You know what? You might be right. I use Windows too (ever since I more or less had to switch from my beloved Macintosh), and it's doing a wonderful job. Even my wife can use it so-so:D (oh I hope she won't stumble across this).
But the thing is, the free OS'es offer something of the same, yet differently. And since most of that difference is in essence philosophical, people are going to divide themselves into two camps. Me, I'm fine with the fact that people use/like/love Windows *and* whateverNIX, so I hope there's not too much mud-tossing between said two camps.
I will say also that I'm currently trying to escape the grasp of Microsoft (yes, for mostly philosophical reasons) and it's really not that easy. In fact, it's pretty rough sailing, and I'm rather much raised in the shimmer of a monitor, so there.
Here's saying you shouldn't be modded down, but you may be argued with.:o) Klay
...having seen those pictures, I wanted to state a comment. But browsing down through the posts... sheesh people, this is nothing to joke about. The parent post is the first 'proper' one I've come across, so I post in reply here.
How very strange that someone might want to make a trip through such a... tomb. But then again, I think I can see the attraction, somehow. Nevertheless, I am quite happy to see documents like this being brought to attention every now and then because this is going to stay with us for a long time yet to come, and we shouldn't forget. We musn't. I shuddered at the fact that the roads are the only places that are even now (somewhat) safe to be, and how all the rescue vehicles are "poisoned" (perhaps not the best word to choose, but it sure makes a firm point).
It's not mentioned in her photo journal, and I haven't seen it commented here, but once read somewhere that the amusement park you see some shots of actually had never been used -- it was due to open a few days after that fateful date.
A propos amusement... the folks at Stalker-game.com are making a game set in this city. From the material, it looks most excellently engineered, but I can't help thinking how very nasty this really is, using such an event as an opportunity for gun-toting entertainment.
As far as I can see, the site does not mentioning the disaster at all, which I think is wrong of them. They should at least provide insights to the "truth" and the unpleasant present, for instance by linking to photo journals such as this.
From a comment further down: What's even more scary is what's left behind there - a big crumbling concrete tomb no one seems to want to take responsibility for. Someone had better goddamn well do it or else EVERYONE will suffer again.
There isn't a hole deep enough to bury this demon in. Chernobyl is the kind of thing that gives me real nightmares. [...] What a horrible, HORRIBLE disaster.
Honestly, I cannot agree more. Sometimes I think this planet is long overdue for that end-all nuclear strike by some extremist militant who just happened to manage to appropriate a nuke somewhere.
But, I see that it just might as well happen this way -- accidentally, slowly.
I saw that picture of the free-running horses, and I felt so very sad. Ususally horses are a pleasing sight to me (don't ANYBODY dare to make a joke of that!), but knowing that they (and all the other animals that "of course" weren't evacuated by the gov't) are trying to get by on contaminated land, makes my heart sink. We should really learn to take care of this blue dot in space.
Yeah, all this spam is killing me, that's for sure.
But having said that, I think email (non-spam, even) probably has been using more bandwidth (speaking globally and through the years) than any other form of internet usage, at least until p2p came along, so I think email has earned its "killer" title.
Dude, If you need Knoppix to be able to install Debian easily on your HD then you need help!
Yeah, so what if we do ned help? I hope you're teasing us for trying to learn this stuff. It puzzles me that it saddens you that not everybody is as elite as you. Some of us are bound to be newbies. Right?
Personally, I've tried installing Debian a few times, and given up just as many times. Half of those, I couldn't even get my (plain vanilla) keyboard to work in the installer. And I freely admit it -- I do need help, because I can't seem to figure this out by myself. I'm used to linear installations, not this flat one-level menu with no clear ending. But rather than trying to use Knoppix as a katalyst, I've just switches horses and am now fiddling with Mandrake instead.
Using a live-cd as a "template" to learn from -- and build upon -- is in essence using an "easy installer" and choosing the "default" configuration, as opposed to pulling sources via FTP and rebuilding everything to custom specs.
We may get there some day (or we may not), but if we get help for the first feeble steps, that's excellent.
...Hi all, just wanted to say that The Neverhood (whence I stole my nick) is a neat game, even though it has no text interface.
You (a clay figure) walk around in this zany clay landscape, and while the interface is simply point-and-click, the humour, physical set design, and soundtrack is excellently made. All in all, it is reminiscent of the old adventures (Zork, CC, Transylvania, etc)./My.02
Before Apple introduced System 7 that had switching built-in, there was an application called "Switcher" that allowed the user to run up to 4 simultaneous screens. This was for the Macintosh Plus/SE/IIGS/etc, that typically had between 512K and 2megs of RAM, I'd say about 1985 though I'mnot at all certain about this.
Well, if you cover your hand while typing in your pin (as all Europeans, or at least all Scandinavians are taught to do), it's still possible to sort of deduce where your fingers are. -- But if you don't know where the keys are, even that's not very useful.
I for one cannot understand how the general consensus here is that people don't try their very best to hide their pin code... but hey, I'm not an american, so what do I know.
... they have some old ATM where the numbers are arranged in one loong row of large buttons... completely impossible to hide what you're typing.
But then, their new generation of ATM's have a touch-screen LCD to display the number pad -- and the digits are randomly rearranged between uses. Now that's secure (but not so ergonomic).
Well, not quite. It's not like I don't like Gnome "at all", maybe it's just the skinning/theming of KDE that is more friendly. But until I have tried either DE for at least a little while, I might as well start my testing with the one that seems better, in one way or another. No?
Mind you, this is all a new game to me. As far as I gather, nearly everyone has installed several DE's on their machines, and so have I -- so now I'm working with both of them, and comparing.
All I meant to say was, I think it commendable that Gnome *has* a set of guidelines. Is it not true that it's important, and obvioulsy necessary?
I want to support this as strongly as I can -- Day of Defeat is *THE* online game.
True, it's the basic two-team FPS just like Counter-Strike (bleh), but it's soo much better. Unlike shoot-everything games like CS and "Serious" Sam, DoD is a difficult-to-master piece of action.
Shoot your Browning twice, and you're suddently aiming more than 20 degrees higher. Jump twice or run 40 paces, and you're so low on stamina that you'll have to walk slowly for a while. This game is HARD, damnit! If you go it alone you'll be lying on your face in the mud in no time.
Plus, if (when) you die, there's only a few seconds until the next respawn wave, so unlike CS if you die 30 seconds into a round you don't have to wait for the whole round to restart. Then there is the community -- most people are helpful and there is plenty of activity on the forum (http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/index.php).
O yeah, and if you're without DSL for a while, you can always install the excellent Sturmbot AI and play against the computer. There is no real single-player mode.
Only downside is you have to run Windows, because DoD is based on Half-Life. And it's only fair to warn you - it shows in the graphics, but it's still a pretty excellent piece of eyecandy, plus you can run it on "any old Pentium".
"KlaymenDK" playing since Beta 1.1... -- Not using my moderator points so I can commend this game!!
As a starting point, let me say that I've been running Linux for a very short while, and I am generally happy with it (not to mention utterly impressed at what hordes of individuals can achieve, go team!).
I like the "look and feel" of KDE better than GNome, but because Gnome boasts a commitment to usability, that has become my DE of coice. Now, there is one thing in particular that really disappoints me, and this goes for all Linux DE's I've tried: properly managing the "infinite pixels"!
"Infinite pixels" (my term) are the five pixels that are the easiest to target at any time -- namely the four corners of the display, and the pixel right under the cursor. Secondary, the four edges of the screen are also easily targettable.
Now, the fifth pixel is okay, since that's where the contect menu is. But the others, oh boy. Who in GUI's name decided that a the top-right pixel of a window (when maximised) should NOT be equivalent to the [x] button to close it? People trained by/in/with Windows miss this one point immensely! Equally, why do application buttons on the panels not extend to the edge of the display?
The reason: An object that "ends" 1px before the display edge is whatever given size it seems to be, whereas one that reaches the edge (at least logically, if not visually) suddently becomes of *infinite* size (basically because you can just whack your cursor over there, and still hit the target as the motion is stopped at the edge of the display).
Please oh please, get this one point right. THEN, you can boast about the grand human-friendly GUI. I'll be waiting patiently, and appreciate it when it arrives.
At first this sounds good, but there's a catch called "not everyone runs their own mail server".
Take me for instance, I've got a website that was (WAS!) hosted with Azero in Denmark -- twice we were hijacked to send spam, and twice Azero basically told us to go fukk ourselves. Naturally, we're not on a much better provider.
But those two times, who should be stuck with your bill? The shitty provider, or the non-mailserver-skilled site owner? Basically, where do you put the blame when outsourcing is a part of the equation?
I'm using Mozilla Browser exclusively, both at work and at home. At home I'm also using Mozilla Mail.
The standard Moz browser has many of the advanced features built in that you'd need to install separately for the Wossnamebird (Browserbird). And since I'm running it 9-to-5 anyway, startup times are a non-issue.
As for the email part, I come from "The Bat!" which is no less than awesome in ability and performance (it's a plaintext-only client, which is both good and bad). I haven't used an MS mail client for over 8 years (though I am (until further) running on Windows). I started using Mozilla Mail because it was convenient -- it's there anyway once Mozilla is in the box, and it's really quite excellent (truth be told, the only thing I miss from The Bat! is its superior filtering ability). So you see, I see no real reason to install Thatotherbird (Mailbird) because I have what I need.
Simplicity is the word. The most features with the least fuss -- and the Mozilla suite excels at that. I hope they keep the suite alive, even when the 'birds mature.
Or try Spam Motel for disposable addresses - for free. This way you can set up tons of different addresses to all point to your actual address. If one of them sells you out - disable it and you're home safe.
1) Make new address. 2) Give it to trustees. 3) Dumbass trustees send you a SpamGateGreetingCard using your new address (because the picture is so cute, and they get a freebie animated GIF). 4) SpamGateGreetingCard propagates your address to the scum of the planet. 5) Sucks to be you!
it is the worst mail client I have ever used... Yeah. I know. Mee tooo.
But look at it from another perspective: Lotus Notes is not an email application, it's a database application.
And you can build some bretty nifty databases with it (and/or some pretty ugly ones as well). Of course, they do have some ingenious features *cough*Replication*cough* that I don't see in Access, for instance, that have helped them get to where they are today. All I'm saying is, it's an achievement to make it do email. And calendaring.
But it sucks, oh boy, does it suck compared to what's "out there" otherwise (for free even). Don't ever -- EVER -- try to use the semi-advanced boss/secretary calendaring features over several timezones. Pain!
Maybe some of these bugs are fixed in newer versions.
Well, they usually call it "replacing the bugs", don't they? I'm on 5.0.11 at work, and developing on R6.5. Whoa, that R6 GUI is a whole 'nother topic, sheesh!
Discalimerette: IBM =/= Lotus! IBM owns Lotus, sure, but they still run their own shop (it seems).
Well, consider this: What good is being able to place the glass topside-up when the beer's already on the floor (spilled while tumbling during the landing)?
Easy one:
1) Differences:
The SIP-based solution provided by Robertsons SIPPhones is hardware, ie. you get an actual telephone, but you plug it into your LAN instead of the phone line.
On the other hand, Zenstroms Skype is a neat little Windows program that has the nice feature of being able to connect through almost any firewall or network furball. I for one can vouch for that -- I've spent tens of hours trying to get Netmeeting to connect between Denmark and Germany.
Skype is free (so far), but only available for Windows 2000/XP (so far). So while it's an easy download, you'll have to run Windows and do a minimum of fidgeting with the software.
SIPPhone is just a phone, so you can use it even when your pc is off, running Linux, or a Mac (or you don't even own one). But as far as I understand, you can only call other SIPPhones with it. That's why you buy them two at a time, of course...
I use [spammotel.com] to get me throw-away relay email addresses. These are great for dubious sites and especially one-shot usage, and allow you to narrow down the source of the "leak". But still, I'd say the above poster is right about this being merely a means to side-step the underlying problem.
Oh, and let's not forget -- an equally valid form of leak is through your very own friends who are using a, shall we say, "very common email client from a certain proprietary vendor". When-if these folk get hit by various worms and whatnot, they (unknowingly) send your email address (and even email) to whomever. I consider that a serious problem, not least because it's well outside my circle of influence. (And no, I don't fancy getting all those Johhny PC users to switch to some ooh-strange-and-difficult other software!)
So, I use Mozilla and its almost-great filter and accept the wasted bandwidth. I think that *not getting upset about it* is just as valuable as finding clever ways to avoid the problem, or at least it can be for the home user, in terms of frustration and time spent.//BTW... this is my first ever/. post!:-D
Slashdot Mirror
Hi diablonight.
:D (oh I hope she won't stumble across this).
:o) Klay
You know what? You might be right. I use Windows too (ever since I more or less had to switch from my beloved Macintosh), and it's doing a wonderful job. Even my wife can use it so-so
But the thing is, the free OS'es offer something of the same, yet differently. And since most of that difference is in essence philosophical, people are going to divide themselves into two camps. Me, I'm fine with the fact that people use/like/love Windows *and* whateverNIX, so I hope there's not too much mud-tossing between said two camps.
I will say also that I'm currently trying to escape the grasp of Microsoft (yes, for mostly philosophical reasons) and it's really not that easy. In fact, it's pretty rough sailing, and I'm rather much raised in the shimmer of a monitor, so there.
Here's saying you shouldn't be modded down, but you may be argued with.
...having seen those pictures, I wanted to state a comment. But browsing down through the posts ... sheesh people, this is nothing to joke about. The parent post is the first 'proper' one I've come across, so I post in reply here.
... tomb. But then again, I think I can see the attraction, somehow. Nevertheless, I am quite happy to see documents like this being brought to attention every now and then because this is going to stay with us for a long time yet to come, and we shouldn't forget. We musn't. I shuddered at the fact that the roads are the only places that are even now (somewhat) safe to be, and how all the rescue vehicles are "poisoned" (perhaps not the best word to choose, but it sure makes a firm point).
... the folks at Stalker-game.com are making a game set in this city. From the material, it looks most excellently engineered, but I can't help thinking how very nasty this really is, using such an event as an opportunity for gun-toting entertainment.
How very strange that someone might want to make a trip through such a
It's not mentioned in her photo journal, and I haven't seen it commented here, but once read somewhere that the amusement park you see some shots of actually had never been used -- it was due to open a few days after that fateful date.
A propos amusement
As far as I can see, the site does not mentioning the disaster at all, which I think is wrong of them. They should at least provide insights to the "truth" and the unpleasant present, for instance by linking to photo journals such as this.
From a comment further down:
What's even more scary is what's left behind there - a big crumbling concrete tomb no one seems to want to take responsibility for. Someone had better goddamn well do it or else EVERYONE will suffer again.
There isn't a hole deep enough to bury this demon in. Chernobyl is the kind of thing that gives me real nightmares. [...] What a horrible, HORRIBLE disaster.
Honestly, I cannot agree more. Sometimes I think this planet is long overdue for that end-all nuclear strike by some extremist militant who just happened to manage to appropriate a nuke somewhere.
But, I see that it just might as well happen this way -- accidentally, slowly.
I saw that picture of the free-running horses, and I felt so very sad. Ususally horses are a pleasing sight to me (don't ANYBODY dare to make a joke of that!), but knowing that they (and all the other animals that "of course" weren't evacuated by the gov't) are trying to get by on contaminated land, makes my heart sink. We should really learn to take care of this blue dot in space.
Yeah, all this spam is killing me, that's for sure.
:-D
But having said that, I think email (non-spam, even) probably has been using more bandwidth (speaking globally and through the years) than any other form of internet usage, at least until p2p came along, so I think email has earned its "killer" title.
And now, I'll go read the article!
...they'd even get it to sound okay in Danish! Trust me, I've tried this -- back in '84 or so.
:o(
--
Talking Moose, I miss you.
Dude, If you need Knoppix to be able to install Debian easily on your HD then you need help!
Yeah, so what if we do ned help? I hope you're teasing us for trying to learn this stuff. It puzzles me that it saddens you that not everybody is as elite as you. Some of us are bound to be newbies. Right?
Personally, I've tried installing Debian a few times, and given up just as many times. Half of those, I couldn't even get my (plain vanilla) keyboard to work in the installer. And I freely admit it -- I do need help, because I can't seem to figure this out by myself. I'm used to linear installations, not this flat one-level menu with no clear ending. But rather than trying to use Knoppix as a katalyst, I've just switches horses and am now fiddling with Mandrake instead.
Using a live-cd as a "template" to learn from -- and build upon -- is in essence using an "easy installer" and choosing the "default" configuration, as opposed to pulling sources via FTP and rebuilding everything to custom specs.
We may get there some day (or we may not), but if we get help for the first feeble steps, that's excellent.
...Hi all,
/My .02
just wanted to say that The Neverhood (whence I stole my nick) is a neat game, even though it has no text interface.
You (a clay figure) walk around in this zany clay landscape, and while the interface is simply point-and-click, the humour, physical set design, and soundtrack is excellently made. All in all, it is reminiscent of the old adventures (Zork, CC, Transylvania, etc).
Pah! Windows...
Before Apple introduced System 7 that had switching built-in, there was an application called "Switcher" that allowed the user to run up to 4 simultaneous screens. This was for the Macintosh Plus/SE/IIGS/etc, that typically had between 512K and 2megs of RAM, I'd say about 1985 though I'mnot at all certain about this.
Best resource page I could find quickly.
The US will patent ANYTHING. Duhh.
Well, if you cover your hand while typing in your pin (as all Europeans, or at least all Scandinavians are taught to do), it's still possible to sort of deduce where your fingers are. -- But if you don't know where the keys are, even that's not very useful.
... but hey, I'm not an american, so what do I know.
I for one cannot understand how the general consensus here is that people don't try their very best to hide their pin code
... they have some old ATM where the numbers are arranged in one loong row of large buttons ... completely impossible to hide what you're typing.
But then, their new generation of ATM's have a touch-screen LCD to display the number pad -- and the digits are randomly rearranged between uses. Now that's secure (but not so ergonomic).
Well, not quite. It's not like I don't like Gnome "at all", maybe it's just the skinning/theming of KDE that is more friendly. But until I have tried either DE for at least a little while, I might as well start my testing with the one that seems better, in one way or another. No?
Mind you, this is all a new game to me. As far as I gather, nearly everyone has installed several DE's on their machines, and so have I -- so now I'm working with both of them, and comparing.
All I meant to say was, I think it commendable that Gnome *has* a set of guidelines. Is it not true that it's important, and obvioulsy necessary?
Oh yeah, and you might want to check out http://www.moddb.com/ -- they have a thorough listing of ALL the mods out there.
I want to support this as strongly as I can -- Day of Defeat is *THE* online game.
True, it's the basic two-team FPS just like Counter-Strike (bleh), but it's soo much better. Unlike shoot-everything games like CS and "Serious" Sam, DoD is a difficult-to-master piece of action.
Shoot your Browning twice, and you're suddently aiming more than 20 degrees higher. Jump twice or run 40 paces, and you're so low on stamina that you'll have to walk slowly for a while. This game is HARD, damnit! If you go it alone you'll be lying on your face in the mud in no time.
Plus, if (when) you die, there's only a few seconds until the next respawn wave, so unlike CS if you die 30 seconds into a round you don't have to wait for the whole round to restart. Then there is the community -- most people are helpful and there is plenty of activity on the forum (http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/index.php).
O yeah, and if you're without DSL for a while, you can always install the excellent Sturmbot AI and play against the computer. There is no real single-player mode.
Only downside is you have to run Windows, because DoD is based on Half-Life. And it's only fair to warn you - it shows in the graphics, but it's still a pretty excellent piece of eyecandy, plus you can run it on "any old Pentium".
"KlaymenDK"
playing since Beta 1.1...
--
Not using my moderator points so I can commend this game!!
As a starting point, let me say that I've been running Linux for a very short while, and I am generally happy with it (not to mention utterly impressed at what hordes of individuals can achieve, go team!).
I like the "look and feel" of KDE better than GNome, but because Gnome boasts a commitment to usability, that has become my DE of coice. Now, there is one thing in particular that really disappoints me, and this goes for all Linux DE's I've tried: properly managing the "infinite pixels"!
"Infinite pixels" (my term) are the five pixels that are the easiest to target at any time -- namely the four corners of the display, and the pixel right under the cursor. Secondary, the four edges of the screen are also easily targettable.
Now, the fifth pixel is okay, since that's where the contect menu is. But the others, oh boy. Who in GUI's name decided that a the top-right pixel of a window (when maximised) should NOT be equivalent to the [x] button to close it? People trained by/in/with Windows miss this one point immensely! Equally, why do application buttons on the panels not extend to the edge of the display?
The reason: An object that "ends" 1px before the display edge is whatever given size it seems to be, whereas one that reaches the edge (at least logically, if not visually) suddently becomes of *infinite* size (basically because you can just whack your cursor over there, and still hit the target as the motion is stopped at the edge of the display).
Please oh please, get this one point right. THEN, you can boast about the grand human-friendly GUI. I'll be waiting patiently, and appreciate it when it arrives.
At first this sounds good, but there's a catch called "not everyone runs their own mail server".
Take me for instance, I've got a website that was (WAS!) hosted with Azero in Denmark -- twice we were hijacked to send spam, and twice Azero basically told us to go fukk ourselves. Naturally, we're not on a much better provider.
But those two times, who should be stuck with your bill? The shitty provider, or the non-mailserver-skilled site owner? Basically, where do you put the blame when outsourcing is a part of the equation?
I'm using Mozilla Browser exclusively, both at work and at home. At home I'm also using Mozilla Mail.
The standard Moz browser has many of the advanced features built in that you'd need to install separately for the Wossnamebird (Browserbird). And since I'm running it 9-to-5 anyway, startup times are a non-issue.
As for the email part, I come from "The Bat!" which is no less than awesome in ability and performance (it's a plaintext-only client, which is both good and bad). I haven't used an MS mail client for over 8 years (though I am (until further) running on Windows).
I started using Mozilla Mail because it was convenient -- it's there anyway once Mozilla is in the box, and it's really quite excellent (truth be told, the only thing I miss from The Bat! is its superior filtering ability). So you see, I see no real reason to install Thatotherbird (Mailbird) because I have what I need.
Simplicity is the word. The most features with the least fuss -- and the Mozilla suite excels at that. I hope they keep the suite alive, even when the 'birds mature.
Or try Spam Motel for disposable addresses - for free. This way you can set up tons of different addresses to all point to your actual address. If one of them sells you out - disable it and you're home safe.
Works for me.
1) Make new address.
2) Give it to trustees.
3) Dumbass trustees send you a SpamGateGreetingCard using your new address (because the picture is so cute, and they get a freebie animated GIF).
4) SpamGateGreetingCard propagates your address to the scum of the planet.
5) Sucks to be you!
Hmm, has anyone read the book Chrichton's Prey ? *shiver*
it is the worst mail client I have ever used ... Yeah. I know. Mee tooo.
But look at it from another perspective: Lotus Notes is not an email application, it's a database application.
And you can build some bretty nifty databases with it (and/or some pretty ugly ones as well). Of course, they do have some ingenious features *cough*Replication*cough* that I don't see in Access, for instance, that have helped them get to where they are today. All I'm saying is, it's an achievement to make it do email. And calendaring.
But it sucks, oh boy, does it suck compared to what's "out there" otherwise (for free even). Don't ever -- EVER -- try to use the semi-advanced boss/secretary calendaring features over several timezones. Pain!
Maybe some of these bugs are fixed in newer versions.
Well, they usually call it "replacing the bugs", don't they? I'm on 5.0.11 at work, and developing on R6.5. Whoa, that R6 GUI is a whole 'nother topic, sheesh!
Discalimerette: IBM =/= Lotus! IBM owns Lotus, sure, but they still run their own shop (it seems).
Actually, I've found it more helpful than the opposite, that people 'know me' when I first meet them at a client site. It's fun.
;-)
...but I can see that if you're maintaining totl.net on the side, they might think twice about hiring you as the new asylum watchman.
Well, consider this:
What good is being able to place the glass topside-up when the beer's already on the floor (spilled while tumbling during the landing)?
Easy one: 1) Differences: The SIP-based solution provided by Robertsons SIPPhones is hardware, ie. you get an actual telephone, but you plug it into your LAN instead of the phone line. On the other hand, Zenstroms Skype is a neat little Windows program that has the nice feature of being able to connect through almost any firewall or network furball. I for one can vouch for that -- I've spent tens of hours trying to get Netmeeting to connect between Denmark and Germany. Skype is free (so far), but only available for Windows 2000/XP (so far). So while it's an easy download, you'll have to run Windows and do a minimum of fidgeting with the software. SIPPhone is just a phone, so you can use it even when your pc is off, running Linux, or a Mac (or you don't even own one). But as far as I understand, you can only call other SIPPhones with it. That's why you buy them two at a time, of course...
On a related note, see this article [Wired]. Ugh, those "spackers" (hacker-spammers) are a nasty crowd.
I use [spammotel.com] to get me throw-away relay email addresses. These are great for dubious sites and especially one-shot usage, and allow you to narrow down the source of the "leak".
//BTW ... this is my first ever /. post! :-D
But still, I'd say the above poster is right about this being merely a means to side-step the underlying problem.
Oh, and let's not forget -- an equally valid form of leak is through your very own friends who are using a, shall we say, "very common email client from a certain proprietary vendor". When-if these folk get hit by various worms and whatnot, they (unknowingly) send your email address (and even email) to whomever.
I consider that a serious problem, not least because it's well outside my circle of influence. (And no, I don't fancy getting all those Johhny PC users to switch to some ooh-strange-and-difficult other software!)
So, I use Mozilla and its almost-great filter and accept the wasted bandwidth. I think that *not getting upset about it* is just as valuable as finding clever ways to avoid the problem, or at least it can be for the home user, in terms of frustration and time spent.