I ditched Windows a while back, so I'm not that familiar with it these days. For reference, could you provide some specifics of the profiles issues you're having? It's struck my curiousity.
Or perhaps your giving them a feeling of safety/security they wouldn't otherwise have, and they'll end up doing even stupider things than they normally would?
The fix may be what you suggest, but the solution is to teach the ignorant masses -- rather, we have to get them to the point where they want to learn on their own. This applies to pretty much all areas of life, but especially computers/the internet in general.
Will Joe User care if he uses Windows or Linux? IE or Mozilla? MS Office of OO.O? Probably not; however, you can encourage him by showing why it's better, and why he might want to learn more.
I don't know about you, but I'm not about to hand off all aspects of my life to some company-- any company; yes, even Google.
I have a little safe in my closet. I file all my paperwork in it by category, oldest stuff first. Need something? Get the key, go to the folder, pull the item.
I would want to allow a single company, which solely exists to make money off of me, to do this for me because...?
Finding a specific change from kernel ChangeLogs is like finding a girl on/.; you've heard rumors, but you'll never find what you want once you start looking!
When do these color posts stop being informative and start getting redundant? They keep getting modded up. Okay, so I can understand the first few days worth.. but can some sane individual explain this to me? Or is this the new form of karma whoring? "Fix the colors" rather than posting article text?
Linux is not Windows. Linux is not for users. Linux is for people who know, at the very least, to read their freaking manuals! Although often times they don't-- the majority of people use linux for a reason other than "it's not Microsoft" , do.
The whole "Linux on the Desktop!!" thing is nothing more than a thoughtful wish. It's not that linux isn't ready for the desktop. It's not that it doesn't do everything for you. It's that users don't know or understand what the heck they're doing, or why they want to do it.
Does my camera automount? No. Honestly, I don't want it to. My CD/DVD drives do that, and I hate it. (Keep meaning to change that, but always forget.. hah.) I don't want people to have the ability to plug in their memory card and start running who knows what. It's a security issue to me, but your normal users doesn't see it this way, if they even care...
Does Grandma know to mount her CD-rom before she can install GreatAppX? No. She doesn't, and could care less. Windows is perfect for her, as it's designed to "just work". Even better, Apple. Linux, from the ground up, was not designed this way. We can cover it up as much as we want with pretty GUIs, but it's never going to happen. It was meant for robustness and configuribility, complexity rather than simplicity, and is anything from sugar coated once you kill X.
The whole "it should just work!" crowd are, IMO, really missing the entire point...
That said, the user-friendly aspect of Gnome and KDE are pretty high. This means it has the possibility to attract those who want to learn what they're doing, and how to do it, but don't entirely know how. Power users in training, you might say. For Average Joe Surfer? He should stick to something cute and easy; something that can easily be cleaned when infected; and something without the fear of forgetting his root password.;P
Okay, anti-user mode off. Time to go see my mother.:-)
Disclaimer: Any typos/random mistakes on purpose, to insure the reader is reading well. *cough* No, really!
You bring up a very good point, and it was quite an ingenious move on Microsoft's part. DirectX, for various reasons, has become the standard. This is, pretty much in and of itself, the problem.
Remember FrontPage extentions? And those silly non-standard tags IE can use, but nothing else can? We have good, decent (although not perfect) web standards (CSS, XML, etc.) and many web developers strive to comply with them. There's a big push from the W3 to advertise and get the word out.
We need the same type of thing with game development, IMO. Be it with OpenGL, or perhaps something else. When companies set standards, they do so with their own self-interests in mind. Those interests may be harmful for us users! I'm not saying that any organization should dictate what developers choose to use, but an organization that would push for the advancement and perhaps standardization between/among of different ways of doing things would be idea.
I wish DX would die. Quickly. Then maybe I could get some games native to linux...
I know, I know. There are a few, but if everyone used OpenGL, it would be so much easier for them to port.. right? That "Sorry, we used DirectX" excuse most game makers throw about drives me crazy.
Why, yes, I *am* waiting for the release of the Linux Doom 3 binaries.:)
ichigo@ichigo ichigo $ ls internet* ls: internet*: No such file or directory
And, yes, my username and host are the same for the sole purpose of confusing you!!)
Continuing on the OT note, I'm wondering if/when MSFT will purposely add checks to look for WINE, so that IE breaks when you try to use it in a non-Windows environment. It's bound to happen one of these days... right?
Just because some of us are "experts" does not mean that we can read the developers minds! While it may have been completely obvious for some people to go through Gconf, find the setting, and change it, many of us didn't (until we started googling).
Being an "expert" doesn't mean a hard-to-find setting is easy to find -- or even that it's in a good location because you can figure out where to find it. Gnome is all about simplicity and ease of use, right? Does throwing options that the devs think aren't easy enough to the "common user" really fit that description?
It seems to me that the simple thing to do is to include a toggle switch somewhere, or perhaps a drop-down to limit the difficulty of choices. Xine pulls this off quite well. While many users may be masters of the known universe, the rest of us are just experts.:)
I'm not sure the point is that he wasn't watching the road, but rather he wasn't paying full attention to his task at hand-- getting himself to wherever he wanted to go, safely. Road safety isn't just for cars, after all, but also watching out for pedestrians.
I seem to recall hearing it was thought that radios was going to kill us all when they were first put into cars. As it turns out, they haven't. Radios, unlike so many modern car activities, don't require a lot of our attention. We sit, pay attention to the road, and soak up the music/talk without any active involvement.
You can be chatting up a storm on your mobile (cell phone, if you'd rather) with your eyes smack dab on the road and still end up rear ending someone. Why? You're not actively paying as much attention to your task at hand. The more thought an activity requires (watching a DVD, holding a two-sided conversation, trying to juggle the your latest geektoy and the steering wheel), the less likely you'll be able to react quickly when need be.
Should these things be banned? Possibly. Some people can manage, others can't. It's when we think we can, but can't, when the issue really comes up.
I remember when it was still ZDTV. It pretty much started going down hill when they became TechTV, or a bit before. I can only imagine how awful it is now, as I stopped watching soon after that.
Ah, the good ol' days of "HI LEO && KATE WHY DOES MY WEBCAM NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS?!??/1"..and the answer was more of less always "we don't know, ask the manufacturer!"
Microsoft bashing is our hobby, you insensitive clod!;P
Seriously, though, what do people expect? That students will magically want/know how to use OS X or some variant of *nix? Most users, even those who primarily use other OSes, can deal with Windows. The school ends up winning, regardless of how much may we hate it.
Slashdot Mirror
Want a virtual GF? Try illusion. They specialize in these types of games (specifically, 3D), you might say.
I ditched Windows a while back, so I'm not that familiar with it these days. For reference, could you provide some specifics of the profiles issues you're having? It's struck my curiousity.
Or perhaps your giving them a feeling of safety/security they wouldn't otherwise have, and they'll end up doing even stupider things than they normally would?
The fix may be what you suggest, but the solution is to teach the ignorant masses -- rather, we have to get them to the point where they want to learn on their own. This applies to pretty much all areas of life, but especially computers/the internet in general.
Will Joe User care if he uses Windows or Linux? IE or Mozilla? MS Office of OO.O? Probably not; however, you can encourage him by showing why it's better, and why he might want to learn more.
Until then, Firesomething, anyone?
I don't know about you, but I'm not about to hand off all aspects of my life to some company-- any company; yes, even Google.
I have a little safe in my closet. I file all my paperwork in it by category, oldest stuff first. Need something? Get the key, go to the folder, pull the item.
I would want to allow a single company, which solely exists to make money off of me, to do this for me because...?
I'll be my own Big Brother, thank you.
How long until these things go WiFi, though? Then we'll really be in trouble.
Let me guess. You're typing with one hand again.
Finding a specific change from kernel ChangeLogs is like finding a girl on /.; you've heard rumors, but you'll never find what you want once you start looking!
News for nerds, stuff that matters...? ;)
When do these color posts stop being informative and start getting redundant? They keep getting modded up. Okay, so I can understand the first few days worth.. but can some sane individual explain this to me? Or is this the new form of karma whoring? "Fix the colors" rather than posting article text?
I think I know what you're getting at, and no, there will not be a 802.11xxx. What you want is X-10. ;)
This way of thinking always gets to me.
;P
:-)
Linux is not Windows. Linux is not for users. Linux is for people who know, at the very least, to read their freaking manuals! Although often times they don't-- the majority of people use linux for a reason other than "it's not Microsoft" , do.
The whole "Linux on the Desktop!!" thing is nothing more than a thoughtful wish. It's not that linux isn't ready for the desktop. It's not that it doesn't do everything for you. It's that users don't know or understand what the heck they're doing, or why they want to do it.
Does my camera automount? No. Honestly, I don't want it to. My CD/DVD drives do that, and I hate it. (Keep meaning to change that, but always forget.. hah.) I don't want people to have the ability to plug in their memory card and start running who knows what. It's a security issue to me, but your normal users doesn't see it this way, if they even care...
Does Grandma know to mount her CD-rom before she can install GreatAppX? No. She doesn't, and could care less. Windows is perfect for her, as it's designed to "just work". Even better, Apple. Linux, from the ground up, was not designed this way. We can cover it up as much as we want with pretty GUIs, but it's never going to happen. It was meant for robustness and configuribility, complexity rather than simplicity, and is anything from sugar coated once you kill X.
The whole "it should just work!" crowd are, IMO, really missing the entire point...
That said, the user-friendly aspect of Gnome and KDE are pretty high. This means it has the possibility to attract those who want to learn what they're doing, and how to do it, but don't entirely know how. Power users in training, you might say. For Average Joe Surfer? He should stick to something cute and easy; something that can easily be cleaned when infected; and something without the fear of forgetting his root password.
Okay, anti-user mode off. Time to go see my mother.
Disclaimer: Any typos/random mistakes on purpose, to insure the reader is reading well. *cough* No, really!
*cough*
Dreamcast
*cough*
..I'm not interested. I mean, they do have security cameras in the female facilities.. right?
You bring up a very good point, and it was quite an ingenious move on Microsoft's part. DirectX, for various reasons, has become the standard. This is, pretty much in and of itself, the problem.
Remember FrontPage extentions? And those silly non-standard tags IE can use, but nothing else can? We have good, decent (although not perfect) web standards (CSS, XML, etc.) and many web developers strive to comply with them. There's a big push from the W3 to advertise and get the word out.
We need the same type of thing with game development, IMO. Be it with OpenGL, or perhaps something else. When companies set standards, they do so with their own self-interests in mind. Those interests may be harmful for us users! I'm not saying that any organization should dictate what developers choose to use, but an organization that would push for the advancement and perhaps standardization between/among of different ways of doing things would be idea.
Ohh well. Just a passing thought. Off to lunch.
And all this time I thought Windows was idiot mode..!
*ducks*
I heard some jerkweed hacked it up so after installing SP2, your box is likely fail.
I wish DX would die. Quickly. Then maybe I could get some games native to linux...
:)
I know, I know. There are a few, but if everyone used OpenGL, it would be so much easier for them to port.. right? That "Sorry, we used DirectX" excuse most game makers throw about drives me crazy.
Why, yes, I *am* waiting for the release of the Linux Doom 3 binaries.
Continuing on the OT note, I'm wondering if/when MSFT will purposely add checks to look for WINE, so that IE breaks when you try to use it in a non-Windows environment. It's bound to happen one of these days... right?
Finally, I can play Doom 3 on my phone! ;P
Your post really got me thinking. . . and all I can say is, I'm going to go look for some poor SUV owner and win myself a DOOM3 box. ;p
Ah, the sad truth that is now Gnome.
:)
Just because some of us are "experts" does not mean that we can read the developers minds! While it may have been completely obvious for some people to go through Gconf, find the setting, and change it, many of us didn't (until we started googling).
Being an "expert" doesn't mean a hard-to-find setting is easy to find -- or even that it's in a good location because you can figure out where to find it. Gnome is all about simplicity and ease of use, right? Does throwing options that the devs think aren't easy enough to the "common user" really fit that description?
It seems to me that the simple thing to do is to include a toggle switch somewhere, or perhaps a drop-down to limit the difficulty of choices. Xine pulls this off quite well. While many users may be masters of the known universe, the rest of us are just experts.
I'm not sure the point is that he wasn't watching the road, but rather he wasn't paying full attention to his task at hand-- getting himself to wherever he wanted to go, safely. Road safety isn't just for cars, after all, but also watching out for pedestrians.
I seem to recall hearing it was thought that radios was going to kill us all when they were first put into cars. As it turns out, they haven't. Radios, unlike so many modern car activities, don't require a lot of our attention. We sit, pay attention to the road, and soak up the music/talk without any active involvement.
You can be chatting up a storm on your mobile (cell phone, if you'd rather) with your eyes smack dab on the road and still end up rear ending someone. Why? You're not actively paying as much attention to your task at hand. The more thought an activity requires (watching a DVD, holding a two-sided conversation, trying to juggle the your latest geektoy and the steering wheel), the less likely you'll be able to react quickly when need be.
Should these things be banned? Possibly. Some people can manage, others can't. It's when we think we can, but can't, when the issue really comes up.
I remember when it was still ZDTV. It pretty much started going down hill when they became TechTV, or a bit before. I can only imagine how awful it is now, as I stopped watching soon after that.
..and the answer was more of less always "we don't know, ask the manufacturer!"
;)
Ah, the good ol' days of "HI LEO && KATE WHY DOES MY WEBCAM NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS?!??/1"
Live tech support at it's finest.
I mean, they're going to RF tag school girls, right? Are they then going to turn around and tax them because of this?
;)
Criminals and the government both win!
Microsoft bashing is our hobby, you insensitive clod! ;P
Seriously, though, what do people expect? That students will magically want/know how to use OS X or some variant of *nix? Most users, even those who primarily use other OSes, can deal with Windows. The school ends up winning, regardless of how much may we hate it.