The user isn't always to blame. What about the software developers who don't take even minimal efforts to protect their scripting systems?
Yes, there will always be someone who will open attachments no matter how often you tell them not to.
But perhaps the root issue isn't the fellow who can't stop clicking on Fireworks.exe files but the OS and application developers who enable and then don't patch systems that allow those users to be so easily exploited.
Reading some of the concerns posted here about MS automatically downloading patches to your machine reminded me of the Windows Update feature added to Win9X and its automated feature.
It seemed like a horribly bad idea then and it seems like an even worse one now if only because MS still, in the intervening years, hasn't managed to figure out how to write secure software.
Or even good software but thats another issue.
And one also wonders how you are going to apply patches to the new patching system?
I wasn't worried about the price so much as I was by the performance of the machine I tested (it was sluggish and the touch screen wasn't as responsive as I have come to expect from other touch screen products) and the fact that the handwriting recognition wasn't available across the entire OS and to all apps.
You needed to enter data into a special, intermediary application unless the app had been recompiled to accept handwriting.
So ultimately what was the point? You had limited handwriting recognition in a slower, more expensive machine running a variant version of the OS.
I thought business was about providing a service or product to clients for profit?
Patenting fairly obvious business processes and then suing people who built actual businesses using that "idea" appears to be a form of legalised robbery and a drain on business inventiveness.
The only real difference I see is that there will no longer be a separate IE installer.
As it currently stands the browser is effectively integrated into the OS and for all intents and purposes most people who use Windows don't view it as a separate component.
Try updating an older version of IE and see what it does to the OS. Try getting your aunt or grandfather to use Mozilla or Opera.
This is just a shipping simplification on their part not a change of policy.
Re:Its not teh controller that matters.
on
Biofeedback Gaming
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· Score: 5, Funny
Making an AI smell the average gamer?
Isn't there a law of robotics that deals with this sort of thing?
Its not teh controller that matters.
on
Biofeedback Gaming
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· Score: 1, Insightful
Books that I think are well written? Interesting question. Off the top of my head I would say
Use of Weapons by Ian M. Banks
Perdito Street Station by China Meiville
any novel by Ken Macleod
Light by M John Harrison
any of the Malazan series by Steven Erikson
Red Robe (or any of the novels) by Jon Courtney Grimwood
I'd also have to say that almost anything by Ian (M) Banks is very well written.
I think Ender's Game (and the follow-up novels) would definetely be in my list of favourite novels. As would David Weber's Honour Harrington series (can't recommend that enough).
Weber is certainly not the best writer (certainly not in same category as someone like Banks) but he does write well paced novels with interesting battles and characters that you really grow to care about.
And I do play the odd game of chess but I am really bad at it:-)
-- maybe something more complex would suite your needs.
I read as much fluff sci-fi as the next person, don't get me wrong:-)
But Battlefield Earth is even a poor choice for just fluff. Its just poorly written and the fact that it was/is intended to be a pulp sci-fi novel isn't enough to excuse the really god awful writing.
Its actually part of a last book of a four book, series that really has to be read in order to understand it.
Trust me, I read it backwards and once I finally read the first book I finally got most of the connections.:-)
The order of the books is
Banks actually has many references to Eliot in his books. The title of his last sci-fi book "look to Windward" is from T.S Eliot's The Waste LandConsider Phlebas is a good title but of the bunch I would recommend The Use of Weapons. Great writing, tight plot and a great ending.
The book is very poorly written. I was stuck in the middle of no-where in Northern BC one summer with only a copy of this book to read. It was painful.
Hubbard is a bad writer in general and this is a very poor example of his work. The plot is transparent and the book is littered with incidents that Hubbard make sure we, as readers, pay attention to as they will be important later in the book. This is usually done is such a hamfisted way that the most interesting part of the book (and this isn't saying much really) is trying to guess how the hero is going to use the item he just picked up or the nugget of information he just gained.
The Wheel of Time is one of the more successful fantasy series in quite some time but it is really the Windows XP of fantasy writing. Popularity doesn't guarantee a quality product.
If you are looking for a good fantasy series to chew through I'd recommend Steven Erikson's Malazan series. Its currently in its fourth book and while it is a heck of a read it is a much richer series with some excellent writing. The first book is Garden of the Moon
Another good series is, the often mentioned, A Song of Fire and Ice by George Martin. The books have complex, realistic characters, great depth and plot twists and turns that are surprising (a rarity in most fantasy).
Slashdot Mirror
-- There is no patch for human carelessness.
The user isn't always to blame. What about the software developers who don't take even minimal efforts to protect their scripting systems?
Yes, there will always be someone who will open attachments no matter how often you tell them not to.
But perhaps the root issue isn't the fellow who can't stop clicking on Fireworks.exe files but the OS and application developers who enable and then don't patch systems that allow those users to be so easily exploited.
Reading some of the concerns posted here about MS automatically downloading patches to your machine reminded me of the Windows Update feature added to Win9X and its automated feature.
It seemed like a horribly bad idea then and it seems like an even worse one now if only because MS still, in the intervening years, hasn't managed to figure out how to write secure software.
Or even good software but thats another issue.
And one also wonders how you are going to apply patches to the new patching system?
Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?
I wasn't worried about the price so much as I was by the performance of the machine I tested (it was sluggish and the touch screen wasn't as responsive as I have come to expect from other touch screen products) and the fact that the handwriting recognition wasn't available across the entire OS and to all apps.
You needed to enter data into a special, intermediary application unless the app had been recompiled to accept handwriting.
So ultimately what was the point? You had limited handwriting recognition in a slower, more expensive machine running a variant version of the OS.
Bad, bad idea.
-- It may be a slimy tactic, but that's business.
I thought business was about providing a service or product to clients for profit?
Patenting fairly obvious business processes and then suing people who built actual businesses using that "idea" appears to be a form of legalised robbery and a drain on business inventiveness.
How long would it take to for the slashdot effect to turn the machine into slag?
The only real difference I see is that there will no longer be a separate IE installer.
As it currently stands the browser is effectively integrated into the OS and for all intents and purposes most people who use Windows don't view it as a separate component.
Try updating an older version of IE and see what it does to the OS. Try getting your aunt or grandfather to use Mozilla or Opera.
This is just a shipping simplification on their part not a change of policy.
Making an AI smell the average gamer?
Isn't there a law of robotics that deals with this sort of thing?
Yes...but was the game any good?
Books that I think are well written? Interesting question. Off the top of my head I would say
I'd also have to say that almost anything by Ian (M) Banks is very well written.
I think Ender's Game (and the follow-up novels) would definetely be in my list of favourite novels. As would David Weber's Honour Harrington series (can't recommend that enough).
Weber is certainly not the best writer (certainly not in same category as someone like Banks) but he does write well paced novels with interesting battles and characters that you really grow to care about.
And I do play the odd game of chess but I am really bad at it :-)
-- maybe something more complex would suite your needs. I read as much fluff sci-fi as the next person, don't get me wrong :-)
But Battlefield Earth is even a poor choice for just fluff. Its just poorly written and the fact that it was/is intended to be a pulp sci-fi novel isn't enough to excuse the really god awful writing.
- A Scanner Darkly
- Radio Free Albemuth (only if you're a fan of his though)
- Ubik
- Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Ubik, oddly enough, gave me nightmares. Great read and it totally twists your perceptions.Banks actually has many references to Eliot in his books. The title of his last sci-fi book "look to Windward" is from T.S Eliot's The Waste Land Consider Phlebas is a good title but of the bunch I would recommend The Use of Weapons. Great writing, tight plot and a great ending.
The book is very poorly written. I was stuck in the middle of no-where in Northern BC one summer with only a copy of this book to read. It was painful. Hubbard is a bad writer in general and this is a very poor example of his work. The plot is transparent and the book is littered with incidents that Hubbard make sure we, as readers, pay attention to as they will be important later in the book. This is usually done is such a hamfisted way that the most interesting part of the book (and this isn't saying much really) is trying to guess how the hero is going to use the item he just picked up or the nugget of information he just gained.
The Wheel of Time is one of the more successful fantasy series in quite some time but it is really the Windows XP of fantasy writing. Popularity doesn't guarantee a quality product. If you are looking for a good fantasy series to chew through I'd recommend Steven Erikson's Malazan series. Its currently in its fourth book and while it is a heck of a read it is a much richer series with some excellent writing. The first book is Garden of the Moon Another good series is, the often mentioned, A Song of Fire and Ice by George Martin. The books have complex, realistic characters, great depth and plot twists and turns that are surprising (a rarity in most fantasy).