Agreed. Slashdot, to me, seems more and more biased every day, or at least its editors do. The headline of this story is purely sensationalized. I wonder if they ever bother to read the comments nowadays, there's almost always one that is similar to the parent...
The reason they do this, like Google is doing with Gmail, is that when mail / IMs are downloaded / viewed with a third party client, their ads are not shown. However, they also said that they'll be working on allowing POP3 into Gmail. I think it's too early to judge them.
I agree with you that this just seems like a free ad, but I've had a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical for a while now, and I've never had a problem with it. Perhaps with the exception of trying to get it working in Linux though, but I think that's just due to the fact I was running it through VMWare.
200 petabytes is, more than likely, the entire Direct Connect network. And the hub owners did not "have" 40 petabytes of data on their computer, as this quote misleadingly states. Direct Connect works by the hub owner running a hub server, which just directs search traffic. It is still a decentralized peer to peer architecture, the hub owner does not have a central repository from which to download (except for his / her own files).
Hmm... It was like I said in my previous post, I think they're patenting all these things so they can use them as FUD when Longhorn is released, but maybe it's more than that... It almost seems like they're trying to rewrite history saying that they made these things, because they have the patents on them. The fact that probably around 50% of companies (Microsoft shops) will blindly believe them doesn't help.
My theory is that Microsoft is patenting all these things so they can use it as part of a marketing campaign to PHBs when Longhorn comes out. Something to the effect of, "Why take the risk of running Linux when we own the patents on everything they use?" I know a few people it would convince pretty easily... Tis all FUD.
Good for you, you take advantage of your customers' goodwill and divert their computers' resources to do God knows what for . I can sure tell you have a lot of respect for your users.
I had a caller recently who I was doing technical support for, and I believe the issue was that they were getting some sort of error message when they booted up. I was going through MSCONFIG and unchecking startup items as she read them to me, and the conversation went something like this:
Her: "CMESYS." Me: "Uncheck that, it's spyware." Her: "Isn't that Gator?" Me: "Umm... yes." Her: "Oh, I pay for that, I don't want that removed. It fills in my passwords for me!"
Apparently she paid $30 / yr. for the "service" that the Gator eWallet was providing. She had called them (and in hindsight I should have asked for the number) before and they assured her that the paid version doesn't come with their normal great advertising code. I was considering banning her from the internet, but I would have been fired.:^(
Only on Slashdot is a comment like the parent moderated "Interesting".;^D
Re:Pot calling the kettle black
on
You've Got PC
·
· Score: 1
Oh, I never said HP was that much better, but it is likely going to be better than AOL doing PC tech support.
Dear God, Why?
on
You've Got PC
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· Score: 4, Informative
Is it just me or does this seem equivalent to signing away your soul to Satan?
I do tech support for HP. AOL uses their own drivers to connect to their network, and also block off the Properties page of their connection. Thus, we cannot enable the Windows XP firewall, so God help someone who hasn't patched their machine (luckily I can get around this by installing Norton Personal Firewall, which is usually included with our machines). I've also heard that if you want, AOL will sell you a firewall for $3 extra a month or something. So to sum up: Block free included product, sell own (probably inferior) product.
Not to mention that AFAIK their entire technical support division is stationed in India, and I think they have a 3 minute call length limit or something. Whenever people call me and say they were referred to us by AOL, I roll my eyes and ask what AOL actually did before referring them to us. 90% of the time, they did NOTHING. They didn't have them click on anything, they didn't check any settings, and they most certainly did not reinstall their own software. "It's a problem with the modem." "It's a problem with the computer." I've actually heard from customers where they had to hand up on the AOL tech because they didn't take the referral to us and he actually started yelling at the customer! And this service is worth $20+ a month?! God help the person who buys this PC and is RELEGATED to these people...
Please, if you use AOL, consider switching to another provider. You're worth more than what they give you.
Comment I posted earlier. I support Internet Explorer all the time, and I'm very good at fixing it. I never use a browser swap as a "fix". My comment was just that I would love to be able to show customers how to avoid getting spyware and malware in future AFTER the call is done.
I *never* use a browser swap as a "fix". 80% of my troubleshooting time, however, is with Internet Explorer issues. From my perspective, Internet Explorer is simply broken, and while I am VERY skilled with fixing it and its various issues and malware, after I have fixed them, in my opinion it is beneficial to the customer if I mention that Internet Explorer is not the only browser out there.
That's the classic "free as in beer vs. free as in freedom" argument, and has been argued on Slashdot too many times to count. Just take a look at the GNU philosophy section for the answer to your question.
Really, I'd LOVE to be able to point one of my tech support callers to a free online version of this book. It would be very helpful because I wouldn't have to explain to them why Firefox is better than Internet Explorer, and then have them think I'm just paranoid when I tell them all the ways spyware can get in their system.
Alpha chennel PNGs in IE 5.5+. Sure, it's a bit of a hack, but once it's in, you can pretty much code your site without worrying about it, AND it validates as XHTML 1.1:^)
According to the Wired article on the same thing happening in the US, they seem to be giving that response. The problem with this is that the majority of kids, deep down, will believe what adults tell them. And this is why it's wrong to be teaching them false morals against which most adults will argue.
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed. Slashdot, to me, seems more and more biased every day, or at least its editors do. The headline of this story is purely sensationalized. I wonder if they ever bother to read the comments nowadays, there's almost always one that is similar to the parent...
The reason they do this, like Google is doing with Gmail, is that when mail / IMs are downloaded / viewed with a third party client, their ads are not shown. However, they also said that they'll be working on allowing POP3 into Gmail. I think it's too early to judge them.
I agree with you that this just seems like a free ad, but I've had a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical for a while now, and I've never had a problem with it. Perhaps with the exception of trying to get it working in Linux though, but I think that's just due to the fact I was running it through VMWare.
Why was "FBI" just added to my friends list?
200 petabytes is, more than likely, the entire Direct Connect network. And the hub owners did not "have" 40 petabytes of data on their computer, as this quote misleadingly states. Direct Connect works by the hub owner running a hub server, which just directs search traffic. It is still a decentralized peer to peer architecture, the hub owner does not have a central repository from which to download (except for his / her own files).
Somehow I doubt they'll do that.
Hmm... It was like I said in my previous post, I think they're patenting all these things so they can use them as FUD when Longhorn is released, but maybe it's more than that... It almost seems like they're trying to rewrite history saying that they made these things, because they have the patents on them. The fact that probably around 50% of companies (Microsoft shops) will blindly believe them doesn't help.
My theory is that Microsoft is patenting all these things so they can use it as part of a marketing campaign to PHBs when Longhorn comes out. Something to the effect of, "Why take the risk of running Linux when we own the patents on everything they use?" I know a few people it would convince pretty easily... Tis all FUD.
Apple Zealot: Go away, Real, you're ruining Apple's business plan with your crappy sof[...BUFFERING...]
Good for you, you take advantage of your customers' goodwill and divert their computers' resources to do God knows what for . I can sure tell you have a lot of respect for your users.
I had a caller recently who I was doing technical support for, and I believe the issue was that they were getting some sort of error message when they booted up. I was going through MSCONFIG and unchecking startup items as she read them to me, and the conversation went something like this:
:^(
Her: "CMESYS."
Me: "Uncheck that, it's spyware."
Her: "Isn't that Gator?"
Me: "Umm... yes."
Her: "Oh, I pay for that, I don't want that removed. It fills in my passwords for me!"
Apparently she paid $30 / yr. for the "service" that the Gator eWallet was providing. She had called them (and in hindsight I should have asked for the number) before and they assured her that the paid version doesn't come with their normal great advertising code. I was considering banning her from the internet, but I would have been fired.
Question, is burning to CD limited, or can you do it as you want with the music you bought?
Only on Slashdot is a comment like the parent moderated "Interesting". ;^D
Oh, I never said HP was that much better, but it is likely going to be better than AOL doing PC tech support.
Is it just me or does this seem equivalent to signing away your soul to Satan?
I do tech support for HP. AOL uses their own drivers to connect to their network, and also block off the Properties page of their connection. Thus, we cannot enable the Windows XP firewall, so God help someone who hasn't patched their machine (luckily I can get around this by installing Norton Personal Firewall, which is usually included with our machines). I've also heard that if you want, AOL will sell you a firewall for $3 extra a month or something. So to sum up: Block free included product, sell own (probably inferior) product.
Not to mention that AFAIK their entire technical support division is stationed in India, and I think they have a 3 minute call length limit or something. Whenever people call me and say they were referred to us by AOL, I roll my eyes and ask what AOL actually did before referring them to us. 90% of the time, they did NOTHING. They didn't have them click on anything, they didn't check any settings, and they most certainly did not reinstall their own software. "It's a problem with the modem." "It's a problem with the computer." I've actually heard from customers where they had to hand up on the AOL tech because they didn't take the referral to us and he actually started yelling at the customer! And this service is worth $20+ a month?! God help the person who buys this PC and is RELEGATED to these people...
Please, if you use AOL, consider switching to another provider. You're worth more than what they give you.
Comment I posted earlier. I support Internet Explorer all the time, and I'm very good at fixing it. I never use a browser swap as a "fix". My comment was just that I would love to be able to show customers how to avoid getting spyware and malware in future AFTER the call is done.
Parent is flamebait.
I *never* use a browser swap as a "fix". 80% of my troubleshooting time, however, is with Internet Explorer issues. From my perspective, Internet Explorer is simply broken, and while I am VERY skilled with fixing it and its various issues and malware, after I have fixed them, in my opinion it is beneficial to the customer if I mention that Internet Explorer is not the only browser out there.
That's the classic "free as in beer vs. free as in freedom" argument, and has been argued on Slashdot too many times to count. Just take a look at the GNU philosophy section for the answer to your question.
And just in case you're wondering, the GNU also publishes the Free Documentation License.
Really, I'd LOVE to be able to point one of my tech support callers to a free online version of this book. It would be very helpful because I wouldn't have to explain to them why Firefox is better than Internet Explorer, and then have them think I'm just paranoid when I tell them all the ways spyware can get in their system.
You know, the Phantom Gaming Console is on its second generation... ;^)
Alpha chennel PNGs in IE 5.5+. Sure, it's a bit of a hack, but once it's in, you can pretty much code your site without worrying about it, AND it validates as XHTML 1.1 :^)
You mean this?
I use it to render in "Netscape" when working in Homesite.
Google is a company that isn't an asshole, thusfar.
Therefore I would say that no, it's not a good thing. If I ran a company, I wouldn't run it like a record company.
According to the Wired article on the same thing happening in the US, they seem to be giving that response. The problem with this is that the majority of kids, deep down, will believe what adults tell them. And this is why it's wrong to be teaching them false morals against which most adults will argue.
*looks at this post*
*looks at post directly above*
...Yep.