I am a 62 year old grandma whose knowledge of tech is not as great as most of you guys, but I do know computers pretty well, having used one since '91; and, I do volunteer working teaching computers to the disadvantaged, adults, children, and teens at a community center.
I prefer to use Firefox, but Firefox does not work at a lot of government sites and some game sites. It is a frustration to me trying to teach people to use Firefox when they keep having to go to Internet Explorer for such things as applying for food stamps - and, of course, kids do like their games.
I don't have kids. At 60 years of age don't expect to have any; but, I have never thought that children have the same rights as adults. Parents do need to monitor their children, and should not be blamed for doing so. Should the government get involved? Probably not. It will just give a false impression of security and give lazy parents an excuse not to keep tabs on what their little lambs are up to.
In my case, I have to make the text readable for my elderly relatives which means larger text and an easy on the eyes font. They also appreciate a nice looking e-mail.
I do volunteer work at a small community center. The teenagers who come there all want a place on MySpace because they hear that it is the "cool" place. Who do they go to figure out the code for them? This sixty year old woman who first learned to use a computer at 45 and has never had an hour of formal instruction - all self taught. Now I am trying to teach these kids things like: not all computers need or use windows,the internet isn't all there is to a computer... how to find a file on their hard drive... what is a file? what is a hard drive? No it isn't that big tower there!
Actually this makes me feel somewhat justified. I do volunteer work at a small community center. A lot of it involves computers. Right now all the teenagers want a place on MySpace. So I had to learn MySpace. Lord in Heaven, that I don't believe in, help me! At any rate, I told the kids that some, even most, of the pictures posted on MySpace were probably not the real pictures of the poster. They said "Why you say that?" I said "Most of these pictures look like models." They just couldn't believe me. Now thanks to Slashdot I have a link to show them what I am talking about.
I agree with both of you while at the same time I realize that it is an unacceptable word to many people. BTW a lot of our "consumers" call themselves retarded. To them it is just a description of the way things are.
I work for the ARC, used to be Association of Retarded Citizens, now due to political correctness it is just the ARC.
Now I am not recommending we go back to calling the people at our center "retarded" but do we have to call them "consumers?"
I find Opera to be faster with more usable features than Firefox which is a pity since I do like the idea of open source; but, build a better browser and I will come.
I agree that extensions are a nice concept in theory but they do have a long way to go before they can make Firefox as functional as Opera which is to say that a lot of the extensions don't work all that well and they seem to slow down the browser.
Might add that a lot of the extensions available for Firefox are for things I have absolutely no use for while few extensions are available for those things I do.
As things now stand Opera does more while using fewer resources.
Exactly! I live near a section 8 subsidized housing complex and do volunteer work at a small community center they have started there. I would say that at least 90% of the people there do not have computers and of those that do what they have are old machines that only work about half the time.
There is another side to this. I mean I don't consider myself a highly technical person. I work with mentally disabled adults as a profession and somewhere along the line I taught myself about computers, but I do know about other browsers than just IE. My preference is for Opera; but, I keep Firefox on my system too and keep it updated as well as occasionally use it. I belong to several non technical mailing lists where we occasionally might talk about computers and I have managed to get several people there to switch to either Opera or Firefox. Shortly I will be spending my Saturdays teaching computers at a new low income housing community center. Some of the things I am going to teach them are that there are other isps than just AOL and other browsers than internet explorer. The news is speading...
Well, I don't figure it is good for me; but, this gal has an addictive personality. It runs in the family. Long as I can avoid alcohol, nicotine, and drugs I figure I am doing good!
Well, as a woman, might not be that bad. Most women I know, especially those that are sexually active, have occasionally bladder infections and other irritations in that area. I never do. Figure I wash it all out!:)
Slashdot Mirror
As long as he is not in my house, my car, anything of mine...
Since Windows '95 my desktop has been intentionally black as well. I like it that way for the reasons you state and it just looks better to me.
Not all Slashdot readers are guys; but, yes, I will watch gymnastics because I find it interesting and don't particularly care who wins.
I am a 62 year old grandma whose knowledge of tech is not as great as most of you guys, but I do know computers pretty well, having used one since '91; and, I do volunteer working teaching computers to the disadvantaged, adults, children, and teens at a community center. I prefer to use Firefox, but Firefox does not work at a lot of government sites and some game sites. It is a frustration to me trying to teach people to use Firefox when they keep having to go to Internet Explorer for such things as applying for food stamps - and, of course, kids do like their games.
I don't have kids. At 60 years of age don't expect to have any; but, I have never thought that children have the same rights as adults. Parents do need to monitor their children, and should not be blamed for doing so. Should the government get involved? Probably not. It will just give a false impression of security and give lazy parents an excuse not to keep tabs on what their little lambs are up to.
In my case, I have to make the text readable for my elderly relatives which means larger text and an easy on the eyes font. They also appreciate a nice looking e-mail.
I do volunteer work at a small community center. The teenagers who come there all want a place on MySpace because they hear that it is the "cool" place. Who do they go to figure out the code for them? This sixty year old woman who first learned to use a computer at 45 and has never had an hour of formal instruction - all self taught. Now I am trying to teach these kids things like: not all computers need or use windows,the internet isn't all there is to a computer... how to find a file on their hard drive... what is a file? what is a hard drive? No it isn't that big tower there!
Actually this makes me feel somewhat justified. I do volunteer work at a small community center. A lot of it involves computers. Right now all the teenagers want a place on MySpace. So I had to learn MySpace. Lord in Heaven, that I don't believe in, help me! At any rate, I told the kids that some, even most, of the pictures posted on MySpace were probably not the real pictures of the poster. They said "Why you say that?" I said "Most of these pictures look like models." They just couldn't believe me. Now thanks to Slashdot I have a link to show them what I am talking about.
In fact, it is surprising how many people out there do not even know what superficial means. :-(
I have always been rather cold blooded anyway.
In many places a car, which BTW I don't have, is a necessity.
I agree with both of you while at the same time I realize that it is an unacceptable word to many people. BTW a lot of our "consumers" call themselves retarded. To them it is just a description of the way things are.
I work for the ARC, used to be Association of Retarded Citizens, now due to political correctness it is just the ARC. Now I am not recommending we go back to calling the people at our center "retarded" but do we have to call them "consumers?"
I find Opera to be faster with more usable features than Firefox which is a pity since I do like the idea of open source; but, build a better browser and I will come. I agree that extensions are a nice concept in theory but they do have a long way to go before they can make Firefox as functional as Opera which is to say that a lot of the extensions don't work all that well and they seem to slow down the browser. Might add that a lot of the extensions available for Firefox are for things I have absolutely no use for while few extensions are available for those things I do. As things now stand Opera does more while using fewer resources.
Exactly! I live near a section 8 subsidized housing complex and do volunteer work at a small community center they have started there. I would say that at least 90% of the people there do not have computers and of those that do what they have are old machines that only work about half the time.
There is another side to this. I mean I don't consider myself a highly technical person. I work with mentally disabled adults as a profession and somewhere along the line I taught myself about computers, but I do know about other browsers than just IE. My preference is for Opera; but, I keep Firefox on my system too and keep it updated as well as occasionally use it. I belong to several non technical mailing lists where we occasionally might talk about computers and I have managed to get several people there to switch to either Opera or Firefox. Shortly I will be spending my Saturdays teaching computers at a new low income housing community center. Some of the things I am going to teach them are that there are other isps than just AOL and other browsers than internet explorer. The news is speading...
Exactly! I use the panels, notes, tabs, and mouse gestures quite a lot. That is why this gal is an Opera fan although Firefox is my second choice.
As a woman I find that a great many men have difficulty telling blue from green.
Well, I don't figure it is good for me; but, this gal has an addictive personality. It runs in the family. Long as I can avoid alcohol, nicotine, and drugs I figure I am doing good!
Well, as a woman, might not be that bad. Most women I know, especially those that are sexually active, have occasionally bladder infections and other irritations in that area. I never do. Figure I wash it all out! :)