"Making fun of the handicapped is not the role of an encyclopedia, and screaming 'censorship' when that worthless Wikipedia entry was deleted is shameful."
Shameful? Please explain. All I saw was a short, to the point article putting a face to a 'Net meme. No ridicule, no judgement, no humour, just a few basic facts. Is it shameful because of Pepper's appearance?
"The article states that web developers are prone to developing for the browser with the greatest market share (IE) over ones that do not. What a fallacy! Personally, I test most of my web development on firefox and mozilla, due to it's superior debuging support."
You are a web developer, not all web developers. My employer, the largest broadcast corporation in the country, forbids web developers from installing Firefox. They do it anyway of course and check against the site where they can but are otherwise actively discouraged for optimizing for anything more than IE. BTW, did I mention it's an MS-only shop?
"...sorry tabbed interfaces just don't cut it from a technical standpoint for me."
What does 'technical' mean in this context? The browser window in which I type is one of 7 tabs open in Seamonkey right now, doing the same in IE would feel like riding the browser short bus. Cookie management per site is one pull-down away and encompasses every potential option. I haven't used IE since Mozilla first compiled and feel hamstrung whenever forced to go back. IE's development is focused on the need of business users to cram 'content' down your throat, Microsoft follows Firefox's user enhancements late and grudgingly, more for the sake of appearance than desire to serve the (non-corporate) customer.
It was nowhere near that kind. The entire article was an ad hominem diatribe targeting Blackberry users. The author included a few disengenuous statements to make the content appear fair and balanced, the typical qualifiers such "any user who types 24/7", which immediately and promptly became non sequitors as the text picked up its thread against all users. A few simple quotes which raise my suspicion Gundeep Hora doesn't spend much time away from his mouse:
"The feeling surrounding the melodrama comes from infuriated family members and bystanders who regularly observe and patiently deal with those busy enough to utilize the Blackberry. Due to this excessive usage, mobile users apparently feel hectically busy and except empathy, while leaving others flamingly frustrated."
Yes Gundeep, the Blackberry is to draw your empathy, it's all about the need to impress you.
"Since tier one executives are "required" to be in touch due to the criticality of their professions, no one needs to be on 24/7."
Does that parse? What does it mean? Are Tier 1's 'no one'? Incidentally, I've been on call for over two decades. In some industries it's the norm.
"...innocent people who are experiencing side effects.... the user is addicted...depicts signs of workaholism...."
Right. It's an illness, a source of great pain to family and loved ones, second-hand 'Blackberraholism'. Or maybe Mail Molester? Who thinks of the children?
His strongest argument seems to be his job as 'editor' of an Nth-rate unknown tech site has no use for the power and convenience of the device, and it's the source of no little resentment. I think Gundeep would also be horrified to discover many have jobs which take them away from the computer monitor's safe and comforting glow. Those of use out here with real, multiple and ever expanding responsibilites find the device/concept a godsend.
Which makes more sense to you, that the completely open to all for examination, community created Linux is using MS IP, or that the completely closed, distributed as binaries, NDA locked, backed by a thousand lawyers and $30+ billion in the bank MS product infringes on 'freely accessible' OS code? It doesn't take a statistician or soothsayer to calculate the probabilites.
I thought the Eighties were back. Did I miss them again? Most modern pagers display an app icon or screen shot now, it's no longer the grey squares of FVWM1. Organizing means grabbing one with a middle-mouse click and dragging where you want it. After a while you naturally tend to organize your work in the most comfortable manner so 'Net apps are always on desktop, say, 2, office apps on 3, utils on 4, etc.. Hop through them instantly with metakey-1,2,3,4, it's difficult to see how it could possibly be simpler or easier. I work in a Microsoft shop so I'm sure eventually I'll try the new feature though.
Some of us have been using mutliple virtual desktops for a decade and are perfectly qualified to make a personal assesment based on the screenshots. Better than the taskbar model? Perhaps. Than multiple desktops + pager? No, you go ahead and keep it, along with its horsepower requirements.
"I wonder when the recording industry is going to realize they are fighting a battle that cant be won."
I don't see how you arrived at that conclusion. They are winning, it now a criminal act to distribute unauthorized copies of music in the US. That's a massive and fundamental change in legal definition and one they've worked at since the main focus of their argument was sheet music back in the 19th century. Companies have a potentially infinite life span, they'll never stop.
"As for rewarding the RIAA for behavior that I find distasteful, I don't reward them. How? I buy most of my cds used."
What makes you think a levy on used CDs won't be next? They tried before, and it's logically consistent with the notion you should be paying for license to use, not the right to own a copy. Buying used CDs is at best a convenient temporary solution that doesn't address the fundamental re-definitions of the way society treats information these corporate vermin are trying to pull off.
The CRIA didn't conduct the poll, Pollara was commissioned to do it. It's a wild guess, but they probably didn't preface the process with "would you mind answering a few questions for the industry from which you're stealing?"
Multiply that 25 by a thousand. That's the company I work for, and they do none of those things. Billbacks are hidden and undifferentiated corporate costs, not even the division business manager knows what component is IT. Standards are imposed, the departments will adhere whether it works or not. The local Lackey's boss is 2000 miles and two time zones away. He's just a bigger lackey. Anyone with real decision making power is up the ladder beyond sight and all they care about is achieving the perfect balance between minimal level of service and maximizing personal bonuses on lowered cost of operating. We tried to write our needs down in the only form they'ld accept but the pen kept going through the Charmin.
Perhaps a shock, most people know what they do for a living better than the IT person supporting them. If the enterprise prevents them from being efficient, from doing what they were paid to do, it's not the user at fault. I'm living that nightmare right now, in a parallel technical department, constantly at battle with the 'enterprise' trying to ram processes and standards down our throat chosen without any consideration for our needs. Think MSCE's trying to force the same platform onto receptionist desk and assembly line for machine control.
They're going to investigate if there's a snowball's chance in hell of making the prognosis 'health hazard' stick and use it to expand their mandate. Nothing conceptually new here that Tipper Gore wasn't already doing 10 years ago. Does the entire current Dem establishment have to die off before the party figures out people don't want this kind of intrusion?
Thanks, I couldn't remember the name of that legislation and kept thinking "Know Your Neighbor", but that was a different Administration.;) It all continues to support my belief that today's Rep's are simply using/expanding/abusing the tools created by yesterday's social-engineering Dem's and that neither are worth their weight in raw sewage.
Not exactlky correct. When Clinton tried to enact bank reporting of 'unusual' activity as part of the War on Drugs I recall it raised a shitstorm on Slashdot. Whether Clinton or Bush, this is a recent requirement:
The real insanity is that the government, a representative of the public interest, is attempting to mandate a private lock on a public utlility - the air waves. You want tio strike a fair balance? Make RIAA members pay for each use, i.e. play, on our public utilities. Since they're the bastards trying to shift us towards a licensing model for everything, let them lead the way by their virtuous example. Or we can just all wake up from this idiotic nightmare and roll back to the original, proper, and only logically consistent concept of copyright - a short term monopoly on commercial distribution.
The history of science is the history of better arguments winning over the weaker. If you must use that teaching method, choose examples which honestly represent scientific debate - for example Einstein and Newton, Darwin and Lamarck - instead of contemporary intrusions by politcal/religious factions. Even if it's proven this is the best teaching method it says nothing about the suitability of ID for a science curriculum.
If you think stand-alone Vista will chew resources, you'll love what becomes of it after IT is done stacking their shit on top. The hierarchy for CPU resources starts at the top with the OS and bottoms out with the user. If they could find a way to eliminate that last bit you know they would.
Obviously written by someone who A) hasn't busted their hump in a field they loved for 20+ years and are still treated like a white-collar janitor, or B) a real estate agent.
Slashdot Mirror
Shameful? Please explain. All I saw was a short, to the point article putting a face to a 'Net meme. No ridicule, no judgement, no humour, just a few basic facts. Is it shameful because of Pepper's appearance?
You are a web developer, not all web developers. My employer, the largest broadcast corporation in the country, forbids web developers from installing Firefox. They do it anyway of course and check against the site where they can but are otherwise actively discouraged for optimizing for anything more than IE. BTW, did I mention it's an MS-only shop?
What does 'technical' mean in this context? The browser window in which I type is one of 7 tabs open in Seamonkey right now, doing the same in IE would feel like riding the browser short bus. Cookie management per site is one pull-down away and encompasses every potential option. I haven't used IE since Mozilla first compiled and feel hamstrung whenever forced to go back. IE's development is focused on the need of business users to cram 'content' down your throat, Microsoft follows Firefox's user enhancements late and grudgingly, more for the sake of appearance than desire to serve the (non-corporate) customer.
Where mega corporations really do have the Genuine Advantage. Good luck with that.
You almost make that sound like a negative.
"The feeling surrounding the melodrama comes from infuriated family members and bystanders who regularly observe and patiently deal with those busy enough to utilize the Blackberry. Due to this excessive usage, mobile users apparently feel hectically busy and except empathy, while leaving others flamingly frustrated."
Yes Gundeep, the Blackberry is to draw your empathy, it's all about the need to impress you.
"Since tier one executives are "required" to be in touch due to the criticality of their professions, no one needs to be on 24/7."
Does that parse? What does it mean? Are Tier 1's 'no one'? Incidentally, I've been on call for over two decades. In some industries it's the norm.
"...innocent people who are experiencing side effects .... the user is addicted ...depicts signs of workaholism...."
Right. It's an illness, a source of great pain to family and loved ones, second-hand 'Blackberraholism'. Or maybe Mail Molester? Who thinks of the children?
His strongest argument seems to be his job as 'editor' of an Nth-rate unknown tech site has no use for the power and convenience of the device, and it's the source of no little resentment. I think Gundeep would also be horrified to discover many have jobs which take them away from the computer monitor's safe and comforting glow. Those of use out here with real, multiple and ever expanding responsibilites find the device/concept a godsend.
Which makes more sense to you, that the completely open to all for examination, community created Linux is using MS IP, or that the completely closed, distributed as binaries, NDA locked, backed by a thousand lawyers and $30+ billion in the bank MS product infringes on 'freely accessible' OS code? It doesn't take a statistician or soothsayer to calculate the probabilites.
I thought the Eighties were back. Did I miss them again? Most modern pagers display an app icon or screen shot now, it's no longer the grey squares of FVWM1. Organizing means grabbing one with a middle-mouse click and dragging where you want it. After a while you naturally tend to organize your work in the most comfortable manner so 'Net apps are always on desktop, say, 2, office apps on 3, utils on 4, etc.. Hop through them instantly with metakey-1,2,3,4, it's difficult to see how it could possibly be simpler or easier. I work in a Microsoft shop so I'm sure eventually I'll try the new feature though.
Some of us have been using mutliple virtual desktops for a decade and are perfectly qualified to make a personal assesment based on the screenshots. Better than the taskbar model? Perhaps. Than multiple desktops + pager? No, you go ahead and keep it, along with its horsepower requirements.
I don't see how you arrived at that conclusion. They are winning, it now a criminal act to distribute unauthorized copies of music in the US. That's a massive and fundamental change in legal definition and one they've worked at since the main focus of their argument was sheet music back in the 19th century. Companies have a potentially infinite life span, they'll never stop.
What makes you think a levy on used CDs won't be next? They tried before, and it's logically consistent with the notion you should be paying for license to use, not the right to own a copy. Buying used CDs is at best a convenient temporary solution that doesn't address the fundamental re-definitions of the way society treats information these corporate vermin are trying to pull off.
The CRIA didn't conduct the poll, Pollara was commissioned to do it. It's a wild guess, but they probably didn't preface the process with "would you mind answering a few questions for the industry from which you're stealing?"
Multiply that 25 by a thousand. That's the company I work for, and they do none of those things. Billbacks are hidden and undifferentiated corporate costs, not even the division business manager knows what component is IT. Standards are imposed, the departments will adhere whether it works or not. The local Lackey's boss is 2000 miles and two time zones away. He's just a bigger lackey. Anyone with real decision making power is up the ladder beyond sight and all they care about is achieving the perfect balance between minimal level of service and maximizing personal bonuses on lowered cost of operating. We tried to write our needs down in the only form they'ld accept but the pen kept going through the Charmin.
Perhaps a shock, most people know what they do for a living better than the IT person supporting them. If the enterprise prevents them from being efficient, from doing what they were paid to do, it's not the user at fault. I'm living that nightmare right now, in a parallel technical department, constantly at battle with the 'enterprise' trying to ram processes and standards down our throat chosen without any consideration for our needs. Think MSCE's trying to force the same platform onto receptionist desk and assembly line for machine control.
A full house for 'I, Robot'? Liar! (or a miniplex.)
Ang Lee isn't exactly the Hollywood stereotype. Otherwsie Brokeback would have been a comedy/spy caper starring Ben Affleck and Adam Sandler.
It's not the 'next big thing', it's the same old thing with the focus shifted from popular music to video games. Don't forget the Tipper.
They're going to investigate if there's a snowball's chance in hell of making the prognosis 'health hazard' stick and use it to expand their mandate. Nothing conceptually new here that Tipper Gore wasn't already doing 10 years ago. Does the entire current Dem establishment have to die off before the party figures out people don't want this kind of intrusion?
Thanks, I couldn't remember the name of that legislation and kept thinking "Know Your Neighbor", but that was a different Administration. ;) It all continues to support my belief that today's Rep's are simply using/expanding/abusing the tools created by yesterday's social-engineering Dem's and that neither are worth their weight in raw sewage.
http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/mar01bender.htm
The real insanity is that the government, a representative of the public interest, is attempting to mandate a private lock on a public utlility - the air waves. You want tio strike a fair balance? Make RIAA members pay for each use, i.e. play, on our public utilities. Since they're the bastards trying to shift us towards a licensing model for everything, let them lead the way by their virtuous example. Or we can just all wake up from this idiotic nightmare and roll back to the original, proper, and only logically consistent concept of copyright - a short term monopoly on commercial distribution.
The history of science is the history of better arguments winning over the weaker. If you must use that teaching method, choose examples which honestly represent scientific debate - for example Einstein and Newton, Darwin and Lamarck - instead of contemporary intrusions by politcal/religious factions. Even if it's proven this is the best teaching method it says nothing about the suitability of ID for a science curriculum.
If you think stand-alone Vista will chew resources, you'll love what becomes of it after IT is done stacking their shit on top. The hierarchy for CPU resources starts at the top with the OS and bottoms out with the user. If they could find a way to eliminate that last bit you know they would.
You just need a better mission statement!
Obviously written by someone who A) hasn't busted their hump in a field they loved for 20+ years and are still treated like a white-collar janitor, or B) a real estate agent.