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Comment Re:philosophy (Score 1) 438

by tal197 (#22265516) Attached to: Python 3.0 To Be Backwards Incompatible
Python source is generally compatible (go another level deeper and you'll find that the .py files are mostly symlinks to a single copy, at least on Debian-type systems).

However, the compiled .pyc files need to be regenerated for each version, which explains the separate directories. The symlinks are a messy hack, resulting from the fact that Python requires the .pyc files to go in the same directory as the corresponding .py files, even though you need multiple .pyc files for each .py file. If Python could cache the .pyc files somewhere else, the mess could go away.

The main problem with Python compatibility is with the C ABI, which varies across different packages, making it impractical to use Python to add scripting to a C program, for example:

http://www.mail-archive.com/python-3000@python.org/msg09051.html
GNU is Not Unix

FSF Launches "BadVista" Campaign 607

Posted by kdawson from the restricted-computing dept.
FrankNFurter writes to note the launch yesterday of the FSF's BadVista campaign against Microsoft's new operating system. BadVista's aim is to inform users about the alleged harms inflicted by Vista on the user and about free software alternatives. Quoting program administrator John Sullivan: "Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We'll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care."

UK Bank Laptop Stolen With 11M Customer Records 184

Posted by CowboyNeal from the easy-come-easy-go dept.
daveewart writes "BBC News reports that the UK Building Society Nationwide has admitted that a laptop containing account records of more than 11 million customers has been stolen from an employee's home. This story raises a number of worrying questions: The theft happened three months ago, why has the news only just been made public? Why was it possible (indeed, why was it necessary at all) to put data relating to their entire customer base on an employee's laptop stored at an employee's home? Why was the information on the laptop not encrypted?"

Testosterone Tumbling in American Males 597

Posted by CmdrTaco from the zomg-where-are-my-lead-pants dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo is running a story about a study that concludes that testosterone levels are falling across all age groups among American men. It says 'The testosterone-fueled American male may be losing his punch'" I leave it to you all to draw your conclusions about this, but I still wonder what my hours of laptop-fu does to me.
Networking

Journal Journal: ADSL with Linux

Journal by tal197
Might as well use this journal for rants, I suppose...

I've finally managed get myself set up with ADSL on Linux. I went with Demon, as they've got a decent reputation, and their web page states:

"Host software support for:

  • Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, ME and XP
  • Mac OS 8.6,9 and X
  • Linux

Great! However, after the package arrived, I couldn't help noticing a few obvious differences between the "host software support" for Windows vs Linux:
The Internet

Journal Journal: Zero Install 2

Journal by tal197

The GnuCash installation instructions warn non-programmers against even trying to install it. The word "nightmare" is used. Yet, the process should be quite simple: if the project was distributed using Zero Install then users could safely fetch and run it, with all its required dependencies, using a single command.

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