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Submission + - Poor Usability of Slashdot

Submitted by Spartacus-Austin
Spartacus-Austin writes: How about doing a story on the poor usability of Slashdot?

First, if a user has a question who does he/she contact? There is no "Contact Us" on Slashdot.

Second, is it possible to set a view in Slashdot where I do not have to click a hundred times if I want to see every comment in a story? I want to see a "chronological expanded" view. Just show me each comment in full in the order it was entered with multiple pages if there are extensive comments. Doesn't that seem like the simplest and best way to view a discussion?

It seems like the engineers who created Slashdot over engineered the system and totally fracked up the usability in the process.
BSD

Submission + - openbsd 4.6 released

Submitted by
pgilman
pgilman writes: "the release of openbsd 4.6 was announced today. highlights of the new release include a new privilege-separated smtpd, numerous improvements to packet filtering, software RAID, routing daemons, and the tcp stack, a new installer, and lots more too. grab a cd set or download from a mirror, and please support the project (which also brings you openssh and lots of other great free software) if you can."
Red Hat Software

Submission + - RedHat sponsors webcast unaccesible to Linux users 1

Submitted by ai_ja_nai
ai_ja_nai writes: SearchEnterpriseLinux.com offers various webcasts on system administration topics. This time, RedHat gifted us with a nice webcast on 'server sprawl'. Too bad that the os required to view the webcast is Windows or Mac (http://go.techtarget.com/r/9533426/7826622/3)! Clicking on "Test your system", actually, returns you a complaint message about the "unoptimality of your system on webcast viewing". Doh!

Submission + - Are Software Developers Naturally Weird?

Submitted by jammag
jammag writes: Well, c'mon, yes — let's admit it. As a veteran coder discusses as he looks at his career, software development is swelled with the offbeat, the quirky and the downright odd. As he remembers, there was the 'Software Lyrics' guy and the 'Inappropriate Phone Call' programmer, among others. Are unique types drawn to the profession or, are we 'transformed over time by our darkened working environments and exposure to computer screen radiation.'?

Submission + - Mozilla blocks WPF & .NET Framework Add-Ins (mozilla.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla has blocked the Microsoft WPF Plug-In & .NET Framework add-in. Firefox users on Windows will start seeing these blocked completely by the browser as of Saturday.

Submission + - IMMDb Turns 19 (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by emeraldd
emeraldd writes: I'd say this is a birthday worth remembering:
"If you load up the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) today, you'll see a new logo commemorating its 19th birthday. Yes, that's really old for the Internet. Google, by comparison, is 11. Meanwhile, Yahoo is 14. IMDb is so old in fact, that is pre-dates the first web browsers."

Submission + - Is New York city the world's largest hick town?

Submitted by
Savior_on_a_Stick
Savior_on_a_Stick writes: "I've been wrestling with putting new office and work spaces online in that city, and I swear it is the most backward assed place on the planet.

You would think a property manager in NYC would be able to tell prospective business tenants what broadband connection options are available.

Most cannot respond with anything beyond dumb looks.

Those that respond at all just tell you, "oh, everyone uses Time Warner."

And in a huge number of buildings, that really IS the only option.
Because they've entered into monopolistic deals that bundle all data entries through a mux, tenants can't get dsl.
The only option is a T1, and in NYC, even that takes a month.

No one in NYC seems to have any freaking clue that a world even exists outside their little 12 square block rat warren, and has no interest anyway.

I am firmly convinced now that the only vitality and innovation and life in NYC is from out of towners attracted by money.

The locals seem just a bit slow and thick.

I tried to line up some standby IT services — people to do things requiring a physical presence since I'm not based in NYC, but every company I contacted sounded like they had the village idiot answering the phone.

I concluded I'd be better off using my own people, even with no technical background, they are head and shoulders above these dim bulbs.

WTF happened to New York?

Have the maggots finally consumed the whole thing?"
Linux

Submission + - Will Linux ever become a popular choice? (thepcreport.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We’re all sick of hearing the question “is Linux ready for the desktop?”. This has been asked for years, debated for years, and basically not much has changed for years. It’s time for the question to be improved to “will Linux ever become a popular choice?”.
The reality is that Linux has a poor market share, and something needs to change.

Comment Re:are our brains leaking out of our heads? (Score 1) 286

by jonwil (#29701769) Attached to: Is Valve's Steam Anti-Competitive?

More and more games are using newer DRM (e.g. newer versions of Securom) that lock the game to your hardware instead of requiring the CD (e.g. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 has such DRM).

The benefit to the publisher with this is that they can produce one version of the game for both digital sale and retail stores and from there only one set of patches.

Comment They might patent it, but they won't use it (Score 1) 118

by mark-t (#29701591) Attached to: Microsoft Moves To Patent Time-Based Software Licensing
Considering their software is installed, by default, on a significant percentage of new computers sold every day, after whatever time the license lasts elapses, the volume of complaints that people's computers no longer work correctly would skyrocket beyond any numbers that we've seen previously.
Earth

Submission + - New Type of Cloud Discovered (wired.com) 3

Submitted by phantomfive
phantomfive writes: In Iowa and Scotland there are reports of a type of cloud not yet recognized by the World Meteorological Foundation. It seems the cloud does not match any of the clouds in the International Cloud Atlas, and thus there is a campaign underway to have it included. Some have said the clouds look like armageddon has arrived. For me, writing clouds all these times makes me want to eat cotton candy.
Space

Submission + - ISS science report released (nasa.gov)

Submitted by Earthquake Retrofit
Earthquake Retrofit writes: NASA has released an extensive report on science results from experiments performed on the International Space Station. From the summary:

"One of the most compelling results reported is the confirmation that the ability of common germs to cause disease increases during spaceflight, but that changing the growth environment of the bacteria can control this virulence. The Effect of Spaceflight on Microbial Gene Expression and Virulence experiment identified increased virulence of space-flown Salmonella typhimurium, a leading cause of food poisoning. New research on subsequent station missions will target development of a vaccine for this widespread malady."

I can't tell if this is good news, bad or both.

Also from a quick look at the report (http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/389388main_ISS%20Science%20Report_20090030907.pdf), I see that soybeans grow bigger in space with no harmful effect.

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