Handing each student their own personal laptop is the stupidest goddamn thing I've ever heard.
Technology was not used to that incredible extent at my high school, but we did have laptop carts available to supplement the library and computer lab(s). When a class needed to do a computer-oriented project, the IT people would roll in two or three carts (with 16 laptops apiece, I think) and let students check them out. Each cart had chargers built in, as well as a wireless access point, so the cart would be plugged into ethernet to create instant wireless access in that classroom.
We would do the task at hand, and the laptops would all be returned at the end of class. People didn't mess with them because of the futility in doing so. The systems were locked down, and anything you did manage to change would be wiped off at the end of the day anyway.
I've seen this exact problem with a floormate's ibook. She had had it "repaired" more than once, and it still failed soon afterward. She came to me when the screen died on her while she was writing a paper.
I plugged it into my CRT, allowing her to email the document to herself and work on it elsewhere.
Nice to see reliability from a "premium" company like Apple. I'd like to see how the ifanboys turn this thread into a Mac circle jerk...
Airlines can use the same airports. Cars can use the same roads and gasoline. Restaurants can use the same patrons, ingredients, etc. Being a customer of some company in one of these industries will not affect your ability to consume other products made by their competitors, or lock you out of related items.
The "lock-in" factor causes the computer market to tend towards a monopoly, and both Microsoft and Apple engage in this practice. It's not that people think that "there is only one group of people in the world smart enough to create a reliable and modern PC operating system". It's compatibility.
Why do schools feel this need to control every aspect of students' lives? What occurs outside of school grounds shouldn't be their problem.
Besides, "cyberbullying" is a lot easier to ignore than physical bullying, and the playing field is a lot more level. I've always thought of the internet as a "revenge of the nerds" arena.
The government is not your nanny, and school is not your daycare. Suck it up. If you're oversensitive to the point that you take stuff over the internet to heart, I think you have bigger things to worry about anyway.
I can't say I blame them, especially since the Flash 9 plug-in does work well (an AMD64 build would have been nice, but whatever). However, it was a long time coming, and it would really suck to make it obsolete so soon after its release.
...Will it work in Linux?
Seriously, I'm really sick of Adobe's neglect of linux users. Let's hope this doesn't break the Linux Flash 9 plug-in for sites that use the ads.
It's pretty much a fact of life for college students... Some of the lucky ones avoid the money woes, but the endless deluge of spam and other solicitation is pretty much inevitable. I just try to live with it.
I don't see this as a huge problem. The end of the year is still a good 7 months away, and I think that will be long enough to sort out most of the driver and performance issues associated with Vista. Joe User will survive.
Keep in mind that we're talking about new systems here, not upgrades. I'd be astonished if hardware didn't "catch up" to Vista's comfortable requirements within the next few months, especially since OEMs now know that they really don't have any other choice.
All the doom-sayers seem to be forgetting what it was like when XP was introduced.:) Just because the smarter of us don't use it (either because we're cautious late adopters or don't use windows at all) doesn't mean that it's going to be a nightmare for everyone.
Apparently the RIAA thinks the flood of subpoenas and "pre-settlement letters" it's sending out isn't enough to encourage universities to fight piracy on their own... idiots. UCLA was spewing anti-piracy crap all over even BEFORE they started targetting colleges.
If McCain's people know anything, they'll play it off quietly or joke about it, knowing it could have been a lot worse. A less civil person probably would have goatse'd McCain's myspace instead.
...which would have been goddamn hilarious, but I digress.
Normally I'd recommend the "owned" tag, but given the general sensibility of customers (or rather, lack thereof), whether it will succeed long-term against the iphone is anyone's guess.
I think it'll sell in the beginning for sure, especially if it comes out before the iphone. Samsung makes good phones, and the Upstage sounds cool in its own right. However, as the iphone price comes down after a few months, who knows.
Good albums are really, amazingly awesome, but they're getting rarer. If the recording industry moves its business model to song sales, what makes you think that they'll still carry albums for the "real" artists? Can they even tell the difference anymore? (it would explain a lot- heh). And, with the demise of albums, what will happen to these few legitimate artists?
It's something I've been afraid of for a long time. I hate how song-centered the music business has become. Thanks a lot, iTunes! (and kazaa, and napster, and all that other crap...)
Veering slightly off-topic now, has anyone else noticed that there seem to be a lot more bands around these days that only release one or two albums and less than five hit songs? it seems like the record labels have realized that it's more efficient to sign mediocre artists with crappy beginners' contracts, make their money, and dump them before they become famous enough to warrant a big paycheck.
It's all about personal preference, really. For me, metal would fit better, though I'd prefer the stainless steel looks (Lian Li anyone?) over the drab "black is the new beige" stock boxes. Anodized finishes look sweet, too.
Anyhow, my next case will probably be fabricated from diamond plate. Any excuse to spend a few days in the shop is a good one.;)
I have to admit, though, I'd be a bit irked about cooling in a wooden case. I hope it's done well.
Wikipedia can be unreliable, yes, and that's why students here are told not to use it directly. However, it's still an incredibly useful tool when used as a "launch pad" for finding other sources (via google or whatever else).
Seriously... unless they're talking about a coffin full of money or something. Last I heard OOo wasn't making any significant dent in Microsoft Office.
As much as I hate to admit it, nothing comes close to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is slow, lacks features, and is really a poor substitute... though they did to a much better job than their parent StarOffice (which sucked balls). Given time they could become better, but right now they're still a long way off.
Frankly, after trying to deal with OpenOffice I just added M$ Office to my short list of "reasons why I keep that Windows partition".
Vista I can understand, and IE7, I can understand... but Office? Why?
Granted it's a big expense, but Office 2007 is actually pretty nice... I can't ever remember having people tell me "Dude! the new Office is awesome!" for any previous version of MS Office. It's actually very much improved.
For all their faults, Microsoft can at least do three things right: Office, Visual Studio, and DirectX.
I don't necessarily agree with the motives of the music execs, but they have a point. Jobs' essay was a load of bull. Has Apple EVER strived for openness or interoperability? hell no. In fact, they go out of their way to make their products incompatible with competitors.
They only allow windows on their systems because it allows them to shove their hardware down more throats. They have nothing to gain by opening their DRM. Apple will hold their current position with itunes until the music industry finds a way to force them to change... and when that happens Apple will still get the credit for it.
Now watch as I get modded down by a bunch of ifanboys who want to have manbabies with Steve Jobs...
Slashdot Mirror
I first read that headline as "Are End Users to Blame for OS Wars?"
...For a minute I actually pondered it. What the hell is wrong with me?
Handing each student their own personal laptop is the stupidest goddamn thing I've ever heard.
Technology was not used to that incredible extent at my high school, but we did have laptop carts available to supplement the library and computer lab(s). When a class needed to do a computer-oriented project, the IT people would roll in two or three carts (with 16 laptops apiece, I think) and let students check them out. Each cart had chargers built in, as well as a wireless access point, so the cart would be plugged into ethernet to create instant wireless access in that classroom.
We would do the task at hand, and the laptops would all be returned at the end of class. People didn't mess with them because of the futility in doing so. The systems were locked down, and anything you did manage to change would be wiped off at the end of the day anyway.
I've seen this exact problem with a floormate's ibook. She had had it "repaired" more than once, and it still failed soon afterward. She came to me when the screen died on her while she was writing a paper.
I plugged it into my CRT, allowing her to email the document to herself and work on it elsewhere.
Nice to see reliability from a "premium" company like Apple. I'd like to see how the ifanboys turn this thread into a Mac circle jerk...
Your analogy is a falsehood.
Airlines can use the same airports. Cars can use the same roads and gasoline. Restaurants can use the same patrons, ingredients, etc. Being a customer of some company in one of these industries will not affect your ability to consume other products made by their competitors, or lock you out of related items.
The "lock-in" factor causes the computer market to tend towards a monopoly, and both Microsoft and Apple engage in this practice. It's not that people think that "there is only one group of people in the world smart enough to create a reliable and modern PC operating system". It's compatibility.
You forgot "noshitsherlock".
Why do schools feel this need to control every aspect of students' lives? What occurs outside of school grounds shouldn't be their problem. Besides, "cyberbullying" is a lot easier to ignore than physical bullying, and the playing field is a lot more level. I've always thought of the internet as a "revenge of the nerds" arena. The government is not your nanny, and school is not your daycare. Suck it up. If you're oversensitive to the point that you take stuff over the internet to heart, I think you have bigger things to worry about anyway.
I can't say I blame them, especially since the Flash 9 plug-in does work well (an AMD64 build would have been nice, but whatever). However, it was a long time coming, and it would really suck to make it obsolete so soon after its release.
...Will it work in Linux? Seriously, I'm really sick of Adobe's neglect of linux users. Let's hope this doesn't break the Linux Flash 9 plug-in for sites that use the ads.
Woohoo! Thanks Adobe!
It's pretty much a fact of life for college students... Some of the lucky ones avoid the money woes, but the endless deluge of spam and other solicitation is pretty much inevitable. I just try to live with it.
Why settle for simply doubling their mail costs when you could just duct-tape the return envelope to a brick and make it cost several dollars? :)
I don't see this as a huge problem. The end of the year is still a good 7 months away, and I think that will be long enough to sort out most of the driver and performance issues associated with Vista. Joe User will survive.
Keep in mind that we're talking about new systems here, not upgrades. I'd be astonished if hardware didn't "catch up" to Vista's comfortable requirements within the next few months, especially since OEMs now know that they really don't have any other choice.
All the doom-sayers seem to be forgetting what it was like when XP was introduced. :) Just because the smarter of us don't use it (either because we're cautious late adopters or don't use windows at all) doesn't mean that it's going to be a nightmare for everyone.
Apparently the RIAA thinks the flood of subpoenas and "pre-settlement letters" it's sending out isn't enough to encourage universities to fight piracy on their own... idiots. UCLA was spewing anti-piracy crap all over even BEFORE they started targetting colleges.
I know Ted Berger, actually. TFA isn't joking about the "spent the last decade" part. He's been working on this stuff for as long as I remember.
Last time I saw him in the news, iirc, he was putting neurons on silicon chips to create functional circuits of some kind. Amazing stuff.
If McCain's people know anything, they'll play it off quietly or joke about it, knowing it could have been a lot worse. A less civil person probably would have goatse'd McCain's myspace instead.
...which would have been goddamn hilarious, but I digress.
I also wondered how *only* a black finish makes a MacBook $150 more expensive and "elite" but.. common sense isn't popular these days.
Yeah, it's just a skin... except for a few performance upgrades. ;)
Normally I'd recommend the "owned" tag, but given the general sensibility of customers (or rather, lack thereof), whether it will succeed long-term against the iphone is anyone's guess. I think it'll sell in the beginning for sure, especially if it comes out before the iphone. Samsung makes good phones, and the Upstage sounds cool in its own right. However, as the iphone price comes down after a few months, who knows.
There could be collateral damage, though.
Good albums are really, amazingly awesome, but they're getting rarer. If the recording industry moves its business model to song sales, what makes you think that they'll still carry albums for the "real" artists? Can they even tell the difference anymore? (it would explain a lot- heh). And, with the demise of albums, what will happen to these few legitimate artists?
It's something I've been afraid of for a long time. I hate how song-centered the music business has become. Thanks a lot, iTunes! (and kazaa, and napster, and all that other crap...)
Veering slightly off-topic now, has anyone else noticed that there seem to be a lot more bands around these days that only release one or two albums and less than five hit songs? it seems like the record labels have realized that it's more efficient to sign mediocre artists with crappy beginners' contracts, make their money, and dump them before they become famous enough to warrant a big paycheck.
It's all about personal preference, really. For me, metal would fit better, though I'd prefer the stainless steel looks (Lian Li anyone?) over the drab "black is the new beige" stock boxes. Anodized finishes look sweet, too. Anyhow, my next case will probably be fabricated from diamond plate. Any excuse to spend a few days in the shop is a good one. ;)
I have to admit, though, I'd be a bit irked about cooling in a wooden case. I hope it's done well.
RIAA: Ban filesharing! a file-sharing client was used to obtain cassified info from the dept. of National Security!
Gov't: Say, weren't you guys the ones who were hacking kazaa clients to illegally obtain evidence from users?
RIAA: Errr....
Wikipedia can be unreliable, yes, and that's why students here are told not to use it directly. However, it's still an incredibly useful tool when used as a "launch pad" for finding other sources (via google or whatever else).
Seriously... unless they're talking about a coffin full of money or something. Last I heard OOo wasn't making any significant dent in Microsoft Office.
As much as I hate to admit it, nothing comes close to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is slow, lacks features, and is really a poor substitute... though they did to a much better job than their parent StarOffice (which sucked balls). Given time they could become better, but right now they're still a long way off.
Frankly, after trying to deal with OpenOffice I just added M$ Office to my short list of "reasons why I keep that Windows partition".
Vista I can understand, and IE7, I can understand... but Office? Why?
Granted it's a big expense, but Office 2007 is actually pretty nice... I can't ever remember having people tell me "Dude! the new Office is awesome!" for any previous version of MS Office. It's actually very much improved.
For all their faults, Microsoft can at least do three things right: Office, Visual Studio, and DirectX.
I don't necessarily agree with the motives of the music execs, but they have a point. Jobs' essay was a load of bull. Has Apple EVER strived for openness or interoperability? hell no. In fact, they go out of their way to make their products incompatible with competitors.
They only allow windows on their systems because it allows them to shove their hardware down more throats. They have nothing to gain by opening their DRM. Apple will hold their current position with itunes until the music industry finds a way to force them to change... and when that happens Apple will still get the credit for it.
Now watch as I get modded down by a bunch of ifanboys who want to have manbabies with Steve Jobs...
Let's not forget the alternative creation theory of the Flying Spaghetti Monster ;)