>This sounds great but unfortunately, rarely works in the real world. Most people create documents for others to view, and in today's corporate environment, that means.doc format. As simple as that.
And, if your whole company is using OpenOffice... what then? Scrap Microsoft Office? Sounds great!
I run a company and apart from having to install Word/Excel/Powerpoint viewer (free) to deal with other companies files, I've never actually had any reason to buy Microsoft Office. At over $1,000 a seat, I think I'll stick with OpenOffice and spend an hour or two a month dealing with editing the occasional foreign file that doesn't import all that well. If it ever came to the point where I really had to deal with MS files all the time from other companies, I'd probably buy one or two seats of MS licenses (not one for each computer) so that people can use it to massage the document back to reality (RTF) when its needed. Besides, there's always wv when you're stuck, which is far more versatile than MS Office.
All in all, it just works out cheaper. Especially for small businesses.
I disagree. Looks really nice. I like how they've outlined the buttons with what appears to be a ridge so that it's easy to use in poor light without having to light up the device.
From what I can see of the picture, it seems like the clear LCD protector covers most of the front of the unit. I like that, too.
The blue-grey on silver-beige two tone scheme sets it apart from all the copycat white-only products out there.
By choosing not to use an identical interface to the iPods, Virgin will attract users who find the iPod interface displeasing.
Basically, thank God it's not an iPod clone.
I wish I could load virgin's site for more pictures.:-S
>Honestly, I meant no ill will. Don't stay in your corner long. Good academic discussion is hard to come by these days.
:-) Thanks./me wipes tear from his eye. I gave up on slashdot for a while after slashdot banned me due to their idiotic anti-troll system. Glad to see not everyone with a brain left.
>so you know the thickness of the material is a big deal in what stress it can take - so you know that the cd/phonebook comment is a false dilemma...
Exactly. Basically, polycarbonate can be made to be of bulletproof specifications, but there's no way in hell Apple is building their machines to those specs. If it's not built to those specs, it's just cheapo plastic, and no more special than the plastic Sony VAIO case I just managed to break (stupid chinese jigsaw puzzles always end up broken by the time I'm done with them... ARGH! I should refuse to repair name brand PCs...)
>BTW do you own a cube? we have 8 - we settled that "crack" issue a long time ago.
No, I don't. However, they clearly aren't bulletproof if they are built to such a spec that they manage to crack under the stress of their own screws. Apple was confident that during the cracked cube era they were living up to their normal standards, as evidenced in the article I linked; so I have no choice but to believe Apple that this is their modus operandi.
I have worked on eMacs a year or two ago, and while the plastic was reasonably strong enough to hold the machine together -- bulletproof? I wouldn't put my life to it. It appeared to have about the same strength as about any other plastic case I've come across, PC or Mac.
Why aren't new theatres being built with a grounded screen sandwiched inside the walls? We're not exactly talking megabucks to do this when you're building the theatre, and, AFAIK, there's no law against simply making it impossible for signals to enter a space.
I'm sure someone will say "what about emergency calls?" What about them? Your phone quits when you go in a tunnel, it quits when you're in some buildings, it quits when you're on the fringe of town. And, unlike that theatre, those places won't even be signed as "cellular service unavailable".
Oh yeah, as far as doctors being on 24-7 call missing their major emergency call, there's so many other ways they can miss such a call daily (on the toilet, having a shower, under a tunnel, out of batteries, whaterver) I am 100% certain the hospital has a backup plan (ie: Call another doctor).
>You can buy new/more ram, new/more hard drives, new/multiple videocards, new/more cd/dvd/whateverthefuck drives, etc... what the hell are YOU "upgrading" on your PC?... a USB coffee pot? hell we can pretty much thank apple for the prevalence of usb
Ok, tell me how much the Mac that can handle these upgrades cost at the time it was on the market new:
- DVD/CD burning tower (4 drives minimum)
- Storage server (1 TB of dish space minimum)
- Gamer's box (Top of the line AGP + whatever gamers like)
- Video editing box (If you like Macs you probably know what you need for this, minimum 2 x SATA raided + firewire, etc)
- Network server (3 or 4 NICs)
- The "I NEED MORE MEMORY" box (2 GB RAM)
I can tell you right now a PC that could handle upgrades to all of those things would cost about $300 just 3 years ago. No, I'm not including the cost of the upgrades (Mac users should be happy about that -- Apple branded parts usually sell for far more than the OEM PC parts [made by the same manufacturer and on the same line, I might add]).
>In my opinion a MAJOR hardware upgrade is called building a new computer. The only thing that comes along for the ride are peripherals. So what is the appeal of a pc then?
You don't waste money on a new set of decent peripheral parts. Example:
- DVD Burner ($100)
- CD Burner ($50)
- Hard Drive ($100)
- Case ($50)
- Power Supply ($50)
- Floppy Drive ($10)
- Video Card ($300)
- Memory ($200)
I suppose if you find $860 to not be worth the trouble, yeah, buying a totally new PC is a smart idea. If you buy garbage generic parts, your savings will vary. Of course, one can only hope you're not going to compare ECS to Apple.
Bulletproof polycarbonate doesn't crack with just the stress of the screws holding it together. $2 Candy phones and $0.10 CD cases, on the other hand...
BTW: $0.05 CD-Rs are made of polycarbonate. You'd be better protected from a bullet by a phone book, though.
>I assume the purportedly non-sexist English language allows for this?
Unfortunately, you've used it incorrectly in that case.
If you'd like to take a look at the dictionary one more time, you'll find no sexless definitions for the word "woman". In fact, the word "woman" could be considered sexist, as some definitions mean it to be a female servant.
>Actually, I would have said "person" rather than "man" or "woman", but I don't think it's safe to debate pronoun usage with a woman such as yourself, as you seem to have taken my joke very seriously.
I take "jokes" like that seriously because I do tire of seeing certain groups corrupt not only our language (I consider it a corruption when a simple shortening of the word "human" can somehow become an insult), but worse yet, corrupt our legal system. IMHO, a man without a hate crime law is like a fish without a bicycle. Interestingly enough, that law is now used to eject certain non-mainstream media from Canada.
Yeah. I'll just go in a corner and chill out now. That's ok. Don't worry about anything.
>What about a 5 woman business? Would Quasar still be enough?
I thought I already said that. A 5 man business could consist of only women. The english language does allow for that. In fact, you'll find the same or more sexless definitions for the word in the dictionary than you will find sexed definitions, and common usage still allows for "man" as a very genderless word. I would point to a certain government organization in the UK that uses that word, but you may have heard of them already, anyways.
I don't intend to adjust my usage of the word until the major dictionaries tell me to.
Yes, Carolyn Jacobson must have a poor dictionary indeed; her suggestion that dictionaries have a clear preference towards using the word "man" to mean male is provably incorrect.
It is sad that an english department of a prominent university cannot afford a quality dictionary. I would have donated one to them at the time, had I known they lacked one. Since now said quality dictionaries are online, I except I needent do so and that such unintentional ignorance should wash itself away in time.
Of course, if you choose to use an alternative word, such as "their" or "they", I shan't correct you. It isn't my place. Besides, common usage of such words makes their once incorrect usage now correct.
>Is it possible to see any other satellites from the UK??
Heh. Plenty of them, of course.
>I think here in the US it's possible to see some European satellites
Almost, with a very large dish (oh, say 25 - 50 feet) and a home on the eastern coastline with a perfect view to the eastern horizon (elevation is going to be 5 degrees or lower). Otherwise, good luck. Generally, satellites available to the US are placed over the atlantic or pacific ocean, or (obviously) over the US.
If you'd like to check if it's physically possible to see the satellite (never mind if it's EIRP covers you), click your location on your favourite satellite. Our pesky ball of dirt tends to get in the way.:-)
>Ever seen a movie on regular tv with no adverts? its heaven!
At the current cost of the UK TV license, you can enjoy approximately 100 - 200 movies per day without commercials in the US or Canada (preferrably the US).
I don't recall even 1/100th that many movies per day being played on BBC during my time in the UK. I do realize now that there's more than BBC 1 and 2. That you get some kids channels, and a few others. I don't see a BBC Movies station, though, not to mention BBC Movies/Action, BBC Movies/Drama, BBC Movies/Comedy, etc, etc.
Of course you'll say there's lots of good non-movie content in the UK. And, being that I've seen such content, I can say that personally, I'm not impressed. Not any more impressed than I get at American non-movie content. More impressed than I am at Canadian non-movie content, though. I certainly would never pay for hardly any of that drek.
Quasar is the linux equivalent of Simply Accounting. For a 5 man business, it would probably be enough. It's not specifically designed to do Purchase Orders, but it's there, buried somewhere.
The brother HL-760 is only rated for 10,000 pages. Searching google I see prices have come down to the ~$150 range, but that doesn't take the sting out of it. Furthermore, the printer has a drum life counter, and will refuse to print after 10,000 pages. And, to add insult to injury, resetting that counter requires a special plastic sheet (which I managed to find the specs for).
Once reset, to add insult to injury, Brother was right. Their "high output" drum completely poops out at about 15,000 pages.
The drum built into the cartridge on my HP Laserjet 5si has served us through 3 boxes of paper (15,000 sheets) and still looks as good as new. And it isn't even supposed to last more than about 5,000 pages. And that's a wide format drum. What's more is a replacement drum cost me $12.95 (more than 10x less what a Brother drum costs).
Yeah, I'm sure you're not going to believe me. That's ok -- when the drum in your HL 5050 "turns off" and you decide to sqeeze a few more pages from it, you'll be cursing it for Brother's lack of quality and high expense, too.
If you take a look at google groups results, Brother is infamous for defective drums on their laser printers.
>Counter Example 1: Many popular games won't run without the CD in the drive. In other words, if you try to start the app without the CD, it will not do what you want (it will exit). Did you just lose control of your computer? Is your security at risk?
Just like Google, these games disable your computer's functionality. In fact, your "counter example" is counter productive to your point -- it just serves to show what a racket this type of thing is (Imagine being forced not to run competitors' products if you choose to run a company's software. Despicable.)
The fact that what google is doing is on a smaller scale just softens the blow.
Click "Disc Read Error Sony Repair FAQ" to discover that Sony has been party to a class action lawsuit on this issue, and that as a settlement you may have your PS2 repaired free of charge (+ S&H).
Basically, your laser is almost worn out. As a PS2 and XBOX modder, I can say the PS2 is, in fact, the poorest quality and design of console available on the market today. I wouldn't give a PS2 to anyone under 14, lest it fall off a table and end up destroyed.
The XBOX, however, is about the pinnacle in quality of design and manufacture for consoles. Those things are a treat to work inside, use only high quality durable connectors, have a very high quality PCB, and are simple to disassmenble. It would take a Mack truck to destroy an XBOX. As usual, Microsoft once again proves they are a great design company (or, in some cases, are great at outsourcing to quality companies) for hardware, but suck at software.
>It has tonnes of cars, tonnes of bad drivers (not as many as the US though, our driving test is a bit more advanced) and lots of accidents.
That's true. A BBC World News reporter took a test in Montana and reported how laughably easy the test was. He passed with flying colours.
Funny, though, that he later took an Ontario, Canada driving test and failed miserably. I'm not certain which test he was given, as there are two separate driving tests in Ontario that need to be passed to have a full license.
Some interesting stats:
7.3 per 100,000 Ontarians die in accidents (2002). 14.93 per 100,000 Americans die in accidents (2002). 5.78 per 100,000 Britons die in accidents (2002).
Compiled by combining info from this and this. I'd just get the per 100,000 population count from the UK website but it's particularly pathetically designed, requiring over 6 links just to get to a single stat that's pointlessly in PDF.
It's just interesting that the increasing the difficulty level of a test not only follows the laws of diminishing returns, but also, apparently, can cause an increase in accidents as the difficulty level increases past a certain point.
Don't worry. Instead we're going to ban you from purchasing satellite equipment from any company except Bell Canada or Starchoice. Yep, that means we'll basically make it illegal for you to watch anything that's even unencrypted for free. Sorry 'bout that. Glad you voted for 'em, though, because I expect a boondoggle of cash to flow in here if I manage to bootleg up some receivers after the law passes.
It's not enough that we just ban US television, we have to ban TV from any country except Canada! YAY MULTICULTURALISM! Multiculturalism is about making sure nobody actually participates in their culture, I assume, after all.
Did I mention we already ban Superman comics, technically? [ ccc 163.(1)(b) ]
Yeah. GO CANADA! We rule!
Oh wait. Hmmm. Can someone remind me what the point is of laws that let you copy anything you like, as long as it's made by Bryan Adams or Celine Dion?
>Well one person recieves a copy, and that person sends to two people, and they each send to two people. Now compare that to the one on one transfer that the physical medium imposes.
Irrelevant. We are talking per single crime committed, not multiple.
Besides, if you are able to steal a CD from a store, and you let others know how you did it, your slippery slope analogy is easily retrofitted to the real world.
>So far the evidence presented for this argument is as circumstantial as your claim that there's no one to one relationship between song and revenue.
True. However, the maximum monetary damage caused is clearly the maximum value of the item. From my experience, the maximum monetary damage of the loss of a single song is around $0.99, as this is what the RIAA generally charge per track.
From my experience in having seen petty shoplifting cases being prosecuted in court [ask me why if you want to hear a VERY long and pointless story], someone without a record will receive restitution and either a peace bond, a fine (I have not seen a fine as a result myself, although it is possible, and most places seem to place the maximum dollar figure of such a fine at about $250), or about 30 hours of community service. If you go by the fine, on a CD single (about the lowest value item you can shoplift from a CD store) you could end up with about 50x punishment as compared to the crime. The maximum monetary penalty for shoplifting seems to be about $5,000. That's about 1000x punishment.
Copyright infringement cases generally settle at about $2,000. It is expected, nay, obvious that an out of court settlement is going to be far less than the punishment the court is liklely to hand out. Assuming, however, that $2,000 is, in fact, the punishment the court would hand out (unlikely), on that same single CD we are at 400x punishment. The maximum monetary penalty, if my video tapes are correct, is $250,000. That's 50,000 times punishment.
I still cannot see what justifies 8 - 50 times more punishment for a crime, which, in respect of actual maximum losses, is identical.
>Cartridges may run more than $100, but will usually last for thousands of pages
If you search around google, you can get toner refill kits. Usually you pay about $25 for the hole melting tool (which is nothing more than a high wattage soldering with a special end). After that, you pay about $15 per bottle of toner, which will fill the entire cartridge. Most cartridges are good for about 2 - 3 refills. Fresh bottles should include sealing caps.
For the ungodly cheap person, you can then replace the drum yourself. Replacement drums vary wildly on price, from $20 - $300.
If you're not so cheap or mechanically inclined, when you wear out the drum, you can purchase a new cartridge at that point. The drum, almost always, is going to be integrated into the cartidge [note: For the love of God don't buy a Brother laser printer - $300 drums, only 10k pages!]).
I have done all this myself on a laserjet 5si, which sees about 5,000 pages output per month, and I've been 100% happy with the resulting output. One note: you'll probably spill toner all over the first time. Do the work outside, or maybe in a laundry tub (clean up with cold water only, hot water will fuse the toner). And DON'T SQUEEZE THE BOTTLE. JUST DON'T.;-)
>Does anyone have experience with laser printers and photo-quality output?
I have pretty much the first colour laser made (an HP Laserjet Color... no part number extension) and while it doesn't look great, modchip diagrams print readably. It prints at only 300 dpi for colour.
I expect the technology has advanced from "muddy but good enough to give away" to "good enough to hang up on the wall" over the past decade.
Small fishing tackle boxes (like this one) are even nicer. Once you close the lid, those little itty bitty screws don't end up all over the floor when you (inevtiably) bump it. Most of them have curved edges which makes retreiving the screws later a simple task.
Beats me why they don't just call them screw boxes.:-D
Slashdot Mirror
>So, your argument is that OO's apparently non-working natvie PDF exporter is better than Word not having one at all?
Better to have to export it to PDF without the footer than not do it at all?
Yeah, that's a cogent argument to me.
>This sounds great but unfortunately, rarely works in the real world. Most people create documents for others to view, and in today's corporate environment, that means .doc format. As simple as that.
And, if your whole company is using OpenOffice... what then? Scrap Microsoft Office? Sounds great!
I run a company and apart from having to install Word/Excel/Powerpoint viewer (free) to deal with other companies files, I've never actually had any reason to buy Microsoft Office. At over $1,000 a seat, I think I'll stick with OpenOffice and spend an hour or two a month dealing with editing the occasional foreign file that doesn't import all that well. If it ever came to the point where I really had to deal with MS files all the time from other companies, I'd probably buy one or two seats of MS licenses (not one for each computer) so that people can use it to massage the document back to reality (RTF) when its needed. Besides, there's always wv when you're stuck, which is far more versatile than MS Office.
All in all, it just works out cheaper. Especially for small businesses.
I disagree. Looks really nice. I like how they've outlined the buttons with what appears to be a ridge so that it's easy to use in poor light without having to light up the device.
:-S
From what I can see of the picture, it seems like the clear LCD protector covers most of the front of the unit. I like that, too.
The blue-grey on silver-beige two tone scheme sets it apart from all the copycat white-only products out there.
By choosing not to use an identical interface to the iPods, Virgin will attract users who find the iPod interface displeasing.
Basically, thank God it's not an iPod clone.
I wish I could load virgin's site for more pictures.
:-) Thanks. /me wipes tear from his eye. I gave up on slashdot for a while after slashdot banned me due to their idiotic anti-troll system. Glad to see not everyone with a brain left.
>so you know the thickness of the material is a big deal in what stress it can take - so you know that the cd/phonebook comment is a false dilemma...
Exactly. Basically, polycarbonate can be made to be of bulletproof specifications, but there's no way in hell Apple is building their machines to those specs. If it's not built to those specs, it's just cheapo plastic, and no more special than the plastic Sony VAIO case I just managed to break (stupid chinese jigsaw puzzles always end up broken by the time I'm done with them... ARGH! I should refuse to repair name brand PCs...)
>BTW do you own a cube? we have 8 - we settled that "crack" issue a long time ago.
No, I don't. However, they clearly aren't bulletproof if they are built to such a spec that they manage to crack under the stress of their own screws. Apple was confident that during the cracked cube era they were living up to their normal standards, as evidenced in the article I linked; so I have no choice but to believe Apple that this is their modus operandi.
I have worked on eMacs a year or two ago, and while the plastic was reasonably strong enough to hold the machine together -- bulletproof? I wouldn't put my life to it. It appeared to have about the same strength as about any other plastic case I've come across, PC or Mac.
Why aren't new theatres being built with a grounded screen sandwiched inside the walls? We're not exactly talking megabucks to do this when you're building the theatre, and, AFAIK, there's no law against simply making it impossible for signals to enter a space.
I'm sure someone will say "what about emergency calls?" What about them? Your phone quits when you go in a tunnel, it quits when you're in some buildings, it quits when you're on the fringe of town. And, unlike that theatre, those places won't even be signed as "cellular service unavailable".
Oh yeah, as far as doctors being on 24-7 call missing their major emergency call, there's so many other ways they can miss such a call daily (on the toilet, having a shower, under a tunnel, out of batteries, whaterver) I am 100% certain the hospital has a backup plan (ie: Call another doctor).
>You can buy new/more ram, new/more hard drives, new/multiple videocards, new/more cd/dvd/whateverthefuck drives, etc... what the hell are YOU "upgrading" on your PC?... a USB coffee pot? hell we can pretty much thank apple for the prevalence of usb
Ok, tell me how much the Mac that can handle these upgrades cost at the time it was on the market new:
- DVD/CD burning tower (4 drives minimum)
- Storage server (1 TB of dish space minimum)
- Gamer's box (Top of the line AGP + whatever gamers like)
- Video editing box (If you like Macs you probably know what you need for this, minimum 2 x SATA raided + firewire, etc)
- Network server (3 or 4 NICs)
- The "I NEED MORE MEMORY" box (2 GB RAM)
I can tell you right now a PC that could handle upgrades to all of those things would cost about $300 just 3 years ago. No, I'm not including the cost of the upgrades (Mac users should be happy about that -- Apple branded parts usually sell for far more than the OEM PC parts [made by the same manufacturer and on the same line, I might add]).
>In my opinion a MAJOR hardware upgrade is called building a new computer. The only thing that comes along for the ride are peripherals.
So what is the appeal of a pc then?
You don't waste money on a new set of decent peripheral parts. Example:
- DVD Burner ($100)
- CD Burner ($50)
- Hard Drive ($100)
- Case ($50)
- Power Supply ($50)
- Floppy Drive ($10)
- Video Card ($300)
- Memory ($200)
I suppose if you find $860 to not be worth the trouble, yeah, buying a totally new PC is a smart idea. If you buy garbage generic parts, your savings will vary. Of course, one can only hope you're not going to compare ECS to Apple.
>try bulletproof polycarbonate.
Bulletproof polycarbonate doesn't crack with just the stress of the screws holding it together. $2 Candy phones and $0.10 CD cases, on the other hand...
BTW: $0.05 CD-Rs are made of polycarbonate. You'd be better protected from a bullet by a phone book, though.
>I assume the purportedly non-sexist English language allows for this?
Unfortunately, you've used it incorrectly in that case.
If you'd like to take a look at the dictionary one more time, you'll find no sexless definitions for the word "woman". In fact, the word "woman" could be considered sexist, as some definitions mean it to be a female servant.
>Actually, I would have said "person" rather than "man" or "woman", but I don't think it's safe to debate pronoun usage with a woman such as yourself, as you seem to have taken my joke very seriously.
I take "jokes" like that seriously because I do tire of seeing certain groups corrupt not only our language (I consider it a corruption when a simple shortening of the word "human" can somehow become an insult), but worse yet, corrupt our legal system. IMHO, a man without a hate crime law is like a fish without a bicycle. Interestingly enough, that law is now used to eject certain non-mainstream media from Canada.
Yeah. I'll just go in a corner and chill out now. That's ok. Don't worry about anything.
>What about a 5 woman business? Would Quasar still be enough?
I thought I already said that. A 5 man business could consist of only women. The english language does allow for that. In fact, you'll find the same or more sexless definitions for the word in the dictionary than you will find sexed definitions, and common usage still allows for "man" as a very genderless word. I would point to a certain government organization in the UK that uses that word, but you may have heard of them already, anyways.
I don't intend to adjust my usage of the word until the major dictionaries tell me to.
Yes, Carolyn Jacobson must have a poor dictionary indeed; her suggestion that dictionaries have a clear preference towards using the word "man" to mean male is provably incorrect.
It is sad that an english department of a prominent university cannot afford a quality dictionary. I would have donated one to them at the time, had I known they lacked one. Since now said quality dictionaries are online, I except I needent do so and that such unintentional ignorance should wash itself away in time.
Of course, if you choose to use an alternative word, such as "their" or "they", I shan't correct you. It isn't my place. Besides, common usage of such words makes their once incorrect usage now correct.
>You don't volunteer to pay taxes. Sometimes, what you disagree with still gets funded by your taxes. Deal with it.
Most countries do, they get to vote in different tax controllers (read: Leaders) every 5 years.
Is there a vote on the UK TV License every 5 years?
Hmmm...
checking...
checking...
NOPE!
>Is it possible to see any other satellites from the UK??
:-)
Heh. Plenty of them, of course.
>I think here in the US it's possible to see some European satellites
Almost, with a very large dish (oh, say 25 - 50 feet) and a home on the eastern coastline with a perfect view to the eastern horizon (elevation is going to be 5 degrees or lower). Otherwise, good luck. Generally, satellites available to the US are placed over the atlantic or pacific ocean, or (obviously) over the US.
If you'd like to check if it's physically possible to see the satellite (never mind if it's EIRP covers you), click your location on your favourite satellite. Our pesky ball of dirt tends to get in the way.
>Ever seen a movie on regular tv with no adverts? its heaven!
At the current cost of the UK TV license, you can enjoy approximately 100 - 200 movies per day without commercials in the US or Canada (preferrably the US).
I don't recall even 1/100th that many movies per day being played on BBC during my time in the UK. I do realize now that there's more than BBC 1 and 2. That you get some kids channels, and a few others. I don't see a BBC Movies station, though, not to mention BBC Movies/Action, BBC Movies/Drama, BBC Movies/Comedy, etc, etc.
Of course you'll say there's lots of good non-movie content in the UK. And, being that I've seen such content, I can say that personally, I'm not impressed. Not any more impressed than I get at American non-movie content. More impressed than I am at Canadian non-movie content, though. I certainly would never pay for hardly any of that drek.
Quasar is the linux equivalent of Simply Accounting. For a 5 man business, it would probably be enough. It's not specifically designed to do Purchase Orders, but it's there, buried somewhere.
> My brother HL 5050 :
The brother HL-760 is only rated for 10,000 pages. Searching google I see prices have come down to the ~$150 range, but that doesn't take the sting out of it. Furthermore, the printer has a drum life counter, and will refuse to print after 10,000 pages. And, to add insult to injury, resetting that counter requires a special plastic sheet (which I managed to find the specs for).
Once reset, to add insult to injury, Brother was right. Their "high output" drum completely poops out at about 15,000 pages.
The drum built into the cartridge on my HP Laserjet 5si has served us through 3 boxes of paper (15,000 sheets) and still looks as good as new. And it isn't even supposed to last more than about 5,000 pages. And that's a wide format drum. What's more is a replacement drum cost me $12.95 (more than 10x less what a Brother drum costs).
Yeah, I'm sure you're not going to believe me. That's ok -- when the drum in your HL 5050 "turns off" and you decide to sqeeze a few more pages from it, you'll be cursing it for Brother's lack of quality and high expense, too.
If you take a look at google groups results, Brother is infamous for defective drums on their laser printers.
>Uhhhhh maybe I'm just dumb but I don't see how this comment showed "disrespect for employees."
Present employees can feel secure knowing that if they are fired by this person, they will have to endure public ridicule and humiliation from him.
Nothing beats that "better quit before I'm fired" feeling at work. Really makes you feel... hmmm...
respected?
>Counter Example 1: Many popular games won't run without the CD in the drive. In other words, if you try to start the app without the CD, it will not do what you want (it will exit). Did you just lose control of your computer? Is your security at risk?
Yes.
Just like Google, these games disable your computer's functionality. In fact, your "counter example" is counter productive to your point -- it just serves to show what a racket this type of thing is (Imagine being forced not to run competitors' products if you choose to run a company's software. Despicable.)
The fact that what google is doing is on a smaller scale just softens the blow.
Click "Disc Read Error Sony Repair FAQ" to discover that Sony has been party to a class action lawsuit on this issue, and that as a settlement you may have your PS2 repaired free of charge (+ S&H).
Basically, your laser is almost worn out. As a PS2 and XBOX modder, I can say the PS2 is, in fact, the poorest quality and design of console available on the market today. I wouldn't give a PS2 to anyone under 14, lest it fall off a table and end up destroyed.
The XBOX, however, is about the pinnacle in quality of design and manufacture for consoles. Those things are a treat to work inside, use only high quality durable connectors, have a very high quality PCB, and are simple to disassmenble. It would take a Mack truck to destroy an XBOX. As usual, Microsoft once again proves they are a great design company (or, in some cases, are great at outsourcing to quality companies) for hardware, but suck at software.
>It has tonnes of cars, tonnes of bad drivers (not as many as the US though, our driving test is a bit more advanced) and lots of accidents.
That's true. A BBC World News reporter took a test in Montana and reported how laughably easy the test was. He passed with flying colours.
Funny, though, that he later took an Ontario, Canada driving test and failed miserably. I'm not certain which test he was given, as there are two separate driving tests in Ontario that need to be passed to have a full license.
Some interesting stats:
7.3 per 100,000 Ontarians die in accidents (2002).
14.93 per 100,000 Americans die in accidents (2002).
5.78 per 100,000 Britons die in accidents (2002).
Compiled by combining info from this and this. I'd just get the per 100,000 population count from the UK website but it's particularly pathetically designed, requiring over 6 links just to get to a single stat that's pointlessly in PDF.
It's just interesting that the increasing the difficulty level of a test not only follows the laws of diminishing returns, but also, apparently, can cause an increase in accidents as the difficulty level increases past a certain point.
>NINTENDO DID NOT DESIGN, MANUFACTURE, OR SELL THE POWER GLOVE.
Nintendo did, however, promote the Power Glove, as witnessed in this shitbox of a movie.
>I'm oh-so-glad there's no DMCA in Canada.
Don't worry. Instead we're going to ban you from purchasing satellite equipment from any company except Bell Canada or Starchoice. Yep, that means we'll basically make it illegal for you to watch anything that's even unencrypted for free. Sorry 'bout that. Glad you voted for 'em, though, because I expect a boondoggle of cash to flow in here if I manage to bootleg up some receivers after the law passes.
It's not enough that we just ban US television, we have to ban TV from any country except Canada! YAY MULTICULTURALISM! Multiculturalism is about making sure nobody actually participates in their culture, I assume, after all.
Did I mention we already ban Superman comics, technically? [ ccc 163.(1)(b) ]
Yeah. GO CANADA! We rule!
Oh wait. Hmmm. Can someone remind me what the point is of laws that let you copy anything you like, as long as it's made by Bryan Adams or Celine Dion?
>Well one person recieves a copy, and that person sends to two people, and they each send to two people. Now compare that to the one on one transfer that the physical medium imposes.
Irrelevant. We are talking per single crime committed, not multiple.
Besides, if you are able to steal a CD from a store, and you let others know how you did it, your slippery slope analogy is easily retrofitted to the real world.
>So far the evidence presented for this argument is as circumstantial as your claim that there's no one to one relationship between song and revenue.
True. However, the maximum monetary damage caused is clearly the maximum value of the item. From my experience, the maximum monetary damage of the loss of a single song is around $0.99, as this is what the RIAA generally charge per track.
From my experience in having seen petty shoplifting cases being prosecuted in court [ask me why if you want to hear a VERY long and pointless story], someone without a record will receive restitution and either a peace bond, a fine (I have not seen a fine as a result myself, although it is possible, and most places seem to place the maximum dollar figure of such a fine at about $250), or about 30 hours of community service. If you go by the fine, on a CD single (about the lowest value item you can shoplift from a CD store) you could end up with about 50x punishment as compared to the crime. The maximum monetary penalty for shoplifting seems to be about $5,000. That's about 1000x punishment.
Copyright infringement cases generally settle at about $2,000. It is expected, nay, obvious that an out of court settlement is going to be far less than the punishment the court is liklely to hand out. Assuming, however, that $2,000 is, in fact, the punishment the court would hand out (unlikely), on that same single CD we are at 400x punishment. The maximum monetary penalty, if my video tapes are correct, is $250,000. That's 50,000 times punishment.
I still cannot see what justifies 8 - 50 times more punishment for a crime, which, in respect of actual maximum losses, is identical.
>Cartridges may run more than $100, but will usually last for thousands of pages
;-)
If you search around google, you can get toner refill kits. Usually you pay about $25 for the hole melting tool (which is nothing more than a high wattage soldering with a special end). After that, you pay about $15 per bottle of toner, which will fill the entire cartridge. Most cartridges are good for about 2 - 3 refills. Fresh bottles should include sealing caps.
For the ungodly cheap person, you can then replace the drum yourself. Replacement drums vary wildly on price, from $20 - $300.
If you're not so cheap or mechanically inclined, when you wear out the drum, you can purchase a new cartridge at that point. The drum, almost always, is going to be integrated into the cartidge [note: For the love of God don't buy a Brother laser printer - $300 drums, only 10k pages!]).
I have done all this myself on a laserjet 5si, which sees about 5,000 pages output per month, and I've been 100% happy with the resulting output. One note: you'll probably spill toner all over the first time. Do the work outside, or maybe in a laundry tub (clean up with cold water only, hot water will fuse the toner). And DON'T SQUEEZE THE BOTTLE. JUST DON'T.
>Does anyone have experience with laser printers and photo-quality output?
I have pretty much the first colour laser made (an HP Laserjet Color... no part number extension) and while it doesn't look great, modchip diagrams print readably. It prints at only 300 dpi for colour.
I expect the technology has advanced from "muddy but good enough to give away" to "good enough to hang up on the wall" over the past decade.
Small fishing tackle boxes (like this one) are even nicer. Once you close the lid, those little itty bitty screws don't end up all over the floor when you (inevtiably) bump it. Most of them have curved edges which makes retreiving the screws later a simple task.
:-D
Beats me why they don't just call them screw boxes.