Now you know why Microsoft spends a fortune on their Usability Lab...
Well, for whatever they get right, they get PLENTY wrong. Here's an example that dogs me daily: the URL field in MS IE. Click on it, and it selects all the text. Other text fields don't work that way.
And worst of all, if you have the text un-selected and you want to select it all again, ctrl-a doesn't do it, like it does in pretty much every other text-manipulation tool in Windows. I'm doing it now, in this web form! I wish you could see it, it's glorious.
Office isn't a bad setup, but it has plenty of UI problems too. Like those damn menus that hide choices from you. They try to be "smart" but they can end up really screwing with you if you don't know how to work with them (and turn them off). For example: on a new Office install I used "Save As" a couple of times in Word... and to "help" me it removed "Save" from the File menu.
It is never smart to remove "Save" from the File menu, even if ctrl-s still works.
I have had the Print command vanish too, due to disuse, I suppose. That leaves the print toolbar button, which really means "print one," and clicking it doesn't let you access the print options dialog.
I don't have a problem with Vic as a character development tool for Odo. That was OK. But DS9 never did, that I recall, put the whole damn station in danger because of some rogue holodeck.
Side note:
Too bad Richard Dean Anderson couldn't do Stargate and another show at the same time. He'd be a great Trek captain. Hell, make him Captain O'Neil and just let him be his Stargate character.
The parallel universe was the coolest thing in the original Trek episode, and it was nice to see it revisited in DS9... ONCE. But they are indeed going too far now.
The only way Trek could be any worse would be if it was sung.
After watching the 60 sec clip at startrek.com I am actually more jazzed about this show than ever. I always thought the prequel idea had a lot of merit, and the clip shows me that the producers "get it," at least a little. More than I thought they would, anyway. (no spandex, and people are wearing BALL CAPS. Crazy.)
Watch the clip, you might find that it's better than you expected. (Of course, I couldn't view the clip on Win2k because it is Quicktime. Reinstalling QT didn't help, I had to open up the Mac and watch it there.)
Of course the show can still suck ass. A good teaser proves nothing. But it gives me hope. (when, oh WHEN will I learn NOT TO TRUST THE CLIP? I have been burned too often.)
The Tholians were mentioned a couple of times on DS9. I forget the exact words, but it was apparent that there was some kind of relationship with them now and they weren't outright hostile.
Pity.
Never heard anything about the Gorn though. Would be nice to run into them again. Let's see if la-di-dah pooftah Capt. Archer can make an improvised cannon like Kirk did!
Even if the iPaq vanishes, something else will take its place. The Pocket PC thing has incresing momentum. The Toshiba "Genio" looked better than an iPaq to me anyway... CF slot built in. It's not out quite yet though, we'll see what the reviews say.
tried the demo. Didn't like the interface. Hated it, actually. And even in that game you were in real-time mode until combat started... and then the turn-based option seemed like an afterthought. It just didn't grab me, for whatever reason. But I stand corrected, there has been a recent turn-based game.
I actually used to be a RTS game designer (for a real game, at a real publisher, from a real studio). The figures we got from the publisher on multiplayer were fascinating. According to their expensive research, only a few percent of all players used multiplayer at ALL. Now, this was a few years ago, but still... Everyone still put multiplayer code in because if you didn't the reviews would DESTROY you, of course.
I guess times are a-changin' though, there's about sixteen billion people playing CS right this second, and EQ has 400k subscribers or so.
Crybaby tells the guild, "HUGS! KISSES! HUGGLES! MEGASUPERKISSES!"
You think you are facing North.
You have become better at Sense Direction! (13) ----
Despite the totally ridiculous amount of "huggles" thrown around by grown men in EQ, and all the bat-slaying that goes on, I think that the MMORPG genre has a lot of potential and I look forward to future games. I just hope that the Blizzard guys don't consider any of the crap on the market now to be their inspiration. EQ is a MUD with a 3d GUI. Spare me. I'd rather play Pac Man. (and I tried to like EQ, I really really did, but it's not the right kind of crack for me at least.)
I would sell a kidney for a good, modern tactical combat game like X-COM. The GW properties would be great candidates... but we are still dealing with a plague of real-time strategy games.
Hell, even the Warzone computer game will be real-time instead of turn-based, and that is a MINIATURES GAME LICENSE. Am I the only person interested in turn-based tactics? Sheesh.
How is it any less natural to store a memory of what I see in silicon that I keep internally than to keep it on videotape?
Naughty, naughty cyborg! Your perfect memory is in violation of intellectual property protection laws. You are not allowed to have perfect memory. Reduce your sampe rate to 128k, 44kHz for audio and no more than 320x240x15 fps for video. Thank you.
I always wonder why AIs would have any interest in conquering the world.
Obviously, they are gonna be pissed about BattleBots and all the other robotic combat leagues. When the machines take over, they'll be watching steel-cage deathmatches between humans.
(I am not sure if I am feeding the troll or not, but here goes.)
I think you are being a curmudgeon. It's clear that no amount of discussion is going to get anywhere. But, if your mind is open in the slightest, spend the $129 and buy a Palm m100. If you are an employed professional type, you have probably spent more than $129 on dinner on occasion. But buy it from a place with a good return policy so you can get all your money back if (when) you come to hate it. You lose nothing but a little time.
At least try it out -- and then come back here and tell us we're all fools when you have some first-hand experience with the product. Because right now, everyone with a PDA is just laughing at you. We're organized and reading the news on the road and playing solitaire when stuck in line and whipping up spreadsheets in the car and all that jazz while you are crying about paper notepads as if it's a clever comparison. Sheesh.
You probably don't "get" what a Tivo is good for, either. I mean, all you have to do is write down when your shows are coming on in a notepad, and keep that by the TV, and set your cheap digital watch to beep for Ally McBeal, right?
Re:Wow... this should piss Russia off
on
Sklyarov Indicted
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· Score: 2
The American people will NOT continue to allow the Constitution of this great country to be raped, forever.
I only wish I could agree with you. People are sheep. Every generation gets fatter, dumber and more complacent. I do now know why, only that it is happening.
See how many people you know that can list the concepts in the Bill of Rights. Almost no one can. The Constitution is not relevant to today's society. Not because IT has failed... but we have, as a society, failed to hold up our end of the bargain. We have to be diligent to preserve our rights, and we are not.
People like you and I that are mindful of these issues are labeled as whackos. The only arguments that carry any weight in today's politics are emotional. It's all "for the children," or against, "evil hackers."
Being a patriot is never easy. And it's going to get a whole lot harder within our lifetimes.
Re:What a sick F*cking World in which we live.
on
Sklyarov Indicted
·
· Score: 2
you'll never get 5.56 mm NATO out to 800 yards with good accuracy. For that kind of range, you are far better off with a heavier round, like 7.62 mm. Very popular with the high power marksman crowd, using rifles like the M14. For the "evil black rifle" look, I'd suggest the HK G3.
To get back on topic... oh, the hell with the topic for today.
Well, you could stash your 9.1 stuff on the external FireWire drive.
FireWire stuff seems to be overpriced anyway. Why not get one of those huge IBM notebook drives instead? Costs a bit more than an external drive, but presumably you got a laptop for portability anyway.
I have checked out K5, but all I see posted as "news" are lame things like racism tirades and obvious trolls. yuck.
checking today's page... OK, a couple of good posts about the DMCA and the UN, but then there's more crap like "why do you get out of bed in the morning?" C'mon. At least the news here is better.
I am not especially interested in an upgrade right now, but I am very interested in making a backup. Can the software you linked to let me image the boot partition so I can back it up?
Is it possible to back up the "magic" part of the RTV drive onto a CD, or is it too big?
I love my RTV and I want to keep it alive. If the drive croaks, I just want to pop in a new one - I don't want to be forced to upgrade to a Tivo (with fees), or whatever RTV is selling at the moment (which may be missing features or whatever, who knows).
Right now it looks like RTV is definitely NOT getting in bed with the networks, what with their survey questions about commercial skipping. That's cool. But if things change, I want to run my RTV 3030 as-is until the end of time.:)
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Now you know why Microsoft spends a fortune on their Usability Lab...
Well, for whatever they get right, they get PLENTY wrong. Here's an example that dogs me daily: the URL field in MS IE. Click on it, and it selects all the text. Other text fields don't work that way.
And worst of all, if you have the text un-selected and you want to select it all again, ctrl-a doesn't do it, like it does in pretty much every other text-manipulation tool in Windows. I'm doing it now, in this web form! I wish you could see it, it's glorious.
Office isn't a bad setup, but it has plenty of UI problems too. Like those damn menus that hide choices from you. They try to be "smart" but they can end up really screwing with you if you don't know how to work with them (and turn them off). For example: on a new Office install I used "Save As" a couple of times in Word... and to "help" me it removed "Save" from the File menu.
It is never smart to remove "Save" from the File menu, even if ctrl-s still works.
I have had the Print command vanish too, due to disuse, I suppose. That leaves the print toolbar button, which really means "print one," and clicking it doesn't let you access the print options dialog.
The MS Usability Lab. That's funny.
Seriously, since I've had my ReplayTV, I've wished that it could get show listings, etc., over my home network.
It's not exactly the same, but are you aware of MyReplayTV.com?
ReplayTV already has a dedicated 30-second-skip button on the remote. (and it's great!)
If there is an ethernet port on that thing, someone will figure out how to make your computer look like another unit. Patience, Grasshopper.
I don't have a problem with Vic as a character development tool for Odo. That was OK. But DS9 never did, that I recall, put the whole damn station in danger because of some rogue holodeck.
Side note:
Too bad Richard Dean Anderson couldn't do Stargate and another show at the same time. He'd be a great Trek captain. Hell, make him Captain O'Neil and just let him be his Stargate character.
The parallel universe was the coolest thing in the original Trek episode, and it was nice to see it revisited in DS9... ONCE. But they are indeed going too far now.
The only way Trek could be any worse would be if it was sung.
After watching the 60 sec clip at startrek.com I am actually more jazzed about this show than ever. I always thought the prequel idea had a lot of merit, and the clip shows me that the producers "get it," at least a little. More than I thought they would, anyway. (no spandex, and people are wearing BALL CAPS. Crazy.)
Watch the clip, you might find that it's better than you expected. (Of course, I couldn't view the clip on Win2k because it is Quicktime. Reinstalling QT didn't help, I had to open up the Mac and watch it there.)
Of course the show can still suck ass. A good teaser proves nothing. But it gives me hope. (when, oh WHEN will I learn NOT TO TRUST THE CLIP? I have been burned too often.)
The Tholians were mentioned a couple of times on DS9. I forget the exact words, but it was apparent that there was some kind of relationship with them now and they weren't outright hostile.
Pity.
Never heard anything about the Gorn though. Would be nice to run into them again. Let's see if la-di-dah pooftah Capt. Archer can make an improvised cannon like Kirk did!
Even if the iPaq vanishes, something else will take its place. The Pocket PC thing has incresing momentum. The Toshiba "Genio" looked better than an iPaq to me anyway... CF slot built in. It's not out quite yet though, we'll see what the reviews say.
tried the demo. Didn't like the interface. Hated it, actually. And even in that game you were in real-time mode until combat started... and then the turn-based option seemed like an afterthought. It just didn't grab me, for whatever reason. But I stand corrected, there has been a recent turn-based game.
I actually used to be a RTS game designer (for a real game, at a real publisher, from a real studio). The figures we got from the publisher on multiplayer were fascinating. According to their expensive research, only a few percent of all players used multiplayer at ALL. Now, this was a few years ago, but still... Everyone still put multiplayer code in because if you didn't the reviews would DESTROY you, of course.
I guess times are a-changin' though, there's about sixteen billion people playing CS right this second, and EQ has 400k subscribers or so.
...MMORPGs are better, deeper, more meaningful games.
Better is certainly a subjective sort of thing. What's better, steak or ice cream?
Deeper? More meaningful? You must be in an EQ guild, and all the damn virtual hugs have addled your brain.
A bat tries to bite you but misses!
You crush a bat for 2 points of damage.
You have slain a bat!
You gain experience.
You have lost faction with Brown Flying Rats. You gain faction with the Awkwardly-Animated Elves.
Posingasagirl shouts, "Anyone have some platinum to spare?"
13yearold says, "SoW?"
13yearold says, "SoW me??"
13yearold says, "Screw you"
Whiner tells the guild, "G'nite"
Crybaby tells the guild, "HUGS! KISSES! HUGGLES! MEGASUPERKISSES!"
You think you are facing North.
You have become better at Sense Direction! (13)
----
Despite the totally ridiculous amount of "huggles" thrown around by grown men in EQ, and all the bat-slaying that goes on, I think that the MMORPG genre has a lot of potential and I look forward to future games. I just hope that the Blizzard guys don't consider any of the crap on the market now to be their inspiration. EQ is a MUD with a 3d GUI. Spare me. I'd rather play Pac Man. (and I tried to like EQ, I really really did, but it's not the right kind of crack for me at least.)
I would sell a kidney for a good, modern tactical combat game like X-COM. The GW properties would be great candidates... but we are still dealing with a plague of real-time strategy games.
Hell, even the Warzone computer game will be real-time instead of turn-based, and that is a MINIATURES GAME LICENSE. Am I the only person interested in turn-based tactics? Sheesh.
How is it any less natural to store a memory of what I see in silicon that I keep internally than to keep it on videotape?
Naughty, naughty cyborg! Your perfect memory is in violation of intellectual property protection laws. You are not allowed to have perfect memory. Reduce your sampe rate to 128k, 44kHz for audio and no more than 320x240x15 fps for video. Thank you.
I always wonder why AIs would have any interest in conquering the world.
Obviously, they are gonna be pissed about BattleBots and all the other robotic combat leagues. When the machines take over, they'll be watching steel-cage deathmatches between humans.
I for one will welcome our new robot overlords.
HAIL ROBOTS
(I am not sure if I am feeding the troll or not, but here goes.)
I think you are being a curmudgeon. It's clear that no amount of discussion is going to get anywhere. But, if your mind is open in the slightest, spend the $129 and buy a Palm m100. If you are an employed professional type, you have probably spent more than $129 on dinner on occasion. But buy it from a place with a good return policy so you can get all your money back if (when) you come to hate it. You lose nothing but a little time.
At least try it out -- and then come back here and tell us we're all fools when you have some first-hand experience with the product. Because right now, everyone with a PDA is just laughing at you. We're organized and reading the news on the road and playing solitaire when stuck in line and whipping up spreadsheets in the car and all that jazz while you are crying about paper notepads as if it's a clever comparison. Sheesh.
You probably don't "get" what a Tivo is good for, either. I mean, all you have to do is write down when your shows are coming on in a notepad, and keep that by the TV, and set your cheap digital watch to beep for Ally McBeal, right?
The American people will NOT continue to allow the Constitution of this great country to be raped, forever.
I only wish I could agree with you. People are sheep. Every generation gets fatter, dumber and more complacent. I do now know why, only that it is happening.
See how many people you know that can list the concepts in the Bill of Rights. Almost no one can. The Constitution is not relevant to today's society. Not because IT has failed... but we have, as a society, failed to hold up our end of the bargain. We have to be diligent to preserve our rights, and we are not.
People like you and I that are mindful of these issues are labeled as whackos. The only arguments that carry any weight in today's politics are emotional. It's all "for the children," or against, "evil hackers."
Being a patriot is never easy. And it's going to get a whole lot harder within our lifetimes.
you'll never get 5.56 mm NATO out to 800 yards with good accuracy. For that kind of range, you are far better off with a heavier round, like 7.62 mm. Very popular with the high power marksman crowd, using rifles like the M14. For the "evil black rifle" look, I'd suggest the HK G3.
To get back on topic... oh, the hell with the topic for today.
Now Linux on the other hand, is the One True OS. :)
Ye gods, man. Can't you see that you have lost the open mind that led you to Linux in the first place?
Well, you could stash your 9.1 stuff on the external FireWire drive.
FireWire stuff seems to be overpriced anyway. Why not get one of those huge IBM notebook drives instead? Costs a bit more than an external drive, but presumably you got a laptop for portability anyway.
I have checked out K5, but all I see posted as "news" are lame things like racism tirades and obvious trolls. yuck.
checking today's page... OK, a couple of good posts about the DMCA and the UN, but then there's more crap like "why do you get out of bed in the morning?" C'mon. At least the news here is better.
About a month ago, I upgraded my ReplayTV...
:)
I am not especially interested in an upgrade right now, but I am very interested in making a backup. Can the software you linked to let me image the boot partition so I can back it up?
Is it possible to back up the "magic" part of the RTV drive onto a CD, or is it too big?
I love my RTV and I want to keep it alive. If the drive croaks, I just want to pop in a new one - I don't want to be forced to upgrade to a Tivo (with fees), or whatever RTV is selling at the moment (which may be missing features or whatever, who knows).
Right now it looks like RTV is definitely NOT getting in bed with the networks, what with their survey questions about commercial skipping. That's cool. But if things change, I want to run my RTV 3030 as-is until the end of time.
I suppose it is one of those things you just have to try before you get hooked.
Find a friend that has one and check it out. No written explanation can do it justice.
They really are as cool as the owners say they are. Unless you just don't like TV, that is.
Yess! "Good Eats" rules. It's the show that inspired me to start cooking. Emeril's not bad... but Good Eats teaches the fundamentals.
...cable seems to have a clear path to domination. It will be good to see some competition.
Until AOL-TW or ATT simply buys up the powerline ISPs...