the lack of updates for her Win98SE version of Norton Antivirus
Um, then use another one that is still supported? Like AVG or Avast!. Or just run without an anti-virus. If she truly is computer-literate, she shouldn't get viruses, especially on Win98 SE. Provided that she uses a good browser, too, which is the next point...
and for IE--and the increasing number of websites she visits that cause her version of IE to hang or crash
Then why not switch to Firefox? Or SeaMonkey? Or Opera? Or even K-Meleon? Come on!
I would say that actually PCs are getting gimped because the games are always being developed for the newest hardware, so it's a never-ending upgrade cycle.
With game consoles you know the game you bought is going to work as intended, as the hardware is standardised (and they're cheaper to buy, as well). They will keep working as well, unlike with PCs where the newer OS may not support it or be compatible with it in the first place (like Linux).
And you think the huge increase in RAM usage for few useful features is not telling? It sounds like you have accepted the detrimental perpetual upgrade cycle that Microsof loves so dearly.
Windows XP was a major improvement over Windows 95/98
It was a small but notable improvement in stability, but a major leap backwards when it comes to security. Not to mention how resource-hungry the thing is compared to Win9x, and how many annoying things that get in the way are in the system.
I'm surprised people need to be smashed in the face with cruft before they notice it. There was a lot there already in XP. Much could be turned off, but not everything.
Of course, part of why I dislike all that stuff is because I'm a minimalist who can't stand cruft. I still use Windows 95 (OSR 2.5, IE-free). With Windows 98 they integrated IE and its new desktop/shell, which introduced a ton of cruft like Favorites menu, browsing your hard drive as a web page (why?), animated menus, etc. With Windows XP they introduced opacity, fading pop-ups, a Fisher Price theme, etc. Can we please get back to basics?
And this scares me. The Mac isn't really that much better. They change hardware on a whim, phase out older OSs quickly (little backwards-compatibility), and have tons of eye candy. They are quite silent about admitting to having bugs as well. Is this really better? I don't think so.
It wasn't even their idea. Breakpad, formerly airbag, was started by SeaMonkey and Camino people because they couldn't use TalkBack on tinderboxen (building machines) that weren't owned by the Mozilla Foundation, since it's proprietary, etc.
So it kind of angers me that now they're benefitting from it when they didn't do anything for it, and left other projects in the cold when it comes to crash reports from non-trunk versions.
Netscape 7.2 is based on Mozilla 1.7.2. There have been many security and stability updates since then. The latest version is Mozilla 1.7.13.
However, some time after the release of Mozilla 1.7.5, if I remember correctly, it was announced that the Mozilla Foundation would cease development of it. Developers didn't like this, and the SeaMonkey project was born. The latest SeaMonkey is SeaMonkey 1.1.2, equal to the latest Firefox 2 version, as they share the Gecko rendering engine.
I urge you to upgrade to the latest SeaMonkey. You'll find that it's almost exactly the same as Netscape 7. SeaMonkey will find your profile and start using it (same format). Of course, best to back-up your profile folder just in case.
about:config is evidence of feature creep, and hence evidence of Firefox turning into the Mozilla browser.
I see people still believe that groundless propaganda. The Mozilla suite never had feature creep, that's just what some pro-Firefox people exclaimed, without any basis or argument to back it up.
As has been said before, even on Slashdot, it was removed because it didn't work that well. It was decided that it'd be better removed than install a false sense of security/privacy in the user.
Instead do this:
if (pizza type is this)
{
create a pizza object of type this
}
else if(pizza type is that)
{
create a pizza object of type that
}
else if(pizza type is the other)
{
create a pizza object of type the other
}
pizzaObject.Bake();
I agree wholeheartedly. I don't need to be always available. In fact, few people do! Yet the mobile phone has become mainstream.
Sometimes my mom wishes I had a mobile phone so she could call me when she thinks I'm taking a long time to get home. I'll be home soon at that point, there's no need to worry. Most calls you hear while on the bus are also of that nature.
"Hello? Yeah, I'm on the bus."
I've heard it so many times already, complete with annoying/dodgy ring tones. If there's something that comes with a landline phone, it's discipline. You call someone to make an appointment, and then you do your best to get on time. You don't waste time asking where the other person is, and you don't waste time at some place like a shop, knowing that you can stall the appointment for a while because he can call you anyway to ask where you are.
People are always calling and text messaging each other for ridiculous things, and for little chats. Just leave each other alone for a while, sheesh!
According to philosophy, people do this (and the checking up I mentioned previously) because they can't handle space. Space that often separates us.
I proudly don't own a mobile phone, while the rest of the family unfortunately does. Well, except for our rabbit, he doesn't need one either.
Adblock Plus blocks images, Flash, scripts, stylesheets, and maybe more. Basically all external content from the point of view of a page. Blocking the scripts often blocks cookies too.
Myself, I block all cookies and use a white-list. Works great.
Why do floats suck? Why don't they automagically cause their containing box to expand?
Floated elements are outside of the document flow. Hence why they're called floated elements.
Why can I only have one background image per block? Or why can't I specify a bunch of "adjoining" images, so I don't have to make five nested div's every time I want to add a drop shadow?
These are orders for non-essential items, which suggests disposable income that COULD go into a computer upgrades, broad-band connections, etc. for those shoppers, but which have not.
You don't need to upgrade your computer or Internet connection to get a better browser. Even on dial-up, it doesn't take an eternity to download Firefox or Opera.
I still use floppy disks from time to time, and have been for 8 years now. Only a couple months back did a floppy start to contain errors.
Whenever I mention that I still use floppies, I get people hating on it, claiming how unreliable and small it is, etc. I've barely had problems with them. It makes me wonder what people do to their floppies. Many are being careless with their floppies, I'm sure. As for the size, most of the time I don't move big files, so it's not an issue. Most people who need to share massive amounts of data a lot are most likely movie/music pirates.
The CD-ROM isn't a good replacement, as it doesn't work like a HDD. You have to burn and erase them every time, which takes time and is annoying. I gather that this is why Iomega ZIP disks were so popular back in the day.
Now USB Flash memory sticks are used instead. I didn't have one until a couple months back, when a buddy gave me one. They're useful, but I can't help but worry about this read/write limit that people mention, so I use it sparingly.
With this in mind, copying files from/to my laptop (which doesn't have a floppy drive) was a pain until recently.
Slashdot Mirror
Why didn't she consider alternatives?
Um, then use another one that is still supported? Like AVG or Avast!. Or just run without an anti-virus. If she truly is computer-literate, she shouldn't get viruses, especially on Win98 SE. Provided that she uses a good browser, too, which is the next point...
Then why not switch to Firefox? Or SeaMonkey? Or Opera? Or even K-Meleon? Come on!
Word. Not everyone needs the newest things, and not everyone has the same needs. I'm writing this post from my 9-year-old PC. Specs:
Still running Windows 95 OSR 2.5 (IE-free). In contrast to popular belief, it works very well. So I'm not dumping this PC.
You've obviously never seriously tried them.
I would say that actually PCs are getting gimped because the games are always being developed for the newest hardware, so it's a never-ending upgrade cycle.
With game consoles you know the game you bought is going to work as intended, as the hardware is standardised (and they're cheaper to buy, as well). They will keep working as well, unlike with PCs where the newer OS may not support it or be compatible with it in the first place (like Linux).
And you think the huge increase in RAM usage for few useful features is not telling? It sounds like you have accepted the detrimental perpetual upgrade cycle that Microsof loves so dearly.
It was a small but notable improvement in stability, but a major leap backwards when it comes to security. Not to mention how resource-hungry the thing is compared to Win9x, and how many annoying things that get in the way are in the system.
I'm surprised people need to be smashed in the face with cruft before they notice it. There was a lot there already in XP. Much could be turned off, but not everything.
Of course, part of why I dislike all that stuff is because I'm a minimalist who can't stand cruft. I still use Windows 95 (OSR 2.5, IE-free). With Windows 98 they integrated IE and its new desktop/shell, which introduced a ton of cruft like Favorites menu, browsing your hard drive as a web page (why?), animated menus, etc. With Windows XP they introduced opacity, fading pop-ups, a Fisher Price theme, etc. Can we please get back to basics?
And this scares me. The Mac isn't really that much better. They change hardware on a whim, phase out older OSs quickly (little backwards-compatibility), and have tons of eye candy. They are quite silent about admitting to having bugs as well. Is this really better? I don't think so.
That's where unofficial support comes in.
No. This is a common misconception that until recently I also believed.
It wasn't even their idea. Breakpad, formerly airbag, was started by SeaMonkey and Camino people because they couldn't use TalkBack on tinderboxen (building machines) that weren't owned by the Mozilla Foundation, since it's proprietary, etc.
So it kind of angers me that now they're benefitting from it when they didn't do anything for it, and left other projects in the cold when it comes to crash reports from non-trunk versions.
Netscape 7.2 is based on Mozilla 1.7.2. There have been many security and stability updates since then. The latest version is Mozilla 1.7.13.
However, some time after the release of Mozilla 1.7.5, if I remember correctly, it was announced that the Mozilla Foundation would cease development of it. Developers didn't like this, and the SeaMonkey project was born. The latest SeaMonkey is SeaMonkey 1.1.2, equal to the latest Firefox 2 version, as they share the Gecko rendering engine.
I urge you to upgrade to the latest SeaMonkey. You'll find that it's almost exactly the same as Netscape 7. SeaMonkey will find your profile and start using it (same format). Of course, best to back-up your profile folder just in case.
All the Netscapes since Netscape 6.0 have been Mozilla knock-offs.
I see people still believe that groundless propaganda. The Mozilla suite never had feature creep, that's just what some pro-Firefox people exclaimed, without any basis or argument to back it up.
Please knock it off already.
As has been said before, even on Slashdot, it was removed because it didn't work that well. It was decided that it'd be better removed than install a false sense of security/privacy in the user.
http://www.mozillazine.org/about/
I would use a switch there instead. Much clearer.
Still not as good as Win95 and Win98, where there are NO open ports (except maybe for NetBIOS on Win98).
Windows is actually getting less secure! Vista: 60 services!
I agree wholeheartedly. I don't need to be always available. In fact, few people do! Yet the mobile phone has become mainstream.
Sometimes my mom wishes I had a mobile phone so she could call me when she thinks I'm taking a long time to get home. I'll be home soon at that point, there's no need to worry. Most calls you hear while on the bus are also of that nature.
"Hello? Yeah, I'm on the bus."
I've heard it so many times already, complete with annoying/dodgy ring tones. If there's something that comes with a landline phone, it's discipline. You call someone to make an appointment, and then you do your best to get on time. You don't waste time asking where the other person is, and you don't waste time at some place like a shop, knowing that you can stall the appointment for a while because he can call you anyway to ask where you are.
People are always calling and text messaging each other for ridiculous things, and for little chats. Just leave each other alone for a while, sheesh!
According to philosophy, people do this (and the checking up I mentioned previously) because they can't handle space. Space that often separates us.
I proudly don't own a mobile phone, while the rest of the family unfortunately does. Well, except for our rabbit, he doesn't need one either.
That doesn't stop Spyglass Mosaic from being related to NSCA Mosaic, though. It does make sense.
Amen. It's quite silly that I sometimes can't enter a site because a cookie is required to remember the language I chose on the first page.
Adblock Plus blocks images, Flash, scripts, stylesheets, and maybe more. Basically all external content from the point of view of a page. Blocking the scripts often blocks cookies too.
Myself, I block all cookies and use a white-list. Works great.
I can answer a couple of your questions.
Floated elements are outside of the document flow. Hence why they're called floated elements.
Image borders are coming in CSS3.
Have you taken a look at the XHTML 2.0 spec yet? It doesn't make sense. For one thing, a href attribute on every tag? WTF?!
You don't need to upgrade your computer or Internet connection to get a better browser. Even on dial-up, it doesn't take an eternity to download Firefox or Opera.
I still use floppy disks from time to time, and have been for 8 years now. Only a couple months back did a floppy start to contain errors.
Whenever I mention that I still use floppies, I get people hating on it, claiming how unreliable and small it is, etc. I've barely had problems with them. It makes me wonder what people do to their floppies. Many are being careless with their floppies, I'm sure. As for the size, most of the time I don't move big files, so it's not an issue. Most people who need to share massive amounts of data a lot are most likely movie/music pirates.
The CD-ROM isn't a good replacement, as it doesn't work like a HDD. You have to burn and erase them every time, which takes time and is annoying. I gather that this is why Iomega ZIP disks were so popular back in the day.
Now USB Flash memory sticks are used instead. I didn't have one until a couple months back, when a buddy gave me one. They're useful, but I can't help but worry about this read/write limit that people mention, so I use it sparingly.
With this in mind, copying files from/to my laptop (which doesn't have a floppy drive) was a pain until recently.
You don't need a tweak to fix the broken box model in IE6. Using a proper DOCTYPE is enough.