All of the technical skills in the world are useless if the programmer doesn't understand what people want (or at least would like).
However, it is very expensive and difficult to really understand how people use things. The solution, I think, starts with taking user-friendly interfaces from other products (and not just software... machines that people use everyday, such as TV remotes and their "Recall" button (kinda like alt-tab), can teach us things).
It is common law that if one party is unable to perform their obligations under a contract for some legitmate reason (death being the most notable exception), and the other party has not already completed their performance then the contract is void and unenforcable.
Click on the website of the site and you will get the following message (It's probably a good idea to calm down now):
We have been recieving phone calls from people angry that we are sending them fax specials like $99 to Disney and Kids Free. Please know that they are NOT coming from Flamingo Travel Group in Pennsylvania. They are coming from a company in Florida calling themselves Flamingo Travel. Their phone number is 1-800-328-9795 and they sell time shares.
FILE YOUR COMPLAINT: http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes.html
***We do not send faxed specials...ever...period.***
***We do not send email blasts...we only send email to people that ask for it***
***We remove people right away if they change thier mind at any time.***
***We value our privacy and we would never violate yours by sharing privledged contact information. ***
***We have nothing to do with time shares. Personally, I think they are a bad idea***
A reputable Travel Company will provide you with:
1. A Physical Address of thier place of business.
2. Their phone, fax and email information.
3. Their IATA number.
4. They will never ask for your income information...it's none of thier business.
5. Any reputable company should allow you time to check them out, offer information to help you check them out and this information should be verifiable.
Sony Connect hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Connect Downloads in accordance with the following limitations (the "Limitations on Use"):
Permitted Uses: You may play the Connect Downloads an unlimited number of times on up to three (3) personal computers that are registered with the Connect service, including the personal computer on which the Connect Downloads are originally downloaded. Once downloaded to that personal computer, you may transfer the licensed Connect Downloads an unlimited number of times (except for WMG's Content, which may be transferred up to three (3) times) to portable music devices and media that read the OpenMG DRM such as the HiMD, the Net MD, and the Memory Stick media. You may not thereafter transfer, copy or export (or the like) such Connect Download from one such device to another, or to any media of any kind without maintaining the OpenMGDRM. In addition, you may also "burn" up to a total of ten (10) (up to five (5) permanent copies of the Connect Downloads in compressed form in the Atrac3 codec encrypted and protected by the OpenMG DRM and up to five (5) Redbook CD's) to either blank recordable CD-R compact discs or blank recordable CD-RW compact disc (i.e., a physical, non-interactive record configuration that conforms to either (i) in the case of CD-Rs, the so-called "Orange Book Part II" technical specification for "write once" compact discs or (ii) in the case of CD-RWs, the so-called "Orange Book Part III" technical specification for "re-writable" compact discs). Any burning or transferring capabilities of the Connect Downloads are solely an accommodation to you and shall not constitute a grant or waiver (or other limitation or implication) of any rights of the copyright owners of the sound recording and underlying musical composition embodied in the Connect Download.
Non-Permitted Uses: Any use of the sound recordings as embodied in the Connect Download other than as permitted above is a violation of the copyright in such sound recording under applicable laws, and is prohibited. Except as expressly permitted in the "Permitted Uses" section above, you may not reproduce, distribute or transfer the Connect Downloads, in any format. For example, you may not: (i) transfer the Connect Downloads to anyone else; (ii) register more than 3 computers with the Connect store at any one time; (iii) copy or transfer the Connect Downloads to more than the number of portable music devices expressly permitted in the "Permitted Uses" section above; (iv) "burn" more than ten (10) copies of any particular Connect Download to blank recordable compact disc; or (v) copy or transfer the Connect Downloads to any storage device or blank media not specifically authorized in the "Permitted Uses" section above. In addition, you may not reverse engineer, transcode, decompile, translate, adapt, modify, disassemble or otherwise tamper with the Content, or the software, or circumvent any technology designed to enforce these Limitations on Use. You further agree that you will not attempt to modify the software or the Usage Rules for any reason whatsoever, including for the purpose of disguising or changing ownership of the Content.
I worked in the senate this summer for the Majority leader and his top technology advisor (believe me, when I say we are trying to stick it to ICANN), and I saw first hand WHY politicians don't really work closely with the tech industry.
Techies tend to stick to themselves, taking the attitude of "If you don't bother us, we won't bother you." With a few exceptions (MS is one of them), the technology industry does NOT lobby the Hill much at all.
While it isnt always about the money, one indication of their lack of involvement is money donated to campaigns. The technology industry is HUGE, much bigger in revenues than the TV/Movie/Music industry. But when it comes to money donated to campaigns, the tech industry gives considerably less ($12 million less in the last 3 years 2000-2002).
Techies shouldn't suffer all of the blame, but in an atmosphere like the Hill, when everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is vying for the attention of politicians, those who scream loudest get heard. The NRA knows it, the financial institutions know it, but the technology industry DOES NOT.
I am an avid/.'er and I really want things to get done. Hell, I even call my old boss now and again and tell him to put the screws to ICANN (working on it, low priority, unforunately). However, the technology industry as a whole needs, and especially those of us who are smaller in #s but are out their trying to champion rights for everyone, to learn HOW to get their voice heard. Hiring lobbyists is not a "sell-out" thing to do, it is often the smart thing to do. MS figured it out, now it is time for us on the other side to figure out how.
I run a moderate system (Athlon 850 w/ 256 megs of RAM) and I notice a HUGE discrepency in browser load times (esp. mozilla and IE vs Phoeniz and Opera). I initially switched from IE to Mozilla, then to Phoenix, and then tried Opera which has been lightning fast. It appears this version of phoenix may be as fast as Opera (which was infinitely faster than the very nimble phoenix 0.2), though Im not sure.
I think I am going to try this version of phoenix out a bit more and weigh it against Opera to see which is better.
and this bill that passed the House is really weak. The tech industry doesn't want standards and so the DOJ isn't going to get them. Don't worry about this bill, even though it WILL pass the Senate before 2003.
Slashdot Mirror
All of the technical skills in the world are useless if the programmer doesn't understand what people want (or at least would like). ... machines that people use everyday, such as TV remotes and their "Recall" button (kinda like alt-tab), can teach us things).
However, it is very expensive and difficult to really understand how people use things. The solution, I think, starts with taking user-friendly interfaces from other products (and not just software
It is common law that if one party is unable to perform their obligations under a contract for some legitmate reason (death being the most notable exception), and the other party has not already completed their performance then the contract is void and unenforcable.
Click on the website of the site and you will get the following message (It's probably a good idea to calm down now): We have been recieving phone calls from people angry that we are sending them fax specials like $99 to Disney and Kids Free. Please know that they are NOT coming from Flamingo Travel Group in Pennsylvania. They are coming from a company in Florida calling themselves Flamingo Travel. Their phone number is 1-800-328-9795 and they sell time shares. FILE YOUR COMPLAINT: http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes .html
***We do not send faxed specials...ever...period.***
***We do not send email blasts...we only send email to people that ask for it***
***We remove people right away if they change thier mind at any time.***
***We value our privacy and we would never violate yours by sharing privledged contact information. ***
***We have nothing to do with time shares. Personally, I think they are a bad idea***
A reputable Travel Company will provide you with:
1. A Physical Address of thier place of business.
2. Their phone, fax and email information.
3. Their IATA number.
4. They will never ask for your income information...it's none of thier business.
5. Any reputable company should allow you time to check them out, offer information to help you check them out and this information should be verifiable.
DOWNLOADS LICENSE AND LIMITATIONS ON USE.
Sony Connect hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Connect Downloads in accordance with the following limitations (the "Limitations on Use"):
Permitted Uses: You may play the Connect Downloads an unlimited number of times on up to three (3) personal computers that are registered with the Connect service, including the personal computer on which the Connect Downloads are originally downloaded. Once downloaded to that personal computer, you may transfer the licensed Connect Downloads an unlimited number of times (except for WMG's Content, which may be transferred up to three (3) times) to portable music devices and media that read the OpenMG DRM such as the HiMD, the Net MD, and the Memory Stick media. You may not thereafter transfer, copy or export (or the like) such Connect Download from one such device to another, or to any media of any kind without maintaining the OpenMGDRM. In addition, you may also "burn" up to a total of ten (10) (up to five (5) permanent copies of the Connect Downloads in compressed form in the Atrac3 codec encrypted and protected by the OpenMG DRM and up to five (5) Redbook CD's) to either blank recordable CD-R compact discs or blank recordable CD-RW compact disc (i.e., a physical, non-interactive record configuration that conforms to either (i) in the case of CD-Rs, the so-called "Orange Book Part II" technical specification for "write once" compact discs or (ii) in the case of CD-RWs, the so-called "Orange Book Part III" technical specification for "re-writable" compact discs). Any burning or transferring capabilities of the Connect Downloads are solely an accommodation to you and shall not constitute a grant or waiver (or other limitation or implication) of any rights of the copyright owners of the sound recording and underlying musical composition embodied in the Connect Download.
Non-Permitted Uses: Any use of the sound recordings as embodied in the Connect Download other than as permitted above is a violation of the copyright in such sound recording under applicable laws, and is prohibited. Except as expressly permitted in the "Permitted Uses" section above, you may not reproduce, distribute or transfer the Connect Downloads, in any format. For example, you may not: (i) transfer the Connect Downloads to anyone else; (ii) register more than 3 computers with the Connect store at any one time; (iii) copy or transfer the Connect Downloads to more than the number of portable music devices expressly permitted in the "Permitted Uses" section above; (iv) "burn" more than ten (10) copies of any particular Connect Download to blank recordable compact disc; or (v) copy or transfer the Connect Downloads to any storage device or blank media not specifically authorized in the "Permitted Uses" section above. In addition, you may not reverse engineer, transcode, decompile, translate, adapt, modify, disassemble or otherwise tamper with the Content, or the software, or circumvent any technology designed to enforce these Limitations on Use. You further agree that you will not attempt to modify the software or the Usage Rules for any reason whatsoever, including for the purpose of disguising or changing ownership of the Content.
I worked in the senate this summer for the Majority leader and his top technology advisor (believe me, when I say we are trying to stick it to ICANN), and I saw first hand WHY politicians don't really work closely with the tech industry.
/.'er and I really want things to get done. Hell, I even call my old boss now and again and tell him to put the screws to ICANN (working on it, low priority, unforunately). However, the technology industry as a whole needs, and especially those of us who are smaller in #s but are out their trying to champion rights for everyone, to learn HOW to get their voice heard. Hiring lobbyists is not a "sell-out" thing to do, it is often the smart thing to do. MS figured it out, now it is time for us on the other side to figure out how.
Techies tend to stick to themselves, taking the attitude of "If you don't bother us, we won't bother you." With a few exceptions (MS is one of them), the technology industry does NOT lobby the Hill much at all.
While it isnt always about the money, one indication of their lack of involvement is money donated to campaigns. The technology industry is HUGE, much bigger in revenues than the TV/Movie/Music industry. But when it comes to money donated to campaigns, the tech industry gives considerably less ($12 million less in the last 3 years 2000-2002).
Techies shouldn't suffer all of the blame, but in an atmosphere like the Hill, when everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is vying for the attention of politicians, those who scream loudest get heard. The NRA knows it, the financial institutions know it, but the technology industry DOES NOT.
I am an avid
I run a moderate system (Athlon 850 w/ 256 megs of RAM) and I notice a HUGE discrepency in browser load times (esp. mozilla and IE vs Phoeniz and Opera). I initially switched from IE to Mozilla, then to Phoenix, and then tried Opera which has been lightning fast. It appears this version of phoenix may be as fast as Opera (which was infinitely faster than the very nimble phoenix 0.2), though Im not sure.
I think I am going to try this version of phoenix out a bit more and weigh it against Opera to see which is better.
Any comments on which you like better, is faster?
and this bill that passed the House is really weak. The tech industry doesn't want standards and so the DOJ isn't going to get them. Don't worry about this bill, even though it WILL pass the Senate before 2003.