Since Alcatel is already an abbreviation (for Alsacienne de Cables et de Telephones), they're not likely to abbreviate it further. Given the fact that Alcatel is basically bailing Lucent out, they'll probably just drop the Lucent name.
You're right about "innovations", but that's actually the least problematic aspect. What really drives me up the wall is apps that put looking kewl ahead of being usable. Media apps are consisently bad that way. I guess Winamp set the precedent, and every single media app since has felt compelled to copy it.
Speaking of ruts, recycling the same irrelevent comment over and over is not an argument. This is not about handling humor. I'll say it one last time: jokes are fine. Repeating the same joke over and over is extremely tiresome, no matter how good the joke was the first time it was told.
I'm more interested in differences in the file open/save dialogs, what program presents to me when I first open it, how the help system is integrated into the system, etc.
Which should all be as boring and predictable as possible, so that users can leverage their experience with other applications. Unfortunately, everybody seems to use these features to exercise their creativity, especially in multimedia apps.
Let's face it, anyone who finds themselves personally antagonized by Slashdot's non-serious antics is an addict.
Oh, bullshit. We're not antagonized, we're bummed by the decline of our favorite web site. Nobody minds that Taco & Co.have low senses of humor. But we're tired of the fact that they're stuck in a really nasty rut.
... that pink was hurting my eyes. Then again, it was a convenient reminder that there was nothing worth bothering with on Slashdot for the last 24 hours.
I used to love April Fools hoaxes, but it's become lame. Attention! A HOAX IS NOT FUNNY WHEN EVERYBODY KNOWS IN ADVANCE IT'S A HOAX!!!! If you want to do an April Fool hoax, make at least a token effort to suprise your audience. Like this email, which got delivered to every employee of a certain large hitech company this morning:
TO: U.S. Employees FROM: Global Employee Name Management DATE: April 1, 2006 CONTACT: Name Management x94678 (WHO-R-U) ACTION: Please read.
This bulletin contains important information about your name.
Overview
XXXX has long had a requirement that every UNIX username inside XXXX be unique. The transition to these globally unique usernames was at times painful, but the result has been that XXXX has been able to support a level of global operation that is unprecedented.
It is now time to take that process to its next logical step: Ensuring that employees' names are unique.
Employees with duplicated names represent immeasurable opportunities for confusion, wasted time, and security breaches. In the interests of improving the efficiency of the company, we are embarking on an ambitious effort to improve this situation by making employees' names globally unique.
Implementation
In the first phase, to be implemented between today and April 1, 2007, approximately 800 employees with duplicated first and last names will be renamed to eliminate the duplication. At the completion of this phase, it will be possible to uniquely refer to any XXXX employee using the employee's first and last name.
In the second phase, to be implemented between April 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008, approximately 20,000 employees with duplicated first names and last initials will be renamed to eliminate the duplication. At the completion of this phase, it will be possible to uniquely refer to any XXXX employee using the employee's first name and last initial. In addition to the obvious convenience improvement involved, substantial savings are expected through eliminating printing the full last name on various internal documents. The ink required to print a typical name will be cut in half!
In the third phase, to be implemented between April 1, 2008 and April 1, 2009, all employees at the Vice President level and above will be renamed so that their first and last initials are unique. Employees at the E/Z-10 level will be renamed so that their first, middle, and last initials are unique. In addition, in each Director-level group and each building, all employees will be renamed so that their first, middle, and last initials are unique. At the conclusion of this phase, it will be possible to refer to any highly visible employee using only two or three letters, and to any employee in a particular organization or physical location using only three letters. In the vast majority of cases, use of initials should be sufficient to identify an employee.
New Employees
New employees will be required to conform to the naming requirements in effect on their start date. If required to pick a new name, they will be encouraged to take the future naming requirements into account in their choice.
Conflict Resolution
In general, the employee with the lower badge number will retain the original name, and those employees with higher badge numbers will be renamed. The employee will be allowed to choose a new name, but if the employee is not able to decide on a suitable name before the deadline, a new name will be assigned in consultation with the employee's manager.
I immediately fired back a letter pointing out that it would be more efficient to simply fire employees with non-unique names. Of course, I didn't remind them that I have a long, unusual name...
Long story short: TPM serialization == bad for backups.
So basically, you have to decide whether it's more important for you to have your data or for others not to have it.
Laptop thefts have been in news in Silicon Valley lately, because people using them to transport data valuable to identity thieves. That caused the Mercury News to go to the local copies for the details of that crime wave. Laptop thieves mostly troll the main drag, looking for rental cars parked near fancy restaurants and hotels. So they don't know who owns the laptop. And the first thing they always do is wipe the hard disk, so the fenced system can't be traced back.
If the data on your laptop is important, keep an eye on it. If it's not, keep an eye on it anyway, 'cause the thieves just don't care.
It's astonishing how good Sony is at inventing cool new media formats and how bad they are at getting them adopted and becoming industry standards. Beta video tape. 8mm video tape. Magnetic audio disks. DAT. Memory stick. And now UMD.
Of course, UMD is in the "what were they thinking" category. Not that it's a bad format. But (a) nobody wants to watch a movie on such a small screen and (b) even if they did, the DVD format is too locked in to allow a competing format with such a limited audience.
They have been proven not to work (no flames, please, go google the study yourself).
"The study"? OK, there are three things really stupid about that. First, you don't really give anybody enough information to find the study you're referring to. Not even the title. Makes me wonder if you could find "the study" yourself if you had to.
Second, I doubt if there's only one study on the effectiveness of 12-step programs. Given the size of the rehab industry, there must be thousands.
Third (and this is the bigee): it's stupid and dangerous to make health care or mental health decisions on the basic of ONE STUDY.
It's bad enough when people cite research results out of context in order to justify their personal prejudices. But justifying your prejudices on the basis of a study you can't even cite is the purest degree of assholedness.
Having misplaced my original copy, I just bought a replacement. The best change in the final version is that they found a way to compress it down to 3 disks, and even those can be cached on your hard drive if you have the room.
The worst change is that the manual is now available only on PDF. And the current distributor doesn't even bother to tell you where to look for it!
Slashdot Mirror
Didn't Nostrodamus predict this?
But getting back to the naming issue: does "Harbor Freight" have anything to do with harbors or freight?
It's not in the same "west" as Western Electric was.
Since Alcatel is already an abbreviation (for Alsacienne de Cables et de Telephones), they're not likely to abbreviate it further. Given the fact that Alcatel is basically bailing Lucent out, they'll probably just drop the Lucent name.
Since the new company will be headquartered in Paris, it would have to be French Electric.
Just to establish the stupidity of your "can't handle humor" mantra: here's my favorite April 1 prank.
You're right about "innovations", but that's actually the least problematic aspect. What really drives me up the wall is apps that put looking kewl ahead of being usable. Media apps are consisently bad that way. I guess Winamp set the precedent, and every single media app since has felt compelled to copy it.
Speaking of ruts, recycling the same irrelevent comment over and over is not an argument. This is not about handling humor. I'll say it one last time: jokes are fine. Repeating the same joke over and over is extremely tiresome, no matter how good the joke was the first time it was told.
Fuck off dude. I mean that in a friendly way, of course. :)
I used to love April Fools hoaxes, but it's become lame. Attention! A HOAX IS NOT FUNNY WHEN EVERYBODY KNOWS IN ADVANCE IT'S A HOAX!!!! If you want to do an April Fool hoax, make at least a token effort to suprise your audience. Like this email, which got delivered to every employee of a certain large hitech company this morning:
I immediately fired back a letter pointing out that it would be more efficient to simply fire employees with non-unique names. Of course, I didn't remind them that I have a long, unusual name...As in "jumped". That's what the Phony News on April 1 idea has done.
To get its full effect, this story should have gone out at precisely Sat Apr 1 00:00:00 GMT 2006. It's 24 minutes late!
Laptop thefts have been in news in Silicon Valley lately, because people using them to transport data valuable to identity thieves. That caused the Mercury News to go to the local copies for the details of that crime wave. Laptop thieves mostly troll the main drag, looking for rental cars parked near fancy restaurants and hotels. So they don't know who owns the laptop. And the first thing they always do is wipe the hard disk, so the fenced system can't be traced back.
If the data on your laptop is important, keep an eye on it. If it's not, keep an eye on it anyway, 'cause the thieves just don't care.
Dude, you're not exactly Professor Moriarity.
No it's not. The headline is different.
Of course, UMD is in the "what were they thinking" category. Not that it's a bad format. But (a) nobody wants to watch a movie on such a small screen and (b) even if they did, the DVD format is too locked in to allow a competing format with such a limited audience.
Your other responses are too brainless to bother with.
Second, I doubt if there's only one study on the effectiveness of 12-step programs. Given the size of the rehab industry, there must be thousands.
Third (and this is the bigee): it's stupid and dangerous to make health care or mental health decisions on the basic of ONE STUDY.
It's bad enough when people cite research results out of context in order to justify their personal prejudices. But justifying your prejudices on the basis of a study you can't even cite is the purest degree of assholedness.
And I need this because....
The worst change is that the manual is now available only on PDF. And the current distributor doesn't even bother to tell you where to look for it!