BTW, while you're talking about multiple partitions, I keep all my data off the windows (and/or other boot ones).
Boot partition needs reformating? Windows (or Linux, yes - it happens), needs re-install. Just do it - your data is safely tucked away on another drive... If you've automated your install, its not a bad idea to get rid of the lint every now and then by reinstalling anyway...only takes a few minutes
In most juristictions, I believe (IANAL) that the moment your employer pays you your first salary, and you accept the payment, then a contract is deemed to exist between the two parties. (You have provided work, they have provided payment which is accepted=conditions for a legal contract are satisfied). In the absence of a specifc, written agreement between the two parties, then the local employment law will apply. This is typically less restrictive than any employer's contact.
This has worked fine for me on a couple of occassions, (people very rarely ask you to sign a contract at once, and HR rarely follow up if you 'forget' to return the contract once it finally arrives). Amazing, but true.
I hear you. Still, my Blackberry Pearl works for me...
But, like so-called other 'smart' phones, (windows mobile, nokia, palm), you're stil limited in how 'deep' you're alowed to go in accessing the firm/hardware. I suspect this is deliberate, to stop people from bricking the device, and thus being unable to make (emergency) calls, just because they were trying to add the latest 'turn the volume up to 11 freeware widget by team warezlol!!!!' bit of shitware.
The answer to your prayers may finally come with the much-lauded, (and awaited, and awaited...) Linux/FOSS phones. Then you'll be able to fuck up your boot sequence all you want.
As a final thought, if these things ever do get released, how long before we have rootkits & black botnets on our mobiles? If you're not on an unlimited data plan, could get expensive quickly, let alone the security implications as they rip all your personal data off your phone. Let's not forget that mobile phones are being trialed as methods of payment, too...
It's stunning that Yahoo fixed this ages ago. You get a free app to download to your desktop, (Intellisync - works fine).
This from someone who has to sync blackberry, notes, outlook, tbird, act! and oh god I'm going to kill myself if they add any more fsuking apps...just call me 'lord of the ugly hack'
P.S. Dawn takes some of the pain away for non-technical users if doing 'one-way' conversions with CSVs
"Though it could be carried anywhere within Russia, an intercontinental strike with it was impossible"
You're right, though I suspect it could have made a real mess of either London or Paris, both also nuclear powers and 'enemies' of the Sovs. at the time...
I can't claim originality - the point has been made by others, but I think in other article responses. On the one hand, the argument (made in this thread), that "the objective is to prevent casual copying", thus preserving the business (profit) model. Swiftly refuted by the "in the age of P2P, any free copy becomes a threat".
Both irrelevant. iTunes (protected content) makes money. CDs (unprotected) do too. Just less than before. Hey, get used to it boys, I had to! We all made shitloads of cash in the 80s and 90s, but now we REALLY have to work for our living.
Do you think that the people spending valuable time cracking BluRy are doing it for profit? No, "it's because it's there". Kudos, 'beating the Man', whatever... Not many virusus on Mac, because no point. Cracking an iPhone, aha!
Understanding the core requirement is key - if you can address the majority of the needs of the majority in a proactive, better way, then they'll love you for it. If some ticky user has idiot requests, well - take it up with their boss & charge them for it!
Much-discussed here already. If IT does not respond to user requests, they'll get sidelined. Been happening even since they bought out the first minis, (yes - minis, not micros).
Smart IT bosses anticipate user needs. We need to be saying "hey, have you seen how you could do your job better with this new thing?"... But many don't. So we're seen as a cost centre, rather than a profit centre. A hinderance, rather than an enabler.
Then we get outsourced...or control passes to the users and third parties. The risk is that corporate IT becomes an unstructured mess.
With no central authority, who then looks after the basics, such as corporate standards for storing and sharing information? What about security? Sure, some smart user can download the latest mashup, but will it play well with everything else? What's the upgrade path?
Yes, it's a pain, but works fine. Products like XPlite, (http://www.litepc.com/), or nLite, (http://www.nliteos.com/index.html), are a big help, and save time over 'roll your own' versions. Keep another partition/VM/old machine to boot into a version with IE & get your updates - that way you can review before deploying, and don't have to rely on other people's integrity...
Putin, and more importantly, the team of ex-KGB people around him, will of course seek to control the Internet in Russia. All the other media, such as newpapers and TV, are firmly pro-Kremlin. Independant journalists are imprisoned or assasinated by - of course - nameless 'enemies of the state'.
It's a shame that the promise of democracy there turned out to be yet another 'false dawn'.
Europe will do nothing, since the bear's paw is firmly on their throat, i.e. the oil and gas supply...
I wonder how hard it would be to give users the option to 'right click' such things, and then select options, rather than digging through mutiple menu options...not hard, I think.
Not sure why you were modded 'funny' - after testing, both for myself and others, I think that what you said is (partially) true. I've had some *interesting* experiences wih strange M$ 'imcompatibilities' with GDS - see below.
My experience with both GDS and M$ so far:
GDS 1. Need to turn off 'advanced' features in Google, plus do not let it search your web cache, your web mail and deleted items, for obvious (security & usability) reasons. 2. If you let it index Thunderbird mail, it sometimes deletes / lost / corrupted the Thunderbird mailbox if you de-installed. Clearly, not a trivial problem. 3. Integration with M$ products - notably Outlook - quite good. 4. Can have problems 'losing' files from index - don't get reindexed, even if force-reindex (sometimes). 5. Search results interface OK, but rather sparse and configuration options limited. 6. Gadgets are a pain, for most people. Turn 'em off, (easy).
M$ search. 1. Earlier versions much poorer and slower than GDS. Later ones better. 2. You *have* to install with latest version of Outlook in order to get rid of annoying 'click here to enble instant search' bar in your toolbar. GDS does not seem to work so well with later versions of M$ Office. 3. M$ search - once installed - works OK, although user interface is more cluttered, through attempting to offer more advanced search options... 4. Yippee! GDS then is de-selected as 'default', and Google as search engine in browser, and starts to crash...
No, but they do make a democracy, ooops, I meant 'majority'...
Still, I have sympathy for both sides of the debate, (please let's have a debate, not an argument full of insults such as 'shut up' and so forth). I pronounce 'patent' as in 'cat', because that's how I learned the word in school, a long tme ago. Most people I know pronounce it as in 'latent'. Who's right? Who cares, as long as we understand each other...
Good post, with which I agree totally, and is probably useful for some, thus 'insightful', I guess.
I've given up on windows activation, for much the same reasons as yourself. I seem to spend my weekends re-installing friends and neighbours windows PCs, and have either purchased, or legal access to, ALL the flavours of XP, (and Vista etc.)
The easiest installs (for 'office' too) are *always* the unattended, slipstreamed 'pirate' versions found on the net, (suitably checked, of course). Update the serial number, and away you go... As for linux, great for servers, but driver hell...and all the abovementioned users are already XP brainwashed anyway.
Too bad you won't get modded up, since you're: 1. 'Pro' windows, and some would say 'pro-pirate'. 2. 'Anti' linux...
"data collected anonymously from Dash units is added to the group database"
and
"Dash's outgoing information is sent over a cellular data network, which is also used to receive things like minor software updates and traffic alerts. Large amounts of data, like major map revisions, come through the Dash's built-in Wi-Fi receiver. The unit will automatically spot open Wi-Fi networks and connect."
Finally,
"The prospect of a G.P.S. unit continuously reporting a car's speed and location gives some drivers the willies, but Ms. Bender said that the information was sent anonymously -- there was no way to know which car it came from. If the unit is stolen, the company can send a signal to erase its memory, including driving data and the address book, so that it can't be extracted."
Hopefully your unit will not be stolen while you've parked your car overnight, or even for a hour, so you'll have time to get them to send the kill code before the unit is compromised.
If this thing connects to Wifi then it must have a unique network ID, ditto for GSM. Sounds like a gift for the DHS guys. Now, where is my tinfoil hat?
Nothing to stop you, except common sense. Why buy overpriced hardware, then ditch the only thing that makes it 'worth' it, i.e. the tight integration with the OS? People who buy Macs are rarely technies. One of my friend is a case in point - he is a creative designer, and he and his wife just buy Apple. For home, work, portables, iPod... They 'just work' for them.
He still can't get bittorrent to work, though...
I can't people like that going through the pain of rolling their own distro...
So true, so sad. Interesting parallel today, since "wine, women & song", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine,_women_and_song, are among the many things banned by extremists, (both Jewish & Muslim extremists, and others, of course).
No wonder the 'joyful' religions, such as 'modern' evangelists are gaining ground...
Apart from the cultural barbarism, (viz. Taliban destruction of historic works, Communists *everywhere*), what's the chance of creating a better world 'down here' when the deal imposed by these false prophets is suffering 'now', in exchange for a better life 'later, up there'. Urm, I'll take my self-made paradise now, thanks.
Mod up! I remember a bitter conversation with a dude from IBM over OS/2. I was trying to sell it (over Windows!). OS/2 was better IMHO, but just would *not* install on the client's PCs. I'm not talking about noname beige boxes either - my client had Compaq.
Me: "I'm having this problem when I try and boot the Compaq" IBM: "Urm...well, actually, we've never tried installing it on a non-IBM PC..."
Subsequent lack of success for OS/2 not surprising, (my experience was by no means unique).
Guess testing for power consumption is not up there with eye candy...they're probably right, from a consumer point of view.
You've got to be trolling. From the article you link to...
"Twenty-five million emails a day generated enough new clients to subsidize Kushnir's heroic bouts of clubbing and sex, indulging himself in a way that was remarkable even in a city known for its profound lack of shame." 15 year old girls are also mentioned...
Beaten to death? Pretty fast compared to a lifetime ruined. (Abused children rarely fully recover).
Yup, but it's coming. See posts here and elsewhere about 'beaming' power to objects. Would be very hard to do, (with current technology) for household use, since microwaves risk cooking things & people. The military presumably have less problems with this. *reaches for tinfoil hat - excellent protection against microwaves*
For the moment, though, probably double-tough to keep a beam, (unless very wide & therefore both lossy and dangerous), focused on a small, fast-moving (in 3 dimensions) object.
Anyways, why would they need this for an urban demo, where are there loads of fixed CCTV cams, and many places of opportunity to put mobile ones?
Slashdot Mirror
You're right - that was one of the main reason why the tech was supressed. We could then read the 'secure' messages of our 'allies'.
Plus ca change...
Agree totally. But why not roll your own instalation to do it automagically...
/s /q %temp% /s /q %systemroot%\temp
Also, run this at startup, (script, batch file, whatever..)
rd
md %temp%
rd
md %systemroot%\temp
(Disable if insalling software that required reboot)
Or use http://www.ccleaner.com/
BTW, while you're talking about multiple partitions, I keep all my data off the windows (and/or other boot ones).
Boot partition needs reformating? Windows (or Linux, yes - it happens), needs re-install. Just do it - your data is safely tucked away on another drive... If you've automated your install, its not a bad idea to get rid of the lint every now and then by reinstalling anyway...only takes a few minutes
In most juristictions, I believe (IANAL) that the moment your employer pays you your first salary, and you accept the payment, then a contract is deemed to exist between the two parties. (You have provided work, they have provided payment which is accepted=conditions for a legal contract are satisfied). In the absence of a specifc, written agreement between the two parties, then the local employment law will apply. This is typically less restrictive than any employer's contact.
This has worked fine for me on a couple of occassions, (people very rarely ask you to sign a contract at once, and HR rarely follow up if you 'forget' to return the contract once it finally arrives). Amazing, but true.
I hear you. Still, my Blackberry Pearl works for me...
But, like so-called other 'smart' phones, (windows mobile, nokia, palm), you're stil limited in how 'deep' you're alowed to go in accessing the firm/hardware. I suspect this is deliberate, to stop people from bricking the device, and thus being unable to make (emergency) calls, just because they were trying to add the latest 'turn the volume up to 11 freeware widget by team warezlol!!!!' bit of shitware.
The answer to your prayers may finally come with the much-lauded, (and awaited, and awaited...) Linux/FOSS phones. Then you'll be able to fuck up your boot sequence all you want.
As a final thought, if these things ever do get released, how long before we have rootkits & black botnets on our mobiles? If you're not on an unlimited data plan, could get expensive quickly, let alone the security implications as they rip all your personal data off your phone. Let's not forget that mobile phones are being trialed as methods of payment, too...
Try:
http://www.companionlink.com/downloads/
http://www.scheduleworld.com/tg/cal/day.jsp
and of course, the open source
http://www.gcalsync.com/
It's stunning that Yahoo fixed this ages ago. You get a free app to download to your desktop, (Intellisync - works fine).
This from someone who has to sync blackberry, notes, outlook, tbird, act! and oh god I'm going to kill myself if they add any more fsuking apps...just call me 'lord of the ugly hack'
P.S. Dawn takes some of the pain away for non-technical users if doing 'one-way' conversions with CSVs
"Though it could be carried anywhere within Russia, an intercontinental strike with it was impossible"
You're right, though I suspect it could have made a real mess of either London or Paris, both also nuclear powers and 'enemies' of the Sovs. at the time...
Then perhaps it's a shame they did...
I can't claim originality - the point has been made by others, but I think in other article responses.
On the one hand, the argument (made in this thread), that "the objective is to prevent casual copying", thus preserving the business (profit) model. Swiftly refuted by the "in the age of P2P, any free copy becomes a threat".
Both irrelevant. iTunes (protected content) makes money. CDs (unprotected) do too. Just less than before. Hey, get used to it boys, I had to! We all made shitloads of cash in the 80s and 90s, but now we REALLY have to work for our living.
Do you think that the people spending valuable time cracking BluRy are doing it for profit?
No, "it's because it's there". Kudos, 'beating the Man', whatever...
Not many virusus on Mac, because no point. Cracking an iPhone, aha!
Give it up, guys, and they'll go away...
Understanding the core requirement is key - if you can address the majority of the needs of the majority in a proactive, better way, then they'll love you for it. If some ticky user has idiot requests, well - take it up with their boss & charge them for it!
Much-discussed here already. If IT does not respond to user requests, they'll get sidelined. Been happening even since they bought out the first minis, (yes - minis, not micros).
Smart IT bosses anticipate user needs. We need to be saying "hey, have you seen how you could do your job better with this new thing?"... But many don't. So we're seen as a cost centre, rather than a profit centre. A hinderance, rather than an enabler.
Then we get outsourced...or control passes to the users and third parties. The risk is that corporate IT becomes an unstructured mess.
With no central authority, who then looks after the basics, such as corporate standards for storing and sharing information? What about security? Sure, some smart user can download the latest mashup, but will it play well with everything else? What's the upgrade path?
Yes, it's a pain, but works fine. Products like XPlite, (http://www.litepc.com/), or nLite, (http://www.nliteos.com/index.html), are a big help, and save time over 'roll your own' versions. Keep another partition/VM/old machine to boot into a version with IE & get your updates - that way you can review before deploying, and don't have to rely on other people's integrity...
Putin, and more importantly, the team of ex-KGB people around him, will of course seek to control the Internet in Russia.
All the other media, such as newpapers and TV, are firmly pro-Kremlin. Independant journalists are imprisoned or assasinated by - of course - nameless 'enemies of the state'.
It's a shame that the promise of democracy there turned out to be yet another 'false dawn'.
Europe will do nothing, since the bear's paw is firmly on their throat, i.e. the oil and gas supply...
Next up, Google et al 'voluntary censorship'?
Thanks for that. Helpful.
I wonder how hard it would be to give users the option to 'right click' such things, and then select options, rather than digging through mutiple menu options...not hard, I think.
Not sure why you were modded 'funny' - after testing, both for myself and others, I think that what you said is (partially) true.
I've had some *interesting* experiences wih strange M$ 'imcompatibilities' with GDS - see below.
My experience with both GDS and M$ so far:
GDS
1. Need to turn off 'advanced' features in Google, plus do not let it search your web cache, your web mail and deleted items, for obvious (security & usability) reasons.
2. If you let it index Thunderbird mail, it sometimes deletes / lost / corrupted the Thunderbird mailbox if you de-installed.
Clearly, not a trivial problem.
3. Integration with M$ products - notably Outlook - quite good.
4. Can have problems 'losing' files from index - don't get reindexed, even if force-reindex (sometimes).
5. Search results interface OK, but rather sparse and configuration options limited.
6. Gadgets are a pain, for most people. Turn 'em off, (easy).
M$ search.
1. Earlier versions much poorer and slower than GDS. Later ones better.
2. You *have* to install with latest version of Outlook in order to get rid of annoying 'click here to enble instant search' bar in your toolbar. GDS does not seem to work so well with later versions of M$ Office.
3. M$ search - once installed - works OK, although user interface is more cluttered, through attempting to offer more advanced search options...
4. Yippee! GDS then is de-selected as 'default', and Google as search engine in browser, and starts to crash...
More 'cookcoo wear' from M$?
Urm, my point exactly...and don't get me started on trying to explain how to open a port in his domestic firewall...
No, but they do make a democracy, ooops, I meant 'majority'...
Still, I have sympathy for both sides of the debate, (please let's have a debate, not an argument full of insults such as 'shut up' and so forth). I pronounce 'patent' as in 'cat', because that's how I learned the word in school, a long tme ago.
Most people I know pronounce it as in 'latent'. Who's right? Who cares, as long as we understand each other...
Good post, with which I agree totally, and is probably useful for some, thus 'insightful', I guess.
I've given up on windows activation, for much the same reasons as yourself. I seem to spend my weekends re-installing friends and neighbours windows PCs, and have either purchased, or legal access to, ALL the flavours of XP, (and Vista etc.)
The easiest installs (for 'office' too) are *always* the unattended, slipstreamed 'pirate' versions found on the net, (suitably checked, of course). Update the serial number, and away you go... As for linux, great for servers, but driver hell...and all the abovementioned users are already XP brainwashed anyway.
Too bad you won't get modded up, since you're:
1. 'Pro' windows, and some would say 'pro-pirate'.
2. 'Anti' linux...
*sigh*
Hmmm, is this true?
*thinks hard for something profound to say about a TV comedy show irradiating cockroaches*
Got it!
'In Soviet Russia, Cockroaches irradiate YOU!, oh wait...
FTA:
"data collected anonymously from Dash units is added to the group database"
and
"Dash's outgoing information is sent over a cellular data network, which is also used to receive things like minor software updates and traffic alerts. Large amounts of data, like major map revisions, come through the Dash's built-in Wi-Fi receiver. The unit will automatically spot open Wi-Fi networks and connect."
Finally,
"The prospect of a G.P.S. unit continuously reporting a car's speed and location gives some drivers the willies, but Ms. Bender said that the information was sent anonymously -- there was no way to know which car it came from. If the unit is stolen, the company can send a signal to erase its memory, including driving data and the address book, so that it can't be extracted."
Hopefully your unit will not be stolen while you've parked your car overnight, or even for a hour, so you'll have time to get them to send the kill code before the unit is compromised.
If this thing connects to Wifi then it must have a unique network ID, ditto for GSM. Sounds like a gift for the DHS guys.
Now, where is my tinfoil hat?
Nothing to stop you, except common sense.
Why buy overpriced hardware, then ditch the only thing that makes it 'worth' it, i.e. the tight integration with the OS?
People who buy Macs are rarely technies. One of my friend is a case in point - he is a creative designer, and he and his wife just buy Apple. For home, work, portables, iPod... They 'just work' for them.
He still can't get bittorrent to work, though...
I can't people like that going through the pain of rolling their own distro...
So true, so sad. Interesting parallel today, since "wine, women & song", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine,_women_and_song, are among the many things banned by extremists, (both Jewish & Muslim extremists, and others, of course).
No wonder the 'joyful' religions, such as 'modern' evangelists are gaining ground...
Apart from the cultural barbarism, (viz. Taliban destruction of historic works, Communists *everywhere*), what's the chance of creating a better world 'down here' when the deal imposed by these false prophets is suffering 'now', in exchange for a better life 'later, up there'. Urm, I'll take my self-made paradise now, thanks.
Mod up! I remember a bitter conversation with a dude from IBM over OS/2. I was trying to sell it (over Windows!). OS/2 was better IMHO, but just would *not* install on the client's PCs. I'm not talking about noname beige boxes either - my client had Compaq.
Me: "I'm having this problem when I try and boot the Compaq"
IBM: "Urm...well, actually, we've never tried installing it on a non-IBM PC..."
Subsequent lack of success for OS/2 not surprising, (my experience was by no means unique).
Guess testing for power consumption is not up there with eye candy...they're probably right, from a consumer point of view.
Seems to defeat auditing pretty well, though....
You've got to be trolling. From the article you link to...
"Twenty-five million emails a day generated enough new clients to subsidize Kushnir's heroic bouts of clubbing and sex, indulging himself in a way that was remarkable even in a city known for its profound lack of shame." 15 year old girls are also mentioned...
Beaten to death? Pretty fast compared to a lifetime ruined. (Abused children rarely fully recover).
Yup, but it's coming. See posts here and elsewhere about 'beaming' power to objects. Would be very hard to do, (with current technology) for household use, since microwaves risk cooking things & people. The military presumably have less problems with this.
*reaches for tinfoil hat - excellent protection against microwaves*
For the moment, though, probably double-tough to keep a beam, (unless very wide & therefore both lossy and dangerous), focused on a small, fast-moving (in 3 dimensions) object.
Anyways, why would they need this for an urban demo, where are there loads of fixed CCTV cams, and many places of opportunity to put mobile ones?