I felt sad for the guy when I'd finished reading the article. He seems constantly annoyed and bitter. Everyone else in the article was excited, reminiscing about what sparked their passion for technology or computing. Stallman was just angry.
Re:Glad I read this, I learned a few things
on
Occupy Flash?
·
· Score: 2
True. Hence my caveat:
Now that I know it's been around for 15 years, I'm kind of impressed it's still working, and not terribly surprised that it hasn't morphed well into newer technologies that are being used in ways people were only beginning to think of at the turn of the millenium. I know 15 years is not that unusual for some technologies, like mainframes, but just think about the rapid pace of development in web standards, graphics cards and algorithms, etc.
Glad I read this, I learned a few things
on
Occupy Flash?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Though the 15-year old technology is still commonly used for advertisements, videos and games, many developers have been moving toward more modern and universal standards like HTML5
Well that's pretty impressive. It's been around for 15 years, and is still heavily used. That said, HTML5 is looking pretty sure to eclipse it, eventually.
"We feel this move effectively creates two Internets -- the one you can use on mobile/tablets and the one you can use on the desktop," one of the founders of the Occupy Flash movement said via e-mail. "This is not good for anyone except Adobe."
Now that I know it's been around for 15 years, I'm kind of impressed it's still working, and not terribly surprised that it hasn't morphed well into newer technologies that are being used in ways people were only beginning to think of at the turn of the millenium. I know 15 years is not that unusual for some technologies, like mainframes, but just think about the rapid pace of development in web standards, graphics cards and algorithms, etc.
HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community
Seems reasonable. As does this:
Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations
Fair enough. What about security fixes?
We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.
Spiffy.
Aren't there more important things these people could be spending their time on?
Perhaps it's not a fair comparison, but I agree that iTunes is terrible. I would suspect that the "bloated" allegation came about because it's a bit like Microsoft Word - it could be a simple, fast, easy to use word processor, but it has thousands of features when most people only ever use a very small subset of core functionality.
Same with iTunes. My main complaints are that it's slow as molasses, and is horribly clunky. In contrast to the "it just works" philosophy, iTunes doesn't. Example: our devices have been registered to three computers over the years. You're only allowed five. I'm only using one of those computers, but I can't unregister the other two because they both died. How do I tell iTunes this? Beats me.
The simplest operations are far too complicated, it doesn't follow any standards for usability, and so hardly anything works the way I expect it to work. Half the time I can't even figure out how to do what I want and I end up giving up. Connecting multiple devices is a nightmare. Multiple Apple store accounts on the same computer? Worse than being eaten by zombies. It...just...doesn't...work.
Nonsense, there's all the difference in the world. I'm expressly focusing on the people who are network admins or secretaries or mailroom workers who choose to work at a music licensing or publishing company because they want to be "in the music industry" in any way possible. Don't tell me I'm making this up, because I know these people.
These are people who could get a job elsewhere (well, they could've when they first started working; now, maybe a bit harder, as it is for anyone, with the poor economy), but who chose to go and work for this kind of company so they could in some small way have their work match their passion. They get paid a fair wage, not a fortune, but not a handful of dollars a day for 14 hours of work.
Look, it's like you take someone who's a network admin and they choose to work at a museum because they love archaeology. It's not their profession, it's a passion, and they could work elsewhere but they just love being where they are.
Yes. Correct. I'm not talking about the artists (which sounds like a cavalier admission, but most arguments on/. don't discuss the artists either - people would rather sling mud at the publishing industry). I'm talking about all the workers in the music industry.
If you go to a music publishing business, or a licensing business (say, Harry Fox), there is a raft of people who are in the I.T. division, who are working as receptionists, who are working as mail room clerks...all the jobs any company has in general overall support. They are in that company because, although they make their living as a network admin, their passion is music. At nights and on the weekends, they're performing in clubs in NYC, and all their workmates who are passionate about music go and watch them perform and give them support and build that community.
Those are the people who will most suffer in the immediate term from the dismantlement of the music publishing industry. Developers and network admins and secretaries and mailroom staff. They'll lose their jobs, and they'll lose that workplace community which is a bunch of people getting together just because they love music.
Last I checked, pirating music was way easier than buying it legitimately and no one cares which country you are in. Could the music industry, just perhaps, stop being a joke?
Don't worry, you're doing your level best to put them out of business. Hard to be a joke when you're out on the streets. FYI, the big bad old "music industry" is actually made up of a tiny handful of rich fatcats and an enormous number of passionate amateur musicians in their early 20s who wanted a job that got them closer to their passion in any way possible. Forget about the guys at the top...it's the hordes of young adults with stars in their eyes who suffer most from piracy.
Of course, no-one on Slashdot will ever see or believe this. Just like pirating music is easy, so is self delusion.
Disclaimer: I don't know what Baloroth's opinions in general are, so this isn't necessarily aimed at you. And I hope this doesn't sound too snide.
That said, this is where I see a double standard in Slashdot from time to time. Go back to stories about broadcasting SSIDs and setting up computers and so forth. Most Slashdotters tend to say it is on the part of the consumer to understand, read manuals, etc. Setting up encryption, for example - the prevailing opinion on here is that that that is just part of the modern world in which we live, and if consumers can't be bothered to read and understand, then they get what they deserve.
I think that's a pretty cavalier and smug attitude. Beyond that, however, if the same attitude doesn't work both ways, then I'm not terribly sympathetic. I don't understand all the legalese when I sign a mortgage, say...so I make sure I ask someone. And if I don't understand, I don't sign until I do. (And it's been pretty amazing. Example a - watching the glib sales girl who breezily said "read everything, take your time" and then got visibly cooler in her attitude when I proceeded to do just that. Example b - the Wells Fargo reps who responded "umm, we don't know" when I asked them what a particular phrase in their mortgage paperwork meant, and didn't think it was a problem to say "but it's standard language, so it's okay to sign anyway".)
Right, you're ok with Apple spying on you but not AT&T or Verizon?
I think the information Apple can potentially glean off of my iPhone data is a heck of a lot less revealing than the information Google can and does glean from Google Search, maps, youtube views, GMail...
Anyway...with Apple, is it spying if you click "I accept" on the EULA? Read it carefully sometime. Seriously.
Well, maybe not. That's business. And really, if this were a story about the RIAA or MPAA how many people would be coldly saying "make it opt in, and if it doesn't work then too bad, figure out a new business model, otherwise you deserve to die off?"
Y'know...being candid, I'm barely interested in Raspberry Pi at all...but this is definitely of note for the target audience for Slashdot, or what Slashdot used to be in the late 90s when I first started reading it. Much better than some of the really worthless ask slashdot questions that get through, for instance.
I was asking the question if they should be allowed to use it, following on from your comment that they already have it. I do have to give you kudos for being consistent, even if I disagree with you.
It should also be possible to ask them to delete the data.
Agreed - but I take it further and ask that it be harder for them to get it in the first place. Your SSID by itself might be harmless. Your address by itself might be harmless. The knowledge you have a 10 year old daughter by itself might be harmless. The knowledge of her movements and your movements and the movements of your family, individually, could all be harmless. But have enough data points and either enough data mining prowess or just enough boredom/sociopathic tendencies to put A and B and C together and it is more information than I want any random person to have about me.
Sorry, but I'm just not comfortable with all of that, because "the greater good" stops when it threatens the safety of my family. A number of posters on this thread are throwing around the paranoid label, but my family has suffered from stalkers and anonymous phone callers who threaten young kids when they are the one to answer the phone, so I don't particularly care if some random person on an internet forum thinks I'm paranoid. I don't want to make it any easier for the next idiot.
Why in the heck do you people care if Google maps your AP's location? It's not like this information can be used for anything but it's intended purpose: wifi location services.
So you don't care if people map your e-mail and publish it? Because, you know, it's not like anyone would use it for anything other than its intended purpose to send you legitimate e-mail. Spammers? Nahhh...
Making it opt-in would make it useless as people won't care enough to opt-in.
Bummer. Poor Google. I'm not even sure this is correct - do people care enough about free software and open source to contribute their time and efforts to make it a success?
Most consumers would not know how to login nor modify their WiFi AP settings. Probably most wouldn't care nor understand. Only security concious power users would understand and would do what was necessary to opt-out or not broadcast their SSID.
Fair enough.
Frankly if you don't want to be mapped, don't broadcast SSID.
Given the first three sentences - how many people know how to prevent this, then?
Since you say "do no evil my ass", how would you suggest they create their AP database?
Opt in. Advertise as much as they want. Have a big banner on google.com that says "please opt in to our AP database...here's how". You can't tell me Google, of all people, can't figure out how to broadcast an opt-in invitation/request to millions of people. If it's as simple as everyone says to opt out, it's just as simple to opt in.
Agreed. I have quite a different opinion from a number of people, evidently. This article on Slashdot is the first I'd heard of this (and I am sure I'll get some abuse for admitting that, but...). I work in the IT field, have done so for 25 years professionally (many more years as a hobby, like most people), and read tech sites like Slashdot on a daily basis.
So my reaction is that if someone in my position is only just becoming aware of this, how is Joe Public going to hear about this? Forget about "it's public information, you shouldn't be broadcasting" etc., etc. Let's just say for whatever reason Joe Public doesn't want to be in this. How does he learn about this?
By the way, it's not just a matter of changing your SSID. You have to change everything that might have that SSID hardcoded - laptops, iPhones, Tivo, etc. In my house we have two Tivo units, my laptop, three iPhones, one netbook...I think that's it, maybe I'm forgetting something. We're not a particularly tech-heavy house, but that's seven devices plus the router which I have to reconfigure (including typing in a complicated password). I know, I know - it's a one time thing, it'll probably take me half an hour, whatever. That's half an hour I'd rather not waste just to get around something Google is foisting on people.
Stuff that. Let Google set it for opt in instead, let them advertise to their heart's content that this is how you sign up for it, and if they can't get enough users to opt in, well...I can't muster up an enormous quantity of sympathy, honestly.
I agree that more context would be helpful. But here's my experience, from a combination of business and technical classes over recent years.
Will she need software? A lot of my classes have required software to be installed. Often it's been for assignments and not needed in class, but a number of times the professor would end a class by saying "make sure you bring your laptop on Wednesday night because we'll be using XYZ that you had installed". This was prevalent throughout my MBA as well as my IS master's program.
It's hard to know, without having an idea of the program she's doing, if she'll need software, but you can probably figure this out by looking at her curriculum. Don't assume that she won't need software because she's doing a non-IT degree (if she is), because I used several different packages during my MBA.
Diagrams Lots of times I found myself going to pencil and paper. I can type much faster than I can write and so I used my laptop for most of my note-taking. But I often needed to copy a diagram to understand something properly, especially in business classes like Financial Risk Management (finance and accounting isn't my background so I had to be more careful to take precise notes so I could figure out what the heck we were discussing).
Text books Most of these are available to rent electronically. Hint - most classes don't actually need the text books that are prescribed. For some of them, we really only needed the exercises that were in the book as those were prescribed for homework. I sometimes grouped together with three of my classmates and we bought one copy & photocopied the bits we needed.
Presentations/Lectures Many of my classes have presentations (= PowerPoint). A number of my classmates would print them out and bring them to class so they could write in the margins. I preferred to take notes using Microsoft OneNote (yes, it's as good as everyone says it is) or draw diagrams in my exercise book when necessary.
Much of the decision should be based on how your wife works best in studying, and that's something only she can answer. I knew people who wrote everything in an exercise book or on the PPT printouts. That didn't work for me because my handwriting is atrocious, but then I can type extremely fast.
I couldn't work on a tablet - I need the tactile feedback of a real keyboard. I have to be able to pay attention to the professor and not look at my hands, but I've been touch-typing for so long that I don't have to think about it, so it works out well for me to use a laptop. I always took my work laptop to class, took notes (combination of OneNote, sometimes Word, and often Excel for the Accounting and Finance type classes), and then they were automatically synchronized to my home directory on the server when I docked the next morning (i.e. backup in case my hard drive died).
Again - much of it will depend on what is easiest for your wife, and hopefully she knows herself well enough to figure that out. I know I'd never go to class without a laptop and something to draw on - but that's what works for me. Good luck to her.
Consider what would happen if a foreign power tried the same thing in the USA today.
...in Baltimore Harbor. The Rainbow Warrior wasn't blown up at sea; this occurred in harbor in the largest city in the country, with a lot of other completely unrelated ships and their personnel in the vicinity.
I usually feel obliged to defend France (I think they get a raw deal, especially from Americans who can't see past the last 80 years of history and forget how the French contributed during the American revolution), but in this particular context I'm cynical. I grew up in New Zealand, and was living in Auckland the night the Rainbow Warrior was bombed. The two official French secret agents were sentenced to 10 years, served two, and most of that was in a tropical resort. They've since received medals and accolades from the government, both been promoted, written books...basically made out like heroes from this.
I won't claim to speak for all my fellow kiwis, but this is about the only incident that I hold a grudge over and think was never handled fairly.
I will preface this by saying I have no idea of the comparative cash flows in different countries, or between different parts of the utility/electric industry. That said...
In the U.S., if you are part of the power grid (critical infrastructure, also known as the Bulk Electric System, or BES) and are found in violation, NERC has the power to fine you one million dollars per violation, per day. This fine starts at the outset of the violation (not when it was actually discovered) and can continue until it is rectified. Example trade magazine discussion, second paragraph under NERC Basics.
Yep. If you want to waste a couple of hours, read this story from a couple of days ago to get a taste of the difficulties of trying to cater to people. (For what it's worth, here's my contribution to the debate.)
I am curious about the details behind your thoughts. The only key to your target audience is that it does "charting and analysis of large data sets". Could be a number of industries, from finance to utilities looking at PMU data from the electric grid. It makes a difference - you're an entrepreneur and developer (although your home page says you're an artist), so it'd seem to be a safe assumption that you want to commercialize this. If that's the case, you want to consider the physical location of where this is going, how complicated it'll be to provide input and get output, how quickly people will need to react, how much space they'll have around them, how many will need to be installed at a location, etc., etc. All of those considerations make a big impact on whether this is even a workable idea in the first place.
As fidget42 said - hire someone who does this stuff for a living. That is, if I'm correct in my assumption you actually want to commercialize this.
Slashdot Mirror
I felt sad for the guy when I'd finished reading the article. He seems constantly annoyed and bitter. Everyone else in the article was excited, reminiscing about what sparked their passion for technology or computing. Stallman was just angry.
True. Hence my caveat:
Now that I know it's been around for 15 years, I'm kind of impressed it's still working, and not terribly surprised that it hasn't morphed well into newer technologies that are being used in ways people were only beginning to think of at the turn of the millenium. I know 15 years is not that unusual for some technologies, like mainframes, but just think about the rapid pace of development in web standards, graphics cards and algorithms, etc.
Though the 15-year old technology is still commonly used for advertisements, videos and games, many developers have been moving toward more modern and universal standards like HTML5
Well that's pretty impressive. It's been around for 15 years, and is still heavily used. That said, HTML5 is looking pretty sure to eclipse it, eventually.
"We feel this move effectively creates two Internets -- the one you can use on mobile/tablets and the one you can use on the desktop," one of the founders of the Occupy Flash movement said via e-mail. "This is not good for anyone except Adobe."
Now that I know it's been around for 15 years, I'm kind of impressed it's still working, and not terribly surprised that it hasn't morphed well into newer technologies that are being used in ways people were only beginning to think of at the turn of the millenium. I know 15 years is not that unusual for some technologies, like mainframes, but just think about the rapid pace of development in web standards, graphics cards and algorithms, etc.
Huh, I wonder what Adobe thinks.
HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community
Seems reasonable. As does this:
Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations
Fair enough. What about security fixes?
We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.
Spiffy.
Aren't there more important things these people could be spending their time on?
I heard exactly the same refrain about Whiz Kids in the 80s.
People in any industry always have a very different perception than people outside that industry.
Perhaps it's not a fair comparison, but I agree that iTunes is terrible. I would suspect that the "bloated" allegation came about because it's a bit like Microsoft Word - it could be a simple, fast, easy to use word processor, but it has thousands of features when most people only ever use a very small subset of core functionality.
Same with iTunes. My main complaints are that it's slow as molasses, and is horribly clunky. In contrast to the "it just works" philosophy, iTunes doesn't. Example: our devices have been registered to three computers over the years. You're only allowed five. I'm only using one of those computers, but I can't unregister the other two because they both died. How do I tell iTunes this? Beats me.
The simplest operations are far too complicated, it doesn't follow any standards for usability, and so hardly anything works the way I expect it to work. Half the time I can't even figure out how to do what I want and I end up giving up. Connecting multiple devices is a nightmare. Multiple Apple store accounts on the same computer? Worse than being eaten by zombies. It...just...doesn't...work.
Nonsense, there's all the difference in the world. I'm expressly focusing on the people who are network admins or secretaries or mailroom workers who choose to work at a music licensing or publishing company because they want to be "in the music industry" in any way possible. Don't tell me I'm making this up, because I know these people.
These are people who could get a job elsewhere (well, they could've when they first started working; now, maybe a bit harder, as it is for anyone, with the poor economy), but who chose to go and work for this kind of company so they could in some small way have their work match their passion. They get paid a fair wage, not a fortune, but not a handful of dollars a day for 14 hours of work.
Look, it's like you take someone who's a network admin and they choose to work at a museum because they love archaeology. It's not their profession, it's a passion, and they could work elsewhere but they just love being where they are.
Yes. Correct. I'm not talking about the artists (which sounds like a cavalier admission, but most arguments on /. don't discuss the artists either - people would rather sling mud at the publishing industry). I'm talking about all the workers in the music industry.
If you go to a music publishing business, or a licensing business (say, Harry Fox), there is a raft of people who are in the I.T. division, who are working as receptionists, who are working as mail room clerks...all the jobs any company has in general overall support. They are in that company because, although they make their living as a network admin, their passion is music. At nights and on the weekends, they're performing in clubs in NYC, and all their workmates who are passionate about music go and watch them perform and give them support and build that community.
Those are the people who will most suffer in the immediate term from the dismantlement of the music publishing industry. Developers and network admins and secretaries and mailroom staff. They'll lose their jobs, and they'll lose that workplace community which is a bunch of people getting together just because they love music.
Last I checked, pirating music was way easier than buying it legitimately and no one cares which country you are in. Could the music industry, just perhaps, stop being a joke?
Don't worry, you're doing your level best to put them out of business. Hard to be a joke when you're out on the streets. FYI, the big bad old "music industry" is actually made up of a tiny handful of rich fatcats and an enormous number of passionate amateur musicians in their early 20s who wanted a job that got them closer to their passion in any way possible. Forget about the guys at the top...it's the hordes of young adults with stars in their eyes who suffer most from piracy.
Of course, no-one on Slashdot will ever see or believe this. Just like pirating music is easy, so is self delusion.
Disclaimer: I don't know what Baloroth's opinions in general are, so this isn't necessarily aimed at you. And I hope this doesn't sound too snide.
That said, this is where I see a double standard in Slashdot from time to time. Go back to stories about broadcasting SSIDs and setting up computers and so forth. Most Slashdotters tend to say it is on the part of the consumer to understand, read manuals, etc. Setting up encryption, for example - the prevailing opinion on here is that that that is just part of the modern world in which we live, and if consumers can't be bothered to read and understand, then they get what they deserve.
I think that's a pretty cavalier and smug attitude. Beyond that, however, if the same attitude doesn't work both ways, then I'm not terribly sympathetic. I don't understand all the legalese when I sign a mortgage, say...so I make sure I ask someone. And if I don't understand, I don't sign until I do. (And it's been pretty amazing. Example a - watching the glib sales girl who breezily said "read everything, take your time" and then got visibly cooler in her attitude when I proceeded to do just that. Example b - the Wells Fargo reps who responded "umm, we don't know" when I asked them what a particular phrase in their mortgage paperwork meant, and didn't think it was a problem to say "but it's standard language, so it's okay to sign anyway".)
Right, you're ok with Apple spying on you but not AT&T or Verizon?
I think the information Apple can potentially glean off of my iPhone data is a heck of a lot less revealing than the information Google can and does glean from Google Search, maps, youtube views, GMail...
Anyway...with Apple, is it spying if you click "I accept" on the EULA? Read it carefully sometime. Seriously.
I agree 100%, and contend it should be the same for Google registering your AP SSID.
Well, maybe not. That's business. And really, if this were a story about the RIAA or MPAA how many people would be coldly saying "make it opt in, and if it doesn't work then too bad, figure out a new business model, otherwise you deserve to die off?"
Y'know...being candid, I'm barely interested in Raspberry Pi at all...but this is definitely of note for the target audience for Slashdot, or what Slashdot used to be in the late 90s when I first started reading it. Much better than some of the really worthless ask slashdot questions that get through, for instance.
I was asking the question if they should be allowed to use it, following on from your comment that they already have it. I do have to give you kudos for being consistent, even if I disagree with you.
It should also be possible to ask them to delete the data.
Agreed - but I take it further and ask that it be harder for them to get it in the first place. Your SSID by itself might be harmless. Your address by itself might be harmless. The knowledge you have a 10 year old daughter by itself might be harmless. The knowledge of her movements and your movements and the movements of your family, individually, could all be harmless. But have enough data points and either enough data mining prowess or just enough boredom/sociopathic tendencies to put A and B and C together and it is more information than I want any random person to have about me.
Sorry, but I'm just not comfortable with all of that, because "the greater good" stops when it threatens the safety of my family. A number of posters on this thread are throwing around the paranoid label, but my family has suffered from stalkers and anonymous phone callers who threaten young kids when they are the one to answer the phone, so I don't particularly care if some random person on an internet forum thinks I'm paranoid. I don't want to make it any easier for the next idiot.
Nobody seems to think about the greater good any more. Large corporations and governments already have access to all of this data.
So you think large corporations, like Sony or Microsoft, should be able to use this data too?
Why in the heck do you people care if Google maps your AP's location? It's not like this information can be used for anything but it's intended purpose: wifi location services.
So you don't care if people map your e-mail and publish it? Because, you know, it's not like anyone would use it for anything other than its intended purpose to send you legitimate e-mail. Spammers? Nahhh...
Making it opt-in would make it useless as people won't care enough to opt-in.
Bummer. Poor Google. I'm not even sure this is correct - do people care enough about free software and open source to contribute their time and efforts to make it a success?
Most consumers would not know how to login nor modify their WiFi AP settings.
Probably most wouldn't care nor understand. Only security concious power users
would understand and would do what was necessary to opt-out or not broadcast
their SSID.
Fair enough.
Frankly if you don't want to be mapped, don't broadcast SSID.
Given the first three sentences - how many people know how to prevent this, then?
Since you say "do no evil my ass", how would you suggest they create their AP database?
Opt in. Advertise as much as they want. Have a big banner on google.com that says "please opt in to our AP database...here's how". You can't tell me Google, of all people, can't figure out how to broadcast an opt-in invitation/request to millions of people. If it's as simple as everyone says to opt out, it's just as simple to opt in.
Agreed. I have quite a different opinion from a number of people, evidently. This article on Slashdot is the first I'd heard of this (and I am sure I'll get some abuse for admitting that, but...). I work in the IT field, have done so for 25 years professionally (many more years as a hobby, like most people), and read tech sites like Slashdot on a daily basis.
So my reaction is that if someone in my position is only just becoming aware of this, how is Joe Public going to hear about this? Forget about "it's public information, you shouldn't be broadcasting" etc., etc. Let's just say for whatever reason Joe Public doesn't want to be in this. How does he learn about this?
By the way, it's not just a matter of changing your SSID. You have to change everything that might have that SSID hardcoded - laptops, iPhones, Tivo, etc. In my house we have two Tivo units, my laptop, three iPhones, one netbook...I think that's it, maybe I'm forgetting something. We're not a particularly tech-heavy house, but that's seven devices plus the router which I have to reconfigure (including typing in a complicated password). I know, I know - it's a one time thing, it'll probably take me half an hour, whatever. That's half an hour I'd rather not waste just to get around something Google is foisting on people.
Stuff that. Let Google set it for opt in instead, let them advertise to their heart's content that this is how you sign up for it, and if they can't get enough users to opt in, well...I can't muster up an enormous quantity of sympathy, honestly.
I agree that more context would be helpful. But here's my experience, from a combination of business and technical classes over recent years.
Will she need software?
A lot of my classes have required software to be installed. Often it's been for assignments and not needed in class, but a number of times the professor would end a class by saying "make sure you bring your laptop on Wednesday night because we'll be using XYZ that you had installed". This was prevalent throughout my MBA as well as my IS master's program.
It's hard to know, without having an idea of the program she's doing, if she'll need software, but you can probably figure this out by looking at her curriculum. Don't assume that she won't need software because she's doing a non-IT degree (if she is), because I used several different packages during my MBA.
Diagrams
Lots of times I found myself going to pencil and paper. I can type much faster than I can write and so I used my laptop for most of my note-taking. But I often needed to copy a diagram to understand something properly, especially in business classes like Financial Risk Management (finance and accounting isn't my background so I had to be more careful to take precise notes so I could figure out what the heck we were discussing).
Text books
Most of these are available to rent electronically. Hint - most classes don't actually need the text books that are prescribed. For some of them, we really only needed the exercises that were in the book as those were prescribed for homework. I sometimes grouped together with three of my classmates and we bought one copy & photocopied the bits we needed.
Presentations/Lectures
Many of my classes have presentations (= PowerPoint). A number of my classmates would print them out and bring them to class so they could write in the margins. I preferred to take notes using Microsoft OneNote (yes, it's as good as everyone says it is) or draw diagrams in my exercise book when necessary.
Much of the decision should be based on how your wife works best in studying, and that's something only she can answer. I knew people who wrote everything in an exercise book or on the PPT printouts. That didn't work for me because my handwriting is atrocious, but then I can type extremely fast.
I couldn't work on a tablet - I need the tactile feedback of a real keyboard. I have to be able to pay attention to the professor and not look at my hands, but I've been touch-typing for so long that I don't have to think about it, so it works out well for me to use a laptop. I always took my work laptop to class, took notes (combination of OneNote, sometimes Word, and often Excel for the Accounting and Finance type classes), and then they were automatically synchronized to my home directory on the server when I docked the next morning (i.e. backup in case my hard drive died).
Again - much of it will depend on what is easiest for your wife, and hopefully she knows herself well enough to figure that out. I know I'd never go to class without a laptop and something to draw on - but that's what works for me. Good luck to her.
Consider what would happen if a foreign power tried the same thing in the USA today.
...in Baltimore Harbor. The Rainbow Warrior wasn't blown up at sea; this occurred in harbor in the largest city in the country, with a lot of other completely unrelated ships and their personnel in the vicinity.
Greenpeace have already been declared terrorists in most of the world
Sources please?
yet they're not in jail, despite belonging there.
Why?
I usually feel obliged to defend France (I think they get a raw deal, especially from Americans who can't see past the last 80 years of history and forget how the French contributed during the American revolution), but in this particular context I'm cynical. I grew up in New Zealand, and was living in Auckland the night the Rainbow Warrior was bombed. The two official French secret agents were sentenced to 10 years, served two, and most of that was in a tropical resort. They've since received medals and accolades from the government, both been promoted, written books...basically made out like heroes from this.
I won't claim to speak for all my fellow kiwis, but this is about the only incident that I hold a grudge over and think was never handled fairly.
I will preface this by saying I have no idea of the comparative cash flows in different countries, or between different parts of the utility/electric industry. That said...
In the U.S., if you are part of the power grid (critical infrastructure, also known as the Bulk Electric System, or BES) and are found in violation, NERC has the power to fine you one million dollars per violation, per day. This fine starts at the outset of the violation (not when it was actually discovered) and can continue until it is rectified. Example trade magazine discussion, second paragraph under NERC Basics.
Yep. If you want to waste a couple of hours, read this story from a couple of days ago to get a taste of the difficulties of trying to cater to people. (For what it's worth, here's my contribution to the debate.)
I am curious about the details behind your thoughts. The only key to your target audience is that it does "charting and analysis of large data sets". Could be a number of industries, from finance to utilities looking at PMU data from the electric grid. It makes a difference - you're an entrepreneur and developer (although your home page says you're an artist), so it'd seem to be a safe assumption that you want to commercialize this. If that's the case, you want to consider the physical location of where this is going, how complicated it'll be to provide input and get output, how quickly people will need to react, how much space they'll have around them, how many will need to be installed at a location, etc., etc. All of those considerations make a big impact on whether this is even a workable idea in the first place.
As fidget42 said - hire someone who does this stuff for a living. That is, if I'm correct in my assumption you actually want to commercialize this.