Slashback: Tenacity, Freedomware, Lem

Slashback brings you more on Solaris, the not-quite-dead OS/2, and free software you can sneak onto your Windows-running computer. Also, Home Depot turns to the dark side, and Hughes winds down its two-way Internet-by-satellite service. Read on below for the details. Update: 12/18 00:30 GMT by T : The Home Depot item got chopped by accident; it's been restored below. Update: 12/18 00:38 GMT by T : Sigh. And -- my fault for misreading -- Hughes is shutting down their DSL business; satellite service continues at least for now.

Honest, I'm not dead. Again. silvaran writes "A clarification on CNet News indicates that IBM will not stop supporting or selling OS/2 as mentioned previously. Says IBM spokesman Steve Eisenstadt, 'As long as our customers want OS/2, we will support them... We don't have plans to withdraw OS/2.' The withdrawal notice lists several hundred components or software packages that will no longer be available, but OS/2 itself will still be offered."

Like Marshall MacLuhan in Annie Hall. tree writes "The Boston Globe has a really interesting interview with Stanislaw Lem, author of the 1961 novel "Solaris": he is a bit baffled about the latest movie adaptation. In any event, it's a great read for fans of Lem."

They win, GNU Win, we all win. Shwag writes "Last week I downloaded TheOpenCD after it was on Slashdot. I learned about all kinds of great free (as in speech) software. I then searched for more and found out about GNU Win which is a win32 free software cd but it has way more software! Yay! This is a really great way to show people the benefits of free software and get them ready for transitioning to linux."

A platform built from an Acorn. An anonymous reader writes "The (London) Guardian's Online section reports today on the new Ionix PC earlier Slashdotted for being the first desktop to run Intel's XScale processor. The Guardian concentrates on how the new machine may revive the fading fortunes of the once-pioneering Risc OS, but also makes mention of the fact it is ditching old proprietary Acorn subsystems."

Woe to the boonie dwellers, until enough balloons are in place. Avenger writes "Another DSL provider is getting out of the market. Hughes Electronics has announced that they will no longer be providing high-speed Internet services. Over 160,000 users will be affected. As it stands right now, they still will be providing connectivity via DirecPC."

But it seemed like such a great do-it-yourself idea! adagioforstrings writes "You may recall last year Home Depot announced they were deploying Linux at 90,000 point-of-sale terminals across the nation. Well, time went by and no more was heard about it...until now, when Home Depot announced they would be upgrading their POS systems with technology from NCR Corp., and 360 Commerce Inc. and ... Microsoft Corp."

So what about Home Depot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they turn invisible when they went to "the Dark Side" or something?

Re:Wait...

[JJAnon]

That's just it - there is no story. They went to the dark side because they didn't have a story for us to dissect and bitch about.

Re:Wait...

[mu_wtfo]

I know, that was the main thing I wanted to read about.....?
I guess I'll just amke a story item up, then:
"Home Depot To Migrate All PC's, Registers, and Forklifts to Windows 3.11"
Now *that's* what I call the Dark Side.

dilemma

[zdzichu]

-rw-r--r-- 1 zdzichu users 825032208 gru 16 22:25 /tmp/solaris/CD1/vc-sol1.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 zdzichu users 170 gru 16 22:25 /tmp/solaris/CD1/vc-sol1.cue
-rw-r--r-- 1 zdzichu users 220958640 gru 16 22:26 /tmp/solaris/CD2/vc-sol2.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 zdzichu users 170 gru 16 22:26 /tmp/solaris/CD2/vc-sol2.cue

watch it or delete it?

Re:Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

How about:
Home Depot hires a sith CEO: You underestimate the power tools of the Dark Side!

Re:The Home Depot thing

[gimpboy]

Jill Taylor, a director of engineering, said Home Depot considered Linux but settled on the "more mainstream" Windows operating system. She said that with Linux, the company would have faced issues such as a lack of drivers and support if it decided to use cross-platform hardware.


this is pretty funny. i wonder if by cross-platform she means dell vs. gateway. really though, there is alot of support for linux (ibm, redhat) if you want it.

Re:The Home Depot thing

[Myco]

Mildly OT, but what the hell, Karma's only a number... not even that, really... anyway:

Stopped into my local 7-11 the other day to use the ATM there. Rather than the expected greeting and prompt to insert my card, I see... a Windows desktop. 2K, IIRC. I just about bust out laughing right there in the store.

Re:Wait...

[mu_wtfo]

How about:
Home Depot hires a sith CEO: You underestimate the power tools of the Dark Side!

Mmmm, dark jedi circular saw.....

Obviously....

[raehl]

This is an attempt by the /. editors to counter the recent run of duplicate articles by omitting some articles entirely.

Re:Home Depot?

[raehl]

In Soviet Russia, Dark Side turns to Home Depot!

They need to get the materials for their Imperial Starships and Death Stars somewhere, right?

A conversation at Home Despot

[teamhasnoi]

"I'm sorry sir, I can't check you out. You'll have to go to Ace Hardware."

"Why! I'M PAYING CASH!"

"My Supervisor told me that a "Crib Kitties" in the Maker? No, Servicer! Yea. He said that Norton would fix it and that he would give us a "lice update" when he was done. I think."

"Here, catch this hammer. Oops. Missed. Sorry.."

This could be a good use for P2P apps, to update drivers and make sure the lastest and bestest is on all machines....

No, I'm not a slashdot subscriber..

[raehl]

But I hear Slashdot has a new promotion going, subscribe to one article, get the dupe for free!

Re:So what about Home Depot?

[chez69]

I would consider a register system that runs windows a POS.

"GNU-win" name

[diaphanous]

RMS dislikes the use of "win" to refer to the MS Windows platform because he regards using MS Windows as a loss [tuxedo.org], not a win [tuxedo.org]. So in the GNU Emacs source code, all variables and functions in the MS Windows port that had been named win32-* were changed to w32-*.

Additionally, In the Emacs manual, "MS-DOG" is used to reference MS-DOS.

~Phillip

Sun's flagship teetering?

[Dr. Mu]

To quote the lead-in:

Slashback brings you more on Solaris, the not-quite-dead OS . . .

Re:Home Depot?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, Dark Side turns to Home Depot! They need to get the materials for their Imperial Starships and Death Stars somewhere, right?

No, no, you've got it all wrong! The "In Soviet Russia" part goes in the subject, in all caps, and you can't make any additional pseudo-humorous comments in the body. Don't you know anything?

Re:The Whole is the Sum of its parts

[muertos]

It would be simmilar to microsoft saying that it will still sell windows, but if anyone has a problem with any of the components (IE, Control Pannels) they are out of luck.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Microsoft already operate that way?

Re:"GNU-win" name

[diaphanous]

Just a typo. :-)

By GNU in the Emacs manual or by Microsoft when they named MS-DOS? ;-)

~Phillip

Re:All About The Home Depot thing

[Alomex]

rouge Linux machines

In Soviet Russia rouge linux is the standard Linux distro...

Hughes != DirecTV

[NetFu]

I think you are greatly confused. If you are mathematically inclined:

Hughes > DirecTV
DirecTV > (DirecWay || DirecTV DSL)
DirecWay == (DirecPC * 2)
DirecWay != DirecTV DSL

If not:

--Hughes is the company that owns DirecTV, they are not equivalent.
--DirecTV sells services called DirecWay and DirecTV DSL.
-- DirecPC offered satellite-based internet downloads only, and used a separate modem connection for uploads; DirecWay (finally) allows 2-way satellite communication for internet access and requires no modem.
--So, DirecWay is a completely different service from DirecTV DSL; DirecWay is 2-way satellite-based internet access, while DirecTV DSL is 2-way phone-line-based internet access.

Here are a few useful links to clear up the confusion (I only understand this already because I've owned a DirecTV dish for 5+ years and see the DirecWay ads all the time):

Hughes Network Systems Page [hns.com]
DirecTV Internet Access Page [directv.com]
DirecTV's DirecWay Page [direcway.com]
DirecTV's DSL Page [directvdsl.com]

Re:I'll bite, Timothy

[Anonymous Coward]

sig: I am a Slashdot subscriber.

<nelson>
HA HA!
</nelson>

if they were POS's before....

[altek]

"until now, when Home Depot announced they would be upgrading their POS systems with technology from NCR Corp., and 360 Commerce Inc. and ... Microsoft Corp."

So they are upgrading POS systems to great big whopping POS systems! (same TLA, but use your imagination)

-My .sig is longer than yours.

Now Home Depot...

[nuckin futs]

will have a real POS system!
Microsoft gives a whole new meaning to the acronym POS.

Re:I'll bite, Timothy

[Anonymous Coward]

Beware the DOSferatu: The Children of the Byte, who reboot from the grave.

Home Depot and Microsoft?

[Apathetic1]

Now they really will be POS terminals!