Except that not all weapons come under the second ammendment. In fact, lots of people would argue that allowing rednecks guns doesn't come under it either ("militia" hardly suggests self-defense - kind of tenuous claim at best). The second ammendment is so anachronistic it's unbelievable.
Something else to think about... most gun owners are white, and politically right-leaning.
When you download Shrek 2, no-one dies. When some nutter lets loose with his.50 in a shopping mall, you get the picture. It's not that hard a concept to grasp;)
I hear ya. Those sorts of laws are really part of a nanny state. Luckily, in the UK, you can drive soaked in beer and vodka as long as you can pass a breath test.
Here's an honest question - why, in the self-proclaimed land of the free, is there such insane lawmaking? Don't Americans mind?? It's not as if anything undo-able happens if someone breaks this new law. If Timmy downloads Shrek 2 instead of paying $10 to go see it at the cinema, no-one died. No-one's feelings can't be put right with a little money (not that it's right to do so). p2p doesn't warrant a hard crackdown.
This is just ridiculous. Compensating failed business models through rigorous legislation. Did anyone ask for more proof the US is run by big business? If so, you've just been served.
But there's an alternative out there for windows boxes, so the free Windows coupled with that hardware, provides exactly the same functionality as the setup from the article, and at a similar price... your point?:)
slashdot is getting really, really sucky. Objectivity has flown out the window. It's just linux fanboys running around screaming straight-up lies about microsoft and closed software, unchecked by their peers who should know better. sheesh.
Free software is going to help in Africa as much as it helped Luke Skywalker kill Darth Vader. Your idea sounds a lot like Bush's "trickle-down economy" vision. If many African governments suffer from corruption, getting them to use Free software isn't going to help anyone. Any money saved would go straight into their pockets. That's the problem - the government is corrupt. You can't try and change that just by saving them some dollars on softare - people don't work that way.
Free media is more useful than free software. Get good radio broadcasts to the people telling them the truth, and they'll change their government (or at least get the AU/UN in). TuxRacer isn't going to do that.
Wow! That satellite must be what all those starving AIDS-ridden townships were crying out for! How they can bask in their agonising pain and hunger, safe in the knowledge that a university is freakin' around with a satellite, using it to download last week's The Daily Show.
South Africa doesn't need any more computers. The grandparent was absolutely spot-on. The fact they have computers now doesn't mean more are needed. Surely the fact that so many people are dying horrific and easily-preventable deaths should give you a couple of clues... stop the hunger, disease, corruption and crime, and the people will be in a position to start using computers. Trying to leap-frog those incredibly important steps means you get a society trying to do too much too soon. Just look at Iraq - people are trying to get them services that look good, yet don't help anyone. Cleaning public libraries when the power's still not running and people are thirsty. Iraqi National Soccer Team running around, being broadcast home to their starving families. First things first, people.
Why don't they aim higher, then, and install a plane simulator - that way, they can train all the kids to be commercial airline pilots!
I know where you're coming from, but we're not talking about some place with a cracked sidewalk and annoyingly high prices for lattes in Starbucks - we're talking about a place where you can get shot in your own lounge, where there is little food, where there are huge health problems. Sure a computer could further a kid's progress and career, but not if they get AIDS when they're 11 and are dead by 16. The fact they know how to write a CV in OpenOffice isn't going to help.
First things first... let them use the computers knowing what they're learning will be of use. Otherwise, what's the point?
A theoretically infinite number of people who theoretically could know absolutely nothing. The Britannica's articles are checked over by professors and such - people who can categorically say whether something is rubbish or not... It's not just how many people review a piece, but who the people are. I know I wouldn't trust a Wiki article on its own a great deal, that's for sure...
Phones are a different breed to your normal consumer electronics, as the shop doesn't make money from selling the handset, but from the commission the shop gets from the network the handset is connected to. The shop also gets (the most) commission from the tariff the handset is connected on. Therefor, if you go into a shop expecting to get an expensive handset on a cheap tariff, you're going to have to pay. The shops have to recoup the costs of nearly everything they sell by commission from the network. It's complicated, but if you get the right mix of handset and tariff, you can walk away not paying a penny. In fact, I bought to SE T610s last year from Carphone Warehouse, and I ended up not paying a penny when I bought them, and walking away with 2 free DVD players (multi-region, slim form factor). Pretty good:)
How about the "stop app from stealing focus" windows settings? They seem to be there for exactly the purpose you're speaking of. Of course, I'm sure that won't be enough for you. Somehow that infringes on your privacy, or was stolen from mac/linux/bsd/the democrats.
If they do such a poor job as Netscape did, then fair enough... Let's not make Netscape out to be some sort of betrayed jesus or something. Netscape made crappy software, and they lost out because of that single fact.
You've damned your own argument there, mate. Saying windows is less user-friendly than linux is plain ridiculous. Windows has automatic updates for one thing, which will download SP2 for you. That's right. No looking at logfiles of installing the occasional security update. I really have a hard time trying to understand how someone can stick to their guns when so clearly and utterly wrong on a point. Oh wait - this is slashdot.
On my Windows (corp -usual story), you can install the SP2 fine. Afterwards, however, windowsupdate will not work. I guess that means they've done enough to XP to make it secure enough to be left alone...
There's something wrong with your computer, as my firewall is off 100% of the time. I'm behind a hw firewall, so it's no big deal.
I'm all for pointing out shortcomings in software, but to highlight shortcomings with ones own setup and label it a problem with their most hated OS is a tad childish, to say the least. XP2 is a great step in the right direction. It will help the problems with trojans/viruses immensely, as we will see.
And people bitched when MS didn't turn the firewall on be default. Christ. They really can't win on this site, can they? It's pathetic. Nothing personal, but it reflects really badly on this site if people can't participate in an objective discussion. To the outside world, we must look like a bunch of little kids. Pathetic.
And I have plenty of stories of people going the other way, but I guess this will be modded as flamebait or troll or something. sheesh. Anecdotal evidence a good browser does not make. or something.
Slashdot Mirror
Wrong and wrong. What's your point? :-P
There are free-as-in-beer closed-source, non-GPL'd apps out there too, you know...
No, but you guys are about 50 years down the line... ;)
Something else to think about... most gun owners are white, and politically right-leaning.
When you download Shrek 2, no-one dies. When some nutter lets loose with his .50 in a shopping mall, you get the picture. It's not that hard a concept to grasp ;)
Here's an honest question - why, in the self-proclaimed land of the free, is there such insane lawmaking? Don't Americans mind?? It's not as if anything undo-able happens if someone breaks this new law. If Timmy downloads Shrek 2 instead of paying $10 to go see it at the cinema, no-one died. No-one's feelings can't be put right with a little money (not that it's right to do so). p2p doesn't warrant a hard crackdown.
This is just ridiculous. Compensating failed business models through rigorous legislation. Did anyone ask for more proof the US is run by big business? If so, you've just been served.
thanks for clearing that up ;)
But there's an alternative out there for windows boxes, so the free Windows coupled with that hardware, provides exactly the same functionality as the setup from the article, and at a similar price... your point? :)
Works out of the box on windows... of course that must be trolling or off-topic :)
slashdot is getting really, really sucky. Objectivity has flown out the window. It's just linux fanboys running around screaming straight-up lies about microsoft and closed software, unchecked by their peers who should know better. sheesh.
Free media is more useful than free software. Get good radio broadcasts to the people telling them the truth, and they'll change their government (or at least get the AU/UN in). TuxRacer isn't going to do that.
South Africa doesn't need any more computers. The grandparent was absolutely spot-on. The fact they have computers now doesn't mean more are needed. Surely the fact that so many people are dying horrific and easily-preventable deaths should give you a couple of clues... stop the hunger, disease, corruption and crime, and the people will be in a position to start using computers. Trying to leap-frog those incredibly important steps means you get a society trying to do too much too soon. Just look at Iraq - people are trying to get them services that look good, yet don't help anyone. Cleaning public libraries when the power's still not running and people are thirsty. Iraqi National Soccer Team running around, being broadcast home to their starving families. First things first, people.
I know where you're coming from, but we're not talking about some place with a cracked sidewalk and annoyingly high prices for lattes in Starbucks - we're talking about a place where you can get shot in your own lounge, where there is little food, where there are huge health problems. Sure a computer could further a kid's progress and career, but not if they get AIDS when they're 11 and are dead by 16. The fact they know how to write a CV in OpenOffice isn't going to help.
First things first... let them use the computers knowing what they're learning will be of use. Otherwise, what's the point?
A theoretically infinite number of people who theoretically could know absolutely nothing. The Britannica's articles are checked over by professors and such - people who can categorically say whether something is rubbish or not... It's not just how many people review a piece, but who the people are. I know I wouldn't trust a Wiki article on its own a great deal, that's for sure...
Phones are a different breed to your normal consumer electronics, as the shop doesn't make money from selling the handset, but from the commission the shop gets from the network the handset is connected to. The shop also gets (the most) commission from the tariff the handset is connected on. Therefor, if you go into a shop expecting to get an expensive handset on a cheap tariff, you're going to have to pay. The shops have to recoup the costs of nearly everything they sell by commission from the network. It's complicated, but if you get the right mix of handset and tariff, you can walk away not paying a penny. In fact, I bought to SE T610s last year from Carphone Warehouse, and I ended up not paying a penny when I bought them, and walking away with 2 free DVD players (multi-region, slim form factor). Pretty good :)
How about the "stop app from stealing focus" windows settings? They seem to be there for exactly the purpose you're speaking of. Of course, I'm sure that won't be enough for you. Somehow that infringes on your privacy, or was stolen from mac/linux/bsd/the democrats.
If they do such a poor job as Netscape did, then fair enough... Let's not make Netscape out to be some sort of betrayed jesus or something. Netscape made crappy software, and they lost out because of that single fact.
You've damned your own argument there, mate. Saying windows is less user-friendly than linux is plain ridiculous. Windows has automatic updates for one thing, which will download SP2 for you. That's right. No looking at logfiles of installing the occasional security update. I really have a hard time trying to understand how someone can stick to their guns when so clearly and utterly wrong on a point. Oh wait - this is slashdot.
On my Windows (corp -usual story), you can install the SP2 fine. Afterwards, however, windowsupdate will not work. I guess that means they've done enough to XP to make it secure enough to be left alone...
I'm all for pointing out shortcomings in software, but to highlight shortcomings with ones own setup and label it a problem with their most hated OS is a tad childish, to say the least. XP2 is a great step in the right direction. It will help the problems with trojans/viruses immensely, as we will see.
And people bitched when MS didn't turn the firewall on be default. Christ. They really can't win on this site, can they? It's pathetic. Nothing personal, but it reflects really badly on this site if people can't participate in an objective discussion. To the outside world, we must look like a bunch of little kids. Pathetic.
And TheRegsiter.co.uk hate microsoft - how are they unbiassed? It's like saying slashdot is unbiassed...
I'm a windows user, and I think it's great. What sort of groups do you hang out in? :-P
And I have plenty of stories of people going the other way, but I guess this will be modded as flamebait or troll or something. sheesh. Anecdotal evidence a good browser does not make. or something.