How pathetic. "Hey, these guys are succesful and these people are having fun! Let's spoil it!"
I don't have a high opinion of the facebooks and myspaces of the world, and i'll admit to occasional episodes of resentment (usually when there is superior technology or skills, but the guy who shouts loudest gets the cake), but I would stop short of actually undermining, disrupting, and destroying their products.
Err, yeah? I would think the MTBF of a single harddisk would still be 3-5 years. Perhaps the MTBF of the system that _uses_ the harddisks (and gets them replaced) is in the 50 to 150 years range, but that isn't about the disk anymore.
Seriously, sometimes I think Microsoft can do nothing right. Even the things that Windows has traditionally done better than *nix are now done better by good Linux distros, and worse by Windows. Windows Media Player is a particularly easy examyle; it plays almost nothing out of th box...
``With version 6.0, Linspire is betting that its business model of including licenses for proprietary software and formats such as Quicktime, Windows Media Player, Flash, Real, and Microsoft OOXML''
Great. Next time someone comes whining to me about some Linux distro not supporting some proprietary format, I'll point them at Linspire. There's a distro for you that doesn't care about open source purity and just supports a whole bunch of proprietary crap right out of the box. You don't have to do any of the work normally required to get that all working (Easybuntu, Automatix, whatever). You just have to pay the price (and I don't just mean the $49.95).
I manage my mail in the way you described. Everything goes in INBOX, and in folders based on some filtering. I read mail from INBOX and delete it when I think I'm done with it. If I need something I deleted, I can find it in the organized folders. I clean up the folders once in a while by deleting everything over a year old.
``That's a book that we should encourage terrorists to own and experiment with. Be a lot fewer of them it they did.''
That's why they prohibited it, obviously. If marriage is outlawed, only outlaws will have inlaws. So now only the terrorists get the book, and blow themselves up. Brillant!
``Dell and others have pushed Microsoft into a position where they (OEM) are allowed to continue selling XP software beyond the originally intended dates set by Microsoft. This is the first time anyone ever successfully told Microsoft what to do, including the US Government (interestingly enough).''
``You don't have to leave your computer on all day to receive non-Web-based email because the email is stored on servers until you receive it.''
Well, yes, of course, but I was replying to a post where the suggestion was that the mail is stored on _your_ computer. I interpreted that to mean that it isn't stored on someone else's server, because that would kind of make the whole point moot.
``The big problem with being able to read your personal email from anywhere is that it basically means that anyone else can do so, too.''
In theory, yes. In practice, not if you use good encryption.
Here, here. Confirmation of what I've been saying for a couple of years now. Windows forces you to know a whole lot more about computers than you should have to. Viruses? Updating your virus definitions? Why should you have to know about these things, hmm? And then people claim they use Windows 'cause it's easier. Yeah, right.
Meh, your rhetoric means nothing. The reason people don't use Linux is that it is _different_, different from what they are used to, different from what comes with their computer. People who actually think about the issue do tend to use Linux, because it is actually better. But those people are few, and for a good reason. A computer is and should be a tool. You just want to surf the web, read your email, and write your documents, plus do whatever it is your job to do. You don't want to spend time on thinking about operating systems. Your system comes with Windows or OS X. So that's what you will use. It makes perfect sense. Arguments about what would be the best choice don't even enter into the equation. You just use what is in front of you.
Just so you get the right picture, I am a naturist, but I do wear clothes where others can see me, because I not wish to needlessly upset them. As for privacy, I don't know where I stand. I'm all but certain that privacy is important, but I haven't yet seen a convincing argument as to the why.
So, perhaps you can explain to us all exactly why privacy is so important. The whole story, because I'm sure we've all seen bits and pieces before. What exactly is the risk in letting some organization know everything about everyone? Would the same risk exist if everybody knew everything about everyone? Is the only organization we need to be afraid of the government, or are there others? What are the different kinds of information we need to be concerned about, and what are their relative values? If you could gain a hundred dollars by it, what would you be willing to give up? A million dollars? Your living expenses covered for the rest of your life? What information would you never want to give up, no matter what the reward? Does it depend in any way on societal taboos? If so, isn't the real problem the taboos, not the availability of information? Wouldn't the taboos disappear once we knew, for example, how many people really had visited porn sites? If you did something illegal and the government knew, a malicious government could arrest you for it. A malicious government could also arrest you even if you had never done anything illegal. So what does it matter what the government knows? Etc.
That might work for you if you keep your computer on and connected to the Internet at all time. Back in the day, people used web mail exactly because they didn't have a computer that was always connected to the 'net. If you do have a computer that is always on, you have no use for gmail. Just host your mail on your computer and you _will_ be in control, not just with respect to privacy, but also about the interface, supported protocols, ecryption, filtering; everything.
``The interesting thing about stealth technology however, is that it is almost exclusively used for aggression rather than defense if you play your strategy according to tradition.''
There may actually be a whole political scheme behind all this. I've been told by people from Ecuador that their president is good friends with one Hugo Chavez, and wants to copy at least some of his policies. Now, Chavez's dislike of the USA is well known. Microsoft is a US company. Moreover, Microsoft is one of these companies that can be portrayed as exploiting the poor citizens of Latin America. Perhaps what we're seeing now is part of a larger anti-Microsoft scheme. Perhaps it isn't. At any rate, it will be interesting to watch.
Just so you know where I stand: I think it is undeniable that the USA and Microsoft are exploiting Latin America. So it's good to see people standing up against it. On the other hand, I don't think Chavez's way is the way to do it, and I'm afraid it will bring more misery than progress, in the end.
``Are people's own lives so bloody shallow that they need to constantly invade the privacy of other people that they do not even know just to see something more interesting ?''
Yes.
Especially, of course, if your life consists of doing whatever your day job (or school, etc.) happens to be, and then spending the rest of your time watching tv or reading fashion/gossip/etc. magazines.
Then there's people who invent causes. Religion. Making a better X. Microsoft must die. Etc. I say "invent", because, usually, if not always, these people themselves see it as some sort of epic good vs. evil fight, whereas most other people don't even care.
And then there is people who just try to grab as much money and/or power as they can get.
The sad thing is, I think that the first (gossip/fashion/etc.) kind tends to feel happiest.
Slashdot Mirror
How pathetic. "Hey, these guys are succesful and these people are having fun! Let's spoil it!"
I don't have a high opinion of the facebooks and myspaces of the world, and i'll admit to occasional episodes of resentment (usually when there is superior technology or skills, but the guy who shouts loudest gets the cake), but I would stop short of actually undermining, disrupting, and destroying their products.
Err, yeah? I would think the MTBF of a single harddisk would still be 3-5 years. Perhaps the MTBF of the system that _uses_ the harddisks (and gets them replaced) is in the 50 to 150 years range, but that isn't about the disk anymore.
They could at least support Ogg Vorbis, and probably the various forms of MPEG-4 as well.
Seriously, sometimes I think Microsoft can do nothing right. Even the things that Windows has traditionally done better than *nix are now done better by good Linux distros, and worse by Windows. Windows Media Player is a particularly easy examyle; it plays almost nothing out of th box...
``With version 6.0, Linspire is betting that its business model of including licenses for proprietary software and formats such as Quicktime, Windows Media Player, Flash, Real, and Microsoft OOXML''
Great. Next time someone comes whining to me about some Linux distro not supporting some proprietary format, I'll point them at Linspire. There's a distro for you that doesn't care about open source purity and just supports a whole bunch of proprietary crap right out of the box. You don't have to do any of the work normally required to get that all working (Easybuntu, Automatix, whatever). You just have to pay the price (and I don't just mean the $49.95).
``(also, if you're careful enough, Outlook and Outlook Express are perfectly usable on Windows, especially the newer versions)''
NO! NEVER! To hell with the top-posting hell spawn!!
I manage my mail in the way you described. Everything goes in INBOX, and in folders based on some filtering. I read mail from INBOX and delete it when I think I'm done with it. If I need something I deleted, I can find it in the organized folders. I clean up the folders once in a while by deleting everything over a year old.
``That's a book that we should encourage terrorists to own and experiment with. Be a lot fewer of them it they did.''
That's why they prohibited it, obviously. If marriage is outlawed, only outlaws will have inlaws. So now only the terrorists get the book, and blow themselves up. Brillant!
Meh, it will still look like a christmas tree. Vista does actually look rather nice. Which is the _only_ good thing I have to say about it.
``Dell and others have pushed Microsoft into a position where they (OEM) are allowed to continue selling XP software beyond the originally intended dates set by Microsoft. This is the first time anyone ever successfully told Microsoft what to do, including the US Government (interestingly enough).''
In Soviet Russia, government controls commerce.
``You don't have to leave your computer on all day to receive non-Web-based email because the email is stored on servers until you receive it.''
Well, yes, of course, but I was replying to a post where the suggestion was that the mail is stored on _your_ computer. I interpreted that to mean that it isn't stored on someone else's server, because that would kind of make the whole point moot.
``The big problem with being able to read your personal email from anywhere is that it basically means that anyone else can do so, too.''
In theory, yes. In practice, not if you use good encryption.
Here, here. Confirmation of what I've been saying for a couple of years now. Windows forces you to know a whole lot more about computers than you should have to. Viruses? Updating your virus definitions? Why should you have to know about these things, hmm? And then people claim they use Windows 'cause it's easier. Yeah, right.
Now that makes a whole lot of sense. They, whoever they are, cannot abuse what they don't have. Don't have your phone number? Can't call you. Etc.
Meh, your rhetoric means nothing. The reason people don't use Linux is that it is _different_, different from what they are used to, different from what comes with their computer. People who actually think about the issue do tend to use Linux, because it is actually better. But those people are few, and for a good reason. A computer is and should be a tool. You just want to surf the web, read your email, and write your documents, plus do whatever it is your job to do. You don't want to spend time on thinking about operating systems. Your system comes with Windows or OS X. So that's what you will use. It makes perfect sense. Arguments about what would be the best choice don't even enter into the equation. You just use what is in front of you.
Just so you get the right picture, I am a naturist, but I do wear clothes where others can see me, because I not wish to needlessly upset them. As for privacy, I don't know where I stand. I'm all but certain that privacy is important, but I haven't yet seen a convincing argument as to the why.
``Fuck Softpedia.''
Well, no. I don't need it on Debian, but for Windows and OS X, it provides a very useful service.
So, yeah, fuck it, maybe, but in a good way.
Let us eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow, they might make it illegal. ...
And don't think I'm kidding. I'm told that in Belarus, people have been arrested for smiling.
Remember, if you have nothing to hide, take off all your clothes!
So, perhaps you can explain to us all exactly why privacy is so important. The whole story, because I'm sure we've all seen bits and pieces before. What exactly is the risk in letting some organization know everything about everyone? Would the same risk exist if everybody knew everything about everyone? Is the only organization we need to be afraid of the government, or are there others? What are the different kinds of information we need to be concerned about, and what are their relative values? If you could gain a hundred dollars by it, what would you be willing to give up? A million dollars? Your living expenses covered for the rest of your life? What information would you never want to give up, no matter what the reward? Does it depend in any way on societal taboos? If so, isn't the real problem the taboos, not the availability of information? Wouldn't the taboos disappear once we knew, for example, how many people really had visited porn sites? If you did something illegal and the government knew, a malicious government could arrest you for it. A malicious government could also arrest you even if you had never done anything illegal. So what does it matter what the government knows? Etc.
That might work for you if you keep your computer on and connected to the Internet at all time. Back in the day, people used web mail exactly because they didn't have a computer that was always connected to the 'net. If you do have a computer that is always on, you have no use for gmail. Just host your mail on your computer and you _will_ be in control, not just with respect to privacy, but also about the interface, supported protocols, ecryption, filtering; everything.
So how does this compare to LinuxBIOS?
I'll start:
LinuxBIOS:
- More capabilities, freedom to tinker
- Less expensive hardware
- Usually not supported by vendor, doesn't work with lots of motherboards
``What's the point? All it can do is surf the internet and make phone calls.''
Yeah, that's completely useless.
``The interesting thing about stealth technology however, is that it is almost exclusively used for aggression rather than defense if you play your strategy according to tradition.''
Maybe they plan to carry out preemptive strikes.
There may actually be a whole political scheme behind all this. I've been told by people from Ecuador that their president is good friends with one Hugo Chavez, and wants to copy at least some of his policies. Now, Chavez's dislike of the USA is well known. Microsoft is a US company. Moreover, Microsoft is one of these companies that can be portrayed as exploiting the poor citizens of Latin America. Perhaps what we're seeing now is part of a larger anti-Microsoft scheme. Perhaps it isn't. At any rate, it will be interesting to watch.
Just so you know where I stand: I think it is undeniable that the USA and Microsoft are exploiting Latin America. So it's good to see people standing up against it. On the other hand, I don't think Chavez's way is the way to do it, and I'm afraid it will bring more misery than progress, in the end.
``Are people's own lives so bloody shallow that they need to constantly invade the privacy of other people that they do not even know just to see something more interesting ?''
Yes.
Especially, of course, if your life consists of doing whatever your day job (or school, etc.) happens to be, and then spending the rest of your time watching tv or reading fashion/gossip/etc. magazines.
Then there's people who invent causes. Religion. Making a better X. Microsoft must die. Etc. I say "invent", because, usually, if not always, these people themselves see it as some sort of epic good vs. evil fight, whereas most other people don't even care.
And then there is people who just try to grab as much money and/or power as they can get.
The sad thing is, I think that the first (gossip/fashion/etc.) kind tends to feel happiest.