My mother has been instructed on how to get updates and fixes. She even updates her virus software every day. And in 15 years of having a PC, she's never had a virus or spyware, or even seen a bsod (or know what that term means) so obviously she is doing something right.
Of course, what she also has besides her computer is a son who knows her limits who sat it up:-)
Why is there this obsession with the awful Windows package system?
Because my 72 year old mother can, and does, install programs herself in Windows. If it requires anything more complex than "double click on setup.exe" or "double click on the program icon when you save it", you've lost her completely and I have to tunnel in to her machine or make a 125 mile drive.
In the course of my work, I use Mandriva, Redhat, and Slackware distributions (I have never been able to get everyone elses' darling Ubuntu to install on any machine I own or control). I would not dare let my mother install something on any of the three. Hell will freeze over in ice multiple feet thick before she would understand things like "differences in the file tree", version dependencies, etc etc.
Just how is that the absolute gospel that she is real that Slashdot seems to think it is? King George swore up and down that Iraq had WMDs, did that make it so? If Stephen J. Vaughan-Nichols announces "aliens are real, I've seen them" tomorrow, is SETI going to shut down on Saturday? If Bill Gates said he had met Pamela Jones, would the Slashdot community be so all-accepting?
"Pamela Jones" could end this speculation quite easily. And until *she* does, each side looks just as silly as the other. In fact, in my opinion, if she does exist but continues to not step forward, then she is even more childish than SCO is.
The FOSS community should start to pro-actively patent, copyright and trademark anything they can, so no corporation can mess it up.
The problem with this is FOSS rarely innovates. The community is usually playing "follow the leader", and duplicating software that is already available on the commercial market.
I swear I'm not purposely trying to be a negative ass, that's just how it is. 99 percent of FOSS comes in to being because someone wants a free (beer/speech) equivalent to a closed source and costs money commercial package.
Apparently the editors of that press release got it backwards...its the US that has a "copyright regime". What they meant to say was Canada has "realistic and fair copyright laws, and we cannot accept that".
VmWare was virtualizing Windows *long* (as in years) before Microsoft bought up a virtualization company to have their own product. I don't remember VmWare having near the legal concerns over Microsoft that they (apparently) have regarding Apple.
And the various licenses for Vista are the first ones to mention virtualization.
Hmmm...I don't seem to remember any companies having those concerns about running Windows virtualized. And I certainly don't recall Microsoft giving their blessings to anyone to do so.
Amazon is actually being nice if all they do when someone calls to complain about what they carry is hang up. If it were me, I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, and I'd phrase it just that way.
I object highly to forcing animals to fight for entertainment. I think it should be illegal in all of the US (currently, cock fighting is pefectly legal in at least two states (New Mexico and Mississippi, if I'm not mistaken).
But I find censorship even more objectionable than that. And when a group like the Humane Society tries to force censorhip on a company, it makes me want to go bite the head off a parrot and kick a puppy, as well as go buy the very magazines they are objecting too.
As for Google, that works both ways. While I support free speech, I also support the right of the owners of a computer system to dictate how their computer system is used. If you don't like it that Google dictates what videos you can place on their service, then lease or buy your own damned server.
And its already been pointed out, correctly, that the Second Amendment applies to the government and not corporations, so I won't warm up that dead horse.
I guess this means its a good thing that I have bushes and trees surrounding my house such that there is no way they could get a useable shot of my house from almost any direction without trespassing. The only way they could get a shot and not trespass involves renting an airplane.
Why? Asking the Slashdot community for an objective opinion about Microsoft is like asking the congregation at a Jewish Synagogue for an objective opinion on Adolf Hitler.
I have mod points this weekend, but I can't use them in this article like I want to. I want to mod the summary "-5 Written by a biased and ignorant twit."
Tell me...if someone broke in to your house, sat in your living room for a bit, and then left, but didn't take or damage anything, would you decide he was informing you of a security problem and pat him on the back and let him go?
The stupid bastard got off light. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
Apple...er...Microsoft...er...Apple..um...neither?
on
Vista - iPod Killer?
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· Score: 1
who do you think is 'at fault' here
Technically, I'd have to say Apple, seeing as how betas where out for fully a year before Vista went RTM, and there were no significant changes between the third beta and RTM.
But ultimately, I could also argue the answer is neither one is "at fault". Its not Microsoft's job to make sure Apple products run on Vista, and its not Apple's job to make sure Apple products run on anything other than Apple hardware. To expect otherwise would be like expecting Ford to make it a simple "plug and chug" to drop a Chevy engine in to any of their cars, or expecting Chevy to design their intakes so you can drop one on top of a Ford block with no modification and expect it to work.
It does not listen if people say 'I need this feature, implement it for me for free!'
But at the same time, the biggest argument I hear for using Linux in the work place is "Its FREE!!"
You can't have it both ways, or actively advertise it both ways. And if its going to cost Real Money, there is going to have to be a better reason to switch to Linux than "Micro$oft is evil!!!!11111oneoneone". That reasoning is okay when you're a college rebel. Its not so okay when you're a corperate manager.
Back in the 60s, the saying was "Nobody ever got fired for recommending IBM". Today's version would be "Nobody ever got fired for recommending Microsoft".
What it means is that, at most, I will buy one (1) legitimate copy of Vista. The rest of my machines will a) continue to run XP, b) be migrated to Mandriva Linux (I'm a club member), or c) I'll fly the Jolly Roger over the machine while it runs a pirated copy of Vista, as determined by the requirements of each machine.
And I may not even buy the one copy. It depends on my mood on Tuesday.
Since the dawn of time and the birth of Microsoft, I have run only legitimately obtained copies of Microsoft software. I have, quite literally, spent more on Microsoft software in the last 20 years than I have spent on cars during that same time period (off the top of my head, I've spent about $25k on cars). And now, as my reward for being honest and loyal, each passing day Microsoft treats me more and more as a thief. So if that's how they view their customers, then that is what their customers, starting with me, should become.
The feds argue in their petition that this precedent does not apply to them.
I wouldn't expect the feds to argue any different. King George and his regime have been arguing that the Constitution doesn't apply to them and the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to them. How could anyone think they'd accept prior case law as applying to them.
Two of them are moving to Linux and one is moving to Solaris. Two will remain with XP simply because I need to interoperate with some other people who won't give up XP and its just easier that way. I also have enough of an investment in Microsoft development software that I can't just chuck it and totally walk away.
Part of me wants to buy Vista just to check it out and have it. The cost isn't really the issue (although Vista isn't cheap). But I hate to keep feeding the monster. Especially since the monster is treating its paying customers like thieves with Vista even worse than it does with XP...and I didn't think that was possible until I saw it myself in the beta.
I started to use the phrase "feeding the pig" instead of "feeding the monster", but then I decided that was insulting...to pigs.
If that's the only basis for Microsoft's estimate, they are *way* off, and I bet actually piracy isn't even half that.
I have 5 different machines running XP. 3 of them insist they are pirated...even though I have receipts and valid license certificates bought from OfficeMax for two copies, and the third copy came installed with the machine when I bought it new out of the box. When I contacted Microsoft about this, their tech's response was words to the effect of "You'll have to buy valid copies again." My response was, and I quote, "Fuck you, I'll just crack WGA on my validly purchased copies that I already own, and I dare you assholes to try and prosecute."
If they don't want me to decode their signal, they shouldn't beam that signal at me.
I assume you are aware that this particular argument has been shot down *numerous* times at all levels of US federal court, all the way up to SCOTUS, right?
You mean to tell me that some 18 year old guy or girl can sign up in the military to be sent off to fight and die in a war for Darth Bush, but they can't buy a game? I can believe there is a law proposing that, because only a legislator could come up with something that fucking stupid.
Not quite. You left out an important part of the sentence...2006 was the warmest year ever recorded. We only have records of weather data for approximately 400 years...not even the blink of an eye in terms of climatic change.
I'm not saying there isn't global warming taking place. I'm merely saying neither side needs to be exagerating to either extreme. And censorship is censorship, and is equally offensive and unscientific regardless of which side it comes from. A scientist who wants to censor or punish other scientists for their views is just as bad as any group of rabid "intelligent design" supporters.
history suggests that a change like this could tempt many to abandon MySpace for the 'next cool thing'
And history also suggests that parents are quick to file lawsuits, juries are quick to side with the parents, and legislators are quick to pass new restrictive laws. Those trump what kids might do.
Myspace already gets held accountable for a very high degree of parental stupidity. They are merely trying to cover their own asses.
Slashdot Mirror
My mother has been instructed on how to get updates and fixes. She even updates her virus software every day. And in 15 years of having a PC, she's never had a virus or spyware, or even seen a bsod (or know what that term means) so obviously she is doing something right.
:-)
Of course, what she also has besides her computer is a son who knows her limits who sat it up
Why is there this obsession with the awful Windows package system?
Because my 72 year old mother can, and does, install programs herself in Windows. If it requires anything more complex than "double click on setup.exe" or "double click on the program icon when you save it", you've lost her completely and I have to tunnel in to her machine or make a 125 mile drive.
In the course of my work, I use Mandriva, Redhat, and Slackware distributions (I have never been able to get everyone elses' darling Ubuntu to install on any machine I own or control). I would not dare let my mother install something on any of the three. Hell will freeze over in ice multiple feet thick before she would understand things like "differences in the file tree", version dependencies, etc etc.
Okay, some guy says he's seen her.
Just how is that the absolute gospel that she is real that Slashdot seems to think it is? King George swore up and down that Iraq had WMDs, did that make it so? If Stephen J. Vaughan-Nichols announces "aliens are real, I've seen them" tomorrow, is SETI going to shut down on Saturday? If Bill Gates said he had met Pamela Jones, would the Slashdot community be so all-accepting?
"Pamela Jones" could end this speculation quite easily. And until *she* does, each side looks just as silly as the other. In fact, in my opinion, if she does exist but continues to not step forward, then she is even more childish than SCO is.
This almost sounds like a movie sub-plot...oh...wait a minute..."First Monday in October"...
The FOSS community should start to pro-actively patent, copyright and trademark anything they can, so no corporation can mess it up.
The problem with this is FOSS rarely innovates. The community is usually playing "follow the leader", and duplicating software that is already available on the commercial market.
I swear I'm not purposely trying to be a negative ass, that's just how it is. 99 percent of FOSS comes in to being because someone wants a free (beer/speech) equivalent to a closed source and costs money commercial package.
Apparently the editors of that press release got it backwards...its the US that has a "copyright regime". What they meant to say was Canada has "realistic and fair copyright laws, and we cannot accept that".
VmWare was virtualizing Windows *long* (as in years) before Microsoft bought up a virtualization company to have their own product. I don't remember VmWare having near the legal concerns over Microsoft that they (apparently) have regarding Apple.
And the various licenses for Vista are the first ones to mention virtualization.
Hmmm...I don't seem to remember any companies having those concerns about running Windows virtualized. And I certainly don't recall Microsoft giving their blessings to anyone to do so.
Double standards make me laugh.
Amazon is actually being nice if all they do when someone calls to complain about what they carry is hang up. If it were me, I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, and I'd phrase it just that way.
I object highly to forcing animals to fight for entertainment. I think it should be illegal in all of the US (currently, cock fighting is pefectly legal in at least two states (New Mexico and Mississippi, if I'm not mistaken).
But I find censorship even more objectionable than that. And when a group like the Humane Society tries to force censorhip on a company, it makes me want to go bite the head off a parrot and kick a puppy, as well as go buy the very magazines they are objecting too.
As for Google, that works both ways. While I support free speech, I also support the right of the owners of a computer system to dictate how their computer system is used. If you don't like it that Google dictates what videos you can place on their service, then lease or buy your own damned server.
And its already been pointed out, correctly, that the Second Amendment applies to the government and not corporations, so I won't warm up that dead horse.
I guess this means its a good thing that I have bushes and trees surrounding my house such that there is no way they could get a useable shot of my house from almost any direction without trespassing. The only way they could get a shot and not trespass involves renting an airplane.
We should do a Slashdot Poll on this one.
Why? Asking the Slashdot community for an objective opinion about Microsoft is like asking the congregation at a Jewish Synagogue for an objective opinion on Adolf Hitler.
Anyone who thought TiVo is *not* providing data to advertisers is an idiot.
I have mod points this weekend, but I can't use them in this article like I want to. I want to mod the summary "-5 Written by a biased and ignorant twit."
Tell me...if someone broke in to your house, sat in your living room for a bit, and then left, but didn't take or damage anything, would you decide he was informing you of a security problem and pat him on the back and let him go?
The stupid bastard got off light. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
who do you think is 'at fault' here
Technically, I'd have to say Apple, seeing as how betas where out for fully a year before Vista went RTM, and there were no significant changes between the third beta and RTM.
But ultimately, I could also argue the answer is neither one is "at fault". Its not Microsoft's job to make sure Apple products run on Vista, and its not Apple's job to make sure Apple products run on anything other than Apple hardware. To expect otherwise would be like expecting Ford to make it a simple "plug and chug" to drop a Chevy engine in to any of their cars, or expecting Chevy to design their intakes so you can drop one on top of a Ford block with no modification and expect it to work.
It does not listen if people say 'I need this feature, implement it for me for free!'
But at the same time, the biggest argument I hear for using Linux in the work place is "Its FREE!!"
You can't have it both ways, or actively advertise it both ways. And if its going to cost Real Money, there is going to have to be a better reason to switch to Linux than "Micro$oft is evil!!!!11111oneoneone". That reasoning is okay when you're a college rebel. Its not so okay when you're a corperate manager.
Back in the 60s, the saying was "Nobody ever got fired for recommending IBM". Today's version would be "Nobody ever got fired for recommending Microsoft".
To quote TFA:
What does all of this mean on a practical level?
What it means is that, at most, I will buy one (1) legitimate copy of Vista. The rest of my machines will a) continue to run XP, b) be migrated to Mandriva Linux (I'm a club member), or c) I'll fly the Jolly Roger over the machine while it runs a pirated copy of Vista, as determined by the requirements of each machine.
And I may not even buy the one copy. It depends on my mood on Tuesday.
Since the dawn of time and the birth of Microsoft, I have run only legitimately obtained copies of Microsoft software. I have, quite literally, spent more on Microsoft software in the last 20 years than I have spent on cars during that same time period (off the top of my head, I've spent about $25k on cars). And now, as my reward for being honest and loyal, each passing day Microsoft treats me more and more as a thief. So if that's how they view their customers, then that is what their customers, starting with me, should become.
The feds argue in their petition that this precedent does not apply to them.
I wouldn't expect the feds to argue any different. King George and his regime have been arguing that the Constitution doesn't apply to them and the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to them. How could anyone think they'd accept prior case law as applying to them.
Once again, we see that P.T. Barnum was correct...a sucker born every day. And apparently a lot of them have microwave ovens.
Two of them are moving to Linux and one is moving to Solaris. Two will remain with XP simply because I need to interoperate with some other people who won't give up XP and its just easier that way. I also have enough of an investment in Microsoft development software that I can't just chuck it and totally walk away.
Part of me wants to buy Vista just to check it out and have it. The cost isn't really the issue (although Vista isn't cheap). But I hate to keep feeding the monster. Especially since the monster is treating its paying customers like thieves with Vista even worse than it does with XP...and I didn't think that was possible until I saw it myself in the beta.
I started to use the phrase "feeding the pig" instead of "feeding the monster", but then I decided that was insulting...to pigs.
[AOL] Me too! [/AOL]
If that's the only basis for Microsoft's estimate, they are *way* off, and I bet actually piracy isn't even half that.
I have 5 different machines running XP. 3 of them insist they are pirated...even though I have receipts and valid license certificates bought from OfficeMax for two copies, and the third copy came installed with the machine when I bought it new out of the box. When I contacted Microsoft about this, their tech's response was words to the effect of "You'll have to buy valid copies again." My response was, and I quote, "Fuck you, I'll just crack WGA on my validly purchased copies that I already own, and I dare you assholes to try and prosecute."
If they don't want me to decode their signal, they shouldn't beam that signal at me.
I assume you are aware that this particular argument has been shot down *numerous* times at all levels of US federal court, all the way up to SCOTUS, right?
You mean to tell me that some 18 year old guy or girl can sign up in the military to be sent off to fight and die in a war for Darth Bush, but they can't buy a game? I can believe there is a law proposing that, because only a legislator could come up with something that fucking stupid.
2006 was the warmest year ever
Not quite. You left out an important part of the sentence...2006 was the warmest year ever recorded. We only have records of weather data for approximately 400 years...not even the blink of an eye in terms of climatic change.
I'm not saying there isn't global warming taking place. I'm merely saying neither side needs to be exagerating to either extreme. And censorship is censorship, and is equally offensive and unscientific regardless of which side it comes from. A scientist who wants to censor or punish other scientists for their views is just as bad as any group of rabid "intelligent design" supporters.
history suggests that a change like this could tempt many to abandon MySpace for the 'next cool thing'
And history also suggests that parents are quick to file lawsuits, juries are quick to side with the parents, and legislators are quick to pass new restrictive laws. Those trump what kids might do.
Myspace already gets held accountable for a very high degree of parental stupidity. They are merely trying to cover their own asses.
I'm fluent in both English and profanity, does that count?
And a lot of you people thought the Democrats were going to be more friendly to tech than the Republicans. Ha!
We have the best government money can buy.