oops, on a side note, I got mine about a year ago with 32 megs of ram and without the remote.... which looks cool as hell. I think I might give mine to my girlfriend ang get that one for me:)
I have had the exact opposite experience with it. it's a great piece of hardware... the tv capture quality is superb(all ATI's are as I see it, but my only comparison was to a voodoo 3 3500 which wouldn't let you resize the screen).
takes a while to switch mp2(the default format the vcr function records in.) other than that, it rocks. the new software is much more stable than my original all-in-wonder ve, which I got rid of due to an issue with my ali chipset(don't laugh).
make sure you get the updates software from their website. I'm running win2k solely because this card kicks so much ass under it. sound quality isn't too shabby either, except the line-in is a good deal quieter than wav on my soundcard, so switching on the tv requires boosting up the sound.... the ICQ goes "UH OH"...and I piss my pants while spraying pop all over my screen.
I haven't looked into getting it to run under linux, but that'll probably happen when I switch over this summer. if anyone has some suggestions/sites to help me get it running as good under linux(debian) as it does under win2k, let me know.
or -gasp- this was microsoft's way of getting their propaganda in front of your bosses- the bosses head to this site to check it out and they use netcraft and say "oh wait, this thing IS running microsoft products- they musta made a mistake, but while I'm here I'll check it out."
remember- microsoft is looking for ANY way to get their propaganda out there.
I'm actually wondering how they plan on making it more user friendly. I hope they stay away from graphical installers- or if they do use one, offer the text mode as well.(I have slow machines)
small changes could be made as well, I'll give them that. I tried debian after dinking around with redhat, slackware, and mandrake... couldn't deal with the installer, so I went back to redhat... then I tried sorcerer... After a week of irritation, I tried debian again and it slid right in. after experiencing the joy and wonder of apt, I quickly changes all of my boxen over from redhat, but I still had that faint memory of it being a difficult installer- even though I don't remember why.
I also like that they offer a CD in their mag- pretty soon linux distro's will be as plentiful as those stupid AOL disks.
you make a good point- my school by far is drowning in windows machines, with the occasional sprinkle of imacs. there are, however, 2 linux labs, which are the only 2 labs the CS/IS classes use after freshman year.
imagine if you will, this conversation,
boss: "hey, the dataserver needs to be rebooted again- hey new guy, go do it." newguy: "um, why does it have to be rebooted?" boss: "because it blue-screened and I can't get PCAnywhere to work." newguy: "well, my college has an operating system that never needs to be rebooted- there's very little downtime." boss: "well, fill out the 100,000 pages of paperwork and we'll look into changing things- where you go to school again?" newguy: "berkeley."
then, as the boss retires and the newguy becomes the boss, his personal prefrences come into play. Don't believe me? go look at your local server room- you can tell what the favorite server was of former IT managers like rings on a tree.... one person buys hp, the next dell, the next compaq, etc.....
I completely agree. call it selling out, but I think working for the SS, FBI, or CIA would be a kickass job. Sure you'd have to "straighten up," but there's job security, and you'd be ~in the know~. Think about all the gov't secrets you'd have access to! First time I got to meet the president, I'd go into work wearing this shirt.
I used Be on and off for about 6 months. Once you get the hang of it(the filesystem), you see the true power- especially with the address book. If you want some real insights into the OS as a whole, check out the BEOS Bible. not so good if you want an in depth discussion, but for non-kernel hackers it's a fun read and very informative. Read the section explaining how their address book works. it's really cool.
IANAL, but there are definite TOS issues. Do you think Ameritech, AT&T, charter, etc... are conna let you even THINK about this?
and I quoteth from ameritech, my dsl provider: "7. CUSTOMER SUPPORT Basic ADSL Internet Access, as applicable, is a single IP Service intended for use by a single user. You shall not use the Service in a manner that is inconsistent with this intended use. SBCIS will not provide support for the installation or ongoing management of a customer premise router with your Basic DSL Internet service. Primary and Secondary Domain Name Service is not provided as part of the Basic DSL Internet Access Service. "
joltage shoulda checked the bandwidth proveder contracts first. even if they don't cover it now, they have the right to change it whenever they want.
people who use redhat generally are new to linux. they tend to migrate away(some do; alot are diehard fans)
with redhat makes it money through service, not sales- I don't think star office will have the same volume of new users having trouble configuring Xconfigurator for the first time. redhat is like the aol for the technologically apt. Plus OS's have way more things that can get FUBAR'ed.
yes there are, and there are some that are extremely "pro" net. John Mayer is one of them.
besides having his music on the radio and on vh1 and mtv, he also has a really cool attitude about mp3's- "Remember, you can burn a cd but you can't burn a t-shirt."
he's also a really cool guy. He's got some interesting views on digital music- it's not an RMS or anything, but it's fair to guess what his views are while listening to "this is my napster song"
btw, Since I heard his mp3's from a friend, I've bought 2 of his CD's and took my girlfriend to see him in concert.
AND, for those who think mp3.com doesn't work, check this out.
A company comes out of no where, promising new technology at a supposedly obsene price.
After the people 'in the know' say, "we don't trust you, you smell like snake oil," the san fran chronicle says "hey, their phones aren't what they said they were!"
so their CEO comes back with a "uh, um....uh, yeah, those were promo phones, yeah, that's the ticket!" seems that if your were marketing a disposable phone, you'd at least USE YOUR PHONE FOR THE PROMO! BAD BUSINESS, NO COOKIE!
"5. Proving the old business-school saw that "any idiot can sell a dollar for 80 cents," online-currency company Flooz.com in July launches a special offer whereby American Express platinum cardholders can buy $1,000 of Flooz currency for just $800. 6. A month later, Flooz.com ceases processing transactions. It declares bankruptcy in November, leaving those who bought Flooz currency stuck with worthless e-dollars. "
See what happens when you overreach your abilities? someone needs to tell these businesses to make sure the stuff is feasable before they make promises.
I forsee a very similar future unless they get their act together...
with the recent stories about the implications of star office being charged for, it's good to see that openoffice is setpping up to the plate.
if I were the developers working on openoffice, I'd be thankin my lucky stars(no pun inteded) that sun decided to charge for it. with the growing wave of 'open and free is better' I think they can capitalize on it.
As a former BeOS user, I also noticed gobe productive made the news. sweet.
Now comes the important part. in a month, I'm switching over to a completely linux system, and I'm gonna need a replacement for Office.
so who's it gonna be?:)
during my highschool days when everyone made fun of me because I was short.. we'll I'm all grown up now(5'7") and I'm the one whose laughing!
HAHAHA!
I think I'm actually gonna look into this- being in michigan I doubt my chances are very good, but I'm moving in a year.
I'll report back if I do land it:)
offer them everything net related. a bigass webpage with all the different categories of software and a simplified description of what that TYPE of software does.
let it be their choice- if there's licensing issues with software, include a link to where they can get it. Preferably free software- free as in beer. perhaps links to reviews of the software.
If you REALLY wanted to put work into it, offer a webpage where you can put in your computers stats(os, ram, hd, etc) and it can make suggestions on what they 'could' try. Keep in mind most people who would need something like this aren't going to that experienced in the first place. Make sure everything is simple- I use the granny test when testing usability of software. I take a not-so-random sample of my granmothers, my girlfriend's grandmothers, and my friends grandmothers, and tell them to try the software- if they like it, I take careful notes on how THEY would describe it.
using this method, describe post a review of the software and let users share their comments.
make sure to tell the users that your not responsible for the software or the advice of others. which reminds me, include documentation- that way you can tell them to RTFM and they'll know where to find it.
I didn't recieve an email, and when I checked it out I realized to my horror that I didn't have a yahoomail acct, I had a login that pointed to my mail personal acct! I acted quickly and pointed it to my junk hotmail acct, and I suggest everyone else do this too- if you've ever signed up to be on a yahoo mailing list of any sort, consider yourself warned- I think that's a danger as well.
how much oif the harry potter audience can it grab. I was glad to see this comparison this is a serious question- both my girlfriend(22) and my little brother(15) liked the potter books- is this something they'd like? is it the same style, and the same age group? reading level?
I plan on passing this review on to both of them.
my only issue with using cardboard ducts, while lightweight, is cardboard is notorious for being dusty. think about it. It's basically pressed paper fiber. same with the paper cardboard produces alot of dust, and if he's forcing air, you can bed alot of it is gonna congeal around the processor fan...
It probably won't be a problem with a 200 mhz machine, but it's something to keep in mind.
despite all of that, it still looks like a cyborg hocked a lugie.
this is a very good point- I remember back in the day, during the days of gozilla and getright, staying connected over night, waiting for stuff to download(~1997, but I had a crappy phone company).
I think that the commercialization is a big issue too. I use the web to get info, not to be sold stuff. I don't go to yahoo anymore because of their damn x10 ads. it's getting harder and harder to find interesting stuff- and as a grow older, I find I have less time/wanting to meander across the digital highway....which brings me to another interesting point- any chance that perhaps most netizens who came to the net are reaching the point of digital maturity? They know what they want, they know where to get it. they get it and get offline.
to paraphrase Jesse Ventura, it doesn't say anywhere in the constitution about not having the right to be stupid.
protecting us from ourselves is a gross misuse of power. overreaching child protection laws are a farce as well. it whould be the parents job. I know this sounds EXTREMLY harse, but it's the parents job to protect the child. if that means a lousy parent loses all their kids, then then their bad parenting skill won't be passed to the next generation. With all these safe guards in place, parents are going to become lazy.
Don't get me wrong, I DO believe this is a GOOD THING, but I think we need to be careful that we don't use these devices to as a replacement for attention. To quote their webpage, "So relax. Now you can have peace of mind 24 hours a day while your child is the high tech envy of the neighborhood!"
parenting is not a job you can relax at.
HOWEVER, I absolutely agree that once a child starts hitting puberty and needs privacy, that's when devices like this loose their original value and become a tool of "The Man". Paranoid parents will cause much more damage trying to put these on a 15 year old than they realize.
I'm gonna have to disagree with your implication that compatibility isn't one of the most important features.
Most people won't plop down $75 if they have to copy/paste all of their documents from office to the new product. compatibility is important because of your OWN work, not just someone elses.
My girlfriend has been using office in some form or another since 98(she types her notes from class when she gets home- don't ask). She keeps most of her documents- she's not gonna try something new unless her old stuff can be brought along.
I think alot of people are like her(afraid of change) aren't going to start over again. they want to take their code^H^H^H^H documents with them. I think GoBe could be the bridge to help wean them off Office.
I found this quite the interesting read. The license is also great- I think I'm gonna get a copy and install it on both my workstations at my apartment- my girlfriends and mine.
I told her that when I do get it, for her to take a month and use it non stop. After the month, then she has to actually PAY for her copy of office, or use gobeProductive:)
once she sees the value, and that there's nothing to fear, it'll spread like wildfire in her family(all sterertypical AOL'ers).
something you need to keep in mind- where my mom worked, they were still using 166's with win95(I believe) and office 2000... ...it crawled. If she still worked there, I'd be driving her tech people nuts wit this... 4 megs of excess might not see like much to you, but for a poor grunt worker in the cubicles of a small office, it might mean the world.
this will do wonders for out backbone- maybe even help us lower the general price of high bandwidth net connections.
imagine if your local ISP's incoming bandwidth could easily be doubled? that *might* mean more alternatives/chaper bandwidth for us consumers.
Slashdot Mirror
oops, on a side note, I got mine about a year ago with 32 megs of ram and without the remote.... which looks cool as hell.
I think I might give mine to my girlfriend ang get that one for me:)
I have had the exact opposite experience with it. it's a great piece of hardware... the tv capture quality is superb(all ATI's are as I see it, but my only comparison was to a voodoo 3 3500 which wouldn't let you resize the screen).
...and I piss my pants while spraying pop all over my screen.
takes a while to switch mp2(the default format the vcr function records in.) other than that, it rocks. the new software is much more stable than my original all-in-wonder ve, which I got rid of due to an issue with my ali chipset(don't laugh).
make sure you get the updates software from their website. I'm running win2k solely because this card kicks so much ass under it. sound quality isn't too shabby either, except the line-in is a good deal quieter than wav on my soundcard, so switching on the tv requires boosting up the sound.... the ICQ goes "UH OH"
I haven't looked into getting it to run under linux, but that'll probably happen when I switch over this summer. if anyone has some suggestions/sites to help me get it running as good under linux(debian) as it does under win2k, let me know.
or -gasp- this was microsoft's way of getting their propaganda in front of your bosses- the bosses head to this site to check it out and they use netcraft and say "oh wait, this thing IS running microsoft products- they musta made a mistake, but while I'm here I'll check it out."
remember- microsoft is looking for ANY way to get their propaganda out there.
...call me paranoid...
I'm actually wondering how they plan on making it more user friendly. I hope they stay away from graphical installers- or if they do use one, offer the text mode as well.(I have slow machines)
small changes could be made as well, I'll give them that. I tried debian after dinking around with redhat, slackware, and mandrake... couldn't deal with the installer, so I went back to redhat... then I tried sorcerer...
After a week of irritation, I tried debian again and it slid right in. after experiencing the joy and wonder of apt, I quickly changes all of my boxen over from redhat, but I still had that faint memory of it being a difficult installer- even though I don't remember why.
I also like that they offer a CD in their mag- pretty soon linux distro's will be as plentiful as those stupid AOL disks.
you make a good point- my school by far is drowning in windows machines, with the occasional sprinkle of imacs. there are, however, 2 linux labs, which are the only 2 labs the CS/IS classes use after freshman year.
imagine if you will, this conversation,
boss: "hey, the dataserver needs to be rebooted again- hey new guy, go do it."
newguy: "um, why does it have to be rebooted?"
boss: "because it blue-screened and I can't get PCAnywhere to work."
newguy: "well, my college has an operating system that never needs to be rebooted- there's very little downtime."
boss: "well, fill out the 100,000 pages of paperwork and we'll look into changing things- where you go to school again?"
newguy: "berkeley."
then, as the boss retires and the newguy becomes the boss, his personal prefrences come into play.
Don't believe me? go look at your local server room- you can tell what the favorite server was of former IT managers like rings on a tree.... one person buys hp, the next dell, the next compaq, etc.....
I completely agree. call it selling out, but I think working for the SS, FBI, or CIA would be a kickass job. Sure you'd have to "straighten up," but there's job security, and you'd be ~in the know~.
Think about all the gov't secrets you'd have access to!
First time I got to meet the president, I'd go into work wearing this shirt.
I used Be on and off for about 6 months. Once you get the hang of it(the filesystem), you see the true power- especially with the address book.
If you want some real insights into the OS as a whole, check out the BEOS Bible. not so good if you want an in depth discussion, but for non-kernel hackers it's a fun read and very informative.
Read the section explaining how their address book works. it's really cool.
IANAL, but there are definite TOS issues. Do you think Ameritech, AT&T, charter, etc... are conna let you even THINK about this?
and I quoteth from ameritech, my dsl provider:
"7. CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Basic ADSL Internet Access, as applicable, is a single IP Service intended for use by a single user. You shall not use the Service in a manner that is inconsistent with this intended use. SBCIS will not provide support for the installation or ongoing management of a customer premise router with your Basic DSL Internet service. Primary and Secondary Domain Name Service is not provided as part of the Basic DSL Internet Access Service. "
joltage shoulda checked the bandwidth proveder contracts first. even if they don't cover it now, they have the right to change it whenever they want.
Unreal tournament:)
seriously tho- I always thught those plastic bubble-3d games from the 80's kicked ass. Imagine was it would do for a first person shooter:)
people who use redhat generally are new to linux. they tend to migrate away(some do; alot are diehard fans)
with redhat makes it money through service, not sales- I don't think star office will have the same volume of new users having trouble configuring Xconfigurator for the first time.
redhat is like the aol for the technologically apt.
Plus OS's have way more things that can get FUBAR'ed.
the comparison is apples and oranges.
yes there are, and there are some that are extremely "pro" net.
John Mayer is one of them.
besides having his music on the radio and on vh1 and mtv, he also has a really cool attitude about mp3's- "Remember, you can burn a cd but you can't burn a t-shirt."
he's also a really cool guy. He's got some interesting views on digital music- it's not an RMS or anything, but it's fair to guess what his views are while listening to "this is my napster song"
btw, Since I heard his mp3's from a friend, I've bought 2 of his CD's and took my girlfriend to see him in concert.
AND, for those who think mp3.com doesn't work, check this out.
A company comes out of no where, promising new technology at a supposedly obsene price.
....uh, yeah, those were promo phones, yeah, that's the ticket!" seems that if your were marketing a disposable phone, you'd at least USE YOUR PHONE FOR THE PROMO! BAD BUSINESS, NO COOKIE!
After the people 'in the know' say, "we don't trust you, you smell like snake oil," the san fran chronicle says
"hey, their phones aren't what they said they were!"
so their CEO comes back with a "uh, um
...and I quoteth from business 101
"5. Proving the old business-school saw that "any idiot can sell a dollar for 80 cents," online-currency company Flooz.com in July launches a special offer whereby American Express platinum cardholders can buy $1,000 of Flooz currency for just $800.
6. A month later, Flooz.com ceases processing transactions. It declares bankruptcy in November, leaving those who bought Flooz currency stuck with worthless e-dollars. "
See what happens when you overreach your abilities? someone needs to tell these businesses to make sure the stuff is feasable before they make promises.
I forsee a very similar future unless they get their act together...
with the recent stories about the implications of star office being charged for, it's good to see that openoffice is setpping up to the plate.
if I were the developers working on openoffice, I'd be thankin my lucky stars(no pun inteded) that sun decided to charge for it. with the growing wave of 'open and free is better' I think they can capitalize on it.
As a former BeOS user, I also noticed gobe productive made the news. sweet.
Now comes the important part. in a month, I'm switching over to a completely linux system, and I'm gonna need a replacement for Office. so who's it gonna be?:)
during my highschool days when everyone made fun of me because I was short.. we'll I'm all grown up now(5'7") and I'm the one whose laughing! HAHAHA! I think I'm actually gonna look into this- being in michigan I doubt my chances are very good, but I'm moving in a year. I'll report back if I do land it:)
offer them everything net related. a bigass webpage with all the different categories of software and a simplified description of what that TYPE of software does.
let it be their choice- if there's licensing issues with software, include a link to where they can get it. Preferably free software- free as in beer. perhaps links to reviews of the software.
If you REALLY wanted to put work into it, offer a webpage where you can put in your computers stats(os, ram, hd, etc) and it can make suggestions on what they 'could' try. Keep in mind most people who would need something like this aren't going to that experienced in the first place.
Make sure everything is simple- I use the granny test when testing usability of software. I take a not-so-random sample of my granmothers, my girlfriend's grandmothers, and my friends grandmothers, and tell them to try the software- if they like it, I take careful notes on how THEY would describe it.
using this method, describe post a review of the software and let users share their comments.
make sure to tell the users that your not responsible for the software or the advice of others. which reminds me, include documentation- that way you can tell them to RTFM and they'll know where to find it.
I didn't recieve an email, and when I checked it out I realized to my horror that I didn't have a yahoomail acct, I had a login that pointed to my mail personal acct! I acted quickly and pointed it to my junk hotmail acct, and I suggest everyone else do this too- if you've ever signed up to be on a yahoo mailing list of any sort, consider yourself warned- I think that's a danger as well.
how much oif the harry potter audience can it grab. I was glad to see this comparison this is a serious question- both my girlfriend(22) and my little brother(15) liked the potter books- is this something they'd like? is it the same style, and the same age group? reading level? I plan on passing this review on to both of them.
my only issue with using cardboard ducts, while lightweight, is cardboard is notorious for being dusty.
think about it. It's basically pressed paper fiber. same with the paper
cardboard produces alot of dust, and if he's forcing air, you can bed alot of it is gonna congeal around the processor fan...
It probably won't be a problem with a 200 mhz machine, but it's something to keep in mind.
despite all of that, it still looks like a cyborg hocked a lugie.
I already asked my girlfriend for one:)
this is a very good point- I remember back in the day, during the days of gozilla and getright, staying connected over night, waiting for stuff to download(~1997, but I had a crappy phone company). I think that the commercialization is a big issue too. I use the web to get info, not to be sold stuff. I don't go to yahoo anymore because of their damn x10 ads. it's getting harder and harder to find interesting stuff- and as a grow older, I find I have less time/wanting to meander across the digital highway. ...which brings me to another interesting point- any chance that perhaps most netizens who came to the net are reaching the point of digital maturity? They know what they want, they know where to get it. they get it and get offline.
to paraphrase Jesse Ventura, it doesn't say anywhere in the constitution about not having the right to be stupid.
protecting us from ourselves is a gross misuse of power. overreaching child protection laws are a farce as well. it whould be the parents job. I know this sounds EXTREMLY harse, but it's the parents job to protect the child. if that means a lousy parent loses all their kids, then then their bad parenting skill won't be passed to the next generation. With all these safe guards in place, parents are going to become lazy.
Don't get me wrong, I DO believe this is a GOOD THING, but I think we need to be careful that we don't use these devices to as a replacement for attention.
To quote their webpage,
"So relax. Now you can have peace of mind 24 hours a day while your child is the high tech envy of the neighborhood!"
parenting is not a job you can relax at.
HOWEVER, I absolutely agree that once a child starts hitting puberty and needs privacy, that's when devices like this loose their original value and become a tool of "The Man". Paranoid parents will cause much more damage trying to put these on a 15 year old than they realize.
I'm gonna have to disagree with your implication that compatibility isn't one of the most important features. Most people won't plop down $75 if they have to copy/paste all of their documents from office to the new product. compatibility is important because of your OWN work, not just someone elses. My girlfriend has been using office in some form or another since 98(she types her notes from class when she gets home- don't ask). She keeps most of her documents- she's not gonna try something new unless her old stuff can be brought along. I think alot of people are like her(afraid of change) aren't going to start over again. they want to take their code^H^H^H^H documents with them. I think GoBe could be the bridge to help wean them off Office.
I found this quite the interesting read. The license is also great- I think I'm gonna get a copy and install it on both my workstations at my apartment- my girlfriends and mine. I told her that when I do get it, for her to take a month and use it non stop. After the month, then she has to actually PAY for her copy of office, or use gobeProductive:) once she sees the value, and that there's nothing to fear, it'll spread like wildfire in her family(all sterertypical AOL'ers).
something you need to keep in mind- where my mom worked, they were still using 166's with win95(I believe) and office 2000...
...it crawled.
If she still worked there, I'd be driving her tech people nuts wit this... 4 megs of excess might not see like much to you, but for a poor grunt worker in the cubicles of a small office, it might mean the world.
this will do wonders for out backbone- maybe even help us lower the general price of high bandwidth net connections. imagine if your local ISP's incoming bandwidth could easily be doubled? that *might* mean more alternatives/chaper bandwidth for us consumers.