These computers would cost a lot more money if they didn't have all this preinstalled rubbish on the HDD,
I don't buy it.
The vendors are selling these computers for a profit even without the operating system installed. The manufacturer does not install the crapware unless they actually believe it is a benefit to the consumer, or they are getting their palms greased (more likely).
I would be very surprised if any of the money that the manufacturer gets from the crapware vendors is used to reduce the cost of the box.
I realize they had limited space.
on
Vintage Games
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I saw no mention of M.U.L.E. in there anywhere. It is a vintage game and in my opinion introduced some interesting game mechanics, one of them being the simulated economy.
You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. The real kicker hear is that once you took the egg away from the hen, let it cool, you are committed. The chick is dead. To then return it to the nest or let the egg rot without finishing the omelet is wasteful.
There is such a thing as cutting your losses. And while there may be "waste" resulting from cutting your losses it can still be the more prudent approach.
Also every process has waste in it, the important thing is to have the insight to determine when the waste you will be creating is less or greater than the waste that will result from continuing your actions.
The war in Iraq has happened, you can now not just say "well, we don't want it anymore, bye bye." and pull out.
Actually, we can. To say we do not have options is myopic.
No, the war has happenend, deal with the why and how in the courts, but you can't ignore it and say you are going to withdraw by date X because that doesn't solve anything and give your enemy a clear goal, if only we hold out till date X we have won.
Withdrawing early solves several domestic problems, otherwise why would there be such a large push to withdraw? As far as giving my enemies a clear goal... If they are my enemies they already have a clear goal. While it may be important how our enemies obtain their goals, it is even more important to understand those goals and prepare for their action. It goes along with the waste issue, just because we may give them goals does not mean it is still not in our best interest to withdraw.
I am not so sure this is a great political move by McCain.
One of the things the Democrats have been hammering McCain on is his lack of judgment. I can easily see Palin as another example of poor decision making.
While selecting a VP as a strategy to win the election is part of the decision tree (going after the disenfranchised Hillary votes), choosing a VP is also about having someone that can step in and do the presidents job competently.
In my personal opinion, scrabulous was always in clear violation of the law (I am not interested in discussing the ethics of that), and the takedown was inevitable.
If it was your personal opinion that scrbulous was in clear violation then why do you play?
I know that you do not want to discuss the ethics of what scrabulous is doing. How about we discuss the behavior of the folks that even while they personally believe that the program is in the wrong decide to continue playing it regardless.
Maybe I am too much of a goody-goody, but I have a hard time seeing how someone that knows something is possibly ethically gray would put themselves in a position to then support those ethics.
...but this site also empowers the user. I go to a twice a year german board game convention. I am not very good at the games I play so I decided I needed a T-Shirt to help folks figure out ahead of time that I am the "weak" player.
I was looking for a place to make the T-Shirt when I came across http://www.zazzle.com/. What a great site!
A couple of years back I had need of an issue tracking system. Double Choco Latte was one of the systems I used. The source code is well laid out and easy to modify if you have special needs.
There are a lot of features, not sure if it will cover all of your requirements. It actually had more features than I needed at the time I was using it.
Just one question? Why do you think it is "really awful" that Real Media uses un-published formats and trade secrets?
If you think that is such a bad think I hope you don't drink a majority of soft drinks on the market.
Re:Who modded this as troll?
on
GTK-- vs. QT
·
· Score: 1
Read the arguments used to argue his side. Most of them are pandering and pointless. Read my prior response. Kdevelope? Snappier? I mean, a good number of the comments were "trust me" I know something. Definately needed the troll mod. I hope it shows up when I metamoderate. I will fully agree.
Re:Dr. Dobbs articles.
on
GTK-- vs. QT
·
· Score: 1
I will go and get his articles and try to clarify the points.
I do not think being "by the book" and "having messy and unreadable code" are the same thing. The STL can be used in a clean and straightforward manner..
I also did not discuss every definition of C++. I mentioned two areas. The string class and templates. You have interpreted that to mean "every definition of C++". Not my doing.
He did make the statement that Qt was easier to develop, but went on to list a variety or reasons why he preferred gtk--. Again, I will go find the article and post the points come Monday when I go back into work.
BTW, I prefer and write clean, friendly, and nice C and C++ code for the embedded world. Quick does not always come into play, sometimes works against the afore mentioned items. As I do not professionally write GUI applications I do not always have the luxury of "builder" tools.
Regardless, I would be interested in specific information that you have that would invalidate the information in Mr. Stevens article on this topic.
Re:Some REAL points
on
GTK-- vs. QT
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
What does having Kdevelope have anything to do with Qt? Regardless of whether you use Qt or gtk based systems you can use Kdevelope. Looks like you are grasping a bit here.
Why do I care that the widgets provide SQL? I may consider that bloatware and more that I want for my development needs.
I know lots of professionals that go with products that are open source and not termed "professional" because they are not backed by a company. A good number of professionals use tools that they can modify and see the internals. (Both available for Qt and gtk, so no harm no foul.)
Qt feels "snappier"? Puh-lease. Lets live in the land of the subjective here. You are obviously lost. Look into the role of the WM.
BTW, I am not endorsing either product. Just playing the "Devil's Advocate". I hate to see biased, pointless, not clearly thought through arguments used to push someones view.
Dr. Dobbs articles.
on
GTK-- vs. QT
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Al Stevens provides a column in Dr Dobbs Journal titled "C Programming". In the Sept-Oct 2001 columns he described issues he ran into testing both the Qt and GTK-- class libraries.
I do not have the articles here but Al gave some pretty good C++ aesthetical reasons for staying away from Qt. Specifically he mentions having to re-compile some of the Qt libraries so that he could extent their class to properly convert from a STL String to their Qt string class.
He had many other reasons for not using Qt. When I get back to work from this long holiday I will post an outline of his specific reasonings.
Just to clarify. I am not an Al Stevens "fan". The man really seems off his rocker sometimes. However, the articles on Qt and GTK-- were very informative. And yes, I did investigate a few of the items for myself. (Do not trust my word though, get the article, read the article, try it out for yourself!)
I have used one of the monster Sony touch screen LCD remotes. The big drawback to the Sony touch screen remotes is that there is little useful "tactile" information.
With my old remotes it is easy to "feel" the number, volume, channel selector, etc. With touch screen you are forced to actually LOOK at the remote. Oh the horrors!
Anyone have experience with a programmable touch screen remove that gives the user tactile response?
...the part where the ruling indicates the company may not use the term referee in the directory structure.
What if a different company wants to sale referee uniforms and had the term referee in the path name. With this ruling the owners of "Referee" could go after them.
In this situation it is not a "tort of passing off".
At one point and time Cheapass Games had a site dedicated to free games which were totally free and FUN. Of these games my favorites were "Flipin the O'" and "The Coin Game".
Seems they have taken down the link to these games but they are still fun.
The idea is to mess with others mind and thus totally enjoy yourself. I will discribe the coin game.
The Coin Game:
Get a bunch of change and a pal or two.
Go to a public place and split up the change.
Each player places a coin on the table in some fasion.
At time take coins off the table.
Other times act surprised by a move.
Make up credible names for the moves you are making.
Never make the same move more than twice.
Sometimes get up from the table and say "Do not move until I get back."
The objective is to see how many people you can get to watch you play. See if they guess the rules.
As with playing D&D, watching a movie should entertain. Yes, many of the games I have played had the quality, look, and feel of this movie.
But I do not go to the movies to watch someone else bumble about on my behalf.
It is a sad thing when the only reaction in the theater was when one of the three or so people to die (common really?) was cheered. And he was supposedly one of the player chars?
I posted earlier. I think this movie sucked. So bad it will not only hurt the studio that put it out but also the role playing world.
Slashdot Mirror
Who installs the most crapware?
My mother does.
You beat me too it! I was going to say "Your Mother!!"
These computers would cost a lot more money if they didn't have all this preinstalled rubbish on the HDD,
I don't buy it.
The vendors are selling these computers for a profit even without the operating system installed. The manufacturer does not install the crapware unless they actually believe it is a benefit to the consumer, or they are getting their palms greased (more likely).
I would be very surprised if any of the money that the manufacturer gets from the crapware vendors is used to reduce the cost of the box.
I saw no mention of M.U.L.E. in there anywhere. It is a vintage game and in my opinion introduced some interesting game mechanics, one of them being the simulated economy.
...Asshole
You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. The real kicker hear is that once you took the egg away from the hen, let it cool, you are committed. The chick is dead. To then return it to the nest or let the egg rot without finishing the omelet is wasteful.
There is such a thing as cutting your losses. And while there may be "waste" resulting from cutting your losses it can still be the more prudent approach.
Also every process has waste in it, the important thing is to have the insight to determine when the waste you will be creating is less or greater than the waste that will result from continuing your actions.
The war in Iraq has happened, you can now not just say "well, we don't want it anymore, bye bye." and pull out.
Actually, we can. To say we do not have options is myopic.
No, the war has happenend, deal with the why and how in the courts, but you can't ignore it and say you are going to withdraw by date X because that doesn't solve anything and give your enemy a clear goal, if only we hold out till date X we have won.
Withdrawing early solves several domestic problems, otherwise why would there be such a large push to withdraw? As far as giving my enemies a clear goal... If they are my enemies they already have a clear goal. While it may be important how our enemies obtain their goals, it is even more important to understand those goals and prepare for their action. It goes along with the waste issue, just because we may give them goals does not mean it is still not in our best interest to withdraw.
I am not so sure this is a great political move by McCain.
One of the things the Democrats have been hammering McCain on is his lack of judgment. I can easily see Palin as another example of poor decision making.
While selecting a VP as a strategy to win the election is part of the decision tree (going after the disenfranchised Hillary votes), choosing a VP is also about having someone that can step in and do the presidents job competently.
I have a feeling this is going to backfire.
In my personal opinion, scrabulous was always in clear violation of the law (I am not interested in discussing the ethics of that), and the takedown was inevitable.
If it was your personal opinion that scrbulous was in clear violation then why do you play?
I know that you do not want to discuss the ethics of what scrabulous is doing. How about we discuss the behavior of the folks that even while they personally believe that the program is in the wrong decide to continue playing it regardless.
Maybe I am too much of a goody-goody, but I have a hard time seeing how someone that knows something is possibly ethically gray would put themselves in a position to then support those ethics.
...but this site also empowers the user. I go to a twice a year german board game convention. I am not very good at the games I play so I decided I needed a T-Shirt to help folks figure out ahead of time that I am the "weak" player.
I was looking for a place to make the T-Shirt when I came across http://www.zazzle.com/. What a great site!
If you want you can see the shirt I made.
BTW, I do not work for, nor am I affiliated with Zazzle.com (other than the T-shirt I made).
A couple of years back I had need of an issue tracking system. Double Choco Latte was one of the systems I used. The source code is well laid out and easy to modify if you have special needs.
There are a lot of features, not sure if it will cover all of your requirements. It actually had more features than I needed at the time I was using it.
Just one question? Why do you think it is "really awful" that Real Media uses un-published formats and trade secrets?
If you think that is such a bad think I hope you don't drink a majority of soft drinks on the market.
Read the arguments used to argue his side. Most of them are pandering and pointless. Read my prior response. Kdevelope? Snappier? I mean, a good number of the comments were "trust me" I know something. Definately needed the troll mod. I hope it shows up when I metamoderate. I will fully agree.
I will go and get his articles and try to clarify the points.
I do not think being "by the book" and "having messy and unreadable code" are the same thing. The STL can be used in a clean and straightforward manner..
I also did not discuss every definition of C++. I mentioned two areas. The string class and templates. You have interpreted that to mean "every definition of C++". Not my doing.
He did make the statement that Qt was easier to develop, but went on to list a variety or reasons why he preferred gtk--. Again, I will go find the article and post the points come Monday when I go back into work.
BTW, I prefer and write clean, friendly, and nice C and C++ code for the embedded world. Quick does not always come into play, sometimes works against the afore mentioned items. As I do not professionally write GUI applications I do not always have the luxury of "builder" tools.
Regardless, I would be interested in specific information that you have that would invalidate the information in Mr. Stevens article on this topic.
What does having Kdevelope have anything to do with Qt? Regardless of whether you use Qt or gtk based systems you can use Kdevelope. Looks like you are grasping a bit here.
Why do I care that the widgets provide SQL? I may consider that bloatware and more that I want for my development needs.
I know lots of professionals that go with products that are open source and not termed "professional" because they are not backed by a company. A good number of professionals use tools that they can modify and see the internals. (Both available for Qt and gtk, so no harm no foul.)
Qt feels "snappier"? Puh-lease. Lets live in the land of the subjective here. You are obviously lost. Look into the role of the WM.
BTW, I am not endorsing either product. Just playing the "Devil's Advocate". I hate to see biased, pointless, not clearly thought through arguments used to push someones view.
Al Stevens provides a column in Dr Dobbs Journal titled "C Programming". In the Sept-Oct 2001 columns he described issues he ran into testing both the Qt and GTK-- class libraries. I do not have the articles here but Al gave some pretty good C++ aesthetical reasons for staying away from Qt. Specifically he mentions having to re-compile some of the Qt libraries so that he could extent their class to properly convert from a STL String to their Qt string class.
He had many other reasons for not using Qt. When I get back to work from this long holiday I will post an outline of his specific reasonings.
Just to clarify. I am not an Al Stevens "fan". The man really seems off his rocker sometimes. However, the articles on Qt and GTK-- were very informative. And yes, I did investigate a few of the items for myself. (Do not trust my word though, get the article, read the article, try it out for yourself!)
What I want to know is when will we see this technology in chip manufacturing, etc?
We don't need no stinkin' file extensions!
You are correct.
Man, you gotta love being correct and an Anonymous Coward!
;-J
Oh geez. The grammar police! I am busted!!!
OK. Here is a re-write.
1. Bananas are more expensive than batteries.
Hope this clears things up for the stupidly anal.
Hmm. A few reasons not to get a helper monkey:
1. Banana's will be more expensive than batteries over time.
2. Helper monkey poo.
I have used one of the monster Sony touch screen LCD remotes. The big drawback to the Sony touch screen remotes is that there is little useful "tactile" information.
With my old remotes it is easy to "feel" the number, volume, channel selector, etc. With touch screen you are forced to actually LOOK at the remote. Oh the horrors!
Anyone have experience with a programmable touch screen remove that gives the user tactile response?
...the part where the ruling indicates the company may not use the term referee in the directory structure.
What if a different company wants to sale referee uniforms and had the term referee in the path name. With this ruling the owners of "Referee" could go after them.
In this situation it is not a "tort of passing off".
The Arbitration was not the same as the Trademark Ruling. Two different Judges.
At one point and time Cheapass Games had a site dedicated to free games which were totally free and FUN. Of these games my favorites were "Flipin the O'" and "The Coin Game".
Seems they have taken down the link to these games but they are still fun.
The idea is to mess with others mind and thus totally enjoy yourself. I will discribe the coin game.
The Coin Game:
The objective is to see how many people you can get to watch you play. See if they guess the rules.
MAN IT IS FUN!!!
Man. I am so glad I started Body For Life (www.bodyforlife.com). Within 12 weeks I will be happy for folks to take my picture! ;-J
I disagree with your opinion.
As with playing D&D, watching a movie should entertain. Yes, many of the games I have played had the quality, look, and feel of this movie.
But I do not go to the movies to watch someone else bumble about on my behalf.
It is a sad thing when the only reaction in the theater was when one of the three or so people to die (common really?) was cheered. And he was supposedly one of the player chars?
I posted earlier. I think this movie sucked. So bad it will not only hurt the studio that put it out but also the role playing world.