When too many things started going on at once, especially explosion in Goldeneye, the N64 video would just lag like hell.
Personally, I haven't found this to be too much of a problem. To my mind, both the console and the game (Goldeneye) are masterful - to be able to play 4 player on such a relitively low-powered system with pretty good graphics and responses puts PC gaming to shame.
When I reboot, 95% of the time it's beacuse I installed some new hardware, software, or changed some settings.
The thing is, you should be able to do all of these things without the OS crashing. While I find that slashdotters do over-exagerate the down-sides of windows 9x, I would hardly say that the BSOD is a "rare" occurance. Before moving to NT I would generally reboot at least daily.
Have you ever considered that enabling people who are not programmers to create programs might be why so much Windows software sucks?
So you were born a progremmer were you? You didn't learn it at some stage? I suppose the first thing you programmed was a unix device driver in assembly or a kernel in C. While I agree that it's good to have a certain barrier to entry, I also feel that encouraging people to start programming is a good thing. If the product is crap it will go nowhere. One other thing to consider is that VB is often used in a corporate environment not only because it is an easy introduction to real programming but also because in terms of developing speed it kicks the shit out of anything else. I'm sick of hearing comments to the effect that there is no good Windows software. This is just a load of crap. Most business user software in Windows is years ahead of other platforms. And, before you castigate me as a sad and lonely windows lover, I'm not, I use Linux, I just can't stand moronic Linux advocates with a superiority complex.
Why does mozilla break all the user interface rules (like middle button scrolling)? This pisses me off because they must have spent a bundle of time reimplementing the entire keyboard/mouse logic (incorrectly). Don't fix [break] it if it isn't broken.
Mozilla was started from a brand new codebase - they didn't fix/break netscape, they just threw it away and started again. If you don't like it, you know where you can stick it - mozilla.org, where you can place requests, bugs and even bug fixes. Alternatively you could just keep it to yourself and moan on and on.
Yes, but it would be nice to have the same mail manager on different platforms wouldn't it. It would be nice to have something a little less prone to macro viruses than Outlook and perhaps even something that uses less memory. It might even be nice to have a quick-and-dirty web-page editor which was standars compliant - it might take a couple of windows users away from Outlook Express!
I wish I had been able to post ealy on this topic, but let me set a few things straight for some of the "I live my life through a tv set" slashdotters who have posted comments without any knowledge of life in a developing country. Yes, there are poor people in Ethiopia (I use Ethiopia as an example because my family lived there for about 4 years). Yes, there are poor people in London, New York and Paris who couldn't give a shit about the net. During my time in Africa I met a huge number of educated, open-minded (and some reasonably wealthy) people who embrace advances in technology. For those slashdotters who paint a picture from 15 years ago - constant famine, country-wide warfare, etc. -let me dispell a myth. They are not all poor, uneducated, starving and homeless. They watch tv at the local bar (where they drink beer or whiskey). They live in homes and eat food. In other words, they live there lives as a complete human being and not just a 2 dimensional character you watched on LIVE AID!
People in countries like Eithopia are apathetic about progress because they are more worried about when and where they are going to eat, where they are going to live, and which band of armed men are going to show up the next day.
That is the biggest pile of shit I've read in a while. Try living out there before writing massive generalisations about the people. My family lived in Ethiopia for around 4 years and in that time I did meet a lot of people without money, homes or hope. I did meet people who had family members killed in the last war. But I also met load who were educated, forward-thinking people who would welcome progression towards the net as a means of improving their lot. There are many people on the streets of London and Paris and New York who have no food, homes or hope: that does not preclude those of us who are fortunate enough from enjoying the internet. I suppose you think that Ethiopians don't drink beer or watch TV?
What you must understand is that although a government, such as the Ethiopian government, may have control over most of the media in their country, they rarely can stop locals from accessing news from outside if that is what they want to see. In Addis Abeba foreign newspapers are available (all be it at a vastly expanded price). The problem for internet access is more of an infrastructure problem than a cultural one.
At which point did I say that I was from Japan? I also live in Europe but the difference between a console and a games-pc is large enough to stop me from ever buying an up-to-date PC. Most of my non-gaming computer activities are either at work on a high-end machine that I can't play games on, or on a 486 at home which runs an up-and-coming OS. I have no need of a high-end machine at home, therefore - even in Europe - news like this matters (even more so if it turns out to be true).
Don't be so arrogant as to assume that nobody from Japan reads Slashdot. Some of us even care about things we will never own (mainframes, big unix boxen etc)- never mind only having to wait a few months. Some of us can't afford to buy a PC that will run the latest games, wheras a console is a much more economical option.
He's talking about win95, you're talking about NT. They are two completely different beasts as far as reliability. I can understand that you have a server which runs on NT and rarely/never crashes but that does not mean that the same can be said for 95. Windows 95 crashes often and on every machine I have ever come across - without exception. "Invalid page fault" anyone?. So much so that we don't even investigate beyond "have you tried re-booting yet?" on most occasions. When this isn't good enough the reason is usually because 95 has allowed them to delete missioncritical.dll At least with NT it's a bit harder.
I think the problem with tax software is that it is not uniform over time or location. If you can find a team of developers in every region where the tax is different (country to country -even US state to state AFAIK) that will be willing to do nothing except update the mundane aspects of the program (ie. business rules) on a regular basis, then you could be on to a winner. Otherwise you will be left with a piece of software which is only usable to a small subset of the community, and even then, probably will be out of date for a good percentage of the time.
. Speaking of the oil industry, we wouldn't have to put up with the expensive gas prices if we ALL were using this on our car. Speaking as someone connected with the oil industry (to my shame), unless you live in the states, you don't know what expensive gas (or petrol) is. Considering the enourmous costs and financial uncertainty behind oil exploration and production it is amazing that the larger companies don't charge more (yet!).
Here in the UK most (nearly all) of the cost of fuel is in the form of tax - we would probably end up paying the same tax on fuel cells just as soon as they were the norm.
This is coming from someone who doesn't care what trees we cut down, just as long as they plant new ones to cut down again. Not so easy to do that with fossil fuel, unless you want to wait a few million years:->
I can't see NT as being fast at anything unless it's fast to anger the user. NT runs like a sleepy one-legged hog, but the latest java vm's run rather well. Apart from gc which occasionally stops everything it almost rivals native code if you throw enought (256) ram at it.
Further to Fingal's post: you can get the book in electronic form for free from Bruce's website. Although you may wan't to buy it as it's rather large and well worth the money.
In what way is English a closed format? It is open, as is almost any language - see Collin's French to English Dictionary.
In an open format - which I believe human languages to be - constant change is not a huge problem, we can adapt. But in a closed system such as word and excel files, any change is immediately a problem due to the time it takes to work out the new format. With a language you can just ask someone.
There are exceptions to this, I agree with you that Business-speak is often around to exclude those who aren't in-the-know (also, see: lawyer), this is often because people are very afraid that everyone else will discover how easy their job is. It makes it harder for everyone to compete. These are exceptions to the rule however and anyway it is still much easier to read a jargon file (or ask someone) than to decrypt a binary data file.
This statement you have made is akin to saying that "English is a monopoly in the business world. It is absolutely necessary to be able to speak, read and write in its' closed format"
Except that English is not a closed format. If a leader in technology decides to adopt a format which is
a)closed
b)constantly changing
then it is abusing it's position and relying on dirty tricks rather than quality technology to hold it's place in the Market.
While I personally agree that Office is without a doubt the best software of it's type, I believe this should be the only factor on needs to consider when choosing a product. At the moment, this is not the case.
In enterprise level business, MS Office has a monopoly.
It is absolutely necessary to be able to read and write in their closed format. Other packages can, at best, do this with basic spreadsheets, WP docs etc. but you try sticking formulae or "pivot tables" in there and doing the same.
Recently I've noticed an increase in the number of articles about sex related issues. Are you trying to increase the readership by upping your chances of appearing in search engines?
Slashdot Mirror
You make it sound like you can, though, so please tell us how many times that it's happened.
Hahahahaha you're asking for evidence, hahahah, this is slashdot. Do you knownothing@hotmail.com?
When too many things started going on at once, especially explosion in Goldeneye, the N64 video would just lag like hell.
Personally, I haven't found this to be too much of a problem. To my mind, both the console and the game (Goldeneye) are masterful - to be able to play 4 player on such a relitively low-powered system with pretty good graphics and responses puts PC gaming to shame.
When I reboot, 95% of the time it's beacuse I installed some new hardware, software, or changed some settings.
The thing is, you should be able to do all of these things without the OS crashing. While I find that slashdotters do over-exagerate the down-sides of windows 9x, I would hardly say that the BSOD is a "rare" occurance. Before moving to NT I would generally reboot at least daily.
Have you ever considered that enabling people who are not programmers to create programs might be why so much Windows software sucks?
So you were born a progremmer were you? You didn't learn it at some stage?
I suppose the first thing you programmed was a unix device driver in assembly or a kernel in C.
While I agree that it's good to have a certain barrier to entry, I also feel that encouraging people to start programming is a good thing. If the product is crap it will go nowhere.
One other thing to consider is that VB is often used in a corporate environment not only because it is an easy introduction to real programming but also because in terms of developing speed it kicks the shit out of anything else.
I'm sick of hearing comments to the effect that there is no good Windows software. This is just a load of crap. Most business user software in Windows is years ahead of other platforms.
And, before you castigate me as a sad and lonely windows lover, I'm not, I use Linux, I just can't stand moronic Linux advocates with a superiority complex.
Why does mozilla break all the user interface rules (like middle button scrolling)? This pisses me off because they must have spent a bundle of time reimplementing the entire keyboard/mouse logic (incorrectly). Don't fix [break] it if it isn't broken.
Mozilla was started from a brand new codebase - they didn't fix/break netscape, they just threw it away and started again. If you don't like it, you know where you can stick it - mozilla.org, where you can place requests, bugs and even bug fixes. Alternatively you could just keep it to yourself and moan on and on.
Yes, but it would be nice to have the same mail manager on different platforms wouldn't it.
It would be nice to have something a little less prone to macro viruses than Outlook and perhaps even something that uses less memory.
It might even be nice to have a quick-and-dirty web-page editor which was standars compliant - it might take a couple of windows users away from Outlook Express!
I wish I had been able to post ealy on this topic, but let me set a few things straight for some of the "I live my life through a tv set" slashdotters who have posted comments without any knowledge of life in a developing country.
Yes, there are poor people in Ethiopia (I use Ethiopia as an example because my family lived there for about 4 years).
Yes, there are poor people in London, New York and Paris who couldn't give a shit about the net.
During my time in Africa I met a huge number of educated, open-minded (and some reasonably wealthy) people who embrace advances in technology.
For those slashdotters who paint a picture from 15 years ago - constant famine, country-wide warfare, etc. -let me dispell a myth.
They are not all poor, uneducated, starving and homeless.
They watch tv at the local bar (where they drink beer or whiskey). They live in homes and eat food.
In other words, they live there lives as a complete human being and not just a 2 dimensional character you watched on LIVE AID!
People in countries like Eithopia are apathetic about progress because they are more worried about when and where they are going to eat, where they are going to live, and which band of armed men are going to show up the next day.
That is the biggest pile of shit I've read in a while. Try living out there before writing massive generalisations about the people. My family lived in Ethiopia for around 4 years and in that time I did meet a lot of people without money, homes or hope. I did meet people who had family members killed in the last war. But I also met load who were educated, forward-thinking people who would welcome progression towards the net as a means of improving their lot.
There are many people on the streets of London and Paris and New York who have no food, homes or hope: that does not preclude those of us who are fortunate enough from enjoying the internet.
I suppose you think that Ethiopians don't drink beer or watch TV?
What you must understand is that although a government, such as the Ethiopian government, may have control over most of the media in their country, they rarely can stop locals from accessing news from outside if that is what they want to see. In Addis Abeba foreign newspapers are available (all be it at a vastly expanded price). The problem for internet access is more of an infrastructure problem than a cultural one.
At which point did I say that I was from Japan?
I also live in Europe but the difference between a console and a games-pc is large enough to stop me from ever buying an up-to-date PC.
Most of my non-gaming computer activities are either at work on a high-end machine that I can't play games on, or on a 486 at home which runs an up-and-coming OS. I have no need of a high-end machine at home, therefore - even in Europe - news like this matters (even more so if it turns out to be true).
Don't be so arrogant as to assume that nobody from Japan reads Slashdot.
Some of us even care about things we will never own (mainframes, big unix boxen etc)- never mind only having to wait a few months.
Some of us can't afford to buy a PC that will run the latest games, wheras a console is a much more economical option.
He's talking about win95, you're talking about NT. They are two completely different beasts as far as reliability. I can understand that you have a server which runs on NT and rarely/never crashes but that does not mean that the same can be said for 95.
Windows 95 crashes often and on every machine I have ever come across - without exception. "Invalid page fault" anyone?. So much so that we don't even investigate beyond "have you tried re-booting yet?" on most occasions. When this isn't good enough the reason is usually because 95 has allowed them to delete missioncritical.dll
At least with NT it's a bit harder.
I think the problem with tax software is that it is not uniform over time or location.
If you can find a team of developers in every region where the tax is different (country to country -even US state to state AFAIK) that will be willing to do nothing except update the mundane aspects of the program (ie. business rules) on a regular basis, then you could be on to a winner.
Otherwise you will be left with a piece of software which is only usable to a small subset of the community, and even then, probably will be out of date for a good percentage of the time.
you should have been moderated up for that one.
... and unless I change my ways, I'll be there with them, being forced to watch and listen. ug.
Why would you want something that eats petrol like there's no tomorrow?
For the same reason you should smoke cigs - big cars make you attractive to the ladies.
Sorry, my mistake, I did mean "if". Long day, etc.
. Speaking of the oil industry, we wouldn't have to put up with the expensive gas prices if we ALL were using this on our car.
:->
Speaking as someone connected with the oil industry (to my shame), unless you live in the states, you don't know what expensive gas (or petrol) is. Considering the enourmous costs and financial uncertainty behind oil exploration and production it is amazing that the larger companies don't charge more (yet!).
Here in the UK most (nearly all) of the cost of fuel is in the form of tax - we would probably end up paying the same tax on fuel cells just as soon as they were the norm.
This is coming from someone who doesn't care what trees we cut down, just as long as they plant new ones to cut down again.
Not so easy to do that with fossil fuel, unless you want to wait a few million years
I can't see NT as being fast at anything unless it's fast to anger the user.
NT runs like a sleepy one-legged hog, but the latest java vm's run rather well. Apart from gc which occasionally stops everything it almost rivals native code if you throw enought (256) ram at it.
Further to Fingal's post: you can get the book in electronic form for free from Bruce's website. Although you may wan't to buy it as it's rather large and well worth the money.
Bunch of donkeys. Think before you flame.
In what way is English a closed format? It is open, as is almost any language - see Collin's French to English Dictionary.
In an open format - which I believe human languages to be - constant change is not a huge problem, we can adapt. But in a closed system such as word and excel files, any change is immediately a problem due to the time it takes to work out the new format. With a language you can just ask someone.
There are exceptions to this, I agree with you that Business-speak is often around to exclude those who aren't in-the-know (also, see: lawyer), this is often because people are very afraid that everyone else will discover how easy their job is. It makes it harder for everyone to compete. These are exceptions to the rule however and anyway it is still much easier to read a jargon file (or ask someone) than to decrypt a binary data file.
This statement you have made is akin to saying that "English is a monopoly in the business world. It is absolutely necessary to be able to speak, read and write in its' closed format"
Except that English is not a closed format. If a leader in technology decides to adopt a format which is
a)closed
b)constantly changing
then it is abusing it's position and relying on dirty tricks rather than quality technology to hold it's place in the Market.
While I personally agree that Office is without a doubt the best software of it's type, I believe this should be the only factor on needs to consider when choosing a product. At the moment, this is not the case.
In enterprise level business, MS Office has a monopoly.
It is absolutely necessary to be able to read and write in their closed format. Other packages can, at best, do this with basic spreadsheets, WP docs etc. but you try sticking formulae or "pivot tables" in there and doing the same.
Recently I've noticed an increase in the number of articles about sex related issues. Are you trying to increase the readership by upping your chances of appearing in search engines?