... that ISPs threatened with a UDP (UseNet Death Penalty), like @home.com, come groveling for forgiveness faster than Pauley Shore movies go to video? Evidently enough of their subscribers care about UseNet access, or they could thumb their nose at the UDP with impunity. That UseNet use isn't growing as quickly as the net.population as a whole should not be a surprise. Those with the technical wherewithal to appreciate it are already here and have been for many years (for the most part). Though I'm always happy to see more people in my genealogical and Shakespearean newsfroups, the traffic in each is quite sizeable now, and I see no evidence that they are declining in any way. And both have legions of web-based counterparts, with which they co-exist quite nicely.
I totally agree (of course)... but even if the primary objective were to make copies, SO WHAT? Am I the only one old enough to remember this same exact scenario when cassette recorders hit the mainstream? All those dire predictions that it would encourage rampant abuse and spell the end of the music industry? The widespread desemination of that technology actually increased music sales for god's sake. Sheesh! If I were the cynical type, I'd wonder if this hysteria is lawyer-driven; legalistic parasites convincing Dilbertesque managerial types in the movie industry of some phantom menace. Spreading hype and unfounded fear seems like the standard way lawyers keep themselves employed.
I agree. 11th-hour contrition is better than nothing, but rampant spammage was only part of the complaint against them. Granted, it was the most significant one, but it was their cavalier unresponsiveness to complaints that also needs to be addressed. Blaming munged proxy configs is all well and good -- I'll even give'em the benefit of the doubt that they are correct -- but they need to re-tool their method of responding to valid complaints (and ignoring them doesn't count). Since they did not bother addressing this aspect, their mea culpa strikes me as a bit anemic.
I came *very* close to buying it, but I was sorta put off by the way they marketed it -- having RedHat- and SuSE-specific versions seemed rather idiotic. I assume they did it that way to make it easier for them to give installation support (that is: I can't imagine a reason why one couldn't run it in, say, Corel Linux; though maybe I'm wrong). Regardless of how reasonable their rationale was, it certainly created the perception that Linux was quickly balkanizing into separate incompatible distros. That trend was definitely a BadThing(tm). Promise Inc. did this as well, supplying RedHat-specific drivers for their 66 card. Again, by labeling them that way (payback to RedHat, who helped write'em, I suppose) they create an erroneous and potentially damaging perception of a fragmented community. I understand the pragmatic reasons, but I hate giving ammunition (even illusory ammunition) to those people spreading FUD about the inevitable balkanization of Linux as a reason to avoid it.
Might be interesting to save of copy of the Time piece and revisit it in December 2000. Time will certainly never admit it when they screw up royally (witness that they never retracted word-1 of Phil DeWitt's sublimely incompetent article on Martin Rimm, which was largely responsible for whipping up congressional hysteria during the CDA -- remember Senator James "Alzheimer" Exon waving the magazine around as if it were a credible source of fact?) If Time said "it's dark out at midnight", I'd get up and check. Granted, some of the lesser predictions are probably valid, but these are painfully obviously. I don't doubt that certain e-commerce sites who went bonkers trying to expand too quickly will face a significant financial backlash. These will merely be replaced by others who have kept common-sense restraints on their growth. The biggest problem in this area will probably come from government, who will be heavily lobbied (by traditional corporate outlets) to bitchslap online merchants with a host of taxes and fees to "level the playing field". This still won't help the Walmarts and Sears's, but it will probably have the effect of goosing up online prices a bit.
Many others here have already pointed out how clueless their opinion of Linux is, so I won't waste additional electrons except to remark how odd it was that these (*cough*) experts didn't have much to say about MicroDos's impending breakup.
BTW: This "Predictions for 2000" would have made an interesting slashdot article. Someone should have suggested we do this. Wait a minute -- *I* did;-)
I have a distinct memory of that Johnny Carson show, but it went down a bit differently than you recall. First, you must recall that Carson was an amateur magician. Carson had contacted none other than James Randi and (together) they devised a series of demos to fairly test Geller's psychic abilities. Nothing was rigged, per se... a real psychic would have had no trouble, but Geller fell flat on his face after each of his stock tricks failed to come off. One particular example leaps to mind: Geller was presented with a series of empty 35mm(?) film cannisters. One contained an object. Geller was supposed to identify which. Randi had taped the bottom of the cannisters to the desk, so that Geller could not "accidently" bump them during the course of his spiel. Of course, he fell flat, begged off for some anemic reason, and Carson went to a commercial. When they came back, the band was playing and Uri was clapping wildly and stomping his foot, apparently enjoying the music. But it was pretty obvious to everyone in the know that he was merely trying to jiggle those damn cannisters -- ! What a riot. Carson was deadpan and totally neutral to Geller's antics throughout, which made Geller look even more foolish.
Granted, "Userfriendly" is a bit unpolished and inconsistant at times, overall I'm very fond of it and am eager to watch it evolve. Its brand of humor is suffiently popular that comments like Kurtz's seem insufferably priggish. Of course, we shouldn't laugh when people slip on banana peels or walk into door jambs -- but we do. Cruelty in humor merely comes with the territory. Humor is subjective (duh!); and volumes have been written over ages, attempting to pin down exactly what is funny. I subscribe to Johnny Carson's maxim that examing it too closely is like dissecting a frog -- all you end up with is a dead frog. I do know that we really don't need the Kurtz's of the world defining for us what we are allowed to laugh at. I submit that if 'Userfriendly' wasn't funny to a significant number of people, then we wouldn't see copies of it pasted all over every IT Department in the friggin' country. Can't say as I've seen Kurtz's stuff wallpapering too many cubicles -- of course, that might explain his antagonism.
Too be fair, perhaps he doesn't mean to suggest that 'Userfriendly' is unfunny, but we should simply be ashamed to laugh at someone else's cluelessness. If that is the case, all I can say is: "PHHHTTTHHH-hhppp-pp!!!". I'd love to introduce him to the lady who couldn't understand why her powerstrip wouldn't work when she plugged it BACK INTO itself. Then he can explain why I shouldn't laugh.
Have you ever had a chance to play around with the Be operating system? Since its developers were part of the Apple culture, I thought I might find a blurb or two on your page. What sort of advice would you offer Gassee? Is the proprietary aspect an albatross (should they opensource the OS and concentrate on apps)? Are they trying to get into the game too late?
(Just for the record, I have it on a spare partition and like it very much; I'm rooting for its success, but I'm dubious of its future).
Also... while we're on the subject, what you think of Jean-Louis in general? Most everything I've read on the Apple saga keeps him squarely in the background.
NOTE TO SLASHDOT POWERS-THAT-BE: How's 'bout a Gassee interview, eh?
Showing my age just a bit, I remember seeing a "Roger Moore" Bond movie at the theater and hearing the audience gasp with awestruck envy when he reached up with one hand -- to activate his DIGITAL WATCH (ooooh-ahhh!!!). Pretty funny now, of course. They were like over a thousand dollars when they first came out. Now you can probably get them in cereal boxes.
On an intuitive level, most people would imagine that switching between differing keyboard layouts would be difficult and confusing. Surprisingly, this really is not the case. Your QWERTY skills will not be significantly affected one way or the other, so at least this aspect is a non-issue. I moved between them for years with no problems. I have no preference for either, btw.
Slashdot Mirror
... that ISPs threatened with a UDP (UseNet Death Penalty), like @home.com, come groveling for forgiveness faster than Pauley Shore movies go to video? Evidently enough of their subscribers care about UseNet access, or they could thumb their nose at the UDP with impunity. That UseNet use isn't growing as quickly as the net.population as a whole should not be a surprise. Those with the technical wherewithal to appreciate it are already here and have been for many years (for the most part). Though I'm always happy to see more people in my genealogical and Shakespearean newsfroups, the traffic in each is quite sizeable now, and I see no evidence that they are declining in any way. And both have legions of web-based counterparts, with which they co-exist quite nicely.
I totally agree (of course) ... but even if the primary objective were to make copies, SO WHAT? Am I the only one old enough to remember this same exact scenario when cassette recorders hit the mainstream? All those dire predictions that it would encourage rampant abuse and spell the end of the music industry? The widespread desemination of that technology actually increased music sales for god's sake. Sheesh! If I were the cynical type, I'd wonder if this hysteria is lawyer-driven; legalistic parasites convincing Dilbertesque managerial types in the movie industry of some phantom menace. Spreading hype and unfounded fear seems like the standard way lawyers keep themselves employed.
I agree. 11th-hour contrition is better than nothing, but rampant spammage was only part of the complaint against them. Granted, it was the most significant one, but it was their cavalier unresponsiveness to complaints that also needs to be addressed. Blaming munged proxy configs is all well and good -- I'll even give'em the benefit of the doubt that they are correct -- but they need to re-tool their method of responding to valid complaints (and ignoring them doesn't count). Since they did not bother addressing this aspect, their mea culpa strikes me as a bit anemic.
I came *very* close to buying it, but I was sorta put off by the way they marketed it -- having RedHat- and SuSE-specific versions seemed rather idiotic. I assume they did it that way to make it easier for them to give installation support (that is: I can't imagine a reason why one couldn't run it in, say, Corel Linux; though maybe I'm wrong). Regardless of how reasonable their rationale was, it certainly created the perception that Linux was quickly balkanizing into separate incompatible distros. That trend was definitely a BadThing(tm). Promise Inc. did this as well, supplying RedHat-specific drivers for their 66 card. Again, by labeling them that way (payback to RedHat, who helped write'em, I suppose) they create an erroneous and potentially damaging perception of a fragmented community. I understand the pragmatic reasons, but I hate giving ammunition (even illusory ammunition) to those people spreading FUD about the inevitable balkanization of Linux as a reason to avoid it.
host of taxes and fees to "level the playing field". This still won't help the Walmarts and Sears's, but it will probably have the effect of goosing up online prices a bit.
Many others here have already pointed out how clueless their opinion of Linux is, so I won't waste additional electrons except to remark how odd it was that these (*cough*) experts didn't have much to say about MicroDos's impending breakup.
BTW: This "Predictions for 2000" would have made an interesting slashdot article. Someone should have suggested we do this. Wait a minute -- *I* did
I have a distinct memory of that Johnny Carson show, but it went down a bit differently than you recall. First, you must recall that Carson was an amateur magician. Carson had contacted none other than James Randi and (together) they devised a series of demos to fairly test Geller's psychic abilities. Nothing was rigged, per se ... a real psychic would have had no trouble, but Geller fell flat on his face after each of his stock tricks failed to come off. One particular example leaps to mind: Geller was presented with a series of empty 35mm(?) film cannisters. One contained an object. Geller was supposed to identify which. Randi had taped the bottom of the cannisters to the desk, so that Geller could not "accidently" bump them during the course of his spiel. Of course, he fell flat, begged off for some anemic reason, and Carson went to a commercial. When they came back, the band was playing and Uri was clapping wildly and stomping his foot, apparently
enjoying the music. But it was pretty obvious to everyone in the know that he was merely trying to jiggle those damn cannisters -- ! What a riot. Carson was deadpan and totally neutral to Geller's antics throughout, which made Geller look even more foolish.
Too be fair, perhaps he doesn't mean to suggest that 'Userfriendly' is unfunny, but we should simply be ashamed to laugh at someone else's cluelessness. If that is the case, all I can say is: "PHHHTTTHHH-hhppp-pp!!!". I'd love to introduce him to the lady who couldn't understand why her powerstrip wouldn't work when she plugged it BACK INTO itself. Then he can explain why I shouldn't laugh.
Have you ever had a chance to play around with the Be operating system? Since its developers were part of the Apple culture, I thought I might find a blurb or two on your page. What sort of advice would you offer Gassee? Is the proprietary aspect an albatross (should they opensource the OS and concentrate on apps)? Are they trying to get into the game too late?
(Just for the record, I have it on a spare partition and like it very much; I'm rooting for its success, but I'm dubious of its future).
Also
NOTE TO SLASHDOT POWERS-THAT-BE: How's 'bout a Gassee interview, eh?
Anyone know how to prolong a hangover??
I resolve to pay my ISP bill in a timely manner so that they won't cut me off in mid-sen*7(^%#.@@`;NO CARRIER
Showing my age just a bit, I remember seeing a "Roger Moore" Bond movie at the theater and hearing the audience gasp with awestruck envy when he reached up with one hand --
to activate his DIGITAL WATCH (ooooh-ahhh!!!). Pretty funny now, of course. They were like over a thousand dollars when they first came out. Now you can probably get them in cereal boxes.
On an intuitive level, most people would imagine that switching between differing keyboard layouts would be difficult and confusing. Surprisingly, this really is not the case. Your QWERTY skills will not be significantly affected one way or the other, so at least this aspect is a non-issue.
I moved between them for years with no problems. I have no preference for either, btw.