No, your average user who is looking at Linux, is probably going to come back with criticism very much along the lines of, "it looks like shit."
This may seem complicated beyond belief, but try this - install the latest gnome packages, then go to themes.org and get some nice themes for gtk and enlightenment (or windowmaker or sawmill). Install them. Every windows user who has seen my desktop after this simple sequence of events has been impressed.
Your mileage may vary, especially if you are still using twm.
Last Week: MPAA bad, DeCSS good, join the EFF, boycott the MPAA, etc.
This Week: "The Beach" is a so-so movie, and neither the movie nor the review have much to do with News for Nerds. Stuff that matters, but here's a review for you nonetheless. Go see it if you disagree with us.
I only respond to offer my strongest concurrence on the previous posters words. Join the EFF, contribute money if you can.
I would also recommend boycotting the MPAA in whatever capacity you can. As an avid Movie buff, my boycott will result in some significant amount of money that will stay in my pocket rather than lining those of the MPAA. As this battle wears on, I pledge to contribute half of that saved money to those on the front lines of the fight.
I use Netscape version 4.5-7-ish, and I have my settings configured to prompt me before accepting any cookies. This is probably not uncommon among slashdot readers; what is interesting is that when you do this, you really get an appreciation for how much cookies are abused or mis-used out on the web. Here are some of my humble observations on the matter:
Most sites that I am personally interested in use very few or no cookies at all
Many sites out there use an obscene number of cookies. 10-15 for 1 page is not uncommon. Regardless of whether you object to the privacy issues, this is bad design. I suspect that there are Web Authoring systems out there that enable cookies for every single page, image, and sound clip by default, and many of those cookies are not used for anything useful.
Some sites have what I believe is a legitimate purpose for cookies. If I am not mistaken,/. sets only 1 cookie on my machine and from this 1 cookie is able to do all kinds of user specific configuration
Other than for legitimate uses (user customation, on-line ordering, etc.,) (in which case I support accepting cookies) rejecting all other cookies on the web will not affect you web-surfing experience 99.44 percent of the time
Fortunately, I usually find that sites that use lots of cookies are really not that interesting too me, anyway. Strange coincidence?
Of course, regarding the last point, there are some exceptions. I find Netscapes's cookie-handling policy, while better than giving no choice at all, does not offer enough flexibility for my tastes. I would prefer to be able to accept/reject cookies based on a set of filters and rules for domains, transaction types, etc. I believe lynx has some better capabilites than Netscape in this department.
Further, I think it would be useful to have a set of switches that are easily accessible on the toolbar that would allow you to toggle cookie policy on the fly. This would be much more useful than the latest Netscape feature, the "Shop" button. What a waste of real-estate. It would be nice to get something like that into Mozilla. I'll start tinkering with the Mozilla source just as soon as it takes less than two hours to download via cable modem;) Ramble, ramble, ramble.
Can anyone who has any experience with these games give us a nice description so we'll all know how important this is to us? I can only hold my breath for so many things.
In related news, Mattel recently announced that it would be porting the entire series of "Barbie and Ken" doll computer games to the Linux operating system. According to company spokesperson Jim Nasium "we see the market segment represented by Linux users and programmers as a completely untapped resource for generating revenue." The Ken and Barbe series includes the wildy popular "Which way does Ken Swing" and "Barbie Life" in which the goal is to navigate Barbie through a series of life-changing decisions while avoiding the evils of pimps and crack dealers. AP.
No, I don't agree. While there have been weak shows, not just this season or recently, but throughout the history of the series, "The Simpsons" still maintains a standard of humor that is not touched by 99% of the drivel that you might find on the tube. Every seasons has had its brilliant shows, and I think the quality lately has been good - better than some of the leaner years.
I think the show is just as much now about "the average american family" as it has always been - as far as I can remember, and I can remember back to when the Simpsons were regularly featured animated shorts on "The Tracey Ulman Show" - a show that involves weird events. Each show is truly episodic, there is little, if any, show memory or history that runs throughout series. How can a show in which the characters never age ever have been about "story"? It has always been an extremely episodic show - and that involves each show being wrapped around some contrived (sometime weird) theme. That's what makes the Simpsons brilliant, IMHO, and that's what would allow, given continued good writing, the continued success of the show. In other words, it doesn't have to follow the typical lifeline of a Sitcom.
In my mind there are three essential qualities that make something funny. Presence of these qualities is not sufficient condition for humor, but humor relies on them nonetheless. Those qualities are stupidity, pain, and absurdity (or wrongness). Without one of them, you don't have humor, although you may be conditioned to laugh anyway.
Cluesless tech support humor touches on all three. Stupidity (of course), absurdity (I'm picturing Dilber's boss "rebooting" his etch-a-sketch computer by shaking it right now), and even pain (this one is left as an exercise for the reader). For those of us in the industry that haven't gone on to the greener pastuers of writing editorials lambasting one's former collegues, this shit can be funny. Really funny. Spitting milk out of your nose funny. Sure, not all of it, and sure, it's elitist geek humor. But it's funny.
Now Kurz is incensed that a profession held in such high regard would stoop so low as to make fun of stupidity. But consider for a minute what else is considered funny. Listen to Comedy Central for a while, or read some other comics - I'd say most of your low-calorie humor is based on stupidity.
Jeff Foxworthy has built a career around one joke about how stupid rednecks are. Look at Jim Carey's earlier (non-dramatic) work - that guy was funny because he was a walking imbecile with a non-rigid skeletal structure. Blond jokes, racial jokes, aggie jokes, the Movie Dumb and Dumber, the list goes on an on. For whatever reason, this makes people laugh.
Think about the old tech-support humor gem where the guy keeps jamming floppies into the floppy drive (without removing the old ones). Clearly, anyone with a basic understanding of matter, space, and the world around them would recognize this guy as an idiot. What if someone tried to park their car in the same space as another car, are we allowed to Laugh at that Mr. Kurz? If you examine what is presented as funny for a moment, you will see that a great deal is at the expense of one person or group of people. If you think lawyers don't make fun of their clients, or doctors don't make fun of their patients, or bosses don't make fun of their employees, you're probably on crack. Of course, comparing making fun on one's client to a teacher making fun or his students is absurd. Sure, it makes for good editorial handwaiving, but's it's still a poor analogy. If you can't understand why, get back to me and I'll explain it to you.
If you're a geek, the Kurz editorial is abusrd and stupid. If you're in tech support, it's probably painful as well.
Yesterday, I thought I would proactively test my systems' Y2K compatibility. I set the date on all 4 machines to 2350, 31 Dec 1999, and waited to see what the results would be. At precisely midnight (machine time) all 4 systems crashed with an MS(tm) BSOD (even though they are all running *nix variants), the power went out, my roommates and the neighbors started rioting and looting my refrigerator, my car exploded, my wardrobe turned instantly fashionable, and an eddy in the space time continuum opened up in my living room and swallowed my couch. I am now living in an alternate reality that you will all shortly be joining. OTOH, slashdot seems to work OK.
What I would like to see (but not like to create;) ) is a patent abuse website that would track "stupid software patents" and the companies that try to use them in insidious ways. The website could list bogus software patents, have examples or links to prior art, links to lawsuit information, discussion and submission of reason why the patents are bogus, and could allow viewers to vote on the most bogus patents out there. Suggested actions could be detailed (contact congress person, etc) to fight this crap.
The site could also provide a series "boycott patent abusers" logos (general, and specific ones for the biggest offenders) that website builders could put in their pages. This would help spread the word on the problem for those who would like to boycott these compies ALA RMS.
Andover/slashdot and company would be a perfect place to host such a website, IMNSHO, as slashdot deals with stupid patents on a frequent basis, anyhoo.
The great thing about MS menus, and the menus used in KDE and GNOME, is that they provide a hint system for accessesing the functionality of a program for those of us who don't like to touch the mouse for most tasks. By using the Alt Menu accelerators, I can get to that functionality, and see a better shortcut (hopefully) if I need it. So I wouldn't want to see the menus fade away just because my hand avoids the mouse. Toolbars are usually wasted real-estate for applications you use frequently (of course, some interfaces are more natural with the mouse, like gimping, but that's the exception). I'll put it on my to-buy list, there's a spot open right after the wheel mouse. While we're rambling, isn't it funny how MS encouraged 2 button mice over 3 button mice, but now they're adding wheels, touch sensitivity, gas pedals, etc? Pretty soon the damn things will look like the stick in your average figter aircraft. Now that would be a cool interface device. F16 joystick, touch sensitivity, all kinds of buttons and knobs to map to X-events.
CDNOW has had my credit card information since the days when their primary interface was telnet. I've never done business with amazon, I'm certainly not going to start now.
Slashdot Mirror
This may seem complicated beyond belief, but try this - install the latest gnome packages, then go to themes.org and get some nice themes for gtk and enlightenment (or windowmaker or sawmill). Install them. Every windows user who has seen my desktop after this simple sequence of events has been impressed.
Your mileage may vary, especially if you are still using twm.
I'd like to read more about this - do you have any links or know where the story has been published?
Last Week: MPAA bad, DeCSS good, join the EFF, boycott the MPAA, etc.
This Week: "The Beach" is a so-so movie, and neither the movie nor the review have much to do with News for Nerds. Stuff that matters, but here's a review for you nonetheless. Go see it if you disagree with us.
I would also recommend boycotting the MPAA in whatever capacity you can. As an avid Movie buff, my boycott will result in some significant amount of money that will stay in my pocket rather than lining those of the MPAA. As this battle wears on, I pledge to contribute half of that saved money to those on the front lines of the fight.
No rest until the DMCA is overturned!!!
- Most sites that I am personally interested in use very few or no cookies at all
- Many sites out there use an obscene number of cookies. 10-15 for 1 page is not uncommon. Regardless of whether you object to the privacy issues, this is bad design. I suspect that there are Web Authoring systems out there that enable cookies for every single page, image, and sound clip by default, and many of those cookies are not used for anything useful.
- Some sites have what I believe is a legitimate purpose for cookies. If I am not mistaken,
/. sets only 1 cookie on my machine and from this 1 cookie is able to do all kinds of user specific configuration - Other than for legitimate uses (user customation, on-line ordering, etc.,) (in which case I support accepting cookies) rejecting all other cookies on the web will not affect you web-surfing experience 99.44 percent of the time
- Fortunately, I usually find that sites that use lots of cookies are really not that interesting too me, anyway. Strange coincidence?
Of course, regarding the last point, there are some exceptions. I find Netscapes's cookie-handling policy, while better than giving no choice at all, does not offer enough flexibility for my tastes. I would prefer to be able to accept/reject cookies based on a set of filters and rules for domains, transaction types, etc. I believe lynx has some better capabilites than Netscape in this department.Further, I think it would be useful to have a set of switches that are easily accessible on the toolbar that would allow you to toggle cookie policy on the fly. This would be much more useful than the latest Netscape feature, the "Shop" button. What a waste of real-estate. It would be nice to get something like that into Mozilla. I'll start tinkering with the Mozilla source just as soon as it takes less than two hours to download via cable modem ;) Ramble, ramble, ramble.
In related news, Mattel recently announced that it would be porting the entire series of "Barbie and Ken" doll computer games to the Linux operating system. According to company spokesperson Jim Nasium "we see the market segment represented by Linux users and programmers as a completely untapped resource for generating revenue." The Ken and Barbe series includes the wildy popular "Which way does Ken Swing" and "Barbie Life" in which the goal is to navigate Barbie through a series of life-changing decisions while avoiding the evils of pimps and crack dealers. AP.
Stop the madness!!!
I think the show is just as much now about "the average american family" as it has always been - as far as I can remember, and I can remember back to when the Simpsons were regularly featured animated shorts on "The Tracey Ulman Show" - a show that involves weird events. Each show is truly episodic, there is little, if any, show memory or history that runs throughout series. How can a show in which the characters never age ever have been about "story"? It has always been an extremely episodic show - and that involves each show being wrapped around some contrived (sometime weird) theme. That's what makes the Simpsons brilliant, IMHO, and that's what would allow, given continued good writing, the continued success of the show. In other words, it doesn't have to follow the typical lifeline of a Sitcom.
Take it outside, godboy.
I think we've all got the message that you think it's all a geek-conformist movement or something. Give it a rest.
Cluesless tech support humor touches on all three. Stupidity (of course), absurdity (I'm picturing Dilber's boss "rebooting" his etch-a-sketch computer by shaking it right now), and even pain (this one is left as an exercise for the reader). For those of us in the industry that haven't gone on to the greener pastuers of writing editorials lambasting one's former collegues, this shit can be funny. Really funny. Spitting milk out of your nose funny. Sure, not all of it, and sure, it's elitist geek humor. But it's funny.
Now Kurz is incensed that a profession held in such high regard would stoop so low as to make fun of stupidity. But consider for a minute what else is considered funny. Listen to Comedy Central for a while, or read some other comics - I'd say most of your low-calorie humor is based on stupidity.
Jeff Foxworthy has built a career around one joke about how stupid rednecks are. Look at Jim Carey's earlier (non-dramatic) work - that guy was funny because he was a walking imbecile with a non-rigid skeletal structure. Blond jokes, racial jokes, aggie jokes, the Movie Dumb and Dumber, the list goes on an on. For whatever reason, this makes people laugh.
Think about the old tech-support humor gem where the guy keeps jamming floppies into the floppy drive (without removing the old ones). Clearly, anyone with a basic understanding of matter, space, and the world around them would recognize this guy as an idiot. What if someone tried to park their car in the same space as another car, are we allowed to Laugh at that Mr. Kurz? If you examine what is presented as funny for a moment, you will see that a great deal is at the expense of one person or group of people. If you think lawyers don't make fun of their clients, or doctors don't make fun of their patients, or bosses don't make fun of their employees, you're probably on crack. Of course, comparing making fun on one's client to a teacher making fun or his students is absurd. Sure, it makes for good editorial handwaiving, but's it's still a poor analogy. If you can't understand why, get back to me and I'll explain it to you.
If you're a geek, the Kurz editorial is abusrd and stupid. If you're in tech support, it's probably painful as well.
Excuse me for a minute while I take you literally - you system is not the most secure in the world.
Your comments about proper configuration seem innocent enough, however. Keep up the good work.
Yesterday, I thought I would proactively test my systems' Y2K compatibility. I set the date on all 4 machines to 2350, 31 Dec 1999, and waited to see what the results would be. At precisely midnight (machine time) all 4 systems crashed with an MS(tm) BSOD (even though they are all running *nix variants), the power went out, my roommates and the neighbors started rioting and looting my refrigerator, my car exploded, my wardrobe turned instantly fashionable, and an eddy in the space time continuum opened up in my living room and swallowed my couch. I am now living in an alternate reality that you will all shortly be joining. OTOH, slashdot seems to work OK.
The site could also provide a series "boycott patent abusers" logos (general, and specific ones for the biggest offenders) that website builders could put in their pages. This would help spread the word on the problem for those who would like to boycott these compies ALA RMS.
Andover/slashdot and company would be a perfect place to host such a website, IMNSHO, as slashdot deals with stupid patents on a frequent basis, anyhoo.
What do you think, sirs?
Any Beowolf clusters in there? I didn't see any on a quick glance through.
The great thing about MS menus, and the menus used in KDE and GNOME, is that they provide a hint system for accessesing the functionality of a program for those of us who don't like to touch the mouse for most tasks. By using the Alt Menu accelerators, I can get to that functionality, and see a better shortcut (hopefully) if I need it. So I wouldn't want to see the menus fade away just because my hand avoids the mouse. Toolbars are usually wasted real-estate for applications you use frequently (of course, some interfaces are more natural with the mouse, like gimping, but that's the exception). I'll put it on my to-buy list, there's a spot open right after the wheel mouse. While we're rambling, isn't it funny how MS encouraged 2 button mice over 3 button mice, but now they're adding wheels, touch sensitivity, gas pedals, etc? Pretty soon the damn things will look like the stick in your average figter aircraft. Now that would be a cool interface device. F16 joystick, touch sensitivity, all kinds of buttons and knobs to map to X-events.
CDNOW has had my credit card information since the days when their primary interface was telnet. I've never done business with amazon, I'm certainly not going to start now.