Very well. One thing I really like about Linux is the fact that I have a choice.
Windows sure as shit does not offer me that.
In my first post I was complaining that GNOME seems to be selling itself to the highest bidder, and will sooner or later wind up being owned.
In my choices of operating systems, Once Redhat quits being a whiney Microsoft wannabe and rediscovers its open sourced roots the better I will like the distro.
I was voicing opinion and I am thankful for a forum that allows me to do that.
Correcting me is ok, but calling me names is a mark of a small mind.
I screwed up, but you did not show me the right path. You chose to be a flamer instead and look what it got you. Instead of being positive karma, you got a ding on your karma as well as a well deserved ding on my part. (I checked you out and you had a good string going until my post)
Be a teacher, not an asshole.
I still would like for somebody to please point me to the debunking of the quote.
1) How do they let you download songs but not burn them? DRM already? I thought that was somewhat into the future.
I have news for you, buddy. It's already here. It's now down to a rat race to see which companys standard gets adopted first. (The funny thing is I have yet to see a DRM standard unbroken in my many years in IT, Its a matter of a think tank that thinks it can out think everybody else) (Ow! my head is hurting, Cough, DVD, Cough, nuff said.)
AOL does indeed offer broadband in the USA with very restrictive proprietary software and adware built right into it.
I have warned many people away from AOL software for the simple reason that once you install it, you will never get rid of it without a disk wipe.
Kinda reminds you of Microsoft, does it not?
I used to use AOL a long time ago because it was the only easy way to get to the internet. I remember having to burrow down into a sub menu (ignoring all the AOL crap) just to hook onto the WWW, which I did daily until local ISP's came into my area.
They have not changed a bit to this day.
To cut to the chase:
Avoid AOL at all costs. I have heard nothing but horror stories about their bloated software and crappy service, narrow or broadband.
To be fair, they actually have good customer support, I know somebody who calls them each month to bitch about the service and they give him a free month, this has been going on for seven or so months now.
It may sound good, but think of the lock-ups and outages you will face. (I consider this dealing with the Devil)
Seriously, if you have a scrap of computer knowledge: Stay very far away from AOL, It is very clear the demographics they are shooting for are the computer challenged.
I have been a DSL user with SBC for about three years and only lately have been getting spam from SBC to change my service over to "SBC/Yahoo" with a whole new slew of TOC's and invasive software and kiss my static IP goodbye...
Now, the strange thing is that it came from SBC!
Why are they pushing customers away via email, while at the same time launching a massive television advertising campaign promoting SBC and demonizing the usurpers of their hard toiled infrastructure? Something smells fishy to me.
Here is the email: (stripped of a lot of links if anybody has a full version that will fit on Slashdot, please post it)
Dear SBC Internet Services Member, The time to upgrade to SBC Yahoo! DSL is now. Act today and enjoy the added features and functions we've designed for the way you use the Internet. Here are three great reasons to take advantage of this enhanced new experience:
It's free - there is no cost involved.* It's fast - it takes only minutes. It's easy - one click and you can register online.
is seamless because your email address, monthly price, billing method and high-speed Internet connection will all stay the same.
I have just one answer to your question, In my dreams the alien monster is the only real nasty out there. And I always find a way to kill it.
Now that's control.
Yes, I suffer from a sleep disorder.(Waking up constantly) However, I would not wish sleep terror on anybody. (You wake up clawing at the light switch) I have had a few bouts with this and it is a nasty way to go.
I drink at least nine beers a night just so I can sleep 6-7 hours.
This is very much like somebody waving a wand over your tire and informing you that you should consider changing your tires due to (recall, treadwear, insert reason here) not because the man is tracking your every move. Until technology gets to the point that GPS is tied to RFDs and is downloaded to a master computer big enough to track the millions upon millions of movements every day. This is not a big deal.
I worry more about my local supermarket tracking my purchases via my discount card than this issue.
Leo Frankowski (Adventures of Conrad Stargard series)
Terry Pratchett (Discworld series)
Simon R. Green (Deathstalker series)
L.E. Modesitt Jr.(most any book)
C.S. Friedman (Coldfire Trilogy)
Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series)
Steve Perry (Matador series)
Orson Scott Card (Ender series)
Terry Brooks (Sword series)
Robert Jordan (Wheel of time series)
Terry Goodkind (Sword of truth series)
Alan Dean Foster (most any book)
Eric Frank Russell (most any book)
Keith Laumer (Retief series)
Glen Cook (Black company series, Garret, P.I. series)
Pick up most any book by these authors and you are in for a treat! I included the "old school" authors Russell and Laumer because they tend to get overlooked. I promise you that Hamilton and Goodkind books are almost impossible to put down.
Cory Doctorow is an impressive newcomer as well with "Down and out at Disneyworld" Located here: (for free!) http://www.boingboing.net/
I think that these are some of the best writings available for free and I salute the authors for having the vision to be replacing the now terminated public domain with new rules.
Cory and other authors of his ilk are going to be around a lot longer than the copyright restricted whores to the media machine.
His works are going to live a long time in the digital age.
If the site wants to steal bandwidth from me by serving content rich (bandwith sucking) pop-ups then they deserve what they get, except for Salon. Most sites that are making money divide content between paid/free sections. This is the way it should be. Ramming ads down my throat is the reason I purchased blocking software in the first place. (I thought and still think it was the best purchase you can buy for the money) If a site insists on serving me ads to view their content. I say Via Con Dios, you wont be around very long.
Slashdot Mirror
Very well. One thing I really like about Linux is the fact that I have a choice.
Windows sure as shit does not offer me that.
In my first post I was complaining that GNOME seems to be selling itself to the highest bidder, and will sooner or later wind up being owned.
In my choices of operating systems, Once Redhat quits being a whiney Microsoft wannabe and rediscovers its open sourced roots the better I will like the distro.
I was voicing opinion and I am thankful for a forum that allows me to do that.
Redhat choses to use Gnome while most of the "Pure" distros like KDE as do I.
In my opinion, Gnome is turning into the Frankenstein of the open sourced world.
I know that this is flamebait, but I totally belive it as true as a recent Linux adopter.
I burned Redhat in a hot second in a showdown between Mandrake and Redhat competing for hard drive space.
I needed more space for my Win98 system.
Before you flame me, Understand the fact that I refuse to run Windows XP on my system and I really like the open-sourced chances in this year.
I am slowly converting my system to Linux and if you want to flame me for that, go ahead.
Correcting me is ok, but calling me names is a mark of a small mind.
I screwed up, but you did not show me the right path. You chose to be a flamer instead and look what it got you. Instead of being positive karma, you got a ding on your karma as well as a well deserved ding on my part. (I checked you out and you had a good string going until my post)
Be a teacher, not an asshole.
I still would like for somebody to please point me to the debunking of the quote.
Insightful and interesting.
:)
I found it to be one of the best comments made so far in this thread.
Ugmo, I think this one should be rated at least a four. But I think everybody ran themselves out of mod points today.
Great comment. (I still can't believe it is only a two. Oh, well at least one mod was on the ball)
Since I cannot do the real thing, please consider this a karma mod. In other words: good post!
1) How do they let you download songs but not burn them? DRM already? I thought that was somewhat into the future.
I have news for you, buddy. It's already here. It's now down to a rat race to see which companys standard gets adopted first. (The funny thing is I have yet to see a DRM standard unbroken in my many years in IT, Its a matter of a think tank that thinks it can out think everybody else) (Ow! my head is hurting, Cough, DVD, Cough, nuff said.)
AOL does indeed offer broadband in the USA with very restrictive proprietary software and adware built right into it.
I have warned many people away from AOL software for the simple reason that once you install it, you will never get rid of it without a disk wipe.
Kinda reminds you of Microsoft, does it not?
I used to use AOL a long time ago because it was the only easy way to get to the internet. I remember having to burrow down into a sub menu (ignoring all the AOL crap) just to hook onto the WWW, which I did daily until local ISP's came into my area.
They have not changed a bit to this day.
To cut to the chase:
Avoid AOL at all costs. I have heard nothing but horror stories about their bloated software and crappy service, narrow or broadband.
To be fair, they actually have good customer support, I know somebody who calls them each month to bitch about the service and they give him a free month, this has been going on for seven or so months now.
It may sound good, but think of the lock-ups and outages you will face. (I consider this dealing with the Devil)
Seriously, if you have a scrap of computer knowledge: Stay very far away from AOL, It is very clear the demographics they are shooting for are the computer challenged.
Needs to get another business model.
I have been a DSL user with SBC for about three years and only lately have been getting spam from SBC to change my service over to "SBC/Yahoo" with a whole new slew of TOC's and invasive software and kiss my static IP goodbye...
Now, the strange thing is that it came from SBC!
Why are they pushing customers away via email, while at the same time launching a massive television advertising campaign promoting SBC and demonizing the usurpers of their hard toiled infrastructure? Something smells fishy to me.
Here is the email: (stripped of a lot of links if anybody has a full version that will fit on Slashdot, please post it)
Dear SBC Internet Services Member,
The time to upgrade to SBC Yahoo! DSL is now. Act today and enjoy the added features and functions we've designed for the way you use the Internet. Here are three great reasons to take advantage of this enhanced new experience:
It's free - there is no cost involved.*
It's fast - it takes only minutes.
It's easy - one click and you can register online.
is seamless because your email address, monthly price,
billing method and high-speed Internet connection will all stay the same.
A home page that is fully customizable.
25MB of email storage space and 10 extra email addresses, each with 10MB of online storage space.
110MB of online storage with SBC Yahoo! Photos and Briefcase.
Two premium services at no additional cost.
20% off on as many as three premium services
Three premium listings in both SBC Yahoo! Classifieds and SBC Yahoo! Auctions.
A host of money-saving premiums and discounts.
The best part is that you can customize your upgrade to fit your needs.** Select any or all...
SBC Yahoo! Browser Environment Software
With this browser, you'll get the full SBC Yahoo! DSL experience, complete with easy access to the functions you use the most and built-in multimedia capabilities.
SBC Yahoo! Dial Connection Manager Software
Log in with your existing email and password even when you're on the road.
SBC Connection Manager Software
Diagnose any connection problems and get automated help to resolve the issue.
With SBC Yahoo! DSL, the freedom and flexibility to do everything you want online is finally yours. And you can get it all for what you're paying right now.
If you would prefer not to receive further information about your free SBC Yahoo! DSL upgrade, This selection will apply only to SBC Yahoo! DSL upgrade announcements. No other account preferences will be affected.
*Your basic monthly price does not change during your existing term commitment.
**Minimum systems requirements are provided online for the options you choose to download.
SBC Yahoo! DSL is an information service that combines DSL transport, Internet access and applications from SBC Internet Services, with customized content, services, and applications from Yahoo! Inc., to provide the customer with high-speed broadband access to the World Wide Web.
Yahoo!, the Yahoo! logo and other Yahoo! products and service names are the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. SBC, the SBC logo and all other SBC logos and product and service names are the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of SBC Properties, L.P. All other brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
© 2003 SBC Properties, L.P. and Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
I had cut out a bunch of "Click here for content!" types of links out but you get the general idea.
I hope this is fair use.
I would much rather have a lot of memory with a crappy CPU, than a state of the art CPU with crappy memory.
640k is good enough for anything! -BG
CPU speed is not the only thing that makes computers tick.
I have just one answer to your question, In my dreams the alien monster is the only real nasty out there. And I always find a way to kill it.
Now that's control.
Yes, I suffer from a sleep disorder.(Waking up constantly) However, I would not wish sleep terror on anybody. (You wake up clawing at the light switch) I have had a few bouts with this and it is a nasty way to go.
I drink at least nine beers a night just so I can sleep 6-7 hours.
Yeah! And then all your doors unlock and the monitor set facing the street starts blinking "Root me, Root me" before it all goes to black. (or BSD)
Reminds me of Quantel saying they are "open sourced" because they support "Java beans" kinda like Microsoft's current version of open.
(Quantel was/is saying you can write five lines of code that will run on our multi-100K boxes as long as it does not infringe on our patents.)
Whoo, hoo! lets hear it for closed and unscrutable systems.
Don't bug me I am playing Age of Mythology
I say that her heart is in the right place, and where was this kind of commitment four years ago?
My best wishes and I will support this kind of thing with all of my soul.
Is she married?
I am so glad that they got fingered. Serves them right for abusing my email...
Next spammer please.
Search and destroy spam is one of my finer goals in life. (Next to popup killing that is)
10,000 pop-ups not served and counting.
This is very much like somebody waving a wand over your tire and informing you that you should consider changing your tires due to (recall, treadwear, insert reason here) not because the man is tracking your every move. Until technology gets to the point that GPS is tied to RFDs and is downloaded to a master computer big enough to track the millions upon millions of movements every day. This is not a big deal.
I worry more about my local supermarket tracking my purchases via my discount card than this issue.
My 2 cents.
What would you say was the greatest paradigm shift that you observed/did not observe in your time away from the internet?
No particular order.
Neil Stephenson (any book)
Leo Frankowski (Adventures of Conrad Stargard series)
Terry Pratchett (Discworld series)
Simon R. Green (Deathstalker series)
L.E. Modesitt Jr.(most any book)
C.S. Friedman (Coldfire Trilogy)
Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series)
Steve Perry (Matador series)
Orson Scott Card (Ender series)
Terry Brooks (Sword series)
Robert Jordan (Wheel of time series)
Terry Goodkind (Sword of truth series)
Alan Dean Foster (most any book)
Eric Frank Russell (most any book)
Keith Laumer (Retief series)
Glen Cook (Black company series, Garret, P.I. series)
Pick up most any book by these authors and you are in for a treat! I included the "old school" authors Russell and Laumer because they tend to get overlooked. I promise you that Hamilton and Goodkind books are almost impossible to put down.
Cory Doctorow is an impressive newcomer as well with "Down and out at Disneyworld" Located here: (for free!) http://www.boingboing.net/
Enjoy!
I think that these are some of the best writings available for free and I salute the authors for having the vision to be replacing the now terminated public domain with new rules.
Cory and other authors of his ilk are going to be around a lot longer than the copyright restricted whores to the media machine.
His works are going to live a long time in the digital age.
Flame me if you must, but be constructive.
Just pay some dosh for Adsubtract, you won't be sorry. It tames all but the most annoying sites. That is 99.94% accuracy BTW. ;)
If the site wants to steal bandwidth from me by serving content rich (bandwith sucking) pop-ups then they deserve what they get, except for Salon. Most sites that are making money divide content between paid/free sections. This is the way it should be. Ramming ads down my throat is the reason I purchased blocking software in the first place. (I thought and still think it was the best purchase you can buy for the money) If a site insists on serving me ads to view their content. I say Via Con Dios, you wont be around very long.