Is it true that you have to lift your left finger off the mouse before right clicking? I've seen it mentioned in exactly one review so far, but you'd think more people than that would notice, right?
Where in Tanzania do you live, exactly? I get the impression that there's a giant gap between urban and rural life in terms of access to technology and integration in the economy. Is this true in Kenya and Tanzania?
Considering that Kenya's population has only 5 mobiles per 100 people, I'm not so sure "every one of those 54 students' families owns at least one." If they do, you can be sure plenty of them are being shared by their entire families, many by two or more families at once, particularly in rural areas (like where this school is). A handset becomes a lot less useful when you have to share it with others--you can't take it with you to the market, you can't send or receive SMSes privately, it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll reach the person you want, etc. It still helps, but it could be a lot better.
The GSM infrastructure and regulatory framework is better in Kenya than much of the rest of Africa, but even Kenya desperately needs more (and more affordable) mobile phones.
BTW, I don't work for any mobile carrier or company, I'm just interested in this stuff.
It's definitely cool that children in developing nations are using computers to improve their prospects, but too often in these sorts of discussions the notion is advanced that computers (and the internet) are just what developing nations need, as regards technology.
In fact, a much better investment is in mobile phones and mobile networks. Even the cheapest handsets encourage kids to learn to read and write, not to mention gain proficiency in handling technology. At the same time, adults can use mobile phones to find employment, find affordable goods, negotiate deals, conduct business. Mobile phones integrate themselves into daily life much more easily than PCs, and their impact is thus felt much faster and wider. If the free flow of information enables a market to work efficiently, then what better technology to kickstart the economy than mobile phones?
While it's certainly heartening that open source software is having a positive effect in poverty-stricken Africa, it's also important for aidgivers to note that dollar for dollar, computers aren't the best use of limited funds.
Considering that the default is still "left button" for the entire surface, it's a smart example of progressive disclosure. It caters to power users, while keeping things simple for "beginners" (i.e. people who have better things to do with their time than learn all the intricacies of computer UIs and contextual menus).
The side buttons are just one button that activates when you squeeze the thing laterally. It'd be kind of obnoxious, ergonomically, to have mouse buttons directly opposite each other--you'd always be clicking the wrong one by accident.
So two buttons under the top shell, one "squeeze" button, and the scroll ball. Four. I think I'll stick with my Logitech MX900 Bluetooth, even though it's big and heavy as a cinder block...
It does have tactile clicking. The entire surface of the mouse clicks, just like all Apple's mice from 2001 on. The sensor's only used to detect which part of the mouse you pushed on.
"Plenty of people have managed to figure out how to coordinate 3 pedals on a car"
In other words, people learn exactly as much as they need to in order to do what they want to do. That goes for computers as much as for cars. It's not moronic at all.
I just want to point out that hold-click doesn't pop up a contextual menu, and hasn't since Mac OS 9. Hold-click initiates a drag (unless you're using Firefox, in which case it does give you a menu, but it's not surprising considering how un-Maclike Firefox is in all other respects).
I think you must have seriously missed my point. As I said, open source and proprietary software can and do coexist. They're complementary in a lot of ways.
All else aside, w.r.t. your (7), I'm talking about Nero Digital's implementation of H.264 encoding, or even QuickTime Pro's for that matter, against x264's, a comparison that supports the argument that for-pay (or at least proprietary) software pioneers where open source follows. x264 is still playing catchup to proprietary H.264 encoders, and by the time it matches or surpasses them in terms of speed and quality, Nero and Apple will have moved on to the next big thing. This same pattern's everywhere if you look for it.
You're right about Apache, though. NCSA's server was open source from the start.
My take is that open source software is great at implementing things that are already commodities. Web servers became a commodity while Apache was being written. HTML rendering was becoming commonplace when Netscape decided to open Gecko. Same thing with MP3 coding and LAME and a hundred other examples I can't think of right now.
Proprietary stuff, on the other hand, tends to be newer and more cutting-edge than open source stuff. Photoshop vs. GIMP, Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice. Nero vs. x264 coding. The Mac's UI vs. Gnome/KDE. Where commercial software leads the way, open source follows (and usually does so exceedingly well).
Commercial software, then, is where innovation happens. Open source software excels at development and commoditization. They not only exist, but complement each other.
That may be true for you, sir, but there are many people who can only thrive in a well-designed, tasteful, and visually graceful environment. Whether it's designing Illustrator docs in the bubbly Fisher-Price THC-indced nightmare of Windows, or pushing pixels in the aesthetically crippled GIMP on Linux, we would much rather spend our days in the whimsical wonderland of the superior Mac interface.
Yes, we're fussy, we're troublemakers, misfits, rebels. Call us the crazy ones, the round pegs in square holes. The one thing you cannot do is ignore us.
Oh for God's sake. You say doctors and lawyers get more respect than teachers--doctors, fine, but lawyers get made fun of too, and brutally at that. I think it has something to do with the idea that "anyone could do that job," even though everyone knows it takes a special dedication to be a lawyer, or, for that matter, a teacher. The lawyers I know can take the ribbing. So can the teachers. Because really, in the end, it's just a joke.
I just submitted feedback to CNN.com video asking if there was a chance they could support something less obnoxious, like MPEG-4's H.264. Who knows if anyone's listening, but it'll be interesting if they reply.
Yeah? The CNN videos work for me in Tiger (using Safari as my browser with the WMP plugin). Though I'd still prefer something QuickTime could play, like H.264, since Windows Media Player is abhorrent, hideous in appearance and behavior.
Erm, India's democracy is democratic all right, but that's about it. The central government is notorious for fucking up everything it touches, and corruption is rife throughout state and local governments. About the only thing this particular democracy has gotten right in the past two decades is to open the economy to the outside world, which, as you say, has contributed to growth. But even in terms of economic growth India's been beaten by East Asia's tigers, particularly China, a party dictatorship. So unless you value diversity for diversity's sake, I don't see how you can say that India's government works better than the U.S.--and that's hardly a glowing appraisal to begin with.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, yes indeed... and that's exactly as it should be :-)
That was true up to OS 9, but OS X has always supported multibutton clicks natively, straight from the events queue on up.
"Has Apple upgraded its stock mouse from rubber ball to optical yet?"
Apple was the first computer vendor to bundle an optical mouse as as standard feature with every machine, back in 2000.
Is it true that you have to lift your left finger off the mouse before right clicking? I've seen it mentioned in exactly one review so far, but you'd think more people than that would notice, right?
Where in Tanzania do you live, exactly? I get the impression that there's a giant gap between urban and rural life in terms of access to technology and integration in the economy. Is this true in Kenya and Tanzania?
Considering that Kenya's population has only 5 mobiles per 100 people, I'm not so sure "every one of those 54 students' families owns at least one." If they do, you can be sure plenty of them are being shared by their entire families, many by two or more families at once, particularly in rural areas (like where this school is). A handset becomes a lot less useful when you have to share it with others--you can't take it with you to the market, you can't send or receive SMSes privately, it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll reach the person you want, etc. It still helps, but it could be a lot better.
The GSM infrastructure and regulatory framework is better in Kenya than much of the rest of Africa, but even Kenya desperately needs more (and more affordable) mobile phones.
BTW, I don't work for any mobile carrier or company, I'm just interested in this stuff.
Well, at least they'll be able to communicate with American teens.
It's definitely cool that children in developing nations are using computers to improve their prospects, but too often in these sorts of discussions the notion is advanced that computers (and the internet) are just what developing nations need, as regards technology.
t ml8 286.htmly .cfm?Story_ID=3742817m ?story_id=4157618
In fact, a much better investment is in mobile phones and mobile networks. Even the cheapest handsets encourage kids to learn to read and write, not to mention gain proficiency in handling technology. At the same time, adults can use mobile phones to find employment, find affordable goods, negotiate deals, conduct business. Mobile phones integrate themselves into daily life much more easily than PCs, and their impact is thus felt much faster and wider. If the free flow of information enables a market to work efficiently, then what better technology to kickstart the economy than mobile phones?
Here are a few articles with the hard numbers pitting mobile phones against PCs.
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0712-rhett_butler.h
http://usinfo.state.gov/af/Archive/2005/May/17-48
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystor
http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cf
While it's certainly heartening that open source software is having a positive effect in poverty-stricken Africa, it's also important for aidgivers to note that dollar for dollar, computers aren't the best use of limited funds.
Considering that the default is still "left button" for the entire surface, it's a smart example of progressive disclosure. It caters to power users, while keeping things simple for "beginners" (i.e. people who have better things to do with their time than learn all the intricacies of computer UIs and contextual menus).
The side buttons are just one button that activates when you squeeze the thing laterally. It'd be kind of obnoxious, ergonomically, to have mouse buttons directly opposite each other--you'd always be clicking the wrong one by accident.
So two buttons under the top shell, one "squeeze" button, and the scroll ball. Four. I think I'll stick with my Logitech MX900 Bluetooth, even though it's big and heavy as a cinder block...
It does have tactile clicking. The entire surface of the mouse clicks, just like all Apple's mice from 2001 on. The sensor's only used to detect which part of the mouse you pushed on.
"Plenty of people have managed to figure out how to coordinate 3 pedals on a car"
In other words, people learn exactly as much as they need to in order to do what they want to do. That goes for computers as much as for cars. It's not moronic at all.
"No one with more than a few days of computer experience has the slightest trouble with multi-button mice."
That's totally untrue. I don't doubt that everyone you coach personally learns the use of two buttons, but most people don't have that benefit.
If they find it easier to get things done with one mouse button than to learn another abstract UI paradigm, why force them to use two?
I just want to point out that hold-click doesn't pop up a contextual menu, and hasn't since Mac OS 9. Hold-click initiates a drag (unless you're using Firefox, in which case it does give you a menu, but it's not surprising considering how un-Maclike Firefox is in all other respects).
Yes, YES, YES!! Such a good idea. I wonder if anyone who works at Apple reads Slashdot.
What's the third-party software you're using to make this happen?
Where's your sense of adventure, man?
Yeah, you're right. I stand corrected. Thanks.
I think you must have seriously missed my point. As I said, open source and proprietary software can and do coexist. They're complementary in a lot of ways.
All else aside, w.r.t. your (7), I'm talking about Nero Digital's implementation of H.264 encoding, or even QuickTime Pro's for that matter, against x264's, a comparison that supports the argument that for-pay (or at least proprietary) software pioneers where open source follows. x264 is still playing catchup to proprietary H.264 encoders, and by the time it matches or surpasses them in terms of speed and quality, Nero and Apple will have moved on to the next big thing. This same pattern's everywhere if you look for it.
You're right about Apache, though. NCSA's server was open source from the start.
My take is that open source software is great at implementing things that are already commodities. Web servers became a commodity while Apache was being written. HTML rendering was becoming commonplace when Netscape decided to open Gecko. Same thing with MP3 coding and LAME and a hundred other examples I can't think of right now.
Proprietary stuff, on the other hand, tends to be newer and more cutting-edge than open source stuff. Photoshop vs. GIMP, Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice. Nero vs. x264 coding. The Mac's UI vs. Gnome/KDE. Where commercial software leads the way, open source follows (and usually does so exceedingly well).
Commercial software, then, is where innovation happens. Open source software excels at development and commoditization. They not only exist, but complement each other.
That may be true for you, sir, but there are many people who can only thrive in a well-designed, tasteful, and visually graceful environment. Whether it's designing Illustrator docs in the bubbly Fisher-Price THC-indced nightmare of Windows, or pushing pixels in the aesthetically crippled GIMP on Linux, we would much rather spend our days in the whimsical wonderland of the superior Mac interface.
Yes, we're fussy, we're troublemakers, misfits, rebels. Call us the crazy ones, the round pegs in square holes. The one thing you cannot do is ignore us.
Oh for God's sake. You say doctors and lawyers get more respect than teachers--doctors, fine, but lawyers get made fun of too, and brutally at that. I think it has something to do with the idea that "anyone could do that job," even though everyone knows it takes a special dedication to be a lawyer, or, for that matter, a teacher. The lawyers I know can take the ribbing. So can the teachers. Because really, in the end, it's just a joke.
I just submitted feedback to CNN.com video asking if there was a chance they could support something less obnoxious, like MPEG-4's H.264. Who knows if anyone's listening, but it'll be interesting if they reply.
Yeah? The CNN videos work for me in Tiger (using Safari as my browser with the WMP plugin). Though I'd still prefer something QuickTime could play, like H.264, since Windows Media Player is abhorrent, hideous in appearance and behavior.
Oh, sorry... I just read the guy you were replying to. Nice to see him lumping India in with North Korea. But hey, it's Slashdot, what do you expect?
Erm, India's democracy is democratic all right, but that's about it. The central government is notorious for fucking up everything it touches, and corruption is rife throughout state and local governments. About the only thing this particular democracy has gotten right in the past two decades is to open the economy to the outside world, which, as you say, has contributed to growth. But even in terms of economic growth India's been beaten by East Asia's tigers, particularly China, a party dictatorship. So unless you value diversity for diversity's sake, I don't see how you can say that India's government works better than the U.S.--and that's hardly a glowing appraisal to begin with.