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User: idsofmarch

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  1. Computers are more than toys... on Why Does Windows Still Suck? · · Score: 1
    Are all computer just toys now? There's really interesting work, really creative and fun things to do on a computer now, and you just want games? That's what PS2 is for!

    I think I understand what you're saying, but if all you want to do is web-browsing and homework, then having to spend an hour or several a week cleaning off malware sucks.

  2. Re:YOU GUYS ALWAYS MISS THE OBVIOUS... on Why Does Windows Still Suck? · · Score: 1
    Photopaint and 3d Studio Max both have analogues, but ones you may not be happy with; I was asking out of shear curiousity to see if you indeed had thought about using something else.

    As for Linux, it's a pain in the ass, but is getting better. However, I don't think Linux can touch OSX, a beautiful, well-designed OS that works, and has a huge suite of powerful programs from X11 to Microsoft Word at its disposal, and which my wife uses without hesitation; she's fiddling with Garage Band right now.

    OSX has simplicity of acquisition and use, but not dominance, which I think it the poison in the Windows well at this point.
    I would suggest you give OSX a try, unless you are totally happy with Windows. In which case, good luck.

  3. Re:Simple on Why Does Windows Still Suck? · · Score: 1

    Get her that Mac, works without drivers or hassles with my Fuji, works great with iPhoto, Photoshop or Elements. You can even have her use Safari, Firefox's cousin.

  4. Re:Common sense, for the love of Pete... on Why Does Windows Still Suck? · · Score: 1
    I always love comments like this: "I've jumped out of an airplane with no parachute. I hit the ground at terminal velocity and bounced, so obviously parachutes are useless." And yet you never noticed that: ANECDOTES DO NOT EQUAL EVIDENCE!

    MS has done a better job with SP2, but up until that point the average uptime for a brand-new installation of XP SP1 (either from the manufacturer or fresh from the retail box) was 20 minutes, less than the time it takes to download all the patches. These patches didn't come in an additional CD, so users had to CONNECT to the internet in order to download the patches. You didn't have this problem because you were a first adopter, you already had the patches, especially those from a year ago, before the situation got as bad as it has.

    Obviously, users should have firewalls, but shouldn't Windows last longer on the internet on its own? XP SP2 can be sniffed out in less than 16 seconds in some cases, all by automated programs from the thousands upon thousands of zombie Windows boxes that exists. Windows is the victim of its own success, and all of its apologists who don't demand better code from Microsoft.

  5. Re:Because Mac and Linux also suck on Why Does Windows Still Suck? · · Score: 1

    First, as the author mentioned, he has been a Mac guy for years, so it's not just the case of a switcher with rose-tinted glasses. No platform can claim perfection, but it would nice to try. I liked this article because it takes its basis in a sharp bitch session that makes no attempts to explain away why Micrsoft Windows does suck, especially in comparison to either Linux or Mac OSX, you would think the monetary leader with a R&D budget roughly equivalent to what Apple makes in a year, would be able to do a better job. And, while Gates himself said security was a priority, MS has utterly failed at securing their OS. Mac OSX is the worst OS there is, except for all the others. Windows is the worst OS there is...(crickets).

  6. Re:YOU GUYS ALWAYS MISS THE OBVIOUS... on Why Does Windows Still Suck? · · Score: 1

    Name 10 pieces of software that you use on a given basis that don't have analogues on OSX, just for intellectual curiousity. Games don't count. And neither does Exchange.

  7. Re:s/Weary/Wary/ on Canadian Government Weary of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Sheiks cannot give religious approval, they are political leaders and there are hundreds of them to boot. And, yeah the Wahhabi's, al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, etc. are nuts and have people in political and religious positions who agree with them. They are in a very similar situation as the American south between the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement; you could have found a Baptist minister to agree with firebombing black churches if that's what it took. Al-Qaeda attacked the WTC because it was a spectacular target in a mass-population area, while seeking revenge for what they preceive as agression by the United States. These people do hate democracy, which they view as a Greek obscenity which dilutes god's will, and they hate freedom because they don't have any. Our own connection to their oppression, our support of despotic leaders, and our support of groups like al-Qaeda (originally called freedom fighters by Reagan when they were Afghani mujahideen) has created a petri dish of hatred and violence that is finally lashing out at the world. The Middle East didn't come apart on its own, its had 5 centuries of western influence to boot.

  8. Re:s/Weary/Wary/ on Canadian Government Weary of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Between you and packeteer I'm suddenly very afraid of the world. You manage to ball almost 1 Billion people, including Cassius Clay (aka Muhammed Ali), into a singular repressive form of their faith driven by power-hungry madmen who are so afraid of change that they are willing to sacrifice the lives of millions. And, then we get Packeteer who makes al-Qaeda into some kind of revolutionary group who wanted 'freedom'. Both of you are completely out of touch with reality and have managed to explain the lives and motivations of thousands upon thousands of people into simple di-pole. You should be ashamed, al-Qaeda has as much to do with Islam as the KKK has to do with Christianity; their faith is an excuse to justify violence. Steepe, as for your family's military history, congrats, but be honest and think that many of the wars/police actions/anti-insurgencies that the US has been engaged in since 1776, how many of those were fought for the right reasons? Was Vietnam, a battle over communism against Ho Chi Minh, who has spent the last two previous decades pushing out Chinese, Japanese, and French, really about the freedom of its people? Or did we just drag out a civil war that had been happening for generations for another decade? Vietnam was a debacle, and it takes patriots to recognize when their country is right and serve with honor and to also recognize when their country is wrong and work to serve in its best interests, even if that includes civil disobedience. Laslty, it's fought! As in fight. Or did you mean to mispell that too?

  9. Re:Don't get a Mac!! Please! on Spam and Spyware Too Much for Some Users · · Score: 1

    But then you get to do what I do, you show people what kick ass things they can do on a Mac as a side-business, setting up networks to stream iTunes, showing them how to use a digital camera and burn DVDs. Show them how to set up a website, how to use Photoshop filters. Show them how to do the really cool and fun stuff and leave setting up Outlook for the 9,000th time to some other poor bastard.

  10. Not everyone has to use the same OS! on Spam and Spyware Too Much for Some Users · · Score: 1

    Why does the entire world have to use just one system? If 20% of users had MacOSX, 45% used Windows, and 30% used Linux (the rest made up of everything else) then a virus could not spread as fast and wide as it does now. Virus writers would have to either choose an OS or go through the great difficulty of finding the one hole that works on every system. The problem is monoculture--not just Windows, although Windows is like the wheel-chair bound asthematic kid from Malcolm in the Middle, and that's the majority--and its the Irish Potato famine each and every time, to mix my metaphors a little. Not everyone has to use the Same System!

  11. Re:Stop saying "Buy an Apple" on Spam and Spyware Too Much for Some Users · · Score: 1

    When they started with an OS based on UNIX that is fast, stable, and allows scientists, UNIX admins, secretaries, students, and film-makers to all use the same quiet, beautifully designed machines. When the 'premium' began to disipate and Apple introduced the iApps and the ProApps which allow grandma to make a digital movie (if so inclined) on the same machine that Lucasfilms used to restore the original Star Wars. When OSX also uses CUPS, SAMBA, X11 and a whole 'nother set of technologies to play well with others, including Windows, even (although limited) with Exchange server. There are lots of reasons to like Apple, to like the Mac platform. It's okay not to, but I don't know why you wouldn't at least respect the platform, even if it wasn't your favorite.

  12. Re:I don't think Macs are the answer on Spam and Spyware Too Much for Some Users · · Score: 1

    When asked about training, Apple once showed a picture of 1st graders learning to use Macs. Of course, a Mac isn't the only answer, but it is a very, very good answer for lots of people. The OS is more helpful, more straightforward and the help app actually works and tends to give very easy answers to even fairly complex questions. Linux can also work, even well-protected Windows systems can work, the problem is the inherent monoculture complicated by a user base that is sadly ignorant. We can do better.

  13. Re:HOW DOES A MAC STOP SPAM YOU DUMB SHIT? on Spam and Spyware Too Much for Some Users · · Score: 1

    The integrated Spam filter in Mail; works exceptionally well. Ya' dummy.

  14. Re:White House stats on How Company Employees Use The Web · · Score: 0, Troll

    I hope you're fucking kidding.

    I mean really, please be kidding.

  15. Re:This doesn't make sense on New iPod Firmware Locks Out RealNetworks Music · · Score: 1

    It's more than that, Apple is the only online (well-known) music store that doesn't sell files with Microsoft's DRM scheme. If Apple just becomes a vendor of Mp3 players then they must also allow WMA files, which makes WMA the standard. Now, all digital music is controlled by Microsoft. So, now Apple's machines become digital backwaters in relationship to WMP on OSX and therefore Apple's machines, the real bread-and-butter of their operation becomes even less important. Since the iTMS requires Quicktime this makes QT more important and WMP less attractive.

  16. Re:Here is the bit I don't quite get... on How Sony's HD Audio Player Falls Short · · Score: 1

    How in the hell did you miss this whole deal? You can always encode your CDs or Vinyl or whatever to Mp3 (or personal encoding of your choice) and then move those files to a Mp3 player. Do you write for ZDNet?

  17. Re:He should try to get their trademark signed ove on Apple Threatens iTunes.co.uk Owner · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apple went after eMachines not because of the 'e' but because of the shape which was clearly copied from Apple's design: eMachines was trying to ride on their coattails. This case is an entirely different thing altogether, and I have to admit that this guy owns the domain, although he should put up a redirect for people looking for iTunes in the UK. I agree about Webster's, they should claim prior art on Word.

  18. Re:Liberals and Freedom of Speech on Lone Activist Group Submits 99.8% of FCC Complaints · · Score: 1

    Liberals are the devil, hypocritical and stupid, blah, blah, blah. The PTC is manipulating the system, sort of like Republicans pushing Nader when they had absolutely no interest in his ideas, to pretend that a larger majority is offended by that little overblown Superbowl stunt or Stern's radio program. I wish people like you would stop being so politically and intellectually dishonest. Yeah, and at this rate I hope the Republican stay in power so they can reap the whirlwind of their idiotic policies.

  19. Re:The real reason it's not a threat on Microsoft Says Firefox Not a Threat to IE · · Score: 1

    Hooo-fuckin'-rah. I totally agree with you, and while you may not have the time to teach, work on your car, build a new master suite, and program, at least you don't have the trenchant refusal to learn how to do something different. I can't imagine not wanting to learn how to do something new, whether it be the basics of particle physics, Unix, Baroque paintings, or Milton. You should learn something new everyday.

  20. Re:FUCK YOU usa on Kerry Concedes Election To Bush · · Score: 1

    You're a fucking dick.

  21. Re: Vote Libertarian on Election Day Discussion · · Score: 1

    Usually when you cut the branch of a tree it doesn't fall down, therefore voting for presidential power to go to war doesn't necessarily mean one voted for the war. It's not my fault, it's your metaphor.

  22. Re:Superior? At what? on Why Apple Should Port Games · · Score: 1

    Is a Mac 'superior' at surfing the Internet? Yes, it has Safari. Is a Mac 'superior' at sending/receiving email? Yes, both Mail and a host of other great programs work great. Is a Mac 'superior' at performing standard office tasks? Yes, even Microsoft admits the MBU version of Office is better. Plus, there's iApps, then a series of professional level apps that are rediculously easy to use, and for equal machine to equal machine, the Macintosh platform is not more expensive. Furthermore, Macs are still easier to network, the laptops switch networks on the fly, and devices like the Airport Express and the iSight are fantastically designed and work only on the Mac. Plus there the whole virus, hacks, malware thing, which costs home users lots of time, I've seen it too much for it to be an anomoly. As for Linux, good stuff truly. And Mac hardware does cost more because, and really read this line more than once, there's not the same market for commodity parts.

  23. Re:Bush and I'm not afraid to admit it. on Pre-Election Discussion · · Score: 1

    Bush got into Yale because his father was a powerful alum. He got into Harvard Business school because he went to Yale and his father's connections. He was a mediocre student, and the thing about Ivy League schools is once you're in, it's almost impossible to fail. Stop using liberal as a slur and I'll stop calling Bush dumb. And Reagan, there's a great intellect himself.

  24. Re:Know what your government is doing: Read books. on How Technology Failed in Iraq · · Score: 1

    First, Palestinians and Israels are both semetic peoples. Second, the Palestinians are not a monobloc of people, but rather are just as varied in their ideas and approaches as anyone else. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc. don't want peace, they want to destroy Israel, however the common man may want peace, or just not to be hasseled everytime he goes to work, or be killed by a missle strike or arrested by the IDF. The psuedo-government of the Palestinians is trapped between groups like Hamas, Israel, and the common people, and they don't know which way to go. Many of the PLO, including Arafat, are now part of the government. So, how do you get the Israelies to feel safe, get Arafat--or men like him--to stop the bombers, and attain peace when there are so many disparate elements? That's the hard question.

  25. Re:Second Amendment on Neal Stephenson Responds With Wit and Humor · · Score: 1

    I hope you remember that when I bombard your house with my brand-new MILES system. Or maybe I'll just go thermonuclear. The 2nd Amendment isn't clear about such things, I wonder why?