My first thought when Apple announced it was putting a big glass building in Scottsdale, Arizona was "Welp, that idea came from somebody who doesn't live in Scottsdale, Arizona."
Apparently the "architect who is obviously from out of town" problem is not unique to that store.
The good news is that consumers appear to be getting the message that "smart" devices are dangerous; from what I've read, sales are way down. Security vulnerabilities are the most obvious issue, but there's also stuff like this (the vendor fucking with you for unrelated reasons) and the question of long-term support.
Heating and cooling can be matters of life and death. I wouldn't entrust them to the Internet. (Monitoring them, sure, but not controlling them.)
I can't access the original article, but it sounds to me like the "smart" thermostat is provided by the cable company. In which case this probably isn't a net neutrality issue.
My main desktop and laptop: No. I use NoScript.
My HTPC: Yes.
My work computer: I tried, and I had serious stability issues (it locked up every time I tried to open the menu or use autoscroll), so I rolled back to the ESR.
I tried running it on Win7 at work and it hung every time I tried to open the menu or use autoscroll. Tried rebooting, uninstalling/reinstalling, deleting profile (after backing it up, of course); no luck. Finally rolled back to the ESR version.
I haven't seen anybody else reporting this problem; has anybody here seen anything like that? Any suggestions?
What do you mean by "from scratch"? While Ubuntu Touch, Plasma Mobile, and Purism all have a long way to go, they're all built on existing codebases. So's Sailfish. So was Windows Mobile.
iOS and Android are a lot closer to "built from scratch" than any of those examples, though they had pretty solid foundations under them too (iOS based on OSX which is based on FreeBSD, Android built around the Linux kernel).
Unless and until you can convince the average grandparent to care about that issue, it won't be a sufficiently fundamental problem worthy of a separate OS...
We've had desktop Linux for 25 years and it's only got, what, 1% of the market? Would you say it's not "worthy", or that the problems it addresses don't warrant its existence?
But how many "apps" are just websites that run in a stripped-down browser?
I tried Ubuntu Touch a few months back and I was surprised by how big its app selection was. I think it had enough app support to do anything I would need to do day-to-day. The reason I didn't stick with it wasn't app support, it was that I couldn't get the durn thing to work with Sprint. (I plan on trying again when/if UBPorts finally pushes out 16.04.)
Great. Now start treating modals the same way you treat popups: if they're not triggered by user activity, block them.
(I know it's a little trickier than a popup, but you can monitor for behavior that modifies visibility, z-index, position, and opacity values.)
And mobile browsers should ignore position: fixed entirely.
Think about how this is going to apply to the general web, not just streaming netflix and hulu in a web browser.
It...doesn't? EME is only for streaming media. The "M" is for "media".
That means ad-blockers, noscript, flashblock, firebug, and any other plugin that is used to modify the functionality, display, or control the loading of content from third parties is going to be worthless.
Unless an adblocker developer somehow figured out a way to not load content inside an <audio> or <video> tag until the user clicked on it. But such a thing would, obviously, be witchcraft.
I am sorry that the W3C had to approve DRM. However most of the arguments against it are rather lame. Most people just want to watch their movie. They don’t want to copy it or use it unfairly. But the thing with digital media is if it is too easy to copy and share. That is what will happen. Old anolgies with VCR do not apply because that is an Analog copy so every copy is degraded. While every copy of digital data is the same. And now with high speed networking it is rather efficient to share previously too much info. Even weak DRM is enough to stop most people and going to court it is easy to prove malicious intent.
You seem to be operating under the presumption that EME prevents people from illegally copying videos.
It doesn't.
Netflix videos still show up on torrent sites the same day they appear on Netflix. EME hasn't stopped that from happening.
Thanks for the heads-up. I fiddled with the options and IIRC I set it to Sprint LTE, but still couldn't get anything to work. I'm figuring on waiting until they get 16.04 out to try again.
I use GNOME on my HTPC and I think it's a very good UI for that sort of environment (though I would hate using it on my primary desktop). I think it needs some tweaks to be workable on a phone, but it's more suitable for a phone paradigm than a desktop one, IMO.
It's quite clearly a product for a niche audience. Like desktop Linux. There's nothing wrong with that if you can find enough customers within that niche, but there's a definite chicken/egg problem there where most people don't want to give you money until your product is complete, tested, and stable, and you can't get a complete, tested, stable product without an existing market. It's extra daunting to know that even companies with the resources of MS and Canonical couldn't crack the market; smaller companies like Purism really have their work cut out for them.
I think Canonical made a lot of serious mistakes in Ubuntu Touch, and that's a shame, because an alternative to Android and iOS would be nice. I tried installing Ubuntu Touch on my phone a few months back and I was really impressed with the interface and the depth and breadth of available packages, but, uh, it didn't work as a phone. Couldn't call, couldn't text, couldn't connect to my data network; asked for help on the UBports forums and never got a reply. So now I'm on LineageOS without Gapps; no Gapps means missing a lot of compatibility and functionality, but for the most part I haven't had too much trouble.
Wait, didn't they announce last week that they were going with Plasma?
There's certainly nothing wrong with a device that will run either one as the user chooses (I've currently got KDE on my main desktop, GNOME on my HTPC, and XFCE on my laptop), but it seems like picking one to focus on to start with might be a good idea.
I'm not a big GNOME fan either, but it's silly to say it's not a widely-used DE (as Linux DEs go); it's the default in many of the biggest distributions. It's also about to be the default in Ubuntu, which is why it's going to be the default in downstream PureOS.
The argument that Apple and Google have already cornered the market is a much better one. That companies with the resources of Microsoft and Canonical have failed to break in shows just how hard a market this is.
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My first thought when Apple announced it was putting a big glass building in Scottsdale, Arizona was "Welp, that idea came from somebody who doesn't live in Scottsdale, Arizona."
Apparently the "architect who is obviously from out of town" problem is not unique to that store.
The good news is that consumers appear to be getting the message that "smart" devices are dangerous; from what I've read, sales are way down. Security vulnerabilities are the most obvious issue, but there's also stuff like this (the vendor fucking with you for unrelated reasons) and the question of long-term support.
Heating and cooling can be matters of life and death. I wouldn't entrust them to the Internet. (Monitoring them, sure, but not controlling them.)
I can't access the original article, but it sounds to me like the "smart" thermostat is provided by the cable company. In which case this probably isn't a net neutrality issue.
I've had good luck with Yalp, which is available in F-Droid.
My main desktop and laptop: No. I use NoScript.
My HTPC: Yes.
My work computer: I tried, and I had serious stability issues (it locked up every time I tried to open the menu or use autoscroll), so I rolled back to the ESR.
I tried running it on Win7 at work and it hung every time I tried to open the menu or use autoscroll. Tried rebooting, uninstalling/reinstalling, deleting profile (after backing it up, of course); no luck. Finally rolled back to the ESR version. I haven't seen anybody else reporting this problem; has anybody here seen anything like that? Any suggestions?
I do.
You probably could have made all those points without calling people dumbasses and idiots, you moron.
What do you mean by "from scratch"? While Ubuntu Touch, Plasma Mobile, and Purism all have a long way to go, they're all built on existing codebases. So's Sailfish. So was Windows Mobile.
iOS and Android are a lot closer to "built from scratch" than any of those examples, though they had pretty solid foundations under them too (iOS based on OSX which is based on FreeBSD, Android built around the Linux kernel).
We've had desktop Linux for 25 years and it's only got, what, 1% of the market? Would you say it's not "worthy", or that the problems it addresses don't warrant its existence?
On their laptops and tablets, yes. The phone's going for an i.MX 6 or i.MX 8, though specs aren't finalized yet.
But how many "apps" are just websites that run in a stripped-down browser?
I tried Ubuntu Touch a few months back and I was surprised by how big its app selection was. I think it had enough app support to do anything I would need to do day-to-day. The reason I didn't stick with it wasn't app support, it was that I couldn't get the durn thing to work with Sprint. (I plan on trying again when/if UBPorts finally pushes out 16.04.)
Is unseating Google the point?
There's plenty of value to desktop Linux, even if it never unseated Windows.
Great. Now start treating modals the same way you treat popups: if they're not triggered by user activity, block them. (I know it's a little trickier than a popup, but you can monitor for behavior that modifies visibility, z-index, position, and opacity values.) And mobile browsers should ignore position: fixed entirely.
It...doesn't? EME is only for streaming media. The "M" is for "media".
Unless an adblocker developer somehow figured out a way to not load content inside an <audio> or <video> tag until the user clicked on it. But such a thing would, obviously, be witchcraft.
You seem to be operating under the presumption that EME prevents people from illegally copying videos.
It doesn't.
Netflix videos still show up on torrent sites the same day they appear on Netflix. EME hasn't stopped that from happening.
Thanks for the heads-up. I fiddled with the options and IIRC I set it to Sprint LTE, but still couldn't get anything to work. I'm figuring on waiting until they get 16.04 out to try again.
I use GNOME on my HTPC and I think it's a very good UI for that sort of environment (though I would hate using it on my primary desktop). I think it needs some tweaks to be workable on a phone, but it's more suitable for a phone paradigm than a desktop one, IMO.
It's quite clearly a product for a niche audience. Like desktop Linux. There's nothing wrong with that if you can find enough customers within that niche, but there's a definite chicken/egg problem there where most people don't want to give you money until your product is complete, tested, and stable, and you can't get a complete, tested, stable product without an existing market. It's extra daunting to know that even companies with the resources of MS and Canonical couldn't crack the market; smaller companies like Purism really have their work cut out for them.
I think Canonical made a lot of serious mistakes in Ubuntu Touch, and that's a shame, because an alternative to Android and iOS would be nice. I tried installing Ubuntu Touch on my phone a few months back and I was really impressed with the interface and the depth and breadth of available packages, but, uh, it didn't work as a phone. Couldn't call, couldn't text, couldn't connect to my data network; asked for help on the UBports forums and never got a reply. So now I'm on LineageOS without Gapps; no Gapps means missing a lot of compatibility and functionality, but for the most part I haven't had too much trouble.
Wait, didn't they announce last week that they were going with Plasma?
There's certainly nothing wrong with a device that will run either one as the user chooses (I've currently got KDE on my main desktop, GNOME on my HTPC, and XFCE on my laptop), but it seems like picking one to focus on to start with might be a good idea.
She has. So has the CIO.
No word on what the CIO's major was.
How old is she? Degrees in medicine and law were pretty common 25 years ago. Computer science not so much.
[citation needed]
I'm not a big GNOME fan either, but it's silly to say it's not a widely-used DE (as Linux DEs go); it's the default in many of the biggest distributions. It's also about to be the default in Ubuntu, which is why it's going to be the default in downstream PureOS.
The argument that Apple and Google have already cornered the market is a much better one. That companies with the resources of Microsoft and Canonical have failed to break in shows just how hard a market this is.
X? But I thought all the mobile distros were going with Wayland.