It's because the open source community takes its cues from proprietary software. 99% of the time, this means open source developers are working within a shabby ripoff of the Microsoft aesthetic, which wasn't exactly design-oriented to begin with.
It's peculiar how the open source aesthetic and the Microsoft aesthetic find such similar ways to be stomach-turningly wretched.
Penny Arcade's been PC users this whole time? I'm not surprised--they think and write like PC people. Dull little people, that is, drawing dull little comics.
Try Applegeeks. Real Apple comics for real Apple people.
Yep. Look how the author of the article tries to let him/herself (the media) off the hook:
'...it was undoubtedly a mistake for Steve Jobs to make these product announcements himself, and at the hallowed Apple Town Hall in Cupertino, California, where the iPod was first unleashed. Who wouldn't have expected more?'
Except back in 2001, the iPod's introduction was a tiny little thing: a Mac-only MP3 player, albiet with the typical Apple attention to detail and design. No one expected much. I don't think Apple in its wildest dreams hoped it would be the crossover (Mac to PC) success it is today.
It's ridiculous to think Apple using that auditorium should automatically mean "earth-shattering announcement."
Not only that, he also muzzled the free press and, if you adopt the vaguely self-serving Southern perspective, single-handedly shredded the Constitution's delicate balance between state and federal authority. Despite all this, I have trouble believing it's of much use to draw a comparison between terrorism and the Civil War.
Given the zeal with which the political left in many European countries has taken to xenophobia and intolerance in the past few years, I wouldn't be so sure. (Not that Europe's far right is any better.)
Yes, I know it's possible, and Google's probably not doing anything to prevent it--but is Gmail for Chinese citizens Google-sanctioned or -encouraged? I'd like to understand why the Economist, the Times, the BBC, Red Herring, and others are reporting that Google's withholding Gmail from China. No cheap shots please.
I only mentioned inalienable rights as among the fundamental ideals in whose spirit America's legal and social apparatus were founded--the liberal principles shared by "fathers" as diverse as Jefferson and Hamilton, Jay, Madison. My mistake was mentioning the Constitution, as the legal intricacies and requirements of the document aren't really relevant.
I'd still argue the present administration's actions are, in fact, unconstitutional. The American government, and pretty much every political regime in history, has always had opponents on its own soil, i.e. "cases of rebellion". This in itself has not in America usually (ever?) been considered cause for a widespread, systematic suspension of habeas corpus. Consider the anarchist movement of the early 20th century: an (ironically) organized threat to the government, yet never were the leaders or footsoldiers of the movement subject to detention with no clear-cut end in sight. Instead, plotters and conspirators were tried and often convicted through the well-established system of public courts and trials.
"Now you could argue that the founding fathers felt that these rights should be universal, based on the Declaration of Independence..."
Yep, that was my point, which was obscured, unfortunately, by my sloppy thinking and writing. You said it much better than I did--thanks for that.
"but you would also have to agree that they were smart enough to leave that out of law."
The shame here is that our administration fails to live up to these ideals even when (a) it's completely within their legal and administrative capacity to do so, and (b) it would make perfect sense to do so even in the context of our "war on terror."
That's not really true. Visit China and you'll quickly realize everyday life there is much like it is here. No one's going to care if you, a private nobody, post a pro-democracy message to Slashdot or even run around the streets of Beijing yelling about Falun Gong.
Frankly, and not to troll, but I'm not sure whether the Western conception of freedom is categorically superior to China's. In fact, not only are taxes in China much lower on average, I'd also wager the authorities there are less likely to take an interest in your personal doings than their American counterparts are. At least, until you rise to prominence in the opposition--and certainly, that's something that ought to change. But to picture China as some kind of oppressive Big Brother-ish society is about as far from the truth as possible.
Yeah, and the fact that the present administration is holding anyone indefinitely without trial--U.S. citizens or no--is totally against the principles for which we're supposedly fighting.
Awesome! Thank you so much. After some research, I ended up swapping Tiger's AppleADM103x.kext out with the one from the 10.2.8 update and rebooting, and it's just like I remember from the pre-10.3.2 days. Silent. Deadly.
BTW, on my machine at least, I didn't have to zap the PRAM or reset the power manager or anything. Just rebooted with the new (old) kext in place.
So, is it true that Google isn't (officially) offering Gmail to Chinese internet users? If that is indeed the case, I heard it's because they want to avoid being put in the position of being asked to hand emails over to the government. Can you confirm?
I think that's the key. Microsoft's actions fit into the pattern of an insecure teen who knows he's better than everyone else and needs to prove it, just for the sake of proving it. Wouldn't you, too, with a name like Microsoft?
I'm pretty sure every Mac ever built, at least since the original all-in-one case design died out, and IIRC the Cube, and probably a couple more along the way I've forgotten, has had a built-in fan. This includes all PowerBooks, all iBooks, the iMac G5 and the current iMac. The fan only spins up, however, once the internal temperature hits a certain threshold, which is probably why you haven't noticed it's there. My Rev. A 12" PowerBook fan runs pretty much constantly.:-(
Yeah, but that wasn't his point. The server's administrator is exercising his freedom of assembly by freely choosing not to allow people in that ISP's netblock to connect.
Slashdot Mirror
It's because the open source community takes its cues from proprietary software. 99% of the time, this means open source developers are working within a shabby ripoff of the Microsoft aesthetic, which wasn't exactly design-oriented to begin with.
It's peculiar how the open source aesthetic and the Microsoft aesthetic find such similar ways to be stomach-turningly wretched.
Proof that Macs aren't made for fratboys.
Apple has never been about fashion, image, and looking cool.
Apple is about style, design, and being cool. Get it right. (n.b. that's also the difference with Microsoft.)
Penny Arcade's been PC users this whole time? I'm not surprised--they think and write like PC people. Dull little people, that is, drawing dull little comics.
Try Applegeeks. Real Apple comics for real Apple people.
It's ridiculous to think Apple using that auditorium should automatically mean "earth-shattering announcement."
It needs anonymous posting, and it needs a nested view sorted by score. Still, good enough. Goodbye Slashdot!
Why must you perpetuate the channels-equals-numbers hegemony of thought? Where's your imagination, man?
Not only that, he also muzzled the free press and, if you adopt the vaguely self-serving Southern perspective, single-handedly shredded the Constitution's delicate balance between state and federal authority. Despite all this, I have trouble believing it's of much use to draw a comparison between terrorism and the Civil War.
"they would have chosen to have no presence whatsoever in China"
The point, surely, is that inaction (letting themselves be blocked) would in this case have been more evil than action (compromise).
Given the zeal with which the political left in many European countries has taken to xenophobia and intolerance in the past few years, I wouldn't be so sure. (Not that Europe's far right is any better.)
Yes, I know it's possible, and Google's probably not doing anything to prevent it--but is Gmail for Chinese citizens Google-sanctioned or -encouraged? I'd like to understand why the Economist, the Times , the BBC, Red Herring , and others are reporting that Google's withholding Gmail from China. No cheap shots please.
I only mentioned inalienable rights as among the fundamental ideals in whose spirit America's legal and social apparatus were founded--the liberal principles shared by "fathers" as diverse as Jefferson and Hamilton, Jay, Madison. My mistake was mentioning the Constitution, as the legal intricacies and requirements of the document aren't really relevant.
I'd still argue the present administration's actions are, in fact, unconstitutional. The American government, and pretty much every political regime in history, has always had opponents on its own soil, i.e. "cases of rebellion". This in itself has not in America usually (ever?) been considered cause for a widespread, systematic suspension of habeas corpus. Consider the anarchist movement of the early 20th century: an (ironically) organized threat to the government, yet never were the leaders or footsoldiers of the movement subject to detention with no clear-cut end in sight. Instead, plotters and conspirators were tried and often convicted through the well-established system of public courts and trials.
"Now you could argue that the founding fathers felt that these rights should be universal, based on the Declaration of Independence..."
Yep, that was my point, which was obscured, unfortunately, by my sloppy thinking and writing. You said it much better than I did--thanks for that.
"but you would also have to agree that they were smart enough to leave that out of law."
The shame here is that our administration fails to live up to these ideals even when (a) it's completely within their legal and administrative capacity to do so, and (b) it would make perfect sense to do so even in the context of our "war on terror."
There is no indefinite detention? In other words, they'll be released just as soon as we win this bothersome little "war on terror"?
That's not really true. Visit China and you'll quickly realize everyday life there is much like it is here. No one's going to care if you, a private nobody, post a pro-democracy message to Slashdot or even run around the streets of Beijing yelling about Falun Gong.
Frankly, and not to troll, but I'm not sure whether the Western conception of freedom is categorically superior to China's. In fact, not only are taxes in China much lower on average, I'd also wager the authorities there are less likely to take an interest in your personal doings than their American counterparts are. At least, until you rise to prominence in the opposition--and certainly, that's something that ought to change. But to picture China as some kind of oppressive Big Brother-ish society is about as far from the truth as possible.
Yeah, and the fact that the present administration is holding anyone indefinitely without trial--U.S. citizens or no--is totally against the principles for which we're supposedly fighting.
Awesome! Thank you so much. After some research, I ended up swapping Tiger's AppleADM103x.kext out with the one from the 10.2.8 update and rebooting, and it's just like I remember from the pre-10.3.2 days. Silent. Deadly.
BTW, on my machine at least, I didn't have to zap the PRAM or reset the power manager or anything. Just rebooted with the new (old) kext in place.
Yes, because the framers of our Constitution intended "inalienable" human rights only to apply to residents with U.S. citizenship.
So, is it true that Google isn't (officially) offering Gmail to Chinese internet users? If that is indeed the case, I heard it's because they want to avoid being put in the position of being asked to hand emails over to the government. Can you confirm?
I think that's the key. Microsoft's actions fit into the pattern of an insecure teen who knows he's better than everyone else and needs to prove it, just for the sake of proving it. Wouldn't you, too, with a name like Microsoft?
"I have to assume you're trolling... You must be trolling, etc."
Jesus fucking Christ, is this what's become of Slashdot? Lighten up.
I'm pretty sure every Mac ever built, at least since the original all-in-one case design died out, and IIRC the Cube, and probably a couple more along the way I've forgotten, has had a built-in fan. This includes all PowerBooks, all iBooks, the iMac G5 and the current iMac. The fan only spins up, however, once the internal temperature hits a certain threshold, which is probably why you haven't noticed it's there. My Rev. A 12" PowerBook fan runs pretty much constantly. :-(
"The blinding white led near the lid latch oscillates in brightness when the machine is in sleep"
It's breathing deeply. You're lucky it doesn't snore.
Okay. And if you're the type of square who always reads and follows instructions, you deserve to be hit by a cement truck.
Yeah, but that wasn't his point. The server's administrator is exercising his freedom of assembly by freely choosing not to allow people in that ISP's netblock to connect.