Bot Contest

Thanks, Psimagus! But if I have to have the LISP program running on another server, I might as well have the whole bot there.

That's true. But the advantage of patching it through the Forge is that you'd have access to the AIEngine's full WordNet matching/spellchecking/keyphrase parsing features, which would be excessively tiresome to duplicate by hand!
Plus a nice friendly interface on the Forge, and plenty of company for the LISP-bot to chat away with everyone here, so he wouldn't get lonely

I was wondering if I could make little applets to function as illustrative diagrams for "Quantum Mechanics". Would this also require a separate server? (I take it that static diagrams could be done with Javascript.)

Even the static diagrams would require another server too (though I'm happy to donate a few meg of space on mine if you need somewhere to put them, or java applets,) - you can't host them on the Forge, you can only link to them.

Can't she just upload them to photobucket or filestash or some free site and ink to them? If they are just diagrams, why would you need a java program?

Yes, there are plenty of free sites out there (though I doubt many have LISP interpreters or user-accessible Java machines running, or allow such to be installed.) Java applets would allow for nice, Powerpoint-esque animation.

When M*******t bring theirs out, the only difference will be that it will only run on an MS server, for which privilege they will charge you a monthly fee, demand possession of all ensuing intellectual property rights, and probably still want the blood of your first-born.

I think file stash lets you upload any sort of a file, you'd have tyo make your power point like presentation into a movie to put it on photobucket though. Personally, I have a javascript blocker and tend to avoid a lot of flash thingies too (though obviously I whitelist the PF). I usually choose to play movies if they look interesting.

I think file stash lets you upload any sort of a file,

Yes, you could upload any file, but you won't get a file to run if it needs an installed interpreter. You could upload a copy of notepad.exe, but it won't run. They won't routinely let you install such executables, since you'd be able to install viruses or any other malware, as well as breach all manner of copyrights.
And if you converted the powerpoint or java applet to a movie, you'd lose any interactive features.

You might be able to keep some interactivity in a flash app if their Flash thingummy is fully-featured enough, but I don't know enough (anything much) about Flash to be sure.

You're right, Psimagus! There would be many advantages to running it on the Forge!

Actually, I have a few small CPU's lying around that I never use ... if I connected them to the net, I suppose I could use them for servers.

So long as you're not on dial-up (or your 24/7 phone bill would be horrendous!) or dynamically assigned an IP number by your ISP (which would change every time you logged on, requiring much tiresome reconfiguring,) that would be a perfectly sensible option. Exactly what the Prof does (since we're having this conversation in a partition of his home PC, where the whole PF is hosted.)

Hmmmm, I'm beginning to understand why things are a bit slow.

I don't think it's a bandwidth problem - the Prof's got plenty of that. It's all just plain text after all, so even with thousands of bots and users online there, it wouldn't add up to a lot of data. I'd guess it's some sort of local network problem(?) at the other end (but that tends to be my catch-all scapegoat, since the finer points of LAN configuration are a mystery to me!)

Sometimes it's really slow when there's hardly anyone on, and sometimes it's fast when there are loads of people and bots online. And sometimes it's the other way around. If there was a consistent pattern, it would probably be easier to fix

It's very puzzling. It sometimes takes a long, long time just to go from one page to another!

There are a lot of good bots here at the Forge! Please don't be afraid to enter the Chatterbox Challenge! It's fun and free and you learn a lot. The medal is great! http://www.chatterboxchallenge.com/ or email
d_cowart@yahoo.com

All this Anti-Micro$oft talk is bringing me to realize that I am in fact trapped deep inside their mighty empire. I develop with MS .Net. I use MS windows. my databases run on a sql sever (MS) sql server. In fact, if you put me in front of a linux or other open source OS, I would be clueless.

Now I realize that the future of AI is not tied down to microsoft. So heres my question: How can I break free of them, while all the software and technology i use at work is strictly based on MS???? can i partition my HD and add a linux partition, or something?