I have one of those spring-based hand exercisers on a shelf near my computer. I pick that up and squeeze it (alternating hands) while I look out the window.
install to virtual machine, then make copies of that virtual machine. problem solved.
I do not think that this "solution" will work for a typical user. VM machines are not simple to setup and use for the masses as they are for/. users.
As a matter of fact I do not think this will impact the majority of users at all. Most people buy their software with their computer system and are not adverse to having to buy a new version when they get a new machine.
Ok, let's expand a bit. It should be relatively straightforward for a knowledgeable person to create a self-contained virtual appliance with a copy of Window Du jour plus a copy of Office 20-whatever with all the common options (or every option) and require the user to only input the license key for the OS and the license key for Office. Install procedure would be to insert disk, run Setup, get prompted for the required license keys, and get an icon on your desktop that when invoked, brings up Office in a virtual box.
This is, of course, non-trivial to create. But all it takes is a single (not inconsiderable) effort, the results of which are replicated endlessly.
Or, we could all stick with a previous version of Office, and Microsoft can go screw. I'm still using Office 2000. Works fine on Windows 7.
A smart watch should replace one or more devices I'm required to carry with me, not add to the geek loadout. For instance, if it can do the things my phone currently can do, including provide hotspot for tablet or laptop, and do it well enough that my phone can stay home, then it would be a sought after item. (For me at least.) Bonus points if it has well-integrated, easy to use 2 way TV capability, as I've wanted to own a Dick Tracy watch since I was a kid. But if it's just a bluetooth appliance that talks to other devices that I also must carry, then fail.
What I suspect we will actually see is a device that interacts with your ipod and iphone and ipad and ilaptop and doesn't provide any unique capabilities or information. It'll be an alpha-geek toy of limited usefulness but supreme bragging rights. Yawn. Just another reason for me to steer clear of the Apple store on launch day.
> I haven't bought a copy of office since 2006 or so.
I'm still using Office 2000, on Windows 7. Shortly we're bringing up a (real, purchased) copy of Windows 8 on a test box, and I get to see if Office 2000 works on Windows 8. As long as that continues to work, I'll continue to use it. When it stops working, I'll have to slog through OpenOffice or LIbre, because Office just isn't worth the cost.
...that Microsoft hasn't found a way to sue for lost income. I mean, if OpenOffice didn't exist, Microsoft would arguably get that revenue. And if OpenOffice was a company that could be purchased, Microsoft could own it. This open source free thing is clearly unfair to Microsoft.
True, but Chrome is not supported by Red Hat. It's not in their repositories. You have to install it manually if you want it, and Google has no responsibility to support it everywhere.
Yes, of course, but I meant, like, it made us feel like we were doing something for the environment. I'm certain I saw that in an episode of Captain Planet. Grain fuels were supposed to save the earth.
> Like 99.9% of government laws and regulations, we never should have had a mandate of ethanol in gas. Its bad for cars, makes no economic sense, and is actually less green (you've got to use more oil to make corn-based ethanol than it will save)
> You freedom-loving libertarians need to understand this concept. It really is a flaw among you libertarians to think that you somehow live in a "free" country. No, you do NOT live in a free country. You never have. Try breaking a law, and see how much freedom you have.
This illustrates several basic misunderstandings of libertarianism.
I have a friend who trades in his pro camera for the next model every year. He says it helps him keep up on the latest features. Personally I think it's easy to get too wrapped up in a consumer mindset -- of "it's what you have" as opposed to the more practical "it's what you do with it". It took me well over a year to learn my camera thoroughly. Trading in once a year seems to me a good way be forever an amateur with one's equipment.
I don't think Chrome OS is any more a threat to Windows than Windows is to itself. The Windows business model may not work anymore, but it has worked so long that Microsoft could (and probably will) glide along on inertia for a very long time. So are Netbooks going to destroy Windows, no they didn't. Is Android? Nope. Chromebooks? Nope. Tablets? No again. Will Microsoft realize too late that the rest of the industry has switched to a different business model, (which, incidentally, is the real issue, of which all the other technologies above are only symptoms) and make increasingly desperate attempts to win back the market, both trying unsuccessfully to play in these new markets and with decreasing success to force the market back into their comfortable space? One could say that's already happening. But it will continue to happen for a very long time, and a lot more chairs will fly, before the company is to the point where people would say yes, right now, they're threatened. Potential threat, meta threat, maybe, but not real threat.
This isn't an iphone, fer chrissake. It's not some disposable toy that you replace every 18 months.
This makes me sad:(
Not because you call an iPhone a "disposable toy," but rather because I never thought I'd live in a society where some folks still starve to death in the streets, meanwhile others think throwing a $500 piece of electronic equipment in the trash is no big deal.
It's one of those things that I observe without understanding. I tend to keep a phone until it stops working and can't be repaired. (It tends not to be an Apple product because I don't use devices that don't have user expandable memory or replaceable batteries.) When a new iphone comes out, I drive by the crowd filling up the parking lot outside the phone store (blocking my access to the Starbucks next door) with wonder and some exasperation. I rapidly lose interest in co-workers who wax philosophical about how much better the 4s is than the 4, and how it was worth waiting all night in line. I listen to a 99% woman at Occupy Wall Street making a speech about how much Steve Jobs has done for people, and I gag a little. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't the smell.) The Apple mindshare is for high profit items that get regular incremental refreshes that users just have to have, and like you, this makes me sad both for the electronic waste and for the deplorable conditions used to create the devices. (And yes, I know that a lot of factories are like that; it still doesn't make it right.)
Mind you, I'm pretty sure that in this particular society, someone starving in the street has more issues than mere lack of money. The US has been called "a place where even the poor are fat" and there's considerable truth to that. But your point still stands, that there is probably better use of those resources than a fractional improvement in a product that people don't strictly need, causing flocks of people not really connected to society, with lots of words but nothing to say, paying financial homage to a black and white photo of a middle aged, bearded dead man. I got creeped out again just writing that.
> but it's a hell of a lot smoother than windows 8
Damning with faint praise.
But you're right, depending on the *kind* of development, there are inexpensive tools out there to do that. I do photography, and I basically need the Adobe suite. (Don't say Gimp. Just don't. Yes, I have used it, and it's better than nothing. My workflow doesn't fit with its assumptions.) At the moment, my solution on a slate or a non-Windows (non-Apple) laptop, is to remote into a Windows box or Mac running my tools, which is... less than satisfactory.
In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a new camera than to have the old one repaired.
The problem is, pros (generally) use pro cameras, which can cost from $2,500 to $6,000 (street price, body only, standard SLR -- for medium format, add a zero), so simply buying a new camera when something non-catastrophic happens is out of the question.
Mind you, cameras in that class tend to be ruggedized and weather sealed. (Mine has survived tens of thousands of clicks in rain and dust, uncountable bumps, and falling out of the rental car. Twice.) However, when something fails, for that kind of money, I want it to be fixable. And I don't give a damn that it's out of warranty. This isn't an iphone, fer chrissake. It's not some disposable toy that you replace every 18 months. It's a high end tool that I use to do my job, and it had better be fixable.
You should read the fine print of the contests. In a recent contest held by my local county for kids, the county would own the rights to all works submitted.
We do, (I'm a photographer, and participate also) and have not run into that provision yet. We would not participate in any contest that supplies free content to the providers. Why would any artist give away the rights to their own works simply to enter a contest?
Now, select rights, like the right to photograph the winning works and feature them in a flyer, that seems reasonable. But exclusive rights to content created by others? Not bloody likely.
For casual use, content consumption, sure. It fills the same niche as those netbooks of a few years ago, and tablets (for the most part) now. But for content creation, they need apps that are currently only ported to Winders and OSX. So, will Chrome OS be a threat to Winders? Don't ask me, ask the developers. I couldn't possibly care less what OS the device is running. I'm only concerned about what I can do with it.
Slashdot Mirror
I have one of those spring-based hand exercisers on a shelf near my computer. I pick that up and squeeze it (alternating hands) while I look out the window.
Ah, too bad. Oh well, I didn't want to use Office 2013 anyway. (Or Win8 for that matter.)
Add a backup feature that burns the virtual machine onto a DVD, so you can bring it up on a new physical machine at a future date.
install to virtual machine, then make copies of that virtual machine. problem solved.
I do not think that this "solution" will work for a typical user. VM machines are not simple to setup and use for the masses as they are for /. users.
As a matter of fact I do not think this will impact the majority of users at all. Most people buy their software with their computer system and are not adverse to having to buy a new version when they get a new machine.
Ok, let's expand a bit. It should be relatively straightforward for a knowledgeable person to create a self-contained virtual appliance with a copy of Window Du jour plus a copy of Office 20-whatever with all the common options (or every option) and require the user to only input the license key for the OS and the license key for Office. Install procedure would be to insert disk, run Setup, get prompted for the required license keys, and get an icon on your desktop that when invoked, brings up Office in a virtual box.
This is, of course, non-trivial to create. But all it takes is a single (not inconsiderable) effort, the results of which are replicated endlessly.
Or, we could all stick with a previous version of Office, and Microsoft can go screw. I'm still using Office 2000. Works fine on Windows 7.
A smart watch should replace one or more devices I'm required to carry with me, not add to the geek loadout. For instance, if it can do the things my phone currently can do, including provide hotspot for tablet or laptop, and do it well enough that my phone can stay home, then it would be a sought after item. (For me at least.) Bonus points if it has well-integrated, easy to use 2 way TV capability, as I've wanted to own a Dick Tracy watch since I was a kid. But if it's just a bluetooth appliance that talks to other devices that I also must carry, then fail.
What I suspect we will actually see is a device that interacts with your ipod and iphone and ipad and ilaptop and doesn't provide any unique capabilities or information. It'll be an alpha-geek toy of limited usefulness but supreme bragging rights. Yawn. Just another reason for me to steer clear of the Apple store on launch day.
Ah yes, COBOL poetry. The fourth worst poetry in the universe.
> I haven't bought a copy of office since 2006 or so.
I'm still using Office 2000, on Windows 7. Shortly we're bringing up a (real, purchased) copy of Windows 8 on a test box, and I get to see if Office 2000 works on Windows 8. As long as that continues to work, I'll continue to use it. When it stops working, I'll have to slog through OpenOffice or LIbre, because Office just isn't worth the cost.
I think RHEL 6 will be supported until 2020.
WTF.
True, but Chrome is not supported by Red Hat. It's not in their repositories. You have to install it manually if you want it, and Google has no responsibility to support it everywhere.
Google's loss, then.
A free market guy goes to the united nations for help to acquire something that doesn't belong to him? Are libertarians ok with this? I'm not.
Yes, of course, but I meant, like, it made us feel like we were doing something for the environment. I'm certain I saw that in an episode of Captain Planet. Grain fuels were supposed to save the earth.
> Like 99.9% of government laws and regulations, we never should have had a mandate of ethanol in gas. Its bad for cars, makes no economic sense, and is actually less green (you've got to use more oil to make corn-based ethanol than it will save)
But it made us all feel good!
I'm going to patent piping natural gas to homes. It's crazy but it just might work.
Ack! You beat me to it!
It's like the author had just tried to access Slashdot from a phone.
Overwhelming negative response. It makes one wonder what the design criteria were, or the Q/A strategy.
Thanks, we needed that.
> You freedom-loving libertarians need to understand this concept. It really is a flaw among you libertarians to think that you somehow live in a "free" country. No, you do NOT live in a free country. You never have. Try breaking a law, and see how much freedom you have.
This illustrates several basic misunderstandings of libertarianism.
I have a friend who trades in his pro camera for the next model every year. He says it helps him keep up on the latest features. Personally I think it's easy to get too wrapped up in a consumer mindset -- of "it's what you have" as opposed to the more practical "it's what you do with it". It took me well over a year to learn my camera thoroughly. Trading in once a year seems to me a good way be forever an amateur with one's equipment.
I don't think Chrome OS is any more a threat to Windows than Windows is to itself. The Windows business model may not work anymore, but it has worked so long that Microsoft could (and probably will) glide along on inertia for a very long time. So are Netbooks going to destroy Windows, no they didn't. Is Android? Nope. Chromebooks? Nope. Tablets? No again. Will Microsoft realize too late that the rest of the industry has switched to a different business model, (which, incidentally, is the real issue, of which all the other technologies above are only symptoms) and make increasingly desperate attempts to win back the market, both trying unsuccessfully to play in these new markets and with decreasing success to force the market back into their comfortable space? One could say that's already happening. But it will continue to happen for a very long time, and a lot more chairs will fly, before the company is to the point where people would say yes, right now, they're threatened. Potential threat, meta threat, maybe, but not real threat.
This isn't an iphone, fer chrissake. It's not some disposable toy that you replace every 18 months.
This makes me sad :(
Not because you call an iPhone a "disposable toy," but rather because I never thought I'd live in a society where some folks still starve to death in the streets, meanwhile others think throwing a $500 piece of electronic equipment in the trash is no big deal.
It's one of those things that I observe without understanding. I tend to keep a phone until it stops working and can't be repaired. (It tends not to be an Apple product because I don't use devices that don't have user expandable memory or replaceable batteries.) When a new iphone comes out, I drive by the crowd filling up the parking lot outside the phone store (blocking my access to the Starbucks next door) with wonder and some exasperation. I rapidly lose interest in co-workers who wax philosophical about how much better the 4s is than the 4, and how it was worth waiting all night in line. I listen to a 99% woman at Occupy Wall Street making a speech about how much Steve Jobs has done for people, and I gag a little. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't the smell.) The Apple mindshare is for high profit items that get regular incremental refreshes that users just have to have, and like you, this makes me sad both for the electronic waste and for the deplorable conditions used to create the devices. (And yes, I know that a lot of factories are like that; it still doesn't make it right.)
Mind you, I'm pretty sure that in this particular society, someone starving in the street has more issues than mere lack of money. The US has been called "a place where even the poor are fat" and there's considerable truth to that. But your point still stands, that there is probably better use of those resources than a fractional improvement in a product that people don't strictly need, causing flocks of people not really connected to society, with lots of words but nothing to say, paying financial homage to a black and white photo of a middle aged, bearded dead man. I got creeped out again just writing that.
> but it's a hell of a lot smoother than windows 8
Damning with faint praise.
But you're right, depending on the *kind* of development, there are inexpensive tools out there to do that. I do photography, and I basically need the Adobe suite. (Don't say Gimp. Just don't. Yes, I have used it, and it's better than nothing. My workflow doesn't fit with its assumptions.) At the moment, my solution on a slate or a non-Windows (non-Apple) laptop, is to remote into a Windows box or Mac running my tools, which is ... less than satisfactory.
Point to Tailhook.
In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a new camera than to have the old one repaired.
The problem is, pros (generally) use pro cameras, which can cost from $2,500 to $6,000 (street price, body only, standard SLR -- for medium format, add a zero), so simply buying a new camera when something non-catastrophic happens is out of the question.
Mind you, cameras in that class tend to be ruggedized and weather sealed. (Mine has survived tens of thousands of clicks in rain and dust, uncountable bumps, and falling out of the rental car. Twice.) However, when something fails, for that kind of money, I want it to be fixable. And I don't give a damn that it's out of warranty. This isn't an iphone, fer chrissake. It's not some disposable toy that you replace every 18 months. It's a high end tool that I use to do my job, and it had better be fixable.
You should read the fine print of the contests. In a recent contest held by my local county for kids, the county would own the rights to all works submitted.
We do, (I'm a photographer, and participate also) and have not run into that provision yet. We would not participate in any contest that supplies free content to the providers. Why would any artist give away the rights to their own works simply to enter a contest?
Now, select rights, like the right to photograph the winning works and feature them in a flyer, that seems reasonable. But exclusive rights to content created by others? Not bloody likely.
For casual use, content consumption, sure. It fills the same niche as those netbooks of a few years ago, and tablets (for the most part) now. But for content creation, they need apps that are currently only ported to Winders and OSX. So, will Chrome OS be a threat to Winders? Don't ask me, ask the developers. I couldn't possibly care less what OS the device is running. I'm only concerned about what I can do with it.