There is an optional update from Microsoft, which is more than a year old, that makes executable attachments inaccessible to someone with no technical knowledge. It's a pain really; it goes to far in the opposite direction from too much accessibility.
Bill Gates just made the Adam Osborne mistake. He announced "WinFX", whatever
that is, as the improvement to.NET. Now a significant number of people will
wait for WinFX, and Microsoft will lose the profits it would have had from those
who wait.
Adam Osborne's company
made an early personal computer. Adam announced a new model long before it was
ready. Sales stopped because everyone wanted to wait for the new model. Adam's
company went bankrupt.
It was amazing watching the bankrupting of the company on TV at the time.
Osborne's company went from being one of the fastest growing to having
insufficient money for operations in about two months.
It was a sobering lesson. Computer companies sometimes die extremely fast.
Novell, WordPerfect, Corel, Fifth Generation Systems, and Central Point are
examples. There are many others.
Microsoft has not been managed well. The company survives and profits because
of having a virtual monopoly on operating systems and on office suite file
formats. Think about it, suppose someone had a monopoly on water. That person
could soon be much richer than Bill Gates.
For most businesses, the free Open
Office is all they need. There are significant benefits to Open Office. It
is much less quirky than Microsoft Office, for example. Most people are not very observant about the software they use, and they hardly notice the difference between Microsoft Word and the Open Office word processor.
Right now, many businesses use software that runs only under Microsoft
Windows. However, there are many desktops that only need software that is
already available for Linux. Those can benefit from the increased stability of
Linux.
People don't care about the cost of Windows. The cost is only a few dollars of the cost of the computers they buy. The biggest issue against
Microsoft is its adversarial behavior toward its customers. Using Linux means
never having to say "My operating system company is partly my enemy."
Microsoft is on the way down. Most people don't realize that yet, however.
Microsoft is one of the biggest management failures the world has ever seen. If the company could make a few changes in its behavior, it could stay profitable. However, it seems that abusiveness is more important to Microsoft than money.
Note that WinFX is someone else's trademark. WinFX is the most cracked and cheated program I have ever seen. There are 50 times as many links to cheats as there are to the product!
Microsoft has scheduled an MSDN TV program about "WinFX" for November 6 (Subject to change by Microsoft, of course.)
Microsoft claims that WinFX is their trademark. (The link is to a Google conversion of a.DOC file to HTML.)
Microsoft has a history of picking inappropriate trademarks. "X" means unknown. It was inappropriate to use the letter X in conjunction with "Xbox" and "ActiveX". Aside from being someone else's trademark, WinFX sounds too trivial for use with an extensive programming product. Traditionally, "FX" has been used to signify "effects".
It would be great if the Free Software Foundation would create a copyright registry. Anyone would be able to upload any file and get back an MD5 sum and a digital time stamp.
The U.S. Copyright Office copyright registry is too expensive! It costs at least $20, it is necessary to fill forms, mail by snail mail, it takes weeks to get acknowledgement, and it is not private!
I suggest that the cost be $1. Pay a minimum of $10 by credit card, and have credit for 10 uploads of 20 megabytes or less.
With MD5 sums it is not necessary to save the file.
Check it out yourself. Not everyone is like you. I mentioned that I
thought that in my original post.
You are much smarter than the average person, as I said. Also, from what you
say, you have a healthy social life. But you appear not to be aware that few
people are as advantaged as you.
Microsoft is trashing its own reputation because of the social inabilities of
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Ray Noorda destroyed Novell's chances. Michael
(I forget his name.) of Corel reduced Corel to a minor player.
Have you ever noticed that most people don't use brainpower like you have done
in your comment? You are very creative and humorous in making a joke of what I
said. Most people don't do that. Most people are very, very careful in how and
when they expend brainpower.
The people I spoke about are there. They are the majority of technically
oriented people. You just don't see them because you have taught yourself,
apparently without realizing it, that they have nothing interesting to say to
you. Also, they are often very good at pretending to be socially capable.
I wasn't very happy with the article. I can taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi, and I like Coke better, as do most people. Pepsi has a more sugary taste. People apparently don't want that in a strictly recreational drink. Beer is another example; it is bitter.
Duh! Claudia is a technically knowledgeable person who writes all the
software? No. She is probably his wife who helps him, probably with clerical
work.
I said I was exaggerating! Duh, again.
Slashdot is becoming an hysterically angry place. Say anything that has minor
imperfections, and some commenters say Idiot! Why I've known that since I was
10 years old! How can you be so stupid! Weapons of Mass Destruction! Let's
invade Iraq! Hysterical anger is the climate in the U.S. now.
Think about what I said for a minute. There is NOTHING, nothing, nothing, to
prevent Paul from leaving Claudia, going to Russia, getting himself a
mail-order Russian bride (Don't scream; I know he won't need the mail if he is
already there.), and using the SAME technology to do the SAME thing.
If Paul has made more than $2,000,000 already, for example, if he has made
$10,000,000, the $2,000,000 won't look as large to him as it does to us.
Also, he hasn't paid anything yet!!! Duh #3!!! It will be at least 6 years
before he pays anything, even if he loses all the appeals.
Wow! $2,000,000 is 1/10,000 of one penny for each spam email. That'll stop him!
Okay, that's an exaggeration. Maybe, because of this judgment, the spammer will become so poor he will have to stop having caviar flown in from Moscow.
Markus, you said P.S. I can just hear all the people asking themselves
"What an odd comment to make; I wonder what his angle is?"
You are thinking more deeply and carefully than is normal for Slashdot
commenters. That is unusual.
It is humorous to that the grandparent commenter told "zealots" that they
should stop being so intense because they might "turn people off".
Using the Google define: modifier gives this result for zealot: Zealot
- "a member of an ancient Jewish sect in Judea in the first century who
fought to the death against the Romans and who killed or persecuted Jews who
collaborated with the Romans" and "a fervent and even militant
proponent of something". The original Zealots were people who did a lot
more than "turn people off". They killed them! That's what made them Zealots!
It would, however, be good if technically oriented people were more careful
about communicating.
I once worked for a research institution that did research in Physics. Like
all research organizations, we had people from other disciplines come and give
talks. Once a social scientist gave a talk about her research. She said that
many technically oriented people chose technical fields because they wanted to
escape from some crazy, illogical social situation in their lives. Usually
that situation was having uncaring parents. In response, technically oriented
people chose a field that is strictly dominated by logic.
It would be good if more technically oriented people re-joined the world. The
world would then become more logical. That would be an excellent revolution.
The same situation exists with Microsoft's FoxPro, a database programming language like the old dBase. Microsoft has been giving FoxPro lukewarm development support. At one time there were 1,500,000 FoxPro programmers. Now they are imprisoned in an uncomfortable relationship.
The reason for using pressure in pens, it seems, is that surface tension alone may not be enough to pull a long column of ink through a narrow tube. If there is a little bubble in the column of ink, the surface tension is broken, and there is no way to pull ink past the bubble.
The problem of a bubble in the column of ink happens on land, too, not just in space. People deal with it by just throwing the pen away. Since cheap pens cost less than 15 cents, someone may develop the habit of throwing away pens without noticing what he is doing. If a bubble develops, it is usually after the pen has had considerable use, so there is little complaint.
In situations of varying temperature and outside air pressure, unpressurized pens may develop a bubble more easily. Pressurized ink cartridges are a little more reliable, and cost the manufacturer only a little more.
I like English humor. When I was in N.Z., I thought the Wizard was funny. (He's English, of course.) Recently he told me he is retiring. No more wizardry. No more British Conservative Army.
Slashdot commentors: Please realize that many people who visit Slashdot are from countries where English is not the native language. It is VERY likely that they won't understand a subtle joke.
Don't become hostile because someone doesn't understand. Just explain.
Slashdot Mirror
There is an optional update from Microsoft, which is more than a year old, that makes executable attachments inaccessible to someone with no technical knowledge. It's a pain really; it goes to far in the opposite direction from too much accessibility.
Bill Gates just made the Adam Osborne mistake. He announced "WinFX", whatever that is, as the improvement to
Adam Osborne's company made an early personal computer. Adam announced a new model long before it was ready. Sales stopped because everyone wanted to wait for the new model. Adam's company went bankrupt.
It was amazing watching the bankrupting of the company on TV at the time. Osborne's company went from being one of the fastest growing to having insufficient money for operations in about two months.
It was a sobering lesson. Computer companies sometimes die extremely fast. Novell, WordPerfect, Corel, Fifth Generation Systems, and Central Point are examples. There are many others.
Microsoft has not been managed well. The company survives and profits because of having a virtual monopoly on operating systems and on office suite file formats. Think about it, suppose someone had a monopoly on water. That person could soon be much richer than Bill Gates.
For most businesses, the free Open Office is all they need. There are significant benefits to Open Office. It is much less quirky than Microsoft Office, for example. Most people are not very observant about the software they use, and they hardly notice the difference between Microsoft Word and the Open Office word processor.
Right now, many businesses use software that runs only under Microsoft Windows. However, there are many desktops that only need software that is already available for Linux. Those can benefit from the increased stability of Linux.
People don't care about the cost of Windows. The cost is only a few dollars of the cost of the computers they buy. The biggest issue against Microsoft is its adversarial behavior toward its customers. Using Linux means never having to say "My operating system company is partly my enemy."
Microsoft is on the way down. Most people don't realize that yet, however. Microsoft is one of the biggest management failures the world has ever seen. If the company could make a few changes in its behavior, it could stay profitable. However, it seems that abusiveness is more important to Microsoft than money.
Note that WinFX is someone else's trademark. WinFX is the most cracked and cheated program I have ever seen. There are 50 times as many links to cheats as there are to the product!
Microsoft has scheduled an MSDN TV program about "WinFX" for November 6 (Subject to change by Microsoft, of course.)
Microsoft claims that WinFX is their trademark. (The link is to a Google conversion of a
Microsoft has a history of picking inappropriate trademarks. "X" means unknown. It was inappropriate to use the letter X in conjunction with "Xbox" and "ActiveX". Aside from being someone else's trademark, WinFX sounds too trivial for use with an extensive programming product. Traditionally, "FX" has been used to signify "effects".
Article: Scientists may be able to extend lives.
Slashdot: Grumble, gloom, doom, complain, pessimism, joke, off topic.
At the time of this posting, no one had anything good to say.
#7308769
It would be great if the Free Software Foundation would create a copyright registry. Anyone would be able to upload any file and get back an MD5 sum and a digital time stamp.
The U.S. Copyright Office copyright registry is too expensive! It costs at least $20, it is necessary to fill forms, mail by snail mail, it takes weeks to get acknowledgement, and it is not private!
I suggest that the cost be $1. Pay a minimum of $10 by credit card, and have credit for 10 uploads of 20 megabytes or less.
With MD5 sums it is not necessary to save the file.
Did that, of course. Did you have a specific service pack in mind?
No legal value in this. Urban myth.
I've had problems with
I intended it to be obvious that I was joking.
From the jargon file: "... SCO has become a nest of liars and thieves..."
ESR is a man of carefully restrained, diplomatic judgements. Look at it this way, he is saying SCO is so bad it can only improve.
Would you buy software from a company with this reputation?
Check it out yourself. Not everyone is like you. I mentioned that I thought that in my original post.
You are much smarter than the average person, as I said. Also, from what you say, you have a healthy social life. But you appear not to be aware that few people are as advantaged as you.
Microsoft is trashing its own reputation because of the social inabilities of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Ray Noorda destroyed Novell's chances. Michael (I forget his name.) of Corel reduced Corel to a minor player.
Have you ever noticed that most people don't use brainpower like you have done in your comment? You are very creative and humorous in making a joke of what I said. Most people don't do that. Most people are very, very careful in how and when they expend brainpower.
The people I spoke about are there. They are the majority of technically oriented people. You just don't see them because you have taught yourself, apparently without realizing it, that they have nothing interesting to say to you. Also, they are often very good at pretending to be socially capable.
I wasn't very happy with the article. I can taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi, and I like Coke better, as do most people. Pepsi has a more sugary taste. People apparently don't want that in a strictly recreational drink. Beer is another example; it is bitter.
Markus, I'm not talking about you or anyone you know, apparently. I'm talking about the people you don't know, because they are not social.
Mod parent UP!!!!
Excellent analysis.
Duh! Claudia is a technically knowledgeable person who writes all the software? No. She is probably his wife who helps him, probably with clerical work.
I said I was exaggerating! Duh, again.
Slashdot is becoming an hysterically angry place. Say anything that has minor imperfections, and some commenters say Idiot! Why I've known that since I was 10 years old! How can you be so stupid! Weapons of Mass Destruction! Let's invade Iraq! Hysterical anger is the climate in the U.S. now.
Think about what I said for a minute. There is NOTHING, nothing, nothing, to prevent Paul from leaving Claudia, going to Russia, getting himself a mail-order Russian bride (Don't scream; I know he won't need the mail if he is already there.), and using the SAME technology to do the SAME thing.
If Paul has made more than $2,000,000 already, for example, if he has made $10,000,000, the $2,000,000 won't look as large to him as it does to us.
Also, he hasn't paid anything yet!!! Duh #3!!! It will be at least 6 years before he pays anything, even if he loses all the appeals.
Wow! $2,000,000 is 1/10,000 of one penny for each spam email. That'll stop him!
Okay, that's an exaggeration. Maybe, because of this judgment, the spammer will become so poor he will have to stop having caviar flown in from Moscow.
Markus, you said P.S. I can just hear all the people asking themselves "What an odd comment to make; I wonder what his angle is?"
You are thinking more deeply and carefully than is normal for Slashdot commenters. That is unusual.
It is humorous to that the grandparent commenter told "zealots" that they should stop being so intense because they might "turn people off".
Using the Google define: modifier gives this result for zealot: Zealot - "a member of an ancient Jewish sect in Judea in the first century who fought to the death against the Romans and who killed or persecuted Jews who collaborated with the Romans" and "a fervent and even militant proponent of something". The original Zealots were people who did a lot more than "turn people off". They killed them! That's what made them Zealots!
It would, however, be good if technically oriented people were more careful about communicating.
I once worked for a research institution that did research in Physics. Like all research organizations, we had people from other disciplines come and give talks. Once a social scientist gave a talk about her research. She said that many technically oriented people chose technical fields because they wanted to escape from some crazy, illogical social situation in their lives. Usually that situation was having uncaring parents. In response, technically oriented people chose a field that is strictly dominated by logic.
It would be good if more technically oriented people re-joined the world. The world would then become more logical. That would be an excellent revolution.
The same situation exists with Microsoft's FoxPro, a database programming language like the old dBase. Microsoft has been giving FoxPro lukewarm development support. At one time there were 1,500,000 FoxPro programmers. Now they are imprisoned in an uncomfortable relationship.
The reason for using pressure in pens, it seems, is that surface tension alone may not be enough to pull a long column of ink through a narrow tube. If there is a little bubble in the column of ink, the surface tension is broken, and there is no way to pull ink past the bubble.
The problem of a bubble in the column of ink happens on land, too, not just in space. People deal with it by just throwing the pen away. Since cheap pens cost less than 15 cents, someone may develop the habit of throwing away pens without noticing what he is doing. If a bubble develops, it is usually after the pen has had considerable use, so there is little complaint.
In situations of varying temperature and outside air pressure, unpressurized pens may develop a bubble more easily. Pressurized ink cartridges are a little more reliable, and cost the manufacturer only a little more.
The ink cartridges in some pens is pressurized.
Before this, Diebold was a good trademark. Now, it is becoming worse than useless. If things continue, no one will even buy a Diebold lunch bucket.
Just wait 5 years and you will be able to buy any fancy system used for $250.
Hostility is bad manners, no matter who does it.
I like English humor. When I was in N.Z., I thought the Wizard was funny. (He's English, of course.) Recently he told me he is retiring. No more wizardry. No more British Conservative Army.
Slashdot commentors: Please realize that many people who visit Slashdot are from countries where English is not the native language. It is VERY likely that they won't understand a subtle joke. Don't become hostile because someone doesn't understand. Just explain.