I have been dying to ask someone in your position this question for YEARS, ever since about the Windows ME-era. Please don't take it wrong; I'm very curious but not hostile.
WHY are software vendors using these blasted web-controls for everything? You can't even find an antivirus client on the market anymore that doesn't use an MSHTML for its entire interface. What ever happened to writing a REAL interface, with the widgets the OS provides? Is it so much harder? How did people get by for the entire decade of the 90s without it then?
So you know why I'm asking this question, I propose these reasons why not: A: Some people might want to remove MSHTML.DLL from their system completely (or deny access with ACLs; I tried this once) to once and for all block all the MSIE-based exploits. B: Real widgets were designed for application interfaces. HTML was not. That's why your web control uses about 50,000 lines of JavaScript (or is it VBScript?) to mimic the behavior of a real application. C: Try this. Boot up Win98SE. Horrid kernel, I know, compared to NT. But use its file finding applet. Note how fast and easy it is. Now try the one in, for example, Windows ME or Windows XP. Notice how much slower and awkward it is, and note especially how it adds NO value for the user compared to the old one it replaced (no, the cute puppy doesn't count). I rest my case.
I'd like to hear your side of the discussion, so I can understand why this technique is so popular these days.
Nah, that's pretty much what chips cost in the USA. The big bags, anyway. $4-5 bucks. That's why I only buy 'em when Safeway puts them on Buy 1 Get 1 Free--you know they're really half price because the "full" price is branded into the side of the bag. Unlike most "BOGO" items when you wonder, was a twelve pack of Coke really $6.99 originally, or did they just increase that price for the "BOGO" promotion?
I assume you mean "very few emoticons" since the dorks who want huge 64x64 smiley-faces all over their screen don't generally browse Slashdot.
What you need to do: Adium menu -> Preferences -> Appearance -> emoticons. Click "Customize..." I believe in addition to "default," there are iChat, Yahoo, and a basic set of MSN emoticons included. Check the boxes to enable each one you want.
You even can set priorities so that, for example, iChat emoticons have the top priority, but if no emoticon exists in that set for a given typed emoticon, it checks the Yahoo! and then MSN sets until it finds a match. Just drag the installed emoticon packs after clicking that "Customize..." button.
> I haven't found out how to disable logging,
Adium menu -> Preferences... -> General -> First checkbox: Log Messages
> it's somewhat buggy I guess every computer is different, but I've had about 3 crashes in a year or so of use, so I can't relate, there.
In fact, if I had thought of the word "ignorant" while I was writing, it would have definitely conveyed what I was trying to say better. I just have a tendency to say "stupid" when"ignorant" more accurately describes what I mean (which was, exaggerating of course to make a joke, but the idea was they wouldn't have any idea how to use Google because MSN is what came up by default and no one's ever showed them otherwise). You're right, that's not their fault, unless they're voluntarily ignorant, have been educated but don't care. There are people like that in every socioeconomic stratus.
As far as your judgment of me, I personally think education should be our nation's top, #1, absolute first priority. I also come from a family that's well below the poverty line, and I know exactly what being poor is like. My rent (which I pay for out of my own pocket) is 3/4 of my household income, and I am also an undergraduate student (my education, likewise, is not paid for by my family or anyone else).
And the reason why I don't like Wal-Mart and won't shop there, isn't because I can't stand rubbing shoulders with the poor--my earnings are lower than most of theirs anyway. It's because I don't support their business model of building riches for themselves on the backs of the a poor class that they make bigger all the time. It sounds like we might agree on this point.
And just to make things super clear: I don't vote for people who hate the poor, because I don't hate the poor either. And, y'know, because I am poor.
Are you sure that's not just the next Motorola phone?
MTLA RLY LUVS 2 NM THR PHNS WTH RTRDD NMS LK THS.
So...considering their penchant for retarded phone model names and crappy phones, this would be a phone with a weak flashlight built-in. But it would be limited to 100 uses of the flashlight function, to avoid competing with standalone flashlights.
I agree with your comment, but want to point out that in spite of the rest, his estimate for DVD burner was actually high. The Best Place in the World to buy components, NewEgg, has a nice NEC drive for $42.99 + $4 shipping.
The stats on it: Cache: 2M CD-R: 48X CD-ROM Access Time: 140ms CD-RW: 32X DVD+R: 16X DVD+R DL: 8X DVD+RW: 8X DVD-R: 16X DVD-ROM Access Time: 160ms DVD-RW: 6X Model #: ND-3550A BK OEM
Newegg also has 160GB SATA drives for about $ 75. I don't work for them or anything, but I am a happy customer.
> we're nowhere near the point where enough people will accept their programs phoning home in order to run them.
You're right. Everyone will surely switch to Linux once Microsoft and Apple start forcing that. Just like the droves who switched when Windows Activation was introduced. Just like the torrential flow of enterprise and home users that switch every day due to the myriad gaping security holes in Windows.
</sarcasm>
People are lazy. Not just regular lazy, but LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY. And even more so, they're AFRAAAAAAAID of CHAAAAANGE. They ask, "What do I have to do in order to keep doing things exactly the way I've been doing them since 1995?" and even if the answer involves bodily harm, they'll do it. Even if it's harder than just friggin' learning a new way to do things.
If 50 zillion college students put up with the pile of dung that is MySpace, 100 zillion consumers and pointy-haired-bosses will put up with WinGenuineAdvantageHourlyPhoneHomeProductKeyValida tion and iTrustedComputing.
Welcome to America. You must be new here. EVERYTHING Congress (and the executive branch, as well) does is done as favors to big business. That's what pays for their campaigns and they don't forget it.
(Coming soon, the judicial branch too! Hooray cronyism!)
Yes, in case it's not obvious, I'm with the O.P. on this one.
Ain't that the case! Think of all the "Free Trials" you can get on Windows. Remove them and reinstall them, and they just "know" you're not eligible for another "trial." Crap hidden somewhere in the Registry. On my Mac, I just delete the program's Preferences file every 30 days and the trial starts over!
OS X has been out for five years now, so I think Yahoo's had plenty of time to find someone to write an up-to-date Cocoa client
Amen. I will never use that piece of crap software until they rewrite it for OS X. The OS9 port they're trying to pass of as an OS X version of their IM client is pathetic and just freakishly ugly.
(for the record, I can't stand the MSN Mac client either, and I use Adium)
Why not? As far as I'm concerned it's the only way to reliably show a real friggin apostrophe!
(Not a Minute symbol, which is what you get when you hit that key to the right of the ; key) Proper uses:
Longitude 94 15' 23" W <- The key on the keyboard
Fascinating--on Preview, I found out that Slashcode filters convert entity 146 into a minute symbol ( ' ). What the heck is the point of that? Also, it removes entities 8220 and 8221, which are proper double quotes.
Can't, won't you're <- I used entity 146 The quick brown fox said, You're full of crap! <- I used entities 8220, 8221
Seriously, though, I was a little scared that they knew who I was and my age. But I appreciated the gesture enough anyway to let that free razor make my razor-buying decisions from now on.
I used an electric for a while, but when I started using regular razors that's the one I used. Still using it too...and so is my friend who got one as well.
To get even more OT, do you think the buzzy one gives any advantage other than psychological? I got one now too, but I can't tell any difference in the way it shaves.
Don't buy it. FCC "might" but they never will. $telco will get what it wants, and what it wants is to force you to buy crappy phone service you don't need. $cable isn't interested in competing on price, so while they'll sell you the net without the TV, it'll cost you $55 a month anyway.
Sorry to be a pessimist, but I just can't see this happening.
For criteria 1, why not just uncheck the checkbox for songs like that? Those are pretty much iTunes' "Never play unless I explicitly say so" flag.
As for criteria 2, I would probably just create a Smart Playlist to feed your Party shuffle which contains all songs whose [LENGTH] is [LESS THAN] [ 10:00 ]. If you wanted to feed your party shuffle from a different smart playlist, just add [Playlist] [is] [SongsThatAreSuitableForShufflingPlaylist] to that other list's criteria.
Adverts do support TV. Broadcast networks which show them have decided it's not worth their time to operate their companies for free. Cable Networks that show them have decided it's not worth their time to provide programming for the rates the cable companies pay them. If they were prevented from showing adverts, they would elect either to turn off over-the-air signals and charge your cable company much more, or to close their doors and find a profitable business. Just because you pay someone for something doesn't mean what you pay is enough to produce it. It is the case with bananas and cans of SPAM. It's not the case with newspapers, magazines, and TV. They only get part of the revenue they need from the "purchase price." There's nothing inherently wrong with this.
If one does not want to see TV adverts, one simply doesn't watch these two types of networks and views any shows they want to see by buying the DVD. (Or by BitTorrent, but I'm talking 100% legal here.)
Now: Why Spam is Far Worse than Billboards Billboards are extraneous objects added to your world by property owners, or someone who paid them, that want your attention and try to get you to buy something. Spam is a subversion, without your permission, of a communications medium, that you cannot opt-out of, and which masquerades as real communication from real people. True, you can't opt-out of seeing billboards when you go out, but when you're on your property, in your own home, no one has the right to force you to look at anything. If a billboard showed up in my living room, I'd stick it up the advertiser's arse before having them arrested for trespassing.
If billboards were like Spam, they would be strapped to burly men who pound on your door all day and night, usually while dressed in a bad disguise pretending to be your friend, until you open the door; then they'd rush in uninvited and reveal their billboard. They would keep your phone tied up all day so your important messages might not get through, and they'd continually try to break down any fences you might put up, break into your house, spy on you in order to find more channels to harass you and your friends. You might think I'm exaggerating, but Spam is no better than this!
It would be one thing if Spam were like billboards. You would get a few per day, if they were obscene you could get the city to take action against them, they would all be quite obviously adverts, and subject to the same "false advertising" laws that other adverts are. They would send you a check each month for the extra bandwidth they use on your server, since they're putting their adverts on your property. If you told them you would no longer let them advertise on your property, they'd be obligated to quit, and if not you could sue them for theft of service, because you'd know who they are. I would even buy things from these spammers, just like I occasionally see a billboard that catches my attention.
Billboards do not pretend to be everyday objects you need. When you go to pick up your daily newspaper in the driveway, it wasn't accompanied by 600 fake newspapers designed to look just like it, but containing only adverts. When you're at the store, and you go to the Free Sample table and go to take a bite of the food, it's doesn't turn out to be a hunk of plastic with an advert on it, coated in artificial food to trick you. If Spammers ran the world, all those things would be true. And the added fun would be, there'd be no way to find those responsible, whether to beg them to quit, sue them, have them arrested or kill them.
Spam isn't like billboards. It's like a million crack-addicted zombies with industrial paint-sprayers on a tagging rampage on everyone else's property.
Well, the US is fast becoming a poor country--sure there are a few rich, but what happens when all the non-rich are pushed down from middle-class to poor? There's not enough money in the world to satiate the top 1% in this country. They'll keep taking ours until they end up with all of it. Presto! Poor country! I mean, even the poorest countries have a few rich people at the top who profit from it all. Soon we won't be any different than Nigeria.
And anyway, there are a lot of computers in the US. In fact, considering that China hasn't become super wired yet, the US might have a plurality (51% maybe?), though not a "vast majority" of computer users. That of course will change once Asia and Europe finish overtaking the US in every way.
Some people might LIKE adverts in their e-mail, who are you to tell them they're wrong?
Oh, damn, they must have internet access in that jail. He's posting on Slashdot already. Hide your inboxes!
First off, that's moronic. If people want spam, they'll OPT IN.
Those of us who don't want to watch adverts, can quit listening to the bloody radio. Those of us who don't want to be subjected to TV ads can quit watching TV. This is because the ads on the traditional media are what supports it, so they don't/can't make you watch the ads if you don't partake of their service.
The problem with spam is that spam doesn't support or pay for the e-mail system. Just the opposite. It increases the costs of operation of every firm that handles e-mail, thus we shouldn't be expected to forego e-mail to be left alone by these sick, deplorable bastards, any more than we should combat drunk drivers by having everyone else quit using sidewalks and roads--we can't just quit using e-mail, so we can't get away from spam!!
Buying from a spammer is exactly like flagging down a drunk driver as he drives at 80MPH down the sidewalk, and paying him money, saying "Thanks for the service you provide. Here's the income you need to keep doing it."
Still, even though I think MDI is crap, I'd think MS could at least figure out a way to use "native" controls in the "subwindow" that match the rest of the controls in Longhorn. But they haven't in XP, so I know they still won't.
i've gotta say I disagree on the 7868W. That was my first cell phone and when I upgraded it to a Moto t720c back in the day I realized how terribly inadequate it was for so many tasks. Having a "dialog box" come up when you receive SMS seems to me to be natural. With the StarTAC, you have to hit the "envelope key," arrow down to "Inbox" with the side keys, arrow left and right to see the messages. On any phone made since then, you hit one soft key and it shows you the damn SMS. Even my dad can read an SMS with his t730 (I just switched him from his StarTAC last month). With the StarTAC it would take a "normal person" a week of classes to learn how to send/receive SMS.
Another example: My friends' Samsung and my LG VX7000 supports speed-dialing every number in it by just holding down the last key: [8][hold 6] calls speed dial #86. The StarTAC could have done this too, but the designer of the interface chose not to (actually, NO motorola I've used can do more than speed dials 1-9).
There really is some benefit to the newer phones, not that all their "features" are desirable.
I'm with you though, that long boot times are unacceptable--my t720c was terrible with that, so are the Samsungs. But my vx7000 is within my tolerance. Not much longer than the StarTAC.
> [The RSS] format has to be compatible with existing readers for its uptake to be guaranteed (i.e. no RSS publisher will embrace the extensions if they are incompatible with the majority of reader apps).
I understand that supposedly MS is going to do this in a nice, friendly way, and all our alarm is supposedly unfounded, but where were you in the late 90s?? I suppose you posted the following on/. in 1996 when MS was planning IE 4.0:
"The HTML format has to be compatible with existing browsers for its uptake to be guaranteed (i.e. no Web publisher will embrace the extensions if they are incompatible with the majority of browsers)."
The moral of this story is, Microsoft knows Longhorn will have instant 80% marketshare (among Windows PCs) within 6 months of Longhorn's release, and then the RSS publishers will have no choice but to publish their feeds in MSRSS format, if MS chooses to bastardize the format. Don't underestimate them! That's what Netscape did, and look where they are now. The bottom line is, if MS chooses to do it, they will do it, and they will get away with it. This is true for all values of "it." No one is strong enough to stop them anymore.
- * Do you realize how quickly PCs are replaced these days?? Dell, HP, etc PCs are being thrown away after 6-8 months because people don't know/can't be bothered to have someone spend hours removing spyware/viruses from it. They just go to dell.com, buy a new $299 or whatever after $5000 rebate piece of crap and begin the cycle again! So Windows Longhorn Home Edition will be on every one of these idiots' machines within months after release, even if MS cannot convince a single person to upgrade! Of course, many many people will pirate it (despite the inevitable claims they make every time that this version of Windows will be unpiratable), and a few will even buy it. If you remember also from the browser wars, when one comes bundled with the OS, most people won't bother to download, and/or buy and install another one as long as the bundled one is at least half-assed.
Slashdot Mirror
I have been dying to ask someone in your position this question for YEARS, ever since about the Windows ME-era. Please don't take it wrong; I'm very curious but not hostile.
WHY are software vendors using these blasted web-controls for everything? You can't even find an antivirus client on the market anymore that doesn't use an MSHTML for its entire interface. What ever happened to writing a REAL interface, with the widgets the OS provides? Is it so much harder? How did people get by for the entire decade of the 90s without it then?
So you know why I'm asking this question, I propose these reasons why not:
A: Some people might want to remove MSHTML.DLL from their system completely (or deny access with ACLs; I tried this once) to once and for all block all the MSIE-based exploits.
B: Real widgets were designed for application interfaces. HTML was not. That's why your web control uses about 50,000 lines of JavaScript (or is it VBScript?) to mimic the behavior of a real application.
C: Try this. Boot up Win98SE. Horrid kernel, I know, compared to NT. But use its file finding applet. Note how fast and easy it is. Now try the one in, for example, Windows ME or Windows XP. Notice how much slower and awkward it is, and note especially how it adds NO value for the user compared to the old one it replaced (no, the cute puppy doesn't count). I rest my case.
I'd like to hear your side of the discussion, so I can understand why this technique is so popular these days.
Nah, that's pretty much what chips cost in the USA. The big bags, anyway. $4-5 bucks. That's why I only buy 'em when Safeway puts them on Buy 1 Get 1 Free--you know they're really half price because the "full" price is branded into the side of the bag. Unlike most "BOGO" items when you wonder, was a twelve pack of Coke really $6.99 originally, or did they just increase that price for the "BOGO" promotion?
> It has very little emoticons
I assume you mean "very few emoticons" since the dorks who want huge 64x64 smiley-faces all over their screen don't generally browse Slashdot.
What you need to do: Adium menu -> Preferences -> Appearance -> emoticons. Click "Customize..." I believe in addition to "default," there are iChat, Yahoo, and a basic set of MSN emoticons included. Check the boxes to enable each one you want.
If you want more, you need to go here to get as many emoticons as you need.
You even can set priorities so that, for example, iChat emoticons have the top priority, but if no emoticon exists in that set for a given typed emoticon, it checks the Yahoo! and then MSN sets until it finds a match. Just drag the installed emoticon packs after clicking that "Customize..." button.
> I haven't found out how to disable logging,
Adium menu -> Preferences... -> General ->
First checkbox: Log Messages
> it's somewhat buggy
I guess every computer is different, but I've had about 3 crashes in a year or so of use, so I can't relate, there.
> decide to enslave us.
> IANASFB (I am not a science fiction buff) but I presume this type of scenario has been discussed.
See Stargate (and SG-1).
What about DMCA, though?
Um... what exactly are you saying is wrong with that sentence?
Oh man. I was just making a joke, my friend.
In fact, if I had thought of the word "ignorant" while I was writing, it would have definitely conveyed what I was trying to say better. I just have a tendency to say "stupid" when"ignorant" more accurately describes what I mean (which was, exaggerating of course to make a joke, but the idea was they wouldn't have any idea how to use Google because MSN is what came up by default and no one's ever showed them otherwise). You're right, that's not their fault, unless they're voluntarily ignorant, have been educated but don't care. There are people like that in every socioeconomic stratus.
As far as your judgment of me, I personally think education should be our nation's top, #1, absolute first priority. I also come from a family that's well below the poverty line, and I know exactly what being poor is like. My rent (which I pay for out of my own pocket) is 3/4 of my household income, and I am also an undergraduate student (my education, likewise, is not paid for by my family or anyone else).
And the reason why I don't like Wal-Mart and won't shop there, isn't because I can't stand rubbing shoulders with the poor--my earnings are lower than most of theirs anyway. It's because I don't support their business model of building riches for themselves on the backs of the a poor class that they make bigger all the time. It sounds like we might agree on this point.
And just to make things super clear: I don't vote for people who hate the poor, because I don't hate the poor either. And, y'know, because I am poor.
Are you sure that's not just the next Motorola phone?
MTLA RLY LUVS 2 NM THR PHNS WTH RTRDD NMS LK THS.
So...considering their penchant for retarded phone model names and crappy phones, this would be a phone with a weak flashlight built-in. But it would be limited to 100 uses of the flashlight function, to avoid competing with standalone flashlights.
Perhaps Circuit City, etc. should be concerned, however...
Wal-Mart need not worry. Its main target market is too stupid to have even heard of Google. When they need to find information online, they type, for example, "www.where can i get a good deal on cheap underwear.com" into the MSN SEARCH box on IE's default homepage.
I agree with your comment, but want to point out that in spite of the rest, his estimate for DVD burner was actually high. The Best Place in the World to buy components, NewEgg, has a nice NEC drive for $42.99 + $4 shipping.
The stats on it:
Cache: 2M
CD-R: 48X
CD-ROM Access Time: 140ms
CD-RW: 32X
DVD+R: 16X
DVD+R DL: 8X
DVD+RW: 8X
DVD-R: 16X
DVD-ROM Access Time: 160ms
DVD-RW: 6X
Model #: ND-3550A BK OEM
Newegg also has 160GB SATA drives for about $ 75. I don't work for them or anything, but I am a happy customer.
> we're nowhere near the point where enough people will accept their programs phoning home in order to run them.
a tion and iTrustedComputing.
You're right. Everyone will surely switch to Linux once Microsoft and Apple start forcing that. Just like the droves who switched when Windows Activation was introduced. Just like the torrential flow of enterprise and home users that switch every day due to the myriad gaping security holes in Windows.
</sarcasm>
People are lazy. Not just regular lazy, but LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY. And even more so, they're AFRAAAAAAAID of CHAAAAANGE. They ask, "What do I have to do in order to keep doing things exactly the way I've been doing them since 1995?" and even if the answer involves bodily harm, they'll do it. Even if it's harder than just friggin' learning a new way to do things.
If 50 zillion college students put up with the pile of dung that is MySpace, 100 zillion consumers and pointy-haired-bosses will put up with WinGenuineAdvantageHourlyPhoneHomeProductKeyValid
Count on it.
Welcome to America. You must be new here. EVERYTHING Congress (and the executive branch, as well) does is done as favors to big business. That's what pays for their campaigns and they don't forget it.
(Coming soon, the judicial branch too! Hooray cronyism!)
Yes, in case it's not obvious, I'm with the O.P. on this one.
Ain't that the case! Think of all the "Free Trials" you can get on Windows. Remove them and reinstall them, and they just "know" you're not eligible for another "trial." Crap hidden somewhere in the Registry. On my Mac, I just delete the program's Preferences file every 30 days and the trial starts over!
OS X has been out for five years now, so I think Yahoo's had plenty of time to find someone to write an up-to-date Cocoa client
Amen. I will never use that piece of crap software until they rewrite it for OS X. The OS9 port they're trying to pass of as an OS X version of their IM client is pathetic and just freakishly ugly.
(for the record, I can't stand the MSN Mac client either, and I use Adium)
Step 1: Super cheap ($36.99) DVD player from Target (Cyberhome DVD-320): Check.r home+CH-DVD+300
link
Step 2: Region-Free hack (takes 1 minute, you do it with your remote): Check.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?select=Cybe
Step 3: enjoy your region-free dvd player.
Why not? As far as I'm concerned it's the only way to reliably show a real friggin apostrophe!
(Not a Minute symbol, which is what you get when you hit that key to the right of the ; key)
Proper uses:
Longitude 94 15' 23" W <- The key on the keyboard
Fascinating--on Preview, I found out that Slashcode filters convert entity 146 into a minute symbol ( ' ). What the heck is the point of that? Also, it removes entities 8220 and 8221, which are proper double quotes.
Can't, won't you're <- I used entity 146
The quick brown fox said, You're full of crap! <- I used entities 8220, 8221
Me too!
Seriously, though, I was a little scared that they knew who I was and my age. But I appreciated the gesture enough anyway to let that free razor make my razor-buying decisions from now on.
I used an electric for a while, but when I started using regular razors that's the one I used. Still using it too...and so is my friend who got one as well.
To get even more OT, do you think the buzzy one gives any advantage other than psychological? I got one now too, but I can't tell any difference in the way it shaves.
$telco = {"SBC", "Qwest", "BellSouth", "Verizon"};
$cable = {"Comcast", "Time Warner", "Cablevision", "Charter", "Cox"};
Don't buy it. FCC "might" but they never will. $telco will get what it wants, and what it wants is to force you to buy crappy phone service you don't need. $cable isn't interested in competing on price, so while they'll sell you the net without the TV, it'll cost you $55 a month anyway.
Sorry to be a pessimist, but I just can't see this happening.
For criteria 1, why not just uncheck the checkbox for songs like that? Those are pretty much iTunes' "Never play unless I explicitly say so" flag.
As for criteria 2, I would probably just create a Smart Playlist to feed your Party shuffle which contains all songs whose [LENGTH] is [LESS THAN] [ 10:00 ]. If you wanted to feed your party shuffle from a different smart playlist, just add [Playlist] [is] [SongsThatAreSuitableForShufflingPlaylist] to that other list's criteria.
Adverts do support TV. Broadcast networks which show them have decided it's not worth their time to operate their companies for free. Cable Networks that show them have decided it's not worth their time to provide programming for the rates the cable companies pay them. If they were prevented from showing adverts, they would elect either to turn off over-the-air signals and charge your cable company much more, or to close their doors and find a profitable business. Just because you pay someone for something doesn't mean what you pay is enough to produce it. It is the case with bananas and cans of SPAM. It's not the case with newspapers, magazines, and TV. They only get part of the revenue they need from the "purchase price." There's nothing inherently wrong with this.
If one does not want to see TV adverts, one simply doesn't watch these two types of networks and views any shows they want to see by buying the DVD. (Or by BitTorrent, but I'm talking 100% legal here.)
Now: Why Spam is Far Worse than Billboards
Billboards are extraneous objects added to your world by property owners, or someone who paid them, that want your attention and try to get you to buy something. Spam is a subversion, without your permission, of a communications medium, that you cannot opt-out of, and which masquerades as real communication from real people. True, you can't opt-out of seeing billboards when you go out, but when you're on your property, in your own home, no one has the right to force you to look at anything. If a billboard showed up in my living room, I'd stick it up the advertiser's arse before having them arrested for trespassing.
If billboards were like Spam, they would be strapped to burly men who pound on your door all day and night, usually while dressed in a bad disguise pretending to be your friend, until you open the door; then they'd rush in uninvited and reveal their billboard. They would keep your phone tied up all day so your important messages might not get through, and they'd continually try to break down any fences you might put up, break into your house, spy on you in order to find more channels to harass you and your friends. You might think I'm exaggerating, but Spam is no better than this!
It would be one thing if Spam were like billboards. You would get a few per day, if they were obscene you could get the city to take action against them, they would all be quite obviously adverts, and subject to the same "false advertising" laws that other adverts are. They would send you a check each month for the extra bandwidth they use on your server, since they're putting their adverts on your property. If you told them you would no longer let them advertise on your property, they'd be obligated to quit, and if not you could sue them for theft of service, because you'd know who they are. I would even buy things from these spammers, just like I occasionally see a billboard that catches my attention.
Billboards do not pretend to be everyday objects you need. When you go to pick up your daily newspaper in the driveway, it wasn't accompanied by 600 fake newspapers designed to look just like it, but containing only adverts. When you're at the store, and you go to the Free Sample table and go to take a bite of the food, it's doesn't turn out to be a hunk of plastic with an advert on it, coated in artificial food to trick you. If Spammers ran the world, all those things would be true. And the added fun would be, there'd be no way to find those responsible, whether to beg them to quit, sue them, have them arrested or kill them.
Spam isn't like billboards. It's like a million crack-addicted zombies with industrial paint-sprayers on a tagging rampage on everyone else's property.
Well, the US is fast becoming a poor country--sure there are a few rich, but what happens when all the non-rich are pushed down from middle-class to poor? There's not enough money in the world to satiate the top 1% in this country. They'll keep taking ours until they end up with all of it. Presto! Poor country! I mean, even the poorest countries have a few rich people at the top who profit from it all. Soon we won't be any different than Nigeria.
And anyway, there are a lot of computers in the US. In fact, considering that China hasn't become super wired yet, the US might have a plurality (51% maybe?), though not a "vast majority" of computer users. That of course will change once Asia and Europe finish overtaking the US in every way.
Some people might LIKE adverts in their e-mail, who are you to tell them they're wrong?
Oh, damn, they must have internet access in that jail. He's posting on Slashdot already. Hide your inboxes!
First off, that's moronic. If people want spam, they'll OPT IN.
Those of us who don't want to watch adverts, can quit listening to the bloody radio. Those of us who don't want to be subjected to TV ads can quit watching TV. This is because the ads on the traditional media are what supports it, so they don't/can't make you watch the ads if you don't partake of their service.
The problem with spam is that spam doesn't support or pay for the e-mail system. Just the opposite. It increases the costs of operation of every firm that handles e-mail, thus we shouldn't be expected to forego e-mail to be left alone by these sick, deplorable bastards, any more than we should combat drunk drivers by having everyone else quit using sidewalks and roads--we can't just quit using e-mail, so we can't get away from spam!!
Buying from a spammer is exactly like flagging down a drunk driver as he drives at 80MPH down the sidewalk, and paying him money, saying "Thanks for the service you provide. Here's the income you need to keep doing it."
Still, even though I think MDI is crap, I'd think MS could at least figure out a way to use "native" controls in the "subwindow" that match the rest of the controls in Longhorn. But they haven't in XP, so I know they still won't.
i've gotta say I disagree on the 7868W. That was my first cell phone and when I upgraded it to a Moto t720c back in the day I realized how terribly inadequate it was for so many tasks. Having a "dialog box" come up when you receive SMS seems to me to be natural. With the StarTAC, you have to hit the "envelope key," arrow down to "Inbox" with the side keys, arrow left and right to see the messages. On any phone made since then, you hit one soft key and it shows you the damn SMS. Even my dad can read an SMS with his t730 (I just switched him from his StarTAC last month). With the StarTAC it would take a "normal person" a week of classes to learn how to send/receive SMS.
Another example: My friends' Samsung and my LG VX7000 supports speed-dialing every number in it by just holding down the last key: [8][hold 6] calls speed dial #86. The StarTAC could have done this too, but the designer of the interface chose not to (actually, NO motorola I've used can do more than speed dials 1-9).
There really is some benefit to the newer phones, not that all their "features" are desirable.
I'm with you though, that long boot times are unacceptable--my t720c was terrible with that, so are the Samsungs. But my vx7000 is within my tolerance. Not much longer than the StarTAC.
> [The RSS] format has to be compatible with existing readers for its uptake to be guaranteed (i.e. no RSS publisher will embrace the extensions if they are incompatible with the majority of reader apps).
/. in 1996 when MS was planning IE 4.0:
I understand that supposedly MS is going to do this in a nice, friendly way, and all our alarm is supposedly unfounded, but where were you in the late 90s?? I suppose you posted the following on
"The HTML format has to be compatible with existing browsers for its uptake to be guaranteed (i.e. no Web publisher will embrace the extensions if they are incompatible with the majority of browsers)."
The moral of this story is, Microsoft knows Longhorn will have instant 80% marketshare (among Windows PCs) within 6 months of Longhorn's release, and then the RSS publishers will have no choice but to publish their feeds in MSRSS format, if MS chooses to bastardize the format. Don't underestimate them! That's what Netscape did, and look where they are now. The bottom line is, if MS chooses to do it, they will do it, and they will get away with it. This is true for all values of "it." No one is strong enough to stop them anymore.
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* Do you realize how quickly PCs are replaced these days?? Dell, HP, etc PCs are being thrown away after 6-8 months because people don't know/can't be bothered to have someone spend hours removing spyware/viruses from it. They just go to dell.com, buy a new $299 or whatever after $5000 rebate piece of crap and begin the cycle again! So Windows Longhorn Home Edition will be on every one of these idiots' machines within months after release, even if MS cannot convince a single person to upgrade! Of course, many many people will pirate it (despite the inevitable claims they make every time that this version of Windows will be unpiratable), and a few will even buy it. If you remember also from the browser wars, when one comes bundled with the OS, most people won't bother to download, and/or buy and install another one as long as the bundled one is at least half-assed.