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User: RemovableBait

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Comments · 191

  1. Re:The Ultimate Steal? on Microsoft Invents $1.15/Hour Homework Fee For Kids · · Score: 1

    A: Have realized that when compatibility with the outside world counts, especially with VBA, Microsoft Office Wins.

    I would hardly consider VBA support in Microsoft Office to be 'compatibility with the outside world'. Visual Basic for Applications is a proprietary Microsoft technology and arguably contributes to Office lock-in due to the lack of complete implementations outside of Office.

  2. Re:2 hours on WWDC '08 Sees Slimmer, Improved, 3G iPhone · · Score: 1

    Well, that is a standard WWDC session covered under Apple's Developer NDA, so I guess that means no liveblogging.

    No doubt there'll be leaks from all the usual places.

  3. Re:2 hours on WWDC '08 Sees Slimmer, Improved, 3G iPhone · · Score: 4, Informative

    To be fair, he did say right at the beginning that there'd be a presentation offering a glimpse of OS 10.6 'Snow Leopard' after lunch and that this morning's keynote was just about the iPhone.

  4. Re:Does it bring back the "Windows Shade"? on Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update Brings Welcome Fixes · · Score: 1

    Another annoyance: Finder doesn't provide any cursor feedback when your mouse is above a column resizer and able to be clicked. You have to guess. That's funny. I get the same horizontal resize cursor that's been standard on pretty much every OS for years, and I have done on Mac OS X for as long as I can remember.
  5. Re:Why would they subject themselves to this? on Vista Family Discount Keys Found Not Compatible · · Score: 1

    *sigh*

    Why is it so difficult to understand the naming scheme of Mac OS X?

    10.3 to 10.4 is not a "point release". In the Mac naming scheme, that is a major release, and upgrade.
    10.4.5 to 10.4.6 is a "point release", a service pack or an update.

    If it helps, why don't you just forget the '10.', then it becomes 3.0-4.0, or 4.5-4.6.

    If you were to compare, side by side, 10.0 to 10.4, you'd see the big difference.

  6. Re:And of course Linus is right... on Linus Puts Kibosh On Banning Binary Kernel Modules · · Score: 1

    The issue is not that the vendors refuse to open their code, it's that they refuse to open their specifications.

    The lack of technical documentation is what precludes a full featured open source driver, not because ""unrealistic," "too hard," "the release schedules are too fast," or "the open source drivers wouldn't be as good."".

    We already have open source drivers for most of the popular cards. Eg, the 'nv' driver... it just isn't up to 3D acceleration as we don't know the inner workings of the chipsets.

  7. Re:Not aimed *only* at iPods on iTunes Sales 'Collapsing' · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, it is still aimed at iPod screens, as 640x480 is the maximum resolution that the iPod video can play.

    http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

  8. Re:hum on Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up? · · Score: 1

    You are misinformed.

    Standby is resume from RAM.
    Hibernation is where RAM is dumped to disk in an image file on shutdown, then reloaded into RAM on startup.

    Hibernating and booting both load their data from the hard drive. The difference is because booting starts all of your services, daemons and startup apps from fresh every time you power on; whereas hibernation just loads the memory image back into RAM and resumes all of the running processes.

    This is an OS issue, but the main reason why we're not going to get TV start-up times anytime soon is because of POST and hardware initialisation, etc.

  9. Re:apple + videogames = ? on Apple Console Rumour Resurfaces · · Score: 1

    I think the iPod is pretty big proof that Apple does not suck at marketing.

  10. Re:Check the incentives on Would You Trust RFID-Enabled ATM Cards? · · Score: 1
    It's like a config.rc file with the wrong default value: loss-paid-by = customer.


    Wow. You must be the biggest geek on earth.
  11. Re:Latex? on Microsoft Issues Zero-Day Attack Alert For Word · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you're on the Mac too, then TeXShop is a pretty decent GUI for LaTeX documents. It's universal, open-source (GPL), and ties in with MacTeX and Aqua.

  12. Re:can you not grasp the headline? on Microsoft Issues Zero-Day Attack Alert For Word · · Score: 1

    Your sarcasm detector needs adjustment.

  13. Re:transport losses? on Solar Cell Achieves 40% Efficiency · · Score: 1

    Good luck coding in a blackout... :)

  14. Re:Parallels Vs. VMWare on Parallels Beta Adds Boot Camp, Desktop · · Score: 1

    I'll be honest and say that I really thought the one-button trackpad would get on my nerves. I mean, who wants to hold the Option key just to get a right click? I deliberated for a few weeks and spent a bit of time playing with the laptops in the local Apple store, before eventually taking the plunge and buying a MacBook.

    Having used it for about 2 months now (I'm a first time switcher), I can say that the one-button design is perfectly fine. I use the trackpad features, like two finger scrolling and two finger tap for right click, so often that when I sit down with another laptop I find myself tapping away, wondering why the context menu won't come up. The same thing happens with two finger scrolling (and my Expose screen corners).

    If the only reason for not buying a Mac laptop is the one-button trackpad, then I'd advise your friends to go down to the Apple store and spend 20 minutes playing with one. If they decide it's really not for them, then that's great. I can attest though, once you've used the trackpad features for a couple of days you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.

  15. Re:Incomplete list on Apple Prototypes: 5 Products We Never Saw · · Score: 1

    -1, Overrated?

  16. Re:Average Scores on Sony Console the Worst Launch Ever · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think almost any other metric would be a better one than 'average review score of the launch line-up'...

  17. Hold on there! on Oracle Has More Flaws Than SQL Server · · Score: 0, Redundant
    To quote from the summary:
    "compared bugs in Oracle and SQL Server that were reported and fixed between December 2000 and November 2006."
    (emphasis mine)

    Now, I'll admit I haven't yet RTFA, but I think we've pretty much been through this before.

    Just because there were more bugs reported and fixed in one product than another does not mean that product is more secure . There could have been hundreds of reported but as-yet-unfixed bugs in one of the products that isn't included. One company could have a greater emphasis on patching, squashing more bugs than its competitor. There could be thousands of unreported, unfixed and unknown bugs in both products. Perhaps not all of these bugs are security flaws. One product may have less bugs, but all of them are security related and none of the competitor's are. Need I go on?

    The point is that these comparisons are sensationalism. The same happens in the whole 'Number of Linux patches VS Number of Windows patches' and 'Firefox flaws VS IE flaws' arguments -- and we all know the real story with those.
  18. Re:Subjective Review on Critical Review of the Zune · · Score: 1

    Well then, if wireless sync is totally useless to you... that's great. I wish you the best of luck with your USB cable, sir.

    However, some of us would like to have such an option. I, for one, have an iPod dock and charger sitting on my hifi unit (with audio out from the dock going into the hifi) which I use to charge it. I just come in, dump the iPod in the dock and then go away somewhere else and open my MacBook.

    The iPod is on, as it's charging, so the best case scenario is that when I open iTunes (which I invariably do anyway) the application detects the iPod, connects wirelessly to it (wherever it is in the house/room) and syncs my music. If I have disk use enabled, then it mounts the iPod as a removable hard drive -- exactly the same behaviour as if I had plugged in the cable.

    Why do you not want this kind of functionality to be added? Assuming it has no impact on size and weight, and you can turn it off if you don't want it, is there any good reason not to?

  19. Re:Subjective Review on Critical Review of the Zune · · Score: 1
    "It has wifi it should be able to link up with other wifi devices and move data around, it doesn't."
    I don't expect it to. Why do you? What WiFi devices should it "link up" with that it doesn't? iPods?

    Maybe the user's computer over their existing wireless network, to synchronise their music without the USB cable? I though that was a pretty logical (and reasonably cool) feature to have in a WiFi enable music player. Certainly, if a new iPod came out with wireless capabilities, then I'd expect it to be able to sync wirelessly with (at the very least) Airport-enabled Macs.
    The existing iPod is not a WiFi device and I seriously doubt anyone expected the Zune to link up with it.
  20. Re:Nobody To Cheer For on Microsoft Hands Over Docs To EU · · Score: 1
    Personally I don't use OO because I can't swap files with people with whom I co-author scientific articles. MS Office and Open Office equations STILL don't work right (and before you LaTeX fanatics step in, neither of us speak that language).

    If you actually do any serious scientific writing that requires mathematical equations or formulae, then you really should make an effort to learn LaTeX. Rather than whinge about the lacking equation editors in Word and OO, just take the time to download TeX, a user friendly editor (like TeXShop for the Mac) and the manual over at Wikibooks. Once you've grasped the basic concepts (which only takes about 20 minutes of effort), then writing complex documents is easy. I learned LaTeX at university for writing technical reports in Engineering and found the whole bibliography and reference management system (BibTeX + LaTeX) an absolute lifesaver.
  21. Re:It's not the security I'm worried about.... on Web Surfing in Public Places Is A Way to Court Trouble · · Score: 1

    Could you pass on the URL so we can all take a look?

    I fought with OpenVPN a few months ago to try and get it to tunnel all internet traffic over the VPN, but failed to get it working reliably. Perhaps this is the time to revisit that little project...

  22. VPN access to the University network. on Computer Services for Students? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At my university, computing services provide VPN access into the university network. Not only is this pretty damn useful for accessing the university services (such as the file storage they supply as an SMB share), it is also pretty good when surfing the internet from insecure wireless access points -- such as those in the local Starbucks -- as you can tunnel all your web traffic through it. Make it fast and with enough bandwidth, and those students with laptops will be thankful.

    Oh, and if you have enough HDD space... a bigger disk quota is always handy. And contrary to what others have said, students with any sense will not fill it with porn and warez. Trust me, nobody wants the embarrassment of getting caught.

  23. Re:A little prettier. on Firefox 2.0 RC3 Released · · Score: 1

    It would also be very nice for them to put in an option to respect the System Preferences for proxy settings rather than make you configure it separately.

    I love the fact that I can configure different proxy settings for different network adaptors on my MacBook (I need to use a proxy server for ethernet, but not for wireless) and everything just works. Then Firefox comes along and I have to fiddle about with the settings...

  24. Mysterious advert in the FT. on Microsoft Working With Security Vendors · · Score: 1

    Has anybody here actually seen this advert for themselves? I've tried googling around for a picture of it or a link to it, but without any luck. Anyone have a link?

    I'm still amazed in some respects that McAfee got away with it. IANAL, but it sounded almost libellous to me.

  25. Re:every time I try firefox, I go back. on IE7 To Ship With Windows Patches Tomorrow [Not] · · Score: 1

    Riiiight. So you switch back to IE because you're too lazy to go into the Preferences and set it up the way you want it? And on that basis, you're condemning the entire project because the default configuration (which seems to suit the many millions of users out there) doesn't suit you? WTF.

    Since when did any piece of software come set up 'just the way you like it'? I can't think of a single program that I have installed and not changed something in the preferences, however trivial.

    Come back in a few years time when you realise that software is not written just for you.