On a side note, remember all those Warner Brothers cartoons that you don't see anymore because they're not politically
correct? You can still find that lot on Cartoon Network UK. For what it's worth.
Actually, the Cartoon Network in the US just showed some WWII era cartoons that they usually don't show. This was late at night, but that's fine with me. These were very full of propaganda,
and some of the clips they showed were certainly not politically correct. I wish they could have shown more, since there is some interesting history in them, but they only showed 4 full length cartoons. As far as I know, the ones that showed in full were not edited.
Hmmm. Yet Apple, who are known for actually giving a rat's ass about the Real Usability of their interface have had an Apple menu for the last 16 years and no one was so confused that they stopped using it. The all-purpose, one great menu really doesn't have a good name (although I agree that start makes at least as much sense as any alternatives) and the logo of the desktop maker is as good as any. Personally I prefer they not put a word on such a menu, since it's meaningless.
So why do I drag a disk to the trashcan to eject it then?
I don't see this as a problem but as an important condition of the test. After all, people with previous exposure to either Windows or Macs represent an important segment of the people who are likely to be trying out GNOME. The developers must make it possible and preferably easy and intuitive for people with previous non-*nix computer experience to switch to GNOME. That may very well mean bending the design to be closer to the way that other existing computer systems work.
I guess it depends on what the ultimate goal is. If your goal is to convert as many users as
possible from Windows/Mac to Linux/GNOME, then I
agree, the input of people with all levels of
experience on those platforms is important. On the other hand, if the desire is to create the most usable UI, I think pre-exposure to other UIs
will only bias the study. I imagine that the goal is more tilted towards the former than the later.
That being said interfaces which are reasonable can be adjusted to within a reasonable amount of time. Gnome is certainly
something that those of average intelligence with the right amount of time should be able to get down...
One problem with this study, is that these people have had previous exposure to other platforms (MS Windows for example), so they have
preconceived notions of how the interface should work. When something is not in the `right' place, they will be confused. This can explain a lot of the odd comments. Unfortunately, a test with
participants evaluating several different OS/interfaces without any pre-exposure to computing is probably not possible.
It is also difficult to say that anyone with average intelligence should be able to figure this out. For people who have no exposure to computers, a lot of things are not obvious. Exposure to computes != intelligence.
Optical jukeboxes like the above describes use 5 GB rw drives. (2.5 GB per side)
Actually, the original poster refers to using ordinary CDs, which would have a smaller filesize limit. In any case, 5 GB is still a constraint the first time you try to create a file larger than this. This is a requirement for some of us.
A carousel that holds 200-300 CDs or DVDs (just like they have for home theaters for around $800)
Sort of like the stuff PowerFile makes. (http://www.dvdchanger.com)
Add to it room for at least two slot-load drives (although four would be even better, one in each corner) so you can access at least two CDs at any given time.
Throw in a Linux thinserver (like the stuff Linksys or any number of companies use) to manange the contents of each CD/DVD.
Result? Over 1TB of storage for around $1000. The only catch is that it is not meant for more than a handful of users at a time.
But this would not work for files >~ 700 MB. I am sure that the SDSC simulations generate individual
files that are a few GB in size (this is very common with simulations).
Is this really a widespread problem? Myself and several friends all use cable modems in the San Diego area (both Time Warner and Cox) and I don't think I've ever heard any complaints. Incidentally, I've been using it for a year and a half now and I think I've only had one short ( 1 hr. ) service interruption and the only drop in speed came about a year ago - I originally could get 400kB/s (yes, that's kilobytes) on ftp while now I can only get 150 or so...
I think the fact that you've experienced a greater than 50% cut in your bandwidth demonstrates that this can be a problem. If they don't add capacity at the same rate that they add users, then your performance will suffer. 150 kB/s is still excellent, but if they keep adding users and don't upgrade, your bandwidth will suffer even more.
People have had their taste of free music now. The record companies really cannot continue ripping both the consumers
_and_ the artists off for much longer. I read recenly in the British press that for her recent gigs in the UK Madonna made over
£1million (thats $1.5mill us) per NIGHT and she did 6 gigs. I am sure other bands (cough metallica) make roughly the same.
Now madge is big and probably doesn't get screwed over record deals but recently in the UK Hearsay sold 1 million singles
and only got 22thousand pounds each! along with sales from millions of albums they get almost nothing (say 5% of sales
profits) if you really support an aritst see them live they get the money.
Recorded music should be a form of advertising an performance for the fans a way of making money. As for mp3.com they
have really pioneered the way music is transfered over the internet. Yes the big traders will use message boards, ftps and irc
but for the general public napster was it. I personally have seen 2 bands live now since i got a track from mp3.com (which IIRC
they get paid for as well)
Actually, only a small fraction of the general population can see a band in concert -- there are
only so many seats. Plus it is so expensive. Personally, I would like to see the artists distribute their music themselves. That way, you
know that the (reasonable) fee to download it goes directly to them (+ minor overhead costs) instead of to the record companys. Free music does little to help the up and coming bands directly, although it does generate interest in their music. I think a good fraction of the population would be willing to pay reasonable rates for song downloads, if they then have the freedom to listen to it on any of their personal devices.
Exactly. It would probably be illegal. But it's not, and so, it's I think the only stimulant drug that can be sold in supermarkets
and to children, and advertised without limits or warnings.
Actually, caffine was covered in a previous/. article. There is even a link to the caffine vault which has a FAQ on doseage.
Owners of SUVs are already pay incrased taxes, as we consume, and must consequently pay for, more gasoline than other drivers. The price of gas includes the taxes used primarily for the maintenance and upkeep of roads.
Actually, I haven't owned a car in the past 8 years. I live just over a mile to work, which makes for a plesant walk in the morning and evening. I can take transit everywhere else I need to go.
It is nothing about not being able to afford an SUV -- I simply believe that most people have little justification for owning one. I certainly don't need one. If I needed to move a lot of stuff (a common reason for people owning one), then I could rent a truck for a day, and save a lot of money over an SUV.
I still think that paying more in gas taxes isn't enough. I still support a further tax on vechiles that get poor mileage.
It is pretty clear that the great increase in the number of SUVs on the road is responsible for the drop in the average gasoline mileage in the US from about 26mpg a few years ago to around 24mpg now.
Burning the dealerships is not the way to combat this problem. I was hoping that gasoline prices would stay high this summer (they are much cheaper in the US than other countries). But they seem to be heading back down now as well.
I would love to see SUVs included in the federal bill that mandates a fleet average for gasoline mileage from a car company. Either that or taxing cars/SUVs that get really poor mileage (some sort of environment destruction tax) would help flip this recent trend.
Let's not even get into the problems SUVs cause on the road by decreasing the visibility of those around them . . .
What role is this language trying to fill? There are already a lot of alternatives out there -- that are very well established. Many run on just as many platforms as CSS is aiming to. A quick glance at the CSS page doesn't seem to suggest that it can do anything that perl or python can't.
With out some specific target application, I cannot see the need of introducing yet another scripting language into the world.
The size of the image on disk is not proportional to the amount of memory it will take up when running. It is the memory footprint that we want to reduce to avoid the bloat.
Does anyone have an accurate tabulation of how the memory usage of mozilla has changed with time?
I have been using Mozilla in Linux since version 0.8. The 0.9.x versions are very stable and fast on Linux. They certainly beat out Netscape. Loading Mozilla takes a little time, but you only do this once, so who cares. On Windows, there is a -turbo option that will preload some stuff, which is not found in the Linux version, so the Windows version may appear to load faster.
I haven't used the Windows version, so I cannot compare the speeds of the two. But the Linux version is coming along nicely as they've updated from 0.8 to 0.9.1. Speed is very good now.
mozilla can be started with the -turbo option which will preload Mozilla when you boot. When you actually launch Mozilla, it will come up quickly. This is a similar trick to what IE does.
RPMs for all the previous releases showed up on
the Mozilla ftp site about 1 day after the release. These setup in a multi-user environment without any problems.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the Cartoon Network in the US just showed some WWII era cartoons that they usually don't show. This was late at night, but that's fine with me. These were very full of propaganda, and some of the clips they showed were certainly not politically correct. I wish they could have shown more, since there is some interesting history in them, but they only showed 4 full length cartoons. As far as I know, the ones that showed in full were not edited.
So why do I drag a disk to the trashcan to eject it then?
I guess it depends on what the ultimate goal is. If your goal is to convert as many users as possible from Windows/Mac to Linux/GNOME, then I agree, the input of people with all levels of experience on those platforms is important. On the other hand, if the desire is to create the most usable UI, I think pre-exposure to other UIs will only bias the study. I imagine that the goal is more tilted towards the former than the later.
One problem with this study, is that these people have had previous exposure to other platforms (MS Windows for example), so they have preconceived notions of how the interface should work. When something is not in the `right' place, they will be confused. This can explain a lot of the odd comments. Unfortunately, a test with participants evaluating several different OS/interfaces without any pre-exposure to computing is probably not possible.
It is also difficult to say that anyone with average intelligence should be able to figure this out. For people who have no exposure to computers, a lot of things are not obvious. Exposure to computes != intelligence.
Actually, the original poster refers to using ordinary CDs, which would have a smaller filesize limit. In any case, 5 GB is still a constraint the first time you try to create a file larger than this. This is a requirement for some of us.
A carousel that holds 200-300 CDs or DVDs (just like they have for home theaters for around $800)
Sort of like the stuff PowerFile makes. (http://www.dvdchanger.com)
Add to it room for at least two slot-load drives (although four would be even better, one in each corner) so you can access at least two CDs at any given time.
Throw in a Linux thinserver (like the stuff Linksys or any number of companies use) to manange the contents of each CD/DVD.
Result? Over 1TB of storage for around $1000. The only catch is that it is not meant for more than a handful of users at a time.
But this would not work for files >~ 700 MB. I am sure that the SDSC simulations generate individual files that are a few GB in size (this is very common with simulations).
I think the fact that you've experienced a greater than 50% cut in your bandwidth demonstrates that this can be a problem. If they don't add capacity at the same rate that they add users, then your performance will suffer. 150 kB/s is still excellent, but if they keep adding users and don't upgrade, your bandwidth will suffer even more.
Recorded music should be a form of advertising an performance for the fans a way of making money. As for mp3.com they have really pioneered the way music is transfered over the internet. Yes the big traders will use message boards, ftps and irc but for the general public napster was it. I personally have seen 2 bands live now since i got a track from mp3.com (which IIRC they get paid for as well)
Actually, only a small fraction of the general population can see a band in concert -- there are only so many seats. Plus it is so expensive. Personally, I would like to see the artists distribute their music themselves. That way, you know that the (reasonable) fee to download it goes directly to them (+ minor overhead costs) instead of to the record companys. Free music does little to help the up and coming bands directly, although it does generate interest in their music. I think a good fraction of the population would be willing to pay reasonable rates for song downloads, if they then have the freedom to listen to it on any of their personal devices.
Actually, caffine was covered in a previous /. article. There is even a link to the caffine vault which has a FAQ on doseage.
For critical updates, RH up2date does this. For other packages, Red Carpet can grab packages.
RH 7.1 seems pretty stable. Any fixes are easy to grab with up2date (as they were with 7.0).
Actually, I haven't owned a car in the past 8 years. I live just over a mile to work, which makes for a plesant walk in the morning and evening. I can take transit everywhere else I need to go.
It is nothing about not being able to afford an SUV -- I simply believe that most people have little justification for owning one. I certainly don't need one. If I needed to move a lot of stuff (a common reason for people owning one), then I could rent a truck for a day, and save a lot of money over an SUV.
I still think that paying more in gas taxes isn't enough. I still support a further tax on vechiles that get poor mileage.
Burning the dealerships is not the way to combat this problem. I was hoping that gasoline prices would stay high this summer (they are much cheaper in the US than other countries). But they seem to be heading back down now as well.
I would love to see SUVs included in the federal bill that mandates a fleet average for gasoline mileage from a car company. Either that or taxing cars/SUVs that get really poor mileage (some sort of environment destruction tax) would help flip this recent trend.
Let's not even get into the problems SUVs cause on the road by decreasing the visibility of those around them . . .
With out some specific target application, I cannot see the need of introducing yet another scripting language into the world.
What about serial ATA -- we keep hearing about this. There is a lot of information at the serial ATA homepage.
Hmmm... when I go to that site I get a 'page not found error' How is that going to help Linux?
Does anyone have an accurate tabulation of how the memory usage of mozilla has changed with time?
I don't know how soon the NGST will follow up after MAP -- as far as I know, the design has not yet been settled on.
I haven't used the Windows version, so I cannot compare the speeds of the two. But the Linux version is coming along nicely as they've updated from 0.8 to 0.9.1. Speed is very good now.
This is documented in the Release Notes.
RPMs for all the previous releases showed up on the Mozilla ftp site about 1 day after the release. These setup in a multi-user environment without any problems.