If you ignore the whole 'God' thing, a religion is a set of beliefs about proper and permission behavior. People tend to believe very strongly and act in an irrational manner to protect those beliefs.
Open Source Licenses (still ignoring the 'God' thing, unless you count Linus) are pretty much the same.
Commandsments? Check. Wrath of the Gods? Check. (Lawsuits and flames) Bitter wars? Check. Power struggles? Check.
So no, I think it's a very apt comparison.
(Comparisons in this reply were based on a certain religion not because of it's right-ness, but because of the familiarity of the author with this religion more than any other.)
I see nothing saying that Amazon said they didn't send/receive the emails, only that they claimed email was an unreliable communication method. Compared to the instant communication of phones, it IS unreliable. We had a situation at work this week where I was working with a programmer in another company and one of the emails either didn't make it, or wasn't seen. A week went by before anyone complained. We finished the project that day.
Unreliable communications is not an excuse for breaching a contract. It's up to BOTH companies to use reliable communication. If Amazon thought email wasn't reliable, they shouldn't have used it. The should have insisted on a more reliable method.
Innovative? That's just a bonus. All an MMO needs is to be fun. I've played more than a few, and most don't last me more than a month or 2. The latest crop has lasted mere days. (Thank goodness for free trials.) The Saga of Ryzom was slated to be my next MMO until they decided that fun wasn't worthwhile, and taking 6 months (!) to level up your character should be the minimum.
The cached version of the source code appears to be corrupt. It's too large by a byte or so. Go to the original site and it'll extract properly.
I've already installed it and I'm running it. I think this is a neat project and i don't mind using my excess CPU on my server for this for a while.
I had been using it for SETI@Home until I found out they had gone through all the results and were just re-hashing old ones. That's just too much of a waste for me. They should have paused the project and started it back up when they had new results to check.
You know what's sad? Nothing anyone had said until now made me interested in this sequel. Until your comment.
Both of those cartoons are amazingly done. Each episode completely draws you in. It's not just about the director, though, it's the voice actors, the artists, the musicians, and especially the writer.
If the Dark Crystal 2 will have the same quality throughout the staff as its director, it'll be a movie to remember. We can only hope.
The Dark Crystal is my sister's favorite movie. I barely remember it, but I guess I'll have to watch it again.
If you interpret 'be there' that way, then his 'tv babysitter' comment is meaningless. The parents are still 'there' in the house when the TV is on. They are still 'there' in the house when the PC is on. You cannot effectively monitor anyone's activities from a distance. And if you think 'check once in a while' is enough, have a talk with all the parents that thought they 'knew' their children weren't doing drugs because they check on them from time to time.
Am I saying not to bother monitoring your children? Good lord no! That's guaranteeing they'll have problems. But restricting them to 3 hrs a week while you 'Big Brother' them isn't the answer, either.
Or if you do decide to stick them on the internet, be there while they use it.
That's great, for about 3 hours a week. No person in their right mind could stand to stare at the screen while a kid browses pointless Blues Clues websites for any serious length of time. The thought alone is driving me crazy.
Also, if my parents had stood over my shoulder while I used my long line of computers since 4th grade, I would NOT be a programmer today. In fact, I doubt I'd know much about it at all because I'd be worrying what they thought about what I was doing, rather than just doing it. "What's that?" "It's a Hello World program." "Why'd you write it?" "It's a good first program on a language." -silence- "WHAT!?" "Just watching."
No, that doesn't work at all. -Now- I can work with someone watching what I'm doing, because I'm confident in it. But back when I was first learning, it was just too nerve-wracking.
People (not just children) need room to grow. Smothering them will effectively kill them.
If you want computers and the internet to remaining a barely-useable tool for you child, restrict them from it heavily and that is how it'll be.
A year or 2 ago, I got interested in learning to solder. I've had soldering irons and tinkered a bit before, but I wanted to learn to do it right and actually be able to make things. (Without buring the boards and frying the components, you know?)
My first thought was 'Radio Shack! They've always had that stuff.' So I'm all happy and travelled 45 minutes to my nearest not-a-cesspit Radio Shack (I wouldn't touch the local one with a 10-ft pole. Very slimey) and start looking for those kits for radios and wireless microphones. They had not a single one! When I finally got a free clerk, his answer was 'We used to have those, but we don't any more.'
So I took a good look around and they still have some parts like resistors and stuff, and some stuff I have no earthly clue about, but the majority of their store is overpriced phones, overpriced computers, and overpriced toys for adults with too much money and too little sense. I was very disheartened.
I eventually went to the net to find what I wanted, and got a couple kits (one of them actually worked when I was done!) and had my fun that way.
In short: The one thing I remember Radio Shack fondly for, they no longer have. That seems like a grave mistake to me.
Everything I read said Xen needed modifications made to the hosted OS, but never mentioned that about the host OS. (Not that it doesn't make sense, it just never said it.) Thanks for the confirmation.
And thanks to you both for the CoLinux link. I'll check it out. Performance isn't really a problem as I have a pretty fast system and pretty un-demanding linux apps I like.
I see a ton of comments about not being able to use Xen to run Windows inside Linux, but no information the other way around...
Can Xen run Linux apps on my Windows installation? I am currently using Cygwin for that, and it's working okay, but some of my favorite apps are being run through SSH from my linux box to make all this happen.
I do too much in Windows to even dual-boot the system... I'd spend as much time booting as I would working/playing.
I have a simple answer to that: On windows, I don't have to switch applications to see the menu for another application. I can just click it, the application will come to the top, and the menu open all at once.
On Mac, (correct me if I'm wrong) you have to bring that window to the front (keyboard or mouse, doesn't matter) then head for the menu at the top of the screen.
I may sound like a piddly distinction, but then, that's how I feel about 'aiming for a huge space over the top of the screen' when I want a menu. Sure, it's ever-so-slightly-faster, but to me, Windows' way of doing it is more useful.
Add to this the fact that when I have the application on top, I tend to use shortcut keys, and the physical location of the menu doesn't actually matter at all for the current app, only the ones underneath. Mac shows them not at all, Windows gives me the option to click them.
It's at least as intuitive as a car's controls. You turn a wheel to make the car change direction? Which way is clockwise, left or right? You press a lever down to make it go forwards. You press an identical level to make it stop? And you press it the same way! You have to move a stick to different positions for different gears (it would appear as speeds) and it also handles reverse? But there's only 1 gear for that? If you'd never seen a car, it would be very unintuitive.
For the psx, there's just a stick that goes left or right to make the car go left or right. You press a button to go. You press a button to stop. (And most race games make this the reverse as well.) So you've got forwards and backwards as buttons. It changes gears for you and handles reverse automatically.
Nothing except a car teaches you how to drive a car. It's the same with video games. It's a different thought process to learn so that it becomes almost instinct for you.
This is so much the case that we are even now still exploring new control methods. Nintendo Revolution has created a 'new' method. (If you listen to Nintendo, they invented everything but the paddle and joystick.)
I think you misunderstand. The complexity doesn't come from the interface.
Take my father, for example. He's been driving since he was in high-school, so I'm pretty sure he's caught onto that. He's got an IQ of like 140 or so, so he's no idiot.
Now, place a Playstation 1 controller in his hand and let him play a racing game. Pick an easy one with just the analog stick, brake and gas. (Yes, I've done this.)
The result is pathetic. He actively WANTS to play it. He asked for it. He repeatedly runs into the walls, forgets which controls are which (There's only 2!) and generally just fails at the game. He played for a few hours with the same results. He asked me like 3 or 4 times over the first hour or so what the controls were. (Admittedly, the last time was a confirmation, not a question.)
This is something any kid I can name would be able to do quite easily. He did not grow up with video games of any sort, and does not touch-type.
He's an amazing industrial engineer, but the simplest of video games eludes him. It's not the complicated UI, it's a thought-pattern he never developed. Maybe if he spent enough time at it, he could pick it up, but he never will. He's got too many things to do that are actually fun for him.
I think the study fails to recognize that there are thought-patterns associated with being a good gamer, but gamers definitely tend towards more agile thinking and better motor skills, at least for the hands.
You know, the parent is modded Funny, but he's extremely on-target here. He has repeatedly given up the high-paying jobs to continue doing what an always-exciting job that he loves. As the submitter was asking whether or not it is worth it, this is extremely relevant.
This man has not only said 'take the fun job!' but has actually done it and proven that it works.
I'm not saying there's nothing funny about the post, but I find it quite an important post on the topic at hand.
This is exactly right. I coded PHP for years for myself and friends, and only for a very short time for money. I was unable to get a job, so I went to a major technical college thinking the paper would get me that job. I tested out of about 1/4 of the classes and got 4.0 GPA in all the rest. Graduating valedictorian with a 4.0GPA should have made my resume look awesome.
Instead, I found myself unable to get ANY jobs now. Job assistance at the college was severely lacking (I blame the person in charge of it) and I couldn't even get a joe-job because I had a 2 year degree in "IT: Computer Application and Programming." I was practically begging companies to let me intern and prove myself to them, or just get the experience I needed to get a real job.
I finally lucked out and found a company that trusted test-results over paper. They had me take an online skills and personality test at Brain Bench and I blew the other applicant away.
I love my job. I'm underpaid because I know more than they expected, I get complimented on the speed and quality of my work daily. And I'm up for a promotion very soon. It sounds dumb, but I don't mind being underpaid! I finally got my chance to prove myself and add all the stuff I love to my resume.
Check this out: PHP, XML, SQL, PostgreSQL, PL/SQL, Java, JSP, Javascript, AJAX, ASP, JBoss, Linux, Apache, LAPP... Those are just the ones I can think of right now. I'm going to add Perl and cURL to that list very soon.
I would have done this for near-free just to get it on my resume!
In short: Give a kid a chance. (I'm 28, but that's not the point. In Highschool, I'd love to have interned in this. I started learning to program in 4th grade.)
You are not 'giving up' anything. You are simply recording your identity, like you already have several different ways just to be hired in the first place.
They are not requiring this to live in the US, or a certain posh suburb. They are requiring this to work for the government and be party to some information, regardless of how public that information actually is. If you don't want to record your fingerprints (an utterly harmless and costless procedure for the participant) then you can just not work there.
If you want to take the 'you shouldn't be required to give up anything' logic backwards, then they shouldn't be required to give their name, address, social security number, or countless other pieces of information.
Heck, criminals should be allowed to work for the government (other than the obvious ones that already are, I mean) because they shouldn't have to 'give up' the information about their criminal past.
Is there a point that invades privacy too much? I'm sure there is. Fingerprints, retical scans, and other harmless, non-intrusive collections of data are not in that list. They aren't consenting to a wiretap or letting the government read their mail/email, they are just proving they are who they are, daily, with little hassle.
I worked for a company that required I carry a badge that opened the door downstairs. I fail to see how this is more bothersome or intrusive, unless there are worries about a felony coming to light.
If it was taken a step further, and they were required to 'log in' to terminals everywhere they went, then that would be a breach of privacy. And I mean everywhere, not just at government buildings.
Oh wait. That happens anyhow, doesn't it? Man, that's a messed up scheme. You should restructure it so there are steps nobody understands before they can make a profit. Then copyright the process and sue all the retailers out there for using it. Since they don't understand it, they can't prove they don't use it.
rtorrent is what I use. I've found it to be very nice for almost everything I want. I wish it had a few more of Azureus 'bloat' features, like the built-in tracker and upload-and-host features, but it definitely does everything it should.
Combined with Naim and NZBGet, I'm in heaven. I found all these when my windows PC was down and I was forced to take my linux PC seriously for a while. (Hardware, no software problem.) Now, I have Cygwin installed and use a lot of the stuff I fell in love with on Linux in Windows. (Aterm, for instance.)
Blasphemy, I'm sure, but I get to play my games (Cedega was a nightmare) and have all my toys, too... Except Yakuake. Grr. Working on that.
I once worked at a very large computer manufacturer, in the phone tech-support department. This was back before Windows 98 was released. We only had a few female techs there, but they were all pretty dumb. This one girl only ever said one smart thing the entire time I was there, and she was the best of them.
She said (paraphrased): "I have customers unplug the power cord, cup it in the hand for a few seconds, then plug it back in." The whole group of us laughed silly until she explained why. It wasn't about the cupping, it was about checking to make sure the bloody thing was plugged in properly. It worked a surprising 50% of the time she did it.
Having said that... Most of the guys there were complete idiots, too, and only hired because they could read and talk at the same time, I'm sure.
So am I biased against female techs? Only because I've never talked to one that knew what she was doing. I'm sure some exist, but I'm guessing most talented women find other things they'd rather do than fight their way into a tech field that rejects them so strongly.
Stereotypes may be unethical, but they exist for a reason.
Re:VoIP isn't all it's cracked up to be
on
Supermarket VOIP
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· Score: 1
Last time I used a POTS phone, I'm pretty sure my friends voice didn't go all crackly/warbly when his computer bogged down playing FF11.
That's my main issue with Skype... CPU Usage. It's fine on my uber computer, but my friend isn't so blessed and it's quite annoying. We never had a real problem with teamspeak, though... Gotta keep trying to get him to switch back.
I'm sure the same thing can happen on VOIP phones with high bandwidth usage, but it's been a while since I've managed to max out my line.
Note: I haven't used an actual POTS phone in my home for over a year now, so maybe the phone company actually managed to mess that up, too. I dunno.
Ah, but notice I said 'without the user knowing' instead of 'without paying'. Companies have to pay SOMEONE to get that data for them, even if it's just an in-house programmer.
In this case, I think it's more important that the user is unaware of the information leak. Surfing habits that have knowingly stored and sold are going to be VERY different from those collected without the user knowing. Now -that- is human nature. We shouldn't CARE what these companies know we did, but we're not going to sell them information that we are ashamed of. (Or a great many other reasons, I'm sure.)
I'm not saying the 'something for nothing' syndrome isn't valid, too, but it isn't as applicable here.
1. I've already decided to take that a step further. They will provide an SDK, but I'm betting it isn't very easy to use. My plan is to write a wrapper for their SDK that allows you to treat the entire board as a single image, or each button as an image. Then you can make all kinds of neat effects.
2. Good idea, I'm sure there's more like that as well. Like keys that change according to many other statistics or current events.
3. Learning to type doesn't require learning where the keys are, but how to hit them. The idea is to get the used to NOT looking at the keyboard. Putting the indicators on the keyboard would have the wrong effect.
Now, on the other hand, non-typists... If the computer was using a word-prediction algorithm, it could highlight likely keys. This would be a great aid for non-typists.
Cost less than a good mobile phone, eh? I spent $200 on my last mobile... It's pretty doggone good. So... $199. You know what? It's open source, comes with an SDK and too amazing for words. Yeah, I'd actually buy that. Maybe that makes me sick, or a sucker, or both... But that's even cooler than the vaporware laser keyboard from a couple years ago.
Slashdot Mirror
Eh, I think it's just you.
If you ignore the whole 'God' thing, a religion is a set of beliefs about proper and permission behavior. People tend to believe very strongly and act in an irrational manner to protect those beliefs.
Open Source Licenses (still ignoring the 'God' thing, unless you count Linus) are pretty much the same.
Commandsments? Check.
Wrath of the Gods? Check. (Lawsuits and flames)
Bitter wars? Check.
Power struggles? Check.
So no, I think it's a very apt comparison.
(Comparisons in this reply were based on a certain religion not because of it's right-ness, but because of the familiarity of the author with this religion more than any other.)
I see nothing saying that Amazon said they didn't send/receive the emails, only that they claimed email was an unreliable communication method. Compared to the instant communication of phones, it IS unreliable. We had a situation at work this week where I was working with a programmer in another company and one of the emails either didn't make it, or wasn't seen. A week went by before anyone complained. We finished the project that day.
Unreliable communications is not an excuse for breaching a contract. It's up to BOTH companies to use reliable communication. If Amazon thought email wasn't reliable, they shouldn't have used it. The should have insisted on a more reliable method.
Innovative? That's just a bonus. All an MMO needs is to be fun. I've played more than a few, and most don't last me more than a month or 2. The latest crop has lasted mere days. (Thank goodness for free trials.) The Saga of Ryzom was slated to be my next MMO until they decided that fun wasn't worthwhile, and taking 6 months (!) to level up your character should be the minimum.
The cached version of the source code appears to be corrupt. It's too large by a byte or so. Go to the original site and it'll extract properly.
I've already installed it and I'm running it. I think this is a neat project and i don't mind using my excess CPU on my server for this for a while.
I had been using it for SETI@Home until I found out they had gone through all the results and were just re-hashing old ones. That's just too much of a waste for me. They should have paused the project and started it back up when they had new results to check.
You know what's sad? Nothing anyone had said until now made me interested in this sequel. Until your comment.
Both of those cartoons are amazingly done. Each episode completely draws you in. It's not just about the director, though, it's the voice actors, the artists, the musicians, and especially the writer.
If the Dark Crystal 2 will have the same quality throughout the staff as its director, it'll be a movie to remember. We can only hope.
The Dark Crystal is my sister's favorite movie. I barely remember it, but I guess I'll have to watch it again.
If you interpret 'be there' that way, then his 'tv babysitter' comment is meaningless. The parents are still 'there' in the house when the TV is on. They are still 'there' in the house when the PC is on. You cannot effectively monitor anyone's activities from a distance. And if you think 'check once in a while' is enough, have a talk with all the parents that thought they 'knew' their children weren't doing drugs because they check on them from time to time.
Am I saying not to bother monitoring your children? Good lord no! That's guaranteeing they'll have problems. But restricting them to 3 hrs a week while you 'Big Brother' them isn't the answer, either.
Extremes are very very rarely the right answer.
Or if you do decide to stick them on the internet, be there while they use it.
That's great, for about 3 hours a week. No person in their right mind could stand to stare at the screen while a kid browses pointless Blues Clues websites for any serious length of time. The thought alone is driving me crazy.
Also, if my parents had stood over my shoulder while I used my long line of computers since 4th grade, I would NOT be a programmer today. In fact, I doubt I'd know much about it at all because I'd be worrying what they thought about what I was doing, rather than just doing it. "What's that?" "It's a Hello World program." "Why'd you write it?" "It's a good first program on a language." -silence- "WHAT!?" "Just watching."
No, that doesn't work at all. -Now- I can work with someone watching what I'm doing, because I'm confident in it. But back when I was first learning, it was just too nerve-wracking.
People (not just children) need room to grow. Smothering them will effectively kill them.
If you want computers and the internet to remaining a barely-useable tool for you child, restrict them from it heavily and that is how it'll be.
A year or 2 ago, I got interested in learning to solder. I've had soldering irons and tinkered a bit before, but I wanted to learn to do it right and actually be able to make things. (Without buring the boards and frying the components, you know?)
My first thought was 'Radio Shack! They've always had that stuff.' So I'm all happy and travelled 45 minutes to my nearest not-a-cesspit Radio Shack (I wouldn't touch the local one with a 10-ft pole. Very slimey) and start looking for those kits for radios and wireless microphones. They had not a single one! When I finally got a free clerk, his answer was 'We used to have those, but we don't any more.'
So I took a good look around and they still have some parts like resistors and stuff, and some stuff I have no earthly clue about, but the majority of their store is overpriced phones, overpriced computers, and overpriced toys for adults with too much money and too little sense. I was very disheartened.
I eventually went to the net to find what I wanted, and got a couple kits (one of them actually worked when I was done!) and had my fun that way.
In short: The one thing I remember Radio Shack fondly for, they no longer have. That seems like a grave mistake to me.
So what you're saying is that there is NO host OS, only 2 or more hosted OSes that share the hardware?
Everything I read said Xen needed modifications made to the hosted OS, but never mentioned that about the host OS. (Not that it doesn't make sense, it just never said it.) Thanks for the confirmation.
And thanks to you both for the CoLinux link. I'll check it out. Performance isn't really a problem as I have a pretty fast system and pretty un-demanding linux apps I like.
I see a ton of comments about not being able to use Xen to run Windows inside Linux, but no information the other way around...
Can Xen run Linux apps on my Windows installation? I am currently using Cygwin for that, and it's working okay, but some of my favorite apps are being run through SSH from my linux box to make all this happen.
I do too much in Windows to even dual-boot the system... I'd spend as much time booting as I would working/playing.
I have a simple answer to that: On windows, I don't have to switch applications to see the menu for another application. I can just click it, the application will come to the top, and the menu open all at once.
On Mac, (correct me if I'm wrong) you have to bring that window to the front (keyboard or mouse, doesn't matter) then head for the menu at the top of the screen.
I may sound like a piddly distinction, but then, that's how I feel about 'aiming for a huge space over the top of the screen' when I want a menu. Sure, it's ever-so-slightly-faster, but to me, Windows' way of doing it is more useful.
Add to this the fact that when I have the application on top, I tend to use shortcut keys, and the physical location of the menu doesn't actually matter at all for the current app, only the ones underneath. Mac shows them not at all, Windows gives me the option to click them.
It's at least as intuitive as a car's controls. You turn a wheel to make the car change direction? Which way is clockwise, left or right? You press a lever down to make it go forwards. You press an identical level to make it stop? And you press it the same way! You have to move a stick to different positions for different gears (it would appear as speeds) and it also handles reverse? But there's only 1 gear for that? If you'd never seen a car, it would be very unintuitive.
For the psx, there's just a stick that goes left or right to make the car go left or right. You press a button to go. You press a button to stop. (And most race games make this the reverse as well.) So you've got forwards and backwards as buttons. It changes gears for you and handles reverse automatically.
Nothing except a car teaches you how to drive a car. It's the same with video games. It's a different thought process to learn so that it becomes almost instinct for you.
This is so much the case that we are even now still exploring new control methods. Nintendo Revolution has created a 'new' method. (If you listen to Nintendo, they invented everything but the paddle and joystick.)
I think you misunderstand. The complexity doesn't come from the interface.
Take my father, for example. He's been driving since he was in high-school, so I'm pretty sure he's caught onto that. He's got an IQ of like 140 or so, so he's no idiot.
Now, place a Playstation 1 controller in his hand and let him play a racing game. Pick an easy one with just the analog stick, brake and gas. (Yes, I've done this.)
The result is pathetic. He actively WANTS to play it. He asked for it. He repeatedly runs into the walls, forgets which controls are which (There's only 2!) and generally just fails at the game. He played for a few hours with the same results. He asked me like 3 or 4 times over the first hour or so what the controls were. (Admittedly, the last time was a confirmation, not a question.)
This is something any kid I can name would be able to do quite easily. He did not grow up with video games of any sort, and does not touch-type.
He's an amazing industrial engineer, but the simplest of video games eludes him. It's not the complicated UI, it's a thought-pattern he never developed. Maybe if he spent enough time at it, he could pick it up, but he never will. He's got too many things to do that are actually fun for him.
I think the study fails to recognize that there are thought-patterns associated with being a good gamer, but gamers definitely tend towards more agile thinking and better motor skills, at least for the hands.
You know, the parent is modded Funny, but he's extremely on-target here. He has repeatedly given up the high-paying jobs to continue doing what an always-exciting job that he loves. As the submitter was asking whether or not it is worth it, this is extremely relevant.
This man has not only said 'take the fun job!' but has actually done it and proven that it works.
I'm not saying there's nothing funny about the post, but I find it quite an important post on the topic at hand.
This is exactly right. I coded PHP for years for myself and friends, and only for a very short time for money. I was unable to get a job, so I went to a major technical college thinking the paper would get me that job. I tested out of about 1/4 of the classes and got 4.0 GPA in all the rest. Graduating valedictorian with a 4.0GPA should have made my resume look awesome.
Instead, I found myself unable to get ANY jobs now. Job assistance at the college was severely lacking (I blame the person in charge of it) and I couldn't even get a joe-job because I had a 2 year degree in "IT: Computer Application and Programming." I was practically begging companies to let me intern and prove myself to them, or just get the experience I needed to get a real job.
I finally lucked out and found a company that trusted test-results over paper. They had me take an online skills and personality test at Brain Bench and I blew the other applicant away.
I love my job. I'm underpaid because I know more than they expected, I get complimented on the speed and quality of my work daily. And I'm up for a promotion very soon. It sounds dumb, but I don't mind being underpaid! I finally got my chance to prove myself and add all the stuff I love to my resume.
Check this out: PHP, XML, SQL, PostgreSQL, PL/SQL, Java, JSP, Javascript, AJAX, ASP, JBoss, Linux, Apache, LAPP... Those are just the ones I can think of right now. I'm going to add Perl and cURL to that list very soon.
I would have done this for near-free just to get it on my resume!
In short: Give a kid a chance. (I'm 28, but that's not the point. In Highschool, I'd love to have interned in this. I started learning to program in 4th grade.)
You are not 'giving up' anything. You are simply recording your identity, like you already have several different ways just to be hired in the first place.
They are not requiring this to live in the US, or a certain posh suburb. They are requiring this to work for the government and be party to some information, regardless of how public that information actually is. If you don't want to record your fingerprints (an utterly harmless and costless procedure for the participant) then you can just not work there.
If you want to take the 'you shouldn't be required to give up anything' logic backwards, then they shouldn't be required to give their name, address, social security number, or countless other pieces of information.
Heck, criminals should be allowed to work for the government (other than the obvious ones that already are, I mean) because they shouldn't have to 'give up' the information about their criminal past.
Is there a point that invades privacy too much? I'm sure there is. Fingerprints, retical scans, and other harmless, non-intrusive collections of data are not in that list. They aren't consenting to a wiretap or letting the government read their mail/email, they are just proving they are who they are, daily, with little hassle.
I worked for a company that required I carry a badge that opened the door downstairs. I fail to see how this is more bothersome or intrusive, unless there are worries about a felony coming to light.
If it was taken a step further, and they were required to 'log in' to terminals everywhere they went, then that would be a breach of privacy. And I mean everywhere, not just at government buildings.
You forgot:
4. ???
5. Profit!
Oh wait. That happens anyhow, doesn't it? Man, that's a messed up scheme. You should restructure it so there are steps nobody understands before they can make a profit. Then copyright the process and sue all the retailers out there for using it. Since they don't understand it, they can't prove they don't use it.
rtorrent is what I use. I've found it to be very nice for almost everything I want. I wish it had a few more of Azureus 'bloat' features, like the built-in tracker and upload-and-host features, but it definitely does everything it should.
Combined with Naim and NZBGet, I'm in heaven. I found all these when my windows PC was down and I was forced to take my linux PC seriously for a while. (Hardware, no software problem.) Now, I have Cygwin installed and use a lot of the stuff I fell in love with on Linux in Windows. (Aterm, for instance.)
Blasphemy, I'm sure, but I get to play my games (Cedega was a nightmare) and have all my toys, too... Except Yakuake. Grr. Working on that.
I once worked at a very large computer manufacturer, in the phone tech-support department. This was back before Windows 98 was released. We only had a few female techs there, but they were all pretty dumb. This one girl only ever said one smart thing the entire time I was there, and she was the best of them.
She said (paraphrased): "I have customers unplug the power cord, cup it in the hand for a few seconds, then plug it back in." The whole group of us laughed silly until she explained why. It wasn't about the cupping, it was about checking to make sure the bloody thing was plugged in properly. It worked a surprising 50% of the time she did it.
Having said that... Most of the guys there were complete idiots, too, and only hired because they could read and talk at the same time, I'm sure.
So am I biased against female techs? Only because I've never talked to one that knew what she was doing. I'm sure some exist, but I'm guessing most talented women find other things they'd rather do than fight their way into a tech field that rejects them so strongly.
Stereotypes may be unethical, but they exist for a reason.
Last time I used a POTS phone, I'm pretty sure my friends voice didn't go all crackly/warbly when his computer bogged down playing FF11.
That's my main issue with Skype... CPU Usage. It's fine on my uber computer, but my friend isn't so blessed and it's quite annoying. We never had a real problem with teamspeak, though... Gotta keep trying to get him to switch back.
I'm sure the same thing can happen on VOIP phones with high bandwidth usage, but it's been a while since I've managed to max out my line.
Note: I haven't used an actual POTS phone in my home for over a year now, so maybe the phone company actually managed to mess that up, too. I dunno.
Ah, but notice I said 'without the user knowing' instead of 'without paying'. Companies have to pay SOMEONE to get that data for them, even if it's just an in-house programmer.
In this case, I think it's more important that the user is unaware of the information leak. Surfing habits that have knowingly stored and sold are going to be VERY different from those collected without the user knowing. Now -that- is human nature. We shouldn't CARE what these companies know we did, but we're not going to sell them information that we are ashamed of. (Or a great many other reasons, I'm sure.)
I'm not saying the 'something for nothing' syndrome isn't valid, too, but it isn't as applicable here.
Something of value? A penny is of value. And they can require you amass 10,000 pennies to cash out your value. This clause prevents nothing.
Besides which... Companies can already obtain this information without the user knowing, why would they pay?
1. I've already decided to take that a step further. They will provide an SDK, but I'm betting it isn't very easy to use. My plan is to write a wrapper for their SDK that allows you to treat the entire board as a single image, or each button as an image. Then you can make all kinds of neat effects.
2. Good idea, I'm sure there's more like that as well. Like keys that change according to many other statistics or current events.
3. Learning to type doesn't require learning where the keys are, but how to hit them. The idea is to get the used to NOT looking at the keyboard. Putting the indicators on the keyboard would have the wrong effect.
Now, on the other hand, non-typists... If the computer was using a word-prediction algorithm, it could highlight likely keys. This would be a great aid for non-typists.
Cost less than a good mobile phone, eh? I spent $200 on my last mobile... It's pretty doggone good. So... $199. You know what? It's open source, comes with an SDK and too amazing for words. Yeah, I'd actually buy that. Maybe that makes me sick, or a sucker, or both... But that's even cooler than the vaporware laser keyboard from a couple years ago.