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User: obarthelemy

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  1. Linux: by nerds, for nerds on The True Challenges of Desktop Linux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think the basic issue is that Linux is an OS by nerds, for nerds. Which is fine, as long as they don't pretend they're something else.

    - While using a preinstalled Linux system can be OK (if the system is vanilla, well installed, and you don't want to change anything), installing/admin-ing a Linux system requires the CLI within 10 minutes
    - the code might be good, the documentation is horrendous. Codenames are fun except when you don't care about them and have to keep a post-it note to remember if Carmic Crap is 8.10 or 9.14; once you know that, you got to try and find relevant info (MAN pages are often out of sync and/or a bit unclear; forum posts rarely states which versions they apply to or not...). I think this is both accidental (writing doc is boring and unglamorous) and by design (if only a few people can make head or tail of something, their market value increases)
    - the feature set is chosen to impress your programmer peers, not to seduce/help non-techies.
    - many distros, GUIs... are *released* in what is barely a beta state (early Unity, KDE4...). People howl at MS putting out crap v1s... Linux does worse with v4s...

    Engineers often wonder what the world would be like without marketing- nor business-men. The answer is: Desktop Linux.

  2. Re:Why do FOSS library folks hate ABI compatabilit on The True Challenges of Desktop Linux · · Score: 1

    Whichever. But, if a recompile is needed, either you make it idiot-proof (ideally, one-click, with a 99% success rate), or you lose 95% of PC users.

    If the configure, make.. steps are always the same, why aren't they scripted once and for all ? Is there a GUI to do it ?

  3. Re:Mechanics on US Doctors Back Circumcision · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Take a group of men
    Circumcize some of them. Those circumcized can't do anything much sexually for a few weeks, maybe longer
    Observe that circumcision lowers STDs
    Pat yourself on the back, and go maim a few hundred thousands kids. Don't forget to bill them for it.

  4. Re:I call BS on US Doctors Back Circumcision · · Score: 2

    Yep Maim kids a bit when they are at their most sexually active, so that the old, already-healed older men have less competition.

  5. Re:8, what is it good for ? on Windows 7 Is the Next Windows XP · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the info.

    Fairly underwhelming. I almost never boot, don't use IE, and barely ever use flash. And it's been a while since I found text rendering speed an issue.

    Less malware sounds nice, only malware is more of a user problem than a tech one. I haven't have a virus in ages.

  6. 8, what is it good for ? on Windows 7 Is the Next Windows XP · · Score: 1

    This is not the right place to post this, but, my issue is I'm absolutely in the dark about why I should want 8. I get it's a nice scrub of underlying code, and offers a Metro interface for tablets... but on my desktop, what does it give me that I want ? did they at last come up with a ReadyBoost version for SSDs ?

    Either Win8 is only about Metro+tablets, or MS have been doing a very poor job of communicating about the rest. I Haven't been actively looking for info, but I should have stumbled upon juicy morsels by now ?

  7. Re:Messiah Complex on Neal Stephenson On Fiction, Games, and Saving the World · · Score: 1

    I disagree.

    First, books change invididuals, and those individuals can change history.

    Second, having a common frame of reference in a famous book (1984, Brave New World...) can help societies as a whole become aware of and spot issues more quickly.

  8. Re:Nothing like last time REACT was involved on Jobs' Burglary Manhunt Yields Kenny the Clown · · Score: 1

    Are you sure ?

    I heard recently on the radio that carrying lobsters in your car is illegal. There are so many laws, especially dumb and obsolete ones, that each and everyone of us is breaking laws every day.

  9. ego boost and resume padding on GNOME: Possible Recovery Strategies · · Score: 1

    I get the feeling that Gnome and KDE, and Unity, are designed in their garage by a bunch of nerds hankering after peer approval, bragging rights, and coolness. Almost all serious linuxers I know have switched to lxde or xfce in desperation at the bloat and bugs; and newbies just need something windows-like.

    I've given up on desktop linux. The best that can be hoped for is that Android will tack on a nice-enough desktop "personality", with competent mouse, multitasking and keyboard shortcuts, in time.

  10. Where do you want to read ? on Ask Slashdot: I Want To Read More. Should I Get an eBook Reader Or a Tablet? · · Score: 1

    In bed, the best is an AMOLED display: luminescent so you can read in the dark, and without the blacklight effect and too-strong light of regular LCDs. I love my Galaxy Note for that.
    In transit, either a Kindle or, again, a Galaxy Note (nice for being pocketable if you're big enough), though mine got stolen that way; at least Kindles are cheap.
    Outside in bright light, an eReader is your only solution, though, again, I can make do with AMOLED.
    Inside, anything goes.

    I find AMOLED vastly superior to LCD, whetever the resolution. An LCD is a lightbulb, way to bright inside but at the same time not bright enough outside; plus LCDs (and epaper) have so-so contrast; AMOLEDs have excellent contrast, at the cost of color fidelity . I set mine to green on a black background, which I find easier on the eyes. The main issue is lack of 10" AMOLED tablets, the biggest one is the pricey Samsung 7.7.

  11. Re:No way. Too late. SSDs already cheap enough on Are SSD Accelerators Any Good? · · Score: 1

    Not on capacity though. $200 could also buy you a 60GB SSD+ 2TB HDD, maybe 3T.

    As TFA is saying, with the programs they evaluated, you then get the best of both worlds: high speed **and** high capacity, at the same price.

  12. Re:I have seen SSDs used just to load the OS on Are SSD Accelerators Any Good? · · Score: 1

    plus I don't boot that often any more, maybe once a month ? There rest is Sleep or Hibernate, which is very fast anyway.

  13. Re:I have seen SSDs used just to load the OS on Are SSD Accelerators Any Good? · · Score: 1

    You don't play games do you ? 60GB holds maybe one ? My 120GB is full to the brim with 2.

  14. Re:Single Article - Multiple Pages on Are SSD Accelerators Any Good? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not all of us are gamerz ?

  15. Re:No. on Why Intel Should Buy Nokia · · Score: 0

    Tommi Ahonen is great at backseat driving.

    He was actually there when Nokia made all the decisions that got them in the mess they were even before Elop joined: no desirable phones. His rants are all about "channel, channel, channel", which is exactly how Nokia got blindsided by Apple, who came out with a phone the channel didn't like, but customers love. 5 years after the iPhone, Nokia still hadn't come out with a good touch OS.

  16. Re:"Market research" is many things on Apple Comes Clean, Admits To Doing Market Research · · Score: 1

    I do hope Apple use their customers' feedback.

    I was trying to contrast real feedback from real users of a real product to theoretical feedback from fake users of a fake product. I might have been to subtle about it.

  17. No. on Why Intel Should Buy Nokia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nokia is wedded to MS. Intel needs to be more flexible than that, especially since WinPhone is in freefall, and Nokia isn't even trying at tablets.

    Dell or HP should buy Nokia, it's their last chance to make it in the mobile space.

  18. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... on Microsoft Surface, Meet Apple iSurface · · Score: 1

    you have the prejudice to assume or dislike for Apple is a prejudice.

    so you're a racist too.

  19. Re:It's a screen with a keyboard... on Microsoft Surface, Meet Apple iSurface · · Score: 1

    "People hate Apple for the same reason they hate different races and cultures: ignorance, prejudice, bigotry".
    Wrong: I dislike (maybe even hate) Apple mainly for having an image that's quite out of synch with reality. Their products are nice to look at, but not very high-quality, not very high-performance, and very very locked down. What also irks me is their undeserved reputation for ease of use (I get lost every time I try to use my brother's Mac), for quality, for good service (see the "we don't have no virus" debacle")

    "pretending to be police"
    Wrong: Yes they did. Apple security passed themselves off as police to search the house of the guy who had found that iPhone prototype.

    "All companies that build platforms do that."
    Wrong: before Apple, smartphones (windows, Palm...) could install apps from anywhere. Even now, Android allows it with a simple checkbox in "settings"

    "proprietary connectors"
    mostly wrong: MHL with microUSB.

    "proprietary protocols"
    Wrong: at least Airplay. dlna does just the same and is standard.

    And, above all, the dickishness of Apple fans who have an ability to not see reality that is very troubling. I've had the most outlandish discussions with Apple fans, about the black bootup screens on PCs means there's a OS inside Win7, ditto the Bios splash screen. Apple is supposed to get especially-binned CPUs...

  20. More like "combining a screen and a keyboard" on Microsoft Surface, Meet Apple iSurface · · Score: 1

    I see no reason why, when connected to a keyboard and mouse, my tablet shouldn't behave like a regular PC. Actually, I want that. My guess is Apple doesn't want to compromise on the UI at all, and doesn't want a $500 alternative to the $1000 MacBook Air.

    There are UI issues. Motorola actually had both Android (touch) and regular Linux (docked) for his Atrix. I do think there are ways to tack rworkable "docked" features to a touch OS: we only need keyboard shortcuts, mouse integration (including replacing touches with the mouse), and better multitasking control (maybe not windowing, though Win8's split screen sounds great; but at least the ability to choose which apps keep running, and to switch quickly).

    I think that's one of the areas where Android can score big and easily.

  21. "Market research" is many things on Apple Comes Clean, Admits To Doing Market Research · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Using it as Apple is saying here, to survey users, is one thing. It helps gather info on actual uses, usage patterns, customer feedback.

    Using it to design a product or to test a product design, is quite another, especially if, like often, it ends up justifying half-baked committee-think. Apple forte has been Steve Job's "I'm the customer, please me" stance, which is far superior to the "Make none of us dislike it too much" design-by committee version. It requires strong leadership. Apple had that, and storng value too: sexiness and easse of use.

    As an Android user, I wish, I wish Google did more user surveys. There are a handful of very easy changes that would make Android rock, observably so, including in the shop right next to an iPad.

  22. Innovation again ? on Why the Tablet Market is Really the iPad Market · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm tired of the "innovation" motto. Very little innovation is needed, and whatever is actually need barely qualifies as innovation: better screens and batteries, standard ports.. and, mainly, developpers, developpers, developpers.

    Non-iPad tablets are failing because they are priced at the premium level of the iPad but are not really premium, at least not in customers' perception. As in any segment, competitors need to differentiate. Price is one criteria, as are openness, interoperability, features, quality, performance, brand..

    Plus I'm not sure non-iPads are failing. Not all of them. They're not the free money some OEMs fantasized about, but I'm sure they're making some money for a few select ones.

  23. Re:Well... on Security Expert: Huawei Routers Riddled With Vulnerabilities · · Score: 1

    You're confusing distribution channels, products, hardware, software...

    Regarding the "more expensive is always better": no it isn't. There are oodles of examples where paying more is just being a sucker, not getting more quality/features/service. Yep, I'm thinking of Hi-Fi ethernet cables; of the no-name champagne that was ranked higher than almost all brands in a blind test, of linux vs windows.

    To stay in the "router" market, don't forget Cisco treated their customers to a forced update that forced them to manage their routers via cisco's servers, and sign over rights to their traffic info. I'd rather have a few bugs in my firmware and no spying+cloud dependency, thank you. Especially at 1/10th the price.

  24. Re:Well... on Security Expert: Huawei Routers Riddled With Vulnerabilities · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yep. That's what Linux is so crappy compared to Windows. Oh, wait...

  25. Re:Please tell that to Hillary Clinton on Overconfidence May Be a Result of Social Politeness · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This may be US specific. As a French student in the US, I was amazed at how much attention was paid to feelings, and how little was paid to, you know, tangible reality, such as who was right or wrong in clear-cut cases where there *was* a right and wrong answer.

    Constant praise and tip-toeing around issues not only inspires overconfidence, it also deprives people from a chance to correct their mistake, and to learn to handle failure. And since people are not *that* stupid, it also gives them a strong sense that everything is fake. Constant praise is very much like no praise.