I simply don't understand how or why people only ever have 1 email address and give it out unconditionally to anyone who asks for it. How can people live like that?
While I use these same techniques to limit spam to my email addresses, you and I are in the minority of people who have the resources, time and savvy to do this.
Without a wide-spread educational campaign I don't think it's fair to expect the average user to have the time or resources to do this, let alone even have the idea. The average user will prefer to rely on their provider supplied spam filter than mess about with 130 addresses.
Interesting. We avoid Sun largely because the after sales support is so bad, at least in our part of the world.
By the time we get someone from Sun to start working on an issue, the equivalent problem with an HP, Dell or IBM box has already been fixed. For me this wins the deal every time.
Or to put it another way, why on earth would anyone even expect me to talk to them if they're not prepared to reveal who they are?
It is not necessarily WHO you are but WHERE you are calling from that is the issue here. If I was a battered wife hiding in a refuge, but still wanted to talk to my abusive husband, I would want to know that I can call him but that he can't trace the call back to where I am calling from.
A mobile phone would solve the geographical part of this problem, but would leave the caller open to unwanted return calls. Hiding the number completely leaves the power in the hands of the caller.
Without open source, Apple will find itself in the same position as today's Microsoft in seven years.
Indeed, in the same way it is suffering by not open sourcing OSX.
The vast majority of people don't even know what open source is, let alone care that the software on their phone is open source. If you think this is going to be a factor for the average person when buying their phone you need to spend some time outside/. and speak to some real people.
No no no. It is absolutely not up to the user to waste their time on this stuff. If the OS was written properly, ie up to the standards the customer is expecting (OSX anyone?), then they wouldn't have to do this.
They should share some of the responsibility for the actions of their computer after allowing it to be hijacked and being used to abuse ME
I was with you all the way up to that point, but no, I'm sorry, it is just arrogant to say that the owner of the machine is in any way responsible for this. It is purely and simply Microsoft's fault that they do not take security seriously enough. Why have they not been taken to task about this?
If a car manufacturer sells a model that exhibits a problem with the steering mechanism, you don't blame the driver for not adapting his steering to compensate for the problem?
You laugh, but we had exactly this installed at my last place and we knew instantly if something was wrong, either by noticing odd patterns in the text or by one stopping completely.
Yes, and that is EXACTLY how Apple design the majority of their products and software, and that is also why it is so popular. 95% of users don't want all that extra crap thrown in. When will people like you understand this?
A feature as basic as monitoring a folder and adding the latest music files to the library is unavailable in iTunes
Utter rubbish, this is not a basic feature. The more crud like this you pile on the harder it is to maintain the product, the more support you have to do, and besides hardly anyone will ever use it.
Apple know when to stop, that's one of their strengths. A large amount of open source developers have no idea when to stop, that is one of the reasons it never becomes main stream. Instead of coding nonsense like this, how about making the thing stable and functional? This is one of the reasons why Ubuntu is doing so well, concentrate on the basics and stop shoveling on irrelevant features.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but don't people use authentication to access their machines? If anyone stole my laptop they would have to either re-install the OS or spend time hacking into it to get anywhere. I'm not saying that's necessarily that difficult, but I would be extremely surprised if a thief stole my laptop, cracked my password, and then used the machine to surf porn. It would be easier for him just to put a fresh OS on it.
Maybe I should create a guest account just for this purpose....
I put it to you that given the choice of two phones for the same price, one with all the multi-media options and one without, that you would go for the one with more options, even if subsequently you never really used them.
I was convinced for years that there was a huge gap in the market for well designed, easy to use devices that only provide basic functionality. This would cover everything from washing machines to DVD players, TVs, phones etc, even stretching to PCs, cars, home alarm systems etc etc. This would appeal to the 90% of the population who only use 10% (or less) of the functionality of their existing devices.
The manufacturer could forget about adding extra functionality and instead improve the usability and reliability of the functions that really matter. If done well, and a good feedback loop put in place to relay customer experience back into the design process, the devices would evolve over time to be almost perfect.
However this would never work. Why? The perception imposed on you by marketing that you're missing out on something. If the next guy has a phone bought for the same price that does a bunch of extra stuff, you're going to want that one every time, kidding yourself the whole time that "you never know when it will come in useful".
Sad really.
"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket." George Orwell
A guy I know who works on one of the experiments told me a joke they have. Apparently there is more than a little rivalry between the Atlas and CMS teams. I asked him what CMS stands for, he told me - When you go and look at it you See A Mess:)
Slashdot Mirror
I simply don't understand how or why people only ever have 1 email address and give it out unconditionally to anyone who asks for it. How can people live like that?
While I use these same techniques to limit spam to my email addresses, you and I are in the minority of people who have the resources, time and savvy to do this.
Without a wide-spread educational campaign I don't think it's fair to expect the average user to have the time or resources to do this, let alone even have the idea. The average user will prefer to rely on their provider supplied spam filter than mess about with 130 addresses.
Orlando..
Interesting. We avoid Sun largely because the after sales support is so bad, at least in our part of the world.
By the time we get someone from Sun to start working on an issue, the equivalent problem with an HP, Dell or IBM box has already been fixed. For me this wins the deal every time.
So, if you're not doing it for real, you are practicing :)
Or to put it another way, why on earth would anyone even expect me to talk to them if they're not prepared to reveal who they are?
It is not necessarily WHO you are but WHERE you are calling from that is the issue here. If I was a battered wife hiding in a refuge, but still wanted to talk to my abusive husband, I would want to know that I can call him but that he can't trace the call back to where I am calling from.
A mobile phone would solve the geographical part of this problem, but would leave the caller open to unwanted return calls. Hiding the number completely leaves the power in the hands of the caller.
The best way to hit them is NOT TO USE THE DAMN SITE! How simple can it be?
I mean, it's a bug, and it's being worked on. So what's the big deal?
as a system sound on their PC?
Me.
Without open source, Apple will find itself in the same position as today's Microsoft in seven years.
Indeed, in the same way it is suffering by not open sourcing OSX.
The vast majority of people don't even know what open source is, let alone care that the software on their phone is open source. If you think this is going to be a factor for the average person when buying their phone you need to spend some time outside /. and speak to some real people.
Orlando.
I was told never to mix law and medicine in my work, it tries your patients.
Ha, ha.
Orlando..
Yes, absolutely! I'm glad someone agrees with me.
No no no. It is absolutely not up to the user to waste their time on this stuff. If the OS was written properly, ie up to the standards the customer is expecting (OSX anyone?), then they wouldn't have to do this.
They should share some of the responsibility for the actions of their computer after allowing it to be hijacked and being used to abuse ME
I was with you all the way up to that point, but no, I'm sorry, it is just arrogant to say that the owner of the machine is in any way responsible for this. It is purely and simply Microsoft's fault that they do not take security seriously enough. Why have they not been taken to task about this?
If a car manufacturer sells a model that exhibits a problem with the steering mechanism, you don't blame the driver for not adapting his steering to compensate for the problem?
Orlando...
You laugh, but we had exactly this installed at my last place and we knew instantly if something was wrong, either by noticing odd patterns in the text or by one stopping completely.
who cares?
And that makes you "hate" the OS? Please....
The truth is, iTunes is an average music player
Yes, and that is EXACTLY how Apple design the majority of their products and software, and that is also why it is so popular. 95% of users don't want all that extra crap thrown in. When will people like you understand this?
A feature as basic as monitoring a folder and adding the latest music files to the library is unavailable in iTunes
Utter rubbish, this is not a basic feature. The more crud like this you pile on the harder it is to maintain the product, the more support you have to do, and besides hardly anyone will ever use it.
Apple know when to stop, that's one of their strengths. A large amount of open source developers have no idea when to stop, that is one of the reasons it never becomes main stream. Instead of coding nonsense like this, how about making the thing stable and functional? This is one of the reasons why Ubuntu is doing so well, concentrate on the basics and stop shoveling on irrelevant features.
Orlando..
Please expand on this, how on earth can you 'hate' an OS? And what do you object to so much about the iPhone's OS?
" but the critique was debunked as 'science fiction.'"
Yes, you could argue that Orwell's 1984 is science fiction.
Alternatively parents could try having a mature and trusting relationship with their teenage children...
Maybe I'm missing something here, but don't people use authentication to access their machines? If anyone stole my laptop they would have to either re-install the OS or spend time hacking into it to get anywhere. I'm not saying that's necessarily that difficult, but I would be extremely surprised if a thief stole my laptop, cracked my password, and then used the machine to surf porn. It would be easier for him just to put a fresh OS on it.
Maybe I should create a guest account just for this purpose....
I put it to you that given the choice of two phones for the same price, one with all the multi-media options and one without, that you would go for the one with more options, even if subsequently you never really used them.
I was convinced for years that there was a huge gap in the market for well designed, easy to use devices that only provide basic functionality. This would cover everything from washing machines to DVD players, TVs, phones etc, even stretching to PCs, cars, home alarm systems etc etc. This would appeal to the 90% of the population who only use 10% (or less) of the functionality of their existing devices.
The manufacturer could forget about adding extra functionality and instead improve the usability and reliability of the functions that really matter. If done well, and a good feedback loop put in place to relay customer experience back into the design process, the devices would evolve over time to be almost perfect.
However this would never work. Why? The perception imposed on you by marketing that you're missing out on something. If the next guy has a phone bought for the same price that does a bunch of extra stuff, you're going to want that one every time, kidding yourself the whole time that "you never know when it will come in useful".
Sad really.
"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket." George Orwell
Orlando...
So the regular consumer is an "idiot" for not spending masses of money on "a 40"+ TV and a 5.1 surround system"?
I urge you to read this book for an account of the lengths army will go to in researching stuff like this.
My guess is that the lab is far from Windowless
A guy I know who works on one of the experiments told me a joke they have. Apparently there is more than a little rivalry between the Atlas and CMS teams. I asked him what CMS stands for, he told me - When you go and look at it you See A Mess :)