It is, perhaps, that my high school days are long, LONG gone that I cannot appreciate the funny / interesting aspects of an article with no point whatsoever. I do not intend to force my opinions down people's throats, like you appear to enjoy doing, but I think that if I think an article to pointless I have the right to say so.
I made no pretense of speaking for everyone here (???!!!), it is exactly this "subjectivity" that I am expressing. Perhaps before giving classes on being subjective you should accept that people might have opinions different to yours. This way, you might learn that insulting people is not a good way to convince them, let alone to encourage a dialogue.
I mean, I am sorry to be stating the obvious, but what the hell is this? A story about some guy troubleshooting his mother's Pentium 75? A boring story, at that???!!
I am not one to troll for the quality of articles (check my history), but what the hell is the interest of this "news"? That his mother sent him a surge suppressor instead of the cpu? Oh no, what a drama!!! Or that it was a well written chronicle of our geeky, nerdy daily lives? Well, it was not. Neither "normal", nor interesting nor well written.
I cannot believe I am saying this, but I'd rathen read dupes than blogger-wannabes...
I have a miniDV camera. It sits mostly on my desk, since I use it to edit the videos of my family. It is connected on a firewire port (that is up to 400Mbit/sec but on my Sony it is really 100Mb/sec).
It was designed to be connected to a computer, accepting bi-directional communications with error correction, with a tiny tape that stores up to 1 hour of DV quality (essentially lossless) video, or about 14Gbs.
If it is already there, if it is already connected to the computer through an extremely fast interface, and if it is so easy to backup data, then what is the problem with backing up your data? That they have a high mechanical failure rate? And what is your proof? 8mm backup tapes?
This is not intended to replace DATs at the server room, it is just to extend the use of something you already have. This is hacking at its best.
The only thing that does not excite me is that the tools are not 100% compatible with Windows. Yes, I can compile them with gcc but I want my dialog boxes dammit!:-)
Well, had the Internet been using open source, free software for its routing we wouldn't have this problem now, would we?
Oh wait..
Re:Cassette decks s will continue to sell
on
The Future of the CD
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Yes, I can see your argument. Let's transpose it to the 80's marketplace:
As long as people have a portable cassette deck, a cassette deck at home, and one in the car, tapes will keep selling.
The extra quality benefit of the CD will not (unfortunately) be enough to lure people to immediately rush out and buy new equipment. Personally, I would love to have better sound audio, but I'm not prepared to pay the (currently) huge premium to have it.
If you think sound quality is important for most people, look at all the portable tape players that have recently come out and how well they are selling. Can anyone say Sony Walkman?
People want convenience. And until the companies spearheading these formats realise that, their proposed new super-mega-hyper-ultra-quality formats will be dead before day one.
Fermat's last theorem was called that and not a conjecture because Fermat himself, reportedly, had found the solution to the problem. Therefore, and defining a theorem as a conjecture that can be proved to be true, it was rightly called "Fermat's theorem".
I beg your pardon mods, but thiscomment is not insightful. It is, in fact, uninformed and irrelevant. Sony has been one of the first companies out there to do something about digital rights management in an unintrusive way. The drm that comes with my net-md is completely transparent to me and, frankly, I cannot imagine how the hell someone can be inconvenienced by it. You, for philosophical or ethical reasons might be against Sony in the greater plane of things, but they have been CONSISTENTLY putting out EXCELLENT quality gadgets that work seamlessly with one another.
Sony are one of the few companies out there that make gadgets that people drool over AND are happy to own - the novelty does not wear off in 5 minutes. I feel they should be applauded for that.
Anyway, if you are so vocal about the DMCA go out and vote against the congressmen who voted for it, don't sit there writing half-arsed one liners on/.
Excuse me but you've got this completely wrong. A desktop distro does not need to be bloated. Quite the opposite. A Linux desktop installation does not need apache with php and MySql. It does not need an smtp server. It needs to present an environment that a non-technical user can use. There has to be an easy email application, a text editor, an Office package and a fast web browser that they can use to see EVERY SINGLE page on the Internet. The only distro I can see coming even close at this point is Redhat 8, but it has other shortcomings, especially in the multimedia area.
There is no Linux distribution out there suited for non techies. The problem is that all the software is out there but no one, until now, has bothered to make it stick together so that the user does not have to install packages through a completely alien (compared to windows) interface. I also completely fail to understand your argument about fluff - when I last checked, KDE and Gnome both came with such "fluff" - including word processors, browsers, mail clients, etc.
The fact is that Miyamoto knows how to do one thing: design games, and good games at that. I never understand this fascination with "adult theme games". I mean, is Resident evil a better game than, e.g., Mario because it has zombies? Or do I have to see Mario in depression because he has lost the love of his life before getting an Uzi and killing all the bad guys?
I am a 30 year old gamer, I currently own and enjoy games in all three consoles, and I enjoy playing games like Splinter Cell and Eternal Darkness as I do Ape Escape and Sonic. I enjoy a game because it is addictive, it makes me want to play it more and, sometimes, because I like the story. Not because it has an adult theme, whatever that might be.
To finish of, I will say the following: the current generation of games has been spoilt with stupidly complex, hyper-hyped games with idiotic stories without any real substance (the last three Final Fantasy games being the best example) that they cannot appreciate that a game has to be innovative, simple and addictive to be good. There were no such things as "adult games" ten-fifteen years ago, yet people got by...
I am looking forward to Zelda coming out in Europe, as I am sure lots of thirtysomething/.ers are. I am hoping it will maintain the standards set by Ocarina of time and Majora's mask and I do not care in the least whether the graphics are "childish" or not. Play the game, I say, not look at it.
Excuse me, but why is Sony a monopoly? In which area exactly? Video games? Don't think so, Nintendo for example owns about 90% of the handheld console market. TVs? VCRs? What? Where?
I understand and appreciate the Slashdotter's concern about monopolies etc., but Sony is where it is today because they produce better products than the competition. The Clie is better than the palms, the Playstation was better than the Saturn, the minidiscs were better technology than anything at the time.
This is not for everyone, in the same sense that a 42'' plasma TV is not for everyone. I enjoy my AIW as the next person, but I cannot, for example, capture DVD quality mpegs while gaming or burning a cd. The Media edition PC can.
Is not just Windows XP with a fancy interface. Other than many under the hood enhancements, Media Centre PCs have to have some kind of hardware MPEG2 recording solution. And that is why they are so expensive.
So far, the Media Edition version of the OS is OEM only and it will stay like that for the foreseeable future. Having used it, I can say it is extremely functional and does what it says.
So, no, you could not really build one like the Alienware PC that easily, and you most likely think you have a "media" pc. Microsoft bashing aside, if this is their v1 effort, I cannot wait to see what they will make of it in a couple of years.
Is written by someone without any relevant experience in the field. Someone who has not put down any specific examples / case studies to support his case. He makes a point that he has not prove and we are supposed to argue about his unfounded and unproven theorem?
Yet, his article appears on the front page of/., the very "home" of the people he offends. To quote Michael:
First of all, China is a huge, EMERGING market. This means that most people there do not have PC, but they are starting to buy them. Microsoft cannot just say "well, yes, we would like to help you but, actually we won't".
Secondly, China will much rather build its own version of Linux (it already has a project underway). It makes sense for them. If you are starting from scratch, you do not have the biggest problem that prohibits Linux in the office: retraining of non-IT personnel.
Microsoft has not been the first one to feel the wrath of China. China has developed their own x86 chip and, thus, do not depend on either AMD or Intel. They, in fact, are in a position to make 100% Made in China PCs.
You are missing understanding of my mail;-) I said that maybe there are people out there who enjoy using Outlook and do not want / cannot change it. Spamnet is a solution
Not everyone can change browsers / mail clients you know. And, believe me, there are people out there who rather like Outlook. I am one of them.
I dare submit myself to the rage of the Slashdot crowd. I use Outlook and "Spamnet" is a way to stop most spam in Windows. Based on the Razor project (distributed spam detection), it is a great solution for whomever cannot or does not want to move to Mozilla. Granted, it is beta quality, but the Mozilla feature is still in the alpha stage.
The argument is not whether Exchange is good server software. What I am saying is people know that they open Outlook, they see their email, they can schedule meetings and they can have a better-than-decent enterprise-wise contact manager.
Whether it is hell to maintain might me relevant to the sysadm but not to the users. And it will be hell to change 1000 desktops to IMAP, let alone solve server problems.
The guy is asking about total cost of ownership, let's limit ourselves to that, not the usual and justified "Exchange is crap".
Slashdot Mirror
I made no pretense of speaking for everyone here (???!!!), it is exactly this "subjectivity" that I am expressing. Perhaps before giving classes on being subjective you should accept that people might have opinions different to yours. This way, you might learn that insulting people is not a good way to convince them, let alone to encourage a dialogue.
I am not one to troll for the quality of articles (check my history), but what the hell is the interest of this "news"? That his mother sent him a surge suppressor instead of the cpu? Oh no, what a drama!!! Or that it was a well written chronicle of our geeky, nerdy daily lives? Well, it was not. Neither "normal", nor interesting nor well written.
I cannot believe I am saying this, but I'd rathen read dupes than blogger-wannabes...
Also, what I said is that it is essentially lossless. I dare you to find artifacts on any dv movie filmed with a reasonably modern DV camera.
It was designed to be connected to a computer, accepting bi-directional communications with error correction, with a tiny tape that stores up to 1 hour of DV quality (essentially lossless) video, or about 14Gbs.
If it is already there, if it is already connected to the computer through an extremely fast interface, and if it is so easy to backup data, then what is the problem with backing up your data? That they have a high mechanical failure rate? And what is your proof? 8mm backup tapes?
This is not intended to replace DATs at the server room, it is just to extend the use of something you already have. This is hacking at its best.
The only thing that does not excite me is that the tools are not 100% compatible with Windows. Yes, I can compile them with gcc but I want my dialog boxes dammit! :-)
Well, had the Internet been using open source, free software for its routing we wouldn't have this problem now, would we? Oh wait..
Yes, I can see your argument. Let's transpose it to the 80's marketplace:
:->
As long as people have a portable cassette deck, a cassette deck at home, and one in the car, tapes will keep selling.
The extra quality benefit of the CD will not (unfortunately) be enough to lure people to immediately rush out and buy new equipment. Personally, I would love to have better sound audio, but I'm not prepared to pay the (currently) huge premium to have it.
If you think sound quality is important for most people, look at all the portable tape players that have recently come out and how well they are selling. Can anyone say Sony Walkman?
People want convenience. And until the companies spearheading these formats realise that, their proposed new super-mega-hyper-ultra-quality formats will be dead before day one.
Yes, I see what you mean
Fermat's last theorem was called that and not a conjecture because Fermat himself, reportedly, had found the solution to the problem. Therefore, and defining a theorem as a conjecture that can be proved to be true, it was rightly called "Fermat's theorem".
The Apple Cinema HD does not do all of the above, does it?
Sony are one of the few companies out there that make gadgets that people drool over AND are happy to own - the novelty does not wear off in 5 minutes. I feel they should be applauded for that. Anyway, if you are so vocal about the DMCA go out and vote against the congressmen who voted for it, don't sit there writing half-arsed one liners on /.
Excuse me but you've got this completely wrong. A desktop distro does not need to be bloated. Quite the opposite. A Linux desktop installation does not need apache with php and MySql. It does not need an smtp server. It needs to present an environment that a non-technical user can use. There has to be an easy email application, a text editor, an Office package and a fast web browser that they can use to see EVERY SINGLE page on the Internet. The only distro I can see coming even close at this point is Redhat 8, but it has other shortcomings, especially in the multimedia area. There is no Linux distribution out there suited for non techies. The problem is that all the software is out there but no one, until now, has bothered to make it stick together so that the user does not have to install packages through a completely alien (compared to windows) interface. I also completely fail to understand your argument about fluff - when I last checked, KDE and Gnome both came with such "fluff" - including word processors, browsers, mail clients, etc.
I am a 30 year old gamer, I currently own and enjoy games in all three consoles, and I enjoy playing games like Splinter Cell and Eternal Darkness as I do Ape Escape and Sonic. I enjoy a game because it is addictive, it makes me want to play it more and, sometimes, because I like the story. Not because it has an adult theme, whatever that might be.
To finish of, I will say the following: the current generation of games has been spoilt with stupidly complex, hyper-hyped games with idiotic stories without any real substance (the last three Final Fantasy games being the best example) that they cannot appreciate that a game has to be innovative, simple and addictive to be good. There were no such things as "adult games" ten-fifteen years ago, yet people got by... I am looking forward to Zelda coming out in Europe, as I am sure lots of thirtysomething /.ers are. I am hoping it will maintain the standards set by Ocarina of time and Majora's mask and I do not care in the least whether the graphics are "childish" or not. Play the game, I say, not look at it.
DRM does not a monopoly make.
I understand and appreciate the Slashdotter's concern about monopolies etc., but Sony is where it is today because they produce better products than the competition. The Clie is better than the palms, the Playstation was better than the Saturn, the minidiscs were better technology than anything at the time.
You do know the DMCA is a law and not an organisation, do you not?
This is not for everyone, in the same sense that a 42'' plasma TV is not for everyone. I enjoy my AIW as the next person, but I cannot, for example, capture DVD quality mpegs while gaming or burning a cd. The Media edition PC can.
So far, the Media Edition version of the OS is OEM only and it will stay like that for the foreseeable future. Having used it, I can say it is extremely functional and does what it says.
So, no, you could not really build one like the Alienware PC that easily, and you most likely think you have a "media" pc. Microsoft bashing aside, if this is their v1 effort, I cannot wait to see what they will make of it in a couple of years.
According to the article, the original source of the news is Asahi Shimbun...
Yet, his article appears on the front page of /., the very "home" of the people he offends. To quote Michael:
No it is definitely not.
You are right, I stand 100% corrected. To repeat: relevance of my comments about what is being discussed: 0%.
How about you having read my message before replying to it?
Secondly, China will much rather build its own version of Linux (it already has a project underway). It makes sense for them. If you are starting from scratch, you do not have the biggest problem that prohibits Linux in the office: retraining of non-IT personnel.
Microsoft has not been the first one to feel the wrath of China. China has developed their own x86 chip and, thus, do not depend on either AMD or Intel. They, in fact, are in a position to make 100% Made in China PCs.
Not everyone can change browsers / mail clients you know. And, believe me, there are people out there who rather like Outlook. I am one of them.
Whether it is hell to maintain might me relevant to the sysadm but not to the users. And it will be hell to change 1000 desktops to IMAP, let alone solve server problems.
The guy is asking about total cost of ownership, let's limit ourselves to that, not the usual and justified "Exchange is crap".
Slashdotters do not read the articles. ;-)
SCD