I use Office at work, because my employer pays for it, but at home, my machine came with WordPerfect 11 preloaded. The formatting changes when going back and forth are impossible, so I use OpenOffice at home for its compatiblility with Word. I find it adequate. Office at work seems a little faster, but I think the machine is a little faster as well. Both are pretty typical office workstation machines. I'm going to try disabling Java though...
I challenge anyone to present a feature used by the majority of users in current word processors that was not available in either Wordstar or WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. Other than the cosmetics of the user interfaces, I don't see any real change, and the increased bloat in these things makes it so that our fancy Pentium Fours feel remarkably similar to 10 Mhz 286 machines running the old DOS software.
So, instead of an apartment full of treasure you'd have one full of severed heads? How are severed heads better than treasure? You can't even make a decent casserole from them.
I've never understood howa movie can be said to have "ruined" a book. Whatever. Watchmen, the comic, is a work of pure brilliance. It's actually better in the trade paperback than it was sequentially, I think, because the story will hit you all at once. Moore's language, combined with the visual echoing of themes, with just the sheer purity of the ideas, will smack anyone upside the head with a brilliant brick. This will be the same whether there's a crappy movie out there or not. Moore's "Saga of the Swamp Thing" run may be the best comic ever written. It continues to be great no matter how many iteratiosn of crappy movies, tv movies, etc., appear. His John Constantine was perfect. In Moore's hands, we never knew too much about him, how he did what he did, just what he was capable of, or what his true motives were. The American Gothic stories in Swamp Thing, and the early years of Hellblazer, will be undimished no matter what Keanu does. Frank Miller's Daredevil will still amaze after Ben Affleck's putrid movie. The Dark Knight Returns is not diminished by the the nipples on Val Kilmer's costume, really. And I found myself tracking down both the League and Hellboy after those movies.
Conversely, were there any Blade fans who remembered him all that fondly from the Dracula stires and pages of Dr. Strange? I barely remembered him, and I'm a live version of the Simpson's Comic book guy at heart.
My essential point is that these works exist independently. Everyone knows that a book will have far more depth and intelligence that the movies.
The best that I think any of these movies could do is to create interest in these characters, and in the stories. We've seen a resurgence in a heroic archetype in the movies, from The Matrix's the "One" to the Ringbearer, to the return of Superman. That can only be good for comics in general. It may show a renewed interest in stories of heroism for its own sake., for purity of motive, and for tales of good versus evil. Comics have suffered, and continue to do so, and anything that gets mainstream audiences talking about Alan Moore, Mike Mignola, and even Bob Kane has got to be a good thing for them.
That concept, but with their own Minidiscs, is bascially the Sony NetMD. I have the older Net MD, not the new Hi-Capacity player, but you can load five or six cd's worth of music on one minidisc, and they're about $10.00 a ten-pack at the old Wal-Mart. No big deal to carry a few, and I can put essentially all of an artist's catalogue on one disc. Works, of course, with Sony's music store, which they tried to hype by giving away downloads with Big Macs (how's that for synergy-WTF) The Sony players are small, and serviceable, but their software is nowhere near as clean as I-Ttunes.
I find the call for a boycott astounding. Do we not want people to try the different options available to them and decide which is superior?
Are we so unsure of the superiority of Linux that we believe that a simple banner ad could derail that process of testing and deciding? All the banner ads in the world won't change the basic truths of how things work. I use WinXP at work, because that's what they choose. I use RedHat at home, because that's what I choose. More information is always better than less information when it comes to making decisions.
Sometimes I just walk down the street giving advice, and then try to get some cash. . . as in: "Don't wear that tie with those pants-that'll be $4.73."
Actually if you are a lawyer, you constantly get calls from family, friends and friends of family and their friends, expecting free legal advice since they obviously only need a few minutes of your time and the problem, which is unsolvable to them, certainly isn't worth their paying you to solve it.
"Just let me tell you about my divorce. . . " "I don't think my lawyer's doing a good job. . " ". . . so of course I had to hit the postman!"
Well, of course Microsoft is a corporate entity. However, to enforce what it perceives as its legal/contractual rights, it would need the assistance of law enforcement and the courts. What I am saying, essentially, is that if it really comes down to Microsoft attempting to get access to an individual's machine, in their home, I would think they would need a court order. I certainly wouldn't just let them in my house. When they, or anyone, seek to have their contractual rights enforced, those rights must be legal and enforceable, and oftentimes, ahesionary contracts are not.
Further, I dont' think that Microsoft would push that far, because the last thing they want to do is take an extreme issue to the courts, such as where they are trying to come into an individual's home and inspect that person's computers, and lose. This could create a precedent for the invalidity of their EULA, which could then be expanded. That's a camel's nose that they don't want under the tent.
The problem with EULAs, from a legal standpoint, is that they are clearly contracts of adhesion, as defined by Black's Law Dictionary, 7th
:adhesion contract. A standard-form contract prepared by one party, to be signed by the party in a weaker position, usu. a consumer, who has little choice about the terms. -- Also termed contract of adhesion; adhesory contract; adhesionary contract; take-it-or-leave-it contract; leonine contract. "Some sets of trade and professional forms are extremely one-sided, grossly favoring one interest group against others, and are commonly referred to as contracts of adhesion. From weakness in bargaining position, ignorance, or indifference, unfavored parties are willing to enter transactions controlled by these lopsided legal documents." Quintin Johnstone & Dan Hopson, Jr., Lawyers and Their Work 329-30 (1967).
These contracts are highly disfavored, and I would think that they would be particularly frowned upon by the courtr when they are matched agaiunst a constitutionally protected liberty interest, such as freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. I would doubt that a court would uphold a search of an individual based solely on the EULA. The courts are less sympathetic when it comes to non natrual person entities such as corporations, but still., it's not like we could each individually bargian what rights we were willing to give up when the click through prompt came up.
What I'd like to see stopped is verbal rebroadcasting of tv shows. Every day of your life, you get to listen to a rehash of "Friends" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" through the cubicle farm. You know, "-and then Chandler said" conversations. This has got to be illegal, if only on infliction of emoptional distress. I'd buy anything that would stop these pirates.
Re:They said it was still free so...
on
King's New eBook
·
· Score: 2
The version I got was from a joint Glassbook/Amazon.com deal. no trouble at all to donwload, but I already had Glassbook. The Glassbook reader appears to be a skin on top of Acrobat Reader 4.0, with some proprietary additions for security. They have a herd of free e-books on their site too, www.glassbook.com
Slashdot Mirror
I use Office at work, because my employer pays for it, but at home, my machine came with WordPerfect 11 preloaded. The formatting changes when going back and forth are impossible, so I use OpenOffice at home for its compatiblility with Word. I find it adequate. Office at work seems a little faster, but I think the machine is a little faster as well. Both are pretty typical office workstation machines. I'm going to try disabling Java though...
I challenge anyone to present a feature used by the majority of users in current word processors that was not available in either Wordstar or WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. Other than the cosmetics of the user interfaces, I don't see any real change, and the increased bloat in these things makes it so that our fancy Pentium Fours feel remarkably similar to 10 Mhz 286 machines running the old DOS software.
Dave
Man, it took a long time before the inevitable Dvorak comment showed up. I expected it to be the second or third post. You guys must be slipping!
Dave
. . .welcome our Mandriva Overlords
There. It's out of the way.
So, instead of an apartment full of treasure you'd have one full of severed heads? How are severed heads better than treasure? You can't even make a decent casserole from them.
Dave
I've never understood howa movie can be said to have "ruined" a book. Whatever. Watchmen, the comic, is a work of pure brilliance. It's actually better in the trade paperback than it was sequentially, I think, because the story will hit you all at once. Moore's language, combined with the visual echoing of themes, with just the sheer purity of the ideas, will smack anyone upside the head with a brilliant brick. This will be the same whether there's a crappy movie out there or not. Moore's "Saga of the Swamp Thing" run may be the best comic ever written. It continues to be great no matter how many iteratiosn of crappy movies, tv movies, etc., appear. His John Constantine was perfect. In Moore's hands, we never knew too much about him, how he did what he did, just what he was capable of, or what his true motives were. The American Gothic stories in Swamp Thing, and the early years of Hellblazer, will be undimished no matter what Keanu does. Frank Miller's Daredevil will still amaze after Ben Affleck's putrid movie. The Dark Knight Returns is not diminished by the the nipples on Val Kilmer's costume, really. And I found myself tracking down both the League and Hellboy after those movies.
Conversely, were there any Blade fans who remembered him all that fondly from the Dracula stires and pages of Dr. Strange? I barely remembered him, and I'm a live version of the Simpson's Comic book guy at heart.
My essential point is that these works exist independently. Everyone knows that a book will have far more depth and intelligence that the movies.
The best that I think any of these movies could do is to create interest in these characters, and in the stories. We've seen a resurgence in a heroic archetype in the movies, from The Matrix's the "One" to the Ringbearer, to the return of Superman. That can only be good for comics in general. It may show a renewed interest in stories of heroism for its own sake., for purity of motive, and for tales of good versus evil. Comics have suffered, and continue to do so, and anything that gets mainstream audiences talking about Alan Moore, Mike Mignola, and even Bob Kane has got to be a good thing for them.
That concept, but with their own Minidiscs, is bascially the Sony NetMD. I have the older Net MD, not the new Hi-Capacity player, but you can load five or six cd's worth of music on one minidisc, and they're about $10.00 a ten-pack at the old Wal-Mart. No big deal to carry a few, and I can put essentially all of an artist's catalogue on one disc. Works, of course, with Sony's music store, which they tried to hype by giving away downloads with Big Macs (how's that for synergy-WTF)
The Sony players are small, and serviceable, but their software is nowhere near as clean as I-Ttunes.
I find the call for a boycott astounding. Do we not want people to try the different options available to them and decide which is superior?
Are we so unsure of the superiority of Linux that we believe that a simple banner ad could derail that process of testing and deciding? All the banner ads in the world won't change the basic truths of how things work. I use WinXP at work, because that's what they choose. I use RedHat at home, because that's what I choose. More information is always better than less information when it comes to making decisions.
Dave G.
Sometimes I just walk down the street giving advice, and then try to get some cash. . . as in:
"Don't wear that tie with those pants-that'll be $4.73."
Actually if you are a lawyer, you constantly get calls from family, friends and friends of family and their friends, expecting free legal advice since they obviously only need a few minutes of your time and the problem, which is unsolvable to them, certainly isn't worth their paying you to solve it.
"Just let me tell you about my divorce. . . "
"I don't think my lawyer's doing a good job. . "
". . . so of course I had to hit the postman!"
Anybody else suspect that "A reader" was actually Mr. Hook himself?
Well, of course Microsoft is a corporate entity. However, to enforce what it perceives as its legal/contractual rights, it would need the assistance of law enforcement and the courts. What I am saying, essentially, is that if it really comes down to Microsoft attempting to get access to an individual's machine, in their home, I would think they would need a court order. I certainly wouldn't just let them in my house. When they, or anyone, seek to have their contractual rights enforced, those rights must be legal and enforceable, and oftentimes, ahesionary contracts are not.
Further, I dont' think that Microsoft would push that far, because the last thing they want to do is take an extreme issue to the courts, such as where they are trying to come into an individual's home and inspect that person's computers, and lose. This could create a precedent for the invalidity of their EULA, which could then be expanded. That's a camel's nose that they don't want under the tent.
The problem with EULAs, from a legal standpoint, is that they are clearly contracts of adhesion, as defined by Black's Law Dictionary, 7th
:adhesion contract. A standard-form contract prepared by one party, to be signed by the party in a weaker position, usu. a consumer, who has little choice about the terms. -- Also termed contract of adhesion; adhesory contract; adhesionary contract; take-it-or-leave-it contract; leonine contract.
"Some sets of trade and professional forms are extremely one-sided, grossly favoring one interest group against others, and are commonly referred to as contracts of adhesion. From weakness in bargaining position, ignorance, or indifference, unfavored parties are willing to enter transactions controlled by these lopsided legal documents." Quintin Johnstone & Dan Hopson, Jr., Lawyers and Their Work 329-30 (1967).
These contracts are highly disfavored, and I would think that they would be particularly frowned upon by the courtr when they are matched agaiunst a constitutionally protected liberty interest, such as freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. I would doubt that a court would uphold a search of an individual based solely on the EULA. The courts are less sympathetic when it comes to non natrual person entities such as corporations, but still., it's not like we could each individually bargian what rights we were willing to give up when the click through prompt came up.
What I'd like to see stopped is verbal rebroadcasting of tv shows. Every day of your life, you get to listen to a rehash of "Friends" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" through the cubicle farm. You know, "-and then Chandler said" conversations. This has got to be illegal, if only on infliction of emoptional distress. I'd buy anything that would stop these pirates.
The version I got was from a joint Glassbook/Amazon.com deal. no trouble at all to donwload, but I already had Glassbook. The Glassbook reader appears to be a skin on top of Acrobat Reader 4.0, with some proprietary additions for security. They have a herd of free e-books on their site too, www.glassbook.com