I build computers all the time, and my best work is done in a plain black mid tower case. I feel like a clean empty computer case that's also a powerhouse is an impressive feat.
this is essentially my position as well. You can build a huge tower with the stuff you want minus useless bling.
The base for each of your points is 'most people'. Big machines were never mainstream. They're built by people who need/want extra power/flexibility. USB/1394 et al do not have the bandwidth or low latencies of on-board buses. Physics determines that. I've got several different boards in my system that cannot be duplicated by a sleek $50 plastic USB box. Extra drive bays are always welcome to me because I'm almost always running out of space. I agree that 5.25 bays are less needed now, but there are plenty of non-drive devices out there that can use them. Having a few is a requirement for me.
I do agree with you, though, that it's getting easier to pack more capability into a smaller space. It's just that there will always be people who need/want that bleeding edge performance at all costs configuration.
I keep my tower monsters in the home office and out of site.
personal choice, that's fine. I prefer to keep mine a bit more accessible. It depends on your needs. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone's needs are met by devices that cater to the neo-mainframe era 'cloud' fetish.
No one wants to see them. Not even the resident geek.
argumentum ad populum.
There is some value to PC cases that aren't butt ugly and scream cheap Chinese factory.
big case is not necessarily a 'cheap chinese factory' product. In fact, it's the big OEM products that scream 'cheap chinese factory' in an effort to save money. They use flimsy plastic and fake 'metal' shells on their 'premium' products that don't really fit together all that well, and in many cases, make the product very difficult to service. of course you're right that you can get cheap big cases too, but at least there's a choice.
Most likely your "big iron" is mostly empty space.
..which might be needed for cooling. one of the benefits of larger configs is that they support hw that you simply can't get in micro-ATX or laptop-on-a-stand configs. Of course, you're right that one could put a micro-ATX board in an E-ATX case and waste a lot of space.
good.. you go drive your electric go-cart, while the rest of us performance nuts will stick to our 600hp big iron.. Try upgrading/overclocking/configuring that laptop-on-a-stand and you'll see why some people still prefer the larger form factors. stock OEM machines from apple/dell et al come with shitty stripped down hardware to fatten bottom lines. they really aren't worth the price charged for them.
No.. the users are the ones who can't figure out how to use the system, that's why there's an admin.. if users knew what the fuck they were doing, we wouldn't NEED sysadmins in the first place.
..and the flipside is true too.. in any context, people like yourself help ensure the next tyrant's regime. while he rules, only the progress which benefits him is permitted, causing him to become an obstructionist troll to those on the outside. when this (inevitably) happens, he enlists the help of established authority to prop up his business..
so, yes, while life is made up of compromise, it is not an excuse to roll over and simply take what is given to you, because, inevitably, it was not made to serve you, it was made to serve the one who made it.
I would argue that programmers are equally important. after all, what good are the idea people, and those who can manipulate the public into paying the idea people, if there's nothing to buy?
idea people often take the form of upper management. they always assume their ideas are workable, and if their employees are having trouble rewriting reality to make them happen, then it's due to the employees' ignorance and not their own. classic ivory tower syndrome.
Let me get this straight. the implied facts from the second article's author are:
1. women prefer usability while men prefer (and this part is implied) toylike 'gadgetry.' 2. women prefer feminine things because they are 'stylish' while men prefer masculine things because (Again, implied with the reference to spykeTV) they're insecure about themselves. 3. men watch drivel on spyke exclusively while women much prefer more 'intellectual entertainment' (such as.. oprah? and those dance shows?).
Yuck. The hating on masculinity needs to stop. if the bias was flipped, slashdot would be loaded with 'omg sexist!!' from all the bleeding heart capt-save-a-hoes here.
who's to say what's on that should/shouldn't list? who benefits from the obedience of others? the issue is more complicated than simple negative reenforcement.
Your inability to alias your friends usernames in your head does not justify others losing their privacy in-game. most im systems let you rename your userlists locally, which negates the need to demand that users spill everything online just to play a damned game.
and most american employers expect submissive, exacting, dress-code clique conforming 'team players' who simply accept whatever bone's thrown at them, who are also, paradoxically, brilliantly innovative 'go-getters' who actually care about their jobs.
you do realize that your 'green stuff' still depends on petroleum products right? your electric car gets its energy from burning it and the result is far less efficient than the average ICE (petrol->kinetic energy > petrol->heat->kinetic->electric->stepup->stepup->stepdown->AC/DC->battery->kinetic). Its plastics are made from it. The stuff in your apartment is all made from petroleum by products. Same with the grandiose skyscraper buildings you live and work in. You're not any more green than the stereotyped outback type driving his 1982 pickup with no catalytics.. You complain about backwater infrastructure cost, yet cities are the most expensive and toxic infrastructures in the world. They stress the entire ecosystem around them for miles in all directions like giant volcanoes of CO2/CO and mass tons of other human waste. The space constraints add psychological stress to inhabitants, as well as premiums to just about every extra service they now have to depend on to function. the primary reason stuff is more expensive in-city is that goods have to be trucked in and waste trucked out. Where do you think those goods come from? Who do you think manages that waste? Certainly not the city dwellers.
The crux of the issue is that too many people in too small a space is not efficient nor healthy for them or the environment, and that extra cost is one way that aforementioned stress is transmitted from the surrounding areas back to the city inhabitants. The real answer is a viable spread with population control, and that is a whole other can of worms.
I guess it depends on what you mean by 'personal.' To me, 'personal' computing means an experience I can customize to my needs/time ratio at the given moment. (time = needed time to customize vs availability) That is decidedly NOT the trend nowadays with all the locked down walled garden products out there, esp in mobileland. You either learn to adapt to the cut down ID 10 T interface, or you spend inordinate amounts of time messing with third party firmware just to get specific functionality you need. (yes the latter is fun, but sometimes I need to get work done post haste).
Anyway, this makes me think that computing is getting LESS personal as time goes on. Paying ATT for the 'privilege' of an iphone4 experience is nowhere near as personal as an operating environment that has functionally useful control panels and customization options. Even desktop OS's suffer from this 'lets hide the 'hard' stuff behind more useless dialogs' mentality now. Even worse, now they've started adding/removing functionality WITHOUT the options of turning it on/off. (why do I need a special app to quit apps on android? What about my statusbar in FF4?) I'm not happy with this new era of form over function...
Of course.. there's nothing stopping the US from punching more holes in the 1st amendment for the sake of global 'community cohesion.' I believe that's the british newspeak term for justifying censorship of expression.
I was referring to his justification for the cameras...and no, computer evidence is very difficult to fight when most court officials are techno illiterate.
I guess you've been too busy reviewing history to notice the rather scary trends of the last 20 years or so. The difference is technology. It speeds this process up and allows control freaks to live their dream.
The point is that computers aren't contextually aware enough to handle every situation. A cop who sees someone come to a stop a few inches or feet past the white line probably won't do anything because it's not worth it to fight in court...and it's not because it's not really a hazard. If the driver blows the light, he gets a ticket. If there were pedestrians in the crosswalk, he probably gets a ticket. If there are extenuating circumstances, the driver at least has a chance to explain. Try fighting so-called 'computer evidence' in a traffic court full of techno-illiterates.
Sure traffic cams are a small deal in the grand scheme, but this mentality is being taken to extremes everywhere now. It should be fought at every front.
Slashdot Mirror
http://steelseries.com/us/products/keyboards/steelseries-6gv2
Actually, with one of these, playing fighting games is quote doable and competitive. Even a regular four button max PS/2 keyboard can hold its own against a joypad.
More like the style of my post was to mirror the illusions posted by its parent.
I build computers all the time, and my best work is done in a plain black mid tower case. I feel like a clean empty computer case that's also a powerhouse is an impressive feat.
this is essentially my position as well. You can build a huge tower with the stuff you want minus useless bling.
The base for each of your points is 'most people'. Big machines were never mainstream. They're built by people who need/want extra power/flexibility. USB/1394 et al do not have the bandwidth or low latencies of on-board buses. Physics determines that. I've got several different boards in my system that cannot be duplicated by a sleek $50 plastic USB box. Extra drive bays are always welcome to me because I'm almost always running out of space. I agree that 5.25 bays are less needed now, but there are plenty of non-drive devices out there that can use them. Having a few is a requirement for me.
I do agree with you, though, that it's getting easier to pack more capability into a smaller space. It's just that there will always be people who need/want that bleeding edge performance at all costs configuration.
I keep my tower monsters in the home office and out of site.
personal choice, that's fine. I prefer to keep mine a bit more accessible. It depends on your needs. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone's needs are met by devices that cater to the neo-mainframe era 'cloud' fetish.
No one wants to see them. Not even the resident geek.
argumentum ad populum.
There is some value to PC cases that aren't butt ugly and scream cheap Chinese factory.
big case is not necessarily a 'cheap chinese factory' product. In fact, it's the big OEM products that scream 'cheap chinese factory' in an effort to save money. They use flimsy plastic and fake 'metal' shells on their 'premium' products that don't really fit together all that well, and in many cases, make the product very difficult to service. of course you're right that you can get cheap big cases too, but at least there's a choice.
Most likely your "big iron" is mostly empty space.
..which might be needed for cooling. one of the benefits of larger configs is that they support hw that you simply can't get in micro-ATX or laptop-on-a-stand configs. Of course, you're right that one could put a micro-ATX board in an E-ATX case and waste a lot of space.
good.. you go drive your electric go-cart, while the rest of us performance nuts will stick to our 600hp big iron.. Try upgrading/overclocking/configuring that laptop-on-a-stand and you'll see why some people still prefer the larger form factors. stock OEM machines from apple/dell et al come with shitty stripped down hardware to fatten bottom lines. they really aren't worth the price charged for them.
No.. the users are the ones who can't figure out how to use the system, that's why there's an admin.. if users knew what the fuck they were doing, we wouldn't NEED sysadmins in the first place.
..and the flipside is true too.. in any context, people like yourself help ensure the next tyrant's regime. while he rules, only the progress which benefits him is permitted, causing him to become an obstructionist troll to those on the outside. when this (inevitably) happens, he enlists the help of established authority to prop up his business..
so, yes, while life is made up of compromise, it is not an excuse to roll over and simply take what is given to you, because, inevitably, it was not made to serve you, it was made to serve the one who made it.
I would argue that programmers are equally important. after all, what good are the idea people, and those who can manipulate the public into paying the idea people, if there's nothing to buy?
idea people often take the form of upper management. they always assume their ideas are workable, and if their employees are having trouble rewriting reality to make them happen, then it's due to the employees' ignorance and not their own. classic ivory tower syndrome.
Let me get this straight. the implied facts from the second article's author are:
1. women prefer usability while men prefer (and this part is implied) toylike 'gadgetry.'
2. women prefer feminine things because they are 'stylish' while men prefer masculine things because (Again, implied with the reference to spykeTV) they're insecure about themselves.
3. men watch drivel on spyke exclusively while women much prefer more 'intellectual entertainment' (such as.. oprah? and those dance shows?).
Yuck. The hating on masculinity needs to stop. if the bias was flipped, slashdot would be loaded with 'omg sexist!!' from all the bleeding heart capt-save-a-hoes here.
who's to say what's on that should/shouldn't list? who benefits from the obedience of others? the issue is more complicated than simple negative reenforcement.
corporate censorship or government censorship. either way, the best years of the network are gone.. say good bye to peer freedom.
Your inability to alias your friends usernames in your head does not justify others losing their privacy in-game. most im systems let you rename your userlists locally, which negates the need to demand that users spill everything online just to play a damned game.
It's too bad you don't realize that you're not defending what america stands for, only the organization that pretends to: the US government.
the feminazism in your post does not help whatever legitimacy there may still be left in your 'suffrage' cause.
and most american employers expect submissive, exacting, dress-code clique conforming 'team players' who simply accept whatever bone's thrown at them, who are also, paradoxically, brilliantly innovative 'go-getters' who actually care about their jobs.
you do realize that your 'green stuff' still depends on petroleum products right? your electric car gets its energy from burning it and the result is far less efficient than the average ICE (petrol->kinetic energy > petrol->heat->kinetic->electric->stepup->stepup->stepdown->AC/DC->battery->kinetic). Its plastics are made from it. The stuff in your apartment is all made from petroleum by products. Same with the grandiose skyscraper buildings you live and work in. You're not any more green than the stereotyped outback type driving his 1982 pickup with no catalytics.. You complain about backwater infrastructure cost, yet cities are the most expensive and toxic infrastructures in the world. They stress the entire ecosystem around them for miles in all directions like giant volcanoes of CO2/CO and mass tons of other human waste. The space constraints add psychological stress to inhabitants, as well as premiums to just about every extra service they now have to depend on to function. the primary reason stuff is more expensive in-city is that goods have to be trucked in and waste trucked out. Where do you think those goods come from? Who do you think manages that waste? Certainly not the city dwellers.
The crux of the issue is that too many people in too small a space is not efficient nor healthy for them or the environment, and that extra cost is one way that aforementioned stress is transmitted from the surrounding areas back to the city inhabitants. The real answer is a viable spread with population control, and that is a whole other can of worms.
Agreed, except that with things such as this, the road to hell does end up being paved one well-intentioned step at a time.
If it is a hoax, it's close enough to reality that it could happen. Thus it is worth discussing anyway.
Smart people can be ideologically bigoted too.. in fact, intelligence usually increases the intensity when it does happen.
I guess it depends on what you mean by 'personal.' To me, 'personal' computing means an experience I can customize to my needs/time ratio at the given moment. (time = needed time to customize vs availability) That is decidedly NOT the trend nowadays with all the locked down walled garden products out there, esp in mobileland. You either learn to adapt to the cut down ID 10 T interface, or you spend inordinate amounts of time messing with third party firmware just to get specific functionality you need. (yes the latter is fun, but sometimes I need to get work done post haste).
Anyway, this makes me think that computing is getting LESS personal as time goes on. Paying ATT for the 'privilege' of an iphone4 experience is nowhere near as personal as an operating environment that has functionally useful control panels and customization options. Even desktop OS's suffer from this 'lets hide the 'hard' stuff behind more useless dialogs' mentality now. Even worse, now they've started adding/removing functionality WITHOUT the options of turning it on/off. (why do I need a special app to quit apps on android? What about my statusbar in FF4?) I'm not happy with this new era of form over function...
Of course.. there's nothing stopping the US from punching more holes in the 1st amendment for the sake of global 'community cohesion.' I believe that's the british newspeak term for justifying censorship of expression.
I was referring to his justification for the cameras. ..and no, computer evidence is very difficult to fight when most court officials are techno illiterate.
I guess you've been too busy reviewing history to notice the rather scary trends of the last 20 years or so. The difference is technology. It speeds this process up and allows control freaks to live their dream.
The point is that computers aren't contextually aware enough to handle every situation. A cop who sees someone come to a stop a few inches or feet past the white line probably won't do anything because it's not worth it to fight in court. ..and it's not because it's not really a hazard. If the driver blows the light, he gets a ticket. If there were pedestrians in the crosswalk, he probably gets a ticket. If there are extenuating circumstances, the driver at least has a chance to explain. Try fighting so-called 'computer evidence' in a traffic court full of techno-illiterates.
Sure traffic cams are a small deal in the grand scheme, but this mentality is being taken to extremes everywhere now. It should be fought at every front.