Re Ken Thompson's quote... I'd LOVE to see what KDE and GNOME could give me without X present. It's very strange, I removed them from my machine, and none of my desktop environments would run! What's up with that?
Not to mention these comparisons rarely include training users to use Windows. In most shops it's just assumed that people will know how, and generally, they don't. They know the bare minimum required to be able to use email or hammer out a Word document.
I've never been in an organisation (ever) that has had a training programme in place for their Windows systems.
In fact, if you factor in the cost of training users to use the OS properly, then you also have to factor in the savings from then having users who know how to use their computers.
Although since the Petunias were actually the (briefly) reincarnated form of Agrajag, whose every life was cruelly ended in some way by Arthur Dent, that particular bowl of petunias would certainly have more of a reason to reconsider their theistic position, given the evidence of a. reincarnation and b. a cosmically evil sense of humour in control somewhere.
Lately we've been seeing problems where Microsoft's own document converters cock up the layouts of documents, when converting them from docx so that Word 2003 can open them. This is the Microsoft solution for opening docx in 2003.
If they can't get it right, then it's not much of a surprise that OpenOffice.org has some issues.
Time management, I believe. I seem to recall reading that he finds it more convenient to read web pages at his leisure in his email than by using a regular web browser right at that moment.
Plus, he's pretty much the dictionary definition of eccentric.
I have a rotary dial phone at home, which I did use as the primary house phone for a short while. However, they were designed in a time when people generally dialled very short numbers (308 1805). Dialling a 12 digit mobile number quickly becomes a chore.
I had one of these. (Probably not that exact model, but close enough). At the time it was one of the best gadgets I had ever owned. It was much more portable and versatile than a CD walkman, and I didn't have to put up with the hideous quality of audio cassettes ever again.
Minidisc was quickly made obsolete by MP3, but for a short while, it was an awesome product.
Well, yes, if you hand someone a £1500 laptop that's not locked down, of course they're going to be happy. Probably all too busy playing with Garage Band and iTunes.
Of course, if you give them a budget PC (that's already three years old) running a locked down version of SuSE Linux, designed to run a web browser, an email client and a few Citrix applications, things are rather different, especially when up until then they've had free reign over their NT installation, and have installed MSN Messenger, IncrediMail, a Desktop-wallpaper-of-the-day app with bundled adware, etc.
- changing file formats with every release for no reason other than to force companies to upgrade Office
1. The.doc,.xls,.ppt file formats have remained (broadly) the same from Office 97 through to Office 2003 inclusive. That's four major (as in major version number) iterations of the suite. 2. The new OOXML file formats introduced with Office 2007 are actually better. Sorry, but they are. They are considerably smaller, and offer new features not possible in the old formats (for example,.xlsx allows significantly more rows that.xls).
Hell, they even produced a free converter to allow Office 2003 to open the new file formats.
I'm not a Microsoft lover by any means. They could have made these file formats completely open and unencumbered to allow other office suites on other platforms to interact effectively with them, sure in the knowledge that Microsoft Office can compete with its rivals on its own merits (which I honestly believe it can). But, of course, they didn't.
Or, conversely, the number of users who, having been forced to use Linux at work, have run screaming back into the loving embrace of Windows back home, where their MSN Messenger and IncrediMail Just Work (tm).
I say this as someone who has rolled out some complete company-wide Linux deployments to companies that have previously has completely free-reign on their badly maintained, totally unlicensed, unmanaged Windows deployments. Technically, they were a complete success. In terms of user acceptance, they were an utter disaster.
Thanks. Just installed the new Skype client and indeed, so it does. Last time I was paying attention they hadn't even released a working client for my phone (E61 at the time, now E71). I had to hack it on using the X-series installer.
1. Skype on 3 goes via a gateway. From your handset to three is done via the mobile network, then they route it over Skype. 2. No Skype-out. Free calls to other Skype users are only of limited use.
I have to say, from what you've described, this device sounds like something I could really use. The mobile signal in my house is attrocious. In the US, you can use repeaters to extend coverage within your own house, but those devices are completely illegal in the UK. If this offers a viable, legal alternative, I'd definitely consider it.
Of course, 1. I'm on 3, not voda, and 2. I can't afford to drop the cash on it. But, in principle...
A. Absolutely, but only if you're using the VGA or HDMI connection. During the so-called "Spring Dashboard Update" Microsoft enabled DVD upscaling over the VGA connection -- and upscaling over HDMI has been there since the introduction of the HDMI AV cable -- so if you're using VGA or HDMI you'll see movies in whatever resolution you've set in the dashboard. However, this is only over VGA or HDMI. Also, with Fall Dashboard Update, standard DVD movies will be upscaled to 1080p on displays that support it, again only over the VGA connection or the HDMI connection.
At normal viewing distance I honestly can't tell the difference.
I have a 720p capable LCD hooked up to a 360 (via HDMI) with the HD-DVD add-on. Really can't tell the difference between a DVD upscaled on the 360 and an HD-DVD. Not a stellar setup, though, so...
The other day I was in Blockbuster and watching their BluRay demo disc (Hancock) on a proper Sony 1080p capable telly. It does a sliding effect where it shows the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD (presumably with DVD suitably fuzzed to exagerate the effect, although maybe they're just honest and don't need to do that). Up close the difference was obviously quite noticable, but at normal viewing distance it was really hard to tell.
... that's bollocks. Not that I'm taking QI as the arbiter of whether something is bollocks or not. Discussion here (do a search for "Camel") and as discussed in the show.
Do bankruptcies in the US not have fixed terms? In the UK, when one is declared insolvent, it is usually for a term (which up until recently has been three years, but now can be as short as one). This can be extended in certain circumstances, but that's not the norm.
Slashdot Mirror
Stephen Fry, one of the most followed "twits" is hardly a vacuous celebrity. I would argue that neither is Wil Wheaton, another highly popular Twit.
I know this is nitpicky, but "Google isn't evil" and "They said so" in the same line? Surely therefore Google *aren't evil.
Re Ken Thompson's quote ... I'd LOVE to see what KDE and GNOME could give me without X present. It's very strange, I removed them from my machine, and none of my desktop environments would run! What's up with that?
Maybe this will help
Chuckie Egg!
The girl is so dangerous.
Not to mention these comparisons rarely include training users to use Windows. In most shops it's just assumed that people will know how, and generally, they don't. They know the bare minimum required to be able to use email or hammer out a Word document.
I've never been in an organisation (ever) that has had a training programme in place for their Windows systems.
In fact, if you factor in the cost of training users to use the OS properly, then you also have to factor in the savings from then having users who know how to use their computers.
Although since the Petunias were actually the (briefly) reincarnated form of Agrajag, whose every life was cruelly ended in some way by Arthur Dent, that particular bowl of petunias would certainly have more of a reason to reconsider their theistic position, given the evidence of a. reincarnation and b. a cosmically evil sense of humour in control somewhere.
That's true for OpenOffice. However NeoOffice uses Java in order to present an Aqua interface.
If the sluggish nature of NeoOffice really is too much, maybe consider OpenOffice.org Aqua instead.
Lately we've been seeing problems where Microsoft's own document converters cock up the layouts of documents, when converting them from docx so that Word 2003 can open them. This is the Microsoft solution for opening docx in 2003.
If they can't get it right, then it's not much of a surprise that OpenOffice.org has some issues.
Time management, I believe. I seem to recall reading that he finds it more convenient to read web pages at his leisure in his email than by using a regular web browser right at that moment.
Plus, he's pretty much the dictionary definition of eccentric.
I do not observe this behaviour using Firefox 3.0.10 for Windows.
... send mail to a demon which runs wget and mails the page back.
I have a rotary dial phone at home, which I did use as the primary house phone for a short while. However, they were designed in a time when people generally dialled very short numbers (308 1805). Dialling a 12 digit mobile number quickly becomes a chore.
I had one of these. (Probably not that exact model, but close enough). At the time it was one of the best gadgets I had ever owned. It was much more portable and versatile than a CD walkman, and I didn't have to put up with the hideous quality of audio cassettes ever again.
Minidisc was quickly made obsolete by MP3, but for a short while, it was an awesome product.
Well, yes, if you hand someone a £1500 laptop that's not locked down, of course they're going to be happy. Probably all too busy playing with Garage Band and iTunes.
Of course, if you give them a budget PC (that's already three years old) running a locked down version of SuSE Linux, designed to run a web browser, an email client and a few Citrix applications, things are rather different, especially when up until then they've had free reign over their NT installation, and have installed MSN Messenger, IncrediMail, a Desktop-wallpaper-of-the-day app with bundled adware, etc.
- changing file formats with every release for no reason other than to force companies to upgrade Office
1. The .doc, .xls, .ppt file formats have remained (broadly) the same from Office 97 through to Office 2003 inclusive. That's four major (as in major version number) iterations of the suite. .xlsx allows significantly more rows that .xls).
2. The new OOXML file formats introduced with Office 2007 are actually better. Sorry, but they are. They are considerably smaller, and offer new features not possible in the old formats (for example,
Hell, they even produced a free converter to allow Office 2003 to open the new file formats.
I'm not a Microsoft lover by any means. They could have made these file formats completely open and unencumbered to allow other office suites on other platforms to interact effectively with them, sure in the knowledge that Microsoft Office can compete with its rivals on its own merits (which I honestly believe it can). But, of course, they didn't.
Or, conversely, the number of users who, having been forced to use Linux at work, have run screaming back into the loving embrace of Windows back home, where their MSN Messenger and IncrediMail Just Work (tm).
I say this as someone who has rolled out some complete company-wide Linux deployments to companies that have previously has completely free-reign on their badly maintained, totally unlicensed, unmanaged Windows deployments. Technically, they were a complete success. In terms of user acceptance, they were an utter disaster.
Thanks. Just installed the new Skype client and indeed, so it does. Last time I was paying attention they hadn't even released a working client for my phone (E61 at the time, now E71). I had to hack it on using the X-series installer.
Unless they have made drastic changes lately:
1. Skype on 3 goes via a gateway. From your handset to three is done via the mobile network, then they route it over Skype.
2. No Skype-out. Free calls to other Skype users are only of limited use.
I have to say, from what you've described, this device sounds like something I could really use. The mobile signal in my house is attrocious. In the US, you can use repeaters to extend coverage within your own house, but those devices are completely illegal in the UK. If this offers a viable, legal alternative, I'd definitely consider it.
Of course, 1. I'm on 3, not voda, and 2. I can't afford to drop the cash on it. But, in principle ...
It apparently does:
Q. Does the Xbox 360 upscale standard DVD movies?
A. Absolutely, but only if you're using the VGA or HDMI connection. During the so-called "Spring Dashboard Update" Microsoft enabled DVD upscaling over the VGA connection -- and upscaling over HDMI has been there since the introduction of the HDMI AV cable -- so if you're using VGA or HDMI you'll see movies in whatever resolution you've set in the dashboard. However, this is only over VGA or HDMI. Also, with Fall Dashboard Update, standard DVD movies will be upscaled to 1080p on displays that support it, again only over the VGA connection or the HDMI connection.
At normal viewing distance I honestly can't tell the difference.
I have a 720p capable LCD hooked up to a 360 (via HDMI) with the HD-DVD add-on. Really can't tell the difference between a DVD upscaled on the 360 and an HD-DVD. Not a stellar setup, though, so ...
The other day I was in Blockbuster and watching their BluRay demo disc (Hancock) on a proper Sony 1080p capable telly. It does a sliding effect where it shows the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD (presumably with DVD suitably fuzzed to exagerate the effect, although maybe they're just honest and don't need to do that). Up close the difference was obviously quite noticable, but at normal viewing distance it was really hard to tell.
... that's bollocks. Not that I'm taking QI as the arbiter of whether something is bollocks or not. Discussion here (do a search for "Camel") and as discussed in the show.
Also The Straight Dope.
Do bankruptcies in the US not have fixed terms? In the UK, when one is declared insolvent, it is usually for a term (which up until recently has been three years, but now can be as short as one). This can be extended in certain circumstances, but that's not the norm.