I am guilty for having shown addict-like behavior with it years ago. In college, if I wasn't in class, I was at a terminal run on the DEC VAX running TinyFugue and exploring every MUD and MOO out there.
When I was in college, I was the same - except I stopped going to class and flunked out. That was 12 years ago, and I still haven't stopped playing, reading, and getting involved in online communities despite scores of friends, relationships, and jobs.
Just because you don't have a problem doesn't mean that problem doesn't exist. I agree that this is clearly another manifestation of a compulsive personality disorder (or... whatever) but to have it formally recognized is an important step towards treatment for anyone that is actually struggling.
What is it about people like you? Is it that hard to discuss something like this without insulting your opponent? I have been very careful in this to avoid saying anything offensive
Your ignorance is offensive to me, and is an embarrassment to this country and its people.
>>more people will begin to realize that F/OSS is not only usable, but valuable.
>And most people have absolutely no idea what youre takling about.
Take my ex-girlfriend, for example. She doesn't know thing one about open vs closed software. She grew up using windows, had a WinXP laptop that died, and when it came time to re-up, she grabbed a MacBook Pro - because she'd heard bad things about vista. She's in school, and worried that it was too expensive, but her last laptop was bought by her mother, and was "refurbished" on the cheap. It lasted a couple of years, but had numerous problems along the way.
She was worried about writing papers - didn't want to spend hundreds more dollars on MS Office, so I suggested she *try* OpenOffice(.org), because I'd heard it was compatible and... well.. free. She's been using both for months now, and is delighted with them. She's sworn that she'd never buy Microsoft again, too.
My points are, you don't have to use linux to benefit from F/OSS, and further - you don't even have to understand what it is.
This is the "my mom/girlfriend/casual user" story. I'm sure there are thousands like it. This one's mine.
This is the new Limbaugh meme, right? Progressives are really the old school Commie sympathizers, who have weaseled their way into key government positions to undermine REAL Amurricuns? Is it Zionism, or Islamofascists? Or maybe the Mexicans... it's so hard to keep track of all the paranoid, xenophobic rhetoric!
do Westerners stand further apart than Asians when chatting in a virtual world? No, they stand the same distance apart; it would violate the laws of physics if one of them was "further apart" than the other. What a peculiar question. Ridiculous. It is perfectly possible in a virtual world that the distance from person A to person B is less than the distance from person B to person A.
If you're going to be a pedantic, grammar-nazi jackass, bring a little technical common sense with you.
"The only reason she was charged for having a "hoax device" is because there's no law against plain old stupidity."
For which you must be enormously relieved. Thank baby Jesus we have people that can charge us with random crimes, or heck just shoot us, when we are acting stupidly.
Remember, guns don't kill people, stupid people with guns kill people!...wait...
Yeah, thank god the president, or anyone he chooses, doesn't have the right to arrest and detain US citizens at any time, for any reason, and then torture them.
Oh, wait. Yes - he can. You are living in a police state. It just isn't exercising its new powers yet. Try not to be ignorant your whole life.
As an afterthought, if you don't care about GP's opinion, why spew bile when he gives it to you?
I have to use Office. I hate it. Awkward, poorly-organized, heavy-handed - in short, OSS gets it right because (and I'm guessing here, never having had the pleasure - or pain?) even if they use the exact same interface, they do it for free.
Think about that, if you are able.
For everyone else, I remember Word 5.1 - it worked just fine, nothing needed changing in it's functionality. When 6 came out, it was like... why bother? What do I get? The answer, to my recollection, was dick, and we have gotten it in spades ever since.
Why, nothing of course. It will spend most of it's time trying to load the MS Office 35 assistant, an actual duplicate of former president Jimmy Carter.
If you're choosing a symbol to represent unending love, there's not a lot wrong with choosing a life-giving, pure element, aside from the lack of originality, but why does everything you do have to be original?
There are two points I'd like to address here.
The first is the artifical, hallmark perception of "unending love", as cold and static as a linoleum floor. A shiny, brittle, unchanging rock is a very poor symbol of a healthy relationship of ANY kind, let alone a life-long partnership.
Relationships change and develop, grow and prosper, through things like hard work, patience, trust, empathy, respect, active mutual understandings, and communication. Even with all of these things, however, there will be fighting, anger, harsh words, conflicts of interest, clashing cultural backgrounds or upbringing, miscommunications, misperceptions, and sometimes worse. Because we are human.
It is fundamental to the human condition that personal growth comes from resolution of conflict, and mutual growth works the same way. The only way to remain conflict-free is to surrender your opportunity to mature as a human being. That's a pretty steep price to pay for a white picket fence and some peace and quiet. Without the so-called flaws of a partnership, none of that which is truly valuable would ever surface. A relationship is a vast, opaque, nebulous and ever-changing thing. And to top it all off, partnerships are vastly undervalued by the market.
Aside from being multifaceted, I can see nothing in a diamond that is representative of the kind of union of which I hope we are all speaking.
The second point is in response to your (presumably rhetorical) question, in part, "...why does everything you do have to be original?".
original - adj.
1. Preceding all others in time; first.
2. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual: an original play, not an adaptation.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Every partnership, entered into freely and knowingly, is a "fresh and unusual" thing. No one is like another, and comparing them is almost universally futile. To face the challenges mentioned above, your greatest asset will be your creativity, your ability to reframe and redefine problems and barriers of all shapes and sizes. As a symbol of a union, I cannot think of a single reason why a token of troth should not reflect that creativity, or originality. Everything you do must be original if you consider yourself a thinking being.
Now, I am not suggesting that your every action should defy convention, but how many times a day do you go on autopilot, coast along letting your nervous system take control, without expressing yourself in some way? How much of your life passes without excercizing your one and only truly inalienable right, that of free thought? Why does everything one does have to be original? Because one may as well be dead if it is not. You contribute nothing of value to the world, and do not grow emotionally, intellectually, or communally.
I would like, finally, to make it clear that I am not talking about creative talent here. You don't have to be a professional artist to think and act creatively. There is creativity in every person born, the potential for originality in every moment of every day of every single man and woman's life. All it takes is choosing to step back for a moment and actually observe the life that you are living, the faces of the people that surround you every day, the barriers that you build around yourself, both physically and emotionally. Do you ever smile at people on the subway, or the bus? Do you even dare to make eye contact on the street? Why, or why not? Or do you even know?
Is it just me, or is every new FPS supposed to be "revolutionary" yet ends up being tired old dross...?
To those of us brought up on the ambrosia and honey of the likes of Zork, and pencil-paper RPGs, FPSs STARTED as tired old dross.
Oh, I remember CW classic, and Doom... I couldn't understand why my roommate played them so religiously. I finally opened my mind a bit, and now I get my DM on from time to time, but the graphics simply can't stand up to the mind's eye, IMHO.
Then again, I started on text adventuring, and most of the gamers I know were console kids. Maybe it's just a case of nurture vs nature.
Then again again, my old roommate still refuses to play MUDs and other text games. Maybe my deep pathways (um... or something) are just predisposed to visualization.
Actually, IIRC she is known to the family as quite a chatterbox in that ep. She doesn't speak because someone (Marge?) interrupts her, saying that she is always talking. They make a point of NOT showing her talking. I love the idea of her representing some kind of protest, but it seems more likely just a longplaying gag.
Incidentally, she also talks in the episode where the kids are adopted by the Flanderses, and I _think_ there's a third as well, though I can't put my finger on it at the moment.
many if not all novice and business level users think that any OS where you have to type commands manually without error is a step backwards, not forwards.
This is absolutely true, which brings me to a question I've been wondering for a long time. If one of the biggest impediments to Linux's success is John Q Driveway's fear of CLIs, why doesn't [some group] get together and make a window manager/environment that is understandable to him? I mean, market research isn't too tough on this one, is it? I don't think there is a shortage on frustrated windows users, after all.
Ease of use as it relates to total cost of owndership. Start looking at mac advocate arguments over the last decade. Whether the community is willing to acknowledge it or not, there is a huge, HUGE gap when it comes to interface, and just dragging out Aqua and saying "someone else has done it" sounds like a cop out to me. I'm also not an experienced Linux user, but I've logged some time in linux. I prefer the CLI, because it makes me feel like more of a man. And that's great. But I have gone through several popular window dealies, and none of them... work. I always feel like I can't get my hands around the throat of the machine, it's all window dressing (if you'll pardon the phrase), no substance.
I reiterate: I am not a linux veteran, but more of an advanced novice. I grew up on mac, but have worked IT/IS/helpdesk/wiring closet jockey for mac and win both. Users want something that works well, yes. But more important by far, is that it is familiar and EASY TO USE. Find a way to add that, and THEN you can start talking about marketshare.
In short, Linux is full of pointy edges, and we live in a world where toothpicks and shampoo have directions. You do the math.
For the purposes of staying on topic here, I'll also submit that easily 40% of average at-work windows users (particularly the 50+ crowd; there's more of 'em out there than you might suspect) would welcome linux on their desks if they could still play windows solitaire. Sounds like Lindows is on the right track to me!
Slashdot Mirror
It honestly seems that over there, they kill each other based on what headdress the other one is wearing sometimes.
What a stupid statement. You must be a Yankees fan.
To say people have a reason for flawed beliefs is to excuse them.
I understand your reasons for saying that, but I do not excuse the ignorance they represent.
I am guilty for having shown addict-like behavior with it years ago. In college, if I wasn't in class, I was at a terminal run on the DEC VAX running TinyFugue and exploring every MUD and MOO out there.
When I was in college, I was the same - except I stopped going to class and flunked out. That was 12 years ago, and I still haven't stopped playing, reading, and getting involved in online communities despite scores of friends, relationships, and jobs.
Just because you don't have a problem doesn't mean that problem doesn't exist. I agree that this is clearly another manifestation of a compulsive personality disorder (or... whatever) but to have it formally recognized is an important step towards treatment for anyone that is actually struggling.
What is it about people like you? Is it that hard to discuss something like this without insulting your opponent? I have been very careful in this to avoid saying anything offensive
Your ignorance is offensive to me, and is an embarrassment to this country and its people.
>>more people will begin to realize that F/OSS is not only usable, but valuable.
>And most people have absolutely no idea what youre takling about.
Take my ex-girlfriend, for example. She doesn't know thing one about open vs closed software. She grew up using windows, had a WinXP laptop that died, and when it came time to re-up, she grabbed a MacBook Pro - because she'd heard bad things about vista. She's in school, and worried that it was too expensive, but her last laptop was bought by her mother, and was "refurbished" on the cheap. It lasted a couple of years, but had numerous problems along the way.
She was worried about writing papers - didn't want to spend hundreds more dollars on MS Office, so I suggested she *try* OpenOffice(.org), because I'd heard it was compatible and... well.. free. She's been using both for months now, and is delighted with them. She's sworn that she'd never buy Microsoft again, too.
My points are, you don't have to use linux to benefit from F/OSS, and further - you don't even have to understand what it is.
This is the "my mom/girlfriend/casual user" story. I'm sure there are thousands like it. This one's mine.
Pfff... the Doctor never tried to route an inverse tachyon pulse through the main deflector dish though... that was all Geordi.
because teutonic plate theory was just too crazy to accept...
... although it replaced the even more silly Gaulish plate theory, quickly discarded by history.
Where's my "+1, Hopefully" mod...
This is the new Limbaugh meme, right? Progressives are really the old school Commie sympathizers, who have weaseled their way into key government positions to undermine REAL Amurricuns? Is it Zionism, or Islamofascists? Or maybe the Mexicans... it's so hard to keep track of all the paranoid, xenophobic rhetoric!
Want me to top off that kool-aid for you?
If you're going to be a pedantic, grammar-nazi jackass, bring a little technical common sense with you.
"The only reason she was charged for having a "hoax device" is because there's no law against plain old stupidity."
...wait...
For which you must be enormously relieved. Thank baby Jesus we have people that can charge us with random crimes, or heck just shoot us, when we are acting stupidly.
Remember, guns don't kill people, stupid people with guns kill people!
Yeah, thank god the president, or anyone he chooses, doesn't have the right to arrest and detain US citizens at any time, for any reason, and then torture them.
Oh, wait. Yes - he can. You are living in a police state. It just isn't exercising its new powers yet. Try not to be ignorant your whole life.
Too long. Didn't read.
As an afterthought, if you don't care about GP's opinion, why spew bile when he gives it to you?
I have to use Office. I hate it. Awkward, poorly-organized, heavy-handed - in short, OSS gets it right because (and I'm guessing here, never having had the pleasure - or pain?) even if they use the exact same interface, they do it for free.
Think about that, if you are able.
For everyone else, I remember Word 5.1 - it worked just fine, nothing needed changing in it's functionality. When 6 came out, it was like... why bother? What do I get? The answer, to my recollection, was dick, and we have gotten it in spades ever since.
Cheers.
... in which remakes, sequels, and adaptations give penalties up to and including death by fire ants for those that tell them.
Lil spelling error there, but I touched it up for you.
I could steal everything for just a little bit more effort than buying from iTunes
I dunno... I'd say the effort is about the same. Oh wait... unless... do you work for your money? Oh right, then iTunes is probably harder.
I'm just saying.
monkey-children ... (and George Bush)
Why the parent post isn't rated redundant I'm sure I don't know.
pathological fear
Yes. Just... yes. Could we please, pretty please, take the healthcare system in the US and burn it to the ground? Maybe salt the earth a little?
While we're at it, our school system could use a bit of razing here and there. Who's doing this one right at the moment?
AS
"Imply", Chmarr, or "implode"?
Erm, what would you call the TV appliances like TiVo? How about HDTV?
Consider the possibility that some things take longer to converge than one might expect.
>What will a computer that powerful do with us?
Why, nothing of course. It will spend most of it's time trying to load the MS Office 35 assistant, an actual duplicate of former president Jimmy Carter.
If you're choosing a symbol to represent unending love, there's not a lot wrong with choosing a life-giving, pure element, aside from the lack of originality, but why does everything you do have to be original?
There are two points I'd like to address here.
The first is the artifical, hallmark perception of "unending love", as cold and static as a linoleum floor. A shiny, brittle, unchanging rock is a very poor symbol of a healthy relationship of ANY kind, let alone a life-long partnership.
Relationships change and develop, grow and prosper, through things like hard work, patience, trust, empathy, respect, active mutual understandings, and communication. Even with all of these things, however, there will be fighting, anger, harsh words, conflicts of interest, clashing cultural backgrounds or upbringing, miscommunications, misperceptions, and sometimes worse. Because we are human.
It is fundamental to the human condition that personal growth comes from resolution of conflict, and mutual growth works the same way. The only way to remain conflict-free is to surrender your opportunity to mature as a human being. That's a pretty steep price to pay for a white picket fence and some peace and quiet. Without the so-called flaws of a partnership, none of that which is truly valuable would ever surface. A relationship is a vast, opaque, nebulous and ever-changing thing. And to top it all off, partnerships are vastly undervalued by the market.
Aside from being multifaceted, I can see nothing in a diamond that is representative of the kind of union of which I hope we are all speaking.
The second point is in response to your (presumably rhetorical) question, in part, "...why does everything you do have to be original?".
original - adj.
1. Preceding all others in time; first.
2. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual: an original play, not an adaptation.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Every partnership, entered into freely and knowingly, is a "fresh and unusual" thing. No one is like another, and comparing them is almost universally futile. To face the challenges mentioned above, your greatest asset will be your creativity, your ability to reframe and redefine problems and barriers of all shapes and sizes. As a symbol of a union, I cannot think of a single reason why a token of troth should not reflect that creativity, or originality. Everything you do must be original if you consider yourself a thinking being.
Now, I am not suggesting that your every action should defy convention, but how many times a day do you go on autopilot, coast along letting your nervous system take control, without expressing yourself in some way? How much of your life passes without excercizing your one and only truly inalienable right, that of free thought? Why does everything one does have to be original? Because one may as well be dead if it is not. You contribute nothing of value to the world, and do not grow emotionally, intellectually, or communally.
I would like, finally, to make it clear that I am not talking about creative talent here. You don't have to be a professional artist to think and act creatively. There is creativity in every person born, the potential for originality in every moment of every day of every single man and woman's life. All it takes is choosing to step back for a moment and actually observe the life that you are living, the faces of the people that surround you every day, the barriers that you build around yourself, both physically and emotionally. Do you ever smile at people on the subway, or the bus? Do you even dare to make eye contact on the street? Why, or why not? Or do you even know?
Is it just me, or is every new FPS supposed to be "revolutionary" yet ends up being tired old dross...?
To those of us brought up on the ambrosia and honey of the likes of Zork, and pencil-paper RPGs, FPSs STARTED as tired old dross.
Oh, I remember CW classic, and Doom... I couldn't understand why my roommate played them so religiously. I finally opened my mind a bit, and now I get my DM on from time to time, but the graphics simply can't stand up to the mind's eye, IMHO.
Then again, I started on text adventuring, and most of the gamers I know were console kids. Maybe it's just a case of nurture vs nature.
Then again again, my old roommate still refuses to play MUDs and other text games. Maybe my deep pathways (um... or something) are just predisposed to visualization.
Actually, IIRC she is known to the family as quite a chatterbox in that ep. She doesn't speak because someone (Marge?) interrupts her, saying that she is always talking. They make a point of NOT showing her talking. I love the idea of her representing some kind of protest, but it seems more likely just a longplaying gag.
Incidentally, she also talks in the episode where the kids are adopted by the Flanderses, and I _think_ there's a third as well, though I can't put my finger on it at the moment.
many if not all novice and business level users think that any OS where you have to type commands manually without error is a step backwards, not forwards.
This is absolutely true, which brings me to a question I've been wondering for a long time. If one of the biggest impediments to Linux's success is John Q Driveway's fear of CLIs, why doesn't [some group] get together and make a window manager/environment that is understandable to him? I mean, market research isn't too tough on this one, is it? I don't think there is a shortage on frustrated windows users, after all.
Ease of use as it relates to total cost of owndership. Start looking at mac advocate arguments over the last decade. Whether the community is willing to acknowledge it or not, there is a huge, HUGE gap when it comes to interface, and just dragging out Aqua and saying "someone else has done it" sounds like a cop out to me. I'm also not an experienced Linux user, but I've logged some time in linux. I prefer the CLI, because it makes me feel like more of a man. And that's great. But I have gone through several popular window dealies, and none of them... work. I always feel like I can't get my hands around the throat of the machine, it's all window dressing (if you'll pardon the phrase), no substance.
I reiterate: I am not a linux veteran, but more of an advanced novice. I grew up on mac, but have worked IT/IS/helpdesk/wiring closet jockey for mac and win both. Users want something that works well, yes. But more important by far, is that it is familiar and EASY TO USE. Find a way to add that, and THEN you can start talking about marketshare.
In short, Linux is full of pointy edges, and we live in a world where toothpicks and shampoo have directions. You do the math.
For the purposes of staying on topic here, I'll also submit that easily 40% of average at-work windows users (particularly the 50+ crowd; there's more of 'em out there than you might suspect) would welcome linux on their desks if they could still play windows solitaire. Sounds like Lindows is on the right track to me!