Could you imagine speaking a language that's hundreds, if not thousands of years old? Could you imagine running an internal combustion engine that's almost 150 years old?
There's a reason human-computer interface hasn't really changed. The fact that the human hasn't either isn't a big coincidence.
The English language has slowly evolved over time, as has the combustion engine. The human-computer interface has stagnated more through fear of change, than because of a good initial design.
The cost of re-training people to use a new interface is also a real reason for the human-computer interface's failure to evolve.
Unless someone can come up with a truly revolutionary interface (whose improvements to productivity are immense and can be measured) the QWERTY keyboard will remain as top dog.
At the moment, if you go to Google, type in "Firebird" and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.
Currently the Firebird database page is displayed (http://firebird.sourceforge.net/)
If in the future I type in "Firebird", click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and a Mozilla page is displayed, then they have done a major disservice to another open source project.
By making it harder to find information about the Firebird DB, they will have eaten into its
potential client base.
They aren't. I also agree that the Australian government deserved the award. I just disagreed with the way the nominator twisted the facts and timeframe.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Samudra was an engineer and computer expert who'd attended Muklas's school in Johor and gone on to run his own military training camp. He was a key suspect in the 2000 church bombings. In his confession, Samudra lists 13 reasons for choosing Bali. Two of the first three mention Australia.
TRANSLATION OF SAMUDRA'S CONFESSION: One - to oppose the barbarity of the US army of the Cross and its allies - England, Australia, and so on. Two - to take revenge for the 200,000 men, women, and children and babies who died without sin when thousands of tonnes of bombs were dropped in Afghanistan. Three, Australia had taken part in efforts to separate East Timor from Indonesia, which was an international conspiracy by followers of the Cross.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Australia had first been picked out as a target by Osama bin Laden the year before when he attacked Australia's role in East Timor.
TRANSLATION OF OSAMA BIN LADEN: The crusader Australian forces were on Indonesian shores and they landed on East Timor, which is part of the Islamic world.
"Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said Australia had been worried about an attack on Australians in Indonesia since Jemaah Islamiyah plotted to blow up the Australian Embassy in Singapore in December. That plot that was foiled when the Singaporean authorities rounded up a score of suspected members of the group."
Of course the fact that the nightclubs were (and always had been) predominantly packed with Australians, should have been your first clue.
MOST EGREGIOUSLY STUPID AWARD
WINNER - THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT
As an Australian I too was amused that our government's response to an increased public awareness of terrorism, was to send us all fridge magnets.
HOWEVER...
The nominator for this award states TWICE that "there are no proven instances of any terrorist activity whatsoever targetted at Australia."
So the 84 Australian victims of the bombing attack in Bali, who were SPECIFICALLY TARGETTED by a terrorist group (members of the group admitted as much) were not "targetted"?
Perhaps the fuck-knuckle that nominated the Australian Government should have actually read the literature that they sent out. It was meant to re-assure people that our government were actually doing something.
There was no suggestion that people did read for "a singular focus on technology". The question was simply: have Slashdot readers been "directly inspired by what they've read in Science Fiction?".
You could have just posted "No".
...and there is no such thing as a "post-modern classic".
But any intelligent criminal (even if they aren't technically savvy) knows that the location of mobile phones can be tracked.
Your assertion that WWII was fought to allow you "the freedom to utilize the tool if I think it necessary", is both ludicrous and myopic. The _main_ reason the USA entered WWII was because the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. Any other grand ideals were secondary.
Farscape is watched by ppl outside the US as
well, especially seeing how it is made in
Australia.
Let me state this clearly for you... FARSCAPE IS NOT WATCHED IN AUSTRAILIA.
They do not show it, and they changed its timeslot so many times only rabid fans could be bothered. So, no, FARSCAPE IS NOT WATCHED IN AUSTRAILIA.
Can you configure Mozilla 1.3 so that it does "Tabbed Browsing" by default?
That particular feature is (for me at least) the most useful of all the additions to Mozilla. Although, blocking pop-ups is pretty cool too.
[sarcasm]Of course this is all about stopping pr0n, and NOTHING to do with stopping people from being able to download movies and music.[/sarcasm]
Funny how groups in both Australia and New Zealand starting kicking up a stink about "Filtering", so soon after visits by american "entertainment" industry lobbyists.
Good programmers are ethical and do what they are told.
What? since when?
Good "programming" has nothing to do with Ethics or Doing what you are told to do. Good programming is about producing effective solutions to problems in software. There are many occasions where just doing what you are told to do will cause problems for your users.
As for your "should be ashamed of yourself for disrespecting your profession". Personal integrity comes BEFORE the job.
The Government used to own the ONLY Australian Telecom company (at the time), now called "Telstra". They own all infrastructure, there is no competition in the backbone network. Telstra owns it all, and abuses its position.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, and THEY have certainly learnt that lesson.
The mouse has been around since 1964, and was patented in 1970. HARDLY a new invention.
Could you imagine speaking a language that's hundreds, if not thousands of years old? Could you imagine running an internal combustion engine that's almost 150 years old?
There's a reason human-computer interface hasn't really changed. The fact that the human hasn't either isn't a big coincidence.
The English language has slowly evolved over time, as has the combustion engine. The human-computer interface has stagnated more through fear of change, than because of a good initial design.
The cost of re-training people to use a new interface is also a real reason for the human-computer interface's failure to evolve.
Unless someone can come up with a truly revolutionary interface (whose improvements to productivity are immense and can be measured) the QWERTY keyboard will remain as top dog.
At the moment, if you go to Google, type in "Firebird" and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.
Currently the Firebird database page is displayed (http://firebird.sourceforge.net/)
If in the future I type in "Firebird", click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and a Mozilla
page is displayed, then they have done a major disservice to another open source project.
By making it harder to find information about the Firebird DB, they will have eaten into its
potential client base.
The guy goes and does something vaguely positive, and the most "enlightened" comments on SlashDot are "Look at his teeth, haw haw haw!".
I think its a fantastic idea. A lot of people will go there to be inspired by past scifi works.
Certainly better than going to an amusement park dedicated to a giant fucken mouse.
They aren't. I also agree that the Australian government deserved the award. I just
disagreed with the way the nominator twisted the facts and timeframe.
Okay then prove that Bali was targetted at Australians alone and not at westeners at general.
2 10_bali_confessions/default.htm
The Bali Bombers confessed as much:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2003/20030
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Samudra was an engineer and computer expert who'd attended Muklas's school in Johor and gone on to run his own military training camp. He was a key suspect in the 2000 church bombings. In his confession, Samudra lists 13 reasons for choosing Bali. Two of the first three mention Australia.
TRANSLATION OF SAMUDRA'S CONFESSION: One - to oppose the barbarity of the US army of the Cross and its allies - England, Australia, and so on. Two - to take revenge for the 200,000 men, women, and children and babies who died without sin when thousands of tonnes of bombs were dropped in Afghanistan. Three, Australia had taken part in efforts to separate East Timor from Indonesia, which was an international conspiracy by followers of the Cross.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Australia had first been picked out as a target by Osama bin Laden the year before when he attacked Australia's role in East Timor.
TRANSLATION OF OSAMA BIN LADEN: The crusader Australian forces were on Indonesian shores and they landed on East Timor, which is part of the Islamic world.
"Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said Australia had been worried about an attack on Australians in Indonesia since Jemaah Islamiyah plotted to blow up the Australian Embassy in Singapore in December. That plot that was foiled when the Singaporean authorities rounded up a score of suspected members of the group."
Of course the fact that the nightclubs were (and always had been) predominantly packed with Australians, should have been your first clue.
Have YOU ever been to Bali?
Those nightclubs were the Australian hang-outs.
MOST EGREGIOUSLY STUPID AWARD WINNER - THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT
As an Australian I too was amused that our government's response to an increased public awareness of terrorism, was to send us all fridge magnets.
HOWEVER...
The nominator for this award states TWICE that "there are no proven instances of any terrorist activity whatsoever targetted at Australia."
So the 84 Australian victims of the bombing attack in Bali, who were SPECIFICALLY TARGETTED by a terrorist group (members of the group admitted as much) were not "targetted"?
Perhaps the fuck-knuckle that nominated the Australian Government should have actually read the literature that they sent out. It was meant to re-assure people that our government were actually doing something.
The fridge magnet was funny though.
Touche'. I guess if I would have said that Goethe writing was romantic...
You may as well have, it would have been equally off-topic.
There was no suggestion that people did read for "a singular focus on technology". The
...and there is no such thing as a "post-modern classic".
question was simply: have Slashdot readers been "directly inspired by what they've read in
Science Fiction?".
You could have just posted "No".
But any intelligent criminal (even if they aren't technically savvy) knows that the location of
mobile phones can be tracked.
Your assertion that WWII was fought to allow you "the freedom to utilize the tool if I
think it necessary", is both ludicrous and myopic. The _main_ reason the USA entered
WWII was because the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. Any other grand ideals
were secondary.
Yeah, but with eyes that size I'm sure he'd
go down a treat with the Anime crowd.
Or Deep Space 9, or Days of our Lives.
no human being in his right mind will ask you to give him the beating of his life, unless you are a member of fight club that is
You just broke the first and second rules...
Time for pain!
Farscape is watched by ppl outside the US as well, especially seeing how it is made in Australia .
Let me state this clearly for you... FARSCAPE IS NOT WATCHED IN AUSTRAILIA.
They do not show it, and they changed its timeslot so many times only rabid fans could be bothered.
So, no, FARSCAPE IS NOT WATCHED IN AUSTRAILIA.
Fat and lazy people will be overjoyed that they do not acually have to push the petals.....
"Push the little daisies and make them come up".
Can you configure Mozilla 1.3 so that it does "Tabbed Browsing" by default?
That particular feature is (for me at least) the most useful of all the additions to Mozilla. Although, blocking pop-ups is pretty cool too.
[sarcasm]Of course this is all about stopping pr0n, and NOTHING to do with stopping people from being able to download movies and music.[/sarcasm]
Funny how groups in both Australia and New Zealand starting kicking up a stink about "Filtering", so soon after visits by american "entertainment" industry lobbyists.
Good programmers are ethical and do what they are told.
What? since when?
Good "programming" has nothing to do with Ethics or Doing what you are told to do. Good
programming is about producing effective solutions to problems in software. There are many occasions where just doing what you are told to do will cause problems for your users.
As for your "should be ashamed of yourself for disrespecting your profession". Personal integrity comes BEFORE the job.
I always find it hilarious that these things come from Canberra, the distribution
centre for pr0n in Australia.
But that is why this legislation IS coming from Canberra.
Many a federal politician's mail order pr0n business has gone bust due to the
availability of "free" online pr0n.
I read it as "Lead" as in "Lead Guitarist", and subsequently wanted to know which band he was in.
"It however points to the fact that a spin-off will emerge, hopefully one that is more successful than Angel."
More "successful" does not mean "better".
Hell, Survivor was a "sucessful" show, but it was basically mindless voyeurism.
They've already "Killed Off Clippy". html
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2085615,00
The Government used to own the ONLY Australian Telecom company (at the time), now called "Telstra".
They own all infrastructure, there is no competition in the backbone network. Telstra owns it all, and abuses
its position.