I agree with you. I use Linux because I like it better. Period. I don't understand why Windows users have a hard time accepting that. I can accept that some people like Windows better. Why should I care about that?
I don't make my choices based on "the Market". The "Market" put things like "Titanic" as the highest grossing movie of all time, does that mean it's the best? We all know market share doesn't automatically mean better.
Please don't say "we all". I would like to think this, and maybe in Slashdot world it is true (which is what you may have been referring to). But in the "real world" of IT, market share is a HUGE factor.
This happened to me yesterday. I was talking with my manager about an application we use, and we have been having problems with it. It runs on Sybase as the database, but also does a weird XML file structure in conjunction with it. We were talking about the possibility of rolling our own program to take its place. He made some off comment about how he couldn't believe that they chose Sybase. I pointed out that we haven't had one problem with Sybase, it has been with the front-end program. To which he replied: "Look, there are only 2 databases out there to choose from - Oracle and MS SQL." If I was sitting down, I would have fell out of my chair.
First off, MS is 3rd in DB market share, behind Oracle and IBM, but he is a die-hard MS person (for no good reason, from what I have gathered). Second of all, you have to choose your tools based on your need. For the app we were discussing, Oracle would have been overkill. In his mind, that leaves only one choice. He is under the impression that anything other than MS is crap, and that we already have experts in MSSQL (which we do, because our product uses MSSQL). But he didn't make his argument based on that, he made it on "there are only 2 databases out there". I mentioned Sybase, MySQL, etc. and he said that someone would have to go through training to use those. I guess he is under the impression that SQL is like planning a moon mission.
My manager is deeply entrenched in MS's posterior, just like most companies I would imagine. They like to buy up all their products (sorry, license) and then complain about them. "Reboot the server" is an *ACTUAL* solution to a lot of problems. It isn't even questioned anymore, that is just part of regular maintenance. There is no alternative, move along.
Sorry to rant, but what you said hit home with me. I am working amongst people who don't know any better, and aren't even willing to consider that there are other software products out there. We got an email the other day saying that because of a recent IE exploit, we should avoid using the internet until they could get a fix and make it available. Unbelievable.
Nice looking board, no doubt about it, but to really make a splash they ought've made it 16:9 instead of 4:3. Just like the old car commercial says, "Wider is better."
Scientific American is the only magazine that is interesting enough to make me regularly read it cover to cover.
Yes, given the state of education in America, the magazine title is becoming an oxymoron.:(
I love it as well. You should also try Skeptical Inquirer . It has had some pretty good articles in the past.
Does that mean I'll have to buy another set of Star Wars DVDs, The Blue Ray Edition?
One of the scrapped special features of the Star Wars DVD was a "Virtual Lucas Ego and Self Worth" featurette. Word has it that they may be able to squeeze it onto one of these discs.
I think the internet's broken. That first link, heise online, it's in a whole other language.
I've already tried resetting the defaults on IE...
Can anyone help?
While this is amusing, with these standard plugins it would be plausible to have a translator plugin to translate that page for you on the fly.
No matter what your political leaning, we should all be disturbed by one thing. Michael Moore knows one truth, and knows it well, and exploits it to advantage with this film:
A great many people simply don't have the intellectual capacity to view any film (or TV show, or newspaper article) with an adequate amount of skepticism. Consequently, they accept anything presented to them in such a medium as authoritative, and therefore truth.
Does this advance the quality of political debate?
No, it just evens the playing field.
I think you are right, BTW. I love Moore's films, not because I believe in them wholeheartedly, but I enjoy finding the parts that he embellishes. No other movies make me give a crap. When I see something on the news I know is false, I don't try to find some truth in it. But when I see something that is so compelling, it makes me want to learn more. THAT is what Moore is good at with his films. He makes you question things, and to me that is always a good thing. I still feel the effects from Bowling For Columbine. What Marilyn Manson said in that film still sticks with me. That smarmy newscaster pretending to be somber when the camera was on still sticks with me. The light he shone on the news media being blood-thirsty scumbags still sticks with me. The rest of the movie has kind of faded into my memory.
I haven't seen his new movie yet. I don't know if I am up to it yet. I am not so worried about questions Moore brings up, I already have those. I am more concerned with the facts he presents. Not that I don't probably know most of those already as well, but just that I will have to come to terms with how embarassing it is to be an American sometimes. And if you are never embarassed, then you are a blind sheep. It amazes me how we can be the greatest country in the world and one of the most despicable at the same time.
If its not an immediate requirement from your customers, including it in your estimates/costs is overcharging them.
I have always wondered where Microsoft gets their customer requirements from. If you are producing software used by nearly everyone, how do you choose who your "users" are, and better yet how do you get requirements out of them? Do you think that they consider large businesses as their main customers?
As far as I can tell, Microsoft doesn't have to answer to anyone. Therefore, they may generate their own requirements for their software.
In an unfree society, we would not be able to debate this. In an unfree society, you would be unable to go here and see naked breasts. In an unfree society, I would not be able to post this.
So you believe that there are only the free and the unfree? We have many freedoms, but the ones we don't have are simply ridiculous. We can, or more appropriately are encouraged to, watch violence on a DAILY BASIS on television. Yet the sight of a woman's bare breast sends the government into a hissy-fit. Violence, murder, and crime are all seemingly OK for TV and movies, but nudity is not. In a free society. Insane.
Don't get so stressed out at the economic censure of public speech. Get stressed out when they start trying to censor PRIVATE speech.
Economic censorship? WTF is that? Economics bear themselves out. The FCC should have nothing to do with economics. It is about ensuring that the people on the public airwaves are held to the same standards of conduct. The SECOND they start deviating from that, it is censorship. There is no economics to it. People are not forced to tune into any radio show. In fact, listeners are how radio programs stay in business, via advertising revenue. (Save NPR) If people don't like it, they don't tune in, ratings go down, and the shows go away. It is somewhat of a self-governing industry. The fact of the matter is, the shows that were fined by the FCC were not being held to the same standard as everyone else. You cannot selectively enforce the rules because of political bias, which is what happened and is happening.
Are you by any chance a US citizen?
In the rest of the world we let the parents raise their children.. really.. what do you think happens to kids who listen to "explict lyrics"? I'm seriously curious.
I can't speak for the parent poster, but I was wondering the same thing. I am pretty sure that the comment was tongue-in-cheek, considering all the hoo-ha that went on over Janet Jacksons b--b. (sorry, don't want to fucking offend anyone). So the government can force radio hosts off of radio stations for using "obscene" language and references while the "beloved" Oprah is not held to the same standards. Yet the RIAA, the champions of good taste, are able to donate very questionable material to youth as part of a class-action settlement against them. It is all a ridiculous farce.
Some of us in the USA are quite aware of the idiocy that is going on in our society. I am personally embarassed that as a "free" society, we are so very far from it.
Re:This isnt a credible news source
on
Open Source Life?
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· Score: 1
Its just ruminations on someones blog and should be treated as such.
XP is a pretty giant leap forward in Desktop computing, as a Linux enthusiast grudgingly decided that was true a couple years ago.
Really? In what way? I have been using XP here at work for the last 6 months, and didn't see any real leaps forward. It just looked different, and took me a little while to get it looking like I wanted it (i.e. like Win2K). I was forced to upgrade, because that is the "corporate standard". As a desktop OS, I haven't seen anything better than Win2K.
And at home I use Linux. Not because it is an alternative to Windows, but because I like it better. It does more of what I want it to do. Windows can't "win me back" because I was never really there. I never preferred Windows, it was what I used because there essentially was no alternative. Now I see Windows as an alternative to Linux. I only boot my Win98 machine when I need to burn a DVD or play a game. That is maybe once every couple of weeks.
I was recently traveling for work, and I had my laptop with me (WinXP). The hotel let you use PCMCIA cards for free to access their wireless connection. ($75 refundable deposit) I don't even know what card it was, but I installed the driver on my machine. Windows complained because it was an "unauthorized" device, but I installed it anyway. It worked great.
Then I wondered..... and pulled out my Knoppix 3.2 CD. Note that this isn't even the latest and greatest version. It booted up. I started Mozilla, and was on the net in no time flat. It recognized the card and loaded the driver with no interaction on my part.
Now every time I boot the machine, WinXP complains that the wireless card isn't inserted. *sigh*
This was my very first experience with wireless, and it was pretty painless. Take a Knoppix CD to your local Best Buy, Circuit City, or whatever and try out the cards for compatability.
Slashdot Mirror
Some ideas:
It installs Linux on their system (let them figure out that dependency hell!) [note to self: make sure it isn't Debian, apt-get rocks]
It makes their homepage default to Slashdot
It sends an email to RMS every day saying "Aren't you the guy who created Linux?"
Perhaps you should get yourself a sense of humor.
I can think of several I wouldn't trust....
pseudo-scientist
Christian Scientist
Computer Scientist
Marine Biologist
Botanist
Archaeologist
Food Scientist
Paranormal Scientist
In fact, can you name a type of scientist that you would trust with knowing what is best for a country?
So instead of H2O it would be more like HO? Or H?
More like "we'll build you a new barn. Promise."
I don't make my choices based on "the Market". The "Market" put things like "Titanic" as the highest grossing movie of all time, does that mean it's the best? We all know market share doesn't automatically mean better.
Please don't say "we all". I would like to think this, and maybe in Slashdot world it is true (which is what you may have been referring to). But in the "real world" of IT, market share is a HUGE factor.
This happened to me yesterday. I was talking with my manager about an application we use, and we have been having problems with it. It runs on Sybase as the database, but also does a weird XML file structure in conjunction with it. We were talking about the possibility of rolling our own program to take its place. He made some off comment about how he couldn't believe that they chose Sybase. I pointed out that we haven't had one problem with Sybase, it has been with the front-end program. To which he replied: "Look, there are only 2 databases out there to choose from - Oracle and MS SQL." If I was sitting down, I would have fell out of my chair.
First off, MS is 3rd in DB market share, behind Oracle and IBM, but he is a die-hard MS person (for no good reason, from what I have gathered). Second of all, you have to choose your tools based on your need. For the app we were discussing, Oracle would have been overkill. In his mind, that leaves only one choice. He is under the impression that anything other than MS is crap, and that we already have experts in MSSQL (which we do, because our product uses MSSQL). But he didn't make his argument based on that, he made it on "there are only 2 databases out there". I mentioned Sybase, MySQL, etc. and he said that someone would have to go through training to use those. I guess he is under the impression that SQL is like planning a moon mission.
My manager is deeply entrenched in MS's posterior, just like most companies I would imagine. They like to buy up all their products (sorry, license) and then complain about them. "Reboot the server" is an *ACTUAL* solution to a lot of problems. It isn't even questioned anymore, that is just part of regular maintenance. There is no alternative, move along.
Sorry to rant, but what you said hit home with me. I am working amongst people who don't know any better, and aren't even willing to consider that there are other software products out there. We got an email the other day saying that because of a recent IE exploit, we should avoid using the internet until they could get a fix and make it available. Unbelievable.
Windows CE - The Pontiac of Operating Systems.
I did a search for "developers developers developers developers developers" and didn't get what I was looking for. It came up with Macromedia.com as the first hit (?) and I didn't see what I was looking for in any of the hits. Tried it on Google though and got the goods.
Ack! Good God man! Snap out of it!
I love it as well. You should also try Skeptical Inquirer . It has had some pretty good articles in the past.
One of the scrapped special features of the Star Wars DVD was a "Virtual Lucas Ego and Self Worth" featurette. Word has it that they may be able to squeeze it onto one of these discs.
While this is amusing, with these standard plugins it would be plausible to have a translator plugin to translate that page for you on the fly.
Want pr0n? Use brag . Cron your newsgroup downloads. More pr0n than you can shake a stick at. heh.
And you can use it to download from any newsgroup. No affiliation, just a happy user.
No, it just evens the playing field.
I think you are right, BTW. I love Moore's films, not because I believe in them wholeheartedly, but I enjoy finding the parts that he embellishes. No other movies make me give a crap. When I see something on the news I know is false, I don't try to find some truth in it. But when I see something that is so compelling, it makes me want to learn more. THAT is what Moore is good at with his films. He makes you question things, and to me that is always a good thing. I still feel the effects from Bowling For Columbine. What Marilyn Manson said in that film still sticks with me. That smarmy newscaster pretending to be somber when the camera was on still sticks with me. The light he shone on the news media being blood-thirsty scumbags still sticks with me. The rest of the movie has kind of faded into my memory.
I haven't seen his new movie yet. I don't know if I am up to it yet. I am not so worried about questions Moore brings up, I already have those. I am more concerned with the facts he presents. Not that I don't probably know most of those already as well, but just that I will have to come to terms with how embarassing it is to be an American sometimes. And if you are never embarassed, then you are a blind sheep. It amazes me how we can be the greatest country in the world and one of the most despicable at the same time.
I guess Captain America and Wonder Woman are still safe...
I have always wondered where Microsoft gets their customer requirements from. If you are producing software used by nearly everyone, how do you choose who your "users" are, and better yet how do you get requirements out of them? Do you think that they consider large businesses as their main customers?
As far as I can tell, Microsoft doesn't have to answer to anyone. Therefore, they may generate their own requirements for their software.
Usually, if you are a non-American, you get both.
So you believe that there are only the free and the unfree? We have many freedoms, but the ones we don't have are simply ridiculous. We can, or more appropriately are encouraged to, watch violence on a DAILY BASIS on television. Yet the sight of a woman's bare breast sends the government into a hissy-fit. Violence, murder, and crime are all seemingly OK for TV and movies, but nudity is not. In a free society. Insane.
Don't get so stressed out at the economic censure of public speech. Get stressed out when they start trying to censor PRIVATE speech.
Economic censorship? WTF is that? Economics bear themselves out. The FCC should have nothing to do with economics. It is about ensuring that the people on the public airwaves are held to the same standards of conduct. The SECOND they start deviating from that, it is censorship. There is no economics to it. People are not forced to tune into any radio show. In fact, listeners are how radio programs stay in business, via advertising revenue. (Save NPR) If people don't like it, they don't tune in, ratings go down, and the shows go away. It is somewhat of a self-governing industry. The fact of the matter is, the shows that were fined by the FCC were not being held to the same standard as everyone else. You cannot selectively enforce the rules because of political bias, which is what happened and is happening.
I can't speak for the parent poster, but I was wondering the same thing. I am pretty sure that the comment was tongue-in-cheek, considering all the hoo-ha that went on over Janet Jacksons b--b. (sorry, don't want to fucking offend anyone). So the government can force radio hosts off of radio stations for using "obscene" language and references while the "beloved" Oprah is not held to the same standards. Yet the RIAA, the champions of good taste, are able to donate very questionable material to youth as part of a class-action settlement against them. It is all a ridiculous farce.
Some of us in the USA are quite aware of the idiocy that is going on in our society. I am personally embarassed that as a "free" society, we are so very far from it.
Just like Slashdot.
Really? In what way? I have been using XP here at work for the last 6 months, and didn't see any real leaps forward. It just looked different, and took me a little while to get it looking like I wanted it (i.e. like Win2K). I was forced to upgrade, because that is the "corporate standard". As a desktop OS, I haven't seen anything better than Win2K.
And at home I use Linux. Not because it is an alternative to Windows, but because I like it better. It does more of what I want it to do. Windows can't "win me back" because I was never really there. I never preferred Windows, it was what I used because there essentially was no alternative. Now I see Windows as an alternative to Linux. I only boot my Win98 machine when I need to burn a DVD or play a game. That is maybe once every couple of weeks.
That will keep people from borrowing your phone.
Since this is Slashdot, I'll be a stickler for the details - BMW cars are Bimmers, BMW motorcycles are Beemers.
Bimmer, not Beemer, owner.
'88 M3, '97 318i
Then I wondered..... and pulled out my Knoppix 3.2 CD. Note that this isn't even the latest and greatest version. It booted up. I started Mozilla, and was on the net in no time flat. It recognized the card and loaded the driver with no interaction on my part.
Now every time I boot the machine, WinXP complains that the wireless card isn't inserted. *sigh*
This was my very first experience with wireless, and it was pretty painless. Take a Knoppix CD to your local Best Buy, Circuit City, or whatever and try out the cards for compatability.
Sort of irrelevant, since it sounds highly doubtful that it is even TRUE.