Anyways... The purpose of this blackbox is so they can prematurely shove software out the door and not have to worry about debugging until after its in market; when these magical programs will help them fix things fast, and keep Longhorn from looking bad, or slow-to-release. It will also help do a "quick" job of debugging longhorn.
ALso, it will help debug other programs, so they can release quickly on Longhorn, etc. - so Microsoft can attempt to Trump Macintosh. Wont work though; fierce animals put up a good fight! Panther, Tiger, Cougar...
Also, if they can view code and information about other applications crashing, it will allow them to either make life easier for that program (if they like it) or make things REALLY DIFFICULT for that program (like Corel programs). Everytime you send in a detailed Corel-error report to Microsoft, it gets used to "fix" Corel - fix 'em for good!
I generally make it a rule to only send error reports if theyre easy, on a machine thats "clean" (privacy), and the error report GOES TO WHO MADE THE PROGRAM. This blackbox thing seems OKAY, the intent is innocent enough right now, the problem is, Microsoft has a habbit of taking programs like this and gradually mixing in "evil intent" - either that or the intent is originally hidden well.
For example, DCOM: easy remote-runing programs, and stuff. Sounds great for corperate networks. But it never worked properly! Then, gradually mix in evil (backdoors, manditory, invisibly), and it becomes a tool to help Microsoft be in control. And thats what this is about too - it will gradually turn into yet another control mechanism.
They always pull this crap, and not only is it abusive and annoying, it sucks away cycles, leaving one to wonder what their computer is doing, churning away, when NO PROGRAMS ARE RUNNING. I used to say, windows is like a teenager - leave him alone with nothing to do, and he'll go into the corner and start wankin'. Windows is the same way. ALways doing something-or-other, mostly stuff thats to help microsoft or make them look good. Eg: Windows networking - poorly written convoluted mess. They make up for it by throwing in services to check things and store information, to make it seem instant, like every other OS.
This "after-the-fact", "patch-based" programming method is just pathetic. It clogs up RAM, cpu cycles, etc. Frig - just make it right the first time!
This is why i run linux; it does exactly what i tell it to, no more, no less, and its not a messy patch-work.
Now THAT was a funny parent post. He compared things that were completely different, and hailed non-existent things like WinFS.
WinFS is nowhere near being finished. And it probably will be nowhere near as advanced as most other FS's out there. The only advantage it will have, is proprietary secrecy, which will allow them to do things that dont benefit their users, secretly. Thats not what I call a strong selling point.
I dont even know why they bother, when they could just liscence Reiserfs (or ext3 ??) instead. It would save them effort and probably be a reasonable price. In fact, if the next windows doesnt have native Reiserfs/ext3 _support_, they'd be basically admitting obstenance and stupidity.
ALong with lacking filesystem support, Longhorn will also NOT support the following "properly": -multicore processors -64 bit => slow 32 bit compatability layers dont count (although much of this is the manufacturers fault) -non-intel architectures (as if they even have a chance to develop now)
So, what this means is, Longhorn is designed to work comfortably on much faster computers than will exist in the future, now that we hit that roadblock; and it wont support faster archetectures. So, essentially, Longhorn will be flashy and fun like MacOS, except slow and painful like Windows NT. It will truly be a mediocre operating system, one we can all say "meh" about, when it comes out.
Heres a funny idea... you could try what threw me off of games for good... it either involves getting him only games that are far far too difficult for him to succeed at, or decreasing the stability of his computer.
The first part of this, is what drove me away from first-person-shooters. The way to do this, is switch his mouse for one thats really glitchy (as was mine), then insist it works fine if he asks. Or mess with the drivers. I gave up on countless games because i actually sucked, so simulating suckyness should also work.
Also, i gave up on almost all modern games, because of how unreliable Window$ runs on my PC (i think its driver related). ANyways, you find some messed up drivers/DLL's for various components, and make a switch! Youd have to get rid of DLL caches and backups, etc. A nice one, would be to mess with windows networking... its already messed up! But once thats done, he will become so FED UP with reinstalling things and the computer crashing, that he will develop a disdain for Games, AND Microsoft windows.
Then (this didnt happen to me) give him a Macintosh for christmas, with creative software on it.
All his posts on slashdot are, word for word, all over internet boards everywhere... are these isolated incidents, or is this some sophisticated plot to pollute the internet beyond any usefullness; weakening it, so that he, in that moment of weakness, may take over!
I think the search results speak for themselves.
Dont be fooled! This is really a complex scheme to take over the internet!
Whats next, CLR + iPod ???
This is just getting ridiculous!! How many times do i have to say this... DONT mix cleaning products with electronic equipment!
In many countries (such as will probably be with Canada soon), there will be laws stating that bypassing DPM's (digital protection measures) is allowed, and legal, if it is of legal intent. SUch as fair use, backing it up, etc.
So, if you use it fairly in a country where its legal to do so, and they "block you", is that legal too? Is their EULA more powerfull than non-American laws?
I have more faith in research facilities in terms of hazard safety than i have in fabrication facilities... so, yes the government should help research safety practises. In the meantime, they should be (or remain) over-protective. No nano-products should be planned/manufactured until the safety regulation is in place, and the research is finished.
Quoth, TFA: "...leave nanotech development alone... allow individual regulatory agencies to weigh in on specific products..."
Some people are just ignorant assholes. That works for safe/predictable products with known chemical elements, like, i dont know, PLASTICS. Oh, and some products flourish without regulation too... like THE INTERNET. But Nanotech is a whole new ballgame!!!
Customized bacterium, and enzymes? Thats so cool. I guess we need nano-machines for nano-fabrication though, you need the basic tools i guess. Are we anywhere near the point where we can understand how and why a virus does what it does - how its programmed?
I've read about things like nano-computers, fabrics, etc., but making nano-things that were individually intelligent, like bacterium, or enzymes... that sounds quite difficult.
If there was a rapid-nano-prototyping machine, with some nano-reverse-engeneering analyzing machines to go with it; mayby then it would go faster...
Perhaps we'll eventually be replacing medication with fabricated viruses. Whee!
Um what? Particulate pollution? Thats what they want you to think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulate
Thats about the biggest kind of nano-structures they would make; thats the _starting point_ of nano-technology. THe aim, is to make it way smaller.
wikipedia: "particulate matter smaller than about 10 micrometers, referred to as PM10, can settle in the lungs and cause health problems"
Thats the problem. Nanotubes, nanofabric, nanocomputers, nanomachines, all of them would want to become smaller and better and the industries are trying to convince government/public that their particles are big, so they can classify them as an entirely different type of hazard (which is currently the case in the US) while at the same time trying to convince their buyers their particles are small (and advanced). It just doesnt make sense.
THey need better regulation that specifically deals with nanoparticles less than 20nm or even 30nm (safety factor).
There are many things Microsoft has locked down to prevent others from getting into, but one that pisses me off the most, is DirectX.
DirectX being so vastly closed, and having dragged the hadrware market with it, has caused fundamental flaws in 3D/SDL in Linux. Now i know a few people are gonna go "oh thats not true, such and such a program works", but in general, they did majorly stifle 3D, Games, etc. on Linux. They also promoted complex standards, and secrecy. Only now is the ball beginning to roll, and things are quite buggy - even worse than Windows Networking. lol.
And how many legal mp3 stores that use software offer a Linux version? Or even music files that can play on Linux... theres too many closed-apps that even refuse to make a closed-source linux version, or a (closed) Linux-decoder.
If they wont release any open apps, then they can at least release closed libraries so that open source can "function" at all. At least thats for some things, like DRM stuff, "trade secrets" like DirectX, etc. Its better than nothing, and thats all weve got so far. Once they give us that much, we can bitch and try to force even more open standards! Ya gotta take it slow.
Huge discs are all fine and good... but wont they get scratched/ruined easily?
I wait for someone to come out with an innovative new CD/DVD case design, perhaps something like combining a booklet and cases. (if that exists already, then its certainly not sold in any store ive been to)
to transmit by antenna costs 4x more than cable internet. download by satellite and upload over dialup is what most offer, and its also a lot of money.
who even said the recieving end had to be in a satellite - what about a nearby hill/high elevation or existing tower, or even a large balloon. a CN tower transmitter could service most of Ontario - its much closer than a satellite. problem is, internet companies dont do R&D. they leave that up to hardware companies, which puts them at risk of losing their place.
Nobody in the future is gonna buy a house without good internet. Municipal-run Wireless, run as a joint venture between local government and one of the smaller Telecommunications companies, will make my home town "feasible" in the years to come.
No private companies came forward so far to do this. How long have we had Wi-Fi, a few years? ANd what about satellite internet, how come its still 2x the price of DSL or cable when theres so many rural citizens who'd otherwise have bought it. Why? They dont give a shit about us. We're below their level of notice. If they cant be bothered to acknowledge out existence, they can all go to hell.
Yeah right... the consoles will mostly stop piracy (or at least be way less than on PC's), they'll be many many times faster, they connect to the internet, etc. - in short, they're the new "Top End" of gaming.
If they can make the design toolkit (whatever its called) good enough that programming for the cell isnt horribly difficult, consoles will win the high performance gaming market.
Half-life 3 for PC - if its made - will run into massive bottlenecking: hard drive read speeds, processor speeds, archetecture limitations, etc. But the consoles dont have to worry about compatability with Window$ (they make their own OS-skeleton), so they can optimize everything like mad.
The only reason the PC won the top end gaming market so far, is they kept getting faster all the time, while the consoles had to keep a many-year cyclic release cycle; and became out dated. Now that the PC has hit several HEAVY bottlenecks, they dont stand a chance. Even with the 4-year release cycling of consoles, the PC will not catch up. Not in 4 years, not in 8 years, mayby not AT ALL. At leas not until some new-generation hardware compatable operating system shows up.
THe PC gaming market could be in trouble. It could even sink into "second rate", as all the FPS's migrate to consoles. On the bright side, Apple computers and Linux will look increasingly feasible.
Dont jump to conclusions here. I know people who're like that that do not have ADD;and generally, more people like this are showing up all the time, due to societal conditions - but only some actually have a brain-chemistry irregularity (ADD).
i remember the good old days. opera died after firefox showed up - but whenever you used opera, you could just tell by the feel of it, that Windows had bad interoperability... Netscape and early mozilla had the same feel. it felt like it just didnt belong, as if it was a tresspasser compared to IE.
Microsoft has 'McInteroperability'. Thats like interoperability only it only goes one way.
Eg:
-DirectX ONLY runs on Windows (TM), and is the industry standard.
-NTFS _was_ only useable by windows.
-MS Office only runs on windows
-MS programs inherently run 5x faster than any competitors programs (something to do with APIs)
Overall, microsoft doesnt really understand what interoperability means in the first place - they probably think it means "capability to run under MS Windows(TM)" - like Apache, PHP, Mysql, Firefox, Openoffice, etc.
Intel? They make hardware! Not software! Microsofts making the software for this; why is this even news - they already make that; and nobody buys any.
Still, Intel and Microsoft are pretty retarded to have even considered releasing a 2 core centrino for MULTIMEDIA CENTER before they make multicore centrino DESKTOPS or LAPTOPS - its not like their primary function is to produce COMPUTER based products...
Why are these companies, that we somehow rely on for certain products, end up WASTING their energy on useless crap we dont want, instead of working on what we expect them to make for us?
Message to Intel: Stop slacking off and make COMPUTER CHIPS!!!!! And please, make ones that DONT SUCK this time.
Message to microsoft: Stop screwing around in every market, and focus on making Consumer WINDOWS compatable with new hardware! Frig!
Its not just computers anymore, and thats starting to worry me.
People everywhere are walking around using a vast array of strange devices, which all distract everyone a LOT, if not completely prevent them from accomplishing anything usefull at all.
Cell-phone-talking, listening to portable music-players, dawdling about on a PDA. You can escape a computer quite simply; leave the room. Out of sight, out of mind, etc. But those cell phones, PDA's, etc, mask themselves as devices you use for work, AND play! That presents a problem right there; you take it with you for the work aspect, and you just end up playing with the damn thing instead! Forcing yourself to NOT play with the goddamn thing is harder than just using another device to do the same work-related job in the first place!
This is why i like specific task devices (gameboy, old PDA's, old cell phones, pen & paper, etc.) - theyre easier to deal with.
I do not, nor will i ever, own a cellphone. For the price versus distraction, its worth it to use a payphone instead. Similarly, I usually prefer email to "instant messaging".
Exactly. Its not worth the cost and the fuss to upgrade, just to get the "superior quality".
The effort needed to ensure all these crazy proprietary devices work together is by itself as much of a pain as searching the dark side of the internet and getting around the DRM, only a hellova lot more expensive.
If you do just unplug a device, everything screws up... device nodes in use, etc. Then you have to force it to unmount. Also things (namely konqueror) start to crash after that.
In SUSE, just unplugging it can sometimes STALL YOUR COMPUTER. In fact, i found just leaving a drive mounted with a folder open to it stalled the whole computer. Something to do with periodically unmounting "unused" devices, lol. But thats not KDEs fault - its mostly Subfs/suse's fault.
I have, over the last year or so used Gentoo, Debian, SuSE, Mandrake, Yopper, and a few others - none of them, in Gnome or in KDE, has what i consider to be anywhere near Windows equivalent usb-storage device useability. But thats what i want. I dont care whatsoever about adding network config menus, samba config menus, wireless app monitors and config menus, etc... other similar apps already exist.
I never could get that wireless config menu to "remember" my settings anyway- am i missing something? There was no "save" option, i press apply, go to another menu, go back, bamf~ settings erased. Settings werent applied on startup, werent remembered, nothing. Useless.
Slashdot Mirror
lol.
Anyways... The purpose of this blackbox is so they can prematurely shove software out the door and not have to worry about debugging until after its in market; when these magical programs will help them fix things fast, and keep Longhorn from looking bad, or slow-to-release. It will also help do a "quick" job of debugging longhorn.
ALso, it will help debug other programs, so they can release quickly on Longhorn, etc. - so Microsoft can attempt to Trump Macintosh. Wont work though; fierce animals put up a good fight! Panther, Tiger, Cougar...
Also, if they can view code and information about other applications crashing, it will allow them to either make life easier for that program (if they like it) or make things REALLY DIFFICULT for that program (like Corel programs). Everytime you send in a detailed Corel-error report to Microsoft, it gets used to "fix" Corel - fix 'em for good!
I generally make it a rule to only send error reports if theyre easy, on a machine thats "clean" (privacy), and the error report GOES TO WHO MADE THE PROGRAM. This blackbox thing seems OKAY, the intent is innocent enough right now, the problem is, Microsoft has a habbit of taking programs like this and gradually mixing in "evil intent" - either that or the intent is originally hidden well.
For example, DCOM: easy remote-runing programs, and stuff. Sounds great for corperate networks. But it never worked properly! Then, gradually mix in evil (backdoors, manditory, invisibly), and it becomes a tool to help Microsoft be in control. And thats what this is about too - it will gradually turn into yet another control mechanism.
They always pull this crap, and not only is it abusive and annoying, it sucks away cycles, leaving one to wonder what their computer is doing, churning away, when NO PROGRAMS ARE RUNNING. I used to say, windows is like a teenager - leave him alone with nothing to do, and he'll go into the corner and start wankin'. Windows is the same way. ALways doing something-or-other, mostly stuff thats to help microsoft or make them look good. Eg: Windows networking - poorly written convoluted mess. They make up for it by throwing in services to check things and store information, to make it seem instant, like every other OS.
This "after-the-fact", "patch-based" programming method is just pathetic. It clogs up RAM, cpu cycles, etc. Frig - just make it right the first time!
This is why i run linux; it does exactly what i tell it to, no more, no less, and its not a messy patch-work.
Now THAT was a funny parent post. He compared things that were completely different, and hailed non-existent things like WinFS.
WinFS is nowhere near being finished. And it probably will be nowhere near as advanced as most other FS's out there. The only advantage it will have, is proprietary secrecy, which will allow them to do things that dont benefit their users, secretly. Thats not what I call a strong selling point.
I dont even know why they bother, when they could just liscence Reiserfs (or ext3 ??) instead. It would save them effort and probably be a reasonable price. In fact, if the next windows doesnt have native Reiserfs/ext3 _support_, they'd be basically admitting obstenance and stupidity.
ALong with lacking filesystem support, Longhorn will also NOT support the following "properly":
-multicore processors
-64 bit => slow 32 bit compatability layers dont count (although much of this is the manufacturers fault)
-non-intel architectures (as if they even have a chance to develop now)
So, what this means is, Longhorn is designed to work comfortably on much faster computers than will exist in the future, now that we hit that roadblock; and it wont support faster archetectures. So, essentially, Longhorn will be flashy and fun like MacOS, except slow and painful like Windows NT. It will truly be a mediocre operating system, one we can all say "meh" about, when it comes out.
Heres a funny idea... you could try what threw me off of games for good... it either involves getting him only games that are far far too difficult for him to succeed at, or decreasing the stability of his computer.
The first part of this, is what drove me away from first-person-shooters. The way to do this, is switch his mouse for one thats really glitchy (as was mine), then insist it works fine if he asks. Or mess with the drivers. I gave up on countless games because i actually sucked, so simulating suckyness should also work.
Also, i gave up on almost all modern games, because of how unreliable Window$ runs on my PC (i think its driver related). ANyways, you find some messed up drivers/DLL's for various components, and make a switch! Youd have to get rid of DLL caches and backups, etc. A nice one, would be to mess with windows networking... its already messed up! But once thats done, he will become so FED UP with reinstalling things and the computer crashing, that he will develop a disdain for Games, AND Microsoft windows.
Then (this didnt happen to me) give him a Macintosh for christmas, with creative software on it.
All his posts on slashdot are, word for word, all over internet boards everywhere... are these isolated incidents, or is this some sophisticated plot to pollute the internet beyond any usefullness; weakening it, so that he, in that moment of weakness, may take over!
I think the search results speak for themselves.
Dont be fooled! This is really a complex scheme to take over the internet!
Whats next, CLR + iPod ??? This is just getting ridiculous!! How many times do i have to say this... DONT mix cleaning products with electronic equipment!
In many countries (such as will probably be with Canada soon), there will be laws stating that bypassing DPM's (digital protection measures) is allowed, and legal, if it is of legal intent. SUch as fair use, backing it up, etc.
So, if you use it fairly in a country where its legal to do so, and they "block you", is that legal too? Is their EULA more powerfull than non-American laws?
I have more faith in research facilities in terms of hazard safety than i have in fabrication facilities... so, yes the government should help research safety practises. In the meantime, they should be (or remain) over-protective. No nano-products should be planned/manufactured until the safety regulation is in place, and the research is finished.
Quoth, TFA: "...leave nanotech development alone... allow individual regulatory agencies to weigh in on specific products..."
Some people are just ignorant assholes. That works for safe/predictable products with known chemical elements, like, i dont know, PLASTICS. Oh, and some products flourish without regulation too... like THE INTERNET. But Nanotech is a whole new ballgame!!!
Customized bacterium, and enzymes? Thats so cool. I guess we need nano-machines for nano-fabrication though, you need the basic tools i guess. Are we anywhere near the point where we can understand how and why a virus does what it does - how its programmed?
I've read about things like nano-computers, fabrics, etc., but making nano-things that were individually intelligent, like bacterium, or enzymes... that sounds quite difficult.
If there was a rapid-nano-prototyping machine, with some nano-reverse-engeneering analyzing machines to go with it; mayby then it would go faster...
Perhaps we'll eventually be replacing medication with fabricated viruses. Whee!
Um what? Particulate pollution? Thats what they want you to think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulate
Thats about the biggest kind of nano-structures they would make; thats the _starting point_ of nano-technology. THe aim, is to make it way smaller.
wikipedia:
"particulate matter smaller than about 10 micrometers, referred to as PM10, can settle in the lungs and cause health problems"
Thats the problem. Nanotubes, nanofabric, nanocomputers, nanomachines, all of them would want to become smaller and better and the industries are trying to convince government/public that their particles are big, so they can classify them as an entirely different type of hazard (which is currently the case in the US) while at the same time trying to convince their buyers their particles are small (and advanced). It just doesnt make sense.
THey need better regulation that specifically deals with nanoparticles less than 20nm or even 30nm (safety factor).
There are many things Microsoft has locked down to prevent others from getting into, but one that pisses me off the most, is DirectX.
DirectX being so vastly closed, and having dragged the hadrware market with it, has caused fundamental flaws in 3D/SDL in Linux. Now i know a few people are gonna go "oh thats not true, such and such a program works", but in general, they did majorly stifle 3D, Games, etc. on Linux. They also promoted complex standards, and secrecy. Only now is the ball beginning to roll, and things are quite buggy - even worse than Windows Networking. lol.
And how many legal mp3 stores that use software offer a Linux version? Or even music files that can play on Linux... theres too many closed-apps that even refuse to make a closed-source linux version, or a (closed) Linux-decoder.
If they wont release any open apps, then they can at least release closed libraries so that open source can "function" at all. At least thats for some things, like DRM stuff, "trade secrets" like DirectX, etc. Its better than nothing, and thats all weve got so far. Once they give us that much, we can bitch and try to force even more open standards! Ya gotta take it slow.
Because we like to wreak meaningless damage and destruction?
Destroy the website!!!
Oh. but i have to wait for blu-ray to get that?
Nuts.
Huge discs are all fine and good... but wont they get scratched/ruined easily? I wait for someone to come out with an innovative new CD/DVD case design, perhaps something like combining a booklet and cases. (if that exists already, then its certainly not sold in any store ive been to)
to transmit by antenna costs 4x more than cable internet. download by satellite and upload over dialup is what most offer, and its also a lot of money. who even said the recieving end had to be in a satellite - what about a nearby hill/high elevation or existing tower, or even a large balloon. a CN tower transmitter could service most of Ontario - its much closer than a satellite. problem is, internet companies dont do R&D. they leave that up to hardware companies, which puts them at risk of losing their place.
Nobody in the future is gonna buy a house without good internet. Municipal-run Wireless, run as a joint venture between local government and one of the smaller Telecommunications companies, will make my home town "feasible" in the years to come. No private companies came forward so far to do this. How long have we had Wi-Fi, a few years? ANd what about satellite internet, how come its still 2x the price of DSL or cable when theres so many rural citizens who'd otherwise have bought it. Why? They dont give a shit about us. We're below their level of notice. If they cant be bothered to acknowledge out existence, they can all go to hell.
Yeah right... the consoles will mostly stop piracy (or at least be way less than on PC's), they'll be many many times faster, they connect to the internet, etc. - in short, they're the new "Top End" of gaming.
If they can make the design toolkit (whatever its called) good enough that programming for the cell isnt horribly difficult, consoles will win the high performance gaming market.
Half-life 3 for PC - if its made - will run into massive bottlenecking: hard drive read speeds, processor speeds, archetecture limitations, etc. But the consoles dont have to worry about compatability with Window$ (they make their own OS-skeleton), so they can optimize everything like mad.
The only reason the PC won the top end gaming market so far, is they kept getting faster all the time, while the consoles had to keep a many-year cyclic release cycle; and became out dated. Now that the PC has hit several HEAVY bottlenecks, they dont stand a chance. Even with the 4-year release cycling of consoles, the PC will not catch up. Not in 4 years, not in 8 years, mayby not AT ALL. At leas not until some new-generation hardware compatable operating system shows up.
THe PC gaming market could be in trouble. It could even sink into "second rate", as all the FPS's migrate to consoles. On the bright side, Apple computers and Linux will look increasingly feasible.
Dont jump to conclusions here. I know people who're like that that do not have ADD;and generally, more people like this are showing up all the time, due to societal conditions - but only some actually have a brain-chemistry irregularity (ADD).
Apart from that, he makes it seem as though they're "inferior" for not having read "complex texts".
Each person chooses a way to live; people do as they please. To claim that one lifestyle is superior is hypocritical, egotistical, and superficial.
Intel's just saying that to draw your attention away from IBM's cell! Its a trick, dont listen to them; theyre just making this stuff up!
i remember the good old days. opera died after firefox showed up - but whenever you used opera, you could just tell by the feel of it, that Windows had bad interoperability... Netscape and early mozilla had the same feel. it felt like it just didnt belong, as if it was a tresspasser compared to IE. Microsoft has 'McInteroperability'. Thats like interoperability only it only goes one way. Eg: -DirectX ONLY runs on Windows (TM), and is the industry standard. -NTFS _was_ only useable by windows. -MS Office only runs on windows -MS programs inherently run 5x faster than any competitors programs (something to do with APIs) Overall, microsoft doesnt really understand what interoperability means in the first place - they probably think it means "capability to run under MS Windows(TM)" - like Apache, PHP, Mysql, Firefox, Openoffice, etc.
Intel? They make hardware! Not software! Microsofts making the software for this; why is this even news - they already make that; and nobody buys any. Still, Intel and Microsoft are pretty retarded to have even considered releasing a 2 core centrino for MULTIMEDIA CENTER before they make multicore centrino DESKTOPS or LAPTOPS - its not like their primary function is to produce COMPUTER based products... Why are these companies, that we somehow rely on for certain products, end up WASTING their energy on useless crap we dont want, instead of working on what we expect them to make for us? Message to Intel: Stop slacking off and make COMPUTER CHIPS!!!!! And please, make ones that DONT SUCK this time. Message to microsoft: Stop screwing around in every market, and focus on making Consumer WINDOWS compatable with new hardware! Frig!
Its not just computers anymore, and thats starting to worry me.
People everywhere are walking around using a vast array of strange devices, which all distract everyone a LOT, if not completely prevent them from accomplishing anything usefull at all.
Cell-phone-talking, listening to portable music-players, dawdling about on a PDA. You can escape a computer quite simply; leave the room. Out of sight, out of mind, etc. But those cell phones, PDA's, etc, mask themselves as devices you use for work, AND play! That presents a problem right there; you take it with you for the work aspect, and you just end up playing with the damn thing instead! Forcing yourself to NOT play with the goddamn thing is harder than just using another device to do the same work-related job in the first place!
This is why i like specific task devices (gameboy, old PDA's, old cell phones, pen & paper, etc.) - theyre easier to deal with.
I do not, nor will i ever, own a cellphone. For the price versus distraction, its worth it to use a payphone instead. Similarly, I usually prefer email to "instant messaging".
Exactly. Its not worth the cost and the fuss to upgrade, just to get the "superior quality".
The effort needed to ensure all these crazy proprietary devices work together is by itself as much of a pain as searching the dark side of the internet and getting around the DRM, only a hellova lot more expensive.
These companies are all dreaming.
i use gnome/hal on my laptop, i like it a lot. i like some things in kde and some things in gnome... ugghh.
If you do just unplug a device, everything screws up... device nodes in use, etc. Then you have to force it to unmount. Also things (namely konqueror) start to crash after that. In SUSE, just unplugging it can sometimes STALL YOUR COMPUTER. In fact, i found just leaving a drive mounted with a folder open to it stalled the whole computer. Something to do with periodically unmounting "unused" devices, lol. But thats not KDEs fault - its mostly Subfs/suse's fault. I have, over the last year or so used Gentoo, Debian, SuSE, Mandrake, Yopper, and a few others - none of them, in Gnome or in KDE, has what i consider to be anywhere near Windows equivalent usb-storage device useability. But thats what i want. I dont care whatsoever about adding network config menus, samba config menus, wireless app monitors and config menus, etc... other similar apps already exist. I never could get that wireless config menu to "remember" my settings anyway- am i missing something? There was no "save" option, i press apply, go to another menu, go back, bamf~ settings erased. Settings werent applied on startup, werent remembered, nothing. Useless.