See, here's the thing (and I'm not the AC you're responding to, nor do I think the Linux desktop "sucks ass"); I have no problem with the Linux desktop. I have no problem using Libreoffice, although I think web applications (like Google Docs) cover the vast majority of the needs of most people. I use a web interface for email. So the thing is, if you're talking about a user where the vast majority of what they're doing is online - surfing, email, banking, facebook, whatever, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with the "Linux Desktop," or let's say the "Ubuntu" desktop, or "Cinnamon," or whatever people want to use.
In fact, there's nothing wrong with LibreOffice, or any of the other myriads of programs available for Linux at all... except when everyone else is using something that only runs on Windows. I get documents in Word that go crazy in LibreOffice. Yes, the idiot that wrote it formatted it like only a complete moron would, doing completely unnecessary formatting, undoing it, redoing a different way... nevertheless, I need to get those documents, read them, edit them and return them sometimes. I can't do that when using LibreOffice "breaks" the idiot formatting that was used.
I also have to write programs for Windows users. Period. That's what they're using - if I write something for them, I can't tell them they need to switch to Linux to use my software (as a result, I started doing a lot of web development for most programs that I thankfully don't need to do anymore). I can't tell photoshop users to use GIMP, I can't tell 3DS users to use Blender, I can't tell AfterEffects users to use... whatever the Linux equivalent is. Even if those tools were better than the Windows version, I can't tell a department of 30 people they need to switch so that I can write my software on Linux.
Munich could have, should have, been different - I can't imagine what they are using that requires Windows, let alone 800 programs, but I can understand when they say they have to jump through some hoops to get things running on Linux that otherwise would just run on Windows.
I'm using a full size (external) keyboard right now... keys are very slightly cupped (it's a fairly cheap Dell keyboard I just got), but the Mac keyboard I have at work is not, and it's the easiest keyboard I've used to type on.
Touch typing on any of my laptops is not bad until I need to use something outside the "typewriter" range of keys - like arrows, delete, backspace, alt, ctrl - you are absolutely right - everyone does something different with them and you need to get accustomed to every keyboard. This is a problem when I have two different work laptops, a personal laptop, and three different kinds of desktop keyboards (depending on what I'm working on). I can type "the quick brown fox blah blah blah..." all day on any keyboard, it's when I need to use pretty much any other key that it's a problem.
Yeah, I don't get it, but now I'm thinking maybe it's a younger person who grew up getting accustomed to the more cramped keys that were on a lot of laptops, instead of an older person (like me) who grew up on traditional keyboards and had to start using cramped laptop keyboards. Now laptops are generally getting better at the desktop experience - people who were accustomed to cramped keyboards might complain.
I don't like the cramped keys, but I like the chicklet style keyboards. They are easier on the hands, require less finger "work" to type, and if you type all day, for my anyway, it's quite noticeable. I even replaced my PC keyboard with an older Mac keyboard at work, and have been looking for something not quite as expensive for home. I got accustomed to the chicklets when a lot of my work ended up being on the road and I wasn't going to bring a full keyboard with me just to avoid the laptop keyboard. Once I got accustomed to it, there was no going back... I feel like it's actually burdensome now to type on an older style mechanical keyboard.
I can understand if a gamer wants something else, but as a touch typist, I greatly prefer it. I do agree with some other posters, though: a lot of these newer keyboards are "slippery" for fingers, especially the backlit ones. And while I thought I wanted a numeric keypad on my laptop, it turns out to be detrimental in the long run, making the rest of the keyboard cramped and off-center.
I was looking for a post like the post you're responding to, but did not expect to see a reply like yours.
I'm really confused about such a problem, I can't possibly imagine why - if the keys are roughly in the same places (because full size keys are essentially truncated pyramid shapes), if the "chickets" match the key tops of a traditional, or mechanical, keyboard, how it could cause a problem to a touch typist.
For the record, I've been a professional programmer for 25 years, plus what I was doing on my own and at school before that. After getting accustomed to "chicklets" for typing, there's no going back... smaller key travel, easier to push - I even got a mac keyboard for my PC at work (because they had old ones lying around... I should ask if I can have one for home). I suppose if I was a big game player, it might not be so great, but for typing there's nothing easier on the hands.
I guess it's all a matter of what you get accustomed to, and I think people don't like changing - but sometimes the change works out for the best. With laptops, there was little choice, so I got accustomed to it and have been very happy.
If it's key spacing, then I guess it depends on your hands. I have big hands, I prefer full size, and what appears to be large spacing between the chicklet keys on my keyboard is actually the same spacing between the top of keys on a traditional keyboard.
I'm on Xfinity right now. Slashdot is fine. Most things are fine, but I'm having issues with specific services, including connecting to work, which I know to be working for others.
I guess I should start watching my tongue. Or... actually, the only reason I've been loose with my tongue is because severance here is actually quite good and I'm pretty fed up with the B.S., so I've been tending to speak freely lately.
YMMV, but I bought three LG V10s Black-Friday 2015. Two of the three failed with black-screens and needed to be replace - neither of them abused at all, they were in excellent physical condition with no cracks or anything on the screen or case. In doing research about it, it seems like it's a problem endemic to LG phones, not just the V10. I won't be buying LG phones for a long time, if at all.
Sorry.... read part of the wired article but then got an ad-blocker notification and it wouldn't let me read the rest - but I get what you're getting. The problem is that drivers and driving situations in the U.S. keep getting worse and worse - it's just how it is, and it's getting worse. I've been driving for over 30 years, and as traffic situations get worse, so do drivers getting frustrated and doing absolutely ridiculous things. I'm all about privacy rights, but not when putting everyone else's lives at risk because you're an impatient dumb ass and, of course, I don't think you're entitled to privacy in public.
A good...oh... quarter of the content (maybe) is still reviews. The rest is politics and health. Every issue has less useful consumer content, and more feel-good politics and stuff about health (including, I kid you not, recipes).
I catch at least two or three or more people doing the absolute dumbest, unsafe things on my dash cam every week. The only reason I even got it was because someone turned left from a center lane and hit my car (going straight, in a straight lane) and then denied they were trying to turn to the police, making me liable for my deduction.
So I'm not talking about people speeding or on their phones or anything, I'm talking about people using turn lanes to pass people and not even slowing down to make right turns on red in front of on-coming traffic. I actually am looking forward to the days of either 100% self driving cars, or everybody having dash cams.
If your characterization of what happened was correct, I'd agree with you, but they don't hate MS. At one point they definitely has a bias for Apple, but even that has waned in recent years. They've certainly recommended MS products in the past. The simple fact of the matter is that Surface Book had a lot of problems. I wanted one based on specs, but opted not to get one because of so many accounts of hardware problems.
This is how CR has always worked - if they don't have an evaluation model before press time, they will state as much and say why they do or don't recommend it; they will note that they will test the model as soon as they can, and update their results then. "Based on previous models" is perfectly fair. They are not going to simply not recommend it without saying why. This happens with everything - cars, refrigerators, air conditioners - they typically actually have a brand reliability chart, since they can't test every model from every manufacturer.
And I say this as someone who has been disappointed in the changes CR has made over the past few years - I'm not a huge fan at the moment, and often think I may not resubscribe when my subscription runs out, but I've never thought that particular line of thinking on their part was, in any way, wrong.
In a lot of ways they'd already lost credibility, especially with the magazine re-design a couple of years ago that reduced actual content in favor of flashy new design. But this is actually par for course for them... and they are actually pretty upfront about it. I doubt seriously they will simply state "We don't recommend Surface Book 2 even though we didn't test it," they will say something like "The Surface Book 2 wasn't available for testing before press time, but based on reliability of previous generation of Microsoft tablets, we cannot recommend it at this time." Which is actually completely fair - if they were to just ignore the existence of one of the major tablet brands, they'd be accused of bias anyway.
They've done this before with cars and other products, too (both with positive and negative comments - but making clear they were unable to test).
For the record, I really wanted a Surface Book (looking for something small with discrete Nvidia graphics), but reviews raised my concern about it's reliability. The specs were great, and the people who got working units were very favorable... but there were just too many people with hardware problems.
Maybe if you only download a separate crack that you are supposed to apply to the uncracked game data, but why would anyone do that?
I used to do that all the time, back in the day.... I don't "pirate" games, but I had no problem cracking legally purchased games to avoid the copy-protection schemes that were in use back then, like looking up codes on a code wheel or in the manual. I had a game that would just stop periodically in the middle of game play (yes, multiple times per session) and ask for a code. I had no moral dilemma using cracks on those games.
What would be the point now? I don't know - if you legally own the game, they don't really employ those kinds of schemes anymore, so I don't know why you'd want to crack it, although I do suspect some DRM schemes might create some annoyances.
You are a shining example of ethics and morality. I can't believe how many people justify violating copyright laws for games... if you think it's too much, then you wait for the price to come down, or you don't buy it at all. There's no justification for "stealing" games. I am completely on board with how you go about buying games - I have a steam account with over 100 games from Humble Bundles and sales.
A copy of your "idea?" So no actual work went into it's production, it was just an "idea?"
No, IP theft is theft... it may not be as heinous as physical theft, but if you're not compensating the owners of the IP for it's use, then you are denying them revenue they deserve. Yes, they deserve it... They created the content, they get to dictate how it's licensed, and if you are using and enjoying that content while violating that license, then you are "stealing" what was rightfully owed to them.
What's worse is that we're talking about games, here. Not bread to feed your starving family, not some medical breakthrough that could save your life but costs a million dollars, but games. If you don't want to pay what the IP holders are asking, then don't play. WTF kind of world is this when people feel entitled to play a game without paying for it? If you think $60 is too much, then wait for the price to come down, or don't buy it at all.... you're not entitled to it. There's no ethical justification for stealing games (or music or movies, for that matter).
Wow, that's a good severance package... my company offers 1 month + 1 month for every year you've been with the company, two year max. At this point, I'd hit that two year max. Every few years a new round of layoffs come, I actually kind of hope I get caught in the net, but it never happens. People a lot younger than me get let go.
Yes, that's really exactly it. The "suits" have no idea how the day to day business is run. My company recently offered early retirement for 55 and older - and lost a huge amount of talent that left the company reeling for a couple of years. The most talented, experienced people left. It made the bottom line look good. A lot of them have silently been rehired after their "package" ran out (still being paid for up to two years after leaving). Same deal with our recent 'open concept" workspace change.... looks good on paper, I guess.
I generally work alone (praise deity), mostly writing smaller tools and utilities on my own, a lot of custom stuff... there's a developer here, though, that reminds me of me when I got out of college - wants to reinvent the wheel on every project so he can do it his way. When I told him about a product we were getting in based on the Unreal engine (we do graphics), he was like "why didn't we do that!?!?" So I sat there and gave him a list of about 20 things why we didn't do it - stuff I'd been thinking about for years. He'd have just jumped in and still wouldn't have anything working; those things would have those things would have taken us both a year to finish a beta of, and yet we can buy a supported version of the software for 1/3 my salary. Yes, that's a lot of money for software - but if it would take me a year, then isn't it worth it?
Hmmm... I'm still using Ubuntu 16.04 as my desktop (with Unity) at home (dual boot, depending on what I want to do). I'm using it right now to type this. However, most of my Linux use, particularly at work, revolves around LAMP(ython) development. Now, with Windows Subsystem for Linux, I can actually have a working dev environment and use the Windows desktop and editors of my choice, then push my code to the fully Linux web servers for QA and production. No more dual booting, no extra work to make a virtual box share resources... I want to do my work, not waste time configuring things. I suspect full installs of Ubuntu will be a thing of the past for me in relatively short order, now, instead sticking with Windows and WSL.
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See, here's the thing (and I'm not the AC you're responding to, nor do I think the Linux desktop "sucks ass"); I have no problem with the Linux desktop. I have no problem using Libreoffice, although I think web applications (like Google Docs) cover the vast majority of the needs of most people. I use a web interface for email. So the thing is, if you're talking about a user where the vast majority of what they're doing is online - surfing, email, banking, facebook, whatever, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with the "Linux Desktop," or let's say the "Ubuntu" desktop, or "Cinnamon," or whatever people want to use.
In fact, there's nothing wrong with LibreOffice, or any of the other myriads of programs available for Linux at all... except when everyone else is using something that only runs on Windows. I get documents in Word that go crazy in LibreOffice. Yes, the idiot that wrote it formatted it like only a complete moron would, doing completely unnecessary formatting, undoing it, redoing a different way... nevertheless, I need to get those documents, read them, edit them and return them sometimes. I can't do that when using LibreOffice "breaks" the idiot formatting that was used.
I also have to write programs for Windows users. Period. That's what they're using - if I write something for them, I can't tell them they need to switch to Linux to use my software (as a result, I started doing a lot of web development for most programs that I thankfully don't need to do anymore). I can't tell photoshop users to use GIMP, I can't tell 3DS users to use Blender, I can't tell AfterEffects users to use... whatever the Linux equivalent is. Even if those tools were better than the Windows version, I can't tell a department of 30 people they need to switch so that I can write my software on Linux.
Munich could have, should have, been different - I can't imagine what they are using that requires Windows, let alone 800 programs, but I can understand when they say they have to jump through some hoops to get things running on Linux that otherwise would just run on Windows.
I'm using a full size (external) keyboard right now... keys are very slightly cupped (it's a fairly cheap Dell keyboard I just got), but the Mac keyboard I have at work is not, and it's the easiest keyboard I've used to type on.
What does "not clip my fingers" mean?
Touch typing on any of my laptops is not bad until I need to use something outside the "typewriter" range of keys - like arrows, delete, backspace, alt, ctrl - you are absolutely right - everyone does something different with them and you need to get accustomed to every keyboard. This is a problem when I have two different work laptops, a personal laptop, and three different kinds of desktop keyboards (depending on what I'm working on). I can type "the quick brown fox blah blah blah..." all day on any keyboard, it's when I need to use pretty much any other key that it's a problem.
Yeah, I don't get it, but now I'm thinking maybe it's a younger person who grew up getting accustomed to the more cramped keys that were on a lot of laptops, instead of an older person (like me) who grew up on traditional keyboards and had to start using cramped laptop keyboards. Now laptops are generally getting better at the desktop experience - people who were accustomed to cramped keyboards might complain.
I don't like the cramped keys, but I like the chicklet style keyboards. They are easier on the hands, require less finger "work" to type, and if you type all day, for my anyway, it's quite noticeable. I even replaced my PC keyboard with an older Mac keyboard at work, and have been looking for something not quite as expensive for home. I got accustomed to the chicklets when a lot of my work ended up being on the road and I wasn't going to bring a full keyboard with me just to avoid the laptop keyboard. Once I got accustomed to it, there was no going back... I feel like it's actually burdensome now to type on an older style mechanical keyboard.
I can understand if a gamer wants something else, but as a touch typist, I greatly prefer it. I do agree with some other posters, though: a lot of these newer keyboards are "slippery" for fingers, especially the backlit ones. And while I thought I wanted a numeric keypad on my laptop, it turns out to be detrimental in the long run, making the rest of the keyboard cramped and off-center.
I was looking for a post like the post you're responding to, but did not expect to see a reply like yours.
I'm really confused about such a problem, I can't possibly imagine why - if the keys are roughly in the same places (because full size keys are essentially truncated pyramid shapes), if the "chickets" match the key tops of a traditional, or mechanical, keyboard, how it could cause a problem to a touch typist.
For the record, I've been a professional programmer for 25 years, plus what I was doing on my own and at school before that. After getting accustomed to "chicklets" for typing, there's no going back... smaller key travel, easier to push - I even got a mac keyboard for my PC at work (because they had old ones lying around... I should ask if I can have one for home). I suppose if I was a big game player, it might not be so great, but for typing there's nothing easier on the hands. I guess it's all a matter of what you get accustomed to, and I think people don't like changing - but sometimes the change works out for the best. With laptops, there was little choice, so I got accustomed to it and have been very happy.
If it's key spacing, then I guess it depends on your hands. I have big hands, I prefer full size, and what appears to be large spacing between the chicklet keys on my keyboard is actually the same spacing between the top of keys on a traditional keyboard.
I'm on Xfinity, I often change to Google's DNS when Comcast's goes down. I switch back because Xfinity is faster when it works.
I'm on Xfinity right now. Slashdot is fine. Most things are fine, but I'm having issues with specific services, including connecting to work, which I know to be working for others.
I guess I should start watching my tongue. Or... actually, the only reason I've been loose with my tongue is because severance here is actually quite good and I'm pretty fed up with the B.S., so I've been tending to speak freely lately.
YMMV, but I bought three LG V10s Black-Friday 2015. Two of the three failed with black-screens and needed to be replace - neither of them abused at all, they were in excellent physical condition with no cracks or anything on the screen or case. In doing research about it, it seems like it's a problem endemic to LG phones, not just the V10. I won't be buying LG phones for a long time, if at all.
Sorry.... read part of the wired article but then got an ad-blocker notification and it wouldn't let me read the rest - but I get what you're getting. The problem is that drivers and driving situations in the U.S. keep getting worse and worse - it's just how it is, and it's getting worse. I've been driving for over 30 years, and as traffic situations get worse, so do drivers getting frustrated and doing absolutely ridiculous things. I'm all about privacy rights, but not when putting everyone else's lives at risk because you're an impatient dumb ass and, of course, I don't think you're entitled to privacy in public.
I agree with you - and it is a shining example of morality and ethics... things that are far too rare in this age of entitlement.
A good...oh... quarter of the content (maybe) is still reviews. The rest is politics and health. Every issue has less useful consumer content, and more feel-good politics and stuff about health (including, I kid you not, recipes).
I catch at least two or three or more people doing the absolute dumbest, unsafe things on my dash cam every week. The only reason I even got it was because someone turned left from a center lane and hit my car (going straight, in a straight lane) and then denied they were trying to turn to the police, making me liable for my deduction.
So I'm not talking about people speeding or on their phones or anything, I'm talking about people using turn lanes to pass people and not even slowing down to make right turns on red in front of on-coming traffic. I actually am looking forward to the days of either 100% self driving cars, or everybody having dash cams.
If your characterization of what happened was correct, I'd agree with you, but they don't hate MS. At one point they definitely has a bias for Apple, but even that has waned in recent years. They've certainly recommended MS products in the past. The simple fact of the matter is that Surface Book had a lot of problems. I wanted one based on specs, but opted not to get one because of so many accounts of hardware problems.
This is how CR has always worked - if they don't have an evaluation model before press time, they will state as much and say why they do or don't recommend it; they will note that they will test the model as soon as they can, and update their results then. "Based on previous models" is perfectly fair. They are not going to simply not recommend it without saying why. This happens with everything - cars, refrigerators, air conditioners - they typically actually have a brand reliability chart, since they can't test every model from every manufacturer.
And I say this as someone who has been disappointed in the changes CR has made over the past few years - I'm not a huge fan at the moment, and often think I may not resubscribe when my subscription runs out, but I've never thought that particular line of thinking on their part was, in any way, wrong.
In a lot of ways they'd already lost credibility, especially with the magazine re-design a couple of years ago that reduced actual content in favor of flashy new design. But this is actually par for course for them... and they are actually pretty upfront about it. I doubt seriously they will simply state "We don't recommend Surface Book 2 even though we didn't test it," they will say something like "The Surface Book 2 wasn't available for testing before press time, but based on reliability of previous generation of Microsoft tablets, we cannot recommend it at this time." Which is actually completely fair - if they were to just ignore the existence of one of the major tablet brands, they'd be accused of bias anyway.
They've done this before with cars and other products, too (both with positive and negative comments - but making clear they were unable to test).
For the record, I really wanted a Surface Book (looking for something small with discrete Nvidia graphics), but reviews raised my concern about it's reliability. The specs were great, and the people who got working units were very favorable... but there were just too many people with hardware problems.
LOL at anonymous coward... I guess the truth hurts, you immoral "piece of shit."
Maybe if you only download a separate crack that you are supposed to apply to the uncracked game data, but why would anyone do that?
I used to do that all the time, back in the day.... I don't "pirate" games, but I had no problem cracking legally purchased games to avoid the copy-protection schemes that were in use back then, like looking up codes on a code wheel or in the manual. I had a game that would just stop periodically in the middle of game play (yes, multiple times per session) and ask for a code. I had no moral dilemma using cracks on those games.
What would be the point now? I don't know - if you legally own the game, they don't really employ those kinds of schemes anymore, so I don't know why you'd want to crack it, although I do suspect some DRM schemes might create some annoyances.
You are a shining example of ethics and morality. I can't believe how many people justify violating copyright laws for games... if you think it's too much, then you wait for the price to come down, or you don't buy it at all. There's no justification for "stealing" games. I am completely on board with how you go about buying games - I have a steam account with over 100 games from Humble Bundles and sales.
A copy of your "idea?" So no actual work went into it's production, it was just an "idea?"
No, IP theft is theft... it may not be as heinous as physical theft, but if you're not compensating the owners of the IP for it's use, then you are denying them revenue they deserve. Yes, they deserve it... They created the content, they get to dictate how it's licensed, and if you are using and enjoying that content while violating that license, then you are "stealing" what was rightfully owed to them.
What's worse is that we're talking about games, here. Not bread to feed your starving family, not some medical breakthrough that could save your life but costs a million dollars, but games. If you don't want to pay what the IP holders are asking, then don't play. WTF kind of world is this when people feel entitled to play a game without paying for it? If you think $60 is too much, then wait for the price to come down, or don't buy it at all.... you're not entitled to it. There's no ethical justification for stealing games (or music or movies, for that matter).
Wow, that's a good severance package... my company offers 1 month + 1 month for every year you've been with the company, two year max. At this point, I'd hit that two year max. Every few years a new round of layoffs come, I actually kind of hope I get caught in the net, but it never happens. People a lot younger than me get let go.
Yes, that's really exactly it. The "suits" have no idea how the day to day business is run. My company recently offered early retirement for 55 and older - and lost a huge amount of talent that left the company reeling for a couple of years. The most talented, experienced people left. It made the bottom line look good. A lot of them have silently been rehired after their "package" ran out (still being paid for up to two years after leaving). Same deal with our recent 'open concept" workspace change.... looks good on paper, I guess.
I generally work alone (praise deity), mostly writing smaller tools and utilities on my own, a lot of custom stuff... there's a developer here, though, that reminds me of me when I got out of college - wants to reinvent the wheel on every project so he can do it his way. When I told him about a product we were getting in based on the Unreal engine (we do graphics), he was like "why didn't we do that!?!?" So I sat there and gave him a list of about 20 things why we didn't do it - stuff I'd been thinking about for years. He'd have just jumped in and still wouldn't have anything working; those things would have those things would have taken us both a year to finish a beta of, and yet we can buy a supported version of the software for 1/3 my salary. Yes, that's a lot of money for software - but if it would take me a year, then isn't it worth it?
Hmmm... I'm still using Ubuntu 16.04 as my desktop (with Unity) at home (dual boot, depending on what I want to do). I'm using it right now to type this. However, most of my Linux use, particularly at work, revolves around LAMP(ython) development. Now, with Windows Subsystem for Linux, I can actually have a working dev environment and use the Windows desktop and editors of my choice, then push my code to the fully Linux web servers for QA and production. No more dual booting, no extra work to make a virtual box share resources... I want to do my work, not waste time configuring things. I suspect full installs of Ubuntu will be a thing of the past for me in relatively short order, now, instead sticking with Windows and WSL.