Once Microsoft has lost the advantage of file format control, where is Microsoft's advantage?
Their advantage rests in the (fucking idiots | enterprise level solutions architects) who would buy anything so long as it came in a box with Microsoft written on the label, and work just as hard to prevent anything "open source" from being used regardless of how much it costs not to use it.
I don't see why I should pay for software the company is going label as 'beta' and absolve all responsabilities for.
If any big software company labelled a product as "release", what makes you think that will be of higher quality than a product that some more (discerning|honest|pessimistic) company labels as "beta"?
They'll absolve all responsibility for it anyway. Just read the Microsoft EULAs
"Microsoft and its suppliers hereby disclaim... reliability, availability, accuracy, completeness, workmanlike effort, lack of viruses, and lack of negligence"
"The thing is, most software that we get is flawed and inadequate in some respect."
i.e. Beta is a fairly accurate description of the quality of all modern software. Far from thinking Google are weird, we should ask why other applications don't have "Beta" on their packaging.
This is (as far as I know) the very first Trusted Computing platform.. If somebody can break that, we may be safe! That or they may build a more secure one
"I guess we've found a purpose for those 8 core CPU's we've been hearing about..."
You laugh, but SpreadFirefox are giving away dual-processor, Firefox-skinned Alienware machines (price tag: $4700) "to the three developers who extend firefox in ways that are worthy of such raw computing power."
"And.Net is a selling point. For what, I'm not sure."
For making other programs behave strangely when it fails, so their authors have to deal with the support calls.
Plus the ever popular "fixes an issue which would allow attackers to take complete control of any ASP.NET website" updates that.NET keeps getting -- they'd be popular on your server I expect...
"but trying to consider every cost through-out the lifetime of an asset hasn't really been very feasible until we got computers with decent spreadsheet capability."
Don't they know the reason that I use the web is because I don't like the phone?
And that the reason I don't use the phone is because the modem is...
Re:Ajax Killed Himself
on
Ajax in Action
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
The Ajax answer is to keep all of the lobotomized bits and build increasingly Byzantine layers on top of the existing mess in order to re-introduce the capabilities that were hacked off in the first place. Brilliant.
I suppose the reason is, who do you trust?
e.g. I look at xmlHTTPobject (or whatever it's called) and wonder, "how can they allow that, after all the fuss about ensuring that cookies aren't cross-domain"
As I see it, AJAX is competing against things like Java,.NET, and ActiveX. Basically, the alternative is a popup window saying "Do you trust 123technologies to run this program? [Yes] [No]".
And the population here is divided into (a) people who wouldn't install untrusted software if it were recommended by Gabriel Himself, and (b) people whose computers won't run because they're clogged-up with spyware.
As you say, there are loads of better technologies if you trust the application writers. But who does?
"from a beginner's standpoint I'd hardly call it easy compared to Windows"
When were you last a beginner in Windows?
(e.g. try explaining to your parents why they need to telephone microsoft to get their computer to work for more than 30 days after buying it, or why do they have to read a 26-page license before the Dell with preinstalled Windows will work...)
Most beginners work best on the OS with the best GUI/CHI. And most of the time that's GNOME. Your argument about Windows-only apps (what are they? AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Proteus?) hardly applies to the beginners you mention either.
What, they're supposed to care that their office suite isn't written by Microsoft?!?
"Before anyone complains about this, keep in mind that it's just television."
Like, just the sole source of opinions for most of the country? Who cares if it describes people we know in a way liable to identify them as criminals?
The RIAA president said something stupid and inflamatory, and now everyone at slashdot is saying how awful the RIAA is. It's worked quite well, to take the heat off Sony (who are trying to sell things you might buy), and direct all the critisism at the RIAA (who you can hate all you like, because they're just a shadowy organisation who you'll never deal with directly)
OK, I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but don't you think they're laughing every time you tell people how evil the "RIAA" is? Everyone has completely forgotten to warn their families about buying Sony products, or Green Day albums, or any of the other people who RIAA are covering for, that are actually doing all this anti-society stuff.
"But this is by far in a way my favourite bit [from the official guide to Tunisia, given to attendees]: "There are about 973 journalists and more than 70 foreign correspondents in Tunisia." About 973. Now what gives you the feeling that the governments just might keep an eye on its domestic journalists?"
"but you don't call something developed under Windows with Microsoft tools "MS-whatever" do you?"
If you distributed something which largely consisted of Microsoft tools, with some programs of your own, then yes, it probably would have the word "Microsoft" in the name somewhere...
Just installed Windows XP Pro at work. I'm not addressing technical issues here, just theoretical ones. The End User License Agreement lists twenty seven ways in which Windows leaks data by default just to the Microsoft servers
This doesn't mention the others... By visiting Windows Update, I have to press "I agree" to the ActiveX control which gives whichever website I'm connected to the permissions required to remotely administer my company's computers and remotely access our data.
Hope everyone at Microsoft has got security clearances authorised by the country I'm working for, otherwise it might technically be illegal to run Windows Update...
While some people value uptime/availability/reliability, and others value security, neither of those groups will be running Windows. Laughing at one or the other only makes it more clear that (a) Windows will fail, (b) Windows will fail your security policy, and (c) Windows will expose your organization to unnecessary risk.
Gonzales said the new laws are needed because evolving technology is "encouraging large-scale criminal enterprises to get involved in intellectual-property theft."
How can you become Attorney General without understanding law? Don't lawyers get disbarred for making legal statements like that which are blatantly false?
Slashdot Mirror
I don't get why single letter domain names are so wonderful.
Imagine you're ICANN. (playing a world-conquering strategy game at the easy level may help you here)
You know that the price of something increases with lack of supply, and increases with demand.
Now imagine selling a domain name where supply is restricted to 26 items, and demand is opened to every company in the world.
mmmm... money!
Once Microsoft has lost the advantage of file format control, where is Microsoft's advantage?
Their advantage rests in the (fucking idiots | enterprise level solutions architects) who would buy anything so long as it came in a box with Microsoft written on the label, and work just as hard to prevent anything "open source" from being used regardless of how much it costs not to use it.
I don't see why I should pay for software the company is going label as 'beta' and absolve all responsabilities for.
... reliability, availability, accuracy, completeness, workmanlike effort, lack of viruses, and lack of negligence"
If any big software company labelled a product as "release", what makes you think that will be of higher quality than a product that some more (discerning|honest|pessimistic) company labels as "beta"?
They'll absolve all responsibility for it anyway. Just read the Microsoft EULAs
"Microsoft and its suppliers hereby disclaim
Consider http://k.de/
or http://x.org/
"The thing is, most software that we get is flawed and inadequate in some respect."
i.e. Beta is a fairly accurate description of the quality of all modern software. Far from thinking Google are weird, we should ask why other applications don't have "Beta" on their packaging.
This is (as far as I know) the very first Trusted Computing platform .. If somebody can break that, we may be safe! That or they may build a more secure one
Maybe this is a beta test of "trusted" computing?
"I guess we've found a purpose for those 8 core CPU's we've been hearing about..."
You laugh, but SpreadFirefox are giving away dual-processor, Firefox-skinned Alienware machines (price tag: $4700) "to the three developers who extend firefox in ways that are worthy of such raw computing power."
Windows: $4.6B
So your program gets more market share if it's more expensive per installation? Looks like Microsoft have found a novel way of increasing it...
"Now, as I originally stated in my discalimer, I am a Linux zealot like the next penguin-headed person."
Just a hint: all the Microsoft PR guys on slashdot say exactly those words, so the disclaimer might not be working as well as you hoped...
"And .Net is a selling point. For what, I'm not sure."
.NET keeps getting -- they'd be popular on your server I expect...
For making other programs behave strangely when it fails, so their authors have to deal with the support calls.
Plus the ever popular "fixes an issue which would allow attackers to take complete control of any ASP.NET website" updates that
"but trying to consider every cost through-out the lifetime of an asset hasn't really been very feasible until we got computers with decent spreadsheet capability."
So it's a Mac-era thing?
Don't they know the reason that I use the web is because I don't like the phone?
And that the reason I don't use the phone is because the modem is...
The Ajax answer is to keep all of the lobotomized bits and build increasingly Byzantine layers on top of the existing mess in order to re-introduce the capabilities that were hacked off in the first place. Brilliant.
.NET, and ActiveX. Basically, the alternative is a popup window saying "Do you trust 123technologies to run this program? [Yes] [No]".
I suppose the reason is, who do you trust?
e.g. I look at xmlHTTPobject (or whatever it's called) and wonder, "how can they allow that, after all the fuss about ensuring that cookies aren't cross-domain"
As I see it, AJAX is competing against things like Java,
And the population here is divided into (a) people who wouldn't install untrusted software if it were recommended by Gabriel Himself, and (b) people whose computers won't run because they're clogged-up with spyware.
As you say, there are loads of better technologies if you trust the application writers. But who does?
"from a beginner's standpoint I'd hardly call it easy compared to Windows"
When were you last a beginner in Windows?
(e.g. try explaining to your parents why they need to telephone microsoft to get their computer to work for more than 30 days after buying it, or why do they have to read a 26-page license before the Dell with preinstalled Windows will work...)
Most beginners work best on the OS with the best GUI/CHI. And most of the time that's GNOME. Your argument about Windows-only apps (what are they? AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Proteus?) hardly applies to the beginners you mention either.
What, they're supposed to care that their office suite isn't written by Microsoft?!?
"Before anyone complains about this, keep in mind that it's just television."
Like, just the sole source of opinions for most of the country? Who cares if it describes people we know in a way liable to identify them as criminals?
I think it worked.
The RIAA president said something stupid and inflamatory, and now everyone at slashdot is saying how awful the RIAA is. It's worked quite well, to take the heat off Sony (who are trying to sell things you might buy), and direct all the critisism at the RIAA (who you can hate all you like, because they're just a shadowy organisation who you'll never deal with directly)
OK, I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but don't you think they're laughing every time you tell people how evil the "RIAA" is? Everyone has completely forgotten to warn their families about buying Sony products, or Green Day albums, or any of the other people who RIAA are covering for, that are actually doing all this anti-society stuff.
Link
"but you don't call something developed under Windows with Microsoft tools "MS-whatever" do you?"
If you distributed something which largely consisted of Microsoft tools, with some programs of your own, then yes, it probably would have the word "Microsoft" in the name somewhere...
The Washington Post has a bias toward the right?
It probably wouldn't be detectable to an american
Just installed Windows XP Pro at work. I'm not addressing technical issues here, just theoretical ones. The End User License Agreement lists twenty seven ways in which Windows leaks data by default just to the Microsoft servers
This doesn't mention the others... By visiting Windows Update, I have to press "I agree" to the ActiveX control which gives whichever website I'm connected to the permissions required to remotely administer my company's computers and remotely access our data.
Hope everyone at Microsoft has got security clearances authorised by the country I'm working for, otherwise it might technically be illegal to run Windows Update...
While some people value uptime/availability/reliability, and others value security, neither of those groups will be running Windows. Laughing at one or the other only makes it more clear that (a) Windows will fail, (b) Windows will fail your security policy, and (c) Windows will expose your organization to unnecessary risk.
% man man
Back in the old days, when men were men, and info was man...
As someone that has used Linux/*BSD/Unix for over 10 years, it's something that will provide a lifetime of learning.
I recommend "Teach yourself Unix in 24 years", by the University of Life press...
Gonzales said the new laws are needed because evolving technology is "encouraging large-scale criminal enterprises to get involved in intellectual-property theft."
How can you become Attorney General without understanding law? Don't lawyers get disbarred for making legal statements like that which are blatantly false?
AAC is an open format, at least to the same extent that MP3 is.
OK, I'm actually interested here, not taking the piss, but what Debian package do you need to install to get AAC files to play in AmaroK?
All my music collection is managed by iTunes, and most of my files are AAC. If I wanted to buy a portable player, what choices I have other than iPod?
Bad luck!
(or more harshly) remember what we've been saying for years about having your data in open formats? Consider yourself locked-in.