PC World found that roughly 22 percent of computers break down every year -- compared to 9 percent of VCRs, 7 percent of big-screen TVs, 7 percent of clothes dryers and 8 percent of refrigerators.
People that have no idea how to operate a computer probaby have a lot to do with this. Give a computer to the average person and in a month take a look at how much shareware garbage has been installed and uninstalled, system files deleted, etc. Now maybe there's a program in the startup menu that doesn't exist, and an error message is generated at bootup. Is this a break down? Maybe, maybe not.
As we continue the clueless user starts poking around, not knowing what they're doing, but doing it anyway. "oh here's regedit.exe, let's see if that'll fix it....hmm now it won't boot....Damn fscking Dell!"
Hemos said he hasn't had nearly as many problems as the article states...neither have I. The reason probably has to do with the user. We know what we're doing, many people do not.
If Gore won the pop vote, then I really hope Bush wins the election. Nothing could please me more (except having an intelligent candidate (e.g. Browne) win, but that's just wishful thinking).
Yeah I am a big supporter of Browne, and aside form him winning, I would love the electoral / popular vote to be split. Anything to throw a big ol' monkey wrech into this trash we call a political system. However, I wish it could have turned out opposite (Gore winning the electoral and Bush the popular) because Congress is still Republican controlled and I like to see as much gridlock as possible. The less they do in Washington, the better.
Also, I love the fact that (as of now) the vote count in Florida shows a gap of less than 2,000 in favor of Bush, while Nader has about 96,000 votes. Nice to see a third party screw it up for one of the big guys!
This election is turning out better than I thought it would:)
Seriously, AOL loses too much ad revenue to clones. I can't see them allowing their servers to be used and abused by the linux masses; we're just getting too big
I burned the cd from the ISO so I had no manual. Maybe it was on the cdrom, or the website, but why isn't it in the install? That's the most important place for it. Is it so much to ask that I see it right there when I am installing?
50 cents would probably be a fair flat rate. The thing is, musical tastes are so different between many people, you can't really asess a "quality" value to music.
For example, I bought Radiohead's OK Computer, and listened to it non stop for months. I still love it. I would probably put it's value to me at $100. My Beatles cds will probably give me thousands of dollars worth of enjoyment over time.
However I can't begin to name all the cd's that I have that aren't worth anywhere NEAR the ~$15 I paid for them. (how I wish I could somehow transfer the money to the artists that actually made music I liked)
If you have to take a chance at getting a load of crap, then the price per song is going to be lower across the board....even though you might come across a few gems.
Most of the music I listen to is on small independent labels (Fat Wreck, Honest Don's, Lookout, Mutant Pop). These cds sell for $9-$12, and often that includes shipping. You would think that MASS PRODUCED cds would have much lower prices.
But they don't, and I think this settlement gives us a glimpse as to why.
NOTE: A consent agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission of a law violation.
In other words they're wrong and everyone knows it, but this saves the gov't time and $$$ in prosecuting a case, and the record compaines don't have to actually admit to anything, technically.
How many people think that this is just a quick fix by the record companies to get the feds off their back? Maybe cd prices will go down, but I can't see the prices going down any more than a dollar or two, but nowhere near where they should be.
In other words, this is probably just for show. Then when mp3 pirating continues, the monopolistic pricing excuse just won't be able to hold up.
Jon do you know how to do anything other than providing us with these insanely boring, generalized, rhetoric-filled columns that are supposed to show your "understanding" of our community?
Privacy shmrivacy. People need to learn that actions on the internet are traceable. They need to learn that you do not magically escape real life on the planet earth when you're in front of a computer screen. So what if a lot of newbies think what they do is untraceable? Just cause you feel or want it to be that way doesn't make it so.
As far as I'm concerned, the freedom on the internet YOU talk about isn't even reasonable. When I think of the freedoms the net provides, I think of people spouting off rants against things that piss them off, creative types who want their artworks shown on a global scale, merchants who can now sell things all over the world, rather than on their corner store. TRUE freedom is not recklessly breaking laws and expecting to be anonymous. What if I email a bomb threat to someone? What if I hack a bank's computer and transfer a million or two into my account? Ya gonna defend that?
The laws we have in place now allow metallica to do exactly what they're doing. They are 100% within their rights. You don't like it? Change it somehow. (I know, laws today are stupid and impossible to change for the average Joe, but that's another story).
As far as I'm concerned, this isn't even an invasion of privacy. YOU must voluntarily sign on to napster, YOU must make files available, YOU must search for and download the files, YOU must agree to the disclaimer. It's all YOUR fault if you get caught. Besides, what could even be IN that list, except a handle(username)? I suppose IP addresses could be collected, but then you would have to go to each ISP to figure out exactly WHO it is. All metallica is asking napster to do is ban these USERNAMES. It doesn't go past that, no loss of anonimity.
Katz, I also like the nice thumb of the nose to metallica by saying "this from a group that markets itself as rebels"...Nice, really nice. You know what, I don't care HOW an artist/band/thrasher/etc "markets" itself. They deserve protection under law anyways. On a related note, I wish so many slashdot posters would stop making comments such as:
--"Metallica is supposed to be rebellious/Dr. Dre raps about illegal stuff all the time"...so what? That's all image, they still deserve protection.
--"Metallica/Dr. Dre is washed up and they can't make money any other way" Also Irrelevant. (BTW, you want washed up? Look at the Napster/MP3 poster child, Chuck D. He NEVER was as popular as Metallica, and especially Dre)
--"Dr. Dre's "music" isn't even music". Gosh, you would think that people as intelligent and diverse as slashdotters could respect someone else's opinions.
You know what? Metallica has no reason to look after the "freedom" of the internet that you propose. They do have an interest in what happens to their music. Now maybe this move will backfire, maybe not. BUT the point is that they have every right to do what they are doing, and all your talk about them preserving the freedom of the internet is nothing but touchy feely BS.
Remember from now on that slashdotters are not the usual rhetoric-eating braindead fools you may encounter elsewhere. We think logically (most of us anyway) and rationally. We look at hard facts, not a bunch of empty rants that boil down to nothing at all.
And most of all, we are nerds, geeks, techies. We are not hippies or anarchists like you make us out to be.
Holy Toledo this sucks. I realize that it's only a Beta, but the problem is that they branched off in the totally wrong direction. All these funky new buttons, pointers, sidebars, integrated components....I doubt they'll remove all that stuff for the final release.
And the speed.....GAWD is it slow. To erase the location bar I hit backspace a few times, and then watched as about one character per second disappeared. (this is a K62-350, w/ 64 MB, plenty of swap). It takes at least 30 seconds to start up and open all the darned windows.
Us Linux users NEED NEED NEED konquerer, and fast!
In my opinion, another lawsuit that should be filed in this case is a class-action suit by the people who bought the software. It claims to block certain sites, and "protect" children from bad things that can be found there. But, obviously it can be circumvented, redering it useless. Has Mattel updated the product's description in light of this hack? "Protects against porno sites unless your child decides to bypass the software with an easily-obtainable software utility"
I have personal compilation cds that I made myself that have several songs from MP3.com. When you listen to punk, almost all of it comes from the "underground" anyway. I listen without prejudice, and sometimes find some real gems that are just as good as anything I would buy in stores. (Anyone that likes pop-punk should check out Juvenile Wreck or the Preschoolers.)
I think certain genres fair better than others on mp3.com. If you want Backstreet Boys clones that need big record label money to make videos and promote an image, mp3.com won't please you. However more DIY types of music, like punk, techno and hip-hop will do well on mp3.com.
Boys are wilder and more aggressive. So when there is computer time available, they will push the girls off. If teachers and parents don't do something about that, the girls won't fight back.
I don't know what to say....does this sound really ridiculous to anyone else?
The other piece is the image of people who go into this field. The image is "geeks, gadgets, and greed." It's people who you don't want to be like.
I don't see how this is a gender-specific problem. Guys don't really like being social outcasts either.
I'm all for anyone pursuing the fields and dreams they wish without any barriers, but I have a feeling there is some genetic disposition that makes males and females sway towards certain fields. Most Nursing, Psycology, Elementary Education, and Physician Assistant students at my University are women. Most CS and Engineering students are men. I think it has more to do with natural intrests and abilities and less to do with environmental factors (although that may play a small part).
What factors were involved in the decision to call your web site "open source"? Do you really, truly embrace the open source movement, or was this just a chance to throw out a hot "buzz word" to a computer savvy audience?
Linus has said before that the author of the software is the only one who can make any decision on what license to use...nobody else has any right to bitch.
Now Linus is the author of Linux, it's GPL. Linus is not in charge of Transmeta, he's just an employee. When he writes code, it belongs to his employer who does not choose to use an open source model. I don't see what is so hard to understand about that.
The problem here is the misperception that Linux users are fanatical foaming-mouthed zealots who won't take anything but open-source for an answer.
Granted, there are a lot of people like that, but I think the vast majority of Linux users are more sensible.
You're absolutely right. I go to school in the hometown of Gov. Tom Ridge and just completed a semester long course on his political career. We met with him in person, and one of his prime goals is to bring the "rustbelt" areas in Pittsburgh into more modern times by attracting high technology firms. A Technology scholarship was just introduced that gave grants to college students under the stipulation that they would remain in Pennsylvania to work when they graduate. The "brain drain is pretty significant, so much so that the Secretary of Education himself has 4 out of 5 children living/working outside of PA. Ridge pretty much said that he wanted Pittsburgh to be the next Silicon Valley.
Slashdot Mirror
maybe its what you're looking for.
gnetswitch
PC World found that roughly 22 percent of computers break down every year -- compared to 9 percent of VCRs, 7 percent of big-screen TVs, 7 percent of clothes dryers and 8 percent of refrigerators.
People that have no idea how to operate a computer probaby have a lot to do with this. Give a computer to the average person and in a month take a look at how much shareware garbage has been installed and uninstalled, system files deleted, etc. Now maybe there's a program in the startup menu that doesn't exist, and an error message is generated at bootup. Is this a break down? Maybe, maybe not.As we continue the clueless user starts poking around, not knowing what they're doing, but doing it anyway. "oh here's regedit.exe, let's see if that'll fix it....hmm now it won't boot....Damn fscking Dell!"
Hemos said he hasn't had nearly as many problems as the article states...neither have I. The reason probably has to do with the user. We know what we're doing, many people do not.
Christmas radio @nopants.org
If Gore won the pop vote, then I really hope Bush wins the election. Nothing could please me more (except having an intelligent candidate (e.g. Browne) win, but that's just wishful thinking).
:)
Yeah I am a big supporter of Browne, and aside form him winning, I would love the electoral / popular vote to be split. Anything to throw a big ol' monkey wrech into this trash we call a political system. However, I wish it could have turned out opposite (Gore winning the electoral and Bush the popular) because Congress is still Republican controlled and I like to see as much gridlock as possible. The less they do in Washington, the better.
Also, I love the fact that (as of now) the vote count in Florida shows a gap of less than 2,000 in favor of Bush, while Nader has about 96,000 votes. Nice to see a third party screw it up for one of the big guys!
This election is turning out better than I thought it would
How a pirated copy of Windows is any more or less succeptable to viruses. They should explain that on the page.
1) release "their" AIM
2) issue cease and desist order to "other" AIMs
3) put ads in the linux client
Seriously, AOL loses too much ad revenue to clones. I can't see them allowing their servers to be used and abused by the linux masses; we're just getting too big
That Honest Don's is RIAA too, since that's a Fat spinoff.....
Brian
I burned the cd from the ISO so I had no manual. Maybe it was on the cdrom, or the website, but why isn't it in the install? That's the most important place for it. Is it so much to ask that I see it right there when I am installing?
Too bad the install doesn't tell you WHAT each security setting does, it leaves it pretty much to your imagination.
When I upgraded from the 6.x series to 7.0 I had no idea which one to pick. That left a lot of things broken, for me to have to go in and fix.
Don't even get me started on how shoddy the 7.1 upgrade is....I'm now actively looking for a new distro.
Ah I've thought about this many times before.
50 cents would probably be a fair flat rate. The thing is, musical tastes are so different between many people, you can't really asess a "quality" value to music.
For example, I bought Radiohead's OK Computer, and listened to it non stop for months. I still love it. I would probably put it's value to me at $100. My Beatles cds will probably give me thousands of dollars worth of enjoyment over time.
However I can't begin to name all the cd's that I have that aren't worth anywhere NEAR the ~$15 I paid for them. (how I wish I could somehow transfer the money to the artists that actually made music I liked)
If you have to take a chance at getting a load of crap, then the price per song is going to be lower across the board....even though you might come across a few gems.
Most of the music I listen to is on small independent labels (Fat Wreck, Honest Don's, Lookout, Mutant Pop). These cds sell for $9-$12, and often that includes shipping. You would think that MASS PRODUCED cds would have much lower prices.
But they don't, and I think this settlement gives us a glimpse as to why.
NOTE: A consent agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission of a law violation.
In other words they're wrong and everyone knows it, but this saves the gov't time and $$$ in prosecuting a case, and the record compaines don't have to actually admit to anything, technically.
How many people think that this is just a quick fix by the record companies to get the feds off their back? Maybe cd prices will go down, but I can't see the prices going down any more than a dollar or two, but nowhere near where they should be.
In other words, this is probably just for show. Then when mp3 pirating continues, the monopolistic pricing excuse just won't be able to hold up.
If what you say is true, nobody will be able to download Metallica...they win.
But it isn't true anyways because you can search for song titles, and you can just not download ay MP3 that's only like 10k.
Jon do you know how to do anything other than providing us with these insanely boring, generalized, rhetoric-filled columns that are supposed to show your "understanding" of our community?
Privacy shmrivacy. People need to learn that actions on the internet are traceable. They need to learn that you do not magically escape real life on the planet earth when you're in front of a computer screen. So what if a lot of newbies think what they do is untraceable? Just cause you feel or want it to be that way doesn't make it so.
As far as I'm concerned, the freedom on the internet YOU talk about isn't even reasonable. When I think of the freedoms the net provides, I think of people spouting off rants against things that piss them off, creative types who want their artworks shown on a global scale, merchants who can now sell things all over the world, rather than on their corner store. TRUE freedom is not recklessly breaking laws and expecting to be anonymous. What if I email a bomb threat to someone? What if I hack a bank's computer and transfer a million or two into my account? Ya gonna defend that?
The laws we have in place now allow metallica to do exactly what they're doing. They are 100% within their rights. You don't like it? Change it somehow. (I know, laws today are stupid and impossible to change for the average Joe, but that's another story).
As far as I'm concerned, this isn't even an invasion of privacy. YOU must voluntarily sign on to napster, YOU must make files available, YOU must search for and download the files, YOU must agree to the disclaimer. It's all YOUR fault if you get caught. Besides, what could even be IN that list, except a handle(username)? I suppose IP addresses could be collected, but then you would have to go to each ISP to figure out exactly WHO it is. All metallica is asking napster to do is ban these USERNAMES. It doesn't go past that, no loss of anonimity.
Katz, I also like the nice thumb of the nose to metallica by saying "this from a group that markets itself as rebels"...Nice, really nice. You know what, I don't care HOW an artist/band/thrasher/etc "markets" itself. They deserve protection under law anyways. On a related note, I wish so many slashdot posters would stop making comments such as:
--"Metallica is supposed to be rebellious/Dr. Dre raps about illegal stuff all the time"...so what? That's all image, they still deserve protection.
--"Metallica/Dr. Dre is washed up and they can't make money any other way" Also Irrelevant. (BTW, you want washed up? Look at the Napster/MP3 poster child, Chuck D. He NEVER was as popular as Metallica, and especially Dre)
--"Dr. Dre's "music" isn't even music". Gosh, you would think that people as intelligent and diverse as slashdotters could respect someone else's opinions.
You know what? Metallica has no reason to look after the "freedom" of the internet that you propose. They do have an interest in what happens to their music. Now maybe this move will backfire, maybe not. BUT the point is that they have every right to do what they are doing, and all your talk about them preserving the freedom of the internet is nothing but touchy feely BS.
Remember from now on that slashdotters are not the usual rhetoric-eating braindead fools you may encounter elsewhere. We think logically (most of us anyway) and rationally. We look at hard facts, not a bunch of empty rants that boil down to nothing at all.
And most of all, we are nerds, geeks, techies. We are not hippies or anarchists like you make us out to be.
Holy Toledo this sucks. I realize that it's only a Beta, but the problem is that they branched off in the totally wrong direction. All these funky new buttons, pointers, sidebars, integrated components....I doubt they'll remove all that stuff for the final release.
And the speed.....GAWD is it slow. To erase the location bar I hit backspace a few times, and then watched as about one character per second disappeared. (this is a K62-350, w/ 64 MB, plenty of swap). It takes at least 30 seconds to start up and open all the darned windows.
Us Linux users NEED NEED NEED konquerer, and fast!
In my opinion, another lawsuit that should be filed in this case is a class-action suit by the people who bought the software. It claims to block certain sites, and "protect" children from bad things that can be found there. But, obviously it can be circumvented, redering it useless. Has Mattel updated the product's description in light of this hack? "Protects against porno sites unless your child decides to bypass the software with an easily-obtainable software utility"
I have personal compilation cds that I made myself that have several songs from MP3.com. When you listen to punk, almost all of it comes from the "underground" anyway. I listen without prejudice, and sometimes find some real gems that are just as good as anything I would buy in stores. (Anyone that likes pop-punk should check out Juvenile Wreck or the Preschoolers.)
I think certain genres fair better than others on mp3.com. If you want Backstreet Boys clones that need big record label money to make videos and promote an image, mp3.com won't please you. However more DIY types of music, like punk, techno and hip-hop will do well on mp3.com.
We all know that Netscape for Linux is buggy and crash prone. Has anyone found out which (if any) of the linux versions is the most stable?
The "supported" linux20_glibc2?
The "unsupported" linux20_libc5 or linux22?
Is the unsupported freeBSD version any better than Linux versions?
I need as much stability as I can get. Turning off Javascript helps, but it really isn't a very good solution.
Boys are wilder and more aggressive. So when there is computer time available, they will push the girls off. If teachers and parents don't do something about that, the girls won't fight back.
I don't know what to say....does this sound really ridiculous to anyone else?
The other piece is the image of people who go into this field. The image is "geeks, gadgets, and greed." It's people who you don't want to be like.
I don't see how this is a gender-specific problem. Guys don't really like being social outcasts either.
I'm all for anyone pursuing the fields and dreams they wish without any barriers, but I have a feeling there is some genetic disposition that makes males and females sway towards certain fields. Most Nursing, Psycology, Elementary Education, and Physician Assistant students at my University are women. Most CS and Engineering students are men. I think it has more to do with natural intrests and abilities and less to do with environmental factors (although that may play a small part).
What factors were involved in the decision to call your web site "open source"? Do you really, truly embrace the open source movement, or was this just a chance to throw out a hot "buzz word" to a computer savvy audience?
Linus has said before that the author of the software is the only one who can make any decision on what license to use...nobody else has any right to bitch.
Now Linus is the author of Linux, it's GPL. Linus is not in charge of Transmeta, he's just an employee. When he writes code, it belongs to his employer who does not choose to use an open source model. I don't see what is so hard to understand about that.
The problem here is the misperception that Linux users are fanatical foaming-mouthed zealots who won't take anything but open-source for an answer.
Granted, there are a lot of people like that, but I think the vast majority of Linux users are more sensible.
Although I don't really trust the gov't at all, the whole "conspiracy" theory seems to be a pretty
big leap.
Should slashdot really be getting this far into speculation?
You're absolutely right. I go to school in the hometown of Gov. Tom Ridge and just completed a semester long course on his political career. We met with him in person, and one of his prime goals is to bring the "rustbelt" areas in Pittsburgh into more modern times by attracting high technology firms. A Technology scholarship was just introduced that gave grants to college students under the stipulation that they would remain in Pennsylvania to work when they graduate. The "brain drain is pretty significant, so much so that the Secretary of Education himself has 4 out of 5 children living/working outside of PA. Ridge pretty much said that he wanted Pittsburgh to be the next Silicon Valley.
Actually, I agree with the first post...I couldn't figure out why this was on here, except as another ego spasm from Taco.
/. was chips and dips, but those days are long gone, especially since they buyout by andover.
/., I still love the site...it just seems like this is out of place that's all).
Yeah I remember when
What do you think tacohell and cmdrtaco.net are for?
(This is not a flame against Rob or
Brian
I still can't view it. So who cares about the apology?