Every class I've studied (or taught) has had online lecture notes available for free, usually of quality decent enough for readers to get a passing grade in the class. On top of that, half of the CS lectures I attended as a student (and a couple I taught as a lecturer) were taped outright by students - often using digital recorders, occasionally without the lecturer's consent. And I have no doubt that those recordings were passed on to other students, free of charge.
How is this Prof going to stop something like that? Strip-searching? Metal detectors? Call in the RIAA?
Seriously, he's kidding if he thinks the already-exorbitant fees for education shouldn't cover the availability of notes. The real tangible benefit to him of putting them online, is that it means those who can't be bothered to come to class don't come. Believe me, teaching 50 people who are interested in what you have to say and want to get more than a passing grade is a lot more enjoyable than teaching 200 that couldn't care less.
Anyway, on a more salient note, I really don't like how Google's stolen the term "Beta." When you talk to a lot of people out there in "the cloud," or whatever the hell, they think "Beta" means that it's up 98-99% of the time, like GMail, and aren't really aware of the fact that beta software contains bugs, or that there is some inherent risk in using it.
Refer to any EULA and you'll see that there is inherent risk in using pretty much any software, Beta or not. For example, I just found the following in the WinXP Home EULA (capitalisation theirs):
Except for the Limited Warranty and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Microsoft and its suppliers provide the Software and support services (if any) AS IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS, and hereby disclaim all other warranties and conditions, whether express, implied or statutory, including, but not limited to, any (if any) implied warranties, duties or conditions of merchantability, of fitness for a particular purpose, of reliability or availability, of accuracy or completeness of responses, of results, of workmanlike effort, of lack of viruses, and of lack of negligence, all with regard to the Software, and the provision of or failure to provide support or other services, information, software, and related content through the Software or otherwise arising out of the use of the Software. <snip> TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, FOR NEGLIGENCE, AND FOR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT OR OTHER SERVICES, INFORMATON, SOFTWARE, AND RELATED CONTENT THROUGH THE SOFTWARE OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR OTHERWISE UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY PROVISION OF THIS EULA, EVEN IN THE EVENT OF THE FAULT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), MISREPRESENTATION, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF CONTRACT OR BREACH OF WARRANTY OF MICROSOFT OR ANY SUPPLIER, AND EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ANY SUPPLIER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Bah. I built one of these myself, 16 years ago, as a BASIC program no less. One of the first apps I ever wrote in fact. Happy to offer it up as prior art, I just need to track down a 5 1/4 floppy drive...
While we're talking B-Movie monsters, it's worth mentioning the recent paper(PDF warning) by a couple of physicists proving the nonexistence of vampires and ghosts. Interestingly they didn't show zombies couldn't exist - although they at least came up with a more plausible explanation.
Re:They couldn't have come up with a better name..
on
Humanity Gene Found?
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· Score: 1
Nice:)
Just as offtopic, but for those of us who don't really know what the term draught really means in a beer context...
Call a spade a spade - don't blame the ISP here. Make people pay for their actual usage and it will all be fair. Why should the average user subsidise those who saturate their connection?
There's already one for Firefox. It's called "Tools --> Clear Private Data"... or Ctrl-Shift-Del for the lazy. You can even set the options to do it when the browser closes, with or without user confirmation.
I'm guessing you either accidentally misunderstood the point of his post, or are trying to start a flamewar. I'll do you the courtesy of assuming the former and responding, rather than modding you down.
The point was that many modern GUIs hide the complexity of a computer from the users. If you insist on bringing CLIs into this, then an obvious analogy to Office restricting GUI options would be if your shell tab-completion only selected from the N most frequent/recent entries rather than all available matches. To some people it would be useful and convenient, to others it would be a right pain in the butt.
Computers are a tool, just like a table saw or a car is also a tool. Obviously it is not reasonable to expect all users to know how every aspect of the tool works, that would be very inefficient. But the users of most other tools almost always have enough formal training and/or informal experience to know how to use the tool (a) effectively and (b) safely. Many computer users are not capable of either. How are they going to learn, when the detail is hidden from them?
Now back onto TFA: note that the muppet of an author is using the term "OS" to mean "all the software on your PC" ("platform" would've been a better term). For the sake of argument let's take the headline at face value - because none of you read enough of TFA to notice this.
As a developer I fail to see the point of an adaptable OS. It's hard enough developing for different platforms already, but when you allow the OS to make arbitrary decisions about the environment it gets even worse. Say the OS "decided" you were only allowed to use a small amount of memory for your application (less than you needed). Now your app won't run, despite being otherwise compatible with the environment. Or maybe the OS restricts it during execution - in an unmaaged environment does your app then crash? In a managed environment, does your app then page and run like a dog?
Silly idea, and another example of pointless bloat if you ask me. If you want a custom-built tool, get a custom-built tool. Unless you're talking military or embedded systems, you can already do that to a large extent without having to write a single line of code. It's called configuration. On the other hand, if you are happy with a multi-purpose generic swiss-army-knife, why would you get one that comes with the entire contents of your kitchen, garage and garden shed welded onto it "just in case you found them useful too"?
Sure, you can build adaptability into your applications (as opposed to the OS), but don't prevent the user from learning enough to use said application effectively and safely.
It's not that hard to believe once you realise the editors can't be bothered proofreading or spell-checking their own copy, let alone any of the submitted text.
Jeez Taco, can it be that hard to run articles through a spellchecker?
Slashdot Mirror
Cheese, huh? Monterey Jack, perhaps?
Every class I've studied (or taught) has had online lecture notes available for free, usually of quality decent enough for readers to get a passing grade in the class. On top of that, half of the CS lectures I attended as a student (and a couple I taught as a lecturer) were taped outright by students - often using digital recorders, occasionally without the lecturer's consent. And I have no doubt that those recordings were passed on to other students, free of charge.
How is this Prof going to stop something like that? Strip-searching? Metal detectors? Call in the RIAA?
Seriously, he's kidding if he thinks the already-exorbitant fees for education shouldn't cover the availability of notes. The real tangible benefit to him of putting them online, is that it means those who can't be bothered to come to class don't come. Believe me, teaching 50 people who are interested in what you have to say and want to get more than a passing grade is a lot more enjoyable than teaching 200 that couldn't care less.
Refer to any EULA and you'll see that there is inherent risk in using pretty much any software, Beta or not. For example, I just found the following in the WinXP Home EULA (capitalisation theirs):
IMHO, you can't get much more "Beta" than that.
I bet they parse as valid Perl too.
...and so DRDOS is death by firing squad ricochets? Bad Analogy Central, here I come!
He wants to sacrifice the goat, not shave it. Then again, shaved goats sound kinda fun - where did I put that baby oil?
Either way it's a victory for technology - aluminum bats are more durable than wood...
Bah. I built one of these myself, 16 years ago, as a BASIC program no less. One of the first apps I ever wrote in fact. Happy to offer it up as prior art, I just need to track down a 5 1/4 floppy drive...
There, fixed it for you...
While we're talking B-Movie monsters, it's worth mentioning the recent paper(PDF warning) by a couple of physicists proving the nonexistence of vampires and ghosts. Interestingly they didn't show zombies couldn't exist - although they at least came up with a more plausible explanation.
Nice :)
Just as offtopic, but for those of us who don't really know what the term draught really means in a beer context...
Call a spade a spade - don't blame the ISP here. Make people pay for their actual usage and it will all be fair. Why should the average user subsidise those who saturate their connection?
Errr... yes. The inferred joke was that she didn't take it too well, and killed him. Perhaps a little too subtle for the Slashdot crowd.
He did actually break up with her by fax though.
There's already one for Firefox. It's called "Tools --> Clear Private Data"... or Ctrl-Shift-Del for the lazy. You can even set the options to do it when the browser closes, with or without user confirmation.
Exactly - it could've been much worse.
One of my friends dumped his girlfriend of over two years last week - by fax, no less.
He's being cremated tomorrow.
Don Knuth takes that a step further. And understandably so too...
Well that goes without saying - if you only have two then all you can really do is swap feet...
The goggles do nothing?
I'm guessing you either accidentally misunderstood the point of his post, or are trying to start a flamewar. I'll do you the courtesy of assuming the former and responding, rather than modding you down.
The point was that many modern GUIs hide the complexity of a computer from the users. If you insist on bringing CLIs into this, then an obvious analogy to Office restricting GUI options would be if your shell tab-completion only selected from the N most frequent/recent entries rather than all available matches. To some people it would be useful and convenient, to others it would be a right pain in the butt.
Computers are a tool, just like a table saw or a car is also a tool. Obviously it is not reasonable to expect all users to know how every aspect of the tool works, that would be very inefficient. But the users of most other tools almost always have enough formal training and/or informal experience to know how to use the tool (a) effectively and (b) safely. Many computer users are not capable of either. How are they going to learn, when the detail is hidden from them?
Now back onto TFA: note that the muppet of an author is using the term "OS" to mean "all the software on your PC" ("platform" would've been a better term). For the sake of argument let's take the headline at face value - because none of you read enough of TFA to notice this.
As a developer I fail to see the point of an adaptable OS. It's hard enough developing for different platforms already, but when you allow the OS to make arbitrary decisions about the environment it gets even worse. Say the OS "decided" you were only allowed to use a small amount of memory for your application (less than you needed). Now your app won't run, despite being otherwise compatible with the environment. Or maybe the OS restricts it during execution - in an unmaaged environment does your app then crash? In a managed environment, does your app then page and run like a dog?
Silly idea, and another example of pointless bloat if you ask me. If you want a custom-built tool, get a custom-built tool. Unless you're talking military or embedded systems, you can already do that to a large extent without having to write a single line of code. It's called configuration. On the other hand, if you are happy with a multi-purpose generic swiss-army-knife, why would you get one that comes with the entire contents of your kitchen, garage and garden shed welded onto it "just in case you found them useful too"?
Sure, you can build adaptability into your applications (as opposed to the OS), but don't prevent the user from learning enough to use said application effectively and safely.
It's not that hard to believe once you realise the editors can't be bothered proofreading or spell-checking their own copy, let alone any of the submitted text.
Jeez Taco, can it be that hard to run articles through a spellchecker?
...or take it to the other end of the spectrum: add a camera (in the lapel or somewhere) and you've got yourself perfect camouflage every time.
Heh... a real-life KWYJIBO on the loose...
Maybe you don't swallow it then - maybe you slip over in the shower and land awkwardly on it...
Hey, don't look at me like that - it happens to the best of us, I swear!
Alf? They're going after illegal aliens now?
Anyone else spot the irony of naming an animal rights organisation after an alien that eats cats?