I have the exact opposite reaction, I switched to gnome at 2.0 and haven't considered going back. I try KDE from time to time (about once or twice a release) and its just so bloated and ugly that I find myself craving gnome.
When you spend over 8 hours a day using a desktop ease of use and simplicity of design become very important factors.
I hate all these people thinking that acuracy is a problem with wikipedia. They think this because they want it to be a "scholarly", "academic" work that is valuable to those types. Well guess what people the things they hold value in as far as credibility goes are exactly the things the wikipedia does away with. The two ideas are diametrically opposed to each other, and can not be reconciled.
Wikipedia is fantastic, it is wonderful, and occassionally I find an error or a typo, you know what I do? Unlike Sinbad or some antiquated journalist I fix the problem and save the page. This serves two functions, first I get to improve wikipedia, and second I am gently reminded to remember the error next time I am reading an article I know nothing about and can't verify.
I simply don't see the problem with wikipedia at all. I think it is fantastic in many ways, sure some articles have to be locked to edits occassionally, but I don't recall the mission statement being to make a 100% academically credible source for lazy students. The real funny part about this is that even though it can never meet those standards it turns out to be equal to or better than other sources that do in aquaracy many times.
Even apple points out that the best selling ipods are the cheaper ones. I don't actually think it has anything to due with the form factor for the nano, its the price. The 200$ price point is a popular one, and apple should due whatever they can to keep increasing the desirability of the 200$ model.
I don't like sounding like a GNU/Linux zealot, but it is disheartening when these people always choose windows only options, especially when there are easily availble ways to distribute media for any OS. I am near the half hollow hills district, I wonder if I get a cross library sticker (so I can borrow from them since they are in the suffolk county system) if it would let me download too:)
Spoken like someone who doesn't have children, and is most likely in for a big surprise when/if they get them. Now granted I am not working nearly as hard as the first poster implied he is, and I am not in nearly as much debt, but you sir are in for a shock. Children have a funny way of consuming as much "extra"/"cushion" income you think you can foresee needing, regardless of how much it is. People with more money tend to have higher standards of living, and greater expenses, the children also do, and the same for people with less.
People that pretend they are waiting to have children until they have built up a fortune are one of two things: 1) making it up, or 2) horribly mistaken about the way the world works. Personally I would have had my kids even younger if I could go back and do it, money be damned. I see older parents and they have gotten set in their ways and simply aren't as good as the younger ones when the kids come along. (BTW- I'm 29 with a 5 year old and one on the way)
I can clearly see both sides of this debate, as a US citizen I say we shouldn't give an inch (go with the devil you know as they say). But, I can also see that if I weren't a US citizen I would want more global control, and to that I say "we made it, neener neener neener!"
is why won't iTunes let you copy music from the iPod to the computer? - It's insane!
I have had an iPod for quite a while now, and have always used gtkpod. I wanted to purchase an audiobook s oI installed iTunes to get the audible file onto my iPod. Well since I now had it, although on a windows prtition I never use, I fiugred I would give it a shot, maybe buy a game and take advantage of the album art feature for the albums I dont have art for, well lo and behold I can't seem to population my iTunes library from my iPod.... the most assinine thing I've ever seen, its a basic feature why wont it do it?
I completely disagree with almost all the comments in this article and made in response. I've dug out old systems, and downloaded emulators and while on a few occassions the games were much easier due to their play-style (The Orig. Super Mario Bros, I could never beat it as a kid, now I pull it out for my kid and its super easy for me) but by and large they are very similar to how I remember them, and they are still fun to boot! - I find the early 3D games a little tough on the eyes, but I imagine they were just as nausia inducing back then, we just tolerated it more.
To this day I have never played a game as fun and well designed as the original Legend of Zelda, and I have played it many times on emulators, on original hardware, and on the gamecube release. It is still great. Sure it has no story, and no dialogue, but I find I play games for the play not for the story line anyway. I can always watch a movie for the story. Which brings up the problem with this piece, how can you hope to ever have games be considered art if you constantly rant about how dispossable they are? I'd like to see a film reviewer rant about given up on watching old movies because modern film techniques and special effects are so much better.
I picked up a virtual boy when they were about $9 in the bargain bin. I loved Mario Clash, it is by far the best game for the system, and the only one worthy of an extended play session. I didnt suffer many headaches when playing a lot, but I do recommend lying on a couch with the unit resting against your head if you are going to give it a try, you can use the feet on your chest to steady the system.
It is available at www.longnow.org (previous months lectures). Its not the same topic, but it is a talk with brian eno entirely about 'generative content'.
I continued reading, I also can't tell which XP window is on top, which is something this guy claims is obvious. Of course I agree that you can tell in his Vista screenshots either.
He overlooks the biggest crime of all.
on
How Vista Disappoints
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I am not very familiar with this guy, as I dont ussually read microsoft press, but how can he link to a dialog like this: http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/vista_5 342_rev5_00.jpg (it says 'You dont currently have permission to delete this file." and then offers the choices "Continue", "Skip", and "Cancel") - and not point out what a total usibility disaster it is? How can a company like microsoft in today's world put up something that abnoxious and unusable?
In case you don't get it its making a decarative statement and then presenting options that have no correlation to the statement, I'm a professional in computers, and have been using them for well over 15 years and couldn't possibly even guess what each of those options should do. Continue what? if I dont have permission to do it how can I continue. Cancel what exactly?, as far as I can tell it just said it wasn't going to do anything anyway. Skip? skip the delete I was just told I can't do? I am baffled... based on the article I guess that it should have said something like "You currently don't have permission to delete this file, what would you like to do?" and given choices like "Grant Permission", "Don't Delete" etc...
I haven't really used windows extensively in a very long time so maybe if I did I would be used to figuring out these obscure dialogues, but I don't think I would ever stop cringing when I saw them. It reminds me of the dialog windows used to put up when you went to access help for the first time in an app, it would ask how big the search database should be (or something) and give you three choices similar to "small (recommended)" "medium" "large" and no other info, not even a clue as to how this would effect your help at all. do they still do that nonsense?
I just got an ipod for the first time (so I was worried they were gonna release a new one) and it is much nicer than a lot of other mp3 players I've tried, but that hifi thing is taking this design concept just a tad too far.... it really looks ugly.
How about I promise NOT to download anything in the Warner catalog, unless THEY PAY ME $3-4 a month.
The big 4 (or is it 5) are simply grasping at straws to maintain control, first it will be $5 a month voluntary, then it will be "included" in the service that is $5 more. Suddenly they are squeezing ISPs for more, and the little guys, the small bands and small labels will continue to get jack out of the system. But now the average home user will think "I pay so I can have anything" even if the money all goes to universal and warner leaving all the Idlewilds of the world in the cold (well OK Idlewild only has one band, but you get the point).
Recently I joined emusic, and I am happy to use it to legally get non-encumbered music that I can do with as I please, that way the artist gets paid and I don't feel dirty for shopping with a company that doesn't trust and has been sueing my friends. (I am not affiliated with eMusic and am not vouching for them I may learn they suck soon, so don't take this as an endorsement.)
I haven't read the article yet, and I am not going to dispute his point, BUT one should realize that the summary compares silent film stars to directors of largely talking pictures. Silent film is almost an entirely diferent media than film with a synced audio track.
But I am waiting to watch it in the theater. The copy I downloaded will be burned to two dvds and shipped to my brothers in Iraq. Yes even in someparts of Iraq bootleg DVDs aren't prevailent.
reading something as radical as allowing home developement into nintendo's statements is a little stretch. I personally would love it and could see why they would allow it (homebrew is huge on thier portables) - but it seems to "revolutionary" an idea for console companies at this point, especially one that I think has historically been known as the most closed.
Of course maybe this is the revolution they keep touting.
Slashdot Mirror
I have the exact opposite reaction, I switched to gnome at 2.0 and haven't considered going back. I try KDE from time to time (about once or twice a release) and its just so bloated and ugly that I find myself craving gnome.
When you spend over 8 hours a day using a desktop ease of use and simplicity of design become very important factors.
I hate all these people thinking that acuracy is a problem with wikipedia. They think this because they want it to be a "scholarly", "academic" work that is valuable to those types. Well guess what people the things they hold value in as far as credibility goes are exactly the things the wikipedia does away with. The two ideas are diametrically opposed to each other, and can not be reconciled.
Wikipedia is fantastic, it is wonderful, and occassionally I find an error or a typo, you know what I do? Unlike Sinbad or some antiquated journalist I fix the problem and save the page. This serves two functions, first I get to improve wikipedia, and second I am gently reminded to remember the error next time I am reading an article I know nothing about and can't verify.
I simply don't see the problem with wikipedia at all. I think it is fantastic in many ways, sure some articles have to be locked to edits occassionally, but I don't recall the mission statement being to make a 100% academically credible source for lazy students. The real funny part about this is that even though it can never meet those standards it turns out to be equal to or better than other sources that do in aquaracy many times.
Even apple points out that the best selling ipods are the cheaper ones. I don't actually think it has anything to due with the form factor for the nano, its the price. The 200$ price point is a popular one, and apple should due whatever they can to keep increasing the desirability of the 200$ model.
I don't like sounding like a GNU/Linux zealot, but it is disheartening when these people always choose windows only options, especially when there are easily availble ways to distribute media for any OS. I am near the half hollow hills district, I wonder if I get a cross library sticker (so I can borrow from them since they are in the suffolk county system) if it would let me download too :)
Spoken like someone who doesn't have children, and is most likely in for a big surprise when/if they get them. Now granted I am not working nearly as hard as the first poster implied he is, and I am not in nearly as much debt, but you sir are in for a shock. Children have a funny way of consuming as much "extra"/"cushion" income you think you can foresee needing, regardless of how much it is. People with more money tend to have higher standards of living, and greater expenses, the children also do, and the same for people with less.
People that pretend they are waiting to have children until they have built up a fortune are one of two things: 1) making it up, or 2) horribly mistaken about the way the world works. Personally I would have had my kids even younger if I could go back and do it, money be damned. I see older parents and they have gotten set in their ways and simply aren't as good as the younger ones when the kids come along. (BTW- I'm 29 with a 5 year old and one on the way)
The best part is that if you get the right combo of parts it will say this in the side pane:
Errors:
Windows® Vista does not support Optical Drive selected.
Warnings:
Congratulations! You have chosen all of the required hardware for a Vista Premium experience!
If I am not running windows how is that an "error" ? Also That is sure one dire warning.
Can you tell me what the default desktop in XP looks like? is it all green? (I'm assuming based on the picture where green = unassigned)
I can clearly see both sides of this debate, as a US citizen I say we shouldn't give an inch (go with the devil you know as they say). But, I can also see that if I weren't a US citizen I would want more global control, and to that I say "we made it, neener neener neener!"
is why won't iTunes let you copy music from the iPod to the computer? - It's insane!
I have had an iPod for quite a while now, and have always used gtkpod. I wanted to purchase an audiobook s oI installed iTunes to get the audible file onto my iPod. Well since I now had it, although on a windows prtition I never use, I fiugred I would give it a shot, maybe buy a game and take advantage of the album art feature for the albums I dont have art for, well lo and behold I can't seem to population my iTunes library from my iPod.... the most assinine thing I've ever seen, its a basic feature why wont it do it?
I completely disagree with almost all the comments in this article and made in response. I've dug out old systems, and downloaded emulators and while on a few occassions the games were much easier due to their play-style (The Orig. Super Mario Bros, I could never beat it as a kid, now I pull it out for my kid and its super easy for me) but by and large they are very similar to how I remember them, and they are still fun to boot! - I find the early 3D games a little tough on the eyes, but I imagine they were just as nausia inducing back then, we just tolerated it more.
To this day I have never played a game as fun and well designed as the original Legend of Zelda, and I have played it many times on emulators, on original hardware, and on the gamecube release. It is still great. Sure it has no story, and no dialogue, but I find I play games for the play not for the story line anyway. I can always watch a movie for the story. Which brings up the problem with this piece, how can you hope to ever have games be considered art if you constantly rant about how dispossable they are? I'd like to see a film reviewer rant about given up on watching old movies because modern film techniques and special effects are so much better.
I agree whole-heartedly
I don't know why, but I've have simply never liked any castlevania game as much as Simon's Quest.
I picked up a virtual boy when they were about $9 in the bargain bin. I loved Mario Clash, it is by far the best game for the system, and the only one worthy of an extended play session. I didnt suffer many headaches when playing a lot, but I do recommend lying on a couch with the unit resting against your head if you are going to give it a try, you can use the feet on your chest to steady the system.
It is available at www.longnow.org (previous months lectures). Its not the same topic, but it is a talk with brian eno entirely about 'generative content'.
I am running Ubuntu Dapper, and the PDF file doesn't display correctly in the default PDF viewer. Isn't that a faux pas?
Laugh in
I continued reading, I also can't tell which XP window is on top, which is something this guy claims is obvious. Of course I agree that you can tell in his Vista screenshots either.
I am not very familiar with this guy, as I dont ussually read microsoft press, but how can he link to a dialog like this: http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/vista_5 342_rev5_00.jpg (it says 'You dont currently have permission to delete this file." and then offers the choices "Continue", "Skip", and "Cancel") - and not point out what a total usibility disaster it is? How can a company like microsoft in today's world put up something that abnoxious and unusable?
In case you don't get it its making a decarative statement and then presenting options that have no correlation to the statement, I'm a professional in computers, and have been using them for well over 15 years and couldn't possibly even guess what each of those options should do. Continue what? if I dont have permission to do it how can I continue. Cancel what exactly?, as far as I can tell it just said it wasn't going to do anything anyway. Skip? skip the delete I was just told I can't do? I am baffled... based on the article I guess that it should have said something like "You currently don't have permission to delete this file, what would you like to do?" and given choices like "Grant Permission", "Don't Delete" etc...
I haven't really used windows extensively in a very long time so maybe if I did I would be used to figuring out these obscure dialogues, but I don't think I would ever stop cringing when I saw them. It reminds me of the dialog windows used to put up when you went to access help for the first time in an app, it would ask how big the search database should be (or something) and give you three choices similar to "small (recommended)" "medium" "large" and no other info, not even a clue as to how this would effect your help at all. do they still do that nonsense?
I just got an ipod for the first time (so I was worried they were gonna release a new one) and it is much nicer than a lot of other mp3 players I've tried, but that hifi thing is taking this design concept just a tad too far.... it really looks ugly.
It's illegal to copy a DVD you OWN to a memory card to watch on another device?
How about I promise NOT to download anything in the Warner catalog, unless THEY PAY ME $3-4 a month.
The big 4 (or is it 5) are simply grasping at straws to maintain control, first it will be $5 a month voluntary, then it will be "included" in the service that is $5 more. Suddenly they are squeezing ISPs for more, and the little guys, the small bands and small labels will continue to get jack out of the system. But now the average home user will think "I pay so I can have anything" even if the money all goes to universal and warner leaving all the Idlewilds of the world in the cold (well OK Idlewild only has one band, but you get the point).
Recently I joined emusic, and I am happy to use it to legally get non-encumbered music that I can do with as I please, that way the artist gets paid and I don't feel dirty for shopping with a company that doesn't trust and has been sueing my friends. (I am not affiliated with eMusic and am not vouching for them I may learn they suck soon, so don't take this as an endorsement.)
thats a good point. But arguing that Buster Keaton plots were simplistic compared to Wells is absurd.
I haven't read the article yet, and I am not going to dispute his point, BUT one should realize that the summary compares silent film stars to directors of largely talking pictures. Silent film is almost an entirely diferent media than film with a synced audio track.
But I am waiting to watch it in the theater. The copy I downloaded will be burned to two dvds and shipped to my brothers in Iraq. Yes even in someparts of Iraq bootleg DVDs aren't prevailent.
reading something as radical as allowing home developement into nintendo's statements is a little stretch. I personally would love it and could see why they would allow it (homebrew is huge on thier portables) - but it seems to "revolutionary" an idea for console companies at this point, especially one that I think has historically been known as the most closed.
Of course maybe this is the revolution they keep touting.