1. It's "fashionable in some parts of geek culture" to, in other words, *not* be fashionable. Isn't that a paradoxical statement? And does that also mean you own enough screwdrivers to match the colour of any shirt you might be wearing on the day you choose to use one?
2. I like to understand my world a little better and understand why people make certain choices - but what someone else uses doesn't usually have any effect on me because I make my own choices - and usually that's based on functionality and price but usually not shape or colour.
3. And I know nobody who owns an Apple computer (my boss says his art-student daughter has a Mac but that's the closest I've got to knowing someone) and a few that own iPods and iPhones. Most of them run Windows PCs, me and one other bloke I know run Linux on desktops more than we run Windows. But that fact doesn't deter me from still using Linux, because I don't need to seek approval from my peers. Oh, and if the Apple branding on your devices isn't important, then how about scratching off the little Apple logos on each one then?
Incidentally, I'm not short of money either, but I attribute that fact at least partially because I spend it wisely.
But I credit you for lasting this long in a discussion without too much fanboi bile and spittle coming to the surface - they're normally foaming at the mouth by now.
It doesn't stink up my Android market place because I'm clever enough not to download endless advert shitware that, for example, makes my mobile phone look like a glass of beer when I hold it to my lips and tip it.
I don't get why you have such a big problem with this as a concept - if you have a driving license then you invested money and time in learning how to use a car and a bit about how it works. Why, just because it's a computer, are there different rules?
I use Windows and Linux, I've not seen any viruses or malware in years because I don't use virus-ridden pirated software, I don't use deeply embedded (into Windows) apps like IE or Outlook and I scan and update regularly. Just like I sometimes put oil in my car engine and pump some air into the tyres.
And with your last point, maybe if you can't find the time to do something properly, then stop doing it or organise your time better?
How is being a specwhore objectively smarter than liking clean design and a good experience?
1. As long as a tool does the job that's required of it, why does it matter what colour it is?
2. A confident individual makes choices for their own benefit rather than to seek the approval or admiration of others.
3. As a techwhore, I know enough about Apple's products to realise they're not worth the money being asked for them, unless it was important to me that an electronic gadget needed to match the outfit I was wearing on that particular day. But I also know nothing about, say, cars, so if I was buying a car then I'd read up on them and go to a car expert friend for advice - therefore, someone buying an Apple gadget clearly has too much money and/or no friends to get advice from.
Okay, so in other words, Light Peak is designed for people too stupid to be able to work out what cable plugs into what socket on the computer - fair enough, it takes all types to make a (computer using) world.
I may only be a techie engineering type but even I know the first rule of marketing is "If you give it a smart sounding name, some suckers will stump up the money for it as an upgrade, even if it's no better than what they upgraded from."
You remind me of the proud mother stood next to the roadside watching her soldier son march past with his regiment, who turns to the lady stood next to her and, pointing to her son, says: "Look, that' s my son - and they're all out of step with the marching music except him."
Clearly, by virtue of the fact that most PCs come with some sort of optical drive still, then they are considered by most to still be of use....and I *DID* notice that you didn't even respond to my comment about the inanely stupid design decision regarding no Ethernet port.
Yep, some GPL software sucks, just like some commercial software - thanks for pointing out that one to me because in 15 years of using Open Source and Linux, I hadn't worked that one out for myself.
Incidentally, I've never had a single piece of malware using Open Source either - just because I can get my software pretty much anywhere that I want to does not mean that I haven't grown at least a few braincells to work out that there are some places I can trust to get my software from and others that I cannot.
Just because Mother Apple keeps you in clean diapers all your life doesn't automatically mean I end up stinking of shit because I've not worked out how to "go toilet" myself and clean myself afterwards...
To be honest, I don't think it deserves such deep analysis.
It probably started off simply being "a good idea" dreamt up by some clueless middle manager to exert some power over potential minions but, as usual for 21st Century Management Trainees, he/she didn't even stop to consider the ramifications of such a decision when it came to privacy etc.
I bet if you go to them in 45 days time and ask them what they're decision is on the matter, you'll get a "What Facebook password issue?" response - this is because middle managers, being bereft of backbones, are incapable of just saying "Yep, I fucked up, it was a crap idea and sorry for causing such hassle."
...but if you're a sandaled Free Software Foundation pornmonger who likes passing non-masturbatory time playing retrogame ROMs on emulators, then move along please. Nothing to see here!
And when, on iPad 2 launch day, Apple also announces that iOS has been GPLed and that you can buy applications for it from sources other than the Apple Store that haven't gone through their pre-approval process first, then he and I will both be righteous enough to accept you're right.
Wouldn't it just be cheaper for you to spend a few hours in a gym in order to build up enough muscular stamina so that you can lift a slightly heavier, but cheaper and more functional laptop with those "important extras" like an optical drive & an Ethernet port?
The only reason I can ever come up with where I'd pay a premium price for a Macbook Air is if I was in the terminal phases of some wasting disease and simply couldn't lift anything heavier.
If Slashdot truly is "News For Nerds" then why would a nerd be in any way concerned about this?
The price of a new desktop or laptop PC is subsidised as a result of the crapware - if the crapware wasn't there, the PC would cost more.
I'm a computer nerd, I'm never going to be happy with the default OS install on any PC, Windows or Linux, so the first thing I'm going to do is wipe it, build my OS of choice, use the latest BIOS updates/kerne/drivers - so the crapware is irrelevant to me.
But presumably, I get the PC at a lower price because enough newbie users click the "Yes I want to buy a registered version of..." button to justify the bloatware being there in the first place - so why would I want that to change?
If it bothers you that much, stop whining and go learn a bit about how a PC works.
Personally, I mainly use a "roll your own" Linux distro (Gentoo) where I just install the software that I use rather than all the stuff that gets rolled into a big desktop environment like Gnome or KDE.
But if Windows is your poison, then go buy the full CD and re-install from there. I've not used any later version of Windows than XP but even there, I read books and web sites about optimising it and build a streamlined installation with that also.
If Mcafee & Symantec software was that good, then they wouldn't need to foist "free for a few months" versions on buyers of new laptops - but nobody forces you to buy it & there's nothing stopping you from uninstalling it.
If a new PC increased in price by 100 pounds/dollars/euros with guarantees of no bloatware, the same people would also be complaining.
I think you would have to be very naive to believe this is just about exporting democracy...
This is actually about the minority of the uber rich who have spent years selling their souls & the souls of everyone else to the highest bidders for a few dollars/pounds/euros.
There's a lot of new wealth in China and a lot of "investment opportunities" for the Chinese rich classes, assuming you get the information to them.
Music is my number one hobby and I've been a fan of good British and American rock music for almost 4 decades.
Despite the decline in the UK of independent high street music stores and even the last chain music store HMV suffering some real financial problems currently, I personally have never had such a wide selection of really great rock music to go and spend my money on. (Incidentally, I refuse to buy lossy digital downloads, I just buy CDs.)
Not only is rock going through a revival currently with lots of good new bands, but a huge amount of classic albums have been remastered, expanded and re-released (no, I don't have a problem rebuying an album I already own if it's a great album and I'm getting something extra second time around) and even really obscure albums from the 60s, 70s and 80s are suddenly appearing on CD for the first time.
With the amount of new rock albums coming out all of the time, this suggests to me that record companies are making some profits from them, otherwise they would stop releasing the stuff. That in turn suggests that *ENOUGH* people are going out and buying the CDs, presumably because they don't mind handing over hard-earned cash for good quality products.
Now look at the vast amount of sterile, manufactured crap that exists in the music charts today & you begin to understand why people won't pay good money for it - because it's disposable crap that is quick and cheap to produce that is designed to go out of fashion and be thrown away, just like an old piece of clothing.
So limiting piracy has *ABSOLUTELY NOTHING* to do with how quickly you release something but *EVERYTHING* to do with the quality of what you release - if it's good enough quality, a lot of people will buy it.
But there's more text to the magazine than images.
Here's a question for you, Einstein...
If they took out all the pictures of the "nekkid" ladies, do you think it would sell as many copies?
I've absolutely no problem with images of the female form but a classy wank mag is still just a wank mag.
Re:Cold hard facts about resource usage?
on
Xfce 4.8 Released
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· Score: 1
Last time I ran Xfce on Gentoo was probably around the 4.4/4.5 version and it was exceptionally whizzy and fast compared to the Gnome version of the time.
There's probably a case to be made that if your platform is struggling with Gnome and Ubuntu, then you'd probably be best putting Xfce on *AND* Gentoo Linux so you can also get some additional speed with clever compiler optimisations and USE flags.
I recently did a Gentoo Linux Gnome build on my Asus netbook and whilst it's quite stable and usable, it does feel a bit more sluggish than Gnome on my desktop PCs - I think it might be time to try XFCE on it, especially with the new version.
Re:Making it just as heavy as Gnome and KDE now?
on
Xfce 4.8 Released
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· Score: 1
I'm a long-term UNIX and Linux user & the last thing I ever do is evangelise about operating systems.
If you like Windows, then good luck to you, just use proper registered & purchased versions of everything so that you're not running virus-ridden cracked crap that makes the Internet that little bit worse for the rest of us. And if you're a Windows user who doesn't like paying for extra software, then run FOSS apps on it.
As for Ubuntu, I try it occasionally, it's a nice piece of work but far too bloated for what I want. But again, if it's some people's first steps away from proprietary software that they no longer want to pay for, then they too deserve a great deal of credit.
Incidentally, at least I've tried Ubuntu, but I don't use any other pre-packaged distros either like Fedora or OpenSUSE for the same preconceptions - namely the bloat.
I use Linux most of the time at home and at work I do a lot of technical security work on Red Hat-based servers, so I've settled on Gentoo Linux as my platform of choice - highly customisable, highly optimisable but far too fiddly for newbie users.
The good thing about learning a "low-level" distro like Gentoo is that I'm working near to the lowest common denominator for Linux - yes, lots of editing text files in vi, manual kernel compilations, etc.
But the good thing about working at that level is you can apply that knowledge pretty well to any other distro - so at work, for example, I don't know much about the configuration tools that Red Hat provides in their distro but it doesn't matter anyway because I can just go in and do lots of manual editing and scripting to create the configuration I need.
So if Ubuntu works for you, great but also appreciate that graphical, easy-to-use configuration tools can hide away some of the real power of Linux because to do some really clever and whizzy automation stuff, and to tweak things to a very fine level, you do need to get into the command prompt.
I'm sure that whatever medical treatments he needs, he has more than enough money to pay for the very best kind.
And there are also people in this world with identical medical conditions living in abject poverty who cannot afford the best medical treatments.
So whilst I don't wish illness on anyone on this planet, I likewise see no reason to single out Mr. Jobs specifically for a speedy recovery purely on the basis that he is wealthy, in the media and runs a big company.
...because plugging your guitar into Rock Band as opposed to a real amp on stage with a few other people will still ultimately leave your virginity intact.
Slashdot Mirror
1. It's "fashionable in some parts of geek culture" to, in other words, *not* be fashionable. Isn't that a paradoxical statement? And does that also mean you own enough screwdrivers to match the colour of any shirt you might be wearing on the day you choose to use one?
2. I like to understand my world a little better and understand why people make certain choices - but what someone else uses doesn't usually have any effect on me because I make my own choices - and usually that's based on functionality and price but usually not shape or colour.
3. And I know nobody who owns an Apple computer (my boss says his art-student daughter has a Mac but that's the closest I've got to knowing someone) and a few that own iPods and iPhones. Most of them run Windows PCs, me and one other bloke I know run Linux on desktops more than we run Windows. But that fact doesn't deter me from still using Linux, because I don't need to seek approval from my peers. Oh, and if the Apple branding on your devices isn't important, then how about scratching off the little Apple logos on each one then?
Incidentally, I'm not short of money either, but I attribute that fact at least partially because I spend it wisely.
But I credit you for lasting this long in a discussion without too much fanboi bile and spittle coming to the surface - they're normally foaming at the mouth by now.
It doesn't stink up my Android market place because I'm clever enough not to download endless advert shitware that, for example, makes my mobile phone look like a glass of beer when I hold it to my lips and tip it.
I don't get why you have such a big problem with this as a concept - if you have a driving license then you invested money and time in learning how to use a car and a bit about how it works. Why, just because it's a computer, are there different rules?
I use Windows and Linux, I've not seen any viruses or malware in years because I don't use virus-ridden pirated software, I don't use deeply embedded (into Windows) apps like IE or Outlook and I scan and update regularly. Just like I sometimes put oil in my car engine and pump some air into the tyres.
And with your last point, maybe if you can't find the time to do something properly, then stop doing it or organise your time better?
How is being a specwhore objectively smarter than liking clean design and a good experience?
1. As long as a tool does the job that's required of it, why does it matter what colour it is?
2. A confident individual makes choices for their own benefit rather than to seek the approval or admiration of others.
3. As a techwhore, I know enough about Apple's products to realise they're not worth the money being asked for them, unless it was important to me that an electronic gadget needed to match the outfit I was wearing on that particular day. But I also know nothing about, say, cars, so if I was buying a car then I'd read up on them and go to a car expert friend for advice - therefore, someone buying an Apple gadget clearly has too much money and/or no friends to get advice from.
Okay, so in other words, Light Peak is designed for people too stupid to be able to work out what cable plugs into what socket on the computer - fair enough, it takes all types to make a (computer using) world.
I may only be a techie engineering type but even I know the first rule of marketing is "If you give it a smart sounding name, some suckers will stump up the money for it as an upgrade, even if it's no better than what they upgraded from."
You remind me of the proud mother stood next to the roadside watching her soldier son march past with his regiment, who turns to the lady stood next to her and, pointing to her son, says:
"Look, that' s my son - and they're all out of step with the marching music except him."
Clearly, by virtue of the fact that most PCs come with some sort of optical drive still, then they are considered by most to still be of use. ...and I *DID* notice that you didn't even respond to my comment about the inanely stupid design decision regarding no Ethernet port.
Yep, some GPL software sucks, just like some commercial software - thanks for pointing out that one to me because in 15 years of using Open Source and Linux, I hadn't worked that one out for myself.
Incidentally, I've never had a single piece of malware using Open Source either - just because I can get my software pretty much anywhere that I want to does not mean that I haven't grown at least a few braincells to work out that there are some places I can trust to get my software from and others that I cannot.
Just because Mother Apple keeps you in clean diapers all your life doesn't automatically mean I end up stinking of shit because I've not worked out how to "go toilet" myself and clean myself afterwards...
To be honest, I don't think it deserves such deep analysis.
It probably started off simply being "a good idea" dreamt up by some clueless middle manager to exert some power over potential minions but, as usual for 21st Century Management Trainees, he/she didn't even stop to consider the ramifications of such a decision when it came to privacy etc.
I bet if you go to them in 45 days time and ask them what they're decision is on the matter, you'll get a "What Facebook password issue?" response - this is because middle managers, being bereft of backbones, are incapable of just saying "Yep, I fucked up, it was a crap idea and sorry for causing such hassle."
...but if you're a sandaled Free Software Foundation pornmonger who likes passing non-masturbatory time playing retrogame ROMs on emulators, then move along please. Nothing to see here!
Fair enough.
And when, on iPad 2 launch day, Apple also announces that iOS has been GPLed and that you can buy applications for it from sources other than the Apple Store that haven't gone through their pre-approval process first, then he and I will both be righteous enough to accept you're right.
Wouldn't it just be cheaper for you to spend a few hours in a gym in order to build up enough muscular stamina so that you can lift a slightly heavier, but cheaper and more functional laptop with those "important extras" like an optical drive & an Ethernet port?
The only reason I can ever come up with where I'd pay a premium price for a Macbook Air is if I was in the terminal phases of some wasting disease and simply couldn't lift anything heavier.
If Slashdot truly is "News For Nerds" then why would a nerd be in any way concerned about this?
The price of a new desktop or laptop PC is subsidised as a result of the crapware - if the crapware wasn't there, the PC would cost more.
I'm a computer nerd, I'm never going to be happy with the default OS install on any PC, Windows or Linux, so the first thing I'm going to do is wipe it, build my OS of choice, use the latest BIOS updates/kerne/drivers - so the crapware is irrelevant to me.
But presumably, I get the PC at a lower price because enough newbie users click the "Yes I want to buy a registered version of ..." button to justify the bloatware being there in the first place - so why would I want that to change?
Agree 100%.
If it bothers you that much, stop whining and go learn a bit about how a PC works.
Personally, I mainly use a "roll your own" Linux distro (Gentoo) where I just install the software that I use rather than all the stuff that gets rolled into a big desktop environment like Gnome or KDE.
But if Windows is your poison, then go buy the full CD and re-install from there. I've not used any later version of Windows than XP but even there, I read books and web sites about optimising it and build a streamlined installation with that also.
If Mcafee & Symantec software was that good, then they wouldn't need to foist "free for a few months" versions on buyers of new laptops - but nobody forces you to buy it & there's nothing stopping you from uninstalling it.
If a new PC increased in price by 100 pounds/dollars/euros with guarantees of no bloatware, the same people would also be complaining.
So stop whining and take control of your life.
I think you would have to be very naive to believe this is just about exporting democracy...
This is actually about the minority of the uber rich who have spent years selling their souls & the souls of everyone else to the highest bidders for a few dollars/pounds/euros.
There's a lot of new wealth in China and a lot of "investment opportunities" for the Chinese rich classes, assuming you get the information to them.
Aha, a paradox! As someone who is clearly and iPad owner who also posts on Slashdot, how much nookie do YOU get then???
Music is my number one hobby and I've been a fan of good British and American rock music for almost 4 decades.
Despite the decline in the UK of independent high street music stores and even the last chain music store HMV suffering some real financial problems currently, I personally have never had such a wide selection of really great rock music to go and spend my money on. (Incidentally, I refuse to buy lossy digital downloads, I just buy CDs.)
Not only is rock going through a revival currently with lots of good new bands, but a huge amount of classic albums have been remastered, expanded and re-released (no, I don't have a problem rebuying an album I already own if it's a great album and I'm getting something extra second time around) and even really obscure albums from the 60s, 70s and 80s are suddenly appearing on CD for the first time.
With the amount of new rock albums coming out all of the time, this suggests to me that record companies are making some profits from them, otherwise they would stop releasing the stuff. That in turn suggests that *ENOUGH* people are going out and buying the CDs, presumably because they don't mind handing over hard-earned cash for good quality products.
Now look at the vast amount of sterile, manufactured crap that exists in the music charts today & you begin to understand why people won't pay good money for it - because it's disposable crap that is quick and cheap to produce that is designed to go out of fashion and be thrown away, just like an old piece of clothing.
So limiting piracy has *ABSOLUTELY NOTHING* to do with how quickly you release something but *EVERYTHING* to do with the quality of what you release - if it's good enough quality, a lot of people will buy it.
...released one month before Playboy appears on the iPad in order to explain to the Apple geeks what all those bits on a lady actually do.
But there's more text to the magazine than images.
Here's a question for you, Einstein...
If they took out all the pictures of the "nekkid" ladies, do you think it would sell as many copies?
I've absolutely no problem with images of the female form but a classy wank mag is still just a wank mag.
Last time I ran Xfce on Gentoo was probably around the 4.4/4.5 version and it was exceptionally whizzy and fast compared to the Gnome version of the time.
There's probably a case to be made that if your platform is struggling with Gnome and Ubuntu, then you'd probably be best putting Xfce on *AND* Gentoo Linux so you can also get some additional speed with clever compiler optimisations and USE flags.
Me too.
I recently did a Gentoo Linux Gnome build on my Asus netbook and whilst it's quite stable and usable, it does feel a bit more sluggish than Gnome on my desktop PCs - I think it might be time to try XFCE on it, especially with the new version.
I'm a long-term UNIX and Linux user & the last thing I ever do is evangelise about operating systems.
If you like Windows, then good luck to you, just use proper registered & purchased versions of everything so that you're not running virus-ridden cracked crap that makes the Internet that little bit worse for the rest of us. And if you're a Windows user who doesn't like paying for extra software, then run FOSS apps on it.
As for Ubuntu, I try it occasionally, it's a nice piece of work but far too bloated for what I want. But again, if it's some people's first steps away from proprietary software that they no longer want to pay for, then they too deserve a great deal of credit.
Incidentally, at least I've tried Ubuntu, but I don't use any other pre-packaged distros either like Fedora or OpenSUSE for the same preconceptions - namely the bloat.
I use Linux most of the time at home and at work I do a lot of technical security work on Red Hat-based servers, so I've settled on Gentoo Linux as my platform of choice - highly customisable, highly optimisable but far too fiddly for newbie users.
The good thing about learning a "low-level" distro like Gentoo is that I'm working near to the lowest common denominator for Linux - yes, lots of editing text files in vi, manual kernel compilations, etc.
But the good thing about working at that level is you can apply that knowledge pretty well to any other distro - so at work, for example, I don't know much about the configuration tools that Red Hat provides in their distro but it doesn't matter anyway because I can just go in and do lots of manual editing and scripting to create the configuration I need.
So if Ubuntu works for you, great but also appreciate that graphical, easy-to-use configuration tools can hide away some of the real power of Linux because to do some really clever and whizzy automation stuff, and to tweak things to a very fine level, you do need to get into the command prompt.
I'm sure that whatever medical treatments he needs, he has more than enough money to pay for the very best kind.
And there are also people in this world with identical medical conditions living in abject poverty who cannot afford the best medical treatments.
So whilst I don't wish illness on anyone on this planet, I likewise see no reason to single out Mr. Jobs specifically for a speedy recovery purely on the basis that he is wealthy, in the media and runs a big company.
Hmmm... I'm getting an image forming in my mind...
Stale oranges? Nope...
Bad apples? Nope...
Rotting blueberries? Nope...
Ah... yes, it's clear now...
Sour grapes.
...because plugging your guitar into Rock Band as opposed to a real amp on stage with a few other people will still ultimately leave your virginity intact.
Without Android, they would have posted more profits.
Actually, you're both wrong.
Ozzy *SANG* paranoid.
"SHARON????"
...if Jobs slagged off Android then it's because it's hurting his profits & walled garden. And that, my friends, is a *GOOD* thing.