Ok. Really: who wants to make a fashion statement with their pda, computer, etc...?
I mean. Yeah, it has that oooh cool faddish charm to it, but that's it.
What would be a practical use for something like this? [Oops... hang on, I just got e-mail on my shirt]
AHem.. Anyhow... As I was saying, It just doesn't seem practical, or even that useful.
Maybe there's some practicality yet: Spyware... No, no.. not software that monitors your every move, but clothing that can be used in covert operations. Hmm.. I've said to much already
I had a CD-ROM drive that would do this almost every time. It would also freak out under linux and refuse to open (even if the drive wasn't mounted)
Replaced the drive. solved all problems.
Ooh.. and I love their completely arbitrary titlebar buttons. Poor choice.
What does green do? Maximize? Turn something on?
What does Yellow do? Slow the program down? Pause the program? Minimise the window?
What does Red do? Stop the program? Close the program? Minimize the program? Hide the program?
What if you're colorblind and can't distinguish between the colors?
Poor UI design if you ask me.
I wonder.... Does this mean that I will need to buy more copies to run it on more than 1 computer?
Now That SUCKS.
I don't necessarily mind the piracy protection. But I'm damn sure as hell not going to fork over $400 bucks, just to have windows on my laptop and desktop computer.
Oh. And because everyone will have a legal version of the software, will the price finally come down from the statosphere? Most certainly not! They will just have thicker pocket linings. Pricing on software is already out of hand. Now that everyone that can't afford it, but needs it, can't borrow software anymore. It should come down in price.
Let your average Joe Schlob have his TiVO. And he can enjoy wallowing in the deeper and deeper pool of money swallowing, lawsuit-filing RIAA-DMCA-MPAA Pihrannas. I will have nothing to do with it. I'll stick with my adequate personal computer.
So, Iintellectual Property whores want to stifle technology in the PC world? We can stop it. It's simple. Don't buy any of these crappy crippled special purpose appliances. They're worthless in my eyes anyway.
Okay. I'm done ranting. Phew. Anyway, why would anyone want to buy up a ton of worthless appliances, instead of one machine that can do it all, and most of it well?
Because of its fluid nature, the liquid crystal flows ever so gently to send light beams in thousands of directions to make "tweezers" that could gently move one piece of matter at a time or thousands of pieces simultaneously -- and in any direction.
If I didn't know better, I'd say this sounds like a tractor beam.
Science sounds more like science fiction every day.
Why doesn't this suprise me? Everyone and their dog has an LEFastCounter on their personal home page.
I forget everything that LE offers. I think they have banners that link to other sites, But mostly I see the counters.
Of course, a counter is going to sit there and track. That's what counters do: Track the number of users who have hit your site.
Same goes for #4 on the list: extreme-dm.com
Extreme-dm produces a small icon you place on your page that gives all sorts of statistics on who visits your page. I've used it once or twice to get a bead on which browser visits my page most often, and if by not supporting netscape how it would affect my user base.
Both of these services have been placed in the same category as DoubleClick, and why? becuase they post information back to their service. I mean-- it's not like what Doublclick and other unsavory types do, It's an obvious image. The Extreme-DM icon (Looks like a globe with lightning) or the LEFastcounter. The page visitor knows there there, and knows what they do, and can see the information they collect. This is not the same as secretly gathering demographic information for the purpose of targeted marketing. (Though, extreme does allow the content creator to focus on geo regions, browser types, or OS types...)
Perhaps they should look at the source of the so-called "web bugs", before labeling them as such?
Either that, or quit using that browser to post to Slashdot...I'll bet money it is not written in assembler.
Forget that! He should be using http to post to slashdot with raw telnet!
To hell with purists. Visual Studio simply makes the job go faster. What's wrong with efficiency?
I agree totally with what you (and others) said. What this individual is asking us to do is to cut our own trees, shape our own wood, mix our own concrete, and fire our own bricks just to build a house.
$100k ?
Please don't forget that I have a lot of payments to make every month:
There is private school for junior, my dime a dozen BMW, my wife's Lexus, my gas guzzling never will see dirt 4X SUV daily driver, and let's not forget my $1.5m 3 bedroom house on the Westside.( This wasn't so bad since all of my RIAA/MPAA executive friends must live in this area, I was able to sell my 1 bedroom fixer for $1 mil.)
If I'm ever going to get my $10m beach house in Malibu, and all of the other toys I need to have, I've got to do a lot better than $100k. I want to be 'comfortable' after all...
Hard to believe that this is even a story. A student gets suspended for doing something on his own time out of school? Give me a break!
Glad to see they had to pay out for constitutional rights violations!
Wow.. with all the billions of dollars they make. You think they could cut customers, and merchants a bit of slack and lower the price of CD's a bit. Geez...
Really, how much does it take to make a living? I'd be quite comfortable at 100k a year.
A white person can say something negative about a black person and be called a racist.
But, a black person can say something negative about a white person and be called a hero, a visionary, etc...
True equality does not mean a double standard.
Personally, I find Chris Rock offensive. But, that's just one person's opinion. What if Billy Crystal started making racial joke about blacks? I guarantee he would not be hosting the oscars, let alone be seen in any film.
Be careful who you work for. If the deal sounds too good to be true, don't take it. I worked in games for about 9 months, and now I have no desire to ever get in that industry again. Mainly because I was working for a very dishonest individual. If they ask you to sign any contracts, have them reviewed by an attorney first. If they won't let you take the contracts with you, don't work for them. Be wary of someone who wants to pay you as an independant contractor.
I made the mistake. It took all the fun out of writing games. Oh well. It looks good on my resume, even though they lie through their teeth about me when they check previous employers.
Err... Hate to say it, but I think netscrape made their own demise. They created a crappy browser that ahdered to their own standard, instead of accepted standards. Once netscape 4 came out, I was disgusted and switched to IE. Granted -- Netscape 6 is quite a bit better than the 4.x versions of netscape.
I don't mean to bust the creationists' bubble, but consider this:
We used to think the earth was flat -- We know it's round, now
We used to think the universe revolved around us -- We know the world revolves around the sun, which revolves around the center of the galaxy, etc...
So... When you really think about it, No we were not Created.
Quite honestly, These are the types of people that refuse to listen to anyone who does not believe what they believe, what's the word for that? Ignorance?
Though I have never used any of the products mentioned here (with the exception of cakewalk (the last time I used it was some watered-down demo version that came with a soundblaster)) I know all too well how sometimes it seems a product's price is no more than consumer gouging. Look at photoshop, Granted it's a nice, well-done image manipulation package, it sells for more than $500 ($900 for a "non-upgrade"), which, for someone who wants to do some casual photo editing, is way out of their league. The software to manipulate images that come from a digital camera costs more than the camera itself. That's why I use paintshop, and have no sympathy for adobe, when it comes to their overpriced software being pirated like mad.
But, it almost seems like a vicious cycle:
Company overcharges for their product, product is released in a pirate form, company raises product's price to recover losses from piracy.
So... What would happen if a company took a financial hit for a short time and drastically lowered the price of their product? Wouldn't that be a more constructive way of curtailing piracy?
8 mhz 8 bit CPU max.
640K RAM
300 bps modem.
10MB Harddisk (if you were priveleged to have a harddrive)
video: CGA (Color Graphics Adaptor) Max. Resolution 640x200@2 colors, or, color resolution of 320x200@4 colors. 3D acceleration? Forget it.
Cost of a system like this? 3-5K
Today's "Average modern PC"
In 2001
1GHz (1000 mhz) CPU (32 bit)
40 GB harddrive (40,000 MB)
256MB RAM
Modem: 1MBIT DSL connection (Who still uses a modem??)
Video: 1600x1200@32,000 colors, 3D acceleration in hardware. Lots of polygons, really fast.
Price? About 2K
Comparison?
We've increased CPU speed 100-fold,
Memory capacity more than 400 fold.
Disk capacity 4000 fold.
And Graphic capabilities are astounding compared to the systems of yesteryear.
When you look at it this way, Just remember: CPU power has been the slowest to increase.
So we get more space, faster and cheaper. With numbers like this, you still have to wait... (Just look at the Windows 2000 service pack (100MB!! even on DSL that gives you enough time to "smell the roses!")
Slashdot Mirror
I mean. Yeah, it has that oooh cool faddish charm to it, but that's it.
What would be a practical use for something like this? [Oops... hang on, I just got e-mail on my shirt]
AHem.. Anyhow... As I was saying, It just doesn't seem practical, or even that useful.
Maybe there's some practicality yet: Spyware... No, no.. not software that monitors your every move, but clothing that can be used in covert operations. Hmm.. I've said to much already
mmmmm... Smoke and mirrors!
I had a CD-ROM drive that would do this almost every time. It would also freak out under linux and refuse to open (even if the drive wasn't mounted) Replaced the drive. solved all problems.
---
Ooh.. and I love their completely arbitrary titlebar buttons. Poor choice. What does green do? Maximize? Turn something on? What does Yellow do? Slow the program down? Pause the program? Minimise the window? What does Red do? Stop the program? Close the program? Minimize the program? Hide the program? What if you're colorblind and can't distinguish between the colors? Poor UI design if you ask me.
---
Reality hurts.
---
Now That SUCKS.
I don't necessarily mind the piracy protection. But I'm damn sure as hell not going to fork over $400 bucks, just to have windows on my laptop and desktop computer.
Oh. And because everyone will have a legal version of the software, will the price finally come down from the statosphere? Most certainly not! They will just have thicker pocket linings. Pricing on software is already out of hand. Now that everyone that can't afford it, but needs it, can't borrow software anymore. It should come down in price.
Ok. Really. I'm not peeved ... :)
This rant has been brought to you by Archanagor
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Not only that... But some dialups are notorious for busy signals. It'll make install real painful.
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Yup. All those evil things the RIAA and co. don't want you do to.
---
Let your average Joe Schlob have his TiVO. And he can enjoy wallowing in the deeper and deeper pool of money swallowing, lawsuit-filing RIAA-DMCA-MPAA Pihrannas. I will have nothing to do with it. I'll stick with my adequate personal computer.
So, Iintellectual Property whores want to stifle technology in the PC world? We can stop it. It's simple. Don't buy any of these crappy crippled special purpose appliances. They're worthless in my eyes anyway.
Okay. I'm done ranting. Phew. Anyway, why would anyone want to buy up a ton of worthless appliances, instead of one machine that can do it all, and most of it well?
---
Because of its fluid nature, the liquid crystal flows ever so gently to send light beams in thousands of directions to make "tweezers" that could gently move one piece of matter at a time or thousands of pieces simultaneously -- and in any direction.
If I didn't know better, I'd say this sounds like a tractor beam.
Science sounds more like science fiction every day.
---
Man. Working at the local McDonalds would be better than that job ...
... Seriously, get a new job!!
---
Hm. LinkExchange has the largest number of "bugs"
...)
Why doesn't this suprise me? Everyone and their dog has an LEFastCounter on their personal home page.
I forget everything that LE offers. I think they have banners that link to other sites, But mostly I see the counters.
Of course, a counter is going to sit there and track. That's what counters do: Track the number of users who have hit your site.
Same goes for #4 on the list: extreme-dm.com
Extreme-dm produces a small icon you place on your page that gives all sorts of statistics on who visits your page. I've used it once or twice to get a bead on which browser visits my page most often, and if by not supporting netscape how it would affect my user base.
Both of these services have been placed in the same category as DoubleClick, and why? becuase they post information back to their service. I mean-- it's not like what Doublclick and other unsavory types do, It's an obvious image. The Extreme-DM icon (Looks like a globe with lightning) or the LEFastcounter. The page visitor knows there there, and knows what they do, and can see the information they collect. This is not the same as secretly gathering demographic information for the purpose of targeted marketing. (Though, extreme does allow the content creator to focus on geo regions, browser types, or OS types
Perhaps they should look at the source of the so-called "web bugs", before labeling them as such?
---
Forget that! He should be using http to post to slashdot with raw telnet!
To hell with purists. Visual Studio simply makes the job go faster. What's wrong with efficiency?
I agree totally with what you (and others) said. What this individual is asking us to do is to cut our own trees, shape our own wood, mix our own concrete, and fire our own bricks just to build a house.
---
LOL ... Maybe I'm a bit too modest ...
---
Hard to believe that this is even a story. A student gets suspended for doing something on his own time out of school? Give me a break! Glad to see they had to pay out for constitutional rights violations!
---
Wow.. with all the billions of dollars they make. You think they could cut customers, and merchants a bit of slack and lower the price of CD's a bit. Geez ...
Really, how much does it take to make a living? I'd be quite comfortable at 100k a year.
---
Funny ...
...
A white person can say something negative about a black person and be called a racist.
But, a black person can say something negative about a white person and be called a hero, a visionary, etc
True equality does not mean a double standard.
Personally, I find Chris Rock offensive. But, that's just one person's opinion. What if Billy Crystal started making racial joke about blacks? I guarantee he would not be hosting the oscars, let alone be seen in any film.
---
Be careful who you work for. If the deal sounds too good to be true, don't take it. I worked in games for about 9 months, and now I have no desire to ever get in that industry again. Mainly because I was working for a very dishonest individual. If they ask you to sign any contracts, have them reviewed by an attorney first. If they won't let you take the contracts with you, don't work for them. Be wary of someone who wants to pay you as an independant contractor.
I made the mistake. It took all the fun out of writing games. Oh well. It looks good on my resume, even though they lie through their teeth about me when they check previous employers.
Nah. I'm not the least bit bitter.
---
Err... Hate to say it, but I think netscrape made their own demise. They created a crappy browser that ahdered to their own standard, instead of accepted standards. Once netscape 4 came out, I was disgusted and switched to IE. Granted -- Netscape 6 is quite a bit better than the 4.x versions of netscape.
---
Wonder how long before we really do have "Thought Police" ...
---
Woah! where have you been, or where have you shoved your head for the past year or so?
I have a SoundBlaster Live, and it has 2 sets of speaker output (front and back), and an AC-3 (Dolby Digital) coaxial output.
I believe that's the closest to true 3D sound you can get today (Just go to your local movie theater, they're almost always equipped with DD or SDDS)
---
So... When you really think about it, No we were not Created.
Quite honestly, These are the types of people that refuse to listen to anyone who does not believe what they believe, what's the word for that? Ignorance?
Anyway. I'm done with my rant, now.
---
I completely agree with this.
... What would happen if a company took a financial hit for a short time and drastically lowered the price of their product? Wouldn't that be a more constructive way of curtailing piracy?
Though I have never used any of the products mentioned here (with the exception of cakewalk (the last time I used it was some watered-down demo version that came with a soundblaster)) I know all too well how sometimes it seems a product's price is no more than consumer gouging. Look at photoshop, Granted it's a nice, well-done image manipulation package, it sells for more than $500 ($900 for a "non-upgrade"), which, for someone who wants to do some casual photo editing, is way out of their league. The software to manipulate images that come from a digital camera costs more than the camera itself. That's why I use paintshop, and have no sympathy for adobe, when it comes to their overpriced software being pirated like mad.
But, it almost seems like a vicious cycle:
Company overcharges for their product, product is released in a pirate form, company raises product's price to recover losses from piracy.
So
---
Just some thoughts:
... maybe earlier
... (Just look at the Windows 2000 service pack (100MB!! even on DSL that gives you enough time to "smell the roses!")
The "dark ages of personal computing:"
IIRC, around mid-80's
8 mhz 8 bit CPU max.
640K RAM
300 bps modem.
10MB Harddisk (if you were priveleged to have a harddrive)
video: CGA (Color Graphics Adaptor) Max. Resolution 640x200@2 colors, or, color resolution of 320x200@4 colors. 3D acceleration? Forget it.
Cost of a system like this? 3-5K
Today's "Average modern PC"
In 2001
1GHz (1000 mhz) CPU (32 bit)
40 GB harddrive (40,000 MB)
256MB RAM
Modem: 1MBIT DSL connection (Who still uses a modem??)
Video: 1600x1200@32,000 colors, 3D acceleration in hardware. Lots of polygons, really fast.
Price? About 2K
Comparison?
We've increased CPU speed 100-fold,
Memory capacity more than 400 fold.
Disk capacity 4000 fold.
And Graphic capabilities are astounding compared to the systems of yesteryear.
When you look at it this way, Just remember: CPU power has been the slowest to increase.
So we get more space, faster and cheaper. With numbers like this, you still have to wait
---
Can I grow them in my nose, so they get rid of the CO2 I exhale?
---