Really? So they don't insist on prays before meals? Are they still rather obnoxious about anyone who isn't straight? E.g. do they still refuse help to gay and lesbian couple? I bet they still lobby against marriage equality.
Oh sorry. We were talking about mainstream American politics? You should have mentioned.
Seriously though, left and right do have actual meanings. And except for "national anarchists" or similar crazies (who are rejected as anarchists by all other anarchists), anarchists are on the left. And fascists are on the right...
You used a term (well, a mix of two terms) with specific meanings. I merely wanted to inform you that the terms ultra left and far left actually have meanings that don't correspond to the way you used them.
The fact that you are using the term ultra left to refer to people who actually are more sort of centerist is sort of sad. Anyone who wants to keep any semblance of capitalism isn't really left-wing except in comparison to those who want more capitalism... (Fascists are pro-capitalism as well, in case you didn't know.)
Ah, maybe those places aren't actually where ultra-left people hang out? Ever thought of that? How about you go and talk to some actual anarchists for example. They do hang out on the Internet some times.
An Anarchist FAQ is a place you can found out more than you ever wanted about a particular type of anarchism (a communists/socialist type). You might start with What is anarchism?.
Also the terms ultra and far left actually have meaning in political science and in radical politics. Ultra left tends to be used as an insult against those who refuse to work with statist parties, and otherwise take "extreme" positions (such as, "a pox on both your houses, neither Hamas nor Israel, but no state at all"). That said, many ultra leftists thus take the insult and embrace it. The term originated in the 1920s:
For Lenin, the main revolutionary problem was to forge a "leadership" capable of leading the workers to victory. When ultra-leftists tried to give a theoretical explanation of the rise of factory organizations in Germany, they said the working class does not need a party in order to be revolutionary. Revolution would be made by the masses organized in workers' councils and not by a proletariat "led" by professional revolutionaries.
This "infantile" rejection of the need for statist parties to bring about a communist (and thus, buy definition stateless) society really upset Leninists and similar.
Far left just tends to mean the extreme left. And by definition can not mean any sort of statist, as there is always a further left position (against the state).
You seem to be confused about certain types of statist who seem pretty left when compared to mainstream politics. Actually though, these people, by wanting a Soviet style state (or even just a nicer welfare state) end up being the enemies of all those who would do away with the state altogether.
In conclusion, I was drunk when I wrote the previous post. I'm now just slightly hung-over. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
You do realize that the "ultra far left" is all about eliminating capitalism, and ultimately destroy the state, and bringing about a communist state-less society don't you? Oh wait, never mind, you are using the term as just another fucking sound bite. Any real "ultra far leftist" wants to bring about a communist/anarchist/socialist and stateless (redundant with the first two terms) society where anyone can own any fucking weapon they want because, well, who's going to stop them? But then again, what's the point of owning a BFG9000 if you can't go and shoot someone with it amirite?
Maybe you should expand your political horizons a little. There are people to the left of the "liberal" stateists, and people to the right of the "conservatives". In fact, those terms are fucking meaningless without further clarification. Personally I say that the enemy is anyone who wants to remove rights, and who wants to give power to, well, anyone other than everyone.
That's one of my main concerns as well. Plus the QOS issue. Ideally I would have a fancy router that could broadcast two SSIDs at the same time, one with a SSID of "free Internet: password is password", and the other something else. And then restrict (put into a demilitarized zone (DMZ)) the public network from all my private stuff. And, ideally I would have a click through agreement saying that I could do whatever I wanted, but that I probably wouldn't... And please don't use BitTorrent or other bandwidth hoggers. I think I would also port-block to some limited set (web, FTP, mail and SSH maybe?). And of course limit the speed to just 64kbps down. Even better would be automatic speed limiting whenever someone was connected and using the private network.
Sounds like I need to settle down somewhere for more than just a couple of years.
Hibernate doesn't work with the latest Ubuntu versions anyway. 1) they turned it off 'cause it might not work, 2) it doesn't work. It works fine with Debian though on the same computer. I think I might switch to Mint or something.
I don't have a horse in the race. I just saw this post in the meta-mod queue and wanted to respond to 'social contract'. I never signed a social contract. I never agreed to any implicit agreement. You won't find my blood drying or dry on any piece of paper. The social contract idea is bunk. It's bullshit. It's not worth the paper it isn't written on.
But you know what? There isn't anything any of us can do about that. Government doesn't give a hoot if you agree or not to their rule. They just rule. Apologists for government excess made up this non-existent contract to force people to follow the rules. But laws are not morals or ethics, and the only reason to follow many of them is so that you won't get into trouble with the bully with the guns.
I finished my first degree, and after some futzing around decided to do a masters. While I think I could have continued to get good jobs with my BA and hobbies (I too learnt QBasic, and then downloaded QuickBasic from the net, when I was young), the second degree will get me to where I want to go faster. That's the thing, I have a direction I want to go to (which I didn't have when I finished my first degree).
With a BA and computer skills you should be able to find a varied number of jobs, including in communications type situations (you can read and write, and you can do (or learn to do) web stuff? that's all you really need). My advice, get into the work force for a couple of years and see if you can cope with the sort of jobs you are getting. If you want something extra, go and do more study.
Clay Shirky is a "writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies", something he's been doing since 1996. He has written a heck of a lot of stuff on the topic, and is presumably some sort of expert. He isn't just another blogger.
In this piece he says something that many people have said before, but is framing it in a different manner. The cultures and sub-cultures that we are part of need to be more caring. We need to be there for our friends and compatriots. We probably can't help much, most of aren't professionals. But simply being there and being supportive is helpful.
The thing is, that people do kill themselves. There are various reasons, some of them can be fixed easily. E.g. by adjusting chemical balances in the brain. Others have an external cause. Some are harder to fix, but might include removing the cause of the problem (bullying or terrible conditions). Some of them can't be fixed. What we as a community can do is provide as much support to people as we can, and help them get the help they need.
Joel Spolsky wrote a number of articles, years ago, that are really relevant. I'm going to link to and quote some of them: The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code: 1 Do you use source control? 2 Can you make a build in one step? 3 Do you make daily builds? 4 Do you have a bug database? 5 Do you fix bugs before writing new code? 6 Do you have an up-to-date schedule? 7 Do you have a spec? 8 Do programmers have quiet working conditions? 9 Do you use the best tools money can buy? 10 Do you have testers? 11 Do new candidates write code during their interview? 12 Do you do hallway usability testing?
You could just leave, I suppose. But presumably, there's some reason you're stuck there. The stock options haven't quite vested, there's no better place to work in Podunk, or perhaps your boss is holding someone you love hostage. In any case, dealing with life on a bad team can be infuriating. But there are strategies for improving your team from the bottom, and I'd like to share a few of them.
And those are: "Strategy 1 Just Do It", setup a build server, write the make file to automate the build process, etc. "Strategy 2 Harness the Power of Viral Marketing", setup your own bug tracker. Use it for your own bugs. If someone sends you a bug in an email, add it to the tracker and reply saying that it would be so much easier if the person just added it directly to the tracker themselves. Setup local version control. Use it. Etc. "Strategy 3 Create a Pocket of Excellence", be excellent. Write specs and follow them. Write schedules and follow them. Etc. He continues with "Strategy 4 Neutralize The Bozos", "Strategy 5 Get Away From Interruptions" and "Strategy 6 Become Invaluable".
While Adobe Systems made the PDF specification available free of charge in 1993, PDF remained a proprietary format, controlled by Adobe, until it was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 32000-1:2008.[3][4] In 2008, Adobe published a Public Patent License to ISO 32000-1 granting royalty-free rights for all patents owned by Adobe that are necessary to make, use, sell and distribute PDF compliant implementations.[5]
Wikipedia also sayz:
There is also the PDF/H, a.k.a. PDF Healthcare, a best practices guide (BPG), supplemented by an Implementation Guide (IG), published in 2008. PDF Healthcare is not a standard or proposed standard, but only a guide for use with existing standards and other technologies. It is supported by the standards development organizations ASTM and AIIM. PDF/H BPG is based on PDF 1.6.[25][26][27]
Basically, while PDF was originally an Adobe only specification, it is now open and free. Adobe does, however, make use of the extension bits. So, don't use Adobe products and you won't have a problem.
Only two pairs of pants (wear one, other in the bag). Three, or even two, shirts (wear one, other one or two in the bag). Lose a pair of socks, so wearing one pair, have four (or even three) pairs in the bag. You could also go down to five total pairs of underpants. Two pairs of good thermal undershirts (wear one, one in the bag) should be enough. If they are good (quality silk or fine wool) they'll last for a few days before starting to smell.
You wear one pair of pants all the time, unless it gets quite dirty, in which case you switch. You wash your dirty 'smalls' every night (just in the shower or sink of the place you are staying at), and then hang 'em out to dry (and carry on the outside of your pack while walking if you are not in the city). It's possible.
Seriously, did you wear all the pairs of pants, and all the shirts? Could you have worn them a bit longer and thus reduced them? I'm sure you could have.
Think of OpenID. You have one method of authentication, and you pay lots of attention to it to keep it safe! (Don't spread your eggs around different baskets, keep them all in one, and look after that basket!)
Personally I already have a single device for all my passwords. It's called my computer. Most of my often used passwords are stored by Firefox (and protected by a master password), others are in a TrueCrypt file, less worthy of concern passwords are just stored in a note or two and saved.
The same way as at present. Reviewers are not paid, they are basically volunteers.
The traditional model works like this: 1) a paper is written (no one gets paid) 2) it's sent to a journal, where the editor (paid) looks and decides whether or not to pass it on to reviewers (only the journal staff are paid) 3) the paper is sent to reviewers who make comments and suggest whether to publish or not (no one gets paid) 4) if the paper is not-worthy it's sent back to the author/s who decided to revise and resubmit or whatever (no one gets paid) 5) if the paper is accepted, the author has to sign over copyright (no one gets paid) 6) the paper is published, and if the author wants more than the "complementary" copies, has to pay. If anyone else wants to see the article, they have to pay. The journal makes loads of money for very little work.
Another model cuts out the last two steps, and the journal makes their money from ads, donations, grants or other sponsorship (e.g. from a university). Another model has volunteers all the way through. It's not difficult.
They were for Europeans prior to the discovery of black swans in 1697 by Europeans.
FTFY.
The original Australians certainly knew about them and wouldn't have found them at all improbable. Though they might have been a bit surprised at white swans...
Haha. So that's why all those artists are using paper and crayon rather than creating digitally on a Wacom or similar tablet with a stylus. There are people who get paid to create digital drawings and similar using computers you know.
Creating content? It depends on what you are creating.
Let's say you draw. Now try and draw using a mouse, a touchpad, or a nub-mouse. Now use a touchscreen (whatever type). See how much easier it is?
I travel too much than is good for me. I want one device, I don't want to have to carry a laptop and a tablet. My current device (X230 Tablet - laptop with a rotatable touchscreen) does quite well.
I really don't care. I recently bought a new laptop (my previous one had lasted almost six years) and I deliberately bought one with a touchscreen. More than that though, it's a Lenovo X230 tablet, so the screen can rotate and become a tablet. It's a Wacom screen, and comes with a pen (touching it with your filthy dirty fingers will achieve nothing in the way of interaction with the OS).
My new laptop is good. Most of the time it works as a laptop, but sometimes I whip out the pen and use it for pointing. Sometimes I use it for drawing. It's great for drawing. Sometimes I use it for writing (kanji practice, diary, whatever). I wouldn't trade my touchscreen for a non-touchscreen. I'm happy to suggest that you investigate a pen-based touchscreen for yourself. I have no comment on finger-based screens, and would probably suggest they aren't worth it (lack of finesse).
But that new laptops come with touchscreens? I don't care. I am planning on using my current laptop for the next six years or more. Next time it comes to buy a laptop, I'll buy one with a touchscreen.
That's pretty much what I was going to say. It's not helped by the media always talking about sharing copyrighted material, as if simply browsing the web didn't result in a constant flow of copyrighted material hitting a person's computer.
The distinction is between material for which permission has been granted (either explicitly, or implicitly) to share and copy (e.g. GPLed software, such as Linux) and material where permission has not been granted. There is an implicit permission for a person to download websites to read and use, simply because the site is freely available.
Also, the term "free for all" is poor, as the software is still copyrighted. Free for all seems to suggest you can do anything you like, which isn't true legally. Public domain material is free for all.
You got me. Though I would notice the others, those two differer only slightly and so are harder to pick up. The shape of the words complement and compliment are quite similar, unlike the other pairs you put forward.
What 'nerd' or 'geek' actually gives a shit about MS Windows 8? No one is being forced to use it at work, because all the big organizations are still stuck on MS Windows XP, or have just moved to MS Windows 7. No one is forced to use it at home, there are no games that are MS Windows 8 only, they'll still run on MS Windows 7 or earlier. So who gives a shit? I don't run MS Windows at all. OK, so I have a copy of MS Windows 7 on my computer that I haven't gotten around to blowing away yet, but I don't use it. I use GNU/Linux, and for me, touch just works and compliments my other input devices. (Not perfectly by any means, but that's a software and user issue: I just need to play with mouse gestures some more I think.) Sure on some shitty MS OS touch might be integrated poorly, but I don't give a shit.
I've used touch screens on stationary devices for ages. Think things like information kiosks, "whiteboard" like situations and similar. Oh wait, you mean personal stationary devices?
OK, I'm sure that there are many applications for stationary touch screens on 'personal computers'. Example: Two designers manipulating something on the screen. There's only one mouse, and sometimes it's easier to just turn things around using a finger or stylus rather than pass the mouse across. Example: Sometimes I'm reading something, and it's just easier (or perceived to be quicker) to point the stylus at the screen rather than manipulate the mouse. Example: An older person with not so fine-motor control. Rather than move the darn mouse, just click with your finger!
I'm sure you can come up with other examples.
The point is, the touchscreen does not replace the mouse, just like the mouse did not replace the keyboard. And just like voice hasn't and won't replace the keyboard. The various input methods compliment each other.
Quite. This is my third or fourth/. id. I think the best thing to do would be to probably sign up with three or four all at once. And then when you get sick of one identity, you can discard it and you still have a similar level UID.
Or we could all just agree that the number after the name does not indicate anything more than that the account is a certain 'age'.
Slashdot Mirror
Really? So they don't insist on prays before meals? Are they still rather obnoxious about anyone who isn't straight? E.g. do they still refuse help to gay and lesbian couple? I bet they still lobby against marriage equality.
A couple of pages with further information:
The Bilerico Project - Why You Shouldn't Donate to the Salvation Army Bell Ringers
Don't Donate to the Salvation Army @ The Stranger
Oh sorry. We were talking about mainstream American politics? You should have mentioned.
Seriously though, left and right do have actual meanings. And except for "national anarchists" or similar crazies (who are rejected as anarchists by all other anarchists), anarchists are on the left. And fascists are on the right...
You used a term (well, a mix of two terms) with specific meanings. I merely wanted to inform you that the terms ultra left and far left actually have meanings that don't correspond to the way you used them.
The fact that you are using the term ultra left to refer to people who actually are more sort of centerist is sort of sad. Anyone who wants to keep any semblance of capitalism isn't really left-wing except in comparison to those who want more capitalism... (Fascists are pro-capitalism as well, in case you didn't know.)
Ah, maybe those places aren't actually where ultra-left people hang out? Ever thought of that? How about you go and talk to some actual anarchists for example. They do hang out on the Internet some times.
An Anarchist FAQ is a place you can found out more than you ever wanted about a particular type of anarchism (a communists/socialist type). You might start with What is anarchism?.
Also the terms ultra and far left actually have meaning in political science and in radical politics. Ultra left tends to be used as an insult against those who refuse to work with statist parties, and otherwise take "extreme" positions (such as, "a pox on both your houses, neither Hamas nor Israel, but no state at all"). That said, many ultra leftists thus take the insult and embrace it. The term originated in the 1920s:
This "infantile" rejection of the need for statist parties to bring about a communist (and thus, buy definition stateless) society really upset Leninists and similar.
Far left just tends to mean the extreme left. And by definition can not mean any sort of statist, as there is always a further left position (against the state).
You seem to be confused about certain types of statist who seem pretty left when compared to mainstream politics. Actually though, these people, by wanting a Soviet style state (or even just a nicer welfare state) end up being the enemies of all those who would do away with the state altogether.
In conclusion, I was drunk when I wrote the previous post. I'm now just slightly hung-over. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
You do realize that the "ultra far left" is all about eliminating capitalism, and ultimately destroy the state, and bringing about a communist state-less society don't you? Oh wait, never mind, you are using the term as just another fucking sound bite.
Any real "ultra far leftist" wants to bring about a communist/anarchist/socialist and stateless (redundant with the first two terms) society where anyone can own any fucking weapon they want because, well, who's going to stop them? But then again, what's the point of owning a BFG9000 if you can't go and shoot someone with it amirite?
Maybe you should expand your political horizons a little. There are people to the left of the "liberal" stateists, and people to the right of the "conservatives". In fact, those terms are fucking meaningless without further clarification. Personally I say that the enemy is anyone who wants to remove rights, and who wants to give power to, well, anyone other than everyone.
That's one of my main concerns as well. Plus the QOS issue.
Ideally I would have a fancy router that could broadcast two SSIDs at the same time, one with a SSID of "free Internet: password is password", and the other something else. And then restrict (put into a demilitarized zone (DMZ)) the public network from all my private stuff. And, ideally I would have a click through agreement saying that I could do whatever I wanted, but that I probably wouldn't... And please don't use BitTorrent or other bandwidth hoggers. I think I would also port-block to some limited set (web, FTP, mail and SSH maybe?). And of course limit the speed to just 64kbps down. Even better would be automatic speed limiting whenever someone was connected and using the private network.
Sounds like I need to settle down somewhere for more than just a couple of years.
Hibernate doesn't work with the latest Ubuntu versions anyway. 1) they turned it off 'cause it might not work, 2) it doesn't work. It works fine with Debian though on the same computer.
I think I might switch to Mint or something.
I don't have a horse in the race. I just saw this post in the meta-mod queue and wanted to respond to 'social contract'. I never signed a social contract. I never agreed to any implicit agreement. You won't find my blood drying or dry on any piece of paper. The social contract idea is bunk. It's bullshit. It's not worth the paper it isn't written on.
But you know what? There isn't anything any of us can do about that. Government doesn't give a hoot if you agree or not to their rule. They just rule. Apologists for government excess made up this non-existent contract to force people to follow the rules. But laws are not morals or ethics, and the only reason to follow many of them is so that you won't get into trouble with the bully with the guns.
I finished my first degree, and after some futzing around decided to do a masters. While I think I could have continued to get good jobs with my BA and hobbies (I too learnt QBasic, and then downloaded QuickBasic from the net, when I was young), the second degree will get me to where I want to go faster. That's the thing, I have a direction I want to go to (which I didn't have when I finished my first degree).
With a BA and computer skills you should be able to find a varied number of jobs, including in communications type situations (you can read and write, and you can do (or learn to do) web stuff? that's all you really need). My advice, get into the work force for a couple of years and see if you can cope with the sort of jobs you are getting. If you want something extra, go and do more study.
Clay Shirky is a "writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies", something he's been doing since 1996. He has written a heck of a lot of stuff on the topic, and is presumably some sort of expert. He isn't just another blogger.
In this piece he says something that many people have said before, but is framing it in a different manner. The cultures and sub-cultures that we are part of need to be more caring. We need to be there for our friends and compatriots. We probably can't help much, most of aren't professionals. But simply being there and being supportive is helpful.
The thing is, that people do kill themselves. There are various reasons, some of them can be fixed easily. E.g. by adjusting chemical balances in the brain. Others have an external cause. Some are harder to fix, but might include removing the cause of the problem (bullying or terrible conditions). Some of them can't be fixed. What we as a community can do is provide as much support to people as we can, and help them get the help they need.
Joel Spolsky wrote a number of articles, years ago, that are really relevant. I'm going to link to and quote some of them:
The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code:
1 Do you use source control?
2 Can you make a build in one step?
3 Do you make daily builds?
4 Do you have a bug database?
5 Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
6 Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
7 Do you have a spec?
8 Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
9 Do you use the best tools money can buy?
10 Do you have testers?
11 Do new candidates write code during their interview?
12 Do you do hallway usability testing?
Joel says you should be getting at least ten of those twelve. Sounds like you aren't. So, next article is relevant:
Getting Things Done When You're Only a Grunt:
And those are:
"Strategy 1 Just Do It", setup a build server, write the make file to automate the build process, etc.
"Strategy 2 Harness the Power of Viral Marketing", setup your own bug tracker. Use it for your own bugs. If someone sends you a bug in an email, add it to the tracker and reply saying that it would be so much easier if the person just added it directly to the tracker themselves. Setup local version control. Use it. Etc.
"Strategy 3 Create a Pocket of Excellence", be excellent. Write specs and follow them. Write schedules and follow them. Etc.
He continues with "Strategy 4 Neutralize The Bozos", "Strategy 5 Get Away From Interruptions" and "Strategy 6 Become Invaluable".
Another article Top Five (Wrong) Reasons You Don't Have Testers explains that you need an independent Q&A team with real power, while Things You Should Never Do, Part I says don't throw out code and rewrite from scratch and Incentive Pay Considered Harmful says what it says on the tin.
Browse around the site and read some of the other articles as well. There is a lot of good advice there.
"Adobe does, however, make use of the extension bits. So, don't use Adobe products and you won't have a problem."
Wikipedia sayz:
Wikipedia also sayz:
Basically, while PDF was originally an Adobe only specification, it is now open and free. Adobe does, however, make use of the extension bits. So, don't use Adobe products and you won't have a problem.
Only two pairs of pants (wear one, other in the bag).
Three, or even two, shirts (wear one, other one or two in the bag).
Lose a pair of socks, so wearing one pair, have four (or even three) pairs in the bag.
You could also go down to five total pairs of underpants.
Two pairs of good thermal undershirts (wear one, one in the bag) should be enough. If they are good (quality silk or fine wool) they'll last for a few days before starting to smell.
You wear one pair of pants all the time, unless it gets quite dirty, in which case you switch. You wash your dirty 'smalls' every night (just in the shower or sink of the place you are staying at), and then hang 'em out to dry (and carry on the outside of your pack while walking if you are not in the city). It's possible.
Seriously, did you wear all the pairs of pants, and all the shirts? Could you have worn them a bit longer and thus reduced them? I'm sure you could have.
Think of OpenID. You have one method of authentication, and you pay lots of attention to it to keep it safe! (Don't spread your eggs around different baskets, keep them all in one, and look after that basket!)
Personally I already have a single device for all my passwords. It's called my computer. Most of my often used passwords are stored by Firefox (and protected by a master password), others are in a TrueCrypt file, less worthy of concern passwords are just stored in a note or two and saved.
The same way as at present. Reviewers are not paid, they are basically volunteers.
The traditional model works like this:
1) a paper is written (no one gets paid)
2) it's sent to a journal, where the editor (paid) looks and decides whether or not to pass it on to reviewers (only the journal staff are paid)
3) the paper is sent to reviewers who make comments and suggest whether to publish or not (no one gets paid)
4) if the paper is not-worthy it's sent back to the author/s who decided to revise and resubmit or whatever (no one gets paid)
5) if the paper is accepted, the author has to sign over copyright (no one gets paid)
6) the paper is published, and if the author wants more than the "complementary" copies, has to pay. If anyone else wants to see the article, they have to pay. The journal makes loads of money for very little work.
Another model cuts out the last two steps, and the journal makes their money from ads, donations, grants or other sponsorship (e.g. from a university). Another model has volunteers all the way through. It's not difficult.
FTFY.
The original Australians certainly knew about them and wouldn't have found them at all improbable. Though they might have been a bit surprised at white swans...
Haha. So that's why all those artists are using paper and crayon rather than creating digitally on a Wacom or similar tablet with a stylus. There are people who get paid to create digital drawings and similar using computers you know.
Creating content? It depends on what you are creating.
Let's say you draw. Now try and draw using a mouse, a touchpad, or a nub-mouse. Now use a touchscreen (whatever type). See how much easier it is?
I travel too much than is good for me. I want one device, I don't want to have to carry a laptop and a tablet. My current device (X230 Tablet - laptop with a rotatable touchscreen) does quite well.
I really don't care. I recently bought a new laptop (my previous one had lasted almost six years) and I deliberately bought one with a touchscreen. More than that though, it's a Lenovo X230 tablet, so the screen can rotate and become a tablet. It's a Wacom screen, and comes with a pen (touching it with your filthy dirty fingers will achieve nothing in the way of interaction with the OS).
My new laptop is good. Most of the time it works as a laptop, but sometimes I whip out the pen and use it for pointing. Sometimes I use it for drawing. It's great for drawing. Sometimes I use it for writing (kanji practice, diary, whatever). I wouldn't trade my touchscreen for a non-touchscreen. I'm happy to suggest that you investigate a pen-based touchscreen for yourself. I have no comment on finger-based screens, and would probably suggest they aren't worth it (lack of finesse).
But that new laptops come with touchscreens? I don't care. I am planning on using my current laptop for the next six years or more. Next time it comes to buy a laptop, I'll buy one with a touchscreen.
I wanted to mod you funny, but you're already +5. That's a funny funny story (and not at all insightful or informative.)
You either have no clue, or are just spreading agitprop (or conceivably both).
That's pretty much what I was going to say. It's not helped by the media always talking about sharing copyrighted material, as if simply browsing the web didn't result in a constant flow of copyrighted material hitting a person's computer.
The distinction is between material for which permission has been granted (either explicitly, or implicitly) to share and copy (e.g. GPLed software, such as Linux) and material where permission has not been granted. There is an implicit permission for a person to download websites to read and use, simply because the site is freely available.
Also, the term "free for all" is poor, as the software is still copyrighted. Free for all seems to suggest you can do anything you like, which isn't true legally. Public domain material is free for all.
You got me. Though I would notice the others, those two differer only slightly and so are harder to pick up. The shape of the words complement and compliment are quite similar, unlike the other pairs you put forward.
What 'nerd' or 'geek' actually gives a shit about MS Windows 8? No one is being forced to use it at work, because all the big organizations are still stuck on MS Windows XP, or have just moved to MS Windows 7. No one is forced to use it at home, there are no games that are MS Windows 8 only, they'll still run on MS Windows 7 or earlier. So who gives a shit?
I don't run MS Windows at all. OK, so I have a copy of MS Windows 7 on my computer that I haven't gotten around to blowing away yet, but I don't use it. I use GNU/Linux, and for me, touch just works and compliments my other input devices. (Not perfectly by any means, but that's a software and user issue: I just need to play with mouse gestures some more I think.) Sure on some shitty MS OS touch might be integrated poorly, but I don't give a shit.
I've used touch screens on stationary devices for ages. Think things like information kiosks, "whiteboard" like situations and similar. Oh wait, you mean personal stationary devices?
OK, I'm sure that there are many applications for stationary touch screens on 'personal computers'.
Example: Two designers manipulating something on the screen. There's only one mouse, and sometimes it's easier to just turn things around using a finger or stylus rather than pass the mouse across.
Example: Sometimes I'm reading something, and it's just easier (or perceived to be quicker) to point the stylus at the screen rather than manipulate the mouse.
Example: An older person with not so fine-motor control. Rather than move the darn mouse, just click with your finger!
I'm sure you can come up with other examples.
The point is, the touchscreen does not replace the mouse, just like the mouse did not replace the keyboard. And just like voice hasn't and won't replace the keyboard. The various input methods compliment each other.
Quite. This is my third or fourth /. id. I think the best thing to do would be to probably sign up with three or four all at once. And then when you get sick of one identity, you can discard it and you still have a similar level UID.
Or we could all just agree that the number after the name does not indicate anything more than that the account is a certain 'age'.