Don't burn anything illegally. We need to show them that we would rather not have their content than have it at their price. By pirating the content, we are just showing them that we would rather steal than buy. Go support the local bands and the independent films instead. We don't need the RIAA's and MPAA's crap. So don't get it.
Secondly, follow GUI-guidelines wherever you can. Winamp (and most other mp3-players) are completely ridiculous. A gui built for usability would have larger buttons, standard focus mechanisms, less distracting eye-candy, etc...
My home stereo is black with buttons clearly labeled in white. The CD player is the only component that needs a display, and it only needs a very simple one. So why do mp3-players have junkloads of eye candy crap all over the place?
Design the exterior of a box that would do what your program does. Make it easy to look at and easy to understand. Mimic that in your GUI.
Could you imagine if someone made a computer controlled toaster?! It would have heat level indicators, time prediction displays, options to control heat, proximity of the coils to the bread, ejection speed, coil temperature, and tell you how many bread crumbs were in the bottom. Noone could ever figure out how to use it.
Everytime i learn a new software package, I invariably get to the point where I did what I wanted, but then wonder to myself, "Self? How did I do that?!!!" Have an option to log all mouse clicks, keystrokes, informative output, errors, and anything else that may help the user recreate what has been done.
A seperate program than analyzed this log file and returned an optimized log (how the user could do it better/faster/smarter) would be brilliant.
Document every function in detail. Every single one. Not just the most common ones, ALL OF THEM. Do it in an organized manner. Linked HTML files with a complete table of contents. Window's help is very bad. Provide a man-type page for the executables and their options. Configuration should be in a text file (provide a GUI for it if you like, i won't use it.) and provide several common example setups and a few complex ones. Document every directive and option. Teach someone who hasn't seen the program before and have him/her write a 'getting started' manual. And DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.
>Microsoft hit BeOS hard with the release of Windows Me. You see, BeOS PE needed a way to exit Windows without shutting down. This was possible in Win 95 and Win 98, but removed in Win Me.
Sorry to not be bashing MS, but I see nothing wrong with this. They changed their software to fix an exploit. (Now if they'd just fix the real exploits)
Burn the CD from your buddy. Mail a couple dollars to the artist. The artist makes more money. You save money. The CDR makers make money. The CD burner makers make money. The USPS makes money. Everybody wins. Except for the RIAA, they gain and lose nothing.
Now if she says no, everyone will know. That takes a lot of guts, probably indicative of a lot of trust and love. CmdTaco, you are an inpiration for geeks everywhere.
Get your teaching certification and teach mathematics or programming in public schools. You won't make a lot, but you'll mean a lot to the kids. My public school's computer 'expert' was my English teacher who happened to know how to turn on a powermac and print Word documents. I would have loved to have someone in the school who could actually teach me something. And for the linux zealot in you, you can influence a bunch of impressionable kids and maybe the administration as well.
Maybe not such a good idea, i can see it now:
"I pledge allegience to the kernel flags. . .
you get on your soap box and say "the regulators stink!" you haven't changed the regulations, you've only given the regulators a bad name(bad karma). then you go somewhere else (kur5hin).
oh. I'd better stop sleeping 7 hours a day. Maybe if i sleep in moderation i won't feel tired.
Re:The IM world is a damn mess...
on
AOL vs. Trillian
·
· Score: 1
ISP's shouldn't have to run their own IM servers. Its just one more thing to add to the cost of the service. I should be able to run my own IM server, just like i can run my own email server.
I can see how many linux users would not want to get an expensive program that might be better than their free one. But what if a group like Debian got one, and used it to compile their.deb's? Wouldn't that be able to produce better code for a whole junkload of people from one liscence?
We (the slashdot community) (except for the trolls) don't cause inconvience to innocent bystandars/consumers, and we don't cause headaches for those who actually do something, only to the lawyers and politicians and freeloaders (RIAA, MPAA, et cetera).
Slashdot Mirror
burn as much as you want
Don't burn anything illegally. We need to show them that we would rather not have their content than have it at their price. By pirating the content, we are just showing them that we would rather steal than buy. Go support the local bands and the independent films instead. We don't need the RIAA's and MPAA's crap. So don't get it.
Secondly, follow GUI-guidelines wherever you can. Winamp (and most other mp3-players) are completely ridiculous. A gui built for usability would have larger buttons, standard focus mechanisms, less distracting eye-candy, etc...
My home stereo is black with buttons clearly labeled in white. The CD player is the only component that needs a display, and it only needs a very simple one. So why do mp3-players have junkloads of eye candy crap all over the place?
Design the exterior of a box that would do what your program does. Make it easy to look at and easy to understand. Mimic that in your GUI.
Could you imagine if someone made a computer controlled toaster?! It would have heat level indicators, time prediction displays, options to control heat, proximity of the coils to the bread, ejection speed, coil temperature, and tell you how many bread crumbs were in the bottom. Noone could ever figure out how to use it.
Everytime i learn a new software package, I invariably get to the point where I did what I wanted, but then wonder to myself, "Self? How did I do that?!!!" Have an option to log all mouse clicks, keystrokes, informative output, errors, and anything else that may help the user recreate what has been done.
A seperate program than analyzed this log file and returned an optimized log (how the user could do it better/faster/smarter) would be brilliant.
Document every function in detail. Every single one. Not just the most common ones, ALL OF THEM. Do it in an organized manner. Linked HTML files with a complete table of contents. Window's help is very bad. Provide a man-type page for the executables and their options. Configuration should be in a text file (provide a GUI for it if you like, i won't use it.) and provide several common example setups and a few complex ones. Document every directive and option. Teach someone who hasn't seen the program before and have him/her write a 'getting started' manual. And DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.
>Microsoft hit BeOS hard with the release of Windows Me. You see, BeOS PE needed a way to exit Windows without shutting down. This was possible in Win 95 and Win 98, but removed in Win Me.
Sorry to not be bashing MS, but I see nothing wrong with this. They changed their software to fix an exploit. (Now if they'd just fix the real exploits)
Burn the CD from your buddy. Mail a couple dollars to the artist. The artist makes more money. You save money. The CDR makers make money. The CD burner makers make money. The USPS makes money. Everybody wins. Except for the RIAA, they gain and lose nothing.
>Purchase tickets for their concerts. . .
You might want to go to the concert too.
Seriously: buy t-shirts. Thats where the real money is. Just ask ThinkGeek and NASCAR.
What does it mean if the package is dropped? If the package gets added at a later date, will it be upgraded with a dist-upgrade?
hundreds of. . .packages. . .will be getting randomly ripped out of testing. . .
What does this mean to me, as a woody user? Will lots of packages be ignored by apt after i dist-upgrade following the switch?
I own a Microsoft mouse and keyboard. But its okay, I scraped the Microsoft logos off with a razor blade.
;)
No, I'm not joking.
countries are not done by the English name, their are often done by the country's native language name.
its interesting to see how many comments this got, and how quickly. it seems ./'er nerds care more about love than we thought.
Now if she says no, everyone will know. That takes a lot of guts, probably indicative of a lot of trust and love. CmdTaco, you are an inpiration for geeks everywhere.
Can the FSF make a research division and get it?
Get your teaching certification and teach mathematics or programming in public schools. You won't make a lot, but you'll mean a lot to the kids. My public school's computer 'expert' was my English teacher who happened to know how to turn on a powermac and print Word documents. I would have loved to have someone in the school who could actually teach me something. And for the linux zealot in you, you can influence a bunch of impressionable kids and maybe the administration as well.
Maybe not such a good idea, i can see it now:
"I pledge allegience to the kernel flags. . .
Hitler would have loved this. Its his kind who would use it.
/me hides under his rock.
How bout a project for Linux for your Mother's Desktop?
"who regulates the regulators"?
why, the meta-regulators of course!
you get on your soap box and say "the regulators stink!" you haven't changed the regulations, you've only given the regulators a bad name(bad karma). then you go somewhere else (kur5hin).
less mirrors = less computers = less space
real estate is expensive.
oh. I'd better stop sleeping 7 hours a day. Maybe if i sleep in moderation i won't feel tired.
ISP's shouldn't have to run their own IM servers. Its just one more thing to add to the cost of the service. I should be able to run my own IM server, just like i can run my own email server.
I can see how many linux users would not want to get an expensive program that might be better than their free one. But what if a group like Debian got one, and used it to compile their .deb's? Wouldn't that be able to produce better code for a whole junkload of people from one liscence?
A lousy bank account would beat that. The question is, how many DECADES will it take for them to get above a 3% increase?
Hey, leave GM and GE out of this. They actually make working products and let you do what you want with them after purchase.
We (the slashdot community) (except for the trolls) don't cause inconvience to innocent bystandars/consumers, and we don't cause headaches for those who actually do something, only to the lawyers and politicians and freeloaders (RIAA, MPAA, et cetera).