Oh, I agree. That's why I mentioned that. I'll buy Dells, but only after they're discontinued and for sale somewhere like UBid. There's no point for me to buy top dollar for a computer. I'm a very heavy user (I'm on a computer doing something at least 12 hours a day), but processing power? massive hard drives? super fast RAM? bah. I don't spend too much time in Photoshop, and I don't play games on my PC, so what's the point?
Now, I haven't been living in a cave for the past few years (I was even a developer as recently as a year ago), and I've never heard of these "USB Pen" things. I dunno. Maybe because I don't go into places like "Best Buy" and "Comp USA"? I only have 2 machines (out of about 6) with a single USB port, and I don't have a CD-R drive that's faster than 4x. Hell, even at faster speeds, just the start/finish CD process makes it a real PITA. Plus, you have to close down apps to make sure the burn process works... bah. CD-R's are good for backing up, but that's about it.
"You wouldn't think of using a processor..."
on
Dell Dropping The Floppy
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
"You wouldn't think of using a processor from 15 years ago."
And why not? If it does the job, why should I care when the processor was made? Dell's trying hard to sell new products, and that's understandable, but it's ridiculous to think that everybody buys stuff just because it's "new". Heck, I'm still using hardware from the early 90's (10 years old), and it works fine. I'm not gonna blow money on something just because it's "new".
And as far as alternative technologies, they're still not good enough. I've never heard of a "USB Pen", and I'm sure as hell not going to waste money on some cutting edge technology that nobody's using yet. CD-R's are either very slow, one time burns, or very slow, very incompatible CD-RW's. Neither is good if I need to sneakernet a bit of data.
But then again, I'm not a Dell customer. I use a computer until it literally falls apart, and then I buy a closeout or used computer at great prices when I need a "new" one. No point in spending top dollar for a computer these days unless you're into games, or you have some big server needs.
It will be the biggest game ever seen, in my opinion. It's gonna take a while. "Sim" players aren't used to the idea of playing online, and I'm guessing most don't have broadband. Of course it's not gonna take off like current online games... those are all geared at geeks. But this will take off, without a doubt, and it'll be around for a long, long time.
It seems that OSS people just don't get this very basic point:
Price doesn't matter. Value does. You can give me this great whiz-bang piece of software for free, but if I can't use it, it has exactly zero value for me. On the other hand, if I can spend $100 and get a tool that I can use to get work done, that tool has value. MS understands this. OSS types never will. They're focused on price, which is irrelevant.
Well, as we say here in the US, "Your mileage may vary". I don't know what the difference is, but there's definitely a difference. I use Windows because for $200, I get a system that is easy to use and never breaks or needs tweaking of any kind. I don't even remember the last time I did an OS reinstall... I think it was on my father's machine back in the Win 98 days. And I remember my last blue screen lockup was trying to install a HP CD burner with a patched-together driver on NT 4.0 is about 1997(?) and when a hard drive died in about 2000. That was it. So it works for me, and works well. Except when I'm in/. I don't even think about the software running my machines. I'll consider something different if I ever have to change OS's, and nothing better is available. Hopefully, by then, I'll have an IT department and I'll let those guys mess with it.
You're saying that HE has "rose colored glasses", and you're the one talking about some mythical "community" and "sharing"? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
To me it's all a matter of being independant. The thing that scares me the most is becoming dependant on some greedy a$$hole, with no alternative but to pay what they demand or die. They do want to enslave you, and freedom is a constant struggle, because there has always been greedy, domineering, petty tirants, in business and government, just like there have always been obsequious sheep ready to follow them to the slaughterhouse.
Why not just buy software, and use it? Why would you ever *have* to "pay what they demand"? If you like it, but it and use it. If you don't, don't. I don't see where slavery comes into play.
Sounds like serious hardware problems along with a poorly configured network. W2K is widely acknowledged as very stable and very fast. And no, I'm not a casual user. I was a developer for several years, and I've had NT 3.51, NT 4.0, and W2K IIS web servers for years. Right now, running on my little P2 750, I have a heavy point of sale app, VNC client, VNC server, several text editors, about 10 web browser windows, Paint Shop Pro, Kazaa Lite, VB 6.0, and various TSR's. That's a typical day. Never a single hiccup. Ever. And that's one of several similar machines. I've *never* seen a complete lockup on W2K box, and if a app crashes, it's the only thing that goes down. Never the machine or explorer.exe (which I've replaced with something more fun on a few other machines).
So, then changing resolution by hunting down some obscure file and editing it is considered a "legitimate option"? Not in my book. Life is too short. I have too many things to do that are much more interesting than fucking around with changing screen resolution.
While I appreciate the history of your life, I can't figure out how in the hell you're breaking W2K! What are you doing, exactly that "breaks" W2K? I've been using it for years, and NT 4.0 before that, and I've never even *heard* of the problems that you're talking about, like having to open fewer apps, having to reinstall, Windows slowing down by just installing new things, etc. It sounds like this is completely made up. I kind of doubt that you're the only person on the planet trying to open up multiple apps at the same time with W2K. I mean really, this isn't even believable. You honestly think that out of the millions of people using W2K right this second, that you're the only one who opens up many different apps at once? And you think that all of these people are all sitting around happily with crashing computers when they can go buy RedHat at Best Buy? I definitely smell something, and it ain't roses.
I majored in business in college, worked as a manager type person (account rep) for 6 months, and decided to go into computers. I had always loved 'em, and I was good, so that's what I did. I did that for 6 years. I worked my way up (primarily through hopping to different jobs/projects to get new skills). I got several certifications. I was considered a senior developer at the end of those 6 years (yes, I know that's not long, but with the technologies I was working with, I WAS senior, and I had lots and lots of real hands-on experience. I was making really, really, really good money. Then, abotu a year ago, I said the hell with it and completely changed direction. I threw out all of my experience, certifications, and hell, even thousands of dollars worth of books and did something completely unrelated. But, it did take a good 6 months of sitting on my ass, doing not much of anything other than playing PS2 games, reading, and just generally doing nothing before it hit me. So, it is possible, and it has been done.
Now, I'm just trying to figure out what the next thing is that I'm gonna do when I get sick of doing this.
Um, no. It's a release to the SEC. It's to notify their owners (shareholders) why the share price may go down. It's a financially and publically responsible thing to do.
I don't see how something like that matters... Companies like IBM are going to learn about new free software that they're going to make many, many millions off of. I'm sure they're happy enough to be saving millions in development without caring what their unpaid volunteers are wearing. Besides, why should Linux people care? What do these companies have to offer?
Was there some kind of entry requirement that you must be at least somewhat overweight to attend? It looks like about 95% of all attendees are overweight. Not knowing any *nix people myself, is it some kind of unspoken rule that you must be overweight to be a Linux geek?
"Hey, boss, there's this great new product called 'Missy's Mighty Metal Maker' that I think we should install on all of our core machines in the foundry. It's really great! What do you say?"
If you say so... one of the big reasons that I didn't buy an XBox was that I didn't want a hard drive. Hard drives are unreliable as hell in PC's, and the last thing that I want when I'm sitting down with a beer and a bag of chips on the couch is to have to worry about whether or not the hard drive is starting to make a funny noise.
And, what's the point of a network connector? What is that for? Playing against other people? Ugh. No thanks.
It doesn't say XBox per se, but the division that makes XBox, along with other products is losing more money. For all we know, they're developing all kinds of crazy stuff, which is why losses are larger.
Microsoft's Home and Entertainment segment, which includes the Xbox, PC games and the company's TV products, posted an operating loss of $348 million in the quarter on revenue of $1.28 billion. A year earlier it had a loss of $180 million on revenue of $833 million.
I agree. I use a PS2 to play games and watch movies. That's it. They're also assuming that a good number of people have, or even want to pay for broadband. All I want is a good game console, period. They're still at least 10 years away from having any kind of digital convergence, with broadband in every home.
Make the mod chips legal..the linux users will buy the boxes by the hordes!:)
What, all 10 of them? And those users won't buy any games, instead they'll just download 'em. Oh yeah, that'll help the bottom line, I'm sure. I'm sure that MS is chomping at the bit to do that!
Probably one of the most ridiculous sounding software names I've heard. Tell a manager that you're interested in using "Mozilla", and he'll tell you he's never seen that movie. Software developers, by and large, have *zero* business sense.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, I agree. That's why I mentioned that. I'll buy Dells, but only after they're discontinued and for sale somewhere like UBid. There's no point for me to buy top dollar for a computer. I'm a very heavy user (I'm on a computer doing something at least 12 hours a day), but processing power? massive hard drives? super fast RAM? bah. I don't spend too much time in Photoshop, and I don't play games on my PC, so what's the point?
Now, I haven't been living in a cave for the past few years (I was even a developer as recently as a year ago), and I've never heard of these "USB Pen" things. I dunno. Maybe because I don't go into places like "Best Buy" and "Comp USA"? I only have 2 machines (out of about 6) with a single USB port, and I don't have a CD-R drive that's faster than 4x. Hell, even at faster speeds, just the start/finish CD process makes it a real PITA. Plus, you have to close down apps to make sure the burn process works... bah. CD-R's are good for backing up, but that's about it.
"You wouldn't think of using a processor from 15 years ago."
And why not? If it does the job, why should I care when the processor was made? Dell's trying hard to sell new products, and that's understandable, but it's ridiculous to think that everybody buys stuff just because it's "new". Heck, I'm still using hardware from the early 90's (10 years old), and it works fine. I'm not gonna blow money on something just because it's "new".
And as far as alternative technologies, they're still not good enough. I've never heard of a "USB Pen", and I'm sure as hell not going to waste money on some cutting edge technology that nobody's using yet. CD-R's are either very slow, one time burns, or very slow, very incompatible CD-RW's. Neither is good if I need to sneakernet a bit of data.
But then again, I'm not a Dell customer. I use a computer until it literally falls apart, and then I buy a closeout or used computer at great prices when I need a "new" one. No point in spending top dollar for a computer these days unless you're into games, or you have some big server needs.
It will be the biggest game ever seen, in my opinion. It's gonna take a while. "Sim" players aren't used to the idea of playing online, and I'm guessing most don't have broadband. Of course it's not gonna take off like current online games... those are all geared at geeks. But this will take off, without a doubt, and it'll be around for a long, long time.
It seems that OSS people just don't get this very basic point:
Price doesn't matter. Value does. You can give me this great whiz-bang piece of software for free, but if I can't use it, it has exactly zero value for me. On the other hand, if I can spend $100 and get a tool that I can use to get work done, that tool has value. MS understands this. OSS types never will. They're focused on price, which is irrelevant.
Well, as we say here in the US, "Your mileage may vary". I don't know what the difference is, but there's definitely a difference. I use Windows because for $200, I get a system that is easy to use and never breaks or needs tweaking of any kind. I don't even remember the last time I did an OS reinstall... I think it was on my father's machine back in the Win 98 days. And I remember my last blue screen lockup was trying to install a HP CD burner with a patched-together driver on NT 4.0 is about 1997(?) and when a hard drive died in about 2000. That was it. So it works for me, and works well. Except when I'm in /. I don't even think about the software running my machines. I'll consider something different if I ever have to change OS's, and nothing better is available. Hopefully, by then, I'll have an IT department and I'll let those guys mess with it.
Good talking to you, and good luck with school!
If that's true... it might be worth a week's worth of downloading... oh wait.
It's not Microsoft or AOL/TW
So?
Mouse gestures are nice
I'm not that lazy. It's not worth money.
Tabbed browser windows are great
I press alt+tab for IE, or I move the mouse down the screen instead of up. Oooh. Wow.
Easily installed skins and color schemes are fun
True. But worth money?
Email client is nice
I've got 10 others that do the same thing: they read email.
CSS that doesn't work in IE appears to work in Opera
Example that's not found on Opera.com?
Ability to EASILY turn on/off pop-up windows, including ability to allow requested-only.
I don't surf porn, I jsut make it. Thus, I don't see popups.
Many, many customizable features
It's a browser. How much do I have to customize it?
Speed. Always faster than IE
Nanoseconds? I'm not a computer. I don't notice.
Again, nothing worth paying for. There's no value there. It may be better, but not good enough to pay any amount of money for.
You're saying that HE has "rose colored glasses", and you're the one talking about some mythical "community" and "sharing"? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
To me it's all a matter of being independant. The thing that scares me the most is becoming dependant on some greedy a$$hole, with no alternative but to pay what they demand or die. They do want to enslave you, and freedom is a constant struggle, because there has always been greedy, domineering, petty tirants, in business and government, just like there have always been obsequious sheep ready to follow them to the slaughterhouse.
Why not just buy software, and use it? Why would you ever *have* to "pay what they demand"? If you like it, but it and use it. If you don't, don't. I don't see where slavery comes into play.
Sounds like serious hardware problems along with a poorly configured network. W2K is widely acknowledged as very stable and very fast. And no, I'm not a casual user. I was a developer for several years, and I've had NT 3.51, NT 4.0, and W2K IIS web servers for years. Right now, running on my little P2 750, I have a heavy point of sale app, VNC client, VNC server, several text editors, about 10 web browser windows, Paint Shop Pro, Kazaa Lite, VB 6.0, and various TSR's. That's a typical day. Never a single hiccup. Ever. And that's one of several similar machines. I've *never* seen a complete lockup on W2K box, and if a app crashes, it's the only thing that goes down. Never the machine or explorer.exe (which I've replaced with something more fun on a few other machines).
I'm a big fan of altruism, too. As long as people keep writing software for free, and I get to use it for free, I love (other people's) altruism.
So, then changing resolution by hunting down some obscure file and editing it is considered a "legitimate option"? Not in my book. Life is too short. I have too many things to do that are much more interesting than fucking around with changing screen resolution.
While I appreciate the history of your life, I can't figure out how in the hell you're breaking W2K! What are you doing, exactly that "breaks" W2K? I've been using it for years, and NT 4.0 before that, and I've never even *heard* of the problems that you're talking about, like having to open fewer apps, having to reinstall, Windows slowing down by just installing new things, etc. It sounds like this is completely made up. I kind of doubt that you're the only person on the planet trying to open up multiple apps at the same time with W2K. I mean really, this isn't even believable. You honestly think that out of the millions of people using W2K right this second, that you're the only one who opens up many different apps at once? And you think that all of these people are all sitting around happily with crashing computers when they can go buy RedHat at Best Buy? I definitely smell something, and it ain't roses.
I majored in business in college, worked as a manager type person (account rep) for 6 months, and decided to go into computers. I had always loved 'em, and I was good, so that's what I did. I did that for 6 years. I worked my way up (primarily through hopping to different jobs/projects to get new skills). I got several certifications. I was considered a senior developer at the end of those 6 years (yes, I know that's not long, but with the technologies I was working with, I WAS senior, and I had lots and lots of real hands-on experience. I was making really, really, really good money. Then, abotu a year ago, I said the hell with it and completely changed direction. I threw out all of my experience, certifications, and hell, even thousands of dollars worth of books and did something completely unrelated. But, it did take a good 6 months of sitting on my ass, doing not much of anything other than playing PS2 games, reading, and just generally doing nothing before it hit me. So, it is possible, and it has been done.
Now, I'm just trying to figure out what the next thing is that I'm gonna do when I get sick of doing this.
Um, no. It's a release to the SEC. It's to notify their owners (shareholders) why the share price may go down. It's a financially and publically responsible thing to do.
Now if Microsoft interpreted the OSS threat the way they should and decided to counter it by open sourcing their stuff..
Don't hold your breath. MS isn't stupid. There's not a single OSS company out there that made even a million bucks last quarter.
I don't see how something like that matters... Companies like IBM are going to learn about new free software that they're going to make many, many millions off of. I'm sure they're happy enough to be saving millions in development without caring what their unpaid volunteers are wearing. Besides, why should Linux people care? What do these companies have to offer?
Was there some kind of entry requirement that you must be at least somewhat overweight to attend? It looks like about 95% of all attendees are overweight. Not knowing any *nix people myself, is it some kind of unspoken rule that you must be overweight to be a Linux geek?
"Hey, boss, there's this great new product called 'Missy's Mighty Metal Maker' that I think we should install on all of our core machines in the foundry. It's really great! What do you say?"
"We'll mail you your last check."
If you say so... one of the big reasons that I didn't buy an XBox was that I didn't want a hard drive. Hard drives are unreliable as hell in PC's, and the last thing that I want when I'm sitting down with a beer and a bag of chips on the couch is to have to worry about whether or not the hard drive is starting to make a funny noise.
And, what's the point of a network connector? What is that for? Playing against other people? Ugh. No thanks.
I *love* the simplicity of the PS2.
It doesn't say XBox per se, but the division that makes XBox, along with other products is losing more money. For all we know, they're developing all kinds of crazy stuff, which is why losses are larger.
Microsoft's Home and Entertainment segment, which includes the Xbox, PC games and the company's TV products, posted an operating loss of $348 million in the quarter on revenue of $1.28 billion. A year earlier it had a loss of $180 million on revenue of $833 million.
I agree. I use a PS2 to play games and watch movies. That's it. They're also assuming that a good number of people have, or even want to pay for broadband. All I want is a good game console, period. They're still at least 10 years away from having any kind of digital convergence, with broadband in every home.
Make the mod chips legal ..the linux users will buy the boxes by the hordes! :)
What, all 10 of them? And those users won't buy any games, instead they'll just download 'em. Oh yeah, that'll help the bottom line, I'm sure. I'm sure that MS is chomping at the bit to do that!
"Mozilla"
Probably one of the most ridiculous sounding software names I've heard. Tell a manager that you're interested in using "Mozilla", and he'll tell you he's never seen that movie. Software developers, by and large, have *zero* business sense.