I'm sorry that someone thought this was offtopic, but it is quite on topic. Highschool not adequate? Duh. Obvious. Anyone who has been through highschool in the last 15 years knows that it's basically just a farce intended to keep kids off the streets. All my real learning came from classes I took outside of highschool and self-study, and eventually college.
I just got a Visioneer Strobe XP100 USB scanner. It uses 'chip=LM9832/3' which is controlled, I am told, by some variation of the plustek backend. It is a very common chipset. The problem is that this scanner is not supported. While the interface for this specific chipset exists, the driver for this scanner (how much to move the motor, light intensity numbers, etc) still needs to be be written. So.. that is what I'm going to try and do this week.
The difference is.. I have that option. How many other people do? Linux will not gain any noticable desktop volume until it *all* just works. Not just most, not just many, *all*. Maybe not out of the box, maybe you have to go download and install drivers, fine. But the drivers have to exist.
Now, far from me to say that it's not getting there. It is! I'm even trying to help in the little ways that I can. The point is, I don't see this happening in the next year. Personally, I'd love to see companies supporting their own @#$@# hardware drivers for linux. But I figure that would happen slightly after the second coming. Or once linux has 20% desktop market share. Whichever comes first.
So yeah, there is still a lot of work to be done. Any if anyone here has experience with coding for Sane, please let me know. It seems their mailing list web admin is broken at the moment. But if anyone is on the list, I'd like to hear from you.
XP is tuned to boot all things necessary for user interaction, then continue loading services. And I don't see why Linux users who are concerned with this don't do the same.
There's nothing that says you cant have sshd,cron, apache,etc boot *after* X and whatever display manager you are using (and their dependencies). Sure the first few minutes of using the machine will be slow if you log in instantly, but it's not a bad quick fix for the impatient, and is exactly what XP does.
It amazes me that folks who work with computers every day are so willing to trust their lives to them.
It amazes me that folks who work with people every day are so willing to trust their lives to them.
People are unpredictable, erratic, spaztic, emotional, and generally insane. And those are the good ones! I'd take computer controlled driving any day. Computers wont ride your ass at 95 mph flashing their lights at you (sorry, I was only doing 85 in the 55, jeez). They also wont change lanes without turn signals, forget to check their blind spots, and talk on their cell phones. It seems to me that the abolition of these last three annoyances would warrant a switch to automation.
Because usually it's only labeled as "the right thing to do" when there's another alternative that is more attractive for one reason or another, but has one/some big flaws.
Sometimes "the right thing" does get done without pressure, but only when it makes the most sense to the values of whoever is doing it, and not just being done for the sake of doing "the right thing".
You don't have any right too someone else's property just because you think it's too expensive.
The quote says that you don't have the right to someone else's property *because* you think it's too expensive. I agree with that. In your argument with the starving, the starving person doesn't have the right to the bread *because* he thinks it's too expensive. The starving person has the right to the bread *because* he'll die without it *and* he thinks it's too expensive.
This relates directly to the argument that people make which boils down to something like "I think it's overpriced so I'll just steal it". Which is quite different from the argument "I need it very badly, and it's priced to high for me, so I must steal it." In the first case the person can afford it, but steals it because it is out of his expected price range. In the second, the person cannot afford it but needs it.
A subtle difference, to be sure, but an important one.
I haven't had much trouble with Verizon. The worst part of my whole experience is their automated billing, which sometimes double bills, and (very rarely) forgets to bill and I get late fees. Though both are fixed with a quick call to customer service.
They also gain something else. A small army of people raised/trained on their products. Now when those people need new computers, their first though wont be "Which OS is cheapest?" but rather "Should I upgrade my windows?"
Plus, Microsoft giving away software is a lot like a fan company giving away air. It costs them nothing. You could say it costs them sales, but these are sales they wouldn't have gotten anyway becuase the target audience is so poor.
By giving away their product, Microsoft has nothing to lose, but reputation and loyal users to gain.
Are you really trying to make that argument, that linux is easier or just as easy as windows to setup/configure
Yes.
See, the difference here is that you say "easy as windows to setup/configure" and not "easy as windows to setup/configure to be just like windows becuase that's what I know and I'm not willing to learn new stuff."
I guess I'm one of those freaky people that actually backs up his media purchases (I have, and use, only copies of all my audio cd's). That's why I'm forced to wait for the dual layer DVD media. If they're going to charge me $15 for a DVD, I want to be able to back it up at full quality so when I inevitably scratch/break/microwave it, it'll only be the copy I'm destroying.
Heh. This Wasn't a setup. I actually agree with parent. The idea of my individuality being lost and joining some universal consciousness really freaks me out. I'm rather fond of me and would like me to be me for a good long time. Maybe there's some loop-hole where I can have both. Who knows.
But actually most of what I some weird compilation of college psych classes, common sense, and life experience.
I know for a fact that most people are inherently lazy and wont do much without motivation. Therefore, for the bottom 98% of the population (us) that actually have to work to not starve, we are raised with the belief that you have two choices: get money, or die. This starts at an early age with most upon hearing that you cant have some toy/candy/etc becuase "we don't have money for that". This causes the kid to think, 'gee, when I grow up I'm going to have lots of money so I can buy anything I want'. Hang around the super market snack isle for a while to see this one in action.
Now. If we could produce a society that would remove this fear, the entire system would collapse. Imagine a place where there was no fear of starvation or homelessness. Imagine that there was a way to give enough food and shelter to anyone that wanted it for no cost. People would stop being motivated to do jobs that they didn't want to do. Suddenly the options go from "crappy job or death" to "crappy job or food/shelter". Well, I'll tell you for one that I would only work the crappy job long enough to buy things that food/shelter alone didn't provide (mmm... laptop..) and then I'd quit. I'd wait until I found a job that I liked.
Anyway, I need to leave for work, but the point is that it wasn't a setup, that Buddhism is really nifty, but that I think it might be too passive to truly fulfill the "Stopping any single person or group from causing suffering." from my first post. Then again IANA-Buddhist, so if I'm wrong please correct me.
Another good example. Workstations vs. dumb terminals. In the beginning, there were monolithic main frames and dispersed dumb terminals. This migrated towards desktop PC's once it became more cost effective on the power/price curve. Now, as can be seen by the big marketing hype and more than a few papers by industry experts, there is a push back towards dumb terminals. The reasoning behind this is that it is easier to administer one large machine rather than 100 small ones.
It is true. We are, at some fundamental level, driven by two things: fear and desire. Fear that we may not have enough to survive, that we may not be accepted by others... desire to make life easier, to be on top. It can even be said that desire is based in fear. Fear of failure produces the desire to succeed. Fear of lonliness produces the desire to mate.
It wont be until we can let go of fear that we will be able to evolve into such a perfect 'Star Trek' society where people work for the sake of people, and money isn't used (yay geek reference). But this is semi-irrational since there will always be fear as long as there is death and suffering.
For this system to work would require a major percentage of the global populace to commit to two things. 1) Helping/Aiding others so that they do not suffer and 2) Stopping any single person or group from causing suffering.
So yes, the article has a nice theory behind it, but if I see it in my lifetime, or the lifetime of my great great grandkids, I will be amazed.
I'm going to agree. I knew there was a migration when the non-geeks at work started coming up to me and saying "hey, have you ever hear of firefox? It's really nice".
Why yes... yes I have.
And when you're competing with a monster with over 97% market share, whose popularity has done nothing but climb since its inception, then a percentage point or two really is an achievement.
Slashdot Mirror
A pretty plastic casing that doubles as a key chain?
I'm sorry that someone thought this was offtopic, but it is quite on topic. Highschool not adequate? Duh. Obvious. Anyone who has been through highschool in the last 15 years knows that it's basically just a farce intended to keep kids off the streets. All my real learning came from classes I took outside of highschool and self-study, and eventually college.
I've been blinded by a flash of the obvious!
I just got a Visioneer Strobe XP100 USB scanner. It uses 'chip=LM9832/3' which is controlled, I am told, by some variation of the plustek backend. It is a very common chipset. The problem is that this scanner is not supported. While the interface for this specific chipset exists, the driver for this scanner (how much to move the motor, light intensity numbers, etc) still needs to be be written. So.. that is what I'm going to try and do this week.
The difference is.. I have that option. How many other people do? Linux will not gain any noticable desktop volume until it *all* just works. Not just most, not just many, *all*. Maybe not out of the box, maybe you have to go download and install drivers, fine. But the drivers have to exist.
Now, far from me to say that it's not getting there. It is! I'm even trying to help in the little ways that I can. The point is, I don't see this happening in the next year. Personally, I'd love to see companies supporting their own @#$@# hardware drivers for linux. But I figure that would happen slightly after the second coming. Or once linux has 20% desktop market share. Whichever comes first.
So yeah, there is still a lot of work to be done. Any if anyone here has experience with coding for Sane, please let me know. It seems their mailing list web admin is broken at the moment. But if anyone is on the list, I'd like to hear from you.
There's nothing that says you cant have sshd,cron, apache,etc boot *after* X and whatever display manager you are using (and their dependencies). Sure the first few minutes of using the machine will be slow if you log in instantly, but it's not a bad quick fix for the impatient, and is exactly what XP does.
Yeah, the Japanese are totally stumped. Even their Evas had to use power cords.
yes.. that was the joke. Thanks.
It amazes me that folks who work with people every day are so willing to trust their lives to them.
People are unpredictable, erratic, spaztic, emotional, and generally insane. And those are the good ones! I'd take computer controlled driving any day. Computers wont ride your ass at 95 mph flashing their lights at you (sorry, I was only doing 85 in the 55, jeez). They also wont change lanes without turn signals, forget to check their blind spots, and talk on their cell phones. It seems to me that the abolition of these last three annoyances would warrant a switch to automation.
Sometimes "the right thing" does get done without pressure, but only when it makes the most sense to the values of whoever is doing it, and not just being done for the sake of doing "the right thing".
You don't have any right too someone else's property just because you think it's too expensive.
The quote says that you don't have the right to someone else's property *because* you think it's too expensive. I agree with that. In your argument with the starving, the starving person doesn't have the right to the bread *because* he thinks it's too expensive. The starving person has the right to the bread *because* he'll die without it *and* he thinks it's too expensive.
This relates directly to the argument that people make which boils down to something like "I think it's overpriced so I'll just steal it". Which is quite different from the argument "I need it very badly, and it's priced to high for me, so I must steal it." In the first case the person can afford it, but steals it because it is out of his expected price range. In the second, the person cannot afford it but needs it.
A subtle difference, to be sure, but an important one.
Because the website comes in different flavors?
More than 5 minutes of battery life
Can an iPod stand up to being dropped, shaken like heck when I jog, and basically treated like crap?
The iPods are quite sexy, but I really beat the bejeezus out of my old rio, and was considering getting a new rio becuase I know that they're tough.
I know iPod beats all in capacity, but for rugged music on the go, what's the best place to look?
Plus, Microsoft giving away software is a lot like a fan company giving away air. It costs them nothing. You could say it costs them sales, but these are sales they wouldn't have gotten anyway becuase the target audience is so poor.
By giving away their product, Microsoft has nothing to lose, but reputation and loyal users to gain.
Yes.
See, the difference here is that you say "easy as windows to setup/configure" and not "easy as windows to setup/configure to be just like windows becuase that's what I know and I'm not willing to learn new stuff."
That second one takes more time, true.
I guess I'm one of those freaky people that actually backs up his media purchases (I have, and use, only copies of all my audio cd's). That's why I'm forced to wait for the dual layer DVD media. If they're going to charge me $15 for a DVD, I want to be able to back it up at full quality so when I inevitably scratch/break/microwave it, it'll only be the copy I'm destroying.
But actually most of what I some weird compilation of college psych classes, common sense, and life experience.
I know for a fact that most people are inherently lazy and wont do much without motivation. Therefore, for the bottom 98% of the population (us) that actually have to work to not starve, we are raised with the belief that you have two choices: get money, or die. This starts at an early age with most upon hearing that you cant have some toy/candy/etc becuase "we don't have money for that". This causes the kid to think, 'gee, when I grow up I'm going to have lots of money so I can buy anything I want'. Hang around the super market snack isle for a while to see this one in action.
Now. If we could produce a society that would remove this fear, the entire system would collapse. Imagine a place where there was no fear of starvation or homelessness. Imagine that there was a way to give enough food and shelter to anyone that wanted it for no cost. People would stop being motivated to do jobs that they didn't want to do. Suddenly the options go from "crappy job or death" to "crappy job or food/shelter". Well, I'll tell you for one that I would only work the crappy job long enough to buy things that food/shelter alone didn't provide (mmm... laptop..) and then I'd quit. I'd wait until I found a job that I liked.
Anyway, I need to leave for work, but the point is that it wasn't a setup, that Buddhism is really nifty, but that I think it might be too passive to truly fulfill the "Stopping any single person or group from causing suffering." from my first post. Then again IANA-Buddhist, so if I'm wrong please correct me.
And so the cycle begins. Repeat ad infineum.
It wont be until we can let go of fear that we will be able to evolve into such a perfect 'Star Trek' society where people work for the sake of people, and money isn't used (yay geek reference). But this is semi-irrational since there will always be fear as long as there is death and suffering.
For this system to work would require a major percentage of the global populace to commit to two things. 1) Helping/Aiding others so that they do not suffer and 2) Stopping any single person or group from causing suffering.
So yes, the article has a nice theory behind it, but if I see it in my lifetime, or the lifetime of my great great grandkids, I will be amazed.
Keeping with the times, I've outsourced my new sign-ups to India.
Just like American friends, but at 1/7th the cost!
Eliminate idiocy and the user disappears.
Why yes... yes I have.
And when you're competing with a monster with over 97% market share, whose popularity has done nothing but climb since its inception, then a percentage point or two really is an achievement.
No! God! What are you thinking? SlashDotGroupThink isn't patented! It's open source :-D
My finite amount of time on earth.