>> "... sue teenagers and grand parents for using Kazaa and/or exchanging music MP3s on P2P."
> Either way, I'm not sure what you mean > should there be upper and lower age limits for being subject to copyright law?
Sigh.
oThey are going after people for downloading music.
oThey are accused of price fixing.
Connect the dots. Now, exuse me while I go pull the wool over my own eyes.
I frequently read that spammers are guilty of theft; they steal my bandwidth, my cpu cycles, my hd. But, when it comes to music sharing, I hear the record label isn't out anything 'cause I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so it's not theft. Well, heck, you weren't using that bandwidth etc at the time, so... Oh, whatever, it's late, I'm going to bed.
p.s. I hate all spam AND file sharing of, shall we say, questionable ethics BUT that's just because I'm a grumpy old man
Of course, what they might be doing... is disallowing OEMs to pre-install, say, Quicktime and Realplayer on the systems they sell
I don't see Real and Quicktime as products competing with MediaPlayer. Maybe they want to compete, but they just aren't. I use Quicktime to play Quicktime movies, used to use Real to listen to RealAudio, and, on occation, I use MediaPlayer when needed. For general music listening on Windows and Mac I much prefer iTunes. So, unless, iTunes is going to be included, it's just not an issue for me.
It's the distributors of media content who will determine the winner, and at present, that appears to be Windows. Many people like those Windows video and music formats. There is lots of the MediaPlayer format now, there will be more in the future. The lawsuit is irrelavant.
Ya, it's nice to have Quicktime and Real preinstalled. The OEM should have the option. But I just don't think it's a big deal. I think Windows MediaPlayer will gain the same amount of ground regardless of the outcome of the court case.
If you want a battle, it has to be with the content providers who are only offering the Windows MediaPlayer option to the end users.
But Gentoo has stepped out of the shadows and now is talk of the town among geeks
I guess I am very ignorant. I thought Gentoo was a 100% geek thing. Wimpy, oily kids run in in their parents basement, but surely businesses wouldn't have anything to do with it. I was amazed to read (if I read correctly): But according to one metric by Internet research company Netcraft's January survey, when measured by counting active sites that contain the name of a Linux distribution in the header of the open source Apache Server...Gentoo's 19.5 percent growth to 24,229 installations
Granted, my above comments about the Gentoo user base are intentionally exagerated, but, honestly, I didn't think it would be found running a significant number of Apache servers. Methinks that's pretty cool.
However, upgrades are not free. Obviously most new Apple boxes will be running OS X, however, in a couple of years, when the users are thinking of upgrading software, they may go the Linux route. Or, similarly, a new computer is purchased, and the old computer put to a different use running Linux.
You're not hearing about ad agencies doing mass migrations to Linux, replacing Photoshop with the Gimp and Quark with... with... um, well, you're not hearing about it.
Replacing Quark with Scribus. But, ya, it's not going to happen. Windows really is a bigger player than many people realize. MS is taking over a significant portion of the market. And, for the most part, outside of America, MS controls the print industry. It's a point that's been beat to death already -- when the cost of an illegal copy of software is zero, free doesn't mean much.
I'm on a Dell Laptop, 1133Mhz, 256MB of RAM and running MS Office 2003. Word opens in just under 4 seconds.
We can play this game forever:P
I am writing this on a 233 Mhz laptop purchased circa 1997. Takes apporximately 9 seconds (one mississippi, two mississippi...) to fully open a new OpenOffice "Text Document" from "Quickstarter". I feel that is perfectly acceptable, as the computer is also running Mozilla, and the two are quite a load for this old machine. MS Office 2003 isn't even an option, as this piece of equipment doesn't meet the minimum system requirements.
But if you want to send me money to buy a new Dell laptop and a copy of MS Office so I can shave five seconds off my start up time, feel free to PayPal me:)
And if you were "on top" and find yourself lower, that's an indication that maybe...
...that maybe you didn't deserve to be on top? When Google brings in a large number of visitors, the company should be able to build on that customer base if the site is worth visiting. A respectable site will get good reviews on the web and message boards, thereby increasing the number of links and visitors. Word of mouth is by far the best advertising. Google didn't become the number one search engine by people going to google and searching for google:P
They're fscking IBM! They do their best to look even bigger than the 800 pound gorilla that they are so, that the PHBs, who are business people, are sure that IBM is the winning team; cuz that is who the PHBs go with: the ones they consider to be the winning team.
Few years back IBM heavily advertised OS/2. Recall the TV commercials? The winning team was Win95. I think the current crop of Windows commercials do a better job of appealing to business minds than the IBM counterparts. Regardless, I think the general public is more likely to be swayed by a cute tv commercial, as bosses are generally good salespeople who, I think, are immune to tv ad techniques. However, PHBs can't get enough oversimplified charts showing the company making more money with some succinct data to back up the claim.
To the best of my knowledge, Googhole has already lost a similar case. I don't feel bad. I see it more as a store calling themsleves "Wallmart" and looking exactly like Walmart. It's not parody, it's a simple rip-off.
The cost of anti-virus and related is the least part of the equation, even factoring in the admin's time, and I don't care *how* cheaply you work. Not even if you're a volunteer.
But, now all of that is assuming the time spent dealing with the virus is coming from the workers productive time. On any given day most people waste huge amounts of time dilly dallying. I just assume the time spent with the virus comes from the wasted hours at work, hence, cost is zero.:P
Seriously, for the past couple of months I've been buying more CDs than ever before. Why? Moved to Merida, Mexico. CDs sell for about $1.50 USD. Granted, they aren't "originals", but they sound fine to me. Heck, I'd be willing to bet that if you could pick up CDs in the US for that price, well, the number of downloads would drop.
Have you ever spent any time in jail? It isn't a joke and not for people that are mere nuisances. Nothing but serious business behind those walls.
Hey, I just got out of jail -- one week for second DWI in 10 years (first being 7 years ago). We played cards and ping pong, worked out, watched TV, exchanged e-mails and URLs. REAL serious, we didn't have computers. Cellmates included a computer programmer, a graphics designer, a network admin, two engineers, a construction company owner, a highschool guidance counselor etc... All in for DWI or personal drug possession. Ya, real effing scarey felons. It's nice that you don't associate with those who have neither driven after a couple drinks nor touched an illegal substance. I wish I new what saintly universe you lived in, dipwad.
Currently Linux has a few issues but overall, for the price (free), when it comes time to buy a new computer, why buy longhorn when you can get Linux for free?
How quickly we forget. Just a couple days ago a gent wrote to slashdot stating his company would pay, what was it, $350K to RedHat for their latest pricing scheme. That's free for very high prices of free. Oddly, it seems that the higher price tag adds some credibility. While Debian was a very popular choice for the replies, Debian lacks official support and the software vendors stamp of approval, which many (most) companies consider essential, hence was a moot point made over and over and over again.
Yesterday I put in some overtime by working in our manufacturing plant. Wore my nifty CopyLeft baseball cap with the backwards C. Several of the college kids asked me what it was. When I told them, not a one had a clue as to what I was talking about. They never heard of GNU or linux or opensource/free software in general. That didn't leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling for the future.
In our IT department, while I'm not what one would call an advocate, whenever I mention linux or anything in the free software genre, I quickly get an "oh shut up, it's junk" reply.
20% by 2008 is just a silly pipedream. The major problem seems to be mind share. Folks who aren't fanatical about Windows are seen as the bad guys who infect computers with viri and engage in other immoral activities that cause trouble. I picture a witch hunt type senario against linux et al rather than a major acceptance.
-----
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best
The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
-----
We've seen it over and over again, the better choice doesn't always win. The only way I see linux succeeding is by first dominating non-US markets. e.g. Company X sets up a shop in Country Y where linux is number one, they use linux there, it proves to be a good value, then is implemented in other locations. But given the Windows network design, I think that is even pretty far stretched, as incorporating non-Winodws network segments in their forest/tree thing can be a real pain. And, let us not forget, the US is basically the only place on earth that continues to reject the metric system.
When NeXT was a new company they put out a poster featuring a pic of their pooter and proclaiming ~ "In the next decade there will be 10 computer innovations -- Here's 8 of 'em"
Well, my old 25 mgz NeXTstation with a 200 meg SCSI hd, 8 meg of ram, and grayscale display still does the job for me. (Granted lots of stuff stored on network drives, but I digress.) Best GUI I've ever used. If it weren't for work compatability, I'd have no need for another box at home.
What annoys me more than anything is when people want new computers for no reason other than newness. This is especially true in the work place. If the company hasn't grown or changed significantly, once a good computer setup is established, changing is most often a waste of time and money.
So if the scammers are getting their money, the credit card companies pay them. If the credit card companies pay them...
Nice idea, I've pursued it, it's a dead end.
I've tried contacting the CC companies when seeing something of a questionable nature. They just don't care. Web forms spew forth unrelated autogenerated replies. Telephone calls have resulted in "We'll have someone call you", but the calls do not get returned.
I've considered contacting the police when seeing fraudulent looking set ups. At least there, although nothing will be done, they will probably acknowledge my existence:P
> Yes, it is. They often use day/month/year instead of month/day/year
Heck, I use day/month/year in America despite popular opinion just because I think Middle/Small/Large is an effing stupid way to arrange things. Fortunately, today no one knows the difference:P thblplblpth
A couple years back I thinking of doing the online education. First two places I looked at required the student to run Windows. The search ended.
Looking today at the System Requirements and Support:
To run the University of Phoenix Online Access Software, you will need Windows 95, 98, ME or 2000.
> 1. Title bars, with close buttons (and optional resize buttons).
Every app I can think of has an exit command, and in some cases is the better method of closing the app. Hence, I never understood the reason for the close button.
> 3. Windowshading.
That is one of the coolest features. Once I started using it, I never minimized again.
The thing I don't understand about all all this WM debate is that many "full featured" WMs can be made minimal either directly through the code or via config.
Personally I've always used fvwm. Worked well on a box with 8 meg of RAM when I first found linux, and it still works great today. On my primary desktop I have single color title bars without buttons, (a comfortable border width,) the pager, and way more keyboard shortcuts than I'd ever want to teach anybody. Everything else has been stripped out. No wallpapers, or any other fluff. I change the color scheme every year or two (usually when doing a major upgrade).
However, when needed for others I compile in all sorts of goodies, configure all sorts of junk, and I can make it look like any WM out there.
My theory is that the WM should be as invisible as possible -- the purpose of the computer is the programs it runs. The user who needs to keep a few different GUI apps open will need something a bit different from someone who spends the majority of time in xterm and different from the user who either only uses one program or only has access to one program to make the invisibility possible. (Grammar be damned.)
fvwm may not be the best for any given situation, but the reason I like it is that it can be manipulated easily enough for many different environments. I'm sure there are a few other WMs out there that fit the bill as well. I just don't understand why WMs are such a major issue. Learn one, set it up, use it, and shut up.
I'm reading at mod 2, and too many posts are the same -- "Those stupid people who work for minimum wage"
Quite honestly, I also typically give odd change, and off hand I can't remember the last time I saw a clerk confused by it.
Fer cryin out loud, I knew slashdot was filled with techno-snobs, but I didn't realize there were so many complete pricks. It's really sad to see so many hold others with such contempt.
I'm am fully confident that any given cashier knows more about something, and/or is better at something than me. I'm also fully confident that a high percentage of those low life, pathetic, stupid morons working cash registers are far better people than many slashdot posters.
Quote mackstann: Such as? DeCSS? Warez? Mp3s? There aren't a whole lot of things that are potentially illegal to link to, and the few that are, are well known by everyone
Gee, you missed a big one, using gif images. Most home users are using either a) "borrowed" software or b) software which doesn't include license to distribute the images. Walk down the street and ask people if they knew that. Guessing that "everyone" will apply only to very small numbers of "everyone"
And, if I recall, eBay is hugely popular. But they have restrictions on linking. Again, I highly doubt that it is known by everyone.
Insert your favorite example here.
Quote mackstann: First off, it's easy to protect against spam. Second, just because you have a bunch of spam doesn't mean that all of a sudden all other email is just worthless.
This week I helped a neighbor install a copy of Norton anti-virus that he purchased. He's a doctor who has owned a home PC for about 7 years now. Not a stupid guy. He'd been trying without success to install the program himself for a week. How easy it it going to be for him to effectively block spam?
My folks had internet access just for the sake of e-mailing the relatives. Some unkind relatives liked the "forward this page to a friend" links, which registered the recipients in spam databases. (Yes, I actually telephoned some of the companies that were sending the spam, claiming "opt in", and that seems to be what qualifies.) My folks, who never used the web, were getting approximately 100 pieces of spam per legit e-mail. They dropped the account. So, yes, Virginia, spam does make e-mail worthless.
I know too many people who have home computers but refuse to pay for internet access because they perceive it as a wasteland of over-aggressive marketing. Libraries have lots of info, and are generally easy to use. Most cities have a music store, and some degree of live music. Video/dvd rental is affordable, and generally enjoyable. The $20 a month or more for access, teamed with the time investment to keep everything updated et al, just doesn't give a good ROI for many people.
I deal in porn, and what shocks every new adult "webmaster" is that sales peak during office hours. I suspect that if it weren't for internet access at work, many a man would opt for the dirty book store rather than fight with a computer at home.
"I think the free software people are idiots. Kinda the same if 1/2 the plumbers in the world went around doing the job for nothing- because 'everyone should have water'."
To play with your analogy, it's the same as a plumber installing the pipes in your house, then forcing you to sign a contract stating that you cannot modify the plumbing system yourself or go to any competing plumber to fix a problem.
-----
In addition the plumber saying you can't use any other "tubular devices" other than those he/she has authorized for the transport of liquid materials. To use the approved "tubular devices" for any means other than the transport of liquids is also a violation of the contract. So on and so forth ad infinitum...
But I do agree that in the once free software days of yesteryear, there were problems, hence, allowing the shrink wrapped buisness model to succeed.
Defense funds will form and they too will suffer. The idea is to make everyone in favor of trading suffer somehow.
For some twisted reason I always saw the file sharing debate to be a lame extention of "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut. File sharers need the recording industry, obviously. OTOH, the recording industry needs the file sharers. They each pretend the other to be evil, while actually being the same. Guess I've seen too many Road Runner commercials promoting faster music downloads:P
Slashdot Mirror
But if you get an "job offer" that refuses to clairify the nature of the work and is work at home, you can pretty much assume that it's a scam.
But even those companies wanted nothing to do with me. That's why I resorted to porn.
>> "... sue teenagers and grand parents for using Kazaa and/or exchanging music MP3s on P2P."
> Either way, I'm not sure what you mean
> should there be upper and lower age limits for being subject to copyright law?
Sigh.
oThey are going after people for downloading music.oThey are accused of price fixing.
Connect the dots. Now, exuse me while I go pull the wool over my own eyes.
I frequently read that spammers are guilty of theft; they steal my bandwidth, my cpu cycles, my hd. But, when it comes to music sharing, I hear the record label isn't out anything 'cause I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so it's not theft. Well, heck, you weren't using that bandwidth etc at the time, so... Oh, whatever, it's late, I'm going to bed.
p.s. I hate all spam AND file sharing of, shall we say, questionable ethics BUT that's just because I'm a grumpy old man
Of course, what they might be doing... is disallowing OEMs to pre-install, say, Quicktime and Realplayer on the systems they sell
I don't see Real and Quicktime as products competing with MediaPlayer. Maybe they want to compete, but they just aren't. I use Quicktime to play Quicktime movies, used to use Real to listen to RealAudio, and, on occation, I use MediaPlayer when needed. For general music listening on Windows and Mac I much prefer iTunes. So, unless, iTunes is going to be included, it's just not an issue for me.
It's the distributors of media content who will determine the winner, and at present, that appears to be Windows. Many people like those Windows video and music formats. There is lots of the MediaPlayer format now, there will be more in the future. The lawsuit is irrelavant.
Ya, it's nice to have Quicktime and Real preinstalled. The OEM should have the option. But I just don't think it's a big deal. I think Windows MediaPlayer will gain the same amount of ground regardless of the outcome of the court case.
If you want a battle, it has to be with the content providers who are only offering the Windows MediaPlayer option to the end users.
But Gentoo has stepped out of the shadows and now is talk of the town among geeks
I guess I am very ignorant. I thought Gentoo was a 100% geek thing. Wimpy, oily kids run in in their parents basement, but surely businesses wouldn't have anything to do with it. I was amazed to read (if I read correctly):
But according to one metric by Internet research company Netcraft's January survey, when measured by counting active sites that contain the name of a Linux distribution in the header of the open source Apache Server...Gentoo's 19.5 percent growth to 24,229 installations
Granted, my above comments about the Gentoo user base are intentionally exagerated, but, honestly, I didn't think it would be found running a significant number of Apache servers. Methinks that's pretty cool.
Mac OS X is free in a sense as well.
However, upgrades are not free. Obviously most new Apple boxes will be running OS X, however, in a couple of years, when the users are thinking of upgrading software, they may go the Linux route. Or, similarly, a new computer is purchased, and the old computer put to a different use running Linux.
You're not hearing about ad agencies doing mass migrations to Linux, replacing Photoshop with the Gimp and Quark with... with... um, well, you're not hearing about it.
Replacing Quark with Scribus. But, ya, it's not going to happen. Windows really is a bigger player than many people realize. MS is taking over a significant portion of the market. And, for the most part, outside of America, MS controls the print industry. It's a point that's been beat to death already -- when the cost of an illegal copy of software is zero, free doesn't mean much.
Silly picture link for the weekend
I'm on a Dell Laptop, 1133Mhz, 256MB of RAM and running MS Office 2003. Word opens in just under 4 seconds.
We can play this game forever :P
I am writing this on a 233 Mhz laptop purchased circa 1997. Takes apporximately 9 seconds (one mississippi, two mississippi...) to fully open a new OpenOffice "Text Document" from "Quickstarter". I feel that is perfectly acceptable, as the computer is also running Mozilla, and the two are quite a load for this old machine. MS Office 2003 isn't even an option, as this piece of equipment doesn't meet the minimum system requirements.
But if you want to send me money to buy a new Dell laptop and a copy of MS Office so I can shave five seconds off my start up time, feel free to PayPal me :)
Regards
And if you were "on top" and find yourself lower, that's an indication that maybe...
...that maybe you didn't deserve to be on top? When Google brings in a large number of visitors, the company should be able to build on that customer base if the site is worth visiting. A respectable site will get good reviews on the web and message boards, thereby increasing the number of links and visitors. Word of mouth is by far the best advertising. Google didn't become the number one search engine by people going to google and searching for google :P
They're fscking IBM! They do their best to look even bigger than the 800 pound gorilla that they are so, that the PHBs, who are business people, are sure that IBM is the winning team; cuz that is who the PHBs go with: the ones they consider to be the winning team.
Few years back IBM heavily advertised OS/2. Recall the TV commercials? The winning team was Win95. I think the current crop of Windows commercials do a better job of appealing to business minds than the IBM counterparts. Regardless, I think the general public is more likely to be swayed by a cute tv commercial, as bosses are generally good salespeople who, I think, are immune to tv ad techniques. However, PHBs can't get enough oversimplified charts showing the company making more money with some succinct data to back up the claim.
What's going to happen to these others?
To the best of my knowledge, Googhole has already lost a similar case. I don't feel bad. I see it more as a store calling themsleves "Wallmart" and looking exactly like Walmart. It's not parody, it's a simple rip-off.
The cost of anti-virus and related is the least part of the equation, even factoring in the admin's time, and I don't care *how* cheaply you work. Not even if you're a volunteer.
But, now all of that is assuming the time spent dealing with the virus is coming from the workers productive time. On any given day most people waste huge amounts of time dilly dallying. I just assume the time spent with the virus comes from the wasted hours at work, hence, cost is zero. :P
Seriously, for the past couple of months I've been buying more CDs than ever before. Why? Moved to Merida, Mexico. CDs sell for about $1.50 USD. Granted, they aren't "originals", but they sound fine to me. Heck, I'd be willing to bet that if you could pick up CDs in the US for that price, well, the number of downloads would drop.
Hey,
I just got out of jail -- one week for second DWI in 10 years (first being 7 years ago). We played cards and ping pong, worked out, watched TV, exchanged e-mails and URLs. REAL serious, we didn't have computers. Cellmates included a computer programmer, a graphics designer, a network admin, two engineers, a construction company owner, a highschool guidance counselor etc... All in for DWI or personal drug possession. Ya, real effing scarey felons. It's nice that you don't associate with those who have neither driven after a couple drinks nor touched an illegal substance. I wish I new what saintly universe you lived in, dipwad.
How quickly we forget. Just a couple days ago a gent wrote to slashdot stating his company would pay, what was it, $350K to RedHat for their latest pricing scheme. That's free for very high prices of free. Oddly, it seems that the higher price tag adds some credibility. While Debian was a very popular choice for the replies, Debian lacks official support and the software vendors stamp of approval, which many (most) companies consider essential, hence was a moot point made over and over and over again.
Yesterday I put in some overtime by working in our manufacturing plant. Wore my nifty CopyLeft baseball cap with the backwards C. Several of the college kids asked me what it was. When I told them, not a one had a clue as to what I was talking about. They never heard of GNU or linux or opensource/free software in general. That didn't leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling for the future.
In our IT department, while I'm not what one would call an advocate, whenever I mention linux or anything in the free software genre, I quickly get an "oh shut up, it's junk" reply.
20% by 2008 is just a silly pipedream. The major problem seems to be mind share. Folks who aren't fanatical about Windows are seen as the bad guys who infect computers with viri and engage in other immoral activities that cause trouble. I picture a witch hunt type senario against linux et al rather than a major acceptance.
-----
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best
The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
-----
We've seen it over and over again, the better choice doesn't always win. The only way I see linux succeeding is by first dominating non-US markets. e.g. Company X sets up a shop in Country Y where linux is number one, they use linux there, it proves to be a good value, then is implemented in other locations. But given the Windows network design, I think that is even pretty far stretched, as incorporating non-Winodws network segments in their forest/tree thing can be a real pain. And, let us not forget, the US is basically the only place on earth that continues to reject the metric system.
Well, that's enough Sunday morning babbling :P
When NeXT was a new company they put out a poster featuring a pic of their pooter and proclaiming ~ "In the next decade there will be 10 computer innovations -- Here's 8 of 'em"
Well, my old 25 mgz NeXTstation with a 200 meg SCSI hd, 8 meg of ram, and grayscale display still does the job for me. (Granted lots of stuff stored on network drives, but I digress.) Best GUI I've ever used. If it weren't for work compatability, I'd have no need for another box at home.
What annoys me more than anything is when people want new computers for no reason other than newness. This is especially true in the work place. If the company hasn't grown or changed significantly, once a good computer setup is established, changing is most often a waste of time and money.
Signed,
Grumpy Old Man
Nice idea, I've pursued it, it's a dead end.
I've tried contacting the CC companies when seeing something of a questionable nature. They just don't care. Web forms spew forth unrelated autogenerated replies. Telephone calls have resulted in "We'll have someone call you", but the calls do not get returned.
I've considered contacting the police when seeing fraudulent looking set ups. At least there, although nothing will be done, they will probably acknowledge my existence :P
> Yes, it is. They often use day/month/year instead of month/day/year
Heck, I use day/month/year in America despite popular opinion just because I think Middle/Small/Large is an effing stupid way to arrange things. Fortunately, today no one knows the difference :P thblplblpth
A couple years back I thinking of doing the online education. First two places I looked at required the student to run Windows. The search ended.
Looking today at the System Requirements and Support:
To run the University of Phoenix Online Access Software, you will need Windows 95, 98, ME or 2000.
This is just wrong.
> 1. Title bars, with close buttons (and optional resize buttons).
Every app I can think of has an exit command, and in some cases is the better method of closing the app. Hence, I never understood the reason for the close button.
> 3. Windowshading.
That is one of the coolest features. Once I started using it, I never minimized again.
The thing I don't understand about all all this WM debate is that many "full featured" WMs can be made minimal either directly through the code or via config.
Personally I've always used fvwm. Worked well on a box with 8 meg of RAM when I first found linux, and it still works great today. On my primary desktop I have single color title bars without buttons, (a comfortable border width,) the pager, and way more keyboard shortcuts than I'd ever want to teach anybody. Everything else has been stripped out. No wallpapers, or any other fluff. I change the color scheme every year or two (usually when doing a major upgrade).
However, when needed for others I compile in all sorts of goodies, configure all sorts of junk, and I can make it look like any WM out there.
My theory is that the WM should be as invisible as possible -- the purpose of the computer is the programs it runs. The user who needs to keep a few different GUI apps open will need something a bit different from someone who spends the majority of time in xterm and different from the user who either only uses one program or only has access to one program to make the invisibility possible. (Grammar be damned.)
fvwm may not be the best for any given situation, but the reason I like it is that it can be manipulated easily enough for many different environments. I'm sure there are a few other WMs out there that fit the bill as well. I just don't understand why WMs are such a major issue. Learn one, set it up, use it, and shut up.
I'm thinking maybe it wasn't stolen, but, instead the transparency was set to 1 with that nifty Vitrite :P
(Seriously super cool util)
I'm reading at mod 2, and too many posts are the same -- "Those stupid people who work for minimum wage"
Quite honestly, I also typically give odd change, and off hand I can't remember the last time I saw a clerk confused by it.
Fer cryin out loud, I knew slashdot was filled with techno-snobs, but I didn't realize there were so many complete pricks. It's really sad to see so many hold others with such contempt.
I'm am fully confident that any given cashier knows more about something, and/or is better at something than me. I'm also fully confident that a high percentage of those low life, pathetic, stupid morons working cash registers are far better people than many slashdot posters.
Such as? DeCSS? Warez? Mp3s? There aren't a whole lot of things that are potentially illegal to link to, and the few that are, are well known by everyone
Gee, you missed a big one, using gif images. Most home users are using either a) "borrowed" software or b) software which doesn't include license to distribute the images. Walk down the street and ask people if they knew that. Guessing that "everyone" will apply only to very small numbers of "everyone"
And, if I recall, eBay is hugely popular. But they have restrictions on linking. Again, I highly doubt that it is known by everyone.
Insert your favorite example here.
Quote mackstann:First off, it's easy to protect against spam. Second, just because you have a bunch of spam doesn't mean that all of a sudden all other email is just worthless.
This week I helped a neighbor install a copy of Norton anti-virus that he purchased. He's a doctor who has owned a home PC for about 7 years now. Not a stupid guy. He'd been trying without success to install the program himself for a week. How easy it it going to be for him to effectively block spam?
My folks had internet access just for the sake of e-mailing the relatives. Some unkind relatives liked the "forward this page to a friend" links, which registered the recipients in spam databases. (Yes, I actually telephoned some of the companies that were sending the spam, claiming "opt in", and that seems to be what qualifies.) My folks, who never used the web, were getting approximately 100 pieces of spam per legit e-mail. They dropped the account. So, yes, Virginia, spam does make e-mail worthless.
I know too many people who have home computers but refuse to pay for internet access because they perceive it as a wasteland of over-aggressive marketing. Libraries have lots of info, and are generally easy to use. Most cities have a music store, and some degree of live music. Video/dvd rental is affordable, and generally enjoyable. The $20 a month or more for access, teamed with the time investment to keep everything updated et al, just doesn't give a good ROI for many people.
I deal in porn, and what shocks every new adult "webmaster" is that sales peak during office hours. I suspect that if it weren't for internet access at work, many a man would opt for the dirty book store rather than fight with a computer at home.
In addition the plumber saying you can't use any other "tubular devices" other than those he/she has authorized for the transport of liquid materials. To use the approved "tubular devices" for any means other than the transport of liquids is also a violation of the contract. So on and so forth ad infinitum...
But I do agree that in the once free software days of yesteryear, there were problems, hence, allowing the shrink wrapped buisness model to succeed.
For some twisted reason I always saw the file sharing debate to be a lame extention of "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut. File sharers need the recording industry, obviously. OTOH, the recording industry needs the file sharers. They each pretend the other to be evil, while actually being the same. Guess I've seen too many Road Runner commercials promoting faster music downloads :P
IceNine baby