There are 3 sorts of responses to this post. the first type, which I expect to see shortly, is from the "tinfoil hat" contingent; the type that will tell you to take off your tinfoil hat when you post anything about the Echelon system, for example. The 2nd type is from the "jaded acknowledger's" contingent; usually it takes the form of "No Shit. But what you gonna do?". The 3rd type is from the "meta" group. Hi.
I would agree with you, but I would almost be afraid to. The last several times I've said anything about one of the several well-publicized vista problems, carefully leaving out the weirdness coming from Gutmann of course, like the slow network speeds, DRM lockdown of HD hardware via ICT (which, allegedly, won't be an issue until 2012), incompatibility with new Thawte Personal Email Certificates, intermittent broadcast flag issues, the file copying debacle, the "unused memory is wasted memory" bullpucky, etc, etc, etc I have been modded "troll". on slashdot. a troll for pointing out problems with Vista. on/. But wait, theres more... I got modded troll for saying that compiz fusion was superior to aero. I'm still in shock.
No. However, anyone with the proper education, a relatively stable and intelligent brain and the right equipment COULD do so ; thats what makes it "provable".
I doubt that; I think the major "boost" to DRM is trying to get around customer fair use rights in order to maximize profits, with piracy coming in a close 2nd. I run a legitimate copy of CS4 with modified DLL's. it's the only way to make it run on Win2k.
Extremely unlikely is fine. I have no problem with extremely unlikely. I just get tired of the Dane Cook styled atheists who treat anyone who admits to a religion as if they were fools or retarded. The stone hitting the floor thing is mainly used as part of a safety lecture; "will this rock hit the floor if I drop it?" "yeah, of course". I drop it with one hand and catch it with the other. to make a long story short, you can't count on ANYTHING in a uncontrolled environment. regardless, I maintain that you have to have faith in order to believe with 100% certainty that there is no god.
Ever hear the old "if you aren't doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear" argument? I see things sort of like this: the people who are going to be forced to use it are mainly people who get it bundled with their new PC. Either they haven't had a PC before, in which case they probably aren't going to realize that they can't do things they should be able to, or they just wonder why they can't do some of the things they used to be able to do on their XP machine, and shrug. I've recently (about 9 months) been doing some volunteer work, giving tech support to lower income families (which, BTW, I'm thinking of starting a organization or charity to support); they in general do not have a clue, and DRM just doesn't have any bearing on their life; they just want to be able to surf, play games, play MP3's, and use them for homework. Out of, say, 100 families, about 20 wanted something more than that; ripping CD's, or doing VPN, or, in once case, programming in Visual Java. I give out a Knoppix CD to everybody, explaining that "if your computer doesn't work or do what you want for some reason, try booting from this until you can get help"; I haven't really kept track of reactions to this (aside from, of course, distrust), but over half tried it & liked it; I think if you could easily play The Sims 2, Myst, WoW or Diablo II with a Linux Distro, they would leave Windows behind. Of course, most lower income family computers have XP; Win98SE, or if I'm in luck, Win2k on them; If I'm not in luck, Win95 or WinME. if I was doing for-pay general support I would have to deal with Vista more often.
If it weren't for those Atheism Cult loonies, you might have something there. The vast majority of atheists I've encountered in life are no better than the religious types they mock; they spout off that they are 100% certain that god(s) do not exist. Fine, I say, prove it. show me your documented research on the subject, using whatever methodology you wish, that establishes, scientifically/logically/whatever, that gods do not exist. oh, you mean you accept it on FAITH that god(s) do not exist?.... I feel that my own religious views, being a Agnostic Pagan, to be much more logical. Gods might exist. they might not. as I am not a god myself, I do not feel it is my place to say one way or the other, it is sort of hard to prove. I would say impossible to prove, but that would require FAITH on my part. Or, as I tell my kids: "If I drop this rock, it will almost certainly hit the floor. But it is possible that it won't" Replacing religion with 100% science is not...scientific.
Well, I can't. After careful thought, I've decided that my personal reality will not allow something like this "Vista" to exist; it does not belong in a sane, ordered universe. or, even my own sort of Benny Hill style universe. So I have decided that Microsoft did not release any products between Windows XP media center 2005 and Windows 2008 (which, to my shock and almost horror, doesn't suck). (I really wanted to push that back to Windows 2000 SP4, but then I wouldn't be able to use my laptop to record TV) If you think about it, I mean REALLY think about it, it would make Microsoft almost seem like a nice, warm, fuzzy sort of company; half the articles on/. these days seems to be on the topic of "Windows 7 doesn't suck as bad as Vista!!!(but, of course, isn't as good as XP)"
And if it hadn't been for Woz, steve jobs would probably be a used car salesman somewhere. One guy made, essentially singlehandedly, a great product, then by example started the creative environment that led to apple putting out great products. Steve jobs is good at marketing, but without a first few good products there is no telling where he would have ended up.
THIS. I don't mind a SSD as a backup drive on my home system; I could see them for most workstations. But until the size per dollar growth starts leveling out some, indicating that the manufacturing process is getting stabilized, they aren't really suitable for "prime time"; stick with RAID 5 on a SCSI, IDE or SATA until SSD's are provably stable for long term use.
Even with this admittedly impressive demonstration of their scientific ability, it's a long, long way down the road for them to be able to build a nuclear device that they can get suborbital; 1st gen atomics are big and heavy. They would have to use 2md hand soviet stuff. Now, chemical & biological weapons, thats a different story.
"The modern web (even the not so modern web) is a seriously painful experience on a "56k" modem."
No Doubt. Where I live, I have 4 choices for internet: Dial-up, single channel ISDN, a weird WiFi service, and satellite (yeah, right). I've got the weird WiFi, and 384k down / 256k up, and the internet is, at times, painfully slow; you tube is barely possible if you pause the video until it's 3/4s done. I can't imagine trying to surf on dialup.
Yup. I will be among the first killed when Ballmer seizes control of the country; my attacks on XP & Vista have been constant. But, Windows server 2008 actually doesn't suck. it sort of freaks me out. Almost as good as win2k server.
Ok, I have obviously landed at Bizarro slashdot. People who point out obvious, plainly visible flaws in Vista are labeled Trolls, while people who defend it, make absurd claims about HD content requiring DRM, get to spout their crap without negative mods. WTF?
really, anyone who says Vista is anything but pure, unadulterated Evil AND knows anything about technology is highly suspect in my book; you have to ignore or be oblivious to a lot of crap to defend it.
Actually... I did a provisional patent for a application I wrote in 2001 that, as best as i can tell from the article, was nearly the same. NACM. Network Active Countermeasures. I buried it, because it would have been too easy to use it as a censorship tool. If it is the same, I guess that would constitute prior art.
Well, I sort of agree. NT 3.x to NT 4 was a major improvement; with the various add-ons and option packs, you could do damn near anything with NT4.
Then, Win2k came out. all the stuff you could do with a fully tricked out NT4, plus Stability! and a way to lock down all those damn open ports (which no one except corporate admins seemed to make use of, and even some of them didn't). Fantastic all around operating system.
Then, XP! lots of eye candy! authorization! Integrated DRM! Thread limits! Support for a limited series of Intel Processors that WIn2k didn't support completely! eventually, a 64-bit version (Microsoft decided not to release the fully developed Win2k 64-bit patch)! Cleartype Fonts! (which were originally developed for Win2k, but they decided...well, you get the point)!
IPv6 runs on Win2k. Chrome runs on Win2k. Spore runs on Win2k. The only "XP or Vista only" software I haven't been able to run on Win2k is a game called "Attack on Pearl Harbor"; the problem lies with a DirectX driver for Xbox360 joysticks, Which Microsoft blocked from working on Win2k in a way I just haven't been able to figure out. yet. In general, the only software that I haven't got to run on Win2k is stuff I wouldn't want to, like the DRM infected latest Media Player. And 64-bit applications.
BTW, don't think I'm a luddite; I run Etch; I've been running a Windows 2008 server build for a while now, and even though it has a vista kernel, i frikkin' love it. it doesn't have hardly any of the annoying crap that Vista has, I think it's going to make a expensive, but stable, game platform. It even does NOT insist on keeping all your memory working, something they did with Vista to explain away the gigantic footprint of the OS.
Speaking some from personal experience... I've known a lot of "fringe" people; through various weird and strange circumstances, I've had "in's" with groups that are...exclusive. it's a lifelong thing that seems to just happen to me, ever since I was around 14. I'm a Agnostic Pagan, believe in equal rights for every arguably human being on the planet, Pro-choice, etc. If you didn't know me you might even call me a liberal, except that I'm not. I guess the main thing is that I don't insist that my way of thinking is the only way of thinking. And I'm a Gun Nut; that always helps. To cut a long story short, I've been a "mascot" of sorts with a splinter group of Satan's Slaves, who thought the rest of the club was punks for joining the Angels; I did continuing tech support and drank beer & ate pizza with a group of Hard-Core Nation of Islam guys in the early 90's (I'm blond, green eyes, pale), I've been a participant in Special Forces "unofficial" exploits, and worked with both Klan and Extremist Militia types. And other stuff i can't mention. Anyway, here is the bottom line; They almost ALL love the Constitution; The Islam guys probably the least, but some of them did. The problem is that a lot of them think that the Constitution shouldn't apply to everyone. When there were war protesters being pelted with rotten eggs at a university in Ohio right after 9/11, the Kentucky Militia sent a delegation to offer them discrete, plainclothes security, because their rights were being trampled on; they offered plainclothes security because some of the protesters were black, and they didn't think they would go for it otherwise because of the racist connotations the militia's have developed (KY Militia had Black Members). Some of the most hard core, scary, damn-he's-gonna-start-looking-for-bell-towers types I've met, however, have been Constitutionalists. And they have to be getting madder, and madder, with every passing second. Posted with no Kama bonus, because this is just a long-winded reply.
Try IBM's version. I don't really have any problem using OpenOffice, but it's kludgey. and pretty slow. Lotus Symphony, on the other hand, seemed very polished to me, and significantly quicker. It's still not Office 2000/2003, but it is worlds better than the pile of excrement that is Office 2007. Which, by the way, I have not heard more than 5 people say they like, including the previous side-post. I would even say that, personally, I like the spreadsheet application in symphony better than excel in most instances; They have quite a bit of experience with those, so it makes sense.
Possibly because it's the very last resort. While some of us still have something resembling 1st & 4th amendment rights, we can use the 1st to bitch, and bitch loudly. It's not until after the 4th is completely gone, and it's obvious the 1st is on it's death bed, that it will be time for the 2nd. Of course, it'll probably be too late for the 2nd by then, since everyone with a gun will be declared "Paranoid" or otherwise unfit for wanting to own a gun. The timing is sort of tricky.
The monarchy is sort of like the 2nd amendment; if things just get totally and completely screwed up beyond any hope of repair, The 2nd amendment, and the Monarchy, are the built-in reset switches. And, just like the 2nd amendment, a bunch of idiots don't realize what a blessing it is that they have that reset switch.
no, Star Wars is Star Wars. if you wanna get picky, it's Star Wars: A new hope. He didn't write the swill that was episodes 1-3 until well after Return of the Jedi. Midichlorians? the fevered delusion of a cocaine deranged idiot seemingly intent on cheapening the memories of millions of fans. I'm glad he apparently hit rehab, at least briefly, before Indiana Jones IV.
Slashdot Mirror
There are 3 sorts of responses to this post.
the first type, which I expect to see shortly, is from the "tinfoil hat" contingent; the type that will tell you to take off your tinfoil hat when you post anything about the Echelon system, for example.
The 2nd type is from the "jaded acknowledger's" contingent; usually it takes the form of "No Shit. But what you gonna do?".
The 3rd type is from the "meta" group. Hi.
I would agree with you, but I would almost be afraid to. /.
The last several times I've said anything about one of the several well-publicized vista problems, carefully leaving out the weirdness coming from Gutmann of course, like the slow network speeds, DRM lockdown of HD hardware via ICT (which, allegedly, won't be an issue until 2012), incompatibility with new Thawte Personal Email Certificates, intermittent broadcast flag issues, the file copying debacle, the "unused memory is wasted memory" bullpucky, etc, etc, etc
I have been modded "troll".
on slashdot.
a troll for pointing out problems with Vista. on
But wait, theres more...
I got modded troll for saying that compiz fusion was superior to aero.
I'm still in shock.
No.
However, anyone with the proper education, a relatively stable and intelligent brain and the right equipment COULD do so ; thats what makes it "provable".
I doubt that; I think the major "boost" to DRM is trying to get around customer fair use rights in order to maximize profits, with piracy coming in a close 2nd.
I run a legitimate copy of CS4 with modified DLL's. it's the only way to make it run on Win2k.
Extremely unlikely is fine. I have no problem with extremely unlikely. I just get tired of the Dane Cook styled atheists who treat anyone who admits to a religion as if they were fools or retarded.
The stone hitting the floor thing is mainly used as part of a safety lecture; "will this rock hit the floor if I drop it?" "yeah, of course". I drop it with one hand and catch it with the other. to make a long story short, you can't count on ANYTHING in a uncontrolled environment.
regardless, I maintain that you have to have faith in order to believe with 100% certainty that there is no god.
Interesting...
one little teenie tiny problem though; it can be proven scientifically that Elvis is dead through forensic examination.
Ever hear the old "if you aren't doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear" argument?
I see things sort of like this: the people who are going to be forced to use it are mainly people who get it bundled with their new PC.
Either they haven't had a PC before, in which case they probably aren't going to realize that they can't do things they should be able to, or they just wonder why they can't do some of the things they used to be able to do on their XP machine, and shrug.
I've recently (about 9 months) been doing some volunteer work, giving tech support to lower income families (which, BTW, I'm thinking of starting a organization or charity to support); they in general do not have a clue, and DRM just doesn't have any bearing on their life; they just want to be able to surf, play games, play MP3's, and use them for homework.
Out of, say, 100 families, about 20 wanted something more than that; ripping CD's, or doing VPN, or, in once case, programming in Visual Java. I give out a Knoppix CD to everybody, explaining that "if your computer doesn't work or do what you want for some reason, try booting from this until you can get help"; I haven't really kept track of reactions to this (aside from, of course, distrust), but over half tried it & liked it; I think if you could easily play The Sims 2, Myst, WoW or Diablo II with a Linux Distro, they would leave Windows behind.
Of course, most lower income family computers have XP; Win98SE, or if I'm in luck, Win2k on them; If I'm not in luck, Win95 or WinME. if I was doing for-pay general support I would have to deal with Vista more often.
If it weren't for those Atheism Cult loonies, you might have something there.
The vast majority of atheists I've encountered in life are no better than the religious types they mock; they spout off that they are 100% certain that god(s) do not exist.
Fine, I say, prove it. show me your documented research on the subject, using whatever methodology you wish, that establishes, scientifically/logically/whatever, that gods do not exist.
oh, you mean you accept it on FAITH that god(s) do not exist?....
I feel that my own religious views, being a Agnostic Pagan, to be much more logical. Gods might exist. they might not. as I am not a god myself, I do not feel it is my place to say one way or the other, it is sort of hard to prove. I would say impossible to prove, but that would require FAITH on my part.
Or, as I tell my kids: "If I drop this rock, it will almost certainly hit the floor. But it is possible that it won't"
Replacing religion with 100% science is not...scientific.
This is /. right? I didn't accidentally post on a Microsoft Lovers forum?
Troll?
Well, I can't. /. these days seems to be on the topic of "Windows 7 doesn't suck as bad as Vista!!!(but, of course, isn't as good as XP)"
After careful thought, I've decided that my personal reality will not allow something like this "Vista" to exist; it does not belong in a sane, ordered universe. or, even my own sort of Benny Hill style universe.
So I have decided that Microsoft did not release any products between Windows XP media center 2005 and Windows 2008 (which, to my shock and almost horror, doesn't suck).
(I really wanted to push that back to Windows 2000 SP4, but then I wouldn't be able to use my laptop to record TV)
If you think about it, I mean REALLY think about it, it would make Microsoft almost seem like a nice, warm, fuzzy sort of company; half the articles on
And if it hadn't been for Woz, steve jobs would probably be a used car salesman somewhere. One guy made, essentially singlehandedly, a great product, then by example started the creative environment that led to apple putting out great products.
Steve jobs is good at marketing, but without a first few good products there is no telling where he would have ended up.
THIS.
I don't mind a SSD as a backup drive on my home system; I could see them for most workstations.
But until the size per dollar growth starts leveling out some, indicating that the manufacturing process is getting stabilized, they aren't really suitable for "prime time"; stick with RAID 5 on a SCSI, IDE or SATA until SSD's are provably stable for long term use.
Even with this admittedly impressive demonstration of their scientific ability, it's a long, long way down the road for them to be able to build a nuclear device that they can get suborbital; 1st gen atomics are big and heavy.
They would have to use 2md hand soviet stuff.
Now, chemical & biological weapons, thats a different story.
"The modern web (even the not so modern web) is a seriously painful experience on a "56k" modem."
No Doubt.
Where I live, I have 4 choices for internet: Dial-up, single channel ISDN, a weird WiFi service, and satellite (yeah, right).
I've got the weird WiFi, and 384k down / 256k up, and the internet is, at times, painfully slow; you tube is barely possible if you pause the video until it's 3/4s done. I can't imagine trying to surf on dialup.
Yup.
I will be among the first killed when Ballmer seizes control of the country; my attacks on XP & Vista have been constant.
But, Windows server 2008 actually doesn't suck. it sort of freaks me out.
Almost as good as win2k server.
Ok, I have obviously landed at Bizarro slashdot.
People who point out obvious, plainly visible flaws in Vista are labeled Trolls, while people who defend it, make absurd claims about HD content requiring DRM, get to spout their crap without negative mods.
WTF?
GP has a problem with terminology.
I hadn't seen 47 processes phoning home reported before. but...
Auto-degraded content:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6319845.stm
http://www.designnine.com/news/node/900
http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/08/13/0249222.shtml
I really thought everyone already knew about this.
I don't think the GP meant that the Military is controlling the OS; I think the intent was to say "in a military fashion". could be wrong.
Vista "spying" on you:
http://securology.blogspot.com/2008/01/windows-vista-phones-home.html
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/02/139251&from=rss
Once again, thought everyone already knew about this.
really, anyone who says Vista is anything but pure, unadulterated Evil AND knows anything about technology is highly suspect in my book; you have to ignore or be oblivious to a lot of crap to defend it.
AD doesn't scale well? Requires tons of supporting software?
Could you elaborate, please? your statements seem to contradict my experience.
Actually...
I did a provisional patent for a application I wrote in 2001 that, as best as i can tell from the article, was nearly the same.
NACM. Network Active Countermeasures.
I buried it, because it would have been too easy to use it as a censorship tool.
If it is the same, I guess that would constitute prior art.
Well, I sort of agree.
NT 3.x to NT 4 was a major improvement; with the various add-ons and option packs, you could do damn near anything with NT4.
Then, Win2k came out. all the stuff you could do with a fully tricked out NT4, plus Stability! and a way to lock down all those damn open ports (which no one except corporate admins seemed to make use of, and even some of them didn't). Fantastic all around operating system.
Then, XP! lots of eye candy! authorization! Integrated DRM! Thread limits! Support for a limited series of Intel Processors that WIn2k didn't support completely! eventually, a 64-bit version (Microsoft decided not to release the fully developed Win2k 64-bit patch)! Cleartype Fonts! (which were originally developed for Win2k, but they decided...well, you get the point)!
IPv6 runs on Win2k. Chrome runs on Win2k. Spore runs on Win2k. The only "XP or Vista only" software I haven't been able to run on Win2k is a game called "Attack on Pearl Harbor"; the problem lies with a DirectX driver for Xbox360 joysticks, Which Microsoft blocked from working on Win2k in a way I just haven't been able to figure out. yet. In general, the only software that I haven't got to run on Win2k is stuff I wouldn't want to, like the DRM infected latest Media Player. And 64-bit applications.
BTW, don't think I'm a luddite; I run Etch; I've been running a Windows 2008 server build for a while now, and even though it has a vista kernel, i frikkin' love it. it doesn't have hardly any of the annoying crap that Vista has, I think it's going to make a expensive, but stable, game platform. It even does NOT insist on keeping all your memory working, something they did with Vista to explain away the gigantic footprint of the OS.
Speaking some from personal experience...
I've known a lot of "fringe" people; through various weird and strange circumstances, I've had "in's" with groups that are...exclusive. it's a lifelong thing that seems to just happen to me, ever since I was around 14. I'm a Agnostic Pagan, believe in equal rights for every arguably human being on the planet, Pro-choice, etc. If you didn't know me you might even call me a liberal, except that I'm not. I guess the main thing is that I don't insist that my way of thinking is the only way of thinking. And I'm a Gun Nut; that always helps.
To cut a long story short, I've been a "mascot" of sorts with a splinter group of Satan's Slaves, who thought the rest of the club was punks for joining the Angels; I did continuing tech support and drank beer & ate pizza with a group of Hard-Core Nation of Islam guys in the early 90's (I'm blond, green eyes, pale), I've been a participant in Special Forces "unofficial" exploits, and worked with both Klan and Extremist Militia types. And other stuff i can't mention.
Anyway, here is the bottom line; They almost ALL love the Constitution; The Islam guys probably the least, but some of them did. The problem is that a lot of them think that the Constitution shouldn't apply to everyone.
When there were war protesters being pelted with rotten eggs at a university in Ohio right after 9/11, the Kentucky Militia sent a delegation to offer them discrete, plainclothes security, because their rights were being trampled on; they offered plainclothes security because some of the protesters were black, and they didn't think they would go for it otherwise because of the racist connotations the militia's have developed (KY Militia had Black Members).
Some of the most hard core, scary, damn-he's-gonna-start-looking-for-bell-towers types I've met, however, have been Constitutionalists. And they have to be getting madder, and madder, with every passing second.
Posted with no Kama bonus, because this is just a long-winded reply.
Try IBM's version.
I don't really have any problem using OpenOffice, but it's kludgey. and pretty slow.
Lotus Symphony, on the other hand, seemed very polished to me, and significantly quicker.
It's still not Office 2000/2003, but it is worlds better than the pile of excrement that is Office 2007. Which, by the way, I have not heard more than 5 people say they like, including the previous side-post.
I would even say that, personally, I like the spreadsheet application in symphony better than excel in most instances; They have quite a bit of experience with those, so it makes sense.
Possibly because it's the very last resort. While some of us still have something resembling 1st & 4th amendment rights, we can use the 1st to bitch, and bitch loudly.
It's not until after the 4th is completely gone, and it's obvious the 1st is on it's death bed, that it will be time for the 2nd.
Of course, it'll probably be too late for the 2nd by then, since everyone with a gun will be declared "Paranoid" or otherwise unfit for wanting to own a gun.
The timing is sort of tricky.
The monarchy is sort of like the 2nd amendment; if things just get totally and completely screwed up beyond any hope of repair, The 2nd amendment, and the Monarchy, are the built-in reset switches.
And, just like the 2nd amendment, a bunch of idiots don't realize what a blessing it is that they have that reset switch.
no, Star Wars is Star Wars. if you wanna get picky, it's Star Wars: A new hope.
He didn't write the swill that was episodes 1-3 until well after Return of the Jedi. Midichlorians? the fevered delusion of a cocaine deranged idiot seemingly intent on cheapening the memories of millions of fans.
I'm glad he apparently hit rehab, at least briefly, before Indiana Jones IV.