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How Many Windows?
youthoftoday asks: "As part of a recent piece of coursework (I'm a student) I talked to a number of people about how many windows they typically have open at any one time. I received a startling range of responses, and that got me thinking about what people consider a 'normal' working environment in terms of the number of windows they have open and what they like to get done. I usually have about 25 windows open and about 15 tabs in my browser (over two monitors) as a standard working environment in Mac OS X. I usually keep a set of windows in position for about 5 days between restarts. Others prefer to close windows for applications they're not using right at this minute. And we all know people who are scared to have more than one window open. So, how do Slashdot readers use their OSes?"
At work I typically have 8-10 open as the computer is fairly crappy.
At home when I am doing misc stuff I'll generally have 20+ with some browser tabs and IE windows (FF and IE)
If I'm searching for porn..usually 50+
Since this is for school you can tell them computer parts or something instead of porn I guess..
You should have exactly three windows open. One is Firefox with multiple tabs. The next, Emacs with several buffers and perhaps several Emacs 'windows'. The third, a terminal program with tabs, or at your option, xterm plus GNU screen for terminal multiplexing.
.xsession. If you need a window manager you can start one later from inside Emacs, and kill it when you no longer need it.
OTOH, if you have just one window and do everything inside Emacs or XEmacs, you can eliminate window managers too and just run xemacs full-screen (fiddle with the -geometry option) straight from your
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
I keep an extra workstation running off an inverter in my Suburban. I need to keep it idling or the battery dies!
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Maybe it's a waste to you, but different people have different priorities. Science always takes energy and time from other activities, but it often results in net energy savings in the long run. For a rather ironic example, take a look at http://climateprediction.net/. The project expects you to keep computers running in order to deal with global warming; they estimate that the energy thus wasted is not significant to global warming itself. I can't remember the exact reference, but the mere existence of that project should be indicative of the general thinking involved.
As for me, one tiny reason for keeping a computer turned on is to host my personal website, since my university-provided web space is too limited. This is also a matter of control; you could always pay for someone for hosting, and pray that they do things the way you like. I guess this is the kind of thing that is economically inefficient, as opposed to specialization, but many people prefer such irrational DIY ways of life.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
.... argue money. That always gets people interested.
Do you realize that an average 300+ watt machine running 24/7 costs you about $15-$20 a month in electricity?
If you don't believe me get a power usage meter.
You're basically paying $20 a month for the privilege of contributing to Folding@home or whatever. You're trying to say that money wouldn't do more good being given to your local food bank or something?
No thanks.
*flexes his mouse muscle*
well lets see here I have 17 windows opened for various ajax, java, c++ and other misc nerdy work I'm doing. I have no less than 8 different browsers open at any given time, currently opera with 8 tabs, firefox with 6, IE7 with 9 different tabs, Netscape, Lynx, and a couple other browsers each have one. Mozilla has 47 as I'm currently doing uh..research.
I'm also defragging my torrents which requires another 4 windows, and I'm writing this slashdot entry through a special program I wrote which opens a tab for every sentence. All this on my custom built (I poured the plastic myself when I was 3) 36 inch desktop ultra super flat LCD.
Asking a "who has more" question on slashdot is inviting a nerd flexing contest.
That argument is not even remotely applicable to this conversation. Windows does have a feature like "Fedora's multiple desktop stuff with the 4 thumbnails" which they didn't invent anyway. It might not be a great desktop manager, but it does work and it does provide what the guy asked for. And, by the way, it works which is more than I can say for, say, litestep which has only ever caused me horrible problems.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Pah. I just buy a wider monitor :P
Inexperienced users, or those who prefer to focus on one task at a time, generally want to keep one single window open. I know this, since most customers that I've helped troubleshoot tend to close browser windows for their Router configuration page as soon as I want to open a command prompt window.
Some users feel that running too many applications at once can slow down the system - in a way they are correct, but they also know that multitasking is more efficient than closing down the application window.
Naturally, you have a crowd that works on mutliple things at once, and are willing to open as many windows as necessary - they either activly use these windows, or have them waiting in the background when done with the current task. This is what I do normally, but right now, I only have ~2 windows open since I'm using a laptop. I have no problem opening up much more windows on a real computer.
And after reading this thread, you have users that open windows "just in case." Enough said.
The VDM power toy is nowhere near in functionality to any decent unix window manager with virtual desktops, and litestep is a total pain. Probably the best virtual desktop manager on windows is VirtuaWin (http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/), but still it lacks lot of useful features of my ancient fvwm setup.
AccountKiller
Basically, yes, you are correct.
If you have a 200W computer on, then you have the equivalent of a 200W heater. Not really that big a deal.
However, you are also generating information. Is this against the laws of thermodynamics?
Discuss.
http://blog.grcm.net/