The problem I have with comparing Linux to Windows on the desktop is that I think Windows stinks on the desktop.

Agreed.

I want an operating system to run applications.

Seconded.

It should be a kernel, drivers, codecs and the base API, with a singular update manager, and text configuration files.

The word you are looking for is "Debian". Seriously, I just switched back from Ubuntu to Debian on my main laptop, and it's so nice to be rid of the bloat, the stupid UI tweaks, the indecipherable decisions to break what already works well. I will grant you that the default desktop install of Debian installs GNOME, but you can easily install LXDE ('sudo tasksel install lxde-desktop') or XFCE ('sudo tasksel install xfce-desktop') or Fluxbox, Openbox, wmii, ratpoison, etc.

I remember a discussion a year or two ago here on Slashdot how X was badly in need of replacing. Sounds to me like Canonical have the right idea, and the impetus to make it happen.

People have been saying X was in need of replacing shortly after it was created (and yes, that was before I was born). Does X have issues? Sure. Are they dealbreakers? Obviously not, otherwise X would have been dropped instead of being forked those many years ago.

I've not had a look at Wayland, but it sounds to me like the same-old, same-old whining by "end users" and "gamers", specifically "waaah! my 3D isn't fast enough!". As for the speed, 90% of users don't care how fast it is (which I might add, X is not that slow; *by far* faster than VNC and RDP over the network, and none to shabby with accelerated drivers on the local machine). As for the complexity, 90% of programmers are using a toolkit that eliminates the difficulties in programming for X. And X has it's benefits (such as network transparency, which *will* become more important in the future; this whole "network isn't important, we should optimize it out" thing is a fad).

The thing that bothers me about Wayland is that it seems to want to enforce policy and have it's own windowing system built in. I *like* the fact that there is no One True Desktop for Linux (or X); I can pick a different desktop any time I please, and still run graphical applications from my headless servers. And no, VNC and RDP don't come close; I don't want to have to dedicate a desktop just to run a single GUI app from my servers, and wait for the horribly slow refresh. I also like the fact that X is lightweight enough to run on my netbook and my smartphone. Which also means I can run graphical apps to or from either of those, and from my aforementioned headless server.

As for those saying that Wayland will probably have support for X11 "much as Windows and Mac do", I say to them, the way Windows and Mac "support" X is one of the reasons I don't run Windows or Mac.

I find it amazing that, contrary to popular belief, the 21st century started in 1958.
Seriously, guys, who in their right mind believes there have been no major advances in programming languages since Lisp?

Some quite notable hackers believe that everything since LISP has simply reinvented the wheel. The more I study programming languages, the more I'm inclined to believe them.

In your hypothetical 45-44-11 scenario, if the group with 44 can sway just 2 percent of the 11 to their side, they win and the 45 group loses. That is a strong incentive to force the 45 and 44 to behave the way the 11 want.

People always try to swing it as "throwing away your vote by voting for a third party", but I think your post has helped me to see it the other way around. Fuck all the partisans who always vote straight ticket one way or another; there's nothing you can do to change their minds, and I have nothing but disgust and pity for such unthinking wastes of a vote. But me, hey I'm not registered with any party. My vote could go any which way. So I'm locked out of primaries (actually, recently primaries have been opened up to third party voters); guess what? No matter who your primary picks, they will have to cater to *me* and people like me to get our votes, and those are the only things that will make a difference and that they have any chance of getting. So by keeping my options open, my vote becomes more important than all the registered republicans and democrats. The only ones throwing their votes away are the ones who are too stubborn or stupid to think about it and change their mind.

And yes, I *do* still write, phone, fax and email my representatives, even if they are the ones I voted for.

I would argue that in a world of high technology, where people rely on GPSes and nukes to keep them safe, it is very dangerous to have people handling things which they don't quite understand. Am I arguing for absolute comprehension at every level? Certainly not. However, the popularity of lotteries, and the constant examples of people getting screwed on loans leads me to believe we aren't teaching enough of the *necessary* subjects.

Others here have already gone into how higher math has given them another perspective and expanded their minds. Still others here have gone over how those in power don't necessarily want people better educated (about anything, not just math) because it wouldn't benefit those in power (probably be detrimental to their power). I will say this: you have to realize that people (even smart people) only have so many hours in the day and so many months in their life, they can't learn everything. You have to pick and choose. Would I say drop higher math altogether? No. Would I be in favor of swapping statistics, probability and logic for calculus? Definitely.

In the days before RS-232 we had current loop, which was basically the same idea, but used "current flow"/"no current flow" instead of RS-232 +15V/-15V to signal zeros and ones.

MIDI 1.0 is a current loop serial port that runs at a bizarre baud rate 31250 bps. Yet it uses a nice standard async protocol of 8N1 just like a serial port.

Depending on the peculiar non-standardness of your serial port, it might, with minimal hacking, be made to work MIDI.

Take a UART chip, add a RS-232 level shifter like a MAX-232 or those ancient 1489 1488 level shifters, add a DB-25 and you've got a RS-232 port. Take the same UART chip, add some optoisolators and resistors, wire to a 5 pin DIN jack, and you're got a MIDI port. Not as different as you'd think. The software is a bit different of course.

Or working the other way around, on the Atari ST, the MIDI ports could be connected in a "MIDI null modem"-ish cable, and you could play multiplayer games, although I never owned a ST.

This. *So totally this*. This is /exactly/ what I come to slashdot for; not to hear some asshole tell other people he sucks at FPS's; or to hear some fanboy spout that his platform doesn't suck, you suck; or to hear someone say you suck for voting for a republicat/demoplican. This kind of comment is what keeps me coming back and friending people so they will get a +6 modifier and I will see every comment they make, even at filter level 5. Only I already have 400 friends and foes. Dammit slashdot! Oh, BTW, thanks for the post! You're fucking awesome!

I've recently been playing around with Org-Mode for Emacs, and it's wonderful. Of course, I like Emacs, YMMV. As for syncing and keeping history, Git is amazing. Automated merges make life so easy, plus the default distributed mode means I just pull from wherever I was working last and I have everything up-to-date; I actually use Org-Mode and Git on both my Debian Laptop and Nokia N900 (running Maemo).

Something to keep in mind, though, is that you probably don't want to keep track of *everything* (or if you do, you probably want to reduce/distill it to more usable formats). One solution to this is Pre-Deleting Cruft. Try asking yourself, what is important in life? What are the Big Rocks? Once you've identified the big and medium rocks, identify what you can automate so you don't even have to think about it.

This reminds me of an amusing text I read a while back, Academic Programmers - A Spotter's Guide, particularly the Unix Macro Magician. That being said, I think far too many people are far too willing to reinvent the wheel and wallow in complexity. It's as if some people think they won't be taken seriously or not be considered valuable if they create simple systems from pre-existing components. I always like to point out that Physicists get paid to make models as simple as possible; that's why they make some of the best coders.

I'd have to say, well, no. Android is better than iOS and all, but it still doesn't feel quite like a fully fledged Linux to me. Windows Phone 7 isn't even an option, IMHO. Maemo, OTOH, is basically Debian for MIDs and smartphones. I'm not entirely happy that they basically dropped the Debian part of Maemo in favor of the Redhat part in MeeGo, but I'm also not fond of the idea of only writing apps in Java for Android. Especially when I have a pretty decent language selection out of the box on Maemo. Anyone know what languages, toolkits and frameworks are available on Android? Can I write and run software on Android without another computer? How about Emacs, can I get that for Android?

I probably should start playing around with the Android SDK, and I'm fairly certain that Android will crush, first and foremost, MeeGo. But I have an N900, and Maemo works pretty darn well for me.

Sounds like a win-win to me. I don't see the problem.

Maybe this time. I'm actually very surprised T-Mobile didn't just have their legal department send him a cease and desist or outright sue him, or even possibly get him charged with some ridiculous law. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it turned out for the better, but how often do you think that happens?

A lot of people are bitching about C++ here; whether it's sour grapes over its success, a lack of understanding of the language, a lack of discipline to work in such a low level language, or honest criticisms, one thing has to be remembered: C++ was created to solve problems because its creator thought he could make a better language. One of my favorite ways to compare languages is What Languages Fix. It's a good, short read, but I'll spoil you and let you know that C++ was created to fix the problem of C being too low level. This implies many things, not the least of which is that Stroustrup wanted to leverage C's popularity, and of course that limited his options when designing C++. You'll also notice in that essay that Java was created to fix the problem of C++ being a kludge. And of course, C# was created for no other reason than Microsoft doesn't control Java ;)

This article sounds like more FUD, probably from some Apple paid astroturf shill. I'm still a big fan of "Fragmentation? More like Fragmentawesome", an article from a developer with experience developing Android software and a decent sized userbase. If a freaking *game* works that well on a variety of Android devices without any tweaking whatsoever, I have to wonder how bad the programmers in the article are to have trouble with something as simple as twitter.