"Remember, back in the old days, when viruses were first learning to use email, and they'd just attach themselves to whatever outgoing messages you'd send?"
No, I don't really remember those days. I used a Mac.
"What I found most alarming was that MS did not know if they were under attack or not."
Why did this surprise you?
This is the level of service that people today PREFER.
Go to any fast food resturant that allows you to serve yourself a carbonated beverage (Subway, McDonald's, etc). Look at the soda fountain. How do they know when their drinks are out of syrup or CO2?
They find out when their customers complain about recieving defective drinks.
I've read -- on Apple's web site a year ago, incidentally -- that they don't use just one codec when producing the beautiful movie trailers on their web site.
Several codecs may be used to produce a single movie trailer, with different codecs being employed where their relative strengths are required: low motion versus action versus bright scenes versus dark scenes.
These guys are WAY more sophisticated in their technique than any home user will ever be.
Lesson: Admire Apple's movie trailers but don't think you're going to reproduce their quality.
Do yourself a favor: Go to your bathroom and stand in front of the mirror. Lean forward so that you can see yourself clearly, then slap yourself in the face for me and say, "Macs are not expensive."
Do this over and over again until the message sinks in.
No, but then no one needs a telephone either. Remember, we have a fully operation postal system already.
Now, in my case, it is sometimes useful to me. Last night, by coincidence, I did an iSight/iChatAV video call with my dad, who lives a couple hundred miles north of me.
For each time I hate it when he wants to do video (usually when I haven't showered yet and my hair is screwed up), there's time when it's irreplaceable (like when I get to wave his greatgrandson around in front of the camera for him to see).
Last night, I helped him identify video cables. So, yeah, it's useful.
Bluetooth 'dead' in the title of the article and 'all but dead'???
I have it on VERY good authority that Bluetooth is going to become an unbelievable success.
Why, In 2001 the Cahners In-Stat Group research firm released a study stating that they expect that almost a BILLION devices will support Bluetooth in four years.
We're well on our way. We know this because a research firm said so.
"I did learn about these in school, but then I was always interested in space. Try these questions. What was the name of the first American lander on the moon? The name of the first lander on Mars? What was then name of the first US communications sattilite?
Most people know little about space."
Your examples questions are history questions. I don't even think they are particularly relevent except in Trivial Persuit, Space Race Edition.
"I think Dave Winer doesn't give the media consumers any respect with his 'manufactured consent' argument."
I don't think it matters whether he does or not: Dave Winer is a hacker.
I don't consult Hollywood for its political views and, frankly, we need Dave Winer coding more and puniditing on politics less.
His web site was a favorite of mine for years (day 1, actually) but I have since banned him from my shortcuts bar and seldom look in on him. When I do (I'm an optimist), I'm always disappointed to see more political comentary each time. Of course, it's his damn web site, but that's how I feel.
"i picked up a USB headset yesterday for my 11 year old sister, because a bunch of her friends have webcams and headsets. She immediately tried it out with her friends. From what I saw, the quality is still sketchy."
iChat AV video quality is quite good. I don't know what software/protocols/hardware your sister and her friends were using but I can tell you that it was the wrong stuff.
I videoconference with my dad a couple times a week and it's great. We have FireWire-based iSight cameras, though, which are better than 99% of the USB cameras on the market. The old saw that "you get what you pay for" is still in effect for hardware, at least.
Don't write it off. It's here, now, and works.
Now, on the Windows side I cannot comment. I also can't comment on interoperability but I'm waiting anxiously to hear other people's stories.
"you shouldn't be writing scripts, you should be recording them!"
It would be great if more applications were recordable, but back when I used Applescript every day to make a living, recorability was so unimportant I even forgot it existed.
Most scripts created through simple recording means are trivial, which doesn't make them worthless, but you know where I'm going with this.
What's funny about that is that Apple Records has no damn interest in any technology more recent than the '70s and certainly has no interest in having any of their music on anyone's MP3 player.
Slashdot Mirror
"Remember, back in the old days, when viruses were first learning to use email, and they'd just attach themselves to whatever outgoing messages you'd send?"
No, I don't really remember those days. I used a Mac.
--Richard
"...the visitors use IE and that makes it the standard"
Please don't abuse the word "standard".
It was a perfect good word before technical-type started fucking with it, pretending that they knew something about the english language.
A standard is a standard. Get it?
--Richard
"And Firefox is many percentage points faster than Mozilla. Many many many."
Whoa! My head is exploding with data!
Try to be a little more general in the future.
--Richard
"Java was the popular thing of it's time."
I'm unemployeed so I spend A LOT of time looking at job listings.
In Austin, Texas, at least, it is STILL Java's time. Maybe things are different in Iceland.
--Richard
If my ISP adopted this technique it would make no difference anyway. 90% of my spam is so badly formed I can't get to their host sites anyway.
Even from a spammer's point of view my spam is worthless.
--Richard
"You are a bunch of depraved lunatics who deserve to drown in pig shit!"
The last line was the best!
99.9% of Americans have never seen pig shit. This insult is totally lost on Americans.
Edit and resubmit.
--Richard
"What I found most alarming was that MS did
not know if they were under attack or not."
Why did this surprise you?
This is the level of service that people today PREFER.
Go to any fast food resturant that allows you to serve yourself a carbonated beverage (Subway, McDonald's, etc). Look at the soda fountain. How do they know when their drinks are out of syrup or CO2?
They find out when their customers complain about recieving defective drinks.
No different.
I've read -- on Apple's web site a year ago, incidentally -- that they don't use just one codec when producing the beautiful movie trailers on their web site.
Several codecs may be used to produce a single movie trailer, with different codecs being employed where their relative strengths are required: low motion versus action versus bright scenes versus dark scenes.
These guys are WAY more sophisticated in their technique than any home user will ever be.
Lesson: Admire Apple's movie trailers but don't think you're going to reproduce their quality.
--Richard
"Considering a) I'm running Linux and b) I do forensics on trojans at work, I'm not going to be infected."
I'm sure you're head and shoulder above me, technically, but I could not help but snort a laugh when I considered your logic.
It's kinda similar to this: I work at the Center for Disease Control, therefore I'm not going to be infected with a disease.
"instead of cutting off net access entirely, why not provide a means to actually fix the problem instead of alienating their customers?"
According to the article that _I_ read, the guys that are getting cut off have already been contacted about their problem before.
So, to answer your question, the reason that they cut off their net access entirely is to get their fucking attention.
And it works.
--Richard
No one will mention QuickTime here for serveral reasons: it works, it's unintrusive, and it's free.
That sort of shit just doesn't fly here.
Obligatory Open Source plug: it's not open source so it sucks.
I think I just about said all that there is to say.
--Richard
"Actually, it's their money. When you pay for gas, "your money" will eventually reach terrorists under that logic."
Microsoft doesn't invent their money from thin air.
Also, nothing has ever been confirmed as being "real".
Food for thought, Mr. Philospher.
--Richard
"Or not having wads of cash to throw away on a Mac might be the better answer here."
FUD.
Do yourself a favor: Go to your bathroom and stand in front of the mirror. Lean forward so that you can see yourself clearly, then slap yourself in the face for me and say, "Macs are not expensive."
Do this over and over again until the message sinks in.
"MACWORLD says that MACS are the most secure."
Don't worry, that MacWorld says Macs are the most secure and the fact that they are may, or may not, be directly related.
--Richard
"Does anyone really need/want it?"
No, but then no one needs a telephone either. Remember, we have a fully operation postal system already.
Now, in my case, it is sometimes useful to me. Last night, by coincidence, I did an iSight/iChatAV video call with my dad, who lives a couple hundred miles north of me.
For each time I hate it when he wants to do video (usually when I haven't showered yet and my hair is screwed up), there's time when it's irreplaceable (like when I get to wave his greatgrandson around in front of the camera for him to see).
Last night, I helped him identify video cables. So, yeah, it's useful.
--Richard
Bluetooth 'dead' in the title of the article and 'all but dead'???
I have it on VERY good authority that Bluetooth is going to become an unbelievable success.
Why, In 2001 the Cahners In-Stat Group research firm released a study stating that they expect that almost a BILLION devices will support Bluetooth in four years.
We're well on our way. We know this because a research firm said so.
--Richard
"I did learn about these in school, but then I was always interested in space.
Try these questions.
What was the name of the first American lander on the moon?
The name of the first lander on Mars?
What was then name of the first US communications sattilite?
Most people know little about space."
Your examples questions are history questions. I don't even think they are particularly relevent except in Trivial Persuit, Space Race Edition.
"i am surprised it is not known in usa, because american exploration of space was well known in the eastern block."
I'm surprised that you're surprised. I mean, how can you be surprised by this?
Wasn't the Soviet Union just a little bit secretive? Slightly?
I'd seen a picture of it many years ago but, face it, between Soviet paranoia and incompetence there are no surprises here.
--Richard
"I think Dave Winer doesn't give the media consumers any respect with his 'manufactured consent' argument."
I don't think it matters whether he does or not: Dave Winer is a hacker.
I don't consult Hollywood for its political views and, frankly, we need Dave Winer coding more and puniditing on politics less.
His web site was a favorite of mine for years (day 1, actually) but I have since banned him from my shortcuts bar and seldom look in on him. When I do (I'm an optimist), I'm always disappointed to see more political comentary each time.
Of course, it's his damn web site, but that's how I feel.
--Richard
"i picked up a USB headset yesterday for my 11 year old sister, because a bunch of her friends have webcams and headsets. She immediately tried it out with her friends. From what I saw, the quality is still sketchy."
iChat AV video quality is quite good. I don't know what software/protocols/hardware your sister and her friends were using but I can tell you that it was the wrong stuff.
I videoconference with my dad a couple times a week and it's great. We have FireWire-based iSight cameras, though, which are better than 99% of the USB cameras on the market. The old saw that "you get what you pay for" is still in effect for hardware, at least.
Don't write it off. It's here, now, and works.
Now, on the Windows side I cannot comment. I also can't comment on interoperability but I'm waiting anxiously to hear other people's stories.
--Richard
"you shouldn't be writing scripts, you should be recording them!"
It would be great if more applications were recordable, but back when I used Applescript every day to make a living, recorability was so unimportant I even forgot it existed.
Most scripts created through simple recording means are trivial, which doesn't make them worthless, but you know where I'm going with this.
"Write-Only"
Well, I, for one, think you are funny. You probably got scored a zero on account of posting anonymously.
What's funny about that is that Apple Records has no damn interest in any technology more recent than the '70s and certainly has no interest in having any of their music on anyone's MP3 player.
Go-Go boots have ALWAYS been sexy.