Recent Posts

1926

Living Room / Re: Favorite TV Episode???

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2008, 11:09 PM »

Loved Dr. Katz! It was a perfect vehicle for comedians, too, which is surprising that it didn't last much much longer. I grew up in the 60s/70s, so fluff shows at the end of the 60s like 'I Dream of Jeannie' left me wondering why all women didn't look and dress like Jeannie, and of course, 'Star Trek.' The 70s brought more social comedy and a buttload of campy crime shows. My favs were The Rockford Files and Baretta, Fawlty Towers, and the unforgettable The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

Ah, but those are shows, not episodes. The great thing is that I can rewatch these on DVD. Kinda leaves me wondering in exasperation after watching today's reality-TV shows: Why am I sitting here watching these dumb "reality" yucks?

1927

Living Room / Re: Top 10 Most Depressing Quotes from Orwell's 1984

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2008, 10:50 PM »

Sadly, Orwell ratted out fellow authors in the UK as being spies after WWII, didn't he?

1928

General Software Discussion / Re: What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2008, 10:45 PM »

Kudos to f0dder for the Dave Cutler reference. Haven't heard that name in ages.

Gothi[c]: I don't think any one should push one other into any one operating system. Each OS has it's pro's and con's to different people. Right now there is more windows users on dc than there is GNU/Linux fellows, and I'd love to see DC become a place where both can share their experiences in peace.... Especially now that cross-platform applications are becoming more common and widespread, there is no reason for that not to be possible.

This is where I'm at. While I deeply dislike Vista's heavy footprint, I realize the OS is a tool of familiarity first, choice second. Once you grow accustomed to one, you tend to stick with it, much like the type of toothpaste you use. And so far, DC members have been overly kind to my GNU/Linux newbie talk for the past year. Windows will always be more popular, but the point of GNU/Linux is not popularity, trust me. The reason I've stuck with it is that now that I'm past the beginner stage, it's become a lot of fun.

[thank you!] 

1929

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux and Windows andLinux

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2008, 10:31 PM »

Haven't heard of this, since I didn't see it listed on DistroWatch. Another alternative is to run your GNU/Linux apps from within Windows using a Wubi installation. Pretty cool, and it works. The point is that if you use a certain app, such as emacs, on GNU/Linux, you don't want to have to bother with another editor or a duplicate installation of the Windows version, assuming there is one.

1930

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft Office 2007 users, your opinions are wanted

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2008, 10:26 PM »

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. Here's a follow-up: Are any of you using Office 2007 in the workplace? (Rover mentioned Outlook '07 at work.)

1931

Living Room / Top 10 Most Depressing Quotes from Orwell's 1984

« Last post by zridling on March 14, 2008, 12:59 AM »

Top 10 most depressing quotes from Orwell's 1984:



"We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent there will be no need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler....

1932

Living Room / Re: Favorite TV Episode???

« Last post by zridling on March 13, 2008, 10:51 PM »

I'm a cartoon guy, so just about anything Frisky Dingo these days.



Buffy's first two seasons were incredible. But sticking with the toons, I'll take any episode of Cowboy Bebop.

1933

General Software Discussion / Microsoft Office 2007 users, your opinions are wanted

« Last post by zridling on March 13, 2008, 10:16 PM »

In my word processor review last year, I found a lot of things to love about Office 2007, and now that the program has been out a while, I'm wondering how users like it so far, and what things they would change now that Office 2009 is in development.

1934

General Software Discussion / Re: What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« Last post by zridling on March 13, 2008, 08:19 AM »

I'll have to give the author his due on these points:
— It’s free.
— You’re free.
— It’s secure.
— It’s easy.

While your counterpoints are all true, no one's time is free, right?; developing naturally ties you to a platform; insecure software doesn't reach the kernel level in Linux; and the Ubuntu forums provide unparalleled support, and have helped me solve a few problems unrelated to Ubuntu since I don't use it.

1935

General Software Discussion / Re: Has the browser become more important than the OS?

« Last post by zridling on March 13, 2008, 08:09 AM »

f0dder, I agree that there is this big problem with online-only versions. Some have tried to overcome it with local versions that sync with online versions of the same programs, such as Zoho's calendar, word processor, etc. But right now, those only come in Windows versions, which are no help to me. And as Allen notes, what's the point of a quad-core processor if your computer is only as fast as your internet connection?!

By funneling so many new apps through the browser, you seem to be using it for things it was never setup to do, much like using a car when you really need a pickup truck.

1936

General Software Discussion / What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« Last post by zridling on March 12, 2008, 09:19 PM »

[via makeuseof.com]:
a short article explaining the Linux thing.

So, what is this Linux thing?
Linux is an operating system, just like Windows and OSX are operating systems.... When someone says they use Linux, what they mean is they use a distribution (aka distro) of Linux. Without the GNU tools or any applications, it can be a little useless. A distro is a software bundle. It includes the Linux kernel (the part that actually talks to the hardware), the GNU tools, and whatever applications the person or people who started that distro thought were useful, all configured in a way that they think works well.



Why should I use it?
There are a number of reasons you may want to try Linux on your computer. For me, the main reason to switch was to try something new. I wanted to know what else was out there besides Windows, which I was bored with, and OSX, which I don’t like. Trying something new and learning more about how computers work might not be your thing, though, so here are some other reasons.

• It’s free.
  
• You’re free.
  
• It’s secure.
  
• It’s easy.
  

How do I get it, and what’s with that penguin up there?
________________________________________________
PS: If you do try it, don't automatically reach for Ubuntu if you don't want to. Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, et al. are better in some ways.

1937

General Software Discussion / Has the browser become more important than the OS?

« Last post by zridling on March 12, 2008, 09:11 PM »

Because of the cloud and Web 2.0 apps, most of my day is spent in a browser, and much of what I do is in a browser. The underlying operating system is increasingly irrelevant, which aided my switch last year to GNU/Linux without any real problems. I contend this is also why so many don't feel the urgency to upgrade from XP to Vista yet — everything still works fine in XP.



Is the browser becoming more important than the OS?

1938

Living Room / Re: What Are Your Favorite Science Blogs?

« Last post by zridling on March 12, 2008, 08:43 PM »

Oh man, you guys just keep eating into my day, as if I don't have enough to keep up with. Great sites; thanks for sharing.

1939

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm sick of everything requiring a restart!

« Last post by zridling on March 12, 2008, 08:41 PM »

Nothing wrong with going with what you love, superboyac! Switching is a process. While the UI/desktop environments between Windows and KDE/Gnome/Xfce transfer well, I personally think the only thing you have to unlearn is what you know about the file system. The Linux file system is similar to the DOS or Windows file systems in many ways, but it is radically different in many others. Being new to Linux, my experience is that there are just enough similarities to give us Windows users a false sense of security when they initially start learning about the file system. Then, as we dig deeper and start working with more advanced tasks, they start to get frustrated.

Seriously, it takes about 1-2 hours and you're comfortable with it.

1940

Living Room / Re: What Are Your Favorite Science Blogs?

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2008, 07:08 AM »

Great find, mouser! My go-to science site is Science Daily. Another similar meta-news science site is ScienceBlogs. Lots of blogs are devoted to bad science or bad math, like Bad Science.net Others I like are:

Pharyngula
Panda's Thumb

1941

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm sick of everything requiring a restart!

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2008, 06:57 AM »

This is one of the cool things I've found with Linux. Programs don't require a restart (hardware and some UI changes require you to logout/login at most); you can even update to the new version of either a program or the entire OS while using it. When you open it the next time, voila! it's updated.

But yeah, why a 500k non-OS utility program requires a reboot is ridiculous.

1942

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008) - Come Say Hello!

« Last post by zridling on March 07, 2008, 11:53 PM »

Sorry about the multiple posts, my browser froze on me.

1943

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008) - Come Say Hello!

« Last post by zridling on March 07, 2008, 09:43 PM »

Man, I was getting shaky with the withdrawal symptoms!

1944

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008) - Come Say Hello!

« Last post by zridling on March 07, 2008, 09:41 PM »

Man, I was getting shaky with the withdrawal symptoms!

1945

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008) - Come Say Hello!

« Last post by zridling on March 07, 2008, 09:41 PM »

Man, I was getting shaky with the withdrawal symptoms!

1946

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Sites

« Last post by zridling on March 01, 2008, 12:30 PM »

My wife's healthcare company switched from its corporate-managed email to Google's Gmail Business last year and they've already save a small fortune. Hard not to love what they're doing, especially their commitment to openness.

1947

General Software Discussion / Good idea if you watch TV programs online: Zorro

« Last post by zridling on March 01, 2008, 12:35 AM »

[via freeware junkie]:
Gabriel Ponti has created a great freeware program called Zorro which hides all the annoying Java and ads surrounding the TV stream.



It's very simple to use. Open it up, size the window to your preference, then hit ESC on your keyboard to black out anything that falls outside of the Zorro window frame.



Zorro features a number of options (I didn't think that I needed anything else!) that can enhance online viewing a bit more, such as making Zorro always appear on top, disabling the screen saver (this is good), activation hotkey, and more.

1948

Living Room / Re: Stephen Fry has a blog!

« Last post by zridling on February 27, 2008, 05:39 PM »

He's now started podcasting, too, and the first episode is up. Cool!

1949

General Software Discussion / Re: What Windows Server 2008 Learned from OSS

« Last post by zridling on February 27, 2008, 05:34 PM »

If I have to run a Windows system, this is the Microsoft OS I want.

1950

General Software Discussion / What Windows Server 2008 Learned from OSS

« Last post by zridling on February 27, 2008, 05:31 PM »

[via Glyn Moody]:
Fascinating stuff from Microsoft's Sam Ramji. When I think about what works really well in open source development and technology, the following things stand out:



* Modular architectures
You can find these wherever you see participation at scale – and often a rearchitecture to a more modular system precedes expanded participation. Great examples of this are Firefox, OpenOffice, and X11 – from both the historical rearchitecture and the increased participation that resulted. The Apache HTTP server and APR are good examples that have been modular for as long as I can recall.

* Programming language agnostic
A given project uses a consistent language, but there are no rules on what languages are in scope or out of scope. Being open to more languages means opportunity to attract more developers – the diversity of PHP/Perl/Python/Java has been a core driver in the success of a number of projects including Linux.

* Feedback-driven development
The "power user" as product manager is a powerful shift in how to build and tune software – and this class of users includes developers who are not committing code back, but instead submitting CRs and defects – resulting in a product that better fits its end users.

* Built-for-purpose systems
Most frequently seen in applications of Linux, the ability to build a system that has just what is needed to fulfill its role and nothing else (think of highly customizable distributions like Gentoo or BusyBox, as well as fully custom deployments).

* Sysadmins who write code
The ability of a skilled system administrator to write the “last mile” code means that they can make a technology work in their particular environment efficiently and often provide good feedback to developers. This is so fundamental to Unix and Linux environments that most sysadmins are competent programmers.

* Standards-based communication
Whether the standard is something from the IETF or W3C, or simply the implementation code itself, where these are used projects are more successful (think of Asterisk and IAX2) and attract a larger ecosystem of software around them.

What's interesting about this is not that it's astute analysis — which it is — but that Ramji doesn't mind making it public while admitting that Windows is learning from open source. Of course, it would be stupid not to, but it's nonetheless an important sign of how things are finally changing at Microsoft that it's prepared to trumpet the fact — and of the irreistible rise of the open source way.