will burn karma, really, but all the mentions about 'you know, when you pay per SMS received' and 'who needs a cell', etc etc, read to the rest of (the world) Europe like 'no-one needs any more than 64k RAM' or 'who needs a PC on yr desktop.' etc, etc
It's just pure luddism and anger that you have, what, how many un-inter-operable providers? When roaming means 'roam from LA to SF!!!!' whilst the rest of us have > 1000 mins/ month outgoing (at least per territory and sometimes per (EMEA) region), , really, really nice terminals, free WAP, free incoming minutes (!), free 3G video calls, free SMTP/ SMS push, blah, blah, for, like what 15USD/ month (http://www.o2.co.uk)
Should bother to look up urls for the above quotes, but hey - *you* don't 'get' cells, just like Iraq didn't 'get' a free Internet.
> Unless you're one of those freaks who won't let > their kids watch Scoobie-doo because it's got > ghosts in it. Trust me. If it were hanging on a > cross or wearing a turban, *then* maybe it'd need > changing.
Yeah, your culturally sensitive input really helps
> It's a cartoon of a statue in which american > soldiers are planting an american flag.
> Although you have to be an idiot to be offended by it,
Or hate America? Or hate war? Or hate stuff which has _nothing_ to do with NetBSD? and so they don't want to mix an OS up with the US military-industrial-complex?
'three out of every four home and work Internet users...access the Internet using a non-browser based Internet application. Media players, instant messengers and file sharing applications are the most popular Internet applications.'
er...what about email? (many popular pop3/ imap mail clients can be adapted to use the InterNet, I am told)
ah! i get it - these 75% of users haven't migrated from uucp/ janet/ arpaNET for their mail yet
seriously though, what a crappy survey
If anyone else is thinking *they* might want to try non Internet email, there's a new kid on the block
('Access is available during peak rate times at substantially higher rates ($20 - $32 per hour depending on location). There is a membership charge of $30 per month (less than $1 per day) to cover administrative costs.')
> I agree with the whole fail fast notion. Try > stuff as fast as possible to see if it will > work. I think we see this philosophy played out > in things like RUP and Extreme Programming.
er..not quite, with XP at least. They do test first - the complete opposite of fail first.
You write the unit test before the code, allowing 'immediate feedback while you work.'
It might not pass the unit test, but at least you know it hasn't passed, thus it isn't finished
Much to my amazement, after moz on osx fscked up, as mentioned above, thought i'd see how it coped....amazed that they're suporting lynx on *bsd but not moz on mac os:) gw@archer: -->uname -a FreeBSD archer.xxxx776.org 4.8-RELEASE-p4 FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE-p4 #2:
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>Hopefully, this will stop the attacks on the coalition troops
Unlikely. Most attackers aren't opposing the occupation of Iraq by 'Coalition' forces with violent means because they like(d) Saddam, but because they (understandably) don't like being occupied, by 'freedom fighters' or not, and there's no way for them to express this except with direct action, at the moment.
If it takes the cessation of attacks on occupying forces to get the occupying forces to withdraw, then I fear we're in an infinite loop.
>DTTV seem to start at around the 50 quid mark, with the average being about 69.
uh-uh.
they've been around for 35 quid (which is near(ish) to 50 bucks) and i see today they start at 39.95 GPB
> most of the DTTV boxes out there are the "free" units given out by the now-defunct OnDigital system.
uh-uh, again
There are 2.2 million DTT boxes deployed in the UK - Freeview is selling ~50,000 STBs a week, with projected sales of 200k/ week in the runup to Xmas
there are *about* a million OnD STBs out there, of which around 700,000 are estimated to be in use, meaning that there are around 1.2 million Freeview STBs deployed.
So 'most' of the DTT STBs are in fact Freeview, not onD
> However, I have no idea how to type anything coherent in Chinese Simplified or Traditional (hell, it's all Chinese to me...)...
big deal. this doesn't affect you. You dont have to change anything
>what about languages that go right-to-left instead of left-to-right? How about Thai, Arabic, and Hebrew?
what of it? maybe this change will allow for that, maybe it won't. why do you care?
>However, I have no idea how to type anything coherent in Chinese Simplified or Traditional (hell, it's all Chinese to me...)...
big deal. children and babies would like the domain name system to be at a level that they could understand. Should we limit domain names to less than 5 chars, simple words, possibly chocolate flavoured?
It's a big fucking world out there. > 1 billion Chinese people couldn't give 2 flying fucks whether or not you think it would be better to have no-non-'English language' letters (whatever they are..) available in a domain name
>In the interest of fostering the best method to communicate your ideas, products, services, etc[snip]....
shouldn't everyone just learn ENGLISH, dammit?
oh and BZZZZ, you can't have both a 'dash & period' in a domain name
i don't know if you mean underscore and hyphen, but you can't use underscores in a domain name.
in a file name, maybe
If you used another charset than the one you obviously do, you might have different opinions about this issue.
Re:DVD-Rs go 8x
on
DVD-Rs go 8x
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Because I tried to insert my HD (internal and external, mind you!) into my friend's DVD player
It wouldn't fit, so I got really mad, and hammered it in. It still didn't work.
Then my friend came back from his vacation, and he wasn't happy. So now I'm looking at these DVD-R things.
>> who *exactly* should 'dominate' (desktop) linux development then, if not unix geeks?
> HCI people > Don't see why not.
because they dont code, because they're expensive, because the thing that's 'holding' linux back isn't the usability or otherwise of the desktop interfaces (some of which run on linux, some of of which run on other Oss/ kernels)
> Jakob's contributions are as important as Linus'[s]
To the development of the linux kernel? phooo.
to the usability of the (CDE?) Sun desktop (droppped in favour of GNOME) ?????
I'm not under-rating Jakob, but he deosn't come cheap - who pays for his time?
I'm also, really, really, not arguing against HCI people. But if you want to make a difference, grab the and hack on them.
Don't write papers, or bring morals into it. Don't like it, change it, make it better. Aqua is 'fully HCI compliant', and I hate it. I can't change it.
With OSS software, I can. So can you. Do it.
>We'd get ignored no matter how we put it. Your point is?
That backseat drivers' views on 'Linux' (the kernel? the ''desktop''? what exactly does that have to do with Linux, btw?) are probably ignored for a reason
I'll repeat what Bruce Perens said - what *do* you like?
What Free/ free/ cheap desktop OS paradigms should we follow, and what exactly do these have to do with (your original point, and the one that made me respond):
'One could also make the moral argument that developers who have contempt for newbies have entirely no right to the desktop. You could even take this one step further and say that any action taken against such developers (e.g. licenses, patents on innovative UI stuff, project wars, etc) is morally justified.'
One could reply to this that 'moral's have nothing to do with your thoughts on the 'Linux desktop' (which one? so many to chose from...) and that you should get back to 'your paper'
> As long as the unix geeks who dominate desktop linux development try to layer away user interaction problems and think of GUI's as nothing more than "Eye Candy" and in no way function, I guarentee the user experience of linux will suck for another 10.
in your eyes it will
who *exactly* should 'dominate' (desktop) linux development then, if not unix geeks?
HCI people?
who then..um..
*pay* unix geeks to do the coding? *ask* them to do the coding? *Demand* that they do the coding?
wait a minute...I'm seeing a vision....Jakob Nielsen and Linus's desktop linux show
If you keep 'screaming at programmers' I guarantee you'll continue to be ignored.
> What technical differences exist between their > situation and, say, that of the U.S.?
1) the fact that there's no entrenched install base 'dependent' on a home-OS and asking for support for that in their work OS
2) Language, languages, langui:
China has many different langauges and dialects, of which Manadarin Chinese is just one. Support for 'minority languages' (like, what, 1% of the China's 1.3 bil people) does not figure highly in US purchasers' minds. It maybe does for the PRC
3) Something you _can_ not separate from non US governments' 'technical need and justification' - the wish to dictate their own standards, be they of security, or of ability to spy on their populace.
You have no idea how weird it would be if the dominant OS and apps for it were written for, and by, the Chinese people, say, just like Windows is if you look at it as a Chinese/ Peruvian/ whatever IT-purchaser
4) Maybe they liked Linux and Sun more? Christ knows if I had to deploy a million desktops it'd be on 10 year old Amigas before I bought Windows XP, say - never mind the cost implications
Oh, and finally - much better to ask - 'What technical differences exist between their situation and, say, that of (all other countries aside from ) the U.S.
me, calling out random stuff - you wanna spreadsheet? You want a personal finance tool?
them, happy, happy.
For tinkerers, (who just *wont* RTFM, as every system has to be able to support their uninformed clicky-clicky stuff) - no, you're right. Leave them to OSX and the ability to move the panel around . ooooh!
So the install-on-demand is there, the free (beer) is there, mum's *just* about accepting altrusim/ love of fame as the reason why this stuff is free, next is some patches from them to sort out lirc problems in 2.6:)))
> If someone as tech savvy as me isn't willing to do that, I can guarantee my parents sure as hell won't be up to it. End result: I got rid of Linux after a day. It wasn't worth the huge amount of effort required to do anything with
Funny. Just put fedora on my parents' desktop. It was a real easy ride - here's why
Me: mum, dad, your computer's OS (W98) is old. You remember when my brother spent *SIX HOURS* messing with windows to get that new printer installed? Thet's gonna be the same for every new hardware or software you buy
you have 4 choices
1) Rely on us to fix it whenever we can 2) Go and buy a retail new Win OS (that'll cost you 100GBP-ish) 3) go and buy a nice new machine from pcworld or dixons for ~ 500 GBP 4) let me put a different OS on it - if you don't like it, we'll go to options 2) and 3) above
_____
So, being cheapskates, they went for option 4.
No zealatory on my part, just common sense. I told em it'd look kinda different (but my mum's still mourning the Mac Classic loss, and she said 'do whatever, if it's different I'll hate it for a week, then I'll forget I hated it')
Despite all my requests, their backup strategy (which just involved them telling me what to archive) was lame- they missed out loads of things they remembered they needed. But they lost nothing, as I archived the whole of C:/....:)
'Bout an hour downtime, then 'bout 2 hours of watching my dad use it, fixing oddities in the GUI, or weird overzealous permissioning problems.
Getting some crazy garden-design programme that my dad loved (but didn't tell me about before I put linux on!) scared me, but it runs just fine under wine.
Openoffice.org does *everything* they want (and, again, I didn't realise that my dad wanted all those crazy excel features (sort by table foo, etc) ! Whatever they are, he's found them in OO.org!)
Big problem was when their ISP's smtp went down. NOT linux's fault:)
(well, might have been linux at the ISPs end)
since then, it's been great. Finally my brother and I know how to fix their machine when something goes wrong. They're running 2.6.0test9, it's WAY, WAY faster than on Win 98, and guess what? They don't give 2 hoots, as it's saved them 100GBP for the OS, 100 GBP for the office suite, god knows how much for the hardware
The worst thing is, my dad's angry cos he just bought some symantec 'firewall' and now wants to know how to get his money back:)
I kept a win partition ready for their rebound, but it all worked so well that i trashed that and gave them more space for (whatever it is parents use their computers for - huge email attachments, or whatever )
anyway, all a little OT, and sounding a little too linux zealot, but my point is, if it's set up right, linuz on the desktop is well, well there.
I agree with many of your points, but this one rings particularly true (for me at least in the UK)
> Noone has made an effort to declare handguns or firearms indecent or obscene in their community
This point is one of the many reasons why many Europeans think that the US, (*and specifically US citizens' views on gun control*) are indecent (and) obscene when it comes to protecting the lives of their citizens.
I/ We just don't understand it. The idea of getting cross about *censorware* (which is what that Symantec product is, specifically) blocking access to PRO_GUN (/anti-gun-control) websites is absolutely absurd for those us of us like the fact that:
the U.S. murder rate as measured in police statistics was 5.7 times that of the UK's
the U.S. rape rate as measured in police statistics was 3 times that of the UK's
These are *old* stats, I know, but your DOJ doesn't have any newer ones:(
Protesting that this product blocks access to pro-gun sites is like moaning about a porn-blocking product blocking access to porn. This *isn't* about freedom of speech. Don't buy it if you don't want to block access to anti-gun-control sites.
Yes. Complex systems modified by lots of sane people, each trusted and mature enough to annotate their own changes, none of whom will enjoy doing the same for other people's changes, become way easier to document with a decent collaboration tool. Could be a wiki, could be shared folders, could be cvs commit comments, don't care.
Your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the new.net software is to stop using the new.net software. you specifically agree that new.net shall not be liable for losses or liabilities arising in connection with your download, installation or use of the new.net software, including, but not limited to, loss or liability resulting or arising from or in connection with: (a) software conflicts related to the new.net software; (b) data non-delivery, data mis-delivery or unauthorized access to transmissions of data; (c) your infringement of a third party's right; (d) defects or viruses in, or distributed with, the new.net software; or (e) your own use or misuse of your personal computer or the software applications contained on your personal computer
t-9 already does that (on european nokias, sonys, etc) -doesn't it on US phones?
it suggests words on input, you can add custom words to it, switch languages, etc
it has removed - save from l33t-journalist-style-cliche the sort of 'u r g8' langauge from SMSs - as it's harder to type the abbreviation than it is to type the real word.
as i said, i listened to lots about tivo and thought it was interesting yet trivial thoughts - like comments about how great a non intel/ GNU C++ compiler was....
>how does your pathetic standard definition TV look compared to HDTV in the US
i don't know, kinda like a crap quality encoding of a great LP/ CD does, compared to a lossless encoding of an awful LP / CD does, probably...
> Admittedly I didn't spend a lot of time viewing since I was busy viewing plays and musicals.
heh
>I mistakenly used to have a bit more respect for BBC television.
nice grammar
> Name one recent comedy from the UK that compares to Family Guy.
"The Office" ?
anyway, hope other people enjoyed my point, that this sort of stuff aside, it's good that UK TV execs are thinking about timeshifting, etc.....
Slashdot Mirror
god, you still dont get it at all...
will burn karma, really, but all the mentions about 'you know, when you pay per SMS received' and 'who needs a cell', etc etc, read to the rest of (the world) Europe like 'no-one needs any more than 64k RAM' or 'who needs a PC on yr desktop.' etc, etc
It's just pure luddism and anger that you have, what, how many un-inter-operable providers? When roaming means 'roam from LA to SF!!!!' whilst the rest of us have > 1000 mins/ month outgoing (at least per territory and sometimes per (EMEA) region), , really, really nice terminals, free WAP, free incoming minutes (!), free 3G video calls, free SMTP/ SMS push, blah, blah, for, like what 15USD/ month (http://www.o2.co.uk)
Should bother to look up urls for the above quotes, but hey - *you* don't 'get' cells, just like Iraq didn't 'get' a free Internet.
> Unless you're one of those freaks who won't let
> their kids watch Scoobie-doo because it's got
> ghosts in it. Trust me. If it were hanging on a
> cross or wearing a turban, *then* maybe it'd need
> changing.
Yeah, your culturally sensitive input really helps
> It's a cartoon of a statue in which american
> soldiers are planting an american flag.
> Although you have to be an idiot to be offended by it,
Or hate America? Or hate war? Or hate stuff which has _nothing_ to do with NetBSD? and so they don't want to mix an OS up with the US military-industrial-complex?
Man I can see why they wanna change that logo.
> as I know it's my only option if I want a made-in-Canada distro.
:)
Are there any options beside a made-in-Finland distro
ah..wait, they're all made in Santa Cruz, California these days....
'three out of every four home and work Internet users...access the Internet using a non-browser based Internet application. Media players, instant messengers and file sharing applications are the most popular Internet applications.'
er...what about email? (many popular pop3/ imap mail clients can be adapted to use the InterNet, I am told)
ah! i get it - these 75% of users haven't migrated from uucp/ janet/ arpaNET for their mail yet
seriously though, what a crappy survey
If anyone else is thinking *they* might want to try non Internet email, there's a new kid on the block
('Access is available during peak
rate times at substantially higher rates ($20 - $32 per hour depending
on location). There is a membership charge of $30 per month (less than
$1 per day) to cover administrative costs.')
> Students are also the demographic group with too many other things to do and think about than answer some stupid survey.
really? too many things to do and think about?
ah yeah, 'must score pot'...'must get laid'....'should write term paper'....'must switch TV on'
> I agree with the whole fail fast notion. Try
> stuff as fast as possible to see if it will
> work. I think we see this philosophy played out
> in things like RUP and Extreme Programming.
er..not quite, with XP at least. They do test first - the complete opposite of fail first.
You write the unit test before the code, allowing 'immediate feedback while you work.'
It might not pass the unit test, but at least you know it hasn't passed, thus it isn't finished
Much to my amazement, after moz on osx fscked up, as mentioned above, thought i'd see how it coped....amazed that they're suporting lynx on *bsd but not moz on mac os :)
gw@archer: -->uname -a
FreeBSD archer.xxxx776.org 4.8-RELEASE-p4 FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE-p4 #2:
gw@archer: --> lynx http://isp.netscape.com/software/index.jsp
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>Hopefully, this will stop the attacks on the coalition troops
Unlikely. Most attackers aren't opposing the occupation of Iraq by 'Coalition' forces with violent means because they like(d) Saddam, but because they (understandably) don't like being occupied, by 'freedom fighters' or not, and there's no way for them to express this except with direct action, at the moment.
If it takes the cessation of attacks on occupying forces to get the occupying forces to withdraw, then I fear we're in an infinite loop.
>DTTV seem to start at around the 50 quid mark, with the average being about 69.
uh-uh.
they've been around for 35 quid (which is near(ish) to 50 bucks) and i see today they start at 39.95 GPB
> most of the DTTV boxes out there are the "free" units given out by the now-defunct OnDigital system.
uh-uh, again
There are 2.2 million DTT boxes deployed in the UK - Freeview is selling ~50,000 STBs a week, with projected sales of 200k/ week in the runup to Xmas
there are *about* a million OnD STBs out there, of which around 700,000 are estimated to be in use, meaning that there are around 1.2 million Freeview STBs deployed.
So 'most' of the DTT STBs are in fact Freeview, not onD
in the UK, outboard DTT STBs now start at 50 bucks
here
This is both caused by, and helps encourage, the fact that more than 50% of uk household have DTV (cable, sat or dtt)
> Let's assume [snip]
....
let's not assume, let's STFW
> However, I have no idea how to type anything coherent in Chinese Simplified or Traditional (hell, it's all Chinese to me...)...
big deal. this doesn't affect you. You dont have to change anything
>what about languages that go right-to-left instead of left-to-right? How about Thai, Arabic, and Hebrew?
what of it? maybe this change will allow for that, maybe it won't. why do you care?
>However, I have no idea how to type anything coherent in Chinese Simplified or Traditional (hell, it's all Chinese to me...)...
big deal. children and babies would like the domain name system to be at a level that they could understand. Should we limit domain names to less than 5 chars, simple words, possibly chocolate flavoured?
It's a big fucking world out there. > 1 billion Chinese people couldn't give 2 flying fucks whether or not you think it would be better to have no-non-'English language' letters (whatever they are..) available in a domain name
>In the interest of fostering the best method to communicate your ideas, products, services, etc[snip]
shouldn't everyone just learn ENGLISH, dammit?
oh and BZZZZ, you can't have both a 'dash & period' in a domain name
i don't know if you mean underscore and hyphen, but you can't use underscores in a domain name.
in a file name, maybe
If you used another charset than the one you obviously do, you might have different opinions about this issue.
Because I tried to insert my HD (internal and external, mind you!) into my friend's DVD player
It wouldn't fit, so I got really mad, and hammered it in. It still didn't work.
Then my friend came back from his vacation, and he wasn't happy. So now I'm looking at these DVD-R things.
>> who *exactly* should 'dominate' (desktop) linux development then, if not unix geeks?
:
> HCI people
> Don't see why not.
because they dont code, because they're expensive, because the thing that's 'holding' linux back isn't the usability or otherwise of the desktop interfaces (some of which run on linux, some of of which run on other Oss/ kernels)
> Jakob's contributions are as important as Linus'[s]
To the development of the linux kernel? phooo.
to the usability of the (CDE?) Sun desktop (droppped in favour of GNOME) ?????
I'm not under-rating Jakob, but he deosn't come cheap - who pays for his time?
I'm also, really, really, not arguing against HCI people. But if you want to make a difference, grab the and hack on them.
Don't write papers, or bring morals into it. Don't like it, change it, make it better. Aqua is 'fully HCI compliant', and I hate it. I can't change it.
With OSS software, I can. So can you. Do it.
>We'd get ignored no matter how we put it. Your point is?
That backseat drivers' views on 'Linux' (the kernel? the ''desktop''? what exactly does that have to do with Linux, btw?) are probably ignored for a reason
I'll repeat what Bruce Perens said - what *do* you like?
What Free/ free/ cheap desktop OS paradigms should we follow, and what exactly do these have to do with (your original point, and the one that made me respond)
'One could also make the moral argument that developers who have contempt for newbies have entirely no right to the desktop. You could even take this one step further and say that any action taken against such developers (e.g. licenses, patents on innovative UI stuff, project wars, etc) is morally justified.'
One could reply to this that 'moral's have nothing to do with your thoughts on the 'Linux desktop' (which one? so many to chose from...) and that you should get back to 'your paper'
> As long as the unix geeks who dominate desktop linux development try to layer away user interaction problems and think of GUI's as nothing more than "Eye Candy" and in no way function, I guarentee the user experience of linux will suck for another 10.
in your eyes it will
who *exactly* should 'dominate' (desktop) linux development then, if not unix geeks?
HCI people?
who then..um..
*pay* unix geeks to do the coding?
*ask* them to do the coding?
*Demand* that they do the coding?
wait a minute...I'm seeing a vision....Jakob Nielsen and Linus's desktop linux show
If you keep 'screaming at programmers' I guarantee you'll continue to be ignored.
depends on yr distro, i suppose. as i said, it was unfair, i just remember a lot of fscking about in the past
now its just an emerge away...and it JUST works.
btw, i *really* like your site - great domain name, great name to take, some excellent articles, CTRL-Dd
heh, my thoughts too when I saw that suggestion
what's the name for a billion people symlinking libjava.whateverthefsckitscalled.so into their mozilla plugins directory?
My last experience with Blackdown, probably unfairly
> What technical differences exist between their > situation and, say, that of the U.S.?
1) the fact that there's no entrenched install base 'dependent' on a home-OS and asking for support for that in their work OS
2) Language, languages, langui:
China has many different langauges and dialects, of which Manadarin Chinese is just one. Support for 'minority languages' (like, what, 1% of the China's 1.3 bil people) does not figure highly in US purchasers' minds. It maybe does for the PRC
3) Something you _can_ not separate from non US governments' 'technical need and justification' - the wish to dictate their own standards, be they of security, or of ability to spy on their populace.
You have no idea how weird it would be if the dominant OS and apps for it were written for, and by, the Chinese people, say, just like Windows is if you look at it as a Chinese/ Peruvian/ whatever IT-purchaser
4) Maybe they liked Linux and Sun more? Christ knows if I had to deploy a million desktops it'd be on 10 year old Amigas before I bought Windows XP, say - never mind the cost implications
Oh, and finally - much better to ask - 'What technical differences exist between their situation and, say, that of (all other countries aside from ) the U.S.
hi dmaxwell, some good points there
:)))
yes, I know I was lucky with the garden design stuff
as to the other ' two things that really screw Linux as a consumer OS.'
1) they had an old-ish (PIII 450 Dell) box and some randomly-bought hardware (recent HP printer etc)
not a prob - for me to set up, and then leave, safe in the knowledge that they *can't* screw it up from now on.
cupsd in web admin mode looks great - to me at least, but i can see why it might not to all
The second point - software install, i totally disagree with. One of the reasons I went for fedora for them was apt-get
showing them it was *amazing*.
Dad - 'so who do i pay now.... This can't be free'
one click in synaptic and they're done
me, calling out random stuff - you wanna spreadsheet? You want a personal finance tool?
them, happy, happy.
For tinkerers, (who just *wont* RTFM, as every system has to be able to support their uninformed clicky-clicky stuff) - no, you're right. Leave them to OSX and the ability to move the panel around . ooooh!
So the install-on-demand is there, the free (beer) is there, mum's *just* about accepting altrusim/ love of fame as the reason why this stuff is free, next is some patches from them to sort out lirc problems in 2.6
> If someone as tech savvy as me isn't willing to do that, I can guarantee my parents sure as hell won't be up to it. End result: I got rid of Linux after a day. It wasn't worth the huge amount of effort required to do anything with
:)
:)
:)
Funny. Just put fedora on my parents' desktop. It was a real easy ride - here's why
Me: mum, dad, your computer's OS (W98) is old. You remember when my brother spent *SIX HOURS* messing with windows to get that new printer installed? Thet's gonna be the same for every new hardware or software you buy
you have 4 choices
1) Rely on us to fix it whenever we can
2) Go and buy a retail new Win OS (that'll cost you 100GBP-ish)
3) go and buy a nice new machine from pcworld or dixons for ~ 500 GBP
4) let me put a different OS on it - if you don't like it, we'll go to options 2) and 3) above
_____
So, being cheapskates, they went for option 4.
No zealatory on my part, just common sense. I told em it'd look kinda different (but my mum's still mourning the Mac Classic loss, and she said 'do whatever, if it's different I'll hate it for a week, then I'll forget I hated it')
Despite all my requests, their backup strategy (which just involved them telling me what to archive) was lame- they missed out loads of things they remembered they needed. But they lost nothing, as I archived the whole of C:/....
'Bout an hour downtime, then 'bout 2 hours of watching my dad use it, fixing oddities in the GUI, or weird overzealous permissioning problems.
Getting some crazy garden-design programme that my dad loved (but didn't tell me about before I put linux on!) scared me, but it runs just fine under wine.
Openoffice.org does *everything* they want (and, again, I didn't realise that my dad wanted all those crazy excel features (sort by table foo, etc) ! Whatever they are, he's found them in OO.org!)
Big problem was when their ISP's smtp went down. NOT linux's fault
(well, might have been linux at the ISPs end)
since then, it's been great. Finally my brother and I know how to fix their machine when something goes wrong. They're running 2.6.0test9, it's WAY, WAY faster than on Win 98, and guess what? They don't give 2 hoots, as it's saved them 100GBP for the OS, 100 GBP for the office suite, god knows how much for the hardware
The worst thing is, my dad's angry cos he just bought some symantec 'firewall' and now wants to know how to get his money back
I kept a win partition ready for their rebound, but it all worked so well that i trashed that and gave them more space for (whatever it is parents use their computers for - huge email attachments, or whatever )
anyway, all a little OT, and sounding a little too linux zealot, but my point is, if it's set up right, linuz on the desktop is well, well there.
> Noone has made an effort to declare handguns or firearms indecent or obscene in their community
This point is one of the many reasons why many Europeans think that the US, (*and specifically US citizens' views on gun control*) are indecent (and) obscene when it comes to protecting the lives of their citizens.
I/ We just don't understand it. The idea of getting cross about *censorware* (which is what that Symantec product is, specifically) blocking access to PRO_GUN (/anti-gun-control) websites is absolutely absurd for those us of us like the fact that:
These are *old* stats, I know, but your DOJ doesn't have any newer ones
Protesting that this product blocks access to pro-gun sites is like moaning about a porn-blocking product blocking access to porn. This *isn't* about freedom of speech. Don't buy it if you don't want to block access to anti-gun-control sites.
> Anyone else have a different experience?
Yes. Complex systems modified by lots of sane people, each trusted and mature enough to annotate their own changes, none of whom will enjoy doing the same for other people's changes, become way easier to document with a decent collaboration tool. Could be a wiki, could be shared folders, could be cvs commit comments, don't care.
> why can't I find a decent keyboard with extra USB slots in it and with out all the redundant "multimedia" buttons (ala iMac)
you'll want a happy hacking keyboard then
2 extra USB ports built in, *no* redundant buttons, tiny form factor, full sized, proper 'clicky' keys - it's great.
That sounds great, I was so tired of those pesky 'current Web site addresses ending in .com, .net, and other existing top-level domains' and was looking for 'domain names with(out..) greater relevance and meaning'
but it's OK - they do a *nix version
go to the 'enable your browser' link
The Ts and Cs sound great
Your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the new.net software is to stop using the new.net software. you specifically agree that new.net shall not be liable for losses or liabilities arising in connection with your download, installation or use of the new.net software, including, but not limited to, loss or liability resulting or arising from or in connection with: (a) software conflicts related to the new.net software; (b) data non-delivery, data mis-delivery or unauthorized access to transmissions of data; (c) your infringement of a third party's right; (d) defects or viruses in, or distributed with, the new.net software; or (e) your own use or misuse of your personal computer or the software applications contained on your personal computer
t-9 already does that (on european nokias, sonys, etc) -doesn't it on US phones?
it suggests words on input, you can add custom words to it, switch languages, etc
it has removed - save from l33t-journalist-style-cliche the sort of 'u r g8' langauge from SMSs - as it's harder to type the abbreviation than it is to type the real word.
oh good, someone bit...
>Where do you think TiVo was made, moron?
as i said, i listened to lots about tivo and thought it was interesting yet trivial thoughts - like comments about how great a non intel/ GNU C++ compiler was....
>how does your pathetic standard definition TV look compared to HDTV in the US
i don't know, kinda like a crap quality encoding of a great LP/ CD does, compared to a lossless encoding of an awful LP / CD does, probably...
> Admittedly I didn't spend a lot of time viewing since I was busy viewing plays and musicals.
heh
>I mistakenly used to have a bit more respect for BBC television.
nice grammar
> Name one recent comedy from the UK that compares to Family Guy.
"The Office" ?
anyway, hope other people enjoyed my point, that this sort of stuff aside, it's good that UK TV execs are thinking about timeshifting, etc.....