For some reason there seems to be a lot of anger all the sudden about wired, like somehow it's let everyone down. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I EVER had that high of an expectation from wired - I don't think it's SUPPOSED to be a magazine for technologists - it's light funny articles on crazy tech things, with an occasional more in-depth thing in there for kicks. I mean, maybe it has changed, and maybe it really did let everyone down, but personally, I still really enjoy reading it. For serious articles, there are journals and actual tech publications, and you can tell these because they don't have flashy colors and crazy pictures. Wired is for kicking back after work and oogling pretty pictures of crazy gadgets I can never afford, and reading light articles about interesting things that I probably wouldn't be interested in reading in a big, heavy serious publication. and IMHO, it works just great for that. Maybe I'm wrong - maybe there is no place for fluffy tech magazines out there and wired really is an insult to geeks everywhere, but I personally don't think so.
You know...I'm not sure why this was modded as a troll. I mean, it is a bit strong...I'm not sure the EXPRESS purpose of these systems was piracy, but it does raise a valid point...do you really think the companies that write these programs don't know that their main use is for piracy? Public domain movies are hardly enough to sustain networks of this size.
I know the opinion is unpopular, and I'm not sure I agree with the ruling myself, but how did expressing your opinion and raising a valid and on-topic point suddenly warrent a troll moderation? This isn't being inflamatory, it's debating the points raised in the article. Personally, I thought these forums were meant for debate and discussion of BOTH sides of these stories. Disagree? use your words...not your mod points. Save the troll mods for people who are really making inflamatory / offensive etc. posts.
hmmm...wonder if the grokster ruling will have any effect on their plans to release this. I know they're not really promoting illegal activity, but what bad timing....
I doubt the parent was trying to say that google should pander to big business and walk all over smaller copyright holders...
Yeah, you hold a copyright for your material by default...BUT...as far as I understand it (and IANAL), when you upload that material to a service and offer it for download for free, you are extending authorization for people to use it. If it's not a default extension of authorization, I'm almost certain that google would have looked into this and required the use of some type of agreement that explicitly stated that. It's not illegal, and google should not have to worry about doing anything to protect that copyright - its use it authorized. There is a chance, though, that people will upload stuff that is not theirs to upload. MOST of the time this would be pirated movies from big hollywood type productions. Not always, you're right. and that represents a copyright violation too. But it's naive to state that for the sake of fairness these two should be treated the same. The fact is that there is a large backlash from big hollywood movie business right now, and failing to properly protect themselves against allegations of copyright violations on these films would be monumentally stupid. More importantly, it is EASY to recognize these types of violations. It's way harder to determine if random #1 uploaded a video made by random #2 in violation of random #2's copyright.
Would it be prudent for google to check these for obvious copyright violations? Yeah, it probably is. Can the company reasonably be excepted to find ALL the violations? No.
Now, I freely admit that I do NOT know what is legally required of google in this case (I'm not sure there IS a solid legal backing for this, judging by some of the more recent law suits). BUT, I do think it's reasonable and prudent for google to try and weed out obvious copyright violations, and unfortunately, most of this WILL be the big movie type things. If they can't see an obvious violation, then they'll have to assume authorized use. Yeah, it's not fair, but I, personally, think they're doing what they can, and that's all we can really expect of them if they want this venture to get off the ground.
exactly...I was under the impression that this is just the way that java works...it's the java implementation, not the browser. So how is it fair to blame this on the browser design, if their browers are functioning as intended? It might be something to look at in the future, maybe as an improvement, but I'd hardly call this a flaw any more than other phishing tricks can be called a flaw. For example, names or return address on emails can be faked. I could say my name was Bill Gates, and my email client wouldn't call me on it. It's not an email bug, it's the way the standard works. Would we ever see a story that all the standard email clients have flaws because they allow this kind of spoof? No. Well, maybe, but people would call bullsh*t right away. Sounds like just some marketing hype to me, but that's just my opinion.
I've had my hotmail account for years (back before it was msn when it was one of a very few free email services around, and the only one I knew about). It started as a spam-catching email address, and it remains as one to this day. And it works fantastically well for it. I run it through outlook with my work mail so it doens't get shut down and clear it out every few days. Then every time I sign up for a list I can use that address and not worry about making one up and maybe sentencing someone else to receive my spam (yeah, yeah, I know there are addresses you can use for that, but this works just fine, plus I can actually check it if I ever DO need anything)
Back... er... a few years ago, maybe...when they started using that spam filter, it DRASTICALLY reduced the amount of spam I received. It went from me having to clear it out every day or so to avoid hitting my limit, to receiving ~5 or 6 spams a day. And this is with no filtering on my part, using an address I've whored out all over the internet for like 8-9 years or so. Now I don't know how well it does on false positives, because I don't get anything BUT spam to that email address, and I'd worry about the false positive rate for this new scheme (especially for people who actually still use hotmail for real), but what they have in place so far really impressed me, and I hope they just don't go messing it up by going overboard and junking valid emails.
I teach a beginner class too - we make 'em code it by hand...ha ha...suckers.
Joking aside though, we've found that making them code things by hand gives a better understanding of how stuff actually works. We used frontpage a little while back, and found that the students were lacking a very basic understanding of how web stuff worked. We'd get kids coming in asking things like "where are my pictures?" and you'd ask if they uploaded them and their answer would be "why? they're right on the screen there".
That being said, this is NOT a web development class. It turned from this light-weight bird course to a farily rough little service course looking at computer basics (and some not so basics...how the prof managed to convince the admin that he needed to teach first-year non-computer people about chip architecture and web servers is beyond me, but it's a great class). At any rate, they learn a lot about how web programming works, but the sites are UGLY. If you're trying to teach the class about GOOD web design as opposed to just getting them to understand about how web pages work, then IMHO, I'd say to stick with dreamweaver. It's a very common tool, so the skills they learn in the class are tranferrable, and it's fairly easy to work with, while still offering the complexity for more advanced students. Plus, web pages done with dreamweaver are written faster, and usually come out better than ones done by hand (especially if you're new to this type of stuff). Speed is esential if you're looking to have them design real sites and look at design aspects, without getting bogged down in the details of how to get the code to cooperate and do what they want.
Really? Because I find that many people who start off "knowing" what they want to do end up disappointed when they realize they're in the wrong field.
Peronsally, I started off thinking I was in for software design until the my last, and came out a firm hardware geek - doing a masters in DSP and chip design. Not a huge leap, I know, but it shocked the hell out of me. As for what I'm doing after that? Meh...who knows. Maybe chip design. Maybe DSP. Maybe software like I originally thought. Or maybe I'll pop over to art school and end up in graphic design. The point is, I'm using school to get my grubby little fingers into as many areas as I can, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I walk out of school not yet knowing where I want to work or what I want to do.
Funny, then, how your original post was agreeing with a post that was basing someone for a spelling error in a slashdot post. And yes, I do know that I used post three times in that last sentence, and yes, I do know this is a sentence fragment starting with "and", so don't even say it. You people need to get a damn life. What is WITH this stupid trend of pointing out every damn spelling error as a way to discredit the poster? The other day some AC called me pathetic because I made what was obviously just a typo in a post (reversed two letter...so sue me). Was the comment in any way constructive? Did it contribute ANYTHING to the thread other than to try and make me feel stupid? No. You know what I think is pathetic? Trolling through the forums looking for spelling errors because you have nothing really valuable to contribute.
funny you should mention this - just a little while ago (a year or so maybe? can't remember) MIT started up a program called open courseware. It's NOT an open degree...they won't give you one, there aren't tests profs etc, but it DOES open up their course materials to anyone who wants them. And while access to open course material certainly isn't going to solve the problem of lack of accessibility for real degrees, it's definately an interesting program, and a step in the right direction. Plus, it's a fantastic resourse, and some of the courses they have opened area REALLY interesting...I've learned a lot off this site.
I don't know about scientific proof, but qwerty was designed for typewriters so the typists didn't wind up locking the arms(is that what they're called - you know...the little things with the letter on 'em) by typing too fast. That's why some of the the more used letters are in awkward places...like having a being typed with your little finger on the left - for most people a pretty weak area...or having the e on the top. so I can see why it might slow you down.
It can be a very stressful environment, especially if the university is going through some troubles. We're losing staff because of budget cuts and the staff is going crazy. BUT, at the same time, the work can be SO intersting, and if you get the right job, there is a LOT of freedom in what you do with your position.
Ok, admitedly, I was a student at the time, but I had an 8-month full-time contract position working on a research project (not tech though - biofuel research). Now that I'm out, a few of my pretty close friends are part of the staff, and their experience still closely matches what I saw during my contract.
I'm now working on another more tech-y project for another department (developing a vision system for the HK department to use with their robots) and I've noticed the same thing. We get to work with this amazing equipment, we have a huge amount of freedom over the look and design (within certain reasonable constraints - must work etc =). Overall, it's been a really positive experience, and a chance that I would jump at again.
While it is true that out-of-the-box setups tend to be compromized early, it's not necessarily true that the only way to solve this is by getting linux on there. I have a copy of windows 2000 on my computer that's been running solid for 2 good years virus and spy-ware free, and it's my main os, so it's in use a LOT. The key isn't necessarily the operating system, but the fact that the proper measures are put in place to keep it solid.
And while the learning curve is about the same, I think new users especially might have a harder time finding help if they ran into problems using linux. And, yes, I know there's tonnes of help out there, but I work with new users a lot, and I've noticed that they (for obvious reasons) very rarely tend to use online help and rather end up talking to friends and relatives for advice or assistance. A lot of the time these aren't really technical people, just people with more time logged on a computer. And that time is usually with windows. Who knows though...maybe a new user would take to linux like a donkey to a waffle, but I'd hesitate to do that without knowing they had access to the proper type of one-on-one support that new users usually need for their computers.
oh, no doubt there is TONNES of piracy out there, but there are also a lot of places with valid licences. Almost any business in the printing / graphics area use photoshop with full valid licences. Funny part is that the industry is so dependant on this program partially because so many people are so proficient with it due to piracy.
On the other hand, there are lots of ways to get a valid licence pretty cheaply too. My first experience with photoshop was in my second year of university when the printing company gave us a licence so we could use it for the yearbook.
I, too, was very impressed with the GIMP when I used it. The fact that they managed to duplicate most of the functionality of photoshop in a free and open source project just blows my mind. That being said, I would still take photoshop any day of the week. It's not that I have anything really against it - I'm sure it's a great product if you learn to use it. The reason I don't use it though, is that I find the user interface to be incredibly awkward. When I'm using a program to create graphics, I want it to be as natural as possible for me to do things, especially when the project requires some detailed work. Photoshop just seems more natural to me. This could be because I've used it more though.
The other thing is that photoshop is far more common, so it's easier to collaborate on stuff, and you're more likely to find it on someone's computer if you're in a pinch. So I just natrually gravitated towards photoshop and never had a reason to switch.
While I do think that protesting is a valuable tool, I think there are too many people who get into it without sufficient knowledge and then refuse outright to change their positions. It becomes more about winning and less about wanting to do some good.
Let me give you a quick example. At my university, there was a large number of people protesting against coke (the cola). Boiled down to the basics, and skipping some important details, basically, they argued we shouldn't drink coke becuase of their business practices in columbia...they were endagering and/or killing (depending on who you talk to) workers and being anti-union. Since I'm an avid coke drinker, the possibility of loss of coke disturbed me, but I felt I should learn a bit about it. I went to talk to one of the protesters and ask some questions. One of my questins was along the lines of "do you know that the columbian government investigated this and found coke not guilty? Do you also know that they have the highest union rates in the country even though you're accusing them of being anti-union?" Her response was that the columbian gov't couldn't be trusted, and coke should still have more union workers even though they have the most per capita already. I forgot about the union thing and asked who would be able to provide objective evidence to convince her that coke was innocent. The columbian gov't couldn't, so who could? Her reply? No one. No one could ever convince her. So I asked if she really though that her opinion was more informed than every legal body in the world, despite the fact that she didn't have access to the facts presented to the courts. She told me engineering students were morons who should keep out of social issues.
I don't have an opinion on the coke issue really. I don't know for sure what happened down there, but I continue to drink coke. Maybe I'm a bad person, who knows. But the point is that both sides of these types of arguments need to step back and evaluate the merits of the other side, and determine what level of confidence they have in their positions, what evidence they have backing them, and what type of evidence would convince them not necessarily to change their mind, but to at least re-evaulate their positions. In the case of a protest against something, this is hard since it's impossible to prove conclusively that something is safe, but at some point the benefits outweigh the risks. At the point where you are saying that no amount of reasonable evidence contrary to your position will cause you to change your mind, this should serve as a realization that you are being irrational. And while everyone has their irrational issues, it's not these people who should be leading and articulating the views of their side of the argument, since a that point it is not fact being argued, but irrational opinion. It's a pipe dream that this will actually happen, I know, and I'm far from innocent on this matter, but it's something to consider.
I don't think that's true at all...I think you're trying to imply that real computer people don't use windows, but that's very short-sighted. The majority of users out there run windows and software that is written with those users in mind should be tested in their environment. Additioanlly, some equipment I am using for a project is only supported by the company in windows, and this is not uncommon. Sure I could write my own drivers, test their hardware for them on an unfamiliar system, but that's not productive or logical. The fact is that while linux is great, windows is probably the main platform for many users. It's just like in web development...you don't skip testing in IE becuase you don't think it's cool...you test for the programs, platforms and equipment that your users are likely to encounter.
And yes...I know I could use wine or some other thing like that so I could work in a windows environment and run linux, but the fact is that it's easier, and more authentic to run and test applications in a real windows environment, where it will be used.
As for the reg keys...windows does come with some things that are not possible to turn off otherwise, so yes, I do fiddle in the registry. I would not dismiss it so easily...it may not be popular, but it's an integral part of the windows system, and learning how to properly set it so you can have the desktop you want is important.
I totally agree...I listen to cd's in my car all the time (I'm a loser with no car mp3 player) and I honestly don't think I will stop buying cd's for a long time. I went through my download phase, but I've gone back to cd's...even now when I download a song or two I usually end up buying the whole album anyway. It just seems so much more cohesive that way. And there's something great about being able to just hand someone a big 'ol book and telling them to put on some music.
I'm not sure how keen you are on building your own software for this type of thing, but this toolkit is fantastic. To be honest, I have NO knowledge at all of your field, but I have done some work with these packages. Not only are the algorithms robust, but they're actually fairly fast too.
We used some of the packages in opencv to build a 3D reconstruction program for some joint movement studies (I know...totally different area, but the basic algoithms can be applied to a huge number of areas). Anyway, the program used these packages and was able to discern position and rotation of joint markers to This is actually really good considering that the camera resolution was not great (1024x968 b/w) and the range was fairly large (~2m). The accuracy was actually sub-pixel, which just goes to show how really innovative and well written some of this open source vision software is. And there are tonnes of other packages out there like that. The trick really is finding some way to validate the results later.
I'd suspect that since there ARE places with doors that swing outwards that they've probably solved the hinge problem...it's not like you use the same indoor hinges on ourdoor doors.
Actually, it's not stupid at all. Here (I'm in Canada) our house doors open inwards, but non-residential buildings (like malls etc) usually have doors that swing outwards. It's so if you have some type of emergency people will be able to get out - if there are too many people by a door that you have to open inwards, you won't be able to get out. Doesn't happen so much with houses, but outward doors can be a safety thing.
speeking of safety things...I have a house that requires a key on both sides...ie, you can get locked in. how dumb is that?
Being on slashdot, I'm obviosly something of a geek, so this might not be the same for every girl (actually, it's probably not), but my one last piece of (slightly less important) advice for those of you seeking the elusive geek-geek combo relationship...
6)keep your dirty fingers off my pristine computer. I know how tempting it is, but believe me, I really don't need any "help".
That's just my opinion though. I almost broke up with my current boyfriend because I found him fingering my reg keys. hands off boys...that's a no fly zone.
For vi and emacs...yeah, the keyboard is for sure the way to go - that's what it's designed for. On the other hand...it's also a huge barrier to people adopting these system because the mouse is a more natural thing for beginners to grasp.
I recently TA'd a beginner computer course at the university. We did a section on webpages, starting locally with notepad and then moving them to a server using pico. We figured pico was simple enough, and close enough to notepad that they would pick it up easily. But they were all terrified of it because they're not used to it, and they don't find it natural. In the end, they all ended up accepting it, but give them the choice and I'm almost certain they would go for notepad any day of the week.
For that matter, even I would give my right arm for a mouse some days...I've been using vi for a pretty long time now, so I don't even think about what key I need to press anymore...this can actually present a large problem for me, and here's why....
I'm working on a php project where the database was originally designed by someone else. All the table names are totally in caps. Because sql doens't care really about caps vs. no caps, we tend to write all teh sql calls totally in caps to avoid the having to switch. The problem? well, when you hit i, that's insert. When you hit I, that's insert at the start of the line. When you hit the i key before you remember that your caps lock is on, that's me writing at the start of the line and then cursing.
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For some reason there seems to be a lot of anger all the sudden about wired, like somehow it's let everyone down. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I EVER had that high of an expectation from wired - I don't think it's SUPPOSED to be a magazine for technologists - it's light funny articles on crazy tech things, with an occasional more in-depth thing in there for kicks. I mean, maybe it has changed, and maybe it really did let everyone down, but personally, I still really enjoy reading it. For serious articles, there are journals and actual tech publications, and you can tell these because they don't have flashy colors and crazy pictures. Wired is for kicking back after work and oogling pretty pictures of crazy gadgets I can never afford, and reading light articles about interesting things that I probably wouldn't be interested in reading in a big, heavy serious publication. and IMHO, it works just great for that. Maybe I'm wrong - maybe there is no place for fluffy tech magazines out there and wired really is an insult to geeks everywhere, but I personally don't think so.
You know...I'm not sure why this was modded as a troll. I mean, it is a bit strong...I'm not sure the EXPRESS purpose of these systems was piracy, but it does raise a valid point...do you really think the companies that write these programs don't know that their main use is for piracy? Public domain movies are hardly enough to sustain networks of this size.
I know the opinion is unpopular, and I'm not sure I agree with the ruling myself, but how did expressing your opinion and raising a valid and on-topic point suddenly warrent a troll moderation? This isn't being inflamatory, it's debating the points raised in the article. Personally, I thought these forums were meant for debate and discussion of BOTH sides of these stories. Disagree? use your words...not your mod points. Save the troll mods for people who are really making inflamatory / offensive etc. posts.
That's just my $0.02 though.
hmmm...wonder if the grokster ruling will have any effect on their plans to release this. I know they're not really promoting illegal activity, but what bad timing....
I doubt the parent was trying to say that google should pander to big business and walk all over smaller copyright holders...
Yeah, you hold a copyright for your material by default...BUT...as far as I understand it (and IANAL), when you upload that material to a service and offer it for download for free, you are extending authorization for people to use it. If it's not a default extension of authorization, I'm almost certain that google would have looked into this and required the use of some type of agreement that explicitly stated that. It's not illegal, and google should not have to worry about doing anything to protect that copyright - its use it authorized. There is a chance, though, that people will upload stuff that is not theirs to upload. MOST of the time this would be pirated movies from big hollywood type productions. Not always, you're right. and that represents a copyright violation too. But it's naive to state that for the sake of fairness these two should be treated the same. The fact is that there is a large backlash from big hollywood movie business right now, and failing to properly protect themselves against allegations of copyright violations on these films would be monumentally stupid. More importantly, it is EASY to recognize these types of violations. It's way harder to determine if random #1 uploaded a video made by random #2 in violation of random #2's copyright.
Would it be prudent for google to check these for obvious copyright violations? Yeah, it probably is. Can the company reasonably be excepted to find ALL the violations? No.
Now, I freely admit that I do NOT know what is legally required of google in this case (I'm not sure there IS a solid legal backing for this, judging by some of the more recent law suits). BUT, I do think it's reasonable and prudent for google to try and weed out obvious copyright violations, and unfortunately, most of this WILL be the big movie type things. If they can't see an obvious violation, then they'll have to assume authorized use. Yeah, it's not fair, but I, personally, think they're doing what they can, and that's all we can really expect of them if they want this venture to get off the ground.
Q: What do computer engineers use for birth control?
A: Their personalities
exactly...I was under the impression that this is just the way that java works...it's the java implementation, not the browser. So how is it fair to blame this on the browser design, if their browers are functioning as intended? It might be something to look at in the future, maybe as an improvement, but I'd hardly call this a flaw any more than other phishing tricks can be called a flaw. For example, names or return address on emails can be faked. I could say my name was Bill Gates, and my email client wouldn't call me on it. It's not an email bug, it's the way the standard works. Would we ever see a story that all the standard email clients have flaws because they allow this kind of spoof? No. Well, maybe, but people would call bullsh*t right away. Sounds like just some marketing hype to me, but that's just my opinion.
I've had my hotmail account for years (back before it was msn when it was one of a very few free email services around, and the only one I knew about). It started as a spam-catching email address, and it remains as one to this day. And it works fantastically well for it. I run it through outlook with my work mail so it doens't get shut down and clear it out every few days. Then every time I sign up for a list I can use that address and not worry about making one up and maybe sentencing someone else to receive my spam (yeah, yeah, I know there are addresses you can use for that, but this works just fine, plus I can actually check it if I ever DO need anything)
... er ... a few years ago, maybe...when they started using that spam filter, it DRASTICALLY reduced the amount of spam I received. It went from me having to clear it out every day or so to avoid hitting my limit, to receiving ~5 or 6 spams a day. And this is with no filtering on my part, using an address I've whored out all over the internet for like 8-9 years or so. Now I don't know how well it does on false positives, because I don't get anything BUT spam to that email address, and I'd worry about the false positive rate for this new scheme (especially for people who actually still use hotmail for real), but what they have in place so far really impressed me, and I hope they just don't go messing it up by going overboard and junking valid emails.
Back
I teach a beginner class too - we make 'em code it by hand...ha ha...suckers.
Joking aside though, we've found that making them code things by hand gives a better understanding of how stuff actually works. We used frontpage a little while back, and found that the students were lacking a very basic understanding of how web stuff worked. We'd get kids coming in asking things like "where are my pictures?" and you'd ask if they uploaded them and their answer would be "why? they're right on the screen there".
That being said, this is NOT a web development class. It turned from this light-weight bird course to a farily rough little service course looking at computer basics (and some not so basics...how the prof managed to convince the admin that he needed to teach first-year non-computer people about chip architecture and web servers is beyond me, but it's a great class). At any rate, they learn a lot about how web programming works, but the sites are UGLY. If you're trying to teach the class about GOOD web design as opposed to just getting them to understand about how web pages work, then IMHO, I'd say to stick with dreamweaver. It's a very common tool, so the skills they learn in the class are tranferrable, and it's fairly easy to work with, while still offering the complexity for more advanced students. Plus, web pages done with dreamweaver are written faster, and usually come out better than ones done by hand (especially if you're new to this type of stuff). Speed is esential if you're looking to have them design real sites and look at design aspects, without getting bogged down in the details of how to get the code to cooperate and do what they want.
Really? Because I find that many people who start off "knowing" what they want to do end up disappointed when they realize they're in the wrong field.
Peronsally, I started off thinking I was in for software design until the my last, and came out a firm hardware geek - doing a masters in DSP and chip design. Not a huge leap, I know, but it shocked the hell out of me. As for what I'm doing after that? Meh...who knows. Maybe chip design. Maybe DSP. Maybe software like I originally thought. Or maybe I'll pop over to art school and end up in graphic design. The point is, I'm using school to get my grubby little fingers into as many areas as I can, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I walk out of school not yet knowing where I want to work or what I want to do.
Funny, then, how your original post was agreeing with a post that was basing someone for a spelling error in a slashdot post. And yes, I do know that I used post three times in that last sentence, and yes, I do know this is a sentence fragment starting with "and", so don't even say it. You people need to get a damn life. What is WITH this stupid trend of pointing out every damn spelling error as a way to discredit the poster? The other day some AC called me pathetic because I made what was obviously just a typo in a post (reversed two letter...so sue me). Was the comment in any way constructive? Did it contribute ANYTHING to the thread other than to try and make me feel stupid? No. You know what I think is pathetic? Trolling through the forums looking for spelling errors because you have nothing really valuable to contribute.
funny you should mention this - just a little while ago (a year or so maybe? can't remember) MIT started up a program called open courseware. It's NOT an open degree...they won't give you one, there aren't tests profs etc, but it DOES open up their course materials to anyone who wants them. And while access to open course material certainly isn't going to solve the problem of lack of accessibility for real degrees, it's definately an interesting program, and a step in the right direction. Plus, it's a fantastic resourse, and some of the courses they have opened area REALLY interesting...I've learned a lot off this site.
I don't know about scientific proof, but qwerty was designed for typewriters so the typists didn't wind up locking the arms(is that what they're called - you know...the little things with the letter on 'em) by typing too fast. That's why some of the the more used letters are in awkward places...like having a being typed with your little finger on the left - for most people a pretty weak area...or having the e on the top. so I can see why it might slow you down.
It can be a very stressful environment, especially if the university is going through some troubles. We're losing staff because of budget cuts and the staff is going crazy. BUT, at the same time, the work can be SO intersting, and if you get the right job, there is a LOT of freedom in what you do with your position.
Ok, admitedly, I was a student at the time, but I had an 8-month full-time contract position working on a research project (not tech though - biofuel research). Now that I'm out, a few of my pretty close friends are part of the staff, and their experience still closely matches what I saw during my contract.
I'm now working on another more tech-y project for another department (developing a vision system for the HK department to use with their robots) and I've noticed the same thing. We get to work with this amazing equipment, we have a huge amount of freedom over the look and design (within certain reasonable constraints - must work etc =). Overall, it's been a really positive experience, and a chance that I would jump at again.
While it is true that out-of-the-box setups tend to be compromized early, it's not necessarily true that the only way to solve this is by getting linux on there. I have a copy of windows 2000 on my computer that's been running solid for 2 good years virus and spy-ware free, and it's my main os, so it's in use a LOT. The key isn't necessarily the operating system, but the fact that the proper measures are put in place to keep it solid.
And while the learning curve is about the same, I think new users especially might have a harder time finding help if they ran into problems using linux. And, yes, I know there's tonnes of help out there, but I work with new users a lot, and I've noticed that they (for obvious reasons) very rarely tend to use online help and rather end up talking to friends and relatives for advice or assistance. A lot of the time these aren't really technical people, just people with more time logged on a computer. And that time is usually with windows. Who knows though...maybe a new user would take to linux like a donkey to a waffle, but I'd hesitate to do that without knowing they had access to the proper type of one-on-one support that new users usually need for their computers.
oh, no doubt there is TONNES of piracy out there, but there are also a lot of places with valid licences. Almost any business in the printing / graphics area use photoshop with full valid licences. Funny part is that the industry is so dependant on this program partially because so many people are so proficient with it due to piracy.
On the other hand, there are lots of ways to get a valid licence pretty cheaply too. My first experience with photoshop was in my second year of university when the printing company gave us a licence so we could use it for the yearbook.
I, too, was very impressed with the GIMP when I used it. The fact that they managed to duplicate most of the functionality of photoshop in a free and open source project just blows my mind. That being said, I would still take photoshop any day of the week. It's not that I have anything really against it - I'm sure it's a great product if you learn to use it. The reason I don't use it though, is that I find the user interface to be incredibly awkward. When I'm using a program to create graphics, I want it to be as natural as possible for me to do things, especially when the project requires some detailed work. Photoshop just seems more natural to me. This could be because I've used it more though.
The other thing is that photoshop is far more common, so it's easier to collaborate on stuff, and you're more likely to find it on someone's computer if you're in a pinch. So I just natrually gravitated towards photoshop and never had a reason to switch.
While I do think that protesting is a valuable tool, I think there are too many people who get into it without sufficient knowledge and then refuse outright to change their positions. It becomes more about winning and less about wanting to do some good.
Let me give you a quick example. At my university, there was a large number of people protesting against coke (the cola). Boiled down to the basics, and skipping some important details, basically, they argued we shouldn't drink coke becuase of their business practices in columbia...they were endagering and/or killing (depending on who you talk to) workers and being anti-union. Since I'm an avid coke drinker, the possibility of loss of coke disturbed me, but I felt I should learn a bit about it. I went to talk to one of the protesters and ask some questions. One of my questins was along the lines of "do you know that the columbian government investigated this and found coke not guilty? Do you also know that they have the highest union rates in the country even though you're accusing them of being anti-union?" Her response was that the columbian gov't couldn't be trusted, and coke should still have more union workers even though they have the most per capita already. I forgot about the union thing and asked who would be able to provide objective evidence to convince her that coke was innocent. The columbian gov't couldn't, so who could? Her reply? No one. No one could ever convince her. So I asked if she really though that her opinion was more informed than every legal body in the world, despite the fact that she didn't have access to the facts presented to the courts. She told me engineering students were morons who should keep out of social issues.
I don't have an opinion on the coke issue really. I don't know for sure what happened down there, but I continue to drink coke. Maybe I'm a bad person, who knows. But the point is that both sides of these types of arguments need to step back and evaluate the merits of the other side, and determine what level of confidence they have in their positions, what evidence they have backing them, and what type of evidence would convince them not necessarily to change their mind, but to at least re-evaulate their positions. In the case of a protest against something, this is hard since it's impossible to prove conclusively that something is safe, but at some point the benefits outweigh the risks. At the point where you are saying that no amount of reasonable evidence contrary to your position will cause you to change your mind, this should serve as a realization that you are being irrational. And while everyone has their irrational issues, it's not these people who should be leading and articulating the views of their side of the argument, since a that point it is not fact being argued, but irrational opinion. It's a pipe dream that this will actually happen, I know, and I'm far from innocent on this matter, but it's something to consider.
I don't think that's true at all...I think you're trying to imply that real computer people don't use windows, but that's very short-sighted. The majority of users out there run windows and software that is written with those users in mind should be tested in their environment. Additioanlly, some equipment I am using for a project is only supported by the company in windows, and this is not uncommon. Sure I could write my own drivers, test their hardware for them on an unfamiliar system, but that's not productive or logical. The fact is that while linux is great, windows is probably the main platform for many users. It's just like in web development...you don't skip testing in IE becuase you don't think it's cool...you test for the programs, platforms and equipment that your users are likely to encounter.
And yes...I know I could use wine or some other thing like that so I could work in a windows environment and run linux, but the fact is that it's easier, and more authentic to run and test applications in a real windows environment, where it will be used.
As for the reg keys...windows does come with some things that are not possible to turn off otherwise, so yes, I do fiddle in the registry. I would not dismiss it so easily...it may not be popular, but it's an integral part of the windows system, and learning how to properly set it so you can have the desktop you want is important.
I totally agree...I listen to cd's in my car all the time (I'm a loser with no car mp3 player) and I honestly don't think I will stop buying cd's for a long time. I went through my download phase, but I've gone back to cd's...even now when I download a song or two I usually end up buying the whole album anyway. It just seems so much more cohesive that way. And there's something great about being able to just hand someone a big 'ol book and telling them to put on some music.
I'm not sure how keen you are on building your own software for this type of thing, but this toolkit is fantastic. To be honest, I have NO knowledge at all of your field, but I have done some work with these packages. Not only are the algorithms robust, but they're actually fairly fast too.
We used some of the packages in opencv to build a 3D reconstruction program for some joint movement studies (I know...totally different area, but the basic algoithms can be applied to a huge number of areas). Anyway, the program used these packages and was able to discern position and rotation of joint markers to
This is actually really good considering that the camera resolution was not great (1024x968 b/w) and the range was fairly large (~2m). The accuracy was actually sub-pixel, which just goes to show how really innovative and well written some of this open source vision software is. And there are tonnes of other packages out there like that. The trick really is finding some way to validate the results later.
I'd suspect that since there ARE places with doors that swing outwards that they've probably solved the hinge problem...it's not like you use the same indoor hinges on ourdoor doors.
Actually, it's not stupid at all. Here (I'm in Canada) our house doors open inwards, but non-residential buildings (like malls etc) usually have doors that swing outwards. It's so if you have some type of emergency people will be able to get out - if there are too many people by a door that you have to open inwards, you won't be able to get out. Doesn't happen so much with houses, but outward doors can be a safety thing.
speeking of safety things...I have a house that requires a key on both sides...ie, you can get locked in. how dumb is that?
Being on slashdot, I'm obviosly something of a geek, so this might not be the same for every girl (actually, it's probably not), but my one last piece of (slightly less important) advice for those of you seeking the elusive geek-geek combo relationship...
6)keep your dirty fingers off my pristine computer. I know how tempting it is, but believe me, I really don't need any "help".
That's just my opinion though. I almost broke up with my current boyfriend because I found him fingering my reg keys. hands off boys...that's a no fly zone.
yuppers...nerds are better. Except that they like to touch your computer stuff...
For vi and emacs...yeah, the keyboard is for sure the way to go - that's what it's designed for. On the other hand...it's also a huge barrier to people adopting these system because the mouse is a more natural thing for beginners to grasp.
I recently TA'd a beginner computer course at the university. We did a section on webpages, starting locally with notepad and then moving them to a server using pico. We figured pico was simple enough, and close enough to notepad that they would pick it up easily. But they were all terrified of it because they're not used to it, and they don't find it natural. In the end, they all ended up accepting it, but give them the choice and I'm almost certain they would go for notepad any day of the week.
For that matter, even I would give my right arm for a mouse some days...I've been using vi for a pretty long time now, so I don't even think about what key I need to press anymore...this can actually present a large problem for me, and here's why....
I'm working on a php project where the database was originally designed by someone else. All the table names are totally in caps. Because sql doens't care really about caps vs. no caps, we tend to write all teh sql calls totally in caps to avoid the having to switch. The problem? well, when you hit i, that's insert. When you hit I, that's insert at the start of the line. When you hit the i key before you remember that your caps lock is on, that's me writing at the start of the line and then cursing.