Actually, a sane installation of Office would be around 150 Mb (if you select "custom" and install the things you actually use); MS Office has a ton of clipart that makes for most of its size.
Just a couple of days ago I checked the size of the Adobe Reader 7 - it was 92 Mb! It was the final straw - I uninstalled it and got Foxit reader instead (1 Mb). Now all I need is a firefox plugin.
Having the farmers hiding their birds from the government isn't helping
Where did you get that information from? I am from Romania, and as far as I know the farmers haven't tried to do such a thing as they are being paid in full at the current market rate. So far 17,000 birds have been killed and two or three villages are now in quarantine - food is delivered in trucks, all cars and persons are disinfected, etc.
Replying to myself - I've used Audition just as an example since I'm not an audio guy. However even for more expensive software, the comparison is still valid.
Everyone else has their pick of tech-geeks to hire to do it for them
Then where's the benefit for me as a user?
Scenario A: I download an open source software, version 0.7.8.1 that does 80% of what I need. The project is either not in active development 'cause the developer got bored, or he/she/they refuse to add the features I want. I then look for a freelance programmer. I can expect at least 3 months of work; even at $8/hour, that's still $3840 for someone who works 40 hours per week.
Scenario B: I go out and buy Adobe Audition for $300
What scenario makes more sense?
Case in point: for years we've been using at work a Linux Debian as firewall / gateway / DHCP server. Every time we needed a new feature (VPN, bandwidth management) we needed to call a specialist. The box itself was free, but each configuration cost us about $250. I couldn't find my way through all config files in the Debian box - I'm not a Linux programmer / geek - I'm a user. after paying $2500 I went out and bought a Zyxell Zywall 10W with wireless for $200, that does 98% of what I need. It's so easy to configure and work with I didn't need to use external help.
Since then I keep asking myself: why couldn't be Linux so easy to use, with clearly organized menus for everthing?
it IS possible to design a flash site to have links directly to a specific page/section, similar to the way Google Maps works ("Link to this page"); you can even make the browser back/forward and bookmarks to work, but it's a littly tricky for the developer.
Considering that most Flash sites don't even have a Print button (although Flash has nice print support), it doesn't surprise me that accessibility still sucks.
Cure human stupidity? Yeah, that'd be cool indeed, I'm all for it.
Most viruses/trojans/malware nowadays get installed because of human error. If you ingore all the warnings and extract & run payload.exe from SeeNataliePortmanNude.zip after supplying the attached password "hwjegsgd" then there's nothing MS can do except for requiring a computer driving license.
To put things in perspective, someone I know played a very cruel joke on a coworker that had administrative access on their company servers. He instructed him how to open MSSQL enterprise manager and drop a table from the db! Of course, a person with no knowledge in databases shouldn't have access to such operations, and we go back to my point - how do you cure human error?
They have no grounds to complain. They got what they paid for... or they could have waited x months for a new version to be officially released.
I've ordered Macromedia Studio 8. Because the initial online order for the downloadable version failed, I was called by a representative of their European division and I got the boxed version with premium shipping at no extra charge. Can someone else complain that they didn't get the same treatment? No.
SVG is promising, but I'm afraid it'll be very long until browsers will have have wide support it... and when/if becomes widespread, its first usage will/would be ads.
As for Flash, for graphics, the interface is OK. The IDE is crude though, have a look at SEPY or FDT for Eclipse. The latter one is very nice, but not free.
First of all, the article is, in typical slashdot manner, not just misleading, but plain wrong. Laptops are PCs, not embedded devices, so you're not prohibited in using Flash on them. You may dislike MM, but they are not stupid (unlike a part of the crowd)
Second, Flash does not suck resources unless there's heavy animation involved. It certainly doesn't use huge amounts of RAM.
Third, the parent poster uses the lowest form of FUD: he's lying. By default, a flash movie does NOT have access to microphone or webcam - you have to explicitly enable this, and this is a per-site setting. I won't even discuss the cookie nonsense.
Fourth, it's proprietary, because MM wants to stay in control, but the specs are readily available, as is the source code of the player. There is nothing to stop you from making your own Flash content generator or player. Have a look at OSFlash.org for a list of Flash-related Open Source projects.
Finally, whether you like it or not, Flash is the best way to create modern web applications, a lot easier than AJAX, more widespread than XUL.
As to SVG standard, read and weep: SVG Rendering Comparison. Also, have you seen Adobe's SVG plugin for example? It makes Acrobat look small and snappy in comparison. It will take at least 5 more years until you'll be able to use SVG across browsers and platforms.
I know/.-ers don't want to hear this, but right now the best way to make cross-platform RIAs is Macromedia Flash.
With it you can do the whole client-side functionality (screens, validations, business logic) and make it communicate with any server technology via XML.
We developed a complete framework and with it we built an enterprise-grade app that actually works and it's stable, being used by hundreds of employees every day.
Let me say this again: used properly, Flash is not a toy.
The only feature of IE 7 that strikes me as a nice piece of user interface is the clear and graphical method of creating a new tab
My thoughts exactly. On the other hand, what's with the menu displayed below the tabs? It makes no sense because the menu structure is app-specific, not tab-specific.
I can't comment on all situations, but the company I work for, located in East Europe, has a contract with a UK company and we have access to sensitive data (their whole database).
We have a contract with them; one of its sections it's basically the UK Data Protection Act. So even if the country doesn't have a very clear law on this matter, we still have to respect the UK laws.
I saw the original trilogy a weeks ago to refresh my memory.
Yes, the first lightsaber combat (in ep.IV) is definitely poorly choreographed. While Obi-Wan may have been old and rusty, there's no excuse for Vader.
I'm pretty sure that the whole father & sister stuff was added in ESB. In ANH there's no hint that Vader feels anything when he confronts Leia, he's clearly trying to kill Luke, and so on.
Lucas thought about a trilogy only after the success of Star Wars. Now he's trying to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and it ain't easy...
For moderators: according to the parent link, they have 60 billion in cash and 27 billion total yearly (in 2004) operating expenses (20 billion in 2002).
So in theory they could survive for 2 or 3 years giving EVERYTHING away for free and not making any money at all.
Well, they have 60 billion in cash and 27 billion total yearly (in 2004) operating expenses (20 billion in 2002). So in theory they could survive for 2 or 3 years giving EVERYTHING away for free and not making any money at all.
The default users get Administrator priviledges because many popular programs simply refuse to work correcty with limited rights. Over the top of my head, Winamp 5 and Trillian 3.1 are guilty of this. Sure, you can workaround by giving write access to everyone for those folders, but it's crazy.
What most/.-ers miss is that Adobe Camera RAW as well as most other converters such as Capture One or RawShooter don't rely on manufacturers' SDK to convert RAW files. This way they can achive better results.
I don't know about Nikon, but for my Canon I know that ACR produces far better results than Canon RAW Converter.
In my company (very small, ten employees) we needed a good firewall, VPN, bandwidth management.
We had a Linux box (Debian) but the problem with it was that configuring all the things we needed was time-consuming - find the right patch to get the VPN working, edit a dozen text configuration fies, search on Google, ask on forums... Overall, it cost us time and money.
After 2 years we gave up and bought aZyxel ZyWall Internet Security Gateway. It works flawlessly, we can do everything we need with its GUI, and I keep asking - why haven't I seen a nice centralized UI in Debian from where I could control the system, firewall, VPN, authentication, logs and so on??
I can't say this without being a huge asshole but i'll try.
Maybe the mac users don't care about paying now for the development of an office suite that will be ready and polished sometimes in the future, when they have ready alternatives. It's not like Mac doesn't have a decent office suite.
It's more like this Gullible Buyer: "Hey friend, you are more knowledgeable with cars, will you buy me one? Here's the cash, go to the local deader, buy whatever seems good; I don't know all the tech-speak and I am sure the sales rep. will try to rip me off" Friend: "Sure. Count on me"... Later: Friend: "I bought this great car, but I made the papers on my name. But don't worry, I'll let you drive it" Gullible Buyer: "Uhhh, thanks, I guess"... Later: Friend: "You know, this car is mine, so fuck off!"
Believe it or not, I've seen this happening more than once with regard to domain names. One example: The client is a newcomer and the contractor was SO helpful, they provided the internet connection, made and hosted the company website and even registered the domain name (on their name, not the client's name). The client doesn't even notice. A few years after that, the client realizes the mistake, tries to take ownership of the domain. The contractor asks for $50,000.
Luckily, in that case the client also has a trademark on the name, so i advised them to threaten the contractor with a lawsuit and never give in. I don't know the latest status in this matter but I think the contractor will give the domain to the rightful owner.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, a sane installation of Office would be around 150 Mb (if you select "custom" and install the things you actually use); MS Office has a ton of clipart that makes for most of its size.
Just a couple of days ago I checked the size of the Adobe Reader 7 - it was 92 Mb! It was the final straw - I uninstalled it and got Foxit reader instead (1 Mb). Now all I need is a firefox plugin.
Where did you get that information from? I am from Romania, and as far as I know the farmers haven't tried to do such a thing as they are being paid in full at the current market rate. So far 17,000 birds have been killed and two or three villages are now in quarantine - food is delivered in trucks, all cars and persons are disinfected, etc.
Replying to myself - I've used Audition just as an example since I'm not an audio guy. However even for more expensive software, the comparison is still valid.
Then where's the benefit for me as a user?
Scenario A: I download an open source software, version 0.7.8.1 that does 80% of what I need. The project is either not in active development 'cause the developer got bored, or he/she/they refuse to add the features I want. I then look for a freelance programmer. I can expect at least 3 months of work; even at $8/hour, that's still $3840 for someone who works 40 hours per week.
Scenario B: I go out and buy Adobe Audition for $300
What scenario makes more sense?
Case in point: for years we've been using at work a Linux Debian as firewall / gateway / DHCP server. Every time we needed a new feature (VPN, bandwidth management) we needed to call a specialist. The box itself was free, but each configuration cost us about $250. I couldn't find my way through all config files in the Debian box - I'm not a Linux programmer / geek - I'm a user. after paying $2500 I went out and bought a Zyxell Zywall 10W with wireless for $200, that does 98% of what I need. It's so easy to configure and work with I didn't need to use external help.
Since then I keep asking myself: why couldn't be Linux so easy to use, with clearly organized menus for everthing?
I agree with everything you've said, just a note:
it IS possible to design a flash site to have links directly to a specific page/section, similar to the way Google Maps works ("Link to this page"); you can even make the browser back/forward and bookmarks to work, but it's a littly tricky for the developer.
Considering that most Flash sites don't even have a Print button (although Flash has nice print support), it doesn't surprise me that accessibility still sucks.
Cure human stupidity? Yeah, that'd be cool indeed, I'm all for it.
Most viruses/trojans/malware nowadays get installed because of human error. If you ingore all the warnings and extract & run payload.exe from SeeNataliePortmanNude.zip after supplying the attached password "hwjegsgd" then there's nothing MS can do except for requiring a computer driving license.
To put things in perspective, someone I know played a very cruel joke on a coworker that had administrative access on their company servers. He instructed him how to open MSSQL enterprise manager and drop a table from the db! Of course, a person with no knowledge in databases shouldn't have access to such operations, and we go back to my point - how do you cure human error?
They have no grounds to complain. They got what they paid for... or they could have waited x months for a new version to be officially released.
I've ordered Macromedia Studio 8. Because the initial online order for the downloadable version failed, I was called by a representative of their European division and I got the boxed version with premium shipping at no extra charge. Can someone else complain that they didn't get the same treatment? No.
For that matter, see Flash Earth
/.-ers think Flash is only for ads, but actually you can do everything Ajax with less effort.
I now the majority of
SVG is promising, but I'm afraid it'll be very long until browsers will have have wide support it... and when/if becomes widespread, its first usage will/would be ads.
As for Flash, for graphics, the interface is OK. The IDE is crude though, have a look at SEPY or FDT for Eclipse. The latter one is very nice, but not free.
Wow, you sure have a passion in hating Flash.
:-) Cheers!
First of all, the article is, in typical slashdot manner, not just misleading, but plain wrong. Laptops are PCs, not embedded devices, so you're not prohibited in using Flash on them. You may dislike MM, but they are not stupid (unlike a part of the crowd)
Second, Flash does not suck resources unless there's heavy animation involved. It certainly doesn't use huge amounts of RAM.
Third, the parent poster uses the lowest form of FUD: he's lying. By default, a flash movie does NOT have access to microphone or webcam - you have to explicitly enable this, and this is a per-site setting. I won't even discuss the cookie nonsense.
Fourth, it's proprietary, because MM wants to stay in control, but the specs are readily available, as is the source code of the player.
There is nothing to stop you from making your own Flash content generator or player. Have a look at OSFlash.org for a list of Flash-related Open Source projects.
Finally, whether you like it or not, Flash is the best way to create modern web applications, a lot easier than AJAX, more widespread than XUL.
As to SVG standard, read and weep: SVG Rendering Comparison. Also, have you seen Adobe's SVG plugin for example? It makes Acrobat look small and snappy in comparison. It will take at least 5 more years until you'll be able to use SVG across browsers and platforms.
And, come on, this is Slashdot, you may hate flash, but can you resist the girls of Virtual Bartender?
I know /.-ers don't want to hear this, but right now the best way to make cross-platform RIAs is Macromedia Flash.
With it you can do the whole client-side functionality (screens, validations, business logic) and make it communicate with any server technology via XML.
We developed a complete framework and with it we built an enterprise-grade app that actually works and it's stable, being used by hundreds of employees every day.
Let me say this again: used properly, Flash is not a toy.
My thoughts exactly. On the other hand, what's with the menu displayed below the tabs? It makes no sense because the menu structure is app-specific, not tab-specific.
All modern BIOS-es have the ability to boot from a USB memory stick. You can even install Linux on such a device.
The fact that the parent is modded insightful should serve as a warning :-)
I can't comment on all situations, but the company I work for, located in East Europe, has a contract with a UK company and we have access to sensitive data (their whole database).
We have a contract with them; one of its sections it's basically the UK Data Protection Act. So even if the country doesn't have a very clear law on this matter, we still have to respect the UK laws.
I saw the original trilogy a weeks ago to refresh my memory.
Yes, the first lightsaber combat (in ep.IV) is definitely poorly choreographed. While Obi-Wan may have been old and rusty, there's no excuse for Vader.
I'm pretty sure that the whole father & sister stuff was added in ESB. In ANH there's no hint that Vader feels anything when he confronts Leia, he's clearly trying to kill Luke, and so on.
Lucas thought about a trilogy only after the success of Star Wars. Now he's trying to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and it ain't easy...
For moderators: according to the parent link, they have 60 billion in cash and 27 billion total yearly (in 2004) operating expenses (20 billion in 2002).
So in theory they could survive for 2 or 3 years giving EVERYTHING away for free and not making any money at all.
Well, they have 60 billion in cash and 27 billion total yearly (in 2004) operating expenses (20 billion in 2002). So in theory they could survive for 2 or 3 years giving EVERYTHING away for free and not making any money at all.
The default users get Administrator priviledges because many popular programs simply refuse to work correcty with limited rights. Over the top of my head, Winamp 5 and Trillian 3.1 are guilty of this. Sure, you can workaround by giving write access to everyone for those folders, but it's crazy.
What most /.-ers miss is that Adobe Camera RAW as well as most other converters such as Capture One or RawShooter don't rely on manufacturers' SDK to convert RAW files. This way they can achive better results.
I don't know about Nikon, but for my Canon I know that ACR produces far better results than Canon RAW Converter.
I can relate to that.
In my company (very small, ten employees) we needed a good firewall, VPN, bandwidth management.
We had a Linux box (Debian) but the problem with it was that configuring all the things we needed was time-consuming - find the right patch to get the VPN working, edit a dozen text configuration fies, search on Google, ask on forums... Overall, it cost us time and money.
After 2 years we gave up and bought aZyxel ZyWall Internet Security Gateway. It works flawlessly, we can do everything we need with its GUI, and I keep asking - why haven't I seen a nice centralized UI in Debian from where I could control the system, firewall, VPN, authentication, logs and so on??
I can't say this without being a huge asshole but i'll try.
Maybe the mac users don't care about paying now for the development of an office suite that will be ready and polished sometimes in the future, when they have ready alternatives. It's not like Mac doesn't have a decent office suite.
As always, misleading analogy.
... ...
It's more like this
Gullible Buyer: "Hey friend, you are more knowledgeable with cars, will you buy me one? Here's the cash, go to the local deader, buy whatever seems good; I don't know all the tech-speak and I am sure the sales rep. will try to rip me off"
Friend: "Sure. Count on me"
Later:
Friend: "I bought this great car, but I made the papers on my name. But don't worry, I'll let you drive it"
Gullible Buyer: "Uhhh, thanks, I guess"
Later:
Friend: "You know, this car is mine, so fuck off!"
Believe it or not, I've seen this happening more than once with regard to domain names. One example: The client is a newcomer and the contractor was SO helpful, they provided the internet connection, made and hosted the company website and even registered the domain name (on their name, not the client's name). The client doesn't even notice. A few years after that, the client realizes the mistake, tries to take ownership of the domain. The contractor asks for $50,000.
Luckily, in that case the client also has a trademark on the name, so i advised them to threaten the contractor with a lawsuit and never give in. I don't know the latest status in this matter but I think the contractor will give the domain to the rightful owner.
The box model works correctly in IE6, provided that you use the correct DOCTYPE (otherwise it reverts to Quirks mode, just like Mozilla)