"If their maximum range is only 20 meters, I would certainly hope they can be accurate to within 1."
The first version's range was 20 meters as well, but the accuracy was only 19 meters. So on the display you just saw a big red circle that would oscillate slightly and occasionally disappear...
" Folks are always so quick to jump on the bandwagon about how stupid Microsoft's policies are. But is this really such a big deal? Is it even news-worthy?""
I'd say it is a big deal, absolutely. There's a huge difference between MS not wanting to support certain installed permutations of their software and MS not ALLOWING you to do so at your own peril. It's NOT about the support, it's about the MS money machine's need for green. Why not offer unlimited xfers (with WGA enforcing only one active installation) without access to MS' stellar New Delhi support?
Although I must say that I'm not really surprised at this new licensing restriction. WGA has been a royal PITA even reinstalling WinXP on OEM systems from OEM disks.
I'm surprised no one has picked up on another tidbit in the VISTA EULA (okay, there's enough 'WTF?!' moments in there already) - #6 - Windows Defender.
"6. POTENTIALLY UNWANTED SOFTWARE. If turned on, Windows Defender will search your
computer for "spyware," "adware" and other potentially unwanted software. If it finds potentially
unwanted software, the software will ask you if you want to ignore, disable (quarantine) or remove
it. Any potentially unwanted software rated "high" or "severe," will automatically be removed after
scanning unless you change the default setting. Removing or disabling potentially unwanted
software may result in:
*-- other software on your computer ceasing to work, or
*-- your breaching a license to use other software on your computer. By using this software, it is possible that you will also remove or disable software that is not
potentially unwanted software."
Gotta love that last line. We may or may not tell you about uninstalling software that we deem to be unwanted even though you might actually want that software installed and by removing it, we might be violating your license agreement with another company but since we told you all about it right here in the EULA, it's not our problem.
ZwithaPGGB, thanks for the links. A snippet from your fornits.com link:
Ms. Cobb referring to Ms. Scheff - "She is trying to maintain control over people and what they say and what they hear! I beleive that is wrong.". Apparently Ms. Scheff was successful.
Now, either Bock is a frickin' brilliant and world-class defamer, or this Scheff woman is really a scuzz-bucket. It *appears* that she's fraudulently profiting from parents who are afraid that their children are being abused. Obviously the truth can not be established from snippets from various online resources, so I certainly hope that some law enforcement or other governing body takes a good long look at what Ms. Scheff is doing. IF this is the case, I would love it if this whole thing backfired on her.
Of course this perception may be completely wrong and truly indicative of why Ms. Scheff felt compelled to press this suit, but I'm getting a 'spammer suing spamhaus' vibe from all this..
Thanks, that was an interesting article, but it's fundamentally faulted. Without bringing up any wretched analogies (cars and highways come to mind), how can you come to the conclusion that the OS is irrelevant based on crippling one of the choices? The article is more of an indication of the importance of the internet rather than whether or not OS's are dead.
BTW, can we get rid of the 'tagging (beta)'? Or at least filter out FUD and NOTFUD? It appears to have become a simple tool in the battle between opposing camps. Those that disagree with the article add a FUD tag and those that disagree add the NOTFUD tag.
"Doesn't anyone just take their dog for a walk anymore? Its free, and you might meet a girl."
Well, normally I do, but I haven't been able to since this grey-goo problem has been forcing those rolling restarts.... Oh, wait a second, did you mean a *real* girl? Oh, nevermind.
"Well, considering Shatner is Priceline's whore for about $6 million"
'whore'? I think you need to hold either the higher moral or economic ground to make that kind of statement. I 'whored' myself out to former employers for considerably less.:-(
"Another reason is because the economy has been tanking somewhat, with loss of a lot of work to "outsourced" workers, the off site workers are easier to gradually let go, and replace them with outsourced workers in other countries."
Or it might go the other way....
PHB - "Uhh, Charlie, listen, don't bother coming in tomorrow, m'kay?" Charlie - "Sure thing boss." PHB - "I mean, don't come in anymore." Charlie - "Great!"
Yes, I think that is most telling. As long as there are evil fools with millions to fund new ways to SPAM, it will never end.:-(
And that Minority Report vision of future advertising is drawing nearer every day. I was recently down in Miami where they have started covering up windows of skyscrapers with advertising (that see-through kind you see on buses). Soon advertiser will be plastering their logos across entire skylines...
Yes, it's a sensationalistic story. The only way it could be better is if it was found that the Republicans were shipping bagged spinach to India as payment for these call centers.:-)
And I agree with all of your points but one. 'Indian accents'. I don't see people having a problem with Indian accents specifically (as opposed to Chinese, Russian, Filipino, whatever), but rather with their attitudes. While India may have a very large population of technically proficient, English speaking (as a second language) people, the people themselves are from an entirely different culture. They very often come across as patronizing and then quickly escalate to hostile. More so than other nationalities IMO.
Then again, I've had many incidents of dealing with American 'support specialists', who speak English (as a first language) and are very nice, but are just really stupid (or frustratingly reticent to depart from their support script). So, frankly, I'm not sure what's worse. An Indian with great technical knowledge but poor communication skills, or an American with great communication skills and poor technical knowledge.
GP is blaming Microsoft. Specifically, Microsoft's decision to outsource support to a foreign nation, Microsoft's lack of training of this outsourced support staff, Microsoft's apparent apathy with the end-user (used to be called 'the customer' in the old days) experience, and Microsoft's failure to meet their support claims (this was a paid support call where 'senior management' was supposedly notified).
And the saddest part of this tale is that since the problem was solved (by the customer) after having dealt with the crack MS support staff, I imagine it will appear as a successful resolution for that support center, further legitimizing their use. While in actuality, the customer is completely dissatisfied.
"Thanks to RIAA, MPAA, and other similar shit, we arent living in such a world."
You left out non-content-creator-related corporate greed. A prime example being Verizon Wireless who cripple the functionality of their cellphones (disabling OBEX and other bluetooth profiles) so that they can try to force you to buy their ringtones, wallpaper and other related crap.
In a non-crippled bluetooth world, I'd be able to set my phone down somewhere near my computer and it would automatically update my contacts, calendar, download photos, upload ringtones, etc.., all while I'm doing something else. But then VZW wouldn't make their money every time you emailed yourself a photo, etc.. Ratbastards. There are workarounds (the open source BitPim for example), but they're not elegant solutions.
So yes, it sucks when EXISTING functionality is crippled for the sake of greed, but remember it's not all due to DRM.
Presumption of innocence is one of the main tenets of our legal system and an underlying theme throughout the US's bill of rights. Take particular notice of the 4th amendment which PROTECTS US citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures".
Any governing body, given insufficient oversight, will subvert its charter - usually not to the benefit of the governed. Without the checks and balances of the law, we would be subject to the very conditions which kindled the American Revolution. Are you really saying that as a Canadian, you're happy with writs of assistance and their abuses?
Police are expected to pursue their duties with great zeal. There must be irrefutable parameters from which within they operate. Otherwise, this same zeal will lead them to unintentional abuse of the very people they are charged with protecting.
"It is better to allow 99 guilty men go free than to convict 1 innocent man". Then again, it appears that habeas corpus may no longer apply.:-(
Enjoy your rights now boys, 'cause they're running out quick...
But only through the combined synergy of the next gen, web 2.0 minds thinking outside of the box, can we ever hope to effect a paradigm shift such that seemingly non-extensible terms like 'podcast' will cease to form the framework of our cutting edge virtual reality truthiness.
Adam actually used to work for Jamie (nothing like a control freak for a boss...) way before the concept of the show was, uhh, conceived. To Jamie's credit, apparently the show's producers approached Jamie first and he recommended Adam. But there have been several episodes where Jamie lords his status as 'da boss' over Adam and a couple of others.
Lots more info on the crew and their history can be found here.
"And I disagree with your analogy insofar as a "hamburger" implies the full package now, bun and all. I'm on a special diet where I don't eat grains, and I've yet to find a place that just serves it without the bun, I have to ask for it. But you ask for a hamburger, you get meat and a bun. Sometimes less. Sometimes more. Sometimes greasy. Sometimes undercooked. But you get a hamburger."
Ummm, and how exactly does this support your disagreement with his analogy? GP said "if you ask for a hamburger, you expect to get a bun". You counter with, "if you ask for a hamburger, you're getting a bun"?
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see how funny it is once the terrorists roll out their new plot......"The PacMan Initiative"
Although I must say that I'm not really surprised at this new licensing restriction. WGA has been a royal PITA even reinstalling WinXP on OEM systems from OEM disks.
Ms. Cobb referring to Ms. Scheff - "She is trying to maintain control over people and what they say and what they hear! I beleive that is wrong.". Apparently Ms. Scheff was successful.
Now, either Bock is a frickin' brilliant and world-class defamer, or this Scheff woman is really a scuzz-bucket. It *appears* that she's fraudulently profiting from parents who are afraid that their children are being abused. Obviously the truth can not be established from snippets from various online resources, so I certainly hope that some law enforcement or other governing body takes a good long look at what Ms. Scheff is doing. IF this is the case, I would love it if this whole thing backfired on her.
Of course this perception may be completely wrong and truly indicative of why Ms. Scheff felt compelled to press this suit, but I'm getting a 'spammer suing spamhaus' vibe from all this..
BTW, can we get rid of the 'tagging (beta)'? Or at least filter out FUD and NOTFUD? It appears to have become a simple tool in the battle between opposing camps. Those that disagree with the article add a FUD tag and those that disagree add the NOTFUD tag.
Well, normally I do, but I haven't been able to since this grey-goo problem has been forcing those rolling restarts.... Oh, wait a second, did you mean a *real* girl? Oh, nevermind.
Thanks, I couldn't agree more. :-)
I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
'whore'? I think you need to hold either the higher moral or economic ground to make that kind of statement. I 'whored' myself out to former employers for considerably less. :-(
Or it might go the other way....
PHB - "Uhh, Charlie, listen, don't bother coming in tomorrow, m'kay?"
Charlie - "Sure thing boss."
PHB - "I mean, don't come in anymore."
Charlie - "Great!"
And that Minority Report vision of future advertising is drawing nearer every day. I was recently down in Miami where they have started covering up windows of skyscrapers with advertising (that see-through kind you see on buses). Soon advertiser will be plastering their logos across entire skylines...
And I agree with all of your points but one. 'Indian accents'. I don't see people having a problem with Indian accents specifically (as opposed to Chinese, Russian, Filipino, whatever), but rather with their attitudes. While India may have a very large population of technically proficient, English speaking (as a second language) people, the people themselves are from an entirely different culture. They very often come across as patronizing and then quickly escalate to hostile. More so than other nationalities IMO.
Then again, I've had many incidents of dealing with American 'support specialists', who speak English (as a first language) and are very nice, but are just really stupid (or frustratingly reticent to depart from their support script). So, frankly, I'm not sure what's worse. An Indian with great technical knowledge but poor communication skills, or an American with great communication skills and poor technical knowledge.
And the saddest part of this tale is that since the problem was solved (by the customer) after having dealt with the crack MS support staff, I imagine it will appear as a successful resolution for that support center, further legitimizing their use. While in actuality, the customer is completely dissatisfied.
You left out non-content-creator-related corporate greed. A prime example being Verizon Wireless who cripple the functionality of their cellphones (disabling OBEX and other bluetooth profiles) so that they can try to force you to buy their ringtones, wallpaper and other related crap.
In a non-crippled bluetooth world, I'd be able to set my phone down somewhere near my computer and it would automatically update my contacts, calendar, download photos, upload ringtones, etc.., all while I'm doing something else. But then VZW wouldn't make their money every time you emailed yourself a photo, etc.. Ratbastards. There are workarounds (the open source BitPim for example), but they're not elegant solutions.
So yes, it sucks when EXISTING functionality is crippled for the sake of greed, but remember it's not all due to DRM.
Any governing body, given insufficient oversight, will subvert its charter - usually not to the benefit of the governed. Without the checks and balances of the law, we would be subject to the very conditions which kindled the American Revolution. Are you really saying that as a Canadian, you're happy with writs of assistance and their abuses?
Police are expected to pursue their duties with great zeal. There must be irrefutable parameters from which within they operate. Otherwise, this same zeal will lead them to unintentional abuse of the very people they are charged with protecting.
"It is better to allow 99 guilty men go free than to convict 1 innocent man". Then again, it appears that habeas corpus may no longer apply. :-(
Enjoy your rights now boys, 'cause they're running out quick...
Is this anything like Stephen King's pet cemetary, cause that would be really cool.
{in creepy, fresh from the grave voice} I'm cooomming to geeettt youuuu Billll Gatteesss...
I'm not sure, but my Fault Prediction Center reports that the AE-35 unit may fail within seventy-two hours.
OMG, that's funny. "What?! They went AROUND it AGAIN?!! Damn those crafty krauts!!"
But only through the combined synergy of the next gen, web 2.0 minds thinking outside of the box, can we ever hope to effect a paradigm shift such that seemingly non-extensible terms like 'podcast' will cease to form the framework of our cutting edge virtual reality truthiness.
Lots more info on the crew and their history can be found here.
I was going to post a lengthy rebuttal, but {sigh}, I dunno, it's almost quitting time.
Ummm, and how exactly does this support your disagreement with his analogy? GP said "if you ask for a hamburger, you expect to get a bun". You counter with, "if you ask for a hamburger, you're getting a bun"?
11. Make sure the legalese on your auction is at least 10 to 20 times longer than the actual description of your item...