"Our Apologies....The site is currently undergoing maintenance. We appreciate your patience while we make some improvements. Please check back soon."
I was very disappointed. I was so looking forward to getting a message about how my standards-based Linux + Firefox could not watch the video because I am not using MS-Windows, IE, and/or Silverlight.
So everyone should lower their grammatical standards to "fit in"??? Somehow that doesn't seem right. I don't think people should obsess over spelling and typos for informal forum postings, but using the proper words shouldn't be demonized:)
No, actually I did not mean for it to be constructed interrogatively. It was apparent by his tonality that he already knew he sounded juvenile and uneducated.:)
You do realize that poor grammar makes you sound juvenile and uneducated. We are not talking about lack of proof-reading. The "your" example in your posting, above, is a perfect example. It is not that you misspelled a word, or made a typo, you just don't know the difference between "your" and "you're"!
I am the first to admit that I am a horrible speller. But I know the correct words to use.... a spell checker can fix one, but it cannot fix the other.:)
But they *DID* start to throttle customers like us (yes, I ship back quickly too). Don't you remember all the news about it? Lots of customers complained loudly, and rightfully so- there was nothing in the terms or agreement that allowed Netflix to throttle. They were doing it secretly on plans listed as "unlimited" (sound familiar- like secret cell phone data caps?). I remember quite well being throttled and being penalized at the end of the month when they decided I had rented too much. But then, after several months of that, the throttling suddenly stopped and has remained gone.
If they want to throttle, then fine, but they HAVE to disclose that to the customers and stop using words like "as many as you like" or "unlimited". You can't have it both ways.
Yep. It is too late. BlackBerry will do OK for a while. Once perfected, WebOS Linux was fantastic. Great design, a pleasure to use, root for everyone, good UI, *great* "card" multitasking interface, lots of hackability. But it took too long to get to market, too long to debug, too long to spread to other carriers, was coupled with weak hardware, and not enough consumer choices. Had a few of those been addressed, it could have been a major player. But now it is too late. There are things I greatly miss from it when I moved to Android Linux.
I kudos you for supporting FOSS!! And thanks for the informative reply.
My beef was just with the mantra like "Your Digital Life, Anywhere".... well, no, your digital life on MS-Windows machines only (which in MY life is essentially nowhere). Or "Pick a PC. Any PC."; again, I suppose it depends on the definition of "PC". Even "portable" to me means multiplatform, although I know in this context it is meant in the "transportable" way. And finally- "Open Platform..." but only one real "platform"... and a platform that is, ironically, not "open":)
I am not accusing you/them of hiding the fact that it is [essentially] MS-Windows only... it does say that on the main page (but it is tiny and only mentioned once on the page). But it is somewhat inaccurate to claim "anywhere" and "any pc" and "open platform".... WINE not withstanding.
I apologize if I came across to negatively. It was meant to be somewhat witty.
I think such a project is just fine. You need to take a chill pill and think of other reasons why I would complain (and apparently others agree)...
What I don't appreciate is the assumption in the original post. A kind of "Hey, this is great for everyone, just use this." Had they said it was Windows-only, I would not have wasted time investigating it. Why would anyone think a cross-platform application like Firefox would be repackaged in an MS-Windows-only way?
Point being- there are more than MS-Windows users out there. We are not "entitled" to have everything. Nor should we be told "if we want something, do it ourselves". But postings, especially on Slashdot, should not make the assumption that everyone uses MS-Windows. ESPECIALLY when the topic is about something that is multiplatform. Get it now?
>"which also lets you try it out right on your desktop without installing it and impacting your local Firefox install at all."
Looks broken to me, says something about "Windows", whatever that is. OH! There is an assumption that everyone uses MS-Windows????
In the US, Firefox is on about one out of every three computers. That is a *huge* share of the market. If you had a dollar for every computer Firefox is running on, you would be very, very rich.
In the EU, Firefox is closer to 50% market share overall; 60% in Germany.
And IE9 won't be made to work on XP, shutting out a large segment of users. Meanwhile, the latest Firefox (and other browsers) will run on Linux, MacOS, Vista, 7, *and* XP.
Firefox/Mozilla: Free, Open Source, standards based, actively developed, multiplatform, supports older versions of OS's, and huge market penetration. If I were developing ANY type of web application, I would absolutely use Firefox as the main target.
I had a similar experience at Target. I had some compressed air (dusting stuff) that I was giving as a present. They demanded my ID. So I showed it to her. She tried to take it from me to "scan" it. I said "absolutely not!!!! If you want to verify my age, you may LOOK at my ID. You have no right to record information about who I am, where I live, my driver's license number, or anything else about me".
I had to wait 10 minutes for a "manager" to come over and override their policy. It wasted my time, irritated me, and inconvenienced every one else in line.
And this is going to be the norm within a couple of years and legitimized by law. It already has been in some states. I don't want some master database storing such information about me in ways I cannot control and don't know. Any information that is collected can be abused, lost, stolen, etc.
By the way- the first thing I do when I get my license is to "accidentally damage" the 2D and 3D barcodes so that it cannot be "scanned". When driver's licenses used to be SSN, I accidentally damaged one of the digits too- if it is needed, *I* will supply it, on *my* terms.
I don't know where you live, but it isn't where I do.
1) If you don't provide your SSN to a utility company, cable, cell phone, or other company, they will require a huge "security deposit"- which for many people is the same as denying service.
2) If you don't think the DMV doesn't HAVE your SSN, whether you gave it to them or not, you are on another planet. DMV in THIS state used to even USE IT AS THE DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBER.
3) You are just lucky with healthcare. I have been *DENIED* healthcare by refusing to disclose my SSN. And once, my employer gave it to them despite my instructions not to. And once disclosed, it is impossible to remove.
4) You can't get *ANY* kind of loan, credit card, bank account, etc, without disclosing your SSN- and that has *NOTHING* to do with taxes or Social Security.
Are you wacked? Of course you will have to have one. One by one, sites and services would be denied to you if you didn't have one. Eventually, you couldn't do ANYTHING without complying.
Remember Social Security numbers- how they were supposed to be used ONLY for SS and never used for any other purpose. Tell you what, you just try to do anything now without being forced to give your national ID number- credit card, loans, electricity, health care, taxes, driving, ANYTHING useful.
They would not do it by something as asinine as dictating the NUMBER OF CORES. They might put out a guideline about total CPU & GPU power recommended, however.
But do you really think their brand new Nexus S reference phone is going to be stuck on 2.3 because it is "only" one core? I seriously doubt it.
Finally, much of what makes most of the tablets out there crappy is just plain bad and cheap design and support. Slow CPU is not the highest on the list of what makes things like Pandigital "crappy". It is things like being released with ancient versions of Android that have been mucked up. Then lack of Android Market. And resistive screens. Poor build quality. Lack of documentation. Missing basic features (camera, accelerometer, jacks), etc, etc. None of those will be a problem for the NICE tablets coming out over the next few months from names like HTC, Motorola, Asus...
This is already been discussed at length on androidcentral. The consensus is that this stupid rumor is false. It makes absolutely no sense to require any particular number of cores to run Android.
Who is writing this stuff and what is their motive???
Quote: "I also needed to take some time to think about the recent discovery about Novell taking money from Microsoft and contractually agreeing to show up at Open XML standards meetings and events. Yes, I'm furious. Or I was. I always tell you the truth. And the truth is I felt used and abused. How could Novell enter into such a deal? Then top it off with selling 882 patents to a Microsoft-organized consortium?"
This is the same Novell in 2006 that essentially sold itself into a pseudo-bondage/partnership arrangement with Microsoft, one of the most FOSS-hostile organizations that had ever existed. How can she possibly be surprised? Most leopards do not change their spots. Novell never was and never will be a real Linux/FOSS champion.
Well, that is a lot to comment on. As for app quality, there are good and crap apps in both Apple and Google's markets. There probably are more crap apps in Android, only because the bar is lower for entry... that is not necessarily a bad thing as long as the user-review/ratings work (which they seem to) and searching is improved (which it has been).
Android has been on the scene much less time than Apple's app store, but it is already catching up quite quickly. There is a much larger market available for Android, with so many vendors and devices behind it- so I have every reason it will continue to improve and flourish. Case in point:
Mar 2009 2,300 apps Dec 2009 20,000 apps Aug 2010 80,000 apps Dec 2010 200,000 apps
Availability of the Marketplace is not an issue if we are talking USA. Otherwise, from what I have seen by following androidcentral.net, paid access is available in over 34 countries so far.
The Android Marketplace already is aware of device capabilities and will filter apps based on screen size, Android version, and the like. I am sure this will expand with the large-screen Android devices starting to appear.
It is? There are TONS of applications. There are TONS of free apps. It is pretty well organized and stable. It is far less "censored" than Apple's. And you can even get refunds through it after you try an app and don't like it.
There are plenty of ~4" Android devices already. Some are kinda scummy, but lots are every bit as capable as an "iTouch". But it is nice to see more devices in that area.
That said, there will be numerous ~10" Android tablets coming out in 2011. Combined with Android 3.0, the Android Marketplace, great hardware, lack of needing "iTunes", and lower prices, Apple will have a HUGE challenge in the iPad arena.
When I taught college classes, on the first day I told students they were not children, and they were not in high school. They could do ANYTHING in class they wanted- compute, doodle, read, sleep, as long as it did not distract me or the other students in any way. I was not going to waste time or effort or disturb the class trying to "fix" anyone's inattentiveness.
I then told them they were paying a lot of money to have me to stand up there and give them lots of information on topics, in ways not available in the books or handouts, and answer questions. And warned them if they did not pay attention, they are almost certain to have poor grades or fail.
Guess what? About 20% of the class distracted themselves horribly, and almost all of those students ended up failing or with "D"'s. My class was *required* (it was Unix/Linux 101) so those people had to all see me again next semester. Welcome to the real world.
Slashdot Mirror
The official link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sotu
All I get is:
"Our Apologies....The site is currently undergoing maintenance. We appreciate your patience while we make some improvements. Please check back soon."
I was very disappointed. I was so looking forward to getting a message about how my standards-based Linux + Firefox could not watch the video because I am not using MS-Windows, IE, and/or Silverlight.
So everyone should lower their grammatical standards to "fit in"??? Somehow that doesn't seem right. I don't think people should obsess over spelling and typos for informal forum postings, but using the proper words shouldn't be demonized :)
No, actually I did not mean for it to be constructed interrogatively. It was apparent by his tonality that he already knew he sounded juvenile and uneducated. :)
"your"???
You do realize that poor grammar makes you sound juvenile and uneducated. We are not talking about lack of proof-reading. The "your" example in your posting, above, is a perfect example. It is not that you misspelled a word, or made a typo, you just don't know the difference between "your" and "you're"!
I am the first to admit that I am a horrible speller. But I know the correct words to use.... a spell checker can fix one, but it cannot fix the other. :)
Because you don't like your movie suddenly changing video quality in the middle of watching it.
Because you would like to use the 1.2x or 1.5x speed play capability of your DVD player.
Because the cue and review of your DVD player is instant and easy and with streaming it is not.
Because you want true 5.1 or better digital audio.
But they *DID* start to throttle customers like us (yes, I ship back quickly too). Don't you remember all the news about it? Lots of customers complained loudly, and rightfully so- there was nothing in the terms or agreement that allowed Netflix to throttle. They were doing it secretly on plans listed as "unlimited" (sound familiar- like secret cell phone data caps?). I remember quite well being throttled and being penalized at the end of the month when they decided I had rented too much. But then, after several months of that, the throttling suddenly stopped and has remained gone.
If they want to throttle, then fine, but they HAVE to disclose that to the customers and stop using words like "as many as you like" or "unlimited". You can't have it both ways.
>Is it too late for WebOS and BlackBerry?
Yep. It is too late. BlackBerry will do OK for a while. Once perfected, WebOS Linux was fantastic. Great design, a pleasure to use, root for everyone, good UI, *great* "card" multitasking interface, lots of hackability. But it took too long to get to market, too long to debug, too long to spread to other carriers, was coupled with weak hardware, and not enough consumer choices. Had a few of those been addressed, it could have been a major player. But now it is too late. There are things I greatly miss from it when I moved to Android Linux.
I kudos you for supporting FOSS!! And thanks for the informative reply.
My beef was just with the mantra like "Your Digital Life, Anywhere".... well, no, your digital life on MS-Windows machines only (which in MY life is essentially nowhere). Or "Pick a PC. Any PC."; again, I suppose it depends on the definition of "PC". Even "portable" to me means multiplatform, although I know in this context it is meant in the "transportable" way. And finally- "Open Platform..." but only one real "platform"... and a platform that is, ironically, not "open" :)
I am not accusing you/them of hiding the fact that it is [essentially] MS-Windows only... it does say that on the main page (but it is tiny and only mentioned once on the page). But it is somewhat inaccurate to claim "anywhere" and "any pc" and "open platform".... WINE not withstanding.
I apologize if I came across to negatively. It was meant to be somewhat witty.
I think such a project is just fine. You need to take a chill pill and think of other reasons why I would complain (and apparently others agree)...
What I don't appreciate is the assumption in the original post. A kind of "Hey, this is great for everyone, just use this." Had they said it was Windows-only, I would not have wasted time investigating it. Why would anyone think a cross-platform application like Firefox would be repackaged in an MS-Windows-only way?
Point being- there are more than MS-Windows users out there. We are not "entitled" to have everything. Nor should we be told "if we want something, do it ourselves". But postings, especially on Slashdot, should not make the assumption that everyone uses MS-Windows. ESPECIALLY when the topic is about something that is multiplatform. Get it now?
>"which also lets you try it out right on your desktop without installing it and impacting your local Firefox install at all." Looks broken to me, says something about "Windows", whatever that is. OH! There is an assumption that everyone uses MS-Windows????
Stupid Android phones with their easy, accessible, standard USB ports and connectors!!! Takes all the fun out of it!
In the US, Firefox is on about one out of every three computers. That is a *huge* share of the market. If you had a dollar for every computer Firefox is running on, you would be very, very rich.
In the EU, Firefox is closer to 50% market share overall; 60% in Germany.
And IE9 won't be made to work on XP, shutting out a large segment of users. Meanwhile, the latest Firefox (and other browsers) will run on Linux, MacOS, Vista, 7, *and* XP.
Firefox/Mozilla: Free, Open Source, standards based, actively developed, multiplatform, supports older versions of OS's, and huge market penetration. If I were developing ANY type of web application, I would absolutely use Firefox as the main target.
I had a similar experience at Target. I had some compressed air (dusting stuff) that I was giving as a present. They demanded my ID. So I showed it to her. She tried to take it from me to "scan" it. I said "absolutely not!!!! If you want to verify my age, you may LOOK at my ID. You have no right to record information about who I am, where I live, my driver's license number, or anything else about me".
I had to wait 10 minutes for a "manager" to come over and override their policy. It wasted my time, irritated me, and inconvenienced every one else in line.
And this is going to be the norm within a couple of years and legitimized by law. It already has been in some states. I don't want some master database storing such information about me in ways I cannot control and don't know. Any information that is collected can be abused, lost, stolen, etc.
By the way- the first thing I do when I get my license is to "accidentally damage" the 2D and 3D barcodes so that it cannot be "scanned". When driver's licenses used to be SSN, I accidentally damaged one of the digits too- if it is needed, *I* will supply it, on *my* terms.
I don't know where you live, but it isn't where I do.
1) If you don't provide your SSN to a utility company, cable, cell phone, or other company, they will require a huge "security deposit"- which for many people is the same as denying service.
2) If you don't think the DMV doesn't HAVE your SSN, whether you gave it to them or not, you are on another planet. DMV in THIS state used to even USE IT AS THE DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBER.
3) You are just lucky with healthcare. I have been *DENIED* healthcare by refusing to disclose my SSN. And once, my employer gave it to them despite my instructions not to. And once disclosed, it is impossible to remove.
4) You can't get *ANY* kind of loan, credit card, bank account, etc, without disclosing your SSN- and that has *NOTHING* to do with taxes or Social Security.
Are you wacked? Of course you will have to have one. One by one, sites and services would be denied to you if you didn't have one. Eventually, you couldn't do ANYTHING without complying. Remember Social Security numbers- how they were supposed to be used ONLY for SS and never used for any other purpose. Tell you what, you just try to do anything now without being forced to give your national ID number- credit card, loans, electricity, health care, taxes, driving, ANYTHING useful.
>"'We are not talking about a national ID card,' says Commerce Secretary Gary Locke"
Oh really. Just like Social Security numbers would never be used for anything but Social Security. This is a HORRIBLE idea.
They would not do it by something as asinine as dictating the NUMBER OF CORES. They might put out a guideline about total CPU & GPU power recommended, however.
But do you really think their brand new Nexus S reference phone is going to be stuck on 2.3 because it is "only" one core? I seriously doubt it.
Finally, much of what makes most of the tablets out there crappy is just plain bad and cheap design and support. Slow CPU is not the highest on the list of what makes things like Pandigital "crappy". It is things like being released with ancient versions of Android that have been mucked up. Then lack of Android Market. And resistive screens. Poor build quality. Lack of documentation. Missing basic features (camera, accelerometer, jacks), etc, etc. None of those will be a problem for the NICE tablets coming out over the next few months from names like HTC, Motorola, Asus ...
This is already been discussed at length on androidcentral. The consensus is that this stupid rumor is false. It makes absolutely no sense to require any particular number of cores to run Android.
Who is writing this stuff and what is their motive???
+1 Had I not already been compelled to post a comment, I would mod you up (and I have the points, too).
Quote: "I also needed to take some time to think about the recent discovery about Novell taking money from Microsoft and contractually agreeing to show up at Open XML standards meetings and events. Yes, I'm furious. Or I was. I always tell you the truth. And the truth is I felt used and abused. How could Novell enter into such a deal? Then top it off with selling 882 patents to a Microsoft-organized consortium?"
This is the same Novell in 2006 that essentially sold itself into a pseudo-bondage/partnership arrangement with Microsoft, one of the most FOSS-hostile organizations that had ever existed. How can she possibly be surprised? Most leopards do not change their spots. Novell never was and never will be a real Linux/FOSS champion.
Well, that is a lot to comment on. As for app quality, there are good and crap apps in both Apple and Google's markets. There probably are more crap apps in Android, only because the bar is lower for entry... that is not necessarily a bad thing as long as the user-review/ratings work (which they seem to) and searching is improved (which it has been).
Android has been on the scene much less time than Apple's app store, but it is already catching up quite quickly. There is a much larger market available for Android, with so many vendors and devices behind it- so I have every reason it will continue to improve and flourish. Case in point:
Mar 2009 2,300 apps
Dec 2009 20,000 apps
Aug 2010 80,000 apps
Dec 2010 200,000 apps
Availability of the Marketplace is not an issue if we are talking USA. Otherwise, from what I have seen by following androidcentral.net, paid access is available in over 34 countries so far.
The Android Marketplace already is aware of device capabilities and will filter apps based on screen size, Android version, and the like. I am sure this will expand with the large-screen Android devices starting to appear.
It is? There are TONS of applications. There are TONS of free apps. It is pretty well organized and stable. It is far less "censored" than Apple's. And you can even get refunds through it after you try an app and don't like it.
In what way is it a disadvantage?
There are plenty of ~4" Android devices already. Some are kinda scummy, but lots are every bit as capable as an "iTouch". But it is nice to see more devices in that area.
That said, there will be numerous ~10" Android tablets coming out in 2011. Combined with Android 3.0, the Android Marketplace, great hardware, lack of needing "iTunes", and lower prices, Apple will have a HUGE challenge in the iPad arena.
Yay! Consumers win!!
When I taught college classes, on the first day I told students they were not children, and they were not in high school. They could do ANYTHING in class they wanted- compute, doodle, read, sleep, as long as it did not distract me or the other students in any way. I was not going to waste time or effort or disturb the class trying to "fix" anyone's inattentiveness.
I then told them they were paying a lot of money to have me to stand up there and give them lots of information on topics, in ways not available in the books or handouts, and answer questions. And warned them if they did not pay attention, they are almost certain to have poor grades or fail.
Guess what? About 20% of the class distracted themselves horribly, and almost all of those students ended up failing or with "D"'s. My class was *required* (it was Unix/Linux 101) so those people had to all see me again next semester. Welcome to the real world.