The popups and focus stealing are a symptom of a larger problem: application authors assume you bought a computer just to run their application.
That's not the real problem, though. App writers shouldn't be responsible for managing window focus, period. Window managers should take some fucking responsibility for what's going on and give users the ability to choose how focus works system-wide, as well as allowing per-application customization.
Growl does something similar (but just for notifications) on the Mac, to give an idea of how things ought to work.
It's all Arial. Arial, and other sans-serif fonts look very pretty, but are optimised towards small sections of text. Large blocks of text, such as article text, should be done using a serif font like Times, for readability.
That's interesting. Serif fonts are supposed to improve readability for printed text, but it's widely thought that sans-serif fonts are easier to read on electronic displays. Can you cite any sources for your assertion?
Which, to me, seems totally ludicrous and as absurd as it gets; after all The Government is just a reasonably large corporation with you as the owner.
You're forgetting one very large thing: only governments can legally use violence. That is the difference between governments and corporations — no matter how powerful a corporation gets, you can always choose not to buy from it. You can't choose not to deal with the government, though. And the part about 'with you as the owner' is pretty much just false for any country larger than city-size. Have you every actually had one of your votes affect your country's policies directly?
On the other hand, 'we' (I do atleast) believe in the freedom to live a nice life. Healthcare, pensions, social security and extensive consumer rights comes at a price though; economic efficiency.
It comes at another price, too: asesrting a right to "live a nice life" implies a right to force other people to pay for it. In contrast, the "American" idea of rights that you mock above is that one has the right to pursue a nice life — no one is obligated to hand you one on a silver platter.
Communication is nothing if not contextual in essence and expression, and to declare that it is robbed of meaning by our contemporary canvas, wide at the margins, is to mistake grammar for literary intent.
But intent is meaningless unless it is communicated. The point here is not that people choose "non-traditional" ways of expressing themselves, but that they seem to be becoming incapable of communicating their intent precisely and clearly. Unclear communication is inefficient at best, and dangerous at worst.
The question is whether youth today are simply following different rules of communication, or whether they are following no rules at all. The former is unavoidable and perhaps desirable, while the latter is linked with sloppy thinking and other problems.
Someone asked if they existed, I answered that question. Whether the two I found were up to your standards is irrelevant.
Strictly speaking, you're right, but quality is hardly irrelevant to someone thinking of buying such a system, which was presumably part of the reason the parent asked the question.
I was mistaken about Dell making PCs with that form factor, though; it was Gateway I was thinking of, as your comment reminded me. We use a number of Gateway Profiles here at my university, and I've found them to be decent machines.
We love Unix because of the diversityand choices you can make, but still use the same programs. Desktop Mac OS X just isn't anymore Unix than Windows XP is.
You do realize that one can easily compile most Unix programs on Mac OS X, don't you? Since when did the definition of 'Unix' become "runs an open-source window manager by default"?
Here's one from Sony. I know it's $2,000, but it looks like it's a lot more than the iMac as features go.
Did you look closely at that Sony TV-PC? The screen may be 20", but it has a resolution of only 1366x768. I'd hardly consider that an acceptable computer display for a $2200 computer.
The BOLData ones just look like crap, both visually and in terms of quality.
If you really want the iMac form factor in a "regular PC," I know Dell makes or used to make some decent ones. They still don't compare in overall quality to a Mac, though.
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The popups and focus stealing are a symptom of a larger problem: application authors assume you bought a computer just to run their application.
That's not the real problem, though. App writers shouldn't be responsible for managing window focus, period. Window managers should take some fucking responsibility for what's going on and give users the ability to choose how focus works system-wide, as well as allowing per-application customization.
Growl does something similar (but just for notifications) on the Mac, to give an idea of how things ought to work.
It's all Arial. Arial, and other sans-serif fonts look very pretty, but are optimised towards small sections of text. Large blocks of text, such as article text, should be done using a serif font like Times, for readability.
That's interesting. Serif fonts are supposed to improve readability for printed text, but it's widely thought that sans-serif fonts are easier to read on electronic displays. Can you cite any sources for your assertion?
Actually, the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts may not be so great after all; maybe this whole issue is so much ado about nothing.
Which, to me, seems totally ludicrous and as absurd as it gets; after all The Government is just a reasonably large corporation with you as the owner.
You're forgetting one very large thing: only governments can legally use violence. That is the difference between governments and corporations — no matter how powerful a corporation gets, you can always choose not to buy from it. You can't choose not to deal with the government, though. And the part about 'with you as the owner' is pretty much just false for any country larger than city-size. Have you every actually had one of your votes affect your country's policies directly?
On the other hand, 'we' (I do atleast) believe in the freedom to live a nice life. Healthcare, pensions, social security and extensive consumer rights comes at a price though; economic efficiency.
It comes at another price, too: asesrting a right to "live a nice life" implies a right to force other people to pay for it. In contrast, the "American" idea of rights that you mock above is that one has the right to pursue a nice life — no one is obligated to hand you one on a silver platter.
But intent is meaningless unless it is communicated. The point here is not that people choose "non-traditional" ways of expressing themselves, but that they seem to be becoming incapable of communicating their intent precisely and clearly. Unclear communication is inefficient at best, and dangerous at worst.
The question is whether youth today are simply following different rules of communication, or whether they are following no rules at all. The former is unavoidable and perhaps desirable, while the latter is linked with sloppy thinking and other problems.
Strictly speaking, you're right, but quality is hardly irrelevant to someone thinking of buying such a system, which was presumably part of the reason the parent asked the question.
I was mistaken about Dell making PCs with that form factor, though; it was Gateway I was thinking of, as your comment reminded me. We use a number of Gateway Profiles here at my university, and I've found them to be decent machines.
You do realize that one can easily compile most Unix programs on Mac OS X, don't you? Since when did the definition of 'Unix' become "runs an open-source window manager by default"?
Did you look closely at that Sony TV-PC? The screen may be 20", but it has a resolution of only 1366x768. I'd hardly consider that an acceptable computer display for a $2200 computer.
The BOLData ones just look like crap, both visually and in terms of quality.
If you really want the iMac form factor in a "regular PC," I know Dell makes or used to make some decent ones. They still don't compare in overall quality to a Mac, though.
Simply beautiful. Your post is the reason I just registered a Slashdot account after years of reading anoymously.
I would be interested in your thoughts on this article I've written on the subject, if you're so inclined.