Why is it that naive, idealistic comments get modded up, but harsh realistic comments get modded down?
Eh? There's not really any correlation between reality and harshness or unreality and idealism. That seems like a fundamental bias to link these qualities. As for modding - doesn't really matter. Moderation is subjective, and not worth worrying about. It certainly doesn't reveal truth or fiction.
True comments are true commments, whether they are harsh or idealistic, naive or cynical.
Am I the only one who thinks it's funny that a town would be proud of such an achievement?
This is a very common myth all around the world in less significant cities or towns which want to feel more important. A bizarre phenomenon? Yes. But a very real phenomenon. They want to feel there is something unique under the bland exterior that makes them worth bombing more than someone else. Kind of like Presidential bomb-shelters.
I was surprised so many "animal activists" took the bait and ran with it.
how do you know that "so many" animal activists were outraged? Perhaps that was also a hoax designed to draw attention to the prank. I've never heard it mentioned in activist circles.
hey incentivize information collecting by effectively giving you money back.
Bullshit. They overprice products for non-members. the "discount" is not really a discount, it's just the market price. A company would be insane to sell for below market price.
Yes they may see some return because it hit the news but it's exactly like the casino buying a ten thousand dollar piece of toast because it looked like the Virgin Mary.
You miss the point. the casino did not buy the toast because it looked like the Virgin Mary. They bought the toast because it was a stupid media sensation. Same thing here. As you said, they received some return because of media hype. That's the whole point. Everybody makes money because we are suckers for media hype. You are reading about it, aren't you? Even commenting on it. Shows how good an investment in stupid media hype can be.
HOWEVER, I ask: honestly, do you think corrupted politicians freely use logged medium to exchange idea for stealing taxes/money from corrupted businesses?
No I don't, I think they are careful, and usually maintain several layers of coverup. However, they usually slip up somewhere (or an underling does). And they WILL communicate over logged mediums, because they need to give some sense of legitimacy. It will look funny if they have no logged transcripts during their years in office. And what they might think "unimportant" and let slip on a logged medium, might be decrypted in future to lead to the smoking gun. Heck, this happens even in front of TV cameras when the satan-worhipping pedophiles let their drunken mouths get away from them, and accidentally reveal their kitten-slaughtering plans.
yet even if Adobe had made CS2 a 64-bit application, printers are one of the largest areas where 64-bit drivers are simply not available.
Well, Photoshop on Mac supports 64-bit memory-handling, I'm not sure if takes advantage of it in any other ways, though. But what's with this notion of needing new drivers for a 64-bit processor? Isn't it the job of the Operating System to create an abstraction layer between applications and the hardware? Shouldn't the OS take care of that without needing different drivers?
I regularily use both DVD-R and DVD+R disks without usually giving it much thought, and I've yet to ever come across a situtation where I was not able to use a disk in a particular player,
It was potentially a big issue in the early days before there were hybrid players. However, Pioneer and Apple pushed DVD-R drives out to the market first, so DVD-R was the early leader. So, the DVD+R people also had to support DVD-R to avoid a format war. I suspect something similar will happen with HD-DVD being subsumed by Blu-Ray by using hybrid drives.
It's not supposed to be. 64-bit at home is still in it's
No, it's not really uncommon at all in the Mac universe. Can't really describe it as "infancy" either, as the products are very solid and reliable, based on IBM's experience in big iron. No significant bugs or teething problems. 64-bit home desktop computing has seemed pretty mature in the years I've been using it.
What the government needs is to prioritize and save only the important stuff. Official bills and memos are worth saving, the president asking his secretary for a cup of coffee isn't.
That is an absolutely insane idea for government policy. We shouldn't decide what's important for the future - the future history writers decide that for us. Who is it that decides what is important? The public owns the government, and has the right to retain everything it does. Not storing evidence would mean that today's criminals in government will escape future punishment or disrepute, and current heroes of government will not receive their dues or recognition.
Make no mistake, some of the most insignificant things in past peoples' lives, have provided the most significant insights into humanity when later discovered by historians, anthropologists or archaeologists. It's what we consider "trash" today that will tell our story to future generations. When that trashball heads back to Earth, you wanna make goddamn sure you wear noseplugs and know how to make 20th Century trash.
Really, rather than talking about how horrid it is, why not be busy working on software and hardware solutions that will bring old document types up to today's standards, and devices that will pull data off of old drives?
Sounds more like a governance opportunity to me. the National Archive could spearhead the push to develop sophisticated open standards (open Document doesn't satisfy all archival purposes) that all of government, and the public, could use.
Of course, we are living in Bush-World(tm) - so any constructive and useful action by public employees is considered treason. Especially if it concerns "preserving history" - which the Republicans are deathly afraid of. Librarians are people who should be spied on, as are readers of literature. The Diebold scandal with their voting machines is the perfect example of how accurate information and recording history is opposed by the current administration.
Basically, the ones whose businesses are less profitable because their product sucks balls compared to the next competitor (compare Intel to AMD...).
Firstly, even if AMD does kick-ass performance wise, it doesn't matter. AMD simply cannot produce enough processors to supply a market as large as Intel's. AMD seems to mostly supply the gaming and Linux niches. Also, Intel is not less profitable than AMD, so i don't know where that comes from.
Finally, while AMD processors have their advantages (for now, anyway) no normal customer thinks their Intel processor "sucks balls." A relative difference in performance doesn't amount to a product sucking outright. In fact, processors are one of the most reliable components a computer user has to buy. Seriously, how often does one get processor problems? People might say "this mouse sucks" or "this software sucks" or "this hard drive failed within a month, it sucks" - but almost nobody is thinking about their processor or having to fiddle with it.
I don't like Intel either. I just think that they do sell a product that pretty much works as advertised, fails rarely, and they are able to ship enough all over the world to meet a significant demand. Very few consumer computer components suck less than Intel processors. And the other processors are in the same boat - AMD and IBM processors fulfil their niche markets, and are also very reliable. Compared to 90% of the other junk we get from electronics manufacturing, processors of all types are a godsend! And all these companies actually employ scientists and engineers, unlike companies such as Dell.
Hmmm, I think the connection might be a bit less direct than that, but still relevant. Intel's marketing genius was to focus customer's attention on the mystical "inside" of the computer. This is not normal for consumer products, which are usually designed by the world's top designers and aestheticists to appeal to all the senses. but computers were just a really ugly, space-wasting box. Intel succeeds from diverting the customer's attention from the crappy hardware, the crappy OS and the crappy applications by positing this "magical" force inside the computer. So, the machine can be clunky and uncomfortable to use, but the customer is reassured by the idea of a magical processor that is worth more than gold.
Apple was the only one in a position to challenge this strategy. They made the computer itself to appealing and enticing, that you don't care what processor it has, or if the OS is not compatible with Windows. This was moderately successful, but back in the original iMac days, "what's inside" counted a lot more than it did today. Computers in general were still slow for the tasks they did, and small differences in processors made a huge difference to how much work you actually got done.
Today, processors are "fast enough" that most people won't notice a difference in their productivity with a faster processor. What matters more now, is ergonomics, compactness, and noise levels. And the overall usability of the machine, of course. not only that, processors seem to be at a plateau where they are not getting faster quickly - and an AMD, an Intel, or an IBM PPC isn't an issue for most people.
I think Intel saw this coming - and hence the Centrino campaign. Also, Intel have been trying for years to stimulate OEMs to make more interesting-looking and innovative PCs. They release the "concept PC" ideas in the hopes that someone will manufacture it. It's been a total failure for them. OEMs weren't interested in deviating from standard cases - and Intel's concept designs sucked so bad that nobody would buy them, anyway.
Intel knows that Apple owns the outside of the computer, and they own the inside. Together, the companies are thinking through the box, rather than inside or outside it.
By using white, they have ensured that their little pricey boxes
Their pricey boxes don't come in white. The consumer models do, and they are very similar in value-for-money to x86 machines. in any case, i have an ibook that has been used heavily for years, outside too. It doesn't look grubby. I just tend not to type with motor oil on my hands. So what would stain the surface? It is very resistant to discolouration.
Now someone could see 'Intel Inside' and have that not be a selling point.
In your dreams. Most people don't even know about AMD, and intel is the biggest, bestest company. i'm sure most consumers like Intel better than they do Microsoft. After all, you rarely have to patch or replace your processor because it breaks. Don't have to spend any time thinking about it. And many machines are so ugly that often the intel Inside logo is the only thing that gives them a "new" or "shiny" or "high tech" look. That 4 on the Pentium 4 logo sure makes the average user feel that their machine is 4 times faster.
I love how companies really expect people to buy their product because it has a better slogan. Anyone who has the choice between a processor probably doesn't pick it based on the slogan
It may not work on a conscious level, but it does work on many people. The idea is to insiduosly get into your brain and associate vague conceepts with a specific brand. I mean, Intel has been able to brand the concept of "inside" and "what's in a computer that makes it work" as their own. They own that concept, and it does affect people's thinking.
Pull the "Intel inside" logo off a computer, and put it next to an identical computer that still has the logo. The average consumer will not touch the machine without the sticker.
The Inquirer is reporting that Intel is getting rid of its tagline 'Intel Inside' and plans to run a huge logo launch this January.
Exactly how big is this huge logo going to be? I thought computers were getting smaller, not bigger. Will it be like the XBox 360 and you'll have a "brick" sitting next to the machine just to display the intel logo?
I know Intel wants to crush their competition, but this is ridiculous.
Well they have been infiltrated by "business" types, when they decided to distance themselves from the Mac and promote Windows and that god-awful Acrobat reader program to the corporate types. They used to be a highly respectable and trustworthy company. When it gets down to the actual image editing software, the meat of Photoshop and Illustrator - things are still done pretty well. It just seems they get a bunch of idiots to write the ancillary software like installers, Bridge, Acrobat. I hope they don't screw up the Macromedia acquisition.
My biggest worry is PDF, even though it's extremely useful to my business. Before PDF, it was difficult to get people to competently open graphics files and formatted typography. These days, even the stupidest office monkey or manager can open print-quality proofs delivered via email. But the thing is getting so bloated! i liked it when it was somewhat leaner. PDF will probably replace.DOC as the main format we all have to use, because there is little alternative.
Although I guess I could look at the bright side. If Adobe screws up the Macromedia acquisition, hopefully they will wreck Flash, so we see fewer fucking stupid Flash animations. But more likely, all our PDFs will soon be riddled with Flash banner ads. Oh crap, what if they turn Acrobat into a "free" service that is supported by embedded advertising in your documents? Sort of like how "free" email services put ads in the mail you send.
on a Mac, for example, this could not happen without the administrator password. some people make the claim that people would just get used to typing their password and nothing would really change, but this is only because MS's permissions policy is so broken that people wouldn't be surprised that playing a CD required an admin password.
I love MacOS, but it's not just up to the OS. Application providers can screw things up. I have an example of this "overuse of passwords" problem on the Mac. Just yesterday I updated my Adobe Creative Suite CS2. The bastard fucking installer had to first update itself, and then download a bunch of application updates. There must have been about a dozen requests for my administrator password. It was totally insane. To make things worse, it only asked for these password periodically during the download. So, I had to sit there watching the progress bar and typing in passwords. It actually made me think that something fishy might be going on, made me lose some trust in Adobe.
Now, if I were using Apple's Software Update, it would have me enter my password once at the beginning, and agree to the EULAs - then I could just leave my computer and let it install.
If too many applications pull shit like that Adobe one does, then I can see getting irritated and just instinctively typing my password. Too bad if someone slips something malicious in the middle of those dozen "legitimate" password requests.
Actually, plenty of people want viagra and porn. We get so much spam, because it is so effective, and so many people want the products. As to being sneaky and sleazy - that describes every advertiser and marketer out there. You don't stay in business long by being nice and wholesome. Fundamentally the whole consumer/capitalist society is a sleazy, sneaky thing. But we love it because we are whores.
Slashdot Mirror
Eh? There's not really any correlation between reality and harshness or unreality and idealism. That seems like a fundamental bias to link these qualities. As for modding - doesn't really matter. Moderation is subjective, and not worth worrying about. It certainly doesn't reveal truth or fiction.
True comments are true commments, whether they are harsh or idealistic, naive or cynical.
This is a very common myth all around the world in less significant cities or towns which want to feel more important. A bizarre phenomenon? Yes. But a very real phenomenon. They want to feel there is something unique under the bland exterior that makes them worth bombing more than someone else. Kind of like Presidential bomb-shelters.
how do you know that "so many" animal activists were outraged? Perhaps that was also a hoax designed to draw attention to the prank. I've never heard it mentioned in activist circles.
Bullshit. They overprice products for non-members. the "discount" is not really a discount, it's just the market price. A company would be insane to sell for below market price.
You miss the point. the casino did not buy the toast because it looked like the Virgin Mary. They bought the toast because it was a stupid media sensation. Same thing here. As you said, they received some return because of media hype. That's the whole point. Everybody makes money because we are suckers for media hype. You are reading about it, aren't you? Even commenting on it. Shows how good an investment in stupid media hype can be.
No I don't, I think they are careful, and usually maintain several layers of coverup. However, they usually slip up somewhere (or an underling does). And they WILL communicate over logged mediums, because they need to give some sense of legitimacy. It will look funny if they have no logged transcripts during their years in office. And what they might think "unimportant" and let slip on a logged medium, might be decrypted in future to lead to the smoking gun. Heck, this happens even in front of TV cameras when the satan-worhipping pedophiles let their drunken mouths get away from them, and accidentally reveal their kitten-slaughtering plans.
Well, Photoshop on Mac supports 64-bit memory-handling, I'm not sure if takes advantage of it in any other ways, though. But what's with this notion of needing new drivers for a 64-bit processor? Isn't it the job of the Operating System to create an abstraction layer between applications and the hardware? Shouldn't the OS take care of that without needing different drivers?
It was potentially a big issue in the early days before there were hybrid players. However, Pioneer and Apple pushed DVD-R drives out to the market first, so DVD-R was the early leader. So, the DVD+R people also had to support DVD-R to avoid a format war. I suspect something similar will happen with HD-DVD being subsumed by Blu-Ray by using hybrid drives.
If this "always" happens, then why was there no sign of it happening when Mac processors went from 32 to 64 bits?
What about the iMac G5? it's not a "Power User" machine and sells quite well.
No, it's not really uncommon at all in the Mac universe. Can't really describe it as "infancy" either, as the products are very solid and reliable, based on IBM's experience in big iron. No significant bugs or teething problems. 64-bit home desktop computing has seemed pretty mature in the years I've been using it.
Hence the extreme lack of relevance or insight of many comments made on slashdot, despite the extreme familiarity with the topics.
That is an absolutely insane idea for government policy. We shouldn't decide what's important for the future - the future history writers decide that for us. Who is it that decides what is important? The public owns the government, and has the right to retain everything it does. Not storing evidence would mean that today's criminals in government will escape future punishment or disrepute, and current heroes of government will not receive their dues or recognition.
Make no mistake, some of the most insignificant things in past peoples' lives, have provided the most significant insights into humanity when later discovered by historians, anthropologists or archaeologists. It's what we consider "trash" today that will tell our story to future generations. When that trashball heads back to Earth, you wanna make goddamn sure you wear noseplugs and know how to make 20th Century trash.
24 football-fields wide and a couple of Grand Canyons deep.
Sounds more like a governance opportunity to me. the National Archive could spearhead the push to develop sophisticated open standards (open Document doesn't satisfy all archival purposes) that all of government, and the public, could use.
Of course, we are living in Bush-World(tm) - so any constructive and useful action by public employees is considered treason. Especially if it concerns "preserving history" - which the Republicans are deathly afraid of. Librarians are people who should be spied on, as are readers of literature. The Diebold scandal with their voting machines is the perfect example of how accurate information and recording history is opposed by the current administration.
Firstly, even if AMD does kick-ass performance wise, it doesn't matter. AMD simply cannot produce enough processors to supply a market as large as Intel's. AMD seems to mostly supply the gaming and Linux niches. Also, Intel is not less profitable than AMD, so i don't know where that comes from.
Finally, while AMD processors have their advantages (for now, anyway) no normal customer thinks their Intel processor "sucks balls." A relative difference in performance doesn't amount to a product sucking outright. In fact, processors are one of the most reliable components a computer user has to buy. Seriously, how often does one get processor problems? People might say "this mouse sucks" or "this software sucks" or "this hard drive failed within a month, it sucks" - but almost nobody is thinking about their processor or having to fiddle with it.
I don't like Intel either. I just think that they do sell a product that pretty much works as advertised, fails rarely, and they are able to ship enough all over the world to meet a significant demand. Very few consumer computer components suck less than Intel processors. And the other processors are in the same boat - AMD and IBM processors fulfil their niche markets, and are also very reliable. Compared to 90% of the other junk we get from electronics manufacturing, processors of all types are a godsend! And all these companies actually employ scientists and engineers, unlike companies such as Dell.
Apple was the only one in a position to challenge this strategy. They made the computer itself to appealing and enticing, that you don't care what processor it has, or if the OS is not compatible with Windows. This was moderately successful, but back in the original iMac days, "what's inside" counted a lot more than it did today. Computers in general were still slow for the tasks they did, and small differences in processors made a huge difference to how much work you actually got done.
Today, processors are "fast enough" that most people won't notice a difference in their productivity with a faster processor. What matters more now, is ergonomics, compactness, and noise levels. And the overall usability of the machine, of course. not only that, processors seem to be at a plateau where they are not getting faster quickly - and an AMD, an Intel, or an IBM PPC isn't an issue for most people.
I think Intel saw this coming - and hence the Centrino campaign. Also, Intel have been trying for years to stimulate OEMs to make more interesting-looking and innovative PCs. They release the "concept PC" ideas in the hopes that someone will manufacture it. It's been a total failure for them. OEMs weren't interested in deviating from standard cases - and Intel's concept designs sucked so bad that nobody would buy them, anyway.
Intel knows that Apple owns the outside of the computer, and they own the inside. Together, the companies are thinking through the box, rather than inside or outside it.
Their pricey boxes don't come in white. The consumer models do, and they are very similar in value-for-money to x86 machines. in any case, i have an ibook that has been used heavily for years, outside too. It doesn't look grubby. I just tend not to type with motor oil on my hands. So what would stain the surface? It is very resistant to discolouration.
In your dreams. Most people don't even know about AMD, and intel is the biggest, bestest company. i'm sure most consumers like Intel better than they do Microsoft. After all, you rarely have to patch or replace your processor because it breaks. Don't have to spend any time thinking about it. And many machines are so ugly that often the intel Inside logo is the only thing that gives them a "new" or "shiny" or "high tech" look. That 4 on the Pentium 4 logo sure makes the average user feel that their machine is 4 times faster.
It may not work on a conscious level, but it does work on many people. The idea is to insiduosly get into your brain and associate vague conceepts with a specific brand. I mean, Intel has been able to brand the concept of "inside" and "what's in a computer that makes it work" as their own. They own that concept, and it does affect people's thinking.
Pull the "Intel inside" logo off a computer, and put it next to an identical computer that still has the logo. The average consumer will not touch the machine without the sticker.
Exactly how big is this huge logo going to be? I thought computers were getting smaller, not bigger. Will it be like the XBox 360 and you'll have a "brick" sitting next to the machine just to display the intel logo?
I know Intel wants to crush their competition, but this is ridiculous.
My biggest worry is PDF, even though it's extremely useful to my business. Before PDF, it was difficult to get people to competently open graphics files and formatted typography. These days, even the stupidest office monkey or manager can open print-quality proofs delivered via email. But the thing is getting so bloated! i liked it when it was somewhat leaner. PDF will probably replace .DOC as the main format we all have to use, because there is little alternative.
Although I guess I could look at the bright side. If Adobe screws up the Macromedia acquisition, hopefully they will wreck Flash, so we see fewer fucking stupid Flash animations. But more likely, all our PDFs will soon be riddled with Flash banner ads. Oh crap, what if they turn Acrobat into a "free" service that is supported by embedded advertising in your documents? Sort of like how "free" email services put ads in the mail you send.
Use a 2,000ft tall Martha Stewart?
I love MacOS, but it's not just up to the OS. Application providers can screw things up. I have an example of this "overuse of passwords" problem on the Mac. Just yesterday I updated my Adobe Creative Suite CS2. The bastard fucking installer had to first update itself, and then download a bunch of application updates. There must have been about a dozen requests for my administrator password. It was totally insane. To make things worse, it only asked for these password periodically during the download. So, I had to sit there watching the progress bar and typing in passwords. It actually made me think that something fishy might be going on, made me lose some trust in Adobe.
Now, if I were using Apple's Software Update, it would have me enter my password once at the beginning, and agree to the EULAs - then I could just leave my computer and let it install.
If too many applications pull shit like that Adobe one does, then I can see getting irritated and just instinctively typing my password. Too bad if someone slips something malicious in the middle of those dozen "legitimate" password requests.
Actually, plenty of people want viagra and porn. We get so much spam, because it is so effective, and so many people want the products. As to being sneaky and sleazy - that describes every advertiser and marketer out there. You don't stay in business long by being nice and wholesome. Fundamentally the whole consumer/capitalist society is a sleazy, sneaky thing. But we love it because we are whores.