rubbsdecvik - Slashdot User

Comment Re:I must not use it? (Score 2, Insightful) 715

by rubbsdecvik on Monday April 27, 2009 @12:28PM (#27731809) Attached to: RMS Says "Software As a Service" Is Non-free

fair enough, but my point wasn't that I'm ignorant of the problems, just that there are always risks with whatever approach you take to get things done. Some will have less of a risk than others, but the truth is that even Open Source comes with different risks. It's not likely, but open source projects have died. Even ones that people and companies relied on. Granted, anyone could take it back up and start coding again, but that too is a risk. While I'm not saying RMS is not making a good point, he too much of an absolutist to be really credible for me.

Comment Re:I must not use it? (Score 1) 715

by rubbsdecvik on Monday April 27, 2009 @11:55AM (#27731199) Attached to: RMS Says "Software As a Service" Is Non-free

And what motivation would they have to do this?

Mozilla Mulls Dropping Firefox For Win2K, Early XP 455

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @05:59PM from the upgrade-or-die dept.

CWmike writes "Mozilla is pondering dropping support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP without Service Pack 3 when it ships the follow-up to Firefox 3.5 in 2010, show discussions on the mozilla.dev.planning forum by developers and Mozilla executives, including the company's chief engineer and its director of Firefox. 'Raise the minimum requirements on Gecko 1.9.2 (and any versions of Firefox built on 1.9.2) for Windows builds to require Windows XP Service Pack 3 or higher,' said Michael Conner, one of the company's software engineers, to start the discussion. Mozilla is currently working on Gecko 1.9.1, the engine that powers Firefox 3.5, the still-in-development browser the company hopes to release at some point in the second quarter. Gecko 1.9.2, and the successor to Firefox 3.5 built on it — dubbed 'Firefox.next' and code named 'Namoroka' — are slated to wrap up in 'early-to-mid 2010,' according to Mozilla."

Work Progresses On 10,000 Year Clock 307

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @12:09PM from the artifexian-contrapulation dept.

KindMind writes "CNet has pictures of a planned 10,000 year clock to be built in eastern Nevada by the Long Now Foundation. From the article: 'Running under its own power, the clock is an experiment in art, science, and engineering. The six dials on the face of this machine will represent the year, century, horizons, sun position, lunar phase, and the stars of the night sky over a 10,000-year period. Likely to span multiple generations and evolutions in culture, the thinking and design put into the monument makes it a moving sculpture as beautiful as it is complex.' This was reviewed on Slashdot in 2005. Really cool pictures, including one of a mechanical 'binary computer' that converts the pendulum into positions on the dial."

Solar Powered Car Can Get Close To 60 mph 119

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @11:32AM from the australians-still-on-about-transportation dept.

Jason Sahler writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The World Solar Challenge across the Australian outback is coming up, and we're already seeing some truly incredible vehicles going for the gold. Take the Bethany, a solar powered vehicle designed by Cambridge University students. The vehicle is capable of achieving close to 60 miles per hour. Doesn't sound too impressive? Try doing it by using the power required to run a hairdryer."

Submission + - Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Downgradable to XP

Submitted by

nandemoari

on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @10:10AM

nandemoari writes: "Not only will users be able to keep Windows Vista, but they'll be able to step back in time two generations, all the way to XP. "We will offer downgrade rights from Windows 7 to Windows XP in the same way we did with Windows Vista," a Microsoft rep said. Insiders speculate that the right to use this time machine might be reserved for those purchasing licenses for only two versions of Windows 7 — Ultimate and Professional. However, that's not yet been confirmed."

Achievements and Optimizations 294

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday April 06, 2009 @11:45AM from the because-we-can dept.

This week's code refresh has added a number of really irritating story display bugs that we're working on. But, it also added a number of cool optimizations that should improve performance for a lot of readers. Tap that link below to read a brief description of them, and also a few serious notes about the achievement system we launched last Wednesday.

Ad Block Plus Filter Maintainer "rick752" Dies At 56 385

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday April 06, 2009 @10:18AM from the guy-who-made-the-intertubez-liveable-again dept.

A user on Reddit pointed out that Richard "rick752" Petnel, maintainer of one of the most popular filter lists for Ad Block Plus, has passed away at age 56. In an article last year Petnel described a bit of what he was up against in the ad world. "'I'm playing against some pretty big players,' he said, explaining his reluctance to step forward. 'I don't want to be harassed. . . . I don't want to be bribed. I started it because I was frustrated with getting my computer infected from ads -- malware and spyware and all that stuff,' he said. 'I kind of went overboard with it. But you have to admit, it's pretty amazing, right?'" Update 15:05 GMT by SM: updated to reflect Rick's status as maintainer of the most popular Ad Block Plus filter as opposed to Ad Block Plus itself.

Comment Re:hey adobe... (Score 1) 354

by rubbsdecvik on Tuesday February 03, 2009 @08:48AM (#26707883) Attached to: Apps That Officially Support Wine

I disagree. I love Linux for it's pragmatic uses as well as it's freedom, but I'm not going to let Open Source philosophy rule my software decisions. If something is worth the money, I don't mind paying for it, even if my OS was free. I saved money on my OS so I could afford other things, if those things include software, then why not?

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