My Mom was proactive and bought a Mac a few months ago. She had problems with connecting to the Internet.
Since I know little about the Mac and how it accomplishes such things, and since I live about 2500 miles away from here, I said "Um, Sorry Mom, call Apple".
And so she did. And to my amazement, they solved her problem. Not only that, but she actually emailed her good experiences to me within a couple hours.
I have to admit this is the only good tech support experience I've heard from a PC company. Years ago, when I had a PC from another well known company, the tech support guys made me jump through 1000 hoops before they'd admit to a problem that could be fixed with a BIOS upgrade.
So does anyone have any info on the GPS componentry of their craft? I'm interested in different but related projects, but I have a tough time learning about the GPS modules that are available...
Commercial speech has a much lower standard and much lower protection than private speech. That's why it's illegal to lie and distort the truth in commercial speech. This is just according to the supreme court of the US - maybe your country is different.
For more information about the US, see http://www.abuse.net/commercial.html
Clearly, a $500 fine per unsolicited fax is a lot of money now... and in 1991, when the law was passed.
But imagine a world where this law didn't exist. There would be many many more organizations that spam fax materials to every number they can find. IN the end, the FAX would become a useless device, where there would be 99% noise and only 1% light.
Therefore, congress passed this law to protect such forseen abuse. At the time, FAX machines were the next great electronic technology, and they had to be protected to be a success.
Now email is on the verge of failure. Many people get 10, 20 or more unsolicited email advertisements per legitamate business correspondence. Clearly, such misuse of email infrustrutre is damaging this new technology. Children can no longer use email due to the pornography advertisements; business people must wade through dozens of junk messages to find the important ones.
Therefore, congress should act now to protect this new and cost-saving technology. Otherwise, it'll be too late, and email will fall out of favor with the business world.
The law that was invoked only applies to messages sent to a Telephone Fax machine... and therefore doesn't apply to email. Bummer. Clearly, the law could be extended to include email.
And although it won't stop all spam, those who spam (and those who try to advertise via spam) will be at risk of significant fines. Plus, recipients will know that the messaging is illegal, and will be more likely to take action to protect their resources versus merely tolerating the crap and clicking "delete".
Finally, a well-written article that highlights the downside of spam.
Yeah, we all know that email is a "powerful new marketing tool", but few have written about how much negative impact it has to the economy and our everyday lives.
I have an email address that I've never given out, and 90% of the messages I receive are spam. The email address on this posting ONLY receives spam... mostly in some funky character set that I can't bother to being to read. This address gets about 40 a day (and likely more after this posting).
So, industry self-regulation? Well that doesn't seem to work - and it didn't work with Enron (or WoldCom or Andersen or...)
So I think it's time that we hit them where it hurts. Pass -strong- laws. Pass laws that permit individuals to sue in certain circumstances.
They passed laws to control the misuse of FAX machines... and although not perfect, they do help. Then again, how many people do you know that have a fax machine at home? Betcha most people have unplugged theirs due to FAX Spam.
More accurate than today even!
on
The Bulova Accutron
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
To think that a 1960's tuning-fork watch can, given the right conditions, be more accurate than the clocks that service 100,000+ people!
Alas, most clock services seem to be wrong. My VCR continually records programs at the wrong time. And it's a VCR with a "self setting" clock. It's about 2 minutes wrong.... thanks to a lame broadcaster who doesn't know how to synch a clock.
This site even tries to make a summary of inaccurate (public) clocks in some guy's world... crazy!
(Yeah, I know that the Bulova wasn't that super accurate, but it's the principle of the thing! We should have better time 40 years later!)
I was never a big Star Trek fan, but I saw many of the movies as a kid. I only really remember two of the movies.
Without a doubt, the best one was "Kahn". Ricardo Montalban did an amazing job, and the details of his performance are still with me 20 years later.
I remember one other Star Trek movie - the one with the whales. Now I like whales and all, but that movie totally sucked... it went from Science Fiction to Freakin' Stupid Fiction.
It sucked so bad that I remember it. It would have been better if they had a role for Tattoo in there.
To think that a 1960's tuning-fork watch can, given the right conditions, be more accurate than the clocks that service 100,000+ people!
Alas, most clock services seem to be wrong. My VCR continually records programs at the wrong time. And it's a VCR with a "self setting" clock. It's about 2 minutes wrong.... thanks to a lame broadcaster who doesn't know how to synch a clock.
This site even tries to make a summary of inaccurate (public) clocks in some guy's world... crazy!
(Yeah, I know that the Bulova wasn't that super accurate, but it's the principle of the thing! We should have better time 40 years later!)
Let's see, I create this voting machine and no one can see how it works.
Happily, I go into the booth to vote. I want Biff Emerson to win the election, so by hitting keys in a certain sequence it transfers 4% of the votes from other candidates to my candidate! After all, my candidat is all for voting machine contracts!
What's to stop it? Where is the public auditability of the system? Should we allow this type of potential in our voting? It sounds like a parallel to the old Enron/Author Andersen deal.
Oh no, I don't need a lesson in elemetary logic. You mis-read my statements that were written in English. Whoops! That's OK, even Marilyn vos Savant makes stupid mistakes like that.
I didn't say that I was doing a full economic analysis of the situation. I was just stating that the economy is not simply composed of "large software companies that make most of their $ from product sales"
These are the folks, in my opinion, who are pushing the opinion that open source hurts THE economy.
I'm saying that these folks are missing the analysis of the REST of the economy - which includes me, thousands like me, and other large and small businesses across this great land of ours and theirs.
Hey! Why can't anyone read and interpret my comment as written???!!!
I said if someone was developing a perl plug-in, I'd join them! I didn't say "hey, what the hell, why won't someone do something for me for free".
What I said (quite clearly) was: 1. Is there a serious perl effort? 2. If so, that's cool, AND 3. If so, I'm willing to help!
Geez, just because I don't think I have enough experience to begin the project doesn't mean that I am unwilling to participate and give what I can to the cause. And I don't want to start another parallel effort if others are already working on it.
But given the "just do it yourself and shut up" comments imply that no one in the Perl community cares, and so therefore either this is a new thought, or that I'm insane because no one else cares.
In any case, the "do it yourself or shut up" crowd is a little to anal for my tastes. If you can't provide value to the discussion, then don't bother replying - you'll just end up looking like an a$$hole.
But when will it support that most popular of languages, Perl? I hear talk, but I don't see action! Is there a serious effort for Perl? That'd rock, and I'd join 'em immediately!
I don't know about you, but I make a living using open source software. I contribute a little bit, but I leverage open source a lot.
So how can anyone say that open source is bad for business? I happen to be a business of one person, focusing on open source software consulting. My expenses are low and the value I provide is high.
And I'm quite profitable, thank you very much.
How many others here can claim that? I bet that thousands can.
If anyone claims that Open Source is doing anything but improving business and the economy, send them my way. I'll show them my piece of the world. And I'm far from being alone.
But it looks like some people in one particular software business wants to shut down my business. I'll fight that to the end.
Heroes don't need to change the world. Heroes don't need to be perfect. Heroes don't need to save lives. Heroes don't need to be martyrs.
He need not be your hero to be my hero.
John Entwistle was a bassist. Being a bassist brought him into the limelight. But being a bassist didn't make him my hero. Being John Entwistle, the person, made him my hero.
Let's be honest here - Microsoft has trouble on it's horizon.
Microsoft has sold a lot of Windows 95 and Windows 98. And sad to say, these so-called "operating systems" are good enough for my mom and dad (and sister and grandfather and girlfriend and boss).
Now what? What is Microsoft releasing that would convince my family to upgrade their PCs? To be honest, nothing but hardware failure will convince them to do that. They're happy with their 5 year old PCs, and such longevity is sure to hit Microsoft's bottom line.
The answer? A new security scheme that makes it impossible to run new programs on old hardware. A scheme that also negatively impacts unauthorized vendors (including "open source"). And a scheme that forces users to upgrade on a period basis just so programs will work.
Let's be honest - microsoft has some of the best business people in the world. And they're smart. They recognize this issue and plan to leverage it for profit.... not for innovation or customer experience.
The answer? Disable Outlook - in my opinion, Outlook is the biggest computer security issue ever. It's a nice email client (in general terms), but the security issues have been out of control.
The article says, "people will have to trust Microsoft".
Now ignoring all the heat that Microsoft gets around these parts, it's usually a bad idea to trust one entity:
- Hollywood trusted DVD encryption - Stock holders trusted Enron and Tyco - Investors trusted Merrill Lynch & Author Andersen - Pinto owners trusted Ford
Obviously, even with the billions at risk, a trust to not screw up is more of a faith. A prayer. A hope.
The difference here is that even more people will be putting their faith that Microsoft will do the right thing morally, and that microsoft will not screw up. Will not screw up even once. Like they'll never release a Microsoft Bob again.
Unlikely.
Sadly, if Microsoft wants to pursue this effort, it really has to be open, and, dare I say it, well regulated with many legal protections for the consumer.
In my previous job for a large corporation, there was a programmer who decided that it would be a good idea to install such a switch. In the event he didn't update a particular file at least once within 30 days, a job would start slowly corrupting an accounts receivable database.
Unfortuantely for him, he was severely injured in a car accident and was incapacitated for several months.
Now that he is out of the hospital, he's in jail.
Was it his fault? You bet. But the company was also severely repremanded for having poor controls on sensitive computing systems.
> Yahoo News are currently running a story, Tablet > PCs gaining momentum, describing a renewed > enthusiam among computer manufacturers for Tablet > PCs, in the face of skeptics who are, apparently, > abounding.
Not quite. The article mentions that Fujitsu is having a go at it, and implies that they'll be using Microsoft's new "Tablet-aware" Windows XP.
But the article doesn't claim that sales are up, or that anyone is making any money on these things. The only pundits seem to be those who are marketing product.
> I may meet resistance from the current project > managers - many of them have been hired with no > previous experience of anything.
Really? Wow, you work in an organization where they hire managers without experience, but they also hire quality programmers? Hum, sounds fishy.
> Previous suggestions to senior management > that myself and other developers would feel > better with a technical person running projects > have been dismissed.
As someone who hasn't actually managed a project, you're in no position to assess the situation.
Clearly you can't see or understand your colleauges' contributions or experience. Therefore, you are likely in no position to be a project manager.
You get to be a project manager by proving yourself, not by telling your management that you're better than others.
> Has anyone else found the barrier to project > management is their technical knowledge. > How did you get past it?
No, the barrier is being an egotistical programmers who thinks that they're better than non-technical people. That's the real barrier.
I'm technical. But I appreciate quality management, and I understand that they have critical value to the projects we pursue.
I think that's a start. But I also think you're many years away from being a good project manager. Given your attitude, I'd hate to work with you.
Sorry, but the.za domain -should- be in the hands of the South African government... and not under the fully control of an individual citizen who could go off the deep end at any moment. Or get hit by a bus.
So the keys are hidden. What if he DOES get hit by a bus in the next week? THEN what happens???? This is NOT a good situation.
With government ownership and control, the South African government can be responsible for the success or failure of the domain.
The people and institutions in South Africa may thank him for his efforts and may want him to continue to be involved in the domain. However, few of those same people support his tactics.
Re:Every movie with Robin Williams Sucks
on
Review: Insomnia
·
· Score: 2
Yay! I agree. I dislike Robin Williams in almost everything I see.
I don't think he's a bad person, I just enjoy very little of his work. I'm glad he gets good roles and he makes a good buck, but for some reason he's always Robin Williams, beard or not.
Robin Williams doesn't necessarily ruin movies, and I've enjoyed some movies where he isn't the lead. For instance, I don't think Williams negatively impacted Insomnia (although I didn't enjoy it as much as others... it was a little dull and the plot could have used a little refinement.)
Then again, I feel almost the same about movies with Al. I liked "Dog Day Afternoon" tho. Hum, wasn't Robin Williams in that too? Er, no.
Slashdot Mirror
My Mom was proactive and bought a Mac a few months ago. She had problems with connecting to the Internet.
Since I know little about the Mac and how it accomplishes such things, and since I live about 2500 miles away from here, I said "Um, Sorry Mom, call Apple".
And so she did. And to my amazement, they solved her problem. Not only that, but she actually emailed her good experiences to me within a couple hours.
I have to admit this is the only good tech support experience I've heard from a PC company. Years ago, when I had a PC from another well known company, the tech support guys made me jump through 1000 hoops before they'd admit to a problem that could be fixed with a BIOS upgrade.
Apple didn't make my Mom do that!
So does anyone have any info on the GPS componentry of their craft? I'm interested in different but related projects, but I have a tough time learning about the GPS modules that are available...
Oh, sorry, I'm refering to the United States.
Commercial speech has a much lower standard and much lower protection than private speech. That's why it's illegal to lie and distort the truth in commercial speech. This is just according to the supreme court of the US - maybe your country is different.
For more information about the US, see http://www.abuse.net/commercial.html
Clearly, a $500 fine per unsolicited fax is a lot of money now... and in 1991, when the law was passed.
But imagine a world where this law didn't exist. There would be many many more organizations that spam fax materials to every number they can find. IN the end, the FAX would become a useless device, where there would be 99% noise and only 1% light.
Therefore, congress passed this law to protect such forseen abuse. At the time, FAX machines were the next great electronic technology, and they had to be protected to be a success.
Now email is on the verge of failure. Many people get 10, 20 or more unsolicited email advertisements per legitamate business correspondence. Clearly, such misuse of email infrustrutre is damaging this new technology. Children can no longer use email due to the pornography advertisements; business people must wade through dozens of junk messages to find the important ones.
Therefore, congress should act now to protect this new and cost-saving technology. Otherwise, it'll be too late, and email will fall out of favor with the business world.
The law that was invoked only applies to messages sent to a Telephone Fax machine... and therefore doesn't apply to email. Bummer. Clearly, the law could be extended to include email.
And although it won't stop all spam, those who spam (and those who try to advertise via spam) will be at risk of significant fines. Plus, recipients will know that the messaging is illegal, and will be more likely to take action to protect their resources versus merely tolerating the crap and clicking "delete".
Because I have automated jobs that send me status reports to the account.
That's how. Now get back to working on your essay for your GED studies!
Finally, a well-written article that highlights the downside of spam.
...)
Yeah, we all know that email is a "powerful new marketing tool", but few have written about how much negative impact it has to the economy and our everyday lives.
I have an email address that I've never given out, and 90% of the messages I receive are spam. The email address on this posting ONLY receives spam... mostly in some funky character set that I can't bother to being to read. This address gets about 40 a day (and likely more after this posting).
So, industry self-regulation? Well that doesn't seem to work - and it didn't work with Enron (or WoldCom or Andersen or
So I think it's time that we hit them where it hurts. Pass -strong- laws. Pass laws that permit individuals to sue in certain circumstances.
They passed laws to control the misuse of FAX machines... and although not perfect, they do help. Then again, how many people do you know that have a fax machine at home? Betcha most people have unplugged theirs due to FAX Spam.
To think that a 1960's tuning-fork watch can, given the right conditions, be more accurate than the clocks that service 100,000+ people!
Alas, most clock services seem to be wrong. My VCR continually records programs at the wrong time. And it's a VCR with a "self setting" clock. It's about 2 minutes wrong.... thanks to a lame broadcaster who doesn't know how to synch a clock.
This site even tries to make a summary of inaccurate (public) clocks in some guy's world... crazy!
(Yeah, I know that the Bulova wasn't that super accurate, but it's the principle of the thing! We should have better time 40 years later!)
I was never a big Star Trek fan, but I saw many of the movies as a kid. I only really remember two of the movies.
... it went from Science Fiction to Freakin' Stupid Fiction.
Without a doubt, the best one was "Kahn". Ricardo Montalban did an amazing job, and the details of his performance are still with me 20 years later.
I remember one other Star Trek movie - the one with the whales. Now I like whales and all, but that movie totally sucked
It sucked so bad that I remember it. It would have been better if they had a role for Tattoo in there.
To think that a 1960's tuning-fork watch can, given the right conditions, be more accurate than the clocks that service 100,000+ people!
Alas, most clock services seem to be wrong. My VCR continually records programs at the wrong time. And it's a VCR with a "self setting" clock. It's about 2 minutes wrong.... thanks to a lame broadcaster who doesn't know how to synch a clock.
This site even tries to make a summary of inaccurate (public) clocks in some guy's world... crazy!
(Yeah, I know that the Bulova wasn't that super accurate, but it's the principle of the thing! We should have better time 40 years later!)
Let's see, I create this voting machine and no one can see how it works.
Happily, I go into the booth to vote. I want Biff Emerson to win the election, so by hitting keys in a certain sequence it transfers 4% of the votes from other candidates to my candidate! After all, my candidat is all for voting machine contracts!
What's to stop it? Where is the public auditability of the system? Should we allow this type of potential in our voting? It sounds like a parallel to the old Enron/Author Andersen deal.
Oh no, I don't need a lesson in elemetary logic. You mis-read my statements that were written in English. Whoops! That's OK, even Marilyn vos Savant makes stupid mistakes like that.
I didn't say that I was doing a full economic analysis of the situation. I was just stating that the economy is not simply composed of "large software companies that make most of their $ from product sales"
These are the folks, in my opinion, who are pushing the opinion that open source hurts THE economy.
I'm saying that these folks are missing the analysis of the REST of the economy - which includes me, thousands like me, and other large and small businesses across this great land of ours and theirs.
Hey! Why can't anyone read and interpret my comment as written???!!!
I said if someone was developing a perl plug-in, I'd join them! I didn't say "hey, what the hell, why won't someone do something for me for free".
What I said (quite clearly) was:
1. Is there a serious perl effort?
2. If so, that's cool, AND
3. If so, I'm willing to help!
Geez, just because I don't think I have enough experience to begin the project doesn't mean that I am unwilling to participate and give what I can to the cause. And I don't want to start another parallel effort if others are already working on it.
But given the "just do it yourself and shut up" comments imply that no one in the Perl community cares, and so therefore either this is a new thought, or that I'm insane because no one else cares.
In any case, the "do it yourself or shut up" crowd is a little to anal for my tastes. If you can't provide value to the discussion, then don't bother replying - you'll just end up looking like an a$$hole.
But when will it support that most popular of languages, Perl? I hear talk, but I don't see action! Is there a serious effort for Perl? That'd rock, and I'd join 'em immediately!
I don't know about you, but I make a living using open source software. I contribute a little bit, but I leverage open source a lot.
So how can anyone say that open source is bad for business? I happen to be a business of one person, focusing on open source software consulting. My expenses are low and the value I provide is high.
And I'm quite profitable, thank you very much.
How many others here can claim that? I bet that thousands can.
If anyone claims that Open Source is doing anything but improving business and the economy, send them my way. I'll show them my piece of the world. And I'm far from being alone.
But it looks like some people in one particular software business wants to shut down my business. I'll fight that to the end.
Heroes don't need to change the world.
Heroes don't need to be perfect.
Heroes don't need to save lives.
Heroes don't need to be martyrs.
He need not be your hero to be my hero.
John Entwistle was a bassist. Being a bassist brought him into the limelight. But being a bassist didn't make him my hero. Being John Entwistle, the person, made him my hero.
Flaws and all.
Some may say that this is not a slashdot topic.
I agree.
But the editors have determined that this is appropriate for the slashdot audience.
I agree.
It's another sad day. It's another hero that I'll miss.
Best of luck to you John.
Let's be honest here - Microsoft has trouble on it's horizon.
Microsoft has sold a lot of Windows 95 and Windows 98. And sad to say, these so-called "operating systems" are good enough for my mom and dad (and sister and grandfather and girlfriend and boss).
Now what? What is Microsoft releasing that would convince my family to upgrade their PCs? To be honest, nothing but hardware failure will convince them to do that. They're happy with their 5 year old PCs, and such longevity is sure to hit Microsoft's bottom line.
The answer? A new security scheme that makes it impossible to run new programs on old hardware. A scheme that also negatively impacts unauthorized vendors (including "open source"). And a scheme that forces users to upgrade on a period basis just so programs will work.
Let's be honest - microsoft has some of the best business people in the world. And they're smart. They recognize this issue and plan to leverage it for profit.... not for innovation or customer experience.
The answer? Disable Outlook - in my opinion, Outlook is the biggest computer security issue ever. It's a nice email client (in general terms), but the security issues have been out of control.
The article says, "people will have to trust Microsoft".
Now ignoring all the heat that Microsoft gets around these parts, it's usually a bad idea to trust one entity:
- Hollywood trusted DVD encryption
- Stock holders trusted Enron and Tyco
- Investors trusted Merrill Lynch & Author Andersen
- Pinto owners trusted Ford
Obviously, even with the billions at risk, a trust to not screw up is more of a faith. A prayer. A hope.
The difference here is that even more people will be putting their faith that Microsoft will do the right thing morally, and that microsoft will not screw up. Will not screw up even once. Like they'll never release a Microsoft Bob again.
Unlikely.
Sadly, if Microsoft wants to pursue this effort, it really has to be open, and, dare I say it, well regulated with many legal protections for the consumer.
In my previous job for a large corporation, there was a programmer who decided that it would be a good idea to install such a switch. In the event he didn't update a particular file at least once within 30 days, a job would start slowly corrupting an accounts receivable database.
Unfortuantely for him, he was severely injured in a car accident and was incapacitated for several months.
Now that he is out of the hospital, he's in jail.
Was it his fault? You bet. But the company was also severely repremanded for having poor controls on sensitive computing systems.
Yet another great reason for secure network time.
> Yahoo News are currently running a story, Tablet
> PCs gaining momentum, describing a renewed
> enthusiam among computer manufacturers for Tablet
> PCs, in the face of skeptics who are, apparently,
> abounding.
Not quite. The article mentions that Fujitsu is having a go at it, and implies that they'll be using Microsoft's new "Tablet-aware" Windows XP.
But the article doesn't claim that sales are up, or that anyone is making any money on these things. The only pundits seem to be those who are marketing product.
> I may meet resistance from the current project
> managers - many of them have been hired with no
> previous experience of anything.
Really? Wow, you work in an organization where they hire managers without experience, but they also hire quality programmers? Hum, sounds fishy.
> Previous suggestions to senior management
> that myself and other developers would feel
> better with a technical person running projects
> have been dismissed.
As someone who hasn't actually managed a project, you're in no position to assess the situation.
Clearly you can't see or understand your colleauges' contributions or experience. Therefore, you are likely in no position to be a project manager.
You get to be a project manager by proving yourself, not by telling your management that you're better than others.
> Has anyone else found the barrier to project
> management is their technical knowledge.
> How did you get past it?
No, the barrier is being an egotistical programmers who thinks that they're better than non-technical people. That's the real barrier.
I'm technical. But I appreciate quality management, and I understand that they have critical value to the projects we pursue.
I think that's a start. But I also think you're many years away from being a good project manager. Given your attitude, I'd hate to work with you.
Sorry, but the .za domain -should- be in the hands of the South African government... and not under the fully control of an individual citizen who could go off the deep end at any moment. Or get hit by a bus.
So the keys are hidden. What if he DOES get hit by a bus in the next week? THEN what happens???? This is NOT a good situation.
With government ownership and control, the South African government can be responsible for the success or failure of the domain.
The people and institutions in South Africa may thank him for his efforts and may want him to continue to be involved in the domain. However, few of those same people support his tactics.
Yay! I agree. I dislike Robin Williams in almost everything I see.
I don't think he's a bad person, I just enjoy very little of his work. I'm glad he gets good roles and he makes a good buck, but for some reason he's always Robin Williams, beard or not.
Robin Williams doesn't necessarily ruin movies, and I've enjoyed some movies where he isn't the lead. For instance, I don't think Williams negatively impacted Insomnia (although I didn't enjoy it as much as others... it was a little dull and the plot could have used a little refinement.)
Then again, I feel almost the same about movies with Al. I liked "Dog Day Afternoon" tho. Hum, wasn't Robin Williams in that too? Er, no.