Yes, right now it's mostly a customised linux distro with a maximized browser. However, there are some clever design ideas in their docs, and google isn't exactly bad with design usually.
There are a lot of "meh" reactions so far, but the feeling I get from them sort of reminds me of the infamous reaction to the iPod:)
What I'm suggesting is that sometimes, nerds may have some fine technical arguments why something is lame, but fail to understand certain concepts of human-computer interaction (because they consider emacs or vi to be perfectly easy to use).
Well, I personally learned all the multiplication tables at school, it also works... And while a comic functions just like any other book in teaching the kid the many skills needed to enjoy reading, it's obviously not going to be as good as other books for certain specific aspects. You can get a lot from reading comic books, or from reading the Illiad, or Tolkien, or Carroll... you're just not going to learn all the same things. What I mean to say is I think comics are a good read, but shouldn't be the only thing read.
Seriously, when you're on the go the small form factor is great, and if you plug a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor you have something that works just as well as any 2 or 3 years old PC, with the added benefit of having a small secondary monitor.
That's a +5 insightful?!? These things you say are simply not true.
Here are a few things you might not know, but would quickly discover if you actually tried using the software you criticise:
- On a default fresh install, the ribbon takes actually less space than menus & toolbars in previous versions. The ribbon also prevents clueless users ending up with a shitload of toolbars that take up even more space. Google Jensen Harris' blog, there's screenshots and figures.
- When the ribbon is collapsed, it will appear if you drag your mouse to the top of the screen. You get the use of your whole screen and no extra click.
- There's a still a small traditional toolbar next to the Office button, by default it has save, undo and redo, but every single thing that you find in the ribbon or elsewhere can be added (it's the only part that can be customized). So you can put all your useful stuff there, collapse the ribbon, and you have you old toolbar back, except it's in the title bar instead of below it, so it takes less space.
Any other false impressions turned into facts that I can help you clear up?
Haven't we had that argument a couple of times here already? Anyway : the reason you had trouble with it is not because it isn't intuitive, it's because you're very fluent with and accustomed to the old UI.
Here's a nice little car analogy : if you gave a modern car to someone used to a Model T, he would find changing gear awfully counter-intuitive, have to learn to drive again almost from the scratch, and complain loudly that it worked just fine so why the hell change it. The modern approach is still better.
Jesus, here we are on Slashdot, and people are bitching about Microsoft not maintaining backards compatibility...
There's a quite interesting bit in Douglas Adams' Salmon of Doubt where he describes the way a Rhino "sees" the world through his sense of smell (which is much more developed than the others).
That's true, but you can do both. Gmail, for instance, is a remarkably lightweight and cruft-free page, but I've found the new labs feature that lets you view a simplified version of it while it loads to be very useful.
I get your point, but yes, I think those things are mine to share. I believe if someone's idea generates money, that person should get some of it. Most of it, if possible (which doesn't mean that producing something entitles you to monetary gain - a free market is harsh, sorry). However I don't think that person should have a say on what people do with the stuff once they bought it. To make a car analogy, if I buy a car and let anybody drive it, the car dealer can fuck off if he doesn't like it. And speaking of crappy analogies : for the billionth time, copying a file is not the same as stealing a car, a purse or even a fruit. Duplicating is not a synonym of removing. And if I had a sci-fi gizmo to duplicate my neighbour's tree, I'd do it.
No there hasn't, actually. The Hundred Years War was a series of conflicts that kept erupting because they weren't definitely resolved. It's a bit like saying WW1 and WW2 were the Thirty Years War...
Re:Talk about getting your facts right!
on
Tetraktys
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· Score: 1
While I highly approve of the wit and irony of your reply, I think you raise a very good point.
Even if I didn't ever want to have children, I wouldn't want to lose the ability to reproduce. If feel it's part of my identity as a man, or something. I can't tell quite what it is, but the very idea that I'm capable of impregnating a female of my species appeals to me at a deep level.
Slashdot Mirror
Absolutely, and for those who never RTFA, a simple picture of one of his setups should illustrate that Seti@home was not the only issue : http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/images/photos/2009/12/01/r5p775ag.jpg
Exactly : I don't need this vaccine, I can quit whenever I want.
Yes, right now it's mostly a customised linux distro with a maximized browser. However, there are some clever design ideas in their docs, and google isn't exactly bad with design usually.
:)
There are a lot of "meh" reactions so far, but the feeling I get from them sort of reminds me of the infamous reaction to the iPod
What I'm suggesting is that sometimes, nerds may have some fine technical arguments why something is lame, but fail to understand certain concepts of human-computer interaction (because they consider emacs or vi to be perfectly easy to use).
Well, I personally learned all the multiplication tables at school, it also works... And while a comic functions just like any other book in teaching the kid the many skills needed to enjoy reading, it's obviously not going to be as good as other books for certain specific aspects. You can get a lot from reading comic books, or from reading the Illiad, or Tolkien, or Carroll... you're just not going to learn all the same things. What I mean to say is I think comics are a good read, but shouldn't be the only thing read.
So they fork it and maintain it themselves. Problem solved.
(okay, it's not that simple, but it's still a nice option to have)
I got two words for you : USB keyboard.
Seriously, when you're on the go the small form factor is great, and if you plug a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor you have something that works just as well as any 2 or 3 years old PC, with the added benefit of having a small secondary monitor.
That's a +5 insightful?!? These things you say are simply not true.
Here are a few things you might not know, but would quickly discover if you actually tried using the software you criticise:
- On a default fresh install, the ribbon takes actually less space than menus & toolbars in previous versions. The ribbon also prevents clueless users ending up with a shitload of toolbars that take up even more space. Google Jensen Harris' blog, there's screenshots and figures.
- When the ribbon is collapsed, it will appear if you drag your mouse to the top of the screen. You get the use of your whole screen and no extra click.
- There's a still a small traditional toolbar next to the Office button, by default it has save, undo and redo, but every single thing that you find in the ribbon or elsewhere can be added (it's the only part that can be customized). So you can put all your useful stuff there, collapse the ribbon, and you have you old toolbar back, except it's in the title bar instead of below it, so it takes less space.
Any other false impressions turned into facts that I can help you clear up?
Haven't we had that argument a couple of times here already? Anyway : the reason you had trouble with it is not because it isn't intuitive, it's because you're very fluent with and accustomed to the old UI.
Here's a nice little car analogy : if you gave a modern car to someone used to a Model T, he would find changing gear awfully counter-intuitive, have to learn to drive again almost from the scratch, and complain loudly that it worked just fine so why the hell change it. The modern approach is still better.
Jesus, here we are on Slashdot, and people are bitching about Microsoft not maintaining backards compatibility...
You know, I suspect somehow that you might consider it a failure, but the very purpose of the ribbon in Office is to improve usability...
It would work splendidly, in fact - it would even in ie4.
There's a quite interesting bit in Douglas Adams' Salmon of Doubt where he describes the way a Rhino "sees" the world through his sense of smell (which is much more developed than the others).
That's true, but you can do both. Gmail, for instance, is a remarkably lightweight and cruft-free page, but I've found the new labs feature that lets you view a simplified version of it while it loads to be very useful.
I get your point, but yes, I think those things are mine to share. I believe if someone's idea generates money, that person should get some of it. Most of it, if possible (which doesn't mean that producing something entitles you to monetary gain - a free market is harsh, sorry). However I don't think that person should have a say on what people do with the stuff once they bought it. To make a car analogy, if I buy a car and let anybody drive it, the car dealer can fuck off if he doesn't like it. And speaking of crappy analogies : for the billionth time, copying a file is not the same as stealing a car, a purse or even a fruit. Duplicating is not a synonym of removing. And if I had a sci-fi gizmo to duplicate my neighbour's tree, I'd do it.
I personnaly don't steal anything, but I do share those things.
No there hasn't, actually. The Hundred Years War was a series of conflicts that kept erupting because they weren't definitely resolved. It's a bit like saying WW1 and WW2 were the Thirty Years War...
Also, Robert Harris' Enigma is worth reading.
Heh, isn't that what RMS does all the time? ;-))
Is it really Jupiter? Cos' that picture really looks like Uranus...
So, if you're using a buoy you're no longer in the water?
True ; it could also play master system games...
You're absolutely right, a particular 1946 short story worth mentioning (and reading!) is Murray Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe
While I highly approve of the wit and irony of your reply, I think you raise a very good point.
Even if I didn't ever want to have children, I wouldn't want to lose the ability to reproduce. If feel it's part of my identity as a man, or something.
I can't tell quite what it is, but the very idea that I'm capable of impregnating a female of my species appeals to me at a deep level.
I suspect it's probably instinct, as you suggest.
dammit, I didn't know replying cancelled the moderation :(
(...) may find themselves skipping over swaths of text instead of actually reading it.
It should appeal a lot to slashdotters then ;-)
As I'm sure you know, his home planet was already destroyed, through no fault of his dad.