I imagine that one of their complaints about the Xbox was that it couldn't be tied into Windows or Office either, but it ended up being a big money-maker.
[citation needed]
Xbox is still a billion-plus money-sink as far as I'm aware, and they'll have to spend billions more releasing a new one soon. Even if it's actually broken even, Microsoft could have made much more money by buying more Apple stock instead of developing game consoles.
Here's the thing though, knucklehead: Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Apple, IBM, and eBay -- not one of those companies could make it out of the garage today. It's not just the dirty hippies you are harming, it is entrepreneurs -- the guys building a better mousetrap -- the icons that "America Invents" is pretending to recognize.
You don't really think that big business campaign donors want entrepeneurs setting up competitors in their garage, do you?
When I download something from the web, it goes into ~/Downloads. I don't have to waste time telling the system what it is, I don't have to figure out where the system put it and if I want to see all the files I downloaded I just 'ls ~/Downloads'.
In comparison, using a database and having to enter metadata is clunky and slow. I've never understood why anyone thinks it's a step forward.
And suggesting that because Google uses a database it's also something that Joe Sixpack should be doing is simply laughable. Joe Sixpack doesn't have a bazillion files on his PC and the files he wants are probably in one of a few directories or on the 'recently opened' list in whatever application he uses. Hiding them from him in a database is pure retardisation.
It doesn't, because most people won't use a retarded name like 'kibibyte' or whatever the heck it is. So when Joe User says they have four gigabytes of RAM in their PC you still have to know that they mean four gigilobytes and not four billion bytes.
It's a dumb idea, the name sounds like some kind of metrosexual bar snack, and it's increased ambiguity because you no longer know what people mean when they say 'gigabyte'.
Instead of opening a file, you pose a query and the database finds the data for you.
So:
a) every time I save a file I have to add a whole bunch of metadata to ensure I can find it again. b) what do I do when I need to open the file and the database can't find it for me? Finding 'that file I think I saved last thursday that came from that website whose name I can't remember' seems a lot harder than going to ~/Downloads.
Your brave new world looks really freaking annoying to me.
After a couple months of active use, the PC should assume that the hotfix is a keeper and recommend its uninstall files for removal in Disk Cleanup.
Is Disk Cleanup actually usable in modern versions of Windows? In XP it would sit there forever scanning to tell me how much space I could save by compressing my multiple terabytes of files even though I had no intention of compressing anything -- most of it was DV and HDV video I was editing -- and just wanted it to delete the crap that accumulates in Windows over time.
So, one possible way of "extending" files would be for them to define a type and type-dependent operations; for example, an image file could define "getWidth", "getHeight" and "get24ColourRectangle" functions for reading it, a text processor file could define "getContentsAsAnUtf8String", etc.
How is a file going to define any kind of operation? Are you seriously suggesting we should run arbitrary code from some random file downloaded off the Internet?
Why should I have to "save file" in an editing application.
Because, uh, when you totally screw things up without realising you want to be able to abandon the current version and go back to the last good version? Because when you're editing on a laptop with an HDD you don't want it perpetually spinning and sucking up your battery power? Because saving is freaking slow in many applications even on an SDD?
I don't see any need to change. - although the 3 letter filename extension to determine the type of file is getting a bit long in the tooth. (I was using an OS and filesytem in the late 80's that didnt have that problem.
The problem is that if you have local files on your own computer, Microsoft can't rent them back to you.
The whole push to get files off your own hardware onto The Magic Cloud is pure rent-seeking.
I hate to admit it, but under Windows 7 I almost never use the program menu; I've adjusted to just search.
I don't either. Because the search menu in Windows 7 fscking sucks; I can rarely find anything I want on it because of the retardisation of the search menu after XP.
When your answer to 'starting applications on your GUI sucks' is 'don't worry, you can just type the name of the application' then you're doing something wrong.
I suggest you take a look at other Linux distributions because Ubuntu is aiming to become a mainstream operating system.
It's hard to get more 'mainstream' than Gnome 2; anyone who's used a PC in the last fifteen years can just sit down and start using it. Yet Ubuntu is abandoning that in favour a UI that's useless on a desktop system.
Because you either end up trying to use a virtual keyboard on a crappy touchscreen to interface with tablet apps, or huge icons to interact with applications on a 30" dual-screen desktop system. You cannot produce an interface that works well with both.
Unity is well suited for tablets but it's usable on desktop computers as well, provided you look past the usability flaws.
Yeah, it's usable so long as you look past the fact that it sucks ass on a big screen when you want to do real work because it's a tablet UI.
Microsoft has been doing this for years, offering Windows 7 with the same GUI for both desktops and tablets.
Microsoft has been offering the same GUI for both desktops and tablets since at least 2001. Which is one of the reasons why Apple owns the tablet market.
If you don't like it...uh change it? What's so crazy about that idea?!
Other than the fact that Ubuntu 11.10 no longer includes Gnome 2? And that Unity continues to infest your desktop even if you switch to another one (e.g. the retarded scrollbars)?
All other problems aside, it also makes the UI perform like it's on a netbook.
Unity actually works OK on a netbook; it just sucks for doing real work on a real screen. And the 'global menu' sucks everywhere unless you always run your windows at full screen size.
I take it that typing '85th percentile speed' into Google is too much for you? You don't even have to do much typing as it appears as one of the first choices in the menu.
Or, more fundamentally than that, do accidents increase with speed? Montana says no...
And does speed increase with speed limits?
I know in the UK there have been cases where increasing speed limits lead to reduced speeds on the roads; when the limit was set way too low people ignored it and drove as fast as they liked, whereas when the limit was raised to a sensible level they stuck to it.
Slashdot Mirror
I imagine that one of their complaints about the Xbox was that it couldn't be tied into Windows or Office either, but it ended up being a big money-maker.
[citation needed]
Xbox is still a billion-plus money-sink as far as I'm aware, and they'll have to spend billions more releasing a new one soon. Even if it's actually broken even, Microsoft could have made much more money by buying more Apple stock instead of developing game consoles.
Why is the "peace process" between Palestine and Israel any of the U.S.'s damn business in the first place?
Because Eschatologists have votes and you can't have Armageddon if there's peace in the Middle East.
Here's the thing though, knucklehead: Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Apple, IBM, and eBay -- not one of those companies could make it out of the garage today. It's not just the dirty hippies you are harming, it is entrepreneurs -- the guys building a better mousetrap -- the icons that "America Invents" is pretending to recognize.
You don't really think that big business campaign donors want entrepeneurs setting up competitors in their garage, do you?
You are describing zeitgeist on linux.
Yeah, the pile of crap that would thrash my laptop's hard drive for three minutes every time I logged in until I uninstalled it.
When I download something from the web, it goes into ~/Downloads. I don't have to waste time telling the system what it is, I don't have to figure out where the system put it and if I want to see all the files I downloaded I just 'ls ~/Downloads'.
In comparison, using a database and having to enter metadata is clunky and slow. I've never understood why anyone thinks it's a step forward.
And suggesting that because Google uses a database it's also something that Joe Sixpack should be doing is simply laughable. Joe Sixpack doesn't have a bazillion files on his PC and the files he wants are probably in one of a few directories or on the 'recently opened' list in whatever application he uses. Hiding them from him in a database is pure retardisation.
How? It resolves ambiguity.
It doesn't, because most people won't use a retarded name like 'kibibyte' or whatever the heck it is. So when Joe User says they have four gigabytes of RAM in their PC you still have to know that they mean four gigilobytes and not four billion bytes.
It's a dumb idea, the name sounds like some kind of metrosexual bar snack, and it's increased ambiguity because you no longer know what people mean when they say 'gigabyte'.
Instead of opening a file, you pose a query and the database finds the data for you.
So:
a) every time I save a file I have to add a whole bunch of metadata to ensure I can find it again.
b) what do I do when I need to open the file and the database can't find it for me? Finding 'that file I think I saved last thursday that came from that website whose name I can't remember' seems a lot harder than going to ~/Downloads.
Your brave new world looks really freaking annoying to me.
Obviously Your machine is poorly configured. My $400 Dell notebook starts Win7 in about 15 seconds.
Yeah, then you spend three minutes waiting for all the crap to load after you log in.
After a couple months of active use, the PC should assume that the hotfix is a keeper and recommend its uninstall files for removal in Disk Cleanup.
Is Disk Cleanup actually usable in modern versions of Windows? In XP it would sit there forever scanning to tell me how much space I could save by compressing my multiple terabytes of files even though I had no intention of compressing anything -- most of it was DV and HDV video I was editing -- and just wanted it to delete the crap that accumulates in Windows over time.
So, one possible way of "extending" files would be for them to define a type and type-dependent operations; for example, an image file could define "getWidth", "getHeight" and "get24ColourRectangle" functions for reading it, a text processor file could define "getContentsAsAnUtf8String", etc.
How is a file going to define any kind of operation? Are you seriously suggesting we should run arbitrary code from some random file downloaded off the Internet?
Why should I have to "save file" in an editing application.
Because, uh, when you totally screw things up without realising you want to be able to abandon the current version and go back to the last good version? Because when you're editing on a laptop with an HDD you don't want it perpetually spinning and sucking up your battery power? Because saving is freaking slow in many applications even on an SDD?
I don't see any need to change. - although the 3 letter filename extension to determine the type of file is getting a bit long in the tooth. (I was using an OS and filesytem in the late 80's that didnt have that problem.
The problem is that if you have local files on your own computer, Microsoft can't rent them back to you.
The whole push to get files off your own hardware onto The Magic Cloud is pure rent-seeking.
Duh, I meant 'start menu' of course.
It's odd, the start menu is the best thing Microsoft ever did for the GUI, and now they're desperate to throw it away.
I hate to admit it, but under Windows 7 I almost never use the program menu; I've adjusted to just search.
I don't either. Because the search menu in Windows 7 fscking sucks; I can rarely find anything I want on it because of the retardisation of the search menu after XP.
When your answer to 'starting applications on your GUI sucks' is 'don't worry, you can just type the name of the application' then you're doing something wrong.
The sense of entitlement and the ungratefulness of Linux users never ceases to amaze me.
What 'sense of entitlement'? We're just trying to help Canonical see sense before we abandon Ubuntu for another distro.
I suggest you take a look at other Linux distributions because Ubuntu is aiming to become a mainstream operating system.
It's hard to get more 'mainstream' than Gnome 2; anyone who's used a PC in the last fifteen years can just sit down and start using it. Yet Ubuntu is abandoning that in favour a UI that's useless on a desktop system.
Why would you think it's impossible?
Because you either end up trying to use a virtual keyboard on a crappy touchscreen to interface with tablet apps, or huge icons to interact with applications on a 30" dual-screen desktop system. You cannot produce an interface that works well with both.
Unity is well suited for tablets but it's usable on desktop computers as well, provided you look past the usability flaws.
Yeah, it's usable so long as you look past the fact that it sucks ass on a big screen when you want to do real work because it's a tablet UI.
Microsoft has been doing this for years, offering Windows 7 with the same GUI for both desktops and tablets.
Microsoft has been offering the same GUI for both desktops and tablets since at least 2001. Which is one of the reasons why Apple owns the tablet market.
Power users use a shell, that gui crap is for browsing the web.
Unity's retardisation of terminal windows totally sucks ass.
Many experts have predicted that the future is going mobile.
Yeah, we're all going to sit in offices running Excel on our cellphones. Makes total sense.
Let's get real here.
Indeed.
If you don't like it...uh change it? What's so crazy about that idea?!
Other than the fact that Ubuntu 11.10 no longer includes Gnome 2? And that Unity continues to infest your desktop even if you switch to another one (e.g. the retarded scrollbars)?
Gnome2 was just fine, and if there was something wrong with it, they should've just fixed it instead of throwing it out the window.
Fixing bugs is not as cool as writing fancy 3D effects that just waste time that you could spend doing useful work.
I'm guessing they aim to create one singular OS that will satisfy both desktop, laptop and mobile users alike.
Which is impossible unless you have different GUIs on the different systems.
All other problems aside, it also makes the UI perform like it's on a netbook.
Unity actually works OK on a netbook; it just sucks for doing real work on a real screen. And the 'global menu' sucks everywhere unless you always run your windows at full screen size.
Source?
I take it that typing '85th percentile speed' into Google is too much for you? You don't even have to do much typing as it appears as one of the first choices in the menu.
Or, more fundamentally than that, do accidents increase with speed? Montana says no...
And does speed increase with speed limits?
I know in the UK there have been cases where increasing speed limits lead to reduced speeds on the roads; when the limit was set way too low people ignored it and drove as fast as they liked, whereas when the limit was raised to a sensible level they stuck to it.