This is true for normal users. However, corporate users are different. Corporate users would rather pay money to hear a voice on the phone at any time of the day or night (even if it's not the _most_ helpful voice) than wait for a great response on a mailing list. Corporate users demand an instant response, and they're more than willing to pay for it.
As for being Windows-only... I think that shows how short-sited these people are. Linux users are quite a bit more likely to embrace change than Windows users. But, maybe that's to our advantage. We can now design and implement a MUCH better and more useable system that was intelligently designed (I couldn't resist) instead of just what someone thought was cool.
Linux users like to embrace change, but what we like even more is being productive. And managing your computer desktop the way you manage your physical desktop is the opposite of productive. I haven't used a window manager that had a desktop in years, and I'm far more productive for it. As I type this, I'm at work using RatPoison - by far the most productivity-enhancing window manager for doing work (I use OpenBox at home - RatPoison doesn't play all that nice with Gaim and other things that don't need a maximized window).
Besides which, this concept is far from change. It is reverting to an outdated organizational system. I think Windows was the right system to implement it on - all the old guys who would want this are on Windows anyway.
2. If you cannot educate your programmers, switch your language. There are plenty of Alternatives avaliable. I mean people switched to Java for no appearent reasons. If you switch to, for example, Scheme you will get a clean object oriented language without any large speed penality.
Anyone ever heard of writing a device driver in a language other than C/C++ (or straight assembly)? I sure haven't. I mean, I suppose theoretically it would be possible, but I really don't think it's practical.
Better to go with option number 1. Don't put up with shitty programmers, just get better ones. If shitty programmers stop getting paid, shitty programmers will stop occurring.
Of which I have encountered very few. I mean, I installed Ubuntu on my girlfriend's brand new HP laptop and even the volume control soft keys worked out of the box. There's hardly anything common that Ubuntu won't detect and configure, and chances are that if you're using something uncommon enough that it doesn't work, you have enough expertise to make it work anyway.
Compare to Windows XP where damn near _nothing_ works out of the box (note that I define out of the box as I plug it in and it works, not I plug it in, install drivers, reboot and it works).
Re:The Linux Flaw
on
Ubuntu Hacks
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Have you tried Ubuntu? You absolutely do _not_ need any hacks to use it as a normal desktop system. In fact, I would venture to say that it's easier to install and configure than Windows XP is. Of course, most normal users never have to install and configure Windows because it comes with their computers, so maybe that is a moot point. Still, in the 60ish Ubuntu installs I've done (mostly at installfests for average Joe users with laptops), I've had very few Ubuntu installs that didn't detect and configure all the hardware on the machine correctly. Windows XP almost never detects new hardware on a machine correctly. The default Ubuntu setup is very clean and easy to use. It's _different_ from Windows (as it should be - Windows has an ass interface), but not harder to use.
The need-to-know-hacks-to-use-Linux argument no longer holds. It was completely valid when I started using Linux (circa 1998), but today it is 100% myth.
This file path is Copyright (c) 1995 Microsoft Corporation, All Rights Reserved. Posting said file path on the internet without prior permission from Microsoft Corporation or its officers is a violation of your End User License Agreement and will be considered breach of contract. You will be hearing from our lawyers and hired goons shortly.
They're good at processing words, but _terrible_ at typesetting. Another poster mentioned LaTeX, which would also be my recommendation. It's great for technical writing, you _know_ that your whole document will look consistent (no need to go through and change _every_ diagram or tab stop individually, just change them for the whole docuemnt) and it's easy for a future publisher of the manual to change its look to match how the want to print it.
I use LaTeX for almost everything these days. I can't stand using finicky, annoying WYSIWYG word processors anymore. LaTeX is simply a better way.
You missed the point. The point was, it's not MySpace's fault that teenage girls post their home addresses and that pedophiles look at them. It's the fault of the girls for posting their information and the pedophiles for taking advantage of it. The parent had a very good point that real life is far more dangerous than MySpace, the only difference is that everyone's been taught not to talk to strangers in real life.
MySpace is the new full-size van with tinted windows and candy inside. The only way it contributes to sexual predators is as a vehicle.
This just confirms something that many of us have known for years: beer and coffee have a very precise balance in the body. If you throw the balance off, then you feel like crap.
That's why before your first coffee of the morning, you feel bad. Then, you feel good once you've had your coffee. But by the time late-afternoon rolls around, you definitely feel like crap again and go for a beer. The beer makes you feel better until you go to bed. Rinse and repeat.
At my previous job, there were two of us with sudo access on the new fileserver I set up: myself, and the previous admin (who wasn't really a computer guy, just the guy who ended up doing their computer stuff before I was there).
His password was qwer.
Needless to say, I restricted SSH access (which was the only remote access to the fileserver) to my user and my user alone.
Why punish legit users in the "battle" to "stamp out piracy"?
Because they're Microsoft. Because they can. Because they know that the majority of users are complacent and will continue to pay for Windows either way.
If you don't like it, stop giving them your money.
and yet, here is a case where the government has decided NOT to add additional regulation, and just hear the hue and cry! Ultimately, if I or you, or ABC Giant Corporation(tm) pays for the infrastructure and owns the equiptment, don't they have the right to charge as they see fit for access? If I run a dry-cleaner can't I charge more for same-day service? Isn't reasonable that I might charge a frequent customer less, or I might charge more to clean your sequined tube-top? (sissy).
The difference is that telecom is an industry where natural monopolies arise. It's just not feasible for more than one or two big companies to own the huge infrastructures required to be a telco in any given region. In short: anyone can get into the drycleaning business, you just need a few machines and some immigrant workers; starting a telco takes huge capital and huge labor resources.
If you say that the telcos should be allowed to charge what they like for prioritized services, let's apply that argument to other industries with natural monopolies. Say your power company decided that they were going to offer tiered service. You pay your regular rate for flaky power that will only power a TV and a computer (ie, if you plug anything more in, it just won't work at all). If you want your stove, you have to pay extra. If you want your air conditioning, then it's more still. Sounds good, eh?
Unobtrusive, user-friendly DRM is the worst kind. When DRM is in-your-face and prevents the average user from doing something, the average user notices and realizes how stupid it is. With unobtrusive, user-friendly DRM, the average user will, most likely, never even know about it.
Unobtrusive, user-friendly DRM lulls consumers into thinking that DRM is acceptable. It's not.
It's no wonder AV companies pander to MS and spread FUD. Logically, one would think that a business that exists to correct flaws in another product would lead consumers to shy away form that product but no, because MS is a standard.
Wait, why on earth would an industry that exists to correct flaws in another product lead consumers away from that product? If AV companies encouraged people to ditch Windows, actually be careful on the internet and take other measures to avoid malware, and people listened to them, the companies would go out of business. No Windows, no need for a Windows anti-virus.
I think it has nothing to do with MS being a "standard," its just the fact that the AV companies need Windows to have some holes in it (and need people to exploit these holes) in order to have any selling points for their software. It's "pander to MS" or go out of business.
1. at £209, wouldn't it make much more sense to purchase an office full of cheap Dells, which offer much more processing power as well as local storage?
Local storage is a bad thing. Local storage means office workers can put shit on the hard drive and the hard drive doesn't get backed up. I've worked in offices where they rely on local storage to keep all their files and it's administration hell. In my mind, the one really nice feature of thin-client networks like Citrix (and I _hate_ Citrix) is that they force users to keep all their files on the server. In fact, the user doesn't even need to know that there's a server and a client, it all just looks like a PC. This means you don't have to teach people things they have trouble understanding and it makes administration much easier.
Now, that doesn't mean this device will be a success. There are already small, low-power, noiseless thin clients out there and I believe they can be had for less than $390. They're not as small, but still much smaller and quieter than a regular PC.
True, but it's not obvious. I would never think to click on a triangle that doesn't turn my cursor into the pointy-finger-link-clicking cursor. Seriously.
Tell me why we don't see cheap network appliances at Walmart and Bestbuy that accept USB drives and printers all in one convenient box.
I see the "cheap" drive sharing boxes and the "cheap" printer sharing boxes but, given how easy it is to set up SAMBA on a VERY low end device, why don't we see any that do both?
Because if they put them in one box, you'd only have to buy one box. And then you'd only have to upgrade one box in a few years. The way it works right now, they can sell you two boxen (and if you're an average consumer, you'll be more than happy to buy two boxen) and then in a few years when the latest and greatest printer connector/wireless protocol/ethernet standard/etc hits, they can sell you two new boxen to work with your new network/printer/computer/etc.
Before asking such questions as "why don't they put both things in one box," keep in mind that the entire computer industry is a huge scam and that most consumers are so stupid about computers that they don't even care.
I am a high school student.. I'm currently taking (and often teaching more than the teacher ) an AP Computer Science course which, while actualy about the concepts (OO Principles, Algorithims, Data Structures (well they _should_ be included), etc.), is taught in Java.
The course is taught using an IDE which did make it easier for most of the students, but as a result no body even knew javac existed.. as far as they were concerned they clicked a button and it magicaly was compiled.. while some would call this good decoupling, what it showed for me is that people ended up completly ignorant of the underlying implementation... they dont know what the command line options are for the compiler or VM, or that javadoc or jar exist (or the related concepts). It left me playing tech support in class so much that I had to do all my actual coding at home.
Of course, it's being taught in Java, so there's no hope of anyone understanding what really goes on under the hood anyway.
I've been using Linux for a long time, but it was relatively early in my Linux experience that I realized graphical file managers are useless and only serve to slow me down and make me less productive. For years, most *nixes have shipped with an excellent file manager: bash.
I find that after using the commandline for all of my file management for a number of years, it's actually infuriating to try and use a graphical file manager. Nothing works properly, I can't do the things I expect to be able to do easily and it requires extensive use of the mouse.
Call me a purist and a luddite, but I bet I can find and manage my files faster with bash and related utilities than you can with Nautilus.
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This is true for normal users. However, corporate users are different. Corporate users would rather pay money to hear a voice on the phone at any time of the day or night (even if it's not the _most_ helpful voice) than wait for a great response on a mailing list. Corporate users demand an instant response, and they're more than willing to pay for it.
How many times do we have to tell you? Don't buy first-gen Apple hardware!
Linux users like to embrace change, but what we like even more is being productive. And managing your computer desktop the way you manage your physical desktop is the opposite of productive. I haven't used a window manager that had a desktop in years, and I'm far more productive for it. As I type this, I'm at work using RatPoison - by far the most productivity-enhancing window manager for doing work (I use OpenBox at home - RatPoison doesn't play all that nice with Gaim and other things that don't need a maximized window).
Besides which, this concept is far from change. It is reverting to an outdated organizational system. I think Windows was the right system to implement it on - all the old guys who would want this are on Windows anyway.
Anyone ever heard of writing a device driver in a language other than C/C++ (or straight assembly)? I sure haven't. I mean, I suppose theoretically it would be possible, but I really don't think it's practical.
Better to go with option number 1. Don't put up with shitty programmers, just get better ones. If shitty programmers stop getting paid, shitty programmers will stop occurring.
Of which I have encountered very few. I mean, I installed Ubuntu on my girlfriend's brand new HP laptop and even the volume control soft keys worked out of the box. There's hardly anything common that Ubuntu won't detect and configure, and chances are that if you're using something uncommon enough that it doesn't work, you have enough expertise to make it work anyway.
Compare to Windows XP where damn near _nothing_ works out of the box (note that I define out of the box as I plug it in and it works, not I plug it in, install drivers, reboot and it works).
Have you tried Ubuntu? You absolutely do _not_ need any hacks to use it as a normal desktop system. In fact, I would venture to say that it's easier to install and configure than Windows XP is. Of course, most normal users never have to install and configure Windows because it comes with their computers, so maybe that is a moot point. Still, in the 60ish Ubuntu installs I've done (mostly at installfests for average Joe users with laptops), I've had very few Ubuntu installs that didn't detect and configure all the hardware on the machine correctly. Windows XP almost never detects new hardware on a machine correctly. The default Ubuntu setup is very clean and easy to use. It's _different_ from Windows (as it should be - Windows has an ass interface), but not harder to use.
The need-to-know-hacks-to-use-Linux argument no longer holds. It was completely valid when I started using Linux (circa 1998), but today it is 100% myth.
This file path is Copyright (c) 1995 Microsoft Corporation, All Rights Reserved. Posting said file path on the internet without prior permission from Microsoft Corporation or its officers is a violation of your End User License Agreement and will be considered breach of contract. You will be hearing from our lawyers and hired goons shortly.
With Love and Chairs,
Steve Ballmer
They're good at processing words, but _terrible_ at typesetting. Another poster mentioned LaTeX, which would also be my recommendation. It's great for technical writing, you _know_ that your whole document will look consistent (no need to go through and change _every_ diagram or tab stop individually, just change them for the whole docuemnt) and it's easy for a future publisher of the manual to change its look to match how the want to print it.
I use LaTeX for almost everything these days. I can't stand using finicky, annoying WYSIWYG word processors anymore. LaTeX is simply a better way.
You missed the point. The point was, it's not MySpace's fault that teenage girls post their home addresses and that pedophiles look at them. It's the fault of the girls for posting their information and the pedophiles for taking advantage of it. The parent had a very good point that real life is far more dangerous than MySpace, the only difference is that everyone's been taught not to talk to strangers in real life.
MySpace is the new full-size van with tinted windows and candy inside. The only way it contributes to sexual predators is as a vehicle.
killall bitchx
If that's not naughty, I don't know what is.
That's why you make the projectors bounce in exactly the same manner. Duh.
This just confirms something that many of us have known for years: beer and coffee have a very precise balance in the body. If you throw the balance off, then you feel like crap.
That's why before your first coffee of the morning, you feel bad. Then, you feel good once you've had your coffee. But by the time late-afternoon rolls around, you definitely feel like crap again and go for a beer. The beer makes you feel better until you go to bed. Rinse and repeat.
At my previous job, there were two of us with sudo access on the new fileserver I set up: myself, and the previous admin (who wasn't really a computer guy, just the guy who ended up doing their computer stuff before I was there).
His password was qwer.
Needless to say, I restricted SSH access (which was the only remote access to the fileserver) to my user and my user alone.
Why punish legit users in the "battle" to "stamp out piracy"?
Because they're Microsoft. Because they can. Because they know that the majority of users are complacent and will continue to pay for Windows either way.
If you don't like it, stop giving them your money.
The difference is that telecom is an industry where natural monopolies arise. It's just not feasible for more than one or two big companies to own the huge infrastructures required to be a telco in any given region. In short: anyone can get into the drycleaning business, you just need a few machines and some immigrant workers; starting a telco takes huge capital and huge labor resources.
If you say that the telcos should be allowed to charge what they like for prioritized services, let's apply that argument to other industries with natural monopolies. Say your power company decided that they were going to offer tiered service. You pay your regular rate for flaky power that will only power a TV and a computer (ie, if you plug anything more in, it just won't work at all). If you want your stove, you have to pay extra. If you want your air conditioning, then it's more still. Sounds good, eh?
Unobtrusive, user-friendly DRM is the worst kind. When DRM is in-your-face and prevents the average user from doing something, the average user notices and realizes how stupid it is. With unobtrusive, user-friendly DRM, the average user will, most likely, never even know about it.
Unobtrusive, user-friendly DRM lulls consumers into thinking that DRM is acceptable. It's not.
Wait, why on earth would an industry that exists to correct flaws in another product lead consumers away from that product? If AV companies encouraged people to ditch Windows, actually be careful on the internet and take other measures to avoid malware, and people listened to them, the companies would go out of business. No Windows, no need for a Windows anti-virus.
I think it has nothing to do with MS being a "standard," its just the fact that the AV companies need Windows to have some holes in it (and need people to exploit these holes) in order to have any selling points for their software. It's "pander to MS" or go out of business.
Yes, that's called the "Abbreviated Turing Test" and is used by SQLite to protect their bug tracker.
Local storage is a bad thing. Local storage means office workers can put shit on the hard drive and the hard drive doesn't get backed up. I've worked in offices where they rely on local storage to keep all their files and it's administration hell. In my mind, the one really nice feature of thin-client networks like Citrix (and I _hate_ Citrix) is that they force users to keep all their files on the server. In fact, the user doesn't even need to know that there's a server and a client, it all just looks like a PC. This means you don't have to teach people things they have trouble understanding and it makes administration much easier.
Now, that doesn't mean this device will be a success. There are already small, low-power, noiseless thin clients out there and I believe they can be had for less than $390. They're not as small, but still much smaller and quieter than a regular PC.
True, but it's not obvious. I would never think to click on a triangle that doesn't turn my cursor into the pointy-finger-link-clicking cursor. Seriously.
Because if they put them in one box, you'd only have to buy one box. And then you'd only have to upgrade one box in a few years. The way it works right now, they can sell you two boxen (and if you're an average consumer, you'll be more than happy to buy two boxen) and then in a few years when the latest and greatest printer connector/wireless protocol/ethernet standard/etc hits, they can sell you two new boxen to work with your new network/printer/computer/etc.
Before asking such questions as "why don't they put both things in one box," keep in mind that the entire computer industry is a huge scam and that most consumers are so stupid about computers that they don't even care.
No, no, no, the real hero is Al Gore. He invented the freakin' internet!
Of course, it's being taught in Java, so there's no hope of anyone understanding what really goes on under the hood anyway.
I've been using Linux for a long time, but it was relatively early in my Linux experience that I realized graphical file managers are useless and only serve to slow me down and make me less productive. For years, most *nixes have shipped with an excellent file manager: bash.
I find that after using the commandline for all of my file management for a number of years, it's actually infuriating to try and use a graphical file manager. Nothing works properly, I can't do the things I expect to be able to do easily and it requires extensive use of the mouse.
Call me a purist and a luddite, but I bet I can find and manage my files faster with bash and related utilities than you can with Nautilus.