You're aware that basically everything in the interface (as well as sounds) can be changed, right? I don't like the default contact list, either, but I use the iPhoto color scheme with about a 50% opacity and the included Large iChat list layout, and I love it. As for message windows, I don't even know what the default is, but there are plenty included (Smooth Operator is my favorite--I think it's included by default--but there are also ones that look like iChat and a whole bunch more). I also got the iBubble dock icon (which simulates that of iChat) because I like it a bit better.
That said, all these things are just my personal preference, but I encourage you to explore some of the different appearances and message stlyes included, or go to adiumxtras.com for more. You'll find something you like.
I'm a CS major, too, and I suggest that you learn LaTeX. Just start using it for small things at first to get the hang of it. That's what I did (glad I did, too, since that semester I was taking a linguistics class and it eventually came in handy for typing characters in the IPA!), and now I type almost all of my papers in it for any class, even though I have NeoOffice/OpenOffice on all my computers. (In fact, I really haven't had to use it yet in computer science, although it was nice for typing up study guides for my discrete math class. It's just so nice for all of my classes.)
Obviously it's known for typesetting math and such well, but it's great for pretty much anything I need it for. And it's free, and lucky me, my schools have it on all the lab computers. It's not just for Linux. On Windows, I'd recommend proTeXt for getting youself set up with all you need (I am a fan of the editor it comes with, TeXnic Center), and on the Mac I recommend MacTeX (although TeXShop, the editor it installs, could be a bit better--but it is still good).
Don't be afraid, just read a tutorial or two... and remember that Google is your friend as you are learning.:)
Might be good enough to trick Windows and Linux users, but I take it that you've never used a Mac...
(First, "Preferences" doesn't even go under the "Edit" menu, it goes under the Application menu, which doesn't even exist on Windows or Linux. Same with the "About" menu item typically found under Help on other systems. Plus, it's not just how the widgets look skin-wise and where menu items are, it's also just about how the application as a whole is laid out. Mac apps tend to use more palettes and windows than Windows and Linux apps, tend to use different conventions (e.g., no OK/Cancel buttons on preference or About windows, named buttons instead of just "Yes"/"No"/"Cancel" or whatever on dialogs, etc.--plus occasional use of some UI features not in other OSes, such as drawers and sheets), and, well, basically, applications that were poorly ported are easy to spot, and Mac users don't like them.)
I happen to like XP's Start menu a lot better than 2000's, particularly the list of the most frequently used applications. (Yes, I know you can put stuff at the top level of the old Start menu... but not automatically--and there are no shortage of applications that abuse this privilege. XP intentionally doesn't let programs do this on the new Start menu. Plus, XP's Start menu provides easier access to My Computer, Network Places, and all that jazz without having to dig out the desktop.)
That, and you can go back to the Windows 2000-style Start menu anyway if you like in XP In fact, I think I could do that in the Visa beta I tried, unless my memory is just failing. Either way, I wouldn't call XP's Start menu "awkward."
...because emulation isn't already slow enough.:)
Haha, just kidding, I know Java really isn't that bad anymore, and I do understand the reasons they chose the language. I just had to say it...
With regards to the look of OpenOffice.org Impress presentations, they do tend to look quite bad with the default templates. (Maybe including some good-looking ones would be a nice thing to do for the future.)
However, you can download PowerPoint templates from Microsoft's site or even the program itself if you have it (even templates designed for PowerPoint 2007 if you use the Microsoft Office 2007 file format converter to convert to the older format) and import them into OpenOffice.org, then save them as templates. It's a little more work, but it works, and you get good-looking presentations. Of course, some people think it's icky to use stuff from MS, but it works.:)
One other thing I like about Impress is that you can export your presentation to a variety of formats, including PowerPoint, Flash, and PDF. That last one is the best for me--it even captures your slide transitions and everything. Put Adobe Reader (or FoxIt Reader--it works too) in Full Screen mode and nobody will know the difference. Plus you don't have to worry about having PowerPoint or Impress on your target computer, just a sufficiently recent version of Adobe Reader (version 6.0 worked for me, earlier ones might too). Or to virtually guarantee compatibility, download FoxIt Reader and place the executable on your flash drive or whatever (no need to install)--and then there's even less to worry about, at least if you're on Windows. But if you were thinking about using PowerPoint in the first place, you probably are.:)
I exported my Impress presentation as PDF the other week for a class and it worked great. Nobody knew the difference, although I'm sure some technically inclined people were curious when they saw me starting a PDF reader. (Not that I really needed to, since I'm lucky enough that my school actually includes OpenOffice.org standard on lab computers. But I just couldn't resist.)
The statistics this article references are from Net Applications. OneStat also came out with a report recently, and theirs actually shows IE usage up slightly to 85.85%.
Unless I'm mistaken, I belive the interface was tweaked a bit (the Go button and stupid "drop down arrow" hover effects on the Back/Forward buttons seem a bit darker) on the Mac version (wouldn't surprise me if the Windows/Linux versions didn't change--RC 1 was at least decent for them), though it still looks terrible for a Mac app. For example, the toolbar icons increase in saturation when you hover over them. Note to theme devs: Mac icons don't do that; this isn't Windows XP. Plus, the whole toolbar is now this light gray instead of the OS X pinstripe background. It seriously looks like a poorly ported KDE app.
That being said, for Mac users who want a theme that actually looks decent, they should try the Gerich/Holander update of the original Pinstripe theme which they created for Firefox 1. Not only is it updated for Firefox 2, but it's been tweaked a bit and looks "20% more Macintosh" according to them--though more like 200% if you ask me: http://kmgerich.com/2006/09/27/pinstripe-for-firef ox-now-with-20-more-macintosh/
It's also available for Windows and Linux and will make Firefox look more or less like the 1.x theme.
You're both wrong, IPTV is Iowa Public Television and has been for over 25 years.:) (And even longer under various other names.)
Mwuhahaha, just kidding. That really is what it's called, though (yes, I'm an Iowan), and every time I read about the "new" IPTV I have to force myself to think that it's not what my first reaction tells me.
I know you were trying to be funny, but... in all seriousness, VB.NET and C# are very similar in capabilities, especially with their 2005 (.NET Framework 2.0) versions, and I barely even hesitate to say that they are practically the same language with a different syntax, though I believe there still are a few things one can do that the other can't, and vice versa.
I moved over from VB.NET to C# (granted, I was already familiar with C++ and Java, the inspiration for C#'s syntax) without needing anything more than the occasional glance at Visual Studio documentation--as opposed to a book, which is what it took for most of the other languages I know (including the jump from VB 5/6 to VB.NET).
In the linked article, he describes CSS as "an HTML-like technology that Web developers use to create Web sites." That's really a stretch, especially on a site like Windows IT Pro. (Couldn't he have said, for example, that it's used to style pages?) But I digress.
In any case, he can complain about IE being stuck in the 90's all he wants--I get as frustrated with it as the next Web developer--but has anyone looked at his site (or Windows IT Pro, for that matter, except I doubt he has much control over that one)? It's a mess of tables, inline Javascript and CSS, and it doesn't even have a DOCTYPE. And he's complaining about standards? IE's buggy rendering and the compatibility mode in Firefox and other browsers is probably the only thing holding that site together.
The article reads like just another attempt to bash Microsoft. It's even a bit hypocritical (see my last paragraph)...
Would be easier if it weren't so deeply ingrained into the operating system that you can't have more than one version installed at the same time so you could test on IE 6 and IE 7 (without having two Windows installations or resorting to virtualization or something)... I know you could do that in the past with older versions, but they haven't done it for a while.
Good thing they just made Virtual PC free, I guess...
Well, if you didn't know, the wireless version was just released today; it's the "wired" one that was released a year ago. Or, if you're wondering why every product release from Apple becomes news on Slashdot, well, I don't know, but I, for one, find it interesting.:)
Take it from a Facebook addict: Even if you don't "put a block" on your site, it's still not public. You can choose your privacy settings, which include letting only your friends see your profile or the default of letting everybody in your network (i.e., your college) see it in addition to your friends from all networks. (They've been tweaking it lately and there are probably more now, and there is also a "limited profile" feature which allows you to block/show selected parts of your profile, e.g., certain sections of it, photo albums, your "wall" [akin to comment section on MySpace], etc., to certain people.) But under no circumstances would it be truly "public" and available for any Facebook member to see, much less a search engine like Google.
Most likely, there was another intern, alumnus, or faculty member of the school in question at this place of employment who would have had access (all you need is an e-mail address from the insitution, doesn't matter if you're staff, student, or alumnnus) to a Facebook account in the same network as this intern and did some "research" on behalf of the company. Of course, he said he limited access only to his friends, but maybe this happened before he did that, or maybe it was even one of his "friends" who did it, since unless you're picky--and most people aren't--it's not like everyone who's "friended" you (and you've accepted) over the school year is necessarily your best friend or even someone you really know that well.
Whoops, I lied. That's not from the article Slashdot linked to, it's from the actual study, the link to which I found on a similar BetaNews story. Do yourself a favor--skip the writeup in The Register and read the abstract yourself: Wiley InterScience Journal - Abstract.
Fifteen male volunteers attended two experimental sessions, one week apart, in a cross-over, double-blind paradigm. In one session the signal was turned ON (EMF-on, real exposure), in the other it was turned OFF (EMF-off, sham exposure), for 45 minutes.
These requirements are for the "Vista Premium" experience. Requirements for Vista to run (and get the "Vista Basic" look and whatnot--from what I can tell from using Beta 2 it's like Aero without the transparency, shadows, and glowy-ness) are slightly lower, and I'm sure most Intel Macs will be able to handle that, at least.
NeoOffice is free, but for these early alpha builds of version 2.0 they're asking users to pay because they're short of funds. Either that or there may be no NeoOffice at all, so I think this is a reasonable request. If you don't want to pay, just wait until it's released. As for the X11 build of OpenOffice.org... ick! Printing and fonts are a nightmare, not to mention the interface. And let's not even go into the steps a normal user would have to take to get it to work in the first place (install Apple X11, etc). Use it if you want (I use it sometimes, too), but don't complain when somebody tries to make something that's actually usable by a wider majority of people.
I realize you were mostly ranting about the cost, though, and that really won't be an issue later. They just needed some funds, so they decided to offer super-early alpa versions for a fee. That's all.
That's not PDF's problem, it's the software's. Get yourself a decent reader already, or at least change your settings so PDFs aren't opened in the browser.
Slashdot Mirror
You're aware that basically everything in the interface (as well as sounds) can be changed, right? I don't like the default contact list, either, but I use the iPhoto color scheme with about a 50% opacity and the included Large iChat list layout, and I love it. As for message windows, I don't even know what the default is, but there are plenty included (Smooth Operator is my favorite--I think it's included by default--but there are also ones that look like iChat and a whole bunch more). I also got the iBubble dock icon (which simulates that of iChat) because I like it a bit better.
That said, all these things are just my personal preference, but I encourage you to explore some of the different appearances and message stlyes included, or go to adiumxtras.com for more. You'll find something you like.
I'm a CS major, too, and I suggest that you learn LaTeX. Just start using it for small things at first to get the hang of it. That's what I did (glad I did, too, since that semester I was taking a linguistics class and it eventually came in handy for typing characters in the IPA!), and now I type almost all of my papers in it for any class, even though I have NeoOffice/OpenOffice on all my computers. (In fact, I really haven't had to use it yet in computer science, although it was nice for typing up study guides for my discrete math class. It's just so nice for all of my classes.)
Obviously it's known for typesetting math and such well, but it's great for pretty much anything I need it for. And it's free, and lucky me, my schools have it on all the lab computers. It's not just for Linux. On Windows, I'd recommend proTeXt for getting youself set up with all you need (I am a fan of the editor it comes with, TeXnic Center), and on the Mac I recommend MacTeX (although TeXShop, the editor it installs, could be a bit better--but it is still good).
Don't be afraid, just read a tutorial or two ... and remember that Google is your friend as you are learning. :)
Might be good enough to trick Windows and Linux users, but I take it that you've never used a Mac...
(First, "Preferences" doesn't even go under the "Edit" menu, it goes under the Application menu, which doesn't even exist on Windows or Linux. Same with the "About" menu item typically found under Help on other systems. Plus, it's not just how the widgets look skin-wise and where menu items are, it's also just about how the application as a whole is laid out. Mac apps tend to use more palettes and windows than Windows and Linux apps, tend to use different conventions (e.g., no OK/Cancel buttons on preference or About windows, named buttons instead of just "Yes"/"No"/"Cancel" or whatever on dialogs, etc.--plus occasional use of some UI features not in other OSes, such as drawers and sheets), and, well, basically, applications that were poorly ported are easy to spot, and Mac users don't like them.)
I happen to like XP's Start menu a lot better than 2000's, particularly the list of the most frequently used applications. (Yes, I know you can put stuff at the top level of the old Start menu ... but not automatically--and there are no shortage of applications that abuse this privilege. XP intentionally doesn't let programs do this on the new Start menu. Plus, XP's Start menu provides easier access to My Computer, Network Places, and all that jazz without having to dig out the desktop.)
That, and you can go back to the Windows 2000-style Start menu anyway if you like in XP In fact, I think I could do that in the Visa beta I tried, unless my memory is just failing. Either way, I wouldn't call XP's Start menu "awkward."
Hmm, he might want to work on changing the name from Phoenix. Good thing the summary says its only "dubbed Phoenix," not that it's the final name.
What's that you say? No, "Firebird" won't work, either...
...because emulation isn't already slow enough. :)
Haha, just kidding, I know Java really isn't that bad anymore, and I do understand the reasons they chose the language. I just had to say it...
With regards to the look of OpenOffice.org Impress presentations, they do tend to look quite bad with the default templates. (Maybe including some good-looking ones would be a nice thing to do for the future.)
However, you can download PowerPoint templates from Microsoft's site or even the program itself if you have it (even templates designed for PowerPoint 2007 if you use the Microsoft Office 2007 file format converter to convert to the older format) and import them into OpenOffice.org, then save them as templates. It's a little more work, but it works, and you get good-looking presentations. Of course, some people think it's icky to use stuff from MS, but it works. :)
One other thing I like about Impress is that you can export your presentation to a variety of formats, including PowerPoint, Flash, and PDF. That last one is the best for me--it even captures your slide transitions and everything. Put Adobe Reader (or FoxIt Reader--it works too) in Full Screen mode and nobody will know the difference. Plus you don't have to worry about having PowerPoint or Impress on your target computer, just a sufficiently recent version of Adobe Reader (version 6.0 worked for me, earlier ones might too). Or to virtually guarantee compatibility, download FoxIt Reader and place the executable on your flash drive or whatever (no need to install)--and then there's even less to worry about, at least if you're on Windows. But if you were thinking about using PowerPoint in the first place, you probably are. :)
I exported my Impress presentation as PDF the other week for a class and it worked great. Nobody knew the difference, although I'm sure some technically inclined people were curious when they saw me starting a PDF reader. (Not that I really needed to, since I'm lucky enough that my school actually includes OpenOffice.org standard on lab computers. But I just couldn't resist.)
The statistics this article references are from Net Applications. OneStat also came out with a report recently, and theirs actually shows IE usage up slightly to 85.85%.
So it depends on who you believe...
Unless I'm mistaken, I belive the interface was tweaked a bit (the Go button and stupid "drop down arrow" hover effects on the Back/Forward buttons seem a bit darker) on the Mac version (wouldn't surprise me if the Windows/Linux versions didn't change--RC 1 was at least decent for them), though it still looks terrible for a Mac app. For example, the toolbar icons increase in saturation when you hover over them. Note to theme devs: Mac icons don't do that; this isn't Windows XP. Plus, the whole toolbar is now this light gray instead of the OS X pinstripe background. It seriously looks like a poorly ported KDE app.
That being said, for Mac users who want a theme that actually looks decent, they should try the Gerich/Holander update of the original Pinstripe theme which they created for Firefox 1. Not only is it updated for Firefox 2, but it's been tweaked a bit and looks "20% more Macintosh" according to them--though more like 200% if you ask me: http://kmgerich.com/2006/09/27/pinstripe-for-firef ox-now-with-20-more-macintosh/
It's also available for Windows and Linux and will make Firefox look more or less like the 1.x theme.
You're both wrong, IPTV is Iowa Public Television and has been for over 25 years. :) (And even longer under various other names.)
Mwuhahaha, just kidding. That really is what it's called, though (yes, I'm an Iowan), and every time I read about the "new" IPTV I have to force myself to think that it's not what my first reaction tells me.
Beta 2 is available to everyone...
On my rev. A iMac G5, the startup sound actually plays through the built-in speakers whether or not I have headphones plugged in...
Of course, it would probably work with a PC...
Yeah, it would really be a shame if Microsoft stole the code for Firefox. I mean, since it is top-secret and everything.
:)
I know you were trying to be funny, but ... in all seriousness, VB.NET and C# are very similar in capabilities, especially with their 2005 (.NET Framework 2.0) versions, and I barely even hesitate to say that they are practically the same language with a different syntax, though I believe there still are a few things one can do that the other can't, and vice versa.
I moved over from VB.NET to C# (granted, I was already familiar with C++ and Java, the inspiration for C#'s syntax) without needing anything more than the occasional glance at Visual Studio documentation--as opposed to a book, which is what it took for most of the other languages I know (including the jump from VB 5/6 to VB.NET).
In the linked article, he describes CSS as "an HTML-like technology that Web developers use to create Web sites." That's really a stretch, especially on a site like Windows IT Pro. (Couldn't he have said, for example, that it's used to style pages?) But I digress.
In any case, he can complain about IE being stuck in the 90's all he wants--I get as frustrated with it as the next Web developer--but has anyone looked at his site (or Windows IT Pro, for that matter, except I doubt he has much control over that one)? It's a mess of tables, inline Javascript and CSS, and it doesn't even have a DOCTYPE. And he's complaining about standards? IE's buggy rendering and the compatibility mode in Firefox and other browsers is probably the only thing holding that site together.
The article reads like just another attempt to bash Microsoft. It's even a bit hypocritical (see my last paragraph)...
Double-click? I have to triple-click (once to give focus, twice to select double-clicked word, three times to select whole line).
Would be easier if it weren't so deeply ingrained into the operating system that you can't have more than one version installed at the same time so you could test on IE 6 and IE 7 (without having two Windows installations or resorting to virtualization or something) ... I know you could do that in the past with older versions, but they haven't done it for a while.
Good thing they just made Virtual PC free, I guess...
Well, if you didn't know, the wireless version was just released today; it's the "wired" one that was released a year ago. Or, if you're wondering why every product release from Apple becomes news on Slashdot, well, I don't know, but I, for one, find it interesting. :)
Take it from a Facebook addict: Even if you don't "put a block" on your site, it's still not public. You can choose your privacy settings, which include letting only your friends see your profile or the default of letting everybody in your network (i.e., your college) see it in addition to your friends from all networks. (They've been tweaking it lately and there are probably more now, and there is also a "limited profile" feature which allows you to block/show selected parts of your profile, e.g., certain sections of it, photo albums, your "wall" [akin to comment section on MySpace], etc., to certain people.) But under no circumstances would it be truly "public" and available for any Facebook member to see, much less a search engine like Google.
Most likely, there was another intern, alumnus, or faculty member of the school in question at this place of employment who would have had access (all you need is an e-mail address from the insitution, doesn't matter if you're staff, student, or alumnnus) to a Facebook account in the same network as this intern and did some "research" on behalf of the company. Of course, he said he limited access only to his friends, but maybe this happened before he did that, or maybe it was even one of his "friends" who did it, since unless you're picky--and most people aren't--it's not like everyone who's "friended" you (and you've accepted) over the school year is necessarily your best friend or even someone you really know that well.
Whoops, I lied. That's not from the article Slashdot linked to, it's from the actual study, the link to which I found on a similar BetaNews story. Do yourself a favor--skip the writeup in The Register and read the abstract yourself: Wiley InterScience Journal - Abstract.
From the article:
These requirements are for the "Vista Premium" experience. Requirements for Vista to run (and get the "Vista Basic" look and whatnot--from what I can tell from using Beta 2 it's like Aero without the transparency, shadows, and glowy-ness) are slightly lower, and I'm sure most Intel Macs will be able to handle that, at least.
NeoOffice is free, but for these early alpha builds of version 2.0 they're asking users to pay because they're short of funds. Either that or there may be no NeoOffice at all, so I think this is a reasonable request. If you don't want to pay, just wait until it's released. As for the X11 build of OpenOffice.org ... ick! Printing and fonts are a nightmare, not to mention the interface. And let's not even go into the steps a normal user would have to take to get it to work in the first place (install Apple X11, etc). Use it if you want (I use it sometimes, too), but don't complain when somebody tries to make something that's actually usable by a wider majority of people.
I realize you were mostly ranting about the cost, though, and that really won't be an issue later. They just needed some funds, so they decided to offer super-early alpa versions for a fee. That's all.
That's not PDF's problem, it's the software's. Get yourself a decent reader already, or at least change your settings so PDFs aren't opened in the browser.
No, it's illegal for memory companies to marry other memory companies in the United States (except in Massachusetts).