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User: PhilipMckrack

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Comments · 104

  1. Re:Yeah but... on 16GB Flash USB Dongle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not if you own 10 or so disney/pixar movies and you have put them on the dongle to save space/wear and tear on the disks.

  2. Re:More troubling than it seems on Battery Recalls A Blow to Sony's Recovery · · Score: 1

    After going through 3 $200 (not the greatest, but they were sony) Sony dvd players in 2 years, I've since only bought $30 cheapies. Quality isn't as good picture or sound wise, but if I'm going to replace a DVD player every 8 or 9 months no use paying that much to do it. I used to be a huge sony guy, phones, tv's, dvd players, stereo equipment, but with the quality going downhill over the last 10 years, plus all the drm they are pushing, I won't buy anything Sony for quite some time.

  3. Re:Data entry issues on War Declared on Caps Lock Key · · Score: 1

    You can type in all caps like it "has always been done" or you can spend 59.6 million dollars (random dollar amount subject to change with the size of the company) to rewrite and test an entire application that has been bug free for 15 years to account for lower case characters. Doesn't sound like all that tough of a choice to me.

    There are lots of "if x-field = 'ABC'" in code out there, lots of sorting routines that count on information being in all caps. I know it's not the best way or the proper way, but that's the way it is.

  4. Re:DRM will be the biggest mistake of the CI on Real Networks to Linux - DRM or Die · · Score: 1

    Never thinking once that these companies are far out pacing our government's ability to fairly write laws to protect both company, and individual rights.

    Not to nitpick, but our government hasen't been about writing fair laws to protect individual rights for about 15 years now. PMRC, V-Chip, all the stuff going on with the FCC and radio right now shows us that the government isn't really looking out for our freedoms any more. Keeping or expanding our freedoms will have to come from the people, not the lawmakers.

  5. Re:Microsoft sucks. on 30 Years of Personal Computer Market Share · · Score: 1

    I went from a c64 which was getting dated to a 386 running Dos 5.0. I "added" on Win 3.0 when it came out and then 3.11. I had several friends with similar setups, way before 95 came out. Wing Commander was the first good game I bought for it and most games wouldn't run in windows mode.

  6. Re:Oh, so you're advocating software piracy? on Debugging Microsoft.com · · Score: 1

    It's more like them releasing it only in DVD and you complain because you only have a VHS machine. You can complain all you want, they are under no obligation to release it in another format.

    And the argument that they miss out on potential customers falls flat too. The small percentage of users running a non-microsoft os on a non-x86 platform I would hardly call potential customers.

  7. Re:Accessibility isn't needed for everyone on Open Source Accessibility · · Score: 2, Informative

    This analogy probably isn't a good one, but it works for me. When Delta wants a change in a plane I doubt they hire their own engineers to figure out how to do it. They tell Boeing or whoever sells them their planes what they want and let the plane manufacturer do it. They care nothing about how planes are put together, they are in business to move people from point a to point b as efficiently as possible.

    These people have no interest in developing software. It may sound like they do, but they have no training or know how in software development. They do not want to take the responsibility of hiring people, making sure they are qualified and overseeing a project like this. They want someone to sell it to them so they can concentrate on what their specialty is.

    What they need in this case is someone like RedHat or Novell or "New Joe Blow Super Accessible Linux " or whoever to present them with a solution.

  8. Re:on the other hand on Open Source Accessibility · · Score: 1

    Right on. Microsoft didn't develop all the accessibility features they have out of the goodness of their heart. They did it to win government contracts just like the ones we are discussing.

  9. Re:Accessibility isn't needed for everyone on Open Source Accessibility · · Score: 1

    It could be that they are not in the software business and don't want to be. Not everyone wants to dink around with code to get their computers to work.

  10. I would think this would be their wet dream on Microsoft's Nightmare Scenario · · Score: 1

    If the web were the platform they could charge a monthly fee for www.microsoftword.com etc. That's what they really want to do anyway.

  11. Re:Why should they care? on Computer Jargon Too Difficult for Office Workers · · Score: 1

    Two possible solutions. Either her client tells her that her attachements will take x minutes to upload at her current internet connection, does she really want to continue, or the client on the other side could say "hey, you have an attachement that is going to take 20 minutes to download, do you want to 1) download it 2) save it for later and go to the next one or 3) delete it from the server now." Or both. The client in the latter case could be configured to automatically download mail of up to a certain size and prompt for the larger ones when the person actually sits at the computer.

    I know neither of these are possible with the clients we have now, or at least I'm not aware of it, but they should be. I don't claim these are the only solutions or even the best solutions, but it is one way of handling it so the user really doesn't need to be aware of the size.

  12. Re:Why should they care? on Computer Jargon Too Difficult for Office Workers · · Score: 1

    A possible solution would be for the email client to say something like "you have chosen an attachement of X size, this will take Y minutes to upload using your current internet connection".

    I know I'm in the minority, but I agree with the OP. The end user shouldn't really need to know this stuff. It should all work with as little knowledge as possible beyond knowing how applications work that are related to the job they do.

    A secretary needs to know how a word processor works. An accountant needs to know how a spreadsheet works. Neither of them even need to know a firewall exists.

    A computer for most people is a tool that is used to get some other type of work done. Our job (I'm assuming most /. readers are in the IT field) is to make sure that the computer is as unobtrusive as possible. If lots of people are having trouble sending large emails then it is our job (ours as in the computer industry as a whole) to try to fix that.

  13. Re:My SSN is stolen - I can't party anymore! on Another School Exposes Private Information · · Score: 1

    They did produce Big Ben Roethlisberger, the current Steelers quarterback.

  14. Re:Because they can't be found on New Legal Threat To GMail · · Score: 1

    Trademarks cover more than exact spellings or stylings. Microsoft went after MikeRoweSoft even though it's significantly different and the poor kid wasn't doing anything at all that could be confused with Microsoft.

  15. Re:Sounds legitimate on New Legal Threat To GMail · · Score: 1

    So if (large company) decides to start a new web search engine and happened to call it G-oogle it would be ok? Sorry, but even though it's a short, simple name it is too close and would create confusion that would harm the makers of G-Mail's business. That is the reason the laws are there.

  16. Re:A Few Thoughts: on What's the Point of IT Certifications? · · Score: 1

    I took a test once in college where "B" was always the right answer. Talk about thinking I really screwed up that test when I was done. Everyone was scratching their head after that one.

  17. Re:It's a real shame on Zotob and Mytob Worm Authors Arrested · · Score: 1

    The place I work was infected with Yankee Doodle for about 3 weeks once. We would think we got rid of it then some random computer we thought was clean would be used and it would reinfect them all, playing "Yankee Doodle" over the pc speakers at some oddball time, like 4:43 or something. I was kind of sad when we finally got rid of it.

  18. Re:Their lives are too stressful to pay attention! on Parents 'ignore game age ratings' · · Score: 1

    You get arrested for that.

  19. Re:Random thoughts on Apple on Mac OS X Running on Non-Apple Hardware · · Score: 1

    No, but you recommend something you are familiar with and can help them with problems if they arise. It's more like being a mechanic and recommending a car company because you can do most of the work if they need it. I realize he said he doesn't do tech support for them, but we all know how that goes.

    I'm not in the position to recommend a mac for anyone because I have simply not used one in years and I don't know their capabilities. If I'm trying to help figure out what system suits someone's needs, it helps to know something about that system first.

    He's just saying that games are the hook that would get more people familiar with their system and therefore more likely to buy their hardware.

  20. Re:OMG on Cold Fusion in a Breadbox Instead of a Bottle · · Score: 1

    Sounds to me like they are using a cattle prod to force him in there.

  21. Re:what would the mob want with a massive botnet? on CA Warns Of Massive Botnet Attack · · Score: 1
  22. Re:It can't work on Anonymous Library Cards An Option? · · Score: 1

    If that's the case you could expand your library quite nicely for $5 a book. There is no way a library would anonymously give out a book with less collateral than it is worth. They would turn into a bookstore.

  23. Re:I guess the chicken is the part of this that is on Cybernetic System to Allow Physical Interaction · · Score: 1

    Microsoft has the patent for reading email on a chicken as well as pig, cow and duck. If you hurry fast you can probably patent reading email on a Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey, but after I post this you better be quick.

  24. Re:Generally Speaking on Newest Star Wars Reviews Suprisingly Positive · · Score: 1

    I wasted my time and money and came to the same conclusion as everyone else. I wish someone could have convinced me what to think and not waste my time.

  25. Re:Contest announcement on Hack IIS6 Contest · · Score: 1

    This won't land you in jail?