I agree that ignorance is a factor but in many cases a forgivable factor. Even I acknowledge my ignorance as to how a web site such as Worth 1000 or Newgrounds would cater to users with vision deficiencies.
My main rant is this: private industry can discriminate. I don't care who they are, any private company can (or should be able to) intentionally single out individual groups and refuse service to them if they want to. They shouldn't, but they certainly have that right. Why not?
Antitrust law defines a monopolist and states that monopolists have to follow different rules in order to preserve competition elsewhere. The Americans with Disabilities Act may have placed accessibility requirements on monopolists.
Then use the official language of each country where the company providing the service has an office. If there's an office in Brazil, use Portuguese. If there's an office in Iraq, use Arabic.
By the "amount and substantiality" doctrine and the "effect on the market" doctrine (see 17 USC 107 for details), distributing a minimal-bitrate MP3 file may count as fair use in some cases. For many of the purposes that minimal-bitrate MP3 files are put to, the "purpose and character" doctrine may apply as well.
Most people browse in userland, and thus don't care about the technical details behind a window manager.
They sure do care when they get the "Your system resources are running low" dialog box, and they continue to get it even after quadrupling the RAM in the machine, because the Windows 9x resource heap is limited to 65536 bytes for user.exe and 65536 bytes for gdi.exe no matter how many megabytes of physical RAM are available. Tabs are more resource-efficient than windows.
KDE, OS/2 and Windows 3.1 via thrid party apps had multiple desktops long before Mozilla existed
If multiple desktops are so cool, then why have user interface experts working for a major computer company discarded multiple desktops as too confusing?
Interoperability: JavaScript is dead (unless you're masochist enough trying to be complatible with IE and Netscape)
IE 5.x supports enough of the W3C DOM to make portable scripting possible. IE 6 supports even more, making portable scripting plausible. Netscape 7.x supports pretty much everything in W3C DOM. (Very few people use 4.x browsers anymore.)
Have you had specific bad experiences with trying to get the same script to run properly in IE 5.5 or later and Netscape 6.2 or later?
ads are anoing (only mozilla seems to care enough to allow you to block them).
Don't Konqueror and Safari have "block images from this server" as well?
The truth is, that Netscape stopped all innovation at 4.5. The rest of the world moved on, and they STILL don't see that [...] CSS [is] great web innovatio[n] that continue[s] to push the envelope.
And Netscape 7.1 has a beautiful implementation of CSS.
Tabbed browsing? I was really pleased when I saw that. Then I got a feeling of deja vu. Hmmm... Let me drag the Windows toolbar to the top of the screen. Then let me do open in new window for pages. Hmmm... I can click the tabs, and jump instantly between different browser windows!
There are a few differences between window manager level tabbed browsing and application level tabbed browsing. First of all, OS-level tabs (separate windows) take up more memory and more of Win9x's 64 KB System Resources heap than app-level tabs. Second, with app-level tabs, I can keep separate sets of pages open in separate windows: Slashdot stories (with their related articles) in one set, Kuro5hin in another set, E2 in another, gbadev.org in another, ddrei.com in another, etc., and I can minimize one whole web site at a time. I have ADD like that.
What I see as the few great new features since the web started are:
Brushed metal started innocently enough: QuickTime Player emulates a DVD player. iTunes emulates a stereo system.
But now Apple could be taking the metaphor too far in an effort to de-emphasize Aqua, by recognizing that almost every app on a computer "emulates" something outside the computer and by encouraging third party developers to recognize the same.
Roxio Toast (or whatever they call the Mac version of Easy CD Creator) emulates a CD-Audio recorder.
How about this? Install it on a plastic computer (gumdrop iMac, lamp iMac, eMac, iBook, or older G3/G4), and you get Aqua controls by default. Install it on a pre-Ti PowerBook, and you get Dark Aqua. Install it on a metal computer (TiBook, HgMac, Power Mac G5), and you get brushed metal.
Would setting the default appearance for on-screen controls to match the appearance of the computer's case prove too confusing to users?
You find the size of the buttons offensive. That doesn't make them bad UI.
Apple could at least have made the buttons shrink by half when the size of the window decreases below, say, 320x240 pixels.
Clicking on the [audio level and timecode] icon (and even though it is animated, it still is an icon) displaying the sound levels of the movie you are watching should not display the controls for modifying sound properties.
It should have been implemented as two controls: one that opens the equalizer, and one that switches between time remaining and time elapsed.
Talk about bad interface -- [WMP9] didn't even include the ability to fast forward or rewind!
Relax; it's only digital restrictions management.
Rewind, and you view something several times that you paid to view only once, transforming a "public performance" of a copyrighted audiovisual work into a "public display". The streaming video provider may not have been licensed to offer public displays.
Fast-forward, and you skip the commercials that you are obligated to have displayed by the TOS you signed with the streaming video provider.
We've seen app developers flock quickly to new frameworks included with each new version Mac OS X, rendering older versions of Mac OS X unable to run new applications.
The Federal Communications Commission has set a public policy that terrestrial broadcast transmissions be unencrypted. Read the broadcast flag debates for further background information.
I've read that General Electric, parent company of NBC, is seeking to buy Vivendi Universal. If GE buys Universal, then there goes the only U.S. TV broadcast network not affiliated with a movie studio. CBS, UPN == Paramount, ABC == Disney, Fox == Fox, WB == Warner, and now NBC == Universal.
However, RIAA can do things that EFF can never do. RIAA is a political action committee and can give money to congressional election campaigns; EFF is a 501(c)(3) charity and cannot.
What EFF needs to do here is follow the example of NORML: set up a parallel organization with separate accounting, except make it a PAC instead of a charity. NORML routes lobbying through the PAC and advertising through the charity. Donations to NORML Foundation are tax-deductible; donations to NORML PAC aren't.
You seem to imply that copyright infringement is not a crime. However, willful copyright infringement for financial gain is a crime (17 USC 506). Because of the default behavior of file-sharing apps (downloads are shared by default), the labels can usually show "financial gain" as defined in 17 USC 101.
Before you reply to this message, please read the statutes to which I linked, especially the definition of "financial gain" in section 101.
duplication of data (except for Backup/QOS purposes) is an evil thing
Later you write:
Streaming audio is very do-able over broadband today.
Broadband isn't affordable in all locations today. Where residential high-speed Internet access is affordable, this is because 1. throughput is oversold, and 2. the typical TOS considers several-hour outages acceptable. I find storing the data locally on a machine located within the end user's household a valid "QOS purpose".
Slashdot Mirror
I agree that ignorance is a factor but in many cases a forgivable factor. Even I acknowledge my ignorance as to how a web site such as Worth 1000 or Newgrounds would cater to users with vision deficiencies.
everybody knows you go to the pet store to buy giraffes
There is (was?) a pet store in the mall here in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Still, I'd be more likely to go with the "toy store"/"stuffed animal" interpretation. Toys "R" Us has a giraffe for a mascot, you know.
My main rant is this: private industry can discriminate. I don't care who they are, any private company can (or should be able to) intentionally single out individual groups and refuse service to them if they want to. They shouldn't, but they certainly have that right. Why not?
Antitrust law defines a monopolist and states that monopolists have to follow different rules in order to preserve competition elsewhere. The Americans with Disabilities Act may have placed accessibility requirements on monopolists.
how does the blind person identify "the bubble" and "next to it"?
Instead of "bubble" use "radio button", which is the standard name in HTML.
"Next to it" has a straightforward meaning in the XHTML document tree.
Then use the official language of each country where the company providing the service has an office. If there's an office in Brazil, use Portuguese. If there's an office in Iraq, use Arabic.
By the "amount and substantiality" doctrine and the "effect on the market" doctrine (see 17 USC 107 for details), distributing a minimal-bitrate MP3 file may count as fair use in some cases. For many of the purposes that minimal-bitrate MP3 files are put to, the "purpose and character" doctrine may apply as well.
Nothing you read on Slashdot is legal advice.
Most people browse in userland, and thus don't care about the technical details behind a window manager.
They sure do care when they get the "Your system resources are running low" dialog box, and they continue to get it even after quadrupling the RAM in the machine, because the Windows 9x resource heap is limited to 65536 bytes for user.exe and 65536 bytes for gdi.exe no matter how many megabytes of physical RAM are available. Tabs are more resource-efficient than windows.
KDE, OS/2 and Windows 3.1 via thrid party apps had multiple desktops long before Mozilla existed
If multiple desktops are so cool, then why have user interface experts working for a major computer company discarded multiple desktops as too confusing?
Interoperability: JavaScript is dead (unless you're masochist enough trying to be complatible with IE and Netscape)
IE 5.x supports enough of the W3C DOM to make portable scripting possible. IE 6 supports even more, making portable scripting plausible. Netscape 7.x supports pretty much everything in W3C DOM. (Very few people use 4.x browsers anymore.)
Have you had specific bad experiences with trying to get the same script to run properly in IE 5.5 or later and Netscape 6.2 or later?
ads are anoing (only mozilla seems to care enough to allow you to block them).
Don't Konqueror and Safari have "block images from this server" as well?
The truth is, that Netscape stopped all innovation at 4.5. The rest of the world moved on, and they STILL don't see that [...] CSS [is] great web innovatio[n] that continue[s] to push the envelope.
And Netscape 7.1 has a beautiful implementation of CSS.
Tabbed browsing? I was really pleased when I saw that. Then I got a feeling of deja vu. Hmmm... Let me drag the Windows toolbar to the top of the screen. Then let me do open in new window for pages. Hmmm... I can click the tabs, and jump instantly between different browser windows!
There are a few differences between window manager level tabbed browsing and application level tabbed browsing. First of all, OS-level tabs (separate windows) take up more memory and more of Win9x's 64 KB System Resources heap than app-level tabs. Second, with app-level tabs, I can keep separate sets of pages open in separate windows: Slashdot stories (with their related articles) in one set, Kuro5hin in another set, E2 in another, gbadev.org in another, ddrei.com in another, etc., and I can minimize one whole web site at a time. I have ADD like that.
What I see as the few great new features since the web started are:
10. RSS feeds.
Web browser emulates a newspaper.
Web browser emulates a TV.
Web browser emulates a radio.
Web browser emulates a record store.
Web browser emulates a bookstore.
Finding Nemo/Sharkslayer (Something smells fishy here.)
More like...
LOSING NEMO!
Brushed metal started innocently enough: QuickTime Player emulates a DVD player. iTunes emulates a stereo system.
But now Apple could be taking the metaphor too far in an effort to de-emphasize Aqua, by recognizing that almost every app on a computer "emulates" something outside the computer and by encouraging third party developers to recognize the same.
Roxio Toast (or whatever they call the Mac version of Easy CD Creator) emulates a CD-Audio recorder.
Word processor emulates a typewriter.
Adobe Photoshop emulates a darkroom and an easel.
PIM emulates a card file.
VisualBoyAdvance emulates a GBA.
RealPC (coming soon) emulates an x86 PC.
How about this? Install it on a plastic computer (gumdrop iMac, lamp iMac, eMac, iBook, or older G3/G4), and you get Aqua controls by default. Install it on a pre-Ti PowerBook, and you get Dark Aqua. Install it on a metal computer (TiBook, HgMac, Power Mac G5), and you get brushed metal.
Would setting the default appearance for on-screen controls to match the appearance of the computer's case prove too confusing to users?
You find the size of the buttons offensive. That doesn't make them bad UI.
Apple could at least have made the buttons shrink by half when the size of the window decreases below, say, 320x240 pixels.
Clicking on the [audio level and timecode] icon (and even though it is animated, it still is an icon) displaying the sound levels of the movie you are watching should not display the controls for modifying sound properties.
It should have been implemented as two controls: one that opens the equalizer, and one that switches between time remaining and time elapsed.
Talk about bad interface -- [WMP9] didn't even include the ability to fast forward or rewind!
Relax; it's only digital restrictions management.
Rewind, and you view something several times that you paid to view only once, transforming a "public performance" of a copyrighted audiovisual work into a "public display". The streaming video provider may not have been licensed to offer public displays.
Fast-forward, and you skip the commercials that you are obligated to have displayed by the TOS you signed with the streaming video provider.
We've seen app developers flock quickly to new frameworks included with each new version Mac OS X, rendering older versions of Mac OS X unable to run new applications.
The Federal Communications Commission has set a public policy that terrestrial broadcast transmissions be unencrypted. Read the broadcast flag debates for further background information.
I've read that General Electric, parent company of NBC, is seeking to buy Vivendi Universal. If GE buys Universal, then there goes the only U.S. TV broadcast network not affiliated with a movie studio. CBS, UPN == Paramount, ABC == Disney, Fox == Fox, WB == Warner, and now NBC == Universal.
However, RIAA can do things that EFF can never do. RIAA is a political action committee and can give money to congressional election campaigns; EFF is a 501(c)(3) charity and cannot.
What EFF needs to do here is follow the example of NORML: set up a parallel organization with separate accounting, except make it a PAC instead of a charity. NORML routes lobbying through the PAC and advertising through the charity. Donations to NORML Foundation are tax-deductible; donations to NORML PAC aren't.
You seem to imply that copyright infringement is not a crime. However, willful copyright infringement for financial gain is a crime (17 USC 506). Because of the default behavior of file-sharing apps (downloads are shared by default), the labels can usually show "financial gain" as defined in 17 USC 101.
Before you reply to this message, please read the statutes to which I linked, especially the definition of "financial gain" in section 101.
Filk: Will the real Bruce Perens please stand up?
duplication of data (except for Backup/QOS purposes) is an evil thing
Later you write:
Streaming audio is very do-able over broadband today.
Broadband isn't affordable in all locations today. Where residential high-speed Internet access is affordable, this is because 1. throughput is oversold, and 2. the typical TOS considers several-hour outages acceptable. I find storing the data locally on a machine located within the end user's household a valid "QOS purpose".
There are no surfaces on a spear that produce significant lift
Perhaps nothing on a spear, but something on a Spears?
I have heard that pyDDR is good, but I have a PS2, so I can play RealDDR
Can you play "Around The World" by Red Hot Chili Peppers in Konami's DDRMAX? No. DDRMAX does not support adding recordings from CDs.
All Comcast seems to care about is that your system does DHCP properly.
I guess Comcast does "just work".
I guess you must actually check your posts via your user page too.
I have notification turned on.
If I do go to Linux in the near future, it'll probably be Knoppix in the CD-ROM drive (F:) that I never use anymore since I got a burner (G:).