OK, if they're going down (which, for the time being, I very much doubt until everyone sees how many of the things they can do now get removed in Vista), allow me to be the first to say:
"Hey, remember when the lusers were all on the Microsoft platform? Now everyone has Linux, they're free to find more new, exciting and inventive ways to screw up than ever before."
Sorry, I'm not usually a grammar nazi (although my pet hate is currently coworkers. Those people should be reported to the SCPA) but I just love the term "feral apostrophe";-)
IMHO, more useful than a Li-Ion replacement fuel-cell would be a fuel-cell powered universal PSU. Should be:
* No bigger than a mains PSU brick * Easily replenishable whilst running * Inexpensive * Under ten dollars shipping on eBay
OK, that last was a wise crack, but let's sort out the machines that are out there first. After all, what's the point of having your Lappy 486's 41 pounds of allegedly portable dominance running for nine hours if you can't watch a DVD on the 'plane? (RTFA: Media bay, not battery slot)
"Yes, people will still buy from Sony. Why is that?"
If I may expand on CyricZ's question, possibly because this whole episode has been blown out of all proportion?
Besides which, didn't Sony do the right thing? To hell with karma, they withdrew the draconian DRM encumbered CDs almost as quickly as they could. The ultimate resonsibility for the fiasco lies at the door of First 4 Internet, not Sony. I admit they should have tested what they were selling before RTM, but going on a hate campaign after the company has apologised only makes future episodes, especially involving other companies, harder to deal with.
Seriously, if we can't hand out kudos to manufacturers bowing to public pressure on DRM or a bit of slack for those same companies admitting mistakes, aren't we just shooting ourselves in the foot?
Are you telling me that I don't have a right to reply because of my support for FreeBSD? Granted, that remark may have looked like "assery" to you, but the simple fact is that sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with a person's conduct on the 'net. The original post was intended as a joke. The T-shirt I was referring to was actually worn by an AMD employee at a large conference, which had nothing to do with ThinkGeek whatsoever.
My comments are always honest representations of my opinions although, granted, I have a slightly warped sense of humour. I don't go out of my way to troll, flame or insult and I never post AC for those very reasons, but I'll be damned if I'll roll over and die at a stupid comment such as that which I replied to.
Perhaps you'd like to tell me exactly where I'm going wrong?
BTW, I'm straight and have been married for 14 years, if it makes a difference. It shouldn't, but this is Slashdot.
Is there really a browser war, or is this the megalomaniac in we geeks that says any open source project just has to kill, crush and conquer? Isn't this what makes Microsoft evil?
I use Firefox. I use it because it's the best, not because I have some desire to up a statistic that really doesn't tell anyone anything anyway or help the FOSS movement's world domination push. Can't we just say Firefox was first to market with some pretty damn innovative features and leave it at that?
To be honest, I'd rather Firefox remained where it is. Attracts less skr1p7 k1dd135, doesn't it?
So? Just skip a number or two. It has to be worth it just to see the bastards squirm. When you get to 2.11 Darl will run out of fingers anyway. I'm sure a few of us will be giving him one or two, though, just to be public spirited of course.
PS. The BSD sig means I use a *lot* of Linux and GNU derived software from the ports, not to mention GCC. United front and all that...
What *really* makes my blood boil, jjeffrey, is that you pay BT (do any alternative words for that acronym come immediately to mind?) to bar anonymous calls. It costs nearly a ruddy fiver a month. OK, so anyone with a UK witheld number cannot call you. Yet the service doesn't work for international calls (read: Indian bleedin' chicken coop) because THEY DON'T SEND A COMPATIBLE CALLER-ID! I just told them I don't want calls from anyone who doesn't have the decency to let me know who they are, and an incompatible caller-ID fits that description nicely. I don't give a rat's arse if they're from India, Outer Mongolia, Antarctica or flippin' Uranus, just give them the nice little message telling them, politely, to piss off.
Not only that, but I'm on the TPS and it's something of a toothless entity because when you report something they don't give a toss. Safestyle UK, eight phone-calls, each logged and names and callcentre location obtained. Filled in their form to report the bastards. Answer? We can't do anything. What do they want, full medical history and the caller's family tree?
Then there was the idiotic bint from India that rang me back after I put the phone down three times on one of her operatives. She decided that it would be fun to say, and I quote: "Don't be so f*cking ignorant!" before she, too, was treated to the SNU tone.
I don't care that these people have to make money. As far as I am concerned, they are some of the pushiest, rudest, most ignorant bastards God ever put on the face of this planet. If anyone from the Direct Marketing Association (the people behind the TPS) is reading, just keep your ignorant marketing-bots away from me. In future, I will be politely asking them to hold the line whilst I find the householder. Since that is me, they will be sat there waiting a bloody long time.
OK, rant over. Thanks for helping me let off some steam:-)
Erm, Skype is #8. A brief scan of the list shows FWD to be strangely absent, though. With VoIP being the next big thing (if it isn't already) I'm as curious as you regarding the absence of at least one of the SIP/IAX based services. Perhaps next year if IP phones start to compete properly we'll see these making in-roads. I personally think those little ATAs (analogue telephone adaptors) look like the ideal solution, so granny can still pick up the receiver of a familiar device and dial a number. Technology at its best, IMHO, is that which enables transparently.
Ah, OK, I can accept that. I suppose that did come across as a bit of a Microsofty-fanboy-type rant, didn't it? Apologies for the semi-flame. Like yourself, I find fanboyism to be very, very distasteful, especially when it leads the ignorant into making bad choices.
Let the technology stand or fall on its merits, not some perceived holiness of the manufacturer. I'll be the first to admit Apple products are rather nice, but let's not assume that they're the right choice for everyone by being "surprised" when they don't make the grade for certain users.
Dear me, and here I was thinking that vendor lock-in was a Bad Thing[TM]...
So, let me get this straight, vendor lock-in is only a Bad Thing if it's done by Microsoft (for now, until Google becomes the next Microsoft - Ooooh! Quick, mods, he's trolling! He said something nasty about Google as well as Apple!), yes?
Posted at the same time, I imagine. Apparently, there are two of us who can see through the hype and recognise this set of devices for exactly what they are: Marketing tools.
Why is it so surprising that with things like the PalmOne Treo and other very useful devices in the list, a proprietary format audio file player that you can't even get your music back off of when things go mammaries vertical should be *way* down the list? Or is this just another Apple fanboy rant?
I had this out with a major case importer here in the UK whilst I was in charge of production for a box-shifter. The PSUs they were supplying us were supposedly 300W units, but the number of returns we got because of these units was unbelievable. Furthermore, the silly bastards had supplied these things with a label giving the output currents for the various voltages, which only supported my claims that these supplies fell woefully short of their claims.
Working with the simple VI=P formula for the DC side, our calculations put the output of these things at somewhere close to 125W maximum. Nowhere near 300W, yet the sales droid still insisted they were 300W PSUs even after explaining our findings. I then told her we were going to stress test a couple. We did so, and most failed catastrophicly at around 150W drawn from the 3.3, 5 and 12V rails in the ratio indicated by the labels, which I took to indicate the ratings for current on the labels was probably correct and their figure in watts was a fib. Given that they knew the current ratings (if you print something on a label, you can't subsequently deny any knowledge of it), I then contacted the supplier again.
Needless to say we got the lot replaced without question when I sent three blackened PSUs and my report back to the supplier, but let this be a lesson to you: PSUs and PC speakers share one thing in common: Their ratings in watts are pure mythology. I was tempted to say that the 300W they claimed was *input* rating, but a PF of.5 is a bit of a stretch of the imagination even for a non PF corrected PSU.
...missed the Monty Python-esque foot icon, did you? Ah well, Zonk, you tried, but some folks are beyond help and wouldn't even find the dead parrot sketch funny.
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OK, if they're going down (which, for the time being, I very much doubt until everyone sees how many of the things they can do now get removed in Vista), allow me to be the first to say:
"Hey, remember when the lusers were all on the Microsoft platform? Now everyone has Linux, they're free to find more new, exciting and inventive ways to screw up than ever before."
Rule #1 of being a grammar nazi, friend. Point out others' mistakes and make a more stupid one yourself...
Sorry, I'm not usually a grammar nazi (although my pet hate is currently coworkers. Those people should be reported to the SCPA) but I just love the term "feral apostrophe" ;-)
Nice feral apostrophe, by the way. Haven't seen one of those for a while.
Actually, given the state of modern music, I would have to say that your "brain juice" was long gone already if you're listening to it.
Just my opinion, of course.
41 pounds?
Sorry, obscure reference. You may want to check out Strong Bad's e-mail on Technology.
IMHO, more useful than a Li-Ion replacement fuel-cell would be a fuel-cell powered universal PSU. Should be:
* No bigger than a mains PSU brick
* Easily replenishable whilst running
* Inexpensive
* Under ten dollars shipping on eBay
OK, that last was a wise crack, but let's sort out the machines that are out there first. After all, what's the point of having your Lappy 486's 41 pounds of allegedly portable dominance running for nine hours if you can't watch a DVD on the 'plane? (RTFA: Media bay, not battery slot)
"Yes, people will still buy from Sony. Why is that?"
If I may expand on CyricZ's question, possibly because this whole episode has been blown out of all proportion?
Besides which, didn't Sony do the right thing? To hell with karma, they withdrew the draconian DRM encumbered CDs almost as quickly as they could. The ultimate resonsibility for the fiasco lies at the door of First 4 Internet, not Sony. I admit they should have tested what they were selling before RTM, but going on a hate campaign after the company has apologised only makes future episodes, especially involving other companies, harder to deal with.
Seriously, if we can't hand out kudos to manufacturers bowing to public pressure on DRM or a bit of slack for those same companies admitting mistakes, aren't we just shooting ourselves in the foot?
"Or get several and set up a wireless mesh network using all the neighborhood strays!" ... and call it Fidonet.
Are you telling me that I don't have a right to reply because of my support for FreeBSD? Granted, that remark may have looked like "assery" to you, but the simple fact is that sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with a person's conduct on the 'net. The original post was intended as a joke. The T-shirt I was referring to was actually worn by an AMD employee at a large conference, which had nothing to do with ThinkGeek whatsoever.
My comments are always honest representations of my opinions although, granted, I have a slightly warped sense of humour. I don't go out of my way to troll, flame or insult and I never post AC for those very reasons, but I'll be damned if I'll roll over and die at a stupid comment such as that which I replied to.
Perhaps you'd like to tell me exactly where I'm going wrong?
BTW, I'm straight and have been married for 14 years, if it makes a difference. It shouldn't, but this is Slashdot.
Oh, a sexuality flame. I'm impressed. Did you think of that all by yourself, or are you unsure of your own, sunshine?
Wear the T-shirt, fella!
"No, I will not fix your computer"
Is there really a browser war, or is this the megalomaniac in we geeks that says any open source project just has to kill, crush and conquer? Isn't this what makes Microsoft evil?
I use Firefox. I use it because it's the best, not because I have some desire to up a statistic that really doesn't tell anyone anything anyway or help the FOSS movement's world domination push. Can't we just say Firefox was first to market with some pretty damn innovative features and leave it at that?
To be honest, I'd rather Firefox remained where it is. Attracts less skr1p7 k1dd135, doesn't it?
So? Just skip a number or two. It has to be worth it just to see the bastards squirm. When you get to 2.11 Darl will run out of fingers anyway. I'm sure a few of us will be giving him one or two, though, just to be public spirited of course.
PS. The BSD sig means I use a *lot* of Linux and GNU derived software from the ports, not to mention GCC. United front and all that...
If you want to be xenophobes and issue ultimatums, perhaps this may help those of us who don't like being held to ransom:
http://european.de.orsn.net/rootzone.php
IPv6 root servers, too. Rather nice.
What *really* makes my blood boil, jjeffrey, is that you pay BT (do any alternative words for that acronym come immediately to mind?) to bar anonymous calls. It costs nearly a ruddy fiver a month. OK, so anyone with a UK witheld number cannot call you. Yet the service doesn't work for international calls (read: Indian bleedin' chicken coop) because THEY DON'T SEND A COMPATIBLE CALLER-ID! I just told them I don't want calls from anyone who doesn't have the decency to let me know who they are, and an incompatible caller-ID fits that description nicely. I don't give a rat's arse if they're from India, Outer Mongolia, Antarctica or flippin' Uranus, just give them the nice little message telling them, politely, to piss off.
:-)
Not only that, but I'm on the TPS and it's something of a toothless entity because when you report something they don't give a toss. Safestyle UK, eight phone-calls, each logged and names and callcentre location obtained. Filled in their form to report the bastards. Answer? We can't do anything. What do they want, full medical history and the caller's family tree?
Then there was the idiotic bint from India that rang me back after I put the phone down three times on one of her operatives. She decided that it would be fun to say, and I quote: "Don't be so f*cking ignorant!" before she, too, was treated to the SNU tone.
I don't care that these people have to make money. As far as I am concerned, they are some of the pushiest, rudest, most ignorant bastards God ever put on the face of this planet. If anyone from the Direct Marketing Association (the people behind the TPS) is reading, just keep your ignorant marketing-bots away from me. In future, I will be politely asking them to hold the line whilst I find the householder. Since that is me, they will be sat there waiting a bloody long time.
OK, rant over. Thanks for helping me let off some steam
Those bangs were more likely to be CRTs imploding.
Erm, Skype is #8. A brief scan of the list shows FWD to be strangely absent, though. With VoIP being the next big thing (if it isn't already) I'm as curious as you regarding the absence of at least one of the SIP/IAX based services. Perhaps next year if IP phones start to compete properly we'll see these making in-roads. I personally think those little ATAs (analogue telephone adaptors) look like the ideal solution, so granny can still pick up the receiver of a familiar device and dial a number. Technology at its best, IMHO, is that which enables transparently.
Anyway, we're (OK, I'm) wandering off-topic.
Ah, OK, I can accept that. I suppose that did come across as a bit of a Microsofty-fanboy-type rant, didn't it? Apologies for the semi-flame. Like yourself, I find fanboyism to be very, very distasteful, especially when it leads the ignorant into making bad choices.
Let the technology stand or fall on its merits, not some perceived holiness of the manufacturer. I'll be the first to admit Apple products are rather nice, but let's not assume that they're the right choice for everyone by being "surprised" when they don't make the grade for certain users.
Dear me, and here I was thinking that vendor lock-in was a Bad Thing[TM]...
/.
So, let me get this straight, vendor lock-in is only a Bad Thing if it's done by Microsoft (for now, until Google becomes the next Microsoft - Ooooh! Quick, mods, he's trolling! He said something nasty about Google as well as Apple!), yes?
There's hypocrites and then there's
Posted at the same time, I imagine. Apparently, there are two of us who can see through the hype and recognise this set of devices for exactly what they are: Marketing tools.
Why is it so surprising that with things like the PalmOne Treo and other very useful devices in the list, a proprietary format audio file player that you can't even get your music back off of when things go mammaries vertical should be *way* down the list? Or is this just another Apple fanboy rant?
I had this out with a major case importer here in the UK whilst I was in charge of production for a box-shifter. The PSUs they were supplying us were supposedly 300W units, but the number of returns we got because of these units was unbelievable. Furthermore, the silly bastards had supplied these things with a label giving the output currents for the various voltages, which only supported my claims that these supplies fell woefully short of their claims.
.5 is a bit of a stretch of the imagination even for a non PF corrected PSU.
Working with the simple VI=P formula for the DC side, our calculations put the output of these things at somewhere close to 125W maximum. Nowhere near 300W, yet the sales droid still insisted they were 300W PSUs even after explaining our findings. I then told her we were going to stress test a couple. We did so, and most failed catastrophicly at around 150W drawn from the 3.3, 5 and 12V rails in the ratio indicated by the labels, which I took to indicate the ratings for current on the labels was probably correct and their figure in watts was a fib. Given that they knew the current ratings (if you print something on a label, you can't subsequently deny any knowledge of it), I then contacted the supplier again.
Needless to say we got the lot replaced without question when I sent three blackened PSUs and my report back to the supplier, but let this be a lesson to you: PSUs and PC speakers share one thing in common: Their ratings in watts are pure mythology. I was tempted to say that the 300W they claimed was *input* rating, but a PF of
...missed the Monty Python-esque foot icon, did you? Ah well, Zonk, you tried, but some folks are beyond help and wouldn't even find the dead parrot sketch funny.
You're supposed to write it 500 times, do a funny little dance and faint. At least, that's what Peterson told me...