Having said that - I agree with the general premise of what you're saying. Back then, we respected the microcomputer for the complex little beastie it was. These days people are being told that their computer is as simple as a toaster. They're buying in to a whole case of snakeoil.
Maybe that's because we (the software engineers) have failed the users. The computer should be as simple as a toaster! It is moving that way though. All the average end-user needs these days is a sane web browser. That's all the computer will need to be good for, and that's all it should do. Everything else is a service, hosted by professionals who know what they're doing (you hope, at least).
I understand your frustration, but I don't mind a whole slew of "sysadmins" that only know how to use the UI utilities... they will lose interest/ability eventually. In the meantime, go Gentoo!
It sounds to me like the mere idea of buying a house on credit is the problem. If we can assume most people need to live in a house then why aren't they more affordable so a person could actually save up for a time and then buy it? Letting banks essentially control the housing market via credit is a bad, bad idea and will leave us all as lifetime slaves to the fat-cats.
That said, whoever came up with the names gibibytes, mebibytes and kibibytes must have wanted us all to sound like we have a speech impediment or something
How about gibs, mebs, and kibs? In a computer context it's probably obvious you're referring to bytes.
You are absolutely right. It's the web browsers that are broken. That is, I should have to type .com.ebay for Ebay's commercial site.
Fixing the web browsers would also help a long way towards fishing attacks.
I believe the solution is to force a paper-trail requirement via law at the state level. Check this table at electiononline.org to see where your state currently stands. Here in Montana, a paper trail is currently required except for special exceptions for direct recording electronic systems for use by the disabled, in compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
You may be right, fortunately. Or, unfortunatley: whatever happened to the original intention of patents that, you know, you would actually follow through and build the "invention"?
yo man, have you ever removed a symbolic link to a directory in *nix and then forgot to not put the/-sign after it?(*) There goes your original directory!
Unless you're using rm -r (for some crazy reason) to remove a symbolic link you will only ever accidently remove an empty directory, which is easily re-created.
This keyboard is split in half (completely) so each half may be mounted on a chair's arms. I recommend the model with a touchpad on both sides; this way I'm able to click with one hand while moving the pointer with the other. I can then alternate if I need some variation.
Adjusting to the keyboard was fairly easy; it would obviously be quite difficult for someone who doesn't touch type. Still, since I program daily (and hunting for keys is a bigger chore than with a standard keyboard) I have finally learned by touch the number and symbol positions and am better of for it. My only complaints are the touchpad buttons are unusually stiff and there is no third mouse button (quite handy in Linux).
Overall, it was a quick transition and my occurrences of arm/wrist pain have significantly decreased. Additionally, I found that my typing speed has increased by at least an estimated 50%. Very satisfied.
I think it may have to do with the phrasing. Quotes like "I wish the teacher were dead" or "I want to kill that SOB" seem to imply a fantasy more than a threat. However, rephrased as "I'll make sure the teacher were dead" or "I will kill that SOB" the quotes are more threatening, maybe?
Their "cyberliability" insurance would probably cover that. The end result is their premium goes up. At what point does the expense of insurance outweigh taking the proper safeguards to protect consumer data in the first place? Either the protection (insurance) needs to cost a whole lot more or the punishment for negligence more severe. Perhaps if we start with the latter by declaring the proper criminal repurcussions we'll end up with higher (hopefully, much so) liability premiums targeted for those businesses that choose to not take data security seriously.
Yes but I predict we will see many wiimote-like devices in the years to come. Ten years from now we'll wonder how we ever lived with the mouse for so long!
While there are certainly advantages to limiting access for "users" to mere terminals and managing everything centrally, one thing still remains: no one cares more about my data than myself. Of course not everyone has the skills or even desire to manage their information on their own, but it should always remain an option.
I'm using 1.0.6 on Linux and yes it does have the capability to use only plain-text. However, there are actually two options you should be concerned with:
To see messages in plain-text: View -> Message Body As -> Plain Text
To compose messages in plain-text (repeat for each mail account): Edit -> Account Settings... -> Composition & Addressing -> [uncheck] Compose messages in HTML format
pthisis - You clearly have alot of experience working with VIM, and I am jealous! Where/how did you go about acquiring this knowledge? I have only been working with VIM (as my primary editor) for about a year now and continue to love it but I know I have only scratched the surface. I use console-mode vim more often than gvim so the menus don't mean much to me. Do you possibly know of some "tutorials" that delve into some of the deeper aspects of vim, specifically towards using it as an IDE like you apparently do?
Slashdot Mirror
Having said that - I agree with the general premise of what you're saying. Back then, we respected the microcomputer for the complex little beastie it was. These days people are being told that their computer is as simple as a toaster. They're buying in to a whole case of snakeoil.
Maybe that's because we (the software engineers) have failed the users. The computer should be as simple as a toaster! It is moving that way though. All the average end-user needs these days is a sane web browser. That's all the computer will need to be good for, and that's all it should do. Everything else is a service, hosted by professionals who know what they're doing (you hope, at least).
In Montana, the automatic suspension for refusal is 6 months, not a year.
I understand your frustration, but I don't mind a whole slew of "sysadmins" that only know how to use the UI utilities... they will lose interest/ability eventually. In the meantime, go Gentoo!
I know! I've tried to figure out a way to get my plugin back without restarting Firefox. I thought killing nspluginwrapper would do it but no luck.
It sounds to me like the mere idea of buying a house on credit is the problem. If we can assume most people need to live in a house then why aren't they more affordable so a person could actually save up for a time and then buy it? Letting banks essentially control the housing market via credit is a bad, bad idea and will leave us all as lifetime slaves to the fat-cats.
It's not every day you hear dumpster-diving being termed 'elegant'.
That said, whoever came up with the names gibibytes, mebibytes and kibibytes must have wanted us all to sound like we have a speech impediment or something
How about gibs, mebs, and kibs? In a computer context it's probably obvious you're referring to bytes.
You are absolutely right. It's the web browsers that are broken. That is, I should have to type .com.ebay for Ebay's commercial site.
Fixing the web browsers would also help a long way towards fishing attacks.
I still have my TRS-80 Model 4. It's fun to turn it on every now and then and amazing that it still works!
Not sure about that, but I still have mod points that should have expired a while ago: You have moderator access and 2 points (expire on 2006-10-27).
I believe the solution is to force a paper-trail requirement via law at the state level. Check this table at electiononline.org to see where your state currently stands. Here in Montana, a paper trail is currently required except for special exceptions for direct recording electronic systems for use by the disabled, in compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
Exactly. But I'm holding out for two wii-motes :)
You may be right, fortunately. Or, unfortunatley: whatever happened to the original intention of patents that, you know, you would actually follow through and build the "invention"?
yo man, have you ever removed a symbolic link to a directory in *nix and then forgot to not put the /-sign after it?(*) There goes your original directory!
Unless you're using rm -r (for some crazy reason) to remove a symbolic link you will only ever accidently remove an empty directory, which is easily re-created.
I use this at work:
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/evolution.htm
This keyboard is split in half (completely) so each half may be mounted on a chair's arms. I recommend the model with a touchpad on both sides; this way I'm able to click with one hand while moving the pointer with the other. I can then alternate if I need some variation.
Adjusting to the keyboard was fairly easy; it would obviously be quite difficult for someone who doesn't touch type. Still, since I program daily (and hunting for keys is a bigger chore than with a standard keyboard) I have finally learned by touch the number and symbol positions and am better of for it. My only complaints are the touchpad buttons are unusually stiff and there is no third mouse button (quite handy in Linux).
Overall, it was a quick transition and my occurrences of arm/wrist pain have significantly decreased. Additionally, I found that my typing speed has increased by at least an estimated 50%. Very satisfied.
I think it may have to do with the phrasing. Quotes like "I wish the teacher were dead" or "I want to kill that SOB" seem to imply a fantasy more than a threat. However, rephrased as "I'll make sure the teacher were dead" or "I will kill that SOB" the quotes are more threatening, maybe?
Parallels? Entourage? Rosetta?
Maybe it's a Mac thing, but I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Care to elaborate?
Look; Go after the company for negligence.
Their "cyberliability" insurance would probably cover that. The end result is their premium goes up. At what point does the expense of insurance outweigh taking the proper safeguards to protect consumer data in the first place? Either the protection (insurance) needs to cost a whole lot more or the punishment for negligence more severe. Perhaps if we start with the latter by declaring the proper criminal repurcussions we'll end up with higher (hopefully, much so) liability premiums targeted for those businesses that choose to not take data security seriously.
Yes but I predict we will see many wiimote-like devices in the years to come. Ten years from now we'll wonder how we ever lived with the mouse for so long!
A little progress is better than no progress.
No need... Washington state has no state income tax.
Have you ever tried to implement slashcode? It's not for the faint-hearted.
While there are certainly advantages to limiting access for "users" to mere terminals and managing everything centrally, one thing still remains: no one cares more about my data than myself. Of course not everyone has the skills or even desire to manage their information on their own, but it should always remain an option.
Hope that works for you.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!