I think this particular record is meaningless, however I do see the PR value of hyping this -- she is a minority (Indian-American) and comes from a culture which has traditionally repressed women. Her achievements are certainly inspirational to a lot of women from the part of the world she comes from.
Well, there are ways to securely log in remotely without requiring passwords (you could always make the customer read out a number which would be a one-time token), limit the software to accepting connections from specific IP blocks only -- I'm sure security pros can flesh those issues out. However, yes, if you don't trust someone, you shouldn't let them see your screen, esp since you might have things like your tax returns on your PC (or, um, photos you'd rather keep private).
But the fact remains that thousands of on-phone support reps ask tens of thousands of novices to run EXEs, alter their registry, etc everyday (even run things like LogMeIn and Webex); and it hasn't become a big phishing channel. Most call centers know that they need to ensure their employees are on the up and up -- or go out of business.
It's easy to laugh at PC call centres, but I think the problem is in the nature of the PC itself. It does many things and isn't quite an appliance. There are just too many failure points in software, especially on a system administered by novices.
That said, PC support over the phone is a ridiculous idea. If PC vendors really wanted to improve customer service experience, they should add screenshare software into their BIOS (with an obvious hardware kill switch). When you can actually *see* the other desktop, lots of problems become easy. (And if the network is fubar-ed so this BIOS-based screen share doesn't work, give the customer an onsite visit (charge for it if it's not in the service plan).
Here's the problem as I see it: AT&T knows that ISPs have to compete on service, price and network superiority. There's not too much room to "add value" to their network (i.e., offer proprietary services that work best on AT&T's network). They're betting that by adding legit content and keeping off 'pirate' content, they can create a network that not-very-expert users who want video-on-demand etc will use, and that their competitors will do this anyway to keep up.
And what they will probably do is aggressively packet-shape so that folk who encrypt traffic will see lousy transfer rates AND lobby for exemptions to common-carrier rules for copyright defense.
It doesn't make too much sense, but hey, no one expects good business from AT&T.
Disabling the service is not a good option for Windows Vista because the OS uses the Indexing Service for the search function built into the shell.
However, it's hard to argue that Windows shouldn't provide an indexing service when OSX etc do. It's pretty well documented too, API-wise -- its only problem is that it consumes more resources than Google's indexer.
Google's complaint does seem to be a case of sour grapes here. Perhaps they're simply retaliating for the time when Microsoft raised antitrust complaints about its DoubleClick acquisition?
First to file doesn't mean you can steal ideas. You still have to show independent invention. If you're a startup discussing any plans with MS, you really should get some papers signed, if only to leave a paper trail to show that MS was aware of your tech, thereby damaging their ability to claim independent invention.
At last, some progress is being made on the insanity that's tech patents today. However, this won't help the other big problem with the US patent system -- the submarine patent. I thought we were supposed to switch to a first-to-file system like every other country to fix this... has this already happened? There seem to have been two bills passed to reform the system but I'm not sure what the current status of patent law in the US is.
Oh, he can go abuse all he likes. Don't need the condescension crap. Besides, he needs the abuse to cover up his largely empty argument, which is -- I am a movie geek, the theater is my second home, how dare you disturb my immersion (LOL!) here?
Two or three obnoxious arseholes (yes, that includes you, o great connoisseur of the moving picture) can create quite a bit of noise online; it doesn't follow the real world shares those opinions (as Howard Dean found out).
So your pathetic little majority on Slashdot counts for nothing, and your mod points count for even less. Go out and play Real Life, and convince your city council, state body or whoever it is you have to convince, instead of masturbating over your amazing slash-fu.
And oh, I hope your next movie outing is a rotten one. Love and XXX.
Most people, whether they "mantally" sit in a theater or not, go to the movies to have a social experience. Forget cellphones: there have always been people standing up, sneezing, making rude sounds etc at theaters. It comes with the territory.
On the other hand, by your own admission, you have a deep fascination for the immersive experience cinema gives you. I'm sorry to break this to you, but you're in a minority.
I'd suggest: start a film club with your fellow serious film lovers and run your own movies. Else, lobby theater owners to eject those who let cellphones ring at theaters.
And I feel sorry for them, not ever having enjoyed a movie fully, in the way it was intended.
That's all right, the rest of us feel quite sorry for you as fail you see Dungeons and Dragons "the way it was intended".
You also look to be only about 18-21 years old, so quit it with all the "responsibilities", "toddlers" and "grow up" talk. That doesn't actually make you sound important either.
Since when can't 18-21 year olds can't have responsibilities? I looked at this guy's homepage, and it looks as if he's trying to run his own company. Now, I don't think that's something that ought to take up all his life, but yeah-- if I was 21 and figuring out where to get my next lead from, I'd be pretty attached to my phone too.
On the other hand, going through this thread, we don't really know anything about you, do we? Except that you (ooh, the intelligence!) have an IQ of 136, the social skills of a worm, and a predilection for abusive language when reason fails you.
Seriously-- given the choice between watching a movie and being out of touch with those that I need to be in touch with, I know what I'd choose*. If you want untrammeled silence while watching a movie, get a damn DVD and watch it at home. You'll be doing the rest of us a favor by keeping your sociopathic self away.
*And I'd love it if someone set up a cell-free theater to prove me right or wrong -- though I suspect I'm right.
For those not very familiar with recent graphic novels (or have only heard of manga or the superhero genre) here's a great place to begin: Nowhere Girl.
I'd love to hear other Slashdotter recommendations!
Starbucks gives you a standardized experience, inspite of all the options they offer. Windows gives you options to affect many superficial things, but at its core, it behaves the same way. (The worst thing you can do is enable single clicking in list views, post-Windows 98, and even that can be turned off with one click.)
Now, compare that with Linux, where double clicking on the titlebar can do anything from shading/unshading a window to maximizing/restoring it. And where would you go to change this behavior? KDE and Gnome have totally different prefs panels. And if you're running some other WM, then -- well, it's time for lots of fun. And then there are the eternal cut-n-paste problems (which is a standardization problem IMO -- nobody implements it right). Virtual desktops (or the lack of them). And so on.
I use Yahoo IM and MSN regularly, and leaving MS aside for a moment, MSN isn't the shittiest by far.
Yahoo IM:
- unreliable (Ever exited the client without disconnecting, and still were shown as online?) - windows client is a resource hog - they still crash with some firewalls - ads on group chat windowss -- why?? (and sometimes these ads crash the client) + simplex audio chat is great for dialup users - message logging sucks (proprietary format). This is a pain when you want to archive them.
MSN:
+ interface + no ads in group chat windows + ads can be easily disabled on main window - audio quality not good on dialup + xml message logging
These are the two I use most regularly. I also keep AOL and ICQ around, but don't use them because they're ad-ridden and seem too "heavy" for what they offer.
Re:color me ignorant, but...
on
Titanic Saturn
·
· Score: 1
Related question: Do all the hydrocarbons on Titan make it a good spot for mining/drilling? Right now the cost of getting there'd be kinda high, but is there stuff out there'd that'd tempt 22rd century Exxons and Shells?
Not that absence of patches == secure, but IIS hasn't had to be patched in quite some time. In fact, over the past few months, I've been patching more Linux and BSD boxes than Windows, thanks to the SSH+sendmail vulns (yes, we still run sendmail on some boxes, though we've moved to a combination of qmail and exim on others).
MS software IMO has really improved security-wise, down to sensible, secure-by-default installs (look at the default installs for Windows 2003 or Services for Unix 3.5). Today I rate typical MS *users* are more of a security threat (the kind who spread MyDoom) than MS software itself.
TANSTAAFL. If you have tax dollars to burn, great. Another poster mentioned German healthcare, but given their economic growth rates over the last few years, I don't think it's sustainable.
Of course, given that both Oz and Germany are sparsely populated countries with high per capita, it may be easier to provide good healthcare there. But getting a socialistic medical system into a country as large as this is neither practical nor a good idea.
The organization is usually referred to simply as ISO (pronounced eye-so). It is a common misconception that ISO stands for International Standards Organization, or something similar. ISO is not an acronym; it comes from the Greek word isos, meaning equal. In English its name is International Organization for Standardization, while in French it is called Organisation Internationale de Normalisation; to use an acronym would result in different acronyms in English (IOS) and French (OIN), thus the founders of the organization chose ISO as the universal short form of its name.
Are you talking about Seraph's 'golden code'? The agents in Matrix 1, towards the end, were shown (I think) through Neo's eyes in much the same way as Trinity.
I thought it may be Trinity because she was so blatantly a form of control over Neo ("would fall in love with the One"... from the first film).
As for Morpheus, I guess there are several reasons for him being a program -- the best being that Fishburne himself has said in interviews that he saw Morpheus' role as that of a "dark mentor".
But I can't somehow see him as a program -- he was too deluded, for one. He blind faith in a prophecy seemed somehow very human to me.
Slashdot Mirror
I think this particular record is meaningless, however I do see the PR value of hyping this -- she is a minority (Indian-American) and comes from a culture which has traditionally repressed women. Her achievements are certainly inspirational to a lot of women from the part of the world she comes from.
Well, there are ways to securely log in remotely without requiring passwords (you could always make the customer read out a number which would be a one-time token), limit the software to accepting connections from specific IP blocks only -- I'm sure security pros can flesh those issues out. However, yes, if you don't trust someone, you shouldn't let them see your screen, esp since you might have things like your tax returns on your PC (or, um, photos you'd rather keep private).
But the fact remains that thousands of on-phone support reps ask tens of thousands of novices to run EXEs, alter their registry, etc everyday (even run things like LogMeIn and Webex); and it hasn't become a big phishing channel. Most call centers know that they need to ensure their employees are on the up and up -- or go out of business.
It's easy to laugh at PC call centres, but I think the problem is in the nature of the PC itself. It does many things and isn't quite an appliance. There are just too many failure points in software, especially on a system administered by novices.
That said, PC support over the phone is a ridiculous idea. If PC vendors really wanted to improve customer service experience, they should add screenshare software into their BIOS (with an obvious hardware kill switch). When you can actually *see* the other desktop, lots of problems become easy. (And if the network is fubar-ed so this BIOS-based screen share doesn't work, give the customer an onsite visit (charge for it if it's not in the service plan).
Here's the problem as I see it: AT&T knows that ISPs have to compete on service, price and network superiority. There's not too much room to "add value" to their network (i.e., offer proprietary services that work best on AT&T's network). They're betting that by adding legit content and keeping off 'pirate' content, they can create a network that not-very-expert users who want video-on-demand etc will use, and that their competitors will do this anyway to keep up.
And what they will probably do is aggressively packet-shape so that folk who encrypt traffic will see lousy transfer rates AND lobby for exemptions to common-carrier rules for copyright defense.
It doesn't make too much sense, but hey, no one expects good business from AT&T.
Disabling the service is not a good option for Windows Vista because the OS uses the Indexing Service for the search function built into the shell.
However, it's hard to argue that Windows shouldn't provide an indexing service when OSX etc do. It's pretty well documented too, API-wise -- its only problem is that it consumes more resources than Google's indexer.
Google's complaint does seem to be a case of sour grapes here. Perhaps they're simply retaliating for the time when Microsoft raised antitrust complaints about its DoubleClick acquisition?
First to file doesn't mean you can steal ideas. You still have to show independent invention. If you're a startup discussing any plans with MS, you really should get some papers signed, if only to leave a paper trail to show that MS was aware of your tech, thereby damaging their ability to claim independent invention.
At last, some progress is being made on the insanity that's tech patents today. However, this won't help the other big problem with the US patent system -- the submarine patent. I thought we were supposed to switch to a first-to-file system like every other country to fix this ... has this already happened? There seem to have been two bills passed to reform the system but I'm not sure what the current status of patent law in the US is.
Ditto. Atheist and proud Bush voter because I like a man who sticks to his beliefs more than a guy who'll say anything to get elected.
No, beating sociopaths like you with a cluestick makes any time of the month look good.
Oh, he can go abuse all he likes. Don't need the condescension crap. Besides, he needs the abuse to cover up his largely empty argument, which is -- I am a movie geek, the theater is my second home, how dare you disturb my immersion (LOL!) here?
Two or three obnoxious arseholes (yes, that includes you, o great connoisseur of the moving picture) can create quite a bit of noise online; it doesn't follow the real world shares those opinions (as Howard Dean found out).
So your pathetic little majority on Slashdot counts for nothing, and your mod points count for even less. Go out and play Real Life, and convince your city council, state body or whoever it is you have to convince, instead of masturbating over your amazing slash-fu.
And oh, I hope your next movie outing is a rotten one. Love and XXX.
So one anti-social theatre phone user sticking up for another.
:-).
It's called the tyranny of the majority, baby. If you don't like it, start your own theater
Most people, whether they "mantally" sit in a theater or not, go to the movies to have a social experience. Forget cellphones: there have always been people standing up, sneezing, making rude sounds etc at theaters. It comes with the territory.
On the other hand, by your own admission, you have a deep fascination for the immersive experience cinema gives you. I'm sorry to break this to you, but you're in a minority.
I'd suggest: start a film club with your fellow serious film lovers and run your own movies. Else, lobby theater owners to eject those who let cellphones ring at theaters.
And I feel sorry for them, not ever having enjoyed a movie fully, in the way it was intended.
That's all right, the rest of us feel quite sorry for you as fail you see Dungeons and Dragons "the way it was intended".
You also look to be only about 18-21 years old, so quit it with all the "responsibilities", "toddlers" and "grow up" talk. That doesn't actually make you sound important either.
Since when can't 18-21 year olds can't have responsibilities? I looked at this guy's homepage, and it looks as if he's trying to run his own company. Now, I don't think that's something that ought to take up all his life, but yeah-- if I was 21 and figuring out where to get my next lead from, I'd be pretty attached to my phone too.
On the other hand, going through this thread, we don't really know anything about you, do we? Except that you (ooh, the intelligence!) have an IQ of 136, the social skills of a worm, and a predilection for abusive language when reason fails you.
Seriously-- given the choice between watching a movie and being out of touch with those that I need to be in touch with, I know what I'd choose*. If you want untrammeled silence while watching a movie, get a damn DVD and watch it at home. You'll be doing the rest of us a favor by keeping your sociopathic self away.
*And I'd love it if someone set up a cell-free theater to prove me right or wrong -- though I suspect I'm right.
For those not very familiar with recent graphic novels (or have only heard of manga or the superhero genre) here's a great place to begin: Nowhere Girl.
I'd love to hear other Slashdotter recommendations!
> Select middle click or use cut/paste in the app of your choice. What's missing?
The ability to copy/paste anything other than text, for one.
(Although the clipboard works quite well across programs built with the same toolkit.)
Starbucks gives you a standardized experience, inspite of all the options they offer. Windows gives you options to affect many superficial things, but at its core, it behaves the same way. (The worst thing you can do is enable single clicking in list views, post-Windows 98, and even that can be turned off with one click.)
Now, compare that with Linux, where double clicking on the titlebar can do anything from shading/unshading a window to maximizing/restoring it. And where would you go to change this behavior? KDE and Gnome have totally different prefs panels. And if you're running some other WM, then -- well, it's time for lots of fun. And then there are the eternal cut-n-paste problems (which is a standardization problem IMO -- nobody implements it right). Virtual desktops (or the lack of them). And so on.
> MSN, the shittiest messenger service ever
I use Yahoo IM and MSN regularly, and leaving MS aside for a moment, MSN isn't the shittiest by far.
Yahoo IM:
- unreliable (Ever exited the client without disconnecting, and still were shown as online?)
- windows client is a resource hog
- they still crash with some firewalls
- ads on group chat windowss -- why?? (and sometimes these ads crash the client)
+ simplex audio chat is great for dialup users
- message logging sucks (proprietary format). This is a pain when you want to archive them.
MSN:
+ interface
+ no ads in group chat windows
+ ads can be easily disabled on main window
- audio quality not good on dialup
+ xml message logging
These are the two I use most regularly. I also keep AOL and ICQ around, but don't use them because they're ad-ridden and seem too "heavy" for what they offer.
Related question: Do all the hydrocarbons on Titan make it a good spot for mining/drilling? Right now the cost of getting there'd be kinda high, but is there stuff out there'd that'd tempt 22rd century Exxons and Shells?
Not that absence of patches == secure, but IIS hasn't had to be patched in quite some time. In fact, over the past few months, I've been patching more Linux and BSD boxes than Windows, thanks to the SSH+sendmail vulns (yes, we still run sendmail on some boxes, though we've moved to a combination of qmail and exim on others).
MS software IMO has really improved security-wise, down to sensible, secure-by-default installs (look at the default installs for Windows 2003 or Services for Unix 3.5). Today I rate typical MS *users* are more of a security threat (the kind who spread MyDoom) than MS software itself.
> How much cheaper can you get than FREE?
TANSTAAFL. If you have tax dollars to burn, great. Another poster mentioned German healthcare, but given their economic growth rates over the last few years, I don't think it's sustainable.
Of course, given that both Oz and Germany are sparsely populated countries with high per capita, it may be easier to provide good healthcare there. But getting a socialistic medical system into a country as large as this is neither practical nor a good idea.
From the wikipedia:
Are you talking about Seraph's 'golden code'? The agents in Matrix 1, towards the end, were shown (I think) through Neo's eyes in much the same way as Trinity.
I thought it may be Trinity because she was so blatantly a form of control over Neo ("would fall in love with the One"... from the first film).
As for Morpheus, I guess there are several reasons for him being a program -- the best being that Fishburne himself has said in interviews that he saw Morpheus' role as that of a "dark mentor".
But I can't somehow see him as a program -- he was too deluded, for one. He blind faith in a prophecy seemed somehow very human to me.
> You would, for example, also miss out on a HUGE hint as to who the program among our heroes is...
I watched the movie thrice and *still* can't make up my mind: is it Trinity or Neo?
It may or maynot need the charset, but Netscape 4.79 seems to show the quotes fine even without it.