Comment Still more secure than most school systems (Score 2, Insightful) 244
I bet most of us could read everyone else's email at school...
"Going Google" Exposes Students' Email 244
A ReadWriteWeb piece up on the NY Times site explores the recent glitch during the move of a number of colleges onto Google's email service that allowed a number of students to see each others' inboxes for a period of more than three days. Google would not give exact numbers, but the article concludes that about 10 schools were affected. "While the glitch itself was minor and was fixed in a few days, the real concern — at least at Brown — was with how Google handled the situation. Without communicating to the internal IT department, Google shut down the affected accounts, a decision which led to a heated conversation between school officials and the Google account representative. In the end, only 22 out of the 200 students were affected, but the fix was not put into place until Tuesday. ... The students had access to each other's email accounts for three solid days... before the accounts were suspended by Google. Oddly enough, this situation seems to be acceptable [to Brown's IT manager, who] 'praised Google for its prompt response.' (We don't know about you, but if someone else could read our email for three days, we wouldn't exactly call that 'prompt.')"
Comment A University Degree is over-rated (Score 1) 165
I recently read an article which compared the lifetime earnings of someone who earns an average amount with a high school degree versus someone who earns an average amount with a Bachelors degree. The conclusion was that when one factors in lost earnings and student loans, the person who got a job right out of high school will do better on average than someone who gets a Bachelors degree.
Forkable Linux Radio Ad Now On the Air In Texas 366
christian.einfeldt writes "Everyone is familiar with the Linux video ads created by IBM, Red Hat, and Novell, but until recently, there have not been any professionally backed forkable radio ads. Now, Austin-based Linux advocate Ken Starks has obtained the services of a professional radio talent in creating a high quality voice track, which can easily be adapted by local providers of Linux computer services. The raw material (mp3, ogg) addresses end-user frustration with Microsoft Windows malware, and promotes Linux as a more stable alternative. Starks hopes the raw material will seed pro-Linux ads across the US, and he offers his own final product as an example of how the raw material can be remixed with music. He has released all of the raw material and final work under the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, and has waived the Attribution requirement in his blog. Starks's provocative ad is currently on the air in the Austin market during the popular talk show of Kim Komando, who just happens to be a Microsoft Windows enthusiast."
Comment What if I don't WANT this? (Score 1) 172
Am I supposed to hide my face in public if I don't want advertising targeted to me? Oh, wait, in most places you get arrested for hiding your face! Where is my choice? Am I supposed to stay home to avoid it? I don't like this and don't want this -- and I don't think I'm alone in this.
Comment Re:You're going to embarass yourself (Score 1) 172
OK, so what basis do you possibly have to think that consumerism has decreased, or for that matter, marketing-driven spending?
Well, there's this recession going on... not that it's related, but I'd definately call it a decrease in "consumerism" and "marketing-driven spending".
Comment Re:Bull (Score 1) 414
Ok, I'm making one argument. In no real context. Make of it what you will and work out the rest of the arguments yourselves.
A lot of music IS really expensive. I already named symphonies as an example. In other cases, studio musicians are needed, that have trained for years and years, and only play in the studio, and need to get by playing that kind of thing. Or are you, on principle, against people making a living off of studio work? There is honest-to-goodness music out there that simply cannot be played without professionals. If anybody here likes jazz, he can hopefully recognize the amount of time needed to make one functional player. And that player is likely to HAVE to devote his or her life to it because that music is hard.
Studio production - good studio production - also takes time and CAN be expensive. Especially when many people are involved. Seriously, just because some people have been able to make music cheap in their bedrooms, don't start thinking that's all there is to music. And that that's ADEQUATE for music as a whole.
Like I said, I'm not making any other arguments. Just that making music is NOT CHEAP.
A lot of music IS really expensive. I already named symphonies as an example. In other cases, studio musicians are needed, that have trained for years and years, and only play in the studio, and need to get by playing that kind of thing. Or are you, on principle, against people making a living off of studio work? There is honest-to-goodness music out there that simply cannot be played without professionals. If anybody here likes jazz, he can hopefully recognize the amount of time needed to make one functional player. And that player is likely to HAVE to devote his or her life to it because that music is hard.
Studio production - good studio production - also takes time and CAN be expensive. Especially when many people are involved. Seriously, just because some people have been able to make music cheap in their bedrooms, don't start thinking that's all there is to music. And that that's ADEQUATE for music as a whole.
Like I said, I'm not making any other arguments. Just that making music is NOT CHEAP.
Comment People were impressed by this 10 years ago (Score 1) 227
... and nothing came of it. Exhibit A
If this impresses you now, I suggest you delete all your stock bookmarks and go back to school.
And the fact that this guy is using the term WebOS which has been coined most recently by Palm* tells me he is either careless with his terms, doesn't care, or thinks he coined the phrase first**... all which put him in the LOSE column.
*It is official if they wikipedia it first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS
** Hyperoffice acquired WebOS.com back in 2000/2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperoffice
Comment Re:Human-level AI? How boriiiiiiing. (Score 1) 903
I should have made it clear I was primarily referring back to to the original poll question that was supposedly motivating the discussion and to the specific option of "Human-level AI" that was so strongly favored.
I still recommend the book as something of a classic of comic SF. Sort of serious and witty technical humor, not absurdist. Hmmm... No, I guess it can't be connected to the devolution of
Has the WebOS Finally Arrived? 227
SphereOfInfluence writes "Dion Hinchcliffe over on ZDNet declared in a new post that the Web OS has finally arrived and that businesses and IT departments must adjust to the fact that everything's starting to move to the cloud. He cites John Hagel's so-called big business shifts of the 21st century and claims cloud computing, crowdsourcing, open APIs, Software-as-a-Service are the future of the workplace. He goes on to present a compelling visual model of the Web OS circa 2009 and examples to back up some of the statements."
Comment Re:Sign me up... (Score 1) 681
Replying to my own post. Looks like I should practice what I preach. For Linux/Windows/OSX please read BSD/Linux/Windows/OSX/${OTHER_OS}
Comment Re:Sign me up... (Score 3, Insightful) 681
Ignoring them doesn't work because they feed off of each other, leading to some enormous threads with very little content beyond "{insert object of affection here} FTW!" What seems to put a stop to them is that rare beast, the highly gratifying post that looks at both sides of the free/proprietary issue objectively, examining the true reasons for the current state of software, i.e. all software sucks, usually an edifying read that immediately rings true to all but the most fanatical and blinkered supporter of one camp or the other.
For example, a true Linux user is never going to be happy with the system, in the same way an objective Windows user is going to find flaws and niggles each and every day and can probably be found reading others' experiences and nodding sagely at the sorry state of whatever bit of software has caused regressions. Being able to discuss these flaws logically without exaggeration and hyperbole marks the intelligent and encourages continuous improvement. I know my own system of choice has huge flaws at present - Java is a complete mess and the new lockd seems to be incompatible with the last iteration causing headaches between 7 and 8 in NFS environments, two major issues off the top of my head from my own testing and there will be more.
What encourages the fanpersons is arguments between obviously sane, sensible and intelligent people who can be objective but have fallen into the trap of becoming defensive over a single issue, such as opening with an unnecessary dig at the zealots which only serves to stir them up. Perhaps the answer is to be a bit more selective in choosing enemies, don't poke those that you have already identified with a stick at every opportunity and be a little more tolerant of those who just may be capable of objective thought?
Oh, and who modded the parent flamebait? Can you honestly say that there are no people using Slashdot's comments just to fan the flames as the parent hints? Can you even honestly think for one moment that there isn't a solid core of Linux/Windows/OSX users for whom the operating system is more important than the facilities it provides and who will hear not a bad word against the object of their affections or who feel superior to those who disagree with their choices? Please, let's have a dose of reality here for a moment.
For example, a true Linux user is never going to be happy with the system, in the same way an objective Windows user is going to find flaws and niggles each and every day and can probably be found reading others' experiences and nodding sagely at the sorry state of whatever bit of software has caused regressions. Being able to discuss these flaws logically without exaggeration and hyperbole marks the intelligent and encourages continuous improvement. I know my own system of choice has huge flaws at present - Java is a complete mess and the new lockd seems to be incompatible with the last iteration causing headaches between 7 and 8 in NFS environments, two major issues off the top of my head from my own testing and there will be more.
What encourages the fanpersons is arguments between obviously sane, sensible and intelligent people who can be objective but have fallen into the trap of becoming defensive over a single issue, such as opening with an unnecessary dig at the zealots which only serves to stir them up. Perhaps the answer is to be a bit more selective in choosing enemies, don't poke those that you have already identified with a stick at every opportunity and be a little more tolerant of those who just may be capable of objective thought?
Oh, and who modded the parent flamebait? Can you honestly say that there are no people using Slashdot's comments just to fan the flames as the parent hints? Can you even honestly think for one moment that there isn't a solid core of Linux/Windows/OSX users for whom the operating system is more important than the facilities it provides and who will hear not a bad word against the object of their affections or who feel superior to those who disagree with their choices? Please, let's have a dose of reality here for a moment.
Comment Lusers and education (Score 1) 139
Symantec, the largest maker of antivirus software
That, right there, just shows how very, very far users are from being educated...
Comment Re:QOTD (Score 1) 703
We do. And you know what? If it keeps the likes of Murdoch unhappy, I'll happily pay it again. There's a rumour doing the rounds that his BSkyB media company is trying to lure the ITV (the other PSB network that used to be made up of regional broadcasters) secondary channels away from the Freeview and Freesat networks. I shudder to think what other plans he has to lock broadcasting up under his own control, but he needs stopping, and fast.
Comment Re:how much is it? (Score 1) 484
The reason for this is that mobile phone manufacturers have agreed to standardise on micro-USB for charging. Sure, it means you'll need another cable now, but it means you'll never have to worry about having the wrong charger again.
