How did they port DirectX to BSD?
You've Changed My Life
12 years ago
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
An Inconsistent UI
I've felt like ranting a bit about Windows inconsistent UI, which seems to me as if it wasn't designed but just happened, different teams working on different UI elements for different products without following a consistent model, unlike Mac OS X, for example.
Both Office 2007 and Windows Media Player 11 do away with traditional menu bars.
Interestingly Outlook 2007 keeps them around, but not in the compose dialog.
Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11, give you the option to enable the menu bar if you really want it, Office 2007 on the other hand doesn't, even though it needs it the most.
Another interesting aspect about menu bars in Windows is their alt behavior, some will only show you the underlined letters if you click and hold alt, others will show it to you by default.
So who is in charge?
It's not like GNU/Linux where thousands of people work on different portions of it, inconsistencies are bound to happen! All of programs here are from one provider, you'd think they'd have some standard UI guidelines!
Both Office 2007 and Windows Media Player 11 do away with traditional menu bars.
Interestingly Outlook 2007 keeps them around, but not in the compose dialog.Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11, give you the option to enable the menu bar if you really want it, Office 2007 on the other hand doesn't, even though it needs it the most.
Another interesting aspect about menu bars in Windows is their alt behavior, some will only show you the underlined letters if you click and hold alt, others will show it to you by default.
So who is in charge?
It's not like GNU/Linux where thousands of people work on different portions of it, inconsistencies are bound to happen! All of programs here are from one provider, you'd think they'd have some standard UI guidelines!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Playstation 4 details leaked!!
In an attempt to make up for the PS3 mess and keep up with Nintendo, Sony intentionally leaked some details about the PS4, to ramp up demand and slow the influx of gamers to the Wii.
I wonder what's in the box?
hint: click on the box to find out!
Read more..
I wonder what's in the box?hint: click on the box to find out!
Read more..
Friday, August 15, 2008
I'm not a genius like a computer!
I don't know how accurate the subtitles are, but funny nontheless.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
GoboLinux file system hirerachy done right!
In a previous rant I complained about the nonsense that is the file system hierarchy in most Unix and Unix-like OSes. NeXTSTEP and its successor Mac OS X done away with it in favor of a more logical file system hierarchy. Recently I learned about GoboLinux, and its breakthrough feature is its file system hierarchy. GoboLinux did away with the nonsense of the File System Hierarchy Standard in favor of a simpler NeXTSTEP/Mac OS X like hierarchy. All your apps are placed in /Programs/ and thus the hierarchy becomes the package manager.
There are other interesting aspects about GoboLinux, more about them here and here.
There are other interesting aspects about GoboLinux, more about them here and here.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
How 2010 can be the year of the Linux desktop?
Just a note before I start, these suggestings are only for the distros that want to succeed in the desktop world, community based distros that aren't interested and cater to a different user base obviously are not the target for this!
Another note, by year of the Linux desktop, I don't mean 20% or some crazy nonrealistic marketshare not even 5%, I mean the beginning of being considered by the avergae joe as a desktop alternative to other more popular OSes. For GNU/Linux to gain any significant market share it first needs to win the hearts and minds, and my suggestions should help GNU/Linux win the hearts and minds.
01. Don't call nor associate it with Linux, for technical as well as marketting reasons. First of all Linux is not an OS, it is but a kernel, and more importantly after the failed attempts of Linux on the desktop people now associate the name Linux with 'not ready', 'hard to use' and 'free because no one is willing to pay for it'
02. Charge for it! Not ovecharge! Something around $30 - $60 should do. There are people wondering why it is free and whether there is a catch to it?! People expect all good things to cost a pretty penny and all things cheap.. well cheap!
03. Marketing! Let people know about your OS. Show off what it can do in short smart ads. Run the ads during primetime, to reach as large of an audiance as possible.
04. Strike a deal with as many OEMs as possible to have them preload the OS in as many computers as possible. The more people see it preloaded, the more they see it running, the more they consider it as a viable option.
05. Unlimited Support for the lifetime of the product. Just like how extended warranties can sell products, extended support can sell software. If you truely trust your product this should be a no-issue.
06. Support as much hardware as possible! and let people know what hardware is currently supported and what isn't! So what if the drivers are propreitary? Most people don't care! I personally don't! I want things to work and so does everyone! Cooperate with manufacturers and have them write drivers for Linux.
07. Reduce regressions! Things should not stop functioning after updating your system or upgrading to a newer release!
08. Less choice! Less configuration options! Too many choices is confusing, especially to new users, and too many configurations means either more time spent testing them, or they don't get enough testing!
09. Put away the terminal! Make everything easily customizable from the standard GUI. Of course I'm not suggesting complete removal of the terminal, as users get accustomed to the system they might opt to use it, just like in Mac OS X.
10. Last but not least! A single binary for all desktop distros! I don't care whether it is deb, rpm or a whole new package manager! Just make it happen! This means less headache for developers and users.
Another note, by year of the Linux desktop, I don't mean 20% or some crazy nonrealistic marketshare not even 5%, I mean the beginning of being considered by the avergae joe as a desktop alternative to other more popular OSes. For GNU/Linux to gain any significant market share it first needs to win the hearts and minds, and my suggestions should help GNU/Linux win the hearts and minds.
01. Don't call nor associate it with Linux, for technical as well as marketting reasons. First of all Linux is not an OS, it is but a kernel, and more importantly after the failed attempts of Linux on the desktop people now associate the name Linux with 'not ready', 'hard to use' and 'free because no one is willing to pay for it'
02. Charge for it! Not ovecharge! Something around $30 - $60 should do. There are people wondering why it is free and whether there is a catch to it?! People expect all good things to cost a pretty penny and all things cheap.. well cheap!
03. Marketing! Let people know about your OS. Show off what it can do in short smart ads. Run the ads during primetime, to reach as large of an audiance as possible.
04. Strike a deal with as many OEMs as possible to have them preload the OS in as many computers as possible. The more people see it preloaded, the more they see it running, the more they consider it as a viable option.
05. Unlimited Support for the lifetime of the product. Just like how extended warranties can sell products, extended support can sell software. If you truely trust your product this should be a no-issue.
06. Support as much hardware as possible! and let people know what hardware is currently supported and what isn't! So what if the drivers are propreitary? Most people don't care! I personally don't! I want things to work and so does everyone! Cooperate with manufacturers and have them write drivers for Linux.
07. Reduce regressions! Things should not stop functioning after updating your system or upgrading to a newer release!
08. Less choice! Less configuration options! Too many choices is confusing, especially to new users, and too many configurations means either more time spent testing them, or they don't get enough testing!
09. Put away the terminal! Make everything easily customizable from the standard GUI. Of course I'm not suggesting complete removal of the terminal, as users get accustomed to the system they might opt to use it, just like in Mac OS X.
10. Last but not least! A single binary for all desktop distros! I don't care whether it is deb, rpm or a whole new package manager! Just make it happen! This means less headache for developers and users.
Should Apple come up with its own netbook?
Netbooks, these substandard, cumbersome, underpowered err- I mean these small, trendy, inexpensive and efficient laptops took off and are becoming the next major thing, or whatever. Apparently, not all people need a lot of Hz, and are pretty satisfied with anything that is decent enough for them to get on the Interwebs, watch movies and listen to music. Some of them netbooks are well below 1 GHz, have no dedicated GPU, some of them has well below 80 GB of storage, and very small and cumbersome displays; yet this didn't put off the people who buy them.
I personally have no interest in revisiting the late 90s, that's why I've never considered nor will I ever consider one, but their success got me thinking, maybe Apple should bring something below $1099, it'll generate a lot of interest for Apple and help it grow a bit more, I'm not suggesting EeePC specs or EeePC prices, but something around $949 should do the job, maybe even start at as low as $899, be very well equipped and still a bit exclusive as all Macs should be.
I personally have no interest in revisiting the late 90s, that's why I've never considered nor will I ever consider one, but their success got me thinking, maybe Apple should bring something below $1099, it'll generate a lot of interest for Apple and help it grow a bit more, I'm not suggesting EeePC specs or EeePC prices, but something around $949 should do the job, maybe even start at as low as $899, be very well equipped and still a bit exclusive as all Macs should be.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Where are all my apps?!
One of the things I hate about GNU/Linux is the confusing directory structure. There isn't one specific loaction for your apps as in Mac OS X, and to some extent in Windows, everything is all over the place.
You'll find some apps, or at least that what I found in my setup, in:
/opt
/usr/bin
/usr/lib
/urs/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share
and in some times they are mixed with system programs and libraries! It is a mess! Finding stuff is pretty confusing already with all the directories and their subdirectories.
This is a relic from Unix, and should be abandoned, the directory structure should be cleaned. All user apps should be in one place such as /home/username/bin for apps or /usr/bin and all system apps should in /sys/bin, but this makes too much sense and thus will never happen!
You'll find some apps, or at least that what I found in my setup, in:
/opt
/usr/bin
/usr/lib
/urs/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share
and in some times they are mixed with system programs and libraries! It is a mess! Finding stuff is pretty confusing already with all the directories and their subdirectories.
This is a relic from Unix, and should be abandoned, the directory structure should be cleaned. All user apps should be in one place such as /home/
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