>>>>>And if you're concerned about bloat, maybe try Mozilla's seaMonkey? >> >>Maybe my sarcasm detector is just failing, but you do realize that Firefox originated as a branch off of Seamonkey because it was thought that Seamonkey had become too bloated?
Yes.
Funny how the wheel turns, does it not? On my machine seaMonkey uses less memory. It's also why it's the default install on Puppy Linux, which was designed to run on machines with just 32-64 megabytes of RAM.
The *new* Firefox is not bloated, but the old Firefox 2 and 2.5 had a memory leak. On my PC it would start at ~100,000 megabytes and gradually grow to 500,000 which slowed-down my machine dramatically. I hated it.
The Firefox 3 is better behaved, but still uses about twice as much RAM as Opera does.
For a lot of these Gaming reporters, nothing exists before the year they were 5. So while Ultimate Online, Everquest, Tradewars, et cetera may have been the earliest MMOs, the reporters have never heard of them so they might as well not exist.
I also laugh when people say Resident Evil was the first survival-horror game. Not even close. "Haunted House" on the 1977 Atari 2600/VCS console was the first. But heaven forbid reporters do historical research as part of their job. To them, RE was the first.
>>>Sometimes I just don't understand how the hell we've made it to superpower status...
Because power doesn't come from education? If you look over the list of the most successful Americans (Gates, Jobs, Ford, Edison, Carnegie, et cetera), they had little or no education. They succeeded without it because they lived in a free, classfree society that had no obstacles to stop them from taking risks & building new companies. If they had lived somewhere else, they might have been labeled "peasant" and been stuck their forever.
Of course one could also argue that American no longer is a superpower, and that we are now on the downward slope. The national debt is $130,000 per U.S. household, and projected to be $200,000 by the end of the decade, with one-half the population either retired or soon to be retired. Put more simply: We are old and poor.
Remember: The Roman superpower did not fall overnight - most of its vitality happened from 300 BC to 100 AD, and then it stagnated and slowly rotted within, until suddenly it just stopped existing. The American superpower had great vitality from 1850 to 1950, but now it's slowly rotting as its wealth has been squandered. If we were like Rome in 450 AD, and the barbarians were invading, we would not have the strength to repel them. We are too deep in debt.
If you RTFA, it says the question setup a false dichotomy. i.e. You either believe in (a) evolution or (b) God. The survey had no option (c) I believe in both, so the question was rejected by the National Science Foundation as invalid. They should be praised for their intellectual & scientific honesty, not denigrated by the politicians.
As my physics professor taught me in college, it IS possible to believe in both. i.e. The bible is a religious text, not a science journal, and even if you accept evolution is a proven theory, it does not mean God is not part of the system, overseeing everything like an engineer.
Furthermore, why is anybody surprised that Americans are less knowledgable?
- They are the product of a Monopoly School system. As we know with other monopolies or near-monopolies (comcast, verizon, microsoft, your electric company), there is a tendency towards inferior service. What we need is to break-up these monopolies and give the customer choice. That's what other countries do, and it works.
>>>The Neo-Cons are using their power to constantly force religion
(1) I'm not a neo-con. I'm libertarian.
(2) I would never force anything upon you. As Jefferson said, "Whether my neighbor worships one god, many gods, or no god matters not to me. His beliefs do not harm my person, my property, nor my rights, so I will allow him the freedom to worship as he pleases," in defense of the amendment which allows freedom of religion.
(3) On the other hand, those of us who believe in God have to deal with vandalism of our houses of worship, or complaints if we attach a cross to our front door. - Or just general disrespect, like when those atheists disrupted a Christian Funeral that was intented to honor their dead soldier/son. Wait, wait, I'm sorry. I guess that kind of behavior is acceptable if you have a (D) under your name???
Yeah I know. You'll say it's not acceptable, and yet I don't see you doing anything to stop it either. Your silence is tacit permission for the anti-religious hate being spewed against Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, et cetera.
The guy didn't say what the classic game was, but if it's something like Turrican, I'm sure it will be obvious that's what it is and you'll receive a cease-and-desist order from the owner.
And if you go direct to the owner you're likely to hear the word "no". The only way to do some kind of modern incarnation of Turrican would be illegally, and then release it into the wild before anybody can stop you.
For example when NoScript suddenly announces "update available" when I first start my browser. The problem is not the update itself, but the damage it causes to Firefox - it makes the browser lose all the tabs I saved when I last shutdown. Annoying.
Good. Maybe it will stop the moderators tendency to click on a UserID, and mod down every single one of a user's posts, simply because they don't like that user. (As some mods were doing Thursday and Friday.)
I was unable to post all day Friday because of a concerted attack. I posted about 5 messages, and then kept getting a "users of your karma cannot post..." message due to the damage caused against my ID by having all my previous messages marked "troll" or "flamebait" by a vicious A-hole Mod(s). I looked at the messages and while 1 or 2 might have deserved the -1 hit, most were simply me sharing information I found online with the users.
This same mod or mods was attacking other users as well, such as Mark-t.
>>>"Yeah, that makes sense. Only paying users should have access."
You think it's only Japanese that think that way? I'm American and that phrase was running in my mind, and I bet there are some Europeans who also think along those lines. Reporters produce articles - that means they need to be paid - what better way to ensure that labor is covered then to charge for it?
I honestly don't see how reporting can continue in a world where their labor goes unpaid (i.e. papers are free online). It would be akin to if Microsoft started giving-away Windows, Office, and other products for free download. Yeah its great for us customers, but how do you pages the programmers' labor?
Answer: You charge for the end product, so you can cover labor costs.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Only paying users should have access."
>>>Why would Nokia waste time implementing a non-DRM scheme just for China?
I would think it would be quite simple to dump songs online without DRM. Adding the DRM is the major PITA. So - Why doesn't China have copyright laws? Sounds like the US in the 1800s - copyrights didn't apply to foreign nationals like Charles Dickens. His works were widely distributed by US printers without giving a dime to Mr. Dickens for his labor. (Perhaps that's why 1800s US literacy was 99% - lots of free, cheap books available for reading.)
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Opera. (Maybe the European users went home or to bed?) Where Firefox and Chrome have to use addons, Opera has adblock builtin. That's more efficient (i.e. smaller when running).
I still prefer Firefox as my main browser, but Opera is quickly closing that gap, at least for me.
I been using my computer to view porn since the days of 4000 colors. That's all I want. I don't need those other ____ty features mucking it up. As long as my browser can resolve GIFs, JPGs, and videos that's all's I want.
"silly and superfluous" sells to the average customer. And if you're concerned about bloat, maybe try Mozilla's seaMonkey? It looks like the old 90s-era Netscape, but with the same engine as Firefox.
>>>somehow 5.x and 6.x were skipped (?) in the switch to year branding
According to wikpedia: "Microsoft Office 4.0 was released containing Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0". Then Word was incremented to 7.0, and the Office Suite was unified around Word 7.0, and they all took-on that "7.0" as their number. (Probably to avoid confusing users.)
- This seems to be modus operandi for Microsoft. Windows NT 1.0 became 3.1 for the initial release. Windows NT 6.1 is called "seven" (or is it Mojave?).
>>>significant subsidies funded by local tax payers
Not true. When cable was run in my county back in the 80s, the cost was borne by the company, with the expectation they'd recover the cost via subscriptions.
>>>I'm a quality whore, and if I can get it in 720p or 1080p
Ahhh.
I'm not. I download the youtube quality episodes (70, 150, or 300 MB size). Since most movies/shows are crap anyway, watching them in HD wouldn't make them any better. On the other hand if I do enjoy the show, like BSG, then I'll go out and buy it on Bluray for the HD experience. .
>>>I usually grab at -least- an entire season
NapisyPL releases are only about 3 gigabytes per season, or 7-8 hours across a 1 Mbps economy line. I can download that while I'm at work, and watch it when I get home.
You are not allowed to lie in an ad, but you can omit information. i.e. The ad might say "upto 10 Mbit/s" without mentioning there's a 250 GB cap. The contract would contain that detail, and you're expected to read that contract prior to signing it. Complaining later on, "The ad never mentioned the 250GB cap," is not the fault of the company. It's the fault of the signee for failing to read before signing.
>>>Go read up some on the Zero Liability Coverage from Visa.
Parhaps U.S. laws have been updated, but it used to be that Credit cards had greater protection. As long as you disputed the charge within 30 days, you had no obligation, by law, to pay the disputed charge. Debit cards may have the same protection per business policy, but they Don't have that legal protection. i.e. The U.S. government protects credit cards from fraud, but not debit cards.
>>>my bank was very cooperative, making sure I suffered no NSF fees as a result
Credit cards are even better. If EA or some other dishonest company hits you with a surprise charge, you can simply not pay it:
- "Why is there a $3500 charge from Walmart?" CC: "You were shopping in California." - "I live in Maryland." CC: "Well our records show you were also in vacation in Denver, Las Vegas, and Kansas City. Perhaps you were shopping in California as well?"
- "No I was not. Probably one of the hotel clerks stole my number and went on a shopping spree. Therefore I'm not paying." CC: "Sorry sir but you must pay." - "No." CC: "But..." - "I said no. I will pay every charge but not the $3500. You can close my account. We're done." CC: "But sir....." "Goodbye."
I never did pay it. Yes true the nonpayment of the $3500 shows on my credit report, but since my credit is perfect, that blemish has no effect whatsoever financially. My score's still above 800.
Now contrast THAT scenario to if it had been a debit card. The $3500 would already be subtracted from my account, and I'd never have gotten it back. But since I used credit, I simply refused to pay and kept the money.
>>>Two weeks? You were without your own cash for two weeks and think that is perfectly acceptable?
Victim mentality: "Yeah sure BoA beats me, but I know they still love me. Besides the bruises & lost cash will go-away in a few weeks, and besides I deserved it for my stupidity." - It amazes me how willingly people are to let themselves be screwed, but I guess it's part of human instinct.
When I was a kid I used to let me push me around, but as an adult that no longer happens. I would be polite while talking to BankofAmerica but firm. "I expect the cash and overdraft fees to be returned within one week, else you can close my account..... Yes yes I know you're just following policy, but this is MY policy. Either return the cash within a week, or lose me as a customer. Your choice."
Businesses are your servants, and if they are screwing you instead of serving you, then they need to be "fired". Take your account somewhere else.
I never let anyone deduct directly from my bank account, precisely because of this danger where a company might suck away all my money & leave me with nothing to pay my rent, my electricity, my phone, et cetera. They can only deduct from my bank AFTER I click "pay". Not automatically.
Also I've learned to keep lots of cash. With $20,000 in my account, a $1000 charge from EA's Warhammer would be annoying but not incur overdraft fees.
Yeah but after the Small Claims judge says, "You win," how do you collect the money from EA? Ooops. There's a difference between winning, and actually getting the money. It's your responsibility to call-up EA and say, "You lost per this judgement. Please remit payment to XYZ Bank acount 123." EA can simply say, "No," and you're done.
You won the case but still have no refund, plus you wasted ~$100 on court fees/time lost at work/et cetera.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>>>And if you're concerned about bloat, maybe try Mozilla's seaMonkey?
>>
>>Maybe my sarcasm detector is just failing, but you do realize that Firefox originated as a branch off of Seamonkey because it was thought that Seamonkey had become too bloated?
Yes.
Funny how the wheel turns, does it not? On my machine seaMonkey uses less memory. It's also why it's the default install on Puppy Linux, which was designed to run on machines with just 32-64 megabytes of RAM.
The *new* Firefox is not bloated, but the old Firefox 2 and 2.5 had a memory leak. On my PC it would start at ~100,000 megabytes and gradually grow to 500,000 which slowed-down my machine dramatically. I hated it.
The Firefox 3 is better behaved, but still uses about twice as much RAM as Opera does.
For a lot of these Gaming reporters, nothing exists before the year they were 5. So while Ultimate Online, Everquest, Tradewars, et cetera may have been the earliest MMOs, the reporters have never heard of them so they might as well not exist.
I also laugh when people say Resident Evil was the first survival-horror game. Not even close. "Haunted House" on the 1977 Atari 2600/VCS console was the first. But heaven forbid reporters do historical research as part of their job. To them, RE was the first.
>>>Sometimes I just don't understand how the hell we've made it to superpower status...
Because power doesn't come from education? If you look over the list of the most successful Americans (Gates, Jobs, Ford, Edison, Carnegie, et cetera), they had little or no education. They succeeded without it because they lived in a free, classfree society that had no obstacles to stop them from taking risks & building new companies. If they had lived somewhere else, they might have been labeled "peasant" and been stuck their forever.
Of course one could also argue that American no longer is a superpower, and that we are now on the downward slope. The national debt is $130,000 per U.S. household, and projected to be $200,000 by the end of the decade, with one-half the population either retired or soon to be retired. Put more simply: We are old and poor.
Remember: The Roman superpower did not fall overnight - most of its vitality happened from 300 BC to 100 AD, and then it stagnated and slowly rotted within, until suddenly it just stopped existing. The American superpower had great vitality from 1850 to 1950, but now it's slowly rotting as its wealth has been squandered. If we were like Rome in 450 AD, and the barbarians were invading, we would not have the strength to repel them. We are too deep in debt.
If you RTFA, it says the question setup a false dichotomy. i.e. You either believe in (a) evolution or (b) God. The survey had no option (c) I believe in both, so the question was rejected by the National Science Foundation as invalid. They should be praised for their intellectual & scientific honesty, not denigrated by the politicians.
As my physics professor taught me in college, it IS possible to believe in both. i.e. The bible is a religious text, not a science journal, and even if you accept evolution is a proven theory, it does not mean God is not part of the system, overseeing everything like an engineer.
Furthermore, why is anybody surprised that Americans are less knowledgable?
- They are the product of a Monopoly School system. As we know with other monopolies or near-monopolies (comcast, verizon, microsoft, your electric company), there is a tendency towards inferior service. What we need is to break-up these monopolies and give the customer choice. That's what other countries do, and it works.
>>>The Neo-Cons are using their power to constantly force religion
(1) I'm not a neo-con. I'm libertarian.
(2) I would never force anything upon you. As Jefferson said, "Whether my neighbor worships one god, many gods, or no god matters not to me. His beliefs do not harm my person, my property, nor my rights, so I will allow him the freedom to worship as he pleases," in defense of the amendment which allows freedom of religion.
(3) On the other hand, those of us who believe in God have to deal with vandalism of our houses of worship, or complaints if we attach a cross to our front door. - Or just general disrespect, like when those atheists disrupted a Christian Funeral that was intented to honor their dead soldier/son. Wait, wait, I'm sorry. I guess that kind of behavior is acceptable if you have a (D) under your name???
Yeah I know. You'll say it's not acceptable, and yet I don't see you doing anything to stop it either. Your silence is tacit permission for the anti-religious hate being spewed against Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, et cetera.
The guy didn't say what the classic game was, but if it's something like Turrican, I'm sure it will be obvious that's what it is and you'll receive a cease-and-desist order from the owner.
And if you go direct to the owner you're likely to hear the word "no". The only way to do some kind of modern incarnation of Turrican would be illegally, and then release it into the wild before anybody can stop you.
I have.
For example when NoScript suddenly announces "update available" when I first start my browser. The problem is not the update itself, but the damage it causes to Firefox - it makes the browser lose all the tabs I saved when I last shutdown. Annoying.
>>>one flash-heavy site I know delivers a lot of streaming video and absolutely will crash either Firefox or Chrome in linux
Which site is it? I'd like to try it myself to see if it does the same for me.
.
>>>(I use Mint, mainly)
Just curious - Why would I choose to use Mint Linux instead of, say, Fedora Linux?
Good. Maybe it will stop the moderators tendency to click on a UserID, and mod down every single one of a user's posts, simply because they don't like that user. (As some mods were doing Thursday and Friday.)
I was unable to post all day Friday because of a concerted attack. I posted about 5 messages, and then kept getting a "users of your karma cannot post..." message due to the damage caused against my ID by having all my previous messages marked "troll" or "flamebait" by a vicious A-hole Mod(s). I looked at the messages and while 1 or 2 might have deserved the -1 hit, most were simply me sharing information I found online with the users.
This same mod or mods was attacking other users as well, such as Mark-t.
>>>"Yeah, that makes sense. Only paying users should have access."
You think it's only Japanese that think that way? I'm American and that phrase was running in my mind, and I bet there are some Europeans who also think along those lines. Reporters produce articles - that means they need to be paid - what better way to ensure that labor is covered then to charge for it?
I honestly don't see how reporting can continue in a world where their labor goes unpaid (i.e. papers are free online). It would be akin to if Microsoft started giving-away Windows, Office, and other products for free download. Yeah its great for us customers, but how do you pages the programmers' labor?
Answer: You charge for the end product, so you can cover labor costs.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Only paying users should have access."
>>>Why would Nokia waste time implementing a non-DRM scheme just for China?
I would think it would be quite simple to dump songs online without DRM. Adding the DRM is the major PITA. So - Why doesn't China have copyright laws? Sounds like the US in the 1800s - copyrights didn't apply to foreign nationals like Charles Dickens. His works were widely distributed by US printers without giving a dime to Mr. Dickens for his labor. (Perhaps that's why 1800s US literacy was 99% - lots of free, cheap books available for reading.)
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Opera. (Maybe the European users went home or to bed?) Where Firefox and Chrome have to use addons, Opera has adblock builtin. That's more efficient (i.e. smaller when running).
I still prefer Firefox as my main browser, but Opera is quickly closing that gap, at least for me.
(cranky old man mode)
I been using my computer to view porn since the days of 4000 colors. That's all I want. I don't need those other ____ty features mucking it up. As long as my browser can resolve GIFs, JPGs, and videos that's all's I want.
(pounds sign into lawn that reads, "Get off.")
"silly and superfluous" sells to the average customer. And if you're concerned about bloat, maybe try Mozilla's seaMonkey? It looks like the old 90s-era Netscape, but with the same engine as Firefox.
>>>somehow 5.x and 6.x were skipped (?) in the switch to year branding
According to wikpedia: "Microsoft Office 4.0 was released containing Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0". Then Word was incremented to 7.0, and the Office Suite was unified around Word 7.0, and they all took-on that "7.0" as their number. (Probably to avoid confusing users.)
- This seems to be modus operandi for Microsoft.
Windows NT 1.0 became 3.1 for the initial release.
Windows NT 6.1 is called "seven" (or is it Mojave?).
>>>significant subsidies funded by local tax payers
Not true. When cable was run in my county back in the 80s, the cost was borne by the company, with the expectation they'd recover the cost via subscriptions.
>>>I'm a quality whore, and if I can get it in 720p or 1080p
Ahhh.
I'm not. I download the youtube quality episodes (70, 150, or 300 MB size). Since most movies/shows are crap anyway, watching them in HD wouldn't make them any better. On the other hand if I do enjoy the show, like BSG, then I'll go out and buy it on Bluray for the HD experience.
.
>>>I usually grab at -least- an entire season
NapisyPL releases are only about 3 gigabytes per season, or 7-8 hours across a 1 Mbps economy line. I can download that while I'm at work, and watch it when I get home.
You are not allowed to lie in an ad, but you can omit information. i.e. The ad might say "upto 10 Mbit/s" without mentioning there's a 250 GB cap. The contract would contain that detail, and you're expected to read that contract prior to signing it. Complaining later on, "The ad never mentioned the 250GB cap," is not the fault of the company. It's the fault of the signee for failing to read before signing.
Some of us remember when internet access was charged *by the hour* therefore switching to an unlimited time plan was a great benefit for us.
>>>Go read up some on the Zero Liability Coverage from Visa.
Parhaps U.S. laws have been updated, but it used to be that Credit cards had greater protection. As long as you disputed the charge within 30 days, you had no obligation, by law, to pay the disputed charge. Debit cards may have the same protection per business policy, but they Don't have that legal protection. i.e. The U.S. government protects credit cards from fraud, but not debit cards.
>>>my bank was very cooperative, making sure I suffered no NSF fees as a result
Credit cards are even better. If EA or some other dishonest company hits you with a surprise charge, you can simply not pay it:
- "Why is there a $3500 charge from Walmart?"
CC: "You were shopping in California."
- "I live in Maryland."
CC: "Well our records show you were also in vacation in Denver, Las Vegas, and Kansas City. Perhaps you were shopping in California as well?"
- "No I was not. Probably one of the hotel clerks stole my number and went on a shopping spree. Therefore I'm not paying."
CC: "Sorry sir but you must pay."
- "No."
CC: "But..."
- "I said no. I will pay every charge but not the $3500. You can close my account. We're done."
CC: "But sir....."
"Goodbye."
I never did pay it. Yes true the nonpayment of the $3500 shows on my credit report, but since my credit is perfect, that blemish has no effect whatsoever financially. My score's still above 800.
Now contrast THAT scenario to if it had been a debit card. The $3500 would already be subtracted from my account, and I'd never have gotten it back. But since I used credit, I simply refused to pay and kept the money.
>>>Two weeks? You were without your own cash for two weeks and think that is perfectly acceptable?
Victim mentality: "Yeah sure BoA beats me, but I know they still love me. Besides the bruises & lost cash will go-away in a few weeks, and besides I deserved it for my stupidity." - It amazes me how willingly people are to let themselves be screwed, but I guess it's part of human instinct.
When I was a kid I used to let me push me around, but as an adult that no longer happens. I would be polite while talking to BankofAmerica but firm. "I expect the cash and overdraft fees to be returned within one week, else you can close my account..... Yes yes I know you're just following policy, but this is MY policy. Either return the cash within a week, or lose me as a customer. Your choice."
Businesses are your servants, and if they are screwing you instead of serving you, then they need to be "fired". Take your account somewhere else.
I never let anyone deduct directly from my bank account, precisely because of this danger where a company might suck away all my money & leave me with nothing to pay my rent, my electricity, my phone, et cetera. They can only deduct from my bank AFTER I click "pay". Not automatically.
Also I've learned to keep lots of cash. With $20,000 in my account, a $1000 charge from EA's Warhammer would be annoying but not incur overdraft fees.
Yeah but after the Small Claims judge says, "You win," how do you collect the money from EA? Ooops. There's a difference between winning, and actually getting the money. It's your responsibility to call-up EA and say, "You lost per this judgement. Please remit payment to XYZ Bank acount 123." EA can simply say, "No," and you're done.
You won the case but still have no refund, plus you wasted ~$100 on court fees/time lost at work/et cetera.