Are you kidding? Disabling the device would have users furious, and rightly so. And it may not be possible to skip the parts which are incompatible... but only Microsoft can tell us that one.
So, SP1 won't install if there's an incompatible driver present (as opposed to installing and then crashing all the time, or just removing the driver)? That sounds pretty fucking sensible to me, what exactly are we supposed to find bad about that?
Obviously it'd be better if no such incompatibility existed, but if you have to deal with such a situation, this seems like the best way to do it, by far.
But a counter to this is Metallica. The Black Album was fueled by alcohol as was that ever so aptly named album, Load. This would seem to support your alcohol point, not weaken it, since (although this is purely my opinion, obviously) the black album was the first (and only) actual great Metallica album.
As far as arbitrary goes, I don't know if said feature exists. However, I took you to mean that it was impossible to set a window to remain on top at all, which isn't true. Various apps can set themselves to remain on top (Winamp comes to mind). If you want the OS to do that, it may or may not be able to, I don't know.
As for providing a stable platform.. when was the last time any Windows platform was actually stable? Sure you can get contrived measurements of stability when you don't ask it to do anything but in the real world it crashes every day at least for most people. Windows has been quite stable since WinXP, at least. I hear Win2k was very stable as well. Hell, I've been running Vista for over a year now (since Jan or Feb '07) as my primary OS, and I have yet to have ONE OS crash. I'd consider that pretty damned stable.
You've never had a game bitch about having to download the latest point-release of DirectX? or the installer requiring some.dll file included in a runtime installer from Microsoft themselves that just-doesn't-work? or being prompted to download some shitty library, only to find out after half an hour in Google that you need to edit some.dll file hidden in an obscure directory with a hex editor instead? 'cause I've had all those happen within the last two weeks, and I'm not even a big gamer. Every game I've installed in recent memory installed the required version of DirectX with itself (after asking). No one should ever have to go out and download DX to run a game, that's just laziness on the part of the game developer, since DirectX is redistributable. I've never had any of the situations you described happen to me, ever.
And let us not speak of the troubles you have to go through just to get the fucking game you just bought from nagging you about needing the CD on the fucking drive everytime you try to play it... something that, if I might add, hasn't happened to me yet on Linux, even when the Windows versions of the games *are* of the nagging type. This has absolutely jack shit to do with the OS, and has everything to do with the game. There are, believe it or not, games on Windows which run without a CD check. Hell, GalCiv 2 doesn't even have a cd key! If the same games didn't do a CD check under Linux, then that's the manufacturer's choice. It's not like Linus threw down a decree which said "thou shalt not use cd checks in this OS, bitches!", while Windows requires cd checks.
Off the top of my head, virtual desktops, window shading, focus following mouse, keep on top, package management. Shit, you can't even have 2 users logged on at the same time if you're on a domain. These are basic features that I rely on every day that just don't work on windows. Very few of these are, in fact, basic features. Virtual desktops isn't basic at all, that's a (admittedly useful) feature that almost no beginner will even think of using. It's a power-user feature. Window shading is eye candy, so I guess it's basic in a way... but it's inconsequential, too. Focus following mouse... are you serious? That sounds like the most annoying damned feature that has ever been put into an OS. If I bump my mouse, the focus should NOT follow it. Keep on top is something that I see all the time in Windows, so I have no idea what you're even talking about here. Package management (insofar as I understand what the duties of a package manager are) is provided with Add/Remove programs... poorly, you might argue, but even if it's poor, it's still there. And why you would want to have 2 users logged on at the same time is rather beyond me, but I'll concede that it's something that'd make sense to implement.
Windows has no excuse at all. The "excuse" is that most of these features are in there, not basic features at all, or are retarded features. Those are all pretty valid reasons, in my book.
then say Windows is so much better -- after they patch up their installation (hopefully before it's rooted)... Well, considering Windows patches improve security, not usability, Windows is better or worse (whichever you decide) right out of the box. It's not gonna improve. Furthermore, it's trivial to patch a Windows box to the latest version before it's rooted. It's just not that damn hard, saying otherwise is slinging FUD.
...download their cracked versions of photoshop, MS Office, Alcohol 120%, etc. This doesn't have a damn thing to do with the usability of the OS. Gasp and alarm! If there's some piece of software you want to use, under ANY OS, and it doesn't ship with the OS, you have to go and get it (legally or otherwise). This is the same for every OS which ever has been created, and ever will be created. And it's not a function of the OS. The OS' job is not to ship with software, it's to provide a stable platform for your apps to run on.
The only reasonable explanation to this logic is that they already had their conclusion (that Linux is inferior to Windows), and their "reasons" are merely to give an impression that they weren't biased. Fair enough, this is something people do all the time. Humans seem to be huge fans of making up their minds beforehand, and then rationalizing it. But given the arguments against Windows you presented in your post, it's pretty hard to believe that you've done otherwise... you just decided in a different direction beforehand.
While I haven't ever used (much less installed) Fedora, so I can't comment on its ease of use, I have installed both XP and Vista on bare machines several times. It's really. Damn. Painless. Fedora may be good, but I find it impossible to believe that they've improved much on the XP/Vista install experience. Hell, I don't know if Vista even can be improved upon... while with XP I invariably had to find 2 or 3 drivers once the OS was installed, Vista has found all the drivers, every time.
Not bashing Fedora, but it's really damn hard to improve upon serious excellence. It'd be like saying that a game had better graphics than Crysis (now, not in 5 years from now when Crysis will look quaint)... possible, but unlikely.
And what the hell would be the point of that? Only a mindless zealot would claim closed source is inherently evil. What is evil, if anything, is the copy protection mechanisms that many (but not all) commercial games use. Of course, if your opposition is to that, you should be avoiding games with unreasonable (however you personally define that) copy protection, not closed-source games. There are closed-source games out there which one could support, even if they were opposed to nasty copy protection (ie: the "proprietary lock-in mechanisms" the GP mentioned).
Now, once you accept that the rights enumerated in the Constitution apply to the states as well Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
It would seem that the restrictions in the Constitution most certainly do not apply to the states. Since the establishment of religion isn't prohibited to the states by the constitution, nor delegated to the federal government, it's reserved to the stats or to the people.
Note that I don't believe that the states should establish religion either, but your statement that I quoted is false.
Re:Happy pi day everyone!!
on
Happy Pi Day
·
· Score: 1
Touche, I got mixed up cause there were lots of people saying that the proper way was how it's done abroad.
Re:Happy pi day everyone!!
on
Happy Pi Day
·
· Score: 1
The "proper" order is relative to where you live, imo. So, for those of us living in the US, the proper order isn't what you list. If you live elsewhere, then the proper order is going to be different depending on local custom.
How about the bit where they have no content I am interested in, but I still have to pay? Fair point, but no one says it has to be mandatory. It could still work as an opt-in program.
How about the bit that a private group now gains the right to tax all broadband users just on a suspicion that they might some day download something? This is the same argument. See above. Matter of fact, you only really said one thing three different times in your post... not sure why, but hey, go for it.
Somebody mod parent Troll. Grow a sense of fairness. Voicing an opinion isn't trolling, no matter how vehemently you disagree with the opinion voiced.
It doesn't matter in the least if they fail, or if their revenue drops. It matters a great deal when people are infringing on their right to charge you for benefiting from their work. The first is their problem, the second is something that needs to be dealt with.
In any event, this proposal isn't really about either of these things. It strikes me as more of a way to pacify the current situation we have going on, rather than allowing the industry's rights to be infringed (bad) or allowing the industry to go on their ridiculous, time-wasting, fear-mongering legal campaign (also bad).
Well, I haven't read his Dune books, but if they're anything like his Star Wars books, they're probably pretty laughable, if enjoyable. Kevin J Anderson's Star Wars books have one plot, and exactly one plot, across all the books: $bad_guy has developed/found $superweapon which can totally rape the universe, go and destroy it!
They're not bad books... but not particularly creative or varied, either.
I can't really agree about the Narnia series. While the allegory is there, it's something which I find very easy to ignore in favor of the fantasy story. The Space Trilogy, on the other hand... that's the real in-your-face preaching (although they're still wonderful books).
This doesn't contradict the "ravages of piracy" at all. Instead, the MPAA will say, "See, look! We cracked down on pirates and had a record year! CRACK DOWN HARDER!", as a justification for their future activities.
Now that the Mac is overrun with terrible ports of Java apps with... menus at the top of windows instead of in the menubar People seriously do that?
I'm kind of torn. On one hand, it's terrible form to violate an operating system's UI conventions. You just don't do that. On the other hand, having one menu bar for the entire system is the worst UI design decision I've ever seen. I'm really not sure which is the good alternative between those two... but I am still really honestly surprised that people are violating the system's UI conventions. How do they figure it's going to help usability, contradicting everything users of that platform are conditioned to expect?
If I seem to have shifted the goalposts, that wasn't my intention, and I apologize. To quote myself originally:
I owe society nothing for providing me with stimulus.... By which I meant that I owe society nothing with providing me with experiences that can inspire a creative work... which is the same as what I meant in the part of my post you quoted.
In any case, I maintain that I owe society nothing. Even though I may borrow elements from the culture I was brought up in, and the experiences I've had, I still do not owe society the work that comes about as a result. It behooves me to show some gratitude for those influences, and try to give back to society, but it is not required of me.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you kidding? Disabling the device would have users furious, and rightly so. And it may not be possible to skip the parts which are incompatible... but only Microsoft can tell us that one.
TFA says that the fee may be monthly, or a premium on top of the iPod cost. It might not be a subscription.
Obviously it'd be better if no such incompatibility existed, but if you have to deal with such a situation, this seems like the best way to do it, by far.
As far as arbitrary goes, I don't know if said feature exists. However, I took you to mean that it was impossible to set a window to remain on top at all, which isn't true. Various apps can set themselves to remain on top (Winamp comes to mind). If you want the OS to do that, it may or may not be able to, I don't know.
Touche.
...download their cracked versions of photoshop, MS Office, Alcohol 120%, etc. This doesn't have a damn thing to do with the usability of the OS. Gasp and alarm! If there's some piece of software you want to use, under ANY OS, and it doesn't ship with the OS, you have to go and get it (legally or otherwise). This is the same for every OS which ever has been created, and ever will be created. And it's not a function of the OS. The OS' job is not to ship with software, it's to provide a stable platform for your apps to run on. The only reasonable explanation to this logic is that they already had their conclusion (that Linux is inferior to Windows), and their "reasons" are merely to give an impression that they weren't biased. Fair enough, this is something people do all the time. Humans seem to be huge fans of making up their minds beforehand, and then rationalizing it. But given the arguments against Windows you presented in your post, it's pretty hard to believe that you've done otherwise... you just decided in a different direction beforehand.Not bashing Fedora, but it's really damn hard to improve upon serious excellence. It'd be like saying that a game had better graphics than Crysis (now, not in 5 years from now when Crysis will look quaint)... possible, but unlikely.
And what the hell would be the point of that? Only a mindless zealot would claim closed source is inherently evil. What is evil, if anything, is the copy protection mechanisms that many (but not all) commercial games use. Of course, if your opposition is to that, you should be avoiding games with unreasonable (however you personally define that) copy protection, not closed-source games. There are closed-source games out there which one could support, even if they were opposed to nasty copy protection (ie: the "proprietary lock-in mechanisms" the GP mentioned).
It would seem that the restrictions in the Constitution most certainly do not apply to the states. Since the establishment of religion isn't prohibited to the states by the constitution, nor delegated to the federal government, it's reserved to the stats or to the people.
Note that I don't believe that the states should establish religion either, but your statement that I quoted is false.
Touche, I got mixed up cause there were lots of people saying that the proper way was how it's done abroad.
The "proper" order is relative to where you live, imo. So, for those of us living in the US, the proper order isn't what you list. If you live elsewhere, then the proper order is going to be different depending on local custom.
In any event, this proposal isn't really about either of these things. It strikes me as more of a way to pacify the current situation we have going on, rather than allowing the industry's rights to be infringed (bad) or allowing the industry to go on their ridiculous, time-wasting, fear-mongering legal campaign (also bad).
See? We can all nit-pick.
The cake is a lie!
They're not bad books... but not particularly creative or varied, either.
I can't really agree about the Narnia series. While the allegory is there, it's something which I find very easy to ignore in favor of the fantasy story. The Space Trilogy, on the other hand... that's the real in-your-face preaching (although they're still wonderful books).
This doesn't contradict the "ravages of piracy" at all. Instead, the MPAA will say, "See, look! We cracked down on pirates and had a record year! CRACK DOWN HARDER!", as a justification for their future activities.
No, it really isn't better for usability. But this is why UI design is art, not science. You're welcome to believe otherwise, of course.
I'm kind of torn. On one hand, it's terrible form to violate an operating system's UI conventions. You just don't do that. On the other hand, having one menu bar for the entire system is the worst UI design decision I've ever seen. I'm really not sure which is the good alternative between those two... but I am still really honestly surprised that people are violating the system's UI conventions. How do they figure it's going to help usability, contradicting everything users of that platform are conditioned to expect?
In any case, I maintain that I owe society nothing. Even though I may borrow elements from the culture I was brought up in, and the experiences I've had, I still do not owe society the work that comes about as a result. It behooves me to show some gratitude for those influences, and try to give back to society, but it is not required of me.