Seriously, why do we really need a new format when there are existing formats that already work? Funny thing is there are a lot of specs for things like HTML and CSS too. Then why is it when I design a page, sometimes it will look different in Safari vs. FF vs. IE vs. Opera Vs. KDE? Just because there is some open spec doesn't mean everything is going to be coded to the spec.
The problem with HTML is that all of the format coding is basically a strong suggestion, one that can be overridden by the user via their web browser settings. Also, HTML doesn't allow much as far as user control over the actual appearance of a document in a web browser. Added to this is the fact that some tags are not supported on all web browsers, and some tags have been officially depreciated yet may still be supported by some browsers.
One of the reasons that CSS was developed is to allow user more control over the appearance of a web page, such as how much space will appear above/below a paragraph. Unfortunately, many web browsers haven't completely implemented CSS.
As far as the need for a new format, one of the reasons that OpenDocument formats were developed is to provide a format that is fully and publicly documented and that anyone can freely implement and use in their applications without restrictions. Regardless of the opinions of the MS Word (.doc) format, one factor to consider is that Microsoft can alter the format at its discretion. OpenDocument formats are not under the control of a single software company.
One of the reasons I've chosen to save my word processing documents in Rich Text Format (RTF) is that it is supported by most word processors, allowing me the freedom to choose my writing tool. Despite their power, I've often found the sheer number of features of both MS-Word and OpenOffice.org/StarOffice often imped my writing. With a more-basic word processor (a level or two above WordPad) I've found that it is much easier to get writing done.
Further, as long as I keep my formatting fairly basic (font, alignment, spacing, and so on) I can be sure that a document I send to someone will appear as I intended, and converting it to another format. If a document's exact appearance is important, saving it as a PDF is a good option.
MS missed the boat on not releasing a non-media edition. The non-media edition would have HD playback disabled, no DRM, and should have fast performance. The DRM/HD playback module should be an optional upgrade. Most of us don't use it and don't want it.
To me, this has been the biggest question on the whole issue. Why does Windows have to include so many additional components regardless of whether the user wants/needs them or not?
Taking Technician's comment one step further, why not begin with a basic system and then move from there. If you don't want to play DVDs on your computer, no need to include DVD playing software with the computer. My biggest issue with OSes is that they include so many programs that should be completely separate applications.
Well I have to say that I don't think they are selling lots of them. I work at a software development firm. We develop Windows software. How many Zunes owners do we have? None.
We have many iPod users though. When normal people speak about media players they don't call them media players. They call them iPods.
Heck the Zune has added support for "Podcasts".
The new Sync from Ford and Microsoft supports the iPod as well as the Zune... I think it is the only car stereo that offers Zune integration but I guess that is the least Microsoft could do since they made it.
The Zune right now is an also ran even with a HUGE amount of money and marketing behind it.
I think the biggest reason that the Zune hasn't been a massive success is that Microsoft just waited far too long before coming out with an iPod competitor. Now they face competition not just from the iPod itself, but also the other competitors who fill niches that the Zune doesn't (like the low-price small-capacity player market).
The other factor that worked against the Zune is that the iPod works with Windows (which the original iPod didn't). If Microsoft had come out with the Zune during the time that the iPod didn't work with Windows, I think they would have had a better chance for success.
To sum it up, I think a major reason for the Zune performance is that it simply came out too late.
Hey, wait - seconds are base 60? What kind of bizarrity is this? I demand the ITU create a new, proper measurement of time, with proper decimalization! 24 hours in a day? Good Lord man, you must be joking. And a calendar system so broken that it has leap years EVERY FOUR YEARS? Sounds like the ITU took the coward's way out, and simply adopted an old imperial system, gave it a coat of paint, and called it "metric". A system that uses base 60, base 24, base 7, and can't even decide between base 30 and 31, not to mention the "month" is based on something so profoundly un-metric as the PHASE OF THE MOON?
The biggest problem with trying to establish a calendar is that reality intrudes. Leap years (and seconds) were established to ensure that the calendar remains in sync with the seasons, although I've not understood why the year couldn't begin based on a natural event (like the first day of spring). Consider that during Washington's lifetime 11 days were skipped to bring the calendar back in line with the seasons. He dealt with it simply by moving his birthday 11 days.
I agree that the calendar could be made a great deal simpler. One proposal was to have a calendar of 13 months, twelve 28-day months and one 29-day month ((12 * 28) + 29 = 365).
On the subject of 10 vs 12 as a base, how about 8? A base of eight has one significant advantage over either 10 or 12: you can easily convert it to binary (convert each digit to binary and put them together) But base 8 has the same problem as base 10: you can't express one-third evenly in decimal form.
u-235-sentinel wrote and included the following in a post:
In the end Vista will be inevitable. Drivers not available anymore except for Vista, important programs that are Vista-only. Security updates not being made available for XP anymore. (Look at how the support for Win2k went downhill once WinXP was released. For NT 4.0, they stopped giving patches before the official end-of-line) Believe me, it will happen, eventually. Give it another year or two. I didn't switch to WinXP before SP2 was very mature (Fall 2005). Before I was Win2k all the way, and before that NT 4.0....
Try running NT 4.0 these days... Won't get you very far. That's the future of Windows XP. They are going to drop it like a hot potato.
I'm already making plans to drop Windows completely from my home computers. The only thing I do on Windows these days is gaming. Everything else is running Linux from firewall to my MythTV box.
I, too, am planning on moving away from Windows once my current computer dies. For me, the only question is whether to move to Linux or to Mac OS.
I'll probably go to a PS3 for gaming or Wii. I figure I can purchase several for the price of a single Wintendo PC and network them.
A while ago I decided to do all of my gaming on a PS2 and my main reason is: I can be sure that every PS2 game will work well on my system. That is something that I can't be sure of with all PC games.
My biggest beef with Microsoft has been their DRM and other Gestapo controls placed into Vista. I will not support them and encourage everyone else to look for alternatives.
To second this, although it's not my only reason for considering a move away from Windows, it is just one more strong reason to do so. For me as a home user, I've seen no good reason to move to Vista other than force, and any force used to move me away from XP may as well cause me to move to Linux/Mac OS.
I've been using Linux on my work Desktop / Laptop since 1999 so I'm very familiar with what my OS / Software needs are.
While I liked using Windows apps since 3.0 came out, I think I'm finished with them unless they pull a 180.
I've never been a great fan of any version of Windows (At home I used DOS until I upgraded to a computer that was preloaded with Windows 98SE), I simply use them because I've had to. Now, based on what I've been reading, I see Vista as a good reason to leave the Windows world for other OSes.
This comes down to greed, pure and simple. Rather than sitting down and coming to a standard acceptable industry-wide, these corporations decided to go it alone and try to beat the other guys in a format war. The result has been market confusion. I heard one NPR analyst estimate that this format war has reduced the market for next-gen DVDs by 90% - in other words, 90% of potential consumers stay away until the war has a clear winner. And there's no end in sight. I hope the format war continues on indefinitely, to teach companies a lesson not to do this in the future.
If history is any indication, the lesson won't be learned. Before Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, we had the following directly competing formats:
45 RPM vs. LP (Ended in a tie since they didn't directly compete with each other and the companies involved decided to support both formats)
Quadraphonic (seven incompatible formats)
VHS vs. Beta
Laserdisc vs. CED
DCC vs. Mindisc
As I said in another post, I will pass on both HD formats until 2 years after the war is over. Standard DVD is good enough for now.
Problems with AI aside, I don't understand why anyone will want to create an intelligent machine that have the potential to surpass us humans, or worse, fail, and create a monster. We have read about robotic anti-aircraft guns going haywire and killing people. It is just plain evolutionary suicide. As cheesy as they sound, those sci-fi stories have some truth in them. For good or for evil, we are masters of this planet. Why jeopardise this position? Maybe, instead of creating robots of the Asimovian mold, we should place a limit on the potential intelligence of robots, maybe at most of an obedient dog.
For me, robots in the Asmovian mold would prevent an uprising. One of the main points in his robot stories is that robots are carefully designed consumer products that are tested to ensure that they function exactly as designed. A large number of his stories dealt with engineers trying to find out exactly why robots are malfunctioning. I can think of only one Asimov story (per Wikipedia the story was "That Thou art Mindful of Him") where there is a potential for robots to take over from humans.
Since it is likely that robots will be built with many limitations specifically to prevent an uprising (far beyond just "The Three Laws of Robotics"), I think a scenario like in the anime series "Armitage III" is more likely: humans eventually turn on the robots they have built. In the words of one character: "If humans don't want me, why did they make me?"
As far as Americans taking robots into their homes, I think that people will be more likely to embrace small, limited-purpose robots at first. Much like with most new technology, it will be the young that will the most likely to accept personal robot technology. To me, I think in time a personal robot assistant could become as accepted as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) (and its successor the cell phone) have come to be accepted now.
Exactly right. The future of telemarketing is this: telemarketers in country A ring suckers in country B, and telemarketers in country B ring suckers in country A, thus evading Do Not Call laws in both countries.
This could lead to the following: people turn their phone ringer off, allow voice mail/answering machines to screen their calls, and have an alternate system in place for people who need to contact them immediately (such as a pager). End result: telemarketers are completely cut off from being able to contact anyone.
I save in RTF. ODF isn't widely supported enough yet. Sure I am essentially guaranteed of being able to open it forever, but that doesn't help if I can't open it in Word at school. RTF is basically universal.
I agree. RTF works on all three major OSes, and every word processor will open RTF files. Also, even if your computer doesn't have word processor installed there are a large number of both free and low-cost word processors are available on-line (they also have the advantage of being very small and fast compared to the large programs).
RTF also has other advantages. My experience has been that it tends to produce very small files, usually only slightly larger than plain text files. It is also very easy to accurately convert an RTF file into another format with little loss of formatting. The last point makes it a good format for source files.
2) Because Microsoft has figured out there's more money in trying to do what people want, rather than trying to tell people what to do. Using excel as a pseudo-database? Using excel to do simple lists? Ok, we'll try to accomodate you. It's the complete opposite of the Unix philosophy of doing one thing and doing it well, it's the philosophy that a user shouldn't need to use more tools than necessary and applications thus should be jack of all trades, and only if it can't be shoehorned in should the user have to use a different application.
Concerning using Excel as a database, I think the reason that people use Excel as a database is that it is much easier than using Access. My own experience with Access has been that it takes a while to set up even a simple database, and you need to know what you want ahead of time.
I've found creating a database with Access such a massive task that, for me, it was not worth the effort. With Excel (and StarOffice/OpenOffice.org Calc), I can create a usable database in a few seconds.
When it comes to which program to use, I've used the following guide:
I know what I want ahead of time: Use Access
I'm creating a long-term database: Use Access
I don't know what I want ahead of time: Use Excel
I need a usable database from a list of data quickly: Use Excel
While I do have some nostalgia for vinyl, and I do have a couple of discs which sound better in their vinyl incarnation, I welcome the hassle free CD. With CD, it sounds really good on cheap equipment.
This was one of the strongest selling points for CD: just the act of playing it doesn't degrade it. LP can sound better than CD on the first few plays provided you have the perfect equipment setup. But as zakezuke wrote, the sound of CD was an improvement even on modest equipment, and so was the ease of use.
One factor concerning the sound quality of LPs was the quality of the records themselves. Quality of both the vinyl and the pressing affect the sound of LPs. But with CDs you essentially get exactly what the producer intended to release, the material of the recording doesn't affect the sound quality in the same way that it does with LPs.
That right there is what pretty much makes PDF the worst choice for putting documents online. It's great for something that needs to be printed out. I used it all the time in University when I brought assignments in to be printed out. Even changing versions of MS Word for different printers could mess up a document. However, as far as actually reading the document goes, I'd much rather have something that's more suited to displaying on a computer screen, like HTML+CSS.
In my opinion, it seems like one of the reasons that PDF is disliked as a standard is that it is being used for all purposes, whether a specific use is suitable or not. My own experience with PDF is that it is great for: (1) documents that will be printed on paper, (2) as an archive format, and (3) documents that must not be changed. I don't think that it is suitable for other uses.
I agree with CastrTroy's last sentence. To me, HTML is a good general standard for text documents, especially in cases where you don't know ahead of time what it will be displayed on. It is one of the few text formats where the same document can easily be displayed on a computer screen, a TV screen, an e-book reader, a PDA screen, a cell phone screen, and printed on paper without a need for reformatting (the device itself can take care of the size and typeface of text). Also, it is easy to convert it to another format for a specific purpose.
This is a very important thing, that keeps me sane. I have used Graffiti since it was a Newton program. Even though the Newton OS v2.0 had really great handwriting recognition (no joke!), Graffiti has always been much faster. I can remember taking notes using Graffiti on a Newton MessagePad 100 that I bought on clearance for $150.00 when I was in High School. It has lower CPU utilization, faster input, accurate punctuation, bullets and accented characters, and less strain on the hands -- what's not to like, other than a short training period?
Graffiti 2 destroys Palm's advantage of having sane, consistent input, and puts it back on a level playing field with every other generic PDA. Reverting to the old Graffiti is a highly recommended upgrade. I've used it on my Zire 72 since the day I bought it in 2004 without any problems; I've even used it with third-party IME's for languages the system wasn't designed to display (Chinese, Japanese).
I think that the move to Graffiti 2 was more than a step backward. I compare it to changing the arrangement of keys on a keyboard. That the Querty keyboard arrangement still remains the standard is an indication of just how difficult a change is.
I disagree that Graffiti 1 was difficult to learn, I managed to pick it up in less than a day without formal training. Eventually, I got good enough at it that I could accurately take notes at meetings without having to look at the screen and rarely made an error. One of the reasons that Graffiti worked so well (and other handwriting systems didn't) is that Graffiti didn't rely on the PDA learning how to understand how you write, you learned to write in a way that it understands.
When I purchased a Palm T/X, I disliked Graffiti 2 so much that I bought a program called Tealscript which allows you to design your own penstrokes. I used it work with the Graffiti 1 penstrokes and I've had little problem with accuracy.
As far as PalmOS PDAs, my two favorites are the Palm Vx and the Handspring Visor. Both had great battery life, a very sharp screen, and a massive amount of third-party software. I haven't enjoyed used my later PalmOS PDAs as much as those two.
As far as I know, Hamill is still working. Among his roles, he's been the voice of the Joker in the DC Animated Universe since "Batman - The Animated Series." He has been outstanding in that role.
If some moron told me to install an entire office program (A sluggish one that cloned the one I already have, at that), I would email his boss and ask for the correct file format. It's common sense. IF you abuse your position to have people install redundant software, you probably won't be in that position for very long. It's like sending your files in Spanish..doc is the format of business.
Or you could just request an RTF. Rich text seems to work well on both. Abiword is also good with RTF so it is a good choice, it is what I use.
I agree about RTF. It is a good option since it works with just about every word processor and operating system, the formatting features it does support will reliabily render, it doesn't support macro viruses, and it produces files that are only a little bit larger than a plain text file (unless you include pictures).
For me, I've been using StarOffice 8.0 and Jarte (an RTF word processor) and I've found that both do pretty much everything that I need to do at home. I rarely use the.doc format and instead use RTF, OpenDocument, and HTML depending the type of document I'm working on.
As far as word processors of the past, the three best ones I've used are:
WordStar 4.0 - Fixed all of the weaknesses of the previous versions without the overcomplication that came with version 5.0)
WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS - Probably the best word processor I've ever used, it did things that Word 2003 doesn't do.
Professional Write 2.0 - Not the most powerful word processor I've ever used, but very easy to learn and use, and one of the simplest installs I've ever had (copy the files into a directory, done).
It is possible that it isn't that they couldn't buy the reader, but that their company rules don't allow them to install a PDF reader on their system. I was in the military and one of the rules there was that you couldn't install any software on your system unless it was approved and authorized to be installed.
I, too, have decided to stay with DVD and pass on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I will wait until 2 or 3 years after the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war ends before I even consider going with either of the two (if either of them actually emerges as a winner).
Unfortunately, the movie industry didn't learn from one of the main factors that made CD a success: there was only one format. As a result of their choice, they have stopped me from going with a high-definition format.
You're completely missing the point, AGAIN. Let me put it in large, bold letters for you:
EVERY TIME A NEW RECORDABLE MEDIA FORMAT HAS SHOWN UP, THEY HAVE FOUGHT IT TOOTH AND NAIL.
When cassette tapes showed up on the scene, they didn't like that. When Betamax showed up, they fought that. Neither one introduced widespread copying.
I think another reason that the record and movie companies have recently put up a much stronger fight against copying: Digital allows you to make a perfect copy of an original. This was one of the reasons they fought so strongly against DAT (and eventually killed it for the consumer market): with DAT you could make a perfect bit-for-bit copy of a CD.
When making an analog copy, the copy is always a little degraded from the original. Each generation is more degraded from the original and this puts a natural limit on the number of usuable copies that can be made from an original. Added to this is the fact that each time you play the analog original you damage it. This is a natural limit with analog and meant that each original recording was self-limiting: Each play of the original damages it and will lead to it having to be replaced.
CDs don't have this limit, playing a CD doesn't damage it. The 5,000th play of a CD will sound the same as the first. This has lead to what I think is one of the main reasons that record sales have dropped (more than piracy): You only have to buy a recording once.
Two other factors that have lead to confusing English spelling are:
English spelling was established at a time when the language was undergoing massive change. If spelling had been locked in place 50 years later it is likely that there would have been less spelling confusion.
Many words, such as light and knight, were spelled phonetically at the time the spelling was established but we have changed the way we say the words.
The last point is a factor with foreign words, where we have kept the native spelling even if it doesn't match the way the word is pronounced. An example of this is the word "colonel." From what I understand, it is spelled via one language (french) and said via another (italian). This is the reason that it is pronounced with an "r" sound even though the word doesn't contain an "r."
Like others, I've gotten fed up with junk calls too. Instead of using the "Do Not Call" list, what I did to deal with them was to turn my phone ringer off and no longer answer my phone. Instead, I allow voice mail to pick up the calls and review my voice mail when I get a chance. Any phone message that sounds like it is from any type of telemarker is immediately deleted. It's interesting how many calls I have received, per my caller ID, where the caller didn't leave a message.
For people that must reach me, I have a pager (the cost for a year of pager service is about the same as a month of cell phone service). I allow only a limited number of people, ones who must reach me immediately, to have that number.
I've found the above method extremely effective in dealing with telemarketers. I can't remember the last time I actually spoke directly with a telemarketer. Calling me simply wastes their time.
There is another way to do this. I prefer to create my own directory for my music collection (rather than use a default directory like "My Music") to make it easy to keep track of my music. This also ensures that only the music I want will be loaded into iTunes, and any files I add from other locations are copied to that directory while leaving the original untouched.
I recently had to move my music collection to a new hard drive. All I had to do was delete the music file list in iTunes (without deleting the actual files), and then change the location of my music folder in iTunes. It automatically added all of my music in to iTunes. A few minutes later all of my music ready for use. It was a easy and seamless operation.
I appear to be in the minority, but overall I like iTunes, mainly because it makes accomplishing just about any music task, from ripping CDs, to burning music CDs, to the mass update of music information, extremely easy. In my experience it's been the easiest program I've found so far for these tasks.
Anything that contains lots of energy in a small and compact volume, is dangerous. Explosives, and modern batteries, are really not that different. Both contain a huge amount of energy, in a comparatively small area. As battery technology improves, batteries will become even more dangerous.
With old heavy duty, or alkaline batteries, the worst that could happen was usually a leak. While annoying, it usually didn't pose any dangers. Modern batteries catch fire and explode. Eventually, we'll probably have a nuclear powerplant inside our mp3-players, at which time, they will hopefully include some additional safeguards, such as a fuse. But all modern batteries (lithium, lithium-ion, lithium-polymer) will explode or catch fire, if there's a serious enough malfunction.
I think the largest issue with lithium batteries isn't that lithium has the potential to explode, that is its natural tendency. Much of the effort in the design of lithium batteries is to prevent them from exploding.
A larger problem with batteries is that, per a recent issue of Popular Science, lithium is basically the end of the line as far as standard battery technology (power via a difference in materials) goes, unless new elements are discovered that provide better energy density than lithium.
To me, much of the problem with battery life is due to the use of non-replaceable rechargeable batteries. It seems like battery life didn't become much of an issue until a large number of device began using these type of batteries. Battery life isn't as big a problem when you can quickly swap out a fresh set of batteries.
Touchscreen seems nice at first, but after a bit of thought, it adds flashiness, but takes away from usability. I like the physical controls that allow me to use my ipod without having to look at it. The edges of the scroll-circle-thing guide my fingers where they need to be without ever having to take it out of my pocket. Having this on a screen, while nice looking, would really screw with my aim.
I, too, prefer physical buttons when using a personal audio player. One of the best things about the CD/MP3 player I use is that I can make use all of the player's functions without having to look at it. This is practical on a player with a relatively small number of files, like a CD player or a flash-based player.
But a factor that works against this with a device like the iPod is the large number of files that the user must go through. One of the reasons for the iPod's scroll wheel is to allow the user to quickly move through a large number of files to get to the specific song, something that would be more difficult to do using button-based controls. For the same reason, looking at the player is only way a user would be able to locate to a specific song/album on the player that has a large music collection.
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ducomputergeek wrote:
The problem with HTML is that all of the format coding is basically a strong suggestion, one that can be overridden by the user via their web browser settings. Also, HTML doesn't allow much as far as user control over the actual appearance of a document in a web browser. Added to this is the fact that some tags are not supported on all web browsers, and some tags have been officially depreciated yet may still be supported by some browsers.
One of the reasons that CSS was developed is to allow user more control over the appearance of a web page, such as how much space will appear above/below a paragraph. Unfortunately, many web browsers haven't completely implemented CSS.
As far as the need for a new format, one of the reasons that OpenDocument formats were developed is to provide a format that is fully and publicly documented and that anyone can freely implement and use in their applications without restrictions. Regardless of the opinions of the MS Word (.doc) format, one factor to consider is that Microsoft can alter the format at its discretion. OpenDocument formats are not under the control of a single software company.
One of the reasons I've chosen to save my word processing documents in Rich Text Format (RTF) is that it is supported by most word processors, allowing me the freedom to choose my writing tool. Despite their power, I've often found the sheer number of features of both MS-Word and OpenOffice.org/StarOffice often imped my writing. With a more-basic word processor (a level or two above WordPad) I've found that it is much easier to get writing done.
Further, as long as I keep my formatting fairly basic (font, alignment, spacing, and so on) I can be sure that a document I send to someone will appear as I intended, and converting it to another format. If a document's exact appearance is important, saving it as a PDF is a good option.
Technician wrote as part of a post:
To me, this has been the biggest question on the whole issue. Why does Windows have to include so many additional components regardless of whether the user wants/needs them or not?
Taking Technician's comment one step further, why not begin with a basic system and then move from there. If you don't want to play DVDs on your computer, no need to include DVD playing software with the computer. My biggest issue with OSes is that they include so many programs that should be completely separate applications.
LWATCDR wrote:
I think the biggest reason that the Zune hasn't been a massive success is that Microsoft just waited far too long before coming out with an iPod competitor. Now they face competition not just from the iPod itself, but also the other competitors who fill niches that the Zune doesn't (like the low-price small-capacity player market).
The other factor that worked against the Zune is that the iPod works with Windows (which the original iPod didn't). If Microsoft had come out with the Zune during the time that the iPod didn't work with Windows, I think they would have had a better chance for success.
To sum it up, I think a major reason for the Zune performance is that it simply came out too late.
I remember a news story a couple of years ago where John Fogerty got sued for sounding too much like John Fogerty.
DNS-and-BIND wrote as part of a post:
The biggest problem with trying to establish a calendar is that reality intrudes. Leap years (and seconds) were established to ensure that the calendar remains in sync with the seasons, although I've not understood why the year couldn't begin based on a natural event (like the first day of spring). Consider that during Washington's lifetime 11 days were skipped to bring the calendar back in line with the seasons. He dealt with it simply by moving his birthday 11 days.
I agree that the calendar could be made a great deal simpler. One proposal was to have a calendar of 13 months, twelve 28-day months and one 29-day month ((12 * 28) + 29 = 365).
On the subject of 10 vs 12 as a base, how about 8? A base of eight has one significant advantage over either 10 or 12: you can easily convert it to binary (convert each digit to binary and put them together) But base 8 has the same problem as base 10: you can't express one-third evenly in decimal form.
u-235-sentinel wrote and included the following in a post:
I, too, am planning on moving away from Windows once my current computer dies. For me, the only question is whether to move to Linux or to Mac OS.
A while ago I decided to do all of my gaming on a PS2 and my main reason is: I can be sure that every PS2 game will work well on my system. That is something that I can't be sure of with all PC games.
To second this, although it's not my only reason for considering a move away from Windows, it is just one more strong reason to do so. For me as a home user, I've seen no good reason to move to Vista other than force, and any force used to move me away from XP may as well cause me to move to Linux/Mac OS.
I've never been a great fan of any version of Windows (At home I used DOS until I upgraded to a computer that was preloaded with Windows 98SE), I simply use them because I've had to. Now, based on what I've been reading, I see Vista as a good reason to leave the Windows world for other OSes.
Raul654 wrote:
If history is any indication, the lesson won't be learned. Before Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, we had the following directly competing formats:
As I said in another post, I will pass on both HD formats until 2 years after the war is over. Standard DVD is good enough for now.
Chicken_Kickers wrote:
For me, robots in the Asmovian mold would prevent an uprising. One of the main points in his robot stories is that robots are carefully designed consumer products that are tested to ensure that they function exactly as designed. A large number of his stories dealt with engineers trying to find out exactly why robots are malfunctioning. I can think of only one Asimov story (per Wikipedia the story was "That Thou art Mindful of Him") where there is a potential for robots to take over from humans.
Since it is likely that robots will be built with many limitations specifically to prevent an uprising (far beyond just "The Three Laws of Robotics"), I think a scenario like in the anime series "Armitage III" is more likely: humans eventually turn on the robots they have built. In the words of one character: "If humans don't want me, why did they make me?"
As far as Americans taking robots into their homes, I think that people will be more likely to embrace small, limited-purpose robots at first. Much like with most new technology, it will be the young that will the most likely to accept personal robot technology. To me, I think in time a personal robot assistant could become as accepted as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) (and its successor the cell phone) have come to be accepted now.
Belial6 wrote:
Also, per the episode "Dalek" they can climb stairs by levitating.
aeschenkarnos wrote:
This could lead to the following: people turn their phone ringer off, allow voice mail/answering machines to screen their calls, and have an alternate system in place for people who need to contact them immediately (such as a pager). End result: telemarketers are completely cut off from being able to contact anyone.
wicka wrote:
I agree. RTF works on all three major OSes, and every word processor will open RTF files. Also, even if your computer doesn't have word processor installed there are a large number of both free and low-cost word processors are available on-line (they also have the advantage of being very small and fast compared to the large programs).
RTF also has other advantages. My experience has been that it tends to produce very small files, usually only slightly larger than plain text files. It is also very easy to accurately convert an RTF file into another format with little loss of formatting. The last point makes it a good format for source files.
Kjella wrote as part of a post:
Concerning using Excel as a database, I think the reason that people use Excel as a database is that it is much easier than using Access. My own experience with Access has been that it takes a while to set up even a simple database, and you need to know what you want ahead of time.
I've found creating a database with Access such a massive task that, for me, it was not worth the effort. With Excel (and StarOffice/OpenOffice.org Calc), I can create a usable database in a few seconds.
When it comes to which program to use, I've used the following guide:
zakezuke wrote as part of a post:
This was one of the strongest selling points for CD: just the act of playing it doesn't degrade it. LP can sound better than CD on the first few plays provided you have the perfect equipment setup. But as zakezuke wrote, the sound of CD was an improvement even on modest equipment, and so was the ease of use.
One factor concerning the sound quality of LPs was the quality of the records themselves. Quality of both the vinyl and the pressing affect the sound of LPs. But with CDs you essentially get exactly what the producer intended to release, the material of the recording doesn't affect the sound quality in the same way that it does with LPs.
CastrTroy wrote:
In my opinion, it seems like one of the reasons that PDF is disliked as a standard is that it is being used for all purposes, whether a specific use is suitable or not. My own experience with PDF is that it is great for: (1) documents that will be printed on paper, (2) as an archive format, and (3) documents that must not be changed. I don't think that it is suitable for other uses.
I agree with CastrTroy's last sentence. To me, HTML is a good general standard for text documents, especially in cases where you don't know ahead of time what it will be displayed on. It is one of the few text formats where the same document can easily be displayed on a computer screen, a TV screen, an e-book reader, a PDA screen, a cell phone screen, and printed on paper without a need for reformatting (the device itself can take care of the size and typeface of text). Also, it is easy to convert it to another format for a specific purpose.
Jasin Natael wrote:
I think that the move to Graffiti 2 was more than a step backward. I compare it to changing the arrangement of keys on a keyboard. That the Querty keyboard arrangement still remains the standard is an indication of just how difficult a change is.
I disagree that Graffiti 1 was difficult to learn, I managed to pick it up in less than a day without formal training. Eventually, I got good enough at it that I could accurately take notes at meetings without having to look at the screen and rarely made an error. One of the reasons that Graffiti worked so well (and other handwriting systems didn't) is that Graffiti didn't rely on the PDA learning how to understand how you write, you learned to write in a way that it understands.
When I purchased a Palm T/X, I disliked Graffiti 2 so much that I bought a program called Tealscript which allows you to design your own penstrokes. I used it work with the Graffiti 1 penstrokes and I've had little problem with accuracy.
As far as PalmOS PDAs, my two favorites are the Palm Vx and the Handspring Visor. Both had great battery life, a very sharp screen, and a massive amount of third-party software. I haven't enjoyed used my later PalmOS PDAs as much as those two.
As far as I know, Hamill is still working. Among his roles, he's been the voice of the Joker in the DC Animated Universe since "Batman - The Animated Series." He has been outstanding in that role.
Monsuco wrote and included with a post:
I agree about RTF. It is a good option since it works with just about every word processor and operating system, the formatting features it does support will reliabily render, it doesn't support macro viruses, and it produces files that are only a little bit larger than a plain text file (unless you include pictures).
For me, I've been using StarOffice 8.0 and Jarte (an RTF word processor) and I've found that both do pretty much everything that I need to do at home. I rarely use the .doc format and instead use RTF, OpenDocument, and HTML depending the type of document I'm working on.
As far as word processors of the past, the three best ones I've used are:
It is possible that it isn't that they couldn't buy the reader, but that their company rules don't allow them to install a PDF reader on their system. I was in the military and one of the rules there was that you couldn't install any software on your system unless it was approved and authorized to be installed.
I, too, have decided to stay with DVD and pass on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I will wait until 2 or 3 years after the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war ends before I even consider going with either of the two (if either of them actually emerges as a winner).
Unfortunately, the movie industry didn't learn from one of the main factors that made CD a success: there was only one format. As a result of their choice, they have stopped me from going with a high-definition format.
SCPRedMage wrote as part of a post:
I think another reason that the record and movie companies have recently put up a much stronger fight against copying: Digital allows you to make a perfect copy of an original. This was one of the reasons they fought so strongly against DAT (and eventually killed it for the consumer market): with DAT you could make a perfect bit-for-bit copy of a CD.
When making an analog copy, the copy is always a little degraded from the original. Each generation is more degraded from the original and this puts a natural limit on the number of usuable copies that can be made from an original. Added to this is the fact that each time you play the analog original you damage it. This is a natural limit with analog and meant that each original recording was self-limiting: Each play of the original damages it and will lead to it having to be replaced.
CDs don't have this limit, playing a CD doesn't damage it. The 5,000th play of a CD will sound the same as the first. This has lead to what I think is one of the main reasons that record sales have dropped (more than piracy): You only have to buy a recording once.
Two other factors that have lead to confusing English spelling are:
The last point is a factor with foreign words, where we have kept the native spelling even if it doesn't match the way the word is pronounced. An example of this is the word "colonel." From what I understand, it is spelled via one language (french) and said via another (italian). This is the reason that it is pronounced with an "r" sound even though the word doesn't contain an "r."
Like others, I've gotten fed up with junk calls too. Instead of using the "Do Not Call" list, what I did to deal with them was to turn my phone ringer off and no longer answer my phone. Instead, I allow voice mail to pick up the calls and review my voice mail when I get a chance. Any phone message that sounds like it is from any type of telemarker is immediately deleted. It's interesting how many calls I have received, per my caller ID, where the caller didn't leave a message.
For people that must reach me, I have a pager (the cost for a year of pager service is about the same as a month of cell phone service). I allow only a limited number of people, ones who must reach me immediately, to have that number.
I've found the above method extremely effective in dealing with telemarketers. I can't remember the last time I actually spoke directly with a telemarketer. Calling me simply wastes their time.
There is another way to do this. I prefer to create my own directory for my music collection (rather than use a default directory like "My Music") to make it easy to keep track of my music. This also ensures that only the music I want will be loaded into iTunes, and any files I add from other locations are copied to that directory while leaving the original untouched.
I recently had to move my music collection to a new hard drive. All I had to do was delete the music file list in iTunes (without deleting the actual files), and then change the location of my music folder in iTunes. It automatically added all of my music in to iTunes. A few minutes later all of my music ready for use. It was a easy and seamless operation.
I appear to be in the minority, but overall I like iTunes, mainly because it makes accomplishing just about any music task, from ripping CDs, to burning music CDs, to the mass update of music information, extremely easy. In my experience it's been the easiest program I've found so far for these tasks.
joto wrote:
I think the largest issue with lithium batteries isn't that lithium has the potential to explode, that is its natural tendency. Much of the effort in the design of lithium batteries is to prevent them from exploding.
A larger problem with batteries is that, per a recent issue of Popular Science, lithium is basically the end of the line as far as standard battery technology (power via a difference in materials) goes, unless new elements are discovered that provide better energy density than lithium.
To me, much of the problem with battery life is due to the use of non-replaceable rechargeable batteries. It seems like battery life didn't become much of an issue until a large number of device began using these type of batteries. Battery life isn't as big a problem when you can quickly swap out a fresh set of batteries.
gluechucker wrote:
I, too, prefer physical buttons when using a personal audio player. One of the best things about the CD/MP3 player I use is that I can make use all of the player's functions without having to look at it. This is practical on a player with a relatively small number of files, like a CD player or a flash-based player.
But a factor that works against this with a device like the iPod is the large number of files that the user must go through. One of the reasons for the iPod's scroll wheel is to allow the user to quickly move through a large number of files to get to the specific song, something that would be more difficult to do using button-based controls. For the same reason, looking at the player is only way a user would be able to locate to a specific song/album on the player that has a large music collection.