Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 16th Dec 2007 17:57 UTC
The first publicly available test release of Vista SP1 has been released a few days ago, release candidate 1. "The Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate is now available to the public. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 contains changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several new technologies. SP1 also addresses some management, deployment, and support challenges." Ars reports that it finally enables the hotpatching support in Vista.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Unix systems gladly replace system libraries that are in use, and just hope that not problems happen because two different versions of the same library are in use simultaneously. The further away from the core libraries you get, the lower the odds of a problem, but it's still a risk. The Unix approach is basically "Let's just go ahead and do it, it'll probably be ok."
But at the end of the day, I want control over my operating system. I'll decide whether or not something is deleted, whether or not it is over written. UNIX treats me like an adult and says, "if you want to do that, you know the risks, you're a big boy".
Windows takes the safe approach of only updating libraries that are not in use. I'm sure you'd wind up with weird glitches if your apps were using multiple versions of GDI simultaneously. The Windows approach is "It may be ok to update this now, or it may not. Just to be safe, let's not update it until we can guarantee it's safe."
But it continuously fails everytime; as pointed out by one person, claiming that a file is 'in use' but never used; claiming an application is in use even though the application has been killed (and all dependencies). If Microsoft can't get it right, then they should take the UNIX approach until such time that they can get their 'secure solution' working.
The Vista implementation tries to free up libraries, and if it can, will then update them in place.
But when things go pear shaped you end up with half finished updates. I've had numerous updates fail from the very first Windows - all due to this stupid 'locking' idea Microsoft adopted.
Like I said, give me the end user power, if I balls up my system, its because I do so of my own choice, don't think that you as the operating system know what I want as an end user. If I want to over write, delete or modify a file, I want to do it for a good reason.
Member since:2007-06-09
But it continuously fails everytime
While I agree with you in a general way, it doesn't fail every time. It doesn't even fail every thousand times. Considering how many files are opened and closed even by the hour, it is probably close to a one in a million thing.
But I do agree. And if you really must do it that way, at least give us fuser. a simple fuser -k could have saved me quite a few reboots, it would be a simple solution to a stupid issue.
Member since:2005-07-06
But at the end of the day, I want control over my operating system. I'll decide whether or not something is deleted, whether or not it is over written. UNIX treats me like an adult and says, "if you want to do that, you know the risks, you're a big boy".
And that would work really well for most Windows users...
Member since:2007-08-11
Unix systems gladly replace system libraries that are in use, and just hope that not problems happen because two different versions of the same library are in use simultaneously. The further away from the core libraries you get, the lower the odds of a problem, but it's still a risk. The Unix approach is basically "Let's just go ahead and do it, it'll probably be ok."
And it is ok 99% of the time, unless you do something you shouldn't. Thats your fault though, not a fault of unix.
Its a lot simpler and less error prone than you make out. Different versions of a library are almost always Newer versions which are also backwards compatible with older versions. They either add features whilst keeping the interface and old features intact, or they fix bugs in existing features whilst keeping the behaviour the same. If an app worked with an older library it will work just the same with the newer one. All you need to do to make sure your app is using the newer library is close it and re-open it. If you're worried about the newer library containing bugs that will crash your apps...consider that this is just as likely to happen in windows and has nothing to do with what we're talking about.
I've used Linux for 6+ years now and never noticed a problem with library versions. All I noticed is that reboots are only necessary if I'm upgrading the kernel.
Windows takes the safe approach of only updating libraries that are not in use. I'm sure you'd wind up with weird glitches if your apps were using multiple versions of GDI simultaneously. The Windows approach is "It may be ok to update this now, or it may not. Just to be safe, let's not update it until we can guarentee it's safe."
safe approach? or easier approach? Its just the way they chose to do it. admit that its not as good...
The Vista implementation tries to free up libraries, and if it can, will then update them in place.
and if it cant free them up? we then have the same problem we always had, with no solution. reboot?
Member since:2005-10-19
Member since:2006-06-21
Unix systems gladly replace system libraries that are in use, and just hope that not problems happen because two different versions of the same library are in use simultaneously.
They aren't used "simultaneously", at least not in the way you're implying. To put it in a simplistic manner: running processes have already read the previous version of the library and have everything that's needed with them. New processes will read the new version. The replacement of the library on disk happens transparently, and atomically, may I add.
What you probably mean is that at some point you may have two processes running with different "snapshots" of files (config files, libraries etc.) That happens to be one of the most useful and powerful features of *nix OS's. It does extremely little harm (most of which is purely academical) and a lot of good.
Consider for example that I can run the same application several times side by side with different libraries and configurations and compare them first-hand. Doing the same in Windows would require duplicating the entire install base of the application and tweaking each copy.
If you want practical uses, they're all around us. I for instance tweak my fontconfig settings by launching several gcolor2 processes and changing my .fonts.conf in between. Then I can compare the font rendering variants in much greater detail.
Member since:2006-01-19
"Unix systems gladly replace system libraries that are in use"
Not really
usually you have the library abailable as:
liblibrary.so.1.2.3
and two symbolic links
liblibrary.so.1.2 -> liblibrary.so.1.2.3
liblibrary.so.1 -> liblibrary.so.1.2.3
What happens if someone "updates" on linux to liblibrary.so.1.2.4 ?
very simple: the old version is kept for programs which need the old one, and the symbolic links are reset to point to the new version.
And the new version has to be binary compatible with the old one, otherwise it would have to be a 2.0.0 release.
I experienced not one updating problem due to replaced libraries in 8 years of Linux usage. What happened was a mangled Kernel after a Kernel update (must have been too serious byte-flipping on the hardware or in the wire, because a re-download and reinstall cured the problem).
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 21:50 UTC
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:15 UTC
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."More News »
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Member since:
2007-12-16
Unix systems gladly replace system libraries that are in use, and just hope that not problems happen because two different versions of the same library are in use simultaneously. The further away from the core libraries you get, the lower the odds of a problem, but it's still a risk. The Unix approach is basically "Let's just go ahead and do it, it'll probably be ok."
Windows takes the safe approach of only updating libraries that are not in use. I'm sure you'd wind up with weird glitches if your apps were using multiple versions of GDI simultaneously. The Windows approach is "It may be ok to update this now, or it may not. Just to be safe, let's not update it until we can guarentee it's safe."
The Vista implementation tries to free up libraries, and if it can, will then update them in place.