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Comment Mint (Score 5, Informative) 303

Mint has become the leader for home/desktop users. The Ubuntu base lends stability compatibility, while the more complete out-of-the-box experience and homegrown tools Mint offers make it a no-brainer (although I personally use Mint's Debian-based distro). For enterprise use I'd probably stick with RHEL, and perhaps CentOS for in between needs, but Mint just works so well that it has become a truly viable Windows replacement for many tinkerers and average, average people, and those who prefer not to support MS for whatever reason.
Bug

Ask Slashdot: Dealing With an Unresponsive Manufacturer Who Doesn't Fix Bugs? 204

moofo writes: I've had huge problems with a security appliance since its installation. Specifically, the VPN SSL client is causing a problem for the majority of my remote clients. The company acknowledged the bug, but they are jerking me around, and no resolution is in sight. I tried third-party clients, but I'm wary of using them since they are not distributed by the manufacturer, and they require some maintenance to keep working properly.

I also talked to various executives at the company and besides giving me apologies, nothing good is coming my way. It's been more than two years (on a three-year subscription that I can't terminate early), and this is continually causing me trouble and aggravation. It also makes my internal customers unhappy. How do you deal with a manufacturer who doesn't fix bugs in a reasonable time frame?
Education

Is It Time To Throw Out the College Application System? 389

An anonymous reader points out this opinion piece by professor Adam Grant that questions how useful the current college application system is and suggests some alternate methods to gather information about candidates. The college admissions system is broken. When students submit applications, colleges learn a great deal about their competence from grades and test scores, but remain in the dark about their creativity and character. Essays, recommendation letters and alumni interviews provide incomplete information about students' values, social and emotional skills, and capacities for developing and discovering new ideas. This leaves many colleges favoring achievement robots who excel at the memorization of rote knowledge, and overlooking talented C students. Those with less than perfect grades might go on to dream up blockbuster films like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg or become entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs.
Microsoft

Test Version Windows 10 Includes Keylogger 367

wabrandsma writes From WinBeta: "One of the more interesting bits of data the company is collecting is text entered. Some are calling this a keylogger within the Windows 10 Technical Preview, which isn't good news. Taking a closer look at the Privacy Policy for the Windows Insider Program, it looks like Microsoft may be collecting a lot more feedback from you behind the scenes. Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage." This isn't the only thing Microsoft is collecting from Insider Program participants. According to the Privacy Policy, the company is collecting things like text inputted into the operating system, the details of any/all files on your system, voice input and program information.
Media

Redbox Streaming Service To Shut Down October 7th 64

An anonymous reader writes: Redbox, the company behind the giant red boxes at malls and grocery stores that dispense DVD and game rentals, partnered with Verizon in 2013 to launch a video streaming service to compete with Netflix. This naturally led to accusations that Verizon was throttling Netflix to tilt the scales in favor of Redbox. Well, as of Tuesday, they're packing it in. Redbox's streaming service will shut down at the end of the day on October 7th. They'll be refunding all current customers, though that number took a hit over the past several months as a credit card fraud problem caused Redbox to shut down their billing servers. This meant no new customers could sign up, and existing customers couldn't renew their subscriptions.
Windows

Microsoft Announces Windows 10 644

Today at a press conference in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the new version of their flagship operating system, called Windows 10. (Yes, t-e-n. I don't know.) With the new version of the operating system, they'll be unifying the application platform for all devices: desktops, laptops, consoles, tablets, and phones. As early leaks showed, the Start Menu is back — it's a hybrid of old and new, combining a list of applications with a small group of resizable tiles that can include widgets. Metro-style apps can now each operate inside their own window (video). There's a new, multiple-desktop feature, which power users have been demanding for years, and also a feature that lets users easily grab objects from one desktop and transfer it to another. The command line is even getting some love. The Technical Preview builds for desktops and laptops will be available tomorrow through the Windows Insider Program. They're requesting feedback from customers. Windows 10 will launch in late 2015.

Comment Re: So what? (Score 1) 201

In the end a French Warship was sold to Russian's. It probably fires white flags from the cannon, and the missile tubes are firework launchers for the new victors.

No, it doesn't fire white flags from the cannons or fireworks from the missile tubes - because it doesn't have missile tubes, and the sails double as white flags.

Comment Re:So what? (Score 1) 201

So we just keep going back and forth, as one party screws everything up, they lose, then the other has a turn at screwing everything up, until they lose control. Great system there, with two similar parties that refuse to ever make useful compromises, and with no alternative or coalitions to bring sanity to Washington. Makes me wonder... not which side is right, but how they have together gained such a strangle hold on American politics without ever accomplishing much (or not much anymore, anyway). Good job Americans, now you've given your two measly parties so much power that they're less likely than ever to listen to reason or allow anyone not aligned with one of them to do anything.

Comment Re:MAD (Score 1) 342

Correction, MAD has prevented WWIII, so far. Maybe the period between WWII and what will develop into something known later as WWIII is much longer than expected. What if Hitler's mayhem were eclipsed? Is there a country with sizable military might (including tactical nukes) that is willing to use every tool in the shed? The Soviet Union was not that adversary, thankfully. No, not North Korea. Could China be taken by storm by a new charismatic national and cultural leader, who takes a more aggressive stance? Maybe Putin suddenly loses his mind or a successor becomes desperate or calls our perceived bluff.

I can't see either terrorists or nations without a country gaining enough leverage to start a global war before cooler heads can prevail, but who is to say that now-secure and predictable weapons will never fall into the hands of corrupt factions of a legitimate government, or that an unexpected military coup could never be successful anywhere? I hope you turn out to be right that MAD prevented WWIII (for good), but the future is long, and is really just history that hasn't happened yet. The best we can do to protect ourselves is to eliminate as many threats as possible, by whatever appropriate means, and to nullify most of the rest with the ability to destroy an entire country and devastate whole regions if we are tested.

If you acknowledge that there will always be a top dog and a struggle to be number one, do you want to take any chance of losing alpha status? The nuclear genie is out of the lamp, so as much as I hate to say this, we have to maintain our military superiority, and that means keeping our nuclear arsenal ready and usable, able to target nearly any point on earth at a moment's notice, and enough to obliterate any attacker. Maybe I sound like the computer from War Games (maybe I amthe computer from War Games), but having the nukes to dissuade any attacker seems like a good idea to me. Nukes aren't going away, sadly, so you're either dominant or your security is at risk.

Comment Re:SSRI effect times... (Score 1) 138

This is no secret to anyone who has popped one of his GF's Lexapro pills to last longer in the sack with said GF a few hours later.

SSRIs are well known to cause sexual dysfunction in males (some SSRIs and some males more than others), but this is the first I've heard about escitalopram increasing sexual stamina. As such, I wouldn't rule out a placebo effect, especially since so many factors can affect libido.

Comment Re:Study subject not depressive (Score 4, Insightful) 138

Because our understanding of how SSRIs operate on the most basic level is still very poor, and the research in question has found some clues about how to proceed. It makes sense to eliminate the variable of serious mood disorders, since the mechanisms behind them are poorly understand and differential diagnoses are a huge problem. Before fixing your car that runs rough you have to have some idea of how it works and what your tools do, and that's what this study was about. Hopefully some day soon we'll have a more thorough understanding of depression and similar ailments, as well as why some drugs help some people, but we are a long way off.

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