I'm not a Linux user, but I know that/. used to be full of enthusiastic Linux users. They're certainly not here, anymore. Where'd they go?
Still here, for the most part. Still using Linux (Windows-free since 1999). Still enthusiastic about it. Still don't preach about it.
Honestly, there isn't much to talk about when it comes to Linux. The whole systemd thing is kind of sad, I just wish we had REAL choice around that matter. There are choices, sure. But it's an either/or when it comes to distros now instead of it being a choice within my distro. It's not like the choice of desktop/browser/editor/etc., where you can pretty much install what you like on top of your distro of choice.
Linux really has come a very long way since I started using it. I can upgrade with little fear (there will always be some), bootable distros, new desktop environments (although I am sticking with XFCE because it fits my needs perfectly), great hardware and driver support, explosion in the server/cloud areas, Docker, great new distros and most of the old-guard ones still kicking. Lots of adoption in the real world, which means there are jobs out there where you need to know Linux (not just sysadmins).
I think it's just that we are out of the dating-phase and we are firmly in the long-term-relationship phase.
Now why aren't the Linux users HERE on Slashdot is another topic entirely. I took several years away, and am back to some degree. But things ain't what they used to be, that's for sure.
Why are so many of the comments about how you find things to watch or listen to? This article is about something much more inane. From TFA: "So how do we remember everything we've listened to lately? How do we show off what we've read? Indeed, there are quite a few apps dedicated to showcasing the media experiences we've "collected." We've gathered some of the better ones so you can easily keep track of -- and brag about -- what you're watching, listening to, playing and reading in this digital age."
This summary is ALL you need to know about this nugget of "news". Ugh. How do we remember what we've read? Show off? Showcasing? Brag about? FFS.
They might start moving here. Keep your nuttiness over on the coast where it belongs.;)
Seriously though, the Midwest has always been a hub of technological innovation, it's just not the sexy kind that makes news. SE Michigan (where I am) has a large amount of talented engineers because of all the automotive companies and suppliers. We also have a lot of biotech and high tech manufacturing communities. It just seems that unless it's related to one of the major west coast tech companies no one cares. Personally I love it out here, the people are friendly and way more welcoming (my wife is from CA and seemed surprised by this when she moved here), the cost of living is low, and while we're not as trendy as the coasts, we do have a lot of trendy areas (check out Ann Arbor sometime). The only thing that sucks here is the weather, but it's not as bad as it's made out to be. There really is more to the US than the coasts.
I am in the St. Louis area, and there are quite a few good companies to work for here. I am at one now that has built a very complex system that was built over the span of 15 years, and was acquired by a larger company. The problem is that we are a total Windows shop. As many companies do, they think the smart thing to do is to go with all Microsoft technology because... Microsoft! So instead of trying to fix all of our technical debt (IE-only, SQL Server only, Silverlight, and even a bit of VB6) because it would literally take years to rewrite, we are building new things in the AWS cloud. It's a whole new stack for us, and it has been very painful. It's a challenge to find people with that skillset here, so we have hired some people remotely who have those skills. Problem is they are more 'wild wild west' and don't really follow sound software engineering principles. (e.g. everyone writes their own components instead of using shared components)
After being in the software game for 25 years, working at huge companies and startups, on everything from proprietary systems to mainframes to mobile, I can see how it would be kind of nice to settle in on something and just do it instead of trying so damn hard to innovate.
Sorry, but you sound fishy or simply like an idiot.
A Mac per se does not need any support, there are no magical: 'it worked yesterday but now it does not work anymore' moments. If your parents have trouble it is most likely an application and not the OS/the Mac.
How one can claim to work with linux and can not handle/fix a Mac is beyond me. Both are unix, everything is super similar or exactly the same.
How you are unable to put music on an iPod is beyond me... perhaps stop trying to use an 'explorer' to put pirated/unofficially downloaded files on it?
How hard can it be to click the check boxes in iTunes which playlists or albums you want to have on the iPod?
Your mindless comments notwithstanding... I have a ton of music already. I have them organized by folder, not by playlists or albums. iTunes makes it overly complex to simply copy songs to the iPod. In fact, WHY do I have to use iTunes at all? Even if I had downloaded some songs, or pulled them for a CD I own, or extracted a song from a youtube video.... why does iTunes have any say in that?
And for you to say that both Macs and Linux are unix AND that they are super similar or exactly the same simply shows your ignorance.
I have never ever found an Apple product easy to use. My brother convinced my parents to ditch their Win7 machine for a Mac. I warned them against it, saying I couldn't help them with it if they did. They got it anyway. And it's been a disaster. I get all kinds of questions that I have no idea how to answer because I don't live in that universe. I am sure a Mac person would be able to easily help them, but they got it under the pretense that it was so easy to use that you didn't need any support for it. Now it could be that it is just my brother's misguided advice, because he's a dumbass. He can't help them either, but pretends like he can.
I got my daughter an ipod a few years ago, and she used it for facetiming her friends who had iphones, as well as music. It was fine, but to get music on it was a nightmare, every single time I put more on there for her. I never ever got it to work smoothly. Since she got her own phone (android) it's simple for her to get music.
I seriously don't understand how people think their products are easy to use. But I run linux, so i know I am likely the odd one out.
Seriously. My daughter started watching Men in Black on Netflix.... she went to resume it the next day, and it was gone. Poof. Not on Netflix anymore.
I looked online and found the trilogy brand new on DVD for $8 shipped. Done deal! You can also go to used bookstores/craigslist/garage sales, etc. Lots of people dumping DVDs for cheap. Don't forget your public library!
I don't subscribe to the whole "bragging rights" of seeing latest and greatest movies. I don't miss anything by being patient.
Years ago I decided that I really didn't care about seeing movies as-soon-as-possible. My viewing habits are at least a year behind, and it's worked out quite well. I have no desire to see a movie as soon as it comes out, I lose nothing by waiting for it to come out on DVD. Then I can either buy it new - for cheaper than having seen it in the theater, or get it via Netflix DVD. If it's something 2 years old or more, it can be bought used for really cheap (garage sales, online) or even brand new. I recently wanted to watch the MIB movies again, and found the trilogy brand new online for $8!
There is always a decent queue of movies that I want to see, and I can even avoid some stinkers if I believe the reviews of it. Imagine the disappointment of going to see Batman vs Superman in the theater! Instead, I was mildly disappointed and popped it back into its Netflix envelope about halfway through.
Netflix is the only thing that has really impacted this strategy with movies, simply because we might let a DVD sit for 2-3 weeks while we are into a particular series like Shameless or Stranger Things when they come out. We have a very healthy backlog of things that we want to watch. As long as Netflix doesn't start dropping those series on our list, we're pretty set for a while.
1. Spell things correctly, use correct capitalization, etc. 2. Don't copy and paste 50 bullet points from one job to the next 3. Don't lie
I've reviewed probably 100 resumes in the past year, and these things will kill your chances. As much as it annoys me, I can be persuaded to overlook 1 and 2... because you never know when something will slip through a spell-check, or if things get digitally mangled, or a recruiting agency takes it upon themselves to 'reformat' things. But if you make it to a phone screen and get caught lying, you're done. I'll even let you "phrase it up" a little. I once had a guy whose resume had a bullet item that said " - Developed test automation framework from the ground up in AWS". When I asked him to tell me about his AWS experience, and what he did to start building the framework, he said he didn't have any experience in AWS. I asked him specifically about what he had on his resume, and he said he had a class where they learned about frameworks. Plonk. Next. Phone screen over.
In the end, it comes down to two things: 1. Content. Make it meaningful and relevant. 2. What is the hiring manager looking for? You only have control over one of those things, and it's your responsibility. Don't leave it up to the likes of Microsoft.
I used to use KDE years ago, but they lost me. I tried other things but landed on XFCE and haven't looked back. I switch to new things if
a. I am forced to change... e.g. something quits working, is unsupported, or some other reason I can't control
b. I get so frustrated I am willing to change. And it would take a lot to make me come back.
c. I want to change because I see something that fits my needs better
I switched from Firefox to PaleMoon because of b. I switched from KDE to XFCE because of b. I still use vi (vim) and pine (alpine) because they aren't broke, and do what I need them to do. It's hard to replace things like that.
You said "drop him like a brick" which they did NOT do. What they did was get him back in the "news" which will lead to more views and ultimately more revenue when they turn ads back on.
It doesn't even take shiny things to divert people's attention anymore.
I'm not going to cherry pick any stats to point fingers at what is to blame, because our deficit (and debts) have been increasing for many years. A recession doesn't help, neither does funding wars. The reality is that we can never pay back our debts, and it's unlikely that those we owe money to can effectively collect it. But it can give them leverage against us, and there's not much we can do about it.
I have a friend who went to a concert to see a band he really wanted to see (Clutch), and there were 3 opening acts. I am a big fan of them, so the next day I asked him how it was. He said he left before they even came on because it was a sea of people just holding up their phones. He wanted to go to hear AND see the band play, but he didn't get to do that.
When I heard of acts banning phones at their shows, my initial reaction was "oh come on!" but now I know that the average person simply CANNOT CONTROL THEMSELF when it comes to phones.
I now realize that I will never to go a concert unless phones are banned. I'm getting too old for that anyway I guess.
Linus proclaims thus: This patch is a piece of shit. So what else is new?
If you mean "useful, straight communication from Linus as usual", then I'm with ya.
But if you're trying to imply that Linus indiscriminately calls *everything* a piece of shit, then you're so offbase that I'll wonder if you're astroturfing on behalf of Intel. When Linus criticizes stuff, he's spot on. This patch is indeed a piece of shit.
Haiku yours is not The point missed by you it was It was a joke. Whoosh.
persistent chat. So if I logged in today, and the chat had been going on for a week, I could scroll/search that entire conversation. I forgot another feature, which again wasn't anything new, but you could have banner messages.. e.g. "current build installed in QA is 1.2.3.4"
Just handy stuff. It also integrated with your network users, which helped administrators I am sure. Microsoft didn't mess it up too badly after they bought it.:)
Does anyone here have actual evidence - even a specific anecdote - that using Slack or another chat program helps them work better?
I have two positive experiences with other chat programs.
1. I worked at a startup back in 2005, and while we were all in the same office, we had our own IRC. It was the go-to place for the development team. We had to also deploy to production once a week in the evening. That is how we all communicated during those activities.
2. In 2009 I was at a very large bank, and we were just starting up agile development there. The team was dispersed in different cities, and we had an offshore team as well. We used MindAlign (which Microsoft later purchased and rebranded as Group Chat) because it offered the persistent chat room which was very valuable. You could send alerts to everyone in the room (SERVER IS GOING DOWN!) and it would launch a popup. Or you could configure alerts for specific keywords, e.g. if someone typed the word "bug" then it would alert me. Your username was also an alert word, so you could get someone's attention by typing their name. You could spawn off side-rooms, and set up various other rooms. Nothing new by today's standards, but very very useful then. Offshore could catch up on the day's goings-on by perusing the room.
Of course, these things are only good if everyone uses them. It started to become less and less effective after a couple of years when some people refused to use it. But if you have everyone on it, and you can keep the conversations on-topic, then I found them to be very useful for dispersed teams.
I don't disagree with a lot of what you said, but consider this as well:
Shortsighted and ignorant groupthink prevailed....politicization due to ideological self-identification is the most detrimental force in America. It turns otherwise rational individuals into helpless tools of their own enslavement. What is worse, they scream and cry as they drag everyone down with them. If you're going to destroy yourself and everyone else around you, would you at least shut the fuck up as you do it?
I know that you were directing this at the liberal/progressives, but this should apply to EVERYONE. But that isn't how it works, or has worked. If you're Christian, you are RIGHT and that means you get to trample on other people in the name of your god. [hint: it applies to other religions too, in the same way].
I am sure that all the racists/right-wing/anti-left nutjobs are frothing at the mouth saying "SEE! SEE!" and spreading this around trying to strengthen their position on things. I really find it amusing that people who bitch and moan so much about "snowflakes" are the first ones to get their panties up in a bunch when something isn't what they like.
I suppose the question comes down to whether the value of the actual Google services integration (profile sync, better Youtube experience, cloud print, desktop sharing) is worth ceding control of the whole browsing experience to Google. I don't really use any of that stuff so I can't say, but no, letting a giant ad company control my internet experience really isn't any better than when we were pissed a Microsoft for trying to do the same thing. I'm not really seeing how Google got to this point on the desktop. Firefox and Safari were never THAT bad. Is it really just a matter of marketing?
First let me say that I am no fan of Google's products outside of search and maps. I simply don't like their tracking. But I can certainly see how they got to where they are. They tackled and conquered amazing problems with their products. Earth, maps/streetview, search, android/play, docs, and drive just to name a few. And Chrome. They took the browser market. I think that they did all of these things with good ol' engineering. They raised the bar, and not through promises but by delivering products. Yeah, some of their products are killed or die off, but the ones that work are great.
But to your question, I think that they work really hard at making things work together in the Google ecosystem. Just the other day I was helping my daughter use a sync app to get pictures from her phone to her computer. But I had synced her Camera folder on her phone, and she needed a pic she had created using the google collage app (which I didn't even know existed). I just had her log into her computer with her google account, went to photos, and there it was. THAT is why Google is where they are. They make things work easily together - and that is very hard to do. In school the kids all use gmail/drive/docs, it just simplifies things. My daughter in 7th grade works on team presentations with other kids using drive.
But... as much as Google impresses me from an engineering perspective, I do everything I can to not be their product. I run linux, I use palemoon and I make sure I am logged out of my google account. I turn off my location on my phone. They keep trying to creep in though. I just found out that "ok google" is enabled on my phone now, even though it was previously disabled. Worse yet - I have gone into the google app and disabled it, but it is still active! The only way I was able to disable it was because I use Nova Launcher, and it had an option to turn it off which worked. These kinds of things, along with many others, make me very leery of Google. I think their interpretation of 'evil' is different than mine.
This submission links to the betanews "article" written by the submitter, which is simply a repeat of the information that is on the Linux Mint blog. Looks like clickbait to me.
where you could type in that question and it could provide the answer. That would be great. It would be like an information butler. I suggest we invent it and call it... Ask Jeeves.
If your mom is anything like my mom.... good luck! Unfortunately, I have no solution for you there. My brother convinced my parents to get a Mac, because you know...it just works and is easy to use.:| problem1: he has very little understanding of computers, but thinks he's a genius problem2: my parents have less understanding, and do all of about 3 things on their computer. Yet they still have all kinds of issues because they don't understand the basics... "Firefox, foxfire - whatever... I just need to check my Facebook and email." They use Thunderbird, but call it Firefox email.
I was there a month ago, and I noticed that there were LOTS of pending updates. I asked mom about them, and she said "yeah, that always pops up... I don't know what it is, I just close it"
To be fair, they are in their 70s and just can't keep up with the advances of technology.
I've been using this since it was pine. I can fetch several accounts to my local inbox, and if I need to check it remotely it's an SSH away. Simple and fast will never go out of style for me. You can keep your webmail and bulky email clients.
I abhor the dumbing down and obfuscation of major components (systemd, for example) in the name of 'MORE USERS OMG!!!'.
systemd is about controlling linux distributions, NOT about dumbing down linux. I have been using it exclusively since the late 90s, and it doesn't make things easier. It makes them harder and less simple. I've used lots of distros, and settled on Mint XFCE. I was quite content with it until systemd came around. Now I can't cleanly shutdown my machine, ever. It hangs for minutes at a time. Try explaining THAT to the average user. If it just worked, then there could be an argument for dumbing it down.. but I do agree with the obfuscation part. Maddening. I think systemd can lead to a better linux desktop, in the same way Trump can lead to a better America - by showing exactly how bad it can get so we do the opposite.
I've seen this a few times in my career, never anyone that reported to me but to my colleagues. It's challenging, because it can be tricky legally. I've seen where we all knew someone was going to retire, but she wouldn't announce it. Management can't really ask about it. So a year goes by.. nothing. We wanted to be able to plan around getting her replacement, but couldn't because we didn't know when she would announce it. Ideally you want the employee to bring it up so you can work out some kind of transition plan.
I've also seen it where someone announced her retirement date, then moved it out, then moved it out again. She was terrible, and we couldn't wait for her to leave. But we couldn't get rid of her. Then we got new management, and he basically pushed her to actually DO her job, which stressed her out, and she left rather quickly.
My initial thoughts are always to be nice, be open, and things will work out. But you never know when some asshat at a company will screw over the employee. Sometimes HR gets involved and when they do, there isn't much a manager can do about it. I've seen some minor decisions made by CEOs of business units get overturned by a simple HR rule. They even know that you can't fight the system. So my advice to anyone looking to retire is to look out for yourself first. Chances are they are aware of your pending retirement, and you can drop subtle hints without making anything official. Educate yourself on what is and isn't legal, what your HR policies are, and be wary of actually engaging anyone in HR. I've found that they really don't know what the H in HR stands for.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not a Linux user, but I know that /. used to be full of enthusiastic Linux users. They're certainly not here, anymore. Where'd they go?
Still here, for the most part. Still using Linux (Windows-free since 1999). Still enthusiastic about it. Still don't preach about it.
Honestly, there isn't much to talk about when it comes to Linux. The whole systemd thing is kind of sad, I just wish we had REAL choice around that matter. There are choices, sure. But it's an either/or when it comes to distros now instead of it being a choice within my distro. It's not like the choice of desktop/browser/editor/etc., where you can pretty much install what you like on top of your distro of choice.
Linux really has come a very long way since I started using it. I can upgrade with little fear (there will always be some), bootable distros, new desktop environments (although I am sticking with XFCE because it fits my needs perfectly), great hardware and driver support, explosion in the server/cloud areas, Docker, great new distros and most of the old-guard ones still kicking. Lots of adoption in the real world, which means there are jobs out there where you need to know Linux (not just sysadmins).
I think it's just that we are out of the dating-phase and we are firmly in the long-term-relationship phase.
Now why aren't the Linux users HERE on Slashdot is another topic entirely. I took several years away, and am back to some degree. But things ain't what they used to be, that's for sure.
Why are so many of the comments about how you find things to watch or listen to? This article is about something much more inane.
From TFA:
"So how do we remember everything we've listened to lately? How do we show off what we've read? Indeed, there are quite a few apps dedicated to showcasing the media experiences we've "collected." We've gathered some of the better ones so you can easily keep track of -- and brag about -- what you're watching, listening to, playing and reading in this digital age."
This summary is ALL you need to know about this nugget of "news".
Ugh. How do we remember what we've read? Show off? Showcasing? Brag about? FFS.
They might start moving here. Keep your nuttiness over on the coast where it belongs. ;)
Seriously though, the Midwest has always been a hub of technological innovation, it's just not the sexy kind that makes news. SE Michigan (where I am) has a large amount of talented engineers because of all the automotive companies and suppliers. We also have a lot of biotech and high tech manufacturing communities. It just seems that unless it's related to one of the major west coast tech companies no one cares. Personally I love it out here, the people are friendly and way more welcoming (my wife is from CA and seemed surprised by this when she moved here), the cost of living is low, and while we're not as trendy as the coasts, we do have a lot of trendy areas (check out Ann Arbor sometime). The only thing that sucks here is the weather, but it's not as bad as it's made out to be. There really is more to the US than the coasts.
I am in the St. Louis area, and there are quite a few good companies to work for here. I am at one now that has built a very complex system that was built over the span of 15 years, and was acquired by a larger company. The problem is that we are a total Windows shop. As many companies do, they think the smart thing to do is to go with all Microsoft technology because... Microsoft! So instead of trying to fix all of our technical debt (IE-only, SQL Server only, Silverlight, and even a bit of VB6) because it would literally take years to rewrite, we are building new things in the AWS cloud. It's a whole new stack for us, and it has been very painful. It's a challenge to find people with that skillset here, so we have hired some people remotely who have those skills. Problem is they are more 'wild wild west' and don't really follow sound software engineering principles. (e.g. everyone writes their own components instead of using shared components)
After being in the software game for 25 years, working at huge companies and startups, on everything from proprietary systems to mainframes to mobile, I can see how it would be kind of nice to settle in on something and just do it instead of trying so damn hard to innovate.
Sorry, but you sound fishy or simply like an idiot.
A Mac per se does not need any support, there are no magical: 'it worked yesterday but now it does not work anymore' moments.
If your parents have trouble it is most likely an application and not the OS/the Mac.
How one can claim to work with linux and can not handle/fix a Mac is beyond me. Both are unix, everything is super similar or exactly the same.
How you are unable to put music on an iPod is beyond me ... perhaps stop trying to use an 'explorer' to put pirated/unofficially downloaded files on it?
How hard can it be to click the check boxes in iTunes which playlists or albums you want to have on the iPod?
Your mindless comments notwithstanding...
I have a ton of music already. I have them organized by folder, not by playlists or albums. iTunes makes it overly complex to simply copy songs to the iPod. In fact, WHY do I have to use iTunes at all? Even if I had downloaded some songs, or pulled them for a CD I own, or extracted a song from a youtube video.... why does iTunes have any say in that?
And for you to say that both Macs and Linux are unix AND that they are super similar or exactly the same simply shows your ignorance.
They're easy to use.
I have never ever found an Apple product easy to use. My brother convinced my parents to ditch their Win7 machine for a Mac. I warned them against it, saying I couldn't help them with it if they did. They got it anyway. And it's been a disaster. I get all kinds of questions that I have no idea how to answer because I don't live in that universe. I am sure a Mac person would be able to easily help them, but they got it under the pretense that it was so easy to use that you didn't need any support for it. Now it could be that it is just my brother's misguided advice, because he's a dumbass. He can't help them either, but pretends like he can.
I got my daughter an ipod a few years ago, and she used it for facetiming her friends who had iphones, as well as music. It was fine, but to get music on it was a nightmare, every single time I put more on there for her. I never ever got it to work smoothly. Since she got her own phone (android) it's simple for her to get music.
I seriously don't understand how people think their products are easy to use.
But I run linux, so i know I am likely the odd one out.
Seriously. My daughter started watching Men in Black on Netflix.... she went to resume it the next day, and it was gone. Poof. Not on Netflix anymore.
I looked online and found the trilogy brand new on DVD for $8 shipped. Done deal!
You can also go to used bookstores/craigslist/garage sales, etc. Lots of people dumping DVDs for cheap. Don't forget your public library!
I don't subscribe to the whole "bragging rights" of seeing latest and greatest movies. I don't miss anything by being patient.
Years ago I decided that I really didn't care about seeing movies as-soon-as-possible. My viewing habits are at least a year behind, and it's worked out quite well. I have no desire to see a movie as soon as it comes out, I lose nothing by waiting for it to come out on DVD. Then I can either buy it new - for cheaper than having seen it in the theater, or get it via Netflix DVD. If it's something 2 years old or more, it can be bought used for really cheap (garage sales, online) or even brand new. I recently wanted to watch the MIB movies again, and found the trilogy brand new online for $8!
There is always a decent queue of movies that I want to see, and I can even avoid some stinkers if I believe the reviews of it. Imagine the disappointment of going to see Batman vs Superman in the theater! Instead, I was mildly disappointed and popped it back into its Netflix envelope about halfway through.
Netflix is the only thing that has really impacted this strategy with movies, simply because we might let a DVD sit for 2-3 weeks while we are into a particular series like Shameless or Stranger Things when they come out. We have a very healthy backlog of things that we want to watch. As long as Netflix doesn't start dropping those series on our list, we're pretty set for a while.
1. Spell things correctly, use correct capitalization, etc.
2. Don't copy and paste 50 bullet points from one job to the next
3. Don't lie
I've reviewed probably 100 resumes in the past year, and these things will kill your chances. As much as it annoys me, I can be persuaded to overlook 1 and 2... because you never know when something will slip through a spell-check, or if things get digitally mangled, or a recruiting agency takes it upon themselves to 'reformat' things. But if you make it to a phone screen and get caught lying, you're done. I'll even let you "phrase it up" a little. I once had a guy whose resume had a bullet item that said " - Developed test automation framework from the ground up in AWS". When I asked him to tell me about his AWS experience, and what he did to start building the framework, he said he didn't have any experience in AWS. I asked him specifically about what he had on his resume, and he said he had a class where they learned about frameworks. Plonk. Next. Phone screen over.
In the end, it comes down to two things: 1. Content. Make it meaningful and relevant. 2. What is the hiring manager looking for?
You only have control over one of those things, and it's your responsibility. Don't leave it up to the likes of Microsoft.
I used to use KDE years ago, but they lost me. I tried other things but landed on XFCE and haven't looked back.
I switch to new things if
a. I am forced to change ... e.g. something quits working, is unsupported, or some other reason I can't control
b. I get so frustrated I am willing to change. And it would take a lot to make me come back.
c. I want to change because I see something that fits my needs better
I switched from Firefox to PaleMoon because of b.
I switched from KDE to XFCE because of b.
I still use vi (vim) and pine (alpine) because they aren't broke, and do what I need them to do. It's hard to replace things like that.
You said "drop him like a brick" which they did NOT do. What they did was get him back in the "news" which will lead to more views and ultimately more revenue when they turn ads back on.
It doesn't even take shiny things to divert people's attention anymore.
and the US owes them over a trillion dollars.
I'm not going to cherry pick any stats to point fingers at what is to blame, because our deficit (and debts) have been increasing for many years. A recession doesn't help, neither does funding wars. The reality is that we can never pay back our debts, and it's unlikely that those we owe money to can effectively collect it. But it can give them leverage against us, and there's not much we can do about it.
talk to Poettering, I am sure he can hook you up to be the de-facto standard despite the shortcomings of Wayland.
I have a friend who went to a concert to see a band he really wanted to see (Clutch), and there were 3 opening acts.
I am a big fan of them, so the next day I asked him how it was. He said he left before they even came on because it was a sea of people just holding up their phones. He wanted to go to hear AND see the band play, but he didn't get to do that.
When I heard of acts banning phones at their shows, my initial reaction was "oh come on!" but now I know that the average person simply CANNOT CONTROL THEMSELF when it comes to phones.
I now realize that I will never to go a concert unless phones are banned.
I'm getting too old for that anyway I guess.
Linus proclaims thus:
This patch is a piece of shit.
So what else is new?
If you mean "useful, straight communication from Linus as usual", then I'm with ya.
But if you're trying to imply that Linus indiscriminately calls *everything* a piece of shit, then you're so offbase that I'll wonder if you're astroturfing on behalf of Intel. When Linus criticizes stuff, he's spot on. This patch is indeed a piece of shit.
Haiku yours is not
The point missed by you it was
It was a joke. Whoosh.
persistent chat. .. e.g. "current build installed in QA is 1.2.3.4"
So if I logged in today, and the chat had been going on for a week, I could scroll/search that entire conversation.
I forgot another feature, which again wasn't anything new, but you could have banner messages
Just handy stuff. It also integrated with your network users, which helped administrators I am sure. Microsoft didn't mess it up too badly after they bought it. :)
Does anyone here have actual evidence - even a specific anecdote - that using Slack or another chat program helps them work better?
I have two positive experiences with other chat programs.
1. I worked at a startup back in 2005, and while we were all in the same office, we had our own IRC. It was the go-to place for the development team. We had to also deploy to production once a week in the evening. That is how we all communicated during those activities.
2. In 2009 I was at a very large bank, and we were just starting up agile development there. The team was dispersed in different cities, and we had an offshore team as well. We used MindAlign (which Microsoft later purchased and rebranded as Group Chat) because it offered the persistent chat room which was very valuable. You could send alerts to everyone in the room (SERVER IS GOING DOWN!) and it would launch a popup. Or you could configure alerts for specific keywords, e.g. if someone typed the word "bug" then it would alert me. Your username was also an alert word, so you could get someone's attention by typing their name. You could spawn off side-rooms, and set up various other rooms. Nothing new by today's standards, but very very useful then. Offshore could catch up on the day's goings-on by perusing the room.
Of course, these things are only good if everyone uses them. It started to become less and less effective after a couple of years when some people refused to use it. But if you have everyone on it, and you can keep the conversations on-topic, then I found them to be very useful for dispersed teams.
I don't disagree with a lot of what you said, but consider this as well:
Shortsighted and ignorant groupthink prevailed....politicization due to ideological self-identification is the most detrimental force in America. It turns otherwise rational individuals into helpless tools of their own enslavement. What is worse, they scream and cry as they drag everyone down with them. If you're going to destroy yourself and everyone else around you, would you at least shut the fuck up as you do it?
I know that you were directing this at the liberal/progressives, but this should apply to EVERYONE. But that isn't how it works, or has worked. If you're Christian, you are RIGHT and that means you get to trample on other people in the name of your god. [hint: it applies to other religions too, in the same way].
I am sure that all the racists/right-wing/anti-left nutjobs are frothing at the mouth saying "SEE! SEE!" and spreading this around trying to strengthen their position on things. I really find it amusing that people who bitch and moan so much about "snowflakes" are the first ones to get their panties up in a bunch when something isn't what they like.
I suppose the question comes down to whether the value of the actual Google services integration (profile sync, better Youtube experience, cloud print, desktop sharing) is worth ceding control of the whole browsing experience to Google. I don't really use any of that stuff so I can't say, but no, letting a giant ad company control my internet experience really isn't any better than when we were pissed a Microsoft for trying to do the same thing. I'm not really seeing how Google got to this point on the desktop. Firefox and Safari were never THAT bad. Is it really just a matter of marketing?
First let me say that I am no fan of Google's products outside of search and maps. I simply don't like their tracking. But I can certainly see how they got to where they are. They tackled and conquered amazing problems with their products. Earth, maps/streetview, search, android/play, docs, and drive just to name a few. And Chrome. They took the browser market. I think that they did all of these things with good ol' engineering. They raised the bar, and not through promises but by delivering products. Yeah, some of their products are killed or die off, but the ones that work are great.
But to your question, I think that they work really hard at making things work together in the Google ecosystem. Just the other day I was helping my daughter use a sync app to get pictures from her phone to her computer. But I had synced her Camera folder on her phone, and she needed a pic she had created using the google collage app (which I didn't even know existed). I just had her log into her computer with her google account, went to photos, and there it was. THAT is why Google is where they are. They make things work easily together - and that is very hard to do. In school the kids all use gmail/drive/docs, it just simplifies things. My daughter in 7th grade works on team presentations with other kids using drive.
But... as much as Google impresses me from an engineering perspective, I do everything I can to not be their product. I run linux, I use palemoon and I make sure I am logged out of my google account. I turn off my location on my phone. They keep trying to creep in though. I just found out that "ok google" is enabled on my phone now, even though it was previously disabled. Worse yet - I have gone into the google app and disabled it, but it is still active! The only way I was able to disable it was because I use Nova Launcher, and it had an option to turn it off which worked. These kinds of things, along with many others, make me very leery of Google. I think their interpretation of 'evil' is different than mine.
This submission links to the betanews "article" written by the submitter, which is simply a repeat of the information that is on the Linux Mint blog. Looks like clickbait to me.
where you could type in that question and it could provide the answer. ... Ask Jeeves.
That would be great.
It would be like an information butler.
I suggest we invent it and call it
If your mom is anything like my mom.... good luck! Unfortunately, I have no solution for you there. :|
My brother convinced my parents to get a Mac, because you know...it just works and is easy to use.
problem1: he has very little understanding of computers, but thinks he's a genius
problem2: my parents have less understanding, and do all of about 3 things on their computer. Yet they still have all kinds of issues because they don't understand the basics... "Firefox, foxfire - whatever... I just need to check my Facebook and email." They use Thunderbird, but call it Firefox email.
I was there a month ago, and I noticed that there were LOTS of pending updates. I asked mom about them, and she said "yeah, that always pops up... I don't know what it is, I just close it"
To be fair, they are in their 70s and just can't keep up with the advances of technology.
Alpine
I've been using this since it was pine. I can fetch several accounts to my local inbox, and if I need to check it remotely it's an SSH away.
Simple and fast will never go out of style for me. You can keep your webmail and bulky email clients.
I abhor the dumbing down and obfuscation of major components (systemd, for example) in the name of 'MORE USERS OMG!!!'.
systemd is about controlling linux distributions, NOT about dumbing down linux. I have been using it exclusively since the late 90s, and it doesn't make things easier. It makes them harder and less simple. I've used lots of distros, and settled on Mint XFCE. I was quite content with it until systemd came around. Now I can't cleanly shutdown my machine, ever. It hangs for minutes at a time. Try explaining THAT to the average user. If it just worked, then there could be an argument for dumbing it down.. but I do agree with the obfuscation part. Maddening. I think systemd can lead to a better linux desktop, in the same way Trump can lead to a better America - by showing exactly how bad it can get so we do the opposite.
Just don't look, just don't look.
I've seen this a few times in my career, never anyone that reported to me but to my colleagues. It's challenging, because it can be tricky legally. I've seen where we all knew someone was going to retire, but she wouldn't announce it. Management can't really ask about it. So a year goes by.. nothing. We wanted to be able to plan around getting her replacement, but couldn't because we didn't know when she would announce it. Ideally you want the employee to bring it up so you can work out some kind of transition plan.
I've also seen it where someone announced her retirement date, then moved it out, then moved it out again. She was terrible, and we couldn't wait for her to leave. But we couldn't get rid of her. Then we got new management, and he basically pushed her to actually DO her job, which stressed her out, and she left rather quickly.
My initial thoughts are always to be nice, be open, and things will work out. But you never know when some asshat at a company will screw over the employee. Sometimes HR gets involved and when they do, there isn't much a manager can do about it. I've seen some minor decisions made by CEOs of business units get overturned by a simple HR rule. They even know that you can't fight the system. So my advice to anyone looking to retire is to look out for yourself first. Chances are they are aware of your pending retirement, and you can drop subtle hints without making anything official. Educate yourself on what is and isn't legal, what your HR policies are, and be wary of actually engaging anyone in HR. I've found that they really don't know what the H in HR stands for.