...never ever thought I'd ever post a quote from the godawful movie Armageddon on slashdot:
"Harry Stamper: And this is the best that you c - that the government, the *U.S. government* could come up with? I mean, you're NASA for crying out loud, you put a man on the moon, you're geniuses! You're the guys that're thinking shit up! I'm sure you got a team of men sitting around somewhere right now just thinking shit up and somebody backing them up!"
The article mentions specifically it is being developed for developing nations...
Until some bio-tech/big-pharma corp patents it. Then it won't be available without some bigg-ass subsidy from the developing coutries non-existent taxbase. Then some lowly rescue/aid type person in some 3rd world country will smuggle some seeds in and plant a field of it, where it will grow and help the local people survive. The next season, due to wind patterns, a neighboring farm will have had it cross-pollenated with his previous crop and Monsanto-like-corp will swoop down with a huge lawsuit, but realizing this poor farmer has no $$, they will simply burn his crops, thus saving their intellectual/corporate property. Unfortunately, they'd be too late, because as his crop had grown, it cross-pollenated neighboring crops, leading EvilCorp(TM) to start more lawsuits/crop burnings, leading to the near-complete annihilation of the local populace due to massive starvation from the fact that the crops have been burned and the soil is now worthless via the damage from the fires. The survivors of this devestation will be much needed fodder for Al-Queda and they will feed these people normal rice and teach them the evil that is the corporate world that wants to destoy them in their never ending quest for profit. The moral? Bio-engineered rice helps the terrorists!
Yes, that seems to be one of the biggest issues. "New" users seem to think that since they've spent, in most cases, literally years, leaning how to do things in Microsoft Windows, that they shouldn't spent the least bit of time learning how to do things in another OS; be it Mac, Linux, what-have-you. Multimedia and office skills aren't inborn, and in many cases under Linux, aren't even fucking legal thanks to special interest group $$ and spineless government representation that doesn't actually represent its constituency. With office issues, I'd bet good money that the author would have the same issues if he tried using a different office suite under Microsoft Windows as well, just because he's not willing to learning the new software.
I've spent plenty of time on many a linux help system; irc channels, message boards, usenet, etc. and see it all the time. Many, many cases it's pretty hardcore networking issues that people in their right minds wouldn't even consider trying, or even knowing about, until they've spent years working with Microsoft Windows and are at some sort of power-user level of ability. They then want to install a Linux distro and create the same functionality within a few minutes... even though they spent a shitload of time learning how to do things in their previous OS. i.e. "apache+php+perl+mysql+whatever message board software-du-jour no workie!!"
Can you imagine? Setting up a powerful webserver, database, and parsing languages within the first hour when you've never seen Microsoft Windows before? Neither can I. Yet people expect to be able to do so under Linux. So Linux gets a bad rap for being "too hard".
Since people are so fond of car analogies when it comes to computers, yes, most people can get into just about any car and drive it, no matter who built it. However... some of those cars may just not have an automatic transmission, and you have no business driving them until you've properly learned to drive a stick.
"Of course, the study did not look at what men were able to tell about women by looking at photographs of their female body parts."
Of course they didn't, nay, COULDN'T look into that aspect. It would have to take into account the vast amounts of physical alterations that women have done to them these days, be it botox, a ton of makeup, boob-jobs, tramp stamps, nose jobs, etc. In that regard, it would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to tell anything about one's "genes" from a photograph. While vastly more prevelent in females, it's working its weay into males as well. When I was a teenager, an attractive friend of mine had herself a nose-job at age 16... it was a major event back then, but that seems like nothing these days. A buddy of mine, age 36, just had liposuction to remove his "spare-tire", it was outpatient surgury. Imagine that... a human body being invaded by foreign objects and literally pounds of material being removed... and it's considered so comon that it's outpatient surgery.
Have they taken care of the 'updatability' deal with their network based install yet? One of my biggest pet peeves with RH/Fedora and Mandwhatevertheycallitthisweek was when doing a net install, you installed from their static set of packages, _then_ updates were done. The needless redundancy of installing 200+ megs of packages, then having to install the updates to those packages seems a bit ridiculous, IMO. That's one of my biggest joys of doing a Debian install; you set up your sources, and the packages you install right then and there are the updated packages... no needless re-downloading of a couple hundred megs of packahges you just installed a few minutes earlier.
A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.
...And what's wrong with the "double-click-on-that-icon-and-press-next-next-nex t-finish" way of installing an application?
I'm so tired if seeing this "arguement", because that's just _not_ how it is... especially not if the windows machine is set up securely with seperate user accounts. If it's not set up that way, 99% of the time it's loaded with all sorts of malware and/or a 2 year old OEM "antivirus subscription" that ran out 18 months ago... oh wait...
However, if it is actually set up securely, it's more like:
Find and download $PROGRAM to install Damn, it's in "compressed" format Go find $DECOMPRESSOR and download Scan $DECOMPRESSOR for viruses Install $DECOMPRESSOR Crap, I'm not admin Log in as admin Install $DECOMPRESSOR Reboot Log in Scan $PROGRAM for viruses Decompress $PROGRAM Doubleclick exe/msi installer Crap, I'm not admin Log in as admin Doubleclick exe/msi installer Click "Next" to continue Accept 27 page EULA Click "Next" to continue Confirm "install type", full/minimal/custom Click "Next" to continue Confirm/alter install path Click "Next" to continue Do you want a program group created? y/n Click "Next" to continue Do you want a desktop icon created? y/n Click "Next" to continue Watch progress bar... Click "Next" to continue Do you want to read the README.txt now? y/n Click "Next" to continue Do you want to create a desktop shortcut? y/n Click "Next" to continue Do you want to run the internet updater? y/n If Y, click "Next" to continue to repeat previous instructions, if N, then click "Next" to continue $PROGRAM has been installed to $PATHBLAHBLAH, please register, would you like to do so now? y/n Click "Next" to continue Installation complete, Click "Exit" to finish You must reboot for changes to take effect, do you want to reboot now? Reboot/Cancel Reboot Log in Click on desktop icon that was created even though 'No' was answered for that question Use $PROGRAM
So that's less difficult than:
Click on the menu Synaptic [insert yast, urmpi, whatever] Enter root pass Find $PROGRAM Install $PROGRAM Close Synaptic Use $PROGRAM And, since $PROGRAM was included in the Linux release, security upsdates are supported so I don't have to hunt them down via 3rd parties if there's ever a vulnerability.
That 25K+ is only for that one torrent. So far I've seen at least a dozen _different_ torrents, as well as literally dozens of other direct links to videos and transcripts.
And that doesn't count the insane amount of 25-190 meg copies that have been emailed already.:o/
I got pretty much the same feeling from doing the test, and I got a 6 out 8 (go me!). The first choice (between screensaver sites) was just an absolute joke, there was literally no information on which to base your choice!
I also scored 6/8. There actually was a little bit info you could gleam from a few of the screenshots. A few of the sites had a "forums" link, while the other site had almost no links at all. I'd be more apt to accept a site that has active forums with it, because if there were problems, people most likely would be posting all over those forums about it. Even if they have 'active' moderators on those forums, they most likely wouldn't be able to keep up with a ton of pissed off users. So, the sites with forums _might_ be a bit more on the trustworthy side. That's by no means a hard and fast rule.
All that said, I personally wouldn't visit a single one of those sites.
...Do you need to know the difference between a knit and purl stich to wear a sweater? Do you need to know what advance and retard are to drive a car?..
No, perhaps not. However, one _does_ need to know how to use a circular saw or chef's knife properly so that one does not lose an appendage in its use. A computer is a tool, and like any other tool, misuse, ignorance, and lack of proper maintenence can cause harm to oneself or others.
Slashdot Mirror
...Surely, they have to make sure it works since its part of securing the system. Right?
You speak as if this has ever stopped them from releasing something before.
Better, faster, cheaper: Pick any two.
The article mentions specifically it is being developed for developing nations...
Until some bio-tech/big-pharma corp patents it. Then it won't be available without some bigg-ass subsidy from the developing coutries non-existent taxbase. Then some lowly rescue/aid type person in some 3rd world country will smuggle some seeds in and plant a field of it, where it will grow and help the local people survive.
The next season, due to wind patterns, a neighboring farm will have had it cross-pollenated with his previous crop and Monsanto-like-corp will swoop down with a huge lawsuit, but realizing this poor farmer has no $$, they will simply burn his crops, thus saving their intellectual/corporate property.
Unfortunately, they'd be too late, because as his crop had grown, it cross-pollenated neighboring crops, leading EvilCorp(TM) to start more lawsuits/crop burnings, leading to the near-complete annihilation of the local populace due to massive starvation from the fact that the crops have been burned and the soil is now worthless via the damage from the fires. The survivors of this devestation will be much needed fodder for Al-Queda and they will feed these people normal rice and teach them the evil that is the corporate world that wants to destoy them in their never ending quest for profit.
The moral?
Bio-engineered rice helps the terrorists!
Either that or I need to switch to decaf.
Yes, that seems to be one of the biggest issues. "New" users seem to think that since they've spent, in most cases, literally years, leaning how to do things in Microsoft Windows, that they shouldn't spent the least bit of time learning how to do things in another OS; be it Mac, Linux, what-have-you. Multimedia and office skills aren't inborn, and in many cases under Linux, aren't even fucking legal thanks to special interest group $$ and spineless government representation that doesn't actually represent its constituency. With office issues, I'd bet good money that the author would have the same issues if he tried using a different office suite under Microsoft Windows as well, just because he's not willing to learning the new software.
I've spent plenty of time on many a linux help system; irc channels, message boards, usenet, etc. and see it all the time. Many, many cases it's pretty hardcore networking issues that people in their right minds wouldn't even consider trying, or even knowing about, until they've spent years working with Microsoft Windows and are at some sort of power-user level of ability. They then want to install a Linux distro and create the same functionality within a few minutes... even though they spent a shitload of time learning how to do things in their previous OS.
i.e. "apache+php+perl+mysql+whatever message board software-du-jour no workie!!"
Can you imagine?
Setting up a powerful webserver, database, and parsing languages within the first hour when you've never seen Microsoft Windows before? Neither can I. Yet people expect to be able to do so under Linux. So Linux gets a bad rap for being "too hard".
Since people are so fond of car analogies when it comes to computers, yes, most people can get into just about any car and drive it, no matter who built it. However... some of those cars may just not have an automatic transmission, and you have no business driving them until you've properly learned to drive a stick.
"I must go down to the seas again,
to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tallship,
and a star to sail her by,..."
--John Masefield
There were sucessful sailors long before there were compasses...
And there's always those new fangled gps thingies.
...This is marketing genius at work!!
Yes, because Microsoft is so good at making predicitions seeing them to fruition.
clicky clicky
HTH
HAND
Hmmm... that sounds sorta familiar...
The summary is indeed ridiculous.
"Of course, the study did not look at what men were able to tell about women by looking at photographs of their female body parts."
Of course they didn't, nay, COULDN'T look into that aspect. It would have to take into account the vast amounts of physical alterations that women have done to them these days, be it botox, a ton of makeup, boob-jobs, tramp stamps, nose jobs, etc. In that regard, it would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to tell anything about one's "genes" from a photograph. While vastly more prevelent in females, it's working its weay into males as well.
When I was a teenager, an attractive friend of mine had herself a nose-job at age 16... it was a major event back then, but that seems like nothing these days.
A buddy of mine, age 36, just had liposuction to remove his "spare-tire", it was outpatient surgury. Imagine that... a human body being invaded by foreign objects and literally pounds of material being removed... and it's considered so comon that it's outpatient surgery.
Have they taken care of the 'updatability' deal with their network based install yet?
One of my biggest pet peeves with RH/Fedora and Mandwhatevertheycallitthisweek was when doing a net install, you installed from their static set of packages, _then_ updates were done. The needless redundancy of installing 200+ megs of packages, then having to install the updates to those packages seems a bit ridiculous, IMO.
That's one of my biggest joys of doing a Debian install; you set up your sources, and the packages you install right then and there are the updated packages... no needless re-downloading of a couple hundred megs of packahges you just installed a few minutes earlier.
...even Etch would be release before Vista...
Not just Etch, but Debian's even beaten Microsoft by releasing Woody and Sarge in the time WinXP was supposed to go to Longh^H^H^HVista.
"Debian: faster development, more secure, more features, and more stable than MS"
lol
A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.
"This message brought to you by AT&T"
At this rate, Debian Etch will go Stable first.
...A blog entry about Linux being too hard to use?
I love the irony that the author is complaining that Linux and OSS are too hard to use.
...And what's wrong with the "double-click-on-that-icon-and-press-next-next-nex t-finish" way of installing an application?
I'm so tired if seeing this "arguement", because that's just _not_ how it is... especially not if the windows machine is set up securely with seperate user accounts. If it's not set up that way, 99% of the time it's loaded with all sorts of malware and/or a 2 year old OEM "antivirus subscription" that ran out 18 months ago... oh wait...
However, if it is actually set up securely, it's more like:
Find and download $PROGRAM to install
Damn, it's in "compressed" format
Go find $DECOMPRESSOR and download
Scan $DECOMPRESSOR for viruses
Install $DECOMPRESSOR
Crap, I'm not admin
Log in as admin
Install $DECOMPRESSOR
Reboot
Log in
Scan $PROGRAM for viruses
Decompress $PROGRAM
Doubleclick exe/msi installer
Crap, I'm not admin
Log in as admin
Doubleclick exe/msi installer
Click "Next" to continue
Accept 27 page EULA
Click "Next" to continue
Confirm "install type", full/minimal/custom
Click "Next" to continue
Confirm/alter install path
Click "Next" to continue
Do you want a program group created? y/n
Click "Next" to continue
Do you want a desktop icon created? y/n
Click "Next" to continue
Watch progress bar...
Click "Next" to continue
Do you want to read the README.txt now? y/n
Click "Next" to continue
Do you want to create a desktop shortcut? y/n
Click "Next" to continue
Do you want to run the internet updater? y/n
If Y, click "Next" to continue to repeat previous instructions, if N, then click "Next" to continue
$PROGRAM has been installed to $PATHBLAHBLAH, please register, would you like to do so now? y/n
Click "Next" to continue
Installation complete, Click "Exit" to finish
You must reboot for changes to take effect, do you want to reboot now? Reboot/Cancel
Reboot
Log in
Click on desktop icon that was created even though 'No' was answered for that question
Use $PROGRAM
So that's less difficult than:
Click on the menu
Synaptic [insert yast, urmpi, whatever]
Enter root pass
Find $PROGRAM
Install $PROGRAM
Close Synaptic
Use $PROGRAM
And, since $PROGRAM was included in the Linux release, security upsdates are supported so I don't have to hunt them down via 3rd parties if there's ever a vulnerability.
Um... ok.
That 25K+ is only for that one torrent. So far I've seen at least a dozen _different_ torrents, as well as literally dozens of other direct links to videos and transcripts.
:o/
And that doesn't count the insane amount of 25-190 meg copies that have been emailed already.
...Like many Americans, I do hold a certain respect for the office of the President, or for any elected office, I suppose...
And that, sir, is one of the biggest problems facing this country today.
Regardless of what's been pounded into yours, mine, and your neighbors' brains ad-nauseum since the instant we were born, idolatry is bad in any form.
Getting OSS "news" from zdnet makes me feel like I need a shower.
...We wiped the machine with an industrial strength removal program...
fdisk?
I got pretty much the same feeling from doing the test, and I got a 6 out 8 (go me!). The first choice (between screensaver sites) was just an absolute joke, there was literally no information on which to base your choice!
I also scored 6/8. There actually was a little bit info you could gleam from a few of the screenshots. A few of the sites had a "forums" link, while the other site had almost no links at all. I'd be more apt to accept a site that has active forums with it, because if there were problems, people most likely would be posting all over those forums about it. Even if they have 'active' moderators on those forums, they most likely wouldn't be able to keep up with a ton of pissed off users. So, the sites with forums _might_ be a bit more on the trustworthy side. That's by no means a hard and fast rule.
All that said, I personally wouldn't visit a single one of those sites.
...Do you need to know the difference between a knit and purl stich to wear a sweater? Do you need to know what advance and retard are to drive a car?..
No, perhaps not.
However, one _does_ need to know how to use a circular saw or chef's knife properly so that one does not lose an appendage in its use. A computer is a tool, and like any other tool, misuse, ignorance, and lack of proper maintenence can cause harm to oneself or others.
...Why Slashdot isn't just rejecting submissions out flat that contain the word 'Dvorak' is a mystery...
( * Read More... * 249 of 299 comments )
What the hell would you need an "extended warranty" for on a necklace??
Seriously... will it cease to go around one's neck at some point?