Why would a smart grid let you see what you're running in your house? The most they should have access to are two plots, power and power factor versus time. Anything else is information that neither the utility nor the law needs to know about. There is no need to know what is running inside a home or business, or even have any control over anything running inside it. All the control you need is real time pricing pushed out to the power meter, and from there to connected smart appliances.
In many US locales, if you suddenly use a lot more power they inform the cops, who then bring dope sniffing dogs to see if you're growing pot. They assume that a big jump in power consumption means high pressure sodium lamps.
Well, if I get another netbook it's likely to have win7 on it, if I can get the old old games to play, great. But there were some Win95 (and especially older DOS) games that wouldn't run under XP. XP "disabled" them (without letting me uninstall them).
No way am I going to buy a copy of Win 7 although I probably won't wipe a drive that has it preinstalled, and I won't pirate it, either (fear of rootkits). I've bought LOTS of OSes from MS, and the only one I felt gave me my money's worth was when I upgraded from DOS 3.1 to DOS 6.2. 6.2 had doublespace, DOSshell, and actually ran faster than 3.1. But I bought 95, 98, and XP and felt ripped off all three times. I had Win 7 on the Acer that got stolen, and it was actually not a bad OS, but nowhere near worth what they want you to pay for it. I can buy a whole bare-bones computer cheaper than I can buy a premium copy of Windows.
In 2000, the Business Software Alliance conducted a raid and subsequent audit at the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based company that turned up a few dozen unlicensed copies of programs. Ball settled for $65,000, plus $35,000 in legal fees. But by then, the BSA, a trade group that helps enforce copyrights and licensing provisions for major business software makers, had put the company on the evening news and featured it in regional ads warning other businesses to monitor their software licenses.
Humiliated by the experience, Ball told his IT department he wanted Microsoft products out of his business within six months. "I said, 'I don't care if we have to buy 10,000 abacuses,'" recalled Ball, who recently addressed the LinuxWorld trade show. "We won't do business with someone who treats us poorly."
I laughed out loud. One out of 4 ain't bad, especially from an AC. It was the stereotype down to a T (and, er, I personally fit most of the stereotypes. Being a nerd is one of very few things I sit at the top of the bell curve in). AC should register a/. account.
But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on buying every game that they make. Even if they're not fun The corporations have won They own everyone who is alive.
Too bad you're an AC, that was insightful, and it's one of the biggest reasons I got out of the gaming scene (although my daughters are still heavily into it).
Besides, I have hundreds of games, if I can get them to run on modern equipment is the big "if".
You DO realize that MicroSD cards, like say the one in that camera, coming with viruses is quite common nowadays, yes?
No, thanks for cluing me in. How do the cards get infected in the first place?
And having Autorun enabled is seriously fucking dumb?
Indeed I do. It isn't my computer.
it has a nice feature in the software where she could push a single button and it'll upload to FB, email family or friends, it really is a nice little feature.
That may well be, but rather than automatically trying to get on the internet it should have a dialog explaining the software and asking if I wanted it. Just changing settings and installing software on someone's PC is past rude.
As to the automatic email and automatic FB, that's just plain dumb unless every picture you shoot is one you wouldn't mind your boss seeing. Uploading pictures to FB or attaching them to an email is brain-dead simple, even my 83 year old mom can do that.
first off you need to go to WSUS Offline and make her an offline updater.
It wasn't necessary, once I got past Kodak's rudeness the pictures transferred to the computer easily.
Now for the AV I'd suggest either Comodo or Avast free, both have the ability to be updated by file and both have by default sandboxing so she shouldn't have to worry about an infected microSD or CD she gets from a friend.
I've suggested Avast, but I get a blank stare. For some reason everybody trusts Norton, I have no idea why because it's a shitty program.
She probably will get on AT&T's $20 plan sooner or later.
Well, it's not my computer, and if it was I wouldn't upgrade a Windows OS; I made that mistake when I upgraded from W98 to XP and half of my programs no longer worked.
Win 7 did come on the Acer netbook (subnotebook or whatever you want to call it) and it was in fact a whole lot better than XP, I have to give MS credit there, but I got a little bluetooth dongle that warned me not to plug it in until I installed its software. I was afraid it wasn't going to work with the Linux box, since it had files on its mini-CD for Mac and Windows but not Linux, but when I plugged it into the Linux box it just worked. I didn't have to install anything.
AFAIK it may well have worked in Windows without the software, but I didn't try it.
Yeah? Just last week the boss wanted a device connected to an ancient laptop that ran Windows 2000 (so old it had a 600 mz chip). I got it connected, but when I went to look for drivers I found that nobody supports any version of Windows before XP; I had the same problem looking for Win 98 drivers seven years ago, you couldn't get anything before Win 2000 then (I wound up buying XP). However, look at the first driver on the download list -- Linux. That driver will work on any Linux OS from the first one back in 1990 to the newest one out there.
One Linux driver, a different driver for every Windows OS supported, and half of the Microsoft OSes made since Linux began aren't supported. When I update my OS I won't have to update the drivers, AND all my software will still run; when I went from 98 to XP half my software wouldn't.
YMMV, but I haven't had driver issues in Linux for years; maybe it's because I'm not buying bleeding edge or obscure hardware.
"Piracy" is always an excuse for other crap. For instance, the RIAA is against P2P even though studies all show music pirates spend more on music than non-pirates. They're against P2P because that's how their competetion, the indies, get the word out about their music, and indie sales actually do cost RIAA sales; twenty bucks on inde music is tewnty bucks you don't have for RIAA music.
The sad thing is, the "piracy is costing sales" meme, even though a lie, is so entrenched that people believe it. In fact, one book publisher commissioned a study to find out how much book piracy was hurting sales, and was astounded to learn that there was a second sales spike when the books hit the Pirate Bay.
Most of today's corporations are run by lying, thieving sociopaths.
Yeah, she had the "triple play". Now she has an antenna and a cell phone. She'll be getting AT&T internet, that's only $20 a month. Comcast cheated themselves out of a customer.
What was especially stupid with her Kodak is that it does use the USB mass storage mode* but still wanted to download its own proprietary program. I'd guess that's why many are moving back to the pre-USB methods.
I can't figure out why companies want to make things harder for their customers. Are they stupid or what?
* It must, since Windows was able to easily transfer the files.
My phone's not very smart (it would have been a smartphone a few years ago since it has a qwerty keyboard), but it's my primary camera. It takes better pictures than a $1000 digital camera did fifteen years ago, and a lot better pictures than the old cheap analog cameras.
It would be nice if Windows knew what was being plugged into its USB port. Linux seems to know. As soon as I plug the little bluetooth dongle in, kbluetooth runs. As soon as I plug a thumb drive in, the file manager recognizes it. The OS should know the difference between a camera and a phone, even if the phone is also a camera.
I transmit the pictures from my phone to the computer with bluetooth rather than a cable. Since I don't use Windows and keep my data backed up, I don't need AV. But I can see how the phone could easily carry a trojan, especially in Windows with its (IMO dumb) method of file permissions.
It's not mine, it's hers, and I've given up trying to get her to keep her kids from doing stupid shit on her computer (her last computer got so bad I had to wipe the drive and install Linux). In this case autorun wasn't enabled, the Windows dialog that says "what do you want to do" came up. The comment was too long as it was, I left steps out for brevity (or at least least less lengthy).
Linux is better than windows for most things. The two things Windows is best for is high-end games and getting infected, it beats any other OS for those uses. If I was still into gaming I'd have a dual boot machine, but since I rarely play PC games any more I don't even have a Windows computer.
Yes, it used to be that the common virus vector was the floppy. A trojan can also be a virus but not necessarily. A trojan needs a person that isn't careful, a virus only needs a buggy program.
But there are so few viruses transmitted by removable media these days that a Windows machine not connected to the internet is almost as safe as a Mac.
And yes, viruses do all sorts of nasty things. But no program should assume that a computer is connected to the internet unless internet is needed. Browsers, email clients, multiplayer games, download tools, etc. But a camera or a spreadsheet or a single player game should NOT require internet.
Agreed, it's not just Ubisoft, and it's not just for DRM, and it's not even just games. My GF got pissed at Comcast because when she decided she didn't need both a landline and a cell (she's on SS and rather poor), the cable price didn't go down so she just dropped Comcast.
Her daughter gave her a camera for Xmas last year and it was full, she wanted me to help her put the pictures in the PC. As soon as I turned it on, Norton complained that it needed to download updates. These days why do you even need AV without a net connection? The AV insisted on a net connection.
I plugged the camera in and Kodak demanded an internet connection to download its software. It didn't even need the damned software! after killing some processes, Windows happily downloaded the pictures from the camera.
People need to understand that a computer isn't a phone and has a lot of uses besides just surfing the web. We used computers without a net connection for decades. There is no reason whatever, from a customer point of view, for all these damned companies to demand an internet connection for a device or program like an AV or a camera or a single player game.
I pulled out my phone and emailed complaints to the damned companies, not that it will do any good.
If a single player game won't work without the internet, PLEASE don't buy it!
Yes, I know you're posting anonymously because you're moderating (and modded the OP down). Bad form, dude. If you didn't get the joke it's either because
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Why would a smart grid let you see what you're running in your house? The most they should have access to are two plots, power and power factor versus time. Anything else is information that neither the utility nor the law needs to know about. There is no need to know what is running inside a home or business, or even have any control over anything running inside it. All the control you need is real time pricing pushed out to the power meter, and from there to connected smart appliances.
In many US locales, if you suddenly use a lot more power they inform the cops, who then bring dope sniffing dogs to see if you're growing pot. They assume that a big jump in power consumption means high pressure sodium lamps.
Well, if I get another netbook it's likely to have win7 on it, if I can get the old old games to play, great. But there were some Win95 (and especially older DOS) games that wouldn't run under XP. XP "disabled" them (without letting me uninstall them).
No way am I going to buy a copy of Win 7 although I probably won't wipe a drive that has it preinstalled, and I won't pirate it, either (fear of rootkits). I've bought LOTS of OSes from MS, and the only one I felt gave me my money's worth was when I upgraded from DOS 3.1 to DOS 6.2. 6.2 had doublespace, DOSshell, and actually ran faster than 3.1. But I bought 95, 98, and XP and felt ripped off all three times. I had Win 7 on the Acer that got stolen, and it was actually not a bad OS, but nowhere near worth what they want you to pay for it. I can buy a whole bare-bones computer cheaper than I can buy a premium copy of Windows.
The effect of that would be the same as not having smart grids at all.
Isle be back...
What's the difference between a wife and a Microsoft product?
After five years the Microsoft product still sucks.
Ernie Ball (guitar strings) went through what Kagetsuki is going through.
I've never tried it, I was just going by what other people have said in the past.
Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.
for this one I have to call bullshit.
I laughed out loud. One out of 4 ain't bad, especially from an AC. It was the stereotype down to a T (and, er, I personally fit most of the stereotypes. Being a nerd is one of very few things I sit at the top of the bell curve in). AC should register a /. account.
But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on buying every game that they make.
Even if they're not fun
The corporations have won
They own everyone who is alive.
Too bad you're an AC, that was insightful, and it's one of the biggest reasons I got out of the gaming scene (although my daughters are still heavily into it).
Besides, I have hundreds of games, if I can get them to run on modern equipment is the big "if".
You DO realize that MicroSD cards, like say the one in that camera, coming with viruses is quite common nowadays, yes?
No, thanks for cluing me in. How do the cards get infected in the first place?
And having Autorun enabled is seriously fucking dumb?
Indeed I do. It isn't my computer.
it has a nice feature in the software where she could push a single button and it'll upload to FB, email family or friends, it really is a nice little feature.
That may well be, but rather than automatically trying to get on the internet it should have a dialog explaining the software and asking if I wanted it. Just changing settings and installing software on someone's PC is past rude.
As to the automatic email and automatic FB, that's just plain dumb unless every picture you shoot is one you wouldn't mind your boss seeing. Uploading pictures to FB or attaching them to an email is brain-dead simple, even my 83 year old mom can do that.
first off you need to go to WSUS Offline and make her an offline updater.
It wasn't necessary, once I got past Kodak's rudeness the pictures transferred to the computer easily.
Now for the AV I'd suggest either Comodo or Avast free, both have the ability to be updated by file and both have by default sandboxing so she shouldn't have to worry about an infected microSD or CD she gets from a friend.
I've suggested Avast, but I get a blank stare. For some reason everybody trusts Norton, I have no idea why because it's a shitty program.
She probably will get on AT&T's $20 plan sooner or later.
Well, it's not my computer, and if it was I wouldn't upgrade a Windows OS; I made that mistake when I upgraded from W98 to XP and half of my programs no longer worked.
Win 7 did come on the Acer netbook (subnotebook or whatever you want to call it) and it was in fact a whole lot better than XP, I have to give MS credit there, but I got a little bluetooth dongle that warned me not to plug it in until I installed its software. I was afraid it wasn't going to work with the Linux box, since it had files on its mini-CD for Mac and Windows but not Linux, but when I plugged it into the Linux box it just worked. I didn't have to install anything.
AFAIK it may well have worked in Windows without the software, but I didn't try it.
Yeah? Just last week the boss wanted a device connected to an ancient laptop that ran Windows 2000 (so old it had a 600 mz chip). I got it connected, but when I went to look for drivers I found that nobody supports any version of Windows before XP; I had the same problem looking for Win 98 drivers seven years ago, you couldn't get anything before Win 2000 then (I wound up buying XP). However, look at the first driver on the download list -- Linux. That driver will work on any Linux OS from the first one back in 1990 to the newest one out there.
One Linux driver, a different driver for every Windows OS supported, and half of the Microsoft OSes made since Linux began aren't supported. When I update my OS I won't have to update the drivers, AND all my software will still run; when I went from 98 to XP half my software wouldn't.
YMMV, but I haven't had driver issues in Linux for years; maybe it's because I'm not buying bleeding edge or obscure hardware.
"Piracy" is always an excuse for other crap. For instance, the RIAA is against P2P even though studies all show music pirates spend more on music than non-pirates. They're against P2P because that's how their competetion, the indies, get the word out about their music, and indie sales actually do cost RIAA sales; twenty bucks on inde music is tewnty bucks you don't have for RIAA music.
The sad thing is, the "piracy is costing sales" meme, even though a lie, is so entrenched that people believe it. In fact, one book publisher commissioned a study to find out how much book piracy was hurting sales, and was astounded to learn that there was a second sales spike when the books hit the Pirate Bay.
Most of today's corporations are run by lying, thieving sociopaths.
Yeah, she had the "triple play". Now she has an antenna and a cell phone. She'll be getting AT&T internet, that's only $20 a month. Comcast cheated themselves out of a customer.
What was especially stupid with her Kodak is that it does use the USB mass storage mode* but still wanted to download its own proprietary program. I'd guess that's why many are moving back to the pre-USB methods.
I can't figure out why companies want to make things harder for their customers. Are they stupid or what?
* It must, since Windows was able to easily transfer the files.
My phone's not very smart (it would have been a smartphone a few years ago since it has a qwerty keyboard), but it's my primary camera. It takes better pictures than a $1000 digital camera did fifteen years ago, and a lot better pictures than the old cheap analog cameras.
It would be nice if Windows knew what was being plugged into its USB port. Linux seems to know. As soon as I plug the little bluetooth dongle in, kbluetooth runs. As soon as I plug a thumb drive in, the file manager recognizes it. The OS should know the difference between a camera and a phone, even if the phone is also a camera.
I transmit the pictures from my phone to the computer with bluetooth rather than a cable. Since I don't use Windows and keep my data backed up, I don't need AV. But I can see how the phone could easily carry a trojan, especially in Windows with its (IMO dumb) method of file permissions.
It's not mine, it's hers, and I've given up trying to get her to keep her kids from doing stupid shit on her computer (her last computer got so bad I had to wipe the drive and install Linux). In this case autorun wasn't enabled, the Windows dialog that says "what do you want to do" came up. The comment was too long as it was, I left steps out for brevity (or at least least less lengthy).
Linux is better than windows for most things. The two things Windows is best for is high-end games and getting infected, it beats any other OS for those uses. If I was still into gaming I'd have a dual boot machine, but since I rarely play PC games any more I don't even have a Windows computer.
Yes, it used to be that the common virus vector was the floppy. A trojan can also be a virus but not necessarily. A trojan needs a person that isn't careful, a virus only needs a buggy program.
But there are so few viruses transmitted by removable media these days that a Windows machine not connected to the internet is almost as safe as a Mac.
And yes, viruses do all sorts of nasty things. But no program should assume that a computer is connected to the internet unless internet is needed. Browsers, email clients, multiplayer games, download tools, etc. But a camera or a spreadsheet or a single player game should NOT require internet.
Agreed, it's not just Ubisoft, and it's not just for DRM, and it's not even just games. My GF got pissed at Comcast because when she decided she didn't need both a landline and a cell (she's on SS and rather poor), the cable price didn't go down so she just dropped Comcast.
Her daughter gave her a camera for Xmas last year and it was full, she wanted me to help her put the pictures in the PC. As soon as I turned it on, Norton complained that it needed to download updates. These days why do you even need AV without a net connection? The AV insisted on a net connection.
I plugged the camera in and Kodak demanded an internet connection to download its software. It didn't even need the damned software! after killing some processes, Windows happily downloaded the pictures from the camera.
People need to understand that a computer isn't a phone and has a lot of uses besides just surfing the web. We used computers without a net connection for decades. There is no reason whatever, from a customer point of view, for all these damned companies to demand an internet connection for a device or program like an AV or a camera or a single player game.
I pulled out my phone and emailed complaints to the damned companies, not that it will do any good.
If a single player game won't work without the internet, PLEASE don't buy it!
Where'd I put that battery?
Don't you woosh you would have gotten it?
Yes, I know you're posting anonymously because you're moderating (and modded the OP down). Bad form, dude. If you didn't get the joke it's either because
HAND.
You believe any corporation's motto? Here's a good corporate motto: "Ethics? We've heard of 'em." Works for any corporation.
I think my favorite motto is Kellogg's "two scoops or raisins". How big is the scoop?
If it's illegal, putting it in a contract doesn't make it legal.
A pay phone? How quaint! I haven't seen one that actually worked in years.