You fly into a foreign country, head to the first car rental agency (well, actually, the rental agency is government-owned and ubiquitous). The lady at the counter provides you, free-of-charge, a slightly musty, old, not-been-fixed-up-in-five-years vehicle. No apprehension on your part, look around and see a LOT of folks driving the same vehicle, right?
Head out to the lot, and stumble across another rental agency, who will give you a newer, shinier, standards-compliant car - still free-of-charge. Free! Do you tell that agency, "No thanks, I'll stick with this first clunker."?
That's the problem with Internet Explorer users, in my eyes. The refusal to upgrade, even when the upgrade is FREE. Free as in Firefox. Free as in Opera.
These same users then undermine the goals of CSS - establishing a standard for web formatting (am I right?). Also as a consequence, web designers must bend over backwards to include compatibilty with their clunky, five-year-old lemon (how many times have I seen, "Oh, and here's the IE fix for this effect"?).
More on point: Dvorak, the issue is NOT CSS - it's the browser.
I guess what really sticks in my craw is the ludicrous pump-and-dump that was manufactured out of all SCO's claims (remember when their stock was over $50?). Just a bad thing that the bad-guys in this story earned so much cash.
What I find really enjoyable is the more-aggressive stance IBM's lawyers have taken in recent filings.
Not trying to call them pansies for their actions in the past, and clearly they understand the US court system far better than I ever hope to; but I know I'm not the only one that has been frustrated by all the shenanigans that SCO's lawyers and management have been allowed to pull since this thing started three freekin years ago.
But IBM hasn't pulled any punches lately, going for the jugular with this reply memo and its requests for discovery (asking for details in SCO's relationship with Baystar is gonna reveal beaucoup scummage, imho).
Anyone have a deathwatch-type clock running for SCO?
Yeah, I'm thinking along those lines and I'm wondering... When does Bush roll out the Death Star? He's already stolen the Axis of Evil title from his library stash - no license is safe from his powers of misappropriation.
It would cover the 20 years in the life of Luke Skywalker growing up that remains a mystery to most film-goers.
I am confused - just HOW much of a mystery could his life have been? Growing up on the moisture farm, rise early to avoid the heat, dust off the droids, whine to Uncle Ben, lots of sand on Tattoine...
Lucas should not milk this cow any longer, prequels are not his strength! I'd root for something that picked up twenty years after Ep VI, the books are full of the political intrigue and scandal Lucas adored so much for Ep's I, II, and III...
Ok, yeah, see the thing is I have this puppy for sale. Adorable little thing - big floppy ears, waggy tail, four paws... I'll let you pay me for him. Then you can take him home, house-train him, feed him, play with and care for him, clean up after him - all of that is on you.
Oh, and one more little thing. To make sure he doesn't catch a cold or anything serious, I'm gonna let you pay me $50 to keep him germ-free. Per year. For the rest of his life. I'm feeling so generous, I'll make sure that $50 covers the puppy and two more that look, act,and bark just like him. You have to love this deal - 3 puppies covered for just $50!
Huh? How do I know he could catch a cold in the first place? How do you know it's not some annoying insurance scheme - a just-in-case kinda thing - that you never actually utilise? Relax, I've been churning out these puppies for years - bred them with germ-catching flaws built right in. I can personally guarantee this puppy is susceptible to germs!
Scarier thought: How long have people tried to make a sure-fire money-generating internet ad system? Once MS buys up all the adware and spyware code, they will have instant access to the Windows desktops. Streaming ads 24x7, a new "feature", without which XP won't install.
And no, I don't think the Antispyware Formerly Known as GIANT will object to MS adware - do you?
Not when you consider Sun's maligning attitude towards all things purely Open (see Java, CDDL, etc). We've all seen the warnings against swimming in the JDS waters for ages now.
Maybe Sun and Microsoft have made a pledge to just be honest with us from now on? Maybe they've abandonned they're FUDdy ways? Maybe.
More likely that Sun realised they could not tread open source waters and eat their cake too.
But Linus is head of kernel development. Windows' kernel is closed source, so mucking around in a Windows environment won't really give him any insight into windows kernel "best practices".
And one really can't overlook that Windows EULA. Would the creators and developers of open-source OSes volunteer themselves for that enslavement?
In EpI we learn that young Anakin was a tinkerer of immense skill. Take a look at that pod racer, for one. And watch the actual Boonta Eve race closely - two sets of circumstances prevent him from leading that race from jump: he stalls at the beginning and that crazy scene where one of the tether cables breaks loose. Despite this, his speeder is agile and fast enough to overtake all the other contesants and eventually win. The kid must have been an engineering genius.
BUT there's C3PO. WHY would he build a protocol droid that LOOKED LIKE EVERY OTHER PROTOCOL DROID?!? And then make it so damn prissy?
Ok, I can accept his not designing the AI for the droid, but (IMO) C3PO's frame would have been totally unique to accomodate the harsh living conditions of Tattooine.
Finally, it would seem that Obi-Wan is not the only one playing the "I don't remember this droid" game. In EpV, C3PO is in a box, yes, but Darth NEVER recognizes him during the carbonite freeze scene. Oops?
ibook G4 owner since November. First Apple product I've ever purchased, have loved the look of OSX for ages, been wowed by the gui and all the little things that make OSX so fun.
Have always been anal about file structure with my Windows and Linux boxes. Always fussed about location of page/swap files and partitions. Constantly cleared out temp folders. Forever concious about the level of defragmentation of the file system (ntfs or ext3). Etc etc etc...
Only recently realised that I do NONE of this with my ibook! For the first time, I'm totally content living in the GUI. Don't get me wrong directory structure is still important, but all the fussing is gone. And I'm not saying the gui is perfect. I AM saying the labour of creating folder hierarchies and organising files is a non-event with the ibook.
See this all the time from "innovative" Microsoft - "Hey! Look over here! We have something that may work one day - AND it'll be better than anything found today!"
Then their marketing team grabs hold of it, blasts it to the world as gospel (think WFS), and media outlets gobble it up and regurgitate it to the masses (think Longhorn, Yukon, etc etc). Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
Meanwhile, the knowledgeable among us just shake our heads and get back to real work with real tools (think ANYTHING outside MS's shallow box, including BASH).
Alright, they deserve a pat on the back for finally comprehending that the command line is a genuine tool (how many times have Windows admins been shanked when the gui locked up on them?). But to then brag that their new toy will be better than BASH?!? Crank yanking at its best.
Interview back in October 11, 2001. Relevant question (of course, Bush does NOT answer it):
REPORTER: Mr. President, I'm sure many Americans are wondering where all of this will lead. And you've called upon the country to go back to business and to go back to normal, but you haven't called for any sacrifices from the American people. And I wonder, do you feel that any will be needed? Are you planning to call for any? And do you think that American life will really go back to the way it was on Sept. 10?
Clearly, works like this Patriot Act show America is far from "life as normal".
From the article:
"Florida cannot contract away the statutory rights of its citizens," the judge wrote.
I'm in agreement with the judge's sentiment here - making a buck should not come between a citizen and his/her rights to this sort of info. The techniques used by the breath-analysing equipment should be properly protected by copyright law - the manufacturer is thus protected from the threat of losing out to his competitors.
Anything that so impacts a citizen should be open to public scrutiny.
Have to agree with AC here - the leap from "no virus or malware" to "therefore they MUST be using a MAC" is hard to swallow. My XP machine has no virus or malware trouble, and neither does my linux server nor my ibook G4.
What is NOT mentioned by the article is true woe for the 84% of computer users that do have such trouble. 84%!!!
Slashdot Mirror
...is gonna vote for the McCain/Palin ticket?
Hey, did anyone notice the date attached to this 'story'?
Last Updated: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 08:51 GMT 09:51 UK
Was this submitted as a joke, as a troll or what?
You fly into a foreign country, head to the first car rental agency (well, actually, the rental agency is government-owned and ubiquitous). The lady at the counter provides you, free-of-charge, a slightly musty, old, not-been-fixed-up-in-five-years vehicle. No apprehension on your part, look around and see a LOT of folks driving the same vehicle, right?
Head out to the lot, and stumble across another rental agency, who will give you a newer, shinier, standards-compliant car - still free-of-charge. Free! Do you tell that agency, "No thanks, I'll stick with this first clunker."?
That's the problem with Internet Explorer users, in my eyes. The refusal to upgrade, even when the upgrade is FREE. Free as in Firefox. Free as in Opera.
These same users then undermine the goals of CSS - establishing a standard for web formatting (am I right?). Also as a consequence, web designers must bend over backwards to include compatibilty with their clunky, five-year-old lemon (how many times have I seen, "Oh, and here's the IE fix for this effect"?).
More on point: Dvorak, the issue is NOT CSS - it's the browser.
Whoa. Hey, great analogy!
I guess what really sticks in my craw is the ludicrous pump-and-dump that was manufactured out of all SCO's claims (remember when their stock was over $50?). Just a bad thing that the bad-guys in this story earned so much cash.
Heh - yeah. I've never understood that 'absolutes' line, since there was never anyone as uptight as a Jedi in Lucas' world.
What I find really enjoyable is the more-aggressive stance IBM's lawyers have taken in recent filings.
Not trying to call them pansies for their actions in the past, and clearly they understand the US court system far better than I ever hope to; but I know I'm not the only one that has been frustrated by all the shenanigans that SCO's lawyers and management have been allowed to pull since this thing started three freekin years ago.
But IBM hasn't pulled any punches lately, going for the jugular with this reply memo and its requests for discovery (asking for details in SCO's relationship with Baystar is gonna reveal beaucoup scummage, imho).
Anyone have a deathwatch-type clock running for SCO?
Yeah, I'm thinking along those lines and I'm wondering... When does Bush roll out the Death Star? He's already stolen the Axis of Evil title from his library stash - no license is safe from his powers of misappropriation.
Uncle BEN?!? Crap...
COPY!!!
It would cover the 20 years in the life of Luke Skywalker growing up that remains a mystery to most film-goers.
I am confused - just HOW much of a mystery could his life have been? Growing up on the moisture farm, rise early to avoid the heat, dust off the droids, whine to Uncle Ben, lots of sand on Tattoine...
Lucas should not milk this cow any longer, prequels are not his strength! I'd root for something that picked up twenty years after Ep VI, the books are full of the political intrigue and scandal Lucas adored so much for Ep's I, II, and III...
Ok, maybe even that would suck.
Ok, yeah, see the thing is I have this puppy for sale. Adorable little thing - big floppy ears, waggy tail, four paws... I'll let you pay me for him. Then you can take him home, house-train him, feed him, play with and care for him, clean up after him - all of that is on you.
Oh, and one more little thing. To make sure he doesn't catch a cold or anything serious, I'm gonna let you pay me $50 to keep him germ-free. Per year. For the rest of his life. I'm feeling so generous, I'll make sure that $50 covers the puppy and two more that look, act,and bark just like him. You have to love this deal - 3 puppies covered for just $50!
Huh? How do I know he could catch a cold in the first place? How do you know it's not some annoying insurance scheme - a just-in-case kinda thing - that you never actually utilise? Relax, I've been churning out these puppies for years - bred them with germ-catching flaws built right in. I can personally guarantee this puppy is susceptible to germs!
Scarier thought: How long have people tried to make a sure-fire money-generating internet ad system? Once MS buys up all the adware and spyware code, they will have instant access to the Windows desktops. Streaming ads 24x7, a new "feature", without which XP won't install.
And no, I don't think the Antispyware Formerly Known as GIANT will object to MS adware - do you?
Nah, they'd just use the spyware/adware to send out 7 billion *pop-ups* declaring adware is dead.
I stand corrected.
My finger was pointing at Sun's anti-GPL stance, and mis-stated that, to whit:
Not when you consider Sun's maligning attitude towards all things purely GPL'd (see Java, CDDL, etc).
Not when you consider Sun's maligning attitude towards all things purely Open (see Java, CDDL, etc). We've all seen the warnings against swimming in the JDS waters for ages now.
Maybe Sun and Microsoft have made a pledge to just be honest with us from now on? Maybe they've abandonned they're FUDdy ways? Maybe.
More likely that Sun realised they could not tread open source waters and eat their cake too.
But Linus is head of kernel development. Windows' kernel is closed source, so mucking around in a Windows environment won't really give him any insight into windows kernel "best practices".
And one really can't overlook that Windows EULA. Would the creators and developers of open-source OSes volunteer themselves for that enslavement?
Another inconsistency that bothers me:
In EpI we learn that young Anakin was a tinkerer of immense skill. Take a look at that pod racer, for one. And watch the actual Boonta Eve race closely - two sets of circumstances prevent him from leading that race from jump: he stalls at the beginning and that crazy scene where one of the tether cables breaks loose. Despite this, his speeder is agile and fast enough to overtake all the other contesants and eventually win. The kid must have been an engineering genius.
BUT there's C3PO. WHY would he build a protocol droid that LOOKED LIKE EVERY OTHER PROTOCOL DROID?!? And then make it so damn prissy?
Ok, I can accept his not designing the AI for the droid, but (IMO) C3PO's frame would have been totally unique to accomodate the harsh living conditions of Tattooine.
Finally, it would seem that Obi-Wan is not the only one playing the "I don't remember this droid" game. In EpV, C3PO is in a box, yes, but Darth NEVER recognizes him during the carbonite freeze scene. Oops?
Yes, I too have lost sleep over the prequels...
ibook G4 owner since November. First Apple product I've ever purchased, have loved the look of OSX for ages, been wowed by the gui and all the little things that make OSX so fun.
Have always been anal about file structure with my Windows and Linux boxes. Always fussed about location of page/swap files and partitions. Constantly cleared out temp folders. Forever concious about the level of defragmentation of the file system (ntfs or ext3). Etc etc etc...
Only recently realised that I do NONE of this with my ibook! For the first time, I'm totally content living in the GUI. Don't get me wrong directory structure is still important, but all the fussing is gone. And I'm not saying the gui is perfect. I AM saying the labour of creating folder hierarchies and organising files is a non-event with the ibook.
Yeah, I for one welcome the change.
See this all the time from "innovative" Microsoft - "Hey! Look over here! We have something that may work one day - AND it'll be better than anything found today!"
Then their marketing team grabs hold of it, blasts it to the world as gospel (think WFS), and media outlets gobble it up and regurgitate it to the masses (think Longhorn, Yukon, etc etc). Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
Meanwhile, the knowledgeable among us just shake our heads and get back to real work with real tools (think ANYTHING outside MS's shallow box, including BASH).
Alright, they deserve a pat on the back for finally comprehending that the command line is a genuine tool (how many times have Windows admins been shanked when the gui locked up on them?). But to then brag that their new toy will be better than BASH?!? Crank yanking at its best.
Found this interview:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/combating/bu sh_10-11d.html
Interview back in October 11, 2001. Relevant question (of course, Bush does NOT answer it):
REPORTER: Mr. President, I'm sure many Americans are wondering where all of this will lead. And you've called upon the country to go back to business and to go back to normal, but you haven't called for any sacrifices from the American people. And I wonder, do you feel that any will be needed? Are you planning to call for any? And do you think that American life will really go back to the way it was on Sept. 10?
Clearly, works like this Patriot Act show America is far from "life as normal".
Read the title and thought it was another of those "the GPL is a virus" rants/FUD articles...
From the article: "Florida cannot contract away the statutory rights of its citizens," the judge wrote. I'm in agreement with the judge's sentiment here - making a buck should not come between a citizen and his/her rights to this sort of info. The techniques used by the breath-analysing equipment should be properly protected by copyright law - the manufacturer is thus protected from the threat of losing out to his competitors. Anything that so impacts a citizen should be open to public scrutiny.
Have to agree with AC here - the leap from "no virus or malware" to "therefore they MUST be using a MAC" is hard to swallow. My XP machine has no virus or malware trouble, and neither does my linux server nor my ibook G4. What is NOT mentioned by the article is true woe for the 84% of computer users that do have such trouble. 84%!!!