Hey, if you like watching two mostly naked guys rolling around on the floor with their legs wrapped around each other to find out who passes out first, more power to ya.
Yeah, I remember when I got a magazine subscription and they checked my references. I went out to dinner the other night and had to provide two photo IDs and my last 5 years of W-2 forms before they'd serve me.
Puh-leeze. You make it sound like postpaid services are some crazy exciting new field of economics that Microsoft is just not capable of dealing with. They're not selling cut gems, they're selling bits that cost them a fraction of a penny to push over a wire, and they can easily turn them off over the network if you connect the XBOX after bailing on the bill. The risk MS would take is less than the local chinese restaurant does when serving you food without knowing whether you'll skip out on the bill.
Rape psychologically destroys the victim for the rest of his/her life. Odd are they can never had a meaningful relationship anymore, and will suffer from depression, etc
WTF? Where did you get this idea? Certainly for some victims it is that bad, but it's hardly a rule. The vast majority of rape victims go along with their lives, though many do have PTSD symptoms of varying kind and degree for years afterwards.
Actually it's "fathers and mothers" but the sexist stereotype is even stronger than the stranger stereotype.
Most sexual abuse is committed by men, but most non-sexual child abuse is committed by women, so if you're worried about molestation, it's males that are a much greater statistical concern (it's pretty lopsided, about 80/20 as I recall from my abnormal psych book with 1990s statistics).
Calling someone a "zealot" for not wanting to kill babies for research is a bit much.
Completely avoiding the issue of whether an embryo is a "baby" or not, we do lots of medical research on cadavers. We don't go around killing people in order to obtain cadavers for that research, any more than people go around creating and destroying embryos solely to perform research on. I find it strange that learning about human biology is perfectly okay with the remains of a 90 year old man, but not with the remains of an aborted fetus.
I don't believe there are many readers who own thousands of books and purchase them all new in hardback at full cover price price. If someone owns thousands of books, it's a safe bet they enjoy acquiring books and thus go to places like used bookstores and library sales where you can literally purchase them by the pound or by the box on occasion. Heck, go to the clearance aisles in any Barnes and Noble and you can fill an entire cart with brand new hardbacks for $50-100 if you want to go upscale.
I don't know how anyone can afford to have thousands, the cheapest book I've got is a second hand copy of Marx's selected works that was £8, if we take an average of just £5 having 800 would cost £4000 - and that's a lot of money by anyone's standards. 3500 would cost £17,500 which really is a lot.
It's not a lot when you consider it's two people's books collected over decades. $/£20 per month will get you at least 4 or 5 books if you're frugal and check the clearance and used books stores (which most non-rich avid readers do). Most people spend more than that on coffee or soft drinks. Over 20 years you've collected 1200 books for $5000+.
Linux is not for gamers, you didn't like the way CR phrased that assertion, even though you know it's true. You're arguing, making huge extrapolations about CR's reliability, based entirely on a semantic quibble that ever the Rain Man would find tedious.
They don't ask a single professional, they do even better and evaluate vehicles primarily on overall mechanical reliability as documented over the model lifetime, as well as manufacturer's overall reliability, average cost of repairs, maintenance intervals, etc. That's what any responsible mechanic would do if he had access to the same data.
You're assuming that Vista will be better than XP at some point in the next 5 years, or before they buy their next upgrade.
I'm not assuming anything, we know for a fact that new Vista-only hardware features and software are shipping or in development, and that will only become more common as time goes on. If someone wants to stick with XP on a new system, they'll not be totally left out in the cold for a while, but they'll be a more future-proofed with Vista.
The only assumptions being made here are by you, that your (or my) personal dislike of Vista amounts to anything more than pissing in the wind. MS is basing future Windows development on that system, and until that changes, like it or not, 3rd party software and hardware will follow, and that's all Joe and Jane Consumer care about. Any non-ideological generic computer recommendation would take into account what system offers the best likelihood at future compatibility.
I don't think in the history of CR, they've ever recommended anyone install an OS other than what came on the system as shipped by the OEM. Most people don't ever install anything other than the OS that shipped with the box.
I wouldn't ask a professional auto mechanic about the kind of car they'd buy. I'd ask them whether the car I was looking to buy was a good car.
Then it sounds like you're right in line with CR, that's their point of view as well.
It's not about priorities. Recommending Windows Vista to the typical AOL user? In what way is that a good idea? What priorities would you have to have for that to ever be a good idea?
It's a good idea if they're buying a computer today that they expect to have supported by all their new hardware, software, and services for the next 5+ years.
Their recommendations are based on some algorithm of quality/pricing/features/etc., but their balance never seems to be quite in line with what's important to me.
Well, that's why they publish a whole article that goes with the recommendations. They don't just say "hey, everyone, buy this model", they detail why they liked one better than the other. Obviously if you have different priorities, then you won't agree with their conclusions, but the discussion still gives you a lot of information to base your own decision on, which is exactly what they intend.
So I end up throwing out their recommendations and just looking at the raw data to interpret it myself for my situation and preferences. But that raw data is available anywhere, and I find that 100 reviews on a review site by actual consumers who have used the product outside of a lab and for more than a week are much more useful.
I would doubt that 100 random consumers have access to the same "raw data" that CR generates by testing in house. Consumers don't verify the actual power consumption of a device, they don't have dozens of units side-by-side to say which is louder, which gets unbalanced easier, which has a more sensible control layout. They don't have access to years of reliability and repair rates (though some of that is reflected to a limited degree on some rating sites). You're talking about two completely different classes of information, both of which are important to any purchasing decision. Consumer Reports doesn't claim to provide user testimonials, and ePinions doesn't claim to do any real measurement, they just report whatever the manufacturer prints on the box.
Yes, but not Vista. The one decent point the GP makes is that if a "pro-consumer" organization recommends Vista, it either means they have not done their homework or they are getting a little taste from Microsoft.
Yeah, sure, they must be either ignorant or on the take. Or, just possibly, it means that for most people, Vista is working just fine, and that if you are buying a new computer today and aren't a nerd, it is the best option to ensure new devices and software will be supported in the coming years.
I can do that, too. Without also giving bad/wrong advice. (Yes, I see that article as both bad and wrong.)
If you think someone coming to you and saying "I'm a big gamer, what computer should I buy?", and you answering "Oh, you should install Linux, it plays all the cutting edge games!" is in any way NOT wrong or bad advice, I think we can all agree you're not anywhere near as competent at distilling advanced technical knowledge as you think you are.
Everything you've quoted from CR is correct. I'm sorry if you disagree with it, but that doesn't make it less correct. They don't have space to go into page after page of caveats and explanations for every summary they make, detailing all the thousands of caveats simply so that the average Linux user doesn't get his ego bruised. For the average suburban household, buying a Dell PC with Vista is the most optimal choice. Anyone who works with computers and normal users knows this. Sorry if you don't.
I mean, talk about missing the point Fox. I mean, seriously, the movie is about rampant commercialism destroying society because people are gradually becoming too stupid to resist more insistent and clever marketing tactics, and now they're rolling out Brawndo?
I had the same reaction years ago when The Running Man had been popular, and some TV executive saw this post-apocalyptic movie about jingoistic, themed-warrior reality TV combat and thought "gosh, that IS a great idea!". American Gladiators was on for what, 5 or 6 years? At least they didn't actually kill the contestants.
About a CD burner they said something along the lines of "It can copy an audio CD but the sound quality will be reduced and the copy cannot be further duplicated."
I know exactly what you're talking about because i remember going "WTF?" after reading the same thing. So I researched it, and sure enough it was correct -- the device they were reviewing was a turntable->CD device for converting old records to CD, and could be hooked up via USB to a computer as well. And yes, if you used it to make multiple copies of the CD it would use an analog circuit rather than just doing a bitwise copy. If you hooked it up via USB of course you could do regular bit-for-bit copies using your computer, but that was not the primary advertised way to do it.
As with 99% of the criticisms of CR, errors are usually just a matter of them not having the space to explain every technical detail of every device for pages on end (and their readers don't want to read pages of technical crap, either) -- so they summarize, and no summary is ever as complete as the whole explanation.
that their car recommendations, for instance, might sound as laughable to a mechanic as their software recommendations sound to me.
No doubt they would. Does it really surprise you to think that a professional auto mechanic would have different priorities in their car purchase than a typical suburban housewife who doesn't know where the dipstick is? Does it really surprise you that the typical slashdot reader has different priorities when evaluating software than the typical AOL user? It doesn't make their evaluations or recommendations wrong, it makes them not appropriate for every person on Earth, which I don't think CR would ever claim they were.
Then they shouldn't sell themselves as "experts" if every true expert in a subject matter says they're wrong (which, as you point out, is pretty much the case).
There's a difference between experts who make recommendations for other experts, and experts who make recommendations for casual users. CR has never pretended to care about anyone other than the average person looking for a good deal. I have yet to see any criticism of CR in the past decade (other than clear factual mistakes that CR corrected) that didn't boil down to someone's ego being hurt that CR didn't endorse their particular preference.
I have yet to meet a REAL expert in any subject matter who didn't recognize that CR was correct in their recommendations, given their target market. There are plenty of "enthusiasts" out there who claim to be experts and insist that everyone needs gold-plated Monster Cables.
So, why would they get mad at you for ordering ketchup...?
Because putting ketchup on a hot dog after the age of twelve is considered a culinary no-no in most regions, particularly in Chicago/NYC and other places that take hot dogs seriously. It's about as acceptable as putting ketchup on a steak, which some people insist is perfectly reasonable.
He actually makes a good point. From a legal standpoint, the judge (most likely) should not have granted Novell's motion for a summary judgment. The judge (probably) should have let the matter go to trial. From a "rules of the bench/bar" standpoint, the author is probably correct.
No, he doesn't make a good point. Judges are under no obligation to entertain novel new legal theories for years on end in their courtroom. The case was based on copyright, which requires explicit written transfer. There was no explicit written transfer of copyright, therefore there was no reason for the trial to go forward.
Well, TFA seems to disagree with your interpretation
Well, TFA is a troll who doesn't know what he's talking about. Copyright law is very, very, VERY clear on this -- there is no such thing as a transfer of copyright unless there is a written, explicit transfer of copyright. And even then, there are situations where explicit transfers can be made null and void, and situations where transfers can be undone years after the fact.
Basically the writer is claiming that the judge is somehow obligated to entertain a novel new legal theory with no basis in law, and that it is "unfair" for the judge to rule on the law as it is clearly written.
To put that into perspective, the machine I've been typing on right now has had about 213,000 keypresses in the last 4 days, so in less than 4-6 months, my key would be compromised.
I believe (and may be mistaken) that one of the security features of bluetooth is that it periodically creates a new keypair between attached devices, precisely to avoid this kind of long-term monitoring.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, if you like watching two mostly naked guys rolling around on the floor with their legs wrapped around each other to find out who passes out first, more power to ya.
Yeah, I remember when I got a magazine subscription and they checked my references. I went out to dinner the other night and had to provide two photo IDs and my last 5 years of W-2 forms before they'd serve me.
Puh-leeze. You make it sound like postpaid services are some crazy exciting new field of economics that Microsoft is just not capable of dealing with. They're not selling cut gems, they're selling bits that cost them a fraction of a penny to push over a wire, and they can easily turn them off over the network if you connect the XBOX after bailing on the bill. The risk MS would take is less than the local chinese restaurant does when serving you food without knowing whether you'll skip out on the bill.
Rape psychologically destroys the victim for the rest of his/her life. Odd are they can never had a meaningful relationship anymore, and will suffer from depression, etc
WTF? Where did you get this idea? Certainly for some victims it is that bad, but it's hardly a rule. The vast majority of rape victims go along with their lives, though many do have PTSD symptoms of varying kind and degree for years afterwards.
Actually it's "fathers and mothers" but the sexist stereotype is even stronger than the stranger stereotype.
Most sexual abuse is committed by men, but most non-sexual child abuse is committed by women, so if you're worried about molestation, it's males that are a much greater statistical concern (it's pretty lopsided, about 80/20 as I recall from my abnormal psych book with 1990s statistics).
Calling someone a "zealot" for not wanting to kill babies for research is a bit much.
Completely avoiding the issue of whether an embryo is a "baby" or not, we do lots of medical research on cadavers. We don't go around killing people in order to obtain cadavers for that research, any more than people go around creating and destroying embryos solely to perform research on. I find it strange that learning about human biology is perfectly okay with the remains of a 90 year old man, but not with the remains of an aborted fetus.
My expensive hobbies run me close to $1000 a year.
You can get 3500 books for a lot less than $1000/year, assuming you save them all and live for a few decades.
I don't believe there are many readers who own thousands of books and purchase them all new in hardback at full cover price price. If someone owns thousands of books, it's a safe bet they enjoy acquiring books and thus go to places like used bookstores and library sales where you can literally purchase them by the pound or by the box on occasion. Heck, go to the clearance aisles in any Barnes and Noble and you can fill an entire cart with brand new hardbacks for $50-100 if you want to go upscale.
I don't know how anyone can afford to have thousands, the cheapest book I've got is a second hand copy of Marx's selected works that was £8, if we take an average of just £5 having 800 would cost £4000 - and that's a lot of money by anyone's standards. 3500 would cost £17,500 which really is a lot.
It's not a lot when you consider it's two people's books collected over decades. $/£20 per month will get you at least 4 or 5 books if you're frugal and check the clearance and used books stores (which most non-rich avid readers do). Most people spend more than that on coffee or soft drinks. Over 20 years you've collected 1200 books for $5000+.
Linux is not for gamers, you didn't like the way CR phrased that assertion, even though you know it's true. You're arguing, making huge extrapolations about CR's reliability, based entirely on a semantic quibble that ever the Rain Man would find tedious.
So what professional did they ask here?
They don't ask a single professional, they do even better and evaluate vehicles primarily on overall mechanical reliability as documented over the model lifetime, as well as manufacturer's overall reliability, average cost of repairs, maintenance intervals, etc. That's what any responsible mechanic would do if he had access to the same data.
You're assuming that Vista will be better than XP at some point in the next 5 years, or before they buy their next upgrade.
I'm not assuming anything, we know for a fact that new Vista-only hardware features and software are shipping or in development, and that will only become more common as time goes on. If someone wants to stick with XP on a new system, they'll not be totally left out in the cold for a while, but they'll be a more future-proofed with Vista.
The only assumptions being made here are by you, that your (or my) personal dislike of Vista amounts to anything more than pissing in the wind. MS is basing future Windows development on that system, and until that changes, like it or not, 3rd party software and hardware will follow, and that's all Joe and Jane Consumer care about. Any non-ideological generic computer recommendation would take into account what system offers the best likelihood at future compatibility.
It's not supported by the OEM, genius.
I don't think in the history of CR, they've ever recommended anyone install an OS other than what came on the system as shipped by the OEM. Most people don't ever install anything other than the OS that shipped with the box.
Sorry, didn't know you were autistic, too.
I wouldn't ask a professional auto mechanic about the kind of car they'd buy. I'd ask them whether the car I was looking to buy was a good car.
Then it sounds like you're right in line with CR, that's their point of view as well.
It's not about priorities. Recommending Windows Vista to the typical AOL user? In what way is that a good idea? What priorities would you have to have for that to ever be a good idea?
It's a good idea if they're buying a computer today that they expect to have supported by all their new hardware, software, and services for the next 5+ years.
Isn't installing XP on an EEE PC a decent way to save money? Doesn't it at least deserve mention?
To the average computer user? No. It isn't supported, and most computer users need a 1-800 number to call when something goes wrong.
Their recommendations are based on some algorithm of quality/pricing/features/etc., but their balance never seems to be quite in line with what's important to me.
Well, that's why they publish a whole article that goes with the recommendations. They don't just say "hey, everyone, buy this model", they detail why they liked one better than the other. Obviously if you have different priorities, then you won't agree with their conclusions, but the discussion still gives you a lot of information to base your own decision on, which is exactly what they intend.
So I end up throwing out their recommendations and just looking at the raw data to interpret it myself for my situation and preferences. But that raw data is available anywhere, and I find that 100 reviews on a review site by actual consumers who have used the product outside of a lab and for more than a week are much more useful.
I would doubt that 100 random consumers have access to the same "raw data" that CR generates by testing in house. Consumers don't verify the actual power consumption of a device, they don't have dozens of units side-by-side to say which is louder, which gets unbalanced easier, which has a more sensible control layout. They don't have access to years of reliability and repair rates (though some of that is reflected to a limited degree on some rating sites). You're talking about two completely different classes of information, both of which are important to any purchasing decision. Consumer Reports doesn't claim to provide user testimonials, and ePinions doesn't claim to do any real measurement, they just report whatever the manufacturer prints on the box.
Yes, but not Vista. The one decent point the GP makes is that if a "pro-consumer" organization recommends Vista, it either means they have not done their homework or they are getting a little taste from Microsoft.
Yeah, sure, they must be either ignorant or on the take. Or, just possibly, it means that for most people, Vista is working just fine, and that if you are buying a new computer today and aren't a nerd, it is the best option to ensure new devices and software will be supported in the coming years.
I can do that, too. Without also giving bad/wrong advice. (Yes, I see that article as both bad and wrong.)
If you think someone coming to you and saying "I'm a big gamer, what computer should I buy?", and you answering "Oh, you should install Linux, it plays all the cutting edge games!" is in any way NOT wrong or bad advice, I think we can all agree you're not anywhere near as competent at distilling advanced technical knowledge as you think you are.
Everything you've quoted from CR is correct. I'm sorry if you disagree with it, but that doesn't make it less correct. They don't have space to go into page after page of caveats and explanations for every summary they make, detailing all the thousands of caveats simply so that the average Linux user doesn't get his ego bruised. For the average suburban household, buying a Dell PC with Vista is the most optimal choice. Anyone who works with computers and normal users knows this. Sorry if you don't.
I mean, talk about missing the point Fox. I mean, seriously, the movie is about rampant commercialism destroying society because people are gradually becoming too stupid to resist more insistent and clever marketing tactics, and now they're rolling out Brawndo?
I had the same reaction years ago when The Running Man had been popular, and some TV executive saw this post-apocalyptic movie about jingoistic, themed-warrior reality TV combat and thought "gosh, that IS a great idea!". American Gladiators was on for what, 5 or 6 years? At least they didn't actually kill the contestants.
About a CD burner they said something along the lines of "It can copy an audio CD but the sound quality will be reduced and the copy cannot be further duplicated."
I know exactly what you're talking about because i remember going "WTF?" after reading the same thing. So I researched it, and sure enough it was correct -- the device they were reviewing was a turntable->CD device for converting old records to CD, and could be hooked up via USB to a computer as well. And yes, if you used it to make multiple copies of the CD it would use an analog circuit rather than just doing a bitwise copy. If you hooked it up via USB of course you could do regular bit-for-bit copies using your computer, but that was not the primary advertised way to do it.
As with 99% of the criticisms of CR, errors are usually just a matter of them not having the space to explain every technical detail of every device for pages on end (and their readers don't want to read pages of technical crap, either) -- so they summarize, and no summary is ever as complete as the whole explanation.
that their car recommendations, for instance, might sound as laughable to a mechanic as their software recommendations sound to me.
No doubt they would. Does it really surprise you to think that a professional auto mechanic would have different priorities in their car purchase than a typical suburban housewife who doesn't know where the dipstick is? Does it really surprise you that the typical slashdot reader has different priorities when evaluating software than the typical AOL user? It doesn't make their evaluations or recommendations wrong, it makes them not appropriate for every person on Earth, which I don't think CR would ever claim they were.
Then they shouldn't sell themselves as "experts" if every true expert in a subject matter says they're wrong (which, as you point out, is pretty much the case).
There's a difference between experts who make recommendations for other experts, and experts who make recommendations for casual users. CR has never pretended to care about anyone other than the average person looking for a good deal. I have yet to see any criticism of CR in the past decade (other than clear factual mistakes that CR corrected) that didn't boil down to someone's ego being hurt that CR didn't endorse their particular preference.
I have yet to meet a REAL expert in any subject matter who didn't recognize that CR was correct in their recommendations, given their target market. There are plenty of "enthusiasts" out there who claim to be experts and insist that everyone needs gold-plated Monster Cables.
So, why would they get mad at you for ordering ketchup...?
Because putting ketchup on a hot dog after the age of twelve is considered a culinary no-no in most regions, particularly in Chicago/NYC and other places that take hot dogs seriously. It's about as acceptable as putting ketchup on a steak, which some people insist is perfectly reasonable.
No, he doesn't make a good point. Judges are under no obligation to entertain novel new legal theories for years on end in their courtroom. The case was based on copyright, which requires explicit written transfer. There was no explicit written transfer of copyright, therefore there was no reason for the trial to go forward.
Well, TFA is a troll who doesn't know what he's talking about. Copyright law is very, very, VERY clear on this -- there is no such thing as a transfer of copyright unless there is a written, explicit transfer of copyright. And even then, there are situations where explicit transfers can be made null and void, and situations where transfers can be undone years after the fact.
Basically the writer is claiming that the judge is somehow obligated to entertain a novel new legal theory with no basis in law, and that it is "unfair" for the judge to rule on the law as it is clearly written.
I believe (and may be mistaken) that one of the security features of bluetooth is that it periodically creates a new keypair between attached devices, precisely to avoid this kind of long-term monitoring.