Not all Americans think that way. I, as a REAL American who believes in the principles this country used to have, hate our fucking stupidass monkey president. If that fuck wins again, I'm leaving. Canada here I come... Canadians seem pretty decent. Not like all the stupid SUV driving, gun enthusiast, ill-mannered, "me first" fucks that call themselves Americans. This country is going down the toilet...
nomadic makes EXACTLY the point I wish people would understand all over. GOOD laws were made to be followed for a reason; they prevent problems. Sometimes it might seem a little inconvenient to follow a law, but it's not going to kill you or ruin your life. Yes, I DO hate it when I see some jackass run into a video store just as it's closing and make an ass of himself by holding up the people who work there, just so he can avoid a late fee... Or people who rush into ANY store just as it's closing and make a big stink about why they NEED to be serviced. People who do that are selfish and more accurately defined as self-centered assholes. I attempt as much as possible to follw the rules. For example, I live in a Cleveland Ohio. When I leave work everyday, I occasionaly run into the situation where the crosswalk sign says "DON'T WALK", but there is no traffic coming through. While it may be convenient for me to just run across the street and shave a little time off of my walk (a few seconds at most), I prefer to stand and wait until the light says "WALK". It's a logical approach and it respects the rules. If everyone did this (instead of trying to give themselves some kind of personal benefit) the world would be a much better place. So... in short; yes, you should get a ticket for going through an intersection on yellow. Or... holding up other people because you have to be served even if the store is closing... or you can't wait for the "DON'T WALK" to change to "WALK"... or.. any other of a multitude of asshole behavior that some people seem to excel at.
Rush Limbaugh - Excellence in being a fat lying pusball. That turd wouldn't know the truth if it bit him on his boil infested squishy ass. Give us a break and stop being a "ditto-head". The only thing that moniker equates to is "Me too!". Stupid sheeple.
Ummm... moderator: EXCUSE ME? Mod this guy up! He makes a valid point. Unless you have something to hide, you shouldn't need anything better than rm or del. Your government is never going to be interested in the data that is on "Joe User's" computer unless he's involved with something that your govenrment doesn't approve of. Considering that I am not a fan of the current government in the US (we have a monkey that I didn't vote for as our president), I still have no concern that they want to tap into my machines. And if they did, they wouldn't find a damn thing. So... no need for encryption or secure delete for me. I just figure, if you follow the rules of our collective societies, then there is nothing to worry about.
Maybe because in trying to make it "ready for the desktop" by Microsoft's standards requires being bloated, ugly, having a clumsy GUI, being unusable for newbies and having gaping security holes out of the box? Seriously, how many newbies just sit down and say, "Oh yeah, this is Windows, I know this"! Most of them are terribly afraid of Windows and think they are going to break the machine by just clicking on the wrong thing.
Yes. Who are you NineNine? What kind of spineless person is behind that stupid moniker? I suppose it's not as important as the poster above seems to think since you are, in my opinion, completely wortheless. Lot's of fun to insult though. You always respond. Personally, I think you are insane. A complete and total whackjob.
OK. I read your post in your journal. My aplogies since I thought you were one of Trollip's cronies. Didn't mean to offend since you seem pretty level headed. I just like to play up the "insanity" thing when I run into people like Trollip. It's good for a laugh basically.
Oh really? Well how does it work smartass? Do you care to respond to my questions since you are so eager to defend Trollip? If you say no, then that's two victories on my part. And don't think you'll get off scott free by saying something like, "I refuse to be challenged by someone calling himself Trolling4Dollars" or "I am too far above you to be able to address something as simple and lowly as you" since those are NON-ANSWERS. But typical tripe from conervative sheep. Go bleat elsewhere little boy.
Re:"artificial turkey for the vegetarians"
on
Christmas in 2050
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You really are a sorry case NineNine. But... keep eating your precious meat. It just means that I will outlive you by decades. THAT will make the world a slightly better place.
Ignore this fucker. Add him to your foes list or defriend him. He really needs a dressing down. His ego is bigger than the US national debt and growing by the second.
Typical response from an unhappy objectivist. "I'm rational, therefore if you disagree with me, you are insane". You're pathetic NineNine. Too bad, it seems like you could be a really cool guy if you didn't hold to the beliefs that you do. It's not too late though. You can change for the better.
I have to give you some credit because you have more style than Trollip and use some great langauge. With that said. I highly doubt you work anywhere near as hard as I do. Have you been rehabbing your own house from the ground up? Using old methods (plastering instead of drywalling, paint instead of siding, etc...)? Have you gone over to your friend's houses and helped them run new electrical outlets, lights, phone extensions, networking, security systems, and coaxial cable at no charge? Do you sit up late at night writing CGI apps (Linux based thank you very much) for anyone who might find them useful? And when you have some time, compose your own music to share with anyone who wants to hear it (RIAA be damned)? And most important of all... give as much time as possible to share your skills with others so that the knowledge can be passed on and people can, perhaps depend on you less an less? I would guess you don't. Put that on top of a 40 hour a week job managing a network of 1500+ machines (various flavors of OS from Alphas running open VMS to Intel Pentiums running... GASP! Linux!) Sorry... but you haven't pegged me. You like to paint people like me with the moniker of "hippie" but I'm too young for that (32). I am just a human being doing my best to undo the shit that people like you promulgate on the rest of humanity. Keep your fucking objectivism you pathetic loser. Nobody wants it because it doesn't work. Transhumanism is a better approach anyway. Strive to be more than human. That's what I do, and I do it quite well. Just ask any of my family, friends, co-workers or other strangers that I've helped along the way. NineNine, you don't have to stick with your failed approach to life. Even you can do better by trying a little harder to be a decent human and maybe evolve past those animal tendencies towards selfishness and greed. I was perusing your journal and see that you are falling into all the traps that this failed society has to offer. I was especially alarmed at the stupidity of your use of credit cards as financial crutches. If you can't get it through making it, getting it from someone else who can make it or afford to give it to you, then you DON'T deserve it. Using credit cards in such a reckless way is only going to get you into deep debt. And for what? A gamble. I feel sorry for you. I really do.
Folks... you saw it here first. I have put Twirlip of the Mists down. He has not responded to this post for days and therfore foreits the victory in this short discussion to me. In short... WE ALL WIN. Stupid gasbag. Check out my journal for more info as I (while I'm bored anyway) pursue Trollip and NineNine around Slashdot. I will be back at work on Monady and have a life over the weekend, so chances are this pursuit will be shortlived.
The only reason I can "afford" to think the way I do is because I give freely of myself in every way that I can. I work for a non-profit organization. I do a lot of work to help others around me who are incapable of helping themselves. Putting aside the fact that Ayn Rand is a crock of shit and objectivism is a failed and flawed worldview, it sounds to me like you are very ignorant of the way the world works for those of us that have to work HARDER than some fop preaching Ayn Rand. I am certain that I work harder than you do to provide for myself, my family, my friends and anyone else that I come across who needs help. It is your resposibility as a human being to help others around you. Your failure to understand ofr accepts this indicates your failure to be a decent citizen of the world.
Ahhh... so you ARE a zealot Trollip. An anti-GPL zealot. Now I understand why you are so annoying to me. What we really need is a concerted legal attack on selfish profit-mongers like you. You mentioned in an earlier thread that if you make something (chair, song, etc..), it is your right to keep it to yourself. That is THE definition of selfish. (Where would we be today if the invention of fire was kept a secret?) So, on top of being a self-righteous prick, you are also a selfish bastard. I can see you are nearly the perfect opposite of me. I gladly give away whatever new code I write, whatever music I create (because I am also a musician) and whatever visual art I create. Why? Because it makes the world a slightly better place when everyone shares and treats each other fairly and with dignity. There is also great benefit in having others contribute to the work that one does. It brings much more life to a project than a single mind does. You are nothing more than the equivalent of the lone teen in his parents bedroom with some really great music gear, a little talent and no interest in outside input. Rather pathetic if you ask me. And you still haven't answered my questions that I posted non-anoymously earlier on. I think at this point, I will assume I have beaten you since there hasn't been a peep out of you in that thread for days now.
Hahahaha... Trollip can't take the heat of true artistic use of profanity. He instead attempts to turn it around and pretend that he is "superior" somehow to someone who has a mastery of "dirty words". Profane language is much more eloquent and elegant than "proper discourse".
Nothing. I just don't want to waste my karma on you and clueless moderators. You still haven't answered the questions put to you in the above mentioned threads. What are YOU afraid of?
Money, business and profit mean absolutely nothing in the long run. There is no true value of any kind since it is all disposable. Expanding the abilities of an individual's understanding and intelligence to a greater potential and spreading that to more people means everything. There is true value in complex thought. Therefore, open source software is much more valuable than proprietary software since the impetus is not profit, but knowledge. Think of it this way... What kind of software do you think is still going to be around in a few generations? Proprietary or open source? Classical music is still around and has much more of a presence than the folk music of the same time period. Re-evaluate your thinking.
I've been thinking about this at great length for the past year or so. The W.I.M.P. interface is going to be with us for a while no matter what we think of it. It will evolve and get enhanced by other developments in input devices (eye tracking, speech recognition, humanoid virtual androids, etc..), but will probably largely remain the same. The real "innovations" (for lack of a less used word) are to be had in new approaches to using the computer to actually get work done.
Unfortunately, I think Microsoft has us in a bad spot right now. I've heard rumours for a while that one of their big projects is some kind of storage/document management system. When you think about it, this makes sense for the business world as the "next big thing" because the suits don't care about data formats and don't WANT to learn about what type of data is compatible with other data. If my hunch is correct (based on the info I've seen in various spots on the net) they are planning to make a transparent, centralized (within an enterprise) mass data storage system that completely abstracts data from file formats. More then likely, the end result will be based on that DB centered filesystem we've been hearing about. So when a user creates data, whether it's graphic, text, audio, etc... it all goes into this DB with approapriate links drawn automatically between the different data. The user never has to think about file formats. They just create their data (which they will likely think of as "documents" with no type) and save it to their published "Folder". The filesystem/OS will take care of all the data type matching. Exchange and Windows XP for Pen Computing are the first glimpses at this kind of thing.
If we really want to get something new happening, we really have to start thinking about a few items:
1. Computers (even with W.I.M.P.) force people to interact in non-human ways. 2. To be truly efficient, every task that a computer could be used for requires different UI approaches to be "optmized" for that use. (Witness the turnkey systems out there for the button pushing monkeys to use) 3. You either have maximum flexibility and number of features at the cost of true ease of use, or you limit your user to make things easier to use. There is no compromise.
To tackle the first point: People have been working for so long on trying to make computers "user friendly" that they've added so many things that actually cripple the user. As Neal Stephenson pointed out in his essay, "In the Beginning There Was Command Line", many metaphors actually prevent the new device from being used to it's full potential. He had an example of a steam powered car that used reigns for steering because it was something people were familiar with. However, it's obvious to us now that the steering wheel (while a new concept) was actually the better interface. I think we need to question whether we really need to hold onto a lot of the metaphors in use today. Should we try and meet our machines halfway, especially since their eventual role will probably be to augment us in many ways? Or maybe we should come up with new, less limiting metaphors? I think it will all come down to how each individual uses their computer.
I know that I feel very limited by GUIs these days. It doesn't matter if it's Windows, Linux or MacOS. I've used them all and can easily move between all of them since they really aren't different at all anymore. However, I do get a lot more usability and flexibility from the CLI for the way I use my machines. Still... the CLI is limiting too. The time to integrate CLI and GUI into something more cohesive than just running an xterm in X, or CMD in Explorer has come. Why don't we have a CLI that has modern text editing facilities. There are many times when I wish I could do a text search through the text in my scrollback buffer. Or how about being able to "drag and drop" filenames to directories in a CLI window, instead of having both a GUI file manager and a CLI open? Or dragging a console command line out of a script you're editing to the desktop and having a new CLI window (or maybe a new tab if you have an MDI capable CLI) pop up with the line ready to execute by pressing enter. Or maybe a way to use the command history to create new scripts easily? Just arrow up to the commands you just used and tag them in the order you want them and have them output to a new script in your home dir. These are basically shortcuts that could make CLI life a lot easier. However, this still barely touches the real issue.
The real problem is that the computers (with ANY UI) still force users into limited ways of interacting and thinking. To manage your files, you have to think in hierarchical fashion even if that ISN'T the way that you work with real paper/books/printouts, etc... File management should be approached in a much different way than it is currently. (Most users I know never even touch their file managers unless they are going to read a floppy.) The "search" tools that many GUIs provide this to some extent, but it's only ephemeral. A search is not a permanent record of a state. The only "views" that we currently have in a GUI are limited to the way that a computer "tech" thinks, not a user. In fact, the very use of the word "file" may be an impediment to using a computer in the most efficient way.
If we take a more object based view. The data would make a slight transformation from "graphic image file" to simply; "Picture" regardless of the format. Text data would no longer be the mish-mash of formats that it currently is (ASCII text, "DOC", RTF, PDF). It would instead become "Letters", "Articles", "Recipes", "Source Code" "Personal Photos", "Promotional Pictures", etc...
Instead of the user arranging folders that contain all of these categories, the OS would already have a pre-ordered layout of filing by these categories. However, this would not be the normal folder structure that a filesystem uses, but it would be a database that manages the underlying filesystem. As new applications get installed, more categories for those apps get added if they don't already exist. When the user opens their personal information store, they would be presented with a list of the categories (with a bias towards the most often used types) to scan through. Once they select the ONE category they are interested in, all other categories dissapear from the list and a new interface is presented with the option to search for a specific document or select a "view". The "view" could be chronological, alphabetical, or relational. If they pick chronological, their choices can be Today, Yesterday, Within the Past Week/Month/Year, Specific Date. If they pick alphabetical, they get the options for Forward/Reverse order, or Specific Letter - Forward Reverse (Ablilities, Accidental, Actionable...). It they pick relational, they can select a specific document and it will present them with a "web" of all related documents on their system, network, or corporate enterprise. This is just a simple illustration of "what could be" for the typical end user. Let's take a look now at what could be for the advanced user.
A lot of times, I find myself with a strong desire to have access to my machines, but being limited by the other things I need to do in daily life. The concept of the wearable computer appeals more and more.:) But, the only input devices we have are still limiting. The closest thing I've seen to something useful for text input is "Dasher". Combine this with eye tracking and I think you have a great solution for portable computing with no need for KB, twiddler, or the like. The other thing I think we should be looking at is the possibility of CLIs actually learning what we do most and creating aliases based on those actions with notification that we have a new alias that we can use for those actions. The other possibility is textual access to that same DB that the normal users would have in the GUI. This DB would allow us to use our machines in CLI mode with automatic suggestions for related commands, data, services appearing in a "scratch" location on the CLI for the machine's "stream of consiousness". It would become symbiotic. As we learn about our machines, and our machines learn about us, we augment each other. And THAT is what we should be working towards: computers that augment us as individuals while being as transparent or intrusive as the user desires.
My second point is that depending on how you use your machine, certain UI/input device combos may be more efficient than a "one size fits all" approach. For instance a musician may want to use a computer with a KB, Mouse and a real mixing board input device for virtual studio work. Or an artist might want to use a tablet interface that allows them to draw on screen just as on paper. One of the things that Linux has going for it in this way is that you really could make dedicated distros for different types of work. This would be a great way to usurp Windows from certain arenas since MS would likely never take this appraoch as it would cost too much. But it needen't cost as much for Linux. The freedom it would allow for in UI design would be incredible. Imagine the new kinds of tools and approaches that could be created without being fettered by a "desktop" metaphor. This is where I think some extra specialized work needs to be done: hardware input devices. If we can get Linux to support as many input devices as possible, and combine that with very specific task focused distros (or a distro with "task plug-ins"), we could gain more acceptance in specialized fields.
The third factor is how much power to actually give the user. As we've all seen with the various W.I.M.P. interfaces out there, having more than one way to do something is great, but it gets in the way of user friendliness. I've seen plenty of people get EXTREMELY confused by seeing that they could minimize a window by clicking on the _ widget OR by left clicking on the application's window menu on the left side and selecting "Minimize", or by right clicking on the application's listing in the task menu and right clicking to select "Minimize", or... you get the picture. While it's nice to have all those options (especially as the user becomes more adept, it's likely to confuse the user). I still wonder why no one has taken notice of Nautilus' old (weak, but clueful) approach of having different modes: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. Someone need's to sit down and figure out what the easiest GUI thing for most users to do is and pick that ONE approach for a function. Then all of those simple approaches would become the "Beginner" settings. The "Intermediate" settings could incorporate other GUI based approaches that are less commonly used but might be preferred by a more intermeidate user. And the KB shortcuts (there should be one for every function in the GUI) are left to the "Advanced" user mode.
Instead of completely removing features to try and avoid confusing the user, the features should be categorized thoughout all apps and the OS environment into categories of some kind to limit what a beginning user is exposed to. Some people will never break past that, and that is fine. Others will want to explore and learn more. Either way... the real goal needs to be more humanization of the UIs, and more machination of the humans.
I don't know... I have a pretty fulfilling life without needing to own a brand new car every year, or buy the latest tech gadgets. In fact, I can usually make my own tech gadget. The time I spend doing that is pretty fulfilling. I'm sorry, but if you feel that you need to make a lot of money to have a fulfilling life, then how "fulfilled" are you really? I am fulfillied by increasing my knowledge, and therefore my power and mastery of the environment around me. Worth much more than money...
I LOVED Ghost in the Shell. I only hope they do the first one justice. I DID wonder what was going to happen at the end of the movie and kind of expected that it was going to become a series. Did anyone else ever hear about a GITS series?
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Not all Americans think that way. I, as a REAL American who believes in the principles this country used to have, hate our fucking stupidass monkey president. If that fuck wins again, I'm leaving. Canada here I come... Canadians seem pretty decent. Not like all the stupid SUV driving, gun enthusiast, ill-mannered, "me first" fucks that call themselves Americans. This country is going down the toilet...
nomadic makes EXACTLY the point I wish people would understand all over. GOOD laws were made to be followed for a reason; they prevent problems. Sometimes it might seem a little inconvenient to follow a law, but it's not going to kill you or ruin your life. Yes, I DO hate it when I see some jackass run into a video store just as it's closing and make an ass of himself by holding up the people who work there, just so he can avoid a late fee... Or people who rush into ANY store just as it's closing and make a big stink about why they NEED to be serviced. People who do that are selfish and more accurately defined as self-centered assholes. I attempt as much as possible to follw the rules. For example, I live in a Cleveland Ohio. When I leave work everyday, I occasionaly run into the situation where the crosswalk sign says "DON'T WALK", but there is no traffic coming through. While it may be convenient for me to just run across the street and shave a little time off of my walk (a few seconds at most), I prefer to stand and wait until the light says "WALK". It's a logical approach and it respects the rules. If everyone did this (instead of trying to give themselves some kind of personal benefit) the world would be a much better place. So... in short; yes, you should get a ticket for going through an intersection on yellow. Or... holding up other people because you have to be served even if the store is closing... or you can't wait for the "DON'T WALK" to change to "WALK"... or.. any other of a multitude of asshole behavior that some people seem to excel at.
Rush Limbaugh - Excellence in being a fat lying pusball. That turd wouldn't know the truth if it bit him on his boil infested squishy ass. Give us a break and stop being a "ditto-head". The only thing that moniker equates to is "Me too!". Stupid sheeple.
Ummm... moderator: EXCUSE ME? Mod this guy up! He makes a valid point. Unless you have something to hide, you shouldn't need anything better than rm or del. Your government is never going to be interested in the data that is on "Joe User's" computer unless he's involved with something that your govenrment doesn't approve of. Considering that I am not a fan of the current government in the US (we have a monkey that I didn't vote for as our president), I still have no concern that they want to tap into my machines. And if they did, they wouldn't find a damn thing. So... no need for encryption or secure delete for me. I just figure, if you follow the rules of our collective societies, then there is nothing to worry about.
Log in.
Jack off.
Troll out.
Come on people! Mod this up! It was funny!!!
Spot on my good man! Spot on!!!
Maybe because in trying to make it "ready for the desktop" by Microsoft's standards requires being bloated, ugly, having a clumsy GUI, being unusable for newbies and having gaping security holes out of the box? Seriously, how many newbies just sit down and say, "Oh yeah, this is Windows, I know this"! Most of them are terribly afraid of Windows and think they are going to break the machine by just clicking on the wrong thing.
Yes. Who are you NineNine? What kind of spineless person is behind that stupid moniker? I suppose it's not as important as the poster above seems to think since you are, in my opinion, completely wortheless. Lot's of fun to insult though. You always respond. Personally, I think you are insane. A complete and total whackjob.
OK. I read your post in your journal. My aplogies since I thought you were one of Trollip's cronies. Didn't mean to offend since you seem pretty level headed. I just like to play up the "insanity" thing when I run into people like Trollip. It's good for a laugh basically.
Oh really? Well how does it work smartass? Do you care to respond to my questions since you are so eager to defend Trollip? If you say no, then that's two victories on my part. And don't think you'll get off scott free by saying something like, "I refuse to be challenged by someone calling himself Trolling4Dollars" or "I am too far above you to be able to address something as simple and lowly as you" since those are NON-ANSWERS. But typical tripe from conervative sheep. Go bleat elsewhere little boy.
You really are a sorry case NineNine. But... keep eating your precious meat. It just means that I will outlive you by decades. THAT will make the world a slightly better place.
Ignore this fucker. Add him to your foes list or defriend him. He really needs a dressing down. His ego is bigger than the US national debt and growing by the second.
Typical response from an unhappy objectivist. "I'm rational, therefore if you disagree with me, you are insane". You're pathetic NineNine. Too bad, it seems like you could be a really cool guy if you didn't hold to the beliefs that you do. It's not too late though. You can change for the better.
I have to give you some credit because you have more style than Trollip and use some great langauge. With that said. I highly doubt you work anywhere near as hard as I do. Have you been rehabbing your own house from the ground up? Using old methods (plastering instead of drywalling, paint instead of siding, etc...)? Have you gone over to your friend's houses and helped them run new electrical outlets, lights, phone extensions, networking, security systems, and coaxial cable at no charge? Do you sit up late at night writing CGI apps (Linux based thank you very much) for anyone who might find them useful? And when you have some time, compose your own music to share with anyone who wants to hear it (RIAA be damned)? And most important of all... give as much time as possible to share your skills with others so that the knowledge can be passed on and people can, perhaps depend on you less an less? I would guess you don't. Put that on top of a 40 hour a week job managing a network of 1500+ machines (various flavors of OS from Alphas running open VMS to Intel Pentiums running... GASP! Linux!) Sorry... but you haven't pegged me. You like to paint people like me with the moniker of "hippie" but I'm too young for that (32). I am just a human being doing my best to undo the shit that people like you promulgate on the rest of humanity. Keep your fucking objectivism you pathetic loser. Nobody wants it because it doesn't work. Transhumanism is a better approach anyway. Strive to be more than human. That's what I do, and I do it quite well. Just ask any of my family, friends, co-workers or other strangers that I've helped along the way. NineNine, you don't have to stick with your failed approach to life. Even you can do better by trying a little harder to be a decent human and maybe evolve past those animal tendencies towards selfishness and greed. I was perusing your journal and see that you are falling into all the traps that this failed society has to offer. I was especially alarmed at the stupidity of your use of credit cards as financial crutches. If you can't get it through making it, getting it from someone else who can make it or afford to give it to you, then you DON'T deserve it. Using credit cards in such a reckless way is only going to get you into deep debt. And for what? A gamble. I feel sorry for you. I really do.
Folks... you saw it here first. I have put Twirlip of the Mists down. He has not responded to this post for days and therfore foreits the victory in this short discussion to me. In short... WE ALL WIN. Stupid gasbag. Check out my journal for more info as I (while I'm bored anyway) pursue Trollip and NineNine around Slashdot. I will be back at work on Monady and have a life over the weekend, so chances are this pursuit will be shortlived.
The only reason I can "afford" to think the way I do is because I give freely of myself in every way that I can. I work for a non-profit organization. I do a lot of work to help others around me who are incapable of helping themselves. Putting aside the fact that Ayn Rand is a crock of shit and objectivism is a failed and flawed worldview, it sounds to me like you are very ignorant of the way the world works for those of us that have to work HARDER than some fop preaching Ayn Rand. I am certain that I work harder than you do to provide for myself, my family, my friends and anyone else that I come across who needs help. It is your resposibility as a human being to help others around you. Your failure to understand ofr accepts this indicates your failure to be a decent citizen of the world.
Ahhh... so you ARE a zealot Trollip. An anti-GPL zealot. Now I understand why you are so annoying to me. What we really need is a concerted legal attack on selfish profit-mongers like you. You mentioned in an earlier thread that if you make something (chair, song, etc..), it is your right to keep it to yourself. That is THE definition of selfish. (Where would we be today if the invention of fire was kept a secret?) So, on top of being a self-righteous prick, you are also a selfish bastard. I can see you are nearly the perfect opposite of me. I gladly give away whatever new code I write, whatever music I create (because I am also a musician) and whatever visual art I create. Why? Because it makes the world a slightly better place when everyone shares and treats each other fairly and with dignity. There is also great benefit in having others contribute to the work that one does. It brings much more life to a project than a single mind does. You are nothing more than the equivalent of the lone teen in his parents bedroom with some really great music gear, a little talent and no interest in outside input. Rather pathetic if you ask me. And you still haven't answered my questions that I posted non-anoymously earlier on. I think at this point, I will assume I have beaten you since there hasn't been a peep out of you in that thread for days now.
Hahahaha... Trollip can't take the heat of true artistic use of profanity. He instead attempts to turn it around and pretend that he is "superior" somehow to someone who has a mastery of "dirty words". Profane language is much more eloquent and elegant than "proper discourse".
Nothing. I just don't want to waste my karma on you and clueless moderators. You still haven't answered the questions put to you in the above mentioned threads. What are YOU afraid of?
Money, business and profit mean absolutely nothing in the long run. There is no true value of any kind since it is all disposable. Expanding the abilities of an individual's understanding and intelligence to a greater potential and spreading that to more people means everything. There is true value in complex thought. Therefore, open source software is much more valuable than proprietary software since the impetus is not profit, but knowledge. Think of it this way... What kind of software do you think is still going to be around in a few generations? Proprietary or open source? Classical music is still around and has much more of a presence than the folk music of the same time period. Re-evaluate your thinking.
I've been thinking about this at great length for the past year or so. The W.I.M.P. interface is going to be with us for a while no matter what we think of it. It will evolve and get enhanced by other developments in input devices (eye tracking, speech recognition, humanoid virtual androids, etc..), but will probably largely remain the same. The real "innovations" (for lack of a less used word) are to be had in new approaches to using the computer to actually get work done.
:) But, the only input devices we have are still limiting. The closest thing I've seen to something useful for text input is "Dasher". Combine this with eye tracking and I think you have a great solution for portable computing with no need for KB, twiddler, or the like. The other thing I think we should be looking at is the possibility of CLIs actually learning what we do most and creating aliases based on those actions with notification that we have a new alias that we can use for those actions. The other possibility is textual access to that same DB that the normal users would have in the GUI. This DB would allow us to use our machines in CLI mode with automatic suggestions for related commands, data, services appearing in a "scratch" location on the CLI for the machine's "stream of consiousness". It would become symbiotic. As we learn about our machines, and our machines learn about us, we augment each other. And THAT is what we should be working towards: computers that augment us as individuals while being as transparent or intrusive as the user desires.
Unfortunately, I think Microsoft has us in a bad spot right now. I've heard rumours for a while that one of their big projects is some kind of storage/document management system. When you think about it, this makes sense for the business world as the "next big thing" because the suits don't care about data formats and don't WANT to learn about what type of data is compatible with other data. If my hunch is correct (based on the info I've seen in various spots on the net) they are planning to make a transparent, centralized (within an enterprise) mass data storage system that completely abstracts data from file formats. More then likely, the end result will be based on that DB centered filesystem we've been hearing about. So when a user creates data, whether it's graphic, text, audio, etc... it all goes into this DB with approapriate links drawn automatically between the different data. The user never has to think about file formats. They just create their data (which they will likely think of as "documents" with no type) and save it to their published "Folder". The filesystem/OS will take care of all the data type matching. Exchange and Windows XP for Pen Computing are the first glimpses at this kind of thing.
If we really want to get something new happening, we really have to start thinking about a few items:
1. Computers (even with W.I.M.P.) force people to interact in non-human ways.
2. To be truly efficient, every task that a computer could be used for requires different UI approaches to be "optmized" for that use. (Witness the turnkey systems out there for the button pushing monkeys to use)
3. You either have maximum flexibility and number of features at the cost of true ease of use, or you limit your user to make things easier to use. There is no compromise.
To tackle the first point: People have been working for so long on trying to make computers "user friendly" that they've added so many things that actually cripple the user. As Neal Stephenson pointed out in his essay, "In the Beginning There Was Command Line", many metaphors actually prevent the new device from being used to it's full potential. He had an example of a steam powered car that used reigns for steering because it was something people were familiar with. However, it's obvious to us now that the steering wheel (while a new concept) was actually the better interface. I think we need to question whether we really need to hold onto a lot of the metaphors in use today. Should we try and meet our machines halfway, especially since their eventual role will probably be to augment us in many ways? Or maybe we should come up with new, less limiting metaphors? I think it will all come down to how each individual uses their computer.
I know that I feel very limited by GUIs these days. It doesn't matter if it's Windows, Linux or MacOS. I've used them all and can easily move between all of them since they really aren't different at all anymore. However, I do get a lot more usability and flexibility from the CLI for the way I use my machines. Still... the CLI is limiting too. The time to integrate CLI and GUI into something more cohesive than just running an xterm in X, or CMD in Explorer has come. Why don't we have a CLI that has modern text editing facilities. There are many times when I wish I could do a text search through the text in my scrollback buffer. Or how about being able to "drag and drop" filenames to directories in a CLI window, instead of having both a GUI file manager and a CLI open? Or dragging a console command line out of a script you're editing to the desktop and having a new CLI window (or maybe a new tab if you have an MDI capable CLI) pop up with the line ready to execute by pressing enter. Or maybe a way to use the command history to create new scripts easily? Just arrow up to the commands you just used and tag them in the order you want them and have them output to a new script in your home dir. These are basically shortcuts that could make CLI life a lot easier. However, this still barely touches the real issue.
The real problem is that the computers (with ANY UI) still force users into limited ways of interacting and thinking. To manage your files, you have to think in hierarchical fashion even if that ISN'T the way that you work with real paper/books/printouts, etc... File management should be approached in a much different way than it is currently. (Most users I know never even touch their file managers unless they are going to read a floppy.) The "search" tools that many GUIs provide this to some extent, but it's only ephemeral. A search is not a permanent record of a state. The only "views" that we currently have in a GUI are limited to the way that a computer "tech" thinks, not a user. In fact, the very use of the word "file" may be an impediment to using a computer in the most efficient way.
If we take a more object based view. The data would make a slight transformation from "graphic image file" to simply; "Picture" regardless of the format. Text data would no longer be the mish-mash of formats that it currently is (ASCII text, "DOC", RTF, PDF). It would instead become "Letters", "Articles", "Recipes", "Source Code" "Personal Photos", "Promotional Pictures", etc...
Instead of the user arranging folders that contain all of these categories, the OS would already have a pre-ordered layout of filing by these categories. However, this would not be the normal folder structure that a filesystem uses, but it would be a database that manages the underlying filesystem. As new applications get installed, more categories for those apps get added if they don't already exist. When the user opens their personal information store, they would be presented with a list of the categories (with a bias towards the most often used types) to scan through. Once they select the ONE category they are interested in, all other categories dissapear from the list and a new interface is presented with the option to search for a specific document or select a "view". The "view" could be chronological, alphabetical, or relational. If they pick chronological, their choices can be Today, Yesterday, Within the Past Week/Month/Year, Specific Date. If they pick alphabetical, they get the options for Forward/Reverse order, or Specific Letter - Forward Reverse (Ablilities, Accidental, Actionable...). It they pick relational, they can select a specific document and it will present them with a "web" of all related documents on their system, network, or corporate enterprise. This is just a simple illustration of "what could be" for the typical end user. Let's take a look now at what could be for the advanced user.
A lot of times, I find myself with a strong desire to have access to my machines, but being limited by the other things I need to do in daily life. The concept of the wearable computer appeals more and more.
My second point is that depending on how you use your machine, certain UI/input device combos may be more efficient than a "one size fits all" approach. For instance a musician may want to use a computer with a KB, Mouse and a real mixing board input device for virtual studio work. Or an artist might want to use a tablet interface that allows them to draw on screen just as on paper. One of the things that Linux has going for it in this way is that you really could make dedicated distros for different types of work. This would be a great way to usurp Windows from certain arenas since MS would likely never take this appraoch as it would cost too much. But it needen't cost as much for Linux. The freedom it would allow for in UI design would be incredible. Imagine the new kinds of tools and approaches that could be created without being fettered by a "desktop" metaphor. This is where I think some extra specialized work needs to be done: hardware input devices. If we can get Linux to support as many input devices as possible, and combine that with very specific task focused distros (or a distro with "task plug-ins"), we could gain more acceptance in specialized fields.
The third factor is how much power to actually give the user. As we've all seen with the various W.I.M.P. interfaces out there, having more than one way to do something is great, but it gets in the way of user friendliness. I've seen plenty of people get EXTREMELY confused by seeing that they could minimize a window by clicking on the _ widget OR by left clicking on the application's window menu on the left side and selecting "Minimize", or by right clicking on the application's listing in the task menu and right clicking to select "Minimize", or... you get the picture. While it's nice to have all those options (especially as the user becomes more adept, it's likely to confuse the user). I still wonder why no one has taken notice of Nautilus' old (weak, but clueful) approach of having different modes: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. Someone need's to sit down and figure out what the easiest GUI thing for most users to do is and pick that ONE approach for a function. Then all of those simple approaches would become the "Beginner" settings. The "Intermediate" settings could incorporate other GUI based approaches that are less commonly used but might be preferred by a more intermeidate user. And the KB shortcuts (there should be one for every function in the GUI) are left to the "Advanced" user mode.
Instead of completely removing features to try and avoid confusing the user, the features should be categorized thoughout all apps and the OS environment into categories of some kind to limit what a beginning user is exposed to. Some people will never break past that, and that is fine. Others will want to explore and learn more. Either way... the real goal needs to be more humanization of the UIs, and more machination of the humans.
I don't know... I have a pretty fulfilling life without needing to own a brand new car every year, or buy the latest tech gadgets. In fact, I can usually make my own tech gadget. The time I spend doing that is pretty fulfilling. I'm sorry, but if you feel that you need to make a lot of money to have a fulfilling life, then how "fulfilled" are you really? I am fulfillied by increasing my knowledge, and therefore my power and mastery of the environment around me. Worth much more than money...
I LOVED Ghost in the Shell. I only hope they do the first one justice. I DID wonder what was going to happen at the end of the movie and kind of expected that it was going to become a series. Did anyone else ever hear about a GITS series?
Humiliation!!! +1 Funny