First off, don't bother wasting your mod points on this one. The slashdot editors will take care of modding this one down for you.
The "spririt" of open-source software (which is always so highly praised on Slashdot) is openness and cooperation. Open source software contributors pride themselves on making their changes public for the benefit of all.
All the readers are wondering what is going on with the various bugs ('reply' buttons take you back to the homepage, can't login, etc.) that are preventing them from using the site.
Why, then, do the Slashdot editors fall silent when asked about the problems with the site?
Worse yet, many of the users actually use Slashcode on their own sites! Don't they deserve to know about bugs that may affect them? By "sweeping it under the rug", you are no better than Microsoft who tries to hide their bugs for months while they prepare a patch.
Your only response has been to mod down anyone who has pointed out these flaws to '-1', where their post won't be seen by most readers. That same "instant mod down" probably will happen to this post, too, and that's a shame.
As developers and coders ourselves, we are aware that all software has bugs. We'll forgive you! But it's time to come clean. Thank you.
Let's get something straight. The "spririt" of open-source software (which is always so highly praised on Slashdot) is openness and cooperation. Open source software contributors pride themselves on making their changes public for the benefit of all.
Why, then, do the Slashdot editors fall silent when asked about the problems with the site?
All the readers are wondering what is going on with the various bugs ('reply' buttons take you back to the homepage, can't login, etc.) that are preventing them from using the site.
Worse yet, many of the users actually use Slashcode on their own sites! Don't they deserve to know about bugs that may affect them? By "sweeping it under the rug", you are no better than Microsoft who tries to hide their bugs for months while they prepare a patch.
Your only response has been to mod down anyone who has pointed out these flaws to '-1', where their post won't be seen by most readers. That same "instant mod down" probably will happen to this post, too, and that's a shame.
As developers and coders ourselves, we are aware that all software has bugs. We'll forgive you! But it's time to come clean. Thank you.
new Slashdot sucks
on
Fling-A-Keg
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
Is it just me, or does the new version of the code that Slashdot is running just absolutely suck my balls?
In all seriousness, is this really the best that can be done? Are others experiencing all the same problems I am?
Just to clarify, I certainly know how to do it on the command line. My point is that if the GUI tool doesn't work (it seems not to), then there is no way for the clueless newbie to install software.
And how is that different from today? The number of non-geek people I know that have even HEARD of Linux, let alone use it, is ZERO.
Linux can be a great, powerful tool. But don't delude yourself into thinking that "it was a geek toy, and now it's for everyone." It is still very much a geek toy, a geek thing to do.
I want very much to have an alternative to Windows to recommend to my parents, girlfriend, non-tech coworkers, etc. But look - I'm pretty geeky, and Linux still confuses the hell out of me.
That is part ignorance on my part, and part bad UI on the part of Linux. Regardless, the progress being made with Gnome and KDE is the BEGINNING of what needs to be done to bring Linux up to the user friendliness level of Macintosh, and to a lesser extent, Windows.
Building a good GUI is great! But the ENTIRE OS needs consistency in look and feel, consistency in documentation.
Example: I've been using Linux for a few weeks now. I still can't figure out how to use Gnome to install software via.rpm (need to be root). Is that something I can remedy by reading man pages or usenet?
Most likely yes. However, the point is, you shouldn't have to read the documentation, and that thinking needs to be applied to the whole "OS" (kernel + associated programs and utilities)
The mouse is a Kensington optical USB mouse. It's got two large buttons, with a wheel in between them. It's 'clickable', I guess you could call it a 3rd button.
I have Gnome 1.4 on Red Hat 7.1 and I can't the mousewheel going. What is so hard about this? Is it really that difficult to make the GUI respond to a wheel mouse?
There is the mouseconfig utility, of course - but it offers no option for USB 2 button mouse with wheel, which is what I've got. There are settings for PS2 mice with wheels, and 3 button USB mice...
This is one of the things that drives me crazy about Linux... you have something that is clearly a massive effort involving a team of programmers - Apache web server for example, that manages to get finished and it works great. Yet something simple like a mousewheel doesn't work... I'm not a coder, so I can't fix it, and as far as I know, pointing out that it's broken doesn't count as "contributing to the project" - besides, surely someone knows it's broken. Suggestions?
If you have an infrared enabled PDA, you can often sync it with your phone using the infrared port.
Quite a few of the GSM phones have built in or add on infrared ports, and there are lots of Palm / PocketPC tools to talk to them using this interface.
Try running a search for "phone" on Palmgear.com. You can sync the phone numbers, and also compose ringtones and SMS messages on your PDA then upload them to the phone.
Because it's the best visual layout tool available for designing complex HTML pages with layers, tables, stylesheets, etc. Period.
It also manages to write decent (not great) code in the process, in contrast to every other GUI tool I've used.
The currently available HTML editors for Linux, while fine, are NOT the equivalent of Dreamweaver. Sometimes open source is the best tool, sometimes it isn't. In this case, Dreamweaver is easily the best tool.
Internet Explorer is the fastest web browser out there (sadly enough).
Opera has been the fastest web browser on every platform I've tried it on, from a Pentium 90 (Windows 2000) to a Celeron 333 (Red Hat 7.1) all the way up to dual 900 mhz Pentium IIIs (Windows 2000).
To the jerk with moderator points who has gone through this article and moderated down everyone who said anything bad about StarOffice, FUCK YOU.
There is a post by a guy who said "it's slow on my K6 266mhz, but I'll try it again when the new version comes out" and you moderated him as a "-1, troll"?
I pointed out that it was dumb of them to not use the standard Windows file Open/Save dialog boxes because it confuses users, and you hammered me as "-1, flamebait".
You are missing an important guideline for moderating - not to let your feelings get in the way. What a joke. How would you feel if some Microsoft flunky got mod points and moderated up everything that said "Linux sucks!" - probably not good, yet what you have done is the same thing.
If you want to see people's REAL experiences with StarOffice, you should read this article at a threshold of "0", otherwise you aren't getting the whole picture, which is that it's a good alternative, but also that it has a lot of problems. Thanks for reading.
To the jerk with moderator points who has gone through this article and moderated down everyone who said anything bad about StarOffice, FUCK YOU.
There is a post by a guy who said "it's slow on my K6 266mhz, but I'll try it again when the new version comes out" and you moderated him as a "-1, troll"?
I pointed out that it was dumb of them to not use the standard Windows file Open/Save dialog boxes because it confuses users, and you hammered me as "-1, flamebait".
You are missing an important guideline for moderating - not to let your feelings get in the way. What a joke. How would you feel if some Microsoft flunky got mod points and moderated up everything that said "Linux sucks!" - probably not good, yet what you have done is the same thing.
If you want to see people's REAL experiences with StarOffice, you should read this article at a threshold of "0", otherwise you aren't getting the whole picture, which is that it's a good alternative, but also that it has a lot of problems. Thanks for reading.
To the jerk with moderator points who has gone through this article and moderated down everyone who said anything bad about StarOffice, FUCK YOU.
There is a post by a guy who said "it's slow on my K6 266mhz, but I'll try it again when the new version comes out" and you moderated him as a "-1, troll"?
I pointed out that it was dumb of them to not use the standard Windows file Open/Save dialog boxes because it confuses users, and you hammered me as "-1, flamebait".
You are missing an important guideline for moderating - not to let your feelings get in the way. What a joke. How would you feel if some Microsoft flunky got mod points and moderated up everything that said "Linux sucks!" - probably not good, yet what you have done is the same thing.
If you want to see people's REAL experiences with StarOffice, you should read this article at a threshold of "0", otherwise you aren't getting the whole picture, which is that it's a good alternative, but also that it has a lot of problems. Thanks for reading.
Re:The only chance the industry has against micros
on
Linux Office Suites
·
· Score: 2
Ummmm, it needs it's own start button and desktop to try and compete with Windows/Office with paradigms that work, and people are familiar with.
Huh? We ALREADY have a start button, and we already know how to use it. Just add yourself to "Start/Program Files/Star Office" and everyone will be fine.
Re:The only chance the industry has against micros
on
Linux Office Suites
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I think StarOffice got off to a wonderful start.
Dude, StarOffice sucks. There is no other way to say it. Why does my Office Suite need it's own start button and desktop? WTF were they thinking?
Apparently, it doesn't use the standard Windows Open/Save dialogs, so you get some confusing thing instead. There is no file tree! If I'm six directories deep and I want to save something on the desktop, I have to click "up", "up", "up" six times. If I want to save to a network drive, I have to go up to the desktop, then my computer, then the network drive. Why don't they use the regular Windows popdown which shows all your network drives, etc?
I could go on and on about all the shit that's wrong with it. I wish they would just hire ONE interface designer to work with the 100 programmers. PLEASE. This is not hard, this is stuff anyone can observe in the first 5 minutes of using it.
You still need MS licenses....
on
Linux Office Suites
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
99% of people don't even have a clue that there is a world outside MS Office. I have problems receiving email attachments from these folks, because they have no idea that not everyone uses Outlook/Exchange.
They've never seen any other mail clients, and don't understand why people outside the company can't read their HTML mail with embedded OLE objects and attached vCard files. I play games with them... they send me Rich Text email, I change it to plain text and send it back. Their client is set to send Rich Text by default, so it gets changed back. Then if I reply again, I change it back to plain text. They must wonder what the hell is going on.
Many people could get by just fine with an "alternative" office suite, if they didn't have to exchange files with the computer illiterate.
Sorry, but ATI doesn't release ANY drivers for their Mobility series. That is the responsibility of your computer manufacturer. I have a Rage Mobility 128 in my laptop, and I love it.
LOL, and where do you think your laptop manufacturer gets the drivers they pass along to you? That's right, ATI! Imagine that.
I'll expand your question to ask about the Matrox G400 series under Linux. They are getting really cheap now... and I've been pleased with their high quality 2d on Windows. Worth grabbing one for use with Red Hat 7.1?
Slashdot Mirror
First off, don't bother wasting your mod points on this one. The slashdot editors will take care of modding this one down for you.
The "spririt" of open-source software (which is always so highly praised on Slashdot) is openness and cooperation. Open source software contributors pride themselves on making their changes public for the benefit of all.
All the readers are wondering what is going on with the various bugs ('reply' buttons take you back to the homepage, can't login, etc.) that are preventing them from using the site.
Why, then, do the Slashdot editors fall silent when asked about the problems with the site?
Worse yet, many of the users actually use Slashcode on their own sites! Don't they deserve to know about bugs that may affect them? By "sweeping it under the rug", you are no better than Microsoft who tries to hide their bugs for months while they prepare a patch.
Your only response has been to mod down anyone who has pointed out these flaws to '-1', where their post won't be seen by most readers. That same "instant mod down" probably will happen to this post, too, and that's a shame.
As developers and coders ourselves, we are aware that all software has bugs. We'll forgive you! But it's time to come clean. Thank you.
Why, then, do the Slashdot editors fall silent when asked about the problems with the site?
All the readers are wondering what is going on with the various bugs ('reply' buttons take you back to the homepage, can't login, etc.) that are preventing them from using the site.
Worse yet, many of the users actually use Slashcode on their own sites! Don't they deserve to know about bugs that may affect them? By "sweeping it under the rug", you are no better than Microsoft who tries to hide their bugs for months while they prepare a patch.
Your only response has been to mod down anyone who has pointed out these flaws to '-1', where their post won't be seen by most readers. That same "instant mod down" probably will happen to this post, too, and that's a shame.
As developers and coders ourselves, we are aware that all software has bugs. We'll forgive you! But it's time to come clean. Thank you.
In all seriousness, is this really the best that can be done? Are others experiencing all the same problems I am?
Just to clarify, I certainly know how to do it on the command line. My point is that if the GUI tool doesn't work (it seems not to), then there is no way for the clueless newbie to install software.
What? AFAIK, I can sell all the Linux licenses I want. (You'd be a fool to buy my 'licenses', but that doesn't stop me from selling them)
And how is that different from today? The number of non-geek people I know that have even HEARD of Linux, let alone use it, is ZERO.
Linux can be a great, powerful tool. But don't delude yourself into thinking that "it was a geek toy, and now it's for everyone." It is still very much a geek toy, a geek thing to do.
I want very much to have an alternative to Windows to recommend to my parents, girlfriend, non-tech coworkers, etc. But look - I'm pretty geeky, and Linux still confuses the hell out of me.
That is part ignorance on my part, and part bad UI on the part of Linux. Regardless, the progress being made with Gnome and KDE is the BEGINNING of what needs to be done to bring Linux up to the user friendliness level of Macintosh, and to a lesser extent, Windows.
Building a good GUI is great! But the ENTIRE OS needs consistency in look and feel, consistency in documentation.
Example: I've been using Linux for a few weeks now. I still can't figure out how to use Gnome to install software via .rpm (need to be root). Is that something I can remedy by reading man pages or usenet?
Most likely yes. However, the point is, you shouldn't have to read the documentation, and that thinking needs to be applied to the whole "OS" (kernel + associated programs and utilities)
So which mouse should I choose in mouseconfig?
I have Gnome 1.4 on Red Hat 7.1 and I can't the mousewheel going. What is so hard about this? Is it really that difficult to make the GUI respond to a wheel mouse?
There is the mouseconfig utility, of course - but it offers no option for USB 2 button mouse with wheel, which is what I've got. There are settings for PS2 mice with wheels, and 3 button USB mice...
This is one of the things that drives me crazy about Linux... you have something that is clearly a massive effort involving a team of programmers - Apache web server for example, that manages to get finished and it works great. Yet something simple like a mousewheel doesn't work... I'm not a coder, so I can't fix it, and as far as I know, pointing out that it's broken doesn't count as "contributing to the project" - besides, surely someone knows it's broken. Suggestions?
Quite a few of the GSM phones have built in or add on infrared ports, and there are lots of Palm / PocketPC tools to talk to them using this interface.
Try running a search for "phone" on Palmgear.com. You can sync the phone numbers, and also compose ringtones and SMS messages on your PDA then upload them to the phone.
It also manages to write decent (not great) code in the process, in contrast to every other GUI tool I've used.
The currently available HTML editors for Linux, while fine, are NOT the equivalent of Dreamweaver. Sometimes open source is the best tool, sometimes it isn't. In this case, Dreamweaver is easily the best tool.
Opera has been the fastest web browser on every platform I've tried it on, from a Pentium 90 (Windows 2000) to a Celeron 333 (Red Hat 7.1) all the way up to dual 900 mhz Pentium IIIs (Windows 2000).
To the jerk with moderator points who has gone through this article and moderated down everyone who said anything bad about StarOffice, FUCK YOU.
There is a post by a guy who said "it's slow on my K6 266mhz, but I'll try it again when the new version comes out" and you moderated him as a "-1, troll"?
I pointed out that it was dumb of them to not use the standard Windows file Open/Save dialog boxes because it confuses users, and you hammered me as "-1, flamebait".
You are missing an important guideline for moderating - not to let your feelings get in the way. What a joke. How would you feel if some Microsoft flunky got mod points and moderated up everything that said "Linux sucks!" - probably not good, yet what you have done is the same thing.
If you want to see people's REAL experiences with StarOffice, you should read this article at a threshold of "0", otherwise you aren't getting the whole picture, which is that it's a good alternative, but also that it has a lot of problems. Thanks for reading.
To the jerk with moderator points who has gone through this article and moderated down everyone who said anything bad about StarOffice, FUCK YOU.
There is a post by a guy who said "it's slow on my K6 266mhz, but I'll try it again when the new version comes out" and you moderated him as a "-1, troll"?
I pointed out that it was dumb of them to not use the standard Windows file Open/Save dialog boxes because it confuses users, and you hammered me as "-1, flamebait".
You are missing an important guideline for moderating - not to let your feelings get in the way. What a joke. How would you feel if some Microsoft flunky got mod points and moderated up everything that said "Linux sucks!" - probably not good, yet what you have done is the same thing.
If you want to see people's REAL experiences with StarOffice, you should read this article at a threshold of "0", otherwise you aren't getting the whole picture, which is that it's a good alternative, but also that it has a lot of problems. Thanks for reading.
Yes, I have noticed. What's your point?
And contrary to windoze, it is very normal to work more than a month without any crash.
You obviously never owned a Powerbook 5300 or any other Mac running OS 7.5 :(
I love Macs, too, but anyone who would call classic MacOS "stable" is full of shit.
I just downloaded and installed it 2 DAYS AGO. I can assure you, it still has the screwed up dialogs.
There is a post by a guy who said "it's slow on my K6 266mhz, but I'll try it again when the new version comes out" and you moderated him as a "-1, troll"?
I pointed out that it was dumb of them to not use the standard Windows file Open/Save dialog boxes because it confuses users, and you hammered me as "-1, flamebait".
You are missing an important guideline for moderating - not to let your feelings get in the way. What a joke. How would you feel if some Microsoft flunky got mod points and moderated up everything that said "Linux sucks!" - probably not good, yet what you have done is the same thing.
If you want to see people's REAL experiences with StarOffice, you should read this article at a threshold of "0", otherwise you aren't getting the whole picture, which is that it's a good alternative, but also that it has a lot of problems. Thanks for reading.
Huh? We ALREADY have a start button, and we already know how to use it. Just add yourself to "Start/Program Files/Star Office" and everyone will be fine.
Dude, StarOffice sucks. There is no other way to say it. Why does my Office Suite need it's own start button and desktop? WTF were they thinking?
Apparently, it doesn't use the standard Windows Open/Save dialogs, so you get some confusing thing instead. There is no file tree! If I'm six directories deep and I want to save something on the desktop, I have to click "up", "up", "up" six times. If I want to save to a network drive, I have to go up to the desktop, then my computer, then the network drive. Why don't they use the regular Windows popdown which shows all your network drives, etc?
I could go on and on about all the shit that's wrong with it. I wish they would just hire ONE interface designer to work with the 100 programmers. PLEASE. This is not hard, this is stuff anyone can observe in the first 5 minutes of using it.
They've never seen any other mail clients, and don't understand why people outside the company can't read their HTML mail with embedded OLE objects and attached vCard files. I play games with them... they send me Rich Text email, I change it to plain text and send it back. Their client is set to send Rich Text by default, so it gets changed back. Then if I reply again, I change it back to plain text. They must wonder what the hell is going on.
Many people could get by just fine with an "alternative" office suite, if they didn't have to exchange files with the computer illiterate.
This is the ONE issue stopping me from buying an iBook.
LOL, and where do you think your laptop manufacturer gets the drivers they pass along to you? That's right, ATI! Imagine that.
I'll expand your question to ask about the Matrox G400 series under Linux. They are getting really cheap now... and I've been pleased with their high quality 2d on Windows. Worth grabbing one for use with Red Hat 7.1?
They have basically stopped driver updates on the Mobility series, even though that chipset is used in many CURRENTLY shipping products.
They won't fix dual display under Windows 2000/XP, even though every other manufacturer has figured it out.
If you are in the market for a laptop, I would highly recommend getting something with the new Nvidia chipset.
Yes, and that would be a dramatic increase. Which is exactly what I said.