I imagine if there was a power cut, what angle the bed is at would be low on the list of priorities. I also can't see any motivation for someone to mess with it.
It's probably closer to number 2. It's a simple solution that does the job. A complex digital solution would probably add no benifit, but would add complexity and cost.
I get that there are probably huge cost and scale issues, but it has always baffled me that police communications are still mostly unencrypted as complex encryption technology has gotten cheaper and cheaper.
Obviously there are still lots of ultra geeky things out there.. but the words "ham radio" has for a long time formed a certain image, and that image still hasn't changed much (unlike say, "computer programmer").
They actually started shipping to Canada a while ago!
And it's a good thing too. I've consistently found them to be the best.
Tigerdirect used to be my go-to company for everything, but they started screwing up orders and their handling of tracking codes is terrible. It's a good example of how quickly you can lose someones business. I used them for years, probably spend somewhere in the 10000+ range, and it probably only took about 4 months for them to lose my business when newegg came along.
NCIX is ok, but they are _slow_ and really suck at packaging. I've found all manner of weird stuff in boxes from NCIX.. rolls of tape, pages from random printer manuals, other customers order forms! Half the time the box is way too big and it seems like they just shove whatever bits of foam, bubble wrap, paper, and those air pocket things they have laying around (I recently received a box that contain all of those in a big box containing a smaller box containing a server shelf.. which was laying at the bottom of the box!
I've never been inside an "ordinary fulfillment center", and have indeed always wondered how it all works. Sometimes the mysteries behind mundane things are interesting.
Everyone knows someone like that. I've got a friend who is like that with religion (born again athiest)... joking around at lunch and mention something even remotely related to religion.. oh shit there he goes again on yet another tirade!
Why would anybody install an add-on when the browser can do it without the add-on? HTML5 is capable (or so I've read), so Flash, although once necessary, no longer is.
This seems to be where the backwards logic of this thing begins. Yes, most of the slashdot crowd is aware of and makes decisions about what they put on their computer. Most of the general public on the other hand isn't and doesn't. Most browsers will automagically install whatever plugin is needed by a visited page with a simple click... and most users will make this click without even reading the message.
The key to killing Flash isn't convincing users not to install the plugin. It is convincing developers not to use it. Flash will be installed on a users computer the second the hit on the one website that still uses it. Users won't make a decision about this, they will just do it and get on with their day. For comparison look at java applets.. something that has been dead for a long time. Most computers still have the java plugin installed, because at some point, the user hit a website that still had a cute java based banner or under construction sign or something.
Re:Glad I read this, I learned a few things
on
Occupy Flash?
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· Score: 2
Javascript as a language makes me sad.
I don't generally like prototype based OOP, but I've come around to being ok with javascript for stuff of low to medium complexity (and as I'm not a web dev, this has been most of my experience with it). Javascripts date handling is still bafflingly insane however, especially given that this is a fairly commonly needed feature.
Several European countries are considering laws mandating user-friendly EULAs
While I think this is a great start, I think a better idea would be to take the common subset of clauses that both consumers and vendors can agree upon, and make them implied by law.
EULAs shouldn’t be an automatic, they should be an exception, for cases where something is radically different.
To an extreme, I don’t think that clicking “I agree” should even be legally binding. If you have some kind of special case, lawyers or at least something more substantial than clicking a button should be required. If your customers can’t be bothered, either learn to operate within the common set of agreed rules, or go into a different business.
I get that this is mainly humor, but does anyone actually think this is going to have any kind of impact. Most users don't even realize what it is they are installing when they click the "click here to install required add-on" button.
I'm all for the quick death of Flash.. much as it is maligned, it enabled a lot of the really cool stuff we have today.. but it's time for it to die. I don't see this "movement" making any actual difference however.
Also maybe it was the subversion side and not the Berkeley DB side, but from my experience using Berkeley DB with subversion, I don't think I'd want to use it for anything else.
As a programmer, while I like to think I'm diligent when it comes to security, if I could find myself in prison for introducing a security bug.. I'd be wanting a hell of a lot more money for accepting that risk.
Ultimately you'd probably just end up with the equivilant of medical malpractice insurance.. occasional screwups would be spread out and become a "cost of business", and we'd just be back to square one.
People fall for those Nigerian prince scams a few times per year.. reasonable to expect if someone can fall for that, someone can fall for anything. More importantly, the cost per spam is so cheap that even if you only get a few people per million emails, you probably make money.
You don't have to be a brain dead VB kiddy to recognize that there are times when you just want to throw together a front end in an hour or so, and Linux really lacks the tools to do that (although someone pointed me towards Qt's newer stuff.. which actually looks promising).
For the record, I "cut my teeth" on a TRS-80.. eventually progressed to c (using turbo c).. stayed there for a long time, did some windows programming in c (using win32 api and the lcc-win32 IDE).. then moved into Linux where I became a fairly hard core vi elitist type and mainly used c++/Qt.. then went through a weird eclipse/java phase.. and am now in a kind of getting back to c++ phase.
Sure, but KDE4 is just as bad (or at least was when I tried it, but based on what I hear, has improved none).
The two go to desktops for new users have completely failed.. and unity..
I'm happy with openbox, but I recognize that not having a serious desktop environment to point at that doesn't suck is a big deal for drawing in new users.
The big problem I see is that the stuff you describe is part of what makes Linux great for geeks like me.
Standardization tends to run up against flexibility. Linux is a hackers platform.. screw with anything you want.. you have the code! Don't like how something works.. make your own version of it!
This of course, as you said, makes Linux a nightmare for commercial development. For open source software, people can make the little changes necessary to make it work on their particular distro.. with closed source software, you can't do this.
Us geeks down here are happy with our favorite window managers (I like openbox personally).. but we've lost all the major desktop environments as champions for new users.
Much as I dislike Windows, I have to admit that visual studio is a very well put together package and lets you hammer out those GUI apps very quickly. We do have some ok-ish GUI designers (like Qt-designer).. but nothing with the kind of "drag a button to the screen.. double click.. insert logic" workflow that VS has.
I assume you were alluding to this, but I'll mention this incase you wern't.
I recently had a situation where someone asked me about VLC, I told them it was ok to install, they googled it.. and as it turns out the first link is some re-packaged version of it with a tonne of shitware. Luckily they called me when it was asking them to install various "partner" applications.. but it's kind of eye opening. I could have done the very same thing..
I can see this appliance mentality creating two classes of users, and over time raising the barrier to entry into geekdom.
This generation grew up with computers, some got into them and have done great things.. everyone else is now migrating to appliances that just work.
What happens when people grow up with applliances though. One of the cool things about computers is everyone had the potential to learn how they worked and start programming. When traditional computers are reserved for the "hard core geeks", and high school students all have their learning tablet or facebook viewer or whatever..
Slashdot Mirror
I imagine if there was a power cut, what angle the bed is at would be low on the list of priorities. I also can't see any motivation for someone to mess with it.
It's probably closer to number 2. It's a simple solution that does the job. A complex digital solution would probably add no benifit, but would add complexity and cost.
I get that there are probably huge cost and scale issues, but it has always baffled me that police communications are still mostly unencrypted as complex encryption technology has gotten cheaper and cheaper.
Too new.
Obviously there are still lots of ultra geeky things out there.. but the words "ham radio" has for a long time formed a certain image, and that image still hasn't changed much (unlike say, "computer programmer").
This is great. Ameatur radio is probably the last great geeky hobby.
They actually started shipping to Canada a while ago!
And it's a good thing too. I've consistently found them to be the best.
Tigerdirect used to be my go-to company for everything, but they started screwing up orders and their handling of tracking codes is terrible. It's a good example of how quickly you can lose someones business. I used them for years, probably spend somewhere in the 10000+ range, and it probably only took about 4 months for them to lose my business when newegg came along.
NCIX is ok, but they are _slow_ and really suck at packaging. I've found all manner of weird stuff in boxes from NCIX.. rolls of tape, pages from random printer manuals, other customers order forms! Half the time the box is way too big and it seems like they just shove whatever bits of foam, bubble wrap, paper, and those air pocket things they have laying around (I recently received a box that contain all of those in a big box containing a smaller box containing a server shelf.. which was laying at the bottom of the box!
Ok, I'm gonna stop before I start frothing!
Meh, I actually found it interesting.
I've never been inside an "ordinary fulfillment center", and have indeed always wondered how it all works. Sometimes the mysteries behind mundane things are interesting.
The man is incapable of a light hearted discussion or joyful reminiscing.
He has tuned every molecule in his body towards his views on software. I don’t actually think the man is capable of thinking in other terms.
Yup.. the man is _always_ on.
Everyone knows someone like that. I've got a friend who is like that with religion (born again athiest)... joking around at lunch and mention something even remotely related to religion.. oh shit there he goes again on yet another tirade!
Why would anybody install an add-on when the browser can do it without the add-on? HTML5 is capable (or so I've read), so Flash, although once necessary, no longer is.
This seems to be where the backwards logic of this thing begins. Yes, most of the slashdot crowd is aware of and makes decisions about what they put on their computer. Most of the general public on the other hand isn't and doesn't. Most browsers will automagically install whatever plugin is needed by a visited page with a simple click... and most users will make this click without even reading the message.
The key to killing Flash isn't convincing users not to install the plugin. It is convincing developers not to use it. Flash will be installed on a users computer the second the hit on the one website that still uses it. Users won't make a decision about this, they will just do it and get on with their day. For comparison look at java applets.. something that has been dead for a long time. Most computers still have the java plugin installed, because at some point, the user hit a website that still had a cute java based banner or under construction sign or something.
Javascript as a language makes me sad.
I don't generally like prototype based OOP, but I've come around to being ok with javascript for stuff of low to medium complexity (and as I'm not a web dev, this has been most of my experience with it). Javascripts date handling is still bafflingly insane however, especially given that this is a fairly commonly needed feature.
Several European countries are considering laws mandating user-friendly EULAs
While I think this is a great start, I think a better idea would be to take the common subset of clauses that both consumers and vendors can agree upon, and make them implied by law.
EULAs shouldn’t be an automatic, they should be an exception, for cases where something is radically different.
To an extreme, I don’t think that clicking “I agree” should even be legally binding. If you have some kind of special case, lawyers or at least something more substantial than clicking a button should be required. If your customers can’t be bothered, either learn to operate within the common set of agreed rules, or go into a different business.
I get that this is mainly humor, but does anyone actually think this is going to have any kind of impact. Most users don't even realize what it is they are installing when they click the "click here to install required add-on" button.
I'm all for the quick death of Flash .. much as it is maligned, it enabled a lot of the really cool stuff we have today.. but it's time for it to die. I don't see this "movement" making any actual difference however.
At a minimum it probably costs a lot more.
Also maybe it was the subversion side and not the Berkeley DB side, but from my experience using Berkeley DB with subversion, I don't think I'd want to use it for anything else.
Probably money.
As a programmer, while I like to think I'm diligent when it comes to security, if I could find myself in prison for introducing a security bug .. I'd be wanting a hell of a lot more money for accepting that risk.
Ultimately you'd probably just end up with the equivilant of medical malpractice insurance .. occasional screwups would be spread out and become a "cost of business", and we'd just be back to square one.
You can even take the "think" out of there..
Spam is effective because it's ultra cheap and there are just enough people who will go for it.
People fall for those Nigerian prince scams a few times per year.. reasonable to expect if someone can fall for that, someone can fall for anything. More importantly, the cost per spam is so cheap that even if you only get a few people per million emails, you probably make money.
You don't have to be a brain dead VB kiddy to recognize that there are times when you just want to throw together a front end in an hour or so, and Linux really lacks the tools to do that (although someone pointed me towards Qt's newer stuff.. which actually looks promising).
For the record, I "cut my teeth" on a TRS-80.. eventually progressed to c (using turbo c) .. stayed there for a long time, did some windows programming in c (using win32 api and the lcc-win32 IDE) .. then moved into Linux where I became a fairly hard core vi elitist type and mainly used c++/Qt .. then went through a weird eclipse/java phase.. and am now in a kind of getting back to c++ phase.
I'll pass on mono, but qtcreator actually looks pretty damn encouraging.
Thanks!
Sure, but KDE4 is just as bad (or at least was when I tried it, but based on what I hear, has improved none).
The two go to desktops for new users have completely failed .. and unity..
I'm happy with openbox, but I recognize that not having a serious desktop environment to point at that doesn't suck is a big deal for drawing in new users.
The big problem I see is that the stuff you describe is part of what makes Linux great for geeks like me.
Standardization tends to run up against flexibility. Linux is a hackers platform.. screw with anything you want.. you have the code! Don't like how something works.. make your own version of it!
This of course, as you said, makes Linux a nightmare for commercial development. For open source software, people can make the little changes necessary to make it work on their particular distro.. with closed source software, you can't do this.
Yup, they screwed it up big time!
Us geeks down here are happy with our favorite window managers (I like openbox personally).. but we've lost all the major desktop environments as champions for new users.
This is exactly what I came here to say!
Much as I dislike Windows, I have to admit that visual studio is a very well put together package and lets you hammer out those GUI apps very quickly. We do have some ok-ish GUI designers (like Qt-designer) .. but nothing with the kind of "drag a button to the screen.. double click.. insert logic" workflow that VS has.
I've noticed this too.
Mailing lists still have a weird aura of seriousness around them that doesn't transfer over as well to web forums and IRC.
I assume you were alluding to this, but I'll mention this incase you wern't.
I recently had a situation where someone asked me about VLC, I told them it was ok to install, they googled it.. and as it turns out the first link is some re-packaged version of it with a tonne of shitware. Luckily they called me when it was asking them to install various "partner" applications .. but it's kind of eye opening. I could have done the very same thing..
This kind of worries me.
I can see this appliance mentality creating two classes of users, and over time raising the barrier to entry into geekdom.
This generation grew up with computers, some got into them and have done great things.. everyone else is now migrating to appliances that just work.
What happens when people grow up with applliances though. One of the cool things about computers is everyone had the potential to learn how they worked and start programming. When traditional computers are reserved for the "hard core geeks", and high school students all have their learning tablet or facebook viewer or whatever ..