I think this could turn out to be a very interesting project. Think of the people who can now share their story -- Chinese dissidents, drug dealers, hitmen, etc. Society will definitely gain from this.
I definitely agree with you, these shots look like something make in Xara3D. However, I wonder if it's because we know that it can't be real and thus we subliminally point out the problems.
Perhaps a person who was generated with the same procedure (a la Matrix) would seem more real because we can accept it as truth with little force.
On the other hand, you could argue that we could spot the CGI person and it's flaws because we look at people every day (or at least when you shut your monitor off) and we can point out what is wrong.
I know the feeling, I do on-site tech work too, and I'm amazed at how frequently they'll just tell me their password (without even being prompted) and the babble about how her friend uses it too becuase it's so easy to remember. *sigh*
You've never hired anyone, have you? It's all about trust. No person hiring will choose a convict over a non-convict all else being equal. It shows they have lost the trust of society, and rightly so.
It's proven that once people commit a crime, they are more likely to do so again, that is why we have parole. It is as big a risk (if not larger) as someone using Windows instead of linux for a server. It could all be OK, but there's the off chance that it may all go to shit.
I'm working on a project called sinapse that is a PHP/db portal for students. It's in use by Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, and I'm currently working on the Baylor University implementation. However, I've been writing a module for it specifically for teachers to be able to cover the same functions as Blackboard. Sinapse is the only education focused software for this usage AFAIK.
Honestly. Do you really think people are still wasting their time with a proprietary hardware device that is not even being produced by the manufacturer? None of the new Handsprings have a Springboard on it. None.
The most likely outcome is that customers will face a choice between Linux, which is cheap and cheerful, and Windows, which offers more bells and whistles, is tightly integrated with other Microsoft products and is easier for unskilled staff to use, but costs more. In short, Microsoft will be not so much a loser from Linux as less of a winner. In the server market at least, Linux is providing Microsoft with some much-needed competition.
I think this sums up the consensus of the article -- Linux is coming, but not to the desktop.
As you said, looks interesting. I believe it is a Christian geek site as some of the "Ask Jesusgeek" questions refer to setting up a cyber cafe at a church. Also the Theology section kinda gives it away.
Yeah, my school has a no-cost policy -- you can print out up to 100 pages per day at no cost. For the last 2 years they've been threatening to start charging, but they never will because the Dean of Libraries has said that printing is a service that must be kept free in the same way that computers are free to use. A very nice guy:)
The most important tool I've found is Off By One which is a 1.1 mb browser that can run right off the CD. Also it's free as in beer and does SSL. Very handy
It's been a while since you've been in school, eh?
It's actually in middle school at which students start to second-guess their parents. It continues to grow in high school in which you question the motives of your school. Then in college you question the government. It's only as you realize that you are a member of a larger organization that you question it's motives -- and rightly so.
In fact, it is this questioning nature that brings so many students to begin to study science, to explain and prove. In the most ironic sense, it is this same desire that drives the punk rockers to be anti-everything. Unbeknownst to these groups, and everything in between, they all have similar goals. Makes me smile...
This wave of users coming in, demanding a clone of Windows...piss me off.
I have a single question for you: do you want Linux to succeed on the desktop? You probably answered yes. Now, I ask, why? What purpose does Linux serve over and above Windows? Lots. I think the most important and significant issue is DRM/security/privacy. Now, does the average person really care about this stuff? No. Ok, so if they don't care, why should they follow into linux oblivion where things might work, and where no ones there to call if you can't get something to work? I think the article is spot on, people don't care about the back-end of an OS -- face it! When you get into your car, do you care that you only have a 4 cylinder Hyundai? No, you just care that it get's you from point X to Y.
As cars have progressed, we've been able to care less and less about making sure they run and instead focus on other tasks. Automation is important in today's society, becuase we want to use that time to do something else. I still hold fast to my belief that an OS should do whatever it takes to get out of the way of the user. It is the transportation device that allows us to do so much more; whether that be developing applications or simply using a word processor. I don't believe that one task should be considered more important than the other, just as driving to the store to get groceries and doing a cross-country roadtrip don't change the car any.
So I think that linux is a better car than Windows. However, if we truly want linux to contend for the desktop, we need to support those efforts that do it best. If that means donating some cash every once in a while to an effort -- so be it. As a linux community, we need to encourange people to try it out, and stop screaming RTFM.
Have you ever learned to ride a bicycle? I did, and I didn't just get on the bike, I learned from someone else. Now, I'm able to ride my bike to a destination, it is not an act in and of itself. Now, there are several other situations in which using a task requires some learning, such as a board game or reading a book. The act of these tasks become second nature, and the fun game or the joy of reading come out almost in spite of all the learning you've done in order to perform those tasks.
Now, don't get me wrong, I feel an OS should get out of the way of doing tasks, but realize that an OS is a tool that needs to be learned, by book, by trial and error -- whatever, people learn different ways. But I don't feel that learning the OS should become a task in and of itself, it should be able to display things that make sense and are efficient -- something I think Mandrake does very well (I can't speak for other distros).
The big question is -- who will watch? Do you think that you can pull a large audience that would be able to support such an enterprise? Look at the XFL, it looked like it had all the makings of a great sport yet it actually tanked. Why? People couldn't get into it -- it attracted more to the WWF crowd instead, which is smaller.
I don't think people would watch an Unreal game simply because they cannot comprehend that a person is actually doing anything, all they see is a computer screen with some guy running around.
Why did Miyazaki join forces with Disney? Isn't this something like Mandrake joining with Microsoft? It really doesn't make any sense, much less business sense.
I downloaded it all night, and now it's installed and very happy. This is perhaps the easiest version (much less distro) of Mandrake I've used. Some key things that jumped out at me:
Better auto-configuration at installation. It was able to detect everything perfectly -- down to model number. This is a definite change from 9.0 in which I had to configure my printer, scanner, and sound card.
!--Note, I read the earlier review at OSnews and our good friend Eugenia was discussing an issue in which it didn't detect the right sound card (it found the Audigy instead of emu10k), well, I have the same card as her, and it found it fine and it sounds great. --!
It's a much cleaner look. Blame it on the widgets, but it is a much better look and something that will definitely help it as it matures.
Better support for my GeForce4. I was unable to get any decent gameplay under 9.0, but in 9.1 it runs great, divx plays smooth, and I'm once again happy.
Easy installation. This is a non-issue for most of us, but I am now able to recommend my grandmother to install this on her own. It really is that simple.
These are the first things I can think of, I've had it running for a total of 12 minutes (and I'm already back on slashdot!) so there may be some other issues I've yet to come across.
Instead of talking trash about this one, since we all know it's a crackwhores type of response, let's talk about the other "predictions" he made.
My absolute favourite was in 1999, his prediction that Compaq and Intel were going to merge. He laid out some really bad logic, and I wish I had the article here to quote some of it.
Actually, you may be right, I remember several of his April Fool jokes -- one of them he was ranting about how everyone will be going lower in terms of x-bit processing -- saying that a 4-bit processor would actually be faster because it allows more calculations per second. Obviously on crack, and the last line was "April Fools" in hexadecimal.
So don't be surprised if there's a follow-up to this saying as such.
Slashdot Mirror
I think this could turn out to be a very interesting project. Think of the people who can now share their story -- Chinese dissidents, drug dealers, hitmen, etc. Society will definitely gain from this.
By that you mean optimized for porn viewing, right?
Perhaps a person who was generated with the same procedure (a la Matrix) would seem more real because we can accept it as truth with little force.
On the other hand, you could argue that we could spot the CGI person and it's flaws because we look at people every day (or at least when you shut your monitor off) and we can point out what is wrong.
I know the feeling, I do on-site tech work too, and I'm amazed at how frequently they'll just tell me their password (without even being prompted) and the babble about how her friend uses it too becuase it's so easy to remember. *sigh*
How come we don't just write a gnutella client for Pocket PC? What I do now is just stream audio from my PC or d/l mp3s from my PC...
It's proven that once people commit a crime, they are more likely to do so again, that is why we have parole. It is as big a risk (if not larger) as someone using Windows instead of linux for a server. It could all be OK, but there's the off chance that it may all go to shit.
I'm working on a project called sinapse that is a PHP/db portal for students. It's in use by Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, and I'm currently working on the Baylor University implementation. However, I've been writing a module for it specifically for teachers to be able to cover the same functions as Blackboard. Sinapse is the only education focused software for this usage AFAIK.
Honestly. Do you really think people are still wasting their time with a proprietary hardware device that is not even being produced by the manufacturer? None of the new Handsprings have a Springboard on it. None.
I think this sums up the consensus of the article -- Linux is coming, but not to the desktop.
As you said, looks interesting. I believe it is a Christian geek site as some of the "Ask Jesusgeek" questions refer to setting up a cyber cafe at a church. Also the Theology section kinda gives it away.
Yeah, my school has a no-cost policy -- you can print out up to 100 pages per day at no cost. For the last 2 years they've been threatening to start charging, but they never will because the Dean of Libraries has said that printing is a service that must be kept free in the same way that computers are free to use. A very nice guy :)
- Ctrl+Tab
- 2
- Alt+Pg Down
- Ctrl+F6
And if we can use our mouse, we can right-click and use the scroll wheel to bring up the little menu. Please -- save yourself some time, get opera.*sigh* I wish I still had mod points, that is exactly what I was thinking...
*wow*
The most important tool I've found is Off By One which is a 1.1 mb browser that can run right off the CD. Also it's free as in beer and does SSL. Very handy
my girlfriend's hand. She loves diamonds. Hmm, methinks that if we break up I can "borrow" those back to power my next computer?
It's actually in middle school at which students start to second-guess their parents. It continues to grow in high school in which you question the motives of your school. Then in college you question the government. It's only as you realize that you are a member of a larger organization that you question it's motives -- and rightly so.
In fact, it is this questioning nature that brings so many students to begin to study science, to explain and prove. In the most ironic sense, it is this same desire that drives the punk rockers to be anti-everything. Unbeknownst to these groups, and everything in between, they all have similar goals. Makes me smile...
This wave of users coming in, demanding a clone of Windows...piss me off.
I have a single question for you: do you want Linux to succeed on the desktop? You probably answered yes. Now, I ask, why? What purpose does Linux serve over and above Windows? Lots. I think the most important and significant issue is DRM/security/privacy. Now, does the average person really care about this stuff? No. Ok, so if they don't care, why should they follow into linux oblivion where things might work, and where no ones there to call if you can't get something to work? I think the article is spot on, people don't care about the back-end of an OS -- face it! When you get into your car, do you care that you only have a 4 cylinder Hyundai? No, you just care that it get's you from point X to Y.
As cars have progressed, we've been able to care less and less about making sure they run and instead focus on other tasks. Automation is important in today's society, becuase we want to use that time to do something else. I still hold fast to my belief that an OS should do whatever it takes to get out of the way of the user. It is the transportation device that allows us to do so much more; whether that be developing applications or simply using a word processor. I don't believe that one task should be considered more important than the other, just as driving to the store to get groceries and doing a cross-country roadtrip don't change the car any.
So I think that linux is a better car than Windows. However, if we truly want linux to contend for the desktop, we need to support those efforts that do it best. If that means donating some cash every once in a while to an effort -- so be it. As a linux community, we need to encourange people to try it out, and stop screaming RTFM.
Now, don't get me wrong, I feel an OS should get out of the way of doing tasks, but realize that an OS is a tool that needs to be learned, by book, by trial and error -- whatever, people learn different ways. But I don't feel that learning the OS should become a task in and of itself, it should be able to display things that make sense and are efficient -- something I think Mandrake does very well (I can't speak for other distros).
I don't think people would watch an Unreal game simply because they cannot comprehend that a person is actually doing anything, all they see is a computer screen with some guy running around.
Why did Miyazaki join forces with Disney? Isn't this something like Mandrake joining with Microsoft? It really doesn't make any sense, much less business sense.
- Better auto-configuration at installation. It was able to detect everything perfectly -- down to model number. This is a definite change from 9.0 in which I had to configure my printer, scanner, and sound card.
- It's a much cleaner look. Blame it on the widgets, but it is a much better look and something that will definitely help it as it matures.
- Better support for my GeForce4. I was unable to get any decent gameplay under 9.0, but in 9.1 it runs great, divx plays smooth, and I'm once again happy.
- Easy installation. This is a non-issue for most of us, but I am now able to recommend my grandmother to install this on her own. It really is that simple.
These are the first things I can think of, I've had it running for a total of 12 minutes (and I'm already back on slashdot!) so there may be some other issues I've yet to come across.!--Note, I read the earlier review at OSnews and our good friend Eugenia was discussing an issue in which it didn't detect the right sound card (it found the Audigy instead of emu10k), well, I have the same card as her, and it found it fine and it sounds great. --!
My absolute favourite was in 1999, his prediction that Compaq and Intel were going to merge. He laid out some really bad logic, and I wish I had the article here to quote some of it.
Please, post some other ones I missed...
So don't be surprised if there's a follow-up to this saying as such.
According to the article, several stores are allowing trade-ins with your old GBA and then getting the new one for like $60. It's worth a shot.
I haven't heard anything from them about that though....