I'm no MS lover -- I've lost many an hour due to their pointless mucking about with the UI and other functionality between versions of their products, and I quite loathe how abusive their relationship with their customers is. (By the same token, it takes two to tango, but anyway...)
That said, I must also say that OpenOffice.org has been an amazing disappointment in various and sundry ways. Despite the considerable *potential* of the project, there are so many ways in which it falls completely flat. Assorted bugs that may present substantial barriers to adoption for more serious use remain unfixed, some for 5, 6, 7, even *8* years, sometimes with no indication of any progress and despite being theoretically trivial to implement (and despite sometimes being implemented in IBM's OOo-derived Lotus Symphony suite): [1], [2], [3]...
By any objective measure, the OOo development process has been poorly managed. I seem to recall an article here on Slashdot some months back that characterized OOo project management as "moribund", but I cannot find the link at the moment. The fact remains that other office software applications, some FOSS and some proprietary, have progressed by leaps and bounds (though, in MSO's case, perhaps simply "changed" as opposed to "progressed", YMMV) over the past almost-decade, while OOo has been largely dead in the water.
I've followed OOo since I learned of it some time before the 1.0 release, and I've gone from enthusiastic supporter and interested contributor to the fora, to a disaffected and disillusioned (though still hopeful) former user. As a Japanese-English translator, I need accurate word and character counts, which OOo still hasn't implemented. I know this makes me something of a fringe case, but I am far from alone when I say that I simply cannot use OOo in any real professional capacity.
But seriously, you make a very powerful point here:
Making and changing and fixing things for the sake of doing so and improving one's knowledge and skills is what I would think is the hallmark of being a geek, whether it be PCs, software, furniture, cars, electronics, whatever.
I'm not Jewish (heck, I'm not anything religion-wise), but my wife spent some years teaching at a Jewish school, and I learned quite a lot about Judaism that I didn't know before. One thing I very much respect (for those that follow it) is the principle of tikkun olam, or the idea of repairing the world. I don't happen to think the world is busted, but the underlying ideal of being an involved and productive participant is very close to my own thoughts on at least part of what makes someone a good person.
Adding to the complexity, beauty, and learning of the world at large -- and not because you're forced to by any external factor, but because you are compelled to by your very nature. That sounds to me like a geek.:)
When it comes to supporting my lifestyle and means of living (money) I pretty much think only of myself and MY survival if it ever comes down to it.
If it came down to survival, I would probably have an easier time understanding executive behaviour.
But there's a difference between making a living, and making a killing. As it is, most of these people could stand to shave off several tens of thousands from their annual pay and not even notice, aside from possibly losing some minor degree of pissing-match status associated with any large number for compensation. They're not hurting, not by a long shot. Things are very far from "tough" for this demographic.
When you're making $10mn a year (or even $1mn) and already have several million in the bank, why on earth would you need another $Xmn in severance and bonuses on your walk out the door? Greed is the only answer that seems to make any sense.
If memory serves (I'm stuck at work with Windows at the moment), you can also double-click the title bar of the app with the middle or right mouse buttons to maximize horizontally or vertically in the same way.
I think American crossed the line into full-scale hipocracy(sp!!)
I believe the correct spelling is "hippocracy", if you mean a nation ruled by large semi-aquatic mammals.
Actually, the large semi-aquatic mammals aren't in the picture. The word "hippopotamus" is made up of hippo, coming from the Greek for "horse" (as in 'hippodrome'), and potamus, or "river" (as in 'Mesopotamia'). Hence, a (or 'an', depending) hippocracy would be a nation ruled by horses. Which we've almost had in history, if memory serves, when the mad Roman emperor Caligula had his horse appointed as a senator.
Extremely well put! The shoe analogy is just precious, and both makes the point brilliantly and gets me flat-out laughing about something that is otherwise shockingly depressing.
No, really, brilliant! How do we make this happen? I can't think of a better way of waking up the USian public to the wondrous joys of our modern GM food!
I'm not sure where the band is from, but one of the members might well be from somewhere southern.
Ah, local color. One of my favorite US town names was "Maggie's Nipples" (I think it was in Montana). The town was unfortunately renamed to something less notable some years after its founding.
But the colorful language goes beyond just English -- the Acadians have been similarly fond of no-nonsense-but-colorful nomenclature, calling one white bayou fish variety the sac-au-lait (bag o' milk).
I grew up with "dumber than a box of rocks" and "getting nipply out". "Bag of hammers" is funnier, though.
"The professional market is showing more resistance to open source software," said Bernard-Louis Roques, chief executive of Truffle Capital IT, an investment fund specializing in software. [emphasis mine]
Gee, I wonder what this Mr. Roques' bias might be...
Microsoft is suffering the fruits of it's previous bad behavior.
Maybe it's because I haven't had my coffee yet, but reading this, I almost bust a gut. All I can think of is that scene in Time Bandits where Michael Palin and Shelley Long are in the middle ages and have been held up by the band of midgets and tied to a tree, and Palin begins shouting,
"Oh no. The problem. The problem, Pansy! It's started again! Ooh, oh... Fruit, Pansy! I must have fruit!"
The etymology of the word "crusade" arises from the word "cross", so on that basis alone I don't know if the term "Muslim crusade" makes much sense. Perhaps there's a different term you'd like to use?
Of course your machine stays up, you have the administrators of at least 3 different botnets making sure of it!
Silliness aside, I wonder if botnets might not serve a semi-useful function for serious noobs -- a botnetted machine might ultimately be more stable than just a virused-and-malwared machine, inasmuch as the botnet operator has a vested interest in keeping the box up and running. I dimly recall reading here on/. about research showing some botnets aggressively removing malware from newly captured machines.
So, for the true computing noob, might a botnet infection not actually have a stabilizing effect? Let the botnet operator take care of system security.
(No, I'm not being silly, nor am I actually espousing this course of action. I am wondering aloud if certain parasitic actors in the internet ecology might not do some incidental benefit to the others in the course of their own nefarious activities.)
Wealth is so much taken for granted that a significant percentage of the population of the USA actually votes AGAINST anyone who has a clue. They've gotten to the point where they view intellectuals as "bad people" and work against energy saving and economic development social programs!
Though I'm repeating myself from elsewhere in this thread, some other poster in a completely different Slashdot thread linked through to this introduction to a serious study of authoritarianism -- not so much as a governmental style, but rather as a social and emotional construct. Since we're talking about rotting from the head down, it might make sense to look at the head...:) If the intro linked here holds your interest, the whole online book is available from the parent directory.
Indeed. When execs are getting $10 mil bonus packages for burning a company to the ground, when the upper echelons are gutting pension plans by reneging on past promises and contracts and then turn around and pocket the savings for themselves, it should come as no surprise in the least that those of us further down the corporate ladder are taking a similarly opportunistic approach.
Social mammals tend to emulate the alpha individuals of their groups. The alphas, by dint of successfully establishing themselves as alphas, are viewed as successful -- "well, they're doing something right for themselves, guess it'd be smart for me to do the same." When sociopaths lead our companies, the employees themselves will, generally speaking, start behaving more sociopathically. It's basic survival.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm no MS lover -- I've lost many an hour due to their pointless mucking about with the UI and other functionality between versions of their products, and I quite loathe how abusive their relationship with their customers is. (By the same token, it takes two to tango, but anyway...)
That said, I must also say that OpenOffice.org has been an amazing disappointment in various and sundry ways. Despite the considerable *potential* of the project, there are so many ways in which it falls completely flat. Assorted bugs that may present substantial barriers to adoption for more serious use remain unfixed, some for 5, 6, 7, even *8* years, sometimes with no indication of any progress and despite being theoretically trivial to implement (and despite sometimes being implemented in IBM's OOo-derived Lotus Symphony suite): [1], [2], [3]...
By any objective measure, the OOo development process has been poorly managed. I seem to recall an article here on Slashdot some months back that characterized OOo project management as "moribund", but I cannot find the link at the moment. The fact remains that other office software applications, some FOSS and some proprietary, have progressed by leaps and bounds (though, in MSO's case, perhaps simply "changed" as opposed to "progressed", YMMV) over the past almost-decade, while OOo has been largely dead in the water.
I've followed OOo since I learned of it some time before the 1.0 release, and I've gone from enthusiastic supporter and interested contributor to the fora, to a disaffected and disillusioned (though still hopeful) former user. As a Japanese-English translator, I need accurate word and character counts, which OOo still hasn't implemented. I know this makes me something of a fringe case, but I am far from alone when I say that I simply cannot use OOo in any real professional capacity.
Oh, well.
Cheers,
Try the veal, I'll be here all decade...
Cheers,
But seriously, you make a very powerful point here:
I'm not Jewish (heck, I'm not anything religion-wise), but my wife spent some years teaching at a Jewish school, and I learned quite a lot about Judaism that I didn't know before. One thing I very much respect (for those that follow it) is the principle of tikkun olam , or the idea of repairing the world. I don't happen to think the world is busted, but the underlying ideal of being an involved and productive participant is very close to my own thoughts on at least part of what makes someone a good person.
Adding to the complexity, beauty, and learning of the world at large -- and not because you're forced to by any external factor, but because you are compelled to by your very nature. That sounds to me like a geek. :)
Geeze, doesn't anyone brush up on their Muppets anymore? ;)
Cheers,
Hur, de hur de hur, dee dee, bum - Bork Bork Bork!
If it came down to survival, I would probably have an easier time understanding executive behaviour.
But there's a difference between making a living, and making a killing. As it is, most of these people could stand to shave off several tens of thousands from their annual pay and not even notice, aside from possibly losing some minor degree of pissing-match status associated with any large number for compensation. They're not hurting, not by a long shot. Things are very far from "tough" for this demographic.
When you're making $10mn a year (or even $1mn) and already have several million in the bank, why on earth would you need another $Xmn in severance and bonuses on your walk out the door? Greed is the only answer that seems to make any sense.
Cheers,
If memory serves (I'm stuck at work with Windows at the moment), you can also double-click the title bar of the app with the middle or right mouse buttons to maximize horizontally or vertically in the same way.
Cheers,
Actually, the large semi-aquatic mammals aren't in the picture. The word "hippopotamus" is made up of hippo, coming from the Greek for "horse" (as in 'hippodrome'), and potamus, or "river" (as in 'Mesopotamia'). Hence, a (or 'an', depending) hippocracy would be a nation ruled by horses. Which we've almost had in history, if memory serves, when the mad Roman emperor Caligula had his horse appointed as a senator.
Cheers,
Extremely well put! The shoe analogy is just precious, and both makes the point brilliantly and gets me flat-out laughing about something that is otherwise shockingly depressing.
*SHOES!* They are like HATS for FEET!
Only in this case, "They are like CORPORATIONS for CHUCKLEHEADS!" Or something.
Cheers,
No, really, brilliant! How do we make this happen? I can't think of a better way of waking up the USian public to the wondrous joys of our modern GM food!
Now back to your regularly scheduled problem...
Cheers,
Ah, if only for some mod points! :D
Cheers,
I'm not sure where the band is from, but one of the members might well be from somewhere southern.
Ah, local color. One of my favorite US town names was "Maggie's Nipples" (I think it was in Montana). The town was unfortunately renamed to something less notable some years after its founding.
But the colorful language goes beyond just English -- the Acadians have been similarly fond of no-nonsense-but-colorful nomenclature, calling one white bayou fish variety the sac-au-lait (bag o' milk).
I grew up with "dumber than a box of rocks" and "getting nipply out". "Bag of hammers" is funnier, though.
Cheers,
Any chance you've been listening to The Magnetic Fields lately? Specifically, All My Little Words, track 3 on volume 1 of "69 Love Songs".
Just curious. :)
Cheers,
Gee, I wonder what this Mr. Roques' bias might be...
Cheers,
Maybe it's because I haven't had my coffee yet, but reading this, I almost bust a gut. All I can think of is that scene in Time Bandits where Michael Palin and Shelley Long are in the middle ages and have been held up by the band of midgets and tied to a tree, and Palin begins shouting,
Suffering the fruit! Hee hee!
Cheers,
The etymology of the word "crusade" arises from the word "cross", so on that basis alone I don't know if the term "Muslim crusade" makes much sense. Perhaps there's a different term you'd like to use?
(NB: Some reference material for those so inclined -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam#History)
Cheers,
Silliness aside, I wonder if botnets might not serve a semi-useful function for serious noobs -- a botnetted machine might ultimately be more stable than just a virused-and-malwared machine, inasmuch as the botnet operator has a vested interest in keeping the box up and running. I dimly recall reading here on /. about research showing some botnets aggressively removing malware from newly captured machines.
So, for the true computing noob, might a botnet infection not actually have a stabilizing effect? Let the botnet operator take care of system security.
(No, I'm not being silly, nor am I actually espousing this course of action. I am wondering aloud if certain parasitic actors in the internet ecology might not do some incidental benefit to the others in the course of their own nefarious activities.)
Cheers,
Sounds like a self-regulating system to me...
Cheers,
Again, that's "Interfect Exploder". Remember to ask for it by name!
Cheers,
idiots?
(NB: Not slagging, seriously asking.)
Nicely put. :-P
Though I'm repeating myself from elsewhere in this thread, some other poster in a completely different Slashdot thread linked through to this introduction to a serious study of authoritarianism -- not so much as a governmental style, but rather as a social and emotional construct. Since we're talking about rotting from the head down, it might make sense to look at the head... :) If the intro linked here holds your interest, the whole online book is available from the parent directory.
Cheers,
Very interesting, thanks for that.
In some other thread here on /. that I ran across earlier today, someone else had posted this link, which I found very interesting as well:
http://members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/Introduction_links.pdf
That's just the intro, but if you find it holds your attention, the full article / online book is available from the parent directory.
Cheers,
Indeed. When execs are getting $10 mil bonus packages for burning a company to the ground, when the upper echelons are gutting pension plans by reneging on past promises and contracts and then turn around and pocket the savings for themselves, it should come as no surprise in the least that those of us further down the corporate ladder are taking a similarly opportunistic approach.
Social mammals tend to emulate the alpha individuals of their groups. The alphas, by dint of successfully establishing themselves as alphas, are viewed as successful -- "well, they're doing something right for themselves, guess it'd be smart for me to do the same." When sociopaths lead our companies, the employees themselves will, generally speaking, start behaving more sociopathically. It's basic survival.
Cheers,
So does that make us whores?
Or perhaps slaves or indentured servants might be more apt comparisons?
Oh, Canada,
You're looking better each day...
Cheers,
Well heck, there's your problem -- stop waiting, and set to it already!
Some of it, at least, has already happened: see this fine example of Brassica oleracea, for instance.
Then again, you might have been referring to some of the fractal images that call to mind the work of H. R. Giger... < shiver >.
Cheers,