It would be really nice if article postings referenced the video format involved. That way, us Linux folks wouldn't waste our time visiting a site with Quicktime content.
Some of my favorite science fiction is the remarkable collaboratory efforts of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell: Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, Legacy of Heorot, et.al. For them, it's all about the plot. Their separate novels are good, but don't quite measure up to the collaborations.
Actually, I think that the author was referring to the Human Research Protections Agency section of the article:
Another example is the National Human Research Protections Advisory Committee, created under President Bill Clinton after a series of government reports found serious deficiencies in the federal system for protecting human subjects in research. The call from HHS to disband "came out of the blue," said committee chair Mary Faith Marshall, a professor of medicine and bioethics at the University of Kansas in Kansas City.
Some sources suggested the committee had angered the pharmaceutical industry or other research enterprises because of its recommendations to tighten up conflict-of-interest rules and impose new restrictions on research involving the mentally ill.
"It's very frustrating," said Paul Gelsinger, who became a member of the committee after his son, Jesse, died in a Pennsylvania gene therapy experiment that was later found to have broken basic safety rules. "It's always been my view that money is running the research show," he said. "So with this administration's ties to industry, I'm not surprised" to see the committee killed.
The genetic tests section is earlier in the article.
I am a recent Mozilla convert. I changed over from Internet Explorer one day after a malicious web site hijacked my browser and reset my home page and default search engine. All because I mistyped a URL in the address bar and got a disreputable site. At the beginning of your post you say:
If you refute all of these, I will either just ignore you and pretend I never came back to this thread, or I'll respond with, "Yeah, but what about x and y? Bet you think Mozilla sucks now, don't you!?"
So my comments are more for people who read your post and wonder if you have reasoned criticisms (I think mostly not) or if you are just blowing hot air.
1. On both platforms I've tried-- Windows 2000 and Mac OS X-- Mozilla is significantly slower than the browser of choice on that platform. Browsers of choice being IE and OmniWeb, of course. Does it render pages faster? Who the hell cares? How fast it renders pages has no affect on me at all if I refuse to wait the eight to twelve seconds it takes to launch the application or the five seconds it takes to open a new window.
I've only used Mozilla on Windows 2000, so I can't comment on the Mac version. My question on this topic is "Did you enable quicklaunch?" The reason that IE starts so fast on the Windows platform is that a large portion of it is loaded into memory on bootup! Mozilla has an option to load portions of itself into memory on boot to make it start faster. I don't use it myself, but it's there if you want. As for the "new window" complaint, I'll address that in my last comment.
2. Mozilla's user interface does not follow the HCI standards of any known platform. It's equally quirky and wrong on Windows, Mac OS 9, or Mac OS X.
Since you make no specific legitimate complaint here ("quirky and wrong" doesn't count), I can't address this point. I can point out people who like Mozilla's interface for each person who doesn't like it. I would hazard a guess that you prefer the interface that you are used to, and don't like it when an application doesn't clone it.
3. The Mozilla preferences dialog is completely screwed. There are dozens-- maybe as many as a hundred-- preferences listed in that dialog, grouped in categories that make little sense if any. And, on that subject, don't anybody ever say the words "edit your user.js file" to me again, okay? If I wanted to fart around with config files, I'd just write my own browser. This is my home machine, and I expect to be able to use it without firing up a text editor.
Again, you make a blanket statement without mentioning any specific gripes. I will say that most people that I know LIKE having many choices. I don't know why you throw in the "edit the user.js file" red herring, but I will say that it's nice to be able to take even finer control of your browser if you are willing to delve into the config files.
4. The Mozilla toolbar is broken and can't be fixed by mere mortals. By which I mean this: I want a home button on my toolbar, but Mozilla doesn't let me put one there. I want to show only icons in the menu bar, but Mozilla won't let me do that, either.
You're complaining that you can't make it look EXACTLY like Internet Explorer? There's a "home" button on the Personal Toolbar! Mozilla has a "skinnable" interface, so it is possible to customize it a great deal more than your current browser.
5. Text fields-- both plain text fields and textarea fields-- are broken. What do I mean by "broken?" I mean that these things do not work correctly. What am I, Bugzilla?
Another vague criticism. At least here you admit your inability to articulate exactly what is wrong. "They don't work." is just bitching, it isn't a reasoned comment.
6. The sidebar "feature," which no right-minded person would ever find useful, is so bloated and overbuilt that it must take up a significant fraction of the total size of the application, both in terms of megabytes on disk and megabytes of RAM when running.
Is this just a wild-assed guess? "Bloated and overbuilt?" I guess you've looked through the source code to make this determination?
7. Speaking of megabytes, who told the Mozilla "team"-- and I use the word loosely-- that they could ship a 35 MB web browser that eats up as much RAM as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel combined? OmniWeb is 8 MB, and that's for the version with i18n.
I'm not sure that I understand why you make this criticism. Why compare the footprint of Mozilla to MS Word and Excel? Since I don't have either of these applications on my home machine, I can't verify your figures. I've never used OmniWeb, and so I have no comment on it.
8. "New Window" is on a fucking submenu. That's absurd. Have those guy really never read the Apple Human Interface Guidelines? No matter what OS you write software for, that book is the bible, man.
Browsing in separate windows in Mozilla is ignoring one of its best features: "tabbed browsing." I used to use IE in multiple windows too, but tabbed browsing kicks the holy hell out of the old method. (I expect the next version of IE will have it.) There is no way that I can describe how much simpler and faster it is, those of you who haven't tried it and still have an open mind should just try it for yourself.
I want to just quickly mention a few of the real innovations that Mozilla supports: Pop-up blocking, mouse gestures, (overall)better security and extensibility that means there are continually new features as add-ons. Take it from a former diehard IE user: If you haven't tried Mozilla, you don't know what you're missing!
Don't write off stuff just because you've already come to the conclusion that it can't be done.
To me, that seems like the best time to write off stuff. Are you saying that I shouldn't write off sticking to walls like spiderman despite my injuries from previous attempts?
Mundie said. "Microsoft can't control that process. If the printer driver tanks the system, who do you hold liable?"
I hold responsible the designer of an operating system so unstable that a printer driver can take it down. Is this the best excuse they can come up with? Because that sort of computing isn't "trustworthy" in my book.
Slashdot Mirror
It would be really nice if article postings referenced the video format involved. That way, us Linux folks wouldn't waste our time visiting a site with Quicktime content.
Some of my favorite science fiction is the remarkable collaboratory efforts of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell: Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, Legacy of Heorot, et.al. For them, it's all about the plot. Their separate novels are good, but don't quite measure up to the collaborations.
Changing one word would make this an anthem against Microsoft:
It matters not how strait the Gates,
I can't believe that you included the mac "hockey puck" and "ergonomically" in the same post :p
Actually, I think that the author was referring to the Human Research Protections Agency section of the article:
Another example is the National Human Research Protections Advisory Committee, created under President Bill Clinton after a series of government reports found serious deficiencies in the federal system for protecting human subjects in research. The call from HHS to disband "came out of the blue," said committee chair Mary Faith Marshall, a professor of medicine and bioethics at the University of Kansas in Kansas City.
Some sources suggested the committee had angered the pharmaceutical industry or other research enterprises because of its recommendations to tighten up conflict-of-interest rules and impose new restrictions on research involving the mentally ill.
"It's very frustrating," said Paul Gelsinger, who became a member of the committee after his son, Jesse, died in a Pennsylvania gene therapy experiment that was later found to have broken basic safety rules. "It's always been my view that money is running the research show," he said. "So with this administration's ties to industry, I'm not surprised" to see the committee killed.
The genetic tests section is earlier in the article.
Hmmmmm. I guess we have to agree to disagree :p
I am a recent Mozilla convert. I changed over from Internet Explorer one day after a malicious web site hijacked my browser and reset my home page and default search engine. All because I mistyped a URL in the address bar and got a disreputable site. At the beginning of your post you say:
If you refute all of these, I will either just ignore you and pretend I never came back to this thread, or I'll respond with, "Yeah, but what about x and y? Bet you think Mozilla sucks now, don't you!?"
So my comments are more for people who read your post and wonder if you have reasoned criticisms (I think mostly not) or if you are just blowing hot air.
1. On both platforms I've tried-- Windows 2000 and Mac OS X-- Mozilla is significantly slower than the browser of choice on that platform. Browsers of choice being IE and OmniWeb, of course. Does it render pages faster? Who the hell cares? How fast it renders pages has no affect on me at all if I refuse to wait the eight to twelve seconds it takes to launch the application or the five seconds it takes to open a new window.
I've only used Mozilla on Windows 2000, so I can't comment on the Mac version. My question on this topic is "Did you enable quicklaunch?" The reason that IE starts so fast on the Windows platform is that a large portion of it is loaded into memory on bootup! Mozilla has an option to load portions of itself into memory on boot to make it start faster. I don't use it myself, but it's there if you want. As for the "new window" complaint, I'll address that in my last comment.
2. Mozilla's user interface does not follow the HCI standards of any known platform. It's equally quirky and wrong on Windows, Mac OS 9, or Mac OS X.
Since you make no specific legitimate complaint here ("quirky and wrong" doesn't count), I can't address this point. I can point out people who like Mozilla's interface for each person who doesn't like it. I would hazard a guess that you prefer the interface that you are used to, and don't like it when an application doesn't clone it.
3. The Mozilla preferences dialog is completely screwed. There are dozens-- maybe as many as a hundred-- preferences listed in that dialog, grouped in categories that make little sense if any. And, on that subject, don't anybody ever say the words "edit your user.js file" to me again, okay? If I wanted to fart around with config files, I'd just write my own browser. This is my home machine, and I expect to be able to use it without firing up a text editor.
Again, you make a blanket statement without mentioning any specific gripes. I will say that most people that I know LIKE having many choices. I don't know why you throw in the "edit the user.js file" red herring, but I will say that it's nice to be able to take even finer control of your browser if you are willing to delve into the config files.
4. The Mozilla toolbar is broken and can't be fixed by mere mortals. By which I mean this: I want a home button on my toolbar, but Mozilla doesn't let me put one there. I want to show only icons in the menu bar, but Mozilla won't let me do that, either.
You're complaining that you can't make it look EXACTLY like Internet Explorer? There's a "home" button on the Personal Toolbar! Mozilla has a "skinnable" interface, so it is possible to customize it a great deal more than your current browser.
5. Text fields-- both plain text fields and textarea fields-- are broken. What do I mean by "broken?" I mean that these things do not work correctly. What am I, Bugzilla?
Another vague criticism. At least here you admit your inability to articulate exactly what is wrong. "They don't work." is just bitching, it isn't a reasoned comment.
6. The sidebar "feature," which no right-minded person would ever find useful, is so bloated and overbuilt that it must take up a significant fraction of the total size of the application, both in terms of megabytes on disk and megabytes of RAM when running.
Is this just a wild-assed guess? "Bloated and overbuilt?" I guess you've looked through the source code to make this determination?
7. Speaking of megabytes, who told the Mozilla "team"-- and I use the word loosely-- that they could ship a 35 MB web browser that eats up as much RAM as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel combined? OmniWeb is 8 MB, and that's for the version with i18n.
I'm not sure that I understand why you make this criticism. Why compare the footprint of Mozilla to MS Word and Excel? Since I don't have either of these applications on my home machine, I can't verify your figures. I've never used OmniWeb, and so I have no comment on it.
8. "New Window" is on a fucking submenu. That's absurd. Have those guy really never read the Apple Human Interface Guidelines? No matter what OS you write software for, that book is the bible, man.
Browsing in separate windows in Mozilla is ignoring one of its best features: "tabbed browsing." I used to use IE in multiple windows too, but tabbed browsing kicks the holy hell out of the old method. (I expect the next version of IE will have it.) There is no way that I can describe how much simpler and faster it is, those of you who haven't tried it and still have an open mind should just try it for yourself.
I want to just quickly mention a few of the real innovations that Mozilla supports: Pop-up blocking, mouse gestures, (overall)better security and extensibility that means there are continually new features as add-ons. Take it from a former diehard IE user: If you haven't tried Mozilla, you don't know what you're missing!
I tend to agree with you about MDI. On the other hand, I love Mozilla's tabbed browsing. Does that make me a hypocrite?
Don't write off stuff just because you've already come to the conclusion that it can't be done.
To me, that seems like the best time to write off stuff. Are you saying that I shouldn't write off sticking to walls like spiderman despite my injuries from previous attempts?
Show 'em the numbers (in Excel if necessary).
:)
Don't you mean: (in OpenOffice.org Calc if necessary)?
Mundie said. "Microsoft can't control that process. If the printer driver tanks the system, who do you hold liable?"
I hold responsible the designer of an operating system so unstable that a printer driver can take it down. Is this the best excuse they can come up with? Because that sort of computing isn't "trustworthy" in my book.
The irony is, I sent an e-mail to Mr. Greene at the Register on Sunday pointing him to Saturday's Slashdot post. The link above points to his story.
Follow the link and mod this guy up! Hilarious!