The problem is that Linux will not settle on a stable ABI. The Linux driver model is tainted crap.
While the unstable ABI is a valid complaint, that's not what's causing the problem this time. vboxdrv is GPL and compiled for the specific kernel which is running on any given machine.
If the Virtualbox driver is corrupting memory, the reports might not make it obvious that the VB driver was the problem. For example, if the VB driver flipped a bit in another portion of memory, a different driver could crash and generate a useless dump.
I've had Netflix for several years, so I've seen most older movies in their library that I'm interested in. I certainly recognize that may not be the case for everyone.
As to streaming, I could only base that on my experience. When I look to see if something is available for streaming, I look(ed) both places, and my results usually matched up. Netflix may have vastly more selection in movies/tv I'm not interested in watching. Nevertheless, I don't think I'm alone in finding the selection wanting. It's a common complaint and the most oft-cited reason I've seen for people canceling that portion of the service.
Interesting viewpoint. Personally, I assume that Google already knows pretty much everything about me, so G+ is one of the few social networking sites I don't mind using.
Crazy prices. I have cable internet service, as it's the best option around here. Bundling basic cable with HD comes out to right about $10/mo. If I didn't have cable internet service, it would be considerably more, of course.
500 channels? How many do you watch at once? How many do you watch ever?
Streaming + DVD was a good deal. DVD alone for $8/mo isn't, because Redbox is $1/disc (I rarely get 8 discs a month, and when I do, a lot is just filler that I either don't end up watching or only ended up in my queue because I felt a need to get my money's worth out of the service.) Streaming is a steaming pile for $8/mo, because the selection is so terrible.
When Netflix announced the change, I moved to Redbox. It's only a little less convenient, but there are three kiosks within walking distance and several more on the way to and from work. I already had Amazon Prime, which has a high degree of overlap with Netflix for streaming content. I am in the 4% (who left Netflix when they started charging more.)
Why is this valuable? The kernel that runs the Thrive is Linux, but that's almost completely irrelevant. For underlying OS code, I'm going to prefer that which does the job best. That might be Linux, or it might be something else. "It's Linux," smacks of the same kind of kool-aid drinking of which Apple users are so often accused.
I can run Python apps.
Certainly a nifty feature. However why should "all the people who ask the question" care about that? How many of them are going to care? Almost every one of them will just use apps from the Market.
I'm not hating on the Thrive, which looks like a very decent tablet. I'm just sick of the FUD, and I'm really tired of hearing about how open Android is, when it really doesn't follow FOSS principles at all. Most Android phones have to be hacked just like iPhones in order to replace the ROM. On those which don't, you lose all claim to a warranty (absent consumer protections to the contrary, which you'd have to fight in court in order to keep.)
Android is open in the same way that TiVo is open. You might be able to see the source (not so on 3.1, apparently) but you likely won't be able to modify it and run it on your device.
The late refresh is really the big one to me. It smells of them trying to polish a new design. That could still be the case--Apple isn't going to want to reduce battery life or increase heat, but they wanted to put in a more powerful chip and make it a world phone. All of which is something they haven't dealt with in the smaller form factor (or at all, in the case of the world phone feature.) Of course, with a larger screen, they probably would have had more space for batteries. I'm not sure if all of the extra juice would have been required just to run the screen or not. Regardless, they might have had problems getting everything just right with the A5 in the iPhone's form factor. They didn't make a big deal out of the CPU this time around--just the GPU. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the A5 in the 4s was a little underclocked compared to the iPad2.
I think 4G was obviously not going to happen for the battery life reasons alone. Apple is also going more data-centric, and with cellular providers capping data left and right, it will be interesting to see what happens when those collide. Apple has shown that it's willing to throw its weight around to get a better experience for its users. I'm hoping that when they go LTE, they'll get exemptions to metered data for their own services. Frankly, without that, I have much less interest in iCloud.
NFC...that was a big, big rumor. I'm not disappointed that it didn't pan out exactly--I'd currently have no use for it. I don't know, it's kind of a wild card right now, I think.
There are plenty of people who will buy every new iPhone. But more and more, Apple is selling to people who won't. The low-risk, small-improvements make sense in this context. Every other iPhone is a pretty big leap in one way or another, so every two years, people who stick to that upgrade cycle have a lot to look forward to. Lots of the people saying "meh" have an iPhone 4. I know several people with a 3GS who are looking forward to upgrading, because it's a big leap for them.
I have a feeling that Apple research shows that best profit is made by keeping the phone design around for a couple of years. The first iPhone had an aluminum case--which may have been problematic for the signal. They switched the design for the 3G, and kept that same design for the 3GS. The latter was a small iterative improvement over the former, just like the 4s over the 4. They'll probably make more profit on the 4s than the 4 (or rather, they won't be recovering R&D for the design now.)
Two data points isn't good enough to establish a pattern, but it makes some sense. Next year, they'll probably release the 5 with an all new design, larger screen, and 4G. Maybe NFC, if that starts catching on.
The truth is, there are only so many obvious improvements to be made in the smartphone game. It makes financial sense to milk as much as one can out of each design and featureset, and to space out your improvements so that you always have people itching to upgrade.
Honestly, genuinely, and without sarcasm, if we live in a country where we can be forced to buy health insurance, I think that Apple should be forced to sell full versions of their software. Once we throw freedom to engage in commerce as we see fit out the window, there are a whole host of pro-consumer regulations I'd love to see enacted.
I streamed Netflix on a 3mbps connection for a couple of years. I couldn't do much else with the connection while streaming, but the video was just fine.
MKV is a great container format, and one of the only ones that you can throw vobsub subtitles into and expect them to work. It's a shame that more devices don't support them well, if at all.
Yeah, same here. I stopped having problems playing video on Android only when I stopped trying. What I managed to play smoothly drained the battery badly enough to make it not worth it.
Also... Remember analog CRTs? Remember that you always had to design for the "overscan" area and designate a safe draw area with a margin around it, when making games and GUIs. It's been done before, and continues to be relevant even today because CRTs are still alive.
Manufacturers are starting to ignore this now, though. For example, Roku doesn't consider overscan--it just displays its full resolution. That means that on CRTs, a moderate amount of the screen can be cut off. There's no way to adjust it on the Roku. If your TV can't adjust, you're out of luck.
There are other (HD-enabled) set-tops that act similarly, such as the PS3. While games may take overscan into account, the Netflix app didn't.
I had to find the service manual for my TV (luckily available online) to get the damned thing to be even usable. I never quite managed to get it perfect.
Smudging the screen isn't the problem. The problem is holding your arm up for long periods of time, or the repetitive motion of raising your arm up to touch the screen. That's not something most deskjockeys are going to be doing a lot. It's horrible for ergonomics.
A standalone touch pad doesn't have that problem.
Most phones are held in the hands with lowered arms, hence it's not a problem for those devices.
Hell, laptops were being sold with touch pads as the primary pointing interface. Not much different from a desktop, really.
I don't think any particular feature of touch pads was the perceived problem. But then, you seem prejudiced against Jobs, so my reply is likely pointless.
Slashdot Mirror
It's GPL, but sadly that doesn't mean it's good.
The problem is that Linux will not settle on a stable ABI. The Linux driver model is tainted crap.
While the unstable ABI is a valid complaint, that's not what's causing the problem this time. vboxdrv is GPL and compiled for the specific kernel which is running on any given machine.
If the Virtualbox driver is corrupting memory, the reports might not make it obvious that the VB driver was the problem. For example, if the VB driver flipped a bit in another portion of memory, a different driver could crash and generate a useless dump.
I've had Netflix for several years, so I've seen most older movies in their library that I'm interested in. I certainly recognize that may not be the case for everyone.
As to streaming, I could only base that on my experience. When I look to see if something is available for streaming, I look(ed) both places, and my results usually matched up. Netflix may have vastly more selection in movies/tv I'm not interested in watching. Nevertheless, I don't think I'm alone in finding the selection wanting. It's a common complaint and the most oft-cited reason I've seen for people canceling that portion of the service.
Interesting viewpoint. Personally, I assume that Google already knows pretty much everything about me, so G+ is one of the few social networking sites I don't mind using.
Crazy prices. I have cable internet service, as it's the best option around here. Bundling basic cable with HD comes out to right about $10/mo. If I didn't have cable internet service, it would be considerably more, of course.
500 channels? How many do you watch at once? How many do you watch ever?
Streaming + DVD was a good deal. DVD alone for $8/mo isn't, because Redbox is $1/disc (I rarely get 8 discs a month, and when I do, a lot is just filler that I either don't end up watching or only ended up in my queue because I felt a need to get my money's worth out of the service.) Streaming is a steaming pile for $8/mo, because the selection is so terrible.
When Netflix announced the change, I moved to Redbox. It's only a little less convenient, but there are three kiosks within walking distance and several more on the way to and from work. I already had Amazon Prime, which has a high degree of overlap with Netflix for streaming content. I am in the 4% (who left Netflix when they started charging more.)
That's pretty neat. I don't think $99 is a big deal--but it certainly is more than the cost to develop for Android.
Thanks for the correction. I wasn't aware that you had to pay that just to get an app on your own device.
I can program it without paying a fee.
You can program the iPad without paying a fee. There's a fee if you want to publish to the store, however.
To get the best tools for developing for iOS, it's true that you want a Mac with Xcode, but it's not your only option anymore.
It's open source.
Could you point me to the Honeycomb source? Last I heard, it's never going to be available.
It's Linux.
Why is this valuable? The kernel that runs the Thrive is Linux, but that's almost completely irrelevant. For underlying OS code, I'm going to prefer that which does the job best. That might be Linux, or it might be something else. "It's Linux," smacks of the same kind of kool-aid drinking of which Apple users are so often accused.
I can run Python apps.
Certainly a nifty feature. However why should "all the people who ask the question" care about that? How many of them are going to care? Almost every one of them will just use apps from the Market.
I'm not hating on the Thrive, which looks like a very decent tablet. I'm just sick of the FUD, and I'm really tired of hearing about how open Android is, when it really doesn't follow FOSS principles at all. Most Android phones have to be hacked just like iPhones in order to replace the ROM. On those which don't, you lose all claim to a warranty (absent consumer protections to the contrary, which you'd have to fight in court in order to keep.)
Android is open in the same way that TiVo is open. You might be able to see the source (not so on 3.1, apparently) but you likely won't be able to modify it and run it on your device.
They are pulling them from shelves, but not from their online shelves. You can go to barnesandnoble.com and get Watchmen today.
All they're doing is screwing their brick and mortar stores.
The late refresh is really the big one to me. It smells of them trying to polish a new design. That could still be the case--Apple isn't going to want to reduce battery life or increase heat, but they wanted to put in a more powerful chip and make it a world phone. All of which is something they haven't dealt with in the smaller form factor (or at all, in the case of the world phone feature.) Of course, with a larger screen, they probably would have had more space for batteries. I'm not sure if all of the extra juice would have been required just to run the screen or not. Regardless, they might have had problems getting everything just right with the A5 in the iPhone's form factor. They didn't make a big deal out of the CPU this time around--just the GPU. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the A5 in the 4s was a little underclocked compared to the iPad2.
I think 4G was obviously not going to happen for the battery life reasons alone. Apple is also going more data-centric, and with cellular providers capping data left and right, it will be interesting to see what happens when those collide. Apple has shown that it's willing to throw its weight around to get a better experience for its users. I'm hoping that when they go LTE, they'll get exemptions to metered data for their own services. Frankly, without that, I have much less interest in iCloud.
NFC...that was a big, big rumor. I'm not disappointed that it didn't pan out exactly--I'd currently have no use for it. I don't know, it's kind of a wild card right now, I think.
There are plenty of people who will buy every new iPhone. But more and more, Apple is selling to people who won't. The low-risk, small-improvements make sense in this context. Every other iPhone is a pretty big leap in one way or another, so every two years, people who stick to that upgrade cycle have a lot to look forward to. Lots of the people saying "meh" have an iPhone 4. I know several people with a 3GS who are looking forward to upgrading, because it's a big leap for them.
I have a feeling that Apple research shows that best profit is made by keeping the phone design around for a couple of years. The first iPhone had an aluminum case--which may have been problematic for the signal. They switched the design for the 3G, and kept that same design for the 3GS. The latter was a small iterative improvement over the former, just like the 4s over the 4. They'll probably make more profit on the 4s than the 4 (or rather, they won't be recovering R&D for the design now.)
Two data points isn't good enough to establish a pattern, but it makes some sense. Next year, they'll probably release the 5 with an all new design, larger screen, and 4G. Maybe NFC, if that starts catching on.
The truth is, there are only so many obvious improvements to be made in the smartphone game. It makes financial sense to milk as much as one can out of each design and featureset, and to space out your improvements so that you always have people itching to upgrade.
Honestly, genuinely, and without sarcasm, if we live in a country where we can be forced to buy health insurance, I think that Apple should be forced to sell full versions of their software. Once we throw freedom to engage in commerce as we see fit out the window, there are a whole host of pro-consumer regulations I'd love to see enacted.
No. GPL puts zero restrictions on what you DO with the software.
So I can make a Tivo with it then? With a locked bootloader? Using GPLv3 software?
When dealing with GPL zealots, you have to be very precise in your language, even when they are not.
Of course you can make a TiVo with a locked bootloader using GPLv3 software. What you can't do is distribute it.
But that said, distribution is something one DOES with the software, which means that the grandparent was also imprecise.
It's better to say that the GPL doesn't restrict what you do unless the thing you want to do is distribute.
I streamed Netflix on a 3mbps connection for a couple of years. I couldn't do much else with the connection while streaming, but the video was just fine.
You pay almost as much as a second data plan to get tethering or wifi hotspot on the two largest mobile telcos.
Not just arguably. It is an app store. If he's looking for the proper term, Google's is the Market. Amazon's is the Appstore.
MKV is a great container format, and one of the only ones that you can throw vobsub subtitles into and expect them to work. It's a shame that more devices don't support them well, if at all.
Put up or shut up. Post a link to an mkv you state will not be handled.
Nice try, Mr. MPAA lawyer.
Yeah, same here. I stopped having problems playing video on Android only when I stopped trying. What I managed to play smoothly drained the battery badly enough to make it not worth it.
Also... Remember analog CRTs? Remember that you always had to design for the "overscan" area and designate a safe draw area with a margin around it, when making games and GUIs. It's been done before, and continues to be relevant even today because CRTs are still alive.
Manufacturers are starting to ignore this now, though. For example, Roku doesn't consider overscan--it just displays its full resolution. That means that on CRTs, a moderate amount of the screen can be cut off. There's no way to adjust it on the Roku. If your TV can't adjust, you're out of luck.
There are other (HD-enabled) set-tops that act similarly, such as the PS3. While games may take overscan into account, the Netflix app didn't.
I had to find the service manual for my TV (luckily available online) to get the damned thing to be even usable. I never quite managed to get it perfect.
I think this is probably what the original poster was referring to.
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-touch-screen-mac-2010-10
If so, then the OP mangled it a little as well.
Smudging the screen isn't the problem. The problem is holding your arm up for long periods of time, or the repetitive motion of raising your arm up to touch the screen. That's not something most deskjockeys are going to be doing a lot. It's horrible for ergonomics.
A standalone touch pad doesn't have that problem.
Most phones are held in the hands with lowered arms, hence it's not a problem for those devices.
Hell, laptops were being sold with touch pads as the primary pointing interface. Not much different from a desktop, really.
I don't think any particular feature of touch pads was the perceived problem. But then, you seem prejudiced against Jobs, so my reply is likely pointless.
That's an option for people with a brain cloud.