Your argument makes it sound like "As long as we all band together and make cheap, crappy products, nobody can complain because they won't have any alternatives". Very few industries actually have NO alternatives, and quality products are always in demand.
It's like saying Ikea, Target and Walmart and going to run the woodmakers of America out of business because you can buy such cheap, albeity low quality, furniture from them. Quality furniture will always be in demand, but low quality furniture may in be in higher demand because people will accept lower quality for the price differential.
As soon as someone says 'No.', 'No, I don't want to.', stop.
See, you're missing exactly my point. "if a woman doesn't want to have sex, but just lays there or doesn't struggle, is it rape?" I never said anything about saying 'No'. Many women will not vocally consent, but they won't say stop either. They may not want to, but they don't say no. Is this rape? One of my friends got caught in just this situation...she said he raped her, he said she consented by being there, in his bedroom, not saying no. Surprised the hell out of him when she voiced her opinion the following day...
You didn't mention this, but do you understand a little bit better now about why a woman would not want to go through a rape trial?
No. In a true case of rape, where a woman has struggled but the man forced himself on her, there are indications in the genital area of such actions. When reported quickly, the first thing done is a medical check. Tissue, blood, semen can usually be collected...at the very least, pictures can be taken of her genitals. If it was truly a rape, there have got to be signs of struggle, no? This does bring us to a hazy area...if a woman doesn't want to have sex, but just lays there or doesn't struggle, is it rape?
I thought that you had said that women should be responsible for not getting themselves in a situation where a rape could occur (ie: by not being alone with someone stronger than they are).
Okay, we may be misunderstanding each other. I'm 6'1", 210lbs, have lifted weights for 5+ years. My friends that are girls certainly know they can be alone with me and feel safe. If I meet a girl at a bar, we talk for 20 minutes (or an hour, or two) and then she leaves with me somewhere private (my house, public place with no witnesses)...what the hell is she thinking? She doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, and I could easily do what I wanted with her.
I'm talking about these situations, using really poor judgement. Some of the girls I knew in college would go anywhere beer and drugs were being offered. While guys shouldn't think that a girl will 'pay' for beer and drugs with sex, girls shouldn't think they can get free beer and drugs.
Guys should be careful as well. I wouldn't be alone with a girl I just met at a bar while I was in college for just this reason. Call me a misanthrope, but I didn't trust most of them. All it takes is one girl claiming you raped her to 1) wreck your reputation, 2) get your ass beat by three of her larger friends.
Rape should never happen, but there are many things that could be done to prevent so many of the rapes. I just don't think it's fair to always blame men when women often provoke the situation.
I'm claiming that when a woman comes over, both parties get drunk, they have sex and she doesn't remember it, it's not rape. Nor is it when two people have sex and the girl wants to hurt the guy for any miscellaneous reason afterwards. Both happened to buddies of mine in college.
Is it my fault for getting shot while driving through a bad neighborhood shouting slurs out the window? Probably not, but I'm certainly provoking the situation. Same with a girl dressing provocatively, getting drunk, flirting insatiably and going home with some guy. Neither is technically our fault, but I wouldnt' feel sorry for either of us...we were being stupid in a situation we KNEW was dangerous.
In an actual rape, it's the fault of whomever didn't have consent. However, proving consent (or lack thereof) is incredibly difficult with no eyewitnesses, and neither person involved can be considered credible. Men have to be careful to not get accused, but women have to be even more careful to not let themselves get into those situations...not because it would then be their fault, but because they may not be able to do anything to prevent it and they won't be able to prove it afterwards.
Do you know how many rapes are not reported each year because women are afraid of being treated like they did something wrong?
Exactly why well publicized cases of rape are important...the more legitimate rape cases the population hears about, the less likely women will be afraid to bring charges. Frankly, what's bullshit (as you so elequently put it) is that women are afraid at all, but I can't profess to know how the female psyche works.
It's men who should be taught that they don't get to take whatever they want, and to respect a woman when she says no.
Standard female response. This will happen as soon as women are taught that they don't get to use their gender or sexuality to get what THEY want, and when they learn some guys are assholes and just because you think they're hot/cool/wealthy/[insert superficial property here], you could still get into trouble around them.
To paraphrase Chris Rock, as a man I know that when I'm arguing with another, much larger/more agressive/less controlled man, there's an area I just do go. Is it right that I could get shot wearing a "I hate n***ers" sandwich board through downtown? No, but it could very well happen so I wouldn't do it. Common sense, really. Just like it's common sense to not be alone with a person who gets payed to work on their physique, building up endorphins and testosterone all day, and be physical and sometimes violent for their living. Cry me a river.
So you think that if I FedEx a letter to someone I should expect FedEx to open it [...] ?
Take the tinfoil hat off. If you're naieve enough to FedEx/fax/courier anything truly private (read: incriminating), you're asking for trouble. You have no reason to expect people whose services you are using to keep your information private for you.
To me it is. Any publicized rape case is important, for two reasons. First, if the defendant did in fact rape the girl, it should be brought to light publicly and he should be punished appropriately...in the hopes that a highly publicized conviction will make people think twice before raping someone.
Secondly, I hate it when girls cry rape when it wasn't. Personally, I don't think Kobe did it, and if these text messages or an eyewitness prove he didn't, I hope he'll be exonerated and this girl publicly humiliated.
Do I care about this case because it's Kobe? No, but rape is a very real problem and it's stupid...with many rapes (I am NOT talking about honest to God, breaking into your car/house, rape at gunpoint, or the like), women could prevent them by not getting into a bad situation, and not using sex to get attention. Anything that makes men and women each think twice about their situations is a good thing, IMHO.
I have an older Logitech model similar to this. My PS/2 ports both blew, probably from repeated hot plugging/unplugging, and I had to get a PS/2 -> USB adapter. The thing works fine for me.
Now, one caveat...my system is strange. The wireless receiver for both my keyboard/mouse has two PS2 outputs, one for the mouse, one for the keyboard. I am actually able to run just one of these through a USB adapter and have both mouse and keyboard work. I have no idea how this happens, it just does.
I went to Radio Shack, bought the first PS2->USB adapter I saw and it has worked fine ever since. Didn't do anything special, are you sure your connector/USB port is working correctly?
Plenty of meals at McD's would be fine for a vegetarian. Their fruit/yogurt parfait contains no meat, and I believe you can get side salads meat free. Depending on how strict a vegetarian/vegan you are, fries would be okay too, a would their dessert menu. Their shakes, I believe, are a soft serve base which while not being great for you, won't do you too much harm. Their breakfasts, also, can be had meat free.
Dude, firewalls. I have Cox as my cable provider, and I'm pretty sure they don't let anything connect to something inside their residential network. Even if something got through Cox, I have a DLink router connected to my cable modem that has all external ports turned off. If something comes in on a file that I'm opening, or a website I'm browsing, I use Google's toolbar with popup blocker (which is excellent, btw) along with running AdAware and Spybot at LEAST once a week. I'm not concerned with DDoS attacks, viruses or whatnot...short of grabbing the occasional game off of Yahoo, I don't download executables. I don't transfer work on disks, I either burn CDs or email stuff or ftp source code to and from servers.
Given all this, it's VERY VERY EASY to not have to reboot. I may install the Windows update crap every 6 months, *if* I hear about something that affects stability. Other than that, there's no real reason.
I never argued that Win95/98 was stable...I rebooted those systems at LEAST weekly. Windows 2000, however, is great. My XP machine at work is a bad example because we have power outages every few weeks (you'd think they could spend a few bucks for an UPS, wouldn't you?), but currently my uptime is at 469 hours (19.5 days). I should check at home, but I'm 99% certain the last time my home box got bounced was when I moved in 3 months ago.
Rebooting because of memory leaks is still rebooting...if that happened frequently, I would consider my uptime set back to zero...but it never happens with 2000. I don't know what people are running out there to trigger memory leaks because I have never encountered one since switching from 98.
"Have you ever tried to do basic page layout in Word?"
What kind of page layout are you doing? Word is for word processing...text wraps around pictures and the pictures move relative to text entered above it.
"text boxes move around and resize themselves, pictures and word art don't show up as highlighted"
Okay, if you have this many things on one page, you should be using Powerpoint, not Word. Word is just for text with a few images thrown in. If you have more than 1 text box per page, I would seriously question how you're laying stuff out. Illustrations can have titles, graphs can have titles, both very easy to do. Powerpoint is for more complicated slide layout with multiple objects.
I've been running Windows 2000 Professional for two years...my last 'reboot' was when I moved 2 months ago, and I've installed and uninstalled at least 3 games, 2 software desgin tools and probably 5 miscellaneous programs. I haven't installed any patches that require reboots, true, but they usually require reboots because they modify in-process components and Windows doesn't let you load/unload stuff like Linux does. It's a design decision that was "A Good Idea" in my opinion...the audience for Windows is vastly undertrained and would royally fuck up their system by unloading necessary components.
My home machine has had a max uptime of 6 months, and that was due to a power outage. My office machine had an uptime of nearly a year before a power outage. Don't tell me I haven't had months of uptime...if you haven't, figure out what's wrong with your damn computer...it ain't the OS.
Eh, hardware doesn't fail often and when it does it's usually very, very obvious...like your machine freezes 20 seconds after boot up or you have nothing displayed on your screen. I'll give you that random freeze ups are hard to trace to specific hardware, but most parts of a computer will just up and break, leaving some functionality missing (ie, no CD read access).
Now hardware incompatibility is very common. Windows has gotten much, much better at setting IRQs and the like so you don't get nearly the conflicts you used to (show of hands: who has installed multiple modems and sound cards in the days of DOS/Win95 and not gotten an IRQ conflict? Anyone? Anyone?!).
"So, anyone who disagrees with that statement is admitting to being less technically proficient than trb001"
More than likely, or they just don't know what they're working with. Anyone sufficiently proficient with (name your OS) and knowledgable about what they're running should. Now, I just eliminated 90% (or more) of the population, but that's not really an excuse. I know what software is running on my computer, I know what bugs my OS has (and how to workaround/deal with them), I know what issues may come up because of my hardware configuration. Computers aren't these *magical devices* that have wills of their own and are out to fuck you, they're big logic boxes that do what they're told.
To compare computers and cars AGAIN:
"...when the NEXT version of Microsoft's OS is released, EVERYONE claims how it is so much more stable and reliable than the last."
When the next model of a car comes out, they always claim it gets superb fuel efficiency, drives faster, runs better, needs less maintenance. They're SALES PEOPLE, for crying out loud, they HAVE to say that. There is some truth to it too...each OS they come out with is more stable, sometimes because they put in constraints on third party software installation that weren't in the previous version, or they include proven, tested drivers that werent' available when the previous version came out.
"It is a PAIN keeping Windows stable."
No, it's not. I take my car in for service every 3000 miles...show me a user that doesn't do self mods and doesn't install crap that isn't approved AND takes their system to a certified professional every 3 months and I'll show you someone who has a near flawless, always up system. I realize that I don't know jack about cars so I make sure that someone looks at it frequently to ensure it runs well for years to come.
Assuming you're not a car person, how well would your car run if you took it in for maintenance as often as your parents/siblings/coworkers/acquaintences took their computer in for service? Everything needs maintenance, including computers...running ad removal software, virus scanners, even just NOT installing some applications that are going to make a machine unstable. If I treated my car the way most people treat their computers, I would have self-installed a custom lighting system and then wondered why I had electrical shorts.
I dunno, whenever my girlfriend blames the computer for not doing "what [she] wants it to do", I usually roll my eyes and figure she's just not doing something right.
Office (specifically Word) is a complex tool. It can do a lot, but with that level of flexibility comes a certain level of complexity and obfuscation. I've programmed C for 10+ years, but I still make mistakes now and again and can't figure out why the hell I'm leaking memory here or there. It's not the compiler's fault, certainly not the languages fault, it's my dumb ass missing or not understanding something.
I run 2000 at work (we just switched from NT) and at home, and I never have to reboot...I go months without a reboot, and I constaly have Outlook up and running, along with Java development tools, Visual C++, about 5-10 IE windows and version management software. It's not like it's terribly hard to keep Windows stable.
Ah, but remember how Dixie Flatline felt when the same was done to him? He wanted to be wiped after Case was done with him. (read Neuromancer if you don't get it)
They also recommend upgrading to XP over 2000, but I laugh at them from afar.
Seriously, don't listen to Microsoft. They want you to upgrade for their own reasons, not necessarily because it's the best thing for you. NTFS has some serious advantages over FAT32, security, namely, but FAT32 was never intended to be a secured FS. In the case of the poster, it may be exactly what he wants.
I don't think anyone is questioning the (il)legality of recording movies from a theater. Most of us are just laughing at how the MPAA is trying to enforce its copyright...this isn't where bootlegged versions come from. I mean, come on, can you imagine pitching this "solution" to movie theaters? "Please send your staff down the aisles during movies wearing a set of these ridiculously expensive goggles to spot people who may be filming a copy illegally." Two reasons this is stupid and a waste of time:
1) The people who are doing this aren't trying to get money for it, most of the time. They're doing it because they're diehard fans and they want to have every version known to man of the film. I am almost this bad with Star Wars.
2) The people the MPAA is legitimately trying to stop are people that buy copies of a film that have been made illegally and aren't buying either a ticket or the film on legal media. Theater bootlegs aren't going to be in either of these categories. Someone grabbing a theater version of the film wasn't going to run out and purchase a legal copy on DVD, nor were they going to go out and buy a ticket had this bootleg copy not been available. Case in point, I just bought the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD from eBay. Had Lucas offered it on DVD (and not the crappy remmix that is coming out later this year), I would gladly have shelled out upwards of $50 for a memorable piece of my childhood. However, I wasn't going to buy the crappy remix, and there are no plans for the OT to be put on DVD, so I chose to break the law and buy a laserdisc rip. If Lucas ever comes out with the OT on DVD, I'll be first in line to buy it, even though I own these rips.
Long and short is, the MPAA is not losing any money from bootleggers in theaters, though they'd like us to think they were. The bootlegged copies on the streets/eBay are being ripped by people who have the media version...screeners, studio workers, etc, that snagged it, made a copy, then copied that copy. This isn't going to stop those people. That's what all (read: most) the posts on Slashdot are talking about...they're effectively arresting the guy smoking weed in his house while the drug lords are wandering the streets.
I used this last April Fool's Day...went over well, except with the management who sent out emails expressing how irritated they were that someone had this much excessive time before a release. Was good for a laugh, though...
Sell back any games that you don't play anymore, and sell them to the smaller local stores that haven't been gobbled up by the major chain.
Sell 'em on eBay, or the like. You get more, they pay less, you both win. I don't understand why anyone would sell games to used game store, unless it was a game that nobody out there wanted anymore and I could get store credit for it.
Slashdot Mirror
Your argument makes it sound like "As long as we all band together and make cheap, crappy products, nobody can complain because they won't have any alternatives". Very few industries actually have NO alternatives, and quality products are always in demand.
It's like saying Ikea, Target and Walmart and going to run the woodmakers of America out of business because you can buy such cheap, albeity low quality, furniture from them. Quality furniture will always be in demand, but low quality furniture may in be in higher demand because people will accept lower quality for the price differential.
--trb
Finally, once all the used tires run out, you will probably have a really difficult time finding a tire with no rfid tags...
Nah...there are about 10 people in my development that have the same car as me.
--trb
As soon as someone says 'No.', 'No, I don't want to.', stop.
See, you're missing exactly my point. "if a woman doesn't want to have sex, but just lays there or doesn't struggle, is it rape?" I never said anything about saying 'No'. Many women will not vocally consent, but they won't say stop either. They may not want to, but they don't say no. Is this rape? One of my friends got caught in just this situation...she said he raped her, he said she consented by being there, in his bedroom, not saying no. Surprised the hell out of him when she voiced her opinion the following day...
--trb
You didn't mention this, but do you understand a little bit better now about why a woman would not want to go through a rape trial?
No. In a true case of rape, where a woman has struggled but the man forced himself on her, there are indications in the genital area of such actions. When reported quickly, the first thing done is a medical check. Tissue, blood, semen can usually be collected...at the very least, pictures can be taken of her genitals. If it was truly a rape, there have got to be signs of struggle, no? This does bring us to a hazy area...if a woman doesn't want to have sex, but just lays there or doesn't struggle, is it rape?
I thought that you had said that women should be responsible for not getting themselves in a situation where a rape could occur (ie: by not being alone with someone stronger than they are).
Okay, we may be misunderstanding each other. I'm 6'1", 210lbs, have lifted weights for 5+ years. My friends that are girls certainly know they can be alone with me and feel safe. If I meet a girl at a bar, we talk for 20 minutes (or an hour, or two) and then she leaves with me somewhere private (my house, public place with no witnesses)...what the hell is she thinking? She doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, and I could easily do what I wanted with her.
I'm talking about these situations, using really poor judgement. Some of the girls I knew in college would go anywhere beer and drugs were being offered. While guys shouldn't think that a girl will 'pay' for beer and drugs with sex, girls shouldn't think they can get free beer and drugs.
Guys should be careful as well. I wouldn't be alone with a girl I just met at a bar while I was in college for just this reason. Call me a misanthrope, but I didn't trust most of them. All it takes is one girl claiming you raped her to 1) wreck your reputation, 2) get your ass beat by three of her larger friends.
Rape should never happen, but there are many things that could be done to prevent so many of the rapes. I just don't think it's fair to always blame men when women often provoke the situation.
--trb
I'm claiming that when a woman comes over, both parties get drunk, they have sex and she doesn't remember it, it's not rape. Nor is it when two people have sex and the girl wants to hurt the guy for any miscellaneous reason afterwards. Both happened to buddies of mine in college.
Is it my fault for getting shot while driving through a bad neighborhood shouting slurs out the window? Probably not, but I'm certainly provoking the situation. Same with a girl dressing provocatively, getting drunk, flirting insatiably and going home with some guy. Neither is technically our fault, but I wouldnt' feel sorry for either of us...we were being stupid in a situation we KNEW was dangerous.
In an actual rape, it's the fault of whomever didn't have consent. However, proving consent (or lack thereof) is incredibly difficult with no eyewitnesses, and neither person involved can be considered credible. Men have to be careful to not get accused, but women have to be even more careful to not let themselves get into those situations...not because it would then be their fault, but because they may not be able to do anything to prevent it and they won't be able to prove it afterwards.
--trb
Do you know how many rapes are not reported each year because women are afraid of being treated like they did something wrong?
Exactly why well publicized cases of rape are important...the more legitimate rape cases the population hears about, the less likely women will be afraid to bring charges. Frankly, what's bullshit (as you so elequently put it) is that women are afraid at all, but I can't profess to know how the female psyche works.
It's men who should be taught that they don't get to take whatever they want, and to respect a woman when she says no.
Standard female response. This will happen as soon as women are taught that they don't get to use their gender or sexuality to get what THEY want, and when they learn some guys are assholes and just because you think they're hot/cool/wealthy/[insert superficial property here], you could still get into trouble around them.
To paraphrase Chris Rock, as a man I know that when I'm arguing with another, much larger/more agressive/less controlled man, there's an area I just do go. Is it right that I could get shot wearing a "I hate n***ers" sandwich board through downtown? No, but it could very well happen so I wouldn't do it. Common sense, really. Just like it's common sense to not be alone with a person who gets payed to work on their physique, building up endorphins and testosterone all day, and be physical and sometimes violent for their living. Cry me a river.
--trb
felch?
--trb
So you think that if I FedEx a letter to someone I should expect FedEx to open it [...] ?
Take the tinfoil hat off. If you're naieve enough to FedEx/fax/courier anything truly private (read: incriminating), you're asking for trouble. You have no reason to expect people whose services you are using to keep your information private for you.
--trb
To me it is. Any publicized rape case is important, for two reasons. First, if the defendant did in fact rape the girl, it should be brought to light publicly and he should be punished appropriately...in the hopes that a highly publicized conviction will make people think twice before raping someone.
Secondly, I hate it when girls cry rape when it wasn't. Personally, I don't think Kobe did it, and if these text messages or an eyewitness prove he didn't, I hope he'll be exonerated and this girl publicly humiliated.
Do I care about this case because it's Kobe? No, but rape is a very real problem and it's stupid...with many rapes (I am NOT talking about honest to God, breaking into your car/house, rape at gunpoint, or the like), women could prevent them by not getting into a bad situation, and not using sex to get attention. Anything that makes men and women each think twice about their situations is a good thing, IMHO.
--trb
I have an older Logitech model similar to this. My PS/2 ports both blew, probably from repeated hot plugging/unplugging, and I had to get a PS/2 -> USB adapter. The thing works fine for me.
Now, one caveat...my system is strange. The wireless receiver for both my keyboard/mouse has two PS2 outputs, one for the mouse, one for the keyboard. I am actually able to run just one of these through a USB adapter and have both mouse and keyboard work. I have no idea how this happens, it just does.
I went to Radio Shack, bought the first PS2->USB adapter I saw and it has worked fine ever since. Didn't do anything special, are you sure your connector/USB port is working correctly?
--trb
Plenty of meals at McD's would be fine for a vegetarian. Their fruit/yogurt parfait contains no meat, and I believe you can get side salads meat free. Depending on how strict a vegetarian/vegan you are, fries would be okay too, a would their dessert menu. Their shakes, I believe, are a soft serve base which while not being great for you, won't do you too much harm. Their breakfasts, also, can be had meat free.
In conclusion, your comparison is rather lacking.
--trb
Dude, firewalls. I have Cox as my cable provider, and I'm pretty sure they don't let anything connect to something inside their residential network. Even if something got through Cox, I have a DLink router connected to my cable modem that has all external ports turned off. If something comes in on a file that I'm opening, or a website I'm browsing, I use Google's toolbar with popup blocker (which is excellent, btw) along with running AdAware and Spybot at LEAST once a week. I'm not concerned with DDoS attacks, viruses or whatnot...short of grabbing the occasional game off of Yahoo, I don't download executables. I don't transfer work on disks, I either burn CDs or email stuff or ftp source code to and from servers.
Given all this, it's VERY VERY EASY to not have to reboot. I may install the Windows update crap every 6 months, *if* I hear about something that affects stability. Other than that, there's no real reason.
--trb
I never argued that Win95/98 was stable...I rebooted those systems at LEAST weekly. Windows 2000, however, is great. My XP machine at work is a bad example because we have power outages every few weeks (you'd think they could spend a few bucks for an UPS, wouldn't you?), but currently my uptime is at 469 hours (19.5 days). I should check at home, but I'm 99% certain the last time my home box got bounced was when I moved in 3 months ago.
Rebooting because of memory leaks is still rebooting...if that happened frequently, I would consider my uptime set back to zero...but it never happens with 2000. I don't know what people are running out there to trigger memory leaks because I have never encountered one since switching from 98.
--trb
"Have you ever tried to do basic page layout in Word?"
What kind of page layout are you doing? Word is for word processing...text wraps around pictures and the pictures move relative to text entered above it.
"text boxes move around and resize themselves, pictures and word art don't show up as highlighted"
Okay, if you have this many things on one page, you should be using Powerpoint, not Word. Word is just for text with a few images thrown in. If you have more than 1 text box per page, I would seriously question how you're laying stuff out. Illustrations can have titles, graphs can have titles, both very easy to do. Powerpoint is for more complicated slide layout with multiple objects.
--trb
I've been running Windows 2000 Professional for two years...my last 'reboot' was when I moved 2 months ago, and I've installed and uninstalled at least 3 games, 2 software desgin tools and probably 5 miscellaneous programs. I haven't installed any patches that require reboots, true, but they usually require reboots because they modify in-process components and Windows doesn't let you load/unload stuff like Linux does. It's a design decision that was "A Good Idea" in my opinion...the audience for Windows is vastly undertrained and would royally fuck up their system by unloading necessary components.
My home machine has had a max uptime of 6 months, and that was due to a power outage. My office machine had an uptime of nearly a year before a power outage. Don't tell me I haven't had months of uptime...if you haven't, figure out what's wrong with your damn computer...it ain't the OS.
--trb
Eh, hardware doesn't fail often and when it does it's usually very, very obvious...like your machine freezes 20 seconds after boot up or you have nothing displayed on your screen. I'll give you that random freeze ups are hard to trace to specific hardware, but most parts of a computer will just up and break, leaving some functionality missing (ie, no CD read access).
Now hardware incompatibility is very common. Windows has gotten much, much better at setting IRQs and the like so you don't get nearly the conflicts you used to (show of hands: who has installed multiple modems and sound cards in the days of DOS/Win95 and not gotten an IRQ conflict? Anyone? Anyone?!).
--trb
"So, anyone who disagrees with that statement is admitting to being less technically proficient than trb001"
More than likely, or they just don't know what they're working with. Anyone sufficiently proficient with (name your OS) and knowledgable about what they're running should. Now, I just eliminated 90% (or more) of the population, but that's not really an excuse. I know what software is running on my computer, I know what bugs my OS has (and how to workaround/deal with them), I know what issues may come up because of my hardware configuration. Computers aren't these *magical devices* that have wills of their own and are out to fuck you, they're big logic boxes that do what they're told.
To compare computers and cars AGAIN:
"...when the NEXT version of Microsoft's OS is released, EVERYONE claims how it is so much more stable and reliable than the last."
When the next model of a car comes out, they always claim it gets superb fuel efficiency, drives faster, runs better, needs less maintenance. They're SALES PEOPLE, for crying out loud, they HAVE to say that. There is some truth to it too...each OS they come out with is more stable, sometimes because they put in constraints on third party software installation that weren't in the previous version, or they include proven, tested drivers that werent' available when the previous version came out.
"It is a PAIN keeping Windows stable."
No, it's not. I take my car in for service every 3000 miles...show me a user that doesn't do self mods and doesn't install crap that isn't approved AND takes their system to a certified professional every 3 months and I'll show you someone who has a near flawless, always up system. I realize that I don't know jack about cars so I make sure that someone looks at it frequently to ensure it runs well for years to come.
--trb
Assuming you're not a car person, how well would your car run if you took it in for maintenance as often as your parents/siblings/coworkers/acquaintences took their computer in for service? Everything needs maintenance, including computers...running ad removal software, virus scanners, even just NOT installing some applications that are going to make a machine unstable. If I treated my car the way most people treat their computers, I would have self-installed a custom lighting system and then wondered why I had electrical shorts.
--trb
I dunno, whenever my girlfriend blames the computer for not doing "what [she] wants it to do", I usually roll my eyes and figure she's just not doing something right.
Office (specifically Word) is a complex tool. It can do a lot, but with that level of flexibility comes a certain level of complexity and obfuscation. I've programmed C for 10+ years, but I still make mistakes now and again and can't figure out why the hell I'm leaking memory here or there. It's not the compiler's fault, certainly not the languages fault, it's my dumb ass missing or not understanding something.
I run 2000 at work (we just switched from NT) and at home, and I never have to reboot...I go months without a reboot, and I constaly have Outlook up and running, along with Java development tools, Visual C++, about 5-10 IE windows and version management software. It's not like it's terribly hard to keep Windows stable.
--trb
Ah, but remember how Dixie Flatline felt when the same was done to him? He wanted to be wiped after Case was done with him. (read Neuromancer if you don't get it)
--trb
I have an older television in my cabinet and it seems to work pretty well. You're right, the fuzziness produced mimics the old arcades perfectly.
--trb
They also recommend upgrading to XP over 2000, but I laugh at them from afar.
Seriously, don't listen to Microsoft. They want you to upgrade for their own reasons, not necessarily because it's the best thing for you. NTFS has some serious advantages over FAT32, security, namely, but FAT32 was never intended to be a secured FS. In the case of the poster, it may be exactly what he wants.
--trb
I don't think anyone is questioning the (il)legality of recording movies from a theater. Most of us are just laughing at how the MPAA is trying to enforce its copyright...this isn't where bootlegged versions come from. I mean, come on, can you imagine pitching this "solution" to movie theaters? "Please send your staff down the aisles during movies wearing a set of these ridiculously expensive goggles to spot people who may be filming a copy illegally." Two reasons this is stupid and a waste of time:
1) The people who are doing this aren't trying to get money for it, most of the time. They're doing it because they're diehard fans and they want to have every version known to man of the film. I am almost this bad with Star Wars.
2) The people the MPAA is legitimately trying to stop are people that buy copies of a film that have been made illegally and aren't buying either a ticket or the film on legal media. Theater bootlegs aren't going to be in either of these categories. Someone grabbing a theater version of the film wasn't going to run out and purchase a legal copy on DVD, nor were they going to go out and buy a ticket had this bootleg copy not been available. Case in point, I just bought the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD from eBay. Had Lucas offered it on DVD (and not the crappy remmix that is coming out later this year), I would gladly have shelled out upwards of $50 for a memorable piece of my childhood. However, I wasn't going to buy the crappy remix, and there are no plans for the OT to be put on DVD, so I chose to break the law and buy a laserdisc rip. If Lucas ever comes out with the OT on DVD, I'll be first in line to buy it, even though I own these rips.
Long and short is, the MPAA is not losing any money from bootleggers in theaters, though they'd like us to think they were. The bootlegged copies on the streets/eBay are being ripped by people who have the media version...screeners, studio workers, etc, that snagged it, made a copy, then copied that copy. This isn't going to stop those people. That's what all (read: most) the posts on Slashdot are talking about...they're effectively arresting the guy smoking weed in his house while the drug lords are wandering the streets.
--trb
I used this last April Fool's Day...went over well, except with the management who sent out emails expressing how irritated they were that someone had this much excessive time before a release. Was good for a laugh, though...
--trb
Sell back any games that you don't play anymore, and sell them to the smaller local stores that haven't been gobbled up by the major chain.
Sell 'em on eBay, or the like. You get more, they pay less, you both win. I don't understand why anyone would sell games to used game store, unless it was a game that nobody out there wanted anymore and I could get store credit for it.
--trb