The Taco is abusing his privileges again! I'm complaining! Er, what was the article about? Oh yeah. Jackie Chan rocks. His martial arts may not be pure coreography, but nothing I've seen so far even comes close to his talent for spoof and sellf-parody in martial arts movies. I have yet to watch a JC movie without having a good laugh. At the ending credits scenes if not anything else.:-)
Um, no. If you listen carefully, only content-delivery companies are whining for "smarter" (read: more controllable) networks, so that they can broadcast their crappy reality shows to you with high priority, or sell you e-books that will format your brain after you read them, to make sure you're not copying their precious content in any way. Those companies can go fsck themselves, IMO. I won't miss them.
Banks and shops and airlines can and do use the Internet as it is today, they have no reason to wish for a smarter one.
Let them release their software and maybe, just maybe, people will finally see through Microsoft's PR smoke screen and refuse to buy it. Or if they get it in a bundle with their new computer, refuse to use it because of all the hoops Microsoft makes them jump through (what, this new OS I bought won't let me trade MP3s? Who the hell do these Microsoft people think they are?!). Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I still hope that at some point consumers themselves will get tired of being herded like cattle and start making their own decisions. Damn, *this* would be a good time for a x86 port of MacOS X...
I dont see any real computer company actually seriously selling Linux on their user level computers any time soon. This is not a troll, but most users dont want Linux.
I totally agree with that. It's exactly why I like Linux so much. Right now, Linux is made for people who know what they're doing and demand total control, and that's all I can ask from an OS. The only way Linux can make it into the mainstream is to become at least as dumbed-down and full of security holes as Windows, at which point I'd probably start looking for alternatives. But I don't think that will ever happen, as most Linux developers have power and security as primary design goals, not what has come to mean "ease of use" nowadays.
It would be better for OpenSource to stop cloning stuff that already exists (or doesn't exist and has no real driving need to exist) and come up with its own killer app. Apache as a spokesman for OpenSource originality only goes so far. The world is waiting for something new, not a rehash of what's old, or a clone of something that isn't even done yet.
I don't think that's ever going to happen. Open Source (at least, non-commercial Open Source) does not have any kind of central authority to tell it what to focus on. Open Source is really a community of people scratching their collective itches. So if someone has an itch to replicate Microsoft frameworks, why not do it? If I were involved with Mono or dotGNU, I'd probably have a very good, practical reason for it, with a far higher priority on *my* agenda than that "something new" you're talking about.
Well, I personally will not use anything.NET-related at least until it becomes enough of a standard for me to become unable to avoid it in the UNIX world (as any self-respecting Microsoft-bashing Free Software zealot will do), but since there are people working on it I guess at least it's useful to them.
Now if you were actually talking about commercial Open source, that's a completely different story...
Easy answer: 4 virtual desktops, META+[F1...F4] mapped to switch between them. Keep work stuff in one of them and slashdot in another, and voila! No more hunting for close buttons.:-) KDE does it for me pretty nicely.
It's true that they don't force anyone to buy, which is exactly why I don't buy any of their products (that is, I *wouldn't* buy any of their products if my landlord didn't force me to pay for cable, even if I don't use it, but whadda hell, I'm free to move if I'm not willing to put up with it). BUT there are people who want to watch TV, and they don't have much choice of providers, do they? I wouldn't exactly call 2 or 3 media-content conglomerates "choice".
I'd pirate Directv too, but I don't have a ship and I can't sail. And I don't have a TV. No really, this "pirate" business is starting to get on my nerves. Why the hell they're calling US pirates? They're the ones who rip us off with high rates, crappy content, bad customer support and questionable service...
Re:Linux fetish and mediated slashdot
on
Joy of Linux
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· Score: 1
I find it quite weird that people can think that using Linux makes you "cool". My work has always involved one UNIX or another, so I've always used Linux at home. For me, being a Linux user meant having to buy whatever hardware is currently supported and not always what you would want to have, spending extra time to learn about the OS and how to make it more secure and tune it to my preferences, learning C so that I could debug and enhance the programs that I use routinely, learning how to make do with documentation not written by professionals and sometimes no documentation at all, getting weird looks for not knowing how to operate a Windows PC (whaddaya mean, you've never used Windows?!) and a lot of other stuff that would be hugely inconvenient for most people.
I'm OK with it, I wanted to learn all this stuff anyway and Linux kinda grew on me, so now I wouldn't trade it for anything else. But I can't see how any of this would qualify as "cool". Maybe my definition of "cool" is seriously outdated...
I don't watch anything at all. But I'm probably the only person in the world who doesn't even have a TV, but pays for cable. Apparently, the university on whose campus I currently live decided to make cable TV mandatory, because, well, they have "important information to convey to students through that medium". Yeah, and I suppose this is why I have to pay for MTV and Romance Movie Channel... Gotta love America.
Oh, now I finally get it. Thanks for the enlightenment. Now that I know why they do it, I can even make a modest contribution to their efforts of "h4X0r"ing the English language. (For the paranoid, the URL is http://www.engrish.com.
How convenient. Now failed candidates will have the scary linux hackers to blame for failing to win the elections...
Re:Is better TV definition needed ?
on
The Joys of HDTV
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· Score: 1
The only way to make people buy HDTV sets is to *force* them, which the US government is readily doing, by setting 2006 as deadline for scraping analog altogether. People don't need high definition TVs. Regular people, that is. They just want to watch the pretty pictures after coming home from work and before going to sleep; they just want Jerry Springer, they don't care if it's in 1800x1200 and Dolby Digital. Look at the computer monitor industry, how long did it take them to move from 15" to 17" as the standard choice? How low did the price have to go for a lousy 2" difference?
Then again, I don't really know much about the subject, so I may be wrong...
Re:OT: Concerning your .sig. (Was: Heh. I wonder..
on
Adobe Backs Down
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· Score: 1
I would, but you're below my threshold and therefore I can't read your suggestion.
if the feds are going to release Dmitry right away, since Adobe has dropped the complaint against him. That wouldn't make them look too good, would it?...
No really. I'm not trying to troll or anything, but why would anyone want to look at Microsoft source code? You can't do much with it according to the license terms, and I suppose the API is already documented.
I know *I* wouldn't be caught dead looking at their source because I don't use anything Microsoft so it would be of no use to me, but I'd really like to hear from someone who looks forward to grabbing it and putting their name in the "sharers" database. What are your benefits from looking at Microsoft source code?
Nah, the solution was far simpler than that. I just set the user's home directory as the default starting point of the graphical file manager, and hidden the directory tree from the default view . Problem solved, everybody happy.
Back when I was administering a Linux network, the most common questions from users were "Where's my C drive?" and "How do I make all those weird directories dissapear?" (referring to the stuff in/, *after* unsuccessfully trying to delete them). Good thing they didn't have root access...
Didn't see this
article mentioned. It cites an interview with Alexander Katalov, president of Elcomsoft and former KGB operative(!). Apparently, Elcomsoft has done quite a bit of work for the FBI itself, selling them, you guessed it, password-cracking programs. Now FBI is running around arresting its business partners. Sheesh...
Wow, now this is something I haven't read anywhere on the english-speaking web yet. Thanks. I'd mod you up as informative, but I've already posted in this thread and besides, we're both off-topic as hell.:-)
Check this
out. According to The Inquirer, Sklyarov (and the rest of Elcomsoft) have actually worked *for* the FBI, and their boss is a former KGB operative. I certainly didn't see this one coming.
What with the embarrasing FBI mole fiasco and the more recent lost guns and laptops affair, and now this, seems that the FBI guys really are losing it.
Well, I for one am glad that the media industry is doing everything in its power to see that I don't change my mind anytime soon about not watching TV...
Slashdot Mirror
The Taco is abusing his privileges again! I'm complaining! Er, what was the article about? Oh yeah. Jackie Chan rocks. His martial arts may not be pure coreography, but nothing I've seen so far even comes close to his talent for spoof and sellf-parody in martial arts movies. I have yet to watch a JC movie without having a good laugh. At the ending credits scenes if not anything else. :-)
Um, no. If you listen carefully, only content-delivery companies are whining for "smarter" (read: more controllable) networks, so that they can broadcast their crappy reality shows to you with high priority, or sell you e-books that will format your brain after you read them, to make sure you're not copying their precious content in any way. Those companies can go fsck themselves, IMO. I won't miss them.
Banks and shops and airlines can and do use the Internet as it is today, they have no reason to wish for a smarter one.
Let them release their software and maybe, just maybe, people will finally see through Microsoft's PR smoke screen and refuse to buy it. Or if they get it in a bundle with their new computer, refuse to use it because of all the hoops Microsoft makes them jump through (what, this new OS I bought won't let me trade MP3s? Who the hell do these Microsoft people think they are?!). Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I still hope that at some point consumers themselves will get tired of being herded like cattle and start making their own decisions. Damn, *this* would be a good time for a x86 port of MacOS X...
What flavors do they come in?
I dont see any real computer company actually seriously selling Linux on their user level computers any time soon. This is not a troll, but most users dont want Linux.
I totally agree with that. It's exactly why I like Linux so much. Right now, Linux is made for people who know what they're doing and demand total control, and that's all I can ask from an OS. The only way Linux can make it into the mainstream is to become at least as dumbed-down and full of security holes as Windows, at which point I'd probably start looking for alternatives. But I don't think that will ever happen, as most Linux developers have power and security as primary design goals, not what has come to mean "ease of use" nowadays.
It would be better for OpenSource to stop cloning stuff that already exists (or doesn't exist and has no real driving need to exist) and come up with its own killer app. Apache as a spokesman for OpenSource originality only goes so far. The world is waiting for something new, not a rehash of what's old, or a clone of something that isn't even done yet.
.NET-related at least until it becomes enough of a standard for me to become unable to avoid it in the UNIX world (as any self-respecting Microsoft-bashing Free Software zealot will do), but since there are people working on it I guess at least it's useful to them.
I don't think that's ever going to happen. Open Source (at least, non-commercial Open Source) does not have any kind of central authority to tell it what to focus on. Open Source is really a community of people scratching their collective itches. So if someone has an itch to replicate Microsoft frameworks, why not do it? If I were involved with Mono or dotGNU, I'd probably have a very good, practical reason for it, with a far higher priority on *my* agenda than that "something new" you're talking about.
Well, I personally will not use anything
Now if you were actually talking about commercial Open source, that's a completely different story...
Easy answer: 4 virtual desktops, META+[F1...F4] mapped to switch between them. Keep work stuff in one of them and slashdot in another, and voila! No more hunting for close buttons. :-) KDE does it for me pretty nicely.
It's true that they don't force anyone to buy, which is exactly why I don't buy any of their products (that is, I *wouldn't* buy any of their products if my landlord didn't force me to pay for cable, even if I don't use it, but whadda hell, I'm free to move if I'm not willing to put up with it). BUT there are people who want to watch TV, and they don't have much choice of providers, do they? I wouldn't exactly call 2 or 3 media-content conglomerates "choice".
I'd pirate Directv too, but I don't have a ship and I can't sail. And I don't have a TV. No really, this "pirate" business is starting to get on my nerves. Why the hell they're calling US pirates? They're the ones who rip us off with high rates, crappy content, bad customer support and questionable service...
I find it quite weird that people can think that using Linux makes you "cool". My work has always involved one UNIX or another, so I've always used Linux at home. For me, being a Linux user meant having to buy whatever hardware is currently supported and not always what you would want to have, spending extra time to learn about the OS and how to make it more secure and tune it to my preferences, learning C so that I could debug and enhance the programs that I use routinely, learning how to make do with documentation not written by professionals and sometimes no documentation at all, getting weird looks for not knowing how to operate a Windows PC (whaddaya mean, you've never used Windows?!) and a lot of other stuff that would be hugely inconvenient for most people.
I'm OK with it, I wanted to learn all this stuff anyway and Linux kinda grew on me, so now I wouldn't trade it for anything else. But I can't see how any of this would qualify as "cool". Maybe my definition of "cool" is seriously outdated...
I don't watch anything at all. But I'm probably the only person in the world who doesn't even have a TV, but pays for cable. Apparently, the university on whose campus I currently live decided to make cable TV mandatory, because, well, they have "important information to convey to students through that medium". Yeah, and I suppose this is why I have to pay for MTV and Romance Movie Channel... Gotta love America.
Oh, now I finally get it. Thanks for the enlightenment. Now that I know why they do it, I can even make a modest contribution to their efforts of "h4X0r"ing the English language. (For the paranoid, the URL is http://www.engrish.com.
How convenient. Now failed candidates will have the scary linux hackers to blame for failing to win the elections...
The only way to make people buy HDTV sets is to *force* them, which the US government is readily doing, by setting 2006 as deadline for scraping analog altogether. People don't need high definition TVs. Regular people, that is. They just want to watch the pretty pictures after coming home from work and before going to sleep; they just want Jerry Springer, they don't care if it's in 1800x1200 and Dolby Digital. Look at the computer monitor industry, how long did it take them to move from 15" to 17" as the standard choice? How low did the price have to go for a lousy 2" difference?
Then again, I don't really know much about the subject, so I may be wrong...
I would, but you're below my threshold and therefore I can't read your suggestion.
if the feds are going to release Dmitry right away, since Adobe has dropped the complaint against him. That wouldn't make them look too good, would it?...
You open up the LA Times editorial and read "All you dot-US are belong to us" instead of "Dot-US belongs to all of us". Damn...
No really. I'm not trying to troll or anything, but why would anyone want to look at Microsoft source code? You can't do much with it according to the license terms, and I suppose the API is already documented.
I know *I* wouldn't be caught dead looking at their source because I don't use anything Microsoft so it would be of no use to me, but I'd really like to hear from someone who looks forward to grabbing it and putting their name in the "sharers" database. What are your benefits from looking at Microsoft source code?
Nah, the solution was far simpler than that. I just set the user's home directory as the default starting point of the graphical file manager, and hidden the directory tree from the default view . Problem solved, everybody happy.
Back when I was administering a Linux network, the most common questions from users were "Where's my C drive?" and "How do I make all those weird directories dissapear?" (referring to the stuff in /, *after* unsuccessfully trying to delete them). Good thing they didn't have root access...
Didn't see this article mentioned. It cites an interview with Alexander Katalov, president of Elcomsoft and former KGB operative(!). Apparently, Elcomsoft has done quite a bit of work for the FBI itself, selling them, you guessed it, password-cracking programs. Now FBI is running around arresting its business partners. Sheesh...
Wow, now this is something I haven't read anywhere on the english-speaking web yet. Thanks. I'd mod you up as informative, but I've already posted in this thread and besides, we're both off-topic as hell. :-)
Check this out. According to The Inquirer, Sklyarov (and the rest of Elcomsoft) have actually worked *for* the FBI, and their boss is a former KGB operative. I certainly didn't see this one coming.
What with the embarrasing FBI mole fiasco and the more recent lost guns and laptops affair, and now this, seems that the FBI guys really are losing it.
Well, I for one am glad that the media industry is doing everything in its power to see that I don't change my mind anytime soon about not watching TV...
I don't think machines will be making any moral or ethical decisions any time soon.
That seems to me more like a point in favor of the machines...