the amount of bad "information" and people throwing completely unrelated things around infuriates me.
Hmm... Pick any political topic of debate. Pick any news or information source. Pick any commercial. Pick any text book in high school. Should I continue?
I am only replying since this somehow got a score 2 (or am I missing something), but the reason why BACK and FWD don't interfere with the content is because they are at a higher (or different) level of abstraction. They are concerned with the navigation history and they move left and right on that timeline, if you will. And they are a pair.
I do agree that the forward button is of much less use than the Back button, but that is because usually users are in the present, and do not have a future to go to (the FWD button is darkened out). Only when you go back in your history does the forward button get activated, and that is slightly more than NEVER, and also against your intension of going back, which is usually to take undo a navigation. Hence FWD acts as a REDO after an UNDO, which is, well, not used very often or highly necessary.
Actually you could probably just hide the FWD button and hardly notice.
As for "next page" functionality, I wouldn't recommend it, nor do I believe it is even feasible, as the browser will need to "know" the content to perform an action specific to the context of the content. Such functionality is much better left to "next page" links, which are already provided by the content by the author.
"BACK" is actually like "UNDO". And to those who have understood it that way already, if your undo's included all your undo's, then you will be going back to where you specifically decided you did not want to go.
That is why when I make a back button for a page, I choose to use javascript to go back, and not a link to the page they supposably came from (links should read HOME, or TOP, or anything but BACK). I get quite annoyed with back buttons that go forward and conceptually disagree with the browser's back button.
So is the "back" they describe better? Well, maybe they could have two buttons, or a choice, but I would definitely defend the practicality of the current version.
NES games and earlier could be created by a couple of people. But obviously, with the enhanced audio visual capabilities and data capacities, recent games have suffered from bloat.
With all the new audiovisual capabilities, the big companies with money to invest in a project can now go full blown with multi million dollar games to compete with other companies, and unfortunately the game industry has become a battle between the big guns.
These better looking, bigger games often sell, but not that much more than the popular games of the past, resulting in lower margins, higher risk, and a higher barrier to entry for newcomers.
I'd definitely recommend MO drives for someone like you... they are main stream in Japan.
At one point I had all my stuff on MOs until they started getting too small for my needs (640MB per disk). Now they have GigaMO's but a bit pricy.
It is aweful having lots of disks floating around. That is when I shifted towards using an external HD (120G). But if everything fits on one disk or a couple, then removable is extremely convenient:)
What happened to biotech. I want to see a real dino.
Robot's suck. And if the trend continues surely this one will too. In fact, they should have two people in a stuffed dino. That would be much much better.
I have no issues with your reply whatsoever, except for the transition between 3 and 4. Sure, the community gets your code. Sure, great hacks are done, customization is achieved. But 4, no. Why? The people you would sell it to already own it, because everybody owns it. You cannot sell something you do not own. If it is not your property you have nothing to sell.
The only way to make money off of GPLed code is to pretend you own it, and sell it to the clueless. Customization, consulting, support, whatever, are all good indirect ways to make money off of GPLed code, but the same can be said for proprietary code. The bottom line is the code is worth zero dollars, and that is precisely why they are begging for money.
If a wizard can simplify only simple tasks, why have a wizard? Why not just let the user do it?
Good point.
I think though, a wizard is suppose to help a novice do the right thing, even if it is a bit wordy and takes more time (opposed to an expert just checking off some checkboxes and entering an IP number or something).
My issue with Microsoft's wizards are that they:
1) don't help you do the right thing 2) often don't have the correct option to begin with 3) are worded wrong (like FAT to NTFS is an "upgrade") 4) even without the wizard it's broken, and hence the wizard just complicates the issue
So my conclusion would be, a wizard should help guide and simplify what otherwise would be a very unfamilar and confusing task, in exchange for the length of time it takes to accomplish the task, and for some constraints on some "advanced configurations". Microsoft's wizards, and the majority of wizards I've come accross fail to achieve that. Worse yet, sometimes they force wizards on you which is just obnoxious.
But yes:
I think, though, that wizards are a symptom of the problem.
And why is my post flamebait. The article is flamebait. IMNSHO.
Random thought: It is sad that slashdot cannot "learn". I mean, if it were one person we might be able to influence him or her a little, but slashdot as a whole, being just a reflection of a mass, cannot really be educated by design. Only by accident or natural evolution... Oh well!
Well, admitting there isn't anything better, and admitting YOU CANNOT IMAGINE anything better are quite different things.
I feel many people here, unfortunate though it is, fall in the latter.
Since when was the 2D GUI "perfect"? Since when was the WIMP interface officially the only possible interface?
Look around and you will see innovations everywhere. But to admit nothing is possible not only will blind you, but will also prevent you from being a part of such innovation.
If you have an imagination, and if you are pragmatic, ie, work and judge by results, then innovation will follow naturally.
If you feel you do not have an imagination, then absorb information and familiarize yourself with the cutting edge. Once you are familiar enough, you will start seeing possibilities that weren't explicitly presented to you, beyond the edge. And that is what we often refer to as...
imagination.
Code it and present it, and people will call it...
an innovation.
Repeat that a few times, and before you know it, people will start referring to you as...
Why don't they just make "extensions" for copyrights.
The standard copyright can be 10 years, for example. And those who wish to continue to profit from their ancient creations can apply for an extension and pay the US Gov't a %age of the profits, ie, be taxed.
Why does the entire intellectual pool need be harmed just because the mouse stood up. Turn it around, and they could be huge contributors to society (through taxes).
What is most disturbing, is it is not the artists who are losing out and complaining. It is the people selling other people's work. Sure, they are filthy rich meaning they are quite successful at it, in which case it is even more important not to confuse the issue.
In most cases, artists would LOVE for their work to be heard. Especially if no record company sells their work anymore. The only artists complaining are those who already are filthy rich and are convinced by their record companies their income is being threatened.
If artists were in it for money, they wouldn't be artists to begin with.
Companies selling art are in it for the money, and they were in it for the money to begin with.
1. write code 2. open source it 3. ??? 4. ??? 5. Profit!!!
Possible Answer:
3. Create a non-profit org 4. Beg
Now, if this isn't just screaming OPEN SOURCE HAS NO BUSINESS MODEL, then could someone please enlighten my soul.
Sure, I have absolutely nothing against open source, but I do have a problem understanding how open source puts bread on the table, and brings electricity to your computer. Possible WRONG Answer: "err.. provide expensive support"
All successful businesses avoid competition. Microsoft is a shining example.
The day your company is convicted for being a monopoly is the day you WON. That is the day you are officially MAKING TOO MUCH MONEY. As a suit that would be the day you PARTY YOUR PANTIES OFF AND GET DOWN AND BUGGIE.
So how exactly does RMS value the programmers time? I think many Microsoft Employees feel more "valued" than many open source developers. Especially those who don't have an open source job and are "valued" doing proprietary work.
For those of you who don't want to bother or who can't, the BBS has postings of some emails from customer care.
Apparently the source code available is only what is posted. And when asked for modified GPLed code, the request was refused. Obviously the support person didn't know the significance of his/her remark, but he/she blatantly admitted to violation of GPL. Also, all software is licensed under Toshiba, and not GPL.
I think this is a case of a bunch of clueless or clueful developers banking on the assumption no one will or can sue them anyway.
Epson printers apparently use Net/BSD to avoid GPL.
This is BIG NEWS for slashdotters if you ask me. Or does everyone already admit GPL is just a cherry that comes with free code?
"In accordance to the law, this site is barrier free. Compatible with IE and Flash 6."
I think I am disabled. I use Netscape and refuse to upgrade my FLASH!!!!! LOL
Seriously, before we get into those with disabilities, why don't we make sites just plain accessible first?!?
Re:foreboding sense? but what if the software's GO
on
More on Longhorn
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
to be quite honest, I think anything is better than MS software. Even the stuff they come up with.
But MS has compatibility and politics and a mamoth investor appetite to feed.
Innovation will come from MS when they feel threatened. while they can beat Sun by just watching them sink, MS will just sit on their Win licenses for revenue. That is basically what happened this year, and boom 50% increase. No tech innovation involved. Once they need to make the move, they can do it. They have too many brains in jars on call.
Slashdot Mirror
the amount of bad "information" and people throwing completely unrelated things around infuriates me.
Hmm... Pick any political topic of debate. Pick any news or information source. Pick any commercial. Pick any text book in high school. Should I continue?
Information as usual if you ask me.
I am only replying since this somehow got a score 2 (or am I missing something), but the reason why BACK and FWD don't interfere with the content is because they are at a higher (or different) level of abstraction. They are concerned with the navigation history and they move left and right on that timeline, if you will. And they are a pair.
I do agree that the forward button is of much less use than the Back button, but that is because usually users are in the present, and do not have a future to go to (the FWD button is darkened out). Only when you go back in your history does the forward button get activated, and that is slightly more than NEVER, and also against your intension of going back, which is usually to take undo a navigation. Hence FWD acts as a REDO after an UNDO, which is, well, not used very often or highly necessary.
Actually you could probably just hide the FWD button and hardly notice.
As for "next page" functionality, I wouldn't recommend it, nor do I believe it is even feasible, as the browser will need to "know" the content to perform an action specific to the context of the content. Such functionality is much better left to "next page" links, which are already provided by the content by the author.
"BACK" is actually like "UNDO". And to those who have understood it that way already, if your undo's included all your undo's, then you will be going back to where you specifically decided you did not want to go.
That is why when I make a back button for a page, I choose to use javascript to go back, and not a link to the page they supposably came from (links should read HOME, or TOP, or anything but BACK). I get quite annoyed with back buttons that go forward and conceptually disagree with the browser's back button.
So is the "back" they describe better? Well, maybe they could have two buttons, or a choice, but I would definitely defend the practicality of the current version.
And I doubt it's going anywhere.
NES games and earlier could be created by a couple of people. But obviously, with the enhanced audio visual capabilities and data capacities, recent games have suffered from bloat.
With all the new audiovisual capabilities, the big companies with money to invest in a project can now go full blown with multi million dollar games to compete with other companies, and unfortunately the game industry has become a battle between the big guns.
These better looking, bigger games often sell, but not that much more than the popular games of the past, resulting in lower margins, higher risk, and a higher barrier to entry for newcomers.
An OS is supposed to be like whatever you want it to be like.
That in itself is a standard.
Many experienced users will vote for this view, but when a novice does not even know what to like, then this model is weak.
um.. why don't you just install windows if you like it so much. No, seriously.
If you're aiming that low, then you might as well clone AOL while you're at it.
Microsoft is going to have a *real* easy time bashing open source if they have this to talk about.
I'd definitely recommend MO drives for someone like you... they are main stream in Japan.
:)
At one point I had all my stuff on MOs until they started getting too small for my needs (640MB per disk). Now they have GigaMO's but a bit pricy.
It is aweful having lots of disks floating around. That is when I shifted towards using an external HD (120G). But if everything fits on one disk or a couple, then removable is extremely convenient
So we will STILL be stuck with DVDs in 2010?
:D
I can imagine getting a 500 in 1 hollywood DVD collection off the streets of HK
What happened to biotech. I want to see a real dino.
Robot's suck. And if the trend continues surely this one will too. In fact, they should have two people in a stuffed dino. That would be much much better.
then we should just change it!
And if it doesn't then maybe we should REWORD it so even my little brother's sister would understand.
like everything else on windows, it's probably broken to begin with.
user's would either have to fix it themselves, or never know it's there.
and of course, it will surely break again with every new service pack.
I have no issues with your reply whatsoever, except for the transition between 3 and 4. Sure, the community gets your code. Sure, great hacks are done, customization is achieved. But 4, no. Why? The people you would sell it to already own it, because everybody owns it. You cannot sell something you do not own. If it is not your property you have nothing to sell.
The only way to make money off of GPLed code is to pretend you own it, and sell it to the clueless. Customization, consulting, support, whatever, are all good indirect ways to make money off of GPLed code, but the same can be said for proprietary code. The bottom line is the code is worth zero dollars, and that is precisely why they are begging for money.
If a wizard can simplify only simple tasks, why have a wizard? Why not just let the user do it?
Good point.
I think though, a wizard is suppose to help a novice do the right thing, even if it is a bit wordy and takes more time (opposed to an expert just checking off some checkboxes and entering an IP number or something).
My issue with Microsoft's wizards are that they:
1) don't help you do the right thing
2) often don't have the correct option to begin with
3) are worded wrong (like FAT to NTFS is an "upgrade")
4) even without the wizard it's broken, and hence the wizard just complicates the issue
So my conclusion would be, a wizard should help guide and simplify what otherwise would be a very unfamilar and confusing task, in exchange for the length of time it takes to accomplish the task, and for some constraints on some "advanced configurations". Microsoft's wizards, and the majority of wizards I've come accross fail to achieve that. Worse yet, sometimes they force wizards on you which is just obnoxious.
But yes:
I think, though, that wizards are a symptom of the problem.
Most definitely!
Isn't "stupid" redundant to "slashdot pick"?
Must agree again! i stand corrected!
And why is my post flamebait. The article is flamebait. IMNSHO.
Random thought: It is sad that slashdot cannot "learn". I mean, if it were one person we might be able to influence him or her a little, but slashdot as a whole, being just a reflection of a mass, cannot really be educated by design. Only by accident or natural evolution... Oh well!
Well, admitting there isn't anything better, and admitting YOU CANNOT IMAGINE anything better are quite different things.
I feel many people here, unfortunate though it is, fall in the latter.
Since when was the 2D GUI "perfect"? Since when was the WIMP interface officially the only possible interface?
Look around and you will see innovations everywhere. But to admit nothing is possible not only will blind you, but will also prevent you from being a part of such innovation.
If you have an imagination, and if you are pragmatic, ie, work and judge by results, then innovation will follow naturally.
If you feel you do not have an imagination, then absorb information and familiarize yourself with the cutting edge. Once you are familiar enough, you will start seeing possibilities that weren't explicitly presented to you, beyond the edge. And that is what we often refer to as...
imagination.
Code it and present it, and people will call it...
an innovation.
Repeat that a few times, and before you know it, people will start referring to you as...
a visionary.
Well, that's cuz it is a shiitty wizard.
And before the wizard can help simplify things, the underlying task needs to be simple.
As far as windows is concerned, nothing is simple, and wizards just make too many decisions for you.
Wizards are not at fault. They just don't help clean up anything.
Yes exactly. Another stupid journalist holding on to their job for dear life, and another stupid slashdot pick.
THERE IS NO NEWS HERE.
Why don't they just make "extensions" for copyrights.
The standard copyright can be 10 years, for example. And those who wish to continue to profit from their ancient creations can apply for an extension and pay the US Gov't a %age of the profits, ie, be taxed.
Why does the entire intellectual pool need be harmed just because the mouse stood up. Turn it around, and they could be huge contributors to society (through taxes).
What is most disturbing, is it is not the artists who are losing out and complaining. It is the people selling other people's work. Sure, they are filthy rich meaning they are quite successful at it, in which case it is even more important not to confuse the issue.
In most cases, artists would LOVE for their work to be heard. Especially if no record company sells their work anymore. The only artists complaining are those who already are filthy rich and are convinced by their record companies their income is being threatened.
If artists were in it for money, they wouldn't be artists to begin with.
Companies selling art are in it for the money, and they were in it for the money to begin with.
So, Problem:
1. write code
2. open source it
3. ???
4. ???
5. Profit!!!
Possible Answer:
3. Create a non-profit org
4. Beg
Now, if this isn't just screaming OPEN SOURCE HAS NO BUSINESS MODEL, then could someone please enlighten my soul.
Sure, I have absolutely nothing against open source, but I do have a problem understanding how open source puts bread on the table, and brings electricity to your computer. Possible WRONG Answer: "err.. provide expensive support"
well, that is precisely my point.
Microsoft is the expert on avoiding competition
All successful businesses avoid competition. Microsoft is a shining example.
The day your company is convicted for being a monopoly is the day you WON. That is the day you are officially MAKING TOO MUCH MONEY. As a suit that would be the day you PARTY YOUR PANTIES OFF AND GET DOWN AND BUGGIE.
values a programmer's time
So how exactly does RMS value the programmers time? I think many Microsoft Employees feel more "valued" than many open source developers. Especially those who don't have an open source job and are "valued" doing proprietary work.
Microsoft is the expert on Capitalism. Not RMS.
For those of you who don't want to bother or who can't, the BBS has postings of some emails from customer care.
Apparently the source code available is only what is posted. And when asked for modified GPLed code, the request was refused. Obviously the support person didn't know the significance of his/her remark, but he/she blatantly admitted to violation of GPL. Also, all software is licensed under Toshiba, and not GPL.
I think this is a case of a bunch of clueless or clueful developers banking on the assumption no one will or can sue them anyway.
Epson printers apparently use Net/BSD to avoid GPL.
This is BIG NEWS for slashdotters if you ask me. Or does everyone already admit GPL is just a cherry that comes with free code?
Where are all the privacy activists? I guess we all only care about our own privacy huh.
This is quite funny. I can see it now.
"In accordance to the law, this site is barrier free. Compatible with IE and Flash 6."
I think I am disabled. I use Netscape and refuse to upgrade my FLASH!!!!! LOL
Seriously, before we get into those with disabilities, why don't we make sites just plain accessible first?!?
to be quite honest, I think anything is better than MS software. Even the stuff they come up with.
But MS has compatibility and politics and a mamoth investor appetite to feed.
Innovation will come from MS when they feel threatened. while they can beat Sun by just watching them sink, MS will just sit on their Win licenses for revenue. That is basically what happened this year, and boom 50% increase. No tech innovation involved. Once they need to make the move, they can do it. They have too many brains in jars on call.