If the government has to contend with 0.1% of the population who are loud malcontents, the malcontents have a problem. If the government has to deal with 90% of the population who are loud malcontents, the government has a problem. They can't put us all in jail or shoot us.
I don't know where and why this keeps coming up, but at the end of the day, the death of the PC won't happen for a while, for many reasons:
1) Creation vs. Consumption
I hear this bullshit a lot as the main driver for the death of the PC. This is a particularly specious argument. The whole creation vs. consumption aspect comes from creating content. While I can type on a tablet or other device, it is not as good (no matter the method) as a keyboard. I can type this entire post in 20 minutes on a keyboard but would take hours (and having fun with spell check, etc.) on some tablet device.
This is one of my pet peeves. I often read "Oh, Joe Sixpack only consumes content". Not true. Joe reads Facebook, but he also posts. He might have some pretty long posts to go with his cat videos. And that is much clunkier on a tablet than on a laptop. Joe probably doesn't need a fancy new laptop, but he's not going to toss out his 5 y/o box just because some pundit says it's "dying".
If you mean exclusively on small factor touchscreens, sure, I agree. An iPad isn't going to replace a dedicated home cinema room any time soon, or a hardcore gamer's custom rig, or a CAD workstation at the office.
But for routine use, that ship already sailed. Smartphones are ubiquitous when people are out. Tablets are becoming ubiquitous around the house, for the kind of household that used to have multiple PCs or laptops instead. Bazillions of people are quite happy sending e-mails, checking Facebook, or catching up on a missed TV show on these devices, and for many of those people that already meets the majority of their needs.
Not everyone cares about playing AAA games on a PC (they have consoles for that) or running business applications (they go to work for that) or writing software. And to a first approximation, no-one cares about command lines. Real PCs aren't going anywhere for those who do want to do these things, but there's no point pretending that a water-cooled 4th generation i7 is necessary for reading e-mail.
Here's a problem. I can certainly look at email, facebook, or even slashdot on my iDevice. But at some point, I'm going to want to tell someone they're an idiot, and that is very clunky on the tablet/phone. Even when I'm mostly reading my favorite forum (s), I prefer my laptop so I can rant at someone without switching devices. And, unlike the commandline, that's something a normal person would be interested in.
Exactly. I bought the iPad Air because it was better than my iPad 1. I plan to buy a new TV because it's better than my ancient set. I see very little difference between the computers on the shelf at WorstBuy and the computers in my house, except the latter have more dust on the screens.
I used to consider my email pw medium security. After all, my emails aren't that important. After I realized just how many important accounts, including banks, were tied to it, I changed the pw.
My problem is being able to correctly type long character strings containing caps and special characters without visual feedback. I could make my passwords much longer if I could see them as I type them.
I don't have much trouble with that on my computer, but it's a PITA on my iStuff, with neither visual nor tactile feedback.
Agreed! One of my credit card sites used to allow only alphanumerics, so my "standard" pw wasn't allowed because of special characters. They've fixed that problem, but I'm sure there's still plenty that still do that.
Bitcoin has been around for quite a while, and nothing special seemed to be happening with it. Then along came the Wikileaks release of information that genuinely infuriated the United States. All of a sudden, PayPal, several imitators and all the major credit card companies decided not to process donations to the organization.
Time passes, and people who might not want the United States to have final say over their financial arrangements were just starting to move lazily toward some form of anonymous money transfer.
Then the Snowden situation arose, and those people got their noses rubbed in the fact that the kind of spying and control they were worried about in a vague way was on-going, comprehensive, and aimed at everybody from heads of state to some granny who attended an Occupy demonstration.
So they got the message: We need a way to move money anonymously, and we need it right this minute.
Enter Bitcoin. (dramatic music)
In addition, there was Cyprus, where the banks were threating to take a bunch of people's money.
Yes, because begging your congressman for treatment is a far better system.
Worse than that. You might vote out your congressman, but when your life is in the hands of some 2-bit bureaucrat appointed by Obama or Sebilious (sic), you're really screwed!
To me, the difference is how widely it's useful. My mom's cat isn't currency, because there's maybe 3 people in the world who would want it, and 2 are probably staving people in Africa. The dirty green paper in my wallet IS currency because I can take it anywhere and exchange it for food, gas, drugs, and tech. Bitcoins are somewhere in between.
Awhile back I got a phone call at 10PM. I answered it, partly because I thought it might be my brother, and mostly because I was mostly asleep. The guy mumbled something in an Indian accent that I couldn't understand, though I did catch something about my computer being slow. I mumbled something back, that he probably couldn't understand (I told you I wasn't awake), and hung up. Next morning, I realized that it was an attempted scam.
Quicker fix....return the TV. Wow, I can't believe people won't use the power given them by their wallet, it's not a feature any user would ask to be added to a TV so why 'buy it'...you can just skip this TV and buy a different one if you must have a TV to begin with.
That ASSumes the different TV isn't spying on you too.
Slashdot Mirror
My problem isn't that I can't sing. It's just a little distracting when everyone keeps throwing rotten fruit at me while I'm singing.
They can nail you no mater which direction you are from them.
If the government has to contend with 0.1% of the population who are loud malcontents, the malcontents have a problem. If the government has to deal with 90% of the population who are loud malcontents, the government has a problem. They can't put us all in jail or shoot us.
Well, they HAVE been stockpiling ammo!
I have no fear of talking about ****, and some ***, and if ***** doesn't like it he can ****!
So, does that mean the Federal Government can collect $183K from all those people who crashed healthcare.gov?
I don't know where and why this keeps coming up, but at the end of the day, the death of the PC won't happen for a while, for many reasons:
1) Creation vs. Consumption
I hear this bullshit a lot as the main driver for the death of the PC. This is a particularly specious argument. The whole creation vs. consumption aspect comes from creating content. While I can type on a tablet or other device, it is not as good (no matter the method) as a keyboard. I can type this entire post in 20 minutes on a keyboard but would take hours (and having fun with spell check, etc.) on some tablet device.
This is one of my pet peeves. I often read "Oh, Joe Sixpack only consumes content". Not true. Joe reads Facebook, but he also posts. He might have some pretty long posts to go with his cat videos. And that is much clunkier on a tablet than on a laptop. Joe probably doesn't need a fancy new laptop, but he's not going to toss out his 5 y/o box just because some pundit says it's "dying".
If you mean exclusively on small factor touchscreens, sure, I agree. An iPad isn't going to replace a dedicated home cinema room any time soon, or a hardcore gamer's custom rig, or a CAD workstation at the office.
But for routine use, that ship already sailed. Smartphones are ubiquitous when people are out. Tablets are becoming ubiquitous around the house, for the kind of household that used to have multiple PCs or laptops instead. Bazillions of people are quite happy sending e-mails, checking Facebook, or catching up on a missed TV show on these devices, and for many of those people that already meets the majority of their needs.
Not everyone cares about playing AAA games on a PC (they have consoles for that) or running business applications (they go to work for that) or writing software. And to a first approximation, no-one cares about command lines. Real PCs aren't going anywhere for those who do want to do these things, but there's no point pretending that a water-cooled 4th generation i7 is necessary for reading e-mail.
Here's a problem. I can certainly look at email, facebook, or even slashdot on my iDevice. But at some point, I'm going to want to tell someone they're an idiot, and that is very clunky on the tablet/phone. Even when I'm mostly reading my favorite forum (s), I prefer my laptop so I can rant at someone without switching devices. And, unlike the commandline, that's something a normal person would be interested in.
Exactly. I bought the iPad Air because it was better than my iPad 1. I plan to buy a new TV because it's better than my ancient set. I see very little difference between the computers on the shelf at WorstBuy and the computers in my house, except the latter have more dust on the screens.
But, we DO release mentally impaired people into the bushes (urban).
I used to consider my email pw medium security. After all, my emails aren't that important. After I realized just how many important accounts, including banks, were tied to it, I changed the pw.
My problem is being able to correctly type long character strings containing caps and special characters without visual feedback.
I could make my passwords much longer if I could see them as I type them.
I don't have much trouble with that on my computer, but it's a PITA on my iStuff, with neither visual nor tactile feedback.
If politicians are considered people, chimps certainly would qualify.
Agreed! One of my credit card sites used to allow only alphanumerics, so my "standard" pw wasn't allowed because of special characters. They've fixed that problem, but I'm sure there's still plenty that still do that.
I didn't know anyone thought Romneycare was any good.
IMO, whenever a politician says "period", that's when you should question him.
Bitcoin has been around for quite a while, and nothing special seemed to be happening with it. Then along came the Wikileaks release of information that genuinely infuriated the United States. All of a sudden, PayPal, several imitators and all the major credit card companies decided not to process donations to the organization.
Time passes, and people who might not want the United States to have final say over their financial arrangements were just starting to move lazily toward some form of anonymous money transfer.
Then the Snowden situation arose, and those people got their noses rubbed in the fact that the kind of spying and control they were worried about in a vague way was on-going, comprehensive, and aimed at everybody from heads of state to some granny who attended an Occupy demonstration.
So they got the message: We need a way to move money anonymously, and we need it right this minute.
Enter Bitcoin. (dramatic music)
In addition, there was Cyprus, where the banks were threating to take a bunch of people's money.
I wish I'd bought some when they were $100. Maybe I will after the next crash.
I can fly into orbit with bitcoin, but I still can't buy a hotdog. :-P
To be fair, maybe he really was trying to say the point couldn't talk.
Absolutely! I'm in my 50s, and I've taken antibiotics twice, both preventative after dental work. Cuts and scrapes get soap and bandages.
Yes, because begging your congressman for treatment is a far better system.
Worse than that. You might vote out your congressman, but when your life is in the hands of some 2-bit bureaucrat appointed by Obama or Sebilious (sic), you're really screwed!
To me, the difference is how widely it's useful. My mom's cat isn't currency, because there's maybe 3 people in the world who would want it, and 2 are probably staving people in Africa. The dirty green paper in my wallet IS currency because I can take it anywhere and exchange it for food, gas, drugs, and tech. Bitcoins are somewhere in between.
Awhile back I got a phone call at 10PM. I answered it, partly because I thought it might be my brother, and mostly because I was mostly asleep. The guy mumbled something in an Indian accent that I couldn't understand, though I did catch something about my computer being slow. I mumbled something back, that he probably couldn't understand (I told you I wasn't awake), and hung up. Next morning, I realized that it was an attempted scam.
I AM anti-social, you insensitive clod!
Quicker fix....return the TV. Wow, I can't believe people won't use the power given them by their wallet, it's not a feature any user would ask to be added to a TV so why 'buy it'...you can just skip this TV and buy a different one if you must have a TV to begin with.
That ASSumes the different TV isn't spying on you too.