They can abuse this control only once in a major way, and therefore have to keep their hands off ICANN.
I doubt their imaginations can reach that far yet. But don't worry, they'll catch up, if for no other reason that the neocons will become bored with manipulating PBS.
You may be right. And clearly Apple doesn't want to "go there" until there is a demand. But don't rule out the possibility that the iPod's video quality could keep improving to meet consumer interest over the coming years.
I agree. They have to answer the question: What best satisfies a music packrat 6 months from now?
And if the online downloading of video keeps accelerating (the way music on the Internet did over 5 years ago), then the focus will indeed shift to the video packrat. More than anything, I see the iPod evolving into a closer relationship with photography AND (if Apple does it right) with video cameras.
Part of the appeal of the IPods is that they do what they do *well*.
That's what people said about Palm. And I agree (or used to). Palm's core appeal was always as a storage device and people have always clamored for more memory on them. Palm's mistake is that they did add a 20GB HD and MP3 syncing at the right moment. They assumed that people would prefer realtime apps like telephone being shoehorned into that focused, nonrealtime environment of offline reference (contacts, reference documents, etc.).
So Palm, and Rio, and PocketPC missed the 'big-music-archive' boat. (BTW, I own a Rio Karma and love it. But that product was late. I also own a Psion Series 5, which was early.) Those three all kept a Flash RAM focus for too long.
Symbian OTOH is another animal: It's reason for being is telephone and lightweight internet, and the company even ditched the old Epoc32 moniker to distance it from the handheld PC image. The OS invites you to do nothing that would require an HD or suck the life out of a tiny battery.
Looking back, if any OS could manage it, Palm should have taken iPod's market. In fact they could have licensed the core OS to Apple and noone would be any wiser until Apple started merging standard PalmOS features, one-by-one, in successive models where it made sense.
Assuming they didn't frustrate too many geeks, that could have worked brilliantly.
The question is: How do tech-savvy office clerks and frontline managers automate data that is too extensive or dependant on forms/reports to handle in a spreadsheet? Especially when they need to apply this on a relatively small scale within a large corporation?
Of course, another answer is to impose a locked-down environment where very little is programmable and worker initiative is viewed with suspicion. I've experienced that too, in the form of mainframe- and Unix-centric environments. This MS-hater will happily take the Access-riddled workplace over that any day.
But finally having a widely-deployable (and FOSS) alternative to Access makes this a moment of great joy for me!
Haven't looked at the incarceration statistics for the US lately, have you?
What's up with "zero tolerance" law enforcement? And that there is always a "War On Something" these days? Yeah, tell me there's no obsession with security against enemies abroad and within.
We have to commandeer the resources of other countries in order to keep the globe circled by our military bases, and we spend more on that military than the rest of the planet combined.
Everyone is "complex". Spain and Portugal were complex under Franco and Salazar (fascist dictators). Saudi Arabia is "complex", apparently enough that the land of Religious Police is allowed to buy airtime on US commercial radio to improve its image.
Personally, I am morbidly curious to see how the whole thing turns out.
The words of a bored, liberatarian white boy.:-) I'd suggest installing some gory FPS games on your system to satiate that curiosity.
Sometimes I think that's what the XBox is all about: "Get them while they're young."
Just as important is what Linux can "see and touch". So I will put this very un-subtley: HCL! HCL! HCL! HCL! Live by your distro's Hardware Compatability List and demand Linux compatability before you buy. That kind of pressure is the only way we'll get hardware mfgs to back-off from their MS "special relationships", their Vista-Gfx cards, their WinCableModem cards, etc.
Someone recently asked me if Linux was compatible with the Internet... with a straight face. It was not a joke and I was mortified.
Here is one HCL site for starters. It's not great, but its a start anyway. XandrOS also has a decent list. People, this is just as important for gaining acceptance as the LSB; We can't pretend that Linux is just like Windows, that we can just buy the prettiest hardware on sale and wrestle it with Linux when we get home (or worse, in the office). Check compatability first!
That doesn't mean they qualify as an open standard! If the implementation is encumbered by patents, and it produces undocumented behavior that MS apps can use but other vendors cannot reliably depend on, then it isn't open.
Ask the WINE project how open MS "standards" are. Ask the Mono folks how they feel about being a relatively popular subject, yet repeatedly wiped from official existence at MS and INETA functions. And then there are MS threats against Samba in Europe. This is not the profile of a standard-bearer for interoperability.
Docx is nothing but a hypocritical ploy, presented suddenly after-the-fact that the OASIS standard MS played a part in creating was unexpectedly taken seriously by government and a strong FOSS implementation. Why anyone with half a brain esp. on Slashdot would fall yet again for this monopolist trickery is beyond me. It definately reeks of shill.
Don't hold your breath, because you won't get an answer.
Its odd that we had a significant free project (XFree86) change the license on its product, and the whole community easily forked to X.org in response...... yet supposedly if Trolltech did the same with their licensing it would be a disaster and mass slavery would ensue.
That Ximian or similar companies could try the same thing seems to be of no concern to the Gnome flamebaiters.
That's why I use Flashblock. I believe it still downloads the flash ad no matter what, but it won't play until you click on the icon.
OTOH, I won't use Adblock. I have Nuke Anything instead: If a gif ad gets really obnoxious, I just right-click and 'Remove Object' before reading the article. That way, the publication gets its chance to show me (non-obnoxious) ads.
"ScrapBook is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save Web pages and easily manage collections... Save Web page; Save snippet of Web page; Save Web site; Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks tree; Full text search and quick filtering search of the collection; Editing of the collected Web page; Text/HTML edit feature resembling Opera's Notes."
"Do you save a lot of webpage files to your computer, but hate how they're formatted or take up so much space in your folders? Well, ScrapBook is the solution for you. This handy sidebar integrates itself into Firefox to provide wonderful management of saved pages (all of the files are hidden nicely in your profile folder), and you can add comments and edit the saved page as much as you like. A must-have for avid offline browsers. "
This is so much better than "Save Page..." since I get an integrated search, and can knock-out ads and superfluous text (if the original page didn't give you a Print option). Sometimes I just highlight the desired text/images, right click and choose Capture instead of getting the whole page. The archives Scrapbook creates are HTML in a mozilla sub-folder that can be easily copied. Can even handle linked pdfs, audio and video if desired and it can jump back to the original URL.
I've found it useful for news clippings, tech articles, documentation and 'keepsake' pages.:) Much better than going back to Google to recall stuff. (BTW, I'm not associated with the Scrapbook authors... I just love this thing!)
Perhaps if someone wanted to take it to the next level, they could print out the more significant articles as they are captured, and make a note in the comment field that the page exists in the paper archive.
Ubuntu isn't the most user-friendly Linux, because its still a work in progress. For years publications like PC Magazine and PC World have been giving that honor to Xandros (and Linspire at times). And I think they're right. It's also closely Debian-derrived and usable with the "Debian universe", and the Deluxe version lets you run a list of supported Windows apps via Crossover Office (a nice cushion-- I run DVD Shrink with it). You can get nice Linux-native stuff like Skype preconfigured with it. Hardware detection has always been its strength and I'd say today its definately in the top 3 in this respect. The Xandros File Manager is very Explorer-like and stable, with some bennies like CD-ripping and DVD burning.
As powerful GUI environments go, Xandros was the first to autoconfigure USB devices, the first to logon to Windows Domains (and even create them!), the first with VPN and encrypted home folders, the first with anything approaching a usable printer setup, and many other boring-yet-crucial features that wouldn't give the average Slashdot Linux enthusiast much of a thrill.
If you want an almost more-Windows-than-Windows environment, get the new SUSE v10 and install it with KDE. The Control Center dialogs are less elegant than Xandros, and even Windows XP, in that they have GOBS of powerful options dialogs. But they are still dialogs and "friendly" to a non-Unixy power-user. IMO it is a little weak on hardware detection and there's no APT. Their target is Windows power users and admins, so the slickness doesn't mean they'll knock off the rough edges to the extent Xandros does.
Linspire itself is rather unorthodox: It defaults to root auto-logins (bad) and its package-naming will present more difficulties when you want to grab stuff from Debian. You also have to pay for access to much of the software repository, so its no coincidence that they've marginalized its compatability with Debian's.
K/Ubuntu is very nice. What it can do, it does well after a couple iterations. And system configuration is at least elegant and approachable. But even by their own admission it needs about another year.
Slashdot Mirror
They can abuse this control only once in a major way, and therefore have to keep their hands off ICANN.
I doubt their imaginations can reach that far yet. But don't worry, they'll catch up, if for no other reason that the neocons will become bored with manipulating PBS.
National Prisoners Per Capita.
National Executiions Per Capita. Notice where U.S. allies rank on that chart.
Now, you were saying something about black-and-white? Or was that pot-kettle-black?
-
Wow, It Nearly Executed!
You may be right. And clearly Apple doesn't want to "go there" until there is a demand. But don't rule out the possibility that the iPod's video quality could keep improving to meet consumer interest over the coming years.
It's all about timing....
I agree. They have to answer the question: What best satisfies a music packrat 6 months from now?
And if the online downloading of video keeps accelerating (the way music on the Internet did over 5 years ago), then the focus will indeed shift to the video packrat. More than anything, I see the iPod evolving into a closer relationship with photography AND (if Apple does it right) with video cameras.
1. No Clickwheel. Or... No Keyboard.
2. The large screen and the MP3 playing (and smaller battery) leaves me w/rundown battery... can't pull up contacts or make a call now.
3. Bigger than an iPod (or a phone), no matter what.
Part of the appeal of the IPods is that they do what they do *well*.
That's what people said about Palm. And I agree (or used to). Palm's core appeal was always as a storage device and people have always clamored for more memory on them. Palm's mistake is that they did add a 20GB HD and MP3 syncing at the right moment. They assumed that people would prefer realtime apps like telephone being shoehorned into that focused, nonrealtime environment of offline reference (contacts, reference documents, etc.).
So Palm, and Rio, and PocketPC missed the 'big-music-archive' boat. (BTW, I own a Rio Karma and love it. But that product was late. I also own a Psion Series 5, which was early.) Those three all kept a Flash RAM focus for too long.
Symbian OTOH is another animal: It's reason for being is telephone and lightweight internet, and the company even ditched the old Epoc32 moniker to distance it from the handheld PC image. The OS invites you to do nothing that would require an HD or suck the life out of a tiny battery.
Looking back, if any OS could manage it, Palm should have taken iPod's market. In fact they could have licensed the core OS to Apple and noone would be any wiser until Apple started merging standard PalmOS features, one-by-one, in successive models where it made sense.
Assuming they didn't frustrate too many geeks, that could have worked brilliantly.
...that with so many corps trying to push flash-based phones and other cramped audio players, that they would take the tiny step to support Vorbis.
I guess ideology isn't dead after all.
And every ad-banner link is automatically clicked for you!
The question is: How do tech-savvy office clerks and frontline managers automate data that is too extensive or dependant on forms/reports to handle in a spreadsheet? Especially when they need to apply this on a relatively small scale within a large corporation?
Of course, another answer is to impose a locked-down environment where very little is programmable and worker initiative is viewed with suspicion. I've experienced that too, in the form of mainframe- and Unix-centric environments. This MS-hater will happily take the Access-riddled workplace over that any day.
But finally having a widely-deployable (and FOSS) alternative to Access makes this a moment of great joy for me!
Haven't looked at the incarceration statistics for the US lately, have you?
:-) I'd suggest installing some gory FPS games on your system to satiate that curiosity.
What's up with "zero tolerance" law enforcement? And that there is always a "War On Something" these days? Yeah, tell me there's no obsession with security against enemies abroad and within.
We have to commandeer the resources of other countries in order to keep the globe circled by our military bases, and we spend more on that military than the rest of the planet combined.
Everyone is "complex". Spain and Portugal were complex under Franco and Salazar (fascist dictators). Saudi Arabia is "complex", apparently enough that the land of Religious Police is allowed to buy airtime on US commercial radio to improve its image.
Personally, I am morbidly curious to see how the whole thing turns out.
The words of a bored, liberatarian white boy.
Oh heck, toss an MLK in there while you're at it.
If these people were using Windows in their phones and in their XBox, then the comfort factor might work the other way.
Or perhaps Long row to ho' would be more accurate.
Sometimes I think that's what the XBox is all about: "Get them while they're young."
Just as important is what Linux can "see and touch". So I will put this very un-subtley: HCL! HCL! HCL! HCL! Live by your distro's Hardware Compatability List and demand Linux compatability before you buy. That kind of pressure is the only way we'll get hardware mfgs to back-off from their MS "special relationships", their Vista-Gfx cards, their WinCableModem cards, etc.
Someone recently asked me if Linux was compatible with the Internet... with a straight face. It was not a joke and I was mortified.
Here is one HCL site for starters. It's not great, but its a start anyway. XandrOS also has a decent list. People, this is just as important for gaining acceptance as the LSB; We can't pretend that Linux is just like Windows, that we can just buy the prettiest hardware on sale and wrestle it with Linux when we get home (or worse, in the office). Check compatability first!
...the way they have supported HTML.
Just because a product claims to support Open Document doesn't mean that it actually does. The only way to be sure is to test.
:-)
Let us start by creating an "ACID2" test for OpenDocument.
That doesn't mean they qualify as an open standard! If the implementation is encumbered by patents, and it produces undocumented behavior that MS apps can use but other vendors cannot reliably depend on, then it isn't open.
Ask the WINE project how open MS "standards" are. Ask the Mono folks how they feel about being a relatively popular subject, yet repeatedly wiped from official existence at MS and INETA functions. And then there are MS threats against Samba in Europe. This is not the profile of a standard-bearer for interoperability.
Docx is nothing but a hypocritical ploy, presented suddenly after-the-fact that the OASIS standard MS played a part in creating was unexpectedly taken seriously by government and a strong FOSS implementation. Why anyone with half a brain esp. on Slashdot would fall yet again for this monopolist trickery is beyond me. It definately reeks of shill.
Don't hold your breath, because you won't get an answer.
Its odd that we had a significant free project (XFree86) change the license on its product, and the whole community easily forked to X.org in response...... yet supposedly if Trolltech did the same with their licensing it would be a disaster and mass slavery would ensue.
That Ximian or similar companies could try the same thing seems to be of no concern to the Gnome flamebaiters.
I don't get it.
Do the mods recognize when someone is complaining about a lack of standards?
Now why am I staring at friggin Windows-only cable modems in the retail ads?
I have friends who heard that Linux might actually be compatible with the Internet!!!
That's why I use Flashblock. I believe it still downloads the flash ad no matter what, but it won't play until you click on the icon.
OTOH, I won't use Adblock. I have Nuke Anything instead: If a gif ad gets really obnoxious, I just right-click and 'Remove Object' before reading the article. That way, the publication gets its chance to show me (non-obnoxious) ads.
"Quick Description:
p ?id=427
:) Much better than going back to Google to recall stuff. (BTW, I'm not associated with the Scrapbook authors... I just love this thing!)
"ScrapBook is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save Web pages and easily manage collections... Save Web page; Save snippet of Web page; Save Web site; Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks tree; Full text search and quick filtering search of the collection; Editing of the collected Web page; Text/HTML edit feature resembling Opera's Notes."
Editor's Review
"Incredible page management -- June, 2005 Editors Pick"
"Do you save a lot of webpage files to your computer, but hate how they're formatted or take up so much space in your folders? Well, ScrapBook is the solution for you. This handy sidebar integrates itself into Firefox to provide wonderful management of saved pages (all of the files are hidden nicely in your profile folder), and you can add comments and edit the saved page as much as you like. A must-have for avid offline browsers. "
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.ph
This is so much better than "Save Page..." since I get an integrated search, and can knock-out ads and superfluous text (if the original page didn't give you a Print option). Sometimes I just highlight the desired text/images, right click and choose Capture instead of getting the whole page. The archives Scrapbook creates are HTML in a mozilla sub-folder that can be easily copied. Can even handle linked pdfs, audio and video if desired and it can jump back to the original URL.
I've found it useful for news clippings, tech articles, documentation and 'keepsake' pages.
Perhaps if someone wanted to take it to the next level, they could print out the more significant articles as they are captured, and make a note in the comment field that the page exists in the paper archive.
Ubuntu isn't the most user-friendly Linux, because its still a work in progress. For years publications like PC Magazine and PC World have been giving that honor to Xandros (and Linspire at times). And I think they're right. It's also closely Debian-derrived and usable with the "Debian universe", and the Deluxe version lets you run a list of supported Windows apps via Crossover Office (a nice cushion-- I run DVD Shrink with it). You can get nice Linux-native stuff like Skype preconfigured with it. Hardware detection has always been its strength and I'd say today its definately in the top 3 in this respect. The Xandros File Manager is very Explorer-like and stable, with some bennies like CD-ripping and DVD burning.
Xandros Open Circulation edition is available via Bittorrent.
As powerful GUI environments go, Xandros was the first to autoconfigure USB devices, the first to logon to Windows Domains (and even create them!), the first with VPN and encrypted home folders, the first with anything approaching a usable printer setup, and many other boring-yet-crucial features that wouldn't give the average Slashdot Linux enthusiast much of a thrill.
If you want an almost more-Windows-than-Windows environment, get the new SUSE v10 and install it with KDE. The Control Center dialogs are less elegant than Xandros, and even Windows XP, in that they have GOBS of powerful options dialogs. But they are still dialogs and "friendly" to a non-Unixy power-user. IMO it is a little weak on hardware detection and there's no APT. Their target is Windows power users and admins, so the slickness doesn't mean they'll knock off the rough edges to the extent Xandros does.
Linspire itself is rather unorthodox: It defaults to root auto-logins (bad) and its package-naming will present more difficulties when you want to grab stuff from Debian. You also have to pay for access to much of the software repository, so its no coincidence that they've marginalized its compatability with Debian's.
K/Ubuntu is very nice. What it can do, it does well after a couple iterations. And system configuration is at least elegant and approachable. But even by their own admission it needs about another year.