Unfortunately basically one of the only people computer illiterate enough to install spyware on their machine is one of the MDs here. I don't particularly want to get fired or switch jobs, so I tend to just let him fuck things up and let him stew in his own mess after explaining that viruses have screwed up his system - again. I guess that does end up with him fearing me a little. Teehee. I have considered locking down his privileges but I dont want him phoning me up every 2 days asking why he can't install VirusExplorerNukembotForeverPart2.5 . I sometimes wonder how many people are leeching off of his credit card.. he's pretty smart as far as being an engineer goes, but for some reason is one of those people who just doesn't get it when it comes to computers and browsing safely..
Providing a choice is always a good thing. Do you like that Microsoft and Intel traditionally get to decide what is 'good' for us? Negroponte has at the very least been raising a lot of awareness about the state of education in poorer parts of the world. Even if you disagree with his solution and methods, and even if he has a big ego as a few people here are claiming, he's providing a choice and making the big boys like Intel notice, so he must be doing something right.
It wouldn't take much to make the average user fear you beyond pretending (or actually doing so I guess) you've recorded their bank details and stuff like that. Quite why you want your users to fear you, I don't know:P
Actually I always found the 2.5" screen on my pure digital camera to be perfectly adequate (you can always zoom in if you want detail). On a camera, which IMO is meant more for taking photos rather than viewing them (though I know plenty of people who just leave their photos on the camera, but they're not really doing photography for art's sake, they're just recording social events on their cheap digital cameras, on automatic), you want to be saving weight and battery life, an on the go projector is pretty useless to anyone who is doing some serious photography, definitely wont double the usefulness anyway unless you tend to store and view all your photos on your camera rather than putting them online or printing them.
I can definitely see the point of this on a mobile though (especially if you could use it for other things like web browsing), and totally agree with the rest of your comment:)
I loooove driving, and I mean I really love it and love all the things you said, but at least when it comes to driving in town I wouldn't mind automated driving, because then I wouldnt have to wait 20 seconds for all the cars ahead of me to move off at the lights.. they'd all move off in one nice smooth motion. Of course I wouldn't be driving anymore so I wouldnt appreciate it so much.. hmph._.
Nah that is pretty cool. That story is from my Uni days, where I kinda stopped reading computing magazines and keeping up with developments for a few years (while I studied Computer Science:p ). Nice to know that the Matrix sequels had at least one redeeming feature xD
You mean the Matrix where that guy kills a bunch of robots with his mind? Hardly the most realistic of movies to choose. Unless they were hacking the Matrix within another Matrix:o The computing power in the outside Matrix must be pretty good. I wonder if it could get a score of 6 on Vista?
I knew before Uni that I didn't like Java. I'd already done 'Amos Pro' Basic, Delphi, C and C++ coding on Amigas, Macs and PCs before I came to Uni. They then had us using Java and Visual Basic for a lot of our courses (though admittedly we did get to use C on our Operating Systems course). Sad that it has taken 'professors' so long to realise that you need to teach the basics first. Though admittedly these days a lot of coders can get away without knowing many basics, using pre-made libraries to do all the heavy lifting, etc. Before I went to uni my idea of coding an application involved doing *everything* myself, I was a little terrified of the idea of networking code because I was thinking of it on a bit-by-bit level, heh. These days I know that if I want to do anything, there has probably been a library written to do it, though of course you won't learn that much if you do everything that way, but we can't all be experts on everything, and building on the work of others is a basic principal of human society anyway.. okay, getting offtopic a bit. I think that it would be better to teach students how to code in a C/C++ environment before moving them into environments where they're wrapped in cotton wool, just so that they have more of an idea of what the language is doing for them behind the scenes. Though of course following that line of reasoning, you could say that we should all just learn to code in assembly, or pure binary. I do wish I knew more about assembly actually, we only ever did pseudo-assembly code on an imaginary processor while at Uni...:P Basically I think there should at least be cursory practical introductions into lower level languages before moving the students up to the high level languages, otherwise we'll all be up to our asses in virtual machines, and one day we'll realise that nobody knows how to write a new VM for that new processor that's just been invented;)
The thing is, that opposites attract. Slashdot has reached a critical mass of geeks with a sense of humour, and now has started to attract a new breed of extremely serious nerds who just can't get why it's funny to make gulls explode by feeding them alkaline substances, or to attach electrodes to your best friend's testicles while he's sleeping and leave them attached to a 300HP diesel generator with a sign saying 'press here for free breakfast!'.
But put it this way.. the 'nicer' companies are more likely to care about the customer and spawn a loyal customer base. That company could eventually just turn into another company trying to eek every last little bit of profit, and end up losing what made them popular in the first place (IMO Dell did that when they outsourced their customer service to India, the support went way downhill from what I was used to). Thankfully doing good can coincide with what is good for business sometimes.. I would even pay a premium to do business with a company that I know had a 'human' aspect to it, justifying the extra cost, rather than just giving my money to a pure corporate money making machine.
Definitely agree with that, science can't really do the 'why', only the 'how'. I wonder if a God who has always existed could do the 'why'. It's so mindblowing just thinking that something must have *always* existed, it just doesn't make any sense (imo anyway, some people are like yeah I'm so smart that I don't find the idea of eternity mind blowing at all!). If I wasn't sitting here typing this I'd just have to say that it's not possible that the energy that our matter constains/consists of has always just existed. Freaks me out sometimes (like right now, having thought about it all again:P )
That's because the Vatican seems to take Christianity and then remove God as much as possible, replacing ideas in the bible with ideas acceptable to humans
I've always thought the same. Though if you believe that something has always existed, and you believe in evolution, then why not believe that something has evolved to a god-like status?:P It's like a short story I read by Asimov, where humans developed a computer that refined itself, and eventually became so refined that it became basically omnipotent, and figured out how to reverse entropy. Was pretty cool.
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately basically one of the only people computer illiterate enough to install spyware on their machine is one of the MDs here. I don't particularly want to get fired or switch jobs, so I tend to just let him fuck things up and let him stew in his own mess after explaining that viruses have screwed up his system - again. I guess that does end up with him fearing me a little. Teehee. I have considered locking down his privileges but I dont want him phoning me up every 2 days asking why he can't install VirusExplorerNukembotForeverPart2.5 . I sometimes wonder how many people are leeching off of his credit card.. he's pretty smart as far as being an engineer goes, but for some reason is one of those people who just doesn't get it when it comes to computers and browsing safely..
Would be hilarious if Microsoft decided against using the technology.. they're probably forced to though.. poor little developers..
Sweet - I'm going to bid 1 billion billion and put them out of business!
Remember also to never overestimate the buoyancy of 1000 TB of important business data stored in a 20 foot container
Providing a choice is always a good thing. Do you like that Microsoft and Intel traditionally get to decide what is 'good' for us? Negroponte has at the very least been raising a lot of awareness about the state of education in poorer parts of the world. Even if you disagree with his solution and methods, and even if he has a big ego as a few people here are claiming, he's providing a choice and making the big boys like Intel notice, so he must be doing something right.
Less talk, more action! As a fellow sysadmin I hope I'll see some benefit out of this?
It probably does exist, but then you get people like you coming along and posting off-topic that ruin it ;)
It wouldn't take much to make the average user fear you beyond pretending (or actually doing so I guess) you've recorded their bank details and stuff like that. Quite why you want your users to fear you, I don't know :P
Actually I always found the 2.5" screen on my pure digital camera to be perfectly adequate (you can always zoom in if you want detail). On a camera, which IMO is meant more for taking photos rather than viewing them (though I know plenty of people who just leave their photos on the camera, but they're not really doing photography for art's sake, they're just recording social events on their cheap digital cameras, on automatic), you want to be saving weight and battery life, an on the go projector is pretty useless to anyone who is doing some serious photography, definitely wont double the usefulness anyway unless you tend to store and view all your photos on your camera rather than putting them online or printing them.
:)
I can definitely see the point of this on a mobile though (especially if you could use it for other things like web browsing), and totally agree with the rest of your comment
At first it may seem like that, but ultimately the makefile is master here.
I prefer just looking at the pictures - I've never really had any luck with having them check over my homework >_>
I loooove driving, and I mean I really love it and love all the things you said, but at least when it comes to driving in town I wouldn't mind automated driving, because then I wouldnt have to wait 20 seconds for all the cars ahead of me to move off at the lights.. they'd all move off in one nice smooth motion. Of course I wouldn't be driving anymore so I wouldnt appreciate it so much.. hmph ._.
Just use a monochrome screen with a green or red tint and you'll be sorted.
By the sounds of it, so are you.
Nah that is pretty cool. That story is from my Uni days, where I kinda stopped reading computing magazines and keeping up with developments for a few years (while I studied Computer Science :p ). Nice to know that the Matrix sequels had at least one redeeming feature xD
You mean the Matrix where that guy kills a bunch of robots with his mind? Hardly the most realistic of movies to choose. Unless they were hacking the Matrix within another Matrix :o The computing power in the outside Matrix must be pretty good. I wonder if it could get a score of 6 on Vista?
I knew before Uni that I didn't like Java. I'd already done 'Amos Pro' Basic, Delphi, C and C++ coding on Amigas, Macs and PCs before I came to Uni. They then had us using Java and Visual Basic for a lot of our courses (though admittedly we did get to use C on our Operating Systems course). Sad that it has taken 'professors' so long to realise that you need to teach the basics first. Though admittedly these days a lot of coders can get away without knowing many basics, using pre-made libraries to do all the heavy lifting, etc. Before I went to uni my idea of coding an application involved doing *everything* myself, I was a little terrified of the idea of networking code because I was thinking of it on a bit-by-bit level, heh. These days I know that if I want to do anything, there has probably been a library written to do it, though of course you won't learn that much if you do everything that way, but we can't all be experts on everything, and building on the work of others is a basic principal of human society anyway.. okay, getting offtopic a bit. I think that it would be better to teach students how to code in a C/C++ environment before moving them into environments where they're wrapped in cotton wool, just so that they have more of an idea of what the language is doing for them behind the scenes. Though of course following that line of reasoning, you could say that we should all just learn to code in assembly, or pure binary. I do wish I knew more about assembly actually, we only ever did pseudo-assembly code on an imaginary processor while at Uni... :P Basically I think there should at least be cursory practical introductions into lower level languages before moving the students up to the high level languages, otherwise we'll all be up to our asses in virtual machines, and one day we'll realise that nobody knows how to write a new VM for that new processor that's just been invented ;)
You just made me drop my carbon monoxicle in my tea while I giggled, sir! Good show, old boy.
The thing is, that opposites attract. Slashdot has reached a critical mass of geeks with a sense of humour, and now has started to attract a new breed of extremely serious nerds who just can't get why it's funny to make gulls explode by feeding them alkaline substances, or to attach electrodes to your best friend's testicles while he's sleeping and leave them attached to a 300HP diesel generator with a sign saying 'press here for free breakfast!'.
Dude, there's no need to imagine any longer!!
But put it this way.. the 'nicer' companies are more likely to care about the customer and spawn a loyal customer base. That company could eventually just turn into another company trying to eek every last little bit of profit, and end up losing what made them popular in the first place (IMO Dell did that when they outsourced their customer service to India, the support went way downhill from what I was used to). Thankfully doing good can coincide with what is good for business sometimes.. I would even pay a premium to do business with a company that I know had a 'human' aspect to it, justifying the extra cost, rather than just giving my money to a pure corporate money making machine.
Definitely agree with that, science can't really do the 'why', only the 'how'. I wonder if a God who has always existed could do the 'why'. It's so mindblowing just thinking that something must have *always* existed, it just doesn't make any sense (imo anyway, some people are like yeah I'm so smart that I don't find the idea of eternity mind blowing at all!). If I wasn't sitting here typing this I'd just have to say that it's not possible that the energy that our matter constains/consists of has always just existed. Freaks me out sometimes (like right now, having thought about it all again :P )
That's because the Vatican seems to take Christianity and then remove God as much as possible, replacing ideas in the bible with ideas acceptable to humans
I've always thought the same. Though if you believe that something has always existed, and you believe in evolution, then why not believe that something has evolved to a god-like status? :P It's like a short story I read by Asimov, where humans developed a computer that refined itself, and eventually became so refined that it became basically omnipotent, and figured out how to reverse entropy. Was pretty cool.
Nah, he writes all his own code. He doesn't open-source it, but we're trying to reverse engineer as much as we can..