You make a good point. But that point is further argument FOR collecting as much data as possible.
The more little clues that are captured, and the more precise the filtering gets, the more likely the US will be to see a specific threat in advance.
Of course, this mathematically must also result in innocent people having exactly the wrong set of "clues" associated with them, resulting in their capture, interrogation, etc.
Richard Reid was a citizen of the UK, and by most peoples' assessment he attempted to blow up a US bound flight with his fucking shoe. BTW, I hope he gets to see the bottom of a few shoes in prison. He costs air travelers a lot of time since everyone now has to remove their shoes at security checks.
One or more of the 9/11 hijackers entered the US via Canada.
Now UK and Canada aren't specifically to blame, but these situations suggest at least one reason for the US to monitor international communications that go thru the US.
With respect to dumb users, unfortunately sometimes that isn't an option. I work with people who are competent or better at their actual jobs, but are morons when it comes to computers.
I can't fire them, and if I could, I probably wouldn't be able to replace them easily. Nor can I keep them off a computer, since part of their job requires using it. These are not dumb people. They just have some reason (conscious or unconscious) for not learning. They have even received some training on basics.
So the best thing I can think of is some customizable, kiosk-like interface for them. Some of them can't even handle resizing a window (no joke). Actually they would benefit greatly from Expose, but that's unfortunately not a Windows feature.
Hating ignorant users is not helpful, nor is being elitist. I have no choice but to support them.
Many users need a simplified appliance that does a very limited set of things.
There are plenty of (admittedly non-networked) electronic appliances that people use frequently that do NOT require constant fixes and patches.
People need an OS/UI that provides a very simplified way to do basic things - read/write documents, browse the web, and email. Some also need simplified spreadsheets, checkbook management, and other similar software.
All of these things could be provided in a simple, safe way. But everyone has been stuck since 1984 on creating this whole desktop mess.
Don't expect users to learn complicated things. Most refuse to learn it, just like they refuse to learn how to maintain a car. Of course in the case of the car, they were instructed at purchase time that certain maintenance was required. Then the company that sold the car typically will mail notices (nags) about due maintenance.
Reminds me of the old Bill Gates comment about if GM made cars. I don't like GM, but many people would be better off if cars were indeed made by GM.
Windows API has provided a way to set transparency since Windows 2000, if I remember correctly.
The issue was having something automatically change transparency based on some factor like time. OSX didn't do it, and Windows didn't do it.
But Everquest did do it. However, as someone else pointed out, EQ did not allow you to click thru the less-than-50% windows to the ones below them. Neither OSX nor Windows currently allow that either.
Of course, with my pretty extensive experience dealing with "typical users", I can tell you it's a disaster waiting to happen. I think Apple is totally going the wrong direction in terms of usability if they plan to make that a common feature. Many users still can't understand resizing and above/below placement.
Now, if they make that patent THAT specific, great. Really it should be "you can click thru windows that are X% transparent" and that be it.
the 200,000 is based on a typical per-hour volume of cars (I've heard of as much as 300,000 cars/hr where I live, so I backed down a little to be safer in my estimate).
as for the math, I did goof. I calculated based on 5 seconds instead of 5 minutes. so my result was 60 times smaller than it should have been. as you show, it's far far worse.
so now just think, when someone causes an accident because there were on their cell phone and not paying attention, this is an example of the cost of their inattention.
Yeah, it's hard to imagine lowering that 80% profit margin to pay for penalties related to bad business practices.
As for their stock, the time has passed for making good money off it. They have limited growth opportunities at this point, especially since their grand hope of doing to Asia what they've done to the US is doomed.
I hate to offer this as prior art, but Everquest has had time-dependent transparency for over a year. I personally think it's a pain in the ass, but it works.
You mouse over a window and it becomes however opaque you want (based on your settings). Then if you move your mouse off the window, after a user-defined period the window becomes as much more transparent as the user has defined. Defaults were something like 100% opaque, then after 5 seconds, 50% transparent.
There's probably prior prior art, but I don't know based on time.
There was a tool for Windows called Vitrix or something that would allow the user to easily set transparency, but now I can't find it. And it wasn't time-dependent.
From my years of driving in 2M+ person cities, I've had time to observe what slows down traffic flow.
Three things: braking (slow spots), inattention/under-limit driving, and fear.
- Slow Spots
What slows down traffic flow most is people braking when they don't need to, or braking more than they need to. The problem is that in congested traffic, once one car slows in one lane, a wedge of cars behind him slows, and behind them everyone slows.
Then when that one driver speeds up (and it takes much longer to speed up than slow down), the next cars THEN speed up. They don't speed up exactly when the lead driver does because it takes them time to see the change. This carries on behind them.
This creates a slow spot on the freeway. Once a slow spot is created, it only goes away once a gap backwards in traffic is large enough to allow the slowed vehicles to speed up to normal speed before the gap is completely closed by the approaching traffic.
- Under-limit Driving
This is obvious. Left or center lane driver drops below speed limit, cars behind have to slow (often they use their brake instead of coasting down), and you're in the situation above (slow spot).
- Fear
Car needs in another lane. Most drivers, if there is room ahead of the vehicle beside them, will still brake and try to fall in behind the neighboring vehicle. The following vehicles in that lane may not be friendly, and may not allow that. So fearful driver brakes even more, hoping to eventually get over. I've even seen some fools come to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway so they can hopefully work across 3 lanes to exit. They should have either sped up and pulled in front, or if that took too long, gradually worked their way over, missed their exit, and looped back.
These things don't mean you should never brake, or that you should always drive aggressively, but some middle ground approach would surely improve things. The time cost for a full traffic jam is enormous. 5 minutes times 200,000 vehicles is 11 days of time. In a perverse way that's a really significant amount of power that one driver can exercise. Create a good traffic jam and you've just wasted 11 days of your town's time.
Previous post was not Off Topic. Did you read the fucking last section of my post? Allow me to reprint it:
In any event, my point was valid. Apple can change its EULA and associated DRM rules, but fortunately we'll always be able to regain access to our music through tools which DMCA calls illegal.
Here's a tip to the unfortunate few dickhead moderators - I have enough karma to last me a long time against bs moderation. Do your worst.
I wonder, sometimes, how powerful negative moderators must feel. Imagine the intense thrill of -1 moderating a post from your mom's basement. Enjoy it, it's likely to be the only position of "authority" you ever enjoy.
So the parent post (mine) was 2 points by default, and then was modded "Overrated", so it was reduced to 1 point.
How is a post overrated when it hasn't been "rated"?
I wish I knew for which moderators I was on "the bad list". I find it particularly interesting that the modder chose to spend their points on my neutral post.
In any event, my point was valid. Apple can change its EULA and associated DRM rules, but fortunately we'll always be able to regain access to our music through tools which DMCA calls illegal.
This could doom Apple, or at least set them up for yet-another-company-direction-change.
Apple has essentially refocused their company as an entertainment company - iPod + iTunes.
If the record companies have their way, Apple will lose its entertainment momentum and find itself back at square one. Meanwhile it will have lost more desktop marketshare, so it will have an even greater battle.
The solution is clear to me now. Call me a visionary, I just had a vision. Apple needs to become a Record Company. It needs to do better by its customers and artists (not difficult) than the current record companies do.
The good news is that there will always be an iTunes DRM stripper program available. It may be thwarted by the latest version of iTunes, but it will catch up within days or weeks.
So we should always be able to "clean" our music that we've bought.
It would be interesting to see the money trail involved in common spyware.
I'd like to see the endpoint companies who are advertising, wittingly or unwittingly, via spyware. Perhaps the way to go about ridding spyware is to shun companies into policing their advertising partners to ensure they don't ever use spyware as their method.
I spent an hour with our Symantec account rep last year imploring him to communicate how badly we need spyware protection integrated with virus protection.
In the US corporate world, Symantec is probably the leader. If they would just buy Spybot or something, build in a spyware signature download system (as they have with virus), my job would be so much easier. I'd even happily pay them another 5k$ for that feature on our machine.
But this sales guy didn't even know what spyware was.
Symantec really missed out on a big feature that would have set them apart from McAfee.
This is a big deal, at least as far as headlines go. But remember that CPU sales is only one part of many areas where Intel makes money.
Also, AMD doesn't begin to have the same quality balance sheet that INTC does. AMD is impressive for being able to compete in CPU performance and sales, but it has a very long way to go to really challenge Intel as a business.
Parent poster, please change your signature. Child abuse isn't a joke. Children don't deserve violence from their families. Your signature is only funny to people who don't know children who have been beat. It's not funny.
Yes, at one of the companied I worked for, we received a resume from a Dickshit (spelled with the "c"), and one of our resident Indians informed us that one of their biggest television stars had that name, and that it was common. We chose not to interview that person because nobody on the team with enough experience could keep a straight face.
I'm aware that some US names are not so ideal in other languages. But I speak English, so I find this amusing:)
I like that name. That's a very clear title for Microsoft. It definitely would get the attention of someone undecided about MS vs Linux.
"Well, you could buy OS and related products from a convicted monopolist, or you could get these open source products (and buy professional support) from these (_list_) vendors."
Slashdot Mirror
I didn't know you were from Texas...
You make a good point. But that point is further argument FOR collecting as much data as possible.
The more little clues that are captured, and the more precise the filtering gets, the more likely the US will be to see a specific threat in advance.
Of course, this mathematically must also result in innocent people having exactly the wrong set of "clues" associated with them, resulting in their capture, interrogation, etc.
So like everything, it's good and it's bad.
Richard Reid was a citizen of the UK, and by most peoples' assessment he attempted to blow up a US bound flight with his fucking shoe. BTW, I hope he gets to see the bottom of a few shoes in prison. He costs air travelers a lot of time since everyone now has to remove their shoes at security checks.
One or more of the 9/11 hijackers entered the US via Canada.
Now UK and Canada aren't specifically to blame, but these situations suggest at least one reason for the US to monitor international communications that go thru the US.
With respect to dumb users, unfortunately sometimes that isn't an option. I work with people who are competent or better at their actual jobs, but are morons when it comes to computers.
I can't fire them, and if I could, I probably wouldn't be able to replace them easily. Nor can I keep them off a computer, since part of their job requires using it. These are not dumb people. They just have some reason (conscious or unconscious) for not learning. They have even received some training on basics.
So the best thing I can think of is some customizable, kiosk-like interface for them. Some of them can't even handle resizing a window (no joke). Actually they would benefit greatly from Expose, but that's unfortunately not a Windows feature.
Hating ignorant users is not helpful, nor is being elitist. I have no choice but to support them.
Many users need a simplified appliance that does a very limited set of things.
There are plenty of (admittedly non-networked) electronic appliances that people use frequently that do NOT require constant fixes and patches.
People need an OS/UI that provides a very simplified way to do basic things - read/write documents, browse the web, and email. Some also need simplified spreadsheets, checkbook management, and other similar software.
All of these things could be provided in a simple, safe way. But everyone has been stuck since 1984 on creating this whole desktop mess.
Don't expect users to learn complicated things. Most refuse to learn it, just like they refuse to learn how to maintain a car. Of course in the case of the car, they were instructed at purchase time that certain maintenance was required. Then the company that sold the car typically will mail notices (nags) about due maintenance.
Reminds me of the old Bill Gates comment about if GM made cars. I don't like GM, but many people would be better off if cars were indeed made by GM.
I don't see what the fuss is. I hand a CPA a file full of junk, a $50 check, and come back a couple days later for my file + tax forms to sign.
My method works regardless of what OS I use.
To my favorite anti-blunte moderator, this post may start out at 2, but I'm sure it's worth you marking Overrated as usual. Thanks in advance.
Windows API has provided a way to set transparency since Windows 2000, if I remember correctly.
The issue was having something automatically change transparency based on some factor like time. OSX didn't do it, and Windows didn't do it.
But Everquest did do it. However, as someone else pointed out, EQ did not allow you to click thru the less-than-50% windows to the ones below them. Neither OSX nor Windows currently allow that either.
Ahh you're right, I missed that detail.
Of course, with my pretty extensive experience dealing with "typical users", I can tell you it's a disaster waiting to happen. I think Apple is totally going the wrong direction in terms of usability if they plan to make that a common feature. Many users still can't understand resizing and above/below placement.
Now, if they make that patent THAT specific, great. Really it should be "you can click thru windows that are X% transparent" and that be it.
Here it is - Vitrite
This isn't time-dependent, but it is very handy.
the 200,000 is based on a typical per-hour volume of cars (I've heard of as much as 300,000 cars/hr where I live, so I backed down a little to be safer in my estimate).
as for the math, I did goof. I calculated based on 5 seconds instead of 5 minutes. so my result was 60 times smaller than it should have been. as you show, it's far far worse.
so now just think, when someone causes an accident because there were on their cell phone and not paying attention, this is an example of the cost of their inattention.
Yeah, it's hard to imagine lowering that 80% profit margin to pay for penalties related to bad business practices.
As for their stock, the time has passed for making good money off it. They have limited growth opportunities at this point, especially since their grand hope of doing to Asia what they've done to the US is doomed.
I hate to offer this as prior art, but Everquest has had time-dependent transparency for over a year. I personally think it's a pain in the ass, but it works.
You mouse over a window and it becomes however opaque you want (based on your settings). Then if you move your mouse off the window, after a user-defined period the window becomes as much more transparent as the user has defined. Defaults were something like 100% opaque, then after 5 seconds, 50% transparent.
There's probably prior prior art, but I don't know based on time.
There was a tool for Windows called Vitrix or something that would allow the user to easily set transparency, but now I can't find it. And it wasn't time-dependent.
From my years of driving in 2M+ person cities, I've had time to observe what slows down traffic flow.
Three things: braking (slow spots), inattention/under-limit driving, and fear.
- Slow Spots
What slows down traffic flow most is people braking when they don't need to, or braking more than they need to. The problem is that in congested traffic, once one car slows in one lane, a wedge of cars behind him slows, and behind them everyone slows.
Then when that one driver speeds up (and it takes much longer to speed up than slow down), the next cars THEN speed up. They don't speed up exactly when the lead driver does because it takes them time to see the change. This carries on behind them.
This creates a slow spot on the freeway. Once a slow spot is created, it only goes away once a gap backwards in traffic is large enough to allow the slowed vehicles to speed up to normal speed before the gap is completely closed by the approaching traffic.
- Under-limit Driving
This is obvious. Left or center lane driver drops below speed limit, cars behind have to slow (often they use their brake instead of coasting down), and you're in the situation above (slow spot).
- Fear
Car needs in another lane. Most drivers, if there is room ahead of the vehicle beside them, will still brake and try to fall in behind the neighboring vehicle. The following vehicles in that lane may not be friendly, and may not allow that. So fearful driver brakes even more, hoping to eventually get over. I've even seen some fools come to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway so they can hopefully work across 3 lanes to exit. They should have either sped up and pulled in front, or if that took too long, gradually worked their way over, missed their exit, and looped back.
These things don't mean you should never brake, or that you should always drive aggressively, but some middle ground approach would surely improve things. The time cost for a full traffic jam is enormous. 5 minutes times 200,000 vehicles is 11 days of time. In a perverse way that's a really significant amount of power that one driver can exercise. Create a good traffic jam and you've just wasted 11 days of your town's time.
Here's a tip to the unfortunate few dickhead moderators - I have enough karma to last me a long time against bs moderation. Do your worst.
I wonder, sometimes, how powerful negative moderators must feel. Imagine the intense thrill of -1 moderating a post from your mom's basement. Enjoy it, it's likely to be the only position of "authority" you ever enjoy.
So the parent post (mine) was 2 points by default, and then was modded "Overrated", so it was reduced to 1 point.
How is a post overrated when it hasn't been "rated"?
I wish I knew for which moderators I was on "the bad list". I find it particularly interesting that the modder chose to spend their points on my neutral post.
In any event, my point was valid. Apple can change its EULA and associated DRM rules, but fortunately we'll always be able to regain access to our music through tools which DMCA calls illegal.
Or not.
This could doom Apple, or at least set them up for yet-another-company-direction-change.
Apple has essentially refocused their company as an entertainment company - iPod + iTunes.
If the record companies have their way, Apple will lose its entertainment momentum and find itself back at square one. Meanwhile it will have lost more desktop marketshare, so it will have an even greater battle.
The solution is clear to me now. Call me a visionary, I just had a vision. Apple needs to become a Record Company. It needs to do better by its customers and artists (not difficult) than the current record companies do.
That would be an interesting battle to watch.
The good news is that there will always be an iTunes DRM stripper program available. It may be thwarted by the latest version of iTunes, but it will catch up within days or weeks.
So we should always be able to "clean" our music that we've bought.
It would be interesting to see the money trail involved in common spyware.
I'd like to see the endpoint companies who are advertising, wittingly or unwittingly, via spyware. Perhaps the way to go about ridding spyware is to shun companies into policing their advertising partners to ensure they don't ever use spyware as their method.
I spent an hour with our Symantec account rep last year imploring him to communicate how badly we need spyware protection integrated with virus protection.
In the US corporate world, Symantec is probably the leader. If they would just buy Spybot or something, build in a spyware signature download system (as they have with virus), my job would be so much easier. I'd even happily pay them another 5k$ for that feature on our machine.
But this sales guy didn't even know what spyware was.
Symantec really missed out on a big feature that would have set them apart from McAfee.
This is a big deal, at least as far as headlines go. But remember that CPU sales is only one part of many areas where Intel makes money.
Also, AMD doesn't begin to have the same quality balance sheet that INTC does. AMD is impressive for being able to compete in CPU performance and sales, but it has a very long way to go to really challenge Intel as a business.
This is offtopic, so modders enjoy yourself.
Parent poster, please change your signature. Child abuse isn't a joke. Children don't deserve violence from their families. Your signature is only funny to people who don't know children who have been beat. It's not funny.
Thanks.
Yes, at one of the companied I worked for, we received a resume from a Dickshit (spelled with the "c"), and one of our resident Indians informed us that one of their biggest television stars had that name, and that it was common. We chose not to interview that person because nobody on the team with enough experience could keep a straight face.
:)
I'm aware that some US names are not so ideal in other languages. But I speak English, so I find this amusing
Rakshit! You can say many things about India, but you cannot deny they have some truly entertaining names. Dickshit anyone?
Photoshop does wonders, but the UI is nothing to brag about.
Paint Shop Pro has an arguably cleaner, quicker interface. It does much of what PSCS does, minus a few critical features.
So as obtuse as Gimp's UI may be, PS is no model to compare by.
I like that name. That's a very clear title for Microsoft. It definitely would get the attention of someone undecided about MS vs Linux.
"Well, you could buy OS and related products from a convicted monopolist, or you could get these open source products (and buy professional support) from these (_list_) vendors."