I'm so glad you are on slashdot -- you were right, and I was wrong. Ego aside, it may actually not matter because Scala manages to avoid the problems of erasure in java.

The discussion here discusses the issue and talks about how the perils of type erasure of Java don't have the same negative effects in Scala:

http://lamp.epfl.ch/~emir/bqbase/2006/10/16/erasure.html

Thanks for demanding precision in the discussion.

This isn't true at all. Scala's genetics are far more powerful than java's type erasures except in the case where you have to inherit/use an existing java class.

Odersky actually created g4j for sun before writing scala. It stands for "generics for java" and it didn't use erasure there either. Sun scrapped it for type erasure and odersky left and created scala.

I think the proper response to what he wrote is: you don't know JACK

+1

Cuban is con man. I heard the sales pitches for broadcast.com when he and Mary Meeker (unethically on her part) were trying to sell that scam. His lies are thick, he relies on bullying/shaming people and he took a lot of money Yahoo could have used to help free software and be a healthier business.

He is not a typical clueless MBA, he is a con-man and should be actively avoided.

+1 for the parent posts.

Although the gtk/gnome UIs have always been awkward and clunky, they've never been dangerous before -- With the mono infection, they're downright dangerous.

Don't get me wrong. . . I think it is an amazing technical feat, but is it really practical to require internet access for this?

I think it is time that we as a community get behind a project that allows these remote apps to be cached locally for fully disconnected use (with a desktop runtime -- something akin to Adobe Air). It would be great to visit the site once and thereafter run it local (and get updates later while connected). As long as I'm fantasizing, I think we should try to make this a standard for new desktop apps -- written like gadgets, but full blown apps.

What do you think? Are there projects out there that are working on this already?

Papers get folded, stapled, wadded up, etc. etc.

How will reuse work if any of these things happen? I have to wonder how reusable the paper will be if the slightest, stain, or other ink-mark touches the page.

I can also imagine desperately trying to read the faint, disappearing words when someone forgot to change out the paper-tray for more indelible printing.

Electronic documents were/are the solution to this. I can hear moans from the ghost of Xerox Parc. . . after inventing the modern computer Xerox is still trying to make its money from ink.