Never mind the casualties and "collateral damage". Btw, you failed to mention a few other politicians the world would perhaps be better off without. Oh, how great it is to have a simplified world view! Isn't it wonderful to always know what's what and what's best! We are the good guys, and they are bad.
Did people used to be more responsible and "grown up" when they sent their sons into battle in Europe or Asia against the sons of some other "adults"?
I don't claim to know what maturity means, exactly, but it seems to be the ability to care, love, to provide for others, and to not be impressed by propaganda och values created by somebody else, perhaps with a political or religious agenda.
But what do I know? I'm not exactly a model person. I'm just happy I've made is this far. All I want is to do what I love and love what I do.
Were the two world wars, the Vietnam war, the thermonuclar arms race signs of this thing they call "maturity"? Is rape, murder and the systematic plunder of the world's dwindling resources also "maturity"?
I don't care if yopu stole that. It's still the most beautiful thing I have read in a long while, and I wiull save it for ever and ever on my Mac's hard disk. Thank you.
I walk around in the world and think like that all the time, every day. When a child sees an old bum in the street, he says: "Poor old man!", but when he grows up he says "What a smelly, dirty old fart!"
My point is that children are in some ways more sane and normal than most people.
Microsoft's main problem nowadays, imho, is that it totally lacks focus. They try get into almost everything that some other company has always been very successful at, and clone it badly, instead of innovating.
Microsoft's focus is not the end-user experience or even services, but Windows and Office, and the bonds between them. I'd hate to give advice to this dinosaur of a company, but they really ought to look beyond Windows and instead focus on the users' needs and not the needs of Windows.
Maybe it's time Ballmer goes too? Robert X. Cringely seems to think so:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060615. html
1) the US allows immigration: Hardly! It is extremely hard even for skilled people to get a work visa to the US. This was true maybe around 1920, but not any more.
2) it is a rich country: Not a contributing factor. So is Europe and some Asian economies.
3) it is not (yet) a police state. True, but some people are certainly at work trying to improve that.
4) the universities are better: Not true. Some US universities are great, many are not up to European os Asian standards.
5) you can fire people: You can in most countries, or simply hire them as temp workers.
6) work is less identified with employment: What does this mean, exactly? That "temp work" or being a freelancer is atually work too...?
7) it is not too fussy: In what sense? What does this mean, exactly?
8) it has a large domestic market: True, but so does the EU or China.
9) it has venture funding: Yes, that is probably the main contributor.
1) it has dynamic typing for careers: Another one of those fuzzy statements. What does "dynamic typing" really mean?
Email is the most efficient way I can think of, save for direct face to face communication. It is better than the telephone. What's missing are the following features, and more:
1) Automatic and very secure encryption.
2) You should be able to set the date and time for every transmission.
3) Much better accessibility over multiple devices (i e, the death of POP).
4) File transfers by way of attachments should preferably be avoided.
5) Mechanisms to effectively kill spam and the spread of computer virii for good.
Exactly. Microsoft needs to address the fundamental flaws in the Windows system, and in their security thinking. The mechanisms that allow users to execute arbitrary code must be fixed. Dialog boxes with warning messages ("Do you really want to do this...?") provide an illusion of security, but not nearly enough, since they probably can be circumvented anyway by way of some clever hacking.
I have no sympathy for the seller. He is a liar and a cheat, plain and simple, and deserves all the discomfort and public humiliation the publication of his dirty pictures etc has caused him. I hope it hurt him bad, because he deserved every bit of it.
Actually, I think the buyer was very modest and balanced about it, and chose to use humour and wit as lethal weapons and not blind rage. I think I would have been less prudent and wise. In a fit of uncontrollable anger, I would have used brute force and published EVERYTHING on that hard drive: credit card numbers, personal details, pr0n... the whole lot. But that may have been a criminal offence. As Mr. Spock would have put it, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Then again, who in their right mind buys a well-worn laptop on Ebay, and without inspecting it first?
Not true in the case of Windows. Most security threats aimed towards Windows users are due to architectural flaws, bad coding on Microsoft's part in Windows, Internet Explorer, Office and other products, not user behavior I would say.
While it's good that MS is trying to improve the poor security and reliability record of Windows, they shouldn't be allowed to charge for something that should have been fixed more than ten years ago at the system level.
As a Mac OS X user, I am not troubled by things like that, and I cannot be bothered with Windows, but I would be equally upset if Apple one day decided to CHARGE for security features! But they again, that would not be Apple's style, would it?
Same with Linux companies. They would never charge you for basic secrity, because a) it is built-in into the OS and b) a move like that would severely hurt the credibitity of the company.
So, in sum: shame, shame on you, Microsoft. You are a poor excuse for a technology company. You have NO credibility left in this world.
You really, truly get a sense of what it would be like to live like Deckard in a burned-out hull of a crumbling world, doing a job that you know is morally wrong. For those of you who have never seen this in the theater, I urge you to pounce on any opportunity to do so. It's an incredible experience.
I couldn't agree with you more, and btw that was beautifully put! Blade Runner is perhaps not an intellectually deep movie, but it is emotionally very strong. And that is all that matters to me. Like you, I was completely absobed by it, much like I was absobed by Alien some years earlier, in 1979. I wanted to be Deckard and live in that apartment. I wanted that girl, Rachel...
How is that? Has it ever occurred to the State Department that most computers, both laptops and desktops, are made in Chinese plants these days?
And how come they ban Lenovo, which is just another hardware manufacturer, but not Microsoft Windows or Office, products that are known to be riddled with bugs and security problems?
No, I don't think he has any more insight than most people, and I base that on the quality of Microsoft's products, or, rather, the proven lack thereof.
Gates may be right in that the PC isn't going away tomorrow, but as always, it's a pain having to endure his annoying big brother attitude, patting our collective heads, telling us what's what: "The reality is a little different. The truth is..." Technology is continually moving forward, and Microsoft's thinking apparently isn't, so things will probably change rather rapidly. The truth is we don't know what things will look like. Nor does Gates or Microsoft.
Some of us get plenty of unsolicited phone calls and there is very little you can do to stop that.
Normally, unless you are using your cell phone or similar system that displays the name of the caller, you have two alternatives: answer the call or not. You don't get any indication who's calling and why (s)he needs to talk to you, and you can't put people on your "junk phone call" list.
Wouldn't it be a neat feature if you could block phone spammers too? It's perhaps not possible now, with our antiquated phone systems, but it will be with the advent of IP telephony.
I hate Microsoft's products intensely. Microsoft's mantra has always been "stuff in more features", and this creates bloated, buggy, half-assed, monstrous, sweaty, sticky megaprograms that are impossible to use. It's sort of like taking a big, fat pizza, and then spread a thick layer of peanut butter on top of it, à la Elvis, then brutally force-feed it to ill-advised customers. So, as a consequence, I HATE MICROSOFT'S PRODUCTS! Not because it's fashionable to hate Microsoft, but because MS products are a symbol of everything that's very wrong with Windows software today. Everything has become overweight and unhealthy. The only MSware that's accepable is Excel, IMHO.
Even though it was way too long, I actually read the good article. The guy is a bit of whiner, but then again he is pretty much spot on. People don't take good care of their computers or data. The (consumer-level) machines are cheaply made in sweatshops in China, by underpaid, expendable, poor people. The whole world has turned to shit. So, I agree with him: if your data and computer is mission-critical, for god's sake have a backup system.
a) be of German or Austrian descent (or occasionally British) b) speak in a strange and funny foreign accent or c) have some sort of nervous tic or handicap
Slashdot Mirror
English is not a problem compared to French or German. How about "Schrumpfschlauch" or "Zahnfleischfrisch"?
I was of course refering to the two world wars, not to the ongoing disaster in Iraq. But I guess it follows the same logic.
Never mind the casualties and "collateral damage". Btw, you failed to mention a few other politicians the world would perhaps be better off without. Oh, how great it is to have a simplified world view! Isn't it wonderful to always know what's what and what's best! We are the good guys, and they are bad.
I don't claim to know what maturity means, exactly, but it seems to be the ability to care, love, to provide for others, and to not be impressed by propaganda och values created by somebody else, perhaps with a political or religious agenda.
But what do I know? I'm not exactly a model person. I'm just happy I've made is this far. All I want is to do what I love and love what I do.
Were the two world wars, the Vietnam war, the thermonuclar arms race signs of this thing they call "maturity"? Is rape, murder and the systematic plunder of the world's dwindling resources also "maturity"?
I walk around in the world and think like that all the time, every day. When a child sees an old bum in the street, he says: "Poor old man!", but when he grows up he says "What a smelly, dirty old fart!"
My point is that children are in some ways more sane and normal than most people.
Microsoft's main problem nowadays, imho, is that it totally lacks focus. They try get into almost everything that some other company has always been very successful at, and clone it badly, instead of innovating.. html
Microsoft's focus is not the end-user experience or even services, but Windows and Office, and the bonds between them. I'd hate to give advice to this dinosaur of a company, but they really ought to look beyond Windows and instead focus on the users' needs and not the needs of Windows.
Maybe it's time Ballmer goes too? Robert X. Cringely seems to think so: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060615
If Microsoft is a company with the best people in the world, how come they don't have the best products in the world?
1) the US allows immigration: Hardly! It is extremely hard even for skilled people to get a work visa to the US. This was true maybe around 1920, but not any more. 2) it is a rich country: Not a contributing factor. So is Europe and some Asian economies. 3) it is not (yet) a police state. True, but some people are certainly at work trying to improve that. 4) the universities are better: Not true. Some US universities are great, many are not up to European os Asian standards. 5) you can fire people: You can in most countries, or simply hire them as temp workers. 6) work is less identified with employment: What does this mean, exactly? That "temp work" or being a freelancer is atually work too...? 7) it is not too fussy: In what sense? What does this mean, exactly? 8) it has a large domestic market: True, but so does the EU or China. 9) it has venture funding: Yes, that is probably the main contributor. 1) it has dynamic typing for careers: Another one of those fuzzy statements. What does "dynamic typing" really mean?
No more jokes, sorry. I really miss Duke, especially the Mac version where you could turn on Apple's old "1984" commercial in the movie theatre.
1) Automatic and very secure encryption.
2) You should be able to set the date and time for every transmission.
3) Much better accessibility over multiple devices (i e, the death of POP).
4) File transfers by way of attachments should preferably be avoided.
5) Mechanisms to effectively kill spam and the spread of computer virii for good.
Exactly. Microsoft needs to address the fundamental flaws in the Windows system, and in their security thinking. The mechanisms that allow users to execute arbitrary code must be fixed. Dialog boxes with warning messages ("Do you really want to do this...?") provide an illusion of security, but not nearly enough, since they probably can be circumvented anyway by way of some clever hacking.
Actually, I think the buyer was very modest and balanced about it, and chose to use humour and wit as lethal weapons and not blind rage. I think I would have been less prudent and wise. In a fit of uncontrollable anger, I would have used brute force and published EVERYTHING on that hard drive: credit card numbers, personal details, pr0n... the whole lot. But that may have been a criminal offence. As Mr. Spock would have put it, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Then again, who in their right mind buys a well-worn laptop on Ebay, and without inspecting it first?
Not true in the case of Windows. Most security threats aimed towards Windows users are due to architectural flaws, bad coding on Microsoft's part in Windows, Internet Explorer, Office and other products, not user behavior I would say.
As a Mac OS X user, I am not troubled by things like that, and I cannot be bothered with Windows, but I would be equally upset if Apple one day decided to CHARGE for security features! But they again, that would not be Apple's style, would it?
Same with Linux companies. They would never charge you for basic secrity, because a) it is built-in into the OS and b) a move like that would severely hurt the credibitity of the company.
So, in sum: shame, shame on you, Microsoft. You are a poor excuse for a technology company. You have NO credibility left in this world.
I couldn't agree with you more, and btw that was beautifully put! Blade Runner is perhaps not an intellectually deep movie, but it is emotionally very strong. And that is all that matters to me. Like you, I was completely absobed by it, much like I was absobed by Alien some years earlier, in 1979. I wanted to be Deckard and live in that apartment. I wanted that girl, Rachel...
Rex Wang, that's the name I would pick for my own personal super hero!
But at least got kernal right. ;)
And how come they ban Lenovo, which is just another hardware manufacturer, but not Microsoft Windows or Office, products that are known to be riddled with bugs and security problems?
No, I don't think he has any more insight than most people, and I base that on the quality of Microsoft's products, or, rather, the proven lack thereof.
Gates may be right in that the PC isn't going away tomorrow, but as always, it's a pain having to endure his annoying big brother attitude, patting our collective heads, telling us what's what: "The reality is a little different. The truth is..." Technology is continually moving forward, and Microsoft's thinking apparently isn't, so things will probably change rather rapidly. The truth is we don't know what things will look like. Nor does Gates or Microsoft.
Some of us get plenty of unsolicited phone calls and there is very little you can do to stop that. Normally, unless you are using your cell phone or similar system that displays the name of the caller, you have two alternatives: answer the call or not. You don't get any indication who's calling and why (s)he needs to talk to you, and you can't put people on your "junk phone call" list. Wouldn't it be a neat feature if you could block phone spammers too? It's perhaps not possible now, with our antiquated phone systems, but it will be with the advent of IP telephony.
I hate Microsoft's products intensely. Microsoft's mantra has always been "stuff in more features", and this creates bloated, buggy, half-assed, monstrous, sweaty, sticky megaprograms that are impossible to use. It's sort of like taking a big, fat pizza, and then spread a thick layer of peanut butter on top of it, à la Elvis, then brutally force-feed it to ill-advised customers. So, as a consequence, I HATE MICROSOFT'S PRODUCTS! Not because it's fashionable to hate Microsoft, but because MS products are a symbol of everything that's very wrong with Windows software today. Everything has become overweight and unhealthy. The only MSware that's accepable is Excel, IMHO.
Even though it was way too long, I actually read the good article. The guy is a bit of whiner, but then again he is pretty much spot on. People don't take good care of their computers or data. The (consumer-level) machines are cheaply made in sweatshops in China, by underpaid, expendable, poor people. The whole world has turned to shit. So, I agree with him: if your data and computer is mission-critical, for god's sake have a backup system.
a) be of German or Austrian descent (or occasionally British)
b) speak in a strange and funny foreign accent or
c) have some sort of nervous tic or handicap
Dr. Strangelove certainly fits the bill.