They have to compete with Viva Pinata which, I'm told, allows cannibalism. When you tire of a pinata, you can smash it open and all the other pinatas eat its guts.
Whenever Microsoft asked for suggestions for Office applications in preparation of starting on the next version, the vast majority of suggestions were for features that already existed in Office. This shows that the old interface was definitely not optimal, since people weren't finding the tools they wanted.
Whether this new one will help that problem or not, I don't know. I *do* know that saying the learning curve is steep is total bunk... the ribbon is much easier to use than the tangle of menus and dialogs that were there before. You get an instant preview of whatever change you were planning to make before you make it. The learning curve of the ribbon interface is the flattest I've seen in a product of Office's complexity.
The beauty of Wikipedia in my judgement is in it's continuous progress, it's historical charisteristics. Just consider how a source such as this might evolve over hundreds of years!
Yeah, there could be thousands of 10-page articles about individual Pokemon and other anime characters by then! Hell, in hundreds of years, it might even have a list of Homer Simpson's jobs! (Oh wait: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Homer_Simpson 's_jobs )
I'm just amazed at your lack of perspective. Wikipedia is just a database with an interesting editable front-end running on a bunch of servers somewhere. That's all. There's no more reason to have an emotional attachment to Wikipedia than there is to have an emotional attachment to your DNS server, or for that matter, your car. Hell, I even think it's stupid to have an emotional attachment to (for instance) World of Warcraft characters... and they at least look and move like people.
Why the insults? Well, I thought it was funny-- especially the Starbucks line-- and frankly, that's good enough for me.
I downloaded The Life Aquatic from it, and the quality is good, the transfer to the iPod is entirely automatic and easy (as you'd expect) and the price wasn't too bad. Is there some reason iTunes isn't on the list?
Wow, this is sure newsworthy. It's not like Blizzard have ever made any promises about WOW they haven't been able to fulfill before! Except, you know... pretty much every promise they've made about WOW. (Remember the monthly content updates? Hah!)
How can software hide legal complexity from a user?
Microsoft and Apple seem to manage it just fine. Again, you're making excuses.
And calendar, right?
Possibly. I did forget vcard format for exchanging contacts, but again, dozens of applications exchange that format all the time. I personally don't export calendars from one app into another, but I suppose it's possible a lot of other people do.
The law in Seattle applies to any public place and any outdoor area within 25' of a public place or an air vent, open window connected to a public place. Transit buses count as "public places," which means that if you're standing 20' away from a bus stop and are smoking, the instant a bus pulls up and opens its door you're in violation of the law.
Please explain to me how it is unrelated to the questions of civil liberties.
Re:Is the ACLU actively against the ban?
on
2006's Bill of Wrongs
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
The point is that if the NAME of the organization is the "American Civil Liberties Union", you might reasonably expect them to be interested in preserving civil liberties. But instead they're just the typical liberal pussies. (Which is fine; I have no problem with that, except they really need to change the name so some organization that *does* care about civil liberties can have it.)
I'm yet to be convinced that second-hand smoke harms anybody, except perhaps workers at restaurants and bars who *choose* to work there despite the smoke, in which case I don't think the government should swoop in and "save" them from themselves.
The anti-smoking propaganda is so thick in the last few years that it's hard to separate the bullshit from the fact. My favorite ad is the one that says, non-chalantly and without reference to any scientific publication, that second-hand smoke causes asthma in children. The hell!?
I heard an interview with Barry Groveman, mayor of Calabasas, CA about their smoking ban which is far more draconian than the Seattle one. (For instance, if you follow the letter of the law, it bans smoking in many private homes.) The interview was on the Adam Carolla morning radio show. Groveman was extremely proud that he had the full support of the ACLU for his civil-liberties-smashing ordinance. If the ACLU was for the most draconian anti-smoking law in the US, it stands to reason they were also for the Seattle and New York bans.
Who cares *why*? That's all just excuse-making. I don't care *why* Ubuntu can't play MP3 files, the point is that it can't-- and because of that I'm moving to something else. That's all there is to it.
The point of software development is to hide complexity from the user. I mean, if you let every software developer with an excuse to go home, then we'd still be punching machine-code on paper tape.
Besides, an Exchange replacement has only one cross-platform file format you're concerned with: "email." And, last I checked, a huge number of applications, both commercial and open source, seem to be just fine at passing email to each other.
How about you *use* Sharepoint for at least 1/10th of a second before making moronic statements like this?
In any case, they're not throwing away:
1) TCO- it comes with Office now, and they already own Office. 2) Security- it's hard to find something to compare Sharepoint to, security-wise, since there's literally no competing software out there. But its security is sufficient for two reasons: first, it runs on intranets only and isn't exposed to the internet, and second there haven't been any huge vulnerabilities announced for it yet. 3) Ease of administration- Sharepoint makes every manager an administrator of their particular sub-site. And it's easy enough that I've seen many non-technical managers operate it correctly with no problems whatsoever. So not only is it easy to administer, but it's easy to administer for non-techs. 4) Power- Since there's no competing product in the marketplace, it's really hard to talk about power. So I won't. 5) "All the free enterprise proven software available"- Since companies using Sharepoint generally aren't using Linux, they're not throwing anything away. Sharepoint may not be free, but it's definitely enterprise-proven. After all, Microsoft is one of the biggest enterprises there is, and they use it all over on a daily basis... I doubt any Linux-based software of this type can say that much.
All that aside, the main thing you're missing is that Sharepoint is a *lot* more than a "glorified calendar and wiki program" and that, right now, there is literally ZERO competition. The reason Microsoft has a monopoly is not because their software is so great, but because, in a lot of areas, they have barely any competition. If the Linux community really wants to displace Office/Sharepoint, then they're going to have to make an alternate to it that's as easy to use as and as functional, and I don't see that happening.
(For example, most Linux users will refuse to admit that OpenOffice isn't as good as Office, or that GIMP isn't as good as Photoshop. Until those blinders come off, those products will never improve enough to compete with Office or Photoshop. Of course, GIMP's developers have their head so far up their ass, it'll likely never compete with Photoshop regardless.)
Banning trans-fats in New York, banning smoking in Seattle. This has been the year of banning activities in the name of public health. Talk about violating civil liberties! (And, natch, in every single case the ACLU was behind it 100%.)
Slashdot Mirror
They have to compete with Viva Pinata which, I'm told, allows cannibalism. When you tire of a pinata, you can smash it open and all the other pinatas eat its guts.
Three t's just isn't enough.
Whenever Microsoft asked for suggestions for Office applications in preparation of starting on the next version, the vast majority of suggestions were for features that already existed in Office. This shows that the old interface was definitely not optimal, since people weren't finding the tools they wanted.
Whether this new one will help that problem or not, I don't know. I *do* know that saying the learning curve is steep is total bunk... the ribbon is much easier to use than the tangle of menus and dialogs that were there before. You get an instant preview of whatever change you were planning to make before you make it. The learning curve of the ribbon interface is the flattest I've seen in a product of Office's complexity.
For those who don't know, NASUWT is the official teacher's union for Airstrip One and surrounding areas.
The beauty of Wikipedia in my judgement is in it's continuous progress, it's historical charisteristics. Just consider how a source such as this might evolve over hundreds of years!
n 's_jobs )
Yeah, there could be thousands of 10-page articles about individual Pokemon and other anime characters by then! Hell, in hundreds of years, it might even have a list of Homer Simpson's jobs! (Oh wait: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Homer_Simpso
I'm just amazed at your lack of perspective. Wikipedia is just a database with an interesting editable front-end running on a bunch of servers somewhere. That's all. There's no more reason to have an emotional attachment to Wikipedia than there is to have an emotional attachment to your DNS server, or for that matter, your car. Hell, I even think it's stupid to have an emotional attachment to (for instance) World of Warcraft characters... and they at least look and move like people.
Why the insults? Well, I thought it was funny-- especially the Starbucks line-- and frankly, that's good enough for me.
The Wikipedia is not merely a collection of web-pages and a server. It is an ethos, a belief, an emotional experience.
You are right to say in the pure technical sense advertising will make no difference. The web-pages will still be editable, etc.
But in the human sense, our perception of the Wikipedia - that will change.
Wow. You usually don't see utter BS of that level on Slashdot. Or, for that matter, the word "ethos" outside of a Starbucks. Congratulations!
Try watching some kids shows on PBS in the mornings. The "sponsored by" messages are as long and as annoying as any other network's ad breaks.
I downloaded The Life Aquatic from it, and the quality is good, the transfer to the iPod is entirely automatic and easy (as you'd expect) and the price wasn't too bad. Is there some reason iTunes isn't on the list?
Wow, this is sure newsworthy. It's not like Blizzard have ever made any promises about WOW they haven't been able to fulfill before! Except, you know... pretty much every promise they've made about WOW. (Remember the monthly content updates? Hah!)
No, Photoshop Elements is easy and fun to use. My mom edits her photos on it. GIMP isn't anywhere close.
Feature-wise, it might be though. No, wait, Photoshop Elements also runs (natively) on Macintosh. Never mind.
Hello? Off-topic mod? You there? Come on out, little guy-- don't be shy.
IBM alone has half a dozen of these. I worked with a company a few years ago that still ran OS/360.
How can software hide legal complexity from a user?
Microsoft and Apple seem to manage it just fine. Again, you're making excuses.
And calendar, right?
Possibly. I did forget vcard format for exchanging contacts, but again, dozens of applications exchange that format all the time. I personally don't export calendars from one app into another, but I suppose it's possible a lot of other people do.
The law in Seattle applies to any public place and any outdoor area within 25' of a public place or an air vent, open window connected to a public place. Transit buses count as "public places," which means that if you're standing 20' away from a bus stop and are smoking, the instant a bus pulls up and opens its door you're in violation of the law.
Please explain to me how it is unrelated to the questions of civil liberties.
The point is that if the NAME of the organization is the "American Civil Liberties Union", you might reasonably expect them to be interested in preserving civil liberties. But instead they're just the typical liberal pussies. (Which is fine; I have no problem with that, except they really need to change the name so some organization that *does* care about civil liberties can have it.)
I'm yet to be convinced that second-hand smoke harms anybody, except perhaps workers at restaurants and bars who *choose* to work there despite the smoke, in which case I don't think the government should swoop in and "save" them from themselves.
The anti-smoking propaganda is so thick in the last few years that it's hard to separate the bullshit from the fact. My favorite ad is the one that says, non-chalantly and without reference to any scientific publication, that second-hand smoke causes asthma in children. The hell!?
A much quicker and easier (if more "heartless") solution would simply to stop governmental medical benefits in the case of self-inflicted injuries.
I heard an interview with Barry Groveman, mayor of Calabasas, CA about their smoking ban which is far more draconian than the Seattle one. (For instance, if you follow the letter of the law, it bans smoking in many private homes.) The interview was on the Adam Carolla morning radio show. Groveman was extremely proud that he had the full support of the ACLU for his civil-liberties-smashing ordinance. If the ACLU was for the most draconian anti-smoking law in the US, it stands to reason they were also for the Seattle and New York bans.
t h-mayor-barry-groveman-and-david-koechner/
Here's the link to the Adam Carolla blog on that day: http://adamradio.wordpress.com/2006/03/21/adam-wi
I don't have the audio or a transcript.
Who cares *why*? That's all just excuse-making. I don't care *why* Ubuntu can't play MP3 files, the point is that it can't-- and because of that I'm moving to something else. That's all there is to it.
The point of software development is to hide complexity from the user. I mean, if you let every software developer with an excuse to go home, then we'd still be punching machine-code on paper tape.
Besides, an Exchange replacement has only one cross-platform file format you're concerned with: "email." And, last I checked, a huge number of applications, both commercial and open source, seem to be just fine at passing email to each other.
How about you *use* Sharepoint for at least 1/10th of a second before making moronic statements like this?
In any case, they're not throwing away:
1) TCO- it comes with Office now, and they already own Office.
2) Security- it's hard to find something to compare Sharepoint to, security-wise, since there's literally no competing software out there. But its security is sufficient for two reasons: first, it runs on intranets only and isn't exposed to the internet, and second there haven't been any huge vulnerabilities announced for it yet.
3) Ease of administration- Sharepoint makes every manager an administrator of their particular sub-site. And it's easy enough that I've seen many non-technical managers operate it correctly with no problems whatsoever. So not only is it easy to administer, but it's easy to administer for non-techs.
4) Power- Since there's no competing product in the marketplace, it's really hard to talk about power. So I won't.
5) "All the free enterprise proven software available"- Since companies using Sharepoint generally aren't using Linux, they're not throwing anything away. Sharepoint may not be free, but it's definitely enterprise-proven. After all, Microsoft is one of the biggest enterprises there is, and they use it all over on a daily basis... I doubt any Linux-based software of this type can say that much.
All that aside, the main thing you're missing is that Sharepoint is a *lot* more than a "glorified calendar and wiki program" and that, right now, there is literally ZERO competition. The reason Microsoft has a monopoly is not because their software is so great, but because, in a lot of areas, they have barely any competition. If the Linux community really wants to displace Office/Sharepoint, then they're going to have to make an alternate to it that's as easy to use as and as functional, and I don't see that happening.
(For example, most Linux users will refuse to admit that OpenOffice isn't as good as Office, or that GIMP isn't as good as Photoshop. Until those blinders come off, those products will never improve enough to compete with Office or Photoshop. Of course, GIMP's developers have their head so far up their ass, it'll likely never compete with Photoshop regardless.)
X is still to low-level. If I had my way, Linux would work the way every other OS works, and distinguish it based on the GUI used.
There should be three distributions: Gnome, KDE, and "server" (i.e. command-line).
Gnome and KDE are as different from each other as OS X is from Windows, and yet we call both Linux. It doesn't make any sense.
Banning trans-fats in New York, banning smoking in Seattle. This has been the year of banning activities in the name of public health. Talk about violating civil liberties! (And, natch, in every single case the ACLU was behind it 100%.)
What the hell? How is my post a "troll?" The moderation here is WAY out of control.
Is there a SINGLE person who's seen both recent BSG and Minority Report and didn't make the obvious connection between the two?