Oh, forgot to add something, you mentioned kids having trouble using keys for controllers. Suggest getting a PS3 standard controller from a store or E-bay. Plugs in using USB connector and the current kernel (2.6.37+) provides the drivers (hid-sony) See article on Google Code:
http://code.google.com/p/fofix/wiki/GameControllers
I did some research into this topic awhile ago. Here is a list depending on the age group:
3-7: GCompris (http://gcompris.net/-en-) *** Best ***, KDE Education software (http://edu.kde.org/), Tux Software Series (http://tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/), TuxPaint, TuxMath, TuxType all excellent, Omnitux (overlaps with Gcompris) (http://omnitux.sourceforge.net/), SuperTuxCart (no education just game) (http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/), SuperTux(http://supertux.lethargik.org/) (entertainment only), Secret Maryo (similar to Super Mario, pure entertainment, no educational value) (http://www.secretmaryo.org/), Frozen Bubbles (pure game, no real education here)(http://www.frozen-bubble.org/), Crayon Physics Deluxe (commercial, puzzle game)(http://www.crayonphysics.com/)
6-14: Scratch (teaches computer programming in an amazingly intuitive way..had 11 year old figure it out with no computer background and no experience) (http://scratch.mit.edu/), Alice (teaches 3d art), (http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=downloads/download_alice), World Of Goo (commercial, puzzle solving)(http://www.2dboy.com ), Trine/Trine 2 (commercial, puzzle solving)(http://http://trine-thegame.com/site/) (good for developing puzzle solving skills..good graphics), Greenfoot (teaches Java to pre-teens similar way to Scratch) (http://www.greenfoot.org/door), Cogs (Commercial puzzle game) (http://www.cogsgame.com/), DreamChess (Stragety...its chess)(http://www.dreamchess.org/), E-Adventure (teaches people to make their own point/click adventure games) (http://e-adventure.e-ucm.es/), Gbrainy (Math/logic games) (https://live.gnome.org/gbrainy), Inkscape (Vector Graphics..works well with Scratch/Alice as teaching tool and book)(http://www.inkscape.org), And Yet It Moves (Commercial puzzle/alternative physics) (http://www.andyetitmoves.net/), Machinarium (Commercial, flash adventure game..great for kids) http://machinarium.net/demo/, Minecraft (semi-commercial, install on Linux may not be straightforward) (https://minecraft.net/), Botanicula (Commercial, Flash adventure Game)(http://botanicula.net/)
Most of the non-commercial games listed above are readily available hrough the software game channels of most Linux Distros including Ubuntu, Mint (I've confirmed all on Mint), Fedora and Debian. I included links in case for some reason the user friendly Software Install Dialogs in Ubuntu/Mint or default Synpatic Package manager channel configuration doesn't do the trick. The commercial ones come in various installers, most user friendly but a few you may need to make a menu launcher manually.
Recommend all purposes Distro for early starters (6-and up):http://www.linuxmint.org/ (Not education specific but software installation menus make it easy to find/try educational and non-educational games...ubuntu does to but Mint makes it easier for non-techies...have 9-12 year old using it with no training...no problem)
What about Chromium? Its Chrome without the Google stuff to extract data to track people for showing ads.
http://www.chromium.org/Home
I really liked Firefox and recommended to everyone, but with this loss of focus in an attempt to reprove its relevance with it so called "rapid release", its having the reverse effect and may give MS a new opportunity to push its semi-w3c complaint browser. Apple Safari may be a good alternative for MS windows clients but I haven't looked into whether it collects data. I need to see what plugins I can use with Chromium which is the biggest advantage Firefox has in flexibility over its competitors. Ironically, Firefox 17 seems like it will kill some plugins. Is the cure worse than the disease?
Quite right, but history shows its not whether something is illegal/immoral that deters, but whether the intended victim has any teeth and is ready to bite. Which of course explains why it would be necessary to have a law specifically forbidding turning over access to PRIVATE, PERSONAL data which is irrelevant to performing their professional duties.
America being the cheapest place to get beer in my experience is because the beer is...well...cheap. I hated beer when I was in the USA. After I tried beer from England, Ireland, Germany, France and especially Belgium, it occurred to me that I hated American beer because it was bad (and cheap) beer. I also wonder if this is contributing to Americans being so overweight compared to the rest of the world...hmm....
All jokes aside, this could damage Ubuntu's reputation. It basically tells the Linux and potential MS converts that Ubuntu is no better than Apple (and to a lessor extent Microsoft). Including tools that directly guide your usage to the benefit of a commercial interest may be considered intrusive by some. Also the Unity Desktop has suffered from usability and stability issues that have kept more informed people from using it,; some sticking to Ubuntu 11 or others going to alternative distros. Which leads to the the subject that not enough people talking about: alternative user friendly distros to Ubuntu. I myself don't find Ubuntu to be wonderfully user friendly and have had stability problems creep in. Linux Mint http://www.linuxmint.com/ I find more user friendly and stable so I recommend it to friends and clients. SolusOS http://www.solusos.com/ is new but look VERY promising based on Debian. I've used pure Debian in office environments with no learning curve complaints by the employees. Of course Fedora is loved by many although more bleeding edge. Linux Mint in particular is gaining more press among Linux users and potential converts whereas Ubuntu has gotten some not so positive press with the new Unity usability/speed/drivers/integration problems and now this rather close partnership with Amazon on the OS level. Ubuntu and Linux in general does not have a market share near big enough that people will forgive annoyances like this. At least with laptops preinstalled junk is relatively easy if annoying to remove. Perhaps that is so with Ubuntu 12 as well, but why should bother a more user friendly distros is available that doesn't play these games?
Linux Minx uses default search engines of those who contribute money to the OS to generate revenue and I find that perfectly acceptable. You can also add the bigger search engines with ease and its no more intrusive than MS IE 7/8's default search engine.
I feel as if Ubuntu is pushing the limits of including "features" in a similar way Microsoft did in stages: first with WGA in XP, then with the Protected Media Path and its "dial home" feature under the pretense of telling you "you are online" with the "Network Connectivity Status Indicator" (which dials to www.msftncsi.com and can only be disabled with a registry hack as there is no admin interface to change this behavior). MS is playing similar games with MS Office: WGA-like "features", the "ribbon" interface everyone HATES (pushing many to Libre/Open Office), and dramatic price increases to push home/SMB users to buy the cloud subscription model via Office 360. These "features" are of no benefit to the user, are often a detriment (especially to privacy) and/or consume excessive resources at a minimum. The WGA with XP was enough to drive me to Linux and I've been very happy with my move.
The Unity issues are piling up and this new one may hurt Linux advancement in general. I'm certain it will hurt Ubuntu acceptance with the informed Linux community. there are alternatives. Its starting to look as though Ubuntu's previous popularity has made it a bit arrogant and complacent with its user base, similar to Microsoft and Apple. While some may correctly argue that fragmentation can hurt Linux, in some ways its also its strength, so long as core standards aren't broken. This could be a clear example.
Okay, this may be have been said and therefore redundant. However, in case its not, I've worked at places that were either:
a. Fun and lower pay
b. Boring and higher pay
c. Unpleasant, stressful and higher pay
d. Fun, Stressful and lower pay.
(notice of the fun jobs are often somewhat lower pay...but read on)
Stress is proven to have a negative effect on your health and life span. The worst stress is from difficult, high pressure situations. Often companies pay more for this, but nobody I know works well in these conditions for long, or at least not at their ideal level. Continual exposure to these often leads to serious problems and mistakes at the company in either maintenance or applied changes. One step better is stress from routine, boring situations which is not as bad, but the brain starts losing its creative juices. Your brain becomes like fruit drying out and decaying. (minus the funny smell). Neither are good for you and are often a sign of management issues.
I've worked at fun companies (and still do on a regular basis). They make job and the employer more worthwhile, and more often than not, show management understands the human element of the workplace equation. If you get to work with a "dream team" there truly is no price on that. In my experience they are rare and I miss the ones I got to work with (at companies that got acquired or downsized, either way split the team). I don't feel an extra 10% is worth the potential years of your career you'll never get back. Nor the potential years off your life due to increased negative stress. Note, bordom is a form of negative stress.
My opinion is if you have a good team/company and you can live comfortably, that is ideal and to throw something like that away for 10% increase in salary is selling yourself cheap. That is my 2-cents.
"The mass of men live their lives in quiet disperation" - Henry David Thoreau.
Translation: Most people hate their jobs and their lives. This is true today. Why join such a miserable majority?
Technically not ALL music is has copyright. Thank goodness the great composers of the last few hundred years didn't have this blood sucking legal mumbo jumbo. Perhaps that is yet another reason Mozart, Bach (and many other greats from the 1600-1800s) were consider great; you didn't need a lawyer to enjoy it. LOL
We're talking about a country tha censors a lot more than just the Internet. Reports of propoganda officials following ALL foriegn media reprentitives in China as well as soldiers following people known to disagree with government policy are constant. How do you get reliable information on public opinion in a country where if you disagree with the government, you are gaged by threats, inprisonment or even death. (Could this be why China is the number one place to get spare human parts? Hmmm..have to think on that one).
To get a small understanding of this check out the stuff done in the excellent film, "The Lives of Others". The Chinese Communist Party recruit people at all levels as spies and act quickly when people are discovered who object to Party policy. (Remember this is the country who wrote "The Art of War" which has a large chapter on spies and counter spies) Its impossible to do an accurate poll under such conditions because it will ALWAYS favor the Communist Party. Garbage in garbage out.
As much as Google may toot the phrase "Do no harm" every business seems to have a sales pitch, then break it when convenient. Whether India is a "Democracy" (and this terms gets used misued) or not, the idea of contributing to someone's arrest and torture for doing nothing more than saying something the government doesn't like is against our definition of democracy is supposed to protect different opinions. (Although under Bush its questionable that it exists in the US anymore). Who would have thought MS would be the only major search engine to hold up a Google slogan. Yahoo, now Google. Regardless of the country you expand into, if you believe in something you defend it. Google, clearly doesn't. At least Yahoo and MS never made the claim.
I'd like to nominate Developers for MS Office 2007. If it weren't for them and the OOXML (docx) format thousands of people wouldn't be trying out OpenOffice out of frusation. They got me to try out OpenOffice 3 Beta when someone sent me a docx document. It worked Great!
Actually LAMP solutions are just as vulnerable to SQL inject attacks in the hands of the wrong web developer. I love LAMP (and Ruby on Rails) and I will take it over ASP.net any day. But in all fairness (and for the record in the majority of cases I think Linux/Apache is better than IIS), neither Microsoft nor the Apache Team is responsible for this. Its careless developers who take submitted html data and send it to the database without proper checking and remove of external sql code. You can hack either web solutions without this basic security check. Just so people are clear and to be fair to MS (even though they are not the brightest bulbs in security)
Uh, sorry to correct you, but indicate PHP has a problem because it doesn't automatically do idiot checking for a developer is misrepresenting the problem. For example: mysql_string_escape() could easily be called (when using mysql) on a central routine to handle all SQL code execution. In additional, making functions to find escape characters isn't that hard. I greatly respect you taking the time to comment, and commend you for pointing out premade functions do exist, but when it comes to PHP vs. ASP.net you have to be careful when you say one platform has a problem because it doesn't do everything for you that you can do yourself isn't accurate.
Okay, this is sad on two levels: First SQL inject attack vulnerability is due to sloppiness by the web developers. I've seen this potential problem on code reviewed on many web servers, both Apache as well as IIS. Its well known that if you don't use proper functions to remove escape characters before processing submitted data getting hacked this is inevitable.
This has nothing to do with Apache being more secure than IIS (which is true) but truth be told neither web server is responsible for the root of this problem: Lazy web development combined with no security review. The other sad part of this is everyone wants to make websites that are "web 2.0" enabled, requiring lots of Javascript to make cool but often unnecessary functions. Many top websites (Slashdot.org is an exception thank god) are UNUSABLE without javascript enabled and this is just poor design. Combined with IE 6/7 inability to use plugins like NoScript make infections like this inevitable to people using IE. I'll grant that disabling ActiveX by default in IE 7 was an improvement but on many sites which foolishly depended on ActiveX, it caused other issues. Again, web developers need to be more dilligent in developing LONG term according to universal usability (W3C compliant) and security.
I constantly tell people to use FireFox, NOT IE in part because I know javascript is currently the big gaping hole in Internet security these days (which this article illustrates). No one, myself included has time to read every piece of javascript code going through their browser and regular users don't have the book learning to do this themselves so NoScript is truly a god send. (and I donate to them). But still its up to users to be aware, demand that websites be functional without javascript, and only use browsers that can check javascript for trojan/spyware code. Its also up to developers to take web security a LOT more seriously than they have. For any web developer, SQL inject attack vulnerabilities like this are EMBARASSING. It shows rushed work that wasn't properly reviewed or audited.
Hmm, you forget that both LOTR and The Hobbit are considered classics. I agree Tolken only wrote two (or 4 or 7 depending on whose definition you define a book as Token defined LOTR as 6 books). But he put so much detail and yet left enough questions that you kept asking for more. He practically redefined the genre. Guillermo del Toro has done a consistent job in the past. I only hope he doesn't get sucked into the politics like Jackson did: When Jackson did LOTR, the first movie altered the story in silly but in tolerable ways (although deletion of the travel through the Dark Forest was appropriate as even Tolken admitted that Tom Bombabil was a character he loved but didn't really know where to put him so that chapter came out awkward. Like adding him for the sake of adding him). The 2nd movie was a complete sellout: all environmental issues (tolken was big on that), religion, philosophy, all such topics were moved from the 2nd movie which left it little more than a long drawn scene of battle. The 3rd book..jeez...he deleted some of the politically most important sections of the book and did a bit of a whitewash on the rest. If Token had been alive I'm certain he'd withdraw the rights before the movie was released of this stuff wasn't fixed but his son..well..he getting rich off this I'm sure. Tolken always did maintain that it would be impossible to make a proper movie of the book and so far he is still correct. I hope that del Toro has enough respect for the author to leave Tolken's vision intact. As this is a children's book this shouldn't be too hard as long as he doesn't sell out like Jackson did. Hopefully he will bear in mind that a mostly decent animated version of the film was already done by Rankin/Bass in the late 70's and based on that he will add touches similar to Pan's Labyrinth which could potentially have elements to make this movie a true classic. But since Jackson has been a let down before and he is involved...well..fingers crossed.
Truth be told we need a few more options badly. Ethynol is inefficient to product in more ways than one: It takes more energy to product it than we get from it, and its driving corn prices through the roof. Of course given all the BS the US has been giving off on alternative fuel sources up until recently, you'd think we have an ample supply of methane to sustain our power consumption.;-)
Well I could say "buy a console" but I don't want to give you that blut reply. The big catch is you are on a laptop so for gaming that is probably the worst of 2 worlds: Less power along with fewer gaming options that are not stragety. However there is one thing I could tell you: If you put Linux on it you have a number of options as Linux takes more resources. If Adventures Games don't count as Stragety (but to some it may I feel the are different) there are actually a number of commercial games for Linux and non-commercial games of considerable quality.
Among these include action, simulation as well as the RPG and stragety games (which are my favoriate in case you didn't guess). WINE is in many ways better for running certain games than Windows since you can no longer buy Windows 2000 new, and if MS does withdraw Windows XP on June 30th, 2006 (which would drive MANY business people AND gamers to using WINE on Linux, MS just isn't that smart I guess) the only laptops you can run Windows on will need 2 Gigs of RAM minimum according to reports. (In other words 17" Laptops or nothing for MS). So again, Linux is a nice alternative you can run on just about and laptop and you don't worry as much about things like poor framerate. (although its still an issue on some games).
The following site has info on noncommercial Linux games and Linux emulators
The SNES emulators are awesome and although I have a SuperFamicom (Super Nintendeo, the Original from Japan), the Emulators work nicely. Get a ROM chip reader, and WOW! Imagine! Truth be told, because of the old hardware limitations, the old games were FAR more original and creative than most games today.
Of course every geek on earth (and beyond) knows about SourceForge.net. Frets On Fire is a Linux version of guitar heros that is very popular. Several Dance, Dance Revolution games I Believe are on Linux as well as long as you have USB foot dance pads. Awesome!
There are emulators for Windows of course, but given all the weird stuff out there, I go in assuming any closed source solution that is non-enterprise (and a few that are) are laced with some kind of Spyware (Remember Vista itself has some spyware elements including the "kill switch" and MS activity monitoring "features" you agree to have imposed on you when you install it under the EULA). So if you can't trust MS to respect the customer...(okay, MS not the most trustworthy company but still...), I think open source is the only way to keep software companies on the straight and narrow.
I use Windows 2000 and XP for only two things: testing for windows environments of clients, and a few odd games that don't quite work on WINE...yet...
The Mac OS X isn't bad for gaming: You can pretty much run almost all Linux software on them, and you can play a few games not made for Linux like Neverwinter Night II (no authoring module however) but as that is a RPG game anyway you don't want that.
The best Console gaming solutions in my opinion is the Wii. Its the only console that adds physical elements to get you off your seat outisde of the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution games for the Playstation). Of course the laptopt will do Flash games too, if you like pure arcade type of stuff.
For couples, I think the simulation games are ideal: Car Racing, Airplane/Spaceship combat games, are the best for couples.They can interact and act out their differences.:D The Super Mario SNES games (on an emulator or packing on the Wii) are FANTASTIC for couples as are Tetris games. An old Japanes Favoriate (not available in English), Pyo Pyo, is in my opinion the ulitimate couples games as in this tetris variation, it has tons of cute victory sounds, and you can really mess up your opponent by dropping "bubble" on your opponent's space to make their life more "interesting". I was introduced
mmmm...no back to you I'm afraid. What you don't understand is that solid state hard drives functionally are no different than regular spinning disk hard drives: They can be reformatted, imaged, and even replaced, just like regular hard drives. The method of data storage isn't a factor. Solid state isn't ROM. If it were, it would be useless as a dynamic storage medium. Solid sate hard drives are simply hard drives that use flash memory instead of spinning platters.If you have money to burn you can one now from Samsung who is the leader in flash memory (See Ipod) and solid state hard drive. Your USB Memory stick is not very different in the sense that it can be a hard drive in the same way. Oh, at you CAN flash the bios simply by moving a jumper to reset it to factory default settings. Its de facto on all motherboards. Of course you have to open the laptop to do that which is a pain but not impossible.
Problem is in many countries where these laptops are going the parts ALONE are worth a great deal. So as I said in my posting, nothing will stop someone from stealing the laptop for parts as the drives can be wipped and reinitialized, even by people who aren't experts making the machine perfectly usable as a "new" machine (after you've looked for any valuable data on the hard drive unless its encrypted). Unless you can kill the parts, individually as well as collectively (which the software kill switch doesn't do in any event) you can't remove the value. All you can do is force someone to reinitialize the OS or put on a new OS.
Call me a sceptic but I don't think that theft has anything to do with the motivations for this "value add" here. Afer all, you could always take out the hard drive if the data is what you wanted (assuming unencrypted). You can reformat the hard drive and reinstall puppy linux if you just wanted the hardware. Data could be encrypted to keep people from stealing data. So what does "disabling" the laptop OS do to deter "theft"? With a techie, (or even a smart high school student) absolutely NOTHING. It won't stop anyone from stealing a laptop which in some countries are worth a lot even for the parts alone. This is really about "big brother". Pure and simple. Governments want to keep tabs on what people do on the Internet and possibly track where people are, just like in China and a few other countries. If the governent doesn't like what someone is doing, they disable the laptop to stop any "anti-government" e-mail, blogs, chat..word documents, whatever. By "stamping" the laptops in this way, its easier to get a positive ID on the last person the government "allowed" to have it. This is nothing to do with theft deterence. This is about controlling the activities of the population. Wait till China starts this in Red Flag, the Chinese made Linux distro. (Come to think of it, its likely they've built that in already and kept it "hush hush").
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, forgot to add something, you mentioned kids having trouble using keys for controllers. Suggest getting a PS3 standard controller from a store or E-bay. Plugs in using USB connector and the current kernel (2.6.37+) provides the drivers (hid-sony) See article on Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/fofix/wiki/GameControllers
I did some research into this topic awhile ago. Here is a list depending on the age group:
3-7: GCompris (http://gcompris.net/-en-) *** Best ***, KDE Education software (http://edu.kde.org/), Tux Software Series (http://tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/), TuxPaint, TuxMath, TuxType all excellent, Omnitux (overlaps with Gcompris) (http://omnitux.sourceforge.net/), SuperTuxCart (no education just game) (http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/), SuperTux(http://supertux.lethargik.org/) (entertainment only), Secret Maryo (similar to Super Mario, pure entertainment, no educational value) (http://www.secretmaryo.org/), Frozen Bubbles (pure game, no real education here)(http://www.frozen-bubble.org/), Crayon Physics Deluxe (commercial, puzzle game)(http://www.crayonphysics.com/)
6-14: Scratch (teaches computer programming in an amazingly intuitive way..had 11 year old figure it out with no computer background and no experience) (http://scratch.mit.edu/), Alice (teaches 3d art), (http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=downloads/download_alice), World Of Goo (commercial, puzzle solving)(http://www.2dboy.com ), Trine/Trine 2 (commercial, puzzle solving)(http://http://trine-thegame.com/site/) (good for developing puzzle solving skills..good graphics), Greenfoot (teaches Java to pre-teens similar way to Scratch) (http://www.greenfoot.org/door), Cogs (Commercial puzzle game) (http://www.cogsgame.com/), DreamChess (Stragety...its chess)(http://www.dreamchess.org/), E-Adventure (teaches people to make their own point/click adventure games) (http://e-adventure.e-ucm.es/), Gbrainy (Math/logic games) (https://live.gnome.org/gbrainy), Inkscape (Vector Graphics..works well with Scratch/Alice as teaching tool and book)(http://www.inkscape.org), And Yet It Moves (Commercial puzzle/alternative physics) (http://www.andyetitmoves.net/), Machinarium (Commercial, flash adventure game..great for kids) http://machinarium.net/demo/, Minecraft (semi-commercial, install on Linux may not be straightforward) (https://minecraft.net/), Botanicula (Commercial, Flash adventure Game)(http://botanicula.net/)
Most of the non-commercial games listed above are readily available hrough the software game channels of most Linux Distros including Ubuntu, Mint (I've confirmed all on Mint), Fedora and Debian. I included links in case for some reason the user friendly Software Install Dialogs in Ubuntu/Mint or default Synpatic Package manager channel configuration doesn't do the trick. The commercial ones come in various installers, most user friendly but a few you may need to make a menu launcher manually.
Children specific OS Distros: I've never tried these but it may simplify your OS installations with pre-installed game/activities: http://www.doudoulinux.org/web/english/index.html ***(this looks VERY good for kindergarden first timers on a computer)*** http://www.qimo4kids.com/what-is-qimo/ http://www.edubuntu.org/ http://www.foresightlinux.org/release/foresight-kids-edition-1-0-release-notes/
Recommend all purposes Distro for early starters (6-and up): http://www.linuxmint.org/ (Not education specific but software installation menus make it easy to find/try educational and non-educational games...ubuntu does to but Mint makes it easier for non-techies...have 9-12 year old using it with no training...no problem)
other list of games for Linux are here: http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20080510052539217/Games.html http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20080522164112313/Games-Part2.html
While educ
What about Chromium? Its Chrome without the Google stuff to extract data to track people for showing ads. http://www.chromium.org/Home I really liked Firefox and recommended to everyone, but with this loss of focus in an attempt to reprove its relevance with it so called "rapid release", its having the reverse effect and may give MS a new opportunity to push its semi-w3c complaint browser. Apple Safari may be a good alternative for MS windows clients but I haven't looked into whether it collects data. I need to see what plugins I can use with Chromium which is the biggest advantage Firefox has in flexibility over its competitors. Ironically, Firefox 17 seems like it will kill some plugins. Is the cure worse than the disease?
Quite right, but history shows its not whether something is illegal/immoral that deters, but whether the intended victim has any teeth and is ready to bite. Which of course explains why it would be necessary to have a law specifically forbidding turning over access to PRIVATE, PERSONAL data which is irrelevant to performing their professional duties.
America being the cheapest place to get beer in my experience is because the beer is...well...cheap. I hated beer when I was in the USA. After I tried beer from England, Ireland, Germany, France and especially Belgium, it occurred to me that I hated American beer because it was bad (and cheap) beer. I also wonder if this is contributing to Americans being so overweight compared to the rest of the world...hmm....
All jokes aside, this could damage Ubuntu's reputation. It basically tells the Linux and potential MS converts that Ubuntu is no better than Apple (and to a lessor extent Microsoft). Including tools that directly guide your usage to the benefit of a commercial interest may be considered intrusive by some. Also the Unity Desktop has suffered from usability and stability issues that have kept more informed people from using it,; some sticking to Ubuntu 11 or others going to alternative distros. Which leads to the the subject that not enough people talking about: alternative user friendly distros to Ubuntu. I myself don't find Ubuntu to be wonderfully user friendly and have had stability problems creep in. Linux Mint http://www.linuxmint.com/ I find more user friendly and stable so I recommend it to friends and clients. SolusOS http://www.solusos.com/ is new but look VERY promising based on Debian. I've used pure Debian in office environments with no learning curve complaints by the employees. Of course Fedora is loved by many although more bleeding edge. Linux Mint in particular is gaining more press among Linux users and potential converts whereas Ubuntu has gotten some not so positive press with the new Unity usability/speed/drivers/integration problems and now this rather close partnership with Amazon on the OS level. Ubuntu and Linux in general does not have a market share near big enough that people will forgive annoyances like this. At least with laptops preinstalled junk is relatively easy if annoying to remove. Perhaps that is so with Ubuntu 12 as well, but why should bother a more user friendly distros is available that doesn't play these games?
Linux Minx uses default search engines of those who contribute money to the OS to generate revenue and I find that perfectly acceptable. You can also add the bigger search engines with ease and its no more intrusive than MS IE 7/8's default search engine.
I feel as if Ubuntu is pushing the limits of including "features" in a similar way Microsoft did in stages: first with WGA in XP, then with the Protected Media Path and its "dial home" feature under the pretense of telling you "you are online" with the "Network Connectivity Status Indicator" (which dials to www.msftncsi.com and can only be disabled with a registry hack as there is no admin interface to change this behavior). MS is playing similar games with MS Office: WGA-like "features", the "ribbon" interface everyone HATES (pushing many to Libre/Open Office), and dramatic price increases to push home/SMB users to buy the cloud subscription model via Office 360. These "features" are of no benefit to the user, are often a detriment (especially to privacy) and/or consume excessive resources at a minimum. The WGA with XP was enough to drive me to Linux and I've been very happy with my move.
The Unity issues are piling up and this new one may hurt Linux advancement in general. I'm certain it will hurt Ubuntu acceptance with the informed Linux community. there are alternatives. Its starting to look as though Ubuntu's previous popularity has made it a bit arrogant and complacent with its user base, similar to Microsoft and Apple. While some may correctly argue that fragmentation can hurt Linux, in some ways its also its strength, so long as core standards aren't broken. This could be a clear example.
Okay, this may be have been said and therefore redundant. However, in case its not, I've worked at places that were either: a. Fun and lower pay b. Boring and higher pay c. Unpleasant, stressful and higher pay d. Fun, Stressful and lower pay. (notice of the fun jobs are often somewhat lower pay...but read on) Stress is proven to have a negative effect on your health and life span. The worst stress is from difficult, high pressure situations. Often companies pay more for this, but nobody I know works well in these conditions for long, or at least not at their ideal level. Continual exposure to these often leads to serious problems and mistakes at the company in either maintenance or applied changes. One step better is stress from routine, boring situations which is not as bad, but the brain starts losing its creative juices. Your brain becomes like fruit drying out and decaying. (minus the funny smell). Neither are good for you and are often a sign of management issues. I've worked at fun companies (and still do on a regular basis). They make job and the employer more worthwhile, and more often than not, show management understands the human element of the workplace equation. If you get to work with a "dream team" there truly is no price on that. In my experience they are rare and I miss the ones I got to work with (at companies that got acquired or downsized, either way split the team). I don't feel an extra 10% is worth the potential years of your career you'll never get back. Nor the potential years off your life due to increased negative stress. Note, bordom is a form of negative stress.
My opinion is if you have a good team/company and you can live comfortably, that is ideal and to throw something like that away for 10% increase in salary is selling yourself cheap. That is my 2-cents.
"The mass of men live their lives in quiet disperation" - Henry David Thoreau.
Translation: Most people hate their jobs and their lives. This is true today. Why join such a miserable majority?
Technically not ALL music is has copyright. Thank goodness the great composers of the last few hundred years didn't have this blood sucking legal mumbo jumbo. Perhaps that is yet another reason Mozart, Bach (and many other greats from the 1600-1800s) were consider great; you didn't need a lawyer to enjoy it. LOL
try Canada. Not perfect, but life's good up here medically. :D
We're talking about a country tha censors a lot more than just the Internet. Reports of propoganda officials following ALL foriegn media reprentitives in China as well as soldiers following people known to disagree with government policy are constant. How do you get reliable information on public opinion in a country where if you disagree with the government, you are gaged by threats, inprisonment or even death. (Could this be why China is the number one place to get spare human parts? Hmmm..have to think on that one). To get a small understanding of this check out the stuff done in the excellent film, "The Lives of Others". The Chinese Communist Party recruit people at all levels as spies and act quickly when people are discovered who object to Party policy. (Remember this is the country who wrote "The Art of War" which has a large chapter on spies and counter spies) Its impossible to do an accurate poll under such conditions because it will ALWAYS favor the Communist Party. Garbage in garbage out.
As much as Google may toot the phrase "Do no harm" every business seems to have a sales pitch, then break it when convenient. Whether India is a "Democracy" (and this terms gets used misued) or not, the idea of contributing to someone's arrest and torture for doing nothing more than saying something the government doesn't like is against our definition of democracy is supposed to protect different opinions. (Although under Bush its questionable that it exists in the US anymore). Who would have thought MS would be the only major search engine to hold up a Google slogan. Yahoo, now Google. Regardless of the country you expand into, if you believe in something you defend it. Google, clearly doesn't. At least Yahoo and MS never made the claim.
I'd like to nominate Developers for MS Office 2007. If it weren't for them and the OOXML (docx) format thousands of people wouldn't be trying out OpenOffice out of frusation. They got me to try out OpenOffice 3 Beta when someone sent me a docx document. It worked Great!
Actually LAMP solutions are just as vulnerable to SQL inject attacks in the hands of the wrong web developer. I love LAMP (and Ruby on Rails) and I will take it over ASP.net any day. But in all fairness (and for the record in the majority of cases I think Linux/Apache is better than IIS), neither Microsoft nor the Apache Team is responsible for this. Its careless developers who take submitted html data and send it to the database without proper checking and remove of external sql code. You can hack either web solutions without this basic security check. Just so people are clear and to be fair to MS (even though they are not the brightest bulbs in security)
Uh, sorry to correct you, but indicate PHP has a problem because it doesn't automatically do idiot checking for a developer is misrepresenting the problem. For example: mysql_string_escape() could easily be called (when using mysql) on a central routine to handle all SQL code execution. In additional, making functions to find escape characters isn't that hard. I greatly respect you taking the time to comment, and commend you for pointing out premade functions do exist, but when it comes to PHP vs. ASP.net you have to be careful when you say one platform has a problem because it doesn't do everything for you that you can do yourself isn't accurate.
Okay, this is sad on two levels: First SQL inject attack vulnerability is due to sloppiness by the web developers. I've seen this potential problem on code reviewed on many web servers, both Apache as well as IIS. Its well known that if you don't use proper functions to remove escape characters before processing submitted data getting hacked this is inevitable.
This has nothing to do with Apache being more secure than IIS (which is true) but truth be told neither web server is responsible for the root of this problem: Lazy web development combined with no security review. The other sad part of this is everyone wants to make websites that are "web 2.0" enabled, requiring lots of Javascript to make cool but often unnecessary functions. Many top websites (Slashdot.org is an exception thank god) are UNUSABLE without javascript enabled and this is just poor design. Combined with IE 6/7 inability to use plugins like NoScript make infections like this inevitable to people using IE. I'll grant that disabling ActiveX by default in IE 7 was an improvement but on many sites which foolishly depended on ActiveX, it caused other issues. Again, web developers need to be more dilligent in developing LONG term according to universal usability (W3C compliant) and security.
I constantly tell people to use FireFox, NOT IE in part because I know javascript is currently the big gaping hole in Internet security these days (which this article illustrates). No one, myself included has time to read every piece of javascript code going through their browser and regular users don't have the book learning to do this themselves so NoScript is truly a god send. (and I donate to them). But still its up to users to be aware, demand that websites be functional without javascript, and only use browsers that can check javascript for trojan/spyware code. Its also up to developers to take web security a LOT more seriously than they have. For any web developer, SQL inject attack vulnerabilities like this are EMBARASSING. It shows rushed work that wasn't properly reviewed or audited.
Hmm, you forget that both LOTR and The Hobbit are considered classics. I agree Tolken only wrote two (or 4 or 7 depending on whose definition you define a book as Token defined LOTR as 6 books). But he put so much detail and yet left enough questions that you kept asking for more. He practically redefined the genre. Guillermo del Toro has done a consistent job in the past. I only hope he doesn't get sucked into the politics like Jackson did: When Jackson did LOTR, the first movie altered the story in silly but in tolerable ways (although deletion of the travel through the Dark Forest was appropriate as even Tolken admitted that Tom Bombabil was a character he loved but didn't really know where to put him so that chapter came out awkward. Like adding him for the sake of adding him). The 2nd movie was a complete sellout: all environmental issues (tolken was big on that), religion, philosophy, all such topics were moved from the 2nd movie which left it little more than a long drawn scene of battle. The 3rd book..jeez...he deleted some of the politically most important sections of the book and did a bit of a whitewash on the rest. If Token had been alive I'm certain he'd withdraw the rights before the movie was released of this stuff wasn't fixed but his son..well..he getting rich off this I'm sure. Tolken always did maintain that it would be impossible to make a proper movie of the book and so far he is still correct. I hope that del Toro has enough respect for the author to leave Tolken's vision intact. As this is a children's book this shouldn't be too hard as long as he doesn't sell out like Jackson did. Hopefully he will bear in mind that a mostly decent animated version of the film was already done by Rankin/Bass in the late 70's and based on that he will add touches similar to Pan's Labyrinth which could potentially have elements to make this movie a true classic. But since Jackson has been a let down before and he is involved...well..fingers crossed.
Truth be told we need a few more options badly. Ethynol is inefficient to product in more ways than one: It takes more energy to product it than we get from it, and its driving corn prices through the roof. Of course given all the BS the US has been giving off on alternative fuel sources up until recently, you'd think we have an ample supply of methane to sustain our power consumption. ;-)
http://fosswire.com/cat/games/
Enjoy
Sorry folks for the confusion: Linux uses FEWER resources than MS Windows, not more. (duh)
Well I could say "buy a console" but I don't want to give you that blut reply. The big catch is you are on a laptop so for gaming that is probably the worst of 2 worlds: Less power along with fewer gaming options that are not stragety. However there is one thing I could tell you: If you put Linux on it you have a number of options as Linux takes more resources. If Adventures Games don't count as Stragety (but to some it may I feel the are different) there are actually a number of commercial games for Linux and non-commercial games of considerable quality.
:D The Super Mario SNES games (on an emulator or packing on the Wii) are FANTASTIC for couples as are Tetris games. An old Japanes Favoriate (not available in English), Pyo Pyo, is in my opinion the ulitimate couples games as in this tetris variation, it has tons of cute victory sounds, and you can really mess up your opponent by dropping "bubble" on your opponent's space to make their life more "interesting". I was introduced
http://www.linuxgamingworld.com/
Among these include action, simulation as well as the RPG and stragety games (which are my favoriate in case you didn't guess). WINE is in many ways better for running certain games than Windows since you can no longer buy Windows 2000 new, and if MS does withdraw Windows XP on June 30th, 2006 (which would drive MANY business people AND gamers to using WINE on Linux, MS just isn't that smart I guess) the only laptops you can run Windows on will need 2 Gigs of RAM minimum according to reports. (In other words 17" Laptops or nothing for MS). So again, Linux is a nice alternative you can run on just about and laptop and you don't worry as much about things like poor framerate. (although its still an issue on some games).
The following site has info on noncommercial Linux games and Linux emulators
http://www.linux-gamers.net/
The SNES emulators are awesome and although I have a SuperFamicom (Super Nintendeo, the Original from Japan), the Emulators work nicely. Get a ROM chip reader, and WOW! Imagine! Truth be told, because of the old hardware limitations, the old games were FAR more original and creative than most games today.
Of course every geek on earth (and beyond) knows about SourceForge.net. Frets On Fire is a Linux version of guitar heros that is very popular. Several Dance, Dance Revolution games I Believe are on Linux as well as long as you have USB foot dance pads. Awesome!
There are emulators for Windows of course, but given all the weird stuff out there, I go in assuming any closed source solution that is non-enterprise (and a few that are) are laced with some kind of Spyware (Remember Vista itself has some spyware elements including the "kill switch" and MS activity monitoring "features" you agree to have imposed on you when you install it under the EULA). So if you can't trust MS to respect the customer...(okay, MS not the most trustworthy company but still...), I think open source is the only way to keep software companies on the straight and narrow.
I use Windows 2000 and XP for only two things: testing for windows environments of clients, and a few odd games that don't quite work on WINE...yet... The Mac OS X isn't bad for gaming: You can pretty much run almost all Linux software on them, and you can play a few games not made for Linux like Neverwinter Night II (no authoring module however) but as that is a RPG game anyway you don't want that.
The best Console gaming solutions in my opinion is the Wii. Its the only console that adds physical elements to get you off your seat outisde of the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution games for the Playstation). Of course the laptopt will do Flash games too, if you like pure arcade type of stuff.
For couples, I think the simulation games are ideal: Car Racing, Airplane/Spaceship combat games, are the best for couples.They can interact and act out their differences.
mmmm...no back to you I'm afraid. What you don't understand is that solid state hard drives functionally are no different than regular spinning disk hard drives: They can be reformatted, imaged, and even replaced, just like regular hard drives. The method of data storage isn't a factor. Solid state isn't ROM. If it were, it would be useless as a dynamic storage medium. Solid sate hard drives are simply hard drives that use flash memory instead of spinning platters.If you have money to burn you can one now from Samsung who is the leader in flash memory (See Ipod) and solid state hard drive. Your USB Memory stick is not very different in the sense that it can be a hard drive in the same way. Oh, at you CAN flash the bios simply by moving a jumper to reset it to factory default settings. Its de facto on all motherboards. Of course you have to open the laptop to do that which is a pain but not impossible.
Problem is in many countries where these laptops are going the parts ALONE are worth a great deal. So as I said in my posting, nothing will stop someone from stealing the laptop for parts as the drives can be wipped and reinitialized, even by people who aren't experts making the machine perfectly usable as a "new" machine (after you've looked for any valuable data on the hard drive unless its encrypted). Unless you can kill the parts, individually as well as collectively (which the software kill switch doesn't do in any event) you can't remove the value. All you can do is force someone to reinitialize the OS or put on a new OS.
Call me a sceptic but I don't think that theft has anything to do with the motivations for this "value add" here. Afer all, you could always take out the hard drive if the data is what you wanted (assuming unencrypted). You can reformat the hard drive and reinstall puppy linux if you just wanted the hardware. Data could be encrypted to keep people from stealing data. So what does "disabling" the laptop OS do to deter "theft"? With a techie, (or even a smart high school student) absolutely NOTHING. It won't stop anyone from stealing a laptop which in some countries are worth a lot even for the parts alone. This is really about "big brother". Pure and simple. Governments want to keep tabs on what people do on the Internet and possibly track where people are, just like in China and a few other countries. If the governent doesn't like what someone is doing, they disable the laptop to stop any "anti-government" e-mail, blogs, chat..word documents, whatever. By "stamping" the laptops in this way, its easier to get a positive ID on the last person the government "allowed" to have it. This is nothing to do with theft deterence. This is about controlling the activities of the population. Wait till China starts this in Red Flag, the Chinese made Linux distro. (Come to think of it, its likely they've built that in already and kept it "hush hush").