what about if a car came along that didn't have wheels? would you not buy it simply because it didn't have wheels? wheels on cars only works best because you haven't experienced anything better... but that doesn't mean that wheels will always work best. change for the sake of change sucks, but innovation stems from change and innovation can also lead to change for the better.
i agree... change for the sake of change or for the sake of increasing sales of new machines demanded by said change or for increasing sales of training/certification courses... makes sense for microsoft but not for users
ribbons were completely stupid... they are fixed to the top of the screen, on screens that more often than not have a widescreen aspect, and they are big by default (i know you can shrink them, but that also shrinks their utility). so you end up with less vertical real estate for working in, but that real estate is unusually wide, which means that a lot of it is wasted. i wouldn't be surprised if professional typists using word 2007+ everyday uctually turned their monitors 90 degrees to portrait mode, so that with ribbons they still get as much of the screen as possible for the document they're working on. i guess one good thing that's come out of ribbons is increased demand for openoffice/libreoffice.
i don't tinker much with the old laptop my kids use for games, but that's because i don't have to... it doesn't do anything but games (they love supertux and dink at the moment... hopefully they'll eventually get into freeciv, but they're 7 and 5 so strategy is probably still boring)
the debian desktop i use myself has been tinkered with, and a while ago the system hard disk got corrupted. there were a few files i needed to recover and luckily i was able to login under single user mode and copy those files to a nas drive, but after installing a new hard disk it took a while to get it back up and running to something that resembled what i had before. a lot of my data is kept on nas drives anyway but it takes a while to remove all the bullshit (gdm3,network-manager,etc), set up fstab, get nvidia graphics set up for dual screens, get mysql (yeah i know i suck) to read my databases off the nas via nfs drive (involves changing mysql gid/uid to match nas), change gconf settings, set up iptables, static ip, resolv.conf, hosts, hosts.allow/deny, php/mysql/apache settings, passwd (set shells for non-human users to/etc/false), conky, gnome2 panels, sagasu, aurora (firefox alpha), etc. most of those files i have backed up on nas, but i always like to go through them manually anyway to make sure things haven't changed since my backup.
i'm not sure that it's any more a pain to set up a linux desktop than windows (at least openoffice is installed already in debian), but it does take time. also depends largely on what you want to do. mine is a dev box so there is a bit of mucking about to get that working off a nas with 4 mirrored disks. setting up my kids laptop would normally take only a fraction of that time since all i have to do is install a few games (except it's a toshiba tecra a2 with a bung optical drive so to reinstall it i have to set up a boot server on my main desktop and put an install image on a usb stick because the laptop doesn't boot directly off usb - that is definitely a pain in the buttocks).
Who has a vested interest in keeping google out? Verizon, Comcast, At&t already receive tax monies and payouts for selling out the people they provide to anyways
verizon and comcast are lobbying government to keep google out of the public purse, and that is their right (just as it is google's right to lobby)... they didn't make the public purse available in the first place (if a child whinges for lollies, do you give in to them? no, and the government shouldn't give in to corporate lobbyists either)
the government should stop subsidising all of them... yesterday
FYI, Ron Paul is a tool, and a worthless one at that.
way to admit that you're an ignorant fool... go drown in debt then asshole
it costs money, which must be diverted from other community projects
the government shouldn't be giving any money to any corporate interests
it should maintain public works like roads, maybe collect rubbish, and that's it... if it must contract anything like that out, fair enough, but if its contracted out it probably means the government shouldn't be responsible for it and it should be privatized
electricity, water, sewerage etc are all privatized in australia and consumers can choose any distributor (separate from generators and transmission infrastructure owners) from a long list which keeps prices low. privatization works because capitalism rewards efficiency and value for money with increased revenue, whereas government has no such incentives
if there is really a market in kansas for google fiber (as opposed to some empty political promise), google will conduct its research and set up using its own resources. corporations only leech off government if the government allows it, and they only do it because its easy money.
lawmakers are chosen by the people to represent the people, not special interests like google
this seems to be about limiting taxpayer and ratepayer funds being funnelled into corporate pockets to encourage them into setting up shop in a municipality, which is literally bribery and is as reprehensible as using taxpayer funds to bail out corporations
you seem to think that the US has never broken any international arms treaties... oh wait, it's because the US rarely if ever ratifies any of them... including SALT II and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
Bitcoin, at least, isn't run by a corporation, and has no say in transactions (like ordering antique violins destroyed)
i don't understand how bitcoin advocates can be so confident in the security of the system
after all, it's digital, and nothing digital is secure... ever
hackers (and governments) prove this repeatedly
most bitcoin advocates aren't security experts
even if bitcoin is secure today, there is no guarantee that it will be secure tomorrow
https://www.schneier.com/blog/... not a comment by bruce himself, but one that i think rings true. its also the opinion of economic pundit peter schiff: "Bitcoin, like the US dollar only has value when the vast majority of us believe it has value. Its intrinsic value to the community is that it enables exchange; if it has no velocity it has no value. Not eveyone believes Bitcoins have value nor is there an universally accepted value - some are made more cheaply than other (e.g no minimum hourly wage). Because of these facts, the system can readily collapse.... say when the market is cornered."
not sure if you could filter out entire articles (i haven't bothered looking at slashdot html) but you could at very least replace the word "bitcoin" with something less annoying, like maybe "frosty piss"
either that or write your own little slashdot browser using a socket... that way you could filter however you like, and maybe block out all the ads, js, images, css bullshit as well. probably would be a real hit if you released it.
Slashdot Mirror
whoosh!
My car has four wheels. Works best at the moment.
ftfy
what about if a car came along that didn't have wheels? would you not buy it simply because it didn't have wheels?
wheels on cars only works best because you haven't experienced anything better... but that doesn't mean that wheels will always work best.
change for the sake of change sucks, but innovation stems from change and innovation can also lead to change for the better.
i agree... change for the sake of change or for the sake of increasing sales of new machines demanded by said change or for increasing sales of training/certification courses... makes sense for microsoft but not for users
ribbons were completely stupid... they are fixed to the top of the screen, on screens that more often than not have a widescreen aspect, and they are big by default (i know you can shrink them, but that also shrinks their utility). so you end up with less vertical real estate for working in, but that real estate is unusually wide, which means that a lot of it is wasted. i wouldn't be surprised if professional typists using word 2007+ everyday uctually turned their monitors 90 degrees to portrait mode, so that with ribbons they still get as much of the screen as possible for the document they're working on. i guess one good thing that's come out of ribbons is increased demand for openoffice/libreoffice.
gnome2
i don't tinker much with the old laptop my kids use for games, but that's because i don't have to... it doesn't do anything but games (they love supertux and dink at the moment... hopefully they'll eventually get into freeciv, but they're 7 and 5 so strategy is probably still boring)
the debian desktop i use myself has been tinkered with, and a while ago the system hard disk got corrupted. there were a few files i needed to recover and luckily i was able to login under single user mode and copy those files to a nas drive, but after installing a new hard disk it took a while to get it back up and running to something that resembled what i had before. a lot of my data is kept on nas drives anyway but it takes a while to remove all the bullshit (gdm3,network-manager,etc), set up fstab, get nvidia graphics set up for dual screens, get mysql (yeah i know i suck) to read my databases off the nas via nfs drive (involves changing mysql gid/uid to match nas), change gconf settings, set up iptables, static ip, resolv.conf, hosts, hosts.allow/deny, php/mysql/apache settings, passwd (set shells for non-human users to /etc/false), conky, gnome2 panels, sagasu, aurora (firefox alpha), etc. most of those files i have backed up on nas, but i always like to go through them manually anyway to make sure things haven't changed since my backup.
i'm not sure that it's any more a pain to set up a linux desktop than windows (at least openoffice is installed already in debian), but it does take time. also depends largely on what you want to do. mine is a dev box so there is a bit of mucking about to get that working off a nas with 4 mirrored disks. setting up my kids laptop would normally take only a fraction of that time since all i have to do is install a few games (except it's a toshiba tecra a2 with a bung optical drive so to reinstall it i have to set up a boot server on my main desktop and put an install image on a usb stick because the laptop doesn't boot directly off usb - that is definitely a pain in the buttocks).
munis didn't fund wars... nice try though
you're defending the biggest monopoly of them all... government
and eventually you will have to pay... one way or another
good luck with that, moron
Who has a vested interest in keeping google out? Verizon, Comcast, At&t already receive tax monies and payouts for selling out the people they provide to anyways
verizon and comcast are lobbying government to keep google out of the public purse, and that is their right (just as it is google's right to lobby)... they didn't make the public purse available in the first place (if a child whinges for lollies, do you give in to them? no, and the government shouldn't give in to corporate lobbyists either)
the government should stop subsidising all of them... yesterday
FYI, Ron Paul is a tool, and a worthless one at that.
way to admit that you're an ignorant fool... go drown in debt then asshole
Enjoy your slow internet for top dollar rates from private companies that leech off anything they can.
you dipshit... i'm arguing against private companies leeching off government
wake up
largely unharmful to the local community
it costs money, which must be diverted from other community projects
the government shouldn't be giving any money to any corporate interests
it should maintain public works like roads, maybe collect rubbish, and that's it... if it must contract anything like that out, fair enough, but if its contracted out it probably means the government shouldn't be responsible for it and it should be privatized
electricity, water, sewerage etc are all privatized in australia and consumers can choose any distributor (separate from generators and transmission infrastructure owners) from a long list which keeps prices low. privatization works because capitalism rewards efficiency and value for money with increased revenue, whereas government has no such incentives
if there is really a market in kansas for google fiber (as opposed to some empty political promise), google will conduct its research and set up using its own resources. corporations only leech off government if the government allows it, and they only do it because its easy money.
they probably did, but that doesn't make it right and doesn't mean that mistake should be repeated
is there any wonder why US public debt is so high?
lawmakers are chosen by the people to represent the people, not special interests like google
this seems to be about limiting taxpayer and ratepayer funds being funnelled into corporate pockets to encourage them into setting up shop in a municipality, which is literally bribery and is as reprehensible as using taxpayer funds to bail out corporations
google ron paul and peter schiff
if google wants to lay its own fiber and charge customers for it, good for them... they can do it without leeching off rate & tax payers
you seem to think that the US has never broken any international arms treaties... oh wait, it's because the US rarely if ever ratifies any of them... including SALT II and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
Bitcoin, at least, isn't run by a corporation, and has no say in transactions (like ordering antique violins destroyed)
i don't understand how bitcoin advocates can be so confident in the security of the system
after all, it's digital, and nothing digital is secure... ever
hackers (and governments) prove this repeatedly
most bitcoin advocates aren't security experts
even if bitcoin is secure today, there is no guarantee that it will be secure tomorrow
https://www.schneier.com/blog/... .... say when the market is cornered."
not a comment by bruce himself, but one that i think rings true. its also the opinion of economic pundit peter schiff:
"Bitcoin, like the US dollar only has value when the vast majority of us believe it has value. Its intrinsic value to the community is that it enables exchange; if it has no velocity it has no value. Not eveyone believes Bitcoins have value nor is there an universally accepted value - some are made more cheaply than other (e.g no minimum hourly wage). Because of these facts, the system can readily collapse
the majority of all fiat currencies in circulation is likely used for illegal activities... even "gold" etfs
is it possible to block bitcoin spam from slashdot?
maybe try something like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-...
not sure if you could filter out entire articles (i haven't bothered looking at slashdot html) but you could at very least replace the word "bitcoin" with something less annoying, like maybe "frosty piss"
either that or write your own little slashdot browser using a socket... that way you could filter however you like, and maybe block out all the ads, js, images, css bullshit as well. probably would be a real hit if you released it.
no wonder they suck at exams... with checklists who needs to memorize anything?
Have a look at all the international and UN treaties that the USA hasn't ratified... the USA has no high moral ground to stand on.
Then stop whining on slashdot and fucking do something.
too late... ron paul quit politics
now america is fucked either way
I wonder what their Russian counterparts' moral is like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
yeah cos america is allowed to have them, but everyone else (except maybe the russians) can't
good luck with that
shit, you have a point... do they have a steering wheel to drive the rocket after they launch... just to make sure they don't hit belgium?
caller: "hello, 911 operator... my house is on fire!"
operator: "fire? holy shit... fire! quick... the russians! push the damnn button!"
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
love your sig... i'm the latter :-)
Even the Chinese leaders are not always so naive as to believe that they personally will survive such an attack
of course they will... as for the other 1b+ chinese
Even Mao knew nuclear weapons were mostly a paper tiger
agreed... nukes are the best weapon that you can't use