Note: I have absolutely no position on this issue; I am not taking sides at all. My only question is how you can be certain that two programs are identical when you presumably don't necessarily know how each was compiled. Assuming all you have of rybka is a binary, but have the source to fruit, how could you be certain that you could get the code to compile in such a way as to produce identical assembly as disassembled rybka. Assuming a general standard IA32 machine, you still presumably have a lot of opportunities for variation in output from compiler to compiler, version to version, and even flags to flags.

I restate that I have no horse in this particular race; I've read of similar scenarios where a program was discovered to be a clone of another, and I've never understood how they can tell.

Considering it's IBM's 100th birthday, it should be pointed out that a lot of the concepts TFA talks about were being done by groups like SHARE long before Linus was even born.

I worked for a large organization in Chicago that had the "gold" IBM support contract back in the early 90s; they would show up at 2 am Sunday morning to replace a keyboard if necessary. Our main contact was a guy who had been with the company for 30+ years and he would mention some of the things he'd had to fix, in addition to the standard computer stuff: scales for weighing meat in the meat packing district and the thing that was most surprising: the clock on the Wrigley Building. Apparently IBM didn't actually out-and-out make the clock mechanism but had bought some company that had and they inherited the support contract. He mentioned having to get some gears specially made when it broke down.

The thing I thought was so ahead of its time was the wireless device he had that was essentially a large, two-line blackberry that he'd carry on his shoulder with a strap; it would beep and he'd flip the cover open, read the message, then type some sort of response. I remember he'd use it to order parts and within an hour(!) another guy would show up with them, a new ps/2 mouse, a monitor, or a reel-to-reel tape drive for the as/400. I was surprised IBM never thought to market that device; much like Apple is reluctant to talk about their ipod touch-based POS terminals, he wasn't too keen about showing it off or even talking about it.

Apple just recently announced Final Cut Pro X, they've revamped XCode, and they're heavy into LLVM and clang. Doesn't seem like they're ditching the Mac any time soon. An iPad with iMovie is fine, just like Garageband is fine (and a lot of fun to use!), but for my next $100 million dollar blockbuster, I'm going to want more robust tools.
All the content consumed on an iphone, ipad,etc., has got to originate from somewhere, and I think apple would be happy to have both ends of the spectrum: the content producers and the content consumers.

So instead of installing into /Applications, which does require an admin username and password, it now likely installs somewhere in the user's home folder, which doesn't require admin authorization. This means the problem would be isolated to that particular user's account.

Funny...I was just going to post this, but thanks for reminding me of the name. As I recall, it was a short story (I want to say I read it in Life, of all places), about a "hot shot" programmer who ignores another, older, programmer who wants to show him this cool new tech he's been working on. Suffice to say the hot-shot programmer gets seduced into selling the company secrets and, this is the part I remember most vividly, does it in a motel room, using a modem, and while he's waiting wanders down the hall to the coke machine.

He gets into hot water when the "secrets" turns out to be pictures of kids or something, and the older guy and the boss tell him that he's not only fired, but probably will have to sell the fancy car he bought to pay back the guys he was trying to sell the secrets to. Suffice to say, the way he's caught is that he didn't type the password in the "right" way, just like TFA (presumably...didn't pay to read it) mentions, and gets caught in a honey pot.

The weird thing is that I have never forgotten the idea of being identified by how you type, and every time I use the keyboard that story just flashes in and out, after all this time.

What's worse is that they did release something that they themselves said was essentially a watered-down, "test" application (sorry, can't remember its name). It made Lotus Notes seem like Notepad by comparison; if that was the "watered down" version of Xanadu, then it seems clear that Xanadu is something only this guy would be able to fully understand...or use.

Given the protective gear necessary to handle these peppers, I'm assuming they aren't going to be available to the home consumer at the local co-op. Even if the home consumer got ahold of one of these, it seems like its mere presence in the kitchen would render chili and salsa essentially inedible; what would I do with one of these, really?

...were all the AT&T ads being shown as I viewed the pictures.

...so many to choose from.

this is a real, working device. Though, in the case of a nuclear reactor, you want the opposite effect.

I know several people who are very happy about this news, and I admit I actually have no idea who he is or what series this is the next book of. I know, Google is my friend, etc., but what I'm really asking is, and this is the perfect place to ask, "Why should I read this series, especially given that it seems he seems takes an awful lot of time to complete a book". Sounds like he'd give Knuth a run for his money.

I'm honestly not trolling: I'm really interested and am just looking for more subjective information about what this whole series is "about", and what people like about it.

Okay, I'll turn in my geek card now.

...Said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but also seriously: turn it into a one-stop-shop for all things FSF/Open source, etc., that users can just get, a la the Android and Apple app stores. Such an app store would include things like Blender, GCC, LibreOffice, Linux itself (multiple flavors), all the way down to code files.

The store could be configured so that it would be easy to donate to the projects, even if you don't actually download the program, with them taking a small cut (a la the Apple app store) to provide the exposure.

The key thing, in my mind, is that there are just so many awesome programs out there, and it's hard to keep track of them all; one simple site, structured well, would go, in my mind, so far to raising the visibility of many projects that are just as good, if not better, than commercial apps, but don't have any easy way to get their software in front of users.