Let's take a realistic point of view. We have a computer user who seems to be well experienced. They even have a nicely designed blog online where you can write in your favourite Windows-only applications. Yet they claim that they have never been a windows user before (Making me wonder where they have been for the past 10+ years where windows has been the ubiquitous consumer & business software platform.)
While Macs have around a 5% marketshare overall, if you look into certain niche areas the percentage of Mac users is considerably greater. Design, publishing, printing and video editing people have been using Macs since they first came out and have probably seen no reason to switch. I know plenty of Mac users who are technically expert, but have never really touched a Windows machine.
Hmmm, not so sure that it will be gone at midnight, I wouldn't get your hopes up...
I wouldn't be surprised to see it regularly trotted (sorry for the pun) out here for some months to come, joining the ranks of Ballmer's chair throwing references, soviet russia, tin foil hats etc...
I can't help noticing that one of the marketing graphics for Vista is a picture of two people standing on a hillside searching into the far distance across an empty landscape.
They may wish to think about changing this image. Appropriate, it may be, but not the best marketing image...
No Ads? The BBC is full of ads. News items that are merely viral marketing pieces, DIY and cooking shows that are essentially product placements. Payola has happened on Radio 1. And much much more...
I have a question, and forgive me if it is a very naive question...
My old Mac G3 cheerfully runs Aqua. However, Aero seems to require higher end spec pc's to run it successfully. Is this not simply a huge waste of computing resources?
While I recognise that today I can do far more with my pc than in the early 90's - such as video editing and photoshop image processing, the core functions of a pc running Windows, such as word processing, are not significantly faster than they were back then. This being despite vastly improved hardware, and the core functionality of the basic programs being unchanged in this time. I guess I can't be the only person who can't understand why this needs to be the case...
Apart from, of course, the needs of the Marketing Dept to continually add features.
If they introduce Vista Ultra Fast - stripped down of the unnecessary stuff, then I'd be really interested.
Admittedly, this would be easier to take for most users if it didn't kill IE6. Bearing in mind also that the publicity this release has will likely mean that many inexperienced users will download and click through the install buttons blindly.
I'm thinking that M$ should really come up with new terminology for their releases. Any first final release of a M$ product in the past few years has been little much more than a final RC than the actual final product. Being the reason why the large enterprise company that I last worked for didn't install SP2 until the last minute after really really thorough internal testing.
While I have some sympathy for most companies releasing new software, as it is hard to predict what will break when you can't predict what users will do with it, or want to do with it - and there's always conflict with some guy who wants to run Word Perfect for DOS from the hard drive he built from a Pringles can, a cd of Dark Side of the Moon and parts salvaged from an old dot matrix printer.
But... my feeling is a company the size of M$ should be able to release software in a manner that is either safe or with the risks more prudently stated.
For example, forget alpha, beta etc:
Release 1. Good Luck and may your god help you...
Release 2. Keep a fire extinguisher nearby at all times, only use in a well ventilated room.
Release 3. May cause seizures or induce vomiting
Release 4. Still a bit iffy
Release 5. Fingers Crossed.
Release 6. (after about a year of general release) Um, yep, seems to work...
I guess the only reason they don't is because the marketing dept won't allow it.
Anyway, I'm sticking with Firefox. I'll only be upgrading to IE7 when there is absolutelyno choice.
The Coral Cache worked for me in Germany just now without problems.
It appears that Google is not just censoring China, and Nazi items in Germany. Sad really.
I liked the film a lot, knowing a few people who are pretty much just like these guys, I found it really funny. Very well acted and very subtle. Loved the Preacher part in particular.
I think it is also really interesting to contrast the recent article on Channel 4's "The IT Crowd" http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/29/141 9213&from=rss The It Crowd is pretty much typical of many Brit Sitcoms (I'm British) - i.e. Repetitive, overstated and overacted. It'll be lucky to last 6 episodes before it runs out of steam rehashing the same old not to funny jokes. See: Coupling, The Office, The Goodies, etc for other examples.
Ryan Wood to my mind has much more talent than most UK comedy writers, and some US ones. Channel 4 should make him an offer. They could do worse... they already are...
For reference, the latest list of non-signatories that I could find is: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Oman, San Marino, Tonga and Yemen. I would not want to live in any of these countries, and the ability to pirate music to my heart's content would not make up for the other issues.
Not sure what anyone could have against San Marino or its government. Or why anyone wouldn't want to live there, it's a very beautiful little collection of villages. You do know where it is, right?
Unless of course if you were Swedish, since the longest state of war (technically speaking) in European history existed between San Marino and Sweden, only to end in about 1992.
I've always loved this imagery, a tiny group of villages in the mountains of Italy fighting a country of 8 million famous for their very safe cars, social democracy, Abba and nice pine furniture.
I can thoroughly recommend B&H. European customers should check these guys out too, even though they are in NY.
I bought a high end HD DV cam from them a few months ago and even after paying the customs costs it was half the price of any similar available in the EU (Germany especially).
The camera was securely packed, and delivered within a week. Easy and painless.
I also thought that most folks here thought that Flash is the single largest scourge on the web. Or to be more precise that its inappropriate use is.
While Flash indeed, as mentioned, has legitimate and appropriate uses, there seems to be far more inappropriate use out there. This seems to grow daily. It's not just the inane moving graphics, it's not just the cpu load from badly designed stuff, it's the damn sound effects that get me. I often browse late at night and sometimes I forget that the volume on my pc is up loud. Nothing more than pop-up windows has made me want to punch my monitor more than Flash pages since I started using the web.
One of the best things for the web is Firefox, because with that you can (and I most surely do) use the Flashblock extension. Nowadays I have to really really need a web page before I turn on the Flash on the page.
Sure, this isn't good news for the few good Flash designers out there but until there is a better alternative or some sort of standards, Flashblock is on, and staying on.
This seems to be pushed through by "industry insiders who work for corporate interests at the expense of consumers" I think we may all guess which corporate interests are being alluded at.
Strangely, I don't recall this tax being suggested when the $Sony$ Walkman first came out...
Does anyone really think their personal email is so damn interesting that someone else would actually want to read it??
If you think that, get over yourself!
Reading personal email is very interesting to a hacker when the personal emails are from, for example your bank, paypal or eBay - or anything similar that could allow them to hijack your identity.
Were these mails be able to be found by a hacker, you'd be hard pushed to "get over yourself" cos some Romanian fraudster would now be you instead.
I can't accept this as being the only way. This is simply a "nanny knows best" approach.
By all means make it a default option, but I see no reason why there should not also be an option for "advanced" users to disable any kind of pop-up message in favor of either a wholly manual operation, or notify on start-up or exit - in any program, but particularly in this Fx case.
I agree with what is stated elsewhere in this topic that even notification of the worst virus ever created can wait until you have finished whatever work you are doing in an app.
Pop-ups are deeply irritating, evil, and dangerous, period. It's not just the web page spawned ones.
Evidence suggests that, rather than completely die out, an enclave of these apes survived and is thriving... gainfully employed as the RIAA legal team.
Surely the reverse is also true, Windows XP seems beta-ish considering the number of patches required to make it work as intended. (and there's no way this is six sigma testing)
Obviously the marketing dept steps in at some point and says "draw the line here guys and ship it out".
As far as I can see that's the only difference between a beta and "fully working" these days.
Slashdot Mirror
While Macs have around a 5% marketshare overall, if you look into certain niche areas the percentage of Mac users is considerably greater. Design, publishing, printing and video editing people have been using Macs since they first came out and have probably seen no reason to switch. I know plenty of Mac users who are technically expert, but have never really touched a Windows machine.
Yes, me too. And it works so well I propose we use D-Ream as the pronounciation for all DRM from here on.
Hmmm, not so sure that it will be gone at midnight, I wouldn't get your hopes up...
I wouldn't be surprised to see it regularly trotted (sorry for the pun) out here for some months to come, joining the ranks of Ballmer's chair throwing references, soviet russia, tin foil hats etc...
To be honest, I've been enjoying it... *giggle*
I can't help noticing that one of the marketing graphics for Vista is a picture of two people standing on a hillside searching into the far distance across an empty landscape.
They may wish to think about changing this image. Appropriate, it may be, but not the best marketing image...
No Ads? The BBC is full of ads. News items that are merely viral marketing pieces, DIY and cooking shows that are essentially product placements. Payola has happened on Radio 1. And much much more...
I have a question, and forgive me if it is a very naive question...
My old Mac G3 cheerfully runs Aqua. However, Aero seems to require higher end spec pc's to run it successfully. Is this not simply a huge waste of computing resources?
While I recognise that today I can do far more with my pc than in the early 90's - such as video editing and photoshop image processing, the core functions of a pc running Windows, such as word processing, are not significantly faster than they were back then. This being despite vastly improved hardware, and the core functionality of the basic programs being unchanged in this time. I guess I can't be the only person who can't understand why this needs to be the case...
Apart from, of course, the needs of the Marketing Dept to continually add features.
If they introduce Vista Ultra Fast - stripped down of the unnecessary stuff, then I'd be really interested.
A CNET reporter has an interesting article on the IE7 beta. http://news.com.com/2061-10805_3-6033611.html
Noting that M$ really means beta .
Admittedly, this would be easier to take for most users if it didn't kill IE6. Bearing in mind also that the publicity this release has will likely mean that many inexperienced users will download and click through the install buttons blindly.
I'm thinking that M$ should really come up with new terminology for their releases. Any first final release of a M$ product in the past few years has been little much more than a final RC than the actual final product. Being the reason why the large enterprise company that I last worked for didn't install SP2 until the last minute after really really thorough internal testing.
While I have some sympathy for most companies releasing new software, as it is hard to predict what will break when you can't predict what users will do with it, or want to do with it - and there's always conflict with some guy who wants to run Word Perfect for DOS from the hard drive he built from a Pringles can, a cd of Dark Side of the Moon and parts salvaged from an old dot matrix printer.
But... my feeling is a company the size of M$ should be able to release software in a manner that is either safe or with the risks more prudently stated.
For example, forget alpha, beta etc:
Release 1. Good Luck and may your god help you...
Release 2. Keep a fire extinguisher nearby at all times, only use in a well ventilated room.
Release 3. May cause seizures or induce vomiting
Release 4. Still a bit iffy
Release 5. Fingers Crossed.
Release 6. (after about a year of general release) Um, yep, seems to work...
I guess the only reason they don't is because the marketing dept won't allow it.
Anyway, I'm sticking with Firefox. I'll only be upgrading to IE7 when there is absolutely no choice.
The Coral Cache worked for me in Germany just now without problems.
1 9213&from=rss The It Crowd is pretty much typical of many Brit Sitcoms (I'm British) - i.e. Repetitive, overstated and overacted. It'll be lucky to last 6 episodes before it runs out of steam rehashing the same old not to funny jokes. See: Coupling, The Office, The Goodies, etc for other examples.
It appears that Google is not just censoring China, and Nazi items in Germany. Sad really.
I liked the film a lot, knowing a few people who are pretty much just like these guys, I found it really funny. Very well acted and very subtle. Loved the Preacher part in particular.
I think it is also really interesting to contrast the recent article on Channel 4's "The IT Crowd" http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/29/14
Ryan Wood to my mind has much more talent than most UK comedy writers, and some US ones. Channel 4 should make him an offer. They could do worse... they already are...
Likewise...
Which makes me wonder... I always thought my maths teachers were aliens. However, if humans are hard wired for Geometry then...
Hello, mothership... come in mothership...
Not sure what anyone could have against San Marino or its government. Or why anyone wouldn't want to live there, it's a very beautiful little collection of villages. You do know where it is, right?
Unless of course if you were Swedish, since the longest state of war (technically speaking) in European history existed between San Marino and Sweden, only to end in about 1992.
I've always loved this imagery, a tiny group of villages in the mountains of Italy fighting a country of 8 million famous for their very safe cars, social democracy, Abba and nice pine furniture.
Hail Freedonia!
I can thoroughly recommend B&H. European customers should check these guys out too, even though they are in NY.
I bought a high end HD DV cam from them a few months ago and even after paying the customs costs it was half the price of any similar available in the EU (Germany especially).
The camera was securely packed, and delivered within a week. Easy and painless.
Just went to my bookmarks and trashed the del.icio.us link.
I was an eGroups member until Yahoo completely destroyed that, though it may be a few years ago now I'm not going to start trusting Yahoo now.
The spam was increasing on del.icio.us anyway, so I guess it's no great loss.
Fraid they already have... just visit any big UK city on a Saturday night. Seemingly the next step is to invent artificial intelligence...
I feel I have to stick up for Dolda2000...
I also thought that most folks here thought that Flash is the single largest scourge on the web. Or to be more precise that its inappropriate use is.
While Flash indeed, as mentioned, has legitimate and appropriate uses, there seems to be far more inappropriate use out there. This seems to grow daily. It's not just the inane moving graphics, it's not just the cpu load from badly designed stuff, it's the damn sound effects that get me. I often browse late at night and sometimes I forget that the volume on my pc is up loud. Nothing more than pop-up windows has made me want to punch my monitor more than Flash pages since I started using the web.
One of the best things for the web is Firefox, because with that you can (and I most surely do) use the Flashblock extension. Nowadays I have to really really need a web page before I turn on the Flash on the page.
Sure, this isn't good news for the few good Flash designers out there but until there is a better alternative or some sort of standards, Flashblock is on, and staying on.
At a tangent to this story but related to Recording Industry Ass. of America issues.
r avels/2100-1041_3-5980004.html?part=rss&tag=598000 4&subj=news
CNET is reporting that plans for an iPod tax have fallen through in Japan.
http://news.com.com/Plan+for+iPod+tax+in+Japan+un
This seems to be pushed through by "industry insiders who work for corporate interests at the expense of consumers" I think we may all guess which corporate interests are being alluded at.
Strangely, I don't recall this tax being suggested when the $Sony$ Walkman first came out...
...contact the owners of this site http://www.oxymoronlist.com/ and ask them to add "Microsoft Anti-Virus" to the list.
in other news... Malboro announces new cigarette that actually cleans your lungs...
Reading personal email is very interesting to a hacker when the personal emails are from, for example your bank, paypal or eBay - or anything similar that could allow them to hijack your identity.
Were these mails be able to be found by a hacker, you'd be hard pushed to "get over yourself" cos some Romanian fraudster would now be you instead.
I can't accept this as being the only way. This is simply a "nanny knows best" approach. By all means make it a default option, but I see no reason why there should not also be an option for "advanced" users to disable any kind of pop-up message in favor of either a wholly manual operation, or notify on start-up or exit - in any program, but particularly in this Fx case. I agree with what is stated elsewhere in this topic that even notification of the worst virus ever created can wait until you have finished whatever work you are doing in an app. Pop-ups are deeply irritating, evil, and dangerous, period. It's not just the web page spawned ones.
Evidence suggests that, rather than completely die out, an enclave of these apes survived and is thriving... gainfully employed as the RIAA legal team.
Surely the reverse is also true, Windows XP seems beta-ish considering the number of patches required to make it work as intended. (and there's no way this is six sigma testing) Obviously the marketing dept steps in at some point and says "draw the line here guys and ship it out". As far as I can see that's the only difference between a beta and "fully working" these days.