Slashdot Mirror


User: mdsharpe

mdsharpe's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
51
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 51

  1. No, because I'm still using it on Ask Slashdot: Do You Miss Windows Phone? (theverge.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Love my Lumia 950, it works very well, does everything I need. Occasionally there's an app I wish I could use, but not enough to be a deal breaker. Microsoft did a great job making its apps responsive and I enjoy using the same software on my laptop and phone. I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion but there was and still is nothing technically wrong with Windows Mobile. Sadly it looks like it won't be getting any further feature updates but the current version is still supported for quite a while yet.

  2. Firmware updates on Ask Slashdot: Should I Allow A 'Smart TV' To Connect To The Internet? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Pretty much the only reason I let my "smart" TV connect to the Internet is for firmware updates. Don't think I've had one in a while though now so assuming they've stopped being developed I may disconnect it soon.

  3. Re:Basic on Slashdot Asks: What Was Your First Programming Language? (stanforddaily.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    BASIC on the Commodore 64. You could just turn it on and immediately start typing lines of code :-)

  4. Re:Climate Denial on UN Report: Climate Changes Overwhelming · · Score: 1

    Indeed, I too have noticed this. I come here for what is usually interesting, intelligent and informed discussion, but the whole scene changes when the topic is climate change. I guess the subject causes a lot of cognitive dissonance and people find the reality of the situation harder to come to terms with than I had realised.

  5. Re:Link broken? on Come Try Out Slashdot's New Design (In Beta) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seconded. The comments and discussion are the main reason I visit Slashdot several times a day. The new design is an absolute nightmare for reading comments, as they are squashed into an extremely narrow column.
    Simply put, if the new design becomes the norm and there's no way to fall back to the current (non-beta) design, I will be visiting a lot less, and will consider it a great loss.

  6. Re:Purpose of the Always On requirement on Microsoft Confirms Xbox One's Phone Home Requirement, Game Resale Rules · · Score: 1

    I suspect that game licensing is precisely what it's for. My guess would be that the console will require verification of a newly introduced game disc at the moment it's loaded. There are no useful user-friendly reasons for this always-on connection that I can see. I think the main reason it's required is for game DRM.

  7. Re:Existing clients everywhere on Microsoft Axing Messenger On March 15th · · Score: 1

    You're right. According to Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/microsoft-messenger-service-not-going-anywhere-just-yet/) XMPP support will remain until October, and then the network itself will be turned off in March 2014.

  8. Re:Kill Confirmed on Microsoft Axing Messenger On March 15th · · Score: 1

    I was trying to prevent confusion, not be a "smart ass", so I apologise if I gave the wrong impression. However, this is nothing like comparing versions of Outlook. Outlook has always been an end-user e-mail client, wheras the two messengers in question are not alike. One is an IM client, the other was a built-in Windows system service that one typically interacted with at the command line ("net send" etc.).

  9. Re:Kill Confirmed on Microsoft Axing Messenger On March 15th · · Score: 1

    Unrelated - the old Messenger service is nothing to do with MSN. The GRC article even says so: "The first thing to understand is that the Windows Messenger Service is completely different from, and not in any way related to, "MSN Messenger", "Windows Messenger", or any other well-known instant messaging system."

  10. Existing clients everywhere on Microsoft Axing Messenger On March 15th · · Score: 1

    Makes me wonder what they're going to do about the Messenger clients built in to: Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360, etc. If these clients are going to stop working, will they push out replacement updates for all of them in time? I doubt it. The current version of Windows 8 Skype app is awful - if that's going to be their primary IM solution on Windows 8 then they're going to have to improve it pretty rapidly between now and mid-March.

  11. Re:I certainly don't on Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Need a Phone At Your Desk? · · Score: 1

    Same here. The company I work for recently moved offices and we didn't bother getting a phone system in the new place. We got a bunch of USB handsets that were desgined to be used with MS Communicator / Lync, but they work great with Skype.

  12. As of 2012-12-04 17:00 UTC on Facebook Users Voting On Privacy, Instagram, Other Issues · · Score: 1

    So far the outcome is overwhelmingly in favour of keeping their current "SRR" and Data Use Policy, by about 10:1.

  13. Re:I've given up on Seas Rising Faster Than Projected · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Your snarky reply implies that we cannot continue without fossil fuels. If that's true, then we're just as screwed once they run out. So, we can either transition to clean energy sooner, or later, or never - pick one.

  14. Re:I've given up on Seas Rising Faster Than Projected · · Score: 2

    Agreed. We may or may not be at peak oil, but either way there's a heck of a lot more fossil fuel left to dig up, and I just cannot see any way that business will let themselves be denied that wealth.

  15. Re:I really hope.... on Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a $248 Win8 PC. · · Score: 5, Informative

    The first boot tutorial shows mouse gestures or touch gestures or both, depending on the machine's capabilities.

  16. Re:Win 8 RT on Now That It's Here, Is There a Place For Windows RT? · · Score: 1

    They moved it out of Windows and into Windows Essentials which you can download at get.live.com

  17. Re:Slashdoted.. on Student Publishes Extensive Statistics On the Population of Middle-Earth · · Score: 2

    Shaaaare the loooaaddd

  18. Re:Microsoft cares about privacy on Advertisers Blast Microsoft Over IE Default Privacy Settings · · Score: 1

    The setting is per user, not per Windows installation.

  19. Re:Libre Office on MS Office 2013 Pushing Home Users Toward Subscriptions · · Score: 1

    I'd have agreed with you a few years ago when helping my family with their XP boxes, but in my experience starting with Vista things got a lot better (probably mostly because of UAC).

  20. Re:So safety is no longer a factor on FAA Permits American Airlines To Use iPads In Cockpit "In All Phases of Flight" · · Score: 1

    That's not really my point. To my knowledge, iOS is not intended as a safety-critical system, in the same way Windows isn't. Perhaps these documents are not safety critical, but as much as the airlines might do "testing", they cannot guarantee there's not a bug lurking in there.

  21. Re:So safety is no longer a factor on FAA Permits American Airlines To Use iPads In Cockpit "In All Phases of Flight" · · Score: 1

    Exactly. What happens when a bug causes the iPad or the doc reader app to crash? You can't tell me the OS and app were designed as safety-critical systems.

  22. Still is for some of us on When Flying Was a Thrill · · Score: 1

    Maybe it's just me, but I still think of flying as a big deal. I don't go on aeroplanes much, but when I do, I always remember to appreciate it for the marvel it is. I still find the acceleration of takeoff to be pretty exciting as well.

  23. I suppose the other 50% will be petrol or diesel powered. Will these fuels be affordable in 2032?

  24. Limited usefulness? on London Tube Stations Finally Get Wi-Fi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just at the stations and not on the trains? That's cool to a certain extent but how long does the average traveller spend standing around on the platform? I'd have thought that by the time you've got through any registration faff / entering your e-mail address it's time to get on the train.

  25. Copyright Infringement! on NASA Releases New High-Definition Image of Earth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait a minute, I've seen a photo a bit like that before. Quick, call the lawyers!