That's because he started a simulation without ending it. If I use VNC to remotely start a game of, say, Starcraft on my computer, then disconnect, would you expect that Starcraft would just stop?
Presumably that was by design, because if you wanted to do a long simulation you wouldn't want to have to be logged on every second for 5 days.
The line I loved the most is, "what kind of jerk lives in Seattle their whole life and doesn't learn how to swim?"
Yes, Hollywood movie producers, Seattle is actually in a deep swamp. Our secret is out. It's impossible to go to the corner drugstore without swimming at least a mile. You'd think they'd build the city on the huge rolling hills, but, no, on the swamp where everyone has to swim.
At least with Java I just have to learn how to misspell depreciated (so far).
Holy crap, are you really that stupid? It never occurred to you to look up "deprecated" in a dictionary? You know, maybe different spellings are due to... hmm... being different words? Criminy.
CrazyJim is back in rare crazy form! Tell us about the katanas with rockets in the hilt while you're at it, buddy! And how you invented Tribes before Tribes came out!
And remember, the positive comments probably have nothing to do with OSS, but more to do with the fact that there's a friendly, knowledgeable person with a vested interested in their learning to use the software better. If you provided that with proprietary software, you'd get the same positive comments.
Ok; and how does wanking like this actually help resolve any of those issues? Or, instead, does it just *point them out* to make them seem more prominent than they actually are?
I think racism is dead (in the US at least), and the only reason you see constant news stories about racism is because it makes for good news. Tyra Banks can put up makeup and walk around and say "oh wow people treat me so differently!" when she's out of ideas.
It's not that they don't care about usability, it's that they don't care about fixing bugs. Not showing an error dialog when an error occurs is a bug no matter how you look at it.
Adobe? No. Adobe said PDF is an open standard and anybody can make a reader/writer for it if they want. Now that Microsoft has, they're trying to renege on that and say it's proprietary? Doesn't work that way, Adobe.
Please. Short of a MAJOR asteroid strike or something similar, I think we're more than smart enough, as a species, to cope with pretty much any environmental change as long as it gave us a century or so of slow change in which to adapt.
I hate statements like this because they assume that people are too stupid to figure out how to survive when the temperature falls.
1) When something usability-wise completely and utterly pisses me off. (To use a Microsoft example, entering OEM numbers after you install Windows... if you mis-type the first character in one of the 5-character groups, and hit delete to correct it, the entire previous group will become selected. Then when you type the correct character, you've erased part of the already-correct number already typed!)
2) When something is a bug. Usually, in Linux, this takes the form of "X doesn't work, but there's no error message telling me WHY X doesn't work." (For instance, install VLC on PPC Ubuntu and then use "Open Disk" to try to play a DVD. NO error message. Hit Play. No error message; also no DVD playing.)
What I don't know is enough programming to actually fix any of these bugs. Most of the stuff I used to put into bug databases for open source projects ended up either marked as "not fix" (even though they were obvious errors, like the aforementioned lack of dialogs), or they go unread until the next version comes out then get marked "invalid" because they apply to the old version. So I don't bother to submit bugs anymore. (Oh, and one or two times I've gotten the runaround. "We don't put up an error because it's program X's job to put up the error!")
Weird. When charging from Mac OS X (no driver required; iSync has it built-in) do you happen to know if the same problem applies? So far, I haven't let my RAZR run down all the way, but since I only charge it from my Mac, it would be good to know if I should keep the wall charger handy just in case.
More recently, Ebert game Napoleon Dynamite like 1.5 out of 4 stars. I think pretty much everyone agrees that the movie is better than that. From reading the review, it seemed to me that Ebert basically missed the entire point of it.
Just FYI, 1280x1024 is a bad choice because, while it's supported by Microsoft, a lot of game developers don't correctly adapt to the strange 1.25:1 aspect ratio and so games will have a tendency to either have black bars or be squished strangely. The dashboard, and all Microsoft-developed games will work correctly, as they test for that, but anything else is kind of a gamble.
You have to twist words a lot to make this sound like a bad thing.
"Microsoft adds compelling feature for free to all Xbox 360 owners!... somehow this is... uh... bad. Because maybe not a lot of people can use it yet? Yeah, let's go with that."
Now honestly, show of hands: who has their console (not PC!) connected to a display device capable of 1080p? Who plans on buying a device capable of 1080p?
Criminy, CmdrTaco, please let Zonk do the game-related posts. Even if he doesn't know the difference between Xbox Live and Xbox Live Arcade.
But what's the deal with this flamebait? Is the point to this hypothetical (I assume) question to point out that both Sony and Microsoft's support of 1080p is pointless because not a lot of people have televisions that can display it? You make it sound as if it's a zero-sum game... like by adding 1080p support Xbox 360 will... I dunno, stop playing older games or something.
Maybe I don't have a 1080p TV now. That doesn't mean I won't in 2 years, well within the lifetime of the console. In addition, it's not like adding 1080p support took away something else. So it's a win-win situation.
Hell, 3 years ago, when original Xbox started supporting 480p on the dashboard, I was very grateful for it. (My TV, a Zenith, won't show 480i plugged into the HD port. So to use the Xbox dashboard originally, I had to actually plug the Xbox into a different input, then switch inputs again to play games) But I suppose if that news had been posted here, it would have had some snide comment like, "what kind of dumbass has a 480p TV that doesn't already show 480i? God what a rube!"
No, it's a case of the government spending MY money to make puking sounds out of my radio WHEN I DON'T EVEN SMOKE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Look, if the amount of government spending going towards smoking-related illness is too high, then do the SENSIBLE thing and change federal medical programs so that they don't cover self-inflicted injuries. Duh. That way, you'd encourage MORE people to stop smoking than if you just paid for their oxygen every week, and non-smokers wouldn't have to hear puking sounds on the radio.
It would also be nice if the Truth ads told the truth. Smoking causes asthma? PROVE IT! But those ads never get a reference to any actual studies, they just spit things like that out without any evidence whatsoever. "Truth" my ass.
(I'm going to start noting on my posts whenever buggy-ass Slashdot treats the "Submit" button as the "Preview" button in the Safari browser.)
I'm not a smoker and I can't stand those ads. Especially the new ones in Washington State they have now which play the audio of spoof game shows with stunts like, "dip your head in these rotten pig entrails and pick out the monkey eyeball" complete with every disgusting sound effect in the library. Then they make the ludicrous claim that "kissing a smoker is just as bad." No it isn't, sorry... not even slightly close whatever.
Then they have those disgusting versions of the mutant cabbage patch kids on the sides of busses, who seem to be puking up charred lungs and other horrible things.
Then there's the asshat "The Truth" people who get out a bullhorn and harass innocent people on the street, whether they're smoking or not naturally, with bullshit just because they happened to be walking on the wrong sidewalk at the wrong time. Or even worse, drive into a suburban neighborhood ("where tobacco CEOs live"-- whatever!) and wake everyone up just so they can tell them how evil they are.
Even ignoring the "people should be able to smoke if they want to, it's call freedom, ass" angle, there's still the "why, as a non-smoker, do I have to be subjected to disgusting puke sounds on the radio?" factor.
Hell, those commercials make me want to smoke out of spite! In fact, I think I'll buy a pack on my way home from work.
Dr. Melik: [puzzling over list of items sold at Miles' old health-food store]... wheat germ, organic honey and... tiger's milk. Dr. Aragon: Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties. Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge? Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true. Dr. Melik: Incredible!
Slashdot Mirror
That's because he started a simulation without ending it. If I use VNC to remotely start a game of, say, Starcraft on my computer, then disconnect, would you expect that Starcraft would just stop?
Presumably that was by design, because if you wanted to do a long simulation you wouldn't want to have to be logged on every second for 5 days.
The line I loved the most is, "what kind of jerk lives in Seattle their whole life and doesn't learn how to swim?"
Yes, Hollywood movie producers, Seattle is actually in a deep swamp. Our secret is out. It's impossible to go to the corner drugstore without swimming at least a mile. You'd think they'd build the city on the huge rolling hills, but, no, on the swamp where everyone has to swim.
At least with Java I just have to learn how to misspell depreciated (so far).
Holy crap, are you really that stupid? It never occurred to you to look up "deprecated" in a dictionary? You know, maybe different spellings are due to... hmm... being different words? Criminy.
CrazyJim is back in rare crazy form! Tell us about the katanas with rockets in the hilt while you're at it, buddy! And how you invented Tribes before Tribes came out!
And remember, the positive comments probably have nothing to do with OSS, but more to do with the fact that there's a friendly, knowledgeable person with a vested interested in their learning to use the software better. If you provided that with proprietary software, you'd get the same positive comments.
Ever tried a trackball? IMO, works much better than a mouse, especially when sniping.
Ok; and how does wanking like this actually help resolve any of those issues? Or, instead, does it just *point them out* to make them seem more prominent than they actually are?
I think racism is dead (in the US at least), and the only reason you see constant news stories about racism is because it makes for good news. Tyra Banks can put up makeup and walk around and say "oh wow people treat me so differently!" when she's out of ideas.
In other news, Kameo's Co-Op pack on Xbox 360 reverses some of the levels. Amazing! The mind boggles!
Headline: "Minor change made in video game under development!"
It's not that they don't care about usability, it's that they don't care about fixing bugs. Not showing an error dialog when an error occurs is a bug no matter how you look at it.
Well said, and I agree with you 100%. The only real racism I see is people declaring other people racists.
In this racially divided world,
Which world is the submitter in, exactly? The one I'm in seems fine.
It's really hard to read and process an article like this when you disagree with the very first phrase in the very first sentence...
Adobe? No. Adobe said PDF is an open standard and anybody can make a reader/writer for it if they want. Now that Microsoft has, they're trying to renege on that and say it's proprietary? Doesn't work that way, Adobe.
Please. Short of a MAJOR asteroid strike or something similar, I think we're more than smart enough, as a species, to cope with pretty much any environmental change as long as it gave us a century or so of slow change in which to adapt.
I hate statements like this because they assume that people are too stupid to figure out how to survive when the temperature falls.
I know enough about computers to know:
1) When something usability-wise completely and utterly pisses me off. (To use a Microsoft example, entering OEM numbers after you install Windows... if you mis-type the first character in one of the 5-character groups, and hit delete to correct it, the entire previous group will become selected. Then when you type the correct character, you've erased part of the already-correct number already typed!)
2) When something is a bug. Usually, in Linux, this takes the form of "X doesn't work, but there's no error message telling me WHY X doesn't work." (For instance, install VLC on PPC Ubuntu and then use "Open Disk" to try to play a DVD. NO error message. Hit Play. No error message; also no DVD playing.)
What I don't know is enough programming to actually fix any of these bugs. Most of the stuff I used to put into bug databases for open source projects ended up either marked as "not fix" (even though they were obvious errors, like the aforementioned lack of dialogs), or they go unread until the next version comes out then get marked "invalid" because they apply to the old version. So I don't bother to submit bugs anymore. (Oh, and one or two times I've gotten the runaround. "We don't put up an error because it's program X's job to put up the error!")
Weird. When charging from Mac OS X (no driver required; iSync has it built-in) do you happen to know if the same problem applies? So far, I haven't let my RAZR run down all the way, but since I only charge it from my Mac, it would be good to know if I should keep the wall charger handy just in case.
More recently, Ebert game Napoleon Dynamite like 1.5 out of 4 stars. I think pretty much everyone agrees that the movie is better than that. From reading the review, it seemed to me that Ebert basically missed the entire point of it.
Just FYI, 1280x1024 is a bad choice because, while it's supported by Microsoft, a lot of game developers don't correctly adapt to the strange 1.25:1 aspect ratio and so games will have a tendency to either have black bars or be squished strangely. The dashboard, and all Microsoft-developed games will work correctly, as they test for that, but anything else is kind of a gamble.
You have to twist words a lot to make this sound like a bad thing.
... somehow this is... uh... bad. Because maybe not a lot of people can use it yet? Yeah, let's go with that."
"Microsoft adds compelling feature for free to all Xbox 360 owners!
Now honestly, show of hands: who has their console (not PC!) connected to a display device capable of 1080p? Who plans on buying a device capable of 1080p?
Criminy, CmdrTaco, please let Zonk do the game-related posts. Even if he doesn't know the difference between Xbox Live and Xbox Live Arcade.
But what's the deal with this flamebait? Is the point to this hypothetical (I assume) question to point out that both Sony and Microsoft's support of 1080p is pointless because not a lot of people have televisions that can display it? You make it sound as if it's a zero-sum game... like by adding 1080p support Xbox 360 will... I dunno, stop playing older games or something.
Maybe I don't have a 1080p TV now. That doesn't mean I won't in 2 years, well within the lifetime of the console. In addition, it's not like adding 1080p support took away something else. So it's a win-win situation.
Hell, 3 years ago, when original Xbox started supporting 480p on the dashboard, I was very grateful for it. (My TV, a Zenith, won't show 480i plugged into the HD port. So to use the Xbox dashboard originally, I had to actually plug the Xbox into a different input, then switch inputs again to play games) But I suppose if that news had been posted here, it would have had some snide comment like, "what kind of dumbass has a 480p TV that doesn't already show 480i? God what a rube!"
No, it's a case of the government spending MY money to make puking sounds out of my radio WHEN I DON'T EVEN SMOKE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Look, if the amount of government spending going towards smoking-related illness is too high, then do the SENSIBLE thing and change federal medical programs so that they don't cover self-inflicted injuries. Duh. That way, you'd encourage MORE people to stop smoking than if you just paid for their oxygen every week, and non-smokers wouldn't have to hear puking sounds on the radio.
It would also be nice if the Truth ads told the truth. Smoking causes asthma? PROVE IT! But those ads never get a reference to any actual studies, they just spit things like that out without any evidence whatsoever. "Truth" my ass.
(I'm going to start noting on my posts whenever buggy-ass Slashdot treats the "Submit" button as the "Preview" button in the Safari browser.)
This article refers to a Xbox Live Arcade game. Not a regular game that happens to support Xbox Live.
Oh, I forgot to mention the other factor.
As a tax-payer, how much of MY money is going towards playing puking sound effects on the radio?
I'm not a smoker and I can't stand those ads. Especially the new ones in Washington State they have now which play the audio of spoof game shows with stunts like, "dip your head in these rotten pig entrails and pick out the monkey eyeball" complete with every disgusting sound effect in the library. Then they make the ludicrous claim that "kissing a smoker is just as bad." No it isn't, sorry... not even slightly close whatever.
Then they have those disgusting versions of the mutant cabbage patch kids on the sides of busses, who seem to be puking up charred lungs and other horrible things.
Then there's the asshat "The Truth" people who get out a bullhorn and harass innocent people on the street, whether they're smoking or not naturally, with bullshit just because they happened to be walking on the wrong sidewalk at the wrong time. Or even worse, drive into a suburban neighborhood ("where tobacco CEOs live"-- whatever!) and wake everyone up just so they can tell them how evil they are.
Even ignoring the "people should be able to smoke if they want to, it's call freedom, ass" angle, there's still the "why, as a non-smoker, do I have to be subjected to disgusting puke sounds on the radio?" factor.
Hell, those commercials make me want to smoke out of spite! In fact, I think I'll buy a pack on my way home from work.
What about Woody Allen's "Sleeper?"
... wheat germ, organic honey and... tiger's milk.
Dr. Melik: [puzzling over list of items sold at Miles' old health-food store]
Dr. Aragon: Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible!
NT