A few years ago (before the last buyout)/. was my main technical news source. I came primarily for the community, then for the content, and lastly for some humor at the polls. No, not reporting on current political campaign polls, although I do remember watching the politics section go live.
I want to share a little bit of my story: When I was a wee lad not yet in highschool my family got dial-up. I was so excited! The internet was new and so amazing. It was a very short time until I came across slashdot and for some reason I got hooked. I think it was the engineering humor and conversation (or perhaps jokes about a gritty Natalie Portman), but something about it stuck. This site tremendously sparked and influenced my love of technology. I'm now a successful fully-employed member of society (in an IT field no less!) and I can honestly blame./ culture for much of my development.
I've learned services, like friends, come and go. I was active in, and then watched, Digg dissapear. I saw some of the glimmer of Kuroshin. I've piddled around in Reddit. Slashdot was always in the back there though, if sometimes only because of distantly fond memories.
I watched as certain strategic decisions ticked the "she's not going to make it jim" flag in my mind and I began to write Slashdot off. Recently however there is a new light behind the community. There is a new vibrancy. It's because you who are in charge are like us once again (one of us, one of us!). You understand that this isn't about the monies, it isn't about pageviews and numbers, it's about technologists by day who can take a few minutes to just be nerds and talk and discuss with each other. It's about having slashdot as hobby, an interest, someplace where I can hang up the coat and hang out for a while. You've started to remember that and it is showing. We, the community, see it. I feel at home here once again.
Keep up the good work - here's to hoping./ and it's community can be a home for the geeks, the nerds, the techies and all those inspiring to be. Thanks guys, she's looking good again!
You made me think about Marvin from HHGTTG, and I accidentally modded you down during a chuckle. Please accept a pardon in the form of a comment to remove my mistaken mod.
I've never thought of basically running multiple local sessions and just having simple hooks to switch between them. You have found a stumbling point of this implementation: no dragging of windows/apps between sessions. Still, it is a solid idea, and I'm always glad to be proven wrong.
The powershell is very, erm, powerful. Much closer to the CLI on other OSes (read: the way a cli should work). The best small app builder that is easy to learn that I have found is called AutoIt (or the derivative AutoHotKey). Both allow completing tasks from quick little hotkey macros up to building simple GUIs in a BASIC-esque form. Too much to hope for something like either of these little beauties to come standard though.
Right, that is a little confusing. Although a different way has already been pointed out to me, and my understanding has grown, let me try and explain what I meant at the time. It is technically unfeasible for Microsoft to have a native implementation of a virtual-desktop like app because of the way windows are composted or something. I actually read it on a blog on msdn after being linked from a slashdot comment. This is the rationale behind the first quote
It appears that things have changed since win7, and as Osty pointed out up above, it would probably be rather trivial to hook into the fast-user switching (minus the actual user switching) to have virtual desktops. If so, that would be nice!
I've tried some of the third-party programs, and although they do provide a set of virtual desktops, they are rather buggy. Some apps work perfectly, some don't play nice at all. Last time I tried, admittedly a while ago, stuff that closes to the systray would often break the implementation. That was my reasoning for the second quote. Basically I was saying that it is hard to have a virtual-desktop experience on windows that is really polished and would run equivalent to virtual desktops on linux or what have you.
I agree with number 1 (Bring back the start button) if only for consistencies sake. Windows has had a start button for years and years, and most graphical operating systems have some a main system button in one form or another. Why fix it if it ain't broken? (An argument that could probably be applied liberally to 8's new GUI...)
Number 2: Blu-ray support would be nice, but I actually like how they have removed most of the optical media licensing crap to the media/media pro packs (or whatever they are called). By the time 8 is out, I would bet a majority of consumer-grade computing devices won't have an optical drive. Blu-ray should be supported in the media pack, but I have no qualms if it isn't in the default stack of cards.
As for number 3 (One Click Optical Drive Sharing), I think this might be the most valid criticisms on the list, mainly for the same reasons stated above: optical drives are going away. I currently have one optical drive in the house and have it shared via samba and few other ways, but this is a read-only approach.
Number 4 (Drag to open) doesn't seem like a very harsh criticism, it feels more like list padding. I don't use drag and drop for just about anything after having found the keyboard is much faster though, so I should recuse myself from commenting on this one.
As far as Virtual Desktops go (Number 5), it is technically unfeasible, for reasons I don't quite remember. Something to do with the way Windows handles windows which has escaped me for the moment. Nevertheless, there are third party applications of varying quality that already implement this, to a varying degree.
Bring back visualbasic? (Number 6) No. Just no. That thing was a mess. Friends don't let friends script VB, drunk or otherwise.
Number 7: Fonts preview app: I have the win8 consumer preview running in vmware right now, and the font folder looks pretty much untouched from win7. It still lets you preview installed fonts. More list-padding?
I've got an easy fix for 8 (Dual-pane explorer). Use two explorer windows, one on the right one on the left. Or feel free to use something like Total Commander or its variants. They still make those, right?
As for 9, I'm sure Microsoft is going to give a little polish to the out-of-box-experience. Just cause the alpha doesn't have it, doesn't mean it won't be there.
10 is valid. I don't like where the shutdown button lives on win8. Move it up one level, just so that it is a little easier to find. I don't like to hunt and peck for a basic system function.
Disclaimer: I am a member of the LDS Church, but I do know LDS (Mormon) theology somewhat. Suicide isn't considered an "unforgivable sin". The official policy is to assume that a suicide victim's soul isn't damned to hell or any of that nonsense. Quite a few years back we had a suicide in our immediate family, and although sad and shocking, the person was buried in their temple clothes. What that means is that it was assumed that they were (for a lack of a better phrase) sick in the head and made a bad judgment, and therefore either forgiven or simply not at fault. I firmly believe that person is enjoying all the benefits that heaven has to offer!
How in the hell do you kill a mx1000? I've got one right here, and I use it more than most anyone. I'm seriously on the computer thirteen plus hours a day, and I have had this mouse for nearly a year and a half. Sure, I have worn the little logitech logo off, and have replaced the mouse skates, but its still running like new, and performs extremely well. In my little circle of friends, there are about five or six mx1000s, and they are all still running extremely well. I seriously can't see how anyone could trash this mouse in three weeks.
Too true. Microsoft apps only run on Win, but there is a _huge_ selection of opensource and closed source programs for linux. If you look at it though, the reason there isn't more support is that they are all in MS's pocket. It's the same thing that happened with the ipod. You buy the ipod, you get your music from itunes.
As for games? Yes, win has all the good games, excluding a few such as ut2k4, doom, and quake. That, however, doesn't always matter, especially on most home computers. The target audience is the family that needs to: Surf the web, chat over aim/yahoo/msn, and use word/writer and excell/presenter (or whatever the OO.o alternative is.)
As for drivers: developers just need to get a little motivation. Money and corporate backing is very motivating.
Linux in general could mean a whole lot for home users. Easy, free, fun apps, a good interface, and little to no maintaining needed. Ubuntu and Mandriva look especially good for such purposes. However, the question isn't what _can_ linux mean for home users, but what _will_ linux mean for home users. Short answer? Not much. Long answer? Microsoft has a monopoly. They own home computers. As long as MS has its way, the "Year of the Linux Desktop" will never come. MS is powerful, has connections with computer makers, and has literaly billions it can put into advertising. Untill Linux becomes more unified, more high-profile, and easier to use (command lines suck for home users) it won't stand a chance. Maybe, just maybe, and if it surpasses those problems, it will have a chance. I'm not against it, I love linux, but I just can't see it working the way it is.
Yes, I'm quite sure that just giving us a screenshot of the sites is a perfectly sound way of judging our web "street-smarts". Usually I look through the prvacy policy first. Not to mention that last one had (kazza) had a little "NO SPYWARE" icon on it. Everyone knows kazaa isn't safe, but I still find that funny:)
You must have really bad luck today. One of the maybe three or four mormon members will likely find that comment according to Murphy's law. Wait... I'm LDS.
Slashdot Mirror
A few years ago (before the last buyout) /. was my main technical news source. I came primarily for the community, then for the content, and lastly for some humor at the polls. No, not reporting on current political campaign polls, although I do remember watching the politics section go live.
I want to share a little bit of my story: When I was a wee lad not yet in highschool my family got dial-up. I was so excited! The internet was new and so amazing. It was a very short time until I came across slashdot and for some reason I got hooked. I think it was the engineering humor and conversation (or perhaps jokes about a gritty Natalie Portman), but something about it stuck. This site tremendously sparked and influenced my love of technology. I'm now a successful fully-employed member of society (in an IT field no less!) and I can honestly blame ./ culture for much of my development.
I've learned services, like friends, come and go. I was active in, and then watched, Digg dissapear. I saw some of the glimmer of Kuroshin. I've piddled around in Reddit. Slashdot was always in the back there though, if sometimes only because of distantly fond memories.
I watched as certain strategic decisions ticked the "she's not going to make it jim" flag in my mind and I began to write Slashdot off. Recently however there is a new light behind the community. There is a new vibrancy. It's because you who are in charge are like us once again (one of us, one of us!). You understand that this isn't about the monies, it isn't about pageviews and numbers, it's about technologists by day who can take a few minutes to just be nerds and talk and discuss with each other. It's about having slashdot as hobby, an interest, someplace where I can hang up the coat and hang out for a while. You've started to remember that and it is showing. We, the community, see it. I feel at home here once again.
Keep up the good work - here's to hoping ./ and it's community can be a home for the geeks, the nerds, the techies and all those inspiring to be. Thanks guys, she's looking good again!
You made me think about Marvin from HHGTTG, and I accidentally modded you down during a chuckle. Please accept a pardon in the form of a comment to remove my mistaken mod.
I've never thought of basically running multiple local sessions and just having simple hooks to switch between them. You have found a stumbling point of this implementation: no dragging of windows/apps between sessions. Still, it is a solid idea, and I'm always glad to be proven wrong.
The powershell is very, erm, powerful. Much closer to the CLI on other OSes (read: the way a cli should work). The best small app builder that is easy to learn that I have found is called AutoIt (or the derivative AutoHotKey). Both allow completing tasks from quick little hotkey macros up to building simple GUIs in a BASIC-esque form. Too much to hope for something like either of these little beauties to come standard though.
Right, that is a little confusing. Although a different way has already been pointed out to me, and my understanding has grown, let me try and explain what I meant at the time. It is technically unfeasible for Microsoft to have a native implementation of a virtual-desktop like app because of the way windows are composted or something. I actually read it on a blog on msdn after being linked from a slashdot comment. This is the rationale behind the first quote
It appears that things have changed since win7, and as Osty pointed out up above, it would probably be rather trivial to hook into the fast-user switching (minus the actual user switching) to have virtual desktops. If so, that would be nice!
I've tried some of the third-party programs, and although they do provide a set of virtual desktops, they are rather buggy. Some apps work perfectly, some don't play nice at all. Last time I tried, admittedly a while ago, stuff that closes to the systray would often break the implementation. That was my reasoning for the second quote. Basically I was saying that it is hard to have a virtual-desktop experience on windows that is really polished and would run equivalent to virtual desktops on linux or what have you.
I agree with number 1 (Bring back the start button) if only for consistencies sake. Windows has had a start button for years and years, and most graphical operating systems have some a main system button in one form or another. Why fix it if it ain't broken? (An argument that could probably be applied liberally to 8's new GUI...)
Number 2: Blu-ray support would be nice, but I actually like how they have removed most of the optical media licensing crap to the media/media pro packs (or whatever they are called). By the time 8 is out, I would bet a majority of consumer-grade computing devices won't have an optical drive. Blu-ray should be supported in the media pack, but I have no qualms if it isn't in the default stack of cards.
As for number 3 (One Click Optical Drive Sharing), I think this might be the most valid criticisms on the list, mainly for the same reasons stated above: optical drives are going away. I currently have one optical drive in the house and have it shared via samba and few other ways, but this is a read-only approach.
Number 4 (Drag to open) doesn't seem like a very harsh criticism, it feels more like list padding. I don't use drag and drop for just about anything after having found the keyboard is much faster though, so I should recuse myself from commenting on this one.
As far as Virtual Desktops go (Number 5), it is technically unfeasible, for reasons I don't quite remember. Something to do with the way Windows handles windows which has escaped me for the moment. Nevertheless, there are third party applications of varying quality that already implement this, to a varying degree.
Bring back visualbasic? (Number 6) No. Just no. That thing was a mess. Friends don't let friends script VB, drunk or otherwise.
Number 7: Fonts preview app: I have the win8 consumer preview running in vmware right now, and the font folder looks pretty much untouched from win7. It still lets you preview installed fonts. More list-padding?
I've got an easy fix for 8 (Dual-pane explorer). Use two explorer windows, one on the right one on the left. Or feel free to use something like Total Commander or its variants. They still make those, right?
As for 9, I'm sure Microsoft is going to give a little polish to the out-of-box-experience. Just cause the alpha doesn't have it, doesn't mean it won't be there.
10 is valid. I don't like where the shutdown button lives on win8. Move it up one level, just so that it is a little easier to find. I don't like to hunt and peck for a basic system function.
Disclaimer: I am a member of the LDS Church, but I do know LDS (Mormon) theology somewhat. Suicide isn't considered an "unforgivable sin". The official policy is to assume that a suicide victim's soul isn't damned to hell or any of that nonsense. Quite a few years back we had a suicide in our immediate family, and although sad and shocking, the person was buried in their temple clothes. What that means is that it was assumed that they were (for a lack of a better phrase) sick in the head and made a bad judgment, and therefore either forgiven or simply not at fault. I firmly believe that person is enjoying all the benefits that heaven has to offer!
How in the hell do you kill a mx1000? I've got one right here, and I use it more than most anyone. I'm seriously on the computer thirteen plus hours a day, and I have had this mouse for nearly a year and a half. Sure, I have worn the little logitech logo off, and have replaced the mouse skates, but its still running like new, and performs extremely well. In my little circle of friends, there are about five or six mx1000s, and they are all still running extremely well. I seriously can't see how anyone could trash this mouse in three weeks.
Too true. Microsoft apps only run on Win, but there is a _huge_ selection of opensource and closed source programs for linux. If you look at it though, the reason there isn't more support is that they are all in MS's pocket. It's the same thing that happened with the ipod. You buy the ipod, you get your music from itunes. As for games? Yes, win has all the good games, excluding a few such as ut2k4, doom, and quake. That, however, doesn't always matter, especially on most home computers. The target audience is the family that needs to: Surf the web, chat over aim/yahoo/msn, and use word/writer and excell/presenter (or whatever the OO.o alternative is.) As for drivers: developers just need to get a little motivation. Money and corporate backing is very motivating.
Linux in general could mean a whole lot for home users. Easy, free, fun apps, a good interface, and little to no maintaining needed. Ubuntu and Mandriva look especially good for such purposes. However, the question isn't what _can_ linux mean for home users, but what _will_ linux mean for home users. Short answer? Not much. Long answer? Microsoft has a monopoly. They own home computers. As long as MS has its way, the "Year of the Linux Desktop" will never come. MS is powerful, has connections with computer makers, and has literaly billions it can put into advertising. Untill Linux becomes more unified, more high-profile, and easier to use (command lines suck for home users) it won't stand a chance. Maybe, just maybe, and if it surpasses those problems, it will have a chance. I'm not against it, I love linux, but I just can't see it working the way it is.
~HH
Eee-three? E3 you say? MasterTaco, no, not E3. The shroud of the static has fallen. Begun, the High Defintion war has.
Yes, I'm quite sure that just giving us a screenshot of the sites is a perfectly sound way of judging our web "street-smarts". Usually I look through the prvacy policy first. Not to mention that last one had (kazza) had a little "NO SPYWARE" icon on it. Everyone knows kazaa isn't safe, but I still find that funny :)
Hmmm, mind if I ask you about franchising opportunities?
If not, I wonder if this really cool name I just heard would be taken. Spartacus isn't a very well known name is it?
Even better, as well as the old standby for "idunno":
RTFMHere
or maybe:
ThisIsTFM
And by the power of elimination, I predict an Apple loss.
DRM? Linus Torvalds? :)
Call Maxxus and DVD Jon...
You must have really bad luck today. One of the maybe three or four mormon members will likely find that comment according to Murphy's law. Wait... I'm LDS.
:)
So ya.. you suck. Jk
(Don't hate those who do not understand)
L33t-h4x0r Nazi _sez_: "Th1n| t3h d|ffr3|\|1"
Yes. Next?
Wow, I would _not_ want to see what Jamie and Adam would do if they had lightsabers. Just imagine the practical jokes!
Right as I clicked on the link, Windows BSOD'ed on me. Hehehe... it must really be good!
Do not taunt Happy Windmill!
Hehe, or the great Apple Shuffle one:
Do not eat "Ipod Shuffle" (TM)
Heheh, I just love slashdot... my little fortune cookie for the hour is:
:)
"Don't Vote -- it only encourages them!"
How fitting
No no no, wikimedia has come out with a new software solution: WIKIPWND!
Ya, I know! I thought they actually ment it! I mean, they must be new here!
Whats this? The new BlackBerries can CLONE smart hotels? Where can I get one of these!
(Note to mods: Yes, even though you are already reaching for that troll mod, it was a joke!)