I was going to post something similar. It's easy to get the forecast right in certain areas, where the weather is generally the same every day (either no rain, or rain almost every day). In a lot of places, it's a lot harder to pinpoint exactly what the weather will be like on any particular day. If you look at the 7 day forecast for my region, the weather for the 7th day will probably change 3-4 times in most cases before the day occurs.
I got a Harry Potter game for my wife, because she likes the books so much, and she likes some video games. It wasn't a bad game. It was way better than I expected for a game based off a movie. I think they could make a really good Harry Potter game for the Wii. Use the Wiimote as the wand to cast different spells. Motion sensing for controlling the broom when you are flying. Lots of possibilities there.
I don't think it's MS that is charging you more. I think it's Dell, who is charging you for the work involved in doing the downgrade. You could do it at home by yourself, without incurring any extra cost.
Yeah, but support for Windows XP won't end until after Windows 7 is scheduled to come out. So I think that what a lot of people are hoping for is to skip Windows Vista, and maybe, just maybe, MS will learn their lesson, and put out a good product with Windows 7. If Windows 7 is just as bad as Vista, I fully expect most people would be ready to jump ship to Linux. You can't wait 10+ years for a new version of an OS.
It's only sad because MS spent 5+ years working on Vista, and now people want to pay not to use it. It's not sad in the more general sense, that people want to pay more to use a better product.
It's a big threat. Firstly, they push MSN search as the default search engine on IE. That's a lot of advertising dollars right there. Secondly, the more people who use alternative browsers, the more websites will cater to those browsers. Using Linux used to have a lot of downfalls because a lot of websites didn't support any browsers that ran in Linux. Now that many windows users are also using alternative browsers, it means that most websites also work with the alternative browsers. That's one less reason why you wouldn't move to Linux.
The problem with weather forecasting is that they try to forecast way too far in advance. Checking out my local forecast, I see that they have until tuesday on the forecast. An entire week is too long to predict for weather. But they go further. There's now the 14 day trend. None of that is even worth looking at. I only trust the next day or two, and even that is a little fuzzy sometimes.
If you work with people you can trust, you will probably end up with a good project. However, that trust (or lack thereof) doesn't come from nowhere. If you have coworkers that you don't trust, then it probably has a lot to do with experiences that they have put you through, which have ended up in less than satisfactory results. Developers that turn in ugly/buggy code, managers that are constantly changing requirements, or trying to add an every increasing number of features, these are the things that can make you not trust your coworkers. I've worked with many people that I don't trust. But apart from firing them (doesn't usually work with managers), or changing jobs, there's a very limited number of things you can do about this.
From what I can see, the real answer, process. Having a documented process that you follow to ensure that code is free of bugs, and that code is readable. How you accomplish those things isn't exactly important. For making sure code is readable and maintainable, you can have formalized code walkthroughs, or you could just have another coder read it over before it is accepted into the project. Ensuring that the software doesn't have any bugs is another issue. You should have a repeatable test environment, whether it be unit tests, or even just a list of actions peformed by an actual person, in order to check that everything is working correctly. Some approaches work better than others. But the real important thing in the end, is to have a defined process, and ensure that it is being followed.
Yeah, but even given the choice, a lot of people will still choose windows. I got a laptop and installed Linux alongside the included Vista. My wife continues to use Vista, even though it's extremely slow, and she constantly complains about all the cancel/allow dialog, and how now it's currently stuck in "configuring updates" mode. Linux works fine, and is nice and snappy.
Also, it doesn't come with IIS. Again, not a dealbreaker for most installations, althought if you're a web developer who uses IIS, it could be quite a problem. Also, there's no more than 5 concurrent clients allowed to connect to your file shares if I recall correctly. Again probably not a deal breaker.
But if MS isn't supporting it, and even telling Dell they aren't allowed to do it, then is it even legal? Is MS still taking the money for the licenses?
I agree. I've had it with flip and sliding phones. Everybody I know with a flip/sliding phone, and every one of my phones that did the same eventually had the keypad or screen stop working. I just went back to a candybar phone after my last sliding phone died. I actually like the fact that there are no moving parts, and have no problem remembering to lock the keypad when I'm done with it.
It may be thin, but personally, I'd go for a little thicker, and have a much more useful device. Sure it's not a smart phone. But I'd rather have a dumb phone, and smart computer.
Sounds to me like it would not only work well at educating teens, but also many other people. Probably be a good read for anybody who's at all interested in the subject matter, and even those who aren't, as long as they have an open mind about the material.
I agree. Having a full qwerty keyboard would be nice, but in this instance, and many others, it just means that the actual number keys are quite a bit smaller. I'd rather have number keys I can actually press rather than having an extra 10 cpm typing rate on 160 byte messages.
However, not all that power is needed for running the 3D desktops. I can run Compiz (linux 3D desktop) on my Intel GMA 950 without a single slowdown. With all the standard 3D eyecandy turned on. So you wouldn't need to run an nVidia 8800 at full clock speed to render the desktop effects. Also, Windows Vista and Linux both support turning off the 3D effects and running in full 2D mode. I'm sure Mac OS supports the same, although I've never looked into it, so it's hard to say for sure. Especially since MacOS has such a limited number of computers that it is supported on.
I find it really hard to follow the logic that an object that will be worth 50% of it's current value in a year (and in each consecutive year) to be an investment. It would be hard to argue that a new production model car to be an investment. If you kept it in the garage until 25 years later it might be worth more than the original, by 3 or 4 times. However, if you just took the original money you spent on the car and invested it for 25 years, you would end up way ahead. With a car, at least you could argue that eventually it will be a collectors item. I don't see a graphics card ever being a collectors item.
If you are one of the 3 people in the world who still wants to make your own devices to interface with serial on home made devices, then feel free to go out and buy a PCI serial port card. The other 99.999% of the the world is happy that they don't have to waste precious motherboard real estate on a port that they couldn't possibly have a use for. You can even get serial ports for your laptop. There was no move. You can still get serial ports onboard on a couple motherboards.
Does the 9800 stop working, or in some way slow down, because NVidia came out with something new? Did they say they were going to cut off driver support for the 9800? You got what you paid for, and you still have what you paid for. New stuff will always come along that's cheaper and more powerful than what already exists.
I was going to post something similar. It's easy to get the forecast right in certain areas, where the weather is generally the same every day (either no rain, or rain almost every day). In a lot of places, it's a lot harder to pinpoint exactly what the weather will be like on any particular day. If you look at the 7 day forecast for my region, the weather for the 7th day will probably change 3-4 times in most cases before the day occurs.
I got a Harry Potter game for my wife, because she likes the books so much, and she likes some video games. It wasn't a bad game. It was way better than I expected for a game based off a movie. I think they could make a really good Harry Potter game for the Wii. Use the Wiimote as the wand to cast different spells. Motion sensing for controlling the broom when you are flying. Lots of possibilities there.
I don't think it's MS that is charging you more. I think it's Dell, who is charging you for the work involved in doing the downgrade. You could do it at home by yourself, without incurring any extra cost.
Yeah, but support for Windows XP won't end until after Windows 7 is scheduled to come out. So I think that what a lot of people are hoping for is to skip Windows Vista, and maybe, just maybe, MS will learn their lesson, and put out a good product with Windows 7. If Windows 7 is just as bad as Vista, I fully expect most people would be ready to jump ship to Linux. You can't wait 10+ years for a new version of an OS.
It's only sad because MS spent 5+ years working on Vista, and now people want to pay not to use it. It's not sad in the more general sense, that people want to pay more to use a better product.
It's a big threat. Firstly, they push MSN search as the default search engine on IE. That's a lot of advertising dollars right there. Secondly, the more people who use alternative browsers, the more websites will cater to those browsers. Using Linux used to have a lot of downfalls because a lot of websites didn't support any browsers that ran in Linux. Now that many windows users are also using alternative browsers, it means that most websites also work with the alternative browsers. That's one less reason why you wouldn't move to Linux.
PC LOAD COFFEE? WTF does that mean?
Here's some extra text to get past the caps filter.
The problem with weather forecasting is that they try to forecast way too far in advance. Checking out my local forecast, I see that they have until tuesday on the forecast. An entire week is too long to predict for weather. But they go further. There's now the 14 day trend. None of that is even worth looking at. I only trust the next day or two, and even that is a little fuzzy sometimes.
If you work with people you can trust, you will probably end up with a good project. However, that trust (or lack thereof) doesn't come from nowhere. If you have coworkers that you don't trust, then it probably has a lot to do with experiences that they have put you through, which have ended up in less than satisfactory results. Developers that turn in ugly/buggy code, managers that are constantly changing requirements, or trying to add an every increasing number of features, these are the things that can make you not trust your coworkers. I've worked with many people that I don't trust. But apart from firing them (doesn't usually work with managers), or changing jobs, there's a very limited number of things you can do about this.
From what I can see, the real answer, process. Having a documented process that you follow to ensure that code is free of bugs, and that code is readable. How you accomplish those things isn't exactly important. For making sure code is readable and maintainable, you can have formalized code walkthroughs, or you could just have another coder read it over before it is accepted into the project. Ensuring that the software doesn't have any bugs is another issue. You should have a repeatable test environment, whether it be unit tests, or even just a list of actions peformed by an actual person, in order to check that everything is working correctly. Some approaches work better than others. But the real important thing in the end, is to have a defined process, and ensure that it is being followed.
That seems like a very expensive way to get XP Pro.
Yeah, but even given the choice, a lot of people will still choose windows. I got a laptop and installed Linux alongside the included Vista. My wife continues to use Vista, even though it's extremely slow, and she constantly complains about all the cancel/allow dialog, and how now it's currently stuck in "configuring updates" mode. Linux works fine, and is nice and snappy.
Also, it doesn't come with IIS. Again, not a dealbreaker for most installations, althought if you're a web developer who uses IIS, it could be quite a problem. Also, there's no more than 5 concurrent clients allowed to connect to your file shares if I recall correctly. Again probably not a deal breaker.
But if MS isn't supporting it, and even telling Dell they aren't allowed to do it, then is it even legal? Is MS still taking the money for the licenses?
Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, flip and slide phones break really easily.
If you really need to do remote maintenance, wouldn't it be nice to get a laptop with a data card?
Not only that, wouldn't it be nice to be able to be on a call, and use your computer at the same time.
I agree. I've had it with flip and sliding phones. Everybody I know with a flip/sliding phone, and every one of my phones that did the same eventually had the keypad or screen stop working. I just went back to a candybar phone after my last sliding phone died. I actually like the fact that there are no moving parts, and have no problem remembering to lock the keypad when I'm done with it.
It may be thin, but personally, I'd go for a little thicker, and have a much more useful device. Sure it's not a smart phone. But I'd rather have a dumb phone, and smart computer.
Sounds to me like it would not only work well at educating teens, but also many other people. Probably be a good read for anybody who's at all interested in the subject matter, and even those who aren't, as long as they have an open mind about the material.
I agree. Having a full qwerty keyboard would be nice, but in this instance, and many others, it just means that the actual number keys are quite a bit smaller. I'd rather have number keys I can actually press rather than having an extra 10 cpm typing rate on 160 byte messages.
However, not all that power is needed for running the 3D desktops. I can run Compiz (linux 3D desktop) on my Intel GMA 950 without a single slowdown. With all the standard 3D eyecandy turned on. So you wouldn't need to run an nVidia 8800 at full clock speed to render the desktop effects. Also, Windows Vista and Linux both support turning off the 3D effects and running in full 2D mode. I'm sure Mac OS supports the same, although I've never looked into it, so it's hard to say for sure. Especially since MacOS has such a limited number of computers that it is supported on.
I find it really hard to follow the logic that an object that will be worth 50% of it's current value in a year (and in each consecutive year) to be an investment. It would be hard to argue that a new production model car to be an investment. If you kept it in the garage until 25 years later it might be worth more than the original, by 3 or 4 times. However, if you just took the original money you spent on the car and invested it for 25 years, you would end up way ahead. With a car, at least you could argue that eventually it will be a collectors item. I don't see a graphics card ever being a collectors item.
If you are one of the 3 people in the world who still wants to make your own devices to interface with serial on home made devices, then feel free to go out and buy a PCI serial port card. The other 99.999% of the the world is happy that they don't have to waste precious motherboard real estate on a port that they couldn't possibly have a use for. You can even get serial ports for your laptop. There was no move. You can still get serial ports onboard on a couple motherboards.
Does the 9800 stop working, or in some way slow down, because NVidia came out with something new? Did they say they were going to cut off driver support for the 9800? You got what you paid for, and you still have what you paid for. New stuff will always come along that's cheaper and more powerful than what already exists.