As someone who used Word Perfect, then Word Perfect Suite, for many years, I will tell you straight-up and without any question that it blew the doors off Word and Office. I've still got original editions of WP Suite 7 and Office Professional 9, though I've long-since been forced to put them on the shelf.
The triumph of Microsoft Office was a triumph of mediocrity and bloat over quality.
The speed and range of gasoline-powered cars was higher. It was hard to tell, though, because tire failure back then was so common people spent half their time patching or changing them.
I wonder what improvements could be made to the machine given modern materials and technology. A top speed of 40 mph and a range of 50 miles, for example, would make it a really good choice for a lot of basic city driving. My daily trip to work, all my shopping and a significant part of my social life...probably 90% of my transportation needs...would fall within those parameters. I'm sure a lot of people could say the same.
I don't know about favorite, but scariest? No question: my ex. Dracula would run screaming in terror, and that Cloverdale critter would be heading back out to sea faster than an Olympic sprinter on crystal meth.
It's 'way past time we came up with an expression to represent the current situation. Perhaps, "Killing Weasels".
The phrase itself could be something like, "When you're shooting rats near the henhouse, it's inevitable that you're going to hit an occasional weasel." This would cover the RIAA thugs the record companies have hired, as well as the scumbags who actually run the Big Four.
...instead of using the patent to bury it in a hole so deep it's almost out the other side of the Earth, I'll stop having anything to do with Google.
Interrupting a video would only be the first step in taking us to that Trailer Park Nirvana where you will never, not even for one second of your waking life, be free of some kind of solicitation.
...is there a better place on Earth to work than DARPA? I always thought it would be SO cool to go to work every day and look down a list of fantastic toys that people are willing to spend giga-bucks on, and maybe get a chance to decide which ones get built.
So I guess we can put you down in the column of those who forgot that freedom is never free. Or would you prefer to be in the one with people who would rather live on their knees than die on their feet. You'd fit comfortably in either.;-)
The Homeland Security people say they've laid a serious hurtin' on the terrorists, they just can't tell us anything about it for obvious reasons. And there have been no more attacks on American soil, which absolutely proves that they're doing everything right because otherwise all those terrorists they keep telling us about would be eating our babies right this very minute.
So it's all OK and we should just quit worrying, because even though they legalized everything short of grabbing people off the street and exporting them to other countries for torture (Oh, wait a minute...) it would all be in our best interest because they're the good guys.
So I guess what I'm saying is: lay off the FBI, because they know best and you guys are just making their job harder by pointing out that they're abusing their powers. And that's just wrong. Better we live on our knees than die on our feet and all that, because if there's another attack then the terrorists have won and the United States will have turned into a police state for nothing.
I hope you're right. In view of other statements in the article, I thought it unwise to give a great deal of credibility to what is at best third-hand information, or even outright speculation. Nobody sourced the TC or Microsoft, even indirectly, for a Windows 7 - Server 2008 link.
That said, such a move would make excellent sense. I was one of the unfortunates who had to use Millennium until I made a brief stop at Windows 2000 on my way to XP Pro. It was a good, solid OS that did everything the company asked of it.
While I would consider upgrading to W7 instead of Linux if this turns out to be right (I'm still not betting on it), I will certainly never use Vista.
I guess it would be asking too much to expect one of those jackasses in charge of "Homeland Security" to be sufficiently up-to-date on technological innovation and sufficiently cognizant of his staff's shortcomings in that area to send 'round a memo describing the damned thing.
You can just imagine some Arab-looking guy in full desert costume staggering through behind their backs, groaning under the weight of a couple of Stingers, an AK-47 and a dozen grenades.
Jeez, now I have to take it all back because a couple of sane moderators came along and outvoted the weasel with delusions of omnipotence.
Very well, then, I'll do it like a man: I stand corrected! The system, for the most part, works and the would-be censors will probably get caught and put in their place in time to preserve the diversity of opinion, off-centre humour and freedom from bum-kissing that make/. a nice place to visit.
A couple of the moderators around here get pretty bent out of shape if you criticize the US or religion. Doing both in one post must REALLY have got somebody's knickers in a knot. I promise to be a good boy until the next time.
A significant percentage of Americans have a deep, fundamental mistrust of intelligent people. Scientists learn early not to trust the media, who almost infallibly have to dumb down a complex subject to the point where even an idiot can grasp the bare essentials.
Inevitably, a line is crossed and the real science is distorted to the point of inaccuracy. And the idiot whose attention is being sought inevitably just asks his pastor what he should believe in any case. Where else in the world except the United States is the Theory of Relativity accepted without question, but evolution is "just a theory"?
As long as cracker barrel philosophers with a gift of gab and a few good one-liners are given more credibility than a terminally shy genius with a stutter, science journalism will remain a place where a few stars shine brightly over a vast sea of mediocrity and sensationalism.
By the way...I've worked as a science writer, so I'm not entirely ignorant on this subject.
I love your definitions, and the way they take point of view into account. If you stop and think about it for a moment, Microsoft's "Vista" and a tapeworm's "vista" have more than a little in common.
Perhaps the Japanese have a little more faith in their government. Of course, the fact that a bureaucrat caught selling data, cheating or making a mess of things is likely to commit suicide in some spectacularly messy fashion might have something to do with this.
When government officials in the US are caught lying, cheating and stealing, they simply resign and start officially working for Halliburton.
Seems to me Robert Heinlein came up with a somewhat similar idea in "Methusala's Children". If both your grandparents lived past a certain age, and you married somebody whose grandparents were similarly long-lived, the Methusala Foundation would pay you.
In either case, it comes down to forking out cash to improve the chances of getting desired results. Certainly not the worst idea I've ever heard.
I REALLY wish I had time to do this in detail. Here's a couple of quick points.
1. I'm calling the various security agencies dipshits because if they can't use the tools they already have and the billions of dollars we already give them every year to find 10 million missing lawbreakers or to notice that the Berlin Wall is coming down before the rest of us see it on TV, then nothing else we give them is likely to improve their performance all that much. If you think the powers these agencies already possess are "limited" in any real sense, I don't think we have much more to talk about. When was the last time the FISA court turned down a request? I'll save you the research time. The answer is, "Never".
2. "Lack of cross-jurisdictional data sharing was not specifically erected by anybody!" I guess that would explain why the CIA is forbidden by statute from conducting domestic operations, and why access to data collected by the IRS is severely limited by various statutes specifically enacted for the purpose. There's more examples, of course; many more. I'll leave it to you to find them. Hint: Start with ATF, but don't stop there.
3. The data-sharing mechanisms to catch good ol' Joe already exist. A certain amount of cross-jurisdictional traffic already takes place. Check your facts.
Sorry, gotta fly.
A high-quality binocular telescope starts work just when the next generation of 3D movie effects is rolled out. Am I the only one who's glad to live near a place that shows IMAX?
Slashdot Mirror
I could be wrong, but I think there actually was a "G8". It was the G7 + one intermediate-level "floater" that changed every year.
As someone who used Word Perfect, then Word Perfect Suite, for many years, I will tell you straight-up and without any question that it blew the doors off Word and Office. I've still got original editions of WP Suite 7 and Office Professional 9, though I've long-since been forced to put them on the shelf.
The triumph of Microsoft Office was a triumph of mediocrity and bloat over quality.
The speed and range of gasoline-powered cars was higher. It was hard to tell, though, because tire failure back then was so common people spent half their time patching or changing them.
I wonder what improvements could be made to the machine given modern materials and technology. A top speed of 40 mph and a range of 50 miles, for example, would make it a really good choice for a lot of basic city driving. My daily trip to work, all my shopping and a significant part of my social life...probably 90% of my transportation needs...would fall within those parameters. I'm sure a lot of people could say the same.
Oops...sorry...meant "Cloverfield". Brain's having the day off.
I don't know about favorite, but scariest? No question: my ex. Dracula would run screaming in terror, and that Cloverdale critter would be heading back out to sea faster than an Olympic sprinter on crystal meth.
Forgive me. I stand corrected. But the conceit just didn't hold up if I used "douchebags".
It's 'way past time we came up with an expression to represent the current situation. Perhaps, "Killing Weasels".
The phrase itself could be something like, "When you're shooting rats near the henhouse, it's inevitable that you're going to hit an occasional weasel." This would cover the RIAA thugs the record companies have hired, as well as the scumbags who actually run the Big Four.
Interrupting a video would only be the first step in taking us to that Trailer Park Nirvana where you will never, not even for one second of your waking life, be free of some kind of solicitation.
...is there a better place on Earth to work than DARPA? I always thought it would be SO cool to go to work every day and look down a list of fantastic toys that people are willing to spend giga-bucks on, and maybe get a chance to decide which ones get built.
So I guess we can put you down in the column of those who forgot that freedom is never free. Or would you prefer to be in the one with people who would rather live on their knees than die on their feet. You'd fit comfortably in either. ;-)
Sounds to me like the thing could run for office and have a reasonable chance of getting elected.
The Homeland Security people say they've laid a serious hurtin' on the terrorists, they just can't tell us anything about it for obvious reasons. And there have been no more attacks on American soil, which absolutely proves that they're doing everything right because otherwise all those terrorists they keep telling us about would be eating our babies right this very minute.
So it's all OK and we should just quit worrying, because even though they legalized everything short of grabbing people off the street and exporting them to other countries for torture (Oh, wait a minute...) it would all be in our best interest because they're the good guys.
So I guess what I'm saying is: lay off the FBI, because they know best and you guys are just making their job harder by pointing out that they're abusing their powers. And that's just wrong. Better we live on our knees than die on our feet and all that, because if there's another attack then the terrorists have won and the United States will have turned into a police state for nothing.
And wouldn't that suck...
I hope you're right. In view of other statements in the article, I thought it unwise to give a great deal of credibility to what is at best third-hand information, or even outright speculation. Nobody sourced the TC or Microsoft, even indirectly, for a Windows 7 - Server 2008 link.
That said, such a move would make excellent sense. I was one of the unfortunates who had to use Millennium until I made a brief stop at Windows 2000 on my way to XP Pro. It was a good, solid OS that did everything the company asked of it.
While I would consider upgrading to W7 instead of Linux if this turns out to be right (I'm still not betting on it), I will certainly never use Vista.
If they try to build Windows 7 on top of Vista the way Millennium built on Windows 98, they're doomed.
I like my PDA with flip-open keyboard/Bluetooth for those rare occasions when a thumb drive and the ubiquity of freely-accessible PC's won't do.
I guess it would be asking too much to expect one of those jackasses in charge of "Homeland Security" to be sufficiently up-to-date on technological innovation and sufficiently cognizant of his staff's shortcomings in that area to send 'round a memo describing the damned thing.
You can just imagine some Arab-looking guy in full desert costume staggering through behind their backs, groaning under the weight of a couple of Stingers, an AK-47 and a dozen grenades.
Jeez, now I have to take it all back because a couple of sane moderators came along and outvoted the weasel with delusions of omnipotence.
Very well, then, I'll do it like a man: I stand corrected! The system, for the most part, works and the would-be censors will probably get caught and put in their place in time to preserve the diversity of opinion, off-centre humour and freedom from bum-kissing that make /. a nice place to visit.
Hail Cowboy Neal! Hail!
Oops, sorry. I forgot.
A couple of the moderators around here get pretty bent out of shape if you criticize the US or religion. Doing both in one post must REALLY have got somebody's knickers in a knot. I promise to be a good boy until the next time.
A significant percentage of Americans have a deep, fundamental mistrust of intelligent people. Scientists learn early not to trust the media, who almost infallibly have to dumb down a complex subject to the point where even an idiot can grasp the bare essentials.
Inevitably, a line is crossed and the real science is distorted to the point of inaccuracy. And the idiot whose attention is being sought inevitably just asks his pastor what he should believe in any case. Where else in the world except the United States is the Theory of Relativity accepted without question, but evolution is "just a theory"?
As long as cracker barrel philosophers with a gift of gab and a few good one-liners are given more credibility than a terminally shy genius with a stutter, science journalism will remain a place where a few stars shine brightly over a vast sea of mediocrity and sensationalism.
By the way...I've worked as a science writer, so I'm not entirely ignorant on this subject.
I love your definitions, and the way they take point of view into account. If you stop and think about it for a moment, Microsoft's "Vista" and a tapeworm's "vista" have more than a little in common.
Perhaps the Japanese have a little more faith in their government. Of course, the fact that a bureaucrat caught selling data, cheating or making a mess of things is likely to commit suicide in some spectacularly messy fashion might have something to do with this.
When government officials in the US are caught lying, cheating and stealing, they simply resign and start officially working for Halliburton.
Seems to me Robert Heinlein came up with a somewhat similar idea in "Methusala's Children". If both your grandparents lived past a certain age, and you married somebody whose grandparents were similarly long-lived, the Methusala Foundation would pay you.
In either case, it comes down to forking out cash to improve the chances of getting desired results. Certainly not the worst idea I've ever heard.
Oops. I seem to have run into a moderator with a very, very small soul.
I REALLY wish I had time to do this in detail. Here's a couple of quick points. 1. I'm calling the various security agencies dipshits because if they can't use the tools they already have and the billions of dollars we already give them every year to find 10 million missing lawbreakers or to notice that the Berlin Wall is coming down before the rest of us see it on TV, then nothing else we give them is likely to improve their performance all that much. If you think the powers these agencies already possess are "limited" in any real sense, I don't think we have much more to talk about. When was the last time the FISA court turned down a request? I'll save you the research time. The answer is, "Never". 2. "Lack of cross-jurisdictional data sharing was not specifically erected by anybody!" I guess that would explain why the CIA is forbidden by statute from conducting domestic operations, and why access to data collected by the IRS is severely limited by various statutes specifically enacted for the purpose. There's more examples, of course; many more. I'll leave it to you to find them. Hint: Start with ATF, but don't stop there. 3. The data-sharing mechanisms to catch good ol' Joe already exist. A certain amount of cross-jurisdictional traffic already takes place. Check your facts. Sorry, gotta fly.
A high-quality binocular telescope starts work just when the next generation of 3D movie effects is rolled out. Am I the only one who's glad to live near a place that shows IMAX?