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User: BiggerIsBetter

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  1. Re:I found the "Hesitant User" study most interest on Gnome 2.6 Usability Review · · Score: 1

    I use Mozilla, but you missed my point. It's a desktop environment test session, and this guy's first thought is to download and install stuff which could reasonably be expected to be there. An Experience Unix user should have known that, but this guys's firing up the terminal and trying to do it all the hard way... and if you're there to test a desktop you shouldn't really be trying to avoid it via the shell or customise the install with your own software.

  2. Re:what I don't understand is... on Multi-Core Chips And Software Licensing · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I had modpoints, I'd mod you up. It's as silly as charging more for *the same car* depending on how many passengers you want to carry.

    0: I need a car.
    1: Sure, how about this little one? Only $14000!
    0: Nice, my wife will love it!
    1: It's for your wife?
    0: No, but I give her a ride to work each morning.
    1: Oh, you want to drive with your wife in it too? That'll be another $6000.
    0: Huh? What do I get for the extra $6000?
    1: Well, we remove the factory installed passenger door lock that your key doesn't fit.
    0: That's it? I could do that myself!
    1: Yes, but we require you to sign this form giving us permission to check your car whenever we like to make sure you haven't bypassed our security and aren't driving with unauthorised passengers. And if we suspect you have been doign so, we'll prosecute to the fullest extent of the law for misuse of our product.
    0: But if I buy it, it's MY car!?
    1: Yes, but the design and processes are still ours. You're buying a license to use the implementations provided with the car, and unapproved use with a passenger therefor illegal. The car is yours, but we still own it's usage...

    Yes, arbitrary licensing and the current commercial software business model is complete BS.

  3. Re:User embarrassment? on Identifying Compromised Websites · · Score: 0

    Yes, yes, I'm well aware of that. I used "gay anal sex" for dramatic effect.

  4. Re:I found the "Hesitant User" study most interest on Gnome 2.6 Usability Review · · Score: 1

    What I found interesting was the expectations people had and that the results a) don't necessarily show Gnome only - font handling, system setup, etc. Also, the test subjects? I mean, you're given a system to test, and "experienced Unix user" is all set to download and install Mozilla? FFS. Finally, recommendation 5 appears to be written by someone with no clue about how the software industry works.

  5. Re:User embarrassment? on Identifying Compromised Websites · · Score: 1, Interesting

    We need some public education then. Like, if you're having gay anal sex, wear a condom. Same thing really... If you're crusing for warez, don't use IE, and make sure you're firewalled. Ideally carriers/ISPs would tell their customers, but that's like admitted you know what goes over your wires or something.

  6. Who's missing? on SCO Claims Linux Lifted ELF · · Score: 1

    I see Gupta, I see Sontag, and I see Stowell, but I don't see McBride...

  7. Re:Deployment? on How Would You Handle a $1,000,000 Coding Error? · · Score: 1

    You read the article? They knew it took 3 hours to print the papers. They had problems "over the weekend" so let's say they started the upgrade on Saturday. It says they identified the problem "relatively early" but presses didn't start until about 6 hours later than they should have. And when they did finally get rolling, Editors made the call to reduce the print run.

    Maybe someone thought they'd be a hero and fix the problem rather than back out and say "We found the problem, we'll fix and test this week, and we'll upgrade it next weekend." Or maybe they were fully committed to having it working that weekend - eg, no viable Plan B so they *had* to bust a nut those couple of nights. Either way is an extraordinarily unneccessary risk. It's already in international IT news, has disrupted thousands of people, and cost a million bucks. It very nearly resulted in The Chicago Tribune's first missed edition in 133 years. The last one was missed because of the Great Chicago Fire, but this time would've been because of an IT cock-up? Don't try to tell me they planned it effectively.

  8. Re:Deployment? on How Would You Handle a $1,000,000 Coding Error? · · Score: 1

    Cheers mate, but also -1 "Can't type". I'm a coder, whaddya expect? ;)

  9. Deployment? on How Would You Handle a $1,000,000 Coding Error? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Where was the phased or parallel deployment?

    You don't just change a system like in a weekend. There WILL be problems, so you have to have ways of dealing with it. Maybe that means flicking the switch back to the old system if it fails, or maybe it means running with degraded capacity a while, but whatever it is, it's dead-in-the-water is not your Plan B.

  10. Re:Keys on Which Digital Video Camera for Amateur Video? · · Score: 1

    If an association isn't an option, find your closest university, politely request an appointment with any filmmaker on staff, and then soak 'em for info for ~2 hours.

    And buy them lunch!

  11. Re:My Personal Vision on TeraGrid v. Distributed Computing · · Score: 1

    Probably true. Intermediary organisations will likely spring up to broker cycles and to aggregate smaller networks into salable commodities. As you say, just like agriculture.

  12. Re:My Personal Vision on TeraGrid v. Distributed Computing · · Score: 1

    I noticed you wrote "companies". I would have thought the largest resource is personal computers rather than corporate ones... That aside, if the EFF and similar provided clients and benefitted from the proceeds it would be a low hassel way to donate to their projects.

  13. The Simpsons on Software Usability As A Technical Problem · · Score: 4, Funny

    Remember Homer's car?

  14. Re:Trying to make stability swipes at MS.... on GNU/Linux Clears Gov't Procurement Hurdles · · Score: 1

    Sounds to me like you're upset over the options Linux gives you. Sure, back in the day you'd worry about kernels and libs and things, but that's a thing of the past. Using a current distro requires the odd update through whatever package manager it uses - just like Windows needs windowsupdate.com - but basically you can load up SuSE or Mandrake and just use it. You really *don't* have to do any more than install the OS, install any required drivers (maybe Nvidia or ATI) then install the software (which probably happened during OS install anyway). And if nothing else, Linux doesn't need additional anti-virus, firewall, and spyware removal tools. If you prefer XP that's fine, but Linux IS there for the desktop already.

  15. Re:Safety Equipment? on Can Your Car Get 1,700 MPG? · · Score: 1

    OK point taken, but his use of English sucks.

  16. Re:Safety Equipment? on Can Your Car Get 1,700 MPG? · · Score: 1

    Not even close. A throttle is an air limiter. The engine management measures the amonut of air and injects fuel accordingly. The wasted energy is heat and noise, which is more dependant on RPM than anything else.

    Trucks have "better" brakes, but they sure as hell don't have better braking.

  17. Re:Hostages on StorageTek Blocks 3rd Party Maintenance with DMCA · · Score: 1

    Given that this is code, and much software and firmware is field upgradable these days, imagine that you've *already* bought a product and the next update is DMCA'd. And imagine if your 3rd party vendor is the guy that installs it for you...

  18. One problem on Green Energy From Manhattan's East River · · Score: 1

    if every roof had had solar panels over their shingles, and every telephone/power pole had a mini turbine ontop of it, then i ask you...

    Electricity production is typically operated by companies for profit, and distributed production doesn't fit their business model. You can't control the supply like you can with single-source generation, nor can you charge consumers as easily with such a system.

    A parallel would be decentralised p2p telephone system. It could probably be done too, but it won't be (for consumers at least) because the suppliers of the status quo would be obsoleting themselves.

    I'm sure something like that is technically possibly, but I've no clue how to get around the politics of it all.

  19. Nope on Microsoft Responds to IE Criticism · · Score: 1

    Opera has been around for several years. It's been pretty good since version 6 at least. Remember the browser wars? Netscape had a reasonable product back then too, and while it's gotten bloated over the years it still surfs just fine.

    The change hasn't happened because there weren't alternatives until now, it's happened because over the last year or so, IE has become such a liability to the average user.

  20. Does anyone else have a problem with this? on Intermec Claims RFID is Proprietary · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Basically, they're selling rights. You can't do X unless you pay us. Doesn't matter if you came up with it yourself or never even heard of them, you must pay or they'll sue. I really don't like the direction our fundamentally creative tech industry is headed.

  21. Re:Interesting computer Chess? on World Computer Chess Championships Underway · · Score: 1

    I noticed you used the word "designed". Any idea if anyone has tried evolving chess playing algorithms?

  22. Re:I'm really curious... on Besieged Movie Industry Suffers Record Takings · · Score: 1

    it's probably projections - reality = pirate losses.

  23. Re:This should happen more often on Professor Creates His Own Cisco Manual · · Score: 1

    Sounds to me like they saw his free book competing with their own stuff, so scrambled to get him back on board after they found he published it himself anyway.

  24. Something to keep in mind... on China Will Monitor, Censor SMS Messages · · Score: 1

    is where much of the gear and technology to do this work comes from. A lot of US companies are making a lot of money out of these kinds of ventures.

  25. Re:Prevent it? on Playing Nice: Reviews of CrossOver Office, WineX 4 · · Score: 1

    Yes, I have ported (relatively small) applications. No, it's not always easy. You are right that potential customers may not become actual customers, but they will definitly not become actual customers if you don't.

    There is also the chicken and egg to consider: We use a few Windows business apps, and they are the only reason we have Windows. If the vendors provided a Linux port we would buy it instead of the Windows one. But they don't because all their customers use Windows... I understand their reluctance, because porting is non-trivial for those guys. They embraced MS wholeheartedly and embedded FoxPro and so on into their apps. It's just not a good long term strategy to be that tied into one vendor's products.

    At the moment we can keep on using Windows, but if the security scenario keeps getting worse, we'll be ditch it from our office desktops too - it's just not worth the risk anymore. Then we'll find or write something to do the job instead.