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2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal)
Glyn Moody looks at
some recent announcements in this Linux Journal article. "Wow: has
there ever been a month in computing like this one? A January
distinguished by not one major announcement, not two, but four significant
events that will surely go down as milestones in the history of
technology."
(Log in to post comments)
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 19, 2007 19:28 UTC (Fri) by leandro (subscriber, #1460) [Link] How childish. Gaming is but a part of Computing.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 3:16 UTC (Sat) by wilreichert (subscriber, #17680) [Link] Games are just games afterall, but look how far they've driven the video card market. Things like SL could equally drive Linux popularity. Childish perhaps but the end result could be quite positive for Linux.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 5:08 UTC (Sat) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] People use personal computers for what?
Finance, online shopping.
That's about it realy.
Video game market, if you take consoles into account, positively dwarfs anything linux has done so far in terms of server sales.
However computer games themselves are falling in popularity rapidly. The hey day for computer games seemed to happen around 1999, since then the market has been dropping. Dollar for Dollar computer games sales are less then what they were in 1994.
The popular things are like puzzle games or flash games. That's like 50% of the market nowadays. Next biggest hunk is going to be MMORPG..
Personally I see this has a huge possible market for open source gaming. If you get a commercial game going pimping open source clients with open source servers and other assorted things (like plugins for Gimp or Blender) can make a lot of money in subscription sales.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 21, 2007 11:35 UTC (Sun) by Janne (guest, #40891) [Link] And your comment smells of elitism. "Games are childish! I use computers for REAL work!".
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 19, 2007 19:28 UTC (Fri) by niner (subscriber, #26151) [Link] * Open-sourcing Second Life* Apple's iPhone announcement * the release of a World of Warcraft add-on * release of Windows Vista to private customers
I'm sure, 50 years from now people will still talk about these "milestones" in the advancement of technology.
Milestones Posted Jan 19, 2007 20:25 UTC (Fri) by dark (✭ supporter ✭, #8483) [Link] You're wrong there. It just so happens that I have a draft of a history textbook from 2107.Chapter 3, Milestones in the history of technology
Milestones Posted Jan 19, 2007 20:43 UTC (Fri) by pbardet (guest, #22762) [Link] That's because you have the revised edition from 50 years later, while he was talking about the 2057 edition... :)
Milestones? Posted Jan 19, 2007 20:32 UTC (Fri) by AJWM (guest, #15888) [Link] Are you sure the original author didn't mean "millstones"?
Especially that Vista release...
Milestones? Posted Jan 19, 2007 20:45 UTC (Fri) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link] Especially that Vista release... You mean as in "...it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea?"
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 19, 2007 21:00 UTC (Fri) by i3839 (subscriber, #31386) [Link] Strange, an article on linuxjournal, and Linux isn't mentioned even once. Worse, it only talks about (for me) totally uninteresting topics, a handful of trivialities. I guess all that money put in marketing <i>does</i> pay off.
Well, if the hoards don't want Vista they'll either get it with new hardware or need it to play the newest games, poor saps.
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 20, 2007 1:41 UTC (Sat) by rvfh (subscriber, #31018) [Link] Yeah, he could have mentioned that the latest version of Wine allows youto run this Warcraft stuff on Linux!
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 19, 2007 21:20 UTC (Fri) by moxfyre (guest, #13847) [Link] That's what I was thinking too... "Is this guy for real?" None of those things seem at all interesting to me, hacker that I am.
Before I read the title, I thought *for sure* the inclusion of KVM in the mainline Linux kernel was going to be one of the milestones.
Now that's a real milestone... integration of virtualization into the kernel of a mainstream operating system. I believe it'll lead to an enormous increase in the use of virtualization, which should be revolutionary on the server for the possible increases in efficiency, and on the desktop for cross-platform compatibility.
Just my 2 cents, though.
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 19, 2007 21:56 UTC (Fri) by zooko (subscriber, #2589) [Link] I predict that in the future you folks will think of the Free Software release of Second Life as having been important. Second Life is currently little more than a game, but I think that it will become the general-purpose "virtual world" of the future. Remember all those science fiction books, starting with Vernor Vinge's "True Names", John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider" and William Gibson's "Neuromancer"? That's what I'm talking about.
I pretty much agree with you about those other big announcements though.
Regards,
Zooko
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 20, 2007 11:46 UTC (Sat) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] Second life is doomed.
Obsessed with buying and selling virtual property, people yelling 'I am going to call the cops on you for violating DMCA' (literally), lying through their teeth about the amount of people using it online, etc etc.
It's the modern equivelent of getting all excited over Prodigy network back in 1990. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_(ISP)
It's a closed system designed to limit users to a environment were the makers profit from people renting 'virtual land'.
In other words, it's a dead end.
I fully beleive in the future of 3d interactive environments, but I don't think that SL is what is going to bring a true virtual world about anymore then World of Warcraft.
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 20, 2007 18:13 UTC (Sat) by zooko (subscriber, #2589) [Link] I don't know anything about claims for number of users, and I suspect that you and I have different opinions about the value of private property and commerce. But one thing that I know is that Second Life is, as of this announcement that we are discussing, no longer a "closed system". There may or may not remain some obstacles to openness and freedom -- I don't know -- but the Software Freedom of the client is a big step.
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 20, 2007 18:45 UTC (Sat) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link] Can I set up my own Second Life environment? No? Then, in my book, it's a closed system.
Personally, I think that Second Life is doomed the same way record label monopolies are doomed. Both are currently working very hard to insert arbitrary anti-copy rules into computer environments to try to inject a business model based on scarcity. Problem is, scarcity is an artifact of the physical world. Copying might be the most fundamental operation a computer can perform.
Someone is going to get the online virtual environment right, it will come in the next 15 years, and it will look somewhat like HTTP did back in 1992 with experimental and broken servers cropping up here and there. And I'm confident that it won't be by Linden Labs simply because their backers who all want a healthy ROI. (not unless they execute a giant U-turn anyway).
Just my thoughts.
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 21, 2007 8:33 UTC (Sun) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] Previously people tried to create their own little islands were you could only view their content and customers setup their own little section of it. Microsoft tried it, Apple tried it. Progidy was a big example of a early 'super BBS' model. AOL was the biggest and most successfull of the whole group, but even their AOL-land is mostly now exists as one of the largest email providers.
Once people realised what laid outside these gated communities, they tore the fences down or went to cheaper ISPs that had almost zero content, but just provided them internet access at a cheaper price.
IF second life ends up creating open source _servers_ (or at least standardize the protocols) then it will be something interesting.
When I can say 'f*** you all' to linden labs and their rules and limitations and build my own compatable server were their users could connect to.... AND I would be be able to improve it, or find people to improve it. _Then_ I can see it leading to something big.
Right now it's just another MMORPG with a lot more hype because they are the first ones that figured out they could capitalize on user-generated content and call themselves the next virtual world. Beleive it or not, I think that MMORPG are a big deal, but WOW and Everquest is more important then SL. It's important because it shows that people realy want to communicate in a 'virtual world' style environment.
In this manner games and entertainment is very important. It would be nice to have a single unified 3d environment were you can setup a virtual store front (like on the WWW), and at the same time have a different section that would be a role playing game, or a first person shooter, or a road game, or logic puzzles, or 3d chess, etc etc. Just go from portal to portal and see what people have setup on this server or that server.
Were people are free to charge subscriptions for access, or not, to pay somebody else for teh 'virtual land' from a veriaty of market places.. or not. Just like nowadays people wanting websites go with a online service that makes money from subscription or ads rather then setting up their own servers because of the PITA aspect of it.
I figure we probably have better luck with WorldForge or a legitment attempt to create a 3d environment for the internet like http://www.opencroquet.org/ . With OpenCroquet you have serious people that understand standards and know how to make internet protocols and such, they've done it before.
The way I look at it the OpenCroquet project should be the people getting the attention, not SL.
And about the DMCA stuff.. those people are so completely delusional it's not even on the map. You have this lady sending take DMCA down notices to bloggers and news outlets because she doesn't like how she is protrayed and figures they can be shut up by her 'protecting' her 'IP'. And there are lots of other examples of people talking crazy about that on blogs and websites associated with SL.
Even if I beleive that there is some sort of legitament complaint about somebody veiwing a 'unlicensed' picture of a 3D model (which is bizzare), but the DMCA doesn't even do anything like that.
What if Prodigy had been more forward thinking? Posted Jan 21, 2007 20:13 UTC (Sun) by robla (subscriber, #424) [Link] ...or CompuServe, or AOL, or Novell for that matter. I don't think you can deny that those companies had the opportunity to have their technology at the foundation of the global network that everyone uses today. They just blew it. They kept their systems closed way past the point that it made sense to. They allowed this funky little U.S. DoD-funded experimental backwater get way too interesting before realizing that "whoops...maybe we should reconsider charging people per email". Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. We know history. We have investors to satisfy, but fortunately, they know history, too. Given who our Chairman of the Board is, I hope that people at least will give us a little bit more credit than lumping us in with Prodigy. Rob Lanphier (a.k.a. Rob Linden)Linden Lab
What if Prodigy had been more forward thinking? Posted Jan 22, 2007 11:28 UTC (Mon) by gravious (guest, #7662) [Link] The web - multiple server implementations (many of which are free software)/multiple client implementations (many of which are free software)Second Life - one proprietary server implementation - one free software client implementation. I don't care if your chairman of the board is Jesus Christ himself, I still call foul - name-dropping is sooo eighties. *Maybe* if you have a fully open client/server protocol (and free-ing the client would suggest you have) and if there is nothing in the design of the entire system to preclude others from building their own servers then... Hey anybody want to set up a company with me? I'm thinking of calling it LindenScape :)
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 22, 2007 9:40 UTC (Mon) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link] Back in 1995 you could have used the same arguments to `prove' that Netscape Navigator was doomed. Just because the servers aren't free now doesn't mean they always will be proprietary (and the opening of the client is a pretty big indication of the way they want to go).
(Not that I've ever even connected to Second Life --- 3d anything makes me seasick --- but I'm not so quick to assume malice or inevitable failure as you seem to be.)
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 22, 2007 17:37 UTC (Mon) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link] Grandparent: "Obsessed with buying and selling virtual property, people yelling 'I am going to call the cops on you for violating DMCA' (literally), lying through their teeth about the amount of people using it online, etc etc. ... It's a closed system designed to limit users to a environment were the makers profit from people renting 'virtual land'."
You: "Back in 1995 you could have used the same arguments to `prove' that Netscape Navigator was doomed."
Yeah, I remember in '96 when NetScape's business model relied on virtual land and property. In no time it was commonplace to see NetScape's users hitting each other with DMCA notices. Those were rough times. And now it's like Linden Labs is about to go through that all over again.
Uh, what?
so these important "milestones in the history of technology" are: Posted Jan 21, 2007 14:32 UTC (Sun) by mattdm (subscriber, #18) [Link] Must-read article on Second Life hype: A story too good to check.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 0:37 UTC (Sat) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698) [Link] I think Sun releasing the Java compiler (and soon, the rest of Java) under the GPL is far more significant than any of the listed milestones, though as with most of his list, it isn't in any way specific to Linux.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 8:15 UTC (Sat) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link] Sun's release of their Java artifacts was just a public recognition of their strategic unimportance to Sun. It is a marker in the decline in the overall importance of the language itself. The language really has nothing to offer the Free Software world, its every significant design choice having been made to support closed-source distribution tactics.
What a waste that was, given the money the Java designers had available to spend on promotion. They might have done something really significant. Instead they chose utter mediocrity every time.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 9:06 UTC (Sat) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698) [Link] How does the design of the Java language "support closed-source distribution tactics" any more than the designs of C or C++ do? That seems like a bizarre claim. There may well be some legitimate technical criticims of Java as a programming language, but that's not one.Instead they chose utter mediocrity every time.Examples? Particulary areas in which Java is deficient compared to commonly used languages such as C and C++?
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 12:46 UTC (Sat) by khim (guest, #9252) [Link] How does the design of the Java language "support closed-source distribution tactics" any more than the designs of C or C++ do? Perhaps it's support for easy decompilation ? After all you don't need to distribute sources if they can be easily pulled from binaries ? Jokes aside: Java as very-very bad for "closed-source distribution". It's offers some interesting to plate (you can mix different versions of things more easily then with C++), but it's not exactly designed to support "closed-source distribution tactics"... And to claim that it's "a marker in the decline" is just nuts: Java ecosystem is growing and will grow even bigger after release of Java under GPL. If it's good thing or not - is another question (I'm not sure - I'm not a big Java fan), but to claim that Java is declining... What are you smoking ?
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 19:59 UTC (Sat) by rafdz (guest, #41427) [Link] from what i know java is claimed to be less vulnerable to bugs than c/c++ because it is garbage collected and most bugs in c/c++ programs are memory allocation related.does anyone know if this is true.also from portability point of view gui,sound and many libraries are part of the java itself which is not the case for c/c++.do anyone on this forum know exactly which other aspects of java are better or worse than c/c++. thanks in advance.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 20:15 UTC (Sat) by jwb (guest, #15467) [Link] There are numerous ways in which Java is better than C. My favorite is that Java gives you access to complicated data structures that are very fast and rarely used in other languages. For example Java has a lock-free, wait-free, concurrent data structures (look in java.util.concurrent). These structures allow for very fast parallel computing (owners of quad-core CPUs, take notice.) You can, of course, implement lock-free, wait-free data structures in C but in practice it's quite difficult and nobody does it.
That's just a single example. If you gave me an hour I'd talk your ear off about how Java is better than C. And the only thing you can say in favor of C is that it's faster in certain cases and gives you access to all the native services of the platform which Java sometimes neglects.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 22, 2007 1:53 UTC (Mon) by dark (✭ supporter ✭, #8483) [Link] Actually, if you have the time, I'd love to see a bulleted list of those data structures. I'm fairly sure that access to good data structures is critical for making the "average program" in a language perform well—it's the edge that scripting languages (with their easy-to-use hash tables) have over C.Full disclosure: my motive is not to seriously consider using Java. My motive is to implement the best ones in my favorite languages :)
LIbraries --- and standards .. alas! Posted Jan 22, 2007 5:19 UTC (Mon) by AnswerGuy (guest, #1256) [Link] Alas, the problem with C and C++ is mostly that many of these things thataren't included are possible .... and are done ...
... over and over again!
Things like thread safe index data structures supporting a full range of
Indeed some of the things done by glib (not glibc ... but glib) have
There's even some of that in Java ... though Sun as mostly been pretty
LIbraries --- and standards .. alas! Posted Jan 22, 2007 12:44 UTC (Mon) by endecotp (guest, #36428) [Link] >> Java gives you access to complicated data structures that are>> very fast and rarely used in other languages. For example Java >> has a lock-free, wait-free, concurrent data structures (look in >> java.util.concurrent).
True, but on the other hand, until quite recently its basic container types were not parameterised by the type of the thing they contained, reducing the amount of static type checking that was possible. Apparently this is fixed now, but it was "after the horse had bolted" as far as I was concerned.
> Alas, the problem with C and C++ is mostly that many of these things
Also true, and I encourage C++ programmers to use the Boost libraries, which provided much of this stuff, rather than reinventing their own. Some of the Boost stuff is already on its way towards standardisation.
I use Boost in my open source C++ code and it makes my life easier and hopefully makes my code more re-useable. On the other hand, it results in lots of complaints that my packages are "hard to compile" or "have too many dependencies". This is the choice that a C++ programmer has: to write their own yet-another-thread-class in a couple of hundred lines of not-very-portable code, or to impose an extra library dependency on their users.
2007 Begins with a Bang (Linux Journal) Posted Jan 20, 2007 18:27 UTC (Sat) by zooko (subscriber, #2589) [Link] For what it is worth, http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm shows that Java is the most talked-about programming language among people who write web pages that get indexed by Google, MSN, and Yahoo! search engines.
why not have an informative summary? Posted Jan 20, 2007 21:55 UTC (Sat) by osma (subscriber, #6912) [Link] Call me lazy and/or boring, but I would have appreciated it if the summary (written by LWN) had mentioned what the four "significant events" are according to this article. A summary that forces one to read the linked article (or, alternatively, the comments) to find out what it's really about is not very informative nor useful.
Forgot one: OLPC Sugar UI Posted Jan 22, 2007 18:29 UTC (Mon) by hazelsct (guest, #3659) [Link] The January 4 announcement of the new Sugar user interface for the OLPC was, in my book, at least on par with Second Life, and much bigger than the other three. Like Second Life, it's another paradigm shift in the interface toward more "natural" interaction with computers, and with others via computers. Sugar's new practices of shared activities as a development assumption, mesh networking (first mass deployment built into a consumer product), transparent bundle updates, and "View Source" with Develop (and localized python language primitives!), will start a wave of change in computer use that will be really fun to watch.
Second Life is big in part because it facilitates user creation of content which is shared by everyone. OLPC's development features will have the same effect for software. (OSS will bring some of that to Second Life, though it won't be nearly as easy to extend/modify.) Training children to assume that software can be easy to modify will mark the beginning of the end for proprietary software. Resistance is futile.
And unlike the four mentioned here, OLPC has direct relevance to Linux -- and Linux Journal!
Of course, this does reinforce Moody's point that January has indeed been quite a month for computing.
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