Well, it's just that plugins require a conscious effort to install.
But as I understand it (TBH I don't often use IE, my Windows setups are all VMs) ActiveX controls are presented more like Java applets: at most you're asked whether you're sure you want to display it/grant it privileges/etc., which wouldn't be well understood by many, that they're actually downloading and executing native code that could do what it likes.
Of course it's possible, but there just doesn't seem to be the same widespread problem with plugins as with ActiveX.
True, but in order to interface with NPAPI, plugin software has to be downloaded and installed. Software that you download and install has the same security issues since, just like browser plugins, it is native code running with the same privileges.
True, but in order to interface with NPAPI, plugin software has to be downloaded and installed. Software that you download and install has the same security issues since, just like browser plugins, it is native code running with the same privileges as the retard I'm respondin
At no cost to you, but like it or not, people are paid for making what you consider mere information (even though you admit it has value to many), and most of them wouldn't or couldn't do so without some kind of compensation.
Personally, I'd rather a wide choice of entertainment that costs something (even if overpriced), than a much narrower selection that's barely worth anything.
No, there isn't room for both. If you read the article or the several posts now that've mentioned it, these machines are going to have 1-1.5 GB flash memory for storage. Even Linux may be a tight squeeze, and dual booting both it and OS X, assuming the latter can even be slimmed down to fit within 512-768MB of drive space, would mean that they'd get the best of neither.
So you haven't heard anyone rave about Linux's (well really Unix and X Window's) i18n (internationalization) features? Ok here goes...
You've probably not heard of X Input Methods. Similarly to Mac and Windows programs, every Xlib program is provided services for receiving input in any language that there is an input server for, applications and toolkits barely have to lift a finger for them to work, and input servers already exist and are in everyday use for more languages than you can poke a stick at. X's Input Method framework has been around for quite a while too, since X11R5 days (admittedly font rendering has had to catch up though), and is arguably more flexible than Mac's or Windows' even, with options such as Over- and Off-the-spot preediting, and can make a programmer's job just that much easier in some ways compared to other platforms... Windows for example only supports On-the-spot and popup window preediting, the former requiring a lot of extra work by the programmer. So really as far as languages and input support quoted by any OS vendor as having support for, it's pretty much neck-and-neck these days, so any perceived advantages of one particular platform over any other in terms of international support are negligible, it really coming down to ease of use, for the developer and ultimately the user. Take 'Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics' for example, just like other platforms, X also supports languages that use these characters, and it'd take all of 20 minutes to write an Xlib program that also features this 'broad support', by simply supporting XIM and using a font with those characters in it (which libraries like fontconfig can find for you). And naturally, X Toolkits such as Gtk and Qt don't even require any of that legwork, it all being done on behalf of the programmer behind the scenes. OS specific extras such as Mac OS X's 'language palette' are nice, but again hardly unique, there being equivalents on other platforms, such as GNOME's and Windows' Character Map utilities, and probably better options that I don't know about given I only speak English.
As for rendering more complex languages, of course just using the right font isn't always enough, and some X toolkits are better than others, but Gtk/Gnome's Pango library was built for just this purpose, and even does a good job of rendering really hard to get right languages such as Thai and Devanagari. Pango is also reasonably modular, and doesn't even require Gtk or GNOME, or an X server at all for that matter, so is potentially useful even for resource constrained environments that e.g. only have framebuffer graphics but still require good i18n text rendering.
Yep, us poor saps stuck using Linux, Unix and X are truly living in the dark ages.;)
Until you can actually cite any single quote or evidence that when Steve Jobs offered OS X for free, he was referring to some other magical version of OS X that doesn't exist
Pick up the box your copy of OS X came in, and read the minimum system requirements on the side. There's your evidence. And then there's common sense, I mean the dock alone would take up the $100 Laptop's entire 8" screen! Not to mention I doubt these laptops have 3D acceleration which Aqua is probably all but useless without, and they definitely don't do high resolution colour (you get high res monochrome, or colour, but not both).
You need to upgrade your narrowminded view of what a computer is, and start thinking realistically -- this device has more in common with a PDA than the kind of computer you seem to be used to. So OS X on these $100 laptops? Not going to happen. (And implying as you did above that Steve Jobs is too clueless to realise that, is just ridiculous.) Linux on the other hand? Can be pared down to run on a wristwatch. I think they'll manage, even without your helpful advice.
One more thing, when people who know what they're talking about refer to 'free software', and what you seem to think the term means, are obviously two widely different things. Whether you realise it or not, there is a fundamental difference between software given away at no cost, and software that is legally and politically unencumbered. I'll leave it to you to figure out which one of these types of software can be modified to suit particular needs, and which one if you tried could have you in court for reverse engineering.
As for your condescension when it comes to underpriveleged people and intelligence or motivation, just because you can't write a symphony doesn't mean somebody somewhere in Africa doesn't have the potential to be the next fucking Mozart, you xenophobic prick.
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But as I understand it (TBH I don't often use IE, my Windows setups are all VMs) ActiveX controls are presented more like Java applets: at most you're asked whether you're sure you want to display it/grant it privileges/etc., which wouldn't be well understood by many, that they're actually downloading and executing native code that could do what it likes.
Of course it's possible, but there just doesn't seem to be the same widespread problem with plugins as with ActiveX.
True, but in order to interface with NPAPI, plugin software has to be downloaded and installed. Software that you download and install has the same security issues since, just like browser plugins, it is native code running with the same privileges.
True, but in order to interface with NPAPI, plugin software has to be downloaded and installed. Software that you download and install has the same security issues since, just like browser plugins, it is native code running with the same privileges as the retard I'm respondin
At no cost to you, but like it or not, people are paid for making what you consider mere information (even though you admit it has value to many), and most of them wouldn't or couldn't do so without some kind of compensation.
Personally, I'd rather a wide choice of entertainment that costs something (even if overpriced), than a much narrower selection that's barely worth anything.
No, there isn't room for both. If you read the article or the several posts now that've mentioned it, these machines are going to have 1-1.5 GB flash memory for storage. Even Linux may be a tight squeeze, and dual booting both it and OS X, assuming the latter can even be slimmed down to fit within 512-768MB of drive space, would mean that they'd get the best of neither.
So you haven't heard anyone rave about Linux's (well really Unix and X Window's) i18n (internationalization) features? Ok here goes...
You've probably not heard of X Input Methods. Similarly to Mac and Windows programs, every Xlib program is provided services for receiving input in any language that there is an input server for, applications and toolkits barely have to lift a finger for them to work, and input servers already exist and are in everyday use for more languages than you can poke a stick at. X's Input Method framework has been around for quite a while too, since X11R5 days (admittedly font rendering has had to catch up though), and is arguably more flexible than Mac's or Windows' even, with options such as Over- and Off-the-spot preediting, and can make a programmer's job just that much easier in some ways compared to other platforms... Windows for example only supports On-the-spot and popup window preediting, the former requiring a lot of extra work by the programmer. So really as far as languages and input support quoted by any OS vendor as having support for, it's pretty much neck-and-neck these days, so any perceived advantages of one particular platform over any other in terms of international support are negligible, it really coming down to ease of use, for the developer and ultimately the user. Take 'Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics' for example, just like other platforms, X also supports languages that use these characters, and it'd take all of 20 minutes to write an Xlib program that also features this 'broad support', by simply supporting XIM and using a font with those characters in it (which libraries like fontconfig can find for you). And naturally, X Toolkits such as Gtk and Qt don't even require any of that legwork, it all being done on behalf of the programmer behind the scenes. OS specific extras such as Mac OS X's 'language palette' are nice, but again hardly unique, there being equivalents on other platforms, such as GNOME's and Windows' Character Map utilities, and probably better options that I don't know about given I only speak English.
As for rendering more complex languages, of course just using the right font isn't always enough, and some X toolkits are better than others, but Gtk/Gnome's Pango library was built for just this purpose, and even does a good job of rendering really hard to get right languages such as Thai and Devanagari. Pango is also reasonably modular, and doesn't even require Gtk or GNOME, or an X server at all for that matter, so is potentially useful even for resource constrained environments that e.g. only have framebuffer graphics but still require good i18n text rendering.
Yep, us poor saps stuck using Linux, Unix and X are truly living in the dark ages. ;)
Until you can actually cite any single quote or evidence that when Steve Jobs offered OS X for free, he was referring to some other magical version of OS X that doesn't exist
Pick up the box your copy of OS X came in, and read the minimum system requirements on the side. There's your evidence. And then there's common sense, I mean the dock alone would take up the $100 Laptop's entire 8" screen! Not to mention I doubt these laptops have 3D acceleration which Aqua is probably all but useless without, and they definitely don't do high resolution colour (you get high res monochrome, or colour, but not both).
You need to upgrade your narrowminded view of what a computer is, and start thinking realistically -- this device has more in common with a PDA than the kind of computer you seem to be used to. So OS X on these $100 laptops? Not going to happen. (And implying as you did above that Steve Jobs is too clueless to realise that, is just ridiculous.) Linux on the other hand? Can be pared down to run on a wristwatch. I think they'll manage, even without your helpful advice.
One more thing, when people who know what they're talking about refer to 'free software', and what you seem to think the term means, are obviously two widely different things. Whether you realise it or not, there is a fundamental difference between software given away at no cost, and software that is legally and politically unencumbered. I'll leave it to you to figure out which one of these types of software can be modified to suit particular needs, and which one if you tried could have you in court for reverse engineering.
As for your condescension when it comes to underpriveleged people and intelligence or motivation, just because you can't write a symphony doesn't mean somebody somewhere in Africa doesn't have the potential to be the next fucking Mozart, you xenophobic prick.