Re:If people used better judgement
on
Cell-Phone Wars
·
· Score: 1
I agree movie theaters and restaraunts are bad places to use it. But if they are being used in more common places, I am sure a cell phone jammer detector will be possible. And places that I know have service I will be able to detect a jammer. And trust me, I will get very loud, and very annoying.
I do great playing stupid american: "If I talk louder, they can probably hear me even though the call has been dropped".
The solution is to accept it. I hate noise in general but accept it outside. If you drive a non-electric car or have a stereo that can be heard outside of the car, you've already reached my line. If you cross that line but can't accept the cell phone.
Then again, if you use a cell phone in the restaraunt, I'll generally complain to the manager and make a scene of moving to another table. If you do it in a movie, I will probably lob my shoe at you, go over to you, pick it up, and then beat you with it. Movie started or not, I turn it off at the theater when I PARK, not when the movie 'starts'. Why? Because what if I forget to.
I also keep my phone on vibrate more often than not. Because that way I know it is ringing, but no one else is forced to hear what god-awful ringtone I've got.
But shopping or at a lower-end food store there is no point in blocking cell phone, since there are people walking around talking anyways, and the nosie level is the same. It may be funny, but it is incredibly wrong and if you get pleasure from messing with someone else, well, I don't think I need to say anything further.
There is a place to get away from all of this, and it is called 'home' with a noise maker, or the country. Welcome to the real world dude.
I think you may be over doing it or just being a geek(which is a good thing):
Let's take a quick look at your expenses.
1) server colocated in datacenter with back-up dial-in line $300/mo + $2000/server
You obviously only need this if you have a successful product and REQUIRE a dial-in line and a dedicated colocated server. A lot of people are fine off of hosting companies, including corporations. Not everyone has nor needs a dedicated server, and a small software company does not. I say $10 or $15/mo tops for a webserver.
2) SSL cert, web site marketing costs, etc. $500/yr
Do your own marketing. SSL cert is again not needed until larger. If you are really doing online payments you are paying for credit card stuff as well, which is not too necessary. Use PayPal. Sure, it is "unprofessional" but considering most companies I've dealt with use it, it's not uncommon. PayPal: only like 5 or 10% or something. Web Site Marketing? Try VistaPrint. =) Cheap, with specials all the time.
3) answering service, mail box, fax service $600/yr
Small software company? $10/mo for mail box. Fax service is really overrated, have it sent to Kinko's if they absolutely can not email it to you. Answering Service? $50 for a digital Answering Machine at Wal Mart.
4) cell phone & DSL at home $100/mo
Yep. Tax deductible too.
5) incorporation, filings, fees, business liability insurance, registered agaent $2000/yr
Small software company? None of this is necessary. Do an LLC or S-Corp, much cheaper. Or just be sole proprieter until you're making enough money to do it the other way.
6) business checking account $500/open
Again, not absolutely necessary and many banks have no minimum, no start. You just need a license. That's in Texas of course, so YMMV.
7) software, $0. all open source
Damn straight. =)
Overall, if you have the money for all of that and a product that requires all of that, go for it. Otherwise, treat it like you do everything else and cut back. I know it is cool to have a dedicated server, but is it absolutely necessary? When you can get a lot of space and bandwidth for $10 a month is $2k a month really justified?
Once you get bigger, of course, you can change. But until then a backup is created great with cdbakeoven instead of a monthly fee.
Plus try rackspace, dedicated co-lo's for $200 or $300 a month. Much better than $2000. =)
No, I don't run my own software company, I do consulting. I work 40+ hours a week and this is my own business. So I only know the business parts, but I also know what it would take to run a software company, especially a small one. And you can not over do it at the beginning.
You are correct that it is ignoring the fact that most engineers are terrible marketing and sales people. They should improve on these skills, as these skills are not only essential to a good business but are essential to GETTING A JOB these days! =)
My advice, whether getting a job or starting a company, get business cards, vistaprint is cheap. Oh, and if they have the vistaprint logo on the back meaning you couldn't put in $10 or $20 (however much it is to remove the logo) it looks like you just want something from putting in nothing. That doesn't look good to an employer.
I hope this helps at least one person get a job, and I hope it at least partially puts into perspective what it takes to really run a business. Once you get bigger though, the expenses do go up.
You have a choice. You shop here for linux, you shop there for Windows. We've eliminated the one-supplier method, trust me, enjoy it, it's the only way you get choice. =)
Actually the editor of that says that people who assume that the spelling of a word dictates it's pronunciation is incorrect. The pronunciation of a word dictates the spelling of the word, and in other languages it is common practice to update the spelling of the word to be acceptable to pronunciation. So yes, that is one of the proper ways to say nuclear.
I tried linux, didn't like one distribution, changed, had to relearn EVERYTHING.
Tried Gentoo recently, looks good, but they think portage is go gracing earth when it still has some issues that need to be resolved.
Besides, nothing beats the stability of FreeBSD, even on 5.1 and 5.2 I've never had a crash on my desktop machine.
The RIAA thinks it is really important...
on
Time to Face the Music
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
"makes the Baghdad looters look like trick-or-treaters."
Yeah, those mp3's you downloaded are more valuable than the priceless treasures and ancient artifacts from the dawn of human civilization. Someone needs to cut the RIAA down in half.
Damn, I just got a new phone with the new VooDoo 3DFX Mobile and Nvidia comes out with their new Nvidia GeForceMobile ARP983X-412. As soon as you buy it, it's obsolete! Can't wait for that new ATi All-In-Phone Pro 1002-AX next month! I hear it does circles!
You know, slashdot is a place for _links._ They are not responsible for all these stories. They don't make the news, they just report it. So yeah, for every place that does an April 1st Joke(Gentoo, CPAN, the RFC, Etc..) you will get a story. It's a fun holiday, let it be as such. I've read the slashdot summary and I quit reading the articles. I have better things to do, but it's good to see people celebrating. A party is a freaking party you know.
Re:PHP Is *not* an application server
on
Introduction to PHP5
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Programmers determine coding practices, structure, etc. You can find obfuscated java code, obfuscated python, obfuscated perl, or obfuscated php. It all depends on the _programmer_, not the programming language. It's like blaming car accidents on the type of car a person drives.
Structured code is a good thing though, and so is efficiency.
Most PHP Projects are put on a shared server, so using shared memory will generally anger the host. For enterprise level, maybe for a simple simple form I'd go with PHP, everything else I would go with something more hardcore, and yes, even Java. Java is a good language, but it's bad to be trapped to a single company for your language.
Mod_Perl on Apache does shared memory, along with several other improvements. With strict coding practices in a company, and someone going over the code(should be done with _every_ language and _every_ project) the code is easy to read, easy to re-use, and easy to modify. Yes, even Perl. High level enough to do things quickly and easily, and powerful enough to do it very quickly, using shared memory, etc.. Don't underestimate the power of mod_perl, it's easy to get a dynamic database page with mod_perl to load faster than static content.
And with mod_perl, and good practices(again, necessary even in Java) it will scale easily to multiple servers, legacy systems, etc...
Of course, we're waiting on Parrot. Yeah, kinda Perl 6, but yeah, it will compile Java. And yeah, cross platform, unlike Java (Java on BSD is a PITA, _and_ reminds me of Win 3.1 on my 33mhz system back in the day).
So again, the problem is the programmer, not the language. Although you are correct that PHP is not an application server. But look at Parrot and look at Perl, things can grow into even better things.
Fry: "Well sure, but not in our dreams! Only on tv and radio...and in magazines...and movies. And at ball games, on buses, and milk cartons, and t-shirts, and bananas, and written on the sky. But not in dreams! No sirree."
It's still happening right now! Hilarious ad from MSFT, I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually an Onion pardody though. =) I guess it being from MSFT makes it even more hilarious.
Wow. The people that hacked seabornes.com must be really intelligent. At the bottom it says USG (Unix Security Guards). But viewing source comes up with this:
meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 9" meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 9"
I'm not saying people who use Unix don't use Windows, but how many use Word to write HTML pages? What ever happened to notepad?
To increase usability, all CISCO routers will now come with a web interface accessible on the rarely used port 80. It will have a default username/password of: admin/password. In case the username/password are forgotten, CISCO tech support can use their back-up account that they have in all CISCO boxes to access the box and change the admin password. No one will be able to find out this secret account, we're kinda sure of that.
Don't flood their new list with all kind of "You st00pids" or anything for either getting rid of one of the core team members, or about what is coming, or about what has been mentioned. There is a nice way to say everything, and there are good, constructive ways to help. So let's use this new list to open the development up, speed it up, etc.
Don't go in there screaming "YOU IDIOTS! YOU DIDN'T APPLY THE [.*] PATCHES! YOU ARE SO l00zers!!!". Think about it, if someone came up to you saying that you didn't apply a set of patches, or something, you would probably look at the patches. If someone comes up yelling, screaming, cursing, and insulting you, you'll ignore them from that point onward, or make up some BS reason. i.e., you'll do more damage than you will help. And if anyone says they have a responsibility to do whatever it is you want, go read that new Bugzilla etiquette book, quick.
Again, read the paragraph over, if you ask why the patches were not commited, or where is this, or why is that, you will probably get a response. If you yell, scream, insult, and kick, well, you lost them at the yelling and you won't get them back now.
And make sure, that if you have time, that you _offer_ _to_ _freaking_ _help_. And let's get a place where those of us who can't help our with time can at least donate. I'd rather end up donating over $100 or $200 over time (I'm far, far, far, far, far from rich) rather than have to pay $100+/year for MS Windows. Hell, I'd rather save up and pay $500 out of the box for X than ever have to use windows again, period. Just because the software has the word free attached doesn't mean the people will happily work for free. Besides, people who donate get their words heard more often. Again, use etiquette. What should be Required CS Reading material for OSS users and some OSS developers.
Damnit. Forgot the/a tag. Mod it down I guess. Friend woke me up to say war had begun, figured I'd check slashdot. (My first place for all news, geek or non-geek. OMG. What have I become?!)
NPR has live coverage
on
Strike on Iraq
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Without all the commercials, etc..
NPR. Click up top, Real, Windows Media, or Quicktime. Gotta love NPR.
CSPAN is slashdotted, er, wardotted? err.. nevermind, CSPAN is dead.
And chances are, live protests in your local metro.
CBSNews has a big "WAR" picture that looks like an ad for a RTS. Thanks to the media for desensitizing us to war(or making it into a fun, enjoyable experience kind of like a game or a "faces of death" tv channel(gotta love duckman!) without the seriousness).
I hope this ends quick. The last thing Slashdot needs is a war vs. anti-war flamewar. We've already got BSD vs. Linux, Perl vs. Python vs. Ruby vs. Java vs. Everything Else, KDE vs. Gnome, etc... So I think we're good.
As an interesting note, CBSNews calls George Bush "Mr. Bush" in this article.
Those types of options need to be well-hidden. MS has had these options in various flavours and forms(and in the forms of service packs, etc, which broke more things than they fixed). One of the bad assumptions about Windows is that is is easy-to-use. If you start someone out on BSD or Linux and move them to Windows, and then even to another version of Windows, they wonder what the hell you are doing. Microsoft continues to move commonly-used options and functions around. I'm not saying that KDE and Gnome are the ultimate, but I see people saying we should take a lesson from Microsoft.
If that's the case, I think we should take KDE's Control Center, name it to Control Panel, move it under Applications->Accessories->System Functions. The in the next minor release, let's move it under Applications->System->Options and call it System Control. Then in the next minor release, we need to call it "KDE System Control" and move it to Applications->Utilities->System->Options.
The point is, taking a lesson from Network Neighborhood, moving things from one place to another is a PITA. That's one of the good things about KDE & Gnome. When they change something that big it's not hard to find it, the name rarely changes. So yes, MS should take a lesson from us.
Options like the one you mentioned are there for those who prefer it, but need to be well hidden under an "Advanced Dialog". Why? Because there are people who expect things to work in certain ways that we consider "stupid" or "difficult" or "dangerous" when in fact it is quite the opposite for that person. Yes, I prefer more and more configuration options, and yes, I believe they need to be well, well, well hidden. Perhaps an overall option in the control center where you can set configurability from "Basic", "Advanced", "Expert", "Don't Blame Us"
Slashdot Mirror
I agree movie theaters and restaraunts are bad places to use it. But if they are being used in more common places, I am sure a cell phone jammer detector will be possible. And places that I know have service I will be able to detect a jammer. And trust me, I will get very loud, and very annoying.
I do great playing stupid american: "If I talk louder, they can probably hear me even though the call has been dropped".
The solution is to accept it. I hate noise in general but accept it outside. If you drive a non-electric car or have a stereo that can be heard outside of the car, you've already reached my line. If you cross that line but can't accept the cell phone.
Then again, if you use a cell phone in the restaraunt, I'll generally complain to the manager and make a scene of moving to another table. If you do it in a movie, I will probably lob my shoe at you, go over to you, pick it up, and then beat you with it. Movie started or not, I turn it off at the theater when I PARK, not when the movie 'starts'. Why? Because what if I forget to.
I also keep my phone on vibrate more often than not. Because that way I know it is ringing, but no one else is forced to hear what god-awful ringtone I've got.
But shopping or at a lower-end food store there is no point in blocking cell phone, since there are people walking around talking anyways, and the nosie level is the same. It may be funny, but it is incredibly wrong and if you get pleasure from messing with someone else, well, I don't think I need to say anything further.
There is a place to get away from all of this, and it is called 'home' with a noise maker, or the country. Welcome to the real world dude.
I think you may be over doing it or just being a geek(which is a good thing):
Let's take a quick look at your expenses.
1) server colocated in datacenter with back-up dial-in line $300/mo + $2000/server
You obviously only need this if you have a successful product and REQUIRE a dial-in line and a dedicated colocated server. A lot of people are fine off of hosting companies, including corporations. Not everyone has nor needs a dedicated server, and a small software company does not. I say $10 or $15/mo tops for a webserver.
2) SSL cert, web site marketing costs, etc. $500/yr
Do your own marketing. SSL cert is again not needed until larger. If you are really doing online payments you are paying for credit card stuff as well, which is not too necessary. Use PayPal. Sure, it is "unprofessional" but considering most companies I've dealt with use it, it's not uncommon. PayPal: only like 5 or 10% or something. Web Site Marketing? Try VistaPrint. =) Cheap, with specials all the time.
3) answering service, mail box, fax service $600/yr
Small software company? $10/mo for mail box. Fax service is really overrated, have it sent to Kinko's if they absolutely can not email it to you. Answering Service? $50 for a digital Answering Machine at Wal Mart.
4) cell phone & DSL at home $100/mo
Yep. Tax deductible too.
5) incorporation, filings, fees, business liability insurance, registered agaent $2000/yr
Small software company? None of this is necessary. Do an LLC or S-Corp, much cheaper. Or just be sole proprieter until you're making enough money to do it the other way.
6) business checking account $500/open
Again, not absolutely necessary and many banks have no minimum, no start. You just need a license. That's in Texas of course, so YMMV.
7) software, $0. all open source
Damn straight. =)
Overall, if you have the money for all of that and a product that requires all of that, go for it. Otherwise, treat it like you do everything else and cut back. I know it is cool to have a dedicated server, but is it absolutely necessary? When you can get a lot of space and bandwidth for $10 a month is $2k a month really justified?
Once you get bigger, of course, you can change. But until then a backup is created great with cdbakeoven instead of a monthly fee.
Plus try rackspace, dedicated co-lo's for $200 or $300 a month. Much better than $2000. =)
No, I don't run my own software company, I do consulting. I work 40+ hours a week and this is my own business. So I only know the business parts, but I also know what it would take to run a software company, especially a small one. And you can not over do it at the beginning.
You are correct that it is ignoring the fact that most engineers are terrible marketing and sales people. They should improve on these skills, as these skills are not only essential to a good business but are essential to GETTING A JOB these days! =)
My advice, whether getting a job or starting a company, get business cards, vistaprint is cheap. Oh, and if they have the vistaprint logo on the back meaning you couldn't put in $10 or $20 (however much it is to remove the logo) it looks like you just want something from putting in nothing. That doesn't look good to an employer.
I hope this helps at least one person get a job, and I hope it at least partially puts into perspective what it takes to really run a business. Once you get bigger though, the expenses do go up.
You have a choice. You shop here for linux, you shop there for Windows. We've eliminated the one-supplier method, trust me, enjoy it, it's the only way you get choice. =)
As far as blank HD, I can't answer that for you.
Actually the editor of that says that people who assume that the spelling of a word dictates it's pronunciation is incorrect. The pronunciation of a word dictates the spelling of the word, and in other languages it is common practice to update the spelling of the word to be acceptable to pronunciation. So yes, that is one of the proper ways to say nuclear.
For desktop and servers, yes.
I tried linux, didn't like one distribution, changed, had to relearn EVERYTHING.
Tried Gentoo recently, looks good, but they think portage is go gracing earth when it still has some issues that need to be resolved.
Besides, nothing beats the stability of FreeBSD, even on 5.1 and 5.2 I've never had a crash on my desktop machine.
"makes the Baghdad looters look like trick-or-treaters."
Yeah, those mp3's you downloaded are more valuable than the priceless treasures and ancient artifacts from the dawn of human civilization. Someone needs to cut the RIAA down in half.
April 11 is not double April 1st!
Picture an employee at his desk. His AIM pop's up:
TheBoss: How did our trade secrets get out? I'm calling for a full investigation!
Employee: Maybe it's because we use AOL for our chat and they receive everything we send!
TheBoss: What? Quick! Get a Sun ONE Server!
Damn, I just got a new phone with the new VooDoo 3DFX Mobile and Nvidia comes out with their new Nvidia GeForceMobile ARP983X-412. As soon as you buy it, it's obsolete! Can't wait for that new ATi All-In-Phone Pro 1002-AX next month! I hear it does circles!
There'll be a book review on Slashdot: "Money Werks, How I was sued for $97 billion and please buy my book!"
Hell, we could just port vigor to it! (Screenshots)
And a FreeBSD Port Exists as well. So I'm sure you could apt-get it, rpm it, or emerge it also.
perl -MCPAN -e shell ...blah...blah...blah...
cpan> install Coy
cpan> exit
bash-2.05b$ perl -e 'use Coy; die();';
-----
Lao Tse departing
beside a dam. A
singing lark. A dove.
-----
Bankei's commentary...
Died
(Sayings of -e: line 1.)
Ahh, at least perl can die a nice death. Check the man page too, all in Haiku.
Now if only PHP and GCC had this. Then I'd be truly happy and transcending. Or at least able to procrastinate a bit longer.
Why yes, it does. =)
You know, slashdot is a place for _links._ They are not responsible for all these stories. They don't make the news, they just report it. So yeah, for every place that does an April 1st Joke(Gentoo, CPAN, the RFC, Etc..) you will get a story. It's a fun holiday, let it be as such. I've read the slashdot summary and I quit reading the articles. I have better things to do, but it's good to see people celebrating. A party is a freaking party you know.
Best reason not to move to Java: click.
Programmers determine coding practices, structure, etc. You can find obfuscated java code, obfuscated python, obfuscated perl, or obfuscated php. It all depends on the _programmer_, not the programming language. It's like blaming car accidents on the type of car a person drives.
Structured code is a good thing though, and so is efficiency.
Most PHP Projects are put on a shared server, so using shared memory will generally anger the host. For enterprise level, maybe for a simple simple form I'd go with PHP, everything else I would go with something more hardcore, and yes, even Java. Java is a good language, but it's bad to be trapped to a single company for your language.
Mod_Perl on Apache does shared memory, along with several other improvements. With strict coding practices in a company, and someone going over the code(should be done with _every_ language and _every_ project) the code is easy to read, easy to re-use, and easy to modify. Yes, even Perl. High level enough to do things quickly and easily, and powerful enough to do it very quickly, using shared memory, etc.. Don't underestimate the power of mod_perl, it's easy to get a dynamic database page with mod_perl to load faster than static content.
And with mod_perl, and good practices(again, necessary even in Java) it will scale easily to multiple servers, legacy systems, etc...
Of course, we're waiting on Parrot. Yeah, kinda Perl 6, but yeah, it will compile Java. And yeah, cross platform, unlike Java (Java on BSD is a PITA, _and_ reminds me of Win 3.1 on my 33mhz system back in the day).
So again, the problem is the programmer, not the language. Although you are correct that PHP is not an application server. But look at Parrot and look at Perl, things can grow into even better things.
Parrot also has a BF (Brain****) interpreter.
Leela: "Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?"
Fry: "Well sure, but not in our dreams! Only on tv and radio...and in magazines...and movies. And at ball games, on buses, and milk cartons, and t-shirts, and bananas, and written on the sky. But not in dreams! No sirree."
It's still happening right now! Hilarious ad from MSFT, I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually an Onion pardody though. =) I guess it being from MSFT makes it even more hilarious.
Wow. The people that hacked seabornes.com must be really intelligent. At the bottom it says USG (Unix Security Guards). But viewing source comes up with this:
meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document
meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 9"
meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 9"
I'm not saying people who use Unix don't use Windows, but how many use Word to write HTML pages? What ever happened to notepad?
The BBC is under heavy load. Click here to see how slow their website is loading!
To increase usability, all CISCO routers will now come with a web interface accessible on the rarely used port 80. It will have a default username/password of: admin/password. In case the username/password are forgotten, CISCO tech support can use their back-up account that they have in all CISCO boxes to access the box and change the admin password. No one will be able to find out this secret account, we're kinda sure of that.
Don't flood their new list with all kind of "You st00pids" or anything for either getting rid of one of the core team members, or about what is coming, or about what has been mentioned. There is a nice way to say everything, and there are good, constructive ways to help. So let's use this new list to open the development up, speed it up, etc.
Don't go in there screaming "YOU IDIOTS! YOU DIDN'T APPLY THE [.*] PATCHES! YOU ARE SO l00zers!!!". Think about it, if someone came up to you saying that you didn't apply a set of patches, or something, you would probably look at the patches. If someone comes up yelling, screaming, cursing, and insulting you, you'll ignore them from that point onward, or make up some BS reason. i.e., you'll do more damage than you will help. And if anyone says they have a responsibility to do whatever it is you want, go read that new Bugzilla etiquette book, quick.
Again, read the paragraph over, if you ask why the patches were not commited, or where is this, or why is that, you will probably get a response. If you yell, scream, insult, and kick, well, you lost them at the yelling and you won't get them back now.
And make sure, that if you have time, that you _offer_ _to_ _freaking_ _help_. And let's get a place where those of us who can't help our with time can at least donate. I'd rather end up donating over $100 or $200 over time (I'm far, far, far, far, far from rich) rather than have to pay $100+/year for MS Windows. Hell, I'd rather save up and pay $500 out of the box for X than ever have to use windows again, period. Just because the software has the word free attached doesn't mean the people will happily work for free. Besides, people who donate get their words heard more often. Again, use etiquette. What should be Required CS Reading material for OSS users and some OSS developers.
Just my 2 nuyen.
Damnit. Forgot the /a tag. Mod it down I guess. Friend woke me up to say war had begun, figured I'd check slashdot. (My first place for all news, geek or non-geek. OMG. What have I become?!)
Without all the commercials, etc..
NPR. Click up top, Real, Windows Media, or Quicktime. Gotta love NPR.
More stuff on NPR about Iraq over here.
CSPAN is slashdotted, er, wardotted? err.. nevermind, CSPAN is dead.
And chances are, live protests in your local metro.
CBSNews has a big "WAR" picture that looks like an ad for a RTS. Thanks to the media for desensitizing us to war(or making it into a fun, enjoyable experience kind of like a game or a "faces of death" tv channel(gotta love duckman!) without the seriousness).
I hope this ends quick. The last thing Slashdot needs is a war vs. anti-war flamewar. We've already got BSD vs. Linux, Perl vs. Python vs. Ruby vs. Java vs. Everything Else, KDE vs. Gnome, etc... So I think we're good.
As an interesting note, CBSNews calls George Bush "Mr. Bush" in this article.
Those types of options need to be well-hidden. MS has had these options in various flavours and forms(and in the forms of service packs, etc, which broke more things than they fixed). One of the bad assumptions about Windows is that is is easy-to-use. If you start someone out on BSD or Linux and move them to Windows, and then even to another version of Windows, they wonder what the hell you are doing. Microsoft continues to move commonly-used options and functions around. I'm not saying that KDE and Gnome are the ultimate, but I see people saying we should take a lesson from Microsoft.
If that's the case, I think we should take KDE's Control Center, name it to Control Panel, move it under Applications->Accessories->System Functions. The in the next minor release, let's move it under Applications->System->Options and call it System Control. Then in the next minor release, we need to call it "KDE System Control" and move it to Applications->Utilities->System->Options.
The point is, taking a lesson from Network Neighborhood, moving things from one place to another is a PITA. That's one of the good things about KDE & Gnome. When they change something that big it's not hard to find it, the name rarely changes. So yes, MS should take a lesson from us.
Options like the one you mentioned are there for those who prefer it, but need to be well hidden under an "Advanced Dialog". Why? Because there are people who expect things to work in certain ways that we consider "stupid" or "difficult" or "dangerous" when in fact it is quite the opposite for that person. Yes, I prefer more and more configuration options, and yes, I believe they need to be well, well, well hidden. Perhaps an overall option in the control center where you can set configurability from "Basic", "Advanced", "Expert", "Don't Blame Us"
Just my 2c
No longer a calm before the storm, eh? More like a small spike before the blackness overtakes.