If you can't figure out what stuff does without a video tutorial, then it is *by definition* not intuitive. I totally agree- I normally use cinema4d though I have in the past been a maya and 3d studio max user since the early 90's and the blender UI is just horrible- it is another case of a decent piece of open source software that could compete with commercial software *if* you could get someone to help redesign the UI.
this is the biggest problem with darn near all open source software- if people are to really start taking it seriously- you need to get developers to start partnering with ui and graphic designers and not just act like the UI of a piece of software is not neccesary or useful to the enduser of the app.
Windows costs a "small fortune" is utter absurdity. I disagree- you need to look at it more like this- with the price of hardware having dropped and systems as a whole what they are (I just built a system recently for my GF that in total cost for OEM parts came to about $450) and competing operating system costs (linux- free, osx roughly $100) the retail price of vista ultimate @ $400 is obscene - the same price as building an entire system with linux or 4X the price of osx-
let me put this another way- the average houshold income is approx. $2810 per month after taxes 50% is $1405 which is the average cost of housing per month- knock that $405 off for food and energy costs and you have a thousand dollars left(this is not counting gas and transport)- so what microsoft is basically saying by pricing at $400 is that they think that they are worth roughly 40% of an a monthly household's expendable income as a purchase- I don't think many families would agree
I am still waiting for them to come down in price- or have a decent touchscreen interface- as neat as they are when I have seen them, I just can't justify myself spending $300+ on a decent book reader- I just don't see myself using it enough especially if it is b/w since I would mostly be reading manuals and comics on it.
Again, same mistakes. Are there *really* no other differentiating points other than the shape/case design? And is fashion really the only reason for the shape/case design? 2 differentiating things- 1 is price- waay over priced and over hyped and 2 is the fact that the air is huge and bulky due to the "asthetic" properties for the functionality of the machine- I would argue that my wants in the umpc market are fairly similar to the macbook air market points as I look for portability and usability at that scale-
The other products have merits (though the wibrain, like any handheld, is really not the same market at all). the wibrain isn't a handhheld- it is a portable computer- the reason I use it is it fits in a very small sidebag and I have the functionality of a very basic laptop- it runs XP has 1.2 processor with a gig of ram- I can use ableton and flstudio, cinema 4d and photoshop (with a touchscreen) on it some games work well some don't hough- it is the via graphics architecture that can handle far more than you would expect, but still has limitations- that is a lot more functionality than a handheld, as a handheld is normally in the realm of pocket pc with windows mobile.
It's correct for a limited space of consideration -- if CPU speed, RAM amount, inclusion of certain peripherals are the highest and overidding priorities in choosing a portable, then the MacBook Air is not the right product for you. I think the thing though that bugs me is that I am a umpc (not sub notebook) fan and have a wibrain b1h that is a good 1/4 of the size of a macbook air and a asus r1 that is about 1/2 the size and the wibrain outperforms the air and the asus is close to comparable- also for the price of both of those units plus I could get another laptop and an eee and still meet the price of the air.
when you look at the design of the air as well when it is gutted the majority of the unit is a giant battery cell that spans the unit and is not replacable without taking the machine apart- all to make it "thin"- all of this along with the lack of peripheral functionality all you are paying for is fashion and brand
(b) the idea that their product priorities are like Saks just take a look at the macbook air- extremely good example of fashion over function- slow cpu, little ram, no peripherals- but it fits in an envelope....
it is another in a long line of "apple products are better because hey look nicer" arguments that has no basis in technical comparisons that has been happening since the first crappy imacs came out with the translucent backs so that you could see the beautiful crt guts in it.
I know we are a spread-out nation here in the US, but there is no reason why cities with people living on top of each other (LA, Boston, New York, etc) can't easily have the infrastructure that the rest of the world has. LA is really spread out - and even though we are wedged arguably tighter here in San Francisco than nearly any other city in the US we are wired better than most. You are definitely right to doubt the spread out argument, when it comes down to it the lack of competition and lack of regulation pretty much leaves areas like here in the dust where you have a huge selection of providers- there is AT&T and comcast and... umm AT&T.... oh yeah and a couple of independents that lease from AT&T.... So in the end they really don't have to provide adequate service and can charge whatever they feel like.
And that, boys and girls is the awesome power of unregulated capitalism.... get the most cash you can for the least amount of product and/or service
So you would rather they continue to support oppressive regimes than try to be progressive and move away from those policies and do so through passage of laws explicitly prohibiting support? I think that everyone's point is that this is "the pot calling the kettle black" - if you can't clean things up at home, don't start preaching and demanding that other people clean their house 'cause you think it looks bad -especially in this case where policy in place absolutely contradicts the point of this bill in the first place (wiretapping anyone?).
but in the end that is the same "blame the victim" mentality that you find people using to justify unreasonable actions everywhere (the nazis, the romans, hell- even our current administration)- like I was saying before- there is personal judgement and there are truly reprehensible acts one acts in ones self interest that may or may not partially effect the possible inflation of another's wealth and the other effects the entire poulation of the country and is bleeding throughout the world- effecting policy and stifling innovation, as well as clamping the open possibilities of the free market
But you can't trust the pickpocket to explain why what he does is bad. That is my point. What other people do shouldn't affect what you do, and why. The rapers and murderers can always find some one who is worse. Maybe they only kill gang members and rape rapists, and justify their actions in the same manner " There is some one worse than me. I'm only doing what they deserve". you must not be very fond of laws- it doesn't matter if the victim is a whore or a gang member, the fact is that breaking the law is breaking the law- there is a reason for felonies and misdemenors and manditory and maximum sentancing and that reason is so that when someone is caught jaywalking it isn't an excuse to execute someone that the judge doesn't like. When it comes down to it, a 12 year old kid downloading a hannah montana mp3 or installing a mod chip in a console is not a valid reason for a private corporation to bear forth legal action that destroys the entire family for life.
#1 I don't work for the petroleum industry- I work in legal
#2 I am not talking about an "honest value system" I am talking about the moral compass that involves duplicating data that the creator (or person who purchased rights to the data) doesn't want you to do vs. manipulating or legal system and literally destroying people's lives- when you take the 2 into account 1 is very obviously on a huge scale negative and the other is questionable at best
In the same sense that huge oil companies don't believe in global warming, file shares choose to believe that anything they are doing is not wrong 2 totally different arguments and I will not comment on oil companies as I cannot legally, but I can say that your statement is completely wrong on both fronts.
the fact is that you cannot definitiveley say whether or not filesharing actually does anything harmful to anyone other than the **AA companies themselves (and that impact is debatable)- not the artists or the industry, but only those specific companies- what the entertainment industry IS doing is altering the fabric of our government and suing people out of house and home to push their agenda. That agenda is purely for control- in order for their old world business model to continue they must have a stranglehold on the artists and the industry or the model no longer works. Rather than growing to meet the needs of consumers, or educating themselves on current technology entertainment execs are using draconian methods and saying "pay up or else" rather than doing what every other company in a FREE MARKET is supposed to do and attempt to persuade and convince consumers that they are worth spending the $ on. Whether you agree with filesharing or not (and the false nubers that the industry puts up as a convincer), any person with a conscience cannot agree with the values and methods of the entertainment industry.
What Are the Best Laptop Theft Recovery Measures? 1. install security cameras in your house (it is cheap now, you can set them up for a couple of hundred bucks for something decent that will either store the images remotely to a location that you can hide or upload them to a remote server)
2. pester the shit out of the cops after the break in is reported (since cops don't do anything and are generally a waste of time) file suit if they refuse to follow up (which has happened with friends of mine)
3. find the guy who did it and shoot him in the face.
Right and wrong, good and evil may depend upon your value system, but you really have to ask if your value system has been skewed by what is best for yourself rather than what is best for everyone. by that very definition the **AA is evil and the filesharers are not. someone who is sharing a file is either ignoring a law which thy don't believe in or gaining the material that they do not have the means to afford- and that is the "evil" that is referred to on the other hand, the **AA is pushing an agenda for personal means and disregarding privacy and personal liberties and bending the legal and justice system in a persuit to literally destroy the lives of those that don't fall in line with the agenda purely to threaten others to fall in line with the agenda.... this is why the **AA is evil- and I say this as a musician. The **AA is not about fairness or supporting artists or filmmakers or supporting the industry that they are involved wih any more than the IRS or the federal bank is about helping the economic needs of the people- they are conglomorates built only to support corporate interest of a select few at all costs to any who oppose them.
You will keep hearing all these things until your Think Tank writes papers & model legislation stating otherwise there are many papers out, they don't get the airtime that a panic story like, "the virgina tech killer played violent videogames" - which in the end turned out to be sonic the hegehog when he was 10 years old....
You will keep hearing all these things until your "experts" go on TV and intelligently explain your position to a media interested in death, sex, and scandal tell me how many people involved in either technology or science own any media corps or have a controlling interest in them- I will tell you it is few if any at all- they are the ones that decide content not the pundants themselves
You will keep hearing all these things until your lobbyist "educates" misguided lawmakers. one- lawmakers follow puplic sentiment two- you can't make a law that says "all videogames are untouchable" or "you can't sue anyone for IP theft" it doesn't make legal sense to do so-
The entire point of theaters going to 3D is to entice people away from their HDTVs with something that is unique and compelling can can't be as easily experienced at home. though I can see that as a business model- not everyone has an hdtv (I have never gotten around to getting one yet-)and even for those that do the experience will always differ, if you are watching it on a 26 inch or a 50 inch or a projector or what have you- one thing that a theater noramlly does is equalize the experience of seeing the film since even the smallest screen in a theater will be far larger than what you have at home (unless you somehow have the $ to physically build a home theater)
If you saw the IMAX 3D, then you got the standard polarized version..... ah good- my work took us to see the last harry potter in 3d on imax and sometimes it was cool and sometimes it was like I was drunk watching the movie, if something was happening on the side of the screen (esp in imax where the picture is so big) and you looked to the side, everything was blurry and double vision- it was kind of lame.
If you're a developer and you need a full-blown IDE you may need to run VisualStudio and XP or Vista on the machine you use for development. Same if you're a graphics artist. actually, you wouldn't want to run VS on vista- comipling and moving the forms around lags, and you can't really take advantage of testing dx9 compatible apps-
but to your other point with graphics- definatly- as well though you need to include the other things that I do where I can't even move to vista for- 3d modelling and live audio (and games)- that is what I do on my machine at home - linux has zero support for any live audio applications and the DAW apps are laughable- I can do more on the DAW/tracker apps on my CFW psp and my DS than I can on a box with linux- and to add... no wine doesn't handle any of it no asio support and no direct sound support and non ability to use vst and vsti's.
You might have heard of this little thing called GNU/Linux that's been able to do everything XP and Vista can but with far fewer resources. No? kinda hard to type with your head so far up your ass, no? Sorry linux cannot do a single thing that I do on my XP box with any regularity, if it did I would switch.
People constantly bashed on the Yugo and Chevrolet's Vega. It wasn't that they didn't go down the road perfectly for some people. It wasn't that they suited some people's need just fine, it was that they were unsafe and got people killed. does that mean I shouldn't talk on my cellphone while I am using vista? at least you can't break the speed limit with it.......
Well, the article suggest there are more possible reasons than the one you cited the truth is that it more likeley all boils down to one major factor that the article mentions for the voting criteria: management.
with vista- it was pushed to market- didn't satisfy a large # of thier consumer base due to hardware and driver incompatibility, bugs (some REALLY basic ones like file copying), general irritances (like the security stuff that needs to be disabled if you are anything other than the most basic user), too many versions for anyone to remember which is which and of course- the NEED to upgrade machines that are not only recent machines- but also machines that say that they are compatible without referencing any version on them. In the end this is all due to mismanagement- with the release team, the QA team, the marketing team and so on.
Xbox- awesome console good functionality- all kinds of cool olnile ability.... untill you get an RROD and have to send it RMA. I personally don't own one, but EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW who has one had to send it in for RMA- I want to get a console in the near future but the RROD makes me think more strongly about the ps3 (that plus the ps3 yellowdog that runs on it)- all in all a BIG failure for QA
zune- it just sucks- everything about it sucks- DRM on everything that goes in it- looks like crap, feels cheap- I don't like apple, and I have sworn never to own an ipod (I am just fine with my archos and zen- I like having format support and more ability to my pmp's than apple or MS provides), but I wouldn't get rid of an ipod if someone gave me one, I would give away the zune.
Office- total format change in 2007- granted OLE sucks, but to switch the entire architecture to xml and cause headaches for IT people and business people everywhere who DEPEND on office products simply makes people not want to upgrade at all. -bad consumer profiling- total disconnect between marketing and R&D.
I am sure that I am missing other areas, but the trend doesn't look very good if things don't change.
oh and btw- sql server still works fine.... so they didn't break that- just don't run it on windows home server since it corrupts and deletes docs randomly when you save to it remotely.
here it is FTA:
Once a company has a certain level of familiarity, they are ranked according to three "attributes of favorability": overall reputation, perception of management and investment potential you don't need to be in a similar business for these criteria to be met- you just have to be in the business of doing good business and making $.
also FTA:
Microsoft is second to IBM in brand power, with Toshiba a close third, Gregory said. If Microsoft's downward trend continues, Toshiba could pass it in brand power next year, he said I don't think toshiba could be moving up in the list- not after the HD war loss- they did gain some perks with sony in the whole deal, but it was still pretty bad. I would look to see sony move up rather than toshiba.
Slashdot Mirror
this is the biggest problem with darn near all open source software- if people are to really start taking it seriously- you need to get developers to start partnering with ui and graphic designers and not just act like the UI of a piece of software is not neccesary or useful to the enduser of the app.
let me put this another way- the average houshold income is approx. $2810 per month after taxes 50% is $1405 which is the average cost of housing per month- knock that $405 off for food and energy costs and you have a thousand dollars left(this is not counting gas and transport)- so what microsoft is basically saying by pricing at $400 is that they think that they are worth roughly 40% of an a monthly household's expendable income as a purchase- I don't think many families would agree
I am still waiting for them to come down in price- or have a decent touchscreen interface- as neat as they are when I have seen them, I just can't justify myself spending $300+ on a decent book reader- I just don't see myself using it enough especially if it is b/w since I would mostly be reading manuals and comics on it.
isohunt banned the US users a long time ago-
it is another in a long line of "apple products are better because hey look nicer" arguments that has no basis in technical comparisons that has been happening since the first crappy imacs came out with the translucent backs so that you could see the beautiful crt guts in it.
And that, boys and girls is the awesome power of unregulated capitalism.... get the most cash you can for the least amount of product and/or service
But you can't trust the pickpocket to explain why what he does is bad. That is my point. What other people do shouldn't affect what you do, and why. The rapers and murderers can always find some one who is worse. Maybe they only kill gang members and rape rapists, and justify their actions in the same manner " There is some one worse than me. I'm only doing what they deserve". you must not be very fond of laws- it doesn't matter if the victim is a whore or a gang member, the fact is that breaking the law is breaking the law- there is a reason for felonies and misdemenors and manditory and maximum sentancing and that reason is so that when someone is caught jaywalking it isn't an excuse to execute someone that the judge doesn't like. When it comes down to it, a 12 year old kid downloading a hannah montana mp3 or installing a mod chip in a console is not a valid reason for a private corporation to bear forth legal action that destroys the entire family for life.
yes, though if you are a pickpocket, you can still tell how bad it is if someone rapes and kills your family...
#1 I don't work for the petroleum industry- I work in legal
#2 I am not talking about an "honest value system" I am talking about the moral compass that involves duplicating data that the creator (or person who purchased rights to the data) doesn't want you to do vs. manipulating or legal system and literally destroying people's lives- when you take the 2 into account 1 is very obviously on a huge scale negative and the other is questionable at best
sending it right now... O-a-k-L-E-E.... they have been looking for that bum-jacker for a while
the fact is that you cannot definitiveley say whether or not filesharing actually does anything harmful to anyone other than the **AA companies themselves (and that impact is debatable)- not the artists or the industry, but only those specific companies- what the entertainment industry IS doing is altering the fabric of our government and suing people out of house and home to push their agenda. That agenda is purely for control- in order for their old world business model to continue they must have a stranglehold on the artists and the industry or the model no longer works. Rather than growing to meet the needs of consumers, or educating themselves on current technology entertainment execs are using draconian methods and saying "pay up or else" rather than doing what every other company in a FREE MARKET is supposed to do and attempt to persuade and convince consumers that they are worth spending the $ on. Whether you agree with filesharing or not (and the false nubers that the industry puts up as a convincer), any person with a conscience cannot agree with the values and methods of the entertainment industry.
2. pester the shit out of the cops after the break in is reported (since cops don't do anything and are generally a waste of time) file suit if they refuse to follow up (which has happened with friends of mine)
3. find the guy who did it and shoot him in the face.
on the other hand, the **AA is pushing an agenda for personal means and disregarding privacy and personal liberties and bending the legal and justice system in a persuit to literally destroy the lives of those that don't fall in line with the agenda purely to threaten others to fall in line with the agenda.... this is why the **AA is evil- and I say this as a musician. The **AA is not about fairness or supporting artists or filmmakers or supporting the industry that they are involved wih any more than the IRS or the federal bank is about helping the economic needs of the people- they are conglomorates built only to support corporate interest of a select few at all costs to any who oppose them.
two- you can't make a law that says "all videogames are untouchable" or "you can't sue anyone for IP theft" it doesn't make legal sense to do so-
but to your other point with graphics- definatly- as well though you need to include the other things that I do where I can't even move to vista for- 3d modelling and live audio (and games)- that is what I do on my machine at home - linux has zero support for any live audio applications and the DAW apps are laughable- I can do more on the DAW/tracker apps on my CFW psp and my DS than I can on a box with linux- and to add... no wine doesn't handle any of it no asio support and no direct sound support and non ability to use vst and vsti's.
with
vista- it was pushed to market- didn't satisfy a large # of thier consumer base due to hardware and driver incompatibility, bugs (some REALLY basic ones like file copying), general irritances (like the security stuff that needs to be disabled if you are anything other than the most basic user), too many versions for anyone to remember which is which and of course- the NEED to upgrade machines that are not only recent machines- but also machines that say that they are compatible without referencing any version on them. In the end this is all due to mismanagement- with the release team, the QA team, the marketing team and so on.
Xbox- awesome console good functionality- all kinds of cool olnile ability
zune- it just sucks- everything about it sucks- DRM on everything that goes in it- looks like crap, feels cheap- I don't like apple, and I have sworn never to own an ipod (I am just fine with my archos and zen- I like having format support and more ability to my pmp's than apple or MS provides), but I wouldn't get rid of an ipod if someone gave me one, I would give away the zune.
Office- total format change in 2007- granted OLE sucks, but to switch the entire architecture to xml and cause headaches for IT people and business people everywhere who DEPEND on office products simply makes people not want to upgrade at all. -bad consumer profiling- total disconnect between marketing and R&D.
I am sure that I am missing other areas, but the trend doesn't look very good if things don't change.
oh and btw- sql server still works fine.... so they didn't break that- just don't run it on windows home server since it corrupts and deletes docs randomly when you save to it remotely.
also FTA: Microsoft is second to IBM in brand power, with Toshiba a close third, Gregory said. If Microsoft's downward trend continues, Toshiba could pass it in brand power next year, he said I don't think toshiba could be moving up in the list- not after the HD war loss- they did gain some perks with sony in the whole deal, but it was still pretty bad. I would look to see sony move up rather than toshiba.