The thing that will really turn someone's head is if you question whether your Government is one of the "good guys". If it can be shown that, say, the US aren't the good guys, then and only then will it click in people's brains that perhaps all this collection of data on citizens might actually be cause for concern.
Yes, some Governments are worse than others, but it takes the first step in realizing that all Governments look out for themselves first and their citizens a distant second, before you realize why pervasive surveillance is a problem
Based on what? All of the people whose data Google has leaked?
Google doesn't have to have leaked data for people to be concerned about them. The act of Google building up a profile on someone, pressuring them at every stage into using that stupid Google+ service, not to mention having all that info ready to serve in case someone like the NSA feels noisy enough to request it, makes people feel a bit uncomfortable even if they've been a perfect little saint on the Internet.
I apparently don't pay as much attention to specific writers as you do, maybe other people don't either?
Some writers are well known for being very opinionated, or fanboyish, or flat out wrong but still employed for some reason. People then mention said writers in articles such as this, and passive readers like myself eventually learn the names of these writer due to exposure, even though I've only read maybe one or two of his articles in full (and yes he's a complete Microsoft fanboy, which makes it very easy to expose the various holes and hypocrisies of his articles, but that's an exercise for the bored).
Nah, he's not an idiot. I think it was more to do with the fact that Hedy contributed some very important techniques to the communications world that facilitated the development of mobile communications, where as Ashton's very knowledgeable about technological trends. Good for him, but put plainly he doesn't compare in terms of capability or contribution as what Hedy has, apart from the fact they're both (or were) actors.
Figure you should get plenty of eggs and toilet paper with a presentation like that.:)
Well isn't that what Halloween's about? Teaching kids revenge and causing damage if you don't get what you want? Arming your kids with a carton of eggs and if you don't get any lollies, you throw eggs at people's houses?
It's not like Photoshop doesn't have its own stupid idiosyncrasies. After using the GIMP for a while I went back to Photoshop for some extra work and realized that you can't just middle-click and pan the image around in PS like you can in GIMP. Sure, in PS you can hold down the spacebar and left-click-drag, but you can do that in the GIMP as well, it's just the GIMP has the middle-click-drag feature which is common in a lot of tools and for some reason isn't present in PS. I find that oddly amusing.
EA control a lot of the most popular gaming franchises (Sims, Battlefield, Mass Effect, various official sports titles) and from what I've read in forums, gamers will generally try to avoid facing the realities of the company they're dealing with if it means they can focus more on the game. That, and people don't think they'll have any problems. So they're ripe for abuse because they feel they must play the latest hot game rather than go without, or buy something else.
So no wonder this shit keeps happening. Gamers on a whole are sheep and don't push back hard enough because it's all about the games - not buying a game solely because of a company's dodgy behavior is apparently a dumb idea.
I've never encountered a single professional studio that uses linux. The parent you are replying to is absolutely 100% correct.
Professional music studios, like graphics houses, are conservative. By their very nature, they're likely to use industry standard software because it's industry standard, and so comes with a certain level of known support, known expectations, and the widest amount of people who known how to use said software. Often it's because it's the best software, but that's not to say alternative, non-industry standard software isn't suitable. It just isn't a factor when deciding what software to use, even if it's cheaper (or free).
Amature, indie, home-grown musicians are more likely to be able to use Linux because they're more confined by the cost of the software, are less restricted in what they are allowed to use, and are possibly more interested in what other software is available to accomplish their goals.
I'm not saying the pros are wrong and indie is right, by any stretch. But I will say that you're not going to find any inspiring stories of open-source/Linux in pro houses and shouldn't expect to do so. It's completely understandable why they don't... but shouldn't be taken as a reason not to use Linux and the available tools with it to make something great.
This is a bit of a sidetrack, but never, ever admit to being a fanboy of something. You can certainly be a fan, nothing wrong with that, because a fan (a true fan) is someone who is capable of enjoying and supporting something while still recognizing the limitations or problems that exist with the thing they're a fan of. Fanboys do not, they are loud and miserable to anyone who points out flaws in what they're defending, and are some of the most annoying pricks ever to grace the Internet and completely ruin any form of intelligent discourse. Hopefully you're just a fan of Linux (like I am), and not a fanboy who makes us look like childish idiots*.
As for your question, I use Audacity as my main audio editor software as well. To be honest I have yet to encounter something with my (relatively modest) requirements for audio editing that Audacity couldn't do. It's pretty impressive. In terms of actually making music, I've dabbled with LMMS (mostly because unlike Ardour, I can still use it in Windows and prefer true cross-platform tools) but I'm not sure I'd could use it for much except simpler tracks.
* There are also Windows fanboys, believe it or not. Neowin.net is a prime location for said folk. Just be aware that they cannot destroy the reputation of Windows, whereas the vocal minority of Linux fanboys certainly can, which is why I'm deeply annoyed about fanboys in general. They can ruin a good thing.
The NSA is responsible for a number of the crypto schemes in the first place. I can understand some concern about whether the NSA-contributed algorithms were designed with being cracked by the NSA easily in mind, but the mere name of the key brought up more hysteria and baseless accusations than anything since.
What's with all the suggestions in the replies about downloading replacement bink files or replacing them with empty placeholder files? Just delete or name the damn things - most games will simply skip to the next video file, or in the absence of them all, go straight to the menu.
For me though, I try to avoid doing this and if there's a way to skip via the config file (such as with Dishonored or Rage), then it's preferable.
I really dislike the word "consume" when it comes to non-food/drink products. Why not just use the traditional, non corporate and just plain English words of "watch" or "listen".
Re: It was already a dangerous site to visit ...
on
PHP.net Compromised
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· Score: 2
* Python
Ahhaa, Python, yes. The only language I've come across where if someone is using tabs and the other is using spaces (or worse, their editor substitutes spaces for a tab), the code will break.
I happen to like Python, but man that was an easy one to deconstruct.
At some point though, you have to trust SOMETHING. You'll always find some hypothetically attack vector when it comes to software, but you'll go mad with the possibilities.
I would argue that on a typical laptop screen at 1920x1080, the limited physical dimensions make things like anti-aliasing not as important compared to say a proper desktop monitor, where the pixels are bigger and hence the effect of a lack of AA is more pronounced. As for anisotropic filtering, that's basically free for any graphics chipset these days so I'd be surprised if there's any performance hit on that.
Having said that, Skyrim's one of those games which everyone seems to love and I dislike (then again I disliked Oblivion as well due to its paper-thin characters, pathetic story, lack of any actual time pressure or concern about the world and overall design), so maybe the Elder Scrolls series is just not my type anyway.
Sure, agreed. But in the grand scheme of things though, life ain't that bad, even with lobbied politicians and the NSA. At least compared to say North Korea, Syria or even China in some respects.
People just want to whine and moan. It's irritating for two reasons:
(1) Things really aren't that bad; most of the issues are theoretical/hypothetical (such as the NSA reading your emails) and will never affect you anyway (2) YOU CAN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. We have no power. So why make your life miserable and feel depressed over the state of the world? Learn to enjoy life and find things that make life worth living.
I'm not saying the situation's great. I'm saying you need to accept that this is everyday shit; most others have learnt to deal with it and don't complain all the time - they just deal, because it's how the world works. Thinking you're going to make a difference with your one-man army (or a bunch of nerds agreeing with each other on the Internet) is dangerous fantasizing.
I think I finally understand why you post with such a superiority complex and arrogant attitude - you're an alien. I mean you must be - you can't be human because you refer to use as "you humans", as if you're separate from the species.
Either that or you're a fucking disgrace of a person who thinks they're better than everyone else. To be honest though, most elitist Linux users have similar views.
Here's another thought - back in the day when the media started covering the topic of computers and security, someone wanted to find out the name for the people who mess around maliciously with computers and got the hacker/cracker names innocently mixed up (we all make mistakes, particularly when dealing with an area we're not familiar with). So the term hacker started getting used in the wrong way, but the term stuck and the meaning remained the same. After a while, there's no point in attempting to change the definition of a word if it's already accepted in mainstream use to have a particular meaning - otherwise you're just adding confusion when there doesn't have to be any.
Now stop being so fucking negative and enjoy live for goodness sake. All your posts make it sound as if we're dead already.
Sounds like if you have to go that far, you might as well go back to (or stick with) Windows 7, which has no Metro to speak of and so doesn't run the risk of ripping out something important to the system which you didn't realize was important.
I still can't get used to the completely flat, barren and boring appearance of Windows 8 (and Office 2013 for that matter). I don't care if it's the in-thing in design right now - Windows 7 is spiffy and Office 2010 makes good use of color. Really disappointed Microsoft went downhill from there, aesthetically anyway.
Bullshit, shithead. Yes, Base requires Java. It does not, however, mean the LO/OO installer itself is Java-based. Incorrect information is the bane of the Linux and open source world and too many people provide false information, showing a grave lack of technical literacy.
Shit, I thought I was the only one here to actually notice these deficiencies. Made me wonder if anyone was actually using LibreOffice for anything rather than just text.
LibreOffice is too fucking annoying. The thing that sent me over the edge is its ABYSMAL support of tables. The manipulation features of tables in Word compared to Writer is night vs day. Example - you cannot interactively resize tables in Writer like you can in Word. Such a simple feature makes all the difference in terms of usability. You also cannot manually drag & place a table in Writer anywhere you want on a page - the suggested workaround is to create a frame, set up some parameters and place the table within it, then move the frame around (which causes problems when the table needs to be resized/modified, since the frame interferes with the mouse operations). It's really, really poor, and there's enough edge cases like this which add up to the point where one's idealism finally comes crumbling down.
The LibreOffice and OpenOffice installers are Java based.
No they're not. Linux uses.deb/.rpm, OS X use.dmg, and Windows uses.msi. In all cases the installer is native to the platform - no Java required. Who the fuck do you think you are spreading misinformation?
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The thing that will really turn someone's head is if you question whether your Government is one of the "good guys". If it can be shown that, say, the US aren't the good guys, then and only then will it click in people's brains that perhaps all this collection of data on citizens might actually be cause for concern.
Yes, some Governments are worse than others, but it takes the first step in realizing that all Governments look out for themselves first and their citizens a distant second, before you realize why pervasive surveillance is a problem
Google doesn't have to have leaked data for people to be concerned about them. The act of Google building up a profile on someone, pressuring them at every stage into using that stupid Google+ service, not to mention having all that info ready to serve in case someone like the NSA feels noisy enough to request it, makes people feel a bit uncomfortable even if they've been a perfect little saint on the Internet.
Some writers are well known for being very opinionated, or fanboyish, or flat out wrong but still employed for some reason. People then mention said writers in articles such as this, and passive readers like myself eventually learn the names of these writer due to exposure, even though I've only read maybe one or two of his articles in full (and yes he's a complete Microsoft fanboy, which makes it very easy to expose the various holes and hypocrisies of his articles, but that's an exercise for the bored).
Nah, he's not an idiot. I think it was more to do with the fact that Hedy contributed some very important techniques to the communications world that facilitated the development of mobile communications, where as Ashton's very knowledgeable about technological trends. Good for him, but put plainly he doesn't compare in terms of capability or contribution as what Hedy has, apart from the fact they're both (or were) actors.
Well isn't that what Halloween's about? Teaching kids revenge and causing damage if you don't get what you want? Arming your kids with a carton of eggs and if you don't get any lollies, you throw eggs at people's houses?
It's not like Photoshop doesn't have its own stupid idiosyncrasies. After using the GIMP for a while I went back to Photoshop for some extra work and realized that you can't just middle-click and pan the image around in PS like you can in GIMP. Sure, in PS you can hold down the spacebar and left-click-drag, but you can do that in the GIMP as well, it's just the GIMP has the middle-click-drag feature which is common in a lot of tools and for some reason isn't present in PS. I find that oddly amusing.
EA control a lot of the most popular gaming franchises (Sims, Battlefield, Mass Effect, various official sports titles) and from what I've read in forums, gamers will generally try to avoid facing the realities of the company they're dealing with if it means they can focus more on the game. That, and people don't think they'll have any problems. So they're ripe for abuse because they feel they must play the latest hot game rather than go without, or buy something else.
So no wonder this shit keeps happening. Gamers on a whole are sheep and don't push back hard enough because it's all about the games - not buying a game solely because of a company's dodgy behavior is apparently a dumb idea.
He must be a pretty confused dissident then if he's defending the NSA.
Professional music studios, like graphics houses, are conservative. By their very nature, they're likely to use industry standard software because it's industry standard, and so comes with a certain level of known support, known expectations, and the widest amount of people who known how to use said software. Often it's because it's the best software, but that's not to say alternative, non-industry standard software isn't suitable. It just isn't a factor when deciding what software to use, even if it's cheaper (or free).
Amature, indie, home-grown musicians are more likely to be able to use Linux because they're more confined by the cost of the software, are less restricted in what they are allowed to use, and are possibly more interested in what other software is available to accomplish their goals.
I'm not saying the pros are wrong and indie is right, by any stretch. But I will say that you're not going to find any inspiring stories of open-source/Linux in pro houses and shouldn't expect to do so. It's completely understandable why they don't... but shouldn't be taken as a reason not to use Linux and the available tools with it to make something great.
This is a bit of a sidetrack, but never, ever admit to being a fanboy of something. You can certainly be a fan, nothing wrong with that, because a fan (a true fan) is someone who is capable of enjoying and supporting something while still recognizing the limitations or problems that exist with the thing they're a fan of. Fanboys do not, they are loud and miserable to anyone who points out flaws in what they're defending, and are some of the most annoying pricks ever to grace the Internet and completely ruin any form of intelligent discourse. Hopefully you're just a fan of Linux (like I am), and not a fanboy who makes us look like childish idiots*.
As for your question, I use Audacity as my main audio editor software as well. To be honest I have yet to encounter something with my (relatively modest) requirements for audio editing that Audacity couldn't do. It's pretty impressive. In terms of actually making music, I've dabbled with LMMS (mostly because unlike Ardour, I can still use it in Windows and prefer true cross-platform tools) but I'm not sure I'd could use it for much except simpler tracks.
* There are also Windows fanboys, believe it or not. Neowin.net is a prime location for said folk. Just be aware that they cannot destroy the reputation of Windows, whereas the vocal minority of Linux fanboys certainly can, which is why I'm deeply annoyed about fanboys in general. They can ruin a good thing.
The NSA is responsible for a number of the crypto schemes in the first place. I can understand some concern about whether the NSA-contributed algorithms were designed with being cracked by the NSA easily in mind, but the mere name of the key brought up more hysteria and baseless accusations than anything since.
What's with all the suggestions in the replies about downloading replacement bink files or replacing them with empty placeholder files? Just delete or name the damn things - most games will simply skip to the next video file, or in the absence of them all, go straight to the menu.
For me though, I try to avoid doing this and if there's a way to skip via the config file (such as with Dishonored or Rage), then it's preferable.
I really dislike the word "consume" when it comes to non-food/drink products. Why not just use the traditional, non corporate and just plain English words of "watch" or "listen".
Ahhaa, Python, yes. The only language I've come across where if someone is using tabs and the other is using spaces (or worse, their editor substitutes spaces for a tab), the code will break.
I happen to like Python, but man that was an easy one to deconstruct.
At some point though, you have to trust SOMETHING. You'll always find some hypothetically attack vector when it comes to software, but you'll go mad with the possibilities.
I would argue that on a typical laptop screen at 1920x1080, the limited physical dimensions make things like anti-aliasing not as important compared to say a proper desktop monitor, where the pixels are bigger and hence the effect of a lack of AA is more pronounced. As for anisotropic filtering, that's basically free for any graphics chipset these days so I'd be surprised if there's any performance hit on that.
Having said that, Skyrim's one of those games which everyone seems to love and I dislike (then again I disliked Oblivion as well due to its paper-thin characters, pathetic story, lack of any actual time pressure or concern about the world and overall design), so maybe the Elder Scrolls series is just not my type anyway.
Sure, agreed. But in the grand scheme of things though, life ain't that bad, even with lobbied politicians and the NSA. At least compared to say North Korea, Syria or even China in some respects.
People just want to whine and moan. It's irritating for two reasons:
(1) Things really aren't that bad; most of the issues are theoretical/hypothetical (such as the NSA reading your emails) and will never affect you anyway
(2) YOU CAN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. We have no power. So why make your life miserable and feel depressed over the state of the world? Learn to enjoy life and find things that make life worth living.
I'm not saying the situation's great. I'm saying you need to accept that this is everyday shit; most others have learnt to deal with it and don't complain all the time - they just deal, because it's how the world works. Thinking you're going to make a difference with your one-man army (or a bunch of nerds agreeing with each other on the Internet) is dangerous fantasizing.
I think I finally understand why you post with such a superiority complex and arrogant attitude - you're an alien. I mean you must be - you can't be human because you refer to use as "you humans", as if you're separate from the species.
Either that or you're a fucking disgrace of a person who thinks they're better than everyone else. To be honest though, most elitist Linux users have similar views.
The guy's a loon, just look at his post history. He has no concept of logical thinking and application, and he calls himself a scientist.
You sure love your conspiracies don't you?
Here's another thought - back in the day when the media started covering the topic of computers and security, someone wanted to find out the name for the people who mess around maliciously with computers and got the hacker/cracker names innocently mixed up (we all make mistakes, particularly when dealing with an area we're not familiar with). So the term hacker started getting used in the wrong way, but the term stuck and the meaning remained the same. After a while, there's no point in attempting to change the definition of a word if it's already accepted in mainstream use to have a particular meaning - otherwise you're just adding confusion when there doesn't have to be any.
Now stop being so fucking negative and enjoy live for goodness sake. All your posts make it sound as if we're dead already.
Sounds like if you have to go that far, you might as well go back to (or stick with) Windows 7, which has no Metro to speak of and so doesn't run the risk of ripping out something important to the system which you didn't realize was important.
I still can't get used to the completely flat, barren and boring appearance of Windows 8 (and Office 2013 for that matter). I don't care if it's the in-thing in design right now - Windows 7 is spiffy and Office 2010 makes good use of color. Really disappointed Microsoft went downhill from there, aesthetically anyway.
Bullshit, shithead. Yes, Base requires Java. It does not, however, mean the LO/OO installer itself is Java-based. Incorrect information is the bane of the Linux and open source world and too many people provide false information, showing a grave lack of technical literacy.
Shit, I thought I was the only one here to actually notice these deficiencies. Made me wonder if anyone was actually using LibreOffice for anything rather than just text.
LibreOffice is too fucking annoying. The thing that sent me over the edge is its ABYSMAL support of tables. The manipulation features of tables in Word compared to Writer is night vs day. Example - you cannot interactively resize tables in Writer like you can in Word. Such a simple feature makes all the difference in terms of usability. You also cannot manually drag & place a table in Writer anywhere you want on a page - the suggested workaround is to create a frame, set up some parameters and place the table within it, then move the frame around (which causes problems when the table needs to be resized/modified, since the frame interferes with the mouse operations). It's really, really poor, and there's enough edge cases like this which add up to the point where one's idealism finally comes crumbling down.
No they're not. Linux uses .deb/.rpm, OS X use .dmg, and Windows uses .msi. In all cases the installer is native to the platform - no Java required. Who the fuck do you think you are spreading misinformation?