I don't think that "the General Purpose PC" is going anywhere anytime soon. Even when we've got toasters that'll check our email and refrigerators that'll order more ketchup when we're running low, and have appliances that each do one/some of the things that computers do, I really can't see people giving up computers entirely. Sure, gramma might want that email-checking toaster, but people like myself aren't going to give up PCs just because we've got a toaster to check our email and a pen that re-orders itself when its nearly out of ink.
The great thing about "the General Purpose PC" is that it's so dang flexible. Want to send some email? Go ahead. Want to play a game? Go ahead. Want to read send email, find porn, play a game, code some apps and order books all at the same time from the same machine? Go right on ahead.
Maybe you'll give up yours, but I won't give up mine.
I'm suprised they're not throwing FUD around at a time like this. Not that there's much to fear or doubt (unless you're them). Dang, just when I thought I could predict what they'd do in most situations too...;)
good point...I suppose I'm just lucky being able to write program interfaces and see most of the things that a newbie would wonder about...I always try to keep in mind that a given user may have no idea what the program does/is/etc., but I do miss things, and you're right -- it is much easier to get a user that doesn't know what they're doing to point out things they don't understand. I've had a number of navigation problems in CGI backends found that way.
our people are way too experienced to be able to see how things look to new users
Ok, I understand what you're trying to say here, but all it takes is a little imagination and some thought about user-friendliness and you can look at even your own projects as if you're a typical nearly-computer-illiterate first-time user. Just walk though your site/interface for a while and think about it as if you had to explain the usage to a total moron. Make things easy. Use words that make sence. It really isn't that difficult.
I was reading a while back that plastic semiconductors are making epaper a lot more viable...similar machines used to do this could be what you'd use for creating the actual circuits...
What's wrong with these jerks that keep spreading viruses/trojans around. Just because you know how to write something to do this destructive/dos/whatever crap, doesn't mean that you should unleash it on the world...why not use the talent to create something helpful instead of harmful?
that seems like a pretty nifty way to navigate around...but isn't the idea of computers to make it possible to do things more quickly? Maybe not, but that's what I usually look for. Amusing anyhow.
Copy protection doesn't always effect those doing wrong with hardware/software/etc. For instance, my brother has a older tv with a vcr connecting his dvd player up to it (doesn't have rca jacks in the tv, it's the only way he can connect the dvd to the tv). Anyhow, the dvd players form of copy protection is to make the picture look like crap (messes w/ the colors and light constantly) if it's connected to a vcr -- keeping people from making (good) copies...but for my brother, it's not keeping him from doing what he shouldn't be allowed to do, it's keeping him from being able to use hardware that he purchased for its main purpose -- watching movies w/ good quality picture and sound.
When will these companies ever learn that no matter what technology they come up with to copy protect their stuff, people are always going to find a way around it...it might make it a little harder to copy, but people will find a way to do it. They're just throwing money into a pit on this one.
thinking back, the first time I used something like that would've probably been late 96 or early 97...I'm not trying to say that I came up with the idea, just that they didn't come up with the idea...virtual postcard/flower/gift sites were using these well before 97...
When is the patent office ever going to start looking into the patents that are filed before they start awarding them?
I've used 'private urls' (at least by their description) in more than a dozen CGIs that I've written. Give me a break, people, if it's not new, don't try to patent it!
Who in their right mind is still using DES for anything important? I think the fact that it's been cracked a number of times puts me off from using it.
I have to give kudos to the SSH guy, at least he's not suing (yet), which he surely could be doing. He's doing about the most polite thing you possibly could do in his situation -- asking the OpenSSH development community at large to simply change the name of the project/product. What the hell is wrong with that? He has a requirement to do so if he's to protect his trademark rights.
Don't jump on somebody just because they've actually had an original idea and built a company around it. If you could ever be so inspired, maybe you'd be in his shoes, then you could understand. Untill then, keep slaving away and making money for your employeers instead of yourselves.
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I don't think that "the General Purpose PC" is going anywhere anytime soon. Even when we've got toasters that'll check our email and refrigerators that'll order more ketchup when we're running low, and have appliances that each do one/some of the things that computers do, I really can't see people giving up computers entirely. Sure, gramma might want that email-checking toaster, but people like myself aren't going to give up PCs just because we've got a toaster to check our email and a pen that re-orders itself when its nearly out of ink. The great thing about "the General Purpose PC" is that it's so dang flexible. Want to send some email? Go ahead. Want to play a game? Go ahead. Want to read send email, find porn, play a game, code some apps and order books all at the same time from the same machine? Go right on ahead. Maybe you'll give up yours, but I won't give up mine.
I'm suprised they're not throwing FUD around at a time like this. Not that there's much to fear or doubt (unless you're them). Dang, just when I thought I could predict what they'd do in most situations too... ;)
good point...I suppose I'm just lucky being able to write program interfaces and see most of the things that a newbie would wonder about...I always try to keep in mind that a given user may have no idea what the program does/is/etc., but I do miss things, and you're right -- it is much easier to get a user that doesn't know what they're doing to point out things they don't understand. I've had a number of navigation problems in CGI backends found that way.
our people are way too experienced to be able to see how things look to new users
Ok, I understand what you're trying to say here, but all it takes is a little imagination and some thought about user-friendliness and you can look at even your own projects as if you're a typical nearly-computer-illiterate first-time user. Just walk though your site/interface for a while and think about it as if you had to explain the usage to a total moron. Make things easy. Use words that make sence. It really isn't that difficult.
I was reading a while back that plastic semiconductors are making epaper a lot more viable...similar machines used to do this could be what you'd use for creating the actual circuits...
What's wrong with these jerks that keep spreading viruses/trojans around. Just because you know how to write something to do this destructive/dos/whatever crap, doesn't mean that you should unleash it on the world...why not use the talent to create something helpful instead of harmful?
yeah, that's THIS artical...
that seems like a pretty nifty way to navigate around...but isn't the idea of computers to make it possible to do things more quickly? Maybe not, but that's what I usually look for. Amusing anyhow.
Copy protection doesn't always effect those doing wrong with hardware/software/etc. For instance, my brother has a older tv with a vcr connecting his dvd player up to it (doesn't have rca jacks in the tv, it's the only way he can connect the dvd to the tv). Anyhow, the dvd players form of copy protection is to make the picture look like crap (messes w/ the colors and light constantly) if it's connected to a vcr -- keeping people from making (good) copies...but for my brother, it's not keeping him from doing what he shouldn't be allowed to do, it's keeping him from being able to use hardware that he purchased for its main purpose -- watching movies w/ good quality picture and sound.
When will these companies ever learn that no matter what technology they come up with to copy protect their stuff, people are always going to find a way around it...it might make it a little harder to copy, but people will find a way to do it. They're just throwing money into a pit on this one.
thinking back, the first time I used something like that would've probably been late 96 or early 97...I'm not trying to say that I came up with the idea, just that they didn't come up with the idea...virtual postcard/flower/gift sites were using these well before 97...
When is the patent office ever going to start looking into the patents that are filed before they start awarding them?
I've used 'private urls' (at least by their description) in more than a dozen CGIs that I've written. Give me a break, people, if it's not new, don't try to patent it!
Now that's probably the best use of $1 Million I've heard of in a long time. If only NASA (or the US Govt in general) could spend money so well...
Who in their right mind is still using DES for anything important? I think the fact that it's been cracked a number of times puts me off from using it.
I have to give kudos to the SSH guy, at least he's not suing (yet), which he surely could be doing. He's doing about the most polite thing you possibly could do in his situation -- asking the OpenSSH development community at large to simply change the name of the project/product. What the hell is wrong with that? He has a requirement to do so if he's to protect his trademark rights.
Don't jump on somebody just because they've actually had an original idea and built a company around it. If you could ever be so inspired, maybe you'd be in his shoes, then you could understand. Untill then, keep slaving away and making money for your employeers instead of yourselves.
Great review Jon, but shouldn't you have somebody proof-read before it's put up? Some of the typeos got me confused for a bit...