I would note that despite myself and my wife smoking fairly heavily in the same room as our previous PC, it did actually take *nine years* before it burst into blue flames...
Google also censor results in China. Search for Tiannamen Square or Falun Gong on google.cn and you find just the same whitewashed results as with Bing. The difference is merely one of implementation.
I don't agree. I think there is a clear moral difference. Google seem to be doing the minimum they need to do to comply with Chinese law - restricting what is seen via the (effectively Chinese govt. owned).cn domain in China. MS are apparently censoring everything that is seen by anyone using simplified Chinese anywhere in the world. Yes, they could use another language - if they even release that some search results are 'going missing'. So MS get the 'evil' award in this case because they are in practice censoring far beyond what even Chinese law requires.
And if you "just don't happen to believe" because that's just how you are (made?)? Eternal punishment for something that's not even your fault. God-the-psychopath again.
I suppose you're supposed to somehow 'make yourself' believe are you? Although starting from scratch, not believing any religious fairytales, it might be a bit difficult to decide which ones to believe, and you pick the wrong one and you're out of luck that way too. Mind you, I'm sure you know that yours is the 'true path'. Unfortunately the 'true believers' of other religions all believe the same too.
Therefore, God created all life everywhere and we can expect that life found off of Earth will be similar in appearance to life as we know it.
I don't really see any reason why even if you accept the "Therefore, God created all life everywhere..." that this should follow: "we can expect that life found off of Earth will be similar in appearance to life as we know it."
Not logical, Captain. (Wiggles pointy ears).
It's just as reasonable to posit that God would make each planet unique and/or distinctive. I certainly would if I was a deity. Oh; of course, you might want to have multiple 'copies' of a given planet, each subject to random events, in order to give a representative sample of outcomes - but even so, you would have a 'large' (?infinite) set of distinctive worlds, each with sufficient near-identical copies to give a representative spread of results.
So to sum up, you could have loads of humanoid life-forms *and* loads of non-humanoid life-forms. It's not either/or.
If you have ever lied, even once in your life, you are a liar. As such a liar you are subject to judgment and that judgment is eternal separation from God - otherwise known as Hell.
God-the-psychopath again. Eternal punishment for a minor flaw. It's this sort of thing that makes me glad to be an 'unbeliever'.
The existence of life on earth is empirical evidence - weak evidence, I'd agree, but evidence none the less.
I'd disagree; I would say that the existence of life on Earth is quite strong evidence of the existence of life elsewhere; given the huge potential numbers of planets with similar conditions, the odds that life as we would understand it *only* exists on Earth and nowhere else would seem to be low. Of course, they are so many unknowns, but our experience on just this planet shows that life seems to find a way into almost any vaguely possible niche; and we also now know experimentally that many of the 'building blocks' of life can assemble given a basic set of conditions (certain elements in a suitable medium plus suitable energy input).
Other than view half the video sources on the Internet, do their income tax, and run any games or other purchased software, no there's nothing Ubuntu can't do -- assuming that their hardware is adequately supported in Linux which may or may not be the case.
Video: Mail it to 5 years ago. That's about how long it is since I found a video I couldn't (easily) play on Linux. Most videos these days are flash, for which the best player is closed source, true, but very much supported on Linux.
Tax:At least in the UK, you can file via a web browser and firefox is supported. So Linux is fine for this.
Games:a valid point, but only for the small minority who actually want to play specific current games, as opposed to the majority who just want some quick relatively simple fun and will do fine with flash games or classics available freely on Win/Mac/Linux..
Assuming that their hardware is adequately supported in Linux: Depends; some older hardware is better supported in Linux than Windows (and will never be supported in any newer version of Windows)+; some newer hardware is (often temporarily) not supported in Linux.
So: If you can run a Linux livecd sucessfully on their PC, and they don't do any serious gaming, or have any particular MS software-specific requirements, then Linux, properly set up, sounds ideal for them.
I had problems helping her setup her wireless to a non-broadcasting router with encryption because Mac network settings are labelled differently and configured differently from Windows network settings.
I hope this doesn't sound insulting (it's really not intended to be) but did you do the "obvious" and google for something like "Mac wireless network configuration"? Because it's taken me a while to realize that frequently google does better than the OS or Application help, and that if you just don't know where (which menu etc.) an option is on a particular OS, then google does...
This assumes your family doesn't have a ten to fifteen year investment in Windows hardware, software, and peripherals.
You're on dodgy ground there. Older peripherals (like my 8 year old CanonScan 650U) work just fine in current versions of Linux (Ubuntu 9.10) but have *no* Vista/Win7 drivers - (and yes, I tried the XP drivers).
I try that a lot. I tell people "I'm a Linux guy. I don't understand their pesky Windows problems.
I tried that, but it didn't work because the guy in question (friend of my wife) didn't understand the difference between Linux and Windows etc. so now my line is "sorry, can't fix it without hands-on access" - he's 200 miles away so this works quite well...
To explain in tedious detail, surely the gp post is a reference to past attempts by various industries to preserve their business model by dubious legal means when it became technically obsolete, not a serious suggestion that such tactics are likely or legally feasible in this particular case.
I have Ubuntu installed on my 2nd machine. It is a piece of shit...
Really insightful analysis there. Well, I've got 9.04 installed on my ASUS eeePC netbook and my cheapo Dell desktop and it looks brilliant and slick (particularly on the desktop with Compiz) and works perfectly in every respect. If you think it's 'a piece of shit' why don't you just stick with Windows?
In my opinion 64-bit linux is a hodgepodge mess of 64 and 32 bit apps. (I'm looking at you 32-bit flash glued on top of 64-bit linux with ugly wrappings
A couple of points: 1) Having one 32-bit plugin does not make Linux 'a hodgepodge mess of 64 and 32 bit apps'. 64 bit Linux is essentially that - clean 64 bit code, apps, OS, and drivers. Windows, not so. 2) A 64-bit flash plugin is now available for Linux.
My 8 year old CanoScan N 650U scanner doesn't even have a *Vista* 32 bit driver (and yes, I tried the XP driver, does not work). Works perfectly with 32/64 bit Ubuntu and probably still will in another 5+ years time.
This will of course leave Linux users screwed and every one ever who wants to make a windows compatible device like an mp3 player will need too pay a MS tax.
No more screwed than they are at present. FAT32 with LFN (long file name) support is patented (see TomTom case). exFAT is probably patented. MS can attack Linux with patents at any time in various ways - yet they hold off from direct attack, possibly because they are afraid of anti-trust implications etc.
Another point on the same topic. What the fuck does American precedent have to do with Mexico?
This comment was modded 'insightful' by idiots. Courts frequently look at precedents from other countries where they are relevant. The amount of weight they give to them will typically be less than domestic precedents and that weight will depend a lot on the precise area of law in question and how closely that law matches the corresponding domestic law. But implying that foreign precedents are irrelevant is just ignorant.
Instant response is *always*, *always* more important than all other tasks.
No. Not *always*. Although it shouldn't be an issue much these days (large buffers etc.), CD/DVD burning needs to take priority over instant response if the alternative is risking a bad burn. There are other examples like realtime sound/video recording which may glitch if not given the highest priority.
On one hand, you have fundamentalist athiests in charge of Western media who take every opportunity to attack and discredit any religion,
You clearly live on a different planet to me. On my planet the mainstream media spend a lot of time creeping around all the 'respectable' religions, making sure they never offend them in any way. When any 'moral' issue is debated religious 'leaders', often self-appointed, are asked respectfully for their opinions while secular representatives are ignored or marginalized. In the UK you even get extra parliamentary representation if you're in the Church of England - once via your MP and again via your bishop in the house of lords.
Slashdot Mirror
I would note that despite myself and my wife smoking fairly heavily in the same room as our previous PC, it did actually take *nine years* before it burst into blue flames...
Google also censor results in China. Search for Tiannamen Square or Falun Gong on google.cn and you find just the same whitewashed results as with Bing. The difference is merely one of implementation.
I don't agree. I think there is a clear moral difference. Google seem to be doing the minimum they need to do to comply with Chinese law - restricting what is seen via the (effectively Chinese govt. owned) .cn domain in China. MS are apparently censoring everything that is seen by anyone using simplified Chinese anywhere in the world. Yes, they could use another language - if they even release that some search results are 'going missing'. So MS get the 'evil' award in this case because they are in practice censoring far beyond what even Chinese law requires.
And if you "just don't happen to believe" because that's just how you are (made?)?
Eternal punishment for something that's not even your fault. God-the-psychopath again.
I suppose you're supposed to somehow 'make yourself' believe are you? Although starting from scratch, not believing any religious fairytales, it might be a bit difficult to decide which ones to believe, and you pick the wrong one and you're out of luck that way too. Mind you, I'm sure you know that yours is the 'true path'. Unfortunately the 'true believers' of other religions all believe the same too.
Therefore, God created all life everywhere and we can expect that life found off of Earth will be similar in appearance to life as we know it.
I don't really see any reason why even if you accept the "Therefore, God created all life everywhere..." that this should follow: "we can expect that life found off of Earth will be similar in appearance to life as we know it."
Not logical, Captain. (Wiggles pointy ears).
It's just as reasonable to posit that God would make each planet unique and/or distinctive. I certainly would if I was a deity. Oh; of course, you might want to have multiple 'copies' of a given planet, each subject to random events, in order to give a representative sample of outcomes - but even so, you would have a 'large' (?infinite) set of distinctive worlds, each with sufficient near-identical copies to give a representative spread of results.
So to sum up, you could have loads of humanoid life-forms *and* loads of non-humanoid life-forms. It's not either/or.
Damn, too pissed for this. Stop now.
If you have ever lied, even once in your life, you are a liar. As such a liar you are subject to judgment and that judgment is eternal separation from God - otherwise known as Hell.
God-the-psychopath again. Eternal punishment for a minor flaw. It's this sort of thing that makes me glad to be an 'unbeliever'.
The existence of life on earth is empirical evidence - weak evidence, I'd agree, but evidence none the less.
I'd disagree; I would say that the existence of life on Earth is quite strong evidence of the existence of life elsewhere; given the huge potential numbers of planets with similar conditions, the odds that life as we would understand it *only* exists on Earth and nowhere else would seem to be low. Of course, they are so many unknowns, but our experience on just this planet shows that life seems to find a way into almost any vaguely possible niche; and we also now know experimentally that many of the 'building blocks' of life can assemble given a basic set of conditions (certain elements in a suitable medium plus suitable energy input).
Other than view half the video sources on the Internet, do their income tax, and run any games or other purchased software, no there's nothing Ubuntu can't do -- assuming that their hardware is adequately supported in Linux which may or may not be the case.
Video: Mail it to 5 years ago. That's about how long it is since I found a video I couldn't (easily) play on Linux.
Most videos these days are flash, for which the best player is closed source, true, but very much supported on Linux.
Tax:At least in the UK, you can file via a web browser and firefox is supported. So Linux is fine for this.
Games:a valid point, but only for the small minority who actually want to play specific current games, as opposed to the majority who just want some quick relatively simple fun and will do fine with flash games or classics available freely on Win/Mac/Linux..
Assuming that their hardware is adequately supported in Linux: Depends; some older hardware is better supported in Linux than Windows (and will never be supported in any newer version of Windows)+; some newer hardware is (often temporarily) not supported in Linux.
So: If you can run a Linux livecd sucessfully on their PC, and they don't do any serious gaming, or have any particular MS software-specific requirements, then Linux, properly set up, sounds ideal for them.
I had problems helping her setup her wireless to a non-broadcasting router with encryption because Mac network settings are labelled differently and configured differently from Windows network settings.
I hope this doesn't sound insulting (it's really not intended to be) but did you do the "obvious" and google for something like "Mac wireless network configuration"? Because it's taken me a while to realize that frequently google does better than the OS or Application help, and that if you just don't know where (which menu etc.) an option is on a particular OS, then google does...
This assumes your family doesn't have a ten to fifteen year investment in Windows hardware, software, and peripherals.
You're on dodgy ground there. Older peripherals (like my 8 year old CanonScan 650U) work just fine in current versions of Linux (Ubuntu 9.10) but have *no* Vista/Win7 drivers - (and yes, I tried the XP drivers).
I try that a lot. I tell people "I'm a Linux guy. I don't understand their pesky Windows problems.
I tried that, but it didn't work because the guy in question (friend of my wife) didn't understand the difference between Linux and Windows etc. so now my line is "sorry, can't fix it without hands-on access" - he's 200 miles away so this works quite well...
Must be nice to extort 1.5 billion without having to make, invest, or risk anything.
Where 'extort' means 'fine for breaking competition law'
Errr... Whoosh?
To explain in tedious detail, surely the gp post is a reference to past attempts by various industries to preserve their business model by dubious legal means when it became technically obsolete, not a serious suggestion that such tactics are likely or legally feasible in this particular case.
Ubuntu LTS is once a year, and another major release every October.
Not quite. LTS is once every two years, the three intermediate releases are non-LTS.
i.e. 8.04, 10.4 LTS
8.10, 9.04, 9.10 non-LTS
I have Ubuntu installed on my 2nd machine. It is a piece of shit...
Really insightful analysis there. Well, I've got 9.04 installed on my ASUS eeePC netbook and my cheapo Dell desktop and it looks brilliant and slick (particularly on the desktop with Compiz) and works perfectly in every respect. If you think it's 'a piece of shit' why don't you just stick with Windows?
It's pretty damn sad for a /.er not to be able to spell "masturbating" correctly...
OEM License. BIOS locked, not transferable.
Can't remember where this quote comes from:
"I open my bowels regularly every day at 7am. Unfortunately I don't wake up until 7.30..."
In my opinion 64-bit linux is a hodgepodge mess of 64 and 32 bit apps. (I'm looking at you 32-bit flash glued on top of 64-bit linux with ugly wrappings
A couple of points:
1) Having one 32-bit plugin does not make Linux 'a hodgepodge mess of 64 and 32 bit apps'. 64 bit Linux is essentially that - clean 64 bit code, apps, OS, and drivers. Windows, not so.
2) A 64-bit flash plugin is now available for Linux.
My 8 year old CanoScan N 650U scanner doesn't even have a *Vista* 32 bit driver (and yes, I tried the XP driver, does not work). Works perfectly with 32/64 bit Ubuntu and probably still will in another 5+ years time.
Every mainstream CPU you can buy now is 64bit capable.
Apart from some of the (quite popular, surely count as mainstream?) ATOM processors, as used in the eeePC.
This will of course leave Linux users screwed and every one ever who wants to make a windows compatible device like an mp3 player will need too pay a MS tax.
No more screwed than they are at present. FAT32 with LFN (long file name) support is patented (see TomTom case). exFAT is probably patented. MS can attack Linux with patents at any time in various ways - yet they hold off from direct attack, possibly because they are afraid of anti-trust implications etc.
Don't forget fungal infections!
Another point on the same topic. What the fuck does American precedent have to do with Mexico?
This comment was modded 'insightful' by idiots. Courts frequently look at precedents from other countries where they are relevant. The amount of weight they give to them will typically be less than domestic precedents and that weight will depend a lot on the precise area of law in question and how closely that law matches the corresponding domestic law. But implying that foreign precedents are irrelevant is just ignorant.
Instant response is *always*, *always* more important than all other tasks.
No. Not *always*. Although it shouldn't be an issue much these days (large buffers etc.), CD/DVD burning needs to take priority over instant response if the alternative is risking a bad burn. There are other examples like realtime sound/video recording which may glitch if not given the highest priority.
On one hand, you have fundamentalist athiests in charge of Western media who take every opportunity to attack and discredit any religion,
You clearly live on a different planet to me. On my planet the mainstream media spend a lot of time creeping around all the 'respectable' religions, making sure they never offend them in any way. When any 'moral' issue is debated religious 'leaders', often self-appointed, are asked respectfully for their opinions while secular representatives are ignored or marginalized.
In the UK you even get extra parliamentary representation if you're in the Church of England - once via your MP and again via your bishop in the house of lords.