...because you don't have a Mac?
That covers most people - many of whom actually should panic over Windows malware. But nobody should be too smug, not even Linux-only or BSD-only users, since every compromised machine (Windows or Mac or whatever) pollutes the internet commons.
Religious people tend to get quite offended when you dismiss their religion.
So, should I get offended because many (but not all) religious people dismiss my atheism? Of course, I don't get offended, because their viewpoint is rooted in a fantasy, utterly divorced from tangible reality. Instead, I try to be be accommodative of their beliefs and don't push my own (neither do I pretend not to be atheist). Is it too much to ask for some reciprocal consideration?
In Finland, I have the slowest dataplan of about 500kbps, unlimited, in my phone, 4,99 €/month, going down. Unlimited unlimited is now about 10 € / month, or 14€ / month including an USB modem...
Actually, I got an even slower dataplan for my daughter (we're also in Finland). It's a mere 384kbps, but otherwise utterly unlimited, and costs 3euro per month. Good enough for youtube, music, maps, etc.
When you install an Android app it asks for permission if it wants to use your location data. Isn't that exactly what they are asking for?
It's something, but it's not enough merely to say that it needs to access item X. The legislation requires that it also say what item X will be used for, and in an informative way. The consent given must be "specific and informed" in each case. Moreover, it was stated that "consent cannot be obtained freely through mandatory acceptance of general terms and conditions, nor through opt-out possibilities" which blows a hole in many of the current slimy practices involving EULAs and suchlike, or defaulting to opt-in.
Producing weasel words which look just enough like informing the customer, but without really doing so (or preferably cunningly misinforming or misleading the customer into complacency), is a skill which will likely be in greater demand.
Never tried Sabayon, but I might check it out. I tried Mint, hated the menu, but otherwise thought it quite nice. Tried PCLinuxOS and liked it quite a lot, but am wary of its over-reliance on TexStar.
We moved our old laptop to Lubuntu 10.04 (=Ubuntu 10.04 with LXDE), which is not officially supported but nonetheless considered an LTS release. The laptop now uses less than 200MB RAM when it's running with a number of applications (Thunderbird, Chromium, Pidgin, some shells and file managers) and almost a dozen network mounts. The services have not been optimized, so there's probably a few which could be dropped.
The desktops have 8GB each, and relatively recent quad core processors, so they're adequately provisioned. However, I dislike the idea of devoting ever more resources to doing nothing (desktop environment), so I'm biding my time before deciding which way to go with them. They're on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, so we still have a couple of years with Gnome 2. From what I've seen so far, both Unity and Gnome 3 are unappealing. KDE4 is a bit better. LXDE rocks, if you change a few of its default applications. However, it needs a graphical menu editor to be acceptable to the masses.
I've never had such experience with my Windows box nor have millions of other Windows users.
Weird. I remember a co-worker doing a clean install of Windows XP on a PC a few years ago and it had been remotely infected by a worm before it even managed to install all the security updates from Windows Update.
And yes, giving it an unfirewalled network connection was probably a bad idea.
The final straw for me was the nice Microsoft support person (in India, from the accent) telling me that I'd have to disable my firewall in order to install XP SP1. This was despite me telling her that my cable link was getting several intrusion attempts per second (bad route requests, login attempts, etc.), and I doubted that an unprotected Windows could survive the hour or so that the upgrade would take. AFAIR this was back in 2003-ish, in response to my email complaints that the XP SP1 install failed on my laptop with rather unhelpful messages.
Instead of installing XP SP1, I installed SuSE linux, which later got supplanted by Warty Warthog.
That's irrelevant. The only reason a Windows computer get malware on it is because the user does something stupid.
Like connect to the internet without first spending some money on one or more anti-virus packages? Windows is the only current OS which connects to the internet with its legs wide open.
I was waiting to see if they screw up the 3.0 branch and piss everyone off like kde4 did
They did. Gnome 3 sucks like a poxed corpse. Shun it, for your own good.
LXDE and Xfce (among others) are likely to gain some users at Gnome's expense. Our desktops are sticking with the LTS version of Ubuntu because it is not threatened with Gnome 3 for a few years. The laptop recently migrated to LXDE anyway, because Gnome was sucking too much cpu from its meagre abilities.
Is it just me, or is it getting increasingly difficult to find a computer monitor that has greater resolution than a HDTV?? It seems the choices for greater vertical resolution are getting fewer and fewer...and what you can find, is generally getting kinda pricy.
Unfortunately, your observation is correct. I'm posting this from a laptop with a 17" 1920x1200 display. It's almost 8 years old, and maxed out on 1 GB of RAM, but we're likely to keep it going a while longer (Lubuntu rocks!). It seems that laptops with decent options and 1920x1080 screens are common enough at price points around 1500euro, but to get an equivalent laptop with a 1920x1200 display one must add at least 1000euro to the price, just for an extra 120 vertical pixels.
Those extra 120 vertical pixels are actually quite important. One of our desktops has an 11-year-old 1600x1200 LCD display, while the other has a pair of 1920x1080 LCD displays. Although they are otherwise equivalent (quad core 2.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 3 TB disks, etc.), the one with 1200 vertical pixels is nicer to use, even though it has fewer pixels overall.
I don't think Linux developers understand the problem. Once again. It's not about the technology underhood or that the protocol is open. The fact is these things need to be able to call to the "real world" and be able to receive calls from there.
Curiously, I have never done so. I have only used Skype for calling other Skype users, including video calls and conference calls. It's an attractive value proposition when transatlantic rates would apply to regular calls.
Basement geeks probably don't understand it, but that's what most normal people use Skype for.
What does "normal people" mean here? I'm middle-aged and married with teenage kids. We own our house, cars, etc.
It will also need clients on tons of mobile phones AND it needs to be able to be used with Skype users. Now that Microsoft owns part of Facebook they will probably start using Skype too. You won't win this just because your application is "open".
Maybe not, but interconnectivity is a requirement for any solution which hopes to "win", or even to endure in the game. Consider regular telephony or mobile telephony. It does not matter whether your equipment is ancient Bell stuff, or whether it's a GSM or CDMA cellphone: they all interoperate seamlessly. That's what's needed from Skype and from anything else which hopes to compete. And Skype won't get there unless it opens up. When it opens up, there will be interoperable alternatives.
The walled garden approach does give a first-mover advantage, but this can later turn into a handicap.
I kept wondering how I could get into an Oblivion mod.
1 pint vodka
1 pint brandy
1/2 cup orange juice
12 psilocybin mushrooms
4 marijuana brownies
A couple of valiums
That ought to do nicely.
I tried your prescription, but didn't get much further than the pint of vodka. Some kind of oblivion descended on me, and I'm not sure if I even started on the brandy. When this hangover wears off, I'll try it in reverse order.
Is this a troll, or genuine lack of knowledge?
FYI, a Pastafarian is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Most of my family are Pastafarians when a religious affiliation is demanded. Otherwise they're either Brights or just plain atheists.
You are afflicted by a task of supporting morons. Your position is thus understandable; 'nuff said.
For non-morons, however, a desktop switcher is neat, and I also miss it in modern versions of Windows. Back in Windows 3.0 days, there was a BigDesk application which I used with BackMenu to make the interface a bit similar to that on X desktops. The 1991 version of those combined utilities can be downloaded as backdesk, if you've still got a windows 3.x box around...
Incidentally, for a real trip down memory lane (and assuming you have something running Windows 386, which pre-dated Windows 3.0), install Aporia on it. In 1990 you could have an interface like Windows 95 or OS/2 WPS on a 640kB machine!
Is it just me or is the text on most comments cut off to the top half? I tried with Firefox, Chrome, and IE and it's the same with all of them...
Oh no, its not just you. And Safari on Macs are doing it too.
I expect a.css file will be reverted shortly.
And Opera (Windows + Linux). Actually, every browser I've used today and yesterday at home (Linux) or work (Windows) has had the crappy cropped text. And being logged in or not on Slashdot makes no difference.
What is the benefit of doing this? I'm pretty sure we can calculate how much CO2 is emitted by various activities without invading people's privacy.
They're just following Kennedy's suggestion: "Don't ask 'why', ask instead 'why not?'". The 'why not?' would also be merely rhetorical, not needing an answer. After all, everyone else seems to be getting away with it, so there cannot be any valid reasons not to do the same...
You apparently don't know what fucking irrational is...
A number like sqrt(2) or other real number which cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers? I think that's what I learned back in junior high, many many moons ago.
I still remember when I was a small child visiting a small lake that was at the top of a mountain (I think in Wales), which was discharged through some turbines when the commercial breaks came on the TV in the local area to cope with thousands of people turning their kettles on to boil water for tea. After the water was discharged, and the power grid had returned to a more normal state the water would be pumped back up the mountain ready for the next commercial break.
I guess you refer to Dinorwig, which is one of the many pumped-storage hydroelectric stations in the world. They pump water up to the reservoir when the baseload generation is not being used (typically night time). Then generate power as a hydro station when consumption exceeds the baseload generation. It's a way of smoothing the day-night variations in power, but the switching time for the flows is too slow for it to respond in the time scale of a TV commercial.
See a doctor. My informed (through television) opinion is that you may be pregnant and not know it.
As a quick pregnancy test, see if you like Salmon poached in Liquorice. If you like it, you're obviously pregnant. If you throw up, it's probably a bout of morning sickness...
Slashdot Mirror
...because you don't have a Mac?
That covers most people - many of whom actually should panic over Windows malware. But nobody should be too smug, not even Linux-only or BSD-only users, since every compromised machine (Windows or Mac or whatever) pollutes the internet commons.
Religious people tend to get quite offended when you dismiss their religion.
So, should I get offended because many (but not all) religious people dismiss my atheism? Of course, I don't get offended, because their viewpoint is rooted in a fantasy, utterly divorced from tangible reality. Instead, I try to be be accommodative of their beliefs and don't push my own (neither do I pretend not to be atheist). Is it too much to ask for some reciprocal consideration?
In Finland, I have the slowest dataplan of about 500kbps, unlimited, in my phone, 4,99 €/month, going down. Unlimited unlimited is now about 10 € / month, or 14€ / month including an USB modem...
Actually, I got an even slower dataplan for my daughter (we're also in Finland). It's a mere 384kbps, but otherwise utterly unlimited, and costs 3euro per month. Good enough for youtube, music, maps, etc.
When you install an Android app it asks for permission if it wants to use your location data. Isn't that exactly what they are asking for?
It's something, but it's not enough merely to say that it needs to access item X. The legislation requires that it also say what item X will be used for, and in an informative way. The consent given must be "specific and informed" in each case. Moreover, it was stated that "consent cannot be obtained freely through mandatory acceptance of general terms and conditions, nor through opt-out possibilities" which blows a hole in many of the current slimy practices involving EULAs and suchlike, or defaulting to opt-in.
Producing weasel words which look just enough like informing the customer, but without really doing so (or preferably cunningly misinforming or misleading the customer into complacency), is a skill which will likely be in greater demand.
You should try Wubuntu, which is Ubuntu built on the Windows 7 windows manager.
Wubuntu uses the WPS from OS/2 you insensitive clod!
Joking aside, I would really like to see WPS on Linux.
Never tried Sabayon, but I might check it out. I tried Mint, hated the menu, but otherwise thought it quite nice. Tried PCLinuxOS and liked it quite a lot, but am wary of its over-reliance on TexStar.
We moved our old laptop to Lubuntu 10.04 (=Ubuntu 10.04 with LXDE), which is not officially supported but nonetheless considered an LTS release. The laptop now uses less than 200MB RAM when it's running with a number of applications (Thunderbird, Chromium, Pidgin, some shells and file managers) and almost a dozen network mounts. The services have not been optimized, so there's probably a few which could be dropped.
The desktops have 8GB each, and relatively recent quad core processors, so they're adequately provisioned. However, I dislike the idea of devoting ever more resources to doing nothing (desktop environment), so I'm biding my time before deciding which way to go with them. They're on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, so we still have a couple of years with Gnome 2. From what I've seen so far, both Unity and Gnome 3 are unappealing. KDE4 is a bit better. LXDE rocks, if you change a few of its default applications. However, it needs a graphical menu editor to be acceptable to the masses.
I've never had such experience with my Windows box nor have millions of other Windows users.
Weird. I remember a co-worker doing a clean install of Windows XP on a PC a few years ago and it had been remotely infected by a worm before it even managed to install all the security updates from Windows Update.
And yes, giving it an unfirewalled network connection was probably a bad idea.
The final straw for me was the nice Microsoft support person (in India, from the accent) telling me that I'd have to disable my firewall in order to install XP SP1. This was despite me telling her that my cable link was getting several intrusion attempts per second (bad route requests, login attempts, etc.), and I doubted that an unprotected Windows could survive the hour or so that the upgrade would take. AFAIR this was back in 2003-ish, in response to my email complaints that the XP SP1 install failed on my laptop with rather unhelpful messages.
Instead of installing XP SP1, I installed SuSE linux, which later got supplanted by Warty Warthog.
That's irrelevant. The only reason a Windows computer get malware on it is because the user does something stupid.
Like connect to the internet without first spending some money on one or more anti-virus packages? Windows is the only current OS which connects to the internet with its legs wide open.
I was waiting to see if they screw up the 3.0 branch and piss everyone off like kde4 did
They did. Gnome 3 sucks like a poxed corpse. Shun it, for your own good.
LXDE and Xfce (among others) are likely to gain some users at Gnome's expense. Our desktops are sticking with the LTS version of Ubuntu because it is not threatened with Gnome 3 for a few years. The laptop recently migrated to LXDE anyway, because Gnome was sucking too much cpu from its meagre abilities.
Is it just me, or is it getting increasingly difficult to find a computer monitor that has greater resolution than a HDTV?? It seems the choices for greater vertical resolution are getting fewer and fewer...and what you can find, is generally getting kinda pricy.
Unfortunately, your observation is correct. I'm posting this from a laptop with a 17" 1920x1200 display. It's almost 8 years old, and maxed out on 1 GB of RAM, but we're likely to keep it going a while longer (Lubuntu rocks!). It seems that laptops with decent options and 1920x1080 screens are common enough at price points around 1500euro, but to get an equivalent laptop with a 1920x1200 display one must add at least 1000euro to the price, just for an extra 120 vertical pixels.
Those extra 120 vertical pixels are actually quite important. One of our desktops has an 11-year-old 1600x1200 LCD display, while the other has a pair of 1920x1080 LCD displays. Although they are otherwise equivalent (quad core 2.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 3 TB disks, etc.), the one with 1200 vertical pixels is nicer to use, even though it has fewer pixels overall.
I don't think Linux developers understand the problem. Once again. It's not about the technology underhood or that the protocol is open. The fact is these things need to be able to call to the "real world" and be able to receive calls from there.
Curiously, I have never done so. I have only used Skype for calling other Skype users, including video calls and conference calls. It's an attractive value proposition when transatlantic rates would apply to regular calls.
Basement geeks probably don't understand it, but that's what most normal people use Skype for.
What does "normal people" mean here? I'm middle-aged and married with teenage kids. We own our house, cars, etc.
It will also need clients on tons of mobile phones AND it needs to be able to be used with Skype users. Now that Microsoft owns part of Facebook they will probably start using Skype too. You won't win this just because your application is "open".
Maybe not, but interconnectivity is a requirement for any solution which hopes to "win", or even to endure in the game. Consider regular telephony or mobile telephony. It does not matter whether your equipment is ancient Bell stuff, or whether it's a GSM or CDMA cellphone: they all interoperate seamlessly. That's what's needed from Skype and from anything else which hopes to compete. And Skype won't get there unless it opens up. When it opens up, there will be interoperable alternatives.
The walled garden approach does give a first-mover advantage, but this can later turn into a handicap.
Does anybody really think virus writers don't own compilers?
They don't own them, they hack or pirate them!
I kept wondering how I could get into an Oblivion mod.
1 pint vodka
1 pint brandy
1/2 cup orange juice
12 psilocybin mushrooms
4 marijuana brownies
A couple of valiums
That ought to do nicely.
I tried your prescription, but didn't get much further than the pint of vodka. Some kind of oblivion descended on me, and I'm not sure if I even started on the brandy. When this hangover wears off, I'll try it in reverse order.
Assessing cloud security is like checking my mom's virginity.
Well, Oedipus, I doubt if she'd let you... especially if she really was a restored virgin.
A blank page is even more secure than an encrypted one because the enemy will never be certain they aren't just missing something.
Hey, don't give the security consulting game away!!!
WTF is a pastafarian? Pasta glued to a hat?
Is this a troll, or genuine lack of knowledge?
FYI, a Pastafarian is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Most of my family are Pastafarians when a religious affiliation is demanded. Otherwise they're either Brights or just plain atheists.
Yes, but how the fuck do you fuck a number? Irrational or otherwise? Blowup doll?
It has to be an imaginary irrational, obviously. This is Slashdot, you know.
You are afflicted by a task of supporting morons. Your position is thus understandable; 'nuff said.
For non-morons, however, a desktop switcher is neat, and I also miss it in modern versions of Windows. Back in Windows 3.0 days, there was a BigDesk application which I used with BackMenu to make the interface a bit similar to that on X desktops. The 1991 version of those combined utilities can be downloaded as backdesk, if you've still got a windows 3.x box around...
Incidentally, for a real trip down memory lane (and assuming you have something running Windows 386, which pre-dated Windows 3.0), install Aporia on it. In 1990 you could have an interface like Windows 95 or OS/2 WPS on a 640kB machine!
Is it just me or is the text on most comments cut off to the top half? I tried with Firefox, Chrome, and IE and it's the same with all of them...
Oh no, its not just you. And Safari on Macs are doing it too. .css file will be reverted shortly.
I expect a
And Opera (Windows + Linux). Actually, every browser I've used today and yesterday at home (Linux) or work (Windows) has had the crappy cropped text. And being logged in or not on Slashdot makes no difference.
What is the benefit of doing this? I'm pretty sure we can calculate how much CO2 is emitted by various activities without invading people's privacy.
They're just following Kennedy's suggestion: "Don't ask 'why', ask instead 'why not?'". The 'why not?' would also be merely rhetorical, not needing an answer. After all, everyone else seems to be getting away with it, so there cannot be any valid reasons not to do the same...
You apparently don't know what fucking irrational is...
A number like sqrt(2) or other real number which cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers? I think that's what I learned back in junior high, many many moons ago.
I still remember when I was a small child visiting a small lake that was at the top of a mountain (I think in Wales), which was discharged through some turbines when the commercial breaks came on the TV in the local area to cope with thousands of people turning their kettles on to boil water for tea. After the water was discharged, and the power grid had returned to a more normal state the water would be pumped back up the mountain ready for the next commercial break.
I guess you refer to Dinorwig, which is one of the many pumped-storage hydroelectric stations in the world. They pump water up to the reservoir when the baseload generation is not being used (typically night time). Then generate power as a hydro station when consumption exceeds the baseload generation. It's a way of smoothing the day-night variations in power, but the switching time for the flows is too slow for it to respond in the time scale of a TV commercial.
What's Canada?
Sorry, the answer is classified. Or nobody knows. We're not sure.
Is that near China?
Not really, but its only land border is with a large authoritarian police state which often ignores international law.
Does it have money?
Well, they have Loonies... which is better than the stuff used by that police state.
Im shocked it came out of a US court at all.
You may not have to endure that shock for long.
An appeal may be forthcoming, with a properly prepped judge.
See a doctor. My informed (through television) opinion is that you may be pregnant and not know it.
As a quick pregnancy test, see if you like Salmon poached in Liquorice. If you like it, you're obviously pregnant. If you throw up, it's probably a bout of morning sickness...