I want a desk phone. I want some way to be reached at work and nowhere else. All that other stuff is good too, for friends and family, but for work-related stuff, desk phone please (and I suppose "work only" ids for IM/Skype/whatever).
Modern distros are far more useable than Windows, and possibly Apples as well (I wouldn't know).
Until you want to do something like DVD playback, and are faced with bewildering instructions on foreign downloads (well, foreign to those of us in the U.S.) to get it to work. And it still appears illegal to do it: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/dmca-exemptions-rejected/
Freedom is nice, but when it involves having to become a computer engineer to exercise it - most people will take the padded handcuffs. Just the way most 'mundanes' are, sad to say. Since I am not drinking the Apple hate-eraid, I imagine I will be modded into oblivion.
Exactly! Isn't this a "free market" issue anyway? If your ecosystem isn't competing favorably (as far as number of users) then compete and make it better, in a way regular people will actually care about.
It isn't like Apple is going around coercing people into buying their products... they've built an ecosystem and made it appealing to a large segment of regular computer users. That other options exist is fine for people with enough knowledge and patience to use them.
Yes, the Surface is more powerful than other tablets. But "the market" has shown that the people buying these things DON'T want that stuff. This is the downfall of the device, it straddles two worlds and is compromised.
I actually tried a Surface out, at the local Microsoft store. Honestly, I didn't think it was bad. I got used to the touch cover after ~10 mins, it seemed OK. I'd get one just because I like gizmos, but it would need to be about 50% of the current price for me to do it. That's the Windows RT version, I wouldn't mind a device with limited software and basically use browsers and so on. But not for $600. And no way for $900 or $1000. For that I'd either get a tablet for cheaper, or a notebook for a little more.
Granted, I'm just one data point. We shall see how well this Christmas season treats Windows 8 and these Surface devices. I have a feeling it is going to be very ugly for Microsoft, just based on software availability (RT and app store), UI issues (not talking just getting used to Metro, I mean the confusion people are going to have when they can't find their files because of Metro app sandboxing), cost, and the sheer momentum of the other mobile ecosystems.
I mean seriously, just to pick from your spin list. #3 - active digitizer. Hasn't that failed to be a selling point for 15+ years? And #4 - photoshop. Of course the ipad version is "crippled for touch" - running photoshop full blast means a real keyboard/mouse not the touch cover implementation (keyboard and touchpad is OK, not a heavy use replacement for the real things). Kinda defeats the purpose at that point. #2 - dev system for other mobile devices. Seriously, who the heck is that a major use scenario for?
Sorry but that list is something only a Microsoft product group manager would come up with, which is "how can we make a mobile device that leverage Windows" and not the other way around which is "what do normal people do with mobile devices?"
Wait...Windows 7-Ready hardware, Windows 7 Licensing Costs AND 5 additional IT-employees and they choose Microsoft because "it costs less"?! I seriously need to get a job in the public sector, seems like they can jack off all day or something.
I know it is fashionable to rail on government spending as wasteful in all circumstances, but this attitude always pisses me off. For every government project that goes over-budget or delayed, there is a corporation happily cashing the checks and under-delivering. That's where the problem is.
You were fired because you failed at doing your job, hence failing serveral performance reviews. You were NOT doing you job decent enough. Age has nothing to do with it, so quit making excuses because you were lazy at work.
LOL. I've seen all sides of this situation, and let me tell you, there is always a way to get rid of people. It's called "managing them out". Read Corporate Confidential for a primer if you are really this clueless.
I don't know about the specifics of the GP, but consider this: if senior management wanted to get rid of him for being 50+ and "expensive" compared to cheaper younger employees (and not get sued for obvious age bias) all they have to do is come up with a crap or impossible project he cannot succeed in. Or give him something they actually need, but starve it of resources - a team of 10 is needed but he gets 2, including himself. Then put in enough of a paper trail to cover their ass (establish a lengthy history of "failed" performance reviews) to ward off legal action, and poof, he's gone.
Again, if you are so naive as to think everyone let go is 100% responsible for it, well let's just say you must be quite young and stupid yourself.
I used to build my own computers. First one, with the help of a buddy, back in the mid 90's, an Intel Pentium P455C with a COAST module, Lian-Li case, and bunch of other stuff I don't remember anymore. Then I migrated to SFF systems from BioStar and Shuttle - I made 3 or 4 of those things, set them up for various things. Last one I made was from a barebones HP small server (can't recall the model) a year or two ago, and it is my file server. But it is getting replaced with a Drobo Mini.;)
It was fun but there was overhead in construction and maintenance, not too bad overall, but the interest left me. I no longer enjoy poring over specs making sure everything I bought work together. I just want a decent physically small systems that are QUIET these days, and would rather fiddle with software development, or my Arduino kit, than play lego-snapin-construction to "build" a computer so I can do stuff I really want to do.
I'm not down on computer builders, it's fun and all, but I don't see it as a good tradeoff for my time. Honestly, the main benefit for me was the clean OS install and fancier video card (not having to buy some stock system to throw out the card for something better - but now, for the games I play, a reasonable video card is fine), and I can cut straight to that after getting a system, if I want.
My window manager config is not much changed from the late 90's.
Mine has. Since the late 90's, I picked up another monitor, then rotated one of them 90 degrees, then set that up for both (and upgraded monitors here and there along the way). I got tired of fiddling with X config files to do this kind of thing. I think one thing Windows does really well is support multi-mon, allowing different sized monitors and different resolutions (at least on Vista and later, I remember in the Win2000 era both monitors had to run at the same rez), and dealing with screen rotation.
I'm a regular linux user (at times) so if this is straightfoward to do on Linux, it sure as hell is hidden away somewhere.
I've been steadily virtualizing my linux machines (although to be fair I am doing that to my Windows dev boxes as well).
I use Linux for two reasons.
One other reason I use Mac and a Windows PC is for DVD playback. Is there a legal way for a U.S. resident to play back encrypted (commercial) DVDs? Last I tried a few distros all the codecs were "download from overseas, use at own risk" kind of disclaimer things. I remember a slashdot article not too long ago about how the FBI still considers linux dvd players illegal.
Bitch and moan about how screwed up that is but it doesn't change the situation right now.
We're not being driven to bankruptcy by banks or the military industrial complex. We're being driven to bankruptcy by voters wanting stuff in their old age without having to pay for (most of) it.
Here's the deal: the money for the spending COMES from the people that eventually expect benefits. They PAYED for them. Saving a bunch of moron bankers from their own shitty decisions (yes, some people screwed up and got in over their heads. When the entire banking system collapses that's a sign of massive incompetence in their risk models and so on) with PUBLIC money is terrible decision.
Aren't there tons of Slashdot users that would argue a corporation can do whatever it wants to (within certain legal limits - talking about murder, not sending you an ad) and your choice is to take your business elsewhere? These people are "libertarians", die hard free-market-is-always-correct folks?
I'm not fully in that camp, BTW, and agree with you. I just find it hilarious that some that argue for corporate supremacy on the other hand feel their rights are invaded by ads. Comedy gold.
I don't there will be sanctions. Unlike Saudi Arabia, south Africa didn't have a valuable resource the would needs - oil. In this case, economics trumps morality, unfortunately.
Sounds like a mess, but fundamentally, a free-market can't function if corporations can obfuscate their financials this much. Consumers can't make informed choices like this (perhaps here, the consumer is another corporation considering buying the initial corporation). Whoever is at fault should be found guilty of fraud, in order to discourage such behavior elsewhere.
It's Melinda Gates, BTW. Besides, she's so rich she doesn't need a Zune or iPod, she just hires the band to come play their music live in her in-house concert hall.;)
That doesn't bother me so much. I hope Owens loves his leather and rubber Adidas/Puma amalgamation since at least he actually wears what he is endorsing.
Loves? Wears? More like past tense... this is the Jesse Owens from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, not a current athlete.
But yeah, getting caught shilling for a product you don't even use. That's kinda like that old ad campaign from Microsoft about how great WinXP Pro (I think?) was, written on a Mac.
Cut Oprah some slack, maybe she tried tweeting from her Surface but found out there weren't any twitter clients for Windows RT.;)
I use LibreOffice/OpenOffice almost exclusively, and my experience is that it is more than adequate as an MS Office replacement. In fact, I find Office rather annoying to use now.
I use LibreOffice at home, and it is fine for me. But I can also see how my needs are fairly limited, and a government office may have more demanding requirements. (Not sure if your usage of LO/OO is personal, business, both, etc.)
Now as far as what the city of Frieberg find deficient, the article specifically mentioned performance issues with Calc, and general interop. Intertop will be tough since Microsoft isn't exactly forthcoming with their specs. However, the Calc performance can be addressed.
OK fair enough. But as for the flip, try this: double click an image file (jpg, PNG, etc) in desktop mode, On my win 8 system, which is essentially bare as all I've installed besides chrome are some games, the default image viewer is the photo metro app. So when you go to preview a pic from desktop mode, the only way I can find them, you should see a little flip animation as the system sends you to metro and starts the photo viewer. Then it takes me another three or four clicks to get back to desktop (dismiss pic, dismiss viewer, click desktop). Now I can repeat that to view the next pic. I guess I can either install a regular viewer, or move all pics to a for that metro sand boxing allows... But this design will affect other files too, I'm not excited about repairing a bunch of st off like this.
I've used Windows 8 for weeks as well, at work (the nature of my job) stretching back to the summer previews.
The start menu that is now full screen (that you seem so enamored with), doesn't really do it for me. On Windows 7 I could hit the windows key, and start typing to search installed apps. Now the windows key flips screens, and desktop -> metro, does not focus the search feature. No, I get to hover in the corner with the mouse, in order to pull the search "charm" from the side, to click it and search.
As for specific gripes, have you actually tried using any of the metro apps? Like to view pictures for example? The "Photo" app only lets you see ones your Pictures folder (Library->Pictures). I've got games and apps that don't happen to use that as the default directory. As a result, I need to copy or move all my pics into this ONE place that is usable, or hunt them down in the explorer for desktop mode, then double click (causes a "flip" to metro mode) to view each one. This blows chunks and my compromise (for now) is to enable the small preview mode (lower right toggle).
Fundamentally, the whole grafting together of desktop and metro interfaces isn't as smooth as it could be. Novice users are going to be totally mystified why one half of their system sees files and the other one doesn't, and they aren't really going to care much about the metro app directory sandboxing.
I can't help but notice you posted anon, and then have the balls to accuse somebody of being a karma whore. Seems like you are a major shill that doesn't want to be outed or attached to a real user account.
I realize people want to shit themselves in excitement railing on the incompetent government, but seriously, how many corporations fully encrypt ALL notebooks/laptops? Because private corps never lose data, right? Plus with this loss, it is only going to be NASA employee PII (not that that is better, but a lot more contained), not say a credit card or store breach where YOUR data might be lost.
Besides, implementing encryption involves handling passwords, keys, protecting the data-at-rest in the first place (servers/mainframes where it is better protected), securing access points like desktops and mobile devices (which it sounds like they are in the middle of doing).
Windows 8 is a very disciplined direction. Doesn't mean: a good direction, but a unified GUI and an answer to ARM-based tablets was the strategy. Good? The market will decide.
I've used Windows 8 at home for a bit. It's OK, but I mostly spend my time from the desktop half, not the "Modern UI" half. The Windows 8 UI is integrated in about the same way somebody that welds can technically fuse two items together. The results aren't always good. There's a lot of flipping back and forth and frustration since the Metro apps are confined to only seeing their approved directories.
I thought Gabe Newell was the project manager in charge of that project. Which goes to show that one bad product doesn't necessarily mean the person in charge of it will continue to create bad products.
Huh? Melinda French was the PM on Microsoft Bob, after it crashed and burned she married Bill Gates. There wasn't another project she was over, AFAIK.
Care to back that up? I only mention this because most people seem to be unaware of which states are net receivers and which states are net payers of Federal tax revenues. California and Texas, for example, are net payers, thus it could be argued that if they seceded they would see an increase of capital.
Huh? Did you look at that site? From 1981 to 2005 it shows Texas sending $146932 million, and receiving $148683. That makes TX a net receiver, not a net payer. California is a net payer however.
And you in turn seem to be a vacuous moron repeating the tired conservative talking points they've used for about 50 years. Meanwhile, in the fact-based universe, there isn't any evidence that raising taxes will tank the economy. Economic growth is strongest under Democratic presidents and their policies, and that's been true since FDR. The CBO recently studied the numbers and concluded there is no evidence that lowering taxes spurs the economy. What did the GOP do in response? Learn? Hell no, they suppressed the report. That quote about trying to teach a dog difference equations? That's actually what it is like to reason with conservatives. They're simply too stupid to change. They don't respond to reason. Conservative economic theory has more in common with religion than anything else - entire chunks of it are simply taken on faith despite having no existing proof in the real world. Whenever something fails, the answer is the No True Scotsman explanation.
Slashdot Mirror
Do you still need a desk phone?
I want a desk phone. I want some way to be reached at work and nowhere else.
All that other stuff is good too, for friends and family, but for work-related stuff, desk phone please (and I suppose "work only" ids for IM/Skype/whatever).
Modern distros are far more useable than Windows, and possibly Apples as well (I wouldn't know).
Until you want to do something like DVD playback, and are faced with bewildering instructions on foreign downloads (well, foreign to those of us in the U.S.) to get it to work. And it still appears illegal to do it: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/dmca-exemptions-rejected/
In this case, it kind of sucks really bad.
Freedom is nice, but when it involves having to become a computer engineer to exercise it - most people will take the padded handcuffs. Just the way most 'mundanes' are, sad to say. Since I am not drinking the Apple hate-eraid, I imagine I will be modded into oblivion.
Exactly! Isn't this a "free market" issue anyway? If your ecosystem isn't competing favorably (as far as number of users) then compete and make it better, in a way regular people will actually care about.
It isn't like Apple is going around coercing people into buying their products... they've built an ecosystem and made it appealing to a large segment of regular computer users. That other options exist is fine for people with enough knowledge and patience to use them.
Can your iPad run Eclipse or Visual Studio? Or the real Photoshop and not the super crippled lite version? Or the real Matlab?
Does it have a full USB 3.0 port? Can you connect a Nexus to it and debug your Android app that you're developing in Eclipse on it?
Can you run two applications side by side on it? Like a chat or twitter client beside your browser?
Does it have a proper digitizer to take accurate notes on? Does it have a SDXC slot to add or swap 64 or 128GB microsd cards?
The problem here is the actual customer base for tablets doesn't care about #1, #2, or #4. Some of the might care about running two apps side by side.
Yes, the Surface is more powerful than other tablets.
But "the market" has shown that the people buying these things DON'T want that stuff.
This is the downfall of the device, it straddles two worlds and is compromised.
I actually tried a Surface out, at the local Microsoft store. Honestly, I didn't think it was bad. I got used to the touch cover after ~10 mins, it seemed OK. I'd get one just because I like gizmos, but it would need to be about 50% of the current price for me to do it. That's the Windows RT version, I wouldn't mind a device with limited software and basically use browsers and so on. But not for $600. And no way for $900 or $1000. For that I'd either get a tablet for cheaper, or a notebook for a little more.
Granted, I'm just one data point. We shall see how well this Christmas season treats Windows 8 and these Surface devices. I have a feeling it is going to be very ugly for Microsoft, just based on software availability (RT and app store), UI issues (not talking just getting used to Metro, I mean the confusion people are going to have when they can't find their files because of Metro app sandboxing), cost, and the sheer momentum of the other mobile ecosystems.
I mean seriously, just to pick from your spin list. #3 - active digitizer. Hasn't that failed to be a selling point for 15+ years? And #4 - photoshop. Of course the ipad version is "crippled for touch" - running photoshop full blast means a real keyboard/mouse not the touch cover implementation (keyboard and touchpad is OK, not a heavy use replacement for the real things). Kinda defeats the purpose at that point. #2 - dev system for other mobile devices. Seriously, who the heck is that a major use scenario for?
Sorry but that list is something only a Microsoft product group manager would come up with, which is "how can we make a mobile device that leverage Windows" and not the other way around which is "what do normal people do with mobile devices?"
Wait...Windows 7-Ready hardware, Windows 7 Licensing Costs AND 5 additional IT-employees and they choose Microsoft because "it costs less"?! I seriously need to get a job in the public sector, seems like they can jack off all day or something.
I know it is fashionable to rail on government spending as wasteful in all circumstances, but this attitude always pisses me off.
For every government project that goes over-budget or delayed, there is a corporation happily cashing the checks and under-delivering. That's where the problem is.
but I've never seen a real life age bias out there
Sure you have, it's just camouflaged as lowball salary requirements. ;)
You were fired because you failed at doing your job, hence failing serveral performance reviews. You were NOT doing you job decent enough. Age has nothing to do with it, so quit making excuses because you were lazy at work.
LOL. I've seen all sides of this situation, and let me tell you, there is always a way to get rid of people. It's called "managing them out". Read Corporate Confidential for a primer if you are really this clueless.
I don't know about the specifics of the GP, but consider this: if senior management wanted to get rid of him for being 50+ and "expensive" compared to cheaper younger employees (and not get sued for obvious age bias) all they have to do is come up with a crap or impossible project he cannot succeed in. Or give him something they actually need, but starve it of resources - a team of 10 is needed but he gets 2, including himself. Then put in enough of a paper trail to cover their ass (establish a lengthy history of "failed" performance reviews) to ward off legal action, and poof, he's gone.
Again, if you are so naive as to think everyone let go is 100% responsible for it, well let's just say you must be quite young and stupid yourself.
I used to build my own computers. First one, with the help of a buddy, back in the mid 90's, an Intel Pentium P455C with a COAST module, Lian-Li case, and bunch of other stuff I don't remember anymore. Then I migrated to SFF systems from BioStar and Shuttle - I made 3 or 4 of those things, set them up for various things. Last one I made was from a barebones HP small server (can't recall the model) a year or two ago, and it is my file server. But it is getting replaced with a Drobo Mini. ;)
It was fun but there was overhead in construction and maintenance, not too bad overall, but the interest left me. I no longer enjoy poring over specs making sure everything I bought work together. I just want a decent physically small systems that are QUIET these days, and would rather fiddle with software development, or my Arduino kit, than play lego-snapin-construction to "build" a computer so I can do stuff I really want to do.
I'm not down on computer builders, it's fun and all, but I don't see it as a good tradeoff for my time. Honestly, the main benefit for me was the clean OS install and fancier video card (not having to buy some stock system to throw out the card for something better - but now, for the games I play, a reasonable video card is fine), and I can cut straight to that after getting a system, if I want.
My window manager config is not much changed from the late 90's.
Mine has. Since the late 90's, I picked up another monitor, then rotated one of them 90 degrees, then set that up for both (and upgraded monitors here and there along the way). I got tired of fiddling with X config files to do this kind of thing. I think one thing Windows does really well is support multi-mon, allowing different sized monitors and different resolutions (at least on Vista and later, I remember in the Win2000 era both monitors had to run at the same rez), and dealing with screen rotation.
I'm a regular linux user (at times) so if this is straightfoward to do on Linux, it sure as hell is hidden away somewhere.
I've been steadily virtualizing my linux machines (although to be fair I am doing that to my Windows dev boxes as well).
I use Linux for two reasons.
One other reason I use Mac and a Windows PC is for DVD playback. Is there a legal way for a U.S. resident to play back encrypted (commercial) DVDs? Last I tried a few distros all the codecs were "download from overseas, use at own risk" kind of disclaimer things. I remember a slashdot article not too long ago about how the FBI still considers linux dvd players illegal.
Bitch and moan about how screwed up that is but it doesn't change the situation right now.
We don't have to speculate. We have history!
Yeah but we need history from this world, not the fantasy bullshit land you evidently looked up.
We're not being driven to bankruptcy by banks or the military industrial complex. We're being driven to bankruptcy by voters wanting stuff in their old age without having to pay for (most of) it.
Here's the deal: the money for the spending COMES from the people that eventually expect benefits. They PAYED for them. Saving a bunch of moron bankers from their own shitty decisions (yes, some people screwed up and got in over their heads. When the entire banking system collapses that's a sign of massive incompetence in their risk models and so on) with PUBLIC money is terrible decision.
Aren't there tons of Slashdot users that would argue a corporation can do whatever it wants to (within certain legal limits - talking about murder, not sending you an ad) and your choice is to take your business elsewhere? These people are "libertarians", die hard free-market-is-always-correct folks?
I'm not fully in that camp, BTW, and agree with you. I just find it hilarious that some that argue for corporate supremacy on the other hand feel their rights are invaded by ads. Comedy gold.
I don't there will be sanctions. Unlike Saudi Arabia, south Africa didn't have a valuable resource the would needs - oil. In this case, economics trumps morality, unfortunately.
Sounds like a mess, but fundamentally, a free-market can't function if corporations can obfuscate their financials this much. Consumers can't make informed choices like this (perhaps here, the consumer is another corporation considering buying the initial corporation).
Whoever is at fault should be found guilty of fraud, in order to discourage such behavior elsewhere.
It's Melinda Gates, BTW. ;)
Besides, she's so rich she doesn't need a Zune or iPod, she just hires the band to come play their music live in her in-house concert hall.
That doesn't bother me so much. I hope Owens loves his leather and rubber Adidas/Puma amalgamation since at least he actually wears what he is endorsing.
Loves? Wears? More like past tense... this is the Jesse Owens from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, not a current athlete.
But yeah, getting caught shilling for a product you don't even use. That's kinda like that old ad campaign from Microsoft about how great WinXP Pro (I think?) was, written on a Mac.
Cut Oprah some slack, maybe she tried tweeting from her Surface but found out there weren't any twitter clients for Windows RT. ;)
I use LibreOffice/OpenOffice almost exclusively, and my experience is that it is more than adequate as an MS Office replacement. In fact, I find Office rather annoying to use now.
I use LibreOffice at home, and it is fine for me. But I can also see how my needs are fairly limited, and a government office may have more demanding requirements. (Not sure if your usage of LO/OO is personal, business, both, etc.)
Now as far as what the city of Frieberg find deficient, the article specifically mentioned performance issues with Calc, and general interop. Intertop will be tough since Microsoft isn't exactly forthcoming with their specs. However, the Calc performance can be addressed.
OK fair enough. But as for the flip, try this: double click an image file (jpg, PNG, etc) in desktop mode, On my win 8 system, which is essentially bare as all I've installed besides chrome are some games, the default image viewer is the photo metro app. So when you go to preview a pic from desktop mode, the only way I can find them, you should see a little flip animation as the system sends you to metro and starts the photo viewer. Then it takes me another three or four clicks to get back to desktop (dismiss pic, dismiss viewer, click desktop). Now I can repeat that to view the next pic.
I guess I can either install a regular viewer, or move all pics to a for that metro sand boxing allows... But this design will affect other files too, I'm not excited about repairing a bunch of st off like this.
I've used Windows 8 for weeks as well, at work (the nature of my job) stretching back to the summer previews.
The start menu that is now full screen (that you seem so enamored with), doesn't really do it for me. On Windows 7 I could hit the windows key, and start typing to search installed apps. Now the windows key flips screens, and desktop -> metro, does not focus the search feature. No, I get to hover in the corner with the mouse, in order to pull the search "charm" from the side, to click it and search.
As for specific gripes, have you actually tried using any of the metro apps? Like to view pictures for example? The "Photo" app only lets you see ones your Pictures folder (Library->Pictures). I've got games and apps that don't happen to use that as the default directory. As a result, I need to copy or move all my pics into this ONE place that is usable, or hunt them down in the explorer for desktop mode, then double click (causes a "flip" to metro mode) to view each one. This blows chunks and my compromise (for now) is to enable the small preview mode (lower right toggle).
Fundamentally, the whole grafting together of desktop and metro interfaces isn't as smooth as it could be. Novice users are going to be totally mystified why one half of their system sees files and the other one doesn't, and they aren't really going to care much about the metro app directory sandboxing.
I can't help but notice you posted anon, and then have the balls to accuse somebody of being a karma whore. Seems like you are a major shill that doesn't want to be outed or attached to a real user account.
I realize people want to shit themselves in excitement railing on the incompetent government, but seriously, how many corporations fully encrypt ALL notebooks/laptops? Because private corps never lose data, right? Plus with this loss, it is only going to be NASA employee PII (not that that is better, but a lot more contained), not say a credit card or store breach where YOUR data might be lost.
Besides, implementing encryption involves handling passwords, keys, protecting the data-at-rest in the first place (servers/mainframes where it is better protected), securing access points like desktops and mobile devices (which it sounds like they are in the middle of doing).
Windows 8 is a very disciplined direction. Doesn't mean: a good direction, but a unified GUI and an answer to ARM-based tablets was the strategy. Good? The market will decide.
I've used Windows 8 at home for a bit. It's OK, but I mostly spend my time from the desktop half, not the "Modern UI" half.
The Windows 8 UI is integrated in about the same way somebody that welds can technically fuse two items together. The results aren't always good. There's a lot of flipping back and forth and frustration since the Metro apps are confined to only seeing their approved directories.
I thought Gabe Newell was the project manager in charge of that project. Which goes to show that one bad product doesn't necessarily mean the person in charge of it will continue to create bad products.
Huh? Melinda French was the PM on Microsoft Bob, after it crashed and burned she married Bill Gates. There wasn't another project she was over, AFAIK.
Care to back that up? I only mention this because most people seem to be unaware of which states are net receivers and which states are net payers of Federal tax revenues. California and Texas, for example, are net payers, thus it could be argued that if they seceded they would see an increase of capital.
Huh? Did you look at that site? From 1981 to 2005 it shows Texas sending $146932 million, and receiving $148683. That makes TX a net receiver, not a net payer. California is a net payer however.
Do you have your GOP reading glasses on?
And you in turn seem to be a vacuous moron repeating the tired conservative talking points they've used for about 50 years.
Meanwhile, in the fact-based universe, there isn't any evidence that raising taxes will tank the economy. Economic growth is strongest under Democratic presidents and their policies, and that's been true since FDR. The CBO recently studied the numbers and concluded there is no evidence that lowering taxes spurs the economy. What did the GOP do in response? Learn? Hell no, they suppressed the report.
That quote about trying to teach a dog difference equations? That's actually what it is like to reason with conservatives. They're simply too stupid to change. They don't respond to reason. Conservative economic theory has more in common with religion than anything else - entire chunks of it are simply taken on faith despite having no existing proof in the real world. Whenever something fails, the answer is the No True Scotsman explanation.