Eh. Everyone should just switch to an interpreted, procedural language with objected-orientedness tacked on to the side, and which keeps promising to come out with a new, slick standard with more integrated OO features and which will break about 3/4 of the existing programs but which (so far) has completely failed to do so which means that existing programs are (so far) safe like, oh say, Perl.
The funniest thing is these people purport to "hate" MS, yet every time an MS employee flushes a toilet, one of these guys is there watching and ready to comment.
I can see it now: "Jane McIntosh of Microsoft Flushes Toilet. Film at 11:00".
___________
"Well, I for one thought that is was a masterful flush, accomplished with a quick flick of the wrist and followed by a smooth heel-turn. Thumbs up!"
"Yes, but did you see the slight stumble on the dismount? She covered up by removing a piece of toilet paper from her heel, but I found the cover-up to be unconvincing. Thumbs down."
Stay tuned, folks, for further commentary from our panel of toilet-flushing experts.
MS is likely hoping to counter Google by integrating an AdSense competitor directly into the browser, in a manner similar to Claria, but shipped with the next OS.
IMHO, turning IE into a piece of adware would be a really stupid move on Microsoft's part. Doing that would guarantee Firefox a dominating market share (adblock is a wonderful thing).
If they actually went so far as to embed ads into the desktop, that would cement my defection to Linux.
"When I teach free computing courses to the community, I often teach that a lot of the frustrations that many of us have with computers are a result of trying to make them user friendly."
Sorry this sounds like double-speak to me.
Not really. He didn't say "making them user friendly" he said "trying to make them user friendly". Big difference. Personally, I find some of the "features" of Windows (hiding extensions, blaming the user when the system crashes (Win98), etc.) to be very friendly.
What I like about Linux over Windows is that Linux assumes that I know what I'm doing, doesn't talk down to me, and in general doesn't piss me off like Windows does. The stability and security of Linux are also definite added bonuses (spyware really irritates me).
In my experience, the biggest complainers regarding Windows are those who know the least about it (including all those 'linux experts'). I've had to reconfigure tons of networks which these supposed know-it-alls totally fucked up.
So, the Linux experts (who don't know much about Windows) were doing network configuration on Windows boxes, and messed them up? Or were they using Linux boxes to reconfigure the network?
Here is some advice- being an expert on Linux does not make you an expert on Windows.
Well, duh. To give the Linux guys their due, however, they probably weren't used to convoluted network configuration.
Upgrading from Win98 to WinXP is much more expensive than upgrading to Fedora Core 4, and once you've made the switch, future upgrades will be both free and painless.
Future upgrades to newer versions of Linux, once you've switched to Linux, that is. Apologies for any confusion caused by my sentence mis-structure.
The whole point is that you can have the latest and greatest, free, as opposed to paying for the latest and greatest with possibly un-needed capabilities but security updates.
I'm not sure what your point is regarding the security updates. Are you saying that Windows needs security updates more often than Linux (which is certainly true) or that Linux doesn't have the capability to do security updates (which is most certainly not true)?
There are several ways to do updates, from having an update applet running in your system tray to tell you when there are updates available to having a cron job run every so often to automatically update your system.
Comparing what Linux was at the time with its Windows counterpart is irrelevant when the cost of Linux CURRENT is as capital-intensive as the cost of already-purchased Windows 98/NT 4 workstations.
On the other hand, Microsoft isn't in the habit of giving out free lifetime upgrades whenever new versions of Windows comes out. Linux, on the other hand, is always free. Upgrading from Win98 to WinXP is much more expensive than upgrading to Fedora Core 4, and once you've made the switch, future upgrades will be both free and painless.
The pyramids ("which pyramids" you ask? The pyramids, you insensitive clod!) were obviously made by the same people who created the face on mars.
The whole "probing the universe" line is a ruse. "Probing" my as . . . err . . . foot. The antennas are there in order to harness the universal power of the pyramids. Anyone with half a brain could see that! *
So there.:-P
_____
* People with whole brains, on the other hand, frequently have trouble seeing things of that sort.
Start working out & exercising, get on a diet that eliminated the junk -- and eliminate foods that cause inflammation/heat.
If you're serious about lifestyle change, I'd like to recommend the CHIP (Coronary Health Improvement Project) program. At $250 for the program, it sounds a bit expensive, but it can literally save you many thousands of dollars worth of medical bills. Heart attacks and strokes are expensive.
(I had put this apology way down in a grandchild post, but thought it more proper to put it here)
I was the poster of the askslashdot question. I sincerely apologise to anyone I offended with my typo in the heading. I proofread the article but not the title. There are no excuses and again I sincerely apologyse.:p
Eh. Anyone who's offedned by tpyos shouldn't be readign slashfot.
Bulgaria probably doesn't have hippie colonies, marijuana plantations run by half-crazed Vietnam veterans, or 30-foot-diameter trees with roads that tunnel straight through them either.
I would have to say that the Linux kernel is a fairly non-trivial, successful project though.
Isn't Linus himself paid?
He is now, yes. He works (last I knew) for Transmeta as a programmer, and I believe that part of his job description involves Linux kernel maintainence. Linus is now a wealthy man, and most of his wealth was gained from Linux. More power to him.
However, when he initially wrote the Linux kernel he was a student, not a paid programmer. He wrote Linux for fun and released it because he thought that other people might like to mess with it.
I think the submitter wasn't seriously suggesting DRM, but rather trying to say that this was some sort of DRM. You're right, of course, that it isn't. Neither is an armored truck, nor a safe. They're all just plain security.
Condoms are not only wasteful but they defy God's Will. When you fornicate with a condom you are very likely destroying one of God's creations before he or she even has a chance to live.
Taking anything patented apart and figuring out how it works violates the DMCA.
Um, no. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act covers (wait for it . ..) digital copyrights. A self-heating coffee cup is neither digital nor copyrighted.
Pick any major pharmaceutical that took >10 years to develop. I'm i'm Merck or GSK or Pfizer, why the hell would I spend tens of billions of dollars researching and getting FDA approval for a drug that my competitors can produce from the moment it's FDA approved?
Maybe because the government is paying for your drug research? Yes, boys and girls, the federal government pays for a lot of the drug research that the pharmaceutical companies do. When we ask why drugs cost so much, they whine and cry about the cost of drug research when in reality, we're the ones paying for it!
For users, running as 'root' makes no difference to the usability of the system.
I've seen people try to run in WinXP as a limited user (I've never been crazy enough to try it myself). Programs (including XP utilities downloaded directly from Microsoft) kept breaking because they tried to access folders that they couldn't. Basically, nothing works right on an XP system if you're not running with admininstrator privelages. This is a huge security risk, especially with the crap that's floating around on the internet just waiting to infect your computer.
I totally agree with you comments about the Windows interface. XP looks prettier, and has more bells, whistles, and gongs than previous versions of Windows, but the UI design philosophy hasn't changed that much. Working on an XP system feels incredibly cramped to me.
[. ..] will they be able to competently work with a Start menu?
That reminds me, I need to get back to my first-draft manuscript of "The Start Button for Real Dummies".
Yea, I think that most X users can handle a Start menu. A more likely complication of learning Linux and then switching to Windows are screams of frustration at the bone-headed limitations inherent in the Windows environment. (Like the fact that you have to essentially run as root to do anything.)
You are obviously new here. Slashdotters only complain. They complain about X, KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox, blackbox, openbox, windowmaker, gentoo, rehat, slackware, *BSD, slashdot, microsoft, linus torvalds, linux...I think you get the idea. Slashdotters do nothing but complain. That's the only constant here, man.
That's right! I don't know about you, but all of this complaining is getting under my skin. It's really torquing me off! Don't these people have anything better to do than to take up valuable bandwidth by posting complaints about every little thing that annoys them and . . . umm . . . uhh . . .
Yes, OSS == FREE, and always has. If you don't believe me, look up the word "free" in the dictionary. "Not costing or charging anything" is only one of over a dozen definitions listed on Miriam-Webster Online.
And free service, no less?
No, not "service" as in "customer support", but "service" in the sense of software that runs on a computer. In that sense, Apache could be considered "free service".:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Eh. Everyone should just switch to an interpreted, procedural language with objected-orientedness tacked on to the side, and which keeps promising to come out with a new, slick standard with more integrated OO features and which will break about 3/4 of the existing programs but which (so far) has completely failed to do so which means that existing programs are (so far) safe like, oh say, Perl.
[big, toothy grin]
Not to pick nits, but "detention centre", "prison" (Cambridge definition), "jail" (or "gaol"), and "penitentary" all have somewhat different meanings.
___________
"Well, I for one thought that is was a masterful flush, accomplished with a quick flick of the wrist and followed by a smooth heel-turn. Thumbs up!"
"Yes, but did you see the slight stumble on the dismount? She covered up by removing a piece of toilet paper from her heel, but I found the cover-up to be unconvincing. Thumbs down."
Stay tuned, folks, for further commentary from our panel of toilet-flushing experts.
If they actually went so far as to embed ads into the desktop, that would cement my defection to Linux.
What I like about Linux over Windows is that Linux assumes that I know what I'm doing, doesn't talk down to me, and in general doesn't piss me off like Windows does. The stability and security of Linux are also definite added bonuses (spyware really irritates me).
There are several ways to do updates, from having an update applet running in your system tray to tell you when there are updates available to having a cron job run every so often to automatically update your system. On the other hand, Microsoft isn't in the habit of giving out free lifetime upgrades whenever new versions of Windows comes out. Linux, on the other hand, is always free. Upgrading from Win98 to WinXP is much more expensive than upgrading to Fedora Core 4, and once you've made the switch, future upgrades will be both free and painless.
The pyramids ("which pyramids" you ask? The pyramids, you insensitive clod!) were obviously made by the same people who created the face on mars.
:-P
The whole "probing the universe" line is a ruse. "Probing" my as . . . err . . . foot. The antennas are there in order to harness the universal power of the pyramids. Anyone with half a brain could see that! *
So there.
_____
* People with whole brains, on the other hand, frequently have trouble seeing things of that sort.
Bulgaria probably doesn't have hippie colonies, marijuana plantations run by half-crazed Vietnam veterans, or 30-foot-diameter trees with roads that tunnel straight through them either.
However, when he initially wrote the Linux kernel he was a student, not a paid programmer. He wrote Linux for fun and released it because he thought that other people might like to mess with it.
And on the subject of real DRM, DRM doesn't work, never has worked, and never will work. 'Nuff said about that.
Don't believe me? Here's just one example, straight from the horse's mouth.
Some more examples:
CHALLENGE GRANTS: JOINT VENTURES IN BIOMEDICINE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
CHALLENGE GRANTS: BIODEFENSE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT"
CHALLENGE GRANTS: BIODEFENSE AND SARS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Drug Companies and the NIH
So don't go crying about how the drug companies need patent protection, or need to charge us so much, because I'm not listening. I know the truth.
I totally agree with you comments about the Windows interface. XP looks prettier, and has more bells, whistles, and gongs than previous versions of Windows, but the UI design philosophy hasn't changed that much. Working on an XP system feels incredibly cramped to me.
No one ever got elected by saving money. This saved money will only be spent elsewhere.
Sure, like paying teachers, or buying and maintaining equipment, or buying supplies, or renovating old buildings.
Yea, I think that most X users can handle a Start menu. A more likely complication of learning Linux and then switching to Windows are screams of frustration at the bone-headed limitations inherent in the Windows environment. (Like the fact that you have to essentially run as root to do anything.)
Nevermind.
Vigor!