Comment Re:Easy.... (Score 1) 288
"boop"
Comment Re:Improvements (Score 3, Insightful) 38
I'm not disappointed in a slower release cycle. It should improve the quality of each release.
I think so too. I've been using openSUSE since it was SuSE Linux Professional and, before that, just S.u.S.E. Linux. They had an approximately annual release schedule for the newer, pre-Novell, versions and didn't try to stuff in every single newest thing going. I like to think this gave them the time to make sure that the vast majority of what they did ship worked well.
Unfortunately, a combination of changing to the "me-too" scheduling of releases (IIRC, the original discussion of the release schedule was calling for 6-month releases so they could be just like Fedora; after an attempt or two to maintain that, they switched to the schedule they're on now) and turning it into a beta-test for unfinished and premature software (systemd, pulseaudio, KDE 4.0, and the disaster that was online updates starting in the 10.x versions) have really degraded the distribution from what it once was.
From what I can see this moved the emphasis from shipping a distribution with what I'd call good "fit and finish", a good selection of software almost all of which worked correctly, no nasty surprises in the base functionality of the OS, etc., to trying to ship to a schedule, ready or not and ignoring anything that didn't get them there. I know the majority of bug reports I've made in newer versions got marked "wont fix"; not "can't duplicate" or "working as designed", but "won't fix", i.e. "yes, we know about it and know that it's broken but won't do anything about it". Not a good sign for a distribution that had been previously known for its functionality and stability.
I'm hoping that this serves as a wake-up call to the developers and that the suggestions coolo and others in the discussion are making will get them back toward shipping a distribution that's closer to what the old SuSE Linux was known for. What I'm seeing in the discussion is looking good so far.
Comment Because GNOME is too stupid and KDE is too slow. (Score 4, Interesting) 818
I completely gave up on GNOME back in the 2.x range as I saw features get continually moved, removed, or just made harder to configure. I loved KDE3 and tolerated KDE4 between crashes (now, thankfully, gone in newer versions) until I realized that as KDE versions got newer and newer, they also got slower and slower on my, admittedly aging, hardware. I've since switched to XFCE and haven't looked back. Much.
Submission + - Henry Kissinger Gets TSA Pat-Down (washingtonpost.com) 1
TheGift73 writes: "Seems no one is immune from the tender mercies of the TSA pat-down. First, we learned that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was subjected to a handsy search. And now we learn of the latest high-profile search-ee: former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Yeah, the guy who was once an advisor to presidents, the one who helped negotiate the end to the Vietnam War...and, oh yeah, he’s got a Nobel Peace Prize."
Yeah, the guy who was once an advisor to presidents, the one who helped negotiate the end to the Vietnam War...and, oh yeah, he’s got a Nobel Peace Prize."
Submission + - Is the SATA power connector design flawed? 8
An anonymous reader writes: My computer caught fire today. I saw flames and smoke coming out. When I opened it I saw that the SATA power connector on the back of my samsung DVD drive was cooked. I looked around on the internet and found that I was not alone. A lot of other people have already reported their computer catching fire and almost all of them caught fire exactly the same way, the SATA power connector was burnt. In some cases it was an HDD and in others it was a DVD or blue ray drive but invariable the fire started at the SATA power connector.
Now I am wondering if the there is a fundamental flaw in the power connector design causing the fire? I am not sure where to complain or send feedback so that it gets aggregated and someone in the industry can take action and possibly work on changing the connector design. So I am writing on slashdot.
Now I am wondering if the there is a fundamental flaw in the power connector design causing the fire? I am not sure where to complain or send feedback so that it gets aggregated and someone in the industry can take action and possibly work on changing the connector design. So I am writing on slashdot.
Submission + - Monsanto and the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (causes.com)
cdpage writes: "Poland may be the first country to formally acknowledge the link between Monsanto's genetically engineered corn and the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
We can thank the Beekeepers of Poland for this one."
We can thank the Beekeepers of Poland for this one."
Submission + - Paralyzed Man Regains Hand Function after Breakthrough Nerve Rewiring Procedure (medicaldaily.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A 71-year-old man who became paralyzed from the waist down and lost all use of both hands in a 2008 car accident has regained motor function in his fingers after doctors rewired his nerves to bypass the damaged ones in a pioneering surgical procedure, according to a case study published on Tuesday.
Submission + - Byron Sonne Cleared of Explosives Charges (thestar.com)
davegravy writes: Byron Sonne, the Toronto-based security consultant / chemistry hobbyist / geek who was arrested leading up to the Toronto G-20 for alleged plans to bomb the event, has been found not guilty of all charges.
Sonne was held in prison for 11 months without receiving bail and the ruling comes 2 years after his arrest. Sonne is considered by many in the Toronto security community as a champion of civil rights and a sharp critic of security theatre.
Sonne was held in prison for 11 months without receiving bail and the ruling comes 2 years after his arrest. Sonne is considered by many in the Toronto security community as a champion of civil rights and a sharp critic of security theatre.
Comment Re:Hand over your keys! (Score 1) 377
Handing over your private encryption keys to the FBI and leveraging existing wire taps with ISPs could accomplish the same thing.
They already tried that. Do a Google or Wikipedia search for "Clipper Chip"
Comment Re:Where is ED-209???? Robot Monster!!!! (Score 1) 608
If I remember the movie correctly, they had pigs' brains so they were cyborgs too. Pity. I thought they'd be a cool option.
Comment Re:Its like it costs Comcast less to stream their (Score 5, Funny) 272
Nonsense. Number one, it's not half the bandwidth, unless you somehow count magical pixie dust compression on Comcast's side.
Nope. I've seen the magical compression on Comcast's side and it doesn't come as dust. It usually arrives in big, slow-moving blocks.
Comment Re:I don't see how it will make a difference... (Score 1) 507
The government must be made to listen to the reasoning of how SOPA breaks some things that are very fundamental operating principles of the Internet.
I agree. Short of "this sort of proposed retaliation", how do you "propose" to get their attention?
Submission + - The Coming War on General Computation (events.ccc.de)
Titus Andronicus writes: At the 28th Chaos Communication Congress, Cory Doctorow says that the DRM/SOPA battles are only a little prelude to the coming legislative wars on general-purpose computing itself.
Doctorow's speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEvRyemKSg
Doctorow's speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEvRyemKSg
Submission + - TSA Got Everything It Wanted For Christmas (hstoday.us) 1
OverTheGeicoE writes: It looks like Congress' recent jabs at TSA were just posturing after all. Last Friday, President Obama signed a spending act passed by both houses of Congress. The act gives TSA a $7.85 billion budget increase for 2012 and includes funding for 12 additional multi-modal Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams and 140 new behavior detection officers. It even includes funding for 250 shiny new body scanners, which was originally cut from the funding bill last May.
Submission + - Ebert:I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping (rogerebert.com)
schwit1 writes: And it ain't illegal downloads.
- No blockbusters like Avatar
- Ticket prices are too high.
- The theater experience.
- Refreshment prices.
- Competition from other forms of delivery.
- Lack of choice.
The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It's the theaters that are losing their charm.
Proof: theaters thrive that police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can't depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out.
