Flash still sucks on ubuntu compared to on Windows. Blame Adobe for that one.

But your complaint is totally valid and I've noticed the same thing on just about every release since Edgy. Part of the problem is video drivers -- laptop ones being particularly crufty. And then somewhere along the way, ubuntu (well, Kubuntu at least) got compositing video by default, which is great if your video chipset is beefy and well supported. Not so much if it isn't. About the best thing you can do is try to find a better video driver, and/or disable desktop effects and compositing.

Yeah, but at that point, its not really the external HD that is failing to work, now is it? That your firewire port on a creative card doesn't work, well thats a lot more believable. I hope you can see the difference and why your bluff was called. I've had mixed luck with getting creative cards to do anything besides generic ALSA sound, so it probably still doesn't work :-)

That said, I can speak from experience that with Ubuntu, modern driver support has gotten a hell of a lot better over the years, and a LOT of stuff does just work out of the box. Stuff that doesn't tends to be the same stuff you need to specifically install a driver for in Windows. This does vary pretty wildly amongst the different distributions, so that does genuinely suck.

I think its because it does something like this during the process:

• Copy C:\Users\* -> C:\temp\
• Delete C:\Users\*
• Copy Installer:\Users\* -> C:\Users\
• Copy C:\temp\* -> C:\Users\

Ditto for Program Files and other stuff. Though, thats a dumb way to do it if thats what is in fact going on. It would seem easier to simply modify the file allocation table to temporarily modify directory structure instead of physically moving bits around on the disk.

Too objectively? No man, this is Slashdot. Consider the audience :-)

I think your parent poster was insinuating that the emotion of love is due largely to a chemical response in the body. If thats the case, would it not be reasonable to expect that other species may exhibit that trait? I'd hypothesize that any species that mate for life probably have very similar distinct chemical response towards their mate. I'm actually curious if there has been any study into this. The results would be interesting either way.

That aside, I am afraid that your explanation only explains part of "love," otherwise people wouldn't still be in love after raising children or not being able to have children.

Not necessarily. If "love" is an evolved survival trait, why would it even turn off? Why can octogenarians still father children? Why does a sterile person still desire sex? Probably because a strong family produces more successful offspring. </talkingoutmyass>

I actually saw a show that featured this technology earlier today. I think it was on the Science Channel or Discovery Channel, wasn't really paying attention. Attention Deficit FTL.

Anyway, I got the impression that the lens would communicate via radio frequency and presumably get its power the same way. They didn't really go into much technical detail on that, so I may be assuming too much. Tech like this would be beyond cool if they get it to work, but honestly I was left with the impression that its not a particularly viable way to get your HUD overlay... Personally I think we'd have a better chance of getting that functionality by interfacing directly with the optic nerve or brain.

Then again, I'm not an engineer nor a neurologist, so I probably don't understand the respective challenges involved :-)

Why even do that? Just give it an incremental ID and make it the primary key a database of whatever it is you want to know about the machine -- eg: location, serial number, IP address (if you use static addressing), whatever else. You shouldn't ever change the unique ID you give a machine. That's bad. IMHO its always better to avoid putting metadata in a unique identifier altogether. It does involve an extra step for the netadmin to get information about the machine, but the bonus is he can find out whatever he wants. Work smarter, not harder :-)

Funniest thing I've read in weeks!

Thats right. I stopped giving credence to the rest of that post after they misspelled Perl.

Yeah, seriously I did.

I suggest you take this up with your company's HR department. They typically take a very dim view of the type of activity you are complaining about -- mostly because it would be very easy for you to to sue the company. If you can't get your HR rep to put the heat on your management to have some integrity, then direct your lawyer to the HR rep. The problem should resolve itself pretty quickly :-) I work in middle management and at least at my company I can tell you for sure that if I were to jerk around my employees like that, HR would be having a long discussion with me about how playing nice is a good thing and if I want to be an asshole I can take it somewhere else.

Thats actually pretty hilarious because in recent runs of Cosmos (on The Science Channel, IIRC), certain facts/figures in Sagan's dialogue have been overdubbed to convey more up-to-date data!

Yup, there is a reason they are calling it Windows 7 instead of what it really is -- Vista SP3. Nobody wants to pay for a service pack.

My old-ass Nokia's web-browser has this behavior. This feature does indeed predate the iPhone.

Eh. Though the iPhone seemed pretty damn cool when it came out, I said 'no' and stayed with my current phone and provider because, well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I didn't want to leave the provider I have been with for 8 years that has provided reliable (and relatively bullshit free) service throughout. I especially didn't want to switch to AT&T. It sucks, but I don't really feel bad about those who feel bent over. You took that risk in the first place and now have to pay the piper. I'd like to have an iPhone, but I will wait until Apple ends its exclusivity contract with AT&T and multiple providers support the iPhone. Until then, my phone will remain, just a phone. Until then, laissez faire!

Perhaps some day people will finally notice that the free market doesn't result in utopia either.

I'm not sure if I am reading this statement correctly. Are you saying that the status quo is a free market? For the telcos specifically, I'd have to say it is not a free market, considering some providers have an effectively monopoly in certain areas -- although this is much more evident in ISP and cable companies. Not to mention that the telcos got a huge government subsidy to increase infrastructure, which never happened -- if slashdot 'common knowledge' is to be believed. A truly free market might not lead to utopia after all, but I don't think this is a good example to use :-)

I am guessing using goatse as your wallpaper will cut down on the requests.