It's not all bad. Browsers like Mozilla and Opera (my favorite) are also catching on, as an alternative to IE for Windows. Right now it's only really with the technically inclined, but that's more or less how Linux came about as well. The mainstream computer user is fairly ignorant, but web-browsing is right up there with email as one of the most popular things to do with that strange machine of yours. It's only a matter of time before the fire starts, and it catches on.
I challenge people to switch from IE for 30 days, and see if they feel like going back after the month is up. So far, nobody has stuck with their pop-up riddled, crash-prone piece of featureless browser crap.:D
I'm not worried yet. It's difficult to get folks to embrace potentially limiting technology without changing the medium (see VCR vs. DVD). Besides, unlike cassette tapes, where quality is an issue, my CDs are more or less as good as the day that I bought them. There is no reason for me to buy music I already own on a DRM-enabled chip, only new stuff (and best of luck trying to sell them without selling CDs too), so that will slow adoption considerably.
It's not time for doom-and-gloom yet. Thumbs down on the unecessary commentary in the summary. On top of that, I consider Ananova to be dodgy in general, I've seen too much sensationalistic (is that a word?) stuff from them before.
Mandrake was #2 on my list, but I was a bit taken aback by the LG-CD fiasco, so I decided against it. It will be on a junk machine though, so I shouldn't be worried, I suppose.
I was underwhelmed by Fedora as well. I'm pretty technically inclined, but I am a complete Linux newbie. I have an old machine that I ressurected solely to toy around with Linux and expand my horizons, as it were, so I figured that Fedora would be decent, seeing as it's based on the market leader. It had a pretty-looking install, but that's where I stop giving praise.
I'm looking forward to a nifty Linux distro that's easy to use and that I can sink my teeth into without having to jump through hoops. It deserves to be on the desktop. I don't see it happening with this shot of Fedora though, uninformed my opinion my be. I'll be following it and seeing if they'll be making my life easier.
I for one really wish more of our elected leaders understood the seperation of powers.
As someone who lives and votes in Massachusetts, I'm thrilled that he knows amd understands (on a limited basis) about this flaming SCO business to begin with. Maybe our Congressmen aren't as ignorant of the inevitable march of technology as some of us fear. Also, it's excellent that he took the time to come up with a well-written reply to a constituent's valid concerns. Go Barney Frank!
This is like the issues with Spammers and spam email. We can sit here and bat around the idea that "if everyone stopped buying the stuff they'd go out of business", but clearly this is not going to happen. So, it's not a viable solution, unfortunately. As usual, there is no such thing as a simple answer to a complex problem.
Ahh, Internet Explorer is finally getting pop-up blocking. This should be interesting (and a shame for Pop-Up Stopper and other companies like it that will be out of business). How long before you think they catch on to real browser innovation, like mouse gestures and tabbed browsing?
I've got $20 on "sometime before the heat death of the universe".
The point about Rotten is that they throw out a gigantic net, and catch the reviews of a lot of critics. Morever, they spotlight particularly insightful or well-reasoned commentary (sound familiar?), and it floats to the top for everyone to see. It's not a perfect system, but it's pretty good, and a lot better than relying on one person or critic certainly.
I'd agree, except if you follow the RottenTomatoes link, you'll see that the 3rd Matrix has the worst overall reviews by far. Call it what you want, but it fits.
The Recording Industry has already demonstrated itself to be impotent in the face of technology. What makes you think that Steve Jobs won't be able to fly his company around them in circles?
I think that the most important point here is that the successful online music store is not owned or controlled by the RIAA. If physical media sales taper off significantly once online purchases become popular, they will only slit their own throats if they make it unprofitable for iTunes to operate. As is it, they are essentially getting free money, since they don't have to soak up distribution costs.
Bad wording on my part (it made sense in my head). The reason we hear from George Lucas why the DVD releases for the original trilogy were taking forever is that he doesn't have the time/materials to put together a collection like he can for the new prequels (except he dragged his feet on those, too, remember the net' campaign to get Episode 1 out on DVD before the heat death of universe?) They had a smaller budget, fewer behind the scenes things (because folks weren't concerned about it back then), etc etc.
However, considering the massive fan base that the original trilogy has (screw special features, give us the movie)... many have speculated that he's dragging his feet because he was a big supporter of Laserdisc, and not DVD. Bitter? It's possibly hogwash, but I've grown tired of hearing the conspiracy, and I'm glad he's at least sort of answering the cries of the fans who want their high-quality DVDs.
Have people forgotten how George Lucas works? How many VHS releases of the flipping original trilogy did we have? Keep an eye out for endless special editions and reworks until the day you die, conveniently spaced out and with enough extra materials to keep you coming back every time.
On another note, I'm glad to hear he finally buried the hatchet over that damned Laserdisc business.
I never post humor unless it's as AC for that very reason. Personally, I always err on the side of moderating up something that needs to be seen, not modding down something I don't understand. They'll pay for it in M2, no worries.
You must not live in the same country as I do. I can see someone using this treatment, dying (either related or unrelated to the treatment, it doesn't matter), and the surviving family sues for millions. Waivers be damned, because whenever you beleive something is unthinkable, there is always someone out there who thinks they are entitled to something. The United States is the land of malpractice insurance (!!!), after all.
Which brings up an interesting question... Would you accept a "free" phone service that could not be added to the DNC? I'm sure this is a market just waiting to happen.
That is interesting. But I think that the mechanics of making a phone call or answering it are a lot different from television, and you'd need a different approach. If telemarketers were free to call you whenever, and you with no recourse, your phone will turn into an Inbox with no spam filter. Maybe if you were required to periodically listen to a short advertisement before making a call. Though that would be terrifically annoying as well.
I'd be more worried about posting the URL, and your theater group's webserver catching on fire moments later.
As for advertising, word-of-mouth has always been the most effective and strongest form of advertising, and will continue to be for the forseeable long-term future. Nothing gets customers like referrals. There are other avenues for small businesses to get the word out. Interrupting Joe Six-pack's dinner with an unsolicited phone call is not a particularly smart one, even without a DNC list.
Of course, this just means that telemarketers will start using the well-known loopholes that allow the other 20% of calls to get through. I've already gotten several calls from "charities" and "fundraisers" that were actually trying to sell you something, ultimately, just not at that exact second.
Are you implying that the system would correct itself by making this "someone" the target of nasty letters to the editor?
That's more specific than I was thinking, but sure. Libraries are local.
For the rest (anecdotal stuff aside), I don't consider it a huge issue. Making your internet nanny software block silly things means that people will be more inclined to use other products when they find out. You can't win 'em all, but sometimes freedom of choice makes it easier.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not all bad. Browsers like Mozilla and Opera (my favorite) are also catching on, as an alternative to IE for Windows. Right now it's only really with the technically inclined, but that's more or less how Linux came about as well. The mainstream computer user is fairly ignorant, but web-browsing is right up there with email as one of the most popular things to do with that strange machine of yours. It's only a matter of time before the fire starts, and it catches on.
:D
I challenge people to switch from IE for 30 days, and see if they feel like going back after the month is up. So far, nobody has stuck with their pop-up riddled, crash-prone piece of featureless browser crap.
I'm not worried yet. It's difficult to get folks to embrace potentially limiting technology without changing the medium (see VCR vs. DVD). Besides, unlike cassette tapes, where quality is an issue, my CDs are more or less as good as the day that I bought them. There is no reason for me to buy music I already own on a DRM-enabled chip, only new stuff (and best of luck trying to sell them without selling CDs too), so that will slow adoption considerably.
It's not time for doom-and-gloom yet. Thumbs down on the unecessary commentary in the summary. On top of that, I consider Ananova to be dodgy in general, I've seen too much sensationalistic (is that a word?) stuff from them before.
Mandrake was #2 on my list, but I was a bit taken aback by the LG-CD fiasco, so I decided against it. It will be on a junk machine though, so I shouldn't be worried, I suppose.
:)
Thanks for the helpful advice.
This distro isn't for you.
Well, it's good to see you've reached the same conclusion that I did, but it's sort of stating the obvious, no?
I was underwhelmed by Fedora as well. I'm pretty technically inclined, but I am a complete Linux newbie. I have an old machine that I ressurected solely to toy around with Linux and expand my horizons, as it were, so I figured that Fedora would be decent, seeing as it's based on the market leader. It had a pretty-looking install, but that's where I stop giving praise.
I'm looking forward to a nifty Linux distro that's easy to use and that I can sink my teeth into without having to jump through hoops. It deserves to be on the desktop. I don't see it happening with this shot of Fedora though, uninformed my opinion my be. I'll be following it and seeing if they'll be making my life easier.
I for one really wish more of our elected leaders understood the seperation of powers.
As someone who lives and votes in Massachusetts, I'm thrilled that he knows amd understands (on a limited basis) about this flaming SCO business to begin with. Maybe our Congressmen aren't as ignorant of the inevitable march of technology as some of us fear. Also, it's excellent that he took the time to come up with a well-written reply to a constituent's valid concerns. Go Barney Frank!
This is like the issues with Spammers and spam email. We can sit here and bat around the idea that "if everyone stopped buying the stuff they'd go out of business", but clearly this is not going to happen. So, it's not a viable solution, unfortunately. As usual, there is no such thing as a simple answer to a complex problem.
Ahh, Internet Explorer is finally getting pop-up blocking. This should be interesting (and a shame for Pop-Up Stopper and other companies like it that will be out of business). How long before you think they catch on to real browser innovation, like mouse gestures and tabbed browsing?
I've got $20 on "sometime before the heat death of the universe".
Be fair: It's okay to make fun of the editors for blatant dupes, but it's not alright to bait them. ;)
The point about Rotten is that they throw out a gigantic net, and catch the reviews of a lot of critics. Morever, they spotlight particularly insightful or well-reasoned commentary (sound familiar?), and it floats to the top for everyone to see. It's not a perfect system, but it's pretty good, and a lot better than relying on one person or critic certainly.
I'd agree, except if you follow the RottenTomatoes link, you'll see that the 3rd Matrix has the worst overall reviews by far. Call it what you want, but it fits.
Obviously Google has been infiltrated, and the search algorithm tampered with from the inside, by the Slashdot Cliche Order (SCO for short).
The Recording Industry has already demonstrated itself to be impotent in the face of technology. What makes you think that Steve Jobs won't be able to fly his company around them in circles?
I think that the most important point here is that the successful online music store is not owned or controlled by the RIAA. If physical media sales taper off significantly once online purchases become popular, they will only slit their own throats if they make it unprofitable for iTunes to operate. As is it, they are essentially getting free money, since they don't have to soak up distribution costs.
You're cool, just make sure it's not an LG CD-ROM drive.
Bad wording on my part (it made sense in my head). The reason we hear from George Lucas why the DVD releases for the original trilogy were taking forever is that he doesn't have the time/materials to put together a collection like he can for the new prequels (except he dragged his feet on those, too, remember the net' campaign to get Episode 1 out on DVD before the heat death of universe?) They had a smaller budget, fewer behind the scenes things (because folks weren't concerned about it back then), etc etc.
However, considering the massive fan base that the original trilogy has (screw special features, give us the movie)... many have speculated that he's dragging his feet because he was a big supporter of Laserdisc, and not DVD. Bitter? It's possibly hogwash, but I've grown tired of hearing the conspiracy, and I'm glad he's at least sort of answering the cries of the fans who want their high-quality DVDs.
Have people forgotten how George Lucas works? How many VHS releases of the flipping original trilogy did we have? Keep an eye out for endless special editions and reworks until the day you die, conveniently spaced out and with enough extra materials to keep you coming back every time.
On another note, I'm glad to hear he finally buried the hatchet over that damned Laserdisc business.
I never post humor unless it's as AC for that very reason. Personally, I always err on the side of moderating up something that needs to be seen, not modding down something I don't understand. They'll pay for it in M2, no worries.
They didn't even get it right, isn't it 18 months?
You must not live in the same country as I do. I can see someone using this treatment, dying (either related or unrelated to the treatment, it doesn't matter), and the surviving family sues for millions. Waivers be damned, because whenever you beleive something is unthinkable, there is always someone out there who thinks they are entitled to something. The United States is the land of malpractice insurance (!!!), after all.
I'd be more worried about posting the URL, and your theater group's webserver catching on fire moments later.
As for advertising, word-of-mouth has always been the most effective and strongest form of advertising, and will continue to be for the forseeable long-term future. Nothing gets customers like referrals. There are other avenues for small businesses to get the word out. Interrupting Joe Six-pack's dinner with an unsolicited phone call is not a particularly smart one, even without a DNC list.
Of course, this just means that telemarketers will start using the well-known loopholes that allow the other 20% of calls to get through. I've already gotten several calls from "charities" and "fundraisers" that were actually trying to sell you something, ultimately, just not at that exact second.
Sneaky bastards, telemarketers are.
Are you implying that the system would correct itself by making this "someone" the target of nasty letters to the editor?
That's more specific than I was thinking, but sure. Libraries are local.
For the rest (anecdotal stuff aside), I don't consider it a huge issue. Making your internet nanny software block silly things means that people will be more inclined to use other products when they find out. You can't win 'em all, but sometimes freedom of choice makes it easier.
Tis' true, but the point is that the decision to use this particular program is still made by someone, and there are lots of libraries.