"The broad question is, does the fact that you can remain compatible with today's applications and data on hardware that is almost a decade old, impede PC sales?"
Does the fact that you can remain compatible with today's television shows on television sets that are several decades old impede television sales? You don't typically buy consumer electronics to "remain compatible," but because the old one breaks or you just want something newer and better. The PC market is no different in this respect.
"...but I'm a lazy bastard and I wrote the thing at nearly 3 A.M. before passing out on my desk."
Why the hell is this an excuse? I am so sick and tired of people passing off shoddy work and then saying, "Well I was tired when I did it so give me a break." You think if I turned in a load of crap to my boss and said that, he'd cut me any slack?
If it's no good, it doesn't matter what time you wrote it or how lazy you are, that doesn't excuse subpar performance. You are a lazy bastard, your article was written at 3am, and you acknowledge that the quality of the article reflects this, and as such, it should never have even been submitted.
As someone who would never use the default WinXP theme, I can't wait to enable the "Windows Classic Theme" on Longhorn and then have it be EXACTLY THE SAME OS as XP. Rockin'.
Seems to me you're trying to say that your local ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS broadcasters lossy-up the transmission just as much as the cable/satellite companies?
Sigh... wish there were an option to get signals as clean and uncompressed as you say your PBS is from the other networks. I'd probably even be willing to pay through the nose for it.:(
Perhaps there is a cable or sat provider out there that doesn't compress their signals to hell?
Kinda. It is possible to fission lighter elements, or to fuse heavier ones. In nuclear reactors, though, you want to go for the reaction that's going to be easiest to achieve-- large atoms are easier to break apart and smaller ones are easier to jam together.
Am I the only one who has no idea what a "Dalek" is? I've been watching the new series, but the original is just a bit before my time, so the reference is lost.
A two-week long spring break (deserted campus) in a small town with nothing to do, no car, and a 45 minute walk to the Blockbuster. I should be commended for not having kept them longer.
And they were, by the way, all "latest-mpaa-mandated hit" rentals.
I was one of the many many fools who unwittingly assumed that "no late fees" was a national promotion. Unfortunately, when I rented six movies and returned them six days later, I found I had $50 in late fees, which was obviously a huge kick in the pants.
Does this mean I'm entitled to getting (part of) my money back for it not being adequately disclosed tat not all locations were participating in this policy? How would I go about making sure I'm not left out of this?
Yes, it will be as obscure as corded telephones and VHS and those little cassette tapes. Sure, we'll come up with something better to replace it, as we do with all things in time. But it was so popular in its day, so ubiquitous in its market, that obscurity is just the wrong word.
Why is there no stink about simple cordless phones? Don't they operate in the frequency range technically considered to be microwaves, around 2.4GHz?
Doesn't this constitute a microwave transmitter being pressed agaisnt your head? Granted, I'm guessing that the power levels in cordless phone transmitters are MUCH lower than in cell phones, but isn't the article dealing with prolonged, long-term exposure to low-powered microwave transmitters?
It should be noted that Walla Walla is not a strictly agricultural area. Granted, most of the land area out here is devoted to farming (lots of grapes for wine, also home of the Walla Walla sweet onion), but the city of Walla Walla actually has about 30,000 residents. And we're not all farmers; there are three colleges in this town, Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla College, and Whitman College. And us college kids love the bandwidth.:)
Internet provider PocketINet provides bandwidth to Whitman College and Walla Walla College; this bandwidth is "microwaved" from the Tri-Cities as far as I know. Therefore, a lot of the connectivity out here is wireless in the strict sense of the word. Of course, to get their service, you need special equipment and line of sight to one of their towers.
There are also other broadband options in Walla Walla. I'm not sure about any DSL options, but Charter Communications, the local cable provider, offers a 3Mbps/256kbps package for $40/mo. in these parts. That's a great deal, especially in "rual" Walla Walla. I don't know if this wireless network is really all that big a deal, especially considering the prices they charge.
As one other person noted, Walla Walla isn't one big hot spot, that's for sure. A lot of the downtown establishments offer free wireless, but once you're outside their range, you won't find any networks of any kind to connect to.
Your point it worth noting... sometimes it's the end user who doesn't know what he's doing, and sometimes it's the tech support on the other end of the line.
The most frustrating thing of all, however, is when one party stubbornly insists upon something the other knows is incorrect.
I guess it cuts both ways, applying to both the user and the support, but remember that one is paying *for* the phone call, the other is *getting paid* to take it.
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"The broad question is, does the fact that you can remain compatible with today's applications and data on hardware that is almost a decade old, impede PC sales?"
Does the fact that you can remain compatible with today's television shows on television sets that are several decades old impede television sales? You don't typically buy consumer electronics to "remain compatible," but because the old one breaks or you just want something newer and better. The PC market is no different in this respect.
"...but I'm a lazy bastard and I wrote the thing at nearly 3 A.M. before passing out on my desk."
Why the hell is this an excuse? I am so sick and tired of people passing off shoddy work and then saying, "Well I was tired when I did it so give me a break." You think if I turned in a load of crap to my boss and said that, he'd cut me any slack?
If it's no good, it doesn't matter what time you wrote it or how lazy you are, that doesn't excuse subpar performance. You are a lazy bastard, your article was written at 3am, and you acknowledge that the quality of the article reflects this, and as such, it should never have even been submitted.
As someone who would never use the default WinXP theme, I can't wait to enable the "Windows Classic Theme" on Longhorn and then have it be EXACTLY THE SAME OS as XP. Rockin'.
If you're going to repost, at least use a different reference article. This piece of news has made it all the way to CNN.
Seems to me you're trying to say that your local ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS broadcasters lossy-up the transmission just as much as the cable/satellite companies? Sigh... wish there were an option to get signals as clean and uncompressed as you say your PBS is from the other networks. I'd probably even be willing to pay through the nose for it. :(
Perhaps there is a cable or sat provider out there that doesn't compress their signals to hell?
Kinda. It is possible to fission lighter elements, or to fuse heavier ones. In nuclear reactors, though, you want to go for the reaction that's going to be easiest to achieve-- large atoms are easier to break apart and smaller ones are easier to jam together.
Am I the only one who has no idea what a "Dalek" is? I've been watching the new series, but the original is just a bit before my time, so the reference is lost.
A two-week long spring break (deserted campus) in a small town with nothing to do, no car, and a 45 minute walk to the Blockbuster. I should be commended for not having kept them longer.
And they were, by the way, all "latest-mpaa-mandated hit" rentals.
I was one of the many many fools who unwittingly assumed that "no late fees" was a national promotion. Unfortunately, when I rented six movies and returned them six days later, I found I had $50 in late fees, which was obviously a huge kick in the pants. Does this mean I'm entitled to getting (part of) my money back for it not being adequately disclosed tat not all locations were participating in this policy? How would I go about making sure I'm not left out of this?
Will DVD join LaserDisc in obscurity?
Yes, it will be as obscure as corded telephones and VHS and those little cassette tapes. Sure, we'll come up with something better to replace it, as we do with all things in time. But it was so popular in its day, so ubiquitous in its market, that obscurity is just the wrong word.
Musicians get paid too much anyway. It's time for a nerf.
Why is there no stink about simple cordless phones? Don't they operate in the frequency range technically considered to be microwaves, around 2.4GHz? Doesn't this constitute a microwave transmitter being pressed agaisnt your head? Granted, I'm guessing that the power levels in cordless phone transmitters are MUCH lower than in cell phones, but isn't the article dealing with prolonged, long-term exposure to low-powered microwave transmitters?
It should be noted that Walla Walla is not a strictly agricultural area. Granted, most of the land area out here is devoted to farming (lots of grapes for wine, also home of the Walla Walla sweet onion), but the city of Walla Walla actually has about 30,000 residents. And we're not all farmers; there are three colleges in this town, Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla College, and Whitman College. And us college kids love the bandwidth. :)
Internet provider PocketINet provides bandwidth to Whitman College and Walla Walla College; this bandwidth is "microwaved" from the Tri-Cities as far as I know. Therefore, a lot of the connectivity out here is wireless in the strict sense of the word. Of course, to get their service, you need special equipment and line of sight to one of their towers.
There are also other broadband options in Walla Walla. I'm not sure about any DSL options, but Charter Communications, the local cable provider, offers a 3Mbps/256kbps package for $40/mo. in these parts. That's a great deal, especially in "rual" Walla Walla. I don't know if this wireless network is really all that big a deal, especially considering the prices they charge.
As one other person noted, Walla Walla isn't one big hot spot, that's for sure. A lot of the downtown establishments offer free wireless, but once you're outside their range, you won't find any networks of any kind to connect to.
The ten defenses, hmm? I believe this can only mean one thing: IBM is Moses, in some form. What an interesting turn of events...
Your point it worth noting... sometimes it's the end user who doesn't know what he's doing, and sometimes it's the tech support on the other end of the line. The most frustrating thing of all, however, is when one party stubbornly insists upon something the other knows is incorrect. I guess it cuts both ways, applying to both the user and the support, but remember that one is paying *for* the phone call, the other is *getting paid* to take it.