I don't laugh at all those future phones sold with this garbage, and with it installed and set up in such a way that you are forbidden from uninstalling it...
I already have problems caused by "stock" programs on my phone that cannot be uninstalled without root access, and I cannot trust going through the process of attempting to gaining root, something that could possibly leave me without a phone. Once this garbage makes its way "stock" onto commercial Android phones in the same way, there will be an even greater need to try to gain root access. I am not looking forward to the day when I have to start doing extra research just to find out if a particular cell phone comes with this Facebook garbage, only to find that they all fucking do and the only possibly way out of it is to risk rooting it.
It's already a bitch doing research for a new phone, given all the variations in (incompatible) Android versions. It's a royal pain in the ass trying to find a phone that doesn't suck in general, and doesn't force the use of a cell service provider that tries its best to fuck you up the ass. The last we need is to add fucking Facebook to the mix. Fuck them.
All I'll say is: You don't know him. He's not on the greatest terms with his dad either, but if anyone knows what's going on it should be him. But his dad seems almost as confused. Not everyone has perfect relationships with their parents.
I do not know if he uses either of them any more, but I do know his Yahoo! and Gmail addresses. At some point I will probably give one (or both) of those a try, if I don't hear anything from my other friend who does use Facebook... but I really doubt that he checks his e-mail. I have kept my e-mail address for years, and I know many other people do, but I also know that many others go through e-mail addresses like underwear (just like phone numbers... but maybe not quite as bad). If his complete lack of presence on both Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger are any indication, then chances are good that--aside from Facebook--there really is no sure-fire way to find him.
Nah--he has been having some real troubles in life and it seems more likely that he is struggling to get things straightened out again, and thinks that "starting fresh" and avoiding all of his past in the only way he can solve them.
I'm sure that his own dad has a better idea and knows more about what is going on with the situation than some random anonymous coward on Slashdot who I don't even care to know. But nice try.
Until you've got a friend who moves way out of town, loses or gets a new phone/number, and can't be found on traditional instant messaging services (Yahoo, Google Talk, etc.)... then it starts becoming somewhat of a necessity.
This has happened to me, although after all these years I have still not caved into the pressure. But it is getting increasingly difficult to get in contact with people using traditional and in general non-Fecesbook methods.
Thanks hackers, now Facebook will be able to more effectively track all Android users equally! It's so thoughtful for you to effectively to their crummy job for them...
If you don't count Warrior Within and that shitty game released a few years ago on the Xbox 360 where the Prince could not die, the Prince of Persia series was pretty damn good. But I do agree that most everything else the company has put out is shit.
Depends on how exactly I pronounce it and place the emphasis, as well as the speed I say it. I can just as easily make it sound "bra" as I can "bra." Say it slower and even "bra" would probably be indecipherable to these people. The bottom line is, this is a shitty excuse for "support" from a U.S. corporation to its paying customers from its own native country. Their shit doesn't come cheap! It's completely revolting--can't they just have those people "support" China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India or whatever their native country is, or does everyone in those countries pirate their software or something?
After charging several hundred dollars for the license to use a piece of software to run an entire machine, you would think they would have better support than that. At least a native (or halfway-competent) English speaker. Hell, I'd rather talk with someone who has a heavy British or Australian accent, even that would be a large step up.
So, it must not have been a mythical creature after all... this means that there may really have been some of these things in ancient Japanese history! Now I want to take a vacation and find one of these things, to flip it over onto its back and attack its weak point for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
I could probably say "battery" in the loudest, most crystal-clear way possible putting emphasis on the "B" so there is no question that that's what it is, and it probably still wouldn't work. Honestly, talking to that guy was a losing battle. If Microsoft wasn't a bunch of cheapskates offloading most of their tech support jobs overseas, then their native customers wouldn't have to use some obscure, multi-national, military alphabet designed for communicating with foreign people.
This guy could barely even speak or understand English; I seriously doubt using the phonetic alphabet would help at all. I felt like repeatedly hitting my head against the wall after finally getting done telling him my registration key, when he told me that he would have to give me a new one. [facepalm]
Oh, that's right--weren't they too busy trying to create and hype up their own proprietary "Internet" at the time or something? The Microsoft Network? That damn passing fad... it just won't go away!
I have. Their god damn servers decided to label my copy of Windows XP Pro as "non-genuine" and refused to activate it after it was installed a certain number of times--on the same fucking computer. Needless to say, it was a nightmare trying to understand the foreign person and trying to get the person to understand me. He couldn't speak English worth shit. The guy insisted that I speak every single fucking letter with a word for an example. Every. Single. Fucking. One. With a 26-character key, that was seemingly endless torture. It made me feel like a retard who had to attend Kindergarten again.
All I can say is, if you use Microsoft products, pray that you never, ever have to contact Microsoft's tech support staff. It can be pure hell. I had to go through similar bullshit when trying to "correct" Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death problems. On occasion you might get a person who is nice, fluent in English and overall very helpful, but don't bet on it. And if you do get lucky, you'd better hope your problem is fully solved, because chances are the next time you won't be so lucky. The only company that can potentially top Microsoft for "worst tech support ever" or AT&T. I cringe at all the trouble AT&T has caused, and their complete incompetence and inability to fix *any* of their many fuck-ups.
With good practices, and and extra precautions, even Windows 95 can be "secure".
How? By removing the modem and/or Ethernet card? By leaving it powered off?
But seriously, Windows 95 is so dead by this point that it is probably reasonably "secure." As in, where WinXP gets owned remotely by a worm in two minutes, Win95 might take five.
1. Run Linux or BSD, not Windows. 2. Use a less-common keyboard layout, like Dvorak or Colemak. To complete the effect, get a blank keyboard. 3. Switch the language to something they don't understand if possible.
Then they won't even *want* to touch it.:)
But seriously, don't give them access to a Windows machine. It's as simple as that. And always have multiple user accounts, just in case. If you get blank stares because it's "different," tough--they must not want to use it that bad. If they do, they'll use it and get used to it.
If all they want to do is browse the web and check their e-mail (which I assume is also through a web browser using a webmail service), then seriously... the operating system does not matter. They could be in front of an old 640x480 CRT on a computer running Windows 95 and a maximized web browser taking up the whole screen and it shouldn't matter too much.
Except for the fact that there probably are no modern browsers that are still maintained for that specific OS, but you get the point. If an OS can run a suitable browser, then it can be used. Sure, Windows can, clearly it's the absolute worst option if it's "protected" by anti-virus software and it still gets infected regularly by your guests.
Must be those 235 patents Microsoft was talking about several years back, whatever the hell they were supposed to be. They could be something like "method for making a colored pixel on a display device" for all I know.
Why not Debian? Get a bit of extra stability with it.
I do agree that Mint is pretty nice though... but I'm not a fan of their tendency to try to hijack your web browser's search engine they way they do, making it a pain in the ass to "fix," all for their own financial gain. Back when I was in the Windows world, I used to call that adware.
Easy solution: Have an Android phone handy for logging into Apple services.:P Security through non-Apple Products. It should officially become a new form of security, like security by obscurity...
Slashdot Mirror
I don't laugh at all those future phones sold with this garbage, and with it installed and set up in such a way that you are forbidden from uninstalling it...
I already have problems caused by "stock" programs on my phone that cannot be uninstalled without root access, and I cannot trust going through the process of attempting to gaining root, something that could possibly leave me without a phone. Once this garbage makes its way "stock" onto commercial Android phones in the same way, there will be an even greater need to try to gain root access. I am not looking forward to the day when I have to start doing extra research just to find out if a particular cell phone comes with this Facebook garbage, only to find that they all fucking do and the only possibly way out of it is to risk rooting it.
It's already a bitch doing research for a new phone, given all the variations in (incompatible) Android versions. It's a royal pain in the ass trying to find a phone that doesn't suck in general, and doesn't force the use of a cell service provider that tries its best to fuck you up the ass. The last we need is to add fucking Facebook to the mix. Fuck them.
All I'll say is: You don't know him. He's not on the greatest terms with his dad either, but if anyone knows what's going on it should be him. But his dad seems almost as confused. Not everyone has perfect relationships with their parents.
Shouldn't I, as a friend, try to find out exactly what's going on--straight from him--instead of just assuming my own predictions to be correct?
I do not know if he uses either of them any more, but I do know his Yahoo! and Gmail addresses. At some point I will probably give one (or both) of those a try, if I don't hear anything from my other friend who does use Facebook... but I really doubt that he checks his e-mail. I have kept my e-mail address for years, and I know many other people do, but I also know that many others go through e-mail addresses like underwear (just like phone numbers... but maybe not quite as bad). If his complete lack of presence on both Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger are any indication, then chances are good that--aside from Facebook--there really is no sure-fire way to find him.
Nah--he has been having some real troubles in life and it seems more likely that he is struggling to get things straightened out again, and thinks that "starting fresh" and avoiding all of his past in the only way he can solve them.
I'm sure that his own dad has a better idea and knows more about what is going on with the situation than some random anonymous coward on Slashdot who I don't even care to know. But nice try.
Until you've got a friend who moves way out of town, loses or gets a new phone/number, and can't be found on traditional instant messaging services (Yahoo, Google Talk, etc.)... then it starts becoming somewhat of a necessity.
This has happened to me, although after all these years I have still not caved into the pressure. But it is getting increasingly difficult to get in contact with people using traditional and in general non-Fecesbook methods.
Thanks hackers, now Facebook will be able to more effectively track all Android users equally! It's so thoughtful for you to effectively to their crummy job for them...
Which is why it was Microsoft's decision to completely eliminate the Start menu in favor of the touchscreen-optimized, Metro-based Start screen?
Apple itself is a mockery of all that is decent in this world and has been for many years.
Windows 8 is dog food? I could've swore it more closely resembled rat poison.
Well Microsoft can eat that crap all they want. I sure as hell won't.
Too bad in the world Microsoft wants us to live in, keyboards don't even exist. It's touchscreen or get the hell out of here.
If you don't count Warrior Within and that shitty game released a few years ago on the Xbox 360 where the Prince could not die, the Prince of Persia series was pretty damn good. But I do agree that most everything else the company has put out is shit.
Or see Round-Up while walking through the Home Lawn & Garden section of just about any Wal-Mart?
Depends on how exactly I pronounce it and place the emphasis, as well as the speed I say it. I can just as easily make it sound "bra" as I can "bra." Say it slower and even "bra" would probably be indecipherable to these people. The bottom line is, this is a shitty excuse for "support" from a U.S. corporation to its paying customers from its own native country. Their shit doesn't come cheap! It's completely revolting--can't they just have those people "support" China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India or whatever their native country is, or does everyone in those countries pirate their software or something?
After charging several hundred dollars for the license to use a piece of software to run an entire machine, you would think they would have better support than that. At least a native (or halfway-competent) English speaker. Hell, I'd rather talk with someone who has a heavy British or Australian accent, even that would be a large step up.
So, it must not have been a mythical creature after all... this means that there may really have been some of these things in ancient Japanese history! Now I want to take a vacation and find one of these things, to flip it over onto its back and attack its weak point for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
I could probably say "battery" in the loudest, most crystal-clear way possible putting emphasis on the "B" so there is no question that that's what it is, and it probably still wouldn't work. Honestly, talking to that guy was a losing battle. If Microsoft wasn't a bunch of cheapskates offloading most of their tech support jobs overseas, then their native customers wouldn't have to use some obscure, multi-national, military alphabet designed for communicating with foreign people.
This guy could barely even speak or understand English; I seriously doubt using the phonetic alphabet would help at all. I felt like repeatedly hitting my head against the wall after finally getting done telling him my registration key, when he told me that he would have to give me a new one. [facepalm]
Oh, that's right--weren't they too busy trying to create and hype up their own proprietary "Internet" at the time or something? The Microsoft Network? That damn passing fad... it just won't go away!
I have. Their god damn servers decided to label my copy of Windows XP Pro as "non-genuine" and refused to activate it after it was installed a certain number of times--on the same fucking computer. Needless to say, it was a nightmare trying to understand the foreign person and trying to get the person to understand me. He couldn't speak English worth shit. The guy insisted that I speak every single fucking letter with a word for an example. Every. Single. Fucking. One. With a 26-character key, that was seemingly endless torture. It made me feel like a retard who had to attend Kindergarten again.
All I can say is, if you use Microsoft products, pray that you never, ever have to contact Microsoft's tech support staff. It can be pure hell. I had to go through similar bullshit when trying to "correct" Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death problems. On occasion you might get a person who is nice, fluent in English and overall very helpful, but don't bet on it. And if you do get lucky, you'd better hope your problem is fully solved, because chances are the next time you won't be so lucky. The only company that can potentially top Microsoft for "worst tech support ever" or AT&T. I cringe at all the trouble AT&T has caused, and their complete incompetence and inability to fix *any* of their many fuck-ups.
With good practices, and and extra precautions, even Windows 95 can be "secure".
How? By removing the modem and/or Ethernet card? By leaving it powered off?
But seriously, Windows 95 is so dead by this point that it is probably reasonably "secure." As in, where WinXP gets owned remotely by a worm in two minutes, Win95 might take five.
Now that is sick. It looks like a hot dog that someone put in the microwave too long and it exploded. [pukes]
Create as hostile an environment as possible.
1. Run Linux or BSD, not Windows.
2. Use a less-common keyboard layout, like Dvorak or Colemak. To complete the effect, get a blank keyboard.
3. Switch the language to something they don't understand if possible.
Then they won't even *want* to touch it. :)
But seriously, don't give them access to a Windows machine. It's as simple as that. And always have multiple user accounts, just in case. If you get blank stares because it's "different," tough--they must not want to use it that bad. If they do, they'll use it and get used to it.
If all they want to do is browse the web and check their e-mail (which I assume is also through a web browser using a webmail service), then seriously... the operating system does not matter. They could be in front of an old 640x480 CRT on a computer running Windows 95 and a maximized web browser taking up the whole screen and it shouldn't matter too much.
Except for the fact that there probably are no modern browsers that are still maintained for that specific OS, but you get the point. If an OS can run a suitable browser, then it can be used. Sure, Windows can, clearly it's the absolute worst option if it's "protected" by anti-virus software and it still gets infected regularly by your guests.
Must be those 235 patents Microsoft was talking about several years back, whatever the hell they were supposed to be. They could be something like "method for making a colored pixel on a display device" for all I know.
Why not Debian? Get a bit of extra stability with it.
I do agree that Mint is pretty nice though... but I'm not a fan of their tendency to try to hijack your web browser's search engine they way they do, making it a pain in the ass to "fix," all for their own financial gain. Back when I was in the Windows world, I used to call that adware.
Easy solution: Have an Android phone handy for logging into Apple services. :P
Security through non-Apple Products. It should officially become a new form of security, like security by obscurity...