The boys are all ready They've laid out the plans They're setting the stage For the man-made man We've worked out the kinks In your DNA So sayonara, kid Have a nice day
The serbs also discovered that a microwave oven with the door open acts as a decoy for a radar installation as well. High tech only gets you so far, and then if the other side plays along.
Basically, this translates to 'Engineers, put down the Halo controller and get back to work". Early telephones were nothing to call home about either, now they don't even need wires, are small enough for the dog to swallow, and have settings for any feature you can imagine, except possibly "Stun". (note, I'm not sure about this, as I'm still reading the manual that came with my last phone) Improvements will be made, and in a few years you'll look at your old hyperthreaded multi-core biege box and wonder why you ever put up with it.
Be nice to yourself, and skip the Dell. Maybe the Inspiron 8000 are a special case, but the screen hinges on those went out fairly quickly. Others have different design deficiencies.
The only good replacement for a thinkpad is another thinkpad. (typed on an A22m)
This is why the first thing you do when you get there is build a mass driver and start collecting big rocks. Sofa-sized to small house coming in from the moon are a solid negotiating tactic.
The question becomes does the community want another diffuse, nobody really in charge project, or do you want a benevolent dictator ensuring focus and quality control? Sun should be commended for sticking with OO for so long, when they could have just dumped all responsibility and let it drift aimlessly. They obviously have an interest, because with a few other tweaks they sell (or give it away to proper channels) as StarOffice, so it's doubtful they'll want to let go too much. Unless the Linus of OfficeSuites steps forward, then I'd rather see Sun or IBM maintain final say, to keep it on track.
From reading the comments here for years, the biggest issue with contributing seems to be that the code is a behemoth, and takes time and skill to understand. This hasn't stopped the NeoOffice folks from getting it running on Macs, and Sun's continuing final say shouldn't stop anyone from adding some missing features (such as a decent reference manager, or spell and grammar checker).
I've always liked the semtex solution. Simple, elegant, and takes care of two problems (OMG my personal data is wandering around, and OMG what if the thief comes back?)
More seriously, either encrypt everything, or have a setting if it gets too far from you, fry some vital component.
Actually, that's a good question: why didn't Dell just pay the one-time licenses, and install things (MP3, decent video playback, Flash) that people expect? Mossberg was pretty even handed, and if you have read his column long enough he's willing to harsh out (politely) on companies that bungle it. He hasn't really said anything that isn't said around here once a month, which is, "someone fix the rough edges on the end-user experience", and was generally supportive, just not supportive enough to recommend it to the average Windows user yet.
If the computer isn't running, it's awfully hard to Google anything. Mossberg's column is for end-users, not techies. It's for harried businessmen who are thinking, "should i jump to this Ubuntu thing my geeks keep telling me about, or wait another six months?"
Complain to Dell about the Automatix oversight, as he took what he would have bought from Dell and tried to use it, without having to become a guru first.
>> I've just got to figure out how to install the driver thing so it will play the DVD thing and watch movies.
That's why they won't go down that path again. The advantage of their system is they know exactly what they sold you. Not close, certified, or virtually identical, but exact. Part of the Mac experience is that the entire system, snout to tail, has been designed by control freaks, and that's why it Just Works. A couple video cards, 2 choices in Optical drives, etc, really cuts the support matrix down to size in a hurry, even if it limits your, the tinkerer's options.
I have a horror of white box OS-X, not because of the lack of exclusivity, but becausse I remember the nominally identical Trident video cards from the days of OS/2, which reported at the bios level they were identical, but didn't work. A careful examination with debug turned up they were all minor revisions of each other, with slightly different timings, etc. If they could get a high-end partner to play along (Lenovo or HP), and offer something like the old ThinkPad X31 or T41 series, running OS-X, I'd be all for it. OTOH, the idea of it on Dells (or WhiteBox Unlimited System), with Dell QC and flavor of the month chipsets, is just a really bad idea.
Re:stupidest key combo decision ever
on
The GIMP UI Redesign
·
· Score: 3, Funny
CTRL-K comes from the sainted EMACS. Remove that and RMS will show up on your doorstep to berate you about the evils of unnecessary keys like Delete.
It's seriously not a bad suggestion, but some UI decisions seem to have been frozen years ago and aren't really open to discussion.
Re:Simple suggestion: multiple skins
on
The GIMP UI Redesign
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Better suggestion: fix the underlying engines; 16 bit support, proper cmyk, non-destructive adjustment layers, better text handling. While they're at it, ditch GTK for QT for better cross-platform behaviour so that Mac users can ditch X11 and Windows users can have better reliability. The nasty interface can be lived with, and while not Photoshop is better than some (many?) of the alternative commercial packages. Even on Windows, it works pretty well as an image-VI, when you need to quickly whack out a web graphic and don't feel like loading PS.
Alternately, admit that GIMP has run its course, and start porting the interesting bits to Krita
And while we're at it, rename the bloody thing. "The program formerly known as GIMP" would be a step in the right direction, since the average user community thinks it refers either to cripples, or a submissive in a zippered leather suit who's kept on a chain in a box most of the time.
Great. So now not only the audience has to read the TFA before posting, but the author has to read it as well before publishing? You're going to ruin the whole system here.
What do you want it to support? It plays MP3s (many of which I ripped when I had a Linux desktop) and AAC just fine. The user interface is nearly unbeatable when you're carrying it around, and the small ones have a comfortable heft to them, due to the aluminum case. (not to mention the tasteful coloring and pleasing design) Mainly, people buy them because they do what they do extremely well, and the feature creep has been kept to a minimum. The reason to buy the small ones is precisely that; they're small, but still easy to manipulate, without a plethora of tiny buttons or other UI abominations.
It's the old features versus function, where once you've used a couple of alternatives and then use an iPod, you start asking, "why did I put up with this for so long?"
Unix underpinnings + Windows GUI +.Net, etc would not be a commodity, and they would be following the Apple route. They could build on top of OpenBSD, and return to cross-processor compatibility fairly easily. However, there's no need to. They have the VMS underpinnings from NT, and what they need to do is return to the earlier implementation, force backwards compatibility with 95/98, etc, into Virtual machines, and otherwise undo insecure solutions designed to work around programs that expect the end user to be the superuser. Release it as Vista-enhanced, and there you go. If they fixed MS-Kerberos, adhered to a standard or two in the process, and adopted techniques such as NSF4 or proper queueing in the process, so much the better.
Maybe they can straighten out Novell on Wordperfect + Non-Power-User installations. There really is not a lot wrong with modern Windows, other than too many marketers making technical decisions, visual clutter in the GUI, and problems brought on by maintaining compatibility with the single-user consumer Windows such as 98. Sandbox those, and a lot of issues would go away, while maintaining compatibility (or perhaps improving it) for people who still have programs for 98 or Dos 6.22.
That being said, I'm still not going back to the OS of the Beast, but I would tone down the anti-Redmond rhetoric.
If you don't use the web, create a partition for it, install Dos5, some suitably archaic wordprocessor (WP 5.1 should do nicely), and an old copy of Lotus or Quattro, then see whether you really are working faster today than you did 15 years ago. It's not as pretty, but there's something to be said for some of those older technologies. If I wasn't doing graphics and reference heavy technical writing, and just writing, I would seriously consider running something like WordStar in full screen mode. Hands never leave the home row keys, no mousing around, very little screen clutter.
Having dealt with licensed software over the years, as a lab manager, in order:
None. Hardest on you, as you have to trust your customer. Offer pricing in reasonable increments to encourage compliance.
Activation Key. Not much better than none, but still reminds customer of unique nature of each install
Activation Key, Phoned Home. Deltagraph does this one. You can install the same copy twice, but it will tell you the second install is already registered to "Name". This is also a gentle reminder that you know how many copies they're running under that one license key.
Activation Key, Node locked. Hash some detail of the machine and license key, store that as a unique, and be done with it. Photoshop does this. Allowing a second install, not running concurrently, is a good policy in case a machine goes down, and they can't contact you, or someone uses both a desktop and laptop, but not both simultaneously
License Server. Macrovision FlexLM seems to be the dominant one in technical circles. For the end-user, pretty unobtrusive and installs are simple. Someone has to maintain the server of course, but adding new users is just installing the new key and making it reread its database. Note, I tend to despise this one, but mainly because of early experiences on SGIs. It's become more stable, but it's still an avoid where possible.
Dongle. Never do this. It eats USB ports, and current versions are the size of a chiclet. I get indigestion worrying about the fate of a $1000 chiclet plugged into end-user machines.
Yes, but Five different levels of crippled to complete? Maybe I've become a minimalist in middle age, but I miss the approach of "Solaris" (or "VMS"), in one size, deal with it.
Actually, the only difference between NT4 Workstation and Server was two registry keys. It made sense from a support standpoint pricing them differently, but it seemed kind of dishonest at the time. It still was a lot easier to keep track of when users asked questions.
And that is the problem with their business model. Not only do they over-segment their OS's, but they're so paranoid (and have never shaken their founder's views on getting paid , that they won't admit that it would be cheaper in support and damage to their reputation to simply allow pirated copies to update and patch themselves. I would further argue they should go back to the three version pricing scheme, Personal, Server, Whomping-big-server, with the first notably cheaper than the latter, possibly in an activation-key-free version sold as a family pack.
This is where companies such as Apple (OSX, OSX Server), SUN (Solaris, period), RedHat (Server, Workstation, Enterprise), or Microsoft(Windows NT 4.0: Server,Workstation) get it (or got it) right. While legitimate, my Mac which originally shipped with 10.3 and was later upgraded to 10.4, never checks whether that's the only copy out there.
Don't knock "easier to manufacture". The Cray3 and many other interesting designs failed because yields of some critical part never reached commercial viability. My first opteron servers (right out of the gate from a major vendor) had several failures, all due to the onboard memory controller frying. A little slower but fewer defects results in fewer recalls and less bad press.
Which is why, periodically, one dreams of one of the older programs (WordStar, XYWrite, Word5.1) being released and updated just enough to run correctly on modern OSes. A single app, encompassing a core functionality, that doesn't completely overwhelm a modern computer. Comparitively Emacs/TeX is a lightweight, responsive, document-processing system compared to Word/OO/Pages, etc, and when you've reached the, "I run Emacs because it's so small and quick" stage, it's time to take a hard look at your product.
Now, as soon as I find my walker and get those damn kids off my lawn, I think I'm going to install Wordstar, Pine, Mosaic, and NetHack, and go back to computing the way it was meant to be.
Slashdot Mirror
The boys are all ready
They've laid out the plans
They're setting the stage
For the man-made man
We've worked out the kinks
In your DNA
So sayonara, kid
Have a nice day
-Warren Zevon, "Sacrificial Lambs"
The serbs also discovered that a microwave oven with the door open acts as a decoy for a radar installation as well. High tech only gets you so far, and then if the other side plays along.
No.... "Tora! Tora! Tora!
It's designed for shared memory boxes. This is great if you own an E25K, not so great if you've chained together a couple thousand itaniums.
Basically, this translates to 'Engineers, put down the Halo controller and get back to work". Early telephones were nothing to call home about either, now they don't even need wires, are small enough for the dog to swallow, and have settings for any feature you can imagine, except possibly "Stun". (note, I'm not sure about this, as I'm still reading the manual that came with my last phone) Improvements will be made, and in a few years you'll look at your old hyperthreaded multi-core biege box and wonder why you ever put up with it.
You didn't go to U. of Chicago, did you?
Because our president has an Oedipus complex and his Veep an oil fetish?
Personally, I'd like to see us do something about Zimbabwe, but that's not going to happen either.
Be nice to yourself, and skip the Dell. Maybe the Inspiron 8000 are a special case, but the screen hinges on those went out fairly quickly. Others have different design deficiencies.
The only good replacement for a thinkpad is another thinkpad. (typed on an A22m)
This is why the first thing you do when you get there is build a mass driver and start collecting big rocks. Sofa-sized to small house coming in from the moon are a solid negotiating tactic.
The question becomes does the community want another diffuse, nobody really in charge project, or do you want a benevolent dictator ensuring focus and quality control? Sun should be commended for sticking with OO for so long, when they could have just dumped all responsibility and let it drift aimlessly. They obviously have an interest, because with a few other tweaks they sell (or give it away to proper channels) as StarOffice, so it's doubtful they'll want to let go too much. Unless the Linus of OfficeSuites steps forward, then I'd rather see Sun or IBM maintain final say, to keep it on track.
From reading the comments here for years, the biggest issue with contributing seems to be that the code is a behemoth, and takes time and skill to understand. This hasn't stopped the NeoOffice folks from getting it running on Macs, and Sun's continuing final say shouldn't stop anyone from adding some missing features (such as a decent reference manager, or spell and grammar checker).
I've always liked the semtex solution. Simple, elegant, and takes care of two problems (OMG my personal data is wandering around, and OMG what if the thief comes back?)
More seriously, either encrypt everything, or have a setting if it gets too far from you, fry some vital component.
Actually, that's a good question: why didn't Dell just pay the one-time licenses, and install things (MP3, decent video playback, Flash) that people expect? Mossberg was pretty even handed, and if you have read his column long enough he's willing to harsh out (politely) on companies that bungle it. He hasn't really said anything that isn't said around here once a month, which is, "someone fix the rough edges on the end-user experience", and was generally supportive, just not supportive enough to recommend it to the average Windows user yet.
If the computer isn't running, it's awfully hard to Google anything. Mossberg's column is for end-users, not techies. It's for harried businessmen who are thinking, "should i jump to this Ubuntu thing my geeks keep telling me about, or wait another six months?"
Complain to Dell about the Automatix oversight, as he took what he would have bought from Dell and tried to use it, without having to become a guru first.
>> I've just got to figure out how to install the driver thing so it will play the DVD thing and watch movies.
That's why they won't go down that path again. The advantage of their system is they know exactly what they sold you. Not close, certified, or virtually identical, but exact. Part of the Mac experience is that the entire system, snout to tail, has been designed by control freaks, and that's why it Just Works. A couple video cards, 2 choices in Optical drives, etc, really cuts the support matrix down to size in a hurry, even if it limits your, the tinkerer's options.
I have a horror of white box OS-X, not because of the lack of exclusivity, but becausse I remember the nominally identical Trident video cards from the days of OS/2, which reported at the bios level they were identical, but didn't work. A careful examination with debug turned up they were all minor revisions of each other, with slightly different timings, etc. If they could get a high-end partner to play along (Lenovo or HP), and offer something like the old ThinkPad X31 or T41 series, running OS-X, I'd be all for it. OTOH, the idea of it on Dells (or WhiteBox Unlimited System), with Dell QC and flavor of the month chipsets, is just a really bad idea.
CTRL-K comes from the sainted EMACS. Remove that and RMS will show up on your doorstep to berate you about the evils of unnecessary keys like Delete.
It's seriously not a bad suggestion, but some UI decisions seem to have been frozen years ago and aren't really open to discussion.
Better suggestion: fix the underlying engines; 16 bit support, proper cmyk, non-destructive adjustment layers, better text handling. While they're at it, ditch GTK for QT for better cross-platform behaviour so that Mac users can ditch X11 and Windows users can have better reliability. The nasty interface can be lived with, and while not Photoshop is better than some (many?) of the alternative commercial packages. Even on Windows, it works pretty well as an image-VI, when you need to quickly whack out a web graphic and don't feel like loading PS.
Alternately, admit that GIMP has run its course, and start porting the interesting bits to Krita
And while we're at it, rename the bloody thing. "The program formerly known as GIMP" would be a step in the right direction, since the average user community thinks it refers either to cripples, or a submissive in a zippered leather suit who's kept on a chain in a box most of the time.
Great. So now not only the audience has to read the TFA before posting, but the author has to read it as well before publishing? You're going to ruin the whole system here.
What do you want it to support? It plays MP3s (many of which I ripped when I had a Linux desktop) and AAC just fine. The user interface is nearly unbeatable when you're carrying it around, and the small ones have a comfortable heft to them, due to the aluminum case. (not to mention the tasteful coloring and pleasing design) Mainly, people buy them because they do what they do extremely well, and the feature creep has been kept to a minimum. The reason to buy the small ones is precisely that; they're small, but still easy to manipulate, without a plethora of tiny buttons or other UI abominations.
It's the old features versus function, where once you've used a couple of alternatives and then use an iPod, you start asking, "why did I put up with this for so long?"
Unix underpinnings + Windows GUI + .Net, etc would not be a commodity, and they would be following the Apple route. They could build on top of OpenBSD, and return to cross-processor compatibility fairly easily. However, there's no need to. They have the VMS underpinnings from NT, and what they need to do is return to the earlier implementation, force backwards compatibility with 95/98, etc, into Virtual machines, and otherwise undo insecure solutions designed to work around programs that expect the end user to be the superuser. Release it as Vista-enhanced, and there you go. If they fixed MS-Kerberos, adhered to a standard or two in the process, and adopted techniques such as NSF4 or proper queueing in the process, so much the better.
Maybe they can straighten out Novell on Wordperfect + Non-Power-User installations. There really is not a lot wrong with modern Windows, other than too many marketers making technical decisions, visual clutter in the GUI, and problems brought on by maintaining compatibility with the single-user consumer Windows such as 98. Sandbox those, and a lot of issues would go away, while maintaining compatibility (or perhaps improving it) for people who still have programs for 98 or Dos 6.22.
That being said, I'm still not going back to the OS of the Beast, but I would tone down the anti-Redmond rhetoric.
If you don't use the web, create a partition for it, install Dos5, some suitably archaic wordprocessor (WP 5.1 should do nicely), and an old copy of Lotus or Quattro, then see whether you really are working faster today than you did 15 years ago. It's not as pretty, but there's something to be said for some of those older technologies. If I wasn't doing graphics and reference heavy technical writing, and just writing, I would seriously consider running something like WordStar in full screen mode. Hands never leave the home row keys, no mousing around, very little screen clutter.
Yes, but Five different levels of crippled to complete? Maybe I've become a minimalist in middle age, but I miss the approach of "Solaris" (or "VMS"), in one size, deal with it.
Actually, the only difference between NT4 Workstation and Server was two registry keys. It made sense from a support standpoint pricing them differently, but it seemed kind of dishonest at the time. It still was a lot easier to keep track of when users asked questions.
And that is the problem with their business model. Not only do they over-segment their OS's, but they're so paranoid (and have never shaken their founder's views on getting paid , that they won't admit that it would be cheaper in support and damage to their reputation to simply allow pirated copies to update and patch themselves. I would further argue they should go back to the three version pricing scheme, Personal, Server, Whomping-big-server, with the first notably cheaper than the latter, possibly in an activation-key-free version sold as a family pack.
This is where companies such as Apple (OSX, OSX Server), SUN (Solaris, period), RedHat (Server, Workstation, Enterprise), or Microsoft(Windows NT 4.0: Server,Workstation) get it (or got it) right. While legitimate, my Mac which originally shipped with 10.3 and was later upgraded to 10.4, never checks whether that's the only copy out there.
Don't knock "easier to manufacture". The Cray3 and many other interesting designs failed because yields of some critical part never reached commercial viability. My first opteron servers (right out of the gate from a major vendor) had several failures, all due to the onboard memory controller frying. A little slower but fewer defects results in fewer recalls and less bad press.
Which is why, periodically, one dreams of one of the older programs (WordStar, XYWrite, Word5.1) being released and updated just enough to run correctly on modern OSes. A single app, encompassing a core functionality, that doesn't completely overwhelm a modern computer. Comparitively Emacs/TeX is a lightweight, responsive, document-processing system compared to Word/OO/Pages, etc, and when you've reached the, "I run Emacs because it's so small and quick" stage, it's time to take a hard look at your product.
Now, as soon as I find my walker and get those damn kids off my lawn, I think I'm going to install Wordstar, Pine, Mosaic, and NetHack, and go back to computing the way it was meant to be.