by Microsoft Power electrical
> converters. Power(tm) converters will make sure that critical
> harmonic frequency components (120Hz, 180Hz, 240Hz, etc.) will
> be boosted to proper levels all the way into the Megaherts range.
> Any interference with the resident's personal radio or tv set
> purely incidental, and is not evident of any malicious intent
> against residents who insist upon not using our fully integrated
> Microsoft Airways Explorer 5.0.
>
> STRUCTURAL INSTABILITY
>
> Of course, it goes without saying that like all residences Microsoft
> Apartments 2000 are built in an earthquake zone which lies on a flood
> plain in the middle of a tornado alley along the path of Atlantic
> Hurricanes. That's just a fact of life of having a building to live
> in. Just remember, Microsoft Apartments 2000 are 50 times more stable
> than Microsoft Apartments 98. Our current estimated uptime for a
> Microsoft Apartment is 90 days between structural collapses.
> Don't worry though, Microsoft Deckscan will search through the
> ruble of your apartment and reposition most things for you.
> All broken objects, or those which have fallen out of various
> drawers will be neatly lined up by the front door, and placed in
> gift-wrapped boxes with tags reading "Object001._DD" "Object002._DD"
> and so on. That way, even if an important screw from your somewhere
> inside your dishwasher falls out, you know EXACTLY where it is...
> right next to your front door.
>
> SCRIPTING
>
> The use of scripting, such as user-programmable microwave ovens is
> strongly discouraged. However, for a mere $300, you can buy a
> microwave that cooks chicken, and for another $200, you can buy a
> another microwave that thaws meat properly. If you want a microwave
> with a temperature probe, THAT will cost you $700...but it won't be
> able to cook chicken nor thaw meat properly.
>
> RENTER MAINTENANCE
>
> Even though Microsoft Apartments are completely intuitive, and
> don't need any maintenance, some users like to purchase Norton
> Janitors, or Norton Janitorworks 2000. NJW has neat things, like
> a Norton Doctor, which tells you how much space you've used in
> your apartment, and what day it is, and how cluttered and
> disorganized you are.
>
> APARTMENT MAIL SERVICES
>
> Recently, Microsoft has invented a new communications technique
> called "mail" Microsoft MAIL allows you to send and recieve objects
> to/from other apartments. Allegations that Microsoft purposely
> installs in our Apartments(TM) substandard sheetrock that harbors
> and sustains viruses found in mail--usually originating from
> pakistan and isreal, is, in fact, a blatant falsehood. Microsoft
> Apartments are completely protected ag ...ahg...ahg...ahchoo!
>
> POWER RENTERS
>
> You will see many owners of Microsoft Automobile. This family of
> products is easily identified by the use of Polygon Technology.
> Microsoft Wheel 2.0 has 8 sides and 8 corner, and Microsft Wheel97
> has 20 sides and 20 corners.
>
> Microsoft has discovered that increasing the number of sides and
> corners of a Wheel increases its stability and reduces the likelihood
> of control-difficulties that lead to crashes.
>
> Microsoft WheelsPT*
> Rolling Resistance (Ergs/Meter)
>
> | #
> | #
> | #
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | \
> | |
> | \
> | |
> | \
> | \_
> | \___
> | \______
> | \_________
> | \_______________
> | \_____________
> |
> +--+----+-+----------+---------+---------+---------+--------+
> 0 3 8 10 20 30 40 50 60
> A B C D
> Polygonality.
> (Sides + Corners) / 2
>
> As can be seen in in the graph above, wheels using large numbers
> of both sides and corners are the most efficient.
>
> Microsoft Wheel 1.0 (B) used an 8-sided polygon, as this is the
> break-even point and further investment in more sides could not be
> justified on cars and trucks with limited resources typical of that
> time. By increasing the number of sides and corners to 20 each in
> Microsoft Wheel 2.0 (C) rolling resistance has been cut in half.
> Microsoft Wheel2001 (D) will feature 60-sided wheels, for a further
> reductions in road noise, vehicle vibration and both driver and
> vehicle metal fatigue.
>
> Other auto-part suppliers may tell you that a tire only needs one side,
> and zero corners. Such tires, however, are very cheaply made, AND
> very costly to use. Viewing the graph above, one can see that the
> rolling resistance approaches the Y-axis asymptotically, which means
> that 1-side + 0-corner lie at the extreme left end of the graph.
> (1 + 0)/2 = 1/2. Our research show that below a polygonality value
> of 7, rolling resistance rises sharply. Other manufacturers'
> wheels have a polygonality of ONLY ONE-HALF(!!!!) and thus, have
> tremendously high rolling resistance.
>
> Additionally, circular tires give drivers less control. With
> Microsoft WheelsPT, the full flat side of a Wheel(tm) makes contact
> with the road surface as it bumps down the highway, giving the
> driver very high traction. In contrast, round tires give road
> contact on only an extremely small part of the tire.
>
> Also even parked cars with circular tires are dangerous! Other
> manufacturer's automobiles which don't use "Polygon Technology"
> require the use of an additional, difficult to use gadget called
> "brakes." Microsoft feels that the use of circular wheels is
> extremely dangerous, because if the user forgets to use the brake
> after parking, the damn thing might roll away!
>
> To protect all Microsoft Apartment 2000 residents, Microsoft prevent
> the use of these dangerous automobiles NOT equiped with safe Microsoft
> Wheels(tm) by Microsoft Apartment residents or their guests and their
> visitors, All parking spaces have 3-foot tall steel pillar in the
> middle of the parking space. Non-conforming automobiles will not be
> able to park; but Microsoft Automobiles have a special channel
> allowing your car to be safely parked in the parking space.
> Improperly parked cars will be towed and crushed.
>
> FRUIT TREES
>
> Microsoft Apartments all feature Microsoft FRUIT trees. Microsoft has
> conducted extensive research into this subject, and determined that
> everyone prefers fruit based on Delicious technology. Anybody spreading
> unfounded accusations that Microsoft Delicious is a poor implementation
> of the Macintosh technology can hash it out with our lawyers in
> Microsoft COURT(TM).
>
> _
> / \
> | |
> \_X Someone told me about HOUSES--isn't that a better deal?
>
> ^
> /_\
> / \ Rumors that some Linus guy and his friends are practically
> giving away land, upon which you can build your own house are to be
> taken with a bag of salt. Besides, houses are old technology.
> Sure, you can have multiple people in your house at the same time,
> and the toilet and cooking areas are in seperate rooms, and there
> are usually individual bedrooms for keeping your own stuff while
> still sharing the house with other people in your family, and a
> nice big yard that's all your own, and a basement to store stuff,
> and everyone can share the stereo but...who needs all that
> oldfashioned stuff when you can have Microsoft APARTMENT with the
> Microsoft WINDOW! If you buy a house, then you have to plant your
> own trees. Do you know how expensive it is to hire someone to plant
> an acorn!?!? Not only that, but in a house, there is no gardner to
> mow your lawn at 3:00 in the morning, providing you with a nicely
> fresh-cut lawn when you wake up, either that, or you must hire a
> gardner yourself, and have fun trying to find one who is willing
> to come cut your lawn at 3:00 AM! At Microsoft, we've solved that
> problem for you, so you can a good night's sleep, every night.
>
> _
> / \
> | |
> \_X Doesn't that HOUSE system have less bugs?
>
> ^
> /_\
> / \ Rumors of bugs in Microsoft Apartment 2000 are
> [STOMP!] highly exagerated.
>
> Microsoft
> Where do you want us to go today?
--
Aaron R. Kulkis
Unix Systems Engineer
ICQ # 3056642
I: "Having found not one single carbon monoxide leak on the entire
premises, it is my belief, and Willard concurs, that the reason
you folks feel listless and disoriented is simply because
you are lazy, stupid people"
A: The wise man is mocked by fools.
B: "Jeem" Dutton is a fool of the pathological liar sort.
C: Jet plays the fool and spews out nonsense as a method of
sidetracking discussions which are headed in a direction
that she doesn't like.
D: Jet claims to have killfiled me.
E: Jet now follows me from newgroup to newsgroup
...despite (D) above.
F: Neither Jeem nor Jet are worthy of the time to compose a
response until their behavior improves.
G: Unit_4's "Kook hunt" reminds me of "Jimmy Baker's" harangues against
adultery while concurrently committing adultery with Tammy Hahn.
H: Knackos...you're a retard.
------------------------------
From: "bc90021" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.geek,microsoft.public.windowsce,comp.sys.palmtops.pilot
Subject: Re: Slashdot on AvantGo
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 01:38:55 -0400
"Richard Lawrence" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8l747h$nnb$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Hi,
>
> Quick posting to let you know that if you read Slashdot and have
> AvantGo on your Palm or WinCE PDA then you can now read it on the move
> (Slashdot that is).
>
> For more information see:
>
> http://www.custard.org/~richard/avantslash/
>
> And before you ask, yes you could just create a custom channel pointing
> to the slashdot website but do you really want to have to set aside
> 900k for it?
>
> Rich
Um, I already have a SlashDot PQA. Have for quite a while. Don't need
AvantGo to use it, either. Plus, with AvantGo, you can just use their web
browser and read the actual page, graphics and all!
------------------------------
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: I just don't buy it
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 22:40:23 -0700
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Aaron R. Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >
> > When your are using a diskless "thin client", and all your software is
> > supplied over the net from the servers public key cryptography is no
> > protection. That is the vision of .NET.
> '
> GAG! I remember when Sun tried that 10 years ago, and that was
> with only ONE segment of ethernet between the workstation and the
> server.
Imagine that through the internet with millions or even billions of users
all connecting to the same set of servers!
------------------------------
From: "KLH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: No win situation for Linux market
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 23:06:15 -0700
Nathaniel Jay Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
<snip>
I just have to say that that was put very eloquently and is very true.
Someone needs to forward this to Ziff-Davis or PCWeek :)
For GNU/Linux, commercial software is just icing on the cake. We already
have the cake.
The chicken and the egg problem is solved. Change the rules and you don't
need either.
God, I love this OS.
Best Regards,
Kevin Holmes
"extrasolar"
------------------------------
From: "KLH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Maximum Linux
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 23:10:02 -0700
Brian Langenberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8l748n$5u8$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Nathaniel Jay Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> : Now, I'm going to pose the question to those of you in here. Which is
> : correct? I was always under the impression that it was window manager
> : (and plural window managers), but before I write to correct her I
> : thought I should see what the concesus is. I'm assuming that her bias
> : towards Windows (or the editor's bias towards Windows) made every
> : appearance of the window into Windows and the word manager just got
> : capitalized along with it. So, what do you say? Is it 'window
> : managers' or 'Windows Managers'?
>
> "Windows manager" doesn't sound quite right. Even though the manager
> handles multiple X11 windows, the word "window" should remain
> singular. Just like while feeders may feed multiple birds, we call
> them "bird feeders" and not "birds feeders". So that's one error.
>
> Capitalizing the term is just plain silly. Window managers are a
> whole class of products, not a proper name of any particular one.
> We don't call Apache a Web Server, but rather a web server.
>
> The error could be the author's, but I'm inclined to believe the
> author knew what she was talking about more than the editor did.
> So perhaps it was a glitch in editing that resulted in this
> bizarre term. But that's just my guess.
>
Either that or it is the result of an AutoCorrect feature...
Best Regards,
Kevin Holmes
"extrasolar"
------------------------------
From: "KLH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Why vi/emacs
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 23:19:27 -0700
Cameron Kerr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
> I AM NOT TRYING TO INCITE A HOLY WAR, SO _PLEASE_ DON'T START.
>
> I was sitting in my Software Engineering lecture the other day, and the
> lecturer was going on about how Word processors are a waste of time, a
> point I quite agree with, to most extents.
>
> At one stage, when he was suitable far enough away from word processors,
> and more into editors, he said something along of the lines of "If you
> want to write code, use emacs".
>
> Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing emacs, it is (for a great deal of
> people), good for a lot of things. But as a fan of the vi family of
> editors (inparticular vim), I felt that vi was, well, misrepresented.
>
> So, I decided to collect data on why people like the editors they use, and
> what they use them for. For me, programming is done is vi, markup in
> pico. Usually because I don't like really large editors (emacs - 8MB), and
> I want an editor that guaranteed available on any *nix system. Again, my
> precedent. Don't start flaming.
>
> So, what editors do you use, why do you use them, why turns you off in an
> editor? All peaceful views welcome.
>
> * Cameron Kerr
> * Computer Science student - Geek in training
> * Visit me at http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/cameronk
>
My only real complaint about emacs is its weird keybindings. Size isn't
really that much of an issue for...most people have decent sized drives by
now.
The main features I like about emacs are:
* Very nice configuration file format (in Lisp)
* Autofill mode (word wrapping), allows me to keep my HTML source looking
very neat
* Very extensible, I just loaded Haskell mode with highlighting,
autoindentation, and some usefull and cool bells and whistles added
* Trannsparent ftp access with Ange-FTP mode
* Miscellanious things that you would only need every once in a while but
when you need it, you're glad you have it
I use vi every once in a while for quick changes to scripts.
DOSEdit has very sane keybindings.
Best Regards,
Kevin Holmes
------------------------------
From: "KLH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Tell me about Gnome....
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 23:28:48 -0700
piddy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
> What are its limitations? Is it better than KDE?
>
One key difference, which I do not even pretend to be balanced here, is that
more GNOME applications are scriptible while KDE tends not to be. I haven't
used KDE in a while now so I'd love to hear evidence otherwise.
Some scriptable applications in GNOME: the Gimp, X-Chat, Gnumeric, probably
others but I can't think of any.
GNOME is quite slower but you really wouldn't notice on modern hardware. KDE
has a somewhat more slicker feel to, like Windows.
But really, try both. I doubt you would be able to decide based upon someone
else's opinion.
Best Regards,
Kevin Holmes
"extrasolar"
------------------------------
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