It's asymmetrical? I hate that. I didn't think Logitech went for that sort of thing. My MX310 is completely symmetrical.
I'm left-handed, and even though I usually use the mouse with my right, I hate the idea that they design it so I won't be able to use it left-handed when I need to. It doesn't even really help much when using it right-handed anyway. It's a pointless stylistic feature made to inconvenience one ninth of the population.
Here in the bay area, we actually got one of our old stations back. Live 105 used to be great, but got taken over or something a few years back and began to really suck. Then, more recently, I was forced to listen to the radio for a while, and when I switched over they were actually playing decent "alternative" music. They also use that recorded song name thing after playing the music, but it's pretty helpful because they play music that isn't repeated every ten minutes, and I like actually knowing what every song is.
Anyway, I'm really glad to have the old station back. I like to imagine that one day an executive walked into the Live 105 office and said, "Hey, remember how we didn't used to suck? We should try that again, you know, as a gimmick." Either way, good for them. It was depressing living in San Francisco without a good rock station.*
* Yes, there is some decent stuff on the college stations, but there's also a lot of -terrible- stuff on them too. You just have to hope you tune in at the right time.
I think we all understand that. What you have to understand is that open source is not a company. Open source is a bunch of interested people getting together to work on and share software. They also want to put out their product.
One of the purposes behind slashdot (intended or not) is to act as a rallying point for open source people. We're practically the marketing department for open source here. They tell us what the competition has been saying, and we come up with ways to counter their arguments.
So while we obviously expect Microsoft to be Microsoft, slashdot people still get all their stories and get upset and go out and speak against it and all that. It's part of the open source machine as much as the code itself.
I actually had the same thing happen to me a couple of years ago. I got a mail for parking overnight in San Francisco during a street cleaning when I wasn't supposed to. I'd never even been to that area before, so I was really confused. Before writing back, I found the street I was supposed to have been on and drove over there in my free time. I found a car on the street with a similar license plate, only with an E instead of a K. The odd thing was that the original ticket listed the model and color of the car as my black Passat, but this was a blue Volvo. I guess the ticket writer couldn't be bothered to fill those in so they based it on the license plate number. Anyway, they left me alone after that.
There's a lot of actually helpful information on the web for health issues. Everytime I get a new prescription, I check drug information online and compare it against every other medication I'm taking to see what side effects might occur. I also found out a lot of information about migraines online, because my local doctors seem like they're arguing with each other about what it is I have. So at least with the web I can figure out which kind it seems like I have and do what I can to avoid them.
I just built my girlfriend a computer for her new apartment as a birthday present. It's made almost entirely of either parts I already had or hardware I bought at Weirdstuff. The only things I purchased at Fry's were a $30 soundcard and a set of midrange Logitech stereo speakers, because she listens to a lot of music. Those two things combined cost me more than the rest of the computer combined.
Not wanting to spend anymore money than I had to, I opted out of XP Home and scrounged up an OEM copy of Windows 2000 Server I don't know how I acquired. I threw on all her music, some games, and a few other things, and the computer runs really well. My old Radeon 7000 works great with the 19" Sony Trinitron I was given while working at Stanford. The $20 Athlon 1200+ is easily fast enough for her purposes.
She was really happy when she got the computer, and hasn't complained yet. I felt pretty good about it, because I liked making something for her myself. It's also way more fun to be able to build something out of scavenged pieces. I made my last computer completely out of mid to high end parts I got through a wholesale distributor, but I have to say I prefer using parts I found under my bed, or in a large crate in the corner of a warehouse.
Really, unless you're hardcore into games or need to run high end business, graphic or scientific apps, there's very little reason to purchase new hardware. Computers these days are way too powerful for the average user. Add the fact that I actually prefer Windows 2000 to XP, and old hardware has a lot going for it.
Yay, fun gender-bashing time! Men are controlled entirely by sexual urges! Women are emotionally unbalanced and can't think logically! Men are violent, dangerous brutes! Women are weak, timid sheep! Men never ask for directions! Women can't drive!
Don't miss next week's episode of Idiotic Generalizations: Liberals vs. Conservatives!
how is it that Apple can keep reinventing themselves and their products, while keeping viable AND delivering quality products?
Because Apple is -really good- at trumpeting features and all those other things. The two things that company excels at are user interface and industrial design, meaning that they have pretty computers with pretty operating systems. They're also sensible, so they leave the OS to Unix and are continuing to migrate towards commodity parts, leaving them to do what they do best. It just took them long enough to get there.
Microsoft actually purchased a fairly good spyware product and was providing it free of charge as a beta. After trying it, I was pleasantly surprised that Microsoft was finally providing a useful security product as a service to its customers. I ought to have figured that something like this would happen eventually.
I have nothing ain't colloquialisms. In fact, I -love- colloquialisms. If I'm hanging out with friends, my speech style is such a confused jumble of strange and disparate slangs and styles of speech that many people wouldn't know what I'm talking about. The difference is that if I'm, say, writing a paper or formal letter, speaking to an official, or interviewing for a job, I can also present myself more seriously by using correct English.
Whether you feel it's fair or not, people do form opinions of you based on how you present yourself. It's called a first impression. Everyone does it. Unfortunately, people don't have the time or energy to get to know every person they meet to truly know their value. We base our decisions on available information, and when we meet someone, that information is all about how the person presents him or herself. Considering that people either consciously or subconsciously dress and act the way they do to express their personality, it's not really a bad indicator.
So, back to language, the way one speaks and writes says a lot about a person's educational background and personality. It has a lot to do with how well-read they might be. When you're out with peers or in a familiar situation, this isn't so important. It can be quite important when you're in a professional situation, presenting yourself as an expert, or find yourself in intellectual company. The problem is that in these situations, where you're expected to have a certain baseline of ability by those around you and you don't exhibit it, people can't help but notice and wonder what might be wrong.
One last example I'd like to make is that of your post. You use very good form in making your argument. You follow proper slashdot debate protocol quite well. I assume you recognise that it only helps you make your point, and convinces others that your post is worth taking seriously and responding to. That's all the submitter was talking about, and that's what I mean. Speaking well helps you along when others are judging you based on what you say.
At least around here, the terms are pretty much used interchangeably. People of Mexican descent are generally called Mexican, at least around here, the same as people would say I'm Irish. If there's a difference between Mexican and Hispanic, it's more that the latter refers to people from other Spanish-speaking central american countries.
Sure, some people can get around these laws by getting fake IDs, passports and such, but not nearly enough to account for anywhere near the working Mexican population over here. Most of the illegal immigrants end up as day or migrant workers, which isn't exactly an industry most citizens want to be in.
Anyway, I'm sure that some of your best friends are Hispanic and all. I just found your parent post a bit negative toward Mexicans in general. It sounds like we mean different things when we use the term, so it doesn't look like there's any point in continuing to debate the issue.
Most Mexicans I know around here live perfectly legally. They have jobs, pay taxes, own property, all that kind of stuff. Most of the service jobs here are staffed by people from Mexico or of Mexican descent. Last time I checked, you needed a social security number for that kind of thing.
I'm sorry if you don't like having Mexicans around, but you shouldn't assume that most of them don't have as much right to be here as you do. Personally, I like any cultures we can get. Lord knows California doesn't have much of its own.
The parent never mentioned illegal immigrants. Why do you automatically assume that? I live in Northern California, and there are a huge amount of Hispanic people. Sure, some are here illegally, but most of them are here legitimately.
We're geographically close to Mexico and in better economic straits, so it's logical to assume there will be immigration.
Well I know for certain that American English is completely missing a few of the phonemes used in Greek. Omega, for instance. We can't really pronounce the names correctly. Everywhere I've been in the States and Canada, [ZOOS] is more or less the accepted pronunciation.
Considering this is an argument for correct English, I probably should have proofread it. That's what I get for trying to post as my girlfriend was dragging me out the door.
These debates always seem to end up as arguments whether English grammatical rules are ought to be followed because they are inherently mutable. The problem I see with that point of view is that they are mutable over decades and centuries. For the present, there are clearly defined rules.
What the submitter mentions and what a lot of people miss is that speaking incorrectly tends to make a person seem less intelligent. Using "should of" is more or less understandable if you are used to English colloquialisms and such, but it makes the person sound less intelligent to those who are educated.
I think this is especially important on the internet, where text is the main form of communication. Incorrect spelling and grammar makes people think the writer is either uneducated or a child, and when you're trying to get a point across, that's not very helpful.
Sure, you can write however you want, using phonetic spelling and slapdash punctuation. You can also write code with no spacing or comments using random variable names. They both get the job done, more or less, but they're not going to make you look good in the eyes of the community.
To rebut your other point, "goodbye" is in every major English dictionary, and it evolved over quite some time. It's not "grammatically poor" at all. When not being used in a sentence, it has nothing to do with grammar at all.
"Should of" and "ain't" are colloquialisms that have been around for a good while themselves, and if they were to become an official part of the language they would have likely done so by now. The reason they have not is because they are known to be blatantly grammatically incorrect and are avoided by anyone using proper English.
Anyway, despite my little rant, I have to say that neither I nor the submitter are mad at people for not following the rules. We're just trying to goad people into realizing that the rules are there for a reason, and considering our community is supposedly known for being intelligent, we ought to use those rules correctly.
Every media has its problems. I lost all the Super-8 tapes of myself as a child when some dumbass broke in and stole the (practically worthless) projector. A lot of VHS recordings from the early nineties got lost or taped over or just thrown out because someone didn't think to go through a box full of bulky old homemade tapes.
At least with my digital media, I can print it, copy it, or back it up in any form I want. I still have old tgz files of email from the mid-nineties, and the only pictures I can find of some old friends of mine were the ones I kept in a personal directory I always copy to every system I have. Sure, it may not last 500 years, but I can fairly easily make sure I'll keep it around for my future.
As for the parent poster, I've accidentally ruined enough paintings trying to move them or even just touching them to say that it's not really a permanent media either. Sure, if you're a great master and your work is kept safe in a museum with a team of professional restorers able to keep it in good shape, it can last forever, but the rest of us are out of luck.
You're right. It's entirely their fault. They ought to be punished! They broke the rules, and deserve whatever they get! In fact, for breaking school policy, they deserve nothing less than death! Or life inprisonment, at the very least. I mean, using a computer their school gave them for uses other than the school intended. That is an infraction against the state! No punishment can be too severe.
But seriously, how insane is a program that hands computers to teenagers, says they shouldn't play with them, then goes directly to law enforcement when the kids go against policy? This could have easily been handled within the school through suspension or even just revoking of computer privileges.
Nothing sounds much like sci-fi when it happens. Does cloning sound like sci-fi anymore? Genetically engineered plants? I mean, they're using nanotechnology to make golf clubs now. Nothing makes science boring like making it useful.
Actually, what you did sounds like a fairly good plan, especially with the industry as it is right now. Start with something you know you can get; something in which you can excel. Two years to get to a senior post is almost no time at all. Hell, in most people's careers, the first two years is a practice run.
An easy job in your field right out of college can be invaluable. The working world itself is enough of a challenge itself. Having the extra energy and mental resources to master that and get ahead can separate you from the pack who were dumped into the entry mid-level jobs, handed a pile of paper and a deadline, and told to catch up.
I've thought about it a little, and the difference is that the commercial software packages have names that appeal to the customers, while projects like this have names that are targeted mainly to the developers. "Firefox" was a last minute name change reminiscent of phoenix. "Phoenix" was Mozilla rising again from ashes. "Mozilla" was the internal project name for Netscape, and it was referring to a killer, godzilla-like form of Mosaic. I can't remember about Mosaic.
These names make sense when you follow the history, and they give some drive to the developer team, but when shown to regular people it just founds funny and confusing. Firefox is doing pretty well anyway, but a more serious name would really help with credibility.
Because "Outlook" certainly sounds like an email client and "Excel" just makes you automatically think of a spreadsheet...
Um, yes, they really do. Outlook is a calendar and scheduling program, in addition to other things. Hence it manages your "outlook," see? Excel works on two levels. The spreadsheet program increases your productivity, hence you excel, plus you connect it to the spreadsheet cells. I think they're really bland names, but they're the kind of thing business people and general users love.
Other examples: Oracle is a repository of knowledge, Quicken speeds up your budgeting, Photoshop allows you to (obviously) work on photos, even Netscape, which isn't a word, suggests traveling through internet vistas. People get degrees to come up with this stuff.
Brendan
P.S. "Cheerios" refers to the "O" shaped pieces of cereal, and suggests that they're a fun and "cheery" way to start the morning.
Or, you know, they could be naming them after the actual firefox and thunderbird, which is where all those other things get the names, too. Hell, I'd have never connected that puppet show with the mail client, and I have to say I've never even heard of that movie.
The main problem I see is that these Mozilla guys keep using generic and unintuitive names for their software. When I hear "firefox" or "phoenix," in no way would I automatically think of a web browser, or a software program at all. "Thunderbird" just makes me think of a car. Hell, Mozilla was the internal project name for the Netscape browser. There's a reason that they don't use project names as the release name at software companies.
That said, I really don't want to see another reason that these firefox guys have to change the browser name. They could have picked a bit better, but now that it's got name recognition, we gotta stick with it.
Slashdot Mirror
It's asymmetrical? I hate that. I didn't think Logitech went for that sort of thing. My MX310 is completely symmetrical.
I'm left-handed, and even though I usually use the mouse with my right, I hate the idea that they design it so I won't be able to use it left-handed when I need to. It doesn't even really help much when using it right-handed anyway. It's a pointless stylistic feature made to inconvenience one ninth of the population.
Here in the bay area, we actually got one of our old stations back. Live 105 used to be great, but got taken over or something a few years back and began to really suck. Then, more recently, I was forced to listen to the radio for a while, and when I switched over they were actually playing decent "alternative" music. They also use that recorded song name thing after playing the music, but it's pretty helpful because they play music that isn't repeated every ten minutes, and I like actually knowing what every song is.
Anyway, I'm really glad to have the old station back. I like to imagine that one day an executive walked into the Live 105 office and said, "Hey, remember how we didn't used to suck? We should try that again, you know, as a gimmick." Either way, good for them. It was depressing living in San Francisco without a good rock station.*
* Yes, there is some decent stuff on the college stations, but there's also a lot of -terrible- stuff on them too. You just have to hope you tune in at the right time.
For a minute there I thought you were going to say "God kills a kitten."
I think we all understand that. What you have to understand is that open source is not a company. Open source is a bunch of interested people getting together to work on and share software. They also want to put out their product.
One of the purposes behind slashdot (intended or not) is to act as a rallying point for open source people. We're practically the marketing department for open source here. They tell us what the competition has been saying, and we come up with ways to counter their arguments.
So while we obviously expect Microsoft to be Microsoft, slashdot people still get all their stories and get upset and go out and speak against it and all that. It's part of the open source machine as much as the code itself.
I actually had the same thing happen to me a couple of years ago. I got a mail for parking overnight in San Francisco during a street cleaning when I wasn't supposed to. I'd never even been to that area before, so I was really confused. Before writing back, I found the street I was supposed to have been on and drove over there in my free time. I found a car on the street with a similar license plate, only with an E instead of a K. The odd thing was that the original ticket listed the model and color of the car as my black Passat, but this was a blue Volvo. I guess the ticket writer couldn't be bothered to fill those in so they based it on the license plate number. Anyway, they left me alone after that.
I believe you mean definately.
=)
There's a lot of actually helpful information on the web for health issues. Everytime I get a new prescription, I check drug information online and compare it against every other medication I'm taking to see what side effects might occur. I also found out a lot of information about migraines online, because my local doctors seem like they're arguing with each other about what it is I have. So at least with the web I can figure out which kind it seems like I have and do what I can to avoid them.
I just built my girlfriend a computer for her new apartment as a birthday present. It's made almost entirely of either parts I already had or hardware I bought at Weirdstuff. The only things I purchased at Fry's were a $30 soundcard and a set of midrange Logitech stereo speakers, because she listens to a lot of music. Those two things combined cost me more than the rest of the computer combined.
Not wanting to spend anymore money than I had to, I opted out of XP Home and scrounged up an OEM copy of Windows 2000 Server I don't know how I acquired. I threw on all her music, some games, and a few other things, and the computer runs really well. My old Radeon 7000 works great with the 19" Sony Trinitron I was given while working at Stanford. The $20 Athlon 1200+ is easily fast enough for her purposes.
She was really happy when she got the computer, and hasn't complained yet. I felt pretty good about it, because I liked making something for her myself. It's also way more fun to be able to build something out of scavenged pieces. I made my last computer completely out of mid to high end parts I got through a wholesale distributor, but I have to say I prefer using parts I found under my bed, or in a large crate in the corner of a warehouse.
Really, unless you're hardcore into games or need to run high end business, graphic or scientific apps, there's very little reason to purchase new hardware. Computers these days are way too powerful for the average user. Add the fact that I actually prefer Windows 2000 to XP, and old hardware has a lot going for it.
Yay, fun gender-bashing time! Men are controlled entirely by sexual urges! Women are emotionally unbalanced and can't think logically! Men are violent, dangerous brutes! Women are weak, timid sheep! Men never ask for directions! Women can't drive!
Don't miss next week's episode of Idiotic Generalizations: Liberals vs. Conservatives!
how is it that Apple can keep reinventing themselves and their products, while keeping viable AND delivering quality products?
Because Apple is -really good- at trumpeting features and all those other things. The two things that company excels at are user interface and industrial design, meaning that they have pretty computers with pretty operating systems. They're also sensible, so they leave the OS to Unix and are continuing to migrate towards commodity parts, leaving them to do what they do best. It just took them long enough to get there.
Microsoft actually purchased a fairly good spyware product and was providing it free of charge as a beta. After trying it, I was pleasantly surprised that Microsoft was finally providing a useful security product as a service to its customers. I ought to have figured that something like this would happen eventually.
I have nothing ain't colloquialisms. In fact, I -love- colloquialisms. If I'm hanging out with friends, my speech style is such a confused jumble of strange and disparate slangs and styles of speech that many people wouldn't know what I'm talking about. The difference is that if I'm, say, writing a paper or formal letter, speaking to an official, or interviewing for a job, I can also present myself more seriously by using correct English.
Whether you feel it's fair or not, people do form opinions of you based on how you present yourself. It's called a first impression. Everyone does it. Unfortunately, people don't have the time or energy to get to know every person they meet to truly know their value. We base our decisions on available information, and when we meet someone, that information is all about how the person presents him or herself. Considering that people either consciously or subconsciously dress and act the way they do to express their personality, it's not really a bad indicator.
So, back to language, the way one speaks and writes says a lot about a person's educational background and personality. It has a lot to do with how well-read they might be. When you're out with peers or in a familiar situation, this isn't so important. It can be quite important when you're in a professional situation, presenting yourself as an expert, or find yourself in intellectual company. The problem is that in these situations, where you're expected to have a certain baseline of ability by those around you and you don't exhibit it, people can't help but notice and wonder what might be wrong.
One last example I'd like to make is that of your post. You use very good form in making your argument. You follow proper slashdot debate protocol quite well. I assume you recognise that it only helps you make your point, and convinces others that your post is worth taking seriously and responding to. That's all the submitter was talking about, and that's what I mean. Speaking well helps you along when others are judging you based on what you say.
At least around here, the terms are pretty much used interchangeably. People of Mexican descent are generally called Mexican, at least around here, the same as people would say I'm Irish. If there's a difference between Mexican and Hispanic, it's more that the latter refers to people from other Spanish-speaking central american countries.
Sure, some people can get around these laws by getting fake IDs, passports and such, but not nearly enough to account for anywhere near the working Mexican population over here. Most of the illegal immigrants end up as day or migrant workers, which isn't exactly an industry most citizens want to be in.
Anyway, I'm sure that some of your best friends are Hispanic and all. I just found your parent post a bit negative toward Mexicans in general. It sounds like we mean different things when we use the term, so it doesn't look like there's any point in continuing to debate the issue.
Most Mexicans I know around here live perfectly legally. They have jobs, pay taxes, own property, all that kind of stuff. Most of the service jobs here are staffed by people from Mexico or of Mexican descent. Last time I checked, you needed a social security number for that kind of thing.
I'm sorry if you don't like having Mexicans around, but you shouldn't assume that most of them don't have as much right to be here as you do. Personally, I like any cultures we can get. Lord knows California doesn't have much of its own.
The parent never mentioned illegal immigrants. Why do you automatically assume that? I live in Northern California, and there are a huge amount of Hispanic people. Sure, some are here illegally, but most of them are here legitimately.
We're geographically close to Mexico and in better economic straits, so it's logical to assume there will be immigration.
Well I know for certain that American English is completely missing a few of the phonemes used in Greek. Omega, for instance. We can't really pronounce the names correctly. Everywhere I've been in the States and Canada, [ZOOS] is more or less the accepted pronunciation.
Considering this is an argument for correct English, I probably should have proofread it. That's what I get for trying to post as my girlfriend was dragging me out the door.
These debates always seem to end up as arguments whether English grammatical rules are ought to be followed because they are inherently mutable. The problem I see with that point of view is that they are mutable over decades and centuries. For the present, there are clearly defined rules.
What the submitter mentions and what a lot of people miss is that speaking incorrectly tends to make a person seem less intelligent. Using "should of" is more or less understandable if you are used to English colloquialisms and such, but it makes the person sound less intelligent to those who are educated.
I think this is especially important on the internet, where text is the main form of communication. Incorrect spelling and grammar makes people think the writer is either uneducated or a child, and when you're trying to get a point across, that's not very helpful.
Sure, you can write however you want, using phonetic spelling and slapdash punctuation. You can also write code with no spacing or comments using random variable names. They both get the job done, more or less, but they're not going to make you look good in the eyes of the community.
To rebut your other point, "goodbye" is in every major English dictionary, and it evolved over quite some time. It's not "grammatically poor" at all. When not being used in a sentence, it has nothing to do with grammar at all.
"Should of" and "ain't" are colloquialisms that have been around for a good while themselves, and if they were to become an official part of the language they would have likely done so by now. The reason they have not is because they are known to be blatantly grammatically incorrect and are avoided by anyone using proper English.
Anyway, despite my little rant, I have to say that neither I nor the submitter are mad at people for not following the rules. We're just trying to goad people into realizing that the rules are there for a reason, and considering our community is supposedly known for being intelligent, we ought to use those rules correctly.
Every media has its problems. I lost all the Super-8 tapes of myself as a child when some dumbass broke in and stole the (practically worthless) projector. A lot of VHS recordings from the early nineties got lost or taped over or just thrown out because someone didn't think to go through a box full of bulky old homemade tapes.
At least with my digital media, I can print it, copy it, or back it up in any form I want. I still have old tgz files of email from the mid-nineties, and the only pictures I can find of some old friends of mine were the ones I kept in a personal directory I always copy to every system I have. Sure, it may not last 500 years, but I can fairly easily make sure I'll keep it around for my future.
As for the parent poster, I've accidentally ruined enough paintings trying to move them or even just touching them to say that it's not really a permanent media either. Sure, if you're a great master and your work is kept safe in a museum with a team of professional restorers able to keep it in good shape, it can last forever, but the rest of us are out of luck.
You're right. It's entirely their fault. They ought to be punished! They broke the rules, and deserve whatever they get! In fact, for breaking school policy, they deserve nothing less than death! Or life inprisonment, at the very least. I mean, using a computer their school gave them for uses other than the school intended. That is an infraction against the state! No punishment can be too severe.
But seriously, how insane is a program that hands computers to teenagers, says they shouldn't play with them, then goes directly to law enforcement when the kids go against policy? This could have easily been handled within the school through suspension or even just revoking of computer privileges.
Nothing sounds much like sci-fi when it happens. Does cloning sound like sci-fi anymore? Genetically engineered plants? I mean, they're using nanotechnology to make golf clubs now. Nothing makes science boring like making it useful.
Actually, what you did sounds like a fairly good plan, especially with the industry as it is right now. Start with something you know you can get; something in which you can excel. Two years to get to a senior post is almost no time at all. Hell, in most people's careers, the first two years is a practice run.
An easy job in your field right out of college can be invaluable. The working world itself is enough of a challenge itself. Having the extra energy and mental resources to master that and get ahead can separate you from the pack who were dumped into the entry mid-level jobs, handed a pile of paper and a deadline, and told to catch up.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
I've thought about it a little, and the difference is that the commercial software packages have names that appeal to the customers, while projects like this have names that are targeted mainly to the developers. "Firefox" was a last minute name change reminiscent of phoenix. "Phoenix" was Mozilla rising again from ashes. "Mozilla" was the internal project name for Netscape, and it was referring to a killer, godzilla-like form of Mosaic. I can't remember about Mosaic.
These names make sense when you follow the history, and they give some drive to the developer team, but when shown to regular people it just founds funny and confusing. Firefox is doing pretty well anyway, but a more serious name would really help with credibility.
Because "Outlook" certainly sounds like an email client and "Excel" just makes you automatically think of a spreadsheet...
Um, yes, they really do. Outlook is a calendar and scheduling program, in addition to other things. Hence it manages your "outlook," see? Excel works on two levels. The spreadsheet program increases your productivity, hence you excel, plus you connect it to the spreadsheet cells. I think they're really bland names, but they're the kind of thing business people and general users love.
Other examples: Oracle is a repository of knowledge, Quicken speeds up your budgeting, Photoshop allows you to (obviously) work on photos, even Netscape, which isn't a word, suggests traveling through internet vistas. People get degrees to come up with this stuff.
Brendan
P.S. "Cheerios" refers to the "O" shaped pieces of cereal, and suggests that they're a fun and "cheery" way to start the morning.
Or, you know, they could be naming them after the actual firefox and thunderbird, which is where all those other things get the names, too. Hell, I'd have never connected that puppet show with the mail client, and I have to say I've never even heard of that movie.
The main problem I see is that these Mozilla guys keep using generic and unintuitive names for their software. When I hear "firefox" or "phoenix," in no way would I automatically think of a web browser, or a software program at all. "Thunderbird" just makes me think of a car. Hell, Mozilla was the internal project name for the Netscape browser. There's a reason that they don't use project names as the release name at software companies.
That said, I really don't want to see another reason that these firefox guys have to change the browser name. They could have picked a bit better, but now that it's got name recognition, we gotta stick with it.