Not to mention that most (home) Windows users run the entire system as a member of the Administrators group. So any form of malware that gets into the system will have full control over said system.
Most Linux, or any *nix, users generally do not run as root. You would normally use sudo, or su, to do specific tasks as the root user. Therefore, any malware that gets into your system will only have the privileges of the current user.
I wonder how this will turn out for FPS games. There are a lot of different functions, like move (forward/back/left/right) aim, jump, crouch, next/previous weapon, strafe, and others. There don't seem to be enough buttons on this controller, even with the expansion part (with the analog stick) to make that work.
Agreed. Just like I don't need Windows' "Security Center" warning me that my computer may be at risk because the Windows Firewall is disabled. True, those alerts can be disabled, but same idea.
The same can be said for when automatic transmission came out. Why should I let the car shift for me? People get reliant on automatic transmission and when they sit behind the wheel of a 5-speed manual, they have no idea how to drive it. I miss my manual transmission......
What about social engineering? Instead of car thieves picking a lock, or busting a window to steal a car, couldn't they call OnStar and trick them into opening the car for them? Granted, I have never used OnStar before so I don't know how it works, and it would certainly be quicker and easier to just break the window, but it would be more obvious to people what you are doing if you go the fast/easy way.
As for scanning the vehicle for problems, I can see that as being like the "shady mechanic" who conveniently finds problems that need fixing to get more money out of you. Does OnStar get more money for finding these problems? Or just a flat fee for the service?
There's one thing I don't like abut Windows automatic updates. I rarely have my computer turned on the same time each day. Sometimes it's on in the morning, sometimes afternoon or night. If auto-updates are turned on, you can set them to download and in stall at a specific time (say 3 am). There is not a good time that I can ever set this to, so if I leave auto-updates on, I will probably never receive the updates.
What I do instead is use the "download automatically and notify me" option. That is similar to firefox's red arrow button. I still have to remember to click on it. At least Windows will pop up a bubble above the systray telling me it's ready to install.
If you have firefox installed on a linux system, and use the browser's upgrade feature, can you configure your linux distro's package manager to not downgrade the browser when you do a system update? Firefox's update feature might give you a newer version than what exists in, say, Gentoo's portage tree, or Mandrake's urpmi repository.
Lately, especially where I live, I find it nearly impossible to get an interview for anything but a basic help desk technician. Anything else, and they want you to have 5-10 years of experience. Most of the help desk type positions I find are looking for someone fresh out of college, or even high school. How can someone get experience if no one hires them?
Certifications may help get you past HR personnel who (incorrectly of course) feel you need an MCSE to work in a Linux environment, but they don't prove to the hiring manager that you know your stuff... only that you know how to pass the test.
I've been thinking about this very thing the past few days. Within the past few months, I have taken, and passed, the CISSP exam (just waiting for experience). However, I have yet to see any incentive from my employer for it. I had to pay out of pocket for the exam, and received a reimbursement only after showing I passed. Also, other coworkers of mine that have gotten the full certification have not seen anything out of it. I've been wanting to go for another cert, perhaps MCSE, but I'm starting to feel my time would be better spent getting real, hands-on experience. Maybe doing some contract work on the side or something.
It seems everywhere I look for jobs, companies want X years of experience before hiring you full-time. I find it difficult to get experience in a certain area of IT (e.g., programming) without getting hired into a programming position. You can always go for various programming certifications, but in the end, it's just more education. It still doesn't show that you can actually DO the job, just that you test well on the concepts. Seems I need to concentrate more on getting experience than getting certifications.
Tom... "Look, I already told you! I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!"
as far as pages not rendering in non-IE browsers, firefox does have a UserAgent plugin that helps with that. True, it won't work for all IE-only sites, but I think it helps cut down on some of the failures (there's less and less of those all the time anyway). The plugin changes your user agent string so the site you are visiting thinks you are using IE. Then there's always the "open in IE" plugin I saw somewhere...
If you want encrypted IM, why not use http://www.trillian.cc/ Trillian? That client supports encryption over multiple networks, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, and I think others.
Actually, I think schools also need to teach basic skills that kids will need in their future lives. Why is it that schools don't teach how to, say, use a checkbook, or budget money? At least they didn't when I was in high school (class of 97). Now you have kids that go off to college (where there are numerous credit card applications all over campus) and they start piling on the debt.
I heard a conversation on the radio about this very topic today where the DJ was asking parents to call in with their opinion on how to (if at all) introduce their high school kid to the use of some form of credit card to teach them to use it responsibly. Schools just don't seem to do that.
You mean you can't hum with your mouth open? If you open your mouth and close off your throat, you get the same sound effect. At least I do. Yes, I have too much free time on my hands haha!
Reminds me of that Wesley Snipes movie, Demolition Man, where Snipes (I forget the character name) says some swear word and a computer gives him a ticket and scolds him for using profane language. After getting a few tickets, he walks up to the terminal and starts telling it off as a string of tickets pour out of it.
It will be a sad day if this technology ever came into play for real and we started getting ticketed for being a "jerk".
You could also set up a terminal services or VNC connection (view only) so you can check in on your kid without walking by. If the kid has nothing to hide, he/she shouldn't have anything to worry about. If he or she does have something to hide, it would be much harder to hide this way... Unless the kid learns how to, say, boot the PC off a linux liveCD and bypass all those settings:-P
As far as wearing a sandwich board advertising your deli outside Walmart... it'd be more like a popup advertisement if you wore the sandwich board and jumped in front of each customer as he or she is trying to go into Walmart, preferably bouncing your chest off him or her forcing them to take a step back.
exactly. That would really piss me off if I walked into a Walmart and was greeted by a Kmart employee throwing Kmart products in my face. Why put up with it from a website?
While it's true that CTRL+TAB and ALT+TAB work for OS and application respectively in Windows, I for one, find ALT+TAB and ALT+` more user friendly. Just keep your thumb on ALT and the TAB and ` keys are right next to each other. Seems an easier move than moving your thumb between ctrl and alt.:)
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Not to mention that most (home) Windows users run the entire system as a member of the Administrators group. So any form of malware that gets into the system will have full control over said system.
Most Linux, or any *nix, users generally do not run as root. You would normally use sudo, or su, to do specific tasks as the root user. Therefore, any malware that gets into your system will only have the privileges of the current user.
So I guess now we can't make fun of the people who try to make Mario jump over a turtle by moving the actual controller?
I wonder how this will turn out for FPS games. There are a lot of different functions, like move (forward/back/left/right) aim, jump, crouch, next/previous weapon, strafe, and others. There don't seem to be enough buttons on this controller, even with the expansion part (with the analog stick) to make that work.
Agreed. Just like I don't need Windows' "Security Center" warning me that my computer may be at risk because the Windows Firewall is disabled. True, those alerts can be disabled, but same idea.
The same can be said for when automatic transmission came out. Why should I let the car shift for me? People get reliant on automatic transmission and when they sit behind the wheel of a 5-speed manual, they have no idea how to drive it. I miss my manual transmission......
What about social engineering? Instead of car thieves picking a lock, or busting a window to steal a car, couldn't they call OnStar and trick them into opening the car for them? Granted, I have never used OnStar before so I don't know how it works, and it would certainly be quicker and easier to just break the window, but it would be more obvious to people what you are doing if you go the fast/easy way.
As for scanning the vehicle for problems, I can see that as being like the "shady mechanic" who conveniently finds problems that need fixing to get more money out of you. Does OnStar get more money for finding these problems? Or just a flat fee for the service?
There's one thing I don't like abut Windows automatic updates. I rarely have my computer turned on the same time each day. Sometimes it's on in the morning, sometimes afternoon or night. If auto-updates are turned on, you can set them to download and in stall at a specific time (say 3 am). There is not a good time that I can ever set this to, so if I leave auto-updates on, I will probably never receive the updates.
What I do instead is use the "download automatically and notify me" option. That is similar to firefox's red arrow button. I still have to remember to click on it. At least Windows will pop up a bubble above the systray telling me it's ready to install.
If you have firefox installed on a linux system, and use the browser's upgrade feature, can you configure your linux distro's package manager to not downgrade the browser when you do a system update? Firefox's update feature might give you a newer version than what exists in, say, Gentoo's portage tree, or Mandrake's urpmi repository.
Lately, especially where I live, I find it nearly impossible to get an interview for anything but a basic help desk technician. Anything else, and they want you to have 5-10 years of experience. Most of the help desk type positions I find are looking for someone fresh out of college, or even high school. How can someone get experience if no one hires them?
Certifications may help get you past HR personnel who (incorrectly of course) feel you need an MCSE to work in a Linux environment, but they don't prove to the hiring manager that you know your stuff... only that you know how to pass the test.
I've been thinking about this very thing the past few days. Within the past few months, I have taken, and passed, the CISSP exam (just waiting for experience). However, I have yet to see any incentive from my employer for it. I had to pay out of pocket for the exam, and received a reimbursement only after showing I passed. Also, other coworkers of mine that have gotten the full certification have not seen anything out of it. I've been wanting to go for another cert, perhaps MCSE, but I'm starting to feel my time would be better spent getting real, hands-on experience. Maybe doing some contract work on the side or something.
It seems everywhere I look for jobs, companies want X years of experience before hiring you full-time. I find it difficult to get experience in a certain area of IT (e.g., programming) without getting hired into a programming position. You can always go for various programming certifications, but in the end, it's just more education. It still doesn't show that you can actually DO the job, just that you test well on the concepts. Seems I need to concentrate more on getting experience than getting certifications.
Too bad you got the quote wrong. ;-)
... "Look, I already told you! I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!"
Tom
as far as pages not rendering in non-IE browsers, firefox does have a UserAgent plugin that helps with that. True, it won't work for all IE-only sites, but I think it helps cut down on some of the failures (there's less and less of those all the time anyway). The plugin changes your user agent string so the site you are visiting thinks you are using IE. Then there's always the "open in IE" plugin I saw somewhere...
If you want encrypted IM, why not use http://www.trillian.cc/ Trillian? That client supports encryption over multiple networks, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, and I think others.
In other related news, geeks around the world are turning down caffiene in favor of CX717 for those long nights of coding and video game playing.
Actually, I think schools also need to teach basic skills that kids will need in their future lives. Why is it that schools don't teach how to, say, use a checkbook, or budget money? At least they didn't when I was in high school (class of 97). Now you have kids that go off to college (where there are numerous credit card applications all over campus) and they start piling on the debt.
I heard a conversation on the radio about this very topic today where the DJ was asking parents to call in with their opinion on how to (if at all) introduce their high school kid to the use of some form of credit card to teach them to use it responsibly. Schools just don't seem to do that.
(sarcasm mode off)
Actually I do agree with you. Technology does have its place in school, but having good teachers and good core classes is much more important.
ah yes, it's been a while since I've seen that movie.
Reminds me of that Wesley Snipes movie, Demolition Man, where Snipes (I forget the character name) says some swear word and a computer gives him a ticket and scolds him for using profane language. After getting a few tickets, he walks up to the terminal and starts telling it off as a string of tickets pour out of it.
It will be a sad day if this technology ever came into play for real and we started getting ticketed for being a "jerk".
Aren't we talking about an "easy-to-use" BSD? The user shouldn't HAVE to fix the delete key. It should just work.
You could also set up a terminal services or VNC connection (view only) so you can check in on your kid without walking by. If the kid has nothing to hide, he/she shouldn't have anything to worry about. If he or she does have something to hide, it would be much harder to hide this way... Unless the kid learns how to, say, boot the PC off a linux liveCD and bypass all those settings :-P
As far as wearing a sandwich board advertising your deli outside Walmart... it'd be more like a popup advertisement if you wore the sandwich board and jumped in front of each customer as he or she is trying to go into Walmart, preferably bouncing your chest off him or her forcing them to take a step back.
exactly. That would really piss me off if I walked into a Walmart and was greeted by a Kmart employee throwing Kmart products in my face. Why put up with it from a website?
While it's true that CTRL+TAB and ALT+TAB work for OS and application respectively in Windows, I for one, find ALT+TAB and ALT+` more user friendly. Just keep your thumb on ALT and the TAB and ` keys are right next to each other. Seems an easier move than moving your thumb between ctrl and alt. :)