I've started getting OOXML (docx) Word documents, which I've found take forever to convert using MS' own builting converter (2007 to 2003) and that the conversion frequently jacks-up the formatting, which doesn't bother me, but makes collabaration difficult, and I have to re-format the documents if we're in a crunch since my project lead is anal about asthetic things like that.
<rant>If it were up to me, I'd do reports in plaintext (or if necessary, PDF)</rant>
Why not make Acid2 the default? I'm sure the browsers interals could look for IE6/7 "hacks" and provide a icon on the bottom to have it viewed in compatibility mode? If the broken mode is going to be the default, I think standardization will be slow, unless common developer tools like MS Visual Studio and Dreamweaver put in the MS Specfic renderer tags in by default.
I think we're at the moment when developers want standards, where in the IE4/NS4 war, everyone and their brother was trying to hack-together web pages, and IE did some nice exposition of the DOM via the ID attribute in tags, which accomodated less-skilled programmers. Now that the baseline-developer's skills are improved, and the IDEs out there are actually pretty decent (e.g. Not FrontPage, Not MS Word) I'd say the time is right.
While the Acid2 test is niceity, what I'd really love to see is a standard plugin model shared by FF and IE. It has been a while, but I always thought the "EMBED" inside of an "OBJECT" tag was lame. I don't like ActiveX but I get in intranet environments where it can be useful, where the code should be "trusted" and "signed", where you're essentially using a browser to "publish" applications that should probably be desktop applets, or use a native HTML (AJAX?) interface rather than "VB applet on a webpage." That being said, we need an out in the wild, "safe" plugin/viewer model.
As a Mac user, I can say at QuickTime (since I used my first computer in the 8th grade) has always been the blemish on an otherwise positive Macintosh experience. I've always found it to be slow, buggy, and always full of compatibility issues. Why not create a rather standard Quicktime subsystem, and simply have pluggable codecs for the difference revisions of QuickTime, that way you get backward compatibility and connectivity to other applications. If you're going to have QT be essentially an OS service, it should be pretty static between major OS versions (at least in the areas where it is a dependency of OS components, or a dependency of major applications using the API, not unsupported hacks).
Have the player attach the the rather static subsystem so you can add GUI features, abilities, etc... in incremental versions.
This would allow QT PRO users to take advantage of everything QT 7.4 can do, but allow Applications that depend upon it to be "frozen" to QT 7.x that it works for, until the vendor pushes a patch. I could see after an application crash, it contact the vendor and on next launch recommend attaching to the greatest "known working" quicktime engine, as the default choice, but listing all supported quicktime instances, so developers could choose the level of compatibility they require.
It would be kind of like the idea where OO.org lets you choose the JVM installation you want to use.
The biggest problem is that performing a QuickTime upgrade is a major OS change in the Mac OS, and often leads to incompatibilites (better on OS X, terrible with = OS 9.x's and its extension madness). Users tend to look at upgrading QT just like Flash player, but on the Mac in particular, it should be seen more like a service pack on Windows.
The luxury of MySQL is that is is more simple than the more robust databases like Oracle or MSSQL. If you're a vendor, and you want your application do database-like things, a having a database in your portfolio is a wonderful asset. For instance, Microsoft Exchange's internal databases are run by a MSSQL-like data engine optimized for the kinds of data it stores. Microsoft's Terminal Server code (in NT 4.0 -> 2000) is the basis (if not the entirety) of Windows XPs Remote Desktop/Remote Assistance features in the consumer OS.
If Sun could use MySQL as a simple application service (Java or otherwise) database for applications wishing to use a RDBMS for internal functionality (vs. lets say a text file, or some proprietary binary blob file) Sun would have the perfect product in its simplicity, lightweightness and general support in the OSS community. If you had a highly tuned MySQL instance running as part of an application, you'd get simple app-to-app integration.
I see ads on/. very often touting the newest, most robust, kick-ass embeded database almost every month. I think MySQL has a strong enough name, and Sun has enough credibility, and the ability to make native-java packages, to do well in this market.
On another note, with I'm sure it has been said before, but it can't be said enough, how awesome would it be if OO.org had MySQL as the data-engine in OO.org's Base application. It would make it much simpler to use OO.org forms to integrate into live data being pulled from other sources. (To me, using an Office Suite to manage "data" is a bad idea, but I've done enough freelance work to see many small businesses who think a shared folder (usually from the admin assistant's PC hard disk) full of Word documents is the best way to store business information much better suited for a DB (or even Excel if they must...).
I've worked for several colleges, and most had Free-Speech Zones where student organizations, community members where allowed to setup tables, pass out leaflets, etc. The other instututions that didn't have these, had a general understanding of "where" was appropriate to have peaceful protest, or speakers.
In all cases, these areas were central to the campus and often in areas where students tended to gather normally. I never observed police try to interfere with the students or speakers and only interfered outside these areas when they were breaking the law (e.g. using chalk on unviersity buildings walls where the rain wouldn't wash it off), harassing bystanders going to class, or were being loud as to interupt others right to peace. (e.g. interupting classes.)
Unfortunately in my experience, the only situations I observed censorship in higher ed were in the classrooms, where students were penalized in their academic work for arguing alternative theories (e.g. in the social sciences) that were not the prefered theories or ideologies of the professors. I found it was a lot easier to grit my teeth and agree in class and on paper with the professors than argue any alternative viewpoint.
I would hope that the Malicious Procecution judgement would make it easier to procescute under RICO statues, given that the extortion has been proven in a court of law, and that the class action suit would further canonize the scope of their extortions into case law. I'm not a lawyer, but it seemed like the Federal case against Michael Vick made the state's case and open and shut event. This seems like the same kind of thing.
Then they should hammer the media companies on conspiracy charges because they are the ones knowingly financing the RIAAs shenanagins, that have already been proven illegal.
If I were Apple, I'd create free Wi-Fi APs at the gates in major airports that did something like "jail" the session to a advertisement page for their download service, on the first page load, then function as a free wifi point.
When the users buy items from the iTMS, music and items would be downloaded from the Internet, but have a local-cache in the airport of large movie files that are commonly downloaded (new releases, popular TV series) so the download speeds would be do-able in a normal layover. iTunes would notify them of the ETA for the download to make sure they can swing it before takeoff (based on server load, 802.11x standard used), using the local-cache so it is highly predictable.
Apple could do a push to the local-caches at the Airport from the central iTMS on DVD Tuesday or something like that.
I think the service would be a great source of free advertising, with notices by the gate "Free WiFi provided by Apple" and the landing page like they have at Panera bread would drive them to impulse buys during a long layover.
I mean, you can already buy an iPod at the airport out of a vending machine, having a link to the iTMS at the gate seems highly logical especially since they could get buyers who wouldn't normally use the service.
iPhones already can access the iTMS, but it is the Free WiFi provided by Apple to get the first advertisement for people that don't know, or never thought about it, and the local-cache that would make the downloads feasible are the lynchpins for a successful service.
If you're going to do a fair comparison, consider only the Mac Pro system. The Mac Mini and iMac are obviously geared toward a different market. Just like most PC makers have an ultra-high end model for gaming and 3D processing.
On the Mac Pro, there is nothing stopping you from installing any PCI-X graphics adaptor that has Mac OS X drivers. Apple sells hardware that fits the average user's needs for the hardware. Most people are using Apple computers for creative work that doesn't require just-in-time 3D graphics.
I can promise you, a well written game will run on lessor hardware on a Mac than in Windows. In particular in Vista, because the OS consumes so much memory, x64 sucks, and the OS uses the GPU for basic stuff.
I think the video card thing is a cop-out. If developers wrote more solid code, they could drop the minimum specifications on what kind of hardware is required. Look at consoles, they run, generally speaking on inferior hardware in particular less RAM and slower CPUs, and provide a very solid user experience. The reason is the code is far more optimized for the hardware, which you'll only be able to truly achieve on platform with known, or reasonably expected hardware. Also consider that the operating systems in consoles are very tuned, something that any UNIX variant like OS X will be able to actually accomplish better than Windows. Linux/UNIX kernels can be compiled for the specific hardware being addressed. Mac OS X is developed internal to the hardware developer, and can be optimized to run on the exact hardware it is designed for. I would think the Mac (if it had greater marketshare) would be a game developer's wet-dream because it is the practically only platform today where you have this combination of predictability, OS taylored to the hardware, and robust OpenGL support, and not get effed when Microsoft decides to freeze DirectX on legacy OSes (Windows XP) to force an upgrade. Microsoft even effed their Windows Vista/DX10 certified hardware customers by making 10.1 non-backward compatible.
If you're an American (like I am) and they try to use biometrics, just watch some European porn at work. The porn will raise your BP, breathing and alertness measures, and the nuances of a diffrent langauge dialect will raise any thought metrics above a normal baseline, but not so much that the computer thinks you are confused or strugling tounderstand what you're doing.
On a more serious note, I think this is a bad idea because some people like a co-worker I have get easily `exctied` and panicy over little things, which the system might interpret as incompetence or `vigilence` but is truly neither. On the other hand, when it hits the fan, I'm always pretty level headed, and you don't see me panicing while reading error logs, so it could mark me as `under-performing` or `apathetic` very easily against the departmental baseline.
Now that it is solved, how much longer until we get `musik.ikea.com`? The only problem is there most likley won't be a search function and you'll have to travese a directory tree yourself to find anything.
I looked into being a TSA screener and got quite a bit through the hiring process (before getting another tech job at higher pay), thinking it would be a good entry-level position into law enforcement while I worked on the physical fitness for the Civil Service exam. The biggest problem I found is that the starting pay (see usajobs.gov) is $26,000 + locality pay starting. I don't know about a lot of folks, but after college, and not wanting to live on Ramen noodles any longer, $26Gs isn't enough money ro recruit highly qualified candidates, and even more, keeping highly qualified candidates. Even worse, when I moved to California to get married, all the positions at local airports were part time.
You can't tell me the TSA is getting the best and brightest for that kind of pay, and even worse, not letting the workers do it full-time.
Get rid of the bottom 25% worst employees you've got (# of complains, attitude issues, problem children), and give the good employees 75% of the fired workers pay, and recruit "highly qualified" workers, and you'll solve a lot of the problems in attitude/customer service off the top. Implement alongside a few tweaks here and it should be a good balance.
It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a DBA or a high-level programmer, I'd say you're on the right track (though, low-level code experience will make you a better high-level programmer). However, one thing I see lacking, amongst programmers I work with, is a real understanding of the platform they are developing for. I am kind of in an odd position where I'm programmer 50% of the time, and server admin the other 50%, and I see lots of instances where having more OS-specific knowledge would make the developers more effective. I think the same is true for databases-server products. I'm shocked with developers don't know general Windows OS stuff that all desktop support entry-level techs do. I've seen professors write dissertations on neural nets and call tech support (my first job) with the most assinine questions about how to configure Eudora.
I think the converse is true as well, if you are a server administrator, being able to look at developer's code when windows flips out or you run into a performance issue makes a huge difference. (e.g. is this process slow because someapp.exe is single threaded, or is it slow because it is multi-threaded but generating many-many inefficent threads.)
By your 3rd year of university, you should probably have at least a general direction toward what you want to do, so I'd say pick coursework that will work toward that goal, and if possible, pick up a complmentary course or two in System Administration and Oracle (as most folks can figure out MySQL/MSSQL if they have some SQL knowledge, but Oracle experience translates to dollars as most less folks have less training or self-taught experience with it.).
TicketMaster does this same thing. When you select a seat, your ticket is "locked" for 20 minutes, giving you time to register it to keep someone from jacking it while you fumble for your credit card.
This makes sense to me, and I wouldn't be upset if Network Solutions did that, even for an hour or so, just to prevent it (though, if ICANN would end this domain tasting nonsense, and NSI's website communicated with WHOIS over SSL, I'd call it a statistical improbability someone would try to get the exact same name you are unless it is highly topical like dont-taze-me-bro.com). I doubt there is anyone who who'd be using WHOIS that needs 5 days to sure up the funds to actually finish the transaction.
No, I'm implying the exact opposite... the Republican party is not fiscally conservative, by way of saying that there is no party in America for the fiscally conservative, which is sad.
Sony wants to get broad exceptance but I've read elsewhere is unhappy at the.99 price tag across the board for their whole catalouge.
I'm sure Sony would love to be able to charge more, and get their music on non-iPod services, and I think Amazon's reputation as being stable, reliable, not-going-to-fold-any-moment, relatively trustworthy vendor makes them a necessary evil for Sony, especially given the failure of their own music download service.
Also remember than the PS3's media center or the PSP aren't going to be able to play FairPlay'd music files from Apple. They probably won't use PlaysForSure either because of their war with Microsoft. They could make a 3rd DRM format for their own players/consoles/computers, but then they lose the iPod. I think they're realizing that Sony BMG is hurting their other businesses to stop the inevitable.
I agree with most of the other posters that video games might have cost the candidates a few votes.
Along the same line is that the young voters see the losing candidates as being part of the nanny-state problem where Washington is going to tell me what to do, and we've had enough of that in the current administration. Their position on games isn't the dealbreaker but is symptomatic of a positon that de-values true liberty of expression. Which, I kind of expect this from Rommney trying to win the religious right over Huckabee, but I don't understand from the liberal candidates (given the root of liberal is liberty), is their fascination with a freedom limiting huge government with its hands over everything, after the outcry against Bush for doing the exact same thing. (Disclaimer: I'm a fiscal conservative, but not a republican, because there is no party in America for fiscal conservatives and social libertarians.)
The reason I apply this more to young voters as most young voters aren't won by the "please think of the children" argument (because they don't have them) that most candidates use for this kind of nonsense, weather it is a game, a television program or other media.
If I know exactly what I'm going to do, and I want to OS to "stay of out the way" and take as few resources as possible, and do exactly what I want it to do, and nothing else, period, I start with a vanilla OpenBSD 4.x install, and then apply the daemons I need depending on what it is supposed to do. I absolutely love it, because out-of-the-box it extremely lean, the documentation is readily available, a decent community (though, I will admit Linux is doing a lot better in that regard than most BSDs), and the OS does exactly what it is supposed to do, abstract the hardware from the applications, and enforce good behavior of the applications and my users.
When I have a computer that I want out of the box to do whatever I throw at it on a whim e.g. install an applet with no thought, auto-configure practically anything I throw at it, provide a GUI, warn me when I'm about to do something I might regret, I power up my Mac. I don't claim Mac OS X is perfect (it is not), but I think it has a lot of OS fundamentals right by virtue of being UNIX, and aside from some of the braindead changes in Leopard, got the right balence of asthetic, usability and functionalty for a primarily, desktop consumer OS.
I think that the trobule is that a lot of programmers (in particularly in closed-source situations, like myself at work) think "what is a couple of bits here and there" or "I know the bubble sort is a little slower but it works and I don't need to think about it much and damn microsoft for not putting a.MagicSort() member function on the class anyway!) In that it doesn't matter if my widget runs on 2MB or 16MB of RAM because everyone always has enough and my time is more valuable (and sadly, my users care more about) making it skinable,transparent and animated than efficient.
With a magnitude of features, increases the risk of error, in particular with new tech, and aging legacy support (e.g. writing Windows n+1 so it is "better" but doesn't brean Windows N, I read somewhere that the Windows SMB protocol code is almost unbearable to maintain).
A dream would be if you could have a fully documented OS, so beefy applications could be written (e.g. like Photoshop, or a Game) to run as "the most important process" (in a way better than process-priority in Windows) at the request of the user, and that the application could tell the OS what non-essential services (such as PnP listening, etc...) can be shut down and enforce the OS interferes the absolute least it can.
A lot of people shop at the Apple Store because they have good discounts for Educational users, and a lot of Apple's base is in Education or Students. When I bought my MacBook Pro, just being a Higher Ed employee got me a free iPod for my wife, and a free printer, on top of the 10% or so discount on the hardware and the 3-yr protection plan. I also think their stores do well, because when I "switched" I tried most of the stuff I did on my PC to see if it would work well on the showroom computer, and if I felt like I could enjoy using it. I think a lot of "switchers" are there to try-before-they-buy, where ordering a PC from a PC manufactuer is going to be almost identical to what you have, as you either know what specs you need or have talked to someone about it or maybe even have a price in your head and get whatever you can for it.
While all good, I shop at the apple store because everything is out in the open. A lot of the big-box stores have stuff behind glass and I have to find an employee to get it, which sucks in a hurry. I've also had good experiences at the store in that they haven't tried to "upsell" and while I played ignorant while shopping there, after telling them when I planned on doing with it, they recommended the standard MacBook, and I decided on the Pro model because it didn't use shared video ram or integrated graphics.
I wonder if anyone has considered that this might be useful if given to crack babies, who some argue have a biological pre-disposition to cocaine use/addiction, if it could stop them from being able to "go down that path" that would likley result in addiction later in life.
Regarding the ethics, I have a hard time with vaccination mandates from the government, but when the HPV vaccine (STD) was offered for girls, I understood why some girls would resent being vaccinated if they had religious beliefs that would lead them to not be exposed to the virus, and being vaccinated called their self-defined integirty into question. I also see how the straight A+ honor student might be a little irked that his parents decided while a child that he couldn't be trusted to "say no to drugs." However, in the end, I think in any case, if the side-effets are slim to none (idealisticly), I'd say a reasonable person would say there is nothing wrong with being "too careful." I'm sure some would say that in this case, it could deprive the child from experiencing the drug, and that the laws are wrong, not the user, I don't think anyone could agree that cocaine (legal or not) is a *healthy* activity even in moderation, and the medical community's mission is better health (except for Big Pharma, they're in it for the money.)
While this is definately a novel approach and an interesting one, I would think however, it would be more fruitful to invest in research to prevent the brain chemistry changes that cause addicion (for biological chemical dependancy, and not run of the mill behavioral addictive patterns), so that it would be ideally, a silver bullet, allowing users to use, without becoming so dependant that they make poor life choices like using behind the wheel, using dirty needles to get the fix, stealing to support the habit. I think the reason the "war on drugs" is supported by so many people, even those who have used in the past, is the fear of being victimized due to someone else's addiction.
Flash player has had significant adoption, I don't question that. However 3.5 billion installs doesn't equate to 3.5 billion users. For instance, since the beginning on my 5 year old computer, I've installed versions 4,5,6,7,8,9 as sites required the newest runtime to work. 1-2 reformats and a VM install later, that accounts for about 10-12 installs total, or an average of 2 per year, which at the rate Windows gets hosed and sites force the update to which most users blindly accept, I think is pretty normal. That would estimate to 350,000,000 users since 1996 when Flash 1.0 was released. If Microsoft got 60,000,000 users in 5.8 years, they'd be on target with Adobe, and given the number of the Internet users, and MS' ability to push updates it is plausible. I can see "big media" using these components to produce their video player applets like MSNBC or the BBC, since they require DRM and from what some posters were saying, Silverlight does stream more effeciently that Flash player. Sites like this are already tied to MS (technologically or partnership) and given their promonence, I think will cause many installs. (Think of the average user, if NBC says you need a Microsoft component for your "Microsoft Computer" made by Dell, you probably just do it, if any thought about installing something even happens).
I also think that a lot of sites running ASP.NET would not be to concerned on any moral (OSS advocacy), financial (they've already bought VS.NET, Windows/IIS), or expertise (already.NET programmers) to go with SilverLight.
I think this is a larger MS push to compete with Adobe on their home turf (Expression Web?) to produce MS/Windows Design applications to protect the Windows platform, before Adobe can produce a user friendly, designer-centric Linux OS with the Pro Application support that Apple has without the hardware cost. (Since Adobe isn't thrilled about porting all their Classic "Carbon" code to "Cocoa")
All that being said, I'm not too excited by SilverLight as so far the Microsoft Download page (beta) doesn't seem any better, and if anything is slower than the HTML one.
Obviously given there hits, some people to go to microsoft.com/ but I can say I don't know anyone who does. They either are directed to a KB article by Google or a forum, to a download page, or know what they need is in TechNet or MSDN. The rest of the site is pure marketing crap.
I'm hoping that the MSDN library (or TechNet) doesn't move to SilverLight. I've come to expect that I'm just going to have to use IE to use it, which I guess I'm OK with, but my real concern is that after they silverlight everything, it is going to be hard to print (or copy locally, since I code offline on occassion if it is warm outside) some of the articles and references. I often print these out and read them over my lunch hour if I'm stuck on a particular problem and need to get away from my desk.I don't know about most folks, but no matter how good eBook readers or LCDs get, for a large volume of text, I'd rather read the dead-tree version (and recycle it,:) ). I'm wondering how they are going to maintain printability through silverlight where I'm sure a lot of content is going to be "boxed in" to a scrolling 400px x 600px text box to keep the UI "pretty." I'm hoping MS just SilverLights the front page (if they must) because right now it is pretty devoid of real "content" as it is, and might provide some nice inline search features, but even that screams 2001 when everyone had a lame-ass MP3 laden psychodelic "intro" page to their site.
It is agrivating when websites push rich media or AJAX "because they can." In some places it is nice like a web-application, like Gmail (or any webmail client). For MSDN the dream case would be that it would detect, if you have silverlight (but don't force the issue), and use it for the tree-view, and/or as a replacement for some other DHTML menuing to make it a little more responsive and featureful, but leave the content alone, so I can do what I will with it. (But since it is Microsoft, I doubt they'd be that civil about it).
I remember a few years ago a friend bought a bottle of Absinthe (liquor) from Europe after the EU laws changed, and it didn't get through customs. The web vendor notifed him before purchasing that that "could happen" and it was at his own risk. Absinthe seems like one of those "kind of questionable" things just like internet gambling was 7-8 years ago. (Enforced rarely and made illegal by virtue of re-interpretation/application of an old law.) Come to pass, the item was siezed in Customs. I don't know if that gets sent back, destoryed or becomes some agent's private stock.
It would seem that the beef Antigua has is that the US is stopping the transaction on the front end, and not the back-end. I highly doubt if the US forced US Banks to report any wire transfers coming from Antigua, and then the gov't siezed the "winnings" as they were paid back, that they'd have much of a leg to stand on. They don't care if their customers get nailed by the US Government for doing something illegal, other than if it happens enough it might be negative advertising if some grandma gets hammered for her $150 online blackjack winnings.
I understand the historical reasons behind the illegality of betting over the wire, but given that I can take a $99 flight to Las Vegas or go to Indian casinos across the county, it seems kind of irrelevant, and the US Gov't could still require US based online casinos to adhere to all the regulatory control the current brick-and-mortar ones do.
Regarding the **IA... I think if they can levy lawsuits on 80 year olds who don't even know who Brittney Spears is... I think they'll take a shot in the dark at someone pulling songs from off-shore accounts. They might get screwed however on US originating CDs sold there, but I'd imagine the royalty is already built into the price the retailers pay at wholesale.
I lived in Columbus for 5 years, then moved to So Cal, so I know exactly what you're saying. When I get back there, I think "why can't it be like this in Cali?" I love it, I can just sail down the 670 to the college from the airport.
I think some mid-major cities like Indianapolis and Columbus have a good surface street infrastructure so people going in-city (or from the suburbs) take the surface streets. I think you have people living closer to work too... You also don't have entire towns communiting to the city to work, trying up the freeway (the only way) to get to work at the same time in the morning. There are very few good jobs in the town I live in, but it is the only place working class folks can ever hope to buy a house, so... the commute begins." I mean, I took a $25,000 pay raise to work in San Bernardino, but inheritied 1:15 commute each way, if I'm lucky.
When I moved to Cali we started visiting my wife's parents every Sunday, like an hour away. I lived 1:30 from my parents (in Cincy) when I was in Columbus and going home was a huge weekend affair, not a afternoon trip. Strange how that all works out.
I know on the I-10 around Yucaipa, California, this is definately true. There are 2 downhill slopes (1/2 mile each, 5% grade) right before the town on the freeway where everyone going 70-80mph (I get passed at 75) slams their brakes to not loose control on this hill and never get back up to normal speed, and because the person in front of them is slow, rides their brakes and never gets up to top speed for the next mile or so, everything piles up and its gridlock. If everyone slowed to 60 or so, but KEPT MOVING knowing, there wouldn't be the daily 15-20 minute delay every single day at this point.
One area where I'd have to object having worked in technical support by trade, and as a developer on the side for so long, is that most browser modifications by definition "modify" the browsers behavior, for good or bad, but that developers can't code for every possible browser nuance.
I think the ease (and encouragement) of add-ons is one reason many banks and other entities don't offically support FireFox. (also that support can say "close that, find the Big Blue E or the Compass looking thing and try it with that" in almost every case). IE gets just as jacked up (usually unintentionally), but many users today have anti-spyware which "tries" to keep IE in a standard configuration. I think for the most part Safari is the only browser that all installations across the board are highly uniform. When I worked for a university, one particular version of AIM added a browser toolbar that totally jacked up our webmail client (iPlanet), and I bet for a couple of months, I had 200 support calls about that. No anti-spyware tool was going to flag that, just like the argument I had with someone who had FireFox installed with stuff like NoScript by a friend started cursing me out over the phone when WebMail didn't work, that it was "our fault" and his browser was "fine."
I have friends that are a little paranoid (which is a good thing), but they have so much non-standard security software on there, nothing works right, the computer is dog slow and it just seems like they've done more harm than a lot of malware does.
There is a reason condoms are made of latex. Sure, titanium would be a lot more secure, but a lot less functional (and fun!)
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I've started getting OOXML (docx) Word documents, which I've found take forever to convert using MS' own builting converter (2007 to 2003) and that the conversion frequently jacks-up the formatting, which doesn't bother me, but makes collabaration difficult, and I have to re-format the documents if we're in a crunch since my project lead is anal about asthetic things like that.
<rant>If it were up to me, I'd do reports in plaintext (or if necessary, PDF)</rant>
Why not make Acid2 the default? I'm sure the browsers interals could look for IE6/7 "hacks" and provide a icon on the bottom to have it viewed in compatibility mode? If the broken mode is going to be the default, I think standardization will be slow, unless common developer tools like MS Visual Studio and Dreamweaver put in the MS Specfic renderer tags in by default.
I think we're at the moment when developers want standards, where in the IE4/NS4 war, everyone and their brother was trying to hack-together web pages, and IE did some nice exposition of the DOM via the ID attribute in tags, which accomodated less-skilled programmers. Now that the baseline-developer's skills are improved, and the IDEs out there are actually pretty decent (e.g. Not FrontPage, Not MS Word) I'd say the time is right.
While the Acid2 test is niceity, what I'd really love to see is a standard plugin model shared by FF and IE. It has been a while, but I always thought the "EMBED" inside of an "OBJECT" tag was lame. I don't like ActiveX but I get in intranet environments where it can be useful, where the code should be "trusted" and "signed", where you're essentially using a browser to "publish" applications that should probably be desktop applets, or use a native HTML (AJAX?) interface rather than "VB applet on a webpage." That being said, we need an out in the wild, "safe" plugin/viewer model.
As a Mac user, I can say at QuickTime (since I used my first computer in the 8th grade) has always been the blemish on an otherwise positive Macintosh experience. I've always found it to be slow, buggy, and always full of compatibility issues. Why not create a rather standard Quicktime subsystem, and simply have pluggable codecs for the difference revisions of QuickTime, that way you get backward compatibility and connectivity to other applications. If you're going to have QT be essentially an OS service, it should be pretty static between major OS versions (at least in the areas where it is a dependency of OS components, or a dependency of major applications using the API, not unsupported hacks).
Have the player attach the the rather static subsystem so you can add GUI features, abilities, etc... in incremental versions.
This would allow QT PRO users to take advantage of everything QT 7.4 can do, but allow Applications that depend upon it to be "frozen" to QT 7.x that it works for, until the vendor pushes a patch. I could see after an application crash, it contact the vendor and on next launch recommend attaching to the greatest "known working" quicktime engine, as the default choice, but listing all supported quicktime instances, so developers could choose the level of compatibility they require.
It would be kind of like the idea where OO.org lets you choose the JVM installation you want to use.
The biggest problem is that performing a QuickTime upgrade is a major OS change in the Mac OS, and often leads to incompatibilites (better on OS X, terrible with = OS 9.x's and its extension madness). Users tend to look at upgrading QT just like Flash player, but on the Mac in particular, it should be seen more like a service pack on Windows.
The luxury of MySQL is that is is more simple than the more robust databases like Oracle or MSSQL. If you're a vendor, and you want your application do database-like things, a having a database in your portfolio is a wonderful asset. For instance, Microsoft Exchange's internal databases are run by a MSSQL-like data engine optimized for the kinds of data it stores. Microsoft's Terminal Server code (in NT 4.0 -> 2000) is the basis (if not the entirety) of Windows XPs Remote Desktop/Remote Assistance features in the consumer OS.
/. very often touting the newest, most robust, kick-ass embeded database almost every month. I think MySQL has a strong enough name, and Sun has enough credibility, and the ability to make native-java packages, to do well in this market.
If Sun could use MySQL as a simple application service (Java or otherwise) database for applications wishing to use a RDBMS for internal functionality (vs. lets say a text file, or some proprietary binary blob file) Sun would have the perfect product in its simplicity, lightweightness and general support in the OSS community. If you had a highly tuned MySQL instance running as part of an application, you'd get simple app-to-app integration.
I see ads on
On another note, with I'm sure it has been said before, but it can't be said enough, how awesome would it be if OO.org had MySQL as the data-engine in OO.org's Base application. It would make it much simpler to use OO.org forms to integrate into live data being pulled from other sources. (To me, using an Office Suite to manage "data" is a bad idea, but I've done enough freelance work to see many small businesses who think a shared folder (usually from the admin assistant's PC hard disk) full of Word documents is the best way to store business information much better suited for a DB (or even Excel if they must...).
I've worked for several colleges, and most had Free-Speech Zones where student organizations, community members where allowed to setup tables, pass out leaflets, etc. The other instututions that didn't have these, had a general understanding of "where" was appropriate to have peaceful protest, or speakers.
In all cases, these areas were central to the campus and often in areas where students tended to gather normally. I never observed police try to interfere with the students or speakers and only interfered outside these areas when they were breaking the law (e.g. using chalk on unviersity buildings walls where the rain wouldn't wash it off), harassing bystanders going to class, or were being loud as to interupt others right to peace. (e.g. interupting classes.)
Unfortunately in my experience, the only situations I observed censorship in higher ed were in the classrooms, where students were penalized in their academic work for arguing alternative theories (e.g. in the social sciences) that were not the prefered theories or ideologies of the professors. I found it was a lot easier to grit my teeth and agree in class and on paper with the professors than argue any alternative viewpoint.
I would hope that the Malicious Procecution judgement would make it easier to procescute under RICO statues, given that the extortion has been proven in a court of law, and that the class action suit would further canonize the scope of their extortions into case law. I'm not a lawyer, but it seemed like the Federal case against Michael Vick made the state's case and open and shut event. This seems like the same kind of thing.
Then they should hammer the media companies on conspiracy charges because they are the ones knowingly financing the RIAAs shenanagins, that have already been proven illegal.
If I were Apple, I'd create free Wi-Fi APs at the gates in major airports that did something like "jail" the session to a advertisement page for their download service, on the first page load, then function as a free wifi point.
When the users buy items from the iTMS, music and items would be downloaded from the Internet, but have a local-cache in the airport of large movie files that are commonly downloaded (new releases, popular TV series) so the download speeds would be do-able in a normal layover. iTunes would notify them of the ETA for the download to make sure they can swing it before takeoff (based on server load, 802.11x standard used), using the local-cache so it is highly predictable.
Apple could do a push to the local-caches at the Airport from the central iTMS on DVD Tuesday or something like that.
I think the service would be a great source of free advertising, with notices by the gate "Free WiFi provided by Apple" and the landing page like they have at Panera bread would drive them to impulse buys during a long layover.
I mean, you can already buy an iPod at the airport out of a vending machine, having a link to the iTMS at the gate seems highly logical especially since they could get buyers who wouldn't normally use the service.
iPhones already can access the iTMS, but it is the Free WiFi provided by Apple to get the first advertisement for people that don't know, or never thought about it, and the local-cache that would make the downloads feasible are the lynchpins for a successful service.
If you're going to do a fair comparison, consider only the Mac Pro system. The Mac Mini and iMac are obviously geared toward a different market. Just like most PC makers have an ultra-high end model for gaming and 3D processing.
On the Mac Pro, there is nothing stopping you from installing any PCI-X graphics adaptor that has Mac OS X drivers. Apple sells hardware that fits the average user's needs for the hardware. Most people are using Apple computers for creative work that doesn't require just-in-time 3D graphics.
I can promise you, a well written game will run on lessor hardware on a Mac than in Windows. In particular in Vista, because the OS consumes so much memory, x64 sucks, and the OS uses the GPU for basic stuff.
I think the video card thing is a cop-out. If developers wrote more solid code, they could drop the minimum specifications on what kind of hardware is required. Look at consoles, they run, generally speaking on inferior hardware in particular less RAM and slower CPUs, and provide a very solid user experience. The reason is the code is far more optimized for the hardware, which you'll only be able to truly achieve on platform with known, or reasonably expected hardware. Also consider that the operating systems in consoles are very tuned, something that any UNIX variant like OS X will be able to actually accomplish better than Windows. Linux/UNIX kernels can be compiled for the specific hardware being addressed. Mac OS X is developed internal to the hardware developer, and can be optimized to run on the exact hardware it is designed for. I would think the Mac (if it had greater marketshare) would be a game developer's wet-dream because it is the practically only platform today where you have this combination of predictability, OS taylored to the hardware, and robust OpenGL support, and not get effed when Microsoft decides to freeze DirectX on legacy OSes (Windows XP) to force an upgrade. Microsoft even effed their Windows Vista/DX10 certified hardware customers by making 10.1 non-backward compatible.
If you're an American (like I am) and they try to use biometrics, just watch some European porn at work. The porn will raise your BP, breathing and alertness measures, and the nuances of a diffrent langauge dialect will raise any thought metrics above a normal baseline, but not so much that the computer thinks you are confused or strugling tounderstand what you're doing.
On a more serious note, I think this is a bad idea because some people like a co-worker I have get easily `exctied` and panicy over little things, which the system might interpret as incompetence or `vigilence` but is truly neither. On the other hand, when it hits the fan, I'm always pretty level headed, and you don't see me panicing while reading error logs, so it could mark me as `under-performing` or `apathetic` very easily against the departmental baseline.
Now that it is solved, how much longer until we get `musik.ikea.com`? The only problem is there most likley won't be a search function and you'll have to travese a directory tree yourself to find anything.
I looked into being a TSA screener and got quite a bit through the hiring process (before getting another tech job at higher pay), thinking it would be a good entry-level position into law enforcement while I worked on the physical fitness for the Civil Service exam. The biggest problem I found is that the starting pay (see usajobs.gov) is $26,000 + locality pay starting. I don't know about a lot of folks, but after college, and not wanting to live on Ramen noodles any longer, $26Gs isn't enough money ro recruit highly qualified candidates, and even more, keeping highly qualified candidates. Even worse, when I moved to California to get married, all the positions at local airports were part time.
You can't tell me the TSA is getting the best and brightest for that kind of pay, and even worse, not letting the workers do it full-time.
Get rid of the bottom 25% worst employees you've got (# of complains, attitude issues, problem children), and give the good employees 75% of the fired workers pay, and recruit "highly qualified" workers, and you'll solve a lot of the problems in attitude/customer service off the top. Implement alongside a few tweaks here and it should be a good balance.
It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a DBA or a high-level programmer, I'd say you're on the right track (though, low-level code experience will make you a better high-level programmer). However, one thing I see lacking, amongst programmers I work with, is a real understanding of the platform they are developing for. I am kind of in an odd position where I'm programmer 50% of the time, and server admin the other 50%, and I see lots of instances where having more OS-specific knowledge would make the developers more effective. I think the same is true for databases-server products. I'm shocked with developers don't know general Windows OS stuff that all desktop support entry-level techs do. I've seen professors write dissertations on neural nets and call tech support (my first job) with the most assinine questions about how to configure Eudora.
I think the converse is true as well, if you are a server administrator, being able to look at developer's code when windows flips out or you run into a performance issue makes a huge difference. (e.g. is this process slow because someapp.exe is single threaded, or is it slow because it is multi-threaded but generating many-many inefficent threads.)
By your 3rd year of university, you should probably have at least a general direction toward what you want to do, so I'd say pick coursework that will work toward that goal, and if possible, pick up a complmentary course or two in System Administration and Oracle (as most folks can figure out MySQL/MSSQL if they have some SQL knowledge, but Oracle experience translates to dollars as most less folks have less training or self-taught experience with it.).
TicketMaster does this same thing. When you select a seat, your ticket is "locked" for 20 minutes, giving you time to register it to keep someone from jacking it while you fumble for your credit card.
This makes sense to me, and I wouldn't be upset if Network Solutions did that, even for an hour or so, just to prevent it (though, if ICANN would end this domain tasting nonsense, and NSI's website communicated with WHOIS over SSL, I'd call it a statistical improbability someone would try to get the exact same name you are unless it is highly topical like dont-taze-me-bro.com). I doubt there is anyone who who'd be using WHOIS that needs 5 days to sure up the funds to actually finish the transaction.
But 5 days seems completely assinine.
No, I'm implying the exact opposite... the Republican party is not fiscally conservative, by way of saying that there is no party in America for the fiscally conservative, which is sad.
Sony wants to get broad exceptance but I've read elsewhere is unhappy at the .99 price tag across the board for their whole catalouge.
I'm sure Sony would love to be able to charge more, and get their music on non-iPod services, and I think Amazon's reputation as being stable, reliable, not-going-to-fold-any-moment, relatively trustworthy vendor makes them a necessary evil for Sony, especially given the failure of their own music download service.
Also remember than the PS3's media center or the PSP aren't going to be able to play FairPlay'd music files from Apple. They probably won't use PlaysForSure either because of their war with Microsoft. They could make a 3rd DRM format for their own players/consoles/computers, but then they lose the iPod. I think they're realizing that Sony BMG is hurting their other businesses to stop the inevitable.
I agree with most of the other posters that video games might have cost the candidates a few votes.
Along the same line is that the young voters see the losing candidates as being part of the nanny-state problem where Washington is going to tell me what to do, and we've had enough of that in the current administration. Their position on games isn't the dealbreaker but is symptomatic of a positon that de-values true liberty of expression. Which, I kind of expect this from Rommney trying to win the religious right over Huckabee, but I don't understand from the liberal candidates (given the root of liberal is liberty), is their fascination with a freedom limiting huge government with its hands over everything, after the outcry against Bush for doing the exact same thing. (Disclaimer: I'm a fiscal conservative, but not a republican, because there is no party in America for fiscal conservatives and social libertarians.)
The reason I apply this more to young voters as most young voters aren't won by the "please think of the children" argument (because they don't have them) that most candidates use for this kind of nonsense, weather it is a game, a television program or other media.
I think they have already done this.
.MagicSort() member function on the class anyway!) In that it doesn't matter if my widget runs on 2MB or 16MB of RAM because everyone always has enough and my time is more valuable (and sadly, my users care more about) making it skinable,transparent and animated than efficient.
If I know exactly what I'm going to do, and I want to OS to "stay of out the way" and take as few resources as possible, and do exactly what I want it to do, and nothing else, period, I start with a vanilla OpenBSD 4.x install, and then apply the daemons I need depending on what it is supposed to do. I absolutely love it, because out-of-the-box it extremely lean, the documentation is readily available, a decent community (though, I will admit Linux is doing a lot better in that regard than most BSDs), and the OS does exactly what it is supposed to do, abstract the hardware from the applications, and enforce good behavior of the applications and my users.
When I have a computer that I want out of the box to do whatever I throw at it on a whim e.g. install an applet with no thought, auto-configure practically anything I throw at it, provide a GUI, warn me when I'm about to do something I might regret, I power up my Mac. I don't claim Mac OS X is perfect (it is not), but I think it has a lot of OS fundamentals right by virtue of being UNIX, and aside from some of the braindead changes in Leopard, got the right balence of asthetic, usability and functionalty for a primarily, desktop consumer OS.
I think that the trobule is that a lot of programmers (in particularly in closed-source situations, like myself at work) think "what is a couple of bits here and there" or "I know the bubble sort is a little slower but it works and I don't need to think about it much and damn microsoft for not putting a
With a magnitude of features, increases the risk of error, in particular with new tech, and aging legacy support (e.g. writing Windows n+1 so it is "better" but doesn't brean Windows N, I read somewhere that the Windows SMB protocol code is almost unbearable to maintain).
A dream would be if you could have a fully documented OS, so beefy applications could be written (e.g. like Photoshop, or a Game) to run as "the most important process" (in a way better than process-priority in Windows) at the request of the user, and that the application could tell the OS what non-essential services (such as PnP listening, etc...) can be shut down and enforce the OS interferes the absolute least it can.
A lot of people shop at the Apple Store because they have good discounts for Educational users, and a lot of Apple's base is in Education or Students. When I bought my MacBook Pro, just being a Higher Ed employee got me a free iPod for my wife, and a free printer, on top of the 10% or so discount on the hardware and the 3-yr protection plan. I also think their stores do well, because when I "switched" I tried most of the stuff I did on my PC to see if it would work well on the showroom computer, and if I felt like I could enjoy using it. I think a lot of "switchers" are there to try-before-they-buy, where ordering a PC from a PC manufactuer is going to be almost identical to what you have, as you either know what specs you need or have talked to someone about it or maybe even have a price in your head and get whatever you can for it.
While all good, I shop at the apple store because everything is out in the open. A lot of the big-box stores have stuff behind glass and I have to find an employee to get it, which sucks in a hurry. I've also had good experiences at the store in that they haven't tried to "upsell" and while I played ignorant while shopping there, after telling them when I planned on doing with it, they recommended the standard MacBook, and I decided on the Pro model because it didn't use shared video ram or integrated graphics.
I wonder if anyone has considered that this might be useful if given to crack babies, who some argue have a biological pre-disposition to cocaine use/addiction, if it could stop them from being able to "go down that path" that would likley result in addiction later in life.
Regarding the ethics, I have a hard time with vaccination mandates from the government, but when the HPV vaccine (STD) was offered for girls, I understood why some girls would resent being vaccinated if they had religious beliefs that would lead them to not be exposed to the virus, and being vaccinated called their self-defined integirty into question. I also see how the straight A+ honor student might be a little irked that his parents decided while a child that he couldn't be trusted to "say no to drugs." However, in the end, I think in any case, if the side-effets are slim to none (idealisticly), I'd say a reasonable person would say there is nothing wrong with being "too careful." I'm sure some would say that in this case, it could deprive the child from experiencing the drug, and that the laws are wrong, not the user, I don't think anyone could agree that cocaine (legal or not) is a *healthy* activity even in moderation, and the medical community's mission is better health (except for Big Pharma, they're in it for the money.)
While this is definately a novel approach and an interesting one, I would think however, it would be more fruitful to invest in research to prevent the brain chemistry changes that cause addicion (for biological chemical dependancy, and not run of the mill behavioral addictive patterns), so that it would be ideally, a silver bullet, allowing users to use, without becoming so dependant that they make poor life choices like using behind the wheel, using dirty needles to get the fix, stealing to support the habit. I think the reason the "war on drugs" is supported by so many people, even those who have used in the past, is the fear of being victimized due to someone else's addiction.
Flash player has had significant adoption, I don't question that. However 3.5 billion installs doesn't equate to 3.5 billion users. For instance, since the beginning on my 5 year old computer, I've installed versions 4,5,6,7,8,9 as sites required the newest runtime to work. 1-2 reformats and a VM install later, that accounts for about 10-12 installs total, or an average of 2 per year, which at the rate Windows gets hosed and sites force the update to which most users blindly accept, I think is pretty normal. That would estimate to 350,000,000 users since 1996 when Flash 1.0 was released. If Microsoft got 60,000,000 users in 5.8 years, they'd be on target with Adobe, and given the number of the Internet users, and MS' ability to push updates it is plausible. I can see "big media" using these components to produce their video player applets like MSNBC or the BBC, since they require DRM and from what some posters were saying, Silverlight does stream more effeciently that Flash player. Sites like this are already tied to MS (technologically or partnership) and given their promonence, I think will cause many installs. (Think of the average user, if NBC says you need a Microsoft component for your "Microsoft Computer" made by Dell, you probably just do it, if any thought about installing something even happens).
.NET programmers) to go with SilverLight.
I also think that a lot of sites running ASP.NET would not be to concerned on any moral (OSS advocacy), financial (they've already bought VS.NET, Windows/IIS), or expertise (already
I think this is a larger MS push to compete with Adobe on their home turf (Expression Web?) to produce MS/Windows Design applications to protect the Windows platform, before Adobe can produce a user friendly, designer-centric Linux OS with the Pro Application support that Apple has without the hardware cost. (Since Adobe isn't thrilled about porting all their Classic "Carbon" code to "Cocoa")
All that being said, I'm not too excited by SilverLight as so far the Microsoft Download page (beta) doesn't seem any better, and if anything is slower than the HTML one.
Obviously given there hits, some people to go to microsoft.com/ but I can say I don't know anyone who does. They either are directed to a KB article by Google or a forum, to a download page, or know what they need is in TechNet or MSDN. The rest of the site is pure marketing crap.
:) ). I'm wondering how they are going to maintain printability through silverlight where I'm sure a lot of content is going to be "boxed in" to a scrolling 400px x 600px text box to keep the UI "pretty." I'm hoping MS just SilverLights the front page (if they must) because right now it is pretty devoid of real "content" as it is, and might provide some nice inline search features, but even that screams 2001 when everyone had a lame-ass MP3 laden psychodelic "intro" page to their site.
I'm hoping that the MSDN library (or TechNet) doesn't move to SilverLight. I've come to expect that I'm just going to have to use IE to use it, which I guess I'm OK with, but my real concern is that after they silverlight everything, it is going to be hard to print (or copy locally, since I code offline on occassion if it is warm outside) some of the articles and references. I often print these out and read them over my lunch hour if I'm stuck on a particular problem and need to get away from my desk.I don't know about most folks, but no matter how good eBook readers or LCDs get, for a large volume of text, I'd rather read the dead-tree version (and recycle it,
It is agrivating when websites push rich media or AJAX "because they can." In some places it is nice like a web-application, like Gmail (or any webmail client). For MSDN the dream case would be that it would detect, if you have silverlight (but don't force the issue), and use it for the tree-view, and/or as a replacement for some other DHTML menuing to make it a little more responsive and featureful, but leave the content alone, so I can do what I will with it. (But since it is Microsoft, I doubt they'd be that civil about it).
I remember a few years ago a friend bought a bottle of Absinthe (liquor) from Europe after the EU laws changed, and it didn't get through customs. The web vendor notifed him before purchasing that that "could happen" and it was at his own risk. Absinthe seems like one of those "kind of questionable" things just like internet gambling was 7-8 years ago. (Enforced rarely and made illegal by virtue of re-interpretation/application of an old law.) Come to pass, the item was siezed in Customs. I don't know if that gets sent back, destoryed or becomes some agent's private stock.
It would seem that the beef Antigua has is that the US is stopping the transaction on the front end, and not the back-end. I highly doubt if the US forced US Banks to report any wire transfers coming from Antigua, and then the gov't siezed the "winnings" as they were paid back, that they'd have much of a leg to stand on. They don't care if their customers get nailed by the US Government for doing something illegal, other than if it happens enough it might be negative advertising if some grandma gets hammered for her $150 online blackjack winnings.
I understand the historical reasons behind the illegality of betting over the wire, but given that I can take a $99 flight to Las Vegas or go to Indian casinos across the county, it seems kind of irrelevant, and the US Gov't could still require US based online casinos to adhere to all the regulatory control the current brick-and-mortar ones do.
Regarding the **IA... I think if they can levy lawsuits on 80 year olds who don't even know who Brittney Spears is... I think they'll take a shot in the dark at someone pulling songs from off-shore accounts. They might get screwed however on US originating CDs sold there, but I'd imagine the royalty is already built into the price the retailers pay at wholesale.
I lived in Columbus for 5 years, then moved to So Cal, so I know exactly what you're saying. When I get back there, I think "why can't it be like this in Cali?" I love it, I can just sail down the 670 to the college from the airport.
I think some mid-major cities like Indianapolis and Columbus have a good surface street infrastructure so people going in-city (or from the suburbs) take the surface streets. I think you have people living closer to work too... You also don't have entire towns communiting to the city to work, trying up the freeway (the only way) to get to work at the same time in the morning. There are very few good jobs in the town I live in, but it is the only place working class folks can ever hope to buy a house, so... the commute begins." I mean, I took a $25,000 pay raise to work in San Bernardino, but inheritied 1:15 commute each way, if I'm lucky.
When I moved to Cali we started visiting my wife's parents every Sunday, like an hour away. I lived 1:30 from my parents (in Cincy) when I was in Columbus and going home was a huge weekend affair, not a afternoon trip. Strange how that all works out.
I know on the I-10 around Yucaipa, California, this is definately true. There are 2 downhill slopes (1/2 mile each, 5% grade) right before the town on the freeway where everyone going 70-80mph (I get passed at 75) slams their brakes to not loose control on this hill and never get back up to normal speed, and because the person in front of them is slow, rides their brakes and never gets up to top speed for the next mile or so, everything piles up and its gridlock. If everyone slowed to 60 or so, but KEPT MOVING knowing, there wouldn't be the daily 15-20 minute delay every single day at this point.
One area where I'd have to object having worked in technical support by trade, and as a developer on the side for so long, is that most browser modifications by definition "modify" the browsers behavior, for good or bad, but that developers can't code for every possible browser nuance.
I think the ease (and encouragement) of add-ons is one reason many banks and other entities don't offically support FireFox. (also that support can say "close that, find the Big Blue E or the Compass looking thing and try it with that" in almost every case). IE gets just as jacked up (usually unintentionally), but many users today have anti-spyware which "tries" to keep IE in a standard configuration. I think for the most part Safari is the only browser that all installations across the board are highly uniform. When I worked for a university, one particular version of AIM added a browser toolbar that totally jacked up our webmail client (iPlanet), and I bet for a couple of months, I had 200 support calls about that. No anti-spyware tool was going to flag that, just like the argument I had with someone who had FireFox installed with stuff like NoScript by a friend started cursing me out over the phone when WebMail didn't work, that it was "our fault" and his browser was "fine."
I have friends that are a little paranoid (which is a good thing), but they have so much non-standard security software on there, nothing works right, the computer is dog slow and it just seems like they've done more harm than a lot of malware does.
There is a reason condoms are made of latex. Sure, titanium would be a lot more secure, but a lot less functional (and fun!)