He was insinuating that we were spoiled through his use of sarcasm, and without a valid argument as to why he was not doing what I suggested earlier, your post holds no weight.
We have Video On Demand on Digital Cable here in Ontario, Canada (Rogers, if anyone's interested) and I can tell you, it's very nice and I've used it quite a bit. It should be coming soon, ask your cable service provider about it.
And I agree, I know that I could go to the hassle of getting video on the internet for free, but if it's easily and conveniently available for a low and/or subscription price on my digital cable box, I'll get the latter instead.
Unfortunately, I've already posted in this article and hence can't use my last mod point here. But yes, had I the chance, I would most definitely mod this post -1, Flamebait. Let's examine as to why, shall we?
I also never had to work for anything in my life, and my parents bought my car for me growing up, so it's only natural I have the same sense of whiny entitlement the other bitter freeloaders have.
As you can see, the parent said Slashdot consists of bitter freeloaders (not to mention thieves, above), thus inviting flame replies (which generally don't come, as most people won't feed obvious trolls such as this). This post is thus Flamebait and should be moderated as such.
If you have nothing else to do than insult Slashdot users and admins and call us names, please leave. You're unwelcome.
Yeah, I realized that after I posted it. (Oh, Slashdot, how I wish you had an edit button...) But anyway, is that really a fault of the Mozilla developers, or of the Macromedia Flash Player developers?
Do what I did: On the next occasion you get to reformat your grandma's computer (my example is for an old laptop I was giving my brother), just delete all references to Internet Explorer and put Firefox in its place (this includes Desktop, Quick Launch, and Start Menu -> Programs). Explain to the person that Firefox is very much like Internet Explorer but much more secure, and will save you both some headache (show them tabs if you want to impress;^). My brother's had the new laptop for about three weeks now, and I haven't heard any complaints.
Just to state the obvious, I'll just give a rebuttal to some of these statements.
Installing Firefox requires downloading an unsigned binary from a random web server
It's a web server that mozilla.org directs you to. If you're downloading Firefox, you need to trust mozilla.org. Likewise, if you're downloading Internet Explorer, you need to trust microsoft.com.
Installing unsigned extensions is the default action in the Extensions dialog
There's also a two (three?) second timeout and this dialog only appears when either the site is whitelisted by default (only updates.mozilla.org is) or by the user, or if the user clicks the yellow bar at the top to specifically access this dialog.
There is no way to check the signature on downloaded program files
Boo hoo. Authenticode isn't that big of a deal when ActiveX isn't turned on in the first place, considering that that's where 95% of Authenticode is used.
There is no obvious way to turn off plug-ins once they are installed
This one is just uneducated. Tools -> Extensions. Wait... that's, um, more obvious than IE. Oh well, someone wasn't wearing their glasses.
There is an easy way to bypass the "This might be a virus" dialog...
There is an easy way to do that on IE as well. It's called clicking Run. Seriously, you're going to quibble over IE having one more warning than Firefox? Go develop a decent browser first and call me when you do....but we'll never get past the spyware / adware problem if people continue to think that installing unsigned code from random web sites is A Good Idea.
This statement is built upon previous assumptions that are false (such as Firefox being downloaded from a "random website", see above). Firefox is demonstrably more secure than IE and has far fewer vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer.
To the Microsoft employee who created the original article: Rather than trying to convince people that something they know is inferior that it is not, why don't you try to make it... not inferior? Innovation speaks louder than marketing. Surely you can do better than a bunch of geeks spread across the globe, right?
There is almost no general "spyware".
Sorry, this is just plain incorrect. There is a lot of general spyware. It runs as another process and doesn't depend on IE at all. Take GAIN (Gator) for example... it brings up its own windows with ads in them, IE not necessary at all. Often this software is bundled with stuff like Kazaa or other P2P software and installed silently.
Admittedly, but I'd go as far as to say only for the first (or perhaps second) year. Beyond that point, the people who really shouldn't have been taking a course (at least in the case of Computer Programming where I am) have already dropped out or failed out, so the same sorts of things apply to a prof who fails nearly 100% of the class.
You might be interested (if you haven't heard about it already) in a site called OverClocked Remix, which has remixes (in many, MANY different styles... instrumental, techno, rock, even rap, you name it) of video game music available to download. All of the music went through a judging panel before it was posted to the site, so 90% of it is some very good stuff. Take a listen.
Dude, which do you think Microsoft is more concerned with: Security, or having people locked into their products? Not that Microsoft isn't patching their products NOW, but it comes as a distant second to having you use their product in the first place. Integrating it with the OS such that the two are inseperable was part of the DESIGN.
The only things I generally watch on TV nowadays are the news and movies. There are several reasons that I believe the Internet is more entertaining:
a) Interactivity. You can talk to and interact with people as much or as little as you like, whereas television is entirely passive. You can also easily add to the content (like I'm doing right now) and have your content added to.
b) Control. As I mentioned before, television is entirely passive, and you're limited to viewing the broadcaster's programming on the broadcaster's schedule. On the Internet, you can view whatever you want, whenever you want, and there are a nigh-unlimited number of "channels" available to suit whatever taste you're looking for.
c) Adaptability. The Internet is anything you want it to be. While television is just video and sound, the Internet is a book, a video, music, or anything else you can imagine.
Not to mention that TV shows are available in the Internet to view whenever the hell you want without commercials, but that should go without saying;^)
"If you wish to create a business relationship with Spammers Inc., hang up now! If you already have a business relationship with us, please stay on the line."
Interesting that you posted that as an AC. Trying to avoid an obvious Troll moderation? As I've stated previously, I do technical support (and occasionally second level support) for HP. I'm far from the sort of person you described.
Oh, I agree with you about the survival time (as my current job is doing technical support for HP consumer PCs, I know that fact very well). But if you place Windows boxes behind a NAT router, the survival time no longer applies. Hell, I don't generally keep some of my machines up to date (generally the older ones), but since they're behind the router, nobody can access them anyway. I don't need extra firewalls, though I do run virus scanners on all of them (NAV, if you're interested). All I'm stating is that the original poster is overstating the facts in such a way as to diminish their argument.
*posting from a Windows XP computer that has never had a virus, from a Windows 2k / XP network that has never had a virus in the approximately eight years it's been running*
You, sir, discredit the open source movement with your fanaticism by making such outlandish statements. Linux is good, but Windows has its advantages, and to not recognize them is to turn people away from your argument.
The sad thing is that AOL canned WASTE (pun not intended) after only a few hours of Justin posting it, and removed the file from the server. Compare this article to the original Slashdot article on WASTE. Very similar.
Slashdot Mirror
He was insinuating that we were spoiled through his use of sarcasm, and without a valid argument as to why he was not doing what I suggested earlier, your post holds no weight.
We have Video On Demand on Digital Cable here in Ontario, Canada (Rogers, if anyone's interested) and I can tell you, it's very nice and I've used it quite a bit. It should be coming soon, ask your cable service provider about it.
And I agree, I know that I could go to the hassle of getting video on the internet for free, but if it's easily and conveniently available for a low and/or subscription price on my digital cable box, I'll get the latter instead.
Unfortunately, I've already posted in this article and hence can't use my last mod point here. But yes, had I the chance, I would most definitely mod this post -1, Flamebait. Let's examine as to why, shall we?
I also never had to work for anything in my life, and my parents bought my car for me growing up, so it's only natural I have the same sense of whiny entitlement the other bitter freeloaders have.
As you can see, the parent said Slashdot consists of bitter freeloaders (not to mention thieves, above), thus inviting flame replies (which generally don't come, as most people won't feed obvious trolls such as this). This post is thus Flamebait and should be moderated as such.
If you have nothing else to do than insult Slashdot users and admins and call us names, please leave. You're unwelcome.
I listened to the interview, and one thing came across stronger than anything else:
He sold out.
And I bet the "mystery company" is Sharman Networks.
Bastard.
Anyway, you can download it here, though it doesn't seem to work without the key.
Dude, that's not a bug, that's a feature. I can just imagine the designers grinning to themselves when they made this :^D
CDex can rip both of those CDs out of the box.
*snickers* DRM...
Yeah, I realized that after I posted it. (Oh, Slashdot, how I wish you had an edit button...) But anyway, is that really a fault of the Mozilla developers, or of the Macromedia Flash Player developers?
It should be noted that PHP works on Apache 2 just fine (I run it on Apache 2 on my server). That said, the PHP developers do specifically state not to use Apache 2 in a production environment. I personally have not listened, though my server is not exactly used for a lot. ;^)
I've heard that in replies before... I'll change it. You better be right though, I don't know Latin ;^)
Do what I did: On the next occasion you get to reformat your grandma's computer (my example is for an old laptop I was giving my brother), just delete all references to Internet Explorer and put Firefox in its place (this includes Desktop, Quick Launch, and Start Menu -> Programs). Explain to the person that Firefox is very much like Internet Explorer but much more secure, and will save you both some headache (show them tabs if you want to impress ;^). My brother's had the new laptop for about three weeks now, and I haven't heard any complaints.
Just to state the obvious, I'll just give a rebuttal to some of these statements.
...
...but we'll never get past the spyware / adware problem if people continue to think that installing unsigned code from random web sites is A Good Idea.
Installing Firefox requires downloading an unsigned binary from a random web server
It's a web server that mozilla.org directs you to. If you're downloading Firefox, you need to trust mozilla.org. Likewise, if you're downloading Internet Explorer, you need to trust microsoft.com.
Installing unsigned extensions is the default action in the Extensions dialog
There's also a two (three?) second timeout and this dialog only appears when either the site is whitelisted by default (only updates.mozilla.org is) or by the user, or if the user clicks the yellow bar at the top to specifically access this dialog.
There is no way to check the signature on downloaded program files
Boo hoo. Authenticode isn't that big of a deal when ActiveX isn't turned on in the first place, considering that that's where 95% of Authenticode is used.
There is no obvious way to turn off plug-ins once they are installed
This one is just uneducated. Tools -> Extensions. Wait... that's, um, more obvious than IE. Oh well, someone wasn't wearing their glasses.
There is an easy way to bypass the "This might be a virus" dialog
There is an easy way to do that on IE as well. It's called clicking Run. Seriously, you're going to quibble over IE having one more warning than Firefox? Go develop a decent browser first and call me when you do.
This statement is built upon previous assumptions that are false (such as Firefox being downloaded from a "random website", see above). Firefox is demonstrably more secure than IE and has far fewer vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer.
To the Microsoft employee who created the original article: Rather than trying to convince people that something they know is inferior that it is not, why don't you try to make it... not inferior? Innovation speaks louder than marketing. Surely you can do better than a bunch of geeks spread across the globe, right?
There is almost no general "spyware". Sorry, this is just plain incorrect. There is a lot of general spyware. It runs as another process and doesn't depend on IE at all. Take GAIN (Gator) for example... it brings up its own windows with ads in them, IE not necessary at all. Often this software is bundled with stuff like Kazaa or other P2P software and installed silently.
Admittedly, but I'd go as far as to say only for the first (or perhaps second) year. Beyond that point, the people who really shouldn't have been taking a course (at least in the case of Computer Programming where I am) have already dropped out or failed out, so the same sorts of things apply to a prof who fails nearly 100% of the class.
You might be interested (if you haven't heard about it already) in a site called OverClocked Remix, which has remixes (in many, MANY different styles... instrumental, techno, rock, even rap, you name it) of video game music available to download. All of the music went through a judging panel before it was posted to the site, so 90% of it is some very good stuff. Take a listen.
Lesson learned, Microsoft?
Dude, which do you think Microsoft is more concerned with: Security, or having people locked into their products? Not that Microsoft isn't patching their products NOW, but it comes as a distant second to having you use their product in the first place. Integrating it with the OS such that the two are inseperable was part of the DESIGN.
The only things I generally watch on TV nowadays are the news and movies. There are several reasons that I believe the Internet is more entertaining:
;^)
a) Interactivity. You can talk to and interact with people as much or as little as you like, whereas television is entirely passive. You can also easily add to the content (like I'm doing right now) and have your content added to.
b) Control. As I mentioned before, television is entirely passive, and you're limited to viewing the broadcaster's programming on the broadcaster's schedule. On the Internet, you can view whatever you want, whenever you want, and there are a nigh-unlimited number of "channels" available to suit whatever taste you're looking for.
c) Adaptability. The Internet is anything you want it to be. While television is just video and sound, the Internet is a book, a video, music, or anything else you can imagine.
Not to mention that TV shows are available in the Internet to view whenever the hell you want without commercials, but that should go without saying
"If you wish to create a business relationship with Spammers Inc., hang up now! If you already have a business relationship with us, please stay on the line."
How do you get a karma bonus with such paranoid ranting?
WMV files can already pop up a browser window.
...has made me sleepy. Goodnight.
Interesting that you posted that as an AC. Trying to avoid an obvious Troll moderation? As I've stated previously, I do technical support (and occasionally second level support) for HP. I'm far from the sort of person you described.
The network can still have been up for that long, even if none of it's current parts have.
;^)
Indeed. Before I ran 2K, I ran 98. And before that (only my 233 only) I ran 95. Luckily I never bothered to deal with that piece of crap called ME
Oh, I agree with you about the survival time (as my current job is doing technical support for HP consumer PCs, I know that fact very well). But if you place Windows boxes behind a NAT router, the survival time no longer applies. Hell, I don't generally keep some of my machines up to date (generally the older ones), but since they're behind the router, nobody can access them anyway. I don't need extra firewalls, though I do run virus scanners on all of them (NAV, if you're interested). All I'm stating is that the original poster is overstating the facts in such a way as to diminish their argument.
*posting from a Windows XP computer that has never had a virus, from a Windows 2k / XP network that has never had a virus in the approximately eight years it's been running*
You, sir, discredit the open source movement with your fanaticism by making such outlandish statements. Linux is good, but Windows has its advantages, and to not recognize them is to turn people away from your argument.
The sad thing is that AOL canned WASTE (pun not intended) after only a few hours of Justin posting it, and removed the file from the server. Compare this article to the original Slashdot article on WASTE. Very similar.