It's a prominent feature, yes, but I don't think that that many people would be interested in configuring the bar where you type URL's in. Actually, it made it much easier to show FF3 to my family, who now have adopted FF3 as their default browser.
I think the awesome bar is pretty good, I definitely like the way it works. And as a programmer and Linux user, you can bet I'm downright skeptical when considering new "user friendly" features (e.g. I hate personalized menu's, my brain is set to remember *locations*, thank you very much). But I think this change is great for > 90% of FF3 users, with only a vocal minority hating it with a vigor. And much of that vocal minority will know how to use about:config.
After some getting used to I also like the new security agent. It's hard to miss, using the whole screen, and I really like the way that people interact with it.
All set and done, FF3 is much easier to use and configure in this respect than both Opera and IE (all versions). With IE, when I run into trouble, I frequently give up. The advanced options of IE are a pain to scroll through, and nothing seems to be in the right place. Opera is also quite OK, but I think the FF3 configuration is less intimidating and easier to use.
I've never had significant Firefox memory problems off late, *unless* the web page contained "media" that needed plugin support. On linux, if my CPU shoots to 25% and memory starts to go up, I can be pretty certain that it is some binary plugin (e.g. flash) messing things up.
I'm now running at 50% speed of my dual core processor, so a single thread at full speed will only eat 25%. I used to run at 50% "on demand" but I decided against it because on normal use, I simply don't need applications to use that much power. If there is a process that takes that many power for longer time, chances are that it is looping for some stupid reason.
It's not difficult to guess since there are *way* too many people posting in the initial thread. Once you've started up a new one with this kind of information, you can be sure there will be somebody else that posts it in the initial thread, even if it is off topic there. Buggers me as well, even though I'm frequently reminded that I'm no saint myself.
Slashdot has a good moderation system, but it is still very chatty, and nobody waits until the end of a chat to join in.
There is a now dormant JSR-305 that tries to eliminate even those kind of exceptions. They are using annotation (meta-data) to avoid the use of null values as parameters etc.. Maybe there are just too few people that know about it, or you need just too much meta-data for it to be effective. It includes a smart compiler that sees if you are using (e.g.) an if statement to check for the null value; if this is the case then null is allowed. It also provide for tags to indicate immutability, and much much more.
I think it is very weird that this JSR-305 is dormant. Even so, it is certainly interesting for those people trying to design more secure languages (a thing that is sorely needed IMHO). You can still try it out on your machine, there is an implementation available.
It's probably in the chipset, and this laptop is not waterproof anyway. It'll cost them the connector and a tiny space on the side of the computer. If there is only 3/4% of the people happy to have a backup modem in the computer, adding about 1% more sales, it's probably worth it (as long as you don't deliver full technical support: modems are nightmares for technical support).
Could somebody please remove the troll status from the parent article? It seems to indicate an honest opinion. Of course, the reply that you *can* have it installed without IE is even more interesting, but this is not a troll.
Of course, in the programming universe you sketched you can question if everybody should use all the tools. Generally, you don't have one person use all of the tools. You use experts for building walls, laying foundations etc. when building a house or any advanced project.
In our company we use many kinds of (proprietary and non-proprietary) scripting, database languages, C++ and Java. But for intricate C++ applications or even scripting applications, I'm pretty useless. Others do those jobs, and they have much more experienced in it.
Of course, you can use a lot of tools given enough time, e.g. during gradual home improvement. But for larger projects with a tight schedule, let the tools be handled by experts.
"I have just never felt at home in the GUI IDE world that seems so popular with some."
The IDE world has moved on quite a bit. Nowadays it is not just code highlighting anymore. You get parsing editors (no more syntax errors), exploring of runtime libraries and API's, automated documentation, graphical debuggers, integrated team management, generation of UML (the right way around:), automated formatting, searching, refactoring. Um, I probably forgot about half of the features you get nowadays. For larger applications with multiple developers, choosing a standard IDE is more or less a must. I believe Eclipse has good support for python nowadays, maybe you should check it out.
"You already know one philosophy. You don't "unlearn" it by learning another. You just learn more. Gain experience!"
That's true for philosophy's. But it is certainly not true for languages and even less for API's.
I've programmed HTML (yes, at advanced levels it is similar to a programming language just like emacs is), PHP, JavaScript, assembly, basic, C, C++ etc. But coming down to it I just know lots about Java now. Of course, it is easier to get into things for larger projects, but basically you will have to stick to one PL if you really want to get fluent in it and not make (basic) mistakes.
Currently I'm sticking to Java but I'll auto learn scripting and C because I've just decided to switch to Linux for my development PC at home. My biggest problem with many languages is that the development environment sucks. Without a good IDE, you need to know the language from the top of your head, and you spend *way* to much time on fringe problems.
"I won't be surprised if this allows for more pits on the CD."
I definitely would. The CD spec is pretty resilient. Unfortunately CD's aren't. And if the have scratches, bubbles or other problems, they won't be on single bit size where this improvement takes place. Simple solution: use a DVD player and DVD's instead. At least the top of the DVD is well protected. Or use blue ray with their protective shielding. But the favorite solution: don't use them at all.
It may work with Grub or it may not, but am I going to try it out? No chance in hell. Backups only get you so far. And this is why I think the solution in the article is valid. If perhaps for a small audience, but I presume the author new that when he started to solder things to his case:)
So? That's only a minor nuisance compared to a ruined drive or motherboard. This normally happens when assembling a new PC or adding hardware. Never had a bad motherboard, controller or hard disk because of it.
TomTom's shares are on an historical low. This might be one of M$ ways to kill them off for good and get into the mapping business for real. I presume that they are not so happy with Google being in it. Only a wild guess, but it might be that they are on their normal evil path again. Not against Linux, but against a weak company that might be suitable for a take over.
Here's a Dutch link, but the picture and amounts tell a clear story:
"Finally, I would observe that the whole thing appears to be a thinly veiled advertisement for the article author's attempt to sell premade 'SATA Switches'. Good luck with that, sir."
Slashdot and drugs don't mix! Or are you in this paranoid state on a regular basis?
"An active switch that could select a drive and optionally block write commands would even be better. Then you could make an image and turn on write protection."
Personally I prefer the slider on the side of the hard drive. No need for an active switch.
Basically I want the other OS to not access my hard drive at all. I'm not sure I would go the way the author of the article did, but using Grub or F8/F12 certainly has drawbacks. And yes, Grub and Windows (or actually, Windows and Grub) won't always play nice to each other. I had big problems when I transferred a partition over to another hard drive (well, as I know how to get into Windows and fix the MBR, it was not that hard, but it will serve as an example).
Yup, and you can get cheap USB to SATA, PATA and "laptop" PATA controllers that come with such a modular power supply. You will basically get the USB to SATA/PATA for free. Certainly an option, but I would make sure that everything is earthed and on the same power outlet. And this is of course the major drawback: more power bricks and more usage of already sparse power outlets.
Mine has a molex connector by the way, so it only does 5V and 12V, not 3.3V.
Why? The drives would still spin up if they are still connected to power, and if SATA drives are not accessible without power anyway, why would you mess with the data lines? These are high speed serial connections, not something you want to mess with. And they are point to point, so there is little chance of them messing other components. Personally, I think it is a reasonably good idea. Switching off the drives in the BIOS is definitely more work, and you will still spin the drives if you do it like that.
Don't forget that SATA has been designed to be hot pluggable. I would not expect it to have too much influence. Otherwise we would see many people returning their SATA drives. Actually, I've had many IDE drives connected without power, and I've never seen one crash because of it. And in all these years I've never seen a computer break down because of it.
If my computer setup is adequate, should we be "forced" to buy new hardware each time an operating system is being deprecated? Hopefully for the Office, we'll use computers that are less harmful to the environment, because at this rate we'll be sitting on a pile of computers that resembles the tower of Babel in no time flat. For office software requirements, most older computers would suit just fine.
Slashdot Mirror
It's a prominent feature, yes, but I don't think that that many people would be interested in configuring the bar where you type URL's in. Actually, it made it much easier to show FF3 to my family, who now have adopted FF3 as their default browser.
I think the awesome bar is pretty good, I definitely like the way it works. And as a programmer and Linux user, you can bet I'm downright skeptical when considering new "user friendly" features (e.g. I hate personalized menu's, my brain is set to remember *locations*, thank you very much). But I think this change is great for > 90% of FF3 users, with only a vocal minority hating it with a vigor. And much of that vocal minority will know how to use about:config.
After some getting used to I also like the new security agent. It's hard to miss, using the whole screen, and I really like the way that people interact with it.
All set and done, FF3 is much easier to use and configure in this respect than both Opera and IE (all versions). With IE, when I run into trouble, I frequently give up. The advanced options of IE are a pain to scroll through, and nothing seems to be in the right place. Opera is also quite OK, but I think the FF3 configuration is less intimidating and easier to use.
I've never had significant Firefox memory problems off late, *unless* the web page contained "media" that needed plugin support. On linux, if my CPU shoots to 25% and memory starts to go up, I can be pretty certain that it is some binary plugin (e.g. flash) messing things up.
I'm now running at 50% speed of my dual core processor, so a single thread at full speed will only eat 25%. I used to run at 50% "on demand" but I decided against it because on normal use, I simply don't need applications to use that much power. If there is a process that takes that many power for longer time, chances are that it is looping for some stupid reason.
It's not difficult to guess since there are *way* too many people posting in the initial thread. Once you've started up a new one with this kind of information, you can be sure there will be somebody else that posts it in the initial thread, even if it is off topic there. Buggers me as well, even though I'm frequently reminded that I'm no saint myself.
Slashdot has a good moderation system, but it is still very chatty, and nobody waits until the end of a chat to join in.
There is a now dormant JSR-305 that tries to eliminate even those kind of exceptions. They are using annotation (meta-data) to avoid the use of null values as parameters etc.. Maybe there are just too few people that know about it, or you need just too much meta-data for it to be effective. It includes a smart compiler that sees if you are using (e.g.) an if statement to check for the null value; if this is the case then null is allowed. It also provide for tags to indicate immutability, and much much more.
I think it is very weird that this JSR-305 is dormant. Even so, it is certainly interesting for those people trying to design more secure languages (a thing that is sorely needed IMHO). You can still try it out on your machine, there is an implementation available.
It's probably in the chipset, and this laptop is not waterproof anyway. It'll cost them the connector and a tiny space on the side of the computer. If there is only 3/4% of the people happy to have a backup modem in the computer, adding about 1% more sales, it's probably worth it (as long as you don't deliver full technical support: modems are nightmares for technical support).
Could somebody please remove the troll status from the parent article? It seems to indicate an honest opinion. Of course, the reply that you *can* have it installed without IE is even more interesting, but this is not a troll.
*warning: building upon analogy*
Of course, in the programming universe you sketched you can question if everybody should use all the tools. Generally, you don't have one person use all of the tools. You use experts for building walls, laying foundations etc. when building a house or any advanced project.
In our company we use many kinds of (proprietary and non-proprietary) scripting, database languages, C++ and Java. But for intricate C++ applications or even scripting applications, I'm pretty useless. Others do those jobs, and they have much more experienced in it.
Of course, you can use a lot of tools given enough time, e.g. during gradual home improvement. But for larger projects with a tight schedule, let the tools be handled by experts.
"I have just never felt at home in the GUI IDE world that seems so popular with some."
The IDE world has moved on quite a bit. Nowadays it is not just code highlighting anymore. You get parsing editors (no more syntax errors), exploring of runtime libraries and API's, automated documentation, graphical debuggers, integrated team management, generation of UML (the right way around:), automated formatting, searching, refactoring. Um, I probably forgot about half of the features you get nowadays. For larger applications with multiple developers, choosing a standard IDE is more or less a must. I believe Eclipse has good support for python nowadays, maybe you should check it out.
"You already know one philosophy. You don't "unlearn" it by learning another. You just learn more. Gain experience!"
That's true for philosophy's. But it is certainly not true for languages and even less for API's.
I've programmed HTML (yes, at advanced levels it is similar to a programming language just like emacs is), PHP, JavaScript, assembly, basic, C, C++ etc. But coming down to it I just know lots about Java now. Of course, it is easier to get into things for larger projects, but basically you will have to stick to one PL if you really want to get fluent in it and not make (basic) mistakes.
Currently I'm sticking to Java but I'll auto learn scripting and C because I've just decided to switch to Linux for my development PC at home. My biggest problem with many languages is that the development environment sucks. Without a good IDE, you need to know the language from the top of your head, and you spend *way* to much time on fringe problems.
And there was I thinking that the Gilles de la Tourette syndrome does not extend to written text. Boy, was I wrong. I feel for you, little troll.
That's a fair enough comment. I'll contact WD tomorrow and report back. They'll probably know. If they don't they may play safe though.
"I won't be surprised if this allows for more pits on the CD."
I definitely would. The CD spec is pretty resilient. Unfortunately CD's aren't. And if the have scratches, bubbles or other problems, they won't be on single bit size where this improvement takes place. Simple solution: use a DVD player and DVD's instead. At least the top of the DVD is well protected. Or use blue ray with their protective shielding. But the favorite solution: don't use them at all.
It may work with Grub or it may not, but am I going to try it out? No chance in hell. Backups only get you so far. And this is why I think the solution in the article is valid. If perhaps for a small audience, but I presume the author new that when he started to solder things to his case :)
Although TomTom's share are on an historical low, I don't think you can call it a small company, but the idea could be the same.
Small translation:
uur = hour
dag = day
week (pronounced as "wake") = week
maand = month
jaar = year
" - Because you couldn't boot, doofus."
So? That's only a minor nuisance compared to a ruined drive or motherboard. This normally happens when assembling a new PC or adding hardware. Never had a bad motherboard, controller or hard disk because of it.
TomTom's shares are on an historical low. This might be one of M$ ways to kill them off for good and get into the mapping business for real. I presume that they are not so happy with Google being in it. Only a wild guess, but it might be that they are on their normal evil path again. Not against Linux, but against a weak company that might be suitable for a take over.
Here's a Dutch link, but the picture and amounts tell a clear story:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/dft/bedrijven/tomtom/?tabid=bedrijven&tab=7
Strapping a buggy to a rocket and fly it to the moon?
Oh, wait...
"Finally, I would observe that the whole thing appears to be a thinly veiled advertisement for the article author's attempt to sell premade 'SATA Switches'. Good luck with that, sir."
Slashdot and drugs don't mix! Or are you in this paranoid state on a regular basis?
"An active switch that could select a drive and optionally block write commands would even be better. Then you could make an image and turn on write protection."
Personally I prefer the slider on the side of the hard drive. No need for an active switch.
Basically I want the other OS to not access my hard drive at all. I'm not sure I would go the way the author of the article did, but using Grub or F8/F12 certainly has drawbacks. And yes, Grub and Windows (or actually, Windows and Grub) won't always play nice to each other. I had big problems when I transferred a partition over to another hard drive (well, as I know how to get into Windows and fix the MBR, it was not that hard, but it will serve as an example).
Yup, and you can get cheap USB to SATA, PATA and "laptop" PATA controllers that come with such a modular power supply. You will basically get the USB to SATA/PATA for free. Certainly an option, but I would make sure that everything is earthed and on the same power outlet. And this is of course the major drawback: more power bricks and more usage of already sparse power outlets.
Mine has a molex connector by the way, so it only does 5V and 12V, not 3.3V.
Why? The drives would still spin up if they are still connected to power, and if SATA drives are not accessible without power anyway, why would you mess with the data lines? These are high speed serial connections, not something you want to mess with. And they are point to point, so there is little chance of them messing other components. Personally, I think it is a reasonably good idea. Switching off the drives in the BIOS is definitely more work, and you will still spin the drives if you do it like that.
Don't forget that SATA has been designed to be hot pluggable. I would not expect it to have too much influence. Otherwise we would see many people returning their SATA drives. Actually, I've had many IDE drives connected without power, and I've never seen one crash because of it. And in all these years I've never seen a computer break down because of it.
So I presume it won't do much harm.
If my computer setup is adequate, should we be "forced" to buy new hardware each time an operating system is being deprecated? Hopefully for the Office, we'll use computers that are less harmful to the environment, because at this rate we'll be sitting on a pile of computers that resembles the tower of Babel in no time flat. For office software requirements, most older computers would suit just fine.