I've played this game, and it's quite bad. I'd say it's as bad, or worse than "Custers Revenge" the Atari 2600 "rape an American Indian" game which I also played once on an emulator. Though to "Custers Revenge" credit, they didn't try to claim some garbage about it being art, games changing the world, or whatever.
The interview of the game developer is pretty funny. He sounds like a freshman humanities 101 paper using phrases like
"but for me it helps to inform one of the core ideas of the game: a criticism of the conventions of gaming in part to critique the limitations games currently have to deal with regards to genuine issues."
and gems like:
"It was a courageous, progressive gesture because it suggested that maybe gaming could be growing up a bit and face the music that all forms of art can be valid tools for societal exploration"
Sadly being kicked out of Slamdance is going to give this guy far more press than he deserves. No, not because he created something controversial.. but because he created a crappy game with no subtlety and just expected everyone to accept that "all forms of art can be valid tools for societal exploration".
Here's a clue to this guy. If you want your "art" to be accepted as a "valid tool for societal exploration", you just might want to create something that doesn't suck monkey-dick. Then that whole "it's art and changing peoples opinions of what a game is" thing might have a bit more validity.
Outside of surveying, no one uses that definition of an inch. The difference between an international inch and a survey inch isn't even relevant in surveying as it's beyond the capacity to measure the difference between 800 feet 2 surveying inches, and 800 feet 2 international inches. It's only be relevant if for some insane reason you converted surveying miles into inches.
Anyway, the OP was trying to say the inch wasn't precise because it has multiple definitions, which really isn't true.
I can easily divide an inch into halves down to 64ths with a good tape (even a cheap tape measure has 16ths, and I can eyeball the 32nds), but try to do that with a centimeter
Personally this is one part of the imperial system I hate. All the dumb markings on the tape and I have to figure out which are 1/4s 1/8ths or 1/16ths. As to your precision argument, 1 inch equals 25.4 millimeters. So a millimeter is between a 1/16 and a 1/32nd of an inch.
The fact is, if Europe hadn't forced a switch two generations ago, the computer age might have caused a resurrgence of imperial units in the scientific realm, where the division by 2 and multiplication by 2 is a binary shift, and far more efficient than x10 or/10, which are easier for base 10 math, but not computer based math.
This has to be about the silliest reason I've ever heard for keeping the Imperial system of measure. If you convert units in a calculation it probbably would happen at the beginning or end and happen once, not a million times. By far the heavy lifting in almost any algorithm is not converting units.
However, if you look at recipes, it may call for 3/4 of a cup (not 6 oz), and if you double, it's easy, 1.5 cups.
I cook all the time, and I can tell you that I hate the system of measure. I can never remember what a pint is, how many cups in a gallon. Switching to Metric would only create a new set of problems, but the imperial system is far from "easier" than metric when it comes to cooking.
For feet and Fahrenheit, I tend to agree that for everyday measures they're better. The meter is a bit too long of a unit for everyday things. Though I DO hate having to guess if a tape measure has 32nds or 16ths on it. I'd much prefer just a standard 10 division.
For cars, I hate standard size. It's MUCH easier to just deal with calling a wrench a 9,7, than 9/16ths, 1/2, 3/4 etc. Thankfully the auto industry is almost all metric.
I'd prefer they "waste" their time on their charter The charter includes pissing away resources on recovering relatively inexpensive items for people where the thief has been caught and will easily be prosecuted? Most of the items I saw this guy sold were car GPS navigation systems, not the Hope diamond or priceless works of art. rather than listen to my phone calls.
Probbably because tricking developers into using the Windows API, (which Microsoft knew to be problematic) is a part of Microsoft's anti-competitive behaviour. Anti-competitive behaviour isn't illegal unless you're a monopoly like Microsoft is. The article references Microsoft encouraging Lotus to use the Windows API, and claims that contributed to the decline of Lotus 1-2-3.
Stolen goods crossing state lines? The FBI might be interested if the goods are valuable enough
A few hundred dollars a piece GPSs to people who had no reason to believe the stuff was stolen? I sure hope the FBI doesn't waste time with small time stuff like this.
Very good question. My guess is that they will be tracked down and required to return the items, but will be compensated at the expense of the thief.
I seriously doubt the police are going to bother with this, or even have the resources to do so. Most of these buyers aren't going to be from NYC, so there's a jurisdiction problem. Also who's to say EVERYTHING he sold is stolen? It probbably is, but that's not proof.
The best that could be accomplished is to contact each buyer and tell them the seller sold stolen items on ebay, and the item they bought might be stolen. Then ask them to look for information on the items that might identify the owner.
Slamdance is supposed to be a place for controversial media that is to hot for even Sundance, so being too hot for Slamdance is something of an honor.
I guess I don't understand why being "too hot" is an honor. Are people who write books denying the holocaust "too hot", and that's somehow an honor? (And no, I don't think this game is the moral equivalant writing a holocaust denial book, I just question the judgement of something being "too hot" automatically being honorous).
I question why it was ever included at all. The game doesn't have much if any artistic or social value.
If you remove the interactive elements, and make it (effectively) an animation done in the style of a video game, would it have changed your point of view?
No. It'd still be poorly done as an animation. Zero Day was pretty much just a re-enactment based on the events, and videos the killers made. Was that movie a biography, or just a dumb reenactment?
I didn't see it, so I can't say anything about it. What I get from a lot of detractors is that he shouldn't even have tried to understand the motivations, because to do so would somehow be trying to glorify them or insult the victims.
I don't believe that. I just don't think you can understand the motivations of these guys on any level deeper than "People made fun of them, now it's payback time". Sure you could try to make up stuff that's deeper than that, but who's to say if it's true or not?
I can pretty easily see how victims would (and probbably should) feel insulted by a game where the goal is to recreate the massacre. Personally I'd rather see a game that involves how the media hyped all this crap up, got everyone scared of everything, etc. That's a much more rich area to explore than two dumb kids who murdered innocent people. What it was meant to address was the thought process and series of events behind the actions that led to those ideas.
If that's the intent, the game maker does a really bad job of it.
Did you come away from the game understanding more about what kind of pressures and personal decisions helped shape the events of that day?
No. I also don't believe that some game developer could know any of that. This isn't a biography of the Columbine nuts, it's just a dumb game portraying them. Simply demonizing the participants does nothing to prevent the next crisis. Understanding the motivations
Sure, but the game did nothing in terms of that. Frankly I think that's probbably an impossible task. What makes the game developer think he understands the motivations of the Columbine nuts? Maybe by some miracle he does.. but I got zero understanding of them from that game. Solutions like kicking out problem students instead of offering them counseling. Columbine led to a lot of stereotyping and zero-tolerance policies, which completely failed to address the root problems.
Those are nice ideas, however none of them are addressed in the game.
When I asked why, he said that although he didnt want to buy another drive, he understood the importance of having a backup for his data.
Well, obviously he's not going to be protected from a failure of the drive mechanism. But his strategy isn't totally useless. By copying to a seperate partition he's protected himself from accidental erasure, and corruption of the data (though software that either corrupts it, or from a power failure).
It's really a poor mans archival mechanism. I'd argue that data corruption or unwanted erasure happens more often than drive failure.. though I do agree the guy shouldn't have chinced out and just bought 2 drives, RAID-1 them, and then figure out some proper archival method like tape, or even a removable drive.
Meanwhile, someone else's attempt to confront us with the horrible but murky truth of Columbine is labeled as "just sick" and "going too far".
Ha! The thing is it's not a very good game, and nowhere did I see it "confront us with the horribly but murky truth of Columbine". It was a poorly conceived game that has no real redeeming artistic, entertaining, or social value. Maybe if it was better made it could have somehow done those things, but IMO it fell completely short. I wonder how many of us here played either game.
Obviously from my comments I did. I think the only redeeming value of the game is it shows how afraid of a dumb game some people are. Are people really afraid that kids are going to turn into the Columbine assholes just because of a game?
Never mind what the game is actually trying to do, move the medium forward by using it as a means to address complex social issues
I played the game. I never got the feeling I was "addressing complex socal issues", it felt more like the message was trying to somewhat glorify the Columbine nutjobs. I don't think it should have been banned however. Frankly it wasn't a very good game and I'm a bit surprised it was chosen for anything. Then again maybe all the games they selected were crap, and this was just typical crap.
I guess I'm more than a little suspicious of the whole "addressing complex social issue" dodge. Can someone who's actually played the game tell me how exactly it does that?
I don't want to learn Active Directory, because I'd much rather set people up with Linux
Neither do I, but then I don't want to do some administration of an Active Directory domain either. Samba can do more than that, and usernames are irrelevant -- remember box07, box08, etc? They all have access to everyone's files.
Sure, Samba can, but windows filesharing sucks (which was really my main point). And if you're going to setup a dedicated Samba server, you really should make it a full domain controller. There's little point in doing P2P filesharing at that point. If you don't know anything about Samba (and few people do), then an NT Domain is a far better solution than windows filesharing. So I certainly wouldn't blame the techs for setting up a Domain. Also I'd still argue that the techs that set this thing up aren't taking advantage of what a domain can offer. A good tech isn't just a peon who maintains the systems like they were setup originally. Most of the time the boss won't have any clue as to what good IT practice is. A good tech will make recommendations and justify those recommendations in multiple ways in a language the business owner or office manager can understand. "I unclogged your pipes, but if you want them to stay that way, pour some Drano in every now and then." And, if I asked, they might tell me the best kind of Drano.
Well, I'd say in your analogy teaching users how to administrate a domain is more like teaching them how to solder a new pipe. Non-plumbers do it all the time, and it's not terribly hard, but it's not something a plumber teaches end users, it's not something end users want to know how to do, but it is something that can get you in deep-doo-doo if you screw it up. The drano analogy is more like teaching a user to try rebooting if they've got a problem, or teaching them not to install junk software. It's the people in the office who need hand-holding -- and would very much like to be independent.
Well, in general that's just a bad idea. End users shouldn't be doing technical stuff like administrating a domain, and it's a little irresponsible to teach them a point-and-click methodology to try to do that. You can be a genius, and still screw up your system because you don't have the knowledge to understand what you're doing.
Because the coach of a winning sports team knows he has a good team. Profit, growth, and the interpersonal environment at our company makes me sure
Nonsense. In an industry like healthcare where there's enormous growth you'd have to be totally incompetent to not make money and grow. There's plenty of businesses that're horribly managed, have terrible employees, but yet still manage to expand. AOL sucked monkey-dick for years (and still does) and grew at a phenomenal rate until everyone realized they didn't need them (or more to the point, broadband took over).
Are you implying I should hire the first person who turns up for the job and not make any screening attempt?
No, I'm saying that making snap judgements based on someone showing up late, having the wrong hair color, or "dressing like crap" isn't a valid way to discriminate. You sound like you're very judgemental based on things that have little to do with anything. Self esteem? You can tell that just by looking at someone? Have you considered that perhaps I am hiring people who I think are best suited for the role I need them to fill?
Yes, I just think you're making bad decisions based on things that don't matter (and probbably related to your own personal prejudices). "Doc, I do NOT want that person near my wife" when they see some of our nurses/med students with more radical, expressive attire/jewelry.
So it's your job to validate peoples prejudices by allowing the same predjudices in your hiring decisions? So if people came up to you and said they didn't want that black/chinese/woman/man/jew/mexican/homosexual near their wife you would suddenly stop hiring them? It's my perrogative as an employer to hire the people I want to work with and build a team the way I think it will be more efficient.
I'm not questioning your right to make dumb decisions. I'm just pointing out they don't appear to be based on any basis of reality.
How about a web browser, or an e-book reader? Those certainly sound like important apps for learning. Or how about a scientific graphing calculator? Perhaps some interactive learning software? There's already apps that could be very usefull. Really the hard part isn't really the apps, it's the content and curiculum that're more important.
Can anybody name one app, accessible to end users (e.g., no recompiling required), that is compatible with the Sugar UI, mesh networking, low-end specs, and other unique features?
You're asking the wrong crowd here as there's not many people on slashdot develop for, or familiar with this machine. Just because no one has given you an answer means very little. Go into a shopping mall and give a random person an OLPC -- what would they do with it?
Huh? What does a random person in a shopping mall have to do with the needs of someone in a 3rd world country that's never even used a computer have to do with each other? I think you're really missing the point here.
Hardware has always suffered from a chicken/egg problem. You need interest in the hardware to generate interest in developing software, but you need available software for the hardware to do something.
My guess is the hope is that more specific apps will be created for the purposes of learning. But using a pre-existing OS will bring enough apps that're already available for Linux to make the thing usefull from the start. Personally I'd be more worried about the curriculum and infra-structure for kids to learn how learn from these things.
If the come to the interview dressed like crap, they're automatically out. If they turn up late, they're automatically out.
It's facinating to me the utter-crap voodoo that some people having in making hiring decisions. People like yourself actually believe there's these simple little tests that seperate the good from the bad.
Did you ever consider that all you're doing is just trying to hire people like yourself? You may think that's a great way to seperate the good from the bad... but you may eventually discover that any workplace relies on a variety of people with different personalities, attitudes, and "views of the world". Hire too many people like yourself, and you might just wind up with a bunch of people that can't see outside of the box you've built. If you want a perfect example of this problem, look no further than the Bush administration.
Sorry, I miss-read your statement thinking that you configured your modems to send misleading connect speeds (and not give users an AT command to configure their modem to do the same).
The modem era is one bad memory I'm glad is over and I don't have the remember anything about anymore. What an awfull technology I'm glad is dead. I just wish that FAX would die the same death.
Now, why not have an NT domain, especially if they've already paid for the "Server Edition" or whatever? Well, it costs somewhere between $200 and $1000 of tech time to set up a new computer to operate with "the network" -- which basically means, install printer drivers, get it onto the domain, map a couple of drives, and move "My Documents" to the fileserver. I do not know how to admin an NT domain, so I cannot do this myself.
Huh? If the techs had setup the domain properly, the drives should be mapped in the login script, and people should really be using their own personal share (usually h: drive) to save "My Documents" anyway. I'm guessing you can probbably re-map My Documents in a login script, though I've never done it myself. Joining the machine to the domain takes about 15 seconds. It takes that long just to create a new user. It should take LESS time to setup a new computer in a domain, not more. Maybe the techs that setup the domain don't know what they're doing, but there's nothing wrong with creating a domain with 10-20 people in it (and I'd argue something VERY wrong with trying to rely on windows filesharing for such a situation). I do not know how to admin an NT domain, so I cannot do this myself.
You're a computer tech and you don't want to learn anything new? Especially something as easy as administrating an NT domain? Sheesh, it's all point and click, it's not that difficult. If learning on your own isn't your game, I'd suggest a new field where nothing ever changes. I just don't see why their needs couldn't be met with simple Windows filesharing, or a Samba server.
Because it's harder to administrate windows filesharing as the usernames aren't synced between the machines, and there's a limit on how many people can be connected at once (10 for pro, 5 for home). Sure, you could just have one username that everyone uses, but that's not terribly secure and doesn't provide for any private space like a home directory. A Samba server acting as a domain controller is a fine solution.. but that would involve all the complexity of learning how to administrate a domain which you don't want to learn.
And, of course, the techs refuse to teach any of us how to admin our own fucking network, because if they did that, they'd be out of a job.
Does your plumber teach you how to plumb your house? Does your auto mechanic teach you how to fix your car? Then why should a computer tech teach you how to run a domain? Techs are hired to be techs, not teach YOU how to be a tech. By far most businesses don't want to have anything to do with managing a network, that's why they hire techs. There's often someone who knows how to install software, but that's the extent of it.
You sound like you're pretty young and expect someone to hold your hand through learning anything new. You'll never get anywhere in the tech field with that attitude.
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Why don't you just admit that you don't get it, and save yourself the time of making such an ignorant statement?
The emperor has no clothes.
The interview of the game developer is pretty funny. He sounds like a freshman humanities 101 paper using phrases like
and gems like:
Sadly being kicked out of Slamdance is going to give this guy far more press than he deserves. No, not because he created something controversial.. but because he created a crappy game with no subtlety and just expected everyone to accept that "all forms of art can be valid tools for societal exploration".
Here's a clue to this guy. If you want your "art" to be accepted as a "valid tool for societal exploration", you just might want to create something that doesn't suck monkey-dick. Then that whole "it's art and changing peoples opinions of what a game is" thing might have a bit more validity.
Outside of surveying, no one uses that definition of an inch. The difference between an international inch and a survey inch isn't even relevant in surveying as it's beyond the capacity to measure the difference between 800 feet 2 surveying inches, and 800 feet 2 international inches. It's only be relevant if for some insane reason you converted surveying miles into inches.
Anyway, the OP was trying to say the inch wasn't precise because it has multiple definitions, which really isn't true.
And you're aware that no one uses anything but the 2.54 cm definition of an inch, right?
I can easily divide an inch into halves down to 64ths with a good tape (even a cheap tape measure has 16ths, and I can eyeball the 32nds), but try to do that with a centimeter
Personally this is one part of the imperial system I hate. All the dumb markings on the tape and I have to figure out which are 1/4s 1/8ths or 1/16ths. As to your precision argument, 1 inch equals 25.4 millimeters. So a millimeter is between a 1/16 and a 1/32nd of an inch.
The fact is, if Europe hadn't forced a switch two generations ago, the computer age might have caused a resurrgence of imperial units in the scientific realm, where the division by 2 and multiplication by 2 is a binary shift, and far more efficient than x10 or
This has to be about the silliest reason I've ever heard for keeping the Imperial system of measure. If you convert units in a calculation it probbably would happen at the beginning or end and happen once, not a million times. By far the heavy lifting in almost any algorithm is not converting units.
However, if you look at recipes, it may call for 3/4 of a cup (not 6 oz), and if you double, it's easy, 1.5 cups.
I cook all the time, and I can tell you that I hate the system of measure. I can never remember what a pint is, how many cups in a gallon. Switching to Metric would only create a new set of problems, but the imperial system is far from "easier" than metric when it comes to cooking.
For feet and Fahrenheit, I tend to agree that for everyday measures they're better. The meter is a bit too long of a unit for everyday things. Though I DO hate having to guess if a tape measure has 32nds or 16ths on it. I'd much prefer just a standard 10 division.
For cars, I hate standard size. It's MUCH easier to just deal with calling a wrench a 9,7, than 9/16ths, 1/2, 3/4 etc. Thankfully the auto industry is almost all metric.
I'd prefer they "waste" their time on their charter
The charter includes pissing away resources on recovering relatively inexpensive items for people where the thief has been caught and will easily be prosecuted? Most of the items I saw this guy sold were car GPS navigation systems, not the Hope diamond or priceless works of art.
rather than listen to my phone calls.
Actually I think that was the NSA.
Probbably because tricking developers into using the Windows API, (which Microsoft knew to be problematic) is a part of Microsoft's anti-competitive behaviour. Anti-competitive behaviour isn't illegal unless you're a monopoly like Microsoft is. The article references Microsoft encouraging Lotus to use the Windows API, and claims that contributed to the decline of Lotus 1-2-3.
Stolen goods crossing state lines? The FBI might be interested if the goods are valuable enough
A few hundred dollars a piece GPSs to people who had no reason to believe the stuff was stolen? I sure hope the FBI doesn't waste time with small time stuff like this.
Very good question. My guess is that they will be tracked down and required to return the items, but will be compensated at the expense of the thief.
I seriously doubt the police are going to bother with this, or even have the resources to do so. Most of these buyers aren't going to be from NYC, so there's a jurisdiction problem. Also who's to say EVERYTHING he sold is stolen? It probbably is, but that's not proof.
The best that could be accomplished is to contact each buyer and tell them the seller sold stolen items on ebay, and the item they bought might be stolen. Then ask them to look for information on the items that might identify the owner.
I'm the submitter, and that figure was my typo
And it's the editors job to find and correct obvious mistakes. Hence the "edit" of editor.
Slamdance is supposed to be a place for controversial media that is to hot for even Sundance, so being too hot for Slamdance is something of an honor.
I guess I don't understand why being "too hot" is an honor. Are people who write books denying the holocaust "too hot", and that's somehow an honor? (And no, I don't think this game is the moral equivalant writing a holocaust denial book, I just question the judgement of something being "too hot" automatically being honorous).
I question why it was ever included at all. The game doesn't have much if any artistic or social value.
If you remove the interactive elements, and make it (effectively) an animation done in the style of a video game, would it have changed your point of view?
No. It'd still be poorly done as an animation.
Zero Day was pretty much just a re-enactment based on the events, and videos the killers made. Was that movie a biography, or just a dumb reenactment?
I didn't see it, so I can't say anything about it.
What I get from a lot of detractors is that he shouldn't even have tried to understand the motivations, because to do so would somehow be trying to glorify them or insult the victims.
I don't believe that. I just don't think you can understand the motivations of these guys on any level deeper than "People made fun of them, now it's payback time". Sure you could try to make up stuff that's deeper than that, but who's to say if it's true or not?
I can pretty easily see how victims would (and probbably should) feel insulted by a game where the goal is to recreate the massacre. Personally I'd rather see a game that involves how the media hyped all this crap up, got everyone scared of everything, etc. That's a much more rich area to explore than two dumb kids who murdered innocent people.
What it was meant to address was the thought process and series of events behind the actions that led to those ideas.
If that's the intent, the game maker does a really bad job of it.
Did you come away from the game understanding more about what kind of pressures and personal decisions helped shape the events of that day?
No. I also don't believe that some game developer could know any of that. This isn't a biography of the Columbine nuts, it's just a dumb game portraying them.
Simply demonizing the participants does nothing to prevent the next crisis. Understanding the motivations
Sure, but the game did nothing in terms of that. Frankly I think that's probbably an impossible task. What makes the game developer think he understands the motivations of the Columbine nuts? Maybe by some miracle he does.. but I got zero understanding of them from that game.
Solutions like kicking out problem students instead of offering them counseling. Columbine led to a lot of stereotyping and zero-tolerance policies, which completely failed to address the root problems.
Those are nice ideas, however none of them are addressed in the game.
When I asked why, he said that although he didnt want to buy another drive, he understood the importance of having a backup for his data.
Well, obviously he's not going to be protected from a failure of the drive mechanism. But his strategy isn't totally useless. By copying to a seperate partition he's protected himself from accidental erasure, and corruption of the data (though software that either corrupts it, or from a power failure).
It's really a poor mans archival mechanism. I'd argue that data corruption or unwanted erasure happens more often than drive failure.. though I do agree the guy shouldn't have chinced out and just bought 2 drives, RAID-1 them, and then figure out some proper archival method like tape, or even a removable drive.
Meanwhile, someone else's attempt to confront us with the horrible but murky truth of Columbine is labeled as "just sick" and "going too far".
Ha! The thing is it's not a very good game, and nowhere did I see it "confront us with the horribly but murky truth of Columbine". It was a poorly conceived game that has no real redeeming artistic, entertaining, or social value. Maybe if it was better made it could have somehow done those things, but IMO it fell completely short.
I wonder how many of us here played either game.
Obviously from my comments I did. I think the only redeeming value of the game is it shows how afraid of a dumb game some people are. Are people really afraid that kids are going to turn into the Columbine assholes just because of a game?
Never mind what the game is actually trying to do, move the medium forward by using it as a means to address complex social issues
I played the game. I never got the feeling I was "addressing complex socal issues", it felt more like the message was trying to somewhat glorify the Columbine nutjobs. I don't think it should have been banned however. Frankly it wasn't a very good game and I'm a bit surprised it was chosen for anything. Then again maybe all the games they selected were crap, and this was just typical crap.
I guess I'm more than a little suspicious of the whole "addressing complex social issue" dodge. Can someone who's actually played the game tell me how exactly it does that?
I don't want to learn Active Directory, because I'd much rather set people up with Linux
Neither do I, but then I don't want to do some administration of an Active Directory domain either.
Samba can do more than that, and usernames are irrelevant -- remember box07, box08, etc? They all have access to everyone's files.
Sure, Samba can, but windows filesharing sucks (which was really my main point). And if you're going to setup a dedicated Samba server, you really should make it a full domain controller. There's little point in doing P2P filesharing at that point. If you don't know anything about Samba (and few people do), then an NT Domain is a far better solution than windows filesharing. So I certainly wouldn't blame the techs for setting up a Domain. Also I'd still argue that the techs that set this thing up aren't taking advantage of what a domain can offer. A good tech isn't just a peon who maintains the systems like they were setup originally. Most of the time the boss won't have any clue as to what good IT practice is. A good tech will make recommendations and justify those recommendations in multiple ways in a language the business owner or office manager can understand.
"I unclogged your pipes, but if you want them to stay that way, pour some Drano in every now and then." And, if I asked, they might tell me the best kind of Drano.
Well, I'd say in your analogy teaching users how to administrate a domain is more like teaching them how to solder a new pipe. Non-plumbers do it all the time, and it's not terribly hard, but it's not something a plumber teaches end users, it's not something end users want to know how to do, but it is something that can get you in deep-doo-doo if you screw it up. The drano analogy is more like teaching a user to try rebooting if they've got a problem, or teaching them not to install junk software.
It's the people in the office who need hand-holding -- and would very much like to be independent.
Well, in general that's just a bad idea. End users shouldn't be doing technical stuff like administrating a domain, and it's a little irresponsible to teach them a point-and-click methodology to try to do that. You can be a genius, and still screw up your system because you don't have the knowledge to understand what you're doing.
Because the coach of a winning sports team knows he has a good team. Profit, growth, and the interpersonal environment at our company makes me sure
Nonsense. In an industry like healthcare where there's enormous growth you'd have to be totally incompetent to not make money and grow. There's plenty of businesses that're horribly managed, have terrible employees, but yet still manage to expand. AOL sucked monkey-dick for years (and still does) and grew at a phenomenal rate until everyone realized they didn't need them (or more to the point, broadband took over).
I'm curious why this project didn't work together with Edubuntu in the first place.
Different hardware requirements. The OLPC is a specific piece of hardware with lower memory, disk space, and a specialized screen.
Are you implying I should hire the first person who turns up for the job and not make any screening attempt?
No, I'm saying that making snap judgements based on someone showing up late, having the wrong hair color, or "dressing like crap" isn't a valid way to discriminate. You sound like you're very judgemental based on things that have little to do with anything. Self esteem? You can tell that just by looking at someone?
Have you considered that perhaps I am hiring people who I think are best suited for the role I need them to fill?
Yes, I just think you're making bad decisions based on things that don't matter (and probbably related to your own personal prejudices).
"Doc, I do NOT want that person near my wife" when they see some of our nurses/med students with more radical, expressive attire/jewelry.
So it's your job to validate peoples prejudices by allowing the same predjudices in your hiring decisions? So if people came up to you and said they didn't want that black/chinese/woman/man/jew/mexican/homosexual near their wife you would suddenly stop hiring them?
It's my perrogative as an employer to hire the people I want to work with and build a team the way I think it will be more efficient.
I'm not questioning your right to make dumb decisions. I'm just pointing out they don't appear to be based on any basis of reality.
Where are the apps for this platform?
How about a web browser, or an e-book reader? Those certainly sound like important apps for learning. Or how about a scientific graphing calculator? Perhaps some interactive learning software? There's already apps that could be very usefull. Really the hard part isn't really the apps, it's the content and curiculum that're more important.
Can anybody name one app, accessible to end users (e.g., no recompiling required), that is compatible with the Sugar UI, mesh networking, low-end specs, and other unique features?
You're asking the wrong crowd here as there's not many people on slashdot develop for, or familiar with this machine. Just because no one has given you an answer means very little.
Go into a shopping mall and give a random person an OLPC -- what would they do with it?
Huh? What does a random person in a shopping mall have to do with the needs of someone in a 3rd world country that's never even used a computer have to do with each other? I think you're really missing the point here.
Hardware has always suffered from a chicken/egg problem. You need interest in the hardware to generate interest in developing software, but you need available software for the hardware to do something.
My guess is the hope is that more specific apps will be created for the purposes of learning. But using a pre-existing OS will bring enough apps that're already available for Linux to make the thing usefull from the start. Personally I'd be more worried about the curriculum and infra-structure for kids to learn how learn from these things.
If the come to the interview dressed like crap, they're automatically out. If they turn up late, they're automatically out.
It's facinating to me the utter-crap voodoo that some people having in making hiring decisions. People like yourself actually believe there's these simple little tests that seperate the good from the bad.
Did you ever consider that all you're doing is just trying to hire people like yourself? You may think that's a great way to seperate the good from the bad... but you may eventually discover that any workplace relies on a variety of people with different personalities, attitudes, and "views of the world". Hire too many people like yourself, and you might just wind up with a bunch of people that can't see outside of the box you've built. If you want a perfect example of this problem, look no further than the Bush administration.
Sorry, I miss-read your statement thinking that you configured your modems to send misleading connect speeds (and not give users an AT command to configure their modem to do the same).
The modem era is one bad memory I'm glad is over and I don't have the remember anything about anymore. What an awfull technology I'm glad is dead. I just wish that FAX would die the same death.
Now, why not have an NT domain, especially if they've already paid for the "Server Edition" or whatever? Well, it costs somewhere between $200 and $1000 of tech time to set up a new computer to operate with "the network" -- which basically means, install printer drivers, get it onto the domain, map a couple of drives, and move "My Documents" to the fileserver. I do not know how to admin an NT domain, so I cannot do this myself.
Huh? If the techs had setup the domain properly, the drives should be mapped in the login script, and people should really be using their own personal share (usually h: drive) to save "My Documents" anyway. I'm guessing you can probbably re-map My Documents in a login script, though I've never done it myself. Joining the machine to the domain takes about 15 seconds. It takes that long just to create a new user. It should take LESS time to setup a new computer in a domain, not more. Maybe the techs that setup the domain don't know what they're doing, but there's nothing wrong with creating a domain with 10-20 people in it (and I'd argue something VERY wrong with trying to rely on windows filesharing for such a situation).
I do not know how to admin an NT domain, so I cannot do this myself.
You're a computer tech and you don't want to learn anything new? Especially something as easy as administrating an NT domain? Sheesh, it's all point and click, it's not that difficult. If learning on your own isn't your game, I'd suggest a new field where nothing ever changes.
I just don't see why their needs couldn't be met with simple Windows filesharing, or a Samba server.
Because it's harder to administrate windows filesharing as the usernames aren't synced between the machines, and there's a limit on how many people can be connected at once (10 for pro, 5 for home). Sure, you could just have one username that everyone uses, but that's not terribly secure and doesn't provide for any private space like a home directory. A Samba server acting as a domain controller is a fine solution.. but that would involve all the complexity of learning how to administrate a domain which you don't want to learn.
And, of course, the techs refuse to teach any of us how to admin our own fucking network, because if they did that, they'd be out of a job.
Does your plumber teach you how to plumb your house? Does your auto mechanic teach you how to fix your car? Then why should a computer tech teach you how to run a domain? Techs are hired to be techs, not teach YOU how to be a tech. By far most businesses don't want to have anything to do with managing a network, that's why they hire techs. There's often someone who knows how to install software, but that's the extent of it.
You sound like you're pretty young and expect someone to hold your hand through learning anything new. You'll never get anywhere in the tech field with that attitude.