Well, I see your freedom as a restriction of my choices. The market isn't under pressure to cater to the freedom zealots...talk about delusional. In truth, you guys have given enterprises a free UNIX to replace their expensive proprietary UNIX servers. The market isn't under pressure to go your way; they just like getting free stuff (free as in beer). Desktop Linux has gone nowhere. I've been visiting Slashdot since 1998, and the revolution didn't happen. We already lost, and it's time to admit that Linux is a server operating system that has a tiny niche of nerds running it on their desktops.
I don't know, I'd say the biggest reason Windows 3.1 was a success is because it provided a cheap MacOS clone for all the PCs that were being sold at the time. Backwards compatibility with DOS mattered little because Windows 3.1 couldn't run many DOS programs at full speed, and anyone running DOS programs would just run full DOS. The backwards compatibility mantra at Microsoft really began with Windows 95, which retained compatibility with 3.1.
I think Slashdot is sensationalizing this story. The White House didn't censor the New York Times; they redacted a story they had a right to redact that was critical of their Iran policies. No doubt, it was a Kerry-esque "let's talk to the people who want to nuke us" paper. Not really a big deal, and Democrats do this stuff all the time. However, I'm aware of the ultra-biased political leanings of this place and expect not only to get modded down but shouted down.
Hell, Al Queda just announced that they won the election, not the Democrats. Do you see any major news outlets reporting it? Hell, no. It would look bad for Democrats, and the media (proven to be biased to the left by several studies) wants Democrats to have a chance in '08. Hence the overwhelming love-fest for Obama and his "sexiness."
No offense, but if you come to Slashdot for accurate news coverage to form an opinion from, you're already going to get a skewed image. This place has political leanings and is well-known for its sensationalist news coverage. Despite all that, we're still the most free place on Earth, or else we wouldn't even be allowed to post sensationalist coverage of this story and talk about it and the so-called "Bush regime."
Well, you use the liberal talking point "Bush regime," so I'm not sure how objective you are on this (I suspect you're a Democrat). It's not unusual for an administration to censor an article critical of itself from one of its own employees--Clinton bought people off all the time, and even blackmailed a group of women who were going to come forward in 1992 with regards to his womanizing. So don't even try to turn this into a Democrat/Republican thing.
Every political group is a bunch of cronies protecting their own asses. Hell, Nancy Pelosi won't even allow C-SPAN cameras into Congress to cover proceedings. So much for the "most open and ethical Congress in history."
This story isn't as out-of-the-ordinary as Slashdot is framing it, and the White House isn't censoring the New York Times at all (and no doubt the Times will mention something about it) but instead a government official, but foaming-at-the-mouth Bush-haters will act like it's a Republican-only thing. Frankly, I'm highly alarmed at how often Democrats give themselves a pass for things they criticize Republicans for. Just look at the Foley scandal and how evil Republicans were...and then weeks later a gay Democrat who actually slept with an underage page is celebrated by the Democrats. Nobody in the mainstream media pointed out the double-standard (because they were rooting for Democrats to win in November).
EQUATE LISTENING TO RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS TO "torture"
Equates trashing the constitution with being tough on terrorism. Check.
Listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers isn't "trashing the constitution." Neither is preventing terrorist attacks on places like the Brooklyn Bridge.
IGNORE THAT CLINTON EXECUTED MILITARY CAMPAIGNS WITHOUT UN APPROVAL
Blames Clinton's cock. Check.
Bombing third-world countries without U.N. approval, as Clinton did, is not a blowjob.
PRETEND MAJORITY OF DEMOCRATS DIDN'T VOTE TO GO TO WAR
Hasn't read so called war resolution. Check.
The majority of Democrats voting to go to war is not a "so called war resolution." It's an intention to go to war.
Can't count. Check.
This doesn't even mean anything.
PRETEND "insurgents" DIDN'T ATTACK FIRST ON 9/11 IN THE NAME OF ISLAM
"They all look the same to me." Check.
Responding to the claim that we drew out terrorists by pointing out we were attacked first on 9/11 is not racism (how predictably liberal of you).
Must be another uninformed wingnut blowhard!
Welcome to the new face of compassionate, intellectual, neolib tolerance. Ignore facts and rely solely on bubbling emotion to guide your worldview.
How are you guys loving this booming economy and record-low unemployment? Oh, right, you're still bitter and hateful, even after winning Congress, because those neocon Democrats who got elected are pissing you off, and Al Queda just came out and said they won the election, not the Democrats. Whoops! There goes '08.
Tawdry and cheap--you mean like calling Republicans "Repugs" or telling people to "fuck off and die" because they disagree with you (as you did in another post)?
I saw what you said to bonch in another post...scary hatred there.
Windows has the Windows API, MFC,.NET and some popular apps are written with QT. Yet I hear no Windows developers crying out for a universal framework.
Those APIs all sit on top of and are different ways of developing for the Win32 framework.
Being easy to do nothing and being easy to do something are quite a bit different. Aqua is fine for doing a couple simple tasks in such as looking at the web or email but it quickly begins to fall apart as you try to do more, more complex, tasks. Not that most users know the difference since they just take it for granted that those limitations are just the way working with a computer has to be.
And with all the specific examples you cite, it's so difficult to refute your claims that Aqua "quickly begins to fall apart" at complex tasks! Oh, wait, you don't offer any examples at all.
Apple doesn't even use a consistant interface between it's different applications. So much for all their research into user interfaces.
The only thing that changes is the look, and it's more consistent than you imply. They had Aqua and Brushed Metal, and they're currently transitioning Brushed Metal to something new. The alternatives--Windows and Linux--are abortions of consistent interface design.
Keep your cutsie toy interface that doesn't even make it easy to get to more than a few applications let alone files. Nor does it make it easy to manage more than a few windows. It's like trying to work with your hands tied behind your back. Aqua is a horrible interface for working and when the shit really hits the fan you can't even fix your problems without dropping to the good old command-line. So much for making everything easy enough that even an idiot can do it
I can sense your heart pounding as you type out your fury against Apple (again without any specific examples). When you mention a "cutsie toy interface" (what makes it a toy interface? Colored window buttons?), it's clear you're just an anti-Apple troll. You don't even cite an example of when "shit hits the fan," as it often does in Linux and Windows.
I'm sure I'm very condescending - people who give other people credit for being intelligent are often considered that way.
You come off as condescending because you treat your personal reactions as universal gospel, as if the fact you don't like something means it's broken. The fact remains that OS X is revered as the best GUI out there, and you are a tiny minority voice. I don't know what makes you hate Apple so much (as you clearly hate them and their users), but enjoy spending hours configuring Linux or fixing a broken Windows registry. I'm busy getting my fucking working done on my Mac, in an interface that gives me more joy to use than any other ever has as a developer. See you in line for a MacBook Pro.
That's not true at all. Being in the middle means that you're better than a Wii at graphics, performance, and probably have better games, and you're cheaper than a PS3.
No, what it means is that your competitors are doing a better job at targeting their demographics. The Wii is the affordable, fun device for casual and mainstream gamers, while the PS3 is the expensive, high-end device for serious gamers wanting top multimedia experiences. This leaves the 360 in the middle with its userbase leeched off on both ends.
By the way, my last post was submitted on a Wii...
What a load of rubbish. If you want to say that you think the command line is awful, go ahead and say it, with reason. My claim is (obviously) that it's not that bad, once you're used to it. Simply asserting things with a poor analogy does not bring about the truth.
My analogy makes perfect sense. It's a fact that a GUI is easier than a command-line for users. You like the command-line and assume people just aren't used to it, but for most people, the command-line is horrible. Hence, for them it's like saying they're not used to being punched in the face for three hours.
You can act all offended if you want, but I'm just going by the majority of users, decades of human-interaction testing, and the fact that GUIs are easier to navigate and visualize data.
Ah, I see, you're one of those people. Fine. Come back when you have something to say.
1.) When Republicans do bad things, journalists always make sure to mention that he's a Republican. When Democrats do bad things, political affiliation is often left out. The Associated Press did this very thing recently with a Democrat politician who was found guilty of financial crimes.
2.) This will make it to the front page of many news sites, and Democrats will cite this as proof of how corrupt and evil Republicans are. Meanwhile, the media will continue to sweep the Sandy Berger under the rug. If only Berger was a Republican...then it would be massive national news. But when a Democrat official working for a presidential administration steals documents that may embarrass said president, it's old news and nobody cares, right? After all, the 9/11 commission already had copies of the documents he took, right? It makes total sense for an administration official to steal official documents that the commission already had copies of. There's surely nothing being hidden in this story. Ahem.
Windows and Mac OS have created a curse in computing. Instead of actually making it easier to do complex work, interfaces are now designed so that complete idiots with no experience can sit down and play Minesweeper and look at porn. It's all about eye candy and not about usability or managing complex workflow and processes. It's incredibly stupid to emphasis keeping users trapped at a newbie level.
"Curse in computing," ROFL. I love how you claim interfaces aren't designed to make work easier...and then you mention that even complete idiots can use them easily. Then you claim it's all about eye candy and not usability or workflow despite the human interaction research done at companies like Apple. When you say it's stupid to keep users "trapped" at a newbie level, what you're really saying is you think you're way too cool to use the Aqua interface of OS X, and you need something complicated and horrible that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside like a true hacker because you figured out how to use it. This kind of condescension toward the public that many Linux users maintain is ridiculous.
I've been saying this for years--the reason desktop Linux hasn't taken off is the lack of a universal desktop framework. Instead of relying on these third-party toolkits that run on top of X and compete with each other, Linux needs a universal framework for application development, app installation/uninstallation, user configuration storage, sound and graphics, and more. You need a development platform that rivals Windows and the Mac and acts as a cohesive whole. That way, a developer doesn't have to choose between multiple toolkits and desktop environments and can just target the one, big framework that covers all ground for developing modern desktop applications. And users won't have to install two entire desktop environments just to run all the apps out there.
But I've been saying this for years, and nothing has changed. I gave up on the Linux dream long ago and switched to a Mac.
First I think part of the problem, is your average geek would prefer speed and efficiency over simplicity while non-geeks prefer the opposite.
You've got it slightly incorrect. Simplicity leads to speed and efficiency, which is what non-geeks want. What geeks want is slow complexity so that they can feel a sense of accomplishment getting something to work. For them, using and configuring an OS is a hobby, not a means to get things done. Following some out-of-date HOWTO on how to get a soundcard working is perfectly appropriate to them.
Well, I was just making a joke--something we were all supposed to laugh at as fellow geeks doing a silly web puzzle. If you want to get hurt and offended by it, then I'll answer your question. I run laps, and I'm in a relationship that has an active sex life. And you?
When you've completed the puzzle, congratulate yourself excitedly, then get hit with sudden depression at the realization of your lack of social life and the fact you could have been getting exercise outside or perhaps plowing a member of the opposite sex rather than following a clicky game on some fantasy author's site and playing a game of hangman to get a book title that was already announced on your daily nerd news site. You poor sod.
And I'm still amazed Mac fanboy's use Dell as their quality/price yardstick (Wow! better value than a dell!!!!!!121!!!! Amazing!!!!1!!!)
Because Dell is touted by PC fanboys as the ultimate affordable PCs. Now Dells are an utter joke, as is Windows.
Ouch! Mac fans can only point to the bios these days as the Mac/"PC" differentiator. I guess Macs really ARE just PCs with a different bios.
That, and the superior hardware and software, such as Mac OS X and iLife. Enjoy clicking "Yes" to Vista's security dialogs every 30 seconds.
There's really no question anymore that Macs are superior to PCs, and that OS X is superior to Windows. It's just a question of when the bitter Mac-haters bite their lips and join everyone else in buying Macs. But again, enjoy your 25+ year old BIOS and your incredibly lame operating system--Windows or Linux.
Mac laptops cost around 50% more than the equivalent spec PC laptop when I was looking earlier this year.
Absolutely false. MacWorld and other publications have done the blow-by-blow and posted the numbers. Accept it and deal with it. The Mac Pro is even over a grand less.
And Apple does have an awesome reputation for reliability, as well as excellent tech support. I haven't had a Dell that didn't break down within 12 months.
He'll also have a white-and-blue donkey pin on his "No Blood For Oil" shirt, and he'll be waiting for a phone call from his lawyer, played by Sean Penn.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I see your freedom as a restriction of my choices. The market isn't under pressure to cater to the freedom zealots...talk about delusional. In truth, you guys have given enterprises a free UNIX to replace their expensive proprietary UNIX servers. The market isn't under pressure to go your way; they just like getting free stuff (free as in beer). Desktop Linux has gone nowhere. I've been visiting Slashdot since 1998, and the revolution didn't happen. We already lost, and it's time to admit that Linux is a server operating system that has a tiny niche of nerds running it on their desktops.
I don't know, I'd say the biggest reason Windows 3.1 was a success is because it provided a cheap MacOS clone for all the PCs that were being sold at the time. Backwards compatibility with DOS mattered little because Windows 3.1 couldn't run many DOS programs at full speed, and anyone running DOS programs would just run full DOS. The backwards compatibility mantra at Microsoft really began with Windows 95, which retained compatibility with 3.1.
I think Slashdot is sensationalizing this story. The White House didn't censor the New York Times; they redacted a story they had a right to redact that was critical of their Iran policies. No doubt, it was a Kerry-esque "let's talk to the people who want to nuke us" paper. Not really a big deal, and Democrats do this stuff all the time. However, I'm aware of the ultra-biased political leanings of this place and expect not only to get modded down but shouted down.
Hell, Al Queda just announced that they won the election, not the Democrats. Do you see any major news outlets reporting it? Hell, no. It would look bad for Democrats, and the media (proven to be biased to the left by several studies) wants Democrats to have a chance in '08. Hence the overwhelming love-fest for Obama and his "sexiness."
No offense, but if you come to Slashdot for accurate news coverage to form an opinion from, you're already going to get a skewed image. This place has political leanings and is well-known for its sensationalist news coverage. Despite all that, we're still the most free place on Earth, or else we wouldn't even be allowed to post sensationalist coverage of this story and talk about it and the so-called "Bush regime."
Well, you use the liberal talking point "Bush regime," so I'm not sure how objective you are on this (I suspect you're a Democrat). It's not unusual for an administration to censor an article critical of itself from one of its own employees--Clinton bought people off all the time, and even blackmailed a group of women who were going to come forward in 1992 with regards to his womanizing. So don't even try to turn this into a Democrat/Republican thing.
Every political group is a bunch of cronies protecting their own asses. Hell, Nancy Pelosi won't even allow C-SPAN cameras into Congress to cover proceedings. So much for the "most open and ethical Congress in history."
This story isn't as out-of-the-ordinary as Slashdot is framing it, and the White House isn't censoring the New York Times at all (and no doubt the Times will mention something about it) but instead a government official, but foaming-at-the-mouth Bush-haters will act like it's a Republican-only thing. Frankly, I'm highly alarmed at how often Democrats give themselves a pass for things they criticize Republicans for. Just look at the Foley scandal and how evil Republicans were...and then weeks later a gay Democrat who actually slept with an underage page is celebrated by the Democrats. Nobody in the mainstream media pointed out the double-standard (because they were rooting for Democrats to win in November).
Then be accurate and mention that Ultimate is $400 and that Home is what will be on store shelves.
Listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers isn't "trashing the constitution." Neither is preventing terrorist attacks on places like the Brooklyn Bridge.
Bombing third-world countries without U.N. approval, as Clinton did, is not a blowjob.
The majority of Democrats voting to go to war is not a "so called war resolution." It's an intention to go to war.
This doesn't even mean anything.
Responding to the claim that we drew out terrorists by pointing out we were attacked first on 9/11 is not racism (how predictably liberal of you).
Welcome to the new face of compassionate, intellectual, neolib tolerance. Ignore facts and rely solely on bubbling emotion to guide your worldview.
How are you guys loving this booming economy and record-low unemployment? Oh, right, you're still bitter and hateful, even after winning Congress, because those neocon Democrats who got elected are pissing you off, and Al Queda just came out and said they won the election, not the Democrats. Whoops! There goes '08.
Tawdry and cheap--you mean like calling Republicans "Repugs" or telling people to "fuck off and die" because they disagree with you (as you did in another post)?
I saw what you said to bonch in another post...scary hatred there.
Those APIs all sit on top of and are different ways of developing for the Win32 framework.
And with all the specific examples you cite, it's so difficult to refute your claims that Aqua "quickly begins to fall apart" at complex tasks! Oh, wait, you don't offer any examples at all.
The only thing that changes is the look, and it's more consistent than you imply. They had Aqua and Brushed Metal, and they're currently transitioning Brushed Metal to something new. The alternatives--Windows and Linux--are abortions of consistent interface design.
I can sense your heart pounding as you type out your fury against Apple (again without any specific examples). When you mention a "cutsie toy interface" (what makes it a toy interface? Colored window buttons?), it's clear you're just an anti-Apple troll. You don't even cite an example of when "shit hits the fan," as it often does in Linux and Windows.
You come off as condescending because you treat your personal reactions as universal gospel, as if the fact you don't like something means it's broken. The fact remains that OS X is revered as the best GUI out there, and you are a tiny minority voice. I don't know what makes you hate Apple so much (as you clearly hate them and their users), but enjoy spending hours configuring Linux or fixing a broken Windows registry. I'm busy getting my fucking working done on my Mac, in an interface that gives me more joy to use than any other ever has as a developer. See you in line for a MacBook Pro.
Next.
No, what it means is that your competitors are doing a better job at targeting their demographics. The Wii is the affordable, fun device for casual and mainstream gamers, while the PS3 is the expensive, high-end device for serious gamers wanting top multimedia experiences. This leaves the 360 in the middle with its userbase leeched off on both ends.
By the way, my last post was submitted on a Wii...
My analogy makes perfect sense. It's a fact that a GUI is easier than a command-line for users. You like the command-line and assume people just aren't used to it, but for most people, the command-line is horrible. Hence, for them it's like saying they're not used to being punched in the face for three hours.
You can act all offended if you want, but I'm just going by the majority of users, decades of human-interaction testing, and the fact that GUIs are easier to navigate and visualize data.
I acknowledge your lack of a counterargument.
1.) When Republicans do bad things, journalists always make sure to mention that he's a Republican. When Democrats do bad things, political affiliation is often left out. The Associated Press did this very thing recently with a Democrat politician who was found guilty of financial crimes.
2.) This will make it to the front page of many news sites, and Democrats will cite this as proof of how corrupt and evil Republicans are. Meanwhile, the media will continue to sweep the Sandy Berger under the rug. If only Berger was a Republican...then it would be massive national news. But when a Democrat official working for a presidential administration steals documents that may embarrass said president, it's old news and nobody cares, right? After all, the 9/11 commission already had copies of the documents he took, right? It makes total sense for an administration official to steal official documents that the commission already had copies of. There's surely nothing being hidden in this story. Ahem.
Middleground is bad. It doesn't distinguish you from your competitors.
"Curse in computing," ROFL. I love how you claim interfaces aren't designed to make work easier...and then you mention that even complete idiots can use them easily. Then you claim it's all about eye candy and not usability or workflow despite the human interaction research done at companies like Apple. When you say it's stupid to keep users "trapped" at a newbie level, what you're really saying is you think you're way too cool to use the Aqua interface of OS X, and you need something complicated and horrible that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside like a true hacker because you figured out how to use it. This kind of condescension toward the public that many Linux users maintain is ridiculous.
I've been saying this for years--the reason desktop Linux hasn't taken off is the lack of a universal desktop framework. Instead of relying on these third-party toolkits that run on top of X and compete with each other, Linux needs a universal framework for application development, app installation/uninstallation, user configuration storage, sound and graphics, and more. You need a development platform that rivals Windows and the Mac and acts as a cohesive whole. That way, a developer doesn't have to choose between multiple toolkits and desktop environments and can just target the one, big framework that covers all ground for developing modern desktop applications. And users won't have to install two entire desktop environments just to run all the apps out there.
But I've been saying this for years, and nothing has changed. I gave up on the Linux dream long ago and switched to a Mac.
That's like saying people don't like getting teeth removed because they're not used to it.
I remember reading that Santa was gay. It must be true.
You've got it slightly incorrect. Simplicity leads to speed and efficiency, which is what non-geeks want. What geeks want is slow complexity so that they can feel a sense of accomplishment getting something to work. For them, using and configuring an OS is a hobby, not a means to get things done. Following some out-of-date HOWTO on how to get a soundcard working is perfectly appropriate to them.
Well, I was just making a joke--something we were all supposed to laugh at as fellow geeks doing a silly web puzzle. If you want to get hurt and offended by it, then I'll answer your question. I run laps, and I'm in a relationship that has an active sex life. And you?
When you've completed the puzzle, congratulate yourself excitedly, then get hit with sudden depression at the realization of your lack of social life and the fact you could have been getting exercise outside or perhaps plowing a member of the opposite sex rather than following a clicky game on some fantasy author's site and playing a game of hangman to get a book title that was already announced on your daily nerd news site. You poor sod.
Take a look at his name before you respond to his analogy.
Because Dell is touted by PC fanboys as the ultimate affordable PCs. Now Dells are an utter joke, as is Windows.
That, and the superior hardware and software, such as Mac OS X and iLife. Enjoy clicking "Yes" to Vista's security dialogs every 30 seconds.
There's really no question anymore that Macs are superior to PCs, and that OS X is superior to Windows. It's just a question of when the bitter Mac-haters bite their lips and join everyone else in buying Macs. But again, enjoy your 25+ year old BIOS and your incredibly lame operating system--Windows or Linux.
Absolutely false. MacWorld and other publications have done the blow-by-blow and posted the numbers. Accept it and deal with it. The Mac Pro is even over a grand less.
And Apple does have an awesome reputation for reliability, as well as excellent tech support. I haven't had a Dell that didn't break down within 12 months.
He'll also have a white-and-blue donkey pin on his "No Blood For Oil" shirt, and he'll be waiting for a phone call from his lawyer, played by Sean Penn.
And that's the message of the film, that we shouldn't blindly act like machines and destroy the world.