Honestly, I hope that they do. I find the quality of Google search results has gone down, and I would appreciate a competitor doing better and forcing Google to take a more serious look.
I don't mind that it's Microsoft, so long as the site is accessible from multiple operating systems and browsers. I honestly don't mind who it is, but I would appreciate seeing the link-farm problems disappearing. A competitor getting rid of them, and without plastering adverts of their own everywhere, would get my searching.
Next thing you know, you'll be telling us that haggis tastes like dog poop or something.
We had some haggis on Burns' Night one time. It was appalling, so we put it out for the birds. Next day...not a single bird would go near the damned thing.
Cheers,
Ian
(actually three Scottish names with all the right heritage - Ian Chisholm McCall. English though, I've not often been in Scotland).
The kids aren't in school to learn Windows. They're ther to learn. Period.
We agree.
There is a good stack of good educational software available on Linux.
Now it gets more hazy. This needs to be proven, and proven in such a way that you can say that the Linux software matches the syllabus requirements and has support. 'Support' here probably means 'will be updated to match future syllabuses'. At the moment, I neither agree nor disagree here but see the need for more proof.
If the apps that they need to do their learning are available on Linux, then why use Windows.
Agreed, but see the point above and also take into account that syllabuses change and material is made available. How would this Linux-only school cope with a county-wide education policy mandating application X, where X is on Windows for example?
One of the things that I see with Windows is that people are afraid of their machine (do one thing wrong and the machine is toast). Things like Linux (or OSX) seem to allow people to play around more with little fear of breaking the system.
Absolutely and we agree again, but I'm not sure this is relevant to the discussion. We're assuming they're not learning about computing per se - if we are saying that they are, then you will note my recommendation for a Linux/Windows mix in the computing science classes.
Unless you have a really important application with no equivalent on Linux, you shouldn't be afraid to at least look at using Linux. You can test applications like LTSP without having to uninstall the software currently on the boxes, so you're not committing yourself irreversably like you probably would be with a Windows upgrade.
...and we agree here as well.
So I don't think I did miss my own point - I think our difference is that I suspect the software required will be Windows only, and you believe there will be some Linux alternative. Without knowing more from the thread's poster, there's no way of telling who's right and who's wrong here so both viewpoints are worth hearing.
Cheers,
Ian
Oh please god yes
on
Golf in Space
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Please. Please send golf into space. As long as it's all golf, and a very long way away from me. A very very long way away from me. Where do I donate? This is a cause worthy of funding.
If you have to ask.. possibly to learn that they can use the tools placed in front of them, instead of having the tools use them?
But tools to do what? That's what I'm asking. The original poster and yourself have phrased the matter as if learning about computing could be considered the main task. But to take an example, why should someone studying biology at the 12 year-old level care at all about what tool is delivered to do so, so long as it works? Computing isn't what that particular student is there to learn about.
When I was going through education (err...1980s to 1992) we used BBC Micros, later 286 DOS-based machines and at University I used a combination of Hypercard and X11 under DYNIX. I'm a Computer Science graduate, also took Computer Science at 'A'-Level which accounts for the 286s and the DYNIX. For my non-computing contemporaries however, the computers were just tools used mostly for running tests and interactive learning-type things. No-one cared about trying to learn the BBC Micro inside out except those who were already interested in computing in the first place.
I'm just suggesting that the focus here is wrong - what are these people trying to learn? If it's computing, then yes - give them access to Linux. If it's not, if it's just general run-the-tests, show-educational-video type of stuff, then the OS should be that which runs the software required. And I'll bet it's Windows in this case.
It's not a popular view on Slashdot I know and I'm far from a Windows advocate myself, using OS X and Debian at home, but to pick an OS for its own sake rather thamn looking at the purpose the computer has been bought for...that's the wrong approach.
I get to watch lots of non-technical people use computers all day. They often don't know much about how the tools work, and don't put forth any effort to increase their knowledge of the tools.
As do I. My wife for example, though she's been happier since moving to OS X. But whilst she failed to increase her knowledge of computing environments, she rather massively increased her knowledge of optics and is now a qualified optician. Lack of curiosity about computers is not an indication of lack of intelligence, nor of a curiosity deficit overall.
Is it more educational to buy a packaged education or take a classroom and create a learning environment?
A learning environment for what though? These kids' focus is probably not learning computer desktop environments, it's more likely to be using some specialised educational software.
My advice would be to stay with Windows in the general classes, and to put a 50/50 Windows/Linux split in the computing classes should the syllabus make that possible. Oh, and I'm an OS X user by the way, don't use Windows at all in the home (barring Quicken UK under emulation). But I'm also a pragmatist - a situation like this needs more co-ordination. How will the kids use materials offered by other schools? How does running Ubuntu relate to their syllabus requirements?
I suspect Windows is the right answer in this case. For computer science classes I can agree with and indeed advocate using Linux, but even there a mixed environment is probably appropriate.
Anyone else who has listened to the BBC "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" show probably knows what I mean. The first two series were done within a short time of each other. They also had Douglas Adams' input. The third (and others) were made about twenty-five years later. They are nothing like the first two; I never listen to the CD of the third series that I purchased. Most of the major voice talents are the same. Including Zaphod, who sounds like a roaring drunk in rehab, in the new series. And, possibly most of all, the performances do not have any of the charm and energy that the first two exhibit.
We're going to have to agree to differ on this one, as I thought the quandary and quintessential radio series to be superb. Remember that the books themselves are darker by now, and that the performances are coloured accordingly. Remember too that the characters are supposed to be older and more experienced.
As for having Douglas Adam's input, whilst I have the utmost respect for his work I thought the two recent series showed how much better things were when he had an editor or someone else to bounce off. I thought the last book was quite poor, and not just because of the ending. I also thought the fourth book was only so-so. But the radio series...both were superb, because they had editorial input from others. Douglas Adam's did not create HHGttG on his own first time round - that's why certain characters are missing from the books, because he didn't have the rights to them.
Cheers,
Ian
Re:IPods are the only reason why Apple still exist
on
Woz On Apple's Success
·
· Score: 1
Well, here in Ole Silicon Valley...[t]here are three laptops that I see on the train, PowerBooks, ThinkPads, and Dell whatevers. I'd say I see each in about equal numbers.
I commute in to London every day and work in the City. My experience is similar to yours - only those three brands tend to make an appearence, though I'll allow the odd HP and Sony a guest mention. However the Dell/Thinkpad numbers dwarf the rest - whilst my Powerbook isn't quite a unique sight, it's not an especially common one either.
Having said that, if you dump the commute and just look at laptops in the various coffee bars etc. within the City itself, then the Apple quotient jumps up again. And it's still the same brands that make the bulk of the appearance.
For once, it seems that Google is the one copying here. I'm speaking of.Mac, but not in its paid incarnation of.Mac but rather the freebie incarnation of iTools (think that was the name). I know other individual services have similar capabilities, but it's the tying of them all together that makes the service.
We have gPhoto and gWeb, Mail.app and Address Book. It's arguable whether Spotlight and Google Desktop share any direct inspiration (I don't think they do), but the upshot is the same there as well. Do they make gCal yet? Is gSync necessary even due to their web focus?
I await gMovie, gDVD, gTunes, gArageband with interest.
I'm seeing a large number of negative comments, so I thought I'd wade in to counter a little. I like it.
Forget replacing desktops, that's not what this is about. Consider the following:
Universal remote control. Consider this table having built-in IR, bluetooth and wi-fi. Nice remote for absolutely everything, yes?
Games. No, not Quake 9. Think monopoly, chess, backgammon, card games. Or even things like a couple of my current PopCap timewasters - Bejeweled 2 and Bookworm.
Photos, video etc.. The example image shows it - you could bring up your photos nice and quickly on this. And by video I don't mean 100gigs of ripped DVD, I mean home videos of holidays etc.
AV instant messaging. Nice surface to just switch on and see the person you're talking to, or just relax on the sofa speaking as the built-in mic picks up your voice.
That's just things that immediately occur - I'm sure there's more. Simultaneous web-feeds whilst TV viewing for example - perhaps a program has more info coming up on the screen. For my money, it would be improved if they made the surface tiltable, so that I could lie on the sofa and look at this with a 45 degree angle say, or for easier viewing of the movies etc.. Would also be nice if it wasn't built-in per se, but instead defined a form factor into which easily upgradable motherboards etc. could slot in. And the whole thing would need to be very hi-res too.
As I say, I like it. Would I drop everything to rush and buy one? Doubtful. But I certainly don't think it's a waste of time.
um... you put it on your own server, and tell your friends and family where to get it? Why would Apple want to host your personal, password-protected (and therefore needing to be security monitored to some extent) and obviously not-of-interest-to-a-wide lot of people material?
That's your classic security-through-obscurity stuff. I already host things on my own server, but I want to ensure that this only gets distributed to particular people.
Leaving aside the debate over why for a moment - I'm interested in how. You see, I'd like to create a protected podcast which just my family and relatives could listen to, but I saw nothing in the protocol to allow me to require a password, nor anyway in iTunes to specify security information for a podcast.
ppened to the people who preordered a 1.66GHz for the same price as the 1.83 when they hard launched? Did they get the prototype they ordered or the real deal? Note to self: never preorder new tech!
It was more that you recognised most ST users went to Macs. In uk.comp.sys.mac, for instance, there's a healthy ex-ST contingent and also some exiles from RiscOS. Most of the Amiga lot went PC much earlier than the ST lot, I found.
I still have my old machines - a C64 and STe (eBay rebuy - my original was an STFM). The ST has Spectre GCR for Mac emulation, and my original one also had a hardware 286-based PC emulator inside it as well. Until the modern OS X-based Macs, that ST was the most productive of all the machines I've owned.
From the summary: "The iMedia Connection newsletter is running a story on how some politicians are violating CAN-SPAM with impunity. Apparently so-called 'political speech' e-mails do not fit the legal definition of spam, even if they are wholly unsolicited and unwanted.".
By definition then, if political speech emails are not legally spam, then the politicians are not violating the CAN-SPAM law. The summary is contradictory.
Should you* want politicians to conform to an anti-spam law, the solution is to lobby and vote for either the extension of CAN-SPAM to apply to political speech or alternatively for the creation of a new law. But currently, the politicians are not breaking an existing law. This is a hrader task of course, but that's the only way forwards.
Cheers,
Ian
(*by 'you' I mean US voters, I'm in the UK)
If you're in the UK and you're of the right generation, your answer will likely be a ZX variant (80 maybe, 81 possibly, Spectrum more likely) or Acorn of some kind (BBC B, Electron, maybe a BBC Master). If you're in the US, then as I understand it your answer may well be Apple II or TRS-80, maybe Commodore 64.
Not that C64s weren't popular in the UK as well - I had one myself (still do have one actually). But I had it after my Spectrum 48k.
So what other regional quirks exist? I've heard of something called the MicroBee for Australia? What about Germany - they normally went for Commodore hardware as far as I know. As for the rest of the world, I really don't know what the taste in computers was but would definitely be interested to find out.
Is there one single person here that will change their mind over their browser (or Op Sys) due to any of these articles?
Yes - my sister and brother-in-law. They won't read this article here of course, but I've read it and use such things when asked my opinion. They've moved over to Firefox, and they're about 80% convinced to move to OS X too.
Now to the rest of the post: I challenge anyone to disagree; but with an intelligent argument, not just emotion and flame. (BTW, I don't mean a clever 'flame' argument, a real intellectual one. One with real facts and figures. Tests with defined tests-beds. That sort of thing.)
A good sentiment, but is it one that sits particularly well with phrases such as:
These things are just fuel for flame wars. That's all they are and that's all they're posted for. Period.
It is a shell for IE that is like IE and FireFox combined with a huge dose of steroids, that makes both IE and FireFox seem anorexic by comparison. Will anybody here try it? (http://www.maxthon.com/ Well maybe those that use IE perhaps; but FireFox users? Blasphemy!
Get out the torches! Somebody diss'ed FireFox! This is like a depiction of Muhammad! Burn cars, embassies, everything. The horror, the horror!
I see no facts or figures there. Just opinion and rabble-rousing. Personally, Firefox is my primary browser at work and at home I use Safari. I also gave Opera a try - I'm not religiously wed to a browser. There are useful facts and figures to be found I'll bet. I suggest, however, that your post does not contribute to that.
From the article: Songbird can connect to any a la carte media store -- downloadable music, radio, video, P2P networks, and classes of services that haven't been created yet.
It can connect to classes of service that haven't been invented yet? Impressive. I shall go away and ponder the transdimensional time-travelling inplications of this statement. Over a large brandy.
Why waste time guessing which ads your readers clicked on and turned into a sale? Now you can measure it directly, as the ad provider is also the point of sale.
On the other side of the transaction - Google can tell what I've searched for, seen which of those searches actually turned into cash, and push yet more ads at me geared towards exactly what I pay for.
I hate the idea personally. You'd feel like you were in a shop all of the time you're looking for things on the net - a problem I already feel to some extent. I can see why both the placer of and the seller of an advert would love it however.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't mind that it's Microsoft, so long as the site is accessible from multiple operating systems and browsers. I honestly don't mind who it is, but I would appreciate seeing the link-farm problems disappearing. A competitor getting rid of them, and without plastering adverts of their own everywhere, would get my searching.
Cheers,
Ian
We had some haggis on Burns' Night one time. It was appalling, so we put it out for the birds. Next day...not a single bird would go near the damned thing.
Cheers,
Ian
(actually three Scottish names with all the right heritage - Ian Chisholm McCall. English though, I've not often been in Scotland).
We agree.
There is a good stack of good educational software available on Linux.
Now it gets more hazy. This needs to be proven, and proven in such a way that you can say that the Linux software matches the syllabus requirements and has support. 'Support' here probably means 'will be updated to match future syllabuses'. At the moment, I neither agree nor disagree here but see the need for more proof.
If the apps that they need to do their learning are available on Linux, then why use Windows.
Agreed, but see the point above and also take into account that syllabuses change and material is made available. How would this Linux-only school cope with a county-wide education policy mandating application X, where X is on Windows for example?
One of the things that I see with Windows is that people are afraid of their machine (do one thing wrong and the machine is toast). Things like Linux (or OSX) seem to allow people to play around more with little fear of breaking the system.
Absolutely and we agree again, but I'm not sure this is relevant to the discussion. We're assuming they're not learning about computing per se - if we are saying that they are, then you will note my recommendation for a Linux/Windows mix in the computing science classes.
Unless you have a really important application with no equivalent on Linux, you shouldn't be afraid to at least look at using Linux. You can test applications like LTSP without having to uninstall the software currently on the boxes, so you're not committing yourself irreversably like you probably would be with a Windows upgrade.
So I don't think I did miss my own point - I think our difference is that I suspect the software required will be Windows only, and you believe there will be some Linux alternative. Without knowing more from the thread's poster, there's no way of telling who's right and who's wrong here so both viewpoints are worth hearing.
Cheers,
Ian
Cheers,
Ian
But tools to do what? That's what I'm asking. The original poster and yourself have phrased the matter as if learning about computing could be considered the main task. But to take an example, why should someone studying biology at the 12 year-old level care at all about what tool is delivered to do so, so long as it works? Computing isn't what that particular student is there to learn about.
When I was going through education (err...1980s to 1992) we used BBC Micros, later 286 DOS-based machines and at University I used a combination of Hypercard and X11 under DYNIX. I'm a Computer Science graduate, also took Computer Science at 'A'-Level which accounts for the 286s and the DYNIX. For my non-computing contemporaries however, the computers were just tools used mostly for running tests and interactive learning-type things. No-one cared about trying to learn the BBC Micro inside out except those who were already interested in computing in the first place.
I'm just suggesting that the focus here is wrong - what are these people trying to learn? If it's computing, then yes - give them access to Linux. If it's not, if it's just general run-the-tests, show-educational-video type of stuff, then the OS should be that which runs the software required. And I'll bet it's Windows in this case.
It's not a popular view on Slashdot I know and I'm far from a Windows advocate myself, using OS X and Debian at home, but to pick an OS for its own sake rather thamn looking at the purpose the computer has been bought for...that's the wrong approach.
I get to watch lots of non-technical people use computers all day. They often don't know much about how the tools work, and don't put forth any effort to increase their knowledge of the tools.
As do I. My wife for example, though she's been happier since moving to OS X. But whilst she failed to increase her knowledge of computing environments, she rather massively increased her knowledge of optics and is now a qualified optician. Lack of curiosity about computers is not an indication of lack of intelligence, nor of a curiosity deficit overall.
Cheers,
Ian
A learning environment for what though? These kids' focus is probably not learning computer desktop environments, it's more likely to be using some specialised educational software.
My advice would be to stay with Windows in the general classes, and to put a 50/50 Windows/Linux split in the computing classes should the syllabus make that possible. Oh, and I'm an OS X user by the way, don't use Windows at all in the home (barring Quicken UK under emulation). But I'm also a pragmatist - a situation like this needs more co-ordination. How will the kids use materials offered by other schools? How does running Ubuntu relate to their syllabus requirements?
I suspect Windows is the right answer in this case. For computer science classes I can agree with and indeed advocate using Linux, but even there a mixed environment is probably appropriate.
Cheers,
Ian
Yeah, typical PC companies. They're always trying to copy Steve Jobs...
Cheers,
Ian
We're going to have to agree to differ on this one, as I thought the quandary and quintessential radio series to be superb. Remember that the books themselves are darker by now, and that the performances are coloured accordingly. Remember too that the characters are supposed to be older and more experienced.
As for having Douglas Adam's input, whilst I have the utmost respect for his work I thought the two recent series showed how much better things were when he had an editor or someone else to bounce off. I thought the last book was quite poor, and not just because of the ending. I also thought the fourth book was only so-so. But the radio series...both were superb, because they had editorial input from others. Douglas Adam's did not create HHGttG on his own first time round - that's why certain characters are missing from the books, because he didn't have the rights to them.
Cheers,
Ian
I commute in to London every day and work in the City. My experience is similar to yours - only those three brands tend to make an appearence, though I'll allow the odd HP and Sony a guest mention. However the Dell/Thinkpad numbers dwarf the rest - whilst my Powerbook isn't quite a unique sight, it's not an especially common one either.
Having said that, if you dump the commute and just look at laptops in the various coffee bars etc. within the City itself, then the Apple quotient jumps up again. And it's still the same brands that make the bulk of the appearance.
Cheers,
Ian
We have gPhoto and gWeb, Mail.app and Address Book. It's arguable whether Spotlight and Google Desktop share any direct inspiration (I don't think they do), but the upshot is the same there as well. Do they make gCal yet? Is gSync necessary even due to their web focus?
I await gMovie, gDVD, gTunes, gArageband with interest.
Cheers,
Ian
Mind you, King Kong vs Godzilla I could stand. Although given the Empire State turn of events, that would rather have to be a prequel wouldn't it...
Cheers,
Ian
Forget replacing desktops, that's not what this is about. Consider the following:
That's just things that immediately occur - I'm sure there's more. Simultaneous web-feeds whilst TV viewing for example - perhaps a program has more info coming up on the screen. For my money, it would be improved if they made the surface tiltable, so that I could lie on the sofa and look at this with a 45 degree angle say, or for easier viewing of the movies etc.. Would also be nice if it wasn't built-in per se, but instead defined a form factor into which easily upgradable motherboards etc. could slot in. And the whole thing would need to be very hi-res too.
As I say, I like it. Would I drop everything to rush and buy one? Doubtful. But I certainly don't think it's a waste of time.
Cheers,
Ian
Cheers,
Ian
That's your classic security-through-obscurity stuff. I already host things on my own server, but I want to ensure that this only gets distributed to particular people.
Cheers,
Ian
So how is this done?
Cheers,
Ian
For crying out loud guy, get a grip.
Cheers,
Ian
macrumor.com says that they're getting the upgraded model.
Cheers,
Ian
I still have my old machines - a C64 and STe (eBay rebuy - my original was an STFM). The ST has Spectre GCR for Mac emulation, and my original one also had a hardware 286-based PC emulator inside it as well. Until the modern OS X-based Macs, that ST was the most productive of all the machines I've owned.
Cheers,
Ian
Heh. I had a C64 but moved to the ST. And my current machine? Yep, you're right - I'm on Macs.
Cheers,
Ian
By definition then, if political speech emails are not legally spam, then the politicians are not violating the CAN-SPAM law. The summary is contradictory.
Should you* want politicians to conform to an anti-spam law, the solution is to lobby and vote for either the extension of CAN-SPAM to apply to political speech or alternatively for the creation of a new law. But currently, the politicians are not breaking an existing law. This is a hrader task of course, but that's the only way forwards.
Cheers,
Ian
(*by 'you' I mean US voters, I'm in the UK)
Not that C64s weren't popular in the UK as well - I had one myself (still do have one actually). But I had it after my Spectrum 48k.
So what other regional quirks exist? I've heard of something called the MicroBee for Australia? What about Germany - they normally went for Commodore hardware as far as I know. As for the rest of the world, I really don't know what the taste in computers was but would definitely be interested to find out.
Cheers,
Ian
You mean...Core Wars?!
Cheers,
Ian
Yes - my sister and brother-in-law. They won't read this article here of course, but I've read it and use such things when asked my opinion. They've moved over to Firefox, and they're about 80% convinced to move to OS X too.
Now to the rest of the post:
I challenge anyone to disagree; but with an intelligent argument, not just emotion and flame. (BTW, I don't mean a clever 'flame' argument, a real intellectual one. One with real facts and figures. Tests with defined tests-beds. That sort of thing.)
A good sentiment, but is it one that sits particularly well with phrases such as:
I see no facts or figures there. Just opinion and rabble-rousing. Personally, Firefox is my primary browser at work and at home I use Safari. I also gave Opera a try - I'm not religiously wed to a browser. There are useful facts and figures to be found I'll bet. I suggest, however, that your post does not contribute to that.
Cheers,
Ian
It can connect to classes of service that haven't been invented yet? Impressive. I shall go away and ponder the transdimensional time-travelling inplications of this statement. Over a large brandy.
Cheers,
Ian
On the other side of the transaction - Google can tell what I've searched for, seen which of those searches actually turned into cash, and push yet more ads at me geared towards exactly what I pay for.
I hate the idea personally. You'd feel like you were in a shop all of the time you're looking for things on the net - a problem I already feel to some extent. I can see why both the placer of and the seller of an advert would love it however.
Cheers,
Ian