I remember coming across a couple of sites like that. To view source on them, just disable Javascript temporarily.
Shades of that DRM scheme that prevented Windows from reading the so-called CD, and cost millions to develop, yet all it took to disable it was a $1 Sharpie. I'd sure like to see these clowns claim that turning JS off is a "circumvention device."
Tried over a year ago, but not what I was looking for. On Windows it throws all GIMP windows into a single "task" using the archaic (IMHO) Windows MDI model. Fine and dandy, Photoshop on Windows uses this very method.
What I want is how the *Mac* version of Photoshop works, with floating toolbars, and documents don't need to exist atop a gray background window that cover up the desktop. But, perhaps this is impossible under Windows and maybe Linux as well, which are task-based (whereas the Mac interface is application-based).
On the first point, I think you are confusing two issues here - I wasn't aware of anyone disputing Canada's claims to their arctic archipelago... what has been in the news of late are the rights to the seafloor under the arctic. Specifically about the Northwest Passage, we have this article:
The former U.S. ambassador to Canada says that before leaving his position in 2005, he told his officials in the State Department that Washington should re-examine its territorial claims to the main Arctic waterway.
Canada claims the Northwest Passage, but the United States says the waters are international. And another article from late August this year:
[Bush] and Mr Harper also talked about the Arctic. But But they did not agree about the Northwest Passage, over which Canada claims sovereignty but which the United States calls international water. Obviously the US doesn't have issues on the sections governing passage rights, as those are only to its advantage. But how much of a leg does the US have to stand on as far as claiming Law of the Sea if they don't fully recognize it themselves? Methinks that's why they're going the "it's international waters!" route rather than claiming innocent passage rights under an international treaty they haven't ratified themselves.
All of which is completely irrelevant under the law of the sea. If there is a way to connect to transit between international waters via territorial waters then any nation is completely within their right to make the passage under the concept of innocent passage. Ships all over the world execute this right daily in places such as the Bosporus, Straight of Hormuz, Straight of Gibraltar, Straight of Magellan, Straight of Mallacca. All of which skirts the issue of whether or not it's Canadian territory or not in the first place. The US and others are trying to claim it's international. Claiming innocent passage is an admission that it does indeed belong to Canada.
And the US would be rather hypocritical if they use the Law of the Sea as justification for innocent passage, since they're refusing to ratify it partly because (and love the the irony here) it would compromise US sovereignty.
As I said this was a separate from the point I was making.
At the moment Canada has no dedicated patrol resources (that I'm aware of) that could prevent even non-military vessels from going through the passage. Between 5 and 8 dedicated Arctic patrol boats are planned, but won't be available until 2013 at the earliest. We could theoretically fly a plane up to intercept any ship passing through, but without the ability to land or board troops on them what would that really accomplish?
We have icebreakers, but unlike the US our Coast Guard is civilian and can't assert Canadian sovereignty, which is a completely military responsibility.
I'm not too knowledgeable about Canadian military capabilities in the north though, so if you're aware of capabilities I've not mentioned feel free to enlighten me.
It has the potential to be incredibly lucrative, yes.
Most of the passage indisputably passes between islands all internationally recognized as Canadian. Territorial waters is defined as 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the land, and a quick check using Google Earth shows most of these islands are less than 44 km apart at their closest points. Once you're in the Beaufort Sea, then yeah you're in international waters.
Unfortunately the US and European countries don't have many comparably close-lying islands for comparison, but it would be like claiming the Shelikof Strait between Alaska and Kodiak Island were international waters.
The US and Europe want the passage "international" for the convenience and cost savings, which is understandable. But their wanting to make it international also means they want to strip Canada of its obligation to protect its environment--witness the callous disregard of the effects of dumping bilge oil/water just last year.
Obviously, Canada currently is in no position to enforce its sovereignty in the north due to its underfunded military, but that is a separate issue. The Arctic and Antarctic areas are one of the last areas on earth relatively unspoiled by human contamination, and it disgusts me that those largely responsible for screwing up the rest of the world, now want to finish the job.
The mammals at the time of dinosaurs were small; indeed, with few exceptions not many animals since then have reached anywhere near the size of the larger dinosaurs during the height of their reign. They were sufficiently nimble to avoid larger predators, but the smaller dinosaurs carnivores could probably match what agility they had, and this pretty much prevented them from overtaking the dinosaurs until external events took them out. Once this happened, their potential quickly manifested.
To stretch the analogy, the explosion of the internet, demands of the entertainment industry, malware writers exploiting legacy architecture, whims of politics, etc are all external factors which they're adapting to, but not necessarily well. There probably won't be a single major event that takes MS down, but they are on a decline.
I know you're modded funny, but just look at the dinosaurs--ruled for over 100 million years before a big enough disaster (or sets of disasters) wiped them out and allowed our more nimble mammal ancestors to eventually take over the world.
Microsoft is analogous to the dinosaurs--large, can't react quickly to changes in the environment... and cold-blooded of course;-)
Microsoft's time will come. And just like the dinosaurs they won't die away completely, but their direct descendants won't again rule the earth like they did in their heyday.
You're speaking of the episode "Severed Dreams" I presume, in which case the first we see of the boarding party itself is when they blow a wall in, not a ceiling or floor. The explanation was that they'd already come up through the floor and were making their way towards open ground on the same level, which makes sense--you don't want to be sitting ducks climbing against "gravity" (centrifugal force) coming through a tiny hole in the floor.
A better example where they got centrifugal "gravity" right: When the heroes boarded Babylon 4, they came up through a hole in the floor.
If you're a technie trying to get the thing running, then no. Obviously we need to know the features, options, caveats, etc., both in a linear/chapter form (e.g. how to install and maintain system), and we need a good search system to find specific things in the documentation.
If you're an end-user who's trying to learn to use the system, then the idea has potential. I know many techies are all about "read the f'ing manual" but seriously, many end-users won't bother even looking up the quick hint sheets, never mind a full manual. They have better things to do, and I don't blame them.
Make it *interesting* though, and you have a lure to hook them into learning. Just like tricking a kid into learning by making it fun, it works with adults too. Don't make it as condescendingly stupid as "it looks like you want to write a memo, can I help?" but when dealing with non-technies, I find that if real thought and effort has been spent making the material appealing to learn, they're more willing to stick with it and actually retain what they learn. Screenshots and call-outs of items being discussed is a good start, and obviously the limit in print material; non-tacky animation and interactivity improves things greatly for online materials.
Perhaps more cynically, make user-oriented electronic documentation more like a TV show or movie--it's the only thing that'll stick in their memory these days.
As far as I can tell from LaCie's page, that's a USB host port, not a USB device port. You plug a USB hard drive into it; you don't plug it into a computer. What do you recommend for use at, say, a PC at a public library that has a USB port but no available Ethernet port? The ability to add another drive was news to me, so I looked up the PDF manual to confirm; on page 12 it shows the ports at the back, and we're both right. There's clearly two USB ports--one for connecting another USB HD to add capacity, but there is definitely another USB port "where you plug in in the USB cable that connects the drive to your computer."
It mounts as SMB, AFP, FTP, and (apparently read-only) HTTP. Yes, I know those are available network share options--what wasn't certain was what would appear if you connect it to your computer via USB. Reading further into the manual it seems it *still* gets reported to the computer as a network share, just over USB. Seems as an end user you never have to worry about the underlying file system.
An implicit sub-problem of his selected hardware is the requirement for portability. The drive will be moved to distant locations where a NAS or SAN will not be available.
Lacie offers portable NAS drives that are physically the same size as their standard USB/Firewire ones. These even have USB if you need to hook up directly to it (not sure what the filesystem mounts as, though).
Other companies probably offer similar NASes, but this is the one a friend is using and recommended to me.
The problem is not the device itself, it's the company pushing it. You may get a better product (although, let's be honest, marginally better) but MSFT cripples the dang thing with DRM. It's the RIAA's dream device, so buried in DRM that it's capabilities count for nothing, since you cannot really take advantage of them.
I hadn't thought about this before, but considering how some people are boycotting any CD put out by RIAA members (with help from RIAA Radar), they should be boycotting the Zune as well, seeing as how Microsoft kicks back a small amount to Universal Music for every Zune sold.
Microsoft sold out all consumers in a failed bid to give RIAA members teeth to demand an unjustified cut for every iPod sold, just when Apple was renegotiating licensing with the music labels. Now, you may argue that Apple's on "our side" only because it's best for their bottom line... but at least they're not actively against us in this battle! The least we can do is return the favour.
I've found on my work PC (Win XP, 3 GB RAM) that once Firefox goes past 250 MB of memory it starts choking when switching tabs or navigating pages. The trick of minimizing Firefox appears to free up memory at first, but soon after restoring the window it's past 200 MB and choking again.
The last time this happened I quit my other memory-hogging processes (dev environment, GIMP, etc), it didn't help. Restarting Firefox did--thankfully all my dozen or so tabs were restored.
At no time were all processes taking up close to 3 GB of RAM, i.e. low on resources. For whatever reason, Firefox on my machine just doesn't work well after being open several days straight and moderate usage.
Slashdotters may remember software patent proponents in Europe tried attaching a rider to an agriculture and fisheries bill a few years back allowing them. Because you know, software patents are SO relevant to fish stocks and pig farmers.
These damn things should be outlawed. The supposed benefits are far outweighed by those that think nothing of abusing the good intention of riders ("think of the children!" "it's to fight terrorists!")
I have visited Australia, thanks. I arrived there less than a week before the US started invading Iraq in 2003. You make the "electronic visa" sound like some nefarious scheme, as if it excuses what that US is planning to do. Nonsense.
An electronic visa is simply a convenient way of applying for a visa online, without visiting your local Aussie embassy or consulate. I didn't even need to provide printed proof that my visa application had been approved; when I arrived their computers had it linked to my passport number.
Your complaint against Japan seems like an airport improvement charge--such costs are often included ("hidden") in ticket prices, but can be collected separately (New Zealand springs to mind). Think of it this way--tax added to the sticker price at the cashier's (as done in Canada and the US), or already included in the labelled cost (like the VAT in UK, or GST in Australia).
Feel free to implement your $1 entrance fee--it will NOT offset the costs associated with collecting the new fee, the longer lineups, and pissing off visitors more (resulting in yet fewer visitor dollars). Note that both Australia and Japan see the vast majority of incoming travellers arrive by plane, so then don't even need the numbers of border inspectors that the US does (bordering Canada and Mexico).
Seems Apple ported the font-smoothing technology over to Windows as part of Safari. I'm finding it looks a bit too blurry in comparison to Windows' native font-smoothing when viewed on my screen, sitting almost a metre away (I've a 20" widescreen LCD).
If you're trying to test against Safari without an actual Mac though, I think it's definitely an accurate picture of the resulting webpage.
Vegas and pro hockey. Yeah, there's a winning combination. Apparently a big reason for lack of any pro sports teams is a conflict of interest with sports gambling, obviously allowed in Vegas. The last thing the NHL needs to get itself into is a scandal... OTOH, these days, what better way to make people take an organization seriously...
Damn straight! I'm sick of the NHL pandering to American interests, when probably 98% of their population don't give two craps about Canada's popular sport.
They scheduled several Saturday playoff games at 2 in the afternoon, killing CBC's nighttime ratings twice (they lost all their night viewers, and even most Canadian hockey fans would prefer to be out on a warm and sunny afternoon after months of chilly weather). And why 2pm? Because of NBC, probably because they already had Saturday night commitments. In Game 5 of the Eastern finals, the game went into overtime. NBC ended their broadcast after the 3rd period, and so didn't air the goal that eliminated Buffalo and sent the Ottawa Senators to their first Stanley Cup series since they were resurrected as a team in 1992. That's the commitment the NHL gets from NBC.
Don Cherry called it a few nights ago, when he was guest commentator on the NBC broadcast. He lambasted Americans trying to turn NHL hockey into "family" sport. That the fighting made it a less "serious" sport. He rightfully pointed out the hypocrisy in this as parents let their kids watch UFC and take them to WWE matches. He made pointed reference to NASCAR too, though I didn't understand the connection.
Now, I'm not saying fights in hockey are exactly a GOOD thing, nor am I saying UFC and WWE (expecially WWE) are taken seriously either. But it's clear that violence in the latter sells a hell of a lot more than a fast-paced hockey game in the US. The NHL should never have expanded south as much as it did--it drove up player salaries and other costs until communities that actually cared about the game saw their home teams move to where they're not appreciated.
Yes, I'm bitter we lost the Stanley Cup--yet again--to a US team, in another city where a mere kilometre away from the arena passers-by didn't even know the final game of the championship was being played out.
And in relation to this rant, I just realized the absolute irony of my Slashdot ID.
I'd always had problems with laptop keyboards. Coming from my desktop, the keys don't go down far enough, and the slopes on the sides of the laptop keys were so shallow there may as well be no separation at all between keys if you're slightly off-centre of the key you're trying to hit. Even on a friend's iBook I had this problem.
The Macbook's keyboard was a godsend by comparison. It eliminates the useless slope leaving a clean space between keys. The actual distance between keys is still the same as on a desktop keyboard, but my occasionally off-target typing no longer triggers an adjacent key accidentally.
So you end up contorting your hand into awkward and probably harmful positions to reach that second button with your thumb
You've described the one of the major ergonomic problem with non-Mac laptops with trackpads (regardless of whether it's running Windows or Linux).
The first affects all "PC" keyboards, and that's having to use the control key for keyboard shortcuts (copy, paste, undo, etc). By having the command key next to the space bar, Mac users can use their strongest digit on their hand, the thumb, to initiate the shortcut.
On a PC, you're forced to use your weakest, your pinky. This alone is probably what brought me to the verge of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Yes it does, but I'm talking about dragging something with the right mouse button down.
It's not used in many places (thank goodness), but one example is in Windows' file explorer, right-click + drag a file somewhere and then let go--you get a context menu asking if you want to move, copy, or make a shortcut of the file at the location where you released the right mouse button.
Apple should keep the single-button laptop design. I have a Macbook, and use a two-finger tap on the trackpad to invoke the contextual menu. This is a built-in option available in the System Preferences.
The only time this is lacking is if you're running virtualized Windows and need to drag something with the right-button down.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember coming across a couple of sites like that. To view source on them, just disable Javascript temporarily.
Shades of that DRM scheme that prevented Windows from reading the so-called CD, and cost millions to develop, yet all it took to disable it was a $1 Sharpie. I'd sure like to see these clowns claim that turning JS off is a "circumvention device."
Tried over a year ago, but not what I was looking for. On Windows it throws all GIMP windows into a single "task" using the archaic (IMHO) Windows MDI model. Fine and dandy, Photoshop on Windows uses this very method.
What I want is how the *Mac* version of Photoshop works, with floating toolbars, and documents don't need to exist atop a gray background window that cover up the desktop. But, perhaps this is impossible under Windows and maybe Linux as well, which are task-based (whereas the Mac interface is application-based).
Canada claims the Northwest Passage, but the United States says the waters are international. And another article from late August this year: [Bush] and Mr Harper also talked about the Arctic. But But they did not agree about the Northwest Passage, over which Canada claims sovereignty but which the United States calls international water. Obviously the US doesn't have issues on the sections governing passage rights, as those are only to its advantage. But how much of a leg does the US have to stand on as far as claiming Law of the Sea if they don't fully recognize it themselves? Methinks that's why they're going the "it's international waters!" route rather than claiming innocent passage rights under an international treaty they haven't ratified themselves.
And the US would be rather hypocritical if they use the Law of the Sea as justification for innocent passage, since they're refusing to ratify it partly because (and love the the irony here) it would compromise US sovereignty.
As I said this was a separate from the point I was making.
At the moment Canada has no dedicated patrol resources (that I'm aware of) that could prevent even non-military vessels from going through the passage. Between 5 and 8 dedicated Arctic patrol boats are planned, but won't be available until 2013 at the earliest. We could theoretically fly a plane up to intercept any ship passing through, but without the ability to land or board troops on them what would that really accomplish?
We have icebreakers, but unlike the US our Coast Guard is civilian and can't assert Canadian sovereignty, which is a completely military responsibility.
I'm not too knowledgeable about Canadian military capabilities in the north though, so if you're aware of capabilities I've not mentioned feel free to enlighten me.
It has the potential to be incredibly lucrative, yes.
Most of the passage indisputably passes between islands all internationally recognized as Canadian. Territorial waters is defined as 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the land, and a quick check using Google Earth shows most of these islands are less than 44 km apart at their closest points. Once you're in the Beaufort Sea, then yeah you're in international waters.
Unfortunately the US and European countries don't have many comparably close-lying islands for comparison, but it would be like claiming the Shelikof Strait between Alaska and Kodiak Island were international waters.
The US and Europe want the passage "international" for the convenience and cost savings, which is understandable. But their wanting to make it international also means they want to strip Canada of its obligation to protect its environment--witness the callous disregard of the effects of dumping bilge oil/water just last year.
Obviously, Canada currently is in no position to enforce its sovereignty in the north due to its underfunded military, but that is a separate issue. The Arctic and Antarctic areas are one of the last areas on earth relatively unspoiled by human contamination, and it disgusts me that those largely responsible for screwing up the rest of the world, now want to finish the job.
The mammals at the time of dinosaurs were small; indeed, with few exceptions not many animals since then have reached anywhere near the size of the larger dinosaurs during the height of their reign. They were sufficiently nimble to avoid larger predators, but the smaller dinosaurs carnivores could probably match what agility they had, and this pretty much prevented them from overtaking the dinosaurs until external events took them out. Once this happened, their potential quickly manifested.
To stretch the analogy, the explosion of the internet, demands of the entertainment industry, malware writers exploiting legacy architecture, whims of politics, etc are all external factors which they're adapting to, but not necessarily well. There probably won't be a single major event that takes MS down, but they are on a decline.
I know you're modded funny, but just look at the dinosaurs--ruled for over 100 million years before a big enough disaster (or sets of disasters) wiped them out and allowed our more nimble mammal ancestors to eventually take over the world.
;-)
Microsoft is analogous to the dinosaurs--large, can't react quickly to changes in the environment... and cold-blooded of course
Microsoft's time will come. And just like the dinosaurs they won't die away completely, but their direct descendants won't again rule the earth like they did in their heyday.
You're speaking of the episode "Severed Dreams" I presume, in which case the first we see of the boarding party itself is when they blow a wall in, not a ceiling or floor. The explanation was that they'd already come up through the floor and were making their way towards open ground on the same level, which makes sense--you don't want to be sitting ducks climbing against "gravity" (centrifugal force) coming through a tiny hole in the floor.
A better example where they got centrifugal "gravity" right: When the heroes boarded Babylon 4, they came up through a hole in the floor.
If you're a technie trying to get the thing running, then no. Obviously we need to know the features, options, caveats, etc., both in a linear/chapter form (e.g. how to install and maintain system), and we need a good search system to find specific things in the documentation.
If you're an end-user who's trying to learn to use the system, then the idea has potential. I know many techies are all about "read the f'ing manual" but seriously, many end-users won't bother even looking up the quick hint sheets, never mind a full manual. They have better things to do, and I don't blame them.
Make it *interesting* though, and you have a lure to hook them into learning. Just like tricking a kid into learning by making it fun, it works with adults too. Don't make it as condescendingly stupid as "it looks like you want to write a memo, can I help?" but when dealing with non-technies, I find that if real thought and effort has been spent making the material appealing to learn, they're more willing to stick with it and actually retain what they learn. Screenshots and call-outs of items being discussed is a good start, and obviously the limit in print material; non-tacky animation and interactivity improves things greatly for online materials.
Perhaps more cynically, make user-oriented electronic documentation more like a TV show or movie--it's the only thing that'll stick in their memory these days.
Other companies probably offer similar NASes, but this is the one a friend is using and recommended to me.
I hadn't thought about this before, but considering how some people are boycotting any CD put out by RIAA members (with help from RIAA Radar), they should be boycotting the Zune as well, seeing as how Microsoft kicks back a small amount to Universal Music for every Zune sold.
Microsoft sold out all consumers in a failed bid to give RIAA members teeth to demand an unjustified cut for every iPod sold, just when Apple was renegotiating licensing with the music labels. Now, you may argue that Apple's on "our side" only because it's best for their bottom line... but at least they're not actively against us in this battle! The least we can do is return the favour.
I've found on my work PC (Win XP, 3 GB RAM) that once Firefox goes past 250 MB of memory it starts choking when switching tabs or navigating pages. The trick of minimizing Firefox appears to free up memory at first, but soon after restoring the window it's past 200 MB and choking again.
The last time this happened I quit my other memory-hogging processes (dev environment, GIMP, etc), it didn't help. Restarting Firefox did--thankfully all my dozen or so tabs were restored.
At no time were all processes taking up close to 3 GB of RAM, i.e. low on resources. For whatever reason, Firefox on my machine just doesn't work well after being open several days straight and moderate usage.
They're called riders.
Slashdotters may remember software patent proponents in Europe tried attaching a rider to an agriculture and fisheries bill a few years back allowing them. Because you know, software patents are SO relevant to fish stocks and pig farmers.
These damn things should be outlawed. The supposed benefits are far outweighed by those that think nothing of abusing the good intention of riders ("think of the children!" "it's to fight terrorists!")
I have visited Australia, thanks. I arrived there less than a week before the US started invading Iraq in 2003. You make the "electronic visa" sound like some nefarious scheme, as if it excuses what that US is planning to do. Nonsense.
An electronic visa is simply a convenient way of applying for a visa online, without visiting your local Aussie embassy or consulate. I didn't even need to provide printed proof that my visa application had been approved; when I arrived their computers had it linked to my passport number.
Your complaint against Japan seems like an airport improvement charge--such costs are often included ("hidden") in ticket prices, but can be collected separately (New Zealand springs to mind). Think of it this way--tax added to the sticker price at the cashier's (as done in Canada and the US), or already included in the labelled cost (like the VAT in UK, or GST in Australia).
Feel free to implement your $1 entrance fee--it will NOT offset the costs associated with collecting the new fee, the longer lineups, and pissing off visitors more (resulting in yet fewer visitor dollars). Note that both Australia and Japan see the vast majority of incoming travellers arrive by plane, so then don't even need the numbers of border inspectors that the US does (bordering Canada and Mexico).
Seems Apple ported the font-smoothing technology over to Windows as part of Safari. I'm finding it looks a bit too blurry in comparison to Windows' native font-smoothing when viewed on my screen, sitting almost a metre away (I've a 20" widescreen LCD).
If you're trying to test against Safari without an actual Mac though, I think it's definitely an accurate picture of the resulting webpage.
The idiots in charge want to add a Las Vegas NHL team.
Vegas and pro hockey. Yeah, there's a winning combination. Apparently a big reason for lack of any pro sports teams is a conflict of interest with sports gambling, obviously allowed in Vegas. The last thing the NHL needs to get itself into is a scandal... OTOH, these days, what better way to make people take an organization seriously...
Damn straight! I'm sick of the NHL pandering to American interests, when probably 98% of their population don't give two craps about Canada's popular sport.
They scheduled several Saturday playoff games at 2 in the afternoon, killing CBC's nighttime ratings twice (they lost all their night viewers, and even most Canadian hockey fans would prefer to be out on a warm and sunny afternoon after months of chilly weather). And why 2pm? Because of NBC, probably because they already had Saturday night commitments. In Game 5 of the Eastern finals, the game went into overtime. NBC ended their broadcast after the 3rd period, and so didn't air the goal that eliminated Buffalo and sent the Ottawa Senators to their first Stanley Cup series since they were resurrected as a team in 1992. That's the commitment the NHL gets from NBC.
Don Cherry called it a few nights ago, when he was guest commentator on the NBC broadcast. He lambasted Americans trying to turn NHL hockey into "family" sport. That the fighting made it a less "serious" sport. He rightfully pointed out the hypocrisy in this as parents let their kids watch UFC and take them to WWE matches. He made pointed reference to NASCAR too, though I didn't understand the connection.
Now, I'm not saying fights in hockey are exactly a GOOD thing, nor am I saying UFC and WWE (expecially WWE) are taken seriously either. But it's clear that violence in the latter sells a hell of a lot more than a fast-paced hockey game in the US. The NHL should never have expanded south as much as it did--it drove up player salaries and other costs until communities that actually cared about the game saw their home teams move to where they're not appreciated.
Yes, I'm bitter we lost the Stanley Cup--yet again--to a US team, in another city where a mere kilometre away from the arena passers-by didn't even know the final game of the championship was being played out.
And in relation to this rant, I just realized the absolute irony of my Slashdot ID.
I was as skeptical as anyone, but...
I'd always had problems with laptop keyboards. Coming from my desktop, the keys don't go down far enough, and the slopes on the sides of the laptop keys were so shallow there may as well be no separation at all between keys if you're slightly off-centre of the key you're trying to hit. Even on a friend's iBook I had this problem.
The Macbook's keyboard was a godsend by comparison. It eliminates the useless slope leaving a clean space between keys. The actual distance between keys is still the same as on a desktop keyboard, but my occasionally off-target typing no longer triggers an adjacent key accidentally.
You've described the one of the major ergonomic problem with non-Mac laptops with trackpads (regardless of whether it's running Windows or Linux).
The first affects all "PC" keyboards, and that's having to use the control key for keyboard shortcuts (copy, paste, undo, etc). By having the command key next to the space bar, Mac users can use their strongest digit on their hand, the thumb, to initiate the shortcut.
On a PC, you're forced to use your weakest, your pinky. This alone is probably what brought me to the verge of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Adam Beach instantly springs to mind, since my roommates know him.
Notable appearances: Flags of our Fathers, Windtalkers, and a new regular cast member on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Yes it does, but I'm talking about dragging something with the right mouse button down.
It's not used in many places (thank goodness), but one example is in Windows' file explorer, right-click + drag a file somewhere and then let go--you get a context menu asking if you want to move, copy, or make a shortcut of the file at the location where you released the right mouse button.
Apple should keep the single-button laptop design. I have a Macbook, and use a two-finger tap on the trackpad to invoke the contextual menu. This is a built-in option available in the System Preferences.
The only time this is lacking is if you're running virtualized Windows and need to drag something with the right-button down.
The DRM-free AAC files now available from iTunes are 256 kbps, not 128.