Post something that's entirely nonsense, but open-enough to interpretation that moderators will go "hmm, I'm not sure what it means, but he must have a point to make here..."
I would argue User Friendly has never been good. Especially his sunday "political cartoons" which either 1) are confusing, 2) are stupid, 3) are about something nobody gives a crap about. Usually some combination of the three. Plus, come on! How do you draw a webcomic for that many years and not gain ANY kind of artistic talent whatsoever? The comic published today looks just as shitty as the comics posted from 1998. Anyway.
State-run liquor stores are in a LOT of states, and some states have much worse prohibitions in effect. At least you can buy beer and wine at the grocery store 24/7/365... in some places, you can't.
Gay rights bills didn't pass *anywhere* in the US. Washington is no exception to the rule here.
The federal government screwed up in the first place when they created Washington and Oregon. The divide should have been north/south along the Cascade Mountains with one state being on the western half and the other being on the eastern half. The way it works now, west of the Cascades is the "Pacific Coast" way of life... if you're east of them, you're basically in the Mid-West. These two cultures don't mesh well, this is coming from a person who's lived in both places. (Not that I agree with dividing Washington into two states-- not unless it was combined with Oregon in the way I outlined above.)
I do agree with some of your points, but you need to realize that Washington, law-wise, is very similar to the rest of the nation. The sky isn't falling.
Besides, I think a bigger problem to worry about is our insane population growth rates (hey Californians, STAY IN CALIFORNIA! We don't have the infrastructure for you! We don't like the way you drive! Go away!)
There's Microsoft, there's Nintendo of America, there's PopCap (not a huge company, but fun games), there's a new Sony Online Entertainment studio... there's a ton of game development going on in the Emerald City not related to Microsoft.
Re:Software devel. could learn from Blizzard.
on
QA != Testing
·
· Score: 1
1) Blizzard, Bungie and id are game companies that are all really good at this process and rarely, if ever, produce products that need patches right away. (Although all three companies will patch subtle errors that appear along the way later on, which is exactly what patches are supposed to be used for.) Microsoft Games tends to have, IMO, much better quality control for published games than most companies. (Especially Atari.)
2) That said, I love Blizzard to death for making a Macintosh port of World of Warcraft from the get-go instead of (like Everquest did) three years late and segregated on their own servers. But, the Macintosh WOW client is buggy as crap... it crashes about once an hour. Even good companies can screw up.
But you're a world-class game designer and you've never even shipped a working game! Doesn't that mean that there are thousands of thousands of world-class game designers out there?
Re:Wow...
on
Ask mc chris
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Find the British rap group The Streets. Rap for people who don't really like rap. Seriously, it's good stuff.
The one in Bellevue, WA is excellent. Was it an actual Apple Store, or some licensed Apple Retailer? The entire reason the Apple Stores exist is because the licensed retailers were doing such a crappy job it was hurting Apple's reputation.
Meatwad: Master Shake told me to go in the freezer, because there was a carnival in there. There was no carnival, it was a damn freezer. I got freezer burn, and I got mushed up against that chicken.
Inignot: Our god is a god of vengeance. A god of hate. Err: A god of action. Inignot: Our god is an Indian who can turn into a wolf and... Err: Dude, that's Wolfen. Inignot: Yes, well Wolfen will come after you, with his razor.
Frylock: What are these spikes, these spikes all over your body? I mean, surely they have a purpose. Emory: What spikes? Oglethorpe: Oh, these? No no no, these are not spikes; they are pointy arms. Emory: We squirt soap out of them, and that's how we keep the ship so clean. See? [does so] Frylock: That's soap? Well, it kind of smells like waste. Emory: Well, one man's waste is another man's... soap.
The problem isn't Apple, it's online stores. Go to the Apple Store and talk to the people there... at least the ones near me, everybody in the store is knowledgable, friendly, and willing to make you as a customer happy. In addition, they aren't paid on comission so you can be sure that they probably wouldn't have let you walk out of the store with software you couldn't use.
In any case, almost all online stores have shitty customer service, ESPECIALLY with returns. You should know this by now. Amazon is successful because their friendly operators are the exception, not the rule. Next time you buy Apple, go to a Apple Store and see how you fare.
In some states, it's illegal for a store to take a return on an opened media product. (CD, DVD, Software, etc.) It's possible that the Apple Store *could not* take it back, or they would be violating state law.
In any case, you ALWAYS check the system requirements before buying a piece of software. Duh! I don't have much sympathy.
1. AOL runs the servers, which I use for free every day, I don't mind seeing ads, especially small and inoffensive ones-- I have the Buddy List window hidden 95% of the time anyway. I'm not one of those freakish Slashdot people who act like seeing an advertisement will cause their brain to boil over and explode and avoid them at all costs.
In fact, I would argue that it's immoral to use AOL's network without following their rules (i.e. use only the TOC protocol or the official client) and I like icons and file transfers, which the TOC protocol doesn't do. (Most of the alternatives I've used implement the OSCAR protocol via reverse engineering without receiving permission from AOL first. If your Adium does that, it's out of the running as far as I'm concerned.)
2. AOL's is the ONLY AIM client that will speak IMs out loud using text-to-speech. It's done it since version, what, 2.0? and for some reason none of the imitators have added in this extremely useful feature. Maybe the interface isn't ideal, but it works and it is a ton better than the Windows version, which was my original point.
3. What do I care? I only use AIM, and all my buddies only use AIM. I *do* use text-to-speech, I *don't* need support for 16 different IM protocols I never use.
TOC doesn't support file transfers or icons, but as far as getting the buddy list and sending IMs it works fine. And AOL released it for free years ago.
Yes, but Arbiter kicks ass. That's almost enough to make up for the abrupt ending.
SpecOps Leader: This armour suits you, Arbiter. But it cannot hide that mark. Arbiter: Nothing ever will. SpecOps Leader: You are the Arbiter. The will of the Prophets. But these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me, yours does not. Arbiter: That makes two of us. SpecOps Leader: Mm.
You're thinking of MSN Messenger. AIM provides the TOC protocol *for free* to any developer who wants to make an AIM-compatible program, and they've done it for years.
Of course a lot of people who have no sense of gratitude don't like using TOC and so they attempt to use OSCAR features which, AOL has said numerous times, are reserved for the official client only. The programs that break the rules and don't play nice are the only ones getting locked out.
Just FYI the Macintosh version has much nicer ads. It doesn't play sound and it has only one small banner ad on the buddy list itself and no ads in the IM windows. If the Windows version were more like the Macintosh version, AIM could reclaim a lot of users from GAIM, DeadAIM, etc.
What they need to do is eat their own dogfood. Install the current AIM version on all the execs computers without unchecking any of the spyware boxes during the install. That'd be interesting.
I do. The third-party clients either have terrible GUIs (Trillian) or crash a lot (all of them.) The only feature I miss on the official AIM client is logging, and Google Search provides that. (The Mac version has logging as an option, I don't know why the PC version doesn't.)
Make the Windows client like the Mac client. Simple, small, non-bloated, no spyware...
Your Mac client right now is really good, which is strange since Apple covers the same territory with iChat. Your Windows client sucks ass. Even *without* considering the spyware and ad-ware, it's still bloated with features nobody uses, IM windows are unnecessarily HUGE, it lacks IM logging, etc etc.
This plug-in crap is just going to make things worse. After trying the new Windows AIM version, I quickly went back to 4.7... and it'll take a BIG CHANGE before I look at upgrading ever again.
(As a role-model, look at what RealPlayer has done in their latest version. They finally figured out that people hate the crap, removed a good portion of it and, hey, I have it installed once more-- and this is a person who once said they'd never install RealPlayer again a few years ago.)
Hah! If you think the change from Windows 95 to Windows XP has been bad, you should have been in Mac-land and experienced the change from System 7 to OS X 10.3. In comparison to MacOS, Windows has been rock solid stable, interface-wise.
Of course the problem as I see it is that Windows' interface is getting better, or at least Microsoft is innovating more, and MacOS' interface is just getting more annoying. Apple seems to be throwing all their interface research they did for the original MacOS out the window while working on OS X... it's sad.
Take a look at Apple's OpenFirmware. There might not be any development on the x86 side of things, but Apple has done a lot of work, and OpenFirmware has a lot of nifty features.
That said, about the only feature of it I've used is the "target disk mode" which basically converts your laptop into a portable Firewire HD. But that's still a lot more than you can do with any x86 BIOS I've seen.
Remote Desktop is obvious-- it logs you out when somebody connects remotely. VNC and PC Anywhere don't do that, so it's much harder to detect when somebody might be viewing your screen remotely.
In addition, Remote Desktop requires knowing the username and password of the account you're snooping on. VNC and PC Anywhere allow you to set a different username/password to connect to unrelated to the Windows username/password.
I'd say that Microsoft Anti-Spyware is making a valid detection on that one.
Do you honestly think that CmdrTaco actually checks other news sites before posting blatent frauds like this? Or at all, for that mattrt?
Hell, if he checked other news sites, you'd think after a few years he might pick up on one or two journalistic principles.
I have no problem with the Linux/open source community, but it has to stop picking complete morons as its representatives. There's CmdrTaco, the anti-newsman, there's Illiad, writer of the worst comic ever concieved... it's sad.
Slashdot Mirror
New posting technique to earn karma:
Post something that's entirely nonsense, but open-enough to interpretation that moderators will go "hmm, I'm not sure what it means, but he must have a point to make here..."
I would argue User Friendly has never been good. Especially his sunday "political cartoons" which either 1) are confusing, 2) are stupid, 3) are about something nobody gives a crap about. Usually some combination of the three. Plus, come on! How do you draw a webcomic for that many years and not gain ANY kind of artistic talent whatsoever? The comic published today looks just as shitty as the comics posted from 1998. Anyway.
Let's be fair here.
State-run liquor stores are in a LOT of states, and some states have much worse prohibitions in effect. At least you can buy beer and wine at the grocery store 24/7/365... in some places, you can't.
Gay rights bills didn't pass *anywhere* in the US. Washington is no exception to the rule here.
The federal government screwed up in the first place when they created Washington and Oregon. The divide should have been north/south along the Cascade Mountains with one state being on the western half and the other being on the eastern half. The way it works now, west of the Cascades is the "Pacific Coast" way of life... if you're east of them, you're basically in the Mid-West. These two cultures don't mesh well, this is coming from a person who's lived in both places. (Not that I agree with dividing Washington into two states-- not unless it was combined with Oregon in the way I outlined above.)
I do agree with some of your points, but you need to realize that Washington, law-wise, is very similar to the rest of the nation. The sky isn't falling.
Besides, I think a bigger problem to worry about is our insane population growth rates (hey Californians, STAY IN CALIFORNIA! We don't have the infrastructure for you! We don't like the way you drive! Go away!)
There's Microsoft, there's Nintendo of America, there's PopCap (not a huge company, but fun games), there's a new Sony Online Entertainment studio... there's a ton of game development going on in the Emerald City not related to Microsoft.
1) Blizzard, Bungie and id are game companies that are all really good at this process and rarely, if ever, produce products that need patches right away. (Although all three companies will patch subtle errors that appear along the way later on, which is exactly what patches are supposed to be used for.) Microsoft Games tends to have, IMO, much better quality control for published games than most companies. (Especially Atari.)
2) That said, I love Blizzard to death for making a Macintosh port of World of Warcraft from the get-go instead of (like Everquest did) three years late and segregated on their own servers. But, the Macintosh WOW client is buggy as crap... it crashes about once an hour. Even good companies can screw up.
But you're a world-class game designer and you've never even shipped a working game! Doesn't that mean that there are thousands of thousands of world-class game designers out there?
Find the British rap group The Streets. Rap for people who don't really like rap. Seriously, it's good stuff.
The one in Bellevue, WA is excellent. Was it an actual Apple Store, or some licensed Apple Retailer? The entire reason the Apple Stores exist is because the licensed retailers were doing such a crappy job it was hurting Apple's reputation.
Meatwad: Master Shake told me to go in the freezer, because there was a carnival in there. There was no carnival, it was a damn freezer. I got freezer burn, and I got mushed up against that chicken.
Inignot: Our god is a god of vengeance. A god of hate.
Err: A god of action.
Inignot: Our god is an Indian who can turn into a wolf and...
Err: Dude, that's Wolfen.
Inignot: Yes, well Wolfen will come after you, with his razor.
Frylock: What are these spikes, these spikes all over your body? I mean, surely they have a purpose.
Emory: What spikes?
Oglethorpe: Oh, these? No no no, these are not spikes; they are pointy arms.
Emory: We squirt soap out of them, and that's how we keep the ship so clean. See?
[does so]
Frylock: That's soap? Well, it kind of smells like waste.
Emory: Well, one man's waste is another man's... soap.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0297494/quotes
Haha, best dialog ever.
The problem isn't Apple, it's online stores. Go to the Apple Store and talk to the people there... at least the ones near me, everybody in the store is knowledgable, friendly, and willing to make you as a customer happy. In addition, they aren't paid on comission so you can be sure that they probably wouldn't have let you walk out of the store with software you couldn't use.
In any case, almost all online stores have shitty customer service, ESPECIALLY with returns. You should know this by now. Amazon is successful because their friendly operators are the exception, not the rule. Next time you buy Apple, go to a Apple Store and see how you fare.
In some states, it's illegal for a store to take a return on an opened media product. (CD, DVD, Software, etc.) It's possible that the Apple Store *could not* take it back, or they would be violating state law.
In any case, you ALWAYS check the system requirements before buying a piece of software. Duh! I don't have much sympathy.
1. AOL runs the servers, which I use for free every day, I don't mind seeing ads, especially small and inoffensive ones-- I have the Buddy List window hidden 95% of the time anyway. I'm not one of those freakish Slashdot people who act like seeing an advertisement will cause their brain to boil over and explode and avoid them at all costs.
In fact, I would argue that it's immoral to use AOL's network without following their rules (i.e. use only the TOC protocol or the official client) and I like icons and file transfers, which the TOC protocol doesn't do. (Most of the alternatives I've used implement the OSCAR protocol via reverse engineering without receiving permission from AOL first. If your Adium does that, it's out of the running as far as I'm concerned.)
2. AOL's is the ONLY AIM client that will speak IMs out loud using text-to-speech. It's done it since version, what, 2.0? and for some reason none of the imitators have added in this extremely useful feature. Maybe the interface isn't ideal, but it works and it is a ton better than the Windows version, which was my original point.
3. What do I care? I only use AIM, and all my buddies only use AIM. I *do* use text-to-speech, I *don't* need support for 16 different IM protocols I never use.
Here's the results
TOC doesn't support file transfers or icons, but as far as getting the buddy list and sending IMs it works fine. And AOL released it for free years ago.
Yes, but Arbiter kicks ass. That's almost enough to make up for the abrupt ending.
SpecOps Leader: This armour suits you, Arbiter. But it cannot hide that mark.
Arbiter: Nothing ever will.
SpecOps Leader: You are the Arbiter. The will of the Prophets. But these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me, yours does not.
Arbiter: That makes two of us.
SpecOps Leader: Mm.
You're thinking of MSN Messenger. AIM provides the TOC protocol *for free* to any developer who wants to make an AIM-compatible program, and they've done it for years.
Of course a lot of people who have no sense of gratitude don't like using TOC and so they attempt to use OSCAR features which, AOL has said numerous times, are reserved for the official client only. The programs that break the rules and don't play nice are the only ones getting locked out.
Just FYI the Macintosh version has much nicer ads. It doesn't play sound and it has only one small banner ad on the buddy list itself and no ads in the IM windows. If the Windows version were more like the Macintosh version, AIM could reclaim a lot of users from GAIM, DeadAIM, etc.
What they need to do is eat their own dogfood. Install the current AIM version on all the execs computers without unchecking any of the spyware boxes during the install. That'd be interesting.
I do. The third-party clients either have terrible GUIs (Trillian) or crash a lot (all of them.) The only feature I miss on the official AIM client is logging, and Google Search provides that. (The Mac version has logging as an option, I don't know why the PC version doesn't.)
Trillian would rock if it used a normal Windows GUI. I hate that skinning shit and I've yet to see a Trillian skin that didn't look horribly ugly.
Not that the current AIM version is much better, which is why I'm using AIM 4.7. Best balance of features vs. not looking like whale barf.
Make the Windows client like the Mac client. Simple, small, non-bloated, no spyware...
Your Mac client right now is really good, which is strange since Apple covers the same territory with iChat. Your Windows client sucks ass. Even *without* considering the spyware and ad-ware, it's still bloated with features nobody uses, IM windows are unnecessarily HUGE, it lacks IM logging, etc etc.
This plug-in crap is just going to make things worse. After trying the new Windows AIM version, I quickly went back to 4.7... and it'll take a BIG CHANGE before I look at upgrading ever again.
(As a role-model, look at what RealPlayer has done in their latest version. They finally figured out that people hate the crap, removed a good portion of it and, hey, I have it installed once more-- and this is a person who once said they'd never install RealPlayer again a few years ago.)
I don't know. Hell, you didn't capitalize anything in that entire post!
Words or phrases you used that a non-programmer probably does not understand well:
* Subroutine
* Return Address
* Stack
* Local Variables
* Jumps
* Array
* String
* Push
* Allocated
Thank you and goodnight.
Hah! If you think the change from Windows 95 to Windows XP has been bad, you should have been in Mac-land and experienced the change from System 7 to OS X 10.3. In comparison to MacOS, Windows has been rock solid stable, interface-wise.
Of course the problem as I see it is that Windows' interface is getting better, or at least Microsoft is innovating more, and MacOS' interface is just getting more annoying. Apple seems to be throwing all their interface research they did for the original MacOS out the window while working on OS X... it's sad.
Take a look at Apple's OpenFirmware. There might not be any development on the x86 side of things, but Apple has done a lot of work, and OpenFirmware has a lot of nifty features.
That said, about the only feature of it I've used is the "target disk mode" which basically converts your laptop into a portable Firewire HD. But that's still a lot more than you can do with any x86 BIOS I've seen.
Remote Desktop is obvious-- it logs you out when somebody connects remotely. VNC and PC Anywhere don't do that, so it's much harder to detect when somebody might be viewing your screen remotely.
In addition, Remote Desktop requires knowing the username and password of the account you're snooping on. VNC and PC Anywhere allow you to set a different username/password to connect to unrelated to the Windows username/password.
I'd say that Microsoft Anti-Spyware is making a valid detection on that one.
Do you honestly think that CmdrTaco actually checks other news sites before posting blatent frauds like this? Or at all, for that mattrt?
Hell, if he checked other news sites, you'd think after a few years he might pick up on one or two journalistic principles.
I have no problem with the Linux/open source community, but it has to stop picking complete morons as its representatives. There's CmdrTaco, the anti-newsman, there's Illiad, writer of the worst comic ever concieved... it's sad.