My nieces had it in their collection and I had never seen it. So I am over there visiting and they GOT to see it again, they throw it in the machine, I am thinking "oh great, some kids cartoon..curmudgeon..mumble" I loved it! Some of the stuff was really funny, the dinner party scene trying to stab the little fleeing tidbits was hysterical. The bad guys were *really* bad, the good guys good. It was made for all age levels to be enjoyed at different points and for different reasons. Quite nice really, now I think I need to go find a copy and see it again..
People don't know the difference between a window manager, a browser, a desktop environment, etc. Honest, most don't. Now look at just normal acronyms and buzzwords. That's it, you are now officially way beyond the expertise of most computer users. They have a 256 mellowbit email drive client from delltel on a machine named the "computer explorer". And "the computer" is that big glowing thing they are staring at. That box off to the side is...something else, no one really knows, but it must be important....
It's a struggle for most computer users to use what they have, so once they learn to do a few things, that's it, that's as far as they will go willingly. Even people *paid* to "use the computer" have a hard time to do more than a few simple tasks. At best, they know just enough to screw up bad. At worst...
. It's a real problem. Windows is the default everything on the desktop, again, a real problem (for some viewpoints), because to do ANYTHING a "non windows way" is to invite blank stares and nothing getting done. Right now it's obvious that it is already too complicated for most people, and that's with familiarity and in a lot of cases, years of use. Radical change invites both radical productivity gains and ALSO radical failure, it works both ways. It's not that it is that hard to learn NEW things, it's that it is SUPER hard to UNLEARN things.
The way things are going, for the most part these "execs" won't have to worry about supplying millions of people with the same stream, because there will be too much competition. It has become much easier and cheaper to produce "content". Whereas in the past, for example, you might have had a "choice" of 4 networks on TV, and those few "execs" and shows, all very expensive to produce and broadcast, now you have a choice of hundreds of stations on cable or satellite, and soon, thousands or even millions on the net. Audience "viewership" numbers will fall for most programs, and rise for others, with the others being new and for the most part out of those 'concerned execs' hands or influence or "worry".
"Consumers" aren't limited as much as they used to be, and those remaining limitations are dropping daily. A show in the near future might be extremely lucky to only have a thousand viewers (whatever, see "podcasts"), something that could be handled easily with todays "normal" streaming tech.
I had ordered a couple of parts from a tractor dealer two counties over. They don't ship to the door so I had to drive over to pick them up. when I got there, one of the two was incorrect, so we had to look again.. I went with the parts dude to look at the computer. First he went through his dead trees catalog, couldn't find it,but he was comfortable enough there. Then we hit the screen. OMGBBQWTF was that ugly crap! Just NASTY looking, looked like someones first attempt at coding or something. It was a propietary looking sheet that ran on top of IE. It was the worst junk I have ever seen, totally bogus, just complicated beyond belief and all squished together and you couldn't really see anything there. And dig this...NO ONE had ever shown this parts guy that you could have two windows open, one within the other one like in frames, and that if there were scroll bars that BOTH of them scrolled. We were looking at a page where he had to scroll an inner bar down to keep looking at the parts. He scrolls the outside one, then stops "that's it" he says" "no more parts".
I had to SHOW him to scroll the inner one, he goes "wow!"
No telling how many lost sales and frustrated customers who couldn't get what they wanted, and this is a factory dealer place.
We had pitiful so called "technology" being run by someone with zero training. Bad mojo. In this instance just the plain old fashioned catalogs, if they would have been more complete, would have been much better.
...like some folks do. I mean, if you want to discuss wild assed whacko conspiracy theories, look no farther than any random executive branch press release...
The PNAC documents aren't relevant? Guys in big positions in government now who outlined what sneaky crap they were going to pull in the middle east and did it, based on the "new pearl harbor" 9-11 attacks? The 93 WTC attack, with a fed inside, yet the attack occurred, that's not relevant and a major clue? That's pretty relevant. The gulf of tonkin attacks, now admitted to be 99% fabrication? We aren't supposed to be seeing patterns here?
Sorry, I admit a long time ago being extremely naieve and just believing the government all the time...a long time ago...then I noticed the JFK whack..wenjt WTF?? and well, what they said about it certainly STUNK BAD. Pretty obvious there was more to it than the "lone nut". I gets to thinking... been paying attention since then.
Tell ya what, little about me. I worked for the goldwater campaign. I saw what these neocons are about, what they do, how they act, their character, what motivates them. You see, there was a big internal civil war of a sorts back then, and unfortunately, the "paleo" wing of the party lost, the side I supported, and still would if it even existed as an organized party, the neocons (we call them that now, didn't then) "won" and have controled the R party since. I saw it go down. You get it yet, they sabotaged their own "party" candidate, so that later on their wing would take over, and it did, and we still got them. These guys are lying murdering goons man. Give it up, you are being lead by chronic serial liars and blood profiteers. And that is just the regular cold hearted ones, there's some serious megalomaniacal "armageddon endtimes" nutjobs mixed in there, too, REAL scary guys. And they got some pretty high level cooperation going in with some elements in the dim party as well, along with some entrenched bureaucracy of the criminal sort, in both the civil, mil and paramil areas of "government". Not all, but enough and high enough so some pretty weird stuff goes down..and has been going down for a long time.. It's a racket, dig? A racket, a big fat giant trillion buck like the mafia but on turbo boost and nitro *racket*. That's it, it's that simple, they prove it over and over again. And 9-11? That stinks worse than the kennedy whack, them boys got their prints all over that, fits their MO to a T..
They don't care about other humans.
I don't WISH it that way, but I would be amiss, especially to any of the younger readers here, to not speak out against it. At least, give them a chance to think on things some and realise you DON'T have to take what the government says all the time at face value. that's a pretty important lesson to learn for anyone really. I've always had this pesky 'civic duty' deal with me. Some times I wish I didn't, but mostly I am OK with it, seems to be my old fashioned square boy scout nature. If I really thought they were right, righteous, making sense, on the up and up, were honest, etc, I would SAY SO. I would be OVERJOYED to be able to say so.
But I can't.
I ain't shy. None, zero. I gain nothing by saying what I say, other than trying to pass on a little insight, the best a dude can do based on personal anecdotal, data anlaysis, and the willingness to talk about things. I am not going to lie or sugar coat anything, no reason to, and it would be..hmm, how to put it.. just wrong,man, dishonest of me, I just don't *do* that. Sorry if it offends anyone but it's designed to make people think about what they have been told as opposed to what really happens and what is likely to happen.
The FBI had an agent inside the cell that pulled the first 93 WTC attacks, that came out in the trial, yet it still occurred. And there's just a ton of evidence of government involvement and prior knowledge about the 2001 attacks. I am not even going to bother with any links, anyone can find them and I know they have been posted here over and over again.. If you can't smell a rat I can't help you any longer. This whole business is a reichstagg event, and it was outlined exactly what they were going to do in the PNAC documents by those total fascist pigs.
You can dumb down and buffalo some of the people with constant overlapping lies of omission and outright lies, but not everyone. You neo-conmen are just a pack of lying murdering thugs. Kill foreigners, kill your own if it suits your blood profits schemes. You and your kind have been constantly meddling and interferring with those people for *generations* now, and you WONDER why they are upset?? We listened to you way back with the "gulf of tonkin" attacks and it took three decades for the truth to come quietly out. How many did you kill there? This time you have to deal with the net and people being able to go do some research and find out the things you don't want them to know. No one disputed saddam was a goon, I certainly didn't, he should have been popped decades ago, along with his demon sons, but like others of the low IQ ilk, you once again attempt to change the focus with debate 101 tactics. Sorry, that don't fly. Being against yet again another corporate conman war is not the same as support for some random ass dictator. You get it yet?
I am against rewarding the idiots who helped stick saddam in in the first place, and they are THE SAME IDIOTS WE GOT NOW. It is not prudent to give political power to the same criminals who set Saddam up and supported him for years. I REFUSE to stop at some point in history YOU PICK when looking at events. You do not reward a burglar by making him a security guard, the same should be true with these bogus "leaders" we have now, yet it happened, so I speak out about it.
Capeche?
Take your conman fascist propoganda and shove it. Go preach to the dittoheads, they love that crap because they get to "let's roll" without any inconvenient pesky data getting in the way. You are wasting your time on anyone who has even remotely researched this subject, stick to the mouth breathers. You pick bad trying to push that crap on slashdot, because it is trivially easy to see through the bs now.
"by the year". The kill rates are going to be comparable. Direct, indirect, it all adds up. And to refresh memories, Saddam used to be our "ally" and we supported him and helped keep him in office when he was fighting the Iranians. And the Iranians became our "enemy" AFTER our spooks helped to off their elected leader who DARED suggest his nation should maybe get to keep 20% of the oil profits, so we then stuck that goon the most freeking exalted royal jerkoff the Shah in power, who's SAVAK organization made it EASY for the nutjob mullahs to recruit people.
c'mon, let's get real here. This is just constant and evolving heglian dialectic blood profits conjobs promulgated by these globalist goons. War is a racket.
Here's a thought, just STOP meddling with those people over there, they are just sick and tired of it. Let them sort their own crap out. How about we take that 200 BILLION a year this war is costing, some say it might go as high as two trillion, and invest it in alternative energy research instead, to free up this dependence on oil? Ever notice these bad guys we pick out to actually attack, or some country to occupy, sit on some huge oil deposits or other strategic minerals? Ever read about our support for Pinochet, how that came about, what was involved, who was involved, who got to profit from it?
Sorry, I refuse to stay dumbed down and not learn from history. When I was much younger I was just the biggest flag waving John Wayne worshipping rah rah rah yahoo out there. Unfortunately for them I decided that going beyond the headline snooze propoganda was more interesting. Whoops! It WAKES you up to do that, try it out, go ahead, better than caffeine! Wars based on lies, sticking in dictators then later on going "gee, he's a dictator, we got to do something!" is lame and moronic and to a lot of people around the world,outright deadly. I'm all for self defense,but I draw the line at purposeful offense based on lies with an economic and political profit motive involved, which this war clearly is. Remember, he was the same murdering goon back when we supported him, why did it change? Oh ya, he decided to switch his oil sales to Euros, THEN all of a sudden he became a "real" badguy so "we have to do something". They initially said he was somehow magically tied to the 9-11 attacks. What happened to that? Are we supposed to forget those and other gems of "quality intel" uttered by our so called "leaders"?
Sorry, homey don't play bait and switch no mo, or near real time revisionism, or just telling a lie over and over again until somehow we are supposed to accept it as the truth, it just won't work on me. Try someone else. Out-gooning the goons is not a solution, it's THE PROBLEM.
Did it ever occur to you that if your troops, not mine even though I live here, I disown them, they can be all yours, WEREN'T over there they wouldn't be getting shot at? Huh? Huh? Ever think of that? Have you noticed THEY invaded Iraq, and Iraq had NOTHING to do with any attacks on the US? Saddam was a medium level bad guy as middle eastern leaders go, why not invade all of the above? How about in Africa, south america, asia? You planning on invading everywhere there's a bad guy? That's THE BULK OF THE PLANET.
So far, US forces have killed more innocent civilians than saddam did, by the year. You got any excuses for that besides just mumbling "unfortunate collateral damage"? What would YOU do if some nation decided they were going to "regime change" and invaded the US, even if the current president du juor wasn't to your liking? Would you cooperate with them and be a quisling traitor, or fight them? And since when is it a legit war when there are no PRISONERS OF WAR? Just "detainees" with hoods over their heads, including women and children. How would YOU like your neighborhood invaded by people from another nation, using high tech killing methods including air strikes? And just kidnapping people and disappearing them? Would you think that was so cool you would go join up with them?
You can't have it both ways. You can't contend some other people are badguys when you are doing exactly the same thing. Give it up, the US government and military and it's leadership are AT BEST moronic, and worst, outright murdering thieving invaders who are ONCE AGAIN installing some puppet government, same thing they have been doing for over 100 years all over. Do you need a list? The difference is now we have the internet, so it's harder to lie to people. Before, they only had to control a few domestic media outlets to brainwash the population, now they have to contend with people having access to many and diverse news sources, and it gets so embarrassing for them to keep this up they need even more "official propoganda" outlets. If all those Iraqis really wanted us there, the so called "resistance" would be a pitiful few, as it is, the BULK of the Iraqi people want us out, and the resistance has been gaining strength in numbers, DESPITE all the murdering going down by US troops, who have shown they are perfectly willing to engage in murder, theft, and mass genocide like in Fallulah. You want to know WHY they got some many to join up the puppet iraqi police force? it's because WE DESTROYED THEIR ECONOMY and there's pitiful few jobs. And coincidently that's the ONLY way they are maintaining a pitiful recruitment goal in the US, where MOST of the "volunteers" are coming from destroyed manufacturing areas where entry level jobs that pay anything or have any benefits are few and far between because the same billionaire globalist idiots in charge decided it was a good idea to kill off the manufacturing base. ARE YOU SEEING A PATTERN YET?
WAKE UP, you really DON'T have to be a tool of those idiots. They are playing both sides against the middle with this scam, to keep the civilian populations in iraq and the US dumbed down and defensive and under one or the other kind of terror in order to maintain their fatcat leadership poisitions. And they off people to do this! That makes them murdering thugs, so please don't support them. Egads man, read between the lines a little! This is not that hard to see!
I've thought the same for years, there needs to be one simple change to the laws, you must hold a stock for x-years (one or two anyway) before it can be resold. That would do a tremendous amount of good to put "investing" back into the stock market as opposed to wild speculation and programmed trading, etc.
One of the big box vendors will eventually do it, ship linux on the desktop as the default OS installation. It would give the industry a nice kick in the pants. A partnership with any of the major refined distros would do it, that and work with the peripheral vendors to offer devices that would work on plug-in without alot of hassle. It's been "there" potentially for a couple years now. There are many smaller vendors doing it, just none of the larger ones.
They could have both a normal set of controls and a full (small obviously) screen just by going to a normal clamshell design. closed up, fits in pocket and works like a normal iPod, opened up to watch vids.
In the US now they have some significant tax breaks (credits) for installing active solar systems, both solar hot water and for solar PV electricity. And some states have additional tax credits. You can chop the cost down considerably that way. It's your tax money and they let you keep it for something both practical and geeky cool.
Does anyone remember that idea he had? I probably got some details wrong, but it was something like this: Everyone gets a dart gun that shoots a dart that sticks to another car, it says "stupid". Get enough stupid darts from driving like a lamer and you aren't allowed to drive any more. The original moderation/karma system.
The patent office website could have a simple form at the bottom of each pending patent where people could post prior art references, or "obviousness" points.
And they could just skip business process and software patents all together. I like the "in the hand" rule, if you can't hold it in your hand,or physically grab it, it isn't patentable.
...all are investors, and read fairly conservative old mainstream investment periodicals. All those places are pushing heavy (follow the prooganda) for the telcos to limit such things as skype, so, knowing how monopoly cartels work, they are assured this will happen, by law or otherwise. Even if some places are using things like skype, or open source freebie ware, they get *nervous* when big costs aren't associated with something, they instinctively think it's a con, or a dodge, or something that eventually will get them screwed. They can't conceive of themseves giving something useful away, so they assume anyone else doing it has to be insane or a crook or both. If it's a con or dodge THEY think up, swell, most of them will try it out, but someone elses, with the word "free", just gives them the trembling buckwheats. The telcos are a big part of most execs portfolios. They want to support their "investments". The telcos hates the skypes and vonages, and are much bigger, and older and more entrenched and more bluechip, hence, they are the "good guys" and "real businesses" to most (not all, but most) management/boss class investor types. Even when they take a flyer on something like a google, look what just happened when google posted a slightly smaller profit increase,(stilol huge but apparently not huge enough) most of those boss-calss those investor types bailed out screaming. Because in their minds they knew it was too good to be true, because deep down google doesn't charge money for searching, and they can never understand how not charging will ever work. intellectually they might understand how it works, but in their hearts they just don't get it, and are hard wired in their brains to *never* get it..
This is also why there is such a struggle to get open source adoption, management level stock portfolios, both in corporations and in government. They see the word "free" and they start to sweat, free means somehow they get no money in their eyes,or their drinking buddies at ye olde skull and bones brewery get no money, and big business and entrenched big government (it's the same really) is completely based on the profits at any cost, got to keep growing and kill the competition theory. If it can't be owned and closed off and exploited, it's a threat, even it's in an industry outside their own interests, they still have to preserve their "way of life" with "investments". Anything outside that club is..outside, the enemy, jumpstart interlopers.
It's easier if you think of it this way, managers and above and big politicians and entrenched bureaucrats (in net parlance this is called the "monied elite") are Ferengi, there are some things they are never going to "get" no matter what. They are not normal human in their outlook for the most part. To them, Bill Gates = good. They understand a fellow ruthless pirate. Linus Torvalds (if they recognize the name) = someone who should be hung or deported at a minimum.
I don't see this as terribly good or bad, just "is" is all. Been that way since the first cave dude offered wholesale clubs for trade at very great expense and would brain the competition with his expensive product.
...all are investors, and read fairly conservative old mainstream investment periodicals. (Note: many good replies so far, security concerns, etc, this is just another take on it from a psychology POV)
All those places are pushing heavy (follow the latest telco propoganda) for the telcos to limit such things as skype, so, knowing how monopoly cartels work, they are assured this will happen, by law or otherwise. Even if some places are using things like skype, or open source freebie ware, they get *nervous* when big costs aren't associated with something, they instinctively think it's a con, or a dodge, or something that eventually will get them screwed. They simply can't conceive of themseves giving something useful away, so they assume anyone else doing it has to be insane or a crook or both. If it's a con or dodge THEY think up, swell, most of them will try it out, but someone elses, with the word "free", just gives them the trembling buckwheats. The telcos are a big part of most execs portfolios. They want to support their "investments". The telcos hates the skypes and vonages, and are much bigger, and older and more entrenched and more bluechip, hence, they are the "good guys" and "real businesses" to most (not all, but most) management/boss class investor types. Even when they take a flyer on something like a google, look what just happened when google posted a slightly smaller profit increase,(still huge but apparently not huge enough) most of those boss-class investor types bailed out screaming. Because in their minds they knew it was too good to be true, because deep down google doesn't charge money for searching, and they can never understand how not charging for something will ever work. Intellectually they might understand how it works, they will even drop a few of their extra poker chip money bucks on some stocks, but in their hearts they just don't get it, and are hard wired in their brains to *never* get it..
This is also why there is such a struggle to get open source adoption, management level stock portfolios, both in corporations and in government. They see the word "free" and they start to sweat, free means somehow they get no money in their eyes,or their drinking buddies at ye olde skull and bones brewery get no money, and big business and entrenched big government (it's the same really) is completely based on the profits at any cost, got to keep growing and kill the competition theory. If it can't be owned and closed off and exploited, it's a threat, even it's in an industry outside their own interests, they still have to preserve their "way of life" with "investments". Anything outside that club is..outside, the enemy, jumpstart interlopers.
It's easier if you think of it this way, managers and above and big politicians and entrenched bureaucrats (in net parlance this is called the "monied elite") are Ferengi, there are some things they are never going to "get" no matter what. They are not normal working level human in their outlook for the most part.(note, still very generally speaking, I am sure any number of immediate/. anecdotals to the contrary could be used,that isn't the point)
To them, Bill Gates = good. They understand a fellow completely ruthless pirate. Part of the gang. Linus Torvalds (if they recognize the name) = someone who should be hung or deported at a minimum as a threat to society. A long established bell = "good" something like a skype is suspect. They don't get it, it must be e-vile.
I don't see this as terribly good or bad, just "is" is all. Been that way since the first cave dude offered wholesale clubs for trade at very great expense and would brain the competition with his expensive product.
What government agency/set of cops is auditing closed source to make sure it doesn't contain open source code in violation of copyright? Are closed source shops lawyers making them maintain a legal position that their coders can never glance at open source code lest they become tainted and it slop over into the code?
All I see is giant megaprofit closed source corporations get to run on the "wesayso" law, "we say we only have pure code of our own writing", but everyone else in the other camp has to be scared of lawsuits because they glanced at some closed source someplace and are under draconian NDAs or whatnot.
Kinda like diebold and vote counts. The vote is what we say it is, if you don't believe it, tough noogies.
Scenario 1: Googlenews could just drop a small to them sum and carry AP, UPI, AFP, etc stories under their own brand name, and not even bother with other papers. They could then offer the now redundant newspapers to pay them to be indexed.
Scenario 2, if for some reason number 1 wouldn't work: Google could put out the internet call for independent reporters en masse around the world, offer a small fee per word/pic/video for accepted and published product, and probably squash the news syndicators. They could have 10,000 reporters (whatever, pick a big number that would work) within a week if they wanted to, every language, every location, every topic. Maybe even squash or at least scare the big broadcast networks for that matter. Most of them use freelancers for a boatload of their product anyway, so quite a few might be lured into working for Google. They could turn this whole argument around, and it would be the local newspapers and broadcasters paying Google serious folding money for content and indexing services, instead of complaining about them "stealing their stuff", which is a crock anyway.
The only dead tree paper I get anymore is the freebie that comes in the mailbox, and that gets used for woodstove fire starter kindling, it's still good for that. I honestly don't care about local high school sports scores. All that is left with local papers of any value is a smidgen of local politics and the classified ads, and there the ads are being taken over by the freebie "ads only" papers you see. The big city papers are even worse, their news is exactly the same as everyone else's, so there's little need for the dead trees version unless you just like to rattle newspaper around at the breakfast table, and also hence why I never "register" to go to any of their website versions, it's like, why do you need to do that when there's 500 other sites with the same exact information and don't require registration? You want my eyeballs to view your site and ads, don't make me register for that privelege, because I won't.
The so called "main stream news" needs a big shakeup anyway, IMO, they need to get scared and go back to their roots a little more, and rediscover real journalism and get rid of being parrots of a few official party lines.
I'm a serious old time news junky, I taught myself to read by reading the newspaper headlines compared to the TV news headlines before I went to kindergarten, and the newspapers have lost *me* as a customer because it just gradually turned into corporate shilling crap and government propoganda mixed in with bread and cicuses hollyweird news and sports gods "scores". And they wonder why their product is being abandoned......
thanks for the link! Neat to see all the older OSes and the commercial unixes. There's even some 95 holdouts! Too bad though, I don't see any Mac classic there.
But ya, back to the point, I think linux adoption has hit a very hard plateau now (hit it around two years ago really), there's just too much fragmentation, reinventing the wheel, etc for any large vendors (whole computers or various peripherals and the big gaming guys) to take it seriously for a mainstream desktop offering. If some company like google releases a polished distro, and makes noises like they are in it for the long haul, it would create a "standard" where no other "standard" exists now, despite all the attempts. Some company like Dell looks a linux and shrugs, they would have to support dozens badly or one sort of badly and still be taking a big risk and dropping cash for no apparent gain. On the other hand, if Google did it, that would be something they could count on for their support measures, and they would at least seriously consider it.
IF, and a big if, google released a linux distro, I wouldn't see it as an alternative to windows directly as much as an alternative to all the other already released linux distros. Indirectly it would be, at least in the initital stages. Later on it would be of course. There's a dozen or so top distros, then hundreds of smaller ones. And we also have macosx and solaris, both backed by big companies. None of them, or even collectively, have made it beyond 5% or so desktop market penetration compared to windows, even though they exist. The main problem is, none of the big hardware vendors wants to take much of a chance on any particular linux distro because they don't want to support a subset, with no guaranteees the project might be abandoned, etc. With google on the other hand, you could see the big vendors "taking a chance" on at least a parity linux offering.
Seems we just had an article on this, explaining how Opera does it. Perhaps it's not the device that makes sites bad, but just the default choice of browser the PDA guys ship with it.
40 million on security. Wonder what that works out to be per windows user, a nickle? When they got 40 BILLION in the bank, 40 million is chump change.
Anyway, be that as it may, your mod down is unfair in my linux - using opinion, You weren't flame baiting at all near as I can see, merely stating an opinion, and it's probably correct. A larger market share will mean more of an interest for the bad guys in compromising systems, it's just logical to assume that.
Slashdot Mirror
My nieces had it in their collection and I had never seen it. So I am over there visiting and they GOT to see it again, they throw it in the machine, I am thinking "oh great, some kids cartoon..curmudgeon..mumble" I loved it! Some of the stuff was really funny, the dinner party scene trying to stab the little fleeing tidbits was hysterical. The bad guys were *really* bad, the good guys good. It was made for all age levels to be enjoyed at different points and for different reasons. Quite nice really, now I think I need to go find a copy and see it again..
People don't know the difference between a window manager, a browser, a desktop environment, etc. Honest, most don't. Now look at just normal acronyms and buzzwords. That's it, you are now officially way beyond the expertise of most computer users. They have a 256 mellowbit email drive client from delltel on a machine named the "computer explorer". And "the computer" is that big glowing thing they are staring at. That box off to the side is...something else, no one really knows, but it must be important....
It's a struggle for most computer users to use what they have, so once they learn to do a few things, that's it, that's as far as they will go willingly. Even people *paid* to "use the computer" have a hard time to do more than a few simple tasks. At best, they know just enough to screw up bad. At worst...
.
It's a real problem. Windows is the default everything on the desktop, again, a real problem (for some viewpoints), because to do ANYTHING a "non windows way" is to invite blank stares and nothing getting done. Right now it's obvious that it is already too complicated for most people, and that's with familiarity and in a lot of cases, years of use. Radical change invites both radical productivity gains and ALSO radical failure, it works both ways. It's not that it is that hard to learn NEW things, it's that it is SUPER hard to UNLEARN things.
The way things are going, for the most part these "execs" won't have to worry about supplying millions of people with the same stream, because there will be too much competition. It has become much easier and cheaper to produce "content". Whereas in the past, for example, you might have had a "choice" of 4 networks on TV, and those few "execs" and shows, all very expensive to produce and broadcast, now you have a choice of hundreds of stations on cable or satellite, and soon, thousands or even millions on the net. Audience "viewership" numbers will fall for most programs, and rise for others, with the others being new and for the most part out of those 'concerned execs' hands or influence or "worry".
"Consumers" aren't limited as much as they used to be, and those remaining limitations are dropping daily. A show in the near future might be extremely lucky to only have a thousand viewers (whatever, see "podcasts"), something that could be handled easily with todays "normal" streaming tech.
I had ordered a couple of parts from a tractor dealer two counties over. They don't ship to the door so I had to drive over to pick them up. when I got there, one of the two was incorrect, so we had to look again.. I went with the parts dude to look at the computer. First he went through his dead trees catalog, couldn't find it,but he was comfortable enough there. Then we hit the screen. OMGBBQWTF was that ugly crap! Just NASTY looking, looked like someones first attempt at coding or something. It was a propietary looking sheet that ran on top of IE. It was the worst junk I have ever seen, totally bogus, just complicated beyond belief and all squished together and you couldn't really see anything there. And dig this...NO ONE had ever shown this parts guy that you could have two windows open, one within the other one like in frames, and that if there were scroll bars that BOTH of them scrolled. We were looking at a page where he had to scroll an inner bar down to keep looking at the parts. He scrolls the outside one, then stops "that's it" he says" "no more parts".
I had to SHOW him to scroll the inner one, he goes "wow!"
No telling how many lost sales and frustrated customers who couldn't get what they wanted, and this is a factory dealer place.
We had pitiful so called "technology" being run by someone with zero training. Bad mojo. In this instance just the plain old fashioned catalogs, if they would have been more complete, would have been much better.
try again, troll, Garrison was on to something, pretty obvious. Anyway, that's enough, you can have the last word, no more replies to ACs.
...like some folks do. I mean, if you want to discuss wild assed whacko conspiracy theories, look no farther than any random executive branch press release...
The PNAC documents aren't relevant? Guys in big positions in government now who outlined what sneaky crap they were going to pull in the middle east and did it, based on the "new pearl harbor" 9-11 attacks? The 93 WTC attack, with a fed inside, yet the attack occurred, that's not relevant and a major clue? That's pretty relevant. The gulf of tonkin attacks, now admitted to be 99% fabrication? We aren't supposed to be seeing patterns here?
Sorry, I admit a long time ago being extremely naieve and just believing the government all the time...a long time ago...then I noticed the JFK whack..wenjt WTF?? and well, what they said about it certainly STUNK BAD. Pretty obvious there was more to it than the "lone nut". I gets to thinking... been paying attention since then.
Tell ya what, little about me. I worked for the goldwater campaign. I saw what these neocons are about, what they do, how they act, their character, what motivates them. You see, there was a big internal civil war of a sorts back then, and unfortunately, the "paleo" wing of the party lost, the side I supported, and still would if it even existed as an organized party, the neocons (we call them that now, didn't then) "won" and have controled the R party since. I saw it go down. You get it yet, they sabotaged their own "party" candidate, so that later on their wing would take over, and it did, and we still got them. These guys are lying murdering goons man. Give it up, you are being lead by chronic serial liars and blood profiteers. And that is just the regular cold hearted ones, there's some serious megalomaniacal "armageddon endtimes" nutjobs mixed in there, too, REAL scary guys. And they got some pretty high level cooperation going in with some elements in the dim party as well, along with some entrenched bureaucracy of the criminal sort, in both the civil, mil and paramil areas of "government". Not all, but enough and high enough so some pretty weird stuff goes down..and has been going down for a long time.. It's a racket, dig? A racket, a big fat giant trillion buck like the mafia but on turbo boost and nitro *racket*. That's it, it's that simple, they prove it over and over again. And 9-11? That stinks worse than the kennedy whack, them boys got their prints all over that, fits their MO to a T..
They don't care about other humans.
I don't WISH it that way, but I would be amiss, especially to any of the younger readers here, to not speak out against it. At least, give them a chance to think on things some and realise you DON'T have to take what the government says all the time at face value. that's a pretty important lesson to learn for anyone really. I've always had this pesky 'civic duty' deal with me. Some times I wish I didn't, but mostly I am OK with it, seems to be my old fashioned square boy scout nature. If I really thought they were right, righteous, making sense, on the up and up, were honest, etc, I would SAY SO. I would be OVERJOYED to be able to say so.
But I can't.
I ain't shy. None, zero. I gain nothing by saying what I say, other than trying to pass on a little insight, the best a dude can do based on personal anecdotal, data anlaysis, and the willingness to talk about things. I am not going to lie or sugar coat anything, no reason to, and it would be..hmm, how to put it.. just wrong,man, dishonest of me, I just don't *do* that. Sorry if it offends anyone but it's designed to make people think about what they have been told as opposed to what really happens and what is likely to happen.
The FBI had an agent inside the cell that pulled the first 93 WTC attacks, that came out in the trial, yet it still occurred. And there's just a ton of evidence of government involvement and prior knowledge about the 2001 attacks. I am not even going to bother with any links, anyone can find them and I know they have been posted here over and over again.. If you can't smell a rat I can't help you any longer. This whole business is a reichstagg event, and it was outlined exactly what they were going to do in the PNAC documents by those total fascist pigs.
You can dumb down and buffalo some of the people with constant overlapping lies of omission and outright lies, but not everyone. You neo-conmen are just a pack of lying murdering thugs. Kill foreigners, kill your own if it suits your blood profits schemes. You and your kind have been constantly meddling and interferring with those people for *generations* now, and you WONDER why they are upset?? We listened to you way back with the "gulf of tonkin" attacks and it took three decades for the truth to come quietly out. How many did you kill there? This time you have to deal with the net and people being able to go do some research and find out the things you don't want them to know. No one disputed saddam was a goon, I certainly didn't, he should have been popped decades ago, along with his demon sons, but like others of the low IQ ilk, you once again attempt to change the focus with debate 101 tactics. Sorry, that don't fly.
Being against yet again another corporate conman war is not the same as support for some random ass dictator. You get it yet?
I am against rewarding the idiots who helped stick saddam in in the first place, and they are THE SAME IDIOTS WE GOT NOW. It is not prudent to give political power to the same criminals who set Saddam up and supported him for years. I REFUSE to stop at some point in history YOU PICK when looking at events. You do not reward a burglar by making him a security guard, the same should be true with these bogus "leaders" we have now, yet it happened, so I speak out about it.
Capeche?
Take your conman fascist propoganda and shove it. Go preach to the dittoheads, they love that crap because they get to "let's roll" without any inconvenient pesky data getting in the way. You are wasting your time on anyone who has even remotely researched this subject, stick to the mouth breathers. You pick bad trying to push that crap on slashdot, because it is trivially easy to see through the bs now.
Here, take your pick
+ deaths+in+iraq%2C+us&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=u tf-8
m
http://www.google.com/search?q=estimated+civilian
One at random
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3962969.st
"by the year". The kill rates are going to be comparable. Direct, indirect, it all adds up. And to refresh memories, Saddam used to be our "ally" and we supported him and helped keep him in office when he was fighting the Iranians. And the Iranians became our "enemy" AFTER our spooks helped to off their elected leader who DARED suggest his nation should maybe get to keep 20% of the oil profits, so we then stuck that goon the most freeking exalted royal jerkoff the Shah in power, who's SAVAK organization made it EASY for the nutjob mullahs to recruit people.
c'mon, let's get real here. This is just constant and evolving heglian dialectic blood profits conjobs promulgated by these globalist goons. War is a racket.
Here's a thought, just STOP meddling with those people over there, they are just sick and tired of it. Let them sort their own crap out. How about we take that 200 BILLION a year this war is costing, some say it might go as high as two trillion, and invest it in alternative energy research instead, to free up this dependence on oil? Ever notice these bad guys we pick out to actually attack, or some country to occupy, sit on some huge oil deposits or other strategic minerals? Ever read about our support for Pinochet, how that came about, what was involved, who was involved, who got to profit from it?
Sorry, I refuse to stay dumbed down and not learn from history. When I was much younger I was just the biggest flag waving John Wayne worshipping rah rah rah yahoo out there. Unfortunately for them I decided that going beyond the headline snooze propoganda was more interesting. Whoops! It WAKES you up to do that, try it out, go ahead, better than caffeine! Wars based on lies, sticking in dictators then later on going "gee, he's a dictator, we got to do something!" is lame and moronic and to a lot of people around the world,outright deadly. I'm all for self defense,but I draw the line at purposeful offense based on lies with an economic and political profit motive involved, which this war clearly is. Remember, he was the same murdering goon back when we supported him, why did it change? Oh ya, he decided to switch his oil sales to Euros, THEN all of a sudden he became a "real" badguy so "we have to do something". They initially said he was somehow magically tied to the 9-11 attacks. What happened to that? Are we supposed to forget those and other gems of "quality intel" uttered by our so called "leaders"?
Sorry, homey don't play bait and switch no mo, or near real time revisionism, or just telling a lie over and over again until somehow we are supposed to accept it as the truth, it just won't work on me. Try someone else. Out-gooning the goons is not a solution, it's THE PROBLEM.
Did it ever occur to you that if your troops, not mine even though I live here, I disown them, they can be all yours, WEREN'T over there they wouldn't be getting shot at? Huh? Huh? Ever think of that? Have you noticed THEY invaded Iraq, and Iraq had NOTHING to do with any attacks on the US? Saddam was a medium level bad guy as middle eastern leaders go, why not invade all of the above? How about in Africa, south america, asia? You planning on invading everywhere there's a bad guy? That's THE BULK OF THE PLANET.
So far, US forces have killed more innocent civilians than saddam did, by the year. You got any excuses for that besides just mumbling "unfortunate collateral damage"? What would YOU do if some nation decided they were going to "regime change" and invaded the US, even if the current president du juor wasn't to your liking? Would you cooperate with them and be a quisling traitor, or fight them? And since when is it a legit war when there are no PRISONERS OF WAR? Just "detainees" with hoods over their heads, including women and children. How would YOU like your neighborhood invaded by people from another nation, using high tech killing methods including air strikes? And just kidnapping people and disappearing them? Would you think that was so cool you would go join up with them?
You can't have it both ways. You can't contend some other people are badguys when you are doing exactly the same thing. Give it up, the US government and military and it's leadership are AT BEST moronic, and worst, outright murdering thieving invaders who are ONCE AGAIN installing some puppet government, same thing they have been doing for over 100 years all over. Do you need a list? The difference is now we have the internet, so it's harder to lie to people. Before, they only had to control a few domestic media outlets to brainwash the population, now they have to contend with people having access to many and diverse news sources, and it gets so embarrassing for them to keep this up they need even more "official propoganda" outlets. If all those Iraqis really wanted us there, the so called "resistance" would be a pitiful few, as it is, the BULK of the Iraqi people want us out, and the resistance has been gaining strength in numbers, DESPITE all the murdering going down by US troops, who have shown they are perfectly willing to engage in murder, theft, and mass genocide like in Fallulah. You want to know WHY they got some many to join up the puppet iraqi police force? it's because WE DESTROYED THEIR ECONOMY and there's pitiful few jobs. And coincidently that's the ONLY way they are maintaining a pitiful recruitment goal in the US, where MOST of the "volunteers" are coming from destroyed manufacturing areas where entry level jobs that pay anything or have any benefits are few and far between because the same billionaire globalist idiots in charge decided it was a good idea to kill off the manufacturing base.
ARE YOU SEEING A PATTERN YET?
WAKE UP, you really DON'T have to be a tool of those idiots. They are playing both sides against the middle with this scam, to keep the civilian populations in iraq and the US dumbed down and defensive and under one or the other kind of terror in order to maintain their fatcat leadership poisitions. And they off people to do this! That makes them murdering thugs, so please don't support them. Egads man, read between the lines a little! This is not that hard to see!
I've thought the same for years, there needs to be one simple change to the laws, you must hold a stock for x-years (one or two anyway) before it can be resold. That would do a tremendous amount of good to put "investing" back into the stock market as opposed to wild speculation and programmed trading, etc.
One of the big box vendors will eventually do it, ship linux on the desktop as the default OS installation. It would give the industry a nice kick in the pants. A partnership with any of the major refined distros would do it, that and work with the peripheral vendors to offer devices that would work on plug-in without alot of hassle. It's been "there" potentially for a couple years now. There are many smaller vendors doing it, just none of the larger ones.
They could have both a normal set of controls and a full (small obviously) screen just by going to a normal clamshell design. closed up, fits in pocket and works like a normal iPod, opened up to watch vids.
In the US now they have some significant tax breaks (credits) for installing active solar systems, both solar hot water and for solar PV electricity. And some states have additional tax credits. You can chop the cost down considerably that way. It's your tax money and they let you keep it for something both practical and geeky cool.
Does anyone remember that idea he had? I probably got some details wrong, but it was something like this: Everyone gets a dart gun that shoots a dart that sticks to another car, it says "stupid". Get enough stupid darts from driving like a lamer and you aren't allowed to drive any more. The original moderation/karma system.
man I LIKE your prior art bounty idea! That would work!
The patent office website could have a simple form at the bottom of each pending patent where people could post prior art references, or "obviousness" points.
And they could just skip business process and software patents all together. I like the "in the hand" rule, if you can't hold it in your hand,or physically grab it, it isn't patentable.
...all are investors, and read fairly conservative old mainstream investment periodicals. All those places are pushing heavy (follow the prooganda) for the telcos to limit such things as skype, so, knowing how monopoly cartels work, they are assured this will happen, by law or otherwise. Even if some places are using things like skype, or open source freebie ware, they get *nervous* when big costs aren't associated with something, they instinctively think it's a con, or a dodge, or something that eventually will get them screwed. They can't conceive of themseves giving something useful away, so they assume anyone else doing it has to be insane or a crook or both. If it's a con or dodge THEY think up, swell, most of them will try it out, but someone elses, with the word "free", just gives them the trembling buckwheats. The telcos are a big part of most execs portfolios. They want to support their "investments". The telcos hates the skypes and vonages, and are much bigger, and older and more entrenched and more bluechip, hence, they are the "good guys" and "real businesses" to most (not all, but most) management/boss class investor types. Even when they take a flyer on something like a google, look what just happened when google posted a slightly smaller profit increase,(stilol huge but apparently not huge enough) most of those boss-calss those investor types bailed out screaming. Because in their minds they knew it was too good to be true, because deep down google doesn't charge money for searching, and they can never understand how not charging will ever work. intellectually they might understand how it works, but in their hearts they just don't get it, and are hard wired in their brains to *never* get it..
This is also why there is such a struggle to get open source adoption, management level stock portfolios, both in corporations and in government. They see the word "free" and they start to sweat, free means somehow they get no money in their eyes,or their drinking buddies at ye olde skull and bones brewery get no money, and big business and entrenched big government (it's the same really) is completely based on the profits at any cost, got to keep growing and kill the competition theory. If it can't be owned and closed off and exploited, it's a threat, even it's in an industry outside their own interests, they still have to preserve their "way of life" with "investments". Anything outside that club is..outside, the enemy, jumpstart interlopers.
It's easier if you think of it this way, managers and above and big politicians and entrenched bureaucrats (in net parlance this is called the "monied elite") are Ferengi, there are some things they are never going to "get" no matter what. They are not normal human in their outlook for the most part. To them, Bill Gates = good. They understand a fellow ruthless pirate. Linus Torvalds (if they recognize the name) = someone who should be hung or deported at a minimum.
I don't see this as terribly good or bad, just "is" is all. Been that way since the first cave dude offered wholesale clubs for trade at very great expense and would brain the competition with his expensive product.
...all are investors, and read fairly conservative old mainstream investment periodicals. (Note: many good replies so far, security concerns, etc, this is just another take on it from a psychology POV)
/. anecdotals to the contrary could be used,that isn't the point)
All those places are pushing heavy (follow the latest telco propoganda) for the telcos to limit such things as skype, so, knowing how monopoly cartels work, they are assured this will happen, by law or otherwise. Even if some places are using things like skype, or open source freebie ware, they get *nervous* when big costs aren't associated with something, they instinctively think it's a con, or a dodge, or something that eventually will get them screwed. They simply can't conceive of themseves giving something useful away, so they assume anyone else doing it has to be insane or a crook or both. If it's a con or dodge THEY think up, swell, most of them will try it out, but someone elses, with the word "free", just gives them the trembling buckwheats. The telcos are a big part of most execs portfolios. They want to support their "investments". The telcos hates the skypes and vonages, and are much bigger, and older and more entrenched and more bluechip, hence, they are the "good guys" and "real businesses" to most (not all, but most) management/boss class investor types. Even when they take a flyer on something like a google, look what just happened when google posted a slightly smaller profit increase,(still huge but apparently not huge enough) most of those boss-class investor types bailed out screaming. Because in their minds they knew it was too good to be true, because deep down google doesn't charge money for searching, and they can never understand how not charging for something will ever work. Intellectually they might understand how it works, they will even drop a few of their extra poker chip money bucks on some stocks, but in their hearts they just don't get it, and are hard wired in their brains to *never* get it..
This is also why there is such a struggle to get open source adoption, management level stock portfolios, both in corporations and in government. They see the word "free" and they start to sweat, free means somehow they get no money in their eyes,or their drinking buddies at ye olde skull and bones brewery get no money, and big business and entrenched big government (it's the same really) is completely based on the profits at any cost, got to keep growing and kill the competition theory. If it can't be owned and closed off and exploited, it's a threat, even it's in an industry outside their own interests, they still have to preserve their "way of life" with "investments". Anything outside that club is..outside, the enemy, jumpstart interlopers.
It's easier if you think of it this way, managers and above and big politicians and entrenched bureaucrats (in net parlance this is called the "monied elite") are Ferengi, there are some things they are never going to "get" no matter what. They are not normal working level human in their outlook for the most part.(note, still very generally speaking, I am sure any number of immediate
To them, Bill Gates = good. They understand a fellow completely ruthless pirate. Part of the gang. Linus Torvalds (if they recognize the name) = someone who should be hung or deported at a minimum as a threat to society. A long established bell = "good" something like a skype is suspect. They don't get it, it must be e-vile.
I don't see this as terribly good or bad, just "is" is all. Been that way since the first cave dude offered wholesale clubs for trade at very great expense and would brain the competition with his expensive product.
What government agency/set of cops is auditing closed source to make sure it doesn't contain open source code in violation of copyright? Are closed source shops lawyers making them maintain a legal position that their coders can never glance at open source code lest they become tainted and it slop over into the code?
All I see is giant megaprofit closed source corporations get to run on the "wesayso" law, "we say we only have pure code of our own writing", but everyone else in the other camp has to be scared of lawsuits because they glanced at some closed source someplace and are under draconian NDAs or whatnot.
Kinda like diebold and vote counts. The vote is what we say it is, if you don't believe it, tough noogies.
...like a bug, easy.
Scenario 1: Googlenews could just drop a small to them sum and carry AP, UPI, AFP, etc stories under their own brand name, and not even bother with other papers. They could then offer the now redundant newspapers to pay them to be indexed.
Scenario 2, if for some reason number 1 wouldn't work: Google could put out the internet call for independent reporters en masse around the world, offer a small fee per word/pic/video for accepted and published product, and probably squash the news syndicators. They could have 10,000 reporters (whatever, pick a big number that would work) within a week if they wanted to, every language, every location, every topic. Maybe even squash or at least scare the big broadcast networks for that matter. Most of them use freelancers for a boatload of their product anyway, so quite a few might be lured into working for Google. They could turn this whole argument around, and it would be the local newspapers and broadcasters paying Google serious folding money for content and indexing services, instead of complaining about them "stealing their stuff", which is a crock anyway.
The only dead tree paper I get anymore is the freebie that comes in the mailbox, and that gets used for woodstove fire starter kindling, it's still good for that. I honestly don't care about local high school sports scores. All that is left with local papers of any value is a smidgen of local politics and the classified ads, and there the ads are being taken over by the freebie "ads only" papers you see. The big city papers are even worse, their news is exactly the same as everyone else's, so there's little need for the dead trees version unless you just like to rattle newspaper around at the breakfast table, and also hence why I never "register" to go to any of their website versions, it's like, why do you need to do that when there's 500 other sites with the same exact information and don't require registration? You want my eyeballs to view your site and ads, don't make me register for that privelege, because I won't.
The so called "main stream news" needs a big shakeup anyway, IMO, they need to get scared and go back to their roots a little more, and rediscover real journalism and get rid of being parrots of a few official party lines.
I'm a serious old time news junky, I taught myself to read by reading the newspaper headlines compared to the TV news headlines before I went to kindergarten, and the newspapers have lost *me* as a customer because it just gradually turned into corporate shilling crap and government propoganda mixed in with bread and cicuses hollyweird news and sports gods "scores". And they wonder why their product is being abandoned......
thanks for the link! Neat to see all the older OSes and the commercial unixes. There's even some 95 holdouts! Too bad though, I don't see any Mac classic there.
But ya, back to the point, I think linux adoption has hit a very hard plateau now (hit it around two years ago really), there's just too much fragmentation, reinventing the wheel, etc for any large vendors (whole computers or various peripherals and the big gaming guys) to take it seriously for a mainstream desktop offering. If some company like google releases a polished distro, and makes noises like they are in it for the long haul, it would create a "standard" where no other "standard" exists now, despite all the attempts. Some company like Dell looks a linux and shrugs, they would have to support dozens badly or one sort of badly and still be taking a big risk and dropping cash for no apparent gain. On the other hand, if Google did it, that would be something they could count on for their support measures, and they would at least seriously consider it.
IF, and a big if, google released a linux distro, I wouldn't see it as an alternative to windows directly as much as an alternative to all the other already released linux distros. Indirectly it would be, at least in the initital stages. Later on it would be of course. There's a dozen or so top distros, then hundreds of smaller ones. And we also have macosx and solaris, both backed by big companies. None of them, or even collectively, have made it beyond 5% or so desktop market penetration compared to windows, even though they exist. The main problem is, none of the big hardware vendors wants to take much of a chance on any particular linux distro because they don't want to support a subset, with no guaranteees the project might be abandoned, etc. With google on the other hand, you could see the big vendors "taking a chance" on at least a parity linux offering.
Is there a search engine that returns "PDA friendly" websites on the top of the results? If so, that would help. If not, why not?
Seems we just had an article on this, explaining how Opera does it. Perhaps it's not the device that makes sites bad, but just the default choice of browser the PDA guys ship with it.
40 million on security. Wonder what that works out to be per windows user, a nickle? When they got 40 BILLION in the bank, 40 million is chump change.
Anyway, be that as it may, your mod down is unfair in my linux - using opinion, You weren't flame baiting at all near as I can see, merely stating an opinion, and it's probably correct. A larger market share will mean more of an interest for the bad guys in compromising systems, it's just logical to assume that.