This is where real machine intelligence will come from.
Imagine simulating a human brain, but then incorporating an interface with software that enhances its functionality - from super-fast arithmetic to image output - the results would be incredible.
Damn right. I had endless issues with SecuROM on a Vista install of Supreme Commander. This also had a knock-on effect on the authentication used for multiplayer gaming. Eventually calls to the GPG tech help and a few patches got rid of the bugs. To think, it would have been much easier to just forego the DRM in the first place.
I blew the punchline! AGAIN! I know how you feel. While I understand your point, the idea is that the UI philosophy can be shifted in such a way that things don't have to be lost - simplicity and functionality co-exist. For example, the "point-and-click is always better" design edict doesn't actually represent a more efficient way to, for instance, start a program.
A good example of this is when I was trying to find a way to alter some advanced security settings in Safari. Now, in order to keep things simple, Apple make the preferences dialog so minimalistic that Ikea would be proud. Unfortunately, they also eliminate the ability for users to tweak the kind of advanced settings that other browsers such as Firefox and IE offer. I think the general idea is to hit a sweet spot where things are simple, but still allow access to advanced functionality.
That wasn't the point of my post. I was illustrating why people might take the "Vista is shit" line when, in fact, I don't think that it is. I wasn't supporting or contesting your argument that people thought it was shit.
The tone of your post suggested to me that your personal opinion, even if it wasn't explicitly stated, was also along the lines of "Vista is shit". If I was wrong, then I apologise.
I disagree with the entire notion of "sheltering" kids from the very real and ubiquitous violence around us, whatever form it's in. I agree, and I think much of the problem is that the people defending the sale of violent games are scared to take this line, and instead make it solely a constitutional affair, rather than a social one. That is, it is easier for Rockstar to say that restricting the sale of their games is unconstitutional than it is for them to argue that kids shouldn't be sheltered from observing the violence inherent in reality. This undermines the whole process, though: critics are then able to accuse the game industry of not caring about the welfare of children and using the constitution to make money by protecting their right to sell to vulnerable kids.
Average people call Vista shit. Well you haven't got any references, but OK. I don't think Vista is shit. The problem is this: Microsoft have adopted a new approach to user interface design. The idea is that UIs now need to be ultra-simplistic without compromising on usability. At first, this seems like a MAJOR inconvenience to people used to the "old" way of doing things.
Case in point: Programs menu vs. Start menu search. When you first use Vista, the idea of typing in the name of the program or file you want to open seems more difficult than navigating to its menu or folder - until you realise that it actually saves you time and doesn't require that you trawl through a dozen or more menu items or folder lists before finding what you need. Another example is Office 2007. At first, it feels like the developers have stripped all the features away, but then you realise that you can access advanced functionality more quickly by using the expanded toolbar interface. The same is true of IE7.
And just for the record, the annoyance of UAC is VERY over-exagerated. UAC prompts occur on 4 main occasions:
1. When a program is run as administrator for the sake of backwards compatibility. 2. When an installer requiring admin rights is run. 3. When a file downloaded from the Internet, including ActiveX controls, needs permission to open. 4. When system settings need to be changed.
Frankly, this makes sense to me. There are plenty of people who criticise Vista but, from the way they talk about it, have obviously never used it properly themselves. You seem to be one of these people. Vista presents the biggest learning curve of all Windows OSes, and I think this is what people are most turned off by. That's a shame, because a lot of the improvements in things like UI and especially memory management (notably, SuperFetch) really do make it a better OS than XP.
That's just my opinion though. You're welcome to ignore it.
[...] more negative response than "Do you think games about brutally murdering people should be sold in stores?" Really? Even if you reminded them about films like Saw, and if you also made it clear that an organisation would have access to these things and be judging them to be "too violent" or "too callous" for them to handle? I think people would react quite negatively to that. For all the things that people blame on bad influences like video games, they never see themselves as being able to succumb to such "influences". The idea of some committee having jurisdiction over deciding what's best for adults is ludicrous. And it's not because I reject the idea of government having to impose some restrictions on the public, but more because I think that if any entertainment is harmless enough for a committee of middle-aged, middle-class (i.e. the largest demographic in the UK) censors to watch/play, then deeming it dangerous for the rest of society is not only absurd, but wildly patronising.
I can't believe that there is a small group of people somewhere deciding what content I can and can't handle. And even worse, people defend them! It makes me so angry.
I think at one time, people may well have wanted censorship based on religious beliefs, for example. However, you ask people now whether they're OK with being told what entertainment they can and cannot enjoy, in any context, and they won't be OK with it.
It blows my mind that the BBFC is allowed to ban things at all - they're like some kind of elitist gatekeepers who are able to dictate what entertainment adults can and cannot enjoy. It's so insane.
We should hook up - I'm a student in the UK and demand is rife!
I've just had a sad realisation: I actually thought twice about posting this in the event that someone takes it seriously. I can feel my freedom draining away...
Ditto. Someone I know who's really into RTS games (and is annoyingly good at them) is almost certainly neurotic. What's most irritating is that he thinks he has some kind of intellectual gift that surfaces in games like Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. Needless to say, we don't hear the end of it.
On the other hand, he's pretty much failing academically (we're currently at university) so there's some kind of greater irony in the whole thing.
The idea I think is to push for more heuristic analysis, so signatures aren't as big a part of anti-virus software as they used to be. However, the amount of adware/spyware out there that so many inexperienced users end up downloading actually can be countered with decent anti-virus software (I say decent - Norton and McAfee are practically useless, I recommend NOD32 exclusively).
The irony is that it would be much easier to get exclusively pirated software. They've actually created a situation in which activation is a massive hinderance, as opposed to the behind-the-scenes, one-off post-installation few seconds of Internet communication that it's supposed to be.
Having said this, the same is true for films and music, and has been for a long time. Buying some music or a film and not being able to move it to other devices is like a big road sign pointing people towards piracy as an easier, more convenient option. Even people who can afford to pay, who want to pay.
You see this confuses me. I have a Sony Ericsson W850i and, with the right memory card, it can store up to 8GB of music. It also includes Walkman music player software on the phone (which is on par with the iPod firmware, IMO). It has a full HTML browser. It supports 3G and video calling. It has an RSS reader.
What is so special about the iPhone?!
Slashdot Mirror
This is where real machine intelligence will come from.
Imagine simulating a human brain, but then incorporating an interface with software that enhances its functionality - from super-fast arithmetic to image output - the results would be incredible.
I read it as "Bill Gates denies Viagra".
Then again, it is 5:55am here and I have just finished an essay.
Damn right. I had endless issues with SecuROM on a Vista install of Supreme Commander. This also had a knock-on effect on the authentication used for multiplayer gaming. Eventually calls to the GPG tech help and a few patches got rid of the bugs. To think, it would have been much easier to just forego the DRM in the first place.
A good example of this is when I was trying to find a way to alter some advanced security settings in Safari. Now, in order to keep things simple, Apple make the preferences dialog so minimalistic that Ikea would be proud. Unfortunately, they also eliminate the ability for users to tweak the kind of advanced settings that other browsers such as Firefox and IE offer. I think the general idea is to hit a sweet spot where things are simple, but still allow access to advanced functionality.
That wasn't the point of my post. I was illustrating why people might take the "Vista is shit" line when, in fact, I don't think that it is. I wasn't supporting or contesting your argument that people thought it was shit.
The tone of your post suggested to me that your personal opinion, even if it wasn't explicitly stated, was also along the lines of "Vista is shit". If I was wrong, then I apologise.
Case in point: Programs menu vs. Start menu search. When you first use Vista, the idea of typing in the name of the program or file you want to open seems more difficult than navigating to its menu or folder - until you realise that it actually saves you time and doesn't require that you trawl through a dozen or more menu items or folder lists before finding what you need. Another example is Office 2007. At first, it feels like the developers have stripped all the features away, but then you realise that you can access advanced functionality more quickly by using the expanded toolbar interface. The same is true of IE7.
And just for the record, the annoyance of UAC is VERY over-exagerated. UAC prompts occur on 4 main occasions:
1. When a program is run as administrator for the sake of backwards compatibility.
2. When an installer requiring admin rights is run.
3. When a file downloaded from the Internet, including ActiveX controls, needs permission to open.
4. When system settings need to be changed.
Frankly, this makes sense to me. There are plenty of people who criticise Vista but, from the way they talk about it, have obviously never used it properly themselves. You seem to be one of these people. Vista presents the biggest learning curve of all Windows OSes, and I think this is what people are most turned off by. That's a shame, because a lot of the improvements in things like UI and especially memory management (notably, SuperFetch) really do make it a better OS than XP.
That's just my opinion though. You're welcome to ignore it.
I can't believe that there is a small group of people somewhere deciding what content I can and can't handle. And even worse, people defend them! It makes me so angry.
If his pants were on fire, it would still put them out, wouldn't it?
I think at one time, people may well have wanted censorship based on religious beliefs, for example. However, you ask people now whether they're OK with being told what entertainment they can and cannot enjoy, in any context, and they won't be OK with it.
You call that reality? How about:
Civilization != Appointing an elite organisation to ban art because they feel it could adversely affect the masses
This isn't about abandoning civilization. This is about making civilization not take powers away from us it doesn't need to.
It blows my mind that the BBFC is allowed to ban things at all - they're like some kind of elitist gatekeepers who are able to dictate what entertainment adults can and cannot enjoy. It's so insane.
You know how to create LSD?
We should hook up - I'm a student in the UK and demand is rife!
I've just had a sad realisation: I actually thought twice about posting this in the event that someone takes it seriously. I can feel my freedom draining away...
Ditto. Someone I know who's really into RTS games (and is annoyingly good at them) is almost certainly neurotic. What's most irritating is that he thinks he has some kind of intellectual gift that surfaces in games like Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. Needless to say, we don't hear the end of it.
On the other hand, he's pretty much failing academically (we're currently at university) so there's some kind of greater irony in the whole thing.
Nor was he running - that, too, was a lie.
Welcome to my life :-(
A link to microsoft.com would have been better - less likely to suffer the slashdot effect!
Never mind. I should get on with work I suppose.
The idea I think is to push for more heuristic analysis, so signatures aren't as big a part of anti-virus software as they used to be. However, the amount of adware/spyware out there that so many inexperienced users end up downloading actually can be countered with decent anti-virus software (I say decent - Norton and McAfee are practically useless, I recommend NOD32 exclusively).
I don't think Silverlight is bundled with IE7, is it?
When I first read about that I thought that it was a complete contradiction to the argument that the signals were dangerous to aircraft systems.
The irony is that it would be much easier to get exclusively pirated software. They've actually created a situation in which activation is a massive hinderance, as opposed to the behind-the-scenes, one-off post-installation few seconds of Internet communication that it's supposed to be.
Having said this, the same is true for films and music, and has been for a long time. Buying some music or a film and not being able to move it to other devices is like a big road sign pointing people towards piracy as an easier, more convenient option. Even people who can afford to pay, who want to pay.
You see this confuses me. I have a Sony Ericsson W850i and, with the right memory card, it can store up to 8GB of music. It also includes Walkman music player software on the phone (which is on par with the iPod firmware, IMO). It has a full HTML browser. It supports 3G and video calling. It has an RSS reader. What is so special about the iPhone?!
What's frightening is that these people developing this stuff haven't yet seen an ethical issue with what they're doing.