I'm not sure what setup you've been using, but I've been exclusively wi-fi at home for about 3 years now. It's been very stable, and fast too. We connect to the internet via Fios, and I consistently see us using the max connection speed over the fiber.
The equipment we us is all Apple: airport & airport extreme cards + a 2nd gen airport base station (not extreme).
In the late 90's, my brother worked QA for Acclaim. All they did was drink lots of jolt cola and play quake from 8pm to 4am. If the other game companies use similar squads of caffeined up 20 year olds to "QA" their products, is the "quality" of their software any surprise?
Don't get me wrong, I really like to play with linux. I've built LFS systems, and actually was able to get sound & wireless networking working, at the same time even;)
BUT, for me, it's strictly for fun. Most of my daily personal computer use is on my Mac. Why? Because I need it to just work, consistently, always. The seamless integration of the software (forget the hardware, who cares as long as it's "fast enough") is worth my $129. Crappy font support alone keeps me from even considering linux seriously. Hey, on my linux box at work, Mozilla (1.7) and Firefox (1.0) don't even use the same set of fonts! Now, our crack IT guys probably don't have everything configured perfectly in Gnome and I'm sure it could be resolved. But really, this was never an issue for my Macs, even back in the days of system 7.
So, while for me there's entertainment value in tinkering with linux, for my wife, forget it. Her eyes glaze over when I try to get her to understand why I have both safari and firefox on the mac. She *really* needs to have things "just work" and has no desire or patience for "choices".
Some of the distros are coming along nicely, but until there's one that "just works" out of the box like OS X does, most consumers will probably pass.
I've tried many different headphones with the iPod, and Apple's are my favorite still (though that's not saying much). Now, I also know many people who hate them.
I haven't tried higher-end models like the Shure E3C yet, but I plan to.
It's not simply apathy that's at fault here, nor radical action groups. As has been stated numerous times here on/., today's political situation makes it very difficult for average citizens to even know who to vote for. It's hard for anyone to even get on a ballot without corporate sponsorship (today, political parties are just a euphemism for corporate sponsorship). The cost of running an effective election campaign, even at the local level, is enormous. This weeds out potential candidates who are either not motivated enough, not wealthy enough or unwilling to be a corporate proxy. We wind up with election ballots which limit us to choosing which corporate sponsors we hate less.
In order to make educated voting decisions, voters must do extensive research into candidates, from the local town board elections on up. Who do they have corporate ties to? Are they independantly wealthy enough to campaign without party sponsorship? What is their voting record? What legislation have they personally authored or sponsored? What organizations do they belong to? Naturally, noone makes this info readily accessible either.
People are inherently lazy, unfortunately. I can't even say that I put as much work into researching elections as I should. Many people can't even stand contemplating this; they limit themselves to whomever gives them the best sound bytes. Until a large enough number of people are willing to work at choosing alternative candidates, starting from the local elections, corporate sponsorship will dictate American politics.
Think about it: if left alone, won't an embryo eventually develop into a live animal (human or otherwise)? While it would take some time for it to develop to the point where its life would be viable outside the womb, it would eventually do so.
There are arguments justifying experimentation on human embryos. But the fact remains that you could take these same embryos, emplant them inside a womans uterus (in vitro fertilization), and they would develop into a human.
While these arguments sound reasonable, I feel that they bely an underlying selfishness in the people who wield them. The ends justify the means. We tell ourselves that it's ok, that we can use/abort these embryos because {insert your favorite reason here}. Let's be honest. We don't care whether the embryos are really viable humans or not. They suit our purposes and can't fight back, so let's go for it.
Hey, I'm no different. Years ago, some jerk got my sister pregnant and I gave her the money for an abortion. At the time I thought that I was doing the right thing. I thought: "why bring another unwanted child into the world". A few years later, my other sister found herself in the same situation. She decided not to abort, even though the rest of my family, including myself, wanted her to. My nephew turned twelve this year, and I can say that the world is a better place with him in it.
We get so outraged when we feel that some corporation or politician is taking advantage of their position of power over us. We see their selfish motives behind their actions and cry out against them. This subject is really no different. We have no real way of knowing whether what we're doing to these embryos constitutes murder or not. But we're going to do it anyway, because we can. Let's just be real about it.
Slashdot Mirror
The equipment we us is all Apple: airport & airport extreme cards + a 2nd gen airport base station (not extreme).
In the late 90's, my brother worked QA for Acclaim. All they did was drink lots of jolt cola and play quake from 8pm to 4am. If the other game companies use similar squads of caffeined up 20 year olds to "QA" their products, is the "quality" of their software any surprise?
Don't get me wrong, I really like to play with linux. I've built LFS systems, and actually was able to get sound & wireless networking working, at the same time even ;)
BUT, for me, it's strictly for fun. Most of my daily personal computer use is on my Mac. Why? Because I need it to just work, consistently, always. The seamless integration of the software (forget the hardware, who cares as long as it's "fast enough") is worth my $129. Crappy font support alone keeps me from even considering linux seriously. Hey, on my linux box at work, Mozilla (1.7) and Firefox (1.0) don't even use the same set of fonts! Now, our crack IT guys probably don't have everything configured perfectly in Gnome and I'm sure it could be resolved. But really, this was never an issue for my Macs, even back in the days of system 7.
So, while for me there's entertainment value in tinkering with linux, for my wife, forget it. Her eyes glaze over when I try to get her to understand why I have both safari and firefox on the mac. She *really* needs to have things "just work" and has no desire or patience for "choices".
Some of the distros are coming along nicely, but until there's one that "just works" out of the box like OS X does, most consumers will probably pass.
I haven't tried higher-end models like the Shure E3C yet, but I plan to.
Yay!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-18-r owland_x.htm
It's not simply apathy that's at fault here, nor radical action groups. As has been stated numerous times here on /., today's political situation makes it very difficult for average citizens to even know who to vote for. It's hard for anyone to even get on a ballot without corporate sponsorship (today, political parties are just a euphemism for corporate sponsorship). The cost of running an effective election campaign, even at the local level, is enormous. This weeds out potential candidates who are either not motivated enough, not wealthy enough or unwilling to be a corporate proxy. We wind up with election ballots which limit us to choosing which corporate sponsors we hate less.
In order to make educated voting decisions, voters must do extensive research into candidates, from the local town board elections on up. Who do they have corporate ties to? Are they independantly wealthy enough to campaign without party sponsorship? What is their voting record? What legislation have they personally authored or sponsored? What organizations do they belong to? Naturally, noone makes this info readily accessible either.
People are inherently lazy, unfortunately. I can't even say that I put as much work into researching elections as I should. Many people can't even stand contemplating this; they limit themselves to whomever gives them the best sound bytes. Until a large enough number of people are willing to work at choosing alternative candidates, starting from the local elections, corporate sponsorship will dictate American politics.
Think about it: if left alone, won't an embryo eventually develop into a live animal (human or otherwise)? While it would take some time for it to develop to the point where its life would be viable outside the womb, it would eventually do so.
There are arguments justifying experimentation on human embryos. But the fact remains that you could take these same embryos, emplant them inside a womans uterus (in vitro fertilization), and they would develop into a human.
While these arguments sound reasonable, I feel that they bely an underlying selfishness in the people who wield them. The ends justify the means. We tell ourselves that it's ok, that we can use/abort these embryos because {insert your favorite reason here}. Let's be honest. We don't care whether the embryos are really viable humans or not. They suit our purposes and can't fight back, so let's go for it.
Hey, I'm no different. Years ago, some jerk got my sister pregnant and I gave her the money for an abortion. At the time I thought that I was doing the right thing. I thought: "why bring another unwanted child into the world". A few years later, my other sister found herself in the same situation. She decided not to abort, even though the rest of my family, including myself, wanted her to. My nephew turned twelve this year, and I can say that the world is a better place with him in it.
We get so outraged when we feel that some corporation or politician is taking advantage of their position of power over us. We see their selfish motives behind their actions and cry out against them. This subject is really no different. We have no real way of knowing whether what we're doing to these embryos constitutes murder or not. But we're going to do it anyway, because we can. Let's just be real about it.