However, because we need to maintain maximum security on this web site, [...]
And a few lines down they write this:
Your browser must be set to accept cookies
Java must be enabled
Javascript must be enabled
Java no less! So they want a secure, yet public
website, but in the mean time don't care zit if
your system is compromised/slow/crashing because your Java and Javascript are turned on. Sheez...
Just imagine the uproar that will ensue when half a nation comes home from work, school, dancing lesson or whatever, and finds out their favorite show or the NBA game of their team has not been recorded on their VCRs because the broadcaster decided to flip the "Nay" switch. It may be too late for a refund, but it will be the last time they will buy such equipment!
Frankly, I don't really see the point of forcing customers to be at home to watch a program; the only reason I can come up with is that they can't fast-forward through the commercials. We are so used to taping programs for our use, no-one will accept such measures.
As for the video-blacklist: yes, that's a shame. And no, I don't think the MPAA has the best intentions for the consumer's right, only their own.
These days, I work 2 days out 4 at home. Why?
To get some work done.
I am somewhat of a senior programmer/sysadmin
at work, which means I get constant interruptions with questions, people dropping by,
small emergencies, etc. etc. I really cannot get anything useful done at the office. On Mondays I spent the better part of the day talking in meetings and arranging things. Blegh. Of course they can phone and E-mail me at home; but it's a small threshold they have to take, and that helps.
You know how it is: too lazy to figure it out themselves, they bug you instead. Being not at your desk makes them realize you won't always be there to answer their questions.
Besides:
It saves me 2 hours of commuting by train (okay, since that's nap time, that doesn't really count);
I can do shopping at times when it's quiet,
not at shopping-rush-hour at 6 pm (Note: this is Europe where 24 hour stores are rare);
I can book my holiday without taking half
a day off; what I can't do by day I'll finish
in the evening (or at night:));
Of course, you must be able to do this; at home
I have a complete development environment running under Linux that mimics what we have a the office and in production. With a cablemodem, CVS and assorted tools you can get a long way! You should
try to persuade your employer to provide you with enough hardware at home to do this.
Oh yes, one piece of advice. Don't eat so much pizza; it will only make you fat:-)
Well, what I consider a personal record occured about 10 years back. Internet connections abroad were flaky at best, and totally unreliable usually.
It must have been in late 1989 or early 1990 when I held a connection open from Delft, the Netherlands to IscaBBS in Iowa City for 6:52, which was an amazing feat at the time. However, by the end of the session the Americans were up and going to work/school so the routers got loaded and the connection failed.
Instead they have "funky" html-pages or it's own strange "help system":-(
HTML isn't bad; you can include images, use a little color here AND, most importantly, you can split the information up in managable chunks in stead of one huge document. Have you read the 'bash' manpage? It's more than 5000 lines!! It takes me forever to find something in there. Plus, you can make an index, crosslinks, keyword index, etc.
And, if you keep the fancy HTML stuff out of the pages you can even view them with a text browser like lynx. No, HTML isn't all that bad; look at the Qt Reference Documentation for an example of what I consider good HTMLized documentation. Lightweight, clear, consistent, links all over the place. I write my documentation like that.
As for "strange help systems": indeed, they are often more of a nuisance than help.
Well, I just saw the new videoclip from Toy Box: Best Friend and in one scene they start figthing with sabers... How far can and will this Hoopla go?:)
I just did a 'wc -l' on my local mirror of RFCs (admittedly, not complete) and counted nearly 3 million lines of text... I wonder how much shelfspace that would occupy when printed out. Any ideas?
Second thing: how many of us have had an RFC issued on the day they were born? By coincidence I just found out I am one of the lucky ones (no, I'm not going to tell you which one:) Suffice to say it's old) - Nemosoft
You know, what irritates me about the media's coverage of the Internet in general is its constant negative tone. It's always "the big bad Internet" which is responsible for some form of illegal, immoral or otherwise despicable event. Some issues that crop up regularely:
Pornography, specifically child porn;
Illegal distribution of software and music;
Cracking, from simple sites to the Pentagon;
The sale of illegal or prescription-only drugs;
Information on how to do various illegal or border-line stuff, like grow your own weed;
etcetera...
While I certainly do not approve on some items on the list, the coverage they get in the media is way out of proportion and entirely in the wrong direction.
It is nearly impossible to get any accurate figures on the % of total Internet bandwidth that is used for these activities, but let's suppose it's 10% (grossly overrated, IMHO, and that is without the 'adult' sex percentage). Yet they get 90% of all the attention. And that irritates me, since that leaves 80% wasted on 'good' items.
There is an enormous amount of time spent by individuals to make this Internet one of the greatest things since printed books. 99% of the information, programs, images, you-name-it that are put on the 'Net for free and without restrictions, it's positive side is simply ignored. To me, the Internet is a tool, a damn useful tool, a nice place to hang out and widen my view. It is part of my daily routine, just like books & television (no, I don't read papers; guess why:)). It made a big difference for me, and a lot of others. It probably did for you, too.
So why is there such a negative tone in coverage of some Internet-related issues? I'm not sure, but it probably has something to do with the fact that it's hardly controllable by any government body, makes up it own rules (most of the time anyway), is global, completely ignores geographical, cultural and racial borders and is easy to access. To some, that must be their worst nightmare... And others, like the media, simply can't deal with it.
So, while I sincerely sympathize with kira489, yet I cannot help to think it as another case of bad luck and naivety. It could have happened by any other means: an ad in a paper, a night out in a bar, a telephone chat box. But do we shutdown papers, close bars, and cut off the chatboxes? No. But we do point at the Internet and say: "Look what it leads to!" Internet is just any other medium for people to get into contact with other people. I have done it, others have, with good and with bad results.
So instead of pointing the finger to Internet, we, the media and the Internet itself, should be more concerned about the prevention of such events. Some readers already gave helpful tips for this instance, like meeting a public places, have a friend nearby, or even take martial art classes:-) But seriously, these are the kind of helpful things I expect to find on the 'Net.
Where has the time gone when parents told their kids not to go with strangers offering candy?
Well, look at it this way: a human driver would cost less per hour than using the GSM system itself (estimated at $240/hour by another/. reader) *grin* Methinks someone who can afford this has a driver, no doubt about it. Besides, regulations would never allow the driver to be distracted this way. For example, the article mentions that the video screens can only be viewed from the backseats.
Actually, some people here (NL) got a ticket for 'reckless driving' because they were talking on their mobile phones without a handsfree set; instead they squeezing the phone between their shoulder and their head, which doesn't steer very well...
One thing I noted on the URL that was in the article was the extension at the HTML page:.phtml Here we use exactly the same extension for our PHP generated pages... So it looks like IBM, besides Apache, uses more open/free source tools, even at their corporate website. That is a long way from what I would call the 'IBM philosophy' a few years back. Some things do change.
Slashdot Mirror
Quoting from the page:
However, because we need to maintain maximum security on this web site, [...]
And a few lines down they write this:
Your browser must be set to accept cookies
Java must be enabled
Javascript must be enabled
Java no less! So they want a secure, yet public website, but in the mean time don't care zit if your system is compromised/slow/crashing because your Java and Javascript are turned on. Sheez...
Frankly, I don't really see the point of forcing customers to be at home to watch a program; the only reason I can come up with is that they can't fast-forward through the commercials. We are so used to taping programs for our use, no-one will accept such measures.
As for the video-blacklist: yes, that's a shame. And no, I don't think the MPAA has the best intentions for the consumer's right, only their own.
This all sounds really familiair :-)
These days, I work 2 days out 4 at home. Why? To get some work done.
I am somewhat of a senior programmer/sysadmin at work, which means I get constant interruptions with questions, people dropping by, small emergencies, etc. etc. I really cannot get anything useful done at the office. On Mondays I spent the better part of the day talking in meetings and arranging things. Blegh. Of course they can phone and E-mail me at home; but it's a small threshold they have to take, and that helps. You know how it is: too lazy to figure it out themselves, they bug you instead. Being not at your desk makes them realize you won't always be there to answer their questions.
Besides:
Of course, you must be able to do this; at home I have a complete development environment running under Linux that mimics what we have a the office and in production. With a cablemodem, CVS and assorted tools you can get a long way! You should try to persuade your employer to provide you with enough hardware at home to do this.
Oh yes, one piece of advice. Don't eat so much pizza; it will only make you fat :-)
- Nemosoft Unv.
Well, what I consider a personal record occured about 10 years back. Internet connections abroad were flaky at best, and totally unreliable usually.
It must have been in late 1989 or early 1990 when I held a connection open from Delft, the Netherlands to IscaBBS in Iowa City for 6:52, which was an amazing feat at the time. However, by the end of the session the Americans were up and going to work/school so the routers got loaded and the connection failed.
Ah, those times....
Instead they have "funky" html-pages or it's own strange "help system" :-(
HTML isn't bad; you can include images, use a little color here AND, most importantly, you can split the information up in managable chunks in stead of one huge document. Have you read the 'bash' manpage? It's more than 5000 lines!! It takes me forever to find something in there. Plus, you can make an index, crosslinks, keyword index, etc.
And, if you keep the fancy HTML stuff out of the pages you can even view them with a text browser like lynx. No, HTML isn't all that bad; look at the Qt Reference Documentation for an example of what I consider good HTMLized documentation. Lightweight, clear, consistent, links all over the place. I write my documentation like that.
As for "strange help systems": indeed, they are often more of a nuisance than help.
- Nemosoft
Well, I just saw the new videoclip from Toy Box: Best Friend and in one scene they start figthing with sabers... How far can and will this Hoopla go? :)
I just did a 'wc -l' on my local mirror of RFCs (admittedly, not complete) and counted nearly 3 million lines of text... I wonder how much shelfspace that would occupy when printed out. Any ideas?
Second thing: how many of us have had an RFC issued on the day they were born? By coincidence I just found out I am one of the lucky ones (no, I'm not going to tell you which one :) Suffice to say it's old) - Nemosoft
Ah, so you also noticed that nearly every article posted today are, to say the least, quite unbelievable :-)
Think of it this way: they have to hold back all the true stories of today, so we will get a double dose tomorrow!
You know, what irritates me about the media's coverage of the Internet in general is its constant negative tone. It's always "the big bad Internet" which is responsible for some form of illegal, immoral or otherwise despicable event. Some issues that crop up regularely:
While I certainly do not approve on some items on the list, the coverage they get in the media is way out of proportion and entirely in the wrong direction.
It is nearly impossible to get any accurate figures on the % of total Internet bandwidth that is used for these activities, but let's suppose it's 10% (grossly overrated, IMHO, and that is without the 'adult' sex percentage). Yet they get 90% of all the attention. And that irritates me, since that leaves 80% wasted on 'good' items.
There is an enormous amount of time spent by individuals to make this Internet one of the greatest things since printed books. 99% of the information, programs, images, you-name-it that are put on the 'Net for free and without restrictions, it's positive side is simply ignored. To me, the Internet is a tool, a damn useful tool, a nice place to hang out and widen my view. It is part of my daily routine, just like books & television (no, I don't read papers; guess why :)). It made a big difference for me, and a lot of others. It probably did for you, too.
So why is there such a negative tone in coverage of some Internet-related issues? I'm not sure, but it probably has something to do with the fact that it's hardly controllable by any government body, makes up it own rules (most of the time anyway), is global, completely ignores geographical, cultural and racial borders and is easy to access. To some, that must be their worst nightmare... And others, like the media, simply can't deal with it.
So, while I sincerely sympathize with kira489, yet I cannot help to think it as another case of bad luck and naivety. It could have happened by any other means: an ad in a paper, a night out in a bar, a telephone chat box. But do we shutdown papers, close bars, and cut off the chatboxes? No. But we do point at the Internet and say: "Look what it leads to!" Internet is just any other medium for people to get into contact with other people. I have done it, others have, with good and with bad results.
So instead of pointing the finger to Internet, we, the media and the Internet itself, should be more concerned about the prevention of such events. Some readers already gave helpful tips for this instance, like meeting a public places, have a friend nearby, or even take martial art classes :-) But seriously, these are the kind of helpful things I expect to find on the 'Net.
Where has the time gone when parents told their kids not to go with strangers offering candy?
Thanks for your patience. - Nemosoft
Well, look at it this way: a human driver would cost less per hour than using the GSM system itself (estimated at $240/hour by another /. reader) *grin*
Methinks someone who can afford this has a driver, no doubt about it. Besides, regulations would never allow the driver to be distracted this way. For example, the article mentions that the video screens can only be viewed from the backseats.
Actually, some people here (NL) got a ticket for 'reckless driving' because they were talking on their mobile phones without a handsfree set; instead they squeezing the phone between their shoulder and their head, which doesn't steer very well...
One thing I noted on the URL that was in the article was the extension at the HTML page: .phtml
Here we use exactly the same extension for our PHP generated pages... So it looks like IBM, besides Apache, uses more open/free source tools, even at their corporate website. That is a long way from what I would call the 'IBM philosophy' a few years back. Some things do change.