I agree completely. I was a big Red Alert player (never did C&C. I didn't play for a few years till a friend got Tiberian Sun and challenged me a to a LAN match (after he'd been playing it for a few days). I beat him in the first game I played - never touched Tiberian Sun before. It was so similar to Red Alert, all my old strategies came flooding back to me, and I picked up the few subtle differences between the two as I went along.
Complete waste of time releasing subsequent versions that are so similar.
For a few years several years ago. In my time there, no one ever suggested or even hinted that we do anything to cripple other browsers. It would have been unthinkable.
However, the vast majority of developers are pretty clueless about cross-browser issues, if it wasn't for me pushing it some of those earlier versions would have looked a lot worse in non-MS browsers than they already did (they didn't look great, but they were at least usable, which was my goal since I was basically doing this in my own time). So, I would say this is very likely to be ignorance or a mistake, but definitely not malicious.
FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'.
WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE GOVERNMENT REVIEW PANEL ("BSA") WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PIRATED SOFTWARE INTO OUR COUNTRY. IN ORDER TO BECOME COMPLIANT WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TO AUDIT YOU.
HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS BSA COMMITTE MEMERS, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS SOFTWARE IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE BSA TO LOOK FOR AN UNDERLICENSED PARTNER WHO WE CAN AUDIT. HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE BSA 2. 80% FOR THE UNLICENSED SOFTWARE VENDOR 3. 2 - 5 YEARS FOR YOURSELF.
PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE AUDIT LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY'S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF THREAT. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO INTIMIDATE YOU WITH QUASI-LEGAL LETTERS.
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.
Microsoft currently has around 30% market share. A recent Gartner report which I saw (not sure if it's publicly available - I couldn't find it) predicted that by 2008, the server market will be split roughly 50/50 between Microsoft and Linux, with other OSes being only minor players (and Sun out of business). From the MS perspective, this means the future is looking quite rosy - 30% to 50% is good growth.
Given the direction things are heading at the moment, that sounds roughly right to me, although of course a lot can happen between now and then.
It's a widely known "fact" in London (not sure if it's an urban myth or not - I suspect not) that water goes through the system seven times. So, there's a good chance your tap water is someone elses piss. Their extensive filtration means the water is actually pretty good.
Anyway, waste liquid has to go somewhere - a ski slope seems pretty mild compared to many alternatives.
Well, it's a bit easier for me: I live in John Howard's electorate. I live in North Ryde which is in the electorate of Bennelong - interestingly North Ryde is considered the Silicon Valley of Sydney, so should be interesting to see how the electorate responds.
So, my vote helps determine whether John gets to even be in parliament next election, much less PM. As such, I have at some level or another greater access to influence John than the rest of the Australian population.
However, all I see in this thread are rantings: "this sucks", "Australia is the US' bitch", etc. While these point may (or may not) be true, they are hardly convincing arguments.
So, if you were in my place, what would you say to your local member of parliament AKA the Prime Minister?
Quotes from the article by "Art Thompson, a senior editor of GuitarPlayer magazine":
...The mainstream guitar player doesn't have the slightest interest in this...
...but he pointed to the unfulfilled promise of such earlier digital-music revolutions as the musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) format. Most interest in digital technology today is limited to small experiments, conducted among artists and consumers, with systems that model effects...
Doesn't this just sound like one of those famous quotes waiting to be reused over and over again in 20 years time - like the "there is a total world market for 5 computers" and "rock and roll is a fad, Mr.Epstein".
(Please don't reply with the Bill Gates 640K quote - he never said that)
It's a good question. Remember my list for getting a good sound for drums?
A great drummer
A great sounding drum kit
A great sounding room
A bunch of nice mics (5 - 10 mics at $1000+ each)
A bunch of good quality inputs for those mics
Then something to mix it with, record it on, etc - that's almost a detail
They had a great drummer (ok, let's not get into Ringo arguments - listen to the results), great kits (Ludwigs I believe), they had a great sounding room (I've been into Abbey Road studio 2 where most of that stuff was recorded - they haven't touched it since the beatles were there cause it's such a gorgeous sounding room), microphone technology hasn't improved enormously since the 60's - it has improved (some transformerless mics do sound great IMHO) but many original 60's mics are still in use. The inputs weren't bad back then, they have improved, but not bad.
4 track vs. 8 track wasn't a sound quality issue, it was a flexibility/creativity issue. The 4 tracks were actually not bad sounding, but were (compared to todays equipment) very expensive to run, and probably to buy as well.
Remember at Abbey Road, the engineers were fully qualified electronics engineers who really knew their stuff, so the equipment was all in top shape, many commercial studios these days are very neglected. Some of the equipment the beatles used was made to order for them. Also, as bands spent 3 days doing a record rather than many big bands doing 3 - 6 months, the record companies could afford to spend the big $ on a studio which would spit out 100 records a year.
I see comments like this sometimes on/. and it is a classic case of the/. crowd showing their ignorance over something they know little about. As someone who spent 7 years as a professional sound engineer (I ended up doing a lot of digital audio and found the computers more interesting than the sound...), there is a lot of rubbish spoken.
Yes, you absolutely can get a set up for $20,000, but you get what you pay for. There are some things you can skimp on, but some things just simply cost big money and cutting corners directly impacts the sounds quality. For example, you simply can't buy a decent sounding studio vocal microphone for less than $1000, and you should be spending more like $3000 to get something that sounds nice - you can spend more if you want. A decent analog compressor will set you back over $1000, and while digital compression has its place (I'm definitely no luddite when it comes to audio technology) there are still times when an analog compressor is best for a number of reasons.
There is monitors and amps. The sky is the limit here, but I wouldn't mix a commercial album on anything costing less than $5000 (yes, I do use near fields most of the time, but still need the big speakers for reference).
Then you get to room treatment... oh boy. This one is HUGE. If you want a great sounding drum kit, you need in rough order:
A great drummer
A great sounding drum kit
A great sounding room
A bunch of nice mics (5 - 10 mics at $1000+ each)
A bunch of good quality inputs for those mics
Then something to mix it with, record it on, etc - that's almost a detail
A great sounding drum room with decent sound proofing can easily cost tens of thousands without going over the top. Let's not even mention the acoustics in the control room. On top of all that you need a skilled, experienced engineer who understands how all the above interact - the human, the acoustics and the electronics are all part of a complex synergistic relationship that feed off each other (yeah, it sounds like hippy crap, but it's true - work a few years in a studio and you'll know what I mean).
This is just getting started, I could go on. So for those who think all you need is a beefy PC/Mac, a copy of Cubase and a nice sound card, then you need to get out of hobby land and work on some real records. BTW, I'm certainly not saying that you don't use those things, I'm generally a fan of computer based recording, but they are just a small part of a big picture.
One caveat: for electronica, anything goes. There are no rules and no real concept of low end as far as budget goes. I'm mostly talking about music with live musicians, which there will always be a demand for.
"That's why we switched to StarOffice on 1000 PCs last fall (grand total cost, $25.00)
So the people who managed the deployment were free? How about the user training? How about the lost productivity time as end users got used to the new app? How about the conversion problems on the few especially complex documents star office struggles with?
It's been said before, and here it is again... free software is only free if your time is.
I don't know much about other countries (as I'm Australian), but in Australia bush fires aren't a bad thing - they are part of the natural cycle of life here.
For example, there are some trees with seeds in pods that only open when burnt - without fires, this species of tree would have died out thousands of years ago. The problem is twofold: people have chosen to live in areas designed to burn down, and having people there increases the chances of a fire starting thus making it more frequent than it has to be. The fires will continue - we are the ones that have to change.
Given phone calls on planes are horrendously expensive (I think it was $US1 - $US2/minute last I checked), and the prices for this are (as another poster quoted) approx. $US35/flight, seems like a good use of VOIP: make a phone call from your PC.
Google have a big bunch of super-smart PhD guys working on their new ideas. Everyone else is just (at one level or another) copying them.
The only thing that would make me switch from Google to a another engine is if the other engine is more innovative - it does noticeably better than Google. I think that's a way off.
It's interesting when MS released the tablet, the majority of/. said "ho hum". Now, when there is a rumour about Apple releasing a tablet, the comment is..
"...-or- even better a Tablet Mac which may run into direct competition with Microsoft's similar product..."
Why is Apple releasing a tablet so great if the idea of a tablet is so dull? Is this just MS bashing in disguise - "it is competing with Microsoft so it must be good". Constantly comparing yourself to the competition is a great way to give them credibility.
I'm much like you. I spend a lot of time trying to find new and interesting music, and have done for several years. It sounds to me like you are looking for a magic "music suggstion" tool. I don't think anything that works reliable exists, although there are some nice attempts with interesting if unpredictable results. Here's a list of things I do:
Using Kazaa, search for a favourite artist. Go and browse the collection of someone with a lot of that artist. Download one track from every artist whose music/name you don't know
Look up favourites on Amazon, and as well as reading the "other people bought..." section, read the comments, they often mention other bands. I've found a few this way.
Search on Google Groups. See who is talking about a favourite artist. Who else are they talking about?
Try and find like minded friends. I find this hard as my tastes are fairly esoteric, but I've got one or two friends who aren't too far off, and I have some good discoveries through them.
Use Launch. It takes a while but once you've customised it enough it does make pretty good suggestions every now and again. I've discovered at least 2 favourite bands via launch. Also good to listen to at work.
Find a radio station that plays interesting music. My personal favourite is WFMU - mostly shows are rubbish, but a few real gems in there (your mileage may vary). Browse the playlists. Some of the radio stations have "top 100 most played songs for 200x" lists - these are great.
Just keep your eyes open. You'll find stuff when you least expect it.
Gopher? Luxury!! Aye, when I was a lad we used to dream of the day we'd 'ave gopher. I'd 'ave to get oop at 4am, stick an ethernet cable oop me nose and sniff in binary just to get me email.
There is a lot out there catering to you, there are plenty of people who know "I'm important too". It's like the argument about women's rights: yes, men are important as well, but women need a chance to catch up after not being given a break for a long time. Sometimes it goes a bit too far, sometimes not far enough, but the idea is right. Likewise, you are important, but there needs to be a chance to create something for kids.
You stating that people are "idiots" purely on the grounds of having a contrary view to your own throws doubts on the accuracy of the direction of the pointed finger, regardless of whether or not you are right.
...such as the XML support in Office 11? I've seen it and it's pretty cool. There's been previous threads on/. from people who know more about XML than your or I saying the Office 11 XML format is not perfect, but pretty good and certainly good enough.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree completely. I was a big Red Alert player (never did C&C. I didn't play for a few years till a friend got Tiberian Sun and challenged me a to a LAN match (after he'd been playing it for a few days). I beat him in the first game I played - never touched Tiberian Sun before. It was so similar to Red Alert, all my old strategies came flooding back to me, and I picked up the few subtle differences between the two as I went along.
Complete waste of time releasing subsequent versions that are so similar.
For a few years several years ago. In my time there, no one ever suggested or even hinted that we do anything to cripple other browsers. It would have been unthinkable.
However, the vast majority of developers are pretty clueless about cross-browser issues, if it wasn't for me pushing it some of those earlier versions would have looked a lot worse in non-MS browsers than they already did (they didn't look great, but they were at least usable, which was my goal since I was basically doing this in my own time). So, I would say this is very likely to be ignorance or a mistake, but definitely not malicious.
FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'.
WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE GOVERNMENT REVIEW PANEL ("BSA") WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PIRATED SOFTWARE INTO OUR COUNTRY. IN ORDER TO BECOME COMPLIANT WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TO AUDIT YOU.
HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS BSA COMMITTE MEMERS, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS SOFTWARE IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE BSA TO LOOK FOR AN UNDERLICENSED PARTNER WHO WE CAN AUDIT. HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE BSA 2. 80% FOR THE UNLICENSED SOFTWARE VENDOR 3. 2 - 5 YEARS FOR YOURSELF.
PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE AUDIT LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY'S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF THREAT. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO INTIMIDATE YOU WITH QUASI-LEGAL LETTERS.
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
DR CLEMENT OKON
Microsoft currently has around 30% market share. A recent Gartner report which I saw (not sure if it's publicly available - I couldn't find it) predicted that by 2008, the server market will be split roughly 50/50 between Microsoft and Linux, with other OSes being only minor players (and Sun out of business). From the MS perspective, this means the future is looking quite rosy - 30% to 50% is good growth.
Given the direction things are heading at the moment, that sounds roughly right to me, although of course a lot can happen between now and then.
It's a widely known "fact" in London (not sure if it's an urban myth or not - I suspect not) that water goes through the system seven times. So, there's a good chance your tap water is someone elses piss. Their extensive filtration means the water is actually pretty good.
Anyway, waste liquid has to go somewhere - a ski slope seems pretty mild compared to many alternatives.
So, my vote helps determine whether John gets to even be in parliament next election, much less PM. As such, I have at some level or another greater access to influence John than the rest of the Australian population.
However, all I see in this thread are rantings: "this sucks", "Australia is the US' bitch", etc. While these point may (or may not) be true, they are hardly convincing arguments.
So, if you were in my place, what would you say to your local member of parliament AKA the Prime Minister?
(Only rational responses need apply.)
Doesn't this just sound like one of those famous quotes waiting to be reused over and over again in 20 years time - like the "there is a total world market for 5 computers" and "rock and roll is a fad, Mr.Epstein".
(Please don't reply with the Bill Gates 640K quote - he never said that)
- A great drummer
- A great sounding drum kit
- A great sounding room
- A bunch of nice mics (5 - 10 mics at $1000+ each)
- A bunch of good quality inputs for those mics
- Then something to mix it with, record it on, etc - that's almost a detail
They had a great drummer (ok, let's not get into Ringo arguments - listen to the results), great kits (Ludwigs I believe), they had a great sounding room (I've been into Abbey Road studio 2 where most of that stuff was recorded - they haven't touched it since the beatles were there cause it's such a gorgeous sounding room), microphone technology hasn't improved enormously since the 60's - it has improved (some transformerless mics do sound great IMHO) but many original 60's mics are still in use. The inputs weren't bad back then, they have improved, but not bad.4 track vs. 8 track wasn't a sound quality issue, it was a flexibility/creativity issue. The 4 tracks were actually not bad sounding, but were (compared to todays equipment) very expensive to run, and probably to buy as well.
Remember at Abbey Road, the engineers were fully qualified electronics engineers who really knew their stuff, so the equipment was all in top shape, many commercial studios these days are very neglected. Some of the equipment the beatles used was made to order for them. Also, as bands spent 3 days doing a record rather than many big bands doing 3 - 6 months, the record companies could afford to spend the big $ on a studio which would spit out 100 records a year.
Yes, you absolutely can get a set up for $20,000, but you get what you pay for. There are some things you can skimp on, but some things just simply cost big money and cutting corners directly impacts the sounds quality. For example, you simply can't buy a decent sounding studio vocal microphone for less than $1000, and you should be spending more like $3000 to get something that sounds nice - you can spend more if you want. A decent analog compressor will set you back over $1000, and while digital compression has its place (I'm definitely no luddite when it comes to audio technology) there are still times when an analog compressor is best for a number of reasons.
There is monitors and amps. The sky is the limit here, but I wouldn't mix a commercial album on anything costing less than $5000 (yes, I do use near fields most of the time, but still need the big speakers for reference).
Then you get to room treatment... oh boy. This one is HUGE. If you want a great sounding drum kit, you need in rough order:
- A great drummer
- A great sounding drum kit
- A great sounding room
- A bunch of nice mics (5 - 10 mics at $1000+ each)
- A bunch of good quality inputs for those mics
- Then something to mix it with, record it on, etc - that's almost a detail
A great sounding drum room with decent sound proofing can easily cost tens of thousands without going over the top. Let's not even mention the acoustics in the control room. On top of all that you need a skilled, experienced engineer who understands how all the above interact - the human, the acoustics and the electronics are all part of a complex synergistic relationship that feed off each other (yeah, it sounds like hippy crap, but it's true - work a few years in a studio and you'll know what I mean).This is just getting started, I could go on. So for those who think all you need is a beefy PC/Mac, a copy of Cubase and a nice sound card, then you need to get out of hobby land and work on some real records. BTW, I'm certainly not saying that you don't use those things, I'm generally a fan of computer based recording, but they are just a small part of a big picture.
One caveat: for electronica, anything goes. There are no rules and no real concept of low end as far as budget goes. I'm mostly talking about music with live musicians, which there will always be a demand for.
Heck, the BeOS community is probably larger than the perot community.
So the people who managed the deployment were free? How about the user training? How about the lost productivity time as end users got used to the new app? How about the conversion problems on the few especially complex documents star office struggles with?
It's been said before, and here it is again... free software is only free if your time is.
For example, there are some trees with seeds in pods that only open when burnt - without fires, this species of tree would have died out thousands of years ago. The problem is twofold: people have chosen to live in areas designed to burn down, and having people there increases the chances of a fire starting thus making it more frequent than it has to be. The fires will continue - we are the ones that have to change.
You can learn a bit more here..
Given phone calls on planes are horrendously expensive (I think it was $US1 - $US2/minute last I checked), and the prices for this are (as another poster quoted) approx. $US35/flight, seems like a good use of VOIP: make a phone call from your PC.
Google = innovators
Everyone else = followers
Google have a big bunch of super-smart PhD guys working on their new ideas. Everyone else is just (at one level or another) copying them.
The only thing that would make me switch from Google to a another engine is if the other engine is more innovative - it does noticeably better than Google. I think that's a way off.
If I'm in California, can I use my software vouchers from Microsoft to pay my SCO license fees?
Isn't it interesting that in
3. ???
4. Profit!
the ??? usually turns out to be selling porn?
$25/$0 =
Divide by zero error. Post terminated.
...is Lindows LP Ledia Lenter Ledition.
"...-or- even better a Tablet Mac which may run into direct competition with Microsoft's similar product..."
Why is Apple releasing a tablet so great if the idea of a tablet is so dull? Is this just MS bashing in disguise - "it is competing with Microsoft so it must be good". Constantly comparing yourself to the competition is a great way to give them credibility.
- Using Kazaa, search for a favourite artist. Go and browse the collection of someone with a lot of that artist. Download one track from every artist whose music/name you don't know
- Look up favourites on Amazon, and as well as reading the "other people bought..." section, read the comments, they often mention other bands. I've found a few this way.
- Search on Google Groups. See who is talking about a favourite artist. Who else are they talking about?
- Try and find like minded friends. I find this hard as my tastes are fairly esoteric, but I've got one or two friends who aren't too far off, and I have some good discoveries through them.
- Use Launch. It takes a while but once you've customised it enough it does make pretty good suggestions every now and again. I've discovered at least 2 favourite bands via launch. Also good to listen to at work.
- Find a radio station that plays interesting music. My personal favourite is WFMU - mostly shows are rubbish, but a few real gems in there (your mileage may vary). Browse the playlists. Some of the radio stations have "top 100 most played songs for 200x" lists - these are great.
- Just keep your eyes open. You'll find stuff when you least expect it.
Happy hunting!Gopher? Luxury!! Aye, when I was a lad we used to dream of the day we'd 'ave gopher. I'd 'ave to get oop at 4am, stick an ethernet cable oop me nose and sniff in binary just to get me email.
There is a lot out there catering to you, there are plenty of people who know "I'm important too". It's like the argument about women's rights: yes, men are important as well, but women need a chance to catch up after not being given a break for a long time. Sometimes it goes a bit too far, sometimes not far enough, but the idea is right. Likewise, you are important, but there needs to be a chance to create something for kids.
Plus, you don't have kids do you?
Ok, satellite running windows, yada yada, service pack yada yada, hacked by 12 year old, yada yada, Microsoft Windows for Space yada yada.
Ok, now I've gotten all the blindingly predictable jokes out of the way, can we move to something more interesting?
You stating that people are "idiots" purely on the grounds of having a contrary view to your own throws doubts on the accuracy of the direction of the pointed finger, regardless of whether or not you are right.
...such as the XML support in Office 11? I've seen it and it's pretty cool. There's been previous threads on /. from people who know more about XML than your or I saying the Office 11 XML format is not perfect, but pretty good and certainly good enough.