Dell already announced a 19 inch laptop earlier this year (on Slashdot). Personally I have the Dell 9100 (17 inch widescreen 1920x1200 resolution) and I love it. For programming it is great as I can actually have some room on the screen for the programming window, some IDE's have so much other crap that you are stuck with a little block of 20x20 for actual coding. Yes, yes I know I can turn those off or hide them, but in many cases I use a lot of them.
When you turn down the brightness of the laptop the battery life stays fairly long (1.5 to 2.5 hours) which is fine with me. It weighs about 8 pounds, which stinks, but I have a nice Dell backpack to carry it around with! These are definitely not laptops, they are machines that you can use at work and bring home for use, travel with them is a little difficult. i.e. try breaking out the 17 inch laptop on a coach flight - there is no room for it. I believe it is a full size keyboard (if not it is very close), but I wish I had a number pad...
Overall I am happy with my decision to buy the 17 inch and I would have bought a 19 had it been available at the time. For certain people this is great. For people whose need is a true portable device, it's not.
I'm fine with the Greek names... Hurricane Alpha, Beta, etc. no problems here.
Now once we get to hurricane Lambda Lambda Lambda I might have a problem. Just imagine what would happen if hurricane Lambda Lambda Lambda met up with hurricane Omega Mu, the consequences are astounding!
In fact I take back my earlier stance. I'm thinking that we should start naming hurricanes after sororities and fraternities. Delta delta delta and delta gamma would be some great looking hurricanes.
For fuck's sake, why don't you actually try a Linux installation sometime, instead of perpetuating this ridiculous bullshit story of Linux's hardware support "problems." Send it back to HP? Are you on drugs?
I had FC3 on my Dell Inspiron 9200, until it FUBAR'd thanks to the upgraded kernel and lack of drivers from ATI. It worked fine, however it took me weeks to get the computer to work properly. I'm sorry if this seems lazy to you, but when I buy a brand new computer I expect it to be able to work without too much tweaking, in my history with Linux that just isn't possible. Yes, I've learned a lot of great command line tools since then, but how is that in any way user friendly to the normal person?
As for sending the item back to HP, I personally would probably never need to as I've built all of my desktops, but most people aren't like me. Most people are afraid of opening up their desktops, let alone their Notebooks. Who else are they going to turn to that they trust? Certainly not Jim-Bob's store down the street (even though Jim-Bob's might provide very good service). People in general simply just don't know enough about troubleshooting in Linux, that's where the big problem lies. Giving your example above, how many people could fix your problem in Windows? How many could fix it in Linux?
And if you disagree, and want to come back here and bitch and moan some more, why don't you start with theorizing at least one upgrade you can think of that a normal user would be able to do himself on Windows, but would have to send the box back to HP to accomplish on Linux. I dare you.
PCMCIA cards. A normal user in Windows PnP will get these to work easily. Not necissarily the case in Linux. Especially if it's a wireless card. Granted this may not be considered hardware by you, but I would bet most people who know practically nothing about computers can get it to work on Windows.
I agree that this is the way to do it (making sure all the hardware works with Linux), however what happens when somone wants to do an upgrade down the road? Chances are they are going to have to choose from a very small list (by comparison to a Windows machine) of upgrades that now work with their version of Linux.
Now some of you may not think this is a bad thing, but I can see where it could be heading... Want that new upgrade? Send your machine back to HP and for $400 you can have this $100 piece of hardware because you have no choices and we can charge you whatver we want! Profit margins here we come...
I have a Dell 17" widescreen laptop and have no problems carrying it around with the backpack that Dell offers. In fact, there is enough room for a 19" version (or at least enough that I will make room)!
Now to only convince my fiancee to trade mine in for the new version...
If you want portability, buy an IBM, if you want to show off... well the bigger the better, right?
For some users there is not more to using a computer than web and e-mail. For example, my parents rarely use their computer for anything other than the two.
That being said, one of the main advantages to Windows is that when my parents have a problem with their computer there are many people they can ask to help fix the problem (although they unfortunately normally turn to me). Now, how many people can you turn to for tech support on a Linux box? In some situations many, but overall far more people would not have anyone to turn to.
As long as this stays the same Microsoft will still retain its hold on the market.
I was wondering who else read the article the same was as I did... While I agree that OpenOffice is "a good thing" (tm) it does have a long way to go. I personally have never had a problem with it on Linux, but have had many like the ones stated in the article on Windows.
I think it's quite funny that the whole first half of the article talks about how great it is, then the end it talks about all of the problems. Make up my mind!
But at this point, most of the slashdot crowd has their opinions engrained in their minds at this point.
I'm confused, did you mean at this point
or at this point?
The best comment in the article...
on
Gates on Google
·
· Score: 0
"and send digital photographs using Google's Picasa software, easily the best PC photo software out there;"
Is it just me or was the author a little biased towards Google? Yes, yes, I know everyone is supposed to hate Microsoft (I personally do not), but I would have to say that this statement is a little bit rediculous.
The faster the processor, the better the connection, the more money you spend on getting the most up to date, modern, super-duper computer... the quicker the ads come across, the more spam you get. You know the old saying: "A sucker is born every minute," we can rehash that to: "A sucker spends money on information that can be retrieved elsewhere for free every minute."
The free internet died many years ago, probably around 1995 when AOL decided to give its users access to usenet.
Sure, but for the first 80 days kids go home with nightmares =)
I'm all for that, after all kids today need a little more terror in them. Maybe then some parents will actually be able to control their children.
"Now Tommy, if you don't behave you are going to be sleeping with the robot again tonight!" "But Mom it snores and makes all kinds of weird noises. It gives me nightmares!"...
The problem currently stands that proof to Fermat's Last Theorem can only be given by some very complicated math that maybe 1% of the population could understand. It is my understanding that this proof would provide a more simple (read elegant) proof for the Theorem.
For those of you wondering, the reason why the Theorem was so important was due to Fermat himself. In the margin of a book he wrote that he had a proof for his theorem but it was too long to put in the margin. That was the only mention of a proof given by Fermat and for a couple hundred years mathemeticians have been trying to complete the proof. I am fairly certain that Wiles's proof is not the same as Fermat's as some of the concepts used to prove it were not around in Fermat's time. I do not, however, know if this proof could have been the one given by Fermat.
And if that hasn't show off my geekdom enough, the PBS show Nova has a great video on the subject of Fermat's Last Theorem (which I sadly own).
This sounds like a study I recently read about the poor performance of Apache vs. IIS. If you read between the lines you find out that the reason why the Apache server performed so poorly is because it was using PHP as a module instead of being compiled into the server. Well duh, of course the Apache server is going to perform worse that way...
As the saying goes:
'Lies, damn lies, and statistics' - Benjamin Disraeli
... to my fiancee! She has been driving me nuts to get rid of my comic book and playboy collection, but just think about how happy she would be with $10,000! (Notice I say she, I would never see a dime...)
Tonight i am going to write a letter to my MEP and urge that they raise a question as to whether he should be thrown out of this position imediatly , and at the very lest that he get some awnsers as to why he thought this behaviour beffiting of a politican.
The fact is that no matter where one lives this type of behaviour is exactly how politicians act. While we the people may not like it, this type of behaviour is seen as "normal" and practically "accepted" by today's society. The fact is that most people don't care whose pocket politicians are in as long as they follow the N.I.M.B.Y. (look up George Carlin) approach to the area they represent.
While writing letters and protesting people online may make one feel better, the only real way to eforce change is to act. The problem is that because the politicians have all the money already, your voice is often removed from the public view.
I think one of the more interesting gadgets to come out recently are laptops with (passive) touch screen technology. Sure the battery powered pens have been around for a little while, but I haven't found too many that can use a stylus. For me this works great, I hate laptop mice in all forms, and I can use it to take notes/draw/image editing etc. Fujitsu has a nice little version of this.
I hate it when TLA's show up in dictionaries...
Sometimes I wonder if acronyms are a sign of America's society becoming too lazy to simply put three words together.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok who broke the article? I know someone around here is to blame...
Dell already announced a 19 inch laptop earlier this year (on Slashdot). Personally I have the Dell 9100 (17 inch widescreen 1920x1200 resolution) and I love it. For programming it is great as I can actually have some room on the screen for the programming window, some IDE's have so much other crap that you are stuck with a little block of 20x20 for actual coding. Yes, yes I know I can turn those off or hide them, but in many cases I use a lot of them.
When you turn down the brightness of the laptop the battery life stays fairly long (1.5 to 2.5 hours) which is fine with me. It weighs about 8 pounds, which stinks, but I have a nice Dell backpack to carry it around with! These are definitely not laptops, they are machines that you can use at work and bring home for use, travel with them is a little difficult. i.e. try breaking out the 17 inch laptop on a coach flight - there is no room for it. I believe it is a full size keyboard (if not it is very close), but I wish I had a number pad...
Overall I am happy with my decision to buy the 17 inch and I would have bought a 19 had it been available at the time. For certain people this is great. For people whose need is a true portable device, it's not.
I'm fine with the Greek names... Hurricane Alpha, Beta, etc. no problems here.
Now once we get to hurricane Lambda Lambda Lambda I might have a problem. Just imagine what would happen if hurricane Lambda Lambda Lambda met up with hurricane Omega Mu, the consequences are astounding!
In fact I take back my earlier stance. I'm thinking that we should start naming hurricanes after sororities and fraternities. Delta delta delta and delta gamma would be some great looking hurricanes.
For fuck's sake, why don't you actually try a Linux installation sometime, instead of perpetuating this ridiculous bullshit story of Linux's hardware support "problems." Send it back to HP? Are you on drugs?
I had FC3 on my Dell Inspiron 9200, until it FUBAR'd thanks to the upgraded kernel and lack of drivers from ATI. It worked fine, however it took me weeks to get the computer to work properly. I'm sorry if this seems lazy to you, but when I buy a brand new computer I expect it to be able to work without too much tweaking, in my history with Linux that just isn't possible. Yes, I've learned a lot of great command line tools since then, but how is that in any way user friendly to the normal person?
As for sending the item back to HP, I personally would probably never need to as I've built all of my desktops, but most people aren't like me. Most people are afraid of opening up their desktops, let alone their Notebooks. Who else are they going to turn to that they trust? Certainly not Jim-Bob's store down the street (even though Jim-Bob's might provide very good service). People in general simply just don't know enough about troubleshooting in Linux, that's where the big problem lies. Giving your example above, how many people could fix your problem in Windows? How many could fix it in Linux?
And if you disagree, and want to come back here and bitch and moan some more, why don't you start with theorizing at least one upgrade you can think of that a normal user would be able to do himself on Windows, but would have to send the box back to HP to accomplish on Linux. I dare you.
PCMCIA cards. A normal user in Windows PnP will get these to work easily. Not necissarily the case in Linux. Especially if it's a wireless card. Granted this may not be considered hardware by you, but I would bet most people who know practically nothing about computers can get it to work on Windows.
I agree that this is the way to do it (making sure all the hardware works with Linux), however what happens when somone wants to do an upgrade down the road? Chances are they are going to have to choose from a very small list (by comparison to a Windows machine) of upgrades that now work with their version of Linux.
Now some of you may not think this is a bad thing, but I can see where it could be heading... Want that new upgrade? Send your machine back to HP and for $400 you can have this $100 piece of hardware because you have no choices and we can charge you whatver we want! Profit margins here we come...
I have a Dell 17" widescreen laptop and have no problems carrying it around with the backpack that Dell offers. In fact, there is enough room for a 19" version (or at least enough that I will make room)!
Now to only convince my fiancee to trade mine in for the new version...If you want portability, buy an IBM, if you want to show off... well the bigger the better, right?
... if asking for a beer and a dog at the event would be frowned upon?
What happens to the dogs that get the blue screen of death?
For some users there is not more to using a computer than web and e-mail. For example, my parents rarely use their computer for anything other than the two.
That being said, one of the main advantages to Windows is that when my parents have a problem with their computer there are many people they can ask to help fix the problem (although they unfortunately normally turn to me). Now, how many people can you turn to for tech support on a Linux box? In some situations many, but overall far more people would not have anyone to turn to.
As long as this stays the same Microsoft will still retain its hold on the market.
I was wondering who else read the article the same was as I did... While I agree that OpenOffice is "a good thing" (tm) it does have a long way to go. I personally have never had a problem with it on Linux, but have had many like the ones stated in the article on Windows.
I think it's quite funny that the whole first half of the article talks about how great it is, then the end it talks about all of the problems. Make up my mind!
I'm confused, did you mean at this point
or at this point?
"and send digital photographs using Google's Picasa software, easily the best PC photo software out there;"
Is it just me or was the author a little biased towards Google? Yes, yes, I know everyone is supposed to hate Microsoft (I personally do not), but I would have to say that this statement is a little bit rediculous.
The faster the processor, the better the connection, the more money you spend on getting the most up to date, modern, super-duper computer... the quicker the ads come across, the more spam you get.
You know the old saying: "A sucker is born every minute," we can rehash that to: "A sucker spends money on information that can be retrieved elsewhere for free every minute."
The free internet died many years ago, probably around 1995 when AOL decided to give its users access to usenet.
Sure, but for the first 80 days kids go home with nightmares =)
I'm all for that, after all kids today need a little more terror in them. Maybe then some parents will actually be able to control their children.
"Now Tommy, if you don't behave you are going to be sleeping with the robot again tonight!"
"But Mom it snores and makes all kinds of weird noises. It gives me nightmares!"...
The problem currently stands that proof to Fermat's Last Theorem can only be given by some very complicated math that maybe 1% of the population could understand. It is my understanding that this proof would provide a more simple (read elegant) proof for the Theorem.
For those of you wondering, the reason why the Theorem was so important was due to Fermat himself. In the margin of a book he wrote that he had a proof for his theorem but it was too long to put in the margin. That was the only mention of a proof given by Fermat and for a couple hundred years mathemeticians have been trying to complete the proof. I am fairly certain that Wiles's proof is not the same as Fermat's as some of the concepts used to prove it were not around in Fermat's time. I do not, however, know if this proof could have been the one given by Fermat.
And if that hasn't show off my geekdom enough, the PBS show Nova has a great video on the subject of Fermat's Last Theorem (which I sadly own).
This sounds like a study I recently read about the poor performance of Apache vs. IIS. If you read between the lines you find out that the reason why the Apache server performed so poorly is because it was using PHP as a module instead of being compiled into the server. Well duh, of course the Apache server is going to perform worse that way... As the saying goes: 'Lies, damn lies, and statistics' - Benjamin Disraeli
... to my fiancee! She has been driving me nuts to get rid of my comic book and playboy collection, but just think about how happy she would be with $10,000! (Notice I say she, I would never see a dime...)
Tonight i am going to write a letter to my MEP and urge that they raise a question as to whether he should be thrown out of this position imediatly , and at the very lest that he get some awnsers as to why he thought this behaviour beffiting of a politican.
The fact is that no matter where one lives this type of behaviour is exactly how politicians act. While we the people may not like it, this type of behaviour is seen as "normal" and practically "accepted" by today's society. The fact is that most people don't care whose pocket politicians are in as long as they follow the N.I.M.B.Y. (look up George Carlin) approach to the area they represent.
While writing letters and protesting people online may make one feel better, the only real way to eforce change is to act. The problem is that because the politicians have all the money already, your voice is often removed from the public view.
I think one of the more interesting gadgets to come out recently are laptops with (passive) touch screen technology. Sure the battery powered pens have been around for a little while, but I haven't found too many that can use a stylus. For me this works great, I hate laptop mice in all forms, and I can use it to take notes/draw/image editing etc. Fujitsu has a nice little version of this.
I hate it when TLA's show up in dictionaries... Sometimes I wonder if acronyms are a sign of America's society becoming too lazy to simply put three words together.