But the problem with Windows' "registered file types" is just the sort of subtle but nasty Microsoft practice that many of us hoped a forceful antitrust ruling and a tough remedy would finally change.
...
Once upon a time, PC users opened documents only from within their application programs.
Associating data with applications so it can be accessed and manipulated in a "direct" manner and not using a software to mediate between the user and his/her data is not a bad practice for any Operating System.
Allowing users to forget they are actually using an OS or an application to use their data is the right way to go.
Users want to control their computer much like they use their TV, or other simple electronic appliances. They don't change the volume or channels by interfacing with a software that deals with TV broadcasting, they simply press a button.
Same goes for Game consoles, and lately we even start to see this in Windows - Windows XP finally have an interface that makes the casual user forget he uses an OS. Everything looks like a familiar web page and there is even a striking resemblance to game consoles screen interfaces (especially the use of colors and "toy-like" buttons).
It took MS about 10 years to move in the right general direction, yey. We should definitely cry for the abuse of their monopoly, but calling a downright OS/software usability feature a monopoly abuse is way out of line, neverminding the actual side effect.
These mice are sold over here for years now. They are quite different and not really comfortable to use as it might seems. I think the best way to describe the discomfort is: It's like trying to play a flight simulator with a mouse.
So far, the US gov. pressured Israeli gov. not to act upon terrorist attacks. It all gets a new perspective when stuff blow up in NYC and Washington and not just in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
So far, the US gov. pressured Israeli gov. not to act upon terrorist attacks. It all gets a new perspective when stuff blow up in NYC and Washington and not just in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
XML is, but some will disagree, a static representation format unfit to represent dynamic human motions.
psychological traits vary so much that psychologists can't agree on which is what. a standard representation won't solve this at a blink and be widely accepted.
the actual specs has too much covered under them. characterizing every human trait under one specs is ambitious, but also unrealistic. physical, psychological, motion are very different traits, each should be taken on individually.
People here suggest that admins are to blame of the Code Red ongoing catastrophe because they took the responsibility to maintain a server.
Some posts accuse of letting MCSE handle servers, which only mighty hackers with years of experience should touch.
I think it's stupid. there aren't enough admins that fit to the definition of experienced hackers. that's why organizations buy server software to handle 'serving'. they hire admins to operate the server not to code-and-compile or patch every morning. It's true that admins are the ones responsible to patch software, but you can't expect all servers to be patched the moment a patch is released, hell, MS servers failed to patch on time.
The software is not secured. whose negligence is it?
After reviewing the challenge rules, I see this challenge as a simple exercise in neural networks coding.
The challenge is so obscure that any entry submitted will have to deploy a very generic NN and a trainer. this basicly means that after enough training any entry would do sufficiently good at any simple game (such as scissors, rock, paper) but playing anything more complex than
that is shooting in the dark. The interface and the rules of the challenge themselves are too obscure.
If there is someone with a code that could win such uncertainty effectively and efficiently, he'd be stupid to submit it for $2000.
Then again I must give a person that can do something extraordinary as that some credit for not doing something that stupid.
The Arrow Weapon System (AWS) isn't perfect and despite our Central Security Service (something like NSA&FBI in Israel) successful afforts to prevent terrorism, some scums get thru.
Just because a defence mechanism is not 100% effective, or just because there is an alternative way you can get kicked in the balls does not mean you should give up on that front.
Giving up on a front means you are a destiny-oriented loser.
-Omer
You can never know when or where you'll get screwed next. Have some protection for any occasion.
The payment technology is not mature enough. So paying is not easy.
Why pay more for something you can get for less (or free)? Like any other service or product, lower price is part of the quality.
Why information SHOULD be free? (both as in 'freedom' and 'free beer')
I just can't see how a refund system is possible - you already got the information, what if you don't like it, it's wrong, or simply low quality in general? We shouldn't pay for something you can't get a refund if it's defective.
Unwealthy people won't get the same information that richer people will have access to.
People will prefer to read info from sites they already paid for, therefore they might get locked in big-evil-corps sites and won't read other information.
Micropayments will not remain micro. if you can find somebody who will pay a higher price for it, they'll pay for it, and you'll probably wouldn't be able to afford it.
If we set a standard and pay for some information suppliers, authors will feel they ought to get paid for information they supply. Without that pay they might not supply it at all.
Why information WILL REMAIN free?
Nobody likes to be blood-leeched. Remember the times you paid the internet per hour? Isn't it much better today when you don't check your clock every hour, and can download 24/7?
We got used to free information. Go try to change people.
People don't like to share personal information, especially credit card numbers.
People don't like to be tracked by big-corps all the time. Visa already knows about everything I buy, when and where. Do I want them to know about everything I see and know?
People don't usually do what they don't like to do, especially if there's an alternative (and there is).
What WILL I pay for on the internet?
Quality products.
Quality services.
Certainly not information.
I've been on-line for more than 7 years. Never paid for information. Won't start now.
In Israel, a lot of organizations (military, small businesses and some industrial orgs) don't upgrade as soon as a new windows version is available.
Some organizations don't even consider an upgrade in the near future at all.
For example, the military (IDF) still has a large number of computers running win95. Only nowadays new computers start to come with win2k, skipping win98 entirely.
Who knows when they'll upgrade (if at all?) to winXP.
According to the article, MS makes sure that windows licenses keep generating revenues even if organizations don't upgrades every 2 years (which is usually the case for big organizations - MS main clients)
Have you noticed lately a lot of people (certainly all my friends) don't rush to buy the newest, fastest PC available every 2 years anymore?
I had a 450MHz machine until last month, then I upgraded to a simple 766MHz machine, first time I upgraded not to the max (today's 1.7GHz) not even to the faster machines (800m, 1.3g) - who needs 'em?
The same thing goes for windows OSes, who needs 'em?
Slashdot Mirror
But the problem with Windows' "registered file types" is just the sort of subtle but nasty Microsoft practice that many of us hoped a forceful antitrust ruling and a tough remedy would finally change.
...
Once upon a time, PC users opened documents only from within their application programs.
Associating data with applications so it can be accessed and manipulated in a "direct" manner and not using a software to mediate between the user and his/her data is not a bad practice for any Operating System.
Allowing users to forget they are actually using an OS or an application to use their data is the right way to go.
Users want to control their computer much like they use their TV, or other simple electronic appliances. They don't change the volume or channels by interfacing with a software that deals with TV broadcasting, they simply press a button.
Same goes for Game consoles, and lately we even start to see this in Windows - Windows XP finally have an interface that makes the casual user forget he uses an OS. Everything looks like a familiar web page and there is even a striking resemblance to game consoles screen interfaces (especially the use of colors and "toy-like" buttons).
It took MS about 10 years to move in the right general direction, yey. We should definitely cry for the abuse of their monopoly, but calling a downright OS/software usability feature a monopoly abuse is way out of line, neverminding the actual side effect.
-Omer Lahav
How about adding a mouse ball to the keyboard? That way you can have both your hands on the keyboard AND on your mouse.
This proves its scalability.
No it's not. It only proves that during development, more than 100,000 bugs were introduced. Nothing to be proud about.
Scalability can be proved by checking other factors and I do think mozilla is a Big Thing(tm).
These mice are sold over here for years now. They are quite different and not really comfortable to use as it might seems. I think the best way to describe the discomfort is: It's like trying to play a flight simulator with a mouse.
Israel currently prevents any foreign air flights to enter its air space. All foreign traffic is directed to nearby airports.
So far, the US gov. pressured Israeli gov. not to act upon terrorist attacks. It all gets a new perspective when stuff blow up in NYC and Washington and not just in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
So far, the US gov. pressured Israeli gov. not to act upon terrorist attacks. It all gets a new perspective when stuff blow up in NYC and Washington and not just in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
If people don't want it, they'll be able to disable it. Breaking something in a car is simple as cutting a wire.
If I remember right: "We are sorry for the inconvenience" - God's message, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
It does seems more of a marketing guy's message than a programmer guy's message...
XML is, but some will disagree, a static representation format unfit to represent dynamic human motions.
psychological traits vary so much that psychologists can't agree on which is what. a standard representation won't solve this at a blink and be widely accepted.
the actual specs has too much covered under them. characterizing every human trait under one specs is ambitious, but also unrealistic. physical, psychological, motion are very different traits, each should be taken on individually.
I think I like "D". "Java" was way too long for me.
The montly programming language holy war is about to begin!
D == (C++)++
Because:
you take all the backward compatibility junk out.
but retain the old libs and development model.
D == (Java)--
Because:
Java also removed all the compatibility junk.
Java, like D, also added GC as a major development booster.
Java added advanced programming paradigms, extensive standard API and bytecode, and D didn't.
D == C#
Because:
D is Yet Another C++ Successor.
it was developed by another i-want-a-better-c++ that didn't like Java.
it didn't introduce any innovations over existing languages
Besides, the name "D" is completely unoriginal (just like language concept itself). Dozens of next-worldwide-languages-wannabes had that name.
-Omer
Never Underestimate the Power of Stupid People in Large Groups.
A good quote I've seen somewhere to summarize my opinion on the matter. Well, the stupid part is arguable, but you get the picture.
When encryption kicks in, noone will be able to monitor content or block it.
People here suggest that admins are to blame of the Code Red ongoing catastrophe because they took the responsibility to maintain a server.
Some posts accuse of letting MCSE handle servers, which only mighty hackers with years of experience should touch.
I think it's stupid. there aren't enough admins that fit to the definition of experienced hackers. that's why organizations buy server software to handle 'serving'. they hire admins to operate the server not to code-and-compile or patch every morning. It's true that admins are the ones responsible to patch software, but you can't expect all servers to be patched the moment a patch is released, hell, MS servers failed to patch on time.
The software is not secured. whose negligence is it?
After reviewing the challenge rules, I see this challenge as a simple exercise in neural networks coding.
The challenge is so obscure that any entry submitted will have to deploy a very generic NN and a trainer. this basicly means that after enough training any entry would do sufficiently good at any simple game (such as scissors, rock, paper) but playing anything more complex than
that is shooting in the dark. The interface and the rules of the challenge themselves are too obscure.
If there is someone with a code that could win such uncertainty effectively and efficiently, he'd be stupid to submit it for $2000.
Then again I must give a person that can do something extraordinary as that some credit for not doing something that stupid.
I own a PalmIIIx (black&white display). I'm very happy with it.
I would replace it for a better palm if the new version would be:
thinner
lighter
with better battery life
can do simple wireless operation (with my cell phone for example)
cheaper
What I don't need it to have:
color display
3D surround sound playing MP3s
T1-speed internet connection
voice recognition (not with the current frustrating technology)
voice recorder
word processor/spreadsheet/presentation manager or other office related software (which I can use at the office).
I want an easy to use organizer that will make my life easier.
-Omer
I'm from Israel. We have here both the first operational missile defence system (AWS) in the world and suicide terrorists.
The Arrow Weapon System (AWS) isn't perfect and despite our Central Security Service (something like NSA&FBI in Israel) successful afforts to prevent terrorism, some scums get thru.Just because a defence mechanism is not 100% effective, or just because there is an alternative way you can get kicked in the balls does not mean you should give up on that front.
Giving up on a front means you are a destiny-oriented loser.
-Omer
You can never know when or where you'll get screwed next. Have some protection for any occasion.
After a week(!) microsoft finally comments:
"We know you rely on MSN Messenger to stay in touch with family, friends and business contacts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."
I hope they meant relied following the last 7 days.
-OmerWhy information IS free:
The payment technology is not mature enough. So paying is not easy.
Why pay more for something you can get for less (or free)? Like any other service or product, lower price is part of the quality.
Why information SHOULD be free? (both as in 'freedom' and 'free beer')
I just can't see how a refund system is possible - you already got the information, what if you don't like it, it's wrong, or simply low quality in general? We shouldn't pay for something you can't get a refund if it's defective.
Unwealthy people won't get the same information that richer people will have access to.
People will prefer to read info from sites they already paid for, therefore they might get locked in big-evil-corps sites and won't read other information.
Micropayments will not remain micro. if you can find somebody who will pay a higher price for it, they'll pay for it, and you'll probably wouldn't be able to afford it.
If we set a standard and pay for some information suppliers, authors will feel they ought to get paid for information they supply. Without that pay they might not supply it at all.
Why information WILL REMAIN free?
Nobody likes to be blood-leeched. Remember the times you paid the internet per hour? Isn't it much better today when you don't check your clock every hour, and can download 24/7?
We got used to free information. Go try to change people.
People don't like to share personal information, especially credit card numbers.
People don't like to be tracked by big-corps all the time. Visa already knows about everything I buy, when and where. Do I want them to know about everything I see and know?
People don't usually do what they don't like to do, especially if there's an alternative (and there is).
What WILL I pay for on the internet?
Quality products.
Quality services.
Certainly not information.
I've been on-line for more than 7 years. Never paid for information. Won't start now.
-OmerIn Israel, a lot of organizations (military, small businesses and some industrial orgs) don't upgrade as soon as a new windows version is available.
Some organizations don't even consider an upgrade in the near future at all.
For example, the military (IDF) still has a large number of computers running win95. Only nowadays new computers start to come with win2k, skipping win98 entirely. Who knows when they'll upgrade (if at all?) to winXP.
According to the article, MS makes sure that windows licenses keep generating revenues even if organizations don't upgrades every 2 years (which is usually the case for big organizations - MS main clients)
Have you noticed lately a lot of people (certainly all my friends) don't rush to buy the newest, fastest PC available every 2 years anymore? I had a 450MHz machine until last month, then I upgraded to a simple 766MHz machine, first time I upgraded not to the max (today's 1.7GHz) not even to the faster machines (800m, 1.3g) - who needs 'em?
The same thing goes for windows OSes, who needs 'em?
MS should freely innovate some revolutionary feature or a business productive feature or just an increadibly faster, more stable, cheaper, easily extendable OS before they demand subscription fees for their software.