I could swear I read somewhere (maybe discover mag?) that w/in the next 10-20 years, because of the earth's population, fresh water is going to become one of our biggest problems.
If that's the case, there's no way we need to use h20 as a source.
That'd be great, if they'd make that w/ the newer 3D chipset, make the video ram up to 128MB, and make the internal ram up to 2GB.
That way when I take it home it could drive my 21" monitor.
Oh, and while they're updating it, throw in the newest firewire, usb, and throw in the wireless chipset for a/b/g. Leave the parrallel and serial ports off please. If I need I'm I'll use a USB adaptor.
The most annoying one to me is the way that it switches focus when I use my scrollwheel.
I'll second that.
This maybe wouldn't be bad, but then clicking on the window also does not raise it. You have to focus some other window then come back.
Yeah, annoying isn't it?:)
I was able to put applets for gaim and xmms in my sidebar.
Couldn't you right click on the panel bar and do add->button? That's what I did. XMMS and gaim icons on all my desktops now.
I guess I've never taken the time to understood what the difference is between a button and an applet.
As soon as you add in non-KDE apps, you lose much of this consistency.
Yeah, but that's true for everything. Atleast the apps work when you're crossing to/from gnome or kde. It'd be a bummer if you couldn't run one's apps under the other!
Having lots of features and buttons and widgets may work for some users, others may prefer something simpler, and yet others may want a different set of complex features. And while some users get all pushed out of shape about inconsistent appearances, consistency just isn't a big deal to many users either.
And what that really says is that you can't please everyone.
I personally think that you can come close - and here's how you'd do it:
1) Leave all the customization options *in*. Organize them as best you can. If someone wants to fiddle with 'em, fine.
2) Create an interface that let's an admin *lock* out options/preferences and/or set the defaults. I think the Kiosk type thing may fit the bill here.
I think if KDE and GNOME, and any other graphical interface parties do this, they'll be successful.
An example: With a setup like this, I can put linux on a machine primarily for the kids to use. I can have either GNOME or KDE available to them to pick which one they want to use. And I can lock things like their webbrowser so that it uses our proxy, which filters out inappropriate sites. I can lock down their look n feel so that I don't get the "help me I lost this icon" etc while I'm watching MNF. Yet I can login and use the box with as much customizations as I want.
Would it be ok for you if Ford devised a proprietary...
So tell me, what's the difference between an auto manufacturer devising up different, non-standard parts, such that you have to buy from them to accomodate a need, or you have to buy an adaptor to use a third-party aftermarket product for your vehicle?
Or the chips in the cars, they're proprietary. The mods chips people buy for their cars, I've never read that they were licensed from the manufacturer. I'd always read that they were decoded by someone w/ the hardware/time to do it, modified for 'the better', and are now being sold.
I guess I don't see what the difference is between an auto manufac. coming up with a method to force you to buy from them, versus MS holding to it's specs.
because developers will circumvent the licensing process and develop games in Linux
Wouldn't that entirely depend on the licensing scheme that would come with the MS "linux for xbox"?
I recall when I was a student in college, I could purchase a lot of software real cheap from the bookstore. But there was a catch. Anything developed/compiled couldn't be released as commerical. (Yes, now I could probably use the GPL and release something. That's for another discussion).
But what if MS's EULA for a linux for xbox stated that any software released to run under linux for xbox must be signed and validated by MS?
MS then keeps control and they could possibly charge for the validating/signing. A game or app gets released, sold, and MS keeps a chunk of the $ from it.
Isn't that they same method if Sega or any other game company developes games for the xbox? Or for a nintendo? I was always under the impression that the console manufacturer gets a slice of the $ from each game sale.
Look, that's a promotion. No different from any other company's methods.
Besides, if you think the # of xbox's given a way to geeks attending training courses even compares to the number purchased by consumers, no way.
And if someone gets one of these xbox's, and doesn't want it, then they'll probably sell it on ebay or give it to a kid nephew or something. Either way the odds that someone will go out and buy a game or two for it, since they got it for free, have got to be very very high.
Really? I'll have to go re-read the article again.
As for my previous comment, I was speaking from a first-hand experience.
It's the same phenom of people sharing accounts to a paid site, or ordering a cdrom product and duping the cd's for their friends. The "sharing" seems to be very much frequent at libraries, intentional or not. From past experience, the arrangements with libraries just didn't work.
Actually, it's probably not OCR'd. Most places hire people, in triplicate, to TYPE it. I've heard the term triple-keyed used to describe it.
It is supposed to greatly improve accuracy. But it is also very, very, costly to have done.
why isn't there an affordable public database of this material
There will be - eventually, because state's state houses are constantly moving everything to be digital. In the future, court records won't be on paper. And there's your public DB.
Where the states will have a hard time is the prior history of records that are on paper. There's many many years worth, for each state. And *that* is where the private companies will continue to thrive.
Does this all mean we need an Open-Source law index?
This would be *so* hard to do because of the competency involved. Attorneys would be looking up legal information, and basing their actions on the legal information that was obtained in the index/system.
I have a Precision 340. The front ports, while nice (Dell, if you're reading, don't remove them in future models), are still useless depending on case placement. They're too far away from me. I use the USB ports on the sides of my Sony monitor instead. (this this is an issue of physical placement, really).
Like someone else mentioned, get an extender cord, and leave the end of it on your desk. I do this with the Firewire.
What I really like, however, and don't yet have, is the "Dell Performance USB Keyboard". It's got a volume control knob right on the keyboard - no more messing w/ the volume control slider on the pc, or grabbing for the speaker and seeing it flying off the desk because I'm trying to turn down the volume while reaching for the ringing phone.
I saw one these keyboards at the mall at one of the Dell booths. If they'd only put a earphone jack on the edge of the keyboard too... and maybe curve it more like the MS natural keyboard (large version only, please). Now that I'd buy.
If you have ever had to deal with Tricare, I feel your pain.
It is *the* worst insurance system in the world. Call them twice - ask the same question - you will get a different answer 85% of the time. There are times, infact, where it's been better to *not* use them at all, and just pay outright.
I feel for all you who are forced to use tricare, and are now possibly screwed somehow because your info was stolen. Keep your eye on your accounts and whatnot, I know we will be doing so more then ever.
1. Linux needs MS Office and key apps like Photoshop, etc.
I don't need MS Office. For my needs, Open Office is just fine. I rarely use it. But for a business, Open Office needs to be directly compatible w/ office, and the corporate world needs a genuine MS Office for linux. They need that road to be open to them. Sure, they'll try OO for free. But if they run into compat problems, they could just go buy MSOffice. Problem solved.
I'm trying to 'switch' now. I've got two boxes. My winXP, the original box, is now only turned on to use it's hauppage WinTV mpeg digitizer to catch a show, or to use Photoshop, Thumbs+ or an multimedia file that I just can't play on Linux. The other box, a PIII slapped together from spare parts around is the Linux box, is all I've used for the past few weeks, barring the above. I'm spending time learning gimp. I dearly miss Photoshop and Thumbs+, Homesite too.
The thing is I know people who Linux would be better suited for them. It's safer, they can't delete the wrong files (ie win9x,), no virii problems. But can I guarantee they can print from it? Can they print well? Nope. If they buy a USB MP3 player will it work? Maybe.
Will that same hardware work with Windows? *probably*.
2. There's an odds game there, and windows wins it. It's the device drivers for the hardware. Until manufacturers put out drivers, Linux is always playing catchup. Not that I'm *not* very grateful that there are a lot of people who write these drivers in their own time so that I can use them in an OS that I downloaded for free. Don't get the wrong. But if I buy my kid one of those creative keychain mp3 players - can she use it on a WinXP box? I'd bet on it. Can she use it just as easily if the machine was a Redhat8 machine? Maybe. Dunno. I'd have to search on it, maybe even buy the thing and try it out. Maybe write a few shell/perl scripts or something to make it easy for her to use.
If that's the case, that's too much trouble for people, for Linux to be mainstream use.
Linux needs drivers to products that are fully equivalent in functionality to the same Windows/Mac drivers.
3. Licensing
Microsoft needs to stiffen the licensing and security of it's OS and apps.
Until people cannot 'borrow' a WinXP cdrom from a friend, or from the office, and install it on a computer at home/at a friends/neighbor/parents place, Linux will never become as popular as Windows. Why would people bother? It's free. Unethical, yes. But it didn't cost them anything. Same thing w/ the Office cd's and photoshop et all.
Of all the people that I work with, that I know of, I am the only person who's actually *bought* Photoshop. (yes, the company bought many many licenses) But I know for a fact that they've all got it installed on their pc's at home. (and yes, the argument can be made here that since everyone's using it, when PS 10 comes out everyone will clamor for it, the office buys more upgrade licenses, everyone's using the app, and more sales are just about guaranteed for perpetuity, but that's another topic).
When the day comes, if ever, that people just can't copy or borrow-to-install, you'll see many many people asking to borrow a linux cd set to try it out. It's all about money, and most people only spend it on hardware. To a lesser extent some software ($30 for an antivirus), never a large costly app like MSOffice. And nearly *never* on an operating system.
Slashdot Mirror
Water powered?
I could swear I read somewhere (maybe discover mag?) that w/in the next 10-20 years, because of the earth's population, fresh water is going to become one of our biggest problems.
If that's the case, there's no way we need to use h20 as a source.
In an agricultural society, on the other hand, my neighbors would make good use of my muscles to plow a field, dig out a tree, move stones and so on.
There's a solution. Move to a location where there are jobs available.
That'd be great, if they'd make that w/ the newer 3D chipset, make the video ram up to 128MB, and make the internal ram up to 2GB.
That way when I take it home it could drive my 21" monitor.
Oh, and while they're updating it, throw in the newest firewire, usb, and throw in the wireless chipset for a/b/g. Leave the parrallel and serial ports off please. If I need I'm I'll use a USB adaptor.
Yes, definitely go SATA with a 3ware card.
Infact, I just did this with a machine and now have a nice raid5 array to store everything on.
-tf23
The most annoying one to me is the way that it switches focus when I use my scrollwheel.
:)
I'll second that.
This maybe wouldn't be bad, but then clicking on the window also does not raise it. You have to focus some other window then come back.
Yeah, annoying isn't it?
I was able to put applets for gaim and xmms in my sidebar.
Couldn't you right click on the panel bar and do add->button? That's what I did. XMMS and gaim icons on all my desktops now.
I guess I've never taken the time to understood what the difference is between a button and an applet.
As soon as you add in non-KDE apps, you lose much of this consistency.
Yeah, but that's true for everything. Atleast the apps work when you're crossing to/from gnome or kde. It'd be a bummer if you couldn't run one's apps under the other!
Having lots of features and buttons and widgets may work for some users, others may prefer something simpler, and yet others may want a different set of complex features. And while some users get all pushed out of shape about inconsistent appearances, consistency just isn't a big deal to many users either.
And what that really says is that you can't please everyone.
I personally think that you can come close - and here's how you'd do it:
1) Leave all the customization options *in*. Organize them as best you can. If someone wants to fiddle with 'em, fine.
2) Create an interface that let's an admin *lock* out options/preferences and/or set the defaults. I think the Kiosk type thing may fit the bill here.
I think if KDE and GNOME, and any other graphical interface parties do this, they'll be successful.
An example: With a setup like this, I can put linux on a machine primarily for the kids to use. I can have either GNOME or KDE available to them to pick which one they want to use. And I can lock things like their webbrowser so that it uses our proxy, which filters out inappropriate sites. I can lock down their look n feel so that I don't get the "help me I lost this icon" etc while I'm watching MNF. Yet I can login and use the box with as much customizations as I want.
LOL, uhm yeah that's GB... whoops :)
Exactly. It's the cost difference, and it's huge.
I've just setup two SATA RAID5 systems. One came all packaged from Netex, the other I built.
So far I'm loving it. For $6k we got a ~800MB raid5 box serving files to 70 users. You can't beat that price.
Would it be ok for you if Ford devised a proprietary...
So tell me, what's the difference between an auto manufacturer devising up different, non-standard parts, such that you have to buy from them to accomodate a need, or you have to buy an adaptor to use a third-party aftermarket product for your vehicle?
Or the chips in the cars, they're proprietary. The mods chips people buy for their cars, I've never read that they were licensed from the manufacturer. I'd always read that they were decoded by someone w/ the hardware/time to do it, modified for 'the better', and are now being sold.
I guess I don't see what the difference is between an auto manufac. coming up with a method to force you to buy from them, versus MS holding to it's specs.
because developers will circumvent the licensing process and develop games in Linux
Wouldn't that entirely depend on the licensing scheme that would come with the MS "linux for xbox"?
I recall when I was a student in college, I could purchase a lot of software real cheap from the bookstore. But there was a catch. Anything developed/compiled couldn't be released as commerical. (Yes, now I could probably use the GPL and release something. That's for another discussion).
But what if MS's EULA for a linux for xbox stated that any software released to run under linux for xbox must be signed and validated by MS?
MS then keeps control and they could possibly charge for the validating/signing. A game or app gets released, sold, and MS keeps a chunk of the $ from it.
Isn't that they same method if Sega or any other game company developes games for the xbox? Or for a nintendo? I was always under the impression that the console manufacturer gets a slice of the $ from each game sale.
And?
Look, that's a promotion. No different from any other company's methods.
Besides, if you think the # of xbox's given a way to geeks attending training courses even compares to the number purchased by consumers, no way.
And if someone gets one of these xbox's, and doesn't want it, then they'll probably sell it on ebay or give it to a kid nephew or something. Either way the odds that someone will go out and buy a game or two for it, since they got it for free, have got to be very very high.
Really? I'll have to go re-read the article again.
As for my previous comment, I was speaking from a first-hand experience.
It's the same phenom of people sharing accounts to a paid site, or ordering a cdrom product and duping the cd's for their friends. The "sharing" seems to be very much frequent at libraries, intentional or not. From past experience, the arrangements with libraries just didn't work.
laborious OCR scanning
Actually, it's probably not OCR'd. Most places hire people, in triplicate, to TYPE it. I've heard the term triple-keyed used to describe it.
It is supposed to greatly improve accuracy. But it is also very, very, costly to have done.
why isn't there an affordable public database of this material
There will be - eventually, because state's state houses are constantly moving everything to be digital. In the future, court records won't be on paper. And there's your public DB.
Where the states will have a hard time is the prior history of records that are on paper. There's many many years worth, for each state. And *that* is where the private companies will continue to thrive.
Does this all mean we need an Open-Source law index?
This would be *so* hard to do because of the competency involved. Attorneys would be looking up legal information, and basing their actions on the legal information that was obtained in the index/system.
Where's the liability if there's an error? ugh!
They are trying to BUY the database for their library
Sorry, this doesn't work. You run into license abuses, abusers, et all. It's just not cost effective for the company.
These to companies have a lock on the electronic info, it would seem.
No, they don't. There are alternatives.
I have a Precision 340. The front ports, while nice (Dell, if you're reading, don't remove them in future models), are still useless depending on case placement. They're too far away from me. I use the USB ports on the sides of my Sony monitor instead. (this this is an issue of physical placement, really).
Like someone else mentioned, get an extender cord, and leave the end of it on your desk. I do this with the Firewire.
What I really like, however, and don't yet have, is the "Dell Performance USB Keyboard". It's got a volume control knob right on the keyboard - no more messing w/ the volume control slider on the pc, or grabbing for the speaker and seeing it flying off the desk because I'm trying to turn down the volume while reaching for the ringing phone.
I saw one these keyboards at the mall at one of the Dell booths. If they'd only put a earphone jack on the edge of the keyboard too... and maybe curve it more like the MS natural keyboard (large version only, please). Now that I'd buy.
Here's where they're going: 16MB Dell USB Memory Key
I just saw this when I was scoping out the Precision 350's.
Btw, it's $29.00.
GO BUCKS!!!
The Bookiejoint's got a poll just like that up right now...
For anyone intrested in this - it's true. I just went to my local microcenter and bought one.
:(
But if you are thinking about buying a few of them w/ an ide raid card to make a big, cost-effective raid array, think again.
According to the rebate:
"Offer is limited to one rebate per customer/name/address"
I was considering buying 3 of them and creating a raid5 setup with them.
If you have ever had to deal with Tricare, I feel your pain.
It is *the* worst insurance system in the world.
Call them twice - ask the same question - you will get a different answer 85% of the time. There are times, infact, where it's been better to *not* use them at all, and just pay outright.
I feel for all you who are forced to use tricare, and are now possibly screwed somehow because your info was stolen. Keep your eye on your accounts and whatnot, I know we will be doing so more then ever.
1. Linux needs MS Office and key apps like Photoshop, etc.
I don't need MS Office. For my needs, Open Office is just fine. I rarely use it. But for a business, Open Office needs to be directly compatible w/ office, and the corporate world needs a genuine MS Office for linux. They need that road to be open to them. Sure, they'll try OO for free. But if they run into compat problems, they could just go buy MSOffice. Problem solved.
I'm trying to 'switch' now. I've got two boxes. My winXP, the original box, is now only turned on to use it's hauppage WinTV mpeg digitizer to catch a show, or to use Photoshop, Thumbs+ or an multimedia file that I just can't play on Linux. The other box, a PIII slapped together from spare parts around is the Linux box, is all I've used for the past few weeks, barring the above. I'm spending time learning gimp. I dearly miss Photoshop and Thumbs+, Homesite too.
The thing is I know people who Linux would be better suited for them. It's safer, they can't delete the wrong files (ie win9x,), no virii problems. But can I guarantee they can print from it? Can they print well? Nope. If they buy a USB MP3 player will it work? Maybe.
Will that same hardware work with Windows? *probably*.
2. There's an odds game there, and windows wins it. It's the device drivers for the hardware. Until manufacturers put out drivers, Linux is always playing catchup. Not that I'm *not* very grateful that there are a lot of people who write these drivers in their own time so that I can use them in an OS that I downloaded for free. Don't get the wrong. But if I buy my kid one of those creative keychain mp3 players - can she use it on a WinXP box? I'd bet on it. Can she use it just as easily if the machine was a Redhat8 machine? Maybe. Dunno. I'd have to search on it, maybe even buy the thing and try it out. Maybe write a few shell/perl scripts or something to make it easy for her to use.
If that's the case, that's too much trouble for people, for Linux to be mainstream use.
Linux needs drivers to products that are fully equivalent in functionality to the same Windows/Mac drivers.
3. Licensing
Microsoft needs to stiffen the licensing and security of it's OS and apps.
Until people cannot 'borrow' a WinXP cdrom from a friend, or from the office, and install it on a computer at home/at a friends/neighbor/parents place, Linux will never become as popular as Windows. Why would people bother? It's free. Unethical, yes. But it didn't cost them anything. Same thing w/ the Office cd's and photoshop et all.
Of all the people that I work with, that I know of, I am the only person who's actually *bought* Photoshop. (yes, the company bought many many licenses) But I know for a fact that they've all got it installed on their pc's at home. (and yes, the argument can be made here that since everyone's using it, when PS 10 comes out everyone will clamor for it, the office buys more upgrade licenses, everyone's using the app, and more sales are just about guaranteed for perpetuity, but that's another topic).
When the day comes, if ever, that people just can't copy or borrow-to-install, you'll see many many people asking to borrow a linux cd set to try it out. It's all about money, and most people only spend it on hardware. To a lesser extent some software ($30 for an antivirus), never a large costly app like MSOffice. And nearly *never* on an operating system.
I just got that same message using Mozilla 1.2.1 with Windows XP.
What webbrowser(s) do you have your kids use?
I would want to make sure the proxy settings couldn't be chanaged by their accounts, so squid couldn't be avoided.