every one of my Linux experiences has been largely unpleasant... I outgeek most people I know and I can't stand it, and I'm both a cheapass and an OSS/FOSS advocate.
With "friends" like you OSS/FOSS does not need any enemies...
[Linux] has it's [sic] place, but at least right now, it sure as hell isn't on the desktop.
No one is stopping you from running your precious OS-X on your desktop, but as an admitted "cheapass" it must chap your hide everytime Steve Jobs makes you pony up more than $100 for a service pack!:-)
This is the third or fourth time you have mentioned frustration. You must be easily frustrated!
I was using RH up until 9, when I switched to Mandriva.
Yes, Red Hat is comparatively harder to use but it is a server distribution after all. As far as Mandriva goes, now you are in FUD territory.
We run Red Hat at work for the support, since I support myself at home Mandriva does the trick. If you can't make Mandriva work then I would doubt your level of computer expertise (i.e., you are not the computer geek you make yourself out to be).
Switching email clients is fine, but the task becomes harder when you want to actually keep all your previous emails (i'm over 4400 in my inbox now).
Hmmm... how about setting up a mail server (postfix works great and is easy to configure). Set up an IMAP interface and copy all those emails to the mail server -- problem solved. Of course if your computer skills are not up to par then this would be "too hard".
It was enough of a pain to get it into Outlook (because of KMail), I don't think I wanted to try going to some other mail client.
I couldn't tell you about Outlook (I personally hate it even though I have to support the lusers at work who insist on using it), but doesn't Outlook let you access an email server through IMAP? Setting up your own mail server would allow you to access those old emails through multiple email clients. If you knew what you were doing you could even set up a webmail interface to that same mail server.
Now I agree with you that you don't exactly fit the classical definition of "M$ fanboi" but all the examples you have given about Linux not working for you are failures on your part, as millions of people (including me) are able to get Linux working well with minimal problems.
The reason people are calling you a "M$ fanboi" is because you choose to criticize Linux rather than learn how to use it correctly. You choose to take the easy way out and praise Windows rather than learn how to use Linux right. Like they say, if it quacks like a duck...
I'd rather use my computer, than try out the 100+ Linux distributions to find the one that fits me exactly well. I have other things I'd rather be doing personally. Reinstalling yet another OS isn't one of them..
That is the problem with many people today, they want to "use" their computer and not learn about how they work. People who simply use their computers don't want to bother with them when they to go home. People who enjoy learning about computers spend all day working with them then go home and spend all night messing with them.
People who enjoy learning about computers also tend to have more than one computer so they can use one computer to do work while using the other to try out different Linux distributions (while using a third computer to render video at the same time:-> ). Using your computer and learning about computers is not a zero-sum, either/or proposition...
I don't dig on Linux on the desktop because its not MS, I dig on it because it was more frustrating in my five years of running it on the desktop than Windows was.
Again with the frustration! While I can't help you with that problem there are trained psychological counselors who can help you with that problem. Have you tried medication? I hear Valium works wonders!
Suppose I have a hammer with a comfortable grip, and an axe with an uncomfortable grip. Suppose you come across me chopping wood, and I mention to you that I don't like the grip on the axe as much as the grip on my hammer. Would you tell me to stop whining...
An axe != a hammer. A Mac == a PC. And yes I would tell you to quit whining when all you need to do is go down to the local hardware store and get yourself another axe. Besides why should I care? If you want to whine by all means go ahead and do it but don't expect any sympathy from me if you chose to complain rather than taking action to solve the problem yourself.
Some people want Mac usability with Linux value and performance, or Windows familiarity with Linux reliability.
Ah, the myth of Mac usability. How can the Mac be more usable if it uses the same paradigm of icons and windows with a mouse and keyboard for input? Besides if the Mac does not have value to you because the hardware is too expensive then complain to Apple instead of whining to Linux developers to make Linux more Mac-like.
Then you bring up the myth of Windows familiarity. People aren't born knowing how to use Windows, they learn how to use it; what is so hard about spending some time learning Linux? I am far from an Microsoft apologist but as far as Windows being less reliable maybe they need to learn how to adminster Windows instead of whining to Linux developers to make Linux more Windows-like.
These people are not wrong or stupid, and you have absolutely no cause to tell them that they should not want these things.
I did not mean to imply that anyone was WRONG or STUPID or that they should not want those things. All I said is that if anyone has an itch to scratch they should scratch it themselves. This means that if they don't know how to program then they should provide financial support to the relevant developers in order to get their feature implemented.
What I meant to imply was that a lot of people currently using Linux are LAZY and CHEAP. To lazy to learn how to program and too cheap to support those who know how!
Don't blame the techs for making you repeat things.
However I do blame the techs when they insist on reading a pre-canned script aimed at noobs from the top AFTER being told that I am a systems/network administrator with LOTS of Cisco training under my belt. I do blame them when they insist the problem is on my side of the demarc AFTER they have been told by me that I have eliminated possible problems with the DSL modem (I have a spare on hand).
I do blame them when they insist the problem is on my side of the demarc AFTER they have been told by me that I have eliminated possible problems with the NIC (there are two in the PC, both verified to be working correctly in Windows and Linux). I do blame them when they insist the problem is on my side of the demarc AFTER they have been told by me that I have a dedicated phone line for DSL (with fresh CAT 5 no less).
I guess too many bad experiences with SBC/AT&T tech support have soured me on the whole concept of calling for tech support. The funny thing is for $10 more a month Time Warner has given me double the speed (6 Mbps) and a semi-static IP (DHCP but has not changed in months) all while having fewer problems with the connection (number of times I have called Time Warner tech support ==> ZERO).
There COULD be congestion. The best way to test that would be to do a speed test at 3:00 in the morning. Then, if he did not get anywhere close to full speed, that is a problem.
I am a night owl with a Time Warner cable connection. I have noticed that sometimes in the middle of the night you get WORSE speeds than at other times of the day. I assume part of the problem is that at that time of the night many systems on the internet are being maintained and/or backed up.
Also remember that when it is 3 am here in the states it is daytime in other parts of the world. Many high-profile websites are still getting tons of traffic from Europe and Asia. In my experience it is best to do several speed tests at different times of the day and night to see if you can find a pattern in the reported speeds.
As an aside, it is probably the ISP. I used to have SBC (now AT&T) DSL both in Houston and in South Texas. Both times I paid for the high speed connection and never got the speeds I was paying for. Both times after three months I called and complained and lo and behold the SBC rep told me that my DSL line had somehow been "accidentally" locked at the lower speed. That means that I paid for six months of high speed service and got the low speed instead.
Coincidence? I think not, it is just that SBC are a bunch of lame assholes. The reason I say that is because when I last had SBC DSL we had a thunderstorm in the area and the nice clean line I had somehow got affected and I started to get noise in the line. Called SBC tech support and the tech monkeys in India refused to believe me and never did anything to fix my problem. Eventually I got through to a second-level SBC tech (a White guy in Texas) and he verified my line noise problem but again the problem never got fixed.
Eventually I got disgusted with SBC and got rid of my DSL line. I then got Roadrunner cable service which is advertised at 6 Mbps; I consistently get 5.5 Mbps downloads (I live in a low-income barrio and am the only one on Roadrunner so I get all the bandwidth for myself:-> ). As for those lying, cheating bastards at SBC/AT&T, except for my Cingular cell phone, those fuckers will never get another penny from me.
There are many instances (about 95%), where the user is also the sole user or admin of the machine. Why have him/her open a terminal to sudo when this should be done easily via the file manager. If sudo exists, then the file manager should endorse it too and integrate it.
Like I mentioned before, Red Hat and Fedora will ask for the root password ONCE and then integrate with the file manager seamlessly. What kind of broke-ass distribution are you using that does not do that?
I also have two laptops where I run Linux too. And I need them to be more usable. Instead of preaching against like a 70 year old Unix guru, you should be supporting further developments for usability on Linux dekstops.
I am not preaching against Linux on the desktop, in fact I run several desktop PCs using different distributions and Linux always gets the job done for me. I have no complaints because the distributions I use meet my needs.
I have been using UNIX for 30 years and it always has gotten the job done for me. What gets me about those calling for increased Linux "usability" want it to work more like Windows or the Mac. If you want it to work like Windows why not use Windows? If you want it to work like the Mac, why not use a Mac?
It seems to me that some Linux proponents live in a dream world where everyone happily runs Linux on the desktop. I really don't see it happening anytime soon, as the Mac is a viable option to Windows and what is its market penetration -- 5%? Windows is buggy and expensive yet the majority of PCs still run it. IMHO rather than change Linux to make it a pale imitation of Windows or the Mac Linux developers would be better served by innovating new ways of doing things...
LEARN TO WRITE, so that you can say what you really mean to say, not what you thought you said!
I did not say about a USER's home directory. [sic] I said OUT of a user's directory.
root access is not necessary to copy files OUT of a user's home directory nor should it be unless the destination directory is owned by root.
For example, when I try to copy a file on to/usr/share/app/ I want the file manager to ask me for a root password so the file operation goes through!
Now that is different, you want to copy a file to a directory owned by root? You should have said so in the first place instead of talking about ~.
Hmmm... it seems that you really need to man su and man sudo. Get root access via su or sudo and then launch the file manager as root, problem solved! But no, that is too easy a solution for you. You seemingly would rather have talented programmers waste time putting in a feature that you are the only one asking for rather than doing it the UNIX Way (TM).
Besides, user authentication should be a function of the operating system and not of the file manager. Red Hat and Fedora will keep the root authentication token active after you type the password for the first time. If you move or copy a file using a file manager and the root authentication token is active that accomplishes what you need without the need for reprogramming anything.
You want to do it the Apple way? Then buy a Mac! However, if you insist on using Linux then rather than whining about missing "features" why don't you program what you want yourself? The source code is there and you clearly have an itch to scratch, so why don't you scratch that itch yourself???
Instead of using his team, money and energy making Linux and Gnome better (e.g. adding a full Bluetooth front-end, fix the damned phone/pda sync app that's been in alpha for 4 years now, or add video chat on Gaim, or make Nautilus ask for the root password when you try to copy/delete files out of your ~ folder)
Why on earth should Linux or Gnome ask you for the root password to copy or delete files from a user's home directory??? Linux is inherently a multi-user system and not everybody has access to the root password on systems where they have user accounts.
If you want to prevent people from copying or deleting files in your home directory here are a few hints:
Support is costly. It is cheaper and easier to support the most popular OS than to support two.
I my job at a university we have quite a few Dell workstations and servers (both W2K3 and Red Hat). My experience is that while Dell hardware is reasonably reliable the only time we have to contact Dell is for hardware issues (hard disks, power supplies, etc.). Does anyone out there really contact Dell for software support?
Heh. Grandparent is an offtopic post by an Anonymous Coward trashing the Europeans and is rated Insightful. I responded to that post and get moderated Offtopic. If the parent post is not Offtopic then how in the world is my post Offtopic?
I don't usually comment on moderations but this is another sign that Slashdot is going down the tubes. These days there is hardly any reason to come here as tech news is non-existent and most of the comments tend to be flamebait and trolls...
In recent history Europe has never encountered a problem that they didn't attempt to appease. I don't really care what they think of the US's war on terror. Who's best interest do you really think that tehy hold? The US's or their own? As a US citizen I know which I hold.
The United States of America used to be known as "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave". Thanks to ill-considered initiatives like the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terror" over the last few years citizens of the U.S.A. have lost more and more of the freedoms that we used to take for granted.
I think that there is delicious irony in the fact that a citizen of the U.S.A. chooses to post as an Anonymous Coward to take the Europeans to task for their alleged "appeasement". Truthfully, these days the U.S.A. should really be called the "Land of the Enslaved and Home of the Cowardly".
If you read the UT Acceptable Use Policies they don't limit what students can do as long as they they respect the fact that IT resources are a shared and limited resource and they don't break any state/federal laws or university policies/regulations.
I too am a Texas taxpayer (as well as a college student) and have paid enough in taxes and tuition that I would be pissed off if they did NOT allow students personal access to information resources.
Your comment about him not having "gathered the necessary voter signatures by now rather than waiting until the last sixty days before the deadline" betrays your ignorance of Texas' ridiculous election law.
True, I did not research the relevant law, but give me a break, the last time took a Texas government course was close to 30 years ago! Besides as a yellow dog Democrat, I really don't care about what it takes an independent candidate to get on the ballot because most of them tend to be on the lunatic fringe (i.e., Libertarians, Greens, etc.).
I still think that there is no way in Hell that Kinky will win. It will be the Ralph Nader effect again, where more Democrats than Republicans will vote for Kinky. Same goes for Strayhorn, more Democrats will defect than Republicans. Kinky may get more votes than the Democratic candidate (due to the sad state the Texas Democratic party currently finds itself in) but there is very little chance of him getting more votes than Perry, especially if he does not address the issues better.
Sure it sounds good to say we need to pay Texas teachers more and that we need to spend more on health care in Texas, but why no details on how to pay for those proposals? Voting for a particular person for governor just because they are famous does not seem to be working for California, it would be a shame for Texas to make the same mistake.
Sure it is early but judging from several recent polls source 1 and source 2 Kinky has a lot of ground to make up if the wants to be elected governor. He will have to make inroads among Black voters (85% of whom vote Democrat) and Chicano voters along the border (little known fact: if South Texas were a separate state it would have been a Blue state).
For instance when he says "I support gay marriage, and I support prayer in school" who can take him seriously? Gay marriage turns off the conservatives and prayer in schools is a hot button issue to liberals. Which voters is he going after by saying something like that?
How about:
... he has outlined a bizarre plan to protect the border.
"You take five Mexican generals and give them a bank account of $1 million each," he said. "Then every time a Mexican national gets caught crossing illegally, you withdraw $5,000 from the general responsible for that sector."
What the hell is that all about? Bribing Mexican generals is against Mexican law, and the mere suggestion that illegal immigration is solely a Mexican problem is insulting to Mexico because it is a fact that those illegal immigrants are coming here because AMERICAN employers are hiring them.
How about when he says: "I'd rather be a dead Gram Parsons than a live Garth Brooks." or "I'll keep us out of war with Oklahoma." or "I'm going to de-wussify Texas if I have to do it one wuss at a time." Which voters is going after when he says things like that?
Also, if he was truly serious he would have gathered the necessary voter signatures by now rather than waiting until the last sixty days before the deadline.
Kinky will be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno later tonight and I will be sure to catch him to see how serious he really is. If indeed he is being serious then there is a chance he can win (given the fact that Texas has elected bigger clowns like George Bush governor before) but I personally would not bet the ranch on Kinky being our next governor...
If he really wants to do something good for Texas he would be proposing that the borders be properly patrolled. Maybe he should tax illegal immigration.
I live about 90 miles from the Mexican border and nothing good will come from increased border patrols. Right now more patrols in South Texas will mean that the area is going to become more and more of a police state.
The major problems are two-fold, illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Both are basic economic problems with simple solutions. Either you decrease demand (hiring fewer illegal immigrants or using fewer illegal drugs) or you increase supply (work permits for Mexican immigrants and legalization of drugs).
The U.S. refuses to decrease demand and attempts at restricting supply are futile, so the solution is obviously to come up with some system of work permits and legalizing drugs to solve both of those problems. But no, neo-conservatives want to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. I think that it is funny that conservative icon Ronald Reagan fought to tear down the Berlin Wall while the neo-cons want to build one of their own!
Think about it, if you register immigrants and take their contact info and fingerprints you can monitor their activities much easier than you can now. They are here to take jobs that most Americans refuse to do and they pay rent, buy food and pay sales and income taxes while they are here. Why not make them valuable members of the system instead of marginalizing and victimizing them just because they want to work.
As far as drugs, if the "War on Drugs" is any indication, the "War on Terror" is never going to end and Americans better be prepared to lose more and more of their civil liberties in the process...
Well, Kinky is running as a joke, like Pat Paulsen running for President in 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992, and 1996.
Among the serious candidates, White Republicans are voting for Perry. Texas Chicanos and Blacks are overwhelmingly Democratic and will be voting for the Democratic sacrificial lamb du jour (who may turn out to be former Houston-area Congressman Chris Bell, who was gerrymandered out of a Congress seat by Tom Delay).
So no, when you think of Kinky think "snowball in Hell". IMO the only way Perry loses is if enough White Republicans and Chicano/Black Democrats defect and vote for "one tough grandma" Carole Keeton Strayhorn.
Texas rules... It's amazing though, no state tax, only a slightly higher sales tax and higher property tax. The property tax doesn't matter much because the houses are valued less. Yet their government seems to be doing great, with a lot of money going to schools and public services.
Seems that someone wasn't paying attention in school:
Texas lawmakers also are working under the gun of a court order to fix the state's $30 billion education financing system, which was ruled unconstitutional last September.
The Legislature and Republican Gov. Rick Perry failed to come up with an education plan during a special legislative session called by the governor last summer. So, last September, District Court Judge John Dietz threatened to shut down all schools if the Legislature does not act to replace the current school financing scheme by October 2005. --- Texas has struggled for years to correct inadequacies in its school financing system, which, like many states, depends heavily on local property taxes to fund education, a practice that is considered unfair to poorer communities.
Any solution to Texas' school financing problem will involve a significant tax hike, which was the sticking point last summer and will prove a significant hurdle in the Republican-controlled Legislature. --- Judge Dietz ruled that Texas's so-called "Robin Hood" school financing system, which attempts to equalize education funding by requiring wealthier districts to underwrite poorer districts, failed to generate enough money to meet state standards and was unconstitutional. --- In the past 10 years, the state government's share of education funding has dropped from 68 percent to 38 percent, forcing local school districts to raise property taxes to compensate. Texas ranks 37th nationwide in per-capita education spending, but the state ranks dead last in the percentage of state funds spent on education.
To keep up with inflation, nearly half of Texas' school districts have raised local property taxes to the maximum amount allowed under state law - $1.50 per $100 of property value. Although Texas's Constitution forbids a statewide property tax, Judge Dietz ruled that so many localities were at their maximum taxing power to support education that it was in effect a statewide property tax. The case is on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, whose nine members all all Republican, but many say the chances are good the ruling will be upheld.
Collecting recordings and "evidence" of this is downright scary. It could be used as cute sound bites on the oreilly factor or worse be used to intimidate or harass faculty.
I think that there is actually an easy way to prevent that. The syllabus can contain a disclaimer that the Professor makes the students read, sign and return. The Professor can also read the disclaimer before each lecture:
This works pretty well for Major League Baseball, I don't see why individuals could not protect their intellectual property in a similar way.
While it is true that a Professor could choose to sue a student in most cases they would not bother. Instead they would just wait for the idiots at Faux News to slip up and broadcast parts of their lectures. Can you say "Defendant with Deep Pockets"?
I'm not saying everything in the newspaper is false, but come on... Same goes for magazines. You can choose to trust them, but I would research the topic first.
When you do research newspapers and magazines are often valuable first sources to consult.
Bottom line is, the only thing I trust is personal experience, and I don't see this bias towards minorities in the workplace.
I'll take the research of Snopes.com over any of those crackpot sites you linked to (which, for all I know, are paid astroturfers for Splenda), but thanks for playing.
I consider myself a reasonable man (i.e., I don't wear a tin hat), but a few comments come to mind.
1. Is Snopes is right 100% of the time? Is Snopes infallible? That would be a first in human history!
2. After looking at Snopes' references, we can probably discount the FDA if the musical chairs between industry and government exists. We all know how easy it is to hide real science from the public if there is a big bribe, errr, high-paying industry job involved.
3. Another of Snopes' sources is Time Magazine, hardly a peer reviewed journal.
4. The MIT study is probably the best reference on the Snopes' page, but it ends with "This work was supported by a grant from the NutraSweet Co. to the Center for Brain Sciences and Metabolism Charitable Trust", which kind of calls to question its objectivity.
5. I have taken statistics courses before and the sample size of 48 seems kind of small and study length of four months seems kind of short to be able to confidently generalize the results to the population as a whole.
The only way to put this alleged urban myth to rest is for the companies to make public their research proving Aspartame safe. Have they done so? If not, why not?
I also reviewed this machine in an article on TomsNetworking.
That is a really an informative review of the Yellow Machine's capabilities. Good work!
A couple of minor nits though: On the "Firewall and Proxy modes" page in the paragraph above Figure 10 were you talk about content blocking, all of a sudden the topic changes to that of the clients needing to be listed in the proxy so that they are able to access the proxy.
Figure 10 shows a Squid DNS error message from the bogus http://youarenotregistered/ URL, not a content blocked error message or client not found in the Squid config error message...
In spite of those admittedly minor errors I would still give you an "A" for that review!
Slashdot Mirror
No one is stopping you from running your precious OS-X on your desktop, but as an admitted "cheapass" it must chap your hide everytime Steve Jobs makes you pony up more than $100 for a service pack!
Yes, Red Hat is comparatively harder to use but it is a server distribution after all. As far as Mandriva goes, now you are in FUD territory.
We run Red Hat at work for the support, since I support myself at home Mandriva does the trick. If you can't make Mandriva work then I would doubt your level of computer expertise (i.e., you are not the computer geek you make yourself out to be).
Hmmm... how about setting up a mail server (postfix works great and is easy to configure). Set up an IMAP interface and copy all those emails to the mail server -- problem solved. Of course if your computer skills are not up to par then this would be "too hard".
I couldn't tell you about Outlook (I personally hate it even though I have to support the lusers at work who insist on using it), but doesn't Outlook let you access an email server through IMAP? Setting up your own mail server would allow you to access those old emails through multiple email clients. If you knew what you were doing you could even set up a webmail interface to that same mail server.
Now I agree with you that you don't exactly fit the classical definition of "M$ fanboi" but all the examples you have given about Linux not working for you are failures on your part, as millions of people (including me) are able to get Linux working well with minimal problems.
The reason people are calling you a "M$ fanboi" is because you choose to criticize Linux rather than learn how to use it correctly. You choose to take the easy way out and praise Windows rather than learn how to use Linux right. Like they say, if it quacks like a duck...
That is the problem with many people today, they want to "use" their computer and not learn about how they work. People who simply use their computers don't want to bother with them when they to go home. People who enjoy learning about computers spend all day working with them then go home and spend all night messing with them.
People who enjoy learning about computers also tend to have more than one computer so they can use one computer to do work while using the other to try out different Linux distributions (while using a third computer to render video at the same time
Again with the frustration! While I can't help you with that problem there are trained psychological counselors who can help you with that problem. Have you tried medication? I hear Valium works wonders!
Ah, the myth of Mac usability. How can the Mac be more usable if it uses the same paradigm of icons and windows with a mouse and keyboard for input? Besides if the Mac does not have value to you because the hardware is too expensive then complain to Apple instead of whining to Linux developers to make Linux more Mac-like.
Then you bring up the myth of Windows familiarity. People aren't born knowing how to use Windows, they learn how to use it; what is so hard about spending some time learning Linux? I am far from an Microsoft apologist but as far as Windows being less reliable maybe they need to learn how to adminster Windows instead of whining to Linux developers to make Linux more Windows-like.
I did not mean to imply that anyone was WRONG or STUPID or that they should not want those things. All I said is that if anyone has an itch to scratch they should scratch it themselves. This means that if they don't know how to program then they should provide financial support to the relevant developers in order to get their feature implemented.
What I meant to imply was that a lot of people currently using Linux are LAZY and CHEAP. To lazy to learn how to program and too cheap to support those who know how!
I do blame them when they insist the problem is on my side of the demarc AFTER they have been told by me that I have eliminated possible problems with the NIC (there are two in the PC, both verified to be working correctly in Windows and Linux). I do blame them when they insist the problem is on my side of the demarc AFTER they have been told by me that I have a dedicated phone line for DSL (with fresh CAT 5 no less).
I guess too many bad experiences with SBC/AT&T tech support have soured me on the whole concept of calling for tech support. The funny thing is for $10 more a month Time Warner has given me double the speed (6 Mbps) and a semi-static IP (DHCP but has not changed in months) all while having fewer problems with the connection (number of times I have called Time Warner tech support ==> ZERO).
Also remember that when it is 3 am here in the states it is daytime in other parts of the world. Many high-profile websites are still getting tons of traffic from Europe and Asia. In my experience it is best to do several speed tests at different times of the day and night to see if you can find a pattern in the reported speeds.
As an aside, it is probably the ISP. I used to have SBC (now AT&T) DSL both in Houston and in South Texas. Both times I paid for the high speed connection and never got the speeds I was paying for. Both times after three months I called and complained and lo and behold the SBC rep told me that my DSL line had somehow been "accidentally" locked at the lower speed. That means that I paid for six months of high speed service and got the low speed instead.
Coincidence? I think not, it is just that SBC are a bunch of lame assholes. The reason I say that is because when I last had SBC DSL we had a thunderstorm in the area and the nice clean line I had somehow got affected and I started to get noise in the line. Called SBC tech support and the tech monkeys in India refused to believe me and never did anything to fix my problem. Eventually I got through to a second-level SBC tech (a White guy in Texas) and he verified my line noise problem but again the problem never got fixed.
Eventually I got disgusted with SBC and got rid of my DSL line. I then got Roadrunner cable service which is advertised at 6 Mbps; I consistently get 5.5 Mbps downloads (I live in a low-income barrio and am the only one on Roadrunner so I get all the bandwidth for myself
I have been using UNIX for 30 years and it always has gotten the job done for me. What gets me about those calling for increased Linux "usability" want it to work more like Windows or the Mac. If you want it to work like Windows why not use Windows? If you want it to work like the Mac, why not use a Mac?
It seems to me that some Linux proponents live in a dream world where everyone happily runs Linux on the desktop. I really don't see it happening anytime soon, as the Mac is a viable option to Windows and what is its market penetration -- 5%? Windows is buggy and expensive yet the majority of PCs still run it. IMHO rather than change Linux to make it a pale imitation of Windows or the Mac Linux developers would be better served by innovating new ways of doing things...
root access is not necessary to copy files OUT of a user's home directory nor should it be unless the destination directory is owned by root.
Now that is different, you want to copy a file to a directory owned by root? You should have said so in the first place instead of talking about ~.
Hmmm... it seems that you really need to man su and man sudo. Get root access via su or sudo and then launch the file manager as root, problem solved! But no, that is too easy a solution for you. You seemingly would rather have talented programmers waste time putting in a feature that you are the only one asking for rather than doing it the UNIX Way (TM).
Besides, user authentication should be a function of the operating system and not of the file manager. Red Hat and Fedora will keep the root authentication token active after you type the password for the first time. If you move or copy a file using a file manager and the root authentication token is active that accomplishes what you need without the need for reprogramming anything.
You want to do it the Apple way? Then buy a Mac! However, if you insist on using Linux then rather than whining about missing "features" why don't you program what you want yourself? The source code is there and you clearly have an itch to scratch, so why don't you scratch that itch yourself???
Why on earth should Linux or Gnome ask you for the root password to copy or delete files from a user's home directory??? Linux is inherently a multi-user system and not everybody has access to the root password on systems where they have user accounts.
If you want to prevent people from copying or deleting files in your home directory here are a few hints:
Heh. Grandparent is an offtopic post by an Anonymous Coward trashing the Europeans and is rated Insightful. I responded to that post and get moderated Offtopic. If the parent post is not Offtopic then how in the world is my post Offtopic?
I don't usually comment on moderations but this is another sign that Slashdot is going down the tubes. These days there is hardly any reason to come here as tech news is non-existent and most of the comments tend to be flamebait and trolls...
I think that there is delicious irony in the fact that a citizen of the U.S.A. chooses to post as an Anonymous Coward to take the Europeans to task for their alleged "appeasement". Truthfully, these days the U.S.A. should really be called the "Land of the Enslaved and Home of the Cowardly".
If you read the UT Acceptable Use Policies they don't limit what students can do as long as they they respect the fact that IT resources are a shared and limited resource and they don't break any state/federal laws or university policies/regulations.
I too am a Texas taxpayer (as well as a college student) and have paid enough in taxes and tuition that I would be pissed off if they did NOT allow students personal access to information resources.
I still think that there is no way in Hell that Kinky will win. It will be the Ralph Nader effect again, where more Democrats than Republicans will vote for Kinky. Same goes for Strayhorn, more Democrats will defect than Republicans. Kinky may get more votes than the Democratic candidate (due to the sad state the Texas Democratic party currently finds itself in) but there is very little chance of him getting more votes than Perry, especially if he does not address the issues better.
Sure it sounds good to say we need to pay Texas teachers more and that we need to spend more on health care in Texas, but why no details on how to pay for those proposals? Voting for a particular person for governor just because they are famous does not seem to be working for California, it would be a shame for Texas to make the same mistake.
Sure it is early but judging from several recent polls source 1 and source 2 Kinky has a lot of ground to make up if the wants to be elected governor. He will have to make inroads among Black voters (85% of whom vote Democrat) and Chicano voters along the border (little known fact: if South Texas were a separate state it would have been a Blue state).
For instance when he says "I support gay marriage, and I support prayer in school" who can take him seriously? Gay marriage turns off the conservatives and prayer in schools is a hot button issue to liberals. Which voters is he going after by saying something like that?
How about: What the hell is that all about? Bribing Mexican generals is against Mexican law, and the mere suggestion that illegal immigration is solely a Mexican problem is insulting to Mexico because it is a fact that those illegal immigrants are coming here because AMERICAN employers are hiring them.
How about when he says: "I'd rather be a dead Gram Parsons than a live Garth Brooks." or "I'll keep us out of war with Oklahoma." or "I'm going to de-wussify Texas if I have to do it one wuss at a time." Which voters is going after when he says things like that?
Also, if he was truly serious he would have gathered the necessary voter signatures by now rather than waiting until the last sixty days before the deadline.
Kinky will be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno later tonight and I will be sure to catch him to see how serious he really is. If indeed he is being serious then there is a chance he can win (given the fact that Texas has elected bigger clowns like George Bush governor before) but I personally would not bet the ranch on Kinky being our next governor...
I wonder why is it that so many citizens of the U.S. have problems with geography?
The major problems are two-fold, illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Both are basic economic problems with simple solutions. Either you decrease demand (hiring fewer illegal immigrants or using fewer illegal drugs) or you increase supply (work permits for Mexican immigrants and legalization of drugs).
The U.S. refuses to decrease demand and attempts at restricting supply are futile, so the solution is obviously to come up with some system of work permits and legalizing drugs to solve both of those problems. But no, neo-conservatives want to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. I think that it is funny that conservative icon Ronald Reagan fought to tear down the Berlin Wall while the neo-cons want to build one of their own!
Think about it, if you register immigrants and take their contact info and fingerprints you can monitor their activities much easier than you can now. They are here to take jobs that most Americans refuse to do and they pay rent, buy food and pay sales and income taxes while they are here. Why not make them valuable members of the system instead of marginalizing and victimizing them just because they want to work.
As far as drugs, if the "War on Drugs" is any indication, the "War on Terror" is never going to end and Americans better be prepared to lose more and more of their civil liberties in the process...
Among the serious candidates, White Republicans are voting for Perry. Texas Chicanos and Blacks are overwhelmingly Democratic and will be voting for the Democratic sacrificial lamb du jour (who may turn out to be former Houston-area Congressman Chris Bell, who was gerrymandered out of a Congress seat by Tom Delay).
So no, when you think of Kinky think "snowball in Hell". IMO the only way Perry loses is if enough White Republicans and Chicano/Black Democrats defect and vote for "one tough grandma" Carole Keeton Strayhorn.
As far as your daughter goes, if the schools are that bad in California then maybe you should consider paying extra to send her to private school...
While it is true that a Professor could choose to sue a student in most cases they would not bother. Instead they would just wait for the idiots at Faux News to slip up and broadcast parts of their lectures. Can you say "Defendant with Deep Pockets"?
As far as personal experience goes, have you ever taken a statistics class? You cannot extrapolate about a given population based on one data point...
A couple of minor nits though: On the "Firewall and Proxy modes" page in the paragraph above Figure 10 were you talk about content blocking, all of a sudden the topic changes to that of the clients needing to be listed in the proxy so that they are able to access the proxy.
Figure 10 shows a Squid DNS error message from the bogus http://youarenotregistered/ URL, not a content blocked error message or client not found in the Squid config error message...
In spite of those admittedly minor errors I would still give you an "A" for that review!