You just know you'll let auto-update run and one day it'll "disable" your MP3s because WMV offer so much more security, or something similar.
Right. Let's look at it for a moment, ignoring the obvious illegality.
Microsoft disables all of its users' MP3s in order to move people to a different audio format, one which it can explicity control. MP3, currently one of the most popular file formats on the internet, is used by just about everyone on many platforms, and has no built in rights management.
So what does Joe User do? Stick with Microsoft and slowly rebuild his WMA collection, despite losing all of his music (legal or not)? Especially now having set the precedent of deliberately destroying users data? I doubt it.
If MS were to ever do something ridiculous like you predict, you would see users defecting from Windows. Right now, though, MS does not use those tactics, and you see people sticking with Windows, despite its very well publicized and frequently devastating security flaws. That either says a lot about the rest of Windows, or says so very little about the alternatives.
I can't confirm since I am at work (oops!), but I am fairly sure I have disabled the RPC service on my machine, but it is Windows 2000. I won't be back at that machine for about a week to check though.
As another poster points out, this is pure FUD. All MS patches are executable files, and are available through the Windows Update Catalog (or something like that). In fact, I just burned a whole CD of Windows XP updates for a client and sent it to him. He will run all of the updates on the CD, and his system will be patched. He does have internet, but it is a modem, and there was ~100MB of patches/SPs/etc. to download to update the factory copy of XP he had. For smaller patches, like the RPC fix, he can still go get them himself.
hire marketing drones to advertise the product, hire support people to help end users with problems
Isn't this something that needs to be done, open source or closed source? Surely you don't believe so much in the "open source support" model to think that it is a real substitute for actual tech support. If businesses are going to run their books on this software, they're going to want someone to call when it doesn't work right, not poke around the internet for 6 hours.
Hi. Most people talk about Florida not because of the ballot design or electoral college, but because of the way the Supreme Court went against almost all of its prior precedent and trumped state law in a state matter, based on an insignificant deadline that was arbitrarily set.
More people I know have lost new IDE drives than I ever recall in the past
Yes, but you know more people with IDE driven that ever before. If the percentage of IDE drive failure has not changed over 10 years, you would still see more drive failures simply because there are so many more IDE drives in use. However, it still may be the case that hard drive failures have risen as a percentage of overall HD use.
You can get a replacement connector for ~$10 on.. mcmelectronics.com or something like that. Pretty easy to install, and generally will fix the problem. There is a web site around with step-by-step pictures of the procedure. While cleaning with alcohol can help, the contacts are spring loaded and over the years the springs have worn and can no longer maintain the proper pressure on the cartridge's contacts.
You can't be in close proximity to people in most enviroments without talking or the situation feels awkward and uncomfortable
True for most people, and I couldn't tell you why. It seems to be a hard-coded rule (to extroverts) that you must be in conversation at all times. While it's not that I'm un-interested in other people, I don't always feel the need to speak with the complete strangers that are waiting in line at the DMV with me.
I don't know about the rest of you, but half an hour of casual conversation can be a hard mental workout. It's almost like a game of chess - testing sentences, looking ahead for the reaction, backtracking.
I agree. I find 'casual' conversation very difficult, but if the conversation turns to more of a discussion, where different ideas are presented and debated, I find it much easier. Many people accuse me of being 'combative' because of this. They do not realize that I am not out to "win" the debate, but merely discuss different viewpoints and expand my thinking.
To be frank, it's a symptom of broken social skills that you can't derive enjoyment from any other type of interaction.
That's not being frank. That's putting forth your unscientific, made-up conclusion as fact. There's way too many people here implying that extrovert tendencies are "normal", and you're one of them.
Note: I don't mean to imply that introvert is normal, and extrovert is the broken one. I accept that people are different and that I will not act the same as everyone else, and everyone else won't act the same as me.
Sweepingly calling the behavior a "plea for attention" is a bit off the mark... Alas, the extroverts simply get confused most of the time and inside are wondering who is running the football pool this week.
Well, you started off great, but also ended with a sweeping generalization. Introvert does not imply smart, and extrovert does not imply dumb.
It appears the methods of providing support in the free software community are indeed superior to commercial support.
This is way too broad a statement, I hope you realize. It really is going to depend on the program and company providing support/having support provided for in the community.
While the analogy isn't 100% there, the one example you provide doesn't cut it. The most frequent type of after-release fix for a product is a free patch.
Such, as she went on to explain to me, is how the Myers-Briggs preferences are. They are simply preferences.
But, once we are past our youth (and even then, our very young years), our 'handedness' is pretty much burned in. I do most with my left hand, but since my father could not throw left handed, he could not teach me to throw left handed. So, I throw right handed. I cannot do anything else with my right hand except use the mouse, which came from years of working in public labs and other people's machines during high school and college.
When my brother was younger, maybe about 5 or 6, he was able to use both hands interchangably. We would play games at dinner by switching the silverware positions, but he never even blinked. If for whatever reason he put a pen down with his right hand to the left of the paper, he would usually pick it back up with his left hand and continue. After he started handwriting in school, however, he lost the ambidextrous ability.
While handedness, and introversion, may be a preference, it really trivializes the situation to say "they are simply preferences". It makes it sound like we're talking about the type of soda we drink, and that switching is just a matter of buying another brand. We're talking about life-long, burned in, preferences that almost nobody can change without extreme efforts.
The goods sold in Walmart don't get here from China|Mexico|etc. by teleportation. Someone has to bring it to the US, and further, someone has to bring it from the port to the Walmart store (through a Walmart distribution center). Even moreso, not everything is made outside of the US. Most foodstuffs, which Walmart sells, are made in the US.
I'd rather cut the taxes of the corporations so that they can free that money for R&D.
I once wrote "No Such Addressee: Return to Sender" on an object.
The postman said "You shouldn't write No Such Address, this Address exists, you live here!"
I tried to explain that I wrote "addressee" and that the *person* didn't live here. That didn't work so I apologized for my 'error' and went on my way.
where the left button (or right button for lefties)
Most lefties I know, including myself, do use the left button as left, and use the middle finger to activate it. This is generally because if you share a system with right-handed users, you just move the mouse from the right side of the keyboard to the left and go on your way.
Win+D is meant as a quick minimize. This is useful as a privacy key, or just to clear everything away if you have too many things open. Also if you hit Win+D, and then hit Win+D again, your context is restored. So if you are leaving your desk you can hit Win+D, come back, hit Win+D and not have to worry about anyone seeing Slashdot open. Also remember keyboard shortcuts exist to minimize mouse use.
Ctrl+F, F3? No that is application specific find. Win+F is Windows Find Files and Folders.
Win+Break well maybe thats why it uses Break and not P or something. It's very useful when the mouse doesn't work, etc.
Win+L, combines 2 keystrokes to one.
Also there is Win+R for Run, type cmd and you're at a shell.
Also: Win+E for (File) Explorer, Win+H for Windows Help (not same as F1, Application Help), Win+M is Minimize all (slightly different than Win+D, you cannot toggle), and apparently Win+U is Utility Manager (accessibility functions).
Theres nothing anonymous about cell technology, there never was, and never will be.
You can trace a land line, whats special about a cell phone?
A land line is tracable only to a location. Many land lines, such as household or business phones, are used by multiple people. Also there are still pay phones, which by definition are used by multiple people.
Cell phones, on the other hand, are frequently used by only one person. They are also carried on that person or very near to that person at all times. By tracking a cell phone, in 99% of cases, you will be tracking a person, not a phone. By tracking a land line, you are merely tracking a location. There is an incredibly vast difference here.
The Florida issue was about civil ineptitude and the parties throwing out lukewarm candidates.
The whole "same candidates/weak candidates" thing is apologist crap. Get up. Get out. Vote. The candidates will always tailor themselves to the people that are voting. If you're not voting, they're not going to magically tailor themselves to you! This is one reason why older people's issues are taken extremely seriously.
Onto your other point, a move from a democratically elected republic to a pure democracy would involve remaking our political system from scratch.
True, but that wasn't what I was really advocating. I'm talking mainly about extending referenda to be more common on the largest issues. Also, we have no such thing as national referenda. There should be a system in place where the Congress and President can ask the nation for their opinion, instead of assuming that they always know what is best for us. Town halls and the like do not count because frequently dissenters are forbidden from attending. Again, I'm talking about the largest, most hot button issues. This isn't the type of thing you would see happening once a day; maybe not even once a year.
The mice will also have a feature that lets people switch between open applications by pressing down on the scroll wheel instead of using the keyboard.
I would imagine that the driver lets you turn this feature off, and use that click as a 3rd mouse button. There is also the possibility that this mouse will have those annoying side buttons that new MS mice have.
I say annoying side buttons because I am left handed. It is near impossible to use that MS mouse left handed and not continuously accidently click the "left side" or "back" button. I've never owned one though, so it may be possible to "get used to".
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You just know you'll let auto-update run and one day it'll "disable" your MP3s because WMV offer so much more security, or something similar.
Right. Let's look at it for a moment, ignoring the obvious illegality.
Microsoft disables all of its users' MP3s in order to move people to a different audio format, one which it can explicity control. MP3, currently one of the most popular file formats on the internet, is used by just about everyone on many platforms, and has no built in rights management.
So what does Joe User do? Stick with Microsoft and slowly rebuild his WMA collection, despite losing all of his music (legal or not)? Especially now having set the precedent of deliberately destroying users data? I doubt it.
If MS were to ever do something ridiculous like you predict, you would see users defecting from Windows. Right now, though, MS does not use those tactics, and you see people sticking with Windows, despite its very well publicized and frequently devastating security flaws. That either says a lot about the rest of Windows, or says so very little about the alternatives.
I can't confirm since I am at work (oops!), but I am fairly sure I have disabled the RPC service on my machine, but it is Windows 2000. I won't be back at that machine for about a week to check though.
As another poster points out, this is pure FUD. All MS patches are executable files, and are available through the Windows Update Catalog (or something like that). In fact, I just burned a whole CD of Windows XP updates for a client and sent it to him. He will run all of the updates on the CD, and his system will be patched. He does have internet, but it is a modem, and there was ~100MB of patches/SPs/etc. to download to update the factory copy of XP he had. For smaller patches, like the RPC fix, he can still go get them himself.
hire marketing drones to advertise the product, hire support people to help end users with problems
Isn't this something that needs to be done, open source or closed source? Surely you don't believe so much in the "open source support" model to think that it is a real substitute for actual tech support. If businesses are going to run their books on this software, they're going to want someone to call when it doesn't work right, not poke around the internet for 6 hours.
QuickBooks doesn't even support multiple currencies, which is just silly.
Quickbooks is designed specifically for small businesses, and leaving out something like multiple currency support, imo, is quite warranted.
Hi. Most people talk about Florida not because of the ballot design or electoral college, but because of the way the Supreme Court went against almost all of its prior precedent and trumped state law in a state matter, based on an insignificant deadline that was arbitrarily set.
More people I know have lost new IDE drives than I ever recall in the past
Yes, but you know more people with IDE driven that ever before. If the percentage of IDE drive failure has not changed over 10 years, you would still see more drive failures simply because there are so many more IDE drives in use. However, it still may be the case that hard drive failures have risen as a percentage of overall HD use.
You can get a replacement connector for ~$10 on.. mcmelectronics.com or something like that. Pretty easy to install, and generally will fix the problem. There is a web site around with step-by-step pictures of the procedure. While cleaning with alcohol can help, the contacts are spring loaded and over the years the springs have worn and can no longer maintain the proper pressure on the cartridge's contacts.
You can't be in close proximity to people in most enviroments without talking or the situation feels awkward and uncomfortable
True for most people, and I couldn't tell you why. It seems to be a hard-coded rule (to extroverts) that you must be in conversation at all times. While it's not that I'm un-interested in other people, I don't always feel the need to speak with the complete strangers that are waiting in line at the DMV with me.
I don't know about the rest of you, but half an hour of casual conversation can be a hard mental workout. It's almost like a game of chess - testing sentences, looking ahead for the reaction, backtracking.
I agree. I find 'casual' conversation very difficult, but if the conversation turns to more of a discussion, where different ideas are presented and debated, I find it much easier. Many people accuse me of being 'combative' because of this. They do not realize that I am not out to "win" the debate, but merely discuss different viewpoints and expand my thinking.
While this post does nothing to battle the raging stereotypes in this discussion, it is pretty close to the mark, imo.
To be frank, it's a symptom of broken social skills that you can't derive enjoyment from any other type of interaction.
That's not being frank. That's putting forth your unscientific, made-up conclusion as fact. There's way too many people here implying that extrovert tendencies are "normal", and you're one of them.
Note: I don't mean to imply that introvert is normal, and extrovert is the broken one. I accept that people are different and that I will not act the same as everyone else, and everyone else won't act the same as me.
Sweepingly calling the behavior a "plea for attention" is a bit off the mark... Alas, the extroverts simply get confused most of the time and inside are wondering who is running the football pool this week.
Well, you started off great, but also ended with a sweeping generalization. Introvert does not imply smart, and extrovert does not imply dumb.
It appears the methods of providing support in the free software community are indeed superior to commercial support.
This is way too broad a statement, I hope you realize. It really is going to depend on the program and company providing support/having support provided for in the community.
While the analogy isn't 100% there, the one example you provide doesn't cut it. The most frequent type of after-release fix for a product is a free patch.
Such, as she went on to explain to me, is how the Myers-Briggs preferences are. They are simply preferences.
But, once we are past our youth (and even then, our very young years), our 'handedness' is pretty much burned in. I do most with my left hand, but since my father could not throw left handed, he could not teach me to throw left handed. So, I throw right handed. I cannot do anything else with my right hand except use the mouse, which came from years of working in public labs and other people's machines during high school and college.
When my brother was younger, maybe about 5 or 6, he was able to use both hands interchangably. We would play games at dinner by switching the silverware positions, but he never even blinked. If for whatever reason he put a pen down with his right hand to the left of the paper, he would usually pick it back up with his left hand and continue. After he started handwriting in school, however, he lost the ambidextrous ability.
While handedness, and introversion, may be a preference, it really trivializes the situation to say "they are simply preferences". It makes it sound like we're talking about the type of soda we drink, and that switching is just a matter of buying another brand. We're talking about life-long, burned in, preferences that almost nobody can change without extreme efforts.
That was hilarious! When can we catch your next show?
The goods sold in Walmart don't get here from China|Mexico|etc. by teleportation. Someone has to bring it to the US, and further, someone has to bring it from the port to the Walmart store (through a Walmart distribution center). Even moreso, not everything is made outside of the US. Most foodstuffs, which Walmart sells, are made in the US.
I'd rather cut the taxes of the corporations so that they can free that money for R&D.
What taxes?
I once wrote "No Such Addressee: Return to Sender" on an object.
The postman said "You shouldn't write No Such Address, this Address exists, you live here!"
I tried to explain that I wrote "addressee" and that the *person* didn't live here. That didn't work so I apologized for my 'error' and went on my way.
where the left button (or right button for lefties)
Most lefties I know, including myself, do use the left button as left, and use the middle finger to activate it. This is generally because if you share a system with right-handed users, you just move the mouse from the right side of the keyboard to the left and go on your way.
Win+D is meant as a quick minimize. This is useful as a privacy key, or just to clear everything away if you have too many things open. Also if you hit Win+D, and then hit Win+D again, your context is restored. So if you are leaving your desk you can hit Win+D, come back, hit Win+D and not have to worry about anyone seeing Slashdot open. Also remember keyboard shortcuts exist to minimize mouse use.
Ctrl+F, F3? No that is application specific find. Win+F is Windows Find Files and Folders.
Win+Break well maybe thats why it uses Break and not P or something. It's very useful when the mouse doesn't work, etc.
Win+L, combines 2 keystrokes to one.
Also there is Win+R for Run, type cmd and you're at a shell.
Also: Win+E for (File) Explorer, Win+H for Windows Help (not same as F1, Application Help), Win+M is Minimize all (slightly different than Win+D, you cannot toggle), and apparently Win+U is Utility Manager (accessibility functions).
FYI the direct mileage reimbursement rate for 2003 is $.36/mile.
Theres nothing anonymous about cell technology, there never was, and never will be.
You can trace a land line, whats special about a cell phone?
A land line is tracable only to a location. Many land lines, such as household or business phones, are used by multiple people. Also there are still pay phones, which by definition are used by multiple people.
Cell phones, on the other hand, are frequently used by only one person. They are also carried on that person or very near to that person at all times. By tracking a cell phone, in 99% of cases, you will be tracking a person, not a phone. By tracking a land line, you are merely tracking a location. There is an incredibly vast difference here.
The Florida issue was about civil ineptitude and the parties throwing out lukewarm candidates.
The whole "same candidates/weak candidates" thing is apologist crap. Get up. Get out. Vote. The candidates will always tailor themselves to the people that are voting. If you're not voting, they're not going to magically tailor themselves to you! This is one reason why older people's issues are taken extremely seriously.
Onto your other point, a move from a democratically elected republic to a pure democracy would involve remaking our political system from scratch.
True, but that wasn't what I was really advocating. I'm talking mainly about extending referenda to be more common on the largest issues. Also, we have no such thing as national referenda. There should be a system in place where the Congress and President can ask the nation for their opinion, instead of assuming that they always know what is best for us. Town halls and the like do not count because frequently dissenters are forbidden from attending. Again, I'm talking about the largest, most hot button issues. This isn't the type of thing you would see happening once a day; maybe not even once a year.
The mice will also have a feature that lets people switch between open applications by pressing down on the scroll wheel instead of using the keyboard.
I would imagine that the driver lets you turn this feature off, and use that click as a 3rd mouse button. There is also the possibility that this mouse will have those annoying side buttons that new MS mice have.
I say annoying side buttons because I am left handed. It is near impossible to use that MS mouse left handed and not continuously accidently click the "left side" or "back" button. I've never owned one though, so it may be possible to "get used to".