Unrelatedly, I'm new here and I have a question: How long before I make a habit of noticing fantastic-looking headlines and immediately checking for a kdawson story?
Many months, when you've begun demanding higher standards of news coverage from Slashdot.
I've begun reading in Q3 2008, begun writing in mid-Nov 2008 and I still don't bother checking if it's kdawson. I'm still highly fascinated by the +5 Interesting/Insightful comments written by other people, and I still don't RTFA.:)
Yes. My apologies, I didn't state my point clearly.
The extra icons clutter up the desktop. While we think it's a good idea to include multiple icons, in reality users will be complaining, as evidently demonstrated for HP and Dell PCs.
A new user's reaction is to either ignore these icons, or think "why don't they simply help us choose the best one, then include only that one?"
A savvy user's reaction is to grumble, delete the extra icons, and download the latest official (unmodified) versions.
Either way, these extra icons will not really appeal to the users... in my humble opinion.
Or not, it's pretty obvious you aren't actually responsible for a network of any size that people actually have to use and have reliability expectations of.
I agree with your response to PP.
Microsoft once put out a patch that accidentally disabled the dial-up terminal window, IIRC. Because of this, the PC could not connect properly, the company could not register car parts with the transport authority, and we were potentially facing losses due to non-delivery of cars.
The symptons were misleading because it seemed as though the remote modem was dropping carrier.
This little accident is such a tiny thing, isn't it?
But CmdrTaco stood up for him, arguing that he does "a pretty good job".
I see the old "should a boss side with his subordinates or customers" argument.
I only wish that *no one* would read and comment on the lame stories (I should be taking my own advice here!) so that maybe the Slashdot editor cabal would get the hint.
What's the reason for not filtering out kdawson and timothy in Preferences > Index > Authors? (I'm not saying you're a complainer, I'm just wondering if "not wanting to miss out on the news" is the reason.)
Of course, I agree that it's important to present a better Slashdot with higher quality news to the casual visitor.
They had a bug; they deserve to be called on that fact, authors should be honest and direct, and always mention them by name.
The writer is probably trying to facilitate discussions, instead of playing the blame game.
Names trigger emotions in us (right brain). Identifiers triggers logic in us (left brain).
The writer is probably relying on us to suggest how to get top-level ISPs to implement filtering. It's a human and business issue... not a technical issue.
Why won't we see it soon, then? Because chip manufacturers already have tons of money invested in nano lithography and won't be willing to just drop it.
There's also the manufacturing reliability issue. When I buy Kingston or Corsair RAM, for example, I don't have to run 6 hours of MemTest on it, at various temperature levels. I'll just test for 0.5 hours, then start using it.
New different manufacturing techniques take time to refine and improve. Jumping ahead may lead to manufacturing defects.
Packard Bell PC, anyone? IBM Deskstar 75GXP hard disks? Seagate 1.5TB hard disks? XBox 360?
Mac user is retarded and doesn't backup. But then that would be redundant given that hes running a server on macs...
At least he's not a PEBKAC end user (*), but a system administrator actually providing a service, fighting to keep it running 24/7, improving it continuously, and thinking of what users need.
By these alone, I deduce that he's smarter than me. Really.
(*) PEBKAC users are also known as people who keep giving ID10T errors. They're below the LUSERS category.
Generally, in companies, it's hard to convince the bean counters that you need a second cheap server, which purpose is solely to test backups once a week, and will be unused most of the time.
In the SME where I used to work, I had to BEG and BEG and BEG the Finance Manager to grant me US$200 to buy two hard disks, for the purpose of building a backup server (for backing up, not testing restores). This was in Q3 2007, when the economy was strong and recovering really fast.
Before begging, I presented the best business case I could. She hardly spent 10 seconds listening before rejecting. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Slashdot Mirror
My geek card is a digital certificate. You can just download a copy by yourself.
We possibly wouldn't be having this discussion if it weren't for DARPA...
But we would have long found girlfriends, tried them out, chosen one, and got married.
Thanks. You've made my day. This post makes me laugh.
I was sued once by a company that wanted to put me out of business and they almost succeeded.
So what happened?
P/S: I can't find your email address in your website.
Unrelatedly, I'm new here and I have a question: How long before I make a habit of noticing fantastic-looking headlines and immediately checking for a kdawson story?
Many months, when you've begun demanding higher standards of news coverage from Slashdot.
I've begun reading in Q3 2008, begun writing in mid-Nov 2008 and I still don't bother checking if it's kdawson. I'm still highly fascinated by the +5 Interesting/Insightful comments written by other people, and I still don't RTFA. :)
*open eyes really big*
Which area??
The only event I can infer is the stock market crash.
Yes. My apologies, I didn't state my point clearly.
The extra icons clutter up the desktop. While we think it's a good idea to include multiple icons, in reality users will be complaining, as evidently demonstrated for HP and Dell PCs.
A new user's reaction is to either ignore these icons, or think "why don't they simply help us choose the best one, then include only that one?"
A savvy user's reaction is to grumble, delete the extra icons, and download the latest official (unmodified) versions.
Either way, these extra icons will not really appeal to the users... in my humble opinion.
What? You give it HEAD, and it gives you everything?
You're right, needs more refining, tit-for-tat exchange, until the final climax...
Yes. Most of the time, the mosquito escapes my bare hands, even at high speed. Luck is involved definitely.
Or not, it's pretty obvious you aren't actually responsible for a network of any size that people actually have to use and have reliability expectations of.
I agree with your response to PP.
Microsoft once put out a patch that accidentally disabled the dial-up terminal window, IIRC. Because of this, the PC could not connect properly, the company could not register car parts with the transport authority, and we were potentially facing losses due to non-delivery of cars.
The symptons were misleading because it seemed as though the remote modem was dropping carrier.
This little accident is such a tiny thing, isn't it?
Thanks. You've just made my day. This is the funniest post I've read in this story so far (100 comments).
In Europe, union chooses your bedfellows for you!
Install Internet Explorer, Install FireFox, Install Opera, Install Safari.
More savvy users may not like these extra icons, ironically.
On a new HP home PC out of the box, you may see many icons on the desktop:
The first reaction of some people is to grumble that HP bundles unnecessary software, then proceed to delete these extra icons.
*blushing furiously* (at being caught not RTFA)
Call the lawyer.
There, corrected it for ya.
For a related discussion on free (and non-RIAA) music, see:
I've just downloaded one artist's Creative Commons songs, and it's not half bad. I'd imagine he might earn cash on freelance composition.
But CmdrTaco stood up for him, arguing that he does "a pretty good job".
I see the old "should a boss side with his subordinates or customers" argument.
I only wish that *no one* would read and comment on the lame stories (I should be taking my own advice here!) so that maybe the Slashdot editor cabal would get the hint.
What's the reason for not filtering out kdawson and timothy in Preferences > Index > Authors? (I'm not saying you're a complainer, I'm just wondering if "not wanting to miss out on the news" is the reason.)
Of course, I agree that it's important to present a better Slashdot with higher quality news to the casual visitor.
They had a bug; they deserve to be called on that fact, authors should be honest and direct, and always mention them by name.
The writer is probably trying to facilitate discussions, instead of playing the blame game.
Names trigger emotions in us (right brain). Identifiers triggers logic in us (left brain).
The writer is probably relying on us to suggest how to get top-level ISPs to implement filtering. It's a human and business issue ... not a technical issue.
But, kdawson is the only one who's willing to work on a Saturday!
(It's Saturday today, right?)
Hi, I'm selling this fine leather jacket...
Why won't we see it soon, then? Because chip manufacturers already have tons of money invested in nano lithography and won't be willing to just drop it.
There's also the manufacturing reliability issue. When I buy Kingston or Corsair RAM, for example, I don't have to run 6 hours of MemTest on it, at various temperature levels. I'll just test for 0.5 hours, then start using it.
New different manufacturing techniques take time to refine and improve. Jumping ahead may lead to manufacturing defects.
Packard Bell PC, anyone?
IBM Deskstar 75GXP hard disks?
Seagate 1.5TB hard disks?
XBox 360?
CowboyNeal is too busy serving all of us Slashdot users (*), to post articles the way kdawson does.
(*) Especially poll takers.
I'm backing up all my YouTube comments. Yes, I'm Rocckir!
Mac user is retarded and doesn't backup. But then that would be redundant given that hes running a server on macs...
At least he's not a PEBKAC end user (*), but a system administrator actually providing a service, fighting to keep it running 24/7, improving it continuously, and thinking of what users need.
By these alone, I deduce that he's smarter than me. Really.
(*) PEBKAC users are also known as people who keep giving ID10T errors. They're below the LUSERS category.
Generally, in companies, it's hard to convince the bean counters that you need a second cheap server, which purpose is solely to test backups once a week, and will be unused most of the time.
In the SME where I used to work, I had to BEG and BEG and BEG the Finance Manager to grant me US$200 to buy two hard disks, for the purpose of building a backup server (for backing up, not testing restores). This was in Q3 2007, when the economy was strong and recovering really fast.
Before begging, I presented the best business case I could. She hardly spent 10 seconds listening before rejecting. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
is it really just an RIAA/MPAA tool to give them the info they need to sue the pants off of people?
Static IP addresses?
Next up: logging of all traffic!