Ugh. I'm in the same situation, but thankfully most of my family own Macs, and I have no problem throwing small suggestions their way, and giving people hints on where best to help themselves. They're my relatives, I know them well, and know what'll work well with them
There's always exceptions however. My Aunt wanted to buy a computer, and could get a decent deal on a 2nd hand Mac. Her daughter uses a mac, her brother uses a mac, one of her sons uses a mac, her niece (me) uses several macs, her best friend has 2 iBooks and her neighbour is one of the local Mac service centre techs. We all advised her on which Mac to get, and how to expand it, as she'd never used a computer before and wanted to get into the graphical side of it.
So she goes and buys a PC because the neighbour on the other side said Macs suck. Now she's stuck with no support, apart from the quite overpriced local PC dealership she bought the PC from. I stopped helping her when she asked "Why do you all own such incompatible computers?".
...or spammers sending spam, not only tells you how to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS via text, but will pop up a java app to tell you more about ENLARGING YOUR PENIS, tune your radio to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS and display the adverts to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS on your television.
Just what it would try to do with a toaster or microwave to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS is too scary to think about.
Re:There is one main problem with mobile gaming
on
Mobile vs. Desktop Gaming
·
· Score: 3, Informative
That's certainly an issue at the moment - as is the deficiencies of LCDs in comparison to CRTs. Not just in size, but smoothness of the display and the ability to change resolutions/refresh rates if that becomes an issue in future games, or simply suits you better as a gamer.
However, getting a laptop to work stunningly as a gaming machine requires several things to improve - graphics cards, displays, battery life... perhaps even keyboard quality/changes depending on the game. Nothing like that will happen all at once, hopefully this is just one step closer.
I've seen more than a couple of Powermac 6100s painted black to get just this result. While the original 66mhz cpu isn't going to do much by itself, there's a floppy bay, 5.25" optical bay and 3.5" internal bay. If you particularly wanted to fit a PC in there, I'm sure it'd be a possible hack-together.
Admittedly, a whole industry culture of producing machines to integrate into existing household setups like a home entertainment cabinet would be a better solution. These shuttles are well-integrated internally, but from the outside no matter how small you can make a cube, it's still a desktop.
(a nice desktop that I lust after:)
Re:Has no predictions?
on
Electronic Life
·
· Score: 5, Funny
He talks about how programming, with it's rejection of the human element, was going to become something of a young, socially-inept boys's game
There's nothing specific to X apart from the 'culture' generated from years of coding with current methods, and this kind of culture is sometimes harder to work past than any technical difficulties. With an entirely new system, the chance for an easier break is there.
I'm afraid I might be a little too optimistic in this regard - human nature is a very strong thing, and I've seen enough developers who think a good UI is just a few buttons onscreen, to just sigh and realise I'll have to get used to good apps featurewise with mediocre interfaces.
I'd love to see, as well as part of the specs of any new gui, just a few small standards on the simple parts of a gui that coders should follow. The technical abilities of it are one thing, but small things like consistent menus, consistent design, proportional scrollbars, apps that ALL take notice of settings - that kind of thing. X apps are such a mishmash of styles that it's too late, the rot has already set in. It works, but not optimally.
This doesn't have to be restrictive and there are already some basics that X coders (generally) stick to, but extending things a little and generating a culture of doing things well would be an incredible bonus. Far too many X apps re-invent the wheel when it comes to GUIs, almost starting from scratch and often forgetting the little things that have been done well before, that users subconsciously expect, and make intuitive use a reality.
OK so it's quite cool to watch this all happening over a few hours but the amount of effort for the thing must be phenomenal. Weeks of setting up, and HOW much counting to get to 4 million?
-b.
From time to time I've found myself chewing on anything I can find. Pen lids and pencils are one thing, and I caught myself nibbling the corner of a NIC a few months ago. I can't exactly describe the flavour. It wasn't offensive, more "interesting". "Interesting" might just be enough to sucker ants in.
-b.
Slashdot Mirror
Ugh. I'm in the same situation, but thankfully most of my family own Macs, and I have no problem throwing small suggestions their way, and giving people hints on where best to help themselves. They're my relatives, I know them well, and know what'll work well with them
There's always exceptions however. My Aunt wanted to buy a computer, and could get a decent deal on a 2nd hand Mac. Her daughter uses a mac, her brother uses a mac, one of her sons uses a mac, her niece (me) uses several macs, her best friend has 2 iBooks and her neighbour is one of the local Mac service centre techs. We all advised her on which Mac to get, and how to expand it, as she'd never used a computer before and wanted to get into the graphical side of it.
So she goes and buys a PC because the neighbour on the other side said Macs suck. Now she's stuck with no support, apart from the quite overpriced local PC dealership she bought the PC from. I stopped helping her when she asked "Why do you all own such incompatible computers?".
That may be a wonderful thing if I had one I needed enlarging in the first place ;)
...or spammers sending spam, not only tells you how to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS via text, but will pop up a java app to tell you more about ENLARGING YOUR PENIS, tune your radio to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS and display the adverts to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS on your television.
Just what it would try to do with a toaster or microwave to ENLARGE YOUR PENIS is too scary to think about.
That's certainly an issue at the moment - as is the deficiencies of LCDs in comparison to CRTs. Not just in size, but smoothness of the display and the ability to change resolutions/refresh rates if that becomes an issue in future games, or simply suits you better as a gamer.
However, getting a laptop to work stunningly as a gaming machine requires several things to improve - graphics cards, displays, battery life... perhaps even keyboard quality/changes depending on the game. Nothing like that will happen all at once, hopefully this is just one step closer.
I've seen more than a couple of Powermac 6100s painted black to get just this result. While the original 66mhz cpu isn't going to do much by itself, there's a floppy bay, 5.25" optical bay and 3.5" internal bay. If you particularly wanted to fit a PC in there, I'm sure it'd be a possible hack-together.
:)
Admittedly, a whole industry culture of producing machines to integrate into existing household setups like a home entertainment cabinet would be a better solution. These shuttles are well-integrated internally, but from the outside no matter how small you can make a cube, it's still a desktop.
(a nice desktop that I lust after
He talks about how programming, with it's rejection of the human element, was going to become something of a young, socially-inept boys's game
HA! Well we proved him wrong THERE.
didn't we...
didn't I... ?
Absolutely...
There's nothing specific to X apart from the 'culture' generated from years of coding with current methods, and this kind of culture is sometimes harder to work past than any technical difficulties. With an entirely new system, the chance for an easier break is there.
I'm afraid I might be a little too optimistic in this regard - human nature is a very strong thing, and I've seen enough developers who think a good UI is just a few buttons onscreen, to just sigh and realise I'll have to get used to good apps featurewise with mediocre interfaces.
I'd love to see, as well as part of the specs of any new gui, just a few small standards on the simple parts of a gui that coders should follow. The technical abilities of it are one thing, but small things like consistent menus, consistent design, proportional scrollbars, apps that ALL take notice of settings - that kind of thing. X apps are such a mishmash of styles that it's too late, the rot has already set in. It works, but not optimally.
This doesn't have to be restrictive and there are already some basics that X coders (generally) stick to, but extending things a little and generating a culture of doing things well would be an incredible bonus. Far too many X apps re-invent the wheel when it comes to GUIs, almost starting from scratch and often forgetting the little things that have been done well before, that users subconsciously expect, and make intuitive use a reality.
OK so it's quite cool to watch this all happening over a few hours but the amount of effort for the thing must be phenomenal. Weeks of setting up, and HOW much counting to get to 4 million? -b.
From time to time I've found myself chewing on anything I can find. Pen lids and pencils are one thing, and I caught myself nibbling the corner of a NIC a few months ago. I can't exactly describe the flavour. It wasn't offensive, more "interesting". "Interesting" might just be enough to sucker ants in. -b.