Given the diversity of computer uses and computer users, there's no good way to measure this. For what it's worth, the sample from my web server represents 91.3% Windows, 7.4% Mac, 0.9% Linux, and 0.2% unknown. That sample is of course not representative of all computer users.
Could this accidentally erase good memories?
During the times when I'm suffering or in pain, I've often wondered, if I had my memory erased afterword, would I actually have suffered?
Why are we so quick to label Michael Moore's films as propaganda? It seems like a quick and easy way to dismiss him without actually dealing with what he says. I've seen SiCKO and can't understand why any average American would want to dismiss Moore so quickly. ~~ooooh scary socialism~~
I am a photographer whose specialty is urban photography. A precedent like this would kill my favourite hobby, at least in the US. It certainly violates freedom of the press, thought they will argue "just get a permit and you're fine". I would suspect that some undesirable photographers|journalists|artists would be denied permits. Right now in many cities a permit is required for other types of "artistic" activity in the streets or public spaces (ie: busking). But really, photography? It doesn't hurt anyone. You can look at Google maps or Microsoft Live and get photos of streets. There are security cameras almost everywhere. Why can't joe photographer do it?
About three years ago I found an decent athlon box on the side of the road. It had rained the night before so it was all wet. I let it dry for a week, turning it every day to make sure all the water drained out. When I was sure it was dry, I fired it up and it worked perfectly. It became my mythtv box for over a year. After I retired it, its various parts found their way into cheap computers I built for students, still in use.
Most computer parts will withstand water as long as there's no electricity around to short thing out. I was surprised the hard drive still worked, it must have been sheltered enough from the water that it didn't rust.
I wish they would just open source simcity 4. If you know this game, sites like simtropolis had a ton of great mods and add ons. If they opened up the game people could and would fix some its bigger problems and make the game truly awesome.
What about cover bands who get paid to play others' music?
If I already know how to play a song, am I allowed to play it even if no one else hears it?
What if I hum a tune?
What if I think about a song in my head?
Only people who know what they're looking for will find the systems that offer Ubuntu, so this won't be a huge seller. That's good because as good as Ubuntu is, it's not the time for it to be mass marketed. The problem has been stated before, too many peripheral devices don't have Linux drivers, too many applications given out at schools and in cereal boxes, etc. won't work on it, which turns people off Linux. But Dell offering Ubuntu is a great start. This is one major step toward manufactures of including Linux drivers and more cross platform apps.
Sure linux is secure as far as the taking control of the system goes, but what about home directories? If linux gained popularity on the desktop, there's nothing stopping scripts from wreaking havoc in the user's home directory. It would be easy to install ridiculous toolbars and spyware in linux, or to screw up settings or mess with the user's files. This might happen if there were wider adoption.
You would think this would get some attention, but the whole reason the music industry gets away with these ridiculous laws is because nobody is paying attention. Besides, why would we trust the media to tell us about something like this? They probably have the same owners as the record companies.
I don't use Flock as my regular browser (I use Firefox) but I do have Flock installed for one purpose: Flock's interface with photobucket.com. It's great for uploading and managing pictures, as well as creating galleries and posting pictures on forums. So this is one reason that Flock may still be relavent. It's certainly not dead, it's frequently updated.
1. I have no interest in going to the theatre. I hate the noise and commercialism and it's way too expensive.
2. I hate video rental stores (or should I say Blockbuster, because they put all the good rental places out of business and charge over 5 bucks to rent a movie).
3. I refuse to pay 30 or 40 bucks for a DVD. We all know that a big chunk of that goes to the retailer, another big chunk goes to the studio, another big chunk goes to the star and the director, and a few cents go to the rest of the people who worked on the movie (the ones I'd like to see paid). The internet makes the physical production of discs and packaging, and the distribution and retail obsolete. The only people who need to get paid are the creative talents behind the movie, ie: the ones who make a few cents in royalties. Anyones whose business is production/distribution of movies (and music for that matter) are SOL, they can follow the railroad industry into oblivion. Fsck 'em, they don't make good movies anyways.
When I was a kid we had a Texas Instruments TI994A. You could type in code right off the bat and I learned how to program in basic and got pretty good. Then my parents bought a PC running DOS that was supposed to be way better. I found DOS useless and couldn't figure out how to program it. It wasn't until about five years ago that I found linux and learned how to use a computer again. For this I hold a permanent grudge against Microsoft.
The results of the study are spurious. The real reason for decreasing cd sales is crappier than ever music starting about the same time as widespread computer use.
I also use ubuntu for a multimedia PC. Actually setting it up is nothing special.
I'm using low end hardware, a 1000 MHz Duron, 512 MB RAM, an nVidia geforce4 ($30 new) with S-video output, and the onboard sound of the Asus A7N8X-X. This computer is in our living room and connected to a wired 100 Mbit network. I connected the video card and the sound to a home theatre reciever using S-video and RCA cables, respectively.
Ubuntu detected and configured all of my hardware automatically. I downloaded the latest nvidia driver installer and ran it, it installed cleanly and I used their settings GUI to configure the TV output. Then, I had to restart X to get the TV output working.
Next I installed mplayer and downloaded all the codecs from their website.
All of my multimedia stuff is on my office computer, so I share it with the multimedia computer using NFS. This folder is accessed by an icon on the GNOME desktop, and nautilus file manager shows nice big preview thumbnails of movies, and also previes sounds when the cursor is held over the icon.
I watch movies using mplayer (it's able to play everything I've thrown at it), and listen to music using Beep Media Player, gnome-cd, and for internet radio, Streamtuner is excellent for finding quality streams.
The cheapo graphics card didn't come with a remote, but a wireless optical mouse ($15) works just as well on the couch cushion right beside me.
Our DVD player is getting quite a coating of dust on it these days.
These type of findings suggest to me, as a sociologist, the importance of socialization. The comments here suggesting that human children had more of tendency to obey authority and thus followed the steps more closely is a good sociological counterargument. It would be interesting to do the same tests cross-culturally. I bet you'd find differences, and you could test the authority hypothesis as well (eg: comparing authoritarian vs more relaxed cultures). More speculatively though, I think it would be reasonable to maintain the assumption that the basic learning processes in humans and chimps (and other animals for that matter) are basically the same, but in the human case, extensively modified by the fact that we are socialized (eg: taught specific ways of thinking and behaving). At a basic physiological level, our cognitive abilities are a result of our evolutionary endowment, but the course of their development is guided by socialization. Our culture emphasizes the individual(especially the biological individual) so much that we tend to look for genetic or evolutionary explanations for cognitive abilities such as reasoning. If more people took a sociological approach, maybe we would take our schools more seriouly (as a society) and have more people actually develop the abilities nature gave them.
Slashdot Mirror
Given the diversity of computer uses and computer users, there's no good way to measure this. For what it's worth, the sample from my web server represents 91.3% Windows, 7.4% Mac, 0.9% Linux, and 0.2% unknown. That sample is of course not representative of all computer users.
Could this accidentally erase good memories? During the times when I'm suffering or in pain, I've often wondered, if I had my memory erased afterword, would I actually have suffered?
The freest and most democratic country on Earth spends far too many of its resources on novel ways to control people.
Why are we so quick to label Michael Moore's films as propaganda? It seems like a quick and easy way to dismiss him without actually dealing with what he says. I've seen SiCKO and can't understand why any average American would want to dismiss Moore so quickly. ~~ooooh scary socialism~~
I am a photographer whose specialty is urban photography. A precedent like this would kill my favourite hobby, at least in the US. It certainly violates freedom of the press, thought they will argue "just get a permit and you're fine". I would suspect that some undesirable photographers|journalists|artists would be denied permits. Right now in many cities a permit is required for other types of "artistic" activity in the streets or public spaces (ie: busking). But really, photography? It doesn't hurt anyone. You can look at Google maps or Microsoft Live and get photos of streets. There are security cameras almost everywhere. Why can't joe photographer do it?
About three years ago I found an decent athlon box on the side of the road. It had rained the night before so it was all wet. I let it dry for a week, turning it every day to make sure all the water drained out. When I was sure it was dry, I fired it up and it worked perfectly. It became my mythtv box for over a year. After I retired it, its various parts found their way into cheap computers I built for students, still in use. Most computer parts will withstand water as long as there's no electricity around to short thing out. I was surprised the hard drive still worked, it must have been sheltered enough from the water that it didn't rust.
I wish they would just open source simcity 4. If you know this game, sites like simtropolis had a ton of great mods and add ons. If they opened up the game people could and would fix some its bigger problems and make the game truly awesome.
What about cover bands who get paid to play others' music? If I already know how to play a song, am I allowed to play it even if no one else hears it? What if I hum a tune? What if I think about a song in my head?
Only people who know what they're looking for will find the systems that offer Ubuntu, so this won't be a huge seller. That's good because as good as Ubuntu is, it's not the time for it to be mass marketed. The problem has been stated before, too many peripheral devices don't have Linux drivers, too many applications given out at schools and in cereal boxes, etc. won't work on it, which turns people off Linux. But Dell offering Ubuntu is a great start. This is one major step toward manufactures of including Linux drivers and more cross platform apps.
Sure linux is secure as far as the taking control of the system goes, but what about home directories? If linux gained popularity on the desktop, there's nothing stopping scripts from wreaking havoc in the user's home directory. It would be easy to install ridiculous toolbars and spyware in linux, or to screw up settings or mess with the user's files. This might happen if there were wider adoption.
just pick up your guitar and play.
You would think this would get some attention, but the whole reason the music industry gets away with these ridiculous laws is because nobody is paying attention. Besides, why would we trust the media to tell us about something like this? They probably have the same owners as the record companies.
Yes, this happens when you have a Conservative government. They still think Bush is cool too.
I don't use Flock as my regular browser (I use Firefox) but I do have Flock installed for one purpose: Flock's interface with photobucket.com. It's great for uploading and managing pictures, as well as creating galleries and posting pictures on forums. So this is one reason that Flock may still be relavent. It's certainly not dead, it's frequently updated.
1. I have no interest in going to the theatre. I hate the noise and commercialism and it's way too expensive. 2. I hate video rental stores (or should I say Blockbuster, because they put all the good rental places out of business and charge over 5 bucks to rent a movie). 3. I refuse to pay 30 or 40 bucks for a DVD. We all know that a big chunk of that goes to the retailer, another big chunk goes to the studio, another big chunk goes to the star and the director, and a few cents go to the rest of the people who worked on the movie (the ones I'd like to see paid). The internet makes the physical production of discs and packaging, and the distribution and retail obsolete. The only people who need to get paid are the creative talents behind the movie, ie: the ones who make a few cents in royalties. Anyones whose business is production/distribution of movies (and music for that matter) are SOL, they can follow the railroad industry into oblivion. Fsck 'em, they don't make good movies anyways.
When I was a kid we had a Texas Instruments TI994A. You could type in code right off the bat and I learned how to program in basic and got pretty good. Then my parents bought a PC running DOS that was supposed to be way better. I found DOS useless and couldn't figure out how to program it. It wasn't until about five years ago that I found linux and learned how to use a computer again. For this I hold a permanent grudge against Microsoft.
You're under arrest mister
The results of the study are spurious. The real reason for decreasing cd sales is crappier than ever music starting about the same time as widespread computer use.
...adults are more like children nowadays.
I also use ubuntu for a multimedia PC. Actually setting it up is nothing special. I'm using low end hardware, a 1000 MHz Duron, 512 MB RAM, an nVidia geforce4 ($30 new) with S-video output, and the onboard sound of the Asus A7N8X-X. This computer is in our living room and connected to a wired 100 Mbit network. I connected the video card and the sound to a home theatre reciever using S-video and RCA cables, respectively. Ubuntu detected and configured all of my hardware automatically. I downloaded the latest nvidia driver installer and ran it, it installed cleanly and I used their settings GUI to configure the TV output. Then, I had to restart X to get the TV output working. Next I installed mplayer and downloaded all the codecs from their website. All of my multimedia stuff is on my office computer, so I share it with the multimedia computer using NFS. This folder is accessed by an icon on the GNOME desktop, and nautilus file manager shows nice big preview thumbnails of movies, and also previes sounds when the cursor is held over the icon. I watch movies using mplayer (it's able to play everything I've thrown at it), and listen to music using Beep Media Player, gnome-cd, and for internet radio, Streamtuner is excellent for finding quality streams. The cheapo graphics card didn't come with a remote, but a wireless optical mouse ($15) works just as well on the couch cushion right beside me. Our DVD player is getting quite a coating of dust on it these days.
These type of findings suggest to me, as a sociologist, the importance of socialization. The comments here suggesting that human children had more of tendency to obey authority and thus followed the steps more closely is a good sociological counterargument. It would be interesting to do the same tests cross-culturally. I bet you'd find differences, and you could test the authority hypothesis as well (eg: comparing authoritarian vs more relaxed cultures). More speculatively though, I think it would be reasonable to maintain the assumption that the basic learning processes in humans and chimps (and other animals for that matter) are basically the same, but in the human case, extensively modified by the fact that we are socialized (eg: taught specific ways of thinking and behaving). At a basic physiological level, our cognitive abilities are a result of our evolutionary endowment, but the course of their development is guided by socialization. Our culture emphasizes the individual(especially the biological individual) so much that we tend to look for genetic or evolutionary explanations for cognitive abilities such as reasoning. If more people took a sociological approach, maybe we would take our schools more seriouly (as a society) and have more people actually develop the abilities nature gave them.