Once the millions hear that they can get $50 back from Microsoft by refusing the EULA click-through, AND they can get an OS that doesn't need an anti-virus program, AND that most of their existing software, including games, will still work, they'll switch.
Saving $50 when a computer cost $5,000 didn't make sense. Saving $50 and getting rid of the virus problem (and its' associated costs) when a computer costs $250 makes a LOT of sense.
In the last year, about half of us at work bought new laptops. With only ONE exception, they all were upgraded from vista to either linux or xp.
That one exception was a software tester. She kept saying how she was able to configure vista so that it works "really fast."
Last week, she said "Maybe I should install linux on my laptop".
Who knows what happened. Maybe her vista horked up a hairball... who cares. The bottom line is that if Microsoft can't keep its' most loyal fans on board, what about the millions who only use windows because they don't know there are alternatives?
They're not going to buy Windows7.
Me, I've already decided that my next laptop, I'm applying for a refund on the OS. I'll consider it a "Microsoft hardware subsidy."
F&SF is neither fish nor fowl, so it's the "weak sister" of the three, and the one I'd miss the least, though, truth be told, I'd prefer to keep buying all three.
As for the serials, that used to really p*ss me off, but there have been some good ones. I used to have the time to read each one as I bought it, but nowadays, they sit in a stack until I can find the time, so a serialization isn's as much of an issue.
There's an old saying - when everyone else is zigging, you should zag. Instead of cutting back on frequency, they should have increased it four-fold, turning it into a weekly (assuming that there are enough stories out there, and I believe there are). People are more likely to pick something up on a weekly basis than on a monthly basis, the serialization of stories becomes less of a problem since a 4-parter only stretches out over a month instead of more than a season, and you get better printing and distribution deals on weeklies, both of which would cut per-issue costs.
It's too bad if they go under - I've got (goes and counts) a couple dozen feet of those three on my bookshelves.
I've been buying Asimov, Analog, and S&SF for a LONG time, but I won't subscribe to them. The extra cost involved if you don't live in the US means it's the same price - or less - to buy it at the local book store. AND, unlike when I *did* subscribe, it arrives at the book store a month earlier. WTF is up with that? What are they doing - taking back the overstock and mailing it out to subscribers?
Microsoft isn't hitting its numbers on the corporate desktop. Businesses are refusing to "upgrade" to Vista, and Microsoft needs to get something out the door ASAP that will help them get back on track, and continue with their "Software Assurance" scam. (For those that didn't get the memo, the "Software Assurance" scam was that your company would pay an annual fee and get new releases thrown in - but there weren't any new releases except Vista, which was released early to business so as to allow Microsoft to say that they actually provided something of "value" with the SA program.) SA contracts aren't being renewed this time around.
Too bad for them that people are cottoning onto the astroturfing surrounding Windows 7 being "a complete rewrite" as opposed to "Vista ME SP2".
For one, even shorter attention spans than today...
Second, they'll want to see a [citation needed], and if it's not on the net, they'll refuse to believe it exists.
Third, since they won't be "into dead tree newspapers", expect to see a rise in the number of people who bring their laptops into the john with them... and also expect to hear more of "the sound of one hand clapping"...
Fourth, most "science projects" will degenerate into "does it blend"?
Fifth, teachers will have to accept "a virus ate my homework" since they'll be saying "a virus ate your final mark" much of the time.
There's one quick shot of an OSX dialog... And yes, I know what vista looks like - I looked at it before installing linux on my laptop. (and yes, Vista was as bad as everyone said...)
Funny how a microoft ad for a vista-only product shows it running on a mac... (check out the window decorations on the dialog it's eithr a mac or linux with the osx look-n-feel).
This product should be on EVERYONE's Christmas shopping list - give it to the kids of people you hate.
Anyone remember "Band-in-a-Box" back from the DOS days? It was better. This is so cheezy Kraft is suing for damage to their Cheeze Whiz brand.
"Perhaps that is a KDE4 thing? I have a Logout option on right click."
It could be... I trashed my 10.3 install last night so I could try the "latest and greatest" on my desktop, since 11.0 works seamlessly on my lappy.
I was really hoping to use 11.1 on one of the office machines - the recently swapped video card doesn't do dual monitors properly on 10.3, and I didn't want to experiment with 11.0 if 11.1 works okay, but 11.1 needs some more work.
I guess you weren't using computers before Win9x, because I remember a LOT of people couldn't figure it out. They were used to either a menu system, such as Direct Access, or a graphical system consisting of windows that grouped program icons, and you'd click on the icon to start the program.
The whole "taskbar" was completely alien, and in a world where many people made do with 640x480, it would have been seen as an extreme waste of space.
The "K" isn't labeled "Start." Also, the only races that finish at the start line are those where you're going in circles - an apt metaphor for Windows users.
BTW, wrt KDE, you can just right-click on the desktop, and select "Leave..."
Naming the main menu "Start" was just dumb. After all, you're already started by the time you can click on it... maybe they could have called it "Run..." or "Main" or "Open" or "Click here!" or, to keep it simple, not bothered with a text name.
"What are the improvements? Have they added in WinFS yet?"
They tried to - they're in the process of copying the files now... the dialog box says "Copying files" and to please wait another 10.459 years for the operation to complete...
"Up to now, Microsoft have pushed a consistent UI design for all windows apps, and that is one of the hidden strengths of windows, with their own apps being pretty much flagships for the best practices."
Up to now, Apple have pushed a consistent UI design for all Mac apps, and that is one of the hidden strengths of the Mac Platform with their own apps being pretty much flagships for the best practices.
The day after a Christmas dinner, most guys are producers of lots and lots of bio-gas.
Or you could take a man or two, put them in a vacuum-sealed vessel, and boil off the hydrocarbons. Sort of like a "reverse gas chamber". If you don't want to be inhuman, use politicians - even PETA won't complain...
"For myself, if I had been a student in your class, I would have been taking notes furiously because it's the only way I can pay attention. No notes = my mind is either asleep or a million miles away."
As I pointed out, one of the responsibilities of a teacher is to be INTERESTING. If you make your subject so dull that people are daydreaming, or need to take notes just to stay semi-engaged, you're not teaching, and the student isn't really learning.
People who are busy taking notes aren't learning. Stop one of them, and ask them to repeat, without looking at their notes, what you just said. It's "Deer caught in the headlights" time. Most of them are so caught up in note-taking that you can pass off complete nonsense and they won't question it.
There are alternatives. Give hand-outs at the beginning or end. Make a video and post it for those who need to review (which is what notes should be for, after all - reviewing stuff, not the initial learning, which doesn't happen if they're too busy taking notes to, you know, actually THINK).
Any so-called "teacher" whose class is just glorified note-taking should be fired.
"You generally don't see large-scale layoffs for incompetence (although, sometimes that wouldn't be a bad idea.) In most cases, it's because management screwed up"
Wouldn't that be "large-scale layoffs for incompetence"? Just that the incompetent escapes the axe, sort of like GM CEO Rick Wagoner?
The US has the best education on the planet. Why do I say this? because our system continues to produce innovators that the rest of the world envies. We do this in spite of the push to standardized tests or making everything a team project. We need to stop trying to downgrade our education to match countries who continue to pump out people who can only do what they are told.
Japan produces more patents per year than the US, with less than half the population. Maybe that explains GM and Chrysler.
If they're trying to teach the latest and greatest whizbang technology, then yes - it will be obsolete. If they're trying to teach how to program - it will always be relevant, no matter which language is used.
Remember, the good teachers have to work against the grain - against all the other teachers who just "teach to the textbook" and aren't really all that enthusiastic about their material, so an over-reaction in the other direction is a likely result.
Whenever I've gone into the school, either as a speaker, or to teach, and even today when I'm giving a white-board session, I tell people NOT TO TAKE NOTES! Note-taking is an avoidance behaviour. The teachers like note-takers, because they don't get any negative feedback on their teaching skills. The students would rather take notes than admit they haven't got a clue.
One thing I learned is that if I'm busy taking notes, I'm not learning. Instead, I listened to my teachers, and when their teaching didn't make sense, I told them so, and asked them to explain again. This pissed off some of them, but the way I figured it, if didn't understand it, that's the teachers' fault for not providing a clear explanation. Don't go and repeat the same thing 10 times - give me an alternate route to get to understanding. Neither of us is a robot.
So, when I'm standing in front of a group, I don't want them taking notes. It is MY responsibility to know my shit to the point where I can come up with a half-dozen different ways of presenting it, so that *one* of those ways will click, and so that I don't have to refer to the distraction of my own notes. It is MY responsibility to engage with the listeners, so that I can tell who is and who isn't picking up on what I'm getting at, so that I can avoid having to backtrack an hour later. It is MY responsibility to not be boring as all shit, not be repetitive, not talk down to them, but to be both informative and entertaining, because the key factor in all learning is to engage the listener so that they become an active part of the process, and WANT to learn more.
It is their responsibility to show up, to actively participate, to call me out on any attempt to bullshit them, or to gloss over anything that is lame or weak. Not to be good little stenographers. That's not learning.
This is the 21st century. We don't need notes - everyone has access to camcorders and video cameras if you want to have something to review. Just record the session.
Learning isn't like church, where it's expected that a lot of people will be dozing off.
They do such a miserable job with the basics already. Colleges have to give classes in remedial reading and math to get their students "up to speed" because the K-12 are doing such a crap job.
Besides, you know this will degrade into "This is how you create a powerpoint presentation" because that's all the "teacher" knows? Besides, by the time they draw up a curriculum, you *know* it will be obsolete.
There is no need for computer classes, not when you can't get the basics right. And speaking of BASIC, do we really need another generation ruined by it?
Slashdot Mirror
Once the millions hear that they can get $50 back from Microsoft by refusing the EULA click-through, AND they can get an OS that doesn't need an anti-virus program, AND that most of their existing software, including games, will still work, they'll switch.
Saving $50 when a computer cost $5,000 didn't make sense. Saving $50 and getting rid of the virus problem (and its' associated costs) when a computer costs $250 makes a LOT of sense.
conflicker/downadup, antivirus2009.exe, coolwebsearch, etc., will keep on giving people incentives to switch.
In the last year, about half of us at work bought new laptops. With only ONE exception, they all were upgraded from vista to either linux or xp.
That one exception was a software tester. She kept saying how she was able to configure vista so that it works "really fast."
Last week, she said "Maybe I should install linux on my laptop".
Who knows what happened. Maybe her vista horked up a hairball ... who cares. The bottom line is that if Microsoft can't keep its' most loyal fans on board, what about the millions who only use windows because they don't know there are alternatives?
They're not going to buy Windows7.
Me, I've already decided that my next laptop, I'm applying for a refund on the OS. I'll consider it a "Microsoft hardware subsidy."
F&SF is neither fish nor fowl, so it's the "weak sister" of the three, and the one I'd miss the least, though, truth be told, I'd prefer to keep buying all three.
As for the serials, that used to really p*ss me off, but there have been some good ones. I used to have the time to read each one as I bought it, but nowadays, they sit in a stack until I can find the time, so a serialization isn's as much of an issue.
There's an old saying - when everyone else is zigging, you should zag. Instead of cutting back on frequency, they should have increased it four-fold, turning it into a weekly (assuming that there are enough stories out there, and I believe there are). People are more likely to pick something up on a weekly basis than on a monthly basis, the serialization of stories becomes less of a problem since a 4-parter only stretches out over a month instead of more than a season, and you get better printing and distribution deals on weeklies, both of which would cut per-issue costs.
It's too bad if they go under - I've got (goes and counts) a couple dozen feet of those three on my bookshelves.
I've been buying Asimov, Analog, and S&SF for a LONG time, but I won't subscribe to them. The extra cost involved if you don't live in the US means it's the same price - or less - to buy it at the local book store. AND, unlike when I *did* subscribe, it arrives at the book store a month earlier. WTF is up with that? What are they doing - taking back the overstock and mailing it out to subscribers?
Microsoft isn't hitting its numbers on the corporate desktop. Businesses are refusing to "upgrade" to Vista, and Microsoft needs to get something out the door ASAP that will help them get back on track, and continue with their "Software Assurance" scam. (For those that didn't get the memo, the "Software Assurance" scam was that your company would pay an annual fee and get new releases thrown in - but there weren't any new releases except Vista, which was released early to business so as to allow Microsoft to say that they actually provided something of "value" with the SA program.) SA contracts aren't being renewed this time around.
Too bad for them that people are cottoning onto the astroturfing surrounding Windows 7 being "a complete rewrite" as opposed to "Vista ME SP2".
For one, even shorter attention spans than today ...
Second, they'll want to see a [citation needed], and if it's not on the net, they'll refuse to believe it exists.
Third, since they won't be "into dead tree newspapers", expect to see a rise in the number of people who bring their laptops into the john with them ... and also expect to hear more of "the sound of one hand clapping" ...
Fourth, most "science projects" will degenerate into "does it blend"?
Fifth, teachers will have to accept "a virus ate my homework" since they'll be saying "a virus ate your final mark" much of the time.
There's one quick shot of an OSX dialog ... And yes, I know what vista looks like - I looked at it before installing linux on my laptop. (and yes, Vista was as bad as everyone said ...)
It gets worse - the article references a previous link here: http://gawker.com/5130701/microsoft-ad-and-product-advertised-could-both-conceivably-make-you-want-to-kill-your-family
Funny how a microoft ad for a vista-only product shows it running on a mac ... (check out the window decorations on the dialog it's eithr a mac or linux with the osx look-n-feel).
This product should be on EVERYONE's Christmas shopping list - give it to the kids of people you hate.
Anyone remember "Band-in-a-Box" back from the DOS days? It was better. This is so cheezy Kraft is suing for damage to their Cheeze Whiz brand.
Because sometimes the camera is there ... and sometimes it isn't.
"Perhaps that is a KDE4 thing? I have a Logout option on right click."
It could be ... I trashed my 10.3 install last night so I could try the "latest and greatest" on my desktop, since 11.0 works seamlessly on my lappy.
I was really hoping to use 11.1 on one of the office machines - the recently swapped video card doesn't do dual monitors properly on 10.3, and I didn't want to experiment with 11.0 if 11.1 works okay, but 11.1 needs some more work.
I guess you weren't using computers before Win9x, because I remember a LOT of people couldn't figure it out. They were used to either a menu system, such as Direct Access, or a graphical system consisting of windows that grouped program icons, and you'd click on the icon to start the program.
The whole "taskbar" was completely alien, and in a world where many people made do with 640x480, it would have been seen as an extreme waste of space.
The "K" isn't labeled "Start." Also, the only races that finish at the start line are those where you're going in circles - an apt metaphor for Windows users.
BTW, wrt KDE, you can just right-click on the desktop, and select "Leave ..."
Naming the main menu "Start" was just dumb. After all, you're already started by the time you can click on it ... maybe they could have called it "Run ..." or "Main" or "Open" or "Click here!" or, to keep it simple, not bothered with a text name.
"What are the improvements? Have they added in WinFS yet?"
They tried to - they're in the process of copying the files now ... the dialog box says "Copying files" and to please wait another 10.459 years for the operation to complete ...
"Up to now, Microsoft have pushed a consistent UI design for all windows apps, and that is one of the hidden strengths of windows, with their own apps being pretty much flagships for the best practices."
Up to now, Apple have pushed a consistent UI design for all Mac apps, and that is one of the hidden strengths of the Mac Platform with their own apps being pretty much flagships for the best practices.
There, fixed it for you.
" What fucking moron changed the FILE menuitem to a glowing office logo?
What raging idiot thinks that's intuitive? Only retarted morons, that's who. "
That would be the same fucking morons | raging idiots who put "shut down" under "Start"
The day after a Christmas dinner, most guys are producers of lots and lots of bio-gas.
Or you could take a man or two, put them in a vacuum-sealed vessel, and boil off the hydrocarbons. Sort of like a "reverse gas chamber". If you don't want to be inhuman, use politicians - even PETA won't complain ...
"For myself, if I had been a student in your class, I would have been taking notes furiously because it's the only way I can pay attention. No notes = my mind is either asleep or a million miles away."
As I pointed out, one of the responsibilities of a teacher is to be INTERESTING. If you make your subject so dull that people are daydreaming, or need to take notes just to stay semi-engaged, you're not teaching, and the student isn't really learning.
People who are busy taking notes aren't learning. Stop one of them, and ask them to repeat, without looking at their notes, what you just said. It's "Deer caught in the headlights" time. Most of them are so caught up in note-taking that you can pass off complete nonsense and they won't question it.
There are alternatives. Give hand-outs at the beginning or end. Make a video and post it for those who need to review (which is what notes should be for, after all - reviewing stuff, not the initial learning, which doesn't happen if they're too busy taking notes to, you know, actually THINK).
Any so-called "teacher" whose class is just glorified note-taking should be fired.
Wouldn't that be "large-scale layoffs for incompetence"? Just that the incompetent escapes the axe, sort of like GM CEO Rick Wagoner?
Japan produces more patents per year than the US, with less than half the population. Maybe that explains GM and Chrysler.
*cough* BASIC? *cough*
Do we really want to ruin another generation?
Maybe you're both right.
Remember, the good teachers have to work against the grain - against all the other teachers who just "teach to the textbook" and aren't really all that enthusiastic about their material, so an over-reaction in the other direction is a likely result.
Whenever I've gone into the school, either as a speaker, or to teach, and even today when I'm giving a white-board session, I tell people NOT TO TAKE NOTES! Note-taking is an avoidance behaviour. The teachers like note-takers, because they don't get any negative feedback on their teaching skills. The students would rather take notes than admit they haven't got a clue.
One thing I learned is that if I'm busy taking notes, I'm not learning. Instead, I listened to my teachers, and when their teaching didn't make sense, I told them so, and asked them to explain again. This pissed off some of them, but the way I figured it, if didn't understand it, that's the teachers' fault for not providing a clear explanation. Don't go and repeat the same thing 10 times - give me an alternate route to get to understanding. Neither of us is a robot.
So, when I'm standing in front of a group, I don't want them taking notes. It is MY responsibility to know my shit to the point where I can come up with a half-dozen different ways of presenting it, so that *one* of those ways will click, and so that I don't have to refer to the distraction of my own notes. It is MY responsibility to engage with the listeners, so that I can tell who is and who isn't picking up on what I'm getting at, so that I can avoid having to backtrack an hour later. It is MY responsibility to not be boring as all shit, not be repetitive, not talk down to them, but to be both informative and entertaining, because the key factor in all learning is to engage the listener so that they become an active part of the process, and WANT to learn more.
It is their responsibility to show up, to actively participate, to call me out on any attempt to bullshit them, or to gloss over anything that is lame or weak. Not to be good little stenographers. That's not learning.
This is the 21st century. We don't need notes - everyone has access to camcorders and video cameras if you want to have something to review. Just record the session.
Learning isn't like church, where it's expected that a lot of people will be dozing off.
We could celebrate with a new newsgroup, alt.die.bold.die
Hopefully, when it comes time to nail them to the wall, they'll use Wilson's Nails.
"I'd hate to see stuff like music and art cut (and they're usually the first ones to go) in order to teach everyone to program badly."
There, fixed it for you :-)
They do such a miserable job with the basics already. Colleges have to give classes in remedial reading and math to get their students "up to speed" because the K-12 are doing such a crap job.
Besides, you know this will degrade into "This is how you create a powerpoint presentation" because that's all the "teacher" knows? Besides, by the time they draw up a curriculum, you *know* it will be obsolete.
There is no need for computer classes, not when you can't get the basics right. And speaking of BASIC, do we really need another generation ruined by it?