Please note that the clause that "it is in fact Mark Maughan himself that generated these alleged libelous statements" is merely the consequent of a condition that is probably not true, and the conditional statement as a whole is merely the result of an illconceived logical process based on incomplete information and is not even my opinion of events. I apologise for not making this clear.
Furthermore, I apologise most sincerely that the aforementioned condition is vague and imprecise, it should read more like: "If a court of law should find that this is what has happened, then an initial logical analysis would suggest that..."
In addition, the word "generated" is intended to suggest a simple progression of events implying no intent on the part of any party, nor failure of any party to take reasonable precautions to avoid such a completely unforseeable occurrence. In that vein, my closing remark that "[Mark Maughan] expects [the google summary] to [cut non-matching text]" was made in haste and without considering that other persons than myself may not be as familiar with google's proprietary technology as I am. I apologise for that ill considered remark and stress that I have no information regarding Mark Maughan's knowledge to give, and ask that the comment be disregarded by all readers as wholly unreliable.
I have now read one news article regarding Mark Maughan, and it suggests that he is a capable businessman and I have no reason to doubt his character.
I am also not a laywer and do not seek to offer counsel to anybody.
From what I read in the article, it's not PageRank that produced the libelous comments but the summary view of the linked-to pages.
Ie, when searching for the two words: "Bloater" "criminal"
a page that rightly proclaims: "Bloater thinks that any murderer is a criminal"
can be summarised as "Bloater... is a criminal"
If this is the case, then just as a the author of an anagram generator does not issue libelous statements, but the "user" does, it is in fact Mark Maughan himself that generated these alleged libelous statements by instructing a peice of search_and_summarise software to search and summarise by cutting out non matching text using some continuation marker such as "..." just as it normally does and he and everybody else expects it to.
> Not only that, but there is now a belief that H2 may lead to ozone depletion if used widely.
Huh? The H2 is the supply to the fuel cell, the product is simple water - the fuel cell supplies energy by oxidising the Hydrogen. The ozone cannot be affected by the depletion of Hydrogen in the upper atmosphere because the Hydrogen is normally produced by drawing a current through water in the presence of an acid. BTW, if you don't dump the water, you can potentially make a rechargeable fuel cell.
I wonder if there is a way to improve the energy density of Hydrogen. Like having bucky balls, ionising the hydrogen and letting the hydrogen associate to the buckyballs - which are dissolved. Provide a supply of electrons and you could get H2 out. The question is where do the electrons come from.
You could even refuel with a liquid fuel - instead of a leaky nozzle, a sealed attachment fits to your car, pumps out the spent solution and supplies a proton rich solution.
"I would guess that the majority of people are already using machines with 128MB or more."
I would guess that the majority of people in the market for *buying* operating system software are already using machines with 128MB or more. The market share is so different to the installed base that it is only interesting to people trying to hoard money.
Unfortunately I couldn't see the graphs. I think the important measurements would be queries per second per dollar, energy consumed during benchmark, and price over lifetime.
I remember when looking for an old message board comment of mine, I got a suggestion before the results to see what people thought of me. Google presented a page full of Tristan is... snippets from web pages. One of them was even Tristan is a fat ugly bastard from England, which was suprisingly accurate:)
I can't remember how I got the feature to appear though:/
grap brp iuuutz flazzig!...king tune that translator in properly! Ah that's better.
Many wheeled people of Earth, we have met with your ambassador. We are happy to see that you are mechanical beings much like ourselves - the organicist theories have at last been disproved.
We see that your planet has been overrun by plant--life. We will come to your aid immediately and destroy all carbon based auto-duplicative infections. Please stand by for more information.
The Schema validation argument is a good one. It is a worthwhile advantage of XML, if only you could specify a regex match expression for CDATA, an XML configuration file might just be bearable to read;)
Or the parser source could be compiled, linked, and packaged as a shared object file and as an object archive for linking to the utility. Just as you wouldn't expect those utilities to implement an XML parser and DOM accessor procedures.
As a developer, I know that custom parsing routines can often be much simpler than routines to operate a general purpose structured, ordered, data format.
As an example, the inittab format is easier to parse with a custom parser than it is to operate a full XML parser and access data. XF86Config is borderline, but if the XFree86 parser is packaged for separate binary distribution, there is no point going to the extra trouble.
I agree with you in general. I had hoped my post would be moderated funny, but insightful is good enough, if completely inappropriate:)
IANAUIE (I am not a user interface expert), but...
I don't agree that the same concepts should be used *everywhere*, but any parts with similar function *AND* look should have substantially similar *feel*. If they look different enough, then the user will be comfortable with them feeling different. Obviously there should be a good reason for them looking different even though they have the same function. As an example a document viewer and a document editor, both share the function of showing the document to the user and allowing him/her to navigate, but the editor looks very different (lots of gadget buttons), so it is okay to have a different feel in some respects. Having said that, I don't think this should extend to having middle-click (dragscroll) behave differently between viewer and editor, but might extend to middle-click (paste/autoscroll) and double-click behaviour.
As for configuring video and sound cards, I do not think that this should be of major concern, since a user should only be configuring these if they are advanced users - though I do agree they should appear in the same listing of tasks. The related concept is that of resolution, colour depth, volume, recording channel. Resolution and colour depth are properties of the display and should be associated to the display in some fashion, volume is a property of the speakers and should be associated with the speakers in some way. These are both properties of the console, so should be grouped together along with keyboard and mouse properties. The recording channel, however, is different - this is a property of the task at hand, and should be apparent in the application.
I wonder though, what to do with muting and mixing individual channels. I think this is a task related concept, rather than device related, though there are reasonable device related uses (such as selective muting to determine which speakers you have attached to which channel). Perhaps a configure audio output task is the appropriate place for that - it isn't just an immediate preference setting.
He can't use WordStar anymore because its on a 5 1/4 " floppy - so the command prompt is no good. The computer came with only graphical word processors:(
The output from WordStar is also a little, shall we say, "retro". An interface designed for easy, rapid keyboard operation with graphical WYSIWYG display (or at least preview) would probably be ideal.
However, nowadays he needs interoperability too, so any such word processor needs to understand and produce at least Word 6 files.
I suppose I could find a crib sheet for the key-combos off the internet, but I don't know how good navigation within a document is with keys on his software - emacs would probably be ideal if he could get visual feedback on the available commands in an easy format - and if it could do MS Word files (can it?).
My dad hasn't been able to use a computer effectively since we replaced our old Amstrad 1512 complete with command line and text-mode, key-combination operated word processor with a more modern PC with windows and mouse.
He could remember the keys to press, but for the icons and GUI he must refer to the picture instructions I printed out. That means changing his glasses every 10 seconds. Imagine taking longer to do your work on a top-of-the-range PC than on an ancient rust-bucket:/
But hey, he thinks clippy is fun!:)
If Linux desktops mimic Windows, then not only will *I* find it harder to work effectively, so will my dad - For me, the argument is over. Especially that for the last 5 years or so, tech-support to my dad has been provided over the phone.
But XF86Config can be configured by all sorts of GUI utilities. I'll tell you what, you try to teach my dad about XML - then tell me that he will use Linux if he has to understand *that*.
On second thought, try teaching my dad how to use Notepad...
Easy, launch the factory to geosyncronous orbit, and build from there down. And it only has to be strong enough to support it's own weight at the geosyncronous end. The earth end can just be strong enough for the elevator, and so very small cross section at one end, and very large at the other.
This reduces the problem down quite a lot (though still not yet doable:(
I didn't mean to sound abrasive. Just arguing that the only point to discredit these numbers that I have ever seen anybody offer (and they offer this one every month as new figures are published) highlights the extraordinary value of Apache.
Re:The numbers are per Domain, not per Server
on
2003: Year of Apache
·
· Score: 1
You just made an amazing case for using Apache. Either the numbers show that Apache is the popular choice (as most people are hyping about), or the numbers are only a consequence of it being a better choice (as you argue).
Nice.
Re:when we're finished patting ourselves on the ba
on
2003: Year of Apache
·
· Score: 1
The question is not what is our argument to that, but why should we bother arguing. By Microsoft's reasoning, most people are small web server administrators, so most people should use Apache. That's a big win for many, many people - they have quality software that even Microsoft agree they should use. That, for me, is pretty much the end of the argument - my problems are solved, most people's problems are solved.
The only people who's problems are not solved are the big non-technical corporations - and they don't matter much.
The BSoD is not only present on Win95, 98, or ME. Those blue screens are mostly just error notices. The original blue screen of death was only on Windows NT. I hear it can still be seen on some XP installations, but it comes configured to just reboot instead (so if you want a chance of stopping it from happening again, you need to reconfigure it to give you the full CPU state dump).
Interestingly, in the box out quoting Prince Sultan, the BBC have editorially added the name Bin Laden. I wonder if it was merely a pronoun that they replaced to pretend that the quoted was talking about Osama Bin Laden.
Slashdot Mirror
Every time you install an Open Source Operating System, a far eastern baby gets eaten!
Please note that the clause that "it is in fact Mark Maughan himself that generated these alleged libelous statements" is merely the consequent of a condition that is probably not true, and the conditional statement as a whole is merely the result of an illconceived logical process based on incomplete information and is not even my opinion of events. I apologise for not making this clear.
..."
Furthermore, I apologise most sincerely that the aforementioned condition is vague and imprecise, it should read more like: "If a court of law should find that this is what has happened, then an initial logical analysis would suggest that
In addition, the word "generated" is intended to suggest a simple progression of events implying no intent on the part of any party, nor failure of any party to take reasonable precautions to avoid such a completely unforseeable occurrence. In that vein, my closing remark that "[Mark Maughan] expects [the google summary] to [cut non-matching text]" was made in haste and without considering that other persons than myself may not be as familiar with google's proprietary technology as I am. I apologise for that ill considered remark and stress that I have no information regarding Mark Maughan's knowledge to give, and ask that the comment be disregarded by all readers as wholly unreliable.
I have now read one news article regarding Mark Maughan, and it suggests that he is a capable businessman and I have no reason to doubt his character.
I am also not a laywer and do not seek to offer counsel to anybody.
From what I read in the article, it's not PageRank that produced the libelous comments but the summary view of the linked-to pages.
... is a criminal"
Ie, when searching for the two words:
"Bloater" "criminal"
a page that rightly proclaims:
"Bloater thinks that any murderer is a criminal"
can be summarised as "Bloater
If this is the case, then just as a the author of an anagram generator does not issue libelous statements, but the "user" does, it is in fact Mark Maughan himself that generated these alleged libelous statements by instructing a peice of search_and_summarise software to search and summarise by cutting out non matching text using some continuation marker such as "..." just as it normally does and he and everybody else expects it to.
> Not only that, but there is now a belief that H2 may lead to ozone depletion if used widely.
/.er
Huh? The H2 is the supply to the fuel cell, the product is simple water - the fuel cell supplies energy by oxidising the Hydrogen. The ozone cannot be affected by the depletion of Hydrogen in the upper atmosphere because the Hydrogen is normally produced by drawing a current through water in the presence of an acid. BTW, if you don't dump the water, you can potentially make a rechargeable fuel cell.
I wonder if there is a way to improve the energy density of Hydrogen. Like having bucky balls, ionising the hydrogen and letting the hydrogen associate to the buckyballs - which are dissolved. Provide a supply of electrons and you could get H2 out. The question is where do the electrons come from.
You could even refuel with a liquid fuel - instead of a leaky nozzle, a sealed attachment fits to your car, pumps out the spent solution and supplies a proton rich solution.
Ah, the pipe dreams of an uninformed
"Windows XP represesnts [sic] 45% of the market"
"I would guess that the majority of people are already using machines with 128MB or more."
I would guess that the majority of people in the market for *buying* operating system software are already using machines with 128MB or more. The market share is so different to the installed base that it is only interesting to people trying to hoard money.
Unfortunately I couldn't see the graphs. I think the important measurements would be queries per second per dollar, energy consumed during benchmark, and price over lifetime.
They've found a rock that looks like JESUS!
That limerick's really quite crap
Though I'm sure you're a reasonable chap,
Only one line,
nearly finished on time,
So next time don't open your trap.
Probably Howard Stableford, he used to present the BBCs Tommorrows World, but now he does just about every narration I've heard in the last few years.
I remember when looking for an old message board comment of mine, I got a suggestion before the results to see what people thought of me. Google presented a page full of Tristan is ... snippets from web pages. One of them was even Tristan is a fat ugly bastard from England, which was suprisingly accurate :)
:/
I can't remember how I got the feature to appear though
So simply strap a moon sized rocket on and *move* them into geo stationary orbit, dummy!
grap brp iuuutz flazzig! ...king tune that translator in properly! Ah that's better.
Many wheeled people of Earth, we have met with your ambassador. We are happy to see that you are mechanical beings much like ourselves - the organicist theories have at last been disproved.
We see that your planet has been overrun by plant--life. We will come to your aid immediately and destroy all carbon based auto-duplicative infections. Please stand by for more information.
The Schema validation argument is a good one. It is a worthwhile advantage of XML, if only you could specify a regex match expression for CDATA, an XML configuration file might just be bearable to read ;)
Or the parser source could be compiled, linked, and packaged as a shared object file and as an object archive for linking to the utility. Just as you wouldn't expect those utilities to implement an XML parser and DOM accessor procedures.
As a developer, I know that custom parsing routines can often be much simpler than routines to operate a general purpose structured, ordered, data format.
As an example, the inittab format is easier to parse with a custom parser than it is to operate a full XML parser and access data. XF86Config is borderline, but if the XFree86 parser is packaged for separate binary distribution, there is no point going to the extra trouble.
I agree with you in general. I had hoped my post would be moderated funny, but insightful is good enough, if completely inappropriate :)
IANAUIE (I am not a user interface expert), but...
I don't agree that the same concepts should be used *everywhere*, but any parts with similar function *AND* look should have substantially similar *feel*. If they look different enough, then the user will be comfortable with them feeling different. Obviously there should be a good reason for them looking different even though they have the same function. As an example a document viewer and a document editor, both share the function of showing the document to the user and allowing him/her to navigate, but the editor looks very different (lots of gadget buttons), so it is okay to have a different feel in some respects. Having said that, I don't think this should extend to having middle-click (dragscroll) behave differently between viewer and editor, but might extend to middle-click (paste/autoscroll) and double-click behaviour.
As for configuring video and sound cards, I do not think that this should be of major concern, since a user should only be configuring these if they are advanced users - though I do agree they should appear in the same listing of tasks. The related concept is that of resolution, colour depth, volume, recording channel. Resolution and colour depth are properties of the display and should be associated to the display in some fashion, volume is a property of the speakers and should be associated with the speakers in some way. These are both properties of the console, so should be grouped together along with keyboard and mouse properties. The recording channel, however, is different - this is a property of the task at hand, and should be apparent in the application.
I wonder though, what to do with muting and mixing individual channels. I think this is a task related concept, rather than device related, though there are reasonable device related uses (such as selective muting to determine which speakers you have attached to which channel). Perhaps a configure audio output task is the appropriate place for that - it isn't just an immediate preference setting.
He can't use WordStar anymore because its on a 5 1/4 " floppy - so the command prompt is no good. The computer came with only graphical word processors :(
The output from WordStar is also a little, shall we say, "retro". An interface designed for easy, rapid keyboard operation with graphical WYSIWYG display (or at least preview) would probably be ideal.
However, nowadays he needs interoperability too, so any such word processor needs to understand and produce at least Word 6 files.
I suppose I could find a crib sheet for the key-combos off the internet, but I don't know how good navigation within a document is with keys on his software - emacs would probably be ideal if he could get visual feedback on the available commands in an easy format - and if it could do MS Word files (can it?).
My dad hasn't been able to use a computer effectively since we replaced our old Amstrad 1512 complete with command line and text-mode, key-combination operated word processor with a more modern PC with windows and mouse.
:/
:)
He could remember the keys to press, but for the icons and GUI he must refer to the picture instructions I printed out. That means changing his glasses every 10 seconds. Imagine taking longer to do your work on a top-of-the-range PC than on an ancient rust-bucket
But hey, he thinks clippy is fun!
If Linux desktops mimic Windows, then not only will *I* find it harder to work effectively, so will my dad - For me, the argument is over. Especially that for the last 5 years or so, tech-support to my dad has been provided over the phone.
But XF86Config can be configured by all sorts of GUI utilities. I'll tell you what, you try to teach my dad about XML - then tell me that he will use Linux if he has to understand *that*.
On second thought, try teaching my dad how to use Notepad...
For all the Grandma lovers...
Grandma shouldn't have to understand XML. The GUI utility should be used to configure the application, so the config file format is a non-issue.
Furthermore, for the Grandma lovers...
The GUI should consist of two buttons... "Solitair" and "Off".
Easy, launch the factory to geosyncronous orbit, and build from there down. And it only has to be strong enough to support it's own weight at the geosyncronous end. The earth end can just be strong enough for the elevator, and so very small cross section at one end, and very large at the other.
:(
This reduces the problem down quite a lot (though still not yet doable
I didn't mean to sound abrasive. Just arguing that the only point to discredit these numbers that I have ever seen anybody offer (and they offer this one every month as new figures are published) highlights the extraordinary value of Apache.
You just made an amazing case for using Apache. Either the numbers show that Apache is the popular choice (as most people are hyping about), or the numbers are only a consequence of it being a better choice (as you argue).
Nice.
The question is not what is our argument to that, but why should we bother arguing. By Microsoft's reasoning, most people are small web server administrators, so most people should use Apache. That's a big win for many, many people - they have quality software that even Microsoft agree they should use. That, for me, is pretty much the end of the argument - my problems are solved, most people's problems are solved.
The only people who's problems are not solved are the big non-technical corporations - and they don't matter much.
Game over.
The BSoD is not only present on Win95, 98, or ME. Those blue screens are mostly just error notices. The original blue screen of death was only on Windows NT. I hear it can still be seen on some XP installations, but it comes configured to just reboot instead (so if you want a chance of stopping it from happening again, you need to reconfigure it to give you the full CPU state dump).
Interestingly, in the box out quoting Prince Sultan, the BBC have editorially added the name Bin Laden. I wonder if it was merely a pronoun that they replaced to pretend that the quoted was talking about Osama Bin Laden.