I started getting off the computer about an hour before I plan to go to bed, taking 3mg of Melatonin and reading a book.
So then you actually don't know which of those is helping the most. Try doing just one of them at a time. It would be more interesting to know which has the most effect. Personally, I can use my laptop in bed before sleep with no issues. I just use a simple mental relaxation technique and I'm asleep in no time. In many cases, problems falling asleep is just a case of an over-active brain, racing thoughts. Calming ones thoughts is a good trick to know.
I've been using the Memory Fox addon for the past several months, and it has worked great. Reclaims memory like.. a really good memory reclaiming thing.
Everyone else with the next big idea in their garage met with failure because they lacked execution.
Exactly. Every time someone says something like "believe in your dream and you'll make it", it's because they did so and happened to make it, or heard it from someone who did. It's a self-selecting sample, because you never hear from all those people who did believe in their dream and never made it. They are the vast majority.
But humans are natural optimists - we have to be. So we like to believe those things are true, even though I'm sure deep down we know it's fantasy. And deeper down, know that fantasy is really all that keeps us happy.
Really. Tell that to anyone who works in an office, with CRMs, SAP, Photoshop, Office, internal accounting / inventory / spreadsheet / whathaveyou, basically anything made to get actual work done. That's what computers are for. Simplified devices are great for communicating and media sharing, and they're welcome to it. We will always need flexible computers that do complex, varied tasks as they do now.
Only approved programs via "app stores"
That also will never happen for the above reason. Business won't allow it. Business is already setting up for a bloody nose over putting everything on the "cloud". Once they've been well and truly burned, they won't want to hand over even more control to the app store model.
GPC is here to stay. If anything, they'll just get easier to use for plebs, easier for admins to manage, and more powerful as time goes on.
Anyway, what we are living in is a Plutocracy, and has been really since before the idea of Capitalism began. Not to say it isn't a great idea, but it hasn't been adequately protected and the necessary improvements have not been made to protect Democracy from the nature of the human beings involved in it.
There is a passion around modding popular games, like say Skyrim.
So what's stopping companies *selling* the modding software, and/or setting up a mod app store, where people can pay $1 per mod, with 10% (or whatever) going to the modder. Modders appreciate donations anyway, so you're paying them and paying the company to maintain the service.
Skyrim sold at least 3.4 million copies, 14% of which for PC. Of the say 480,000 PC copies, assume 100,000 of them end up downloading 10 mods each, on avg. That $10 spend per player could mean $900k for the developer and $100k for modders.
This makes the modding community happy (they'd be pissed at people paying for mods if something didn't go to the community - this is like mandatory donating). A modder with 1000 downloads gets $100, maybe more over time, that's nothing to sneeze at for what would have otherwise been given for free. With that they could buy a Skyrim t-shirt, metal figurine and map set - which is more money for the company again.:)
As a creator, I don't want all that extra crap getting in my way.
Perfectly reasonable position for a savvy user, but keep in mind new Windows users, the elderly, etc. often have a real problem with *the file system*. In my experience, people don't get that you have to have a filing system, make folders for things, etc. so you know where everything is. They save shit all over the place, including the desktop, and we wonder why people don't do backups.
For us, thinking "files files files" is easy. For many users it's just too hard, they don't get it. That's why a revolution of sorts in *managing content* is needed, very badly, for the lower end of PC users.
Ideally, that shouldn't get in the way of power users doing what power users do, but that's a tough ask. Windows 8 is a first step, and it will improve. This is mainly why I'm skipping Windows 8 entirely, as we are embarking on a re-thinking of UIs here, which is worth doing, but not yet mature enough.
I can't imagine being the poor bastard that has to look at the worst stuff on the internet.
That's because you're likely a fairly well adjusted person. The trick is to find the right person for the job. My suggestion would be someone who is naturally depressed, having already come to terms with the reality of life as a human being. Someone who holds no illusions anymore about the world; who sees the tooth and claw at work both in nature and in his own species, and accepted it for what it is. We are not snowflakes, spirits, destined for either heaven or hell.
The human brain has evolved from simians who throw poo and kill each other, and this animal heritage lies closer to the surface of our civilisation than we like to believe. Nothing about human behaviour is particularly mysterious or surprising. Anyway, whatever grievances we commit on each other are far outdone by the smallest of insects whose larvae slowly eat their living hosts from the inside. What could we possibly do to each other that could match a pack of wolves tearing living flesh from their terrified meal, or a killer whale throwing a sea lion, paralysed with fear, through the air for sport? No, we are not as special as we like to think.
Nature is opportunistic, but can be judged neither evil nor good. We make such moral distinctions for no other reason than our own survival - to maintain social order, as any other pack animal does. If we did not have a set of social rules, we would not survive; the unyielding universe would snuff us out, with no regrets. Such is the nature of morality; a survival strategy for humans, nothing more, nothing less.
There are no promises for our species over any other, no future we don't have to fight for against the universe - and now against our own very nature, so successful have we been. We are animals and behave as such, both in laughter and in spite.
So give the jaded, depressed and world-weary a job. They're actually much more useful to society than people realise./not sarcasm
If I ever threaten anyone with an axe, it's a metaphor or something.
I see what you're saying, but the converse is also true; if you're a trained military person and you suggest something violent in metaphor, it is probably metaphor for something violent that you've been trained to do. Movies in which a gun-toting hero suggests "kicking some ass" doesn't usually mean applying diplomacy to the problem.
People tend to stick to what they're familiar with. Whatever this guy's metaphor implied, it was not going back to uni to study sociology.
This is much better than TFA. This is a scientific study from the CSIRO, predicting major social and economic collapse within the next 50 years if we do not act on a number of looming problems - none of which relate to climate change btw.
Examine slide #31. It says: "The world is tracking on the Limits to Growth 'business as usual' scenario - leads to ecological and economic collapse (possibly from 2020 onwards)". This is from an actual scientific paper from the CSIRO. It is not guesswork, hyperbole or quackery.
This is much better than TFA. This is a scientific study from the CSIRO, predicting major social and economic collapse within the next 50 years if we do not act on a number of looming problems - none of which relate to climate change btw.
Examine slide #31. It says: "The world is tracking on the Limits to Growth 'business as usual' scenario - leads to ecological and economic collapse (possibly from 2020 onwards)". This is from an actual scientific paper from the CSIRO. It is not guesswork, hyperbole or quackery.
Yes, population. From there stems a great deal of problems, most obviously resource depletion.
Have a listen to this. The Australian CSIRO is itself predicting major social and economic collapse within the next 50 years if we do not act on these things. This is nothing to do with climate change.
Examine slide #31. It says: "The world is tracking on the Limits to Growth 'business as usual' scenario - leads to ecological and economic collapse (possibly from 2020 onwards)". This is from an actual scientific paper from the CSIRO. It is not guesswork, hyperbole or quackery.
you will like all the positive changes of Windows 8 more than the negative ones. Here is just one example. Windows 8 does not interrupt your presentation to remind you to reboot your computer to install an update. It gives you days worth of warning before it nags like that.
So does killing the update service. In XP, I had a Start menu shortcut to the Services window. Two keystrokes and I'm there, kill Automatic Updates, get back to work. Remember to reboot a couple of days later or whenever. Same deal in Win 7. Could have made a shortcut to a batch file to kill it instead, but meh.
Another example, if you are copying a bunch of files and one can't copy, you can just hit skip, and it will continue with everything else. You can also pause fie copying.
Yes, it's called TeraCopy. For XP or 7. Great little utility. Does Win 8 *queue* new file copy tasks as well, or does it still stupidly try to copy concurrently? TeraCopy fixes that too.
Plus, Windows 8 doesn't have that nasty explorer refreshing bug that Windows 7 has.
Neither does XP.:) But if you mean when renaming files in Win 7, just hit TAB instead of ENTER, and it moves you to the next file to rename, without refreshing. Obscure but neat trick.
Native ISO mounting? Windows 8 has that.
Meh. If you're keen enough to use ISOs, you're keen enough to download a free utility for them. When Windows started handling Zip files like folders, did we all stop using utilities like WinRar? Windows can burn CDs too, but do we stop using Nero or whatever? Specialised programs will always do more and do it better.
If you only mess around with Metro for a couple hours, how do you expect to notice all the changes under the hood?
The point is I don't have to. Nothing you've mentioned is anything I can't do in Windows XP or 7. Why upgrade. It doesn't sound like you've discovered the ability to do anything *new* in Win 8 that you couldn't do before. All I see is the novelty factor. And a Start Menu that gets all up in my face - no thanks.
For the record, yes I've played with in in a VM for a few days. Then I got back to being productive and haven't looked at it since. That's how compelling it is. Nothing about it is going to improve my day. Games won't be better, work won't be quicker. So... why?
It's interesting to see just how sociopathic Google is becoming now that they are in a position of dominance
Every public company is required, by law, to behave like a sociopath.
It's not Google's or any other company's fault. It is commercial law. Shareholders' interests come first.
People shouldn't waste their breath criticising Apple etc. for using slave labour in other countries. It's good for the shareholders, for the bottom line, so it is done. To decide NOT to take those opportunities - or to attempt to patent the rectangle, or spend millions on influencing politics - is reason for a CEO to be dropped. Another will be chosen - by shareholders - who doesn't mind behaving unethically.
If you want to blame something, blame the law. Blame the system of share trading, which rewards *any* behaviour that increases share value. Blame Joe Public for day trading and investing in companies that behave unethically (ie. most of them).
What's the point in blaming *the company itself* when it's only doing what it's programmed to do?
This is, of course, why companies are not "people". People make ethical decisions every day. A company behaves according to pre-determined rules, like an amoeba. I was going to say an animal, but animal behaviour is far more complex than company behaviour.
I think MS has made a good move, but their implementation - *forcing* desktop users onto a new UI - is a major mistake that will stymie what is essentially a good idea.
- As you say, make a tablet OS which can also function like a PC: Great idea! - A desktop OS on which you can also use all the apps you have on your tablet: Great idea! - A desktop OS on which you can seamlessly develop apps for both tablet and PC: Great idea! - Use less resources and boot quicker. Great idea! - Forcing PC users to boot into a tablet UI and removing the desktop Start menu: Everyone will resist it, largely negating all the other great ideas.
However I imagine a quiet Windows Update patch will come along to allow booting into desktop, once they see how big resistance is. They may not even be targeting the enterprise here. They know Windows 7 is popular and well regarded. They know replacing it will be a fight, especially as many have only just got around to upgrading to 7.
So perhaps this iteration is an experiment, targeted mostly at home users, and business users will benefit more from Win 9, when the new UI ideas have matured. It's still a "new idea" so may undergo some changes, and the Win8 app ecosystem isn't even mature yet. So I think MS *know* that business won't be touching this one.
MS have the money to experiment. They can even afford to alienate people a little. There is still no significant threat to either Windows or Office in the marketplace. There will be in the future, but not yet.
If anything, MS should be congratulated for innovating. I think people do like Win 8 as an idea. What we're complaining about is a) being forced to work differently, and b) the possible threat to an "open" OS as Windows always has been.
As a developer, I often need to search for unusual words and the synonym etc. "help" that Google provides has been a big hindrance. I imagine many technical/scientific people have similar problems. Google should really try to educate users a little bit with the odd helpful hint on the right hand side now and then to remind people of the various options available. I think that would be a great idea.
Not necessarily. The "human" part will be dead though. The more we discover about the brain, the more it seems all our emotions and thoughts happen within it. When we die, the experience - if there is one - will be completely and utterly un-human; unlike anything we can imagine with this material brain.
Indeed there may not even be an "I". We're on the way to finding the part(s) of the brain that create that sensation too.
Personally, I'm very curious about death. Ironically, however, I will probably lose all curiosity once I'm there.:)
Exactly. My old HP 8510p has a max res of 1680x1050, but I run it in 1280x800, because stuff is just too small otherwise.:)
The real issue with non-Apple laptop screens is the utter inconsistency of quality. Some have LG screens, some have cheaper ones that look shite and "crystally". When I was this 8510 in the showroom, it had an awesome LCD which looked perfect at any resolution. Bought one, got it home and it had a cheap LCD which looked awful. Went back and swapped it for the showroom one which, it turned out, had an LG screen.
I imagine when you buy Apple, they use the same suppliers so what you see is what you get. Something to be said for that.
My second computer. First one was an IMB 5110 my brother brought home (he worked at IBM at the time). Had hours (and hours) of fun *typing in programs* from books. You couldn't buy games, you had to type em in. Kids have it too easy these days.:)
That's how I got into programming of course. When I got the TRS-80, I'd get up in the middle of the night to turn it on and see the red LED light up.:) I tell you, using a computer back then felt like being part of the space program or something. You felt part of something profound; a new era... it was right out of science fiction. God I miss that feeling!
Of course it's great they're now so ubiquitous and accessible... except that now they feel so ubiquitous and accessible.:)
This might sound like a troll within this particular discussion, but it's not - I use IE for script debugging. Its interface is quicker to use than both Firebug and Chrome. I was surprised myself, but then MS is generally fairly good when it comes to coding tools. I tried debugging in Chrome and though it was quicker it felt more awkward than Firebug. IE's debug panel works best for me. Perhaps give that a try.
Slashdot Mirror
I started getting off the computer about an hour before I plan to go to bed, taking 3mg of Melatonin and reading a book.
So then you actually don't know which of those is helping the most. Try doing just one of them at a time. It would be more interesting to know which has the most effect. Personally, I can use my laptop in bed before sleep with no issues. I just use a simple mental relaxation technique and I'm asleep in no time. In many cases, problems falling asleep is just a case of an over-active brain, racing thoughts. Calming ones thoughts is a good trick to know.
Thank you for this! Never occurred to me to use a separate profile for dev work.
I've been using the Memory Fox addon for the past several months, and it has worked great. Reclaims memory like.. a really good memory reclaiming thing.
Everyone else with the next big idea in their garage met with failure because they lacked execution.
Exactly. Every time someone says something like "believe in your dream and you'll make it", it's because they did so and happened to make it, or heard it from someone who did. It's a self-selecting sample, because you never hear from all those people who did believe in their dream and never made it. They are the vast majority.
But humans are natural optimists - we have to be. So we like to believe those things are true, even though I'm sure deep down we know it's fantasy. And deeper down, know that fantasy is really all that keeps us happy.
The end of general purpose computing.
Really. Tell that to anyone who works in an office, with CRMs, SAP, Photoshop, Office, internal accounting / inventory / spreadsheet / whathaveyou, basically anything made to get actual work done. That's what computers are for. Simplified devices are great for communicating and media sharing, and they're welcome to it. We will always need flexible computers that do complex, varied tasks as they do now.
Only approved programs via "app stores"
That also will never happen for the above reason. Business won't allow it. Business is already setting up for a bloody nose over putting everything on the "cloud". Once they've been well and truly burned, they won't want to hand over even more control to the app store model.
GPC is here to stay. If anything, they'll just get easier to use for plebs, easier for admins to manage, and more powerful as time goes on.
Capitalism has nothing to do with this. Greed, corruption, monopol, and cronyism are not part of capitalism.
I think you might be mistaken there. Have a listen to Noam Chomsky on the innate contradiction between Capitalism and Democracy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3hAlPa4Up0&t=26m35s
Anyway, what we are living in is a Plutocracy, and has been really since before the idea of Capitalism began. Not to say it isn't a great idea, but it hasn't been adequately protected and the necessary improvements have not been made to protect Democracy from the nature of the human beings involved in it.
Just curious, but when Obama said he had visited 57 states, did you see that as being stupid?
Well, Australians know we're the 51st, so I'm sure there are at least another 6 out there somewhere.
There is a passion around modding popular games, like say Skyrim.
So what's stopping companies *selling* the modding software, and/or setting up a mod app store, where people can pay $1 per mod, with 10% (or whatever) going to the modder. Modders appreciate donations anyway, so you're paying them and paying the company to maintain the service.
Skyrim sold at least 3.4 million copies, 14% of which for PC. Of the say 480,000 PC copies, assume 100,000 of them end up downloading 10 mods each, on avg. That $10 spend per player could mean $900k for the developer and $100k for modders.
This makes the modding community happy (they'd be pissed at people paying for mods if something didn't go to the community - this is like mandatory donating). A modder with 1000 downloads gets $100, maybe more over time, that's nothing to sneeze at for what would have otherwise been given for free. With that they could buy a Skyrim t-shirt, metal figurine and map set - which is more money for the company again. :)
I don't see why it can't be done, if done fairly.
As a creator, I don't want all that extra crap getting in my way.
Perfectly reasonable position for a savvy user, but keep in mind new Windows users, the elderly, etc. often have a real problem with *the file system*. In my experience, people don't get that you have to have a filing system, make folders for things, etc. so you know where everything is. They save shit all over the place, including the desktop, and we wonder why people don't do backups.
For us, thinking "files files files" is easy. For many users it's just too hard, they don't get it. That's why a revolution of sorts in *managing content* is needed, very badly, for the lower end of PC users.
Ideally, that shouldn't get in the way of power users doing what power users do, but that's a tough ask. Windows 8 is a first step, and it will improve. This is mainly why I'm skipping Windows 8 entirely, as we are embarking on a re-thinking of UIs here, which is worth doing, but not yet mature enough.
I can't imagine being the poor bastard that has to look at the worst stuff on the internet.
That's because you're likely a fairly well adjusted person. The trick is to find the right person for the job. My suggestion would be someone who is naturally depressed, having already come to terms with the reality of life as a human being. Someone who holds no illusions anymore about the world; who sees the tooth and claw at work both in nature and in his own species, and accepted it for what it is. We are not snowflakes, spirits, destined for either heaven or hell.
The human brain has evolved from simians who throw poo and kill each other, and this animal heritage lies closer to the surface of our civilisation than we like to believe. Nothing about human behaviour is particularly mysterious or surprising. Anyway, whatever grievances we commit on each other are far outdone by the smallest of insects whose larvae slowly eat their living hosts from the inside. What could we possibly do to each other that could match a pack of wolves tearing living flesh from their terrified meal, or a killer whale throwing a sea lion, paralysed with fear, through the air for sport? No, we are not as special as we like to think.
Nature is opportunistic, but can be judged neither evil nor good. We make such moral distinctions for no other reason than our own survival - to maintain social order, as any other pack animal does. If we did not have a set of social rules, we would not survive; the unyielding universe would snuff us out, with no regrets. Such is the nature of morality; a survival strategy for humans, nothing more, nothing less.
There are no promises for our species over any other, no future we don't have to fight for against the universe - and now against our own very nature, so successful have we been. We are animals and behave as such, both in laughter and in spite.
So give the jaded, depressed and world-weary a job. They're actually much more useful to society than people realise. /not sarcasm
If I ever threaten anyone with an axe, it's a metaphor or something.
I see what you're saying, but the converse is also true; if you're a trained military person and you suggest something violent in metaphor, it is probably metaphor for something violent that you've been trained to do. Movies in which a gun-toting hero suggests "kicking some ass" doesn't usually mean applying diplomacy to the problem.
People tend to stick to what they're familiar with. Whatever this guy's metaphor implied, it was not going back to uni to study sociology.
This is much better than TFA. This is a scientific study from the CSIRO, predicting major social and economic collapse within the next 50 years if we do not act on a number of looming problems - none of which relate to climate change btw.
http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Multimedia/CSIROpod/Growth-Limits.aspx
There was also this presentation last year at the Institute of Policy Studies in New Zealand:
http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=0b5d458433d74b4d9605d143cdc64aa3
Examine slide #31. It says: "The world is tracking on the Limits to Growth 'business as usual' scenario - leads to ecological and economic collapse (possibly from 2020 onwards)". This is from an actual scientific paper from the CSIRO. It is not guesswork, hyperbole or quackery.
This is much better than TFA. This is a scientific study from the CSIRO, predicting major social and economic collapse within the next 50 years if we do not act on a number of looming problems - none of which relate to climate change btw.
http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Multimedia/CSIROpod/Growth-Limits.aspx
There was also this presentation last year at the Institute of Policy Studies in New Zealand:
http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=0b5d458433d74b4d9605d143cdc64aa3
Examine slide #31. It says: "The world is tracking on the Limits to Growth 'business as usual' scenario - leads to ecological and economic collapse (possibly from 2020 onwards)". This is from an actual scientific paper from the CSIRO. It is not guesswork, hyperbole or quackery.
Yes, population. From there stems a great deal of problems, most obviously resource depletion.
Have a listen to this. The Australian CSIRO is itself predicting major social and economic collapse within the next 50 years if we do not act on these things. This is nothing to do with climate change.
http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Multimedia/CSIROpod/Growth-Limits.aspx
There was also this presentation last year at the Institute of Policy Studies in New Zealand:
http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=0b5d458433d74b4d9605d143cdc64aa3
Examine slide #31. It says: "The world is tracking on the Limits to Growth 'business as usual' scenario - leads to ecological and economic collapse (possibly from 2020 onwards)". This is from an actual scientific paper from the CSIRO. It is not guesswork, hyperbole or quackery.
On top of that, the world was ending, Carter was a failure, the Russians were winning and we're all gonna die.
Except that, this time, we really are all going to die.
you will like all the positive changes of Windows 8 more than the negative ones.
Here is just one example. Windows 8 does not interrupt your presentation to remind you to reboot your computer to install an update. It gives you days worth of warning before it nags like that.
So does killing the update service. In XP, I had a Start menu shortcut to the Services window. Two keystrokes and I'm there, kill Automatic Updates, get back to work. Remember to reboot a couple of days later or whenever. Same deal in Win 7. Could have made a shortcut to a batch file to kill it instead, but meh.
Another example, if you are copying a bunch of files and one can't copy, you can just hit skip, and it will continue with everything else. You can also pause fie copying.
Yes, it's called TeraCopy. For XP or 7. Great little utility. Does Win 8 *queue* new file copy tasks as well, or does it still stupidly try to copy concurrently? TeraCopy fixes that too.
Plus, Windows 8 doesn't have that nasty explorer refreshing bug that Windows 7 has.
Neither does XP. :) But if you mean when renaming files in Win 7, just hit TAB instead of ENTER, and it moves you to the next file to rename, without refreshing. Obscure but neat trick.
Native ISO mounting? Windows 8 has that.
Meh. If you're keen enough to use ISOs, you're keen enough to download a free utility for them. When Windows started handling Zip files like folders, did we all stop using utilities like WinRar? Windows can burn CDs too, but do we stop using Nero or whatever? Specialised programs will always do more and do it better.
If you only mess around with Metro for a couple hours, how do you expect to notice all the changes under the hood?
The point is I don't have to. Nothing you've mentioned is anything I can't do in Windows XP or 7. Why upgrade. It doesn't sound like you've discovered the ability to do anything *new* in Win 8 that you couldn't do before. All I see is the novelty factor. And a Start Menu that gets all up in my face - no thanks.
For the record, yes I've played with in in a VM for a few days. Then I got back to being productive and haven't looked at it since. That's how compelling it is. Nothing about it is going to improve my day. Games won't be better, work won't be quicker. So... why?
It's interesting to see just how sociopathic Google is becoming now that they are in a position of dominance
Every public company is required, by law, to behave like a sociopath.
It's not Google's or any other company's fault. It is commercial law. Shareholders' interests come first.
People shouldn't waste their breath criticising Apple etc. for using slave labour in other countries. It's good for the shareholders, for the bottom line, so it is done. To decide NOT to take those opportunities - or to attempt to patent the rectangle, or spend millions on influencing politics - is reason for a CEO to be dropped. Another will be chosen - by shareholders - who doesn't mind behaving unethically.
If you want to blame something, blame the law. Blame the system of share trading, which rewards *any* behaviour that increases share value. Blame Joe Public for day trading and investing in companies that behave unethically (ie. most of them).
What's the point in blaming *the company itself* when it's only doing what it's programmed to do?
This is, of course, why companies are not "people". People make ethical decisions every day. A company behaves according to pre-determined rules, like an amoeba. I was going to say an animal, but animal behaviour is far more complex than company behaviour.
I think MS has made a good move, but their implementation - *forcing* desktop users onto a new UI - is a major mistake that will stymie what is essentially a good idea.
- As you say, make a tablet OS which can also function like a PC: Great idea!
- A desktop OS on which you can also use all the apps you have on your tablet: Great idea!
- A desktop OS on which you can seamlessly develop apps for both tablet and PC: Great idea!
- Use less resources and boot quicker. Great idea!
- Forcing PC users to boot into a tablet UI and removing the desktop Start menu: Everyone will resist it, largely negating all the other great ideas.
However I imagine a quiet Windows Update patch will come along to allow booting into desktop, once they see how big resistance is. They may not even be targeting the enterprise here. They know Windows 7 is popular and well regarded. They know replacing it will be a fight, especially as many have only just got around to upgrading to 7.
So perhaps this iteration is an experiment, targeted mostly at home users, and business users will benefit more from Win 9, when the new UI ideas have matured. It's still a "new idea" so may undergo some changes, and the Win8 app ecosystem isn't even mature yet. So I think MS *know* that business won't be touching this one.
MS have the money to experiment. They can even afford to alienate people a little. There is still no significant threat to either Windows or Office in the marketplace. There will be in the future, but not yet.
If anything, MS should be congratulated for innovating. I think people do like Win 8 as an idea. What we're complaining about is a) being forced to work differently, and b) the possible threat to an "open" OS as Windows always has been.
Thankyou thankyou for pointing out Verbatim mode!
As a developer, I often need to search for unusual words and the synonym etc. "help" that Google provides has been a big hindrance. I imagine many technical/scientific people have similar problems. Google should really try to educate users a little bit with the odd helpful hint on the right hand side now and then to remind people of the various options available. I think that would be a great idea.
Nothing, You're dead.
Not necessarily. The "human" part will be dead though. The more we discover about the brain, the more it seems all our emotions and thoughts happen within it. When we die, the experience - if there is one - will be completely and utterly un-human; unlike anything we can imagine with this material brain.
Indeed there may not even be an "I". We're on the way to finding the part(s) of the brain that create that sensation too.
Personally, I'm very curious about death. Ironically, however, I will probably lose all curiosity once I'm there. :)
Exactly. My old HP 8510p has a max res of 1680x1050, but I run it in 1280x800, because stuff is just too small otherwise. :)
The real issue with non-Apple laptop screens is the utter inconsistency of quality. Some have LG screens, some have cheaper ones that look shite and "crystally". When I was this 8510 in the showroom, it had an awesome LCD which looked perfect at any resolution. Bought one, got it home and it had a cheap LCD which looked awful. Went back and swapped it for the showroom one which, it turned out, had an LG screen.
I imagine when you buy Apple, they use the same suppliers so what you see is what you get. Something to be said for that.
My second computer. First one was an IMB 5110 my brother brought home (he worked at IBM at the time). Had hours (and hours) of fun *typing in programs* from books. You couldn't buy games, you had to type em in. Kids have it too easy these days. :)
That's how I got into programming of course. When I got the TRS-80, I'd get up in the middle of the night to turn it on and see the red LED light up. :) I tell you, using a computer back then felt like being part of the space program or something. You felt part of something profound; a new era... it was right out of science fiction. God I miss that feeling!
Of course it's great they're now so ubiquitous and accessible... except that now they feel so ubiquitous and accessible. :)
Still no good debugging tools
This might sound like a troll within this particular discussion, but it's not - I use IE for script debugging. Its interface is quicker to use than both Firebug and Chrome. I was surprised myself, but then MS is generally fairly good when it comes to coding tools. I tried debugging in Chrome and though it was quicker it felt more awkward than Firebug. IE's debug panel works best for me. Perhaps give that a try.
Thank you for the link to the image fixer!
What happened to Firefox having "standards"?
I think it means that people are going to generally be nice and say good job when you did actually suck.
I wonder if it is actually being *nice*, or just not wanting to enter into an uncomfortable social situation.
We do lots of things for selfish reasons while convincing ourselves it was the "nice" or "right" thing to do.