Finally, how do you press 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' on a PC that has no keyboard? In the case of the ViewSonic tablet you couldn't even log in because the handwriting and keyboard support were in the OS and didn't start until the desktop was there.
I remember seeing a classmate's laptop running Windows XP. The login screen said "Press CTRL-ALT-DEL or insert card to log in," suggesting that you can use a smart card to log in without pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL. Of course, there's also the case that Windows XP for Tablet PC will, when released, allow the user to authenticate by signing the pad or making some kind of unique symbol instead of a keysequence.
Regrettably, I did not get to try it out with my own (terrible) handwriting. I'll have to wait until it's on sale at CompUSA so that I can play with it firsthand. It can do things that the Newton couldn't, such as recognizing handwriting written on slopes or curves. Also, it can remember text associated with handwriting while still displaying the handwriting. (You search for "foo," it highlights your handwritten "foo.") I'm not sure about the Newton's ability to do this.
No idea about whether it works with anything but the latest and greatest Office apps. Someone else mentioned OpenOffice, for which support is unlikely; Microsoft has nearly EOLed Office 97, so that's unlikely as well.
The lecture series was called "Microsoft Days @ CMU," and was sponsored by Microsoft with the support of the School of Computer Science. Microsoft paid the bills; SCS provided the rooms. While it was promoted heavily through direct e-mail campaigns and on-campus flyers, the web presence for it is limited to a calendar entry on the SCS web site and a plug on Microsoft's College site. You may also want to contact Assistant Dean for Industrial Relations Catherine Copetas for any direct inquiries.
This presentation was held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 26, 2002 in Wean Hall room 7500 at Carnegie Mellon University. I do not have any photos, audio, or video of it captured in a way that I can upload to the Internet, but it was real. Not every event has its own web site.
Your anti-Microsoft advocacy is priceless. By countering hype with FUD, you will go far on this Internet-site.
What university?
Carnegie Mellon University.
What did they cheer for, other than nebulous "amazement?"
They cheered for the fact that their product blends handwriting recognition with Windows applications that are already in widespread use. Advantages over Palm OS: Larger, color screen; easier ability to add wireless. Advantages over Newton: Tablet PC has a large company actively backing it; larger, color screen; compatible with Office and other widely-used applications. Advantages over Linux: the hwr-devel kernel module has been stuck at version 0.2.5a since 1997, and doesn't support any hardware made in the time since then.
What hype are you refering to, and exactly how is their "hype literature" insufficient?
How is that better? Is an electromagnetic stylus a requirement of the Microsoft technology?
Yes.
Can I annotate OpenOffice documents?
Yes, with the openoffice-hwr-devel module, currently at version 0.0.1a on SourceForge. If you'd like to see this technology implemented, write it yourself. That's the power of open source.
What exactly does it do that's powerful and flexible?
I bought a similar drive when I was in Japan, and I was able to use it on my Windows XP laptop, a Windows ME (Japanese) desktop, several Mac OS 9 (Japanese) desktops, and even my Linux workstation. On Linux, it appears as/dev/sda1, so I mount it as I would any other SCSI device.
Two annoyances: one, I hosed my data after a Mac OS computer died and the disk was uncleanly unmounted. I always keep the data on it backed up, in case I lose the device or something bad happens to it. The second annoyance: I have metadata from many different OSes on that drive, including a "Users" folder for Mac OS and a Japanese-named folder whose name means "Users" for Mac OS Japanese.
Hey Cablevision! Before you start alienating your viewers with all this DRM hoo-hah, maybe you should consider letting them watch the Yankee games without going to a sports bar.
Cablevision has refused to carry the YES Network since the beginning of the season, resulting in many fans becoming pissed off and a booming demand for satellite service. And yet they still have the balls to run commercials saying how customers need crappy Long Island news channels and boring local programming instead of a popular sports team.
If I end up living and working on Long Island, I'd consider Cablevision for their cable modem service alone. Give me a dish any day.
According to Fahlman's own page on the subject, there is the possibility that the smiley symbol was used by teletype operators way back in the day. However, there is no hard evidence of this occurring, and no web pages document it. As we all know, if a point has no web page supporting it, it can't be true.:-)
A bit of trivia: the Carnegie Mellon user who posted that ancient message is Jim Morris. Most CMU computer science majors would recognize Prof. Morris: he's now the dean of the School of Computer Science.
The rapping Atari 2600 ad was one of Atari's last gasps in 1991. They tried to remarket their system as a budget alternative to the NES and other systems on sale at the time. I remember seeing it at Service Merchandise for as low as $20 brand new during the '90s.
I think you're getting a little overzealous in your U.S.-bashing there, Michael. Korea and Japan have relatively low PC ownership rates. In Japan, mobile phones have become the dominant vehicle for e-mail due to high per-minute dial-up charges and the slow penetration of ADSL into homes. Even in Tokyo, a local call will cost you between 20-70 cents per minute depending on distance, and that's on top of whatever fees your ISP imposes. ADSL is coming along, as well as mobile phone services. Right now you can get national wireless access for about $85 per month. That's 128kbps access via a phone or PC Card, unlimited, nationwide. Not as fast as 802.11b or ADSL, but still pretty nice.
Korea has a similar situation, combined with extremely popular PC rooms that attract kids. So much for games driving the hardware market. Japan's trade in PC parts has made prices low for do-it-yourselfers, but prices are still comparable to the U.S. when you compare the same kinds of stores.
The U.S. has its telco monopolies that drive up prices, but its availability is ever-improving. Don't count us out yet.
At the same time, Google is heavily oriented towards Linux sites. Try searching for word processing at MSN and Google. MSN's first 5 results are two software stores (sponsored), the Microsoft Word home page, a product called Scriptware for the screenwriting industry, and the Microsoft Works home page. Compare this to Google, which lists "Linux Word Processing", a general guide to word processing style, the AbiWord home page, and two professional word processing firms. Google doesn't list the MS Word or MS Works pages in its top fifty results, and there are no sponsored links. (To find Microsoft Word, a Google search for word brings up the Microsoft product as link number four.)
Moving along, I searched for the text processing package LaTeX with a search for latex. Google's first 12 results are all related to the text processing package, but what if people wanted information about the material latex? Google's link number 13 is about Latex allergies. MSN's first 15 results are balanced between the text processing package, the material latex, and products made from latex such as condoms.
Lastly, I'll redo a search I did a couple of years ago to try and find Japanese text support in LaTeX. A search for japanese latex on Google results in nine relevant-looking links and one porn site in the first 10 results. MSN, surprisingly, offers 14 relevant-looking results and one Japanese latex manufacturer. No porn until link number 28 from MSN.
MSN seems to prefer general-interest sites, whereas Google's relevancy scores are boosted by clickthroughs by their most loyal users, which would skew results toward... well, geeks. Both engines still produce useful results, and both indicate which results are sponsored.
A Volvo repair shop near me is named "Island Vo Vo"; the L is silent, you see, because Ford really sucks.
No, it's because a bunch of teenage vandals got together and stole the 'L' off the sign. Rather than spend money to buy a new letter, the repair shop simply renamed itself.
Yeah, the Sacagawea $1 coin is still made. You can even buy them by the sack if you want. The old Susan B. Anthony dollars, which looked a lot like quarters, are still circulated but haven't been made since 1981.
The $2 bill is still made in very limited quantities. I got one a few months ago, and hung onto it for as long as I could. If the $1 coin ever catches on, or if vending machine companies finally start to accept the dollar coin, the $2 bill would become more useful.
Half-dollar coins (with John F. Kennedy's picture) are also still made, but they too are rare because they're too large to fit in most coin slots.
I like the dollar coin, and hope it stays in production. Coins last a lot longer than bills, and they don't get rejected from vending machines nearly as frequently when they're worn.
Vending machines which sell train tickets often accept $20 bills, as do postage stamp vending machines which sell large coils of stamps and Express Mail stamps. Instant scratch-off ticket vending machines take $20 bills -- in Pennsylvania, I've seen scratch tickets that cost $5 each! And let's not forget slot machines, which will handily store lots and lots of money in "credits" for your gaming pleasure.
And the third choice here is part pro wrestling (they have an ex-wrestler for an announcer) and it is the LAMEST...SHOW...EVER!!!
That third choice is, of course, the American version of Robot Wars. The early episodes were filmed in the UK using Mick "Mankind" Foley, who is just terrible as an announcer.
On the other hand, the UK version has one of the actors from "Red Dwarf" hosting. Geeks love his silly English accent and bad puns, but it's not for everyone.
Although Japan has a very good mass transit system, many families -- particularly away from major cities -- still own cars. The reality is that cars in Japan have a lot more electronics than in the U.S. For example, in-car navigation systems are very common in Japan but are still rare in America.
Sometimes, I get the feeling that Japanese people are getting out of hand with all the car-based electronics. My brother's Japanese Game Boy Advance actually has an illustration to explain "Do not use while driving or walking."
I attended a few SysOp gatherings on Long Island back in the mid-90s when I ran a BBS. (That's 1:2619/* in Fidonet terms.) It was a little intimidating being the youngest kid there by a factor of two (I was 14 when I started), and the secondhand smoke was unpleasant, but it was a nice way to meet up with the people who I only knew by their boards.
And oh yeah, one time a fellow SysOp thought I would be a black guy. He was surprised to see me.
Everything2, which has been around for a few years now, has had a ton of gatherings of people in various areas. Unfortunately, during the one gathering I could have attended (New York, January 5, 2002) I was out of town. Bummer. I was able to see pictures of the aftermath, including all the fellow users (noders) I could have schmoozed with.
Everything2 has spawned some particularly close ties: there has been one marriage between two users, and there is a semi-official "compound" of users who now live together in New York. There's even talk about taking over a small town in Kansas on behalf of Everything2.
Me, I haven't been quite so lucky. I have never had a person come up to me and introduce him/herself as being from Everything2, even though I've been about 100 feet from one user in a computer cluster at Carnegie Mellon University.
Slashdot Mirror
I searched Google, and I found a news story about the merger. Please read it.
Linux is used by a bunch of irritating hippies who feel that they have the right to steal all the copyrighted content that they want.
Therefore, Linux is unsupported.
Finally, how do you press 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' on a PC that has no keyboard? In the case of the ViewSonic tablet you couldn't even log in because the handwriting and keyboard support were in the OS and didn't start until the desktop was there.
I remember seeing a classmate's laptop running Windows XP. The login screen said "Press CTRL-ALT-DEL or insert card to log in," suggesting that you can use a smart card to log in without pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL. Of course, there's also the case that Windows XP for Tablet PC will, when released, allow the user to authenticate by signing the pad or making some kind of unique symbol instead of a keysequence.
Regrettably, I did not get to try it out with my own (terrible) handwriting. I'll have to wait until it's on sale at CompUSA so that I can play with it firsthand. It can do things that the Newton couldn't, such as recognizing handwriting written on slopes or curves. Also, it can remember text associated with handwriting while still displaying the handwriting. (You search for "foo," it highlights your handwritten "foo.") I'm not sure about the Newton's ability to do this.
No idea about whether it works with anything but the latest and greatest Office apps. Someone else mentioned OpenOffice, for which support is unlikely; Microsoft has nearly EOLed Office 97, so that's unlikely as well.
The lecture series was called "Microsoft Days @ CMU," and was sponsored by Microsoft with the support of the School of Computer Science. Microsoft paid the bills; SCS provided the rooms. While it was promoted heavily through direct e-mail campaigns and on-campus flyers, the web presence for it is limited to a calendar entry on the SCS web site and a plug on Microsoft's College site. You may also want to contact Assistant Dean for Industrial Relations Catherine Copetas for any direct inquiries.
Hope this helps.
This presentation was held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 26, 2002 in Wean Hall room 7500 at Carnegie Mellon University. I do not have any photos, audio, or video of it captured in a way that I can upload to the Internet, but it was real. Not every event has its own web site.
Your anti-Microsoft advocacy is priceless. By countering hype with FUD, you will go far on this Internet-site.
What university?
Carnegie Mellon University.
What did they cheer for, other than nebulous "amazement?"
They cheered for the fact that their product blends handwriting recognition with Windows applications that are already in widespread use. Advantages over Palm OS: Larger, color screen; easier ability to add wireless. Advantages over Newton: Tablet PC has a large company actively backing it; larger, color screen; compatible with Office and other widely-used applications. Advantages over Linux: the hwr-devel kernel module has been stuck at version 0.2.5a since 1997, and doesn't support any hardware made in the time since then.
What hype are you refering to, and exactly how is their "hype literature" insufficient?
Their hype literature, like many such pages, is pretty shallow.
How is that better? Is an electromagnetic stylus a requirement of the Microsoft technology?
Yes.
Can I annotate OpenOffice documents?
Yes, with the openoffice-hwr-devel module, currently at version 0.0.1a on SourceForge. If you'd like to see this technology implemented, write it yourself. That's the power of open source.
What exactly does it do that's powerful and flexible?
It lets you use handwriting recognition.
I bought a similar drive when I was in Japan, and I was able to use it on my Windows XP laptop, a Windows ME (Japanese) desktop, several Mac OS 9 (Japanese) desktops, and even my Linux workstation. On Linux, it appears as /dev/sda1, so I mount it as I would any other SCSI device.
Two annoyances: one, I hosed my data after a Mac OS computer died and the disk was uncleanly unmounted. I always keep the data on it backed up, in case I lose the device or something bad happens to it. The second annoyance: I have metadata from many different OSes on that drive, including a "Users" folder for Mac OS and a Japanese-named folder whose name means "Users" for Mac OS Japanese.
Hey Cablevision! Before you start alienating your viewers with all this DRM hoo-hah, maybe you should consider letting them watch the Yankee games without going to a sports bar.
Cablevision has refused to carry the YES Network since the beginning of the season, resulting in many fans becoming pissed off and a booming demand for satellite service. And yet they still have the balls to run commercials saying how customers need crappy Long Island news channels and boring local programming instead of a popular sports team.
If I end up living and working on Long Island, I'd consider Cablevision for their cable modem service alone. Give me a dish any day.
According to Fahlman's own page on the subject, there is the possibility that the smiley symbol was used by teletype operators way back in the day. However, there is no hard evidence of this occurring, and no web pages document it. As we all know, if a point has no web page supporting it, it can't be true. :-)
A bit of trivia: the Carnegie Mellon user who posted that ancient message is Jim Morris. Most CMU computer science majors would recognize Prof. Morris: he's now the dean of the School of Computer Science.
:-)
Spread the word, Jim.
The rapping Atari 2600 ad was one of Atari's last gasps in 1991. They tried to remarket their system as a budget alternative to the NES and other systems on sale at the time. I remember seeing it at Service Merchandise for as low as $20 brand new during the '90s.
I think you're getting a little overzealous in your U.S.-bashing there, Michael. Korea and Japan have relatively low PC ownership rates. In Japan, mobile phones have become the dominant vehicle for e-mail due to high per-minute dial-up charges and the slow penetration of ADSL into homes. Even in Tokyo, a local call will cost you between 20-70 cents per minute depending on distance, and that's on top of whatever fees your ISP imposes. ADSL is coming along, as well as mobile phone services. Right now you can get national wireless access for about $85 per month. That's 128kbps access via a phone or PC Card, unlimited, nationwide. Not as fast as 802.11b or ADSL, but still pretty nice.
Korea has a similar situation, combined with extremely popular PC rooms that attract kids. So much for games driving the hardware market. Japan's trade in PC parts has made prices low for do-it-yourselfers, but prices are still comparable to the U.S. when you compare the same kinds of stores.
The U.S. has its telco monopolies that drive up prices, but its availability is ever-improving. Don't count us out yet.
At the same time, Google is heavily oriented towards Linux sites. Try searching for word processing at MSN and Google. MSN's first 5 results are two software stores (sponsored), the Microsoft Word home page, a product called Scriptware for the screenwriting industry, and the Microsoft Works home page. Compare this to Google, which lists "Linux Word Processing", a general guide to word processing style, the AbiWord home page, and two professional word processing firms. Google doesn't list the MS Word or MS Works pages in its top fifty results, and there are no sponsored links. (To find Microsoft Word, a Google search for word brings up the Microsoft product as link number four.)
Moving along, I searched for the text processing package LaTeX with a search for latex. Google's first 12 results are all related to the text processing package, but what if people wanted information about the material latex? Google's link number 13 is about Latex allergies. MSN's first 15 results are balanced between the text processing package, the material latex, and products made from latex such as condoms.
Lastly, I'll redo a search I did a couple of years ago to try and find Japanese text support in LaTeX. A search for japanese latex on Google results in nine relevant-looking links and one porn site in the first 10 results. MSN, surprisingly, offers 14 relevant-looking results and one Japanese latex manufacturer. No porn until link number 28 from MSN.
MSN seems to prefer general-interest sites, whereas Google's relevancy scores are boosted by clickthroughs by their most loyal users, which would skew results toward... well, geeks. Both engines still produce useful results, and both indicate which results are sponsored.
A Volvo repair shop near me is named "Island Vo Vo"; the L is silent, you see, because Ford really sucks.
No, it's because a bunch of teenage vandals got together and stole the 'L' off the sign. Rather than spend money to buy a new letter, the repair shop simply renamed itself.
Robot boxing has been around since the 1960s.
Yeah, the Sacagawea $1 coin is still made. You can even buy them by the sack if you want. The old Susan B. Anthony dollars, which looked a lot like quarters, are still circulated but haven't been made since 1981.
Does anyone remember seeing some bills a long time ago printed with red ink? Am I dreaming?
:)
No, you're just filthy stinking rich.
$1000? Fuck that. I want a few $100,000 notes. :)
The $2 bill is still made in very limited quantities. I got one a few months ago, and hung onto it for as long as I could. If the $1 coin ever catches on, or if vending machine companies finally start to accept the dollar coin, the $2 bill would become more useful.
Half-dollar coins (with John F. Kennedy's picture) are also still made, but they too are rare because they're too large to fit in most coin slots.
I like the dollar coin, and hope it stays in production. Coins last a lot longer than bills, and they don't get rejected from vending machines nearly as frequently when they're worn.
Vending machines which sell train tickets often accept $20 bills, as do postage stamp vending machines which sell large coils of stamps and Express Mail stamps. Instant scratch-off ticket vending machines take $20 bills -- in Pennsylvania, I've seen scratch tickets that cost $5 each! And let's not forget slot machines, which will handily store lots and lots of money in "credits" for your gaming pleasure.
And the third choice here is part pro wrestling (they have an ex-wrestler for an announcer) and it is the LAMEST...SHOW...EVER!!!
That third choice is, of course, the American version of Robot Wars. The early episodes were filmed in the UK using Mick "Mankind" Foley, who is just terrible as an announcer.
On the other hand, the UK version has one of the actors from "Red Dwarf" hosting. Geeks love his silly English accent and bad puns, but it's not for everyone.
Funny you should mention that. Wal-Mart's Internet service works with "Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP" according to the page linked, and is "© 2001 America On-Line." In fact, the whole thing is just a rebranded form of Compuserve, which in turn is just a bargain-basement version of AOL. (Hey, some people can't cough up $24 per month for AOL Platinum Premier.)
If it works on the Lindows machines, it would have to be through Windows not-emulation. Lindows supposedly runs AOL as well, so good for them.
Although Japan has a very good mass transit system, many families -- particularly away from major cities -- still own cars. The reality is that cars in Japan have a lot more electronics than in the U.S. For example, in-car navigation systems are very common in Japan but are still rare in America.
Sometimes, I get the feeling that Japanese people are getting out of hand with all the car-based electronics. My brother's Japanese Game Boy Advance actually has an illustration to explain "Do not use while driving or walking."
I attended a few SysOp gatherings on Long Island back in the mid-90s when I ran a BBS. (That's 1:2619/* in Fidonet terms.) It was a little intimidating being the youngest kid there by a factor of two (I was 14 when I started), and the secondhand smoke was unpleasant, but it was a nice way to meet up with the people who I only knew by their boards.
And oh yeah, one time a fellow SysOp thought I would be a black guy. He was surprised to see me.
Everything2, which has been around for a few years now, has had a ton of gatherings of people in various areas. Unfortunately, during the one gathering I could have attended (New York, January 5, 2002) I was out of town. Bummer. I was able to see pictures of the aftermath, including all the fellow users (noders) I could have schmoozed with.
Everything2 has spawned some particularly close ties: there has been one marriage between two users, and there is a semi-official "compound" of users who now live together in New York. There's even talk about taking over a small town in Kansas on behalf of Everything2.
Me, I haven't been quite so lucky. I have never had a person come up to me and introduce him/herself as being from Everything2, even though I've been about 100 feet from one user in a computer cluster at Carnegie Mellon University.