I'm a Mac-head, but I'll have to agree with a lot of what is said in the parent. OS X 10.0 was mostly a public beta, with lots of stuff missing or not working properly. Stuff got a lot better over the years, and it's still improving, but the early days weren't as glorious as some would think.
And - at least on Windows -- they install an icon on the desktop as well, because the Start Menu is mostly broken (by design, at that). It's much easier to launch an application by double-clicking an icon on the desktop than by trying to find it in the Start Menu, which might get insanely long, and might revert to hiding half your shit. Wow, thanks, that's a big help.
Of course, by the time you have several gazillion icons on your desktop, finding the right one is just about as difficult.
Ah, templates. Used to love those in MacOS too, before the OS X era. They'd open the correct program when double-clicked, with an "untitled document" that contained whatever was in the template.
In OS X it's copied, then opened. It works, of course, but it feels like a kludge compared to the older way.
Don't even get me started on the Finder. I still miss the spatial classic Finder.
That £18.25 GP calculated is the average of all requests. Some were answered for free, some were answered for £65, some were answered for an amount somewhere in between.
if that's true (and I have no reason not to believe you at this point), it's still something regular, something you can expect, something you can automate and roll into everyday operations, and charge the customer for.
"Fuck the children" will get you dirty looks and probably a visit by the coppers. Any answer other than that starting with "But wait a minute..." is immediately dismissed and ignored after the first three syllables.
Exclaiming "Fuck the chil!" only got me funny looks.
What about phone companies providing call logs for cell phones engaged in criminal activities?
Logging calls is something you can roll into your everyday operation and charge your customers for, like the GP said.
What about the store being asked did you sell product x to this guy? Can we have the receipt?
The store-owner already keeps a log of sales, and I think it's somewhat safe to assume that electronic transactions as well. This is rolled into everyday operations and the customers pay for it, like the GP said.
The security company asked for the tapes for some date six months ago?
Tapes were made anyway, and most likely kept for a certain time. This is rolled into everyday operations and charged to the customer, like the GP said.
What about the private citizen being asked questions about something they may or may not have witnessed?
The citizen either remembers it, or he / she doesn't. I don't know how that works for you, but for me, digging in my own memory is free.
Why are we singling out ISPs to be compensated for assisting with enquiries? Why not every company?
Because, like the GP said, the requests that the article talks about are NOT something you can roll into your everyday operation and accordingly charge to your customers. It's not the assisting with enquiries itself that is billed, it's the fact that someone has to sift through the data and make a spiffy report out of it.
Asking the ISP if a certain person is a customer of that ISP is a very simple lookup, having to figure out what that person actually does with the connection is a different story.
Parent may sound harsh, but is essentially right. Please mod into stratosphere, then silently uninstall Ubuntu from your parent's computer if you like using Linux.
I don't think it's that bad, really. You could always state the dependancies for your customers, and it's not like they're cutting API calls left and right with every minor revision.
Besides, some software failed on Vista, when it came out, so a for-Microsoft dev isn't immune either.
First, the OS is open. Which means any user of it can make and submit a patch, which would quickly spread around. Distributions engage in some competition, and the patch would get copied around. There's no need for anybody to wait for a vendor to do it.
That's not entirely true, I think. You may not have a vendor in the Microsoft / Apple way, but you'd still get your fix from one central point, whether it's the Debian repositories, the Ubuntu repositories, or whatever it is what your distro uses. I suppose holes would be fixed a lot faster in Linux, but for the kind of user that would otherwise use Windows or OS X, it would still mean waiting for their vendor.
Second, there's much less backwards compatibility. If a library function is vulnerable, and fixing is impossible without breaking compatibility, a distribution can find all of the included software that uses it, and fix to work with the new version. You're not going to find libqt 1.0 in a modern distro either.
You might, however, find a bug in libqt 1.0 in libqt 4 (or whatever the current version is) if it hasn't been caught and fixed yet. Unless the lib in question was at some point rewritten from scratch.
Third, the open nature of the OS leads to the possibility of patching the OS to mess with the adware, making it report complete crap to the server.
Fourth, there already are generic mechanisms such as SELinux to deal with such things. While they're not that widespread yet, a good attack or two of this sort would do a lot to help adoption.
That's not gonna help Joe Sixpack.
It's not that I totally disagree with you (I don't), but I think you oversimplify the matter.
Almost. Dropbox installs perfectly fine under OS X / PPC. The problem is installing it on Linux / PPC.
I should say that both running Linux on a Mac and having a go at Live Mesh are more cases of "let's see what that's like" than "I really, REALLY want to do this". But yes, technically, I wanted to install them, and being on PPC made that impossible.
As long as I have a browser, terminal client and music and video players, I'm mostly fine. =]
Yes, but I already *have* the PPC machine. Had it for years, actually. The next machine I'll buy is not going to be a PPC, not because I choose to, but because that's what Apple ships nowadays.
The main issue might be "not having the cash to throw around on hardware every now and then". Just maybe. It's not like the PPC machine is really keeping me from doing what I want (it's not).
Yes, I know I'm hopelessly behind the times with my *ancient* G4 mini, but if there's a group that needs a faster browser, it's us "obsolete computer users". Obsolete meaning the computer, not the user.
I know that x86 is the way forward, but I see more and more Intel-only apps that make me wonder what exactly prohibited the devs from making it a Universal Binary.
Microsofts Live Mesh comes to mind (I wanted to install it to compare it to Dropbox); not even a decent message stating that it was Intel-only, it just said that my device wasn't supported or something. Dropbox on Linux/PPC is another culprit, btw.
I'm hoping V8 gets ported to PPC as well, although I'm somewhat worried that it won't, since a JS interpreter sounds a bit more involved than a file syncing thingy.
Off-topic, but about your sig... there's several ISPs in.nl that offer 20MBit/s, and I'm pretty sure that there's at least one Scandinavian country that offers more than that, or at least as much.
Slashdot Mirror
That's the whole point: getting pwnd without some smug human to rub it in. Much more fun to lose that way.
Daily backup after you replaced the drive, I hope?
I'm a Mac-head, but I'll have to agree with a lot of what is said in the parent. OS X 10.0 was mostly a public beta, with lots of stuff missing or not working properly. Stuff got a lot better over the years, and it's still improving, but the early days weren't as glorious as some would think.
Yes, but Apple was the first one to sell (commercial) computers with a stylised picture of an Apple on it.
Goddamn, these discussions are so stupid.
There's no way of knowing what impact a well-thought-out opinion or useful discussion may have on the.
Your theory scares me.
And - at least on Windows -- they install an icon on the desktop as well, because the Start Menu is mostly broken (by design, at that). It's much easier to launch an application by double-clicking an icon on the desktop than by trying to find it in the Start Menu, which might get insanely long, and might revert to hiding half your shit. Wow, thanks, that's a big help.
Of course, by the time you have several gazillion icons on your desktop, finding the right one is just about as difficult.
Ah, templates. Used to love those in MacOS too, before the OS X era. They'd open the correct program when double-clicked, with an "untitled document" that contained whatever was in the template.
In OS X it's copied, then opened. It works, of course, but it feels like a kludge compared to the older way.
Don't even get me started on the Finder. I still miss the spatial classic Finder.
BUT, some apps aren't doc-centric. iTunes shares your music when it's open, and the window is the app -- closed = gone, open = running.
Uh, no, at least not on the Mac. You can have iTunes running without a main window, and it'll happily continue playing your music.
BTW, I wonder how much Slashdot would charge for adding UTF8 support. Geez.
That £18.25 GP calculated is the average of all requests. Some were answered for free, some were answered for £65, some were answered for an amount somewhere in between.
if that's true (and I have no reason not to believe you at this point), it's still something regular, something you can expect, something you can automate and roll into everyday operations, and charge the customer for.
"Fuck the children" will get you dirty looks and probably a visit by the coppers. Any answer other than that starting with "But wait a minute ..." is immediately dismissed and ignored after the first three syllables.
Exclaiming "Fuck the chil!" only got me funny looks.
I think you didn't read GP properly:
What about phone companies providing call logs for cell phones engaged in criminal activities?
Logging calls is something you can roll into your everyday operation and charge your customers for, like the GP said.
What about the store being asked did you sell product x to this guy? Can we have the receipt?
The store-owner already keeps a log of sales, and I think it's somewhat safe to assume that electronic transactions as well. This is rolled into everyday operations and the customers pay for it, like the GP said.
The security company asked for the tapes for some date six months ago?
Tapes were made anyway, and most likely kept for a certain time. This is rolled into everyday operations and charged to the customer, like the GP said.
What about the private citizen being asked questions about something they may or may not have witnessed?
The citizen either remembers it, or he / she doesn't. I don't know how that works for you, but for me, digging in my own memory is free.
Why are we singling out ISPs to be compensated for assisting with enquiries? Why not every company?
Because, like the GP said, the requests that the article talks about are NOT something you can roll into your everyday operation and accordingly charge to your customers. It's not the assisting with enquiries itself that is billed, it's the fact that someone has to sift through the data and make a spiffy report out of it.
Asking the ISP if a certain person is a customer of that ISP is a very simple lookup, having to figure out what that person actually does with the connection is a different story.
As long as he calls it GNU/Malware and releases it under GPL. Otherwise, RMS will have his head.
Parent may sound harsh, but is essentially right. Please mod into stratosphere, then silently uninstall Ubuntu from your parent's computer if you like using Linux.
I don't think it's that bad, really. You could always state the dependancies for your customers, and it's not like they're cutting API calls left and right with every minor revision.
Besides, some software failed on Vista, when it came out, so a for-Microsoft dev isn't immune either.
(And yes, people DID blame Vista for it).
First, the OS is open. Which means any user of it can make and submit a patch, which would quickly spread around. Distributions engage in some competition, and the patch would get copied around. There's no need for anybody to wait for a vendor to do it.
That's not entirely true, I think. You may not have a vendor in the Microsoft / Apple way, but you'd still get your fix from one central point, whether it's the Debian repositories, the Ubuntu repositories, or whatever it is what your distro uses. I suppose holes would be fixed a lot faster in Linux, but for the kind of user that would otherwise use Windows or OS X, it would still mean waiting for their vendor.
Second, there's much less backwards compatibility. If a library function is vulnerable, and fixing is impossible without breaking compatibility, a distribution can find all of the included software that uses it, and fix to work with the new version. You're not going to find libqt 1.0 in a modern distro either.
You might, however, find a bug in libqt 1.0 in libqt 4 (or whatever the current version is) if it hasn't been caught and fixed yet. Unless the lib in question was at some point rewritten from scratch.
Third, the open nature of the OS leads to the possibility of patching the OS to mess with the adware, making it report complete crap to the server.
Fourth, there already are generic mechanisms such as SELinux to deal with such things. While they're not that widespread yet, a good attack or two of this sort would do a lot to help adoption.
That's not gonna help Joe Sixpack.
It's not that I totally disagree with you (I don't), but I think you oversimplify the matter.
Please tell me you're not being serious.
Almost. Dropbox installs perfectly fine under OS X / PPC. The problem is installing it on Linux / PPC.
I should say that both running Linux on a Mac and having a go at Live Mesh are more cases of "let's see what that's like" than "I really, REALLY want to do this". But yes, technically, I wanted to install them, and being on PPC made that impossible.
As long as I have a browser, terminal client and music and video players, I'm mostly fine. =]
Yes, but I already *have* the PPC machine. Had it for years, actually. The next machine I'll buy is not going to be a PPC, not because I choose to, but because that's what Apple ships nowadays.
The main issue might be "not having the cash to throw around on hardware every now and then". Just maybe. It's not like the PPC machine is really keeping me from doing what I want (it's not).
Yes, I know I'm hopelessly behind the times with my *ancient* G4 mini, but if there's a group that needs a faster browser, it's us "obsolete computer users". Obsolete meaning the computer, not the user.
I know that x86 is the way forward, but I see more and more Intel-only apps that make me wonder what exactly prohibited the devs from making it a Universal Binary.
Microsofts Live Mesh comes to mind (I wanted to install it to compare it to Dropbox); not even a decent message stating that it was Intel-only, it just said that my device wasn't supported or something. Dropbox on Linux/PPC is another culprit, btw.
I'm hoping V8 gets ported to PPC as well, although I'm somewhat worried that it won't, since a JS interpreter sounds a bit more involved than a file syncing thingy.
Off-topic, but about your sig... there's several ISPs in .nl that offer 20MBit/s, and I'm pretty sure that there's at least one Scandinavian country that offers more than that, or at least as much.
Smith and Wessons: maybe not THE great communicator, but not too shabby for a runner-up.
..., and you'd be crazy to run Windows on anything but MS Dos if you knew how much patching it needed to do.
You'd be crazy to run Windows on anything, period.
(yeah, mod me down, I just couldn't resist)
There's a difference between "less oomph than a full-size machine" and "not enough oomph", the latter being closer to "underpowered". As in a netbook.