I had a similar experience with HP. Somehow I got subscribed to a newsletter from visiting their website. It was mostly worthless, but I'd scan them every once in a while to keep up with their products and things.
After a time the newsletter was re-vamped, and I got something saying they would now be suggesting articles and things to based on my "preferences". Somehow I remember it was an exciting new HP AI technology they were testing, and HP would be offering it to their business customers.
At first, the suggested articles weren't very "personalized" and wading through a bunch of suggested articles that seemed to have nothing to do with my interests made me want to unsubscribe.
All of a sudden, though, I began getting suggested articles like "Don't you think Linux sucks? Click here to read more" that would actually link to articles on the HP website talking about how Windows had a better ROI or something. Although the articles were real, the "suggestions" that pointed to the articles were obviously computer generated or pieced together from a list of pre-generated phrases.
Needless to say, I've since unsubscribed to this most unhelpful service. I'd like to take this opportunity to give an obligatory "fuck you, Carly".
what you are doing is a aiding and abetting.Aiding *what*? Sounds like the friend discovered a hard drive in her car and decided to keep it, which is perfectly reasonable.
Last time I checked it still isn't a crime to disassemble your own property, despite what Lexmark says.
Sounds like the dipshits who can't even spy on people without being discovered lost the right to their harddrive.
The question you should ask yourself, and Debian should be (and probably already has) asking themselves, is "Will you still be using Sparc in two years?"
According to this proposal, Sarge would still support Sparc, but the next release wouldn't. I'd bet dollars to donuts that you'd get at least two years of use out of Sarge before wanting or needing to upgrade.
So, please tell Debian why Sparc will still be important to you in two years.
300 Watts, 24 hours a day, is a ridiculous amount of power. That comes to about 216 KWh per month. Last time I checked, the average electric bill in the US was something like 300 KWh per month.
At 9 cents per KWh, that's almost $20 a month you're spending just to get a couple of pounds of compost.
Its a crafted statement, made to provoke a response based on the political climate of the US.
Actually, it's nearly a direct quote. It was used by Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld to describe the Bush Administration.
And for those smart enough to copy and paste from the nearest online dictionary, yet not smart enough to include an etymological reference: "regime" is derived from the Latin "rex,regio" which most directly translates as "ruler" but is commonly used as "king" or "kingdom".
In case it weren't obvious, the word typically has a negative connotation, especially in the US. Using it to describe a representative democracy indicates either a severe disconnect, lack of proper education, or both.
Think 'WebTV' with broadband capability. I don't remember if they got bought by Microsoft, or what, but WebTV dropped the ball on this a couple of years ago and it's still sitting there waiting to be picked up. Frankly, there are still lots of people out there who would use something like this, but don't want to dedicate a portion of their house to a desk/computer setup and/or don't want to pay over $300 total.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I've spent a few hours the past few weeks trying to hunt down a random, small bug, and I still have almost no clue what the overall architecture of Firefox is.
In fact, I'd almost say it's more difficult to navigate than the OpenOffice.org source. That's pretty bad, too, because OOo is mostly just odd little acronyms and stuff in German, but at least it's partially documented.
As some of the comments on the linked page indicate, I think different (more standard) tools for source code management would help ease new people into the project.
small companies install and run Windows, and put up with the problems, because they just can't afford a "linux guy".
I am the "linux guy" for a few businesses in the area. I charge $50/month per computer. That's for software, basic desktop support, security updates, most everything. I support Linux on servers, firewalls, and desktops complete with MS Office and a couple other necessary Windows apps.
I want to be perfectly clear when I say this: "There isn't an actual, profitable business in the US that cannot afford me or someone like me." Many businesses spend almost this much on virus protection software alone. There's a Garner study somewhere that estimates the total cost of maintaining a PC at something like $3600 over three years. I'm nearly half that.
Beyond that even, much of the initial costs of Linux can be offset by planning ahead, purchasing equipment and software with Linux in mind. Due to it's open nature, Linux lends itself to a regime of continually reduced support requirements in a way that proprietary software does not. My clients will see the most benefit from switching to Linux years down the road.
I've taken businesses that literally could not use their networks because of the number of viruses and worms on their machines and upgraded them to Linux for less than the cost of installing Windows in the first place. After most glitches are worked out in the first year, maintenance costs are lower as well. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the incidence of viruses has nearly disappeared.
Of course, I'm not saying Linux is for everyone. My clients are generally people who don't want to be bothered with maintaining computers and software, and want it to "just work." If they thought they could handle it themselves, I'm sure most of them would switch to OSX. The fact is, most people can't or don't want to fiddle with computers, and Linux is one of the only OS's priced low enough for people like me to make money fiddling with computers for them.
The US was an attempt at such. The concept was largely independent states united in an effort to protect themselves from more powerful enemies, such as (at the time) England.
Perhaps, but to compare this with global government is way off base. The most important difference is that there was a credible threat to the burgeoning colonies. Hollywood has been trying to come up with a credible global threat since mid-last-century (space aliens, asteroids, global warming, terrorism, etc), and people mostly still aren't buying any of them.
As someone else mentioned, most public utilities are "common carriers," a legal status which was originally intended to apply to railroads and bus companies. The only reason it applies to telcos and electric companies today is that these companies all need the legal powers and liability protection granted by common carrier status. This status gives these (private) companies protection from liability for their screwups and the ability to condemn private property that they might not otherwise be able to buy.
Quite simply, none of these businesses would exist if it were not for government regulation. The catch, though, is that common carriers must act in the "public interest" while using these government powers in seeking a profit.
To expand on your movie theater analogy, imagine that, in order to originally build this movie theater, a group of neighbors got together and donated the land. Perhaps they saw that a movie theater would benefit them, but that no one would invest in building the movie theater without such a grant. Let's also imagine that, in return, all they asked of the operators of the movie theater was that they act in the "public interest".
Now imagine, years later, that the movie theater has paid for itself multiple times over, and the owners decide to start discriminating against, say, Slashdotters, by prohibiting them from attending the movie theater. Also, let's say that drinks and popcorn are exorbitantly priced beyond the means of the average denizen.
Would said movie theater still be acting in the "public interest?"
It should be noted that downloads aren't really needed to run MS Office XP in Wine either. The installation CD includes a copy of dcom95 and the setup program installs the necessary components of IE (along with a bunch of unnecessary ones).
It's easy to manage and looks good. Seriously, though, what are you going to do when there aren't any updates available?
Not exactly "easy to manage" then:) I agree with almost everything you've said. That's why I'm looking into moving to Debian Stable with a few backported packages. I have relatively simple needs: no ridiculous management regimine (a la Windows) and no ridiculous security lapses (ditto). FC1 is getting a bit long in the tooth for me and complete upgrades, even once a year, violates my first requirement. I wish RH would get their act together, because there actually is a market for a "business-friendly", reasonably priced, US-based Linux support company. Oh, well, looks like that may end up being Novell.
Remember: Use the apostrophe to stand in for removed letter(s), not for the posessive. Compare with him -> his, her -> hers.
Your rule only confuses the issue. "Its" and "hers" (not really a word, but commonly used) are special cases. The rule is actually the opposite: apostrophes are generally required for the posessive case: "the boy's dog," "Bill's car," etc... just don't ask me where to put commas when using quotation marks;)
I do quite well on tests, including the ASVAB (you're right, the military would be better off recruiting those who *don't* do well on it). However, I tend not to do too well when I go without things like food and sleep. Partly because of this, I work for myself so I can set my own hours, and have learned to cook almost anything into a gourmet meal.
I've learned not to rely on others for basics like food and shelter, because, basically, other people will always let you down. It's hard to concentrate on performing some high-level function when you're without basic necessities; and lack of these basic necessities is a major cause of stress. I think if most people would learn a modicum of self-reliance, they would do better in general.
Of course this flies in the face of today's Socialist/Corporate society. No American would survive if they had to grill their own Big Macs. The benefits of specialization would be lost, although I think with a high intelligence these benefits are more minimal to begin with. I still think most would be better off if we had to rely more on ourselves, at least those of us with a level of intelligence worth salvaging.
The military is a great example. I won't ever join, because it would be a waste of time for me. Despite the "army of one" bullshit, there is no level of self-reliance, aside from sometimes protecting your own ass. You are expected to rely on others for most basic elements of survival, from basic judgement (being told what to do every waking minute) to sometimes even your safety. The only post I might possibly do well at is as a sniper. You should suggest sending those "smart-stupids" into sniper training.
Ditto. Yet this is somewhat of a feedback loop we're talking about here. People who think they will do well (because they are prepared, intelligent, whatever) don't stress. Those who think they won't do well, stress themselves. How do you tell which causes which?
Really what you'd like to have is a doctor or manager who thinks far enough ahead not to bring unnecessary pressure on himself in the first place.
You want your doctor to recognize, and warn you, that high blood pressure can lead to heart problems. You want him to research medications for you that can help prevent those heart problems. What you don't want is the doctor who's too stupid to realize this and fails to plan ahead to prevent it, yet performs your emergency bypass surgery flawlessly.
You don't want the manager who ignores all warning signs of emminent failure, yet manages to scrape by when failure occurs. You want the manager who plans ahead and avoids failure to begin with.
I like Google for its simplistic site design and its lack of obtrusive banner advertisements shoved in your face.
So do I, but I'm wondering, now that these other search engines have dropped Google's services, can Google resist the urge to add these annoying "features" while still turning a profit?
Here's an idea: perhaps scientists should choose to work on projects that develop alternative, non-disaster-causing energy sources instead of greedily choosing to work on middle-eastern-oil-war-causing weapons development?
Slashdot Mirror
I had a similar experience with HP. Somehow I got subscribed to a newsletter from visiting their website. It was mostly worthless, but I'd scan them every once in a while to keep up with their products and things.
After a time the newsletter was re-vamped, and I got something saying they would now be suggesting articles and things to based on my "preferences". Somehow I remember it was an exciting new HP AI technology they were testing, and HP would be offering it to their business customers.
At first, the suggested articles weren't very "personalized" and wading through a bunch of suggested articles that seemed to have nothing to do with my interests made me want to unsubscribe.
All of a sudden, though, I began getting suggested articles like "Don't you think Linux sucks? Click here to read more" that would actually link to articles on the HP website talking about how Windows had a better ROI or something. Although the articles were real, the "suggestions" that pointed to the articles were obviously computer generated or pieced together from a list of pre-generated phrases.
Needless to say, I've since unsubscribed to this most unhelpful service. I'd like to take this opportunity to give an obligatory "fuck you, Carly".
what you are doing is a aiding and abetting.Aiding *what*? Sounds like the friend discovered a hard drive in her car and decided to keep it, which is perfectly reasonable.
Last time I checked it still isn't a crime to disassemble your own property, despite what Lexmark says.
Sounds like the dipshits who can't even spy on people without being discovered lost the right to their harddrive.
The question you should ask yourself, and Debian should be (and probably already has) asking themselves, is "Will you still be using Sparc in two years?"
According to this proposal, Sarge would still support Sparc, but the next release wouldn't. I'd bet dollars to donuts that you'd get at least two years of use out of Sarge before wanting or needing to upgrade.
So, please tell Debian why Sparc will still be important to you in two years.
300 Watts, 24 hours a day, is a ridiculous amount of power. That comes to about 216 KWh per month. Last time I checked, the average electric bill in the US was something like 300 KWh per month.
At 9 cents per KWh, that's almost $20 a month you're spending just to get a couple of pounds of compost.
Actually, it's nearly a direct quote. It was used by Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld to describe the Bush Administration.
And for those smart enough to copy and paste from the nearest online dictionary, yet not smart enough to include an etymological reference: "regime" is derived from the Latin "rex,regio" which most directly translates as "ruler" but is commonly used as "king" or "kingdom".
In case it weren't obvious, the word typically has a negative connotation, especially in the US. Using it to describe a representative democracy indicates either a severe disconnect, lack of proper education, or both.
Think 'WebTV' with broadband capability. I don't remember if they got bought by Microsoft, or what, but WebTV dropped the ball on this a couple of years ago and it's still sitting there waiting to be picked up. Frankly, there are still lots of people out there who would use something like this, but don't want to dedicate a portion of their house to a desk/computer setup and/or don't want to pay over $300 total.
I think the problem here is that Apple *doesn't* actually run the country. Al Gore lost, remember.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I've spent a few hours the past few weeks trying to hunt down a random, small bug, and I still have almost no clue what the overall architecture of Firefox is.
In fact, I'd almost say it's more difficult to navigate than the OpenOffice.org source. That's pretty bad, too, because OOo is mostly just odd little acronyms and stuff in German, but at least it's partially documented.
As some of the comments on the linked page indicate, I think different (more standard) tools for source code management would help ease new people into the project.
I am the "linux guy" for a few businesses in the area. I charge $50/month per computer. That's for software, basic desktop support, security updates, most everything. I support Linux on servers, firewalls, and desktops complete with MS Office and a couple other necessary Windows apps.
I want to be perfectly clear when I say this: "There isn't an actual, profitable business in the US that cannot afford me or someone like me." Many businesses spend almost this much on virus protection software alone. There's a Garner study somewhere that estimates the total cost of maintaining a PC at something like $3600 over three years. I'm nearly half that.
Beyond that even, much of the initial costs of Linux can be offset by planning ahead, purchasing equipment and software with Linux in mind. Due to it's open nature, Linux lends itself to a regime of continually reduced support requirements in a way that proprietary software does not. My clients will see the most benefit from switching to Linux years down the road.
I've taken businesses that literally could not use their networks because of the number of viruses and worms on their machines and upgraded them to Linux for less than the cost of installing Windows in the first place. After most glitches are worked out in the first year, maintenance costs are lower as well. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the incidence of viruses has nearly disappeared.
Of course, I'm not saying Linux is for everyone. My clients are generally people who don't want to be bothered with maintaining computers and software, and want it to "just work." If they thought they could handle it themselves, I'm sure most of them would switch to OSX. The fact is, most people can't or don't want to fiddle with computers, and Linux is one of the only OS's priced low enough for people like me to make money fiddling with computers for them.
Perhaps, but to compare this with global government is way off base. The most important difference is that there was a credible threat to the burgeoning colonies. Hollywood has been trying to come up with a credible global threat since mid-last-century (space aliens, asteroids, global warming, terrorism, etc), and people mostly still aren't buying any of them.
As someone else mentioned, most public utilities are "common carriers," a legal status which was originally intended to apply to railroads and bus companies. The only reason it applies to telcos and electric companies today is that these companies all need the legal powers and liability protection granted by common carrier status. This status gives these (private) companies protection from liability for their screwups and the ability to condemn private property that they might not otherwise be able to buy.
Quite simply, none of these businesses would exist if it were not for government regulation. The catch, though, is that common carriers must act in the "public interest" while using these government powers in seeking a profit.
To expand on your movie theater analogy, imagine that, in order to originally build this movie theater, a group of neighbors got together and donated the land. Perhaps they saw that a movie theater would benefit them, but that no one would invest in building the movie theater without such a grant. Let's also imagine that, in return, all they asked of the operators of the movie theater was that they act in the "public interest".
Now imagine, years later, that the movie theater has paid for itself multiple times over, and the owners decide to start discriminating against, say, Slashdotters, by prohibiting them from attending the movie theater. Also, let's say that drinks and popcorn are exorbitantly priced beyond the means of the average denizen.
Would said movie theater still be acting in the "public interest?"
It should be noted that downloads aren't really needed to run MS Office XP in Wine either. The installation CD includes a copy of dcom95 and the setup program installs the necessary components of IE (along with a bunch of unnecessary ones).
Not exactly "easy to manage" then :) I agree with almost everything you've said. That's why I'm looking into moving to Debian Stable with a few backported packages. I have relatively simple needs: no ridiculous management regimine (a la Windows) and no ridiculous security lapses (ditto). FC1 is getting a bit long in the tooth for me and complete upgrades, even once a year, violates my first requirement. I wish RH would get their act together, because there actually is a market for a "business-friendly", reasonably priced, US-based Linux support company. Oh, well, looks like that may end up being Novell.
Your rule only confuses the issue. "Its" and "hers" (not really a word, but commonly used) are special cases. The rule is actually the opposite: apostrophes are generally required for the posessive case: "the boy's dog," "Bill's car," etc... just don't ask me where to put commas when using quotation marks ;)
I do quite well on tests, including the ASVAB (you're right, the military would be better off recruiting those who *don't* do well on it). However, I tend not to do too well when I go without things like food and sleep. Partly because of this, I work for myself so I can set my own hours, and have learned to cook almost anything into a gourmet meal.
I've learned not to rely on others for basics like food and shelter, because, basically, other people will always let you down. It's hard to concentrate on performing some high-level function when you're without basic necessities; and lack of these basic necessities is a major cause of stress. I think if most people would learn a modicum of self-reliance, they would do better in general.
Of course this flies in the face of today's Socialist/Corporate society. No American would survive if they had to grill their own Big Macs. The benefits of specialization would be lost, although I think with a high intelligence these benefits are more minimal to begin with. I still think most would be better off if we had to rely more on ourselves, at least those of us with a level of intelligence worth salvaging.
The military is a great example. I won't ever join, because it would be a waste of time for me. Despite the "army of one" bullshit, there is no level of self-reliance, aside from sometimes protecting your own ass. You are expected to rely on others for most basic elements of survival, from basic judgement (being told what to do every waking minute) to sometimes even your safety. The only post I might possibly do well at is as a sniper. You should suggest sending those "smart-stupids" into sniper training.
Ditto. Yet this is somewhat of a feedback loop we're talking about here. People who think they will do well (because they are prepared, intelligent, whatever) don't stress. Those who think they won't do well, stress themselves. How do you tell which causes which?
Really what you'd like to have is a doctor or manager who thinks far enough ahead not to bring unnecessary pressure on himself in the first place.
You want your doctor to recognize, and warn you, that high blood pressure can lead to heart problems. You want him to research medications for you that can help prevent those heart problems. What you don't want is the doctor who's too stupid to realize this and fails to plan ahead to prevent it, yet performs your emergency bypass surgery flawlessly.
You don't want the manager who ignores all warning signs of emminent failure, yet manages to scrape by when failure occurs. You want the manager who plans ahead and avoids failure to begin with.
It leaves you with a free market of people who *do* know various implementations of C and are willing to help you at a market rate.
With Windows, you're stuck with a binary that you can't decompile, and a single company with the source and little motivation to fix your bug.
XDelta -- compressed binary diffs
Stateless Linux -- RedHat's new method of keeping systems up-to-date and tamper-resistant
rust?
A user asked me yesterday if OOo was Word, after he discovered it was able to read and write Word and Excel formats.
I think you're on the right track. What he needs isn't a batch process, but something continuous:
dump truck full of kernels + vacuum pump + burner + conveyor belt
I think there's a limit as to how high you can shoot popcorn, so I think a conveyor belt is necessary for delivery.
So do I, but I'm wondering, now that these other search engines have dropped Google's services, can Google resist the urge to add these annoying "features" while still turning a profit?
This is what we get for asking /. to dig into the submission queue :(
Here's an idea: perhaps scientists should choose to work on projects that develop alternative, non-disaster-causing energy sources instead of greedily choosing to work on middle-eastern-oil-war-causing weapons development?