Once the user/voter has made their choice(s) on the computer, they need to sign a paper printout (perhaps with audio for the blind, multilingual choices, etc) that verifies and validates what they've voted for. Perhaps with an ink fingerprint as an option for those who can't sign easily or for speed.
Great idea.
Unfortunately, it would only work in countries (such as the UK) where a voter's vote is not completely secret.
In the US, and other countries where voting is required to be by completely secret ballot, what you suggest isn't legal.
I'm sure this has been covered before, but what is the current state-of-the-art in building your own DVR box?
Specifically, if I want to go out and build myself a (pref. Linux-based) computer for DVR, what hardware/sofware solutions are out there that work now?
Record to hard drive, burn-to-VCD, burn-to-DivX;), burn-to-DVD, etc...
For you and me, KDE and GNOME, along with any of the good standard distros makes GNU/Linux a great, pretty-easy-to-use choice.
But that's not good enough.
What I'd like to put together is Linux for Technophobes. The machine that Joe Schmoe, who has never used a computer, can walk in to Wal-mart, take home his new box, and be able to use it for email, web browsing, and word processing with zero assistance from anyone else.
He should open the box and find a simple (a la iMac) one-page sheet that shows him how to connect the mouse and keyboard.
A simple wizard sets up the net connection with him.
I'm picturing a very simple interface for the Basic mode. One big button that says Email and has a picture of a mailbox. Another for the web browser. Maybe a couple more apps, but not many.
And, if you click on the Advanced mode button in the corner, you get switched to KDE or GNOME.
Still, I really have to wonder how many people will actually pay the $99/year for the.mac service.
To be honest, though, with all the new features in the new version of the OS, I really can't blame them for charging for it. Not sure I'll pay, but still...
I know this is a bit off-topic, but if you want to get a better view of Orwell's real political stance, I have something for you.
One of Orwell's lesser known works was an essay called "The Lion and the Unicorn" (1941). I really recommend it for anyone who wants to know what Orwell really did think government should be like.
Reading this essay was one of the key turning points for me in my acceptance of democratic socialism. It presents an excellent vision of how Orwell thought Britain should re-form itself after the War. Indeed, the first Government after the War was a socialist-leaning Labour one which enacted some of the ideas that Orwell championed.
Now if only Henry A. Wallace had been VP when FDR died, we might have gotten some of the same reforms in the U.S. (National Health Service, etc.), not to mention avoided the intensity of the McCarthy era....
Any specifics? I have been kicking around the idea of putting together a GrannyLinux distro.
I love the Mac OS, but I would love even more to have something as easy to use that's free.
I'm talking about something that is easier for the real newbie to use than even the Mac.
The kind of thing that (unless you click into Advanced mode) would make your average/.er shudder with revulsion at the dumbed-down, limited-options, ultra-easy-to-use interface. The kind of thing that my grandpa (who has never used a computer) could figure out how to use by himself out-of-the box.
I've got some ideas... Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Lane Schwartz
(dowobeha) los20 @-@-@ cam._nospam_ac.uk
There is a way to go yet before linux is the eaiest OS in the world to use, but IMHO, it's not because software is hard to install.
I disagree. For better or worse, most (not all) programs on the Mac are self-contained. I can double-click on an installer, let it do it's thing, then double click on the icon in/Applications.
Is the right approach for every package ever written? No. Is this what the vast majority of user applications need to do to overcome the stigma that Linux apps are hard to install? Absolutely.
Like it or not, easy-to-use graphical interfaces are the road to acceptance in the desktop market.
>>Because I can drag a program I'm tired of to the trash can..
Which is exactly why I will NOT allow a Mac onto our network. If users can write to system files, they can install trojans (whether they know it or not), and that's a BAD THING.
User permissions still hold in OS X. A user can only mess with files that they have permission to mess with. Same as in Linux. You have no more danger of Trojans in OS X than you do in the other BSDs or in Linux.
Long story. Basically I built an i386 Linux box so I could use IBM's ViaVoice Java SDK for Linux for free. Kinda sad, as I never did get the stupid thing to work quite right.
I didn't say "Buy an Mac." I said to take a note from their book.
I personally like Macs. I know others don't. But either way, you're missing the point.
Mac OS X has a good, solid, easy-to-use interface. I wish that I could say the same of GNU/Linux.
KDE, Gnome, rpm,... They all are improving. I would encourage anyone who wants Linux to have a better foothold in the market of the average desktop user to look at Mac OS X. See what works. See what doesn't. Then try to incorporate the good parts of the OS X user experience into KDE, Gnome, Linux, etc.
I stand corrected. Guess I've just never had the need to look beyond/bin and/Applications.:)
But then again, that's the point for a lot of desktop users. They don't want to have to mess with the more obscure file locations to find apps, and the fact that I didn't even need to know that those app dirs were hiding there is a testiment to how well Apple has the system set up.
printf("Translating all source code for requested package.\n); printf("--- Successful ---\n"); printf("Half of text in requested package will print in Esperanto. The other half will print in pig-latinized-Klingon.\n");
printf("Creating random name for package executable...\n"); printf("Searching drive for obscure installation location...\n");
printf("Oops! There are 348,899,001 extra dependencies that this package relies on. Do you wish to go through them one by one?"\n);
printf("Just kidding. Compilation was successful. Package is hiding in...\n");
printf("...You don't actually think I'm going to tell you where to find this, do you?! Hahahaha!\n";
I run a Mandrake box. My wife has on OS X laptop. No point for guessing which system is easier to install new software on (hint - it's not the one that has an AMD inside).
I love Linux. I love GNU. I love open source software.
But my next machine will be a Mac.Why?
Because package management is a breeze. I don't have to know the difference between/bin,/sbin,/usr/bin. Because I can drag a program I'm tired of to the trash can.. Because I can go to one location - the Applications folder - to find any new program I install. Or, if it's a command-line app, I can go to one location -/bin - for everything.
If the open source community wants to know how break into the desktop market, look no further than Mac OS X. Whether you like the system or not, in OS X is a *nix system that has a highly user friendly interface, excellent graphic-based package management, and all the other bells and whistles that the mass desktop market craves.
Although this does raise issues of how to authoritatively determine date of posting, the alternative would effictively void any statute of limitations.
I don't like Microsoft. Let me get that out of the way right now. I consider the company to be a shining example of some of the worst aspects of capitalism.
But Microsoft isn't what worries me. Microsoft does not make me paranoid. Why? Because I know that no matter what happens with Microsoft, I can always choose not to use their products. I can buy or build myself a perfectly usable computer that runs Mac OS X, Linux, or what have you, and is certified 100% MS-free.
What worries me is the spectre of DRM laws mandating how my computer works and what types of programs I may and my not write.
I am concerned about any program, any piece of hardware, any treaty, any law that treats me as a consumer, not a citizen.
I worry that someday, when I sit down to code away on my digital photo managment software that I will have to incorporate government-mandated checks to ensure that no one could possibly use my product in any illegal activity.
As I sit here in England, people are celebrating Independence Day back home in the U.S. I will be later today, too. I'm proud to be an American; I'm proud of the freedoms that I enjoy under the U.S. Constitution. But I am paranoid that many of the basic freedoms that I have always counted on are being swept silently away - in the name of big corporations, in the name of security, in the name of profit.
Security is a great thing, but not at the expense of freedom of speech. Companies and artists need freedom from theft, but not at the expense of law-abiding people. We already have laws for punishing thieves and crackers. Use those laws.
------
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Slashdot Mirror
Once the user/voter has made their choice(s) on the computer, they need to sign a paper printout (perhaps with audio for the blind, multilingual choices, etc) that verifies and validates what they've voted for. Perhaps with an ink fingerprint as an option for those who can't sign easily or for speed.
Great idea.
Unfortunately, it would only work in countries (such as the UK) where a voter's vote is not completely secret.
In the US, and other countries where voting is required to be by completely secret ballot, what you suggest isn't legal.
Mmmm, chocolate perls....
:)
Thanks for the link!
It was a joke. Get an account, AC.
Now if only Apple would get the Cocoa bindings for Perl cooked up, so I could back-end in Perl and GUI in Cocoa...
I'm sure this has been covered before, but what is the current state-of-the-art in building your own DVR box?
Specifically, if I want to go out and build myself a (pref. Linux-based) computer for DVR, what hardware/sofware solutions are out there that work now?
Record to hard drive, burn-to-VCD, burn-to-DivX;), burn-to-DVD, etc...
So do you suppose there were any penguins involved...? :)
For you and me, KDE and GNOME, along with any of the good standard distros makes GNU/Linux a great, pretty-easy-to-use choice.
But that's not good enough.
What I'd like to put together is Linux for Technophobes. The machine that Joe Schmoe, who has never used a computer, can walk in to Wal-mart, take home his new box, and be able to use it for email, web browsing, and word processing with zero assistance from anyone else.
He should open the box and find a simple (a la iMac) one-page sheet that shows him how to connect the mouse and keyboard.
A simple wizard sets up the net connection with him.
I'm picturing a very simple interface for the Basic mode. One big button that says Email and has a picture of a mailbox. Another for the web browser. Maybe a couple more apps, but not many.
And, if you click on the Advanced mode button in the corner, you get switched to KDE or GNOME.
True, true...
.mac service.
Still, I really have to wonder how many people will actually pay the $99/year for the
To be honest, though, with all the new features in the new version of the OS, I really can't blame them for charging for it. Not sure I'll pay, but still...
Orwell was not advocating capitalism.
See my post for the rejection of capitalism you seek...
I know this is a bit off-topic, but if you want to get a better view of Orwell's real political stance, I have something for you.
One of Orwell's lesser known works was an essay called "The Lion and the Unicorn" (1941). I really recommend it for anyone who wants to know what Orwell really did think government should be like.
Reading this essay was one of the key turning points for me in my acceptance of democratic socialism. It presents an excellent vision of how Orwell thought Britain should re-form itself after the War. Indeed, the first Government after the War was a socialist-leaning Labour one which enacted some of the ideas that Orwell championed.
Now if only Henry A. Wallace had been VP when FDR died, we might have gotten some of the same reforms in the U.S. (National Health Service, etc.), not to mention avoided the intensity of the McCarthy era....
Any specifics? I have been kicking around the idea of putting together a GrannyLinux distro.
/.er shudder with revulsion at the dumbed-down, limited-options, ultra-easy-to-use interface. The kind of thing that my grandpa (who has never used a computer) could figure out how to use by himself out-of-the box.
I love the Mac OS, but I would love even more to have something as easy to use that's free.
I'm talking about something that is easier for the real newbie to use than even the Mac.
The kind of thing that (unless you click into Advanced mode) would make your average
I've got some ideas... Let me know what you think.
Cheers, Lane Schwartz (dowobeha)
los20 @-@-@ cam._nospam_ac.uk
Gee, I wonder if this had anything to do with all the price-hikes for new services in the keynote....
Free software is wonderful. Apple's interface is wonderful.
Solution: Free software should look to Mac OS X for some ideas on how to make a good interface.
There is a way to go yet before linux is the eaiest OS in the world to use, but IMHO, it's not because software is hard to install .
/Applications.
I disagree. For better or worse, most (not all) programs on the Mac are self-contained. I can double-click on an installer, let it do it's thing, then double click on the icon in
Is the right approach for every package ever written? No. Is this what the vast majority of user applications need to do to overcome the stigma that Linux apps are hard to install? Absolutely.
Like it or not, easy-to-use graphical interfaces are the road to acceptance in the desktop market.
>>Because I can drag a program I'm tired of to the trash can..
Which is exactly why I will NOT allow a Mac onto our network. If users can write to system files, they can install trojans (whether they know it or not), and that's a BAD THING.
User permissions still hold in OS X. A user can only mess with files that they have permission to mess with. Same as in Linux. You have no more danger of Trojans in OS X than you do in the other BSDs or in Linux.
Anyway, why don't you run Mac OSX now?
Long story. Basically I built an i386 Linux box so I could use IBM's ViaVoice Java SDK for Linux for free.
Kinda sad, as I never did get the stupid thing to work quite right.
Here, here!
I didn't say "Buy an Mac." I said to take a note from their book.
... They all are improving. I would encourage anyone who wants Linux to have a better foothold in the market of the average desktop user to look at Mac OS X. See what works. See what doesn't. Then try to incorporate the good parts of the OS X user experience into KDE, Gnome, Linux, etc.
I personally like Macs. I know others don't. But either way, you're missing the point.
Mac OS X has a good, solid, easy-to-use interface. I wish that I could say the same of GNU/Linux.
KDE, Gnome, rpm,
Hope that helps...
I stand corrected. Guess I've just never had the need to look beyond /bin and /Applications. :)
But then again, that's the point for a lot of desktop users. They don't want to have to mess with the more obscure file locations to find apps, and the fact that I didn't even need to know that those app dirs were hiding there is a testiment to how well Apple has the system set up.
...
/* Package installer version 66.6 */
....
printf("Translating all source code for requested package.\n);
printf("--- Successful ---\n");
printf("Half of text in requested package will print in Esperanto. The other half will print in pig-latinized-Klingon.\n");
printf("Creating random name for package executable...\n");
printf("Searching drive for obscure installation location...\n");
printf("Oops! There are 348,899,001 extra dependencies that this package relies on. Do you wish to go through them one by one?"\n);
printf("Just kidding. Compilation was successful. Package is hiding in...\n");
printf("...You don't actually think I'm going to tell you where to find this, do you?! Hahahaha!\n";
I run a Mandrake box. My wife has on OS X laptop. No point for guessing which system is easier to install new software on (hint - it's not the one that has an AMD inside).
/bin, /sbin, /usr/bin. Because I can drag a program I'm tired of to the trash can.. Because I can go to one location - the Applications folder - to find any new program I install. Or, if it's a command-line app, I can go to one location - /bin - for everything.
I love Linux. I love GNU. I love open source software.
But my next machine will be a Mac.Why?
Because package management is a breeze. I don't have to know the difference between
If the open source community wants to know how break into the desktop market, look no further than Mac OS X. Whether you like the system or not, in OS X is a *nix system that has a highly user friendly interface, excellent graphic-based package management, and all the other bells and whistles that the mass desktop market craves.
It's always nice to see common sense prevail.
Although this does raise issues of how to authoritatively determine date of posting, the alternative would effictively void any statute of limitations.
I don't like Microsoft. Let me get that out of the way right now. I consider the company to be a shining example of some of the worst aspects of capitalism.
But Microsoft isn't what worries me. Microsoft does not make me paranoid. Why? Because I know that no matter what happens with Microsoft, I can always choose not to use their products. I can buy or build myself a perfectly usable computer that runs Mac OS X, Linux, or what have you, and is certified 100% MS-free.
What worries me is the spectre of DRM laws mandating how my computer works and what types of programs I may and my not write.
I am concerned about any program, any piece of hardware, any treaty, any law that treats me as a consumer, not a citizen.
I worry that someday, when I sit down to code away on my digital photo managment software that I will have to incorporate government-mandated checks to ensure that no one could possibly use my product in any illegal activity.
As I sit here in England, people are celebrating Independence Day back home in the U.S. I will be later today, too. I'm proud to be an American; I'm proud of the freedoms that I enjoy under the U.S. Constitution. But I am paranoid that many of the basic freedoms that I have always counted on are being swept silently away - in the name of big corporations, in the name of security, in the name of profit.
Security is a great thing, but not at the expense of freedom of speech. Companies and artists need freedom from theft, but not at the expense of law-abiding people. We already have laws for punishing thieves and crackers. Use those laws.
------
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Yup, the Nebraska Corn Huskers are really giving Iowans a bad name. :)
Contrary to popular belief (and many ill-informed CS texts) the Atanasoff Berry Computer was the first electronic digital computer.
Read up on how Mauchly and Eckert's ENIAC patent was rendered void by a 1973 court case based on prior art in the ABC. Basically, Mauchly "borrowed" key ideas from Atanasoff to get ENIAC working.
Check the facts next time before you buy into popular myth.