If you own an SUV and you pay for exorbitant fuel, you are: a) less money than a person getting a compact and b) unwise, since there are several compact cars available that aren't gas snobs.
Heck, I celebrate christmas, and I have a tree sticking out both my windows from either end on the ride home. The real benefit is that the car smells like pine for the next couple of weeks.
When you buy an "island" (a server) from Linden Labs, what you get is configured to only allow *you* to create objects on it. In addition, unless you deliberately set out to make it happen, nothing in Second Life can be damaged, destroyed, defaced, or in any way modified except by the owner. Even if you do allow people to create objects, you get to set a time limit beyond which they vanish. THe only think you can effect are objects marked as being as being subject to normal physics, which has to be done deliberately, and pretty much the only "physical" objects in most places in SL are the avatars themselves.
Yeah, and hope that the server isn't running in someone's "bargain basement" and is protected from such things as power outages, hard-drive failures and 3rd party tampering. I wonder how much a hard drive that survives would go for on e-bay after the company folds.
Fine, you can cut off the *spyware* portion of the OS. However, can you still turn on a few options that make it work with your hardware for which drivers were never written?
Vista, in my opinion, was a total mistake. An attempt to change a world that's not yet ready to change. But that's just my opinion... and you know that old saying.
A very interesting article. Knowing that I am an adult, I certainly wouldn't be leading anyone to some "pop-up" on the net. If the teacher did, in fact, go to a restricted site (that wasn't filtered and logged through some proxy) then it is possible that a slew of pop-ups could ensue (thank you Sun and your javascript). Also, thank all the browsers out there that cache every image and every page without others' knowing about it. I'm sure it's *not* possible to trick some thin client software into thinking *someone* else was using it.
Ever hear the story about the home teacher and the school teacher? Two different persons; one for the kids, the other for themselves. That really does suck that somone loses their job and their life over someone's pop-up crap.
Interesting, it also makes the world much more aware of how to *fabricate* miscreant clients. It's amazing how some people only see things from one perspective and not the other. In fact, I can't wait to see how this pans out from people who allow others' to use their machine.
1) Eye Candy: I like to turn it off, it always wastes CPU cycles and most people don't know when you need the extra ones to burn.
2) Missing or shitting drivers: Well, unless you own a business that relies on 3rd party hardware to automate your company, I suppose it's a *very* reasonable concern, especially to those companies relying on hardware from third-party companies that may have been deep-sixed. You wanna step in and write the drivers for them? (and like your complaint about video, make sure they are just as expediant and bug-free as before?)
3) UAC, i.e. "you're doing it wrong". For that, I give you kudos. Many times people run applications that require too many permissions; however, on the downside, too many applications are written that require those permissions when they really don't need them. From a developer's prospective, that's a good thing.
I'm afraid I cannot comment further on the 'good' points you mention, because I already noted the one good one you brought up.
However, I will say this: *upgrading* to Vista seems *like* the devil incarnate; buying a new machine, however, (which hasn't outright *lied* about its ability to use it *cough* Dell) might be an advantage for any soon to be prison inmate. Heck, the average serial killer will probably be released by the time Service Pack 3 for Vista is due for public consumption, just-in-time for a new lawyer to gather evidence.
Oh, and I don't like Windows XP any more than I do 2000, especially since I made the changes to have the interface look the same. (Smart move on their part.)
For quite some time, it's become easier to find out anyone's business as they used their computer, even in Windows XP. It just seems that with Window Vista, it's easier to make the discovery. Keep in mind, it's not just the operating system doing the copies, but it's also applications that do so as well.
From the "temporarily copied" documents viewed in Microsoft Outlook, to the cached images stored by Internet Explorer, and still yet to the meta-data stored in Word documents. (There have a been a few times I have read a Word document meant to be anonymous only to find the creator in the document's properties.)
While it might take the career of the computer forensic scientist down a peg and be a boon for any prosecutor, it does nothing more than make it easier to find information that hasn't been deleted by force from its owner.
Don't be surprised if the market now swarms with applications that will allow you to 'view' data while wiping all trace evidence after it's been seen; or still yet allowing you to create documents that are completely wiped of meta-data. Sure, you won't be able to find something unless the search has to delegate to its bits and bytes, but at least they can't find someone's manifesto by name. (Of course, you have to be sure that it wasn't e-mailed.)
It's encroachment on privacy like this that creates entirely new markets for people to leech from the truly paranoid; which seems to be quite a majority of the population since everyone seems to have some skeleton in their closet.
On a funny note, this one co-worker had an embarrassing image pop up every time he went to print; the image itself was attached to an e-mail from a co-worker who loved to send around joke e-mails. He wasn't able to get rid of the image from the preview, until I pointed him to the directory (which is stamped in the registry) where Outlook stores its temporary files (usually most attachments, images, etc.) Apparently this fellow never opens any e-mail from this co-worker anymore.
It's the 'thing' that occurred between your parents before you were born. They just don't want to tell you, because they don't want to have another one occur in their lifetime until they're ready to be grandparents. (And it's also something Parents don't like to talk about with their kids.)
When it does happen, it is the beginning of existence... and you don't need Stephen Hawking to be present.
Dollars to doughnuts that you work at a small mis-managed software/hardware shop that develops by the seat of its pants, has the best-of-the-best leaving (if not laid off or fired due to differences in opinion) and you're left holding the bag with all these designs.
They should do a "Bud Light" commercial in your honor. (At least for 'inebriated' design.)
I have a gamut of computer keyboards, many have gone to the great computer graveyard, but others survived. The worst of the worst is getting an entire Mountain Dew knocked over onto the device, which seems to permeate every "nook and cranny" so to speak.
I had that happen to an old IBM 'tactile' keyboard, which I threw in the dishwasher (without the heat cycle) based on advice I gleaned from usenet. After a few days of drying (in an area with a lot of heat, either out in the sun or a very warm room) the water evaporated and left the keyboard quite usable without the sticky sugary mess the soda pop left behind.
I tried this with a newer keyboard I had, one of the Microsoft 'ergonomic' keyboards. Spilled a Pepsi in that one and put it through the wash cycle (remember to not use any dish soap or rinsers) and let it wait a couple days. It didn't work. Opening it up, I noticed the rubber membrane tying the keys to the circuit board still had water in it. I wiped it up and put it back together (be careful if you try to align it correctly) and it worked.
This happened again to my wife with the same type of keyboard and this time we didn't open the keyboard, we just waited a few weeks for all the water to evaporate (be bought a spare keyboard in the meantime) and after a few weeks, it functioned normally.
I used to recommend putting a keyboard in the dishwasher (I'm not sure about some of the new wireless keyboards), but I would also recommend that they wait quite some time before attempting to use it again. Having a "back-up" keyboard is almost as important as having a backup power-supply. However, it may be possible to revive a keyboard that had been inundated with liquid refreshment.
"...even if you take hardcore measures to hide."
From what I've seen, most of those who go 'hardcore' aren't really taking measure to hide online. However, they do seem to make a good wage.
It's an interesting concept for people who are going on vacation. But imagine all the noise it would generate. Imagine, I could note all the toilets I had to clean! (...and you'd know if I did a good job when you visted them on vacation.)
As long as the filtering is good, it sounds like an interesting idea. Myself, I don't like to go out and do much unless I can see it's actually worth the time. Perhaps some of the pictures (and no, not of intoxicated women) might be influential as to where one might choose their next vacation spot.
Ok, "Doom", the movie, wasn't actually that bad. If you want a yardstick to measure that by, consider "The Hulk".... and there are just as many spin-offs of spoofs as there are comic books themselves.
I don't know about the plot of City of Heroes; but I'm sure it's not based on all the information collected from its online denizens and more-so the vanilla 'plot' outlined in the guide all players receive when purchasing the game.
Ho, hum... sounds like another plotless game rescued by the CGI avengers!
...and please, for the love of all things holy... if they ever decide to go through with it, don't allow Ewe Boll anywhere near it. Otherwise, I might buy it when it comes out on DVD.
I think the point is that this shouldn't necessarily go to binding arbitration, if the plaintiff did not know that binding arbitration was the agreement. If you suggest that even an unreadable EULA is binding arbitration, that's opening up one big can of worms for anyone with a "business license" (who probably uses it for tax evasion) to then pillage any "average joe".
I agree with you. The issue was not about a contract, but about an agreement that was "supposedly" accepted after the contractual obligation had been met. (Most likely his purchasing the computer in question in full.)
On the other hand, while a "legally binding" contract may be a verbal agreement or a handshake, a piece of paper with a signature in hand will certainly sway a judge's opinion more than a "he said/she said" argument. But that is beside the point.
I agree that there should be proper notice of the terms. A clipboard top covering an important paragraph on paper or a fuzzy monitor (especially if it made the agreement unreadable and it is documented that is the case) should be grounds for improper notice.
But when the lawsuit ensues, I can see them breaking out the electronics specialists, the optometrists and all the lawyers for each side in a multi-faceted legal melee leaving the lawyers with the most money, the court systems with quite a bit of slush-fund and the paid professionals with the least of the spoils. It will probably also leave either side of the lawsuit (plaintiff or defendant) wondering whether they won or lost for the next five to ten years.
That's probably why I don't care to buy turn-key systems anymore and just put things together with individual parts. Go Tom's Hardware!
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If you own an SUV and you pay for exorbitant fuel, you are: a) less money than a person getting a compact and b) unwise, since there are several compact cars available that aren't gas snobs.
Heck, I celebrate christmas, and I have a tree sticking out both my windows from either end on the ride home. The real benefit is that the car smells like pine for the next couple of weeks.
When you buy an "island" (a server) from Linden Labs, what you get is configured to only allow *you* to create objects on it. In addition, unless you deliberately set out to make it happen, nothing in Second Life can be damaged, destroyed, defaced, or in any way modified except by the owner. Even if you do allow people to create objects, you get to set a time limit beyond which they vanish. THe only think you can effect are objects marked as being as being subject to normal physics, which has to be done deliberately, and pretty much the only "physical" objects in most places in SL are the avatars themselves.
Yeah, and hope that the server isn't running in someone's "bargain basement" and is protected from such things as power outages, hard-drive failures and 3rd party tampering. I wonder how much a hard drive that survives would go for on e-bay after the company folds.
Fine, you can cut off the *spyware* portion of the OS. However, can you still turn on a few options that make it work with your hardware for which drivers were never written?
Vista, in my opinion, was a total mistake. An attempt to change a world that's not yet ready to change. But that's just my opinion... and you know that old saying.
A very interesting article. Knowing that I am an adult, I certainly wouldn't be leading anyone to some "pop-up" on the net. If the teacher did, in fact, go to a restricted site (that wasn't filtered and logged through some proxy) then it is possible that a slew of pop-ups could ensue (thank you Sun and your javascript). Also, thank all the browsers out there that cache every image and every page without others' knowing about it. I'm sure it's *not* possible to trick some thin client software into thinking *someone* else was using it.
Ever hear the story about the home teacher and the school teacher? Two different persons; one for the kids, the other for themselves. That really does suck that somone loses their job and their life over someone's pop-up crap.
I hope they post they URL they visited.
My co-workers still harangue me when I use a command prompt to do things in Windows. Go figure.
Save your game... Save often. That's the answer to "dumb or lazy".
With Regards to your bad points:
1) Eye Candy: I like to turn it off, it always wastes CPU cycles and most people don't know when you need the extra ones to burn.
2) Missing or shitting drivers: Well, unless you own a business that relies on 3rd party hardware to automate your company, I suppose it's a *very* reasonable concern, especially to those companies relying on hardware from third-party companies that may have been deep-sixed. You wanna step in and write the drivers for them? (and like your complaint about video, make sure they are just as expediant and bug-free as before?)
3) UAC, i.e. "you're doing it wrong". For that, I give you kudos. Many times people run applications that require too many permissions; however, on the downside, too many applications are written that require those permissions when they really don't need them. From a developer's prospective, that's a good thing.
I'm afraid I cannot comment further on the 'good' points you mention, because I already noted the one good one you brought up.
However, I will say this: *upgrading* to Vista seems *like* the devil incarnate; buying a new machine, however, (which hasn't outright *lied* about its ability to use it *cough* Dell) might be an advantage for any soon to be prison inmate. Heck, the average serial killer will probably be released by the time Service Pack 3 for Vista is due for public consumption, just-in-time for a new lawyer to gather evidence.
Oh, and I don't like Windows XP any more than I do 2000, especially since I made the changes to have the interface look the same. (Smart move on their part.)
For quite some time, it's become easier to find out anyone's business as they used their computer, even in Windows XP. It just seems that with Window Vista, it's easier to make the discovery. Keep in mind, it's not just the operating system doing the copies, but it's also applications that do so as well.
From the "temporarily copied" documents viewed in Microsoft Outlook, to the cached images stored by Internet Explorer, and still yet to the meta-data stored in Word documents. (There have a been a few times I have read a Word document meant to be anonymous only to find the creator in the document's properties.)
While it might take the career of the computer forensic scientist down a peg and be a boon for any prosecutor, it does nothing more than make it easier to find information that hasn't been deleted by force from its owner.
Don't be surprised if the market now swarms with applications that will allow you to 'view' data while wiping all trace evidence after it's been seen; or still yet allowing you to create documents that are completely wiped of meta-data. Sure, you won't be able to find something unless the search has to delegate to its bits and bytes, but at least they can't find someone's manifesto by name. (Of course, you have to be sure that it wasn't e-mailed.)
It's encroachment on privacy like this that creates entirely new markets for people to leech from the truly paranoid; which seems to be quite a majority of the population since everyone seems to have some skeleton in their closet.
On a funny note, this one co-worker had an embarrassing image pop up every time he went to print; the image itself was attached to an e-mail from a co-worker who loved to send around joke e-mails. He wasn't able to get rid of the image from the preview, until I pointed him to the directory (which is stamped in the registry) where Outlook stores its temporary files (usually most attachments, images, etc.) Apparently this fellow never opens any e-mail from this co-worker anymore.
When it does happen, it is the beginning of existence... and you don't need Stephen Hawking to be present.
...not to mention the fact that most toddlers have had their fingers stuck up their noses since they were born.
They should do a "Bud Light" commercial in your honor. (At least for 'inebriated' design.)
What keeps "Old Faithful" at Yosemite alive and ticking....
I have a gamut of computer keyboards, many have gone to the great computer graveyard, but others survived. The worst of the worst is getting an entire Mountain Dew knocked over onto the device, which seems to permeate every "nook and cranny" so to speak.
I had that happen to an old IBM 'tactile' keyboard, which I threw in the dishwasher (without the heat cycle) based on advice I gleaned from usenet. After a few days of drying (in an area with a lot of heat, either out in the sun or a very warm room) the water evaporated and left the keyboard quite usable without the sticky sugary mess the soda pop left behind.
I tried this with a newer keyboard I had, one of the Microsoft 'ergonomic' keyboards. Spilled a Pepsi in that one and put it through the wash cycle (remember to not use any dish soap or rinsers) and let it wait a couple days. It didn't work. Opening it up, I noticed the rubber membrane tying the keys to the circuit board still had water in it. I wiped it up and put it back together (be careful if you try to align it correctly) and it worked.
This happened again to my wife with the same type of keyboard and this time we didn't open the keyboard, we just waited a few weeks for all the water to evaporate (be bought a spare keyboard in the meantime) and after a few weeks, it functioned normally.
I used to recommend putting a keyboard in the dishwasher (I'm not sure about some of the new wireless keyboards), but I would also recommend that they wait quite some time before attempting to use it again. Having a "back-up" keyboard is almost as important as having a backup power-supply. However, it may be possible to revive a keyboard that had been inundated with liquid refreshment.
"CoH" must stand for "Comedy of Hell". Well, whatever floats yer boat.
Did you catch the part about them 'embedding' the "Fake" ad? If you did, well, bully for you, if you didn't, well, I'm onto your game. :)
"...even if you take hardcore measures to hide." From what I've seen, most of those who go 'hardcore' aren't really taking measure to hide online. However, they do seem to make a good wage.
It's an interesting concept for people who are going on vacation. But imagine all the noise it would generate. Imagine, I could note all the toilets I had to clean! (...and you'd know if I did a good job when you visted them on vacation.) As long as the filtering is good, it sounds like an interesting idea. Myself, I don't like to go out and do much unless I can see it's actually worth the time. Perhaps some of the pictures (and no, not of intoxicated women) might be influential as to where one might choose their next vacation spot.
Ok, "Doom", the movie, wasn't actually that bad. If you want a yardstick to measure that by, consider "The Hulk".... and there are just as many spin-offs of spoofs as there are comic books themselves. I don't know about the plot of City of Heroes; but I'm sure it's not based on all the information collected from its online denizens and more-so the vanilla 'plot' outlined in the guide all players receive when purchasing the game. Ho, hum... sounds like another plotless game rescued by the CGI avengers!
...and then sinks just as fast as the Titanic.
... it sounded like "generic uberhero universe" to me.
...and please, for the love of all things holy... if they ever decide to go through with it, don't allow Ewe Boll anywhere near it. Otherwise, I might buy it when it comes out on DVD.
I think the point is that this shouldn't necessarily go to binding arbitration, if the plaintiff did not know that binding arbitration was the agreement. If you suggest that even an unreadable EULA is binding arbitration, that's opening up one big can of worms for anyone with a "business license" (who probably uses it for tax evasion) to then pillage any "average joe".
Publicity. Positive or negative, it puts them back on the charts.
----
DE AD BE EF BA AD F0 0D FE ED FA CE BA AD F0 0D, it's yours, all yours!
I agree with you. The issue was not about a contract, but about an agreement that was "supposedly" accepted after the contractual obligation had been met. (Most likely his purchasing the computer in question in full.)
On the other hand, while a "legally binding" contract may be a verbal agreement or a handshake, a piece of paper with a signature in hand will certainly sway a judge's opinion more than a "he said/she said" argument. But that is beside the point.
I agree that there should be proper notice of the terms. A clipboard top covering an important paragraph on paper or a fuzzy monitor (especially if it made the agreement unreadable and it is documented that is the case) should be grounds for improper notice.
But when the lawsuit ensues, I can see them breaking out the electronics specialists, the optometrists and all the lawyers for each side in a multi-faceted legal melee leaving the lawyers with the most money, the court systems with quite a bit of slush-fund and the paid professionals with the least of the spoils. It will probably also leave either side of the lawsuit (plaintiff or defendant) wondering whether they won or lost for the next five to ten years.
That's probably why I don't care to buy turn-key systems anymore and just put things together with individual parts. Go Tom's Hardware!