freshmeat.NET
 by jeff covey, in freshmeat - Mon, Apr 1st 2002 00:00 UTC

It's been a little over a year since the major code revision that led to freshmeat ][. The Web waits for no man, and the time has come to make sure we're in step with recent developments. Today, we're happy to announce our new name and our plans to incorporate important new technologies into the site.

The most obvious change is, of course, our new look. This is the year of the Xbox, which we at freshmeat consider the most important development in the history of console gaming. Since this is the first time a real software company has come out with a product to compete with those poseurs at Nintendo and Sony, we wanted to celebrate the event by adopting their dynamic, vibrant color scheme. We hope you're as excited about it as we are.

More fundamental changes are making their way into freshmeat's code. We've read a number of articles about Web programming this year (especially on this really cool site we found), and were surprised to find out that what we've been doing is outdated. We were using PHP, not realizing that everyone's giving up on that and moving to C#. To be honest, we really didn't know much about it. When we typed "C#" into Google, however, the first site that showed up in the search results was called "msdn". It was very reassuring to find positive information on a site with a name so similar to our parent company's name, and we took it as a good omen. According to what we read, C#:

• Embraces Emerging Web Programming Standards
• Eliminates Costly Programming Errors
• Reduces Ongoing Development Costs with Built-in Support for Versioning

It also provides:

• Better Mapping Between Business Process and Implementation
• Extensive Interoperability

We're not entirely certain what all that means yet, but it sounds really good, and we think you're going to appreciate the changes that will come from having the site running on up-to-date software. A representative from the company that wrote C# has been working with us on the migration, and he says freshmeat will be a lot more "robust", "reliable", and "synergistic" after the change. Sounds great.

Some of the changes will effect you directly. For example, we've been using our own home-brewed system for managing logins. After the migration, we'll be adopting a Web standard called "Passport". As this standard is adopted by sites all over the Web, you'll be able use the same system to log in at freshmeat and everywhere else!

Even better, the Passport RFC includes support for financial transactions, so it will take care of the implementation of the ideas we're adopting from two of our sister sites.

Like SlashDot, we're going to implement a subscription system that we know you'll enjoy. We haven't decided exactly what kinds of subscriptions you'll be able to purchase yet, and we'd love to have your suggestions about what you'd like to pay for. The filtering system will definitely become a fee-based system; you'll be given the chance to pay for each project that doesn't show up on the front page. We're pretty sure that authors will be paying for each announcement they submit and readers will pay to post comments. Many of the details (like how much you'll pay for each hit that's directed to your site) are still being worked out.

We're going to be adopting quite a lot of things from themes.org, one of which is the ability to purchase freshmeat theme packs which will change the look of the site. Whenever you get tired of looking at one set of colors, you'll be able to purchase a different set. If you decide to go back to the one you had before, you just have to purchase it again. This means that if you really don't like the Xbox theme (and we know there are a few people who are picky about these sorts of things), you'll be able to buy a subscription to the boring old blue and white one.

It's going to take us some time to roll out all of these and many more changes we have in the pipeline, but we're so excited about it all that we had to share the good news with you right away. We look forward to all your ideas and suggestions; please post your comments below.

A final word: Any time of transition is bound to be a little stressful, so we'll appreciate your patience. There will be a few rough spots in the road as we replace our legacy systems, but we hope you'll just sit tight with us. We think you'll be flying high when, suddenly, everything clicks.

[Comments are disabled]

 Comments

[»] Just for posterity..
by BozMo - Jul 30th 2004 06:22:11

it would be nice to have a screen pic of the "new look" for those of us who missed it at the time BozMo

--
BozMo

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[»] Green on black is microsoft-like??
by linuxknight - Jun 22nd 2002 18:34:32

What are you talking about? Microsoft.com uses the same blue
and white freshmeat always uses. The new theme is LESS
like microsoft.

--
Signed, Linuxknight

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[»] LOL
by TKO - Jun 16th 2002 14:41:47

I had more fun reading the comments than the article
8-) You guys at Freshmeat kill us with that wit!

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[»] Re: LOL
by Agent - May 8th 2004 01:58:50


> I had more fun reading the comments than
> the article
> 8-) You guys at Freshmeat kill us with
> that wit!
> hahahah so true, I havn't been around long but some of the comments are just too funny, an ever funnier thing was the other day my fiance says what site is that, i said freshmean lol, she was like what... hahha

--
Real Estate - Rentals

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[»] Birthday Boy
by thyhorror - Apr 2nd 2002 18:21:07

Born april 1st 8:30 am
being as such , I was not fooled for even half a second . and for you all that could kick yourselves .... don't feel bad . it takes years of torture on 4/1 to be able to catch it easy.

I did find what freshmeat did funny though .

--
Now that my house has burned down I have a much better view of the moon.

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[»] heavy sigh...
by Kid Shenck - Apr 2nd 2002 00:39:42

The really sad thing is that I know several people who believe those things about C# and Passport.

"Microsoft: Standards were meant to be proprietary."

--
-- This space for rent.

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[»] I hope this is an April Fool's joke
by BiermanA - Apr 1st 2002 19:07:40

After being outraged for at least 10 minutes, I remembered the calendar. <B>This is some sort of April fool's joke, right?</B> Please tell me it's joke.

<I>Please tell me it's a joke so I can click my red shoes together and go back to Kansas...</I>

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[»] Bravo
by mr. shin hiko fugu momorin - Apr 1st 2002 18:56:17

Congratulations on this new chapter in Freshmeat history, I for one, embrace this brave new world of opensource pay-per-access. Perhaps this is the way us OSS programmers will be able to make money on our free code.

Do you take Paypal?

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[»] Getting Worked Over!!!
by nategrim - Apr 1st 2002 17:53:09

I have been thinking for weeks on who to emotionally or physically scar on April Fools Day. Damn, all the time I was reading the article, I was being WORKED; I was the one who was bent over on the table and spanked. I tip my hat to the victor (Freshmeat.NET). Well, if you are serious, may the Gods of pang, anguish, and torture rain upon you like HAILSTONES on a Honda.

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[»] green!
by asdffdsa.net - Apr 1st 2002 17:36:06

Hey, green is definitely better! At least it's not blue.

Funny about passport.

--
Yo Slack!

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[»] New colours?
by Dread Quixadhal - Apr 1st 2002 17:33:53

Someone told me that you changed your site to green-on-black colours today.... how is this any different than usual? My vt100 terminal always looks green-on-black.

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[»] Whoops.
by Kid Shenck - Apr 1st 2002 16:57:46

Dang it. I keep forgetting that it's April Fools Day. I was getting really worried.

In fact, I was fooled until they referred to ZDNet as "this really cool site we found."

That's pretty funny, I suppose.

--
-- This space for rent.

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[»] April fools!!!
by Jay - Apr 1st 2002 15:25:18

ROFL! How funny! I would've never thought of this. lol! Anyway, the site runnin' a lil slow today....

--
--- You know, most people wouldn't always be in the dark about things if they'd just pull their heads from their rectom......

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[»] the great betrayal - the moving to the .NET platform
by Vlad Galu - Apr 1st 2002 14:44:30

Well, to be honest, it came as a shock for me. It simply didn't fit among the ideas I had about the software world. How there can a site dedicated to open source development embrace such a sollution ? I thought they represented an exponent of the free movement, a header to quality. I sincerely have reasons to believe that someone at Freshmeat's HQ's has been bought by MS. I have no other explanation for this happening. Or, could this be the 1st of July ? :)

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[»] color scheme
by mhoenicka - Apr 1st 2002 13:19:05

I had to see an eye surgeon after visiting freshmeat today. Guess I'll sue.

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[»] The gods save me from 4/1!!
by X-Nc - Apr 1st 2002 12:44:22

I really hate 4/1! I was never fond of April Fools jokes* to begin with, but now it's nearly impossible to deal with. Every site in existence is running some kind of 4/1 joke and it basically makes today worthess WRT info gathering.



* Ok, the reason I hate Apris Fools day is because I am THE MOST GULLABLE living being in the history of the universe. I am not exagerating, either. I will fall into the most unreal jokes and tricks no matter how obvious they might be.

--
If I actually _could_ spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.

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[»] Re: The gods save me from 4/1!!
by thyhorror - Apr 2nd 2002 18:05:49

winer ! 4/1 is my birthday and you got no idea how bad it can get . ;) Thy

--
Now that my house has burned down I have a much better view of the moon.

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[»] great fun, but...
by someone - Apr 1st 2002 11:13:16

I really enjoyed that article, indeed this year's best April fool hoax!

But could you please switch back to the old color scheme? This stuff really hurts my eyes...

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[»] Please return the old color scheme once A1 is over
by Pavel Roskin - Apr 1st 2002 11:11:44

but I appreciate your efforts to make Freshmeat look funny this day.

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[»] slashdot = goatse
by Joe Theriault - Apr 1st 2002 11:08:44

I thought the link to /. really pointing goatse was funny, sometimes I wonder :)

--
}; // the_1000th_Monkey Don't let the world get you down. That's just what it wants.

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[»] Save your eyes - go to [My Preferences]
by Howard M. Lewis Ship - Apr 1st 2002 11:07:28

You can revert to the "baby blue" skin by jumping to your [My Preferences] page.

I was truly afraid of this "XBox Skin" until I read the article. Pretty darn funny. Funnier still how many people ignore the calendar and fall for this stuff.

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[»] MS Finally wins
by phlyingpenguin - Apr 1st 2002 11:04:39

Its good that you open source junkies finally realize that MS is da bomb and open source blows.

LOL THIS IS THE BEST GIFT YOU COULD GIVE FOR APRIL 1!!!!

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[»] Ouch
by Peter - Apr 1st 2002 10:18:24

Sorry, but htis new color scheme really hurts. I rather preferred the old colors, because the page looked more like the concept behind Freshmeat: clean, neat, easy to navigate. And for those out there who don't know what C# (or "C Sharp") is I provide some info:

C# is a programming language invented by Micro$oft. It's a migration between C/C++ and Java. Generally I'd say it's quite a good idea, if it wasn't made by Micro$oft. Many people say it's only been made to provide a counterpart to Java with the use Windows as platform instead of a platform-independend code. Also it still has quite a lot of bugs. For example the way it handles Objects and Threads: If a new object/thread is created and there isn't enough memory it forgets either one of the older or the new object/thread. I don't mean delete but really forgets! The forgotten object/thread simply goes to nirvana without notification to the system or user.

I don't want to say it's a bad idea to use C# but I'd rather wait until it is far more reliable. Just because the code behind Freshmeat is more than one year old it doesn't mean it's outdated. As long as it's reliable and able to handle all requests I would prefer to stick to the old code and wait a bit longer 'till C# is ready to use for the masses. Also, if you really decide to use Micro$oft's insecure "Passport" technology I'll have to think twice to keep on using your site as a registered user.

Have a lot of Fun!
Peter Ludikovsky

--
Don't let them take your rights! http://againsttcpa.com/

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[»] i thought you were hacked
by Rizen - Apr 1st 2002 09:52:35

As I was reading throught this article, I kept thinking to myself that some really talented microsoft enthusiast who happened to know about some security flaw in PHP hacked you. I'm glad to hear that I was "fooled".

--
Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it!

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[»] Ok...I was fooled....
by Mark Buckaway - Apr 1st 2002 09:42:21

Thanks for the reminder it's April 1. This goes up there with the Canadian Radio station last year that announced the release of the $5 coin on April 1 to replace the $5 bill in Canada.

Mark

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[»] Loved it, loved it!
by Richard Thrippleton - Apr 1st 2002 09:21:10

Sorry guys, but I wasn't fooled for long, as I was on the alert after slashdot's QT article.
But it was cool anyway :)

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[»] Good Try
by dajackman - Apr 1st 2002 09:06:41

I knew a few sites would be doing something funny....

Happy April fools......

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[»] Anyway to remove the horrible link to fake slashdot ?
by Francois Isabelle - Apr 1st 2002 07:54:05

If you haven't seen it yet, don't go.

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[»] Xbox should be number 1's april fools joke
by ZuchtJe - Apr 1st 2002 07:50:22

WTF was the first thing that came to mind , but after reading that 1 word Xbox i imediately knew it had to be april fools day

Great Joke though :)))
it even got my GF laughing :)

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[»] clickIt [tm]
by Konstantin Klyagin - Apr 1st 2002 07:22:05

I woke up in the morning with a strange feeling. Probably, I heard something clicked. I got up from the bed and it clicked again. Then I went to the bathroom, opened the water and heard the same tiresome sound. I washed my face while the clicking had became much louder. I was really surprised, and started looking for the source. After the balcony, computer, TV-set, window, etc were IEXPLORed I came back to the bathroom and noticed that the sound was going exactly from the lavatory pan. "Poor little johnny" - I thought, and pushed the button. What do you think? It clicked, and nothing happened. I looked inside and observed a large blue screen with a dump of all the pan's contents. It paled to black and got MONOchrome colors. The latter made me tremble like a lonely leave on a tree which couldn't resist the strong wind of unsaved changes. The whole world became pale and was clicking on and on with double strength. The comparison I imagined seemed really romantic, so I could't help coming up to my piano, though I nither had played it for about 10 years, nor had got an instrument at home, but it appeared just after another click. I was pressing buttons but all of them were sounding the same note. And it was C#. First I thought something was wrong there, but then I got used and liked the single note all the pianos in the world could produce. I felt myself a great mad composer like Mozart or Bach and pressed the buttons unleashing the madness.

Some time passed, good (really good and kind) people in white coats came to my place, dressed me in a comfortable easy-fitting shirt of the same beautiful white color. Now I am a happy programmer. I do C#, serf the Inter.NET and smile mysteriousy every time anything clicks.

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[»] theme
by Nathan - Apr 1st 2002 07:21:29

Love the new theme

--
Nathan Rzepecki RRC www.lionslair.net.aubiante

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[»] Re: theme
by PanSerg - Apr 1st 2002 14:01:50


> Love the new theme
Please, change that horrible black background back to white!



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[»] Re: theme
by -sonnyjz - Apr 1st 2002 14:21:01


> Love the new theme
Are you high or drunk?


--
-- sonnyjz

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[»] genious
by Michael P. Jung - Apr 1st 2002 06:25:37

You really got me until the middle of the text, then I realized: "No, that can't be..." - *think*... 1st April! *hahahahaha*

--
If there is Artificial Intelligence, then there's bound to be some artificial stupidity. (Thomas Edison)

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[»] Hahaha You almost got me there!
by Fredrik Steen - Apr 1st 2002 06:07:31

Halfways I started to turn pale my heart started to beat faster and then I remembered 1st of April! Phu.. I had a really good laugh! Thank you guys!

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[»] great joke
by ReinhardM - Apr 1st 2002 06:04:57

Who can explain that "X" to me? That "X", which is coming with the "box". Is it an "active" box? And how active is that box? What is it doing?

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[»] Hahaha It's not a joke :)
by gat3way (linuz,cannabis and 15-year old girls fan :-) ) - Apr 1st 2002 05:54:44

Let's lick Microsoft's @ss :-) It's not a 1 april joke,cause many people have already decided to do so... what are you waiting for? Christmas? Down with linux,apache,php,etc...NT,IIS and asp r0x :) Resistance is futile....surrender to the Microsoft Corporation now and save 20% for XP professional. Your network have never been so stable and secure.... Be smart,don't be a weak heart!!!

--
0x90 0x90 0x90 0x90 forever....never do anything until forced to,labour is for idiots :) /sorry for my poor English :-) /

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[»] good joke
by Justin Metcalfe - Apr 1st 2002 05:51:54

you know, it was a good idea and all, but gamefaqs.com did almost the exact same thing. i knew this one was a fake as soon as i saw it, because of your remark about the xbox and all the microsoft stuff.

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[»] Oh my god
by TheCool - Apr 1st 2002 05:45:11

I thought I was going to die. I didn't even realize that it was April 1st. I was sitting here with my morning cup of coffe and thinking "Did these guy just all of the sudden go off the deep end?"

But as I read the comments I realize that it is April 1st and Happy April Fool's Day.

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[»] Great!
by Rutger Swarts - Apr 1st 2002 05:20:10

and luckily the theme can be changed... just one thing - the images still are green on black. Can that be changed too?

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[»] Re: Great!
by Rutger Swarts - Apr 1st 2002 05:21:52

oops... at the moment the page reloded I saw them change...

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[»] :D :D :D
by Josef El-Rayes - Apr 1st 2002 05:17:11

my heart set out some beats while reading your article, very good fake!!!

well done joke for april 1st

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[»] Reading and Printing
by Mohammad Akram Ali Mehkri - Apr 1st 2002 04:59:20

Guys, Congrats on the new and really cool looking upgrade to the UI .... Really appreciate the change. Coming to the point... please note that
1. Printing white text on black background is painfull on lasers as the text is all printed very dull. plus ur florocent colors add to the already painful printing episode
2. Reading white on black is also against the checklist for a good website. it makes reading difficult and for ppl with not so great eyesite its is stressful to read white on black. Please remember that we read this on monitors that emit light so white color stands out and hurts the eye.

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[»] Want secure $$$ payement ?
by Thomas Goirand - Apr 1st 2002 04:42:45

Do you want to purchasse a secure payement for your skin payement ? Fill our secured payement form, and I will setup a "free" payement form on your website for purchassing other $$$ skins... ! :)

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[»] :)
by Ultor - Apr 1st 2002 04:19:28

Maybe Pink insteed of green would look more eleet ? ;)

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[»] ROTFL :-))))
by Michael Shigorin - Apr 1st 2002 04:18:46

Thanks guys. I've almost dropped down from the chair in the morning. It's far better joke than our yesterday's elections (in Ukraine)....

Well, after .COM meltdown it's quite natural to expect .NET one :o)

--
Michael Shigorin mike SOMEWHERE AT altlinux PLUS DOT org

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[»] LOL
by Iulian Liviu Ionescu - Apr 1st 2002 04:15:36

Cool stuff for fool's day! :) You made my day :)

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[»] What a horrible look!
by capape - Apr 1st 2002 04:03:42

This look is annoying and horrible. I hate it

Este look es molesto y horrible. Lo odio.

--
Antonio Capape Linux User #195898 -- La vida es un baile de ilusiones y el que no baila está muerto (Ariel Rot)

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[»] Re: What a horrible look!
by capape - Apr 1st 2002 04:21:43

After I've posted, I've read other posts What's the matter with the date? I don't understand very well. Is a day to make jokes? Well, I'm Spanish, and in Spain the day to make jokes is 28 December. What a shock! :)

--
Antonio Capape Linux User #195898 -- La vida es un baile de ilusiones y el que no baila está muerto (Ariel Rot)

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[»] Re: What a horrible look!
by Francois Isabelle - Apr 1st 2002 07:49:46

1st april is "Fool's day" or "Poisson d'avril" , it's the day to make fun of naive persons !!

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[»] Heh
by Michael Harkin - Apr 1st 2002 04:00:50

Yeah, it was very difficult to take this seriously noting the date at the top. Not quite as funny as what's on ThinkGeek, but at least you guys tried. Happy April.

--
What a long, strange trip it's been...

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[»] freshmeat's gone rancid
by be - Apr 1st 2002 03:20:56

so we'll see a retraction tomorrow???

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[»] nice one
by xayk - Apr 1st 2002 03:10:09

the first thought that came in my mind was .... what thaa...(damn colors.. i feel like i'm on astalavista.box.sk:)

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[»] Very good Joke
by Nipo - Apr 1st 2002 03:05:22

When I displayed freshmeat.net page, I thought my browser was going mad and that it did some color inversions...
white going black, light gray going dark, and blue going green... ;)
Then I remembered the date, and ran for an article... ;)

hum... I love it!

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[»] color scheme
by theGREENzebra - Apr 1st 2002 02:48:23

My first response was:
"Oh, they changed the colors for April 1st. Cool."

Then I realised there was a post.

Hey, it seems a lot of people like the colors (I'm a fan of high contrast, and I like green) and a lot of people don't (they probably use typical grey colored windows too [grin]).

Anyways, how about an April 2nd "gift" of user definable colors in our user prefs?

Wee.

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[»] Just a friendly reminder, for those of you living in a democratic republic
by sibn - Apr 1st 2002 02:35:41

That the nitwits who take this seriously... are the people responsible for electing your country's leaders. ;)

Oh, there is no hope for the human race. Six billion years in the making, and still stubborn as a donkey, dumb as a brick.

--
umm... i guess this is my signature. =)

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[»] MOMMY, PLEASE, MAKE THESE BAD PEOPLE STOP!
by Joshua Jackson - Apr 1st 2002 02:25:16

They are scaring all of the little children and giving me a headache trying to actually read the annoucements ;)

Seriously, the color scheme is making my eyes water.

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[»] don't sell out
by Dan Allen - Apr 1st 2002 02:17:36

OH my Lord, I think I have been damned. Maybe it was because I didn't go to church today. Don't sell out to Microsoft, C# is crap...PHP is not old news, it is just beginning to be what it deserves to be. And no subscription service, I will leave my favorite site forever in that case. Man, just when things were looking up too. Oh, and these colors SUCK, at least let me choose a theme if you are going to have shitty colors like this! Please, someone agree with me!!

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[»] Re: don't sell out
by Dan Allen - Apr 1st 2002 02:20:48

Man, I got played, just after posting I looked at the date. You got me, you got me. Well, at least you know we all love you! hehehe

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[»] Re: don't sell out
by Gerben - Apr 1st 2002 02:40:48


> Man, I got played, just after posting I
> looked at the date. You got me, you got
> me. Well, at least you know we all love
> you! hehehe
man, it took you that long :). the first part was rather believable, but when paying for comments and filtering and all that crap was mentioned....

good one, btw...

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[»] One of the lamest April 1st stories I've ever read.
by carlos - Apr 1st 2002 01:54:49

Duh.

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[»] Re: One of the lamest April 1st stories I've ever read.
by bionix - Apr 1st 2002 01:56:42

! thats right, i feel dumb, its only 11 here, not APRIL 1ST, ok, im going to bed, TY carlos for the 'awakening' * bionix crawls into his bed

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[»] Re: One of the lamest April 1st stories I've ever read.
by Trillium - Apr 1st 2002 02:48:48

Not lame compared to what slashdot thinks might be funny. If I thought sex was entertaining, I wouldn't be talking to a computer, let alone looking at freshmeat or slashdot.

If you don't have a passport, and if you don't have any money, and you just hang around reading web pages and emails, and uploading and downloading free software, and if it's a complete joke to propose that you pay anything for the privileges, not only won't the revenue models support you any more, existing laws will be enforced to prevent you from continuing to be a drag on the economy. eVagrancy costs America millions of dollars of lost productivity daily, and the arrests will continue. Move along; this ain't Disneyland.

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[»] Sounds like a case of ...
by VoodooManchino - Apr 1st 2002 01:51:28

The whole subscription stuff etc. sounds like you're adapting the philosophy of a certain site with all the "cows" on it, you know that site that has up-to date Linux software downloads with mirrors all over the world? PS: if you're a heavy online casino gambler or in need of registering your next domain you might feel at home there while browing the "latest" Linux downloads...

--
Linux B2B and end-user support, Linux hardware ratings and sales, howto's and news. Help and sponsors always welcome!

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[»] Re: Sounds like a case of ...
by bionix - Apr 1st 2002 01:53:20


> The whole subscription stuff etc. sounds
> like you're adapting the philosophy of a
> certain site with all the
> "cows" on it, you know that
> site that has up-to date Linux software
> downloads with mirrors all over the
> world? PS: if you're a heavy online
> casino gambler or in need of registering
> your next domain you might feel at home
> there while browing the
> "latest" Linux downloads...
poop

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[»] Funny but sad
by Blackcell - Apr 1st 2002 01:44:58

First the color was suspicious but then some keywords (msdn, passport) gave it all away. Sadly, I'm amazed how many people took ya'll seriously! The human race is surely doomed! C'mon people wake the hell up.

--
-Zman

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[»] OMG
by slak_hack - Apr 1st 2002 01:44:12

There are just SOME things not to joke about. I almost passed out wait i DID pass out!

--
-- Keith ---- http://www.frogcement.com ^Kx

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[»] Re: OMG
by bionix - Apr 1st 2002 01:51:58


> There are just SOME things not to joke
> about. I almost passed out wait i DID
> pass out!
> If this isn't a joke, freshmeat needs to rm -rf its web directory, microsoft has NO place in the Linux community.

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[»] Re: OMG
by frit - Apr 1st 2002 01:59:36


> There are just SOME things not to joke
> about. I almost passed out wait i DID
> pass out!
>
near heart attack here....


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[»] What Happened?
by Trillium - Apr 1st 2002 01:43:55

I was the first to figure this was a joke and post accordingly, I think. Did I spill the beans too quickly? My post got washed out.

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[»] Re: What Happened?
by Patrick Lenz - Apr 1st 2002 01:47:41


> I was the first to figure this was a
> joke and post accordingly, I think. Did
> I spill the beans too quickly? My post
> got washed out.
Yes, you did. :) I even sent you an email telling you I removed your comment.

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[»] I like it
by oksala - Apr 1st 2002 01:24:35

I hope you gonna change this outdated linux system
with a brand news window 2000.NET server which
is GREAT. Good jobs guys. But the color is a
little haxor like. I prefer red,green,blue and
yellow just like the Windows logo .
Thanks Good job !

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[»] I DID fall for it, but ....
by CompuSurf - Apr 1st 2002 01:24:01

I live in California, it is now 10:30PM, March 31st. I think you should have waited a few more hours. But I must admit, I fell for it...

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[»] Re: I DID fall for it, but ....
by Patrick Lenz - Apr 1st 2002 01:30:14


> I live in California, it is now 10:30PM,
> March 31st. I think you should have
> waited a few more hours. But I must
> admit, I fell for it...
And it's 7:30pm in New Zealand, blame the timezones :) We decided to launch this for midnight on the freshmeat servers.

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[»] The new X-Box look
by CompuSurf - Apr 1st 2002 01:21:56

I was SHOCKED to see the new X-Box look. I've been a freshmeat.net user for a while now, and somehow I assumed that you are a Linux software repository among other important things. I'm not sure if you know this, but SONY PS2 uses Linux as its operating system. Actually I'm sure you know it. Something or someone must have changed in your management? I can't begin to speculate. Regardless of who, why and how people write games, it is the end product that is important. SONY PS2 outperforms X-Box in many ways, I not only play games on it, I watch DVDs (option included in the $299 price tag) unlike X-Box. Microsoft makes good products, sure, if you want to pay for 'bugfull' software and no support unless you pay. I did consider buying X-Box because I believe that everything and everyone should be given the same consideration. I opted SONY PS2 (vs X-Box) and Linux (vs Windows NT/2000/XP). Thanks for giving me and others the opportunity to share our opinion.

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[»] Great joke
by MaDenosine - Apr 1st 2002 01:16:27

but can we keep the look? It's great!

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[»] Re: Great joke
by Kari Hurtta - Apr 1st 2002 02:40:55


> but can we keep the look? It's great! Unfortunately I read that now with lynx (without colors) so seems that I have lost all fun :-(

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[»] Re: Great joke
by Kari Hurtta - Apr 1st 2002 05:28:51


> % but can we keep the look? It's
> great!
> Unfortunately I read that now with
> lynx (without colors) so seems that I
> have lost all fun :-(
( Now I got machine where to run mozilla. )
Well, after all these colors seems mostly readable (at least on this monitor.)


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[»] very amusing
by Aragon C. Etzel - Apr 1st 2002 01:14:15

When I finally got off the floor from fainting, I was able to finish reading the article and had a good laugh.

I can't believe I fell for it.

--
Try Not! Do or Do Not. There is no Try. -Yoda

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[»] MSDN vs. OSDN
by Paul C. Bryan - Apr 1st 2002 01:13:47

Ah, oh how relieved I am to hear finally the move to industry-standard technologies, such as C#, and Passport.

Finally the open source world can realize that it can't just go off on tangents and develop novel technologies and protocols, publish them openly and expect everyone to collaborate.

Finally, we can follow standards developed by learned, wise and forward-thinking organizations who have the finances to spend millions or even billions getting things just perfect -- just right for them to continue leading us in specific directions.

Finally, we can cast off our open-source shackes, and stop worrying about how to make systems interoperate. We can stop worrying about which desktop is right, which API is best, which browser to use. Finally, we can rely on someone else to decide that for us.

And... the X-Box theme was the cherry on top. How better to represent our new direction to intellectual freedom -- or better freedom from intellect -- than by emulating one of the most proprietary and gratutiously marketed consoles of our day?

Cheers to Freshmeat.NET. I look forward to helping support you financially with new user fees, subscription services and theme surcharges. I think any red-blooded patriot should do the same.

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[»] Re: MSDN vs. OSDN
by emu - Apr 3rd 2002 14:41:32


> Ah, oh how relieved I am to hear finally
> the move to industry-standard
> technologies, such as C#, and
> Passport.
>
> Finally the open source world can
> realize that it can't just go off on
> tangents and develop novel technologies
> and protocols, publish them openly and
> expect everyone to collaborate.
>
> [snip]
>
> Finally, we can follow standards
> developed by learned, wise and
> forward-thinking organizations who have
> the finances to spend millions or even
> billions getting things just perfect --
> just right for them to continue leading
> us in specific directions.
>

While I know the tone of your post was sarcastic, I would like to point out that standards do cost a lot of money. Simply publishing a document is not enough. You have to negotiate with the various interested parties in a fair forum. You need to work out all of the ambiguities in the document. This is why organizations such as ANSI and IEEE exist. The cost is in the politics. For example, Perl might change any day on the whim of Mr. Wall, but every ANSI Common Lisp implementation must adhere to the standard. It's a bigger responsibility for the latter. While there are certainly free and open-source versions of standardized languages, that doesn't mean that forming the standard was cheap.

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[»] Re: MSDN vs. OSDN
by Brian Smith - Apr 4th 2002 13:23:55


> While there are certainly free and
> open-source versions of standardized
> languages, that doesn't mean that
> forming the standard was cheap.
Breaking standards, on the other hand, is obviously cheap.

One example: Microsoft STL

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[»] About time...
by Noviota - Apr 1st 2002 01:01:28

No not about time freshmeat went the way of microsoft. But about time some more april fools jokes showed up. Being in New Zealand its dinner time before most of them show up.

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[»] A marvellous announcement
by Tony Williams - Apr 1st 2002 00:49:56

I'm glad to see that one of the most useful parts of the Open Source Developers Network chose such an auspicious date to announce it's intention to get in behind some of the most powerful, wonderful and technically superior technologies ever to grace the Universe.

It is a proud moment for all programmers everywhere that you have chosen to embrace the the triple crown of C#, .NET and themes.org all at once.

Oh, and the colour scheme, tears of joy roll down my face at the absolute certainy with which you overturned the tenets of readability and usability to grab this opportunity to be led by fashion, dare I say it, indeed fad. Your courage overwhelms me.

My one small tear of regret is that you didn't recognise the similarity between msdn and osdn as an opportunity and realize your true destiny. Surely a merger with msdn is the one true path to enlightment.

Once again my congratulations on such a marvellous celebration of this auspicious date. I hope my few words of encouragement are a small return.

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[»] Re: A marvellous announcement
by e-d0uble - Apr 1st 2002 00:56:59

I may die laughing =)


> I'm glad to see that one of the most
> useful parts of the
> Open Source Developers Network chose
> such an
> auspicious date to announce it's
> intention to get in
> behind some of the most powerful,
> wonderful and
> technically superior technologies ever
> to grace the
> Universe.
>
> It is a proud moment for all
> programmers everywhere
> that you have chosen to embrace the
> the triple crown
> of C#, .NET and themes.org all at
> once.
>
> Oh, and the colour scheme, tears of
> joy roll down my
> face at the absolute certainy with
> which you
> overturned the tenets of readability
> and usability to
> grab this opportunity to be led by
> fashion, dare I say it,
> indeed fad. Your courage overwhelms
> me.
>
> My one small tear of regret is that
> you didn't recognise
> the similarity between msdn and osdn
> as an
> opportunity and realize your true
> destiny. Surely a
> merger with msdn is the one true path
> to
> enlightment.
>
> Once again my congratulations on such
> a marvellous
> celebration of this auspicious date. I
> hope my few
> words of encouragement are a small
> return.


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[»] Very funny
by brank - Apr 1st 2002 00:59:38

This is certainly more clever than what passes for april fools' on slashdot most years.

I admit, my first impulse was to load up my prefs page and find a way to switch to colors back.

Then I took a look at my handy dandy E-Time epplet and realized what day it was. Nice.

P.S.: If the colors don't change back by april second, I will personally fund development of a freshmeat replacement out of my pizza money. I may not be kidding.

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[»] freshmeat.NET.net
by Robin Locksley - Apr 1st 2002 00:48:17

Congratulations, guys! Onward and upward, say I. I can't wait to have all my e-commerce info in one reliable place -- Passport -- where I need it. Good on you! Chocks away!

You ought to consider adpoting Micro Soft's .NET framework, as it dovetails beatifully with your new vision, as far as I can tell. I think you should also change our URL to freshmeat.NET.net. It has a nice ring to it.

Luv the new skin, too. All the best,
>-RL->

--

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[»] This is just what I needed.
by Ryan - Apr 1st 2002 00:46:28

Thanks FM for the laugh. I've been studying for a job interview for about four days now and this was just the break I was needing at this point. I think what makes this even better is the fact that April 1st comes every year and without fail some poor sap falls for some joke. Keep up the good work guys.

--
"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." --Mahatma Ghandi

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[»] heh
by inhale/exhale - Apr 1st 2002 00:45:34

i like the colors ;p

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[»] hahaahahaha
by frank castle - Apr 1st 2002 00:45:12

i just love this month

--
frank castle "may your earholes turn to assholes so you shit on you own shoulders"

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[»] Great april fools joke!
by Ian Sidle - Apr 1st 2002 00:44:48

Had me going for a minute but once you said xbox... and especially C# and passport really showed it was an joke...

comon guys, its just an joke. Admitably, its an bit early for april 1st but there are those time zones....

Some people's comments are acting like they are destroyed and it feels like the real thing.. I wonder what other sites will do..

Chill, its just for fun. I would at least wait an few days before I would be worried about anything released on april 1st!

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[»] Re: Great april fools joke!
by Geek - Apr 1st 2002 03:14:43


> Had me going for a minute but once you
> said xbox... and especially C# and
> passport really showed it was an
> joke...
>
> comon guys, its just an joke.
> Admitably, its an bit early for april
> 1st but there are those time zones....
>
> Some people's comments are acting like
> they are destroyed and it feels like the
> real thing.. I wonder what other sites
> will do..
>
> Chill, its just for fun. I would at
> least wait an few days before I would be
> worried about anything released on april
> 1st!
http://www.sunhelp.org has one, though not nearly as good. I think sell out is going to be a common theme this April Fool's Day, after the DoJ's sell out being such big news.

--
Dwight Wallbridge, Managing Editor, GeekMeltdown.com GeekMeltdown http://www.geekmeltdown.com Geek's World http://www.geeksworld.net Geek Blog http://www.geekblog.net/

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[»] Ah, I get it :P
by Eli Sand - Apr 1st 2002 00:43:47

Right, well, April Fools day doesn't kick in until I wake up on Monday. Screw this 12am thing. It's still March in my mind. I hate you all.

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[»] diggity-DOH!!
by e-d0uble - Apr 1st 2002 00:43:36

OH PLEEEASE... pleeease pleeeease tell me this is just a bad joke..

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[»] BBBWWWaaaaahhhhhh
by Davin Hills - Apr 1st 2002 00:39:05

Thanks guys! I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself. What a way to start the week!!

--
Davin S. Hills HDG Software dshills@raccoon.com

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[»] :(
by Jeremy Driscoll - Apr 1st 2002 00:39:02

I think I'm going to cry. :(

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[»] There is no hope for the human race.
by D-side - Apr 1st 2002 00:38:34

This article cracked me up. The people posting to it are even MORE amusing. There is no hope for the human race, PERIOD.

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[»] Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by Eli Sand - Apr 1st 2002 00:33:45

I know I will be speaking for about 80% of the people who use freshmeat when I say you've completely lost base with all of your users.

I am a miniscule little programmer who writes small little utilities once in a while and I know I honestly don't have that big a fan-base. Even being this small, I rely on freshmeat.net to round up about 95% of the hits to my projects and website when I release new versions, as well as people just searching for stuff each day.

With you trying to charge us out the rear for stuff now, nobody's going to bother using this site any more! I mean come on, you're a site that was created to promote free software, as well as sharing and promotion of free/open source technology. Now you want to start charging us JUST TO CHANGE THE LOOK OF THE SITE? MY GOD! With all the NEW WEB TECHNOLOGY out there, you have yet to embrace the ease of CSS to let us possibly change the look ourselves! God forbid I announce this idea to the world, now nobody will pay for your "Theme packs"!

Oh, and don't forget, once you change themes, if you want to go back, you have TO BUY THAT THEME AGAIN, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR IT ONCE BEFORE!

I'd be willing to say, donate some cash for being allowed to post a project to freshmeat, but the rest of this crap sounds, well, like crap!

I love the part where you say that C# is the wave of the future and PHP is old and outdated - oh and the XBOX is going to be the next President of the United States!

How much $ did Microsoft give you? I'd love to know.

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[»] Re: Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by Ray Shaw - Apr 1st 2002 00:42:37

No, you misunderstand. The themes do use CSS.

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[»] Re: Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by Christoph Jahn - Apr 1st 2002 00:43:08

No i won't hurt you. But you forgot to try writing your site in Visual Basic.NET. "C#" is even to fast to reflect the slow connections of the internet. The huge .NET-Framework is too small for your server-memory. Add the Visual Basic.NET Runtime an save time while waiting %-) cu, stoph. :-))))

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[»] Re: Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by Jason Czerak - Apr 1st 2002 00:43:10


> I know I will be speaking for about 80%
> of the people who use freshmeat when I
> say you've completely lost base with all
> of your users.
>
> I am a miniscule little programmer who
> writes small little utilities once in a
> while and I know I honestly don't have
> that big a fan-base. Even being this
> small, I rely on freshmeat.net to round
> up about 95% of the hits to my projects
> and website when I release new versions,
> as well as people just searching for
> stuff each day.
>
> With you trying to charge us out the
> rear for stuff now, nobody's going to
> bother using this site any more! I mean
> come on, you're a site that was created
> to promote free software, as well as
> sharing and promotion of free/open
> source technology. Now you want to
> start charging us JUST TO CHANGE THE
> LOOK OF THE SITE? MY GOD! With all the
> NEW WEB TECHNOLOGY out there, you have
> yet to embrace the ease of CSS to let us
> possibly change the look ourselves! God
> forbid I announce this idea to the
> world, now nobody will pay for your
> "Theme packs"!
>
> Oh, and don't forget, once you change
> themes, if you want to go back, you have
> TO BUY THAT THEME AGAIN, EVEN IF YOU
> PAID FOR IT ONCE BEFORE!
>
> I'd be willing to say, donate some
> cash for being allowed to post a project
> to freshmeat, but the rest of this crap
> sounds, well, like crap!
>
> I love the part where you say that C#
> is the wave of the future and PHP is old
> and outdated - oh and the XBOX is going
> to be the next President of the United
> States!
>
> How much $ did Microsoft give you?
> I'd love to know.
Wow.... I suggest you look at the date... It's the first day in April. :)



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[»] Re: Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by D-side - Apr 1st 2002 00:43:45

I know I'm speaking for 100% of the people who know what the date is today when I say "haha boy do you look stupid."


> I know I will be speaking for about 80%
> of the people who use freshmeat when I
> say you've completely lost base with all
> of your users.
>
> I am a miniscule little programmer who
> writes small little utilities once in a
> while and I know I honestly don't have
> that big a fan-base. Even being this
> small, I rely on freshmeat.net to round
> up about 95% of the hits to my projects
> and website when I release new versions,
> as well as people just searching for
> stuff each day.
>
> With you trying to charge us out the
> rear for stuff now, nobody's going to
> bother using this site any more! I mean
> come on, you're a site that was created
> to promote free software, as well as
> sharing and promotion of free/open
> source technology. Now you want to
> start charging us JUST TO CHANGE THE
> LOOK OF THE SITE? MY GOD! With all the
> NEW WEB TECHNOLOGY out there, you have
> yet to embrace the ease of CSS to let us
> possibly change the look ourselves! God
> forbid I announce this idea to the
> world, now nobody will pay for your
> "Theme packs"!
>
> Oh, and don't forget, once you change
> themes, if you want to go back, you have
> TO BUY THAT THEME AGAIN, EVEN IF YOU
> PAID FOR IT ONCE BEFORE!
>
> I'd be willing to say, donate some
> cash for being allowed to post a project
> to freshmeat, but the rest of this crap
> sounds, well, like crap!
>
> I love the part where you say that C#
> is the wave of the future and PHP is old
> and outdated - oh and the XBOX is going
> to be the next President of the United
> States!
>
> How much $ did Microsoft give you?
> I'd love to know.


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[»] Re: Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by jeff covey - Apr 1st 2002 13:22:42


> you've completely lost base with all of your users.

That's what you think. Actually, ALL YOUR BASE ARE...

*cough*. Sorry.

--
vs lbh pna ernq guvf, lbh'er n trrx.

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[»] Re: Ok, done reading and now I'm ready to hurt you.
by Eli Sand - Apr 1st 2002 18:24:14


> That's what you think. Actually, ALL
> YOUR BASE ARE...
>
>
>
> *cough*. Sorry.
>
I hate you Jeff... Patrick too. You both made me cry :~(

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[»] New Freshmeat?
by Maddoc - Apr 1st 2002 00:26:21

Geez guys you could have chosen a better color scheme.

Is there any way to reset it for indiviual users?

All I have to say is I liked the old colors much better.... these new ones are about enough to make me toss my cpus. (puke in laymans terms)

-Doc

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[»] Re: New Freshmeat?
by LM - Apr 1st 2002 01:09:33


> Is there any way to reset it for
> indiviual users?
>
> All I have to say is I liked the old
> colors much better....
I agree, the first thing I've searched into my "preferences" was the option for changing fm "skin" ... it's so hard allowing a such thing? I believe that using a separate CSS for each skin and marking the html code with some CLASS and ID will be the right solution.

--
[ //\/\ Marco (LM) Lamberto | lm AT sunnyspot DOT org | The Sunny Spot: http://the.sunnyspot.org/ ]

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[»] I hope you're fucking joking...
by Eli Sand - Apr 1st 2002 00:24:26

I stopped reading right after you got to the part where you said you will be using Passport for login authentication. Why don't you take a nice little read-up on exactly what Passport is and does. Honestly I think that it's useless and a complete GAPING SECURITY HOLE as it is currently. I'll read the rest of this horridly mind numbing article after I post this, hoping that you are actually joking, or just finished smoking a lot of crack over the weekend and are just hitting into withdrawl.

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[»] .NET
by skink - Apr 1st 2002 00:24:20

As long as there is a plaid theme, (my favorite color), I'll gladly pay. ;)

Chuck

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[»] this is great! finally, freshmeat might compete with Download.com!
by thelocustNMI - Apr 1st 2002 00:23:22

Finally, i can skip between Hotmail and Freshmeat.net with Passport! (BTW, the AWESOMELY RADICAL X-Box CSS theme RULEZ!)

--
- thelocust -

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[»] Re: this is great! finally, freshmeat might compete with Download.com!
by JZakhar - Apr 1st 2002 01:22:52

Funny funny stuff. Had to register just to comment.

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---