"While heading out to the car I noticed that the line to the house had become disconnected."
"Ten minutes later I reset all my equipment and everything worked fine."
"Fact is, "work in my area" is apparently a lie common to call center vermin."
Well, considering the way that two out of three incidents you cite were neither their fault nor their problem, would you rather they tell you a lie to get you off the phone, or argue with you for half an hour while you continue to insist that the problem is not on your end when it really is?
"... is because they are a bunch of isolated inbreds. Much like the author of the parent post. Cue the banjos..."
Because all/only rural people in the interior are xenophobic? Stereotype much? What makes yours better than the OP's?
All things considered, it seems that the most xenophobic are the ones that are only two or three generations removed from immigrants themselves, the first ones to truly feel (e. g.) "American," having coopted the definition to an extent.
"From my point of view the US is lost to the latinos, asians and other peoples - the only white nations left will be the original European ones."
You do realize how fluid the definition of "white" is over the decades, right? A century ago, most of Europe itself wasn't considered "white," especially the southern and eastern bits. When you get right down to it, the only reason Italians, Pols, or even the Irish are considered "white" nowadays is because their emigrants have made a name for themselves in "white" countries like the United States.
Immigrant-friendly "white" countries have taken in plenty of disparate newcomers, far removed from the populations they tried to integrate into, and instead of these countries ceasing to be considered "white" (as many xenophobic contemporaries have always feared), the definition of "white" has simply expanded.
"Not only does the (completely unbiased) poll report that 72% of the 1,075 respondents agree vibration feedback enhances their game experience, it goes on to note that 59% of those surveyed would prefer rumble on the PS3 controller, while only 8% care about motion / tilt sensing (sorry, Nintendo)."
"Do you want to keep having what you've had for years and have become familiar with?" "Yes."
The low showing for motion (and/or position) sensing controllers may have something to do with the fac that they're new and unfamiliar. If nothing else, it's hard to know you want something when you're still not quite sure what that something is.
Nintendo is aiming for what people want, and not necessarily what they think they want. Whether or not Nintendo is right in this remains to be seen, but focusing on the latter and not the former is going to be a poor indicator of potential success or failure.
This is the same Squaresoft prima donna we saw ten years ago. "Cater to us or your silly little console will go down the tubes." I think they're still in a state of shock over
the fact that Nintendo is still alive and well, and
the fact that all of their non-RPGs were more or less panned (and even many of their non-FF RPGs weren't all that great, either), and
the fact that Sprits Within bombed
Of course, I don't think the way Sony bent over backwards to get Final Fantasy exclusively onto the PlayStation really helped Squaresoft come back down to earth.
Squaresoft always saw themselves as being on par with Nintendo or Sega, able to produce top-rate titles in any genre they choose to grace. They still haven't learned they aren't.
I still feel like Enix is the big loser with this merger. Enix was that good, Squaresoft just thought they were.
This is a high school we're talking about, not a university. If the state can compel you to attend under threat of fine or imprisonment, they can strip you of any copyright you might have had on your writings as well.
"The white paper may predict sales by the "Microsoft ecosystem" of over $40 billion in six of Europe's biggest economies, but what this figure hides is the fact that income for Microsoft and its chums is a cost for the rest of Europe."
VAT
Seriously, how does the submitter think the US or Washington governments see any of Microsoft's money? Through taxation, of course! The EU gets to tax all of Microsoft's European transactions and European assets, just like everybody else.
If nothing else, 15%-25% of $40 billion isn't exactly something to sneeze at, which is what the EU will be seeing through VAT.
There are very valid reasons to doubt the magnitude of the impact a Vista delay may mean for the EU, but this... this is something an average teenager should be able to see through.
"Most of them ignore Microsoft's programming guidelines by dumping shortcuts and icons across the Start Menu, the desktop and the "tray," that parking lot of tiny icons at the bottom-right corner."
Name one Microsoft application that follows these guidelines. Even IE will attempt to put its icon on the desktop. On top of that, IE is about the only application that sticks with XP's default UI, and that's probably only because it is the UI. Forget Office, even an "integral" part of XP like Media Player, by default, looks nothing like the rest of XP. Windows Messenger, another "integral" part, only barely looks like it belongs (and, by default, tries to park its icon in the systray at startup), while MSN Explorer (more or less installable from the OS CD) looks like neither XP nor any other MS application.
I've seen patches for KDE and Gnome that attempt to give it the XP "look and feel," and even Winamp has a XP-esque skin. Why does Microsoft have so many problems following the UI and associatd guidelines they themselves came up with?
"In addition, once you install Windows Vista RC1, you cannot roll back to the previous operating system installation--you will either have to acquire and install the final released edition of Windows Vista or reinstall a previous edition of Windows"
That's interesting, considering that Windows XP will let you roll back to the previous operating system.
Yes, forget the US and Russia, control for these new sealanes will obviously be decided by a titanic naval battle between the massive Canadian and Norse fleets, an engagement that will obviously be on the scale of Jutland and Midway.
"What makes this particularly interesting is that Erlich is a Republican -- the party often maligned for exploiting flaws in electronic systems -- and his attempts to clean up Maryland's voting problems are being opposed by Democrats, the party that is usually complaining about electronic voting!"
You still think "Democrat" and "Republican" actually mean something.
Here, let me rephrase this: the governor from the minority party is attempting to return to paper ballots, while the party that has been in the majority since freakin' Reconstruction is opposed.
Really, the party particulars have nothing to do with anything. The governor is doing what he believes is in the best interest of getting more of his fellow party members into the General Assembly.
"Guns don't solve any problem when in the hands of the general public, they cause problems like these."
Would you rather he ran around with a machete or a chainsaw? Or what if he simply drove a car through the doors and ran down people in the hallways?
Only a very, very small minority wake up in the morning and say to themselves "I'm going to go into a public environment and kill a bunch of people, just for the hell of it," and neither the Columbine duo or this new copycat were in that minority. Rather, they felt threatened, and likely were to some extent, and they reached for a weapon to try to equalize the situation between themselves and their attackers (be they real or imagined). Simply taking away their weapon of choice will not make their desire for one go away, nor will it make their situation better with whatever threats they perceive. If anything, removing the guns will simply drive these people to reach for something deadlier (would you have preferred a fertilizer bomb?).
Assuming for the moment that you really did know somebody involved (there's always people who like to play the celebrity victim), why didn't you show any concern for the fact that your girlfriend spends most of her days in such a caustic, hostile environment that produces such people? Ever stop to wonder why shootings like this happen more often in schools than, say, shopping malls, or anywhere else the same demographic likes to gather?
I've decided to hold off on getting an HDTV until I can get my hands on a set that meets the following qualifications:
1080p, 30 Hz (since it doesn't look like anybody will be producing content for anything better, I'd be able to use it for whatever I want for the life of the television)
CRT (bulletproof compared to plasma and LCD)
Under 40" (I have no desire to get a television I myself could fit inside of.)
Of course, such a television does not exist and probably won't for some time, so I probably won't be getting such a television (or any HDTV) for the life of the 360.
Those are my thoughts too, but it sounds like the Security Center in Vista will be more robust (somehow) than what came with XP SP2 (I'll have to try the RC sooner or later). But ultimately, all I've seen the XP version complain about is:
Firewall isn't started
Antivirus isn't started
Virus definitions are old
For the first two, I would hope third-party consoles would say something about that, unless they don't like people seeing just how long after startup it takes for their protection to kick in. As for number 3, having too many warnings about out-of-date definitions will only cost a little more bandwidth as users manually querry the definition servers. Other important notifications (like the firewall blocking a program or the anti-virus finding something) are left to the individual applications, as far as I can tell.
When it comes to Norton and McAffee, the only disadvantages I'm seeing (at least with the XP version) is that
Microsoft's Security Center won't try to sell anything ("Your subscription is expiring in only 17 months!" "Upgrade now for $79.99!")
Microsoft's Security Center doesn't have the third party's logo (i. e. doesn't have the fear-mongering "You're safe now that I'm here" splash screens).
Both Norton and McAffee have reputations for being noisy like that, and I imagine a good deal of their business model relies on both.
But, again, I haven't tried Vista RC1, so I'm not entirely clear what changes have been made. I'll probably try it in the next few days.
If third-party software could automatically disable Microsoft's Security Center, couldn't malicious software do the same?
From a busines perspective, this may be the same as bundling IE, but from a security perspective this is the exact opposite: removing security holes rather than adding them (in the name of "functionality").
Yes, Microsoft is likely being monopolistic, but I think I'd rather worry about all the Windows zombies populating the web rather than the profit margin of particular security software companies, especially when said companies rely on the inherent insecurity of Windows installations for their income.
I just got a response from tech support and apparently they cancel the email account when you cancel the service, so you'd still be "playing roulette" in the time it takes you to sign up for the free account.
"Unlike all the shit that Sony puts out on PlayStation 3, like RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACER, Nintendo knows what I want"
RAAAAAAAD RACEEEEEERRRR!
(I swear, all of Square's work has been downhill since then.:) )
Slashdot Mirror
"While heading out to the car I noticed that the line to the house had become disconnected."
"Ten minutes later I reset all my equipment and everything worked fine."
"Fact is, "work in my area" is apparently a lie common to call center vermin."
Well, considering the way that two out of three incidents you cite were neither their fault nor their problem, would you rather they tell you a lie to get you off the phone, or argue with you for half an hour while you continue to insist that the problem is not on your end when it really is?
"I work for an online advertising company so, yes."
In what way, though? Sure, advertizers don't get the clicks, but they don't have to pay for the bandwitdth to upload the ad, either.
"... is because they are a bunch of isolated inbreds. Much like the author of the parent post. Cue the banjos ..."
Because all/only rural people in the interior are xenophobic? Stereotype much? What makes yours better than the OP's?
All things considered, it seems that the most xenophobic are the ones that are only two or three generations removed from immigrants themselves, the first ones to truly feel (e. g.) "American," having coopted the definition to an extent.
Disallowing an unrelated rider to be tacked on to a bill? Is this a sudden attack of conscious, or a sudden attack of campaign contributions?
"From my point of view the US is lost to the latinos, asians and other peoples - the only white nations left will be the original European ones."
You do realize how fluid the definition of "white" is over the decades, right? A century ago, most of Europe itself wasn't considered "white," especially the southern and eastern bits. When you get right down to it, the only reason Italians, Pols, or even the Irish are considered "white" nowadays is because their emigrants have made a name for themselves in "white" countries like the United States.
Immigrant-friendly "white" countries have taken in plenty of disparate newcomers, far removed from the populations they tried to integrate into, and instead of these countries ceasing to be considered "white" (as many xenophobic contemporaries have always feared), the definition of "white" has simply expanded.
Isn't this the same Apple that had legal problems with co-opting the name of Apple records?
Et tu, Apple Computers?
"Not only does the (completely unbiased) poll report that 72% of the 1,075 respondents agree vibration feedback enhances their game experience, it goes on to note that 59% of those surveyed would prefer rumble on the PS3 controller, while only 8% care about motion / tilt sensing (sorry, Nintendo)."
"Do you want to keep having what you've had for years and have become familiar with?"
"Yes."
The low showing for motion (and/or position) sensing controllers may have something to do with the fac that they're new and unfamiliar. If nothing else, it's hard to know you want something when you're still not quite sure what that something is.
Nintendo is aiming for what people want, and not necessarily what they think they want. Whether or not Nintendo is right in this remains to be seen, but focusing on the latter and not the former is going to be a poor indicator of potential success or failure.
- the fact that Nintendo is still alive and well, and
- the fact that all of their non-RPGs were more or less panned (and even many of their non-FF RPGs weren't all that great, either), and
- the fact that Sprits Within bombed
Of course, I don't think the way Sony bent over backwards to get Final Fantasy exclusively onto the PlayStation really helped Squaresoft come back down to earth.Squaresoft always saw themselves as being on par with Nintendo or Sega, able to produce top-rate titles in any genre they choose to grace. They still haven't learned they aren't.
I still feel like Enix is the big loser with this merger. Enix was that good, Squaresoft just thought they were.
"The radio space within the US is something that is owned by the people of the United States."
This assumes that Congress is acting out the will of and at the behest of the people of the United States.
Then please explain how the situation would be different if Microsoft were a European company.
This isn't the broken window fallacy, this is NIH.
This is a high school we're talking about, not a university. If the state can compel you to attend under threat of fine or imprisonment, they can strip you of any copyright you might have had on your writings as well.
"The white paper may predict sales by the "Microsoft ecosystem" of over $40 billion in six of Europe's biggest economies, but what this figure hides is the fact that income for Microsoft and its chums is a cost for the rest of Europe."
VAT
Seriously, how does the submitter think the US or Washington governments see any of Microsoft's money? Through taxation, of course! The EU gets to tax all of Microsoft's European transactions and European assets, just like everybody else.
If nothing else, 15%-25% of $40 billion isn't exactly something to sneeze at, which is what the EU will be seeing through VAT.
There are very valid reasons to doubt the magnitude of the impact a Vista delay may mean for the EU, but this... this is something an average teenager should be able to see through.
"Try searching it for cheap iPods. You gotta first sort through 30 or 40 pages of iPod cases...with no real way to remove 'em all."
Doesn't eBay have a patent on that "feature?"
"Most of them ignore Microsoft's programming guidelines by dumping shortcuts and icons across the Start Menu, the desktop and the "tray," that parking lot of tiny icons at the bottom-right corner."
Name one Microsoft application that follows these guidelines. Even IE will attempt to put its icon on the desktop. On top of that, IE is about the only application that sticks with XP's default UI, and that's probably only because it is the UI. Forget Office, even an "integral" part of XP like Media Player, by default, looks nothing like the rest of XP. Windows Messenger, another "integral" part, only barely looks like it belongs (and, by default, tries to park its icon in the systray at startup), while MSN Explorer (more or less installable from the OS CD) looks like neither XP nor any other MS application.
I've seen patches for KDE and Gnome that attempt to give it the XP "look and feel," and even Winamp has a XP-esque skin. Why does Microsoft have so many problems following the UI and associatd guidelines they themselves came up with?
"In addition, once you install Windows Vista RC1, you cannot roll back to the previous operating system installation--you will either have to acquire and install the final released edition of Windows Vista or reinstall a previous edition of Windows"
That's interesting, considering that Windows XP will let you roll back to the previous operating system.
Yes, forget the US and Russia, control for these new sealanes will obviously be decided by a titanic naval battle between the massive Canadian and Norse fleets, an engagement that will obviously be on the scale of Jutland and Midway.
It's going to have to, because the world has shown itself incapable of convincing Sony.
"What makes this particularly interesting is that Erlich is a Republican -- the party often maligned for exploiting flaws in electronic systems -- and his attempts to clean up Maryland's voting problems are being opposed by Democrats, the party that is usually complaining about electronic voting!"
You still think "Democrat" and "Republican" actually mean something.
Here, let me rephrase this: the governor from the minority party is attempting to return to paper ballots, while the party that has been in the majority since freakin' Reconstruction is opposed.
Really, the party particulars have nothing to do with anything. The governor is doing what he believes is in the best interest of getting more of his fellow party members into the General Assembly.
"Guns don't solve any problem when in the hands of the general public, they cause problems like these."
Would you rather he ran around with a machete or a chainsaw? Or what if he simply drove a car through the doors and ran down people in the hallways?
Only a very, very small minority wake up in the morning and say to themselves "I'm going to go into a public environment and kill a bunch of people, just for the hell of it," and neither the Columbine duo or this new copycat were in that minority. Rather, they felt threatened, and likely were to some extent, and they reached for a weapon to try to equalize the situation between themselves and their attackers (be they real or imagined). Simply taking away their weapon of choice will not make their desire for one go away, nor will it make their situation better with whatever threats they perceive. If anything, removing the guns will simply drive these people to reach for something deadlier (would you have preferred a fertilizer bomb?).
Assuming for the moment that you really did know somebody involved (there's always people who like to play the celebrity victim), why didn't you show any concern for the fact that your girlfriend spends most of her days in such a caustic, hostile environment that produces such people? Ever stop to wonder why shootings like this happen more often in schools than, say, shopping malls, or anywhere else the same demographic likes to gather?
"besides as you get older your vision gets worse so the difference between 1080p and 1080i and 720p and blah blah blah won't mean a darn thing"
That's what the glasses are for.
"until you drop it and it implodes. or of course if chuck norris kicks it in. i hear he does that."
From what I've seen, all things being equal, CRTs have a longer lifespan, espcially for the price.
"you can get a decent 32 or 37" HD LCD now for 1000 or less."
And they'll include the dead pixels for free?
I've decided to hold off on getting an HDTV until I can get my hands on a set that meets the following qualifications:
- 1080p, 30 Hz (since it doesn't look like anybody will be producing content for anything better, I'd be able to use it for whatever I want for the life of the television)
- CRT (bulletproof compared to plasma and LCD)
- Under 40" (I have no desire to get a television I myself could fit inside of.)
Of course, such a television does not exist and probably won't for some time, so I probably won't be getting such a television (or any HDTV) for the life of the 360.- Firewall isn't started
- Antivirus isn't started
- Virus definitions are old
For the first two, I would hope third-party consoles would say something about that, unless they don't like people seeing just how long after startup it takes for their protection to kick in. As for number 3, having too many warnings about out-of-date definitions will only cost a little more bandwidth as users manually querry the definition servers. Other important notifications (like the firewall blocking a program or the anti-virus finding something) are left to the individual applications, as far as I can tell.When it comes to Norton and McAffee, the only disadvantages I'm seeing (at least with the XP version) is that
- Microsoft's Security Center won't try to sell anything ("Your subscription is expiring in only 17 months!" "Upgrade now for $79.99!")
- Microsoft's Security Center doesn't have the third party's logo (i. e. doesn't have the fear-mongering "You're safe now that I'm here" splash screens).
Both Norton and McAffee have reputations for being noisy like that, and I imagine a good deal of their business model relies on both.But, again, I haven't tried Vista RC1, so I'm not entirely clear what changes have been made. I'll probably try it in the next few days.
If third-party software could automatically disable Microsoft's Security Center, couldn't malicious software do the same?
From a busines perspective, this may be the same as bundling IE, but from a security perspective this is the exact opposite: removing security holes rather than adding them (in the name of "functionality").
Yes, Microsoft is likely being monopolistic, but I think I'd rather worry about all the Windows zombies populating the web rather than the profit margin of particular security software companies, especially when said companies rely on the inherent insecurity of Windows installations for their income.
I just got a response from tech support and apparently they cancel the email account when you cancel the service, so you'd still be "playing roulette" in the time it takes you to sign up for the free account.
The other solution is about $10/mo.
"Unlike all the shit that Sony puts out on PlayStation 3, like RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACER, Nintendo knows what I want"
:) )
RAAAAAAAD RACEEEEEERRRR!
(I swear, all of Square's work has been downhill since then.