Amigas were cheaper than the IBM PCs and short list of clones available at the time and much less expensive than the Macs. They weren't cheaper than the 8 bit computers of their day, but then they weren't 8 bit computers. The Amiga had four channel, stereo sound compared to the bleeps and bloops of PCs and Macs, 4096 colors instead of 16 or plain black and white, and a multitasking operating system a decade before Windows. And because of the assistance of parallel processing, the Amiga could execute most software operations much more quickly than any of the competition. The DOS world competed by branding the Amiga a "gaming" computer, despite the fact that at that time superior gaming performance clearly demonstrated superior performance across the board.
Ultimately, the Amiga did fall behind, but only after Commodore itself folded and nearly a decade after its introduction.
Any shareholder who would invest in a company that actually perceived a duty to kill humans in pursuit of profit is a fool of an investor. A company proven to willfully kill people will get torpedoed by lawsuits and face ruination. Google what happened to Union Carbide after the Bhopal disaster.
You may be on to something here, but none of your examples represent a 'contract'. There is no public interest in private medical records or mail, or conversations regardless of public funding, but with a contract between the government and a private corporation, that situation changes. When I was working for the public school system, my salary was a matter of public record and posted on the website that I maintained, because the public had a right to know how their money was spent. Why should this be any different. Further, we aren't discussing matters of personal privacy, but corporate privacy, and when tax money's involved, I see no reason for full disclosure.
'Evoke' you idiot. Not 'invoke'. Now go put your nose back in the dictionary again and don't take it out until you can post on Slashdot without making that kind of embarrassing mistake again.
Sorry for the confusion here, folks.
-The other half of Psion's brain.
I am holding in my hands... well, no, I held it, but now I've put it down so I could type... the implant used twenty years ago to pin my femur back together after a slip on ice. Now that's hardly a comment on modern procedures, BUT while the device was implanted, I was quite aware of it and it impeded my mobility somewhat. I had difficulty squatting, couldn't raise that foot behind my head, etc., although I kept trying. When the device was removed nine months later, the difference was noticeable and my efforts to recover lost mobility resulted in startling flexibility in that leg.
My point is that I'd hope parts aren't left in place if they interfere even minimally with movement.
As a side note, I enjoy handing the part to folks and asking them what they think it is. Typically, they'll turn it over and over, examining the screw and slide mechanism (this part went into the femur's ball) and puzzle over it for a while. The usual guess is "bicycle part". When I tell them what it is, while they're still handling it, the result is usually a study in ballistic trajectories. Even funnier was the little bit of gristle left lodged in the threads that, before it completely decayed away, would invariably invoke a look of horror when I pointed out it was a chunk of me.
I wasn't specifically referring to the user interface so much as the tools available on the Linux Desktop. But since I'm not being compensated here to provide a detailed technical analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the Linux Desktop experience and my post only commented generically that I'm happy with my decision, that vagueness you find so abrasive is absolutely appropriate for the limited discussion as it stands. I'm sorry you're not happy with the results.
So I guess the answer to your first question is, "No. 'Needs polish' is perfectly sufficient for casual discussion of the subject and specifics will be addressed as the need arises."
Next time, instead of chastising someone for not giving you more than they did, why not simply ask politely, "Oh? When you say 'needs polish' what do you think needs improvement?" Such an exchange invites further conversation and exchange of ideas.
For me, the Year of the Linux Desktop was 2008. That's when I abandoned Windows for Ubuntu. It's been pretty good so far, except I ultimately had to install Windows in VirtualBox just so I could work with a client's Access database. Wine simply didn't cut it.
But everything else is open-source and pure Linux.
After nine months like this, I'd say the Linux desktop still needs polish, has a few shortcomings, but a lot of advantages. I don't need to worry about anti-virus software. The desktop is usable as soon as you see icons (unlike Windows where it only looks usable, but you still have to wait for stuff to load), and it boots just as fast now as the day I installed it.
"It is 1985... home computers only have 16 colour displays, so the proles are forced to watch their porn on VHS tapes, played by machines that don't even support stereo sound."
For about a year now, my home office has been lit with LEDs. I have 3 watt units on goosenecks that I switch on and twist for directed illumination, and arrays of RGB units that have tunable color. They all feed through the UPS that protects my desktop, and consumes, at most, a little over twelve watts (when all lights are on and RGBs are set to white light). I'm quite happy with the effect and level of illumination. The only downside is that the rest of the room is relatively dim, lit only with reflected light that spills from the desk, but remember, some lights are on goosenecks, so when I need light across the room, I just twist them to face that direction. If I need more light, then I switch on a single CFL for a few minutes until I'm done.
Yeah... I was slow signing up for Digg, too. And I have yet to sign up for Reddit... but that's because I have a plan to convince all the hot babes there that I'm twenty years younger than I really am. I'll talk about bands and misspell 'the' a lot, too.
Slashdot Mirror
What?
Amigas were cheaper than the IBM PCs and short list of clones available at the time and much less expensive than the Macs. They weren't cheaper than the 8 bit computers of their day, but then they weren't 8 bit computers. The Amiga had four channel, stereo sound compared to the bleeps and bloops of PCs and Macs, 4096 colors instead of 16 or plain black and white, and a multitasking operating system a decade before Windows. And because of the assistance of parallel processing, the Amiga could execute most software operations much more quickly than any of the competition. The DOS world competed by branding the Amiga a "gaming" computer, despite the fact that at that time superior gaming performance clearly demonstrated superior performance across the board.
Ultimately, the Amiga did fall behind, but only after Commodore itself folded and nearly a decade after its introduction.
Well, if Watts' on second, who is on first?
Snakes get barnacles? All these years of amateur herpetology wasted.
Seven digits?! What do you kids *do* with all those extra numbers?
And get off my grass!
Wow. Looks like someone just found out they paid too much money for their house.
You're from Digg, aren't you?
Any shareholder who would invest in a company that actually perceived a duty to kill humans in pursuit of profit is a fool of an investor. A company proven to willfully kill people will get torpedoed by lawsuits and face ruination. Google what happened to Union Carbide after the Bhopal disaster.
You may be on to something here, but none of your examples represent a 'contract'. There is no public interest in private medical records or mail, or conversations regardless of public funding, but with a contract between the government and a private corporation, that situation changes. When I was working for the public school system, my salary was a matter of public record and posted on the website that I maintained, because the public had a right to know how their money was spent. Why should this be any different. Further, we aren't discussing matters of personal privacy, but corporate privacy, and when tax money's involved, I see no reason for full disclosure.
Y'know, you could have saved yourself and everyone else a lot of time if you'd just typed,
"Bah! Humbug!"
I'm willing to give them a go ... nothing will change if we keep voting for Demopublicans.
'Evoke' you idiot. Not 'invoke'. Now go put your nose back in the dictionary again and don't take it out until you can post on Slashdot without making that kind of embarrassing mistake again.
Sorry for the confusion here, folks.
-The other half of Psion's brain.
I am holding in my hands ... well, no, I held it, but now I've put it down so I could type ... the implant used twenty years ago to pin my femur back together after a slip on ice. Now that's hardly a comment on modern procedures, BUT while the device was implanted, I was quite aware of it and it impeded my mobility somewhat. I had difficulty squatting, couldn't raise that foot behind my head, etc., although I kept trying. When the device was removed nine months later, the difference was noticeable and my efforts to recover lost mobility resulted in startling flexibility in that leg.
My point is that I'd hope parts aren't left in place if they interfere even minimally with movement.
As a side note, I enjoy handing the part to folks and asking them what they think it is. Typically, they'll turn it over and over, examining the screw and slide mechanism (this part went into the femur's ball) and puzzle over it for a while. The usual guess is "bicycle part". When I tell them what it is, while they're still handling it, the result is usually a study in ballistic trajectories. Even funnier was the little bit of gristle left lodged in the threads that, before it completely decayed away, would invariably invoke a look of horror when I pointed out it was a chunk of me.
I wasn't specifically referring to the user interface so much as the tools available on the Linux Desktop. But since I'm not being compensated here to provide a detailed technical analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the Linux Desktop experience and my post only commented generically that I'm happy with my decision, that vagueness you find so abrasive is absolutely appropriate for the limited discussion as it stands. I'm sorry you're not happy with the results.
So I guess the answer to your first question is, "No. 'Needs polish' is perfectly sufficient for casual discussion of the subject and specifics will be addressed as the need arises."
Next time, instead of chastising someone for not giving you more than they did, why not simply ask politely, "Oh? When you say 'needs polish' what do you think needs improvement?" Such an exchange invites further conversation and exchange of ideas.
For me, the Year of the Linux Desktop was 2008. That's when I abandoned Windows for Ubuntu. It's been pretty good so far, except I ultimately had to install Windows in VirtualBox just so I could work with a client's Access database. Wine simply didn't cut it.
But everything else is open-source and pure Linux.
After nine months like this, I'd say the Linux desktop still needs polish, has a few shortcomings, but a lot of advantages. I don't need to worry about anti-virus software. The desktop is usable as soon as you see icons (unlike Windows where it only looks usable, but you still have to wait for stuff to load), and it boots just as fast now as the day I installed it.
A multi-story, round room with a bridge in the center used to display 3-dimensional scientific data? Where have I seen this concept before?
Scott also had dogs. Wound up eating them, too.
Damned straight! Cause you know I'd want one!
... oh that Psion.
Wait
And yet the story's title refers to a 'starship'.
July 1609 ... and three hundred and sixty years later, humans walked on its surface.
Kiki Stockhammer! WOW, there's a name that takes me back to my VideoToaster days!
"It is 1985 ... home computers only have 16 colour displays, so the proles are forced to watch their porn on VHS tapes, played by machines that don't even support stereo sound."
Well, I can tell you didn't have an Amiga.
"Actually, this is exactly in line with what many of the libertarian-minded slashdotters would like to see (whether they're aware of it or not)."
Bull. Libertarians have always recognized defense (including from criminals) as a legitimate purpose of government.
Peter Davidson's clearly an outlier.
On the other hand, I think you may have nailed the reason Timelords only get twelve regenerations ... they'd be a non-viable fetus after the 13th.
For about a year now, my home office has been lit with LEDs. I have 3 watt units on goosenecks that I switch on and twist for directed illumination, and arrays of RGB units that have tunable color. They all feed through the UPS that protects my desktop, and consumes, at most, a little over twelve watts (when all lights are on and RGBs are set to white light). I'm quite happy with the effect and level of illumination. The only downside is that the rest of the room is relatively dim, lit only with reflected light that spills from the desk, but remember, some lights are on goosenecks, so when I need light across the room, I just twist them to face that direction. If I need more light, then I switch on a single CFL for a few minutes until I'm done.
Yeah ... I was slow signing up for Digg, too. And I have yet to sign up for Reddit ... but that's because I have a plan to convince all the hot babes there that I'm twenty years younger than I really am. I'll talk about bands and misspell 'the' a lot, too.