Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless.
I agree that an attempt should be made. But when people are continually pushed away for simply stating a dissenting opinion, it's just not worth the extra fight. Especially not for something as simple as a web site when there are millions of others and it's trivial to start your own.
That's where wikis with a more narrow focus come in. (Warning: plug) DocForge, for example, is focused on software development and allows original research. It's also not an encyclopedia, so notability isn't required and opinions can be posted. Some of the articles have been copied from Wikipedia (with the same open license) and have grown from there.
Why? Why should a large group of random people over the internet fight to keep pages up on Wikipedia? I've browsed a number of talk pages and any disputes over policy come down to a single person's complaint and a bunch of WP regulars pounding on him/her for being wrong.
So if the community most involved in WP doesn't want the articles, and the foundation running the site doesn't want to change their policies, then why should a group gather with pitchforks and fight? The site is obviously not interested, so go elsewhere. (Developers, for example, can follow the link in my sig.)
If it got to the point were someone didn't want MS anymore, they go find something else. Simple as that.
Many companies have invested millions of dollars in Microsoft software as a core part of their computing infrastructure. That's not something that can be replaced quickly, easily, or cheaply.
There have been many times when people complained to me about their Windows problems. I've often mentioned they should look at the alternatives. Almost always I get the same response: "What alternatives? Isn't every computer Windows?"
Most people still think Apple computers are completely foreign and are unaware of any other options. So to most people the options are a Windows computer or no computer.
For one large site I took an open source Bayesian filter and customized it. This site was large enough to get spam that's only posted there, so a DIY Bayesian filter worked extremely well. They have staff to remove spam and illegal content, so the filter simply aided the staff, who were able to train the filter very quickly.
However, this solution would be useless without enough content and without people properly training the filter. If you get generic spam in a common scenario than a more generic solution might suffice.
At my office we have Vista, XP, OS X, and Linux. Anyone can use whatever OS they prefer, but all are needed for testing. All but one person uses OS X on their desktop. One uses Linux. No one uses Vista because no one likes it.
The desktops we have set up for testing with Vista are nothing but trouble from the second you sit down. Many things need to be constantly installed to get anything done; things that come native with OS X and Linux. Distracting windows and notifications pop up constantly requiring extra clicks. Debugging JavaScript is a breeze in Firefox but a nightmare with IE7. I could go on...
Your experience may be positive. But don't assume that everyone who complains about Vista is lying.
State funds are our property. If those funds are spent on health care, and your neighbor does things which burden the health care system more than others, than he is doing harm to your property by effectively taking it from you.
So the extremely high tax on cigarettes has stopped all smoking, reducing the income from cigarette taxes to zero? I'm sure you're aware that many people still smoke even with the high tax. Same will be for soda, and the soda tax will be nowhere near as high as the one on cigarettes.
How much does the state spend on health care, including state employee health plans, public hospitals, etc.? And how much of that could be reduced if people didn't consume extremely unhealthy and needless things like soda?
When the state is in economic crisis and can't pay the bills, yeah, I'm all for this kind of tax. When the budget is balanced and the economy is stronger, then I'm not as much for it.
Well, on the up side he's trying to raise more money through products rather than income taxes. I'd prefer the taxes on ipods, cigars, gasoline, and luxury cars to income tax increases. Of course if it hurts NY businesses (I don't think it will), then it'll hurt in the long run. But the state needs to stop bleeding money immediately.
Isn't this advantage almost exclusively for those entirely new to each respective OS?
No. My company switched from all linux desktops to all Mac desktops and laptops about 3 years ago. We're all software developers and very experienced on linux desktops. Our productivity is way up because we spend so little time fussing with the Macs compared to how much time we spent maintaining the linux desktops.
I'm not saying the case will be identical in every situation. But sometimes linux just takes more time to maintain.
Someone can learn the basics of a lot of programming languages, but not know the fundamentals well. What a university should provide is a solid foundation. My education included chip design, compiler design, assembler, and other low-level topics that I never use on a daily basis. But studying them at the university level definitely makes me a better programmer.
Well, yes. All of the e-commerce sites I've worked on had in-house or outsourced phone staff. But my point is that a site must have some sort of failure mode. Whether it's to call customer service, give free or flat shipping, or whatever, it's better that the customer can complete the sale than see an arcane error message that the system has failed.
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Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless.
I agree that an attempt should be made. But when people are continually pushed away for simply stating a dissenting opinion, it's just not worth the extra fight. Especially not for something as simple as a web site when there are millions of others and it's trivial to start your own.
That's where wikis with a more narrow focus come in. (Warning: plug) DocForge, for example, is focused on software development and allows original research. It's also not an encyclopedia, so notability isn't required and opinions can be posted. Some of the articles have been copied from Wikipedia (with the same open license) and have grown from there.
Why? Why should a large group of random people over the internet fight to keep pages up on Wikipedia? I've browsed a number of talk pages and any disputes over policy come down to a single person's complaint and a bunch of WP regulars pounding on him/her for being wrong.
So if the community most involved in WP doesn't want the articles, and the foundation running the site doesn't want to change their policies, then why should a group gather with pitchforks and fight? The site is obviously not interested, so go elsewhere. (Developers, for example, can follow the link in my sig.)
this is slashdot, and people here aren't idiots
You must be new here.
I'm an idiot, you insensitive clod!
But you can post it to Seen on Slash.
I'm so ashamed of myself for laughing at that.
You certainly do live up to your username. ;)
If it got to the point were someone didn't want MS anymore, they go find something else. Simple as that.
Many companies have invested millions of dollars in Microsoft software as a core part of their computing infrastructure. That's not something that can be replaced quickly, easily, or cheaply.
Nobody buys MS that doesn't want to.
There have been many times when people complained to me about their Windows problems. I've often mentioned they should look at the alternatives. Almost always I get the same response: "What alternatives? Isn't every computer Windows?"
Most people still think Apple computers are completely foreign and are unaware of any other options. So to most people the options are a Windows computer or no computer.
For one large site I took an open source Bayesian filter and customized it. This site was large enough to get spam that's only posted there, so a DIY Bayesian filter worked extremely well. They have staff to remove spam and illegal content, so the filter simply aided the staff, who were able to train the filter very quickly.
However, this solution would be useless without enough content and without people properly training the filter. If you get generic spam in a common scenario than a more generic solution might suffice.
At my office we have Vista, XP, OS X, and Linux. Anyone can use whatever OS they prefer, but all are needed for testing. All but one person uses OS X on their desktop. One uses Linux. No one uses Vista because no one likes it.
The desktops we have set up for testing with Vista are nothing but trouble from the second you sit down. Many things need to be constantly installed to get anything done; things that come native with OS X and Linux. Distracting windows and notifications pop up constantly requiring extra clicks. Debugging JavaScript is a breeze in Firefox but a nightmare with IE7. I could go on...
Your experience may be positive. But don't assume that everyone who complains about Vista is lying.
Actually, we are talking yachts here. RTFA.
Almost everything suggested for a sales tax increase is a non-necessity.
State funds are our property. If those funds are spent on health care, and your neighbor does things which burden the health care system more than others, than he is doing harm to your property by effectively taking it from you.
So the extremely high tax on cigarettes has stopped all smoking, reducing the income from cigarette taxes to zero? I'm sure you're aware that many people still smoke even with the high tax. Same will be for soda, and the soda tax will be nowhere near as high as the one on cigarettes.
You can't drink water or juice? You're actually claiming that you are forced to drink regular soda. You somehow suffer without it. Seriously?
How much does the state spend on health care, including state employee health plans, public hospitals, etc.? And how much of that could be reduced if people didn't consume extremely unhealthy and needless things like soda?
When the state is in economic crisis and can't pay the bills, yeah, I'm all for this kind of tax. When the budget is balanced and the economy is stronger, then I'm not as much for it.
Well, on the up side he's trying to raise more money through products rather than income taxes. I'd prefer the taxes on ipods, cigars, gasoline, and luxury cars to income tax increases. Of course if it hurts NY businesses (I don't think it will), then it'll hurt in the long run. But the state needs to stop bleeding money immediately.
Agent Lawless, a former prosecutor from Tennessee...
Most ironic... name... ever...
I'm sure he never got ridiculed for that name from other students while studying for his law degree. (Yeah, I read the story earlier about sarcasm)
Isn't this advantage almost exclusively for those entirely new to each respective OS?
No. My company switched from all linux desktops to all Mac desktops and laptops about 3 years ago. We're all software developers and very experienced on linux desktops. Our productivity is way up because we spend so little time fussing with the Macs compared to how much time we spent maintaining the linux desktops.
I'm not saying the case will be identical in every situation. But sometimes linux just takes more time to maintain.
Jeez, when will people accept that the only thing the mac is good for is paying for things that other people get free?
Jeez, when will people accept that time is valuable and sometimes Mac's "just work" while other systems take more time to maintain.
Someone can learn the basics of a lot of programming languages, but not know the fundamentals well. What a university should provide is a solid foundation. My education included chip design, compiler design, assembler, and other low-level topics that I never use on a daily basis. But studying them at the university level definitely makes me a better programmer.
My production would definitely be down if I had a cheerleader. Depending, of course, on what she looked like...
*Bjarne waves hand* These are not the programmers you're looking for.
Well, yes. All of the e-commerce sites I've worked on had in-house or outsourced phone staff. But my point is that a site must have some sort of failure mode. Whether it's to call customer service, give free or flat shipping, or whatever, it's better that the customer can complete the sale than see an arcane error message that the system has failed.