Imagine being frozen for 50 years, then brought back so you could see the world for 1 year, then frozen for another 50, and so on until your natural death. You could witness the world thousands of years from now.
If everyone was doing this, who would be sitting around doing the things neccessary to make anything happen?
Popping in and out for a few years could catch on though... call it "LifeShare".
"What's that Sir? No, it's nothing like a timeshare. Only $50,000 and you'll get this book of excellent vouchers worth much more in the future (*actual value may fluctuate with market forces). Sign here. Thankyou for your custom."
Or even better a wizard based low requirements distro that grabs all of their data from win9x and dumps it on an iPod or similar and then installs Linux with all of their documents moved across. Really the Linux community should pull together and push this chance for what it's worth.
It would be a great tool if the installation process could set up the desktop and "My Documents" equivalent to match that found in the current Windows install. A little familiarity goes a long way to making a good first impression
Third, given the above, the only situation where a Win9x user would move to Linux is when they buy a new computer. But if they're getting a new computer, why wouldn't they just get the latest Windows version with it?
This is what will ultimately decide when Linux usage increases on the desktop. Current Win98 users feeling the need to upgrade right now will more than likely land on new shiny systems, with new shiny Vista/XP. If it took since 98 to switch, that's another 8 years of Windows lock-in for their money.
For Linux to be an attractive upgrade path will require a major manufacturer to offer a desktop pre-installed and supported.
As far as OCR is concerned, don't bother. Even today, it's nowhere near accurate enough. In my experience, the best software out there get an average of one error per page on a really good scan. Trust me: it will take a lot more of your time than you think to fix that. Assuming you're doing mostly black and white text, G4 compression will compress a 300dpi, 8.5x11 image down to about 100k. At that rate, you can store close to 7000 pages on one CD.
Is there any software available that can roughly OCR a document and store keywords or snippets of text in metadata or an index? This would solve both the problem of both keeping an accurate record and searchable content.
What formats allow an easy mix of image and text data (without formatting)?
Although it's the most obvious use for this sort of system, Wikipedia isn't the only place it would be useful. Indeed it's a shame this sort of ability isn't included as standard in most browsers - think checking accuracy of news sites and technical documentation.
While accuracy is more relative outside of areas of testable fact (science, one would hope) it is still possible to give good indications of the "confidence" a reader can have in a particular source. It's "the boy who cried wolf" as algorithm: Repeated inaccuracies, frequent changes or bias do not preclude an individual from inspired and balanced reporting, but they do reduce the likelihood. Monkeys can write Shakespeare, just not very often.
I've been working on something similar as a Firefox plugin, allowing citation attributes to be added as additional markup in text. The biggest challenges are implementing a system which provides easily recognisable metadata without harming readability of text or clashing with existing standards. I'd be interested to hear of other systems, solutions & problems...
Unfortunately, people who are elected have a tendency to want to remain elected. As such, the only parties who support PR are those in opposition. Manifesto amnesia is rife.
There was some hope Labour would address this from within the safety of their 1st term majority but nothing came of that.
It's interesting that while both our governments make great statements on the "merits of democracy" overseas, neither makes any move to increase it here at home.
Of course:
By democracy they mean "our particular brand of franken-democracy"
Voter choice is a "bad thing"(tm) once you're in power.
I would be far more comfortable giving up elements of privacy to the government if they reciprocated & gave up some of theirs. Unfortunately, in the current climate members of government protect themselves behind the notion that giving anything away compromises "national security".
"Telling us about you INCREASES security"
"Telling you about us DECREASES security"
Whos?
The public do not elect the Prime Minister. The public elect their regional MP (Member of Parliament) who takes a seat in the House of Commons representing a particular party. The Prime Minister is (by tradition, not constitution) the leader of the party with the most MP's in parliament.
So, don't blame us.
While the average teenager may not see the need for grammar, no medium (AIM, phone or telegram) can affect language to the point where it becomes unusable. Something unusable, by definition, will stop being used.
While we may not like the fact we can't understand them, it is beside the point. They are not talking to us anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Dang. Just got it.
/scuttle
Damn post-post-realisations.
I assume you're in the Southern hemisphere, because 'oop North the Sun is most definately to the South.
Nice brochure though.
"Want your neighbours wife? At LifeShare we guarantee to wake you when he's out."
Dunc-Tank.
If everyone was doing this, who would be sitting around doing the things neccessary to make anything happen?
Popping in and out for a few years could catch on though... call it "LifeShare".
"What's that Sir? No, it's nothing like a timeshare. Only $50,000 and you'll get this book of excellent vouchers worth much more in the future (*actual value may fluctuate with market forces). Sign here. Thankyou for your custom."
It would be a great tool if the installation process could set up the desktop and "My Documents" equivalent to match that found in the current Windows install. A little familiarity goes a long way to making a good first impression
This is what will ultimately decide when Linux usage increases on the desktop. Current Win98 users feeling the need to upgrade right now will more than likely land on new shiny systems, with new shiny Vista/XP. If it took since 98 to switch, that's another 8 years of Windows lock-in for their money.
For Linux to be an attractive upgrade path will require a major manufacturer to offer a desktop pre-installed and supported.
Is there any software available that can roughly OCR a document and store keywords or snippets of text in metadata or an index? This would solve both the problem of both keeping an accurate record and searchable content.
What formats allow an easy mix of image and text data (without formatting)?
Although it's the most obvious use for this sort of system, Wikipedia isn't the only place it would be useful. Indeed it's a shame this sort of ability isn't included as standard in most browsers - think checking accuracy of news sites and technical documentation.
While accuracy is more relative outside of areas of testable fact (science, one would hope) it is still possible to give good indications of the "confidence" a reader can have in a particular source. It's "the boy who cried wolf" as algorithm: Repeated inaccuracies, frequent changes or bias do not preclude an individual from inspired and balanced reporting, but they do reduce the likelihood. Monkeys can write Shakespeare, just not very often.
I've been working on something similar as a Firefox plugin, allowing citation attributes to be added as additional markup in text. The biggest challenges are implementing a system which provides easily recognisable metadata without harming readability of text or clashing with existing standards. I'd be interested to hear of other systems, solutions & problems...
Introduction of proportional representation would be a start. More likely we would get one of it's half-and-half cousins to allow it to mesh with our parliamentary representative system.
Unfortunately, people who are elected have a tendency to want to remain elected. As such, the only parties who support PR are those in opposition. Manifesto amnesia is rife.
There was some hope Labour would address this from within the safety of their 1st term majority but nothing came of that.
It's interesting that while both our governments make great statements on the "merits of democracy" overseas, neither makes any move to increase it here at home.
Of course:
I would be far more comfortable giving up elements of privacy to the government if they reciprocated & gave up some of theirs. Unfortunately, in the current climate members of government protect themselves behind the notion that giving anything away compromises "national security". "Telling us about you INCREASES security" "Telling you about us DECREASES security" Whos?
The public do not elect the Prime Minister. The public elect their regional MP (Member of Parliament) who takes a seat in the House of Commons representing a particular party. The Prime Minister is (by tradition, not constitution) the leader of the party with the most MP's in parliament. So, don't blame us.
DD/MM/YYYY also makes it easier to speak the date in abbreviated format.
"5th of the 4th, 2005"
While the average teenager may not see the need for grammar, no medium (AIM, phone or telegram) can affect language to the point where it becomes unusable. Something unusable, by definition, will stop being used.
While we may not like the fact we can't understand them, it is beside the point. They are not talking to us anyway.