Yep. Bingo. Double Bingo. I never did sign up for Facebook because the whole thing seemed almost childish to me, like, it was for people who had never quite gotten past Middle School socially. They are fascinated with the medium more than the message. The only thing sillier than Facebook is MySpace and the only thing sillier than both is Twitter. I have a lot of friends and when I need to contact them I do - directly. The concept of putting one's life out onto the Internet is just infantile.
Yep. I can't tell you the number of people I've heard complain about the "black bars" at the top and bottom of the screen. The difference in the formats, which seems Kindergarten easy to comprehend, is way beyond a lot of folks.
Stupid, indeed. But most of the readers on/. are computer savvy, and for us this sort of thing is second nature. The majority of the population does not know better. I can spot a phishing email a mile away, but many cannot. I know to look for the "https" in my URL, but many do not. Dentists have the best teeth, construction people have the most well-kept houses, and IT folks have the most secure computers, because it falls into their particular area of expertise.
But technology is daunting to the average person. Most do not realize the danger involved. There are those who might suggest that people who don't change their password deserve what they get, and maybe there's a case to be made there. But companies and manufacturers need to be more responsible about getting the word out that defaults are a bad thing. Most manuals - not that I read 'em:) - might casually suggest channging a password but don't really make it a part of the setup routine as it should be. Exploits are a part of technology, for sure, but educating the masses on what to do to prevent it needs to come to the forefront.
OK, help me out here. A few years ago weren't the open source folks crying that no one was taking their clearly-superior products seriously? Now a few large companies are utilizing it and promoting it and taking it seriously, and we're still crying? Hmmmmmm.
"Obscurity" is a bit strong, but your point is well taken. I paid $5000 for my 50" plasma TV less than two years ago, and now I've seen them online for as low as $1500. If someone had told me that essentially the same TV would drop in price by two-thirds within that time frame, I'd have thought them nuts. With that kind of dramatic price drop, 1080p units will likely become the defacto standard within a reasonable time frame. Right now though, you're right, it ain't worth the "upgrade"
I agree that immediate termination seems harsh on the surface, but none of us know the back story on any of this. I've seen many times where an employee is perpetually abusive to the power they have and/or insubordinate or whatever, and management has been trying to nail them for a long time. Then, a dumb incident like this comes up and gives them the green light they'd been hoping for. Based on the situation and the harsh comments by Hayes, I think this smells suspiciously like one of those times. Seems highly doubtful that this was Smith's first offense.
I have no scam stories, and I suspect few people do. This wanker Stewart Richardson is an aberration, and to think otherwise is a disservice to the untold thousands of legitimate exchanges that take place on ebay every day.
I personally have done 40-odd transactions as both a buyer and a seller. I have made good money selling stuff I didn't need, and found great prices on hard to find items for myself. It's gotten to the point where, if I need to buy something, I check ebay first. And, I have not had a single bad experience.
I realize my good experiences do not diminish the loss felt by those whom this dork scammed, but I am not daunted by it and will continue to use ebay. Fraud is part of human life, unfortunately, in and out of ebay.
This one struck me as odd, too. Don't believe I've ever seen a mouse "follow" cheese. Wasn't even aware that cheese could move. The MIT folks may be brilliant, but they ain't creative.
Agreed. I felt this way when I watched the "improved" EP4, with the bright and shiny new digital creatures and so forth. It seemed like a part of my youth had been robbed from me. George Lucas took one of the most beloved and successful films of all time and altered it, which to me was tantamount to taking the Gettysburg address and replacing "Four score and seven" with "87". It may be sleeker, but it's less artistically pleasing. I love technology, but it shouldn't do everything.
-F
"When you smell an odorless gas, it's probably carbon monoxide"
I'll agree that the squatting is a problem; it's the 90s equivalent of ticket scalping. But you're in effect advocating a several hundred percent tax, which is ridiculous. I agree with Airneil, the only people that suffer in that case are the hobbyists like myself. Just can't justify it.
On the up side, the fact that most every word in the English language has already been registered in.org,.com, and.net forces people to be more creative with their site names, and creativity is always a cool thing.
Whoa, slow down. You've taken one line out of context and turned me into Charles Manson. Though your venom is entirely unwarranted, I'll partially blame myself for throwing out a controversial political view in a terse forum such as Slashdot.
The fact is, our educational system largely is no longer about educating, it's about cash, and to a lesser extent, it's about a leftist political view (One which you seem to share). I worked in a number of public schools for nearly a decade and that's one of the primary reeasons I left. This is a difficult subject to debate in a short space, but those are the basics. Government uses the "Let's do it for the children" argument to pass any lame legislation they have, and folks like yourself seem only too willing buy into it.
Regarding your other points: 1. I don't measure compassion by how much money the government gives to people. Additionally, the quality of life of the USA's poorest citizens is light years ahead of the poor in virtually any other country. You want to see truly poor people? Go to Haiti or other third world countries and you'll know what poor REALLY is. I'm not saying this is a good thing, only offering some perspective. 2. I'm not sure how the DOI came into this, but following your logic, everything needs to be free. I need a multiprocessor DEC Alpha server to be happy, so the government should get one for me. 3. I doubt I need a logic class, but you need a reading class. I never even so much as inferred that I am the only one who is entitled to anything.
Since we're way off topic here, I'll stop. And feel free to blame my loving, hardworking parents for my attitude. I do. And I thank God every day for it. See ya.
Well, first, I agree with you one one point - I think the Internet will be taxed. Greedy government types have been salivating at the possibility for too long, and those in Washington who love taxpayer money are having veritable siezures watching this revenue pool go untapped.
Unfortunately, it's the second part of your post that gives me siezures. I'm sick of the attitude that everything needs to be funded by public money. We don't NEED public transportation, we don't even NEED public schools. As a product of private schools, I am living proof. Somewhere, some way, somehow, someone needs to stand up and say "Enough", and realize that the government is not the solution, it's the problem. So the fact is, we can cut off one revenue source without drilling into another, if we will only have the guts to do it. Allow me to join Senator McCain in championing this idea.
Valid points, all, but I would respectfully disagree with you on the "successful business plan" idea. I think both of those companies have achieved their status not through their technology, dumb or not, but through their unbelievable, world-class marketing.
Perhaps I'm splitting hairs here, but I believe there's a difference between "making usable" and "dumbing down". Companies like AOL are trying to convince people that computers are like toasters, just plug 'em in and they work! They aren't. There's a learning curve. Back in my desktop support days, AOL was the bane of my existence because of how it would intrusively whack a PC, all in the name of "ease".
And, yeah, we're all dopey, me more than most. But when someone can't properly string together the phrase "America On Line", they've truly EARNED the moniker..........
Exactly. Exactly! This is amazing coming from a company whose only claim to fame is setting up modems around the country and dumbing down technology to a point where even the previous kings in that arena, M$, could never compete. Most people I know who use AOL are so dopey that they can't even say the NAME right, calling it "American On Line". Then they buys a truly innovative company like Netscape and corrode it slowly from within. What's gone wrong with the world? I need sedation.
If there was ever a company that had the potential to be as pompous and megalomaniacal as Microsoft, it's Sun. Remember a few years ago when they were threatening lawsuits against anything and everything that had the letters JAVA anywhere? If they win over MS, it will be a scene like the end of Orwell's Animal Farm.
The good news is, it won't happen. People are in love with speed and convenience. Even the most powerful Intel machines don't run software as fast as people want, so a network connection certainly isn't going to fulfill the need. Maybe someday when we all have full-time gigabit connections directly to our desktops and never want for speed during even the most intensive operations, Sun's vision may become reality. Considering that I live in a major metropolitan area and don't even have ADSL or a cable modem available yet, I think we're still years away from that scenario.
I would love to help out with this or any similar project, but I'm not sure how. I have good writing skills, and have been using Linux as a hobby for a couple of years, but I lack programming knowledge or any in-depth configuration skills. However, I would certainly be able to take the ruminations of a more technical person and parlay those into a form readable by regular folks. And, after everything I've downloaded over the years, I'd be happy to work for free. Is this a viable skill? Any suggestions?
On the other hand, didn't anyone see Star Trek 4? If we don't save every animal that's ever lived, aliens will send a probe to communicate with them that will destroy the planet. So we're waxed either way. Life sucks.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep. Bingo. Double Bingo. I never did sign up for Facebook because the whole thing seemed almost childish to me, like, it was for people who had never quite gotten past Middle School socially. They are fascinated with the medium more than the message. The only thing sillier than Facebook is MySpace and the only thing sillier than both is Twitter. I have a lot of friends and when I need to contact them I do - directly. The concept of putting one's life out onto the Internet is just infantile.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill: I may be bald, but you're an idiot, and now I can regrow my hair.....
Yep. I can't tell you the number of people I've heard complain about the "black bars" at the top and bottom of the screen. The difference in the formats, which seems Kindergarten easy to comprehend, is way beyond a lot of folks.
Stupid, indeed. But most of the readers on /. are computer savvy, and for us this sort of thing is second nature. The majority of the population does not know better. I can spot a phishing email a mile away, but many cannot. I know to look for the "https" in my URL, but many do not. Dentists have the best teeth, construction people have the most well-kept houses, and IT folks have the most secure computers, because it falls into their particular area of expertise.
:) - might casually suggest channging a password but don't really make it a part of the setup routine as it should be. Exploits are a part of technology, for sure, but educating the masses on what to do to prevent it needs to come to the forefront.
But technology is daunting to the average person. Most do not realize the danger involved. There are those who might suggest that people who don't change their password deserve what they get, and maybe there's a case to be made there. But companies and manufacturers need to be more responsible about getting the word out that defaults are a bad thing. Most manuals - not that I read 'em
OK, help me out here. A few years ago weren't the open source folks crying that no one was taking their clearly-superior products seriously? Now a few large companies are utilizing it and promoting it and taking it seriously, and we're still crying? Hmmmmmm.
"Obscurity" is a bit strong, but your point is well taken. I paid $5000 for my 50" plasma TV less than two years ago, and now I've seen them online for as low as $1500. If someone had told me that essentially the same TV would drop in price by two-thirds within that time frame, I'd have thought them nuts. With that kind of dramatic price drop, 1080p units will likely become the defacto standard within a reasonable time frame. Right now though, you're right, it ain't worth the "upgrade"
I agree that immediate termination seems harsh on the surface, but none of us know the back story on any of this. I've seen many times where an employee is perpetually abusive to the power they have and/or insubordinate or whatever, and management has been trying to nail them for a long time. Then, a dumb incident like this comes up and gives them the green light they'd been hoping for. Based on the situation and the harsh comments by Hayes, I think this smells suspiciously like one of those times. Seems highly doubtful that this was Smith's first offense.
My stolen MP3s won't play anymore!!
When did copying ones own CDs to MP3 format become stealing? Did you even read the post at Guardian? Get with the program, Gomer!
Very descriptive. You should write greeting cards. I'll never eat Mexican food again. I may never eat again.
I always heard the redneck joke as "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!"..........
I have no scam stories, and I suspect few people do. This wanker Stewart Richardson is an aberration, and to think otherwise is a disservice to the untold thousands of legitimate exchanges that take place on ebay every day.
I personally have done 40-odd transactions as both a buyer and a seller. I have made good money selling stuff I didn't need, and found great prices on hard to find items for myself. It's gotten to the point where, if I need to buy something, I check ebay first. And, I have not had a single bad experience.
I realize my good experiences do not diminish the loss felt by those whom this dork scammed, but I am not daunted by it and will continue to use ebay. Fraud is part of human life, unfortunately, in and out of ebay.
This one struck me as odd, too. Don't believe I've ever seen a mouse "follow" cheese. Wasn't even aware that cheese could move. The MIT folks may be brilliant, but they ain't creative.
Agreed. I felt this way when I watched the "improved" EP4, with the bright and shiny new digital creatures and so forth. It seemed like a part of my youth had been robbed from me. George Lucas took one of the most beloved and successful films of all time and altered it, which to me was tantamount to taking the Gettysburg address and replacing "Four score and seven" with "87". It may be sleeker, but it's less artistically pleasing. I love technology, but it shouldn't do everything.
-F
"When you smell an odorless gas, it's probably carbon monoxide"
I can say it. Can you spell it?
-F
I'll agree that the squatting is a problem; it's the 90s equivalent of ticket scalping. But you're in effect advocating a several hundred percent tax, which is ridiculous. I agree with Airneil, the only people that suffer in that case are the hobbyists like myself. Just can't justify it.
.org, .com, and .net forces people to be more creative with their site names, and creativity is always a cool thing.
On the up side, the fact that most every word in the English language has already been registered in
-F
Whoa, slow down. You've taken one line out of context and turned me into Charles Manson. Though your venom is entirely unwarranted, I'll partially blame myself for throwing out a controversial political view in a terse forum such as Slashdot.
The fact is, our educational system largely is no longer about educating, it's about cash, and to a lesser extent, it's about a leftist political view (One which you seem to share). I worked in a number of public schools for nearly a decade and that's one of the primary reeasons I left. This is a difficult subject to debate in a short space, but those are the basics. Government uses the "Let's do it for the children" argument to pass any lame legislation they have, and folks like yourself seem only too willing buy into it.
Regarding your other points: 1. I don't measure compassion by how much money the government gives to people. Additionally, the quality of life of the USA's poorest citizens is light years ahead of the poor in virtually any other country. You want to see truly poor people? Go to Haiti or other third world countries and you'll know what poor REALLY is. I'm not saying this is a good thing, only offering some perspective. 2. I'm not sure how the DOI came into this, but following your logic, everything needs to be free. I need a multiprocessor DEC Alpha server to be happy, so the government should get one for me. 3. I doubt I need a logic class, but you need a reading class. I never even so much as inferred that I am the only one who is entitled to anything.
Since we're way off topic here, I'll stop. And feel free to blame my loving, hardworking parents for my attitude. I do. And I thank God every day for it. See ya.
-F
Still proud to be an American
I'm confused. I thought Al Gore was the capital.
-F
Well, first, I agree with you one one point - I think the Internet will be taxed. Greedy government types have been salivating at the possibility for too long, and those in Washington who love taxpayer money are having veritable siezures watching this revenue pool go untapped.
Unfortunately, it's the second part of your post that gives me siezures. I'm sick of the attitude that everything needs to be funded by public money. We don't NEED public transportation, we don't even NEED public schools. As a product of private schools, I am living proof. Somewhere, some way, somehow, someone needs to stand up and say "Enough", and realize that the government is not the solution, it's the problem. So the fact is, we can cut off one revenue source without drilling into another, if we will only have the guts to do it. Allow me to join Senator McCain in championing this idea.
So there.
-F
Valid points, all, but I would respectfully disagree with you on the "successful business plan" idea. I think both of those companies have achieved their status not through their technology, dumb or not, but through their unbelievable, world-class marketing.
Perhaps I'm splitting hairs here, but I believe there's a difference between "making usable" and "dumbing down". Companies like AOL are trying to convince people that computers are like toasters, just plug 'em in and they work! They aren't. There's a learning curve. Back in my desktop support days, AOL was the bane of my existence because of how it would intrusively whack a PC, all in the name of "ease".
And, yeah, we're all dopey, me more than most. But when someone can't properly string together the phrase "America On Line", they've truly EARNED the moniker..........
-F
Exactly. Exactly! This is amazing coming from a company whose only claim to fame is setting up modems around the country and dumbing down technology to a point where even the previous kings in that arena, M$, could never compete. Most people I know who use AOL are so dopey that they can't even say the NAME right, calling it "American On Line". Then they buys a truly innovative company like Netscape and corrode it slowly from within. What's gone wrong with the world? I need sedation.
-F
If there was ever a company that had the potential to be as pompous and megalomaniacal as Microsoft, it's Sun. Remember a few years ago when they were threatening lawsuits against anything and everything that had the letters JAVA anywhere? If they win over MS, it will be a scene like the end of Orwell's Animal Farm.
The good news is, it won't happen. People are in love with speed and convenience. Even the most powerful Intel machines don't run software as fast as people want, so a network connection certainly isn't going to fulfill the need. Maybe someday when we all have full-time gigabit connections directly to our desktops and never want for speed during even the most intensive operations, Sun's vision may become reality. Considering that I live in a major metropolitan area and don't even have ADSL or a cable modem available yet, I think we're still years away from that scenario.
Linux lovers, relax.
-F
Thanks to both of you for your replies. I'll pursue those avenues and contribute as best I can.
Fortissimo
I would love to help out with this or any similar project, but I'm not sure how. I have good writing skills, and have been using Linux as a hobby for a couple of years, but I lack programming knowledge or any in-depth configuration skills. However, I would certainly be able to take the ruminations of a more technical person and parlay those into a form readable by regular folks. And, after everything I've downloaded over the years, I'd be happy to work for free. Is this a viable skill? Any suggestions?
On the other hand, didn't anyone see Star Trek 4? If we don't save every animal that's ever lived, aliens will send a probe to communicate with them that will destroy the planet. So we're waxed either way. Life sucks.