I agree. I'm not in charge of any servers. And I have to say that until just now I forgot that Apple even made the headless X-Serve line. Everything is a tradeoff. If you need performance that badly, I'd still go for Linux for many reasons (tuning, faster hardware (dual 3ghz Opterons vs dual 2.7ghz G5s isn't exactly close in DB performance, I believe)). And as I said, if I needed a little server for a small office, I would gladly use a Mac because it works great, easy to configure, and can double as a nice desktop.
Wow. You are a major troll. But I'm feeling generous.
I've only been on the Mac for a few months. I agree that games (specifically 3D games) have been driving computers for the last few years. That said, I have (for the most part) resigned my gaming to consoles. They are simply easier for the task, and don't require the constant upgrades. The lack of top-end games and hardware on the Mac isn't great (should improve with the Intel move) but it doesn't bother me too much. I use my Mac for work mostly. For games, I have web games (PopCap and such) and a few other games (I've been LOVING Civilization III lately).
If I was still a major computer gamer, I'd keep an XP box around. There is no arguing that Windows is on top (by a LARGE margin) for computer gamers. But for day to day computer work, I love my Mac.
I had XP running smooth on my last computer and had no problems. But I've got to say you don't realize just how much you do (even if it's amazingly tiny) until you don't have to do it. Updating AV software, Windows patches, IE crashing, everything. My Mac has been an absolute dream. So the score is:
Linux for servers, Macs for desktops, Windows for gaming.
Depends. Now that I've used both, I've got to say they both have their place.
OS X is for desktops, Linux is for servers. It's that simple. Those who want Linux as a desktop could have it, but that's the overall picture as I see it.
I also must say I'm a bit worried about OS X for servers after that report that showed such terrible performance for MySQL (was it at Anadtech?). But then again, I would either run a server headless (why use OS X) or if you are small enough that you need a box to do double duty, then you probably wouldn't be pushing the box hard enough for the performance to matter to you.
I agree completely. And that's why I put that part about GTA getting an exception later.
GTA is just a money machine. Stores would either stock just it (exception), it and other "apropriate" AO games (policy repealed), or no AO games (and lose many sales). They could have gone AO. They'd have had NO PROBLEM getting sales.
It wouldn't have been argueably better because then they'd have had the perfect defense to all this: the game is rated adults only. Not mature, not "my kid can handle it", ADULTS ONLY.
I think the AO (Adults Only) rating is part of the problem here. Because of what the AO rating is usually used for (basically porn), games all try to squeeze into M (Mature); much like you see movies trying to get an R rating but going as far as they can.
Why? Because no one sells AO games. Block Buster, Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, GameStop, etc don't sell AO games (as far as I know). Just like most theaters don't show NC17 movies.
So games that should be Adults Only like the GTA games (let your kids play them if you want, but it should be your decision since you'd have to buy it) don't get the rating because they wouldn't sell many places (GTA is large enough that it would probably get an exception, but think about other games like Manhunt or State of Emergency (which I think is MUCH worse than GTA)).
I think the solution is a new ratings classification. Either P (Pornographic), or X (eXplicit). Sex games go under those. Extremely violent wont-someone-think-of-the-children games would go under AO (which stores could sell without having to sell pornographic games) and then this problem would be closer to being fixed. You must be 18+ to buy an AO game (get legal enforcement behind that like the 17 or older rule for R movies).
Now, I realize that enforcement for R movies isn't perfect (and often VERY shoddy). And I'm only talking about GTA with the violence and "minimal" sex (before Hot Coffee). With the Hot Coffee content in there, my opinion would be it should go under P or X. Without it, AO. Whether you agree with my views or not, that's my theory; and I think it would at least help.
On a side note: what is wrong with Rockstar? Surely SOMEONE must have thought it would be a good idea to REMOVE THAT UNUSED CONTENT off the discs? That would have solved all this. The only reason I can think of for it to be left on there is either 1) they were going to use it later or 2) they wanted it to be found. They hung themselves on this one (over-reactions not withstanding).
I'll just point out that when you are with a prostitute, you just see the car shaking. In the minigame, you are basically watching low-rez porn (you see the actual acts). While they would still get in trouble, I don't think it would have been as bad if it was only showing the bed jumping up and down.
I'll stay with the Mac after the transition. Hopefully it will make things better. If not, I doubt it will make things worse. As another poster said, I could care less about the hardware (I like it, but it's not a dealbreaker). I want OS X (and to a lesser extent, iLife). That's what will keep me with the Mac.
I do like the switch in some ways. It means there will be no reason to release graphics cards and other hardware for Macs 6-12 months later (if at all). Since the underlying chips are the same, it's only the drivers that would stop you. That mean more hardware, more competition, and therefor better prifces.
It should also help with ports of programs (like games) from Windows. You loose the hardware excuse, there is no platform endieness issues, etc. As long as you write something portable (OpenGL, for example) porting shouldn't be that hard. And for those who don't, I fully expect someone like TransGaming to make something to let me run them on my new hypothetical Mac anyways.
As for DRM, that doesn't really worry me. I certanly trust Apple far FAR more than I trust MS in that department. And if worse comes to worse, I can always go back to Linux.
Quite true. But that's the kind of thing you tend to forget about. That's only something I'd only mention on Windows because I'd notice the problem and it'd bug me. It some ways it's like mentioning that clicking on icons opens programs on OS X, that's just the way that it should be. It's 2005, and computers can render amazing things (like that Half Life 2 Machinima). If they can do that, they should be able to move windows smoothly.
I've been on OS X for a few months and I agree with you about the special effects. Before that I thought those kind of effects were interesting but mostly useless.
But on OS X they are implemented nice. The way things zoom off the screen to show you your desktop or the slight transparency of sheets asking you questions are both nice. And the genie effect when you minimize a window or restore it is nice too and directs your eye to where it is going. Apple has done a great job.
Now that's not to say it can't be done bad. The screenshots of the latest beta of longhorn worry me. The way the titlebar area is mostly transparent was simple distracting looking. That was something that I would turn off almost instantly. I don't know if that was a showcase (not bad), or they intended to keep it that way (ug), but it was a problem.
I would only support segregation by gender. It's the only real universal. I mean if you start to divide by religion and such, not only do you get too many groups (and unneccessary group), but you get further division that only make sense within that group (a school for Kosher and non Kosher Jews?). Gender is universal enough to not be a problem. But anything past that I think you could make some very good arguments against (except for age, obviously).
I agree. It will be tough, but the solution is to make a "3 strikes" type policy avilable for public schools. After you screw up enough, they kick you out, and you can try again next year (at the same grade level you got tossed out of). You have to EARN your education. All the US system asks of you if that you pay attention and try. You don't have to pay for it (taxes do that). But it's not "free". So many people seem to think that these days. Once you got rid of those kids (or at least got the parents to work on things because they don't want Johnny to be a bum on their couch when it gets kicked out of school at 13) then you can focus more on the kids who want to learn and who try instead of focusing on trying to get the kids who don't care to do something (and dealing with their behavior of doing things like talking in class since they don't care about the material).
Education is a RIGHT. You have a right to an education, but with rights come RESPONSIBLITIES and that's one of the big things many people don't seem to realize these days.
I heard a discussion about this on NPR the other day and I'd like to add my 2 cents to the "kids should read" discussion.
I hated reading, and fought it all the way. I was never that good. The problem, as I've now discovered, were the books.
I was supposed to read all sorts of books (Red Badge of Courage, Watership Down, and other fiction books) and I have just never been one to get into fiction. I can sometimes, but that was about all we ever read. Fiction and historical fiction.
But now I read quite a lot. I read science books (on DNA, I read a great one on paracites, etc), techinical books, computer books (programming languages, theories), business books (company histories, strategies), all sorts of stuff. I LOVE that hink of stuff. But it was never an option when I was in school. It was always fiction, fiction, fiction.
Now I realize that most kids won't be interested in the history of HP or something like that, but there have to be books that aren't fiction that are even educational that they can read.
I still don't like fiction much. I'm not sure why, but I wouldn't be suprised if a part of it was having so much force-fed to me when I was younger. I'm getting over it more and more, but it's taking time.
I think all this is one of the reasons why you have kids fight and fight to not read or to stall, but those same kids will play a game like Final Fantasy VII with TONS of text and not mind at all and read every little bit.
The idea of the curve was both to prevent inflation, and to give a ranking so students can see how they are doing relative to others. This way they have a reason to strive to do better as it is an objective measure instead of a seemingly random number (the difference between an 88% and a 92% may or may not mean much if you don't grade on a curve, but if you do you know you are close in skills (if we are using an average).
Paying the teachers, I suggested the panel to evalute pay as a way of fixing many of the issues you addressed. Obviously we can't expect an English teacher to work wonders on math. Also with the history of the students (and how things are going) you can guard against "bad years" and such.
I agree there is nothing wrong with objective assignments, but it seems like my little sister gets 95+% objective assigments. It is almost always just regergitating information. That has to be done some, obviously, but I think the level of assigments that require real thought are quite low many times.
The paddle - I'm not really that extreme in this view. I was running out of time is part of it. The idea of the paddle was just as a symbol, I do NOT advocate using a paddle on every kid who trys to talk in class. As for the quick whack to get their attention, that would only be for the extreme students who every other attempt at diciplin has failed at or who a teacher absolutly can not get any controll over at a specific time. It is an absolute last ditch measure. This was meant to be an exageration.
Same sex schools - I realize that is a generalization and oversimplification (again, more time would have helped). There are a large range of other issues that would be helped with single sex schools (distraction, pointless "sexual harassment" charges a few students use, etc). I think it would just be easier to seperate the two sexes. I know of some strong anecdotes to back this up (I believe there is research, but I can't point it out to you off the top of my head, I'd have to go look).
I agree education is tricky, which is one of the reasons we have such a problem fixing it (although it many ways we are doing quite well). My answers were suggestions to guide. They would each have to be though out more, exceptions and such taken into account, etc. But those are some of the key issues I think could help. Thanks for the comment by the way.
Really, I think the biggest problem is parents. There are so many these days that are over permissive, believe their child is perfect and can't do wrong, don't help the child, are outright mean to them, etc). I think some more parental involvement would do wonders, but unfortunatly that is probably even harder to do that anything else I suggested.
PS: Year round schools! I'd support that too. I'm in one for college right now. As much as I loved summer break, I think not having the break in one big chunk would help more.
PPS: I'm on a public computer with the "I'm logged into a plublic computer" option. The short timeout on the login can be VERY annoyign when typing long things. But I understand it's reason.
I said not to tell them when the test was and what it is over specificall (I mean like a question bank). The would know what material it should cover based on the lesson plan used by the school/teacher.
Here are my magic solutions. I think if we implemented every one of these, our society would improve quite a bit.
Grade on a curve - This prevents grade inflation, which is insane these days (as others have pointed out). What does it say when 80% of a class is straight A students? That an A is too easy to get.
TOUGH tests - I don't care if little Johnny can pass his 6th grade proficency test at a 95%. That test should cover all the 6th grade stuff and then more (up to 8th, at least). That way we can see how far/behind Johnny is and he can be placed accordingly.
Hold 'em back - Too many kids get passed on with failing grades for "social reasons" (and, often, political (read: loud parents)). This needs to be stopped NOW. Can't pass the test? Can't pass the grade. You get a chance to make it up during the summer, or too bad.
Teach 'em to think - This one amazes me. I have a 13 year old sister, and in many ways her friends and peers can't think. If the answer isn't immediatly obvious or given to them they just shut down. If you haven't given them the formula for how to think out this kind of logic problem they are dumbfounded. I believe this comes from teaching-to-the-test. Speaking of which...
No more teaching to the test! BAN IT. Don't tell the teachers what is on the test or when it is. The test will be given at random points testing what the students should know up to that point (and then some as described above). That way you can avoid that who "For the next two months we will be focusing on the basic things you'll have to know how to do for the CAT tests so we can get more funding." nonsense.
Pay teachers based on their students progress. Measure the students and how they are doing, how they are progressing, where they are relative to where they should be, etc. Pay the teachers based on that. If you are an ineffectual teacher, you won't get paid as much. This should be done by a board consisting of teachers, parents, and officials to prevent problems (teachers giving eachother saleries that are too high, parents forcing a teacher they don't like to lose pay, the administration taking things out on a teacher they don't like, etc).
MANDITORY CIVIL SERVICE - Immediatly after highschool and before college, EVERYONE goes into civil service. You can choose the military, reserves, fire department, police, border patroll, forrest service, help the IRS, help the homeless, help at hospitals, etc. (the full list can be decided later). Term is 2 years. There would obviously be exceptions for some (like those with schitzophrenia and other serious problems). The number of self centered brats comming out of highschools in the US frighents me (note: I'm 21, I have seen this first hand and continue to). Don't get me wrong, there are many good kids. But there are many who act like they are still 12.
Fewer objective assignments. This goes along with other points above. If all you are ever testing kids on is what year the declaration of independance was written and how many ounces are in a cup (both fine fact, to be sure:), then how will they learn to evaluate things if they only see one assigment asking them to do more than recall a fact per year.
Kids teaching kids - Kids look up to older kids. It's just a fact. Get the older kids to help teach the younger kids once in a while. It will help the older kids (you know you understand something through-and-through if you can teach it, teaches paitence and helping, etc) and the younger kids (more likely to listen during an occasioal one-on-one with an older kid that old Mrs. Pratley lecturing at the board for the 4th hour in a row).
MUSIC. Teach them music. Manditory violin/guitar/piano/chello/tuba/whatever (no, tabourines don't count). Study after study shows that learning music (especially early) helps students, and it can give them a creative outlet.
Art - This is like music. You need to have creative outlets for the kids. They are not just dictionaries and encyclop
That's true, but it assumes that the cable modem was right where your PS3 was. If that's all you have it for, fine. But if you have computers too, that's probably not a good assumption.
Big deal. Did anyone NEED their PS3 to work like a router? Aren't routers like $50 now anyways? That seemed like a worthless feature to me and I have no problem with them dropping it.
That said, I'd like it if they kept the thing working as a simple hub. You can never have to many network ports (especially now that every game console will want to connect to one, not to mention future TiVos, TVs, DVD players and what not).
If you know you will be playing agian soon, or can easily keep the thing recharged, you can keep suspended for very long periods; which gives you instant start up time. I've been doing that with Hot Shots Golf and it works great.
However, the games must be designed well. In Hot Shots Golf it takes 10 seconds max to load a course to play it. If a racing game took 30 seconds to load a track, no one would play it more than twice. The developers need to be VERY careful with this.
As for Nintendo and the handheld market, you're dead on. I recently took a trip and would have loved to have something like Metal Gear Solid for my PSP (a real one). I'd play games like that. But you also need a strong line-up of "waste 10 minutes" games, which the PSP lacks (except for Lumines, which is best after you've been playing for a while so it gets hard).
As for the dead pixel thing, I think that has been overblown (although I'm not denying that it's an issue for some). But it was definatly bad press.
As for the demographic argument, that's a good one. Lots of parents would buy their kid a Game Boy, but a PSP? Nintendo is a big name, and has great games. So far, there hasn't been much for the PSP that is really for 12 year olds. They seem to be aiming at the same audience as the PS2 (as you said), but the problem is that there are far more 12 year olds and far less 25-35s in the handheld group than in the console group.
Sony has stumbled, but I think we'll see things pick up (they won't let the PSP die without a fight, and the system has quite a bit of promise). But Nintendo has been doing great from day 1. The only thing they missed on is not having a bigger title or two near launch (Wario Ware, the new Mario game, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, something like that).
I'm not that suprised, is anyone else? I'll have to mention that the PSP's screen is MUCH better than the DS's, but that's a side note. I own both, I got both the day they came out.
The PSP is a very nice system. I loved Lumines. I'm playing through Hot Shots Golf right now. But none of the games are the little pick-up-and-play-for-10-mins kind of games that really keep me going back. I plan to play some old SNES games after I'm done with HSG. I just don' think the PSP has a killer game yet. If Metal Gear Acid was a normal Metal Gear game and not a card game, I think that could have done it. I think the PSP was way over hyped by the gaming press (suprise). But once more (and better) games start to come out, the console will probably hit it's stride. Wait untill around Christmas this year. If GTA: Liberty City Stories is halfway decent, the PSPs will start flying off the shelves.
As for the DS, it's been a underdog. Many people thought it was gimmicky and wouldn't be around long. If you look at upcomming games, it's quite clear that Nintendo is pushing it HARD and the GBA well is drying up. The DS has had a few great games (XX/XY was interesting, if short; Kirby Canvas Curse really shows off the DS; as does Yoshi's Touch and Go). But the future is bright. As another poster mentioned there will be Animal Crossing (there go my grades again), Advanced Wars (the touch screen should be a REAL boon here), the new Mario game, Mario and Luigi 2 (the first was fantastic, I loved the Prince character from the Bean Bean kingdom), and much much more. The DS has been doing fine, but if they could have pushed up a few of those games (or even just Mario Kart) near launch then the DS would have been a MAJOR force. So far the games have been trickeling in, but the gates are opening and by Christmas it will hit a good flow (I hope).
I like 'em both. Right now I think that the DS is more solid, but the real battle will be this Christmas as they both get some great games and developers learn the system better.
But I agree with the basic idea of the article. I have played and enjoyed my DS quite a bit more than my PSP so far. The PSP has had decent games, but nothing great (for my tastes).
Here is my theory, based on my observations and opionions.
For big businesses, it wouldn't help. They are already on top of these things checking their firewalls and such, trying to prevent infections. (Note: if this isn't the case, they fit in with group 2)
Then there is individuals. I can't tell you how many people's PCs I've found with basically NO updates applied (for whatever usually pointless reason). These are the people where such a quick patch could make a difference (since it tends to be home computers and those under the care of someone who doesn't know what they're doing), but they won't get the patch because these people don't patch in the first place.
MS's best solution at this point would be to force automatic updates to be on for all copies of XP Home, with no way to turn it off (short of registry editing). That way, the computers would get the updates they need, but the few people who want to turn it off would probably know enough to run their computers safely if they knew where to find the instructions and how to change the registry. (I'm ignoring the point that anyone with half a brain that was a "power user" would want XP Pro over XP Home).
A 24 hour turn around would be great, but I don' think it would make that much of a difference. Forced updates (especially if expanded to include XP Pro that isn't being managed by a domain controller/active directory to cover those one machine businesses and such) would probably go a farther way.
I agree. $300 is my limit, I'm not speding over that. I may spend UNDER that. First of all, consoles don't come with games anymore, and they want me to pay $60 a pop (minimum) to buy the games. Add to this all the other things they don't include (2nd controller, memory cards, hard drive in the case of the PS3) and that is just more cash I'll have to shell out to play a game.
I love video games, and I've been buying consoles at launch since the PS1, but this generation there is a good chance that I'll wait for price drops (except on the Revolution, I know I'll get great games there, especially with the ability to play old titles).
Backwards compatability helps though, as that means I can fence my old console to help buy the new one.
First of all, when you drag the CD towards the trash, the trash turns into an eject icon.
Second, every Mac in the last few years has had an eject key on the keyboard. Mine does. Others I've seen do.
Third, there is an Eject command under the File menu. Command-E does it.
As for the 'drag to the trash' thing, it makes sense. What do you do when you are done with a file and don't need it anymore? Put it in the trash? So what do you do with a CD you don't need anymore (which looks just like a file?).
Right click on it and choose eject? You can do that. It works just fine. Have a one button mouse? Controll click on it.
Still don't like that? Use an application. You could eject under iTunes. Many other programs would let you do it also. In a Finder window that has the column layout, there is a little "eject" button right next to the drive in the leftmost column. Shows up in most open/save dialogs IIRC.
Want to do it yet a different way? Open the command line and type "eject". I wonder what would happen?
I'm sure you're having fun trolling, but you are flat out wrong. Besides, that's better than Windows. I've never seen someone have any real trouble ejecting a CD on a Mac. They find a way to do it FAST. But what happened to my parents when they were learning about PCs? First off, WHERE IS THE CD. They stick a CD full of files in the computer and.... nothing. That wasn't fixed untill XP. They didn't know where to find it. Which goes along with how to eject it. You know why Windows computers have eject buttons on the CD drives? Because otherwise 95% of computer users would have NO CLUE how to get the thing out of the computer. Trust me, the Mac was is GOOD.
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Thanks for the good reply though.
I've only been on the Mac for a few months. I agree that games (specifically 3D games) have been driving computers for the last few years. That said, I have (for the most part) resigned my gaming to consoles. They are simply easier for the task, and don't require the constant upgrades. The lack of top-end games and hardware on the Mac isn't great (should improve with the Intel move) but it doesn't bother me too much. I use my Mac for work mostly. For games, I have web games (PopCap and such) and a few other games (I've been LOVING Civilization III lately).
If I was still a major computer gamer, I'd keep an XP box around. There is no arguing that Windows is on top (by a LARGE margin) for computer gamers. But for day to day computer work, I love my Mac.
I had XP running smooth on my last computer and had no problems. But I've got to say you don't realize just how much you do (even if it's amazingly tiny) until you don't have to do it. Updating AV software, Windows patches, IE crashing, everything. My Mac has been an absolute dream. So the score is:
Linux for servers, Macs for desktops, Windows for gaming.
OS X is for desktops, Linux is for servers. It's that simple. Those who want Linux as a desktop could have it, but that's the overall picture as I see it.
I also must say I'm a bit worried about OS X for servers after that report that showed such terrible performance for MySQL (was it at Anadtech?). But then again, I would either run a server headless (why use OS X) or if you are small enough that you need a box to do double duty, then you probably wouldn't be pushing the box hard enough for the performance to matter to you.
GTA is just a money machine. Stores would either stock just it (exception), it and other "apropriate" AO games (policy repealed), or no AO games (and lose many sales). They could have gone AO. They'd have had NO PROBLEM getting sales.
It wouldn't have been argueably better because then they'd have had the perfect defense to all this: the game is rated adults only. Not mature, not "my kid can handle it", ADULTS ONLY.
Why? Because no one sells AO games. Block Buster, Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, GameStop, etc don't sell AO games (as far as I know). Just like most theaters don't show NC17 movies.
So games that should be Adults Only like the GTA games (let your kids play them if you want, but it should be your decision since you'd have to buy it) don't get the rating because they wouldn't sell many places (GTA is large enough that it would probably get an exception, but think about other games like Manhunt or State of Emergency (which I think is MUCH worse than GTA)).
I think the solution is a new ratings classification. Either P (Pornographic), or X (eXplicit). Sex games go under those. Extremely violent wont-someone-think-of-the-children games would go under AO (which stores could sell without having to sell pornographic games) and then this problem would be closer to being fixed. You must be 18+ to buy an AO game (get legal enforcement behind that like the 17 or older rule for R movies).
Now, I realize that enforcement for R movies isn't perfect (and often VERY shoddy). And I'm only talking about GTA with the violence and "minimal" sex (before Hot Coffee). With the Hot Coffee content in there, my opinion would be it should go under P or X. Without it, AO. Whether you agree with my views or not, that's my theory; and I think it would at least help.
On a side note: what is wrong with Rockstar? Surely SOMEONE must have thought it would be a good idea to REMOVE THAT UNUSED CONTENT off the discs? That would have solved all this. The only reason I can think of for it to be left on there is either 1) they were going to use it later or 2) they wanted it to be found. They hung themselves on this one (over-reactions not withstanding).
I'll just point out that when you are with a prostitute, you just see the car shaking. In the minigame, you are basically watching low-rez porn (you see the actual acts). While they would still get in trouble, I don't think it would have been as bad if it was only showing the bed jumping up and down.
I'll stay with the Mac after the transition. Hopefully it will make things better. If not, I doubt it will make things worse. As another poster said, I could care less about the hardware (I like it, but it's not a dealbreaker). I want OS X (and to a lesser extent, iLife). That's what will keep me with the Mac.
I do like the switch in some ways. It means there will be no reason to release graphics cards and other hardware for Macs 6-12 months later (if at all). Since the underlying chips are the same, it's only the drivers that would stop you. That mean more hardware, more competition, and therefor better prifces.
It should also help with ports of programs (like games) from Windows. You loose the hardware excuse, there is no platform endieness issues, etc. As long as you write something portable (OpenGL, for example) porting shouldn't be that hard. And for those who don't, I fully expect someone like TransGaming to make something to let me run them on my new hypothetical Mac anyways.
As for DRM, that doesn't really worry me. I certanly trust Apple far FAR more than I trust MS in that department. And if worse comes to worse, I can always go back to Linux.
Quite true. But that's the kind of thing you tend to forget about. That's only something I'd only mention on Windows because I'd notice the problem and it'd bug me. It some ways it's like mentioning that clicking on icons opens programs on OS X, that's just the way that it should be. It's 2005, and computers can render amazing things (like that Half Life 2 Machinima). If they can do that, they should be able to move windows smoothly.
But on OS X they are implemented nice. The way things zoom off the screen to show you your desktop or the slight transparency of sheets asking you questions are both nice. And the genie effect when you minimize a window or restore it is nice too and directs your eye to where it is going. Apple has done a great job.
Now that's not to say it can't be done bad. The screenshots of the latest beta of longhorn worry me. The way the titlebar area is mostly transparent was simple distracting looking. That was something that I would turn off almost instantly. I don't know if that was a showcase (not bad), or they intended to keep it that way (ug), but it was a problem.
I would only support segregation by gender. It's the only real universal. I mean if you start to divide by religion and such, not only do you get too many groups (and unneccessary group), but you get further division that only make sense within that group (a school for Kosher and non Kosher Jews?). Gender is universal enough to not be a problem. But anything past that I think you could make some very good arguments against (except for age, obviously).
OK, I wans't expecting that. It looks quite nice though.
No problems here, but it didn't fix that iPhoto bug.
Education is a RIGHT. You have a right to an education, but with rights come RESPONSIBLITIES and that's one of the big things many people don't seem to realize these days.
I hated reading, and fought it all the way. I was never that good. The problem, as I've now discovered, were the books.
I was supposed to read all sorts of books (Red Badge of Courage, Watership Down, and other fiction books) and I have just never been one to get into fiction. I can sometimes, but that was about all we ever read. Fiction and historical fiction.
But now I read quite a lot. I read science books (on DNA, I read a great one on paracites, etc), techinical books, computer books (programming languages, theories), business books (company histories, strategies), all sorts of stuff. I LOVE that hink of stuff. But it was never an option when I was in school. It was always fiction, fiction, fiction.
Now I realize that most kids won't be interested in the history of HP or something like that, but there have to be books that aren't fiction that are even educational that they can read.
I still don't like fiction much. I'm not sure why, but I wouldn't be suprised if a part of it was having so much force-fed to me when I was younger. I'm getting over it more and more, but it's taking time.
I think all this is one of the reasons why you have kids fight and fight to not read or to stall, but those same kids will play a game like Final Fantasy VII with TONS of text and not mind at all and read every little bit.
Paying the teachers, I suggested the panel to evalute pay as a way of fixing many of the issues you addressed. Obviously we can't expect an English teacher to work wonders on math. Also with the history of the students (and how things are going) you can guard against "bad years" and such.
I agree there is nothing wrong with objective assignments, but it seems like my little sister gets 95+% objective assigments. It is almost always just regergitating information. That has to be done some, obviously, but I think the level of assigments that require real thought are quite low many times.
The paddle - I'm not really that extreme in this view. I was running out of time is part of it. The idea of the paddle was just as a symbol, I do NOT advocate using a paddle on every kid who trys to talk in class. As for the quick whack to get their attention, that would only be for the extreme students who every other attempt at diciplin has failed at or who a teacher absolutly can not get any controll over at a specific time. It is an absolute last ditch measure. This was meant to be an exageration.
Same sex schools - I realize that is a generalization and oversimplification (again, more time would have helped). There are a large range of other issues that would be helped with single sex schools (distraction, pointless "sexual harassment" charges a few students use, etc). I think it would just be easier to seperate the two sexes. I know of some strong anecdotes to back this up (I believe there is research, but I can't point it out to you off the top of my head, I'd have to go look).
I agree education is tricky, which is one of the reasons we have such a problem fixing it (although it many ways we are doing quite well). My answers were suggestions to guide. They would each have to be though out more, exceptions and such taken into account, etc. But those are some of the key issues I think could help. Thanks for the comment by the way.
Really, I think the biggest problem is parents. There are so many these days that are over permissive, believe their child is perfect and can't do wrong, don't help the child, are outright mean to them, etc). I think some more parental involvement would do wonders, but unfortunatly that is probably even harder to do that anything else I suggested.
PS: Year round schools! I'd support that too. I'm in one for college right now. As much as I loved summer break, I think not having the break in one big chunk would help more.
PPS: I'm on a public computer with the "I'm logged into a plublic computer" option. The short timeout on the login can be VERY annoyign when typing long things. But I understand it's reason.
I said not to tell them when the test was and what it is over specificall (I mean like a question bank). The would know what material it should cover based on the lesson plan used by the school/teacher.
That's true, but it assumes that the cable modem was right where your PS3 was. If that's all you have it for, fine. But if you have computers too, that's probably not a good assumption.
That said, I'd like it if they kept the thing working as a simple hub. You can never have to many network ports (especially now that every game console will want to connect to one, not to mention future TiVos, TVs, DVD players and what not).
However, the games must be designed well. In Hot Shots Golf it takes 10 seconds max to load a course to play it. If a racing game took 30 seconds to load a track, no one would play it more than twice. The developers need to be VERY careful with this.
As for Nintendo and the handheld market, you're dead on. I recently took a trip and would have loved to have something like Metal Gear Solid for my PSP (a real one). I'd play games like that. But you also need a strong line-up of "waste 10 minutes" games, which the PSP lacks (except for Lumines, which is best after you've been playing for a while so it gets hard).
As for the dead pixel thing, I think that has been overblown (although I'm not denying that it's an issue for some). But it was definatly bad press.
As for the demographic argument, that's a good one. Lots of parents would buy their kid a Game Boy, but a PSP? Nintendo is a big name, and has great games. So far, there hasn't been much for the PSP that is really for 12 year olds. They seem to be aiming at the same audience as the PS2 (as you said), but the problem is that there are far more 12 year olds and far less 25-35s in the handheld group than in the console group.
Sony has stumbled, but I think we'll see things pick up (they won't let the PSP die without a fight, and the system has quite a bit of promise). But Nintendo has been doing great from day 1. The only thing they missed on is not having a bigger title or two near launch (Wario Ware, the new Mario game, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, something like that).
The PSP is a very nice system. I loved Lumines. I'm playing through Hot Shots Golf right now. But none of the games are the little pick-up-and-play-for-10-mins kind of games that really keep me going back. I plan to play some old SNES games after I'm done with HSG. I just don' think the PSP has a killer game yet. If Metal Gear Acid was a normal Metal Gear game and not a card game, I think that could have done it. I think the PSP was way over hyped by the gaming press (suprise). But once more (and better) games start to come out, the console will probably hit it's stride. Wait untill around Christmas this year. If GTA: Liberty City Stories is halfway decent, the PSPs will start flying off the shelves.
As for the DS, it's been a underdog. Many people thought it was gimmicky and wouldn't be around long. If you look at upcomming games, it's quite clear that Nintendo is pushing it HARD and the GBA well is drying up. The DS has had a few great games (XX/XY was interesting, if short; Kirby Canvas Curse really shows off the DS; as does Yoshi's Touch and Go). But the future is bright. As another poster mentioned there will be Animal Crossing (there go my grades again), Advanced Wars (the touch screen should be a REAL boon here), the new Mario game, Mario and Luigi 2 (the first was fantastic, I loved the Prince character from the Bean Bean kingdom), and much much more. The DS has been doing fine, but if they could have pushed up a few of those games (or even just Mario Kart) near launch then the DS would have been a MAJOR force. So far the games have been trickeling in, but the gates are opening and by Christmas it will hit a good flow (I hope).
I like 'em both. Right now I think that the DS is more solid, but the real battle will be this Christmas as they both get some great games and developers learn the system better.
But I agree with the basic idea of the article. I have played and enjoyed my DS quite a bit more than my PSP so far. The PSP has had decent games, but nothing great (for my tastes).
I assume the guy meant MS would release a patch to fix a vulnerability within 24 hours of its discovery.
For big businesses, it wouldn't help. They are already on top of these things checking their firewalls and such, trying to prevent infections. (Note: if this isn't the case, they fit in with group 2)
Then there is individuals. I can't tell you how many people's PCs I've found with basically NO updates applied (for whatever usually pointless reason). These are the people where such a quick patch could make a difference (since it tends to be home computers and those under the care of someone who doesn't know what they're doing), but they won't get the patch because these people don't patch in the first place.
MS's best solution at this point would be to force automatic updates to be on for all copies of XP Home, with no way to turn it off (short of registry editing). That way, the computers would get the updates they need, but the few people who want to turn it off would probably know enough to run their computers safely if they knew where to find the instructions and how to change the registry. (I'm ignoring the point that anyone with half a brain that was a "power user" would want XP Pro over XP Home).
A 24 hour turn around would be great, but I don' think it would make that much of a difference. Forced updates (especially if expanded to include XP Pro that isn't being managed by a domain controller/active directory to cover those one machine businesses and such) would probably go a farther way.
I love video games, and I've been buying consoles at launch since the PS1, but this generation there is a good chance that I'll wait for price drops (except on the Revolution, I know I'll get great games there, especially with the ability to play old titles).
Backwards compatability helps though, as that means I can fence my old console to help buy the new one.
I'm sure you're having fun trolling, but you are flat out wrong. Besides, that's better than Windows. I've never seen someone have any real trouble ejecting a CD on a Mac. They find a way to do it FAST. But what happened to my parents when they were learning about PCs? First off, WHERE IS THE CD. They stick a CD full of files in the computer and.... nothing. That wasn't fixed untill XP. They didn't know where to find it. Which goes along with how to eject it. You know why Windows computers have eject buttons on the CD drives? Because otherwise 95% of computer users would have NO CLUE how to get the thing out of the computer. Trust me, the Mac was is GOOD.