The malice-based reason is that the ISP can stick the customer with a surprise overage bill.
There's no overage fee with a fixed rate, cap and top-up service. That's the whole point. I'd never want to subscribe with an ISP who could simply charge me for something I didn't explicitly ask for.
Probably by blocking all incoming connections. This means, for example, that FTP would have to use passive mode, and Skype would have to use a supernode, and torrents would have to use peers on business-class SLAs (which can accept incoming connections) or HTTP seeds, and games would have to use a dedicated server on a business-class SLA.
I don't have any of those restrictions, so that can't be the case. Oh well - I guess I'll find out when I ask.
Which would work only if ISPs were legally required to have a usage page.
What possible reason would ISPs have for concealing usage in this situation?
To continue the analogy to charging for unanswered calls, this means anyone can DDoS a particular subscriber up to the cap (and hence off the Internet) by flooding the user's IP address with UDP datagrams or incoming TCP connections.
That's a very good point. I know someone who works at an ISP - I'll ask him how they keep that from happening.
Well, " == True" is something some people prefer for clarity, which I can respect, so I assume that he's saying people made actual functions with completely useless abstract names like myfunc. If I saw if (myfunc() == True) I'd be able to parse it but would have no idea what it would mean.
- when do you get to see the meter? Just once per month at billing time?
Whenever you want. Just go to your usage page on the IPS's website and have a look.
- who verifies the meter is accurate?
You can have your own usage monitor on your computer or router if you want
- how are ISPs prevented from abusing the meter? Recall that long ago, laws had to be written to stop phone companies from charging for calls before they were actually answered.
If the ISPs can't charge the user then the only risk is of the ISP lying about usage. Have fixed monthly fee with a cap which cuts off or throttles access to the Internet beyond your ISP once the cap has been exceeded. Customer can pay to top up, ideally for slightly less than the price/GB of the basic cap. Customers can also configure an automatic top-up charge for convenience if they wish.
- how are bytes being counted? Bytes are not counted like phone minutes. Packets are re-transmitted out of necessity. Do they count twice?
There are plenty of perfectly valid answers. Most policies are fine as long as they are clearly-defined.
I'm not arguing any of that - in fact, I agree. The extensions available for Firefox is one of the reasons I said that I prefer using Firefox to Chrome. But as a developer I happen to find extensions more pleasant to write on Chrome, that's all.
However, as much as I like Firefox I must mention that Firebug and Greasemonkey functionality comes built-in with Chrome. There seem to be plenty of FTP client extensions as well.
I must say, after writing extensions for all the major browsers Chrome is the best to write for by a large margin (even though I prefer Firefox for personal use by a small margin). My only gripe with Google is their habit of charging one-time registration developer fee after one-time developer registration fee after one-time developer registration fee. Ostensibly it's to verify my account, but after paying so much to verify my account for Google's other services already isn't my account verified enough yet? I decided to draw the line and will have to do without Chrome Web Store.
Unfortunately I can't find any mention of the basic price of the service in the article, but 300GB is a huge cap and $10 for a 50GB top-up is next to nothing. I wish I could get a deal like that.
Nonsense. BSD also gives the user the same freedom. In either case, the user can look at the sources.
In the case of the GPL, the user can look at the sources. With BSD the user may or may not have access to the source, but if he does then he has plenty of freedom.
Those 3rd party tools imitate the feature to a degree but all the methods have some drawback or another. Virtual desktops are only a poor man's alternative to multiple monitors if you are a poor man with a single monitor (in which case, they're a godsend). I find desktops incredibly useful especially when I have multiple monitors. My personal experience with multiple monitors in Linux has been: plug in an extra monitor and it works perfectly just like that - with much better results than in Windows. Of course, ease-of-use is a function of the operating system, not the kernel, so my experiences with "Linux" might well be different to yours,
That's what caught my attention from the summary as well. Referring to hashes as "hashtag symbols" is rather circular. What's next - hashtagsymboltag symbol?
I think you nailed it. MS pays a fortune to MPEG-LA to ensure that it isn't liable for patent suits. Since it turns out that they are liable either way it's not worth it for them to blanket-license their OS anymore.
Me too. In fact, I find it rare to come across a video that does work with WMP. Also, region locking makes WMP more-or-less useless for playing DVDs. Region-locked players actually aren't even legal here, and for good reason - a DVD player that refuses to play most DVD isn't fit for the purpose for which it was sold.
I'm not upset with this news. If Windows 8 comes with less bundled media software then I consider it an improvement.
That's exactly what they're proposing. They have different layouts and designs for different environments. From the slideshow the different layouts seem quite distinct, but have a couple of things in common (new tab button, shape of tabs) to make them all recognisable as variations of the same product. The desktop UI is called Australis and it's fairly similar to what we've had since FF4 but with some changes I like and a few I don't. The only Metro-ized one is the Metro version, but I can't comment on that because my eyes refused to focus when I looked at it.
Very true. The reason is because it's not the frequency that is perceived so much as the interval between frames. The jump from 70fps to 80fps is an improvement of just under 1.8 milliseconds. You might perceive that, but I have my doubts since there's not really much of a difference to pick up on (back in the CRT days putting the monitor at 80+fps was more for reducing flicker than improving animation). A 30fps-to-60fps change is like night and day, and that's only a 16.7 milliseconds difference; at 30fps motion is rather difficult to follow, but it's a non-issue at 60. Going from 24fps to 48fps is a 41.7 millisecond improvement - I can't imagine anyone missing that.
It's 7GiB for free. 25 gigs was for those who happen to have signed up before yesterday. I only heard about it yesterday and was rather disappointed to have missed out, but 7 gigs for nothing is still pretty good. The 100MiB limit is for uploads using the web interface - uploads through the SkyDrive app have a 2GiB limit.
I wonder where I'd fit in this - I almost always play Scout/Demo/Engineer. OK, I admit I do take the the pyro quite often because they're really good at protecting allies from explosives and fire, can remove sappers, keep spies away and have my favourite weapon: the almighty flaregun of sniper-slaying. I hope that doesn't make me a jerk.
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If APIs are copyrightable, then Linux and *BSD just became illegal for implementing POSIX without a license from The Open Group.
BSD predates The Open Group by 19 years. Linux predates it by 5 years. But that's a minor quibble; your point still stands.
The malice-based reason is that the ISP can stick the customer with a surprise overage bill.
There's no overage fee with a fixed rate, cap and top-up service. That's the whole point. I'd never want to subscribe with an ISP who could simply charge me for something I didn't explicitly ask for.
Probably by blocking all incoming connections. This means, for example, that FTP would have to use passive mode, and Skype would have to use a supernode, and torrents would have to use peers on business-class SLAs (which can accept incoming connections) or HTTP seeds, and games would have to use a dedicated server on a business-class SLA.
I don't have any of those restrictions, so that can't be the case. Oh well - I guess I'll find out when I ask.
Which would work only if ISPs were legally required to have a usage page.
What possible reason would ISPs have for concealing usage in this situation?
To continue the analogy to charging for unanswered calls, this means anyone can DDoS a particular subscriber up to the cap (and hence off the Internet) by flooding the user's IP address with UDP datagrams or incoming TCP connections.
That's a very good point. I know someone who works at an ISP - I'll ask him how they keep that from happening.
Well, " == True" is something some people prefer for clarity, which I can respect, so I assume that he's saying people made actual functions with completely useless abstract names like myfunc. If I saw if (myfunc() == True) I'd be able to parse it but would have no idea what it would mean.
If it's done correctly, like this:
- when do you get to see the meter? Just once per month at billing time?
Whenever you want. Just go to your usage page on the IPS's website and have a look.
- who verifies the meter is accurate?
You can have your own usage monitor on your computer or router if you want
- how are ISPs prevented from abusing the meter? Recall that long ago, laws had to be written to stop phone companies from charging for calls before they were actually answered.
If the ISPs can't charge the user then the only risk is of the ISP lying about usage. Have fixed monthly fee with a cap which cuts off or throttles access to the Internet beyond your ISP once the cap has been exceeded. Customer can pay to top up, ideally for slightly less than the price/GB of the basic cap. Customers can also configure an automatic top-up charge for convenience if they wish.
- how are bytes being counted? Bytes are not counted like phone minutes. Packets are re-transmitted out of necessity. Do they count twice?
There are plenty of perfectly valid answers. Most policies are fine as long as they are clearly-defined.
I guess my next take is this: If the tools are so much better for developers, why hasn't this platform taken off in the past 2-3 years?
Developer registration fees, perhaps
I'm not arguing any of that - in fact, I agree. The extensions available for Firefox is one of the reasons I said that I prefer using Firefox to Chrome. But as a developer I happen to find extensions more pleasant to write on Chrome, that's all.
However, as much as I like Firefox I must mention that Firebug and Greasemonkey functionality comes built-in with Chrome. There seem to be plenty of FTP client extensions as well.
I must say, after writing extensions for all the major browsers Chrome is the best to write for by a large margin (even though I prefer Firefox for personal use by a small margin). My only gripe with Google is their habit of charging one-time registration developer fee after one-time developer registration fee after one-time developer registration fee. Ostensibly it's to verify my account, but after paying so much to verify my account for Google's other services already isn't my account verified enough yet? I decided to draw the line and will have to do without Chrome Web Store.
Unfortunately I can't find any mention of the basic price of the service in the article, but 300GB is a huge cap and $10 for a 50GB top-up is next to nothing. I wish I could get a deal like that.
And Quick Launch is?
Microsoft's term for icons directly on the taskbar which you can click to launch apps.
Nonsense. BSD also gives the user the same freedom. In either case, the user can look at the sources.
In the case of the GPL, the user can look at the sources. With BSD the user may or may not have access to the source, but if he does then he has plenty of freedom.
Those 3rd party tools imitate the feature to a degree but all the methods have some drawback or another. Virtual desktops are only a poor man's alternative to multiple monitors if you are a poor man with a single monitor (in which case, they're a godsend). I find desktops incredibly useful especially when I have multiple monitors. My personal experience with multiple monitors in Linux has been: plug in an extra monitor and it works perfectly just like that - with much better results than in Windows. Of course, ease-of-use is a function of the operating system, not the kernel, so my experiences with "Linux" might well be different to yours,
That's what caught my attention from the summary as well. Referring to hashes as "hashtag symbols" is rather circular. What's next - hashtagsymboltag symbol?
I think you nailed it. MS pays a fortune to MPEG-LA to ensure that it isn't liable for patent suits. Since it turns out that they are liable either way it's not worth it for them to blanket-license their OS anymore.
Me too. In fact, I find it rare to come across a video that does work with WMP. Also, region locking makes WMP more-or-less useless for playing DVDs. Region-locked players actually aren't even legal here, and for good reason - a DVD player that refuses to play most DVD isn't fit for the purpose for which it was sold.
I'm not upset with this news. If Windows 8 comes with less bundled media software then I consider it an improvement.
Well, RMS himself did write "Warning: taking the Church of Emacs (or any church) too seriously may be hazardous to your health." It seems fitting.
Layer groups? The lack of layer groups was my personal pet peeve with GIMP. I'm glad that they added that feature.
I agree. Now please excuse me while I go play with my Wii.
I get the impression that Fluxbox was a major inspiration for Chrome. Whether that's true or not, I've always loved that wm.
That's exactly what they're proposing. They have different layouts and designs for different environments. From the slideshow the different layouts seem quite distinct, but have a couple of things in common (new tab button, shape of tabs) to make them all recognisable as variations of the same product. The desktop UI is called Australis and it's fairly similar to what we've had since FF4 but with some changes I like and a few I don't. The only Metro-ized one is the Metro version, but I can't comment on that because my eyes refused to focus when I looked at it.
Wait... are you serious? There are TV ads for a web browser?
Very true. The reason is because it's not the frequency that is perceived so much as the interval between frames. The jump from 70fps to 80fps is an improvement of just under 1.8 milliseconds. You might perceive that, but I have my doubts since there's not really much of a difference to pick up on (back in the CRT days putting the monitor at 80+fps was more for reducing flicker than improving animation). A 30fps-to-60fps change is like night and day, and that's only a 16.7 milliseconds difference; at 30fps motion is rather difficult to follow, but it's a non-issue at 60. Going from 24fps to 48fps is a 41.7 millisecond improvement - I can't imagine anyone missing that.
Oh come on, just saying a name is harmless. It's like Candlejack - I say "Candlejack" all the time, and nothing bad ever ha
It's 7GiB for free. 25 gigs was for those who happen to have signed up before yesterday. I only heard about it yesterday and was rather disappointed to have missed out, but 7 gigs for nothing is still pretty good. The 100MiB limit is for uploads using the web interface - uploads through the SkyDrive app have a 2GiB limit.
I wonder where I'd fit in this - I almost always play Scout/Demo/Engineer. OK, I admit I do take the the pyro quite often because they're really good at protecting allies from explosives and fire, can remove sappers, keep spies away and have my favourite weapon: the almighty flaregun of sniper-slaying. I hope that doesn't make me a jerk.