>>>There are clearly and identifiably two classes of users: knowledgable and those that are using an appliance.
Yes but will eventually what will happen is that "computers" will disappear to be replaced by "appliances" that can't do anything but what the remote company lets them do. The knowledgeable users will be left with nothing but these dumb-downed machines.
As for the Status Bar:
I miss the little thing that says "100% done" or "document complete" or whatever. It lets me know the webpage has finished downloading, and now I can save it to my hard drive (if I wish).
>>>Firefox 4 is generally better. You can change your UI so that it is the same as FF3.6 also
You need to re-read his post. He doesn't care about superficial shit like appearance. He wants a small, lean browser like Firefox 2.5 was. Merely changing FF4 to look like FF3 or FF2 will NOT help him achieve his goal.
It's kinda ironic that Firefox was split-off from Netscape because Netscape was considered "too bloated" and now it's reached that same level of gigantism itself. It's also ironic that SeaMonkey (formerly netscape) is now less bloated than its child.
Opera 11 has a partially-hidden URL bar, and it's very annoying. It shows me what site I'm visiting (example: youtube.com) but leaves off other relevant information like the Serial ID of the video.
Also the URL bar is a quick and easy way to jump to my next site (type amazon.com and go) or do a search ('topless beach' and enter). I cannot imagine why I would want to hide this useful Browser CLI from my view.
I also agree with the other fellow - stop copying Chrome. I tried the non-google Chromium and didn't like it at all (too many Firefox/Opera features are missing). Let Firefox be firefox and work on improving things that matter - such as a browser than doesn't require 1 gigabyte* of RAM to work.
* * Yes I'm exaggerating. I just get annoyed the FF crawls like a snail on my 1/3 gig laptop, when other browsers operate fine with that limitation.
>>>I'm sorry, taking away a popular feature they no longer wanted to support isn't an invitation either.
In Europe it's worse than an invitation. It's a criminal offense, and Sony is required to give PS3 refunds to every customer who asks for one. Sony is guilty of false advertising and misrepresenting a product (claiming it could do OtherOS, and then disabling it). AKA bait and switch.
Sony is also guilty of installing viruses from Music CDs, and then destroying the computer with their removal tool (it made some HDDs unbootable). This hacking is simply a slap on the wrist. Sony deserves to be thrown in jail as far as I am concerned. They are getting off too easy.
>>>>>If someone could resurrect the innovative Sony of the mid-to-late '70s >> >>Sony has always just been the 'reliable brandname' on equipment from a company big and powerful enough to roll in the innovations that other entities have pioneered in.
I believe you're mistaken. Sony is the company that invented videocassettes (Umatic and Betamax). Sony is the company that invented Betacam. The 3.5 inch floppy. The Compact Disc. Rewritable magneto-optical discs. THAT'S the company the grandparent poster was talking about when he said "innovative".
>>>i see no problem with supporting a new format, even if nobody uses it. browsers still support frames, don't they?
Glad you brought that up, because it's a perfect example of an Inefficiency. Imagine if, 15 years ago, Mozilla had decided not to adopt frames. The result today would be a leaner, less RAM-intensive browser.
I think that's what the current Mozilla lead is trying to avoid - not wasting resources on an Image format that in 2020 will be as little used as frames are today. He probably thinks WebP is destined for non-adoption. Like firewire. Or magneto-optical floppies.
Being able to choose among ~25 different car makers is great. Competition is good. It leads to reduced prices as the companies battle one another.
BUT if each one of those cars forced you to only drive on Ford or Honda or VW-built roads, because each car had a different wheel width (format), then that would be bad. Being forced into lock-in takes away the freedom of customer choice (and leads to higher prices, since the consumer is stuck).
A few days ago Slashdot posted a story about how Groups can make very, very poor decisions, especially when religious-like battles are involved (JPEG vs. WebP). You need someone at the top to make educated decisions based upon practical concerns ("Can Mozilla afford to support a JPEG v.Webp war?") rather than have a wikipedia-style community squabble break out.
Quote: "Adopting a new image format in Web browsers is a big decision. Once a format becomes a part of the Web, it will have to be supported in perpetuityâ"adding overhead to the browserâ"even if it largely fizzles and only gains a small niche following."
It's akin to if Web browsers were required to support failed formats like ANIM or HAM or IFF. In other words adding support for WebM wastes space in the program (and computer memory).
And I'm probably going to get modded -1 for comparing WebM to "failed formats" like HAM, but I think it's pretty obvious that WebM is destined for the same place as VESA and HD-VHS landed. Nice idea..... not adopted by the general public.
>>>it certainly doesn't affect the majority. Stop crying over spilled milk.
By this logic, you will keep your mouth shut when Mickeysoft stops supporting Skype for Linux or Mac OSes. Correct? (Somehow I don't believe you will.)
>>>What does the delivery have to do with the quality of the product?
Well one example is when I ordered a 10-game anthology, but amazon only delivered 5 games. It was not the fault of the product, nevertheless the product page was inaccurate (typo). So I left a negative reviewing stating "This package only comes with *5* games not 10," to warn other customers.
That's ultimately what the rating is for - to warn other customers before purchase of potential problems.
Well, how else are we pissed-off customers supposed to rate Amazon for poor service (or worse: damaged goods that were supposed to be "new" in quality)?
I don't see a rating bullet for amazon.com anywhere? And there should be. So until there is, I'd downrate their product and let other customers know if it's poorly packaged, or not-as-advertised (like when I purchased a 10-game anthology that was only 5 games).
Re:There is no such thing as karma.
on
Amazon Gags On Gaga
·
· Score: 1, Funny
>>>>>I had no problems at all downloading the album. >> >>I'd say the fact that you successfully downloaded the album in question is a sign of bad karma.
-1 Adult Acting Like a Teenager Who Never Learned Any Manners "Any comments that hurt or insult others are Not Acceptable."
Re:There is no such thing as karma.
on
Amazon Gags On Gaga
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
>>>I'd say the fact that you successfully downloaded the album is a sign of bad karma.
The music you listen to isn't any better. (Probably.) I like Gaga's songs, and radio music in general, which has led a lot of friends to criticize me for it. So I naturally ask, "What do you listen to?" and then they play stuff that sounds, amazingly, like the stuff on the radio. (Except with an 'alternative' label.)
Point: People are so damn quick to criticize other people's tastes. And I'm sick of it. If that guy wanted to download Gaga's album for 99 cents, big fucking deal. It's HIS life, not yours, so stop insulting the man.
And despite the changes in FourSquare, your grammar is still that of a semi-literate uneducated idiot.
Why is User AC so frequently rude??? The guy made a simple mistake (went should be gone). That's all. You bitching about that error is as silly as bitching about tihs typo.
Actually the Amiga version is inferior to the C64 version, because the guy who programmed it substituted WW2-style "ping" sounds. Problem: RSR isn't about ww2 subs. It's about modern subs with the deep bass "pong" sound.
There are a couple Amiga games like that where, despite more CPU power, the translation is actually worse than the original C64 game.
If you have an Amiga, you can legally copy the Kickstart ROM to your emulator and use it. Or let someone else do it for you (i.e. download it).
Good point about nostalgia. I often play Atari VCS/2600 games even though they are technically inferior to the arcade or Colecovision versions. It's reliving my youth.
In my case I never owned a DOS computer until Windows98, so there's no nostalgia there. I prefer the C64 or Amiga versions for those old 80s/90s games.
Get off my lawn. I still have the Atari VCS made in 1977. - AND I still have the original ~1975 television that I used to play it on when I was a kid! It simply refuses to die.;-)
Unless your game is using a non-standard keyboard. Example: Try playing Sid Meier's Red Storm Rising on an emulator. Since he wrote it to work with a C64 keyboard, you really need a C64. Hence the need for the original hardware.
But other than that, yes I agree emulators are easier to maintain and keep working. Unless you are playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time which uses the unique N64 controller, and is nigh-impossible to play on an emulator.
With just a few exceptions, an Atari 800 or Commodore 64 or Amiga emulator is better than any DOS-based games. Better graphics, better sound, and so simple even an idiot could make it work (standard hardware == console level simplicity == plug'n'play). No need to mess with complicated DOS configurations trying to make the carn-sarn-flippy-flam VGA or soundblasthing work. (Grrrr.)
For the era 1985 to 95, almost every game looks and plays better Via the Amiga version. Now when you're talking Pentium-level games, which are post 1995, those will eclipse what an Amiga could do. But still - no need for DOSbox. Windows XP will do the trick, or Windows98 if XP fails for some reason.
Yeah but what is there to prevent shoplifting? Those automated checkouts are fairly easy to "trick" and get 1 or 2 free products.
Example: About two months ago, a scanner subtracted an item after it had already rolled to the end of the belt. I could have bagged it easily w/o anyone noticing. With this "automated cart" I imagine it would be even easier.
Some smarter companies, like Volkswagen, are making it impossible to fix your own car by using non-standard sockets/wrenches. So that means you HAVE to go to the garage, and typically not an independent. You have to go to someone with the necessary VW tools.... aka the dealer.
Sounds like me. There are lots of games I look at and think, "$20 is kinda steep," and then remind myself if I don't like it I can just sell it on amazon and recoup my costs.
Same with books. Same with DVDs. (But not CDs unfortunately, which appear to be near-zero when used.)
Slashdot Mirror
>>>There are clearly and identifiably two classes of users: knowledgable and those that are using an appliance.
Yes but will eventually what will happen is that "computers" will disappear to be replaced by "appliances" that can't do anything but what the remote company lets them do. The knowledgeable users will be left with nothing but these dumb-downed machines.
As for the Status Bar:
I miss the little thing that says "100% done" or "document complete" or whatever. It lets me know the webpage has finished downloading, and now I can save it to my hard drive (if I wish).
>>>Firefox 4 is generally better. You can change your UI so that it is the same as FF3.6 also
You need to re-read his post. He doesn't care about superficial shit like appearance. He wants a small, lean browser like Firefox 2.5 was. Merely changing FF4 to look like FF3 or FF2 will NOT help him achieve his goal.
It's kinda ironic that Firefox was split-off from Netscape because Netscape was considered "too bloated" and now it's reached that same level of gigantism itself. It's also ironic that SeaMonkey (formerly netscape) is now less bloated than its child.
I concur.
Opera 11 has a partially-hidden URL bar, and it's very annoying. It shows me what site I'm visiting (example: youtube.com) but leaves off other relevant information like the Serial ID of the video.
Also the URL bar is a quick and easy way to jump to my next site (type amazon.com and go) or do a search ('topless beach' and enter). I cannot imagine why I would want to hide this useful Browser CLI from my view.
I also agree with the other fellow - stop copying Chrome. I tried the non-google Chromium and didn't like it at all (too many Firefox/Opera features are missing). Let Firefox be firefox and work on improving things that matter - such as a browser than doesn't require 1 gigabyte* of RAM to work.
*
* Yes I'm exaggerating. I just get annoyed the FF crawls like a snail on my 1/3 gig laptop, when other browsers operate fine with that limitation.
>>>I'm sorry, taking away a popular feature they no longer wanted to support isn't an invitation either.
In Europe it's worse than an invitation. It's a criminal offense, and Sony is required to give PS3 refunds to every customer who asks for one. Sony is guilty of false advertising and misrepresenting a product (claiming it could do OtherOS, and then disabling it). AKA bait and switch.
Sony is also guilty of installing viruses from Music CDs, and then destroying the computer with their removal tool (it made some HDDs unbootable). This hacking is simply a slap on the wrist. Sony deserves to be thrown in jail as far as I am concerned. They are getting off too easy.
>>>>>If someone could resurrect the innovative Sony of the mid-to-late '70s
>>
>>Sony has always just been the 'reliable brandname' on equipment from a company big and powerful enough to roll in the innovations that other entities have pioneered in.
I believe you're mistaken.
Sony is the company that invented videocassettes (Umatic and Betamax). Sony is the company that invented Betacam. The 3.5 inch floppy. The Compact Disc. Rewritable magneto-optical discs. THAT'S the company the grandparent poster was talking about when he said "innovative".
>>>i see no problem with supporting a new format, even if nobody uses it. browsers still support frames, don't they?
Glad you brought that up, because it's a perfect example of an Inefficiency. Imagine if, 15 years ago, Mozilla had decided not to adopt frames. The result today would be a leaner, less RAM-intensive browser.
I think that's what the current Mozilla lead is trying to avoid - not wasting resources on an Image format that in 2020 will be as little used as frames are today. He probably thinks WebP is destined for non-adoption. Like firewire. Or magneto-optical floppies.
Being able to choose among ~25 different car makers is great. Competition is good. It leads to reduced prices as the companies battle one another.
BUT if each one of those cars forced you to only drive on Ford or Honda or VW-built roads, because each car had a different wheel width (format), then that would be bad. Being forced into lock-in takes away the freedom of customer choice (and leads to higher prices, since the consumer is stuck).
A few days ago Slashdot posted a story about how Groups can make very, very poor decisions, especially when religious-like battles are involved (JPEG vs. WebP). You need someone at the top to make educated decisions based upon practical concerns ("Can Mozilla afford to support a JPEG v.Webp war?") rather than have a wikipedia-style community squabble break out.
Quote: "Adopting a new image format in Web browsers is a big decision. Once a format becomes a part of the Web, it will have to be supported in perpetuityâ"adding overhead to the browserâ"even if it largely fizzles and only gains a small niche following."
It's akin to if Web browsers were required to support failed formats like ANIM or HAM or IFF. In other words adding support for WebM wastes space in the program (and computer memory).
And I'm probably going to get modded -1 for comparing WebM to "failed formats" like HAM, but I think it's pretty obvious that WebM is destined for the same place as VESA and HD-VHS landed. Nice idea..... not adopted by the general public.
>>>it certainly doesn't affect the majority. Stop crying over spilled milk.
By this logic, you will keep your mouth shut when Mickeysoft stops supporting Skype for Linux or Mac OSes. Correct? (Somehow I don't believe you will.)
>>>What does the delivery have to do with the quality of the product?
Well one example is when I ordered a 10-game anthology, but amazon only delivered 5 games. It was not the fault of the product, nevertheless the product page was inaccurate (typo). So I left a negative reviewing stating "This package only comes with *5* games not 10," to warn other customers.
That's ultimately what the rating is for - to warn other customers before purchase of potential problems.
Well, how else are we pissed-off customers supposed to rate Amazon for poor service (or worse: damaged goods that were supposed to be "new" in quality)?
I don't see a rating bullet for amazon.com anywhere? And there should be. So until there is, I'd downrate their product and let other customers know if it's poorly packaged, or not-as-advertised (like when I purchased a 10-game anthology that was only 5 games).
>>>>>I had no problems at all downloading the album.
>>
>>I'd say the fact that you successfully downloaded the album in question is a sign of bad karma.
-1 Adult Acting Like a Teenager Who Never Learned Any Manners "Any comments that hurt or insult others are Not Acceptable."
>>>I'd say the fact that you successfully downloaded the album is a sign of bad karma.
The music you listen to isn't any better. (Probably.) I like Gaga's songs, and radio music in general, which has led a lot of friends to criticize me for it. So I naturally ask, "What do you listen to?" and then they play stuff that sounds, amazingly, like the stuff on the radio. (Except with an 'alternative' label.)
Point: People are so damn quick to criticize other people's tastes. And I'm sick of it. If that guy wanted to download Gaga's album for 99 cents, big fucking deal. It's HIS life, not yours, so stop insulting the man.
Anonymous Coward wrote:
And despite the changes in FourSquare, your grammar is still that of a semi-literate uneducated idiot.
Why is User AC so frequently rude??? The guy made a simple mistake (went should be gone). That's all. You bitching about that error is as silly as bitching about tihs typo.
>>>Our ISP gave everyone a "mandatory" free upgrade to 16mbps last year with ADSL2+
You get 16 mbit/s over DSL? Really??? I'd always heard (mainly from /.) that dsl == slower and inferior compared than cable.
I'm really impressed by Google's innovation.
They copied Opera (which already uses compact URLs).
Per usual.
Actually the Amiga version is inferior to the C64 version, because the guy who programmed it substituted WW2-style "ping" sounds. Problem: RSR isn't about ww2 subs. It's about modern subs with the deep bass "pong" sound.
There are a couple Amiga games like that where, despite more CPU power, the translation is actually worse than the original C64 game.
If you have an Amiga, you can legally copy the Kickstart ROM to your emulator and use it. Or let someone else do it for you (i.e. download it).
Good point about nostalgia. I often play Atari VCS/2600 games even though they are technically inferior to the arcade or Colecovision versions. It's reliving my youth.
In my case I never owned a DOS computer until Windows98, so there's no nostalgia there. I prefer the C64 or Amiga versions for those old 80s/90s games.
Get off my lawn. ;-)
I still have the Atari VCS made in 1977.
- AND I still have the original ~1975 television that I used to play it on when I was a kid! It simply refuses to die.
Unless your game is using a non-standard keyboard. Example: Try playing Sid Meier's Red Storm Rising on an emulator. Since he wrote it to work with a C64 keyboard, you really need a C64. Hence the need for the original hardware.
But other than that, yes I agree emulators are easier to maintain and keep working. Unless you are playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time which uses the unique N64 controller, and is nigh-impossible to play on an emulator.
With just a few exceptions, an Atari 800 or Commodore 64 or Amiga emulator is better than any DOS-based games. Better graphics, better sound, and so simple even an idiot could make it work (standard hardware == console level simplicity == plug'n'play). No need to mess with complicated DOS configurations trying to make the carn-sarn-flippy-flam VGA or soundblasthing work. (Grrrr.)
For the era 1985 to 95, almost every game looks and plays better Via the Amiga version. Now when you're talking Pentium-level games, which are post 1995, those will eclipse what an Amiga could do. But still - no need for DOSbox. Windows XP will do the trick, or Windows98 if XP fails for some reason.
Yeah but what is there to prevent shoplifting? Those automated checkouts are fairly easy to "trick" and get 1 or 2 free products.
Example: About two months ago, a scanner subtracted an item after it had already rolled to the end of the belt. I could have bagged it easily w/o anyone noticing. With this "automated cart" I imagine it would be even easier.
Some smarter companies, like Volkswagen, are making it impossible to fix your own car by using non-standard sockets/wrenches. So that means you HAVE to go to the garage, and typically not an independent. You have to go to someone with the necessary VW tools.... aka the dealer.
Sounds like me. There are lots of games I look at and think, "$20 is kinda steep," and then remind myself if I don't like it I can just sell it on amazon and recoup my costs.
Same with books. Same with DVDs. (But not CDs unfortunately, which appear to be near-zero when used.)