Sorry, but there simply *is* no technological solution for it. The problem is that users have a certain set of requirements for electronic communication (namely, that it's free aside from connection time and fairly easy to use).
Do you think spam is one computer sending out email after email? Are you nuts? Spam is sent by a network of compromised computers, connected via any available port.
You cannot increase the cost of sending spam to the point that it has a low enough return on investment to not be worth sending without adding a usage fee for email (and even that won't really fix the problem, as the wrong people are going to pay the fee ).
apple.slashdot.org does share stories that might not be that signficant to other users. That's because apple.slashdot.org is a news site for Apple. If you don't like, don't read it...
I've never had any significant problems with Safari or Firefox. The only problem I've ever run into is Firefox not supporting a particular CSS element. (I forget what it's called, and it's now been removed from the spec... I hope Safari keeps it, though.)
You wrote: "explictly allowed if the sole purpose is previously unavailable interoperation with an independent software program."
My contention is that you can already play anything you want on an iPod if it is converted to an industry-standard format first. So does the DMCA really protect the rights of Real to hack the copyright protection code?
Just reading your comment here, this does not seem correct. "Previously unavailable" is not accurate; any Real song could have been converted to MP3 and played on the device.
A few problems with that: 1. Cell phones are still nowhere near the majority, 2. Most cell phones in use tend to be older models, and 3. Most people are completely happy typing numbers into their cell phones every time or, if they are a technical, putting them in the address book (a practice I think is insane, because you know that cell phone won't last forever).
I agree it is a useful feature (and one I use myself, albeit with my Powerbook instead of my XP box), it just isn't something the non-geek out there thinks of.:)
So the question remains: What revolution is there in any version of Windows? Can it suddenly vacuum your house? Can it take the kids to soccer practice? Can it change light bulbs? Does it paint the house?
So maybe there's a new email client that does Xyz. Who cares? Non power users don't. Maybe it can use some of these new web sites. Again, who cares? The old web sites that users know and love will continue to work. And when they stop, these people are probably ignorant enough to go out and buy a new computer with a super 3d card and a gig or two of memory and a laser printer so they can play Pogo.
Now it might seem I'm making fun of these people. I'm not. Everyone has their priorities. We're just now at the pint where the priority of most computer users is not to gain computer knowledge, but just to use the computer and the internet to look up stuff they want to know, email cousins, and look up diseases or how to tend for an orchid.
I'm not sure the adoption of later Windows products should be a matric. After all, what does Windows XP do that Windows 95 doesn't that's useful to a non-computer user? You can probably name a few features, and that's great, but they can't.
We also need a clause that allows us to beat anyone who buys stuff from spam.
(Note: It's spam, not SPAM. SPAM is a registered trademark of a certain food company that is graciously not suing the ass off of everyone, and asks only that we not capitlize the word.)
I remember seeing one of Tandy's first PC-compatibles for $5100 CDN. I don't remember if that included a monitor -- I think it included a CGA one. That must have been a 386 at most.
I use an invisible root window in my application as well. Many applictions use invisible windows, and they do not foul Exposé at all. Exposé will not show an invisible window, nor will it show an offscreen window (which is frustrating to me, as I have several tools that try to remember where windows were last displayed even on smaller monitors).
I really do not know what Mozilla is doing, but it is not that simple.
To be honest, everything over there (Philippines) was wired improperly. I could well imagine anyone with an understanding of electricity completely freaking out from the shoddiness of it all. It wasn't the appliances so much as the buildings. My AVR wound sometimes start singing in the middle of the night.
I have no idea how many electrical accidents they have, but it must be a significant number. I know that if I ever have a house there, I am going to have a heck of a time finding a competent electrician, and even after I am going to check all the wiring myself.
For that rental house, I managed to fix all the problems by finding access to the metal structure of the house. And I grounded all of my computer equipment's metal to it.
I don't know how the fridge downstairs is grounded at all, but the electrician did it and it seems to work.
Apologies if my earlier comment came across as rude. I don't think either of us meant that.
This may surprise you, but if someone had tried both LInux and Windows and were to make that argument, I would find it valid. Raw program features mean nothing; experience is everything.
I used Winamp for years until iTunes was released, and Winamp will never touch my hard drive again. I don't care how many features it has or how efficient it is; its interface is too hostile for me to be comfortable using it as a jukebox.
The flippy one is only two prong. If you're connected to a USB item without ground, you'll get a shock through the case of the Powerbook if you're using only the two prong adapter.
It happened to me a lot when I was overseas with flakey main power.
To begin with, let me just say I have nothing but respect for good sys admins.
However, I have nothing but contempt for lazy ones. Our current one is lazy; we get a ton of DNS errors when trying to access the outside world, the VPN in doesn't work (more DNS problems), and I'm sure the only reason my "MAC" is on the network is becase he doesn't know how to block access to it.
No appreciation here. Get your lazy ass back from your coffee break and back to work.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, but there simply *is* no technological solution for it. The problem is that users have a certain set of requirements for electronic communication (namely, that it's free aside from connection time and fairly easy to use).
Do you think spam is one computer sending out email after email? Are you nuts? Spam is sent by a network of compromised computers, connected via any available port.
You cannot increase the cost of sending spam to the point that it has a low enough return on investment to not be worth sending without adding a usage fee for email (and even that won't really fix the problem, as the wrong people are going to pay the fee ).
apple.slashdot.org does share stories that might not be that signficant to other users. That's because apple.slashdot.org is a news site for Apple. If you don't like, don't read it...
I assume it's 10.something, but 10.what?
I've never had any significant problems with Safari or Firefox. The only problem I've ever run into is Firefox not supporting a particular CSS element. (I forget what it's called, and it's now been removed from the spec... I hope Safari keeps it, though.)
A bad interface is equally possible at a comamnd line level than in a GUI.
Place blame where it belongs -- firmly on those who wrote the product with the unclear dialog. And if that's Windows, that's Windows.
You wrote: "explictly allowed if the sole purpose is previously unavailable interoperation with an independent software program."
My contention is that you can already play anything you want on an iPod if it is converted to an industry-standard format first. So does the DMCA really protect the rights of Real to hack the copyright protection code?
I'm not really disagreeing, but does the DMCA really protect every possible route to do something? Isn't it enough that one route is possible?
Just reading your comment here, this does not seem correct. "Previously unavailable" is not accurate; any Real song could have been converted to MP3 and played on the device.
A few problems with that: 1. Cell phones are still nowhere near the majority, 2. Most cell phones in use tend to be older models, and 3. Most people are completely happy typing numbers into their cell phones every time or, if they are a technical, putting them in the address book (a practice I think is insane, because you know that cell phone won't last forever).
I agree it is a useful feature (and one I use myself, albeit with my Powerbook instead of my XP box), it just isn't something the non-geek out there thinks of. :)
I meant to type "non-power user." :)
So the question remains: What revolution is there in any version of Windows? Can it suddenly vacuum your house? Can it take the kids to soccer practice? Can it change light bulbs? Does it paint the house?
So maybe there's a new email client that does Xyz. Who cares? Non power users don't. Maybe it can use some of these new web sites. Again, who cares? The old web sites that users know and love will continue to work. And when they stop, these people are probably ignorant enough to go out and buy a new computer with a super 3d card and a gig or two of memory and a laser printer so they can play Pogo.
Now it might seem I'm making fun of these people. I'm not. Everyone has their priorities. We're just now at the pint where the priority of most computer users is not to gain computer knowledge, but just to use the computer and the internet to look up stuff they want to know, email cousins, and look up diseases or how to tend for an orchid.
I'm not sure the adoption of later Windows products should be a matric. After all, what does Windows XP do that Windows 95 doesn't that's useful to a non-computer user? You can probably name a few features, and that's great, but they can't.
I hope someone writes that article, because I believe it would make a fascinating read.
Yes, people buy from them. And people fall for scams. I know a couple that's expecting their free camcorder in the mail any day now.
We also need a clause that allows us to beat anyone who buys stuff from spam.
(Note: It's spam, not SPAM. SPAM is a registered trademark of a certain food company that is graciously not suing the ass off of everyone, and asks only that we not capitlize the word.)
Are you sure that evoting is less secure? I'll grant you evoting is a mess of insecurity, but so is paper voting.
I think the high end machine was a 286, and all the others were 8088s. I was deliberately vague. :)
I remember seeing one of Tandy's first PC-compatibles for $5100 CDN. I don't remember if that included a monitor -- I think it included a CGA one. That must have been a 386 at most.
I use an invisible root window in my application as well. Many applictions use invisible windows, and they do not foul Exposé at all. Exposé will not show an invisible window, nor will it show an offscreen window (which is frustrating to me, as I have several tools that try to remember where windows were last displayed even on smaller monitors).
I really do not know what Mozilla is doing, but it is not that simple.
To be honest, everything over there (Philippines) was wired improperly. I could well imagine anyone with an understanding of electricity completely freaking out from the shoddiness of it all. It wasn't the appliances so much as the buildings. My AVR wound sometimes start singing in the middle of the night.
I have no idea how many electrical accidents they have, but it must be a significant number. I know that if I ever have a house there, I am going to have a heck of a time finding a competent electrician, and even after I am going to check all the wiring myself.
For that rental house, I managed to fix all the problems by finding access to the metal structure of the house. And I grounded all of my computer equipment's metal to it.
I don't know how the fridge downstairs is grounded at all, but the electrician did it and it seems to work.
Apologies if my earlier comment came across as rude. I don't think either of us meant that.
This may surprise you, but if someone had tried both LInux and Windows and were to make that argument, I would find it valid. Raw program features mean nothing; experience is everything.
I used Winamp for years until iTunes was released, and Winamp will never touch my hard drive again. I don't care how many features it has or how efficient it is; its interface is too hostile for me to be comfortable using it as a jukebox.
Please note that I never said European. I said overseas. There is a great deal more to this world than the United States and Europe.
Oh, and it was an Epson printer that caused the electrical shocks.
The flippy one is only two prong. If you're connected to a USB item without ground, you'll get a shock through the case of the Powerbook if you're using only the two prong adapter.
It happened to me a lot when I was overseas with flakey main power.
Blocked, yeah.
Blocking is one thing he's really good at... :)
Poor boy. Female engineers become attractive to male geeks at puberty, and remain so until 20 minutes after death. Longer on warm days.
And as an engineer, she's probably way too smart to hang out with a boy named Titus.
To begin with, let me just say I have nothing but respect for good sys admins.
However, I have nothing but contempt for lazy ones. Our current one is lazy; we get a ton of DNS errors when trying to access the outside world, the VPN in doesn't work (more DNS problems), and I'm sure the only reason my "MAC" is on the network is becase he doesn't know how to block access to it.
No appreciation here. Get your lazy ass back from your coffee break and back to work.