Well, you're lucky then. There is a cool, but low power jazz station here in the D.C. area ("real" jazz not that pulped up and strained "smooth jazz" coma patient stuff), and classical is always good, and I enjoy talk radio, but as a fan of progressive and instrumental rock and jazz-fusion (basically music written by adults that requires skill and talent), there is nothing on the radio for the likes of me. "Classic rock" is fine, except I've heard those songs since I was a kid, and 1/10th of my CD collection is about 80% of their playlist. Believe me, those classic groups had more than 2 or 3 good songs each. I've actually heard a "classic" rock DJ apologize for playing the wrong Bob Seger song. He played a really cool piece I'd never heard rather than one of those tired old nags we've heard every 15 minutes for the last 30 years. Clear Channel and Infinity, etc, have reduced radio music to a thin gruel. In fact, not even gruel, but Krusty Brand Imitation Gruel, 9 out of 10 orphans can't tell the difference.
Why are half the folders hidden? What's the point of storing (for instance) the Thunderbird or Outlook Express mail store in a hidden location?
This is supposed to be something that the average user can understand so he can back up his e-mail?
If MS were capable of making Windows so you could decouple the concepts of data and the files they are in, it would be OK. But doing anything but the most trivial of functions under Windows requires understanding files and where they are located. Of course, at the same time, file extensions are turned off by default meaning the poor novice is stuff looking at often meaningless icons to try to figure out what the file is.
MS's tools are always well-designed, but only for a ridiculously narrow domain of problems (Visual Studio is a fair exception, but not the libraries). Once you do anything out of the ordinary, you're totally in the woods, and as someone who's been playing in the DOS and Windows world for almost 25 years, I regularly do the unexpected because it doesn't occur to me that it is. I remember the days when you had to rewrite every installation batch file and INI file before the apps would even work (remember when everyone assumed the harddrive was C: or dumped all their files in the \Windows directory?) Should I mention the hours and hours of pain I suffered because some marketing moron thought "Program Files" was a great name for a directory in Windows 95 when most programs couldn't handle spaces? Should I point out that you need registry hacks just to keep that stupid MS Messenger from running?
Windows is a huge, confusing and absurdly overcomplicated mess, something Linux can only aspire to. As someone who regularly helps non-technical people with administration type tasks, I cannot imagine how a novice user can function with Windows, even Windows 2000/XP, which I consider to be pretty good overall, unless the Windows 95/98/etc side of things which was complete garbage from day 1.
Obviously if I totally hated it and couldn't deal with it, I would stop using it (there also is this little fact that my livelihood is based on programming for Windows), but MS has all the organizational skills of a herd of cats and everything about Windows, good or bad, is deeply engrained with design-by-committee thinking. I've spent a fair amount of time playing with Linux back in the 90's. Yes, it was confusing, and often disorganized, but it has two advantages that MS will never have.
1. Better documentation (HOW-TOs, etc)
2. An underlying philosophy of logical, simple and clean design. Just the mere idea that software can be completely configured though ASCII config files and most useful functionality can be controlled without leaving the command-line makes it more powerful and flexible than a GUI could ever be. In my opinion GUI design is still in its infancy and has actually _devolved_ in the last 10 years, thanks in large part to the WWW and improved graphics. A good command-line and ASCII files will never succumb to the whims of style or pointless "skinning" (have you seen the visual mugging that is Windows Media Player lately... I finally had to dump it for Media Player Classic, for years the app itself has acted as if it is more important than the media it's supposed to be playing. MS has some great UI designers, and has make some good innovations, but apparently they fired them all around 2000 and replaced them with fashion designers, witness the eye-gouging ugliness of the default XP theme, it's like a Paris fashion show of UI, some weirdo's idea of good UI that no one in the real world would actually choose).
Anyhow, I didn't mean to rant so long, but ease of use is a big issue with me, and MS, which claims to have that as a high priority is actually, in my opinion, going backwards. Sure, computers can do a lot more than they did in 1984... orders of magnitude more, but are they really that much easier to use, or more importantly, to set up and fix? I don't think so, and I was there.
Don't give in to those terms. Allow them rights to what you create on company time, or using company resources. Anything else is off-limits.
We have to stand up to these kinds of abuses now before more companies start thinking you sign away your rights as a human being just for the privilege of working for them.
If you turn them down, I'm sure some whore will take them up on the offer, but you will still have your integrity and dignity. It might be small comfort when you are broke, but short of forming a union (to which I am adamantly opposed) there's no other way to stop companies from pulling this stuff.
Furthermore, if they are expecting you to sign a paper making your their "IP bitch" right out of the gate, do you really think they are going to treat you with any more respect in other ways? I personally would push the paper back and tell them I find it an insult, and unless they plan on changing it immediately on the spot, I'd walk out. But that's me.
Yeah, I know. I was trying to point out that no matter how bad the Linux configuration and standard directory organization is it couldn't be worse than Windows. "Documents and Settings" is a confusing mess and the registry is a nightmare for those who haven't spent hours digging through it.
Maybe/etc would be better if it was called "/My etc".
It was a Microsoft bash, I was hoping for some cheap karma.
If I weren't such a cheap bastard, I'd've already read this. Also, if I could find it in the library. I could put a hold on it of course, but I'm also a lazy bastard.
I'm thrilled to see there is more about B.S. Johnson!
Now, I need to think about that for a minute to figure out what the topology of a space where pi == 3.0 would be. Hmmm.... OK maybe more than a minute. Much more.
I've been using CFLBs for over 10 years, and now most of the lights in my house have them. I've only had one or two fail in all that time.
On the other hand, I picked up some of those "natural light" incandescents for the hallway and had three out of 6 burn out the first night. And those things cost about twice as much. I switched back to regular incandescents (same wattage) and have had no problems.
As staed elsewhere, CFLBs have some minor drawbacks, but overall I find them a good value and am happy to use them to save energy as well.
Wow! I wish they'd try that in America. Some places have done it, but somehow others (DC, for instance?) can spend $10,000 per student per annum and barely keep the schools from crumbling around their heads leave alone operating efficiently.
You're right, education is the key. Too bad much of this country gave up education for 12 years of babysitting. I'm lucky enough (and hard-working enough) to live where there are good schools, but there's no good reason why everyone in this country can't have good schools.
Sounds like you should form a country where only smart people like you can vote.
In all seriousness, there are really good reasons to have certain requirements to vote other than the ability to fog a mirror. Of course, nowadays, that would never happen.
I think you have a point. 60 years ago lobotomy was the cure-all for mental illness, this seems only somewhat less drastic (and less permanent, fortunately), not unlike trying to fix a processor by poking leads directly into the die.
No big deal. She'd seen my big poast roast of a face clearly with glasses or contacts for years. However, she could now see me first thing in the morning...
Slashdot Mirror
Better than their current disclosure approach, called "Shlock and Flaw".
Well, you're lucky then. There is a cool, but low power jazz station here in the D.C. area ("real" jazz not that pulped up and strained "smooth jazz" coma patient stuff), and classical is always good, and I enjoy talk radio, but as a fan of progressive and instrumental rock and jazz-fusion (basically music written by adults that requires skill and talent), there is nothing on the radio for the likes of me. "Classic rock" is fine, except I've heard those songs since I was a kid, and 1/10th of my CD collection is about 80% of their playlist. Believe me, those classic groups had more than 2 or 3 good songs each. I've actually heard a "classic" rock DJ apologize for playing the wrong Bob Seger song. He played a really cool piece I'd never heard rather than one of those tired old nags we've heard every 15 minutes for the last 30 years. Clear Channel and Infinity, etc, have reduced radio music to a thin gruel. In fact, not even gruel, but Krusty Brand Imitation Gruel, 9 out of 10 orphans can't tell the difference.
Oh well, that's why I don't listen to the radio.
Listening to an FM radio station is like being stuck with a 1GB MP3 with a bad selection and advertisements on top of it!
No thanks.
I prefer "octopoxen".
I was going to write a long post agreeing with you, but I have to check my computer for virii.
The government buys licenses for Microsoft Windows, Office, etc. just like it buys toilet paper or doorknobs.
Well, my tax dollars paid for that toilet paper, and I demand to know how it is being used!
Oh, wait. I thought we were still talking about licenses for Office.
Why are half the folders hidden? What's the point of storing (for instance) the Thunderbird or Outlook Express mail store in a hidden location?
This is supposed to be something that the average user can understand so he can back up his e-mail?
If MS were capable of making Windows so you could decouple the concepts of data and the files they are in, it would be OK. But doing anything but the most trivial of functions under Windows requires understanding files and where they are located. Of course, at the same time, file extensions are turned off by default meaning the poor novice is stuff looking at often meaningless icons to try to figure out what the file is.
MS's tools are always well-designed, but only for a ridiculously narrow domain of problems (Visual Studio is a fair exception, but not the libraries). Once you do anything out of the ordinary, you're totally in the woods, and as someone who's been playing in the DOS and Windows world for almost 25 years, I regularly do the unexpected because it doesn't occur to me that it is. I remember the days when you had to rewrite every installation batch file and INI file before the apps would even work (remember when everyone assumed the harddrive was C: or dumped all their files in the \Windows directory?) Should I mention the hours and hours of pain I suffered because some marketing moron thought "Program Files" was a great name for a directory in Windows 95 when most programs couldn't handle spaces? Should I point out that you need registry hacks just to keep that stupid MS Messenger from running?
Windows is a huge, confusing and absurdly overcomplicated mess, something Linux can only aspire to. As someone who regularly helps non-technical people with administration type tasks, I cannot imagine how a novice user can function with Windows, even Windows 2000/XP, which I consider to be pretty good overall, unless the Windows 95/98/etc side of things which was complete garbage from day 1.
Obviously if I totally hated it and couldn't deal with it, I would stop using it (there also is this little fact that my livelihood is based on programming for Windows), but MS has all the organizational skills of a herd of cats and everything about Windows, good or bad, is deeply engrained with design-by-committee thinking. I've spent a fair amount of time playing with Linux back in the 90's. Yes, it was confusing, and often disorganized, but it has two advantages that MS will never have.
1. Better documentation (HOW-TOs, etc)
2. An underlying philosophy of logical, simple and clean design. Just the mere idea that software can be completely configured though ASCII config files and most useful functionality can be controlled without leaving the command-line makes it more powerful and flexible than a GUI could ever be. In my opinion GUI design is still in its infancy and has actually _devolved_ in the last 10 years, thanks in large part to the WWW and improved graphics. A good command-line and ASCII files will never succumb to the whims of style or pointless "skinning" (have you seen the visual mugging that is Windows Media Player lately... I finally had to dump it for Media Player Classic, for years the app itself has acted as if it is more important than the media it's supposed to be playing. MS has some great UI designers, and has make some good innovations, but apparently they fired them all around 2000 and replaced them with fashion designers, witness the eye-gouging ugliness of the default XP theme, it's like a Paris fashion show of UI, some weirdo's idea of good UI that no one in the real world would actually choose).
Anyhow, I didn't mean to rant so long, but ease of use is a big issue with me, and MS, which claims to have that as a high priority is actually, in my opinion, going backwards.
Sure, computers can do a lot more than they did in 1984... orders of magnitude more, but are they really that much easier to use, or more importantly, to set up and fix? I don't think so, and I was there.
Don't give in to those terms. Allow them rights to what you create on company time, or using company resources. Anything else is off-limits.
We have to stand up to these kinds of abuses now before more companies start thinking you sign away your rights as a human being just for the privilege of working for them.
If you turn them down, I'm sure some whore will take them up on the offer, but you will still have your integrity and dignity. It might be small comfort when you are broke, but short of forming a union (to which I am adamantly opposed) there's no other way to stop companies from pulling this stuff.
Furthermore, if they are expecting you to sign a paper making your their "IP bitch" right out of the gate, do you really think they are going to treat you with any more respect in other ways? I personally would push the paper back and tell them I find it an insult, and unless they plan on changing it immediately on the spot, I'd walk out. But that's me.
Yeah, I know. I was trying to point out that no matter how bad the Linux configuration and standard directory organization is it couldn't be worse than Windows. "Documents and Settings" is a confusing mess and the registry is a nightmare for those who haven't spent hours digging through it.
/etc would be better if it was called "/My etc".
Maybe
It was a Microsoft bash, I was hoping for some cheap karma.
There's something that's much better. It's called "\Documents and Settings".
Very organized, consistent, and above all easy to understand.
If I weren't such a cheap bastard, I'd've already read this. Also, if I could find it in the library. I could put a hold on it of course, but I'm also a lazy bastard.
I'm thrilled to see there is more about B.S. Johnson!
Now, I need to think about that for a minute to figure out what the topology of a space where pi == 3.0 would be. Hmmm.... OK maybe more than a minute. Much more.
The Turtle Moves!
I wasn't clear. In this case, the misspelling was on purpose, and the poster knew it was wrong, in order to make a joke.
A lot of people misspell because they think that's how the
words are spelled.
It's so rediculous I'm about to loose my mind!
I love the Latin puns, or at least the ones I can get. Nanny Ogg's "foreign speech" is even funnier.
The Turtle Moves!
I think you're referring to typos, not spelling things wrong. But now we know it was on purpose!
The Turtle Moves!
It was very funny, but on /. it is more likely that it was just misspelled.
Now he foist more old colorized movies on us where everyone's skin is orange and the sky is purple and all small objects are grey.
more prone to the kind of ads normally placed in those shows.
Pecker pills and big-ass cars?
I've been using CFLBs for over 10 years, and now most of the lights in my house have them. I've only had one or two fail in all that time.
On the other hand, I picked up some of those "natural light" incandescents for the hallway and had three out of 6 burn out the first night. And those things cost about twice as much. I switched back to regular incandescents (same wattage) and have had no problems.
As staed elsewhere, CFLBs have some minor drawbacks, but overall I find them a good value and am happy to use them to save energy as well.
How can you be hip _and_ anti-Phish. Also didn't they break aup a couple years ago?
Surely no one who speaks German could be evil either.
And by the way, that tattoo says "The, Austria, The" in German.
On a side note: I haven't seen any new Windows 95/98/ME viruses. I mean those that only run on 95/98/ME. I wonder why is that? :)
No challenge?
Wow! I wish they'd try that in America. Some places have done it, but somehow others (DC, for instance?) can spend $10,000 per student per annum and barely keep the schools from crumbling around their heads leave alone operating efficiently.
You're right, education is the key. Too bad much of this country gave up education for 12 years of babysitting. I'm lucky enough (and hard-working enough) to live where there are good schools, but there's no good reason why everyone in this country can't have good schools.
Sounds like you should form a country where only smart people like you can vote.
In all seriousness, there are really good reasons to have certain requirements to vote other than the ability to fog a mirror. Of course, nowadays, that would never happen.
I think you have a point. 60 years ago lobotomy was the cure-all for mental illness, this seems only somewhat less drastic (and less permanent, fortunately), not unlike trying to fix a processor by poking leads directly into the die.
Thanks for the info on TMS.
No big deal. She'd seen my big poast roast of a face clearly with glasses or contacts for years. However, she could now see me first thing in the morning...