Yes, I can vouch that that is an issue that happens more frequently than people realise. I had an Antec 480w true power PSU that was a dog, it just took a while to narrow down what was the case. Replacing it with a cheap PSU at less than half the price fixed the problems, although not before serious damaged had been done to the motherboard and 2 DVD burner drives. The problem was not easy to trace, as it did appear to be symptoms of hdd failure.
I'm not a fan of Seagate drives. I loved the old Quantum drives, and I like WD, but that's about it.
My major gripe is that all these big drives are doomed to failure, and well within their warranty periods as a rule. I've read a number of papers that say the return rates for faulty drives under warranty is sky rocketing, and I bet that it's due to too many platters, too much heat.
It's sad that you can't get 40/60/80gb drives anymore, or, they are hard to find.
Do you really think the governments really care? The only way to fix this problem is to overthrow the wealthy, powerful, current military establishments and governments. They've spent generations using OUR money to develop defences to ensure that this will not happen, or at least, will be extremely difficult to enact. The days of revolution are over, with governments controlling what you do, how you do it, when you do it, spying on you without consent or legal right and so on, and so forth. Any political party that would be created by the people to combat this would be shot down very quickly and illegalised as being anti semantic. It's members would be hunted down as terrorists and illegally imprisoned without hope.
Firstly, the recordings are 40+ years old. Digital didn't exist then. The recording process *is* analogue. The conversion and output processes might be digital [on CDs], but the recording is analogue.
Oh, and learn to spell right. If you're talking about at British band at least use *proper* British English to refer to them - digitise has no 'z'. Analog has a 'ue' on the end.
I don't see what all the fuss is about - you can get their albums on CD, that's a digital (mostly) medium. Who cares if it's on iTunes? Hell, Apple is even too lazy to get off their ass and make an Australianised version of iTunes.
Given the type of bastard company that Apple isn't I wouldn't piss on their products anyways.
Dave
grr @ slashdot signing me out, didn't realise the first post was as AC...
I don't think Vista was "underwhelming" in any instance. Hell, OS X isn't any better, and yet people rave about it. The degree of changes from leopard to panther are bugger all, and yet Apple users happily shell out the money.
Leopard has been as buggy as hell, (worse than Vista imho), but do I see a anti OS X campaign in the media? Nooooo! Apple is the darling of everyones eye, and let me just tell you that they are a *mongrel* of a company. They are nothing but a bad apple that's rotten to the core. Pun intended.
The file transfer times weren't outrageous - they weren't good, and they were slow, but not outrageous. I think 'bad' is probably a good enough comment on that problem imho.
The compatibility issues were NEVER Microsoft's problem. They're the result of good for nothing, lazy 3rd party software and (mostly) hardware manufacturers. Microsoft had Alphas and Betas of Vista available to manufacturers for at *least* 2 years prior to the launch of Vista to the public retail system, these aforementioned companies should have gotten off their lazy asses and done their work.
A point in exampe - I have a Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn DSLR (high end pro camera). It has 2 connection options - FireWire and USB. USB is only for PTP connection modes, and will only transfer JPEGs. If you shoot RAW (whic is me and many other pro and serious amateurs), you MUST use the FireWire connection. Well, Canon has made a decision NOT to provide FireWire drivers for Vista 64 bit. They have NO intention of providing drivers. None at all.
Sure, I can use a memory card reader, but I *shouldn't have to*. The camera was sold with that functionality, and it no longer functions in its original manner. Using a memory card reader means that there's a higher chance of damaging the pins in the DSLR's memory slot, or the card reader due to constant removal and insertion. Fixing bent pins on the DSLR is not cheap, and it takes a month probably for Canon to fix it, at least with the crappy support that Canon Australia provides to its customers. Furthermore, I cannot change ANY of the camera's personal functions, as they MUST be done via FireWire connection. And, I CANNOT update the camera's owner name etc, for the same reasons.
Sure, you can argue that I should then have a copy of XP to do this, but that is not feasible. There's the cost involved, then the dual booting bullshit to deal with.
All of this is *not* Microsoft's fault, it's simply down to Canon not giving a fuck about its products or customers. I have 10k of lenses and accessories, and it's the only thing stopping me from shifting to a Nikon D3 to be honest - the cost of swapping is just too high.
Does any government consumer body care? Nope. Does the media lambast and harrass Canon? Nope. Does the media still continue to apportion blame to Microsoft innaccurately? Yes.
As an aside, Canon is legally obligated to provide *reasonable* support for its products, I don't call what they've done as being reasonable. Legally taking on the bastards is very expensive, and beyond the average persons ability to do so.
This is just one sad example of compatibility issues due to the inability of 3rd parties to pull the finger out, and yet the blame still seems to be pinned on Microsoft.
I hope Windows 7 drops 32 bit altogether. I hope Microsoft comes down like a tonne of bricks on those that refuse to provide proper driver or software support for it.
It really seems to me that there is a huge "tall poppy syndrome" directed at Microsoft in the past 2 years, with no real reason other than to be a troublemaker from a variety of sources.
True, Vista's development cycle was unusually long, but I really beieve that that was due to a bunch of features being originally worked on, and then half way through the projected dropped, meaning that a lot of code had to be re-worked and redesigned. True, that's not good, but it does happen in software projects, it's not unique in the software world. Let's look at WINE
You are of course, correct. Too many options, and far too expensive. These are 2 of the reasons why Vista has had limited market penetration.
The main reason has been the extremely hostile (and to be honest, unreasonable) anti Vista media campaign by the media. I personally have been using Vista for 8 months now and it's by FAR the best operating system Microsoft has produced. How does it compare to OS X? Well, I only have 10.3.8, and I find Vista much nicer on the eye, and just as easy, if not easier to use. I find it just as reliable and secure as OS X as well.
Now, I'll compare it to Linux - which is still a hodge podge p.o.s. Yes, you read right. Sorry, I don't really like Ubuntu, and I think it's heavily over-rated. Far too many software and hardware issues, and inconsistencies. I can relate nightmare problems about Ubuntu if some of you really want me to. Oh, and Ubuntu features piss poor support imho.
I work in the IT industry and I speak to customers on a day in and day out basis. Of those customers who are using Vista, the vast majority (I'd say >=90%) like Vista. A tiny percent seem to prefer XP, but it is only a tiny percent from my experience. I talk to between 50-100 customers a day, 5 days a week. That's a *lot* of customers over a year. I've also found that there is a reasonable percentage of people who started using Vista with a negative attitude towards it, solely based on what they had read and heard from both the media and others, but after using it for a little while found that it wasn't bad at all, and in fact that they enjoyed using it.
Microsoft needs to have one version, reasonably priced, say US $150 and it'll sell like hotcakes.
You are correct. Most constituents are clueless idiots, who vote on habit, not on informed political decisions. Yes, I said idiot. As an Australian, I have to say that I'm ashamed that the vast majority of Australians are in the low IQ range anyways, many won't like me saying that, but it's bloody well true.
Politicians lie, lie and thrice lie, and I'd really love to start a political party that would reduce the politicians powers, and give more powers and choice back to the people.
1) Get rid of this BS superannuation that these politician bastards get. Industry standards, that's it nothing more.
2) Get rid of all political donations from corporations, or members of boards, directors, CEO individuals etc.
3) Remove any political interference from business. Business should keep its snotty nose out of the public arena.
4) Any politician caught with "investments" should be sacked immediately, and barred from sitting in parliament ever again. zero tolerance.
5) Fuck the free trade agreement with the US off. We get fuck all from it, and don't need it.
6) Bar closed source, proprietary software from ANY government party. Period. Open and accountable is my motto.
7) Bar any lawyer or marketing persons from sitting for parliament. Both careers know fuck sweet all about the "real world".
8) Constitutionalise the right to freedom of speech.
9) become a republic
10) pass laws so that every *single* fucking bill is not voted on by parliamentarians, but by the people in online, secure, voting systems. That's a *true* democracy.
11) Any country that has the death penalty, cease immediate economic,trade and diplomatic relations with. Zero tolerance.
12) Quit the UN in disgust - at least until the veto vote is removed and a *real* voting system is in place.
13) bar overseas travel for politicians - let's use our brains and start using technology for video conferencing.
14) Remove ourselves from Iraq, and more importantly, Afghanistan. No troops, no silly wars on behalf of the United Bully of the world.
15) removal of anti sedition laws.
16) Full action against the US government for illegal treatment of detained Australians in Guantanamo bay.
17) Break off full trade, economic and diplomatic ties with Israel until it vacates the occupied territories in Palestine in full accordance with the UN directives. Deportation of all Israeli nationals from Australia (ie. those that have not become citizens). Zero tolerance.
18) Re-working of discrimination laws to fully cover the discrimination against the gay community.
19) tied in with 18 - re-working of discrimination laws to fully counter act the religious discrimination of the Christian beliefs against non Christian beliefs. I'm sick and tired of idiotic Christians calling me a devil worshiper cos I'm a pagan. And the sad thing is, current federal discrimination laws do not give me the legal right to take legal action against the "church".
20) totally rely on Australian owned oil, priced at a realistic rate for Australians, and not dictated by US interests.
21) Full emission reductions of 25% within 10 years. Banning of all 6 cylinder and greater cards within 5 years.
That's about it for the moment.
I'm hardcore left, I don't give a fuck about capitalist greedy bastards, I don't give a fuck about big business, and I'm all for the "people". It's about time we returned power to the people.
I don't really give a fuck about what the politicians think. They're a bunch of dimwit, highly paid, lazy, good for nothing fuckwits. Plain and simple Aussie language for you there. Now, I want to see the vast majority of Australians launch class legal action against the federal government if this bullshit gets introduced.
And I really hope that the nasty crackers start attacking this filter, and any government system. I don't ordinarily advocate illegal computer activities, but in this case I say 'bring it on'. Fuck the Rudd Australian government, the cunt won't be getting my vote next time.
Yes, but governments ONLY work for the music/movie/software studios. They're only interested in doing their bidding, and they don't give a fuck about us, the mere mortals.
In reality, something like this should be given to a public referendum. Then we'll see if the Australia public *really* want such a device. My guess is that it'd probably sneak through such a vote, since the average Australia is pretty dumb and constantly falls for bullshit and lies from the government without a 2nd thought.
I'm sorry, but I have to strongly disagree. The reason why we're in such a mess is because we *keep* on playing God and we have no idea what we're doing. We think we do, but we're only being delusional.
There's a reason why bird populations are severely down in North America (ask long term birders and they'll unequivocally tell you this), Frog populations are down worldwide, fish populations are down world wide. It now looks like the majority of the world's penguins are on the slide towards extinction. Bees are dropping at a rate of knots. All of these can be tied into Human interference, and none for the better.
Mother nature tends to swat those that interfere and don't know what they're doing. We'd be wise to pay attention to her.
We need a *REAL* Aussie government that tells the yanks to fuck off. I'm sick of the US bullshit in our country, this is fucking Australia, not the US of A.
I didn't say that ordinary parliaments were better either. Personally, neither are great. But I'd prefer a parliamentary government without a single leader being able to overpower the democratic process of a larger group. Let's consider the Military 2006 Act - Bush Jr threatened to veto it if the act was dismissed as being unconstitutional. This has been the entire theme of the Bush Jr government - what it can't introduce in the senate, it does illegally. What does get passeed, but gets questioned by the courts, he vetoes. Great eh? That's not a government, it's a dictatorship.
baloney. Only fools would support a system where one individual can put aside the democratic processes of hundreds, if not thousands of people. Politicians are voted in by the people, for the people. Bush Jr. has abused the veto vote and so on badly. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
You'll also note that the only other governments in the world that have a similar system of an overbearing single decision maker are dictatorships. It pretty much proves what I've been saying for years now - that the US is not a democracy, but is a fascist dictatorship. I'm surprised Bush Jr. hasn't developed a Hitleresque moustache. At least Hitler had a high IQ, that places him above Bush Jr. Neither leader was responsible, both leaders were hypocrites, both were fueled by extreme right ideals, both were fueled by anti religious thoughts (Hitler - jews; Bush Jr - Muslims), both invaded countries illegally, both failed to listen to reason. Both spied on its populace, both tortured anyone that they wanted to, for whatever reason, without any legal reasoning.
Just as the world was better off without Hitler's government/regime, so the world will be better off with Bush Jr's. There's a reason why Americans are disliked the world over.
The few Americans that I know personally, neither live in the US now, and will NEVER return. Neither speak glowingly of their country, or of their leader(s), or of the US's foreign policies.
WTF? What version of Vista are you using? Vista on my laptop (Toshiba A200, standard setup, 2GB ram, Intel Duo core 2ghz, 160gb hdd, ATI 256mb video card) certainly doesn't take 10 mins to load, and in fact, I'd say it loads quicker than the install of Ubuntu on said laptop.
It must be really fashionable to be a "Vista Basher" these days.
We get that you don't like Microsoft, there's no need to spread unrealistic, and unsubstantiated lies.
Only the UUB (Ubuntu Ussholes Brigrade) could be so pathetic.
Since you feel like bitching about Vista, I'll make some very well proven bitches about Ubuntu. Gnome blows. Badly. It looks ugly. It's so overly simplistic as to be featureless.
I had to try and fix one of the Ubuntu machines at work the other night - it's our desktop test bench machine for configuring routers etc. For some unknown reason, instead of displaying at the normal 1280*1024 resolution, it started displaying at 800*600. No idea why. So much for stability. And Ubuntu would not give you any other options for changing resolution etc. So, being relatively OK with Linux, I dropped to an alternate console, stopped GDM and ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. It seemed to work a treat and everything was good again. of course, running dpkg meant being asked about a dozen questions, most of which would mean absolutely fuck sweet all to your average user. In fact, your average user, wouldn't know what to do. Once back in as the normal user, at the right resolution, I deliberately chose to test it by dropping the resolution to 1024*768. Ubuntu did this, no warnings - UNTIL after I'd clicked OK. Then a blank screen. Nothing could fix it, not even running dpkg-reconfigure again. So, it seems that Gnome has some sort of.config file that fucks with displaying the screen, even if xserver is set OK. Not good. Trying to log back in as that user just gave you a login prompt which worked OK, but anything from there resulted in a baby shit Brown wallpaper and nothing else. I proved that it was a user issue by creating a new user and logging in without issue on that. I finally just got rid of all the . files and folders in the ~ directory and that got it going.
How fucking retarded is that? Now, let's revisit the same thing with Windows - it actually warns you before you click OK that the resolution is not acceptable. And if the resolution screws up for whatever reason, it drops to 640*480 @ 256 bit depth, which is a wise thing to do.
Trying to set up Ubuntu on my new PC using a Nvidia 880gt 512mb video card and a Samsung 245t 24" Widescreen LCD was a fucking pain in the ass nightmare. 4 fucking hours of fucking around. Less than a few minutes in Windows Vista (and XP).
So don't even get me started about how much "better" Ubuntu (or Linux is) for that matter. I used Linux solely as my desktop from 2001 to early 2006 and then dropped it because it was simply just too much fucking around to try and get it to do all the things that a Windows box could do out of the box, without issue.
Ubuntu feels no snappier out of the box than Vista does on the laptop btw.
Oh, and I'll mention the retarded idiotic Ubuntu forums (and fuckwit mods). Once I finally got Ubuntu working, I disabled sudo and enabled the root account, since that is my preference. Of course, then the administration GUI tools would not work. I posted a very polite post in the forums, as a new user and my very first post, indicating what I'd done (and NOT how I'd done it). Within a few minutes, I'd received an official warning about mentioning removing Sudo and enabling the root account (a standard fucking setup on nearly EVERY other Linux distribution I might add). WTF? The mod didn't even try and help me, just simply gave me a rather rude warning, and pointed to some bullshit post about not talking about sudo etc. How the fuck is a new user meant to know this? I though Linux was meant to be about knowledge? Why dumb an operating system distribution down and not he
No, you're wrong. The reason why Microsoft is dominant, especially in the office is simply because MS Office has become dominant. Every office uses it. 3rd party applications are not 100% compliant, and never will be. When MS Office is no longer the de facto standard, then things will change.
I had high hopes for ODF, until it was politically killed by deliberately political interference in the state of Massachusetts. Then there was the deliberate, and illegal interference at the ISO voting (and no government seems to be pulling aside their local ISO group and arresting them for falsities - go figure). It's amazing what shit loads of money and heavy ties to political figures can do.
And this is why I think Governments MUST become involved with EULAs etc and that they MUST be made illegal.
Imagine this - you buy a car (say, a Ford). You have some problems with it. You report your problems to the media. Ford then bans you from driving the car on the road. It would never happen in reality, but why can the exact same thing happen with software? Why do governments let software be the least consumer regulated product available?
Enough is enough, we need to start forcing software companies to scrap their crappy EULAs and start giving the owners of the software, rights. Yes, I said owners. You buy it, you own it. It's like *everything* fucking else that's sold as a commodity. I see no reason why software should be different. It's the only fucking product that you buy, you pay expensive amounts of money for, but you don't own.
Yes, I totally agree. Worse, is the removal of LAN gaming ability...wtf? Looks like I'll be giving Diablo3 and Starcraft 2 a wide berth, especially since I bet my bottom dollar that both games will be DRM ridden with phone home connections that report on everything you do. I don't trust Blizzard.
Well, this is what happens when big business owns politicians, who then *tell* judges what to do. I guarantee that "pressure" has been placed on this judge to make this decision. Money speaks most languages, including corruption fluently.
Whilst what you say is mostly true, what the RIAA does is far worse. Let's look at this issue logically. Say, I have a copy of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to run" on LP. When I bought that LP, part of the cost was for the "licence" to be allowed to play it. Part of the cost was to cover the manufacturing process. Part of the cost was retail profit. In fact, most of the cost was the "licence", probably 90%.
Now - if I went out and bought this on CD, I *have* to pay full price here. Why? I've already paid for the "licence" with the LP (it is the same performance after all). All I *should* have to pay for is the cost of manufacturing, and the retail profit. Now, CDs are EVEN cheaper to manufacture than LPs were, retail profit should be no higher. So, the cost of the CD should be dirt cheap, probably less than 5% of the current retail costs.
This is all the RIAA and its cronies in the US congress do - rehash something old in a nice shiny new package, and resell it for full price. We've seen the same thing happen with the MPAA and Videos/VCDs/DVDs/BlueRay.
The fact that the RIAA uses illegal activities to track down "pirates" is worrying. Lacing torrent files with viruses and seeding them themselves. If that was an ordinary American, they'd be charged with computer crimes and probably get 20 years+ jail time in a federal jail. Where's the equality?
The RIAA is simply a mafia style setup and the sooner that they are dismantled, the better. Let's consider the artists here, who usually wait 12-24 months after a "hit" before they really start receiving any profits. And usually, the artist makes around 2% profit, that's it. That's a pittance.
I think you will also find, that the current state of music is well...most of it is shyte. It's not good enough quality to want people to buy it. It's half OK, so many people will pirate it, but it' snot good enough to justify purchase. You only have to look at the "top ten" artists on the play lists and go yuck. Worse, those with talent, whose music is worth it, generally get little radio play and promotion from the RIAA and affiliates. The modern music industry is NOT based on talent, but on looks and sexual appearance. As an example, the pussycat dolls.
Let's look at the RIAA having a go at artists who decide to go "on their own" and produce, record and make their own labels/CDs. The RIAA then pressures radio stations and retailers NOT to stock/play said artists works. That's racketeering. Where's the US (and other countries) ball less governments here? Where's the charges of operating a monopoly? Operating a cartel? Interfering with sale to cause loss of income to a 3rd party?
No modern "western" capitalistic government will do anything about it, because they're all sucking up humungously to the US government. The few governments that do have backbones and stand up for their rights get molested by the US and the UN (under forced pressure from the US) - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, North Korea, Venezuela and so on. Note the US doesn't attack big countries like China or Russia. Probably cos it knows it'd get its ass kicked form here to kingdom come.
When the US government (and others) start actually being for the people, and not for the rich and big businesses, the illegal monopolies like the RIAA will cease to exist, for the betterment of the population I might add.
That's not the point. Employers (in Australia, and obviously following American trends) are becoming more and more unreasonable. If you asked your potential boss to do an on the job application test so that you can determine if they are a good boss to work for, imagine the furore! And imagine how you'd be put to the bottom of the list.
Even in the 21st century, we are still slaves. We are not employees! The union movement is not the answer, it just results in blackmail and thuggery. The real answer is governments becoming actuall responsible for things, and actually doing their *job*.
Every job should go through a government agency, that ensures that you are getting paid the right amount of money for the role, fair treatment, and that your job suddenly doesn't just 'grow' to encompass things that were never part of the original agreement of employment (and that you don't get compensated for I might add).
Example #1:
I once worked for a large company. The job advertisement said supporting Australian customers. After about 4-6 weeks, I had New Zealand customers thrust upon me as well. No extra remuneration. Nothing.
Example #2:
same employer - I started in February. Come April, we had a annual performance review. I'd done wonders for the job, cleaned the paperwork side of it up, was working on an internal only reference website (outside of my original role description I might add, without ANY support from the IT department who were as useless as tits on a bull imho). I didn't get a rise. Why? I hadn't been there for a year. I could accept that...however - I knew of 2 other employees who both got at least 4k pay rises, and neither had been with said employer a year. I of course queried this and was told their decision was final, no pay rise for me.
Example #3 - same employer. When the job started out, it was on average, 15-20 calls per day. By the time I finished, lowest number of calls was 45, averages were in the mid 60s to low 70s, highs were over 100 calls. For one person, in tech support, that is just outrageous. Lucky I knew both the job and the products back to front etc and could save a lot of time by pretty much knowing the problem itself, and the cause, 95% of the time without having to go through in depth troubleshooting steps. My employer took over 8 months to get me a sidekick to help out! 8 friggen months of me getting hammered. I asked for a pay rise, since my research showed that desktop application support, and level 1/2 helpdesks were getting generally around $55k p.a (I was on 32k). I got a piddly 4k pay rise. Mind you, no one else in the country knew what I knew about the product. No one. I was it. The tier 2 guys in Europe were totally impressed with me.
I ended up quitting this role. The stress, crappy management, shit pay were just not worth it.
That's just one job. Previous employer? A very large computer company (very fruity). Job advertised, no mention of working Saturdays. After about 4 weeks, it was thrust upon us. No pay rise. Nothing. They also said that the late shift was once every 3 months or so (a problem for me due to the time spent travelling for me, and transport issues), but it ended up being every month. They were totally inflexible about starting times, despite the problems it caused me with transport. I was spending nearly 2.5 hours each way to get to the job. After about 8 months, the bus I had to catch in the morning started running 25 minutes late! No kidding. Every single goddamn day. No complaints made an ounce of a difference as it was a private bus company, although it received some government funding I believe. It resulted in my being usually 5-10 minutes late. I explained the problem, not good enough. They wanted me to catch the earlier bus (they only came once per hour). Sure, no worries, I get to work a full hour and 20 minutes early, with no pay for my troubles! You can imagine I was not prepared to do this. Especially when my story could be verified, and it was the o
Slashdot Mirror
Aww you poor diddums. No one made you use it, go back to your Mac or Linux box and quit whining.
Dave
Yes, I can vouch that that is an issue that happens more frequently than people realise. I had an Antec 480w true power PSU that was a dog, it just took a while to narrow down what was the case. Replacing it with a cheap PSU at less than half the price fixed the problems, although not before serious damaged had been done to the motherboard and 2 DVD burner drives. The problem was not easy to trace, as it did appear to be symptoms of hdd failure.
I'm not a fan of Seagate drives. I loved the old Quantum drives, and I like WD, but that's about it.
My major gripe is that all these big drives are doomed to failure, and well within their warranty periods as a rule. I've read a number of papers that say the return rates for faulty drives under warranty is sky rocketing, and I bet that it's due to too many platters, too much heat.
It's sad that you can't get 40/60/80gb drives anymore, or, they are hard to find.
Dave
Do you really think the governments really care? The only way to fix this problem is to overthrow the wealthy, powerful, current military establishments and governments. They've spent generations using OUR money to develop defences to ensure that this will not happen, or at least, will be extremely difficult to enact. The days of revolution are over, with governments controlling what you do, how you do it, when you do it, spying on you without consent or legal right and so on, and so forth. Any political party that would be created by the people to combat this would be shot down very quickly and illegalised as being anti semantic. It's members would be hunted down as terrorists and illegally imprisoned without hope.
Dave
This is very similar to a song by Irish folk/political singer, Christy Moore, named "Yellow Triangle". It is also very true of modern society.
Dave
How is this marked insightful, +5?
Firstly, the recordings are 40+ years old. Digital didn't exist then. The recording process *is* analogue. The conversion and output processes might be digital [on CDs], but the recording is analogue.
Oh, and learn to spell right. If you're talking about at British band at least use *proper* British English to refer to them - digitise has no 'z'. Analog has a 'ue' on the end.
I don't see what all the fuss is about - you can get their albums on CD, that's a digital (mostly) medium. Who cares if it's on iTunes? Hell, Apple is even too lazy to get off their ass and make an Australianised version of iTunes.
Given the type of bastard company that Apple isn't I wouldn't piss on their products anyways.
Dave
grr @ slashdot signing me out, didn't realise the first post was as AC...
It's digitise. Learn the correct English spelling.
Dave
I don't think Vista was "underwhelming" in any instance. Hell, OS X isn't any better, and yet people rave about it. The degree of changes from leopard to panther are bugger all, and yet Apple users happily shell out the money.
Leopard has been as buggy as hell, (worse than Vista imho), but do I see a anti OS X campaign in the media? Nooooo! Apple is the darling of everyones eye, and let me just tell you that they are a *mongrel* of a company. They are nothing but a bad apple that's rotten to the core. Pun intended.
The file transfer times weren't outrageous - they weren't good, and they were slow, but not outrageous. I think 'bad' is probably a good enough comment on that problem imho.
The compatibility issues were NEVER Microsoft's problem. They're the result of good for nothing, lazy 3rd party software and (mostly) hardware manufacturers. Microsoft had Alphas and Betas of Vista available to manufacturers for at *least* 2 years prior to the launch of Vista to the public retail system, these aforementioned companies should have gotten off their lazy asses and done their work.
A point in exampe - I have a Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn DSLR (high end pro camera). It has 2 connection options - FireWire and USB. USB is only for PTP connection modes, and will only transfer JPEGs. If you shoot RAW (whic is me and many other pro and serious amateurs), you MUST use the FireWire connection. Well, Canon has made a decision NOT to provide FireWire drivers for Vista 64 bit. They have NO intention of providing drivers. None at all.
Sure, I can use a memory card reader, but I *shouldn't have to*. The camera was sold with that functionality, and it no longer functions in its original manner. Using a memory card reader means that there's a higher chance of damaging the pins in the DSLR's memory slot, or the card reader due to constant removal and insertion. Fixing bent pins on the DSLR is not cheap, and it takes a month probably for Canon to fix it, at least with the crappy support that Canon Australia provides to its customers. Furthermore, I cannot change ANY of the camera's personal functions, as they MUST be done via FireWire connection. And, I CANNOT update the camera's owner name etc, for the same reasons.
Sure, you can argue that I should then have a copy of XP to do this, but that is not feasible. There's the cost involved, then the dual booting bullshit to deal with.
All of this is *not* Microsoft's fault, it's simply down to Canon not giving a fuck about its products or customers. I have 10k of lenses and accessories, and it's the only thing stopping me from shifting to a Nikon D3 to be honest - the cost of swapping is just too high.
Does any government consumer body care? Nope. Does the media lambast and harrass Canon? Nope. Does the media still continue to apportion blame to Microsoft innaccurately? Yes.
As an aside, Canon is legally obligated to provide *reasonable* support for its products, I don't call what they've done as being reasonable. Legally taking on the bastards is very expensive, and beyond the average persons ability to do so.
This is just one sad example of compatibility issues due to the inability of 3rd parties to pull the finger out, and yet the blame still seems to be pinned on Microsoft.
I hope Windows 7 drops 32 bit altogether. I hope Microsoft comes down like a tonne of bricks on those that refuse to provide proper driver or software support for it.
It really seems to me that there is a huge "tall poppy syndrome" directed at Microsoft in the past 2 years, with no real reason other than to be a troublemaker from a variety of sources.
True, Vista's development cycle was unusually long, but I really beieve that that was due to a bunch of features being originally worked on, and then half way through the projected dropped, meaning that a lot of code had to be re-worked and redesigned. True, that's not good, but it does happen in software projects, it's not unique in the software world. Let's look at WINE
You are of course, correct. Too many options, and far too expensive. These are 2 of the reasons why Vista has had limited market penetration.
The main reason has been the extremely hostile (and to be honest, unreasonable) anti Vista media campaign by the media. I personally have been using Vista for 8 months now and it's by FAR the best operating system Microsoft has produced. How does it compare to OS X? Well, I only have 10.3.8, and I find Vista much nicer on the eye, and just as easy, if not easier to use. I find it just as reliable and secure as OS X as well.
Now, I'll compare it to Linux - which is still a hodge podge p.o.s. Yes, you read right. Sorry, I don't really like Ubuntu, and I think it's heavily over-rated. Far too many software and hardware issues, and inconsistencies. I can relate nightmare problems about Ubuntu if some of you really want me to. Oh, and Ubuntu features piss poor support imho.
I work in the IT industry and I speak to customers on a day in and day out basis. Of those customers who are using Vista, the vast majority (I'd say >=90%) like Vista. A tiny percent seem to prefer XP, but it is only a tiny percent from my experience. I talk to between 50-100 customers a day, 5 days a week. That's a *lot* of customers over a year. I've also found that there is a reasonable percentage of people who started using Vista with a negative attitude towards it, solely based on what they had read and heard from both the media and others, but after using it for a little while found that it wasn't bad at all, and in fact that they enjoyed using it.
Microsoft needs to have one version, reasonably priced, say US $150 and it'll sell like hotcakes.
Dave
You are correct. Most constituents are clueless idiots, who vote on habit, not on informed political decisions. Yes, I said idiot. As an Australian, I have to say that I'm ashamed that the vast majority of Australians are in the low IQ range anyways, many won't like me saying that, but it's bloody well true.
Politicians lie, lie and thrice lie, and I'd really love to start a political party that would reduce the politicians powers, and give more powers and choice back to the people.
1) Get rid of this BS superannuation that these politician bastards get. Industry standards, that's it nothing more.
2) Get rid of all political donations from corporations, or members of boards, directors, CEO individuals etc.
3) Remove any political interference from business. Business should keep its snotty nose out of the public arena.
4) Any politician caught with "investments" should be sacked immediately, and barred from sitting in parliament ever again. zero tolerance.
5) Fuck the free trade agreement with the US off. We get fuck all from it, and don't need it.
6) Bar closed source, proprietary software from ANY government party. Period. Open and accountable is my motto.
7) Bar any lawyer or marketing persons from sitting for parliament. Both careers know fuck sweet all about the "real world".
8) Constitutionalise the right to freedom of speech.
9) become a republic
10) pass laws so that every *single* fucking bill is not voted on by parliamentarians, but by the people in online, secure, voting systems. That's a *true* democracy.
11) Any country that has the death penalty, cease immediate economic,trade and diplomatic relations with. Zero tolerance.
12) Quit the UN in disgust - at least until the veto vote is removed and a *real* voting system is in place.
13) bar overseas travel for politicians - let's use our brains and start using technology for video conferencing.
14) Remove ourselves from Iraq, and more importantly, Afghanistan. No troops, no silly wars on behalf of the United Bully of the world.
15) removal of anti sedition laws.
16) Full action against the US government for illegal treatment of detained Australians in Guantanamo bay.
17) Break off full trade, economic and diplomatic ties with Israel until it vacates the occupied territories in Palestine in full accordance with the UN directives. Deportation of all Israeli nationals from Australia (ie. those that have not become citizens). Zero tolerance.
18) Re-working of discrimination laws to fully cover the discrimination against the gay community.
19) tied in with 18 - re-working of discrimination laws to fully counter act the religious discrimination of the Christian beliefs against non Christian beliefs. I'm sick and tired of idiotic Christians calling me a devil worshiper cos I'm a pagan. And the sad thing is, current federal discrimination laws do not give me the legal right to take legal action against the "church".
20) totally rely on Australian owned oil, priced at a realistic rate for Australians, and not dictated by US interests.
21) Full emission reductions of 25% within 10 years. Banning of all 6 cylinder and greater cards within 5 years.
That's about it for the moment.
I'm hardcore left, I don't give a fuck about capitalist greedy bastards, I don't give a fuck about big business, and I'm all for the "people". It's about time we returned power to the people.
Dave
I don't really give a fuck about what the politicians think. They're a bunch of dimwit, highly paid, lazy, good for nothing fuckwits. Plain and simple Aussie language for you there. Now, I want to see the vast majority of Australians launch class legal action against the federal government if this bullshit gets introduced.
And I really hope that the nasty crackers start attacking this filter, and any government system. I don't ordinarily advocate illegal computer activities, but in this case I say 'bring it on'. Fuck the Rudd Australian government, the cunt won't be getting my vote next time.
Dave
Yes, but governments ONLY work for the music/movie/software studios. They're only interested in doing their bidding, and they don't give a fuck about us, the mere mortals.
In reality, something like this should be given to a public referendum. Then we'll see if the Australia public *really* want such a device. My guess is that it'd probably sneak through such a vote, since the average Australia is pretty dumb and constantly falls for bullshit and lies from the government without a 2nd thought.
Dave
I'm sorry, but I have to strongly disagree. The reason why we're in such a mess is because we *keep* on playing God and we have no idea what we're doing. We think we do, but we're only being delusional.
There's a reason why bird populations are severely down in North America (ask long term birders and they'll unequivocally tell you this), Frog populations are down worldwide, fish populations are down world wide. It now looks like the majority of the world's penguins are on the slide towards extinction. Bees are dropping at a rate of knots. All of these can be tied into Human interference, and none for the better.
Mother nature tends to swat those that interfere and don't know what they're doing. We'd be wise to pay attention to her.
Dave
We need a *REAL* Aussie government that tells the yanks to fuck off. I'm sick of the US bullshit in our country, this is fucking Australia, not the US of A.
Dave
I didn't say that ordinary parliaments were better either. Personally, neither are great. But I'd prefer a parliamentary government without a single leader being able to overpower the democratic process of a larger group. Let's consider the Military 2006 Act - Bush Jr threatened to veto it if the act was dismissed as being unconstitutional. This has been the entire theme of the Bush Jr government - what it can't introduce in the senate, it does illegally. What does get passeed, but gets questioned by the courts, he vetoes. Great eh? That's not a government, it's a dictatorship.
Dave
baloney. Only fools would support a system where one individual can put aside the democratic processes of hundreds, if not thousands of people. Politicians are voted in by the people, for the people. Bush Jr. has abused the veto vote and so on badly. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
You'll also note that the only other governments in the world that have a similar system of an overbearing single decision maker are dictatorships. It pretty much proves what I've been saying for years now - that the US is not a democracy, but is a fascist dictatorship. I'm surprised Bush Jr. hasn't developed a Hitleresque moustache. At least Hitler had a high IQ, that places him above Bush Jr. Neither leader was responsible, both leaders were hypocrites, both were fueled by extreme right ideals, both were fueled by anti religious thoughts (Hitler - jews; Bush Jr - Muslims), both invaded countries illegally, both failed to listen to reason. Both spied on its populace, both tortured anyone that they wanted to, for whatever reason, without any legal reasoning.
Just as the world was better off without Hitler's government/regime, so the world will be better off with Bush Jr's. There's a reason why Americans are disliked the world over.
The few Americans that I know personally, neither live in the US now, and will NEVER return. Neither speak glowingly of their country, or of their leader(s), or of the US's foreign policies.
Enough said.
Dave
WTF? What version of Vista are you using? Vista on my laptop (Toshiba A200, standard setup, 2GB ram, Intel Duo core 2ghz, 160gb hdd, ATI 256mb video card) certainly doesn't take 10 mins to load, and in fact, I'd say it loads quicker than the install of Ubuntu on said laptop.
It must be really fashionable to be a "Vista Basher" these days.
We get that you don't like Microsoft, there's no need to spread unrealistic, and unsubstantiated lies.
Only the UUB (Ubuntu Ussholes Brigrade) could be so pathetic.
Since you feel like bitching about Vista, I'll make some very well proven bitches about Ubuntu. Gnome blows. Badly. It looks ugly. It's so overly simplistic as to be featureless.
I had to try and fix one of the Ubuntu machines at work the other night - it's our desktop test bench machine for configuring routers etc. For some unknown reason, instead of displaying at the normal 1280*1024 resolution, it started displaying at 800*600. No idea why. So much for stability. And Ubuntu would not give you any other options for changing resolution etc. So, being relatively OK with Linux, I dropped to an alternate console, stopped GDM and ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. It seemed to work a treat and everything was good again. of course, running dpkg meant being asked about a dozen questions, most of which would mean absolutely fuck sweet all to your average user. In fact, your average user, wouldn't know what to do. Once back in as the normal user, at the right resolution, I deliberately chose to test it by dropping the resolution to 1024*768. Ubuntu did this, no warnings - UNTIL after I'd clicked OK. Then a blank screen. Nothing could fix it, not even running dpkg-reconfigure again. So, it seems that Gnome has some sort of .config file that fucks with displaying the screen, even if xserver is set OK. Not good. Trying to log back in as that user just gave you a login prompt which worked OK, but anything from there resulted in a baby shit Brown wallpaper and nothing else. I proved that it was a user issue by creating a new user and logging in without issue on that. I finally just got rid of all the . files and folders in the ~ directory and that got it going.
How fucking retarded is that? Now, let's revisit the same thing with Windows - it actually warns you before you click OK that the resolution is not acceptable. And if the resolution screws up for whatever reason, it drops to 640*480 @ 256 bit depth, which is a wise thing to do.
Trying to set up Ubuntu on my new PC using a Nvidia 880gt 512mb video card and a Samsung 245t 24" Widescreen LCD was a fucking pain in the ass nightmare. 4 fucking hours of fucking around. Less than a few minutes in Windows Vista (and XP).
So don't even get me started about how much "better" Ubuntu (or Linux is) for that matter. I used Linux solely as my desktop from 2001 to early 2006 and then dropped it because it was simply just too much fucking around to try and get it to do all the things that a Windows box could do out of the box, without issue.
Ubuntu feels no snappier out of the box than Vista does on the laptop btw.
Oh, and I'll mention the retarded idiotic Ubuntu forums (and fuckwit mods). Once I finally got Ubuntu working, I disabled sudo and enabled the root account, since that is my preference. Of course, then the administration GUI tools would not work. I posted a very polite post in the forums, as a new user and my very first post, indicating what I'd done (and NOT how I'd done it). Within a few minutes, I'd received an official warning about mentioning removing Sudo and enabling the root account (a standard fucking setup on nearly EVERY other Linux distribution I might add). WTF? The mod didn't even try and help me, just simply gave me a rather rude warning, and pointed to some bullshit post about not talking about sudo etc. How the fuck is a new user meant to know this? I though Linux was meant to be about knowledge? Why dumb an operating system distribution down and not he
No, you're wrong. The reason why Microsoft is dominant, especially in the office is simply because MS Office has become dominant. Every office uses it. 3rd party applications are not 100% compliant, and never will be. When MS Office is no longer the de facto standard, then things will change.
I had high hopes for ODF, until it was politically killed by deliberately political interference in the state of Massachusetts. Then there was the deliberate, and illegal interference at the ISO voting (and no government seems to be pulling aside their local ISO group and arresting them for falsities - go figure). It's amazing what shit loads of money and heavy ties to political figures can do.
Dave
And this is why I think Governments MUST become involved with EULAs etc and that they MUST be made illegal.
Imagine this - you buy a car (say, a Ford). You have some problems with it. You report your problems to the media. Ford then bans you from driving the car on the road. It would never happen in reality, but why can the exact same thing happen with software? Why do governments let software be the least consumer regulated product available?
Enough is enough, we need to start forcing software companies to scrap their crappy EULAs and start giving the owners of the software, rights. Yes, I said owners. You buy it, you own it. It's like *everything* fucking else that's sold as a commodity. I see no reason why software should be different. It's the only fucking product that you buy, you pay expensive amounts of money for, but you don't own.
Dave
That they're even considering paid downloadable content is contemptable enough imho.
I bet splitting the game from 1 into 3 is ONLY just for money grabbing exercises, better story my ass.
WOW - couldn't care less for software crack. I don't touch that shit.
Dave
Yes, I totally agree. Worse, is the removal of LAN gaming ability...wtf? Looks like I'll be giving Diablo3 and Starcraft 2 a wide berth, especially since I bet my bottom dollar that both games will be DRM ridden with phone home connections that report on everything you do. I don't trust Blizzard.
Dave
But if that was the case, fat women would be attracting men at a much higher rate than single women ;-)
Dave
And this is why I prefer the GPL over the BSD any day...
Dave
Well, this is what happens when big business owns politicians, who then *tell* judges what to do. I guarantee that "pressure" has been placed on this judge to make this decision. Money speaks most languages, including corruption fluently.
Dave
Whilst what you say is mostly true, what the RIAA does is far worse. Let's look at this issue logically. Say, I have a copy of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to run" on LP. When I bought that LP, part of the cost was for the "licence" to be allowed to play it. Part of the cost was to cover the manufacturing process. Part of the cost was retail profit. In fact, most of the cost was the "licence", probably 90%.
Now - if I went out and bought this on CD, I *have* to pay full price here. Why? I've already paid for the "licence" with the LP (it is the same performance after all). All I *should* have to pay for is the cost of manufacturing, and the retail profit. Now, CDs are EVEN cheaper to manufacture than LPs were, retail profit should be no higher. So, the cost of the CD should be dirt cheap, probably less than 5% of the current retail costs.
This is all the RIAA and its cronies in the US congress do - rehash something old in a nice shiny new package, and resell it for full price. We've seen the same thing happen with the MPAA and Videos/VCDs/DVDs/BlueRay.
The fact that the RIAA uses illegal activities to track down "pirates" is worrying. Lacing torrent files with viruses and seeding them themselves. If that was an ordinary American, they'd be charged with computer crimes and probably get 20 years+ jail time in a federal jail. Where's the equality?
The RIAA is simply a mafia style setup and the sooner that they are dismantled, the better. Let's consider the artists here, who usually wait 12-24 months after a "hit" before they really start receiving any profits. And usually, the artist makes around 2% profit, that's it. That's a pittance.
I think you will also find, that the current state of music is well...most of it is shyte. It's not good enough quality to want people to buy it. It's half OK, so many people will pirate it, but it' snot good enough to justify purchase. You only have to look at the "top ten" artists on the play lists and go yuck. Worse, those with talent, whose music is worth it, generally get little radio play and promotion from the RIAA and affiliates. The modern music industry is NOT based on talent, but on looks and sexual appearance. As an example, the pussycat dolls.
Let's look at the RIAA having a go at artists who decide to go "on their own" and produce, record and make their own labels/CDs. The RIAA then pressures radio stations and retailers NOT to stock/play said artists works. That's racketeering. Where's the US (and other countries) ball less governments here? Where's the charges of operating a monopoly? Operating a cartel? Interfering with sale to cause loss of income to a 3rd party?
No modern "western" capitalistic government will do anything about it, because they're all sucking up humungously to the US government. The few governments that do have backbones and stand up for their rights get molested by the US and the UN (under forced pressure from the US) - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, North Korea, Venezuela and so on. Note the US doesn't attack big countries like China or Russia. Probably cos it knows it'd get its ass kicked form here to kingdom come.
When the US government (and others) start actually being for the people, and not for the rich and big businesses, the illegal monopolies like the RIAA will cease to exist, for the betterment of the population I might add.
Dave
That's not the point. Employers (in Australia, and obviously following American trends) are becoming more and more unreasonable. If you asked your potential boss to do an on the job application test so that you can determine if they are a good boss to work for, imagine the furore! And imagine how you'd be put to the bottom of the list.
Even in the 21st century, we are still slaves. We are not employees! The union movement is not the answer, it just results in blackmail and thuggery. The real answer is governments becoming actuall responsible for things, and actually doing their *job*.
Every job should go through a government agency, that ensures that you are getting paid the right amount of money for the role, fair treatment, and that your job suddenly doesn't just 'grow' to encompass things that were never part of the original agreement of employment (and that you don't get compensated for I might add).
Example #1:
I once worked for a large company. The job advertisement said supporting Australian customers. After about 4-6 weeks, I had New Zealand customers thrust upon me as well. No extra remuneration. Nothing.
Example #2:
same employer - I started in February. Come April, we had a annual performance review. I'd done wonders for the job, cleaned the paperwork side of it up, was working on an internal only reference website (outside of my original role description I might add, without ANY support from the IT department who were as useless as tits on a bull imho). I didn't get a rise. Why? I hadn't been there for a year. I could accept that...however - I knew of 2 other employees who both got at least 4k pay rises, and neither had been with said employer a year. I of course queried this and was told their decision was final, no pay rise for me.
Example #3 - same employer. When the job started out, it was on average, 15-20 calls per day. By the time I finished, lowest number of calls was 45, averages were in the mid 60s to low 70s, highs were over 100 calls. For one person, in tech support, that is just outrageous. Lucky I knew both the job and the products back to front etc and could save a lot of time by pretty much knowing the problem itself, and the cause, 95% of the time without having to go through in depth troubleshooting steps. My employer took over 8 months to get me a sidekick to help out! 8 friggen months of me getting hammered. I asked for a pay rise, since my research showed that desktop application support, and level 1/2 helpdesks were getting generally around $55k p.a (I was on 32k). I got a piddly 4k pay rise. Mind you, no one else in the country knew what I knew about the product. No one. I was it. The tier 2 guys in Europe were totally impressed with me.
I ended up quitting this role. The stress, crappy management, shit pay were just not worth it.
That's just one job. Previous employer? A very large computer company (very fruity). Job advertised, no mention of working Saturdays. After about 4 weeks, it was thrust upon us. No pay rise. Nothing. They also said that the late shift was once every 3 months or so (a problem for me due to the time spent travelling for me, and transport issues), but it ended up being every month. They were totally inflexible about starting times, despite the problems it caused me with transport. I was spending nearly 2.5 hours each way to get to the job. After about 8 months, the bus I had to catch in the morning started running 25 minutes late! No kidding. Every single goddamn day. No complaints made an ounce of a difference as it was a private bus company, although it received some government funding I believe. It resulted in my being usually 5-10 minutes late. I explained the problem, not good enough. They wanted me to catch the earlier bus (they only came once per hour). Sure, no worries, I get to work a full hour and 20 minutes early, with no pay for my troubles! You can imagine I was not prepared to do this. Especially when my story could be verified, and it was the o