This sounds like a great idea for minimizing IT work involved in maintaining machines, but is this best for the company? The first thing that comes to mind is all the talented employees that are lost because they cannot customize their work environment to their liking. (obviously not solely for this reason, but it could be the last straw)
I think there is something to be said for Gnome's slightly more restrictive interface customizations -- at least In terms of getting Linux into the mainstream consumer market.
Case in point: On my XP machine at work, when I need an IT admin to install/fix/whatever something on my computer it usually takes an extra 5 seconds for them to find my start button ("Uh.. Uh... Oh you moved your task bar to the top of your screen?!") Then an extra few seconds for them to realize that I have also customized my Start menu and the "Run" option is not there (I just use the shortcut). Overall, it's only a matter of 10-15 seconds longer for them to get their job done, but this is with on-site tech support between two computer professionals (well, 1 1/2:-) Imagine an open source software company who is trying to offer phone support for grandma and have no idea what distro she is using or how her grandkids customized it for her.
And finally one last rant: Default settings matter! The vast majority of computer user's never event attempt to customize anything more than their desktop background. So, if the defaults that are shipped are not sane, user-friendly, then the product is no good to that user. They will simply move on or give up. (This is where Ubuntu really shines)
If you have never lived in China, you don't know anything about the situation and should not comment.
So, since the vast majority of Americans have never lived in China we should all just sit back and be politically disengaged from all Chinese news? That doesn't seem right.
Try it yourself - hack up some script to randomly generate IPs and then ping sweep the network blocks. You'll probably be quite surprised at the result.
Dude, it's just corporate firewalls dropping ICMP packets.
My girlfriend and I do the same thing. For us, this device from Linksys was the deal maker. I was not willing to leave a computer on all the time in order to receive Skype In calls or to turn on a computer to order a pizza. There are Wifi versions that do the same thing but most are more error prone, require an unsecured wifi network, and have terrible handset battery life. In keeping with the theme... HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! A+++ PRODUCT!!!!
All the quick and easy problems like Disc not received, Damaged disc, Wrong Disc, etc. can be reported with an automated system on the customer service portion of Netflix.com. It's easy and works quite well. If you have a commonly reported problem it' on there.
who immediately opened a new tab and brought up yahoo.com to see a cluttered page (although less so than it used to be) and a Flash advertisement and sat there scratching my head with a "Huh?" look on my face?
Shop owners are going to get really frustrated at Google after they start having to explain to 10 people a day that "no, I'm not interested in AdWords and besides, 10 people a day have been trying to peddle this shit to me for two months now."
Google should send "welcome packets" to newly added businesses with a "Listed on Google" sticker to place in their front window (right next to the "Credit Cards Accepted" stickers so people know (1) not to bug them about being listed and (2) that they can look them up online to find out hours, phone number, etc later on.
Yes, the range of this plane is a significant milestone in commercial aviation -- pick any two points on the globe and it can fly non-stop between them.
Yes, but don't forget to account for the cost of transporting the food from nowheresville to somewheresville (where all the people are). This will be especially important as energy and transportation costs rise.
In most parts of the US, driving your own vehicle is actually economical, and there is no alternative in any case.
Exactly. A gas tax makes driving your own vehicle uneconomical and produces revenue that can be used to create alternatives (e.g. better public transportation, alternative fuel technology, etc...)
How about Vs. GMail? Ever heard of plus-addressing? I've been using it lately with great results.
You can also sprinkle your GMail username with dots like m.y.user.n.a.m.e@gmail.com and GMail will ignore the dots and interpret the address as myusername@gmail.com
I like that they are finally adding features like these in phones. Some say, "Just turn off your phone when you are in a movie or meeting" Of course, it would be nice if we could always remember to do that. The problem is that even if we forget 1% of the time, there is a high probability that at least one or two people in a theater with 200 seats forgot.
I think phones should take advantage of bluetooth by listening for a 'silencer' signal that is broadcast over bluetooth to phones withing some loosely defined radius. Then you can set your phone to listen to this 'silencer' signal and take some user-programmed actions such as "turn off ringer" or "switch to vibrate" upon leaving the silent zone, your phone would just go back to whatever mode it was in previously. Theaters, classrooms, conference rooms, whatever could be equiped with a simple little device to help people remember to do what they are already are trying to do but sometimes absent mindedly forget.
(I know they are already using a dumber version of this in some Canadian theaters... it just kills the signal, which would be very annoying if you wanted to receiver emergency calls via a vibrate alert)
Slashdot Mirror
This sounds like a great idea for minimizing IT work involved in maintaining machines, but is this best for the company? The first thing that comes to mind is all the talented employees that are lost because they cannot customize their work environment to their liking. (obviously not solely for this reason, but it could be the last straw)
I think there is something to be said for Gnome's slightly more restrictive interface customizations -- at least In terms of getting Linux into the mainstream consumer market.
Case in point: On my XP machine at work, when I need an IT admin to install/fix/whatever something on my computer it usually takes an extra 5 seconds for them to find my start button ("Uh.. Uh... Oh you moved your task bar to the top of your screen?!") Then an extra few seconds for them to realize that I have also customized my Start menu and the "Run" option is not there (I just use the shortcut). Overall, it's only a matter of 10-15 seconds longer for them to get their job done, but this is with on-site tech support between two computer professionals (well, 1 1/2 :-) Imagine an open source software company who is trying to offer phone support for grandma and have no idea what distro she is using or how her grandkids customized it for her.
And finally one last rant: Default settings matter! The vast majority of computer user's never event attempt to customize anything more than their desktop background. So, if the defaults that are shipped are not sane, user-friendly, then the product is no good to that user. They will simply move on or give up. (This is where Ubuntu really shines)
Dude, it's just corporate firewalls dropping ICMP packets.
I don't even want to know what goes on in your email conversations that would constitute a US invasion to get to you...
My girlfriend and I do the same thing. For us, this device from Linksys was the deal maker. I was not willing to leave a computer on all the time in order to receive Skype In calls or to turn on a computer to order a pizza. There are Wifi versions that do the same thing but most are more error prone, require an unsecured wifi network, and have terrible handset battery life. In keeping with the theme... HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! A+++ PRODUCT!!!!
All the quick and easy problems like Disc not received, Damaged disc, Wrong Disc, etc. can be reported with an automated system on the customer service portion of Netflix.com. It's easy and works quite well. If you have a commonly reported problem it' on there.
who immediately opened a new tab and brought up yahoo.com to see a cluttered page (although less so than it used to be) and a Flash advertisement and sat there scratching my head with a "Huh?" look on my face?
The hiring team at SCO must not be following the news very carefully... They seem feel the need to fill two developer positions
Yes, the range of this plane is a significant milestone in commercial aviation -- pick any two points on the globe and it can fly non-stop between them.
Yes, but don't forget to account for the cost of transporting the food from nowheresville to somewheresville (where all the people are). This will be especially important as energy and transportation costs rise.
This rods per fortnight conversion is amazingly understood by Google. Bravo, Google.
In most parts of the US, driving your own vehicle is actually economical, and there is no alternative in any case.
Exactly. A gas tax makes driving your own vehicle uneconomical and produces revenue that can be used to create alternatives (e.g. better public transportation, alternative fuel technology, etc...)
You can also sprinkle your GMail username with dots like m.y.user.n.a.m.e@gmail.com and GMail will ignore the dots and interpret the address as myusername@gmail.com
Maybe that's because there will always be a group of people that simply won't buy an Xbox because it's made by Microsoft ?
Or even worse from a MS point of view is to buy an Xbox, mod it to use as a home media player, and never buy any games or accessories.
Windows or the $30?
I think phones should take advantage of bluetooth by listening for a 'silencer' signal that is broadcast over bluetooth to phones withing some loosely defined radius. Then you can set your phone to listen to this 'silencer' signal and take some user-programmed actions such as "turn off ringer" or "switch to vibrate" upon leaving the silent zone, your phone would just go back to whatever mode it was in previously. Theaters, classrooms, conference rooms, whatever could be equiped with a simple little device to help people remember to do what they are already are trying to do but sometimes absent mindedly forget.
(I know they are already using a dumber version of this in some Canadian theaters... it just kills the signal, which would be very annoying if you wanted to receiver emergency calls via a vibrate alert)