Entries for DarthVista

Merry Open Source Christmas [Merry Open Source Christmas]

DarthVista — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:52:03 GMT

:(

I can't decide if this is funny or not.

RUDI

GameDev.net wrote:
"On the Night before Christmas Eve, something went wrong... and there is only one reindeer to make it alright."

in reply to Merry Open Source Christmas

* [*]

DarthVista — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:55:10 GMT

...

in reply to *

Message #013 [Message #013]

DarthVista — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 01:58:20 GMT

Greetings.

I have encountered some difficulties lately with MSDN search in Visual Studio. So I ask, is there a way to improve the search functionality?

It has taken me a long time to find some basic information. For example, I typed in "win32 form library" into the MSDN search box (the library is installed on my hard drive). Like every other time I use this feature, it comes back with the first twenty entries (out of 500, of course). The first options that come back are Mapi, CDO, and something about Unix.

Unix.

But, after a bit of clicking, I stumbled on a very useful article called "Microsoft Win32 to Microsoft .NET Framework API Map" which has a side-by-side comparison of Win32 API functions vs. .NET functions and is *somewhat* relevant to what I was looking for. This was long after I set my language choice to "C++" in the search options, set the Technology option to "C++ Libraries (Native), WIN32 & COM) and "All" for content. Those are the settings I picked on day one.

Get this: I typed in "Obi Wan will pay" and it returns "1-20 of 500 results". The first entry is "How to Install WAN Services for X.25 Exchange Installations".

This is relevant...how?

"Han Solo in Carbonite"...it returns 15 results. "Death Star" returns 126 results, with "Death Taxes and Relational Databases" being the top entry.

Wait...ah, there we go. I found my new Help Favorite:

"linux is not free" returns 500 entries, with the top one being "How to Remove Linux and Install Windows XP".

[H]

in reply to Message #013

The One True Church of Vista [The One True Church of Vista]

DarthVista — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:42:47 GMT

Greetings.

The other day I came across a blog entry in regards to Open Office. It gave a list of features that are intended for version "3.0" of this suspicious office suite. The timeline found here suggests the product will be released sometime in September of 2008. The list of upcoming features includes an Microsoft Office 12 import filter, the ability to run natively on MacOSX, and features you can install as "extensions".

Sigh.

What is Open Office you ask? A wounded software model at best. In fact, I would argue this type of software cannot be called "software" in the proper sense since it doesn't have access to the "one true codebase" of Vista and lacks its ability to trace its ancestry to the original 10 apostles of Bill.

in reply to The One True Church of Vista

Vista Gardens [Vista Gardens]

DarthVista — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 02:39:50 GMT

I have an idea.

I'm thinking of putting together some software that allows you to build and plan huge flower beds made from photographs of the Vista operating system. Imagine: you could plant a garden that blooms in the pattern of the Vista pearl:

Thus we would have true "Vista gardens". Can you see them springing up everywhere like daisies? I can. I would even think you could see a planted Vista logo from an airplane. And why not make a Nine guy out of marigolds?!

Thus, together, brothers, we can show our support for Vista across the land. Vista willing, this land will bloom like never before.

in reply to Vista Gardens

Message #012 [Message #012]

DarthVista — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:21:32 GMT

Greetings.

Tonight I bring you good news from our brothers in the field. Success is coming on many fronts, including marketshare, the imminent collapse of the iTunes market, and the introduction of Windows Home Server stackable pucks later this year.

Yet the public does not seem to be aware of our successes. The Linux zealots continually try to thwart us, yet Vista willing, they will not succeed. Therefore, I suggest the following ideas:

1) Make Vista t-shirts and wear them everywhere to increase awareness.

2) Start a Vista charity.

3) For you gardeners, grow a "Vista garden".

4) Evangelize whole neighborhoods of known Linux users by going out in groups of two, and carrying copies of Vista, coding books, and printouts of the MSDN library web pages. Men, please wear suits, women, wear skirts.

Vista users, be patient and steadfast. Rejoice, for victory is near, and, Vista willing, herds of GNU crusaders will continue to split up and their sole concern will be searching for a way out. Each user is frantically making their own distro, and trying to claim theirs will become the latest standard. Why, they've even come out with Slackware 12!

in reply to Message #012

Message #011 [Message #011]

DarthVista — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 04:24:34 GMT

Greetings.

The other day I was walking through the neighborhood and noticed a small hill in a nearby park. The hill was normally something I ignored, but having just purchased a brand new Vista laptop, I figured it might be a nice place to rest.

After arriving at the hill, I sat down. I opened up my laptop, and began tapping away at the keyboard. Suddenly, a light appeared before me. A voice boomed "Dig here!"

I turned around and saw nothing special. I looked down on the ground around me (I was at the top of the hill) and set my laptop down. I examined the earth. Nothing interesting.

Later that evening I returned home, yet felt an urge to return to the hill. I returned under cover of the night with a spade shovel and began digging. Five minutes later, I heard a metallic clink as my shovel hit something. I dug a bit more, and suddenly found myself digging up a set of golden CDs. On the CDs looked to be some type of script...were they reformed heiroglyphics?

:|

I kept digging and found about twenty CDs in all. I also found a set of beer bottles. One of the CDs said that in order to translate the other CDs (funny, this one was written in English) I would need the beer bottles. One was labeled "Ummin" and the other was labeled "Strummin".

Thus, I have embarked on a mission to translate these CDs into what I will soon call the "Book of Vista". The first few lines (so far) speak of an ancient civilization and giant, ancient abacuses here in the Americas.

in reply to Message #011

Adios [Adios]

DarthVista — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:49:31 GMT

I watched the movie "Revolution OS" the other day. Several things surprised me:

1) VA Linux, after a great initial IPO, tanked a short time later.

2) What's with everybody calling Linus by three different names? Leenus, Line-us and Linn-us.

3) It was my first time catching a glimpse of Linuxworld, and although it was short, it was interesting.

4) Some of the interviews on disc two were informative, but a little boring if your aren't into engineering I suppose.

5) Although the mood was positive overall, by the end, and after watching the stock price of RedHat and VA Linux drop like rocks, there was a sense of melancholy.

Which brings me to final point. I hope Linux and its surrounding culture does not end up as a footnote in history, due to an attitude of one particular company, and borne out of nothing but pure greed. I really have no other word for it. It was refreshing to see actual interviews of people (rather than just reading about them in an online article) in the OSS community, rather than warped caricatures that seemed to be passed off in soundbytes and FUD. It was refreshing to see software developers truly passionate about what they do, and doing it for the love of software. I really don't see that in this organization, or even in this community, except for a handful of people.

Tonight, I'm turning in my helmet. This community is on its own. I refuse to defend you anymore.

in reply to Adios

Cool Webpage Effects [Cool Webpage Effects]

DarthVista — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:21:25 GMT

Wow. Try this:

http://www.netdisaster.com/go.php?mode=bomb&destruction=massive&control=on&lang=en&url=http://www.linux.org/

in reply to Cool Webpage Effects

The End of Rolodexes! [The End of Rolodexes!]

DarthVista — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:08:22 GMT

Flitterbook

KarstenJ wrote:
Lots of good stuff announced as far as Facebook/Microsoft partnership: Microsoft just released a great wrapper to the Facebook API written by the guys at Clarity Consulting. They've got some nice sample applications, including a cool WPF app that is a rolodex of your Facebook contacts.

Wow! How long before this WPF rolodex replaces the real thing? Will Rolodex be put out of business?

:O

in reply to The End of Rolodexes!

Pledge Drive [Pledge Drive]

DarthVista — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:02:31 GMT

I think the 9'er mod/admin team deserves a round of applause. The amount of crap they have had to put with lately is unreal. I also know that it is difficult to completely redesign a codebase and ship it in a reasonable amount of time.

This makes me think they are staying up late, ordering pizzas, and sucking down lots of free pop from the vending machines in the lobbies and break rooms. But is the pizza free? Can you put a price on the time they have spent away from their families? No.

Therefore, I think that much as Google has its "Summer of Code", Channel 9 should have its summer of "pledge drives". I think it would be a hoot to see a phone room staffed with Microsoft greats, all taking pledge calls for the following year, for developers trapped inside of the Redmond campus.

Think about it: public television has to have pledge drives in order to bring you consistently great programming like Masterpiece Theatre and the Red Green Show. What about the Channel 9 staff? They put up consistently great programming, yet get little in return. They are buying cameras out of their own hard earned savings, I'm sure. Let's think of some names:

9'erthon
Summer of Pledge
TeleNinerThon

Ooh...and how about some tiers for pledge amounts? For instance, if you give $1000, you get a Visual Studio poster. $2,000? A Zune signed by Bill himself.

[H]

in reply to Pledge Drive

Herr Charles, Ban Me [Herr Charles, Ban Me]

DarthVista — Tue, 22 May 2007 03:24:51 GMT

Go on and get it over with. Ban me! According to some members of the community, this is what they want. I personally think it would only serve to encourage the Linux zealots, and give them yet another victory they do not richly deserve. But oh well. Power to the niners!

Keep on posting!
DV

in reply to Herr Charles, Ban Me

The 30-Day Challenge [The 30-Day Challenge]

DarthVista — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:28:18 GMT

I have an idea. I recently watched a show called "SuperSizeMe", and in it, the author takes a 30-day challenge by eating nothing but McDonald's day and night. How about this...we all take the 30 day challenge with Microsoft products. I'm serious! People should stop using third party products (drivers excluded) and use ONLY Microsoft solutions to their programming and productivity problems. Do this for 30 days. Then, report back here with the results. Or start a daily blog to record your massive productivty gains. Maybe you'll all have some new tips and tricks to share, too!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm game for this! Who's with me?

in reply to The 30-Day Challenge

Correcting History [Correcting History]

DarthVista — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:49:56 GMT

Brothers in Vista--greetings to you all.

In this era of open source tyranny and imperialism, and with the imminent arrival of the OLPC program, I feel we have a duty to keep the details of the history of our beloved platform alive. Thereore, I am suggesting a special project to help correct the errors that are creeping into such outlets as "wikipedia". I think we should call this this the "real history of Windows."

Consider this recent snippet of supposed "history" found on wikipedia:

Wikipedia wrote:
In 1983 Microsoft announced its development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS) that had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. Microsoft modeled the GUI, which was first known as Interface Manager, after that of Apple's Mac OS. Bill Gates had been shown a Macintosh prototype by Steve Jobs early in its development, around 1981, and Microsoft was partnered by Apple to create some of the important early Mac software, such as MultiPlan and Word.

This entry should obviously be updated as follows:

In 1983 Microsoft announced its development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS) that had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. Microsoft created the GUI from scratch, which was first known as Interface Manager. It caught Apple by complete surprise, and was quickly duplicated in the form of "the Macintosh". An Apple employee had been shown a Windows prototype by a Microsoft employee early in its development, around 1981, and Apple realized quickly their all-text interface model was doomed.

That's much better.

Here's another errant entry:

Wikipedia wrote:
The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released on November 20, 1985, lacked a degree of functionality and achieved little popularity. It was originally going to be called Interface Manager, but Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name Windows would be a more appealing name to consumers. Windows 1.0 did not provide a complete operating system, but rather extended MS-DOS and shared the latter's inherent flaws and problems. Moreover, the programs that shipped with the early version comprised "toy" applications with little or limited appeal to business users.

Let's rewrite that so that future generations will not be so confused. We owe it to them.

The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released on November 20, 1985, boasted a great degree of functionality, flexibility and innovation and achieved immense popularity with several underground users. It was originally going to be called Interface Manager, but Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name Windows would be a more appealing name to consumers. Windows 1.0 provided a complete operating system, with some MS-DOS extensions for backwards compatability. Apple struggled to keep up, shipping numerous "toy" applications on their text platform, with little or limited appeal to business users.

This will not be an easy undertaking. Years of misinformation by the open source community must be undone.

in reply to Correcting History

Peace At Last [Peace At Last]

DarthVista — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:15:43 GMT

I'm starting to fall in love with this site again. Maybe I can come back? It appears the trolls are on vacation (for good I hope!). It also appears the ban hammer worked. Or maybe the trolls are working really hard on something? No doubt with coloring books and crayons! lol

With that, I'd like to bring up this article. It's about the recent animated cursor issue, and the vulnerability was reported two years ago. Here's a quote:

zdnet wrote:
Still, I interjected, in this case, you had two years to get a fix ready and didn’t. You only decided to issue a fix after Cerrudo went public. In many respects, Cerrudo helped protect Windows users by going public and prodding you into releasing a patch.

I agree with Microsoft on this one. The disclosure of this bug by some researcher was irresponsible.

in reply to Peace At Last

My Final Message? [My Final Message?]

DarthVista — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:56:18 GMT

This is a sad moment for me. I never thought I would write this type of message for the masses. But I have decided to explore other avenues in software for the time being, following a short vacation.

What do I mean by this? It's simple. I'm getting tired of defending Windows day in and day out. I'm getting tired of championing solutions that people cannot see as being superior, no matter how much I try to persuade them. I'm getting tired of fighting the endless stream of Linux zealots that swamp this board in an effort to get us all to "try something new".

Some of us just don't care. And seeing that the forums here are in dire need of overhaul, well, I don't know what to do. Nobody seems to be listening to me anymore. [C]

in reply to My Final Message?

Message #010 [Message #010]

DarthVista — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:29:42 GMT

Greetings.

I've been thinking about something lately. It seems mass job layoffs are still sweeping through many industries, and most notably today, Circuit City is letting thousands of its sales staff go. Please don't take this the wrong way, but everytime I seem to look at Microsoft, they are constantly expanding. Can this keep up forever? Or will there come a point when they will start laying people off? If so, would that mean the "honeymoon" was over? What has kept this company immune from layoffs so far?

in reply to Message #010

Spin [Spin]

DarthVista — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:47:22 GMT

It's a start. :)

I want to make this into an animated 9 guy eventually.

in reply to Spin

Message #009 [Message #009]

DarthVista — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:14:14 GMT

Greetings.

Over the past few weeks, it seems as though my authority as a Windows loyalist has been called into question. Someone approached me and pointed their finger at me shouting "you phony. You couldn't code your way out of a paper bag. You're just another troll."

That upset me.

Then, this morning, I got up and looked at this site and a few blogs.

Overnight it was as if my world started to implode just a teeny bit. The Channel 9 crew was fighting, and fighting mad, because of some caustic remarks made by the ex-faithful Mr. Scoble.

Wow.

It seemed as if Mr. Scoble was taking a potshot at ALL niners, including me. I was floored, because I don't think I could be any more loyal than I have been over the past few weeks.

Tonight I decided enough was enough.

I have decided to prove that, unlike Mr. Scoble, I can actually code. Can you code Mr. Scoble? I doubt it. So, in a few hours, I'll post some code and then our ex-loyal friend can put that in his pipe and smoke it.

in reply to Message #009

Mailbag [Mailbag]

DarthVista — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:59:05 GMT

It's that time again. Time to empty out my e-mail inbox. Here are some choice nuggets from the past few weeks and my replies:

Dear Darthvista,

I recently heard of an OEM plot to provide hidden BIOS routines that are only accessible to Windows in order to thwart Linux adoption. What do you think of that? Will .NET leverage any of that functionality?

Sincerely,
Miguel I.

Dear Miguel,

It sounds like another FUD plot being spread by the FOSS community. Although, considering that we have "winmodems", I think this is a brilliant idea.

DV

Here's another:

Dear Darthvista,

I recently found several bees hanging around the eaves of my house. I traced them back to a new nest that I found in a hole in the ground behind some bushes, and close to my deck. I'm thinking about pouring gas down the hole, and lighting the little p*icks ablaze. Will that work?

Cordially,
Rory

Rory,

Wow. That's sound like a tough situation. Why not call an actual exterminator before you send your house up in smoke? But that's just me.

P.S. 87 or 92 octane? j/k!

Another one:

Dear Darthvista,

I read an article recently about people requesting that Dell load OpenOffice onto their machines as an option for their customers. I think this is a great idea. It would immediately give a customer choice. You?

Flat top

Dear "Flat top":

At one point I would have said this was a stupid idea. Now, I think there is some real possibility for it. I think after a user installs it, there should be several warning popup boxes stating "Do you really want to install this? Confirm?". Make the experience just miserable for the newbie. Then, have monthly reminders pop up asking them if they want to uninstall OpenOffice. Of course, the real icing on the cake would be to then have a convenient hyperlink nearby so they can go straight to the Microsoft product site.

Good question! :)
DV

Here's a zinger:

To: DarthVista
From: Admin

Now we will ban as a standard rule. This makes me sad.

C

Dear Admin:

Yes!!!!!!

DV

And finally:

Dear Darth,

I have some ideas for our latest FOSS site. What do you think of these catchy slogans:

* Why steal anymore? The software's free!
* Tired of running Ad-Aware yet? Tired of running Ad-Aware yet?
* Linux Admins actually catch up on sleep! How about yours?
* We Grew Up With the Internet. Linux.

Whaddyathink?

Signed,
Richard S.

Dear Richard,

I'm at a loss for words. Talk about raising the bar on FUD.

DV

in reply to Mailbag

Why Channel 9 Rocks!!! [Why Channel 9 Rocks!!!]

DarthVista — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:41:40 GMT

This is a goodwill attempt to counter the
2) The help here is unparalleled. The word "deep" has taken on a whole new meaning.

3) I find myself months ahead of other techies by watching the videos here. Many months I ago I uttered the acronyms "WPF" and "UAC" to a few people and they were stunned. You just don't realize what that has done to my ego.

4) Remember, jealousy is what drives most trolling posts.

5) The open source community will remain fractured for years to come. Of course, they'll tell you otherwise and pass off their anarchy as "freedom of choice". If a FOSS advocate tries to convince you to "switch" you ask them how much time they have wasted evaluating half-thought out implementations of your favorite software packages and watch them buckle under the pressure. It's so fun to discuss that here. Linux is imploding before our very eyes!

6) I finally found a community of users that agree that all Microsoft software should "phone home". I would love a video tour of that central WGA "phone home" facility. I bet it's called the "pirate war-room" or something cool like that.

7) The amount of myth-busting that goes on here is amazing.

in reply to Why Channel 9 Rocks!!!

Community Project: Linux Ad [Community Project: Linux Ad]

DarthVista — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:20:03 GMT

Greetings.

I have a great community project idea. We need someone with some graphics skills (Rory-type stick figures are okay, too) or someone with a video camera. Here's my idea for a commercial script. It's a lot like the Mac/PC ads that are on tv.

Linux Ad #1
[The scene opens in a blank white room, with two men standing next to each other. On the left is a man wearing a business suit and glasses, representing Windows Vista. In his left hand he is holding a felt hat. Next to him is an unshaven, scraggly looking man, with messy hair, representing a Linux distro. He is wearing a tee-shirt with a peace symbol on the front, and John Lennon sunglasses.]

Windows Man: Hi. I'm a PC running Vista.

Linux Man: And I'm a PC running a Linux distro.

[Linux Man looks over at what Windows Man is holding in his hand.]

Linux Man: What is that?

Windows Man: This is the latest in graphics software. [puts hat on head] Fits perfectly.

Linux Man: That's nice. Where did you get that?

Windows Man: I bought it at a store. Where do you get your software?

Linux Man: From a place called a repository.

Windows Man: I see. You realize repository rhymes with "suppository"?

Linux Man: That's not funny. You know what? Vista rhymes with "pista". As in, "Vista makes me pista off."

Windows Man: Here, why don't you try on this hat?

[Windows Man hands Linux Man the hat. Linux Man holds hat, tries to place it on his head, but it does not fit. He stares at it a minute, then proceeds to punch it several times trying to reshape it.]

Linux Man: How do you get this thing to fit? Maybe I just need to configure it...

[Linux Man throws the hat on the floor and proceeds to stomp on it, tearing the top off the hat. He then places it on his head, and his hair sticks out through the top of the hat.]

Linux Man: Fits perfect now.

Windows Man: what a hack job. Who would wear that?

Linux Man [annoyed]: Somebody who can read a manual. You read manuals, right?

[Windows Man shakes head in disbelief.]

Linux Man [irritated]: Here, you can have your hat back now.

Windows Man: And do what with it?

Linux Man [angrily]: Listen, I'm giving back to the community. How about you?

[H]

in reply to Community Project: Linux Ad

The Search for the MSDN Code [The Search for the MSDN Code]

DarthVista — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:59:55 GMT

Greetings.

On this eve of the launch of the consumer version of Vista, I would like to take a moment to address a small project I have been working on recently. I call it "The Search for the MSDN Code".

The MSDN Code?!? What's that? Well, it is a search for hidden meanings and phrases within the text of the MSDN library. I'm developing software to search for these phrases as we speak. The process works like this: take a document from the MSDN library and remove all the spaces within the document. Second, scan the text for "skipped letter" phrases--for instance, scan every fifth letter and record them, and then search for patterns of letters within that text. I feel this search has great potential to unlock hidden secrets and meanings buried within our libraries. Here's an example from "Building Interoperable Systems with .NET 3.0 Technologies":

Here is the regular text...

MSDN wrote:
Insurance-Industry Forces

In the insurance industry, there are many technologies at play, ranging from mainframe to UNIX to Windows. With this wide range of platform technologies, it is increasingly difficult to manage and operate while trying to be agile in an ever-changing financial market. For years, organizations have been building and buying technologies to meet these needs. Interoperability has become a necessary evil after the solution has been built and/or implemented. This has left us with point-to-point integrations that address very specific problems only at the application or system level, but not at the business-function level.

Compressed Text:

Insurance-Industry Forces

I n t h e i n s u r a n c e i n d u s t r y t h e r e a r e m a n y t e c h n o l o g i e s a t p l a y r a n g i n g f r o m m a i n f r a m e t o U N I X t o W i n d o w s W i t h t h i s w i d e r a n g e of p l a t f o r m t e c h n o l o g i e s i t i s i n c r e a s i n g l y d i f f i c u l t t o m a n a g e a n d o p e r a t e w h i l e t r y i n g t o b e a g i l e i n a n e v e r c h a n g i n g f i n a n c i a l m a r k e t F o r y e a r s o r g a n i z a t i o n s h a v e b e e n b u i l d i n g a n d b u y i n g t e c h n o l o g i e s t o m e e t t h e s e n e e d s I n t e r o p e r a b i l i t y h a s b e c o m e a n e c e s s a r y e v i l a f t e r t h e s o l u t i o n h a s b e e n b u i l t a n d o r i m p l e m e n t e d T h i s h a s l e f t u s w i t h p o i n t t o p o i n t i n t e g r a t i o n s t h a t a d d r e s s v e r y s p e c i f i c p r o b l e m s o n l y a t t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o r s y s t e m l e v e l b u t n o t a t t h e b u s i n e s s f u n c t i o n l e v e l

Check this out. Look at the highlighted letters above. They spell out "linux is stoopid". I'm not making this up. I know this isn't quite the "skipped letter" approach I described above, but I'm sure there is some type of mathematical formula that will uncover this code.

in reply to The Search for the MSDN Code

Message #008 [Message #008]

DarthVista — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:40:59 GMT

Greetings.

Today, I want to speak to you about tyranny and freedom from it.

Many years ago, numerous cultures in the world lived in an era called the "Dark Ages". It was a time of limited knowledge, people being oppressed by a lack of intellectualism, backwards medicine and generally crappy art.

But what followed the Dark Ages? The age of Enlightenment. This era of Enlightenment brought with it great leaps forward in science, medicine, philosophy, thought and art. From that wellspring of invention also came a greater truth and understanding of the world around us.

These great leaps forward also brought freedom. These freedoms have been carried forth into our present Information Age and have grown and expanded, spilling forth into other fields to yield humanity a bountiful harvest of creativity, truth and innovation.

Technology has freed us. Chemistry has freed us. New philosophies mixed with old have freed us. The World Wide Web has freed us. Now we can travel faster, work more efficiently, and search for information faster than ever. But if one was forced to ask, what would be the ultimate invention of these recent decades? The choices are difficult, the advances are stunning, yet we must pick certain outstanding achievements in order to be able to look back at the milestones that moved us forward.

So, let us pick programming. Windows 95 freed us from the single tasked, TSR world of DOS. Windows XP/2000 freed most of us from BSODs and Office freed us from the Dark Ages of office inefficiency. .NET has now freed us from WNDCLASSEX and MFC (rest in peace).

Now you may be asking yourself, why did I not list Fedora Core on this list? Or what about Feisty Fawn Ubuntu? These were not oversights. No, these were deliberate omissions not due to a lack of space, but due to a lack of marketshare that these products do not richly deserve. For what good is a desktop that is impressively designed yet only garners a few hundred users?

No, when history looks back on our time period, it will look on with a critical, objective insight into what just worked, and what didn't. The Linux "Revolution" is just that. It is just one big old circular reference that constantly pats itself on the back saying "THIS is the year of the Linux desktop". Note that it will not receive a several page treatment in a future encyclopedia somewhere. No, if we are observant, we just might find Slackware somewhere in the footnotes.

in reply to Message #008

Penguin Thunder [Penguin Thunder]

DarthVista — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:17:30 GMT

Fantastic news...I have started up a local chapter of the VistaWatchSquad (I will post a membership charter at some point if some people here are interested). Already, I have uncovered a plot by some local open source advocate punks to develop and deploy new libraries and applications designed to bolster usage of C++ on Windows (as an obvious counter to the .NET framework). Although operations are still ongoing, and I cannot give away too many details, a friend and I also caught some of the open source advocates in the act of developing secret games aimed at encouraging users to ditch Windows for what they claim is a "enlightening gaming experience" over on the Linux platform. These developers are the real deal, and we have seen numerous documents and books in their libraries that clearly illustrate their allegance. I found books on assembly, books on "hacking Linux", articles on slackware and...get this...a book on OpenGL. I am tracking numerous plots right now, and the VistaWatchSquad intelligence network is being constructed as I speak.

I am calling this ongoing mission "Operation Penguin Thunder". Any Niner is welcome to join at any time.

in reply to Penguin Thunder