First I can't bring my handgun into Canada, and now I can't bring my iTunes music?
There's a reason Apple can't let people use the iTunes music service outside of the US (I'm assuming this, at least, since they would bring it to other markets if they could. I'm sure they're working on the legal bits). If they don't have the legality of the service nailed down in other countries, they sort of have to *not* let people in other countries use the service. It makes sense to me.
They've very clearly said the service is only available in the US for now. Yes, it sucks for non-US residents. Deal with it....and *always* read the fine print. At least the first few paragraphs.
We are all able to dispute and debate which WM looks the best, functions the best, or is just the best. Personally, I like Gnome with Metacity. However, I think that new computer users should have the final say as far as ease-of-use goes.
As far as looks... the initial impression made can either make or break a user's opinion of a product.
In a quick test, I set my mom's login (yes, she uses linux! It's great!) to use KDE instead of Gnome. Later, she came up to me and said, "What is going on with the computer?"
I told her that she was seeing KDE, which was like Gnome - what she used to use, but different.
"I don't like it. It's ugly. Get rid of it."
She was quite turned against KDE. Now, I must say that she, before I switched her to Linux, was a mostly unproficient Windows user.
As nice as I think KDE could be, they really need to work out a less cluttered initial install. Don't know if they've fixed it recently, but I thought my head would explode the first time I loaded it up.
Sometimes there are really simple things that, when worked with, can have a great effect.
Take computers, for example. You "run" programs... (okay, some also say execute, etc, but the standard term is "run") That wouldn't make much sense to a beginning user. Notice they are even called "users." Wouldn't it make more sense for a user to use a program, rather than run it? You could logically say, "Well, I was using my email client when...," but saying, "Well, I was running my email client" could confuse a complete newbie.
There are other things, too. Various terms for actions are either misleading or hard for a beginner to figure out. "Minimize, maximize, shade" - all terms we understand, but new users have to learn. Wouldn't it be advantageous to find new terms?
This is something I'm waiting for a desktop environment to do. Change the jargon. Use words that people use in every day life. Wouldn't that make sense?
Think about a VCR. The standard operations are all simple. Play. Stop. Rewind is iffy. Fast-forward makes sense... go forward quickly. I think fast play would be better, but it sounds stupid.
Sometimes a little bit of thought mixed with the opinions of some beginners is all you need. I would, however, venture to say that the average company runs tests of it's products before they ship.
I went and downloaded the 15mb screenshot pack from the Tom's Hardware review. I don't know about you guys, but I find the image quality of the Parhelia to be superior. As somebody else said, refresh rates on today's monitors aren't that hot, so over a certain barrier doesn't matter. My cheap 17" monitor is running 1280x1024 (max res) at 60Hz. Looking at the benchmarks, the Parhelia should be able to hack running at that resolution at that framerate for lots of stuff, and I imagine that some simple overclocking (or maybe not-so-simple atm, but it should improve) will take care of the rest.
So, image quality becomes the concern. I would have to agree that the aniso filtering of the Parhelia isn't as good as that of the GF4... however, imho, once objects get a certain distance away, the filtering merely makes them look dirty. Take a look at the Tom's Hardware Q3 aniso screenshots - the GF4 gives crisp textures close, but farther away... ugh. The Parhelia isn't quite as sharp - farther away, the textures look blurry, but they don't look like sandpaper (or whatever).
Of course, image quality is a very subjective thing, and the quality of an image will vary from person to person, but honestly, I think the Parhelia kicks the GF4 all over the place. If they can manage to draw an extra 25-40% fps, it'll be perfect.
(Can they get all those extra frames? Maybe 10-15% drivers, and a core clock boost? I'd love to see how these things scale.)
Printtool is okay, but Mandrake's printerdrake really takes the cake. Other than some rather annoying UI problems, printerdrake is simple. Contrary to many Linux tools I've seen, it just works - that's the idea, isn't it?
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft is going to have to keep on saving all those nickels to cough up that much cash.
(I really do hate that ad campaign.)
Wow, another attempt to copy an Apple product goes horribly, horribly wrong.
I may not have a Doctorate with a thesis written on pattern recognitions, but even I can figure this one out...
First I can't bring my handgun into Canada, and now I can't bring my iTunes music?
...and *always* read the fine print. At least the first few paragraphs.
There's a reason Apple can't let people use the iTunes music service outside of the US (I'm assuming this, at least, since they would bring it to other markets if they could. I'm sure they're working on the legal bits). If they don't have the legality of the service nailed down in other countries, they sort of have to *not* let people in other countries use the service. It makes sense to me.
They've very clearly said the service is only available in the US for now. Yes, it sucks for non-US residents. Deal with it.
Yeah, legos 0wn me. I mean, come on, I'm studying to be an engineer 'cause of the damn things. They rule.
We are all able to dispute and debate which WM looks the best, functions the best, or is just the best. Personally, I like Gnome with Metacity. However, I think that new computer users should have the final say as far as ease-of-use goes.
As far as looks... the initial impression made can either make or break a user's opinion of a product.
In a quick test, I set my mom's login (yes, she uses linux! It's great!) to use KDE instead of Gnome. Later, she came up to me and said, "What is going on with the computer?"
I told her that she was seeing KDE, which was like Gnome - what she used to use, but different.
"I don't like it. It's ugly. Get rid of it."
She was quite turned against KDE. Now, I must say that she, before I switched her to Linux, was a mostly unproficient Windows user.
As nice as I think KDE could be, they really need to work out a less cluttered initial install. Don't know if they've fixed it recently, but I thought my head would explode the first time I loaded it up.
Sometimes there are really simple things that, when worked with, can have a great effect.
Take computers, for example. You "run" programs... (okay, some also say execute, etc, but the standard term is "run") That wouldn't make much sense to a beginning user. Notice they are even called "users." Wouldn't it make more sense for a user to use a program, rather than run it? You could logically say, "Well, I was using my email client when...," but saying, "Well, I was running my email client" could confuse a complete newbie.
There are other things, too. Various terms for actions are either misleading or hard for a beginner to figure out. "Minimize, maximize, shade" - all terms we understand, but new users have to learn. Wouldn't it be advantageous to find new terms?
This is something I'm waiting for a desktop environment to do. Change the jargon. Use words that people use in every day life. Wouldn't that make sense?
Think about a VCR. The standard operations are all simple. Play. Stop. Rewind is iffy. Fast-forward makes sense... go forward quickly. I think fast play would be better, but it sounds stupid.
Sometimes a little bit of thought mixed with the opinions of some beginners is all you need. I would, however, venture to say that the average company runs tests of it's products before they ship.
Just my $.02...
I went and downloaded the 15mb screenshot pack from the Tom's Hardware review. I don't know about you guys, but I find the image quality of the Parhelia to be superior. As somebody else said, refresh rates on today's monitors aren't that hot, so over a certain barrier doesn't matter. My cheap 17" monitor is running 1280x1024 (max res) at 60Hz. Looking at the benchmarks, the Parhelia should be able to hack running at that resolution at that framerate for lots of stuff, and I imagine that some simple overclocking (or maybe not-so-simple atm, but it should improve) will take care of the rest.
So, image quality becomes the concern. I would have to agree that the aniso filtering of the Parhelia isn't as good as that of the GF4... however, imho, once objects get a certain distance away, the filtering merely makes them look dirty. Take a look at the Tom's Hardware Q3 aniso screenshots - the GF4 gives crisp textures close, but farther away... ugh. The Parhelia isn't quite as sharp - farther away, the textures look blurry, but they don't look like sandpaper (or whatever).
Of course, image quality is a very subjective thing, and the quality of an image will vary from person to person, but honestly, I think the Parhelia kicks the GF4 all over the place. If they can manage to draw an extra 25-40% fps, it'll be perfect.
(Can they get all those extra frames? Maybe 10-15% drivers, and a core clock boost? I'd love to see how these things scale.)
Printtool is okay, but Mandrake's printerdrake really takes the cake. Other than some rather annoying UI problems, printerdrake is simple. Contrary to many Linux tools I've seen, it just works - that's the idea, isn't it?