But honestly! who even uses dial-up anymore, except for, like, poor (money-wise) college TAs and public school teachers and the like?
Actually, quite a lot of people still do. I've had broadband for about 8 months now, and many people I know still use dial-up. Hell, I even know people who still don't have any sort of internet connection at all. For light browsing, e-mail, and IMing, 56K is perfectly fine.
That's exactly my point. You BOUGHT easy cd creator. K3b comes *with* many distros, along with Eroaster and a million other great burning programs.
Whats wrong with buying software? Windows comes with burning software too, that is more than adaquate to do the job, but I like Easy CD Creator, and have no problems paying for it. That being said, I wish I had the same luck you did =-P I'm using Mandrake 9.1, and would love to be able to go wireless with it (oh well, still tryin)
Do they teach you about "The School of Americas"? The funding of the Talliban? The creation and arming of Saddam? The toppling of the democratically electeded Saudi government? US sponsored invasions of Cuba? "The Bay of Pigs"? The truth behind the Cuban missile crisis?
Actually, yes they do. Do you really think we're that ignorant? Not everything America does is altruistic, heck; most of the time it is for its own advantage (such as the war in Iraq). There are a lot of people in France who dissagree with what the United States is doing in Iraq, but there are also a lot of people who share the same views who live in America. Governments always look out for their best interests, and anyone who doesn't beleive that is fooling themselves.
That depends on what you mean by casual. Sure, you have to have an Antivirus program, keep up on patches, etc; but its not like Linux is set it and forget it. I've been trying to get my wireless PCMCIA card working on my laptop for the last week, as opposed to just sticking it in the slot and having windows recognize it and the network automatically (dual booting).
You don't have to scan alt.binaries.dvd to get a warezed version of anything.
Actually, I bought Roxio Easy CD Creator, and IMHO its better than anything I've seen on linux so far.
Granted, it would be painful to try and run XP on a P-II or something that old
Actually, I'm running WinXP Pro on a P2 366mhz w/ 128mb of ram. Its not optimal, but it isn't as bad as you'd think. The slowest computer I've ever shoved XP on was a Pentium Pro - 200mhz, which actually ran usable when you turned off all the eye candy.
Actually, I wouldn't worry about Kodak too much. Not only do they sell digital cameras, but they also are beggining to sell photo printers, paper, etc. I would say that Kodak doesn't have to worry too much. AOL on the other hand, is in trouble. Most of the people I know who used to use AOL have moved on to broadband, and haven't looked back.
And the batteries are proven to last for the vehicles lifetime - not this puny 500 cycles like Li-Ion that we get with laptop batteries
My thinkpad's battery is fr '98, and its still going (relatively) strong. Its not as good as it used to be, but I still get 1.5 ~ 3 hours from it (depending on what I'm doing)
Under that same line of reasoning, I deserve to get robbed if I leave my door unlocked. Locking your door is a good idea, but if you don't that doesn't mean it's ok to rob you.
How does DRM have *anything* to do with viruses?
With DRM enabled hardware, any code that does not have the "right" to run won't. After 90% of the computing world losses their family photos, mp3s, etc because a virus had to "teach" everybody; what a selling point that'll be for future operating systems! The problem in your logic, that I can see, is that you are treating viruses like they are a flaw in the operating system (which they are not). Viruses and worms are attacks, and when people get infected, almost no one thinks to themselves, "well damn, better switch to (insert prefered operating system here)" Instead they think, "I really hope they get that ass who did this" and "I wonder if I could get the day off since none of the computers are working"
yea... ruining people's computers will all of a sudden make them less ignorant! Most of the people who use computers can't even tell the difference between Office and Windows. I work in a store that sells computer products (ugh) and when I ask people what operating system they are running, 9 times out of 10 they either tell me the brand of their computer, or say something stupid like HP Office XP. If virus and worm makers grew "a pair of balls" chances are they'd eventually find themselves locked up in a cell with a large guy named Bubba. (This is including virus writers from non-US countries, can you say cyber-terrorism?) Most people see a computer as a tool, something they use to get work done, and to fool around on, and really could care less what they use and how it works. Having virus creators ruin innocent people's machines is not going to do anything but give everybody a headache, and much more ammo to DRM.
It becomes your problem. If they can show logs that trace transactable actions to your IP address, you will be liable
Maybe this will encourage people to start securing their computers. To most people, a virus really isn't that big of a deal, and don't worry about it, but if you could get charged tons of money from getting a virus, well I think people would notice.
Lets say someone picks the lock on my front door and steals one million dollars out of my house (hey, its hypothetical here). Who's fault is it? The tires on the Ford SUVs caused the SUVs to crash, it was an actual defect. In a perfect world, unpatched Outlook works just fine. If Aunt Mildred, for example; e-mails me a cookie recipe or something, my computer is not automatically compromised. Outlook is not secure, but the fact remains that someone did this to Valve, on purpose. This wasn't an accident, it was a planned, deliberate attack. Sure the software could (should) have been better, but that doesn't mean the people who did this shouldn't be the ones whom the blame is placed upon.
I'd reccomend the HP Deskjet 6122, although I beleive its been discontinued (although it is still in a few retail stores). The quality is excellent, its fast, and it comes with a duplexor. Not only that, but it uses their older catridges that are filled with more ink.
Riddle me this:
You decide to upgrade your old Windows 98 to Windows 2000 because it's so much better than Windows 98 was. If you are on a telephone line, dialing up to your AOL account, how are you supposed to get your system patched (in the THREE HOURS it takes to download and install ONLY THE CRITICAL UPDATES) before some cheeze-head hits your system with one of the umpteen remote exploits that you are vulnerable to?
Ok. First, enable WinXP's built in firewall. For bonus points, download Zonealarm. Then, go directly to the windows update site. Do not pass go. Do not look at porn. Do not go on IRC and declare that you are uber 31337 and no one can hax0r you. Start the update process, and go to bed, get some cola, whatever. When it (finally) finishes, install the updates, reboot when asked, and there you have it, a fully patched Windows machine. If you're really smart, you'll keep the firewall and disable all unneccessary services, too.
Re:Threat to Athlon64: Prescott (not Pentium 4)
on
Athlon 64 Debuts
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· Score: 2, Insightful
While it's likely that Intel has some form of 64 bit instructions built into Prescott, it is highly unlikely that they will enable it.
Actually, I would dissagree. Remmember way back (at the very least, I haven't encountered such a message in a while) when a program would say, "Requires a 386" and you would try it on a 286 and it would complain? Most of the time today, if you are trying to install a program and your computer does not meet the minimum requirements, you can usually squeek by and still have it run (just slowly). If x86-64 becomes popular and is actually used, anyone with an Intel processor will not be able to use a program taking advantage of the x86-64 registers. While in the beggining there will probably be more than one version, if it becomes popular Intel CPUs will start to have a "compatibility problem" if they don't have the x86-64 extension. Look for them in the Pentium 5.
Wow, I never even noticed it before. Actually it gets weirder. Depending on what you are doing, and the way you exit, sometimes only one windows closes and sometimes two. That said, I think multiple documents coming up on the taskbar is the "best thing ever" =D
Reminds me when General Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove said to the president, ""I think I'd like to hold off judgment on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in..." after the President gets angry with General Ripper being a nutcase... =D
Things must be expensive for an average geek in the US. In Canada, we are yet to hear about any caps and from what I have heard from my friends, this is the case elsewhere in the world too(China and Korea).
From the article
Telephone companies offering DSL service in the United States say they have no limits in place for their users, unlike Canadian, British or Australian counterparts that routinely cap their subscribers' usage. Verizon Communications and SBC Communications, the largest DSL providers in the United States, both said their services remain unlimited.
It's those of us who use DSL in the US who are lucky. I know two people in Canada who's monthly bandwidth is capped at 10gb, which to be honest, really sucks. As for Korea, well, from what I've heard they get some crazy bandwidth over there for cheap, though I still really wouldn't want to live there.
The technical underpinning of this particular train of thought is that in Windows, playing with the setup of the machine will most likely fsck up your machine. In linux, the worst that can happen is that your colourscheme turns green and purple.
Leach added that even for organizations that adopt Office 2003, rights management will still be the exception rather than the rule when creating documents.
"It's not something that you would set up as the default, so that every document I would create is rights management protected," he said. "It's important that you make a choice to apply rights management to a document for very specific reasons."
What you're saying really only applies if DRM had been mandatory. Since the article says that it won't (for the reasons you stated above) it won't be a problem, because companies wanting to use the new features will upgrade, and those who don't, won't (or will only partially upgrade, and not use the DRM feature for compatibility with older software). If you ask me, this sounds like a good thing, as long as it remains optional. The second it becomes mandatory is when it becomes a problem.
Nice - blame users for poorly designed product. Now THAT's a winning strategy.
Yeah, what a crappy e-mail client Outlook is. It would have been so much better if it Outlook required a 16 character passcode, asked you 15 times you were sure, and then finally deleted it (and made you undelete it manually) before even considering letting you open that attachment!
In all seriousness now, come on. Outlook was designed so that the average Joe A could email average Joe B anything he wanted, and have it work. Blaming Outlook for SoBig is like blaming the telephone the secretary who gave her bosses password out (social engineering) for ringing (it made it too easy to answer the phone!) The fact is, even if it WAS harder to open attachments, the only thing that would happen is people would complain, learn how to do it, and open the damn things anyway. The only thing that can stop such social engineering viruses is virus protection software, and a good dose of common sense.
Hey, it might be fun to bash Microsoft (and if you want, go and use MSblaster all you want, it made them look bad) but SoBig had everything to do with the user.
They count on people not claiming the rebate, and they surely make no efforts to ensure you get the rebate.
That, and the fact that it gets to sit in the bank for a while. I know that I personally am pretty bad about sending in for rebates right away (usually wait as long as possible, because I'm lazy and often forget to even send them in) add that to 8 to 10 weeks to get to you, and that equates to a bunch of money sitting in the bank gaining interest/whatever they need it for. I just bought a 120gb hard drive with a $40 MIR that I haven't sent in the rebate for. (Thanks for reminding me, actually).
My favorite AntiVirus software just got added to the WinXP category.
"Don't buy it. Ever."
Uh, why? The product is still the same (and worth it). All this does is make it harder for people to give/get illegal copies of the software. Unlike MP3s, (which everybody makes the excuse that the RIAA is stupid and the artists only get money from concerts anyway) software companies only get money from their software. Symantec has (and probably will continue) to produce a solid product, and they deserve to get paid for it. As long as you don't have the intention of getting illegally, this won't affect you at all.
crappy compuers, shitty scanners and so-so printers (but losing market share since people already will know the HP's expensive printers don't have quality or features to justify it's tag price)
Uh, no. While I can't say much about their desktop lineup (there have been a few problems) their laptops are great (most on the heavy side, unfortunately). I haven't had much experience with the HP scanners, so I can't comment, but their printers are, top notch. While HP's brand prestige has definitely gone down in recent years, I sure would never buy a printer that wasn't an HP. Even their cheapest photo printer produces some of the nicest prints I've seen.
This is not true, because most computers on the internet are just clients. If my computer vanished right now, anything I do on the 'net would be gone, but the internet wouldn't be affected at all. Most computers that were infected by the Sobig virus were "last mile" they didn't actually serve any purpose to the internet infrastructure. That being said, you're right, it is a very serious problem. The amount of computers infected by this virus scare me, and it seems to me that most viruses that spread quickly don't do much, (thankfully). As for people thinking that running Linux (etc) makes them safe, I agree that it is a dangerous attidude, although not for the same reason you do (I beleive that viruses for other OSes are just as possible, just hasn't happened yet)
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But honestly! who even uses dial-up anymore, except for, like, poor (money-wise) college TAs and public school teachers and the like?
Actually, quite a lot of people still do. I've had broadband for about 8 months now, and many people I know still use dial-up. Hell, I even know people who still don't have any sort of internet connection at all. For light browsing, e-mail, and IMing, 56K is perfectly fine.
That's exactly my point. You BOUGHT easy cd creator. K3b comes *with* many distros, along with Eroaster and a million other great burning programs.
Whats wrong with buying software? Windows comes with burning software too, that is more than adaquate to do the job, but I like Easy CD Creator, and have no problems paying for it. That being said, I wish I had the same luck you did =-P I'm using Mandrake 9.1, and would love to be able to go wireless with it (oh well, still tryin)
Do they teach you about "The School of Americas"? The funding of the Talliban? The creation and arming of Saddam? The toppling of the democratically electeded Saudi government? US sponsored invasions of Cuba? "The Bay of Pigs"? The truth behind the Cuban missile crisis?
Actually, yes they do. Do you really think we're that ignorant? Not everything America does is altruistic, heck; most of the time it is for its own advantage (such as the war in Iraq). There are a lot of people in France who dissagree with what the United States is doing in Iraq, but there are also a lot of people who share the same views who live in America. Governments always look out for their best interests, and anyone who doesn't beleive that is fooling themselves.
That depends on what you mean by casual. Sure, you have to have an Antivirus program, keep up on patches, etc; but its not like Linux is set it and forget it. I've been trying to get my wireless PCMCIA card working on my laptop for the last week, as opposed to just sticking it in the slot and having windows recognize it and the network automatically (dual booting).
You don't have to scan alt.binaries.dvd to get a warezed version of anything.
Actually, I bought Roxio Easy CD Creator, and IMHO its better than anything I've seen on linux so far.
Take a look at what time period Napster had its heyday in... Everybody had a lot more money back then.
Granted, it would be painful to try and run XP on a P-II or something that old
Actually, I'm running WinXP Pro on a P2 366mhz w/ 128mb of ram. Its not optimal, but it isn't as bad as you'd think. The slowest computer I've ever shoved XP on was a Pentium Pro - 200mhz, which actually ran usable when you turned off all the eye candy.
Actually, I wouldn't worry about Kodak too much. Not only do they sell digital cameras, but they also are beggining to sell photo printers, paper, etc. I would say that Kodak doesn't have to worry too much. AOL on the other hand, is in trouble. Most of the people I know who used to use AOL have moved on to broadband, and haven't looked back.
And the batteries are proven to last for the vehicles lifetime - not this puny 500 cycles like Li-Ion that we get with laptop batteries
My thinkpad's battery is fr '98, and its still going (relatively) strong. Its not as good as it used to be, but I still get 1.5 ~ 3 hours from it (depending on what I'm doing)
Under that same line of reasoning, I deserve to get robbed if I leave my door unlocked. Locking your door is a good idea, but if you don't that doesn't mean it's ok to rob you.
How does DRM have *anything* to do with viruses?
With DRM enabled hardware, any code that does not have the "right" to run won't. After 90% of the computing world losses their family photos, mp3s, etc because a virus had to "teach" everybody; what a selling point that'll be for future operating systems! The problem in your logic, that I can see, is that you are treating viruses like they are a flaw in the operating system (which they are not). Viruses and worms are attacks, and when people get infected, almost no one thinks to themselves, "well damn, better switch to (insert prefered operating system here)" Instead they think, "I really hope they get that ass who did this" and "I wonder if I could get the day off since none of the computers are working"
yea... ruining people's computers will all of a sudden make them less ignorant! Most of the people who use computers can't even tell the difference between Office and Windows. I work in a store that sells computer products (ugh) and when I ask people what operating system they are running, 9 times out of 10 they either tell me the brand of their computer, or say something stupid like HP Office XP. If virus and worm makers grew "a pair of balls" chances are they'd eventually find themselves locked up in a cell with a large guy named Bubba. (This is including virus writers from non-US countries, can you say cyber-terrorism?) Most people see a computer as a tool, something they use to get work done, and to fool around on, and really could care less what they use and how it works. Having virus creators ruin innocent people's machines is not going to do anything but give everybody a headache, and much more ammo to DRM.
It becomes your problem. If they can show logs that trace transactable actions to your IP address, you will be liable
Maybe this will encourage people to start securing their computers. To most people, a virus really isn't that big of a deal, and don't worry about it, but if you could get charged tons of money from getting a virus, well I think people would notice.
Lets say someone picks the lock on my front door and steals one million dollars out of my house (hey, its hypothetical here). Who's fault is it? The tires on the Ford SUVs caused the SUVs to crash, it was an actual defect. In a perfect world, unpatched Outlook works just fine. If Aunt Mildred, for example; e-mails me a cookie recipe or something, my computer is not automatically compromised. Outlook is not secure, but the fact remains that someone did this to Valve, on purpose. This wasn't an accident, it was a planned, deliberate attack. Sure the software could (should) have been better, but that doesn't mean the people who did this shouldn't be the ones whom the blame is placed upon.
You aren't getting the right printer, then.
I'd reccomend the HP Deskjet 6122, although I beleive its been discontinued (although it is still in a few retail stores). The quality is excellent, its fast, and it comes with a duplexor. Not only that, but it uses their older catridges that are filled with more ink.
Riddle me this: You decide to upgrade your old Windows 98 to Windows 2000 because it's so much better than Windows 98 was. If you are on a telephone line, dialing up to your AOL account, how are you supposed to get your system patched (in the THREE HOURS it takes to download and install ONLY THE CRITICAL UPDATES) before some cheeze-head hits your system with one of the umpteen remote exploits that you are vulnerable to?
Ok. First, enable WinXP's built in firewall. For bonus points, download Zonealarm. Then, go directly to the windows update site. Do not pass go. Do not look at porn. Do not go on IRC and declare that you are uber 31337 and no one can hax0r you. Start the update process, and go to bed, get some cola, whatever. When it (finally) finishes, install the updates, reboot when asked, and there you have it, a fully patched Windows machine. If you're really smart, you'll keep the firewall and disable all unneccessary services, too.
While it's likely that Intel has some form of 64 bit instructions built into Prescott, it is highly unlikely that they will enable it.
Actually, I would dissagree. Remmember way back (at the very least, I haven't encountered such a message in a while) when a program would say, "Requires a 386" and you would try it on a 286 and it would complain? Most of the time today, if you are trying to install a program and your computer does not meet the minimum requirements, you can usually squeek by and still have it run (just slowly). If x86-64 becomes popular and is actually used, anyone with an Intel processor will not be able to use a program taking advantage of the x86-64 registers. While in the beggining there will probably be more than one version, if it becomes popular Intel CPUs will start to have a "compatibility problem" if they don't have the x86-64 extension. Look for them in the Pentium 5.
Wow, I never even noticed it before. Actually it gets weirder. Depending on what you are doing, and the way you exit, sometimes only one windows closes and sometimes two. That said, I think multiple documents coming up on the taskbar is the "best thing ever" =D
Reminds me when General Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove said to the president, ""I think I'd like to hold off judgment on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in..." after the President gets angry with General Ripper being a nutcase... =D
Things must be expensive for an average geek in the US. In Canada, we are yet to hear about any caps and from what I have heard from my friends, this is the case elsewhere in the world too(China and Korea).
From the article
Telephone companies offering DSL service in the United States say they have no limits in place for their users, unlike Canadian, British or Australian counterparts that routinely cap their subscribers' usage. Verizon Communications and SBC Communications, the largest DSL providers in the United States, both said their services remain unlimited.
It's those of us who use DSL in the US who are lucky. I know two people in Canada who's monthly bandwidth is capped at 10gb, which to be honest, really sucks. As for Korea, well, from what I've heard they get some crazy bandwidth over there for cheap, though I still really wouldn't want to live there.
The technical underpinning of this particular train of thought is that in Windows, playing with the setup of the machine will most likely fsck up your machine. In linux, the worst that can happen is that your colourscheme turns green and purple.
Meh, I wish =(
Leach added that even for organizations that adopt Office 2003, rights management will still be the exception rather than the rule when creating documents.
"It's not something that you would set up as the default, so that every document I would create is rights management protected," he said. "It's important that you make a choice to apply rights management to a document for very specific reasons."
What you're saying really only applies if DRM had been mandatory. Since the article says that it won't (for the reasons you stated above) it won't be a problem, because companies wanting to use the new features will upgrade, and those who don't, won't (or will only partially upgrade, and not use the DRM feature for compatibility with older software). If you ask me, this sounds like a good thing, as long as it remains optional. The second it becomes mandatory is when it becomes a problem.
Nice - blame users for poorly designed product. Now THAT's a winning strategy.
Yeah, what a crappy e-mail client Outlook is. It would have been so much better if it Outlook required a 16 character passcode, asked you 15 times you were sure, and then finally deleted it (and made you undelete it manually) before even considering letting you open that attachment!
In all seriousness now, come on. Outlook was designed so that the average Joe A could email average Joe B anything he wanted, and have it work. Blaming Outlook for SoBig is like blaming the telephone the secretary who gave her bosses password out (social engineering) for ringing (it made it too easy to answer the phone!) The fact is, even if it WAS harder to open attachments, the only thing that would happen is people would complain, learn how to do it, and open the damn things anyway. The only thing that can stop such social engineering viruses is virus protection software, and a good dose of common sense.
Hey, it might be fun to bash Microsoft (and if you want, go and use MSblaster all you want, it made them look bad) but SoBig had everything to do with the user.
They count on people not claiming the rebate, and they surely make no efforts to ensure you get the rebate.
That, and the fact that it gets to sit in the bank for a while. I know that I personally am pretty bad about sending in for rebates right away (usually wait as long as possible, because I'm lazy and often forget to even send them in) add that to 8 to 10 weeks to get to you, and that equates to a bunch of money sitting in the bank gaining interest/whatever they need it for. I just bought a 120gb hard drive with a $40 MIR that I haven't sent in the rebate for. (Thanks for reminding me, actually).
My favorite AntiVirus software just got added to the WinXP category. "Don't buy it. Ever."
Uh, why? The product is still the same (and worth it). All this does is make it harder for people to give/get illegal copies of the software. Unlike MP3s, (which everybody makes the excuse that the RIAA is stupid and the artists only get money from concerts anyway) software companies only get money from their software. Symantec has (and probably will continue) to produce a solid product, and they deserve to get paid for it. As long as you don't have the intention of getting illegally, this won't affect you at all.
crappy compuers, shitty scanners and so-so printers (but losing market share since people already will know the HP's expensive printers don't have quality or features to justify it's tag price)
Uh, no. While I can't say much about their desktop lineup (there have been a few problems) their laptops are great (most on the heavy side, unfortunately). I haven't had much experience with the HP scanners, so I can't comment, but their printers are, top notch. While HP's brand prestige has definitely gone down in recent years, I sure would never buy a printer that wasn't an HP. Even their cheapest photo printer produces some of the nicest prints I've seen.
This is not true, because most computers on the internet are just clients. If my computer vanished right now, anything I do on the 'net would be gone, but the internet wouldn't be affected at all. Most computers that were infected by the Sobig virus were "last mile" they didn't actually serve any purpose to the internet infrastructure. That being said, you're right, it is a very serious problem. The amount of computers infected by this virus scare me, and it seems to me that most viruses that spread quickly don't do much, (thankfully). As for people thinking that running Linux (etc) makes them safe, I agree that it is a dangerous attidude, although not for the same reason you do (I beleive that viruses for other OSes are just as possible, just hasn't happened yet)