Themes.org Returning 73
Well, a number of readers noted, and I've been on X-Chat with ElCoronel and technoir regarding themes.org. It's been down for the last day or so due to some technical difficulties (hard drive go buh-bye!), but it should be returning soon -- it was not Apple seizing the hardware, like a couple of submitters had thought.Most of you probably noticed that Themes is back-up - thanks to Patrick Ashmore, Tony Ramos, and Marc Merlin (and anyone else I forgot) for riding the evil-hell bus of late night sysadmining, finding the problem and fixing it.
What VA did to Techn0ir 2 years ago. (Score:1)
Check out this earlier Slashdot article [slashdot.org] about Technoir and VA. Be glad this company is going into the crapper.
Themes are good, but... (Score:1)
Is what the software industry really needs at the moment pretty widgets to click? all different shapes, colours, etc? Not really....what we need is a stable, non-memory-leaky (that eliminates BSD, Linux, Windows and MacOS immediately) fast, open source (that eliminates QNX and BeOS) small (that eliminates almost all OSes on the market) OS...that OS is AROS.
Themes can wait, the OS and software industry in general is very sick and needs attention. The only benefit of current (buggy,slow,complicated) OSes is job security. Noone can remember all of NT's 128,000 bugs or all 16,000 intricacies of the Linux kernel's bugs and oddities but pure OS zealots of those two systems.This needs to change -fast.
My favourite theme of all times. (Score:1)
Goodbye, grandmother, we will meet again.
--Shoeboy
(Posting anonymously to preserve my precious karma.)
Nice to know how reliable VA's own hardware is. (Score:2)
Is it just me, or do other people find it just a touch ironic that one of VA's own flagship sites goes down and stays down for *days*...a system run by their own employees, on their own hardware. Great product endorsement, guys.
Good job, VA! Advertise the fact your gear blows! (Score:2)
"Every time IBM says Linux, our phone rings." - Larry Augustin, 2001.
This guy wants you to buy a "server" that dies because a single HD fails. Meanwhile, IBM sells RAID arrays built to withstand earthquakes, fire damage, power failures, collisions up to 27 G's worth of force. Mmmmkay.
"on X-Chat"? (Score:2)
Perhaps you mean "I've been on IRC with..." instead? Dammit Hemos, you sound like the newbies who say "I was talking to somebody on mIRC yesterday," you should know better than that.
Re:X Themes (Score:3)
For example...the original poster's itch was using Windowmaker themes in Sawfish. OK - first you have to make a "generic" Windowmaker theme for Sawfish (or if there's already a good one available, modify that) with "hooks" for the various Windowmaker theme components (gradients, pixmaps, etc...) -- then you'll have to make a parser that goes through the Windowmaker theme, and converts everything to a format your meta-theme can understand.
I'm not much of a programmer myself (I dabble in perl a bit) but that's a heckuva lot more complicated than I just made it sound. =)
The real problems will come when you're trying to convert a theme from an "uber-shell wm" like Enlightenment (that has many, many different configs) to a more restrictive wm, like Windowmaker.
Re:Nice to know how reliable VA's own hardware is. (Score:2)
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Re:Nice to know how reliable VA's own hardware is. (Score:2)
~luge
palm.themes.org (Score:1)
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Re:Welcome back Themes.Org (Score:2)
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get behind me satan! (Score:2)
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Re:In Search of Contraband... (Score:2)
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Re:Drive (thus Site) go Bye-Bye?!? (Score:2)
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Semantics may not match (Score:2)
The real trick would be to identify the bits that *are* common between, say, GTK+ and QT themes, and let those be shared, and provide a mechanism to allow your theme designers to do the toolkit specific bits.
Or everyone else could stop using (insert non-favourite WM/toolkit here) and switch to (insert favourite WM/toolkit here) the problem would go away . . . :)
Go you big red fire engine!
Re:Apple hatred (Score:2)
They should probably take a hint from Sun since they make most of their cash from hardware. After all, most MacOS folks would not download their OS, they would still buy the CD.
However, you can't forget the ridiculous look and feel copyrigth nonsense mail they sent to themes.org on a couple of their themes that were modeled after their venerable OS. That is enough to make most
There are two types of people who are suspicious or hate Apple.
1) You got the guys who are pissed off at the legal tactics pulled off on themes.org. I can't blame them I used those themes and nobody is going to mistake my linux box for a Mac. I can't really blame these folks. You think a company is getting cool releasing some of their source code to the world and think they might have a clue, then, -BLAM!- they let their lawyers pull that kind of bonehead play.
2) You got people who hate Apple because they hate everything that isn't linux and Open Source. Some go far as to just blindly hate everything that is big and corporate. They hate Intel so they use AMD. They hate Microsoft, which is just normal everyone hates Mickey$oft. They hate, hate, hate, hate...
BTW, they can't legally take their hardware but they could shut down the site through the courts if they ever got really ticked off of at the Mac OS modeled themes again.
Not all people are necessarily suspicious Apple's intentions. I think the company's leaders actually believe they are trying to do the right thing and make money at the same time.
Re:Apple hatred (Score:1)
Re:Nice to know how reliable VA's own hardware is. (Score:1)
The AC has a point - real web hosting is never supposed to go down. You use redundant hardware, failover, etc., but the service remains available. Of course hardware fails from time to time, but with a properly designed system your site doesn't die with it.
Of course, t.o probably isn't the most important site that VA is running gratis; imagine if SourceForge had been down...
Vaporware? (Score:1)
please shut the hell up until then.
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Re:Themes are good, but... (Score:2)
well to be fair there is another benefit to the current crop of buggy, slow, and complicated OSs and that's that they are quite useful for most workloads and applications now. and it is hard to see how another os would be immune: as the capabilities the kernel provides increase, so does its size, and the number of bugs introduced. most every os at one time or another has been small, fast, and nearly bug-free; then it got useful.
the job security thing though is another miss too. anyone in a company is basically interchangable, and there is always going to someone able to step in and get up to speed with things. with the free oses there is no job to secure. or perhaps you mean by the users?
os's are complicated because they do complicated things. they're buggy because doing complicated things is hard. on the otherhand you are always free to run a single task at a time, and take care of your own memory management.
i say this not so much for your benefit, as for mine. i have successfully avoided working on stuff for 15 minutes.
anonymous hero indeed!
MS's good products (Score:1)
I call BS on that one. Office 2001:mac is a GREAT product. It is more Mac-like than any product they've made for a color Mac in the past. The last great version of Word for the Mac was Word 4.0. Also, IE 5 for the Mac (classic not OS X) is a very good product. A lot of people seem to have problems with it, but I do not. I just wish that MS would sync some of the cool features of the IE 5 (Mac) and IE 5.x (Windows).
Mike
Re:Siezing? (Score:3)
Shouldn't the stormtroopers' whole body armor be in the iMac colors? Ruby, Indigo, Snow, Sage, Graphite, Tangarine, etc.
Mike
Re:Nice to know how reliable VA's own hardware is. (Score:1)
Question: How did this AC get +3 for this troll?
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I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
Re:Siezing? (Score:1)
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I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
Depends... (Score:2)
For example, what if the controller board on the drive dies?
One could say "Well, go down to Fry's and buy a new drive, slap it in and restore!", but rarely is it that simple.
You see, hardware manufacturers sometimes have maintenance contracts (and when I mean hardware, I mean the high end, "sell-yo-mamma-to-afford-it" type stuff) that stipulate that in order for the contract and warantee on the product to remain valid, you must do all service through the manufacturer.
That means when something fails, you have to call them, get them to come out when they can (at _their_ earliest possible conveniance), then they have to diagnose the problem, say "Yep, it's the hard drive alright!", then they call in to get a replacement hard drive - but maybe they don't have a spare, so it needs to be overnighted or couriered in from IBM or somewhere, then they get it, install it, verify it is working, then let you restore your data (which might take a day in itself, depending on if you send tapes out for offsite storage, and your rotation happened just before the crash, so now your tapes are in transit to storage - wait some more!).
Later in the month they send you a check for [bignum] bucks...
So, while in theory something that could have been done in a day using COTS hardware and a good admin, generally takes a ton of time when dealing with the higher end hardware. In this case, I don't think themes.org has to worry about a bill, they are probably doing a managed co-lo somewhere, and don't own the hardware. If they _do_ own the hardware, oh-boy, will they love the bill (at that point it becomes an issue whether you should stick to high-end, or go with a more COTS solution, and hope it doesn't break often under load)...
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Mod this down - I'm a dip... (Score:2)
What I was speaking of tends to happen when you work with companies like Sun, SGI, or IBM - but it is truely amazing when it takes this long for a company that built and runs the hardware to fix the problem...
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Re:Nice to know how reliable VA's own hardware is. (Score:1)
Slashdot is run by employees.
Linux.com and themes.org are community sites run
by a handful of employees and lots of volunteers
worldwide (including some sysadmins).
1) many of these people, not only aren't paid
obviously, but they have lives, especially
during the weekend
2) As for on staff people who had physical access
to the machine to help out, one was moving this
weekend and the other one was sick.
3) Coordinating with people on the other side of
the globe on a weekend ain't always a piece of
cake.
So sure, flame along, when you've been a sysadmin
on call (without necessarily being paid for it),
we can talk about it again.
BTW,
Re:Good job, VA! Advertise the fact your gear blow (Score:2)
Sure, a drive died, but the machine was running RAID obviously, and the array was still working after that, but due to some unknown problem, the machine crashed and the kernel refused to load after a reboot (either a problem on disk, or an admin problem which caused an bad kernel to be installed)
Hard to say for sure after the fact, but at this point it can be a software problem as well as a hardware one (or even a admin mistake)
Re:X Themes (Score:1)
I can see it now... the iHelmet (Score:2)
And all the time shouting "what? what?", because you can't hear a thing on those Bang and Olfson headsets...
Gee... (Score:2)
Kinda funny that no one noticed the great big OSDN banner at the top of every page on the site.
Can you say cross promotion?
I knew you could...
Apple hatred (Score:2)
Are linux users that suspicious/ full of hate of Apple? What reasoning can people use to come to the conclusion that Apple can seize theme.org's hardware? I don't mean this as flamebait, but come on, how can *Apple* legally grab their hardware?
Re:Apple hatred (Score:2)
But there's a big difference between asking themes.org to remove something (something themes.org has done in the past and say they agree with protecting copyrights) and assuming that Apple had taken the site's hardware.
I'm just guessing here, but I would think that themes.org would notify it's audience that Apple was threatening legal action long before a court decision was handed down that said the site must come down. There's also a big difference between having a site go down or offline and having the hardware confiscated as you pointed out. What I don't understand is why people would think Apple can take their hardware.
I also think it was a cheap shot to say that in the summary, but sadly, I'm not surprised.
As usually happens, the simplest explanation is the correct one. I just wish that people would think before making accusations that just dont make sense.
As for point 2 I see that way too often here, especially in the last year. I have this love/hate thing for
Anyway, glad I got a reasoned response, even though I agree with everything you said, I was hoping somebody else would say it in a polite manner.
Re:Apple hatred (Score:2)
I am certainly not in love with Apple. However, I am in love with the Mac interface. It makes computing a pleasure for me unlike my experience with either Windows or Linux. I don't won't to speak for others, but I would venture many Mac users would feel the same way.
I think your comments illustrate the failure of people to seperate the product from the company. Believe it or not, MS makes some good products. They're just on the Mac!
"Apple is primarily a money-making venture; innovation, law suits, image, style, quality, open source, and other issues are merely means to that end."
Well I think that's the defintion of a business. I think businesses should be able to make a (reasonable) profit. But again, I think the reaction that somehow Apple stole theme.org's hardware steps way over the line of common sense.
If there was a history of Apple grabbing other people's hardware, I could understand, but AFAIK that's never happened. The worst cases I am familiar with (and I've been following Apple on the web for about 4 years now) is the "cease and desist" letter usually followed up by the removal of the content in question. The fact that themes.org has done this in the past would seem to strengthen the argument that Apple *didn't* take their hardware to me.
But just because Apple defends it's IP doesn't mean they'd do a raid and seize hardware on their own initiaitive.
Re:Drive (thus Site) go Bye-Bye?!? (Score:2)
get 2 IDE drives dammit and mirror them. Linux can do this. *BSD also. Or get a hw raid card if you're too lazy to configure
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Siezing? (Score:3)
I just got an image in my head of a bunch of Apple stormtroopers, looking much like the Star Wars versions, except with different colored, large, shiny apple logos on their chest, marching in and siezing hardware. And Jeff Goldblum, dressed in black, coming in right behind them, saying "I want those themes.org maintainers alive!"
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Backup... (Score:1)
Pretty Much (Score:2)
What it boils down to is Apple and Microsoft are in the way of our World Domination plans. Of course, we're in the way of theirs too, so I suspect it kind of evens out...
X Themes (Score:2)
I'm planning on writing a library frontend to themes that would let any window manager and widget set use all themes by going through the library. There would be a universal theme format as well for eventual use that would be WM/Widget set unspecific. Any thoughts on the idea?
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Re:I'm sorry? (Score:1)
Re:Idiot. (Score:1)
So tap or I hyperextend your elbow, groundwork freak...
peace
dont reply to this
Re:Idiot. (Score:1)
Re:Themes are good, but... (Score:1)
Re:Good job, VA! Advertise the fact your gear blow (Score:1)
Acceleration stands for change of speed in relation to time. If you drom something on a hard surface, the time it takes to decelerate to 0 is very short, so you get astoundingly high accelerations (or decelerations, in that case) even though the speed wasn't all that high.
Re:Good job, VA! Advertise the fact your gear blow (Score:2)
As for the second, I fail to see how withstanding fire or earthquake is funcionality that a RAID array should or could provide, and 27g of acceleration is downright pathetic, because you get peak accelerations that are a multiple of that if you just drop a HD a few inches on a hard surface, and most of your ragular, cheap-as-dirt ATA HDs can actually withstand that without a problem.
Re:on the contrary (Score:2)
Aqua and Dr. Mario (Score:2)
So, where can I get those OSX themes
If you remove the parts with copyright and trademark restrictions (i.e. remove any Apple and Mac logos and make the pills look slightly different), you get the newer crop of aqua-like themes. But while you're waiting for them to show up, you can play Vitamins [8m.com], a Dr. Mario clone that makes fun of Aqua.
Siezing hardware?! (Score:1)
Re:Siezing? (Score:1)
Re:Seizing? (Score:1)
I'm sorry? (Score:1)
Apple seizing the hardware is bs - come on. Apple is not the government...
I think this thread should focus on servers - A sorta ask slashdot thing - If a failure of one HDD takes your server down, is it really a server?
Oh well...
I have a shotgun, a shovel and 30 acres behind the barn.
sup? (Score:1)
And as for the booger thing, that point sucked. sorry, but you, fellow slashdot sheep, are either really bored or retarded.
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
"Nuclear weapons can destroy all life on earth,
if used properly" -David Byrne
- - - I like the light airy taste of menthol
There are three types of people in the world; those who can count, and those who can't.
When I was your age, I had to walk across the room to change the channel!
Fact: there are a lot of wierd loonies arround talking utter drivel.
1:30:17
-- The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you kill them.
I hope Jesus was right when he said the meek would inherit the earth; the stupid have it at the moment.
(*SIGH* Now *I'M* taking pot shots at Microsoft on
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
-- Suddenly, I realized, everything had gone terribly wrong. - Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in LV
--- "Don't mind me cutting myself on Occam's Razor"
"Genetically, you are much closer to a chimp than a chimp is to an orangutan. Mentally, too."
This is just a test........ if this was an actual sig, you would have been mildly amused..........
Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
100% of statistics are misleading.
Of course, this whole thing prompted the (poor) joke: Q: What's the difference between an Airbus and a chainsaw? A:10,000 trees per minute
Observation: Cleverness of code is proportional to facial hair. OTOH, code quality is inversely proportional
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - B.F.
All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands ab...
There may be many reasons not to kill you, but among them is not that you'll be missed by NASA - The Long Kiss Goodnight
The AOL-Time Warner-Microsoft-Intel-CBS-ABC-NBC-Fox corporation:
Meeting all your entertainment needs
I came here for a good argument!
No you didn't! No, you came here for an argument.
Q: What's the difference between a Harley motorcycle and a Hoover vacuum cleaner? A: The Hoover has the dirtbag on the inside.
If Linux were a beer, it would be shipped in open barrels so that anybody could piss in it before delivery.
GET A FUCKING JOB - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!!
On a second thought, Methinks I might change my sig.
I'm thinking something along the lines of "newaza is a worthless pile of stinking dogshit that doesn't contribute to society - he has nothing better to do than to troll on
Might not be
I have a shotgun, a shovel and 30 acres behind the barn.
Since when is this news? (Score:1)
Must be a slow news day.
How about some news [yahoo.com] that does affect more than seven people? Granted not the first choice of slashdotters, but it does affect a lot of people.
not too bad (Score:1)
Re:Siezing? (Score:1)
Re:Good job, VA! Advertise the fact your gear blow (Score:1)
Re:Apple hatred (Score:1)
Apple couldn't legally take their hardware, but they could get a judge to issue a warrant and have the police sieze the computers (ala Steve Jackson Games, DeCSS, etc.).
But I'm glad to see that Apple hasn't gone that nuts... yet.
Viv
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Welcome back Themes.Org (Score:1)
Me too been off slashdot (Score:1)
yea! (Score:1)
xchat link (Score:2)
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Tres_Status
Re:Themes are good, but... (Score:1)
Damn, just when I rebuilt my Laptop! (Score:1)
Got on over the weekend to get some kick-butt KDE2.1 themes, and found T.O offline! I was very dismayed....
Re:Apple hatred (Score:1)
But it doesn't seem implausible for Apple to get a court injunction and have the police pull the plug. I was assuming that that was what people implied happened.
Re:Apple hatred (Score:2)
And some people misinterpret the relationship between consumers and corporations as one between natural persons. It isn't. It is perfectly legitimate for Apple to consider having themes.org shut down if they violate their copyright, and it is perfectly legitimate for people to discuss the possibility. "Apple" is not a person whose feelings can be hurt by such discussions.
Re:Apple hatred (Score:3)
So, yes, many people are suspicious of Apple, and based on Apple's history, there is some reason for that. I think one can ask with equal justification why so many people are so in love with Apple. The truth is probably somewhere in between: Apple is primarily a money-making venture; innovation, law suits, image, style, quality, open source, and other issues are merely means to that end. Sometimes, they may be genuine, sometimes they are merely faked.
Re:"on X-Chat"? (Score:1)
ROTFL (Score:2)
"I find your lack of faith... refreshing. Continue to Think Different, in accord with company policy."
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I miss Ron E (Score:1)
Re:Themes are good, but... (Score:1)
If it WALKS like a troll, KWAKS like a troll, but carries a SIGN that says NOOO TRULL; what would your most likely course of action be?
On X-Chat? Lol.... (Score:1)
On X-Chat? (Score:1)
Re:"on X-Chat"? (Score:2)
Which reminds me of my main point.
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