We have a winner! And it only took slashdot 10 minutes to to generate, in its own entropically darwinian little way, the obvious answer that technology is designed to do shit for us, and that the story submission, as written, is an obvious troll.
(Thanks for your help Mr. Hansen, there'll be a little extra karma in your account this week.)
I get the impression from what I've read, that the Mac DRM only works with OS X.
I heard that it only worked under Mac OS 9 and/or Classic, as Mac OS X doesn't have an analogous autoplay feature. Actually, I read recently that 10.0 and 10.1 did, but they removed it at 10.2 Not sure if that's really the case, though.
TaylorJo writes "Lt. Governor of Indiana Kathy Davis today unveiled a new technology program designed to give all Hoosiers
who purchase Microsoft Windows free (ahem) access to a full suite of computer software tools. The SimIndiana software permits residents who have already purchased Microsoft Windows to access their personal files and applications from any computer that runs Microsoft Windows at any time. The software can be downloaded on the SimIndiana site, but requires Windows, and registration on the site, to use it. The program also provides an email address and remote storage on SimIndiana servers."
Ironically enough, I've got this problem with Firefox 0.9. Not a big deal, but it throws up a little update notification every time I launch it. I've let it reinstall itself once already, didn't help.
You're absolutely right, and I preach the same to others, but I simply haven't done that yet. One of those "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this..." situations.
I've been looking around semi-halfheartedly to see who I'll allow myself to be fucked by next.
The problem I'm bitching about in this instance is nothing so elaborate as ActiveX or anything actually "requiring" MSIE. It's the formatting of the javascript in their HREF links. I have to copy/paste each link URL, then remove the "PleaseWaitGoto:(" or whatever (doing this from memory) that hooks to their silly interstitial animated GIF of a stopwatch. That's all. No functionality, just a non-standard way of writing some javascript into their links that they've refused to fix for the three years I've been bitching about it.
I have yet to come across a page that NetScape couldn't render. I don't know what you and dad are talking about.
Every browser I've tried renders my bank's site correctly, but only MSIE can navigate it. So that whole button and link clicking thing, that's just a proprietary extension to MSHTML, right?
Yeah, but if we're talking about sites like eBay (implied) or MSN (explicitly mentioned above), then it's not like 4.2 squillion people wouldn't have hit those sites today regardless.
As big a fan of MS as I am (the email address above really is valid), I truly hope this doesn't turn out to be as big and nasty as it looks so far.
How long ago was it that you ditched Fire for that reason? A while back I was in the process of editing all its.NIB files to declutter the interface, when the author released a newer version that was very stripped down. There's now very little to the chat windows other than the text itself.
I generally agree with you, but I can't fault the corps *entirely* for the whole conspicuous consumerism thing, as they're just doing what they're supposed to, i.e. trying to sell as many widgets as possible. It's kinda like the informercial phenomenon... it's not that the producers of those things are evil magicians who can make otherwise intelligent people call in a credit card number, it's that our society turns out so many otherwise functional people who *do* call in credit card numbers.
At heart I suppose I'm (to some extent) of the Adam Smith persuasion, and that this rampant consumerism is a problem that needs to sort itself out "naturally" but I'm really starting to wonder if "the system" is capable of correcting this one, as where's the profit margin in instilling stronger critical thinking skills in our youth?
I'm sure a hundred slashbots will chime in declaring otherwise, but I think that 99% of people will have a hard time soaking up that much bandwidth. I'm not saying that makes this bad, or wasteful, just a bit ahead of its time in terms of absolute need, which of course beats the alternative.
How many of us actually watch any significant amount of streaming video, such that our mere 1-5mb connections really put a crimp on things? Sure, Software Update will be quicker, you'll be able to grab a distro quicker, but what percentage of your total time does that represent?
And before you mention p2p, how often do you manage to saturate your current connection? I seldom manage to get more than 200K/sec. aggregate download. (I suppose I could saturate my upload, but I keep that throttled to ~30K/sec. since I'm on cable.)
When it first came out I bought ~30 songs within the first week or two, since then just a single file here and there, not so much to acquire the tune, more just to register a paid vote for that artist. And, to be honest, about a dozen of them were my best friend's music. I've already got a few copies of his album, one of them a pre-mastered copy, but I figured it'd make him happy to see a few sales that way. But shhh, don't tell him it was me!
While I probably will get around to using this hack to un-DRM some of my songs for totally legit fair use reasons, I have to agree with the Mac-fanboi groupthink that Apple is being pretty cool about the whole DRM thing. I think it's extremely obvious that they're doing their damnedest to satisfy the lawyers at the RIAA while still playing fair with their users.
Minor correction... pissing the RIAA off wouldn't kill the iPod. It's still the awesome-est MP3 player out there, and not merely a playback device for the iTMS.
Since I started working out regularly, I'm really fiercely craving an iPod. I'm not much of an iTMS customer (lifetime purchase history of ~60 songs) but having a CD-based MP3 player doesn't quite cut it when you're lifting weights, and it's already taken flight from the treadmill once.
For all you Mac OS X users out there (yeah, both of ya) try an app called Fire. It's free as in beer and I believe it's also GPL, but I could be wrong there. It supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber and IRC. It's small, unobtrusive, and has really good Dock integration.
Slashdot Mirror
We have a winner! And it only took slashdot 10 minutes to to generate, in its own entropically darwinian little way, the obvious answer that technology is designed to do shit for us, and that the story submission, as written, is an obvious troll.
(Thanks for your help Mr. Hansen, there'll be a little extra karma in your account this week.)
I get the impression from what I've read, that the Mac DRM only works with OS X.
I heard that it only worked under Mac OS 9 and/or Classic, as Mac OS X doesn't have an analogous autoplay feature. Actually, I read recently that 10.0 and 10.1 did, but they removed it at 10.2 Not sure if that's really the case, though.
If so, may I suggest the following:
Don't buy that shit.
If only we *could* replace Windows with some mythical "industry standard operating system."
Ironically enough, I've got this problem with Firefox 0.9. Not a big deal, but it throws up a little update notification every time I launch it. I've let it reinstall itself once already, didn't help.
You're absolutely right, and I preach the same to others, but I simply haven't done that yet. One of those "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this..." situations.
I've been looking around semi-halfheartedly to see who I'll allow myself to be fucked by next.
The problem I'm bitching about in this instance is nothing so elaborate as ActiveX or anything actually "requiring" MSIE. It's the formatting of the javascript in their HREF links. I have to copy/paste each link URL, then remove the "PleaseWaitGoto:(" or whatever (doing this from memory) that hooks to their silly interstitial animated GIF of a stopwatch. That's all. No functionality, just a non-standard way of writing some javascript into their links that they've refused to fix for the three years I've been bitching about it.
Wrong. Log in then try and use the links along the left column.
I have yet to come across a page that NetScape couldn't render. I don't know what you and dad are talking about.
Every browser I've tried renders my bank's site correctly, but only MSIE can navigate it. So that whole button and link clicking thing, that's just a proprietary extension to MSHTML, right?
Yeah, but if we're talking about sites like eBay (implied) or MSN (explicitly mentioned above), then it's not like 4.2 squillion people wouldn't have hit those sites today regardless.
As big a fan of MS as I am (the email address above really is valid), I truly hope this doesn't turn out to be as big and nasty as it looks so far.
How long ago was it that you ditched Fire for that reason? A while back I was in the process of editing all its .NIB files to declutter the interface, when the author released a newer version that was very stripped down. There's now very little to the chat windows other than the text itself.
I generally agree with you, but I can't fault the corps *entirely* for the whole conspicuous consumerism thing, as they're just doing what they're supposed to, i.e. trying to sell as many widgets as possible. It's kinda like the informercial phenomenon... it's not that the producers of those things are evil magicians who can make otherwise intelligent people call in a credit card number, it's that our society turns out so many otherwise functional people who *do* call in credit card numbers.
At heart I suppose I'm (to some extent) of the Adam Smith persuasion, and that this rampant consumerism is a problem that needs to sort itself out "naturally" but I'm really starting to wonder if "the system" is capable of correcting this one, as where's the profit margin in instilling stronger critical thinking skills in our youth?
I'm sure a hundred slashbots will chime in declaring otherwise, but I think that 99% of people will have a hard time soaking up that much bandwidth. I'm not saying that makes this bad, or wasteful, just a bit ahead of its time in terms of absolute need, which of course beats the alternative.
How many of us actually watch any significant amount of streaming video, such that our mere 1-5mb connections really put a crimp on things? Sure, Software Update will be quicker, you'll be able to grab a distro quicker, but what percentage of your total time does that represent?
And before you mention p2p, how often do you manage to saturate your current connection? I seldom manage to get more than 200K/sec. aggregate download. (I suppose I could saturate my upload, but I keep that throttled to ~30K/sec. since I'm on cable.)
So I guess what I'm saying is, "Bring it on!"
I'm holding out for dual 1ghz G4s that I can afford. Don't try to reason with me, I've got my heart set on duals as my next upgrade.
If you need me I'll be off in the corner, sobbing over my 0.533 gigahertz G4.
So, umm, Apple sucks because their current OS isn't as cool as what Microsoft will release in just a few short years?
How's the benefits package out there? And do you guys get overtime for doing PR work on slashdot?
Couldn't help noticing number three with its provocative title: Penetration 101.
Ooh baby.
Windows XP: Surviving the First Day
Fact: C++ is dying....
Oh hell, I don't have the heart. Nevermind.
Judging by the response time of isc.incidents.org, I'd say slashdot is the single point of failure.
Well, everything's relative.
When it first came out I bought ~30 songs within the first week or two, since then just a single file here and there, not so much to acquire the tune, more just to register a paid vote for that artist. And, to be honest, about a dozen of them were my best friend's music. I've already got a few copies of his album, one of them a pre-mastered copy, but I figured it'd make him happy to see a few sales that way. But shhh, don't tell him it was me!
While I probably will get around to using this hack to un-DRM some of my songs for totally legit fair use reasons, I have to agree with the Mac-fanboi groupthink that Apple is being pretty cool about the whole DRM thing. I think it's extremely obvious that they're doing their damnedest to satisfy the lawyers at the RIAA while still playing fair with their users.
Minor correction... pissing the RIAA off wouldn't kill the iPod. It's still the awesome-est MP3 player out there, and not merely a playback device for the iTMS.
Since I started working out regularly, I'm really fiercely craving an iPod. I'm not much of an iTMS customer (lifetime purchase history of ~60 songs) but having a CD-based MP3 player doesn't quite cut it when you're lifting weights, and it's already taken flight from the treadmill once.
For all you Mac OS X users out there (yeah, both of ya) try an app called Fire. It's free as in beer and I believe it's also GPL, but I could be wrong there. It supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber and IRC. It's small, unobtrusive, and has really good Dock integration.