I am on broadband, but prior to that I was on unmetered dialup, a fact that I brought up because some people were under the illusion that folks in the UK still paid per minute for their Internet access...
Good job you don't live in an area which was served by Cable & Wireless before NTL bought them out, then. They've announced that they won't be upgrading the cable in those areas to receive broadband, since they're already massively in debt.
Funny, I am in an ex-C&W area, and currently running phone, digital TV and broadband.
I've just heard a lot of bad stuff about NTL, that's all. I could switch to them in this area, but choose not to. BT with ADSL and Sky work fine for me.
This is the problem with relying on hearsay - you tend to hear from the people who've had the worst experience.
Broadband hasn't been without its problems but unmetered dialup was never a great success in the UK.
Guess I got lucky then. At least by the time I signed up for NTLWorld (after being a Cable & Wireless Internet subscriber on the 70-free-hours-a-month package), NTL had sorted out the supply side. Even with 2-hour cut-off, which made large downloads a bit problematic, I had no troubles, and saved a packet. YMMV, of course.
(That'll be Don Quixote, for all you non-lit folk...)
Methinks you're looking a little too hard for Red(mond)s Under The Bed over at the Work Foundation...
The iSociety project (which, yes, is being done with assistance from Microsoft) is just one part of their work, most of which is about the world of Work (clue is in the name, you see), encompassing stuff like job security and pensions. Stuff that is of concern to an awful lot of people out there, including me (speaking as a soon-to-be-ex Equitable Life pension policyholder).
Never mind the tax rate being waay lower than 83%, where did you get the idea that Tony Blair's Labour government is 'socialist'? That's news to most people over here...
Actually, unmetered narrowband has been around over here in the UK for several years, the only exception being the mobile market. It's the broadband side that is proving more problematic...
First off, you really want to preview stuff you post here before hitting the Submit button, but you've probably figured that out now...
Speaking for myself, and the experience that myself and my parents have had since getting broadband, the speed increase is a definite benefit for browsing (my dad gets very annoyed when pages take ages to load), but other that that it hasn't changed the way we use the Internet that much compared to our use on dial-up. The fact that it's unmetered is good, of course.
What might change our habits is the ability to listen to radio programs on the Internet. With broadband, the sound quality is much improved, and now that the BBC is starting to make more radio programs available for on-demand playback up to seven days after transmission, we will all probably be taking advantage. I can listen to the various nighttime shows (Breezeblock, Worldwide) from Radio 1 at the weekend, and we can all catch with our fave comedy and quiz shows (News Quiz, Dead Ringers, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue) over on Radio 4.
The other factor is that with broadband available, there is no excuse for not keeping things like anti-virus software up-to-date, especially since the latest versions of Norton Antivirus can get updates in the background without disturbing you.
As for 'always-on' not being true if the PC is turned off, you have to consider that while the Internet access is free, the cost of keeping the PC powered up doesn't go away. Personally, I think there's a market for low-power small computers for web and e-mail, to go alongside the full-power gaming system.
Sounds like you'd be best off telling your story to the folks at Boardwatch Magazine - they're always interested in hearing from people like yourself, working at the coal-face.
The work you're talking about is probably better for realtime examination, whereas the stippling technique is probably better where a single view of the subject is sufficient for the analysis required. But that's just me as a Software Developer / IT Guy talking, so what the hell do I know?
By the way, someone should have a word with whoever put up the OpenQVIS page - the table formatting is broke, so the page is way too wiiiiiide!
Thanks for that info. Not really something I'd be looking into, but I wish them luck anyway. Here's hoping they've read their history of (recent) computing, particularly re: Be{OS|Box}, and are keeping an eye out for MSDonkeyKong...
Slashdot Mirror
Beethoven's response: "Speak Up! I'm deaf, you know!" :)
Sorry, but it had to be said...
I am on broadband, but prior to that I was on unmetered dialup, a fact that I brought up because some people were under the illusion that folks in the UK still paid per minute for their Internet access...
Buzz word: does (exactly) what it says on the tin
Good job you don't live in an area which was served by Cable & Wireless before NTL bought them out, then. They've announced that they won't be upgrading the cable in those areas to receive broadband, since they're already massively in debt.
Funny, I am in an ex-C&W area, and currently running phone, digital TV and broadband.
I've just heard a lot of bad stuff about NTL, that's all. I could switch to them in this area, but choose not to. BT with ADSL and Sky work fine for me.
This is the problem with relying on hearsay - you tend to hear from the people who've had the worst experience.
Research questions broadband's speed appeal
Broadband hasn't been without its problems but unmetered dialup was never a great success in the UK.
Guess I got lucky then. At least by the time I signed up for NTLWorld (after being a Cable & Wireless Internet subscriber on the 70-free-hours-a-month package), NTL had sorted out the supply side. Even with 2-hour cut-off, which made large downloads a bit problematic, I had no troubles, and saved a packet. YMMV, of course.
Sorry mate, but NTL suck too :-) Telewest are OK, but you'd be better off sticking with BT and getting DSL, if and when it's available in your area.
Well, given that NTL Broadband Internet is (a) installed, (b) working, (c) saving use time and money, I'm inclined to respectfully disagree.
Whoa! Talk about tilting at windmills!!
(That'll be Don Quixote, for all you non-lit folk...)
Methinks you're looking a little too hard for Red(mond)s Under The Bed over at the Work Foundation...
The iSociety project (which, yes, is being done with assistance from Microsoft) is just one part of their work, most of which is about the world of Work (clue is in the name, you see), encompassing stuff like job security and pensions. Stuff that is of concern to an awful lot of people out there, including me (speaking as a soon-to-be-ex Equitable Life pension policyholder).
Same here, except I was using WigWam to read stuff offline.
:)
Ye Gods, was CompuServe's own software butt-ugly or what?
Ah, the memories...
Thankfully, point (1) doesn't applay to me, as I'm with NTL.
:)
Why yes, I do indeed have a big grin on my face as I type this...
Man, you're smoking something gooood!! :)
Never mind the tax rate being waay lower than 83%, where did you get the idea that Tony Blair's Labour government is 'socialist'? That's news to most people over here...
Actually, unmetered narrowband has been around over here in the UK for several years, the only exception being the mobile market. It's the broadband side that is proving more problematic...
First off, you really want to preview stuff you post here before hitting the Submit button, but you've probably figured that out now...
Speaking for myself, and the experience that myself and my parents have had since getting broadband, the speed increase is a definite benefit for browsing (my dad gets very annoyed when pages take ages to load), but other that that it hasn't changed the way we use the Internet that much compared to our use on dial-up. The fact that it's unmetered is good, of course.
What might change our habits is the ability to listen to radio programs on the Internet. With broadband, the sound quality is much improved, and now that the BBC is starting to make more radio programs available for on-demand playback up to seven days after transmission, we will all probably be taking advantage. I can listen to the various nighttime shows (Breezeblock, Worldwide) from Radio 1 at the weekend, and we can all catch with our fave comedy and quiz shows (News Quiz, Dead Ringers, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue) over on Radio 4.
The other factor is that with broadband available, there is no excuse for not keeping things like anti-virus software up-to-date, especially since the latest versions of Norton Antivirus can get updates in the background without disturbing you.
As for 'always-on' not being true if the PC is turned off, you have to consider that while the Internet access is free, the cost of keeping the PC powered up doesn't go away. Personally, I think there's a market for low-power small computers for web and e-mail, to go alongside the full-power gaming system.
Sounds like you'd be best off telling your story to the folks at Boardwatch Magazine - they're always interested in hearing from people like yourself, working at the coal-face.
I just saw the black helicopters heading your way... :)
The work you're talking about is probably better for realtime examination, whereas the stippling technique is probably better where a single view of the subject is sufficient for the analysis required. But that's just me as a Software Developer / IT Guy talking, so what the hell do I know?
By the way, someone should have a word with whoever put up the OpenQVIS page - the table formatting is broke, so the page is way too wiiiiiide!
You too, eh?
:)
Ah, the good old days...
Holy Smoke! He read the article and posted a funny reply!
It's a miracle, I tells ya!
The truth got slashdotted - y'all just exceeded Tripod's bandwidth limit. Like, DUH!
Too bad the "Interactive Images" in the preview don't work in Mozilla.
No problems in Opera 7, and in Mozilla 1.1 on my PC...
How soon before: 1. This is/.'ed or 2. MS "requests" that the info be pulled? Someone better mirror pretty fast...
They'll have to speak to Paul Thurrott then, the Windows Supersite is his gig after all.
Anyhow, that preview went up on the 13th of this month, so Microsoft don't seem to be in a rush about suppressing this stuff.
Great, the God Slot now comes at me via /.
If I was after that, I'd go sit in a cold, drafty church...
Thanks for the laugh, whoever you are.
...which, BTW, looks god-awful, IMHO.
Sorry, but white-text-on-black is, like, so last century!
(Mod down if desired, I'm just venting...)
Thanks for that info. Not really something I'd be looking into, but I wish them luck anyway. Here's hoping they've read their history of (recent) computing, particularly re: Be{OS|Box}, and are keeping an eye out for MSDonkeyKong...