They jack up the prices more and more after every generation, and instead of people saying "Fuck you! Drop the price or I'm not buying shit!" They just frown and fork over the cash. Am I the only one wondering WHY instead of planning for a more expensive christmas?! This just shows companies like microsoft and sony that they can keep doing this and everyone will bend right the fuck over for them.
Do you have a problem with improvement? Is the drive many others have to do better a problem for you? For every realized idea there is an ideal form, and what we have managed to create so far. The ideal form of VoIP is no delay, instant, 100% reliable, and high quality audio communication.
There are people out there who enjoy striving for perfection even when it may not be possible, and for many of them, while striving to perfect their art, they watch others strive to perfect theirs. Personally, I feel a pleasant satisfaction when I see a technology hit a major milestone in its development. It makes me feel good that someone else has succeeded at something I can appreciate.
Now granted, my point of view may be quite different than the guy complaining that his phone doesn't work for 4 hours out of the month. However, we shouldn't just stop development because something has become acceptably satisfactory. For people like me this has nothing to do with needing to talk to someone right-the-hell-now. It's about a desire to see the ideal form of the idea realized.
I very much doubt that a soccer mom has different requirements. I want something that lets me get my work done.
I think you might have missed the point. People get work done in different ways. Do you use th ekeyboard or mouse more. Heavy keyboard users almost always have customizations to their layout or special shortcuts just for them. There are equally varying ways in how mousers do their work, and it can be quite dependant on how the UI of an app is designed. A heavily customizable desktop can allow you to change your desktop to best match HOW you want to get your work done.
I don't launch GNOME to spend hours tweaking it, but to get work done.
I don't launch KDE and spend hours tweaking it. I have hundreds of small and large tweaks that have been done one at a time over a period of several years. When I see something that could be done quicker or more easily, I change it so I can do it that way. One more customization. As my ability to understand and use the system evolves I change many things. Chances are very good I do things very differently than you, and if you tried to use my system you'd have a rough time at first. This is exactly what I meant by what is usable for one person is NOT usable for another.
But they do give a shit when they want to configure the bloody screen resolution and can't, because it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Right click on Desktop. Select Configure Desktop. Select Display. That's one damn big needle.
As for your clevel little phone analogy, allow me to apologize for hitting that nerve.
This whole storm in a teacup over Avalanche is probably a good example of why publishing research papers openly on the web for other people (i.e. people who don't understand research) to see can be a bad idea.
This is just a golden attitude. Take the good for the bad. I don't prefer the alternative. This is like saying all the companies that use gpl code w/o complying with the license is a good example of why releasing source code under the gpl is a bad idea.
Knowledge should be shared. If some schmuck is unable to comprehend what he is reading then that is his problem, and if a group of schmucks listen to him as he twists what he read into something unrecognizable, then that is their problem. We should pity them.
I noticed the installer was using gnome-themed Yes/No dialog boxes when it wanted to ask questions. The problem is, half of those dialogs used GTK2's Yes/No buttons (red/green circle) and the other half used GNOME's yes/no buttons - green enter symbol and a red X. This is very inconsistent and confusing to the user.
I pity no one that would get confused by that. Seriously, if that shit is confusing you then you have other issues you need to resolve before you get back on the computer.
Otherwise, you make some good points. Just remember usable does not have to mean dumbed down. You can make an interface that is usable for intelligent people too. Us intelligent people would appreciate it!
This is a yes or no question. Yes I want to install them. No I don't. The "user" should, in all circumstances, read the entire dialog before pressing a button. If the user had, and assuming the user has half a brain, then they saw the question, and the know what they are answering.
Linux is perfectly usable right now to the people who want to use it. The never ending quest to push our OS on the average non geek will turn our own OS against us. All I ever see reading about this usability nonsense is a bunch of whiners digging for the multiple ways an ignorant user could misunderatand what he sees. There is no one true "usability". What is usable for a hardcore geek is not usable for soccer mom, and what is "usable" for her is painful to the hardcore geek. We are screwing up our own OS. Let soccer moms have windows. Linux is our baby.
So what are we to do exactly. Vote for the one other guy that is running for the senate seat in our district. Well... one other guy if we are lucky. Wanna take bets on the odds that he wants riders illegal any more than the current guy in office? The corrupt are in power, and they have consildated their power enough to prevent most people who would challenge them from successfully running for office. Even if thy were successful, they'd just ruin them afterwards. Voting is the only power we, the people, have, and even that has become just an illusion by now. It seems the only people left on the peoples side are the courts, and they can only interprit the law. They can't do anything about this, and the executive and legislative branches are already doing everything they can to neuter the judicial branch.
This has nothing to do with the best tool for the job, and this is hardly a good example of "just because you can't doesn't mean you should". That phrase is meatn for things such as the US can obliterate the entire nation of iraq w/ our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn't mean we should.
This is a personal project. A toy if you will. It is simply some peoples cure to boredom. This is more akin to saying "just because I can play w/ legos doesn't mean I should". The big distinction here is they are releasing their work in the rare case that somebody else might want to play with them. It is really unfortunate that you cannot understand their motivations because it is likely they are having a great deal of fun playing with this stuff. However, just because you can't understand how someone could derive enjoymeny from something with no real world value doesn't mean you should dismiss them so easily. Let tham play, and hope one day you can enjoy it as much as they do.
It's an event. That is, you're watching something outside of your normal environment and so it feels more of an occasion. Also, you've put in effort to be in a certain place at a certain time - you're more likely to feel anticipation in such circumstances.
Assuming one is this easily excitable the supposed increased anticipation usually wears off somewhere near the 15th minute of TV commercials you get to see on the gigantic screen for the 100th time.
Screen size and sound. Unless you've paid beyond a fortune, the cinema will have your home setup beaten.
Sure, if you can ignore the tears and stains on the screen, the inability of minimum wage theater employees to properly focus, center, or fit the image on the screen, the blown speakers, the distorted sound, and the ever increasing ambient light levels in theaters these days, then ya... definately got the home setup beat.
Timeliness - films are out first at the cinema, so you've got a chance of seeing it before you already know everything there is to know about it from friends who tell you the plot. I'm ignoring net-based leaks here, I really think that's a tiny minority of people.
You have shitty friends, and cannot seem to stop yourself from reading spoilers. Not all of us suffer from these problems. Those of us with decent friends and self restraint can go years w/o knowing a damn thing about the plot of the most anticipated movies.
Concentration. If I'm at home, I'm at home. I know there's work to be done, things to be cleaned or tidied, phones that might ring....generally tasks to sort out. None of that feeling in a cinema.
OCD? Turn off the phone. Learn to not give a shit for 2 hours about how clean your house is. Lock the door. Turn off the lights. Etc. Once these things are done I promise it'll be a lot easier to concentrate on the movie than it will be surrounded by people w/ the inability to shower or shut the fuck up. The only thing that might change this is if you are with your woman. Then perhaps inability to concentrate on the movie is a good thing.
There's no way I can be in pain and no one else is unless they already have hearing damage.
I'm gonna have to call bullshit. Perhaps the reason it bothers you is because YOUR ears are damaged? Since we are going on anecdotal evidence here, I shall bring up that most of my friends and I think volume levels at most theaters are way too low. High volumes work for me and many others like large screens. It helps drown out the outside world to allow for better immersion. Anyways, I probably wouldn't like your home theater setup:).
Perhaps not in the North America Numbering Plan, but it still is with many providers. With a land line from Bellsouth in my home town if I dial 1 + area code before I dial a local number I will be charged for a long distance call even if I am only calling next door. In fact this was the entire point of the parent post. Dialing a 1 might not mean long distance in the standard, but that isn't stopping providers from handling it in that way.
Somehow Obi makes it. Hooks up with Luke eighteen years later and says, basically, screw it four years old may be too old to be a Jedi but eighteen is no problem.
Thank you for the reply. That was quite informative. It makes me wonder, however, is our constitution really so weak? Sure it may be hard to change, but there doesn't seem to be anything stopping the government from just ignoring or purposefully misinterpeting it. This is mostly a rhetorical question. It just makes me sad because the rights granted to citizens by the constitution seem to be going the same way rights granted to states have.
It's been said before but I think it's insightful enough to say it here:
This was never about KDE developers being unhappy with Apple. It was KDE developers being unhappy with KDE users bitching that safari had things khtml did not. So they explained why.
So what exactly can a state do about such a blatant disregard for the law by the highest court of the land? It is pretty obvious to anyone that if something is not moved accross state borders then it is not interstate commerce. In fact in your example it's not even commerce! Is there anything the state can do besides not comply? Personally I am amazed the states have put up w/ the federal government overstepping its bounds as much as it has. It's amazing how much power being able to tax gives the federal government.
Linux fans: let's be honest, gnome and KDE are neither cool, innovative or good in comparison to Windows or Mac OS - regardless of what style of windowing system you like.
I can't speak for gnome, but if you can't see the innovaion or the pure beauty in how KDE is built and works you are simply blind, or have never done more than a cursory glance. KDE has it where it counts; under the hood. I'll leave figuring this out as an exercise for the reader.
First, X sucks - it lacks the underpinnings that allow OS X to do thing like expose, and other nice 3D effects.
Ignoring that you are wrong, can't you come up with any better reason for such an accusation besides "it can't do pretty 3d effects"? Read up on how composite works. Composite gives X all the power it needs to do these effects. Just take a look at the work of luminocity using an opengl renderer with composite to do these effects you deem so important to the desktop.
The answer to this problem is to move to a pure openGL based render system (which is what OS X does) - such as Xgl being worked on by David Reveman
For the best method of doing this refer to my previous comment. As for Xgl.. do you really think this is the solution to pretty effects? Run an X server on top of an X server to do acceleration and your all important pretty effects? These effects simply do not belong inside the x server. The X server should provide the means, and the software utilizing it should produce the ends. This is what composite allows. If effects are in the X server applications must be designed to work with the effects the server does, and adding new ones or changing old ones must be done w/ care to avoid breaking software. It's just a monumentally bad idea.
Secondly, as a community we must *decide* on a GUI api - not have the 50+ ones which are available now.
No. We, as a community won't, and we shouldn't. First it's not possible. I will use KDE, and KDE developers will develop KDE. If some 3rd party decides "linux users must use gnome" the KDE developers and users will simply tell them to **** off. The only way to enforce this would be to destroy what the community in general stands for; freedom of choice, freedom speech, openness etc.. That we HAVE the choice is a BLESSING. If these so called professional developers (many of which are currently are and will remain linux hobbyists) and software companies don't like it then the community will do what it always has. We will do it ourselves. We will create better alternatives. We will reverse engineer. We will do whatever it takes to do what we want in our OS of choice.
To me this boils down to one simple idea. Should the rest of the world adapt to linux to take advantage of all it has to offer, or should linux diminish itself to adapt itself to the world? More importantly, why should linux care? Why can't it just be? As a linux user I many times don't want linux to grow too big. I fear it may be changed irrevociably in the process.
And as for dvoraks prophecy. I personally don't want the people who'd rather use Mac OS X on linux anyways. Mac OS X is the antithesis of everything I think a good desktop represents.
Yes, and many if not most religions do this too. This is the primary reason I believe they are all full of shit. If it's the example you gave or the ever raging argument about wether or not god hates gays. The entire concept of changing the religion to suite your lifestyle instead of changing your lifestyle fo suite the religion defeats the purpose of the whole thing. So many people think, "well I like this religion except for this part... so lets just read it differently to change gods intent because he OBVIOUSLY did not mean THAT!" Such are the problems when the head of your religion isn't real I suppose. Anyways this is verging on rant territory if it isn't already there. I could write a book on this crap...
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They jack up the prices more and more after every generation, and instead of people saying "Fuck you! Drop the price or I'm not buying shit!" They just frown and fork over the cash. Am I the only one wondering WHY instead of planning for a more expensive christmas?! This just shows companies like microsoft and sony that they can keep doing this and everyone will bend right the fuck over for them.
Do you have a problem with improvement? Is the drive many others have to do better a problem for you? For every realized idea there is an ideal form, and what we have managed to create so far. The ideal form of VoIP is no delay, instant, 100% reliable, and high quality audio communication.
There are people out there who enjoy striving for perfection even when it may not be possible, and for many of them, while striving to perfect their art, they watch others strive to perfect theirs. Personally, I feel a pleasant satisfaction when I see a technology hit a major milestone in its development. It makes me feel good that someone else has succeeded at something I can appreciate.
Now granted, my point of view may be quite different than the guy complaining that his phone doesn't work for 4 hours out of the month. However, we shouldn't just stop development because something has become acceptably satisfactory. For people like me this has nothing to do with needing to talk to someone right-the-hell-now. It's about a desire to see the ideal form of the idea realized.
Indeed, if you look at PCI and PCI Express connectors they strongly resemble the old MCA connectors in physical design.
Therefore they are equal. I can make a ps/2 port and make it look like a firewire port. I can also put Type R stickers on Hondas.
I'm fairly certain that search bar uses msn search :). Do you think IE users will start using that instead of going to google first?
I very much doubt that a soccer mom has different requirements. I want something that lets me get my work done.
I think you might have missed the point. People get work done in different ways. Do you use th ekeyboard or mouse more. Heavy keyboard users almost always have customizations to their layout or special shortcuts just for them. There are equally varying ways in how mousers do their work, and it can be quite dependant on how the UI of an app is designed. A heavily customizable desktop can allow you to change your desktop to best match HOW you want to get your work done.
I don't launch GNOME to spend hours tweaking it, but to get work done.
I don't launch KDE and spend hours tweaking it. I have hundreds of small and large tweaks that have been done one at a time over a period of several years. When I see something that could be done quicker or more easily, I change it so I can do it that way. One more customization. As my ability to understand and use the system evolves I change many things. Chances are very good I do things very differently than you, and if you tried to use my system you'd have a rough time at first. This is exactly what I meant by what is usable for one person is NOT usable for another.
But they do give a shit when they want to configure the bloody screen resolution and can't, because it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Right click on Desktop. Select Configure Desktop. Select Display. That's one damn big needle.
As for your clevel little phone analogy, allow me to apologize for hitting that nerve.
b) I don't think KDE-users really qualify as hardcore geeks
:).
As a group maybe not, but you'll find more using KDE than you will gnome these days
Pfft guns. We don't have tanks, bombers, carriers, nuclear bombs, etc. etc. What are we going to do with guns?
Although it is interesting to me that so many people seem to think disarming the public is a good thing, considering the context of this post.
This whole storm in a teacup over Avalanche is probably a good example of why publishing research papers openly on the web for other people (i.e. people who don't understand research) to see can be a bad idea.
This is just a golden attitude. Take the good for the bad. I don't prefer the alternative. This is like saying all the companies that use gpl code w/o complying with the license is a good example of why releasing source code under the gpl is a bad idea.
Knowledge should be shared. If some schmuck is unable to comprehend what he is reading then that is his problem, and if a group of schmucks listen to him as he twists what he read into something unrecognizable, then that is their problem. We should pity them.
I noticed the installer was using gnome-themed Yes/No dialog boxes when it wanted to ask questions. The problem is, half of those dialogs used GTK2's Yes/No buttons (red/green circle) and the other half used GNOME's yes/no buttons - green enter symbol and a red X. This is very inconsistent and confusing to the user.
I pity no one that would get confused by that. Seriously, if that shit is confusing you then you have other issues you need to resolve before you get back on the computer.
Otherwise, you make some good points. Just remember usable does not have to mean dumbed down. You can make an interface that is usable for intelligent people too. Us intelligent people would appreciate it!
Do you want to install 100 dpi X11 fonts?
This is a yes or no question. Yes I want to install them. No I don't. The "user" should, in all circumstances, read the entire dialog before pressing a button. If the user had, and assuming the user has half a brain, then they saw the question, and the know what they are answering.
... they've come to screw up KDE. :(
Linux is perfectly usable right now to the people who want to use it. The never ending quest to push our OS on the average non geek will turn our own OS against us. All I ever see reading about this usability nonsense is a bunch of whiners digging for the multiple ways an ignorant user could misunderatand what he sees. There is no one true "usability". What is usable for a hardcore geek is not usable for soccer mom, and what is "usable" for her is painful to the hardcore geek. We are screwing up our own OS. Let soccer moms have windows. Linux is our baby.
So what are we to do exactly. Vote for the one other guy that is running for the senate seat in our district. Well... one other guy if we are lucky. Wanna take bets on the odds that he wants riders illegal any more than the current guy in office? The corrupt are in power, and they have consildated their power enough to prevent most people who would challenge them from successfully running for office. Even if thy were successful, they'd just ruin them afterwards. Voting is the only power we, the people, have, and even that has become just an illusion by now. It seems the only people left on the peoples side are the courts, and they can only interprit the law. They can't do anything about this, and the executive and legislative branches are already doing everything they can to neuter the judicial branch.
This has nothing to do with the best tool for the job, and this is hardly a good example of "just because you can't doesn't mean you should". That phrase is meatn for things such as the US can obliterate the entire nation of iraq w/ our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn't mean we should.
This is a personal project. A toy if you will. It is simply some peoples cure to boredom. This is more akin to saying "just because I can play w/ legos doesn't mean I should". The big distinction here is they are releasing their work in the rare case that somebody else might want to play with them. It is really unfortunate that you cannot understand their motivations because it is likely they are having a great deal of fun playing with this stuff. However, just because you can't understand how someone could derive enjoymeny from something with no real world value doesn't mean you should dismiss them so easily. Let tham play, and hope one day you can enjoy it as much as they do.
It's an event. That is, you're watching something outside of your normal environment and so it feels more of an occasion. Also, you've put in effort to be in a certain place at a certain time - you're more likely to feel anticipation in such circumstances.
Assuming one is this easily excitable the supposed increased anticipation usually wears off somewhere near the 15th minute of TV commercials you get to see on the gigantic screen for the 100th time.
Screen size and sound. Unless you've paid beyond a fortune, the cinema will have your home setup beaten.
Sure, if you can ignore the tears and stains on the screen, the inability of minimum wage theater employees to properly focus, center, or fit the image on the screen, the blown speakers, the distorted sound, and the ever increasing ambient light levels in theaters these days, then ya... definately got the home setup beat.
Timeliness - films are out first at the cinema, so you've got a chance of seeing it before you already know everything there is to know about it from friends who tell you the plot. I'm ignoring net-based leaks here, I really think that's a tiny minority of people.
You have shitty friends, and cannot seem to stop yourself from reading spoilers. Not all of us suffer from these problems. Those of us with decent friends and self restraint can go years w/o knowing a damn thing about the plot of the most anticipated movies.
Concentration. If I'm at home, I'm at home. I know there's work to be done, things to be cleaned or tidied, phones that might ring....generally tasks to sort out. None of that feeling in a cinema.
OCD? Turn off the phone. Learn to not give a shit for 2 hours about how clean your house is. Lock the door. Turn off the lights. Etc. Once these things are done I promise it'll be a lot easier to concentrate on the movie than it will be surrounded by people w/ the inability to shower or shut the fuck up. The only thing that might change this is if you are with your woman. Then perhaps inability to concentrate on the movie is a good thing.
There's no way I can be in pain and no one else is unless they already have hearing damage.
:).
I'm gonna have to call bullshit. Perhaps the reason it bothers you is because YOUR ears are damaged? Since we are going on anecdotal evidence here, I shall bring up that most of my friends and I think volume levels at most theaters are way too low. High volumes work for me and many others like large screens. It helps drown out the outside world to allow for better immersion. Anyways, I probably wouldn't like your home theater setup
Perhaps not in the North America Numbering Plan, but it still is with many providers. With a land line from Bellsouth in my home town if I dial 1 + area code before I dial a local number I will be charged for a long distance call even if I am only calling next door. In fact this was the entire point of the parent post. Dialing a 1 might not mean long distance in the standard, but that isn't stopping providers from handling it in that way.
In the case of some graphics cards, they don't want the public to find out the driver has hacks in it to cheat the benchmarks.
:).
This isn't really relevant. This is not related to open hardware specs
While the possibility may be real, the torrent isn't. It was removed from the pirate bay which means one thing. It was a fake.
Somehow Obi makes it. Hooks up with Luke eighteen years later and says, basically, screw it four years old may be too old to be a Jedi but eighteen is no problem.
:).
Desperate tims call for desperate measures
Then short it and make another fortune on the way down :). If I only had any money to invest with...
Thank you for the reply. That was quite informative. It makes me wonder, however, is our constitution really so weak? Sure it may be hard to change, but there doesn't seem to be anything stopping the government from just ignoring or purposefully misinterpeting it. This is mostly a rhetorical question. It just makes me sad because the rights granted to citizens by the constitution seem to be going the same way rights granted to states have.
It's been said before but I think it's insightful enough to say it here:
This was never about KDE developers being unhappy with Apple. It was KDE developers being unhappy with KDE users bitching that safari had things khtml did not. So they explained why.
So what exactly can a state do about such a blatant disregard for the law by the highest court of the land? It is pretty obvious to anyone that if something is not moved accross state borders then it is not interstate commerce. In fact in your example it's not even commerce! Is there anything the state can do besides not comply? Personally I am amazed the states have put up w/ the federal government overstepping its bounds as much as it has. It's amazing how much power being able to tax gives the federal government.
Fine I'll bite. Troll.
Linux fans: let's be honest, gnome and KDE are neither cool, innovative or good in comparison to Windows or Mac OS - regardless of what style of windowing system you like.
I can't speak for gnome, but if you can't see the innovaion or the pure beauty in how KDE is built and works you are simply blind, or have never done more than a cursory glance. KDE has it where it counts; under the hood. I'll leave figuring this out as an exercise for the reader.
First, X sucks - it lacks the underpinnings that allow OS X to do thing like expose, and other nice 3D effects.
Ignoring that you are wrong, can't you come up with any better reason for such an accusation besides "it can't do pretty 3d effects"? Read up on how composite works. Composite gives X all the power it needs to do these effects. Just take a look at the work of luminocity using an opengl renderer with composite to do these effects you deem so important to the desktop.
The answer to this problem is to move to a pure openGL based render system (which is what OS X does) - such as Xgl being worked on by David Reveman
For the best method of doing this refer to my previous comment. As for Xgl.. do you really think this is the solution to pretty effects? Run an X server on top of an X server to do acceleration and your all important pretty effects? These effects simply do not belong inside the x server. The X server should provide the means, and the software utilizing it should produce the ends. This is what composite allows. If effects are in the X server applications must be designed to work with the effects the server does, and adding new ones or changing old ones must be done w/ care to avoid breaking software. It's just a monumentally bad idea.
Secondly, as a community we must *decide* on a GUI api - not have the 50+ ones which are available now.
No. We, as a community won't, and we shouldn't. First it's not possible. I will use KDE, and KDE developers will develop KDE. If some 3rd party decides "linux users must use gnome" the KDE developers and users will simply tell them to **** off. The only way to enforce this would be to destroy what the community in general stands for; freedom of choice, freedom speech, openness etc.. That we HAVE the choice is a BLESSING. If these so called professional developers (many of which are currently are and will remain linux hobbyists) and software companies don't like it then the community will do what it always has. We will do it ourselves. We will create better alternatives. We will reverse engineer. We will do whatever it takes to do what we want in our OS of choice.
To me this boils down to one simple idea. Should the rest of the world adapt to linux to take advantage of all it has to offer, or should linux diminish itself to adapt itself to the world? More importantly, why should linux care? Why can't it just be? As a linux user I many times don't want linux to grow too big. I fear it may be changed irrevociably in the process.
And as for dvoraks prophecy. I personally don't want the people who'd rather use Mac OS X on linux anyways. Mac OS X is the antithesis of everything I think a good desktop represents.
Yes, and many if not most religions do this too. This is the primary reason I believe they are all full of shit. If it's the example you gave or the ever raging argument about wether or not god hates gays. The entire concept of changing the religion to suite your lifestyle instead of changing your lifestyle fo suite the religion defeats the purpose of the whole thing. So many people think, "well I like this religion except for this part... so lets just read it differently to change gods intent because he OBVIOUSLY did not mean THAT!" Such are the problems when the head of your religion isn't real I suppose. Anyways this is verging on rant territory if it isn't already there. I could write a book on this crap...