My paid Acrobat 9 isn't much better -- some of the key features, such as Cleartype OCR, just don't work. Period. Adobe's response? Upgrade because they don't support it anymore (despite the fact that it didn't work when they sold it to me right off their own website).
I had that licensing issue with a previous version of an Adobe product, and ended up finding a cracked version of the product I'd purchased, just to get around it not working. This, to me, is entering MPAA territory of the pirates putting out a better product than the original producers.... It's a pain when you have to work so hard to do the right thing, only to find that it's a temporary solution.
I wonder if this is starting to enter class action "deceptive sales practices" territory?
You also can't accomplish the same things on-budget and on-timeline with GIMP that you can with the full CS suite.
While I'm mightily annoyed with Adobe for how they handle bugfixes, the sheer size of their product means that a proper QA cycle would last them almost as long as their point release cycle. I don't really think there's any good solution -- the open source suites are too disjointed and just don't cut it still for most professional work (this is true... GIMP is really good at what it does, but it's a lossy image editing program, not part of a DTP workflow), and spending the time to create bugfixes and then QA them properly for previous versions of CS would just cost Adobe too much money, more than they'd be able to pass on to the consumer.
Indeed... this even lines up with Adobe's "trade in" policy -- and the prices for a Chevy and Adobe CS are starting to equalize too. Of course, having your DTP business go under due to getting hacked via CS isn't really comparable to dying at the wheel.
This is not only not new, but the exact same thing happened for CS4 -> CS5. I still use CS4, because I spent so much time waiting for CS5, which kept missing its release dates, that I bought CS4 instead. Then they wanted me, TWO MONTHS LATER, to shell out another $400 for what amounted to a security/bug fix, as I didn't need any of the new features included in CS5, just the bugs fixed -- and they weren't willing to fix the bugs.
At least at this point, all the attacks are targeting CS5, so CS4 isn't getting any worse than it already was....
I'm starting to think I should try migrating to another package again... anyone know of decent (yes, decent) equivalents for Photoshop, Distiller, InDesign and Illustrator? GIMP takes care of many of the Photoshop issues, but Inkscape isn't there yet, Ghostscript has the wrong feature set for me (and I don't have the time to write my own scripts to fix that), and nothing else I've found is integrating these other apps into one workflow package the way InDesign does, nor will they read InDesign templates or publish to industry workflows with proper color and bleed profiles.
Consider this almost a year... people were saying this when the App Store came out, and it's not true yet....
A more realistic timeline would be ten years, at which point you'll likely need to register with Apple and sign the developer's keychain to install software on whatever the OS X replacement is. Before a step like this happens (with a new OS), I don't see running arbitrary code going anywhere.
Strange that you should run OSX and Linux on Windows 7... I'd suggest doing it the other way around, making your base system Linux or OS X, and then running a lightweight VM for your medical transcription software/dental software/etc. -- a trimmed XP in a VM should do the job nicely -- assuming that you can't just use something like WINESkin to run the software directly inside OS X.
The only place I've ever had problems running Win32 software natively under OS X or Linux on an Intel processor has been when there's a hardware dongle or other hardware reliance that doesn't virtualize well -- but these days most dongles are emulated anyway.
That said, there's really not a dearth of software for OS X -- especially not in the medical imaging field. The only issue is that there are a few product families around that have been used in the medical/dental/etc. field for the last 20 years, and everyone ALREADY has them installed on Windows. This software often requires some sort of DOS init sequence, and doesn't run properly under Windows 7, not just OS X. Some of this stuff even requires you have a parallel port and a COM port installed. Switching platforms doesn't really make much sense in these cases.
As a counterexample, AutoCAD has been Windows-only for years... but is now not only available on OS X, but even to a limited extent on iOS (AutoDesk's iOS apps aren't full AutoCAD, but they have custom ones for different markets, such as construction/engineering/hardware design). I think you'll find that there's no dearth of software for OS X, it's just not usually the stuff that's already entrenched in businesses that have been around since the birth of Windows.
If you own a commercial Adobe product, it comes with an update manager that can auto-update Flash. I don't know why they didn't provide this for their stand-alone free product.......but every time the automatic update software kicks in, I end up double checking to verify that it's the REAL automatic update software, as this is an obvious thing for a drive-by download to spoof.
Disney's had a decent research arm for years. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etoys_(programming_language) (Yes, they bought a bunch of researchy stuff from Apple in '96, when Apple was selling things off to avoid bankruptcy).
Accurate statistics in this area are near-impossible to generate. For example: I think that the 9/11 bombings did more to prevent hijackings in the US than screening ever has -- before 9/11, hijackers knew that pilots were instructed to comply with demands. After 9/11, pilots were allowed to carry guns and were protected by an armored door -- and passengers were given the go-ahead to use whatever force necessary to take down a hijacker. I'd say those changes quickly limited anyone's desire to hijack an airplane in US airspace for anything other than destroying the plane.
I don't know of many people who want to drop screening altogether -- I think most people just want that screening to be more intelligent and less invasive (screening involving intelligent decisions by skilled employees based on metal detector and behavioural analysis results rather than by pressing buttons on a machine).
Actually, The best solution may be automated as well: fully CCTV the airport, and track each face from the moment it enters the building. All employees will have their ID linked to their faceprint, frequent flyers will be able to do the same, and everyone else will be linked in when they check in, and possibly cross-checked against an overall database. The cameras will then watch for dropped bags, odd traffic patterns, unusual trips to the restroom, etc. and flag the people who are behaving strangely for extra investigation should they approach a security checkpoint. Additionally, anyone who approaches a security checkpoint who hasn't already been tagged entering the building and/or checking in will be automatically flagged. This system should be employed not just on the customer side of the airport, but also on the employee side -- baggage should never go outside of a CCTV zone, and an unauthorized person in an employee-only area should set off instant security alarms.
With this system in place, I believe we could even ditch the current metal detectors and have significantly better security than is currently in place, while also increasing privacy (because other than during calibration, a person would never have access to the full video feed, only the results).
"comparison of call records found a perfect match between the illegal calls, and records of non-supporters in the Conservative Party's CIMS voter tracking database, as well as evidence access logs may have been tampered with"
While I think the robocall scandal itself may be a bit overblown, the digging into it is finding a surprising number of facts that don't line up with a clean election campaign. So if you take the "false claims of supression" line, please come up with a reason that someone with access to the CP's CMS would call all those people to get them to call in. Since the logs have been tampered with, it's possible that someone hacked in, grabbed the data and attempted to frame them, but that seems even more of an unfounded conspiracy theory than the CPs intentionally conducting election fraud in the first place.
In any case, there's enough evidence pointing to wrongdoing on someone's part -- now they just have to figure out who was responsible, and what their intent was -- and who was behind them.
I think it's obvious why they pulled it... they didn't want the competition. If ANYBODY could become a hack writer, what need would there be for stores like B&N?
as Shakespeare said A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, it the same thing. changing our name which when used by us is a term of respect, would changing our name change what we are? we are still the same, unfortunately the negative connotation that the outside world has for us would fallow to the new name mostly because we are an under valued hated but necessary part of the modern world. without us the world around us would slow to a halt because it is all built off of computers and networks only we understand people hate their computers and device and but love the benefits. hackers are the people that make them work. they know that and see us as a necessary evil. we just make it go like they want but scare the hell out of them with our jargon and technical terms. we scare them because rouge members of our society the crackers can so easily get around their feeble uneducated security measures. they however do not see the difference between the cracker and the hacker and we get the blame get used to it. we should however keep our name because it will fallow us anyway as will the reputation.
Hmm... this reminds me of the word "gay". Are you gay right now? ("rouge members of our society" indeed)
Face it: words change their meaning. At one point you would have challenged me to a duel for calling you "nice". That's not a fallow observation.
Note that if the profitability of removing DRM is dependent on eBooks being more attractive because they're able to be read on multiple devices then that profitability will disappear if one device begins to dominate the market. Why should I care if my eBook is multi-platform if I'm only ever going to read it on one platform?
Do you have any dead-tree books that you've owned for more than 5 years?
Do you have any e-readers that you've owned for more than 5 years?
The answers to those two questions should answer your other question. DRM'd books vanish when the DRM is no longer supported. I've got books that are over 100 years old -- I'd like to be able to pass my e-book collection on to my kids too.
Indeed. My point was talking about the evidence, not talking about corrupting the original drive by poking around in it unnecessarily. You don't just image the drive and let the GP keep on using it, like the GP was suggesting (this story is about confiscating the drives having residual effects).
I'm an American. In order to attend the Olympics, I have to be stripped naked and groped in order to get on the airplane. Anything I do during this procedure that is not ordered by the goon squad is likely to have me... strip searched again in Jail.
When and if I get on a plane, anything of value... are likely to be stolen by the baggage handlers, who are not searched and groped....
I have to say: what is it with Americans and their nudity and groping taboos?
I suspect people under 30 care more than people over 30.
You may be correct... I stopped watching after the fiasco that was the '88 games. Most people under 30 don't remember how bad the Olympics used to be, before they became differently bad.
Every generation has a problem with the Olympics: Just look at Chariots of Fire, various countries refusing to participate if other countries are also participating, etc.
At least in the original Olympiads, they were up front about the fact that only men invited to participate by the ruling elite were allowed to participate. It beat the Roman Coliseum that followed, with all its politics and product placement.
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My paid Acrobat 9 isn't much better -- some of the key features, such as Cleartype OCR, just don't work. Period. Adobe's response? Upgrade because they don't support it anymore (despite the fact that it didn't work when they sold it to me right off their own website).
I had that licensing issue with a previous version of an Adobe product, and ended up finding a cracked version of the product I'd purchased, just to get around it not working. This, to me, is entering MPAA territory of the pirates putting out a better product than the original producers.... It's a pain when you have to work so hard to do the right thing, only to find that it's a temporary solution.
I wonder if this is starting to enter class action "deceptive sales practices" territory?
You also can't accomplish the same things on-budget and on-timeline with GIMP that you can with the full CS suite.
While I'm mightily annoyed with Adobe for how they handle bugfixes, the sheer size of their product means that a proper QA cycle would last them almost as long as their point release cycle. I don't really think there's any good solution -- the open source suites are too disjointed and just don't cut it still for most professional work (this is true... GIMP is really good at what it does, but it's a lossy image editing program, not part of a DTP workflow), and spending the time to create bugfixes and then QA them properly for previous versions of CS would just cost Adobe too much money, more than they'd be able to pass on to the consumer.
Indeed... this even lines up with Adobe's "trade in" policy -- and the prices for a Chevy and Adobe CS are starting to equalize too. Of course, having your DTP business go under due to getting hacked via CS isn't really comparable to dying at the wheel.
This is not only not new, but the exact same thing happened for CS4 -> CS5. I still use CS4, because I spent so much time waiting for CS5, which kept missing its release dates, that I bought CS4 instead. Then they wanted me, TWO MONTHS LATER, to shell out another $400 for what amounted to a security/bug fix, as I didn't need any of the new features included in CS5, just the bugs fixed -- and they weren't willing to fix the bugs.
At least at this point, all the attacks are targeting CS5, so CS4 isn't getting any worse than it already was....
I'm starting to think I should try migrating to another package again... anyone know of decent (yes, decent) equivalents for Photoshop, Distiller, InDesign and Illustrator? GIMP takes care of many of the Photoshop issues, but Inkscape isn't there yet, Ghostscript has the wrong feature set for me (and I don't have the time to write my own scripts to fix that), and nothing else I've found is integrating these other apps into one workflow package the way InDesign does, nor will they read InDesign templates or publish to industry workflows with proper color and bleed profiles.
Consider this almost a year... people were saying this when the App Store came out, and it's not true yet....
A more realistic timeline would be ten years, at which point you'll likely need to register with Apple and sign the developer's keychain to install software on whatever the OS X replacement is. Before a step like this happens (with a new OS), I don't see running arbitrary code going anywhere.
Strange that you should run OSX and Linux on Windows 7...
I'd suggest doing it the other way around, making your base system Linux or OS X, and then running a lightweight VM for your medical transcription software/dental software/etc. -- a trimmed XP in a VM should do the job nicely -- assuming that you can't just use something like WINESkin to run the software directly inside OS X.
The only place I've ever had problems running Win32 software natively under OS X or Linux on an Intel processor has been when there's a hardware dongle or other hardware reliance that doesn't virtualize well -- but these days most dongles are emulated anyway.
That said, there's really not a dearth of software for OS X -- especially not in the medical imaging field. The only issue is that there are a few product families around that have been used in the medical/dental/etc. field for the last 20 years, and everyone ALREADY has them installed on Windows. This software often requires some sort of DOS init sequence, and doesn't run properly under Windows 7, not just OS X. Some of this stuff even requires you have a parallel port and a COM port installed. Switching platforms doesn't really make much sense in these cases.
As a counterexample, AutoCAD has been Windows-only for years... but is now not only available on OS X, but even to a limited extent on iOS (AutoDesk's iOS apps aren't full AutoCAD, but they have custom ones for different markets, such as construction/engineering/hardware design). I think you'll find that there's no dearth of software for OS X, it's just not usually the stuff that's already entrenched in businesses that have been around since the birth of Windows.
If you own a commercial Adobe product, it comes with an update manager that can auto-update Flash. I don't know why they didn't provide this for their stand-alone free product.... ...but every time the automatic update software kicks in, I end up double checking to verify that it's the REAL automatic update software, as this is an obvious thing for a drive-by download to spoof.
Disney's had a decent research arm for years. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etoys_(programming_language)
(Yes, they bought a bunch of researchy stuff from Apple in '96, when Apple was selling things off to avoid bankruptcy).
I guess Apple made an affordable tricorder, so a communicator is the next obvious step... it could even be a bluetooth device!
You mean like a paper screen, or a wind screen, smoke screen, genetic screen, mechanical screen, or naval screen?
Exactly! I knew everyone wanted to watch a movie in my bellybutton....
Accurate statistics in this area are near-impossible to generate. For example: I think that the 9/11 bombings did more to prevent hijackings in the US than screening ever has -- before 9/11, hijackers knew that pilots were instructed to comply with demands. After 9/11, pilots were allowed to carry guns and were protected by an armored door -- and passengers were given the go-ahead to use whatever force necessary to take down a hijacker. I'd say those changes quickly limited anyone's desire to hijack an airplane in US airspace for anything other than destroying the plane.
I don't know of many people who want to drop screening altogether -- I think most people just want that screening to be more intelligent and less invasive (screening involving intelligent decisions by skilled employees based on metal detector and behavioural analysis results rather than by pressing buttons on a machine).
Actually, The best solution may be automated as well: fully CCTV the airport, and track each face from the moment it enters the building. All employees will have their ID linked to their faceprint, frequent flyers will be able to do the same, and everyone else will be linked in when they check in, and possibly cross-checked against an overall database. The cameras will then watch for dropped bags, odd traffic patterns, unusual trips to the restroom, etc. and flag the people who are behaving strangely for extra investigation should they approach a security checkpoint. Additionally, anyone who approaches a security checkpoint who hasn't already been tagged entering the building and/or checking in will be automatically flagged. This system should be employed not just on the customer side of the airport, but also on the employee side -- baggage should never go outside of a CCTV zone, and an unauthorized person in an employee-only area should set off instant security alarms.
With this system in place, I believe we could even ditch the current metal detectors and have significantly better security than is currently in place, while also increasing privacy (because other than during calibration, a person would never have access to the full video feed, only the results).
"comparison of call records found a perfect match between the illegal calls, and records of non-supporters in the Conservative Party's CIMS voter tracking database, as well as evidence access logs may have been tampered with"
While I think the robocall scandal itself may be a bit overblown, the digging into it is finding a surprising number of facts that don't line up with a clean election campaign. So if you take the "false claims of supression" line, please come up with a reason that someone with access to the CP's CMS would call all those people to get them to call in. Since the logs have been tampered with, it's possible that someone hacked in, grabbed the data and attempted to frame them, but that seems even more of an unfounded conspiracy theory than the CPs intentionally conducting election fraud in the first place.
In any case, there's enough evidence pointing to wrongdoing on someone's part -- now they just have to figure out who was responsible, and what their intent was -- and who was behind them.
I think it's obvious why they pulled it... they didn't want the competition. If ANYBODY could become a hack writer, what need would there be for stores like B&N?
as Shakespeare said A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, it the same thing. changing our name which when used by us is a term of respect, would changing our name change what we are? we are still the same, unfortunately the negative connotation that the outside world has for us would fallow to the new name mostly because we are an under valued hated but necessary part of the modern world. without us the world around us would slow to a halt because it is all built off of computers and networks only we understand people hate their computers and device and but love the benefits. hackers are the people that make them work. they know that and see us as a necessary evil. we just make it go like they want but scare the hell out of them with our jargon and technical terms. we scare them because rouge members of our society the crackers can so easily get around their feeble uneducated security measures. they however do not see the difference between the cracker and the hacker and we get the blame get used to it. we should however keep our name because it will fallow us anyway as will the reputation.
Hmm... this reminds me of the word "gay". Are you gay right now?
("rouge members of our society" indeed)
Face it: words change their meaning. At one point you would have challenged me to a duel for calling you "nice". That's not a fallow observation.
Godwin? Is that you?
" If you burned down Parliament with everyone inside, you'd get out on parole sooner than that."
Sounds like you canadians have a plan in place then to fix the problems?
Remember, burning down the White house here in the USA did not fix us, Look at the scumbags we have in ours.
Well, it was proto-Canadians who burned down the White House... maybe the US should return the favour?
But as you said, it didn't really make things any better, other than allowing some royalists to vent their frustrations.
Note that if the profitability of removing DRM is dependent on eBooks being more attractive because they're able to be read on multiple devices then that profitability will disappear if one device begins to dominate the market. Why should I care if my eBook is multi-platform if I'm only ever going to read it on one platform?
Do you have any dead-tree books that you've owned for more than 5 years?
Do you have any e-readers that you've owned for more than 5 years?
The answers to those two questions should answer your other question. DRM'd books vanish when the DRM is no longer supported. I've got books that are over 100 years old -- I'd like to be able to pass my e-book collection on to my kids too.
I can see some really entertaining possibilities for this theory...
That's just so original.... I bet you're living the life of Brian.
Indeed. My point was talking about the evidence, not talking about corrupting the original drive by poking around in it unnecessarily. You don't just image the drive and let the GP keep on using it, like the GP was suggesting (this story is about confiscating the drives having residual effects).
I'm surprised they haven't sued Greece and the state of Washington yet....
I'm an American. In order to attend the Olympics, I have to be stripped naked and groped in order to get on the airplane. Anything I do during this procedure that is not ordered by the goon squad is likely to have me ... strip searched again in Jail.
When and if I get on a plane, anything of value ... are likely to be stolen by the baggage handlers, who are not searched and groped ....
I have to say: what is it with Americans and their nudity and groping taboos?
(this better not be modded insightful)
Well, if it's done via Blackberries, they'll just get the data network turned off in Olympic venue zones.
I suspect people under 30 care more than people over 30.
You may be correct... I stopped watching after the fiasco that was the '88 games. Most people under 30 don't remember how bad the Olympics used to be, before they became differently bad.
Every generation has a problem with the Olympics: Just look at Chariots of Fire, various countries refusing to participate if other countries are also participating, etc.
At least in the original Olympiads, they were up front about the fact that only men invited to participate by the ruling elite were allowed to participate. It beat the Roman Coliseum that followed, with all its politics and product placement.
!@#$ you. No Really. !@#$ you.
Bang-at-pound(UK Currency)-terminator -- I think you've got it in a nutshell.