> 7. Help should be context sensitive, and never more than a STANDARD KEYBOARD SHORTCUT away.
help should be helpful above all. Many help files, especially those of the context sensitive kind, contain a lot of help on the obvious things (an explanation of the GUI) rather than any help on functionality of the app in question. I usually prefer a well organized pdf-file or a man-page over the offered context sensitive help, where in the best case I have to check 5 boxes and toggle a similar number of ok-buttons, before I get close to what I want to know. In the worst case the things I want to know about are not in the context sensitive help at all, and I have to look for the manual anyway (provided it exists).
I'd say that 80% of the films that Hollywood (or its international franchise firms) produces are just plain rubbish. That's still better than the average TV content, where IMHO the trash has reached levels of over 95%. Anything made for a mass market is dumbed down that far, so that a 12 year old kid has no problem comprehending the stuff.
If I want entermainment I have to i) wait for a Hollywood movie that belongs to the remaining 20%, i.e. it is not made according to some formula or designed as a star-vehicle ii) watch an independent film (be it American or other).
It would be nice to own a DVD-Player and to have a collection of some of that above average 20% as an alternative to switching on the TV late at night, do some 30 minutes of mindless channel hopping and switching it off again. But, hey, I might as well sell my TV set, go down to the pub and enjoy myself! That doesn't require a linux driver nor some gangster at the MPAA telling me how to watch my (properly purchased) movies.
see #105 ("esperanto is simple") - couldn't have said it any better than that. I suggest any further discussion on the strength of artificial languages in international communication can be moved to that thread.
Of course English is in no way superior to other languages. Its only advantage I can think of is that it has a very simple grammar, so the threshold at which people can start to use the language to communicate simple or very technical content is rather low, at least for Europeans. On the other hand, English has one of the largest vocabularies of all the world's languages, so in order to become really proficient one has to do the same thing as with any other language, that is to live in an English speaking country for several years.
The world certainly needs a universal language to communicate in and I think English has already become this universal language - a rather simple, dumbed down version, but enough to get along with under most circumstances. Sooner or later most of the world's population will acquire this international English as a second language. That won't have much effect on the use of the respective national language. And it won't replace the need to translate from English to these national languages if you want acceptance in a foreign country. If someone wants to use Linux and he has to revert to his rather sketchy knowledge of English in order to read a man page of a command he doesn't know about either, he will probably never switch to Linux if he doesn't have to, because he can get another, simpler to use OS in his native language.
Wasn't Brunei's wealth mainly based on oil production? If so, how can they still sponsor space flight 10 years after the replacement of fossil fuels? They should be broke by then unless they made some clever investments.
I think he also neglects possible progress in medicine. In order to delay ageing, people have to relocate to the moon of all places? It's more likely that before any space hotels arrive, the rich can afford to double their life expectancy, while maintaining physical health, right here on earth. Ageing and death is one of the most pressing problems to the developed societies, so it will be the field where most money will pour into.
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help should be helpful above all. Many help files, especially those of the context sensitive kind, contain a lot of help on the obvious things (an explanation of the GUI) rather than any help on functionality of the app in question. I usually prefer a well organized pdf-file or a man-page over the offered context sensitive help, where in the best case I have to check 5 boxes and toggle a similar number of ok-buttons, before I get close to what I want to know. In the worst case the things I want to know about are not in the context sensitive help at all, and I have to look for the manual anyway (provided it exists).
If I want entermainment I have to i) wait for a Hollywood movie that belongs to the remaining 20%, i.e. it is not made according to some formula or designed as a star-vehicle ii) watch an independent film (be it American or other).
It would be nice to own a DVD-Player and to have a collection of some of that above average 20% as an alternative to switching on the TV late at night, do some 30 minutes of mindless channel hopping and switching it off again. But, hey, I might as well sell my TV set, go down to the pub and enjoy myself! That doesn't require a linux driver nor some gangster at the MPAA telling me how to watch my (properly purchased) movies.
see #105 ("esperanto is simple") - couldn't have said it any better than that. I suggest any further discussion on the strength of artificial languages in international communication can be moved to that thread.
The world certainly needs a universal language to communicate in and I think English has already become this universal language - a rather simple, dumbed down version, but enough to get along with under most circumstances. Sooner or later most of the world's population will acquire this international English as a second language. That won't have much effect on the use of the respective national language. And it won't replace the need to translate from English to these national languages if you want acceptance in a foreign country. If someone wants to use Linux and he has to revert to his rather sketchy knowledge of English in order to read a man page of a command he doesn't know about either, he will probably never switch to Linux if he doesn't have to, because he can get another, simpler to use OS in his native language.
I think he also neglects possible progress in medicine. In order to delay ageing, people have to relocate to the moon of all places? It's more likely that before any space hotels arrive, the rich can afford to double their life expectancy, while maintaining physical health, right here on earth. Ageing and death is one of the most pressing problems to the developed societies, so it will be the field where most money will pour into.