Actually, it's the awful commenters that are turning people away.
For example, you only had to do a search in the Slashdot Search bar for 'Google Tax' to see half a dozen published stories about Google's tax exploits.
This is a good point. People are quick to confuse Apple with a company that actually innovates and pushes boundaries and stuff, when in fact, they just release highly-polished (and sometimes very well-timed) products that are often 5 or 10 years old.
I bought a Samsung Chronos Notebook a year ago, and it was a horrible experience.
The touchpad broke twice.
The headphone socket produced a buzz every time the laptop was plugged into the mains.
The WiFi kept disconnecting
Out of date drivers that have never been updated.
No support for Windows 8.
Terrible support staff who were either incompetent, lazy, or bored.
Badly written system software: it takes a full 20 seconds to enable/disable the WiFi, no support for non-administrators, it's intrusive and yet it's also required for full system functionality.
Even if all the hardware on this new model is up to scratch, nothing else has changed, and this deal will leave you sour. Basically, don't expect any real after-sales support in the way you probably expect it from most other laptop manufacturers. If you think of it as an appliance (like a TV) and never upgrade it, you *may* be fine.
Change gears down. It's called engine braking. Change to a lower gear and your engine will either explode, or it will slow down. Either way, you'll stop.
Or how about the handbrake? You may skid, yes, but you will also slow down.
Got an ignition switch? Turn it off.
Got keys in the ignition? Take them out.
ProTip! if you're keen for a joy-ride, call the police first and pretend your car's gone crazy. Not only do you get to legitimately drive faster than you've ever driven before, but the police will also clear the roads for you.
A 256GB HD, 4GB RAM, and a low resolution display just doesn't cut it for brand new hardware these days. It's rare (and expensive!) to find Ultrabooks with better specs than this.
Ultrabooks look nice - but if they're less powerful than my current hardware, why would I want to change?
We have repeated cases of people going to court to dispute 'fair use', which shows that it is not well defined enough for humans to get right, let alone automated bots.
Lay down specific rules for 'fair use' and then you can write an algorithm to respect those rules.
Hmmm...interesting. I tried ordering a couple of films about 6 months ago, and got a message from Amazon saying they were unable to ship the product to my specific region. But it seems to work OK now.
Legal means for getting media when needed? Like iTunes...
Has only a limited range of choice in New Zealand.
Netflix
Not available in New Zealand.
Hulu
Not available in New Zealand.
AmazonMp3
Not available in New Zealand.
Amazon
Will not ship DVDs or CDs to New Zealand.
paid Pandora
Not available in New Zealand.
and any other of a plethora of easy to use and economical means of legally "getting media"?
Tell me more about this 'plethora' of legally accessible media in New Zealand.
Sounds like Kim Dotcom was providing a service where there is demand, but no supply.
Seriously - has anyone surveyed a good cross section of women to ask why they are not interested in IT?
I'm sure there are a couple of women reading this site - could you tell us why you decided to go into IT (assuming you are), and why your friends aren't?
Basically, every time these stories get posted, we get hundreds of comments from guys trying to explain why more women aren't in IT. At no point does anyone ask women directly why they aren't in IT...
Especially in light of the UK's recent decision to block The Pirate Bay.
I wonder what the legal recourse would be if this tool found the government in your respective 'free' democratic country was blocking sites for political reasons...? Could anyone sue the UK government if they were found to be blocking sites without providing a genuine legal reason for doing so?
So many responses to this question (and previous similar questions) try to take guesses and assumptions as to why women don't choose software development as a career choice.
Has anyone thought to actually ask women directly?
I know this is Slashdot, but surely somebody somebody has done a survey of a broad spectrum of women to ask:
a) Why they never chose to do software development in the first place.
and
b) Why they wouldn't consider doing it now?
So how does this work for those people who actually enjoy their place of work, and the people they work with? Where's the office banter? The camaraderie? The sneaky lunchtime visits to the pub?
What about training? How do train someone to work on your product if there's no one there to train them up and show them the ropes?
Sure you can argue that working form home does not suit every business, but to the those businesses that encourage it (i.e. O2) I would ask - how do you build a team that has never actually met?
I buy large disks in pairs these days. One drive sits permanently inside my desktop machine, the other (identical size from same manufacturer) sits in a generic external USB2 enclosure. Backup maybe once a week (using Microsoft SyncToy), and keep the drive with you (in your car, rucksack, draw at work, whatever...).
That way you get both file redundancy and geographical redundancy. It doesn't matter if your house burnt down (well, it won't matter *that* much...) because all your important (non-replaceable) data is still safe, physically separate from the main desktop.
Like you, my data allowance is cr*p, and I don't trust online backup solutions. Do it all yourself - it's the only way to be sure.
This is quite sad. I obviously prefer my source of knowledge to be up-to-date, and easily accessible, so online encyclopedias make sense.
But...I find it quite charming flicking through copies of encyclopedias that are more than 20 years old, seeing a snapshot of our knowledge at the time, and seeing how we've moved on since then.
And what library was complete without a complete set of these on their shelves?
Slashdot Mirror
Oracle releases a Java SE update to plug security vulnerabilities, but the installer still prompts me to install the 'Ask Search App' by default.
Does anyone see a conflict of interest here?
On the plus side, it seems that our galaxy is one of the 10% capable of supporting life.
So at least we only have to start looking locally...
Actually, it's the awful commenters that are turning people away. For example, you only had to do a search in the Slashdot Search bar for 'Google Tax' to see half a dozen published stories about Google's tax exploits.
This is a good point. People are quick to confuse Apple with a company that actually innovates and pushes boundaries and stuff, when in fact, they just release highly-polished (and sometimes very well-timed) products that are often 5 or 10 years old.
For example...?
I bought a Samsung Chronos Notebook a year ago, and it was a horrible experience.
The touchpad broke twice.
The headphone socket produced a buzz every time the laptop was plugged into the mains.
The WiFi kept disconnecting
Out of date drivers that have never been updated.
No support for Windows 8.
Terrible support staff who were either incompetent, lazy, or bored.
Badly written system software: it takes a full 20 seconds to enable/disable the WiFi, no support for non-administrators, it's intrusive and yet it's also required for full system functionality.
Even if all the hardware on this new model is up to scratch, nothing else has changed, and this deal will leave you sour. Basically, don't expect any real after-sales support in the way you probably expect it from most other laptop manufacturers. If you think of it as an appliance (like a TV) and never upgrade it, you *may* be fine.
Change gears down. It's called engine braking. Change to a lower gear and your engine will either explode, or it will slow down. Either way, you'll stop.
Or how about the handbrake? You may skid, yes, but you will also slow down.
Got an ignition switch? Turn it off.
Got keys in the ignition? Take them out.
ProTip! if you're keen for a joy-ride, call the police first and pretend your car's gone crazy. Not only do you get to legitimately drive faster than you've ever driven before, but the police will also clear the roads for you.
Result!
We can't even decide what is morally correct between ourselves as human beings. Take abortion for example...
Which was nice...
For most users doing most end user stuff, 4gb is plenty.
Most users doing most end user stuff prefer using iPads instead. Who is the target audience for Ultrabooks?
A 256GB HD, 4GB RAM, and a low resolution display just doesn't cut it for brand new hardware these days. It's rare (and expensive!) to find Ultrabooks with better specs than this.
Ultrabooks look nice - but if they're less powerful than my current hardware, why would I want to change?
We have repeated cases of people going to court to dispute 'fair use', which shows that it is not well defined enough for humans to get right, let alone automated bots.
Lay down specific rules for 'fair use' and then you can write an algorithm to respect those rules.
(Just don't let RIAA/MPAA dictate the rules.)
I consider it a protest against bad security......
And will you still be supporting their actions when you find your own personal bank details on that list?
Seriously - this just causes hassle for *everyone*, and is not a good way to drum up support for your ill-defined and unfocussed protest.
"Into Eternity" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/11/into-eternity-film-review), which documents the staggering engineering requirements of creating a nuclear bunker designed to last a million times longer than any man made object ever created.
The scale of the work involved is almost beyond comprehension. And a hard disk is just a fraction of that work.
It will blow your mind.
Hmmm...interesting. I tried ordering a couple of films about 6 months ago, and got a message from Amazon saying they were unable to ship the product to my specific region. But it seems to work OK now.
Is this a recent development?
Legal means for getting media when needed? Like iTunes...
Has only a limited range of choice in New Zealand.
Netflix
Not available in New Zealand.
Hulu
Not available in New Zealand.
AmazonMp3
Not available in New Zealand.
Amazon
Will not ship DVDs or CDs to New Zealand.
paid Pandora
Not available in New Zealand.
and any other of a plethora of easy to use and economical means of legally "getting media"?
Tell me more about this 'plethora' of legally accessible media in New Zealand. Sounds like Kim Dotcom was providing a service where there is demand, but no supply.
Has anyone bothered to ask women directly why they chose not to do Computer Science?
You know, rather than just guessing...
Seriously - has anyone surveyed a good cross section of women to ask why they are not interested in IT?
I'm sure there are a couple of women reading this site - could you tell us why you decided to go into IT (assuming you are), and why your friends aren't?
Basically, every time these stories get posted, we get hundreds of comments from guys trying to explain why more women aren't in IT. At no point does anyone ask women directly why they aren't in IT...
Especially in light of the UK's recent decision to block The Pirate Bay.
I wonder what the legal recourse would be if this tool found the government in your respective 'free' democratic country was blocking sites for political reasons...? Could anyone sue the UK government if they were found to be blocking sites without providing a genuine legal reason for doing so?
So many responses to this question (and previous similar questions) try to take guesses and assumptions as to why women don't choose software development as a career choice.
Has anyone thought to actually ask women directly?
I know this is Slashdot, but surely somebody somebody has done a survey of a broad spectrum of women to ask:
a) Why they never chose to do software development in the first place.
and
b) Why they wouldn't consider doing it now?
So how does this work for those people who actually enjoy their place of work, and the people they work with? Where's the office banter? The camaraderie? The sneaky lunchtime visits to the pub?
What about training? How do train someone to work on your product if there's no one there to train them up and show them the ropes?
Sure you can argue that working form home does not suit every business, but to the those businesses that encourage it (i.e. O2) I would ask - how do you build a team that has never actually met?
Agreed 2!
I buy large disks in pairs these days. One drive sits permanently inside my desktop machine, the other (identical size from same manufacturer) sits in a generic external USB2 enclosure. Backup maybe once a week (using Microsoft SyncToy), and keep the drive with you (in your car, rucksack, draw at work, whatever...).
That way you get both file redundancy and geographical redundancy. It doesn't matter if your house burnt down (well, it won't matter *that* much...) because all your important (non-replaceable) data is still safe, physically separate from the main desktop.
Like you, my data allowance is cr*p, and I don't trust online backup solutions. Do it all yourself - it's the only way to be sure.
...with that onboard camera? Please?
To hush the anti-moon-landing conspiracists once and for all.
Oooh! Snap!
This is quite sad. I obviously prefer my source of knowledge to be up-to-date, and easily accessible, so online encyclopedias make sense. But...I find it quite charming flicking through copies of encyclopedias that are more than 20 years old, seeing a snapshot of our knowledge at the time, and seeing how we've moved on since then. And what library was complete without a complete set of these on their shelves?