Verizon can't provide any 4G, or even reliable 3G coverage in my neighborhood, yet Everest climbers have good enough 4G coverage to stream HD video!?
I was thinking something similar... but with a different carrier. I barely can get service in my neighborhood in a city that is in the sprawl of one of the largest 50 cities in the country..
...That means you get accidental deaths. And that also means that when we fail at the people end of things the damage is that much more catastrophic.
And this is less true of an SUV than it is of a gun?
If you ask me, I think it's a bit of madness that in such a short slice of human history we've made it completely mundane for people with only minimal qualifications and training to drive around large masses of metal at high speeds... and we even let kids who are considered not mature enough to vote, drink alcohol, or consent to intimate relationships to do so.
I think driving (at least the vehicles we currently commonly have on the road) should be a lot more restricted than it is...
It's possible that your experience was not universal... I ran into a couple bugs, but no more than most games have (and far less than some, such as from Bethesda...). Crashes were pretty rare at the beginning, and I can't recall seeing a crash in the last hundred hours of gameplay.
As for the missing content, much of the "missing" content Civ4 was added in it's expansion too, and honestly not much of value was lost. I didn't like the religion system in Civ4, but the Religion system added in Civ5's expansion is actually good. I hated Civ4 Espionage, but Civ5 Espionage is more interesting, practical, and less pissy.
Corporations were clunky, imbalanced, and abusable. Not a great loss. I find it a good sign that the corporation system is broken when there is an effective tactic of spreading certain corporations to your enemies and keeping it out of your own civ in order to slow down your opponents. No loss.
Civ5 has flaws too, it is not the steaming pile that some are portraying it to be. I've played since the first Civ, and I can appreciate aspects of each version of the franchise, but Civ5 is still my favorite.
Though "Transports" aren't in Civ5, the embarked units are implied to be in transport ships, in the sense that they don't defend as usual while embarked. Defending your embarked units with real navy is essential in any contested water.
Citation please! I clearly remember "Episode IV" appearing in the scrolling intro to the original, 1977 release and until someone can give me non-anecdotal evidence to the contrary I am sticking with what I know I saw,
I can't tell if you are just extremely arrogant, or just clueless as to just how incredibly susceptible the human brain is to false memories. I don't even trust all of my own memories, let alone yours.
One of the abuses with patents is the continuous application for patents on the same area with minor adjustments on previous patents in order to essentially prevent the original invention patented from being free from patents once the initial one has expired.
And it isn't just minor adjustments, we have patenting of "processes" (that are really just practices or activities), or patenting results rather than means, or obvious methods to those "skilled in the art".
Windows 8 has such limited keyboard support, can we expect Windows 9 to stop supporting keyboards altogether?
That's what I heard as well, but when I was forced to use a Windows 8 machine at work I made it a point to learn to do as much as possible by keyboard alone.
I found that overall, there were more keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8 than in Windows 7... but that many of them were almost hidden. The most common tasks seemed to be keyboard friendly, but there are instances of less common interactions that they made annoyingly less keyboard friendly.
So you are justifying the greed of employers with the greed of banks?
It used to be that you could cash pay checks (at least from the bank used by the employer) without paying a fee or having an account yourself. Since I entered the workforce, this has changed. Now banks (including the bank that the employer is using) will require that you have an account, or that you pay a fee, or both.
1. The Start menu might not be used a lot but that's not the point. The point is that it's discoverable. It's easy to find something new, like a new desktop program that's been installed. The user can then make a shortcut if they want. It leaves the user feeling in control.
Discover apps on the Start Menu? You mean the cluttered mess that gets so long that you often have to scroll through it?
Also, right click on Windows 8's Start Screen to bring up the "All Apps" button, which allows you to discover installed apps.
There are a lot of dumb changes to Windows 8, and things that I hate... but the Win 8 Start screen is the most overly vilified feature. It actually is not bad. The "All Apps" works like the Start Menu used to, and the Start Screen works a lot like how people used their Desktop (but better). I think that the Start Screen works great for a frequently used apps menu. I unpin all the apps that I don't care about so it doesn't get cluttered. When I need something less frequently use, I either look for it in the "All Apps", or just hit the Win key and start typing in the name.
I honestly think that this issue is people being too resistant to change. It actually works quite well if you are willing to adjust.
2. Metro and desktop are jarringly different. The primary golden rule of Shneiderman's 8 Golden Rules of user interface design is "strive for consistency". In the past Microsoft have done this, but now they've done the diametric opposite and made an inconsistent interface where half of it works one way, and the other half works another way, and you often suddenly get launched into a completely different user interface.
On this, you have my complete agreement. There are some rather frustrating inconsistencies, and some needless departures from established conventions.
It seems like there are many areas where they just said "screw decades of muscle memory, we are going to change what hotkeys people do stuff with".
I get part of the changes though... The terrible sales of the original Windows tablets years ago was partly attributed to the fact that they wanted the tablets to still feel like Windows, but the desktop interface just didn't work on a tablet interface. So now they are trying to make a unified "Windows" UI style that they want to work in both.... and they run into the opposite problem. It works better on tablet than on Desktop.
I can only guess that people are more paranoid about some perv rubbing one off to videos captured with Google Glasses than they are of a government that will rape them using CCTV glasses.
Though I think I'd be more ok with cops wearing or using technology that allowed them to always record what they see than just random cameras recording everything all the time. At least then there is a presence (and not just using technology to spy) and if they were required to do this then there would be a lot less potential for them to claim that the unarmed guy was reaching for a weapon. It should be used more to audit the cops than the civilians.
What most of us wanted back was the Start menu, not just the Start button. Microsoft still doesn't get it: We don't want to see or interact with Metro, at all. Ever. It has no place on the desktop.
From mainstream users, I expect complaints about the Start menu, but I find it surprising how many people in a more technically inclined audience like Slashdot complain about this. I find the Start Screen to be mostly functionally equivalent,with a few exceptions, to a Start Menu.
I tend to use the mouse as little as possible and use many shortcut keys. In the parts of the interface that I use the most, it's been either equivalent or more keyboard friendly than Windows 7.
There are annoyances, sure. The Start Screen File Search (Win+F) only searches in your User Folders for File Names, but completely ignores Folder Names (unless they are added to your start screen or made into a Library). Opening the Context menu on the Start Screen shows several options, but there are no Shortcut keys to select them. Shutdown ('nuff said). Losing Subfolders from the old Start Menu. The items in the Start Screen don't allow for editing properties (like the old Start Menu shortcuts) in order to add parameters and such. I don't like the Windows 8 style apps.
And my single biggest Gripe... No longer being able to hit "Alt+F" to open a File Menu, you must "Alt, F" (2 strokes). (I swear, that drives me bonkers the most and I've never heard anyone complain about that...)
But most of those are less frequent interface interactions. Sure, there were some bad design choices, and there were a few features that were inexplicably removed, but there were actually numerous improvements too.
I HATE the ribbon interface in Office, but I think it works well in Explorer. Explorer's File searching is more user-friendly than Windows 7, and no longer requires you to use non-obvious search terms that only power users will be familiar with. Making the Start Screen to be more about what you want to use and how you use them, rather than everything you have installed (use "All Apps" for that). I use the new Win+X key all the time. Many tools and utilities were substantially improved.
Anyway, yes there are things that annoy me about it, and I understand if some people don't like it, but I feel like much of the criticism is very biased, hyperbolic, and/or misinformation.
Ubuntu? Could the editors at least provide a link or a short explanation in the summary about what exactly "Ubuntu" is? I've never heard of it, and I think many others here haven't either.
I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there actually are several options between the extremes of having holiday hospitals manned only by newbies and interns, and valuing workers with 20 years of experience enough to allow them perks like holidays off.
Conspiracy bits aside, if the FBI found something, why would they demand he open the gates to more?
Could they not simply prosecute him based on just what they have so far? That way there would be no 5th Amendment violation, and they would (should?) have sufficient evidence so far to successfully prosecute him anyway.
Because the American Justice System always wants to pursue prosecuting people to the furthest extent that they can get away with, whether or not it is legal, rational, or constitutional. Sometimes it's reasonable and understandable, and sometimes it's not... but one thing is for sure. If they don't, they are seen as soft on crime.
Complaints about top-posting? Is it 20 years ago again?
I understand the sentiment against top-posting, but I think that fight was lost when the Eternal September began. That, and I guess many people didn't want to scroll down pages of discussion to see an "OK" response at the end.
I found the Google+ app on my Android (Gingerbread) to be rather unstable. It freezes and crashes frequently. Talk works great, and I use it frequently. I hope the app itself doesn't go away.
complicit they may be, but shielded from any effect they most certainly are; that's the entire point of the DMCA safe harbor provision.
Exactly.
I've always seen the "Safe Harbor" provisions as more of a threat than a protection. If ISPs and Hosts don't respond to the take downs, then they become complicit and liable for damages.
Well, they said save game data will be stored on the cloud. That right there would be the needed internet connection... and that alone will prevent me from buying one. Period.
Ability does not mean requirement. Many steam games allow you to save to the cloud, but still allow for local saving of games additionally.
Though, I honestly expect that they are pushing to make it a requirement.. and yes, it will be a deal-breaker for me.
Honestly, right now I don't even have home internet access aside from limited mobile tethering. I canceled in anticipation of moving (which got unexpectedly delayed) a month ago and because ComCast (only 1 of 2 carriers available to me in a city of population density of over 2,000/sq.mile) was being ridiculous.
I rarely play on my 360, but if my cable TV and internet was out, playing single-player console video games would be among the things I might I might want to do during the outage.
I guess that means Microsoft will just encourage me to read more rather than buy their console. Not so bad I suppose.
Slashdot Mirror
Verizon can't provide any 4G, or even reliable 3G coverage in my neighborhood, yet Everest climbers have good enough 4G coverage to stream HD video!?
I was thinking something similar... but with a different carrier. I barely can get service in my neighborhood in a city that is in the sprawl of one of the largest 50 cities in the country..
And this is less true of an SUV than it is of a gun?
If you ask me, I think it's a bit of madness that in such a short slice of human history we've made it completely mundane for people with only minimal qualifications and training to drive around large masses of metal at high speeds... and we even let kids who are considered not mature enough to vote, drink alcohol, or consent to intimate relationships to do so.
I think driving (at least the vehicles we currently commonly have on the road) should be a lot more restricted than it is...
It's possible that your experience was not universal... I ran into a couple bugs, but no more than most games have (and far less than some, such as from Bethesda...). Crashes were pretty rare at the beginning, and I can't recall seeing a crash in the last hundred hours of gameplay.
As for the missing content, much of the "missing" content Civ4 was added in it's expansion too, and honestly not much of value was lost. I didn't like the religion system in Civ4, but the Religion system added in Civ5's expansion is actually good. I hated Civ4 Espionage, but Civ5 Espionage is more interesting, practical, and less pissy.
Corporations were clunky, imbalanced, and abusable. Not a great loss. I find it a good sign that the corporation system is broken when there is an effective tactic of spreading certain corporations to your enemies and keeping it out of your own civ in order to slow down your opponents. No loss.
Civ5 has flaws too, it is not the steaming pile that some are portraying it to be. I've played since the first Civ, and I can appreciate aspects of each version of the franchise, but Civ5 is still my favorite.
Though "Transports" aren't in Civ5, the embarked units are implied to be in transport ships, in the sense that they don't defend as usual while embarked. Defending your embarked units with real navy is essential in any contested water.
Citation please! I clearly remember "Episode IV" appearing in the scrolling intro to the original, 1977 release and until someone can give me non-anecdotal evidence to the contrary I am sticking with what I know I saw,
I can't tell if you are just extremely arrogant, or just clueless as to just how incredibly susceptible the human brain is to false memories. I don't even trust all of my own memories, let alone yours.
It seems obvious that the next step is to grow giant mice livers in humans!
One of the abuses with patents is the continuous application for patents on the same area with minor adjustments on previous patents in order to essentially prevent the original invention patented from being free from patents once the initial one has expired.
And it isn't just minor adjustments, we have patenting of "processes" (that are really just practices or activities), or patenting results rather than means, or obvious methods to those "skilled in the art".
I thought he was saying X-Bone One, as in, "Microsoft really X-Boned this one."
Windows 8 has such limited keyboard support, can we expect Windows 9 to stop supporting keyboards altogether?
That's what I heard as well, but when I was forced to use a Windows 8 machine at work I made it a point to learn to do as much as possible by keyboard alone.
I found that overall, there were more keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8 than in Windows 7... but that many of them were almost hidden. The most common tasks seemed to be keyboard friendly, but there are instances of less common interactions that they made annoyingly less keyboard friendly.
So you are justifying the greed of employers with the greed of banks?
It used to be that you could cash pay checks (at least from the bank used by the employer) without paying a fee or having an account yourself. Since I entered the workforce, this has changed. Now banks (including the bank that the employer is using) will require that you have an account, or that you pay a fee, or both.
It's not really that.
1. The Start menu might not be used a lot but that's not the point. The point is that it's discoverable. It's easy to find something new, like a new desktop program that's been installed. The user can then make a shortcut if they want. It leaves the user feeling in control.
Discover apps on the Start Menu? You mean the cluttered mess that gets so long that you often have to scroll through it?
Also, right click on Windows 8's Start Screen to bring up the "All Apps" button, which allows you to discover installed apps.
There are a lot of dumb changes to Windows 8, and things that I hate... but the Win 8 Start screen is the most overly vilified feature. It actually is not bad. The "All Apps" works like the Start Menu used to, and the Start Screen works a lot like how people used their Desktop (but better). I think that the Start Screen works great for a frequently used apps menu. I unpin all the apps that I don't care about so it doesn't get cluttered. When I need something less frequently use, I either look for it in the "All Apps", or just hit the Win key and start typing in the name.
I honestly think that this issue is people being too resistant to change. It actually works quite well if you are willing to adjust.
2. Metro and desktop are jarringly different. The primary golden rule of Shneiderman's 8 Golden Rules of user interface design is "strive for consistency". In the past Microsoft have done this, but now they've done the diametric opposite and made an inconsistent interface where half of it works one way, and the other half works another way, and you often suddenly get launched into a completely different user interface.
On this, you have my complete agreement. There are some rather frustrating inconsistencies, and some needless departures from established conventions.
It seems like there are many areas where they just said "screw decades of muscle memory, we are going to change what hotkeys people do stuff with".
I get part of the changes though... The terrible sales of the original Windows tablets years ago was partly attributed to the fact that they wanted the tablets to still feel like Windows, but the desktop interface just didn't work on a tablet interface. So now they are trying to make a unified "Windows" UI style that they want to work in both.... and they run into the opposite problem. It works better on tablet than on Desktop.
For God's sake! Give it to me in a useful unit that is normally provided by journalists... Give it to me in Library of Congresses!
I can only guess that people are more paranoid about some perv rubbing one off to videos captured with Google Glasses than they are of a government that will rape them using CCTV glasses.
Though I think I'd be more ok with cops wearing or using technology that allowed them to always record what they see than just random cameras recording everything all the time. At least then there is a presence (and not just using technology to spy) and if they were required to do this then there would be a lot less potential for them to claim that the unarmed guy was reaching for a weapon. It should be used more to audit the cops than the civilians.
"on a computer"?
Yes, it is asinine.
What most of us wanted back was the Start menu, not just the Start button. Microsoft still doesn't get it: We don't want to see or interact with Metro, at all. Ever. It has no place on the desktop.
From mainstream users, I expect complaints about the Start menu, but I find it surprising how many people in a more technically inclined audience like Slashdot complain about this. I find the Start Screen to be mostly functionally equivalent,with a few exceptions, to a Start Menu.
I tend to use the mouse as little as possible and use many shortcut keys. In the parts of the interface that I use the most, it's been either equivalent or more keyboard friendly than Windows 7.
There are annoyances, sure. The Start Screen File Search (Win+F) only searches in your User Folders for File Names, but completely ignores Folder Names (unless they are added to your start screen or made into a Library). Opening the Context menu on the Start Screen shows several options, but there are no Shortcut keys to select them. Shutdown ('nuff said). Losing Subfolders from the old Start Menu. The items in the Start Screen don't allow for editing properties (like the old Start Menu shortcuts) in order to add parameters and such. I don't like the Windows 8 style apps.
And my single biggest Gripe... No longer being able to hit "Alt+F" to open a File Menu, you must "Alt, F" (2 strokes). (I swear, that drives me bonkers the most and I've never heard anyone complain about that...)
But most of those are less frequent interface interactions. Sure, there were some bad design choices, and there were a few features that were inexplicably removed, but there were actually numerous improvements too.
I HATE the ribbon interface in Office, but I think it works well in Explorer. Explorer's File searching is more user-friendly than Windows 7, and no longer requires you to use non-obvious search terms that only power users will be familiar with. Making the Start Screen to be more about what you want to use and how you use them, rather than everything you have installed (use "All Apps" for that). I use the new Win+X key all the time. Many tools and utilities were substantially improved.
Anyway, yes there are things that annoy me about it, and I understand if some people don't like it, but I feel like much of the criticism is very biased, hyperbolic, and/or misinformation.
Ubuntu? Could the editors at least provide a link or a short explanation in the summary about what exactly "Ubuntu" is? I've never heard of it, and I think many others here haven't either.
Also, what's a Microsoft?
What if we add a bunch of tassels?
I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there actually are several options between the extremes of having holiday hospitals manned only by newbies and interns, and valuing workers with 20 years of experience enough to allow them perks like holidays off.
Conspiracy bits aside, if the FBI found something, why would they demand he open the gates to more?
Could they not simply prosecute him based on just what they have so far? That way there would be no 5th Amendment violation, and they would (should?) have sufficient evidence so far to successfully prosecute him anyway.
Because the American Justice System always wants to pursue prosecuting people to the furthest extent that they can get away with, whether or not it is legal, rational, or constitutional. Sometimes it's reasonable and understandable, and sometimes it's not... but one thing is for sure. If they don't, they are seen as soft on crime.
Complaints about top-posting? Is it 20 years ago again?
I understand the sentiment against top-posting, but I think that fight was lost when the Eternal September began. That, and I guess many people didn't want to scroll down pages of discussion to see an "OK" response at the end.
FFS... So many 3-letter acronyms.
Maybe Flamebait / Troll is accurate.. but it's still funny.
I found the Google+ app on my Android (Gingerbread) to be rather unstable. It freezes and crashes frequently. Talk works great, and I use it frequently. I hope the app itself doesn't go away.
complicit they may be, but shielded from any effect they most certainly are; that's the entire point of the DMCA safe harbor provision.
Exactly.
I've always seen the "Safe Harbor" provisions as more of a threat than a protection. If ISPs and Hosts don't respond to the take downs, then they become complicit and liable for damages.
Well, they said save game data will be stored on the cloud. That right there would be the needed internet connection... and that alone will prevent me from buying one. Period.
Ability does not mean requirement. Many steam games allow you to save to the cloud, but still allow for local saving of games additionally.
Though, I honestly expect that they are pushing to make it a requirement.. and yes, it will be a deal-breaker for me.
Honestly, right now I don't even have home internet access aside from limited mobile tethering. I canceled in anticipation of moving (which got unexpectedly delayed) a month ago and because ComCast (only 1 of 2 carriers available to me in a city of population density of over 2,000/sq.mile) was being ridiculous.
I rarely play on my 360, but if my cable TV and internet was out, playing single-player console video games would be among the things I might I might want to do during the outage.
I guess that means Microsoft will just encourage me to read more rather than buy their console. Not so bad I suppose.