"How often does MS sue smaller companies for petent infringement, compared to how often Microsoft is sued?"
Not nearly as often as they threaten and coerce, heck just look back a few years at Virtualdub 1.3 or so.
The gist was the streaming format.asf sucked for most uses (looked good for what it did) and only could be watched via WMP. Normal operation for Windows programs, save for Virtualdub could convert those.asf's into.avi's of your choosing/formatting.
Worked well, but the ability was removed after MS put pressure on the programmer. IIRC it was rather along the lines of CnD or we'll DMCA/Sue/FUSH you'll wish you'd never been born.
The demand for 1.3 shot up for about a year afterward.
Packs of wolves have eaten two of her dogs, the 73-year-old says, and wild boar trample through her cornfield. And she says fox, rabbits and snakes infest the meadows near her tumbledown cottage.... Then we have... Others say animals may be filtering into the zone, but they appear to suffer malformations and other ills.. Inference: She saw what she thought was a pack of wolves when in fact it was a three headed wolf.
Meh, let me know when the Bloodsuckers show up, then we'll have some fun.
(Genie from Aladdin) Watch out, they cloak! (/GfA)
Talez (468021): Why does stupid shit like this keep getting posted to the front page?
A_Non_Moose (413034) (/looks at Talez's user# and replies in an overly jovial voice):
HI!!111oneone You *MUST* be NEW HERE!!!
Don't worry if you miss an interesting article/discussion, it'll be duped within the week, possibly by the same editor too!
Just remember, help out the n00bs when you can. Avoid some moderator key words like "agree with a previous poster" as that seems to equal "redundant" no matter what you add after that.
"In Soviet Russia", "All your base" and any "Star Wars, Monty Python" phrases are recommended.
It may seem like "It's a Trap", but clippy jokes never get old.
Microsoft is their own worst enemy; they make wild claims about the functionality of their latest version but that functionality never meets their or their customers expectations. Then some exploit points out that they were being economical with the truth. Much like a recently patched (again) exploit that affected 98, NT, 2000, XP and Vista. Seems somewhat odd that an operating system that has been completely rewritten at great expense and effort should be affected by the SAME bug that has been in their products for years.
Exactly. It's rather insulting that some of these bugs get *re-introduced* with patches and updates. There was one remote execution/root exploit that got re-into'd 3 times with updates/patches, and a few more times with newer WMP versions (circa 2000/xp).
Not only are are mistakes being corrected, but repeated again and again. Aren't we learning anything from "our" own history? (our, as in Microsoft's. Like "the royal 'we'"...meaning you, not me).
I mean, how can a company whose email clients automatically launch attachments say that they take security seriously? Let's not get started on the brain-dead file association open / execution misfeatures in every version up to and including Vista. Here's an interesting exercise to see how bad things can get: rename a safe executable to a filename with a WAV extension. Now double-click it; the executable runs. Combine that with browsers and email clients that automatically play WAV files and you've got a very exploitable platform.
Dangerous and frustrating, like OS9 and early OSX where say and mp3 with extensions would launch Quicktime, but without, the metadata would launch photoshop/illustrator/program that did not know WTF to do with an MP3.
I can't say for sure with Vista, but if it were true I might actually/eventually get a copy in the future (plus 1 or 2 service packs later, of course): Launch a program and minimise it. Launch Explorer and drag a file that program understands onto the button in the start bar and release. Does it open the file, or does it throw up a bitch message?
I'd love to know, because I've done it with various linux WM's, OSX and all take it in stride, but since win95 to XP, it has never worked. Ever. You'd think if there were an error message, eventually someone would fix it because in 12'ish years, someone would TRY and succeed, not Try and fail because the OS gets in the way.
Interface Design, like security, is a process of learning and adapting.
It has been 12 years and it's time to ask (with no apologies to GWB) "Is our OS makers learning?".
(some are, sorta. the death of brushed metal took too long for my tastes.)
Similar to another poster, yes I was miffed about Rome and Deadwood ending and now BSG.
Rome ended well, IMO and maybe could have gone on for 1/2 a season...maybe.
Deadwood...big GRRRRR... so much was left hanging and much more to see that 1 or 2 more seasons would have been a cake walk...well worth the DVD set purchases. Instead !CHOP! that's it, no more soup^W Swiggen for YUO! (Swiggen...still cracsk me up. anyway)
BSG is somewhere in between, with season 1: fantastic. Season 2: orgasmic. Season3: rag tag fleet part2.
Season 3, IMO had s1 and s2 to live up to, but neither failed nor succeeded completely.
Let me 'splain: More drama, less cylons. so-so.
Characters had more history and backstory (military -> civilian -> back to.mil) and all the problems and impediments associated with the transition and back. Difficult, some episodes did it well, some not so much.
The survivors were a 'family' because of surviving. Now families with the family and the motivations, loyalties and interactions became overly complex. Yeah, that lead to the dreaded love quadrangle, because it could have been solved in 1/2 and episode's time over a few episodes, but *IT DRAGGED ON for 3 or 4*. "As the Battlestar turns", indeed. I just kept thinking "Would someone please shoot/stab/fuck someone else and move the hell on!". Overall, a big "MEH".
Missed, or maybe saved for later, opportunities: The Baltar+Chip-Six interaction with Caprica(Six)+ChipBaltar. Comedy effing gold right there. When ChipBaltar (the one in Caprica's head/imagination) was introduced I'd not laughed so hard in a while just because of his demeanor and expressions (priceless). Never happened. Tigh got decked by CapricaSix, which was worth a "woohoo" and a "daaaammn" and made the season worth the price for an episode alone, never happened. (Dr Who, season 2, Daleks vs Cybermen...the trash-talk scene had me in tears. 80 bucks for season2 and I didn't bat an eye).
Loss of Lucy Lawless/her desecnt into madness, Final Five, the cylon-girl-in-the-tank who steers the ship, boxed cylons (be interesting if boxed cylons were the one's projecting themselves to Caprica/Baltar, it would explain a lot). Story arcs that just ended/went nowhere to the disappointment of many.
It comes down to: previous 2 seasons of awesome, boring arcs that got explored at length, exciting arcs that ended too soon, got ignored or are in the making and a big lack of explosions/cylons/cylon plan in the beginning of season 3, and eventually some "pulling it out of the fire" writing toward the end. Mixture of "Holy Shit" and "WTF?" best describes S3.
Season 4?: Won't know until we get there, but if it can make me want to put in the DVDs, starting with the pilot, then they've made TV on par/above Rome/Deadwood, IMO.
That's saying a lot. I think they can do it when focused, hell s1, s2 and s3.5 proved that.
Considering the Foxtard-like calls we US'ians have to put up with (cancelling Drive? WTF, someone at Fux have it in for NF? And Dancing w/Stars knocking Boston Legal out of its slot and other assorted stupidities.
Bovine excrement mentioned earlier was right on the money as even I went: (Panic!)..but 'the Sun' isn't know for, well, things called "facts"...prolly bull...(click/. link and reads).
Didn't we go through a similar "Oh noes!" even though Eccelston (sp?) said he'd do one season only, so as not to get "Tom Baker'ed?"
On behalf of Dr. Who fans I think it is best said like this: (Dalek Voice) You will not cancel the show! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! (/dv)
Samsung: the previous/skip button is also the RW/FF button if you hold it down for 3 seconds. 2.99 seconds or less and you've skipped/rewound w/o meaning to. Bravo, now I can't use a real DVD player because I've got such a fucked up control scheme in my head. It does, however, provide some amusement/aggrivation for my son.
Pioneer: second hand, but my boss has an all pioneer sound system that he found out after adding a 5 disk DVD changer, the volume for the sound is the same code to skip/ff for the DVD system.
Windows XP's Batter backup monitor: a big hearty PHUBBBBB to this POS when I came home several times to disover that my machine is powered off. Checked settings and at 15% battery = warn at 5% = shutdown, so that meant I was losing power for several minutes a day, but wall clocks were not that far off...hummm. Went round-the-round with the power co, to no avail. I just happened to come home early and turn the monitor on and the UPS went click-beep and the machine went off 3 seconds later. W..T..F? Tuned out that with or w/o APC's s/w, that XP's service/applet/USB/something would got apeshit, ignore settings and power down no matter what. Temp solution: move USB cable until it fucks up again. Perm: remove cable from machine.
XP, redux: Dell laptop, and a battery monitor that doesn't. Only seems to be able to display 100, 90, 50, and 5%. So you never know even a *rough* calculation.
XP redux, part deux: See above and add the BRAINDEAD dialogue box while shutting down "your batter is criticl, recharge or replace battery"...THAT HALTS THE SHUTDOWN PROCESS! Maybe it is D*ll's fault, but damn, someone needs a smack.
Windows default settings: hiding extensions, executing scripts/html in folders + browser integration that makes it possible, hiding menu options that are rarely used.
MS office defaults: hiding menu options, period. Nothing like walking someone thru a common office task (or even uncommon) only to get "I don't see that option". Conversation of that feature went something like: User: I don't see it. Me: do you see two chevrons/arrows pointing down? User: yeah. Me: click it. User: ah! now I see the menu option. What a stupid feature. Me: "That's the power of Microsoft software!". Aren't you impressed?
Sears garage door opener: Safety feature turned stupid feature, where if you have something blocking the travel downward, it raises the door. Ok, cool. Neat idea, saves crushing kids and animals. Also works going up, and when it gets cold it gets harder to open the door and closes the door again. Uh-huh. So, during the winter I wind up playing "when will the door stop mash-the-remote-button-fast-enough to continue its travel upward until it happens again mid travel (phew). No wonder batteries don't last long in the winter. Grease, wd-40, increasing the torque only go so far. Somtimes all it takes is the extra lift from my index finger. Not kidding. Would be amusing if it weren't so silly.
Motorola: Got one of those 800 series phones for emergencies. I hope nothing life threatening ever happens, because that 10 to 20 second fucking intro animation that can't be turned off might be a bit of a problem, ya think? (technically it can, but involves several alpha/beta programs and file system hacking with void- your-warrantee-fire-flood-death-by-lawyers type disclaimers. (SIGH) ).
What we need is an FTC rule that advertising any service quality or quantity with the words "up to"
That and a useful standard to measure by, like the best illustration I can give is Comcast buying @Home.
@home for about 3 years after being available was 10Mb/512Mb up. Put into perspective, some of the huge demos for games took minutes, uploading a CD image to my home machine (from work) took 30mins, tops. So 1MB down,.5MB up.
@home about a year or two before the merger switched the U/L to 256Mb...slower, but workable.
Fast approaching the merger and it soon became 128Mb, and a month later the M became Kb...'scuse ME?' All the while charging the same or *MORE* (full disclosure: working as a web master, employer paid cable internet bill). Became *IMPOSSIBLE* to do anything worth a fsck. Even remoting in was painful over ssh, much less VNC/RDC.
Picture it, effective download was 1MB and upload was 12Kb (or was it kb?) up.
Because work was paying for it, I could call and get the upload increased to ~96Kb, but the corp office in California would switch it back about 2 or 3 times a week.
During the switch/buyout when it worked it was started at 128Kb up/down. Unhappy techs does note even begin to describe our burning hate, vitriol and screams.
Comes down to "non-tech" people's understanding, i.e. the "cd's worth of info", say 650MB file: at the proposed "to be considered broadband" would that take minutes, hours days or in Comcasts glacial speed, weeks?
Pun intended, in the vein of Sync with a real computer, or to quote 'Bruce' in "Finding Nemo"...swim away, SWIM AWAY!
One place I'd worked I got a hand-me-down Palm VII and a bit later the "cheapie" version Handspring Visor.
Supposedly they were pin-compatible and OS compatible, and in essence this is true, but the gotcha then, as now, is upgrades. Will that memory expansion card work with later models, will the apps you know and love work on newer, color, larger/smaller/different screens? Oh, what about the DATA you've got?
I've stuck with the Visor for several years because Palm Desktop works still (years later, just run the exe) and if something happens to the Visor, re-syncing is a snap.
Phones are even worse, got a Moto 800 (IIRC) and have to use the 700 software/drivers...same damn phone at its core, but the 800 gets no software love and finding a USB cable that works is hit or miss. Insult to injury is the usb connection drains the phone's battery inside of 5 minutes! WTF?
And the direction toward all-in-one is, well short-sighted.
When I think about it, yes a phone + PDA would be nice, but I'd like something simple: Phone would have a full sized USB connector to plug in a cable, Thumbdrive, or the PDA section. Pda section would have a slot to attach the phone and would have simple functions; pda w/ or w/o phone, perhaps video playback functions, clock (of course) and shared address book with phone.
Because of the USB slot, you sync with the PDA section, and then can mirror to a Thumbdrive and/or a PC, and for added bonus wireless USB antennas that you can imprint to your phone and plug into your phone (yeah, USB dingleberry on a phone seems silly, but WTH) and use the phone/pda seperate but wireless, or put in in your desktop/laptop to sync/backup copy/play video and such.
IOW, Multi-function device(s) don't always mean "all-in-one". Let each device be seperate, but still able to work together under any circumstance because your data is needed in both places, IMO.
BITS = Background Infection Transfer Service, Bad Idea Turned Sideways (ouch), Bad Idea Taken Seriously, Bent-over Intrusion Thrusting Skillfully (yeeha!/ouch!). Better Infections Than Sony.
So with animated characters (dog, clippy) I suppose you can say that Microsoft included all the "BITS and Bobs" possible in Windows.
Someone elsewhere pointed out that since Vista was released there have been approximately 50 million PCs sold. So, selling 40 million Vista licenses isn't that great.
This is just a rumor I'm starting, but the report was ready 30 days ago, however due to slow copy performace, internal network issues (IPv6) and having to click all those cancel/allow dialogue boxes slowed the release down.
eBay can't be too enthusiastic about this toolbar since it cuts directly into its main sources of revenue: ads and thumbnail fees.
True, very true, but if the exec's hadn't been sitting around with their "thumbs up thier as^H^HeBays" and released *something*, then they would not have had thier thunder^Wbirds stolen.
The author was surprised that Ubuntu didn't clobber her Win2K partition.
Maybe she should realize that there's only ONE COMPANY out there that assumes it owns your whole PC....
Pre NT OS's this is very true, IME/O.
But across the board (lin/win) the danger was very real of blowing something important away if you were not very careful and selective before installing.
I think this is why bootloaders were very popular around the rising tech crowd (/me raises hand).
Granted, several years later I loaded up Win98, Win2k, Slackware, Redhat and BeOS on my work machine. Took a couple of days because BeOS was last, and added on via a 1G scsi drive after the fact.
Had it all working in LILO thanks to playing with the hex codes for the drives, had to make 0x83=0x80 so the thing would boot properly.
Later I discovered how great beos's boot loader was and went with it for a while, until I had no more reason to use Slack/Win98 (RH5 was as easy as a win98 install to someone whom started with Slackware).
Before I stray OT: You are correct, (and I wish I hadn't used my mod points up) about the MBR fiasco's with win9x installs, that kind of thing is just plain rude (easily fixed if you know how, but still).
I can only speak from the windows side, but suffice it to say it is "difficult":
Typing this on a Precision 450, with a Fire Glx1 and use dual monitors:
Problem1) Ogl screen savers will run on only one monitor and freeze on the other. Solution: Omega Drivers for fgl. remove/reinstall.net 1 and 2...don't use.net3, at all.
Problem2) Display properties don't reflect current state (mirror/one big display/etc): Solution: drop the refresh rate/size and check again.
Problem3) Dell PW 410/420's have weak PSU's. Solution: Sort of. Got a 9800pro (agp 4/8x only, despite specs' claim) for work machine and 9500 for home machine (agp 1-4x correct, wonders never cease). Stealth upgrade, 410/420 had a 230W PSU, min rec was 300W...thing would only boot after power up and reset shortly thereafter, and system specs listed Agp as 2x, max. So a PW 4x0 got a 9500 and sort of worked. Luckily this box had months of uptime and a warm reboot was fine as long as the card had power applied. 350W PSU in home system worked well with 9800. Worked *very* well (SEG).
Problem4) Dell drivers are *YEARS* out of date for even the most mid/current of cards. Laptops are locked out as are workstations. Cats won't install on dell systems, hence the omega and other driver releases. Sadly this is on Dell systems still under support contract, gets worse when you need the latest drivers (on say CAD/CAM/GIS) for a system/software to work properly. Solution: ignore the "void the warranty" in order to have a working machine. {hurmph}Nice.
Problem5) All Ati's fault: video acceleration software for DVDs can't always be installed. Solution: nlite driver forum. Now have the 9800pro and x800pro. installing the s/w with 9800 disk works for both cards. See, never registered the 9800 (wonder why?) but did the x800. Ati's number check takes the 9800's #, but not the x800's #. However I can use the 9800's # for both and both work splendidly. Nlite forum has the steps that works, so long as your card is supported. (9500pro or better, IIRC)
In a nutshell (TLDR version) Ati, like HP, makes excellent hardware, software almost always sucks rocks. Dell is just the opposite and sometimes the same (all things considered). Nvidia: I lost track, what month is it?
Well, that's fine - install your damn updates, but either do it without destroying my work or wait until I give you permission! (yes, I lost an email I was writing last night because of this and I'm still a bit sore...)
TLDR: I know what you mean, happened to me and I did not even start the process!
$deity, it is even worse than you think (though it was just me):
Have an oracle db that was pushing toward 66 million records into what would be shy of 101 million records.
After 2.5 weeks of insert statement running, had the update systray icon pop up and just clicked it and left the dialogue box "install/cancel" up w/o starting the process.
Came back on Monday, logged in via RDC to a clean desktop (no SQL+ session, uh-oh) and green "updates applied, computer rebooted".
Um, WTF? What is the fucking point of setting policies to prevent if the OS/Update service ignores them?
Only saving grace was a new replacement box from the OEM that rhymes with hell that's > 3x's faster did the 100M record inserts in just over 2 days.
Thank the $gods it was the backup machine, not the production server or the explosion would start on local listservs and gone on from there, like the last time I ran into stupidity/ineptitude like this I yelled loud enough and long enough to chance the corp policy of the previously mentioned OEM.
Does anyone have any other comparative features or info or corrections for the above list?
Only got my gmail account now (webmail wise) and haven't had hotmail for about a year.
Spam: Gmail doesn't spam like hotmail does, IIRC. Hotmail announcements and crap like that you can't block. I mean, really. I don't give a fuck, and don't wanna see that trash. I think I had a filter that moved them to trash, but sometimes they'd still be in the inbox for one reason or another.
Uptime/Access: Main reason I don't have hotmail is I checked it once every 3 weeks, and hit the "system down for maint" blather several times over the past several years (can't recall how long I had it, but I hated the interface after MS's purchase...that's how long). All it took was forgetting for 30.1 days, and all the mail was gone and account still active. You gotta be kidding me...fucking assholes. Gmail, IIRC, allows for 9months before action such as above. 30days vs 9months.
(Is it odd that I just now notice MS's time frame is a menstrual cycle, and Gmails is a human's gestation cycle? Oddly says a lot about MS Hotmail, doesn't it? Considering how often MS is plugging holes...ok I'll stop now)
Folders vs tagging/labels/conversations: Personally I'd like folders in gmail, to sort conversations in a less confusing way...heck I had to explain to a gmail user how to use "conversations/threads/whatever they call them" a while back...they're like folders, but they're not. Say you have a few listservs that you pay attention to. Seperate folders for each vs "listserv tag(s)". IIRC, you can make subfolders, but not sub"tags" say for win/lin administration. Folders are easy for sorting, not so much filtering, but the opposite is true for labels/convo's (IOW "thread view"). All 3 together would rock the email world, I think.
Easy way to archive: Gmail wins, IMO. Pop, Thunderbird and (text).mbx format vs OE integration/tricks and outlook's binary format (not easily shifted to other clients). See uptime/access time; granted I didn't lose anything I would miss terribly (now ex-gf's email included, for amusement only/reminder/spank bank material) but the principle of the thing; Short sighted, tight fisted, unyielding rules they'll blast your mail away in a heartbeat, vs 3/4 of a year? If you can't think to check email more than once every 3/4 of a year, stick with snail mail and DVD/USB thru the post.
Prestiege/Spam(again): No kidding, the gmail invites *increased* the desire and heightend the profile. Hotmail, in addition to spamming itself was spamming everyone else and the spam was increased by the likes of aol/yahoo/msn and such. Before spam filtering in hotmail was added (much less worth a damn) the first thing I did was use the regular filters to send *.yahoo.com, *.aol.com and *.msn.com and the like to the spam, and then whitelist the one or two people with those addresses that I'd care to hear from.
It all comes down to what if I lost my account for either?
Hotmail: Mumbled "Fucking assholes" and moved on, not even bothering to reinstate the account/name.
Gmail: Would not be happy, but would think similar to what I stated above. MY FAULT for waiting more than 3/4 of a year, barring coma, abduction, or being stuck on an island with a bunch of fedex packages, there'd be no excuse that would not sound hollow.
That the Nvidia logo and slogan "the way it's meant to be played" will have a disclaimer on the bottom like most car commercials, or tacked on to the splash screen?
I can see it now:
The way it's meant to be played*
*may be slow, buggy, prone to BSODs, catch fire, lock up, eat power supplies for lunch, cause your computer room to be hot, supper to be cold, hate Vista and long for XP/AMD/ATI and stability is not guranteed until a week before the next OS is out. So there, THUPBPBPBPB!
Slashdot Mirror
Not nearly as often as they threaten and coerce, heck just look back a few years at Virtualdub 1.3 or
so.
The gist was the streaming format
could be watched via WMP. Normal operation for Windows programs, save for Virtualdub could convert
those
Worked well, but the ability was removed after MS put pressure on the programmer. IIRC it was rather
along the lines of CnD or we'll DMCA/Sue/FUSH you'll wish you'd never been born.
The demand for 1.3 shot up for about a year afterward.
Disruptive tech, indeed.
Ba-wimper?
A Wang?
What? You could at least have taken first post to get things started.
Now I'm curious, so I'm off to TV w/o pity just to find out...sheesh, so much for
getting work done...don't wanna spoil it?
Bah!
Meh, let me know when the Bloodsuckers show up, then we'll have some fun.
(Genie from Aladdin) Watch out, they cloak! (/GfA)
(S.T.A.L.K.E.R. players will get this immediatly)
Funny, but only two possible replies come to mind:
Why? Did the drive's name have a space in it?
or
Are they married to that decision?
(yeah, yeah, poor taste, short bus to hell and all that jazz...)
After RTFA'ing, RTFE(mails) and msdn blog, well neither party looks that bright.
TD.net guy: Where's the problem?
VS.net guy: You're using "hacks".
On and on, back and forth, until...
VS.dev.PR: You're an MVP...I take it back, sorry.
These two went back and forth for so long being dense, I'm ashamed to ask for that 20 minutes of
my life back for *reading* it.
But it comes down to TD being wrong (for the most part) and VS.net not saying "You're doing X, here is the
relevant part of the EULA forbidding X".
(Sarcasm mode = on)
He's using a code injection technique to make a Microsoft product usable?
INCONCIEVALBE!!!
(/sm = off)
PSSSST!! Hey, buddy, I know drives are supposed to survive physical shocks but all those little impacts
add up over time.
So either move you computer off the table or push your chair back a little while...errr...ummm..."watching".
Less bruising and data corruption...win-win.
So I've heard, yeah that's it...
A_Non_Moose (413034) (/looks at Talez's user# and replies in an overly jovial voice):
HI!!111oneone You *MUST* be NEW HERE!!!
Don't worry if you miss an interesting article/discussion, it'll be duped within the week, possibly by
the same editor too!
Just remember, help out the n00bs when you can. Avoid some moderator key words like "agree with a previous
poster" as that seems to equal "redundant" no matter what you add after that.
"In Soviet Russia", "All your base" and any "Star Wars, Monty Python" phrases are recommended.
It may seem like "It's a Trap", but clippy jokes never get old.
Good luck.
(tounge firmly in cheek)
Clearly, iD software nor its affiliates have control over the intelligence of its fan-base, so "no" is
the most likely answer.
(/TFIC)
Exactly. It's rather insulting that some of these bugs get *re-introduced* with patches and updates.
There was one remote execution/root exploit that got re-into'd 3 times with updates/patches, and a few more
times with newer WMP versions (circa 2000/xp).
Not only are are mistakes being corrected, but repeated again and again. Aren't we learning anything from "our"
own history? (our, as in Microsoft's. Like "the royal 'we'"...meaning you, not me).
Dangerous and frustrating, like OS9 and early OSX where say and mp3 with extensions would launch Quicktime, but
without, the metadata would launch photoshop/illustrator/program that did not know WTF to do with an MP3.
I can't say for sure with Vista, but if it were true I might actually/eventually get a copy in the future (plus
1 or 2 service packs later, of course):
Launch a program and minimise it. Launch Explorer and drag a file that program understands onto the button
in the start bar and release. Does it open the file, or does it throw up a bitch message?
I'd love to know, because I've done it with various linux WM's, OSX and all take it in stride, but since win95
to XP, it has never worked. Ever. You'd think if there were an error message, eventually someone would fix
it because in 12'ish years, someone would TRY and succeed, not Try and fail because the OS gets in the way.
Interface Design, like security, is a process of learning and adapting.
It has been 12 years and it's time to ask (with no apologies to GWB) "Is our OS makers learning?".
(some are, sorta. the death of brushed metal took too long for my tastes.)
Similar to another poster, yes I was miffed about Rome and Deadwood ending and now BSG.
.mil) and all the problems
Rome ended well, IMO and maybe could have gone on for 1/2 a season...maybe.
Deadwood...big GRRRRR... so much was left hanging and much more to see that 1 or 2 more seasons would
have been a cake walk...well worth the DVD set purchases. Instead !CHOP! that's it, no more soup^W
Swiggen for YUO! (Swiggen...still cracsk me up. anyway)
BSG is somewhere in between, with season 1: fantastic. Season 2: orgasmic. Season3: rag tag fleet part2.
Season 3, IMO had s1 and s2 to live up to, but neither failed nor succeeded completely.
Let me 'splain:
More drama, less cylons. so-so.
Characters had more history and backstory (military -> civilian -> back to
and impediments associated with the transition and back. Difficult, some episodes did it well, some not so much.
The survivors were a 'family' because of surviving. Now families with the family and the motivations,
loyalties and interactions became overly complex. Yeah, that lead to the dreaded love quadrangle, because
it could have been solved in 1/2 and episode's time over a few episodes, but *IT DRAGGED ON for 3 or 4*.
"As the Battlestar turns", indeed. I just kept thinking "Would someone please shoot/stab/fuck someone else
and move the hell on!". Overall, a big "MEH".
Missed, or maybe saved for later, opportunities: The Baltar+Chip-Six interaction with Caprica(Six)+ChipBaltar.
Comedy effing gold right there. When ChipBaltar (the one in Caprica's head/imagination) was introduced I'd
not laughed so hard in a while just because of his demeanor and expressions (priceless).
Never happened. Tigh got decked by CapricaSix, which was worth a "woohoo" and a "daaaammn" and made the
season worth the price for an episode alone, never happened.
(Dr Who, season 2, Daleks vs Cybermen...the trash-talk scene had me in tears. 80 bucks for season2 and I
didn't bat an eye).
Loss of Lucy Lawless/her desecnt into madness, Final Five, the cylon-girl-in-the-tank who steers the ship,
boxed cylons (be interesting if boxed cylons were the one's projecting themselves to Caprica/Baltar, it
would explain a lot). Story arcs that just ended/went nowhere to the disappointment of many.
It comes down to: previous 2 seasons of awesome, boring arcs that got explored at length, exciting arcs that ended
too soon, got ignored or are in the making and a big lack of explosions/cylons/cylon plan in the beginning of
season 3, and eventually some "pulling it out of the fire" writing toward the end.
Mixture of "Holy Shit" and "WTF?" best describes S3.
Season 4?: Won't know until we get there, but if it can make me want to put in the DVDs, starting with the pilot,
then they've made TV on par/above Rome/Deadwood, IMO.
That's saying a lot. I think they can do it when focused, hell s1, s2 and s3.5 proved that.
Considering the Foxtard-like calls we US'ians have to put up with (cancelling Drive? WTF, someone at Fux have
/. link and reads).
it in for NF? And Dancing w/Stars knocking Boston Legal out of its slot and other assorted stupidities.
Bovine excrement mentioned earlier was right on the money as even I went: (Panic!)..but 'the Sun' isn't know
for, well, things called "facts"...prolly bull...(click
Didn't we go through a similar "Oh noes!" even though Eccelston (sp?) said he'd do one season only, so as not
to get "Tom Baker'ed?"
On behalf of Dr. Who fans I think it is best said like this:
(Dalek Voice) You will not cancel the show! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! (/dv)
Hey, cool! I ran a UV light over my computer and I don't see any words but lots of dots
and smudges over the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
What kind of ink does that? I thought UV would only show fluids such as blood and...uhhh.
ForgetISaidAnythingGotta go! Bye!
I can think of a few right now:
Samsung: the previous/skip button is also the RW/FF button if you hold it down for 3 seconds. 2.99 seconds or
less and you've skipped/rewound w/o meaning to. Bravo, now I can't use a real DVD player because I've got
such a fucked up control scheme in my head. It does, however, provide some amusement/aggrivation for my son.
Pioneer: second hand, but my boss has an all pioneer sound system that he found out after adding a 5 disk DVD
changer, the volume for the sound is the same code to skip/ff for the DVD system.
Windows XP's Batter backup monitor: a big hearty PHUBBBBB to this POS when I came home several times to disover
that my machine is powered off. Checked settings and at 15% battery = warn at 5% = shutdown, so that meant
I was losing power for several minutes a day, but wall clocks were not that far off...hummm.
Went round-the-round with the power co, to no avail. I just happened to come home early and turn the monitor
on and the UPS went click-beep and the machine went off 3 seconds later. W..T..F?
Tuned out that with or w/o APC's s/w, that XP's service/applet/USB/something would got apeshit, ignore settings
and power down no matter what. Temp solution: move USB cable until it fucks up again. Perm: remove cable from
machine.
XP, redux: Dell laptop, and a battery monitor that doesn't. Only seems to be able to display 100, 90, 50, and 5%. So you never know even a *rough* calculation.
XP redux, part deux: See above and add the BRAINDEAD dialogue box while shutting down "your batter is criticl, recharge or replace battery"...THAT HALTS THE SHUTDOWN PROCESS! Maybe it is D*ll's fault, but damn, someone
needs a smack.
Windows default settings: hiding extensions, executing scripts/html in folders + browser integration that makes
it possible, hiding menu options that are rarely used.
MS office defaults: hiding menu options, period. Nothing like walking someone thru a common office task (or
even uncommon) only to get "I don't see that option". Conversation of that feature went something like:
User: I don't see it.
Me: do you see two chevrons/arrows pointing down?
User: yeah.
Me: click it.
User: ah! now I see the menu option. What a stupid feature.
Me: "That's the power of Microsoft software!". Aren't you impressed?
Sears garage door opener: Safety feature turned stupid feature, where if you have something blocking the travel
downward, it raises the door. Ok, cool. Neat idea, saves crushing kids and animals.
Also works going up, and when it gets cold it gets harder to open the door and closes the door again. Uh-huh.
So, during the winter I wind up playing "when will the door stop mash-the-remote-button-fast-enough to continue
its travel upward until it happens again mid travel (phew). No wonder batteries don't last long in the
winter. Grease, wd-40, increasing the torque only go so far. Somtimes all it takes is the extra lift from
my index finger. Not kidding. Would be amusing if it weren't so silly.
Motorola: Got one of those 800 series phones for emergencies. I hope nothing life threatening ever happens, because that 10 to 20 second fucking intro animation that can't be turned off might be a bit of a problem,
ya think? (technically it can, but involves several alpha/beta programs and file system hacking with void-
your-warrantee-fire-flood-death-by-lawyers type disclaimers. (SIGH) ).
Thanks for the laugh.
No big deal, we all make missnakes from time to time.
I wondered why I kept hearing "The day that music died" on the radio during my morning drive.
Or maybe it is one of the eight songs allowed...strange, eh?
That and a useful standard to measure by, like the best illustration I can give is Comcast buying @Home.
@home for about 3 years after being available was 10Mb/512Mb up. Put into perspective, some of the huge demos for games took minutes, uploading a CD image to my home machine (from work) took 30mins, tops. So 1MB down,
@home about a year or two before the merger switched the U/L to 256Mb...slower, but workable.
Fast approaching the merger and it soon became 128Mb, and a month later the M became Kb...'scuse ME?'
All the while charging the same or *MORE* (full disclosure: working as a web master, employer paid cable internet bill). Became *IMPOSSIBLE* to do anything worth a fsck. Even remoting in was painful over ssh, much less VNC/RDC.
Picture it, effective download was 1MB and upload was 12Kb (or was it kb?) up.
Because work was paying for it, I could call and get the upload increased to ~96Kb, but the corp office in California would switch it back about 2 or 3 times a week.
During the switch/buyout when it worked it was started at 128Kb up/down. Unhappy techs does note even begin to describe our burning hate, vitriol and screams.
Comes down to "non-tech" people's understanding, i.e. the "cd's worth of info", say 650MB file: at the proposed "to be considered broadband" would that take minutes, hours days or in Comcasts glacial speed, weeks?
Pun intended, in the vein of Sync with a real computer, or to quote 'Bruce' in "Finding Nemo"...swim away,
SWIM AWAY!
One place I'd worked I got a hand-me-down Palm VII and a bit later the "cheapie" version Handspring Visor.
Supposedly they were pin-compatible and OS compatible, and in essence this is true, but the gotcha then, as
now, is upgrades. Will that memory expansion card work with later models, will the apps you know and love
work on newer, color, larger/smaller/different screens? Oh, what about the DATA you've got?
I've stuck with the Visor for several years because Palm Desktop works still (years later, just run
the exe) and if something happens to the Visor, re-syncing is a snap.
Phones are even worse, got a Moto 800 (IIRC) and have to use the 700 software/drivers...same damn phone
at its core, but the 800 gets no software love and finding a USB cable that works is hit or miss.
Insult to injury is the usb connection drains the phone's battery inside of 5 minutes! WTF?
And the direction toward all-in-one is, well short-sighted.
When I think about it, yes a phone + PDA would be nice, but I'd like something simple:
Phone would have a full sized USB connector to plug in a cable, Thumbdrive, or the PDA section.
Pda section would have a slot to attach the phone and would have simple functions; pda w/ or w/o
phone, perhaps video playback functions, clock (of course) and shared address book with phone.
Because of the USB slot, you sync with the PDA section, and then can mirror to a Thumbdrive and/or
a PC, and for added bonus wireless USB antennas that you can imprint to your phone and plug into
your phone (yeah, USB dingleberry on a phone seems silly, but WTH) and use the phone/pda seperate
but wireless, or put in in your desktop/laptop to sync/backup copy/play video and such.
IOW, Multi-function device(s) don't always mean "all-in-one". Let each device be seperate, but
still able to work together under any circumstance because your data is needed in both places, IMO.
BITS =
Background Infection Transfer Service,
Bad Idea Turned Sideways (ouch),
Bad Idea Taken Seriously,
Bent-over Intrusion Thrusting Skillfully (yeeha!/ouch!).
Better Infections Than Sony.
So with animated characters (dog, clippy) I suppose you can say that Microsoft included all the
"BITS and Bobs" possible in Windows.
This is just a rumor I'm starting, but the report was ready 30 days ago, however due to slow copy
performace, internal network issues (IPv6) and having to click all those cancel/allow dialogue boxes
slowed the release down.
Remember, you heard it here first!
True, very true, but if the exec's hadn't been sitting around with their "thumbs up thier as^H^HeBays"
and released *something*, then they would not have had thier thunder^Wbirds stolen.
(ok, ok, put the pointy stick down, I'll stop!)
Pre NT OS's this is very true, IME/O.
But across the board (lin/win) the danger was very real of blowing something important away if you were not
very careful and selective before installing.
I think this is why bootloaders were very popular around the rising tech crowd (/me raises hand).
Granted, several years later I loaded up Win98, Win2k, Slackware, Redhat and BeOS on my work machine.
Took a couple of days because BeOS was last, and added on via a 1G scsi drive after the fact.
Had it all working in LILO thanks to playing with the hex codes for the drives, had to make 0x83=0x80
so the thing would boot properly.
Later I discovered how great beos's boot loader was and went with it for a while, until I had no more
reason to use Slack/Win98 (RH5 was as easy as a win98 install to someone whom started with Slackware).
Before I stray OT: You are correct, (and I wish I hadn't used my mod points up) about the MBR fiasco's
with win9x installs, that kind of thing is just plain rude (easily fixed if you know how, but still).
I can only speak from the windows side, but suffice it to say it is "difficult":
.net 1 and 2...don't use .net3, at all.
Typing this on a Precision 450, with a Fire Glx1 and use dual monitors:
Problem1) Ogl screen savers will run on only one monitor and freeze on the other.
Solution: Omega Drivers for fgl. remove/reinstall
Problem2) Display properties don't reflect current state (mirror/one big display/etc):
Solution: drop the refresh rate/size and check again.
Problem3) Dell PW 410/420's have weak PSU's.
Solution: Sort of. Got a 9800pro (agp 4/8x only, despite specs' claim) for work machine and 9500 for home machine
(agp 1-4x correct, wonders never cease). Stealth upgrade, 410/420 had a 230W PSU, min rec was 300W...thing
would only boot after power up and reset shortly thereafter, and system specs listed Agp as 2x, max.
So a PW 4x0 got a 9500 and sort of worked. Luckily this box had months of uptime and a warm reboot was
fine as long as the card had power applied.
350W PSU in home system worked well with 9800. Worked *very* well (SEG).
Problem4) Dell drivers are *YEARS* out of date for even the most mid/current of cards. Laptops are locked
out as are workstations. Cats won't install on dell systems, hence the omega and other driver releases.
Sadly this is on Dell systems still under support contract, gets worse when you need the latest drivers
(on say CAD/CAM/GIS) for a system/software to work properly.
Solution: ignore the "void the warranty" in order to have a working machine. {hurmph}Nice.
Problem5) All Ati's fault: video acceleration software for DVDs can't always be installed.
Solution: nlite driver forum. Now have the 9800pro and x800pro. installing the s/w with 9800 disk works
for both cards. See, never registered the 9800 (wonder why?) but did the x800.
Ati's number check takes the 9800's #, but not the x800's #. However I can use the 9800's # for both
and both work splendidly.
Nlite forum has the steps that works, so long as your card is supported. (9500pro or better, IIRC)
In a nutshell (TLDR version) Ati, like HP, makes excellent hardware, software almost always sucks rocks.
Dell is just the opposite and sometimes the same (all things considered).
Nvidia: I lost track, what month is it?
TLDR: I know what you mean, happened to me and I did not even start the process!
$deity, it is even worse than you think (though it was just me):
Have an oracle db that was pushing toward 66 million records into what would be shy of 101 million records.
After 2.5 weeks of insert statement running, had the update systray icon pop up and just clicked it and left the dialogue
box "install/cancel" up w/o starting the process.
Came back on Monday, logged in via RDC to a clean desktop (no SQL+ session, uh-oh) and green "updates applied, computer rebooted".
Um, WTF? What is the fucking point of setting policies to prevent if the OS/Update service ignores them?
Only saving grace was a new replacement box from the OEM that rhymes with hell that's > 3x's faster did the 100M record inserts
in just over 2 days.
Thank the $gods it was the backup machine, not the production server or the explosion would start on local listservs and gone
on from there, like the last time I ran into stupidity/ineptitude like this I yelled loud enough and long enough to chance
the corp policy of the previously mentioned OEM.
Only got my gmail account now (webmail wise) and haven't had hotmail for about a year.
Spam: Gmail doesn't spam like hotmail does, IIRC. Hotmail announcements and crap like that you can't block.
I mean, really. I don't give a fuck, and don't wanna see that trash. I think I had a filter that moved them
to trash, but sometimes they'd still be in the inbox for one reason or another.
Uptime/Access: Main reason I don't have hotmail is I checked it once every 3 weeks, and hit the "system down
for maint" blather several times over the past several years (can't recall how long I had it, but I hated
the interface after MS's purchase...that's how long). All it took was forgetting for 30.1 days, and all the
mail was gone and account still active. You gotta be kidding me...fucking assholes.
Gmail, IIRC, allows for 9months before action such as above. 30days vs 9months.
(Is it odd that I just now notice MS's time frame is a menstrual cycle, and Gmails is a human's gestation
cycle? Oddly says a lot about MS Hotmail, doesn't it? Considering how often MS is plugging holes...ok
I'll stop now)
Folders vs tagging/labels/conversations: Personally I'd like folders in gmail, to sort conversations in a less
confusing way...heck I had to explain to a gmail user how to use "conversations/threads/whatever they call them"
a while back...they're like folders, but they're not. Say you have a few listservs that you pay attention to.
Seperate folders for each vs "listserv tag(s)". IIRC, you can make subfolders, but not sub"tags" say for
win/lin administration. Folders are easy for sorting, not so much filtering, but the opposite is true for
labels/convo's (IOW "thread view").
All 3 together would rock the email world, I think.
Easy way to archive: Gmail wins, IMO. Pop, Thunderbird and (text).mbx format vs OE integration/tricks and outlook's binary format (not easily shifted to other clients).
See uptime/access time; granted I didn't lose anything I would miss terribly (now ex-gf's email included, for
amusement only/reminder/spank bank material) but the principle of the thing; Short sighted, tight fisted,
unyielding rules they'll blast your mail away in a heartbeat, vs 3/4 of a year? If you can't think to
check email more than once every 3/4 of a year, stick with snail mail and DVD/USB thru the post.
Prestiege/Spam(again): No kidding, the gmail invites *increased* the desire and heightend the profile.
Hotmail, in addition to spamming itself was spamming everyone else and the spam was increased by the
likes of aol/yahoo/msn and such. Before spam filtering in hotmail was added (much less worth a damn)
the first thing I did was use the regular filters to send *.yahoo.com, *.aol.com and *.msn.com and
the like to the spam, and then whitelist the one or two people with those addresses that I'd care
to hear from.
It all comes down to what if I lost my account for either?
Hotmail: Mumbled "Fucking assholes" and moved on, not even bothering to reinstate the account/name.
Gmail: Would not be happy, but would think similar to what I stated above. MY FAULT for waiting more than
3/4 of a year, barring coma, abduction, or being stuck on an island with a bunch of fedex packages, there'd
be no excuse that would not sound hollow.
That the Nvidia logo and slogan "the way it's meant to be played" will have a disclaimer on the bottom
like most car commercials, or tacked on to the splash screen?
I can see it now:
The way it's meant to be played*
*may be slow, buggy, prone to BSODs, catch fire, lock up, eat power supplies for lunch, cause
your computer room to be hot, supper to be cold, hate Vista and long for XP/AMD/ATI and stability
is not guranteed until a week before the next OS is out.
So there, THUPBPBPBPB!