Do I have to click all of the links just to figure out just what the heck this article was about and whether or not I _wanted_ to click the links?! That post made absolutely _no_ sense whatsoever...
I posted those exact question to three different boards and never got a response, and I could never find anything on the Mozilla site to answer them! Your suggestions worked like a charm. Excellent!::air guitar::
Oh, and I kept the search box and just added what I wanted to the location bar. I'll experiment with the box when I'm not in a rush.
Now I'll have to see about switching over... *grin*
Why won't I switch from Mozilla to Firefox / Thunderbird? Two reasons:
1. The okay / cancel buttons are reversed, and since every other program has 'okay' on the left, Firefox is impossible to adapt to. I kept cancelling my page saves! Why this change was made boggles the mind and I hope someone gets a clue and fixes it.
2. I am accustomed to doing Google searches by hitting ctl-L, typing in my search string, and arrowing down to search. The separate Google box is nice, but I think they should have retained the other capability for those of us who're used to the Mozilla interface (it's been my day-to-day browser since M16).
Speaking of superior file formats, has anyone else noticed just how much smaller OOo files are than the comparable MS Office documents? I routinely have to export files to MSO formats for peer review, and I have always marvelled at the amount of space a.doc takes by comparison.
However, he admits that future sequels may feature a younger actor, similar to the James Bond series post-Connery.
*ahem*
After Connery left the James Bond series, they replaced him with an actor who is three years older. Connery was born in '30, Moore in '27. And yes, I am a complete fan-boy dork for remembering that.
The following is the response that I have submitted to the Wired author in question (Tony Long).
Dear Sir,
I have no idea from whence you derive the rationale for your decision; the argument seems specious and illogical. The last time I checked, proper nouns such as the names of persons or companies were capitalised in English, and not just auf Deutsch.
The word 'Web' is an abbreviation of 'World Wide Web', which is just as much a proper noun as 'The New York Times' or Wired News'. It is also represented by an actual administrative body, the World Wide Web Consortium.
'Internet' is likewise a proper noun, and as 'Net' is simply an abbreviated rendering, it deserves the retention of the capital. Were it not for the existence of such regulatory bodies as the Internet Engineering Task Force, your argument might have some validity.
Further, your contention that the Internet is simply a new means of communication ignores the fact that it is regulated by a handful global organisations, unlike your other examples (radio, television, etceteras). Further, you may note that in cases where other media are addressed properly, capitals are, in fact, used; e.g., the spelling of Radio 1 (the BBC station).
To use another argument, examine the name of your own organisation. The term 'wired' has entered the English language as a verb indicating an electrical or digital connexion. It is frequently used in reference to the Internet. Should, then, the name of your own company be referred to as 'wired news' since the word has such a generalised connotation within the context in which you operate?
In a similar vein, the orthographical and etymological spellings for the following words should be retained: 'e-mail', 'on-line', and 'log-in'/'log-on'. Arguments based upon the ubiquity of incorrect spelling have no legitimacy as far as I am concerned. Would you have us all adopting the spellings 'thru', 'nite', and 'donut'?
I was running a RAID5 array on a Promise SX6000 controller using six 80gb drives. In additon to my other data, I was trusting to this array the only copies of 2 dozen short stories and 300 pages worth of a novel (in addition to the development notes for same). The array had always been rock-solid and I had felt no need to back the files up to disc.
Then, chance stepped up to the plate. I had _two_ hard disks die on the same day! What are the chances, right? I fought with that controller and those drives for three straight days, getting almost no sleep... alas, when I finally had to concede defeat, my novel had disappeared into the aether along with almost 400gb of other data.
Not that anything else I have done can compare with the monumental loss I suffered that day, but I've had plenty of accidents in 20 years of computer work. I've dropped a screw onto a running circuit board and seen a pretty blue spark kill it; I've used a BIOS flash from a defunct company and turned my mainboard into a toaster; I've accidentally erased the wrong disk partition; I've tripped over the power cord during a BIOS flash (another toaster); I've tried to patch the NT kernel on a production system (bad patch, permanent blue screen, ouch); I've botched DNS records and made a Web site disappear; and, of course, I've had my run-ins with static electricity and RAM. That's about all I can remember, I guess. Computers are fun. The best way to learn really is to screw up.
Being fired upon by US citizens is not grounds for war under any legal definition. The Constitution is quite explicit in defining wars, and this was not one. It would be considered a police action or some sort. Was the government's raid on the Waco compound a 'war'? This would fit the same definition; the Confederates would be considered a militia comprised of US citizens, not the army of a rival government. For that to have been the case, the US would have needed to recognise their government, and Congress would have needed to declare war.
As for the suspension of habeas corpus being legal under the Constitution, you are partially correct. It can be suspended, but only by Congress, not be executive fiat. This is what I mean when I say that Lincoln cast aside Constitutional limits on executive power, effectively shredding the document. His actions have provided the foundation for every executive abuse that followed. Very little of the president's current authority is actually invested in him by the Constitution; the presidency is, supposedly, a weak office with few direct powers.
Allow me to give you a common example. How often do people refer to the president as the Commander in Chief of the armed forces? Did you know that FDR was the last such Commander? According to the Contitution, that power is contingent upon a declaration of war by the Congress; it is not a part of the normal job responsibilities of the presidency. The president does not have the authority to utilise the US armed forces in time of peace, hence Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, etc., were illegal wars.
You may carry on quoting from that article, friend, and I will happily continue to remember Ashcroft's actual statements upon assuming office. I will also consider the records of the respective administrations in responding to requests, especially as I have made them myself in my historical research.
Ashcroft's policy is to withhold information wherever it is possible to do so. This violates the entire spirit of the F.O.I.A., as it explicitly seeks to prevent public access wherever there is a legal leg to stand on. The fact that requests have frequently been denied for less-than-sound legal reasons is beside the point.
And furthermore, in reponse to your statement below defending this database bullshit, I will politely point out that this is _not_ a sound legal reason. If the information cannot be retrieved safely to-day, that is grounds for re-arranging matters so that the data _can_ be retrieved, not for denying the request outright. This is public information, and I have paid to have it collected--if I want to see it, I will not take this kind of bureaucratic double-speak as a sound excuse for withholding it.
Lincoln's act was equally indefensible. The Civil War was completely unconstitutional and, contrary to high school history myth, was _not_ fought to defeat slavery. No provision of the Constitution bars states from leaving a union that they freely entered into, and the express implications (from the Founders' writings) would indicate that the opposite was true--that the individual states would always retain this privilege.
As for Lincoln, he knew that he lacked the authority to abolish slavery, and he never did so. Have you read the Emancipation proclamation? It did _not_ free the slaves and was intended only as a temporary economic punishment for the rebellious states. Note that the three slave states that remained in the Union did not lose their slaves until the passage of the 13th amendment.
Besides, even had Lincoln wished to carry on with an illegal war against American citizens*, he could just as easily have re-located the capital to New York (where it was initially) and let Maryland secede; suspending the Constitution to 'save' it sounds like fragile and specious reasoning to this historian.
* Note that, as the Confederate States were never recognised as an independent nation, the United States Army was utilised in a 'war' against American citizens, in flagrant violation of the Constitution. Lincoln was indeed a great man in many respects, but his actions shredded the Constitution and completely re-fashioned the executive branch and its purview.
What this is, is perjury, and Ashcroft should be brought to task for it by Congress (*sigh* As _if_ they could be expected to do their job...).
Ashcroft issued a directive upon taking office that F.O.I.A. requests should be obstructed as far as possible, in line with the secrecy that has surrounded this entire administration. This is merely one more crass lie in furtherance of that ideology. The man has lied constantly since taking office and has been allowed to get away with it. Why?
Have we stopped caring about transparancy and republican values at home, whilst at the same time singing the praises of 'democracy' abroad? Are we all content to allow this proud nation to slip slowly but surely into a permanently-militarised social order? Will _you_ accept the suspension of habeus corpus, or of the entire Constitution, and live happily in a police state?
Me, I'd rather die on my feet, with my fist in the air, than my knees. I refuse to trade my freedom for cold comfort.
I have actually gotten _three_ separate calls from SBC recently, all pitching their DSL at me! I haven't registered a complaint yet, as I quite enjoy toying with their sales staff (they do not offer a service that meets my requirements and pointing this out, in detail, is a fun way to get _them_ to hang up!).
I probably should have complained, as that would have given them a $33,000 fine. It would be nice if we got a cut, though, for all the years of inconvenience... How many times have _you_ been interrupted at supper? Or woken up early on a weekend? I lost count some years ago.
1. Price (particularly, the upgrades. This is a no-brainer. I have to pay for new versions of Windows regularly in order to keep my skills sharp and current, and I couldn't imagine forking out that much cash to run Windows on each of my 25 personal machines, much less paying for a whole office. I have no idea why corporations keep doing it, and I suspect that with Mozilla and OpenOffice coming along so very nicely, that they shan't be doing so for very much longer...)
2. Flexibility and Reliability (I can set it up _my_ way; especially important for servers, where I do _not_ want a GUI eating up resources. I can start and stop _any_ service, something Windows will never be able to do, and I can upgrade just about anything without a re-boot. Windows gets good uptime if it has few applications instaled and does not have a high workload. Try running something like Citrix MetaFrame on it without regular re-boots! I have one machine with a 5+ year uptime under a heavy corporate workload; no way that'll happen with Windows--the weekly updates and patches alone necessitate regular re-booting!)
3. Ease of Use (am I the _only_ one that thinks KDE is a better-designed UI than Windows XP's? I mean, the file manager alone is worth the price of admission--scrolling is easier done from the bottom of the window and you can open up a terminal session from any directory, etc. etc. Then there are such nifty things as right-clicking the desktop to lock the screen, being able to radically re-organise things to make them easier to find and more pleasing to the eye--even the games are better! As a FreeCell addict, I must insist that the GNOME FreeCell is the best-designed version of the game I have ever played,and it doesn't cheat like the Windows version does! My current record for consecutive wins stands at 675, and I'm trying to break it.... *grin*)
4. Multiple Desktops (I don't know about you, but for me, what's the sense in having these fast machines if I can't load 'em up with things to do? I routinely keep applicaitons open on six desktops and quickly toggle betwixt them for tasks. When I'm not using them, they stay open and waiting for me. Try using 20 separate applications at once on a Windows machine!)
5. Trouble-shooting (Ever try serious trouble-shooting on Windows? What happens when the error code is not in TechNet (they like to remove older ones, such as the NT 4 errors!) and you can't find it in Google? And how aboutthat logging! *sheesh* If the Windows Event Viewer was any more useless I'd recommend that they remove it to save a few KB of disc space... As for Unix-y system... how's about remote CLI log-ins for when the screen goes screwy? Alt+F2 to access a CLI locally? How's about killing the GUI without re-booting the whole system? Being able to kill X is very handy on a multi-user system that's had its GUI screw up.)
6. Why Not? (There is nothing I need to do normally on Windows that I can't do off of it, and I have been using multiple computers, daily and professionally, for longer than many/.ers have been alive. I am convinced that OpenOffice is a far superior office suite, with a more sane lay-out and a much more efficient file format. Mozilla and Evolution beat IE and Outlook handily, and are not prone to nasty infections. If only Quanta would develop the features from HomeSite that it still lacks, and someone would write a good CSE HTML Validator clone, I would no longer need VMware--this is just about all I boot a copy of Windows for anymore,and even that is infrequent. Quanta is quite good already.)
For the record, I am not a GNU/Linux zealot, either--I still use AIX and Solaris regularly on a pair of workstations here. Further, I am not just a Unix geek--I've held an MCSE certification since 1998 and have used Windows and DOS consistently since they first appeared. I still keep up with the newest versions so that I can see what MS is doing and I can help people out with problems. Further, I support aerospace 3D CAD users professionally, so I am on Windows 2000 frequently. For my personal use, however... I just don't see the attraction of Windows. My SuSE boxen are faster, prettier, and more functional. Just my tupence...
Find yourself a Xerox Document Centre that you can borrow for a few minutes. I can place a stack of sheets in the tray, select a destination folder, and hit 'go.' A few minutes later, there is a.pdf file sitting on a network share. I have used this for everything from digitising entire books (cut the binding and stack the sheets up) to small documents such as a CV; it is fast and effortless.
Doesn't this look like a transparency? http://www.fresco.org/data/screensh ots/xggi-xchat. png
The project had full window transparency at least as far back as 1999, which is when I first saw it. Check out http://www.fresco.org/ and see if this pre-dates Apple's work; I would guess that it does.
If I found the prior art, what do I win? A big kiss? A sock in the mouth? World peace?
As long as people are going to be putting Real streams on the Internet, yes. Do you want people bitching that they can't watch CNN? Or, worse, do you want clients instaling their own software?!
Besides, I use the OLD RealPlayer, and un-check all of the default annoyances. The newer versions, with their hideous always-running services and pop-up messages, I will NEVER instal. Real streams play just fine on the old player.
I set up Windows business systems _very_ often, and I have a set list of free software that goes onto each one.
service pack 4; software drivers (video, etc.); all relevant patches from MS (several re-boots); winzip; java runtime; quicktime; real 7; mozilla; acrobat reader; openoffice; winamp; okay, so that's more than ten... sue me... it's also a complete system load.
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day sorting punch cards for an S/360, and pay IBM for permission to come to work, and when I got home, my mum and dad would kill me and dance about on my grave singing Hallelujah.
And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.
Incidentally, even with the shortcuts, my books are costing me $600 per semester for 15 units. Private schools are more expensive in every way, including required reading...
Two possibilities (I have used both successfully):
1) Order your books at the local Barnes & Noble and use your discount card (if you have one; I love them). I prefer to see the books I buy, so this is the method I use now.
2) Order your books on-line, preferably from Canada or the UK, as they are much cheaper this way, even with the shipping costs added.
My biggest complaint about them is that no one spells the word correctly anymore! Like any number of English-language words that require accents, this one is frequently spelt without, and as their removal in this case spells another word entirely (resume, as in, to continue), it is doubly important that they be used.
Incidentally, why the hell can't I use the accent marks in the bloody/. forums?! Neither in text nor HTML do they render. *grrrrr*
It's not as though they're difficult (outside of/.!). Under GNU/Linux, I use the character map included with KDE (GNOME has one as well), under Windows there are keyboard shortcuts using the Alt key and number pad (why can't I do this in Linux yet?!), and in HTML you simply name the letter and its accent; e.g. " & e acute ; " (without the spaces, as typing it correctly in/. makes it disappear!) will render e with an acute.
Slashdot Mirror
Do I have to click all of the links just to figure out just what the heck this article was about and whether or not I _wanted_ to click the links?! That post made absolutely _no_ sense whatsoever...
*sheesh*
Jumpin' Jesus on a Pogo-Stick!
::air guitar::
I posted those exact question to three different boards and never got a response, and I could never find anything on the Mozilla site to answer them! Your suggestions worked like a charm. Excellent!
Oh, and I kept the search box and just added what I wanted to the location bar. I'll experiment with the box when I'm not in a rush.
Now I'll have to see about switching over... *grin*
Thanks!
Why won't I switch from Mozilla to Firefox / Thunderbird? Two reasons:
1. The okay / cancel buttons are reversed, and since every other program has 'okay' on the left, Firefox is impossible to adapt to. I kept cancelling my page saves! Why this change was made boggles the mind and I hope someone gets a clue and fixes it.
2. I am accustomed to doing Google searches by hitting ctl-L, typing in my search string, and arrowing down to search. The separate Google box is nice, but I think they should have retained the other capability for those of us who're used to the Mozilla interface (it's been my day-to-day browser since M16).
Speaking of superior file formats, has anyone else noticed just how much smaller OOo files are than the comparable MS Office documents? I routinely have to export files to MSO formats for peer review, and I have always marvelled at the amount of space a .doc takes by comparison.
Is it possible that the usefulness of TV has decreased with the internet so expansive these days?
Huh? Television is 'useful'? You mean to say that I've actually missed out on something useful in the twenty years since I threw out my last set?!
Oops... I didn't notice that someone else posted the same information just before I got around to it.... *blush*
However, he admits that future sequels may feature a younger actor, similar to the James Bond series post-Connery.
*ahem*
After Connery left the James Bond series, they replaced him with an actor who is three years older. Connery was born in '30, Moore in '27. And yes, I am a complete fan-boy dork for remembering that.
The following is the response that I have submitted to the Wired author in question (Tony Long).
Dear Sir,
I have no idea from whence you derive the rationale for your decision; the argument seems specious and illogical. The last time I checked, proper nouns such as the names of persons or companies were capitalised in English, and not just auf Deutsch.
The word 'Web' is an abbreviation of 'World Wide Web', which is just as much a proper noun as 'The New York Times' or Wired News'. It is also represented by an actual administrative body, the World Wide Web Consortium.
'Internet' is likewise a proper noun, and as 'Net' is simply an abbreviated rendering, it deserves the retention of the capital. Were it not for the existence of such regulatory bodies as the Internet Engineering Task Force, your argument might have some validity.
Further, your contention that the Internet is simply a new means of communication ignores the fact that it is regulated by a handful global organisations, unlike your other examples (radio, television, etceteras). Further, you may note that in cases where other media are addressed properly, capitals are, in fact, used; e.g., the spelling of Radio 1 (the BBC station).
To use another argument, examine the name of your own organisation. The term 'wired' has entered the English language as a verb indicating an electrical or digital connexion. It is frequently used in reference to the Internet. Should, then, the name of your own company be referred to as 'wired news' since the word has such a generalised connotation within the context in which you operate?
In a similar vein, the orthographical and etymological spellings for the following words should be retained: 'e-mail', 'on-line', and 'log-in'/'log-on'. Arguments based upon the ubiquity of incorrect spelling have no legitimacy as far as I am concerned. Would you have us all adopting the spellings 'thru', 'nite', and 'donut'?
Regards,
#########
This was set up some years ago specifically for this purpose and I have used it ever since. See their site here:
http://www.privacy.net/email/
This e-mail address (and some variations on it) is free for anyone to use.
I was running a RAID5 array on a Promise SX6000 controller using six 80gb drives. In additon to my other data, I was trusting to this array the only copies of 2 dozen short stories and 300 pages worth of a novel (in addition to the development notes for same). The array had always been rock-solid and I had felt no need to back the files up to disc.
Then, chance stepped up to the plate. I had _two_ hard disks die on the same day! What are the chances, right? I fought with that controller and those drives for three straight days, getting almost no sleep... alas, when I finally had to concede defeat, my novel had disappeared into the aether along with almost 400gb of other data.
Not that anything else I have done can compare with the monumental loss I suffered that day, but I've had plenty of accidents in 20 years of computer work. I've dropped a screw onto a running circuit board and seen a pretty blue spark kill it; I've used a BIOS flash from a defunct company and turned my mainboard into a toaster; I've accidentally erased the wrong disk partition; I've tripped over the power cord during a BIOS flash (another toaster); I've tried to patch the NT kernel on a production system (bad patch, permanent blue screen, ouch); I've botched DNS records and made a Web site disappear; and, of course, I've had my run-ins with static electricity and RAM. That's about all I can remember, I guess. Computers are fun. The best way to learn really is to screw up.
Being fired upon by US citizens is not grounds for war under any legal definition. The Constitution is quite explicit in defining wars, and this was not one. It would be considered a police action or some sort. Was the government's raid on the Waco compound a 'war'? This would fit the same definition; the Confederates would be considered a militia comprised of US citizens, not the army of a rival government. For that to have been the case, the US would have needed to recognise their government, and Congress would have needed to declare war.
As for the suspension of habeas corpus being legal under the Constitution, you are partially correct. It can be suspended, but only by Congress, not be executive fiat. This is what I mean when I say that Lincoln cast aside Constitutional limits on executive power, effectively shredding the document. His actions have provided the foundation for every executive abuse that followed. Very little of the president's current authority is actually invested in him by the Constitution; the presidency is, supposedly, a weak office with few direct powers.
Allow me to give you a common example. How often do people refer to the president as the Commander in Chief of the armed forces? Did you know that FDR was the last such Commander? According to the Contitution, that power is contingent upon a declaration of war by the Congress; it is not a part of the normal job responsibilities of the presidency. The president does not have the authority to utilise the US armed forces in time of peace, hence Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, etc., were illegal wars.
You may carry on quoting from that article, friend, and I will happily continue to remember Ashcroft's actual statements upon assuming office. I will also consider the records of the respective administrations in responding to requests, especially as I have made them myself in my historical research.
Ashcroft's policy is to withhold information wherever it is possible to do so. This violates the entire spirit of the F.O.I.A., as it explicitly seeks to prevent public access wherever there is a legal leg to stand on. The fact that requests have frequently been denied for less-than-sound legal reasons is beside the point.
And furthermore, in reponse to your statement below defending this database bullshit, I will politely point out that this is _not_ a sound legal reason. If the information cannot be retrieved safely to-day, that is grounds for re-arranging matters so that the data _can_ be retrieved, not for denying the request outright. This is public information, and I have paid to have it collected--if I want to see it, I will not take this kind of bureaucratic double-speak as a sound excuse for withholding it.
Lincoln's act was equally indefensible. The Civil War was completely unconstitutional and, contrary to high school history myth, was _not_ fought to defeat slavery. No provision of the Constitution bars states from leaving a union that they freely entered into, and the express implications (from the Founders' writings) would indicate that the opposite was true--that the individual states would always retain this privilege.
As for Lincoln, he knew that he lacked the authority to abolish slavery, and he never did so. Have you read the Emancipation proclamation? It did _not_ free the slaves and was intended only as a temporary economic punishment for the rebellious states. Note that the three slave states that remained in the Union did not lose their slaves until the passage of the 13th amendment.
Besides, even had Lincoln wished to carry on with an illegal war against American citizens*, he could just as easily have re-located the capital to New York (where it was initially) and let Maryland secede; suspending the Constitution to 'save' it sounds like fragile and specious reasoning to this historian.
* Note that, as the Confederate States were never recognised as an independent nation, the United States Army was utilised in a 'war' against American citizens, in flagrant violation of the Constitution. Lincoln was indeed a great man in many respects, but his actions shredded the Constitution and completely re-fashioned the executive branch and its purview.
What this is, is perjury, and Ashcroft should be brought to task for it by Congress (*sigh* As _if_ they could be expected to do their job...).
Ashcroft issued a directive upon taking office that F.O.I.A. requests should be obstructed as far as possible, in line with the secrecy that has surrounded this entire administration. This is merely one more crass lie in furtherance of that ideology. The man has lied constantly since taking office and has been allowed to get away with it. Why?
Have we stopped caring about transparancy and republican values at home, whilst at the same time singing the praises of 'democracy' abroad? Are we all content to allow this proud nation to slip slowly but surely into a permanently-militarised social order? Will _you_ accept the suspension of habeus corpus, or of the entire Constitution, and live happily in a police state?
Me, I'd rather die on my feet, with my fist in the air, than my knees. I refuse to trade my freedom for cold comfort.
I have actually gotten _three_ separate calls from SBC recently, all pitching their DSL at me! I haven't registered a complaint yet, as I quite enjoy toying with their sales staff (they do not offer a service that meets my requirements and pointing this out, in detail, is a fun way to get _them_ to hang up!).
I probably should have complained, as that would have given them a $33,000 fine. It would be nice if we got a cut, though, for all the years of inconvenience... How many times have _you_ been interrupted at supper? Or woken up early on a weekend? I lost count some years ago.
1. Price (particularly, the upgrades. This is a no-brainer. I have to pay for new versions of Windows regularly in order to keep my skills sharp and current, and I couldn't imagine forking out that much cash to run Windows on each of my 25 personal machines, much less paying for a whole office. I have no idea why corporations keep doing it, and I suspect that with Mozilla and OpenOffice coming along so very nicely, that they shan't be doing so for very much longer...)
/.ers have been alive. I am convinced that OpenOffice is a far superior office suite, with a more sane lay-out and a much more efficient file format. Mozilla and Evolution beat IE and Outlook handily, and are not prone to nasty infections. If only Quanta would develop the features from HomeSite that it still lacks, and someone would write a good CSE HTML Validator clone, I would no longer need VMware--this is just about all I boot a copy of Windows for anymore,and even that is infrequent. Quanta is quite good already.)
2. Flexibility and Reliability (I can set it up _my_ way; especially important for servers, where I do _not_ want a GUI eating up resources. I can start and stop _any_ service, something Windows will never be able to do, and I can upgrade just about anything without a re-boot. Windows gets good uptime if it has few applications instaled and does not have a high workload. Try running something like Citrix MetaFrame on it without regular re-boots! I have one machine with a 5+ year uptime under a heavy corporate workload; no way that'll happen with Windows--the weekly updates and patches alone necessitate regular re-booting!)
3. Ease of Use (am I the _only_ one that thinks KDE is a better-designed UI than Windows XP's? I mean, the file manager alone is worth the price of admission--scrolling is easier done from the bottom of the window and you can open up a terminal session from any directory, etc. etc. Then there are such nifty things as right-clicking the desktop to lock the screen, being able to radically re-organise things to make them easier to find and more pleasing to the eye--even the games are better! As a FreeCell addict, I must insist that the GNOME FreeCell is the best-designed version of the game I have ever played,and it doesn't cheat like the Windows version does! My current record for consecutive wins stands at 675, and I'm trying to break it.... *grin*)
4. Multiple Desktops (I don't know about you, but for me, what's the sense in having these fast machines if I can't load 'em up with things to do? I routinely keep applicaitons open on six desktops and quickly toggle betwixt them for tasks. When I'm not using them, they stay open and waiting for me. Try using 20 separate applications at once on a Windows machine!)
5. Trouble-shooting (Ever try serious trouble-shooting on Windows? What happens when the error code is not in TechNet (they like to remove older ones, such as the NT 4 errors!) and you can't find it in Google? And how aboutthat logging! *sheesh* If the Windows Event Viewer was any more useless I'd recommend that they remove it to save a few KB of disc space... As for Unix-y system... how's about remote CLI log-ins for when the screen goes screwy? Alt+F2 to access a CLI locally? How's about killing the GUI without re-booting the whole system? Being able to kill X is very handy on a multi-user system that's had its GUI screw up.)
6. Why Not? (There is nothing I need to do normally on Windows that I can't do off of it, and I have been using multiple computers, daily and professionally, for longer than many
For the record, I am not a GNU/Linux zealot, either--I still use AIX and Solaris regularly on a pair of workstations here. Further, I am not just a Unix geek--I've held an MCSE certification since 1998 and have used Windows and DOS consistently since they first appeared. I still keep up with the newest versions so that I can see what MS is doing and I can help people out with problems. Further, I support aerospace 3D CAD users professionally, so I am on Windows 2000 frequently. For my personal use, however... I just don't see the attraction of Windows. My SuSE boxen are faster, prettier, and more functional. Just my tupence...
Find yourself a Xerox Document Centre that you can borrow for a few minutes. I can place a stack of sheets in the tray, select a destination folder, and hit 'go.' A few minutes later, there is a .pdf file sitting on a network share. I have used this for everything from digitising entire books (cut the binding and stack the sheets up) to small documents such as a CV; it is fast and effortless.
Why has no one mentioned the Berlin project?!?!
h ots/xggi-xchat. png
Doesn't this look like a transparency?
http://www.fresco.org/data/screens
The project had full window transparency at least as far back as 1999, which is when I first saw it. Check out http://www.fresco.org/ and see if this pre-dates Apple's work; I would guess that it does.
If I found the prior art, what do I win? A big kiss? A sock in the mouth? World peace?
As long as people are going to be putting Real streams on the Internet, yes. Do you want people bitching that they can't watch CNN? Or, worse, do you want clients instaling their own software?!
Besides, I use the OLD RealPlayer, and un-check all of the default annoyances. The newer versions, with their hideous always-running services and pop-up messages, I will NEVER instal. Real streams play just fine on the old player.
I set up Windows business systems _very_ often, and I have a set list of free software that goes onto each one.
service pack 4;
software drivers (video, etc.);
all relevant patches from MS (several re-boots);
winzip;
java runtime;
quicktime;
real 7;
mozilla;
acrobat reader;
openoffice;
winamp;
okay, so that's more than ten... sue me... it's also a complete system load.
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day sorting punch cards for an S/360, and pay IBM for permission to come to work, and when I got home, my mum and dad would kill me and dance about on my grave singing Hallelujah.
..... they won't believe you.
And you try and tell the young people of today that
Incidentally, even with the shortcuts, my books are costing me $600 per semester for 15 units. Private schools are more expensive in every way, including required reading...
Two possibilities (I have used both successfully):
1) Order your books at the local Barnes & Noble and use your discount card (if you have one; I love them). I prefer to see the books I buy, so this is the method I use now.
2) Order your books on-line, preferably from Canada or the UK, as they are much cheaper this way, even with the shipping costs added.
My biggest complaint about them is that no one spells the word correctly anymore! Like any number of English-language words that require accents, this one is frequently spelt without, and as their removal in this case spells another word entirely (resume, as in, to continue), it is doubly important that they be used.
/. forums?! Neither in text nor HTML do they render. *grrrrr*
/.!). Under GNU/Linux, I use the character map included with KDE (GNOME has one as well), under Windows there are keyboard shortcuts using the Alt key and number pad (why can't I do this in Linux yet?!), and in HTML you simply name the letter and its accent; e.g. " & e acute ; " (without the spaces, as typing it correctly in /. makes it disappear!) will render e with an acute.
Incidentally, why the hell can't I use the accent marks in the bloody
It's not as though they're difficult (outside of
Bitch whine moan complain....
Man I hope no one from Microsoft just read this.... *grin* You are truly evil.