What's funny is how people talk about how "intuitive" the ribbon is supposed to be.
Well... you can only talk about intuitive if you have a test population which has never used a computer.
And where are you going to get them? The get-off-my lawn contingent?
Anybody under a certain age already knows how to use a word processor and so forth, having used it to write school and college papers.
I have no idea what an "intuitive" UI for driving would be. But the current standard of wheel for direction and pedals for faster/stop seems good enough. Changing it to a joystick or something for the sake of some Program Manager's resume would be stupid.
The reason people don't like change for little benefit is simply that they have other stuff to do in their lives than learn the new version of MS Office for fun.
People have been using computers for a long time now. All of corporate (and small-business) American already knew how to use Office before the ribbon came out. So what's the benefit?
I can see the benefit for MS: constantly having to come out with new stuff to justify their commercial software price/licenses. But if you took a poll of users and asked if they'd like things to stay just the same as they are, I think you'd get a resounding Yes.
The reason MS is able to do this (determine that "this is the direction we're going to be moving users") is because they have a monopoly. They're acting in loco parentis, or like a central planner coming out with a 5-year plan.
If the "Fluent user interface" were really so intuitive, why would Microsoft need a page that starts off with "Wondering where your favorite Office 2003 commands are located in the new 2007 Office system interface?"
No, what I'm talking about is that almost all of the cool web 2.0 (or 1.0) stuff is built with open source software.
If you're a bunch of college guys trying to come up with the Next Big Thing, it's very easy for you to cobble it together using LAMP for the platform, Postfix+Dovecot for email. To the extent that GIMP and Inkscape work well, you've got your graphics that you need to create for your website right there.
To the extent that such open source software is available, and it works well (the point of Summer of Code is to fix longstanding bugs, and extend features), young innovators are that much more able to realize their ideas.
It's not that site visitors care that someone used FOSS to make a site. It's that FOSS allows more people to make sites. More sites, more ads.
Take, say mxtoolbox.com, which I found out about the other day. What do they have on every page? Google Ads.
1. More open source software means more ability for young innovators to create cool new stuff on the Internet.
2. More cool new stuff on the Internet means people spend more time online.
3. The more time people spend online, the more likely they are to see an ad or click on it.
4. Profit!
Also, a side benefit is that M$ profit gets reduced because they have to fight side battles with a 101 open-source projects. This is asymmetrical warfare in that a small investment in open source can mean a huge loss to Microsoft.
Well, what about the Lotus 123 / Quattro Pro lawsuits? Didn't the courts rule that it's OK to copy an interface in those cases? Excel had (still has?) an entire Lotus menu mode invoked with the slash key.
If the content mafia really want to play hardball with extreme interpretations of DMCA, I think someone should file a DMCA notice on the.com domain for some small piece of infringing content someplace.
That's right: Everything, including nbc.com, abc.com, espn.com, whatever, would get caught in the net. After all, a user couldn't access the infringing content without the cooperation of the.com domain people, so they are enabling content theft.
Too much? Well, they should have thought of that before they started their shoot-first, ask-questions-later methods.
Youtube's registered at MarkMonitor, as are most high-value sites. I wonder if the RCIAA would have the guts to file a DMCA notice to Youtube's registrars.
I also wonder what MarkMonitor would do with such a notice.
If the process is compulsory, that would mean the studios have an enormous amount of leverage over Google. But Google has never acted like that threat actually exists.
I thought the content host (owner of the server/network) was supposed to be responsible for copyright notices.
The way it works is this: you get a DMCA notice, you pull (only) the offending content. If your host gets it, they pull the content if possible, or suspend the site if not. And then you pull the offending content, and ask them to re-enable your site.
But taking this to the domain registration level is an uncalled-for escalation.
Would it also be appropriate to ask for domain revocation if you Paypal.com does something you don't like? (Not under DMCA, but just talking about moral equivalencies.)
The reason you're having trouble is you're trying to take 1/3 of an base unit, as opposed to 1/3 of the actual length of something you want to, e.g., build.
Say you're building a model house that has 3 windows at equal distances. 12in is 30.48cm. But don't build at 30.48cm, just go for 30cm. And divide by 3 to get 10cm.
Similarly, 1yd is 91.44 cm. Just drop the 1.44cm to get a very divisible 90cm.
As has already been noted, metric building materials are usually available in divisible lengths (1200mm).
You'd have the same problem if you were trying to take 1/3 of 10 inches.
Well, if Congress has the power to regulate weights and measures and Interstate commerce, maybe they could pass a law that says if you sell an IPv4-only router, it has to say in big, scary red letters:
"This router isn't compatible with the next version of the Internet" with "next version of" in small letters.
The oldest employees are the ones who actually created the product.
Say, in the case of Google, the actual algorithms and the hardware setup that run the company.
The people who come in afterward are the marketers, the Vice-Presidents of "Strategy", the PR people, the lawyers getting $400 for photocopying stuff out of law books.
Slashdot Mirror
What's funny is how people talk about how "intuitive" the ribbon is supposed to be.
Well ... you can only talk about intuitive if you have a test population which has never used a computer.
And where are you going to get them? The get-off-my lawn contingent?
Anybody under a certain age already knows how to use a word processor and so forth, having used it to write school and college papers.
I have no idea what an "intuitive" UI for driving would be. But the current standard of wheel for direction and pedals for faster/stop seems good enough. Changing it to a joystick or something for the sake of some Program Manager's resume would be stupid.
The reason people don't like change for little benefit is simply that they have other stuff to do in their lives than learn the new version of MS Office for fun.
People have been using computers for a long time now. All of corporate (and small-business) American already knew how to use Office before the ribbon came out. So what's the benefit?
I can see the benefit for MS: constantly having to come out with new stuff to justify their commercial software price/licenses. But if you took a poll of users and asked if they'd like things to stay just the same as they are, I think you'd get a resounding Yes.
The reason MS is able to do this (determine that "this is the direction we're going to be moving users") is because they have a monopoly. They're acting in loco parentis, or like a central planner coming out with a 5-year plan.
Yeah.
If the "Fluent user interface" were really so intuitive, why would Microsoft need a page that starts off with
"Wondering where your favorite Office 2003 commands are located in the new 2007 Office system interface?"
Where did that command go?
No, what I'm talking about is that almost all of the cool web 2.0 (or 1.0) stuff is built with open source software.
If you're a bunch of college guys trying to come up with the Next Big Thing, it's very easy for you to cobble it together using LAMP for the platform, Postfix+Dovecot for email. To the extent that GIMP and Inkscape work well, you've got your graphics that you need to create for your website right there.
To the extent that such open source software is available, and it works well (the point of Summer of Code is to fix longstanding bugs, and extend features), young innovators are that much more able to realize their ideas.
It's not that site visitors care that someone used FOSS to make a site. It's that FOSS allows more people to make sites. More sites, more ads.
Take, say mxtoolbox.com, which I found out about the other day. What do they have on every page? Google Ads.
What's in it for Google:
1. More open source software means more ability for young innovators to create cool new stuff on the Internet.
2. More cool new stuff on the Internet means people spend more time online.
3. The more time people spend online, the more likely they are to see an ad or click on it.
4. Profit!
Also, a side benefit is that M$ profit gets reduced because they have to fight side battles with a 101 open-source projects. This is asymmetrical warfare in that a small investment in open source can mean a huge loss to Microsoft.
how would you type up a commendation, award recommendation, or promotion order in the field (at war)?
Or is the modern Army just totally predicated on having power, and can't function without it?
Well, I'm not a lawyer, either, but, it's OK: see sig.
Anyway, isn't the copyrighted work the file that Dropbox users are sharing (or doing whatever with)?
How can Dropbox file a DMCA notice regarding a work that's not even their's?
>import files into their accounts using hashes and bypassing the need to make files public.
???
It bypasses the need to make files public?
So, when you use Dropbox, you have to make files public? Isn't DropBox a way to share email attachments without attaching it to an email?
Why would you want to make it public?
/. continues to chronicle the rise of SkyNet...
Amazon online shopping -> Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Walmart online shopping -> ?? Walmart Elastic Band Compute Cloud?
Well, what about the Lotus 123 / Quattro Pro lawsuits? Didn't the courts rule that it's OK to copy an interface in those cases? Excel had (still has?) an entire Lotus menu mode invoked with the slash key.
>What I'd like to see is an open cloud platform
http://www.openstack.org/
You've got Rackspace + Softlayer and about 60 other companies.
Anybody know if the "Google web server" at the same website as in the article is actually real?
I mean, do they really have a 6-inch battery contraption hanging off the side of every one of their web servers?
If the content mafia really want to play hardball with extreme interpretations of DMCA, I think someone should file a DMCA notice on the .com domain for some small piece of infringing content someplace.
That's right: Everything, including nbc.com, abc.com, espn.com, whatever, would get caught in the net. After all, a user couldn't access the infringing content without the cooperation of the .com domain people, so they are enabling content theft.
Too much? Well, they should have thought of that before they started their shoot-first, ask-questions-later methods.
I wonder how that would apply to youtube.com.
Youtube's registered at MarkMonitor, as are most high-value sites. I wonder if the RCIAA would have the guts to file a DMCA notice to Youtube's registrars.
I also wonder what MarkMonitor would do with such a notice.
If the process is compulsory, that would mean the studios have an enormous amount of leverage over Google. But Google has never acted like that threat actually exists.
That's the first time of heard of that.
I thought the content host (owner of the server/network) was supposed to be responsible for copyright notices.
The way it works is this: you get a DMCA notice, you pull (only) the offending content. If your host gets it, they pull the content if possible, or suspend the site if not. And then you pull the offending content, and ask them to re-enable your site.
But taking this to the domain registration level is an uncalled-for escalation.
Would it also be appropriate to ask for domain revocation if you Paypal.com does something you don't like? (Not under DMCA, but just talking about moral equivalencies.)
Wasn't Carter the guy that negotiated the Israel-Egypt peace treaty?
Wait, cooking is a part of your work duties?
Or is that coffee-making duty?
The reason you're having trouble is you're trying to take 1/3 of an base unit, as opposed to 1/3 of the actual length of something you want to, e.g., build.
Say you're building a model house that has 3 windows at equal distances. 12in is 30.48cm. But don't build at 30.48cm, just go for 30cm. And divide by 3 to get 10cm.
Similarly, 1yd is 91.44 cm. Just drop the 1.44cm to get a very divisible 90cm.
As has already been noted, metric building materials are usually available in divisible lengths (1200mm).
You'd have the same problem if you were trying to take 1/3 of 10 inches.
Well, 10cm is approximately the width of your hand.
And a meter is somewhat close to a yard, which is often the distance to your outstretched hand.
http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/bodyruler/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar
10 months (in Britain, mockingly called: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety)
10 days of the week, 10 hours per day, 100 minutes per hour, 100 seconds per minute.
1 hipster (French Revolutionary) hour = 144 ordinary minutes .864 conventional seconds
1 cool minute = 86.4 normal seconds
1 awesome second =
Also check out BeagleBoard. It's an ARM board.
http://beagleboard.org/
Well, if Congress has the power to regulate weights and measures and Interstate commerce, maybe they could pass a law that says if you sell an IPv4-only router, it has to say in big, scary red letters:
"This router isn't compatible with the next version of the Internet" with "next version of" in small letters.
I think what some people are worried about is greedy ISPs charging per device.
As it is now, you've got one IPv4 address hooked to an el cheapo Netgear router, and the ISP is none the wiser.
With IPv6, you've got a cell phone, touchpad, laptop per family member plus Xbox/Playstation, Boxee, TV, microwave oven.
Don't think it could happen? Look at how they treat smartphone usage vs. "dumb" phone usage.
Well, that's what sometimes happens.
Other times what happens is:
The oldest employees are the ones who actually created the product.
Say, in the case of Google, the actual algorithms and the hardware setup that run the company.
The people who come in afterward are the marketers, the Vice-Presidents of "Strategy", the PR people, the lawyers getting $400 for photocopying stuff out of law books.