I go to Georgia Tech, which to my surprise was on this list of horribly evil and bad schools. What exactly are the criteria the RIAA used to determine these schools? Tech has a 3-strike policy and has people who actually know what they're doing monitoring the network. First strike = warning, second strike = suspension from network and an interview, third strike = banned from the GT network. Why does the RIAA feel the need to step in on this as well?
Oh, right... $3000 is a pretty big motivator.
The RIAA are not the police, but they certainly seem to be acting like it. There has got to be some law clearly being broken by their strong-arm enforcement and intimidation tactics. The crime of copyright infringement is minor compared to the slimey law tactics I keep reading about. What is it going to take to stop it?
I'm an 18 year old just finishing his last programming courses in high school, so I can give a slightly different perspective of this.
I hate to be cocky, but simply put, I'm better at programming than most of my friends. Many people I know are interested in taking programming courses but are daunted by the pages of code they have to deal with. The concepts of programming logic are hard for some to handle, even if the interest is there. I started with Visual Basic then moved on to Java and then AP level Java. My teacher is one of the leaders of comp sci teaching in my county, so he loved to use methods such as Jeroo or Alice, both similar to Scratch, to teach programming.
The reaction from the students who were struggling in the class was outstanding. Seeing a little arrow move around picking up flowers or seeing a Turtle Prince dance and change colors totally change the way they look at programming. Having something like Scratch in middle schools (I think elementary may be a little early) would be awesome. Classes like those are optional, and it's not "forcing programming down kids throats". Having a basic knowledge of how programming works will spark potential interest in computers as a career, especially in young girls who shy away from the stereotypical nerd programming classes.
Something like this will definitely benefit our schools.
I don't quite understand what this big "OMG MS IS SO NOOB THEY HAVE FAILED US!!1!!11!".
Microsoft is a business. It is not their goal, necesarily, to make a small percentage (i.e. the computer nerds) happy, it is their goal to make as much money as possible. This is not evil, corrupt, or n00bish. This is business.
Have any of you actually read the EULAs of software you use recently? You'll find, if you read close enough, that many of the things you take for granted are not explicitly allowed by the EULA, or are expressly forbidden but in no way enforced. These new changes to Windows Vista are not necesarily something that will change the way we use our operating systems. For example, software like Norton, PC-Cillin, Spysweeper... they all come with one license, and their EULA states they are to be installed on only one computer. However, as far as my knowledge permits, there is no real system of stopping subsequent installations of the software, even with identical product keys.
Case in point, this entire torrent of comments and outcries is little more than gnat to Microsoft. The vast majority of XP Home users do not own 5 computers, do not swap out motherboards and video cards for fun, and certainly don't emulate OS's on a common basis. So, why would these users suddenly want all these features in Vista Home Basic?
90% of the people upgrading to Vista won't even know these "limitations" exist.
New studies show that going to a religious service cuts down on study time, and thus lowers grades. Parents advised to encourage atheism among their children.
Another new study has come out to say pleasure reading is a deterrent to studying of assigned work at school, and thus should be prohibited for maximum GPA.....
Ya know, I spend all sorts of time on the computer and playing videogames, and I've managed a 2200 SAT and a current 3.8 (94.3%) GPA. Speaking as a 17 year old male, this kinda junk is crock. There is way too much generalizing. Let parents do their own parenting.
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I go to Georgia Tech, which to my surprise was on this list of horribly evil and bad schools. What exactly are the criteria the RIAA used to determine these schools? Tech has a 3-strike policy and has people who actually know what they're doing monitoring the network. First strike = warning, second strike = suspension from network and an interview, third strike = banned from the GT network. Why does the RIAA feel the need to step in on this as well?
Oh, right... $3000 is a pretty big motivator.
The RIAA are not the police, but they certainly seem to be acting like it. There has got to be some law clearly being broken by their strong-arm enforcement and intimidation tactics. The crime of copyright infringement is minor compared to the slimey law tactics I keep reading about. What is it going to take to stop it?
I'm an 18 year old just finishing his last programming courses in high school, so I can give a slightly different perspective of this. I hate to be cocky, but simply put, I'm better at programming than most of my friends. Many people I know are interested in taking programming courses but are daunted by the pages of code they have to deal with. The concepts of programming logic are hard for some to handle, even if the interest is there. I started with Visual Basic then moved on to Java and then AP level Java. My teacher is one of the leaders of comp sci teaching in my county, so he loved to use methods such as Jeroo or Alice, both similar to Scratch, to teach programming. The reaction from the students who were struggling in the class was outstanding. Seeing a little arrow move around picking up flowers or seeing a Turtle Prince dance and change colors totally change the way they look at programming. Having something like Scratch in middle schools (I think elementary may be a little early) would be awesome. Classes like those are optional, and it's not "forcing programming down kids throats". Having a basic knowledge of how programming works will spark potential interest in computers as a career, especially in young girls who shy away from the stereotypical nerd programming classes. Something like this will definitely benefit our schools.
Microsoft is a business. It is not their goal, necesarily, to make a small percentage (i.e. the computer nerds) happy, it is their goal to make as much money as possible. This is not evil, corrupt, or n00bish. This is business.
Have any of you actually read the EULAs of software you use recently? You'll find, if you read close enough, that many of the things you take for granted are not explicitly allowed by the EULA, or are expressly forbidden but in no way enforced. These new changes to Windows Vista are not necesarily something that will change the way we use our operating systems. For example, software like Norton, PC-Cillin, Spysweeper... they all come with one license, and their EULA states they are to be installed on only one computer. However, as far as my knowledge permits, there is no real system of stopping subsequent installations of the software, even with identical product keys.
Case in point, this entire torrent of comments and outcries is little more than gnat to Microsoft. The vast majority of XP Home users do not own 5 computers, do not swap out motherboards and video cards for fun, and certainly don't emulate OS's on a common basis. So, why would these users suddenly want all these features in Vista Home Basic?
90% of the people upgrading to Vista won't even know these "limitations" exist.
New studies show that going to a religious service cuts down on study time, and thus lowers grades. Parents advised to encourage atheism among their children. Another new study has come out to say pleasure reading is a deterrent to studying of assigned work at school, and thus should be prohibited for maximum GPA. ....
Ya know, I spend all sorts of time on the computer and playing videogames, and I've managed a 2200 SAT and a current 3.8 (94.3%) GPA. Speaking as a 17 year old male, this kinda junk is crock. There is way too much generalizing. Let parents do their own parenting.