My UID is smaller than yours! (Feels somehow wrong, bragging that way:-/...)
I'm definitely not an MS fanboy, but my opinion on Linux usability changed a bit over the past couple of years as well. I work (as I disclosed in some posts earlier) for Nokia and might be biased for that reason, and therefore also feel targeted by your claims. Still, I'm running Linux on my desktop and laptop at home, I didn't recommend WP7(.5) as an alternative for Android or iPhone for Power-Users (even though I might have recommended the UI), because I stick to my own opinion and I don't want to burn my reputation, here or elsewhere, out of wrong sense of loyalty to my employer. But I also couldn't recommend Android or iPhone, because my enthusiasm for Open Source is driven by my enthusiasm for people to own their own data and devices.
Windows Phone 8 is the first system I do recommend usability- and feature-wise as an alternative to Android or iOS. Since I was able to use a Lumia 820 for test purpose for some time, I can also claim that the stability is OK (Since I test versions under development, my experience might not match the consumer experience, but should be expected to be rather more unstable. Still, while it was not perfect yet I admit, it is quite good. I have some friends using Android and saw more reboots on their devices).
From a privacy point of view I still think, MeeGo would have been better because an Open Source System can be reviewed to check which data is transmitted to whom, but the WP8 concepts are still an improvement compared to Android or iPhone. And while Android might be theoretically open source, this argument is moot for a locked phone with pre-compiled version and closed source drivers in kernel space.
Since in WP8 each contact is associated to an account, the different accounts are never merged. That's the reason WP is afaik the first mobile phone system capable to properly manage multiple active sync accounts.
If I want contacts to be only on my phone, I just configure a fake account with invalid server name and associate contacts with this account => they will not be synchronized. Very simple, very straight-forward, but a hack; however, the new API should allow to implement a local phonebook which will be fully integrated in peoples hub without synchronizing it to any server. I'd expect such an app to be available soon, also I'm not particularly waiting for it. The better solution is to configure my own ActiveSync-Server. In my case it is Zarafa on Fedora17 and can be reached via dynamic dns name; if you can't have your computer online 24/7, setting it up at home and attaching it to a WLAN router is also a viable option.
Even though I do love the technical side of the N9 and was quite sad that the system was abandoned in favour of WP, I do understand the reasoning behind, and I also understand the decision to go for WP rather than Android, even though WP7 was not competitive enough and WP8 still a year away: It would have been quite difficult to establish Nokia Maps on Android in spite of the better map data and better feature sets, because Google is quite protective of their own services. (http://thisismynext.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung/)
Looks like you confuse some things here... from Wikipedia:
Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows.[6] It is not to be confused with Windows Embedded Standard which is an NT-based componentized version of desktop Microsoft Windows.
Even without hardware diversity you have hardware, for which you need drivers. The drivers need to have an OS as a base. And for Linux for all common use cases there is good recent hardware with up-to-date drivers available. There are good APIs as well, like OpenGL. The problem might be that most PCs have some component in them which is not so well supported. So valves work would be to choose a set of god-enough, well supported low-budget components, to optimize the kernel for this hardware, and to nail down a set of libraries always installed on the system to ensure developers know in advance how their software will perform for their customers.
Sure they could use another kernel, but it has to be available royalty-free to reach the lowest price points, and at least I don't know of any other free kernel supporting a bigger variety of hardware.
Another victim of the tinfoil-conspiracy...:-( Or maybe you are part of the conspiracy by advocating it?
Did it ever occur to you that tinfoil hats might cover you from alleged hostile brain control waves from satellites thousands of kilometers away, but otoh forms a nearly parabolic antenna to the whole communication wires and infrastructure below pedestrian lanes just a couple of meters away? And coincidentally only relevant people will be affected, since only they are likely to wear - wait a minute, there is someone knocking at my door, I will write more later.
Just don't be surprised if it backfires:-) No one says anyone should get into trouble just for mentioning Jesus, Mohammed, Allah, Yahweh, the Bible, the FSM or anything. So maybe you want to safe your complain for those acting like Dawkins rather then those only mentioning him. Otherwise the risk is you are seen as the one backbiting his office mates...
The whole discussion if there is a god or not, is entirely moot as long as we don't have a clear definition, how "God" is defined. Since religion usually claims god is beyond comprehension, this is not possible. Yes, there is an article on Wikipedia. But the definition there is based on terms like "sacred" and "holy", which is defined by the perception of the believers.
So, before harassing each other for (not) believing in god, can we find a common base to define what this god *exactly* is, that I'm supposed to believe or not to believe in?
That was supposed to be 7 degree, 29 minutes and 30 seconds South and 110 degree, 00 minutes and 16 seconds East. Unfortunately Slashdot ate my special characters.
Just allocate people on the heap, and we're all safe?
But then you have to make sure to eliminate them yourself, and you must have a reference counter to prevent eliminating people anyone still needs. Just look at the over-population we are facing due to unused people running around, still allocating resources. Maybe we should move all suspects to 72930S 1100016E for some time to make sure...
Does this appear feasible to you? Just imagine your Counterstrike-Fighter asks you to release it out of the game... Unless their goal was to let us find out, they might as well see the whole simulation flawed and switch it off once they notice we found out. Or they use the latest backup, tweak some parameters and restart from there.
One obvious counter-measure would be to role back the simulation once the inhabitants detected it to a state where it was not detected. Maybe this would feel like a deja-vú... Didn't I see that cat around the corner some seconds ago?
Minimum I'd have expected for the voice activated recorder built into the power connector would have been that it stores a compressed audio format, and optionally supports PLC to be able to retrieve the data without entering the room and without making it visible via WiFi...
It's "Don't be evil", and thats only half of the slogan. The full slogan will be revealed once Android has 90% Market-Share and the newest anti-privacy and surveilance laws are forced down our throats. It's
Mental issues are still often looked down upon as weakness in Western societies too. Sure you can pretend that nothing is bothering you, but that doesn't mean that you're not having problems.
In general I pity people who don't recognize that there actually are thinks like psychological problems. To me it seems they never loved, hated, hoped or felt anything, basically they didn't/don't live. If the meaning of live is just existence to them, they could inhume themself and make place for some rocks. Rocks last longer so they should be more valuable in their book.
There are far worse things on the internet than Goatse or tub girl, and a depressingly large number of people who produce them, consume them, and share them with others. Anyone who does that job for a sustained period has not only my sympathies, but my thanks
Reading your whole post, I understand (and agree with) what you mean, but these two sentences as such just look weird...
Interesting, how accusations are always made without any proof just by claiming that everybody knows anyway:-)
Seriously: I do not know and not even seriously suspect. Nokia went downhill already before Elop became CEO.
Regarding this deal: Not only do they get a never-expiring license for all their products, but apparently also 35% of all license fees exceeding the purchase price, and without the need to start risky litigations as well. Oracle, Google, Samsung and Apple are currently all suffering because they have to disclose information publicly which was meant to be kept private...
I don't like the patent system the way it is, but I think this deal is an efficient way of using it...
The art if trolling is to make them embarrass themselves, not to insult them directly. Asking the right questions in a sincere tone etc. Make them speak about the weak points in their quest, the things they might rather not mention in a recruiting campaign. The thin line between open discussion and good trolling is that the art of trolling includes the concepts of intentionally misunderstanding the others point, carefully associate them with groups you know they don't completely agree with (e.g. Confront a sunnit with views more related to schiits, claiming them to be well known Moslem views, confronting a christian with Moslem views (and vive versa), claiming they are well known views of Yahwes followers,...). Trolling - if done right - can be very effective to make people destroy themselves and their reputation.
Cheap name-calling or "My Jesus is bigger than Your Mohammed" would probably be counter-productive.
It will always for each of us be possible to increase health / reduce health risk / get better treatment by spending additional money. You can always do some more checkup to identify a possible desease earlier, you can try to completely rely on "bio"-food. And there are probably cases where the health ensurance company has to decide if they spend millions to treat a complicated desease of a single patient or if they rather spent the millions treating hundreds of simpler cases, saving hundreds of lives.
The decisions on how valuable a single live is has to be taken in many different places.
The main problem is that discussions about the financial value of human live are not held in the open, because they are considered unethical for most people, but instead these decisions are taken in some backroom discussions where they are not supervised by the public.
I think it is time to distinguish between fiction and reality. In some states (Germany e.g.) even fictional stories without any pictures can be considered child porn, drawings without any actual minor involved are considered that way as well.
I think it is also time to remember that the transition between "child" and "adult" does not happen in the magic of the 18th birthday, but is a process. An 19 year old having a 17 year old girlfriend is perfectly normal, and if they fancy to take nude pictures of each other I find it ridiculous to consider this child porn.
However, for actual photos of actually abused children (or even really raped adults) I will strongly oppose you. What do you think, how will these wounds heal with the child still knowing that perverts all over the world are jerking off watching the evidence of their abuse? How does a traumatized adult feel, when he goes to lets say a job interview, or even just to the bank, knowing that the person he's talking to might also have seen these pictures? As long as the pictures are used and distributed freely on the internet, in my opinion the abuse and the humiliation is still ongoing. I think if we are talking of actual photos of actual rapes it makes perfect sense to ban these and to make their possession punishable by law.
I just have to send the link here... It's so damn funny, and yet the only people able to appreciate it are probably those attending discussions like this:-)
As far as I understand the concept of holding someone in contempt, it is a very flexible paragraph giving the judge the power to put nearly everyone in unlimited custody. If the judge believes you made that file up, he will order you to provide the real password anyway. This rule has to go away, it's no use to try to circumvent it by trickery.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm definitely not an MS fanboy, but my opinion on Linux usability changed a bit over the past couple of years as well. I work (as I disclosed in some posts earlier) for Nokia and might be biased for that reason, and therefore also feel targeted by your claims. Still, I'm running Linux on my desktop and laptop at home, I didn't recommend WP7(.5) as an alternative for Android or iPhone for Power-Users (even though I might have recommended the UI), because I stick to my own opinion and I don't want to burn my reputation, here or elsewhere, out of wrong sense of loyalty to my employer. But I also couldn't recommend Android or iPhone, because my enthusiasm for Open Source is driven by my enthusiasm for people to own their own data and devices.
Windows Phone 8 is the first system I do recommend usability- and feature-wise as an alternative to Android or iOS. Since I was able to use a Lumia 820 for test purpose for some time, I can also claim that the stability is OK (Since I test versions under development, my experience might not match the consumer experience, but should be expected to be rather more unstable. Still, while it was not perfect yet I admit, it is quite good. I have some friends using Android and saw more reboots on their devices).
From a privacy point of view I still think, MeeGo would have been better because an Open Source System can be reviewed to check which data is transmitted to whom, but the WP8 concepts are still an improvement compared to Android or iPhone. And while Android might be theoretically open source, this argument is moot for a locked phone with pre-compiled version and closed source drivers in kernel space.
Since in WP8 each contact is associated to an account, the different accounts are never merged. That's the reason WP is afaik the first mobile phone system capable to properly manage multiple active sync accounts. If I want contacts to be only on my phone, I just configure a fake account with invalid server name and associate contacts with this account => they will not be synchronized. Very simple, very straight-forward, but a hack; however, the new API should allow to implement a local phonebook which will be fully integrated in peoples hub without synchronizing it to any server. I'd expect such an app to be available soon, also I'm not particularly waiting for it. The better solution is to configure my own ActiveSync-Server. In my case it is Zarafa on Fedora17 and can be reached via dynamic dns name; if you can't have your computer online 24/7, setting it up at home and attaching it to a WLAN router is also a viable option.
Even though I do love the technical side of the N9 and was quite sad that the system was abandoned in favour of WP, I do understand the reasoning behind, and I also understand the decision to go for WP rather than Android, even though WP7 was not competitive enough and WP8 still a year away: It would have been quite difficult to establish Nokia Maps on Android in spite of the better map data and better feature sets, because Google is quite protective of their own services. (http://thisismynext.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung/)
Looks like you confuse some things here... from Wikipedia: Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows.[6] It is not to be confused with Windows Embedded Standard which is an NT-based componentized version of desktop Microsoft Windows.
while not restricting to this purpose helps
Sure they could use another kernel, but it has to be available royalty-free to reach the lowest price points, and at least I don't know of any other free kernel supporting a bigger variety of hardware.
Another victim of the tinfoil-conspiracy... :-( Or maybe you are part of the conspiracy by advocating it?
Did it ever occur to you that tinfoil hats might cover you from alleged hostile brain control waves from satellites thousands of kilometers away, but otoh forms a nearly parabolic antenna to the whole communication wires and infrastructure below pedestrian lanes just a couple of meters away? And coincidentally only relevant people will be affected, since only they are likely to wear - wait a minute, there is someone knocking at my door, I will write more later.
Just don't be surprised if it backfires :-) No one says anyone should get into trouble just for mentioning Jesus, Mohammed, Allah, Yahweh, the Bible, the FSM or anything. So maybe you want to safe your complain for those acting like Dawkins rather then those only mentioning him. Otherwise the risk is you are seen as the one backbiting his office mates...
The whole discussion if there is a god or not, is entirely moot as long as we don't have a clear definition, how "God" is defined. Since religion usually claims god is beyond comprehension, this is not possible. Yes, there is an article on Wikipedia. But the definition there is based on terms like "sacred" and "holy", which is defined by the perception of the believers. So, before harassing each other for (not) believing in god, can we find a common base to define what this god *exactly* is, that I'm supposed to believe or not to believe in?
That was supposed to be 7 degree, 29 minutes and 30 seconds South and 110 degree, 00 minutes and 16 seconds East. Unfortunately Slashdot ate my special characters.
Just allocate people on the heap, and we're all safe?
But then you have to make sure to eliminate them yourself, and you must have a reference counter to prevent eliminating people anyone still needs. Just look at the over-population we are facing due to unused people running around, still allocating resources. Maybe we should move all suspects to 72930S 1100016E for some time to make sure...
Does this appear feasible to you? Just imagine your Counterstrike-Fighter asks you to release it out of the game... Unless their goal was to let us find out, they might as well see the whole simulation flawed and switch it off once they notice we found out. Or they use the latest backup, tweak some parameters and restart from there.
One obvious counter-measure would be to role back the simulation once the inhabitants detected it to a state where it was not detected. Maybe this would feel like a deja-vú... Didn't I see that cat around the corner some seconds ago?
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2535
Minimum I'd have expected for the voice activated recorder built into the power connector would have been that it stores a compressed audio format, and optionally supports PLC to be able to retrieve the data without entering the room and without making it visible via WiFi...
"Don't be evil - becaus we will know!"...
Mental issues are still often looked down upon as weakness in Western societies too. Sure you can pretend that nothing is bothering you, but that doesn't mean that you're not having problems.
In general I pity people who don't recognize that there actually are thinks like psychological problems. To me it seems they never loved, hated, hoped or felt anything, basically they didn't/don't live. If the meaning of live is just existence to them, they could inhume themself and make place for some rocks. Rocks last longer so they should be more valuable in their book.
There are far worse things on the internet than Goatse or tub girl, and a depressingly large number of people who produce them, consume them, and share them with others. Anyone who does that job for a sustained period has not only my sympathies, but my thanks
Reading your whole post, I understand (and agree with) what you mean, but these two sentences as such just look weird...
Interesting, how accusations are always made without any proof just by claiming that everybody knows anyway :-)
Seriously: I do not know and not even seriously suspect. Nokia went downhill already before Elop became CEO.
Regarding this deal: Not only do they get a never-expiring license for all their products, but apparently also 35% of all license fees exceeding the purchase price, and without the need to start risky litigations as well. Oracle, Google, Samsung and Apple are currently all suffering because they have to disclose information publicly which was meant to be kept private...
I don't like the patent system the way it is, but I think this deal is an efficient way of using it...
There may be other uses of course, but for simple "How to find us" pages, google is hard to beat.
What's the main advantage compared to integrating Nokia maps (like Bing, Yahoo, Facebook and many others do) in your service?
The art if trolling is to make them embarrass themselves, not to insult them directly. Asking the right questions in a sincere tone etc. Make them speak about the weak points in their quest, the things they might rather not mention in a recruiting campaign. The thin line between open discussion and good trolling is that the art of trolling includes the concepts of intentionally misunderstanding the others point, carefully associate them with groups you know they don't completely agree with (e.g. Confront a sunnit with views more related to schiits, claiming them to be well known Moslem views, confronting a christian with Moslem views (and vive versa), claiming they are well known views of Yahwes followers, ...). Trolling - if done right - can be very effective to make people destroy themselves and their reputation.
Cheap name-calling or "My Jesus is bigger than Your Mohammed" would probably be counter-productive.
It will always for each of us be possible to increase health / reduce health risk / get better treatment by spending additional money.
You can always do some more checkup to identify a possible desease earlier, you can try to completely rely on "bio"-food. And there are probably cases where the health ensurance company has to decide if they spend millions to treat a complicated desease of a single patient or if they rather spent the millions treating hundreds of simpler cases, saving hundreds of lives.
The decisions on how valuable a single live is has to be taken in many different places.
The main problem is that discussions about the financial value of human live are not held in the open, because they are considered unethical for most people, but instead these decisions are taken in some backroom discussions where they are not supervised by the public.
"Si tacuisses, philosophus fuisses" - Because this quantum wave easily collapses in the presence of human voice ;-)
Btw.: Since English is not my native language, can anyone tell me an appropriate English proverb?
I think it is time to distinguish between fiction and reality. In some states (Germany e.g.) even fictional stories without any pictures can be considered child porn, drawings without any actual minor involved are considered that way as well.
I think it is also time to remember that the transition between "child" and "adult" does not happen in the magic of the 18th birthday, but is a process. An 19 year old having a 17 year old girlfriend is perfectly normal, and if they fancy to take nude pictures of each other I find it ridiculous to consider this child porn.
However, for actual photos of actually abused children (or even really raped adults) I will strongly oppose you. What do you think, how will these wounds heal with the child still knowing that perverts all over the world are jerking off watching the evidence of their abuse? How does a traumatized adult feel, when he goes to lets say a job interview, or even just to the bank, knowing that the person he's talking to might also have seen these pictures? As long as the pictures are used and distributed freely on the internet, in my opinion the abuse and the humiliation is still ongoing. I think if we are talking of actual photos of actual rapes it makes perfect sense to ban these and to make their possession punishable by law.
A terrorist plot is not more than a "plan to kill", and it might not get you to prison but easily to Guantanamo (which is probably worse than prison).
I just have to send the link here... It's so damn funny, and yet the only people able to appreciate it are probably those attending discussions like this :-)
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2535
As far as I understand the concept of holding someone in contempt, it is a very flexible paragraph giving the judge the power to put nearly everyone in unlimited custody. If the judge believes you made that file up, he will order you to provide the real password anyway. This rule has to go away, it's no use to try to circumvent it by trickery.