...is maybe easier to setup onto an USB stick than installing Ubuntu on Windows partition or disk (the gparted part being probably the hardest), but it will be handy afterwards too. The GUI isn't as fancy as Ubuntu Unity, but it is fast and usable even on older hardware. http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

Ok, what alternatives does Skype have that work on Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and Windows? Preferably Open Source.

The joke was probably about not invented here (NIH) syndrome, as the Jackson Laboratory asked their funder, US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to assume defence for them in the case. But yes, I agree. DNA being patentable really, really sucks.

Given all the negative comments about the complexity and misfeatures of C++, I one day decided to take a good look at D programming language.

I know Ruby, Python and Common Lisp, and as I have used Ruby's NArray and NumPy quite much, I appreciate that D language has first class Array objects and vector operations for arrays built into the language. D is also compatible with C and has two-way bridge for Objective-C. The version 2 also supports functional programming.

Overall, D seems to have taken good influences from dynamic programming languages like Ruby and Python.
I wonder why D isn't more popular? Maybe the division of the standard libraries is a big factor?

PS. I have been looking a similar library to NumPy for Common Lisp, but GSLL just doesn't cut it and Matlisp only handles two-dimensional matrices. Of course you can use map, but iterating even slices of two-dimensional matrices with map can be a hassle and is much more verbose than having a good iterator abstraction.

I second this idea, I would like to see it become a useful resource for both users and developers/artists. There could be a directory and a customized search engine pointing to good resources about open source and creative commons materials.

For developers it could help find libraries with selected license (BSD and MIT like licenses in addition to GPL like), links to free tutorials, books, documentation and interesting projects to collaborate by language, information about different licenses. Also a message board or news section for finding collaborators for and announcing new projects might be useful.

Wiki works too for a dictionary claryifying some terms about open source, but I think it should just be a part of the site. I see a collectively edited Dmoz or Yahoo style link directory equally useful. For inspiration on making new users for open source software: http://www.opensourcemac.org/

On the software side, there is already Github, Sourceforge and many more, but open.org could provide some visual statistics about most used open source software, most active projects, most liked projects the information being collected from different sites and repository hosts. Github and ohloh.net do a good work of being useful for both developers and users. In my opinion Sourceforge has gone much worse in this respect in the last two versions, unvisionarily mixing the two sides and not catering to either.

As for the self-sustaining revenue: On the web there's generally four ways to make money:
Donations, ads, selling some useful items or services and porn.

I guess I'll look seriously into starting to use Gimp, Xara LX and Inkscape. Are there any good open source photo editors / bitmap graphics applications?

<quote><p>Literally, all the tourism "goods" that Maldives can generate will disappear.</p></quote>

Except for scuba diving... In the future it can maybe even be combined with "goods" (aka "treasure") hunting. How knows, maybe it will be even more profitable? ;-P

So, let's first make mars and then the whole solar system our dumpster of overconsumption, right?

I agree with the GP's thinking, in that moderating the lifestyle on earth to sustainable levels, and developing renewable energy sources from sun and nature should be humanity's priorities over showing national muscles in the space.