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User: obarthelemy

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  1. Re:Can GPL'd software contributors block this? on Android Goes To the Battlefield · · Score: 1

    The US's wars right now are not a very good example, but sometimes wars ARE about saving lives and helping people, not just about mobilizing one's political base, handing money to VP's friends, grabbing oil and avenging daddy's rep.

  2. Thank you, Android on Symbian Microkernel Finally Goes Open Source · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This issue is clearly being pushed forward by open-source Android. Smarter - and, maybe, weaker- competitors realize they must match Android's flexibility and openness.

    Windows Mobile will either have to offer an extremely compelling experience, Apple-like, or will be FOSSed into oblivion ? I'm taking bets, but only one way ^^

    Dream scenario: Smartphones -> Tablets/ebooks -> Netbooks -> PCs.

    Well, in the long run S60 it probably not the one to do that. But Maemo or Android, in a "bigger" version ?

  3. Re:Symbian on Symbian Microkernel Finally Goes Open Source · · Score: 1

    Is any of your complaints more than cosmetic ? Hate backslashes, do you ? forward slashes are sooooo much trendier ^^

    I'll give you the weird API, though QT should abstract most of that.Active Objects doesn't sound bad, on the contrary ? Did you confuse them with ActiveX, maybe ?

  4. you need broadband for... online banking ? on Developing Nations Crippled By Broadband Costs · · Score: 1

    I think there is some confusion between "broadband" and "internet access".

    Step one is Internet Access, 56k modem or GSM/EDGE speeds, which allow you to do 99% of the useful thinks you can do on the web (Youtube and gaming are NOT in that category of useful things, online banking, forums, websites, email, IM are)

    Step two, broadband, I see as more of a luxury / convenience thing.

    To me, the real cut off should be NOT between broadband vs narrow-band, but between permanent connection + unmetered access vs dial-up + pay for use.

  5. The good news is on Dutch Gov't Has No Idea How To Delete Tapped Calls · · Score: 0, Troll

    since they went with an open source solution, they can easily... oh, wait.

  6. I stopped at on 1/3 of People Can't Tell 48Kbps Audio From 160Kbps · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "we tested with Billie Jean"

    I don't hate that song.. but as a testing ground for music hardware/software, it sucks. And you should always test with different types of music.

    Also, small sample size (16), only 1 song in 2 versions, presumably always in the same order, on hardware that has nothing to do with what everybody uses (does that lessen or worsen compression characteristics ?), no control group (wanna bet that with 2 exact same versions, song A or song B consistently comes out on top ? Coke and Pepsi worked that one out long ago). No indication how responses were collected (group ? interviewer ? biased ?).

    made me chuckle. amateurs.

  7. I don't know about the Germans, but on German Book Publishers Cool To E-Book Market · · Score: 3, Interesting

    as a neighbour from France, which is culturally kinda close I guess, I don't grok the idea of buying content, but not really owning it, being at risk of losing it at any time, either short-term (Amazon pulling it, my reader getting stolen...) or medium/long term (Amazon going out of that business, their readers starting to suck...)

    I'd like a Digital Ownership Law, clearly asserting
    - resale rights
    - loan rights
    - transfer rights (to another reader)
    - backup rights
    - standardized DRM with a backup infrastructure in case the initial provider can no longer authenticate content/users.

    Right now, Amazon's plan looks like MS's and Apple's: get user lock-in DRM / format / training / force of habit / DRM.

    I think the next generation of readers, wich will probably be more geared towards replacing magazines, and hopefully integrating the magazines with an on-line community, will have more appeal over here.

    PS: I am reading books an a Palm right now, so I'm not allergic to the concept. Buyers' rights just seem inexistant right now.

  8. Not important on How To List FOSS Experience On Your Resume · · Score: 1

    Whether a project you worked on was open source or not is of no great importance. Treat it as you would any work experience: emphasize the skills used and learned, technically and socially, the tools, environment, and technologies you worked with.. You don't want to look like a commie zealot, anyway, so don't rant about FOSS on your résumé.

    Aside form the "like a job" experience, the best selling point of voluntary FOSS involvement is that it shows you like your work.

  9. Define casual on New Super Mario Bros. Wii Attempts To Bridge Casual/Hardcore Divide · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not sure what casual means. I think the different types of player are:
    - Social, the ones who come not for the game per se, but for the community and companionship
    - Recreational, the ones who come for a quick, easy, romp in fantasy-land
    - Hard-core, the ones who want to beat the game or their fellow players, and who will invest time in understanding and mastering its mechanics.

    I think the problem with casual, is that it tries to cover social and recreational, and ends up meaning... idiot... which alienates the hard-cores.

    WoW is kinda covering all bases, with guilds, lots of solo and easy ("normal") content, and heroic raids + pvp rankings for the hardcores. I think their issue at the moment is that
    - lowering the "maintenance" effort (grinding, farming) for the players to make the game more accessible to casuals is making the game boring for hard cores: there is not much to do outside of raiding, and raids are very easy and short these days. Achievements farming only does so much, especially since not much skill is required, just time.
    - having hard-core content that is not very different from the casual one (you're no longer killing a very exclusive boss, only the same as everyone, but in hard mode) is kinda a let-down

    On the other hand, I've tried EVE, and found the game not very accessible (I had trouble understanding how to complete a few very early quest), and quite overwhelming for the new player.

  10. PSU on Software To Diagnose Faulty PC Hardware? · · Score: 1

    The components most likely to fail totally or partially are
    1- cables and connections, either badly connected, or inside the plastic wrapping
    2- PSU

    Over the years, I've never had a MB or Vidcard fail me. A CPU, once. But I had the funniest things with cables:
    - power button turning flaky, causing reset
    - short somewhere in the keyboard or its cable, causing PC reboots
    - network failing everyday during lunch. maintenance staff strongly suspected (gaming ?)... turns out the cable was broken inside its sleeve, and the midday sun, shining directly on it, cut the connection.

  11. Re:Disappointment of the Palm Pre? on Hands-On Look At the BlackBerry Storm 2 · · Score: 1

    I'm currently on an LG WinMo phone, and I'll be willing to submit to any kind of lock-in for my next phone, just give me something that WORKS, which my current phone doesn't:
    1- it locks up daily. I'm missing important calls because my phone locks up for no reason. And then takes longer than my PC to reboot.
    2- connecting my phone to my PC with the SD card in "USB drive" mode usually requires a reboot, or several, for the PC to see the card, and then again when disconnecting the phone, for the phone to see it
    3- the user interface is awful. It makes me miss a mouse and keyboard, and waste oodles of time aiming carefully at interface elements that don't belong on a phone.
    4- there's no way to force it to use wifi when available, it sometimes (Java...) insists on connecting though 3G, or not at all.
    5- WinMo does not even have a tool to format SD cards, so you must buy aPC card reader. It does have a "windows update" tool, which doesn't work...

    I hate closed systems a la Apple even more than I dislike Microsoft, but next time around, I'll put all my ideals in my back pocket, and get the most reliable, easiest to use phone wherever it comes from. I Hope Android gets good enough by then, but if it has to ba Apple, Blackberry, S60, Maemo... I don't care.

  12. I'm not sure I'm happy on Next Nintendo Handheld To Be Powered By NVIDIA's Tegra Chipset · · Score: 1

    The beauty of the Nintendo stuff up to now has been that the limited CPU+graphics power forced devs to focus on gameplay. I really hope eye candy won't distract them from making fun, as opposed to beautiful or over-graphic'ed, games.

  13. Re:I've gone to the Dark Side... on Explaining Corporate Culture Through "The Office" · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The simple fact that you think that everyone loves you is proof that you are deluded. And that you say so emphatically on slashdot, narcissistic.

  14. It could be worse on Is Working For the Gambling Industry a Black Mark? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    you could be working for a bank !

    Joke aside, I don't think it would hurt you any. I've been part of the hiring process at one of my ex-employers, and we definitely didn't care where the experience was coming from, as long as it was there.

    Furthermore, if a future prospective employer is idiot/bigoted enough to blacklist people who once worked in the gaming industry, regardless of what they did there... will you really want to work for them anyway ?

    On the other hand, don't get suckered by the flashing lights and bling-bling sounds ... is the actual job any good ?

  15. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    because the title of the story is "Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012
    ".

    Reading comprehension 101- line 1: read the title.

  16. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    let's try again: do you grok the difference between speed and acceleration ?

  17. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    same here, but we're in a small minority.

  18. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    my post is based on the definition of milestone (look it up)

    you, sir are an idiot.

  19. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    i was just giving a reading comprehension class. i don't know about the figures, and, frankly, i don't give a damn.

  20. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    he means that Android a sold as much as the iPhone 2 / 6 / 12 months after first launch. Since it was launched after the iPhone, it has not matched the iPhone, but the iPhone's milestones: it is progressing now at the same speed that the iPhone was at the same stage, reaching the same sales or marketshare at the same speed.

    ahhh... fanboys ... always a delight....

  21. Re:I dont' see it this way on Analyst Predicts Android Overtaking iPhone In 2012 · · Score: 1

    iTunes.

  22. Re:historical societies on French President Violates His Own Copyright Law, Again · · Score: 1

    I think maturity is also linked to independence. 13yo used to work, be fairly autonomous, and know a bit about life. Not now. They know more about the 3 Rs, though.

  23. Re:France just sucks on French President Violates His Own Copyright Law, Again · · Score: 1

    life expectancy used to be 45, so 13 = roughly 1/4 of that.

    it's now 80, so .. ?

  24. Re:France just sucks on French President Violates His Own Copyright Law, Again · · Score: 1

    you mean, if she is instead having sex with another 13yo, she doesn't take these risks too, and probably with worse odds ?

    I agree though... young is nice and fresh, but there is young and ... still a child.

  25. Re:France just sucks on French President Violates His Own Copyright Law, Again · · Score: 1

    I'm really conflicted about that one. When I see my 16 yo old niece and her 16 you male friends, I'm wondering what would be worse for her: a relationship with one of those, or a relationship with a much older man ^^