You can still execute Photoshop, Illustrator, IE, Word, Quake, AutoCAD, 3DSMAX, and every other Windows application from the command line. That is, if you know the path to the executable.
Also consider that AutoCAD has its very own console for entering commands. Instead of hunting for "Center Of..." in the OSnap toolbar, you can just type "cen [enter]" in the console.
Yes, but what if it takes over 7 mouse clicks just to get to the Run dialog through the Start Menu? Or if a 500K theme graphic has to be loaded just for the Run dialog box?
That's just too much. The command line should be one key combination away. Hence my Quake-style console idea.
I like the current method of installing games on Linux: copy the data files and get the Linux binaries, or a Linux-friendly install client that opens all of the InstallShield/WISE data files and installs everything properly. After all, isn't that how Linux itself was installed for a while?
It's simple: all of the people using Win9X and Mac OS are so infatuated with their point, click, and crash interface, and they see Linux and BSD as the de-evolution of the operating system. Nothing could be further from the truth; X11 and the window managers (GNOME, KDE, etc.) are starting to get really stable, and OSS is beginning to rival DirectSound in performance. However, any onlookers are immediately turned off by the very sight of an 80x25 text-mode display; they're instantly reminded of the DOS days before Windows was even stable.
I should admit it; I use Windows 2000, but I use the "Run" keyboard shortcut at least 200 times a day, and I'm interested in making a Quake-style console that acts as a hybrid DOS-box that can be popped down with a simple key-combination (maybe SysRq would be a good combination; after all, what if you need to type in a tilde in the command line?).
I've seen the screenshots of the Windows XP interface, and I am utterly disgusted. Much like MacOS, extensive mouse usage is encouraged. All that Microsoft would have to do is make perfectly circular mice with one button, and then the circle would be complete. I, as well as other avid "Run" users, fear the day that Microsoft goes the way of the Mac: completely point, click, crash.
Probably the first and last time a major news network has copied off of The Daily Show's ideas. Well, ever since the Peabody award, probably not the last.
You gotta admit, they hit the nail right on the head when they kept saying "Indecision 2000". In a time when every other news network was acting like the Earth was going to explode just because the U.S. was in electoral limbo, The Daily Show revealed the funny side of it all. Even my pet bird laughed at Jon Stewart's antics while I was watching the show in the second week of December.
Perhaps the title "Indecision 2000" was one of the reasons why they won the Peabody award. At least they didn't indirectly sway the election itself by making a hasty prediction, like the other anchors did.
I've soured away from The Daily Show ever since Craig Kilborn left (he was just so much more professional than Jon Stewart), but I never expected the show to win anything other than laughter from the audience and disdain from the other news shows (I think they actually had Sam Donaldson and Wolf Blitzer on two different shows).
Still, it's ironic that the winner of this award isn't a legitimate news show; it's a parody of all the other shows, with the most absurd parts exaggerated (one of my personal favorites being the spoof of the Dateline Timeline). I can just see Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather all down on their knees, shouting, "WHYYYYYYY?!?!"
Why are American cable and DSL speeds so low, and where is this artificial limit coming from?
Two words: Baby Bells. Verizon, SBC, and Qwest are all responsible for the operations at the central offices. Their competitors depend on their circuits. Therefore, it's only natural to start yanking plugs out of DSLAMs, tweak the DSLAMs to run much slower, or mess around with the competitor's routing. It's human nature; what would Linus Torvalds do if he had Bill Gates on a choke collar?
Agreed. But still, I've seen iMac owners asking if they can upgrade the hard drive or the video card. They wanted better, and Apple's disdain for expansion prevented them from getting better.
Agreed. When I installed RedHat 6.2 on my off-to-the-side Celeron machine, I couldn't get Samba to network to my main Win2K machinedue to a password security issue. I was typing in the Administrator password for the host machine, yet I still couldn't get in.
Sure, if I upgraded Samba, I probably could've solved that issue, but it just goes to show that Microsoft doesn't care for outside competition.
DoubleClick's ad server is bound to localhost so that my browser can't view the banners. Proof that I don't care about DoubleClick. I don't really care for them, either.
Still, that's the difference between probable and definite; though this may not be certain, it very well could happen, and Microsoft has the resources to enforce it.
Just today on ZDNet, Microsoft's OEM PC guidelines for a manufactured PC to receive the Windows XP sticker have just been exposed. One of them really gets my attention:
The system does not allow end-user access to expansion bus cards. This means users will no longer routinely open their PCs to add peripherals.
What Microsoft wants is for every WinXP PC to have four USB ports and at least two IEEE-1394 ports (one on notebooks). Essentially, this means that Microsoft wants to discourage users from undertaking major upgrades. Of course, there will never be IEEE-1394 video cards, and the best and fastest drives connect to either IDE or SCSI on the inside of the system. For all hardcore computer users/builders, this is outright blasphemy and a threat to the user's right to augment his/her system with new and more powerful devices.
Needless to say, I'll be sticking with Windows 2000, since there's no such draconian hardware policy embedded in the OS. Either Doug Miller will have some serious explaining to do, or he'll have to continue with Microsoft's current plan of marketing XP to the newbies and yuppies who can't tell IDE from AGP.
...wait 'til you hear this: NESN (New England Sports Network), a premium cable channel owned jointly by the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Bruins, is about to become standard on all cable packages in New England, including basic cable. Also, cable rates in New England are going up again by about $10; my family is already paying $60 per month for analog cable.
Are these two announcements a coincidence? I say that they aren't. Essentially, the Red Sox and the Bruins are charging all the cable subscribers a $10 per month fee, which means that $120 per year per cable subscriber goes directly to the two teams. To make matters worse, the Bruins haven't won a Stanley Cup in 30 years, and the Red Sox haven't won a World Series in over 80 years. And neither team looks promising for the future (the Bruins just might get into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, but probably won't hold up so well if they do get a playoff spot; the Red Sox won't be seeing Nomar Garciaparra on the field for at least three months due to an aggravated wrist injury). In my opinion, all of the New England cable subscribers have become the victims of two evil organisations that never deliver on their promises.
When Win2K was released, many companies and organizations remained with NT4 for a while (my college is STILL using NT4 all over the place, for example, but the IT head is playing around with Win2K and has built a prototype Win2K workstation already). After much time, organizations finally upgraded, seeing that Win2K was indeed much better at almost everything than NT4 was.
With WinXP, the situation is alike and different at the same time. Sure, they'll miss out on the "new features", but then again, if they stay with NT4/Win2K, all of their machines won't be connecting to Microsoft at random times, thereby saving much network traffic on the intranet. Furthermore, the new GUI would involve having to relearn the entire OS all over again; companies can't afford to waste time just to get their employees to learn a new interface. Also, the automatic updating would be an IT nightmare; what would happen if some hacker uploaded a trojan onto Microsoft's XP update server, and then every XP machine on the planet had a hard-drive erasing, EEPROM flashing virus?
This is why I advocate remaining with Windows 2000, and only upgrading NT4 to Windows 2000. Windows XP is simply full of glitz and promises, signifying nothing.
I don't care how much they tout the new "features", or how much they try to force us to upgrade; I'm sticking with Windows 2000.
Why? All I need is the 5-word, 25-character product key (and not some hardware-generated code) to install Win2K fresh, and I don't have to deal with a dumbed-down, "Steve Jobs and the Mac Users" interface. Windows 2000 serves me well, and I'm sticking with it. Hell, I don't even know if I want to install service packs anymore.
Ya know, hiding booze around the space station is an early warning sign of alcoholism.
On that note, I begin "To Steer a Mir you clearly need a beer" by The Capitol Steps:
(sung to the tune of that "Plains in Spain" song from "My Fair Lady"; TT text is sung by cosmonauts.)
To Steer a Mir you clearly need a beer.
Comrades have got it? Comrades have got it!
How do you get from there to here? We will steer! we will steer!
Yeah, and what is crystal clear? Our beer! Our beer!
YEAH! To Steer a Mir you clearly need a beer!
Houston, we have a drinking problem! Objects in Mir are nearer than they appear!
Slashdot Mirror
Knowing NorthPoint, restarting the network will be harder than starting a Ford Pinto in sub-zero temperatures with sugar in the gas tank!
Also consider that AutoCAD has its very own console for entering commands. Instead of hunting for "Center Of..." in the OSnap toolbar, you can just type "cen [enter]" in the console.
That's just too much. The command line should be one key combination away. Hence my Quake-style console idea.
I like the current method of installing games on Linux: copy the data files and get the Linux binaries, or a Linux-friendly install client that opens all of the InstallShield/WISE data files and installs everything properly. After all, isn't that how Linux itself was installed for a while?
Makes me wonder why more women aren't inspired into taking Computer Science.
Hey, by opening your mouth, you brought it on yourself. Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if he kept his mouth shut.
I should admit it; I use Windows 2000, but I use the "Run" keyboard shortcut at least 200 times a day, and I'm interested in making a Quake-style console that acts as a hybrid DOS-box that can be popped down with a simple key-combination (maybe SysRq would be a good combination; after all, what if you need to type in a tilde in the command line?).
I've seen the screenshots of the Windows XP interface, and I am utterly disgusted. Much like MacOS, extensive mouse usage is encouraged. All that Microsoft would have to do is make perfectly circular mice with one button, and then the circle would be complete. I, as well as other avid "Run" users, fear the day that Microsoft goes the way of the Mac: completely point, click, crash.
Then again, Augusta Ada Lovelace was the world's first female programmer. Sweet!
Probably the first and last time a major news network has copied off of The Daily Show's ideas. Well, ever since the Peabody award, probably not the last.
Perhaps the title "Indecision 2000" was one of the reasons why they won the Peabody award. At least they didn't indirectly sway the election itself by making a hasty prediction, like the other anchors did.
Still, it's ironic that the winner of this award isn't a legitimate news show; it's a parody of all the other shows, with the most absurd parts exaggerated (one of my personal favorites being the spoof of the Dateline Timeline). I can just see Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather all down on their knees, shouting, "WHYYYYYYY?!?!"
That is, until I saw it on an MSNBC article.
Two words: Baby Bells. Verizon, SBC, and Qwest are all responsible for the operations at the central offices. Their competitors depend on their circuits. Therefore, it's only natural to start yanking plugs out of DSLAMs, tweak the DSLAMs to run much slower, or mess around with the competitor's routing. It's human nature; what would Linus Torvalds do if he had Bill Gates on a choke collar?
Equal treatment across all the boards!
Agreed. But still, I've seen iMac owners asking if they can upgrade the hard drive or the video card. They wanted better, and Apple's disdain for expansion prevented them from getting better.
Sure, if I upgraded Samba, I probably could've solved that issue, but it just goes to show that Microsoft doesn't care for outside competition.
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
DoubleClick's ad server is bound to localhost so that my browser can't view the banners. Proof that I don't care about DoubleClick. I don't really care for them, either.
Still, that's the difference between probable and definite; though this may not be certain, it very well could happen, and Microsoft has the resources to enforce it.
The system does not allow end-user access to expansion bus cards. This means users will no longer routinely open their PCs to add peripherals.
What Microsoft wants is for every WinXP PC to have four USB ports and at least two IEEE-1394 ports (one on notebooks). Essentially, this means that Microsoft wants to discourage users from undertaking major upgrades. Of course, there will never be IEEE-1394 video cards, and the best and fastest drives connect to either IDE or SCSI on the inside of the system. For all hardcore computer users/builders, this is outright blasphemy and a threat to the user's right to augment his/her system with new and more powerful devices.
Needless to say, I'll be sticking with Windows 2000, since there's no such draconian hardware policy embedded in the OS. Either Doug Miller will have some serious explaining to do, or he'll have to continue with Microsoft's current plan of marketing XP to the newbies and yuppies who can't tell IDE from AGP.
Watch out, SP6 is also called "the service pack that broke it all". Hence why they later released SP6a.
Are these two announcements a coincidence? I say that they aren't. Essentially, the Red Sox and the Bruins are charging all the cable subscribers a $10 per month fee, which means that $120 per year per cable subscriber goes directly to the two teams. To make matters worse, the Bruins haven't won a Stanley Cup in 30 years, and the Red Sox haven't won a World Series in over 80 years. And neither team looks promising for the future (the Bruins just might get into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, but probably won't hold up so well if they do get a playoff spot; the Red Sox won't be seeing Nomar Garciaparra on the field for at least three months due to an aggravated wrist injury). In my opinion, all of the New England cable subscribers have become the victims of two evil organisations that never deliver on their promises.
With WinXP, the situation is alike and different at the same time. Sure, they'll miss out on the "new features", but then again, if they stay with NT4/Win2K, all of their machines won't be connecting to Microsoft at random times, thereby saving much network traffic on the intranet. Furthermore, the new GUI would involve having to relearn the entire OS all over again; companies can't afford to waste time just to get their employees to learn a new interface. Also, the automatic updating would be an IT nightmare; what would happen if some hacker uploaded a trojan onto Microsoft's XP update server, and then every XP machine on the planet had a hard-drive erasing, EEPROM flashing virus?
This is why I advocate remaining with Windows 2000, and only upgrading NT4 to Windows 2000. Windows XP is simply full of glitz and promises, signifying nothing.
Why? All I need is the 5-word, 25-character product key (and not some hardware-generated code) to install Win2K fresh, and I don't have to deal with a dumbed-down, "Steve Jobs and the Mac Users" interface. Windows 2000 serves me well, and I'm sticking with it. Hell, I don't even know if I want to install service packs anymore.
They're a motley crew of former Senate staffers. Mostly men, a few women.
On that note, I begin "To Steer a Mir you clearly need a beer" by The Capitol Steps:
(sung to the tune of that "Plains in Spain" song from "My Fair Lady"; TT text is sung by cosmonauts.)
To Steer a Mir you clearly need a beer.
Comrades have got it?
Comrades have got it!
How do you get from there to here?
We will steer! we will steer!
Yeah, and what is crystal clear?
Our beer! Our beer!
YEAH!
To Steer a Mir you clearly need a beer!
Houston, we have a drinking problem!
Objects in Mir are nearer than they appear!