I agree that if Gates was going to do something for illiterates, then reading is much more important than operating icons. However I should point out that neurological impress techniques do work. This has been done before, when symbols with their respective text tags have been used to teach reading. Unfortunately, it doesn't stand alone and a carefully built support mechanism should accompany any kind of impress technique. For example, we know that the 'back' icon is an arrow pointing left. But that only makes sense if you read left to right. We in turn learn what an icon represents, rather that looking at an icon to derive it's meaning. Our graphic representations of 'man' and 'woman' as displayed in rest rooms, is cultural and may not mean anything to some people. There are lots of these kinds of examples. So although impress does work, it has to have a support base (literate human teachers) that computers, at this stage, cannot provide. Possibly when AI works a bit better, there may be hope. Now trying to operate a computer with no literacy can only mean that it is 'control' (click this to make this work or to stop it), or watch a video or listen to audio, and you don't need a computer to do that. So Bill Gates seems to have these 'pipe dreams' and I don't think he's bothered to think it through or even ask someone knowledgeable for an opinion. As for multi-mouse.... ahem. Sounds like a cheap game that gets boring very fast. And quite a few mobile plans have charge by the second.... So what's so innovative in all of this? Bill doesn't have proper vision, like let's say a sci-fi writer would have. The whole thing is just ramblings by someone who has lost touch with the real world. Now I know that sounds Anti-Bill, but I'm seriously contending that he's lost it. If, for example, Arthur C. Clarke had billions, I'm sure he would have been a philanthropist and would have provided something more meaty for the illiterates. Sean Connery has provided literacy to many in his philanthropic work. It wasn't as hard as many people think. It just took some dedication, money and organization. Maybe Bill should not innovate. I don't think he's able enough. What he has done in the past, was to employ creative people to do creative things, or to buy innovative companies. I think he wrote 'Multiplan' spreadsheet, but this was after Visicalc wasn't it? What else did he do that was innovative?
I actually set it up (XP on XP) to test streamed unattended XP installs Nlite, and at that stage I wasn't too worried about 3D support or USB as I knew that any hardware issues were virtual in any case. What bugged me was trying to set up a virtual shared folder and getting the guest additions to work (providing seamless mouse transitions). Eventually one obscure forum thread suggested installing it twice which fixed the problem. Interesting to read here that it may not support USB and 3D, so the next time I play with it I'll give it a go as 1.6.2 seems to have USB support. I've been blindly recommending Virtualbox as an alternative to dual booting XP over Vista - so I need to check the hardware compatibilities. Also, I think that the systems I'm likely to use it on may have problems with the ACPI Linux bug. Recently I was testing Acronis recovery manager boot disk which is Linux based, and failed miserably on a Gigabyte board. So I wonder if Virtualbox can also reflect bios issues on boards which may be incompatible with certain OSs?
Remember that the boards are using an ultra-fast and ultra-power-hungry HD.
Don't forget that you could use low power SDHDs instead of conventional drives. Personally I'm very eager for ultra-low power computing - a headless 5 watt system sounds like the way to go, that's if a 1 TB SDHD card becomes amazingly cheap! Well I can dream can't I?
Typically this is the trend isn't it? Collimating Semiconductor Laser Lens Workers will find themselves out of a job. Many will be forced into retirement, some retrenched and a few having to retrain to something like a Semiconductor Laser's Internal Mirror Groove Etcher instead; which is probably exacting and difficult manual labour. I mean they already are being teased by other departments aren't they? being called "Collie Maters" Geez! I already feel sorry for them.
Hey cool! I've always wanted to find the background image of the end titles for the original Lost in Space series (colour version). I wonder if it's not too old. I believe it was taken around 1959?
Microsoft have engineers? Shit! What next!!! I mean I know that they design software and they outsource everything else, but inhouse hardware engineers? Is this new? Have they had them for long? R&D??? I'm gobsmacked!
lol Every stick Bromine+Al? Your typical Aluminium (Aluminum) heatsink will burn ferociously, spitting white hot molten Al during assembly! hahahahahaha!
How many do you consider to be "several"? I remember some kind of Sci-Fi movie? show/book? where a group of men were used by the female inhabitants of a planet for sex and pro-creation. The men aged prematurely, were a husk of their former selves and begged to be released from their ordeal. Is that what you want?
Since the wiki is down at this stage, I thought I'd give my suggestions here: 1. Combining the current technologies available, I would really want to have dropdown selectable templates, so for example, I can have a template that just shows text, another - text and images, and another - text, images and links, so I can pretty much define how the page looks as I'm receiving it. 2. Priority Searches. Get the browser to display results primarily from a standard or customizable list of sources, then list everything else. For example: site:wikipedia "slashdot", site:oxford dictionary "slashdot", site slashdot: "slashdot" etc automagically. 3. Send link/page without opening up default email prog. Just read and display and address book or customizable address book. 4. Inbuilt desktop search. That would be great!
What market? Whoever owns the infrastructure is the market. In most countries it is a monopoly and there is no competition. All independent isps lease packages from the infrastructure provider. It's up to the individual isps to structure consumer data plans. A few isps provide faster upload speeds to cater for voip and sell these plans for much more than a 256/64 - 512/128 basic plan. They do this to offset high capacity, fast d/u plans. The problem here is that a typical isp's monthly traffic is dynamic. They oversell their capacity like webhosting companies do. Most consumers don't use their full quota at all but as consumers start to fill their plans due to marketing like Apple and other legitimate a/v providers, the isps take notice and are forced into throttling. However, the infrastructure was designed primarily for single 'peer-peer' connections, not multiple peers to single peer which is what p2p is about. The data flow is maxed out, routing tables full and http/ftp dies. Happens all the time. The world infrastructure isn't capable of sustained high speed high capacity traffic to a billion users who all want to download (legitimate or otherwise) video content. I'm amazed by the assurances of some who believe that DVD (Blue Ray) is dead as it will be replaced by downloadable content! Think of the consumer costs just to be able to download 1GB/day. Most spend $1000+ for the computer system plus exorbitant monthly isp fees and line rental. Most of the time it's just not worth it. Unless you want HD video, it's a whole lot cheaper to go out and buy a DVD or even series nowadays. So by throttling p2p AND legitimate video downloads AND pricing video media lower AND upgrading the infrastructure, will the problem be solved. The halcyon days of the Net are coming to an end.
I'm really impressed that it goes 6 times the speed of sound! I worked out that it will arrive dead quiet, and the sound will catch up with it 6 times later. Aren't I smrt?
Yeah but... Here we only get Fox news, Jay Leno, David Letterman, that red-headed guy, John Stewart and Colbert. That's the US culture that we get downunder. Then there is E (entertainment) which is all about Hollywood celebrities and a pile of reality shows.... Are you implying that there are better, more informative programs and feeds out there?
Exactly! It's a pretty useless bit of tower. Pretty much good for nothing and by the sounds of it it's a money pit. Just get rid of the damn thing. There's lots of photos around if anyone in the future wants to see it anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree that if Gates was going to do something for illiterates, then reading is much more important than operating icons. However I should point out that neurological impress techniques do work. This has been done before, when symbols with their respective text tags have been used to teach reading.
Unfortunately, it doesn't stand alone and a carefully built support mechanism should accompany any kind of impress technique.
For example, we know that the 'back' icon is an arrow pointing left. But that only makes sense if you read left to right.
We in turn learn what an icon represents, rather that looking at an icon to derive it's meaning.
Our graphic representations of 'man' and 'woman' as displayed in rest rooms, is cultural and may not mean anything to some people. There are lots of these kinds of examples.
So although impress does work, it has to have a support base (literate human teachers) that computers, at this stage, cannot provide.
Possibly when AI works a bit better, there may be hope.
Now trying to operate a computer with no literacy can only mean that it is 'control' (click this to make this work or to stop it), or watch a video or listen to audio, and you don't need a computer to do that.
So Bill Gates seems to have these 'pipe dreams' and I don't think he's bothered to think it through or even ask someone knowledgeable for an opinion.
As for multi-mouse.... ahem. Sounds like a cheap game that gets boring very fast.
And quite a few mobile plans have charge by the second....
So what's so innovative in all of this?
Bill doesn't have proper vision, like let's say a sci-fi writer would have. The whole thing is just ramblings by someone who has lost touch with the real world. Now I know that sounds Anti-Bill, but I'm seriously contending that he's lost it.
If, for example, Arthur C. Clarke had billions, I'm sure he would have been a philanthropist and would have provided something more meaty for the illiterates.
Sean Connery has provided literacy to many in his philanthropic work. It wasn't as hard as many people think. It just took some dedication, money and organization.
Maybe Bill should not innovate. I don't think he's able enough. What he has done in the past, was to employ creative people to do creative things, or to buy innovative companies.
I think he wrote 'Multiplan' spreadsheet, but this was after Visicalc wasn't it?
What else did he do that was innovative?
I actually set it up (XP on XP) to test streamed unattended XP installs Nlite, and at that stage I wasn't too worried about 3D support or USB as I knew that any hardware issues were virtual in any case.
What bugged me was trying to set up a virtual shared folder and getting the guest additions to work (providing seamless mouse transitions).
Eventually one obscure forum thread suggested installing it twice which fixed the problem.
Interesting to read here that it may not support USB and 3D, so the next time I play with it I'll give it a go as 1.6.2 seems to have USB support.
I've been blindly recommending Virtualbox as an alternative to dual booting XP over Vista - so I need to check the hardware compatibilities.
Also, I think that the systems I'm likely to use it on may have problems with the ACPI Linux bug.
Recently I was testing Acronis recovery manager boot disk which is Linux based, and failed miserably on a Gigabyte board.
So I wonder if Virtualbox can also reflect bios issues on boards which may be incompatible with certain OSs?
Remember that the boards are using an ultra-fast and ultra-power-hungry HD.
Don't forget that you could use low power SDHDs instead of conventional drives.
Personally I'm very eager for ultra-low power computing - a headless 5 watt system sounds like the way to go, that's if a 1 TB SDHD card becomes amazingly cheap!
Well I can dream can't I?
Typically this is the trend isn't it?
Collimating Semiconductor Laser Lens Workers will find themselves out of a job. Many will be forced into retirement, some retrenched and a few having to retrain to something like a Semiconductor Laser's Internal Mirror Groove Etcher instead; which is probably exacting and difficult manual labour.
I mean they already are being teased by other departments aren't they? being called "Collie Maters"
Geez! I already feel sorry for them.
Hey cool! I've always wanted to find the background image of the end titles for the original Lost in Space series (colour version).
I wonder if it's not too old. I believe it was taken around 1959?
Well at least ONE moderator has a sense of humour.
Hey! Someone just modded me redundant!
That's what my wife keeps telling me too!
Microsoft have engineers? Shit! What next!!!
I mean I know that they design software and they outsource everything else, but inhouse hardware engineers?
Is this new? Have they had them for long? R&D???
I'm gobsmacked!
Also, many people own a car for 5+ years without ever having to replace a single bulb.
You've obviously never owned a Volvo.
lol Every stick Bromine+Al?
Your typical Aluminium (Aluminum) heatsink will burn ferociously, spitting white hot molten Al during assembly! hahahahahaha!
How many do you consider to be "several"?
I remember some kind of Sci-Fi movie? show/book? where a group of men were used by the female inhabitants of a planet for sex and pro-creation.
The men aged prematurely, were a husk of their former selves and begged to be released from their ordeal.
Is that what you want?
NOOOO!!!!!!!! You beam the Sun's rays AWAY from the Earth! That way global warming don't matter anymore!
And even if there were, there's no medium to carry it.
There are still some adherents to the Theory of Ether in space, so don't presume too much!
In my Children's Bible, Eve is white with red hair.
She's also eating a piece of fruit.
Then you've got to do the lead bit:
"Daaaa dum da da daa..."
Since the wiki is down at this stage, I thought I'd give my suggestions here:
1. Combining the current technologies available, I would really want to have dropdown selectable templates, so for example, I can have a template that just shows text, another - text and images, and another - text, images and links, so I can pretty much define how the page looks as I'm receiving it.
2. Priority Searches. Get the browser to display results primarily from a standard or customizable list of sources, then list everything else. For example: site:wikipedia "slashdot", site:oxford dictionary "slashdot", site slashdot: "slashdot" etc automagically.
3. Send link/page without opening up default email prog. Just read and display and address book or customizable address book.
4. Inbuilt desktop search.
That would be great!
Maybe slashdotted.... but I think it's broken.
What market?
Whoever owns the infrastructure is the market. In most countries it is a monopoly and there is no competition. All independent isps lease packages from the infrastructure provider. It's up to the individual isps to structure consumer data plans.
A few isps provide faster upload speeds to cater for voip and sell these plans for much more than a 256/64 - 512/128 basic plan. They do this to offset high capacity, fast d/u plans.
The problem here is that a typical isp's monthly traffic is dynamic. They oversell their capacity like webhosting companies do. Most consumers don't use their full quota at all but as consumers start to fill their plans due to marketing like Apple and other legitimate a/v providers, the isps take notice and are forced into throttling.
However, the infrastructure was designed primarily for single 'peer-peer' connections, not multiple peers to single peer which is what p2p is about. The data flow is maxed out, routing tables full and http/ftp dies. Happens all the time.
The world infrastructure isn't capable of sustained high speed high capacity traffic to a billion users who all want to download (legitimate or otherwise) video content.
I'm amazed by the assurances of some who believe that DVD (Blue Ray) is dead as it will be replaced by downloadable content! Think of the consumer costs just to be able to download 1GB/day.
Most spend $1000+ for the computer system plus exorbitant monthly isp fees and line rental.
Most of the time it's just not worth it. Unless you want HD video, it's a whole lot cheaper to go out and buy a DVD or even series nowadays.
So by throttling p2p AND legitimate video downloads AND pricing video media lower AND upgrading the infrastructure, will the problem be solved. The halcyon days of the Net are coming to an end.
I'm really impressed that it goes 6 times the speed of sound!
I worked out that it will arrive dead quiet, and the sound will catch up with it 6 times later.
Aren't I smrt?
Yeah but... Here we only get Fox news, Jay Leno, David Letterman, that red-headed guy, John Stewart and Colbert. That's the US culture that we get downunder. Then there is E (entertainment) which is all about Hollywood celebrities and a pile of reality shows....
Are you implying that there are better, more informative programs and feeds out there?
In the early days my son, it was called 'socket creep'.
Just take the cover off and press down firmly with a little wiggle....
EZYDVD http://www.ezydvd.com.au/promo.zml?pid=816&ddat=1&dsal=1&dreg=1&dsav=1&himg=pr816has 'em starting from $1. Buy 4 or more and get free shipping too! :)
Exactly! It's a pretty useless bit of tower. Pretty much good for nothing and by the sounds of it it's a money pit.
Just get rid of the damn thing. There's lots of photos around if anyone in the future wants to see it anyway.
hahahahaha! Buckaroo Banzai :)
Let's go lame... How about P(ee) Dick?