Switch to Windows as quickly as you can, it runs Firefox, and the next Longhorn release will have a rlational filesystem, something the filthy Linux community could never produce on their own.
Microsoft have been promising this since at least the late 1990's, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope. Most likely Longhorn will wind up being NTFS with file indexing bolted on, but integrated desktop tools so it isn't apparent.
Reiser 4 looks terifyingly good though. A file system with *full* transaction logging (not just meta-data) *and* extendable with plugin's.
Linux is starting to seriously pull ahead in terms of functionality you know!;-)
Windows is probably a sensible option for many users, but it is rather expensive to buy on its own, and lacks a lot of features that should be part of the OS such as the ability to write ISO images (which amusingly, makes it hard to test out linux distros or live-CD's!).
It also lakes any productivity software such as an office suite. Which just increases the cost of having a productive computer.
If it was cheaper, e.g. forget XP Home and just sell XP Pro for, say, $80, then it might make sense by virtue of ease of use and easy availability of drivers etc., but as it stands, its only viable because its OEM installed with most computers.
Kyoto is merely a first step, and in itself, will never really solve anything anyway. But unless everyone is around the table to negotiate, there is no forward progress.
Presumably then, the Bush administration has come up with, or will come up with, a practical alternative?
Regardless of if there are problems, or if it isn't quite fair on certain parties, or whatever, the problems are continuing to get worse and will only change *when* some kind of agreement is reached.... and even then, as in the case of Kyoto, further targets and agreements will need to be met to improve the situation.
Before I start, let me just say that I'm not using Thunderbird as my mail client yet. Because I don't like it yet! As such, I believe everything I've written below is correct, but it might not be 100%. Also, I haven't tried 0.9 yet, so my comments are based on 0.8.
Thunderbird reaches version 0.9, and still you can't specify the "From" address of an email message.
I believe you can specify "from"... however, you choose from the identities you've created for each account. Myself, I have a number of Newsgroup accounts, each using the same dummy email address. So I can choose from *any* of these identities even though they're all the same. SO its not quite perfect yet!:)
Presumably it still creates a whole new folder structure for each and every email account you have?
No, you can now have everything go into a single folder structure. This does appear to work as desired!
And of course, there's the fascination with switching to HTML mode at every opportunity. In fact, all new email clients seem to be like this.
Where's the button for "see no HTML, speak no HTML, think no HTML"?
I hadn't noticed this being a problem. I think you can choose how to view incoming emails, and what format for new outgoing, and forwards/replys.
That said, it would be nice to have a button to toggle between text and HTML views. I think sometimes *the powers that be* tend to think if they've apparently surpassed Outlook Express's functionality, then that is enough. However, I'm still using OE partly because I can set the default email view to text, the default new email format to text and have forwards/reply use the existing format. Soooo, if I get an email that I'd like to view as HTML, I just hit the forward or reply button!
I know this isn't functionality by design, but the net effect it I can switch between text and HTML views using a single button click.
The other thing I don't like about Thunderbird (or indeed OE!) is the way Identities get bound to Accounts. Why? Surely these are entirely separate things. Yes, an Account should have a default Identity, by why do I need to create a new Identity for each Account? And Thunderbird also used to bind an Account to a folder structure (as you mentioned) which they've now corrected... although when you set this up, it does kind of feel like a retro-fit..... although, as I said, it does work as I wanted so I shouldn't be too mean to them!!
Gripes aside, I do like the product for its extendability so I do hope the issues are fixed at some point.
I guess part of the problem is that to do proper testing you need tools that will suit the way open-source projects are developed. For example, where Microsoft might be able to recruit hundreds of testers and have them all in a single location and/or video record their experiences, how can open-source match this?
To describe the problem another way, if you use open-source project XYZ but a few things about the GUI annoy you, such as the way "widgetX" doesn't, I dunno, give any feed-back when you click it, then how does that information get passed to the developer? Obviously the problem doesn't affect the developer, otherwise they'd likely have coded it different in the first place. But the problem requires a tester (who likely needs to be non-technical, so non-geek, so likely not someone who frequents open-source developer forums) who can articulate the problem using the power of "text".
So, perhaps open-source developers could use tools that sort of "video record" a users use of an application [maybe just capture a VNC stream... or something] and ideally allow voice annotations. This might make it easier to describe problems that can't really be done justice through text.
And just to try and describe a GUI problem I've noticed in KDE (I'm normally a Windows user.... sorry people!:) ).
In Windows Explorer, if I click on a [+] in the tree view, then it opens all the folders within that parent folder.... just as Konqueror does. However, if I click on the [+] at the bottom of the tree-view pane, then Windows Explorer will automatically scroll that pane does a little so I can see the newly opened sub-folders. Konqueror *does not* do this, and this kind of behaviour is common throughout open-soruce projects.
Anyway, that is a problem that you can only understand (1). through usability testing and (2). if the user actually notices it as a problem.
But I don't know if a "typical" user would ever understand *what* the problem was and then be able to relay this information back to the developers.
... oooh, I remember the pain of trying to get some games to load and then, just when it gets to the end, it either says "Tape loading error", or for the newer, fancy, _Turbo Loaders_, it would just reset.
When I was little, I though that "food" went down one tube and drink down another... the reason I thought this was because the dangley bit (note to self: find out proper name of dangley bit, so as not to look stupid in public forums!) at the back of my throat made it look like there were two tubes.... oh, and our bath room mirror was too high up for me to see the bottom of said dangley bit, so it really just looked to me like *two* separate tubes.
This ofcourse has nothing to do with space travel, however, to keep the thing on topic, I too am from England! So maybe theres a pattern emerging!!:-D
Given that on the one hand we don't fully understand the effects of more CO2 in the atmos. whilst on the other hand we know that (a). the planet operated fine before without us pumping out such ammounts of CO2 and (b). we know there is a likely a tipping point but we don't know where it is, *then* is it not prudent to perhaps look at cutting CO2 emitions?
I agree that waving arms around about impending doom isn't massively useful and that more research is needed given the huge number of unknowns, but I really think that trading the risks (passing tipping point, really really screwing the atmos., causing huge changes, inevitable famine on such a scale never seen likely consequent wars over resources... MAYBE versus not doing anything bar more research and therefore saving money/increasing profit (primarily for the benefit of western nations)) than it seems wise to try to reduce CO2 emitions!
Is FreeSCO okay on/. ? Only no one has mentioned this yet, so I'm thinking I must've fallen asleep for a year and SCO has, I dunno, collapsed and then been bought by RMS to become a drop in centre for crazed CEO's or something!
DogDude, if there is a problem (and remember this is a pre 1.0 product), then it will only be fixed if the problem can be re-created. Has your virus scanner quarantined the virus that caused this problem? If so, would you be able to post it to a web server and post a bug on Bugzilla?
If you're waiting for a single "invention" to solve everyones energy issues then you're likely in for a long wait. Wind power is just one idea that can help a bit.
Slight OT:
The other thing that interests me in SATA is that it is hot-plugable.
So shouldn't we be able to buy Optical drives and HDD for use in *external* boxes at a reasonable price? At present, external drives always cost ~100% more than an internal version... which is a shame as an external HDD would be nice for backups but given that I'd need something bigger in approx. 12 to 18 months, I prefer not to pay an arm and a leg!
I seem to recall hearing something about 112 using a different call centre to handle this too and that you're better calling 112 if you want to prompt response.... but my brain collects all sorts of mostly useless information, so that might not be 100% accurate!:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Awwww easy!!
No offence intended -- honest!
Speaking as a Brit, we don't like the French either! Or the Welsh for that matter. Its just one of those things! ;-)
Switch to Windows as quickly as you can, it runs Firefox, and the next Longhorn release will have a rlational filesystem, something the filthy Linux community could never produce on their own.
;-)
Microsoft have been promising this since at least the late 1990's, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope. Most likely Longhorn will wind up being NTFS with file indexing bolted on, but integrated desktop tools so it isn't apparent.
Reiser 4 looks terifyingly good though. A file system with *full* transaction logging (not just meta-data) *and* extendable with plugin's.
Linux is starting to seriously pull ahead in terms of functionality you know!
Windows is probably a sensible option for many users, but it is rather expensive to buy on its own, and lacks a lot of features that should be part of the OS such as the ability to write ISO images (which amusingly, makes it hard to test out linux distros or live-CD's!).
It also lakes any productivity software such as an office suite. Which just increases the cost of having a productive computer.
If it was cheaper, e.g. forget XP Home and just sell XP Pro for, say, $80, then it might make sense by virtue of ease of use and easy availability of drivers etc., but as it stands, its only viable because its OEM installed with most computers.
Kyoto is merely a first step, and in itself, will never really solve anything anyway. But unless everyone is around the table to negotiate, there is no forward progress.
Presumably then, the Bush administration has come up with, or will come up with, a practical alternative?
Regardless of if there are problems, or if it isn't quite fair on certain parties, or whatever, the problems are continuing to get worse and will only change *when* some kind of agreement is reached.... and even then, as in the case of Kyoto, further targets and agreements will need to be met to improve the situation.
..and Russia is part of Europe! :-D
So, just to clarify, your argument for *not* signing up to Kyoto is "that they're doing it too"?
Before I start, let me just say that I'm not using Thunderbird as my mail client yet. Because I don't like it yet! As such, I believe everything I've written below is correct, but it might not be 100%. Also, I haven't tried 0.9 yet, so my comments are based on 0.8.
:)
Thunderbird reaches version 0.9, and still you can't specify the "From" address of an email message.
I believe you can specify "from"... however, you choose from the identities you've created for each account. Myself, I have a number of Newsgroup accounts, each using the same dummy email address. So I can choose from *any* of these identities even though they're all the same. SO its not quite perfect yet!
Presumably it still creates a whole new folder structure for each and every email account you have?
No, you can now have everything go into a single folder structure. This does appear to work as desired!
And of course, there's the fascination with switching to HTML mode at every opportunity. In fact, all new email clients seem to be like this. Where's the button for "see no HTML, speak no HTML, think no HTML"?
I hadn't noticed this being a problem. I think you can choose how to view incoming emails, and what format for new outgoing, and forwards/replys.
That said, it would be nice to have a button to toggle between text and HTML views. I think sometimes *the powers that be* tend to think if they've apparently surpassed Outlook Express's functionality, then that is enough. However, I'm still using OE partly because I can set the default email view to text, the default new email format to text and have forwards/reply use the existing format. Soooo, if I get an email that I'd like to view as HTML, I just hit the forward or reply button!
I know this isn't functionality by design, but the net effect it I can switch between text and HTML views using a single button click.
The other thing I don't like about Thunderbird (or indeed OE!) is the way Identities get bound to Accounts. Why? Surely these are entirely separate things. Yes, an Account should have a default Identity, by why do I need to create a new Identity for each Account? And Thunderbird also used to bind an Account to a folder structure (as you mentioned) which they've now corrected... although when you set this up, it does kind of feel like a retro-fit..... although, as I said, it does work as I wanted so I shouldn't be too mean to them!!
Gripes aside, I do like the product for its extendability so I do hope the issues are fixed at some point.
Good though MS software is, Apple do a better job though! So maybe MS doesn't spend quite a many millions as we might think.
I guess part of the problem is that to do proper testing you need tools that will suit the way open-source projects are developed. For example, where Microsoft might be able to recruit hundreds of testers and have them all in a single location and/or video record their experiences, how can open-source match this?
:) ).
To describe the problem another way, if you use open-source project XYZ but a few things about the GUI annoy you, such as the way "widgetX" doesn't, I dunno, give any feed-back when you click it, then how does that information get passed to the developer? Obviously the problem doesn't affect the developer, otherwise they'd likely have coded it different in the first place. But the problem requires a tester (who likely needs to be non-technical, so non-geek, so likely not someone who frequents open-source developer forums) who can articulate the problem using the power of "text".
So, perhaps open-source developers could use tools that sort of "video record" a users use of an application [maybe just capture a VNC stream... or something] and ideally allow voice annotations. This might make it easier to describe problems that can't really be done justice through text.
And just to try and describe a GUI problem I've noticed in KDE (I'm normally a Windows user.... sorry people!
In Windows Explorer, if I click on a [+] in the tree view, then it opens all the folders within that parent folder.... just as Konqueror does. However, if I click on the [+] at the bottom of the tree-view pane, then Windows Explorer will automatically scroll that pane does a little so I can see the newly opened sub-folders. Konqueror *does not* do this, and this kind of behaviour is common throughout open-soruce projects.
Anyway, that is a problem that you can only understand (1). through usability testing and (2). if the user actually notices it as a problem.
But I don't know if a "typical" user would ever understand *what* the problem was and then be able to relay this information back to the developers.
Damn you're good! ;)
Didn't Linus T. cut his teeth on the QL ?
The original manuals were great.... I *really* like the the cover design.
;P
However, I note that your manual uses white-ring bindings. The original mail-order speccy used black ring bindings!
... oooh, I remember the pain of trying to get some games to load and then, just when it gets to the end, it either says "Tape loading error", or for the newer, fancy, _Turbo Loaders_, it would just reset.
True... but she was a she, and in those days there weren't too many of them interested in computers!
...software to render pen-and-ink style drawings...
Thousands of Londoners/Sweeney fans[1] and ex-pat Londoners around the world are wondering exactly what makes it stink[2]
[1] The Sweeney - a 1970's UK tv drama
[2] Pen-and-ink.... stink.... no? See Cockney Rhyming Slang
Or was your comment in reference to the Professor in the article?
Indeed it was!
When I was little, I though that "food" went down one tube and drink down another... the reason I thought this was because the dangley bit (note to self: find out proper name of dangley bit, so as not to look stupid in public forums!) at the back of my throat made it look like there were two tubes.... oh, and our bath room mirror was too high up for me to see the bottom of said dangley bit, so it really just looked to me like *two* separate tubes.
:-D
This ofcourse has nothing to do with space travel, however, to keep the thing on topic, I too am from England! So maybe theres a pattern emerging!!
Given that on the one hand we don't fully understand the effects of more CO2 in the atmos. whilst on the other hand we know that (a). the planet operated fine before without us pumping out such ammounts of CO2 and (b). we know there is a likely a tipping point but we don't know where it is, *then* is it not prudent to perhaps look at cutting CO2 emitions?
I agree that waving arms around about impending doom isn't massively useful and that more research is needed given the huge number of unknowns, but I really think that trading the risks (passing tipping point, really really screwing the atmos., causing huge changes, inevitable famine on such a scale never seen likely consequent wars over resources... MAYBE versus not doing anything bar more research and therefore saving money/increasing profit (primarily for the benefit of western nations)) than it seems wise to try to reduce CO2 emitions!
Is FreeSCO okay on /. ? Only no one has mentioned this yet, so I'm thinking I must've fallen asleep for a year and SCO has, I dunno, collapsed and then been bought by RMS to become a drop in centre for crazed CEO's or something!
DogDude, if there is a problem (and remember this is a pre 1.0 product), then it will only be fixed if the problem can be re-created. Has your virus scanner quarantined the virus that caused this problem? If so, would you be able to post it to a web server and post a bug on Bugzilla?
If you're waiting for a single "invention" to solve everyones energy issues then you're likely in for a long wait. Wind power is just one idea that can help a bit.
Slight OT:
The other thing that interests me in SATA is that it is hot-plugable.
So shouldn't we be able to buy Optical drives and HDD for use in *external* boxes at a reasonable price? At present, external drives always cost ~100% more than an internal version... which is a shame as an external HDD would be nice for backups but given that I'd need something bigger in approx. 12 to 18 months, I prefer not to pay an arm and a leg!
My Netgear DG384G has it... I've not tried it though.
I seem to recall hearing something about 112 using a different call centre to handle this too and that you're better calling 112 if you want to prompt response.... but my brain collects all sorts of mostly useless information, so that might not be 100% accurate! :-)