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User: gmack

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Comments · 2,131

  1. Re:wasn't this GIFF on GIF Becomes Word of the Year 2012 · · Score: 1

    People call it by it's extension and Dos only had 3 letter extensions.

  2. Re:Or even older on It's Hard For Techies Over 40 To Stay Relevant, Says SAP Lab Director · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    The heck? It took a half hour to display my posts and then both at once

  3. Re:Or even older on It's Hard For Techies Over 40 To Stay Relevant, Says SAP Lab Director · · Score: 0

    Forget that.. Young programmers tend to spend their first few years learning the hard way why showing off in their code only leads to tears. The counterpoint to your comment is a guy I once worked with named Marc. Marc was an accountant who taught himself to code in his 30s first with ASP and then with PHP. His code was meticulous and mostly bug free on the first try and when the company we worked with rand into hard times my boss subcontracted him to another company to sort out the efficiency issues they were having with their software.

    Personally, I'll take old and experienced over young and foolish any day.

  4. Re:Or even older on It's Hard For Techies Over 40 To Stay Relevant, Says SAP Lab Director · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The counter point to that was a programmer I once worked with named Marc who was an accountant who taught himself to code in his 30s first with ASP and then with PHP. The simple fact is that he was an amazing programmer. He didn't know every silly trick with the language but he was careful and put out mostly bug free code on his first try.

    The fact is that most programmers I know spend their early 20s making mistakes and learning the hard way why showing off while coding only leads to tears and I'll take older and experienced over young and foolish anyday.

  5. Re:Not required to use every package manager on Valve's Steam License Causes Linux Packaging Concerns · · Score: 1

    Or better yet, Valve can add a package or script on their website that adds the valve repo and then the distro makers don't need to care at all. It's a fix that works for both DEB and RPM and allows Valve to be in full control of their updates.

    There are many good reasons why Valve wouldn't want to be dependent on distro update schedules.

  6. Re:Let them go. on Secession Petitions Flood White House Website · · Score: 0

    Forget Canada.. don't want them in my country and I'm certain they wouldn't be happy anyways. I suggest Somalia: Limited government, no public health care and no gun control.

    It is exactly what they keep asking for so they should be happy there.

  7. Re:And that will also mark on GNOME 3.8 To Scrap Fallback Mode · · Score: 1

    Now, I can say the only thing I really don't like in XFCE is Thunar... for me it lacks lots of functionality (like, ffs, copy-paste with right button!). But even so, i cant even think of trying to use unity or gnome shell again.

    Thunar 1.2.3 here and I can copy and paste files and text(when renaming) with the right mouse button. Or am I missing something?

  8. Re:Smart Guy on Ask Slashdot: How Would You Convince Someone To Give Up an Old System? · · Score: 1

    My friend ran into the exact same argument about a website that was built using a hacked old version of Wordpress. It didn't matter that the website was insecure and couldn't be updated, looked like a bunch of children made it, or that the calendar needed to be hand edited each month. All that mattered was that the board member had warm feelings about looking at the website and seeing the things her and her friends had put there. Updating it would have made it not their work anymore so any attempts at an update must be stopped.

  9. Re:Like Apple? on Bill Gates Talks Windows Future, Touch Interfaces · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nothing to do with Luck. Microsoft's mistake was assuming people wanted a desktop experience on a device too small for it to be effective. They have now come to their senses and come up with a good cell phone experience but now want to do the opposite and inflict a mobile interface on their desktop users.

    As for Apple: The core kernel may be similar but their interfaces are completely different between desktop and mobile.

  10. Re:It's all tied together on Teen Suicide Tormentor Outed By Anonymous · · Score: 1

    I don't buy this. Yes, she screwed up by showing her breasts to some guy. That was her mistake. His crime was being an adult and talking a child into doing something she shouldn't be doing and then using those pictures to try and blackmail her into getting even more from her.

    How is it not a form of bullying when the pervert in question went out of his way to make sure her friends and family all saw the resulting pictures for the simple reason that he was angry at her for not getting what he wanted?

  11. Re:hybrid dual-stack on IPv6 Must Be Enabled On All US Government Sites By Sunday · · Score: 1

    That is for application level compatibility and only works if both hosts have valid ipv4 addresses. If only one side has ipv4 the ipv4 only machine will be unable to reply to the ipv6 only machine thanks to it's much larger address format.

  12. Re:That's like applying to be Canadian... on Woz Applying For Australian Citizenship Because of the NBN · · Score: 1

    You can dual if the US never finds out about your other passport. If you fly out of the US and present your other passport on arrival at the destination the US government will fine you and take the second passport the next time you are in the US.

  13. Re:by comparison on Cheap, Portable Ultrasound Could a Be Lifesaver . · · Score: 1
  14. Re:Unfriendly? on NVIDIA To Publicly Release Some Tegra GPU Documentation · · Score: 1

    Here is an example from a few years back. I bought a nice new laptop after confirming that all components were compatible with Linux but what I didn't expect was that the wireless driver and the video driver required different kernels and in the end I had a useless laptop for the two weeks it took me to have a new mini PCI-E wireless card shipped to me.

  15. Re:Hearing aids have been discussed before on Ask Slashdot: Hearing Aids That Directly Connect To Smart Phones? · · Score: 2

    I think what it really is the fact that most music is crap and always has been. When we are young we find a list of bands that we like and ignore most of everything else but as we grow older we have less time for doing that and since we already have music we like, we never get past the horribly bad crap that is on the radio this week.

  16. Re:Hearing aids have been discussed before on Ask Slashdot: Hearing Aids That Directly Connect To Smart Phones? · · Score: 1

    I have the same problem. I think it's related to the issue of background noise. Most people tell me that they stop hearing certain sounds such as clocks ticking and refrigerators humming, fans etc but that never happens to me. I hear all sounds in a room always.

    Makes getting to sleep a total pain.

  17. Re:They exist.... on Ask Slashdot: Hearing Aids That Directly Connect To Smart Phones? · · Score: 2

    Just found one on
    Aliexpress

  18. Re:You're right, it's a racket on Ask Slashdot: Hearing Aids That Directly Connect To Smart Phones? · · Score: 1

    I would buy that excuse if they hadn't extended that pricing to include accessories and non FDA mandated equipment as well.

    Adapter between a stereo headphone and an induction loop? Can't be more than $15 worth of electronics but they charge $200

    Wireless hearing assisted listening system (for conferences) The transmitters start at $3000 in the end my friend priced out an FM transmitter for $150. The receivers? $500 each. In the end we went with $5 FM radios and some.

    Hearing assisted doorbell that flickers the lights? $6000. I can read the doorbell using a current sensor and send the signal over WIFI to a smartphone (throwing in the smartphone and bluetooth bracelet) for a fraction of that cost.

  19. Re:Streisand effect? on Side-Effect of the Apple v. Samsung Trial: Increased Sales for Samsung · · Score: 2

    The obvious hyperbole aside, unless, of course, you were serious and do know of people with such obvious mental deficiencies, it is a bit rich that you would opt for a phone that is more limited and, likely, locked down than an iPhone.

    Likely what? Have you never used a Samsung? It is as capable as any other Android phone I've used. You are free to transfer files over USB.or WiFi and there is nothing stopping you from installing apps without using the app store.

    On top of that, they don't lock their boot loader so if you don't like their software rooting or installing a custom version of android is very simple.

    How does any of that qualify as locked down?

  20. Re:No, seriously on Designer Jon McCann: "More Optimistic About GNOME Than In a Long Time" · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I understand the rant: gonomee 2 was for techies-only, GNOME 3 not...

    It's exactly that sort of arrogance that has caused gnome 3 to be dropped from distros(even Debian is replacing it as default). The trouble with Gnome 3 is that they went off on a tangent in search of the "new" and forgot about the existing users.

  21. Re:Every keyboard is washable on Logitech Releases Washable Keyboard · · Score: 1

    My HP washable doesn't need to be dry to use it according to the manual and I've used it several times wet. It also sounds like it is much nicer to type on than that "rubber dome switches" Logitech since mine gives me a normal keyboard feel. It's also the first keyboard I have actually liked since I lost my old keyboard in a move 11 years ago. Having tried the screw driver method on keyboards in the past I have to say it's much nicer to be able to just hose the thing off and turn it upside down and shake it a couple of times before using.

  22. Re:"Witchunt" on Assange Makes Statement Calling For an End To the "Witch Hunt" · · Score: 1

    Temporary extraditions from Sweden are also formal extraditions and only apply to people who are on trial or in prison already. The only actual difference is that the person is required to be returned at the end of their court proceedings or prison sentence.

  23. Re:"Witchunt" on Assange Makes Statement Calling For an End To the "Witch Hunt" · · Score: 1

    So if I read that right, the UK had no problem with the extradition of Soering but he appealed to the EU court of human rights who blocked the extradition. You do realize that Sweden is also subject to the same EU court of human rights?

  24. Re:You've really never heard of VNC? on Ask Slashdot: Options For FOSS Remote Support Software? · · Score: 1

    If I'm connected via wireless modem, I'm stuck behind the horrid telco firewall that blocks listening services. In this case logmein works but listening mode will not.

  25. Re:"Witchunt" on Assange Makes Statement Calling For an End To the "Witch Hunt" · · Score: 1

    That's not even close to true According to the Swedish government The prosecutors office can block an application before it even gets considered but if the person being extradited objects to the extradition, the request must be approved by the courts.