Reading TFA, we find that, first, she ordered the Ubuntu version accidentally. OK, fair enough. Some people prefer Windows. No problems there.
However, when she tried to exchange it, the Dell rep told her about OpenOffice, and that it could do what she wanted. She couldn't easily figure out how, though, on her own. Fair enough, not everyone knows everything about their computer software.
But the reason she deserves mocking is because she then stopped there. After deciding that she didn't want to use Ubuntu, she didn't try to exchange it again.
She dropped out of two semesters of college.
Which she didn't even have to do. If she had contacted the school, she would have found what the newspaper found when they did so: they can accept papers in Open Office format just fine.
If she had contacted Verizon, she would have found out what the paper did when they did so: Verizon does not require you to use the Windows-only setup disk. True, they probably wouldn't have sent a technician to her home to set it up like they're doing now the story's in the press, but they could have talked her through it over the phone.
If she had called Dell back, she would have learned that she could switch to Windows for only $90 more. (And, probably, that OpenOffice has an option to save in Word format.)
But, instead of trying to solve the "problems" she was having, she used them as an excuse to drop out of two semesters of college. Instead of contacting Dell, or Verizon, or even her school, she went to the press and claimed that Ubuntu was keeping her out of college.
Yeah, learning's hard. Sometimes you have to solve problems. Often, you don't have to solve them on your own, but you do have to at least initiate the attempt. If she let something that would have been solved with a couple of phone calls stop her from going to college, she wasn't going to make it through anyway. What would she have done the first time she didn't understand something in one of her courses?
So, yeah, she dropped out, made excuses, and went to the press to validate her excuses. She deserves to be mocked. This story has little to nothing to do with Linux and all about taking some freaking responsibility and putting a bit of effort into your life.
If the Dell support rep could have just given her two or three helpful tips, she could have probably been fine. OpenOffice is a perfect replacement for Word. I don't know about her Verizon situation, but I'm sure there is a workaround for that.
My guess is, that's exactly what the Dell rep did when he "talked her into" keeping her Ubuntu box.
Seems likely that she then forgot, or didn't know where to click to launch OpenOffice, or something like that.
She's used to Windows, and didn't expect a learning curve, however small, as things are not arranged the way she's used to.
From what I've hear of Verizon's setup software, anyone even marginally technically literate will find it easier to manually set up their connection than try to rely on it.
The problem is, as I've been flamed for before, Linux is still nowhere near the point where a non-techie will consider adopting it. Although it's much better than it was even a few years ago, it's still not an idiot-friendly OS where things 'just work', compared to what people are used to.
The hard part about Linux is the initial setup. Especially finding, installing, and configuring drivers to work with all of your various hardware. Since Dell does all that part before shipping the boxes,[1] yeah, it really does "just work" by the time the consumer gets it.
---
(1) I'm assuming they do. If they don't, they're idiots. But I'm not really going so far out on a limb as to suggest that a major corporation couldn't possibly be staffed largely by idiots.
Before assuming anyone's lying about not visiting our increasingly paranoid and inconvenient nation, you might want to take a look at tourism figures for the last eight years...
I love how JMS went to so much trouble to get the science aspect of his show correct (rotating ships, Newtonian physics in maneuvers, etc) and then based a large part of his storyline around something that could only be described as "magic".
Yeah, but it would be really hard to tell a story involving multiple alien species in different star systems without faster than light travel.
If you choose to paint a big fat "kick me" sign on yourself
by sticking out the most you possibly can then well you
shouldn't be surprised if someone eventually kicks you.
Absolutely.
How dare they be any different from the majority!
And on an airplane of all places!
Yes, it is very important that we all look, act, talk, and think exactly the same. Only then can we preserve our Freedom!
So, aside from trying to expose the administration that was engaged in massive subversion of individual rights and the constitution, he was also opposed to the administration that was engaged in massive subversion of individual rights and the constitution?
He provided proof to the press. There is no doubt that his statements were accurate. The administration has admitted to the crimes.
Perhaps it's my failing, but as a capitalist, I don't understand why gaining from something is so often seen here as automatically a bad thing. He did the right thing. Who cares if he did it for reasons other than just trying to do the right thing?
Whistleblowers should gain from blowing the whistle. If it was up to me, there would be standing, large, monetary rewards for anyone exposing massive corruption and illegal activities by any government official.
And this guy wasn't even asking for cash. Even if the only reason he exposed the illegal activity is because he didn't want to see the chief criminal behind it remain in office, what he did was still a good thing, and it's messed up that he's being persecuted by the FBI for doing so. He should be rewarded for doing their job for them.
What if you had less sunlight because you caused a nuclear winter?
It still works: any exchange that would cause a nuclear winter would also cause a large percentage of humans to die off, drastically reducing our energy needs.
Can you tell me what the "socially redeeming aspect" of reading Slashdot is? And why I should allow you to continue doing so?
"This level of censorship will have zero practical effect on political speech."
On what basis do you make that assertion? And why are you limiting it to only "political" speech? And in what circumstances do limits on free speech (political or not) "often" make sense?
Hell, even if it is "under penalty of perjury", I bet there are a lot of people willing to risk it just to mess with the studios.
If enough (and, in this case, "enough" is a pretty small number - probably under a thousand) of them do it, then the studios would easily be overwhelmed trying to get their connections back over and over, and the perjury cases could clog the courts for years.
And, do you have to be an Australian citizen to file a complaint, or can I do it from here?
What makes you think he was talking about Obama specifically?
Certainly there are politicians who aren't corrupt. (Starting with my Representative, Peter DeFazio).
However, sadly, enough of them are that the joke still works.
Back to Obama, though, certainly I have no intention to just trust him. I campaigned for him (though in Eugene, Oregon it wasn't really needed -- he got something like 80% of the votes here), but now that he's in office I'm not giving him a pass. I didn't do all that work for him just so we could replace one group of mindless followers with another.
I challenge you to show me an unregulated market where the government doesn't have its hands in it in some way. Go ahead...I'm waiting.
I've seen that a lot in this thread.
What we commonly think of as "unregulated" has been shown to, in reality, still be regulated in some way.
So, despite the fact that removing some of the regulation made things worse, the idea is that removing all of it would have avoided the problems?
And the belief that a completely unregulated market will solve, or avoid, all sorts of problems is so deeply held completely in spite of the fact that, according to the proponents of this ideology, such a market has never been seen in all of human history?
The summary says it takes pictures in flight as well.
But, CCD cameras can be pretty fast, and the military can afford good ones.
The software can handle the orientation, by comparing images taken as it rotates and correct for frame misplacement. Software that does this already exists. I can't find the URL now (at work), but I was watching some pretty impressive video several months ago taken from a boat watching whales, that let you pan around using the mouse and look in any direction, including up and down, in real-time.
Even in Enterprise, I would have put up with all the violation of "canon" that they did if that was the only problem.
The original series, and to some degree Next Generation had a lot of engaging stories, explorations of interesting ideas, and a few blatant morality plays taking a firm stand on controversial issues of their times.
In the newer series, they went back and explored the same ideas, the same stories, and even the same popular issues of the 1960's.
It was bold when Kirk stood firmly against racial segregation. But it's become such an accepted part of our culture now that for Archer to take the same stand just looks silly.
And then when they try to distract us from the thin writing and lack of original ideas with blatantly gratuitous scenes of the Hot Vulcan Chick's nipples, it was just insulting. Yes, the gee-whiz technology and the scantily-clad females of the original were always enjoyable, but they were never the primary reason most of us watched the show. That's what Berman and Paramount never understood, and is the reason why I don't have high hopes for this new series of movies.
I might go see it if it turns out to be good enough that a lot of people are raving about it. But this is the first Star Trek movie that I won't bother seeing on opening day.
...in many places it's illegal to not have some form of ID when over 18.
That may be true, but none of those places are in the United States, which is where this particular confrontation took place.
Unless you're engaging in an activity which requires a license (for example, driving a car), you are NOT required to carry ID anywhere in the US.
Some places, such as airports, some office buildings, and CostCo, require ID to enter, but a police officer cannot arrest you for not carrying it in public.
Slashdot Mirror
Everybody flubs or mis-speaks from time to time. Everybody.
Of course, there's a significant difference between an occasional flub and embarrassing the country every single time you open your mouth.
Perfect.
Neither was Plato's.
Her "attempt" deserves to be mocked.
Reading TFA, we find that, first, she ordered the Ubuntu version accidentally. OK, fair enough. Some people prefer Windows. No problems there.
However, when she tried to exchange it, the Dell rep told her about OpenOffice, and that it could do what she wanted. She couldn't easily figure out how, though, on her own. Fair enough, not everyone knows everything about their computer software.
But the reason she deserves mocking is because she then stopped there. After deciding that she didn't want to use Ubuntu, she didn't try to exchange it again.
She dropped out of two semesters of college.
Which she didn't even have to do. If she had contacted the school, she would have found what the newspaper found when they did so: they can accept papers in Open Office format just fine.
If she had contacted Verizon, she would have found out what the paper did when they did so: Verizon does not require you to use the Windows-only setup disk. True, they probably wouldn't have sent a technician to her home to set it up like they're doing now the story's in the press, but they could have talked her through it over the phone.
If she had called Dell back, she would have learned that she could switch to Windows for only $90 more. (And, probably, that OpenOffice has an option to save in Word format.)
But, instead of trying to solve the "problems" she was having, she used them as an excuse to drop out of two semesters of college. Instead of contacting Dell, or Verizon, or even her school, she went to the press and claimed that Ubuntu was keeping her out of college.
Yeah, learning's hard. Sometimes you have to solve problems. Often, you don't have to solve them on your own, but you do have to at least initiate the attempt. If she let something that would have been solved with a couple of phone calls stop her from going to college, she wasn't going to make it through anyway. What would she have done the first time she didn't understand something in one of her courses?
So, yeah, she dropped out, made excuses, and went to the press to validate her excuses. She deserves to be mocked. This story has little to nothing to do with Linux and all about taking some freaking responsibility and putting a bit of effort into your life.
My guess is, that's exactly what the Dell rep did when he "talked her into" keeping her Ubuntu box.
Seems likely that she then forgot, or didn't know where to click to launch OpenOffice, or something like that.
She's used to Windows, and didn't expect a learning curve, however small, as things are not arranged the way she's used to.
From what I've hear of Verizon's setup software, anyone even marginally technically literate will find it easier to manually set up their connection than try to rely on it.
The hard part about Linux is the initial setup. Especially finding, installing, and configuring drivers to work with all of your various hardware. Since Dell does all that part before shipping the boxes,[1] yeah, it really does "just work" by the time the consumer gets it.
---
(1) I'm assuming they do. If they don't, they're idiots. But I'm not really going so far out on a limb as to suggest that a major corporation couldn't possibly be staffed largely by idiots.
I think it has to do with the fact that elections are the first Tuesday in November.
Before assuming anyone's lying about not visiting our increasingly paranoid and inconvenient nation, you might want to take a look at tourism figures for the last eight years...
But Liza, there's a hole in my bucket!
Yeah, but it would be really hard to tell a story involving multiple alien species in different star systems without faster than light travel.
Absolutely.
How dare they be any different from the majority!
And on an airplane of all places!
Yes, it is very important that we all look, act, talk, and think exactly the same. Only then can we preserve our Freedom!
So, aside from trying to expose the administration that was engaged in massive subversion of individual rights and the constitution, he was also opposed to the administration that was engaged in massive subversion of individual rights and the constitution?
He provided proof to the press. There is no doubt that his statements were accurate. The administration has admitted to the crimes.
Perhaps it's my failing, but as a capitalist, I don't understand why gaining from something is so often seen here as automatically a bad thing. He did the right thing. Who cares if he did it for reasons other than just trying to do the right thing?
Whistleblowers should gain from blowing the whistle. If it was up to me, there would be standing, large, monetary rewards for anyone exposing massive corruption and illegal activities by any government official.
And this guy wasn't even asking for cash. Even if the only reason he exposed the illegal activity is because he didn't want to see the chief criminal behind it remain in office, what he did was still a good thing, and it's messed up that he's being persecuted by the FBI for doing so. He should be rewarded for doing their job for them.
It still works: any exchange that would cause a nuclear winter would also cause a large percentage of humans to die off, drastically reducing our energy needs.
I suppose it could be a printer...
Is it just me, or does that seem more like a challenge than anything else?
If I hadn't watched it when it first came out, I'd be running out to get it now based on that description.
But, I have already watched it. Yeah, it's bad. Really, really, bad. Especially so if you liked the original.
But, that said, definitely worth watching. But make sure you do so with a group of friends who like the whole making snarky comments at bad TV thing.
And definitely liquor. Lots of liquor.
Pornography has "no socially redeeming aspect"?
Can you tell me what the "socially redeeming aspect" of reading Slashdot is? And why I should allow you to continue doing so?
"This level of censorship will have zero practical effect on political speech."
On what basis do you make that assertion? And why are you limiting it to only "political" speech? And in what circumstances do limits on free speech (political or not) "often" make sense?
Hell, even if it is "under penalty of perjury", I bet there are a lot of people willing to risk it just to mess with the studios.
If enough (and, in this case, "enough" is a pretty small number - probably under a thousand) of them do it, then the studios would easily be overwhelmed trying to get their connections back over and over, and the perjury cases could clog the courts for years.
And, do you have to be an Australian citizen to file a complaint, or can I do it from here?
What we really need is for the United States to have a War on Piracy!
Remember how we had the War on Terror, and there hasn't been any terrorism since?
And how the War on Drugs got rid of all drug problems in the US?
And if you don't explain to them what you mean, maybe you can get the RIAA and MPAA behind it!
What makes you think he was talking about Obama specifically?
Certainly there are politicians who aren't corrupt. (Starting with my Representative, Peter DeFazio).
However, sadly, enough of them are that the joke still works.
Back to Obama, though, certainly I have no intention to just trust him. I campaigned for him (though in Eugene, Oregon it wasn't really needed -- he got something like 80% of the votes here), but now that he's in office I'm not giving him a pass. I didn't do all that work for him just so we could replace one group of mindless followers with another.
I've seen that a lot in this thread.
What we commonly think of as "unregulated" has been shown to, in reality, still be regulated in some way.
So, despite the fact that removing some of the regulation made things worse, the idea is that removing all of it would have avoided the problems?
And the belief that a completely unregulated market will solve, or avoid, all sorts of problems is so deeply held completely in spite of the fact that, according to the proponents of this ideology, such a market has never been seen in all of human history?
Well, gee, I hope you've remembered to tell your children not to bring their friends by without telling you well ahead of time...
The summary says it takes pictures in flight as well.
But, CCD cameras can be pretty fast, and the military can afford good ones.
The software can handle the orientation, by comparing images taken as it rotates and correct for frame misplacement. Software that does this already exists. I can't find the URL now (at work), but I was watching some pretty impressive video several months ago taken from a boat watching whales, that let you pan around using the mouse and look in any direction, including up and down, in real-time.
28 Kelvin.
The superconductors used in the camera only work when it's really, really cold outside.
If you buy one of the first 1000, though, they give you a free pair of gloves.
I wouldn't mind a reboot, BSG style.
Even in Enterprise, I would have put up with all the violation of "canon" that they did if that was the only problem.
The original series, and to some degree Next Generation had a lot of engaging stories, explorations of interesting ideas, and a few blatant morality plays taking a firm stand on controversial issues of their times.
In the newer series, they went back and explored the same ideas, the same stories, and even the same popular issues of the 1960's.
It was bold when Kirk stood firmly against racial segregation. But it's become such an accepted part of our culture now that for Archer to take the same stand just looks silly.
And then when they try to distract us from the thin writing and lack of original ideas with blatantly gratuitous scenes of the Hot Vulcan Chick's nipples, it was just insulting. Yes, the gee-whiz technology and the scantily-clad females of the original were always enjoyable, but they were never the primary reason most of us watched the show. That's what Berman and Paramount never understood, and is the reason why I don't have high hopes for this new series of movies.
I might go see it if it turns out to be good enough that a lot of people are raving about it. But this is the first Star Trek movie that I won't bother seeing on opening day.
He let them off easy.
If you knew anything about Slashdot,
you would know that hitting enter
does create a new line
if you're posting in Plain Old Text mode.
And you can still do simple formatting, like bold italics
...in many places it's illegal to not have some form of ID when over 18.
That may be true, but none of those places are in the United States, which is where this particular confrontation took place.
Unless you're engaging in an activity which requires a license (for example, driving a car), you are NOT required to carry ID anywhere in the US.
Some places, such as airports, some office buildings, and CostCo, require ID to enter, but a police officer cannot arrest you for not carrying it in public.