Evolution also didn't have any use for post-reproductive individuals
I don't know what your expertise is but it certainly isn't Evolution. There is strength in numbers and within the group, there are many roles that support the survival of the individual.
Your English teacher must have been the Soup Nazi.
It was just an old-fashioned school, where they marked wrong answers "Wrong" instead of "1/2 point, nice try, your mistake shows tremendous promise and creativity."
Would that be the large, unmarked banks of blinking square lights, the female voice that always says "Insufficient Data" followed by a dramatic orchestral chord, or the engine that the chief engineer can only repair 10 seconds before destruction?
I was looking for an informed discussion as opposed to culture wars or finger-pointing
So you started your informed discussion with "no culture war or finger-pointing" by making a sweeping statement about 1.5 billion people... I'm no supporter of the Chinese government, but I'm no supporter of sanctimony either.
Go to your local dumpsite (do you know where it is?) and tell me how North American (including Canadian) consumerism is demonstrating its respect for the environment. Can you drink any of the water without treatment? How's the air in the big cities? How would your culture scale up to 1.5 billion people? Are the Plastic Dead Zones in the oceans the doing of those dirty, inconsiderate Chinese?
The US is not the victim of an international conspiracy. Unless you consider having mistakes brought to your attention a conspiracy. They used to call that "learning" in school.
Have you been to your local dumpsite? Imagine if there were 1.5 billion Americans (and Canadians). How would North American consumption patterns and "environmental standards" really compare?
For instance, if China treats space the way they treat many other things (ie little or no regard for its preservation, pardon the sweeping statement) then what recourse will other countries have?
It's particularly difficult to pardon the hypocrisy your sweeping statement if, as I suspect, you happen to be in North America.
I can install XP on any hardware and I receive updates as long as my licence is validated. Not being able to run the full OS without a constantly validated key that is tied to my hardware (unlike W2k and WXP) is a dongle. The dongle having a limited number of installations before I need to ask permission is an expiry date. Vista and Win7 are dongled with an expiry date.
Can you install Tiger or Leopard on something that isn't a Mac ?
1. It's no different to XP, which everyone seems to now hold up as some sort of gold standard.
2. It's still streets ahead of OS X, and OS X's licensing doesn't seem to have slowed it down too much.
1. You are wrong. I installed my legitimate copy of W2K on a computer for a project recently. (Almost 10 years after the purchase of W2K -- no limit on the number of installations, nor on the hardware.) I did the same with my legitimate copy of WXP recently. With Vista and Win7, Microsoft is tying the activation code to the hardware and telling me that I have to ask permission to change hardware. Is the difference clearer now?
2. I don't see your point. I can install Tiger or Leopard on any of my Macs at any time. I have often moved between Panther and Tiger for development projects.
Vista really doesn't suck. I say this as an OS X, Linux, and M-Windows user.
But if Microsoft wants to increase marketshare among the people using unlicensed installations of the OS, it's the Vista-style *licensing* of Win7 that must change.
The licensing model of Vista (and Win7) is like dongle, only worse: it's a dongle with an expiry date. It penalizes the customer. If I buy an authentication key, *I* should be the one to say on which computer I install it. I shouldn't have to call Redmond for permission if I change computers.
MSIE has the largest installation base because MS Windows has the largest installation base. If you don't think that this constitutes a biasing force, you are not thinking... and you are certainly not a Web developer who has had to deal with MSIE 5 and 6.
MS Paint is next to useless. Mentioning it does not support your position. MS Notepad has not stopped people from using real editors, or MS Word, either.
- he is famous engineer (I will never be famous) - he is a talented engineer (I will never be talented) - he built revolutionary products (I write Perl scripts) - he's a member of the Segway Polo team (I have a folding bicycle) - he gets to dance close with a hot woman on television (Mom, what's for breakfast?)
I agree about the flawed permissions architecture.
I use Ubuntu ("Canonical's Debian") and OS X. But not everything runs in WINE so I do have an occasional need to run MS for contract work. I have no more patience for WinXP's constant updates (many requiring a reboot) and it's growing harder to find Win2K drivers, so I tried Vista. It is availble for 64-bit (more addressable RAM) and it has outbound firewall blocking (that's good). Vista looks better than previous versions and the UAC is truly NOT so annoying as has been portrayed by Apple's advertising. I see the super-user password dialog in Ubuntu and OS X just as often.
I *have* run into problems with the Program Files folder in Vista. Some applications need to write in there and sometimes *I* want to write in there, but "for safety", Vista won't let me do it even if I accept the UAC dialog. It's inconsistent behaviour verging on buggy.
I would consider Vista a worthwhile upgrade. But the biggest problem with Vista -- the deal-breaker -- is the licensing model. It's my business where I install the OS. It will only be on one computer at a time, but if I pay the money, the OS goes where I decide when it suits me to reinstall, without a penalty to ME. I want a long-term investment in my favour. It looks as though Win7 licensing will be the same as for Vista.
The solution is to edit the computer's hosts file to block anything you don't like. It works, it's free, and there's no way around it for these companies.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know what your expertise is but it certainly isn't Evolution. There is strength in numbers and within the group, there are many roles that support the survival of the individual.
It was just an old-fashioned school, where they marked wrong answers "Wrong" instead of "1/2 point, nice try, your mistake shows tremendous promise and creativity."
the other guy was a genius who didn't want noterity
Your English teacher must have been a Hawking of spelling.
I think that Flash [buffering...]
Washington D.C. : "Where Control (FBI, DEA) meets Chaos."
Software Installation Reboot Tax
Virus Tax
Anti-Virus Installation Reboot Tax
MS Word Document Corruption And Formatting Instability Tax
MS Office 2007 UI Redesign Tax
Windows Genuine Advantage Tax
Windows Update Reboot Tax
DRM Tax
Internet Explorer Web Deficiencies Tax
Idiotic Advertising Campaigns Tax
Ballmer Squirt Tax
Every time he thinks about Megan Fox, he thinks about his organ.
Would that be the large, unmarked banks of blinking square lights, the female voice that always says "Insufficient Data" followed by a dramatic orchestral chord, or the engine that the chief engineer can only repair 10 seconds before destruction?
There is a virus infecting a huge number of systems and no one knows what it is destined to do.
Sir, if everyone followed your paranoid, alarmist thinking, then we'd all be afraid of Microsoft Windows itself.
Oh wait...
So you started your informed discussion with "no culture war or finger-pointing" by making a sweeping statement about 1.5 billion people... I'm no supporter of the Chinese government, but I'm no supporter of sanctimony either.
Go to your local dumpsite (do you know where it is?) and tell me how North American (including Canadian) consumerism is demonstrating its respect for the environment. Can you drink any of the water without treatment? How's the air in the big cities? How would your culture scale up to 1.5 billion people? Are the Plastic Dead Zones in the oceans the doing of those dirty, inconsiderate Chinese?
The US is not the victim of an international conspiracy. Unless you consider having mistakes brought to your attention a conspiracy. They used to call that "learning" in school.
Have you been to your local dumpsite? Imagine if there were 1.5 billion Americans (and Canadians). How would North American consumption patterns and "environmental standards" really compare?
It's particularly difficult to pardon the hypocrisy your sweeping statement if, as I suspect, you happen to be in North America.
Hmm, so GM, Ford and Chrysler set the standard for cars in North America?
Preponderance alone does not set the standard. If it did, what exactly would that standard be today?
MS IE 5 or 6?
I (...) am no longer convinced that microsoft is a gentle giant
"I am no longer convinced that the 'Mission Accomplished' banner was a good idea." -- George W. Bush
"I am no longer convinced that the Titanic is unsinkable." -- Thomas Andrews
"I am no longer convinced that striking explosives with an iron bar is a wise practice." - Phineas P. Gage.
Because Nature is "insidious" if it is not commensurate with our financial aspirations.
I can install XP on any hardware and I receive updates as long as my licence is validated. Not being able to run the full OS without a constantly validated key that is tied to my hardware (unlike W2k and WXP) is a dongle. The dongle having a limited number of installations before I need to ask permission is an expiry date. Vista and Win7 are dongled with an expiry date.
Can you install Tiger or Leopard on something that isn't a Mac ?
That's a red herring, and you probably know it.
1. It's no different to XP, which everyone seems to now hold up as some sort of gold standard.
2. It's still streets ahead of OS X, and OS X's licensing doesn't seem to have slowed it down too much.
1. You are wrong. I installed my legitimate copy of W2K on a computer for a project recently. (Almost 10 years after the purchase of W2K -- no limit on the number of installations, nor on the hardware.) I did the same with my legitimate copy of WXP recently. With Vista and Win7, Microsoft is tying the activation code to the hardware and telling me that I have to ask permission to change hardware. Is the difference clearer now?
2. I don't see your point. I can install Tiger or Leopard on any of my Macs at any time. I have often moved between Panther and Tiger for development projects.
Vista really doesn't suck. I say this as an OS X, Linux, and M-Windows user.
But if Microsoft wants to increase marketshare among the people using unlicensed installations of the OS, it's the Vista-style *licensing* of Win7 that must change.
The licensing model of Vista (and Win7) is like dongle, only worse: it's a dongle with an expiry date. It penalizes the customer. If I buy an authentication key, *I* should be the one to say on which computer I install it. I shouldn't have to call Redmond for permission if I change computers.
The only way to detect Conficker C# is that it requires the .NET runtime environment and MS SQL Server Express.
It's because I'm burning up my employer's money reading Slashdot on an XP box! At home, it's Ubuntu through and through, I swear!
Well, except for Wine and VirtualBox.
This is a better tool for making screen images and it is easier to use than MS Paint:
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/lightscreen_portable
MSIE has the largest installation base because MS Windows has the largest installation base. If you don't think that this constitutes a biasing force, you are not thinking... and you are certainly not a Web developer who has had to deal with MSIE 5 and 6.
MS Paint is next to useless. Mentioning it does not support your position. MS Notepad has not stopped people from using real editors, or MS Word, either.
- he is famous engineer (I will never be famous)
- he is a talented engineer (I will never be talented)
- he built revolutionary products (I write Perl scripts)
- he's a member of the Segway Polo team (I have a folding bicycle)
- he gets to dance close with a hot woman on television (Mom, what's for breakfast?)
I agree about the flawed permissions architecture.
I use Ubuntu ("Canonical's Debian") and OS X. But not everything runs in WINE so I do have an occasional need to run MS for contract work. I have no more patience for WinXP's constant updates (many requiring a reboot) and it's growing harder to find Win2K drivers, so I tried Vista. It is availble for 64-bit (more addressable RAM) and it has outbound firewall blocking (that's good). Vista looks better than previous versions and the UAC is truly NOT so annoying as has been portrayed by Apple's advertising. I see the super-user password dialog in Ubuntu and OS X just as often.
I *have* run into problems with the Program Files folder in Vista. Some applications need to write in there and sometimes *I* want to write in there, but "for safety", Vista won't let me do it even if I accept the UAC dialog. It's inconsistent behaviour verging on buggy.
I would consider Vista a worthwhile upgrade. But the biggest problem with Vista -- the deal-breaker -- is the licensing model. It's my business where I install the OS. It will only be on one computer at a time, but if I pay the money, the OS goes where I decide when it suits me to reinstall, without a penalty to ME. I want a long-term investment in my favour. It looks as though Win7 licensing will be the same as for Vista.
The solution is to edit the computer's hosts file to block anything you don't like. It works, it's free, and there's no way around it for these companies.