yes, this is kinda redundant, in a sense, but after reading it, it made me really start thinking... please see this post by spatula...
I'm starting to formulate some new ideas on this, like, really big companies can show us all how bad they can SUCK when they really feel like it... not that I'm bitter, its just that we seem to see money grubbing a bit too much anymore. Or perhaps its always been there, I'm just becoming more and more aware of it.
I've been waiting for this one... it doesn't surprise me, really. Personally, I'm not sure I really care either way: pay an additional fee, or change the wording of the laws... either way, I hope this manages to be a more level-headed case than some of the more sensationalized crap we've had to witness as of late.
I really don't want to go about bash all the record companies, since they can provide useful servies to artists... likewise, they can abuse their power. From the radio end of things, the copyright law is law, and they do know the rules. Moralistically, I don't really think there a real issue here, it's just become the record companies vs. the radio conglomerate. Both make crap-loads of cash (aka way the hell more than me), and both really have very little to complain about in the grand scheme of things... I'll just sit back and watch this one... again, I hope it remains sane...
not that I'm all that familiar with the regulations that would rule over such a concept, but it would almost seem to be in a huge tech area for the tech companies to invest in their own power grid.
yes, yes, I know that such a venture would be huge, in terms of capital and time, but might it be worth it? perhaps the con's of having your own power station overwhelm the benefits?
I've a feeling that there are some really bored lawyers in Redmond to think of this one. wow - Microsoft is profound - let's copyright something, where the information in what we're copyrighting can be used freely anyway - just not verbatim... I think those lawyers need payraises!
Agreed... its just wonderfully spiffy that someone (someones) took the effort to do this, but why? It's like people are really trying to make teir PDA's just as functional as full-blown system... guess what: they're not, nor were they meant to be. For something that was supposed to help one keep track of contacts, schedules/calendars, take notes, and even play simple little time-wasting games - people are really trying to do unecessary things with PDAs. Who really NEEDS to view the web via their digital cell phone? It gets back to a terribly common problem with technology: all because we can does NOT mean that we should. And as trivial as it may seem, is it really worth the effort to have this? Would browsing the web on a PDA really be worth it? Tiny-ass screen, small memory, "simpler" processors, small OS... not exactly what I think of as a prime candidate for a memory hungry, processor eatin' browser.
And really, with the way the web looks today, this would just look like complete and total CRAP on a PDA. Buy a damn laptop with wireless crap, or just wait until you get home to a full PC or appliance...
disclaimer: my mind really started to wander on this one (4-month old spitting up all over mom) - so hopefully its not too incoherent.
Thank god they've got new skins... my last wine skin got kinda smelly after I filled it with some really cheap wine and left it in the sun. But enough whining about that.
On to a more serious comment:
Why do we really need skins? "Wow, I can make my version of program X look completely different than yours..." Who cares? Its still the same program, it still does the same things. Maybe it only takes 2 seconds to code and only 2 line of code to give programs "skinnabiliy", which then just tell me, and I'll be happy. If not, is this really a worthwhile thing to be "enhancing" programs with, when the damn program isn't even fully functional/stable yet?
Perhaps I'm missing something here? Or is it really just a big chunk of fluff to divert your attention from what really matters?
I must admit that I like Apple's stance on NOT integrating "browser" features into the GUI... that's what pisses me off the most about Win98 - it just looks stupid, particularly when 90% of the time, having the browser features there are meaningless. If I want to peruse the web, I'll use a browser. If I want to find a file, don't give me IE/Netscape/Mozilla/Opera et al... give me something simple that can sort the files by whatever I want.
And, just my opinion, but I felt that particular prototype of.NET looked damn dumb - very busy, much like a poorly laid out web-site or magazine.
I'm really curious to hear other opinions on this... I've never really heard a really good argument as to why every damn window needs to look like a browser, or why some people have this driving desire to get away from "simpler" GUI layouts.
I was thinking that if I ever had enough cash to waste on such an endeavor, that it'd be really kinda insane (and yet stupid) to build a house entirely out of wires - big insulated bundles of wires and cables. Put in some various plug boxes every 6 inches, and bingo - you've got the ultimate wire-networked house. Then E! could come and do a True Hollywood story on how during a nervous breakdown, some loon with a fat wallet bought a crapload of technology because they thought it was cool - not that they really needed it or anything - just because it was cool and would impress people.
Sudden inspiration - if you would build such a house using poorly insulated wires, you wouldn't need to buy a heater due to all the radiation keeping you warm.
Now, here's technology that we've needed for ages... all those poor shepards losing their sheep... now they can keep them all in place with a big magnetic ram... I didn't even realize that IBM was into genetic engineering...
I always hate it when all those pesky wires get in my way whilst browsing... 'specially that damned barbed wire - just trying to read/. when "BAM!" a big old scratch from a wire stickin' right outta netscape.
and, wow, I'd never have thought of stickin' a web browser in a camera - that's jsut soooo much better than using the browser built into my toster.
although, it is stated that tewwetruggur is four people, and two of them are not here right now, but for god's sake, you'd think if we were dumb enough to anonymously post to our own comment, we'd either have the sense not to sign it, use our real name, or SPELL TEWWETRUGGUR CORRECTLY.
If we can use the sea to connect to the internet, then think of all the nodes... your sink, the toilets... man, the internet would be everywhere! Download while you download... although all that water can't be good for keeping firewalls.
and all the time I've put into my soon-to-be-patented "crayolatron" technology... I'm soooo close, too - great color pallet, just gotta up the refresh rate - plus it has really low power consumtion, excluding the burning of calories...
well, having worked QC in a non-related industry makes this really interesting... nothing leaves the building in the drug industry without heavy QC testing - now, mind you that being pharmaceuticals, these are things that we ingest, inhale, apply, and inject into/onto ourselves - so the high scriutiny by the FDA makes sense... but why aren't similar fundamentals applied to other industries... ISO et al seems pretty laxed - there are many companies that are ISO compliant - but ISO seems to have its own issues (which I do not want to discuss). Why can't the tech industries apply their own standard of quality - and "cost" is a really lame excuse - I'd rather pay a little bit more to get something that isn't going to die in three days and have to be replaced. QA/QC is NOT the consumers' job: it's a QC analysts' job.
Its pretty pathetic if a company's rationale for not having QC is to cut costs. That to me seems more of a lack of responsibility. If the company truly believed in their product - they'd have the sense to make sure it works before it heads out the door to the market. I'd hate to see the almighty buck override pride in our work.
we've got 16 tones to use, and people don't seem to like long numbers, so lets replace all the numbers with heiroglyphs, and add the other keys to give us 16. My new number could be ankh-ankh-big eyeball-pyramid-cat-ankh-asp-sun-river-spoon. Admittedly much more convoluted to say, but much more fun that some meaningless number.
actually, I'm not an ass, I'm a paying customer, who was promised certain things. It is not unreasonable to ask that I be listened to FIRST before tech support goes through their standard "un-plug this, reboot this" routine. I understant that a LOT of subscribers are not technically literate, but if I offer some of the limited knowledge that I have, I really don't think its to much to ask of support. I mean, relaly - our goals in life, in a really broud sense, is to learn. By not listening, we're not learning.
Oh by the way, if you know sooo much more than the support guys, what the hell are doing calling a support line? Perhaps you should apply for a job there?
I never said that... don't put words in my mouth. I don't really know how the hell a cable modem works. I don't know how they have their network set up. I know how my computer works, in a general sense, and I know how my computer talks to the cable modem. I also don't know if a server just went down somewhere, and if I can't get on the net to visit their status web-page, you've got to call to find out. Duh.
What I think too many of the rights-violation-screamers seem to forget is context... strip away the technology issues and just look at the FBI fighting crime... compare this case to what the Hoover administration was know for... hell, this FBI is all warm and fuzzy compared to the "good old days"... you want your righs violated - I can think of a lot of ways we could all be a LOT worse off...
So ask yourself, which is more important to you, seeing mob bosses, terrorists, and child pornographers get caught before they can hurt anybody, or protecting yourself from having some FBI bureaucrat reading over your shopping list?
my goodness... we're a bit touchy, aren't we. Glory? dude, I never claimed to be performing rocket science... perhaps you're referring to my mentioning knowing that a router went down? a friend told me what to do to try to find out, and we did - could I repeat it, hell no. does it take a genius to reset their cable modem because it locked up for reasons mostly unexplained - no. Am I a guru for knowing how to kill and restart pump/dhcp - no. Which is the point I'm trying to make: easy shit to fix, but yet outside the scope of windows or mac - so most tech support I've had the mispleasure of talking with are just dumbfounded at the thought of linux. Hell, they always just assume I'm using Win9x
But I digress - I didn't ask for your inane, immature banter - I'm just trying to share similar experiences within the topic. If I've come off as a "glory hound", then I apologize, it is not the intention. Besides, why the hell should I care what you think - at least I'm trying to be constructive...
with all the freakin' AOL cd's I've got, I should build one of those mirror fileds to focus the sun's light on a big pot of water, heating it to a boil to spin some turbines... instant power...
or, better yet, instead of a big pot of water to spin some turbines, how 'bout a big tub of water with a jaccuzi system... ahhh... so nice...
AOL cd's also make for a bizarre game of psycho frisbee, as they do not fly all that great.
I also plan on building a big-ass AOL icosahedron to hand from my ceiling like a freakish looking disco ball.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm starting to formulate some new ideas on this, like, really big companies can show us all how bad they can SUCK when they really feel like it... not that I'm bitter, its just that we seem to see money grubbing a bit too much anymore. Or perhaps its always been there, I'm just becoming more and more aware of it.
Either way, its sad.
Cest la vie, eh?
I really don't want to go about bash all the record companies, since they can provide useful servies to artists... likewise, they can abuse their power. From the radio end of things, the copyright law is law, and they do know the rules. Moralistically, I don't really think there a real issue here, it's just become the record companies vs. the radio conglomerate. Both make crap-loads of cash (aka way the hell more than me), and both really have very little to complain about in the grand scheme of things... I'll just sit back and watch this one... again, I hope it remains sane...
yes, yes, I know that such a venture would be huge, in terms of capital and time, but might it be worth it? perhaps the con's of having your own power station overwhelm the benefits?
Just a crazy idea from some crazy people...
And really, with the way the web looks today, this would just look like complete and total CRAP on a PDA. Buy a damn laptop with wireless crap, or just wait until you get home to a full PC or appliance...
disclaimer: my mind really started to wander on this one (4-month old spitting up all over mom) - so hopefully its not too incoherent.
BEE GEE's RULE!
just a little happiness from the ORIGINAL member of tewwetruggur
On to a more serious comment:
Why do we really need skins? "Wow, I can make my version of program X look completely different than yours..." Who cares? Its still the same program, it still does the same things. Maybe it only takes 2 seconds to code and only 2 line of code to give programs "skinnabiliy", which then just tell me, and I'll be happy. If not, is this really a worthwhile thing to be "enhancing" programs with, when the damn program isn't even fully functional/stable yet?
Perhaps I'm missing something here? Or is it really just a big chunk of fluff to divert your attention from what really matters?
And, just my opinion, but I felt that particular prototype of .NET looked damn dumb - very busy, much like a poorly laid out web-site or magazine.
I'm really curious to hear other opinions on this... I've never really heard a really good argument as to why every damn window needs to look like a browser, or why some people have this driving desire to get away from "simpler" GUI layouts.
Sudden inspiration - if you would build such a house using poorly insulated wires, you wouldn't need to buy a heater due to all the radiation keeping you warm.
and, wow, I'd never have thought of stickin' a web browser in a camera - that's jsut soooo much better than using the browser built into my toster.
although, it is stated that tewwetruggur is four people, and two of them are not here right now, but for god's sake, you'd think if we were dumb enough to anonymously post to our own comment, we'd either have the sense not to sign it, use our real name, or SPELL TEWWETRUGGUR CORRECTLY.
duh.
moron.
and all the time I've put into my soon-to-be-patented "crayolatron" technology... I'm soooo close, too - great color pallet, just gotta up the refresh rate - plus it has really low power consumtion, excluding the burning of calories...
Even a pre-schooler can use it!
who's this Binney Smith character anyway...
Its pretty pathetic if a company's rationale for not having QC is to cut costs. That to me seems more of a lack of responsibility. If the company truly believed in their product - they'd have the sense to make sure it works before it heads out the door to the market. I'd hate to see the almighty buck override pride in our work.
Oh by the way, if you know sooo much more than the support guys, what the hell are doing calling a support line? Perhaps you should apply for a job there?
I never said that... don't put words in my mouth. I don't really know how the hell a cable modem works. I don't know how they have their network set up. I know how my computer works, in a general sense, and I know how my computer talks to the cable modem. I also don't know if a server just went down somewhere, and if I can't get on the net to visit their status web-page, you've got to call to find out. Duh.
What I think too many of the rights-violation-screamers seem to forget is context... strip away the technology issues and just look at the FBI fighting crime... compare this case to what the Hoover administration was know for... hell, this FBI is all warm and fuzzy compared to the "good old days"... you want your righs violated - I can think of a lot of ways we could all be a LOT worse off...
So ask yourself, which is more important to you, seeing mob bosses, terrorists, and child pornographers get caught before they can hurt anybody, or protecting yourself from having some FBI bureaucrat reading over your shopping list?
'nuff said
On the other hand, we're talking about a mafia bookie... like I should feel sorry for 'em?
Not.
Just keep the damn horse heads out of my bed, thank-you.
But I digress - I didn't ask for your inane, immature banter - I'm just trying to share similar experiences within the topic. If I've come off as a "glory hound", then I apologize, it is not the intention. Besides, why the hell should I care what you think - at least I'm trying to be constructive...
or, better yet, instead of a big pot of water to spin some turbines, how 'bout a big tub of water with a jaccuzi system... ahhh... so nice...
AOL cd's also make for a bizarre game of psycho frisbee, as they do not fly all that great.
I also plan on building a big-ass AOL icosahedron to hand from my ceiling like a freakish looking disco ball.