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User: Machtyn

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  1. Re:cough on The Ignominious Fall of Dell · · Score: 1

    The Dell laptops are certainly cheap. I've got a few dead ones at my house. I suppose the next time I go to purchase a laptop, I'll have to remember that a $200 premium for quality (if Lenovo's laptops are as good as when they were in IBM's hands) is better than what Dell offers.

  2. Re:cough on The Ignominious Fall of Dell · · Score: 1

    Actually, the amount of choice is what I like about Dell. Unfortunately, all of that choice really boils down to several different models as TheLink pointed out. But within those several models, the user has the choice to add better graphics, more memory, bigger HDD, faster CPU, different or no OS, add-in cards, and a slew of accessories.

    I wouldn't be touting the demise of Dell just yet. I still recommend them. Their site is far easier to find drivers and chatting with tech support is simple. Configuring a system is easy. I wouldn't actually call their tech support line, though, but I wouldn't call any of the major computer tech support lines.

    HP / Compaq's driver support is easy to find, but their offerings are insanely limited. And they still load their machines with a bunch of junk software. Dell does too, but it's not nearly as bad. Sony's are way overpriced. IBM's are also expensive (but they do have quality). Lenovo may be good, but I haven't ever played with one. Gateway is a joke of a company. They could've been a contender.

  3. Re:To be fair... on Daily Kos Pollster Made Up Numbers · · Score: 1
    Socialism, to me, means that government owns business. Princeton seems to agree.

    Examples: Obama's take over of GM. His attempted take over of the banks. His threatening to take over the oil industry, etc.

    Granted, government ownership is good in some areas. Just look at the wonderful educational system... um, er, the efficient Postal System... er, Medicare and Medicaide! oh, wait, I know, the military medical system, that's not in shambles... umm, wait I guess it is. Ooh, ooh, how about the Department of Transportation, there's no corruption there...no wait, there is.

    I'm not saying government can't do a good job, they've just failed miserably at doing so. In fact, without the Postal System, the transportation of communication would not have been as reliable as it has. But if it was good, FedEx and UPS would never have been able to compete. The USPS is swimming in deficit. The Educational System was absolutely needed at a time when many children weren't getting a proper education. But now the system fails with social experimentation and an inability to get rid of bad teachers. The Department of Transportation does a decent job keeping the roads safe, they just do so at about the most expensive and inefficient way possible and, in my view, is highly corruptible.

    Americans have this ingrained belief that the government is highly inefficient at providing for the public than what they themselves, another private citizen, or private corporations can do. The desire to maximize profit creates processes of efficiency. Government does not care to create profit and therefore does not care to be efficient.

    I feel Reagan was correct in this statement:

    "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

    To answer your Russian question. I grew up in the 80's and 90's. I remember what I was doing when the East German wall came down. I watched CNN as the old regime attempted a coup-de-tat on the Russian White House. I was hopeful for Russia. I don't know what Russia is now. They seem to have a democratically representative government. But corruption in Russia also seems to be ingrained and so private business is difficult. Russians are a hard people living in hard conditions. They always have. I'm not sure what Medvedev is up to, there are signs of the old republic showing up. (And I'm not just talking about the 11 buffoons in Chicago.)

  4. Re:To be fair... on Daily Kos Pollster Made Up Numbers · · Score: 1

    But that's what makes this country great!

  5. Re:To be fair... on Daily Kos Pollster Made Up Numbers · · Score: 1

    It's only because the rest of the world are so far left that they see Obama as not a liberal. But hasn't anyone been paying attention to his world-wide apology tour? No, Obama is as liberal as any European nation, but he wouldn't claim that. He's as socialist as any Russian, but he wouldn't admit that.

  6. Re:To be fair... on Daily Kos Pollster Made Up Numbers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Show me where Rush Limbaugh has lied and I'll show you selective (honest?! haha) left-wing reporting, misinformation, and quoting out of context.

  7. Re:To be fair... on Daily Kos Pollster Made Up Numbers · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Conservatism is about the protection of individual rights and liberties, freedom. It is about the reduction of government intervention. Let's see what Obama has done and his responses to certain topics:
    1. The lower class needs healthcare: response is to increase government spending with entitlements
    2. The economy is tanking badly: response is to create a slush fund of a trillion of dollars (give or take a billion)
    3. BP screwed up and caused an oil spill: response is to send in the lawyers, SWAT?, setup several more bureaucracies, etc.
    4. A car company is going belly up, Wall Street actually paid back their debts and rewarded themselves: response punish the risk takers by taking over the car company and threaten wall street with excessive taxes.
    5. Government spending is wildly out of control and the coffers need refilling: response let the Bush tax cuts expire (thus causing a tax increase). Which will result in fewer companies hiring, fewer company startups, an even more depressed economy, etc.

    Obviously, there are more than just these that blatantly expose Obama as a progressive liberal, if not a communist and/or socialist. And I haven't even touched the foreign policy aspects where our allies are our enemies and our enemies are our friends (with a knife aimed at our back).

    It's just that the DKos is SOO far left they think Obama is right. But it's the same people that think Fox News is so far right. I wouldn't call them center, but if you watch O'Reilly, you'll see that he is giving Obama a large amount of leniency that the right is not affording the President. That indicates to me that they are not as far right as the left seem to think (because they've had ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC, not to mention the majority of newspapers, movies, and TV shows that have catered to the left for so long.)

  8. Re:1400 LOC? on VP8 Codec Coming To FFmpeg · · Score: 2, Informative

    It is fairly well known that the more lines of code the more prone to errors the code base can be. Therefore, the fewer lines of code, the less chance there is that a coding error will occur. If there is an error, it is easier to find than by perusing a 10k LOC or a 1000k LOC codebase.

  9. Re:My cards are with Chase on Chase Bank May Drop Support of Chrome, Opera · · Score: 1

    It does afford some freedom when you pay in full each month. The APR does not really matter. I think mine is up somewhere near 20%. The problem, of course, is when you run out of money one month and can't pay it off. That's when it's time to shred the card.

  10. Re:People still bank at Chase? on Chase Bank May Drop Support of Chrome, Opera · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now I've only ever had a Chase credit card and a Citi credit card. The Chase card got eaten by a paper shredder many years ago. My personal bank has been PNC for a long time. I know they are a larger bank (maybe not as large as Chase or Citi) but they have always treated me well and have given good offers for services that appeal to the middle and lower economic classes.

    I do agree, though, that many banks would fall all over themselves for the 500k+ accounts. And they probably offer protections and/or other services that those account holders don't mind paying a $20/month service charge. Having never earned that much, I've never looked into what those benefits might be.

  11. Re:Bullshit on Best Places To Work In IT 2010 · · Score: 1

    Have you worked at any of the gaming companies? From reports I've heard, they are sweat shops that dump everyone on the project just before release so they don't have to pay out the bonuses. (At least, that's what I've heard about with Activision and Electronic Arts.)

  12. Re:Bad places to work on Best Places To Work In IT 2010 · · Score: 1

    I believe there are companies that will allow an employee non-docked personal time to go volunteer on some project. Of course, this works better for salaried employees. If the company I'm thinking of that I *think* does this, they are a top 500 company.

  13. Re:He Won! on The South Carolina Primary and Voting Machine Fraud · · Score: -1, Troll

    As a conservative, I agree, the whole SC Democrat primary is a mess during this round. It does seem very suspect.

    It's interesting, though, that you try to blame the SC Republicans of racism, when it is the Democrat party that refuses to support their primary elected nominee.

    The more I look around and review history, I find that racism is very much a Democrat party issue and Republicans, for the most party, are color blind. I could give a number of references, Woodrow Wilson, but I don't have the time at the moment, so I'll let this article do the talking.

  14. Re:Why is this allowed from FF? on Microsoft Explains Mystery Firefox Extension · · Score: 1

    What's great about Silverlight is that I had to install Firefox on a Windows 7 64-bit computer to get it to work (Netflix). Microsoft Silverlight doesn't currently work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 64-bit.

  15. Re:No bailout for newspapers on FTC Staff Discuss a Tax on Electronics To Support the News Business · · Score: 1

    Paperless office! (what's that?)

  16. Re:No bailout for newspapers on FTC Staff Discuss a Tax on Electronics To Support the News Business · · Score: 1

    What part of "Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc. would have had to expand their capacity to meet increased demand." did you misunderstand? Obviously the part that stated expand their capacity to meet increased demand... that includes the resources known as human.

    We've proven twice now that when the government gets involved too much, the economy stays depressed artificially longer. Didn't the 1930's teach us anything? Didn't the late 1970's teach us anything?

  17. Re:Let them Die on FTC Staff Discuss a Tax on Electronics To Support the News Business · · Score: 1

    And that's why many of them are failing now. They are not reporting what the people want - honest assessments of government and issues. Many of the would be readers have simply stopped, because they are intelligent and can read past the biased trash that is spewed and don't want it anymore.

  18. Re:Start laughing now... on FTC Staff Discuss a Tax on Electronics To Support the News Business · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow... a double whammy to free speech. News controlled by the government and news that can't be commented on. Granted, right now, most news outlets allow themselves to be controlled by the current administration, but they are slowly turning on the ineptitude.

  19. Re:Too good to be true? on Washington Wants 10,000 Web Surfers · · Score: 1

    There is truth behind the phrase: "No good deed goes unpunished."
    There is also truth behind the phrase: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

  20. Re:Darn... on Hitachi-LG Debuts HyDrive, Optical Drive With SSD · · Score: 1

    Like you, I was thinking this would be a kick-butt caching drive for an optical disk. But, as others have suggested, the lack of that feature is easily remedied with software. A 32GB or 64GB drive would be nice for the kick-around netbook or laptop. A lot of low-end laptops come with 80GB or 120GB HDDs and that seems to be enough.

    I don't know if the article mentions it (need to keep my page clicks to a minimum at work ;) But the other advantages I can see for this is to reduce size and weight of the laptop -- no need for the 2.5" HDD and slot. Power consumption reduction = longer battery life (again, because a 2nd piece of hardware is no longer needed).

    I gotta say, I'm looking forward to seeing newly designed laptops with this product utilized.

  21. Re:Support IEX9 on XP on The Man At Microsoft Charged With Destroying IE6 · · Score: 1

    To say XP is 10 years old may be factually true. However XP and XP SP2 and XP SP 3 are quite a bit different. SP2 and SP3 have kept WinXP current on new tech similarly to how Win98SE kept Win98 going until Win2000/WinXP came out.

  22. Re:EOL XP already... on The Man At Microsoft Charged With Destroying IE6 · · Score: 1

    I do believe you can customize your Win7 install a lot more than in XP (nLite notwithstanding).

  23. Re:EOL XP already... on The Man At Microsoft Charged With Destroying IE6 · · Score: 1

    Can't happen. They've still got XP (as a VM) in 7 and Server 2008.

  24. Re:IE6 is NOT the most popular web browser... on The Man At Microsoft Charged With Destroying IE6 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My current company requires IE6 for certain ActiveX components that don't work on IE8. There is a massive certification process for all software to get certified on Win7, though. All internal software are getting upgraded from VB to C#.NET. (yay)

    Of course, they're going from one insecure browser (IE6) to another insecure browser (IE8) (gotta have ActiveX).

  25. Re:Uh hu on USAF Scramjet Hits Mach 6, Sets Record · · Score: 1

    Toilet paper.