I think that may just be the KDE mission statement: Make a GUI that only requires a mouse for EVERYTHING in Linux. They are coming pretty close.
I don't know if they want to do it for everything, but they go for letting users customize their desktop which is fine by me. Gnome seems to think that like in Windows or Mac OS, the desktop is made "that way" and if you don't like it, tough (or you can go figure out some kind of arcane command to make it do what you want).
For example in KDE can easily bind mouse3 on window title/border to toggle a window between the top and bottom of the stack. Or I can set the mouse wheel on the title bar to change the transparency which is convenient for a peek under a window or (rarely but useful in those rare occasions) to work with data that is hidden and won't fit on the screen.
All this is really annoying to set up in Gnome (when it's even possible without changing the default wm) and I wouldn't even dream of trying it in Windows or MacOS.
In a desktop environment, it seems to me that the user should be free to do what he wants with his work environment according to his needs or tastes. Having to fight the machine all the time quickly gets annoying.
In Regedit, set the 0x1 bit (thanks to Sam for the clarification): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\UserPreferencesMask
In my case, the value was set to 9E 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00. This value is little-endian, which means the least-significant-bit is first. So in hex, this is 0x0000001280073E9E. Adding 0x1, we get 0x0000001280073E9F. Reverse the bits and you get the new value: 9F 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00.
It's simpler to just increment the first bit in the sequence, but this is so you really understand what is going on.
Log off (no need to reboot) and log back in. You now have sloppy focus.
Urk. Now I know where the Gnome people get their config interface ideas from (although it's not really actually *that* bad).
I had tried this once though some powertoy or other which made the change without having to muck with regedit but while it "kind of" worked, it didn't really work as advertised (I don't remember the specifics but I remember ending up turning it off as the kludge wasn't very usable). I don't use Windows or Mac OS that often so it's no big deal to me anyway.
Seriously, what's wrong with those people ? Do they fear that having options will confuse users (I heard that one a lot) ? "oh no, there's a button order option, I felt compelled to click on it and now I'm in existential crisis !" KDE lets you just move the buttons around with the mouse, seems much simpler to me, but what do I know.
Why? What's the point of having more than one window open if everything's always maximized? I've seen it many times, but I've never understood it.
Windows users can only use one application at a time since it's not possible to work on a windows that's not on the top (always drives me crazy when I'm stuck on a Windows machine). So most of them are used to maximising everything. Of course lots of people also have small screens (if only on compact laptops).
It's not logical at all on a platform which puts the menu bar right below the window title. Wanted to click "Edit", but hit the close button instead? Too bad.
FWIW, I've been Unix and X for ages and I've set my window title bars this way for longer than I care to remember :
Left side : Close button, stick button, (sometimes windows icon), window title Right side : Minimize button, maximize button
This means that the close button is typically right above the "file" menu on most applications. I don't remember *ever* hitting close when aiming for the menu. Nowadays I can afford a comfortable screen that's adapted to the large resolutions I prefer but even when I was pushing a CRT at strange resolutions, I never had this kind of thing happen to me. So apart from Parkinson's sufferers, I think this is a complete non-issue.
I was more surprised by the title, and then summary disappointed me with Farmville and other crap. Where have the actual business games gone? We had titles like Capitalism II, all the different kinds of tycoon, simulators... Where are those now?
I thought you were going to mention Lemonade Stand, which all the others merely copied after all...
However, as far as pretend games go, the "let's play doctor" game is the only one I really have fond memories of.
The British aren't really Europeans. Socially, they're much more like Americans than they are like those from the Continent.
It's the other way round actually. Americans (or the subset in the US, and a bit in Canada, rather) are much like the British and therefore aren't very European because the British refuse to be since they are after all 20km away from the continent. The same continent they kept trying, sometimes successfully, to invade, during the last thousand years. Now they just send us their pop singers while acting rude in their trash newspapers. We still enjoy going for a visit though because they have fine beers:)
Maybe I should move to California. I get TONS of spam. I could pay off all my debt and get my super-awesome computer. (:
My thoughts exactly, I'm sure that with about $12000/month I could go by, even in California.
OTOH, there will probably be a sharp increase in prices in that state with all the new Spam millionaires (oops, I left my email in a public forum again).
He invented XML, how isn't he an expert on cellphone platforms....???
Maybe that means it will finally be simpler to send XML markup with T9. I'm sure lots of people miss this feature and both of them will be really happy.
Damage control means exactly that: you have taken damage, there are casualties, and worst of all, the poor damage control teams are going all slippy slidey across the decks after they slip in the blood and gore.
Quite similar to a server room or a NOC during a crisis I see.
Before we even get to the Gattaca part, how does he know that this process will result in a unique sequence for every person? Including identical twins?
I don't know how he does it because we know it doesn't, even discounting the inevitable numerous errors which would plague the system and make the whole thing even more of a mess. I expect they'll start drawing blood (litterally this time) from tourists any time now.
Pretty bizarre that whoever bought BBN let "bbn.com" lapse...
Microsoft.com did lapse once. Apparently the Internic gave it back to the software company instead of the upcoming silky condom manufacturer specializing in small sizes.
SCO could probably make far more by selling their "top 100" domain name -- to then be used for a website ridiculing/lambasting Darl McBride et al -- then they could ever hope to make litigating over their dubious-at-best intellectual property claims...
Where would we have gotten (I assume that whole mess if over, but you never know) our dose of weekly Internet comedy had they done that ?
In a town near me, 1 in 6 kids is skipping vaccination, due to the religious exemption.
With 5 in 6 kids vaccinated there's probably no risk since you're most likemly well in the percentage where the vaccine covers enough of the population that the tarteget disease cannot spread efficiently (this is typically between 40 and 60%)/ So even if the given bug was to appear, it wouldn't spread since enough kids would be protected and there wouldn't be enough available hosts (it also depends on the efficiency of the vaccine of course, some are quite low).
Slashdot Mirror
With how many US troops and PMCs in Columbia? The VZ forces don't train much, the Columbians train and fight alot.
Not to mention that the US and Europe would have to support Volumbia for fear of a drop in cocaine supplies to western markets.
I think that may just be the KDE mission statement: Make a GUI that only requires a mouse for EVERYTHING in Linux. They are coming pretty close.
I don't know if they want to do it for everything, but they go for letting users customize their desktop which is fine by me. Gnome seems to think that like in Windows or Mac OS, the desktop is made "that way" and if you don't like it, tough (or you can go figure out some kind of arcane command to make it do what you want).
For example in KDE can easily bind mouse3 on window title/border to toggle a window between the top and bottom of the stack. Or I can set the mouse wheel on the title bar to change the transparency which is convenient for a peek under a window or (rarely but useful in those rare occasions) to work with data that is hidden and won't fit on the screen.
All this is really annoying to set up in Gnome (when it's even possible without changing the default wm) and I wouldn't even dream of trying it in Windows or MacOS.
In a desktop environment, it seems to me that the user should be free to do what he wants with his work environment according to his needs or tastes. Having to fight the machine all the time quickly gets annoying.
So how is it a C64 then? I bet it doesn't even have 64K of RAM.
Because they expect to sell 64 units ?
From your link :
In Regedit, set the 0x1 bit (thanks to Sam for the clarification):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\UserPreferencesMask
In my case, the value was set to 9E 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00. This value is little-endian, which means the least-significant-bit is first. So in hex, this is 0x0000001280073E9E. Adding 0x1, we get 0x0000001280073E9F. Reverse the bits and you get the new value: 9F 3E 07 80 12 00 00 00.
It's simpler to just increment the first bit in the sequence, but this is so you really understand what is going on.
Log off (no need to reboot) and log back in. You now have sloppy focus.
Urk. Now I know where the Gnome people get their config interface ideas from (although it's not really actually *that* bad).
I had tried this once though some powertoy or other which made the change without having to muck with regedit but while it "kind of" worked, it didn't really work as advertised (I don't remember the specifics but I remember ending up turning it off as the kludge wasn't very usable). I don't use Windows or Mac OS that often so it's no big deal to me anyway.
Romanes eunt domus
What's this, then?
People called Romanes, they go, the house?
gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close
Gnome. User friendliness, redefined.
Seriously, what's wrong with those people ? Do they fear that having options will confuse users (I heard that one a lot) ? "oh no, there's a button order option, I felt compelled to click on it and now I'm in existential crisis !"
KDE lets you just move the buttons around with the mouse, seems much simpler to me, but what do I know.
I have everything maximized all the time anyway
Why? What's the point of having more than one window open if everything's always maximized? I've seen it many times, but I've never understood it.
Windows users can only use one application at a time since it's not possible to work on a windows that's not on the top (always drives me crazy when I'm stuck on a Windows machine). So most of them are used to maximising everything. Of course lots of people also have small screens (if only on compact laptops).
It's not logical at all on a platform which puts the menu bar right below the window title. Wanted to click "Edit", but hit the close button instead? Too bad.
FWIW, I've been Unix and X for ages and I've set my window title bars this way for longer than I care to remember :
Left side : Close button, stick button, (sometimes windows icon), window title
Right side : Minimize button, maximize button
This means that the close button is typically right above the "file" menu on most applications. I don't remember *ever* hitting close when aiming for the menu.
Nowadays I can afford a comfortable screen that's adapted to the large resolutions I prefer but even when I was pushing a CRT at strange resolutions, I never had this kind of thing happen to me. So apart from Parkinson's sufferers, I think this is a complete non-issue.
I was more surprised by the title, and then summary disappointed me with Farmville and other crap. Where have the actual business games gone? We had titles like Capitalism II, all the different kinds of tycoon, simulators... Where are those now?
I thought you were going to mention Lemonade Stand, which all the others merely copied after all...
However, as far as pretend games go, the "let's play doctor" game is the only one I really have fond memories of.
The British aren't really Europeans. Socially, they're much more like Americans than they are like those from the Continent.
It's the other way round actually. Americans (or the subset in the US, and a bit in Canada, rather) are much like the British and therefore aren't very European because the British refuse to be since they are after all 20km away from the continent. :)
The same continent they kept trying, sometimes successfully, to invade, during the last thousand years. Now they just send us their pop singers while acting rude in their trash newspapers.
We still enjoy going for a visit though because they have fine beers
Or we could model ourselves after somewhere like Central America... mere accusations will get you lynched and set on fire.
Um, central america ? Did the US suddenly move down the map ?
Maybe I should move to California. I get TONS of spam. I could pay off all my debt and get my super-awesome computer. (:
My thoughts exactly, I'm sure that with about $12000/month I could go by, even in California.
OTOH, there will probably be a sharp increase in prices in that state with all the new Spam millionaires (oops, I left my email in a public forum again).
Its a good thing that I cant rename my payload dropping trojan archive with the same name as one of those well respected crackers, or release groups.
Security by ASCII art, why didn't we think of that !
He invented XML, how isn't he an expert on cellphone platforms....???
Maybe that means it will finally be simpler to send XML markup with T9. I'm sure lots of people miss this feature and both of them will be really happy.
No. The only one that's really left appears to be the Third, which prevents the quartering of soldiers in private homes.
You aren't allowed to quarter soldiers in a private home but can you at least draw them ?
What if you send them by email ?
Damage control means exactly that: you have taken damage, there are casualties, and worst of all, the poor damage control teams are going all slippy slidey across the decks after they slip in the blood and gore.
Quite similar to a server room or a NOC during a crisis I see.
"Your sensitive genetic information would be safe." Is there a Sith Lord running Yale?
This would make for interesting law debates...
"This is not the suspect you're looking for", waves.
Before we even get to the Gattaca part, how does he know that this process will result in a unique sequence for every person? Including identical twins?
I don't know how he does it because we know it doesn't, even discounting the inevitable numerous errors which would plague the system and make the whole thing even more of a mess.
I expect they'll start drawing blood (litterally this time) from tourists any time now.
Pretty bizarre that whoever bought BBN let "bbn.com" lapse...
Microsoft.com did lapse once. Apparently the Internic gave it back to the software company instead of the upcoming silky condom manufacturer specializing in small sizes.
SCO could probably make far more by selling their "top 100" domain name -- to then be used for a website ridiculing/lambasting Darl McBride et al -- then they could ever hope to make litigating over their dubious-at-best intellectual property claims...
Where would we have gotten (I assume that whole mess if over, but you never know) our dose of weekly Internet comedy had they done that ?
Strangely missing:
- sex.com
- porn.com
(etc)
People still knew about Usenet back then.
And Goopher sex was only for furries.
There's a reason why Absolute Software is talking this up...
Just sayin'
I thought it was "Ponemon software says 'Laptops ! Collect them all !'"
Oh, wait, PoNemon... sorry.
How about we explore the forests and oceans first. There's lots of scientific knowledge to be gained right here on earth.
We killed everything in there already. That's why we're looking for new life to kill elsewhere.
After all, those people are not completely incompetent, are they?
<deep>I find your faith disturbing...</deep>
In a town near me, 1 in 6 kids is skipping vaccination, due to the religious exemption.
With 5 in 6 kids vaccinated there's probably no risk since you're most likemly well in the percentage where the vaccine covers enough of the population that the tarteget disease cannot spread efficiently (this is typically between 40 and 60%)/ So even if the given bug was to appear, it wouldn't spread since enough kids would be protected and there wouldn't be enough available hosts (it also depends on the efficiency of the vaccine of course, some are quite low).