If MS would spend a % of their cash reserves on developing a *real* os instead of the load of junk they ship (no, this is not a troll, this is an observation) we'd have a one-shot amazing piece of software that would set a new standard for useability and reliability.
Excuse me, but in the past few years that I've seen, Windows has evolved significantly.
And guess what? Usability is hard. Designing good interfaces is hard. It's a fine line, between security and usability - anything that's convenient isn't always the best thing because someone could take advantage of that convenience.
And for all of Windows' faults, I've not had either 2000, XP or 2003 crash on me. All you need to do is look up CERT's bulletins to know that the number of security exploits in Windows has been steadily decreasing. Combined with the legacy applications that Windows users insisted on using (and unlike some companies that break the applications, Microsoft at times actually caters to its customers), it takes time to migrate away from a legacy codebase, with so many flaws.
Here's the thing - the usability of Windows makes it usable to anybody. Simplicity is not easy. Grandma Rogers can use Windows, but remember that she - the user - is the weakest security link.
The fact that you make a system so usable will mean that everybody will use it - usability is a double edged sword.
The reason why *nix is so stable is because Grandma Rogers cannot use it - the level of skill needed to use *nix means that you inherently do not have an ignorant user.
At the end of the day, Windows has come a long way.
I'm not arguing your point, however democracies have ups and downs. While one cannot be certain what exactly will happen, history has shown us that people usually react fairly strongly to anything that gets in the way of their freedom. And Americans have certainly proven this point.
There is a difference between rumours of elections being rigged versus actual evidence. Secondly, while the Slashdot crowd is particularly left liberal and you might see anti-Bush sentiments, that is not necessarily so throughout the country. You might be surprised to know that most of the US actually supports President Bush, and leans towards the Republican ideology.
I managed to not take the bullshit courses (history, econ, etc)...
Wow. Talk of Elitism.
Tell me something, just how much of economics do you really know?
Probably not a whole lot, because economics is far from a humanities course -- economics is heavily dependent on maths and physics. Things such as resource optimisation and operations research involves the original concept of programming (LP, for instance), scheduling methodologies, systems analysis, statistical methods and stochastic processes and other very technical things.
Not to mention the various economic theories and analysis methods that use such things as *shudder* differential equations, heat equations, annealing functions.
Maybe you should consider reading a paper or two on economics, before you spew forth rubbish. And maybe -- just maybe -- you should try *understanding* what these papers say. I'm sure your very "technical" mind will be able to parse differential equations and analogies to theoretical physics to understand what the heck is going on.
You're either a total nitwit or a clever troll. Gee!
But that's okay, the world is probably a better place without idiots like you dabbling in things you don't have a clue about.
I'm sorry, Islam by itself may not be violent, but a significant chunk of Muslims out there are increasinly turning to a violent version of the religion.
I did not say where those significant chunks came from - just that a significant chunk of Muslims out there are turning to a violent version of their religion. Nor did I state that countries with significant chunks of Muslims turn to a violent version of their religion. Merely that the world over, a significant chunk of Muslims are turning to a very violent version of Islam.
Heck, you see comics and cartoons involving almost every religion in a lot of democractic countries -- the thing is, you can publish a funny cartoon of Jesus in the US and people would perhaps even laugh at it. Good luck trying to publish one in Saudi or Pakistan.
Read those lines above?
Indonesia is a democracy. Heck, India has a lot of Muslims, that hardly makes India a Muslim state.
I was referring to states like Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And FYI -- if you think there aren't Islamic militant problems in Indonesia, you are grossly misinformed. Maybe you should go back and read up on the religious conflicts happening in Indonesia.
But that's okay, though. Your absolutely mature mind probably cannot handle anything more than abusing somebobdy.
I just picture a bunch of hicks from rural America showing up at an Iranian embassy after the widespread publication and promotion of pictures of jesus being sodomized.
Listen to yourself - you are equating a funny picture showing the real state of affairs (i.e. the trend of Islamic states heading towards terrorism) to an intentionally offensive one of showing a religious head performing sexual acts.
Did they show Allah making out with a naked guy? All they did was have a comic commenting on Islamic terrorism, and a very valid one at that.
I'm sorry, Islam by itself may not be violent, but a significant chunk of Muslims out there are increasinly turning to a violent version of the religion. You can say all you want about hicks and conservatives, but their percentages are way lower.
Heck, you see comics and cartoons involving almost every religion in a lot of democractic countries -- the thing is, you can publish a funny cartoon of Jesus in the US and people would perhaps even laugh at it. Good luck trying to publish one in Saudi or Pakistan.
> He probably thinks people who would respond to such an ad are sickos or deviants or something and deserve to be ridiculed.
It is.
You are free to do what you want, but that does not make it right -- you are free to chain another human being, or subject them to inhuman acts, however do not perform such acts and believe that you are a normal human being.
Please tell me how S&M or bondage or whatever it is you think is not sick or deviant is normal? Please tell me how mutilating another human being (or yourself) or performing gross acts on one another is normal in any way?
Calling them sickos and deviants is probably an insult to a lot of other people -- folks who responded to that ad are disgusting and should be locked up in mental asylums and prisons.
In fact, I think he is in the right -- personally, these people are the scourge of humanity, who take pleasure in someone else's pain.
I would also guess that most of the editors are single white mails, age 12-25. Thank God for the lack of social skills that allow hundreds to stay at home and spend a weekend making Wikipedia changes! Woohoo!!
Of course! Those dastardly mails, white and brown and purple.
I bet you it's all because of postal workers -- I mean, if you were raised by postal workers, you'd be lacking in social skills, too!
I guess for this guy match (sic) is all that matters and everything else would just be a distraction.
Umm, no -- Maths is apparently a painful subject for him. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
"On August 22, 2006, Perelman was awarded a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid. The Fields Medal is the highest award in mathematics; two to four medals are awarded every four years. Perelman received the award "for his contributions to geometry and his revolutionary insights into the analytical and geometric structure of the Ricci flow"[3].
However, Perelman did not turn up at the ceremony[4], and declined to accept the medal.[5] He has consistently been described by those who know him as shy and unworldly. In the 1990s, he turned down a prestigious prize from the European Mathematical Society. According to Overbye and other sources, Perelman suffered a bitter split with the Steklov Institute (which failed to re-elect him as member[6]) in the spring of 2003, and according to the testimony of his friends currently finds mathematics a painful topic to talk about, even going so far as to say that they no longer interest him[7]. He is currently jobless and living with his mother in St Petersburg, subsisting on her £30-a-month pension.[8] This reminds some observers of previous examples of "disappearances" of extremely talented mathematicians from the mathematical scene, including Alexander Grothendieck.
Perelman is also due to receive a share of a Millennium Prize, should his proof become generally accepted. However, he has not pursued formal publication of his proof in a peer-reviewed mathematics journal, which the rules for this prize require - instead, he published the proof that he had been working on for 10 years on the internet.[9] The Clay Mathematics Institute has explicitly stated that the governing board which awards the prizes may change the formal requirements, in which case Perelman would presumably become eligible to receive a share of the prize. Perelman, however, appears to be uninterested in the money."
Heh, I doubt if the parent has any idea what it is like to be travelling all the time.
In my job, I travel across the country ever so often -- all the way from the east coast to the west. And just a few weeks ago, I was flying from Denver to Cincinnati when I had some bottles of wine wrapped in my hardback brand new suitcase. Of course, TSA decided to open it and check what the heck was wrapped, and they didn't wrap the bottles right afterwards. I land and find out that all the bottles (all five of them -- I have no idea how they managed that) had been broken, and had wine and cider all over my clothes.
Now, I can assure you that it is just as bad in Asia, Europe and other parts of the world.
These folks cannot even do the simple job of taking care of simple things, how the heck are they going to take care of our electronic items?
Secondly, a lot of my work gets done when I'm waiting at the airport, or during flying. This is effectively going to put a stopper on all of that.
And for the poster who talked about what folks back in the day, maybe he'd want to ride a horse or a camel?:) And then we'd see what he thinks of modern day transportation, wouldn't we?
Used to work at LANL, it was definitely one of the better places I've lived in; lots of smart (and nice) people. However, the only problem is that there are about 5 places you can eat out at and one bar -- and of course, the one bookstore by the museum.
And almost everybody works at the labs, so after a while, you pretty much know everybody else.
Well, I live in Cincinnati -- and as far as I've seen, it seems to have a decent amount of tech jobs.
In and around Cincinnati, there are several tech. companies; not a whole lot, but enough to have good opportunities -- GE Aviation, Cincinnati Bell, Convergys, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Fujitec etc.
And the cost of living in Cincinnati seems quite low, too. If you decide to live in either IN/KY, your housing costs are lowered still.
Personally, I like Cincinnati. It's not too big a city to make you feel overwhelmed and not too small to make you feel like a small park.
Said by a guy from the home of the free. As free as he tells you how to act.
Heh, what's wrong with you? You're forgetting a very fundamental thing:
Freedom does not mean lack of responsibility.
Freedom comes at a price - and sometimes, that price is you having to do things that will get you noticed.
If you really value freedom more than simply making a statement, you would do whatever it takes to make sure that your call for freedom gets noticed. If you value your dress-code more than what you represent, you don't really believe in what you represent all that much.
This has nothing to do with freedom, it has everything to do with following a protocol to do something, or get something done.
You, my friend, have a very, very screwed up sense of what freedom means. RMS is free to do anything he wants, but he just won't get noticed. That's a very fine line.
You write to the necessary folks, follow the protocol and you'd probably be assigned a time if they felt that the time was worth it, and if it would have some benefit.
Slashdot Mirror
How much for William Shatner?
You get him, and the next thing you know, you're going to be hit by a crap-ton of paternity suits.
By women.
Alien women, at that.
Goodluck, buddy. Now, Tasha Yar on the other hand...
Thank you.
:)
As a GT alumni, the comparison is almost insulting.
If MS would spend a % of their cash reserves on developing a *real* os instead of the load of junk they ship (no, this is not a troll, this is an observation) we'd have a one-shot amazing piece of software that would set a new standard for useability and reliability.
Excuse me, but in the past few years that I've seen, Windows has evolved significantly.
And guess what? Usability is hard. Designing good interfaces is hard. It's a fine line, between security and usability - anything that's convenient isn't always the best thing because someone could take advantage of that convenience.
And for all of Windows' faults, I've not had either 2000, XP or 2003 crash on me. All you need to do is look up CERT's bulletins to know that the number of security exploits in Windows has been steadily decreasing. Combined with the legacy applications that Windows users insisted on using (and unlike some companies that break the applications, Microsoft at times actually caters to its customers), it takes time to migrate away from a legacy codebase, with so many flaws.
Here's the thing - the usability of Windows makes it usable to anybody. Simplicity is not easy. Grandma Rogers can use Windows, but remember that she - the user - is the weakest security link.
The fact that you make a system so usable will mean that everybody will use it - usability is a double edged sword.
The reason why *nix is so stable is because Grandma Rogers cannot use it - the level of skill needed to use *nix means that you inherently do not have an ignorant user.
At the end of the day, Windows has come a long way.
I'm not arguing your point, however democracies have ups and downs. While one cannot be certain what exactly will happen, history has shown us that people usually react fairly strongly to anything that gets in the way of their freedom. And Americans have certainly proven this point.
There is a difference between rumours of elections being rigged versus actual evidence. Secondly, while the Slashdot crowd is particularly left liberal and you might see anti-Bush sentiments, that is not necessarily so throughout the country. You might be surprised to know that most of the US actually supports President Bush, and leans towards the Republican ideology.
If that is so, isn't that Democracy in action?
Maybe and maybe not, but either way, we do have a re-election coming up soon, you know?
If this were not a functional democracy, that would not be the case. Then again, it's not over till the fat lady sings and all that.
> Yes because obviously the US Constitution is the best constitution there is.
Considering that it's kept us democratic and free for 219 years, without a single military coup in history, I'd say it's a darned good one.
Good point.
Not to mention layers and layers of redundancy, of course -- if something goes wrong, our body can easily adapt and on occasion, rewire the synapses.
A synthetic body should be capable of the same thing, too.
> - Jumping off of very tall cliffs
:)
It's called Cliff jumping and is a lot of fun!
And exactly how is this different from cars with wheels?
Cars don't fly over your house? Or over schools with kids? Or over - *shudder* - secure installations?
Hate replying twice, but here's a better one.
Cheers.
Economics is dependent on physics?
This I gotta hear.
Economics is an end, and uses every tool available to that end. Physics is no exception.
Maybe a paper on arXiv will convince you?
I managed to not take the bullshit courses (history, econ, etc)...
Wow. Talk of Elitism.
Tell me something, just how much of economics do you really know?
Probably not a whole lot, because economics is far from a humanities course -- economics is heavily dependent on maths and physics. Things such as resource optimisation and operations research involves the original concept of programming (LP, for instance), scheduling methodologies, systems analysis, statistical methods and stochastic processes and other very technical things.
Not to mention the various economic theories and analysis methods that use such things as *shudder* differential equations, heat equations, annealing functions.
Maybe you should consider reading a paper or two on economics, before you spew forth rubbish. And maybe -- just maybe -- you should try *understanding* what these papers say. I'm sure your very "technical" mind will be able to parse differential equations and analogies to theoretical physics to understand what the heck is going on.
You're either a total nitwit or a clever troll. Gee!
But that's okay, the world is probably a better place without idiots like you dabbling in things you don't have a clue about.
Let me paste my original comments here --
I'm sorry, Islam by itself may not be violent, but a significant chunk of Muslims out there are increasinly turning to a violent version of the religion.
I did not say where those significant chunks came from - just that a significant chunk of Muslims out there are turning to a violent version of their religion. Nor did I state that countries with significant chunks of Muslims turn to a violent version of their religion. Merely that the world over, a significant chunk of Muslims are turning to a very violent version of Islam.
Heck, you see comics and cartoons involving almost every religion in a lot of democractic countries -- the thing is, you can publish a funny cartoon of Jesus in the US and people would perhaps even laugh at it. Good luck trying to publish one in Saudi or Pakistan.
Read those lines above?
Indonesia is a democracy. Heck, India has a lot of Muslims, that hardly makes India a Muslim state.
I was referring to states like Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And FYI -- if you think there aren't Islamic militant problems in Indonesia, you are grossly misinformed. Maybe you should go back and read up on the religious conflicts happening in Indonesia.
But that's okay, though. Your absolutely mature mind probably cannot handle anything more than abusing somebobdy.
I just picture a bunch of hicks from rural America showing up at an Iranian embassy after the widespread publication and promotion of pictures of jesus being sodomized.
Listen to yourself - you are equating a funny picture showing the real state of affairs (i.e. the trend of Islamic states heading towards terrorism) to an intentionally offensive one of showing a religious head performing sexual acts.
Did they show Allah making out with a naked guy? All they did was have a comic commenting on Islamic terrorism, and a very valid one at that.
I'm sorry, Islam by itself may not be violent, but a significant chunk of Muslims out there are increasinly turning to a violent version of the religion. You can say all you want about hicks and conservatives, but their percentages are way lower.
Heck, you see comics and cartoons involving almost every religion in a lot of democractic countries -- the thing is, you can publish a funny cartoon of Jesus in the US and people would perhaps even laugh at it. Good luck trying to publish one in Saudi or Pakistan.
> .. and they misspelled "flicker" too !
Shouldn't that be "misspelt"? =)
> He probably thinks people who would respond to such an ad are sickos or deviants or something and deserve to be ridiculed.
It is.
You are free to do what you want, but that does not make it right -- you are free to chain another human being, or subject them to inhuman acts, however do not perform such acts and believe that you are a normal human being.
Please tell me how S&M or bondage or whatever it is you think is not sick or deviant is normal? Please tell me how mutilating another human being (or yourself) or performing gross acts on one another is normal in any way?
Calling them sickos and deviants is probably an insult to a lot of other people -- folks who responded to that ad are disgusting and should be locked up in mental asylums and prisons.
In fact, I think he is in the right -- personally, these people are the scourge of humanity, who take pleasure in someone else's pain.
I would also guess that most of the editors are single white mails, age 12-25. Thank God for the lack of social skills that allow hundreds to stay at home and spend a weekend making Wikipedia changes! Woohoo!!
Of course! Those dastardly mails, white and brown and purple.
I bet you it's all because of postal workers -- I mean, if you were raised by postal workers, you'd be lacking in social skills, too!
> 5% of Slashdot users create 95% of the content.
That high?!
I guess for this guy match (sic) is all that matters and everything else would just be a distraction.
Umm, no -- Maths is apparently a painful subject for him. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
"On August 22, 2006, Perelman was awarded a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid. The Fields Medal is the highest award in mathematics; two to four medals are awarded every four years. Perelman received the award "for his contributions to geometry and his revolutionary insights into the analytical and geometric structure of the Ricci flow"[3].
However, Perelman did not turn up at the ceremony[4], and declined to accept the medal.[5] He has consistently been described by those who know him as shy and unworldly. In the 1990s, he turned down a prestigious prize from the European Mathematical Society. According to Overbye and other sources, Perelman suffered a bitter split with the Steklov Institute (which failed to re-elect him as member[6]) in the spring of 2003, and according to the testimony of his friends currently finds mathematics a painful topic to talk about, even going so far as to say that they no longer interest him[7]. He is currently jobless and living with his mother in St Petersburg, subsisting on her £30-a-month pension.[8] This reminds some observers of previous examples of "disappearances" of extremely talented mathematicians from the mathematical scene, including Alexander Grothendieck.
Perelman is also due to receive a share of a Millennium Prize, should his proof become generally accepted. However, he has not pursued formal publication of his proof in a peer-reviewed mathematics journal, which the rules for this prize require - instead, he published the proof that he had been working on for 10 years on the internet.[9] The Clay Mathematics Institute has explicitly stated that the governing board which awards the prizes may change the formal requirements, in which case Perelman would presumably become eligible to receive a share of the prize. Perelman, however, appears to be uninterested in the money."
Heh, I doubt if the parent has any idea what it is like to be travelling all the time.
:) And then we'd see what he thinks of modern day transportation, wouldn't we?
In my job, I travel across the country ever so often -- all the way from the east coast to the west. And just a few weeks ago, I was flying from Denver to Cincinnati when I had some bottles of wine wrapped in my hardback brand new suitcase. Of course, TSA decided to open it and check what the heck was wrapped, and they didn't wrap the bottles right afterwards. I land and find out that all the bottles (all five of them -- I have no idea how they managed that) had been broken, and had wine and cider all over my clothes.
Now, I can assure you that it is just as bad in Asia, Europe and other parts of the world.
These folks cannot even do the simple job of taking care of simple things, how the heck are they going to take care of our electronic items?
Secondly, a lot of my work gets done when I'm waiting at the airport, or during flying. This is effectively going to put a stopper on all of that.
And for the poster who talked about what folks back in the day, maybe he'd want to ride a horse or a camel?
Agreed!
Used to work at LANL, it was definitely one of the better places I've lived in; lots of smart (and nice) people. However, the only problem is that there are about 5 places you can eat out at and one bar -- and of course, the one bookstore by the museum.
And almost everybody works at the labs, so after a while, you pretty much know everybody else.
Well, I live in Cincinnati -- and as far as I've seen, it seems to have a decent amount of tech jobs.
In and around Cincinnati, there are several tech. companies; not a whole lot, but enough to have good opportunities -- GE Aviation, Cincinnati Bell, Convergys, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Fujitec etc.
And the cost of living in Cincinnati seems quite low, too. If you decide to live in either IN/KY, your housing costs are lowered still.
Personally, I like Cincinnati. It's not too big a city to make you feel overwhelmed and not too small to make you feel like a small park.
You write again, you wait and find other ways to convince them.
Walking straight, for all it is, would definitely be the wrong way to go about it.
Said by a guy from the home of the free. As free as he tells you how to act.
Heh, what's wrong with you? You're forgetting a very fundamental thing:
Freedom does not mean lack of responsibility.
Freedom comes at a price - and sometimes, that price is you having to do things that will get you noticed.
If you really value freedom more than simply making a statement, you would do whatever it takes to make sure that your call for freedom gets noticed. If you value your dress-code more than what you represent, you don't really believe in what you represent all that much.
This has nothing to do with freedom, it has everything to do with following a protocol to do something, or get something done.
You, my friend, have a very, very screwed up sense of what freedom means. RMS is free to do anything he wants, but he just won't get noticed. That's a very fine line.
It's called using the right channels.
You don't simply walk up and demand an audience.
You write to the necessary folks, follow the protocol and you'd probably be assigned a time if they felt that the time was worth it, and if it would have some benefit.