2. Ok, so Redmond churns out "Office 2002 for Linux". It's 600Mb and costs $500. How is this a good thing?
Because now I can run Linux at work without having to reboot every time I need to look something up in one of these damn Acess databases we've got floating around all over the place here.
Re:Effectively, Micro$oft will not be punished...
on
A Post-Microsoft World
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· Score: 1
Fine Bill personally? Can't, Limited Liability of a company forbids this, I think, so Bill personally is free and clear (AFAIK, IANAL)
IANAL either, but I seem to recall hearing something through a hungover haze in an early morning business law class back in college about certain situations where high-level executives can, in fact, be held personally liable for the actions of the corporation.
No idea if that's even remotely applicable in this situation, though.
Outside of the college dorms and such, Linux seems to be only a drop in the bucket of computing.
You pretty much answered your own question. Whatever is popular in the college dorms today will most likely become dominant in the future.
That's basically how the PC gained corporate acceptance. Young people bought them as toys for home, realized that VisiCalc might be handy at work and took their computer to the office. Eventually the suits realized that their was some usefulness their and began approving purchase orders.
That's pretty much where I see Linux at right now. And as for corporate use, trust me, there are lots and lots of companies out there that depend on Linux today, in the here and now, and are completely unaware of it.
It may be too early to shout "Linux is taking over!" from the rooftops, but it's certainly getting entrenched. When that little departmental file server running Linux and Samba gets upgraded to a shiny new WinNT box and suddenly starts crashing and the PHB says "Just put it back the way it was.", he has no idea that he just issued an order to reinstall Linux, and won't count himself as using Linux in his business when he fills out his PC Computing surveys, but it's there and being relied on. (yeah, that IS a true story)
Why is it that I hear about "linux is taking over! Linux is more popular than windows! Linux is the future!" and other assorted hype ONLY on slashdot?
Because we're the ones who know just exactly how entrenched Linux is becoming. We're the ones who know how those 3 file servers and 2 web servers got set up even when there was no money in the budget for it. We're the ones who know what's running on that stack of 10 headless PC's in the back corner of the computer room.
You don't hear much about it at other places because the people filling out the Ziff-Davis surveys don't even know that they're already relying on it every day.
Are you stating that is is ok to be a monopoly, you just can't leverage it?
Yes, that's precisely the case, according to U.S. law, anyway.
Take this example: Let's say all auto manufacturers except GM go out of business. This gives GM a monopoly in the car industry. Nothing illegal yet.
Now, if GM suddenly quadruples the price of a car even though they have had no increase in costs, that's most likely illegal. There's going to be some increase because of lack of competition, I'm not sure exactly where the line gets drawn to make it illegal, though.
Now, being very happy about their new solitary position in the industry, GM decides to expand into the automotive floor mat business. OK, no problem yet, perfectly legal. They manufacture nothing but cheap, thin, ugly plastic floor mats. Of course, they have trouble selling them. That's just a bad business plan, not illegal.
In order to make up for lack of floor mat sales, they implement a new policy. When you go to your GM dealer to purchase a new vehicle, you are informed that they cannot sell a car without a set of GM "customized" floor mats. They sell for $5000. If you want a car, you gotta take the mats, even though better floor mats are available at the K-Mart next door for $30. Now we're breaking the law.
Hope that helps. Anti-trust law can be a little confusing.
Just wanted to point out that getting a USB camera working is NOT usually considered part of the OS installation.
but if your the average joe blow mid-life crisis man, you don't have time to play around when all you really want to do is send your e-mail with the pics you've scanned of last weeks vacations in Hawaii...
Heh, I always get a kick out of these folks:
Purchase new laptop with all software pre-loaded, open up new laptop, charge battery, attach USB camera and watch it configure all by itself, click one button to download pictures to new laptop.
One week later describe self as "being pretty good with computers."
And then there's the WinModems that 90% of new computers are sold with..
Why is it that nobody ever gives MacOS a hard time about being difficult to use? WinModems don't work there, either... Hmm...
I am guessing that you have either: a) mentally blocked the pain, or:
b) you are one of the few who has a system that coincedentally just happen to not have some bizzarro video card, or ethernet controller, or version of Open Firmware that caused life to be intollerable
OR:
c) happens to be one of the intelligent people who only purchases hardware that is compatible with the operating system he plans to run.
Come on, really, if I go scavenge a bunch of DRAMs out of an old 286 and they don't work with my new Athlon machine, is that the computers fault? No. If I go buy an nVidia video card without bothering to find out that it's reasonably well known that OpenGL support for the TNT2 sucks under Linux, and then find out that OpenGL support for the TNT2 sucks under Linux, is that Linux's fault? No, it's my fault for not doing the appropriate research before making my purchase.
I haven't counted, but it's certainly safe to say that I've got well over 200 Linux installs under my belt. The only significant difficulty I ever had was a result of some faulty memory that was hanging the old Slackware install script. Linux is NOT hard to install anymore. And believe me, Windows can be a MAJOR pain in the ass to install. I still have nightmares about installing Win95 on a specific model of Thinkpad (can't remember which one it was, 760 series maybe?). And that was on a machine that had a bright shiny sticker on it proudly proclaiming "Designed for Windows 95!"
Which specific part of the installation is difficult? I honestly, truly believe that the Mandrake 7 is at least as easy as the Win98 install, if not more so. I certainly can't think of any questions I was asked during the Linux install that were any more technical or complex than the questions asked during a Windows installation.
Please don't confuse the fact that you were out of your element installing Linux with the notion that Linux is difficult to install. I have no freakin' clue how to make chocolate chip cookies, but I don't run around whining about how difficult it is. There's a world of difference between something being hard to do and someone not knowing what they're doing.
They don't seem to have slowed down much so far. Sure, their stock is down 15 points, but somehow with any other company I'd expect a much bigger hit after news of this sort. (Of course, this ruling was entirely expected, so it was already factored into the price before the official announcement.)
Still, considering how potentially damaging the outcome of this could be, I'm surprised the investors are staying as calm as they are. I've seen companies take much larger losses (percentage-wise) after much less sever court rulings.
Maybe it's just that the investors realize that in America, if you have enough cash on hand you can weasel your way out of just about anything...
But from the consumer's viewpoint, I seriously doubt this will have much impact on the OS market. Windows will still be Windows, and people will still buy it for the same reasons they do now. If they're broken up, though, I can see a potential for a serious decline in market share for most of their other apps, assuming that the breakup means that the OS company is no longer able to provide undocumented API's to the app companies, thus forcing them to play on a level field.
Or, maybe it's just been a long day and my mind has turned to oatmeal. Yeah, I think that's it, I'll quit rambling now...
Re:If Jesus was alive would he want the Bible ware
on
GNUTella Search Tool
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· Score: 2
Yes, I'm sure he'd want it to be as widely and freely available as possible.
Re:Is Slashdot soliciting Warez and Illegal MP3s?
on
GNUTella Search Tool
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· Score: 1
And one of the first widespread uses of the VCR was pornography, followed quickly I'm sure by soap operas. And yet, there are plenty of productive uses for the VCR as well. Should we ban the VCR simply because some kid in the midwest might be using one to jerk off way, way too often?
Simply because something is used in a certain way doesn't mean that's the only use for it, or even the intended use.
You're logic is seriously flawed, you might want to reexamine it.
I understand your point, that a buyer needs to concentrate at the services in your area and not the actual phone.
Well, that's a good point, but what do you do once you've already selected the provider? Just take any random phone the salesman happens to be trying to unload that day?
Choice of service provider is very important, but now that I've made that choice, I for one would be very interested in reviews of the actual equipment since I'm planning to upgrade my phone again soon.
This is definitely true in my area. I haven't checked analog rates recently, but about a year ago when I upgraded from analog to digital I more than doubled my airtime and my monthly bill dropped by about $10.
In addition, I got caller-id, voice-mail and several other goodies thrown in for free that aren't even available on analog (at least with my provider).
Wrong. I've had a digital StarTAC for about a year now, and your post is the first time I've ever heard about the "check card problem." I have nothing but good things to say about this phone. Reception is excellent, voice quality is far superior to the Nokia's that several of my friends have. And the size is excellent. Folded up and clipped to my belt, it's actually smaller than the pager I used to have to carry. My friends with larger phones are constantly feeling the need to set them down, and consequently lose them from time to time. My phone never leaves my belt unless I'm talking on it.
As far as durability, I've dropped this thing more times than I can count. Never a problem. Last summer I got careless and jumped into a lake with it clipped to my belt. I let it dry out overnight, and haven't had a problem since.
Having said that, it's important to keep in mind that there are many different models of the StarTAC. Mine happens to be the 800(?) Mhz TDMA model. Other models may provide a completely different experience.
You admit that there are different tools that are appropriate for different jobs in different situations.
No I didn't.
Well, you should, because it's common sense. You wouldn't want the dentist using a Black & Decker drill to fix your teeth, you wouldn't want a roofer using a pile driver to pound the nails when he shingles your house, and I sure wouldn't want to pay someone to write an app in hand-optimized assembly when it's just a simple little app that's only going to get a couple of minutes use each month.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for writing fast, tight, efficient code. I'm also all for getting off work early and actually maintaining a social life. If shaving a quarter meg off of some little programs memory footprint means enough to you to stay at work late and sacrifice your social life, then so be it. It's not worth that much to me.
If a tool like Delphi or C++ Builder gets me out the door earlier in the day, then I'm going to use it.
It's good to take pride in your work. It's bad to let that rise to the point of obsession.
Dephi is a closed source proprierty IDE which Inprise has full controlling power over.
Yeah, we all know that.
I don't see how this application fits in in the free software community
In several ways. First, this isn't necessarily an all-or-nothing game. Just because my OS is open sourced doesn't mean each and every app I run on it has to be. If a commercial product will help me run my business better than the free alternatives, so be it.
Second, a RAD tool that could produce binaries from the same unmodified source code for both Windows and Linux would be beneficial to EVERYONE, with one notable exception: Microsoft. Just imagine what an impact this could have if there were an easy way to convert a Visual Basic project to a Delphi project.
If you support open source as much as you do, then wouldn't you say that people moving from Windows to Linux is a good thing? I would. And if a proprietary, closed source RAD tool helps people do it, then I'm all for it.
Another important point to consider is WHY Linux has such a small market share on the desktop right now. While there are certainly many factors involved, one of the largest has to be Microsoft Office.
I know that I, for one, would be able to move my entire company to Linux once and for all if Microsoft released a Linux port of Office. I know it's heresy to even mention running a Microsoft product on Linux, but the way I look at it is: Right now I have to run Windows and Office, if I can get rid of Windows and just be stuck with Office, then I'm definitely moving in the right direction.
Yes, I know there are some good alternatives to Office out there, but the reasons for having to stick with Office are as much political as they are technical. Also, there doesn't seem to be a good alternative for dealing with Access databases under Linux, a large number of which I'm unfortunately stuck with.
So, not only are you right when you say MS doesn't need to port products to Linux, MS needs very, very badly NOT to port products to Linux.
One of the biggest things holding Linux back in the desktop arena is a good Office suite. It would be just plain dumb for Microsoft to step in and fill that niche for us.
I never found the Ctrl-Esc combination particularly difficult to master. It's particularly worthwhile considering the advantages of not having the Windows key in the way.
Although I can't recall a situation where I ever needed to reboot an entire room full of machines, I think that if you've got 70 of 'em and it's something you need to do often, I'd recommend abandoning the keyboard method and finding a way to automate the process.
Yes, it's true that this idea is a lot more than just symlinks.
But it's STILL not innovation. It's nothing more than a logical expansion on an existing idea. Symlinks are still the core idea at the center of all this, they just added some of their bloatware on top of them.
either commuting or at work for approx 14 hours a day for a total of 70 hours per week
Aah, the things we do for quality of life.
I'm not sure how the concept of working 70 hours per week is compatible with the concept of quality of life.
I used to think that quality of life meant having enough cash to buy all the toys I wanted. As I got older (and more burnt out) I figured out it doesn't work that way (at least for me). So, I took a 13K pay cut to go to an employer that understands that "I feel like water skiing" is a valid reason for leaving work an hour early.
Of course, I still need to make enough to pay for the boat.:) And in the winter, I'll put in some pretty long hours. But when there's something I'd rather be doing, I no longer let myself feel guilty about leaving the office after my 8 (or 7, or 6) hours are up.
Hmm... 60 hours would probably be the minimum I work in a week. It's now 9:15 on Wednesday morning, and I'm already at around 45.
As for pagers, I refuse to carry one anymore. (I'll reconsider this under appropriate circumstances.) And cell phones, I love mine. My boss has been trying for over a year to find out the number, ain't gonna happen!
When I started this job, I had a good long talk with the owner, and we came to an understanding. I'll work my ass off, put in way more hours than I'm required to, and all that good stuff. In exchange, once I walk out the door, I'm gone. The way I see it, he doesn't need my cell phone number. If it's not important enough for him to have to make a serious effort to contact me, then it's not important enough for me to be bothered while I'm on the lake.
(And yes, I do realize how lucky I am to have an employer that can actually see things that way.)
Maybe I'm just not awake yet, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what ease of acquisition should have to do with whether or not something is illegal.
Should a crime be less punishable simply because it requires more effort to prepare to commit it?
Or are you just advocating background checks and a 5-day waiting period for software downloads?
I'm not saying people need to buy into an extremist position on the subject. I'm simply advocating that the separate theories on the issues be presented in their appropriate forums until such a time as we understand the truth more fully.
And I fully agree with you point that the two theories can be reconciled. All you really need to do is open yourself to the idea that parts of the Bible should be interpreted figuratively instead of literally, and science and religion begin to fit together quite nicely for the most part.
Slashdot Mirror
2. Ok, so Redmond churns out "Office 2002 for Linux". It's 600Mb and costs $500. How is this a good thing?
Because now I can run Linux at work without having to reboot every time I need to look something up in one of these damn Acess databases we've got floating around all over the place here.
Fine Bill personally? Can't, Limited Liability of a company forbids this, I think, so Bill personally is free and clear (AFAIK, IANAL)
IANAL either, but I seem to recall hearing something through a hungover haze in an early morning business law class back in college about certain situations where high-level executives can, in fact, be held personally liable for the actions of the corporation.
No idea if that's even remotely applicable in this situation, though.
Outside of the college dorms and such, Linux seems to be only a drop in the bucket of computing.
You pretty much answered your own question. Whatever is popular in the college dorms today will most likely become dominant in the future.
That's basically how the PC gained corporate acceptance. Young people bought them as toys for home, realized that VisiCalc might be handy at work and took their computer to the office. Eventually the suits realized that their was some usefulness their and began approving purchase orders.
That's pretty much where I see Linux at right now. And as for corporate use, trust me, there are lots and lots of companies out there that depend on Linux today, in the here and now, and are completely unaware of it.
It may be too early to shout "Linux is taking over!" from the rooftops, but it's certainly getting entrenched. When that little departmental file server running Linux and Samba gets upgraded to a shiny new WinNT box and suddenly starts crashing and the PHB says "Just put it back the way it was.", he has no idea that he just issued an order to reinstall Linux, and won't count himself as using Linux in his business when he fills out his PC Computing surveys, but it's there and being relied on. (yeah, that IS a true story)
Why is it that I hear about "linux is taking over! Linux is more popular than windows! Linux is the future!" and other assorted hype ONLY on slashdot?
Because we're the ones who know just exactly how entrenched Linux is becoming. We're the ones who know how those 3 file servers and 2 web servers got set up even when there was no money in the budget for it. We're the ones who know what's running on that stack of 10 headless PC's in the back corner of the computer room.
You don't hear much about it at other places because the people filling out the Ziff-Davis surveys don't even know that they're already relying on it every day.
Are you stating that is is ok to be a monopoly, you just can't leverage it?
Yes, that's precisely the case, according to U.S. law, anyway.
Take this example: Let's say all auto manufacturers except GM go out of business. This gives GM a monopoly in the car industry. Nothing illegal yet.
Now, if GM suddenly quadruples the price of a car even though they have had no increase in costs, that's most likely illegal. There's going to be some increase because of lack of competition, I'm not sure exactly where the line gets drawn to make it illegal, though.
Now, being very happy about their new solitary position in the industry, GM decides to expand into the automotive floor mat business. OK, no problem yet, perfectly legal. They manufacture nothing but cheap, thin, ugly plastic floor mats. Of course, they have trouble selling them. That's just a bad business plan, not illegal.
In order to make up for lack of floor mat sales, they implement a new policy. When you go to your GM dealer to purchase a new vehicle, you are informed that they cannot sell a car without a set of GM "customized" floor mats. They sell for $5000. If you want a car, you gotta take the mats, even though better floor mats are available at the K-Mart next door for $30. Now we're breaking the law.
Hope that helps. Anti-trust law can be a little confusing.
USB cameras, scanners, and printers?
Just wanted to point out that getting a USB camera working is NOT usually considered part of the OS installation.
but if your the average joe blow mid-life crisis man, you don't have time to play around when all you really want to do is send your e-mail with the pics you've scanned of last weeks vacations in Hawaii...
Heh, I always get a kick out of these folks:
Purchase new laptop with all software pre-loaded, open up new laptop, charge battery, attach USB camera and watch it configure all by itself, click one button to download pictures to new laptop.
One week later describe self as "being pretty good with computers."
And then there's the WinModems that 90% of new computers are sold with..
Why is it that nobody ever gives MacOS a hard time about being difficult to use? WinModems don't work there, either... Hmm...
I am guessing that you have either:
a) mentally blocked the pain, or:
b) you are one of the few who has a system that coincedentally just happen to not have some bizzarro video card, or ethernet controller, or version of Open Firmware that caused life to be intollerable
OR:
c) happens to be one of the intelligent people who only purchases hardware that is compatible with the operating system he plans to run.
Come on, really, if I go scavenge a bunch of DRAMs out of an old 286 and they don't work with my new Athlon machine, is that the computers fault? No. If I go buy an nVidia video card without bothering to find out that it's reasonably well known that OpenGL support for the TNT2 sucks under Linux, and then find out that OpenGL support for the TNT2 sucks under Linux, is that Linux's fault? No, it's my fault for not doing the appropriate research before making my purchase.
I haven't counted, but it's certainly safe to say that I've got well over 200 Linux installs under my belt. The only significant difficulty I ever had was a result of some faulty memory that was hanging the old Slackware install script. Linux is NOT hard to install anymore. And believe me, Windows can be a MAJOR pain in the ass to install. I still have nightmares about installing Win95 on a specific model of Thinkpad (can't remember which one it was, 760 series maybe?). And that was on a machine that had a bright shiny sticker on it proudly proclaiming "Designed for Windows 95!"
Which specific part of the installation is difficult? I honestly, truly believe that the Mandrake 7 is at least as easy as the Win98 install, if not more so. I certainly can't think of any questions I was asked during the Linux install that were any more technical or complex than the questions asked during a Windows installation.
Please don't confuse the fact that you were out of your element installing Linux with the notion that Linux is difficult to install. I have no freakin' clue how to make chocolate chip cookies, but I don't run around whining about how difficult it is. There's a world of difference between something being hard to do and someone not knowing what they're doing.
They don't seem to have slowed down much so far. Sure, their stock is down 15 points, but somehow with any other company I'd expect a much bigger hit after news of this sort. (Of course, this ruling was entirely expected, so it was already factored into the price before the official announcement.)
Still, considering how potentially damaging the outcome of this could be, I'm surprised the investors are staying as calm as they are. I've seen companies take much larger losses (percentage-wise) after much less sever court rulings.
Maybe it's just that the investors realize that in America, if you have enough cash on hand you can weasel your way out of just about anything...
But from the consumer's viewpoint, I seriously doubt this will have much impact on the OS market. Windows will still be Windows, and people will still buy it for the same reasons they do now. If they're broken up, though, I can see a potential for a serious decline in market share for most of their other apps, assuming that the breakup means that the OS company is no longer able to provide undocumented API's to the app companies, thus forcing them to play on a level field.
Or, maybe it's just been a long day and my mind has turned to oatmeal. Yeah, I think that's it, I'll quit rambling now...
Yes, I'm sure he'd want it to be as widely and freely available as possible.
And one of the first widespread uses of the VCR was pornography, followed quickly I'm sure by soap operas. And yet, there are plenty of productive uses for the VCR as well. Should we ban the VCR simply because some kid in the midwest might be using one to jerk off way, way too often?
Simply because something is used in a certain way doesn't mean that's the only use for it, or even the intended use.
You're logic is seriously flawed, you might want to reexamine it.
I understand your point, that a buyer needs to concentrate at the services in your area and not the actual phone.
Well, that's a good point, but what do you do once you've already selected the provider? Just take any random phone the salesman happens to be trying to unload that day?
Choice of service provider is very important, but now that I've made that choice, I for one would be very interested in reviews of the actual equipment since I'm planning to upgrade my phone again soon.
This is definitely true in my area. I haven't checked analog rates recently, but about a year ago when I upgraded from analog to digital I more than doubled my airtime and my monthly bill dropped by about $10.
In addition, I got caller-id, voice-mail and several other goodies thrown in for free that aren't even available on analog (at least with my provider).
Wrong. I've had a digital StarTAC for about a year now, and your post is the first time I've ever heard about the "check card problem." I have nothing but good things to say about this phone. Reception is excellent, voice quality is far superior to the Nokia's that several of my friends have. And the size is excellent. Folded up and clipped to my belt, it's actually smaller than the pager I used to have to carry. My friends with larger phones are constantly feeling the need to set them down, and consequently lose them from time to time. My phone never leaves my belt unless I'm talking on it.
As far as durability, I've dropped this thing more times than I can count. Never a problem. Last summer I got careless and jumped into a lake with it clipped to my belt. I let it dry out overnight, and haven't had a problem since.
Having said that, it's important to keep in mind that there are many different models of the StarTAC. Mine happens to be the 800(?) Mhz TDMA model. Other models may provide a completely different experience.
You admit that there are different tools that are appropriate for different jobs in different situations.
No I didn't.
Well, you should, because it's common sense. You wouldn't want the dentist using a Black & Decker drill to fix your teeth, you wouldn't want a roofer using a pile driver to pound the nails when he shingles your house, and I sure wouldn't want to pay someone to write an app in hand-optimized assembly when it's just a simple little app that's only going to get a couple of minutes use each month.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for writing fast, tight, efficient code. I'm also all for getting off work early and actually maintaining a social life. If shaving a quarter meg off of some little programs memory footprint means enough to you to stay at work late and sacrifice your social life, then so be it. It's not worth that much to me.
If a tool like Delphi or C++ Builder gets me out the door earlier in the day, then I'm going to use it.
It's good to take pride in your work. It's bad to let that rise to the point of obsession.
I have to use Visual C++ to code the clients,
So you admit to using RAD tools yourself. You admit that there are different tools that are appropriate for different jobs in different situations.
That's all anyone's been trying to convince you of.
Take a deep breath and relax. Nobody's suggesting we rewrite the Linux kernel in QBasic.
Dephi is a closed source proprierty IDE which Inprise has full controlling power over.
Yeah, we all know that.
I don't see how this application fits in in the free software community
In several ways. First, this isn't necessarily an all-or-nothing game. Just because my OS is open sourced doesn't mean each and every app I run on it has to be. If a commercial product will help me run my business better than the free alternatives, so be it.
Second, a RAD tool that could produce binaries from the same unmodified source code for both Windows and Linux would be beneficial to EVERYONE, with one notable exception: Microsoft. Just imagine what an impact this could have if there were an easy way to convert a Visual Basic project to a Delphi project.
If you support open source as much as you do, then wouldn't you say that people moving from Windows to Linux is a good thing? I would. And if a proprietary, closed source RAD tool helps people do it, then I'm all for it.
Another important point to consider is WHY Linux has such a small market share on the desktop right now. While there are certainly many factors involved, one of the largest has to be Microsoft Office.
I know that I, for one, would be able to move my entire company to Linux once and for all if Microsoft released a Linux port of Office. I know it's heresy to even mention running a Microsoft product on Linux, but the way I look at it is: Right now I have to run Windows and Office, if I can get rid of Windows and just be stuck with Office, then I'm definitely moving in the right direction.
Yes, I know there are some good alternatives to Office out there, but the reasons for having to stick with Office are as much political as they are technical. Also, there doesn't seem to be a good alternative for dealing with Access databases under Linux, a large number of which I'm unfortunately stuck with.
So, not only are you right when you say MS doesn't need to port products to Linux, MS needs very, very badly NOT to port products to Linux.
One of the biggest things holding Linux back in the desktop arena is a good Office suite. It would be just plain dumb for Microsoft to step in and fill that niche for us.
Ummm....
I never found the Ctrl-Esc combination particularly difficult to master. It's particularly worthwhile considering the advantages of not having the Windows key in the way.
Although I can't recall a situation where I ever needed to reboot an entire room full of machines, I think that if you've got 70 of 'em and it's something you need to do often, I'd recommend abandoning the keyboard method and finding a way to automate the process.
But that's just me...
The correct location for the backslash key is, of course, directly above the Enter key.
:-)
The reason that this is the correct location is "Because I Say So."
Don't you EVER do that again!!!
Do you have any idea how hard it is these days to find a keyboard that:
a.) is of high quality
b.) doesn't have Windows keys
c.) has the damn backslash key where it freaking belongs?
I'm down to my last one of those old IBM PS/2 keyboards, and if anyone wants it, they'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.
:-)
Yes, it's true that this idea is a lot more than just symlinks.
But it's STILL not innovation. It's nothing more than a logical expansion on an existing idea. Symlinks are still the core idea at the center of all this, they just added some of their bloatware on top of them.
either commuting or at work for approx 14 hours a day for a total of 70 hours per week
:) And in the winter, I'll put in some pretty long hours. But when there's something I'd rather be doing, I no longer let myself feel guilty about leaving the office after my 8 (or 7, or 6) hours are up.
Aah, the things we do for quality of life.
I'm not sure how the concept of working 70 hours per week is compatible with the concept of quality of life.
I used to think that quality of life meant having enough cash to buy all the toys I wanted. As I got older (and more burnt out) I figured out it doesn't work that way (at least for me). So, I took a 13K pay cut to go to an employer that understands that "I feel like water skiing" is a valid reason for leaving work an hour early.
Of course, I still need to make enough to pay for the boat.
Hmm... 60 hours would probably be the minimum I work in a week. It's now 9:15 on Wednesday morning, and I'm already at around 45.
As for pagers, I refuse to carry one anymore. (I'll reconsider this under appropriate circumstances.) And cell phones, I love mine. My boss has been trying for over a year to find out the number, ain't gonna happen!
When I started this job, I had a good long talk with the owner, and we came to an understanding. I'll work my ass off, put in way more hours than I'm required to, and all that good stuff. In exchange, once I walk out the door, I'm gone. The way I see it, he doesn't need my cell phone number. If it's not important enough for him to have to make a serious effort to contact me, then it's not important enough for me to be bothered while I'm on the lake.
(And yes, I do realize how lucky I am to have an employer that can actually see things that way.)
Here is an excellent explanation of what Macrovision is and why it works the way it does.
Maybe I'm just not awake yet, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what ease of acquisition should have to do with whether or not something is illegal.
Should a crime be less punishable simply because it requires more effort to prepare to commit it?
Or are you just advocating background checks and a 5-day waiting period for software downloads?
I'm not saying people need to buy into an extremist position on the subject. I'm simply advocating that the separate theories on the issues be presented in their appropriate forums until such a time as we understand the truth more fully.
And I fully agree with you point that the two theories can be reconciled. All you really need to do is open yourself to the idea that parts of the Bible should be interpreted figuratively instead of literally, and science and religion begin to fit together quite nicely for the most part.