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Linux

Choose Your Side On the Linux Divide 826

snydeq writes The battle over systemd exposes a fundamental gap between the old Unix guard and a new guard of Linux developers and admins, writes Deep End's Paul Venezia. "Last week I posted about the schism brewing over systemd and the curiously fast adoption of this massive change to many Linux distributions. If there's one thing that systemd does extremely well, it is to spark heated discussions that devolve into wild, teeth-gnashing rants from both sides. Clearly, systemd is a polarizing subject. If nothing else, that very fact should give one pause. Fundamental changes in the structure of most Linux distributions should not be met with such fervent opposition. It indicates that no matter how reasonable a change may seem, if enough established and learned folks disagree with the change, then perhaps it bears further inspection before going to production. Clearly, that hasn't happened with systemd."
Earth

Numerous Methane Leaks Found On Atlantic Sea Floor 273

sciencehabit writes Researchers have discovered 570 plumes of methane percolating up from the sea floor off the eastern coast of the United States, a surprisingly high number of seeps in a relatively quiescent part of the ocean. The seeps suggest that methane's contribution to climate change has been underestimated in some models. And because most of the seeps lie at depths where small changes in temperature could be releasing the methane, it is possible that climate change itself could be playing a role in turning some of them on.
AI

Robo Brain Project Wants To Turn the Internet Into a Robotic Hivemind 108

malachiorion writes Researchers are force-feeding the internet into a system called Robo Brain. The system has absorbed a billion images and 120,000 YouTube videos so far, and aims to digest 10 times that within a year, in order to create machine-readable commands for robots—how to pour coffee, for example. From the article: "The goal is as direct as the project’s name—to create a centralized, always-online brain for robots to tap into. The more Robo Brain learns from the internet, the more direct lessons it can share with connected machines. How do you turn on a toaster? Robo Brain knows, and can share 3D images of the appliance and the relevant components. It can tell a robot what a coffee mug looks like, and how to carry it by the handle without dumping the contents. It can recognize when a human is watching a television by gauging relative positions, and advise against wandering between the two. Robo Brain looks at a chair or a stool, and knows that these are things that people sit on. It’s a system that understands context, and turns complex associations into direct commands for physical robots."
Transportation

Anomaly Triggers Self-Destruct For SpaceX Falcon 9 Test Flight 113

SpaceMika (867804) writes "A SpaceX test flight at the McGregor test facility ended explosively on Friday afternoon. A test flight of a three-engine Falcon 9 Dev1 reusable rocket ended in a rapid unscheduled disassembly after an unspecified anomaly triggered the Flight Termination System, destroying the rocket. No injuries were reported." Update: 08/23 13:33 GMT by T : Space.com has video.
Science

Scientists Confirm Life Under Antarctic Ice 46

MikeChino writes A new paper by a group of researchers from Montana State University confirms that life can survive under antarctic ice. Researchers led by John Priscu drilled down into the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and pulled up organisms called Archaea. These organisms survive by converting methane into energy, enabling them to survive where there is no wind or sunlight, buried deep under the ice.

Comment Re:Infrastructure? (Score 1) 727

Clueless one, you are incredible! you really are THE ONE clueless! :-) (someone call Neo and tell him he was fired, we found a new The One)

I know what is a service, my clueless friend. I know that desktops and servers have services too, despite your naive attempt to put words in my mouth. But, not wanting to bother you, do you not notice you did not answer my question? I'm really curious to know why the Average Joe would use Linux instead of Windows based only on the fantastic ability to upgrade parts of the system without having to reboot[citation needed] (And do not forget that our friend Joe would receive in exchange a desktop that would be at best problematic to use in the long term. Remember, he is not a super-genius like you to fix it! :-)).

Footnote for anyone following this interesting discussion: Do you see now why the year of the Linux Desktop is currently actual_year + 1?

Comment Re: Nobody else seems to want it (Score 1) 727

I see that you failed to understand what I meant.

To begin, you need to read the text of the parent (the one mistakenly marked as "-1 troll"), which makes it clear that one of the reasons for not making a Linux driver is that to be able to do so the developer may have to reveal company trade secrets in the process, like a proprietary and non-obvious way to do an video operation (and without which the driver can not work) on their hardware. or to the driver work he will need to incorporate a technology that his company has licensed from third parties and can not be included in the open source as free software.

Short version: The driver itself is not a trade secret, the methods and knowledge inside him is that may be trade secrets.

Comment Re:Nobody else seems to want it (Score 1) 727

Well, it's their choice, I never said that companies are prohibited from disclosing their trade secrets. But also when you disclose a trade secret he ceases to be a secret, right? Just remember that many companies would like to make drivers for Linux but can not do it because:

a) To do so the developer may have to disclose proprietary methods over which he has no control and which may even be owned by third parties licensed to him;

b) If he can get to the point of producing and distributing the driver, he will have to be forever changing it because the API between kernel and drivers is a moving target, not all companies are willing to be spending money on this.

Comment Re:Infrastructure? (Score 1) 727

Sorry, I know the difference between restarting a service and a kernel. But, as I said before and I will say it again, we are talking about a desktop here, clueless one, and the Xorg is only one in a long list of things that can broke in funny ways on upgrade. Can you explain to me why the average user (not the super geniuses like you :-)) would switch from windows to linux due to one functionality (upgrade without having to reboot, which once again I say that is debatable) that he does not need because he is using a desktop and not a server? And even considering also that in exchange for this functionality he would have a desktop that is, at best, problematic?

Clueless one, you are showing here, for all, another reason for the lack of progress in desktop Linux: You see it as a server. And the Average Joe do not need a server.

Comment Re:Infrastructure? (Score 1) 727

I am sorry again clueless one, but your "almighty" ability to update without restarting[citation needed] is only relevant to servers. And I dispute the veracity of your claim, as for example the X window server needs a restart after updating it. After all, remember again that we are talking about desktop here, not a server.

footnote: I also know and use Linux for a decade now, so what? ;-)

Comment Re:Infrastructure? (Score 1) 727

I am sorry, but you, and only you are the clueless one, basement dweller... Linux is a good server OS and the Android (Linux based) is a good mobile OS, but on the desktop is not. And it will remain a clumsy experience as long as developers like you continue blaming Microsoft for your own incompetence, rather than simply put your hands dirty, forget the religious fanaticism and begin work on a stable desktop API that does not break compatibility on every update. When you stop blaming others for your own mistakes and create a stable API that application developers can use without fear of breaking each update (like Android), then maybe we can have the year of Linux Desktop.

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