Here's my goofy idea for dissapating all that extra power - when the train brakes, charge up some mondo capacitors and have them pop off a big-ass EMP, which will fry all those damn cell-phones that people start yammering on the second they get out of the tunnel.
Wow, nothing but slams for the mobilix page. However, I recently found it very helpful getting an HP 800CT working. Sure, that page that was linked in the story wasn't all that memorable, but I think it's a worthy site.
As for the Windows tax on laptops, I suggest buying refurbished models. Where I've gotten mine (including that HP 800CT), they seem to have two tiers of laptops. The higher cost ones have relatively recent hardware and come with Windows 98 or more recent, and the lower cost ones - about $200 to $500 - have older procesors like Pentiums and don't include an OS. (OK, there's DOS on the drive, but no Windows.)
If you write me, I'll be happy to tell you their URL, though curiously, their laptop stock seems quite low right now.
Microsoft used home users to bootstrap business use. People had Windows and Windows applications at home, and carried them to work.... Microsoft appears to be trying to "differentiate" Windows with the XP interface. The commonality is going away. Interestingly, *they* are splintering the market, and diffusing the meaning of "Windows Everywhere."
My guess is that now that they have a monopoly at home and at work, Microsoft can afford to differentiate, because they want to make it harder for people to take software home from work and use it on their home machines.
I think I'd rather just get a safe deposit box and make instructions to have it opened after my death.
This is actually slightly trickier than that. Just a couple of weeks ago, my brother and I met with my parents and their lawyer to discuss their will. The lawyer just explicitly told us not to keep their will in their safe deposit box, since banks automatically lock them when they find out someone died. And banks have people whose job it is to scan obits. I forgot the details, but the lawyer said there is a way to get let into the box, but it will be delayed.
In other words, by the time your trusted people get to your safe deposit box, the untrusted people could have had their way with your computer, etc.
Not that I'm thinking of buying one of these (got enough computers these days) but this is exciting.
What I'm curious about is the tech support issue. It seems to me that by offering a Lindows pre-installed PC, it's now in Wal*Mart's interest to see Lindows be as stable as possible and as compatable with Windows applications as possible.
Does anyone suppose they plan to help out Lindows development if, say, the next version of some popular Windows software doesn't work with Lindows? Now that would really impress me. (And then I'd think about buying one of these boxes.)
My siblings and I bought my mother a computer and as the designated s/a, I put Slackware on it 'cause that's what I'm most familiar with.
Now, my mother is working her way up to being a novice user. My favorite example is that I had to explain to her what to do when her mouse reached the end of the mouse pad, but the pointer hadn't reached its destination.
Say what you want about Linux's usability (for any distribution) vs. Windows or Mac, but I have no doubt I'd have been answering questions I can't even make up myself with any other platform. However, with Slackware I know that no matter what she does, I can fix it, and I have the best chance of being able to explain to her how to do things.
I think the experiment has paid off, since I haven't heard any problems from her in a long time now.
I wouldn't have dreamed of having her install her own OS - Windows or otherwise - but I think that the anecdotal evidence of her success is proof that pretty much anyone can use Linux, Slackware in particular.
I emailed the owner of some linux-related site, and got back an autoresponse... Will I try again? No. If the guy is that friggin' paranoid, to hell with his product.
I usually come to the same conclusion myself when it comes to various barriers to web-shopping (e.g. excessive registration/requirement to use java(script)/doesn't work with any browser I use on Linux/etc.)
However, depending on the product, you could look at it this way: if the guy is that careful about his email, perhaps that reflects well on how careful he is with his product. I know it works the other way - when I see a site that looks shoddily constructed or where the mailto links are to aol/hotmail/whatever domains, I get leery.
(With apologies to Martin Niemoller, not to mention 12 million or so Nazi victims)
"First they came for the Droids but I was not a Droid so I did not speak out;
Then they came for the Wookies and the Naboo but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out;
Then they came for the Jedi but I was not a Jedi so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."
"Larry" Fishburne was Cowboy Curtis on Pee-Wee's Playhouse, the TV show on CBS that ran some 10 years ago. That was where I first saw him, so it always tripped me out to see him in serious roles.
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Here's my goofy idea for dissapating all that extra power - when the train brakes, charge up some mondo capacitors and have them pop off a big-ass EMP, which will fry all those damn cell-phones that people start yammering on the second they get out of the tunnel.
If you're talking about the early days of computer science, I think you mean "stoner ages", as in the '60s.
As for the Windows tax on laptops, I suggest buying refurbished models. Where I've gotten mine (including that HP 800CT), they seem to have two tiers of laptops. The higher cost ones have relatively recent hardware and come with Windows 98 or more recent, and the lower cost ones - about $200 to $500 - have older procesors like Pentiums and don't include an OS. (OK, there's DOS on the drive, but no Windows.)
If you write me, I'll be happy to tell you their URL, though curiously, their laptop stock seems quite low right now.
Any joke can be funny ... once.
My guess is that now that they have a monopoly at home and at work, Microsoft can afford to differentiate, because they want to make it harder for people to take software home from work and use it on their home machines.
According to that site, it was written by one Tom Murphy VII. Something tells me there won't be a Tom Murphy VIII.
This is actually slightly trickier than that. Just a couple of weeks ago, my brother and I met with my parents and their lawyer to discuss their will. The lawyer just explicitly told us not to keep their will in their safe deposit box, since banks automatically lock them when they find out someone died. And banks have people whose job it is to scan obits. I forgot the details, but the lawyer said there is a way to get let into the box, but it will be delayed.
In other words, by the time your trusted people get to your safe deposit box, the untrusted people could have had their way with your computer, etc.
That's kind of like how real players exchange jerseys after games. Sweat and all.
Why don't you check for yourself?
I wonder how much of that was people hoping Brandi Chastain would take off her shirt again.
What I'm curious about is the tech support issue. It seems to me that by offering a Lindows pre-installed PC, it's now in Wal*Mart's interest to see Lindows be as stable as possible and as compatable with Windows applications as possible.
Does anyone suppose they plan to help out Lindows development if, say, the next version of some popular Windows software doesn't work with Lindows? Now that would really impress me. (And then I'd think about buying one of these boxes.)
I thought the password was "SwedishHistoriansAreWeenies" spelled backwords.
Min:
Max:
When those Martian colonists find out about those ping times, you can bet they'll band together!
6. ..."Stars" == "das Blinkenlights"
What are the chances this Ask Slashdot is from a marketing troll at ThinkGeek, for example?
Now, my mother is working her way up to being a novice user. My favorite example is that I had to explain to her what to do when her mouse reached the end of the mouse pad, but the pointer hadn't reached its destination.
Say what you want about Linux's usability (for any distribution) vs. Windows or Mac, but I have no doubt I'd have been answering questions I can't even make up myself with any other platform. However, with Slackware I know that no matter what she does, I can fix it, and I have the best chance of being able to explain to her how to do things.
I think the experiment has paid off, since I haven't heard any problems from her in a long time now.
I wouldn't have dreamed of having her install her own OS - Windows or otherwise - but I think that the anecdotal evidence of her success is proof that pretty much anyone can use Linux, Slackware in particular.
You know you're old when people referring to the early nineties as old school makes you roll your eyes...
I usually come to the same conclusion myself when it comes to various barriers to web-shopping (e.g. excessive registration/requirement to use java(script)/doesn't work with any browser I use on Linux/etc.)
However, depending on the product, you could look at it this way: if the guy is that careful about his email, perhaps that reflects well on how careful he is with his product. I know it works the other way - when I see a site that looks shoddily constructed or where the mailto links are to aol/hotmail/whatever domains, I get leery.
"Just about" indeed! Surely you're not overlooking Professor Frink!
"First they came for the Droids but I was not a Droid so I did not speak out;
Then they came for the Wookies and the Naboo but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out;
Then they came for the Jedi but I was not a Jedi so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."
"Larry" Fishburne was Cowboy Curtis on Pee-Wee's Playhouse, the TV show on CBS that ran some 10 years ago. That was where I first saw him, so it always tripped me out to see him in serious roles.
By that measurement, "Spinal Tap" wins hands down.
These go to eleven.
There's such a fine line between stupid and ... clever.
You can't really dust for vomit.
OK, I'll stop now before I get too far off-topic.
Moderator: Too late. (-1 Off-topic.)
Sex and mathematics?
Or this?
Sure, and lay a big LCD monitor across the top for a coffee-table computer.